The Issue Is: Debate Debacle & Jon Favreau

Debate Debacle I'm Alex Michaels and this week the issue is the presidential debate insights and Analysis from a variety of perspectives then one-on-one with pod Safe America host and former Obama speech writer John favra the issue is starts right now broadcasting across California you're watching the issue is look if we finally beat Medicare he right he did beat Medicare he beat it to death so much post- debate talk not about Donald Trump but about President Biden's age we've got a great panel here tonight during a post debate issue is special we talk with politicos Melanie Mason kfi's John Cobel strategist Brian Goldsmith and former Hardball host Chris Matthews Melanie let's start with you one word to describe the debate and your big takeaway from the night I'll cheat and use two words but they'll be compound low energy if he was hoping to assuage fears about his age he did not do it and Trump was low energy for him in a way that I think actually benefited John one word excruciating if you hadn't invited me here and I didn't like you I would have turned on the Dodger game Brian Goldsmith to you your one word and your big takeaway uh sad with an exclamation point uh there's going to be a big debate within the Democratic party about how we move for forward here my one word is disaster uh and the private conversation that's been happening for months about potentially replacing Joe Biden at the head of the democratic ticket will now become very public very soon Chris Matthews what's your one word for the debate well I have to say it's like they like in the old cowboy movies choose your weapons Biden didn't choose any weapon do you think that Joe Biden can recover from this there is talk clearly we heard it tonight they've already begin the conversation because if you can't debate this guy between now and November how you going to beat him the Democrats have a credibility issue now they have just spent the last year trying to tell the American people that he's fine he's up for the job and if Democrats are now going to turn around and say we want to replace our nominee how are those same Democrats going to sell that case normal people know they've been lied to all year he doesn't have twice the energy of someone half his age how many times did you hear nonsense like that Brian Goldsmith let's go to you what are the logistics involved if in fact the Democrats want to replace Joe Biden the big issue is inside the president's mind and you know what decision he wants to make for the future there is not a lot of Doubt among Democrats that he has the capacity to be president right now the doubt is does he does he have the capacity to be Donald Trump right now last sentence final thought I think it's chaos in the Democratic group texts tonight John in the real world nobody would hire Biden to bag groceries okay Brian gold smith last word to you a sad and uncertain moment in the campaign we also catch up with independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr at his own debate in Hollywood it's hard to say that President Trump is a winner because I think in most situations that would not have been a winning performance but I think you know President Biden seem so frail and so unable to to rise to the occasion and um you know his face lacked affect and uh I it was it was sad by Friday morning a more energetic Biden back on the campaign Trail I don't de debate as well as I used to but I know what I do know I know how to tell the truth I appear on TMZ live with Harvey Levan and Charles L bouier he's telegraphing that he is not going to drop out of this race which a lot of Democrats are begging for him to do we talked with Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia a Democrat who was in the spin room on behalf of the Biden campaign do you think that of all the candidates in the entire country that Joe Biden in his 80s is the best candidate to beat Donald Trump absolutely and you know why because Joe Biden is the only person in the the entire country that has actually ever beaten Donald Trump in a presidential election um there are many months still until the election there will be another debate and sure I think everyone including Joe Biden himself who who has mentioned it would have preferred him not to have that raspy voice uh in the debate but we've moved on from that can you guys think of a political debate that was as bad as a performance John favro talks about this week's debate on a special edition of his popular podcast pod save America we all saw this right well that's can't not going to be convinced that I don't tell me my eyes are Jon Favreau lying days before the debate we met up with Fabro at Crooked media's headquarters the former Chief speech writer for Barack Obama is out with a new book democracy or else John favro welcome to the issue is and thank you for having us here at Crooked thanks for uh thanks for coming and thanks for having me on the show yeah uh we love that crooked is here in California and it often gives us an opportunity to mooch off your guests so we appreciate that as well when people come in uh to do your show um this you know the book is great democracy or else uh and how to save America in 10 steps uh I read the whole thing it's fun it's fast it's funny it's like every other sentence seems to be a joke tried to keep it light it's the textbook I wish I had when I was taking poly Sai class and and I think it's really inviting for a whole lot of people even if you're not a liberal I think it's really written as a way to get you more involved involved in politics why do you think that a book like this is necessary I mean we started pod Safe America back in 2017 because after Donald Trump won a lot of people who hadn't been involved in politics hadn't really even paid attention to politics and some Democrats some Republicans some people who just weren't either said you know we're scared about what's happening with the country we want to get involved but we're just we're not sure how how we'd be most useful where start and you know the Pod for the last several years has been trying to help people understand that politics doesn't have to be as scary and confusing as it may seem and that getting involved is easier and more useful than you might think and um we also had the opportunity to talk to so many people who are smarter than us and more experienced than us and uh whether it's strategists politicians organizers activists and so we wanted to include their lessons in the book our lessons in the book and just sort of put it all on paper because we've been talking into microphones for all these years but we figured it' be it'd be good to get it into a book yeah and and that is the best part about hosting a show is that you do get to talk to people smarter than you and and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to talk to you uh to learn from you and and the book starts with this idea of being prepared and getting informed and goes into the very challenging Dynamic that we're in right now in terms of our media landscape which has changed so much even in the last few years yes for people that are confused on what do I believe what do I not believe where should I go what do you say I mean I still think mainstream news sources uh your New York Times Wall Street Journal Washington Post the issue is see the issue of course yes um like those are going to be the sources that you can still count on and also if you see something and it strikes you as surprising like go find a couple other sources that are saying it as well you know don't just take don't just take one tweet and think that that's the news and start sharing it so you're the messaging guy obviously you were the speech writer for Obama um and and one of the things you talk about in terms of messaging here is the challenge of talking to people that really aren't that into politics which by the way is most people most people aren't like us what's your best advice for people to try to bring them into the fold a little bit it's a great question I think often times when we think about how to communicate with people we think about it in terms of what do I need to say to them what do I need to tell them and I think a lot of the most impactful and persuasive conversations start with listening and asking someone what do you care about what issues are on your mind what concerns do you have about um political issues that may affect you that may affect your family that may affect your community or the country and and then then go in from that from that way and I think that right now when most of the people who might not participate in this election have such little trust and faith in institutions making sure they hear from trusted Messengers and making sure that you can be a trusted messenger is probably going to be the most important thing uh in terms of trying to persuade them to see things differently and you make the argument that talking to a neighbor or somebody in your community is far more influential and persuadable than some random schmuck yes that's even maybe even calling you on the phone or something like that although that that story reminded me of an experience that I had when I was in college and I was doing door knocking and I remember asking are you voting for John Carrey and the guy said I'm voting to shoot John Carrey and I said undecided I think we got the data wrong on this one but I've gotten plenty of those too I was I was a I I did telemarketing for a newspaper in high school so you can imagine how many uh how many Hang-Ups and expletives uh I dealt with from a different media environment up next the lessons John Fabro learned from Barack John Favreau Obama so we're talking to John favro the author co-author of democracy or else uh is your own journey into politics um starting uh as a kid working on the carry campaign and you and then a few years later there's this young upstart Senator and your old boss in the in the campaign right Robert Gibbs come work for us for this guy named Barack Obama yes he did and of course you become the speech writer what do you think is the most important lesson you learned from Barack Obama yeah it's a great question most politicians Democratic politicians Republican politicians I think looked at speeches and still looked to some extent at as at speeches as a collection of sound bites and Applause lines and Obama in that 2004 convention speech that he wrote himself because he didn't have a speech writer before me um he told the story and you know the first couple minutes of that speech there are no applause lines because he's talking about his story how it fits in with a larger American story and he wasn't thinking about I got to get them to clap here and I got to get the press to write this on but he was just like the story is more important than the words and he taught me that and I learned that from him and over the next eight years you know sometimes it frustrated our our comms people that we didn't have like a quotable line in the speech um but you know we we are moved and persuaded by stories uh by emotion more so than just facts and figures um and that is how he you know communicated with people and I do think that more politicians would be better off if if that's how they communicated do you think that would work now with our attention span which is even shorter than it was in 2008 it is I've thought about that many times uh in the last couple years is what what will become of speechwriting I I think that I still think you see see this on YouTube all the time people like tune in for hours right orve America they don't if they don't stay with you and we and we try to keep it like you know 45 Joe Rogan's going like three hours you know and so if if the content feels authentic and it is authentic and it is it just sounds conversational and it's like striking a cord with someone people will they will spend the time with it it seems like we're in this weird moment where people's attention span is either 3 seconds or 3 hours I know right and the in between they're like they aren't there they're like scrolling or let's just stay with this forever well because it's so hard to just capture people's attention and once you have their attention you can do it but it takes a while to get that there's one story that I thought was really great in the book which you tell about the White House Correspondence Dinner uh that you were writing with your pal and co-host now John love it yeah uh and this is the famous speech where he both goes after Donald Trump and was busy doing something else on the side but couldn't tell you what he was doing yeah the the day of the correspondent speech uh we were very excited about the speech had all these Donald Trump jokes uh Obama had just finally flew out his birth certificate gave a press crazy gave a press conference to talk about the birth certificate and so we had all these jokes about Trump and and love it and and uh and me were in the outside the Oval Office we're waiting for our meeting with Obama to go over the jokes one more time and uh uh Obama's personal secretary our friend Katie is like he's in there with uh you know he's got a national security call he's talking to a general and we're like huh the speech is in a couple hours we got to get in there you know and we're like all annoyed and finally he opens opens the door and he's in a great mood he's very relaxed and we're sitting there and he's like I love all the jokes I'm really excited for this he goes there's just there's one punchline where uh the punchline is is Bin Laden he goes and I think we need like another sort of global bad guy autocrat whatever and he's like how about hos Mubarak you know and I'm like that's not that that's not as funny who you know and he's like trust me trust me and then um right before the speech he called me and he was like can you add he's like I'll probably remember this on my own but just add at the end a line that says you know God may God bless America and may God keep our troops safe and I was like that's odd he's never he's never told me to do that before and sure enough uh we learned the next day that the call he was on before us was with General mccraven uh to give the final goahead for the mission to uh to get Bin Laden so he has to deal with he was he was dealing with us Jokers yeah while he was while he was you know uh probably giving the giving the green light for one of the most important missions uh our military has done in some time on a weekend where he uh both killed Bin Laden and gave birth the Donald Trump campaign exactly yeah went one for two on that it was a very big weekend when we come back how fatherhood changed John [Music] fatherhood favro as we wrap things up with John favro the co-author of democracy or else one of the things you talk about in this book uh is the importance of taking a break from all the politics because it gets to be way too much uh and you are married and you've got two young kids yeah how has your wife Emily and your kids changed you having kids is certainly the the biggest life change there has ever been like it's you know people say oh there's you go through Transitions and high school to college and marriage nothing compared to having having kids and now you know my eldest son Charlie is uh almost four and I find when I am just hanging out with him and I can put the phone down and not think about politics like that is a break a real break I'm still very tired but it for like mentally it is it's a break and it's also like you know I get to there's a different skill required right I'm teaching him about the world and now he talks and we have these great conversations and it's just it's it's wonderful and um it's funny because I didn't think when Emily first said she was pregnant I was like oh God I don't I this could be a huge mistake I don't know if I'm going to be parent I got politics to deal with I don't have time for this kid thing and now I'm like obsessed with them obsessed that's your whole that's your world for sure on the issue is we have a little bit of fun we play this this game called personal issues where we do your rapid fire your personal favorites cultural favorites to get to know you a little bit so first thing that comes to mind uh what is your favorite TV show oh favorite TV show uh succession what is your favorite kids movie Inside Out we just watched inside we we got Charlie through almost all of it the new one or the the first one yeah that we watched it just before the new one came out very nice uh what's your favorite book other than of course democracy or else my favorite book that's a great question you know the I I'll give you my favorite book that got me into Politics as a kid which was um all to human George stephanopoulos's book it's a great great book yeah and so honest and then you end up kind of becoming that guy was wild it inspired me to get into politics um are you a big westwing fan I am yeah uh favorite sports team I think I know the answer Red Sox there you go uh who is your favorite pod save America co-host yeah right nice try yeah yeah uh what is the best thing about being a Californian H honestly everything I'm just going to say like I thought I I thought I would be East Coast for life from Boston lived in DC for 10 years I was like what Cal and it's cheesy to say the weather but like I I think it is it's so wonderful to wake up every day and walk around in this city like I really do I'm I'm here for life my family's here my parents moved from Boston they're in Thousand Oaks uh my brother is here he lives in the valley and uh Emily's sister lives down in Orange County so like we now all have Roots out here and uh and we'll be here for we'll be here for a long time it's not as bad as some cable Prime Time host say it is not at all yeah um and finally John Fabro who is your role model my role model honestly like I it's it's G to sound cheesy but like I still like look up to Barack Obama in a in a big way and I always have it it's just because I I had the he wasn't just my boss he was like a mentor to me and everyone's always like how did you write for a guy who writes that well I mean it was a gift that I got to learn about writing from one of the best and he was always so patient with me and in in all these like very high stress high pressure situations he never lost patience he never yelled at me and um and he just cares a lot and he sort of taught me the way I see the world and the way I see itics is really um based on what I learned from him I mean what I we talked about what he taught you but but what do you think made him so exceptional as a politician to be able to beat the Bush family the Clinton family these massive dynasties to go toe-to-toe with all these different people to be the first black president what was it about him I've come to think that he has a very finely honed sense of empathy and I think the reason he has that is he's biracial so he's had he's had a foot in so many different worlds right so black white Kansas Hawaii he Indonesia Indonesia he's been to some of the the poorest neighborhoods you know organizing in Chicago wealthy school like puno and Hawaii right like he's been he's he's got family from Canada and Chinese Canadians like all over the world so I think because he is of so many different worlds he understands that to persuade and to move people you have to meet them where they are you have to try to put yourself in their shoes and then bring them along and I think that's the most important skill in politics and and that's his whole life tells that story which is why I think he's was able to succeed well John congrats on all your success it's really incredible what you've built with crooked and I think the most important work you've done though with is with vote save America and this ability of bringing people into politics from all different walks of life around the country and getting them involved in the system is I think the most important thing and I and I hope that's a huge part of your legacy because it's really important work well thank you and um and I'm I'm just really grateful for our team here who puts together and and runs it and also just all the people who have signed up and given their time and energy to this because that's it's what we need right now and all the proceeds from this book democracy or else goes to vote save America to help get people more involved in politics that's right John Fabro so great to talk to you on the issue thanks so much for having us thank you thanks to John Fabro and the whole team at Crooked media you can watch the full interview right now streaming at youtube.com/ Alex Michelson there you'll also find our conversation with the second gentleman of the United States Doug mhof who visited Thousand Oaks this week to talk about women's sports and discuss anti-Semitism and speaking of the issue of anti-Semitism I caught up with Republican Senate candidate Steve Garvey during his trip to Israel we'll wrap things up for the week after this next week on the issue is the most famous and influential tech journalist of the modern era Cara swisser is with us we end this week with a shout out to the issue is team the LA Press Club honored us with two awards for our reporting on both politics and on Sports a big thank you to our entire crew uh especially our producer there Nick griter and the MVP of our team our editor Debbie Kim thanks for watching we'll see you next week