Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Obama, News, Wnyc, Washington, Barack, President, Lizza, Wickenden

4.2 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Elissa Slotkin narrowly won her Senate seat in Michigan last fall, she was one of only four Democratic senators to claim victory in a state that voted for Donald Trump. It made other Democrats take note: since then, the Party has turned to her as someone who can bridge the red state–blue state divide. In March, Slotkin delivered the Democrats’ rebuttal to Trump’s speech before Congress, and she’s been making headlines for criticizing her own party’s attempts to rein in the President and the Republican Party. She thinks Democrats need to start projecting “alpha energy,” that identity politics “needs to go the way of the dodo,” and that Democrats should drop the word “oligarchy” from their vocabulary entirely. Slotkin prides herself on her bipartisanship, and she believes that Democrats must use old-school collegial collaboration in Congress. And, as different Democratic leaders have appeared on The New Yorker Radio Hour in the past few months, discussing what the next four years might have in store, Slotkin tells David Remnick about a different path forward.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to the political scene.
0:07.0	I'm David Remnick.
0:08.3	Early each week, we bring you a conversation from our episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour.
0:15.4	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:22.6	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour.
0:24.5	I'm David Remnick.
0:27.9	When Alyssa Slotkin narrowly won her Senate seat in Michigan last fall, she was one of four Democratic
0:34.9	senators to claim victory in states that also voted for President Trump,
0:39.3	and it made other Democrats sit up and take some notice.
0:43.8	Since then, the party has turned to her as someone who can bridge the red-blue divine.
0:49.0	She delivered the Democratic Party's response to Trump's speech before Congress back in March,
0:53.9	and so the party is putting
0:55.3	Slotkin front and center. But she's also giving the Democrats a dose of tough love. She thinks
1:00.8	that they need to start projecting what she calls alpha energy. She said identity politics
1:06.9	needs to go the way of the dodo and that Democrats should drop the word oligarchy from
1:12.2	their playbook. Senator Slotkin prides herself on bipartisanship, and she believes that finding a path
1:18.4	forward for the Democrats absolutely demands old school collaboration in Congress.
1:24.3	For me, as someone who's new to this body, 30 days in this body, I will always seek to work
1:31.5	where I can with my colleagues, but not at the expense of the fundamental freedoms and our
1:38.3	democracy. That may not be politically palatable back home, but I don't care. Because if we can't do it, what is the point?
1:47.2	What is the point of being senior elected leaders in this body if you don't stand up for the country that you love?
1:53.0	There's no king in this country.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 23 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios and The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.