Teresa Leger Fernandez:
I’m going to use a different earphone, they’ll make less of a sound.
Clump, clump, clump,
Mary-Charlotte Domandi:
And the Congresswoman is drinking her flask.
TLF:
Yes. You know, I, I try really hard not to ever use plastic. And except for tomorrow at the inauguration, uh, you cannot take in a metal water bottle.
MCD:
Oh, ok.
TLF:
So I have to, uh, I have to go buy a plastic water, you know, one of those expensive waters.
MCD:
Right, right.
TLF:
Yeah, but that’s a drag, because that just cuts down on well—and I see why, I mean, during the siege, as the siege was coming to an end one of the, Congress people, she’s actually a mixed, mixed martial arts champion before she became a White House Fellow. I think she was … should we stay with … a couple of us huddled together and, can you walk me back to my office? She said, this is not a water bottle. It is a weapon. So we’re going to like talk about doing some women’s defense training—
MCD:
Nice.
TLF:
—when everybody gets back and is inoculated, but that’s sort of where we’re at in this country right now, where the Congresswomen needs to organize, not just for policies that are important for protecting our reproductive health and protecting our children, but also protecting ourselves against those who choose to use violence. So.
MCD:
Yup. So, um, are you on your way home?
TLF:
I’m on the way to go get some water. I have to go buy everything cause we’re going to have to leave early in the morning. So I’m on the way there do the things I need to do is to be able to, I need to buy water. I need to buy some key things for tomorrow.
MCD:
So just talk about that a little bit. Inauguration tomorrow. We’re counting down practically the minutes. I mean, as, as we speak right now, it is 19 hours until noon tomorrow. What, what are you feeling? Thinking hoping?
TLF:
Well, it’s, it’s less than that because I’ve been counting down the hours.
MCD:
Right.
TLF:
And it’s actually 17 hours because it’s DC time.
MCD:
Oh that’s right.
TLF:
So yeah. So it’s really exciting. … It’s pretty exciting because we are now talking about, what are we going to get done? And what’s Biden going to get done? And the congressional Hispanic caucus is putting out a press statement and we put in the issues that we want around, what are the principles for the immigration bill that we’ll be supporting, which are not exactly the same, that the things that the congressional Hispanic caucus has been working on for years now. But the great thing is, while they’re not identical to Biden’s, they reflect each other. Cause Biden’s picked up many of the things that the congressional Hispanic caucus has been working on. I’m working on a bill to make right the wrong in terms of the families that were torn apart by that inhumane policy, that was also a violation of international norms and a violation of who we are in our humanity.
So it was great. It’s like, here are the things it’s like, we need to add that principle. Of course we need to add that principle. And it goes in. It’s that wonderful ability that you realize we have to actually raise issues and get them addressed. And knowing that then we have a president with the same intent. What it sort of looks like might be slightly different here or there, but they’re there they’re the same intent issues. So that’s, what’s really wonderful. And that’s, what’s exciting right now is just, just, I mean, to see the executive orders that are going to be signed tomorrow, we should all be jumping up and down. It’s like the, the worst of this president will be undone with yet another pen. And that’s why democracy is important.
MCD:
It’s also happening in the midst of what seems like a really major paradigm shift that we won’t even fully understand for a while. But the paradigm shift that includes—
TLF:
Mm-hmm.
MCD:
—issues of, I mean, we’re almost in a period of feudalism right now, where a few are extracting the wealth from all the rest of us as quickly and efficiently as they possibly can. And it’s reached sort of a breaking point. I mean, it has for a while and now we’re coming into something else which is so much more inclusive and so much more about spreading the wealth, spreading the democracy.
TLF:
Yeah. I mean, it’s a wonderful moment where I think that there is a moment that we are, you know, I think shift is the right word. We’re shifting how we see these things in the country is shifting that competency, addressing issues is what we want, you know, and that that’s the way to move forward. Not, not a populism that intends to exclude, but policies that intend to include. You know, I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of moving power back to communities and empowering that it’s, it’s how we bring more in inclusive. So we empower rather than concentrating power in a few. I mean, that was part of the theme of the op-ed I had in the New Mexican was the importance of spreading that power out. And he has been the opposite and not just him, but a lot of the Republican work over the last several decades has been the opposite of what we need, has been disempowering and concentrating of power and wealth versus expanding it outwards.
MCD:
One little political question before we go. And that is Senator Mitch McConnell was quoted widely today as saying that he thinks that Trump provoked the mob that stormed the capital on January 6th. Given that every word that comes from that man’s mouth seems to be a political calculation of some kind, what do you think is going on?
TLF:
Yeah, well, once again, you’re asking me to talk about what the Senate’s doing and I’m trying to focus on what are we trying to do and what do we want to accomplish, working with the Senate on what our agenda is. So I think everybody has their incredible distaste for a man who was very willing to take advantage of the moment and of the power that Trump allowed. So he’s now received what he wanted and he’s willing to move on to something else. What I want to focus on is not really going into that, but into what do we need to do and who are the Republicans who will work with us on part of our policy. I want the Senate to convict and I hope there is a large cry, and it sounds like there might be a bit of a drum beat to do that.
I also don’t want us to then say, Oh, well, they’re all wonderful, aren’t they? Because they participated and caused this. But what I’d prefer to do is start identifying those who are willing to work with us on some of the bills. When one of my meetings today was with somebody, and I said, so tell me, it was an advocacy group, tell me who are the Republican freshmen who are really interested in working on infrastructure stimulus. Because I want to reach out to them. Not every freshmen are the Q-anons and people who are really into sacrifice principles for allegiance to a single person. And I want to know who they are so I can reach out and we can work on issues. So that’s going to be my focus. Everybody who’s listening can come to their own conclusions about a soon-to-be ex-majority leader a few more days, a few more hours.
MCD:
I wish you a happy inauguration day.
TLF:
Yay!
MCD:
And as I told Maria today, today is my birthday. And I am thinking of Joe Biden as my personal birthday present.
TLF:
He is a personal birthday present … estas son las mañanitas que canta—
MCD:
Bye
TLF:
Mary Charlotte. feliz cumpleaños, les cantamos a ti… Happy birthday.
MCD:
Thank you.
