Alyssa Slotkin
Appearances
Apple News Today
Trump’s speech to Congress is met with cheers and protests
Look, the president talked a big game on the economy, but it's always important to read the fine print. So do his plans actually help Americans get ahead? Not even close. President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. And to do that, he's going to make you pay in every part of your life. Grocery and home prices are going up, not down.
Apple News Today
Trump’s speech to Congress is met with cheers and protests
And he hasn't laid out a credible plan to deal with either of those.
Consider This from NPR
Can democrats find their way out of the wilderness?
President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He's on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America. And to do that, he's going to make you pay in every part of your life.
Consider This from NPR
Can democrats find their way out of the wilderness?
Because whether you're from Wyandotte or Wichita, most Americans share three core beliefs. That the middle class is the engine of our country. that strong national security protects us from harm, and that our democracy, no matter how messy, is unparalleled and worth fighting for.
Consider This from NPR
Can democrats find their way out of the wilderness?
Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to Consider This sponsor-free through Amazon Music. Or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get Consider This Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.
Consider This from NPR
Can democrats find their way out of the wilderness?
My dad was a lifelong Republican. My mom, a lifelong Democrat. But it was never a big deal because we had shared values that were bigger than any one party.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2156 - Trump SLASHES AND BURNS Through Department of Education!
Thank you, Madam Chair. Ranking Member Keating, also wonderful.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2156 - Trump SLASHES AND BURNS Through Department of Education!
I don't think there's anyone who feels like what's going on right now is normal, even if you voted for Trump. I think there's a feeling in the country, and I often say this, we're about to turn 250 years old. We're still pretty young for a country. These are our angry teenage years. We are going through this push and pull where we're happy, we're sad, we want this, we want that.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2156 - Trump SLASHES AND BURNS Through Department of Education!
And what do you do when you have a teenager who's threatening... themselves and others, you just try to get them through this period alive so that their brain can fully form and you can come back to kind of what a country... Are you talking about Trump? No, I'm talking about our country. We're pendulum swinging. We're pendulum swinging.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2156 - Trump SLASHES AND BURNS Through Department of Education!
And so for me, I think that this... I don't think there's a single American who feels like this is normal.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2125 - Trump Goes FULL FAFO!
I mean, I just don't understand, you know, if the focus and the priority is on criminals, I'm not sure going after an 11-year-old is where you start. And this is the, again, the inconsistency between what they're saying and then what we saw happen in this past week, right? Going after places that were not sanctuary cities, kind of in this sort of sphere what felt sort of arbitrary way.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2125 - Trump Goes FULL FAFO!
So I think, to me, you know, the idea of going into children and terrorizing children, I just don't believe in supporting that kind of action. And I don't believe that most Americans think that 11- and 12-year-olds are the ones who are the hardened criminals that need to go back to their country.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2154 - Stephen A. Smith ATTACKS Me!
Should Americans brace for a recession?
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2154 - Stephen A. Smith ATTACKS Me!
I don't think it's a secret that Democrats have been on their heels since Trump won the election. Right. I don't think that's something hidden. And I think it's on us to be clear about not only leadership and there's lots of leaders in both parties, but also a strategy. Right.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2154 - Stephen A. Smith ATTACKS Me!
And I think that's something that as Trump has been successful in flooding the zone and just like every day, 15 things happening, we are still finding our footing. And I think you can't get better until you admit you have a have a problem.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2154 - Stephen A. Smith ATTACKS Me!
But for me, it's like, let the local community figure this out, right? In Michigan, we have a process in place where if someone who's born a boy wants to play in women's sports, you have to get a waiver. We've had it happen two times in our entire state. So let the local communities, just like everything with schools, handle that issue.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2154 - Stephen A. Smith ATTACKS Me!
For me, though, I think this issue is being sort of brought up in order to make sparks and see sparks fly.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2163 - The Left’s ASSAULT On Musk Continues…
All of those things require me to be more than just an AOC. I can't do what she does because we live in a purple state and I'm a pragmatist. Everyone you mentioned has a lot of words. What have they actually done to change the situation with Donald Trump?
The Daily
Partisan Taunts and Defiant Protests: Trump’s First Speech to Congress
Don't tune out. It's easy to be exhausted. But America needs you now more than ever.
The Daily
Partisan Taunts and Defiant Protests: Trump’s First Speech to Congress
I've seen democracies flicker out. I've seen what life is like when a government is rigged. You can't open a business without paying off a corrupt official. You can't criticize the guys in charge without getting a knock at the door in the middle of the night.
The Daily
Partisan Taunts and Defiant Protests: Trump’s First Speech to Congress
So as much as we need to make our government more responsive to our lives today, don't for one moment fool yourself that democracy isn't precious and worth saving.
The Dan Bongino Show
Spending Bill Passes House And Everyone Loses Their Mind (Ep. 2440)
I think there's a feeling in the country, and I often say this, we're about to turn 250 years old. We're still pretty young for a country. These are our angry teenage years. We are going through this push and pull where we're happy, we're sad, we want this, we want that. And what do you do when you have a teenager who's threatening
The Dan Bongino Show
Spending Bill Passes House And Everyone Loses Their Mind (Ep. 2440)
themselves and others, you just try to get them through this period alive so that their brain can fully form and you can come back to kind of what a country... Are you talking about Trump? No, I'm talking about our country. We're pendulum swinging. We're pendulum swinging. And so, for me, I think that this... I don't think there's a single American who feels like this is normal.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response, with Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, and Alvin Lui | Ep. 1019
He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth. He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions. As a Cold War kid, I'm thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response, with Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, and Alvin Lui | Ep. 1019
Donald Trump's actions suggest that in his heart, he doesn't believe we're an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn't think we should lead the world.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response, with Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, and Alvin Lui | Ep. 1019
Is there anything that a commander-in-chief could ask you to do with the uniformed military that would be in violation of the U.S. Constitution?
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response, with Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, and Alvin Lui | Ep. 1019
Right. Okay, so are you saying that you would stand in the breach and push back if you were given an illegal order?
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response, with Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, and Alvin Lui | Ep. 1019
This isn't a hypothetical. Again, you're going to be in charge of three million people. The active duty that I know you care about, I believe you care about. So have you been in conversations about using the active duty in any way, whether it's setting up in detention camps, policing dangerous cities? Have you been involved in any of those conversations?
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response, with Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, and Alvin Lui | Ep. 1019
Sir, sir, I get your filibustering. I get it.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I think in general, I agree with this premise that we need to change the government. And I worked in the government my entire life, right? I ran a big office at the Pentagon. If you had said to me, hey, we got to take an 8% cut, I know exactly where I'd cut, right? This idea that there's no fat on the bone is not accurate. And I'm sorry, it's just not true.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
But what I cannot subscribe to is the completely reckless way they're going about this. I mean, absurd things like sticking everyone's job name into an AI-powered... you know, algorithm and, you know, cutting out anyone who had the word diversity, including like energy diversity or something, you know what I mean? Stupid stuff like that.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
But then stuff that literally keeps people safe every day, right? People who are testing water, people who are looking at national threats. So, We need responsible change, not reckless change. And what this guy is firing people on a Friday, including my own family members, and then rehiring them three weeks later because you made a mistake. Any CEO in America would be fired for that.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And they're just being sloppy about it.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
My stepbrother was fired. He just had started after 25 years working in his state. He had just taken a new job as a supervisor at a federal agency. And so because he was like last in and had not even been there for a year, they fired him. And then he started looking for another job. He was talking to people, you know, he'd been in that business many years.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And then three weeks later, they gave him full back pay and brought him back. And it was only out of his dedication to the people who were working for him that he walked back into that place. But like, come on, no company in America runs that way. That is just sloppy and completely a strategic. And that's what he's doing across the government, including on positions that protect people from harm.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I mean, I think that many of his policies make us extremely vulnerable to threats coming from abroad and then internal threats.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Sure. I mean, I think— He sort of made a hobby out of kicking our allies in the teeth and cozying up to our adversaries, right? I mean, I think, so he's gone hostile against people who we actually work with every single day in the intelligence community. We share threat information.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
We tell each other about, you know, a terrorist plot that's underway in each other's countries, like people we work with every single day.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I mean, but not just our English-speaking cousins, lots of other countries, right? I mean, if there is a—I've seen in my time countries flagged for us that there's a terrorist threat that starts in the Middle East but is going through servers in Europe that's targeting stuff in the United States.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
For me, as someone who's new to this body, 30 days in this body, I will always seek to work where I can with my colleagues, but not at the expense of the fundamental freedoms and our democracy. That may not be politically palatable back home, but I don't care. Because if we can't do it, what is the point?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And because we're allies, they flag for our law enforcement and our intelligence community, this is going on, and we work with them to shut it down. Every single day I can give you stories about how in a globalized world we need friends to keep ourselves safe.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Well, first of all, I think that because he's cozying up to adversaries, because information has been leaked, right? Intelligence has been leaked because it's unclear what the Trump administration's kind of relationship is with the Russians, for instance.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I think I know that there are countries who are hesitant to be as open-armed about their sharing as they were in previous years under Democrat and Republican administration. So there's definitely, I think, a concern.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I think... There's some people who have already started in the privacy of their own homes to think about that. I think there are diehards who are going to be with him because they think that he's Wizard of Oz behind the curtain and there's some grand plan.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
What was interesting to me was actually a couple weeks ago, I was pumping gas at a gas station and the truck next to me had a Trump sticker on it. And the guys pumping gas next to me were throwing trash in the trash can and everything and And they said, oh, we recognize you and, you know, we know who you are and everything. And they were still definitely pro-Trump guys.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And, you know, it's Michigan, so we get along. It's still very cordial and respectful. And we kind of ended the conversation. I'm still pumping my gas. They came back around and one of them said, you know, I will say I voted for more money in my pocket, not this yo-yo shit on tariffs. Yeah. Right. And and that to me, again, if there's an election tomorrow, does that guy continue to vote for Trump?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Maybe. But they're they're voicing to a Democrat at a gas station.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
They would say it's too soon to tell, right? They would say, I still think that there's a grace period, right? And a lot of my guys who are union members will tell me, like, there's a grand plan. And so you can't figure out a grand plan, Alyssa, in 100 days, they would say to me, right? So I think that we're in this wait and see kind of period. And he's going to have to own his policies.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And by the way, Democrats are going to have to make him own his policies. This is what I'm talking about, about having a stronger defense, you know, as well as an offense. Right. We need to show people what the Trump administration is doing and make it real to them. And we can't speak in percentages and we can't speak in talking points.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
What is the point of being senior elected leaders in this body if you don't stand up for the country that you love? There's no king in this country. There's an elected president. Please stand up on behalf of your country.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Again, this is about priorities. If people hear us talking about... identity issues 80% of our time and the economy 20% of the time. That's just not where the public is in a state like mine. That's just not. It's not that people don't have sympathy, right? I grew up in a gay home. My mom came out in suburban Detroit in 1986. We hit it.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I got all the way through high school without anyone knowing, right? It was a different time. So you're not going to find someone who feels more strongly about gay rights and about, you know, she died before gay marriage was legal. And I went through, you know, the pain of like having to, the hospital having to allow her partner to make decisions even though they weren't legally married, right?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
So that's, it's not that those aren't important issues. It's just when you are trying to speak to people, you need to speak to their broadest sense of needs. And they need to understand that your priorities are their priorities. And so that is what I mean is like when you lead with the identity politics, it's sort of like you're missing what 80 percent of at least my people are talking about.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Yeah. Well, look, even I just finished a hearing for some Department of Defense nominees. And I was in the elevator with a Republican colleague who had gone before me. And I said, you know, I disagree with pretty much everything you said in your question. And, you know. that what he's saying is BS. Like, you know, right? And it's sort of like a tap dance.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And then, frankly, for some of them, like, look, I want a seat at the table. It's literally what one of them told me.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
You're really going to have to ask them. I think, look, I remember a moment early in my tenure as an elected representative, 2019, right? I'd just gotten elected in 2018 representing a Trump voting district. And the minute I get to Congress, everyone's talking about impeaching Trump, impeaching Trump.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I knew that if I said, okay, yes, let's go and impeach Trump, I was gonna be a one-term Congresswoman, right? I understood that. And so there'd be a push, a push, and like a number of us would sort of push back.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
In the fall of 2019, that's when we first got reporting that the president had told Zelensky, unless you give me dirt on Joe Biden, I'm going to stop your weapons, you know, and helping you and supporting you. And for me and a number of others, it just was beyond the pale. And I had to sort of say to myself over the course of a weekend, like...
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
yeah, I'll probably lose my next election, but I have to be able to look myself in the mirror in my life. And so, you know, we wrote an op-ed, a group of us, we're all service and veteran folks saying, you know what? We may lose our seats, but we got, this is just beyond the pill. And we did it. And I did these town halls.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I had 500 people at a time heckling me and screaming at me and very, very unhappy. but it was the best lesson I could ever learn as a new elected official. Like risk your job in your first year because number one, You're liberated, right? You can do what you need to do, what you think is right.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Number two, actually, I had people coming up to me, a lot of Trump voters who would say to me, excuse my French, and like in the airport, they'd be like, look, I don't really like you. I don't really like your party, but I saw you did that. You did those town halls and like that took balls.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And like, it was like, you know, some respect for risking your job, which is just a thing that's not done a lot in politics. So you're going to have to talk to them But I will just say, again, history is not going to judge those folks well who knew better but protected him.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Thank you. Appreciate being here.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Well, you know, I think the way that I've boiled it down is basically two things. Number one, I focused pretty religiously on economic issues. I mean, the vast majority of my TV ads and my mailers and my digital stuff was about pocketbook issues in one way or another.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And I think there was a question about Democrats in general and what their priorities were and if their priorities were actually like lowering costs. And then the second thing is a little bit more ephemeral. It's harder to grab. And that's just kind of an alpha energy thing, right?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I mean, I think people are looking for leadership and to sort of lead through the dark tunnel into the light of a very complicated time in our country's history. And so they want a little alpha. And that's not a male-female thing. That's just a leadership thing. And I obviously have major disagreements with the way Trump leads, but I don't think most people would deny he's got alpha energy.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And for me, especially going into communities, you know, in order to win and represent my state, I got to go into very conservative, very red areas, very Republican areas. My whole strategy is lose better in red areas, right?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Go in and meet enough people and surprise enough people that you peel away some of those voters and you lose better, you know, with 41 percent of the vote instead of 35 percent of the vote in a certain county or an area. And I think part of that is it's not about your policy papers that you write on your website. It's not about wonky stuff. It's just like, do they get the leadership vibe from you?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And I think I had a few more ounces of that than maybe the average Democrat. And it helped me in some of those areas where Democrats kind of lost pretty big.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Well, I think you have like we can walk and chew gum. Right. Like I think there is no way I would ever say with what Donald Trump is doing to roll back our democracy that we shouldn't be watching those issues and activated on those issues. We should. I mean, you know, as someone who's been in national service my whole life, like that's what we're trying to do here is preserve our democracy. Right.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
But I think if you're only doing that and not speaking to people who are really struggling to pay their bills, you're just having half a conversation. In Michigan in general, if you're not talking about the economy, you are literally having half a conversation. And I've had someone say to me, like, I can't pay for my kid to go to summer camp with democracy. Right.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
So it's not that people don't care. They do. But if you're working two jobs and have crappy health insurance, like it's just not the thing that's keeping you up at night. And so I have made this very plain that Democrats can do more than one thing. But in my part of the world, you've got to speak from people's pocketbooks and their kids as a first place.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Well, look, I mean, she had what the fast like 100 days. I mean, something very, very short. But I think what ended up happening is people couldn't tell what our priorities were at the at the highest levels. There were so many priorities that there were no priorities. And again, I have no love for Donald Trump, but he just really made it an election about your pocketbook.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And every yard sign, everything he did was just focused on that. And so people said, well, look, I don't really like everything he has to say, but I want more money in my pocket. I'm going to vote for the person who's going to put more money in my pocket.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I mean, that to me, yes, of course, immigration is an issue that polarizes a lot of people, activates a lot of people. But even, you know, if you look back, the way that Trump and Vance were talking about immigration was also as an economic issue, right? Vance made this false claim that immigration was why housing was so expensive.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
You couldn't get a house that you could afford because of immigration. It's a false story. But they were turning immigration into an economic issue because that was the lead foot, certainly at the end.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Sure. Well, I mean, you know, look, I think, to be honest, that kind of coach persona is exactly what I'm talking about, Dan or otherwise. You got to play defense with muscle. So right now, Lord knows, with Trump having the House, the Senate and the White House, we should be playing a more muscular defense.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
We should be organized and standing up in a more deliberate and forceful way, more strategic way, right? We should be separating, like, I'm sorry, the issues of Greenland are not where we need to be losing our minds. We need to be focusing on the things, again, that are deeply affecting our economic security, our national security, and our democracy.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
So we should be playing much more robust defense. But then we should be playing offense. You got to offer something to beat the other guy, right? And for me, I think, you know, I've been toying with this idea of giving a talk sometime later this month that's just called Slaughtering Sacred Cows, right?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
That we as Democrats need to also realize that while certainly people who voted for Donald Trump wanted change from their government, that actually a A lot of people don't think the government is working for them. A lot of them want government to change. It's just, we have a 20th century government and it's the 21st century.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Yeah. So for example, to me, I think we need to be honest that while many regulations, right, are done from goodness, right? We want to protect our environment. We want to protect public health. We want to, when you overlap, 20 different regulations so that it becomes impossible to get a permit to build a manufacturing site for 15 years. Then we've lost the forest for the trees, right?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
So I am 100% willing to have a real conversation about peeling back regulation. I don't want to hurt the environment or all these other things that we care about, but my farmers... They've been like responsible, good actors for 25 years, right? They get evaluated on how they climb ladders. I'm like, what do you do it ass backwards? Like how do you go up a ladder?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
What I'm seeing is we have over-regulated to the point of not being able to get our dollars out. And look, I think about this for things that are very much like important democratic agenda items that we've gotten in our own way by making so many rules and regulations that you can't actually move quickly and show that democracy and government can work.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
So let's take one that's fundamental to who we are as Americans, immigration. Everyone knows our immigration policy is broken. Is there a single person in this country who thinks our immigration system is working? It's not working for the immigrants. It's not working for employers. It's not working for the economy.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
We need more, actually, immigrants in order for our economy to be completely unleashed. We need a legal vetted way to get people in. For years, people have been talking about comprehensive immigration reform, right? That we can't do a deal, Democrats and Republicans, unless we get everything.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I mean, 100 percent. Right. Everybody, everybody has blame to go around. Right. On this issue. My thing is like, you know what? It's so broken. I'll take incremental immigration reform. I will take I don't have to make it all work out in a perfect plan. I will just double the caps of every legal visa category today.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And I'll work with anybody who's willing to do that because we need more legal vetted immigrants coming here, working here, building their lives here. And to me, like that's that is controversial. I'm going to get some emails about that statement. OK, right. But I think we need to be willing to say that not everything can be perfect in this world.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I'll take some change rather than no change and waiting for the perfect to be the enemy, the good.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Yeah, it was literally just the word. My dad asked me what it meant, and then a bunch of other people Ask me what it meant. That's it. It's just a word. Like, just say we have no king or whatever you want to say. But I think actually it says a lot more about the state of the Democratic Party that we are arguing about a word.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
And I'm in full support. Like, good energy at the rallies, as I said, the base.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
It's literally a word.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
I mean, I know like the media likes to, you know, get seams between Democrats. It's the word and that people were asking me what it meant. And so can we just reframe the like, just say what you said.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
You know, I think that as someone who just won on the same ballot with Donald Trump, as someone who represents a very independently minded swing state, as someone whose dad asked her what the word mean, I don't think people are dumb. I just think the Democratic Party can speak in plain English and be more effective.