1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: today's best minds. And Republicans claim marcomentum is sweeping the 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: internet for twenty twenty eight. I don't think it is. 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: We have such a great show for you today. Platypus Economics. 6 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: Justin Wolfer stops by to talk about Donald Trump's continued 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: demolition of the American economy. Then we'll talk to three 8 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: one four Action Shaughnessy not on their work on recruiting, training, 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,840 Speaker 1: and electing Democrats from scientific backgrounds. 10 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 2: But first the news Somali. The Virginia State Supreme Court 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 2: has struck down Virginia's redistricting map. Where do we go 12 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 2: from here? Oh? Great, I know where we go from here? 13 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: They went back to the Supreme Court. Well we go up. 14 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: So I think that this was a Virginia court. It 15 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: is a partisan court, unlike our Supreme Court, which is 16 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: a hyperpartisan court. The supretisan court does not like Democrats 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: getting any seats, so they have thrown out the maps. 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: But do not fear this fight will go up now. 19 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 1: It will go to another court and another court will 20 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 1: roll on it and then another court, and then another court, 21 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: and then it will go to the partisan hacks on 22 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court and they will, in their infinite partisan hackery, 23 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: do something completely insane. You have not seen the last 24 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: of this completely insane bit of drama. This is what 25 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: happens when you do partisan redistricting in the middle of 26 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: an election. Remember this all started when Donald Trump asked 27 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: Texas for five seats. And why did he ask Texas 28 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: for five seats? Jesse? 29 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 2: Because this agenda is the most unpopular agenda we've ever 30 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 2: seen in this country's history. 31 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: And because he doesn't want to get impeached again for 32 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: the third third tibe. 33 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 2: Yes. Yes, But there is another story that goes hand 34 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 2: in hand with this, which is that the Tennessee State 35 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 2: House has passed redistricting map that really really divvis the 36 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 2: state up in ridiculous ways. Ed gets through their loone 37 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 2: black majority district. Listen to me. 38 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: So last week the Supreme Court just killed the Voting 39 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: Rights Act. They went in and they just were like, 40 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: you know, multi racial democracy, no, thank you. They went 41 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: in and they just completely undid all of the work 42 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: that you know, people have died to move along the needle. 43 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: And during the sixties and now we are in this 44 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 1: world where they and by the way, there are the 45 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: reason they said that we didn't need this anymore, that 46 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: we didn't need majority minority seats was because racism was over, just. 47 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 2: Like John Lennon said, racism was over. 48 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: If you want it right, they don't want it. 49 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 2: By the way, that's a solid point. 50 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: Yeah. This so they really this Supreme Court just so sucks. 51 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: I can't even tell you how much the Supreme Court sucks. 52 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: And what they did was the reason they put out 53 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: this decision because they hoped that it would give these 54 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: red states enough time to redistrict. I'm going to say 55 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: one thing which I feel like we don't talk about 56 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: because it undermines some of this, and I just want 57 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: to say it here because I think the people who 58 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: listen as podcasts are smart enough to understand that it 59 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: might happen even despite all of this, which is basically, 60 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: there is still a world where you know, just because 61 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: there's a partisan jerrymander, it doesn't mean that ultimately you know, 62 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: you are cutting up these seats. So if you're going 63 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: from an R plus twenty to an R plus ten, 64 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: that means that you have less of a chance. So 65 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: say you're in a place where the democratic advantage is 66 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,839 Speaker 1: say the generic is A plus ten, a Democrat plus ten, 67 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: and say you make a seat, you move an R 68 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: plus twenty to an R plus six. There's a world 69 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: where you lose that seed. Look, it's nothing to bank on, 70 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:17,839 Speaker 1: but you know, just because you're spreading out your gerrymandering 71 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: to make it better for you doesn't mean you ultimately 72 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: get more votes. So as much as like this is cheating, 73 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: it could also and again it may not. I don't know, 74 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: you know, we don't know what kind of democratic overperformance 75 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: will have, but it could ultimately some of this could backfire. 76 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're seeing things like this Tennessee thing that 77 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 2: you can move the district's polling places around on the 78 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 2: day of if you want, and things like that that 79 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 2: they're going to try to do total dirty tricks to 80 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 2: make this stuff happen. They're going to make wet Water 81 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 2: look like he was doing child games at this point. 82 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 2: But at the same time, they're really underestimating how unpopular 83 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 2: and what this environment's going to look like and how 84 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 2: people will jump through hoops to stop these assholes from 85 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 2: what they're doing. 86 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: And it's like I think about like early on in 87 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: this administration, where if you went against Trump, like scary 88 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: people would come to your house, Like it's not quite 89 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,919 Speaker 1: the same, Like you had these senators who are like 90 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: living in mortal fear of going against Trump because it's 91 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: not the same anymore. Like he does not have the 92 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: same kind of excitement that he did, even from the 93 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: very scary people, even they are less into it. 94 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, they're having a lot of trouble finding their 95 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 2: own willing executioners. That's what I keep saying. 96 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: Gas is expensive. 97 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 2: Well it's not even just that. Like you know, like 98 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 2: I walk into the supermarket, and the owner of my 99 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 2: supermarket is a very hands on person. He's apologizing to 100 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 2: people on their way in for the prices, trying to 101 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 2: make them understand why they're going up. He's not doing 102 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 2: out a partisan hackery. He's doing it because he wants 103 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,720 Speaker 2: people to understand that it's not him doing this, that 104 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,119 Speaker 2: it's a very stupid war we decided to go into 105 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 2: by choice from well guts that a little later in 106 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 2: the show anyway, So Trump is planning to fire the 107 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 2: MAHA friendly FDA com Mission Marty McCrary. 108 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, again, clearly there are a couple things happening here, 109 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:16,280 Speaker 1: And I don't want to say anything nice about anything 110 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: because this is not necessarily good or whatever. But basically 111 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,359 Speaker 1: some of the MAHA crew has turned out to just 112 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:25,919 Speaker 1: be more trouble than they're worth. I think is what 113 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: it is. You've got like babies bleeding to death because 114 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: the parents won't. 115 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 2: Do vitamin cave injections. 116 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: Yeah right, they won't do the vitamin injections. I think 117 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: we're in a lot of trouble here. So just a 118 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 1: little too fruity even for this crew of fruit loops. 119 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 1: Trump plans to fire FDA commissioner. So this guy, he 120 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: is a former Johns Hopkins surgeon who became a frequent 121 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: Make America Healthy Again surrogate, a guy. 122 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 2: The rogen Spear likes to quote like he is a 123 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 2: really respected person. 124 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, so my man must be a fucking moron. His 125 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: tenure has been dogged by after effects of Doge led layups. 126 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: You may remember do as being the brainchild of the 127 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: richest man in the world, Elon Musk, So he sucks. 128 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: Trump hasn't necessarily made the plan finalized, so anything could change. 129 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: He's assembled. I like the quote here from the spokesman kushnasigh, 130 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: President Trump has assembled the most experienced, in talented administration 131 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: in history except for all the people who are just 132 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: cable news hosts, and they focus on delivering historic victories 133 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: for the American people. If those American people are the 134 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: Trump family. 135 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. So, speaking of the talented people he's gotten, there 136 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 2: is this podcaster with a clothing line of wretched ugly 137 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 2: clothing in Cash hotel, whose spy reports is apparently very 138 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 2: fond of the bottle and hanging out at the Laymus 139 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 2: club in hole of Las Vegas. He's now hauling people 140 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 2: in for polygraph tests to see if they writed them 141 00:07:58,760 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 2: out to the Atlantic. 142 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: So this isn't such an insane story. And here it is. 143 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: Cash Fattel, head of the FBI, was the subject of 144 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: a piece in the Atlantic about his drinking. Okay, fine, 145 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: he both denied it and launched like huge leak investigations 146 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: into it. All right, Okay, So then they target the 147 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: author of the piece. They go after her. That becomes 148 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: even more drama. Now Cash is just like fucking this it. 149 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: Remember in this piece it talks about how Cash gets 150 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: locked out of his email and thinks how he thinks 151 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,199 Speaker 1: he was fired. Well he all so, like, clearly this 152 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 1: is a guy who was not like dealing with life 153 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: in a sane way. So now he is furious and 154 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: he's putting people on polygraphs to figure out where the 155 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: leaking is coming from. Meanwhile, like the next day, The 156 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: Atlantic has another story about how he has the use 157 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: bottles of some kind of alcohol that are like cash 158 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: Batel branded, and he gives them to people. He's also 159 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: suing The Atlantic for the reporting about his behavior and 160 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,959 Speaker 1: his bad job. I mean, this is the thing about 161 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: cash Battel, Like, if there ever were a person who 162 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: behaved like they are super guilty, it is he. 163 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, I strung agree, but I will say this is 164 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 2: a little preview of an early birthday present I'm sending 165 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,199 Speaker 2: you and Andy lev soon, so the listeners of Fast 166 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,560 Speaker 2: Politics can look forward to a future episode where I 167 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 2: present this to you both. 168 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: Oh what is it? 169 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 2: I'm not telling you it's a surprise. 170 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: Is it a cash fatal? 171 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 2: It's not a bottle of liquor, since I obviously know 172 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 2: you're sober, but you will see soon enough. 173 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: Well, I'm excited. 174 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 2: There's basically a reoccurring thing on this podcast of Magabed 175 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 2: doing the unspeakable to their wives, their staffers, or other 176 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,320 Speaker 2: people they're having sex with. And here we have what 177 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 2: I think maybe the craziest one of the ball. 178 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,479 Speaker 1: So this is Max Miller. He is a member of Congress. 179 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: He sucks, and he has sucked for a long time. 180 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: He worked in the Trump administration. I think of him 181 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 1: as like kind of a mini version of Corey Lewandowski. 182 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: He's like a mini version of Corey. He has constantly 183 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,360 Speaker 1: clearly is doing bad stuff to women here, and he 184 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: has been accused of that from also his ex girlfriend, 185 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: Stephanie Grisham. Stephanie Grisham, you'll remember, was the secretary for Milania, 186 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:41,439 Speaker 1: that brilliant think tank leader Milania. So Stephanie Grisham alleged 187 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: that Max Miller pushed her against a wall and slapped 188 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: her after she accused him of cheating. Miller blames congressional 189 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: colleagues and former father in law for his current legal 190 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,239 Speaker 1: issues because that makes the most sense, and is framing 191 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: his ex wife as malicious due to her alleged bipolar diagnosis. 192 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: And this morning, Max Miller, who's a Republican Ohio congressman, 193 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: took to Twitter to complain about Emily Morino, that is 194 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: the daughter of GOP Senator Bernie ma Reno. How long 195 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: have these people even been married? Because wasn't Miller with 196 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: Stephanie Grisham in twenty twenty. 197 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know that Maga goes through marriages at briggs 198 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:24,440 Speaker 2: Land speed Records. 199 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 1: And let me just say two things here. Do we 200 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: think that he beat his wife again? It's certainly he 201 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: has been accused of it before. And also Bernie Marito 202 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:43,719 Speaker 1: absolute scumback like beyond. So I want to say domestic 203 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:49,199 Speaker 1: violence bad, people who do it? Bad, father a victim, 204 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: shitty senator from Ohio also bad. Many things can be 205 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: bad at once. 206 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 3: Here. 207 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: Yes, hey, it's Mollie john Fast here. My memoir How 208 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,440 Speaker 1: to Lose Your Mother is out now on paperback, arriving 209 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: just ahead of Mother's Day. How to Lose Your Mother 210 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,439 Speaker 1: has garnered a lot of praise from Good Morning America, 211 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: then Your Time, Book Review, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and a 212 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: lot of other outlets Washington Post. The book is about 213 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,319 Speaker 1: what it's like to be part of the Sandwich generation, 214 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: to take care of your mother and your children. And 215 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: I talk about being a mother and a daughter and 216 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: the relationship I have with my mother and all of 217 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: its complexities. It's funny and it's fraught. 218 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 4: And it's sad, and it's about life. My story, This story, 219 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 4: the story of How to Lose Your Mother, follows a 220 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,839 Speaker 4: year in which my mother, Erica Johng, is diagnosed with dementia, 221 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 4: my husband faces a life threatening illness, and what unfolds 222 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 4: is a really honest story about what happens when the 223 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 4: shit hits the fan and everything goes wrong. As The 224 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 4: Washington Post said, the book is filled with lines so 225 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 4: good you won't just want to underline them. 226 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: It's a memoir that continues to resonate, so please pick 227 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: it up. Justin Wolfers is the founder of Platypus Economics. Welcome, Welcome, 228 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: Justin Balley. So it is the first Monday in May. No, 229 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, that's the that's the Mecalla what. 230 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:33,680 Speaker 3: I'm glad you thought I would understand and make Gala reference. 231 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 3: It's profoundly flatted. 232 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,679 Speaker 1: Yeah no, no, it's a crossover event. 233 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:40,439 Speaker 3: I actually to end up. I don't know if you 234 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 3: saw me in my lamb chop Taxlida, just cite a 235 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 3: little lamb chops together. 236 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: That's right, all right, So talk to me about what 237 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: this is. We got some jobs reports coming in. We 238 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: got the jobs report. Those numbers were not bad numbers. 239 00:13:55,280 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 3: It's pretty good, isn't it. So the it's probably be 240 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 3: one hundred and fifteen thousand jobs created this month. You 241 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 3: should never look at one number. What I like to 242 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 3: do is take an average over the past few months. 243 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:09,040 Speaker 3: If you look over the past few months, we're creating 244 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 3: about fifty thousand jobs a month. That's not as many 245 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 3: as your listeners are used to hearing. But here's the 246 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 3: encouraging thing. The unemployment rate has gone from slowly drifting 247 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 3: up to maybe flat. And so the thing to understand 248 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 3: here is the decrease in immigration has led to virtually 249 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 3: no population growth in the United States. And previously that 250 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 3: sounds bad. That's a really good question that I'm going 251 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 3: to take as a separate question because it's so deep. 252 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 3: But that population growth, well, what it means is employers 253 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 3: are not You know, if you open a new store, 254 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 3: one of the sources of new customers was new human beings. 255 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 3: We don't have as many new human beings. But it 256 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 3: also then means we don't need to create as many jobs. 257 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 3: And so while the job's number looks bad. The thing 258 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 3: to keep your eye on as the unemployment rate. It's 259 00:14:55,600 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 3: roughly flat. So things are not amazing. Things are not terrible. 260 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 3: And I am still holding my breath. 261 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: Why are you still holding your breath? 262 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 3: Because I worry about people. I want people to have rich, full, 263 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 3: successful lives, full of dignity and getting to do things 264 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 3: they love and provide for those they love. I want 265 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 3: them to find people and things and passions they love. 266 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: Okay, that's the macrol. But why are you still holding 267 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: your breath on the micro Oh? 268 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 3: In the economy, yes, on everything. We're in the middle 269 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 3: of a war. There's not a long history of wars 270 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 3: being good for humanity. Right, we're in the middle of 271 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 3: a trade war. There's not a long history of those 272 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 3: being good for economies. And without wanting to be part 273 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 3: of that, I ever sence that you might be a 274 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 3: little partisan. No, I don't have great faith in the administration, 275 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 3: and so we're bumped from crisis to crisis, which means 276 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 3: when the data says, hey, things may not be so bad, 277 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 3: I remember that data are noisy. And sometimes you feel 278 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 3: reassured today and then the floor falls out underneath you 279 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 3: again tomorrow. And in a world in which we've seen 280 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 3: the president start a trade war, try to fire the 281 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 3: FED chief, an undermined central bank, independence, in which we've 282 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 3: seen a movement try to undermine an election, in which 283 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 3: we've started a war war without congressional approval. I just 284 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 3: don't know what comes next. And so yeah, I'm holding 285 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 3: my breath and. 286 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: Talk about unemployment, because it seems like unemployment, those numbers, 287 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: they can go down, but it can also be people 288 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: not looking for a job, right. 289 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, let me actually start with the most important thing. 290 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 3: I was very surprised this morning, but it's the state 291 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 3: of the world. I saw many many liberals on social 292 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 3: media saying, well, this happened in the numbers. Do you 293 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 3: believe the numbers? And I know you and I've talked 294 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 3: about this before, but I want to remind people that 295 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:09,119 Speaker 3: the unemployment numbers are still artly plausible, by which I 296 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,160 Speaker 3: mean I know a lot of people on the inside 297 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 3: who are collecting these numbers, and they're using serious, scientific, 298 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,920 Speaker 3: honest approaches to measurement, and there is no direct White 299 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 3: House intervention. 300 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: Right, I know this is this is something we've talked 301 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 1: about before, but you could understand why people would feel 302 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:32,280 Speaker 1: that way, because Donald Trump did fire the head of 303 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. 304 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 3: And also not just that, which is the man as 305 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,360 Speaker 3: a fire hose of lives, which you know, which once 306 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:40,879 Speaker 3: upon a time that would have been thought to be 307 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 3: a partisan thing to say, and now it's literally a fact. 308 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 2: It is, and. 309 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,639 Speaker 3: I seek there's a profound tearing of our fabric as 310 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 3: a result, because it is. I don't want to be 311 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,239 Speaker 3: a conspiracy theorist and say it's a they meant this 312 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,840 Speaker 3: all along. I can tell the difference. But I spend 313 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,360 Speaker 3: my whole day looking at numbers. For regular folks, I've 314 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 3: told them, you can believe what comes out of the bls. 315 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 3: And then this afternoon the Treasury Secretary will just say 316 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 3: a bunch of bullshit, or literally, over the past couple 317 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 3: of days, we've had the Energy Secretary and the Transportation 318 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 3: Secretary say no one has done more to get energy 319 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 3: prices down than Donald Trump while standing next door gas 320 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 3: pump charging four point fifty a gallon due to a 321 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:26,199 Speaker 3: war that the President started in the Middle East. And 322 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 3: so historically those folks were bound by truth. And so 323 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,359 Speaker 3: when serious people wearing serious suits said things, they deserve 324 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,199 Speaker 3: to be taken seriously. So when I say so, that 325 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 3: information environment is just fractured, the idea that people are 326 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 3: attached to truth is gone, which then makes the job 327 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 3: of regular folks so much harder, which is that person 328 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 3: can be trusted, that person can't, that person came, that 329 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 3: person can't. And so what I'm telling you as an insider, 330 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 3: as someone who sort of studies this a lot, is 331 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 3: the official economic statistics can be trusted. But I'm not 332 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,680 Speaker 3: telling you to believe a word any cabinet members says 333 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 3: anytime ever. 334 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:07,479 Speaker 1: Right, So the official numbers are still good, but the 335 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: cabinet is just bonkers as usual. I think fair. 336 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,919 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm an economist. I do not evaluate other people's 337 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 3: mental health. 338 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,640 Speaker 1: Right, but they're they're not. You can't necessarily take those 339 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: numbers the bank talk to us about. Uh, you wrote 340 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:29,479 Speaker 1: a piece for The Times that I read this morning? 341 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: That was how. 342 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 3: Exciting was that? Did you just wake up and you 343 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 3: read any excomps And were you like, oh no, that block? 344 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: No, you sent it to me. But also I read 345 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: the opinion sometimes I too write for the opinion section. 346 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,679 Speaker 1: Not you get to tell you this about me and 347 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:46,359 Speaker 1: you all paid for it too, don't you. 348 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, a little bit. But you're you're aren't you 349 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:50,159 Speaker 3: a culture editor? 350 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: No, I'm not in anything anything. I'm a right, I 351 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: just write there. But I want you so, I. 352 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 3: Want to talk about you a bit because you always 353 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:00,120 Speaker 3: that sounds why cold in mine? 354 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: So you did this piece, I'm just gonna ignore you. Now, 355 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: this is what happens when you're very when you get 356 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,239 Speaker 1: in trouble on this podcast, they just ignore you. So 357 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: you wrote this piece about the cost of the war, 358 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 1: and Pete Egg said that this may not be this 359 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,160 Speaker 1: may have sort of fallen through the couch cushions this week. 360 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 1: But Petegg said, did a video about the cost of 361 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: the war that had a really high number of about 362 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: fifteen billion dollars, which seems like something you wouldn't want 363 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 1: to advertise, and in fact it's actually probably a lot more. 364 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:36,959 Speaker 3: Right, actually, say his number was twenty five billion. 365 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: Oh, twenty five billion, sorry, ten billion too little? I mean, 366 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: why advertise that seems like a lot of money. That's 367 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:45,640 Speaker 1: twenty five ballrooms. 368 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 3: I am going to true, Well, we gonna have a 369 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:49,719 Speaker 3: ballroom in every pot. 370 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:51,639 Speaker 1: That's right, that's right now, And. 371 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 3: No that doesn't have enough good ballrooms. Yeah, I was 372 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 3: thinking going to a bull last time. 373 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: I wasn't twenty five taxpayer funded ballrooms? 374 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,359 Speaker 3: Right, But that's a good number of ballrooms. What would 375 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 3: you prefer, though, Mali one just really good war or 376 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 3: twenty five ballrooms? 377 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: That's right? So go on, I would rather have the ballrooms, 378 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: and I think they'd be better for I think you'd 379 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:13,199 Speaker 1: make more money on the volrooms. 380 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 3: It's God that he first, Mully John fast ballroom room? 381 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: Yes? Continue, Okay, So. 382 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,359 Speaker 3: Actually I want to pause because I think this is 383 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,440 Speaker 3: actually a really really important piece of economics, and Malley, 384 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 3: I'm going to be rotten and so you've got it wrong, 385 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 3: please the most. Okay, So here's the backdrop. Almost any 386 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,679 Speaker 3: the human mind is almost incapable of understanding the difference 387 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 3: between millions, billions, and trillions. We don't encounter these numbers. 388 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:41,399 Speaker 3: They're unimaginably large. Any time, therefore a politician used as 389 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 3: one of those numbers, it's because they intend to obfiscate. 390 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 3: So what an economist does anytime we get one of 391 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,119 Speaker 3: those numbers, we realize it's uninterpretable. Let's make it human. 392 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 3: Here's a way of making it human. There are three 393 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 3: hundred and thirty million Americans, which is really good because 394 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 3: if every American pays three dollars, that adds up to 395 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 3: a bill million dollars. If the war cost twenty five billion, 396 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 3: that means it's a cost of seventy five dollars per American. 397 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 3: So twenty five billion. I've watched my liberal friends go 398 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 3: out to, oh, twenty five billion, this is outrageous. We 399 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,879 Speaker 3: could have bought twenty five ballrooms. Actually, your point that 400 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 3: it's twenty five ballrooms is the point. It's not that much, right, so, 401 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 3: and the point I want to impress upon the audience, 402 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 3: And here I apologize, I'm a college professor. I'm going 403 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 3: to do the teaching because that's what I do. Every 404 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:28,919 Speaker 3: time you hear one of these numbers, you have to 405 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 3: scale it in a way that you can make sense 406 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 3: of it. So it turns out the twenty five billion 407 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 3: is not that much. It's also bullshit, technical sen The 408 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 3: point of the upbed is actually to say, what question 409 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 3: is twenty five billion dollars the answer to? And what 410 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 3: question do you care about? And it turns out they're 411 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 3: completely different. Twenty five billion dollars is how much we're 412 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,400 Speaker 3: more or less spent on bombs and moving a few 413 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:59,639 Speaker 3: troops around and stuff like that, and depreciation on aircraft. 414 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 3: Aircraft have gone down. By the way, you might be thinking, 415 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 3: how can we spend that much on bombs? Some of 416 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 3: our bombs are two million bucks apart, right, So you 417 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 3: throw a few of them out there, and all of 418 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 3: a sudden you're talk in real money. Right, that's the 419 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 3: sole cost of it, that's all it's including. So that's 420 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,879 Speaker 3: a little bit like saying, what is the cost of 421 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 3: a family dog? Well, I went to the pound and 422 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 3: he costs two hundred dollars. But the thing about a 423 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,200 Speaker 3: dog is he transforms your life in all sorts of 424 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 3: other ways, many of which are expensive. And I'm dealing 425 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 3: with expensive vet bills right now. And actually the same 426 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 3: thing is true of war. So the twenty five billion 427 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 3: is the answer to a question no one ever asked, 428 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 3: which is how much do we spend on bombs? The 429 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,680 Speaker 3: answer that the question I think most people care about 430 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 3: is how much is this damn war costing us? How 431 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,159 Speaker 3: much worse off am I am, my fellow countrymen and 432 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,680 Speaker 3: people around the world as a result. And that's when 433 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:52,879 Speaker 3: you have to realize this war didn't just cost us 434 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 3: in bombs. It has transformed the global economy. It's transformed 435 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 3: the American economy. For instance, the FED was going to 436 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 3: cut rates before. Now it's not because the inflation coming 437 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,720 Speaker 3: out of the war. That right there by the way 438 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:06,640 Speaker 3: I ran it through a little macro economic the FEDS 439 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 3: macroeconomic model. It's the sort of thing idea for fun 440 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 3: that right there is worth two hundred billion dollars just 441 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 3: that effect. Right, we have good estimates of the effect 442 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 3: of geopolitical risk on the economy. It's likely that this 443 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 3: rise in geopolitical risk will lead to two hundred billion 444 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,159 Speaker 3: dollars let's output in hundreds of thousands of fewer jobs. 445 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 3: We can look at what has happened to the stock market, 446 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 3: and a reasonable estimate is that stocks are about five 447 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,400 Speaker 3: percent lower as a result of this war. You see 448 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 3: that because every time the president's aggressive, stocks four, but 449 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 3: every time he backs off, stocks rise. And if you 450 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 3: took that seriously, that would suggest overall stocks are about 451 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 3: five percent lower than they would otherwise be. That's three 452 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 3: trillion dollars right there. If the world has become a 453 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:57,679 Speaker 3: more dangerous place because of our geopolitical strategies, and the 454 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 3: president believes that it has, then we have to spend 455 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:03,480 Speaker 3: more on defense than the president believes we do, because 456 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 3: he just put forward a defense budget for next year 457 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,360 Speaker 3: in which he wants to raise spending on defense from 458 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 3: nine hundred billion to fifteen hundred billion. So now he 459 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,679 Speaker 3: wants to spend six hundred billion more on defense just 460 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 3: next year. All of these numbers are boring, but the 461 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 3: most important thing I want to notice is they're all 462 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 3: many times larger than twenty five billion. The point this 463 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 3: is the way real world economics works, messy economics in 464 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 3: messy economic times, is any way you try to pencil 465 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 3: out the costs of this war, you realize that the 466 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:47,480 Speaker 3: cost is hundreds of billions and possibly trillions. So, Mollie, 467 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 3: you were talking about a nice collection of ballrooms. Now 468 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,680 Speaker 3: I'm talking about a shit ton of ballrooms. 469 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: Yeah. 470 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 3: And then if we want to turn into what is 471 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 3: this meaning for the American people, for the typical household, 472 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,720 Speaker 3: it means the cost of the war is to be 473 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 3: measured in thousands of dollars and maybe tens of thousands 474 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 3: of dollars, and that hopefully gets people's attention. 475 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: It also, what you talk about those piece, is that 476 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: it also is measured in all sorts of other metrics, 477 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:26,640 Speaker 1: like it's financial insecurity, which financial instability, which means less investment. 478 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,600 Speaker 1: Like there are metrics that you can't even really measure. 479 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 3: So I'm not going to pretend that I've found a 480 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 3: way of counting every cast. What I can tell you is, 481 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 3: every time I start looking at him, they turn out 482 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 3: to be hundreds of billions. And the idea that hag 483 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 3: Seth is right at twenty five billion dollars is absurd 484 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:46,160 Speaker 3: on its face. The whole thing's misdirection, bullshit, nonsense, right, 485 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 3: And then I want to take off my economist hat. 486 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:50,400 Speaker 3: Can I put on my dad hat? 487 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:50,880 Speaker 2: Sure? 488 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 3: I remember the day the President tweeted that he was 489 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 3: going to wipe another country off the face of the 490 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 3: earth mm hmm, And I sat down with my thirteen 491 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:04,119 Speaker 3: year old son and he was distressed. I was distressed. 492 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 3: It's terrifying the idea that someone would in our name 493 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 3: threaten to wipe a civilization off the face of the earth. 494 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 3: It's inhumane. It's not the qualities I've ever taught my son. 495 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 3: I don't ever want to have to defend it. I 496 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 3: never will, and my son is at a profound level, 497 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 3: forever changed. You can't take back the idea that humans 498 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 3: would say that to other humans. And there's a beauty 499 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 3: about childhood and children that was destroyed. And I'm not 500 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,119 Speaker 3: talking really about my son I am, but I know 501 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:40,919 Speaker 3: that there's millions of other dads out there. And so 502 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 3: that scene got played out and family after family all 503 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 3: around the country and a sense of coarseness and comfort 504 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 3: with the unimaginable. I can't pencilate a number before you 505 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,200 Speaker 3: on that, Molly, but I don't want to lose sight 506 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 3: of how important that is. 507 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: Right now, we are sort of in this crazy moment 508 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 1: where we have the FED is you know we got 509 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: I mean, they're still there. There's a lot going on 510 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 1: right now. 511 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,600 Speaker 3: But I slide proper of the year. I don't even 512 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,640 Speaker 3: watch TV anymore. I just watched the FED. 513 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: It's terrific, right, And they're not going to lower rates probably, No, 514 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 1: Trump is not going to get what he wants. I 515 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: think it's the net of it. 516 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,440 Speaker 3: I think that Land's unclear to beat. 517 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:27,600 Speaker 1: Well, he's not going to get them to lower rates, 518 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:28,640 Speaker 1: which is what he wanted. 519 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 3: He is going to get handsome Kevin in. 520 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 1: Yes, he's getting handsome Kevin In. And but Powell's staying 521 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: a bit. 522 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 3: Jeron Pell used to be handsome. 523 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: Really. 524 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 3: When he announced Powell, he said that Powell was handsome, 525 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,400 Speaker 3: more handsome than Jenny Yellen. So now we got two 526 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 3: handsome plecks. 527 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: What are you watching? 528 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 4: Like? 529 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: It still seems like the stock market is exuberant, the 530 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 1: bond market is anxious, and the gas prices are still high. 531 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: So for now we're sort of the the s and 532 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: P is delighted with anything. But can that just keep 533 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 1: going like that? 534 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 3: I'm just trying to imagine what life is like living 535 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 3: in New York to pickle in New York just walk 536 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 3: around talking about the stock market all the time because 537 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 3: most people think I'm intensely boring. 538 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: And I mean I read the Wall Street Journal, so 539 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: I despite. 540 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 3: Being a New York Times abed contributor, I read. 541 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,040 Speaker 1: The Journal of the Ft the Economists, so I know what's. 542 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 3: Happening mockably well read. 543 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:33,000 Speaker 1: Well, that's my kind of my job. 544 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,120 Speaker 3: So I so you're gonna tell us about your undergraduate 545 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 3: transcript too. 546 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: I didn't go to college. I am to knowledge, no 547 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: one to college. I have nothing. Did not go to college? 548 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 3: Is that true? 549 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,320 Speaker 1: Yeah? I have a master's. I have an MFA from 550 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,640 Speaker 1: Bennington but I'm going to. 551 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 3: Didn't go to college, but I have a master's degree 552 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:52,240 Speaker 3: or yeah, but. 553 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,960 Speaker 1: It's a Masters of Fine Arts. I've never done like 554 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,239 Speaker 1: a math class. I wouldn't even know how to do it. 555 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: So but anyway, what do you it's getting really irritated 556 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,440 Speaker 1: by our band or so, like, it just feels like 557 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,600 Speaker 1: we're in a very precarious moment. And you said this 558 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 1: earlier in the center. 559 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 3: Holding my breath, Yeah, yeah, breath. 560 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: What are the sort of indicators that you're looking at? 561 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: Like Trump is clearly trying to get gas prices lower. Yeah, 562 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: that is not going to happen. 563 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, right, Okay, so I am holding my breath. Yeah, 564 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 3: every day I do. And the weird thing, by the way, 565 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:29,840 Speaker 3: is I remember all of three years ago I would 566 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 3: do an interviewer a podcast and I could just walk 567 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 3: in and know it cold, And today I have to 568 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 3: check what's going on in the last fifteen seconds because 569 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,640 Speaker 3: we might have accidentally bombed another country. 570 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: That's a Trump thing. 571 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think the overwhelmingly most important economic issue 572 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 3: right now is the war. In a run, it's also 573 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 3: incredibly difficult to track in any standard sense. The president 574 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 3: announces something the Iranian Leadershi announces something else, and there 575 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,160 Speaker 3: was a time I knew which one of those two 576 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,360 Speaker 3: was the truth teller, and that is no longer true. 577 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 3: So the president's announced success seven times and the Ranians 578 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 3: keep saying, you never called, and I kind of believe them, 579 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 3: like he doesn't seem like a guy who calls you back. 580 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: And there's reporting, I mean they're reporting. I was on 581 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: Morning Joe with David Rose Rhads and David Rhodes was 582 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: talking about how the Saudis didn't know that he was 583 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: trying to reopen the straits because nobody told them, and 584 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: that they closed the airspace because they were like, what 585 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 1: the fuck is this? 586 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 3: It's amazing some people don't spend their days on truth social. 587 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:40,320 Speaker 1: If MBS were just watching Fox News, yeah do you 588 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 1: want to know? 589 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:41,880 Speaker 4: So? 590 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,479 Speaker 3: But I think that that information environment means it's very 591 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 3: hard to track, but if you care about the economy, 592 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,520 Speaker 3: it's the most important thing to track. And so then 593 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 3: that means this actually means I'm going to be a 594 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,239 Speaker 3: lot more like in New Yorker right now, which is 595 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,600 Speaker 3: I do follow financial markets closely, and it's not because 596 00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 3: I'm cheering for the stock market. It's not even that 597 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 3: I care about the stock markets, even. 598 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 1: On any stars, right, I have. 599 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 3: A mutual fund. I have retirement fund. Do I get 600 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 3: I think I have a retirement account. 601 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 1: You talk because remember you told me you guys never 602 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:10,480 Speaker 1: owned stars anywhay going not. 603 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 3: Individual stocks, but I have a retirement account. It's wow, 604 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 3: you're trying to get me in so much trouble. Well 605 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 3: you just said I'm a job creator. Yeah, go on, 606 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:23,400 Speaker 3: Why don't I get any respect. 607 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 1: None. 608 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 3: I'm tracking financial markets because you've got sophisticated people betting 609 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 3: on the future of the economy through financial markets. I'm 610 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 3: tracking them at the same time as I'm tracking the 611 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 3: oil market. Actually, if you want to track the oil market, 612 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 3: you don't track the spot price that's oil being bought 613 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 3: and sold today, because that's affected by a lot of 614 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 3: stuff like shipping and so on. It's a really good 615 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 3: idea to track something like the future's price, which by 616 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 3: the way, is actually remarkably easy to find online, and 617 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 3: think about that as an index of are we getting 618 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 3: good news out of Iran or bad news? You could 619 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 3: interpret it in more complicated ways. But if you wake 620 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 3: up and you say, you know, you ret like the 621 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 3: president just announced there was some operation over the last 622 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 3: couple of days where. 623 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,600 Speaker 1: Apparently Enduring Freedom. 624 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, which like it didn't endure and it wasn't freedom. 625 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: And ignore the ceasefire. 626 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, it was Operation Press Release, right. He said, I've 627 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 3: got an operation and here's the deal. Everyone can go through. 628 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,560 Speaker 3: The stradiprom was, yeah, I haven't told the Iranians and 629 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 3: we're not going to escort you, but you can go 630 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 3: through because I told you, and this will surprise you. 631 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 3: Everyone said in return, no, So Operation Enduring Freedom literally 632 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 3: achieved nothing. But for the audience. The important point here 633 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 3: is if you wanted to assess that for yourself, the 634 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:43,800 Speaker 3: way to have done that was to look at oil 635 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:48,440 Speaker 3: price features, because when they didn't improve, that's when you 636 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 3: can tell people betting on the outcome of this war 637 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,000 Speaker 3: think the president is just saying nonsense rather than doing sense. 638 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 3: Now there may be some moment where it's Operation really 639 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:02,280 Speaker 3: Enduring Freedom. He does something, and the easiest way to 640 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 3: tell is going to be by tracking what happens to 641 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:07,400 Speaker 3: financial markets. They're not going to get a perfect but 642 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 3: it's less bad than the alternative of listening to the administration. 643 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 1: Justin Walfers, will you come back? 644 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,200 Speaker 3: Always count White. 645 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 1: Shaughnessy Notton is the president of three one four Action. 646 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: Welcome Shaughnessy, Hi Mollie, thanks for having us on. First 647 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:30,600 Speaker 1: of all, I want you to tell me what your 648 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,799 Speaker 1: group does, and then I want you to tell me 649 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,279 Speaker 1: how you got involved tonight. 650 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,840 Speaker 5: Well, my group is three one four Action. I'm the 651 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 5: president and founder. We work to elect scientists to all 652 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,239 Speaker 5: levels of government, from city council up through the state 653 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 5: legislature and the federal level, with the thinking that we 654 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:53,320 Speaker 5: really benefit by having those data driven, fact face policymakers 655 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 5: in office and not just as polite advisors that can 656 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 5: be ignored. And this screw out of my own experience. 657 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,720 Speaker 5: I was chemist by training. I worked in breast cancer 658 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:07,320 Speaker 5: research and infectious disease, and in twenty fourteen, rather naively, 659 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 5: decided to run for Congress, not really knowing what was involved. 660 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,799 Speaker 5: But I got a lot of support from the scientific 661 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:18,279 Speaker 5: community and came up a little short, but learned a 662 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,600 Speaker 5: lot in the process. And part of what I learned 663 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 5: was that at the time there were more talk radio 664 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,759 Speaker 5: show hosts in Congress than scientists and engineers. And so 665 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:29,759 Speaker 5: we were coming up on our tenth anniversary of three 666 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 5: and four Action and I have done a lot of 667 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,040 Speaker 5: work in bringing more scientists and doctors into Congress and 668 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:37,080 Speaker 5: all levels of government. 669 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: So let's talk about what that looks like. Talk to 670 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 1: me about some of your candidates. 671 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:47,279 Speaker 5: Sure, well, twenty eighteen was our first full cycle and 672 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 5: we had a great year. We elected a number of 673 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,759 Speaker 5: scientists both the Senate and House, and I think it 674 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 5: really tells a good synopsis of you know, what we 675 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 5: do is that we worked with Kim Schreier in both 676 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 5: her primary in our general election to help bring a 677 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,960 Speaker 5: woman pediatrician, the first pediatrician to Congress, you know, and 678 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 5: really had to fight back some of the thinking in 679 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:13,239 Speaker 5: DC of the very limited profile of what could make 680 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:15,759 Speaker 5: for a good member of Congress and candidate, and so 681 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 5: ultimately we were successful. This year, we have close to 682 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,600 Speaker 5: fifty federal campaigns that we're working with. We recently endorsed 683 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,719 Speaker 5: Dr Jasmine Clark. She is a microbiologist and a state 684 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 5: legislator running for Congress in Georgia. We helped elect her 685 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,440 Speaker 5: to the state House a number of years ago and 686 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:35,799 Speaker 5: continue to work with her through the years and are 687 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,719 Speaker 5: really excited about her candidacy. You know, we also are 688 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,960 Speaker 5: really excited about Annie Andrews, doctor Annie Andrews running for 689 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,520 Speaker 5: Senate against Lindsay Graham. He has an all time low 690 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:52,560 Speaker 5: approval ratings, deservedly. You know, she is putting together strong 691 00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:55,799 Speaker 5: fundraising numbers and you know, you might remember that the 692 00:36:55,840 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 5: measles outbreak ground zero was South Carolina earlier this year, 693 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,040 Speaker 5: and she really had to field a lot of questions 694 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:06,759 Speaker 5: and concerns from citizens, you know, whereas the senator was 695 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:07,880 Speaker 5: just completely missing. 696 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: How do you help people like that run? Like, what 697 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:14,000 Speaker 1: do they need from you? And how is that different 698 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:15,280 Speaker 1: than normal candidate? 699 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:18,480 Speaker 5: Well, you know, I mean fifty percent of Congress is 700 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:21,240 Speaker 5: made up of lawyers, and that kind of makes sense 701 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,719 Speaker 5: that lawyers want to make laws, and that doesn't necessarily 702 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:27,319 Speaker 5: translate to scientists and doctors. You know, they went to 703 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:29,840 Speaker 5: school to do something completely different. But a lot of 704 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,880 Speaker 5: them are feeling compelled to take this step into public 705 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,879 Speaker 5: office because of the onslaught of attacks, especially from this administration, 706 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,320 Speaker 5: on public health, on science, on you know, our future 707 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:44,600 Speaker 5: ability to be you know, a world leader in science 708 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 5: and innovation. And so we work to identify the districts 709 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 5: that we think are most competitive, recruit strong candidates to 710 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 5: run in them, help them put together their campaign's team 711 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,520 Speaker 5: and campaign plan, and then continue to work with them 712 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:02,200 Speaker 5: along the way, providing strict magic advice, helping the fundraise, 713 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,880 Speaker 5: helping with media prep and debate prep. Really kind of 714 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:11,080 Speaker 5: acting as similar to a startup incubator, a campaign incubator 715 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,480 Speaker 5: for what are often these first time candidates. 716 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:18,040 Speaker 1: I'd love you to explain to us sort of what 717 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 1: it means. So say you put a doctor in as 718 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,919 Speaker 1: a converse person or in the Senate, hopefully it would 719 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:30,719 Speaker 1: be amazing. How does it like? We understand how lawyers 720 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,279 Speaker 1: help with being a legislator, but why would be a 721 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,880 Speaker 1: doctor be good have an office? 722 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 5: Yeah, One is that people trust doctors and nurses. There's 723 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,400 Speaker 5: an innate trust in people that go into that profession, 724 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,880 Speaker 5: that go to help to spend their lives making people 725 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:50,760 Speaker 5: healthier and safer. And you know, we've seen that play 726 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:54,720 Speaker 5: out in the values and experience they bring to public office. 727 00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 5: So Lauren Underwood is somebody we helped support. In twenty eighteen, 728 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,800 Speaker 5: she became the youngest African American woman elected to Congress. 729 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:06,920 Speaker 5: She had worked in public health and was a nurse, 730 00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:09,640 Speaker 5: and when she got to Congress, she co founded the 731 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,320 Speaker 5: Black Paternal Health Caucus, and she thought it would just 732 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,960 Speaker 5: be her and the one other member working on this 733 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:18,080 Speaker 5: issue that has plagued America since before we were even 734 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:20,799 Speaker 5: a country. And you know, I would argue no one 735 00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:23,319 Speaker 5: had made that a priority before, because no one had 736 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 5: brought her experience as a public health official, as a nurse, 737 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,720 Speaker 5: as an African American woman. And instead it grew into 738 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:36,000 Speaker 5: a bipartisan, bicameral caucus that has been moving the Omnibus 739 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 5: through and had portions of it signed into law. And 740 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:44,400 Speaker 5: that really is you know what the folks that we 741 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:47,480 Speaker 5: elect do is they focus on issues that might be 742 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:50,880 Speaker 5: overlooked by the traditional members of Congress. 743 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 1: Yeah. I really like Lauren Underwood and think she's great, 744 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,959 Speaker 1: and she worked on Obama Care too. 745 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:00,880 Speaker 5: Write Yeah, that's what motivated her to run was when 746 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 5: her congressman voted after promising not to voted, to reveal 747 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,920 Speaker 5: the Affordable Care Act, and she knew as an individual 748 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,000 Speaker 5: who relied on it for her health insurance, but also 749 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,799 Speaker 5: as a public health official, how important that is for 750 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 5: keeping children and really everyone healthier. 751 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:21,719 Speaker 1: Clearly, like there are a lot of problems, for example, 752 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,520 Speaker 1: like with the NIH grants, like Doge has come in 753 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:27,880 Speaker 1: and done a lot of fucked up stuff, and we've 754 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 1: certainly lost a step, maybe more to China. If you 755 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:35,480 Speaker 1: were at this moment to start legislating, what would be 756 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: the thing you would be both focused on at this 757 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,760 Speaker 1: moment If Democrats win back power, I think what. 758 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:43,719 Speaker 5: We have to do is put a system in place 759 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:48,320 Speaker 5: that can't be completely dismantled by a whack crack pot 760 00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:51,319 Speaker 5: as Health and Human Services secretary, because that is what 761 00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 5: has happened. It's it's Doge, but it's also Robert F. 762 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,839 Speaker 5: Kennedy Junior has really led the charge with dismantling. You know, 763 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:02,640 Speaker 5: our research institutions are ay to innovate. The reason that 764 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 5: the biotech revolution came from the United States is because 765 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:10,360 Speaker 5: of our commitment to science and education, to an immigration 766 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,680 Speaker 5: system that promoted people coming here and investing in companies 767 00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:18,960 Speaker 5: and starting companies, and that has been greatly dismantled by 768 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,439 Speaker 5: this administration. So it's not just about the research that's 769 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:27,000 Speaker 5: happening today. It's about what is going to happen ten, fifteen, 770 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:30,400 Speaker 5: fifty years from now when we haven't made those concerted 771 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:33,480 Speaker 5: investments and China has. China has made it easier to 772 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,000 Speaker 5: develop drugs China is investing billions and billions of dollars 773 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,600 Speaker 5: in research and they are going to take the lead 774 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:43,239 Speaker 5: in the next century if we don't re establish our 775 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:47,800 Speaker 5: institutions of research and our pathways of bringing that to market. 776 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:50,920 Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, China is a big worry for May 777 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,560 Speaker 1: because of what's happening with the mRNA vaccines. And it 778 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,839 Speaker 1: strikes me that the r of K Junior stuff like 779 00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:01,320 Speaker 1: this week, we saw him try to make it easier 780 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:06,239 Speaker 1: for miners to do tanning. And also he's at war 781 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,439 Speaker 1: with the antidepressants. 782 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 5: And has approved flavored vaping products which are marketed to children. 783 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,160 Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't see the flavored vaping staff Jesus. 784 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:20,200 Speaker 5: Really, this is where it's so important that we actually 785 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,279 Speaker 5: pay attention to what he does and not what he says. No, 786 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,160 Speaker 5: one doesn't want to make America healthier, but we know 787 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:29,719 Speaker 5: we don't do that by cutting off food stamps, by 788 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:34,240 Speaker 5: cutting off people's access to health insurance, and by approving 789 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:38,360 Speaker 5: products that are known to be harmful to human health. 790 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,719 Speaker 5: You know, even the Glycifa executive Order that came out 791 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,799 Speaker 5: earlier this year. I mean, if there was one thing 792 00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:49,200 Speaker 5: that I thought RFK Junior was committed to it was 793 00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:54,279 Speaker 5: his campaign against roundup and instead with the executive order, 794 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:56,680 Speaker 5: he just threw that right out the window to go 795 00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:00,760 Speaker 5: along with Trump's policy of putting something and it's pretty 796 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:05,400 Speaker 5: clearly harmful to human health more into our food production. 797 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:10,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just mind blowing what's happening with RFK. But 798 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,759 Speaker 1: it's clear that the Senate as boden as they were 799 00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:17,920 Speaker 1: when they elect, when they signed off on him for 800 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:22,280 Speaker 1: his confirmation, seems like now they can't get they couldn't 801 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:27,400 Speaker 1: get Casey means in there they're having some trouble maybe Trump. 802 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:29,640 Speaker 1: I mean, who knows, because it's always hard to know 803 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:32,440 Speaker 1: what Trump is ultimately going to do because who knows 804 00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:36,160 Speaker 1: it does not behave in normal ways. But he may 805 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:39,279 Speaker 1: fire the head of the FDA, So i'd love you 806 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,800 Speaker 1: to sort of like it does feel like the will 807 00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:45,920 Speaker 1: members of Congress and Republican parties starting to maybe push 808 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:46,719 Speaker 1: back a little bit. 809 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,520 Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think this was the problem with 810 00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:53,240 Speaker 5: the thesis of the Trump campaign is they promised everything 811 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 5: to everyone. We're going to make America healthier again, and 812 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,880 Speaker 5: we're going to make products cheaper. We're going to you know, 813 00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:03,960 Speaker 5: cater to the oil lobby while making America healthier, Like, 814 00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:08,000 Speaker 5: there were so many conflicting interests that just did not 815 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:10,799 Speaker 5: line up, and you are seeing that play out with 816 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:16,359 Speaker 5: the turmoil. Let's say within HHS that they are looking 817 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:20,280 Speaker 5: to fire the FDA secretary or head, that they can't 818 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:23,720 Speaker 5: get the surgeon general appointment approved. And now the latest 819 00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:27,840 Speaker 5: nomination is definitely not from the MAHA movement. And Republican 820 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:30,400 Speaker 5: members of Congress are not. You know, they may be 821 00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:33,440 Speaker 5: anti science, but they can read a poll and they 822 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:40,520 Speaker 5: know how dramatically unpopular the dissembling of the childhood vaccine 823 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:41,160 Speaker 5: schedule is. 824 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:47,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean it's also just really unpopular and 825 00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:52,359 Speaker 1: it's all so really destructive. Right so that you were 826 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:55,239 Speaker 1: talking about the South Carolina measles outbreak, but we have 827 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:56,480 Speaker 1: other outbreaks too. 828 00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:00,080 Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know a lot of the research but 829 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 5: I mean, right now there's the outbreak on the on 830 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:06,400 Speaker 5: the cruise ship in South America and people are dying 831 00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:09,000 Speaker 5: and people are scared, and people are being you know, 832 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:11,680 Speaker 5: we're having the contact trace once again. But you know, 833 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:13,920 Speaker 5: let's just look back on the last year and what 834 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:19,479 Speaker 5: research was unfunded by the Trump administration, the research into 835 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:23,279 Speaker 5: this virus. You know, I mean there are consequences to 836 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:29,920 Speaker 5: taking a chainsaw to our research institutions and our ability 837 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:33,600 Speaker 5: to produce quality research, and we are seeing it play 838 00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:37,040 Speaker 5: out right now. It didn't even take five years. It 839 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:42,400 Speaker 5: is just you know RFK Junior's crusade against RNA vaccines, 840 00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:46,400 Speaker 5: you know, when they are showing that they are basically 841 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:49,799 Speaker 5: answer vaccines. I mean, if you knew that you could 842 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:51,919 Speaker 5: take a vaccine that was going to prevent you from 843 00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:56,160 Speaker 5: getting pancreatic cancer, you know, most people would say, I. 844 00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:58,839 Speaker 1: Would take that, Yeah, I mean I would take it. 845 00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:01,879 Speaker 5: I would take it before tide that hasn't even been 846 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:02,840 Speaker 5: FDA approved. 847 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:06,319 Speaker 1: I mean yes, but RFK loves a peptide and he 848 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:11,200 Speaker 1: also loves can. Yeah. Do you have any sort of 849 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:12,840 Speaker 1: positive thing to tell. 850 00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 5: Us that there still is good research being funded? 851 00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:17,680 Speaker 1: Really? 852 00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:22,320 Speaker 5: You know, even with some of the RFK cut funding 853 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:26,400 Speaker 5: to mRNA vaccines, and the military basically said, the Pentagon 854 00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:28,719 Speaker 5: said we'll be taking over that because it is a 855 00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:32,600 Speaker 5: national security issue. And so there are some guardrails in 856 00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:36,040 Speaker 5: place or some alternative institutions that are picking it up, 857 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,840 Speaker 5: but we can't sustain this for the long run. We 858 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:42,759 Speaker 5: need to have an administration and certainly a Health secretary, 859 00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:46,920 Speaker 5: that is committed to actual gold standard science, that is 860 00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:51,760 Speaker 5: committed to our culture of innovation and research and education 861 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,640 Speaker 5: that produces these wonderful treatments and advancements that we wouldn't 862 00:46:55,680 --> 00:46:56,480 Speaker 5: get otherwise. 863 00:46:56,840 --> 00:47:01,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, a man so scary and just so dark. 864 00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:03,640 Speaker 1: Tell us if we want to support you, how do 865 00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:05,880 Speaker 1: we do it? If we want to support your organization? 866 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:10,319 Speaker 5: Our website is three one four action dot org and 867 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:14,160 Speaker 5: again we work to elect scientists and doctors all across 868 00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:16,880 Speaker 5: the country. We have endorsed over two hundred and fifty 869 00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:21,439 Speaker 5: scientists running this year and are committed to getting them 870 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:24,400 Speaker 5: elected and winning back the US House. 871 00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:26,720 Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for joining us. 872 00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:28,279 Speaker 5: Well, thank you, I appreciate it. 873 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:35,680 Speaker 2: No moment, Jesse Cannon, So, Mollie, I know you're going 874 00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:38,040 Speaker 2: to be disappointed. At the moment of fuckery right now 875 00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:40,560 Speaker 2: is not that there's a potential shortage of aluminum for 876 00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:44,600 Speaker 2: diet coke kids, your greatest addiction. But the moment of fucker. 877 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:48,040 Speaker 2: The moment of fuckery is actually that we have a 878 00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:51,440 Speaker 2: weak CIA analysis that shows Trump and Hegsith lie through 879 00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:54,920 Speaker 2: their teeth about the Iraq war, and that one of 880 00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:57,920 Speaker 2: my favorite things is that the CIA has decided that 881 00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:01,719 Speaker 2: Tarad can hold out for months from this blockade, and 882 00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:03,120 Speaker 2: they lied about that. 883 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:07,640 Speaker 1: Of course, really they lie. Next you're going to say 884 00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:12,240 Speaker 1: they're stupid. No, Jesse, it cannot be that these people, 885 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:16,400 Speaker 1: white House officials, just straight up fabricated shit, says a 886 00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:18,960 Speaker 1: Democratic senator from Connecticut. 887 00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:23,840 Speaker 4: I bet I know, yeah one, yeah, no, they're fucking liars, 888 00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:24,439 Speaker 4: this crew. 889 00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:28,640 Speaker 1: This is what they do. They're just lying. So, by 890 00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:31,880 Speaker 1: the way, I still think that the reason they got 891 00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,760 Speaker 1: into this law is because they got dripped by net Yahoo. 892 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,359 Speaker 1: Of course, these guys are liars. This is what they do. 893 00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:41,240 Speaker 1: They lie, they obfuscate, and also they're not very smart. 894 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:45,840 Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in 895 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:51,480 Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday to hear the best 896 00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:55,839 Speaker 1: minds and politics make sense of all this chaos. If 897 00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:58,920 Speaker 1: you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend 898 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:02,560 Speaker 1: and keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening.