And we're back at the Young Turks at the DNC. Janko. Kasparian and Rudy. Rudy. Rudy. Sean Astin joins us. Of course, of Rudy fame. Lord of the rings fame, and about a billion other movies. Billion? Yeah. About. [00:00:15] Yeah. So, Sean, what brings you here? Why wouldn't I want to be on a show with you guys? Are you kidding me? - No. No. No, DNC. - I got it. I got it. Why am I the DNC? I've been a proud, lifelong Democrat, so that's, I guess it's the first [00:00:33] convention I've ever been to. Which is kind of shocking, actually, given how much campaigning that I've done for candidates, presidential candidates, congressional candidates, Senate candidates. Yeah, I actually decided so I'm a national, surrogate for Kamala Harris for president. And that kind of I think it was inevitable, or at least it was inevitable [00:00:51] that I would offer myself up in that way. But, because of being on the national board of my union, Sag-Aftra and I was on the negotiating committee, and we had our big strike last year. And that was really, really an amazing moment in the labor movement in America. [00:01:08] I mean, we it was so visible and everywhere I've gone since then, people are just like, you know, really plugged into it. But it's amazing what happens whenever you get involved. You're there 10s, and then, you know, you're talking to somebody else that you have something in common with, and then you find some other way that you can be helpful here. And then somebody you need something from somebody over there. [00:01:25] So I was in Wales a week ago and getting ready to go home to from London, and I called my wife and said, I'm going to Chicago. She goes, you what? I said, I'm not going to come to LA with my wife and kids, right? I go, I'm going to Chicago. I'm going to campaign. [00:01:41] The campaign wasn't really ready for me to do anything yet. They were like, well, we're going to look at stuff for the kickoff. They have a lot on their plate, as you can imagine. You know, right before the convention. And I said, well, do you can I just do like my own thing? And they said, yeah, spread your message far and wide. [00:01:56] So I flew to Chicago. I rented a car. Actually doodled this. Wait, let's see if I can show the camera. No no no, no, you can't read that doodle. But it's basically a like, third grader sketch of the United States. [00:02:12] And it says, Why Ashton? First road trip. I named it a road trip. I gave it a road trip. And I said on election night 2024, I want to know that I touched the face of history. And so I did that. Like somewhere over Iceland, I was texting with some political friends and they're like, well, can we help? [00:02:27] I said, yeah, do you know where there any of the offices are located? Because I'm going to go to like Indiana, Michigan, I'm going to go down to Ohio. I want to do like four office stops, campaign office stops, a state a day. And they just started like they basically [00:02:44] advanced each little trip that I did. And it was amazing. It was amazing to meet with the volunteers, to meet with the staff there, to see the training that's going on, knock on some doors, make some phone just to kind of normal drill that you do every if you do this stuff and Somewhere in there. [00:02:59] It's like, can you get I don't know if it's a surprise or not. Do you think it's a secret? What I'm about to do. I don't think so. Go ahead. I trust him completely. There's a roll call vote happening, and I may or may not be able to do the roll call. [00:03:16] - That's super neat. - From one of the. From one of the states. You be the. Guest. Hey, don't scroll away. Come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to TYT. You power our honest reporting. You do it at tyt.com/team and we love you for it. [00:03:33] So yeah. And then it just kind of this is what happens with me in my life is you just kind of like lean forward and stuff just unfolds in front of you. And I'm graduating this week with my degree in public administration public policy from American University. - Oh, that's super cool. - Yeah. And so this is a, you know, real world history making application of [00:03:53] what I've learned in that couple of years. - Yeah. - So you did make me jealous real quick. You did make me jealous of the roll call thing because I'm like, wait a minute, how come I don't get to announce for new Jersey where I'm from? I know, I want that people are saying, no, no, I'm pissed now. I think I can work this out. The question is, what would you say? [00:04:12] Because it's like, you know, they want it to be really tight. So I'm, I'm, I can't I can't say I'm, I don't think I'm allowed to say just yet. But anyhow, for those of you C-Span aficionados who are watching the roll call vote, I look forward to entertaining you for about six seconds. And it is pretty. [00:04:28] I mean, I've always watched states of the Union and, you know, states of the state and convention and just all the stuff that you guys have been educating the world on for your careers. I've been a a news junkie, you know, and not just a political junkie. [00:04:45] I like government. I like government, I like what I've noticed with my during this time at American mid level administrators, mid level bureaucrats are the ones designing how these programs work. Our heroes. They're absolutely brilliant. [00:05:02] They spend their entire lives working towards it. And somehow, the way we've set our system up, just as they're starting to implement a program or just before while they're incubating a program, some social issues crap comes along. You collect a whole bunch of new people, and they throw it out before it's had a chance to even work. [00:05:18] So I know sometimes sometimes they protect against that and create, you know, programs that will, you know, they'll legislate. That thing gets six years before you can touch it. But basically, it's not just that. It's just that, you know, we lionize people who are, you know, they're kind of hit it and quit it, you know, and I and I feel like people who are, [00:05:37] you know, who are in public service because they want to serve their community to make the, you know, to make a difference. The true believer thing is, it just annoys me when I hear political professionals who I worship, speak in such cynical ways. [00:05:55] I want to touch on that. I actually really want to touch on that because, you know, just to engage in full disclosure, you live in California, in the LA area. I also live in California, the LA area. And, you know, things have kind of declined significantly [00:06:13] in Los Angeles in particular. And as you know, everything everything, I mean, yes, like the just the quality of life. I mean, it's more expensive than ever. Quality life has taken a significant dip. [00:06:29] And, and we're talking about a state that is fully controlled by the Democratic Party. And so it has made me a bit cynical about the Democratic Party. You say you're a lifelong Democrat. How do you kind of confront some of the flaws or issues [00:06:47] within the Democratic Party, while still supporting them every day? - Yeah, that's. - It's a tough question. Yeah. No, I mean, my mom moved up to northern Idaho. She got married, you know. My mom had to do. Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So she was very faithful. [00:07:03] She was president of our union. Oh, that's right, I forgot that. Yeah. Powerful. Powerful woman. She was diagnosed with bipolar mood condition. She spent the second half of her life advocating for mental health. Mental illness. Destigmatizing. You know, she was a just an incredible figure. [00:07:18] But she moved up to North Idaho, to, to to Coeur d'Alene and to Hayden and some of the area right around there is a place, as you know, there's white supremacists. Yeah. And actually, one of the farms, just a couple of farms from hers, [00:07:34] is where they would actually have the literal white supremacist, meetings once a year, their national meetings. And I remember saying, you know, mom, like, why do you why would you live in a place like this? I mean, it's beautiful, you know, wheat fields and the pine trees and the clear [00:07:50] lakes and the people are lovely, you know? I mean, you wouldn't know your neighbor has those beliefs. Well, Sean, if people who don't feel that way don't move in, then it never changes. So it would be easy to leave the Democratic Party at any moment [00:08:08] when it feels like it's like not doesn't get the point. But that's not going to improve its functionality. - So yeah. - I know that's a great point. In fact, as you were making it, I was thinking, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Democrats. [00:08:24] I mean, the thing is, I mean, I just made it up to Sacramento for the first time I did. I testified in front of the, labor, privacy and consumer protection committees on how AI is impacting the workforce. [00:08:40] And I was representing, our, our union who is being, you know, having I would say I was going to say an outsized impact, but I was sitting next to the Department of Transportation person and the nurses, and you were listening to how it's affecting everyone, and you're like, oh my gosh, this is a all hands on deck situation. [00:08:57] I'd never been in that capital before. I'd never been in my capital. My state capital. I'd never been in my state capital of all the politics I've done my whole life. And so it was like, oh my gosh, I'm in here. I don't know, I think it's great when they make a building out of marble and they light it up at night. [00:09:13] I love marble. Right. So you can walk in and you can feel inspired, but it shouldn't take that. We should just basically know that, like, you know, when I walk past a homeless person or an unhoused person, you know, you can give them money. You know, I don't know what something happened today [00:09:31] that just was, like, earth shattering. When I think about it later, I was talking to a political, consultant that raises tons of money. It helps a lot of different candidates and stuff. And, and I said, what is it in the human mind that can shut off? [00:09:46] We were passing a protester in the street, and the protester had come up with something to say that wasn't particularly clever, but they were clearly suffering pain. And you know, talking about an issue that's real. And so you kind of go like, what? What is it? What is it that let you shut off walking past that guy? [00:10:03] How does that what that person is talking about is real? And he said it's what's allowed us to survive, to survive over time. And I actually think that's probably true. If we if we were to live in the open space of the suffering that is existing at any point on planet Earth where we couldn't function. [00:10:20] So, yeah, just hopefully we don't dial it back too far in the wrong way. Well, that's that's. Something that I'm having a lot of trouble with, especially in California. So you mentioned, you know, the the homelessness. I feel that it's become entirely normalized in California. [00:10:38] And I feel that, you know, there has been justifications for leaving people out on the streets, allowing them to literally waste away and oftentimes die on the streets. And, you know, you have you have some elements of even, you know, the Democratic [00:10:55] Party, whether you want to call it the far left or libertarian left, whatever. Who feel that? No, no, they if that's what they want to do, they should have the freedom to do it. But a lot of these people have severe addiction issues. A lot of them have severe mental health issues, and it has become normalized [00:11:11] and I can't normalize it. It bothers me so much every single day seeing it. I actually befriended a person by the name of Chris, who was homeless, and I remember trying to get him into a shelter or into housing, [00:11:26] and he had some mental health issues and he just would reject it, and he didn't make it. He died of an overdose. And I'm angry about it, you know, and I want something to be done. And I feel that in a state that is totally controlled by the Democratic Party, [00:11:42] you would assume, well, this is the party that cares about the little guy. This is the party that cares about, you know, the workers and all of that. What is stopping them? There is no legislative filibuster like there is in the Senate that stops the national Democrats from accomplishing policies. But you look at a state like California, there is no excuse. [00:12:00] Okay, so a few things. One is, remember this guy Gary Haugen from the International Justice Mission? I haven't thought of that guy's name in forever. He works with, trafficking. Trafficking, sex trafficking and exploitation and that sort of stuff. [00:12:16] He travels around the world. He and his organization travel around the world doing interventions, helping represent people. And he was just kind of happy warrior guy. And I'm like, how can you stay happy when when you're seeing the most awful stuff ever? And basically it's like, because he he you can't do it all. [00:12:33] You can't do it all. I can't do it all. We have to rely on each other to work in. We actually don't have to do that much as long as we are working in concert with each other. But this problem is not an easy problem to solve. I can't say who it is, but somebody very close in my life lived in their car for 18 years with offers of an apartment and offers of, you know. [00:12:55] But there was. But it was mental. Whatever. I don't I won't say what I my impression of it was, but. Governor Newsom was just changed his tone about this. Did you see this? Oh, I did, yeah. [00:13:11] It may be Democratic control, but not completely. You're still Orange County. You still have the Central Valley. You still have, like California has a fair. - You know, we're not pockets. - Yeah. Yeah. It's more than pockets. You know, we're talking. I'm talking about I in Sacramento. Well, you know, you've got laborers up there. [00:13:28] I'm up there with labor, and we're we're talking about what we need. - Well, that town is paid for by tech. - Yes. Right. So so we we say we love. You know, this is incredible. We're in a not just an inflection point like Biden talks about, but when I studied history and English in school and undergrad at UCLA, and I [00:13:48] used to wonder, like, what would I do? Like if I was in the gold rush times what I've done and what I've been a prospector. What? I've been selling pickaxes on the side of the road. Like what would have been my. How would I? We are in a moment that is radically. You know, it's so easy to say it and we know it, but really internalize it. [00:14:06] Human life on planet Earth has changed more in the last 30 years than it has in all of human history before it. This is happening in a very, very quick rate, so I don't want one more person to suffer. I don't want one more person to die in the streets. So we just keep trying. [00:14:21] Your show is a great thing. You're informing people. I think, you know, it really pisses me off that a lot of the shows that I live on, you know, my CNN and my MSNBC and even Fox and any of the other shows, NPR, they they cover the horse race. They are so quick to decide that they know what this building means today, [00:14:42] and they know what's happening. Oh, they didn't get Biden in prime time. Who cares? Pardon my French, who cares? These people in this building have spent decades, many of them you know, certainly years invested in trying to understand these issues and they need to interact with each other. [00:14:58] We needed to cheer for Hillary Clinton for ten minutes and for Joe Biden for ten minutes. These people, you put your faith in people. They don't always live up to your expectations. But, you know, we have to have a little grace. We have to have a little, you know, humility, a lot of humility. [00:15:14] Maybe you can't do it by yourself. The fact that you care that way is a beautiful, beautiful thing. And everyone in this building, and I believe everybody in the other building, too. In Milwaukee, I think those people care, too. I'm not prepared to throw them under the bus because they, you know, vote for somebody different than me. [00:15:29] I just. Yeah, I know, it's like it's like ridiculous how good a person you are. It's like like. And look, we're known for tough interviews, and we don't kiss up to anybody. ET cetera. But you're, like, oozing goodness. It's like it's permeating for me. [00:15:44] - That's the brand. - Okay. - Goodness is the brand. - Okay. Anyway. All right. Is it also true that you got Biden to throw the ring into Mount Doom. I'm trying to extend the metaphor in my mind because, well, so Samwise Gamgee, [00:16:05] at a moment when Frodo couldn't carry the ring any further, had to pick him up and carry him. Ultimately, Gollum cracked him on the head and the two of them had a fight and they fell in. So I don't know if Tolkien sort of cheaped out on that one and like, didn't didn't commit on who was going to make a decision, who couldn't. [00:16:21] But because I've been thinking about this and saying it for the last week, Samwise was a supporting player. He was the supporting. Everybody told me Sam was a real hero, and Sam was one of the real heroes of that wonderful piece of literature. But that idea of being the sidekick or being the second in command [00:16:39] or being in devotion. Kamala Harris has, for three and a half years, been in a secondary position where her talking was not the order of the moment. And so I think to make and it's so easy and it's so chauvinistic and so sexist [00:16:56] to look at her and say like, oh, she hasn't done anything. Every time she's sitting in one of those briefings in the Situation Room or something like that, she's there, she's learning, this is a prosecutor. This is a brilliant woman who's being patient. And now it's her moment to step forward. And you can see it. [00:17:13] You can start to see it when she's talking to people. You can see when she's getting angry because she doesn't have the tolerance for people's bad behavior. I can't wait for her to take on the world's media in a press conference like everybody's, you know. Yeah, the same press who had more than enough time not to screw over the [00:17:32] global community by over covering a guy and not holding him accountable in 2016. Now they're like, oh, we need access. We need access like, well, you better earn it. Right now, she's putting together a campaign like fast, a 90 day, 70, 78 day campaign. You'll get your time with her, but don't tear her down on process [00:17:51] when you haven't earned it. That's my feeling about that. But anyway, I'm excited. No, no, it's amazing you said that because just this morning we were talking about how powerful a number two is, and I was doing it like an ode to Scottie Pippen. Yeah. And Spock and Doc Holliday and all these. Amazing. [00:18:09] And Samwise Gamgee. Right. All these amazing number twos that are, in a lot of ways cooler than the number one. Right. And so I got so mad. Watching the Scottie Pippen. Can you see it? You guys can't see it. But there's the Jordan statue right here. And that Scottie Pippen was not treated properly. [00:18:25] Anyone? That's not what you're asking. So anyway, I just appreciate that you said that because it's true. The number twos are vastly underrated. And what did you want her to do? She's vice president, has no power. Right. And so I think that's an unfair criticism of her, and especially from a media [00:18:42] that doesn't hold people accountable in a way that needs. I mean, look, the context of this entire conversation is one of the reasons why Democrats and definitely Republicans don't do what they say. Is the donor class, right? And the donor class is huge and has gigantic power, and the press [00:18:57] never holds them accountable. And then they go into the process and the optics of, hey, did Kamala do enough interviews? Well, you. So on my road tour, I went to Grand Rapids and met with and went to a volunteer fair, like a job fair and talked to this one girl [00:19:15] who was my like my oldest daughter's age, my daughter's 27. And I said, you know, is this enthusiasm, this like euphoria that people are feeling? Is it like real? Like how deep does it go? You know? And she just kind of looked at me like, okay, we're gonna have like a real moment. And she goes, well, I talked to my father about this. [00:19:31] You know, I talked to my father about this and last night and he said, he's hopeful, like. - Oh, wow, that's. - Great. Had permission to be hopeful in a long time. And so I think the fact that the donor class is not a factor at this moment [00:19:48] in the way that it usually is, is giving people a, at least for a moment, a kind of a clean look. So she. Vice President Harris must be accountable. She should be accountable. She should answer questions from the open media. [00:20:03] But the shoulds go in the other direction, too. And the media better learn how to behave itself, or I'm going to be very upset and my children are going to be sitting in my house saying, dad, relax, they're just reporters. Okay. I love reporters. I Revere reporters, why don't they behave better? Yeah. All right. Yeah. [00:20:18] So I just want to say, you know, I think Jake makes this point often, and I think it's a correct point about how much influence corporate donors have over our politicians. In fact, I think that on some economic policies, the Democratic Party has become [00:20:34] a lot closer to the Republican Party on some of these issues. But to your point about labor unions and the impact they have in mitigating the influence of, you know corporate donations and corporate power. [00:20:51] You know what the union for the entertainment industry did is amazing. I mean, they realize AI is going to be an issue, and we're going to go to the belly of the beast in the state that has the largest tech sector and say, no, we're not going to stand for it. [00:21:07] And so I really want to emphasize that point, because I do think that, you know, that's another point of hope. I think a lot of people feel like if situations are hopeless, that they have no power. But I think with unions, it's an example of how if you put whatever minor [00:21:25] differences you have culturally aside, or whether it's on social issues or whatever, put it aside, but come together as a group of people who are fighting and are hyper focused on one thing. You can accomplish incredible things, right? So story about Sid Sheinberg, who was one of the big moguls in [00:21:42] Hollywood, who I think people give credit for helping Reagan go from the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild to governor and beyond. Apparently I didn't hear it from his mouth directly, but apparently he said if unions didn't exist, I'd have to invent them. [00:21:58] The structure, the legal structure, the philosophical structure, the concept of a union is actually a really useful tool for capitalism. It's actually something that that the public should rely on because it [00:22:15] actually is someone you can interact with. I gave the, commencement address at UCLA this year in the teeth of the protest movement. And, I got a letter from I guess it was 48. 11 was the, union that represented all the, the, the academics, the PhDs and the Tas and stuff. [00:22:31] And they went on strike after after the encampment was rousted and, 48,000 people and they said, you know, Sean, please don't cross our picket line. And I was like, they'd have to drag my dead body across the picket line. But they said, could you reach out to the UC system and see if they like. [00:22:48] They're not establishing an open line of communication with us. And so because Lorena Gonzalez, who is the president of the California Federation of Labor, and I know each other now because of the thing, she was able to facilitate a meeting for me with the head of the UC system. And my point to him was, and he was a lovely man, President Drake, my point [00:23:08] to him was you can work with these. You know, first of all, according to their own independent reports, this thing called the I know this is boring to you, but it's called the it's called the Robinson Report. After there was some violence with police on the UC Davis campus, [00:23:24] I believe I could have that wrong. They generated this like independent report. It was 49 recommendations for how to deal with violence with the police and the schools. And like 48 of them were communicate. And they had not communicated well with these protesters. I said, well, the union is they have they follow rules, they follow [00:23:44] contractual rules, they follow government. You know, criminal rules, whatever that you can, you can actually work with these people. And I could go on that a long way. But basically when people say communism, people say socialism, people look at, you know, [00:23:59] unions as like they're going to you're going to cap out like you're billionaires aren't going to be able to be billionaires anymore. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. What you want is a a floor of basic standard of living conditions. Yes. And the truth is that when the managers [00:24:17] or the companies go into agreement with that, they can sleep better at night. Right now, a lot of them are in a position of like, I think instinct like, this is the role we're supposed to play. We're supposed to say no to this instead of like, okay, let me care about you and [00:24:33] understand your, you know, human being. So I don't know if you saw, I won't go down that road. But same mentality of like, you know, I'm a little bit biased here, but happy wife, happy life. I mean, why can't we expand that ideology to the workplace. Happy employees. [00:24:49] Happy executives. Right? Yeah. I mean, we always admire it when when innovators come along and they have a company and they, like, make them all employee owners and they, you know, they care about their, you know, being able to have time with their kids or have, you know, whatever, whatever accommodations they make. [00:25:05] And in fact, there's all this research that supports certain kinds of work that would like break the paradigm, the 1950s paradigm. And yet they productivity is better. They're happier. Here's one last thing. So and then I go to do the roll call in my masters and I'm getting here. [00:25:24] They won the second to last class was on was on human resources basically they called it, human capital resource management. That's referring somehow to human beings. Right? But jeez. [00:25:40] I love American University, and I'm so grateful for my degree. I'm not teasing you guys. They have research that says it's better to adopt a philosophy or a culture [00:25:57] in your workplace that says that people are essentially good and that people, your workers, ultimately want to be productive, whether it's true or not. If you put that in the policy and you act like it, your productivity goes up, your efficiency goes up, or something like that. [00:26:13] So, you know, that's my. Experience, by the way I run the company. That's my experience. If you assume good intent, you wind up in a much, much better place, more productive, better team, better camaraderie, better results. The bad actors reveal themselves pretty quickly. Yeah, that's exactly right. - Responsibleand. - Yeah. [00:26:29] Yeah, exactly. There you go. All right. Sean Astin, who's been in every movie ever made. And he's going to play you in the movie when they do. I look forward to it. Thank you for joining us brother, I appreciate it. [00:26:45] Thank you.