Cuckoo 4 Politics 😎

“I was naive to believe that America was ready to turn the page and embrace a more forward-thinking vision of leadership. I underestimated racism, sexism, the power of whiteness in society, where significant resentment still persists today of America’s changing demographics. It’s disheartening to witness these forces still shaping our political outcomes, holding us back from the inclusive future we claim to aspire to be.” (02:33 | Michael Desrosiers)

“The way the media landscape is, the way we cover politics, we frame the issues in the ways that Republicans ask us to frame them.” (16:45 | Sam Jean, Esq.)

“There’s no one candidate who can please everyone. We know that from doing the work, from running, and from working with people—everyone has their own needs, desires, preferences, and beliefs. When she would say more, people would dismiss it as a ‘word salad’ because they were intimidated—intimidated by the terminology she used, by a woman who could speak to the issues, share her life experience, laugh, and deliver a message of joy and hope.” (21:34 | Dr. Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez)

“What is it that Trump would have to do for you to turn away? And what is it that Kamala would have to do for you to give her a chance?” (27:37 | Dr. Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez)

“There are a lot of things where Democrats are not very good… We have this problem, and I call it the problem of reasonableness. We think that if we just explain something to someone, and it’s reasonable, and we have facts and data, they will accept our logic about it because we tend to go through the world a certain way. But what we don’t seem to understand is that people get their information elsewhere.” (30:12 | Sam Jean, Esq.)

“Trump is the white supremacist’s candidate. There’s no white supremacist who’s not going to vote for Trump… When Trump talks about Kamala not being Black, it isn’t really for Black people. It’s for white people, because white people think that being a minority is an advantage.” (02:55 | Sam Jean, Esq.)

“When Trump was president, he gave all the white men key jobs. He gave the white females key jobs. Not to say being Secretary of Housing and Development is not a key job, but the only Black Republican that he knows of, his Black friend, he gave him Housing and Urban Development because that is his Black job.” (07:25 | Michael Desrosiers)

“Highly educated Black men are not Trump supporters. Educated Black women are not Trump supporters. That tells you something. Educated whites are not Trump supporters. And I’m not saying by the vast majority. So, my point is that there is something about getting an education that just makes you look at things a little differently.” (36:55 | Sam Jean, Esq.)

“Donald Trump is not the traditional Republican in the likes of Eisenhower, Reagan, the Bushes for that matter. He’s a con man. Saving our democracy is key. We don’t want another insurrection. We don’t want a candidate or a politician who uses strokes of fear. We want someone with plausible solutions, along with working with others of the same party or a different party.” (43:32 | Michael Desrosiers)

“I don’t think this is an election that really is about the quality of life issues for a lot of Trump voters. I think this is an election about how it makes them feel. And Trump makes them feel a certain way.” (07:58 | Sam Jean, Esq.)

“Nostalgia is a liar... when they think of Trump, there are people who had a great time when Trump was president because all they cared about was whether or not Trump made people like me, people like you angry.” (28:34 | Sam Jean, Esq.)

“Think about it. Trump has somewhat of an unconventional background. He is the first U.S. president that has no military or government experience. His cult of personality is also disturbing. He has cultivated a celebrity persona, blurring the lines between reality and perception, which led to the acceptance of concepts like alternative facts, or fake news.” (45:43 | Michael Desrosiers) 

“We want someone who’s competent, who has forward relationships, not only with members of Congress, but members of our alliances, NATO, the U.N. The U.S. cannot do this alone.” (51:22 | Michael Desrosiers) 

“In response, I’m actively doing everything I can—registering voters, canvassing, knocking on doors, holding town hall meetings, doing this podcast episode just to inform that a lot is at stake.” (53:17 | Michael Desrosiers) 

“You do hear Americans say, ‘I’m all about supporting Ukraine…’ and so forth, but the government seems to always have money to provide aid to foreign crises, but at home when the price of goods and services keep going up, and inflation—although it’s coming down–people still say, ‘What about here at home?’ So, that’s a fair critique.” (7:08 | Michael)

“What you get from Trump is the power of celebrity. That’s what you get from Trump, this idea that this is an important person. People believe that Donald Trump is an important person who tells it like it is. He’s not the most couth person. They ignore the fact that almost everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie, but they like the fact that Trump can vocalize the things that they’ve been told they aren’t allowed to say. ” (13:54 | Sam)

“There is a character–even if I disagree with you politically–there’s a certain character that we believe a person should have in order to represent us in government. That’s the myth we’ve been told.” (18:36 |Sam)

“The presidents of the universities were giving lawyerly answers in an environment where they were supposed to give social media-worthy answers, because that’s what the hearing was about.” (20:01 | Sam) 

“In this society, we venerate people who make a lot of money and we treat their intelligence in making money as if it is some moral good. What people like Vivek demonstrate is you can be smart, you can make a lot of money but it doesn’t make you a good person and it also doesn’t mean that you’re smart enough to do other things.” (39:09 | Sam)

“We have to address why it is that people are coming here. The other thing we don’t address in terms of our foreign policy is what has American foreign policy done to some of these countries that are sending us their migrants? Why? Why is that happening?” (9:20 | Sam)

“It seems like the public understands that the workers have no leverage and their only leverage is to strike. And when they start striking and they start explaining what they want, regardless of how the media tries to interpret it like, ‘Oh, they expect a living wage.---the shock of it! God forbid someone get a wage that allows them to live–I  think that (18:17 | Sam)

“One thing the strike demonstrates is the power of labor and organizing labor because the workers by themselves do not have sufficient leverage to stand up against the corporations. They just simply don’t. You think one worker can stand up to Ford, Chrysler, GM? Not at all. So this demonstrates the power of labor, and hopefully this is a renaissance for labor movements to come back.” (19:27 | Sam) 

“Judge Clarence Thomas. The man is literally hanging with big donors who are paying for his–everything–from taking him on lavish vacations, to paying for anything he wants and we think, ‘You’re supposed to be impartial?’ Is he another Tim Scott?” (24:28 | Michael)

“There is a separation of church and state because we understand in this country that there are people who believe and there are people who don’t believe. We have to treat them the same way. You don’t need to insert religion to have an outcome that is fair. Can we use religious ideas to form certain laws? Of course we can, of course people do, but the laws are sufficient as they’re written without a hint and a hinge of religion.” (30:12 | Sam)

“I don’t think his age has anything to do with his ability to connect with people, because when I see him, I see him as somebody’s grandfather.” (9:49 | Sam)

“Trump is just a crazy, stupid person, and they have a lot of energy. He’s always raging about something and so it looks like he’s a young guy, but he’s not young himself.” (11:42 | Sam)

“All these things that people have direct anger about —or I would say misdirected anger about —is to Biden. They are not realizing that there are other factors involved, particularly in Congress, because I’ve not yet heard a possible alternative solution to inflation.” (17:48 | Michael) 

“There is this famous composer who is told about this young prodigy who’s great and so the composer goes to listen to this prodigy. And this prodigy has a concert and plays his piece flawlessly, and people come up to the composer afterwards and ask, ‘Hey, what did you think?’ He said, ‘He could play the music but he doesn’t feel the notes.’ And that’s what Democrats are missing sometimes. They don’t feel the notes. Not from the economic arguments. They can play the music, they can tell people, ‘Well, this is not really the president’s fault, look at these numbers, look at these numbers, look at these numbers. But that’s not what people want to hear. They want to hear ‘You feel the soul of this thing that’s bothering me. How are these things going to go down?’ And I don’t know that they have effectively messaged that, and I don’t know if you can, to be honest with you. I don’t know if you can effectively message that, because if people feel like things are bad, how do you stop that feeling?” (19:40 | Sam) 

“People who are liberals tend to be less influenced in the way that Conservatives can be influenced. We look for evidence for things…But the MAGA crowd has been inoculated to just believe what they are told.” (24:18 | Sam)

“Everybody has to account for Trump and Trump's followers. And this is why I told you it wasn't a race from the jump, from the start, it wasn't a race. Trump had already won. And if you've noticed, as the primary has gone on, Trump has only become more and more popular.” (14:39 | Sam)

“Once you get out of Florida, and you go to New Hampshire, nobody in New Hampshire thinks that people in Florida are actually more free than in New Hampshire, and voters in New Hampshire, for all the MAGA craziness, take the primary seriously, and they come with very serious questions. Iowa, they come with a very serious question, because they're given this sort of stage that they aren't given most of the time. And DeSantis just does not connect with people. If he's not bullying, he just does not connect with people. Trump might not like his followers, but he has no problem shaking their hands.” (19:33 | Sam)

“I'll say this. Ron DeSantis is not definitely loved in the state of Florida, not entirely. Again, he's only admired in certain pockets within Florida. But I recall his rhetoric about, Black Lives Matter. His rhetoric about Critical Race Theory, his effort to minimize the political power within black communities to relegate them to one congressional elected official, his firing an elected official who was a black woman, I believe the district attorney, to put someone else in place. It doesn't resonate well.” (23:58 | Michael)

‘About the 91 indictments, it means absolutely nothing. OK, I'm being glib about it, when I say it means nothing. It doesn't mean nothing. In the grand scheme of history, it's a big deal. But if you're asking me in the particular, today, in the political environment for the Republican Party, what it means, it means nothing to them. And the reason it means nothing to them, is he continues to lead every single poll. At some point, Michael, you’ve got to stop believing in Santa Claus.” (30:21 | Sam) 

“Trump is a great ‘marketeer’-- if that's even a word–but what's what I find interesting, too, is that GOP officials are scared, not of Trump, but of his Maga supporters.” (32:40 | Michael) 

“If you're thinking like a MAGA Republican, it makes perfect sense. They don't believe in government. They don't believe government is good for anything. And so their whole approach to governing is disruption.” (13:35 | Sam)

“Republicans are rebels with only one cause: and that cause is Donald Trump.” (15:21 | Sam)

“[Republicans] live in a completely different world, and that world is disassociated with the majority of Americans.” (20:22 | Sam) 

“With the current trend of the MAGA ultra-rhetoric that comes out, we are seeing an increase of people opting out of education because it's been politicized, opting out of the medical field, particularly when it comes to maternity, because, just like you've mentioned, they don't want to be when they have to make a medical decision for fear of a lawsuit. We have people opting out of law enforcement, because of that particular field being politicized. So where do we go with this because we're seeing this trend continuing on, and in the end, who's going to suffer?” (24:03 | Michael) 

“Everybody thinks that their perspective is valid. That's just natural. But for a long time, in this country, we deferred to people who were subject matter experts. We deferred to teachers, doctors, scientists, sociologists or psychologists. Now we don't. Everybody, on some level, feels like they have a certain level of subject matter expertise, whether it is because they've read things on Wikipedia, or they've seen YouTube documentaries. Everybody thinks that they're an expert on things.” (45:41 | Sam)

“I always tell people, the courts serve as a check and balance not only on our legislative and executive branches of government, but also in the courts below. The things that are coming before the superior court really affect people's lives. Because we're talking about someone's right to be free from incarceration, their right to parent their children, the right to access and make healthcare decisions on their own, the right to their wealth. Their safety. Their home. Their inheritance. These are big picture things that affect everyday Pennsylvanians even if you're not the litigants involved in the case, because our courts are interpreting our Constitution and our statutes. A law that did not adversely affect you yesterday, very well could adversely affect you tomorrow. So, it's important to care who's sitting in these seats.” (13:51 | Judge Beck)

“A lot of people are looking at our courts and seeing them as just a third political arm of the government, and not as the fair, impartial and apolitical branch that it should be.” (21:06 | Judge Beck)

“I always tell people, when you vote, you're investing in your community. And when you do vote, they also put you into the jury pool. And that's just showing that I, the citizen, have an active role in my community. And I could weigh in on that decision. It's not just elected officials.” (26:08 | Michael)

“There is no such thing – or there shouldn't be – as a Democratic judge or Republican judge. We're just judges, we have to do the job, give every single case the time, the effort and the energy to ensure that the facts were correctly found and supported by the trial court. That the law was correctly and faithfully applied in every single case. It isn't brain surgery, truly. But it's an incredibly important job.” (30:48 | Judge Beck)

“Seeing injustice, seeing someone hurt, seeing someone have their rights violated, that motivates me to do the job, to do it right, and to make sure Pennsylvanians–that people–are protected, that they get the justice that they deserve. My goal truly is for our courts to be a place where justice can be for all.” (36:39 | Judge Beck)

“I always look at the individual issues and character and merit of the candidate. That's how I run.” (9:55 | Mike Mancuso) 

“When I became full time, as first assistant DA in 2016,  I started seeing things that were troubling about the repetitive nature of certain types of crimes and issues. I was advocating for positions that I felt were very democratic and spirit that were very proactive.” (11:27 | Mike Mancuso)

“It seems like the Republican platform on criminal justice was law and order. And to me, that could be interpreted as maintaining the status quo, no type of change. If there's a drug addiction, or someone's caught with drugs, you put them in jail, and then solve it. Where the Democratic principles–not saying they're not for law and order–but they’re for justice, for fairness.” (18:18 | Michael Desrosiers )

“Right now, Monroe County has a crisis, in that we do not have ready access to secure detention facilities for the handful–less than six or so a year–of juvenile offenders. And that's also a problem in our region as a whole. There's a total lack of juvenile detention centers and so we've had very troubling cases where dangerous kids were let out.” (42:19 | Mike Mancuso)

“I understand people clinging to traditions, I understand values like hard work and individual accountability. And I think all of that is compatible with effective reforms that are based on the data. I mean, we can't just be running the country based on opinion polls, but where those opinions are based, in fact, and, and have data behind them, they should be embraced and they should be utilized to make our country a better place.” (50:04 | Mike Mancuso)