843: A Little Bit of Power
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maybe saw this video this past week, a veteran media la. Just in florida, john Morales on live TV talking about the power of heroe milton as he was still approaching the state. He was reading the biometric pressure numbers. Just glad to him, he choked up. IT has dropped.

IT has dropped fifty .

million bars .

in ten hours. apologize. This is just orrible c.

He was in the only media logic pushed to the limit, trying to communicate the scale and intensity of hurt. Ane melton know a burgin who's on T. V.

In organdy, according to tweet, this is nothing short of astronomical. I at a loss for words you meteorologically described to you, the storms of small eye and intensity. This is now the fourth strongest hurricane ever recorded by pressure on this side of the world. He got accreted that to the first strongest.

This hrk e is nearing the mathematical limit of what earth atmosphere over the ocean water can produce, reading that to get the feeling of somebody trying their hardest to summer words that will do the job to fully warn people, evacuate, get to safety, patent circumstances, put these media ologies into a situation where they could use the little bit of power they have to try to reward people and hope we save lives, that kind of thing, with somebody as a small amount of power. And then something happens, the moment arrives, where they really can make a difference. It's nothing happens in politics.

And when IT does, somebody who is not usually in the limelight, somebody is not a household name, can end up with a mense power. I then shake out to the random political figures suddenly have the entire weight of a country's future in their hands. Class example, I think, a brad raf perker, secretary state georgia, who famously got a phone call from the president trump asking him, after the last presidential election, to finds and boats throughout some boats, just to somehow overturn the result in georgia.

So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find eleven thousand, seven hundred and eighty votes, which is one more than we have. And flipping the state is a great testament to our country.

Wrapping Better, of course, refuse. There is another example like that. A couple of weeks ago, nebraska law kers were debating whether switch the way in the bra gives out its electoral college votes. In presidential elections, nebraska doesn't use the winner take all system that most of the state use, which means that is possible, that comma Harris could win one electoral college vote from nebraska, which conceived, we could decide the coming election. In fact, that is such a real possibility in this very close election, the demo d trump personally got on the phone to convince lawmakers to make the change, and in the end, but all contain them to one state senator, mike republican actually, who doug's heels and said no and ended up, I felt like, in every newspaper and news broadcast in the country.

this idea of changing IT with with forty two days. It's like we're in football game. We call a time out. So I want to switched the value of a field, go from three points to four points. That's just the way we do things that's not in the best way today .

show we have three of a bunch of people. Fascinating ly, unlike these other examples, most of them are not professional politicians. These are just regular voters.

We simply find themselves in this kind of special political circumstance where they have a little bit of power to the, and maybe to decide the election in one of the key battle ground states this year, and lots of eyes around them. And it's been a ton of suspenses past few months for how IT would all play out from W. B.

C. Chicago is this american life, amErica house. Stay with us.

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With copeland's game changing flex path learning format, you can set your own deadlines and learn on your own schedule. That means you don't have to put your life on hold to earn your degree. Instead, enjoy learning your way and pursue your educational and career goals without missing a beat. A different future is closer than you think with copeland university. Learn more at copilot E D U.

The line is a podcast where we tell stories about a place crowded in mystery, the past. And to really understand that, we take you there, something happened .

to a collective psyche after the atoms bomb.

Listen to hear us, reopen stories from the past and find clues to the present on the line. The history podcast from M, P, R. This american live, these last weeks before the election, so much of the fight for the presidency is coming down to battles for individual slices of voters who can help throw swing states to one of the candidates or the other.

So campaigns are targeting college educated suburban nights here or Young male voters there. And there's a particularly dramatic example of this playing out with a huge chunk of voters in michigan, michigan to the key state become a haris to win. SHE doesn't have many power of the presidency without IT.

A michigan right now is a complete to up. So back in february, a reliable bunch of democratic voters started to shake loose from democratic. These are arab american voters and other voters who were upset about president budden support for israel right now in the warm gaza, a huge area, american population in the cities and suburbs around detroit, dearborn's, the larger city in the country with an arb american majority.

And in february, these democrats, who, by the way, do not want trump. They see him as even more pro as invited. These democrat wanted to signal their displeasure with the bombings and the deaths of so many palestinian civilians with U.

S. Bombs and U. S. support. So back during the democratic primary, they quickly organized in just a few weeks a campaign to encourage democrats do not vote for biden as the nominee.

As a kind of protest vote, they would instead vote uncommitted. They said they hope to get ten thousand votes like that. They chose ten thousand.

Is that the number of votes down the trump one, michigan, with in twenty sixteen, ten thousand? They did so much Better than that. To the astonishment, one hundred thousand people voted uncommitted.

It's these voters who shook up the democratic primary.

doesn't get IT together and change what he's doing. We will not vote for him in november overnight.

And extremely unusual. Watch party for voters who cast their ballots, not for a candidate, but for uncommitted. In protest, the president bindings handling of the israel homos war.

one hundred thousand democratic votes in the primary, with so many people that into democratic pretty rules, the party had to give these uncommitted voters delegates the democratic national convention in chicago. There were two for micron and about thirty for other states, one inside the hall. These delegates could try to make deals, try to influence me these policy after our company.

Harris needs these voters, particularly in michigan. Michigan had enough uncommitted voters argue way to swing IT for her or against her. So the question is, what could they get in exchange for their votes then? Terrace, a reporter with washington post and our producers of a chase.

I've been following one of the leaders of the uncommitted movement, michigan, for months. A via ABS democrats said, many jobs working for the party. He very much wants Harris to win and so I watch and try to broker some deal at the convention and afterwards that would satisfy the uncommitted voters and don't give you them to Harris. It's been hard and really could affect the election results.

Here's then we meet up with a boss alway the day before the convention starts about us, that someone have known for years as a reporter. He was chief of staff for cry bush, one of the members of the squad. I've met a lot of chief s over the years, covering capital hill.

And a boss wasn't like any of them. He was Young, barely thirty years old, and he didn't stick to Operating in the shadows, commenting off the record and staying out of the spotlight. He'd be a protest, Carrying a bullhorn.

And he was unmissable, six foot six, built like an end of align. And he was fine standing out. He also knew at a maneuver behind the scenes and not really did catch my eye.

He was a kind of insider, outsider type, part policy guy, part activist. And I seen no other guys like that before. So I staying in touch recently.

He left washington and moved back to michigan, where he grew up. And there he got swept up into the uncommitted movement, which is how I ended up here in chicago for the convention. He's an uncommitted delegate. Being a delegate, I get them back inside, back among the .

democratic power brokers. I right now.

a bus is standing on a street corner waiting for uber to take him to the convention center for a cable T. V interview. Bunch of roads are closed for security reasons. No one knows which ones cities grid lacked a bas is unruffled. When the uber arrives, he folds himself into the car, insults, chatting with .

the driver, how do you say your name? So I 啊， 起来， 这 you are a bus。 We're heading to .

the drug off spat for the convention this week.

You going to make x colleagues. We did allow us to get a closer. That is a question.

Well, we're going to find out together, aren't we? Where from? I from togo, togo? Yeah, my dad lived in togo. yeah.

Abbas has a way of connecting with anyone he's talking to, is partly why he became the defect of spokesperson for the uncommitted delegates. People just like IT.

He seems sincere. Yeah, is your father and he's not a car, heather. He has a brother who is, though you can probably guess, my father's live in. I have a lot of liberal's friends, so when I said they know best and say i'm going for lebanese, there's a lot of legends. I mean, in west africa in general.

a boss in his lebanese lived there till he was six. And he's still got a lot of family that lives in southern lebanon on israel's border. When he was fifteen, he was visiting his grandmother.

When war broke out with israel in two thousand and six, he was forced to spend days sheltering in a basement while the israeli bombs were falling all around them, some of them made in the U. S. He was scared for his life.

And he talks about IT a lot. He says, this is what activated in politically. Don't want to get inside the U. S. Government to make some kind of change that way.

And his wish is my wish. I appreciate that my brother.

We jump out of the car, an escort from M S, N, B C meets us at the back of an hours long line of journalists and other attendees. We get to skip to the front, and we're hustled into the convention center so a boss can make his TV appearance. The arena is bumping, there's music blasting and delegates practicing .

the world call vote.

A big part of why he's here is to talk to the press. A way to put pressure on the hair is campaign. Their TV studios set up all over the place.

We watch him talk to pbs and m. sbc. That uncommitted .

voters and uncommitted delegates like me want to support vice president Harris, but need her to support a policy that stop sending weapons to the israeli military, that is using them, that is using those weapons to kill people we love to kill a bus.

tells us this is their ultimate goal, a policy change. But there are other ways the here is team could respond to them.

We're actually not asking her to adopt full policy that, like every single one of my cousins would want her to adopt, which is a full arms embark. But we need to have to move in our direction, you know. And so like, if he wants apart her full arms embargo, okay, great.

What is your idea? Like, we need to hear IT. One thing he .

absolutely needs at this convention to show that his voters are being listen to and taken seriously by the campaign is a speaker. The convention is mostly about speakers, symbols of who the party is speaking to, who the party cares about. Palestinian speaker on the main stage would be their chance for someone who can represent their perspective.

There are a lot of delicate here who do not want this to happen. Some of them probably agree with a boss about the war and israel el, but the feeling is, right now you bring this up. This convention is an advertisement. Don't have a speaker saying biden and Harris are doing something wrong. This is an event all about look at how joyful and united we are.

even as a bus is sitting down for M S N B C interview. Someone who really doesn't see things this way is just leaving the set. Former republican congressmen joe walsh, he's wearing in israel pen we grab in second.

Actually, we've been falling around.

The guy of us .

here is an .

uncommitted delegate. This guy, yeah, uncommitted because on trying to get to see fire and enormous vargo, I see you have the israel pm, how do you feel about kind of delegate on the fense about Harris right .

now over this issue? My response always is I made tea party former republican push all on both of hairs. If I can do that, anybody focus on, and if they care about, get on board with, cause trump needs to be defeated.

That's yeah. Do you feel like I could be a problem for the craft?

That issue, the israel issue divides the democratic coalition. I say that is a former republican more solidly behind israel for a lot of different reasons. But this split the coalition, and I think it's gonna be a real big problem for them.

Could you then try to make the case of them look on the tea party republic public? And i'm going to be voting for combating errs anyway.

maybe we can just one, because if comment Harris came out tomorrow and said we need to end what israel stop if i'm president, i'm not gonna give any more bombs. We gotta stop in. I'd be as piece as you can imagine, but i'm still vote for camera. Here is no matter what.

come on.

if I can do that by the second .

day of the convention tuesday, it's become clear that uncommitted isn't going to get much on policy from the democrats. But what they still might get is a speaker. And so they push on and hard devices.

Asked about IT all the time, he's counselling on his phone calling people trying to make that happen, talking to congress members, people on Harris campaign, high ranking dnc officials.

My friend, are you just chicken in on the palace? Ini, an american speaker request because we've got a press availability at six, oh, I know to be a ton of reporters. We asked me about IT. I want to be able to say yes, so but I we don't have a yes yet, so I thought I just can.

okay. Well, I think i'll say that I mean, I been saying never, but we don't have a known we remain hopeful. So I don't keeps them OK good.

Is there any indication of like who specifically you know like there's an openness too. That's the problem, he said. OK. I mean, is there way we can like meet while at the government center and like go through some options because we can help with that?

The call reps up without more to IT.

I think haven't settled on a name. Yeah but it's not a thing we can help them like we do. You know plenty of palestinian.

Sounds a little discouraged in your voice.

So and we have such Stellar leaders like within the american community and within the palace ini, an american community that you know like I don't I don't want to feel like. Like they have a problem with all of us, you know I mean and then that's really not what they are saying. Like you know, they say no IT could be evidence that maybe, I guess, but I really don't think that like the folks we're talking to that that how they feel.

abby is always balancing two very different world through his phone. The first is insider world. He has lots of context inside the dnc. He's heard that they're close to getting what he wants, but they can get to yes.

the other kind of call is getting is from friends and family people in michigan wanting to know, how are you? How is IT are you going to get to something? Family back in life on call out too. This was back in August when lebanese militants from hezbollah, israel have been trading rocket fire across the border for months. At one point, a bohem is aunt who sleeps with slippers under her pillow every night, just in case SHE had just played home in another .

lebanon and gone north. And so yeah, I guess last night I got news for my aunt that SHE couldn't stand the bombing around her anymore, that there is a particular bombing that happened, air strike that happened, that that felt too close. Should say, like, you know, I I am such a sarty cat.

I couldn't take IT anymore. I just know, just like, but then, you know, he turned serious when he was telling me about how my dad was telling her that I am going on two million. Trying to get them to stop the moment and and SHE expressed concern for my safety.

SHE said, is is safe for you to talk about these things? I said, don't worry though, i'm in an american. I want to say whatever I won here.

So his family, they're watching him on the news, they're talking about him in the group chat. They're telling him what they think of his tactics and his demands, and they are also telling him how scared they are. He's holding all these things in his head, which he says can be dizzying.

He knows just getting a speaker at the dnc doesn't change anything for his family, of course. But he believes that would be a powerful symbol that there is a political party in amErica that seize them. That's listening to them by midweek.

Uncommitted is trying to make the request for a speaker as acceptable as possible. They initially asked for two speakers on the stage, one uncommitted supporter and a doctor who treated patients in gaza. But now they simplify that to one speaker. How about just any palestinian? They suggest a few palestinian, an elected democrats, and they prepare their .

speeches to be voted.

still nothing. Finally, as wednesday, one more day left to the convention, they still haven't heard yes. And they still haven't heard no. So yet another press conference outside the room.

is there room for palestinian americans in this party? Is there room for palestinian human rights in? I sure hope, I sure hope that the answer is yes. And with that.

all the uncommitted delegates tes had inside because of the speech, they want to see the parents of an israeli hostage kidnap by him, must take the stage. The uncommitted dell gets, tell me it's important to them to be here for this. They think the wars a tragedy. They want to honor the israeli victims during their moment. And yeah, they also want to signal solidarity.

The parents walk out holding hands. The father's stupid, like he's got a weight on him. The feeling in the room is like heart in mouth. This is really different from most of the speakers so far, or basically hype men. The audience breaks into this chant.

At this moment, one hundred and nine treasured human beings are being held hostage by hamas in gaza.

Cameras swivel not to the crowd, but directly up at a bus. They're snapping pictures of him watching i'm sending next to him in the corner of the arena with the rest of the michigan delicates. Remember, he's six, six.

He's so tall with his cafe. A everyone is standing. He of courses standing for some reason. They really want to capture his reaction, if he has any, to the .

parents watching him.

watching them. His faces expressionless, but wet tears, tears all over the room. As far as I can tell at the time the parents were speaking, there was a good reason to assume their sun harsh was still alive. His death was announced almost a week after the convention. One part of the speech, in particular will hit a boss hard, 并 认为。

All side of the tragic conflict in the middle east, in a competition of pain, there are no winners.

The new tradition, we say, call a down alarm to logo. Every person is an entire universe. We must save all these universities. In an unplanned middle east, we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring home to the entire region a deal that brings this the first group of one hundred and nine, postage his home and ends the suffering of the innocent sagila ans in gaza.

The parents leave the stage, followed by an inexplicable choice of music. And just then, a bus kind of tears out of the convention hall as best you can through incredibly crowded, narrow stairs, just makes a break for IT ACM step just outside the arena. He's in this one weird, quiet space just before the hallway outside.

He's alone, which he never is. He covers his face and saabs heart into the wall. Then he's basically running out through the doors of the venue, threw throngs of people outside trying to talk to him, and he's brush and pass them.

A, C. Were headed to the security gate. We go through the security gate more on the street.

He doesn't look ready to talk. But I have to say something I just gotten. Ask you, why was that so far?

Maybe I can collect myself and we could .

talk about that later.

But what I was thinking about doing the speech was not our tradition. Essentially you harm or kill anyone person, it's like you've harmed or killed all of humanity and that's what they spoke about from the state. But every person being the universe in the jewish h tradition, I believe that, believe that with all my heart, that's I just i'm feeling really hopeless and feeling and feeling hopeless and feeling like.

Of course, of course, we need to hear from these parents. and. What about what about the post things? What about the over forty thousands who been killed? Who can the forty thousand universes was an active suppression of a giant part of this story.

I feel, I thought. I can only imagine what they must have been doing. I must have been.

Very lonely out there. And I felt very lonely in that arena. I got a goes I.

Think at that moment a vice knew that was all that was, gonna said on the stage about the warn gaza from the people directly affected by the war.

I head back to the convention hall. I see a bunch of other uncommitted delegates outside the from all over, why? Washington state, road island, summer air american.

But not all. They got a text to come out. And meat. There's a weird, empty feeling. Nobody's talking much. This seems like god just waiting for a bus to come back.

There's a physical energy shift out here, a loss of power, a loss of relevance, kinda in the air, like the opposite of in a journal, and surge, lonely x hail when the doors closed behind you. But just then, speaking of a journal, a bus rushes back into the scene, looking very intense. He grabs me by the ARM and polls me into a blush shelter that's right in front of the arena so that i'll be able to hear him. And he's speaking in this on characteristically quiet, angry way.

I'm an okay, people are making this scope or people I know personally. I put them in the face. I've made a very reasonable ask.

For us not to be suppressed. If you're not going to agree with us on policy, at least at least don't suppress our voices. Oh, I think i've made a very reasonable ask and they called and said the answer is no point like the answer is no.

I said, I said, I said why that? They said, they said I was just told to tell you the answer is no. And so.

I have no options left through, through the, through the, the way that I am told. This is the way to make your voice heard. You engage the system.

So I said, I got to do. I got a step into my power. As a regular.

everyday person, I have no idea what that means. And then a bus turns and strides away, like if you were wearing a keep that would have swirled behind his body. My co reporter, ben, is out here, of course, and he comes over to me. I just talk to willie. He says one of the leaders in the unofficial al press guy for the uncommitted .

just told me that people have been calling of us to tell him to not say what he's about to say right now. But he won't be talked down OK whatever is about to say.

he's been told not to say.

okay. Then a boss called people over for a press conference is so there is a huge, massive press like five different mixed scenes from democracy. Now alone, he asked for a moment of silence for all the lives that have been lost in the gaza.

One of silence.

he recaps the, asked for the palestinian speaker, recaps the no. And then he sits down on the sidewalk in whip, at his phone in front of all the reporters, and he calls a dnc official he's been talking to.

I got, hey Roger, how are you? We're at a press conference right outside. okay? We tried everything we can OK. We're just asking to be heard. We're asking for our voice is not to be suppressed.

And I I bright, you know, i'm someone who works within the system, okay? And the vice president decision to suppress us is unacceptable. And so I run out of options from my position as a delegate.

And so i'm leaning into my power as a regular everyday person. And i'm sitting here and i'm not going anywhere. Rather, i'm not going anywhere.

You you all need to change your mind. I hope you change your mind. Call me if you change your mind.

Yeah, call me if you change your mind. Thank you. Thank you.

Please pass and tell the vice president that i'm sitting outside. I'm not going anywhere. I hoped changes her mind.

Thank you. Okay, i'm going to be sitting down right here. I'm not going anywhere, if any of my. If any of my uncommitted delegate siblings choose to sit down with me, please say your name.

say who you are a whole day to the he drew tremendous attention to the democratic party's lack of interest and what mattered most of them. Now he is raining attention to a tremendous failure. Is IT his own the democratic parties? Either way, it's gotta crushing.

What follows is a long night inside the convention center. Oper speaks, tim wall speaks. The whole thing is being broadcast on a big screen that hangs on the united center wall just behind the city.

The screen keeps showing images of the crowd dancing and laughing and giving standing ovations. But the press has noticed the city in. And so at the Harris campaign.

at one point, will lead the Young itt press guy comes over us and says, can I tell you something?

something?

yeah.

Every one of the dnc senior staff is standing right there and are trying to make a deal, and the deal is not. None of the deals have the proposals have anything to do with the speaker or policy change.

Well, leave motions at one of those outdoor bush shelters. And sure enough, there's a clutch of people, two women, three men, on their phones, looking in our direction. One of them was hiding a vb like a demented local motive. Was pretty unna actually watching them on their phones with people who were, like a hundred feet away.

What kind of deals are they're .

like a meeting with a campaign manager, a meeting with this person.

a meeting with that person.

aris with that not have thing they said. So we said, it's gonna a speaker they said, no, why?

And they they said.

how can we get this to hand? And I said, well, that he wants a speaker and then they said, what else? And I was like, an arms and bar and they are like, that's like, so I was like, and i'm like, exactly that's arresting first we've tried to make an easy .

and .

and so they asked, what's what's your plane after there is after the convention over? And I was like, I was like, well, I think he's bedding that you guys will be so embarrassed i'll give a speaker and they are like, well, I mean, the other thing was like, they're like, you can give in on the last day that you can let the last day of the convention be that she's been bullied by Young activists and air americans. I was like, that was your decision to wait until the very last they, I mean, we are, I don't know.

They have .

found themselves in this position.

Can you picture how to dance at this point?

I think. I think. I think we're going to a speaker. I think you can find us passing american who is palatable for the democracy party. I mean, this was also like, I told you this, but like, several people caught me and him to tell us, Alice, who been standing with us, told us not to do this.

They say, why yeah.

that they thought I made us look friends. And small .

and fringes small, not like organizers who could turn out a hundred thousand votes in a swing state. We've reached out to the Harris campaign about why they didn't agree to a speaker. They declined to do an interview. Usually when I talk about this issue, all will say is that they're working around the clock on a ceasefire.

But they were clearly .

doing some political calculations on this question around the speaker. My best guess, they worry that agreeing to a speaker would risk controversy and turn off as many voters as my APP as including republic icons I hope to win over. Also, they might not feel like they need an endorsement from uncommitted. They feel like to be able to pick up a bunch of their voters anyway, and they might .

be right about all that.

The sitting goes all night without too much drama. They keep sitting the next day and the August heat tiring. They look little defeated at times. They're giving a lot of precipitation though, which is a small win for them in the evening. They give one last press conference, they end the sit in and they head back inside the convention.

Let me see you how nice along you're ready to tell the party when we want to do, say.

wifi.

It's not in the lute party.

The party is winding down commonly. Here speaks, and then the convention is over.

We head outside while people are streaming out the united center. They're Carrying giant science and say, koala, they are popping balloons on the street. A boss has barely slept in days, but he's still standing.

He's in a bind at this point. He came here with leverage sent by a voting block in a swing state. He said they could be convinced to turn out for Harris if the Harris campaign gave them something return.

But what did they give them? No policy change. No speaker is a big risk. These voters could be left even angrier or more heard or more unheard than they were before.

Thank thank you, amit. The celebrating .

from the dnc faithful. A number of people come up to a boss, many even wearing catheters, which have emerged as a sort of visual symbol in support of a ceasefire, to thank him, to embrace, to tell, to keep up the fight. And then a woman dressed in our White comes up. A boss tells us she's a friend.

She's every american.

a friend from capital hill and SHE didn't want to see use her name. She's an aid to a democratic .

number of congress. I have a little bit.

okay. Let's go down. IT.

Yeah, yeah.

What scares me .

is what if this movement doesn't move them? And if we don't, if we don't succeed.

they have so, so offended our people. They have so, so offended our people. Our people being people for him does as a top of issue. They have so offended them that the, in my opinion, the people who inspiring we're animating and are motivating are so pissed off, are so pissed off by sixteen thousand children dead. And not have that mentioned from the stage that this is like, they're like, I don't want anything to do with any of this.

I don't want, I don't even want to vote. I want we can have people think that people .

have to come up.

I'm sorry, we know what do not vote for. We saying this side is .

like and I know.

and I know what trump h he's going to puckers over. There is no pastino an in the morning. The entire medal east is done. Or yes, create this movement, create like this platform for us, give us this national recognition of platform, which this has done. But we we can have people, my god, and boats that needs unless .

unless we intervene, those people aren't going to go out and vote right now. If the election was tomorrow. They do. They not convinced that trump is gonna .

different on this issue? No, but he will be. I know, I know, be so, but this movement has a responsibility to make sure .

our people know we can try me OK. So i'm a million percent with.

But if we get, if our people get, and what used to that, we still have to guard and boat. And we try again next election cycle. We keep trying, but we can have someone, and you've gotto make sure you, you love this. You love this amazing, beautiful, moving.

You created this, everything that I know. And that includes necessarily like having the tough conversations about them. I mean, spend time, spend some time with me in michigan and hear about how people, how people are talking about.

Now, a bus has to go home to michigan, dearborn, e and have the hard conversations he wants. Here is to win. He convince a lot of people to vote uncommitted so they could nudge your position on gaza. And l, they didn't succeeded at that. How can he possibly get them to vote for heroes when he's coming back empty handed?

So we chase and then terrorists. We go to michigan in a minute, which go up up. Radio one. Our program continues.

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american live from my regler today show a little bit of power and terrorized chase now continue the story about a boss of via and a block of uncommitted voters。 They pick up the story. Three weeks after the democratic convention is now mid september, the bus and other and committee leaders organized a community meeting in michigan. Remember.

a boss helped convince one hundred thousand musician voters to check the box for uncommitted in the primary. Now, if they don't foot back and vote democratic, you could really determine the results in michigan. And without michigan, hairs could really lose .

that little bit of power. IT felt like they had back in february, has not gotten them the arms embargo, a ceasefire, any suggestion of a policy change from commonly heroes. We're even a speaker on the stage of the democratic national convention, still a basin. The uncommitted leadership need to deliver some kind of guidance about what to do to these same voters.

So we're in dearborn, where this movement began in the first place. Many people here have family in the middle, ast and lots like a in lebanon, which has been bombed and invaded by israeli ground forces. The day we arrive is just before that.

Yesterday, a bunch of pages exploded all over lebanon in an israeli attack that killed dozens of people and injured thousands. A bosses phone is flooded with messages from his family and lebanon who are really frightened, even people in deer borne and freak out by their phones. A boss has a dread hanging over him of what's to come before the meeting.

We meet a bus of the coffee shop in town. He calls the office. He's scrolling through his laptop, through the statement.

He's gone to read. Are you nervous at all going into tonight?

I I think I was, and then I felt like I was going to throw up earlier. And I don't know if that was related to this, but I might not be.

I think IT .

might have been this is a tough crowd.

He's about to face a bunch of people who are gona render a verdict on what he's been doing. And he's balancing a lot at once. He does still want people to vote for Harris, but uncommitted promised they wouldn't mobilize, get out the vote Operations for heroes without getting something from the campaign.

Later that evening, a boss joins uncommitted voters and organizer s at this huge islamic community center in town, it's got tiled floors. Three equally chairs were set up in rose, facing a panel speakers. IT definitely does not have a cozy vibe.

IT does not feel like I set up for a discussion. Maybe fifty people show up. They're primarily older airmen from the area, and he feels a bit like a meeting of the dads.

The organizers are .

sit at a long table with microphones and talk for a while about what they have accomplished and how they got here. And finally, they talk about with next, a boss of livers.

Uncommitted official heard at this time, our movement number one cannot endorse vice president Harris, where we've been very clear that that the word endorse is a very specific thing. That means our organization that did one point five million voter contacts, that proactively reached out to people and told them to vote uncommitted, we had said very clearly publicly, publicly to our community and to the to the vice president's team.

If you change your policy, we will endorse and endorsement means will get out the vote for vice president hairs. Her campaign made IT impossible for us to endorse. Now that might mean that some of us still vote for coming a.

Here are some of us vote against her. Some of us might not vote at the top of the ticket, and that's the conversation we want to invite. But an endorsement ment would mean a mobilizing.

Number two, we oppose a downal trun presidency with agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in the za while intensifying the suppression of anti war organizing a number three, we are not recommending a third party vote in the presidential election, especially as a third party vote in key swing states like michigan could help inadvertently deliver a trump presidency, given our countries broken electoral college system. okay. So so that's that's what the statement says. And I I wanted to make sure that you want to hear IT. And the feeling in the .

room is people are confused this model statement, which does not endorse Harris but seems to be telling them to vote for her anyway and definitely do not vote for trump or third party. When it's finally time for questions, many hands go up. An early question is about strategy. Are we throwing away the power of our voting block by not recommending .

one person for us all the vote for the count for the second thing is, why not we? I know the third body is not viable, but isn't IT Better than we put our vote there. So we can come from the percentage, at least we can say that one percent, two percent, especially in our in a boss, is pretty mad about the way .

the Green party has been talking to voters in this part of the state.

He jumps in. I want to take a moment specifically to address the third party question, because I know a question that might have. My concern is with any candidate that comes to our community and says things like I have a shot at winning, and if you vote for trump s or for Harris, you endorse the genocide. And the only way not to endorse the genocide is to vote for me. I very concerned about .

that they get asked about a third party over and over again. Jill stein, the Green party SHE says no more war were going to stop israel. And she's been making a real play in this area, southern michigan, committing to no more war specifically. And another thing people are asking, democrats need to learn to listen us. How else will they listen if we don't withhold our vote from them?

Some people at the meeting are .

sick of listening to a boss altogether. No genocide.

And i'm voting my conscience as a physician, which means no genocide.

He says, we community that uncommitted now itself know what doing if you buy next week, don't come up with that. He has no other side. When your dog represent us, this disorder, and going forward you do not expect us.

You represent your interest, the job, and that is my their part. And we know we not something, but people, something inside. He might do what thing.

Thank you. Thank you. We're going to do one more time.

The meeting ends pretty rupil, but no one leads people say, trying to talk to a bus. And the other organizers, they're a lot of feedback. Remember, most of these guys voted uncommitted in the primary. Some of them volunteered, organized phone banked. Like this guy, I mean hash me, who's one of many swarming a bus after the mean is over, he is considering voting for trump.

I've been paying for last too much time for a pray more and telling you truth will train his position and guarantee you because he's draining all remember in second debate he he said I was also dying. Yeah, he was trying to speak to us. But but we have what trump says.

We can't believe what trump here come. The thing. True, true. Let's see.

What if he comes up openly and say something instead of private? Let's see if does that? If he does that, I would watch for the man. I wouldn't recommend that. I think he's a bad guy. But what else you have I mean, they have not changed the position, need not it's gonna one of the and under trumpet would be a lot worse.

And how I an didn't do anything, what study you have left? I think I have only four weeks left and here's one i'm not hoping i'm organized o because what here's what we've been doing in the meeting. I felt bad for you sitting outside like a like a like in camping outside.

I mean, this is doesn't look good and it's already showing their necks neck right now, right? All the polls are showing it's back and for the swinging right three or four state. So it's already there.

Why she's not feeling the pain, why SHE didn't want White, what her strategy, who's who's telling her behind that? No, it's okay. You can live without muslims or a robots to keep the conversation great to you. A boston is pretty .

much everyone in this room, and some for sure, are offering their support. Like, nice job. I get the feeling that most of these guys, though, are thinking like this. Voter rafat tika, his lebanese, lived in dearborn, e for forty years now.

and he's not convinced, agree about, I am democrat, but if I want to vote my conscious this time without political calculations.

I mean, I don't mean to say the most obvious thing. I just want to know what you think like michigan went to trump twenty sixteen by ten thousand votes. If you vote for part, you are not voting for hairs. So you're taking vote away from .

haris problem, not in as a .

boss head for the door. People are still coming up to him making the case for voting their party.

One uncommitted leader I talk to worried that maybe this whole thing had backfired, that by making IT so visible that the democrats weren't listening, by asking so publicly for a speaker and then not getting IT, they lost more votes for Harris, like who's gna support a party? That humility us like that. I asked a bus about this.

And so it's arguable that maybe people got more turned off by the democratic party because of that whole thing. And do you think about that? How do how do you think about IT?

I do think about and I think that's why the democratic party shouldn't continue engaging this kind of discrimination.

But you don't think that IT turned IT possibly turned off more voters.

And I think it's possible that IT turned off more voters. That's why the demotic shouldn't have made that decision.

but IT never makes you question your tactics.

um. I didn't make that decisions, so I you know I don't think they should have done. Um I I can I can for me as A H as someone who experience the discrimination. Um I don't think it's appropriate for me to be asked and for our for our group to be asked. But don't you think that you shouldn't have put your the person to discriminating at the group that discriminate against you a position to discriminate? St, I don't think that's a fair thing to ask of us.

Abbas had hope that the uncommitted movement would be out now making calls, knocking on doors, mobilizing people like they didn't the primary. But for heroes this time, that's not happening. He figures.

The best thing he can do with the time left is talk to people, person by person, in his life, to convince people not to vote for trump or for a third party. One of those people is his own dad. He was at the community meeting and still ensure how he's gonna vote.

We meet up with this data as warehouse in town. He isn't sales, not car sales, though a boss was trying to convince them it's two options.

One of them going to be president. So we have to vote against trumping for heroes like that's that's how I feel about but do you think that resonates? Do you think people are going to understand that? No but you even me um you know I know how much I love you um you know and even if you want blood, I will give you my blood.

But um for this one i'm not convinced to to give her my voice i'm not convinced you think if SHE moves before november fifty, mind, if he gives, we will give, but if he wants only to take, we are not gone. Give that that you stand with my people, I will give you my vote. You stand against my people.

You are not gonna, my god, that's easy, and but we keep talking, okay. Uh you know our best is are one of our leaders that we are so proud of him h not as a dead but as a community uh because we out of proud proud of him, we don't want him to uh fall in a in a whole h, in losing his principles。 Yeah yeah.

Do you think me voting for errors means i'm losing my principles right now? I'm not happy with that. That's love what I want to see.

Conversations like that have only gone harder to have the war. Lebanon has escalated. Ted, that all feels very close to home.

In deer borne, a vice was recently at the funeral of a friend's father who was killed in lebanon. Honestly, every day feels like a funeral. Some people told us people are so upset and so consumed by what's happening overseas. IT really doesn't feel like a time to have these difficult conversations about the presidential.

Still, appalls and michigan continue to be incredibly close. The haris campaign has made some attempts to reach out to arab muslim voters. Recently, VP domini tim walls met with a muslim political organization which endorse terris, a group of twenty five of moms, through their support behind terris, saying in an open letter that he represents, quote, the best option for ending the bloodshed in gaza and .

now left on one uncommitted organizer told us, listen, it's just too late to change minds. People she's talking to assure they will not be supporting commonly heroes no matter what he does. A boss was not impressed by those sters from the Harris campaign. He said. That is an insult, limited and wool, fully inadequate approach that does not do much of anything to persuade people.

And terrace was so we chase. So it's a producing our show that is a political reporter for the washington post and the author of the book the big break, the gamblers party, animals and true believers trying to win washington while amErica loses its mind.

The the right grown. 把 你 一包 当。 飞 the number one， the open prae.

Can not be on trying to give just in the call. you.

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