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00:00You're going to see tall ships behind us shortly.
00:02The vice president, we've seen his Osprey has taken flight.
00:06He's expected to land soon and make remarks.
00:08And we're also going to talk to other leaders, including Maryland Governor Wes Moore,
00:11who I believe is joining us now.
00:13Governor, are you with us?
00:15I am. Happy Fourth.
00:19Happy Fourth of July. How are you, sir?
00:21I'm wondering, as you look at all these events across the country,
00:25what do you see as you look back on the 250 years of America?
00:29Do you see unity or do you see concern?
00:33I see a country that has had 250 years of really one of the most remarkable journeys in world history,
00:42where we were founded on an idea and founded on a promise,
00:45a promise that we were going to see everybody and that we would create something new and unique
00:51that truthfully has been the greatest experiment in world history.
00:54And I think we're now looking at a country that continues to work to honor its promise.
01:02And that is the work of patriotism.
01:05In fact, I'll be giving an address from the Maryland State Capitol,
01:08really talking about how the work of patriotism is a commitment to sacrifice
01:14and a commitment to service, that we believe in each other, we fight for each other.
01:18That's what's made this country unique in the past.
01:20And that's what will continue giving this country a strength in the future.
01:26Talk a bit more about that, the speech that you're going to give there in Annapolis.
01:29A lot of veterans will be in the audience for that speech.
01:32There's this notion that patriotism has become a contested thing.
01:35And I gather that's something that you want to push back against in that speech you're going to deliver.
01:39It is because patriotism is not political and patriotism is not partisan.
01:45You know, patriotism is the people who are willing to fight for the hope of us,
01:50the ones who are willing to put on this country's uniform and fight overseas
01:54and the ones who are willing to serve as doctors and nurses back home and to heal them when they
01:59came home.
02:00It was the people who were willing to, you know, willing to fight and work in the shipyards
02:06and the people who were the conductors in the Underground Railroad.
02:10That patriotism just simply means are you willing to fight for the hope of something that you might not even
02:15see yourself,
02:16but you are doing it because hopefully future generations will be able to benefit from the work that you have
02:22done.
02:23We are a nation of patriots, which means we're a nation of public servants.
02:27And I think that's the thing I want to be able to to focus on is showing that this is
02:32not political
02:33and it is not partisan, that no party owns that, that that is something that makes this country so special
02:39and it's something that we must protect.
02:42I do want to ask you about the status of the American dream.
02:45Our colleagues at BBC, I was listening this morning, went out and asked for people to send them messages
02:50about what it means to be an American today.
02:52And most of them were overwhelmingly positive, but a couple were from people.
02:56And I've heard this among first-generation families that I talked to or just friends who are immigrants in this
03:02country,
03:02that the American dream, you come here, you work hard, you bootstrap yourself up, anything is achievable,
03:08is seeming harder and more distant than it used to be for a lot of people,
03:11even folks whose whole life wanted to come to America, and now they're not sure that was the right decision.
03:17Talk to us about the status of the American dream.
03:18Do you think it is still achievable?
03:20And if not, what can we do to change that?
03:22What do politicians and lawmakers need to do to make that possible again?
03:26You know, I think that I understand why people have skepticism.
03:32You know, we are in a society right now where people do feel like they're working harder and making less.
03:38We are in a society right now where people feel like everything is just more expensive
03:43and they're watching people in the highest offices, you know, enriching themselves sitting and sitting in these offices.
03:49So I understand why there's skepticism.
03:52You know, the thing that I would just say is, while that skepticism is real and justified,
03:57and frankly, it's skepticism that I have as well, that skepticism can serve as my companion,
04:03but I won't let it become my captor.
04:06I won't let that skepticism become something that allows me to forfeit and not forget,
04:10and forget everything that people did coming before me.
04:14You know, I'm going to be giving this address tonight or today from the Maryland state capitol
04:20as the first black governor in the history of the state of Maryland,
04:23knowing that I'm giving a speech in a building that was partially built by the hands of enslaved people.
04:29So progress is possible inside of this country,
04:33but we just need to make sure that for both our leaders and our everyday citizens
04:37that we understand that the work that is required in order for us to continue to achieve the American dream
04:43is work that all of us must embrace.
04:47Let me pick up on what Christina just asked because in addition to being governor,
04:52you've written many books and a lot of them have focused on opportunity in this country.
04:55And a few weeks back, I had a conversation with Senator Raphael Warnock in which he said
04:58he's a bit concerned that the opportunities that he had wouldn't be available to him today
05:03if he were younger and just starting out in his life, in his public life.
05:07I'm curious if you share that sense, and I guess moving beyond just sort of the immigrant story in this
05:11country
05:12and that notion of the American dream,
05:14how you think about opportunity through the prism of the day that we're marking today,
05:18the 250th anniversary of this country?
05:21Yeah, I would say that opportunity is not a straight line.
05:25And I think the promise of this country has not been a straight line.
05:28I think that, you know, one thing we've known about this country was that it was founded on a promise.
05:34But truthfully, there has never been a time in this country's history where that promise was simply given.
05:44It has always been earned.
05:45And this country has had a long history of complications.
05:48And so the thing that I would, the thing that I continue to push for is I continue to have
05:53a clear understanding
05:54that this country has always been littered of times of inconsistency and pain and heartbreak and unfairness.
06:02But it was the people who were never willing to give up are the reasons that we are here now
06:08to this day.
06:10And, you know, one of the things I'm very thankful for to be the governor of a state and be
06:14the governor of Maryland
06:15is we're actually actively working to do something about it where, you know,
06:19where we've signed the largest mass pardon in the history of the United States of America,
06:24giving people a second chance with misdemeanor cannabis convictions, over 175,000,
06:29that we've been able to raise a minimum wage,
06:31that we've been able to have the large investments in child care in our state's history,
06:36that we've been able to add over 55,000 new businesses since I've been the governor,
06:40that we've been able to have amongst the fastest drop in violent crime anywhere in the United States of America,
06:45that these challenges are still real, but we actually have a chance to do something about it.
06:51And I just refuse to spend time wallowing on where we are,
06:57knowing that the people who came before me didn't do that.
07:00And that's why we're in the situations that we have right now.
07:05Governor, I'm wondering, as a leader of a state, you know,
07:07we just finished this very interesting term at the Supreme Court.
07:11The president did suffer a few losses, but for the most part,
07:14we saw yet again another expansion of executive power.
07:17And I wonder, as you think, on this 250th anniversary about the Constitution,
07:21that enumerated powers clause, the powers that's not listed here as reserved to the states,
07:25how do you think about that balance between states' rights, states' powers, and the federal government?
07:29Do you think governors should be doing more?
07:31Do you think that Washington is taking over too much,
07:35or do you think the balance is probably right where it should be?
07:38No, I think what's really important is for governors to never forget the Constitution.
07:43The beauty of the Constitution is that actually a lot of the powers do not fall within the federal government.
07:49A lot of the powers fall within the state governments.
07:52And it's important for governors to never lose sight of that.
07:56You know, the reason that, for example, in the state of Maryland,
07:59that we've had amongst the fastest drops in violent crime,
08:03you know, anywhere in the United States of America over, you know, over a three-year period,
08:08is not because we activated the National Guard,
08:10and it is not because we deployed federal, you know, federal troops into our streets.
08:15It's because we actually started working together with state and local leaders
08:19to be able to bring the kind of results that we are looking for.
08:22The reason that we've been able to have, you know, amongst the fastest rises in public education,
08:27in public education scores since the end of COVID,
08:30is not because the federal government did something,
08:33because, in fact, in many ways, education is a state-run function, according to the Constitution.
08:38It's because we actually started working together with communities and our educators
08:42and being able to make sure that our kids should be able to start earlier
08:46and be able to learn not just how to be employees, but how to be employers
08:49and doing more within the codes of trade and apprenticeship programs.
08:52So I am actually really thankful that governors have a unique opportunity right now
08:58to not just protect their people, but protect the Constitution.
09:02And I don't think that's something that any governor should ever forfeit
09:07to consolidate power amongst the larger federal executive.
09:12We're talking to Governor Westmore of Maryland on this, the 4th of July,
09:15the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
09:18as we see pictures of Vice President J.D. Vance and the USS Cure Surge
09:21beginning the inspection of this naval fleet here in earnest.
09:25And, Governor, I could ask you, if you're thinking of running for president,
09:28I suspect you would demur, but picking up on what you've said just a moment ago,
09:33it does sound like what you were laying out are parts of a vision
09:37for how you think the Democratic Party should approach politics more broadly.
09:41And something we often ask politicians on the show is,
09:44who's the leader of the Democratic Party?
09:45And I wonder if you see a void there, and if you would like what you were describing
09:49to be kind of more central tenets of the party of which you were a part.
09:54You know, I think about the last election that we just had in Maryland this past Tuesday,
10:00where, you know, we were not only able to win overwhelmingly in our race for governor,
10:05but also nominated and supported and endorsed a whole slate of candidates around the state,
10:10what we called our Leave No One Behind slate.
10:13And the only prerequisite that I had for people in the Leave No One Behind slate,
10:17it's not a party affiliation nor a wing of a party.
10:20The only prerequisite I had was, are you ready to disrupt the status quo?
10:24And are you ready to move fast to be able to bring real results for people?
10:28And that is the direction that I think we have to be able to move in,
10:32and not just as a party, but as a country,
10:35where we've got to stop being a place of no and slow and start being a place of yes and
10:39now.
10:39We have to understand that the frustrations that people have, they are real.
10:43And if you're not focusing on doing everything you can to increase housing inventory,
10:47everything you can to work to control cost,
10:50everything you can to be able to create educational opportunities for our kids,
10:54everything you can to be able to make it easier for businesses to be able to come and grow and
10:58thrive inside of your society,
10:59but also making sure that workers are not being left behind in that process,
11:04then, frankly, the politics and the people will leave you behind.
11:09And so that is the type of leadership that I know we are looking for,
11:12because I know that even in the times of the greatest challenges in our country's history,
11:16only two things have gotten us through.
11:17It's God's grace and moral leadership.
11:20And so we're going to pray for God's grace,
11:22but we'd better be ready to stand up and provide moral leadership as well.
11:28Before we let you go, you mentioned people are hungry for action.
11:31They're hungry for change.
11:32They're hungry to see their lawmakers actually do something.
11:35And that's partially why we think we've seen this rise of self-identified Democratic Socialists winning in places like here
11:42in New York and in Colorado.
11:44I'm wondering if that presents a liability for Democrats going into the fall,
11:48or if you think there's room in the tent for people who identify in that way under the Democratic Party.
11:53I think that the thing that we should be focusing on is not identifying who should not be part of
12:01a conversation.
12:02It's about how are you delivering results so people will choose you regardless of who is in the conversation.
12:08You know, when I looked at what happened in the state of Maryland,
12:12you know, we had candidates from a wide variety of platforms and policy positions.
12:17But frankly, the reason that we were so wildly successful with our Leave No One Behind slate is because these
12:22were actions.
12:25There's results that people are looking for, and they wanted to see the status quo disrupted.
12:29And I think that's what we were able to provide.