Welcome back to the Lincoln Project. I'm your host, Rhea Gailan. Today, I'm joined in

studio by Lauren Windsor, the executive producer of the Undercurrent. She's also executive director

of American Family Voices, as well as a partner with both democracy partners and Mike Lux Media.

In the 2020 cycle, she was deputy communications director for the Tom Steyer presidential campaign.

Lauren, welcome. Thanks for having me, Rhea. Alright, so today, you've brought us some clips that

feature some choice moments from some of our favorite characters in the Republican Party, and we're

going to get to those shortly. But first, I want to hear a little bit about your background and how

the Undercurrent came to be. I really came into politics through activism in the Occupy movement,

and I was living out in Los Angeles. I became a member of the media team. I was a self-taught

videographer. I was traveling around the country filming protests, and then eventually, this

was at the same time that current television had a studio in Los Angeles, and the young Turks

were a big flagship program for the outlet. So it's pitching different people like within current

and different people at the young Turks, and eventually was able to pitch them on this concept

for a web show called the Undercurrent, covering Occupy and grassroots protest movements,

going to rallies and interviewing politicians and activists. So here you are, you start with the

Occupy movement. Now you are sitting on the podcast of a group that's a bunch of former Republicans.

So let me ask you this, when you were covering the Occupy movement, did you believe in 10 years

you would be sitting here with us? I mean, it wouldn't have been out of character. I grew up in

the South and was surrounded by Republicans. You know, I have Republican friends. I've dated

Republicans. Oh my God. I know. Crazy, right? And even during that time of Tea Party Occupy,

there was always this sort of overlap between Tea Party and Occupy where it was a lot of people

that are really angry about crony capitalism. There was a lot of overlap, and you could see that

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