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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly Jongfast, and this is Fast Politics, where

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Speaker 1: we discuss the top political headlines with some of today's

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Speaker 1: best minds. And Sean Duffy's wife says he got the

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Speaker 1: transportation post since, quote, that's all that was left. Thank you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 3: Smiley, this is really interesting. I haven't seen a lot

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Speaker 3: of people talking about this, but Ro Khanna put out

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Speaker 3: a statement talking about how Republicans are pressuring Speaker Mike

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Speaker 3: Johnson to adjourn Congress before the midterms because guess what?

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Speaker 3: They don't want to be accountable.

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Speaker 1: So kind of breaking a little news here, probably talking

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Speaker 1: about what he's seeing on the House floor. He says

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Speaker 1: Republicans do not want us to vote on stopping the

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Speaker 1: war in Iran, which, by the way, Democrats have voted

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Speaker 1: a bunch of times on, allowing prosecutions against the Epstein

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Speaker 1: class and banning federal funding of flock cameras, all very

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Speaker 1: popular things. Look, Here's another thing that's happening right now.

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Speaker 1: So the House is in session. We are nine weeks

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Speaker 1: away from the midterms. And next week, Donald Trump is

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Speaker 1: doing Trumpapalooza in the ever-blowing state of Texas. So if

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Speaker 1: you are a member of the House and you are

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Speaker 1: desperately trying to save your seat, which you probably are,

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Speaker 1: you do not want to spend your time in Washington, D.C.

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Speaker 1: You want to spend your time in your district campaigning.

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Speaker 1: And I think this is a real problem for Republicans.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: They have a very unfriendly environment. They have a wildly

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Speaker 1: unpopular president and they're trying to save their jobs. And so,

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Speaker 1: of course, they want to go home. And when, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's interesting today. Yesterday, we saw a clip of Manu

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Speaker 1: Raju talking to Speaker Mike Johnson. And Mike Johnson is

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Speaker 1: usually extremely congenial and friendly, despite being a huge liar.

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Speaker 1: And what I think what I was really struck by

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Speaker 1: with this was that he was really losing his temper.

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Speaker 3: Felt Trump like?

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Speaker 1: Well, it felt like it was a man who was

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Speaker 1: just in a very difficult situation, which, by the way,

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Speaker 1: fine with me. But I think it's really important when

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Speaker 1: we look at these midterms to look at just how

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Speaker 1: a lot of Republicans luck has really run out.

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Speaker 3: So, Molly, there's a lot of tea leaf reading after

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Speaker 3: Massachusetts primary. I cannot believe we're still having fucking primaries.

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Speaker 3: And it's September 11th. But that's a different story. Anyway,

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Speaker 3: Ed Markey had a sizable win against Congressman Seth Moulton.

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Speaker 1: Charisma Seth, we call him.

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Speaker 3: Oh, yes.

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Speaker 1: He's a molten chocolate cake of charisma.

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Speaker 3: As I said to you last night, this is the

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Speaker 3: second most embarrassing thing that happened to him since he

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Speaker 3: got defeated challenging Nancy Pelosi, which was an ill-advised move.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that was, you'll come at the queen you best

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Speaker 1: not miss. Now, that said, Ed Markey is 80 years old.

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Speaker 1: He will be 86 when his term is over. He

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Speaker 1: has been in office for five years.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but only a senator for one term.

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Speaker 1: Well, good for him. The point is we need term limits,

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Speaker 1: but we need term limits. And also Seth Moulton is

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Speaker 1: a terrible candidate. I made this point on television. I

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Speaker 1: don't think anyone heard it, but I actually think it's

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Speaker 1: a really good point. And it was I read about

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Speaker 1: it in The Times and I remember it happening when

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Speaker 1: it happened, which is Moulton was crazy. quick to throw

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Speaker 1: trans people under the bus. Quick, quick, quick. He said, Ma,

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Speaker 1: I have two daughters and I will never want them

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Speaker 1: doing sports with boys. And I want to point out

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Speaker 1: that he did that because he saw, you know, I

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Speaker 1: don't know what's in his heart, but I think he

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Speaker 1: did it because there's a presidential polling that, uh, trans

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Speaker 1: sports is an issue that Republicans can win on. But

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Speaker 1: let me tell you, this was one of the many

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Speaker 1: reasons why Moulton lost, because I think there was a

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Speaker 1: real sense that if you're going to throw trans kids

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Speaker 1: under the bus, then are you going to throw gay

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Speaker 1: kids under the bus? Are you going to throw black

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Speaker 1: kids under the bus? Are you going to throw Jewish

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Speaker 1: kids under the bus? If you don't stand for something,

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Speaker 1: you don't stand for anything, right?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think to back you up, too, what was

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Speaker 3: amazing is how half-heartedly he did it because he tried to, one,

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Speaker 3: get Ed Markey to agree with him on it on

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Speaker 3: the debate stage. Ed Markey was like, absolutely. And two,

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Speaker 3: they kept trying to scrub this stance from his Wikipedia

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Speaker 3: and they traced the IPs of the edits back to

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Speaker 3: his office.

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Speaker 1: It's just dumb. And it's also quite shitty. But what's

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Speaker 1: cool about it in a way is that the people

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Speaker 1: of Massachusetts were like, fuck you. They were like, we

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Speaker 1: are Massachusetts. And no.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You know, we often don't give voters credit for believing things.

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Speaker 1: You know, we often think of voters as being being

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Speaker 1: easily manipulated and. Or at least there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of pundits who feel that way. And here's a great

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Speaker 1: example of voters being like, nope. And so, again, when

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Speaker 1: you're you're calculus about issues, when you're a candidate, a

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Speaker 1: presidential candidate, a Senate candidate, and you're trying to figure

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Speaker 1: out popular stances on issues. Like, it's worth realizing that

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Speaker 1: there are things that voters believe. And I personally have

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Speaker 1: been a person who has always felt that throwing trans

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Speaker 1: people and trans children under the bus is morally reprehensible

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Speaker 1: and not the way you win elections. I also think

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Speaker 1: it's not politicians' business to dictate what happens. in sports.

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Speaker 1: And I also think Republicans don't care. They just want

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Speaker 1: to other trans people. But I do think like this

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Speaker 1: is a great example of how it's not popular to

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Speaker 1: it's not popular, at least in the Democratic Party, to

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Speaker 1: be terrible to groups of people who need your protection.

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Speaker 3: I think it's also a big sign that people underestimate

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Speaker 3: how much voters pay attention to policy. And like the

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Speaker 3: other thing, Markey called out Moulton's private equity bowing down constantly.

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Speaker 3: And it really worked because he won by a sizable,

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Speaker 3: sizable amount.

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Speaker 1: I also think Moulton is just not a good candidate.

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Speaker 1: He just has the worst personality. I mean, when he lost,

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Speaker 1: you immediately texted me. It was like because I asked

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Speaker 1: him when I was on TV with him. I said,

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Speaker 1: is there any shot at winning? And he was like, oh, yes,

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Speaker 1: my internals. So you were like, I guess he didn't

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Speaker 1: have those internals. So, you know, it's I think. worth

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Speaker 1: thinking about that, too.

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Speaker 3: Well, and in an era, though, where we're overwhelmingly rejecting

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Speaker 3: the older candidates, this is a big trend change. So,

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Speaker 3: I mean, many of the older candidates have just decided

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Speaker 3: not to run out of fear of this happening. And Mark,

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Speaker 3: he was able to sizably, sizably win, and he will

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Speaker 3: obviously coast to a general election win by a sizable amount. So,

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Speaker 3: the other interesting race was there was a leftward challenge

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Speaker 3: to Representative Stephen Lynch. And he fought that leftward challenge

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Speaker 3: off in very lefty Massachusetts.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, look, if you're a candidate to people

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Speaker 1: like you will win even if you're old. And if

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Speaker 1: you're a candidate who sucks, you will lose even if

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Speaker 1: you are young.

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Speaker 3: Let's move on to another Trump grift. How do you

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Speaker 3: feel about the U.S. Mint selling Trump coins for a

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Speaker 3: $ 54 markup?

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Speaker 1: It's stupid, but it's also just so corrupt and shitty.

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Speaker 1: They're already selling gold sneakers, Trump branded Bibles made in China,

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Speaker 1: ugly watches, overpriced fragrances. I mean, so this is the

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Speaker 1: circulating collectible coin redesign act of 2020 states that living

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Speaker 1: people cannot appear on the back of a coin. But

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Speaker 1: the Trump administration claims that this act allows the president

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Speaker 1: to create memorial coins celebrating America's 250th anniversary. The coins

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Speaker 1: aren't made of gold, but they are made of gold

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Speaker 1: like finish, according to the Treasury Department. And they are

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Speaker 1: $ 1 commemorative coins, but they are being sold for $ 61

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Speaker 1: for 25 coins or 100 coins for $ 154. Can I

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Speaker 1: just say that if they're a dollar coin, why are

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Speaker 1: they selling for $ 2?

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Speaker 3: It's a grift.

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Speaker 1: Actually, more than $ 2. If it's a dollar coin, shouldn't

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Speaker 1: it be selling for a dollar? I'm sorry. I maybe

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Speaker 1: didn't do the kind of math that everybody else did

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Speaker 1: in high school, but isn't that kind of not right?

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Speaker 3: Well, I'll shock you here. They're always grifting.

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Speaker 1: Maddy Haasen is the founder of Zateo and the host

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Speaker 1: of Maddy Unfiltered. Welcome, welcome, Maddy.

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Speaker 2: Good to be back, Molly.

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Speaker 3: Always a pleasure.

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Speaker 1: Because we have been covering this administration for a decade,

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Speaker 1: we have seen, like, the corruption in Trump 1.0 is...

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Speaker 1: Talk to us about what the sort of spectacular corruption

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Speaker 1: that we see in Trump 2.0.

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Speaker 2: We're almost out of words, right? You have to go

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Speaker 2: get a thesaurus. You have to kind of come up

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Speaker 2: with new words to describe it. You cannot be hyperbolic enough.

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Speaker 2: You could say, okay, this is the most corrupt president

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Speaker 2: of our lifetimes. Doesn't go far enough. This is the

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Speaker 2: most corrupt president of American history, perhaps. But then you've

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Speaker 2: got to go global. My parents are from India, Molly,

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Speaker 2: so I can say this without being accused of racism,

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Speaker 2: but like India, Pakistan is well known for having corrupt politicians.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of bribery. There's a lot of money

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Speaker 2: that changes hands. They are blushing. I'm talking to people

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Speaker 2: in India, Pakistan, and be like, how is this guy

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Speaker 2: so corrupt? Because at least in India and Pakistan, they

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Speaker 2: try and hide the corruption. They do what's called under-the-table deals.

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Speaker 2: This guy's flaunting his corruption. This guy's saying, you know what?

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Speaker 2: If you want access to my thoughts as a sitting president,

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Speaker 2: I'll sell them to you. My posts for 100 grand each,

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Speaker 2: a few seconds before the rest of the people in

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Speaker 2: the market know. This guy is saying, you know what?

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Speaker 2: I'm going to set up a bank while I'm president.

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Speaker 2: He's now giving himself a Trump-appointed official is going to

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Speaker 2: allow the Trump family to turn their already dodgy crypto

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Speaker 2: business into a crow bank. Anyone who's watched Bobby Axelrod

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Speaker 2: in Billions on Showtime knows that a bank is where

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Speaker 2: that's what everyone wants. That's when you can really print,

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Speaker 2: literally print money. And by the way, we just covered

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Speaker 2: this on Zateo's first draft this morning. No one else

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Speaker 2: is covering it really. A few of the financial papers.

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Speaker 2: Why is it not a bigger scandal that the bank

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Speaker 2: will be backed by the same guy who's backing the

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Speaker 2: crypto firm, who is the UAE national security advisor, the

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Speaker 2: Emirati national security advisor. They're basically top spy security chief.

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Speaker 2: put half a billion dollars into World Liberty Financial, which

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Speaker 2: was Trump's crypto company. He did it on the eve

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Speaker 2: of the inauguration, like days before Trump was sworn in

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Speaker 2: in January 2025. Something like 200 million, Molly, went straight

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Speaker 2: into Trump family bank accounts. Never has a foreign government

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Speaker 2: been able to put money directly into a president or

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Speaker 2: president's family member's bank accounts in this way. And you've

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Speaker 2: got the crypto bank, you've got the selling of social posts,

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Speaker 2: you've got the no-bid contracts to your friends. I mean,

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Speaker 2: we could be here for several hours if we go

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Speaker 2: through the whole.

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Speaker 1: And Liberty Financial, run by Zach Witkoff, son of Steve Witkoff,

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Speaker 1: special envoy to peace in the Middle East, which he

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Speaker 1: is not achieving.

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Speaker 2: With Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump, who gets $ 2

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Speaker 2: billion from the Saudis and some money from all the Qataris, Emiratis,

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Speaker 2: go through on the list. Yeah, I mean, you've got Zach,

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Speaker 2: you've got Steve Witkoff and his son. You've got Howard

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Speaker 2: Lutnick and his son.

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Speaker 1: His son, yeah.

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Speaker 2: You've got Trump and his son. It's the family business.

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Speaker 2: Just loot the federal government. And by the way, The

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Speaker 2: only silver lining to all of this is because they're

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Speaker 2: doing it in plain sight. It is not deniable. I

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Speaker 2: know that mad MAGA people want to deny what's in

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Speaker 2: front of their eyes. But there's a Gallup poll out

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Speaker 2: just a few hours ago. Nine in 10 Americans say

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Speaker 2: corruption is out of control in the federal government. Nine

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Speaker 2: in 10.

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Speaker 1: Eighty nine percent of U.S. adults say it's a widespread.

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Speaker 2: I mean, which is.

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Speaker 1: And that number.

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Speaker 2: Has shot up since January 2025. So people accept. My

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Speaker 2: worry with Trump always is the default American position is

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Speaker 2: to say, oh, they're all as bad as each other. Oh,

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Speaker 2: they all lie. When Trump lies, the average normie goes, well,

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Speaker 2: they all lie. And you go, no, no, but Trump

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Speaker 2: lies like no one else. And similarly, they're all corrupt. OK,

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Speaker 2: but Trump is like no one else. I saw a

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Speaker 2: friend of mine recently said to me, oh, you know, well,

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Speaker 2: you know, Biden was corrupt, too. I was like, Biden's wealth.

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Speaker 2: did not go up. His net wealth did not increase

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Speaker 2: when he was president. He owned the same house and

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Speaker 2: the same bank account and everything else. And I interviewed

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Speaker 2: Hunter Biden for the day recently. He pointed out that

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Speaker 2: he made a couple of hundred grand from paintings during

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Speaker 2: his father's presidency, not vice presidency when he was Burisma,

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Speaker 2: but presidency. There's been nothing like this where Trump's wealth

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Speaker 2: goes up by $ 2 billion from crypto. His sons go

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Speaker 2: from being like millionaires to multimillionaires to almost billionaires and

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Speaker 2: getting government contracts for their drones and mines and whatever else.

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Speaker 1: No, it's so corrupt. But I also think what's interesting

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Speaker 1: about this moment is that Trump has... He has really.

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Speaker 1: And then also the stock trading. But they have really

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Speaker 1: screwed over the Emiratis, which is a little bit funny. Right.

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Speaker 1: Because they have, you know, a bunch of these Middle

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Speaker 1: Eastern countries have have really bribed Trump.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 1: They've given him money. They've given him planes. They've given

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Speaker 1: him this and that. And what has he done? He's

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Speaker 1: gone to war with Iran. And the Iranians are what?

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Speaker 1: Bombing their country. Yes.

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Speaker 2: They gave all this money. They gave a plane. They

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Speaker 2: gave half a billion to crypto. The Saudis did live golf,

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Speaker 2: all of that stuff. And then they discovered he's always

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Speaker 2: going to pick Israel over us.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Which is very sad for them.

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Speaker 2: And UAE economy is being destroyed. Tourism is being destroyed.

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Speaker 2: All of that stuff. The Gulf will never be the

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Speaker 2: same again. They can thank Donald J. Trump for that.

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Speaker 1: That's right. And they can thank Netanyahu for getting them

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Speaker 1: into the war in the first place. Do you think,

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Speaker 1: here's a question for you. We've got a Republican president,

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Speaker 1: an endless quagmire in the Middle East that he shows

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Speaker 1: no sign of being able to get out of. What

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Speaker 1: do you think Republicans... Like, I saw Mike Lawler today

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Speaker 1: saying that the Strait is 70% open. Not true. Like,

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Speaker 1: you think they're just trying to lie their way through

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Speaker 1: the midterms? I mean, what's the... You know, we're nine

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Speaker 1: weeks from the midterms. What's the game?

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Speaker 2: Oh, 100% they're lying their way through. And the question is...

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Speaker 2: can their lies work? Normally they can, unfortunately. This time,

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Speaker 2: I think because it's gas prices, you can't lie your

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Speaker 2: way through gas prices. People literally go to the pump

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Speaker 2: every day and look up and see it. And I

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Speaker 2: think that's very hard for them to lie their way through.

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Speaker 2: And they know it wasn't that high before. And they

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Speaker 2: know it's linked to Iran. They're not going to be

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Speaker 2: gaslit and be told it's because of Joe Biden. So

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Speaker 2: I think that, you know, you're seeing if you see

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Speaker 2: these videos of like Trump voters talking to NC or

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Speaker 2: whatever it is saying, I'm a three time Trump voter.

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Speaker 2: Fuck Trump. And it's normally the gas station. That's the

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Speaker 2: backdrop to those Vox Pops. And there's a reason for that.

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Speaker 2: So I think their way to lie their way through

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Speaker 2: is not working. You saw Mike Johnson just got very

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Speaker 2: mad at Manu Raju. How can you get mad at

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Speaker 2: Manu Raju? Nobody can get mad at Manu Raju. Nobody

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Speaker 2: loses their temper. But he snapped to him because Manu

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Speaker 2: Raju asked him about the Iran war lasting six months

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Speaker 2: when Johnson said it was just a skirmish. It'll be

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Speaker 2: over soon.

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Speaker 1: Johnson seems like he's really... The timing of this midterm

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Speaker 1: convention next week and to have the House... in session,

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Speaker 1: it strikes me as like, they clearly, this seemed like

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Speaker 1: a good idea at the time, but like two days

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Speaker 1: of Trumpapalooza, does that help Republicans?

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Speaker 2: Trumpapalooza, where he's what, early 30s right now, about to

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Speaker 2: crack 20s, the most unpopular president at this point in

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Speaker 2: a second term. It's bad, right? All the warning signs suggest,

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Speaker 2: and I don't like saying this stuff because it sets expectations, But,

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Speaker 2: you know, blue tsunami, blue wave, all the usual political

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Speaker 2: pundit talk. It does. If you believe the polls, and

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Speaker 2: I'm very skeptical of polls recently, especially after the primaries.

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Speaker 2: But it does look like the Dems are on course

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Speaker 2: for a big win in the House and maybe the Senate.

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Speaker 2: Of course, when I say big win, it's not like

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Speaker 2: the old days where you could win like a landslide

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Speaker 2: because the gerrymandering. You only get 5, 10, 15, but

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Speaker 2: even that will be enough to get what they need

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Speaker 2: to do. In the Senate, we don't know if it's

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Speaker 2: going to be 51, 53, if the Democrats are willing

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Speaker 2: to sacrifice their candidate in Michigan, which some of them

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Speaker 2: seem to be willing to do. Will it be an

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Speaker 2: even smaller majority in the Senate? Remember, the Senate wasn't

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Speaker 2: even in play, Molly, a year ago. It is literally

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Speaker 2: Donald Trump's unpopularity. and gas prices and the Iran war

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Speaker 2: that has put the Senate in play.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk about Michigan, because candidate Al-Said, Dr. Al-Said,

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Speaker 1: we have had him on this podcast a bunch of times.

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Speaker 1: He's a really talented politician. He won by quite a lot.

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Speaker 1: He is there are half a million Arab-American. They're a

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Speaker 1: quarter of a million.

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Speaker 2: I'm sorry.

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Speaker 1: They're a quarter of a million Arab-Americans in Michigan. And remember,

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Speaker 1: there was a whole thing which you and I talked

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Speaker 1: about endlessly in the 24 cycle where these dearborn people

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Speaker 1: went for Trump.

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Speaker 5: So.

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Speaker 1: Talk me through what you think the landscape looks like there.

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Speaker 2: Not all of them, but a big chunk, yes.

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Speaker 1: Or they made a big showing of it.

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Speaker 2: They either went to Jill Stein or they went for

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Speaker 2: Trump because they were very upset about the genocide. And

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Speaker 2: they had Kamala Harris campaigning in Michigan with Liz Cheney

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Speaker 2: and Richie Torres and Bill Clinton, which probably wasn't the

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Speaker 2: best trio to send to Michigan.

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Speaker 1: Richie Torres, really?

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Speaker 2: Richie Torres went to Michigan. He went to Michigan. That

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Speaker 2: was a great move there. Send the most pro-Israel campaign.

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Speaker 2: House Democrat, Apex buddy. Bill Clinton, if you remember, went

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Speaker 2: to Michigan and said, gave the Arab Americans their history

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Speaker 2: lesson on Judean Samaria and King David. That was exactly

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Speaker 2: what you won in the last few weeks of a

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Speaker 2: close election. You won Bill Clinton lecturing you on King

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Speaker 2: David and the Old Testament deed to the land for

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Speaker 2: the Jews. Just the whole thing was absurd. Anyway, some

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Speaker 2: of them then pissed off Wrongly, in my view, voted

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Speaker 2: for Trump or voted for Stein or stayed at home.

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Speaker 2: But it didn't affect the outcome. I just want to

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Speaker 2: be clear. It's become some some kind of blue MAGA people,

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Speaker 2: if you want to call them that. Some kind of

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Speaker 2: like Kamala Harris dead enders will say stuff like it

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Speaker 2: cost us Michigan. Well, it did in a sense that

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Speaker 2: the polls do show is a big factor why people

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Speaker 2: stayed away. But even if you add up all the

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Speaker 2: Jill Stein votes, it wouldn't still add up to.

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Speaker 1: But also she lost Wisconsin. She lost Pennsylvania.

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Speaker 2: She lost all seven states. So you can't just point

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Speaker 2: to one. But look, Gaza was a factor. I'm the

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Speaker 2: first to say Gaza was a big factor. It wasn't

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Speaker 2: the only factor, but it was a factor.

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Speaker 1: But you didn't have a Muslim speaker at the DNC, right?

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Speaker 1: You didn't have a one.

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Speaker 2: They literally blocked a Palestinian-American state rep from Georgia, Ruhr Rahman,

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Speaker 2: from going on stage to endorse Harris. and talk about

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Speaker 2: her life story. So yeah, it was a fuck-up of

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Speaker 2: epic proportions. Today, Arab Americans are now ditching Trump, just

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Speaker 2: like Latinos are ditching Trump, just like young people have

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Speaker 2: ditched Trump. All these people they bragged about bringing into

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Speaker 2: their coalition in November 2024, they're defecting, which is why

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Speaker 2: he's in the early 30s. So a lot of those

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Speaker 2: Arab Americans have ditched Trump. They finally realized it was

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Speaker 2: a mistake, that he is a warmonger of the Middle East.

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Speaker 2: So Abdul El-Sayed is benefiting from that. He's benefiting from anti-encumbrance.

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Speaker 2: He's benefiting from being a good candidate, despite what the

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Speaker 2: media might say. And the reality is that he is

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Speaker 2: the favorite to win. That doesn't mean he will win.

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Speaker 2: As I say, I'm skeptical of the polls, but the

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Speaker 2: polls do show, the vast majority of recent polls show

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Speaker 2: him in the lead over Mike Rogers. Mike Rogers has

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Speaker 2: been given a complete pass by our quote unquote liberal media.

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Speaker 2: There's been no coverage of Mike Rogers, his role in

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Speaker 2: the opioid epidemic and as a pal of Big Pharma,

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Speaker 2: his 20-year crusade to get America to invade Iran. He

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Speaker 2: was one of the early outriders for bombing Iran. His

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Speaker 2: role in, you know, just completely flip-flopping on election denial.

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Speaker 2: He went from criticizing Trump in 2021. to in 2024,

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Speaker 2: suggesting his own election was stolen when he lost to

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Speaker 2: Alyssa Slotkin. He really wants to win, but he's a

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Speaker 2: shit candidate. So hopefully he won't win. But look, I

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Speaker 2: don't put it past certain Dems screwing this up. We've

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Speaker 2: heard murmurings from people online and Chuck Schumer. I know

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Speaker 2: that some people say he was misquoted, but talking about

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Speaker 2: we can win without Michigan. This idea that there is

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Speaker 2: a faction within the party for whom disciplining the left

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Speaker 2: is And defending Israel is such strong incentives that they

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Speaker 2: would be willing to lose Michigan just to teach the

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Speaker 2: left to say, hey, never put up a guy like

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Speaker 2: this again. Never put up a Muslim candidate like this

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Speaker 2: again or an anti-Zionist.

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Speaker 1: And Dana Nessel, who is very, she has, she is,

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Speaker 1: she does not like. the candidate. And she doesn't like

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Speaker 1: him because she feels it's a moral imperative to place

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Speaker 1: the needs of the world above those of our own self-interest.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what world- Because apparently Abdul El-Sayed is

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Speaker 2: an existential threat to Jewish life, which is an absurd

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Speaker 2: thing to say. Even Jordan Acker, prominent Jewish Democrat in Michigan,

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Speaker 2: not a fan of the left, came out and said,

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Speaker 2: you don't have to like Abdul El-Sayed's positions on Israel.

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Speaker 2: You don't have to like Hassan Baikar. But he is

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Speaker 2: not an enemy of Jewish people. He's a good guy.

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Speaker 1: Isn't this anti-Muslim racism?

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Speaker 2: Yes, of course it is. Let me give you one example.

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Speaker 2: People will say, oh, hold on, Mehdi, but he campaigned

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Speaker 2: with Hassan Paika. I don't want to get into a

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Speaker 2: debate about Hassan Paika. I feel like I've talked about

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Speaker 2: nothing else for a month. But let me just give

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Speaker 2: you one data point. Who won their primary by what, 50, 40?

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Speaker 2: How many points did Ed Markey win a primary by

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Speaker 2: this week in Massachusetts?

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Speaker 3: A lot.

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Speaker 2: Huge. It was a landslide win. Ed Markey campaigned with

430
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,540
Speaker 2: Hassan Paika. Ed Markey said Hassan Paika is the future

431
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:24,900
Speaker 2: of the party.

432
00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:26,060
Speaker 3: Hmm, weird.

433
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,679
Speaker 2: Weird we didn't have multiple media cycles about Ed Markey

434
00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:32,030
Speaker 2: and Hassan Baikar. What do Ed Markey and Abdulaziz not

435
00:21:32,050 --> 00:21:35,690
Speaker 2: have in common? Hmm, old white guy from Massachusetts. Young

436
00:21:35,810 --> 00:21:39,270
Speaker 2: Arab-American guy from Michigan. Notice the difference here? It's bullshit.

437
00:21:39,350 --> 00:21:41,770
Speaker 2: It's bad faith crap. He's gone out of his way.

438
00:21:41,790 --> 00:21:44,100
Speaker 2: He even went to the Jewish community and apologized for

439
00:21:44,140 --> 00:21:47,380
Speaker 2: his comments about the synagogue. Which, by the way, were misrepresented.

440
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 1: But also, the comment was, hurt people hurt people. That

441
00:21:52,100 --> 00:21:53,800
Speaker 1: is not anti-Semitic.

442
00:21:53,900 --> 00:21:56,550
Speaker 2: He also condemned the guy. They lied, by the way.

443
00:21:56,590 --> 00:21:58,530
Speaker 2: What pisses me off the most about the coverage of

444
00:21:58,550 --> 00:22:00,709
Speaker 2: Michigan is, you don't have to, like Abdullah said, you

445
00:22:00,730 --> 00:22:02,810
Speaker 2: can hate Hassan Paika, you can vote Mike Rose, do

446
00:22:02,830 --> 00:22:05,630
Speaker 2: whatever the fuck you want. But don't gaslight us. Don't

447
00:22:05,750 --> 00:22:07,429
Speaker 2: tell me that I can't see or hear what I

448
00:22:07,470 --> 00:22:09,380
Speaker 2: can see and hear. Don't say to me, Abdullah Saeed

449
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,159
Speaker 2: did not condemn the silico cat. He put out not one,

450
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,699
Speaker 2: but two condemnations on the day of and the next day.

451
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:15,600
Speaker 2: The next day is when he said, hurt people, hurt people,

452
00:22:15,619 --> 00:22:18,330
Speaker 2: which he's now apologized for. Don't tell me Hassan Paika

453
00:22:18,369 --> 00:22:20,270
Speaker 2: said we should attack the Jews, which is not what

454
00:22:20,310 --> 00:22:22,250
Speaker 2: he said at all. He said Jews might be attacked

455
00:22:22,350 --> 00:22:24,790
Speaker 2: if anti-Semites see them as the same as Israel. So

456
00:22:24,850 --> 00:22:27,229
Speaker 2: hate all these people. It's a free country. But you're

457
00:22:27,260 --> 00:22:29,179
Speaker 2: going to lie to my face about things I can

458
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,380
Speaker 2: see and hear. You are bad faith actors. You are Islamophobes.

459
00:22:32,420 --> 00:22:36,300
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, the Democratic Party is filled with Islamophobes. Kirsten Gillibrand, Molly,

460
00:22:36,340 --> 00:22:38,919
Speaker 2: I'm old enough to remember when Mamdani was running for

461
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,660
Speaker 2: New York, she said he's an advocate of global jihad.

462
00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:44,740
Speaker 2: She then apparently privately apologized to him. She never apologized

463
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:46,380
Speaker 2: to Muslims like me in this country for saying that.

464
00:22:46,660 --> 00:22:49,280
Speaker 2: The Democrats are full of Islamophobes. I'm sorry, the Republican

465
00:22:49,300 --> 00:22:51,820
Speaker 2: Party is on a different level. They are the king Islamophobes.

466
00:22:52,020 --> 00:22:54,070
Speaker 2: But liberals are not immune to their own bit of

467
00:22:54,140 --> 00:22:57,290
Speaker 2: anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia. No, agreed.

468
00:22:57,310 --> 00:23:02,350
Speaker 1: And I find it just completely almost, it just, it's

469
00:23:03,030 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 1: really disappointing to watch that and to watch the conviction

470
00:23:07,140 --> 00:23:10,380
Speaker 1: in which, you know, there's no other kind of racism

471
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:15,440
Speaker 1: that you can engage in without being at least apologetic,

472
00:23:15,770 --> 00:23:16,110
Speaker 1: you know?

473
00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:20,570
Speaker 2: And the example I gave Molly is, Abdul, Hassan, Mamdani,

474
00:23:20,590 --> 00:23:22,290
Speaker 2: all these people, they go out of their way. They're

475
00:23:22,310 --> 00:23:24,810
Speaker 2: accused of antisemitism, wrongly in my view. And then they

476
00:23:24,850 --> 00:23:27,080
Speaker 2: go out of their way and they go, we're not antisemites.

477
00:23:27,460 --> 00:23:30,060
Speaker 2: We love Jewish people. We love Judaism. We don't like Israel.

478
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:32,199
Speaker 2: We want to stand with Jews. We want to protect Jews.

479
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,140
Speaker 2: All these quotes. Now you could say they're lying.

480
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:34,420
Speaker 4: Fine.

481
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:36,100
Speaker 2: Maybe they're lying, but they're going out of their way

482
00:23:36,140 --> 00:23:39,430
Speaker 2: to say that. Meanwhile, on the right wing side, they go, Muslims,

483
00:23:39,650 --> 00:23:41,890
Speaker 2: Muslims should be deported. And you go, are you Islamophobes? Yes,

484
00:23:42,210 --> 00:23:44,470
Speaker 2: we're Islamophobes. Do you see the difference here? One side's

485
00:23:44,490 --> 00:23:46,250
Speaker 2: going out of its way to say, we actually do

486
00:23:46,290 --> 00:23:48,300
Speaker 2: love Jews and we're not into them. The other side's like, yeah,

487
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:50,260
Speaker 2: we hate Muslims. Of course we do. Everyone should hate Muslims.

488
00:23:50,859 --> 00:23:52,740
Speaker 2: And then you've got the Democrats in the middle who

489
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,260
Speaker 2: are not sticking up for Muslims. This is another big

490
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,700
Speaker 2: bugbear of mine. So Laura Loomer, the most vicious racist

491
00:23:58,740 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 2: in this country right now, perhaps. close to Donald Trump,

492
00:24:01,290 --> 00:24:02,570
Speaker 2: an advisor to the president.

493
00:24:03,050 --> 00:24:06,170
Speaker 1: Fired some of his national security apparatus.

494
00:24:06,210 --> 00:24:09,730
Speaker 2: NSA people fired. She got Milo deported by ICE the

495
00:24:09,750 --> 00:24:14,310
Speaker 2: other day, another far-right influencer. She called Marco Rubio, Molly,

496
00:24:14,450 --> 00:24:16,389
Speaker 2: and got him to block kids coming in from Gaza

497
00:24:16,430 --> 00:24:19,090
Speaker 2: for cancer treatment. This is the power of Laura Loomer, right?

498
00:24:19,109 --> 00:24:20,810
Speaker 2: She's a very, very influential person. I hate to say it.

499
00:24:21,030 --> 00:24:23,450
Speaker 2: She went from locking herself outside of Twitter and being

500
00:24:23,490 --> 00:24:27,030
Speaker 2: banned from Uber to running American policy through the president

501
00:24:27,050 --> 00:24:29,450
Speaker 2: and secretary of state. She says openly the other day,

502
00:24:29,570 --> 00:24:31,389
Speaker 2: you know, Muslims shouldn't be in America. We should deport

503
00:24:31,450 --> 00:24:33,950
Speaker 2: all Muslims. Islam is evil, blah, blah, blah. Things that

504
00:24:33,970 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 2: you could never say about Jews, thankfully, in this country.

505
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,800
Speaker 2: Then she goes, Angie Nixon is a ghetto black bitch.

506
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,020
Speaker 2: Excuse my language. This is what she says about the

507
00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:47,200
Speaker 2: black woman candidate, Florida. Suddenly, I'm not complaining. I'm glad

508
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,990
Speaker 2: Democrats finally found their voices. Suddenly, Hakeem Jeffries and Wes

509
00:24:51,050 --> 00:24:53,550
Speaker 2: Moore and a bunch of prominent Democrats come out and

510
00:24:53,630 --> 00:24:56,890
Speaker 2: condemn Laura Loomer. And what do they say? They go,

511
00:24:56,950 --> 00:24:59,250
Speaker 2: how dare you say this about black women? What do

512
00:24:59,270 --> 00:25:01,949
Speaker 2: they not say in their statements, Molly? They didn't say, oh,

513
00:25:02,030 --> 00:25:04,530
Speaker 2: and also Muslims. You shouldn't be bad about Muslims. You

514
00:25:04,550 --> 00:25:06,669
Speaker 2: don't think Muslim Americans hear that and be like, hmm,

515
00:25:07,030 --> 00:25:09,820
Speaker 2: she's been racist about us for weeks and weeks. No

516
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,699
Speaker 2: statements from Democrats. She's racist about black women. And finally,

517
00:25:13,740 --> 00:25:14,659
Speaker 2: Democrats wake up.

518
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,260
Speaker 1: She was banned from Uber for her anti-Muslim racism.

519
00:25:19,540 --> 00:25:19,659
Speaker 5: Yeah.

520
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:19,990
Speaker 3: She was a.

521
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,610
Speaker 2: nut job who no one took seriously until Donald Trump

522
00:25:23,619 --> 00:25:26,050
Speaker 2: became president and invited her into the Oval Office to

523
00:25:26,090 --> 00:25:28,790
Speaker 2: deal with his National Security Council. The woman is nuts.

524
00:25:28,830 --> 00:25:31,109
Speaker 2: By the way, on 9-11, Abby Phillip just reminded us

525
00:25:31,150 --> 00:25:32,909
Speaker 2: of this the other day. I'd totally forgotten. She put

526
00:25:32,950 --> 00:25:35,050
Speaker 2: out a video about a year or two ago, I

527
00:25:35,050 --> 00:25:37,550
Speaker 2: can't remember when it was, saying 9-11 was an inside job.

528
00:25:37,790 --> 00:25:41,060
Speaker 2: So Hassan Paika gets dragged for saying seven years ago

529
00:25:41,100 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 2: America deserved 9-11, which he apologized for at the time,

530
00:25:43,260 --> 00:25:45,740
Speaker 2: withdrew seven years ago. Yet a top advisor to the

531
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 2: President of the United States has put out a video

532
00:25:47,100 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 2: saying 9-11 was an inside job.

533
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, also by who? Wouldn't that be.

534
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:53,699
Speaker 2: The Republican Party.

535
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:54,240
Speaker 1: Republicans.

536
00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:54,580
Speaker 3: Yeah.

537
00:25:54,619 --> 00:25:55,500
Speaker 1: They were in power then.

538
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:56,100
Speaker 2: It's like COVID.

539
00:25:56,260 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 1: It's like COVID.

540
00:25:57,020 --> 00:25:59,830
Speaker 2: COVID was always... Who was president during COVID? Oh, Epstein

541
00:25:59,850 --> 00:26:02,230
Speaker 2: was murdered in prison. Who was president when Epstein was murdered?

542
00:26:02,790 --> 00:26:06,869
Speaker 1: It's just, it is such a, it's unbelievably fucked up.

543
00:26:07,050 --> 00:26:09,669
Speaker 1: I want you to talk about, when you look at

544
00:26:09,710 --> 00:26:13,050
Speaker 1: this map, talk to me, the midterm map, what do

545
00:26:13,090 --> 00:26:15,950
Speaker 1: you see that's exciting? What are you, I mean.

546
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,940
Speaker 2: I think the energy is exciting, right? That's what the

547
00:26:19,980 --> 00:26:22,879
Speaker 2: polls are showing that I believe, which is the enthusiasm

548
00:26:22,930 --> 00:26:24,930
Speaker 2: is on the Democratic side. Why would there be enthusiasm

549
00:26:24,970 --> 00:26:26,609
Speaker 2: on the Republican side? What do they have to be

550
00:26:26,650 --> 00:26:29,310
Speaker 2: enthusiastic for? The president has screwed them at every turn.

551
00:26:29,350 --> 00:26:31,630
Speaker 2: The only part of his base that he's delivered for

552
00:26:31,710 --> 00:26:34,030
Speaker 2: are rich people. He delivered the one big, beautiful bill

553
00:26:34,330 --> 00:26:36,109
Speaker 2: and his tax cuts like he did in term one.

554
00:26:36,130 --> 00:26:37,430
Speaker 2: The only thing he did in term one is pass.

555
00:26:37,869 --> 00:26:41,389
Speaker 2: Trump tax cuts. So if you're on the Republican side, yeah,

556
00:26:41,790 --> 00:26:44,830
Speaker 2: they love supporting Trump because he gives them enemies to hate,

557
00:26:44,890 --> 00:26:48,369
Speaker 2: the media, Muslims, Mexicans, transgender kids. But even those greatest

558
00:26:48,410 --> 00:26:50,389
Speaker 2: hits are not working right now. They've dialed back the

559
00:26:50,510 --> 00:26:54,150
Speaker 2: ICE stuff because it was so unpopular. And the economy's tanking.

560
00:26:54,230 --> 00:26:56,390
Speaker 2: We can see that in all the numbers. And of course,

561
00:26:56,770 --> 00:26:58,850
Speaker 2: he lied to them about no more foreign wars. And

562
00:26:58,869 --> 00:27:00,860
Speaker 2: they're seeing a war in Iran that they can't justify

563
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,300
Speaker 2: in their heads. And they've even got Republican influencers now

564
00:27:03,340 --> 00:27:06,580
Speaker 2: like the Tuckers and Lou Candaces and MTG saying this

565
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,140
Speaker 2: is bad. So there's no enthusiasm. Even if they still

566
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:10,830
Speaker 2: support Trump, even if they're still in the cult, there's

567
00:27:10,850 --> 00:27:13,330
Speaker 2: no enthusiasm. This is not the energy they love. I

568
00:27:13,350 --> 00:27:15,090
Speaker 2: don't know if you saw Lisa McClain, the congresswoman at

569
00:27:15,109 --> 00:27:17,110
Speaker 2: the Trump rally at the weekend saying to the crowd,

570
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,860
Speaker 2: do you guys all know Hasan Piker? And they were like, no,

571
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:21,980
Speaker 2: none of them ever heard of Hasan Piker. Even on

572
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,550
Speaker 2: the Republican rallies, this is an internet phenomenon, this kind

573
00:27:25,590 --> 00:27:29,150
Speaker 2: of obsession, media internet obsession with a California Twitch streamer.

574
00:27:29,590 --> 00:27:31,990
Speaker 2: So they don't really have the energy. I look at

575
00:27:32,030 --> 00:27:33,629
Speaker 2: some of these Senate races. You look at Troy Jackson

576
00:27:33,650 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 2: against Susan Gold. For me, the two races, there's three races, obviously.

577
00:27:37,660 --> 00:27:38,800
Speaker 2: It's not just for me. I'm sure for many of

578
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 2: your viewers and listeners. The three Senate races that are

579
00:27:41,340 --> 00:27:43,179
Speaker 2: just going to be amazing if they turn out the

580
00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:45,820
Speaker 2: right way. This could be, you could get a trifecta

581
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:51,679
Speaker 2: of happiness, enjoyment, catharsis, little jig on election night. If

582
00:27:51,780 --> 00:27:55,669
Speaker 2: Abdul Sayyed wins, despite this entire Islamophobic smear campaign. If

583
00:27:55,730 --> 00:27:59,150
Speaker 2: James Tallarico takes Texas, I just want to see Ted

584
00:27:59,170 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 2: Cruz's face the following morning. These people claim that Texas

585
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:07,619
Speaker 2: is pure, pure red America. Good luck with that if

586
00:28:07,660 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 2: he wins that. And he's ahead in the polls because

587
00:28:09,619 --> 00:28:11,280
Speaker 2: they put up such a bad candidate. Cornyn would have

588
00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:14,400
Speaker 2: been a stronger opponent. And then, of course, Susan Collins,

589
00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:19,170
Speaker 2: perhaps the single Republican who's most... enable Trump just by

590
00:28:19,230 --> 00:28:21,209
Speaker 2: pretending to be an opponent, but not being an opponent.

591
00:28:21,609 --> 00:28:23,630
Speaker 2: And Susan Collins against Troy Jackson will be a very

592
00:28:23,670 --> 00:28:26,820
Speaker 2: interesting race where obviously Graham Plattner pulled out over rape allegations.

593
00:28:27,100 --> 00:28:29,940
Speaker 2: You have another leftist candidate replacing him who's much quieter,

594
00:28:30,300 --> 00:28:32,400
Speaker 2: less in your face. If he pulls that off, I mean,

595
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:34,800
Speaker 2: it could be a very, very historic night for the Democrats.

596
00:28:35,310 --> 00:28:39,570
Speaker 1: It is. Yeah. Collins has been Kaiser Soze this whole time.

597
00:28:39,610 --> 00:28:40,710
Speaker 1: So let's see if she.

598
00:28:40,870 --> 00:28:43,090
Speaker 2: I saw she just did an interview with Politico. She

599
00:28:43,110 --> 00:28:45,390
Speaker 2: did one of those lunches with Jonathan Martin. I haven't

600
00:28:45,410 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 2: watched it all, but she's dodged a lot of media. Yes,

601
00:28:48,820 --> 00:28:51,120
Speaker 2: that is true. And of course, she's all over the

602
00:28:51,140 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 2: place on Trump. Even the clip I saw from the

603
00:28:52,740 --> 00:28:55,060
Speaker 2: Politico interview, she's talking about how she voted to impeach Trump.

604
00:28:55,380 --> 00:28:57,260
Speaker 2: But yet she supports him now. It makes no sense.

605
00:28:57,740 --> 00:29:00,260
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Maddie.

606
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:01,220
Speaker 2: Thank you, Molly.

607
00:29:03,570 --> 00:29:07,310
Speaker 1: Harry Lipman is a former U.S. attorney and the host

608
00:29:07,410 --> 00:29:08,750
Speaker 1: of Talking Fads.

609
00:29:09,190 --> 00:29:10,610
Speaker 5: Hey, hey, hey, everyone.

610
00:29:10,670 --> 00:29:15,250
Speaker 4: It's our latest Molly Harry mashup where Molly John Fass

611
00:29:15,450 --> 00:29:18,990
Speaker 4: hits me with legal questions and I return fire with

612
00:29:19,090 --> 00:29:20,530
Speaker 4: queries about politics.

613
00:29:20,810 --> 00:29:23,910
Speaker 5: Molly, always great to do this with you. Who starts?

614
00:29:24,190 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: Why don't I start? So there's like just endless corruption

615
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:33,140
Speaker 1: in this administration. Here's a great example of one. White

616
00:29:33,180 --> 00:29:35,950
Speaker 1: House intervened to get a $ 620 million deal for a

617
00:29:35,970 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 1: company tied to Don Jr. So you stuff like that,

618
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,950
Speaker 1: we know Trump is going to pardon his kids preemptively,

619
00:29:44,990 --> 00:29:48,450
Speaker 1: very likely, since he pardons everybody. There's a lot of

620
00:29:48,530 --> 00:29:52,490
Speaker 1: times where people are like, oh, but it's never going

621
00:29:52,510 --> 00:29:55,580
Speaker 1: to work, right? Like, there's never going to be justice

622
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 1: for any of this stuff. Why do you think there

623
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,960
Speaker 1: will be justice for some of this stuff? Like, they'll

624
00:30:00,980 --> 00:30:04,140
Speaker 1: have to pay money back or people will go to jail.

625
00:30:05,100 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: Why will there be justice for this kind of stuff?

626
00:30:07,260 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: Will there be justice for this kind of stuff? And

627
00:30:09,740 --> 00:30:10,550
Speaker 1: explain to us.

628
00:30:10,660 --> 00:30:13,250
Speaker 4: Yeah, great question. And yes and no. First, you know,

629
00:30:13,290 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 4: the outrage. We're talking about corruption. So beyond the scale

630
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 4: of anything we've ever seen in the country and just

631
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:27,190
Speaker 4: naked and basically washing over everyone as if they've built

632
00:30:27,470 --> 00:30:31,770
Speaker 4: into Trump's identity as president, whether you hate him or

633
00:30:31,890 --> 00:30:36,340
Speaker 4: support him. This idea that he can just completely rake

634
00:30:36,580 --> 00:30:37,740
Speaker 4: whatever he wants.

635
00:30:37,540 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 5: For him and his kids from the coffers.

636
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 4: Billions of dollars. That's not chump change. And so your point,

637
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,180
Speaker 4: will he pardon? I think we're going to see, right,

638
00:30:47,290 --> 00:30:52,870
Speaker 4: like as he's leaving, dozens, hundreds, anyone he can think of.

639
00:30:52,950 --> 00:30:56,090
Speaker 4: And that will be a full stop for federal crimes.

640
00:30:56,490 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 4: So I think that the answer to your question will

641
00:30:58,630 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 4: be a gauge of sort of two constituencies. The Democrats,

642
00:31:03,340 --> 00:31:06,780
Speaker 4: let's assume they win at least the House. What will

643
00:31:06,860 --> 00:31:10,980
Speaker 4: their appetite be? Because we're seeing a lot of sort

644
00:31:11,020 --> 00:31:15,740
Speaker 4: of intra-party fighting and kind of lurches toward an overall

645
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,930
Speaker 4: message that may or may not be really strong.

646
00:31:19,110 --> 00:31:23,250
Speaker 1: If somebody does crimes, even if they get a pardon,

647
00:31:23,710 --> 00:31:25,250
Speaker 1: can there be restitution?

648
00:31:25,850 --> 00:31:26,490
Speaker 5: So two things.

649
00:31:26,730 --> 00:31:29,790
Speaker 4: Yes, is the short answer. And it will depend on

650
00:31:29,830 --> 00:31:31,910
Speaker 4: the appetite. But first, you consume civilly.

651
00:31:32,290 --> 00:31:33,230
Speaker 5: Remember, O.J.

652
00:31:33,310 --> 00:31:36,969
Speaker 4: Simpson acquitted, but then had a big civil verdict against him.

653
00:31:37,090 --> 00:31:40,950
Speaker 4: And the states can bring charges. And many of the states,

654
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,719
Speaker 4: people criticize this for other reasons. But New York, the

655
00:31:44,780 --> 00:31:49,620
Speaker 4: Martin Act, dovetails with so many of the classically federal

656
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:54,520
Speaker 4: crimes of security and financial fraud. Now, you know, they've

657
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,060
Speaker 4: tiptoed in that direction. But I think if we're left

658
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:01,770
Speaker 4: with this unbelievable mess in front of us and completely

659
00:32:01,830 --> 00:32:05,810
Speaker 4: unaccounted for, you will see with the family some effort

660
00:32:05,910 --> 00:32:09,709
Speaker 4: to move in that direction in the states that can, for.

661
00:32:09,670 --> 00:32:10,630
Speaker 5: Example, New York.

662
00:32:10,690 --> 00:32:11,050
Speaker 3: Remember.

663
00:32:11,570 --> 00:32:14,910
Speaker 4: His criminal conviction, even, this is Trump's, was under New

664
00:32:14,970 --> 00:32:16,230
Speaker 4: York state law.

665
00:32:16,290 --> 00:32:19,070
Speaker 5: So that, I think, is the ticket.

666
00:32:19,270 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 4: And it'll be part a question of political will, which

667
00:32:22,930 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 4: brings me to my first counterfire, Molly. You know, we're

668
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:32,180
Speaker 4: seeing on the one hand Dems do pretty well in primaries,

669
00:32:32,300 --> 00:32:36,100
Speaker 4: expanding their base and the like, but at the same time,

670
00:32:36,460 --> 00:32:43,469
Speaker 4: a kind of incipient progressive mainstream tension, war, however you

671
00:32:43,510 --> 00:32:46,890
Speaker 4: want to put it, will the Democrats be able, or

672
00:32:46,930 --> 00:32:49,470
Speaker 4: let me just ask, what will they need to do

673
00:32:49,530 --> 00:32:53,730
Speaker 4: to get their shit together and actually, you know, not

674
00:32:53,810 --> 00:32:57,020
Speaker 4: snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, have enough of

675
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:02,420
Speaker 4: a cohesive national message to really succeed in the midterms?

676
00:33:02,740 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 1: Well, so I would say that in the midterms, they

677
00:33:07,090 --> 00:33:09,709
Speaker 1: just need to not be Trump and they need to

678
00:33:09,790 --> 00:33:14,270
Speaker 1: run good candidates who which they're doing right now. Gas

679
00:33:14,290 --> 00:33:17,700
Speaker 1: prices are high. We have war in the Middle East.

680
00:33:18,020 --> 00:33:21,760
Speaker 1: This is month six of the war with Iran. We

681
00:33:21,820 --> 00:33:26,440
Speaker 1: have a military that's very overstretched, ice of arresting people

682
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,610
Speaker 1: in cities. I think in the midterms tends to be

683
00:33:29,650 --> 00:33:31,910
Speaker 1: the midterm is a referendum on the incumbent and the

684
00:33:31,970 --> 00:33:35,370
Speaker 1: incumbent is polling under 40 percent. And as low as

685
00:33:35,370 --> 00:33:39,890
Speaker 1: 32 percent in some polls. So that's under the Bush line.

686
00:33:40,390 --> 00:33:44,810
Speaker 1: That's pretty unpopular stuff. So for now, what Democrats need

687
00:33:44,830 --> 00:33:46,770
Speaker 1: to do is not get in their own way. Right.

688
00:33:46,850 --> 00:33:50,060
Speaker 1: Run good candidates who have a good message. You know,

689
00:33:50,100 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 1: Mike Lauer is a great example because he's a congressperson

690
00:33:52,780 --> 00:33:56,660
Speaker 1: in a Kamala district. district who was running for re-election

691
00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:59,920
Speaker 1: and he's in the Hudson Valley. So he's a great

692
00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:03,140
Speaker 1: example of someone who he has campaigned with Trump. He

693
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:08,910
Speaker 1: is very MAGA. And today he was on MS trying

694
00:34:08,969 --> 00:34:13,450
Speaker 1: to defend the war with Iran, saying that Iran can't

695
00:34:13,489 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: have a nuke. And one of the things he said

696
00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 1: was he was asked about the straits and he said

697
00:34:17,660 --> 00:34:20,940
Speaker 1: the straits at 70 percent of traffic. There's no way

698
00:34:20,980 --> 00:34:24,320
Speaker 1: that's true. There's no way. They're bombing each other. I mean,

699
00:34:25,550 --> 00:34:28,149
Speaker 1: there's no way that 70% of the traffic would feel

700
00:34:28,330 --> 00:34:31,710
Speaker 1: comfortable going through those streets. So that's the impossible situation

701
00:34:31,750 --> 00:34:37,100
Speaker 1: that someone like Michael Hall is in. The question is,

702
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,399
Speaker 1: so for those guys, they're really on defense. And so

703
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:45,529
Speaker 1: they'll say, like Mike Lawler will say that Mondami is

704
00:34:45,550 --> 00:34:49,190
Speaker 1: a socialist and all Democrats are socialists and they want

705
00:34:49,230 --> 00:34:52,009
Speaker 1: to put girls and boys sports and boys and girls

706
00:34:52,489 --> 00:34:56,600
Speaker 1: like that stuff. If you have nothing going on and

707
00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:00,319
Speaker 1: your economy is great and your gas prices just keep

708
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,540
Speaker 1: going lower and lower, maybe you can get people excited

709
00:35:03,580 --> 00:35:05,700
Speaker 1: about that. But if the gas is over $ 4 a

710
00:35:05,700 --> 00:35:09,460
Speaker 1: gallon and, you know, you can't buy tomatoes because you're

711
00:35:09,500 --> 00:35:13,390
Speaker 1: worried about some kind of recall and your federal government

712
00:35:13,430 --> 00:35:16,110
Speaker 1: feels like it's falling apart, I think it's harder to

713
00:35:16,150 --> 00:35:17,969
Speaker 1: make the case that people should care about stuff they

714
00:35:17,989 --> 00:35:19,130
Speaker 1: don't really care about anyway.

715
00:35:19,430 --> 00:35:21,130
Speaker 5: It makes a lot of sense. Okay, bring it.

716
00:35:21,590 --> 00:35:24,430
Speaker 1: Your turn. Right now, Trump keeps sort of running things

717
00:35:24,489 --> 00:35:27,830
Speaker 1: into the Supreme Court with the vote, with the ballots. Basically,

718
00:35:27,870 --> 00:35:29,970
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court said it was too early to rule

719
00:35:30,070 --> 00:35:32,250
Speaker 1: on the mail-in ballots. The mail-in ballots went back to

720
00:35:32,270 --> 00:35:36,780
Speaker 1: the lower court. Now we saw the post office, the

721
00:35:36,860 --> 00:35:40,620
Speaker 1: whistleblowers say that we're not going to be ready. That

722
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,420
Speaker 1: mail-in ballot thing is definitely going back to the Supreme Court.

723
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:45,600
Speaker 1: What do you think, how do you think this goes?

724
00:35:45,780 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 1: And also, what are the range of outcomes?

725
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,860
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's really the question, because there is a range.

726
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 4: I was one of the people who thought, why is

727
00:35:53,780 --> 00:35:57,700
Speaker 4: the administration going for this? Now they haven't before, and

728
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:01,100
Speaker 4: they're just saying that the plaintiffs didn't have standing.

729
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 5: So they win, and so what?

730
00:36:03,380 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 4: And to me, there's a kind of covert or secondary

731
00:36:07,219 --> 00:36:10,430
Speaker 4: agenda that's always in play when you're talking about Trump

732
00:36:10,489 --> 00:36:15,810
Speaker 4: and elections, namely the propagation of chaos. If nothing else,

733
00:36:15,930 --> 00:36:19,170
Speaker 4: if he can sort of screw up the cards and

734
00:36:19,270 --> 00:36:22,990
Speaker 4: have it be near, the really important point about elections

735
00:36:23,030 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 4: to keep in mind is when you go to the court,

736
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:30,180
Speaker 4: you have to really try to unscramble things with very

737
00:36:30,219 --> 00:36:34,969
Speaker 4: little time and shit that happens may in fact be irremediable. Now,

738
00:36:35,030 --> 00:36:37,490
Speaker 4: the big thing to know about the Postal Service case

739
00:36:37,510 --> 00:36:40,530
Speaker 4: is is there is a district court judge who seems

740
00:36:40,650 --> 00:36:46,580
Speaker 4: bound and determined to invalidate it and who's already said, okay,

741
00:36:46,780 --> 00:36:49,100
Speaker 4: the Supreme Court said it wasn't ripe yet, but now

742
00:36:49,180 --> 00:36:52,160
Speaker 4: it is ripe as it is. The Postal Service has

743
00:36:52,219 --> 00:36:56,990
Speaker 4: now issued this rule, and she, Judge Tawani, has said,

744
00:36:57,270 --> 00:36:59,290
Speaker 4: now I've got this in front of me. It doesn't

745
00:36:59,330 --> 00:37:02,250
Speaker 4: matter that the Supreme Court thought it wasn't ripe before.

746
00:37:02,850 --> 00:37:07,210
Speaker 4: And I invalidate it. And same thing. It's now moving

747
00:37:07,330 --> 00:37:09,740
Speaker 4: up to the Court of Appeals. But you're right. We've

748
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:15,060
Speaker 4: seen the Supreme Court use really technical procedural things like

749
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:20,900
Speaker 4: standing and ripeness to basically deliver victories to Donald Trump,

750
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,859
Speaker 4: even though it seems as if they're shying away from

751
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 4: the merits. That's what's happened recently. in the ballroom case

752
00:37:28,020 --> 00:37:29,790
Speaker 4: that I want to ask you about.

753
00:37:30,230 --> 00:37:32,090
Speaker 5: But now, if they do.

754
00:37:31,969 --> 00:37:35,549
Speaker 4: This emergency after the Supreme Court, court can't has to

755
00:37:35,610 --> 00:37:39,950
Speaker 4: confront the question about the legality of this order and

756
00:37:39,989 --> 00:37:43,170
Speaker 4: the courts that have looked at it and similar cases

757
00:37:43,330 --> 00:37:47,129
Speaker 4: have said, what are you talking about? There is no

758
00:37:47,210 --> 00:37:51,259
Speaker 4: authority in the executive branch to do a national registry

759
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:55,719
Speaker 4: of voters and to have the Postal Service not give

760
00:37:55,860 --> 00:37:59,279
Speaker 4: ballots to people who aren't on the approved list. And

761
00:37:59,420 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 4: I don't think the court will contradict it.

762
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 1: You think the court will let this stand now? No, no, no.

763
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:09,130
Speaker 4: I think the court will say, OK, they can strike

764
00:38:09,230 --> 00:38:09,750
Speaker 4: it down.

765
00:38:09,770 --> 00:38:13,590
Speaker 5: I think it's really out there, Molly. But here's the thing.

766
00:38:14,030 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 4: They have a secondary kind of goal of just screwing

767
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 4: up everything and.

768
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,320
Speaker 5: Have it be a whole like dust storm.

769
00:38:22,900 --> 00:38:27,680
Speaker 4: And remember Trump on January, whatever it was, 2021, just

770
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:31,340
Speaker 4: create some chaos. My Republican congressman will do the rest

771
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,840
Speaker 4: or just say Georgia was defrauded. So I think the

772
00:38:34,940 --> 00:38:38,739
Speaker 4: general game of creating chaos could still happen. We got

773
00:38:38,780 --> 00:38:43,029
Speaker 4: this whistleblower report yesterday that makes clear that to quote.

774
00:38:43,860 --> 00:38:45,109
Speaker 5: On the Molly John Fast show.

775
00:38:45,469 --> 00:38:49,190
Speaker 4: It's a shit show, and there looks to be all

776
00:38:49,410 --> 00:38:56,469
Speaker 4: kinds of bedlam there, whether or not they actually go

777
00:38:56,570 --> 00:39:00,050
Speaker 4: forward with this rule. So I think they probably won't

778
00:39:00,150 --> 00:39:04,530
Speaker 4: get the rule, and yet they may have already laid

779
00:39:04,670 --> 00:39:08,509
Speaker 4: the tracks for the kind of chaos that is his

780
00:39:08,630 --> 00:39:12,109
Speaker 4: fallback and that he tries to exploit. And that brings

781
00:39:12,150 --> 00:39:15,310
Speaker 4: me to my next question to you, because a similar

782
00:39:15,370 --> 00:39:20,680
Speaker 4: thing has happened in the ballroom where and I'm really

783
00:39:20,780 --> 00:39:22,310
Speaker 4: wigged out about it.

784
00:39:22,340 --> 00:39:24,890
Speaker 5: I've got a sub stack that just dropped about it.

785
00:39:25,430 --> 00:39:28,989
Speaker 4: But what the hell The Supreme Court, the headline is

786
00:39:29,130 --> 00:39:31,799
Speaker 4: they let it go forward in a five to four vote.

787
00:39:32,300 --> 00:39:33,530
Speaker 5: But the next headline.

788
00:39:33,550 --> 00:39:36,080
Speaker 1: They said it was illegal, though. Right.

789
00:39:36,460 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 5: Oh, everyone who's looked at it, every court says it's illegal.

790
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:39,779
Speaker 1: Yeah.

791
00:39:39,820 --> 00:39:43,219
Speaker 5: John Roberts and four justices. But here's my question. It's

792
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:43,980
Speaker 5: not just illegal.

793
00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:48,420
Speaker 4: It's also hideous and also deeply unpopular and just strikes

794
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:52,319
Speaker 4: at the heart of national identity. Do you think if

795
00:39:52,380 --> 00:39:56,530
Speaker 4: this monstrosity goes forward, that it's a big enough symbolic

796
00:39:56,620 --> 00:40:01,330
Speaker 4: deal that Republicans will actually pay a price and it

797
00:40:01,370 --> 00:40:04,910
Speaker 4: will be a real issue in the in the elections? Yeah.

798
00:40:05,210 --> 00:40:07,170
Speaker 1: The whole thing is they're going to pay a price.

799
00:40:07,230 --> 00:40:10,299
Speaker 1: That's why they're trying to cheat. Texas went from I mean,

800
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:11,500
Speaker 1: I think it's toss up now.

801
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:12,080
Speaker 5: Yeah.

802
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,379
Speaker 4: Texas right now is looking like it's Tallarico. We've been

803
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 4: there before.

804
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,800
Speaker 1: But yeah, no, we have actually never believe it or not.

805
00:40:19,820 --> 00:40:23,850
Speaker 1: We've never been there before because Beto was not pulling

806
00:40:23,910 --> 00:40:27,990
Speaker 1: ahead ever. So, Tallarico has pulled ahead in every single

807
00:40:28,050 --> 00:40:31,090
Speaker 1: poll except one. I mean, I'm sure there are the

808
00:40:31,210 --> 00:40:34,140
Speaker 1: ones that I've seen he's been pulling ahead. All this

809
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:38,060
Speaker 1: stuff is wildly unpopular, even the ballroom, the Lake of America.

810
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 1: I mean, some of the stuff like the Lake of

811
00:40:40,020 --> 00:40:44,280
Speaker 1: America and the Gulf of America, that stuff worked okay

812
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,980
Speaker 1: when the economy was good. When people feel good about

813
00:40:48,060 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 1: filling up their car, they'll do dumb culture warship with you.

814
00:40:51,739 --> 00:40:55,310
Speaker 1: But when people feel bad when they can't afford gas

815
00:40:55,390 --> 00:40:58,609
Speaker 1: and they can't afford sandwiches and they can't afford vacation,

816
00:40:58,630 --> 00:41:03,410
Speaker 1: then they start to resent your dumb shit. Do I

817
00:41:03,469 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: think Republicans will pay a price for the ballroom? You know,

818
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:08,859
Speaker 1: there was just some polling today that it. It seems

819
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,719
Speaker 1: really corrupt. Like people really don't like corrupt and it

820
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,290
Speaker 1: looks real corrupt. It makes Nixon look like Lincoln. The

821
00:41:16,330 --> 00:41:19,029
Speaker 1: thing that hurts Trump the most, I think, is this

822
00:41:19,090 --> 00:41:21,489
Speaker 1: split in MAGA. You know, I was talking to Sarah

823
00:41:21,510 --> 00:41:24,150
Speaker 1: Longwell yesterday and she was talking about how like in

824
00:41:24,230 --> 00:41:28,040
Speaker 1: focus groups, people will still be talking about Epstein. They're

825
00:41:28,100 --> 00:41:31,640
Speaker 1: like he told us he was going to release the

826
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:34,500
Speaker 1: Epstein file. And he never released, you know, there's just

827
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,100
Speaker 1: a lot of things he told his people that he

828
00:41:37,140 --> 00:41:38,819
Speaker 1: was going to do and he never did them. And

829
00:41:38,860 --> 00:41:42,120
Speaker 1: so I just don't think you can completely ignore your

830
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:43,130
Speaker 1: race that way.

831
00:41:43,250 --> 00:41:43,590
Speaker 5: Got it.

832
00:41:43,710 --> 00:41:43,910
Speaker 1: Yeah.

833
00:41:44,230 --> 00:41:46,250
Speaker 5: The last round, I guess. These go quick.

834
00:41:46,650 --> 00:41:50,050
Speaker 1: So, again, there'll definitely be some kind of oversight hearings.

835
00:41:50,110 --> 00:41:54,640
Speaker 1: People want this corruption litigated and people will go to jail.

836
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,640
Speaker 1: What do you think is an easy win? So I

837
00:41:58,660 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 1: feel like a really good example of an AG who's

838
00:42:01,260 --> 00:42:06,890
Speaker 1: done really well has been Rob Bonta. He made Meta

839
00:42:06,989 --> 00:42:10,029
Speaker 1: do this huge settlement. Yeah, let's talk about the Meta

840
00:42:10,050 --> 00:42:13,170
Speaker 1: settlement because it's important and it's also interesting. So Rob Bonta,

841
00:42:13,670 --> 00:42:16,180
Speaker 1: when you make a settlement like that, doesn't that mean

842
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,320
Speaker 1: that Meta could still be on the hook for a

843
00:42:19,340 --> 00:42:23,799
Speaker 1: lot more settlements? aren't they sort of admitting now that

844
00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:26,779
Speaker 1: their product is addictive and that they didn't take the

845
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,560
Speaker 1: kind of precautions they should have with children? And now

846
00:42:30,060 --> 00:42:32,280
Speaker 1: this was a bunch of states, but couldn't more states

847
00:42:32,340 --> 00:42:35,330
Speaker 1: sue them and couldn't more people sue them? And couldn't

848
00:42:35,730 --> 00:42:37,710
Speaker 1: I mean, doesn't this just open the door to more?

849
00:42:38,030 --> 00:42:39,950
Speaker 5: Look, I think so. That's what you think about when

850
00:42:39,969 --> 00:42:40,570
Speaker 5: you're suing.

851
00:42:40,610 --> 00:42:45,350
Speaker 4: And we also should give a nod to Phil Weiser, Colorado,

852
00:42:45,430 --> 00:42:47,969
Speaker 4: who is likely to be their next governor. That's a

853
00:42:48,130 --> 00:42:53,130
Speaker 4: it was a pretty big harvest. Now, by Meta's standards,

854
00:42:53,130 --> 00:42:56,120
Speaker 4: $ 17. 1 billion or whatever it is, is not so much.

855
00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:01,060
Speaker 4: And the settlement actually poses dangers not just for future

856
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:05,540
Speaker 4: lawsuits against Meta, but future lawsuits against other social media

857
00:43:05,620 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 4: companies because it sort of establishes, at least as much

858
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:10,300
Speaker 4: as a settlement does.

859
00:43:10,450 --> 00:43:13,910
Speaker 1: Stare decisis, the Supreme Court justice's favorite.

860
00:43:14,030 --> 00:43:17,870
Speaker 4: So I think this is really what the most effective

861
00:43:18,050 --> 00:43:20,509
Speaker 4: AGs have been able to do. We talked before about

862
00:43:20,830 --> 00:43:25,150
Speaker 4: can they bring parallel criminal actions, but these big kinds

863
00:43:25,570 --> 00:43:31,110
Speaker 4: of actions, they're also now fighting certain mergers. There are

864
00:43:31,230 --> 00:43:36,080
Speaker 4: other theories about guns and addiction to kids.

865
00:43:36,180 --> 00:43:38,010
Speaker 5: So I think absolutely.

866
00:43:38,489 --> 00:43:42,450
Speaker 4: You have a series of kind of activist AGs stepping

867
00:43:42,770 --> 00:43:46,270
Speaker 4: into the breach. And it's a huge breach caused by

868
00:43:46,310 --> 00:43:49,189
Speaker 4: the whole federal government and doing a lot of good stuff.

869
00:43:49,250 --> 00:43:53,530
Speaker 4: It's separate, of course, from the possibility of criminal stuff,

870
00:43:53,570 --> 00:43:57,150
Speaker 4: which is normally sort of individual DAs in smaller counties.

871
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:01,779
Speaker 4: But in terms not just of the cash, Molly, but

872
00:44:01,820 --> 00:44:07,040
Speaker 4: in terms of policy, And how we're, for example, going

873
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:10,860
Speaker 4: to navigate all these social media problems that every parent

874
00:44:10,940 --> 00:44:14,810
Speaker 4: knows about, the state AGs have been, I'd say, along

875
00:44:14,910 --> 00:44:18,190
Speaker 4: with the press and district court judges, the kind of

876
00:44:18,430 --> 00:44:22,770
Speaker 4: silver lining against the onslaught of Trump kind of lying

877
00:44:22,830 --> 00:44:26,600
Speaker 4: down on anything that could hurt business. I have a

878
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,540
Speaker 4: final one for you that's a little different because you

879
00:44:29,580 --> 00:44:34,400
Speaker 4: had this very interesting op-ed in The Times recently about

880
00:44:34,540 --> 00:44:37,779
Speaker 4: what the hell happened to all the celebrities who were

881
00:44:37,860 --> 00:44:42,730
Speaker 4: speaking out in Trump 1.0. You cite, say, Jennifer Lopez. Lawrence,

882
00:44:42,850 --> 00:44:46,989
Speaker 4: I also lump in this crowd, George W. Bush, who

883
00:44:47,140 --> 00:44:51,400
Speaker 4: could have had such an important voice and has really refrained.

884
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:55,040
Speaker 4: What is it about Trump 2.0, you know, celebrities you

885
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:59,350
Speaker 4: don't think normally worrying about their livelihood and the like,

886
00:44:59,430 --> 00:45:02,609
Speaker 4: but they did in the McCarthy era. What's going on

887
00:45:02,670 --> 00:45:07,049
Speaker 4: that there's such silence from what we would have thought

888
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:12,360
Speaker 4: would be strong and influential voices of opposition to Donald Trump?

889
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:15,680
Speaker 1: I think that people are nervous and they're nervous about

890
00:45:15,700 --> 00:45:19,240
Speaker 1: the Paramount deal. And I think they're worried about not

891
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:21,700
Speaker 1: being able to work. But, you know, there's a huge

892
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 1: appetite for anti-Trump. And like you see that with Rosie,

893
00:45:25,620 --> 00:45:29,739
Speaker 1: you see that like actually, I think with that MapQuest

894
00:45:29,780 --> 00:45:32,850
Speaker 1: thing where MapQuest didn't change it to Lake America. I mean,

895
00:45:32,890 --> 00:45:35,150
Speaker 1: I actually think there's a real appetite for that kind

896
00:45:35,190 --> 00:45:39,299
Speaker 1: of stuff. because authoritarian stuff has been so, it's so

897
00:45:39,460 --> 00:45:42,120
Speaker 1: recent for us. I think people don't like it in

898
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:46,920
Speaker 1: a way that they probably, it's unusual. I wonder, can

899
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:50,480
Speaker 1: we just do one quick question about the Paramount merger? So,

900
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:54,839
Speaker 1: Bonta really is trying to slow that down. There are

901
00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:58,219
Speaker 1: these warrants, so every day it goes past a certain date,

902
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:00,990
Speaker 1: it gets more and more expensive. I want you to, again,

903
00:46:01,090 --> 00:46:02,930
Speaker 1: talk about range of outcomes on that.

904
00:46:03,150 --> 00:46:06,070
Speaker 5: Okay, so look, They are truly drawing blood.

905
00:46:06,150 --> 00:46:09,570
Speaker 4: In the past, you've had states try to sort of kibitz,

906
00:46:09,650 --> 00:46:12,950
Speaker 4: if I can use that word, on antitrust. But the

907
00:46:13,050 --> 00:46:17,170
Speaker 4: laws have gotten stronger and the will has gotten stronger.

908
00:46:17,590 --> 00:46:20,509
Speaker 4: I don't see they're shutting it down completely. But the

909
00:46:20,610 --> 00:46:24,930
Speaker 4: best outcome is it makes it just so hard for

910
00:46:25,489 --> 00:46:29,380
Speaker 4: Paramount that they walk. away from it. But even if

911
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:33,610
Speaker 4: they don't, think about the way, say, Europe plays now

912
00:46:33,710 --> 00:46:37,089
Speaker 4: in U.S. markets and the EU can do rulings that

913
00:46:37,150 --> 00:46:41,730
Speaker 4: totally hobble or hamstring what the big companies can do.

914
00:46:41,930 --> 00:46:45,170
Speaker 4: I think the range from shutting it down just by

915
00:46:45,230 --> 00:46:50,390
Speaker 4: being such a pain to really having a significant asterisk

916
00:46:50,469 --> 00:46:52,890
Speaker 4: on this. Yeah, maybe you can merge, but here are

917
00:46:53,219 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 4: the 18 things you have to think about every day

918
00:46:55,140 --> 00:46:57,420
Speaker 4: and the whole division you have to hire and the

919
00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:00,800
Speaker 4: AGs who are on the job. This, I think, Molly,

920
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:05,450
Speaker 4: is the new model going forward, particularly at a time

921
00:47:05,790 --> 00:47:10,390
Speaker 4: of antitrust you know, non-feasance lay downs by by the

922
00:47:10,450 --> 00:47:13,930
Speaker 4: administration that really seems to just base everything on friend

923
00:47:13,950 --> 00:47:16,730
Speaker 4: of Trump, not so friend of Trump. And that's what's

924
00:47:16,770 --> 00:47:20,270
Speaker 4: going on here. So I think the range is from

925
00:47:20,530 --> 00:47:24,730
Speaker 4: shutting it down on hard result to at least hamstringing

926
00:47:24,790 --> 00:47:26,689
Speaker 4: it pretty damn significantly.

927
00:47:26,850 --> 00:47:29,790
Speaker 5: They are obviously drawing blood now.

928
00:47:29,950 --> 00:47:32,739
Speaker 1: So you really think this It.

929
00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:36,300
Speaker 4: Could result in a kind of euthanasia, like, oh, my God,

930
00:47:36,380 --> 00:47:38,860
Speaker 4: we thought we didn't take this into account.

931
00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:40,950
Speaker 5: And this is just isn't worth it.

932
00:47:41,010 --> 00:47:43,049
Speaker 4: But, you know, they think it's worth quite a lot,

933
00:47:43,130 --> 00:47:46,130
Speaker 4: not just in money, but in power and the kind

934
00:47:46,210 --> 00:47:48,850
Speaker 4: of future control of. I mean, that's what people are

935
00:47:48,890 --> 00:47:52,730
Speaker 4: worried about, right, is the actual narrowing of what should

936
00:47:52,770 --> 00:47:55,090
Speaker 4: be a much bigger buffet of ideas.

937
00:47:55,730 --> 00:47:57,870
Speaker 5: Anyway, I am saying it's newfangled.

938
00:47:58,250 --> 00:48:02,370
Speaker 4: But they've got real tools within the state laws now.

939
00:48:02,489 --> 00:48:05,109
Speaker 4: And those laws, there's going to be an argument. They're preempted.

940
00:48:05,590 --> 00:48:09,009
Speaker 4: But if they're carefully crafted, there's still room for the

941
00:48:09,070 --> 00:48:10,010
Speaker 4: states to play.

942
00:48:10,310 --> 00:48:13,330
Speaker 1: Wow. Harry Lipman, thank you. Thank you.

943
00:48:13,630 --> 00:48:15,370
Speaker 5: Molly Youngfast, a pleasure.

944
00:48:15,469 --> 00:48:19,210
Speaker 4: I really also enjoyed your reference to Howard Fast, your

945
00:48:19,250 --> 00:48:22,779
Speaker 4: great grandfather, who was one of my father's favorite novelists

946
00:48:22,910 --> 00:48:26,460
Speaker 4: in that same article. You're living history. Great to be

947
00:48:26,500 --> 00:48:26,819
Speaker 4: with you.

948
00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:34,320
Speaker 1: Thank you. And now your moment of suffering. Jesse Cannon.

949
00:48:35,580 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 3: So one of the ways that the Republicans intend to cheat,

950
00:48:39,060 --> 00:48:41,590
Speaker 3: they're doing it in Texas, they're doing it in North Carolina,

951
00:48:42,140 --> 00:48:44,590
Speaker 3: is to take away polling locations from places that are

952
00:48:44,630 --> 00:48:47,330
Speaker 3: likely to vote Democrat. And we're seeing this in Tarrant County,

953
00:48:47,370 --> 00:48:47,989
Speaker 3: Texas now.

954
00:48:48,310 --> 00:48:53,830
Speaker 1: Those polls that have Democrats ahead everywhere, Republicans are seeing

955
00:48:53,870 --> 00:48:56,629
Speaker 1: those polls and they're not like, oh, perhaps we should

956
00:48:56,670 --> 00:48:59,390
Speaker 1: pivot to affordability. They're like, perhaps we should make it

957
00:48:59,430 --> 00:49:02,160
Speaker 1: harder for people who won't vote for us to vote.

958
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:07,040
Speaker 1: And so here we are. They're moving polling places. They're

959
00:49:07,080 --> 00:49:11,320
Speaker 1: closing polling places. Republican commissioners in Tarrick County approved a

960
00:49:11,380 --> 00:49:16,070
Speaker 1: plan Tuesday that would eliminate 92 polling sites that were

961
00:49:16,170 --> 00:49:21,640
Speaker 1: available during the 2022 midterms. There are now 224 polling sites.

962
00:49:21,820 --> 00:49:25,320
Speaker 1: So you're going to have to drive further for polling.

963
00:49:25,700 --> 00:49:29,440
Speaker 1: By the way, your gas is more expensive. Three Republicans

964
00:49:29,480 --> 00:49:32,560
Speaker 1: approved the plan. Two Democrats voted against the measure. The

965
00:49:32,620 --> 00:49:37,470
Speaker 1: decision was denounced by Democrats. It's a totally unsurprising outcome.

966
00:49:37,510 --> 00:49:41,230
Speaker 1: So Republicans fucked us. One of the commissioners wrote on Tuesday,

967
00:49:41,670 --> 00:49:45,640
Speaker 1: expect more of this. And it's why we all need

968
00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:49,890
Speaker 1: to vote our hearts out in November. That's it for

969
00:49:49,930 --> 00:49:55,790
Speaker 1: this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday,

970
00:49:56,050 --> 00:50:00,469
Speaker 1: Thursday and Saturday to hear the best minds in politics

971
00:50:00,550 --> 00:50:04,860
Speaker 1: make sense of all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast,

972
00:50:05,300 --> 00:50:08,720
Speaker 1: please send it to a friend and keep the conversation going.

973
00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:10,260
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.