STEVE GOLDSTEIN: When Kyrsten Sinema was a U.S. Senate candidate in 2018, her campaign was praised for being on target with what Arizona swing voters were interested in, even running as a Democrat. Her ads focused on her plan to be independent and how that fit in historically with the state's most effective senators — specifically John McCain. Sinema went on to win that race and in the Senate has proven to be someone who will cross the aisle. Right now, though, that's causing some consternation among her Democratic supporters and other progressives. And it has led to the creation of the No Excuses PAC, which is also unhappy with West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin. No Excuses co-founder Corbin Trent is with me to talk about the group's plan. Now, Corbin, Sen. Sinema's assertion that she will support the continued use of the filibuster has received some negative attention from the left. How much is that a part of the No Excuses PAC's frustration? And what else are you focused on?
CORBIN TRENT: Well, I mean, it's a huge barrier, right? So what the filibuster is basically is a tradition. It's not in the Constitution, it's not in the bylaws anywhere. This is literally just a tradition that the Senate's sort of taken on and let it become part of their DNA that says that you need 60 votes to do anything to stop debate and pass any legislation. And essentially what that means is you do nothing. It's really — you know, you can't get five people in a car to agree on where we're going to have dinner. You sure can't get 100 different people to agree on how we're going to take the country in a direction. So, you know, it's a very hard thing to do. So when you hit that, when you have a threshold of 60 votes to do anything meaningful, the end result is you do very little meaningful stuff. And the lived results for most people in this country is that we're not able to solve crises like, say, the COVID-19 crisis or the economic impacts of COVID-19 or out-of-control, you know, a, you know, an economy that's in a tailspin or inequality that's rampant. I mean, we've got so many issues that are facing this country right now. And what we're doing is letting this strange tradition block our progress. And it doesn't make any sense. Sen. Manchin and Senator, Sen. Sinema have decided that this is a hill that they're willing to let, let Americans die on.
GOLDSTEIN: Is your take that the issues that progressive Democrats — I'll call it that, I'll label them that —progressive Democrats think are good ideas, even in a situation without a filibuster — so let's say we see the 50-50 plus one with Vice President [Kamala] Harris breaking ties and whatnot. The phrase unintended consequences always comes up. So do you think that if Democrats are able to push through some of these things, that the majority of the American public will say, "I am with you, let's go forward and do more of this?" Because some people will say, "Well, what happens the next time Republicans control the Senate? Are they just going to flip back on things? Are we just going to have the whiplash?"
TRENT: Well, what we've seen is that when Republicans control the Senate, they push through very unpopular things in most regards, right? They push through Supreme Court justices. They put — they basically use reconciliation, right? They actually, as a party, pushed up through mostly very unpopular stuff, trillion dollar tax cuts, things like that, right? And then when they lose power, they say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's go back to being super normal here. Let's do bipartisanship, work together hand in hand. Let's have unity, fellas." And, you know, you can't have it both ways. So I don't think you're going to end up with — look, I mean, you know, we worked — when you had [Franklin D. Roosevelt] (FDR) as a president, you know, what we saw is that they pushed through things that made lives better, right? And what did that do? That made Democrats — that put them in majority of the House and the Senate and the White — gave them the White House for a generation, basically. Like there was like decades of majorities that were growing for Democrats because they were improving the lives of people in the country. And you look at states like West Virginia that used to be a deep blue state, and now people think of it as a very red state. And I love, they love saying things like, "Manchin's the only Democrat that can win in West Virginia," like he's somehow singularly positioned and qualified and capable — the only human being in West Virginia that can possibly win as a Democrat. I mean, just think how ludicrous that is as a, as a statement, first of all. But secondly, think of how much that means that the Democratic Party's brand has been destroyed, right? And I think it's time to rebuild that brand by doing — by putting, you know, putting food on the table by improving lives.
GOLDSTEIN: Well, let me follow up with what you said about Manchin then. It applies in Arizona, not quite the same way, obviously, as we're seeing Arizona, you know, if we want to use the colors purple moving toward blue, a lot of people think as well. When Sen. Sinema, though, won her first race after having been in the House, much of her campaign was based on being an independent thinker. "Yes, I'm a Democrat, but I'm also willing to, to really work across the aisle" — that is the brand that she has done. What if Kyrsten Sinema is challenged by a more progressive Democrat? Can a progressive Democrat win in Arizona, a state that granted is not under the, the narrative you gave about Manchin?
TRENT: You know, I don't think that it's about a progressive Democrat or a centrist Democrat or one that's willing to work across the aisle to maintain gridlock and, you know, inaction. I think what we've got to find, you know, when people ask me, you know, what kind of candidate do you think we need to recruit for these seats? I, the way I've been phrasing it is a "populist industrialist." You know, I don't really have a bucket to put it in in our traditional political discourse. But what we need is somebody who's willing to do stuff. Somebody is willing to break down barriers and treat this country like its best days are ahead of it, not behind it. Somebody who's willing to get in there and cut through red tape and actually do hard work. And I mean, the filibuster is a great example of red tape. There's literally this little, you know, paper barrier in front of us and progress. And folks are like, "Well, we can't go through that. Sorry, it's just impenetrable. It's too important to take it down." And, you know, so I think folks like Sinema hide behind this banner of bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle. If you reach across the aisle and you still get absolutely, very, very little done for the people of Arizona, what's the point of that?
GOLDSTEIN: There will be some who will say, "OK, I understand your frustration with Sen. Sinema and Manchin, but would it be better to raise money to defeat Republicans — which maybe you're doing as well — as opposed to raising money to potentially have a challenger, a Democratic challenger to these folks?" Is this also kind of supposed to be a wake up call to those senators?
TRENT: The way I think this moves forward is we are working to beat Republicans — in '22 and in '24. And I think that's why I'm so adamant about, you know, hoping that Democrats keep some of their promises, right? And right now, we're looking at the $2,000 checks that they ran on that helped them win Georgia and helped them win states like Arizona, right? They literally, Democrats were running on, "If you elect us, if you give us the Senate, if you give us the White House, we will send you checks — $2,000 checks," very specific things they said, right? And people went out there and people voted and gave them the Senate and they gave them the White House. And they've yet to materialize. And it's because of political inaction. If you hold people, these Democrats' feet to the fire, if you hold them accountable, if you make them do what they've said they're going to do, then life's going to be better for the American people and for the Democratic Party. You know, everybody's always afraid. Yeah, I remember, you know, if we raise taxes in New York, all the companies will leave. If we, if we put pressure on people like Manchin and Sinema, then they'll just flip over to Republican. Everybody's like, always coming at things from this position of fear. Well, I think the Democratic Party is the best party in this country. I think America is the best nation on the planet. And I think we can do a whole lot of good stuff if we work together and push ourselves instead of coming from a place of fear.
GOLDSTEIN: Corbin Trent is co-founder of the No Excuses PAC. Corbin, thanks so much for the conversation. Great to talk with you.
TRENT: Pleasure. Thank you, Steve.
