Why El-Sayed says reporters hear different concerns than voters

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 58:44

   You know, John, I've been on a town hall tour for the last two weeks. It took me to 10 different communities. A variety of communities, rural, city. Okay. Rural, urban. But the questions that I get asked by media almost have nothing to do with the questions that I get asked in the room. Really? Total disconnect. Total disconnect. And I'll have a whole gaggle, like a whole press gaggle right after. And the folks in the room are asking me about AI. They're asking me about healthcare. They're asking me about rights. They're asking me about how you're going to work with Republicans. Tell me about your leadership style. They're asking me substantive questions because they're making a decision about who they want their next US center to be. And then I'll do a gaggle afterwards. And it's all of these gotcha questions made for clicks on the media. And I'll

2. 59:32

   tell you, look, I hosted a podcast, right? I've done this thing and I believe in the role of the media. But part of the reason people don't trust media anymore is because it's become so disconnected from their actual lives and it's made for the entertainment. Well, it's part of the reason why also they don't trust government. Right. Because they see that government policy is also disconnected from their lives. And that's the thing that they're getting with me, I think, is that when I I stand in front of you and I take open questions. We don't, we don't screen questions. People are realizing that like, wait, this is a guy who did work in government to try to make it work. Solving medical debt, putting glasses on kids, making sure kids weren't exposed to let in their schools.

3. 1:00:13

   Like that's important stuff I actually agree with. And I want him to do. And they're, you know, asking him all these questions in the press and he keeps coming, bringing it back to, yeah, but you can't afford your gas. You can't afford your groceries. People don't, you know, can't see a doctor and they're all like, yes, yes, yes. Okay, fine. But can we talk about Israel for the 15th time? And they're like, we can. But the thing I keep trying to tell you about that is I don't want my tax dollars subsidizing a foreign military when it could be used to subsidize kids schools. And they're like, yes, but you're evading the question. I'm like, no, I'm actually answering the question that most people care about. You just want to hunt for clicks.

4. 1:00:46

   Do you see it? Is there any kind of synchronicity between is the media able to shape those narratives to the point where you begin to feel them in your interactions with regular people that you're going around? Like, as you see the news cycle focus on Piker or Israel or Muslim Brotherhood or any of those things, does that bleed into, or do you see the downstream effects of advertising in your interactions with people?

5. 1:01:17

   The advertising definitely you hear. You do hear, okay. Well, is it true that you're going to, And you're like, well, let me let me just speak to number one, who's funding that and number two, what my actual position is. But more often than not, right, the sort of gotcha clickbaity stuff in the media, specifically in interviews, if anything, people come up to me, even when they disagree with me. Like I've had multiple Trump voters who are like, you know, I saw that interaction with Tommy and thank you for standing up.

6. 1:01:46

   By the way, I love that. I love that he's just named like Tommy, just a random boy who stood up in the back, a little Dennis, the menace of a child to ask a question. Dude's a Republican operative implant named Tommy. Actually, you'd be surprised how many people actually know that about him now. Oh, no. Yeah, they know they know what he is. And then they'll also say, look, I saw you on CNN. I saw you on MSNOW.

7. 1:02:11

   I saw you on Fox News. I saw you on whatever. And they kept trying to get you on this thing. And you know what? Like, you kept bringing it back to me. So thank you. And so in some respects, it's funny because like when the camera shuts off and we're all off the record, I'm like, how did you think that interaction was going to go? Right? Like, because here's the thing about it. This is going to get clipped and then it's going to go on the internet.

8. 1:02:31

   And then everyone's going to kind of look at that and be like, you know, that guy's actually just talking about me and you keep trying to make him talk about everything else. And what, what people think I'm going to do is they're like, I'm going to back down or I'm going to give, I'm going to get more like, no, I know what I'm here to fight for. I'm here to fight for affordable gas, groceries, the ability to see a doctor.

9. 1:02:47

   I want money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all. That's what I'm here to talk about.