Transcript: It’s Sanders v. Schumer in Several Key Dem Primaries

Now why wouldn’t you say it was blue? Well, because you’re worried about what some folks who are dead set about shifting our politics to make us all believe that the sky is brown, right? Or some other color. You are worried about what they’re going to say about you. And what that tells me is you are not a person of conviction. What that tells me is you are not a person who is more worried about being right about and finding the truth than you are about being politic. And what that tells me is when it comes to other hard questions, you’re probably going to bend. Because if you’re not willing to call the sky blue, what are you willing to say?

And I just think that this is a Rorschach test on our values because it tells folks, if you can’t name the murder of 20,000 children and tens of thousands more adults, the destruction of their basic infrastructure, their homes, their universities, their hospitals, and the attempt to move them out of their own lands, because people in other countries speak the same language as they do. If you can’t call that a genocide, part of me is just like, I’m so sorry, but it tells me that you are morally corrupt. I’m like, you just… it takes too much. Some people, though, in our politics, want to pretend that none of this is true. 

I actually give credit to Senator McMorrow for finally being pushed there. But it does also tell me that you are not somebody who leads with your morals first. You lead with what you think is politically feasible and then let the politics follow from there. And if that’s who you are, I think Michiganders are sick and tired of that kind of politician leading, because we want people who are actually fighting on their values.

Bacon: Anything else you want to add? Is there anything you want to add from what you’re thinking or what you saw in Michigan specifically?

Let’s finish there.

El-Sayed: Yeah. I think we’re at a crossroads in our politics. I think that this is a moment right now where the old way wasn’t working. I ran in 2018, and I said something folks weren’t quite ready to hear: Donald Trump himself is not the disease of our politics. Donald Trump is just the worst symptom of the disease of our politics.

Are we willing to deal with the disease? And the disease is the way that huge corporations and billionaires and would-be oligarchs buy and sell politicians to do their bidding. In order to deal with that system, we are going to have to lead on the courage of our convictions. We are going to have to be able to say the uncomfortable, true things, and to say them everywhere. And I think if we do, we have a chance. But if Democrats continue to play this hemming and hawing game where we are more interested in whether or not we’re going to get a corporate PAC check than whether or not our values are clear and direct—if we’re more interested in worrying about some special interest like AIPAC and less interested in whether or not we’re telling the truth about the murder of innocent kids, I worry that we’re not going to get there.

And we’re going to be down this path one more time, and we’re going to watch as our society continues to ratchet in a direction that is increasingly dangerous. This is a moment for courage. It’s a moment for truth. It’s a moment for honesty and integrity. And frankly, that’s the only reason I ran. I’m not that excited about the job. I’ll be honest with you. Like, I don’t even know what I’d talk about with Chuck Grassley. I’m interested in the work, and we need more politicians who are willing to stand up because they care more about the work than they care about the job.

Bacon: That’s a great place to end on. Thank you for joining me. I appreciate it. Happy Thanksgiving to you and everybody else as well.

El-Sayed: Bye-bye to you as well. Thanks everybody.