Jordan Klepper Sits Down With AOC and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

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Yeah, there's a lot.

Of depressing news about gun violence in America, but the good news is that there are people working on solutions. I met up with New York congress Woman Alexandria Ocasio Cortes to talk about one possible solution right here in.

New York City.

I met with the congresswoman at Jacoby Hospital in the Bronx to discuss its Stand Up to Violence program, which has shown an impressive forty six percent reduction in retaliatory violence in its first few years. As a Democrat focused on violence, isn't that off brand.

Well from the Bronx, So it's on brand.

For where I'm from.

There is a lot of discussion around what progressives can do about violence in a big city.

What the data has showed us is that if you respond to violence as a public health issue instead of as an incarceration issue, violence decreases. And that's what we're doing here at Jacoby Hospital.

Are there cops here at the hospital that are addressing the issue? Hell no, okay, no, this is listen.

And there's security presence and police presence that is standard at any hospital, but that's not what this program is about. In the traditional response to an incidence of violence, a shooting or a stabbing, you may go to the er real quick, you get patched up, and then you go straight to the precinct. What we decided to do is that we said, hey, let's shift the response and see what happens when we make the center of response a hospital instead of a jail.

When a patient comes to the er with a gunshot wound, the Stand Up to Violence Team works with the victim and members of the community to prevent violent retaliation. You're essentially talking about preventative medicine here.

It is absolutely in America.

It's not exactly our thing. We're not known for that. We're more of a reactive medicine.

At Society, and you know, we have caseworkers, we have social workers, we have therapists, and we also have people who themselves are once incarcerated. Some of our most effective people in this work are the former gang members, people who formerly spend time at rikers.

I can hear how Fox News would spend this as AOC tries to defund.

The police and fund gang members.

If I spent my time worry about what Fox News said, I would I mean, I wouldn't be here.

We're in New York City and you're talking about funding violence prevention outside of the police, and yet Eric Adams has just increased police wages by twenty eight percent.

Is that misplaced?

I think so. We are now at a point where officially, most officers are paid more than a teacher with a master's degree serving these same kids involved in these same incidents. We are defunding safety, defunding our public schools, defunding our public pools, defunding our parks, defunding our libraries when we are taking all of those resources and demanding that every single department accept the militarized one because we are sending a message about who and what we care about.

Here in a hospital. Do you ever get the vibes? Do you ever consider a career in the medical profession.

It's funny you asked that. When I went to college, I went in as a pre medical student. Really I wanted to be in obgym actually, but you know, life takes us in where it takes us.

I considered going into the medical profession. I thought I could play at handsome doctor on TV.

Didn't pan out.

While we were on the subject of national embarrassments. I had to ask the congresswoman about Clarence Thomas, and as BFF Nazi swag collector Harlan Crowe, I.

Want to talk a little bit about Clarence Thomas.

You've said you would even draft articles of impeachment for the things that he's done.

Yeah, has there been any quid pro quo?

And I said quid pro quote partially because it took all that effort to learn what quid pro pol you get back in the Ukraine days, and it feels apropos of now.

And I don't think I used that propo correctly.

I think that quid pro quo is this bar that doesn't even need to be met. The justice is required by law to disclose something like that, and he hasn't been.

Can you empathize though, Beyonce came through here and wanted to take you on a sweet vacation.

Wouldn't you say yes? And let her show you her Nazi memorabilia tell.

Someone about it, but hey, hey, don't put Bathe name on that like that.

I'm not saying she has not, I'm saying if she invested in Nazi memorabilia to show that she hates Nazi memorabilia, she'd want to show.

It off, and that whole thing is just, I mean bizarre. You also don't keep the linens around which Lenins or the Nazi LINENX? Yeah, who does that?

Do you think if you had a billion dollars and you bought everything, you'd probably eventually get to Nazi Lenin's.

This is a distraction of that whole issue.

You're right, we're just focused on that as opposed to all the money that's going over to Clarence Thompson.

Although if you're a billionaire, can't billionaires have friends? They can?

Supreme Court justices are required if they're receiving money from people. They shouldn't even be receiving money from people. This is why we paid salaries to public servants. And if they want to live that kind of lifestyle, then they can resign from the court.

They can retire. Now I want to talk about the court. It's looking as.

If the Supreme Court are going to rule on some of the conflicting rulings around Mifipristo. Who do you think is going to write the final decision that takes away these vital.

Rights from women? Is it going to be the guy.

Who cried over beer or is it going to be the buddy with the Nazi memorabilia?

Guys, You know, my hope is that they we do not get to that point. But we also have to face the reality that the Supreme Court has chosen to give up huge swaths of their own legitimacy. Chief Justice Roberts Clarence Thomas Brett Kavanaugh, the Republican Party.

In them giving up trying.

To take seriously the legitimacy, the standards, the integrity of the Court. They have given up a very large degree of their authority.

The new news in Florida this week is the six week abortion ban. How do women approach that or fight back against something like that that's happening in Florida.

Of course there's the standard vote and mobilize, but I'm going to put that aside for a second. We do not have to accept tyranny. And this is a form of tyranny. It is a form of violence.

Women will die.

People will die because of this decision, and it will be by and large the men who sign these laws that are killing the women that will die by them. And we have a responsibility to help one another, whether that is supporting organizations that male mifipristone, which has significantly reduced risk, certainly safer the medications like viagra. But ultimately we can not continue to accept people in power who will abuse others for their own game.

Indictment week was last week. It might also be a month from now too. We could have a lot of indicatories. How do you think New Yorkers treated former President Donald Trump?

I think they treated him like a Florida man.

He don't belong to us no longer.

Okay, you're not from Queen's anymore. He's a citizen, Marlgo, I think.

And you said New Yorkers treating him as such? Yeah, why wouldn't we?

Do you think people were weeping when he was booked as he claims?

Maybe George Santos and Marty Taylor Greenen were, but not me.

Kick it back to La Wario.

Maybe kick it back to Mguardia, which is in your district.

Yes, it's in my district, and so is Rikers, and so we have. I have to go in every single day watching people get treated far worse for doing far less, and then you know, it's like this red carpet that gets ruled out. I mean, if you hurt one person, you get ten years in prison, But if you hurt millions of people, you get your name on a building.

Congress Woman, thanks for talking about of course, thanks for having me. Don't come back. I'm going home. Don't go away.

Florida gets a lot of attention because of how Florida it is, but it's not the only state out there. That's why I traveled to Michigan, my home state, to interview it's governor of Gretchen Whitmer, about how she's making Michigan the opposite of Florida. Last fall, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer cruised to reelection with a double digit win against

Can you spell ipsilanti? Why an arp? Wow? Okay, you passed. That's great. Governor.

Is this sort of like an opposite AOC, you know, a successful politician becomes a art tender.

Yeah, I mean, I'm going to have to have some skills after this is done.

So I just want to remind you that Governor cannot accept any cash tips, but I can.

So whatever you want to leave, that'd be great.

And remember things cost three times as much in New York, so typically.

He should move back to Michigan.

Am I right?

Cheers, Governor, Thank you for meeting me, Glad to be here with you. It's happy to be here in a Michigan health food store of micro brewery.

It doesn't get better. It's Michigan and agriculture, Michigan beer.

Right.

This is special one to me because I'm from Kalamazoo and my little son took his first steps in the back of Bell's Brewery.

Well, then did you put that in the baby book?

Yeah, I mean in Michigan, that's statistically likely it's either going to be a micro brewery or a Myers parking lot. So Michigan goes Trump in twenty sixteen, Biden in twenty twenty, it goes you overwhelmingly in twenty twenty two.

What's happening in Michigan.

We are the most diverse swing state in the country, and I think that's what makes it so great. It's also why you got to listen to people. You gotta talk to peoplehen you got to try to solve problems instead of just feed frenzies and anger.

Yeah, here in Michigan, the head of the GOP internally elected q it on sympathizer election denier, calling Democrats demonic.

Well, head of the GOP, to your point, said that both Beyonce and yoga are satanic.

You have to walk the line on satanic Beyonce.

No, I'm always going to make it a seat at the table for someone who actually wants to solve problems, regardless of what their political meant is. But I don't have time for people who want to call Beyonce satanic.

Yeah, it's a big hunting culture through in Michigan and you're about to pass some big gun control measures here. What do you say to the gun owners here who still really really want to kill deer?

You don't need fancy words, you don't need any gimmicks. You can still hunt and enjoy. There can still be a lawful gun owner. Most gun owners believe that there should be background checks and safe storage. I mean Indiana has done this. Virginia has done this. I mean these are not wild you know. Changes is just simply trying to make people safer.

I like how you say that.

I mean, if Indiana can do it, we could do it. I mean right, abortune is usually a topic Democrats run from, or at least making a centerpiece of their campaigns.

You did, and you've taken bold action on that.

Is that a recipe for national elections?

West is a great place to see that you can win. On abortion, people expect to have these rights. We've had them for fifty years. We expect our chases to be able to make your own decisions about their bodies and their futures.

Now you were keeled in nineteen thirty one abortion law. Are there any other laws on the books from back then that are worth looking back into?

Is there like, yeah, we got a lot of zombies that are there in the area.

Zombie killer. Yes, death penalty for swing dancing? Is that in there.

Spring in Michigan means potholes are everywhere, and the governor has invested billions on infrastructure as part of her promise to fix the damn roads. As someone who blew a few tires here in my high school days, I knew it was my duty to help.

All working men and women were hurt, and so does Jordan. Okay, all right, governor, all right, all ready to do some work.

So hey, you got kind of pretty shoes on. That's for the job you want.

And for me, I'd like to be foreman or whatever corporate person is in the air conditioning office.

Let me pull out my watch. What time is it? Time? Road? You know what they say is right here.

This is a specula right, This is what we call work around here.

So we're handing you a little work.

And I know you got nights paying so on, so try not to get too much work on. Yeah, if this is actually an impetive, I could actually stand and I could watch the work and see how it goes.

Don't do that. Okay, We pick.

Some potholes, break some overruns, and perhaps most importantly, established that my home state is definitely not Florida.

Other states are waging kind of wars against different, you know, parts of their population. I think a lot of politicians just want to pick fights and get headlines. And whether it's picking a fight with Mickey Mouse or moving backwards to the early nineteen hundreds, it's so much easier to show up and to listen to people and know what

In this year.

You're progressive on guns, on abortion rights. It feels like the Michigan hand. It's a welcoming hand. It is.

It's freedom.

It's freedom. If Michigan is a hand, what is Florida? It looks like a.

What I mean, it looks like okay, I'm not going there.

I'm just saying. And it's one peninsula.

It's one peninsula that's urinating on our democracy at times.

Your words, my words fair.

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