Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now the chair of the Texas Democratic Party.
I ran and I promised to bring some new life
into the party. Kendall Scudder is with us. Kendall, welcome in,
Thanks for being.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Here, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
So yeah, let's start right out of the gate with
what's going on with the Democratic Party and where they are.
I mean, it just seems that they really are kind
of lost, and there was no real self awareness going
into the election. You know, and obviously the country voted
for Donald Trump overwhelmingly won all the battleground states and
won the popular vote as well. But you know, four
(00:31):
years of Joe Biden and his cognitive skills kept under wraps,
and they hit him. And can you imagine President Trump
stepping out in front of reporters going, I can't talk anymore.
They tell me I'll get in trouble. I mean, it's
the country's just looking at this, going, really, this is
our commander in chief here, and the country, you know,
got off track in America resoundingly responded, we want some
(00:53):
change here. And now you look at some of these
polling numbers on who's the leadership, and AOC flows to
the top as one of the ones that people are
thinking about your thoughts on what's happened to the Democratic
Party and how bad is it right now?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, I think that political leaders right now are pulling
poorly across the board. The most recent pole I saw
shows that Donald Trump is less popular right now than
any modern president.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, I talked about those polls. Let's talk about the
Democratic Party. We talked about those Fox pulling numbers here
just a minute ago.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
But yeah, look, look to me.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I think that the Democrats have a couple of options.
They can either argue with people and tell them they
were wrong, or they could look at the mirror and
try to all out the mistakes that they've made. I
think the one of the big mistakes they've made is
they've let Republicans tell them what issues they need to
be talking about. They're constantly trying to talk about social issues,
and they've moved away from what the bread and butter
of what created the Democratic Party is, and that's economics.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
We as a party were.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Built as being the party that were looking out for
the little guy, poor people against corporations and billionaires and
banks that are constantly looking.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
To rake them across the coals.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Instead, we get sucked into these fights over social issues
that I just don't think are particularly productive. We have
to get back to understand, helping people understand who we
are as a party that we get out of bed
every single day, trying to figure out how to make
life easier for the people who go to work every day,
families like mine out in East Texas. That is where
I intend to bring the party and try to focus
(02:16):
on that economic message. When you see people doing that,
whether they're in the more center portion of our party
or the left portion of our party, they're getting huge crowds.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And getting a lot of excitement.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I think that people are itching for a government that's
trying to solve their problems, not sent around and.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Fight with each other on culture wars.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, the culture wars it seemed to, you know, take
center stage and the wolk wave that swept this country
over the last four years. I don't think did anybody
any good. I mean, when you're having court discussions at
the Supreme Court about talking about bondage issues in children's books,
I mean, what do we how do we even get
to this point in America? It's just outrageous and common
(02:54):
sense is no. You ought not to be talking about
handcuffs and whips and leather when you're reading the elementary kids,
just bizarro. And when you talk about where the country
was and what were the priorities. Obviously, the economy is
always a priority with Republicans, Democrats and the American people,
but right there, the kind of edged itself above economy
(03:15):
at the last minute was the security of our lack
thereof at our border and just everybody come on in
and here comes to criminals and gang members, and cities
became unruly and people were being assaulted and killed. And
you know, did the Democrats miss this or because the
boats you know, for Trump overwhelming issue number one protection
(03:37):
of this country.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Well, you know, in the same breath where you just
said you didn't like culture wars, you then went to
talk about banning books and go into this immigration situation
when the reality is the issues were facing aren't about
left and right. They're about top and bottom and about
billionaires that constantly have their boots on our neck and
are doing everything that they can to try to degrade
our public schools so we can't get educations, try to
(03:59):
make things more difficul for us to repay these student
loan plans. Right now, we're seeing that they they just
eliminated our income based student loan repayment plans for young
folks that are just trying to make their way in life.
Houses are too expensive to afford, interest rates are too high,
insurance is outrageous. You know, everybody's spending their time talking
about those issues you just mentioned, but they aren't talking
about things that are going to make my life easier
(04:20):
when they get.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Out of bed.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Well, making my life easier means I don't have to
worry about trade at Ragua or MS thirteen, you know
coming in my house.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well, you know I would make an argument here in
Texas that that actually our terrible gun laws is why
those cartels have guns. There's one gun store in the
entire country of Mexico.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So the immigration policies of Joe Biden don't have anything
to do with the fact that open borders became a
thing in this country.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I think that the immigration policies of all of our
leadership over the last few decades have led to any
immigration problem that we have.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Do you believe that there was an Do you believe
that if there was an influx of illegals coming across
our border under Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I think that there was an influx of apprehensions that
were across our border during Joe Biden's administration, but that's
not productive to this conversation. The conversation that I'm telling
you about is that the American public want us to
start talking about their pocketbook issues. They want to start
talking about ways that we can make their lives easier,
and no one's doing that right now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Okay, well, Kendall, I appreciate you. We're up against the
clock here. Thank you so much for joining me. I
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Hey, glad to be here,
Joining us now the chair of the Texas Democratic Party.
I ran and I promised to bring some new life
into the party. Kendall Scudder is with us. Kendall, welcome in,
Thanks for being.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Here, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
So yeah, let's start right out of the gate with
what's going on with the Democratic Party and where they are.
I mean, it just seems that they really are kind
of lost, and there was no real self awareness going
into the election. You know, and obviously the country voted
for Donald Trump overwhelmingly won all the battleground states and
won the popular vote as well. But you know, four
(00:31):
years of Joe Biden and his cognitive skills kept under wraps,
and they hit him. And can you imagine President Trump
stepping out in front of reporters going, I can't talk anymore.
They tell me I'll get in trouble. I mean, it's
the country's just looking at this, going, really, this is
our commander in chief here, and the country, you know,
got off track in America resoundingly responded, we want some
(00:53):
change here. And now you look at some of these
polling numbers on who's the leadership, and AOC flows to
the top as one of the ones that people are
thinking about your thoughts on what's happened to the Democratic
Party and how bad is it right now?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, I think that political leaders right now are pulling
poorly across the board. The most recent pole I saw
shows that Donald Trump is less popular right now than
any modern president.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, I talked about those polls. Let's talk about the
Democratic Party. We talked about those Fox pulling numbers here
just a minute ago.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
But yeah, look, look to me.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I think that the Democrats have a couple of options.
They can either argue with people and tell them they
were wrong, or they could look at the mirror and
try to all out the mistakes that they've made. I
think the one of the big mistakes they've made is
they've let Republicans tell them what issues they need to
be talking about. They're constantly trying to talk about social issues,
and they've moved away from what the bread and butter
of what created the Democratic Party is, and that's economics.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
We as a party were.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Built as being the party that were looking out for
the little guy, poor people against corporations and billionaires and
banks that are constantly looking.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
To rake them across the coals.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Instead, we get sucked into these fights over social issues
that I just don't think are particularly productive. We have
to get back to understand, helping people understand who we
are as a party that we get out of bed
every single day, trying to figure out how to make
life easier for the people who go to work every day,
families like mine out in East Texas. That is where
I intend to bring the party and try to focus
(02:16):
on that economic message. When you see people doing that,
whether they're in the more center portion of our party
or the left portion of our party, they're getting huge crowds.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And getting a lot of excitement.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I think that people are itching for a government that's
trying to solve their problems, not sent around and.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Fight with each other on culture wars.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, the culture wars it seemed to, you know, take
center stage and the wolk wave that swept this country
over the last four years. I don't think did anybody
any good. I mean, when you're having court discussions at
the Supreme Court about talking about bondage issues in children's books,
I mean, what do we how do we even get
to this point in America? It's just outrageous and common
(02:54):
sense is no. You ought not to be talking about
handcuffs and whips and leather when you're reading the elementary kids,
just bizarro. And when you talk about where the country
was and what were the priorities. Obviously, the economy is
always a priority with Republicans, Democrats and the American people,
but right there, the kind of edged itself above economy
(03:15):
at the last minute was the security of our lack
thereof at our border and just everybody come on in
and here comes to criminals and gang members, and cities
became unruly and people were being assaulted and killed. And
you know, did the Democrats miss this or because the
boats you know, for Trump overwhelming issue number one protection
(03:37):
of this country.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Well, you know, in the same breath where you just
said you didn't like culture wars, you then went to
talk about banning books and go into this immigration situation
when the reality is the issues were facing aren't about
left and right. They're about top and bottom and about
billionaires that constantly have their boots on our neck and
are doing everything that they can to try to degrade
our public schools so we can't get educations, try to
(03:59):
make things more difficul for us to repay these student
loan plans. Right now, we're seeing that they they just
eliminated our income based student loan repayment plans for young
folks that are just trying to make their way in life.
Houses are too expensive to afford, interest rates are too high,
insurance is outrageous. You know, everybody's spending their time talking
about those issues you just mentioned, but they aren't talking
about things that are going to make my life easier
(04:20):
when they get.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Out of bed.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Well, making my life easier means I don't have to
worry about trade at Ragua or MS thirteen, you know
coming in my house.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well, you know I would make an argument here in
Texas that that actually our terrible gun laws is why
those cartels have guns. There's one gun store in the
entire country of Mexico.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So the immigration policies of Joe Biden don't have anything
to do with the fact that open borders became a
thing in this country.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I think that the immigration policies of all of our
leadership over the last few decades have led to any
immigration problem that we have.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Do you believe that there was an Do you believe
that if there was an influx of illegals coming across
our border under Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I think that there was an influx of apprehensions that
were across our border during Joe Biden's administration, but that's
not productive to this conversation. The conversation that I'm telling
you about is that the American public want us to
start talking about their pocketbook issues. They want to start
talking about ways that we can make their lives easier,
and no one's doing that right now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Okay, well, Kendall, I appreciate you. We're up against the
clock here. Thank you so much for joining me. I
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Hey, glad to be here,
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