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 a new Washington Post ABC News
Speaker 1: IPSOS poll finds it eighty percent of the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four Trump voters and seventy nine percent of Republicans reacted
Speaker 1: negatively to Trump posting an image depicting of himself as Jesus.
Speaker 1: We have such a great show for you today, the
Speaker 1: Jim Acosta Shows. Jim Acosta stops by to talk Trump's
Speaker 1: unlawful aggressions against his enemies. Then we'll talk to former
Speaker 1: North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper about his run for the Senate.
Speaker 1: But first the news.
Speaker 2: Smiling, you know, we're always shifting gears in Trump World,
Speaker 2: and we're always trying to cover up for something really stupid.
Speaker 2: He's done that he's going to have to reverse course on,
Speaker 2: like sal a war in the Middle East, and this
Speaker 2: week's destruction is lawfair. We're in lawfair.
Speaker 1: When I saw this come across my feed, really upset
Speaker 1: by this. This is a woman, she's a state senator.
Speaker 1: She's actually I think she is the Senate pro temp right,
Speaker 1: that's right, she's the head of the Senate in Virginia.
Speaker 1: Her name is el Louise Lucas and she's actually eighty
Speaker 1: two years old. She was the driver behind the Democratic
Speaker 1: redistricting of Virginia, which Donald Trump does not like because
Speaker 1: he does not want to lose the House. And he
Speaker 1: has started redistricting. Remember he started this when he asked
Speaker 1: Texas Republicans to get him five seats. And now here
Speaker 1: we are with the FBI reading the office of the
Speaker 1: Democratic Virginia President pro temp. And it is completely wild.
Speaker 1: It's what we call law fair. It's completely not how
Speaker 1: any of this is supposed to go. And the story,
Speaker 1: which I think this is sort of the coup de
Speaker 1: grass was leaked to Fox News. So you have this
Speaker 1: administration doing something that is not okay and having their propaganda,
Speaker 1: their favorite propaganda outlet, leave the story so that she
Speaker 1: gets as much bad publicity as possible. Look, do I
Speaker 1: think this is law fair?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: I absolutely do. And we've seen Trump go after hiss
Speaker 1: enemies before, and so many of us know what this
Speaker 1: is and what it looks like because it looks like
Speaker 1: what else he's done. But I'm sure we'll hear more
Speaker 1: about this. This is like a very developing story.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and right at the same time of this Cash
Speaker 2: Battel is the FBI on the reporter who covered his
Speaker 2: drinking abuse.
Speaker 1: Yes, the FBI has launched a criminal leak investigation into
Speaker 1: the Atlantic reporter who report on Cash Btel's excessive drinking
Speaker 1: and unexplained absences. This is a journalist called Sarah Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 1: It is interesting, to say the least, that Patel is
Speaker 1: denying the story while also investigating it. Usually a person
Speaker 1: would either deny it or investigate the leaks. But the
Speaker 1: idea that he's denying it and then investigating leaks makes
Speaker 1: me wonder if in fact it's actually just true. She
Speaker 1: reported last month that Patel was known to drink and
Speaker 1: excess We saw photos of that. Remember when he went
Speaker 1: to the Olympics in Italy and there was a picture
Speaker 1: of him drinking with the hockey team, routinely delayed meetings
Speaker 1: and time sensitive operations, and was often unreachable. So now
Speaker 1: he has said that's not true, but is also trying
Speaker 1: to investigate who told The Atlantic this story. After The
Speaker 1: Atlantic published the story, Patel filed out two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty million dollar defamation suit against the publication. So here's
Speaker 1: and he said quote that the story was replete with
Speaker 1: false and obvious, fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel's
Speaker 1: reputation and drive him from office. But my is that
Speaker 1: if it's not true, why would you investigate the leagues?
Speaker 1: And we will see more from this, and my gas
Speaker 1: is that like so many of the lawsuits coming out
Speaker 1: of Trump world, it will either get dismissed or Patel
Speaker 1: will you know. I think it'll end up getting dismissed
Speaker 1: as my guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So mister Trump was very big mad that Indiana's
Speaker 2: legislature did not want to do his bidding for redistricting,
Speaker 2: so he endorsed a bunch of kids in the state
Speaker 2: House that did not go for it. And well, mister
Speaker 2: Trump got his way, as most of them have been defeated.
Speaker 1: So these are Indiana state legislators who voted against redistricting
Speaker 1: and Donald Trump was able to go into their primaries,
Speaker 1: support their opponents and make them lose their seats. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this for a minute because
Speaker 1: it is both bad and good for Democrats. So this happened.
Speaker 1: It's bad for democracy that the base supports Trump no
Speaker 1: matter what, but it's also a piece of data we
Speaker 1: already knew. We already knew that Trump World has absolute fealty,
Speaker 1: that it demands it and it gets it. What I
Speaker 1: think is meaningful here is that this is not the
Speaker 1: same atmosphere it was in twenty twenty four. Trump is
Speaker 1: as unpopular as he has ever been, and now you
Speaker 1: have Republicans who must hitch their wagon to him in
Speaker 1: order to win MAGA. But we'll lose in a general
Speaker 1: or in a world that's not MAGA because of their
Speaker 1: association with Trump. So this is a really bad spot
Speaker 1: for Republicans. Right if the people who had gone against
Speaker 1: Trump had won, then you could say, well, the base
Speaker 1: had there's some room with the base in order to
Speaker 1: you know, you can run, you know, like Biden let
Speaker 1: people run against him, and some of them were able
Speaker 1: to keep their seats because they said, well, you know,
Speaker 1: we're not full bidenight. But Trump doesn't do that. So
Speaker 1: this means that if you are a Republican, you're going
Speaker 1: to have to hit your wagon to Trump's start. There's
Speaker 1: going to be you're not allowed to have any daylight
Speaker 1: between him and yourself. And also he's wildly unpopular, So
Speaker 1: I think that is going to be a real problem
Speaker 1: for a lot of Republicans.
Speaker 3: I agree.
Speaker 2: So yesterday on the show, we had Mike Madrid on
Speaker 2: and we were discussing the concept of our Republicans just
Speaker 2: being caught flat footed coming into the midterm elections, and
Speaker 2: this interview Notice has with the NRCC chair says that no,
Speaker 2: they're just absolutely delusional fools.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, so, I mean again, like I just want
Speaker 1: to so Trump is not so popular the National Republican
Speaker 1: Congressional Committee chair. They are the people who are tasked
Speaker 1: with Republicans trying to keep Congress. They know that the
Speaker 1: House is looking really tight. And the reason that we
Speaker 1: know that they know that is because Donald Trump will
Speaker 1: not be trying to steal congressional seats if he thought
Speaker 1: he was winning, right, I mean, my man is doing
Speaker 1: everything he can to prevent it from being fair. They're
Speaker 1: just doing whatever they can to try to spin this
Speaker 1: because just like with those Indiana Republicans who all lost
Speaker 1: their seats by not going full maga, these people know
Speaker 1: that Trump demands fealty. So instead of saying, well, you
Speaker 1: might be some headwinds, they're saying, we're still on a
Speaker 1: rescue mission. Remember how bad it was before. Give us
Speaker 1: a chance to continue to make your lives better. Problem is,
Speaker 1: gas prices have risen and risen. In risen diesel is
Speaker 1: a record highs. I just don't think that there's a
Speaker 1: world where this message resonates in any which way.
Speaker 2: Really saying that there is nine dollars gas in some
Speaker 2: parts of America and that the voters will be happy
Speaker 2: with mister Trump six dollars guests won't resonate.
Speaker 3: I'm so shocked.
Speaker 1: It's, you know, yet another place where Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: tied these people's hands. Right, they can't say anything that's
Speaker 1: not maga, and yet they also can't make a case
Speaker 1: for themselves. So I think it's a tough spot for them,
Speaker 1: which is good because they stink.
Speaker 3: YEP.
Speaker 2: So we are ten years past the debates about whether
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party should have gotten involved in the primary
Speaker 2: between Bernie and Hillary.
Speaker 1: Oh, tell us your view, tell us your view. I'm curious.
Speaker 2: You want to know a really funny thing. This is
Speaker 2: not one of those things. I'm passionate about it. I
Speaker 2: feel like anybody who was shocked that that happened was
Speaker 2: a political fool. This is actually not my left wing
Speaker 2: bone to pick.
Speaker 1: I'll take it.
Speaker 2: The point being there is a lot of fighting about
Speaker 2: this right out. In fact, I even saw some fights
Speaker 2: last night about the California governor's debate about how much
Speaker 2: party officials were saying bad things about other candidates that
Speaker 2: they should just stay out of. It was a big
Speaker 2: war on Twitter in the past twelve hours or so.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so glad I miss that. How did I
Speaker 1: miss that?
Speaker 2: You're really missing just gripping commentary. I'll tell you how
Speaker 2: you missed it. I was ready to get after midnight,
Speaker 2: after you've been turned into a pubkin.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been asleep for four hours at that point.
Speaker 1: So here's what's going on. There are a bunch of
Speaker 1: candidates that Democrats that the leadership went and stuck their
Speaker 1: finger in these races. These were primaries that were tight,
Speaker 1: some of them tight, some of them not tight. And look,
Speaker 1: Democrats should not do that. They should not be getting
Speaker 1: involved in primaries, even leadership unless it's really I mean,
Speaker 1: I think they should stay out of it. But what
Speaker 1: they did was they did they did something where they
Speaker 1: got everybody really mad. And so here we are. Democratic
Speaker 1: leadership is acting undemocratically to boost the candidate's They view
Speaker 1: is more electable, and the truth is like, sometimes that's true,
Speaker 1: sometimes that's not true. Like, for example, Schumer got involved
Speaker 1: in this Michigan Senate primary and boosted Hayley Stevens because
Speaker 1: he felt she was more electable. She is not, by
Speaker 1: any stretching imagination, more electable.
Speaker 2: And even just as egregious as Angie craig and versus
Speaker 2: Peggy Flanna get.
Speaker 1: In it right, I mean, I almost feel like Angie
Speaker 1: Craig versus Peggy flann And again is more egregious because
Speaker 1: Peggy flan again is the lieutenant governor, so she's already
Speaker 1: a known quantity in the state. She's won a statewide
Speaker 1: elected office, and it's just baffling. But yeah, this is
Speaker 1: another one though, where it's like the leadership may not
Speaker 1: know better. You piss a lot of people off in
Speaker 1: the party when you do this. I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: really good example of what happened to Maine. So Schumer
Speaker 1: endorsed Janet Mills, governor, who was seventy eight. The people
Speaker 1: didn't want her, they wanted Graham Platiner, and so she
Speaker 1: just couldn't you know, the main primary people gave Platinum
Speaker 1: money and polling showed he was way ahead, and so
Speaker 1: she dropped out. And I think that's a really good example.
Speaker 1: It's like, I mean, I do not live in Maine,
Speaker 1: so I do not know what the people may want,
Speaker 1: but they seem to like him better than their governor.
Speaker 1: And you know, who knows what the calculus there is.
Speaker 1: But it's a really good example of why, like probably
Speaker 1: Schumer really got over his skis when he started. I mean,
Speaker 1: certainly there are some people like Roy Cooper who's on
Speaker 1: this episode, who Schumer convinced to run, or Shared Brown,
Speaker 1: who was probably the only person who could really have
Speaker 1: a shot in Ohio. Mary per Tola in Alaska, that's
Speaker 1: another one where she's a really good candidate and a
Speaker 1: really hard red state. But these things where they get
Speaker 1: into a little congressional race and they upend the race
Speaker 1: and they piss everyone off. It's just such a dumb,
Speaker 1: enforced error, and there's no reason to do stuff like
Speaker 1: that and let the people decide who they want and
Speaker 1: then get in there when you're in a general and
Speaker 1: get involved. I think it's a really important and just
Speaker 1: really disappointing on the part of Democrats.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and especially when you and I keep hearing from
Speaker 2: people that they really just choose this by who can
Speaker 2: raise the most money, which is a really bad way
Speaker 2: of doing this.
Speaker 1: I mean, who even knows because some of these candidates
Speaker 1: it doesn't even seem like that's how they pick them.
Speaker 2: So well it sure it isn't from the Grassfords people
Speaker 2: that they're talking about. They're talking about the donors class.
Speaker 1: Right, But even then, and the other thing is we're
Speaker 1: in a moment where people are so mistrusting towards the
Speaker 1: party and power and they're so angry, So why do this?
Speaker 1: Why push it?
Speaker 2: And one of the more funny things in this article
Speaker 2: is they're talking about this that this is good messaging
Speaker 2: for people, as they say the party endorsed this, so
Speaker 2: that people actually go, great, I won't support that person.
Speaker 1: It's stupid. It's just so stupid in every which way. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Mollie john Fast here. My memoir How to Lose
Speaker 1: Your Mother is out now on paperback, arriving just ahead
Speaker 1: of Mother's Day. How to Lose Your Mother has garnered
Speaker 1: a lot of praise from Good Morning America, then Your Time,
Speaker 1: Book Review, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and a lot of other
Speaker 1: outlets Washington Post. The book is about what it's like
Speaker 1: to be part of the Sandwich generation, to take care
Speaker 1: of your mother and your children. And I talk about
Speaker 1: being a mother and a daughter and the relationship I
Speaker 1: have with my mother and all of its complexities. It's
Speaker 1: funny and it's fraught, and it's sad, and it's about life.
Speaker 1: My story, this story, the Story of How to Lose
Speaker 1: Your Mother, follows a year in which my mother, Erica Johng,
Speaker 1: is diagnosed with the demnia, my husband faces a life threatening illness,
Speaker 1: and what unfolds is a really honest story about what
Speaker 1: happens when the shit hits the fan and everything goes wrong.
Speaker 1: As The Washington Post said, the book is filled with
Speaker 1: lines so good you won't just want to underline them.
Speaker 1: It's a memoir that continues to resonate, so please pick
Speaker 1: it up. Jim Acosta is the host of The Substacks,
Speaker 1: The Jim Acosta Show and the author of the New
Speaker 1: York Time's bestseller The Enemy of the People, A Dangerous
Speaker 1: Time to Tell the Truth of America.
Speaker 4: Jim, Hello, Hello, Molly, where are you welcome?
Speaker 1: Welcome? I'm an undisclosed, tosstered location. I can say no more.
Speaker 1: Just like all that just a little jail cell. That's
Speaker 1: how you know, you know what? I like this. The
Speaker 1: lighting is so bad. Look at how bad that lighting is.
Speaker 5: I look at you.
Speaker 1: That's ten thousand.
Speaker 5: Years old of emotion.
Speaker 1: That's right, baby, So listen. Uh here we are. It
Speaker 1: is another day in Donald tromp to America and the
Speaker 1: war is over the.
Speaker 5: World until tomorrow morning.
Speaker 4: Until tomorrow because you know, by lows Sell High, all
Speaker 4: the market manipulation happened, and all the betting markets they
Speaker 4: did their thing before Trump called Axios or whatever he
Speaker 4: did this morning.
Speaker 1: He really likes. He seems to have some kind of
Speaker 1: relationship with Axios.
Speaker 4: It's like, get the people at Axios. I don't want
Speaker 4: to make any accusations without any.
Speaker 1: They are just breaking a lot of stories which end.
Speaker 4: Up being I know, but it seems like it seems
Speaker 4: like we're living in a crazy like it's like mad
Speaker 4: money Twilight Zone. That's right where you know there's like
Speaker 4: some mad there's a there's an evil Jim Kramer on
Speaker 4: one of Donald Trumps shoulders, and then there's a there's
Speaker 4: an angel Jim Kramer and they tell him, you know,
Speaker 4: manipulate it this way a network.
Speaker 5: Now we're at war now we're at peace.
Speaker 1: And I mean, in Trim's defense, Donald Trump truly believes
Speaker 1: that the markets are the only indicator of the economy.
Speaker 1: So he could be watching the markets freaking out and
Speaker 1: then being like, let me see if I try to
Speaker 1: you know, if I say the war is over. And
Speaker 1: he's had a lot of success working journalists. I mean,
Speaker 1: you and I can. I mean, every time he calls someone,
Speaker 1: they're like, I talked to the president, and the President
Speaker 1: says and that historically you could do that in reporting.
Speaker 1: But the problem is the president says a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: Our president a lot does.
Speaker 4: Like he says that Jerome Palell should be prosecuted for
Speaker 4: cost overruns at the Federal Reserve, while there are cost
Speaker 4: overruns at the proposed White House ballroom that was initially
Speaker 4: going to be funded by private donors, which will now
Speaker 4: be funded by the taxpayers to the tune of one
Speaker 4: billion dollars.
Speaker 5: But anyway, you know that, by the.
Speaker 1: Way, that's going to be in reconciliation, which means, if
Speaker 1: you are a Senate Republican, you're gonna have to vote
Speaker 1: yay or nay on a billion dollars of a billion
Speaker 1: tax dollars to go to Donald Trump's ballroom.
Speaker 4: Huh yeah, no, I know. And and to me, I've
Speaker 4: been making this point. I don't know if anybody else
Speaker 4: wants to make this point with me, but all of
Speaker 4: this is a sign of he's just not there anymore.
Speaker 5: He's gone.
Speaker 4: It's one flew over the cuckoo's nest, and we just
Speaker 4: need as adults, as adults in the American family writ large,
Speaker 4: it's time we have this conversation and have this intervention
Speaker 4: with one another and we just admit that he's cuckoo
Speaker 4: for cocoa puffs and he's just building one thing after
Speaker 4: another in his honor, because I don't know, that's what
Speaker 4: some people do at the end.
Speaker 3: This is just what they do.
Speaker 4: There's the Palm Beach International Airport that's going to be renamed,
Speaker 4: there's the ball I mean, it's just it's all bananas,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 1: So I wonder if we could talk for a minute
Speaker 1: about Trump has put his Republicans in a bad spot,
Speaker 1: and I, for one, love it. I love it so
Speaker 1: much I couldn't love it more. I do happen to
Speaker 1: be in a jail cell, but if I were not
Speaker 1: in a small jail cell, I would be you're like.
Speaker 5: You, okay, right now, that's right, go in the jail
Speaker 5: cell next.
Speaker 1: But there was this incredible Indiana primary and in it,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump exacted his revenge on the people who would
Speaker 1: not go full maga, who would not redistrict for him,
Speaker 1: and he knocked out like five of seven. Okay, there's
Speaker 1: one who may go, and there's another one who won.
Speaker 1: So he knocked out five of seven Indiana state reps.
Speaker 1: So here's the deal. My guess is that publicans will
Speaker 1: take from this that they can that they must hitch
Speaker 1: their wagon too MAGA full stop.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: There, it's sort of we're at the Branch Davidian phase
Speaker 4: of MAGA. And yeah, I think that they have to
Speaker 4: stay in the cult to survive, even though at the
Speaker 4: end everything's going to burn to the ground and they'll
Speaker 4: be inside. Not to get too dark and descriptive, but
Speaker 4: I don't think they have any other choice. A lot
Speaker 4: of these guys, and I mean Indiana is kind of
Speaker 4: like if a state were the Branch Davidians or the
Speaker 4: Branch Davidians were a state, it would be it would
Speaker 4: be Indiana. No offense to there're a lot of nice
Speaker 4: folks in Indiana, but it's a very conservative state, right.
Speaker 1: We're looking at the red part of the red state, right,
Speaker 1: because these are primary voters. And what's important about this
Speaker 1: is so goes the Republican primary voters are not so
Speaker 1: goes the nation.
Speaker 4: That's right, if that's exactly right. And this they've done this,
Speaker 4: We've made this deal with the devil. They've hitched their
Speaker 4: wagons to him, to the crazy train, and it's it's
Speaker 4: going to go off the tracks and into the canyon
Speaker 4: and there's going to be a giant bugs bunny explosion
Speaker 4: at the end of it. But to me, they have
Speaker 4: no other choice as political animals. Now, I will say
Speaker 4: to the state lawmakers who risk their political skin and
Speaker 4: you know stood against the redistricting thing that that Trump
Speaker 4: wanted to do. There, you know, my hat's off to you.
Speaker 4: Thank you for your service to your country. But they
Speaker 4: had to have known that this was going to happen.
Speaker 4: And this is going to keep playing out over and
Speaker 4: over again wherever these ruby red districts and states are,
Speaker 4: you know, wherever.
Speaker 5: They may be.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I think is really interesting
Speaker 1: about this moment is if you look at this in
Speaker 1: the light of like Brad Rathensberger and the people in
Speaker 1: Georgia who were able to keep their seats despite the
Speaker 1: fact that they did not let Donald Trump cheat in
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty election. I do think it's interesting, like
Speaker 1: you do see just how hard it is too. And
Speaker 1: remember Rathensberger got a ton that crew in Georgia and
Speaker 1: Brian Kem they get a ton of outside money. So
Speaker 1: there are people in the Republican Party who are trying
Speaker 1: to shore up the not crazies. Now maybe they're doing
Speaker 1: that to protect themselves and maybe they're not, you know,
Speaker 1: who knows, but they not come in for Indiana.
Speaker 4: Yeah, George is interesting. George is an interesting Republican stronghold,
Speaker 4: and that they have two Democratic United States Senators and
Speaker 4: Atlanta continues to boom as the southern metropolis. And I
Speaker 4: think it's really just sort of changed the political landscape
Speaker 4: in Georgia and that they just they reward establishment type
Speaker 4: Republicans and they're more and more not in the mood
Speaker 4: to elect mega people like Donald Trump. And I think
Speaker 4: that this is this is a trend that you're going
Speaker 4: to see maybe continue, I think building across other parts
Speaker 4: of the South. I mean, let's wait and see what
Speaker 4: happens to Lindsey Graham and South Carolina. There are a
Speaker 4: lot of folks who think that he could get knocked
Speaker 4: off in the upcoming I mean, he's freaking out on
Speaker 4: Fox every night, begging for money as if he thinks
Speaker 4: that he might get knocked out in the upcoming midterm election.
Speaker 5: So there's something happening, I think, and I.
Speaker 1: Think it's somebody place, and newly is a big problem
Speaker 1: for Republicans, right. It says they are now they have
Speaker 1: to go full maga in an environment that is very
Speaker 1: anti maga. So when you get to a general, you
Speaker 1: are hitching your wagon too a president who is underwater
Speaker 1: on everything.
Speaker 5: Yeah, underwater and maybe under medicated. You know.
Speaker 4: That's the other thing too, you know, or over madicate.
Speaker 4: We're not sure which one it is. Yeah, but he
Speaker 4: you know. I mean to me, like the whole Iran
Speaker 4: war back and forth where they announced this operation will
Speaker 4: guide your tankers.
Speaker 5: Through the straight orfour moves, whatever the hell they called it.
Speaker 4: Gas Freedom or whatever it was. I mean, Operation Buller
Speaker 4: up Mac.
Speaker 1: That was yesterday when we heard that the ceasefire was
Speaker 1: not holding. The day before we heard the ceasefire was
Speaker 1: not holding, And so yesterday he except did a whole
Speaker 1: president whole thing about how the ceasefire there was a
Speaker 1: little bit of firing.
Speaker 4: A skirmish is not a ceasefire, but bringing the sea fire.
Speaker 4: He also said Trump is not capitulating, and then he
Speaker 4: capitulated like within within like twelve hours.
Speaker 5: I think he capitulated if he.
Speaker 4: Said room and defended it too, and then got the
Speaker 4: rug completely pulled out from under him. And he's the
Speaker 4: National Security Advisor and the Secretary of State and a
Speaker 4: DJ apparently on the weekend, and.
Speaker 6: He's also the pope whisper because he's on his way
Speaker 6: to the Vatican to meet with the Pope because JD Vance,
Speaker 6: the guy who should historically have a relationship with the
Speaker 6: Pope as a Catholic convert, has already alienated the Pope
Speaker 6: so much so that he's sort of at war with
Speaker 6: the Pope.
Speaker 4: Yes, I mean it's that Dominus Obdis who goes under
Speaker 4: the bus, you know, one of those things. And it
Speaker 4: maybe Marco and maybe JD. Maybe both of them. We
Speaker 4: don't know. Yeah, I mean, they're they're sort it's like
Speaker 4: Lucy in the chocolate factory right now.
Speaker 5: They don't know.
Speaker 1: In the chocolate factory. It's got to be Lucy in
Speaker 1: the football or Charlie in the chocolate factory.
Speaker 5: Well, remember of luci O'll ball. I love Lucy when
Speaker 5: she was.
Speaker 1: Like, okay, right, that's a good one.
Speaker 4: They're coming off the conveyor belt and she can't load
Speaker 4: them fast enough. So anyway, I'm slightly no.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 5: I love Lucy a lot growing up.
Speaker 1: I love I love.
Speaker 4: That scene is iconic and I think that is where
Speaker 4: they are right now. And that got my Joe Rogan
Speaker 4: into the White House. We got to see Marco Rubio
Speaker 4: to the Vatican. We got to you know, pressure Indiana
Speaker 4: to toss out these Republicans. I mean I called this
Speaker 4: operation mid Terms freak Out, because you know he will,
Speaker 4: he know that Trump will pump his chest out and say,
Speaker 4: you know, we're back at war over the weekend, and
Speaker 4: then three days later it's a one page piece plan
Speaker 4: that he's talking about with the Iranians. Because he can't,
Speaker 4: he can't take it anymore. They must be showing him
Speaker 4: poll numbers. They must be looking at poll numbers internally
Speaker 4: over there right now with whatever that guy's name is.
Speaker 4: They always bring it.
Speaker 5: The polster Tony Fabrizio, who freaks them out.
Speaker 4: And I assume that this is what's happening and they're
Speaker 4: having a full blown mental breakdown over what they see
Speaker 4: is coming.
Speaker 5: And so he's got to wrap this shit up. The
Speaker 5: other thing is Marco.
Speaker 4: He might want to go ask the Pope if it's
Speaker 4: okay to invade Cuba, because that's the you know, Mark
Speaker 4: Rubio is posing in front of maps of Cuba with
Speaker 4: Sentcom earlier this week. But I'm sorry, if you want
Speaker 4: to topple the Castro the communist regime in Cuba, they're
Speaker 4: gonna have to bomb the shit out of Havana.
Speaker 5: And I don't see how that's going to work well
Speaker 5: with the Catholics either. So they're in a giant But also.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a big which is gas is really expensive. Yes,
Speaker 1: American people hate that he made it expensive by going
Speaker 1: into Ron and messing with the straits. Now there is
Speaker 1: no is You and I both know from the Biden
Speaker 1: administration one sprice to go up very hard to get
Speaker 1: them down.
Speaker 4: Yes, No, the oil companies really like that extra money
Speaker 4: that's coming in, and you know, why would they want
Speaker 4: to give that up? And so I assume there'll be
Speaker 4: some modest easing of gas prices. I'm no economists, but
Speaker 4: I don't think they're going to be back to where
Speaker 4: they were a year ago now.
Speaker 1: But even you you know, the Iranians are not They
Speaker 1: do not want to play ball with us.
Speaker 3: So that's right.
Speaker 1: They're you know, the idea that they could church two
Speaker 1: million dollars a ship to the Straits. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: why wouldn't they do that? They have no love for us.
Speaker 4: I mean this is like and also they have to
Speaker 4: rebuild their military. They kind of need some money right now.
Speaker 4: They got some bills, they got to rebuild it. Maybe
Speaker 4: they got to rebuild this.
Speaker 5: They you know, their nukes.
Speaker 4: I assume they're going to want to get some nukes now.
Speaker 4: They're going to want to rebuild their nuclear program and
Speaker 4: get the centerfuges going again. And that costs money. That
Speaker 4: good just to be paying for it, the American taxpayer.
Speaker 4: You can pay for a ballroom, and you're going to
Speaker 4: pay to rebuild Iran's nuclear program. Congratulations, America, well done.
Speaker 1: And the joke is that if only we had had
Speaker 1: an Iranian nuclear deal.
Speaker 4: Yes, well, that's the thing that's part of this is
Speaker 4: apparently they're going to go back to negotiating with the
Speaker 4: Iranians that you know, they should not have a nuclear program, you.
Speaker 5: Know, like the thing we had in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yes, obamba, figure this out. And now Donald Trump just
Speaker 1: like remember when he got rid of NAFTA and then
Speaker 1: put in like Trump TOA or whatever it was that USMC.
Speaker 4: I remember it was like the WAT That's why he
Speaker 4: likes the song YMCA so much, because it's it's like
Speaker 4: the us MC A.
Speaker 1: But and I remember covering that stupid yeah.
Speaker 4: I know, I remember that, And I was like, isn't
Speaker 4: this NAFTA. This is NAFTA, right, It's kind of like NAFTA.
Speaker 1: You'll call it n You'll call it NAFTA, I know.
Speaker 4: And maybe he'll make maybe he'll get Barack Obama or
Speaker 4: John Kerry to negotiate with the Iranians.
Speaker 5: I don't know, but it is rather I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't I don't really use the word ironic anymore. Yes,
Speaker 5: disturbing Ystopian. That's apparently a writing crutch, but I keep
Speaker 5: going back that word.
Speaker 1: Yes, Jim Acosta my favorite person to be in the
Speaker 1: Dystopia with. Will you please come back?
Speaker 5: Yes, as long as you're not in the jail cell.
Speaker 5: I will come back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just have to get freed. Roy Cooper is
Speaker 1: the former governor of the great state of North Carolina
Speaker 1: and a candidate for its open Senate seed. Welcome, Welcome,
Speaker 1: Governor Cooper.
Speaker 3: Mollie, thank you for the opportunity to be with you.
Speaker 3: I'm excited about being here.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm excited to have you and especially because you're
Speaker 1: this very interesting moment running for very important Senate seat
Speaker 1: in the state that Democrats have not had a senator
Speaker 1: in in a long time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is the number one flip from red to
Speaker 3: blue US Senate seat in the country. It's hard to
Speaker 3: find a path for a Democratic majority in the Senate
Speaker 3: without taking North Carolina. I'm excited that we can do it.
Speaker 3: But you're right. Even though I served as governor for
Speaker 3: eight years and we've had some success electing Democrats in
Speaker 3: state offices, our last Democratic US Senator was kay Hagan.
Speaker 3: She was elected in two thousand and eight, and that
Speaker 3: was the same year that Barack Obama won North Carolina.
Speaker 3: And in almost four years we've only had two Democratic
Speaker 3: US Senators. So it is so important for us to
Speaker 3: step up and win this seat. Now I feel positive
Speaker 3: about it, But we need everybody's help out there, going
Speaker 3: to Roy Cooper dot com finding out about our campaign,
Speaker 3: signing up to volunteer, helping us financially. We really appreciate
Speaker 3: the help from people, not only here in North Carolina,
Speaker 3: across the country.
Speaker 1: I find North Carolina to'd be so interesting because it's
Speaker 1: one of those states where the governorship flipped and now
Speaker 1: there's an opportunity to flip a Senate seat. We haven't
Speaker 1: necessarily seen that in other states, like I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: Kansas or states where Democrats were able to flip a
Speaker 1: governorship and not necessarily flip the federal positions. And so
Speaker 1: I'd love hear to talk about what you think is
Speaker 1: happening right now in North Carolina.
Speaker 3: Well, I've defeated an incumbent Republican governor in twenty sixteen
Speaker 3: and served two terms. I think people understand that it
Speaker 3: is important to have those who care about their lives
Speaker 3: and who care about the cost of living right now.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've worked to get health care across North
Speaker 3: Carolina as governor, and they saw me with a Republican
Speaker 3: legislature for eight years, bring them around to expand Medicaid,
Speaker 3: and now we have almost seven hundred and fifty thus
Speaker 3: thousand people who have health insurance, many of them in
Speaker 3: the Republican rural counties, and they're recognizing that this is
Speaker 3: a positive thing that's happening in their life, and it's
Speaker 3: reducing their cost and making them healthier. So I believe
Speaker 3: in North Carolina that we are ready to take this
Speaker 3: step to send a Democrat to the US Senate. But
Speaker 3: I know that they expect me to be putting them first.
Speaker 3: And that'll be the difference between my opponent and me.
Speaker 3: My opponent is Michael Wattley, who was the chair of
Speaker 3: the Republican National Committee along with the chair of the
Speaker 3: North Carolina Republican Party. He's going to do and say
Speaker 3: whatever this president tells him to do and say I,
Speaker 3: on the other hand, will be a strong independent senator
Speaker 3: who will put the people first. I think the bad
Speaker 3: thing about Wattley as an opponent is that he will
Speaker 3: draw a lot of money outside Republican money. We're already
Speaker 3: up the eighty eight million dollars of outside Republican money
Speaker 3: that's going to be bought in airspace. But the good
Speaker 3: thing is that in order to continue to ingratiate himself
Speaker 3: to the president, you know how they have to do that.
Speaker 3: He's saying things in North Carolina like prices are down
Speaker 3: and we've defeated inflation and the economy is going great.
Speaker 3: I've been out there on going to make stuff costs
Speaker 3: less to her. I'm talking with people. I know that
Speaker 3: that is not true. Being with Gerard yesterday, who is
Speaker 3: at Greensboro UNCG student who's getting ready to leave for
Speaker 3: the workforce, looking at the cost of rent. He doesn't
Speaker 3: know what he's going to do. I talk with Stephanie,
Speaker 3: who's the teacher whose budget is getting busted by grocery
Speaker 3: prices that are going up seemingly every week for her.
Speaker 3: I talk with Meredith, who has a child, Vivian, who
Speaker 3: has cerebral palsy. Meredith scared to death that her medical
Speaker 3: treatments are going to be taken away because of all
Speaker 3: of these attacks on healthcare from Washington. So people are
Speaker 3: hurting right now. So many people are looking up at
Speaker 3: the middle class and thinking that they're never going to
Speaker 3: get there, and so many families have too much month
Speaker 3: at the end of the money. They had an administration
Speaker 3: who promised them that they would fix us on day one,
Speaker 3: not only have they not done that, They've made it worse,
Speaker 3: particularly with this one big beautiful bill that has snatched
Speaker 3: healthcare away from so many people. So people aren't feeling
Speaker 3: that right now. What they are feeling is they want
Speaker 3: someone in Washington to look out for them, not for
Speaker 3: the billionaires and for the very wealthy.
Speaker 1: Watley seems like pretty kooky. It feels like you have
Speaker 1: a micro of the macro with Republicans of being a
Speaker 1: Republican who has to support pretty crazy stuff in order
Speaker 1: to keep in Trump's good graces. Is that what you're seeing.
Speaker 3: Well, he's an election denier, a twenty twenty election denier.
Speaker 3: He as chair of the North Carelina Republican Party, recruited
Speaker 3: right wing candidates, and he's part of the DC insider crowd.
Speaker 3: He worked on the Hill for Republicans and then opened
Speaker 3: up a lobby and firm and he's been a big
Speaker 3: oil and utility lobbyist for years and years, and so
Speaker 3: he's part of that inside crowd. He's spending a lot
Speaker 3: of time advocating for policies that help his clients that
Speaker 3: he had as a lobbyist. The utility companies. We're seeing
Speaker 3: the rates go up, We're seeing his strong support for
Speaker 3: this war in Iran. He owns a lot of oil stocks.
Speaker 3: Those are the kinds of things we're seeing from him.
Speaker 3: He's going to look after his wealthy buddies when he
Speaker 3: gets to the US Senate because he's certainly advocating for
Speaker 3: policies that help them now. And when he's trying to
Speaker 3: tell the people of North Carolina that prices are down
Speaker 3: and that inflation has been to people know that he's
Speaker 3: selling them a bill of goods. And we know why
Speaker 3: he's doing it, because he's continued to try to stay
Speaker 3: in the good graces of the person who anointed him
Speaker 3: to run for this US Senate seat. So we have
Speaker 3: an amazing opportunity here to win this race. And the
Speaker 3: you know, we've seen some polls where things are tight,
Speaker 3: and then there's some polls where I'm a little bit ahead.
Speaker 3: But I want to warn people this that we've tried
Speaker 3: to win US Senate seats in North Carolina in the past,
Speaker 3: and what has happened. The Democrat has been ahead, ahead, ahead,
Speaker 3: ahead until they're not and then at the end, at
Speaker 3: the end these races close. Republican Senator Tom Tillis, who's
Speaker 3: the incumbent won two races in North Carolina and never
Speaker 3: led in a public poll.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that is?
Speaker 3: I think a lot of times in North Carolina, people
Speaker 3: go home at the end and they may be telling
Speaker 3: pollsters that they don't they aren't decided yet, but they
Speaker 3: end up going where they are most comfortable and voting
Speaker 3: for a candidate that they feel comfortable with. So it's
Speaker 3: but it's really hard to know. But it's just a
Speaker 3: warning that we cannot take this race for granted. Some
Speaker 3: people think that we are going to win this race,
Speaker 3: and I do too, but only if we invest, only
Speaker 3: if people stand up and recognize that this is going
Speaker 3: to be critical to taking back the Senate, which is
Speaker 3: going to be so important. I told my kids the
Speaker 3: other day that my parents had left me a better country,
Speaker 3: but I had work to do, along with everybody else,
Speaker 3: to leave them a better country. And one of the
Speaker 3: reasons that I decided to run. Look, when I left
Speaker 3: the Governor's office in January last year, I kicked off
Speaker 3: my dress, shoes and ripped off my tie and decided
Speaker 3: that I was going to do some other things. But
Speaker 3: I kept seeing the chaos coming out of Washington and
Speaker 3: understanding that I needed to step up because I knew
Speaker 3: I had the best chance to win. I knew Democrats
Speaker 3: had a hard time winning US Senate races in North Carolina.
Speaker 3: I could not sit on the sidelines right now. And
Speaker 3: I think we all need to look inside of us
Speaker 3: and do whatever it is that we need to do
Speaker 3: to make sure we have a course correction in our country,
Speaker 3: to make sure we have a legislative body in Washington
Speaker 3: that will take back its constitutional authority and trade in tariffs,
Speaker 3: will take back its constitutional authority, and declaration of war
Speaker 3: in budgetary matters, the checks and balances that the framers
Speaker 3: of the Constitution intended, and that's going to help everyday people,
Speaker 3: many of whom when you're trying to fill up the
Speaker 3: grocery basket, you're not really thinking about abstract government issues.
Speaker 3: But in fact, we really need to step up and
Speaker 3: do these things, like because the tariffs are making a
Speaker 3: huge difference in the price of groceries right now. They're
Speaker 3: making a huge difference for our farmers in North Carolina,
Speaker 3: hurting their budgets, sending up the cost of equipment and fertilizer,
Speaker 3: hurting people. And the Congress has the authority over trade
Speaker 3: in Paris. The US Supreme Court has said so, and
Speaker 3: these things are still happening because the Republican leadership will
Speaker 3: not step up and contest this president. So we need
Speaker 3: people there who will do that.
Speaker 1: You guys have a lot of FEMA drama in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about that?
Speaker 3: Well, we had the worst natural disaster this state has
Speaker 3: faced with Hurricane Helene. When you have a hurricane in
Speaker 3: the mountains, that is an extraordinary catastrophe. And what has
Speaker 3: happened is that the President came in and said we're
Speaker 3: going to fix things, and he appointed my opponent, Michael
Speaker 3: Wattley as the Western Recovery Czar. He has failed miserably
Speaker 3: in North Carolina. Only twelve percent of the damages so
Speaker 3: far have been funded by the federal government, when in
Speaker 3: previous hurricanes across the country that number has been so
Speaker 3: much higher, and people in western North Carolina are frustrated
Speaker 3: and he has just simply failed in this mission. I
Speaker 3: think it's going to be really important to recreate FEMA
Speaker 3: to make sure that it works more efficiently. But I
Speaker 3: think what Michael Whatley and Washington DC insiders are going
Speaker 3: to do are simply going to push more responsibility and
Speaker 3: expense back to the state and local government and reduce
Speaker 3: federal funding with whatever changes they're about to make. And
Speaker 3: I think that's wrong.
Speaker 1: I have a follow up question on the FEMA stuff,
Speaker 1: So that seems like a very low number of people
Speaker 1: who percentage of people who are getting the FEMA assistant
Speaker 1: their assistance they are entitled to as taxpayers, do they
Speaker 1: are they able to thread the need all because these
Speaker 1: are people who are living in a very rural area
Speaker 1: to understand that want he is the guy who was
Speaker 1: supposed to put the FEMA response together and they did
Speaker 1: not get that money or now.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean certainly, not only have we been
Speaker 3: talking about that, but people in western North Carolina have
Speaker 3: been talking about the fact that the federal money just
Speaker 3: has not come as it's been promised. And when Trump
Speaker 3: tapped Michael Whitley to be the one to help oversee
Speaker 3: this process, clearly people are looking to him to try
Speaker 3: and make this administration respond. If he can't do it here,
Speaker 3: he's certainly not going to do it in the US
Speaker 3: Senate because, as I said earlier, he's just going to
Speaker 3: do whatever the President tells him to do. And it's
Speaker 3: very frustrating for the people of North Carolina. It's frustrating
Speaker 3: across the state that things cost so much right now,
Speaker 3: with utilities and childcare and housing and healthcare. These prices
Speaker 3: right now aren't keeping up with people's paychecks. And I've
Speaker 3: been rolling out policies. People can go to Roy Cooper
Speaker 3: dot com not only to help us, but to look
Speaker 3: at the policies that we've rolled out that I want
Speaker 3: to bring to Washington to direct. We're not just complaining
Speaker 3: about the harm this administration is doing and being pushed
Speaker 3: by Michael Whitley because he's in favor of all of
Speaker 3: these things. We have solutions to this, and we want
Speaker 3: people to know that we are ready to step up
Speaker 3: and help them with the childcare tax credit, to help
Speaker 3: them with trying to roll back these teriffts, to help
Speaker 3: them by putting more restrictions on these health insurance companies
Speaker 3: that are blocking people's coverage, to make sure we restore
Speaker 3: the federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. We had
Speaker 3: a couple hundred thousand people Molly who simply just couldn't
Speaker 3: afford their health insurance anymore, and then we had hundreds
Speaker 3: of thousands of more who had to buy at a
Speaker 3: higher price, policies that covered less, and now they have
Speaker 3: more out of pocket expenses. So people are highly frustrated
Speaker 3: about this right now.
Speaker 1: Are voters putting together that Trump has made things more expensive?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 1: One of the things I like to ask people when
Speaker 1: they're in states where I am not and they're talking
Speaker 1: to voters, is like, are you hearing people put it together?
Speaker 1: Are you hearing them be like, oh, he went to
Speaker 1: war in Iran and that is why gas is now
Speaker 1: five dollars a gallon? Or are you not hearing that?
Speaker 1: Just because I think we're in such media silos, I
Speaker 1: don't know what people are hearing.
Speaker 3: Well. I think in my campaign it is so important
Speaker 3: for people to understand that Wattley is supporting all of
Speaker 3: trump policies. And you know, Trump may be more popular
Speaker 3: personally with people than his policies are, and Michael Wattley
Speaker 3: is supporting these that are hurting people. I think people know.
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty clear that the reason they are
Speaker 3: paying so much more at the gas pump is because
Speaker 3: of the war in Iran, the war that this administration
Speaker 3: said that they would not engage in. I one hundred
Speaker 3: percent support our troops and we need to make sure
Speaker 3: that they are protected and supported. We have ninety five
Speaker 3: thousand active duty service men and women here in North Carolina,
Speaker 3: but I've talked with a number of their families and
Speaker 3: many of them are worried. They don't see the strategy
Speaker 3: that is happening as it should. Well, Michael Whitley is
Speaker 3: out there supporting all of this, and I think people
Speaker 3: know that that's the reason why they are paying so
Speaker 3: much more for gas and diesel, and we're going to
Speaker 3: continue to let people know that in this campaign. And
Speaker 3: I think that's why it's important for people across the
Speaker 3: country to support our efforts so that we can make
Speaker 3: sure that we are telling this story and also defending
Speaker 3: off the lies that will come from the other side.
Speaker 3: And we know that they have no problem with continuing
Speaker 3: to tell lies. It's pretty extraordinary. But I'm positive about
Speaker 3: where we are, Molly. I'm positive that people will understand
Speaker 3: that I am for them, making stuff costs less for them,
Speaker 3: while Michael Whitley is for the wealthy and the billionaires,
Speaker 3: and I think that we can win this race because
Speaker 3: that's the truth.
Speaker 1: Roy Cooper, thank you, Thankie, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3: Molly, this has been fun. I really appreciate it, and
Speaker 3: I'm grateful to you and your listeners, and I hope
Speaker 3: you guys help us in North Carolina. We got to
Speaker 3: get this thing done.
Speaker 1: Such Jesse Tannon.
Speaker 2: Soiley, let's take a trip over to Arizona. I really
Speaker 2: don't want to, but let's take a trip there.
Speaker 1: I like Arizona.
Speaker 2: That's a little for me. Yeah, the culinary is great, though. Okay,
Speaker 2: but they fell one vote short to criminalize blowing a
Speaker 2: whistle when ice is around.
Speaker 1: So here's the story. And I know this from going
Speaker 1: to Arizona when I spoke at the Arizona List. Basically,
Speaker 1: the Arizona State House is really even though the governor
Speaker 1: of Arizona is a Democrat and all the sort of
Speaker 1: leadership in the state and even the senator is I
Speaker 1: think both senators are liberals. The problem, right, you have
Speaker 1: two Democratic senators in that state. The problem with Arizona
Speaker 1: is that it was a very conservative state and the
Speaker 1: state legislature is kind of a disaster. They at one
Speaker 1: point had a bill that I think they still have
Speaker 1: it where there's a tax incentive for data farms. So
Speaker 1: they've come up with some real dumb shit, and this
Speaker 1: is very annoying. It's very much what you see in
Speaker 1: this state. Now, the good news is it didn't pass
Speaker 1: because they did not have enough Republican voters there, Republican
Speaker 1: lawmakers there for the vote. The twenty nine to twenty
Speaker 1: two vote in the Arizona and the Arizona House of
Speaker 1: Representatives one shive the number needed for the bill to pass.
Speaker 1: So that is good. But you should be watching these
Speaker 1: state house bills because they're cooking up a lot of
Speaker 1: crazy stuff. I mean, that's what happens in the state houses.
Speaker 1: And that's how remember they overturned Roe v. Wade that
Speaker 1: way right by coming up with a crazy state law,
Speaker 1: S B two in Texas which ended up criminalizing abortion.
Speaker 1: That's what happens a lot of times in these state houses.
Speaker 1: You just have to watch them like a hawk, especially Arizona.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I always just think of their vote against celebrating Martin
Speaker 2: Luther King Day sticks in my brain forever.
Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in
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Speaker 1: and keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening.