WEBVTT - George Conway & Heather Williams 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:04.200 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.160 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:12.080 today's best minds, and Senate Democrats have re elected Charles 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.800 Schumer as their leader. We have such a great show 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.639 for you today. The Atlantic's George Conway stops by to 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.520 talk to us about his very smart take on presidential pardons. 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.639 Then we'll talk to the dlcc's Heather Williams about what 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:32.560 Democrats can do to reclaim the majority. But first the news. 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:36.560 So, Molly, I'm going to shock you here. Mister Trump 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.080 did not win a landslide. He didn't even get fifty 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.479 percent of the popular vote, but he did get more 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:43.760 votes than in the past. What are you seeing here? 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:46.680 So Trump did win the popular vote, but he has 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:50.559 now fallen to just below fifty percent in the popular vote. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.880 He has gotten more votes than in past elections, but 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:58.360 it is not exactly the unprecedented and powerful mandate that 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:01.240 Donald Trump claimed on election. I mean, I think the 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.320 story here more than anything, is that California takes too 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.600 long to count its votes. Like we are weeks and 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.080 weeks past his fucking election. It is goddamn December. 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.000 But Molly, mister Trump says he's going to get paper ballots. 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:15.480 Those are going to be so easy to count. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.280 Trump has, according to the Associated Press, forty nine point 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:25.360 ninety seven percent to Harris's forty eight point thirty six percent. 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.080 So I just want to say, like, this was a 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:31.679 very close election, but it was also not a high 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:32.520 turnet election. 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:33.039 Right. 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:37.959 The numbers are seventy six million point nine that's for 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.600 Trump and seventy four point four million for Harris. So 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.280 it was a close election. But more importantly, like a 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.160 lot of the Democratic base did not turn out for 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:53.400 Vice President Harris for whatever reason, and if she had 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.760 gotten the twenty twenty numbers that Biden had, she would 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:01.120 have won. Also, California needs to count its votes faster. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.640 I think we should start branding Californians as lazy. Maybe 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:05.160 that'll help. 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.280 So South Korea, we got to talk about South Korea. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.600 I always tried not to talk about international foreign policy stuff, 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.880 just because I know so little about it. But I 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.600 wanted to talk about this because it's a really good 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.840 example of people pushing back on a government that has 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.720 overreached too far. And look, I hope it doesn't have 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.480 to happen here, but I think it's really important to 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.320 talk about this. So South Korea's president said he will 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.840 lift martial law. He had enacted martial law just a 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.280 few hours earlier, late at night, so he was fighting 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:42.000 with the Congress, their version of Congress, and he declared 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:46.400 martial law. And in the end, people came out and protested, 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:50.239 and Congress did the right thing. And some people, even 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.440 like members of Congress, broke through the barricade and climbed 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.639 fences to get inside the building and then vote. And 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:01.320 so it's a really good example. And these had gathered 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.920 outside of parliament to protest this sudden introduction of military rule. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.160 So I just want to point out, like this is 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.880 a really good example of a situation where people save 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.040 themselves from an authoritarian overreach. And I hope that never 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:16.680 has to happen in America. 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:18.040 Let us hope. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:22.280 Speaking of hope, let's. 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.880 Introduce what hope is compared to twenty twelve of these days, 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:28.320 we're hoping because Lindsey Graham is signaling something that things 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:29.720 are going to go better than we thought. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:31.960 I want to talk about this because this is not 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:38.520 about the American people making Republican senators and Democratic senators, 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.200 but really Republicans in this one because there are fifty 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.920 three Republican senators in the next Senate and forty seven 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:50.200 Democratic senators. So the job of senators under this article two, 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.080 section two is advice and consent. Right, as a United 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:58.400 Said senator, you have to advise the president on his 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.680 cabinet and consent to his nominees. I know that these 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.720 Republicans don't like conflict and want Trump, mister Trump to 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:12.440 have his people. But some of these nominations are bat shittery, 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.720 you know. Some of these nominations are okay, you know, 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:19.039 and normal, and some of them are completely insane. And 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.880 so this is an opportunity. So Timothy Schneider talks about 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.599 this idea of protecting institutions. So the first thing he 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.680 says is don't obey in advance. The second thing he 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.800 says in his rules of fighting against authoritarianism are to 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.360 protect institutions. So these editors need to protect the institution 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.840 of the United States federal government. And one of the 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.080 ways they can do this is with advice and consent. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.560 And so I think it's really important that they do 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.039 their jobs. And I just want to read this because 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.920 this is a great example of someone not doing their job. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:55.920 Tom Tillis, the Senator from North Carolina who's actually up 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.600 for a re election in twenty twenty six, said, I 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.719 like Cash Betell's chances of getting confirmed. So this is 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:10.400 a wildly inappropriate nominee for the FBI, and he is 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:14.440 being touted as having a good chance of getting confirmed 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.560 by Tom Tillis, who will literally be fighting for his 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.880 political life in twenty twenty six. So Lindsey Graham has 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.719 opposed to Tom Tillis, who is in you know, Lindsay 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.000 Graham is in South Carolina, much more red state, said 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.560 of Tom Tillis to CBS, and this I think is 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.920 really important because Lindsay Graham does actually really care which 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.599 way the winds are blowing. He said. I think some 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.799 of these articles are very disturbing. Graham told CBS News. 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.920 Heg Sith obviously has a chance to defend himself here, 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:46.800 but some of this stuff is going to be difficult, 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.800 so we'll see what happens. Hegsath is is up for 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:55.440 running the DoD that's a three million plus people full organization. 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.960 Hegzeth characters himself as a heavy drinker. But you know, 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.160 it certainly seems as if he's used the organization's funds 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.320 for personal expenses Somali. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.359 One of the things I think that made cable news 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:10.039 a little more smart was when we didn't have to 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.599 hear from Chris Clomo on it anymore. But unfortunately we 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.240 still have to hear from the news what are you 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:15.880 seeing here? 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.240 So, actually, you know what, I can talk about this 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.920 because you know, when the news broke about the pardon, 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.160 I took a minute. I was on television and I said, 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.279 you know, I need a minute to think. I don't 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.279 have a take. You'll have to come back to me. 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:33.560 And I got numerous very stupid articles written about that, 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.520 and I want to point out that, like it's okay 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.200 not to have a take, especially about stuff you don't 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.000 know about, Like I'm not a lawyer. I am not 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.680 versed in pardons and how they're doled out, and you 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.200 know what the ethical considerations are there. I really am not. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:55.120 And so the fact that we're you know, we're often 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.640 asked to give hot takes, we really should pause and 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.919 we don't necessarily always have to give that said oh 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.599 my god. Chris Cuomo and Steven A. Smith joined together 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.560 this week to urge President Joe Biden to give a 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:13.760 pardon to President elect Donald Trump what they wanted. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.680 I'm so shocked that these two could come together for 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:18.520 such a bad take. It's so out of character. 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:23.000 It's I just want to point out, like, obviously Hunter 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.760 was given a pardon by his dad because his dad 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.840 felt that he had been prosecuted because and there's a 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.600 lot of evidence to support the theory that the prosecutions 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.480 of the gun charge, the tax fraud. You know, those 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.920 are things that usually would not be risen to the 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.200 level of seriousness that they were. They've been really kind 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.640 of trumped up for you know, probably because of his 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.440 close proximity. It was his father being president, so you 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.360 could make that case. But Donald Trump actually did a 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.320 bunch of stuff right, he did a bunch of stuff wrong, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.560 and he's gotten away with a lot of different things, 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.560 and so you know, it's not really the same. And 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:15.080 also what anyway, that is my two cent. George Conway 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.200 is a contributor to The Atlantic. Welcome back to Fast Politics. 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.280 My body, George Conway. 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:25.480 I I'm like that, I'm like the filler guest. You 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.560 are not the filler guest I was last week. It 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.400 was like, can you go on the podcast in like 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.960 thirty seconds and I didn't respond immediately, and I think 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.840 he got mad at it. But it's like, it's like 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.520 I'm always like the last person who asked to go 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:39.520 on your podcast. 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.839 It's so funny because actually that's not true. 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:50.160 Everybody's out on vacation Thanksgiving, leaving the country political asylum. 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.840 I get that I'm the frashest squad in football. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.160 I get that that could not be less true. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:09:00.439 Occasionally you need the fourth string free safety and youry 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:01.760 you are monster. 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:03.800 That is not true. But I want to point out 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:05.880 I just want to take a minute here to say, 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.920 have you noticed a lot of our Instagram friends seem 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:10.800 to be taking vacations to Canada. 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:12.400 I'm going to Canada soon. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.400 I mean, like, how many times can people post photos 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.040 of like we're really enjoying our trip to Canada. 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:20.719 But I like Canada. I think he is one of 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.840 my favorite places with with hockey and Molson. 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:29.439 Yes, it's great a country so great. Ninety percent of them. 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:34.720 Live and I know how to speak the language. Eh, 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.120 I'm not some kind of just this hoser coming across 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.000 the border. You know, I know about Timphorton's I know 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.760 the history of hockey basically, and so I think I 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:44.560 should qualify. 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.720 Can we talk for a minute about cash Betown? Again, 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.640 I am not a lawyer. He does not seem to 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.079 be well suited for the job of FBI director. 0:09:55.559 --> 0:10:00.440 Discuss Well, it depends on what your conception of the 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.560 FBI director is. If you're if you want a neutral 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:09.200 forcement officer, he's probably not your guy. But if you 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:14.000 wanted someone who is going to basically undermine law enforcement 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:19.640 and destroy the agency and seek vengeance upon your enemies, 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:21.280 he's the perfect choice. 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.199 And let's just go a step further with this. I personally, 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.719 as someone whose grandfather was child by the FBI by 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.320 an out of control FBI director named jadgarb. 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.200 Your family has just a bunch of communists, right, You. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.760 Even admit that he was a communist because they were 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.280 very you know, they were artists and bohemians who believed. 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.880 Oh right, right, right, right right. You got to watch 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.280 those artists. I mean, who who you know? There was 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.439 this painter in Vienna, the whole lot of trouble ones. 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.480 He was more he was more a dictator than a painter. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.080 But yes, so let's just talk about this a second. 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.320 I mean, it seems like I was very I thought 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.440 there was a chance that Republican senators. I didn't think 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.600 there was a chance, but I hoped that the media 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:09.720 could bully Republican senators into taking their advice and consent 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:14.480 rale Article two, Section two. Seriously, it seems like that 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:15.400 is unlikely. 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:19.080 Yeah, I look, I mean, don't you can't tell with 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.240 the largin in the Senate what it is. You can't 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.000 really tell what's going to happen, because again, it only 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.280 takes two or three people. Maybe somebody can't make it, 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.920 the prim the poet. I don't know anything can happen here. 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.600 I do think, as I've been saying repeatedly over the 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:40.479 past few weeks, prompted by similar discussions about similarly situated nominees, 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.320 some of whom have more baggage than others. But I 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.720 hate Choli saying, I think that you cannot go broke 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.640 Benning on the spinelessness of Republican senators. So I think 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.360 the best that we're that the republic is going to 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:59.080 get out of Republican senators in this season of insanely 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:04.440 in a pro briate and unqualified nominees is that we're 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:06.680 going to see a bunch of them get through, and 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.959 a couple of them will be taken down like Gates already, 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.040 and then the Republican centator to say, see, we fulfilled 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:17.000 our advice and consent because this one was withdrawn or 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.640 we didn't vote this one out of committee, and then 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:21.400 they're just gan' to let most of them through. If 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:23.840 you stand the line, if you are a Republican centator, 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.360 donread hear either Makowski or Collins or all the Collins 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.839 will just say these people will learn their lessons. If 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.079 you basically vote like a normal human being on each 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.120 one of these nominees separately, you basically would vote them 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.319 all down. Nobody in the Republican Party is going to 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.400 tolerate the political heat that they would get from the 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.240 right and from Trump and the bashing that would occur 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.120 if you vote them all down. So what they'll do 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.400 is they'll pick a couple, they'll stick together on a 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.000 couple maybe, and a couple of them will go down. 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:56.960 We already I think we're already at least halfway to 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.880 the quota with Gates going down and most of the 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:01.280 people they might get through. 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.360 This is the thing I'm always conflicted about with Trump world. 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.599 You have cabinet members who are good at this and 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.520 have a have been tasked with dismantling the administrative state, 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.400 and are you know real project twenty twenty five guys 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:22.280 like Russ Vaud Right, that guy really he is. You know, 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:24.720 he's been at omb before. He's coming back. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:28.400 He's actually knows how to work his bureaucrausy, but he wants. 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.960 To work the bureaucracy almost completely to help Trump. 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.840 Right, he has his own agenda and he's using Trump 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.120 for agenda, you know. I mean basically, the conservative project 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.720 was always to reduce the size of government back. 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.000 In the day drownded in the bathtub round it. 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:45.920 Well, that's the extreme version of it. But it never 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.719 really succeeded because it turns out people like expensive. 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.599 Goud government. Right. I know this pains you. 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.600 I know it pains me, but it's like, okay, that's fine. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.880 But now what happened was the right became very frustrated, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.040 or at least the more ideological parts of the right 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:07.400 became frustrated, and this became sort of like a nihilistic 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.760 effort basically destroy all institutions since trying to sort of 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.679 cut them one by one easy have to take responsibility 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.720 for cutting this program and cutting that program, and that a. 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.160 They want to basically create so much chaos that the 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.200 government collapses women and of itself. They want to destroy 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.320 the government and then they'll just say, see they're not 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.160 going to take responsibility for it, and they just see, 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.360 look at how terrible a system we had. 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.600 This sort of tugs at your heart strings a little 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.600 bit because this is the ethos in which you used 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:37.160 to believe. 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.480 No, I didn't never believe in utter nihilistic destruction, but 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.479 you know I wouldn't mind. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.240 Making the government smaller. I'm not criticizing you. 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.800 Yeah, right, but this is sort of like, let's just 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.800 jump off the bridge because I don't. 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:53.000 Know, it's very chaotic. 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.760 It's throwing the baby out with the bath water. That's 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.480 a bad matter, No, but that's right. But basically it's 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.840 become very very nihilist, stick and destructive. And you know, 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.080 if you believe in a less powerful government, you're actually 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:06.560 what you're going to get when you get this kind 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.080 of chaos is you're going to get a war up 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.680 Berntarian government and it's not going to be any smaller. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.000 That's the goal, right, Well, because they can't win in 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.120 an election. I don't know what's going on in South Korea, 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.200 but I read this morning that they declare martial law 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.720 in South Korea, because I mean, this was the statement 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:24.320 of the South Korean president that the opposition controls parliament 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.040 and they rejected as budget proposed. 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:27.760 Yeah that seems bad. 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:29.200 Yeah, that seem great. 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.640 Yeah, so let's talk about that for another minute. That 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.240 I think makes a lot of sense. But do you 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.200 think they can do that? Yes? 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.640 I think in the following sense, it is easier to 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:44.800 nihilistically and randomly destroy things that it is to actually 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.960 skuld They've just decided that the way that they're going 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.040 to fix all the problems is by creating more darts. 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.000 And they're good at this. This is one thing they 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.400 could be actually good at because you don't have to 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.960 be confident to drive a car off a cliff. 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.840 And you think that sort of that's where this is going. 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.160 Yeah, I think we're headed toward chaos. And that's why 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.160 I don't think he particularly cares. Trump cares about whether 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.280 this nominee goes down or that nominee goes down, because 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.720 it's not about it's OK, I got more. 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.080 I think what's important here is that there are many 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:21.600 fractions in this group, and what Trump wants and what 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.280 Russ Vaught wants are two different things. 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:29.520 That's probably true. Trump doesn't care about policy, okay. He 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:34.360 cares about being in control and being in command and 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.000 the adoration and to the extent that the people don't 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.920 adore him, seeking revenge on those who don't adore him 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.320 because they are the enemy. That's all he cares about. 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.520 It's very, very simple, and there's never much thought. You 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.400 can't think in more than one step, like if I 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.680 do this, then I can do that. The man does 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.640 not believe in plans because he's a sociopath, and sociopaths 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:03.400 are the relentlessly impulsive. But people like law, they have plans, 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.639 and they have specific plans that may end up creating 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:10.000 political problems for Trump. But on the other hand, Trump 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.320 is not money for anything. So that's a major that's 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:17.640 a major, major difference between now and last time, because 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.080 he's not running for anything because he's old and being 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.959 you can make, you know, deep down industrially, you can 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:26.600 become president of life. I think there is daylight ultimately 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:32.800 between what the technocrat nihilists like want and Trump. But 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.840 on the other hand, Trump doesn't care, because it's like 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.800 he doesn't care. He almost doesn't care about his political standing. 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.600 So there's going to be a cr in Congress, a 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.200 spending bil that will take them till next year, when 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.320 Republicans will then control the Senate, the House, and the President. Say, 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:54.600 in twenty sixteen, Republicans had this same trifactor and they 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.880 shut down the government. It is very possible we're going 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.720 to head to that in January. It's possible won't, but 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.159 it's very possibile we will. And I want you to 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.600 talk about this sort of fractions because I see fractions 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.879 in this Republican governing machine, right, like because you have 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.959 the RFK. I mean even Trump he won with this 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.680 tent that is almost untenable. 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.200 Right But again, they're a nihilists and at the end, 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:25.000 at the end of the day, they want confusion and chaos. 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.919 And as long as everybody gets their own little piece 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.800 of a pie and gets the display and get their 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:32.679 own little grip, a lot of people are going to 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.159 be happy. But yeah, you're right, there are factions. And 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.560 I think what would have happened if Trump had lost 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.200 is all these factions would have been at hrproats. I mean, 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.639 one of the things I said over last year that 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.199 I believe is, and I still believe it, is that 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.119 if Trump had lost the election, the Republican Party we 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:53.160 have been completely fractured because of all these factions trying 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.119 to kill each other and take each other out. And 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:57.840 we're still seeing a lot of that, I think in 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.640 the State Party, but I don't see it now happening 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.800 at the national level because basically they do have a 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.119 way to take that energy and do something with it, 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.680 which is to basically dismantle a government, try to undermine 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:13.320 every which way. 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:17.960 So again, democrats need to protect institutions and norms. 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.560 Yes, I don't think there's democrats. I think anybody who 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:25.280 actually knows how the world works and how our government 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.520 works and how economy works has to try to prefer 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:33.120 institution because that stability, even even if it's imperfect, which 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.800 it is and there always will be, that stability is 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.560 what enables us to be the most prosperous nation in 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.480 the world where people, you know, in the nation where 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.080 everybody wants to come instead of leaving to go to Canada. 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.920 Right now, let's talk about the Hunter Biden part. 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.080 I have very mixed feelings about the Hunter Biden part. 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.320 I think it's a bad thing for the president to 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.560 pardon a relative as a general proposition. I think it 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.199 was wrong for Bill Clinton to do it with Roger. 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:06.840 I think in other circumstances, I think the pardon power 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.080 is one of the most abused presidential powers. There's no 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.639 punch about there, and the Mark Rich Barden, you can 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.800 name so many others over the years. I don't like it. 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.679 On the other hand, I understand why he did it. 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.399 I empathize with why he did it. I mean, there's 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:24.320 no question in my mind, I think it made. The 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.800 case has been made persuasively that but for his last name, 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.320 he would not have been Hunter Biden would not have 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.359 been charged, and none of this would have happened, and 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:34.879 none of this would have happened if the Republicans weren't 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.280 looking for some kind of a scapegoat to create a 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:41.280 false equivalency and create the story that the Biden family 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.280 is more corrupt than the Trunk family. All right, So 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:49.399 I empathize and sympathize President, and I sympathize with Hunter Biden. 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:51.520 On the other hand, he did come in acrome at 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:56.120 least one crime, has been found guilty of that firearms offense, 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:58.440 and the jury didn't seem to have like a problem 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.600 with that. He did plead guilty to the tax charge, 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.400 which is a minor charge, and I might have been 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.560 okay with a pardon that covered offenses that he hasn't 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.480 been found guilty of and hasn't pled to, because that, 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.000 I think is the one justification that I can accept 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.400 for this part, which would be that they're going to continue. 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:22.119 This man has suffered enough, he has already been prosecuted, 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:24.560 he was he is going to do time. At least 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.040 he would have done time or or something, or serve 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.040 some sentence or paid a fine, whatever is THEE would 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:33.880 have done for to him. And I think the real 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.439 justification for the part is that there's going to be 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.640 future vindictive action by the next administration. And so that's 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:43.040 why I would have had partner for any and all 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.840 offenses other than the ones that he's already played to 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.959 or that he's been convicted of by a jury. All 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.000 that being said, I think it's just ridiculous to keep 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.920