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
A Black Moses: The Quest for a Promised African-American Land in Oklahoma
America Never Was a Democracy—And That's Why It's Dying Now
That Frog in the Boiling Water is Us: Why Progress Won't Save Us From Climate Catastrophe
The Week AI Began to Act: The Dawn of an AI Stone Age in Which Machines Have Their Own Tools
Trump's Hot Summer of Disorder: How Short-Term Chaos is America's Long-Term Global Strategy
Why Julius Caesar was anything but Trumpian: How Rome's 'Dictator' Actually Saved Roman Democracy
The Resurrection of God: Why Europe's Bestselling Science Book Proves Materialism is Dead
Why Reports on the Death of the American Dream are Greatly Exaggerated
Why Podcasts Are Ruining Our Lives: On the Insidious Charm of Chat
The Chinese Communist School of Hard Knocks: How Xi Jinping's Father Shaped China's Current Tough Guy Leader
Going Soft on China: Is Xi Jinping really a Competitor, not an Enemy, of the United States?
Tech Insider Claims OpenAI Will Be Worth $10 Trillion: Has Silicon Valley Finally Gone Totally Bonkers?
Can Democrats Really Pull a Reagan? How the GOP's 1980 Playbook Could Work for Progressives in 2028