Hello everyone and welcome to this virtual commonwealth club program, my name is marisa lagos. I'm a correspondent for kqed's politics and government desk
This program is part of the commonwealth club's virtual series and we'd like to thank our members donors and supporters for making this and all
Our programs possible. We're grateful for their support and hope others will follow their example to support the club during these uncertain times
I'm, very happy to be here tonight with stan pfeiffer one of the co-hosts of positive
america
Dan was one of president obama's longest serving advisors working on two presidential campaigns
And spending six years in the white house as communications director and senior advisor to the president his new book
Untrumping america and a plan to make america a democrat democracy again
I can't even say the word anymore was released earlier this year and quickly became a new york times bestseller
In untrumping america pfeiffer argues if democrats don't mount an aggressive response in 2020 that recognizes who republicans are and what they've done
American democracy as we know it won't survive in this moment and a conservative shrinking mostly white minority will govern the country for decades
If you're watching along with us and have a question, you'd like me to ask dan
Please put it in the text chat on youtube or the comments on facebook and we'll be getting to those later in the program
Thanks dan for joining us. Well, thanks for being here. Thanks for doing this
So I know you have a book to discuss. We were joking a little before
Um, it came out in I think february and or march and I read it then and now it's been like 10 years in one
Yes
Um
But I feel like before we get into the meat of that we got to talk about the news this week
Um, yes, you might have heard. I think we have a vice presidential candidate. It appears that way. Yes
so, I mean you guys have been mulling this and talking about it as savvy and other people in our line of work for a
really long time but
Tell me just like your immediate gut reaction. Did you call it did you know?
I I did not know in advance. I did uh as part of positive
America, I did a three-part mini-series with my friend and vice presidential process expert
Alyssa master monaco about the vice presidential process there was it was mainly it was backwards looking at how it works and like what?
how the decisions are made but at the end of the last episode we
Each made a guess as to who we thought it would be alissa picked susan rice, I think kamala harris
So this is actually the first political prediction. I have gotten right since before donald trump was elected
So I feel pretty good about that. I mean it look I think it is a
It's a great choice. The reason it was a great choice was completely on display today
Is at the event that biden and senator harris did together in delaware
she
passes every test for
Being qualified for having for being a great candidate
on the trail be a great vice president and you can really
like the vice presidential selection process is so just like
Grinding and we breed people nitpick and they track the private flights everywhere
you kind of lose strike you lose track of the big thing and
Just see even though people thought for a very long time like betty markets poke predictors podcasters like myself thought kamala
Harris was the most likely pick the excitement?
from all across the party and the country when
She was picked speaks to something really powerful and you know people in my life who are not
Uh super involved in politics. Um
Were incredibly excited by this pick
So you mentioned the podcast and I just want to say I did tell alyssa if she wanted to join us tonight. I
Would have been happy to have her yes as as I would as well
Um, but I mean a lot of what you guys talked about in that podcast was like the process of both picking and then rolling
out a vice president candidate
Um, and you mentioned like yeah
If you're a twitter dork
like we are like
People were tweeting flight tracker information the last few days to see like who was actually going to delaware to talk to biden obviously
There's been like a slew of oppo research and different kind of
bombs, but
Before we get into some of that stuff. I just want to like ask you like how do you think this compares to past?
processes in terms of the actual choosing of kamala and then maybe you know the how they rolled it out, but
Which seemed is like coveted everywhere? Yeah, it's crazy effective. Yes. Yeah
Look, I mean the the biggest test of your vice presidential selection process is do you get to make the news yourself?
And they announced it like no, no, no reporter beat him to it
There was no leak and even in obama's 108 for his which is seen generally by a lot of people is the best run process
that actually leaked uh in
Advance, uh, the cnn actually beat our text message
Uh to announce it out and joe biden got to make the news on his own
So that's a real tribute to their process and I can't imagine the logistical challenges of doing this in covid
um, although maybe it's easier because they just did a zoom call as opposed to like sneaking or
sneaking senator harris in through the back of a building, you know by going to a to an airport, but
uh, yeah, I think their process seemed like
Ended I think it ended obviously with a great choice
But they were able to conduct it mostly in secrecy there obviously was a lot of turbulence
but I think that wasn't really related to the campaign, uh other than you know,
There were like the chris dodd comments about kamala harris
but that like that christ obviously is representative of the campaign and but the campaign very quickly distance themselves from that and then you
No one has ever never seen or heard from chris dot again. So
He did come out and say one nice thing about her I think oh he did, okay
Yes. Yes. That's what what we needed in this process was a 70-something. Uh former motion picture lobbyist. Yes
But like yeah all kinds of you know not
not in
it it is not a uh
Not someone who speaks to the moment we are in um, but I think to the binding campaign's credit
They ended up with a great pick and they ran out. They ran a really good process in a very tough situation and
people are really excited and every and it's a unifying pick, uh, you know use every
all every politician from every side of the you know, every wing of the party was very enthusiastic behind this and you know,
It's all the way
I remember this when obama became the nominee we knew obama was with the nominee
But when a black man named brock hussein obama actually accepted the nomination
It was this incredibly powerful thing that you can't you can know what's coming intellectually, but before it but until it happens
You can't truly feel it emotionally
And you saw that today from the response from the response from?
Women black women the asian community the the indian community just like speaking to a truly historic
Moment and it felt very powerful. I mean, yeah, even in san francisco everyone like put their knives down and as excited even if they
you know historically been within the city is very like
You know shades of blue fighting, you know, they're all like okay, this is good we can do this. I mean
what about before when we can move on because I know like not everybody likes this process stuff as much as we might but
I read that they
Interviewed like 11 people. I mean a lot of stuff you and alyssa talked about was how you usually kind of narrow it down
To a three or four it does sound like this was a pretty broad list for until the end
yeah, it seems like they
From you know, it's always hard to tell with these sort of pot, you know
ex-post-facto
Uh tic tac story as to what has really really happened
He he cast a very wide net apparently as many as 20 people in the beginning 11 people went through
it seems like the first round of the process and then it seems like
four or more went through the more vigorous part where the with the the
I think the investigating gets a little more, uh that like in terms of the financial records and things you turn over
But yeah, he cast a very wide net
I think it's the right thing because if you would probably ask joe biden on the very first day
Of this process and we said you have to pick someone right now
He probably would have picked kamala harris for every for all the reasons we've talked about, uh, including in addition to
The relationship that she had with his son
Um because we know how much that means to joe biden but going through the process was important
To make sure you end up in the right spot and you know
It was a wide-ranging and well-run process and I think it's to their credit
so the one thing about the process that some folks weren't super thrilled about was the kind of like
Battle royale that was created in the media between women because we knew it was going to be a woman
a lot of oppo research jumped out there about karen bass, um formerly sort of
Low-profile congresswoman from l.a. Um a lot of salivating from republicans over the possibility of susan rice
Given that you've been in that world and you know, i'm not expecting you to tell any secrets here, but like do you think
Hey, do you think that oppo was like coming from like the kamala camp or the other potential candidates or could some of it have?
Actually come from the biden campaign
Like is there ever a moment where you're just like we'd rather get this out now and see how it does
I don't I think it's highly unlikely
It came from the viking campaign
Um because just the way this process works is it's so walled off from anyone else and it's really attorneys
it's under a lock and key there's a thousand ndas signed because it's so important to protect the
Privacy of the people involved so I think it is
I cannot pos I would be shocked to find out that the binding campaign floated a trial balloon about
That event that karen bass attended 10 years ago at the scientology center or whatever that was
Um, that one was kind of the right look at the attacks. Anyway, yeah exactly
Uh, I look I think that there like there's been a lot of debate
about the merits of biden declaring at the front end that he was going to pick a woman right and one of the
Consequences of that is you end up in a process that pits women against other and particularly in the context
We're currently in about whether biden was going to pick a black woman, right?
and so now you're pitting black woman against black woman and woman against woman and that I think is real like I understand why people
Wanted this process to end as soon as possible
to the extent that there was an
there were two I think the reason biden made that announcement other than just her debate strategy at that time was
He had already come to that decision this mind and imagine if we'd spend the last three months
Having a debate about whether biden was going to pick a woman, right and I and I think especially if he'd already decided it
but I also think that a whole bunch of
Of really talented women politicians
Got a lot of
Became national figures in this process, you know karen bass has been in congress for a long time was not particularly
Well known outside of uh, california and congress susan rice seen in a very different light now val demings
keisha lance bottoms a whole bunch of people, but I think
Why they're certainly i'm certainly sensitive to or trying to be sensitive to the challenge
you know to how painful that process was at the time if there was any upside to it it was that the
That these women are national figures now and I think will be have bigger platforms to do bigger things, um in the future
well kamala unlike some of those other folks was pretty well known as
A lot of a lot of the oppo books had already been dumped on her at least by the democrats
um
and and um
Maybe i'll fold in this now because we're on this issue an audience member wants to know if you feel more optimistic about biden's chances
because of uh this pick
I do I do. I think uh, it's going to bring
Energy to the ticket it
I I you know, and I think you know biden has been underperforming with black voters. He is actually
At the level or a little bit below where hillary hillary clinton was in 2016
Now he is winning because he is overperforming with a bunch of other voters most. Uh, most notably. Um,
older with white seniors, um, but
Like hopefully this can bring some energy some additional energy to ticket and I think she's I mean she's a incredibly talented campaigner
There's I think there's real chemistry between the two of them
and so I think you know
There are five moments of matter in a presidential campaign vp selection convention in three debates and I think biden
At least 36 hours in has nailed that first part
So, uh, you know, he's one fifth of the way through the gauntlet he's gonna have to do to win
yeah, speaking of the vp debate like
How excited are people like you?
Well, I am someone who takes the expectations management very seriously
So everyone who's like every democrat is out there being like can't wait till she uh verbally decapitates mike pence. Uh,
Like I have great confidence
She will do well in that debate, but I think I think we should tone it back a little bit try to manage expectations
Because I saw this happen now, I would never in a hundred years compare kamala harris and john edwards
but one of the the one similarity was when they were both picked ever like one of the
pros in that k in the arguments was they will do a great job in debate and people spent no for
Talking about how john edwards silky, you know silver tongue trial lawyer with a whole bunch of other really serious problems
But would do so well in the debate against cheney and he lost that debate now, I think humble harris will win that debate
But as democrats my advice to people would be to try to let's puff up. Mike pence's debating skills a little bit
Uh before we because we also one other thing we know from watching the debates is the debates
It is very hard
the way debates are scored as gladiator contests often dovetail with
A lot of misogynistic language about women and women of color in particular and so the sort of zingers that would get
you know a
White man in particular applauded for in a debate stage could be treated very differently by the press coverage when it comes
To kamala harris. So this is what this is not in for all of her tremendous talents as a debater and a prosecutor. This is
Uh, a very difficult situation should be going into and so i'm for expectations man
i'm
Don't worry
i'll be tuning in but uh, I I want to I want to I want to modulate expectations so that we so that uh,
Mike pence not falling asleep in the debate isn't considered a win
Right and also to your point like pence, you know
is comes off as a really nice guy and I think that you know
as much as love is coming has gotten on the left for
You know her questioning of barr and former aj jeff sessions and and kavanaugh. They're
If you're talking about like swing voters or people there
that that whole like framing of sexism and
Could really come in
So, I mean you're right obviously that this has really coalesced a lot of people around. Um
Biden and you know bernie sanders elizabeth warren have all given kamala their support
Um, but there's still people on the left who are mad. I I noticed a uh,
Politico quote by norman solomon saying that we might be looking at 12 years of neo-liberal power at the top of the democratic party
Um, which struck me as maybe a little bit
overstated about who come like
and and what it really made me think of is like
The challenge that it feels like trump's campaign is already having defining her and biden which is like are they crazy lefties or are they?
You know
Not I mean in joe biden's case, you know sleepy joe or not not there
How do you think democrats should be thinking about?
sort of countering both the attacks from the left on her police record, but also
You know kind of thinking about how to deal with
The scatter shot approach but trump keeps winning it a lot of stuff. So it's not like it doesn't always work
Yeah, it's really like the trump campaign is completely confused about. I mean just generally confused which is still confused about
About connell's record because they want to they want to do two things at the same time
they want to paint her and joe biden as
radical left defund the police antifa super soldiers
and they want to go to some segment of
Black voters latino voters young progressive democratic voters and advertise to them that kamalas record
You know kamal the cop sort of
2020 democratic crimes and you can't do both
right that then you then neither of those arguments will work what I think they just have to do is continue doing like
Doing what they have been doing, which is staying focused on
The biggest crisis facing the country and showing that they are the ones to take it on
And trump cannot and will not do that job and you don't really have to chase him down all the rabbit holes
Um, just you know, I think to the biden campaigns great credit. They have been very very disciplined about sticking to
Their message and picking when to respond and when not to respond and I suspect that this the similar approach will be done here
I don't want to like
I mean again, I don't I don't want to understate like how much support I think kamal is getting but
Part of what democrats I think most political observers
Think need to do is to really excite the base to excite young people people of color
and there are people out there i'm seeing them in my twitter feed and facebook feed who are
Who feel like this is kind of again the same
Sort of establishment democrats. I mean
How does how do people you know?
And these are people I think that are more likely to stay home than they are to vote for trump. So
How how do you thread that needle right now? Well, I think it like there's some there are some folks
You're just not gonna get right and so like particularly some of the loudest voices on twitter. There's a whole group of people
Who?
you know sort of have
Sort of branded themselves in the bernie or bust category and you're probably not gonna get them I think with the
Overwhelming majority of available voters to you the best thing you can do
is
one some of what biden has been doing, which he
he moved significantly left on climate change and that was a very significant thing and I think that
And he's done it and he's going to have messengers who are going to help him sell that and the fact that aoc
Is in charge of his climate task force is very important
That bernie sanders is going to be out there making the case for it
Like I don't know that joe biden can go to these young
Progressive voters who are disenchanted with the primary process and how it went that. He himself is going to sell them on this but
The fact that he has elizabeth warren bernie sanders aoc, ayanna presley
jamal bowman and a whole bunch of
Other people who have real credibility with a lot of those voters making that case is going to help
Um
One last thing on camel and then let's move on to some other 2020 stuff
But you know one of the things that we'd all been kind of thinking about and waiting for who watched the obama presidency
And that relationship closely was you know
What kind of vice president was he looking for in terms of their relationship and he made really clear today that
He had made the same commitment to her that obama made to him
Which is I want you to be the last person in the room
um
i'm, just curious like what does that tell you about biden and kind of their relationship because a lot of vice presidents maybe get a
Promise made on the campaign trailer not as happy with how things work out once they're in the white house, right?
well
I think I mean biden
Obviously more than probably anyone who has ever run for this office was going to take this decision seriously in that respect
um
And it's just me like knowing him just the relationship with obama and how obama lives after those commitments meant so much to biden personally
And they became very very good friends as a part of it like, you know
Biden, you know?
Although kamal was also inducted as an honorary biden today that biden was obama was an honorary biden pretty early in their presidency
and I think it says uh
The foundation of the obama biden relationship was trust
and that they could they trusted to think that
Biden could give obama unvarnished advice
and biden obama could talk to biden and biden would keep it in his confidence and that
their that their
interest would never diverge right like one of the the hallmark
Elements of the entire year sometimes biden would make mistakes
Sometimes he would say things that you know, he would get out in front of us or he'd make a gap
But we always knew that that was just a mistake and that biden putting his own political ambitions above obama
and so what that says to me is that he
And biden understands why like he was very explicit about that's why he didn't form a pack
Early on prepare for potential 2016 run he he he felt his best way to do whatever he wanted to do
Next was to be the best vice president to barack obama. He could ever be and his with this his selection of kamala
Harris tells me that
he
Felt confident that he would get that from her because I don't think he would have done it
without without that and I think he could have gone and he
In a direction that made less obvious political sense. Um
In order to have that governing partnership and so he was definitely convinced that that foundation of trust could exist between them i.e
susan rice, maybe
Exactly, potentially. Yes
so
senator harris said something today during their rollout that I I
Really struck me, and I think really fits in with the kind of theme of your book
Um, which is she said, we don't just need a victory. We need a mandate
and i'm curious
Like what you think that means in terms of how they are probably approaching this campaign?
and what that looks like realistically, um from the inside of a campaign, I mean, obviously nobody knows until election day, but
yeah, I mean mandate is a
uh
is an interesting term that has sort of different meanings and but what the way they're approaching from a campaign is that they are trying
To win everywhere right biden is is airing ads in texas. Georgia. And ohio right now, right?
They they and they have they have tremendous resources. People have been very
generous, uh, you know
They just had their I think there was 26 million dollars in the last day since con since not 24 hours since kamala
Harris was announced um, so they have a lot of resources and they're put they're not trying to win the 271 tour bus
they're trying to and everywhere, but the
It's last year
Right because of trump and his what the narrative around a close election
Yeah
It it is I think you know people ask me all the time
What are we going to do is trump going to contest the results and I would say well
Of course, he's going to contest results
He contested the results in the election he won so obviously if he loses he is going to do that
Um, but you know people you know, so people ask me like well, what can we do about this? What are you doing?
Why so everyone is let's just go try to win by as much as we can in as many places
To make it as hard as possible to credibly contest those results and we'll figure out the rest of it on the back end
The mandate really is whether we get the senate or not like that whether if you get 350 electoral votes
We don't get the senate it does mitch mcconnell does not care
He's not going to feel any compulsion to pass a law or confirm one of your judges
But so it's largely that like that's partially what investing in georgia is about. That's what being aggressive in north
Carolina is about that is helping ensure that we have a strong top of the ticket in state and states
That will deliver the senate to joe biden
I mean
Last time we spoke in uh, whenever pre-coveted it was it was right. It was right before like the week before I think yeah
Yeah, yeah. Yeah
Yeah, you're like one of our last in in studio guest and I will have everybody know
He arrived like 30 seconds before we went on the air. It was very smooth. Um
but
I mean I think back then we were so, you know, everybody was talking about wisconsin, pennsylvania
I mean there was not even I just thought that
That biden would be putting money into a state like texas was like not even close
Now when you look at the electoral map, I mean is there?
obviously I didn't still would need to win those places to get the presidency but like
has the calculation changed and I understand that polls are snapshot and yadda yadda were in august but
Like what when you look at the electoral map now compared to six months ago. Has it shifted. Does it feel different?
Yeah, it absolutely feels different
You know it it's always about how many different paths you have to 270, right?
Like what how many how many available states are there? And how many of those states do you have to win? And
Prior to covid it seemed very possible. That biden's only path was to flip pennsylvania
Michigan in either wisconsin or arizona and that was it and that is still almost certainly the most likely path. I mean
Especially since trump is actually he has taken his adverse advertising down in pennsylvania and michigan. Uh
which is a pretty notable omission from him, but now
He you know, you know florida which was seen by a lot of people were saying that biden should not compete in florida
Florida is a lean democrat state right now according to some of the rankings north
Carolina would seem to be moving in the wrong direction is now a toss-up state
Georgia, texas is a toss-up state according to nbc
ohio, and iowa were thought to be written off, uh
essentially the day after the 2016 election and biden is
Considering playing in iowa and has some adds up in ohio
Um, so he's got all these paths and that's actually more important now than ever before because in a covet election
You just don't know what's going to happen. They could alter the results
In a way that belies the public support you see in polls, I think like what if they're you know?
what if you're relying on wisconsin as your tipping point state and there is and it becomes a covet hot spot in october and
Voting in person becomes very very challenging or you know, or they can't get enough poll workers
Which is a very real concern to have enough polling places in milwaukee, right?
Like there are all these things gonna happen
So having additional paths
but trump is now in the place where all the eggs are in the
trump right now if he if he really is walking away from ohio from
pennsylvania and michigan
He has to win he has to hold florida hold north. Carolina hold georgia hold texas
And then win, uh, wisconsin and arizona and that that becomes that's a challenging path
Now he had a challenging path in 16 and still won
but he you know, he's he had a lot of pass to 270 and that is narrowed significantly, uh
At least as we sit here today in august. Yeah
So next week is the democratic convention which was pushed back from last month. Um
My first question is like is this the end of conventions and why should I be sad?
I think it is the probably the end of conventions. Um, and i'm not sure you should be sad, uh it I mean like
the the
The model has been outdated for a very long time. You know, it sort of is uh
You know, it's it's they're overly expensive endeavors. They're a real pain in the ass for people whose city they are in
uh, they are very hard to raise money for because you don't get a nominee until in some cases two months before the convention and
It's a bunch of corporate money. And that's a really stupid terrible way to fund something
and so I imagine we will the next 2024 will look a lot more like this and maybe it's just
nominating speeches
for the vp
and the nominee and
Maybe a keynote or something like that
I think it's good to become a television show and not a big event with thousands upon thousands of people. Yeah
I uh, I was at the 2016 one with my then five-month-old son, and I would not recommend that although I did get to tweet
A picture of camel holding him this week. Well, there you go
Think what that picture is worth now, especially if they win. Yeah
Um, well let's talk about some of the stuff that is going to happen at the convention and I have another audience question
That was kind of on my list too. Um, maybe a little more pointed than mine
But what is the plus of giving a platform at the dnt's cnc to someone like? John? Kasich former?
Ohio republican governor whose anti-abortion views are totally against the party platform
I sometimes I find myself in a position where i'm I am now forced to argue. Someone else's position that I don't entirely agree with
you I mean, do you think that they should I I
I don't I think it is I do not
I understand why they're doing it. Well, the strategic reason why they're doing it is
They are trying to convince some number of republicans it is okay to support joe biden and you have a prominent
Republican who with a very powerful story is the son of a male worker. Um,
Who was a republican he was a candidate for the republican nomination four years ago who was going to tell other republicans?
Including many of them in ohio who voted for john kasich many many times that it is
Okay to support your bike and in our highly polarized
World where people's political identity is one is their most important identity even much above what even what they the policies they believe in
It often takes someone from your group to tell you it's okay to go vote for someone out of your group
And so that's why they're doing it. I
like I share all the sort of discomfort about it and when you think about
Some of the really important voices in the party who are not speaking and john, kasich is speaking. Um,
You know, that's when it gets uncomfortable to me. Um, but we also
In or for democrats to win elections in a situation within an electoral college in this country
We we we need the votes of people who don't agree with us on every issue
um, and that is and john, kasich is trying to
The vitamin campaign wants. John. Kasich to try to
uh
Help with that with that strategic objective
You know your former boss barack obama obviously kind of made his first big waves at a democratic convention, um
There's often a spot reserved for a keynote for somebody who's kind of a rising star
This year, it doesn't really look like they're doing that. I mean michelle obama's the keynote on monday. Um,
you know you have pelosi I want to ask you about our governor here in california in a minute, but
Do you think that that was a concerted decision or just a result of kind of the weird format?
Yeah, well normally yeah
Normally as you point out there is a specific keynoter for the entire convention and it was barack obama in 2004
It was corey booker in 2016
It was I think mark warner in 2008. Um
and
uh
The mark warner one first. I don't know. He got to be senator. I guess I mean it wasn't a speech that uh
That you know changed this course of history like the obama speech. It was uh, julian castro in 2012
And it appears that that because of the compressed they're going from five hours to two hours here
because of the compressed schedule that is not happening this time, um i'm waiting to hear
to see if anyone will be added who sort of fits, uh
My understanding is the program's not completely complete
So there may be room for an exciting, uh young voice and I think they need that. I think it'd be good for the party
I mean, it seems like it's pretty clear that they the obama's showing up is also
A-okay for most like based democrats, right? Yeah. I mean, they're the most popular political figures in america by a pretty large margin
So yes, they're they are uh, uh, they're they were quite quite in demand
Uh and are very excited to go or speak since they're not going anywhere, I guess
How about our governor gaga? Knew some I thought that was interesting. I mean obviously he's a big name in politics. Um,
It's been a little rougher for him lately with kovid. Uh
you know and it's it's just like
California is getting more love I guess is what I would ask you about than I can remember ever right?
I mean kamala's on the ticket pelosi obviously has this spot
Newsom is one of only a handful of speakers like our is is the california, um vibe changing nationally at all
Yeah, I think so. I I you know
There for such a long time
It was seen
You know democrats kind of ran away from the idea of california was only an atm
Right, we would just stop here raise money. Go to l.a
Raise money come to the bay area raise money and get out of town as fast as possible. And I think that is changing because
One just you. You have a number of california politicians who have become quite prominent figures with the party
Obviously pelosi's been there for a long time
Uh, you know new sim has been a high profile figure for a long time
now the governor of largest state now the vice presidential nominee, uh adam schiff just a whole host of
people who have you know, sort of risen who become very well-known democrats, and I also think a lot of
the changes california is on the leading edge of the chat of the changes in the country that
democrats are trying to prepare for and also california is and I know governor newsom sort of involves this argument, but
Is the public policy lab for the democrats right where you have democratic control of government?
You can uh, you know
We can run effective healthcare program or test out what effective healthcare programs or climate change
initiatives look like and well certainly lots of struggles here both covid related and wholesome other ones but you know
You gotta just there's a plethora of democratic talent here and it's sort of rising to the top at the same time
Um, we did have some primaries this week which got lost in the shuffle a little bit. Oh, yeah news. Um,
Should we talk about ilhan omar yet or the q anon candidate, uh first, uh, you pick you're in charge here you pick
Well, I mean so ilhan omaha who is part of the squad one of some of the more left-leaning, uh democrats in congress was challenged
um pelosi
You know
It was not necessarily like like I think some of the divisiveness
that people expected in 2018 among the democratic caucus has not come to bear pelosi went and
Uh out there to campaign for her. I believe her virtually campaign, but
What does that tell you that you know, she's been such a target for especially for the right?
along with aoc and and some of the other members of the squad like does that
Tell you anything more broadly about the party or is that about?
The fact that she is a good retail politician who has those deep ties in her district
I think for both ilhan omar and rashida talib who won a primary last week, um was also challenged. Uh, both are became
You know
they're good politicians who in addition to becoming high profile names in part because they
They have responded well to efforts of demonization from the right are also doing their jobs and representing their constituents
That's ultimately what the how you win these primaries is you stay in touch with your district and the national stuff is slightly less relevant
And you know, it's what it like the you the lack of divisiveness
or the or maybe we should this way the unity within the caucus is uh,
It's notable and I think it's important that pelosi campaigned for her and supported her
um, and it's important for all the other and like the the d triple c
The democratic caucus is a uh incumbent protection operation and they protect their their own and it was important for her to do that
Um because it also sends a message that when pelosi is backing
the alien angles or the joe crowley's or the mike capuanos or the
uh
or
Lacy clay that that's about their incumbency and not their ideology. So for her to step out and also defend
a
You know a very progressive member of her caucus
I think that also helps deal with some of the potential tension down
The line is there are more of these primary challenges in these very blue districts
As I noted there was on the very farther end of the spectrum here, um marjorie taylor greene who is a
humanon supporter, um
One in georgia, which might be for democrats like the next florida. I think in terms of craziness. Um,
I'm curious like since that is a safe republican seat. Like, how do you think
Government handles like the fbi has said q and on as a possible domestic terrorist threat
Like if somebody who supports that gets elected to congress. How do you think
like
Just dc deals with that
Well, I think the republican party has a real choice right now because I think we are at a crossroads for
the prevalence of cuban on within the republican party and including among its elected members and I think it was very
Disconcerting to see trump endorse her today and congratulate her via twitter and the republicans could have tried to beat her
They could try to beat her now
They could they could disown her they could kick around off the caucus they could do all these things, but they won't
And that's a like I think that is very awesome. There's a very troubling article. I think it's the washington post
Maybe it was yesterday. Maybe it was a week ago. Maybe it was ten weeks ago
I don't really know anymore
But it hit some time between when I got locked in my house
And now the washington post had an article about how the trump campaign has been courting cubanon
And so this is going to continue and it is very reminiscent to me seeing trump
Endorse this q anon candidate made me
So made me think about how the republicans stood silent when trump started his birth or some stuff against obama
and you either speak out now or it ends up taking over and so I do think
Uh, there's a very real chance that because of republican silence
They are sort of um allowing q anon into the tent before they know it. It's going to be a part of the party
What could that do to the kind of like?
Because it does feel like as much as I know someone like you does not like mitch mcconnell
He is still more of a traditional politician as are many of the senators compared to the house. Where?
In both parties to be fair. We tend to get more flame throwers and
I mean does that like further drive a wedge between like those two caucuses you think?
uh, no because I would I think I mean
maybe but what I think what ultimately happens is what happened with the tea party and with the birthers and the proud boys is
When you depend on a base of diminishing size you become more permissive about who gets to be
part of your party and
Like yeah mitch mcconnell didn't like any of these tea party types who got elected in 2010
but he needed all of the votes of their voters and so he stayed silent about it and
So like he'd be yeah mitch mcconnell's not a cubanan guy
But he likes power and if he feels like he needs cubanon to have power then he will do that
and like it's a
It is
It may seem slightly painful to stand up to them now
but it's going to be really painful to try to do it may be too painful to do down the road and
It's clear. They haven't learned any of the lessons from
Uh sort of allowing the sort of this white nationalist movement to gain
Such control of their party that they can actually get the nomination in 2016
Yeah, I thought it was interesting that biden made such a point to talk about charlottesville today
i'm curious I mean
Do you think it should be a big part of this conversation? I mean, I think this is
You know
In your book you talk about trumpism as defined by billionaire-funded racial grievance politics
Which
which feels like a little bit like it doesn't make sense, but that's
Because it doesn't totally make sense. Right? Right, right
I mean ultimately what you the republicans are getting elected by
Running these racial grievance campaigns and these large corporations are okay with it and paying for it because they want the tax cuts
And the supreme court justices and the lack of regulations that come with it. And so you have this
uh
This like you have this merging of these two like for a long time
we thought there'd be this the republican party would splinter over the corporatists wall street wing that is pro-trade and the
uh
the nationalists
uh, the immigrants and the terrorists are going to come kill us and take our job swing that those two could not co-exist but then
they found a way to co-exist by the nomination of
A very wealthy bigot. Um, so the biggest I call them the bigots and the billionaires didn't were able to unite. Um,
and
like yeah, so I think that
that
This is this is the next part of that is they they need
every day the republicans need to win to get more blood from from a
Stone that is getting smaller to get elected and it allows and it forces them into these sort of dark alleys of the electorate
Um
Any thoughts about kanye?
I can't yet decide whether this is my motto for 2020 is worry about everything panic about nothing. So I would say yes
I'm worried about kanye. I haven't decided
To what degree yet? Um
You know, I there was this
Morning consult poll that came out today that said that only two percent of black voters supported kanye
And the headline was like only two percent everyone's like dunking on
kanye for only having two percent and I was like
Two percent seems really damn high to me and we can't lose two percent of the black vote. Uh,
And still win in a lot of these states
I think the question like one
We don't know what ballots he's actually going to be on. Is he going to stay on the wisconsin? Ballot? We don't know
That's the one that matters the most
Um, but then you sort of take a step back. You're like how many?
How many people were sitting here three weeks ago planning to vote for joe biden?
Up until they've heard out that kanye was an option and now they're going to remember kanye instead of joe biden
I have not yet seen any research that suggested that it's a significant number
um
but I think it's something that we ought to watch and it's not it's not unconcerning at all that kanye and
Jared kushner met very recently to talk about his campaign. That seems I do think it is
the most jared kushner trump thing ever, which is just like
Captain obvious, but think they're super smart. It would be
We have a if if joe biden does well with black voters. We will lose therefore
We should get a rapper to run on the ballot
like that's just like that seems like what a dumb racist would come up with as a strategy and
This is sort of that's how you get there
Well, and I mean to your point it may not just be the democrats should be worried about people that are switching votes
But people who may not who you know who biden might have the ability to get out. Yeah
Right, right, right. Um
Yeah, it's it's
strange to watch and
Kind of confusing as from someone from my position to sort out in the same way. Like should we be taking it?
Should we be talking about this? Should we not be talking about this? I don't know. Yeah
I've actually been surprised how little attention it's gotten
You know like in a which speaks to how serious everything else is in the world if this were a normal campaign
And a very very famous rapper married to a kardashian got in the race
It would dominate coverage sort of like trump getting into racing 16
But it like it gets covered and probably maybe certainly more so than our another person running on it like an unknown person running
But it's not
like you can see
you can see just how like the
Changing context around how serious the world is has limited sort of the celebrity clickbait chasing things
You know you sometimes see like particularly cable news around stuff like this
Yeah, I know it is, uh, twitter's pushing it hard i've noticed and like yes
So let's get into your book a little bit I mean you talk a lot in the book about
How the gop has in your mind kind of game the system
redistricting judicial appointments voter suppression
I want to kind of look forward. I mean, let's say biden wins
What are the steps that you think democrats need to take to push back?
You know against some of what mcconnell's been successful in doing I would say not just over the last four years
But really even under obama as well. Yeah
Yeah, so I I think the very first thing
that the
Let's say we're going to presume joe biden won and the democrats took the senate
right, so
Um, the very first thing that the senate should do is they should abolish the filibuster
because if we there's nothing that we we want to get done that
requires nine republican senators that will be worth doing right that you can get nine republican senators to agree to
And so we're going to abolish a filibuster and then we're going to pass a giant
Democratic reform bill named after john lewis as barack obama mentioned at the eulogy
a couple weeks ago and in that would be you would you would reinstate the voting rights act that was gutted by
john, roberts, you would put in prohibitions not just against um
gerrymandering gerrymandering along racial lines but wrong partisan lines, uh
Which is something you need to put on you need to put in there because the supreme court gutted that uh late last year
You would
Put you would make dc a state if the people of puerto rico would like to be decided
They wouldn't become a state you would do it do that then as well
You would and I would a pet. No one else will agree to agree with me on this but early it's not joe biden
But I would also uh include in that a package of judicial reforms that would
Expand the lower courts, it would expand the supreme court by two seats
it would put in play requires supreme court supreme court justices to adhere to a
Code of conduct and ethics which they currently do not do so we should be able to know more about conflicts of interest
And other sorts of activity
and uh
you would put in place a
you probably can't do term limits for constitutional reasons, but there are some some
Legal scholars believe that you can put in place a system
Of seniority where supreme court justices rotate off the bench, but they have senior status
So they maintain their appointment and then are brought in when?
there's a vacancy on the court or there's uh
You know with only nine justices whenever justice has to recuse themselves because they were involved in a case beforehand
Then you get a you only get an interest in since you get a split decision
Um if it's closed and so I think you like I think that's the very first thing you should do with this giant package
that really makes it easier and I would I
Would what a couple things including that as well is automatic registration for everyone as soon as they turn 18
And election day a holiday, um and a massive
upgrade of the fec including um
Making it so that it has an odd number of members. So it isn't deadlocked on every single issue all of the time
Um to ensure that we're gonna put new rules in place and we're gonna make sure that someone enforces them
How many of those things you know, even with the democratic senate and congress do you think?
Would be challenging. I mean, you know firsthand like
There's a limited amount of political capital for a new president
You know, there's immigration there like go down the list of big policy
You know health care that democrats are kind of salivating to jump at
a lot of the stuff you're talking about quite frankly super important, but like kind of boring to some people like
Like what do you think would be the political challenges even with the democratic, you know dc across the board
well, I think uh
I'm actually relatively optimistic on about 60
Of what I just said in part because that's exactly what the democratic house did when they took power in
2018 the very first bill they passed was hr. One this which did a lot of reinstate the voting rights act
It'll make election holiday and home or some things that like what I talked about goes beyond that
But since that time the house voted overwhelmingly to make dc estate
uh
Almost every since senate democrat has now co-sponsored that bill joe biden has pledged to do it
So I think a lot of those things will happen, I think
People will you know and I think nancy pelosi in particular in the house will take it very seriously to honor the legacy of john
Lewis by moving that bill it won't have everything that I want in there
Like there's a lot of political work to do to convince democrats about the need to embrace reforming the courts
But I think on the voting rights stuff and the gerrymandering stuff. I think the party is there and I do
You know inviting his pleasure
this would be one of the first things he did and I so I think that
I am optimistic that a large chunk of the democratic reform stuff could be one of the first bills
that passes like it's going to be hard it it like
In addition to just the long wish list of deferred things like health care and climate change
You know congress has been unable to agree on a covered relief package
there's a whole bunch of people who have been kicked off their unemployment who are uh facing eviction small businesses that are suffering so
there is also going to be this huge imperative to
You know pass a massive, um cove economic relief bill very very early in the process too. And so it's like
nothing will be easy and I know from
Working with obama when he had to pass the recovery act in the beginning. It takes a
bunch of your political capital right away to get people to vote for something that's going to be
Fred biden's case probably in excess of two to three trillion dollars
Coveted how
I was gonna go to like gerrymandering but I do I mean I do think that this is a really interesting question, which is
It's the sort of political interplay of not just the relief package. We're talking about the push for a vaccine from the trump campaign
um
You know the fact that
It it does really feel like there's been
and I don't think this is a partisan comment, but
The trump administration has really left a lot up to the states
There's not been a national strategy or a lot of national leadership. And so it seems to me that even if biden gets elected
He's gonna need a couple months to get his feet under him. Um by then we're a year into this pandemic. I mean
What do you think they need to be talking about in terms of specifics?
Because one of the things that's so dismaying for me is just how political this like a public health issue has become
That you know, we're fighting about masks and schools and stuff instead of like how how do we actually solve this?
well, I think I mean biden has has talked about a lot of this stuff, but he needs to be
Like he joe biden is going to be if he wins the election even though he won't be sworn in until january
He's going to become de facto president the second this election is resolved
Now I don't suspect the election will be resolved on election night
but once he has declared the winner and this happened to obama in 2008 like
In that normal transition period and I bring communications to that transition
You're like announcing cabinet secretaries and you're figuring out how or who sits in what office and you're planning your first hundred days
and obama was basically forced to
Be president because bush was checked out and was bush had no, you know
He had 28 approval rating and no one cared what he had to say and him
pushing for
to help get the
efforts to get the financial crisis under control were counterproductive and so
obama was lobbying for tarp two because no one else could get it done when he was two weeks after the election and
biden's gonna be in a similar situation
So they're gonna have to have these two tracks of one where you're trying to win the election another one where you're preparing
For exactly the things you're going to start doing right away
even before you get in office because you're going to want to try to get
that
covered economic bill headed through congress, even if it doesn't get passed into
Until after you're sworn in but move like you don't want them to start working on that on january 21st working on it
In december, right?
yeah, but to your point like
This election will not be decided on election night
unless
I mean, even if even if the presidential election was I mean the odds of the senate I mean
and you know, let's not even talk about local races or ballot measures but
How do you think
Folks like me need to be talking about this to prepare the public for that because I I think that there's a real responsibility
For any of us really who are out there talking to to explain ahead of time and and I think to manage
expectations in this like immediate world we're in
Yeah, like I think this is really really important. It's gonna be very hard to do
You know, we have to start stop talking about election night is when we're gonna know that it's gonna be weeks
And I think the more we can do to exploi
Explain to people how votes are counted
over time and
All of us right whether you're a journalist or a political commentator like myself we have to resist
making judgments
On election night about what's going to happen right? Like there was the
So much discussion about how the democrats couldn't win in orange county in a wave election
in the in the hours after the polls close and even the next day only to then find out have
To win all of those races, right? You know, we I did a podcast, you know
in the morning after the election and we we spent some time talking about why uh,
Kirsten cinema couldn't beat martha mcsally in arizona because that's what that looked like at that time that didn't age well for us
um, so don't make snap judgments about who won't we know what one or lost but I think explaining
To the public what is likely to happen in advance? Because
as it looks right now in part because of donald trump's rhetoric democrats are going to vote by mail at a
Massive advantage over republicans. So like this is sort of the nightmare scenario for democracy is
Donald trump is up on election night, but there is still 50 to 60 percent of the ballots outstanding and every day
that
lead gets smaller and smaller and smaller and then joe biden passes him and
When you have that would be a tough situation when you had people operating in good faith
And I don't have a lot of imagination
I don't really imagine that donald trump's me at operating good faith in that and making accusations. So at least trying to explain to people
Uh in california is a great example of how this works. Um,
about how the vote count
You know how they're counted how how male value works and how that can change the results over time because of who tends to vote
but like we know a lot if you're a real election observer about
Uh, you know watching a florida race and it's like well, they haven't called in broward and dade county ends like that
Well, that means the democrats still has the chance or they haven't called in madison
Wisconsin or whatever it is, but like mail balloting is a little more confusing. The other thing is
We have to stop in media reporting talking about percent of precincts reported and start talking about percent of votes
preach because the
Precinct thing is very very very confusing and uh quite misleading to a lot of people that's gonna be a much bigger problem
In a male ballot sort of situation
Seems like it would be good if registrar stopped putting that as like the top left
Yes. Yes. This is not a media problem. This is a secretary of state and a local election official problem. Yeah
um
Okay. I do want to talk a little bit about election stuff again, but I there's an audience question
That's kind of related here
which is
The idea of sort of educating folks which is in your book you talk about the importance of us being vocal on social media
And this member of the audience wants to know if they're recommended sources to find
infographics sound bites kind of ways to catch people's attention, but also be um,
You know
truthful
Yes, well vote save america has a bunch of stuff website. America.com is the election website the qriket media set up
Um where you can adopt six dates and we have a lot of specific infographics for those states
We try to create a lot of the if you follow a part of america community on social media
that's one of the things that our teams do is try to come up with easily shareable videos or
graphics to help explain things and communicate issues in ways that we believe are politically persuasive based on our
either research we've seen our political experience, so
follow our stuff would be
My answer, um, the buy, you know
What vote save america.com? No, but what's your state?
Oh, my city is north. Carolina. I adopted north. Carolina. I know this is very important to you guys
It is it is very important. And uh
Like I said, I just did a fundraiser for cal cunningham is running for senate there right before this. So I am
I am fully in and it doesn't it doesn't hurt that my wife, uh worked for barack obama in north carolina in 2008. So
We are in as a family and she is uh, very aggressively. Um,
uh
She's very aggressively, uh pitching me out to do fundraisers for everyone in north. Carolina who's possibly running for office
So and your daughter is she like getting involved yet or is it? Yes she uh
she
My wife taught her to say we have to win north carolina. So she just says it randomly all the time
uh, and then she
she also said
like when we don't do like we're not one of those families who like
Makes a look at the tv and say that trump is bad or anything
we sort of just sort of keep that stuff from her, but she's
She is incredible. She's two years old folks
uh
but she's just she listens to everything and she told me while I was she was sitting on a
this is like such a dad thing, but
I was sitting on the back side of the bathtub and she was sitting on a
toilet shape like elmo and she looked at me and said, uh,
uh
dada, we
Joe, biden's going to be the new president don't know where that came from
Uh, but I will take it. I would take it as a more
Then maybe she's better a political process prognostication than I am. So maybe maybe it's maybe it's prescient
I feel like it really speaks to how kids absorb everything
Uh, everything my kids I shouldn't probably say this publicly, but sometimes like to slick back their hair and say we're gavin newsom
You haven't knew someone probably like that yes, I don't know if gavin would like that but um, so
We have a couple minutes left. I
I do want to ask you kind of in the context of some of the
stuff you laid out in your book in terms of democrats changing policy, but also in terms of this election and election security, which is
a lot of I think
Both the strength of american elections and some of its weaknesses are the fact that it is controlled at such a local level, right?
Um and redistricting is controlled at the state level. Uh,
You know
just
A registrar from county to county can have a totally different way of operating
How in that context are you thinking about both this election and ensuring that people?
You know can go to the polls and vote fairly but also
To do the things that you want to see happen nationally, um given just how devolved the power is
Yeah, I I think we need to set
uh
Like it. It is a huge problem for this country that you how much access you have democracy depends on where you live
Right, and if you live in california, uh, you have election officials who are trying to make it easier for you to vote
not only successfully but that they are trying and if you are living in the south and particularly if you're you live in a
Uh in a black majority black community in the south you have elected officials are trying the exact same right if you live in texas
And you live in a majority?
Minority community you have seen they've been closing your polling places at a at a alarming click for years. And so we need to set
I understand. It's not in the american
Psyche to have nationally administered elections, but we should have a minimum of how things work
right a minimum number of machines per
um per
Capita within a community. We need to have increase a whole bunch of you know
Vote by mail earlier all these options and we used to have at least justice
Department, if you were a state that had a history of racially biased voting policies, you could not implement a new policy
Uh without clearance from the civil rights missions
That was the consequence of voting rights act then
john
Roberts decided that racism was over in america and he go to the voting rights act and we need to put back in
at least that we need minimum standards for
uh voting in this country because it is
We are disenfranchising huge parts of our population 40 of americans
Do not vote and american politics and american life would look a lot different if 100
Of americans were making decisions instead of 60
What do you think people should be doing in terms of
Get you know
We've got coveted people don't want to go to the polls necessarily, but then we have a postal system. That is
Apparently purposely slowing down the mail maybe because of this election
Um, I mean personally like the way I always vote because i'm a weirdo is I get my absentee ballot and then I like hold
It and love it and you know really spend some time with it and then I drop it off at the polling place
Yeah, like is that the best way to guarantee your vote is counted this year
so
this is like we've been getting asked this question a lot since the
Post office started delaying the mail in a vote by mail election after the uh, trump megan donor was became the postmaster general
Um, and it totally differs by staying like my view is if you if you live in a state where early voting is
Possible in person early voting is possible. And you feel like you can do that safely because of your own health
situation the crowd at the spot in your state whether you you know your exposure to
You know whether you have older people living in your home or people who have comorbidities or whatever it is
That's probably the safest way to vote equally safe is if you live in a state where you can fill out your mail ballot
And drop it off either a dropbox or an early voting location or the registrar's office or any of the on election day or prior
That is great
I many people will vote by mail and they're in their very they're wise to do so given the risks of being in
in public, you know and
my what I would say to people is if you
If you want to vote by mail request your mail ballot
as soon as you possibly can you can do that now in most states if you go to votes america.com
We will show you how to do that for your state
and turn it in as soon as possible mail it back as soon as possible because there were
Tens of thousands of people in the most recent florida primary who met whose votes were not counted because they mailed their ballot
before election day
It was postmarked before election day
But it arrived after election day and now in some states like california your ballot as long as it's postmarked
You're fine
But in many states particularly the battleground station saturn selection, the republicans have given in a lot of voting by mail
but they've drawn the line at
um
at
ballots arriving after election day and you do and
Norma in a normal world if you mailed your ballot seven days beforehand
You would have great confidence that it would get there and I don't think you can have that confidence now
So you're gonna vote by mail turn it in like get it. Fill it out and mail it the next day in some states
we'll let you track it, um to see if it just arrives and
I would recommend doing that because if it does not arrive you can go
If you want to on election day and fill out a provisional ballot
You don't think there's any reason?
like I i've had a debate with some friends over like
You know voting too early like what if things change what about that, you know?
Yeah
I mean that's like in a primary
a lot of people got
Burnt on that in the primary particularly in california because you got your mail ballot
You were super excited to vote for pete butterjudge and he was no longer in the race by the time super. Tuesday came or
You know or cory booker, right?
Like he dropped out people may have voted for him and he dropped out before that but remain on a lot of ballots
That seems to be less of a problem
in the general election and
you're
There are deadlines about when ballots would have to be reprinted by
um, so like I think is a it seems to me to be a low probability that you would
Cash your vote for joe biden three weeks early and then joe biden would not be on the ticket
Then like we have a whole host of other problems if that happened
So I would with your managing risk, I would
Uh, certainly I would just mail it in as soon as you as soon as you possibly can to ensure it gets there
All right, we only have time for about one last question
Um, this is a bit of a random one
But it's been sitting here for a while. So i'll give it to you from an audience member is bill barr trump's most capable
And to this person most dangerous cabinet secretary
Oh, yes by far. He is a deeply deeply dangerous person. He bill bar is what happens when otherwise
smart people watch too much fox news because
His brain has been completely
Pickled and we and believes all these conspiracy theories and a whole bunch of other things
but he has been a very he has like he has
politicized the justice department in ways that would make britain nixon blush and
Uh, and it is very very worrisome and it is a huge
One one more reason why joe biden has to win this election because if we have four more years of bill barr
He's gonna start locking up. Uh
Donald trump's uh political opponents and i'm actually not I actually don't think wilbar is done yet. I
fully expect the democrats to prepare for some sort of october surprise that goldbar is involved in whether that is
You know, he's got this durham report that is going looking into the origins of the russia investigation
He could conjure up an investigation into a prominent democrat like bill barr and bill barr is bad. So yes, I agree with that
All right. We'll leave it there
All right. Thank you. Dan pfeiffer. He is author of the relatively new book on trumping. America. We appreciate you joining us
Today well, thank you for having me was fun as always
we'd like to thank our audience for watching and
Participating live and if you'd like to watch more programs or support the commonwealth club's efforts in making virtual programming, please visit commonwealthclub.org
Online i'm marissa lagos. Thank you and stay safe everyone
Hi, i'm dan ashley the evening news anchor for abc 7 news in san francisco, and I hope you and your loved ones are staying
Safe healthy and comfortable during these very challenging times
I am also a proud board member of the commonwealth club one of our most important bay area institutions
the club has been hosting wonderful events with exciting speakers and topics in the bay area for over a
Century in times of crisis good information and strong connections in our community are especially important
And during the current covet 19 crisis. The club has really stepped up since march 6 the club has brought you over
150 live streamed events with speakers and panelists including past governors secretaries of state and many many more
Every program includes a live chat
So you and viewers all over the bay area and beyond have been able to ask these experts the questions that are on your minds
every program has been neutral and unbiased in true commonwealth club style to get to the bottom of the issues that are so
drastically affecting our lives
The club has done all this public service despite being profoundly affected by the crisis the inability to hold events for the past two months
Has forced the club to cut its budget and staffing by 50 percent
The remaining staff are working from home to bring the community these valuable and informative live streamed programs
The club needs your support to continue its shelter at home programming
Please make a tax deductible donation to the club now by texting the word donate to 329
423 that is donate to
329-4231 or visit the commonwealth club website commonwealthclub.org
We need the club to be here in the months and years ahead to help inform and educate
As we figure out how to get our society and our economy safely moving again
Consider changes to the way we live and work as a result of this crisis and take steps to prevent a future pandemic
once again, please support the commonwealth club now by texting the word donate to
329-4231 that is donate to
329-4231 or visit the website commonwealthclub.org
I want to personally thank you for supporting one of our community's truly great organizations
I'll see you on abc 7 news and at the commonwealth club stay safe
You
