WEBVTT - John Heilemann & Sen. Tammy Baldwin 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.120 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:12.200 today's best minds and Democrats have staged a historic upset 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.760 in Omaha, Nebraska. We have such a great show for 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.760 you today. Pawkin News is John Heilman cuts through the 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.119 noise with a discussion about what happened in the twenty 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:30.000 twenty four campaign and whether or not Biden's age was obfiscated. 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.880 Then we'll talk to Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin about how 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:38.280 we push back on Trump's many, many oversteps. But first 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:39.080 the news. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:44.360 Somali the Katari plane, the scandal is not landing at all. 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.159 Trump blew his lid today in discussions about it, and 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:50.160 he did a whole lot of talking about the Middle 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:51.520 East today. What are you seeing here? 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.960 Look, I think this plain thing is really a good 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:01.040 example of corruption that first of all, it cuts through 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.160 the noise. Right, You've seen Trump do other corrupt things 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:08.080 like the Trump coin and all of the sort of 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.280 family real estate dealings, but this is something different. It's 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.480 a very clear bit of corruption, right, Like we've never 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.279 had a president and try to take a plane from 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:23.080 a Middle Eastern royal family before, Like, it's just so 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:29.039 beyond the pale of normal stuff that I do think 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.759 it's a standout. And if Trump were smart, he would 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:36.839 just drop it. He would just say, who cares a wait, 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:41.480 I'll get the plane from Boeing. I'm the president. Data 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.319 da da. But because Trump is Trump, and maybe this 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.400 is how he got here a little bit. Because Trump 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:52.520 is Trump, he cannot thread the needle on this. He 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.680 cannot let it go. So he just thinks that if 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.360 he keeps going with this, he's going to get this plane. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.640 But it is There's nobody in the world, I mean, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:08.120 even the biggest Trumper, even the bots on Twitter who 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.359 are saying, well, the Americans got the Statue of Liberty, 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.960 even those people know for sure understand that this is 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:19.320 not fucking right, that this is completely crazy. So we're 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.480 three days into this story or four days into the story. 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:24.760 So this is a bad story for Trump, right, the 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.560 fact that it keeps going and every time he he says, well, 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.639 they are just being nice. It's smart to take the plane. 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:35.760 And this is my really my theory in life, when 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.679 you're defending yourself, you're losing. When you're trying to make 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:45.000 the case that a Middle Eastern royal family should give 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:49.720 you a plane. Okay, and everyone in the world, including 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:55.720 Republican senators, are bursting into laughter. You're losing, so just 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.120 give up on the fucking plane. You're not getting the plane. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.360 Every day you do it, you look like an asshole. 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:03.840 Like give it up, man, You're welcome. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:09.240 So today there is a disastrous hearing with Christino, who 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.280 many people have disastrous for her. For her, she looks 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.200 pretty pretty bad in this. Many people have talked about 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:20.000 how she's just the spokesperson for all these horrible, horrible 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.239 things I is doing. And well, I'm gonna let the 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:24.240 tape speak for itself. 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.200 Thank you, Madame Secretary. You have an important job. I 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:29.560 think you have one of the most important jobs in 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.560 the cabinet. Thank you for doing it. I want you 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:37.440 to have credibility and be taken seriously as you do 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.800 the job. And so I want to put to rest 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:44.200 this question about mister Garcia. In this photo that the 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:47.960 President posted on April twenty one, Madame Secretary, you agree 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:52.680 that the letters MS and the number thirteen in Times 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:58.000 Roman numeral font that they are doctored on this photo. 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:03.920 Right, Congressman Brego Garcia. No, no, I'm just it wasn't 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:05.160 based off of tattoos. 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:06.120 It was off an. 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.560 Entire and accept I'll accept that for the purpose of 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:10.000 this question. 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.320 You agree though, that this is doctor, Is that right? 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:14.680 The same protocols that are scary. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.040 I want you to have credibility, and I want you 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.200 to be taken seriously. Is this doctored or is it not? 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:20.839 I'm taken quite seriously. 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:22.560 Is it doctored or not? Doctor? 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:24.560 The importance that the President has given me. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.800 To I understand is it doctored or nothing. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.240 That's important to remember is that every single time a 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:29.880 case is. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.919 Built, we stopped at about minute one oh five. That 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:34.520 goes on for two and a half minutes. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.480 Of course, by the way, I love that's Eric swall 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:42.200 while questioning her and I want you to have credibility. 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.240 First of all, I'm not convinced Eric wants her to 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.840 have credibility. But that is neither here nor there. No, 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:52.360 I mean, that was just an incredible bit. Christy Nome 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.680 is one of the inheritors of trump Ism, so she's 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.919 what's in the pike when Trump's term is over. So 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:00.400 that's something, well. 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.400 Let's put some more color on it. I think Congressman 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.240 Robert Garcia did some amazing work here. 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:05.680 Thank you. 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.800 Would you commit to just letting his mother know, as 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.640 a mother to mother, if Andrey is alive. He was 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.800 given an asylum appointment by the United States government. We 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.080 gave him an appointment. We said Andrey come to the 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.960 border at this time to claim asylum. He was taken 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.440 to a foreign prison in El Salvador. His mother just 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.200 wants to know if he is alive. Can we check 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:25.560 and do a wellness. 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.400 Our asylum applications are different than the granting of asylum, 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.080 and I don't know the specifics of this individual case. 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.360 This individual is an El Salvador and the appeal would 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.600 be best made to the President and to the government 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.680 of El Salvador on this. We've made that under my 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:41.920 jurisdiction at METEM. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.560 Secretary, you have said that you that in Ol Salvador 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.560 is one of the tools in the toolbox that you have. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.960 You have said that and has been quoted as saying 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.520 that you and the President have the ability to check 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.080 if Andrew is alive and if not being harmed. Would 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.440 you commit at least into looking and asking of Salvador 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:58.080 if he is alive. 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:00.360 This is a question that's best ask to the resident 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.080 and the government of l Salvador. 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.080 And I think it's I think you know very well 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.160 that you could ask that question, but you're choosing to 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.960 do medical secretary is disregard this young man's life, this 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.560 young man's family who was given an appointment by the 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.440 United States. I think it is shameful that you won't 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.400 even request to see if this young man is alive. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.159 His family has no idea, has no access to lawyers. 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.520 I would hope that we would have that humanity, the 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.000 humanity to just check if this young man is okay. 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:27.640 With that, I yep back, it's shameful. 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:32.040 The problem that these people have is that you can't 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:36.719 ever go against Trump. So if something is photoshopped and 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.320 everyone knows it's photoshopped, but Trump says it's not photoshopped, 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:44.360 you have to say it's not photoshopped, so right, I mean, 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:46.560 that's what it is. You can't she can't be like 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.120 just like the people in the hearings where they would say, 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:52.560 you know, they'd ask questions like, well, will you do 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.559 what the president tells you or will you follow the law, 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.160 And then they say, I can't deal with theoreticals, because 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.120 what they mean to say is we're going to do 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.720 what the president tells us to and we don't give 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:05.920 a shit about the law. So that's where we are here. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.200 That's the way in which these people are painted themselves 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.000 into corners they cannot get out of. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.880 Sob The New York Times has this blockbuster report that 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:20.000 Stephen Miller is running the DOJ and Pam Bondy is 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.200 just a figurehead that she is like an actor. And 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.920 when I think of headlines, I don't want to see. 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.320 That's very high up in the echelon of ones I 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:29.400 would not like to see. 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.880 Okay, So today I've had this conversation with six different people, 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.960 like what is scarier Trump at the rains or Trump 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.800 slightly diminished and Stephen Miller at the rains? And yes, 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.840 there is a lot of reasons to fear a Stephen 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:48.840 Miller presidency. But just like one Marco Rubio, the guy 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:55.600 has fifty seven jobs. Okay, Stephen Miller is running the administration, 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.560 He's running this, he's running that he's running the DOJ. 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:02.000 For sure, I'm sure that's true. That Pam Bondi is 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.320 just to pick your head. I'm sure you know if 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.200 that's the reporting, I think that's probably right. But I 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:12.360 do think that this guy can't do It's just one person, right, 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:17.080 unless they have really sophisticated AI. There's only so much 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.640 damage one person could do. Now, Canny do a lot 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.280 of damage, yes, but it is only one person. 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.320 Yeah, it's just one person with really, really really bad morals. 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:26.840 Yeah. 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.360 Yeah, well no, I me and I think we can 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.080 all agree that this is not the person that any 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.640 of us want in charge. But that said, it is 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:43.120 only one person. John Heilman is an NBC National News 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:47.920 correspondent as well as a Puck News partner. Welcome, Welcome, John. 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:49.600 Hi, how are you? 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:51.840 Oh, I'm just living the dream. 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.560 You don't seem like super energetic this morning, Molly, What's 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:55.040 what's going on? 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.720 I'm energetic. I went to a party last night. I'm energetic. 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:00.679 Or was the party? 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:01.680 Was it the high Line? 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:02.319 It was good. 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:06.360 American life grinds on despite the fact that our political 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.360 system is in what is what do you think the 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.040 what would you say this sort of word is for 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.160 this moment in American politics? 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.000 Surreal? I mean just sort of terror, incognita if you 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.080 want to be like Latin, this has been true in 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.640 both Trump terms. This movie, it's not different, but it's 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.400 just like there's just so many things for which there 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:29.839 is no precedent, and I'm like tediously. It's not like 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.319 I'm some like, you know, some great historical scholar or something, 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.280 but just like I'm always like looking for some precedent, 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.320 like how do how do we evaluate this thing? Well, 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.240 this has happened before, and this is how it kind 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:41.880 of came out, so there's a guide to this, or 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.040 this has happened a lot before, or well it has 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:45.719 happened very often, but there have been times when this 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:47.920 has happened or something like this has happened. But you know, 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.679 that's just constantly. Every day, there's like five things that 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.240 there's no metric or artstick where you're kind of like, well, 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.360 here's how we could we can get some general sense 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.520 a how this might unfold on the basis of this 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.320 thing that happen in nineteen sixty four. It's like just 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.719 like I don't know, I mean, what do you think 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.480 is gonna happen? John fucking Idea? 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.600 Well there is, But it does feel like with trump Ism, 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:16.080 there's always this sort of feeling that maybe someone will 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.600 do something right like the Republicans, there's sort of a 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.120 wish and I mean that ship is I. 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:23.800 Don't have that. I don't have that feeling at all. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:25.360 I gave up on that feeling a long time ago. 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.800 So we talk about the guard rails. We talk about 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.000 sort of I mean, their courts continue to say, hey, 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:31.760 you can't do that. 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.680 Yeah, the courts. The courts stopped the court the courts 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.600 routinely regularly. Thank God for that branch of government, because 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:43.320 the other one's totally suphine, meaning the legislative branch. Yeah. 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.719 Uh so the courts continue to operate. That is a 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:47.880 thing for which there is precedent. The courts, you know, 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.880 I continue to act like the courts mostly, and they 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.160 keep Trump from doing various things that he wants to do. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.520 And I guess I here's here's the thing that's worth 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.240 thinking about. I guess in this text. And maybe you 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.000 have an insight on this that I because I've just 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.040 started thinking about it. It's like, if you look at 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.079 what what has happened just in the last few days 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.400 around the big beautiful bill. You know, there's these things 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.640 that Trump, you know, campaigned on, right, you know, no 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.199 taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:22.160 Uh. 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:24.280 You know, he recently, as you know, last week, came 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.720 out and said, having kind of been towing and throwing 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:28.520 about it for a while, finally came out and said 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.160 to Mike Johnson, let's raise taxes on the rich. I mean, 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.000 he set that he set the limit really high at 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:35.520 two and a half million, but he said he'd be 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:37.520 open to, he'd be He wants that, not just the 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.760 he'd be able to. He wants that. That's not going 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:44.240 to happen. And nor nor are a lot of things 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:48.640 that he campaigned on, you know, pretty vocally, like no 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.559 tax on tips and you know, his unfeasible. It's not 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:53.960 like but it's not like the it's not like the 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.520 Republicans are standing up and saying, you know, getting in 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.920 his face about it. They're just not going to do that. 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.920 You know, it's the thing he wanted. They're not going 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:09.160 to do it. He's you know, he capitulated on on 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:14.160 the US Attorney for uh, the District of Columbia. You know, 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.800 Tom Tillis said, no, I'm not gonna this, this is 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.080 fucking nuts, and Trump was like, all right, no. He 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.440 put in Jeanine Perrot, you know, how long that will last, 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:31.160 who knows. But it's like there's things where he's kind 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.120 of giving up on things, you know, rather than stomping 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:35.960 his feet and saying I must have this, I must 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:37.760 have that, there's more things that he's willing to kind 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.439 of like when somebody says no to him, he kind 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.680 of goes all right. The interesting question is like what's 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.600 going to happen with the with the plane and just 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.800 all of the obvious corruption, right, because there's more Republicans 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:50.800 speaking out about that than I've heard speak out about 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:51.520 almost anything. 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:57.920 Cynthia Cynthia Loomis burst into hysterical laughter when she heard 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:58.360 about it. 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:02.000 Yes, I mean, you know, Laura Lumer is attacking him, 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.320 Ted Cruz, Ben Shapiro, all these people are now taking 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.199 are Like I said, what this is like? You can't 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.520 take this plane from from Cutter. That's crazy. And you 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:14.360 know what happens now? And here's the interesting the thing 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.440 that ties the two things together for me. Do you 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:22.400 think that Trump being willing to kind of give up 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:24.640 on shit he doesn't really care about that much, like, 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.280 you know, does he really care about like raising text 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.040 on the wealthy? You know, if Trump were really running 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:32.680 for a third term, like really thought he was gonna 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.280 that he had a political future. I think he might 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.040 not take the plane from Cutter, you know, because the 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.760 corruption of his really so naked, that is, it's a 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.200 political If Trump were really running for a third term, 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.960 he might want to like really press for raising taxes 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:50.959 on the rich, because that's like a good band and 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.080 esque like populist economics. I wonder whether we're starting at 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.840 like and both that his behavior and the fact that 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:01.520 Republicans are starting to either just kind of ignore him 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:05.319 on certain things or openly criticize him, like on the plane, 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.520 whether what's sinking in with people. And I say this 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:10.440 as someone who's thought for a long time Trump was 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:11.840 going to stay in the White House until he was 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.840 dead or taken out either either leave the ovalops with 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.560 a toe tag or an handcuffs. Those are the only 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.560 ways you're going to get him out. I wonder whether 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:22.520 it's starting to have like on both sides, people are 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.560 kind of going, yeah, you know what, two term, Like 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.200 I'm gonna we got another four years to get to 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.840 do whatever the fuck I want. But I'm not gonna 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.360 try to press it here and try to stick around 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.640 for a third I wonder I'm right. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.680 I mean, it is the real open question, right is 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:46.200 how much energy does he have for the authoritarianism he 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.880 is very delighted and curious by. 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:54.320 And that's the question, and whether he and whether he thinks, yes, 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:56.960 that's certainly right. And I don't mean to suggest at 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:02.760 all that the authoritarian threat is receded, but just that 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:06.640 on certain things he just seems more exhausted, you know, 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:08.800 than than he has in the path. He just sort 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:11.200 of seems kind of like, you know, the answers to 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:13.520 some of these questions, you know, than these interviews he's 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.200 done recently. He has just seemed so flaccid to me, 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:18.560 like he's kind of like Steve Miller, still out there 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.280 talking about repeal it, taking back, about getting rid of 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:25.280 Habeas corpus and that's super dangerous. And but I just 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:26.600 there are times when you look at Trump and you 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.360 kind of go, he looks like he's just like a 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.920 little like he's a little like kind of had it, 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.440 you know, He's Okay. I'm just like, I just don't 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:38.200 have that much energy anymore. Let's just get on, like money, 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.200 give me the money, let me build it, let me 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.680 build the giant hotel and cutter and let my family 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:45.359 get really rich. You can't prosecute me because I got immunity. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.600 It's just like, you know, let me give me, give 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:48.800 me as much shit as I can get a hold 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.000 of in the next four years, and I'll like go off, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:51.480 thank you. 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.520 And and my man is in his late seventies. I mean, 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.120 this is not a young guy. 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.960 Yes, and a lot of mileage on those tires too, moy. 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.720 I mean, you know, if you if you get to 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:05.520 be that age, I don't care what kind of genetics 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:06.800 you have, you get to be that age and you've 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.560 only eaten like Big Max and not done any exercise 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.040 other than what he would pass us for him playing 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.560 around the golf, right, you know that body is not 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:17.200 cannot be like in the I don't care what doctor says. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.200 That body cannot be in the best shape well. 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.800 And also he doesn't sleep. I mean, the guy looks 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.960 a very frenetic, high stress life. So there's a book 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.080 that's coming out that says that basically there was a 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.000 cover up about Biden's age. I have yet to see 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.440 anything that threads a needle for cover up. It just 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.120 seems like that, you know, if I could you know, 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.560 it all seems like people were you know, the things 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.280 people do when other people are in power or they 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.160 want them to stay in power. It doesn't seem in 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.720 my mind like there's if only Democrats were organized enough 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:50.880 for a cover up, is my hot take. 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:52.080 But I'm curious. 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:53.840 You're talking about Tapa Thompson. 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:54.760 The Taper Thompson book. 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.920 Yeah, so I've read it. I haven't. I haven't. I'm 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.160 going to interview those guys on my podcast and as 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:01.760 I'm sure you are, and others or are they're going 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.159 to publicize the book like crazy, I'm eager to read it. 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.639 Those are two serious people with who are good reports 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.080 and or well sourced. And Alex Thompson was was, you know, 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:16.479 commendably resistant to the aggressive White House pushback on biden 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:18.119 age and health stories. 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.800 You know, over the everybody like, didn't you read a 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.800 ton of stories about how Biden was old and doddering? 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:29.280 And I think that you didn't know? Now, I mean, yes, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.240 you what you read was a lot of people. First 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:32.280 of all, you've heard a lot of people on the 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.960 right saying that all the time, right, I don't think 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.920 that you would say that in that on MSNBC CNN 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.040 and otherwise that there was a lot of like aggressive 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.000 coverage like that kind of made that point. I spent 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.320 you know, we've talked about this before, I'm sure on 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.280 this podcast, but you know I spent when I would 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.879 say on television not like doing investigative trying to investigate this, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.120 but just would say there is a consistent through line 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.960 starting in October of twenty twenty one through whatever point 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.760 you were talking that the American public things Joe Biden's 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:05.520 too old for run for a second time. I would 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.040 get it, but I would say that and then get 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.479 there and get brutalized. And there were not a lot 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.399 of people brutalized in social media and by Democrats, and 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.840 you would get you wouldn't get a chorus of people 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.080 who are like, yes, this is a giant problem for 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:22.040 Joe Biden politically, and and why isn't the Democratic Party 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.879 running a prime? Why isn't there a real primary? Why 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:26.960 is no one taking them on that? That was not 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:28.760 something that you heard of. There was not something that 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:30.720 was like uh, that was front of the center and 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:33.320 the coverage going forward and so but your point is 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.400 about cover up. So I don't know what the book alleges. 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:37.239 So it's it's I don't want to like knock down 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.119 a straw many right, you know, My sense of it 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.840 is that it's a much more interesting, complicated thing. It is. 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.560 There is no doubt that the White House did what 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.679 every White House always does for any income and president, 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:52.959 which is to try to push reporters away from their 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.840 political vulnerabilities and towards their political strengths. 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.320 Right, And it would be malpractice to not that's what 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:00.680 they did. 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.879 So that's what they did. I think there were a 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:08.200 lot of reporters who the Biden press shop, and and 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:14.600 you know, was there openness about you know, when you 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.120 started to hear things like I'll give you an example 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:25.000 in like the fall of twenty twenty three, actually more 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.879 like the winter of twenty twenty four. Was when people 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.080 at who were donors started saying to me they thought 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.000 it was that Biden looked really bad even in small groups. 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.560 And what was it was even for like a ten 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.000 minute off the record thing with big donors was reading 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.560 off a teleprompter. Yeah, I didn't see that that was 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.880 not reported widely? Now was that because those were closed fundraisers? 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.320 The White House obviously didn't want people to know that 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:49.840 that's what any White House would have done to try 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:53.040 to protect their boss on an issue of political vulnerability. 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:58.119 Reporters didn't seem to really super aggressively pursue it. The 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:03.840 questions around why the Democratic Party, which is a political 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:08.840 party last I checked, and as a political party, should 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:18.840 be interested primarily in two things. One it's preferred policies, programs, values, ideology, whatever, 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.040 but prior to that, having to win elections so that 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.600 you could institute your policies, priorities, values, and ideology. Why 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:31.800 the Democratic Party all these congressman, senators, donors who saw 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.040 Biden with some frequency in various settings and now have 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.560 come out and said that they had private concerns. Why 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.960 those people didn't speak up and say, hey, if we're 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:46.120 a serious political party, we should consider you know, someone 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.879 should come forward and challenge the president, like, why, you 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.760 know what we have concerns about this? Why did that 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.080 raise the alarm earlier? I think that's a really good question. 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.320 But I think that speaks more to the way that 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.480 the system works to you know, it is the case 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:05.280 that challenging a sitting president is really hard for a 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:07.080 lot of reasons. It's hard because it's hard to raise 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.159 the money to challenge that person. It's hard because if 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.199 you challenge that person and don't win, your future is 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.399 fucked in the party, And there's all this institutional stuff 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.679 that basically protects incumbents. And I think that there were 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:22.240 a lot of Democrats who were in denial about his situation. 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:24.879 There were a lot of Democrats who didn't want to 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.280 really know the details, the kind of thought. He looked tired, 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:28.720 but then he would give a good state of the Union. 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:30.760 They'd be like, Okay, cool, we can get through. Trump 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:33.760 is fucking crazy. He's fulfilling also, And there were a 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:36.399 lot of Democrats out there who might have challenged Biden 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.719 who looked at it and said, you know the way 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:41.600 I asked a juggernaut, they have a lot of money, 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.280 there's gonna there's really hard to beat an incumbent. Do 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.240 I want to mortgage my future or risk my future 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:49.840 as a presidential candidate in twenty twenty eight, twenty thirty two, 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:53.240 twenty thirty six to taking on a sitting president where 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.200 if I don't win, everyone in the institutional Democratic Party's 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.640 going to hate me forever. I think like there's much 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:02.480 more like was it much more that the story here 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:05.360 isn't so much a giant cover up in the way 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.359 we think of a cover up, as a series of 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:11.960 institutional things that led a lot of people to forget 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:14.520 what the point of being the Democratic Party was, which 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.000 is or any party is, which is You've got to win, 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:19.879 you know, and it's as not you shouldn't mortgage your 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.280 values or your preferred policies. Shouldn't you know, you shouldn't 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:23.920 do anything to win. That's not win at all cost, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:27.840 that's not stop believing. But you have to win. If 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:31.040 you don't win, you this is what happens. You get 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:33.040 Donald Trump for the next four years. So you know, 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.560 you have to first things first, consistent with your priorities, 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:39.320 consistent with your values, consistent with your ethics. You have 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.200 to do anything you can, everything you can to win. 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.160 And that the Democratic Party was not operating on that 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:47.880 principle when it looked just as Joe Biden's poll numbers 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:50.480 forget about what people saw behind the scenes. If you 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:52.600 just looked at his poll numbers, you would have said, 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:55.440 we have a problem. Yeah, you know, for like two 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:57.640 years you would have said we have a problem. And 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.000 you know there were again we go on forever here 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:02.560 about this, But you have some countervailing things. Biden was 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:04.879 able to look up after the midterms and say, hey, 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:06.719 y'all said that we were going to get killed the midterms. 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:08.679 We didn't get killed in the midterms. Y'all think I 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:10.200 can't give a decent speech. I did okay at the 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:12.000 State of the Union. He had things to point to. 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:16.400 But again, two and a half years of polling, and 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:20.280 what you could see, which was that without saying the 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:24.359 guy had Alzheimer's or had dementia or had just think 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:27.080 I was old, and he looked his age. He looked 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:28.800 his age. And if you look, if you looked at 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:31.520 that guy and say, looked his age, he's not his best. 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:33.879 He's lost a lot of miles per hour of his fastball. 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.280 We probably, if we really think democracy is on the line, 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:41.159 we probably should consider some other alternatives, because this is 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.399 not who you put forward in an existential election. 0:23:43.640 --> 0:23:47.440 But it is interesting now. So Biden was the oldest 0:23:47.480 --> 0:23:49.800 person ever to be president. Now Donald Trump is the 0:23:49.880 --> 0:23:52.800 oldest person to ever be president. And this sort of 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:55.120 dovetails back to what we were talking about before, which 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:58.240 is that as someone who has dealt and just wrote 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:02.560 a book about aging parents and my experience with my 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.359 aging parents and et cetera, et cetera. Getting old is 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:09.000 not a conspiracy theory. It's what happens to all of them. 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:13.680 Yes, And anybody who's ever dealt with anybody in their eighties, yeah, 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:17.520 knows that. It is not agism. Nor is it disrespectful 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:21.840 to say people in their eighties are not who you 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:25.760 want driving a Formula one car, you know, flying your 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:28.800 airplane or being president of the United States. It's not 0:24:29.119 --> 0:24:31.720 They are diminished in various ways. Do they have wisdom 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:34.800 that we don't have? Maybe sometimes yes, if they're wise, 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:36.919 like they have certain like some of them do, not 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:39.119 all of them. I'm like, I'm not ready to say 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:41.600 everyone who's eighty is wiser than me, but I'm saying 0:24:41.640 --> 0:24:45.440 some are. Some are, but they don't have the reflexes 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:48.359 of a of a forty year old, and they don't 0:24:48.400 --> 0:24:50.800 have the energy or the stamina, and they don't have 0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:52.679 the sharpness or they don't have to recall, they have 0:24:52.680 --> 0:24:54.320 a lot of things that are diminished by that age. 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:56.080 And so you have to ask that question. It was, 0:24:56.160 --> 0:24:58.800 you know, to say someone is it's not like you know, 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:01.440 you would say you know he's getting out of yours people. 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:03.480 You know, you're saying that that people in their agies 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:06.160 are worthless. I'm no, I'm not saying they're worthless. I'm 0:25:06.160 --> 0:25:08.159 just saying they probably are not the best person to 0:25:08.240 --> 0:25:10.280 have the hardest job in the world. 0:25:10.600 --> 0:25:10.880 I mean. 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:13.560 The one thing I would say, and I'm not trying 0:25:13.640 --> 0:25:18.040 to be argumentative here, is I do think that Nancy Pelosi, 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:20.520 as I hold of a yellow crayon, God help me, 0:25:21.320 --> 0:25:23.399 that Nancy Pelosi is pretty sharp. 0:25:23.880 --> 0:25:26.240 Yes, I'm not saying there aren't exceptions to the rules. 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:27.800 Right, but there are exceptions to the rule. 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:31.119 Is there are there exceptions to the rule. There are 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:34.320 exceptions to every rule. I'm just trying to say as 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:36.520 a general thing. You know, I am very much in 0:25:36.560 --> 0:25:39.040 the John Stewart camp, which was when he first came back, 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:41.360 and was like, both of these guys are too old 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:43.399 to be president. In three hundred fift I heard this 0:25:43.480 --> 0:25:45.679 all over the country, which was people would come up 0:25:45.680 --> 0:25:48.520 to me and go, whether they were Democrats or Republicans, 0:25:48.560 --> 0:25:53.480 would be like, really, two octagenarian dudes, for both of 0:25:53.520 --> 0:25:56.800 whom when you watch them, one of whom seems bonkers. 0:25:57.119 --> 0:25:59.680 That's right, And the other of whom seems like pretty 0:26:00.600 --> 0:26:03.720 as I watch him shuffle across the south lawn, Yeah, 0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:06.439 is this really the best we can do? That was 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:08.520 what the question that people we give and I and 0:26:08.560 --> 0:26:11.360 I was always like, that's a totally reasonable question. That's 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:13.480 like and again, it's not a dis to Joe Biden 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:15.439 or his years of service or the various things that 0:26:15.480 --> 0:26:18.120 have made him wise, but like you know. 0:26:18.880 --> 0:26:22.480 At this point, it's just a truism. Yes, about twenty 0:26:22.520 --> 0:26:23.000 twenty four. 0:26:23.400 --> 0:26:26.280 And and people who would make this point most most 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:32.199 appointedly to me, people in their eighties who would say, 0:26:32.359 --> 0:26:34.520 I am not what I was, what I once was, 0:26:34.640 --> 0:26:36.359 I wouldn't want this job, and proas like, what are 0:26:36.400 --> 0:26:38.280 we talking about here? Was it like old? Was it 0:26:38.280 --> 0:26:40.840 like elderly? People were like you are rallying around Joe 0:26:40.840 --> 0:26:42.760 Biden constantly? They were kind of going, they we should 0:26:42.760 --> 0:26:43.600 look at someone younger. 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:47.280 Yeah, no, it's true. And and I think a really 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:49.760 good point, John. I hope you will come back. 0:26:50.080 --> 0:26:52.800 I'll always come back. Yeah, always come back back. And 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:55.840 if I didn't tell you this story before, please I'll 0:26:55.840 --> 0:26:57.959 tell you it now. It's my last is exactly are 0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:00.640 the point were we're just on I've told one hundred times, 0:27:00.680 --> 0:27:02.520 but I'll tell it now because it was. It was 0:27:02.600 --> 0:27:04.520 literally the funniest thing that happened in the whole of 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:07.199 the twenty twenty four election cycle. To me that Saturday night. 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:11.280 Anything funny happened to you during that anyway, go on yes. 0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:14.320 Saturday night after the Republican Convention. You'll recall this weird 0:27:14.600 --> 0:27:19.280 span of time where Trump assassination, attempt a convention in Milwaukee, 0:27:19.840 --> 0:27:23.119 and then other things that happened immediately there after. So 0:27:23.119 --> 0:27:25.280 the Saturday night after the Republican Convention ended on a 0:27:25.359 --> 0:27:28.520 Thursday Saturday night, Dave Chappelle and John Stewart did a 0:27:28.560 --> 0:27:31.600 comedy set at the kind of like a freends and 0:27:31.680 --> 0:27:36.080 family show at the Apollo Theater at Harlem, and John 0:27:36.760 --> 0:27:39.840 told this story in his set. He said to the crowd, 0:27:39.840 --> 0:27:41.280 you know, I just came back. I've been back on 0:27:41.320 --> 0:27:44.080 six months. I've been getting a lot of crap from 0:27:44.119 --> 0:27:46.280 Democrats because I came out at the very beginning it 0:27:46.320 --> 0:27:48.040 said that both of these guys are told to be president. 0:27:48.680 --> 0:27:50.560 And you know, it's been really hard for me because 0:27:50.760 --> 0:27:52.199 how many people in the crowd have had someone in 0:27:52.240 --> 0:27:54.439 their eighties who they've had to do something hard in 0:27:54.480 --> 0:27:58.000 their family, you know, an uncle, a grandfather or a grandmother, 0:27:58.080 --> 0:27:59.520 a mother, a father, or whatever, where they've had to 0:27:59.560 --> 0:28:01.679 do something like take away their driver's license to their 0:28:01.720 --> 0:28:04.080 car keys. Everyone's hand went up in the room and 0:28:04.119 --> 0:28:06.000 Stuart said, you know, yeah, what happened with me with 0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:07.919 my nana. My nana was in her nineties and we 0:28:07.960 --> 0:28:10.199 had to take away a driver's license and it was 0:28:10.240 --> 0:28:11.680 the hardest thing we'd ever done. It with the last 0:28:11.680 --> 0:28:13.840 shred of her independence. She just like, look, was clinging 0:28:13.880 --> 0:28:15.360 to this one thing. She was kind of like, don't 0:28:15.400 --> 0:28:17.240 take my driver's license. That's basically like putting me in 0:28:17.280 --> 0:28:20.600 the grave. But my family rallied, We did the hard thing, 0:28:20.680 --> 0:28:23.480 We had the hard conversations, and we finally got her 0:28:23.920 --> 0:28:26.680 to give up her driver's license. It was really painful, 0:28:26.680 --> 0:28:28.560 but it was the right thing to do, but it 0:28:28.640 --> 0:28:32.160 was really painful, and you know, and then he said, now, 0:28:32.280 --> 0:28:34.600 just imagine we were trying to do that with twenty 0:28:34.640 --> 0:28:42.560 million people going. Let the bitch drive, Like that's how 0:28:42.560 --> 0:28:44.440 it s felt with me and Joe Biden. Let the 0:28:44.440 --> 0:28:48.760 bitch drive. That made me laugh and will make me 0:28:48.840 --> 0:28:49.440 laugh forever. 0:28:49.960 --> 0:28:52.680 Yeah, Let the bitch drive. Thank you, thank. 0:28:52.480 --> 0:28:54.400 You, bye, mollie Ie. 0:28:56.560 --> 0:29:01.280 Tammy Baldwin is the junior Senator from Wisconson. Welcome to 0:29:01.360 --> 0:29:04.680 Fast Politics, Tammy Paldwin. It's great to be There's a 0:29:04.680 --> 0:29:07.880 big beautiful bill. Is it called one big beautiful bill? 0:29:08.120 --> 0:29:08.960 Is that what it's called? 0:29:09.200 --> 0:29:12.080 You know, if you're a billionaire, you might think so, 0:29:12.320 --> 0:29:14.560 But this is good for the wealthy and bad for you. 0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:16.920 And that's kind of what we're dealing with, right. 0:29:17.080 --> 0:29:18.959 I would love you to explain to us where it is, 0:29:19.080 --> 0:29:21.240 where it's going, and a little bit about sort of 0:29:21.280 --> 0:29:23.240 how it's being put together right now. 0:29:23.520 --> 0:29:24.160 Absolutely. 0:29:24.400 --> 0:29:28.320 So, the way they start the reconciliation process is they 0:29:28.360 --> 0:29:31.120 tell all these committees in the House of Representatives, you 0:29:31.200 --> 0:29:34.080 got to find some cuts here, or in some cases 0:29:34.080 --> 0:29:36.640 they're saying you even have more money to spend here, 0:29:37.160 --> 0:29:39.840 like for the tax breaks for the billionaires, right, And 0:29:39.920 --> 0:29:42.800 so they instruct all these committees to do this, and 0:29:42.960 --> 0:29:46.960 this week all the major committees that deal with big 0:29:47.000 --> 0:29:49.719 pieces of this are doing their work. So they are 0:29:49.760 --> 0:29:53.080 looking at the medicaid budget, they are looking at the 0:29:53.800 --> 0:29:58.760 agriculture budget and nutrition programs. They are looking at more 0:29:58.840 --> 0:30:02.600 tax breaks they can get to corporations, and billionaires in 0:30:02.680 --> 0:30:03.840 the various different. 0:30:03.520 --> 0:30:05.440 Committees in the House, and that's happening this week. 0:30:05.480 --> 0:30:08.320 And the nutrition benefits that you're talking about, that's SNAP, 0:30:08.480 --> 0:30:12.280 that's supplemental nutritional assistance. So there's an eight hundred and 0:30:12.320 --> 0:30:16.640 eighty billion dollar cut to Medicaid and medicare right, talk 0:30:16.720 --> 0:30:19.160 me through. That was like the top line number they 0:30:19.200 --> 0:30:22.360 needed to pay for the tax cuts that are already 0:30:22.440 --> 0:30:22.959 in place. 0:30:24.000 --> 0:30:26.680 Yeah, so let me tell you a little bit about that. 0:30:26.680 --> 0:30:30.520 That was the instruction, the goal set for the Energy 0:30:30.560 --> 0:30:32.720 and Commerce Committee in the House. I used to sit 0:30:32.800 --> 0:30:34.680 on it, so I know a little is something about this, 0:30:35.240 --> 0:30:39.400 and so they have met their goal, or that's what 0:30:39.440 --> 0:30:42.760 they are in the process of doing this week, by 0:30:43.240 --> 0:30:49.360 cutting Medicaid about seven hundred and fifty billion dollars and 0:30:49.400 --> 0:30:52.840 then making some other cuts, particularly some of the energy 0:30:52.920 --> 0:30:57.040 things like clean energy tax credits. They've taken some pieces 0:30:57.120 --> 0:30:59.760 out of other areas too. But let's talk about the 0:31:00.040 --> 0:31:05.920 big one, Medicaid. We predict that somewhere close to fourteen 0:31:06.240 --> 0:31:10.560 million people will lose their healthcare because of the cuts 0:31:10.600 --> 0:31:13.840 that are being proposed this week. Some of those people 0:31:14.040 --> 0:31:21.480 will lose their healthcare because of the work reporting requirements 0:31:21.560 --> 0:31:23.640 that they are putting forward, which by the way, is 0:31:23.680 --> 0:31:25.719 just a scheme and I'll be happy to tell you 0:31:25.760 --> 0:31:26.640 more about that later. 0:31:27.080 --> 0:31:29.440 And the other big group. 0:31:29.200 --> 0:31:32.760 Of people will lose their health insurance because Republicans have 0:31:32.880 --> 0:31:37.320 turned away from a tax credit that helps people afford 0:31:38.080 --> 0:31:42.680 their healthcare in the Affordable Care Act. This is a 0:31:42.920 --> 0:31:49.400 really important premium tax credit that really makes healthcare super 0:31:49.440 --> 0:31:53.520 affordable for those who otherwise would probably choose to go 0:31:53.600 --> 0:31:57.240 without because they just couldn't afford the monthly premium. 0:31:57.240 --> 0:32:01.400 And then there's also sort of reason more money for 0:32:01.480 --> 0:32:05.640 the military. More money, give me the kind of breakdown 0:32:05.640 --> 0:32:06.240 of where it is. 0:32:07.440 --> 0:32:11.400 Yeah, So the places where you will see more spending 0:32:11.880 --> 0:32:17.880 according to Trump, priorities are the military, homeland security, and 0:32:18.480 --> 0:32:22.640 of course they will allow the committees that deal with 0:32:23.360 --> 0:32:29.880 tax policy to spend more in order to both continue 0:32:29.960 --> 0:32:34.520 some of the Trump one point zero era tax cuts 0:32:34.960 --> 0:32:38.760 for corporations and the wealthy, but also they are looking 0:32:38.840 --> 0:32:44.000 seriously at adding some more tax cuts that benefit the 0:32:44.040 --> 0:32:47.440 wealthy in America. And so those are sort of the 0:32:47.520 --> 0:32:51.400 three major areas where you're seeing the committees freed up 0:32:51.480 --> 0:32:55.480 to spend more money. In fact, they predict next year 0:32:55.960 --> 0:32:59.680 that for the first time ever, the Defense Department will 0:32:59.720 --> 0:33:04.640 spend over a trillion dollars. That is like unfathomable in 0:33:04.760 --> 0:33:08.080 so many different ways. But in any event, they're cutting 0:33:08.120 --> 0:33:12.320 everything else. But when you put everything else together, it 0:33:12.440 --> 0:33:15.840 is much smaller. In order to achieve the type of 0:33:16.040 --> 0:33:20.840 savings that they're talking about to pay for their tax 0:33:20.880 --> 0:33:24.200 breaks for the wealthy, it would be. 0:33:24.080 --> 0:33:26.320 Crippling to so many programs. 0:33:26.640 --> 0:33:31.640 We talked about nutrition programs, snap in particular, Medicaid, et cetera. 0:33:32.120 --> 0:33:36.240 And what I would say is that a lot of. 0:33:36.320 --> 0:33:41.560 Republicans that I'm hearing from say quietly at this point, 0:33:42.080 --> 0:33:46.920 but are uncomfortable with the deep cuts that are being 0:33:47.000 --> 0:33:51.200 proposed for Medicaid. And I think if people keep doing 0:33:51.280 --> 0:33:54.560 what they've been doing and speaking out and sharing their 0:33:54.600 --> 0:33:59.040 stories and writing their particularly their Republican representatives, but write 0:33:59.040 --> 0:34:01.600 all of us. But I think we can make some 0:34:01.840 --> 0:34:05.120 headway in getting them to back off some of the 0:34:05.160 --> 0:34:06.680 worst of their proposals. 0:34:06.720 --> 0:34:09.279 So you've been in the Senate a while, you know 0:34:09.400 --> 0:34:12.760 all of these people. Clearly there has to be some 0:34:13.239 --> 0:34:17.120 regret for letting these cabinet picks slide through. And you 0:34:17.160 --> 0:34:19.080 don't even have to tell me who. But I'm sure 0:34:19.280 --> 0:34:22.200 you know there are some good Republican senators right. They 0:34:22.200 --> 0:34:25.200 may not agree with us, but they're good people, largely 0:34:25.239 --> 0:34:29.080 who have gone into government service to serve and not 0:34:29.200 --> 0:34:32.640 to profit with the RFK stuff. I mean, are you 0:34:32.800 --> 0:34:35.600 seeing a little buyer's remorse here from some of these 0:34:35.640 --> 0:34:37.520 Republican senators. 0:34:37.840 --> 0:34:39.400 Mollie, I want to answer this in a couple of 0:34:39.440 --> 0:34:41.960 different ways. You're saying, I've served in the Senate a while, 0:34:42.000 --> 0:34:43.520 I've served with some of these people. I want to 0:34:43.520 --> 0:34:46.280 tell you that a whole bunch of new Republican senators 0:34:46.320 --> 0:34:48.320 that have been elected in the past couple of cycles, 0:34:48.480 --> 0:34:52.160 and many of them are supercharged LAGA people, so you know, 0:34:52.360 --> 0:34:54.440 I'm getting to know them, but they're not the ones 0:34:54.480 --> 0:34:58.880 we're talking about. Absolutely, there are senators who are having 0:34:59.120 --> 0:35:02.480 buyers remorse with regard to some of the confirmation votes 0:35:02.520 --> 0:35:08.880 they've cast, also for the amount of cruelty and harm 0:35:09.239 --> 0:35:13.200 this budget reconciliation process is teeing up. But I also 0:35:13.280 --> 0:35:16.120 want to just mention one other thing that I that 0:35:16.160 --> 0:35:18.120 I'm keeping in the back of my mind because you know, 0:35:18.160 --> 0:35:19.960 every so often I have to be reminded of this 0:35:20.080 --> 0:35:22.319 both in the House as they're trying to figure out 0:35:22.360 --> 0:35:27.359 how to put together a majority to advance this reconciliation bill. 0:35:27.840 --> 0:35:31.440 You have some who have said, and I'm not going 0:35:31.480 --> 0:35:34.120 to call them moderates, these are just maybe more traditional 0:35:34.160 --> 0:35:36.319 Republicans who have said, oh, some of these cuts go 0:35:36.360 --> 0:35:39.440 a little too far, and then have this right flank 0:35:39.600 --> 0:35:42.640 that says, we are not voting for any bill unless 0:35:42.680 --> 0:35:48.320 you cut five trillion dollars out of domestic spending, because 0:35:48.520 --> 0:35:50.600 we're not going to vote for a bill where the 0:35:50.640 --> 0:35:54.600 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations aren't completely paid for. 0:35:54.840 --> 0:35:59.000 Now in the Senate, interestingly, my counterpart in the United 0:35:59.000 --> 0:36:03.080 States Senate run Johnson has recently said the same thing. 0:36:03.280 --> 0:36:04.520 He says he will. 0:36:04.320 --> 0:36:09.360 Not vote for a measure where the tax breaks for 0:36:09.480 --> 0:36:13.359 the wealthy and corporations are not fully paid for. And 0:36:13.520 --> 0:36:16.960 so it makes for strange bedfellows, if you will that 0:36:17.040 --> 0:36:19.440 there are folks who say, I'm not going to support 0:36:19.480 --> 0:36:22.680 it because the cuts are too deep and it hurts 0:36:22.719 --> 0:36:26.440 my constituents too badly. And you know, at the end 0:36:26.480 --> 0:36:29.760 of the day, if it ends up being some super 0:36:29.880 --> 0:36:34.960 right wingers who join with a couple of more traditional Republicans, 0:36:35.000 --> 0:36:37.080 and then all the Democrats in opposing this. 0:36:37.520 --> 0:36:39.040 Who knows what's going to happen, But we. 0:36:39.040 --> 0:36:42.719 Have a lot of hard work to do between now 0:36:42.800 --> 0:36:45.359 as we're speaking and the houses marking up all their 0:36:45.400 --> 0:36:49.320 bills and the final votes in each House of Congress. 0:36:49.360 --> 0:36:51.680 So got a lot of work on all of our 0:36:51.719 --> 0:36:55.080 shoulders to make sure that we put a stop to 0:36:55.160 --> 0:36:58.520 the cruelest and most harmful of these proposers. 0:36:58.719 --> 0:37:00.520 You know, I think that's a really good and I 0:37:00.560 --> 0:37:03.479 mean we saw this with the tariffs, too, right. I 0:37:03.480 --> 0:37:07.720 mean Rand Paul, who is hardly anyone's idea of a liberal, 0:37:08.320 --> 0:37:11.719 is staunchly against the tariffs, and he turned out to 0:37:11.760 --> 0:37:14.080 be a sort of ally there. I feel like what 0:37:14.120 --> 0:37:16.919 we've seen with Trump is that if you push back 0:37:17.080 --> 0:37:20.600 in a big, loud way, right, you get the attention 0:37:20.680 --> 0:37:23.399 of a Laura Luhmer or someone like that, right, one 0:37:23.400 --> 0:37:27.360 of his people, for example, cutting these social safety net stuff. 0:37:27.400 --> 0:37:30.200 This is the kind of thing that there are populas 0:37:30.200 --> 0:37:32.439 in Trump's camp who don't like this kind of thing. 0:37:32.640 --> 0:37:36.279 And so I'm wondering, do you think that that's sort 0:37:36.280 --> 0:37:39.080 of the play. And then also I want to add, 0:37:39.239 --> 0:37:41.560 if this doesn't pass, what does that look like? 0:37:42.680 --> 0:37:44.640 Boy? A lot of great questions there. 0:37:44.680 --> 0:37:49.640 So I do think our most powerful tool is elevating 0:37:49.680 --> 0:37:52.760 the stories of the people who would be harmed by 0:37:52.840 --> 0:37:57.239 the worst provisions. And for the last months we've been 0:37:57.400 --> 0:38:01.480 trying to organize folks and uplift their stories, not knowing 0:38:01.640 --> 0:38:05.880 exactly what shape or form the final cuts would take. 0:38:06.280 --> 0:38:09.160 And this week is really the first week where we've 0:38:09.200 --> 0:38:13.320 seen them put things into writing and now can assess 0:38:13.480 --> 0:38:17.359 with much greater specificity, assuming they pass what's before them, 0:38:17.880 --> 0:38:20.200 how it's going to harm people. And you know, when 0:38:20.200 --> 0:38:24.920 you're talking about fourteen fifteen million people losing their healthcare, 0:38:25.480 --> 0:38:28.759 that's something that as soon as that knowledge gets out, 0:38:28.880 --> 0:38:32.600 we have a way of fighting back through the population. 0:38:33.200 --> 0:38:36.319 So first question is what happens in the House. We've 0:38:36.360 --> 0:38:41.080 seen this before where the more traditional Republicans are at 0:38:41.200 --> 0:38:45.680 a breakpoint with the right wing flank that is insisting 0:38:45.960 --> 0:38:50.640 on massive cuts to government spending, as they say, so 0:38:50.680 --> 0:38:52.279 they're going to have to work through that first, and 0:38:52.320 --> 0:38:55.200 we'll see it in real time as it happens over 0:38:55.239 --> 0:38:58.920 the next week or two, and that will be predictive obviously, 0:38:59.000 --> 0:39:01.640 if they can't get their act together and can't do 0:39:01.760 --> 0:39:04.600 it by Memorial Day, which is their goal. Then they'll 0:39:04.640 --> 0:39:07.399 take another stab at it when we get back after 0:39:07.440 --> 0:39:10.360 the Memorial Day recess if they are able to come 0:39:10.440 --> 0:39:15.760 to some fragile agreement and send it over to the Senate. Again, 0:39:15.840 --> 0:39:18.880 this is budget reconciliation, so they get around the filibuster. 0:39:19.080 --> 0:39:22.279 It only takes a simple majority vote, and there we're 0:39:22.320 --> 0:39:25.719 going to be working really hard to persuade both flanks 0:39:25.760 --> 0:39:29.560 of that Republican caucus, the ones who won't vote for 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:32.480 it unless it's fully paid for, and the ones who 0:39:32.640 --> 0:39:36.360 think that the proposals that are out there right now 0:39:36.680 --> 0:39:40.160 are too cool and too harmful for our neighbors and 0:39:40.239 --> 0:39:41.600 are willing to help us fight. 0:39:41.719 --> 0:39:44.960 When you cut these programs like Medicare Medicaid, they will 0:39:45.000 --> 0:39:49.640 be larger things like closing of nursing homes and rural hospitals, 0:39:49.719 --> 0:39:52.799 largely in red states where there's less state tax. There 0:39:52.800 --> 0:39:57.319 are certainly Republican senators who understand this and what is 0:39:57.440 --> 0:40:02.000 their feeling on this? So can you use this to 0:40:02.040 --> 0:40:02.560 prevent it? 0:40:03.680 --> 0:40:04.000 Yeah? 0:40:04.040 --> 0:40:07.520 So I think the answer is yes. Really, until we 0:40:07.600 --> 0:40:12.640 saw the specifics about the cuts they were intending, we 0:40:12.640 --> 0:40:18.560 were organizing folks who rely on Medicaid in their families 0:40:18.880 --> 0:40:22.040 because you know, they have a relative who's a senior 0:40:22.280 --> 0:40:24.920 in a nursing home, and the majority of seniors in 0:40:25.000 --> 0:40:28.319 nursing homes rely on Medicaid, or people who have, say 0:40:28.360 --> 0:40:31.440 an adult child with significant disabilities, and they rely on 0:40:31.480 --> 0:40:34.960 Medicaid for both services and healthcare. A third of all 0:40:35.040 --> 0:40:38.000 children are on Medicaid. So we were elevating those stories. 0:40:38.080 --> 0:40:40.239 But one of the points I was also trying to 0:40:40.360 --> 0:40:43.279 draw out is there's a lot of people whose employment 0:40:43.680 --> 0:40:46.439 is paid for it by Medicaid. The people who work 0:40:46.480 --> 0:40:50.080 in nursing homes, the people who work in rural critical 0:40:50.200 --> 0:40:55.120 access hospitals, the people who work in nonprofits that serve 0:40:55.480 --> 0:40:58.520 adults and children with severe disabilities. 0:40:58.719 --> 0:41:01.480 All of those people their jobs. 0:41:01.200 --> 0:41:04.759 Are there and part of their salaries come from the 0:41:04.800 --> 0:41:08.800 Medicaid program. And so I think because of the nature 0:41:08.840 --> 0:41:12.239 of some of the specifics they're now proposing, we are 0:41:12.280 --> 0:41:14.720 going to be able to get a whole new group 0:41:14.840 --> 0:41:19.680 of people speaking out. Hospital administrators and nursing home administrators, 0:41:19.719 --> 0:41:24.680 but also the frontline nurses and nurses assistants who provide 0:41:24.800 --> 0:41:29.920 care every single day under very tough circumstances, you know, 0:41:29.960 --> 0:41:32.560 because they're dedicated to the health and well being of 0:41:32.680 --> 0:41:33.240 their Naghbin. 0:41:33.320 --> 0:41:36.040 It would be malpractice if they did not ask you 0:41:36.680 --> 0:41:39.839 about the plane. Donald Trump wants to take a four 0:41:39.920 --> 0:41:42.880 hundred million dollar plane from the royal family of Qatar 0:41:43.239 --> 0:41:46.440 and use it as Air Force One. Cynthia Lumis was 0:41:46.480 --> 0:41:50.360 asked about this. She's quite a trumpy Republican and she 0:41:50.560 --> 0:41:55.480 burst out laughing, Yes, that's my question. Is me just 0:41:55.600 --> 0:41:56.440 without speech? 0:41:57.640 --> 0:41:59.960 I know? And there's so many different ways you can 0:42:00.120 --> 0:42:02.960 respond to this. You know, this is corruption at its highest. 0:42:03.120 --> 0:42:05.920 Is it a violation of the emoluments cause? 0:42:07.040 --> 0:42:09.960 Absolutely, But let me give you the anecdote that I 0:42:10.040 --> 0:42:11.320 just heard from a colleague. 0:42:11.520 --> 0:42:14.640 I'm gonna I'm not gonna give you attributes. 0:42:14.120 --> 0:42:16.040 To who it was, but it's like, would you let 0:42:16.080 --> 0:42:21.040 the Katari royal family rebuild the White House situation room, 0:42:21.480 --> 0:42:27.000 rebuild the press conference room, rebuild the Oval office, because 0:42:27.239 --> 0:42:30.359 that is what Air Force one is. It has all 0:42:30.400 --> 0:42:34.200 of those things in it. This is so ridiculous. And 0:42:34.239 --> 0:42:37.759 then the amount of money that it's going to take 0:42:38.080 --> 0:42:42.960 to take out what the Kataris have installed in terms 0:42:43.080 --> 0:42:47.600 of communications and security, et cetera, and replace it with 0:42:47.719 --> 0:42:51.840 stuff that we know is secure and impenetrable. Is probably 0:42:51.840 --> 0:42:55.320 going to cost more than just waiting two more years 0:42:55.400 --> 0:42:57.279 for the new air Force. 0:42:57.600 --> 0:42:59.560 Like the conversations I had with people who's taught me 0:42:59.560 --> 0:43:02.680 in this stream, how grid are you about securing the 0:43:02.719 --> 0:43:07.040 midterms and having free and fair elections for the midterms, 0:43:07.040 --> 0:43:09.360 because this is the thing that a lot of people 0:43:09.400 --> 0:43:10.440 I know are word about. 0:43:11.480 --> 0:43:11.800 Yeah. 0:43:11.840 --> 0:43:15.799 So I'm looking at a whole bunch of things that 0:43:16.000 --> 0:43:19.440 I think we've seen throughout history in the demise of 0:43:19.480 --> 0:43:24.600 other democracies, are signs that something really bad is happening. 0:43:24.640 --> 0:43:28.320 And part of it is election denial, trying to disenfranchise 0:43:28.480 --> 0:43:31.200 parts of the electorate, trying to make it harder to 0:43:31.320 --> 0:43:34.879 vote in various ways. Part of it is corruption and 0:43:34.920 --> 0:43:40.720 the mass movement of taxpayer dollars to the very wealthy, 0:43:40.760 --> 0:43:45.520 the oligarchs of a society, other types of corruption. There's 0:43:45.840 --> 0:43:50.560 hallmarks of what happens when a democracy is in trouble. 0:43:50.920 --> 0:43:54.000 And boy, I can tell you I see. 0:43:54.280 --> 0:43:59.640 Action after action in this administration that overreach, that cross 0:43:59.719 --> 0:44:02.520 those lines that make me very concerned, and we've got 0:44:02.560 --> 0:44:04.000 to be vigilant about it. 0:44:04.200 --> 0:44:05.279 At the same. 0:44:05.080 --> 0:44:09.000 Time that we're fighting to make sure that our constituents 0:44:09.440 --> 0:44:13.680 have access to healthcare and have access to nutrition programs. 0:44:14.000 --> 0:44:15.920 We have to do it all, but we. 0:44:15.960 --> 0:44:18.920 Have the courts, we have the Congress when it acts, 0:44:19.040 --> 0:44:23.200 we have our constituents who we are fighting alongside on 0:44:23.239 --> 0:44:26.959 all of these fronts, and that's how we are going 0:44:27.000 --> 0:44:27.520 to push it. 0:44:27.760 --> 0:44:31.960 Things really get like a situation where you start to 0:44:32.000 --> 0:44:35.239 really panic. Do you think that there are enough Republican votes? 0:44:35.280 --> 0:44:37.879 Because I think there are, but I'm not in there 0:44:38.280 --> 0:44:41.200 enough for Publican votes to run a check on Trump 0:44:41.280 --> 0:44:44.400 if he starts doing really out of the box staff. 0:44:45.480 --> 0:44:46.239 Yeah, I do. 0:44:46.480 --> 0:44:49.879 I have heard a number of my Republican colleagues ask 0:44:49.960 --> 0:44:52.840 a question that almost all of my Democratic colleagues have 0:44:52.920 --> 0:44:55.919 been asking, and that is, when faced with a law 0:44:56.000 --> 0:44:59.840 that Congress has passed or a ruling of a court, 0:45:00.280 --> 0:45:04.520 would you follow that law or follow that ruling over 0:45:04.600 --> 0:45:07.960 an order from the Trump administration to the contrary? And 0:45:08.320 --> 0:45:11.839 I heard that question asked by a Republican colleague at 0:45:11.920 --> 0:45:16.440 a Commerce Committee hearing earlier this week, And I'm hearing 0:45:16.560 --> 0:45:22.479 increasingly Republicans saying to Trump nominees, there's only one right 0:45:22.600 --> 0:45:26.399 answer to this question. It's crossing a line too far. 0:45:26.600 --> 0:45:26.839 Now. 0:45:27.160 --> 0:45:31.440 Is that many of my Republican colleagues. No, but if 0:45:31.480 --> 0:45:34.960 it's a simple majority vote, we only need four to 0:45:35.440 --> 0:45:39.000 stand strong. If it's something that can be decided, you 0:45:39.000 --> 0:45:41.799 know that has a subject to a filibuster, we need 0:45:41.840 --> 0:45:42.319 a few more. 0:45:42.480 --> 0:45:46.200 Tammy Baldwin, I am so delighted to get to have 0:45:46.280 --> 0:45:47.920 you on this podcast. I hope you will come back 0:45:47.960 --> 0:45:50.560 because it's just you know, you are answering these questions. 0:45:50.640 --> 0:45:53.080 I ask these very nerdy questions because I'm like, so 0:45:53.360 --> 0:45:56.320 interested in the procedural, where I feel like most people 0:45:56.360 --> 0:45:59.839 are not so interested in. I'd well, you're making them 0:45:59.840 --> 0:46:04.879 as this is crying, So please come back, senitor, Thank you. 0:46:06.080 --> 0:46:06.560 Thank you. 0:46:08.800 --> 0:46:13.800 No moment fu Jesse Cannon smile. 0:46:13.960 --> 0:46:18.040 Let's say your Health and Human Services director has just 0:46:18.080 --> 0:46:21.320 gotten back from a nice swim and some sewage. 0:46:21.080 --> 0:46:22.320 In Rock Creek Park. 0:46:22.760 --> 0:46:26.239 Yes, what would you like the quote for them to 0:46:26.280 --> 0:46:28.920 be at their next press conference? Because if I was 0:46:28.960 --> 0:46:31.400 in the Trump administration, I don't think i'd want that 0:46:31.480 --> 0:46:34.160 quote to be. I don't think people should be taking 0:46:34.200 --> 0:46:38.800 medical advice for me when you're in charge of medical policy. 0:46:39.080 --> 0:46:42.600 One of my favorite things about RFK Junior is that 0:46:42.880 --> 0:46:49.120 he really does seem like he doesn't know what is 0:46:49.160 --> 0:46:54.279 going on, You know what I mean, Like he really unhinged. 0:46:54.480 --> 0:46:57.560 Like he also said earlier this week that it's because 0:46:57.600 --> 0:46:58.600 Trump gets money. 0:46:58.880 --> 0:47:01.560 Remember that, Yes, yes, yes, we discussed that on the 0:47:01.600 --> 0:47:02.440 last episode. 0:47:02.760 --> 0:47:07.239 Yeah, so, I honestly think he's like still kind of 0:47:07.280 --> 0:47:10.600 a Democrat secret weapon, despite the fact that he is 0:47:10.719 --> 0:47:15.239 disassembling much of the federal government. Yeah no, I mean 0:47:15.480 --> 0:47:19.840 RFK Junior, this guy, you know, he is the guy 0:47:19.960 --> 0:47:24.920 who goes to the bathroom without wearing shoes on an xplane. 0:47:25.920 --> 0:47:26.640 You're welcome. 0:47:27.360 --> 0:47:31.680 That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in 0:47:32.040 --> 0:47:37.480 every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday to hear the best 0:47:37.560 --> 0:47:41.839 minds and politics make sense of all this chaos. If 0:47:41.880 --> 0:47:44.960 you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend 0:47:45.400 --> 0:47:48.600 and keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening.