David Hogg had a baptism of fire

Parkland survivor and cofounder of March for Our Lives has a new mission and joins the show to discuss it and much more

The voice of Gen Z isn’t slowing down

It’s hard to argue that David Hogg hasn’t become the voice of his generation’s activism since the fateful day in February when 17 students and adults were ruthlessly gunned down at Parkland High School. Within weeks survivors organized and the March for Our Lives movement was born. It’s hard to believe it’s really only been just over five years but they haven’t stopped since and neither has David.

The timing couldn’t have been more fateful. Gen Z began in 1997 and first started reaching voting age in 2015 as Donald Trump entered the White House. Their adult journey has been defined by political activism like we haven’t seen in decades. You’d be hard pressed to argue that David Hogg hasn’t become the voice of that activism with all of the barbs and attacks that go with stepping forward.

He was the cofounder of March for Our Lives and has been relentless in pursuing reasonable gun reform, and attacked relentlessly for it, even as he participated in his college shooting team. He managed to graduate from Harvard while managing his advocacy and has now moved on to the next logical phase; bringing more of his generation into the fight.

Leaders We Deserve

David launched Leaders We Deserve this month with cofounder Kevin Lata, who served as Maxwell Frost’s campaign manager sending the first member of Gen Z to Congress. The organization aims to do more of just that starting at state legislators and selected Congressional races across the country.

The ambitious effort will offer similar support to EMILY’s List and our Every State Blue efforts but focused on getting qualified Gen Z members into elected office. They state that Leaders We Deserve will invest in young people, knock down barriers, and elect more young people to office. They’re doing this by:

1. Recruitment: Identifying candidates who will have the biggest impact on their states.

2. Providing Day-to-Day Support: Helping campaigns build from the ground up and will work with them directly on fundraising, messaging, coalition building, voter contact, and volunteer recruitment.

3. Volunteer Network: Build a grassroots volunteer army that will have person-to-person conversations with voters all across a candidates’ district, advocating on their behalf.

4. Running Paid Media Campaigns: Run well-funded independent expenditure programs.

That and much more to discuss

I discussed Leaders We Deserve with David and much more including his efforts with March for Our Lives, what drives Gen Z activism, and his personal journey going from high school math class to a lightning rod for our nation’s politics and all that comes with that at such a young age.

David Hogg

David Hogg is a leader in the fight to end gun violence, Parkland survivor, and Co-Founder of March for Our Lives, an organization that has helped lead one of the largest youth movements in our country. Now he is the cofounder of Leaders We Deserve a new mission aiming to elect more members of Gen Z.

The Stats at the End

Four indictments aren’t slowing down the Trump train for the Republican Party. In many ways they are accelerating it even as it spits out smoke, dumps oil on the tracks and has the entire back half on fire and dragging down the tracks. Here is the latest Morning Consult look at the primary field.

But that is certainly not the case for the rest of the country. Nationwide Trump’s support has plummeted amongst the general electorate beyond the GOP faithful. A new AP poll shows that “while most Republicans — 74% — say they would support him in November 2024, 53% of Americans say they would definitely not support him if he is the nominee. Another 11% say they would probably not support him in November 2024.”

The same poll finds Biden beating both Trump and DeSantis with a growing gap as more bad news piles up.

So, it’s easy to see the constant coverage and media treating the GOP Primary like a real election instead of the coronation of Trump’s Vice Presidential nominee but don’t despair. The coalition that elected Trump in 2016 but left him in 2020 isn’t coming back to a man with 91 criminal charges and counting. We keep fighting until victory but we are on the right side of history.

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My Latest Hot Take for MeidasTouch

This week saw the release of bodycam footage from the White Deer Rodeo in Texas where MAGA Congressman, former Trump White House physician and Admiral Ronny Jackson abused police after being detained for refusing to move for EMS during a medical emergency. He insisted on continuing to try and treat the teenage victim by pushing a gumball in her mouth after a seizure which is completely against medical practices.

I analyzed the incident and his history of behavior in this latest video.

A Note from Fred and upcoming gatherings

Thank you for subscribing. It’s been a bumpy couple of weeks so I appreciate you stick with us and subscribing. I will announce our next paid subscribers Zoom session next week. I hope you’ll join me.

In the meantime I’m excited to announce our next Forgotten Democrats monthly Town Hall session with former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut discussing the Trump legal landscape. We will also welcome Democratic Congressional candidate Kaylee Peterson on her second run in Idaho-01 and her experiences running in a forgotten district. This is open to members and non-members alike but I’d love you to be part of our movement to directly fund candidates and provide them much needed support. You can RSVP right here!