rumbleTRANSCRIPT
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. To read more about Episode 188, visit the main episode page.
Michael Moore [00:01:25] Hello, everyone, this is Rumble, and I am Michael Moore. Welcome, first, let me get started here by thanking everyone who has responded to the podcast over the weekend and yesterday, where we had Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author Laurie Garrett, who really laid out what the true situation is here for us in terms of getting rid of COVID, trying to achieve some form of herd immunity. And she completely redefines that, and she let us know really the state that we are in. And yes, obviously it’s somewhat pessimistic. But she had such a note of optimism in how we can pull this off, even when it seems like we can’t pull it off. And so, great response from all of you. If you haven’t heard that podcast, it’s episode 187.
Michael Moore [00:02:24] Just go to my podcast page and look for it. And the title for the episode is: – It’s Like Herding Americans: How To Defeat COVID This Year with Laurie Garrett. So look that up and give that a chance. If you haven’t, I don’t want you to miss it. And I want everybody listening to this to please go get your shot. You can get them anywhere now. You can walk into Walgreens, though you’ll need an appointment. I read this weekend, they’re throwing away, I don’t know, upwards to half of their COVID vaccine because it’s the one that you have to keep cold. And they can’t keep it over the weekend. And so, boom, it’s gone because nobody’s showing up. I shouldn’t say nobody, but I mean, it’s down 50 percent.
Michael Moore [00:03:20] And so we’re not going to get there. We’re not going to get rid of COVID unless you get your shots and get everybody in your family and your friends and in your neighborhood, everybody on board. And we can lick this thing. So anyway for today’s episode, I have a letter here I need to direct, what I’m going to say on today’s episode to our good friend Joe Manchin down in Washington, D.C. So today I want to reach out to our good friend, Joe down in Washington DC, and I want to speak directly to him, the rest of you can certainly listen in. You’re welcome to, but this really is directed to him. And I don’t mean Joe, the president of the United States, I am talking about the Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin.
Michael Moore [00:06:39] And he in some ways is currently holding more power than the other Joe, because the Senate is split between Democrats and Republicans 50-50, which gives Vice President Harris the deciding vote in a tie vote. We need all 50 Democrats on board if we’re going to get any of these things passed. And, you know, Manchin was, of course, supportive of the American Relief Act, and I’m sure he’ll be good on most of the infrastructure stuff and hopefully the Families Act. But there are many more things that are sitting there in front of the Senate that we need his vote on, whether it’s the Voting Rights Act that needs to get passed, whether it’s minimum wage, child care, free college for the first two years of college. Biden has put forth a lot of very good initiatives. But he’s going to need all 50 senators on the Democrat side.
Michael Moore [00:07:57] And for instance, Senator Manchin has said that he is going to not support removing the filibuster, which he shouldn’t know what that is. There’s a long way to explain this, but basically it comes out of the slave era, where we had to deal with the South in order to get them on board just to become a part of the country. We had to give them more votes in Congress, and we still have this thing to this day. And now really starting during Obama, but certainly since then and to Mitch McConnell, they’re trying to block these things that Joe Biden and the majority of the House, which is Democratic and half of the Senate, which is Democratic plus one, which is the Democratic Vice President…trying to stop them. And he said last week, he just came out and said it publicly that his job is to stop 100 percent of everything Biden is trying to do. Wow.
Michael Moore [00:09:10] So thank you for your honesty. Not that we didn’t know that. That means we’re going to go back to the way it was when Obama no longer had the Senate, and we are going to not get anything done. So we need to get rid of the filibuster. But we have one Democratic senator, Joe Manchin from West Virginia, who has said that he will vote to keep the filibuster and he will probably vote to not go along with the Democrats on a number of the things they want to do. So if I could, I would like to speak right now directly to Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Senator Manchin, first of all, thanks for being a Democrat. I mean, I was amazed when you first ran down in West Virginia and you were elected governor of West Virginia as a Democrat. This is a state that has gone very strong for Donald Trump. And there you were, running as a Democrat and you won and then you ran for Senate and you won.
Michael Moore [00:10:24] And it helped the Democrats on the Senate side of the aisle. So thank you for that. And I have to tell you, I have a real fondness for West Virginia. I’ve also visited West Virginia. And I have to say, the people that I have met, stayed with, interviewed, put in my movies from your state are, oh man, salt of the Earth. Great great people. When we filmed down there for my last film for Fahrenheit 11/9. 11/9/16, the night, early morning that Trump was declared the winner. So we wanted to go down there to try to figure this out and see and talk to people and go to Democratic Party meetings and gatherings, union gatherings, et cetera. And we saw a different, very different view of West Virginia than the one we’ve been given or the one that we held or wanted to hang onto ourselves. And our eyes were really open.
Michael Moore [00:11:38] So I want to say this to Senator Manchin, you represent some very, very good people. In a state that has a rich history of unionism, of the working class standing and fighting against the coal companies, et cetera. And it’s always been a place that I’ve admired on that level. But I’m just I’m just I want you to know that I know something about West Virginia and I care about West Virginia, and I think you do too. So that’s why I wanted to talk to you today about why you’re taking these positions and basically saying that, you know, you’re not going to go along with these Democratic Party policies. You’re not going to go along with the Democratic President. And I’m trying to figure it out. I mean, I get it, I know you’re a more conservative Democrat than others.
Michael Moore [00:12:44] You voted more with Trump than any Democrat in the Senate. So I get that. I don’t know what it was, something like 25 to 30 percent of the time you voted with Trump. OK. That’s what you believed you needed to do. That’s how you felt like you were representing the citizens of your state. OK. But we’re in a transformational moment right now. We are in the middle of a global pandemic. We need to do everything possible to contain the pandemic and then to turn this country around and not just by building roads and bridges and things like that, but by turning the people around, making it possible so that when a family member is sick, you are able to get paid family leave. And, you know, we need to make it so that people are paid more than $7.25 an hour to get by. We need child care. We need a better health care system. We don’t really, truly have universal health care.
Michael Moore [00:13:57] So all of these things, of course, would really benefit West Virginia. And so I don’t believe in your heart of hearts, you’re against any of these things I just mentioned. But you know now that you hold the power. You are in some sense more powerful than the other, Joe, the one whose president. You can say yes or no to any of his ideas. And if you say no, that’s the end of it. And you’re in office until 2024. So that’s the end of it. And all the rest of us, nine million more Americans voted for Joe Biden than voted for Donald Trump. So clearly, the vast majority of your fellow Americans wanted Joe Biden in office and wanted his policies enacted. That data is clear. And if you become the person who stands there in the middle of the road and prohibits the American people from getting the things that they wanted, that they expected Joe Biden to do, I think you know that that’s more power than any one individual should be able to have. But legally, you have it. So I’m not going to try to convince you to not use your power. The power that’s fallen into your hands.
Michael Moore [00:15:36] In fact, just the opposite. I want to convince you to use your power. I want you to say to Joe Biden, I am the deciding vote. I will decide whether or not this bill is passed, this program goes through, this money is appropriated for the American people. You need it, Joe Manchin, you need to go back to the old way of politics. That’s the way it was done, right. It was always horse trading. You know, you want my vote, well, I want you to do this. You do this, you got my vote now. In most cases in our political history, that usually means fat cats and people with money say to the elected representative, we’ll give you X number of dollars if you vote this way or you say to them, You want my vote, give me a million dollars. You want my vote? I want you to get 100 large donors for my campaign. Then they get your vote, right? Isn’t that the way it used to be and the way it still works to this day?
Michael Moore [00:16:57] There are some controls on it, but not many. OK, what I want to suggest to you is that you do that. You go in there, sit down, talk privately with Joe Biden. And you say to him the following: Mr. President, I know you need my vote. I know you want my vote. I know you’re not going to get Jack done without my vote. So there’s a way for you to get my vote. But you’re going to have to do something for me. This is a two way street. I want something from you. In fact, I want a number of things from you. And if you give me these things, you’ve got my vote. And will stop the filibuster. Now, Biden’s going to be like, Whoah, OK. What are you setting me up for here? What do I have to give you? But you see, Biden already knows, you know, it’s a matter of public record that you’re a multi multimillionaire. You are worth a lot of money, so you don’t need to stick him up. Yeah, I’ll give you my vote, I’m on a yacht. No, right, that’s not you. You want my vote?
Michael Moore [00:18:31] Give me a gazillion dollars. No, that’s not you. That’s not something somebody from West Virginia would do. No, no, listen, if you want my humble two cents here. I want to support you in demanding that Biden and the Democrats and the Senate do something for you, meaning you and your state. You need to go in there and you need to do the horse trading that used to happen, to do the bargaining, the back and forth, except this is how it should go in my humble opinion. You should say to President Biden, If you want my vote then I need you to start doing a number of things for West Virginia. There are people’s homes in West Virginia that still don’t have the proper running water that they should have. It’s one of the poorest states in the country. You should demand that if you want my vote, I want every single home in West Virginia with modern plumbing, with running water.
Michael Moore [00:19:50] I want every home in West Virginia to have the heat that it needs in the winter. I want every home to have Wi-Fi so we can be in the 21st century. Some of our people are still living in the 19th century and I want every home wired. Electricity everywhere. Running water everywhere. I want it so that if you live in my state of West Virginia, it feels like you’re living in a suburb of Milwaukee. Not quite sure you want to be a suburb of Milwaukee, but you get my point that there’s so many things you could ask for. And get if you were to say to President Biden, you know, the University of West Virginia, we’re not an endowed school, we don’t have a lot of money. But we have smart people. We have scientists. We’ve been wanting to build a lab at the University of West Virginia. I want that. You want my vote, I want that.
Michael Moore [00:21:00] I mean, there is so much good you can do with the power that you hold in your hands right now for the people of West Virginia. Everything that West Virginia needs. Whether it’s dealing with the opioid epidemic. Whatever. I mean, you name it and you get it. And I’m going to tell you right now, I’m going to guess most of the people listening to this, most of the people that you would think of as progressives would be 100 percent supportive of you asking for these things. And yes, of course, it would be nice if there didn’t have to be this horse trading going on. But what are you trading for? You’re trading for a better West Virginia.
Michael Moore [00:21:40] Something better for the poor and the working class of West Virginia. I support that. I support you asking for that. I support that being in the bill. Why would you just sit back and say, No, I’m for the filibuster. What do you get out of that? You in West Virginia? What does West Virginia get with you not supporting Biden’s bills for health care, child care, good wages, all that? And that isn’t the fight you should be having. The fight should simply be, I am here as the advocate for the state of West Virginia, one of the poorest states in this country. And if you want my vote, I’m sorry to be this way, but I need running water and electricity and Wi-Fi and good roads and good jobs and good schools. I want that throughout my whole state. Tell me you’re going to do that. Put that in the bill. You’ve got my vote.
Michael Moore [00:22:59] You want to get rid of the filibuster, watch how fast we get rid of the filibuster. That’s the way to do it, Senator Manchin. Yes, I’m serious, if people could talk right now through their earbuds or however they’re listening to this, they would shout right now and say, Do it, Joe, just do it. Yes, we all agree. Yes, the science lab at the University of West Virginia. Yes. What does Morgan State need? Give them that. What does West Virginia need? You got it. If we have your vote on all this other stuff that we need to get done for all the country. And if we have your commitment to stop this filibuster, do it, Joe, do it. You hold the power. Use the power, use the power for West Virginia. They already love you there. Now you’ll be a hero long after you’re gone. You’ll be remembered as the person who stood and fought for West Virginia.
Michael Moore [00:24:12] You know, I have to say it’s one thing if you’re holding the rest of us a little bit hostage to get good things for the working poor of West Virginia. I’m OK with that, because we should already have done that for you. We should already have done that for the people of West Virginia. Now, you know, if the people of Bloomfield Hills or Westchester County, or Malibu are holding up the rest of the country, holding us hostage for the things they want, that’s a different story. But that’s not who you represent. You represent the people. That we on the left, we the liberals, we the Democrats, whoever, wherever you fall on this spectrum, that’s left of the Republicans. Of course, we support this. Of course, we support you using your power right now to get these things for the good people of West Virginia.
Michael Moore [00:25:20] I’m perfectly OK with it. It’s just politics. So this is my advice to you. And I’m going to tell you, you’re going to be supported not just by the people in West Virginia. But people all over the country. They might even admire you a little bit for this, the fact that you just put your thumb down and you wouldn’t let go until the people in West Virginia who have suffered, where there’s a commitment that they will no longer have to suffer. A commitment from the rest of us, a commitment from the White House, a commitment from the other Democrats. You’re one of 50. Vice President Harris is 51. And then West Virginia gets what it wants and gets what it needs. This is the only fight you should be having with these guys, with your fellow Democrats, with the White House. Just say in whatever nice or not so nice way that you need to, that this poor treatment of the people of West Virginia comes to an end today.
Michael Moore [00:26:39] You want my vote to end the filibuster. You want my vote on all these bills that you’re trying to get passed. Then you will stand with me for the people of West Virginia. Wow. I love the sound of that, Joe Manchin. You should do that. That’s the principal position you should be taking. And you’ll have my support. You’ll have the support of people across this country, the vast majority, the majority of the nine million votes that voted for Biden over Trump. And I got to believe you will have the support of President Joe Biden. Please do this and to everybody who’s listening in today, give Joe Manchin a call at his Senate office. If he can’t speak to you and I realize he may not be able to, he is a United States senator, but they have live human beings there who will speak to you, who will take your calls. You literally can call, ask to speak to Senator Joe Manchin. And then someone in his office will hear what you have to say and you need to encourage him to exchange his vote for the good of the people of West Virginia. To promise to vote for all these programs that Biden has proposed in an exchange.
Michael Moore [00:28:21] I know if you’re listening to this and you’re saying, Hey, I live in a poor state too, I mean, I’m in Mississippi. And we should have gotten there already and we will get there. But right now? Right now we have a senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, who is going to take a principled stand that if you want me on board, then you have to get on board with West Virginia. I’m good with that. I’m already on board with West Virginia, and I want to ask everybody else who’s listening to this today to get on board with West Virginia and to call Joe Manchin’s office and to say, Please vote for these things that Joe Biden has put forward. Please vote to end the filibuster, but do it in return and make sure the other Democrats and the White House put things in these bills that will help West Virginia.
Michael Moore [00:29:45] Everyone, longtime listeners, you know, the number by now, how to call the United States Senate. All right, you ready? OK, here we go. I’ll put it on my podcast page here in case you forget it. 202-225-3121. They’ll put you through. And then tell them what you think we should do. Tell him he should negotiate. His vote is available if the White House and the Senate stands for West Virginia and gives West Virginia the things it needs. Senator Manchin, this is how it’s done. And this isn’t like it is for other senators. This isn’t like it was in the old days, where they’re trading their vote for some big wad of cash that they can put in their pockets. Or something that they can give for some corporate power in their state.
Michael Moore [00:31:09] I want you to do this. I need you to do this. The people of West Virginia need you to do this. And as for you, Senator Sinema out in Arizona, because you too have threatened to continue to support the filibuster and maybe not support parts of the Biden plan. Do the same thing. Arizona has so many needs, so many Native Americans, again, reservations still without running water, without electricity, without phones. Forget about the internet. In some places, you can’t even make a call. Don’t forget about the internet too. The native peoples who are voters on the reservations in the state of Arizona. If you’re holding up your vote, tell the White House why. Do these things to make it better for the people of Arizona? Especially the working people, the native people, the poor of Arizona. Stand for them. Use your vote to get them what they need, get that put in the bill.
Michael Moore [00:32:39] Now I know what you’re thinking, the rest of you are listening in on this, yeah, every senator is gonna start doing this. But if there’s one or two states that we need for the senators to do that because they legitimately feel, because they are more conservative than you or I, that they need to maybe not vote for some of this. Well, sometimes everybody has to vote for things they don’t like. This is one of these times where Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema have to vote for these things or nothing is going to happen. And that is unacceptable. And that is what makes people get riled up and go out in primary sitting officeholders because they didn’t listen. So we don’t need to go there yet, but I just wanted to say today that I’m OK with you, Joe Manchin. I think you do care. And I think your legacy is important to you. And the fact that you will be remembered as lone-Wolf Joe. Uncle Joe in the White House and we got Lone Wolf Joe down there in West Virginia.
Michael Moore [00:34:04] Standing up for the people of West Virginia in a historic moment. You can do this. Please do it. I’ve never asked anything of you. This is it. And I won’t bug you again. If you need me for anything, to come to West Virginia to do something, for the good of the people there, I’m yours. But for right now, get the White House and get the other Democrats on board for doing a few things for West Virginia and tell them, you know what, if you do that for my people, I will even if I don’t quite agree with all you liberal types, I will be there for you. That’s politics. That’s how it’s done. That’s how it becomes a win-win.
Michael Moore [00:34:57] It’s time to win. Do this, please. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this. And thank all the rest of you for helping me nudge an otherwise good person to do the right thing and to use the power that he has in his hands right now. We don’t have time to mess around, folks. We are in a dark time. We need to get these things passed. We need to contain this virus. We need to get people jobs, good paying jobs. Health care, child care. College. All the things that will make everyone rise up. And live a better life. We can’t let this moment pass. Because of one or two votes. It should be with us. It can be. We have to do our part. Thank you, Senator Manchin, for listening to this. Or Senator Manchin’s aide who’s telling him about this. Thank you to all of you who are making those calls to Capitol Hill today. And thank you for listening to Rumble. This is Rumble, and I am Michael Moore.