Welcome to the Bullwork podcast. I'm Charlie Sykes. It is Wednesday and I'm really pleased

to welcome back one of my favorite guests on the program.

Rui Tashera. Rui is a non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and

co-editor of the Sub-Sac Newsletter, the liberal patriot in his most recent book is the

optimistic leftist. Why the 21st century will be better than you think. So first of all,

good morning, Rui. Good morning, Charlie. Are you still optimistic? Are you still an optimistic leftist?

Well, yeah, I mean, I'm optimistic over the long haul. Over the short haul, I'm less sanguine,

I guess, right? Define long haul. Like in our lifetime before the sun goes dim. No, but that way

before the sun goes dim. I mean, I said the 21st century, right? We still got a lot of 21st century

left. And even as bad things are happening, which are easily recounted, you know, I always try to

remember the world is getting richer and, you know, healthcare is getting better for people around

the world. And, you know, there's the reasons to be optimistic. The technological capabilities of

civilization will become aligned over time with people's needs more than they are today. And as I say,

I think we're going to continue to get richer. And I think some sort of generally social democratic

approach, just spreading the benefits of growth and promoting growth will eventually prevail.

We're not in that situation now. Obviously, in the short term in the United States politically,

because both parties got their heads up. There was ooze, but maybe things will improve. I think they

will, you know, but you got to have some patience. Well, I want to cling to that hope for a moment.

But let's go back to where we are right now. This particular moment, most of this podcast is

going to be tough love for the Democrats and how they should talk about issues like the economy,

the culture, crime, immigration, etc. But we have to start off by talking about this, the

Herschel Walker story. And really what it says about our political culture right now and more

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