Speaker 1: Welcome to Off the Cup with me, se Cup. I
Speaker 1: have a great guest later in the show. She's my
Speaker 1: pal dem strategist, Karen Finney. She's going to walk me
Speaker 1: through some of the primary results from the week. There
Speaker 1: were big races, as you know, in California and Iowa
Speaker 1: and New Jersey. I covered those for CNN, but I'm
Speaker 1: excited to get her take on those races and how
Speaker 1: Democrats look.
Speaker 2: Heading into the midterms. This is, you know, important stuff.
Speaker 1: Speaking of midterms, they're fast approaching, and I got to
Speaker 1: be honest, I'm I'm not sure Republicans could be in
Speaker 1: a worse position, honestly. And I'm not saying that because
Speaker 1: I want it to be true, although I do I
Speaker 1: want Republicans to be punished for how shitty they've been.
Speaker 1: But I'm saying that because it's like the unavoidable conclusion
Speaker 1: when you look at how some of these races are
Speaker 1: shaping up, and how you know, the principle the head
Speaker 1: of the party, Donald Trump, is screwing them over royally
Speaker 1: and shows no signs of stopping the conditions which Republicans
Speaker 1: have by and large created for themselves. With Trump, the
Speaker 1: conditions are terrible.
Speaker 2: To be running. Let's just take it from the top.
Speaker 1: Every week, some Trump cabinet officials being dragged up to
Speaker 1: Capitol Hill to answer pointed questions from lawmakers about everything
Speaker 1: from the war Trump says is over. It's clearly not
Speaker 1: to ballroom spending, to doge to like personal you know,
Speaker 1: having to defend personal stuff. Acting ag Todd Blanche was
Speaker 1: just on the hill today talking about Epstein.
Speaker 2: So is Pam BONDI.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not a great look for a cabinet
Speaker 1: and an administration that's already kind of beleaguered to have
Speaker 1: these guys having to defend themselves, their jobs, the administration
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, really stupid vanity projects like ballrooms. They're having
Speaker 1: to defend this shit on Capitol Hill every day. It's
Speaker 1: not a good look and it's not I projecting kind
Speaker 1: of strength and competence that you'd want a few months
Speaker 1: before an election if you're the party in charge. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: some bad news this week on gas prices.
Speaker 2: Listen to this that I read in market Watch.
Speaker 1: US refiners are producing and exporting jet fuel at a
Speaker 1: record clip at the expense of their gasoline and diesel runs.
Speaker 1: A worrying mismatch is the summer travel season kicks into
Speaker 1: high gear and stockpiles dwindle. Refiners have moved quickly to
Speaker 1: stem what was expected to be a global shortage of
Speaker 1: jet fuel this summer, as the near standstill at the
Speaker 1: Strait of Horror Mouz continues and fresh US Runian clashes
Speaker 1: cloud hopes for a piece deal. The switch, however, has
Speaker 1: left US gasoline and diesel reserves below multi year averages,
Speaker 1: just as summer demand for both is gearing up, which
Speaker 1: could result in higher prices at the pomp and Americans
Speaker 1: who are already paying more than four dollars gallon on
Speaker 1: average for gas maybe left scratching their heads over the
Speaker 1: focus on jet fuel. So, in other words, because of
Speaker 1: Trump's done more and the closure at the Strait of Hormuz,
Speaker 1: there's been a surge and jet fuel at the expense
Speaker 1: of gas and diesel, So at your expense.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's that's.
Speaker 1: Great going into a midterm election. Call me crazy, I
Speaker 1: think that's great. And amidst that terrible news for Americans,
Speaker 1: what was Trump doing?
Speaker 2: On Wednesday?
Speaker 1: He held a press conference at the Oval Office, seemingly
Speaker 1: just so he could show off some new chart he
Speaker 1: had made up. It's a chart that shows again for
Speaker 1: some reason, how long the new reflecting pool will be
Speaker 1: compared to famous skyscrapers.
Speaker 2: Take a listen to this bizarre moment on.
Speaker 3: The reflecting pond or the reflecting pool as some people
Speaker 3: call it. Very important to us was the longevity, the
Speaker 3: having it so that it's not closed every day and
Speaker 3: all the are they.
Speaker 4: Just had this stunt. You're getting a first glimpse. But
Speaker 4: that's your size compared So those are compared to those
Speaker 4: are among the tallest buildings in the world, including the
Speaker 4: Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Sears Tower, Chicago. So
Speaker 4: if you lay it on its side, you'd take two or.
Speaker 5: Three of them to fill it in, because the width
Speaker 5: is very almost two hundred feet wide and actually much
Speaker 5: more than two thousand close to including everything, it's about
Speaker 5: two thousand, five hundred feet in length to the end.
Speaker 2: Like so what so what? Who cares?
Speaker 1: Who is going to the reflecting pool and being like
Speaker 1: is it taller though than the Empire State Building?
Speaker 2: How tall? How long is this? If I laid this
Speaker 2: building on its side, would it be longer?
Speaker 6: Who cares?
Speaker 2: How is this important to anybody? How is this worthy
Speaker 2: of a press? Conference.
Speaker 1: How is this worthy of anyone making this dumb looking
Speaker 1: high school diorama project chart? And if you're a vulnerable Republican,
Speaker 1: aren't you thinking like, what the fuck is he doing?
Speaker 1: I've said this many times before, I'll keep saying it.
Speaker 1: Trump does not care about the midterms, not even a little.
Speaker 1: He doesn't care if Republicans lose the House, lose the Senate.
Speaker 1: He doesn't even seem to care that he might not
Speaker 1: be able to get his agenda passed because he chose
Speaker 1: again no good reason to primary, say Republicans like John
Speaker 1: Cornyan and go after people like Tom Massey who now
Speaker 1: they're primaried out, but they stick around until November. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a whole lot of damage they can do between
Speaker 1: now in November, and.
Speaker 2: Especially now they have a grudge, like, how does was this?
Speaker 1: So listen, I think I can officially say welcome to
Speaker 1: Trump's lame duck presidency. It's been a while, I think
Speaker 1: since we've truly seen one, maybe even long enough in
Speaker 1: politics to maybe forget what one looks like. So let
Speaker 1: me take you back to the last second term lame
Speaker 1: duck presidency, which was Obama's in twenty fourteen. President Obama
Speaker 1: had around twenty fourteen just hit his lowest approval rating
Speaker 1: yet at forty percent. The midterm elections that year were
Speaker 1: an absolute bloodbath for Democrats. Republicans expanded their majority in
Speaker 1: the House by a net gain of thirteen seats, took
Speaker 1: control of the Senate with a net gain of nine seats.
Speaker 1: I think they also netted to two more gubernatorial wins,
Speaker 1: and they flipped a bunch of state houses. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was it was the definition of a red wave.
Speaker 1: So the predictions for the second half of Obama's second
Speaker 1: term were pretty bad. They were pretty fatalistic. Every headline
Speaker 1: was like Obama's lame duck era is going to be bad.
Speaker 1: As early as twenty thirteen, analysts were in fact calling
Speaker 1: his presidency effectively like a da twenty thirteen because he
Speaker 1: had seemingly spent all of his political capital getting the
Speaker 1: Affordable Care Act passed and implemented, which, as you recalled,
Speaker 1: did not go smoothly, and he suffered some early second
Speaker 1: term losses on things like the Bush air At, tax cuts,
Speaker 1: gun control efforts, immigration reform.
Speaker 2: Remember, like none of that happened.
Speaker 1: They thought we'll get to the second term after Obamacare
Speaker 1: and we'll get to do all the other things we wanted.
Speaker 1: And frankly, the things they promised Democrats they would do
Speaker 1: on guns and immigration and they just they just didn't.
Speaker 1: He instead ended up having to do a bunch of
Speaker 1: executive orders on thing like things like dreamers and stuff
Speaker 1: that didn't last very long because executive orders be undone
Speaker 1: and there were he didn't have a great relationship with Congress. Again,
Speaker 1: he'd really focused all of his attention entirely on the
Speaker 1: Affordable Care Act, and I forgot this, but I was
Speaker 1: looking back, and remember Isis I mean Isis was giving
Speaker 1: him a lot of trouble overseas we you know, kind
Speaker 1: of felt like he was responsible for fixing that and
Speaker 1: it just wasn't working. So a lot was going on,
Speaker 1: and it felt like there was just nothing left in
Speaker 1: the tank, or so it seemed. Obama actually ended up
Speaker 1: defying all the predictions of how lame his lame duck
Speaker 1: presidency was going to be. In twenty fifteen, he got
Speaker 1: a huge win when the Supreme Court, in a surprise
Speaker 1: I can say personally surprised from conservative Chief Justice John Roberts,
Speaker 1: ruled in favor of keeping Obamacare intact. Remember Republicans were
Speaker 1: arguing it was attacks and couldn't be implemented the way
Speaker 1: that Obama was trying to. Well, Supreme Court said, yes
Speaker 1: it can. That preserved Obama's signature legislation. Then he got
Speaker 1: the ambitious Transpacific Partnership Deal TPP. It was the world's
Speaker 1: biggest ever trade agreement, accounting for two fifths of the
Speaker 1: world's trade. That got fast tracked by a highly divided Congress.
Speaker 1: That was a huge win he was not, you know,
Speaker 1: guaranteed to get. He got another win in Cuba, where
Speaker 1: he secured an agreement to resume diplomatic relations after fifty
Speaker 1: four years of hostilities, signed the Iran Nuclear Deal, the JCPOA,
Speaker 1: which was designed to prevent Iran from developing nukes in
Speaker 1: exchange for sanction relief. Now, whatever you think of Obamacare,
Speaker 1: the TPP, the Iran Deal, all that stuff, and I
Speaker 1: was not a fan, Okay, it's hard to argue that
Speaker 1: Obama's final months in office were lame.
Speaker 2: They were not lame. They were very active.
Speaker 1: He managed to do a lot in those final months,
Speaker 1: and I think it as little as like a year.
Speaker 1: He'd managed to complempletely redefine the meaning of that term,
Speaker 1: so he did not have a.
Speaker 2: Very lame, lame duck presidency.
Speaker 1: Now we know, I bring all of this up about
Speaker 1: Obama because we know how much Obama tends to get
Speaker 1: in President Donald Trump's head, as the legend goes. After all,
Speaker 1: it was Obama's mockery of Trump at the twenty eleven
Speaker 1: White House Correspondents Dinner that provoked him to run for president,
Speaker 1: and ever since he has been fixated on Obama. He
Speaker 1: was even blasting Obama's Chicago Library Presidential Library with like
Speaker 1: petty petty jabs this month. Well, listen, Trump only wishes
Speaker 1: he were having the final few years that Obama did instead.
Speaker 1: Trump's lame duck presidency I think has arrived early. It's
Speaker 1: not a question of how lame it's going to be.
Speaker 2: It's early. I think we're here. Let me lay out
Speaker 2: the case.
Speaker 1: Trump's approval is plummeted since his auguration, dropping from fifty
Speaker 1: two percent. That's right, he came in with fifty two
Speaker 1: percent approval. You've got to remember that that is that's
Speaker 1: as close to, like, you know, coming in with a
Speaker 1: mandate as you can get in today's divided political landscape.
Speaker 1: Fifty two percent It's plummeted to thirty eight. His disapproval
Speaker 1: has shot up fifteen points since he came in this
Speaker 1: second term, and thanks in large part to his again
Speaker 1: dumb tariffs, dumb war in Iran. The midterms are looking
Speaker 1: so bad for Republicans that the party has resorted to
Speaker 1: mid census redistricting schemes that may may or may not
Speaker 1: pay off.
Speaker 2: We don't even know yet.
Speaker 1: Democrats could not only take back the House, but when
Speaker 1: the Senate, with candidates in red states like Texas, Iowa,
Speaker 1: and Ohio in real contention, then there are Trump's recent losses,
Speaker 1: a lot of them. The one point eight billion dollar
Speaker 1: slush fund is Justice Department proposed to pay out magaloyalists,
Speaker 1: including Jan six's insurrectionists, was met with such disdain from
Speaker 1: his own party he had to dump it.
Speaker 2: They were going to face some legal challenges.
Speaker 1: But people I spoke to inside the administration said they
Speaker 1: were pretty sure they would get past those legal challenges,
Speaker 1: so they dumped it because of political pressure from their
Speaker 1: own party. Four Republicans in the House just voted with
Speaker 1: Democrats to pass a war powers resolution directing Trump to
Speaker 1: withdraw military forces from Iran.
Speaker 2: That's not what he wanted.
Speaker 1: Republicans in both chambers have come out to condemn Trump's
Speaker 1: utterly absurd pick for D and I for Director of
Speaker 1: National Intelligence Bill POULTI, who has no relevant experience to
Speaker 1: oversee the nation's intel agencies. Because that's not why he's
Speaker 1: going there. He's not going there to do that job.
Speaker 1: He's going there to do another job. Trump wants to
Speaker 1: put him there, to install him there so that he
Speaker 1: can have access to everyone's information, so he can help
Speaker 1: prosecute political enemies and maybe help break an election. I
Speaker 1: think it's highly unlikely he actually gets that job again
Speaker 1: from pushback from Republicans. The fate of his billion dollar
Speaker 1: ballroom remains up in the air, as do the Trump
Speaker 1: battleships he's proposed. A judge rules cannot put his name
Speaker 1: on the Kennedy Center. His Freedom two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: concert series collapsed as musical acts dropped out one by one,
Speaker 1: leaving like Vanilla Ice to headline if it happens at all.
Speaker 1: I mean, these are some humiliating losses, and they're back
Speaker 1: to back. It's a bad news cycle. And you know
Speaker 1: the crazy part. I remember he came in with fifty
Speaker 1: two percent approval. The crazy part is had Trump just
Speaker 1: pursued like normal policy wins for Americans instead of insane, vulgar,
Speaker 1: self interested nonsense, he'd surely be in a different position.
Speaker 1: Imagine if he hadn't, you know, talked about invading.
Speaker 2: Greenland for months or Canada.
Speaker 1: Right, Or imagine if he hadn't done all of these
Speaker 1: dumb tariffs or went to war with Iran Nobody asked
Speaker 1: for that. Just imagine if he hadn't done those few things.
Speaker 1: I think he'd be in a much different position. Instead
Speaker 1: of focusing on the economy and just making life better
Speaker 1: for most Americans, he's focused on legacy building and self dealing,
Speaker 1: putting his name on shit, putting his likeness on buildings
Speaker 1: and money, while Americans are struggling and his own party
Speaker 1: is starting to question the value of backing him unquestioningly,
Speaker 1: and like I said, he's made several of them enemies,
Speaker 1: just as he's looking to get their votes on cabinet
Speaker 1: and judicial appointments and on funding for wars and ballrooms
Speaker 1: and on important.
Speaker 2: Pieces of legislation. Like that was not smart.
Speaker 1: I didn't imagine that it would come this early before
Speaker 1: the midterms. Ye, but I think Trump's lame duck presidency
Speaker 1: has one thousand percent begne. There's stuff he's not being
Speaker 1: he's not able to get done.
Speaker 2: There's stuff he.
Speaker 1: Wants to do and cannot He's being stopped by his
Speaker 1: own party. I mean, this is the definition of a
Speaker 1: lame duck. That's what that's where he's at right now.
Speaker 2: And unlike Obama, doesn't it even look like he's interested
Speaker 2: in turning it around. Okay, after the.
Speaker 1: Break, let's talk about the Democrats with Democratic Strategists Karen Finnie.
Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to off the cup. I
Speaker 1: want to bring in my friend Karen Finney. She's a
Speaker 1: CNN contributor at a Democratic strategist. She's the perfect guest
Speaker 1: to talk about some of the primary races that we
Speaker 1: had this week and whether the Dems can get get
Speaker 1: themselves across the finish line in in the midterms.
Speaker 2: Welcome Karen.
Speaker 6: Hi, So good to see my friend.
Speaker 2: You two, you're like the perfect person for this.
Speaker 1: There's a lot I want to I want to get
Speaker 1: your insight on and I you know what, I love
Speaker 1: this time because it feels like for as much trouble
Speaker 1: as I think the Democratic Party is kind of in
Speaker 1: Democrats are being real honest about what's going on, and
Speaker 1: that's helpful. That's helpful, I think for people to hear
Speaker 1: just some real honesty, and you're always honest. So I
Speaker 1: want to start. I want to start with the LA
Speaker 1: Mayor's race. Karen Bass Spencer Pratt finished in the top two.
Speaker 2: So they move on. What are your sort.
Speaker 1: Of top lines? What are you making of that race?
Speaker 1: And do you think Spencer Pratt can win in a
Speaker 1: city like La.
Speaker 6: You know, I actually went to Ucla and live there,
Speaker 6: and I know Karen Basso. I know the city pretty well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 6: LA's been through a rough let's say ten years, probably
Speaker 6: more than that. I mean between COVID and what's happening
Speaker 6: in the homelessness crisis. Fires, the fires obviously strike, so
Speaker 6: just a lot of things on top of each other
Speaker 6: that really came in succession. So that for I say
Speaker 6: that to say, I'm not surprised that this mayor's race
Speaker 6: is more competitive than you might have thought it would
Speaker 6: be because the mayors had to deal with a lot.
Speaker 6: The other thing that's quirky about Los Angeles is there
Speaker 6: are things that the mayor controls and things that people
Speaker 6: think she controls that she doesn't. And I don't just
Speaker 6: mean Karen Bets. I've seen this happen with other mayors
Speaker 6: where people are mad about something and you know, when
Speaker 6: you're spending your time having to explain, then you're not
Speaker 6: talking about what you've accomplished, and so there's a lot
Speaker 6: of frustration. I think people were hoping she would have
Speaker 6: made better progress with regard to homelessness, because she had
Speaker 6: big ideas, and she's made some progress, but not enough.
Speaker 6: The fires is the real pain point I think for people. Actually,
Speaker 6: I will say there is a real mood in the
Speaker 6: country and you're seeing a lot of I'm seeing this
Speaker 6: with democratic governors, you know, Josh Shapiro and Wes Moore
Speaker 6: talk about how they have signs that say, you know,
Speaker 6: let's cut through the shit, like let's get hypercensation, you know,
Speaker 6: let's cut three. You know, I don't want to hear
Speaker 6: about the red tape. I don't want to hear it like,
Speaker 6: let's get it done. And I don't think people Maybe
Speaker 6: people didn't feel that enough in LA and so we're
Speaker 6: open to you know, what I would consider a non
Speaker 6: traditional candidate, someone who's not of the system, who's not
Speaker 6: around city council. So I'm not surprised and he's he
Speaker 6: presents well. I mean, despite the coverage we've all we've
Speaker 6: seen about his past, he presents well and he certainly
Speaker 6: is channeling the anger that people are feeling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and what blows my mind, and I had Spencer
Speaker 1: on the show. What blows my mind is like, where
Speaker 1: where's the Democrats?
Speaker 2: Spencer Pratt?
Speaker 1: Because I understand why he would be an unappealing.
Speaker 2: Candidate for an LA Liberal.
Speaker 1: He will point out all of his supporters are Democrats,
Speaker 1: but I understand coming from reality TV, there's like Trumpiness
Speaker 1: kind of around him, even though I think he's done
Speaker 1: a good job trying to separate himself. But I asked
Speaker 1: because I only think we're going to see more of
Speaker 1: this more Spencers if Democrats don't figure something out pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: He came into, as you say, a political establishment that
Speaker 1: he was not a part of. He pointed out, I
Speaker 1: think very obvious problems right, there's too much crime, homelessness,
Speaker 1: drug use. Democrats have overpaid the police unions, street lights
Speaker 1: aren't getting changed, roads aren't getting paved, and instead, like
Speaker 1: anyone could have said that Spencer's the one that said it,
Speaker 1: And it feels like Democrats are instead defending the status
Speaker 1: quo because there's they're defensive, right, Like Republicans do this
Speaker 1: thing where they go overboard talking about how liberal cities
Speaker 1: are burning to the ground.
Speaker 2: If you're a liberal city mayor, you say, listen, I've
Speaker 2: done a lot. Are Okay, we're not burned to the ground.
Speaker 2: But you end up defending the status quo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think as long as Democrats keep doing that,
Speaker 1: that's going to give rise for people like Spencer to
Speaker 1: come out and say what everyone can see with their
Speaker 1: eyes and ears and maybe get more traction than they should.
Speaker 6: What do you think, Well, I think that's an interesting point,
Speaker 6: especially because when you are the incumbent, it is hard
Speaker 6: not to have to be put in the position I'm
Speaker 6: having to defend. Although I always say, two candidates, let's
Speaker 6: talk about what more there is to do. It's okay
Speaker 6: to say, hey, we've gotten a lot done, but there's
Speaker 6: so much more I want to get done. Yeah, and
Speaker 6: I've heard her say that, but I think there can
Speaker 6: be more of that. And I'll tell you the other thing.
Speaker 6: If I'm thinking, I'm thinking a little bit about because
Speaker 6: the other thing LA has had to deal with was
Speaker 6: Ice and you know, the the Trump incursion, and it
Speaker 6: is interesting to see how the mayor of Baltimore and
Speaker 6: the mayor of Chicago really turned that into moments where
Speaker 6: people saw them not as any kind of as the incumbent,
Speaker 6: but as you know, the thing standing between them and
Speaker 6: Ice agents. And I don't know that I saw Karen
Speaker 6: have that kind of moment, and I'm not saying she didn't,
Speaker 6: and maybe I just didn't see it, but I just
Speaker 6: don't remember that's such And so I think that maybe
Speaker 6: the other thing is she needs some of these to
Speaker 6: be seen as a continuation of not just the status quo,
Speaker 6: but of you know, we're trying to get some things
Speaker 6: done here and we have more to do so. But again,
Speaker 6: it's a tough environment. I mean California in general, because
Speaker 6: we also talk about the governor's race, right I mean,
Speaker 6: we're gonna yeah, California in general is kind of a
Speaker 6: mess right now, and you know, it is anxiety.
Speaker 1: People feel like it's too expensive to live there, it's
Speaker 1: too expensive to work there. So you've got business is
Speaker 1: leaving Hollywood leaving. That's a huge, huge problem for LA
Speaker 1: in particular, and then you've got other systemic things. The
Speaker 1: problem I think for Democrats is that you can't blame Republicans.
Speaker 2: For any of it.
Speaker 1: No part of California has been run by Republicans for
Speaker 1: a really long time.
Speaker 2: So let's go to the governor's race.
Speaker 1: What do you make of the fact that it's Bessarah
Speaker 1: and Steve Hilton and that you could get a Republican governor.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it's I think it's a similar phenomenon
Speaker 6: to we're seeing in the La mayor's race in that
Speaker 6: you have, you know, Javier Bessera's former age obviously Secretary
Speaker 6: of Health and Human Services, so he's a known entity
Speaker 6: in the state.
Speaker 2: Yes, but he's and let's be honest.
Speaker 6: You know, stylistically he's not as gregarious as colors. But
Speaker 6: I would say he's he's he's he's smart, he's reliable.
Speaker 6: I think you would do a great job. Okay, But
Speaker 6: I think you're seeing a similar thing where people are saying, well,
Speaker 6: maybe do we want something different? Maybe we do, Yeah,
Speaker 6: maybe we you know, And again I think it's a
Speaker 6: similar I think we're going to see this, frankly play
Speaker 6: out in a lot of places where can't I mean
Speaker 6: we can talk about Maine before his troubles, you know,
Speaker 6: Graham Platner was seen as that kind of you know,
Speaker 6: this sort of you know a lot of people calling
Speaker 6: it generational. I think there's a generational on into it,
Speaker 6: but there's also just a I think people are ready
Speaker 6: for something else. And I will say Trump is adding
Speaker 6: to that because I think a lot of people were
Speaker 6: kind of blanked out the parts of those feelings we
Speaker 6: heard people talk about, you know, when he was president
Speaker 6: the first time, of like I'm just tired of waking
Speaker 6: up and hearing about him. I need a.
Speaker 2: Break all the time, right, yep.
Speaker 6: And And now they're I think they're back in that feeling.
Speaker 6: And the economy is not good, and we're frustrated, and
Speaker 6: I think people are just we're finally maybe far enough
Speaker 6: away from COVID that we just what's next, what's the future.
Speaker 6: And so I think that is a very tough environment
Speaker 6: to be running in. And so I say that to
Speaker 6: say I am not surprised that someone like Outside Right
Speaker 6: could come in make a credible case, particularly if you
Speaker 6: have the financial resources to do so. You present well,
Speaker 6: you are channeling the anger that people are feeling. I
Speaker 6: think that's a really important piece. People are going to
Speaker 6: give you a hearing. And the things I'd say about
Speaker 6: the governor's race too, is you know, I mean Tom
Speaker 6: Steyer technically is an outsider, but he's been such a
Speaker 6: large presence in the state for so long. I don't
Speaker 6: think people saw him that way, the same way they
Speaker 6: might have seen they see Steve Hilton is something totally different.
Speaker 2: That's interesting.
Speaker 1: Well, okay, so two things I want to ask you about,
Speaker 1: because you know this better than I do. Why do
Speaker 1: I keep hearing people talk about people from like Biden
Speaker 1: world kind of shitting on Biserah and being like that
Speaker 1: guy really, like, what what did he do that was
Speaker 1: so bad that in this incredibly important race you even
Speaker 1: have Democrats coming for him, not democrats who are running. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what don't I know about about Basera.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, as you could tell from the release
Speaker 6: of that autopsy, my parties having a moment where we
Speaker 6: just need to, you know, put on our big girl
Speaker 6: pants and cut the shit. But that's another thing.
Speaker 1: You said it, You said it, But like buying the
Speaker 1: world is chirping about how like unimpressed they were with
Speaker 1: Besara and I don't. That might be true, but like
Speaker 1: why is that important right now?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's not, is the point. I mean, that's just petty, right.
Speaker 6: I mean that's why I say like he's not a
Speaker 6: particularly gregarious figure, but he is a he's solid. He
Speaker 6: did really good work in the state is ag. So again,
Speaker 6: the other thing I'd poured out is maybe, I mean
Speaker 6: unclear what was it that they wanted from him in
Speaker 6: the Biden world during his time at HHS that they
Speaker 6: didn't get because again, yeah, as a profile for a governor,
Speaker 6: he comes with a lot of the right kind of experience.
Speaker 6: That's a huge issue everywhere, particularly in California. So but
Speaker 6: he's again you know sometimes so maybe it's okay to
Speaker 6: just have somebody's going to just go in there, put
Speaker 6: their head down and get the work done right and
Speaker 6: isn't like a star And that's okay. And here's the
Speaker 6: other thing though, that we're the other dynamic that I
Speaker 6: think is in his favor and going to la this
Speaker 6: is a thing for Karen versus Platt that people also,
Speaker 6: particularly in more liberal areas, you got to show you
Speaker 6: can stand up to Trump and that you're going to
Speaker 6: protect us because people know whether it's medicaid cuts, whether
Speaker 6: it's you know, guy knows what's right, Ice, the big
Speaker 6: ugly bill, and all the things that are really governors
Speaker 6: are the ones who are really having to figure out
Speaker 6: how to readjust their budgets and deal with us. So
Speaker 6: I hope if I were advising Besarah, that is the
Speaker 6: argument that I would make rather than and point out that, look,
Speaker 6: Hinton is someone who is going to be beholden to Trump.
Speaker 6: I mean, just look at what's happening, for example, with
Speaker 6: the DOJ and Trump administration trying to get your voter data.
Speaker 6: Is democratic governors and ags who are saying, no, we're
Speaker 6: not handing it over. Republicans are slow walking it, but
Speaker 6: they're kind of doing it. So I think a good point.
Speaker 6: There's an argument to be made that says, hey, I'm
Speaker 6: going to protect us and get us through this.
Speaker 2: Okay. I want to go to Iowa, the Iowa Senate.
Speaker 1: We had a primary and tuesday, Josh Turuck handily defeated
Speaker 1: the sort of more anti establishment Democrat candidate in that primary.
Speaker 2: Can Democrats turn Iowa blue? This year?
Speaker 6: Let's hope that.
Speaker 2: Maybe.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think I do you know two things,
Speaker 6: and this is another dynamic here. We also have a
Speaker 6: governor's race there. People feel real good about our gubernatorial candidate.
Speaker 6: So and I say that to say, as you know,
Speaker 6: particularly in a midterm year where you don't have a
Speaker 6: presidential that top the ticket, if that, if they can
Speaker 6: sort of help each other with turnout and get the
Speaker 6: right voters and sort of thinking about who are the
Speaker 6: voters we need to turn out in order to get
Speaker 6: this win. That's why I think it's a maybe. Also,
Speaker 6: I mean, I've just heard great things about him. He's
Speaker 6: a good candidate, He's you know, solid, Yeah, I like him.
Speaker 6: People seem to really like him. So I think that's
Speaker 6: the other dynamic we need to be keeping an eye
Speaker 6: on in a number of these states where you know,
Speaker 6: so for example, in Texas, one of the questions I
Speaker 6: have is, with Gina Najosa at the top of the ticket,
Speaker 6: does that help Latino turn out.
Speaker 2: For Tall Rico Ta Rico right know?
Speaker 6: Would be So I think that's the other thing we
Speaker 6: have to look at in some of these races.
Speaker 1: Okay, So, between Iowa and Turik, Texas and Tall Rico,
Speaker 1: Maine and Platner North Carolina and Roy Cooper, who's the
Speaker 1: likeliest pickup.
Speaker 2: Do you think in the Senate.
Speaker 6: I'd say Roy Cooper. Yeah, because he's so he's he
Speaker 6: is beloved and respected and trusted in uh North Carolina
Speaker 6: governor right right from becoving been governor, having been governor.
Speaker 2: He's well like writing by Republicans.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it's hard to I mean, it's he's
Speaker 6: it's hard to run a nasty campaign against. I mean,
Speaker 6: you can attack him on I mean, I'm sure they'll
Speaker 6: find things, but point being, people generally thought he did
Speaker 6: a good job, right, so there's not they're not huge. Again,
Speaker 6: they'll find things, but again, he's so well liked and
Speaker 6: people saw him as a successful governor, so.
Speaker 1: They did, and he went through he was vetted by
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris for VP, so he went through some of
Speaker 1: that scrutiny when we were all talking. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people only know Roy Cooper from that moment
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, so a lot of people got
Speaker 1: to know him a little bit. So he's got that. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go back to Maine. Some more bad news this
Speaker 1: week for Platner. But but will it matter because there's
Speaker 1: I covered the New York City mayoral last year for battleground,
Speaker 1: and I saw it was a very similar race to
Speaker 1: me in that you know, Chuck Schumer and the Democratic
Speaker 1: establishment was in there trying to push Cuomo.
Speaker 2: Mumdannie was in there.
Speaker 1: Didn't care, didn't need, didn't need the help of the party,
Speaker 1: and all of the drip drip on Mamdani, the stuff
Speaker 1: he said about cops, the stuff maybe he had said
Speaker 1: about Jews, like voters didn't care. Some voters cared, but
Speaker 1: most voters thought, I don't care.
Speaker 2: He's new.
Speaker 1: I like his ideas. We're going to give him a shot.
Speaker 1: Will Platner get the same benefit in Maine? Or is
Speaker 1: it a very different situation.
Speaker 6: It's really it's very different. Here's the problem that Plattner has.
Speaker 6: Uh And I was just reading this morning because there's
Speaker 6: a whole new round of the back and forth about
Speaker 6: from one of the women who was in the New
Speaker 6: York Times story, And you know, the more we're talking
Speaker 6: about this, he's not Tawdrey. Yes it is. Yeah, here's
Speaker 6: the problem. Is I two things. It's less technically about
Speaker 6: the sexting, with the exception that if it is the
Speaker 6: case that any of these women, god forbid, there was
Speaker 6: you know, any abuse or assault or anything like that,
Speaker 6: then that is a very serious problem. Yeah, full stop. However,
Speaker 6: if we're talking about something that was happening in the
Speaker 6: context of a marriage where they've dealt with it, that's
Speaker 6: between them. I don't think people care about that. What
Speaker 6: they care about is this is not the first time.
Speaker 6: And when the edit post came out and about his
Speaker 6: tattoo and some of the other questions that people have had,
Speaker 6: and he said point blank to several journalists there's nothing else,
Speaker 6: there's no more. That's it. And what strikes me about
Speaker 6: this we have to remember he said that knowing that
Speaker 6: this was out there, because this story came from their
Speaker 6: own self.
Speaker 2: Research, Yes, their own APO, right exactly.
Speaker 6: I mean, as you know, for folks who don't know,
Speaker 6: right at the beginning of a campaign, you sit down
Speaker 6: and you say, Okay, here's all the horrible things that
Speaker 6: could come out about me, right.
Speaker 2: And you do it so that the other team doesn't
Speaker 2: do it, right.
Speaker 6: You, and you know that that is potentially out there.
Speaker 6: So he knew this was out there, and I don't
Speaker 6: understand why they didn't think, well, maybe that's one we
Speaker 6: should try to get ahead of. Yep, And here's the
Speaker 6: other thing I see that really has struck me about this.
Speaker 6: It's his response when it first came out, is very
Speaker 6: off brand, because he's positioning himself as, Hey, I'm that
Speaker 6: I've been in therapy, I'm this open, I'm an open book.
Speaker 6: I'm transparent, I you know, and he talked very eloquently
Speaker 6: about how having been in the infantry in his twenties
Speaker 6: it was a very macho culture, of very violent culture,
Speaker 6: and that he really is a different person today than
Speaker 6: he was then. I mean, just the openness really that
Speaker 6: plays into the brand that he.
Speaker 2: Is authenticity exactly.
Speaker 6: But then when this happens, he says, well, this is
Speaker 6: just gossip. Well, no, it was your self research, right,
Speaker 6: and why not just say this is an issue between
Speaker 6: my wife and I. It's not your business instead of
Speaker 6: trying to because you know, whenever people try to say, oh,
Speaker 6: there's nothing to see here, it's going to make people
Speaker 6: want that. Yeah. So three problem.
Speaker 1: I don't remember if I saw this in the Times. No,
Speaker 1: I saw this this morning. Just this one short paragraph
Speaker 1: on Platner. Platner's infidelity to his wife, whom he married
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, was reported on by The Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal and Times last weekend. He has previously muddled
Speaker 1: through scandals about the Tottenkop tattoo that was emblazoned across
Speaker 1: his chest for almost two decades, as well as online
Speaker 1: comments in which he disparaged rural maners, suggested that victims
Speaker 1: of sexual assault bear responsibility for what happened to them,
Speaker 1: and mocked an American soldier awarded a purple heart for
Speaker 1: his bravery who was shot during a firefight with the Taliban.
Speaker 1: That sounds like Trump, Like the infidelity, the sexual harassment,
Speaker 1: the weird relationship to the you know, anti truth submitting sorry,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, in ability to tell the truth, mocking soldiers
Speaker 1: like this is when you condense it and you put
Speaker 1: it all together.
Speaker 2: It's bad.
Speaker 6: It is bad. But again, I think people are willing
Speaker 6: to forgive you love. We love a story of how
Speaker 6: people change or transcend. I mean the fact that he
Speaker 6: has said, I I see I you know, I've listened
Speaker 6: to an interview we said, look, I see things differently
Speaker 6: now than I did then. I know what I knew
Speaker 6: that I've now been around people who and I understand
Speaker 6: their stories, and so I have a different perspective. That's powerful,
Speaker 6: and I think we should want leaders who have that
Speaker 6: capacity for self evaluation.
Speaker 2: If it's like it's if it's authentic.
Speaker 6: And then the fact that then this comes, I think
Speaker 6: is if anything, it makes people say, well is it authentic?
Speaker 6: And again, but here's the other dynamic in Maine that
Speaker 6: just from the interviews that I've seen conducted with Maners
Speaker 6: over the last several days, people also really want to
Speaker 6: defeat Susan Collins. So the question becomes our people exactly
Speaker 6: because some people did that with Trump too, and and
Speaker 6: you know, it's an interesting lesson, though, I will say
Speaker 6: for my party, because some folks tend to be real
Speaker 6: purists about you know, you've got they've got to be
Speaker 6: right on all these issues. And I can remember in
Speaker 6: twenty twenty four having conversations with voters and saying, but look,
Speaker 6: sometimes you don't agree with somebody on everything, and you
Speaker 6: decide who aligns closest with my value. But now, I mean,
Speaker 6: you know, it's been interesting to see people like Bernie
Speaker 6: Sanders have to you know, defend and it's like, look,
Speaker 6: the part of the argument is you may not agree
Speaker 6: with this guy on everything, you may have questions, and
Speaker 6: you may still vote for him.
Speaker 1: So maybe we should he's our only shot now against
Speaker 1: rights tend to be Susan Collins right.
Speaker 6: And I mean again, I'll tell you interesting in that.
Speaker 6: You know there there again this anti incummancy or anti
Speaker 6: you know, this ageist thing. Janet Mills has been a
Speaker 6: very good governor.
Speaker 2: She's a bowler.
Speaker 6: Yeah, she's beloved people. Remember she took on Trump and
Speaker 6: early on around.
Speaker 1: So why didn't she get traction because behind her too, Like,
Speaker 1: why didn't that work?
Speaker 6: I almost want sometimes if you again, it goes back
Speaker 6: to this incumbency people feeling like they want something different. Yep,
Speaker 6: and again I think you have to you can't. You
Speaker 6: said this, you can't defend the status quo, even if
Speaker 6: you are not inspiring. Yeah, it's not okay.
Speaker 2: I want to before we do a little flightening round.
Speaker 2: I want to end.
Speaker 1: Let's end on the Bidens back in the news this
Speaker 1: week because they just can't stay away. Jill's got a
Speaker 1: new book out, which is absolutely her right. She's been
Speaker 1: doing press for it. Again, that is totally her right,
Speaker 1: But she made some headlines for saying the first thing
Speaker 1: was that she thought Joe was having a stroke during
Speaker 1: the debate, and then continued to tell people who was fine,
Speaker 1: and she made some headlines for saying that Joe would
Speaker 1: have beat Trump had he stayed in the race, which
Speaker 1: is de Lulu. Yeah, listen, do you think that the
Speaker 1: Bidens because you know them? I don't do to think that
Speaker 1: the Bidens are just unaware of how unhelpful they are.
Speaker 2: Or do you think they are aware and don't care?
Speaker 6: Sadly, that's a serious question. No, that is the question.
Speaker 1: There's only two possibilities, Karen, Like I know, there's only
Speaker 1: two possibilities. They don't know that they're unhelpful, which is
Speaker 1: why they keep going out and talking the way they do,
Speaker 1: or they know and don't care, which is a possibility.
Speaker 1: To which do you think?
Speaker 4: It is.
Speaker 6: Hard to say. I don't think that. I don't think. Look,
Speaker 6: I question, like a lot of folks, why are we
Speaker 6: doing this now? Why are we writing a book? Yeah?
Speaker 6: I mean why? And I know when you write a
Speaker 6: book you don't always have control over when it comes out. Okay,
Speaker 6: but why are you writing a book at all? What
Speaker 6: are you trying to accomplish? And part of me wonders
Speaker 6: if to some degree it is about trying to define
Speaker 6: his legacy, define her legacy. I get that me too,
Speaker 6: But you're going to have to be a little more
Speaker 6: if you going to make that choice. Then understand that
Speaker 6: the main question here the questions people are going to
Speaker 6: want to have answered, And here's what is going to
Speaker 6: be credible, And here's what's going to really stress credibility
Speaker 6: to the point that I actually think this hurts them. Frankly,
Speaker 6: Like if we hadn't had this conversation this week, God forbid.
Speaker 6: And I do love Joe Biden, but I would rather
Speaker 6: we get to remember him for the good things that
Speaker 6: he has done for this country and his service to
Speaker 6: this country. Yeah, then having conversations about like ough, and
Speaker 6: then there was the but, and then there was the
Speaker 6: because it's just you know, I'm sorry, it's just not
Speaker 6: credible to say it's not you.
Speaker 2: He would have won, right, No.
Speaker 6: No, And by the way, let me just tell you,
Speaker 6: having been on the inside of the mechanics of that race,
Speaker 6: he also would not have won because they had not
Speaker 6: done the fundamentals in terms of reaching out to the
Speaker 6: autopsy said this, and I was just joking with some
Speaker 6: of the other day, It's like our side, it's been
Speaker 6: the same thing for so long. You've got to get
Speaker 6: to young voters, black and brown voters earlier consistently don't
Speaker 6: take us for granted, don't parachute in Nope, And they
Speaker 6: had they hadn't even set that up yet, right, So
Speaker 6: why do you think that was because I think they
Speaker 6: were running an old style campaign. I don't think they were.
Speaker 6: I think there were a lot of bad decisions being
Speaker 6: made and not connecting with where the country really was
Speaker 6: in terms of you know, look, we're seeing Trump struggle
Speaker 6: with it now, trying to tell people things are great
Speaker 6: when that's not what they're feeling and not. And look,
Speaker 6: the other issue that I had was I really thought
Speaker 6: it was powerful for Joe Biden to say he would
Speaker 6: be one term. He would be a bridge.
Speaker 2: Me too, thought Karen. That's how he got my vote.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I've heard you voted for.
Speaker 1: Him because he said I'll be one I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be a transformational president.
Speaker 2: I'm a transitional president. Great like I.
Speaker 6: Was in one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: I felt betrayed, Yeah, and he decided to run again.
Speaker 6: I did too, And like a lot of folks, I
Speaker 6: also felt you know, people that I know who were
Speaker 6: in that campaign who looked me in the eye and
Speaker 6: said he's good he's fine. Come on, guys, don't do that,
Speaker 6: don't you know, don't.
Speaker 2: What are conversations with those people like today?
Speaker 6: They are tense. I mean, we didn't get it's very straight. Yeah,
Speaker 6: because it's you know, and I would imagine some of
Speaker 6: them were probably rolling their eyes this week with this
Speaker 6: conversation about the book, because they also want to just
Speaker 6: let's move on, let's move on, let's go to let's
Speaker 6: get to the next race.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, well, thank you for sharing all of that.
Speaker 2: I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Before we go, we like to end on an exit
Speaker 1: poll and a little mental health minute with a series
Speaker 1: of questions of varying degrees of seriousness.
Speaker 2: So I appreciate we were all right, we were you outright?
Speaker 2: These are varying degrees of seriousness.
Speaker 1: Okay, First, what is your favorite movie about politics?
Speaker 6: Oh? All the President's Men. It's a good one. It's
Speaker 6: such a good. It's such a good.
Speaker 1: I love it because it's about politics and journalism. It's like, yeah, perfect, yes,
Speaker 1: it's just combination.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's so and it's so instructive. I mean, it
Speaker 6: teaches you a lot about how power works in this town.
Speaker 6: Even today. It holds up.
Speaker 2: You're so right. Who was the best fictional president?
Speaker 6: Oh gosh, oh Bartlett?
Speaker 2: Yeah, West Wind West which Bartlett.
Speaker 6: I was gonna say, Dave, But Dave's so good.
Speaker 1: Dave is so underrated because the premise is so absurd,
Speaker 1: and I think people like write this movie off is
Speaker 1: it is fantastic, and Kevin Clyde and Charles Groden and
Speaker 1: so Gourney Weaver are like so good in it.
Speaker 6: It was adorable, like it was so cool good. Yeah,
Speaker 6: it was such a cool movie.
Speaker 1: I've always since that movie, which is ancient now, but
Speaker 1: like I've always imagined that there is this like hospital
Speaker 1: under the White House.
Speaker 6: Where I don't I don't. I don't think there is.
Speaker 6: But let me tell you, the med Unit is pretty
Speaker 6: pretty well stocked. So I've heard that. I've heard that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, what is Karen Finney's Guilty Pleasure?
Speaker 6: Candy Crush? For sure? Yeah, and just bad stupid TV.
Speaker 6: Although not, but I'll tell you what I really love
Speaker 6: to do. Like I've rewatched Shit's Creek. Yeah, there's a
Speaker 6: comedian named Leanne Morgan. She has a comedy special and
Speaker 6: she has a show on Netflix that I just rewatched.
Speaker 2: I'm huge right now.
Speaker 6: Oh, my god, and she's so funny. Yeah, And so
Speaker 6: any comedy is really what I'm into right now, just
Speaker 6: because it's mindless. It's a little mindless, and we need it.
Speaker 6: We need it so badly, we know. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 6: there are times I'm listening to it and my dog
Speaker 6: will look up, you know, and I'll start laughing at
Speaker 6: my dog is even looking at me, like, what's the
Speaker 6: matter with you?
Speaker 2: So, oh, judge me dog?
Speaker 6: Yeah, come on.
Speaker 1: What is your advice to Democratic voters who are feeling
Speaker 1: less than enthusiastic about where the party is at right now?
Speaker 6: I would remind us that, ultimately, and this is going
Speaker 6: to sound hokey, but it's what I really believe, particularly
Speaker 6: after what we have seen this year, we have more
Speaker 6: power than we realize. We have the power to decide
Speaker 6: who we want representing us, and if you don't like
Speaker 6: who is in the race, then run yourself or find
Speaker 6: someone else to run. And I think it's also important
Speaker 6: for us to remember that part of our job as
Speaker 6: voters and as citizens is to hold our leaders accountable.
Speaker 6: You know. One of the things that has been so frustrating,
Speaker 6: obviously as a Democrat looking on the Republican side is
Speaker 6: they seem to feel so impervious to their voters, and
Speaker 6: I hope that part of what happens in the general
Speaker 6: elections is that that falters, that they actually are held
Speaker 6: accountable for the time where they're not even making good
Speaker 6: decisions for the people they represent.
Speaker 1: Karen, it's the most frustrating thing for me to and
Speaker 1: I say this all the time, that Republican voters hold
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and Republican leaders to a much lower standard
Speaker 1: than Democratic voters hold their leaders.
Speaker 2: Democratic voters were mad at Joe Biden. They told him that,
Speaker 2: and they voted accordingly. They voted that way.
Speaker 1: Republican voters don't care when they are lied to their faces.
Speaker 1: They don't care about hypocrisy. They don't care that the
Speaker 1: guy they love said something totally different five minutes ago
Speaker 1: than he's saying right now. That is so frustrating for
Speaker 1: someone in the media, but also for you know, whose
Speaker 1: job it is to like parcel all of this, but
Speaker 1: also as a conservative, I just I can't make sense
Speaker 1: of I can't penetrate the voter who doesn't care that
Speaker 1: they're being lied to and hurt. Yeah, it's a phenomenon,
Speaker 1: it is, And.
Speaker 6: Look, I think part of it. We know, you know,
Speaker 6: it's hard to make you maybe we're or you got duped.
Speaker 6: And I think people may you know, it's kind of
Speaker 6: back to something we were saying before. People make choices.
Speaker 6: They say, well, I don't like all these things, but yes,
Speaker 6: right this, but now I feel like, okay, but he's
Speaker 6: not doing well in the economy, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: All the things you said you cared about, he's not
Speaker 1: doing any of those things for you.
Speaker 6: Here's the other thing I will say to democratic to
Speaker 6: all voters. Really, and this goes to something that Joe
Speaker 6: Biden said and I think is still true. We are
Speaker 6: in a fight for the soul of this country. I mean,
Speaker 6: we are in a moment of are we going to
Speaker 6: be a multi racial democracy where we protect our freedoms,
Speaker 6: our rights each other, we keep neighbors our neighbors, we
Speaker 6: move forward as a country or not, because if that's
Speaker 6: what the Constitution was supposed to be, obviously they didn't
Speaker 6: get it right the first time. And we've been tweaking
Speaker 6: it right. Giving women the right to vote, and black
Speaker 6: people and Latinos and all of it, workers rights, all
Speaker 6: of it. That is the project of America. And I
Speaker 6: feel like here we are in this two hundred and
Speaker 6: fiftieth year of our country, and there's a big question
Speaker 6: of what is your American story? Because every one of
Speaker 6: us has our own story, and I want us to
Speaker 6: remember that in this moment, in this year, and to
Speaker 6: use our power and to vote, because it really is.
Speaker 6: It sounds so simple, but it really is powerful. And
Speaker 6: especially if you look at what's happening with the Voting
Speaker 6: Rights Act and the impact that that is having across
Speaker 6: the South. Ye, you know, we've got to stand up
Speaker 6: like never before and make our voices heard. And look
Speaker 6: at what the people in Minneapolis did, right, I mean,
Speaker 6: that's we owe it to each other, to ourselves, to
Speaker 6: the future of this country to have that kind of
Speaker 6: courage in this moment.
Speaker 1: Well said, okay, just a couple more. Should Ken Martin
Speaker 1: step down from the DNC?
Speaker 6: Oh boy? So, I think there's got to be a
Speaker 6: hard come to Jesus with whoever his inner. You know,
Speaker 6: I know some of the people who talk to him
Speaker 6: regularly to really say, to be real clear eyed about
Speaker 6: what his job is going to be because it's the midterms.
Speaker 6: But very quickly, having been there in a cycle like this,
Speaker 6: it's going to be about the DNC and the presidential Yes,
Speaker 6: and to my mind, so setting aside the autopsy, are
Speaker 6: you The question I have for him is are you
Speaker 6: prepared to step up and do what needs to be
Speaker 6: down to make sure we have a fair process, a
Speaker 6: process that people believe in, can get inspired in, and
Speaker 6: really put forward a democratic party that's offering a vision.
Speaker 6: Because it's hard. It's going to be a hard cycle
Speaker 6: with a lot of different big personalities running. So I
Speaker 6: just want him to be clear eyed about that because
Speaker 6: I I feel like he came in maybe thinking the
Speaker 6: job was one thing, and it's been seeing it's maybe something.
Speaker 6: I certainly think it's different than what how I think
Speaker 6: he's running it. Yeah, I'd like to see him really
Speaker 6: you know. And that's going to be a little bit
Speaker 6: of humility too.
Speaker 1: By the way, Yep, what's your favorite thing about summer?
Speaker 1: We're coming up on summer? Oh, be looking forward to.
Speaker 6: The beach. The beach in the summer, the waves, love it,
Speaker 6: the salt water, you know what.
Speaker 1: I love salt water on my skin and my hair. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So it's just it just feels nourishing.
Speaker 2: I don't know why. Maybe it's not, but I love it. Okay.
Speaker 1: Finally, this is the last question we ask it at
Speaker 1: the end of every pod. It's very important to me personally.
Speaker 1: When is it iced coffee season?
Speaker 6: I mean, come on, it could almost always be ice coffee.
Speaker 2: Seasons, because what you need, it's not almost always.
Speaker 6: Okay, it's a correct answer.
Speaker 2: That's a correct answer.
Speaker 6: It's it's I'm but you gotta know, I'm very into like,
Speaker 6: especially being a little older in the in this world.
Speaker 6: I'm like, if I want an ice cream, I'm gonna
Speaker 6: have ice cream. If I want an ice coffee, I'm
Speaker 6: gonna have an ice coffee. And I don't care if
Speaker 6: it's ten degrees outside, so I.
Speaker 2: Don't care if it's before Memorial Day.
Speaker 6: I don't give a shit.
Speaker 2: I'm doing what I want.
Speaker 6: There's like, why why not? Who's gonna Who's gonna like
Speaker 6: you know, the coffee Cosey come get you.
Speaker 2: I love that. Karen Finny.
Speaker 1: So great to have you on and get all of
Speaker 1: your insights on all of this.
Speaker 2: I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 1: You were the perfect guest for today, and I hope
Speaker 1: to see you again before elections.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I hope.
Speaker 2: So that's it for us. Thanks for tuning. In We'll
Speaker 2: see you next week.
Speaker 1: Off the Cup is a production of iHeart Podcast as
Speaker 1: part of the Reason Choice Network.
Speaker 2: If you want more, check out the.
Speaker 1: Other Reason Choice podcasts, Politics with Jameel Hill and Native
Speaker 1: Land Pod.
Speaker 2: For Off the.
Speaker 1: Cup, I'm your host Si Cup. Editing and sound design
Speaker 1: by Derek Clements. Our executive producers are me Si Cup
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