Welcome to the show.
I, honestly, could never have enough time
to talk about everything that is going on now
for senators, for the Democratic party,
for America as a whole.
But let's jump straight into the Kavanaugh hearings.
Many Senate Democrats have said, like,
they've already made up their minds on Kavanaugh, right?
But Senate Democrats are not in a position
where they can stop Kavanaugh.
Let's start with the most important question, for me,
and that is why do you feel
that Kavanaugh shouldn't be on the Supreme Court?
We are in a moment in time like no other.
And the president has basically handpicked someone
who has this expansive view of presidential power
right when we're in the middle
of a special counsel investigation.
This is a nominee, Judge Kavanaugh,
who basically has said
that he doesn't like the special counsel statute.
He said that a president, on his own,
should be able to declare laws unconstitutional.
He has said that, that a president shouldn't be subject
to a criminal investigation, and this was who he picked.
So you have those issues, and then you have
the really bread and butter issues
for people in their everyday lives.
And I don't think that those have gotten enough attention.
I focused on those in the hearing.
He was the dissent on the net neutrality rules, right?
When Democrat, Republican-appointed judges
all were for them, he said that
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
should be unconstitutional.
This is a bureau that's given back $12 billion
to the American people.
So you see extreme views
for a seat that's been held by Justice Kennedy,
the man who wrote the decision on gay marriage,
that allowed for gay marriage for this country;
the man who was the deciding vote on the case
that affirmed Roe v. Wade.
And so this is why this should matter to all Americans.
It's interesting that you bring that up
because that has become one of
the key discussions that Americans are having.
And that is, you know, any conservative president
would have elected a conservative justice,
or would have nominated one.
But in this instance, you have a justice who people fear
would go back and overturn Roe v. Wade.
Now, he said in the hearings, he respects precedent.
I feel like you don't believe that.
Well, they all say they respect precedent,
and then look what's been happening, right?
We've got Citizens United.
You've got overturning cases left and right.
The nominee Gorsuch, who's now a justice,
said he respected precedent,
and then just in the last few months,
he did a dissent with Justice Thomas
questioning the reasonable expectation of privacy.
So I have a reason that I'm suspicious here.
But when it comes to Roe v. Wade,
he has identified Brown v. Board of Education--
very important opinion--
as one of the top four opinions of our lifetimes, right?
Well, that one is clearly settled law to him,
but when you ask about Roe v. Wade,
which is now 45 years old,
he will not say that it's settled law.
He only will say that it's precedent.
So, yes, we are very concerned.
Now, you're in an interesting time when Democrats--
and correct me if I'm wrong-- don't seem to be able
to actually do anything about this.
You cannot block him.
Um, you've said that you regret
going nuclear previously
blocking Trump's previous, I guess, federal appointees.
Do you think the Democrats are in a tough position
where you're gonna have to figure out
which battles to fight and why?
Like, do you feel like you should have
let some of those judges go
to fight for the bigger judge battle?
Well, I think, first of all, it's very important to know
that we kept the 60-vote threshold in
-for the Supreme Court. -Right.
And it was the Republicans that changed it
with the last nominee.
Um, and the reason we made that change--
and it was a hard decision-- was because we anticipated
they were gonna change it anyway, and then President Obama
wasn't gonna be able to get any of his judges through.
But when it comes to this moment in time, you look at the past.
Judge Bork? He never got on the Supreme Court.
He had a hearing. So things change.
-Things happen. -Right.
You look at the Affordable Care Act, right?
Everyone thought it was gonna be repealed.
Well, guess what happened.
We got joined by three Republicans,
and the Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land.
-Right. -So things happen, and you just don't give up.
You persist.
-You... -(cheering and applause)
You...
You speak about flipping a Republican or two.
Am I correct in understanding you need just one?
-One person to flip on Kavanaugh? -(mouths)
Most people seem to be focusing on Senator Susan Collins.
People are saying, "As a woman, of all people,
we feel like you should be on our side on this issue."
Now, I know that the two of you are friends.
I don't know what the depth of your friendship is,
but do you speak to her off-line about this?
Or do you see in a... do you see a world
where there's something that could shape her opinion
to shift it away from the Republican vote?
Well, of course, I talk to her about this.
And, by the way, she was one of those votes
for the Affordable Care Act.
Um, and when you look at that,
you say, well, there's a preexisting condition case
where the administration has argued to strike that down
so people can't be protected.
They can be kicked off their insurance
-if they have a preexisting condition. -Right.
Those are arguments that you make.
But I will note, for a change, it would be nice to say
-maybe some guys could also flip their votes. -Definitely.
I mean, it's just that everything is on...
-on, uh, the women all the time. -(cheering and applause)
So I think all of them
-are gonna have to look at what they're doing here. -Right.
And it's interesting that you bring that up,
'cause I-I want to go into the book.
Nevertheless, We Persisted:
48 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage.
So, y-you've come out with this book
that is really a collection of inspiring stories.
Different people from all walks of like...
uh, all walks of life around the world.
But there's one quote in-in the beginning of the book
that really stuck out for me, and it was this--
to go to your, "Why do we look to the women?"
Just an interesting... interesting step
that I didn't know off the top of my head.
"Over the course of our nation's history"-- this is America--
"we have had nearly 2,000 men in the Senate
"but only 50 women.
And 21 of those women are serving today."
-2,000 men and 50 women. -Yeah.
Let me tell you something. If that was a nightclub,
-it would have been shut down a long time ago. -(laughs)
-Like, that... -Totally. Totally.
-That is... that is a bad ratio. -Bad situation.
-Bad numbers. -I've been to gay clubs
that have better ratios of men to women.
-Yeah. Well, we are up to 23... -This is something that needs
-to change. Right. -since it came out.
But it is an unbelievable situation.
Of course, the name for the book--
and it's really not-- I wrote one piece in this book,
but this is the voices of people across America.
48, many of them very young,
who overcame obstacles.
And, of course, the name came from
what happened to my colleague when she was shut down--
Elizabeth Warren shut down for speaking her mind--
um, and was told she had been warned
and then, uh, was told, "Nevertheless, she persisted."
-Yes. -And, literally, that was supposed to end it.
It began it. A week later,
a hundred people got tattoos on their arms in Minnesota
that said "Nevertheless, we persisted."
So these stories are stories of, like,
a kid who was in college and was a champion--
um, a champion hurdler.
And what happens to him?
Uh, he gets paralyzed.
He gets in a car accident.
Um, and he ends up teaching other kids
how to play wheelchair basketball.
Or one of my favorites, a girl named Amy Chu,
who goes to high school in Iowa.
She played soccer in California.
They don't have a girls' team.
She gets on the boys' team.
Then she told it's not safe for her to be on the team.
She sues the school district.
And then-- talk about a dress down--
at the post-prom party,
is criticized by a school board member.
She then ends up graduating from the high school,
goes to New York, and then, years later,
she is invited back to the school
-by the same principal, by the same soccer coach, -Wow.
for the dedication of the new soccer field.
And she gets to meet the girls on the new soccer team.
-Wow. -So these are stories of resilience. -(applause)
Would you say that is your hope and your current vision
for the Democrats and the Democratic Party,
is you're hoping to persist despite how it may seem?
Because it seems like the odds are all stacked
against you, at least until the midterms.
You're hoping people will turn up.
How would you hope for people to persist
in a time when it seems like the Democrats are helpless?
Well, you started today talking about President Obama.
Um, and that speech was beautiful.
And one of the things he said in that speech
was the biggest threat to our democracy is cynicism.
And the stories of these 48 people
are not stories of cynicism.
They're stories of optimism.
And what I have seen across this country,
from the day after that inauguration
when millions of people marched,
uh, to the next day, when 6,000 women signed up for office,
to day nine, when people spontaneously showed up
at the airports to, uh, protest
-against that mean-spirited refugee order-- -Right.
they even showed up at non-international airports--
uh, to day 100, the March for Science.
My favorite sign: "What do we want? Science.
When do we want it? After peer review."
You go through, and you see this march--
To Doug Jones' election in Alabama.
-Right, right. -Complete victory for dignity and decency.
This is a story of people rising up and not just resisting
but insisting on a better way forward.
And it is not just Democrats.
It is Independents, it is moderate Republicans.
So that what's give me faith going into this midterm,
this check and balance, this civility,
this dignity that people see.
And that's what these stories are about,
the-the resilience of the American people
that we've seen time and time again through history.
This is the moment to vote.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
Nevertheless, We Persisted is available now.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, everybody.