On a new podcast series, “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki,” host Jen Psaki dives into two crucial questions: where do Democrats stand in this moment? And how can they win again?Listen to the full first episode here, as Jen sits down with Governor Wes Moore of Maryland. They reflect on the meaning of patriotism, where the party can be bolder, and authenticity as a winning factor.Follow “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki” to catch new episodes. Episode two with writer Jack Schlossberg is in the feed now. And sign up for MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen without ads.
Chapter 1: Why did Jen Psaki start 'The Blueprint' podcast?
Hi there, it's Jen Psaki. I spent 20 years working in Democratic politics, and now I'm the host of MSNBC's Inside with Jen Psaki. And since November, I, probably like most of you, have been spending a lot of time thinking about what gave us another Donald Trump presidency. Now, to be clear, Trump didn't win in a landslide.
Chapter 2: What challenges do Democrats face post-Trump era?
He won the popular vote by the smallest margin of any president since Nixon. But he did win six swing states. That one blew last time. And he is now sitting in the Oval Office. So how did we get here? And more importantly, I've been thinking a lot about where the Democrats go from here.
Because questions are hard and they warrant longer and definitely more introspective conversations than a short segment on TV allows for. Plus, the actions of the Trump administration and our efforts to try to understand them and explain them, it all takes up a lot of oxygen. So I wanted to have a place to discuss what the Democrats are doing to regain power.
It prompted me to call up some people I've known a very long time, some who I think just have interesting and different perspectives, to take a candid look at what just happened and talk about what they think the blueprint should be for Democrats winning again.
Chapter 3: Who are the guest speakers on The Blueprint?
I'll talk with rising stars. If you believe in this country, that doesn't mean saying that it is flawless. Loving your country doesn't mean lying about its history. Grizzled political hands.
We have a debate about message, totally legit. But we lose sight that the messenger is also a message.
Party organizers. We've got to be selective. We also have to be able to differentiate between what is shock and awe and what is meaningful action. And even some social media darlings.
So you have to be very clear and you have to be very controversial in order to break through, I think.
So here we go. Welcome to The Blueprint with Jen Psaki. For our first conversation, I talked with Maryland Governor Wes Moore just before the Super Bowl. He's obviously a rising star, but I wanted to talk with him because he has one of the most compelling personal stories in politics today.
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Chapter 4: What makes Governor Wes Moore a compelling political figure?
He's blunt about where the party is falling short, and he also doesn't shy away from showing up in places you may not expect.
Like, I can still run with these boys. The problem is the next day is like I could barely get out of bed the next day because I was so sore.
That conversation is next on The Blueprint with Jen Psaki. This is where we just get crazy.
So just buckle up. Just kidding.
Okay. Governor Moore, it's great to see you.
Hi, Jen. It's great to see you.
I may have met you briefly before this, but I think I met you for the first time a year and a half ago when I came to visit you in Annapolis.
It was very fun. That was a great day.
It was very fun. And we talked all about your background. You have kind of this, what I would consider a fascinating, unique background. You probably didn't bet as a kid that you were going to be the governor of a state.
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Chapter 5: How does Wes Moore connect sports to politics?
Why?
Because I'm always fascinating about the ones who do it really well. What makes them so good? Like what makes Lamar Jackson such a unique talent inside the NFL right now? What makes a Saquon Barkley such a great running back is they just see things that other people don't and the game moves slower to them, even though they might be the fastest thing on the field.
So I just I've always I've just come to love this game where even when I'm at when I go to the Ravens games, You know, I will sit there watching the Ravens game and also have like the red zone on here because I'm watching the other games while I'm watching the Ravens games. So I just I've always loved it. I always have.
And, you know, one thing I always said about getting into into this game and getting into politics was that I never wanted to change who I was. That who I was before needs to be who I am afterwards. I say the greatest compliment that anyone could ever give me is if they say, it's the same dude I knew from 10, 20, you know, 30 years ago.
If they can say that, then I feel like I would have done my job. And so since I'm a, I was a huge football fan beforehand. So I'm gonna be a huge football fan now.
Yeah, I mean, what I love about this is, and I figured this since you played football in college, you clearly love it, is that sometimes I think Democrats are afraid to show their sides that are not, you know, one of the great things about a lot of Democrats and Democratic Party is it's like the kids who sat in the front of the class who wanted to get an A in AP history in high school.
You know, you're a Rhodes Scholar. You don't have anything to prove. Yeah. But a lot of people seem afraid to show their personal side, their silly side, their human side.
Yes. And you forget about why you're actually doing this. So, for example, I mean, the reason I'm doing this is not because I'm trying to fulfill a lifelong goal. This was not a lifetime goal. You know, I wasn't at 11 years old. I wasn't thinking about what am I going to do to be the
You weren't practicing your inaugural address when you were 11 in the mirror?
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Chapter 6: What life lessons has Wes Moore learned from sports?
So what are we talking about? This team just knows how to win. And I tell you, I think about it where a little over a year ago when the Chiefs knocked off my Ravens and I was at the game. So I'm sitting there, I'm at M&T Bank. I'm watching the Ravens come out and they're all hyped up. The crowd is nuts, right? I mean, we're just so excited.
They're up there, they're sprinting, they're doing flips and all that kind of stuff. And I saw the Chiefs walk out of the locker room, just like all business. and just going out there, running their drills, drowning out everything around them. And I remember thinking to myself, shit, we're going to lose. Because they're like, we've been here before, guys. We know this.
The lights are not that bright. And so I would love to see the Chiefs dynasty end. I don't think it's going to happen with the Philadelphia Eagles.
What do you think? There's so much I want to talk to you about, but I just want to ask you one more question about sports. I mean, I was a college swimmer, and what I learned about that in terms of my life moving forward is that there's nothing worse than a three-hour swim practice at 5 a.m. in Connecticut where it's 15 degrees. And there's a maniacalness about swimming.
You just, like, are doing the same thing continuously. What have you taken away from sports that has helped you approach your job as governor?
Hmm. Um, I think one of the biggest things about sports that translates to governor is the most important things that you do as governor are not the things that people see. It's the things they don't, right? It's what you're doing in preparation. It's, it's how you are running your government. It's how you're building your administration.
It's the things that you're reading and how you're spending your time. The things that people see that's, that's, that's showtime. That's the game. Champions are not produced on game days. Champions are produced in the days in between game days. And I really think that's, you know, sports did a great job. I know in my life of teaching me, how do you win properly? How do you lose properly?
How do you focus on building a team? Because everything is going to be about who's to my left and who's and who's to my right. And how do you make sure that you can prepare for the long term? Because the great thing about sports oftentimes is for each of these things, it's not about games. These are seasons. And so you can focus on an individual game.
But you have to remember, you have a long season ahead of you. And making sure that you're thinking about that when you're doing your preparation, I think has been huge because we're very clear. In fact, I have a clock that sits on my desk that counts back the amount of days that I have until my first term is up.
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Chapter 7: How does Wes Moore's background influence his approach to governance?
It's not something that's been integral to them. It's not something they had to come up in or had to live through. And so when I talk about the need to be able to say we've got to do a better job of investing in education, that we have to raise a minimum wage like we've done in the state of Maryland, that we have to invest in childcare like we've done in the state of Maryland.
We've made historic investments in childcare in our state, that we have to be able to put people on pathways to service options like we in Maryland.
Maryland's now the first state in the country that has a service year option for all of our high school graduates, that we have to do things like, you know, I signed the largest mass pardon in the history of this country for misdemeanor cannabis convictions. It's not because those were intellectual exercises that I went through.
I'm thinking of like many of my family members, many of my friends and the people who my mother did not get her first job that gave her benefits until I was 14 years old. First job that gave her a job with reliable hours. First job that allowed her to work one job instead of multiple jobs. She got that job when I was 14. And this is a woman who went on to earning a master's degree.
So these disparities that we see in our society that are not because people are not willing to work. That's not the reason. We have policies that continue to be put in place that are putting people and keeping people in challenging situations for them and their families.
So that's, we have to message better by having better policies and having better policies that are then being translated and pushed by people who actually believe in what they're talking about. Because the people can sense something when someone's being disingenuous or when they don't actually believe what they're talking about.
Yeah, I also think people can sense when something is like a poll-tested, branded thing, right? I mean, I worked in Democratic politics, obviously, more than 20 years. And sometimes when things are branded, even when they have good components of them, like the opportunity agenda, which had a lot of good stuff in it, but it sounds... Not real.
Like a consultant.
Yeah.
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