Episode 2235: John Driscoll on why Kamala Harris lost
I did this interview with John Driscoll, co-author of Pay the People! Why Fair Pay is Good for Business and Great for America, earlier this week, assuming that Harris would lose the election. And let’s be clear: she did lose an election that should have been eminently winnable. Driscoll spelt it out clearly in a powerful The Hill article last week about how raising the minimum wage is the key to the White House for Harris. The problem with Harris, and most of the Democratic party, is their failure to offer a coherent and politically sellable economic alternative to Trumpism. John Driscoll and his group of successful business leaders at Patriotic Millionaires offer that alternative. It’s not socialism, but it is an undisguised and unapologetic attempt to recognize the economic predicament of the American working class and to resurrect the American Dream by leveling the playing field. That’s the way to defeat Trumpism. Not by smiling inanely and saying nothing.
John Driscoll chairs the Waystar Corporation and is a senior advisor at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Previously, he was CEO at CareCentrix, president of Castlight, group president at Medco, and SVP at Oxford Health Plans. John also served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve and is a longtime board member of the Alliance for Hunger and The Patriotic Millionaires. The co-author, with Morris Pearl, of Pay the People! (The New Press), he lives in Stamford, Connecticut.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Major Tom Schueman and Zainullah Zaki: Remembering the US War in Afghanistan and the Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter
Wendy Smith on Profit AND Social Responsibility? How Today's Leaders Should Confront Our Toughest Problems
Nick Kostov on the Carlos Ghosn Story: A Modern-Day Greek Tragedy or the Parable of a Shameless Criminal Mastermind?
Kate Finn: Today Is International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. But What Should We Be Celebrating?
Elliot Ackerman: Why the American "Retreat" From Afghanistan Was a Giant Fuck-Up And How It Represents the Final Act of a Classic Five-Part Tragedy
Sabine Hossenfelder: An Existential Physicist Answers Life's Biggest Questions: Does God Exist? Is There Life in the Universe? Are We Living In a Simulated Reality?
Alan Murray: Tomorrow's Capitalism: Searching For that Elusive "Soul" of American Business
Anthony Marra: The Tools Which Allow Novelists to Create More "Realistic" Characters Than Those You See on the Screen
David Chalmers: If the World Itself Is a Giant Simulation, Then What's the Difference Between the Virtual Reality of Cyberspace and "Real Life"?
Liska Jacobs on The Pink Hotel: A California Novel Where You Can Check In But You Can't Check Out
Steven Thrasher: In the Age of Covid and Monkeypox, Should We Be Prioritizing the Health of the "Viral Underclass"?
Dwyer Murphy: How to Write About the City? Go Out Without an iPhone
Isaac Saul: Yes, "Truth" Still Exists in the Misinformation Age, But It's Unlikely to Make Many of Us Happy