WEBVTT - Moving the Midterm Needle 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.559 I'm Josh Hammer, and this is the Josh Hammer Show 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:12.040 you've all livin of national affairs. Will join us momentarily 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:16.720 for a deep policy wonker dive on healthcare, political economy, 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:18.759 and much more. Be sure to stay tuned for that. 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.239 But for now, the big story continues to be Venezuela 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:26.440 protests and Iran and all sorts of global affairs that 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:28.960 are really shaking up the geopolitical chess board in the 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:33.559 year twenty twenty six. Just earlier today, a Venezuelan tanker 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.600 putting on a false Russian flag trying to escape the 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:41.120 naval blockade They're off Venezuela, and the United States military, 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.720 not wasting any time, not mincing any words, they promptly 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.760 went ahead and boarded and apprehended the vessel. So tensions 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.120 continued to play out. When it comes to Venezuela. The 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:56.080 big question there in that particular country still is Delus Rodriguez, 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:00.000 this socialist communist loombag who was Nicholas Muduro's former vice preser. 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.280 Is she going to be up for doing anything other 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.360 than just running this poor, grieving country into the ground, 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.679 much as her two predecessors, Hugo Chavez and Nicholas Muro 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.000 have been doing for decades. So that is what is 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:17.039 going on in Venezuela. By the way, the polding on 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:22.279 the Venezuela Operation Operation Absolute Resolve somewhat mixed at this time. 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.520 I don't particularly buy much into that, but for what 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.880 it's worth, Trump has very very strong Republican support within 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.760 his own flank when it comes to what the administration did. Again, 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.920 all this talk of all this foreign policy debate, there 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:40.560 you have the hardcore Lindbergh Ron Paul isolationist wing that 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.679 is ready to cry anything whatsoever when it comes to intervention. 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.760 Even Megan Kelly, even Megan Kelly on her show on Monday, 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.400 was saying how she is lukewarm at best on this. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.320 But in terms of actual Republicans, in terms of the 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:58.560 elected official class, they are very very, very very much 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.000 behind President Trump. For instance, here Senator Rick Scott of 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.240 my state of Florida on Fox Business. 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.520 Proud of what the President did, and Marco Ruby and 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:10.919 Pete headsef than everybody, our military, Maria Corina Machago and 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.799 what they did in Venezuela is going to change Latin America. 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.440 This is the start of changing Venezuela. Then we're going 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.640 to fix Cuba. Nicaragua will get fixed. Next year, We'll 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.040 get a new president in Columbia. We're going to start 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.160 the democracy is coming back to this hemisphere. 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:27.880 So your minds mad various to what exactly to make 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:32.000 of that statement. Now, this rhetoric of democracy coming back, 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:33.480 I think will probably give a lot of people the 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.120 hebgbs when it comes to the memories of the Middle 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:41.160 East boondoggles in Iraq and the mountains of Taliban ridden 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.440 overrun Afghanistan, things like that. I submit to you that 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.280 when it comes to the Western Hemisphere, when it comes 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.000 to Latin America, things fundamentally actually are quite a bit 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.760 different because it is quite literally on our doorstep, and 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.840 we do have a greater interest in a country like 0:02:55.919 --> 0:03:00.000 Venezuela and not being used as a launching pad literally 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.839 and proverbially, as the case may be, for America's arch 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.840 geopolitical enemies, for Russia, Iran, and for China. There were 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:11.120 Hesbola money launching operations, Iranian military facilities. That was all 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.400 happening in Venezuela, in our own hemisphere backyard. During the 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:20.440 presidential tenures of Chavez and Nicholas Maduro. So is it 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.880 gonna be the beginning of all these totalitarian dominoes falling 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.680 throughout the Western hemisphere? Is the Castro regime in Cuba 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.120 going to be next? Certainly Center Scott's of Florida would hope, 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.040 so that'll be very popular here in Florida, where I 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.800 live as well. I'm not totally sure, but at a 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:41.560 bare minimum, what's happening in Venezuela augurs positively for these 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.760 United States. Meanwhile, I mentioned Iran, and the protests in 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.960 Iran are really just frankly going to the next level. 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.520 Some of these images, some of these videos are utterly astonishing. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.560 They are taking over parts of cities, they are taking 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.520 over parts of town squares. At this point, this is 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:05.120 probably the largest scale uprising against the Iranian regime, probably 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.080 since the regime came to power in nineteen seventy nine, 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:11.560 in the very tail end of the Jimmy Carter presidency. 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.360 You could talk about the two thousand and nine Green Revolution, 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:17.960 which Barack Obama famously failed to support. But these images 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.480 that were images and videos that we're seeing now from Iran, 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.320 which is very much part of this axis of totalitarian 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.440 thuggery along with their allies in North Korea, China, Russia 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.920 and formerly Venezuela. I guess now we shall see. Look, 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.880 Iran is a complicated country. Persian culture goes back many millennia. 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.560 It's very proud country, very proud civilization. In fact, the 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:45.320 exiled Shah, the exiled crown Prince putting out a very 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:51.360 fascinating video in the Farsi language calling for exiled Persians 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:53.800 to pray for what happens, and teasing that there might 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.679 actually be some sort of special announcement actually coming sooner 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.920 rather than later. So you take that, you combine it 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.160 with what the British newspaper The Times of London has 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:05.760 been reporting, which is that the Supreme Leader or the 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:10.760 Ayatollah Khamene apparently allegedly has an escape patch planned to 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.479 grab his twenty person inner circle and then high tail 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.560 it to Moscow to pull a Boscher alssade, and then 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.400 ultimately live out the rest of his probably fairly few 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:24.000 and limited years there under the protective embrace of lamyr Putin. 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.080 If you put two and two together, you're looking at 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:32.680 a potentially potentially very serious situation in Iran. Now, it's 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.600 not like the United States is going to be directly 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.000 involved in getting in sending in one hundred first airborne 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.359 or likely even getting to the point where they are 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:45.719 trying to vet and select individual dissident individual protesters, things 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.840 like that. But certainly, when you look at Venezuela, when 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:50.480 you look at Iran, when you look at some of 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.760 the other pieces of the geopolitical chessboard, the fact that 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.000 Russia and China and America's various other foes seem to 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.240 be very much on the defensive. This has been nothing 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:03.359 short of his historic, a truly historic first year for 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.119 his Secretary of States, Mark or Rubio. In fact, Chris 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.560 van Holland, one of the biggest adults of the generally 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.120 doult Field Senate Democratic Caucus, Chris van Holland was actually 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.159 just on CNN where he was talking about Marca Rubio 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.280 as mister Maga. Go ahead and watch this. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.000 I said, probably way back in March of last year, 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.480 that I regretted deeply voting for Mark Rubio as Secretary 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.000 of State, because as soon as he took that position, 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:36.520 he became the dear leader man. He became mister Maga. 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.240 And he used to give these speeches on the floor 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.760 of the Senate about an American foreign policy based on 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:45.760 our values, based on human rights, based on freedom, based 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:50.279 on democracy. But ever since he's gone into the Donald 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.240 Trump orbit, he's thrown all of that out the window. 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.000 And we saw the proof of that again in their 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.040 National Security Strategy document from a couple of weeks ago, 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.680 where they essentially through American principles overboard, and in its 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:07.720 place they've put this gunboat, you know, New Monroe doctrine, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.080 where the United States, by you know, stint of its 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:15.280 military power can just go do what it wants throughout 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.120 Latin America. That story doesn't end well for people in 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:19.920 Latin America, nor for Americans. 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:22.040 First of all, the notion in that Chris van Holland 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:26.320 knows anything whatsoever about American principles is so utterly foolhardy 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.160 as to make you want to pinch yourself to make 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:32.320 sure that you're still sitting there listening seriously. But also 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.600 the fact that Chris van Holland is referring to Mark 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.440 Rubio trying to belittle him as the dear leader as 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.240 mister Maga. Frankly, that just means that Marca Rubio is 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:44.320 over the target. But the twenty twenty six midterms this 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:48.600 fall are not necessarily going to be contested solely or 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.360 perhaps even predominantly, on the terrain of foreign policy. Look, 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.320 foreign policy is definitely important. I care about it quite 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:57.400 a bit. I think that many American voters care about 0:07:57.400 --> 0:07:59.800 it quite a bit, especially above all when it comes 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:03.240 to situations and countries like Venezuela, given the fact that 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.040 it's in our hemisphere, given the fact that they are 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.320 complicit in shipping drugs right through our southern border, given 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:13.000 the energy interests and other interests as well. But overall, 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.240 the twenty twenty six mid terms of this November, which 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.280 now are getting really really close, they will be contested 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.600 primarily on domestic issues, on issues like immigration, on issues 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.280 like crime, on issues like healthcare, and on issues like 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.200 the economy. Eve all in our guest will join us 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.240 just a few minutes here to break down some of 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:35.480 the angles and some of the train on which this 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.920 midterm election will will be contested. But our working theory 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.240 here on the Josh Hammer Show is that Jimmy Carvill 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.640 did indeed have it right. Back in nine ninety two, 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.280 back when he was running the Bill Clinton presidential campaign, 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:50.360 Carvill famously said that it's the economy stupid. Now, Carville 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.120 himself may ironically be quite stupid these days, and some 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:54.840 of the things that he has said, but his quip 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.679 from thirty four ish years ago has largely held up. 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.400 It indeed still is the economy stupid? What exactly are 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.400 Republicans going to do when it comes to healthcare, when 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.240 it comes to affordability, when it comes to inflation. Is 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.200 there going to be another government shutdown coming at the 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.000 end of this month? Both sides are talking like there's 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.240 going to be a viable off ramp coming up here 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.000 and we're not looking at another shutdown. Recalled that the 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.959 shutdown from just a few months ago ends up being 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.320 the longest shutdown in the entire history of the United States. 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.400 No one wants to repeat that debacle. How is that 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.800 going to unfold? There's a lot of questions. Meanwhile, there 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.559 was a tragic passing, a terrible, terrible passing at just 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.920 the tender age of sixty five, just yesterday of Congressman 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.880 Doug LaMalfa of California. Congressman Jim Baird, also in the 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.840 Republican Caucus, is now recovering from a serious car accident. 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.959 There is a jungle primary special election coming up for 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:53.040 Marjorie Taylor Green seat in northwest Georgia. Meanwhile, Thomas Massey 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.720 is basically a vote for her King Jefferys and House Democrats. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.160 So Mike Johnson's margin in the House to do anything 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.480 this year any of this is shockingly, shockingly small. And 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.439 by the way, don't think for a second, don't think 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.360 for a second that if Democrats don't retake the House 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.280 this November, that they will not move immediately, literally immediately 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.360 to impeachment. For instance, here was Congressman Jason Crow talking 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.400 about this very topic on CNN. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:19.360 Well, impeachment is something that I haven't been to know 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.080 a lot about because I was a prosecutor in Donald 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:26.240 Trump's first impeachment trial, one of two. So that is 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.680 a tool that Congress can use. But there are other 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.480 tools that Congress can use. I am not holding my breath, 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:36.200 but a Democratic controlled Senate and I'm sorry, Republican controlled 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.600 Senate and ablic Republican controlled House, Jim Jordan or others 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.800 are going to move and do anything on an initiated 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.600 impeachment proceeding right now, which is why the midterms are 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:46.240 so important. 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.240 So the translation is very simple. If Democrats retake the 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.640 House of November, race yourself for more impeachment theater, raise 0:10:54.679 --> 0:11:00.160 yourself for more manufactured jin Dove Fox controversies similar to 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:05.720 that laughably, laughably insignificant Vladimir Zelenski phone call in two 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.599 thousand nineteen. I had to think about the year was 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.280 for second year because it was so insignificant, I just 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.959 forgot about it. Do you all remember that this five 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.360 to six page transcript of a nothing burger phone call, 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:21.280 and that led to dontrmp's first impeachment. That's what will happen. 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:26.160 The rest of Danton's presidency will be gone unless Republicans 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.920 keep the House. Now, look, you can have your equipmals 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.880 with Republican party. Lord knows, I have many, many of 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.079 my own objections, many of my own quibbles. But for 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.000 the midterms this fall, but again will be primarily contested 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:42.439 on domestic issues. The key point is this, who'se hands? 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:46.280 Whose hands should the House remain in. On the one hand, 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.600 you have a shot at reforming social Security, at helping healthcare, 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.400 helping affordability. On the other hand, all you're gonna get 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.320 is impeachment theater. I know it's way, I'll be voting. 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:57.680 We'll be right back after the break with Evan Levin 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:05.280 of AI and National Affairs. Welcome back. So there's really 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.360 no one that we'd rather bring on to talk about 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.600 all things midterm elections related, as well as the broader 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:12.520 conversation that you may or may not have been paying 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.720 attention to as to what the heck is going on 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.600 on the American rite at this time. That man is 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.600 you've All Levin. Y've all Levin is a very smart fellow. 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:22.640 I highly recommend that you check out all of his work, 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.600 all of his writings, but for present purposes, you've all 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:28.400 is a senior fellow as well as the director of Social, 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.400 Cultural and Constitutional Studies at AEI, the American Enterprise Institute. 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.920 He's also the editor of National Affairs, one of the 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:38.280 most air udite journals on the American rights. I'm honored 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.920 to have been published there a number of years ago. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.120 Now probably overdue for another submission at some point, but 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.040 in any event, you've all thanks so much for joining 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:46.840 the Josh Hammer Show. We really do appreciate it. 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:48.520 Thanks for having me, Josh. She took the words out 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.360 of my mouth. So yeah, anytime, look forward to it 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:51.880 very much. 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.560 So, Look, there's a lot to get to you've all, 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:56.559 and I want your thoughts in a few different topics, 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.120 but I think the number one reason I really want 0:12:58.200 --> 0:12:59.719 to bring you on the show you You are one 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.640 of the fairly rare people on the right of center 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.400 who I think of as being something of a healthcare 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.280 policy want. It's somewhat of an arcane topic, to be clear, 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.040 your wankery extends to a lot of different areas, but 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.480 I definitely think of you, among other things, one of 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.200 the foremost Obama era critics of Obamacare. You've done a 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:21.319 lot of the intellectual legwork putting forth alternatives to Obamacare, 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.160 and we're currently in the midst of this continued fight 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.920 as to the extension of Obamacare subsidies. Potentially there's going 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.000 to be even another brinksmanship shut down fight in Congress 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.600 later this month. I keep on hearing from sources on 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:37.600 Capitol Hill, including unlimited to congressmen themselves, the Republicans are 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:41.160 working on a healthcare plan or some sort of alternative. 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.800 What is that? Perhaps more accurately, you've all, what should 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:45.120 it be? 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.839 Well, thank you, Yeah, I've suffered and labored for a 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.360 long time and the vineyards of Republican health care policy, 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:58.720 and it's a very, very challenging issue for the Republican Party. 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.360 It has been for a long time. The basic challenges straightforward, 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.440 it is that ideas that make sense economically and healthcare 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.360 tend not to make sense politically, and Republicans have never 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:12.760 gotten themselves out of that thicket. Democrats have solved it 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:16.679 by advancing ideas that don't make sense economically, and Obamacare 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.040 is one of those. It drove costs up and not down, 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.480 exacerbated the problems rather than addressing them, and here we are, 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:29.160 so many years later, essentially still stuck with its consequences. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.600 The ideas that Republicans advance on this front tend to 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.680 be ways of making the health system more market oriented, 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:41.200 allowing more of a consumer market to form around purchasing insurance, 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.000 and so that means allowing people to have more choice, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:48.440 allowing people to exercise more consumer power to face real prices. 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:50.560 At the center of that for a long time have 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:55.720 been ideas like health savings accounts, and ways of enabling 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.520 people to enter consumer markets with some subsidies that they 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.480 can chew how to use, rather than have those markets 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:06.320 replaced by government systems like Obamacare or like Medicaid. In 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.240 a way, the debate we're having is very much a 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.000 traditional left right debate now. But I would say the 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.200 problem with it is that it's driven by a short 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:19.280 term problem, which is the temporary extension of the Obamacare subsidies, 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:23.120 which it's really important to stress was a COVID era 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.840 emergency measure. It was intended to last for one year 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.480 to begin with, and then ultimately extended for another three years. 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.120 Republicans the whole time, we're saying this is a trap, 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.200 We're going to end up having to renew this forever. 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:39.240 The Democrats said, no, we're not, and here we are. 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.560 We're going to have to renew it forever. That short 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.960 term problem is a significant political problem for Republicans because 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.560 really for two reasons. One, it drove up enormously the 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.640 number of people in the Obamacare exchanges from about eleven 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:56.320 million to almost twice that now at twenty one to 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:01.000 twenty two million people. And secondly, the changing electorate of 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.320 the Republican Party, the fact that Republicans really are more 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.680 of a working class coalition now means that a lot 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.600 more Republican voters depend on these subsidies than was the 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.920 case during the Obamacare debates, and so Republicans have to 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.000 take this seriously, have to have something to offer on 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.920 this front, and they've been stuck in a tough place, 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.680 getting dragged around by the Democrats in this debate. 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:25.840 And I think a lot of folks sympathize with the 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.160 need for the government to do something that the everprising question, 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.840 of course, is actly what that something is. And this 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.800 conversation is not limited to healthcare. I think back to 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.160 the off off year elections a couple months ago and 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.880 now in New York City, in Virginia, New Jersey, and 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.400 pretty much all of the exit pollsters that I saw 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:48.080 were unanimously reporting that the number one, two, three, four 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:52.160 issues for American people in those jurisdictions was inflation, cost 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.720 of living, affordability. Healthcare is a big part of this. 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.520 Housing certainly is a big part of this as well. 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.720 What should the administry and their allies in Congress, and 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:06.080 I think also crucially their allies in the States. What 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.200 are some concrete things that you think that they should 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.520 be working on and addressing in these next few months 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.000 as we start to get ready for the midterms this fall. 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:14.480 I think this is the right way to think about it, 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.600 which is part of a larger cost of living challenge. 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:22.560 And the way that the way that I'd least have 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.960 been talking about this for fifteen years since the kind 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.359 of reformicondas is that it's worth Republicans thinking about this 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.240 problem in terms of the three ahs, healthcare, housing, higher education. 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.399 Those are three areas where a lot of middle class 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:40.280 families face costs that are exorbitant, unreasonable, and unconnected to 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.399 the quality of what they're buying in ways that it 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.280 is possible for public policy to help with. And the 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:47.679 way in which it could help, first of all is 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:51.080 by recognizing the ways in which public policy is causing 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:55.000 the problem. And I think that's fundamentally about the Democrats' 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:59.200 basic approach to social policy, which is to restrict supply 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:03.840 subsidizing demand, and so you set strict rules about what's 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.399 allowed to be sold, and then you give people the 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.280 money to buy the things they're being allowed to buy, 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.639 and the incentives that kind of system creates as an 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.960 incentive for higher and higher costs and lower and lower quality. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.680 That's what's happening in every regulated sector, and it's very 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:23.480 much the case in healthcare, and so the solutions look 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:30.120 like deregulating supply while allowing consumer pressures to drive demand, 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.800 so giving people more options and the real power to 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.280 make choices. This is a problem in healthcare. It's not 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.200 a simple matter. Healthcare is a complicated market. What you're 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.600 buying is something you need in an emergency, when your 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:47.480 kid is sick, when your elderly parents need care. This 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:49.959 is not a simple choice, and we shouldn't pretend it is. 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.400 But that's why what's sold in that market is insurance 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:57.359 more than care in the moment, and it's important to 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.480 give people real options, to let them make choices among 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:04.400 genuinely distinct and different options in healthcare we've really seen. 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.119 I mean, this is this is essentially what Obamacare is. 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.640 It restricts supply, It says you're only allowed to sell 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.000 these three kinds of products, and then it subsidizes demand. 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.800 It says, whatever this cost, the government will pay for it. Well, 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.000 what's going to happen in that kind of market is 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:22.400 insurers have a reason to increase prices rather than reduce costs, 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.399 and so over and over, that's what we've seen, and 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.600 Republicans know in the abstract what the solution looks like, 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.840 but they've never really had the nerve to propose a 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.600 major reform along these lines. John McCain did it to 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.159 his great credit in two thousand and eight, and it 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:41.560 was used to undermine his presidential campaign. Republicans have been 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.520 afraid of it ever since, and so when they have to, 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.320 when they're pressed, like right now, you hear them talking about, 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:52.000 you know, various kinds of consumer measures. It's not their priority. 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.320 It's not what they do most of the time, and 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:55.760 I think we're seeing the effects of that. 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.800 You've all. Levin is a senior fellow at AI in 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.800 the editor of National Affairs, highly recommend that you check 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.640 out all the National Affairs publishes on a quarterly basis. 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:07.439 You've all just a couple of minutes left here before 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:09.959 our first break. We'll hold you over until the next segment, 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:13.600 but for now, on a related topic, speaking of affordability, 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:17.800 it seems to me that our seemingly annual trillion dollar 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.639 plus deficits are not necessarily helping the matter when it 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:24.679 comes to the pinch that the federal government find itself in, 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.240 and all then the secondary tertiary effects when it comes 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:31.399 to inflation, federal Reserve Monetary policy twenty twenty six, this 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:33.840 is the first year that a US Senator could be 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.560 elected that will then face reelection twenty thirty two, which 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.080 is the year that some say Social Security actually is 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:41.960 looking to go bankrupt. So it's kind of a long 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.320 winded way of teeing up this question for you, which 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.000 is is there any chance that we see something when 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.640 it comes to entitlements here or is that just ever 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:50.399 a pipe dream? 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.400 Well, look, I think it would take a broad bipartisan coalition, 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:55.680 which is probably in this moment another way of saying 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.080 that it feels like a pipe dream. I think the again, 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:03.160 the political pressure all push in the opposite direction, and frankly, 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:07.680 Republicans have become much less interested in advancing solutions on 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:10.639 the entitlement front than they used to be. Democrats have 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:12.840 never been interested in advancing them, and so if there's 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.080 a bipartisan coalition, it's in the other direction. There's now 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.879 very broad agreement that we should basically do nothing about 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:24.520 this enormous oncoming train. I do think it's connected to 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:29.320 the healthcare debate. The biggest entitlement challenge is Medicare, much 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:33.680 more than Social Security. It's growing more quickly, and you 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.119 know that's an area where the kinds of reforms you 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:38.640 need are again to allow people to use some consumer 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.440 power to reduce costs. Republicans have had these ideas. They 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:44.879 know really how to solve this problem. Paul Ryan was 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:49.080 advancing this fourteen years ago, and he was right. The 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.000 fact is if we had done that, then we would 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:52.680 be in a much better place on this front. 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.520 He no doubts right about that. You've also sorry, we're 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:57.440 going to take a quick break here. Stage tuned. Folks 0:21:57.440 --> 0:21:59.840 are much more with evolven and AI on the other 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:07.040