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The Ezra Klein Show

How Chuck Schumer Plans to Win Over Trump Voters

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Government, News

4.611K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In his 100 days address this week, Joe Biden outlined his plans for a big, bold legislative agenda to come. He previewed a two-pronged economic package: the $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan and the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan. He spoke about the need to pass universal background checks for firearms, comprehensive immigration reform, and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The success of that agenda hinges on whether 50 Senate Democrats — ranging from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin — can come together and pass legislation. They don’t have a single vote to spare. And the person responsible for making that happens is the New York senator and Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer. Schumer has a theory of politics that he believes can hold or even win Democrats seats in 2022. It’s not a complicated theory: For Democrats to win over middle-of-the-road voters — including those who voted for Donald Trump — they need to prove that government is actually helping them. But to do that, the government needs to actually help those voters, in clear and visible ways. That means passing big, bold legislation. And the institution Schumer leads — the Senate — is the primary obstacle to that happening. So I invited Schumer on the show to talk about how exactly he plans on doing that. How do you win over Trump voters? What kinds of economic policies can help deliver Democrats victory in 2022? How should the party approach topics like race and gender? How will he pass bills, like the For The People Act, that can’t go through budget reconciliation? And, of course, what do you do about the filibuster? Book recommendations: "Grant" by Ron Chernow "Freedom" by William Safire "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of "The Ezra Klein Show" at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. “The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Rogé Karma and Jeff Geld; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Mr. Clan and this is the S.R. Clan Show.

0:19.5

I've got a rule.

0:20.5

You always want to read the politician's books.

0:23.1

This is actually a rare view.

0:25.0

I think it's a very important part of their identity.

0:40.3

It's an important part of what drives them.

0:41.6

It helps you understand not just how they think but how they try to think.

0:45.5

Our aspirational selves are also an important part of ourselves.

0:49.5

So I'm preparing for this podcast with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

0:52.7

I picked up his 2007 book, Positively American.

0:57.0

And this is a weird book.

0:58.9

It was not as boring as I thought, by the way.

1:01.7

He wrote it right after leading the Democratic Senate Royal Campaign Committee in 2006,

1:05.7

which is the year Democrats took back the Senate.

1:07.8

So he was a hot stock then.

1:09.3

He was a Democrat who knew how to win.

1:11.7

But then he writes this book where he basically says to the Democratic Party, you don't know

1:15.1

how to win because you don't know how to talk to Joe and Eileen Bailey.

1:19.4

This imaginary middle class couple Chuck Schumer dreamed up, who he spends basically the

1:24.2

whole book in conversation with.

1:25.7

I'm going to let Senator Schumer explain the politics and the construct of Joe and

1:30.7

Eileen Bailey to you.

...

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