The Michigan Democrat Who Said “Enough”
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 May 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow went viral in April for striking back at an extreme characterization made by a Republican colleague. The video of McMorrow’s speech—viewed over 14 million times—tells a bigger story about how national political rhetoric is affecting local political debates. But is the senator really demonstrating how to reset the terms of debate? Or is she just one more person who went viral for speaking to her echo chamber?
Guest: Mallory McMorrow, Michigan state senator representing Grand Oak and the suburbs north of Detroit.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Joe Brand and I'm annoyed. |
| 0:02.8 | The unacceptable levels of homelessness this Christmas are no joke. |
| 0:06.8 | As the cost of living soars, people are being pushed out of their homes into temporary accommodation and onto freezing streets. |
| 0:13.6 | Crisis at Christmas offers a hot meal, health care and help with a place to stay. |
| 0:18.3 | The start of year-round specialist support. |
| 0:21.2 | This Christmas I'm standing with Crisis. Join me. |
| 0:24.6 | Search Crisis at Christmas and donate 29 pounds and 7 pence today. Thank you. |
| 0:36.2 | So Senator McMorrow, you've been really really busy. Do you feel like you have |
| 0:41.2 | stepped off of the rollercoaster yet? Oh my goodness, no. |
| 0:47.4 | Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow has been doing interviews non-stop since April 19th. |
| 0:53.7 | That's when she tweeted out a video of herself. Thank you, Mr. President. |
| 0:58.9 | In it, she is standing on the floor of the Michigan Senate and she is delivering a speech |
| 1:03.5 | calling out a Republican colleague for using the increasingly alarmist language of the modern |
| 1:10.3 | conservative movement. I didn't expect to wake up yesterday to the news that the Senator from |
| 1:15.5 | the 22nd District had overnight accused me by name of grooming and sexualizing children |
| 1:23.2 | in an email fundraising for herself. This speech has more than 14 million views. |
| 1:32.0 | So I sat on it for a while wondering why me? And then I realized because I am the biggest threat |
| 1:39.5 | to your hollow, hateful scheme because you care about that the president called you. |
| 1:45.1 | He did and I missed the call. |
| 1:47.6 | First of all, because I was putting my daughter in a bed and didn't have my phone in the room, |
| 1:52.7 | which is incredibly embarrassing, but he left a voice mail. Well, did he literally leave a voice |
| 1:56.6 | saying like, hey, it's President Biden. Oh, yeah, an actual voice mail and clarify, he said, |
... |
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