A political
bombshell in North Carolina
tonight, State Representative
Trisha Cauthen,
who won by 20 points
as a Democrat in her blue district
last fall,
announcing at a press conference today
she's now a Republican.
As long as I have been a Democrat.
The Democrats
have tried to be a big tent.
But this now where we are modern day
Democratic Party
has become unrecognizable to me
and to so many others
throughout this state and this country.
I'm no longer a Democrat,
but I remain a public servant.
That is what I am called to do.
The party that best represents
me and my principles
and what's best for North
Carolina is the Republican Party.
Her switch means the Republicans now
have a veto proof
majority in the state House
and the Senate.
I'm back now with our panel.
Also joining us,
we have comedian and Princeton fellow
Maysoon Zayid.
Great to have you.
Lauren, this is a fine.
How do you do for her
voters who just voted for her
a few months ago?
First of all,
she was endorsed and paid for.
Her campaign was supported
and underwritten by organizations
like Emily's List
and the Human Rights Campaign.
She represents a district
that is over 60%,
and she was a long time Democrat.
A long time Democrat.
I mean, this feels just so.
I mean, listen,
people are entitled
to change their views, and I.
I would never
you know,
I would never criticize that
in another kind of situation.
But she literally was just elected.
And she was elected
based on a set of understandings
with her constituents
and a
career of service on the Democratic side.
And in a state like North Carolina,
where the margins are so critical,
this is devastating for that community.
There is no recall option in this state
that the voters cannot get her back,
even though she completely mis
misrepresented herself.
And I think to me,
this is a lot
like the George Santos case.
I mean, she completely pulled the wool
over the eyes on her constituents.
We're not talking about like a year
long evolution.
It was like three months.
She clearly had this plan.
Mason Here is what the governor
of North Carolina, a Democrat, says
is now on the line.
Representative Collins votes on women's
reproductive freedom, election laws,
LGBTQ rights.
Strong public schools will determine
the direction of the state we love.
It's hard to believe
she would abandon
these long held principles,
as she should still vote
the way she has always said
she would vote
when these issues
arise, regardless
of her party affiliation.
She's not going to vote the way
that you said
she was going to vote
because she's not even right
representing her constituents.
So you're talking
about changing your mind.
You can change your mind.
But honestly,
I think
if you are elected as a Democrat,
you have to serve as a Democrat.
I know it's a little fun thing
where we are
all like,
Oh, man, she's going to switch parties
and then all the majority switches
and all the rules switch.
That's not representative.
You're representing the people.
You're not representing yourself.
You were voted in as a Democrat.
You could actually vote.
However you want as a Democrat.
You could vote against every bill
you said you would support
by giving them a super majority.
That's got to be fraud.
It's got to be a plot.
And either it's a long game
for ten years
or three months ago, somebody found fault
because you don't just wake up one day
and go, no, I don't want equality.
I want women to die.
She blamed emojis.
That's my favorite part.
I'm not really.
What like to talk about that?
Here she is. Here's what she says.
Was just a bridge too far.
This is what the tipping
point was for her and why she switched.
One of the absolute worst moments,
which was deal breaker.
A turning point for me
was when I was criticized
for using the American flag
and the praying hands emoji
on all my social media platforms
and even on the back of
different vehicles that I have.
I really could not believe
that was the conversation
that was happening at that time,
and I was deeply offended to say that
that is wrong
and not to be able to show off the flag
because the others
hijack it for something else.
Why are we at
this place in politics,
Jessica?
I mean, I would just say
I'm incredibly skeptical.
That is a reason to change parties.
I would also
imagine there are plenty of people
who are Christian
or who like an American flag,
who are Democrats in North Carolina.
I can't believe
that's like a party decision
kind of thing.
I do think I mean, her constituents
must be incredibly concerned
because Republicans
now do have this veto proof majority.
And that means that all
these issues
that she ran on, publicly ran
on, was endorsed by Emily's List.
Those are all at threat.
And so I think
they must be incredibly scared
about what this means.
John, your thoughts?
Yeah,
she's not the only Democrat
who's concerned about the party
being unrecognizable.
You know, Joe Manchin is concerned.
And the fact is
the Democratic Party is not so much
the Liberal Party.
It's become an illiberal party
that's increasingly
intolerant of different views,
you know, woke, cancel culture and so on.
I mean, Joe Biden is hardly Mr. Woke.
Well,
yeah, but here's
that's that's actually a good example
because look at Donald Trump
and Joe Biden.
Since 2016,
I've argued that Donald
Trump represents the GOP's
personality crisis.
Donald Trump is not policy.
There is no Trumpism apart from the man.
Whereas
and Trump plagiarized Reagan
and all of his policies,
whereas Joe Biden is stealing ideas
from Bernie Sanders.
So Biden actually
Biden shows
how the Democratic Party is
veers to the left
on energy and climate issues.
The public is with the Republican view
on H.R. one, the Lower Energy Cost Act.
They want permitting reform.
They want more nuclear energy.
They want an all of the above energy.
But in terms of.
They can't get that here.
Hold on.
She's not.
But in terms of this,
do you think that this particular woman,
Tricia Gotham.
Do you think that she has misled
her voters?
And do you think they have a right
to be angry today?
I think I think
voters always have a right to be angry.
I think
I think any politician has a right
to change their mind
or change their affiliation.
And those politicians
will be held accountable
in the next election.
That's
how our system of government works.
But but to to not acknowledge,
if you're a Democrat,
that your party has has problems,
you're not dealing with reality.
Well, she didn't say that.
And I hear you, but she didn't say that.
She said it was because
people were criticizing her
for the American flag
and praying hands emoji.
And I just don't know.
I wish she had said
and explained
if she meant on social media
or her colleagues in the state house.
So I don't know what she means
when she says people are sorry. Go ahead.
No, please.
No.
I also just, like
have to push back on all of this
and say
I'm looking at a woman
who crying about flags and emojis
when we are women of color
living in this country,
getting death threats every single day,
being told, we don't belong here,
I'm a muslim.
You want to talk about praying hands?
I've lived through a presidency
that wanted to ban my family and ban me.
So when we talk about,
oh, it's not a big tent
and it doesn't resemble
I don't know,
I feel pretty comfortable playing safe
around the Democratic Party.
And I
don't feel
Americans safe or welcome around the GOP.
So even though I feel her being like,
Oh, they didn't like my bumper sticker,
that's why you're abandoning
women's, right?
That comment describes
why Donald Trump is such a toxic person.
Because the American idea
is the opposite
of everything
you just described
is that our founders
believe of freedom of religion
and that you're your rights
and your dignity
does not depend
on your religious
affiliation, your ethnicity.
That's the American idea.
That's what our country was founded.
The problem in North Carolina
and in many states around
the country is that it has become a
it is essentially a tyranny
of the minority.
You have a state legislature
that has supermajorities
of Republicans in places
where actually there is much closer
to a 5050
or a 4060 split among the voters.
It's not just there. It's in Kansas.
It's in Wisconsin.
It's all over the country
where voters
and by the way,
even Republican
voters are saying
they do not want extreme abortion ban.
It is
the highest number measured
in American history.
63% of Americans
are saying abortion
laws have gone too far.
Republicans are not getting the memo.
So in a place like North Carolina,
this decision has deadly consequences
for millions of women.
And so it's not a joke.
And to,
like, mock the her voters
by talking about emojis
when her voters sent their
sent her there
to protect
their fundamental human rights.
It's very disturbing.
It's not about party.
That's just pure rhetoric. Quickly.
Yeah. And I always say it's just.
Yeah,
when you're balancing everyone's
right to their own bodily autonomy
and whether or not you're going
to get made fun of for prayer
hands, it is
it does feel like a silly conflation
of those issues.
Okay. Thank you all very much.