Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,
Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of
Speaker 1: today's best minds, and Scott Bessen says he's felt this
Speaker 1: pain from China because he's quote actually a soybean farmer
Speaker 1: and a one hundred millionaire, a multi hundred millionaire, a
Speaker 1: five hundred millionaire. We have such a great show for
Speaker 1: you today. The Lincoln Project's owner Rick Wilson joins us
Speaker 1: to discuss Trump getting an illegal one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: million dollar donation from one of his creepiest donors. Then
Speaker 1: we'll talk to the d LCC's Heather Williams about how
Speaker 1: Dems win.
Speaker 2: But first the news, So, Molly, Scott Bessen went on
Speaker 2: the Sunday shows, and I have to say there's a
Speaker 2: very few appearances that generated more headlights because he said
Speaker 2: more ridiculous things that most people do at these But
Speaker 2: one of the things he says is that the US
Speaker 2: will not lose money on the Argent bailout.
Speaker 3: So I guess we're all going to be eating our
Speaker 3: Shetinian steak.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, one of my favorite things about Scott Essen
Speaker 1: is not his woodenness on television and it's not him
Speaker 1: saying ridiculous dishonest things on television. No, no, those are
Speaker 1: my favorite things about seeing them on television. My man,
Speaker 1: the US will not lose money on its massive bailout
Speaker 1: of Argentina because history is no guide for what happens
Speaker 1: in the world, he continued, despite the fact that the currency,
Speaker 1: like the dollar, is just going down the tubes. They've
Speaker 1: gone all in on President Malay. You know why tell me,
Speaker 1: because they want him to win. In order to rescue him,
Speaker 1: they have pledged twenty billion dollar currency slop with the
Speaker 1: Argentine Central Bank, the largest American bailout of another country
Speaker 1: since we bailed out Mexico in nineteen ninety five. Besson
Speaker 1: has also organized another twenty billion in aid from the
Speaker 1: private sector. By the way, these people are very into
Speaker 1: promising big money from the private sector. Usually that doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: so we'll see. But I remember many a private sector
Speaker 1: deals that never came to fruition. You and I know
Speaker 1: this to be true. Donald Trump is always saying that
Speaker 1: we're going to get ten gazillion dollars from this or that.
Speaker 3: You're telling me President deals doesn't live up to his brand.
Speaker 1: I mean, by the way. I just am curious, like,
Speaker 1: did we get those ninety trade deals? Because it's been
Speaker 1: more than ninety days, and I think it's.
Speaker 3: Been another ninety days since those ninety days elapsed.
Speaker 1: Right, it's ninety million days, That's.
Speaker 3: What every day this administration feels.
Speaker 1: Like there iny million years.
Speaker 2: So Senator Lindsey Graham, a man that for as long
Speaker 2: as he's been a senator, has been downright giddy. It's
Speaker 2: not even the word I want to use for war
Speaker 2: because he's so enthusiastic to it you would think that
Speaker 2: you wanted to marry it. So he is very, very
Speaker 2: excited to announce that Trump's were on Narco Terris is
Speaker 2: going to expand the lads strike, which when it's not
Speaker 2: in international waters, it kind of sounds like war with
Speaker 2: another country, am I right?
Speaker 3: Molly?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, Congress is supposed to approve wars. Now, I
Speaker 1: know I'm lame saying that I think that Congress should
Speaker 1: get approval for wars, because that is the way it's
Speaker 1: supposed to work. Congress should give approval. But for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: that is not what we're doing here, where just Trump
Speaker 1: is just going to do whatever Trump wants. And you
Speaker 1: know this happens to work for Trump because Mike Johnson
Speaker 1: basically is at this point donald Trump's Valey and serves
Speaker 1: at the pleasure of Donald Trump. As Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: said before, by the way, this is just like this
Speaker 1: narco terrorist thing is such fucking bullshit, because like, there's
Speaker 1: no this is all completely crazy. Right, Like, we blew
Speaker 1: up a bunch of fishing boats. Maybe some had drugs,
Speaker 1: maybe some didn't. Most of them weren't heading towards the
Speaker 1: United States. They were small boats. Nobody really knows, except
Speaker 1: we know that the few survivors were they were so
Speaker 1: guilty they were repatriated to their home countries without a trial,
Speaker 1: a pretty good sign that they were probably able to testify.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to say that clearly what's happening here.
Speaker 3: Is fucked Yeah. Sounds very very bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And also the pushback is coming from one Rand Paul.
Speaker 1: Ran Paul Republican says he's been invited to no briefings,
Speaker 1: adding a briefing is not enough to overcome the Constitution.
Speaker 1: We've had no evidence presented, So at this point I
Speaker 1: would call these extrajudicial killings. Good for Rand Paul from
Speaker 1: Kentucky for saying what we all know to be true,
Speaker 1: which is the United States government cannot just kill people
Speaker 1: and then make up a reason for it later one.
Speaker 3: Hundred percent Savali. As we know, they're having.
Speaker 2: To really dig through the bottom of the bear of
Speaker 2: people who are willing to do this job as an
Speaker 2: ICE agent since it's a not good job. And you'll
Speaker 2: be shocked to hear they're not fully vetting people about
Speaker 2: whether they have criminal records or not.
Speaker 1: I am just shocked. I am so shocked because I
Speaker 1: was sure this ICE crew would be really thought, you know,
Speaker 1: that people would be interviewed and trained and explained how
Speaker 1: rights work and do process and Nope, just kidding. Let's
Speaker 1: pull back for a minute and realize that deportation Barbie Ice,
Speaker 1: Barbie Christy Nome spells it with an eye because that's
Speaker 1: how she thought it was spelled, is just blowing billions
Speaker 1: of taxpayer dollars. That is pretty much the good news
Speaker 1: in a weird way. And again, you should look at
Speaker 1: these videos out of Chicago. We should look at these
Speaker 1: videos out of Chicago because Chicago is what this administration
Speaker 1: wants for the rest of us. And they are smoke bombing,
Speaker 1: they are going into residential neighborhoods. They are passing people working.
Speaker 1: Here's what they're not doing anything helpful. Here's what they're
Speaker 1: not doing fighting crime. Here's what they are doing. There's
Speaker 1: a video of a couple, like a waspy couple. The
Speaker 1: husband is in pajama pants and bare feet and they're
Speaker 1: screaming at the ICE agents to get out of their neighborhood.
Speaker 1: This is what is coming to all of us. This
Speaker 1: is what our tax dollars are paying for. This is
Speaker 1: what Christy Nome, who has two private jets for one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five million dollars, and her right hand
Speaker 1: hory Lewandowski, are doing to this country.
Speaker 2: So now, because the Democrats are going to make a
Speaker 2: database where you can upload ICE's NonStop abuses of power,
Speaker 2: and we're trying to put a little fear into these
Speaker 2: officers to behave a little better. The Democrats are making
Speaker 2: a tracker for this, and Christy Nome is threatening them
Speaker 2: because she thinks they should be able to act with
Speaker 2: full impunity and ignorance of the law, which is unprecedented
Speaker 2: in America.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, they are going to push and
Speaker 1: they are going to do illegal stuff, and they're going
Speaker 1: to do bad stuff, and the only way it stops
Speaker 1: is if people say this is enough. And this is
Speaker 1: a great example Robert Garcia doing God's work. We've established
Speaker 1: in a misconduct tracker to document abuse and civil rights
Speaker 1: violations by this administration, including where Ice has detained US
Speaker 1: citizens and violated federal law. By the way, that is
Speaker 1: what we should be doing. That is what all of
Speaker 1: us should be doing. I mean, that's how all of
Speaker 1: this is supposed to work. So correct. Good for again,
Speaker 1: Representative Garcia. If life ever gets back to normal, I
Speaker 1: hope that he will someday be in leadership. Rick Wilson
Speaker 1: is the founder of the Lincoln Project and the host
Speaker 1: of the Enemy's List. Rick Wilson, Well, I junk fast.
Speaker 4: How are you on this fine day in our so
Speaker 4: called country.
Speaker 1: I'm just looking for a mysterious donor to donate one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty million dollars to pay one point three million. True.
Speaker 1: I'm not a math genius.
Speaker 4: You know. I kind of do no math. And I
Speaker 4: will tell you that math is not, as the kids
Speaker 4: like to say, mathing in this case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So we're talking about Timothy Mallan volunteering to donate
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty million dollars, which is a lot
Speaker 1: of money to us because we're poor, But to people
Speaker 1: like this, you know, a childless billionaire, I think it's jumping.
Speaker 4: I mean, molly, let me, let me say this. He
Speaker 4: is donating this money because Donald Trump does not want
Speaker 4: Jeffrey Epstein files to be voted on in Congress. That's
Speaker 4: why he's voting giving Trump this money. And he's doing
Speaker 4: it with like the weirdest conditions and stipulations like you
Speaker 4: must find Amelia air Arts. What fuck? And you know what,
Speaker 4: It's funny because like a few weeks ago, I was like,
Speaker 4: last Trump tweeting about a millionaire hurt? What is going
Speaker 4: on here?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 4: What could be driving this? And you and I tend
Speaker 4: to like no shit, And I'm just like I could
Speaker 4: not figure it out. I was like, why is he
Speaker 4: obsessed with Amelia Earhart? What is going on? And now
Speaker 4: we know Timmothy Mellen wants to find Amelia air Art.
Speaker 1: So if they paid the troops out of this money,
Speaker 1: it would be one hundred dollars a troop pretty much period.
Speaker 1: So that's one hundred dollars that is, in case you're wondering,
Speaker 1: not enough money.
Speaker 4: No case you're wondering that is that is.
Speaker 1: Not enough money. Good but good headline for Trump. Go
Speaker 1: the headline for Timothy Mellen. For people who don't read headlines,
Speaker 1: and I want to go to headlines for a minute
Speaker 1: because I want to talk about this gubernatorial race in
Speaker 1: New Jersey. Yeah, it's a good headline for Trump. It's
Speaker 1: a good headline for Timothy Mallen. For people who are
Speaker 1: not paying attention, they think, oh, Timothy Mellen, billionaire. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but if you can't actually pay, if it won't actually
Speaker 1: pay the troops, then what what Hey, you.
Speaker 4: Know how we could pay the trips. You know, we
Speaker 4: could pay the troops tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Tell me more.
Speaker 4: Open the government, stop being stop stop covering up the
Speaker 4: Jeffrey Epstein files, and open the government. This is this
Speaker 4: is something like like my tolerance for this because you know,
Speaker 4: I'm not sure if you know this, but basically, people
Speaker 4: in the United States military essentially do not make money. Yes,
Speaker 4: it is not a place that people go to just
Speaker 4: like racking Kwan.
Speaker 5: Just so like.
Speaker 1: People work in the federal government could be making more
Speaker 1: in the private sector.
Speaker 4: Often they do it because they could be.
Speaker 1: They care about the country, which is why Russ Vaught
Speaker 1: wants to put them in trauma.
Speaker 4: Quote in trauma in trauma. Yes, And look, Russ Vaught
Speaker 4: is having the time. This is the best week of
Speaker 4: restaurants that life. He is. He is getting a lot
Speaker 4: of the torture of these so called evil bureaucrats that
Speaker 4: he wants to apply, right he is. He's really getting
Speaker 4: his way with a lot of the damage he wants
Speaker 4: to do to these people. And he wants to make
Speaker 4: federal service so miserable that they quit.
Speaker 1: Right or that they go.
Speaker 4: And look, a number of them are going to or
Speaker 4: already have. But you know, the the the tiny little
Speaker 4: inty bitty problems we're having in the country, like air
Speaker 4: traffic controllers aren't getting paid, and our military isn't getting paid,
Speaker 4: and our veterans benefits aren't getting paid. But who's getting paid.
Speaker 4: Christy Noms film crew from Ice is getting paid. So yeah,
Speaker 4: they could solve this problem tomorrow. Mike Johnson could say, Okay,
Speaker 4: we're back in session, we're passing the cr I'm swearing
Speaker 4: to add Grijalva. I give up. But they don't want
Speaker 4: to give up because Trump is telling people. As we
Speaker 4: saw that coverage of this week from the I think
Speaker 4: the Washington Post. Trump enjoys how much a survi little
Speaker 4: shipbird Mike Johnson is. How much he makes Mike Johnson obey.
Speaker 1: So there was a good piece in the New York
Speaker 1: Times by one Annie Carney, who's been doing a really
Speaker 1: good job comm yeah, covering what little converce is doing,
Speaker 1: and she actually had this quote that Trump had said
Speaker 1: basically that he was the Speaker of the House and
Speaker 1: the president, which I think is absolutely right. And in fact,
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why they are not able to
Speaker 1: make a deal right now is because Democrats don't because
Speaker 1: Democrats don't want to make a deal with Mike Johnson
Speaker 1: because they know Mike Johnson isn't he doesn't, he is
Speaker 1: not the boss.
Speaker 4: It's like running the entire government from it's like the House,
Speaker 4: it's to the Senate, to the White House and everything
Speaker 4: in between to the Supreme Court. There is no government
Speaker 4: but Trump. You know, there is no data, only zuul.
Speaker 4: This is Donald Trump. He runs all this. This is
Speaker 4: all by his choice. And if Mike Johnson cared about
Speaker 4: the House and cared about his members, and cared about
Speaker 4: doing the duty that he has as an elected representative,
Speaker 4: he would stop this bs, right, but.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the power. He serves at the pleasure
Speaker 1: of Donald Trump. And the thing is, Donald Trump has,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, decided he doesn't care right now about
Speaker 1: domestic except because he's working on getting a Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker 1: And he's doing that by going overseas building right, Well,
Speaker 1: that's not for the Nobel Peace Prize. That's just for
Speaker 1: the Nobel you know, just the fun of cleptocracy.
Speaker 4: The arrogant, kleptocratic bullshit prize.
Speaker 1: Right. But Donald Trump is overseas. He's going to Japan,
Speaker 1: he was, He's going to South Korea. He's zipping around
Speaker 1: the globe. Even though I think that when you have
Speaker 1: tanks in Chicago, you may actually off be getting the
Speaker 1: Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker 4: Discuss I'm gonna tell you from my understanding, tanks in
Speaker 4: the streets of your country. I think pretty much anywhere
Speaker 4: it might be a disqualifier for the Nobel I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm just gonna say, I'm gonna I'm gonna take a
Speaker 4: big leap here, Molly and just sort of sort of
Speaker 4: sort of make a piece of enforced speculation that Donald
Speaker 4: Trump's vibe set is not working for the Nobel Prize
Speaker 4: Committee ever, and he's not going to get in this
Speaker 4: year because it's already been issued. He's not gonna get
Speaker 4: in this year because there is nothing he can do.
Speaker 1: Except piss off India. Except piss off India.
Speaker 4: Why not, you know, because he's pissed off everyone else
Speaker 4: at this point. That is very much on brand for
Speaker 4: Trump at the moment, is to piss off as many
Speaker 4: as many humans as possible.
Speaker 1: And this weekend we saw Donald Trump go basically to
Speaker 1: again into trade war again with Canada because Canada had
Speaker 1: this advertisement he didn't like, which was Ronald Reagan talking
Speaker 1: about how he didn't believe in tariffs. Donald Trum got
Speaker 1: very offended and said that it was fake news, despite
Speaker 1: the fact that while it is a I it is
Speaker 1: or no, it's not a.
Speaker 4: It was all this was footage from address Reagan read
Speaker 4: on the radio and nineteen eighty seven about trade wars. Now,
Speaker 4: what has pissed off the magas is that they didn't
Speaker 4: run one line that was in the speech and said
Speaker 4: sometimes tariffs for a brief period of time can be
Speaker 4: useful and as a negotiating tactic or something like that.
Speaker 4: And this was not a speech like how much he
Speaker 4: loved tariffs, a speech about how much he hated tariffs,
Speaker 4: and what freak Trump and his people out was. There
Speaker 4: is still a core reality inside the Republican Party. Even
Speaker 4: in today's perverse imitation of the Republican Party, Ronald Reagan
Speaker 4: is still more popular rapes and he does not like that.
Speaker 4: And this whole thing, this whole thing has become a
Speaker 4: kind of pissing contest about now the legacy of Reagan,
Speaker 4: who was not a tariff guy. He was a free
Speaker 4: trade guy.
Speaker 1: Free trader. Yeah, all Republicans have been free traders until
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I mean talk, but I do know a
Speaker 4: thing or two about this world.
Speaker 1: Yes, as we live in the bad place that is
Speaker 1: in fact, Oh yes we do. Oh, yes we do.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Donald Trump's poor coal link
Speaker 1: for a minute, because I think this is my man
Speaker 1: is underwater. Talk to us about those numbers. I feel
Speaker 1: like you're looking up numbers right now.
Speaker 4: I'm looking at but I can just tell you Donald
Speaker 4: Trump's numbers are shitty and yet visible, terrible and yet
Speaker 4: also painfully obviously declining into the health space. The biggest
Speaker 4: number you should look at right now is the thing
Speaker 4: that subsumes all the other things, and that is the
Speaker 4: right track wrong track. And about seventy percent of Americans
Speaker 4: say the country is on the wrong track.
Speaker 5: Were united in everything is going to ship.
Speaker 4: Two percent of Americans agree that the cause of that
Speaker 4: wrong track is one Donald John Trump. This is a
Speaker 4: bad place for him to be in. He is not
Speaker 4: he is not a popular president. And I just this
Speaker 4: is one thing that in Congress there's a belief, well,
Speaker 4: I if we cross Trump, we're going to face all
Speaker 4: these political consequences. You might, you might if you let
Speaker 4: Trump be the sole creator of the national narrative. And
Speaker 4: you are the ones in Congress as Republicans who are
Speaker 4: going to take all that radiation and take all that damage.
Speaker 4: Donald Trump gets certain exceptions because he was a celebrity
Speaker 4: and all the other things We've talked about a million
Speaker 4: times about who he is in the culture. Right that's gone. Now, yes,
Speaker 4: that do not exist. Ain't that? Ain't this world anymore?
Speaker 4: Because of that, these Republicans are going to take absolute
Speaker 4: whippings from their voters because you know what, they are
Speaker 4: not happy with Donald Trump's performance in office. They are
Speaker 4: pissed at the economy. They think the country's off on
Speaker 4: the wrong track. They think that the immigration stuff has
Speaker 4: gone too far. They think that Harris are a terrible idea.
Speaker 4: There's almost nothing he's doing right now that is popular
Speaker 4: with the American people, and people have sort of like
Speaker 4: kind of ignored that that really fundamental underpinning fact. He
Speaker 4: is a bad president and people don't like him. I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm trying to put that in words that even the
Speaker 4: MAGA listeners can understand. But he's a lot popular.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about what's happening in Iowa, Okay, because I
Speaker 1: think that this is a really good example of Iowa
Speaker 1: art for Obama twice. Yep, they voted for Trump, and
Speaker 1: Trump has done some stuff that has put their their
Speaker 1: GDP in a kilspin.
Speaker 4: No, I actually tailspan Limbell the bad place, the bad
Speaker 4: he has. He has fucked farmers in this country, in
Speaker 4: rural communities like Iowa, in a way that if you
Speaker 4: set out to do it, it would be hard to
Speaker 4: imagine you could do a more a more damaging job
Speaker 4: than what he's done. And so, you know, you see
Speaker 4: in the farm belt the realization that we're not going
Speaker 4: to sell anybody any soybeans this year. We're not going
Speaker 4: to sell anybody any beef this year. The timber industry
Speaker 4: is now freaking out that they're that they're slowing down.
Speaker 4: It was timber issue was a big export industry in
Speaker 4: this country. They're now like freaking out because other countries
Speaker 4: are like, no, we'll pass, We'll we'll get something, we'll do,
Speaker 4: we'll do, we'll work with somebody else.
Speaker 1: This is from the New York Times. I was GDP
Speaker 1: dropped by six point one percent, more than any state
Speaker 1: aside from neighboring Nebraska.
Speaker 4: You know how many people are on a snap in Iowa?
Speaker 4: Eighteen percent? You know who? He doesn't get snap anymore
Speaker 4: in Iowa? Everybody?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you know why why don't people get snapped?
Speaker 4: Because Donald Trump closed down the government to keep the
Speaker 4: Epstein fires from coming out, and Russ Vaud is a sadist.
Speaker 1: And they could have done snap. In fact, previous shutdowns
Speaker 1: had done snacks snap, just like just like they carved
Speaker 1: out the bunny for wick right women, infant and children
Speaker 1: so that you didn't have forty percent of pregnant women
Speaker 1: dying starvation.
Speaker 4: These these these starving women in.
Speaker 1: Small Yeah, one weeksa do you see?
Speaker 4: That was a good one, You know, what they can
Speaker 4: lift themselves up by their bootstraps, smalling little bootstraps. I
Speaker 4: think I've had enough of accommodating these slackers.
Speaker 1: Manufacturing, which drives seventeen percent of Iowa's economic output, has
Speaker 1: been hit with higher production costs, in part because of guests.
Speaker 4: It would it be terriffs, Why it would be tariffs?
Speaker 4: Why the answer would be terriffs.
Speaker 1: But I was told that the other people were going
Speaker 1: to pay the tariffs.
Speaker 4: I keep hearing about these other people paying the tariffs,
Speaker 4: and yet somehow it still seems to keep being Americans
Speaker 4: paying the tariffs.
Speaker 1: It is bizarre. Now, I would like to say, these
Speaker 1: people voted for Trump now are starving, but they're gonna
Speaker 1: give Trump just one more shot.
Speaker 4: So look, I will say this, they are trust Trump.
Speaker 4: There are still people who trust in Trump. There's still
Speaker 4: people who believe in Donald Trump as the avatar of
Speaker 4: all things, whatever you want, however you want to put it.
Speaker 4: But that number is shrinking. The hardcore is now a smaller,
Speaker 4: crazier edge, and the people who now understand the damage
Speaker 4: he's done to them, that number is increasing, including in
Speaker 4: these places where where you think, okay, it's rural Iowa
Speaker 4: they're always going to love Trump. They're never going to
Speaker 4: walk away from Trump. And what they'll do is many
Speaker 4: of them will never walk away from Trump, but many
Speaker 4: of them will say, you know what, I don't like
Speaker 4: all this libtard blah blah blah, and quietly they're gonna say,
Speaker 4: I can't vote for that. I can't vote for Republican X.
Speaker 4: It is why you see even people like Ted who's
Speaker 4: in a panic right now, there are a lot of
Speaker 4: people in that Republican space who are looking at an
Speaker 4: outcome for next year if they were not jerrymandered to the.
Speaker 1: Hilt, and even if they are, because and again this
Speaker 1: is not to say that jerrymandering is good. They're cheating
Speaker 1: and it's very bad. But you can't make votes you
Speaker 1: don't have. So if you jerrymander to an R plus
Speaker 1: four from a D plus two.
Speaker 4: And R plus four maybe was safe. Maybe in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty six on R plus four is a tie ball game,
Speaker 4: or on R plus six is a tie ball game. Right,
Speaker 4: this is shaping into an election where where unless they
Speaker 4: do something really extreme on the other side, you know,
Speaker 4: like troops in the streets, I think they know that
Speaker 4: their chances of holding onto the house now are absolutely
Speaker 4: you know, fading by the minute.
Speaker 1: And that is why they're talking about doing troops in
Speaker 1: the streets, and that is why it is going to
Speaker 1: be a moment where we're all going to have to
Speaker 1: say this is not okay. Like from Susan Collins to
Speaker 1: Ted to Ted Cruz to everyone, we know we're gonna
Speaker 1: have to be in the streets being like, look, we
Speaker 1: have free and fair elections.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I want to move on to something else, which is
Speaker 1: a question that has been going around. Steve Bannon sat
Speaker 1: on television that Donald Trump is going to run again.
Speaker 1: This is a thing people really like to say. The
Speaker 1: Sea Pack, they had a third term project again, Donald
Speaker 1: Trump pretty again a real danger. But I think that
Speaker 1: we have to talk about one thing when we talk
Speaker 1: about this, which is how old is Donald Trump.
Speaker 4: Well, let me put this way. I get how old
Speaker 4: he'll be when he runs again, eighty eight if he does.
Speaker 1: Yes, at seventy nine, he was the oldest person to
Speaker 1: ever be elected president. That is crul older than Joseph
Speaker 1: Robinette Biden.
Speaker 4: Yes, also Gus. All right, first off, let's break Bannon
Speaker 4: down into two boxes. One, Bannon is the king of
Speaker 4: all bullshitter, and he's doing this to get on Trump's
Speaker 4: good side and to and to keep himself in the
Speaker 4: war room podcast.
Speaker 1: Right, My take is that it's better for Bannett Bannon
Speaker 1: wants Trump to see him supporting him.
Speaker 4: That is correct. But I will also say if Bannon
Speaker 4: finds a pathway that he can both monetize for himself
Speaker 4: his podcast as media companies, bright barred, et cetera, and
Speaker 4: he finds a path where where he thinks he can
Speaker 4: somehow get the a a thinly argued but potentially Supreme
Speaker 4: Court friendly third term lawsuit to the Supreme Court, he
Speaker 4: will try to do it. He's not a guy with
Speaker 4: a lot of shame. He will put.
Speaker 1: Things All things can be true, right, all things can
Speaker 1: be true.
Speaker 4: But, as I like to say, if Bannon does start
Speaker 4: to try to execute on this, and I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 4: gonna tell my my liberal friends this, you don't have
Speaker 4: to fight him just in court. You have to fight
Speaker 4: in on every fucking access possible. You have to bring
Speaker 4: a level of pain to the Republicans and to the
Speaker 4: White House that they have.
Speaker 1: Previously, not a nonviolent pain, non violent pain, but sure.
Speaker 5: No violent.
Speaker 4: That's that's when that's when the Democrats in Congress justations.
Speaker 4: That's when they say to the White House, we're cutting
Speaker 4: the White House's budget, We're eliminating Russ Vought's salary. Exactly
Speaker 4: through every aspect of this where they have to exercise
Speaker 4: power in a way that Democrats often hesitate to exercise it.
Speaker 1: For sure, I do want to say, Jake Tapper, where
Speaker 1: is your book on Donald Trump's health? Because those cankles.
Speaker 1: I was told.
Speaker 4: Presidential health and mental fitness was the central issue of
Speaker 4: our time. I would like to see more reporting on that,
Speaker 4: from more reporters on that. And then's just saying it,
Speaker 4: you know, and not like Biden watched did he stumble
Speaker 4: up a staircase today? As opposed to Trump, who goes
Speaker 4: into every every cabinet meeting, every presser, every press availability,
Speaker 4: on the plane, it's like herbal purple, Shamalalam ding dong,
Speaker 4: and he's just saying shit and you don't know what
Speaker 4: the fuck is happening.
Speaker 1: Rick Wilson, Yes, ma'am, will you come back?
Speaker 4: Of course I will. You know me.
Speaker 1: Heather Williams is the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fast Politics. Heather, thank you.
Speaker 5: I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1: So explain to us what you do, because I think
Speaker 1: that's important data point.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Sure, So.
Speaker 5: The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is the national campaign arm
Speaker 5: for state legislatures. We look across all the legislative races
Speaker 5: and find the opportunities for Democrats to build power in
Speaker 5: the states.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a moment when Republicans are using the
Speaker 1: states as an atm to get whatever they want. And
Speaker 1: I would argue that the worst offender is Governor Greg
Speaker 1: Abbott and ken Baxton, but there are certainly other states
Speaker 1: where we've seen Republicans do just crazy shit at the
Speaker 1: state level. And you could say, maybe it's started with Alec,
Speaker 1: maybe it's started with you know, any number of things.
Speaker 1: So there's so much anxiety about elections, and with good reason.
Speaker 1: So at first, I want you to talk about ways
Speaker 1: in which Democrats at the state level can protect our elections,
Speaker 1: because elections are supposed to be administered at the state level.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, just grabbing on for just a second
Speaker 5: onto your note about Republicans seizing power here in the States,
Speaker 5: you know, this has been a build for them. They
Speaker 5: really came into this in twenty ten with Project Red Map,
Speaker 5: and we've been finding our way back since to get
Speaker 5: to your point on sort of election security, if you will,
Speaker 5: since Trump has been around. You know, we've won ten
Speaker 5: legislative majorities and that matters because we have more power
Speaker 5: in the states now. As you know, states are where
Speaker 5: we determine our election laws. It's where we determine our
Speaker 5: voting laws. These folks are on the front line line
Speaker 5: and in so many of the battlegrounds where you know
Speaker 5: sort of all of this is ground zero. We have,
Speaker 5: you know, some lever of power in the states, and
Speaker 5: you know that is what is going to carry us
Speaker 5: through these next moments as we navigate this Trump approach
Speaker 5: to elections.
Speaker 4: So that is.
Speaker 1: Good to hear. So tell me what that looks like.
Speaker 1: And also, I do think Trump wants people to be
Speaker 1: more scared than they should be. So explain to us
Speaker 1: all of this.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, listen, Like, fundamentally, Republicans need to turn
Speaker 5: out their voters and they need every mechanism to do so.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: They need voters to participate in our democracy through early
Speaker 5: vote opportunities, whether that's by mail or in person. We
Speaker 5: are seeing this in Virginia. They need folks to turn out,
Speaker 5: and they need all those tools in their toolkits. So
Speaker 5: the national narrative that the president is spinning and what's
Speaker 5: happening on the ground as we work through all of
Speaker 5: these election moments just look different.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: We've been winning elections already in the States all year long,
Speaker 5: and they have really been a democratic process, right, we
Speaker 5: flip free Trump districts. They have been safe, secure, honest elections,
Speaker 5: even when Democrats have won in places that they shouldn't have.
Speaker 5: So I think we must imagine a future where we
Speaker 5: think about all the things that could happen, but we
Speaker 5: must also be resolved in what is happening so that
Speaker 5: we continue to focus on the thing that matters most,
Speaker 5: which is winning these elections and putting Democrats in more
Speaker 5: power so that we can find our way through this mess.
Speaker 1: That's right, So talk us through what that looks like.
Speaker 1: I want you to talk us through the different states
Speaker 1: where Democrats have power and how Democrats are using that legislatively.
Speaker 5: Democrats have power over roughly like fifty percent of the
Speaker 5: country in their state capitals. This is not obviously a
Speaker 5: small number of people. You know, the policies that are
Speaker 5: being moved forward in these states matters so much. It's
Speaker 5: always matter, but it matters now because this is where
Speaker 5: Democrats have power. We sit in the minority federally, we
Speaker 5: don't have the presidency. This is where we are getting
Speaker 5: things done. And we see both these legislatures, Democrats who
Speaker 5: are leading these legislatures move on issues of affordability and
Speaker 5: costs and sort of those kitchen table issues that voters
Speaker 5: have been asking elected officials to pay attention to, while
Speaker 5: also making sure that you know, people can get access
Speaker 5: to healthcare and that they're able to tap into the
Speaker 5: benefits and or services that they may need, and they're
Speaker 5: going to continue to approach it, you know, both ways,
Speaker 5: both finding a path forward for a country and in
Speaker 5: their community that certainly deserves it, while also filling in
Speaker 5: the deep polls that this administration has placed on communities
Speaker 5: across the country.
Speaker 1: Right give us a state where this is happening.
Speaker 5: New Mexico is a really incredible example of moving forward
Speaker 5: in like these times. They've they just passed some legislation
Speaker 5: that helps ensure that New Mexicans can get health care
Speaker 5: coverage as the ACA and Medicaid gets pulled back. It's smart,
Speaker 5: but it's also very responsive to their community. You know,
Speaker 5: we continue to see efforts to move forward policy and
Speaker 5: education that ensures that all of our kids can be educated,
Speaker 5: regardless of their learning style or learning ability. It's really
Speaker 5: remarkable how contrasting it is between Republican state and a
Speaker 5: state with democratic leadership delivering on the simplest things like
Speaker 5: a budget on time, you know, the things that is
Speaker 5: expected from one's state house. We're really seeing, you know,
Speaker 5: Democrats lead the way, and we're going to continue to
Speaker 5: see them.
Speaker 1: Virginia's a state that has a big off your election.
Speaker 1: Just had a debate last night. The Democrat is pulling
Speaker 1: to win. The Republicans have fired all the people work
Speaker 1: in the state, so that may help the Democrat, I
Speaker 1: don't know, but talk us through, like the House of
Speaker 1: Delegates is all up. One year, we interviewed every single
Speaker 1: person running for the House of Delegates, not every single one,
Speaker 1: but many of the people running for the House of
Speaker 1: Delegates and the state Senate, right and it was a
Speaker 1: fascinating adventure. Talk us through how the state legislature works
Speaker 1: in Virginia, because that's up now.
Speaker 5: It is it is. The House of Delegates is up
Speaker 5: on November's ballot. There are currently fifty one Democrats, so
Speaker 5: we have a majority by one seat. The state Senate
Speaker 5: is not up for election this year, so it's just
Speaker 5: the House of Delegates. The amazing thing that is happening
Speaker 5: in Virginia is these candidates are of their community. They're
Speaker 5: super representative. They are not career politicians. They are not
Speaker 5: you know, folks that come with sort of that perspective.
Speaker 5: They're there to serve their community and to do that
Speaker 5: in the best way possible. So we start with really
Speaker 5: excellent candidates in every district across the state, and I
Speaker 5: think a resolve that the work here is to meet
Speaker 5: voters on the issues that they actually care about, which
Speaker 5: are these core kitchen table issues.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 5: Virginia has an enormous federal workforce, it has deep federal
Speaker 5: economic impact, but it's also a state that has medicated
Speaker 5: expansion and rural hospitals and a port and military base,
Speaker 5: and veterans hospitals, and the lack of care that Republicans
Speaker 5: have for any of those communities, any of those issues.
Speaker 5: It's showing up every day. And what we see is
Speaker 5: the candidates are on the doors talking to voters every
Speaker 5: single day. They're putting their efforts into having those conversations
Speaker 5: with Democrats, with Republicans, with independents and making their case.
Speaker 5: And you know, we're less than two weeks out. We
Speaker 5: feel like they are in a strong position, but we
Speaker 5: are by no means in an environment that we can
Speaker 5: take anything for granted or assume that we are going
Speaker 5: to coast to the finish lines. So everyone's working really hard.
Speaker 5: They're going to be persuading voters all the way through
Speaker 5: pools close on election day and a win here and
Speaker 5: a win.
Speaker 1: In New Jersey, yeah, well, in a win.
Speaker 5: With the governor right means that we will have built
Speaker 5: a new trifecta, which will certainly help our path forward
Speaker 5: for Democrats.
Speaker 1: It's an interesting moment because in Trump one point zero,
Speaker 1: what we saw was there was like people were just
Speaker 1: fired up and they were like, Democrats are the vehicle
Speaker 1: we are going to use to win power path. This time,
Speaker 1: people are mad and they're mad of Trump, but they're
Speaker 1: also mad at Democrats for letting them get into this position,
Speaker 1: which they got themselves into. But whatever, we're not here
Speaker 1: to play the blame game. So talk us through that.
Speaker 1: Because we're seeing a map that we're seeing candidates that
Speaker 1: you know, Democrats don't have the same power over their
Speaker 1: base they did in twenty sixty.
Speaker 5: You know, I feel really strongly that our work is
Speaker 5: to get out into these communities and to make the
Speaker 5: case for both our party, our values, our path forward.
Speaker 5: There is no one who is better to do that
Speaker 5: than Democrats at this ballot level, right, state legislators. State
Speaker 5: legisative candidates are very much of their community. They are
Speaker 5: not career politicians, they are not often even full time politicians,
Speaker 5: and they're like deep root in the community and willingness
Speaker 5: to engage in just you know, regular dialogue about the
Speaker 5: issues that we face, about the state of our community,
Speaker 5: of our country, of the world. They're not overly scripted.
Speaker 5: They care deeply, and there's so much authenticity in how
Speaker 5: they approach things. And you know, when I think about
Speaker 5: what you were saying about, you know, how things felt
Speaker 5: in twenty seventeen versus how they feel now. We've picked
Speaker 5: up ten chambers since then, we've put a bunch of
Speaker 5: more Democrats in power, and we haven't lost sight of
Speaker 5: the fact that we still have to go out there
Speaker 5: every day and make our case clearly, make our case
Speaker 5: with you know, a level of understand that this is
Speaker 5: not about who is right or wrong, but it's about
Speaker 5: how do we come together and create a new future
Speaker 5: for ourselves, one that considers everyone. And you know, I
Speaker 5: think this year we've seen we've seen some progress, right,
Speaker 5: We've been winning elections, and so I feel like we
Speaker 5: are certainly the sort of the anchor of the future
Speaker 5: as we think about how do we hold space for voters,
Speaker 5: for Democrats who are frustrated, who are exhausted, who are scared,
Speaker 5: have those real conversations and continue to put one foot
Speaker 5: in front of the other as we march our way
Speaker 5: towards progress.
Speaker 1: So, you got to get people to vote, You got
Speaker 1: to get legislation passed. You got to get it happening
Speaker 1: at the state legislature. You got this sort of Medicaid
Speaker 1: Obamacare repeal that the Trump administration has pushed through. It's happening.
Speaker 1: You got the federal government shut down because it's happening.
Speaker 1: Is a way to try to temper it from happening.
Speaker 1: The most likely scenario is that Obamacare will in fact
Speaker 1: be appealed, a lot of people will lose healthcare. There
Speaker 1: is a theory of the case that Democrats should stop
Speaker 1: trying to help people and let them lose stuff they
Speaker 1: voted for. A lot of people in red states are
Speaker 1: going to lose a lot of stuff they did, in
Speaker 1: fact vote for Trump, they do, in fact pay lower taxes.
Speaker 1: What's your theory about that.
Speaker 5: I saw an interview that AOC did and she said,
Speaker 5: I'm here to fight for everyone, regardless of whether or
Speaker 5: not you voted for me, regardless of whether or not
Speaker 5: you agree with me. We should have healthcare in this
Speaker 5: country right amongst so many other things. And I don't
Speaker 5: know that allowing people will flee to suffer is the
Speaker 5: path forward. I think we need to make sure that
Speaker 5: we are running candidates in places that we haven't run before,
Speaker 5: that we are reaching communities and voters that may not
Speaker 5: be a part of our coalition right now, but are
Speaker 5: looking for a path forward. And I believe strongly that that,
Speaker 5: you know, we need to go out there and make
Speaker 5: our case. Your point, though, is, you know heard that
Speaker 5: this administration and this presidency is pushing all of these
Speaker 5: decisions and these problems into the states, and they don't
Speaker 5: just affect blue states. There are so many people who
Speaker 5: are no longer going to be able to afford healthcare
Speaker 5: I believe strongly that that is something that we fight
Speaker 5: for for everyone, regardless of whether or not they'll vote
Speaker 5: for us. I think that you've got an electorate who
Speaker 5: still seems to be finding its way through whether or
Speaker 5: not this administration, if they voted for them, are delivering
Speaker 5: on their behalf, whether or not they need some more time,
Speaker 5: you know. I think the more we get bogged down
Speaker 5: in that, the less we are out there talking about
Speaker 5: the things that we care most about that we know
Speaker 5: we can do something about, like lowering costs and making
Speaker 5: sure that people have access to clean air and potable
Speaker 5: drinking water and good schools and you know, great communities,
Speaker 5: And we've got to not just fight Trump, but we
Speaker 5: need to show people the vision for the future. And
Speaker 5: I'm not sure how we do that if we're allowing
Speaker 5: people willfully allowing people to be in pain.
Speaker 1: Right, And it's a real question. I mean, that is
Speaker 1: the real question. Candidates are so different, and all of
Speaker 1: these states are so different, and legislative priorities are so different.
Speaker 1: But give me one piece of legislation that you are
Speaker 1: excited about.
Speaker 5: Oh, you know, I'm excited about the constitutional amendments that
Speaker 5: the legislature will deal with in Virginia on the other
Speaker 5: side of this election, it's marriage, it's voting rights restoration.
Speaker 5: These are meaningful things for the state and for all Virginians.
Speaker 5: And I think it goes to show that when you
Speaker 5: put Democrats in charge, like your rights are expanded, and
Speaker 5: they are expanded in a way that is really, you know, thoughtful,
Speaker 5: and I think that they're going to do, you know,
Speaker 5: really really good things there. The other thing that I
Speaker 5: love is the free school lunches for kids. This is
Speaker 5: a big thing that happened in Minnesota. It's happening in
Speaker 5: a number of states across the country. Our kids are
Speaker 5: best served when they can pay attention in the classroom
Speaker 5: and they can learn, and they are set up for
Speaker 5: success when they have full bellies and access to you know,
Speaker 5: good nutrition. And you know, that helps everyone because we
Speaker 5: need the next generation to come in and continue to
Speaker 5: fight for our country and our values. And I think
Speaker 5: those are two things that I'm pretty excited about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that does sound good, Heather, Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on. Thank you. And a moment Rick Wilson, Yes, ma'am,
Speaker 1: I have the moment of fuck Gray, did I.
Speaker 4: Let's do it. She's a Maverick a rebel.
Speaker 1: Now she's just a corrupt asshole, the one, the only.
Speaker 1: Kristen Cinema.
Speaker 4: Kristen fucking Cinema now a lobbyist for Big Data Center,
Speaker 4: saying to the people of Arizona, if you don't do
Speaker 4: what I want, I'll have Donald Trump come and make
Speaker 4: you do it. The problem is molly fucking believable. She
Speaker 4: has always been a transactional, corrupt, ideologically malleable. It's like
Speaker 4: a compliment to this woman. She's literally now working for
Speaker 4: the AI tech overlords and using Donald Trump as a
Speaker 4: threat to make people do what she wants. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: In case you're wondering, Kristen Cinema, I have trouble thinking
Speaker 1: of someone who is more evil and disappointing. I mean
Speaker 1: I can because it's American politics.
Speaker 4: Jill Stein.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, what happened to Jill Stein?
Speaker 4: Oh she's just she's resting. She'll be back to run
Speaker 4: as a third party again, like a cicada, Like a
Speaker 4: freaking cicada.
Speaker 3: God Almighty, that's.
Speaker 1: It for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday,
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