HUGE California UPDATE sends Trump into PANIC

I'm joined now by Amar Campa Najjar, who's running for California's 48th. Congressional District. Amar, this is a. district that is and was represented by. a Republican. And so, can you talk about. the significance from a national. perspective, first and foremost, of. fighting fire with fire and making sure. to take steps in light of what. Republicans are doing in states across. the country to actually redraw maps in. blue states so that it's not just. unilateral disarmament and watching. Republicans. uh engineer themselves majorities from.

everywhere from Texas to Florida, Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and on and on. >> Yeah, so this district was born out of. Prop 50, which you helped lead the. charge on. Thank you for your work on. that. And that was in response to Texas. trying to gerrymander and gerrymandering. five districts. And Governor Gavin. Newsom and many others, including you, said, "We have to fight fire with fire. We can't fight with one arm behind our. back. Nobody likes these redistricts, but our goal is to take back the house,

to raise the bar, to get national. independent commissions to redraw these. districts honestly and fairly." The. difference between us and Texas is that. we allowed this to get to the voters. It. was transparent, and it was temporary. It's the first time I've ever seen. redistricting show up on a on a ballot. where you have the map of the district. So, we're being transparent and honest, and we let voters decide, unlike Texas. doing in the cloak of darkness. Now, to. take back the house, we have to win. these five districts. This is one of the. most competitive ones of the five. Flipping the house runs through. California as it often does. We did that.

in 2018. We're going to do it again now. And this is a very competitive district. with the added bonus of running Darrell. Issa out of town. Now, those who know. Darrell Issa, he's, you know, a big. villain that in in Democratic politics. Our goal was to beat him in November. We're ahead of schedule, but now today. is the election, and our goal is to make. sure we get the right Democrat to take. on the MAGA extremist Republican who's. been endorsed by Trump uh in the fall. >> All right, so talk to me about being the. right Democrat. What what is your pitch. to voters.

as as as they're already heading to the. polls? And I say that, you know, with a. giant asterisk because we've actually. had exceedingly low turnout early vote. turnout in in California thus far and. certainly among. Democrats and certainly among young. people. So as people are making up their. minds on this final day of voting, what. is your pitch to them? >> Look, I think a lot of people are. waiting because the governor's race. really has shaken things up. I think we. need a progressive fighter, somebody who. will swing for the fences. We can't take. half-measure approaches in this moment. of crisis on when we have an assault on.

our democracy and our economy. We've. seen the biggest concentration of power. economic and political in human history. And what that looks like is people's. costs through the roof. We see wars. abroad, this weapon of mass distraction. with Iran to distract from the Epstein. files. We see the big ugly bill. assaulting people's health care and food. assistance. We see ICE terrorizing. Americans and immigrants in broad. daylight. Look, I'm Palestinian and. Mexican American. Trump hates everything. I stand for. And so, you know, I think.

what we need is somebody who will fix it. the way Trump broke it and will swing. for the freaking fences, man. Medicare. for all, overturn Citizens United, end. these endless wars, stop what's. happening in Gaza. And that's what we. need. And so I think in this race it's a. showdown between someone who's a. corporate Democrat who's fully bought. and owned by the Israel lobby to the. tune of $5 million, and then there's me, somebody who's Palestinian American who. was born here, grew up in Gaza, was a. Navy officer in the reserves. It's a big. military community, San Diego. It's a. big Latino community. And I think we.

have a message that meets this moment to. lower costs, raise wages, take on. corruption. And if we do that by getting. money out of politics. That's the number. one goal is to get money out of politics. and get it back into people's pockets. again. >> So I agree with everything you said. there, especially swinging for the. fences, actually fighting, fighting to. win, going for for these Uh, these I I. think the time has come for stuff like. Medicare for all and overturning. Citizens United. There is going to be. opposition, not just from Republicans. who obviously want to stop this stuff,

but even from corporate Democrats who. who want to preserve the status quo. And. so, what would you know, what what is. going to be your pushback when you. contend with Democrats who say, "Well, we couldn't, you know, we can't engage. in in in moving forward for Medicare for. all. It's going to be too expensive and. let's let's go the route of kind of the. Biden era where it was just let's have a. return to normalcy and not do anything. that's going to rock the boat.". >> Well, there is no turning back. This is. the new normal now. Donald Trump has.

changed the rules of engagement. We will. lose our country if we don't deliver for. people. The biggest problem we're facing. now, and you're seeing it in in election. right now, is apathy, right? Young. people do not believe in this system. They think it is broken, and I get it. Look, I I my mom and I grew up single. working class and Latino. ICE scares the. out of my family. I have family on. both sides of the border. We've seen. what's happened in Palestine. I've lost. 30 members of my family there. And so, this half-measure approach is not going. to work. And what we need to do is come. together. When we take back the house,

me and Ro Khanna and other progressives, I've been endorsed by the Congressional. Progressive Caucus, we need to show up. and get a petition and get every single. member of Congress to sign the petition. to introduce an amendment to overturn. Citizens United. Because if we don't do. that, our elections will continue to be. for sale. Right now, my opponent's. gotten $5 million from the pro-Israel. lobby to spread lies. And this district. is not for sale. But it's not just about. politics. When you're in bed with these. corporate and special interests, you do. their bidding. So, that's why the cost. of housing and health care insurance and.

utilities and your energy bills are. through the roof because when you do. their bidding, they're able to price. gouge the hell out of us and make it. really hard to live with dignity. So, again, I'm going to browbeat these. folks, and I think we need to push with. the right message. We can't just be. against Trump, which I am. Trump. freaking hates me. He's done attack ads. against me. But we have to have an. affirmative message. Otherwise, we're. going to keep losing elections and we. will lose the trust of voters. And I. think if we don't get this right, these. next two elections right, we won't have. a democracy anymore. So, this is not the.

time for half-measure approaches. This. is the time to be full-scale fix it how. Trump broke it. Be as aggressive and as. bold as he was and dismantling our. democracy and in fixing it. What does. that look like? Abolish and overhaul ICE. and replace it with a new agency. It. means asking billionaires to pay just a. little bit more and they'll still be. billionaires. But we could create. universal health care and child care and. raise wages for the first time in 20. years. And say, "Hey, instead of bombing. schools and hospitals over there, let's. build them here at home. Let's build a. democratic majority for America, not.

this democratic majority for Israel pack. that's attacking me." We need to do. that. And we have to come together. because the forces that are anti-Muslim. are also anti-Semitic, right? Like we. cannot be divided on these lines because. white supremacy comes for all of us. If. a white supremacist were to come into a. room where me and you are in there, Brian, they wouldn't discriminate. between us. They wouldn't like the. Palestinian guy or the Jewish guy. So, we have to come together. And if we. don't do that, we're going to lose again. this cycle and the next cycle.

>> You know, on the issue of kind of the. the the way that the MAGA Republican. Party has comported itself, you know, I alluded before to this idea. where, okay, Biden comes into office and. Merrick Garland is the Attorney General. and there is a focus on preventing the. optics of politicization. Obviously, the. unwillingness to hold people to account. for the crimes or corruption that they. engaged in and emboldened them to do it. tenfold. And we're seeing that play out. right now, where it feels like crime is. legal. It feels like I mean, insider.

trading happens every single day. All of. these people are getting rich hand over. fist. I mean, it's just like it it is. banana republic level corruption that. we're seeing. Um you're you're. absolutely right on the sense that um, we do need an affirmative message and I. actually think that that's where that's. where the left has been uh, especially. weak. But on the idea of walking and. chewing gum at the same time, can you. talk about the how you reconcile the. need not just for an affirmative agenda. but also.

um, how much of a priority it is to hold. folks to account for the corruption that. they're engaging in right now so that it. doesn't feel like we are yet again just. giving a free pass in deference to like, you know, this Kumbaya oh, like spirit where where if we can just. move ahead like move away from all of. this stuff that that it'll somehow. reconcile our differences. >> That's not going to be how this works. Look, I I I studied Lincoln and Lincoln. was all about like charity to all, you.

know, malice towards none, but he that. war was brutal and he said we have to. have a fight for ideas and we have to do. that because Democrats, you know, we we. want to be we can write while Trump's. being strong and wrong and people want. strength. So, I think we have to make. sure that in the annals of history that. people remember that this is not. acceptable and that we have to set a. precedent that we have to hold President. Trump accountable. We have to hold his. administration accountable. We need to. bring articles of impeachment, subpoena. power. We got to hold ICE accountable. We got to abolish ICE and replace it.

with something that will do the right. job. We have to do that and I do think. that the the one-two punch in saving our. democracy and our economy is taking on. corruption and tying that corruption, Brian, to costs. It is not two separate. things. Trump's grift, his greed, his. corruption, his using tariffs as a. bartering tool to expand his portfolio, the insider trading that takes place, the money in politics, the price gouging. that comes with it, all of that's. connected. The corruption is tied to. costs. And so, it's not walking and.

chewing bubble gum in my mind, it's one. in the same because they are tied to. each other. We have to defend our. democracy to democratize our economy and. they are one in the same. >> Perfectly put. Ammar, in your. conversations with voters out there, I'm. especially. um always concerned about. what your conversations have gone like. with people who aren't, you know, true. blue Democratic voters. Have you spoken. to former Republicans or Trump voters or. independents um. for whom your platform resonated and or.

just the disgust of how the Republican. Party has comported itself has become a. bridge too far? >> I've talked to staunch Republicans who. have said to me a very powerful thing. Donald Trump lied to me. Lied and to me on two things. He. promised no more wars and lower costs, and he's done the complete opposite. They feel betrayed. Now, Democrats can't. wag the finger and say we told you so. We have to say welcome. Welcome to the tent. The price of.

admission is simply saying we need help. They might not agree with us on a lot of. social issues, but on economic issues, they're right there with us. And you. know, Trump uses grievance to punch down. on immigrants, on Muslims, on trans. people. That's 1% of the population. We. should be punching up at the top 1%, and. that's what we're able to we could. spread that message and get people back. into the fold. But when I tell people. I'm going to keep those promises of. ending the wars and lowering costs, they're like, I will vote for you. because this guy has lied to me. And. I'll tell you another thing.

I've heard a lot of Republicans who are. really upset with the fact that there's. only been one foreign leader in the. history of America who's gone to our. situation room, who's wagging the dog, and that's Netanyahu, right? They don't. like that we're entering another forever. war. They do not like the fact that. you know, all the grift and the greed, and and they don't like what's happening. with ICE. They they are stronger on. immigration. They want to have strong. borders and all that stuff, but they do. not like that masked men who are. glorified keyboard warriors with. anonymity and a mask and a. and a gun and immunity going and killing.

Americans and immigrants in broad. daylight in major American cities. They. don't like that. So, it's it's gone so. far, but it Trump can't Republicans. can't simply lose it this cycle. They're. going to lose. Democrats have to win. with an affirmative message. And we talk. about lowering costs, ending war, taking. out corruption, and being self-critical, Brian. Like saying like, "Look, we have. some problems on our side, too. We have. corruption on our side." When you do. that, you build trust. You have to be. self-critical and not just be like, "Everything's fine. Everything's fine.

Biden's okay. We have no corruption. here." We can't. We have to be honest. about our own flaws, and that builds. trust. >> Amar, for those who are looking to help. your campaign, where can they go? >> Go to the polls. Go vote today. Go to. amarforcongress.com and please vote. Young people will decide this election, whether it's bought or if people. actually have a voice in this election. I believe that young people are the. future. Young people are the ones who. understand that injustice anywhere is. injustice everywhere, whether it's in. Palestine or Lebanon, whether it's here. at home. And if we want to stop the wars.

that are being waged at home with ICE or. the ones abroad, we have to come. together, Brian. So, please, I'm begging. the young people get out there and vote, and let's prove the cynics wrong that we. have the power, not the special. interests. >> And I just want to reiterate that. I. know that there has been kind of. shockingly low turnout in California. A. lot of people are holding on to their. ballots. I know um the second last day, which was yesterday, about a third of. the entire vote total had come in. So, I. know that people are really holding on. to their ballots. If you have them, go. to the polls. Make sure you vote. And if. you're in California's 48th. congressional district, please make sure.

to vote for Amar. So, Amar, with that. said, thank you so much for taking the. time, and uh fingers crossed for. tonight. >> Thank you, brother. Appreciate it. Let's. do this.