You're listening to Comedy Central. Maxwell Crush, congratulations on being elected to Congress the same year you were old enough to rent a car. Who have you bonded with in Congress? I mean, I'm guessing the squad as, but any oldies? Yeah, well, I don't know if I want to say their names now, because now I'm calling them oldies. I mean, yeah, Look, there's so many people that I've gotten to connect with, you know, folks who are have been just doing great work.
Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters from Legiah Paul, Uh, yeah, Jamie Raskin. Yeah, so many amazing people out there. I wouldn't call them oldies, but you know, uh, you know senior members of Congress who are doing amazing work. Yeah, they're not old these they're goodies. Yeah, they're goodies. There we go, There we go. You have been, and I find this so impressive and inspiring,
especially to people out here. You've been a gun reform advocates since you were fifteen years old, spurred on by Sandy Hook, which was in Connecticut year from Florida, and you you organize the March for Our Lives all these things that you know too. It's the the five year anniversary of the Parkland shooting. There is a school shooting just last night at Michigan State. Now that you are in Congress, what do you think can be done? How
can we break this cycle? Yeah, well, we saw Congress pass a bipartisan bill to help end gun violence last year. It's not everything that we need, but it's a good step forward. Um. The fact of the matter is we need a governing majority that's actually going to care about this issue. And you know, this word bipartisanship is supposed
to mean what everyone can agree on. Most n r A members and Republicans are four universal background checks, But the definition of bipartisanship in Congress means what the n r A will allow. And because they are front for the gun lobby, they have these politicians bought off and they're unwilling to stand up for what the people want. So we can't get things like background checks passed. And so there's a lot of work that needs to be done.
A lot of it involves kicking people out and replacing them with morley just leaders who actually give a damn about children's lives than people. Um. But Indian and rom I think we have an opportunity I mean returning citizens united would certainly help. That's one of the issues that in all issues, you know, Yeah, that's the that's the big one, and that's the root of so much of this. So, now that you've seen how Congress operates kind of from the inside, are you hopeful? Do you see that there's
change possible? Are you excited about America's future? Isn't depressing both? I'll say I'm very hopeful. You know a lot of times on the outside you might look in and say there's only a small group of good people and everyone else is a corporate hack and they don't care about anyone.
But having conversations with my colleagues, I've been so surprised by so many people who I get in the conversation with them and I find out what they're about and their values, and I'm like, okay, you know, like you're you're actually a lot more progressive and forward thinking that other folks might think. And I think the problems people have smaller goals because they understand the landscape and the
battlefield that we have in Congress right now. And I think when we show those politicians and everyone that good policy equals good politics, then I think people will get the courage that they need to stand up for what we need in this country more. I mean, I think a lot of gen Zers tend to not trust the government. Um, how do you think you can change their minds? Well, I understand, first off, Like you know, and this is
something I like. Running for Congress, I had to think about the fact that during the Black Lives Matter protests, I was tear gas mace, arrested, and jailed for non violent protests. Now I represent those same streets in Congress, but I still have to square the fact that I'm a part of the system that causes a lot of harm. And I get it. And I think part of what we need to do is make government more accessible, bridging
the gap between cool and consciousness. And I think that's a really good way that we can bring younger people to the fold. And March Allies did a great job of that. And with the movement, it was like the cool thing to be at the marches is the cool thing the registered to vote. And I think the more we can get our culture intertwined with the politics, I think it's going to lead to more young people getting involved. I mean, if the marches could could Uh, could translate
to votes more directly, it would be ideal, definitely. Um, but you know, maybe election day off would be a nice start. Yeah, I agree. And vote to turnout is up for young people. You know, we have record highs of you through to turn out. It's never been the largest piece of the pie. But young people right now are voting at higher numbers than any other generation when they were our age. And half of gen Z can't even vote yet. So we're not where we want to be,
but we're going in the right direction. Um. You brought pussy ass bitch. It's now in congressional record because of you. So I just start how I thank you for that. And that was about a certain person too, it was about well, it was about a pussy ass bitch. So what's in so inspiring about you is that you got involved as a teenager and how that can manifest into real change. And so I think it's exciting. Gen Z
is so exciting to me because they're so motivated. There's they realize their power and that can really change things. I mean, trying to get gen Z to trust the government how much just trying to get gen Z to be the government. And I think you've done that. No, it is exciting, and I think we see a lot of young candidates running across the country. And look, it's not like gen Z was waiting in Congress. I'm the oldest agen Zer can be. We just got old enough
to run. But I think the significance here is that the first chance we got, we jumped at the opportunity because we want to be a part of the solution. We want to be at the table. We don't want to be the only people at the table. But Congress does not look like our country right now. Right like gen Z, millennials make up a third of the country, we're nowhere near a third of government, both local and federal,
and so we need more people to run for office. Yes, Congress, but also city council, county commission, these seats that really are they're not lower, They're closer to the people and closer to the decisions that matter on a daily basis. Yeah, being involved in those the midterm elections and all the everywhere down the ballot is essential. And I feel like the right realize is that, Yeah, they do, and they're
they're more organized around that than we are. That's why they've played this long game of taking over the state legislatures. It's why we woke up last year and Roe versus Wade was gone. It's that that's a plan that has been a long time in the making. So Democrats, I feel like sometimes we're too obsessed with these short term goals. We need to be about be about power building in
these communities. Long term. It's not gonna happen overnight, but that's how we're gonna wake up on morning and have our freaking rights back right. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcast. Watch The Daily Show weeknights at eleven tenth Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Fair Amount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast