Frontline Democrat GOES OFF On Republicans, Billionaires and Stupid New Car Features

Joining me now he's the Democratic nominee for California's 22nd District, Randy Villega. Welcome to the pod. So One of your campaign ads opens with you and your family's auto shop You said your dad used to yell at you for holding the flashlight wrong You're also a political science professor, which is how Republicans prefer to see you What made you want? So you're working in the shop. What made you want to get into education? Yeah, well, you know, I'm a son of the Central Valley and also the son of the immigrants from Mexico my dad from each our guy And my mom from bed. Oh, and I grew up right here in Baker, so then a working class family and actually before we started the auto shop We worked at the swap me every Sunday and I so remember at the end of at 6 a.m To help my family make ends meet and then even before the auto shop opened, you know We would drive around our local mall putting business cars and every car we could find and make sure we'd actually have clients before we open and I think it's just part of you know my story as you know someone who then was a person my family to go to college university I was hungry for knowledge, but also hungry for food and that was one of the places. I knew I would have a forum for us from you thanks to free reducing a lunch programs and After my time at CSUB, you know by the grace of God, I got a full-ride scholarship to get my PhD And you know, I decided I wanted to come back and give back to the same communities. I gave my family nice so many opportunities And that's one of the reasons running today. It's because all the same programs that allowed me to get to where I am Programs like medical snap and WIC or I'll be gutted by my by this administration my opponent to go get tax breaks to billionaires So Your opponent David Valdeo has labeled you a socialist rendezvous, I guess But you don't identify as a socialist. You call yourself a populist. What's the distinction mean to you? Yeah for me, I think you know populism is really about us versus them and it's really that fight that we're seeing right now And it's why I have the support of not just you know Democrats and Independents, but even a local Republican mayor Because as much as Republicans want to divide us into different camps and focus on these cultural issues It's not a fight about left versus right. It's really us versus them working families in the Central Valley Who've been left behind by politicians in both parties who would rather cater to corporations and billionaires like my opponent And then actually fight for our communities and it's something that comes back to that like the epicenter But we've been talking about this whole campaign Something my mom taught me when I was young They met cocaine and that seat to the deck and it's translated to English means tell me who you're with I'll tell you who you are and the same thing can be said about politics Tell me where you're taking money from and I'll tell you who you're taking orders from That's why I decided we were going to take a dime of corporate pack money or money from organizations like APAC Because we want to be held accountable to our communities and not corporate interests And meanwhile, Valadeo has taken money from PG&E from so Caledasson Edison from Chevron from Amazon Walmart, I mean he took money from United Health a corporation using AI algorithms to deny elderly people's claims So that they can continue to profit while our family members suffer and to that we say no more. We deserve somebody who can't be bought so Valadeo is one of the votes for the big beautiful bill That will could lead to 70,000 people in your district losing coverage But the big pieces of it don't kick in till after the election so people might not be feeling it yet How do you get people to understand what's coming and make it an issue in the campaign? Yeah, I'll alone though. He was a just vote. He was the decisive vote for the big bullshit bill, right after publicly Promising that he would not vote for any custom Medicaid. He turned his backs to the central Valley and just like I've been telling people at all Our town hall is the most ironic part about his vote is that he has a government subsidized health care plan as a member of Congress that we pay for And I think you need to use that plan to schedule a physical to look for the spine that he's been missing these last 12 years as he bends over back Or is for Donald Trump at Elon Musk. I mean he voted for $880 billion being cut from Medicaid So if you go with Elon and his billionaire buddies $1.1 trillion in tax cuts because when billionaires like Elon must say jump David Valida says how high right because that's who he is and that's who he works for and you know We actually have the most Medicare recipients in the entire country in this district To have every three of our constituents rely on it and people are already planning. They're already fearing the cuts And we're already struggling as it is which is why one of my top priorities is going to be not just to reverse these cuts And to store that funding to Medicaid that actually fight for health care as a human right I'll be a day one co-sponsored Medicare for all because let me tell you the people in my district will try Seven to eight hours to DeWana to get cheaper prescription drugs to your health care and cheaper dental care And then shouldn't be happening in the richest country in the history of the world Nobody should have to choose between rationing their insulin and paying for groceries And then we should have to choose between paying their mortgage and seeing a doctor And nobody should have to fight cancer and their congressman at the same time So there's talk about if Democrats take back the house Of whether or not to do impeachment against Trump or against someone like Hegseth The King Jeffries is kind of tiptoed around it Would you be a vote to impeach Trump? Would you be a vote to impeach Hegseth both one of what do you think? I think if the crime was warranted certainly But I also know a thing or two about working across the aisle to get things done I you know sit on school board of seven where I'm actually the only Democrat and the only Latino And despite that I've been able to work with my colleagues to get Deliberate results right to increase graduation rates to increase our teacher pay And the pay of our custodians and our bus drivers some of the first cases students see every single day And so I'm going to work with anyone and everyone to get things done for the central valley But you know if the crime was it then we should be actually be pushing for when it matters You're the only Democrat on the school board That is correct Oh no, we got to pay more attention to these school boards This is true It's no good. Hey political science. Is it a science? You know I joke with people my wife is currently working on her PhD right now at UC Santa Cruz I'm sure it's in cancer research lab and she's actually her lab is lost plenty as a result of the attacks on higher education But what I always saw my students I kind of joke and I'm like hey, you won't you won't see my life around because she goes to different school Because she does But yeah, she does real science Political science she's studying chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics Political science makes bad predictions about politics is a true. Yeah, well then what kind of if it's predictions don't work Doesn't that's that's the whole thing figured out relativity worked because the the light was bending around the sun or whatever Don't we need is there what's uh You know like yeah, what has Trump showed you about political science that you didn't realize before Yeah, and I would say this is something that like political scientists were probably grappling with after 2016, right There's like a great article out there called what political science like or how political science got it wrong Um that I very much agree with you know I think polls are great and they can inform us about like where people are at in a certain point in time But obviously they're not perfect and what I do think we should be getting back to not just in political science But in everyday life is actually talking to people and understanding how people are making meaning of the world around them And how they are struggling with their day-to-day lives You know oftentimes there's probably these analyses about my race and all these other races Um, from folks who are writing from like a 2000 foot perspective from above the ground And if they actually took the time just to talk to people and understand, you know, there are daily lived experiences I think we've learned a lot more from that than people getting pulled every single day leading up to election day Pots of America breaking news is brought to you by zippercrooter. Let's be honest zippercrooter is everywhere Why because top talent is everywhere too just like you your ideal candidates are tuning into business sports and podcasts just like this one When these candidates hear all these ads it increases the chances that them going to zippercrooter and responding to your job post So ultimately you meet them sooner of course you can't meet them unless you go to zippercrooter.com/cricket to try it for free Once you post your job zippercrooter's matching technology finds top talent quickly And zippercrooter has a new feature that shows you the most interested qualified candidates first so you meet them faster No wonder four out of five employers who post on zippercrooter get a quality candidate within the first day But you've got to go to zippercrooter.com/cricket to post your job for free Again that zippercrooter.com/cricket Oh and if you forget where to go don't worry, you'll hear another zippercrooter ad soon enough Hey, why do you think cars have gotten so ugly You know, I'm not a fan of the cyber truck design or some of the latest designs for sure I love like, you know, if you look at the old BMW, my brother drums like a really nice B-mera, like an E30 like classic I think part of it is like I want to blame private equity just because I want to blame private equity for a lot of things Sure, but I know that you can't for cars and car companies or the car companies Yeah, no, I mean I think it's like the culture of people wanting to do something outside of the box So they come out with these sort of outlandish designs But you know I think like one really cool thing that that Ford all get kudos to is like if you look at the Ford light name It doesn't really look that much different from like a regular Ford F-150 And I think people actually like that like I appreciate that and I would love to see More cars kind of go back to their roots Would you agree with the Marie Gluzincan Perez bill that was about maximum allowable brightness for headlights as somebody that comes from has the expertise Hell yes, I would and I will say especially you know We love our trucks here in the Central Valley and but you know people then have to deal with like I suppose lift their trucks They don't lower their headlights and then people who are driving blind and so it's crazy out there Yeah, what's happening with the headlights Especially when you don't have you know three lights when you don't have the same infrastructure as other places So yeah, I you know major kudos to her for being innovative what other what other lessons from having kind of grown up around a car shop, do you think you're gonna bring that people might not expect? - I think the message of just learning how people are feeling underground, we had so many conversations with folks and clients who come in for one thing and obviously we do an overall inspection analysis and we find something else, we're gonna let them know and say these are recommendations and often it's the story of, well, actually, we can't afford to do that, right? And we do everything we can to help our neighbors just get back in the road. We have brought folks in on Thanksgiving Day on what people write down over the grapevine because no one else is open and we draw best to help our neighbors get back in the road and I think that's what I will bring with me to Congress is doing everything we can to help people, especially in a time with me. And it's the same experiences of just knowing what it felt like to work hard, to be able to work with my hands, to be able to work with other people and to actually deliver results. And I think that's what I take away from my experience. I would even say like working at the SWATME, like as much as I hated it as a kid, it taught me a lot about what I'm doing today, which is going up to strangers and talking to them and being able to introduce myself and talk about, you know, a better vision for the value. - How much negotiating was going on at the SWATME? - Oh man, like I don't know how this happened there, but at one point, I somehow got like fake UDO cards which I think everybody was into back then. And so there was definitely some negotiation there in terms of, you know, saw in some of those cards, but yeah, it's just like any SWATME, there were any like flea market, you know, if you've already been able to talk to people, sometimes we trade with other folks around. And so we got to meet a lot of good lifelong friends there. - I'm realizing too that if you're trading those cards, it's like it just hit me how much younger you are than me. Because that would have, for me, it would have been something like we, that would have been like, it would have been like, Pogs, which is, I think, yeah, you were very used, but that was, yeah, but I'm older than you. What can people do here in the home stretch to help? - Yeah, we need your support. If you're able to head over to raindy.vote and donate what you can, that's r-e-n-d-y.vote. Whether you can donate your dollars or time, you're sweating your sunscreen. We need everybody in this fight. If you know anybody here in the Central Valley in this district, it stretches as far as the South and it's Arvin and Baker School, it's as far north as Fresno and West Fresno County, and a little bit of Madera. Definitely call any friends or family members you know, and if you're in the district, have a love to earn your support, and then make sure you call your mom, your dad, or deal, call your ex, make sure they get their valid in every vote matters in this election. - Did you notice that when all the backup cameras started to become mandatory, that you had fewer repairs on rear bumpers? - So we do mainly on repair, not so much like bodywork, but, you know, I'll say like the evolution of cars led to like different issues. But as long as you maintain, like definitely get your oil change done. - Gotta get your oil change in this. - Yes, especially, you know, making sure your coolant levels are good, especially when it comes to extreme heat, air conditioning. There's so many folks here who drive without air conditioning because they receive just broke down, right? Just the little things matter a lot. Checking your tire pressures on, you know, log trips, anything and everything you can do is gonna help maintain life in your car. - Well, I think that does piss me off, which I have to mention here. - Please. - And I'll take on BMW's 'cause we, especially as we're gonna be with many groupers, is these out of control subscription services that they're now using. - It's crazy. - It's crazy. - It's crazy. - It's crazy. - It's crazy. - For things that just used to come with the car or that people don't know. - Hey, that's a bill. Let's do a bill. That's a fucking bill. It is outrageous. It is outrageous. I will not, I am not, I would just not, like I will never pay. I don't care what they try to do to shut down my fucking car. I am not paying you people. $12 a month to use a feature that you're just turning off remotely. - No. - Like, I don't know. - I'll say like we're, - I'll rage it. - It's kind of two. - The thing comes with an app. I have to pay them $12 a month to lock my car from inside my house. I will fuse. I'm not doing it. - That occurs all the way to do the same. Like we, we've gotta hit these folks where it hurts and they cannot continue to exploit us for every nickel and dime. - Now I'm fired up. All right, everybody do what you can. Help Randy in the home stretch. This is one of the key races that can determine whether or not we win the house. Thank you so much for being here. Randy Villegas, he's running against Valedeo who has been just sort of a stooge for Trump all along the way. Thank you so much and good luck on Tuesday. - Thanks so much for having me and for any folks who want to help out, head over to Randy.boat and I appreciate all your support. - Thank you so much for being here. - And I thank you for your support. - Thank you so much. - Thank you so much for being here.