we now have the new chair of the
democratic party Ken Martin thanks so
much for taking the time again oh I'm so
great to be back with you Brian it's
amazing I talked to you what a week or
two ago and and now I'm here as a new
DNC chair and I'm ready to roll up my
sleeves I appreciate you taking the time
and having me back on well there's a lot
of work to do so I want to ask right off
the bat what changes are you looking to
implement at the DNC well lots of
changes of course I talked about many of
them on the show with you a couple weeks
back but the first thing that I want to
do right out of the gate to stand up a
permanent campaign as I said before I
want to get the DNC out of DC some
people ask me well what do you mean are
you going to actually move the
headquarters out of out of uh DC no it's
really a mindset change right really
thinking about how we get back into the
states build this party from the
Grassroots up focusing on of course
making sure we win back the Congress
White House the Senate uh breaking uh
local Republican control at the at the
local level you know we have so many
offices of course that we have to
contest races up and down the ballot as
I've mentioned and in every zip code so
one is standing up the permanent
campaign full-time yearound organizing
full-time yearound Communications
getting out there and making sure we're
taking our message to all of these new
information spaces as you and I have
talked about the second thing we need to
do right now is stand up our war room
really to take on uh Donald Trump to
fight back and also to Define our party
this is really critical right now and we
saw that just in the last you know two
weeks alone right right I mean think
about this uh you know uh Elon Musk
already has proven after two weeks that
he's the worst president that the United
States has ever had right and and I say
that jokingly but you know clearly he's
been put in charge of dismantling our
government and you know you can look at
uh what's happening with uh him
proposing to end the Department of
Education and and sabotaging the free
tax filing system which benefits so many
uh lowincome families and and middle
class families throughout this country
there's so much that they're doing which
requires us as a Democratic party right
now to be standing up fighting back
making sure people see us uh you know I
think I mentioned this to you before
Brian you know de the Democratic party I
remember in 2016 someone saying to me
that the Republican party is Shameless
but the Democratic party is spineless uh
I want to make sure that our party has a
spine that we've stiffened our spine we
are resolved and ready for the fight in
front of us and that we are getting out
there not only defining ourselves but
also taking on Donald Trump and the
billionaire cabinet that bought this
country I want to talk about messaging
for just a moment and and one one piece
of advice that I would offer unsolicited
is that that I think one issue that the
Democrats have have made a pattern of
repeating is that something happens we
wait to respond to it we create a void
that Republicans will then fill with
whatever disinformation or whatever
narrative they want to fill it with and
it's gone all the way back from
Obamacare passing and and there was a
messaging void that allowed Republicans
to Brand it as death panels moving
forward the hunter Biden stuff which we
didn't think was worth our time because
it was nonsense about some laptop he's a
private citizen well the Biden crime
family became a rallying cry on the
right moving forward I mean just just
this past week this the the plane crash
happened and we rightly waited to say
something about it because because there
were still bodies in the pic and Donald
Trump came out and blamed Dei so so in
instance after instance after instance
when Democrats wait and allow
Republicans to fill that void it's when
they're able to completely control the
narrative and you know right now you're
you're in you're at the DNC you've got
you've got a a great opportunity to to
to bring folks in and message we've got
Studios there and uh and and I do hope
that moving forward we'll see a a big
sea change there in terms of getting
members getting uh elected officials and
Senators out there to to immediately own
the narrative in a way that we haven't
seen before well you're hitting on
something that I think is really
important here right and that's part of
the war room is a realtime messaging
operation that responds very quickly
right does not allow that space to be
filled by uh Republicans and their
misinformation and disinformation
operation right we talked about this
before think about after the California
wildfire within within hours not even
hours within minutes the Republican uh
Republican party the conservative
movement in this country started
orchestrating this this this completely
erroneous conspiracy theory that the
reason there is a water shortage is
because Gavin Nome blew up a dam to help
uh save some fish of course that
percolated out to mainstream reporters
and what did g governor Nome have to do
all day as mainstream reporters had him
on his heels defending just this madeup
nonsense and garbage from the Republican
party so this is the risk to your point
if we're not actively in real time
combating the misinformation the lies
the garbage from the Republicans right
we are we are then on the heels having
to defend ourselves against this crap
that's just we've got to do a
better job as Democrats in responding in
real time and again I want to be very
clear because I think the mistake we
make oftentimes is just chasing Donald
Trump down every rabbit hole right we
don't need to to win every battle right
but we do need or fight every battle but
we do need to win the war and that means
we have to be very smart we have to be
very strategic but we cannot allow those
spaces of misinformation and
disinformation to be uncontested
messaging aside we also have a broader
brand issue I think the latest polling
showed that about 31% of Americans would
support the Democratic party just as a
as an entity unto itself how do you
begin the work of repairing a deeply
damaged Democratic brand well I mean
first you have to speak very clear very
loud and strong Americans want a strong
fighter but I think at the end of the
day you know as we've talked about right
uh you know last year there was a poll
that came out that showed the
perceptions of the two political parties
has completely changed now the majority
of Americans believe that the Republican
Party best represents the interests of
the working class in the poor Democratic
party is a party of the wealthy and the
elites as I said before of course the
only two groups we overperformed with
last year were wealthy households and
college educated voters that's a damning
indictment on our party so what we have
to do right is we have to show people uh
that we're going to be strong and stand
up and fight for our values and fight
for their lives um you know but what I I
think is really important here is you
know it's not our message and this is
really important because I see a lot of
Democrats of course trying to course
correct after this last election and say
we need a whole new policy prescription
a whole new agenda and you know Missouri
the state of Missouri is a perfect
example in this Brian they passed a
minimum wage increase Paid Family Leave
they passed abortion protections all by
wide margins those same voters went down
the ticket and voted for Donald Trump
and the Republicans so I really want to
caution people in this moment to
overcorrect and throw out very popular
policies that we Champion as Democrats
the challenge is really partly a brand
problem but it's not a message or policy
problem it's a messaging problem right
and you highlighted the fact that we
need to be more proactive and and
respond uh in in real time that's part
of the challenge for sure in combating
misinformation and disinformation but
the other piece we need to do is figure
out why in the hell people are not
connecting the things that they support
by wide margins throughout this country
these things are passing in ballot
initiative and referenda yet people are
not connecting them back to our party
and candidates that's a messaging
problem people need to know that we give
a damn right and you know as I've said
you know it's really important to
remember in this big tent Coalition that
we have as Democrats what unites us
right and I talked about this last time
and I'm going to talk about it again
because the reality what unites us as
Democrats is economics right you know a
corn farmer down in southern Minnesota
like my my father-in-law and a a steel
worker up on the Iron Range and a new
Refugee in the Twin Cities the thing
that unites them is a belief in the
American dream the idea that if you work
hard you should be able to build a
better life from you for you and your
family and climb the economic ladder
that's that's what unites this big tent
Coalition and the Democratic party we
need to get back to that in terms of our
brand we need to Center the conversation
around kitchen table issues uh and focus
on the things that really animate voters
again and give them a sense that we
haven't forgotten about them and you
know I'll tell you Brian I'm going to
just quick quickly share a story with my
father-in-law he's a beef cattle uh
farmer down in southern Minnesota and
you know he voted for Democrats his
whole life yet in 2016 2020 and 24 he
voted for for Trump and the reason I
share this story is because when I asked
him why'd you vote for Trump I thinking
he'd give me some sort of you know
reason around egg policy or Farm farming
you know it really came out pretty clear
is that he was feeling forgotten he was
talking about the fact that his school
that he went to is closed down and
Consolidated with another school so he
didn't have a Friday night football game
to go to the clinic on Main Street that
he took his wife to for her healthc care
is closed so he's got to drive 50 Mi for
health care you know the church that he
went to and that I was married in uh has
closed down so here's this guy 85 years
old has a knot of anxiety around his uh
future he should be living Carefree is
on the end of his life but this guy is
worried about his future and his
community drying up around him that's
what we have to understand again right
that that politics at the end of the day
is very personal for people it's
perceptions and feelings about feeling
for God and left behind feeling like no
one gives a damn about their lives
that's what we have to do as a Democrat
you know I come from a very workingclass
background and there's so many people
just in my own life that have left the
Democratic party who've been with us for
years who don't feel like we're fighting
for them anymore or we give a damn about
them or their communities Maybe I'm
Wrong here Brian and I could be but I
think it's getting back to basics just
being the champion for the little fow
right just being a champion for the
person who you know lives in rural
America or in the suburbs or in the
urban core who not feeling like they can
get ahead right now it's much more
complex on that for sure but I just
think we got to get back to basics and
be the champion for working people in
this country again one particular
subgroup that Democrats did not perform
well with was young men um they pose a
particular problem obviously it's a
cohort that I'm that I'm focused on
because uh you know I I share a lot of a
lot of attributes with them what is your
plan to approach that issue and and the
reason I ask that in particular is
because you know for for young genz men
I mean that that's a cohort that
Democrats in the past should have no
issue with I mean the the notion that
that when I was growing up as you know
as a millennial that we would not have
young Millennial men when we were 18 to
25 would be a complete fiction and now
the sad reality is that that we have
lost uh young gen Z men and so uh moving
you know that's that's the future if if
if if we if we lose Young Folks now then
moving forward Democrats are are going
to have really tough tough time being
able to consolidate support so what do
you do about the young folks who have
lost who who who have left the party
well first I mean let me speak
specifically to young men because I
think that um you know I I have two uh
young men who are my sons 22 and 20
right and yeah I had you know when their
friends come over and they're drinking
beer here you know I sit around and
listen to what they're talking about and
there's uh real despair about their
future right a real sense uh you know as
you listen to them that they they feel
like um you know so many other people
around them are getting ahead but for
them they're they're not quite uh able
to and you know I think part of this is
we often times talk about uh as
Democrats about uh how we can help
people's lives we never really give
people a sense of what that looks like
and particularly young men who are
interested in building wealth and
prosperity really interested but feeling
like they're not giving as much of a
opportunity to do that uh and you know
so for us we really need to speak
specifically when we talk about
economics and climbing the economic L
ladder with younger men about wealth and
prosperity and give them a sense on how
to build that right and Democrats often
don't talk about uh that enough and I do
think that's part of it the other part
is you know coming on shows like yours
and you know getting out I said this the
last time I I talked to you people ask
me as a hunter where I go to hunt and
they think I'm going to tell them to you
know to my favorite deer stand or to the
woods uh no you go you go where the deer
are right and in this case we're not
reaching young voters generally because
we're not meeting them where they're at
right uh you know 40% of Americans avoid
the news at all costs yet 90% of
Americans have a smartphone meaning that
they're getting barraged with
information all the time yet the
Democratic party has been woefully inept
at really engaging in these new
information spaces so being on shows
like yours making sure that we're on all
these platforms where people are getting
their information and communicating just
very honestly in authentic uh in an
authentic way with trusted Messengers
and people they they know and trust to
to really bring them back into the
conversation and I think that's a big
part of it as well right it's how we
talk about issues for sure it's how we
give people a sense that we haven't
forgotten about them but it's also
meeting them where they're at so they're
they're hearing that information and
they're connecting to it well it sounds
like you have a good understanding of
the media ecosystem that we're operating
in and uh you have a tough road ahead
but um but glad glad we've got you in
the driver's seat here and very much
looking forward to to watching you do
your thing and uh and I'm wishing you
the most success so chair Martin thanks
so much for taking the time hey thank
you so much Brian I hope you'll have me
back
[Music]

It that possible?

Actually, I did click to toggle-off the time stamps at the beginning of each line.

I'm afraid that it would take lonber to carefully parse it into paragraphs (along with ID-ing who's speaking) than it would for me to just watch the stupid video.

My eyes are not the best.

* but even that proved to be difficult (for my old eyes too!)

and messaging. The Dem message is fine but our messaging is anything but. Love, love, love having Dem offices up and running all year not just during elections.