Summary

In this episode of The Zekely Podcast, host Zeke interviews Pennsylvania hype man and Democratic strategist JJ Abbott who shares insights on politics, history, and activism. From his journey into politics to the importance of local engagement, JJ offers valuable lessons for anyone passionate about making a difference in Pennsylvania and beyond.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to JJ Abbott

02:22 Hail to Pitt

03:26 Pitt v Penn State

05:48 Family Illness

09:14 Student Government

11:13 Most Interesting

14:07 They are from Pennsylvania?!

16:12 Recession Proof

18:15 Hype Man

22:25 Commonwealth Communications

25:25 Vinyl

27:33 Which Came First?

30:16 Liars

33:38 Press the Secretary

40:54 Why Democrat?

43:05 Hope

44:26 The Future

Episode 64 Resources

www.thezekelypodcast.com

Hello, I'm Zeke, and welcome to the Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and has been a Democratic strategist and communications director in some of the highest offices of the Commonwealth.

Whether he's advocating for progressive values or protecting the backstop to our rights in the judiciary, he's always ready to bring the hype for PA politics. Thank you so much for being here, JJ Abbott.

I’m Zeke, a doctor, a Pennsylvanian and unapologetic supporter of Democratic values. You might have seen me on social media working my ass off for Democrats and meeting some pretty amazing people along the way - like President Barack Obama and Governor Josh Shapiro.

For years, I’ve knocked thousands of doors all over Pennsylvania and poured my heart and soul into supporting candidates and causes that make a difference—from local school board races to national elections. The personal is political, and I take every election in Pennsylvania personally.

Where the mainstream media has failed you, I will give you truth and independence. You’ll hear from Democratic leaders, candidates, and change-makers who are working to improve the health of the Commonwealth, and it won’t be boring as hell.

No matter where you are, I’ll meet you with hope and a plan to make your community better one day at a time. Welcome to the Zekely Podcast. Let’s talk Pennsylvania.

Thanks so much Zeke, it's very exciting to be here. I a big fan of the

that's great.

Yeah, I mean, it's it's so good to get more people like, able to use their voice in politics, because our politics is dominated by a lot of voices that are either disconnected, or you just really don't want to hear from all the time. And so,

Yeah.

the work that you and a bunch of other doctors did over, know, particularly after a roe was

⁓ overturned and I've continued to do,

is so

I appreciate it, man. Well, again, thanks for looking out for me over the years, but we're going to learn all about you, play some games, and have some fun. Are ready?

Okay.

I'm excited. Yeah.

right, here we go. Well, you graduated from the University of Pitt in 2009, hail to Pitt, and you gave a commencement speech, correct? And you said, I quote, even on the coldest, wettest, typical overcast day in Pittsburgh, we were glad that we chose the steel city.

Held a pet.

I did. Yes.

over state college. Man, that is savage. That is savage.

Yeah, I was I was really

trying to play to the crowd though, you know, you you sort of, you know, one of those things you just you got to get you got to get the the lines in that you ever want. So you can say all the other things that, you know, people don't necessarily are as interested in hearing. So

Yeah.

that that line

has gotten me in a little bit of trouble in my time outside of Pittsburgh when people learn it, but I'm still really proud of that speech.

Yeah, how long did the applause last for that one? That must have been a good one. Yeah.

It was a good one. made another

joke about West Virginia, which is a bigger rival to Pitt than Penn State in lot of ways. And that one also was a big favorite.

Mm-hmm.

I love it. I'm glad you have those memories.

Well, we're going to play a game, OK, called Pitt v. Penn State. So it's a trivia game. All right. So let's see. Let's see how well you love your alma mater. All right. And see how deep let's see how deep this rivalry goes. which university produced legendary quarterback Dan Marino? Pitt, right? Very good. Hail to Pitt. Now, by the way, if you I'm sure you know by now, I'm terrible at sports. So any anytime there's a sports question, I do a lot of deep background on this.

Okay.

⁓ wow. Okay. Wow.

Okay.

Pitt. Held a pit.

Okay, well, what's cool about what's cool

about I'm gonna add a fun fact for my answers here. What's cool about Dan Marino is he's actually from literally grew up in the neighborhood where Pitt is in Oakland. And like, you know, and so it's really amazing to think that, like he was so successful won a national

Hello.

up the hill basically, from where he grew up. I just can't imagine what that was like for him and

Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, I did not know that as evident by my lack of sports knowledge. So there you go. Here's the next one. Gion Bluford, I'm probably butchering the first name, was the first Black American in space and went to which university?

It's a great Pennsylvania story.

This is gonna test my knowledge of what I know. Is it pit? Because I assume that's Penn State, because I don't believe that's Pitt Okay.

Yes.

You are correct, that is Penn State.

Ooh.

I'm gonna guess Pitt because Pitt was really good like way back in the day but I have actually have no idea.

So it was Western State University at the time, right? But it was Penn State. They got slaughtered 32 to zero. Yeah, Yeah, so Penn State won. What can you do? Jonas Salk, the creator of the polio vaccine trials did so at which university?

Yeah.

Well.

think it may be Pitt's biggest accomplishment of anything in its history because the impact that it had was so incredible. ⁓ Shout out

Yeah.

universities for investing in things like research and science and vaccines.

Exactly.

Mm-hmm,

100%. So I went to the University of the Sciences in West Philadelphia, which no longer exists. Right, because St. Joseph's University bought it, but their claim to fame was they discovered Pepto-Bismol. Yeah, there you go.

⁓ awesome! It does not exist!

Well, that's incredible. probably ⁓

brought joy to a lot of people. So.

It really did.

It really did. All right, here's the last one. Which university has produced the most NFL Hall of Famers?

That answer to that is Pitt.

You're

hail to Pitt.

you did a good job.

Good job. Hail to

Thank you.

I think for me is one, you know, seeing someone kind of navigate social infrastructure in America, health care, and, you know, coming from a place where that was just never a question, right? For me as growing up, just never question of like you were sick, you went to the doctor, you broken broke a leg, you went to the emergency room, you know, there was there was really no, you know, question of that. But

Mm-hmm.

before this was before Obamacare and you know the rights that you had as someone who was uninsured or who was you know unemployed and couldn't afford the Cobra or whatever it is like it's just really challenging at that time a lot more challenging she was able to get on Medicaid and is doing amazing and I mean it's you know modern medicine is incredible but it is something that you know it sort of shaped my view of like we should make it easier for people

Mm-hmm.

particularly at their like hardest moment to get the care that they need. And then I think with my dad, was like that was after Obamacare, but it just kind of re-immersed me in the healthcare system. it also, you I think is something where I really came to appreciate

Yeah.

the people within the healthcare system who, you know, nurses and doctors, it's just different when you lose someone. And I think like, for me, motivated me because of what was happening with healthcare at the time. You know, you had this

Mm-hmm

amazing win for people that with Obamacare and all the ways it changed

the healthcare system for the better, with making it easier for all sorts of people to get on Medicaid, all these protections in place for people to be able to keep their care and to get access to the care that they need. And

Yeah.

some of the things in my career that I've been a part of on the policy side, particularly in the governor's office. A lot of them are things like just trying to get help to people who really need it and to make, you know, just like just people's days. It's a little bit easier.

help the people who really need it and make people's lives a little bit

And like everyone, most people's lives are really hard.

Right.

you know, and I think that if you sort of center yourself on that, it really is motivating to want to keep doing it.

Yeah. I agree. I mean, the Affordable Care Act has saved millions of lives. I mean, that's that's a fact. And as a physician, it really hurts my soul.

when I have to see people start a GoFundMe campaign to pay for medical bills. I mean, we can't be the greatest country in the world when people are going to medical debt and losing their homes or losing their cars because they can't afford to pay for what should be easily accessible to them. So I'm grateful that you promote those democratic values and they are democratic values. I mean, the only party trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act is the Republican Party. And in Pennsylvania, you

The Democrats in the state house have tried to mirror parts of the Affordable Care Act, like keeping your kid on your health insurance until they're 26 and making sure you don't get kicked off of your health insurance policy for a pre-existing condition. But it dies in the state Senate controlled by the Republicans. I mean, it's just terrible that this is the narrative, but it's a real narrative. There is only one party, a viable party, that's trying to protect your health and advance your rights in that space. That's a Democrat.

JJ, at Pitt, you majored in marketing and writing, and you were very active in student leadership, participating in the Student Government Board. So what drew you to student government while attending college?

True.

It's interesting. mean, this might be a journey, but I was really not very interested in politics when I was in college. It was just not really on my radar.

but I really loved sort of like being participation. I just liked it. And I liked sort of being engaged. And so I got involved in a bunch of different things.

at Pitt, including student government and also our programming activities board, the Pitt Program Council, which I got to run when I was a senior. And I just like the idea of

being a part of it as a community and then being able to contribute.

was a way for me to kind of channel my energy of wanting to be a part of something bigger. I had such a great experience at when it came to the things that I was engaged in to the point where I was probably better at being engaged than I was as an actual

It was like real life experience. think that has really paid a lot, dividends for me and my throughout my, my career.

Yeah.

Yeah, I took my son on a college tour. He's going to be in college next fall, which is crazy. And we went to Pitt and I was super impressed by just all of the, not just academics, but all the extracurriculars you can do in the clubs and just getting involved in student life. And so I can totally see how you would be drawn to do something. And I'm glad you fell into student politics. It's obviously served you well.

Wow.

yeah.

That's crazy.

Hey, thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Zekely Podcast. And if you're enjoying yourself, please take a moment to rate my Podcast. Five stars would be great and leave a comment as well. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit follow. OK, back to the show.

JJ, who's the most interesting Pennsylvanian politician you've ever met?

That I've met, okay, interesting. I actually prepared for this question,

Yes.

someone I had never met, but I'll answer who I have met.

Okay.

This is like a cheap answer, I guess, since I worked for him for so long. But I would say, you know, Governor Wolf, he was someone who I spent a lot of time with. I traveled extensively with him, you know, in my roles. And so I spent a lot of time just like learning from him and talking to him about everything. if folks don't...

No, he is the ultimate bookworm. He has consumed more books probably in his life

many people combined

be able to consume.

I would say him, he is a very interesting person just because he has such a wide array of knowledge and he's super interested in learning more about things.

What was that? What were you preparing for? I'm curious.

Okay,

well, I just was thinking about Pennsylvanians. don't know why, Zeke. I figured this would come up.

the politician I'm like obsessed with who's from Pennsylvania

Milton Schaap, who was the governor in the 70s.

He built a business in the cable business and was on track to be a billionaire. And he literally sold the entire thing because he wanted to get into public service.

But he was a great governor. He made all the right people mad.

because he came out of business. It was in the 70s. There was like no consumer protections. So he just went to town using every power he had to go after utilities and insurance companies to like rein them in and get people help, you know, to and then he started the first LGBTQ commission.

huh.

I think in the country or definitely in Pennsylvania in the 70s.

That's crazy.

like his tagline,

So Democrat,

yeah, yes, yes, yes,

⁓ Democrat, yes.

He's a really interesting person. There's not a lot written about him. I've even teased the idea of maybe writing a book about him, maybe.

Please, please do.

I love it. I'm a big history buff. I'm actually in the process of reading the biography of every president of the United States from the beginning.

So it's a slog, but I read the big ones, like the 1,000 page, like not these little ones. And so I would love it if you would write a biography about him because I find it very fast. You learn about the time, the politics.

⁓ wow.

Okay

You understand the social issues and that to me, I just inject that right into my veins. I love that.

Totally agree.

Yeah, yeah. And the context is so important, you know, because it all gets lost in, you know, people's legacies and they get reduced to these like very broad themes when really usually very complicated people who, you know, a lot of nuance to the things that they've done and the impacts that they've had in the short term and the long term.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, really helps you get a handle on history when you read it from that perspective.

Great.

All right, let's play another game called Wait. They are from Pennsylvania. OK, so I'm going to describe some people here. Let me know if we know who they are. And they are all from Pennsylvania. So originally from Wexford, Pennsylvania, she rocketed to stardom surrounded by boy bands in the 90s, famously singing about rubbing a bottle

Okay.

Okay. sweet.

Christina Aguilera.

correct, Christina Aguilera. I did not know that, by the

Should I jump in if I know like right away? Okay, okay, sweet.

Sure, yeah, you can hit

the buzzer, okay? Born in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, he taught himself to play the keyboard and other instruments before eventually being signed to Pittsburgh-based label Rostrum Records in... Mac Miller, you got it.

Mac Miller. Nice, that's

awesome.

a great ⁓ old friend of mine from Pittsburgh, ⁓ DJ Bonix. He's actually Wiz Khalifa's concert DJ, but he's a great guy and he was one of the first people to really, he was a DJ in Pittsburgh at the time on the radio there and he was one of the first people to really give Mac some amazing shots and

that era of kind of Pittsburgh,

with whiz and Mac Miller was, you know, I lived there at the time and it was, it was just a lot of fun.

That's crazy.

awesome. Yeah, I love his music. ⁓ Born in La Trobe, Pennsylvania, he went on to become a professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the great Arnold Palmer. Very good. Yeah.

Arnold Palmer. Nice. The airport

in La Trobe, named for Arnold Palmer. Yeah, me too, I agree. I'm not gonna interrupt you, because you're saying nice things about them, so.

I didn't know that. I love his drink, by the way. It's one of my favorite drinks. It's very good. All right, here. No, it's okay. It's okay. All

Mike Piazza. Okay, nice. Yeah, these are games I'm good at, I will say. I go to trivia and I'm just like, I'm not great at this, but if it was all Pennsylvania trivia, I would probably do quite well.

You got it. You got them all, You got them all, you know. OK, good. Good.

Yeah.

I would say Trivial Pursuit is my least favorite game, but also because my wife is amazing at it and crushes me every time.

Mmm.

you graduated from college in 2009 into the Great Recession. And while going into politics wasn't your initial career choice, you quickly noticed, and I love your quote, politics was kind of recession proof. That's really wise, JJ. I never thought of it that way, but it really is.

It's true. Yeah, it was hard to get like a marketing or writing job at that point of time, which was like April of 2009. But those are pretty applicable skills in politics. so I had gotten kind of interested in them, as I said, in my last year of college. And the Obama campaign to me, you know, was so different than anything else I had experienced

Yeah.

Yeah.

as someone who wasn't super engaged around politics. I was always really interested in news and current events, but not, you know, sort of electoral politics. And so the Obama campaign and then meeting Plouffe and then just being more interested

Right.

how campaigns worked. And I think as a, someone who was interested in marketing and PR and writing and also digital media at the time, which was actually pretty nascent in 2009, like Obama was really the first one to use.

Mm-hmm.

it. And so I was really interested in kind of the intersection of those things. you know, also just, I think it was more attuned to current events and policy, actually through Pitt was able to get involved in some kind of legislative stuff as a student leader. And so I really, I was interested in the tactical side of it. And then I had sort of found, I think, a more of an interest in also

policy and the outcomes. ⁓ So that's what really drove me into it.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

That's great. It's great you parlayed it into a budding career. I mean, it's not many people that have that. I mean, look, when I was in college, I was like figuring my life out, trying to get into medical school, and you just like had this sight where you said, hey, you know, this isn't a great place right now economically, but hey, politics, it's always going to be here. Let's run with it. And you, thank goodness, you're on our side in Staten, Pennsylvania. That's pretty awesome.

Yeah, I've never left. So here I am.

JJ, we're going to play a game called P.A. Hype Man. OK, because you are

⁓

the hype man for Pennsylvania when it comes to politics. I learned from the best. So I wanted to give you some scenarios and I want you to hype people up about them. is this. This is this is free range for you, man. You can be as intense as possible. There are no rules. This is a an explicit show. You are allowed to swear if you feel so compelled to do so. I mean, this is what my show is all about. So I have three scenarios where I need you to be the hype man. OK, so first scenario.

Okay. nice. I love this. I'm into this, yeah. Okay.

⁓ okay.

Okay?

Check your voter registration status. How are you going to hype someone up about

when everything is on the line, you gotta be ready to run. And if you're not registered to vote, you can't participate in the election. So if you're out there and you're not sure whether you're registered, we got a primary coming up on May 19th. There's some really important offices on there. And so you gotta go to vote.pa / check.

butter. This is like the...

and it's gonna make sure that you can do the most important thing you can do as a citizen, which is to vote.

That's right. That's right. You actually covered two of them. I was going to say making sure you have a plan to vote this May 19th. So

Oh, okay. I got it all

yes, you got it all in there. All right. So let's wrap it up. OK. How can you get someone hyped up to volunteer for a Democrat running for office this year in Pennsylvania? Hype them up, JJ.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

NEPA or Harrisburg area, you can get involved right now and volunteer and you can make it happen and you can kick those guys out. But not only do you get it's like it's like a bonanza, right? You not only do you get to do that, but you can help send a trifecta to Harrisburg. You can give Governor Shapiro a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate so that we can get the stuff.

that's been blocked for 30 years done. If you are like, this sucks, I don't like it, it's probably because our Senate has been controlled by the same party for 30 years and they stop everything good from happening. So not only can you stop Donald Trump, but you can be part of sending majorities to Harrisburg, they're gonna get the good shit done.

Mm-hmm.

⁓

you know, the good shit, the best stuff that we can get

God, the good shit, the best.

And let me just tell you this,

the best thing about Zeke is that he sells

volunteering on down ballot races better than anyone out there.

But the impact that you can actually have in a house race in particular, but also a Senate race is incredible. Like those races can sometimes just actually are decided by dozens or hundreds of votes. And if you're there and you're able to make connections with people, that could literally make the difference, right? And what's also great now is that you can actually volunteer for some of these down ballot races, no matter where you live.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

You may not live in one of those districts, but

there's organizations out there like Turn PA Blue or the HDCC that you can volunteer with remotely. You can do it. You can go to the district. The best thing you could do is go and if you live in one of those districts, go and talk to your neighbors about that is the best thing you can do.

I mean, it gives me goosebumps, man. The trifecta. I want it so badly. it gives me goosebumps. ⁓ trifecta. We are going to reelect Governor Josh Shapiro. We are going to expand our majority in the state House. We are going to flip the state Senate. And we are going to take back control of Congress this year, Pennsylvania. You've heard it here on The Zekely Podcast.

Hmm, it also just sounds great. know, like divided government that sounds horrible trifecta. That's like a movie title, you know

Let's fucking go.

And I

halfway through the episode and you're still here. I hope you're enjoying yourself Please take a moment to rate my podcast five stars would be great Leave a comment as well. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit follow. Okay back to the show

JJ, for the last six years, you've been the executive director of Commonwealth Communications, which is a progressive advocacy group in Pennsylvania with a lot of focus on PA courts. So what inspired you to start your organization and what's been your proudest accomplishment?

Commonwealth Communications is a nonprofit, a political nonprofit that's focused

aligning our coalition

in the progressive space around the best messages and the best tactics to be able to

one, you know, persuade people, but also to get people engaged in the process. And so what drew me to it was the ability to, one, I really have come to believe in the power of organizing, particularly at the local level. think that

that people make through organizing, especially long-term organizing, are just really important for creating the foundation to be able to have functional politics and

Mm-hmm.

hold politicians accountable who are doing the wrong

what I learned over time is that communications, particularly now in the modern age, is really about organizing, right? Because no longer, you know, is it like you put on a press release and then you get all the, you know, and then everybody learns about it. Like everything is disjointed. And so it's about trying to get

around common goal, towards common goals.

Mm-hmm.

for

a lot of different people, but as many voices as possible. that's part of how we got engaged with you is that we, one of the things we do is we try to empower and work with people who want to use their voice in the political process. That's both from the organizing side and also on around elections. And we're able to

recruit people like doctors and workers and folks to get involved and use their voices in the political process.

to get involved and use their voices in the political process.

I think really focusing on people who are underrepresented in

And I think really focusing on people who are underrepresented.

our political conversations, know, everyday people who have real experiences and perspectives. And that's the thing that some of the thing I'm most proud of in this work. And also just the number of groups that we've worked with to help do their work better. And these are groups that are organizing in their communities, sometimes in, you know, different constituencies or regions or around issues.

It's

I've run a lot of ads in my life and I've, you know, I've done a lot of PR work, but nothing is as powerful and persuasive as someone you know saying, I care about this thing and you should care about it too.

We're really focused on promoting our partners, but you can follow our different accounts on social media. All About PA is our handles on social media. And then PA Megaphone, which is our storytelling organizing, which you can see all sorts of voices who are getting engaged in the political process.

I love it. I love your organization. I like that you look for people who are doing the work. And so I'm honored that you found me back in the day. And so if you're listening or watching this and you're out there grinding, just know someday you could get a message from JJ Abbott. And then your whole life will

Maybe, appreciate that.

It's going to be great.

I appreciate

JJ, explain your obsession with collecting music on vinyl and cassettes. Because I can't believe it. Vinyl is making a comeback, and they are not cheap.

It's back.

It is not, no. But you can find cheap vinyl. So

two reasons. One

part of my history buff is I also collect Pennsylvania stuff. I go and there's lot thrift stores around me. So I go there and I look for stuff that I'm interested in. And a lot of them have vinyl.

So over the years I've accumulated and you can get vinyl at your local thrift shop anywhere from like 99 cents, the Salvation Army to like $2.99 at the Goodwill. So you can amass, you're not gonna find the new thing that just came out. But the other thing that's, part of the reason I buy vinyl is that I wanna support

I am wearing a band shirt, but I can only own so many shirts that I won't wear, but vinyl creates this like,

well ongoing thing and it is one buying merch is the best way to support artists buying it directly from them either at a show or through their website by by far like if you're out there streaming an artist and you're like I'm number one streamer you better be buying something from because they're not making any money from your streams but you know so I really love they I love collecting old things I like can I like learning about them and

⁓ you know, it's a physical thing that you can look at and you can sort of learn and there's usually you know, like a booklet or an insight insert or something that tells you more about the recording process and the band and Then yeah, it's a great way to support artists, you know I think that's to me is something I've learned over the years that you can buy tickets and you can stream and whatever But buying merch is actually the most direct way to support an artist Yes

Hmm.

I didn't know that.

I had no idea. That's really good for me to know. But my real question is, does it sound better? Does it really sound better than other modes?

I would not get into it if you are wanting it to sound better. Because now with Apple, it sounds

Okay

But I would say has a little more depth, because that's how it's made.

Got it. Look. Look,

man, you have me as supporting the artist. So I appreciate your messaging. Sounds like Walmart. Yeah.

And at some point, right, all the streaming stuff might fall apart and then I'm gonna have music

I can listen to and everyone else is gonna be like, what am I doing? You know, so.

Exactly.

You're gonna be the last man standing with all the good vibes.

All right, let's play another game. You ready? It's called Which Came First, okay? Which is, so I'm gonna give you a song, okay? And I want you to tell me all the different forms of how you could listen to it when it was first dropped, okay? So you're gonna tell me vinyl, cassette, CD, or mp3. So it can be one of them, or a couple, or all of them, okay?

Okay, I'm ready.

okay.

wow.

Okay.

Smells like teen spirit, Nirvana. When that came out, what was it, what could you get it on?

early 90s.

it would be sort of start of the CD era. So you could probably get it on CD, but it's probably expensive height of tape era.

The early 90s was actually pretty rough for vinyl. It was kind of out at that point. You probably could get it, but it wasn't like the 70s to the 80s where that would be the predominant thing you would get it on. So you probably had it on cassette, I would say is the most likely.

You were,

I mean, I'm gonna give that one to you because it was available on vinyl cassette and CD. You said all three. You're right, but not MP3. So you are correct. I'm gonna give you that one, okay? All right, how about Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry?

Yeah, there you go.

Correct.

only vinyl and I'm gonna throw another one in which would be the radio because people used to listen to music on the radio probably from vinyl but I just said you know but yeah I imagine it only vinyl yeah

⁓ Yes, yes, yes, yes, is, yes, you are correct.

Only vinyl, you are correct, you're crushing it. All right, how about rolling in the deep, Adele?

There you go.

That would have been all of them.

Vinyl was kind of coming back at that point, so it probably was available at Vinyl. And then it was definitely like the somewhat early MP3 era.

You're right, you got it.

I don't know. Was that 2010? No way, that's great, that's awesome.

God, you're just crushing it. Yeah, man. I mean,

you're just crushing it. You're out of all my guests, and I don't want to offend anyone, but you've probably been the best with the trivia. You're doing a great job. All right, I have two more for you. ⁓ Respect by Aretha Franklin.

Wow.

Okay, wow.

Definitely vinyl.

probably not cassette. Definitely not CD, definitely not MP3. Maybe 8-track, which I don't know if that's on there, that would be, I think probably for this that you probably would, but they were, I don't know that you could get like, you know, like your Walkman cassette, but yeah. But I would say vinyl and cassette. Okay, cool.

Would you consider that a cas- would you consider that a cassette though?

Okay.

Yeah, okay. Well, I'm gonna give that... Yeah, vinyl cassette. You got it. You got

it. All right, here's the last one. Let's get you five out of five. This is a fun game. All right, Stand By Me, Benny King.

Okay.

I think only vinyl. ⁓ nice. I love that's a great song, amazing song.

You crushed this game, man. You did a great job. Yeah,

yeah, it's an amazing song. Very good. Well, which came first? Five out of five. You know your you

All right.

your ways to stream music.

I can't believe

JJ, watching Trump's press secretary, that must do something to you as someone who has worked in those roles. I mean, was lying ever part of your gimmick? Was that something you ever did or is that, no?

It was not. I

think I would say my job did not include the spectacle, right? I didn't do like TV. But I think when you look back at this, and I've done a lot of reading about former press secretaries to the presidents. And I think what bothers me most is not just the lying, but I just think like the sort of the lack of the reverence for the

Hmm.

the role, right? Like it's supposed to be the most direct connection that people have to their government, to their, the most powerful person in the government. And the press is like their ambassadors for that. And so just the way that she sort of disrespects the press always, and then disrespects sort of the responsibility to be honest

just just it just bothers me I think because it just represents kind of how so many of Our institutions have been degraded

obviously every spokesperson for a politician, you you have to do some things, try to present some things in the best light. And, you know, that's part of the job, but that's very different from what we've been experiencing. it just, think, represents something a lot bigger that's wrong, which is that it's just sort of like, one, it's

convince people that our government doesn't have to be honest, that they don't have to be forthcoming. And then two, it just kind of cheapens the importance of the work that's being asked about in that

right.

But now, it's like, you asked a hard question. So I'm going to insult you. It's like, ⁓ okay. Yeah, well, that's new, you know, like, or it's gonna it's it's gets

Right.

Yeah.

it's just like, come on, we're so tired. We're all tired of this. And, you know, it's been 10 years and it's just like, everybody's over it. Like you're just doing a bit at this point and tearing up a lot of good things that are really important for people.

Yeah. It's just like, yeah.

It's terrible. It's like a gaslighting shit show. Just like every single time it's just over and over again. It's just...

It's, it's, it's so fucked. It's like, yeah, I mean, it's not even

worth watching. You know, I, I, I shout out to my man, Aaron Rupar. I watched that. I watched, I watched the highlight through him. ⁓ I can't, I can't subject myself to it. And I think what it does to you, unfortunately, is that they pack the room with either a bunch of sycophants, you know, they put all these people in the room. They're like Trump podcast bros or whatever, or from media that

Mm-hmm.

is just exist to fluff Trump up.

Or it's like people that just like it kind of makes it like into TV, you know, like, it's like, we should have a serious conversation in these, these rooms. Instead, we're like, everybody's like, teeing up for the shot. And she's like, getting ready and adjusting everything and like getting ready for a soundbite and or like her little bit and just like, well,

Yeah.

I know.

I know, and although you can't have a serious conversation with deeply and un-serious people, you know, it's just kind of like how this administration just acts all the time. But yeah, I can't imagine being someone like you who was in that space, who took it very seriously and crafted, you know, the messaging as best you can, even difficult situations. They don't do anything with grace or logic or strategy. It's just kind of like, you know, like you said, sound bites and garbage just over and over again. So.

Yeah, over and over.

As soon as this debacle ends, I think we'll be a better country for it, that's for sure.

I hope so.

Wow, you're still listening. Thank you so much. I want to make sure as many people in Pennsylvania as possible get to experience The Zekely Podcast. So to help spread the word, please take a moment to rate my podcast. Five stars would be great. Leave a comment as well. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit follow. Enjoy the rest of the show.

All right, JJ, let's play a game called Press the Secretary. Okay, so I understand that you might not have been in the face of, you know, Governor Wolf, but you certainly helped craft messaging and everything. So I have a couple of questions for you that maybe a reporter might ask you. And I'm curious, like, how would you craft the answer to this question? And honestly, I'm taking some of these from what I see on social.

Okay, nice.

Okay.

Okay, yeah. I mean, I did a lot

of live, I took a lot of live fire, just not in like a briefing room, you know, like, yeah, so I can, I can get into it.

Okay, fine. Not a briefing. Okay. Okay,

okay. So I pulled some of these questions actually from stuff I see posted on social media and stuff that I post, like when they're talking shit or smack about what I post, okay? So yeah, so let's see how you can handle these. So why won't the Democrats in the PA state legislature pass a voter ID law?

Okay. wow. Okay.

Democrats are focused on expanding access to the ballot and Pennsylvania's elections are remarkably secure

And it also ignores the fact that actually there is already voter ID standards that exist, particularly for when you register to vote.

bright.

where you have to provide one of two very identifying pieces of information,

Correct.

a driver's license, which is then checked against PennDOT or a four digit social security code number, which is then checked against a federal database. like, and then when you go to the poll for the first time, you have to show an ID. The very

Right, yeah.

essence of this, doesn't solve a problem. I we have much bigger problems in our elections when it comes to accessibility, when it becomes to, you know, whether it's things like language access or the ability for people who have irregular schedules or who, you know, like you can't in Pennsylvania, you can't if you aren't registered exactly the right way 15 days before the election, you can't vote, right? You're going to but in a lot of other states, you can show up.

Right.

And you do have to show ID when you're registering, when you register for the first time to vote at a polling place. But you can do it, right? You can, you can do it at the, at the polling place. And so I think that's my biggest problem with all of this. It's really a creating problems in search of a problem. And like

Mm-hmm.

Right,

It's a serious crime. Like it is a serious crime to call it that, which is why people don't do it. And also it doesn't, it wouldn't even work if you did because like what election are you going to? You're going to vote like twice or something and show up. And then it's going to, it's just, it's just so absurd. And I think it's just clear at this point that it's about creating barriers and instead of, instead of actually solving a problem and making our elections better.

Right. Yeah.

Right.

100%. I mean, that's why the SAVE Act is such garbage, you know, that Trump and Republican politicians are trying to push through. Thank goodness it's going to die in the Senate. But yeah, I mean, it's Jim Crow voter suppression. And we already have voter ID in Pennsylvania. I mean, it's just so ridiculous. you know, if your vote wasn't so precious, Republican politicians woulnd't be trying everything to try and take it away from you. So this is just another way of them trying. But you did a good job, press secretary.

Thank you, appreciate

it. Okay, I'm ready.

So that was a good first one. I have a couple more for you. So keep up the energy, okay? So

here's the second one. Josh Shapiro is amongst the highest paid governors in the nation. Why should he be getting paid so much?

Pennsylvania's governor salary is set by an automatic increase that was passed under a Republican

has existed through both Democratic and Republican governors. It is set in law by the legislature,

Mm-hmm.

mentioned, right, has had some level of Republican control for 30 years straight. So that goes up automatically.

Correct.

There's literally no way to prevent it from happening other than the legislature passing a law. ⁓ And also, I think we should pay a governor as well. I think we want good people to run and take public office. And it's really hard to become the governor. Like it's not easy to become the governor. Like that is just simply not an easy thing to do. And so if we want the best people to serve in these roles, then one, they need to be competitive with other jobs, very talented and

Right.

Yeah. Yeah.

hardworking people can get.

You know, I think it's fair. You know, you look at what like college football coaches are making at public universities and it's a very small number

compared to those.

Yeah, I

agree. Couldn't agree with you more. You're doing great. I have one more. I I'm loving this game. This is, this is a lot of fun. All right. So why can't Josh Shapiro stop the federal government from purchasing warehouses for ICE?

Well, I'll give a shout out to him because he actually seems to be trying very hard to do that right now. And I actually think like, as someone who's worked in state government, like that is a choice, right? He actually could, you know, he could say, I'm not gonna do anything, right? Like, that's the federal government's doing it. He's not, but he's actually responding. I think what, so he is trying, but there are limitations when the federal government,

He is. is.

gets unlimited money to just go and buy these buildings on the private market. But they are gonna need things like sewer capacity and power and other utilities and permits. And if there's a way to stop them, I think we should try. And it's not just Joshapiro, by the way. Like these are in rural red areas where they're trying to do it in Schuylkill County. And I'll be honest, I think like you gotta look, people should really be paying attention

to the local activism that's happening up in those areas. There's a lot of organizing that's happening right now in Schuylkill County, which is, I don't know, probably went for Trump

I don't even remember, right? But in these places in Berks and in Schuylkill where they're happening, you also have Republican officials who are like, wait a second,

We don't want this here.

And that's what's happening right now. And I, I have to commend, you know, the governor and his administration, which, you know, I think seem to be trying really hard to fight them. And then really just a huge shout out to the local folks that are organizing against it because this is obscene.

Yeah.

You know, this is not

what this is not this country should

I agree with you governor Josh Shapiro is doing everything he can to curtail the federal government's buying of these properties but again shout out to all these local County commissioners who are passing ordinances so that they can't they can't use these facilities for ice operations and that's why all politics is local, you know people are constantly being fed from the mainstream media Congress Congress Congress, but it's like

Agreed.

you have to pay attention to your local elections because those are the people all year round who can stop this right at the get-go. ⁓

Yeah, it's like, do

you know who's on your zoning board? Because those people are deciding whether that thing you don't want in your community are gonna be there or

100%. We have to be involved in the democratic process if we want to see change. But you're great. Press the secretary. You were right on the money. Good job. Good job. Yeah. Thank you very much.

There we go. These are great games.

JJ, why are you a Democrat? And why do you choose to represent the Democratic Party?

I am a Democrat because I really believe in social justice. think like I was raised, both my parents are Republicans growing up, different brand Republicans than we have now, but they were. And so were a lot of the people I was surrounded in, both my parents went to St. Joe's, which is Jesuit. And so

really big believers in sort of the social justice arc of, you know,

Mm-hmm.

morality, I guess, and sort of civic culture. And so I'm a Democrat because I do think our politics should be rooted in helping more people and empowering more people. like, you know, I think I obviously believe in things like equity and equality, but at the end of the day, I think I also fundamentally believe that we need strong institutions that

do provide a foundation for people to have the best life that they can.

And so I'm a Democrat because I believe it's the only party in America that is focused on advancing social justice and making people's lives better.

100%. We both believe that when done correctly, government can help the most amount of people. And it's the ideologies and the moral values that's laid out very succinctly in the democratic platform that we both align with. And so I'm grateful that we're both in the democratic party together and promoting those ideals.

you can have debates you can have disagreements but at the end of the day you gotta win and you gotta get power in order to do things to make people's lives better and I think you know there's only one party in my mind that's even remotely focused on.

I agree with you. I've said to people a bunch of times, I'm sometimes disappointed with the Democratic Party, but I'm not disgusted by them. And that to me is the biggest difference. Disgusted is a nice word to say what the Republican platform is doing right now. But ⁓ I think it's OK to be disappointed sometimes, of course. I'm not happy with everything that Democrats do or that they don't always achieve as quickly as I would like.

way to put it.

Of course, yeah.

But if you're a serious person and you're in this democratic race for the long run, you have to invest in the party that's going to do the most good, and that's

Agreed.

JJ, what gives you hope?

organizing gives me hope. people who get engaged in politics, particularly now where it's where it is really

one of the people who inspires me most in Pennsylvania is the speaker, Joanna McClinton. And I think that it's partly because she brings different energy and perspective to that work

yeah, she's great.

Mm-hmm.

is not always present in our political

but also that at core, she's like a community organizer. She's someone that's fought for people and communities her whole

Yeah.

the, you know, the house Democrats, I'm big fans of theirs. think,

you can have criticisms of this or that and policy disagreements, but at end of the day, you look at what they've tried to do with a one seat majority.

and just the volume of things that they've done, just in knowing that so many of those things are gonna get blocked, but because they wanna show people that it is possible.

Yeah.

So I think people that are getting engaged at the grassroots level have been inspiring me for a long time, particularly over the last six years I've been more engaged in it.

Mm-hmm.

And I think that's really inspiring to me.

Yeah, I mean your hope gives me hope I I too enjoy seeing people get engaged across the Commonwealth because that's what we need You know democracy only works if you get engaged and so I am also hopeful to the more I see and I watch It keeps me going every day

My last question for you is, what plans do you have to get you through these next few years?

Well, hopefully we win. I feel better when we win. You someone's been working in professional politics for the last 15 years, I've seen wins and losses. ⁓ And 24 was rough. It was really brutal.

Hahaha

Mm-hmm.

yeah. ⁓ god.

So I'm hoping winning elections, number one.

And

find joy in the things that, in making time amidst all the madness, the things that I do love. I love hanging out with my family, my wife, and we have an amazing dog. I love music and I love going to concerts and learning about new bands. I love like going to community things and being a part

community. And so,

There's a great quote out there that joy is a resistance. It's such a form of resistance. And in these times, especially if you're doing the work out there and you're getting engaged in politics, it's like you got to make time for the small things that give you a little bit of joy too. But we're all going to feel a lot better if we win. if everybody can do their part to do that this year.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

It's just going to make us all better. that's going to give me hope for the next two years of getting through this presidency as we get some people in Washington in the House who can hold this guy accountable, who can hold this whole cadre of people accountable.

Yeah.

Yeah, I like your plan, JJ. I like your plan. Well, JJ Abbott, Pennsylvanian political advocate, Democrat and PA hype man. I'm so happy that our paths crossed. know, people are people are always saying, you know, who are the leaders? Who are the leaders? I'm looking at one. I'm talking to one right now. You are a you are a leader in Pennsylvania.

Me too.

⁓ I appreciate that.

and you are a Democrat, and I'm just so grateful that we can continue the journey together. And as you know, and as we promote, it takes work, and we're willing to do the work together and grind it out because we have people we love and care about, and we want to make a more perfect union. So thank you so much for everything that you do, and I look forward to our relationship only grow over time.

Yeah, me too. And thanks so much for having me and just thanks for all the work that you do both on the boots on the ground, but also, you know, spreading the good word and getting more people engaged. It's so important. And I'm sure I feel a little bit of pride in you. I feel I'm really proud of just like what you've built, you know, on your all on your own and being able to do it in a way that is actually focused on trying to make our lives a whole lot better. I really appreciate all that you do.

You're welcome, one day at a time, right?

Well, thank you so much for joining me here on The Zekely Podcast. Stay hopeful and get involved and until next time, let's keep building a stronger Pennsylvania together.