Doctor El-Sayed nice to have you back on our overtime segment.

Lauren's got a question I'm gonna guess.

Yeah.

So I was curious especially curious about your comment related to appealing to disaffected young men and the trends in young men and women have diverged pretty sharply.

Young men have gone pretty Republican.

Young women have gone reliably Democratic the last several cycles in Gen Z.

So how do you appeal to the disaffected young men while keeping the women who have reliably voted Democratic?

Yeah, look, I'll tell you this, as usual, the women got it right.

I think there is a conversation here to be had, which is about trying to bring people together.

And I try to understand where young me in this generation just below me have gone a certain way because young men in my generation were reliably progressive.

And I think part of it has to do with a certain level of like online culture.

I think part of it has to do with a certain level of just frustratio at the nihilism of this moment.

And then I think part of that has to do with the way that it i just easy to get swayed toward this idea that that, you know that all masculinity is toxic.

I'm a father of two daughters.

I got a two year old and a seven year old.

And as I think about it, the question I'm asking is how do we lead for this u and coming generation in a way where folks don't have to feel like they they hate each othe or they're against each other, or that they can't come together around something that's bigger.

And so my point is about about that idea of unity, about the things that we all want together, about the notion that there is not a zero sum politics, that when women are making strides in higher education and the workforce, that doesn't come at the cost of somebody else, that that's actually a better society and that I want my daughters to grow u knowing that when they succeed and when they go out and do great things, that the men in their lives and in our society are going to embrace them and empower them in doing it.

And so I think it's a conversation with men that's about coming back to the set of ideals that we should have been about in the first place.

And I part of that, I think, is like, what does it look like to build a benevolent masculinity, right?

That being masculine doesn't have to mean that you're constantly punching dow or punching at somebody else or or bringing a certain level o like just sneering and cynicism and everything but that there is a world in which you can embrace being a masculine guy.

But that also means empowering people in your life and and so I actually thin that this is the kind of message that both men and women are looking for.

People do want to hate each other.

They just don't like.

I've lived in my life with my name and you can imagine I've taken my fair share of question and frankly, straight up hate.

But I also know that when you smile at somebody and you say, Hey, look like, what are we going to find the thing that we agree on that it generally makes you feel better and it makes the other person feel better.

And so I don't think tha you have to play to this notion that folks can't get along, but actually you have to play to the things that unify us and the things that we all want.

Dr. grade, grad the job that Secretary Kennedy, the man that President Trump has picked to lead the health department in this country so far, I'll give him a D. Why?

Why not an F. In his middle initial.

Look I actually think that he is to his credit, he has brought attention to a set of problems that we have been trying bring attention to for a very long time.

Nutrition in this country is atrocious in large part because it's been dominated by huge corporations.

We subsidize the growing and the production of the wrong kinds of foods and then that's what we end up eating.

And it's all ultra processed and delivered in ways that get us to just want to consume more.

He's brought attention to that.

The problem I have with RFK, like the problem I have with Donald Trump, is that he identifies the problem and then brings the wrong solution chaotically and ham fisted, executed usually for his own gain.

And that's why I take him from potential A for identifying the problems to a D. And the last thing I'll say is this.

The notion that you canno forthrightly and directly state that the MMR vaccine is clearly safe and clearly effective in the midst of the worst measles outbreak we've had i generations is a real problem.

The notion that you want t take fluoride out of our water without thinking about what the long term consequences will be for the lowest income people in rural areas or urban areas in terms of cavities and the impact that that's going to have on their development.

The notion that your solution to fixing our nutrition problem is banning one red dye rather than actually taking on the corporations that have have have hijacked our nutrition system for their gain.

That just seems to me like you don't understand the problem, even if you've correctly identified it.

So in i the broadcast part of the show, you know, you talked about not taking money from corporate PACs.

As a practical matter, if you get to the final third or quarter of the campaign, you're two or three points apart, which is significant but not impossible.

And one or more corporate PAC directors came to you and said, you know what, we like a lot of what you're saying, maybe not everything, but a lot of it.

And we're going to write you a check.

What do you say to that?

No, thanks.

I appreciate you.

You know, but but no thanks.

And also, would you reject a check that if it were submitted to you, I would send it back.

And I just I just tell you, look, the notion that I get to that point in the campaign and there are corporate PAC directors who are like, we really like what you're saying.

I probably haven't done my job well, because, look, my entire thesis here is that we need an economy that works for working people.

And the problem with it is that in this country, I'm a capitalist, right?

I believe deeply in small business.

I'm just not a corporatist.

And the reason that our economy feels like it's so hard to survive in is because we've created a system where corporations do two things.

They are unaccountable either to their workers or frankly, to their customers, but they're accountable to a quarterly bottom line through a process of financialization, which means tha they're more interested in what some stockbroker on Wall Street thinks about how profitable they will be relative to the rest of the economy in three months.

That divorces you from a local community, divorces you from your workers.

And so you watch them make terrible decisions.

And it's not that I don't believe in business.

I just believe in business that's owned by real people who have to look their worker in the eye and spend their money that they make back in their local community.

So I want this to be the best possible place to build a small business and the number one challenge to building a small business is that the incumbents, the huge corporations that tend to dominate our our economy make it a lot harder for you to jump in.

So if we're serious about this project of capitalism, then we've got to be seriou about making this a place where small business thrive.

And the worst part of that at all is then they come with their corporate PAC checks their checks to the politicians and say, Hey, listen, we're going to help you get elected.

You're 2 to 3 points down.

We can help you.

And then when you get elected, guess what happens?

The lobbyist comes up and says hey, didn't you love that check that you got from DTE or Blue Cross?

Right?

And now we got some public policy we'd like you to move for us.

I just don't want to be in the business of being being thought of as somebod who's going to move that policy.

I just won't.

Put your strategy hat on for just a second.

Would you concede that the top of the ticket in this race next time out will be very important t your future and getting votes?

Do you agree with that premise?

I do.

So in light of that, it must be important in your mind as to who is that gubernatoria candidate?

Why are you smiling?

Tim, I see where you're going.

I see you figured this out, that I don't have to finish the question.

I got a lot of respect for folks running for governor.

I want to see that race play out.

I think at the end of the day, frankly, the top of the ticket is the race that makes the most noise.

My job is to make sure that the Senate race is the top of the ticket and that's going to be the focus for us.

Well, but wait a second.

It's not okay.

It's at the top.

Well, it is near the top.

If you have a loser at the top of the ticket from your party, you could be in trouble.

Would you concede that point?

Yeah.

No, I mean, I mean, factually, you are correct about that point.

And so why wouldn't you say, here's my person?

Because this person is going to help me.

Well because at the end of the day, I want to see the race play out.

Second, again, I've got a lot of respect for both Secretary of State Benson and Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist.

I've gotten to wor with both of them pretty clear pretty closely.

In both of my past jobs.

I've really appreciated the perspectiv that they bring to their work.

I want to let them run their campaigns and then we'll see what happens from there.

I think that practical matter, that it's between those two that other candidates in the race won't.

We'll see.

I don't I don't know Sheriff Swanson as well.

And, you know, certainly with with Mayor Duggan running as an independent, that's going to that' going to change the race in ways I think all of us have tried to think through, but get really complicated really quickly here.

To his advantage, I'm not sure I don't know to whose advantage it is, to be honest.

And, you know, just as a matter of trying to like think through that, I don't think it's been tested.

I understand what his frustration are with the two party system.

And frankly I share some of them that, like we sometime can't get out of certain molds because of the D and the R, But at the same time I also wonder, okay, so why not do the hard work of trying to move your party in the direction you think it should move?

And, you know, as someone who's who's had very clear differences of opinion with a lot of leaders in my party, I'm not leaving the party.

What I'm trying to do is move the party in the direction that I thin is closer to the party's ideals.

And I would like to see folks do that work.

Let's put a ribbon on this.

But quickly, has anybody from the party come to you and said, please don't run?

No, no.

I thin I think people understand that the attempt to try and fix who is going to be the nominee has backfired enough.

I think right now this is a moment where the Democratic Party is still searching for where it's going to go.

I thin even if some folks don't agree with the direction, I think it should go, I think they recogniz that there are a lot of people who agree with me about this being a party that should be about working people.

If you show up to work tomorrow, life should be easier for you than it is right now and that this should be a party of peace and justice.

And so I think we've got an opportunity to have the conversatio with voters and let them choose, because at the end of the day, you got to win elections.

And if you were able to do this work of persuasion, remember, like democracy is about persuading people that you're the best choice.

Your vision is the right vision.

And if you don't hav the conversation about vision, then don't expect people to follow you at the end of the day.

And so I think this is a moment where folks are starting to step back and realize, actually, you know, we should we should have this debate, we should have this conversation.

Right.

Let let's see what happens and comes at the end of it.

And if that looks like me, fantastic.

And if it looks like someone else, then look, let's let's follow forward.

What's critical right now is that Democrats cannot lose a seat.

I think everybody understands that Democrats cannot lose the Senate seat.

We have to it.

But here's the thing.

I played sports growing up.

There's a difference when you're playing not to lose versus you're playing to win, right?

I've lost an election before, right?

I know what that's like.

And to me, I know what I'm fighting for.

I know who I'm fighting for, Right?

And so we're playing to win.

We'r going to have our conversations with folks across the state.

My job is to understand their pain.

And in the same way I learned how to do when I was training as a doctor to ask what's wrong and then try to work together to fix it.

That's what this work is about.

So let's have that conversation.

Doc, thanks for showing up.

Thank you for having me.

It was always a privilege and thank you again.

Good to see you.

Good to see you as well.