The Final 5: July 17, 2026

Welcome back to story time with the second lady. I usually read stories about myself. Get this Bible. I almost wanted to buy one, just see what the hell's in it. And then you had president Theodore Roosevelt practice jujitsu. He was a sort of a tough guy. And now banned book is literally called ban this book. I broke my butt. Larry, the farting leprechaun. Run spot run. Let's take a look. Welcome into a special edition of the final five. As of tonight, we've now highlighted more than 27 authors as they document the state of politics today, whether it's good, bad, or ugly. This is the ninth edition of your final five book club. Let's do this. Welcome into this special edition of the final five. Uh, these are my books. This is my bookshelf tonight. Tonight we're going to add to the final five book club collection with two authors who are writing about the future of politics and one who's documenting a unique, somewhat dark day in our history to make sure it's never forgotten for the history book, Bruce gold farms, the worst day documents, a dark day in DC history when everyday heroes help the city overcome a blizzard, a train derailment, and a plane crash that happened on the same day. Plus Lily, she is an elected American who wrote the book elected American sharing the struggles, triumphs and lessons she faced after coming to the U S from China as a child and making her way to the Maryland state house. But first I sit down with political commentator, Brian Tyler Cohen who writes about the democratic party struggles after the losses in 2024 and their path ahead in his book, the day after how to wield power in a post Trump world. Enjoy. Brian Tyler Cohen is one of the biggest political platforms online and he's out with a new book laying out his vision for what Democrats should do if and when they return to power. It is called the day after how to wield power in a post Trump world. Brian Tyler Cohen back up late with me tonight here on the final five. Hey, welcome back, man. It's good to see you again, Jim. Good to see you too. Thanks for having me on. Okay. I want to talk about the book here. It is called the day after, uh, we know that after 2016 Hillary Clinton puts a book out saying where things went wrong, 2020 Kamala Harris did the same thing. As you look at the democratic party and where they've ran and where they've stood, what's the one thing you think Democrats have fundamentally gotten wrong in the last decade when they were losing those elections? I think for my entire life, we have been part of a democratic party or I've been part of a democratic party that seems very, very much like the party of strongly worded letters and nothing has changed. Even after we've had some introspection after, uh, uh, Hillary Clinton lost, even after we've had introspection after Kamala Harris lost the constant throughout all of that is Democrats are still very circumspect, very careful, very risk averse. And so the asymmetry here where Republicans will just barrel through anything to get their way and wield power like crazy people versus how Democrats are so careful, so deferential to institutions and norms and the filibuster and the parliamentarian, we need to just disabuse ourselves of this notion that Democrats are in office to protect these institutions that frankly, a lot of people don't care about anymore and instead start focusing on outcomes, delivering for people and not worrying about sticking to the status quo or protecting the norms of the past. Is there a danger though in saying, okay, the way that the democratic party fights back is to become the thing that you're criticizing and the Democrats have criticized for what you call systematic abuse for years. You have to do it in a virtuous way. Like Trump has shown that the institutions of government aren't really, um, in a position to hold anybody back if they really want to blow blow through them, but he's doing it for self enrichment. This guy has earned billions of dollars or made billions of dollars off of the American people, off of, uh, uh, his foreign business dealings using the U S government as a tool, uh, to do so and also focusing on the ballroom and the reflecting pool and building his arch and anything to just focus on his vanity projects himself, his own, his own wallet, his donors, what have you. My argument in this book is that we have to do that same thing, but to deliver outcomes for Americans, to deliver healthcare for all Americans, to make sure we combat climate change, uh, so that this country and world is habitable, um, so that we can actually make sure that voters have access to the polls, especially amid these attacks on the voting rights act. So you can do that, but you can do it in a virtuous way. And that's what I argue for in this book. One of the things you talk about here, this has been a flashpoint for Democrats, uh, and, and especially over the last couple of weeks with the decisions that have come in from the Supreme court is the idea that you want to see the Supreme court expanded called court packing call, call whatever you may nine to 13 justices. So, so why do you think it's a matter of adding the seats, uh, as opposed to waiting, as we've seen the conservative and liberal majorities flip back and forth over time? So first of all, I, I don't, I want to like let people know that the number nine is not sacrosanct. It's not in the constitution. We've had, um, the number of Supreme court justices historically, uh, uh, becomes B B synonymous with the number of federal court circuits. So we've had six, we've had eight, we've had nine. Now we have 13 federal court circuits, but we still have nine Supreme court justices. Um, it's also worth mentioning that Republicans like Mitch McConnell have held that number instead of nine to eight when they wanted to, uh, change the number of justices on the court so that they could benefit themselves. But the more broadly, I think the argument is this, this is not a Supreme court that is going to be deferential to the constitution. They'll create out of whole cloth provisions of the constitution to benefit themselves the same way that they'll ignore provisions of the constitution. If it means that they can benefit Donald Trump or the Republican party. And so as we head toward a future where hopefully Democrats have the house, the Senate, the white house, it would all be kind of a fool's exercise to pass, to try and pass any legislation, which unto itself is going to be a Herculean feat, um, to pass any legislation knowing that they have a veto on the Supreme court. So if we want to actually try and write some of the wrongs that we've seen as it relates to row, as it relates to the voting rights act and so much more, the only way to make sure that we have meaningful lasting change is to expand the court. It's time has come. We're not, it's not good enough to just get symbolic victories that the symbol that the Supreme court is going to eventually or immediately strike down. It's not good enough to get caught trying. We actually have to deliver for people. That means expanding the court so that some of this progressive legislation that I think Democrats will pass when they get into office actually stands. All right. So the question now is 2028 rolls around and beyond that, who's the standard barrier for the democratic party standard bearer rather. I mean, there, there's all this talk about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Is this going to be a party that goes further left? It certainly isn't working out in Maine right now with the Graham platter situation, but, but you, you're out in California. Uh, you, you sat down with governor Gavin Newsom. He actually interviewed you about the book here. Is he the Democrat who represents the things that you're advocating for? I'm not sure yet. And frankly, I don't think that we are at a point where we have to worry about it. I think that given all of the obstacles that we have to contend with for mid terms alone, just getting through this election cycle is going to be, uh, is going to be where we should focus all of our attention, but more broadly to, to try and answer your question. I, I don't necessarily think that it's a matter of the democratic party as one, um, as one, you know, blob moving farther left or farther, right. I think that it's going to be important in a big tent movement that you have people who are going to match the constituents that they represent. Uh, if you have elected officials in New York, for example, who are farther to the left than elected officials in Texas, I think that's great. I mean, that is part of what building a big tent coalition actually looks like in practice. We'll, we'll see what the politics of the person who becomes our standard bearer is going to look like. But I think one thing that both the, uh, progressive or leftist factions of the party will agree with when it comes to the moderate or liberal factions of the party is that we need a Democrat in office who is actually willing to fight, actually willing to wield power because we haven't seen that in the past. Brian, thank you very much. Good to see you again. We appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. And we're back after this here on the final five. My next guest represents part of Montgomery County, the Maryland house of delegates, but she's sharing more about her life and the road that led her to public service and a new book called elected American from red China to blue Maryland. Delegate Lily Chi is up late with me tonight here on the final five to talk about this and more. Welcome in. Good to see you tonight. Thank you so much for having me. We're not going to talk to anything about what's going on in Annapolis or anything like that. We could, if you want, I want to talk about the book here because this is you look at something that is uniquely American. The fact that, and I'll read the line in your book, only in America, can you run for office and get elected by people who can't even pronounce your name? And yet here you are. That's right. It's a very powerful line that reminds all of us of how great this country really is. Despite all her contradictions and the flaws, this is still the place where you can choose to belong by stepping up when you, when you came to America, at what point did you decide that the public service was your, was it a calling or was this something that you decided this is something I need to do? It took me decades to actually realize this was something that I should be doing instead of looking to other people. Because I grew up in China at a time when we learned the hard way that politics was something you survive, but not something you participate in. Right. So I had to learn a hard way. Um, but over the years as I got more established, I encouraged other people to do what I did, which was to vote and participate in local community affairs in civic engagement, because I really see civic engagement and democratic participation as the last frontier for immigrants. And my theory always is we are Americans, right? We are Americans like anyone else. There is no, there shouldn't be any boundary of how far we can go in America. You know, we came here so that we can reach however far we want to reach. And politics is the last frontier. And so my, my argument is why wait a generation to be real Americans? We are real Americans. You know, we can be anywhere in every room, including at the policy making table. When you look at it's funny because when we talked about, um, uh, for example, Maryland's the sixth congressional district and, and, and how, how geographically vast it is and how there are people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, but Montgomery County is so diverse and there are people coming from all over the place. And, you know, even we talk about Democrats and Republicans and they may fight, but everybody wants the same thing. They want to live a good life and they want to have a place where they can raise their family and their kids get a good education. That doesn't change. That's right. Yeah, it does not. And which is why I'm also a strong proponent of open primaries because now more and more people find us so turned off by the gridlock of politics and the government that is not working for them. They don't care what the system is called or which party the name is. They just want a government that works basically, which is why we need to tap into people in the middle. And I'm, I'm a proud Democrat, but I also think both parties have a lot of work to do to run culturally competent campaigns. And I had to do with my cultural community that did not understand the system. When you look at the title says it all from red China to blue Maryland. And certainly you have a view of democracy that is likely a lot different than people who were born into it because you've seen it from the other side. That's right. What, what is that? How has that shaped your view of democracy and how, how Maryland and the U S operates? Well, that's a great question. It's also a heavy question. As I told you, I grew up in a, in a very different political system. In my lifetime, I saw some of the most dramatic transformations of both countries under two different political systems. So I have a lot of perspectives about democracy, identity, belonging and all of that. I would like to urge Americans not to take their freedom and democracy for granted because so many people don't have that in the rest of the world, right? This is one gift that we should not be taken for granted. You know, in this country, our system is designed for citizens to self-govern and every level of government is elected by the same people from president to the school board. So please participate because as I like to say, democracy favors those who participate. You know, right now, I mean, we're in a time where, uh, and I think we saw this, uh, peak in during 2020, during the COVID pandemic, where, uh, we saw a lot of, of, of anti-Asian sentiment in this country. And as you know, over the last couple of months, there were stories about colleagues of yours who have, who have talked about colleague, uh, other, other immigrants who serve in the Maryland state house of delegates. How do you, how do you approach the job when you know that there's still that sentiment, even among the people who are your colleagues? This is very unfortunate, very sad. I think came from the top in terms of normalization of, uh, of rhetoric that dehumanize other people, you know, as America celebrates 250. This is also a moment of reckoning when we are confronted with this raging debate about who belongs here, right. About our, the state of our democracy. I think as elected officials, we should all set an example in terms of our tone of civility, but also to bring other people along, especially people from other countries and other communities, rather than denouncing them as less than us or, or, or, uh, uh, allowing yourself to go that low, right. We want to set an example of what public rhetoric could be. And that was very unfortunate episode. And for Asian Americans, I think our job is to lean in, to fight for ours, our position and our standing as Americans. Uh, when you look at the next generation of leadership, uh, you know, kids who are in Montgomery County schools right now, you know, maybe they were born here. Maybe their parents brought them here looking for that, for that better life. What's your advice to, to the next generation of leaders who are going to guide Maryland into, into the next couple of decades? Well, my word for young people is, um, don't let this roll back, right. We are moving forward as a country, America 250 is there's so much to celebrate. You need to keep fighting for your rights as Americans. And you are no matter what your last name is, whether people can pronounce it or not, you are as American as anyone, right? This is your right to move forward and to fight for your rights as Americans and bring other people along. I know he showed the picture of the book, but I just, she has the book here. It is called elected American delegate early. She great to meet you tonight. Thanks for coming in. We really appreciate having you come in tiny. Thanks for sharing your story. And we are back after this year on the final five. It was one of the darkest and most defining days in Washington history, January 13th, 1982, air Florida flight 90 crashed into the 14th street bridge and plunged into the icy Potomac minutes later, a Metro train derailed underground. The crash killed 78 people. The derailment killed three dozens more were injured and the rescue effort would forever change emergency response in the nation's Capitol. It's the topic of the book, the worst day, a plane crashed, a train wreck and the remarkable heroism of Washington, DC. The author was Bruce Goldfarb. He is up late with me tonight here in studio on the final five. Bruce, thanks for coming in. It's great to see you tonight. Thanks for having me. This is a day for people who did not grow up around here like myself that we heard of. And we associate air Florida 90. I think that gained so much attention after the plane crashed last year, but this is a day where it was just a perfect storm, not just because of the weather, not just because the plane crashed, but, but, but all the after effects of that day. Yeah, it was a, it was a day of consequence when circumstances and fate just drew these strangers together. And, uh, they, um, uh, many of them just rose to the occasion and did some truly heroic things to, to save lives. But it was just a remarkable, what struck me about it was this way that these people who came together just to help strangers because they needed help. And that's the thing in moments like that. I'm reminded of what Mr. Rogers said, always look for the helpers. And that day when you read the book, you realize how many people just found themselves being those helpers on that day and really putting themselves at risk. There are people who stepped into the water, who went out into the water, who really missed not beyond their comfort zone, but really put their themselves at risk to help strangers. There was the moment, uh, in the video where you see, uh, the, the helicopter, the helicopter rescue, which on that day, uh, the powers that be were, were said, this is not, this is not the time to do something like that. But there were people that, there was one decision maker in particular who said this, we have to do this. And they rescued five out of the six people in the water. Right. Right. I know. Sure. The, the, the conditions that they were outside, uh, acceptable flying parameters, helicopters, you know, these, they don't have all the equipment that airplanes do. So they fly by visual flight rules and it was an absolute whiteout. So they could not see where they were going when they were flying. And this was also a situation where they did not have the equipment to pluck people out of the water. They use the rope that they towed the helicopter with. That's right. There are the wrong people with the wrong craft. They had, they didn't have a litter to drop down. They didn't have a hoist. They didn't have a, there was nothing they couldn't even land. Uh, you know, so, um, they, people did the best that they could with the, uh, what they had at hand, uh, and they improvised and they were able to save five out of the six out of the, out of the water. So we talk about the Potomac rescue, uh, Metro, this happened over near federal triangle. And this happened during a time well before cell phones. And while you had that derailment, you had that happening underground. You did not have these modern communication systems in place. And that also hamstrung the rescue effort underground. It was terrible. There was a communications problem. It affected pretty much anybody in Washington within a matter of minutes. The subway derailment was within half an hour of the airplane. So they were basically simultaneous and Washington lost its subway system. It's a, the bridge over I-95 Northern Virginia, uh, it's airport. And, uh, the, the, the city, thousands of people were left stranded, uh, unable to get home, unable to communicate. Um, and people who survived that day really had, they have vivid memories of it because of it. Uh, not, you're not just a journalist here, but you also approach this as a, as an EMT. Long time ago. But when you see that, when you went back and did the research and talk with people, what stuck out to you having that, that training in your mind that made this an extraordinary situation? Uh, well, in, in terms of, we, we take for granted a lot of things today. It's difficult to imagine what things were like before cell phones, before we had a digital radio frequencies, but it was such a chaotic, um, the communication was such a problem because they, uh, every department and agency had their own radio frequencies. So they couldn't communicate with anybody else, which, uh, you know, when you compare it to today, uh, it's, it's like night and day. And so many of the lessons were learned from that day that had been incorporated. And, uh, for example, the, uh, uh, the response to nine 11 would be entirely different that there are so many lessons learned in 1982 that, uh, that are incorporated every day today. What do you hope you talk with survivors? You talked with, with first responders that day. I'm sure it's years later, years removed. It's still a difficult thing for, for many of them to talk about, but what's the message they want. They wanted to, they wanted you to take away from speaking with them. Well, it's funny. The, the ones who were the rescuers, um, the TUI person, they're, they're all self-effacing, self-effacing, very modest people that what they, in their minds, what they did was not all that extraordinary. They just, they saw a person in need and they stepped up to help. And it was nothing more than that. Um, the, the, the ones, we use the word hero and we throw it around very casually. First responders, firefighter, the military, and granted no, no disrespect that, you know, a firefighter going into a burning building, it's heroic, but that's what they signed up for. They've had training. They've had equipment. These were people on that day who had no training, no equipment, who were not dressed for the weather, who put themselves out there at great risk and many of them to help strangers. It's astounding being down around that site and just thinking about what transpired and how every day after that, the lessons learned since then, and how the goal is to make every day, just another day in Washington, DC. This was of course, uh, the worst day, which is the name of the book, Bruce Goldfarb joining us here on the final five tonight, Bruce, great talking with you. Thank you so much. And we could keep your, your daughter's here. She said, we could keep talking about this all day. And I wish we could, uh, we're out of time. We'll see you soon. Please read the book folks. We're back after this year on the final five. And thanks for watching tonight. You can always watch the latest segments of the final five on the Fox local app or on fox5dc.com. That's our show. We're back here every night at 1130. Thank you so much for watching. Go to bed.