John Heilemann talks with Mallory McMorrow, the 35-year-old Democratic state senator in Michigan whose fiery, 5-minute floor speech last month denouncing the Republican Party's divisive rhetoric and demagogic tactics on cultural issues (and its targeting of LGBTQ Americans in particular) went wildly viral .... turning her into an overnight national political sensation. Heilemann and McMorrow discuss her decision to speak out after being baselessly accused of "grooming” children by a GOP colleague; how Democrats can and should fight back against the Republican culture war and reclaim the language of faith from those using it as a weapon; why the recent racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo is connected to the rising trend of hate speech on the right; how the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade will impact the midterm elections; and why the future of American democracy may be decided this fall in places like Michigan. McMorrow also explains why she agrees with James Carville that Democrats have a "wokeness problem" — and why her method of arguing in favor of progressive goals in language suited to the factory floor, not the faculty lounge, is the solution.

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