Ep 1013 Talking Dem Politics with a Dem Politician

Driftglass sits down with Blue Rep in a Red State!   Democratic State Representative Gregg Bush of Missouri is in the superminority in the Missouri State Legislature.   We go over Tuesday's Missouri ballot initiative and how Missouri voters turned back a Republican attempt to take their power away.  Also, the future of the Democratic Party, and how a Covid-era nurse got elected to the State House.  All this and more in this truly fascinating conversation.  

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

You can listen to the professional left wherever you get your podcasts on NetWords Radio or at our website, ProLeftPod.com, where you can also contribute to this podcast. There's a PayPal button at our website, or you can mail us a letter andor a contribution at PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

This is the podcast for the week of August 7th, 2026. It's not safe for work.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Recorded live from the Cornfield Resistance where, oh my God, you guys are doing a second interview? It's the Professional Left with Driftglass and Bluegale.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

It is true. Following Driftglass's excellent interview with Matthew Sheffield on Tuesday, we had the outline of a Thursday show all ready to go, and then Tuesday happened. The Michigan Senate primary went into the next day, but don't sleep on the Trump endorsee in Michigan with a foreign-sounding name, who lost to a white-sounding guy who had suspended his campaign. So, pro tip, if you're a Republican candidate, and you know, who better than us to tell Republican candidates what to do, Drift Glass?

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Indeed.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

If you're a Republican candidate, make sure to change your name to Dwayne Bubba Murphy before you gather signatures. But what we really want to talk about today is the remarkable election results from Missouri's Tuesday primary voting and ballot initiatives.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

And we've got a guy on the inside. His name's Greg Bush. He's the state representative for Missouri's 50th district, the fighting 50th. And fresh from the electoral battlefield, Representative Bush, who is a friend of the show, has consented to sit down with me today to talk over Missouri's politics, the implications of this week's voting, and what's happening in the country as a whole.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

And we'll be back next Tuesday with a show featuring the return of Bluegal to the full hour, I promise. And a reminder that we are taking Tuesday, August 18th off to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

I'm still very happily married to Driftglass after all these years. And just remember that the traditional and modern gift for the 15th wedding anniversary is to sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash ProLeft Pod. Now here's Driftglass with Representative Greg Bush of the Missouri State House. Take it away, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

All right. You have joined the Professional Left Podcast during a very auspicious week because we don't normally do interviews. That just isn't something we do. And yet Tuesday, we had a great interview with a guy named Matthew Sheffield, who was a deep insider guy on the right wing until he saw the light and came to the light side of the universe. And now we had a lovely chat. And of course, that was it. We didn't want to do interviews anymore, except now. Now we got an inside guy. Because you know what happened? Tuesday happened. Tuesday elections and voting happened. And right across the river from us is the state of Missouri. And we got a guy deep inside the political machinery of the state of Missouri. And you're going to love it. He's a friend of ours, friend of ours since before he became the legislator he is today. His name's Greg Bush. He's a representative of the of the fighting 50th. Is that correct? Yes, right. And prior to this, you were a nurse. You were a nurse during COVID. Yes. Yes. And uh you are you're a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church. And now your Wikipedia page has run out of information about you. So he's a very good friend of ours. We've met him in real life. He's a hell of a guy. Um, and so um we're gonna talk about Missouri politics, national politics, et cetera. But I think maybe between you and I, we can set the stage about what you are up against in Missouri, because a lot of people don't understand. Um, you are one of only 52 Democrats in the statehouse, right?

SPEAKER_05 4:04

Correct. Yeah, which is the different minority.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Yeah, yeah, it's it's a minority. I was gonna say there's 106 Republicans, so you're outgunned. Um, and you're you guys are outgunned in the Senate as well. They have veto proof juries in the Senate as well. And every statewide elected official uh is a Republican. Yes, your governor, lieutenant governor, uh all the things, Secretary of State. Um, all of your Supreme Court justices were were nominated and appointed by Republican governors. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_05 4:35

I think so. There may have been somebody from Jay Nixon, um Governor Jay Nixon, who was uh governor for two terms. Yes, there was once upon a time. Yeah. Yes, yes. Uh but that was, and before that it was Mel Carnahan, um, who tragically uh died in a plane crash. Yeah. Uh as well. That was in yeah, the early 2000s. And I've only been in Missouri for 20 years this May.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

That's you're you're you're now a Missourian. Yes, you get to be. This isn't like you know, what is it, Amity in in Jaws. Oh no, you're never an island. You're gonna be born on the island to be an island. That's right. No, no, no. You get to be. Chicago is the same way. And and of course, you have two important senators. We have the mighty Josh Holly and Eric Schmidt, who are both Republicans. Yes. And so, and and two, if I understand this, two of the U.S. representatives are Democrats. Currently, yes. And and they're from St. Louis, literally opposite sides of the state, right? One from St. Louis, one from Kansas City. And you, sir, are smack in the middle. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_05 5:39

In the middle, and a little blue dot in the middle of Missouri and Boone County, uh Columbia, home of the University of Missouri. Uh the oldest uh university, uh well, oldest land grant university west of the Mississippi. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

And and do you think proximity to a university has something to do with the blueness of your district?

SPEAKER_05 6:01

Yeah, education certainly plays a part in uh an educated uh electorate, educated constituents definitely plays a part in uh Boone County sending. We have uh five legislators here and a state senator. Uh only one is uh Republican, which is the most rural part of uh of Boone County, actually. That's that's wild.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

I mean I'm sure you're familiar, or you might be familiar with Mary Miller. Mary Nazi Miller, as we call her, um, who's whose gargantua district extends from from border to border in Illinois. Yeah. It goes uh from the east border to the left border, all the way up to your state. And and it is my impression, based on all of the fact that you have supermajorities of Republicans and Republican governors and so on, that if we just extended her district into Missouri, that's what it would look like, you know, because she's an R plus 20 or something like that. And it's just you guys are uh first of all, thank you for doing the Lord's work because you guys really are overwhelmed. And and the about the only weapon I think you have at your disposal are citizen initiatives. Is that right?

SPEAKER_05 7:12

That's right. Yeah, that's uh yes, that's true. Um, I mean, we have, I mean, we do have elections as well, but uh, you know, elections are who shows up at the polls. I was at a uh disability advocacy day uh for teens. Um this is a couple weeks ago, and we had uh uh uh high school students, they had uh HB 2026 that they got through a mock committee, and then we went to the floor and I played the speaker and they got to stand at the microphones and argue for HB 2026, which was free breakfast and lunch for every school student, uh, which was wildly popular um with uh you know the uh these high school students, um, and somebody who is probably one of the most engaged members uh there, uh, they got a chance to ask us, you know, questions at the end. And they said, you know, a lot of the bills that you guys have been, you know, have come out of here have been pretty immoral. I mean, where is empathy in this uh in our uh in the legislature that, you know, or the legislation that you guys pass? And I typically went third, um, you know, but I said, I'll take this one. I said, let me be clear about something. Yeah, this body is a reflection of the people that show up on election day. Amen. So what I want to ask you is who did your neighbors vote for? Who are you gonna vote for when you are registered to vote? And this person may have been 18 years old. Yeah. So if you want to change the laws that are coming out of the Capitol, you're going to have to change who you send to the Capitol. So go organize people, go organize your families and neighbors and such. Go meet them. And uh let's actually pass laws with empathy. Let's actually pass laws that are uh we can be proud of, as opposed to the some of the laws that we have, you know, passed this last time. We we had a couple of wins. Uh no doubt we made some, you know, bad laws worse. Um, but I mean, and we filed 2,048 bills, actually. And there were only uh just over 80 that ultimately got signed. Um some of them were you know pieces of one bill that you got you put on another U amend bills and stuff, but there were there were 80 of them. Um none of them were vetoed. Um the governor here has line item veto power, so we're gonna be going back for a veto session and for a budget? He can he can yeah, for yeah, for the budget. Um yeah. And I mean, and we're uh we passed uh the last two years we passed a bunch of uh tax breaks for people that was not targeted to working families. Um and we still have, as I say, there is no shortage of an opportunity for improvements in our state right now.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Well, I I I'm I may risk misquoting Dr. King, saying that budgets are a moral document.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

And we've said that on the floor, yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

They represent moral choices being made by the people that we elect to to a high office. Absolutely. First of all, I'm thrilled that a high school, is that correct?

SPEAKER_05 10:27

A high school students yeah, no, these were these were high school students from all over the state, and all of them had some kind of disability. So they have uh, I mean, some of them were you know, you know, physical disabilities, they're all all different kinds of of disabilities. Some of them were more invisible, but they got to come down and see uh how committees work and how the floor works was was delightful. And I was so happy she asked that question.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

That's it. I'm I'm out of the mouths of babes, you know, I'm not quite a babe, but but out of the mouths of young people who recognize this is a moral question, not just a financial question or priority question. This is morality we're talking about. Right. And um I I vividly recall the year in student congress when I was about that age, and we we shipped our butts down from the suburb where I live to the to Springfield to sit in the big chairs and pass bills and legislation. And it was a great experience. Um, but it it it didn't occur to me until years later about sort of how the public will works its way through the machinery of government to become the government. And that's when I became really pissed about people blaming Congress for things without being very specific about who in Congress specifically are you talking about? And I wonder if you run up against that kind of frustration every now and then when it's just it's not politicians in the state capitol, it's specific people.

SPEAKER_05 11:50

Yeah, you know, I do I do push back when people say politicians, and I do push back when people say the government or the legislature. Because for the last 20 years, the legislature has been completely run by uh the majority party. And I have said in rooms, uh I've said on the floor that, you know, these are not my priorities that are getting raising the speed limit was not my priority. Um, having gambling in the state was not my priority. Uh being the only nurse in the statehouse, which is really strange. Uh, you know, there's 144,000 nurses in the state. Um, one out of every 35 voters is a nurse. Yeah. Uh and I have a uh there are going to be more nurses though next year. And we're the ones who see the frontline uh problems of people who, you know, are just in tears for their families, and the families want to be with them in the hospital, but they've got to go back to work now because there's not enough sick time. They uh, you know, but it is it uh again, there's no shortage of opportunities for improvement when it comes specifically to health care. And I was bedside during COVID. I was uh, you know, a a supervisor um on a weekend night on the largest floor in the largest hospital in my area. And uh the things that, you know, I I know two nurses that died from COVID as well. Um, and for people to say that it was fake or it wasn't real, um, like I have vivid memories of the refrigerator truck.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 13:39

Um, you know, I have vivid memories of uh, you know, long lists of people in other hospitals because we're the only level one trauma center uh around for 17 counties, a long list of people needing to come to our hospital and watching them tick off and and knowing that these are people who are dying and that we can't help them. Um that is not why I got into nursing, you know, for to not help people.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Well, I'm I'm glad you were bedside. I mean, I yeah, I'm sorry your life was at risk, and and many people were, and you guys were literally the front line of that battle. But I'm glad people like you were there.

SPEAKER_05 14:20

Absolutely. And you know, stripping off my clothes, and I had a young baby at the time. Um and so stripping off my clothes in the garage so that I didn't get my baby sick or my family sick. Uh this because we didn't know this is before the vaccine and before all of that. Um, and then the vaccine hit. I was one, I mean, because I was a frontline worker, I was one of the first people um to get the vaccine. And you could just see the uh, I mean, we're still unwinding from it, but you can you could see how the um the the census would drop, you know, uh when oh we actually have, you know, like because remember during COVID, there were people that still had heart attacks, there were still people that had strokes, there are still people that had COPD exacerbations, all of those things are happening at the same time as this mysterious respiratory virus that is deadly just would go through the population and watching the counts every day of how many COVID patients did we have. Um, and trying to support my nurses as I was uh, you know, the the the oldest guy on the floor, um, kind of the dad to some of these 20-somethings who were just out of nursing school as a med surge nurse, um, and like desperately hoping as we watched people decompensate and hoping that an ICU bed would open up. I mean, uh my spouse was going through respiratory therapy school at the time in clinicals. Um, they had to suspend those. And then she worked acute care and critical care and watched people who, and this is after the vaccine, who could have gotten the vaccine and who did not because of reasons. Uh and asking and and having, you know, uh people again desperately wanting an ICU bed uh and not having them because uh individuals and some people couldn't take the vaccine. Um at the time we didn't really know if you were, you know, pregnant or you were trying to become pregnant. Like that was not, you know, like we didn't know at the time. We just didn't know uh all the efficacy. But then there was such kind of a relief. Like my my spouse and I both like had significant profound emotions when we finally got the vaccine that we could get the vaccine, like we're gonna be like this is there's daylight for there's there's you made it to the other side, or at least part of the other side. Uh and it was and it was and it worked, and it's working um for long COVID. There was one guy actually told me he said, Oh, I have natural immunity, I've had COVID four times. And I'm like, do you that's not how natural immunity works, number one. And if you've had it four times, guess what, pal? You don't have natural immunity.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

Yeah, he's working up to it, man. He's working up to it. He's getting there eventually. Like passing a bar exam, you know, eventually, if you study hard enough. No, right. This this isn't directly related to Missouri politics. So I'm gonna I'm gonna take us off on a little side path. But uh everyone went through this. Everyone has a COVID story. Yours is more profound and more, more kind of heartbreaking than almost anyone else's, but everyone, my brother has one. He works, yeah, works as a chef, worked at the time as a chef in a in a senior center. Oh man. And it just tore through there. I mean, it just tore through there. And so, you know, and and these are people who can't come out of their rooms, and how do we serve them? And the whole everything that everyone else went through, sort of times 10 with a building full of people who need physical help and but you can't touch them, their family can't visit them. They can't come see them. Everyone went through that and jump ahead six years, six years, five, six years, and and suddenly 70 million people don't remember any of it. Is that is that a trauma reaction? I will not remember the plague I went through because it was too terrifying. Or is that I need a villain, I need it to not be the way it was because the way it was is the guy I voted for screwed up real bad, and he played politics with with PPE, and he was an asshole, and he dumped it on the next guy who actually got things together enough that we're not all dead. And I can't accept that politically or ideologically. So I must have a different memory of it.

SPEAKER_05 18:39

You know, I I think it's probably a little from column A and a little from Column B. There's definitely some level of trauma response, uh, I will suggest, at different levels. Um, but also there are still people, I mean, there were folks that worked in the building who died from COVID in the Capitol building. And again, this guy on the floor called it the scandemic that it wasn't real just this last session. Uh and I and like I don't know how to reach, I don't know how to reach them. I will say this, like I was talking with um, I do a lot of talking and do a lot of listening too, by the way, um, to the constituents and and and to stakeholders. And I was able to make friends with somebody who studied uh historically, um, a sociologist who studied the um how the Spanish flu came through Missouri and and went through primary source material and the kind of terror that was involved with that. And then my grandfather was a polio survivor as well. So there was, I mean, contracting, I think when he was eight years old, he had to drop out of high school because they would not give him the time so to crawl up the stairs because his high school had three levels to it. Um, he ended up going on and building businesses and having a family, and his family had access to some kind of resources though, as well, financial resources. But when I think of, you know, like equity in the ADA, right? I always think about making sure that we bring people in who otherwise could not. And when I talk about equity, I always put it in terms of like, are you able to walk? Everybody has equal access to the stairs, but not everybody has equal access to using the stairs. Um so uh and going so again, going through the this person who who studied, you know, um uh these these historical events, um, she said that there were people like, you know, it was published in the paper that this person had the flu or this person had this and to stay away. And going back and reading about how in local newspapers at the time where uh and specifically around polio then, where playgrounds were just empty. Yeah, no kids were playing. I mean, it was it was a whole thing, and we have I mean we have forgotten that. And I was just I was asked, yeah, I was asked by an uh by a bunch of nurses, I I had talked to a bunch of nurses, and they asked me what's the number one thing for like public health right now. And I said measles. Yeah. Because measles, which we can, you know, prevent, um, but measles will also reset your immune system. It's very well documented where if you had chicken pox and now you have a natural immunity to that virus, now typically you you do your it's rare that you would get uh chicken pox twice, and then you get the measles after that, your immune system um will actually be reset, and you can then contract all of the things that you had been immune to in the past again. Wow. This is it's really terrifying that it's a skeleton key to everything else, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh and you know, it's I I I wish that there were more scientists down in the legislature, people that. believe in science. Yeah. Um, but I was asked by uh, you know, uh, you know, other people like, what is this like? And I said it's a little bit in talking with your coworkers, this is it's a little bit like psych nursing because you are not dealing with the same facts. And I have talked to people who, and you know, in my job as a nurse who are uh actively having audiovisual hallucinations. And there are no words that you can use to change their mind.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

I would like you to stitch that into a throw pillow and send it to me because that boy, you're right in the wheelhouse now because there are just a group of people in this who are politically active who are in office or voting for office or listening to Fox News or whatever who cannot be reached. Yeah. And I don't think uh if you take the the the the body politic as having an immune system, we don't know how to cope with that because the the liberal concede is you can reason with anybody. You can sit and reason with people you can come to some sort of compromise. And there's just people I I liken it what your description of the person on on the floor calling it a scandemic. There are a whole bunch of people chased out of the U.S. Capitol by an armed mob of people who were led there by Donald Trump. Yes. Who now will swear on the lives of their children that they were just tourists and they were there for patriotic reasons and they were martyrs and and thank God they were all pardoned. And I look at these people and I go political cowardice can't just be the only explanation what the hell is wrong with you people but getting back to what you were saying about about about your high school students these people are a representation of the people who voted for them. Yes they really are just you know they're they're they're the they're the little um they're the little strip of paper that tells you what it is you've dipped it into. And and I just I look at them and I don't know how to fix that. Now and it's not my job to fix it it's my job to rail against it and vote against it every two to four years. Now I do want to talk a little bit about how how citizens in your state stood up in huge numbers and told the Republican Party you cannot screw around by when they rejected amendment four. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 24:19

Would you walk me through that a little bit uh so this was an amendment and you can I mean I'm like Missouri was on Rachel Meadow type thing.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

You know like people I don't I don't watch by the way you yeah you guys are top of Digby's blog today. So just so you know and it's like Missouri says no.

SPEAKER_05 24:38

Right exactly and we had I it was no on four and no on five so um four was the uh uh initiative petition reform where it had to be uh eight out of eight congressional districts had to um uh agree to any citizen led petition so anytime there's a change in the Missouri constitution it always has to go before a vote of the people um that can either come that initiative can either come from the House uh or the the legislature or it can come from citizens. Right uh and this only applied to uh citizen led petitions meaning if the legislature wanted to send an amendment to the constitution we could use the old rules but you guys have different rules and we uh that there is look at the end of the day you know Missouri is a populist state I would say yeah um it's it's it's squishy purple I mean people think it's a deep red and there are some deep red areas that are deep red but it's a really I mean this is the land of you know union labor and Dick Ephardt right of recent memory this is not exactly I'm old enough I was not here for that but I'm old enough to remember you know uh being like who's this person that you know this you know pro-labor um and so that was that was amendment four and uh we ended up being able to a strange coalition of all sorts of interest groups got together and said hell no to this um and right at the end the last ditch effort was look at all these groups that are supporting this and it's money from teachers unions and it's money from the ACLU and how dare you you know like we need to protect our state from out of state money. And then outside agitators I love outside agitators agitators and then you look at like who was funding this and it was all outside agitators were funding the yes on for campaign because the rules are for thee and not for me. At the same time and we were able to tie that to amendment five which was a reversal of uh a reversal of the elimination of the income tax basically at the state level um and it would be replaced with a sales tax and we have provisions in the constitution that prevent certain businesses and enterprises from ever being taxed. Oh my um well uh the the language said that the change in the constitution would that the state legislature could tax any and all services at it at its discretion so this was ultimately a um and I said I've said this in rooms before as well in front of people this was the ultimate trust me bro like we're gonna like how are you gonna make up this revenue? Oh just trust me it'll be in the future and it'll be you know just fine. Um it so we were able again standing up to be like no we're not going to have this again we are a populist state um we did it with you know um uh Medicaid expansion as well and the legislature came back and said no we did it with abortion um legislature came back and said no and now abortion is going to be on the ballot for amendment three come this November yeah I want to hear more about I do want to hear more about that because that that's a killer. That yeah and definitely a killer and they are couching it in terms of trans kids. So it and like it the the language itself is so deceitful.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

You know it's the same sort of thing that happened uh before with uh a uh another uh initiative petition I want to say I think it was last year or 2025 yes where they said oh by the way um you know uh should citizens or should non-citizens be allowed to vote and you're like no of course not well you're actually not that's already part of the law right and you're just but you're you know you're saying all these other things like on top of that so the language itself they call it ballot candy here um is just so deceitful uh and they know what they're doing you might recall the 2004 presidential election yes and that was the one in which um Matthew Dowd was the uh the and Carl Rove were the architects of George Bush's re-election campaign yes and you know I have a thing about Matthew Dowd he he was a bad bad bad he is a thing for you too he does he does totally stupid I mean like personally it insulted my listeners right personally which I was like dude you're the chief guy at ABC News i'm I'm a guy in a cornfield with a fucking microphone how thin is your goddamn skin but it turned out I was right and he was wrong and to acknowledge that he he nuked his Twitter archives and swore he was never said those things so anyway um the the 2004 campaign yes a big part of the Bush re-election campaign strategy was as you probably know anti-gay referendums oh yes attacked to the ballot in every state where there's a whole bunch of evangelicals who might be staying home or might be on the question and the whole point of that kind of ballot candy was if that's not on the ballot they might not come to the polls. So it's breadcrumbs to lead and as long as you're in the in the in the booth how about you vote for this the lovely Christian man George W. Bush well as long as I'm here hating gays might as well do it. And it it strikes me that they don't have a lot of buttons left to push no um so trans kids are the boogeyman. I mean Fauci trans kids immigrants and liberals of course we because we're we're all those things um are the boogeyman and I'm starting to see boogeyman um advertising um in my own state I'm starting to see the extreme radical left Juliana Stratton really our lieutenant governor is a communist I didn't know that she worked for a billionaire and she she's a nice lady um but I I I wonder how much efficacy those things will continue to have as the actual real world effects of stupid voting start hammering people. I mean like um shutting down rural hospitals and and cutting Medicare and Medicaid which affect you know poor red states pretty badly. I mean and especially rural areas pretty badly and I wonder if you're starting to see at least in the in the populist pushback to the elected officials you're starting to see some people going wait a minute wait a minute this is not what I voted for. This is not what I wanted.

SPEAKER_05 31:21

So this was and and and I've said this um before as well particularly with the uh the amendment for and the initiative petition stuff um this was a big bifurcation between suburban Republicans and rural Republicans because all of the suburban Republicans were for it and there were rural Republicans who were completely against it from from the floor. So there were actually people that um that voted to put it on the ballot and said oh I'm gonna vote yes to put it on the ballot but ultimately I'm gonna be voting no on this and almost all of them were rural Republicans. Wow so it was Democrats and rural Republicans that defeated this and suburban Republicans who have a bunch of money and that's where all the money is so if you look at the leadership of the House this is where all the money is uh and these are the people that are you know seeking higher office and such uh there is that is the big split right now in the Republican Party is the folks that have uh fled you know Kansas City and to the suburbs the Republicans that fled Kansas City and the suburbs the folks that fled St. Louis into the suburbs and into like St. Charles County and others um they tend to be somewhat more moderate but they were all for this um uh both both four and five almost all of them because that was from top down that was the governor and actually a there were three Republicans that lost primary seats uh this last time as well um one of them was going to be a senior um one of them was going to be a freshman because we have term limits here so I I've only served for eight years uh and so that we go by freshman sophomore junior senior type thing uh and I can't I don't know where that third one was I can't remember uh oh another one was a suburban um republican as well that that lost but one of them that I talked to that uh lost his heat said he would do the exactly the same way and it was right before and his it was a let me see his was is a uh 8614 Republican district so this is a safe Republican district did he get did he get run on from the right he it was the last week mailers hit the doors and said this guy is standing against Trump's agenda. Oh my gosh and he ended up losing a primary because of that. Wow in this very and it is the most rural district there's only 11 people per square mile so uh in in that district in and my district is more like a suburban one is like 1500 people per square mile and like the most the the most dense one is uh is in the city of St. Louis and it's 7,000 people and we represent about 33000 people. I tell people that I have 22000 registered bosses uh in my district uh these are the people who again I I go there to serve them um but these are i we've had we've had more democrats run in more seats than ever before Republicans have conceded more than ever before and so we we have open primaries here as well and if you look at the number of polls so democratic ballot poll or Republican ballot poll through the whole thing still Republicans well out outnumber us but if we look at just the polls right now we would go from 52 seats right up to 67 seats. And that's enough and if we have and that well to be out of the super minority 82 is the constitutional majority. Right but that would be enough that they couldn't pass whatever they want exactly yeah and if we have another six point swing in the state we would be up over 70. That's that's amazing. Yeah so after this four and five again the Republican Party there's still again when it goes to statewide offices there were still more people that voted for you know Republicans than Democrats. We only have like the state auditors up this year uh and like that's the only statewide office uh but this is I mean this is as much as you can think like some takeaways this is good news for a wildly populist state who and and and it's the only the right wing right now that's talking about bathrooms and yes the genitalia of children. It's only them it's weird and creepy. Yeah since they are they are weird and creepy right I'm like this is I mean and meanwhile and I pointed out like in in our uh on the chamber floor we have stained glass you know artwork um and I'm like there's nudity in this room right now like is this a problem for like should we not have kids you know come watch from the galleries because they might see a butt or a penis or a naked breast like this is John Ashcroft putting you know a drape over Lady Justice Lady Justice which was just it was so perfect. It's a perfect metaphor. Dude like do should we like our you know you know art museums are not pornography. Like Michelangel's david is not pornography.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

It is I know pornography. I know it when I see it and I can tell you that ain't pornography.

SPEAKER_05 36:56

And I and I was not profoundly affected going to the Art Institute of Chicago by seeing you know haronymous Bosch paintings. Like this isn't like I'm not saying it's not traumatized me.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

I mean the box paintings traumatized me because it's visions of hell I'm like oh my God I didn't know you could do that on canvas but no no I I mean they used to take us there as kids and expose us to great art because that's what you did and you read great literature because that's what you did. Because you wanted your kids to be citizens of the world and knowledgeable and understand the history of the of the culture they come from and the planet they're from and know what good is elevate their taste know what quality looks like know what morality looks like and I well you know we're we're far beyond that right now but our our library recently and I hate to give this person like any more press but sometimes our our library um had a called rainbow story time and my son and I went uh and it was a a family looking for a rainbow dinosaur like all these animals were looking for a rainbow dinosaur and then there was another one about a wig about somebody putting on a wig.

SPEAKER_05 38:05

Oh no and of course it got the attention of the attorney general of our state and as somebody who's running for you know and the only somebody who's running for and actually won their primary uh as well like we're gonna see if funding was used to put pornography in the farm of our children. Meanwhile one of the books won like child book of the year in 2024. Yeah uh and if you can see a rainbow dinosaur or see somebody in a wig Monty Python style right and that's something that is terrible and and pornographic to you where is your mind at yeah you are you have the really really dark ugly problem that you need to get therapy for immediately. And it was the best attended story time in the history of the library because you know like I and I again I don't want to give it any press but because Columbia is so close to Jefferson City like and because we're a blue dot we are a punching bag all the time. Sure. Yeah I had people say that this is dangerous and scary here or whatever like there's all sorts of like other dynamics and like we won't come we won't come there I said well good we don't need your money um we can't keep empty storefronts like we're doing just fine thank you very much like we are a welcoming honest you know community that accepts you know uh virtually you know anybody who wants to be open and welcoming yeah um but they're still like in my district and uh they may have moved but in my district there's still like a confederate flag that that flies yeah that somebody has a confederate flag it was right down the block from from me a little bit and I think that I it's I mean it's terrifying that the you know my my wife says it's a little bit like she's like good I'm glad they're flying the Confederate flag it lets me know to stay away from that house it's like a rattlesnake with the red X on the door like no no no plague house don't directly right yes so uh please tell me if you're a bigot please tell me if you're a racist who's going to try to use the Bible to defend slavery. Please tell me those things so I can stay far away from you. Yeah and uh you know and hopefully that your kids will learn in our public school system that there's that human beings come in all shapes and sizes and uh colors and uh different kinds of things and hopefully they will learn that I was just reflecting the other day and and talking with some folks and I and and I'm being very explicit now particularly with I've got a teenager and with the younger about the word sonder which is the profound realization other people are having deep rich full lives oh no and like that's kind of how I and and I know that and I I got a chance to experience that as a nurse right people would say like well you know everything about me because you've been in my chart and I would say I would not presume to know you based upon lab values and vital signs and diagnoses. You are this whole person. And they're like oh really I'm like yes that's how I treated you know my patent I got thank you notes and you know from patients and family members. That's but that's what I want to that's what I want to share with with people is like just that nature of sound don't treat people like they are just an NPC to you know your own to further your own political gain. And that's what's happening right now with trans kids is that they're being used as an NPC for somebody else to go and you know beat up on you know you know and that's one thing actually I'm something that I'm really worried about is because four and five are so soundly defeated here that they're just gonna turn the rhetoric up even more. Well of course right because an addict needs that fix right they are they're I mean that's I I I've taken care of lots of people that have substance abuse disorders and such and it's amazing to see what they will do to get the substance that they need. They will go from cajoling to intimidating to threatening to weeping to all of these different kinds of things and that's what I train my nurses and I would say look by the way this is a disease that's just really hard to treat but we know how to treat it. Yeah but remember these people in this who have substance abuse disorders their brain chemistry right now everything is screaming at them that they need this substance in order to live it is like oxygen. It's like watching somebody who has you know uh uh you know a pulmonary edema where they're taking breaths but there's no oxygen exchange and they're drowning in a sea of air yeah I've seen that happen and it's a medical crisis it's a medical emergency and we know how to treat it and such but that's what it's like and it's similar to how these people how how you know the the majority party kind of goes through their life I will suggest except their drug is free.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

Yeah their drug is freely available all hours of the day every day through a computer through their phone through television on the radio they can get dosed anytime they want all the time they want they could they can never leave the the crack house no they can stay there their whole lives that's right and I so I I think about like what do you do then for somebody that's that's like this well number one if somebody's having an active audiovisual hallucination you just have to make sure they're safe and not hurt themselves or hurt others well there's whole groups of people in our state that have free agency to uh shut off the radio turn the channel watch anything but this how do you make sure that they

SPEAKER_05 44:00

And don't end up hurting people and hurting our kids and hurting our future.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

That's because that's a very good question. No, that's a that's a great question. How do you stop people who have power?

unknown 44:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Actual power and who are who are addicted to hurting other people and addicted to these insane beliefs.

SPEAKER_05 44:18

It it's it it's it's a challenge. And so um, you know, being in the super minority, I you know, I've had a couple bills referred and heard a couple things heard in committee, but I haven't really gotten a law passed. And very few Democrats do, and a few Republicans do as well. I mean, we at the end of the day, there's not a lot of bills that get passed. But like, what can I do then as a legislator? Um, and I just I got a lovely note from um someone and she said, I've never testified in front of committee before, but I wanted to come down and I didn't know it was on a trans belt. I didn't know if I would be welcome and received down there. And then I came to your office and I knew everything was gonna be okay. Um, and she just got married um last week. Um, and it's like now I'm like that's so what can I do as a representative? Make sure that other people come on down, tell their stories in front of people, and actually um there have been folks that have had their mind changed that are Republicans, have had their mind changed by because of people coming down to testify. So filling out forms online. It's it's I was flabbergasted, and I didn't want to, I don't want to like out this person or anything like that because like we want to have an um we were we worked really well together, and I we were just so shocked that wait a minute, how how did this happen? And I ended up talking with this person, and they're like, I heard some it's a bad law, unenforceable, and there may have been some things that I heard in committee that changed my mind.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Wow, wow, yeah, because because you know that there's like 80 million of us out here who are incredibly frustrated with the situation and we're looking for the way out. I mean, we really are because you know we we would like methadone available. Is there political methods?

SPEAKER_05 46:11

Legislative methadone, yes.

SPEAKER_03 46:15

Slowly, slowly ease you off of that. And but because the alternative, and I I don't mean the like the most violent alternative, I mean the alternative is you crash out. Yeah, you know, things things you have done to this country, not you personally, of course, you're here.

SPEAKER_05 46:30

You're right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Things that they have done to this country come back to affect them so profoundly that they they are they cannot process it. You know, the farmers who who support tariffs and who get screwed by by Donald Trump and his tariff regime, and who I know secondhand through through friends of mine who are sort of very friendly with farmers, a lot of farmers around here. We live in farm country, um, asked basically how could you how could you vote for that? He said, I had no choice. I had no choice. Because they are that's all they listen to, that's all they hear. So the tragedy for me is what you you know a great deal more about addictive behavior and addictive personality and how it manifests itself. But I do know a few things. So one is sometimes that person has to actually hit rock bottom.

SPEAKER_05 47:17

Oh, that's the only that's the only way. Yeah they actually because they're the ones doing that. And and and so what I've told people is, and this is from like addiction counseling as well, when or people that are currently, and we know this from public health officials and such, is that you just nudge them in a direction. Well, if you're going to use, can I at least give you a clean needle?

unknown 47:41

Right.

SPEAKER_05 47:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

No, there's a group in Chicago called the Night Ministry. I I worked a little tiny bit with them, a friend of mine was part of them, and they would go out at night and they wouldn't judge. There'd be medical care, there'd be food, there'd be presents at Christmas, and trying to make sure that you're taking care of yourself because we're not going to fix you. We can't, we can't do that right now, but we can at least make sure you don't die.

SPEAKER_05 48:02

When when, you know, I there are some things that I'm never going to be persuaded on. Uh, there's some things. Loving v Virginia, I'm never going to be persuaded. I'm the only white person in my household. I'm that there's no words that somebody is going to tell me that's going to say, like, you know what, loving v. Virginia was actually a terrible thing that and we need to overturn that. Nobody's going to be able to tell me that, right? So if there are no words that somebody can use to change the mind of an addict, what do we do then? We become the kind of people that allow them to change their mind. And God help them if they take their family down with them. Because we know what addiction does to families as we do. It wrecks families, it drains bank accounts, it does that. And we are seeing that kind of at the state level right now. Federal level too. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah. It's just it's just wrecking everything. And so we're we protect ourselves and we we have to keep being the people that allow them to change their mind because there are no words. The only thing we have is our actions and the only way and our sense of being and making sure that no, being more attractive, being living a sober life is more attractive than leading a life in addiction. Yeah. Right. And so you demonstrate that, you show that, you give people help uh when they need it, um, as they need it. These are the kinds of things that we do. And, you know, talking about like in terms of money and such, like there is, you know, the the county, when we talk about healthcare, is the payer of last resort, right? The county hospitals, like these are, you know, that you either go, you know, to prison or you go to the hospital, or what you know, whatever it is. Like these are people who um are in our community who desperately need our help. And the counties are really feeling kind of this pull right now from the federal government and the state government abdicating their responsibility.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 50:03

Yeah, they have completely abdicated their responsibility.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

And that is a challenge. Because they were re-elected and their elected representatives have decided to abdicate their power and to step aside and to let a dictator in all but name do whatever the hell he wants. And it hurts them.

SPEAKER_05 50:22

Yeah, so I try to make sure that even if we disagree on some things um with like other legislators in the majority party, I try to still find a way to gain influence over them. Like be a social worker in that sense, and using using psych nursing techniques, yeah, because they have all of the power. We have no power at all. Uh and so how do you gain influence with people that have power? And just like with an addict, they have power over their own lives. They get to choose how to do this, and they're not choosing because they're addicts. So, how do you gain influence with them? Um, that is how I've conducted myself and why I have some, I'll say friends on the other side who uh we share a lot of the same values. And so, how do we talk about those things as opposed to the things that is being driven by the party leadership and by the priority and by out-of-state money and by the billionaires that buy elections? You know, that's and we have billionaires here in the state too. So they are they have all different kinds of foundations and such. So you get your money into your packs from all of these different foundations. Well, it's all one guy. You know, who's funding all these things? It's like, you know, we have our own version of the Koch brothers here in Missouri. So that's makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 51:43

All right, yeah. I I got I have two questions. Oh, you may take either either or both or none, because one of them is is not fair, and the other one is is a little bit personal. So here's the not fair one. Not fair one is this. Um, you might remember when Donald Trump was on his way out, first time around, and Mitch McConnell was recorded on tape saying, Don't worry, our friends on the on the other side will take care of him.

SPEAKER_05 52:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 52:10

Is it possible that because we are on our side committed to fixing things and saving people, we have developed some sort of perverse codependent relationship with the people who are hurting people. That Mitch McConnell doesn't have to worry about doing the right thing because he knows the Democrats will come fix it. You know, they don't have to worry about how badly Bush screwed things up because we'll hire this guy named Obama to mop up after him and we'll demonize him every inch of the way. But we can always rely on Democrats to come and save the day and fix us from our worst selves, so we don't have to change because mommy will come in and make everything okay.

SPEAKER_05 52:47

Yeah, there's some, there's probably a little bit of of truth to that. Um, you know, there's a little bit of Stockholm syndrome, though, as well, because I desperately need some of like my coworkers and colleagues and such to pay attention to me so I can't be as strident as I would like to, considering they are hurting, I mean, my profession and my community and attacking my town and my library and such. Uh so there's a little bit of, and and and at the end of the day, I don't know what that gains us by you know being so strident. But at the same time, like we need to have a spine and a backbone and say, no, these are values that I am not going to compromise on. All right. I absolutely have, and so when I'm telling, you know, new candidates, I said, always lead with your values.

SPEAKER_04 53:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 53:38

I value this. I uh I believe in the dignity of you know every loving relationship, you know, by consenting adults.

SPEAKER_03 53:48

Yes, exactly. You know, that that's the second question then. Right. So you are uh powerless in your state. You have the you're overwhelmed by the majority. They're they're awful people, they're rolling over you every day. How do you get up and go to work every day knowing that you're going to be, you know, beating your head non-stridently? Stridency is my my area of expertise. I will I will do that. I'll be Mr. Outside. But how do you go to work every day knowing that the people you're dealing with are some of them are unsalvageable? And I hate to hate to use that word as a good liberal, but they are. And and that no matter what you do, you know, they're gonna be there tomorrow. And that is a question for all of us, I think. But it most especially you guys are like the tip of the spear when it comes to fixing things and getting laws passed. So how do you get up every day and do that?

SPEAKER_05 54:36

Yeah. Um, so when I left bedside nursing for this, I told people that I traded in literal blood and poop for metaphorical blood and poop. That's what I that's that's what I traded in. The other thing is that during bedside during COVID, I got up and put on my scrubs and I went to do battle against a relentless, deadly pathology. I don't see a lot of daylight between being a COVID nurse before the vaccine and doing this. And that's why I think people like me and my profession and and others are uniquely placed to do this. This is a relentless, deadly pathology. The cost of failure is catastrophic and not trying. And there are times when it's hard. Yeah. But at the end of the day, the thing that keeps me going is I have 22,000 people of registered bosses that need me to show up and work. They put me there. It's something that I asked for. It's something that I want. And, you know, we had somebody resign the very first day of the first day of the 103rd, which was back in January of 2025. And the governor never called a special session. So the good people of the 95th district had no representation for two years. That's while it was a Republican, and guess what? The person who's a Democrat who's running there now, she picked up um, she picked up 12 points and is now it's a competitive district.

SPEAKER_03 56:15

Well, it sounds like you're one of those people that kind of bets on the future. Like you think that there might be a way through and out, and you're willing to s to to keep at it.

SPEAKER_05 56:25

Because I mean, yeah, I you know, I we you you have you have you have kids, you know. Oh yeah. Um, so you get it. Like the cost of not doing anything, and this is just a role that I have, um, that I asked for, that I worked really hard for, and that and the person before me actually had a significant um uh had had a pretty significant like mental health crisis. And I mean he was very open about it. Um said this is not the job for me, so I'm not gonna be able to do this. Um, you can do this, and I said, hell no. Uh like, but this is public service for me, and this is, I mean, I we don't get paid a lot.

SPEAKER_04 57:05

Right.

SPEAKER_05 57:05

Um, you know, I'm leaving a thousand dollars a week on the table to do this job. And going from, you know, bedside nursing, um, like there's a lot of money that I can make as a bedside nurse. But if I can go out and inspire other people and teach them how to get involved and say that even if a dumb schmuck like me can do this, you can do this too. Like, come on out. Um, you know, I didn't have a primary opponent or a general opponent. It's one of three things. Either I'm really good at my job, or I'm really bad at my job, and the opposition doesn't want to put anybody up against who can be more effective, uh-huh, you know, or I mean it's probably a combination of these, you know. So the is or you know, uh some kind of combination, but that's how how do you get up? Like this is this is what you do. Um the stakes are high and it's it's it's real. And how can you look for every little advantage that you can?

SPEAKER_04 58:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 58:06

Uh I work for a little bit in critical care, ICU nursing, but majority of my career is is med surge, um, bedside nursing, you know, um, acute care, not critical care. But when you're a critical care nurse, you are looking for every tiny little advantage because if you're in the ICU, the machines are breathing for you. We have like all these, like you have instantaneous access to, you know, uh heart rate and blood pressure through an arterial line, and you're looking for any tiny little change, you know, a drop in calcium or you know, just any kind of little change because the the consequences are be catastrophic. You're looking for any tiny little advantage. Bedside nursing is like, look, it you know, people tell you when they have chest pain. Yeah. You know, like people will walk and talk and do those kinds of things, most of them. So I think of it more like critical care nursing of like trying to find those events, trying to build those relationships with people that maybe are not as um are are not as trumpified. Um, they are there. There's there's people that I know that if they were in a different district, they'd probably be Democrats. But because they're not, and so they put forward some pretty kind of progressive things. I'm like, let's go. All right. What like how and I ask people like, if I do you need my help with this, should I be silent or should I be vocal? Like, what kind of help do you need?

SPEAKER_03 59:30

Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Do you want me to be on your side or not?

SPEAKER_05 59:33

You know, right, yeah. Like, like uh so you have to be kind of smart in terms of politics, you know, the that level of politics. But um, that's how I mean that's it, it is COVID nursing kind of prepared me for this of you just get up and go to work uh because there's there are people that need my help. And I mean, I was the most senior member on my floor, so I knew where everything was. I could work every computer system. I'd work, I mean, I started as a janitor in the ICU before I became a nurse. So I knew everybody in the hospital and like all these tiny little nooks and crannies. I was the person that everybody turned to on my floor. Uh and those people needed me too. Not just my patients, but my staff needed me there as well. Doing the work that I was paid to do and making sure that after your 12-hour shifts, you go home and felt like we staved off death for those 12 hours.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

Right. You know, that it they say that it when you're going through hell, keep going, right?

unknown 1:00:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:35

Right. I mean, and if if I can be so uh bold, like, and you guys help me through that. I mean, like the professional left, um, you know, drift glass and bluegill is a staple in uh, you know, my house and in my head, making sure that there's somebody out there, you know, that uh, you know, that I I I give you guys a tithe, right? Like that's what it says.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:59

No, you're you're you're a supporter, you're a straight up supporter. Before we got you elected, um, we had nothing to do with that.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:08

Yeah, the DG and BG uh bump.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:12

Well, and you know, you you know our youngest child. I mean, yeah, right. Yeah, and you you and they get along pretty well.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:19

Uh it seemed to be. And so sometimes you gotta show your teeth to the other side, and sometimes you gotta know that kind of restraint, right? All right. Um, and know who your audience is. Um those are all things that um, again, being a nurse uh, you know, has done.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:37

So well, I'll tell you what. Um since we're gonna wrap this up a little in a little bit, um, and since we do have all nine people to listen to this podcast will will love this interview. I I had a great time, by the way. This is a I'd love talking to you.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:50

This is I can't believe like I like I'm one degree now from um uh our good friend Charlie.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:56

Yeah, no, you are you are tired of Charlie Pierce. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:59

Right, like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:01

You and Jay Rosen and Charlie Pierce are like right like that. Um usually people who come on here, which is not usual at all. We we like they have a book or they have a is there anything our listeners can do for you? Can they contact you? Can they what what do you want from us?

SPEAKER_05 1:02:17

Uh I I I I I I don't know the answer to that. Um, obviously, uh I don't know if I can ask them for money or not, but you know, I I was talking with a campaign consultant and they're like, look, only talk to people that can give you money or votes right now. And that was like that was like a long time ago. Like, if they're not if they can't give you money or votes, don't talk to them. Like, just keep going. Uh, you know, uh, again, I I know that there's people that voted for Republicans and voted for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:46

Because I was able to outwork everybody else and show up on their doorsteps and actually listen. And uh, you know, there how do you gain influence with people that you know are addicts? How do you, you know, there's I had door slammed on my face, you know, a handful of times, but otherwise, you know, the most important thing is the next door. Like, how can you help me? Uh, the the listeners keep going, keep making sure you have a spine and know who you are, and know that there are people that have very little power, um, but are out there every day fighting and scheming and conspiring and being an accomplice and creating a future that we can be proud of. Um, and again, the the addicts have got to hit rock bottom. Um, do but at the same time, we don't turn our backs on addicts either. We have to be the kind of people that allow them to change their mind. We shouldn't treat them like dogs and rub their nose in their shit or anything like that. We've got to be there, but we also don't want to give them the keys to the truck ever again. No, because we've seen what they have done. So, I mean, they're acting like rich kids, like, well, my you know, my dad will just buy me another BMW, whatever. I can wreck it, I can drive recklessly.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

Yeah, um, but you're talking about the country now, a whole yes, they are.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:13

I can wreck the country. So what? And you know, and and and and and and this is something else that I've said, and it's time to choose upsides.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:21

I could do one, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:22

But we gotta choose upsides now because you know, uh, we need a legislative Sherman march. Yeah, you know, like this is what we need. Like, you don't get to do this to us anymore. You don't get to beat up on our kids, you don't get to defund our schools. There's schools in Missouri that are only going four days a week. You don't get to do this. Like, standing up data centers are gonna be big here. There's a there was um a bunch of county commissioners, they all lost their jobs because they were doing data centers and signing NDAs with the people. And and there was an election, and guess what? All of them lost.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:58

All right, a little a little bit off there, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:01

Yeah, you know, uh, so this is gonna be the for for the 104th General Assembly, this is gonna be the next big fight is data centers. What kind of world are we gonna be leading our kids when it comes to clean air, clean water, nutritious food, and an education system? Um, and also I'll say this that there's three different types of like conversations that take place, three different types of communications that take place down there. One of them is like the um the flattery from the lobbyists and such. Like that I had all lobbyists tell me that I had a great smile, and I go, Yeah, you gotta say that. You know, Greg, you're gonna be able to do that. Nobody's gonna say you got bad breath because they want something from you, right? Right. Um, somebody uh, so that that's one kind. There's another kind um that is total and complete abusive talk of just gaslighting and just going like this is mind boggling. There is a third kind, and I've had really good luck with some more of the reasonable members. There's this like real honest. Honesty because particularly from Republicans, because I don't need your vote for anything. So if I ask them their opinion, they will tell me. They will absolutely tell me I don't need you for anything. And they're not mean to me or anything else. They'll they'll say, like, I can't support this because this, this, this in my community. And it's like this refreshing honesty. It's like an oasis, you know, a cool breeze under a heat dump.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:24

Like, oh, there's a moment when if you've ever seen uh Parks and Wreck, oh yeah, um when Leslie's running for office and uh and she has a campaign consultant and he's telling her stuff and her consultant says, You can trust me because I don't care enough about you to lie to you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:41

Right. Yes, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:44

Oh, okay. And you're being brutally honest, and that's really valuable information. That's really good.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:50

That is, and so and be a person of your word. If you say you're gonna do something, vote for it. Don't switch your vote, don't lie to people, don't do that. And so uh, you know, when I met people on the doors, I'm like, I'm a I'm a registered nurse and I'm you know your candidate for state representative. What's on your mind? You start like we lead it with the nurse, all of a sudden, because it's the most trusted profession. Like, oh, let's vote for the nurse. You know, like oh like he's done consequential things, things that had like life and death, like stood in the gap between life and death. Like that was my job. And so I I translate that down there still as well. And I'm sorry if I'm all over the place on that. Uh I can't really watch Parks and Rec anymore. Uh, there's uh one of my colleagues it said that um Ron Swanson is his spirit animal.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:34

Um and I'm like, oh I you know, I'm gonna tell you, man, that's cool and all, but ain't nobody getting in your way. Like, we have a lot of empty space here in Missouri. Go out into the forest and live there. Yeah, go out, dig a hole to poop in, and whatever you want to do, and I won't bother you, I promise I won't bother you. But you're standing in the way of us having public schools. You're standing in the way of us having like I said, so what keeps you in civilization? Uh he said, Well, I guess I you know I like electricity. I said, All right, so you've been domesticated.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:05

That's right. That's right. You're tame, man. You live in the cage, you live in the cage with the rest of us.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:10

So, but he's uh and he's somebody who will tell me honestly stuff. So we actually have a pretty good relationship. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:16

That's really that's important. Yeah, that's important to tell you, tell you these things. Well, um, so you and I and all the rest of us are engaged in a conspiracy to do good, terrible dark conspiracy to do as much good as possible, which is not the worst thing to be in this world.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:30

No, no, I am a willing accomplice um for all these people. And also being a white white guy, um, I get to go places and say things that other people can't.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:41

And using that kind of privilege. And I just came up with this phrase the other day, and I was thinking about this: like, there's so many people have been doing work on so many fronts on LGBTQ uh fronts for so long, um, abortion, um, racial, you know, uh equity and such. Everybody's uh uh if you look like me and talk like me and act like me, you don't need to lead this. There's already people that are doing the work, and that's why I talk about co-conspire. But here's what we need to do, um, Driftglass is we need to be in front. We are not leaders, we need to be in front to catch the fire.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:16

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:17

Because that is what's happening. I don't, I don't want to lead on these issues, but I absolutely need to use this to be in front, to catch that fire, because they have been there's so many people that are doing this work for violence in the community. Don't I don't need to go into our office of violence prevention and say, here's what you ought to do. Right. This man has been doing the work since forever. Yeah, you're I don't need to go into these places, but I need to be in front and let them know that they're not alone. I'm gonna use my privilege and I will be there to catch fire. And that's why ally is a dirty word to me right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:48

Yeah, our job is to ask how can I help? Yes, yes, how can I help? How can I use it? How can I help?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:54

Yep. Yes, because you've been doing the work already. Um, and so I have uh those are the kinds of things. So just if you're if tell your listeners, or I'm guessing I'm telling them.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:04

You are telling them, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:05

Yeah, both of them. Uh um I make sure that you kind of understand what you're people that have different roles, but just don't go in and think that you I mean, or mansplain or white splain or any of the other sort of stuff. Like approach people with humility and compassion and let them lead and you be in front to catch the fire.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:31

Please do that. That is a really great place to leave us today. How does that sound?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:36

That's uh what a what an honor to see you again. A pleasure to talk with you. It's such a pleasure. I've got um, yeah. Um, what a thank you for doing the work that you're doing and for framing things. And um, I think I you probably have a royalty check coming because I've used a lot of your stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:53

It's all public domain. You know what? I got my soros check in one hand. I got my uh you know, every time someone says dumpster fire, I get 20 bucks. So I'm I'm I'm rolling in it, man. I'm rolling it.

unknown 1:11:05

Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:06

Best wishes, best wishes to you and and blue gal, and um uh you guys just keep doing the work um and contextualizing. It's it's so it's needed. Well, you guys do very much.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:18

Thank you for taking the time. I really do appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:20

Each week we post to our Patreon page and website an internet kitty sent in by you, the listeners. This week's internet kitty is Barack Hussein, the Kenyan usurper, our kitty, who is dealing with a health issue. Uh, he was at the vet today, and he was sent home from the vet today, which I was not expecting, I have to say. Uh, so we take that as a very good sign. Uh, and during his recovery, you can bet your sweet Bippy that we'll be serving Barack, freshly poured cat food, our fake sponsor. Whether you serve Pet Store Perfection or Dollar Store Drek, your cat's health and well-being depends on the fact that the food they eat is only freshly poured.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:03

Oh my lord, it's freshly poured. That's the flavor they adore. Small scoop and hearts of sore. Oh my lord, it's freshly poured. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:19

And you can visit our own Barack Hussein, the Kenyan usurper, at our Patreon page, patreon.com forward slash prolef pod or our website, prolefpod.com. Please send your prayers as well to our family and to our kitty right now. They could use them. And you can send your kitty, dog, or other pet to us at our email address, prolefpodcast at gmail.com, subject line internet kitty. And you can also write to both of us at prolefpodcast at gmail.com. Feel free to write to us. We love hearing from you. Be aware that if you write to us at any of our addresses, we reserve the right to read your email or U.S. Postal Service Go Postal Unions letter on the air unless you say otherwise.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:07

And don't forget our gourmet coffee guideline. If you can afford an espresso-based beverage for yourself, buy one for us at patreon.com forward slash prolef pod. This is not a cherry. This is our job that we do every week with your help and support. You can also help us out a great deal, continuing to grow by sharing this show on social media with a friend of yours. If you love this podcast, introduce it to a friend. They'll love you for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:31

Hey Drift Class, how are the Internet Kitties doing this week?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:34

Well, Blue Gal, the Internet Kitties would like to thank the Springfield After Hours Emergency Care Pet Clinic. They know what they did, and we thank them for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:09

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