Neera Tanden and John Fetterman: They're Playing With People's Lives
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Who is Neera Tanden and what is her current role?
Hello and welcome to the Bullard Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. We've got a doubleheader today, Senator John Fetterman up in segment two. But first, I'm delighted to be here with the former Domestic Policy Council Director in the Biden administration. She's now back as CEO for Center for American Progress. It is the great Neera Tanden. What's up, Neera?
Well, we got a lot of problems. That's what's up. That's what's up.
We have a lot of problems. We're going to get into the problems. We're going to spend most of the time on the problems. I first have two backward-looking things for people. Number one, for newbies, for new listeners who haven't heard this before, my full origin story. I just want to remind people that Neera being denied a cabinet position for mean tweets was the beginning of my radicalization.
Why was Neera Tanden's cabinet nomination controversial?
And now... We have Gropi McHairspluray leading the Department of Defense, but yet people couldn't confirm Neera to the cabinet because, I don't know, she said a couple deservedly mean things about Lindsey Graham. It was outrageous. And I just have to wonder how you controlled your rage watching these dopes be confirmed without any issue.
Well, if I had actually known that the cabinet nomination problem, that whole fiasco was actually contributing to your radicalization, I would have actually thought it was worth it maybe.
It was. I was ready to go into battle. I was going to put on a sword and shield with your face on it.
I mean, you kind of did. So I really appreciate it. My actual take on all of this when it actually happened was that it was kind of bullshit. Right. So what was really happening at that time is a bunch of Republicans who had just voted against Trump by voting for impeachment were scared shitless of the Republican base and And so they used my nomination as a way to show that they were still Republicans. And the rationale, the rationalization was obviously ridiculous since each one of them just voted for some insane lunatic. Their mean tweets were like the nicest things about them, right? They were just... Wrong, scoundrels, corrupt, ridiculous people who don't care about policy. In fact, really just want to use the government to hurt people. So, I mean, I think it just caused a charade, you know, but I knew it was a charade at the time. Like, it was ridiculous that people who were defending Trump and all of his tweets for the last four years before that somehow were able to read all of my tweets when they could never have read. Right, it is.
Yeah, it was. It was interesting. They were on some special Twitter where they're only getting what you were saying and not what Donald Trump was saying.
I know. That's why now I'm like, hey, I'm tweeting. Maybe a Republican senator will see it.
Yeah, they had you favorited. And you've been sending some good ones. All right. My other backwards looking thing. You're the first Biden administration official I've had on since January. And I'm just wondering.
Oh, shit.
How you're feeling about it.
What are Neera Tanden's reflections on the Biden administration?
That was a mistake for me. I know. Sorry.
Sorry. But like, I don't know, like you're looking back now. I just, I'm wondering how the feelings are.
I mean, you know, I mean, do we have seven hours? I feel like I need some therapy for this. I feel a range of emotions. I feel, you know, we tried to do a lot of important things. I do worry that perhaps we didn't solve enough problems. There were issues that we should have taken on or we took on too late. You know, I think we took on immigration too late. And I think we should be self-critical about that. I don't think it's an excuse for the insanity we're seeing right now. But I also think that we should, you know, we have to be clear eyed about what went wrong, what went right. You know, the president did deliver on a lot of things. And we have to understand why some of that resonated and some of that didn't.
I mean, I'm really struggling on the economy, for example. And just, you know, you know me, I'm 100 percent candid. You know, we had a message for working class people yesterday. That message was we have a trillion dollars investments. Most of those most of those investments are translating into jobs for working class people.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who is Neera Tanden and what is her current role?
0:08–0:50
2
Why was Neera Tanden's cabinet nomination controversial?
0:50–3:10
3
What are Neera Tanden's reflections on the Biden administration?
3:10–10:11
4
How does Neera Tanden view the current US-Russia relations?
10:11–17:50
5
What economic impacts are being discussed?
17:50–27:56
6
How can the Democratic Party respond to Trump's policies?
27:56–34:13
7
What are Neera Tanden's thoughts on effective political messaging?
34:13–56:26
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Bulwark Daily
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