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Speaker 1: Hello there, Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Chuck Podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'll give you a quick rundown of where we're going first.

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Speaker 1: I've got a few stories that I feel like me,

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Speaker 1: some framing, reframing, a few ways that I'm thinking about

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Speaker 1: him that I think you ought to be thinking about him.

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Speaker 1: When it comes to are we about to go to

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Speaker 1: war with Iran? All things Texas, Senate, we are inside

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Speaker 1: of two weeks. This is there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: moving parts here. I also want to spend a few

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Speaker 1: minutes on the h on the back and forth about

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Speaker 1: the FCC equal time and all of that business with Colbert,

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Speaker 1: and then I want to get to two stories that

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Speaker 1: are way under the radar but epitomize I think what's

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Speaker 1: wrong with our politics at the moment. Collectively, One has

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Speaker 1: to do with crypto and a warning from Chuck Schumer

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Speaker 1: to Democratic senators on you know, basically he's basically admitting

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Speaker 1: principles are for sale, and I'll get to where he's

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Speaker 1: going there. It all has to do with fear of

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Speaker 1: crypto money. And then finally, you know what happens when

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Speaker 1: local news dies in darkness. It's a little tribute to

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Speaker 1: the Washington Post and the fact that we have a

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Speaker 1: messed up situation involving a burst sewer pipe where there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of finger pointing, but what we don't have

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Speaker 1: is a reliable news organization to focus and cover this thing,

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Jeff Bezos. Then, of course we'll do a

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Speaker 1: few questions, and I want to get at the issue

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Speaker 1: of unregulated sports gambling in this country and how we're

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Speaker 1: devolving even quicker thanks to an aggressively las A fair

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Speaker 1: if that's possible to be federal government. But let me

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Speaker 1: begin with a question frankly, that I woke up to

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Speaker 1: from a variety of just friends. These are not your normal.

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Speaker 1: This wasn't just sort of the cable booker question of

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Speaker 1: the day or the podcast question of the day. Was

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Speaker 1: in response to watching what we've seen overnight, this massive

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Speaker 1: moving of military personnel, artillery, fighter jets, aircraft carriers to

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Speaker 1: the Middle East. Are we about to go with Iran? Well,

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Speaker 1: I don't think any of us have an answer to

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Speaker 1: that question, other than I think, to quote Donald Trump,

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Speaker 1: our current president, I guess we have to stay tuned.

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Speaker 1: I think the better way to frame this is that

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Speaker 1: it I expect that we are drifting into something without

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Speaker 1: fully admitting it, which, of course, you know should should

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Speaker 1: be a lot more concern about unintended consequences here than

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Speaker 1: we are, because we may end up essentially launching some

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Speaker 1: sort of military campaign against Iran without any conversation with Congress.

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Speaker 1: And I actually think Congress would probably give him some

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Speaker 1: authority if he asked for it. Iran is not unpopular

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Speaker 1: in Congress. I think you might even get some bipartisan

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Speaker 1: votes for it. But the fact that that isn't happening,

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Speaker 1: that there isn't and this is some military adventurism perhaps,

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Speaker 1: So let me explain why I think why people are

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Speaker 1: nervous about this and it feels like it feels like

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Speaker 1: sometime this weekend I may come back on and we

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Speaker 1: may talk about what are the consequences there? Because there,

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Speaker 1: Because here's the situation. We have moved so much of

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Speaker 1: our military assets to the Middle East. It doesn't appear

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Speaker 1: we're looking at something that's quick. We're looking at something

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Speaker 1: that could be not so quick. So let me summarize

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Speaker 1: some of the details here. We have two carrier strike

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Speaker 1: groups there now. The USS Abraham Lincoln has been in

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Speaker 1: the Arabian Sea for some time. We've now had the

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Speaker 1: USS Gerald R. Ford, which is the largest worship in

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Speaker 1: the world, been redirected to also join the Lincoln in

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Speaker 1: the region. We've moved over one hundred military aircraft in

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Speaker 1: recent days. Sixteen's have thirty five have twenty two's. We've

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Speaker 1: moved tankers, surveillance aircraft. Look, these are things that you're

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Speaker 1: doing if you're prepared, preparing for sustained operations. Again, this

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Speaker 1: is not a quick strike. This is not supporting Israel

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Speaker 1: getting rid of Iran's nuclear weapons or attempting to get

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Speaker 1: rid of their nuclear laboratories and things like that. So

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Speaker 1: something there seems to be a bigger plane here. Then,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm like, hey, Congress, are you going to

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Speaker 1: ask for a briefing? Hello, are you going to try

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Speaker 1: to get some information here? Because we're all lacking a

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Speaker 1: lot of information. But it is worth noting that you've

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Speaker 1: had some blind quotes that said, hey, I'd think twice

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Speaker 1: about flying in the region this weekend. I know some

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Speaker 1: people have been warned about that that live in Israel.

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Speaker 1: You know, be careful of your flight plans this weekend.

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Speaker 1: You could see some airspace get shut down. So it's

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Speaker 1: something afoot, and if so, what is Meanwhile, Iran has

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Speaker 1: been conducting live fire navy drills. They partially closed the

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Speaker 1: straight of or moves for these exercises, and the Supreme

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Speaker 1: Leader has been threatening American carriers. Now, look, maybe this

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Speaker 1: is all posturing, right, maybe this is gunboat diplomacy, because

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Speaker 1: we do have these indirect talks right now in Geneva

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Speaker 1: on some sort of nuclear deal. The Vice President went

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Speaker 1: out there and publicly claimed that progress incremental, but progress

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Speaker 1: was made even even though he admitted that Iran has

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Speaker 1: not accepted what the US red lines are in their

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Speaker 1: nuclear program. But you have Iran's foreign minister calling the

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Speaker 1: talks constructed and that both sides are agreed unquote guiding principles,

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Speaker 1: and apparently we are in a two week This is

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Speaker 1: where it's confusing, because if you just follow the Geneva talks,

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Speaker 1: we're in a two week window for Tehran to offer

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Speaker 1: some detailed proposals, and yet we have moved on all

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Speaker 1: of these military assets into the region for something that

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Speaker 1: appears to be more imminent than in the next two weeks. Now,

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Speaker 1: you throw two weeks out there. For those of you

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Speaker 1: you Trumpologists out there, two weeks is a is a

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Speaker 1: code word because it's it's a presidential crutch. When Trump

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Speaker 1: says two weeks, you know that it's meaningless, that it's

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Speaker 1: a punt, that it's you know, he wants two weeks

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Speaker 1: before he has to deal with it deal with this

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Speaker 1: issue again. That's really what he's saying. The question is

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Speaker 1: whether what do these two weeks mean he is There

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Speaker 1: have been head fakes in the past of no, we're

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Speaker 1: still talking, and then the bombs were dropping and we know,

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Speaker 1: the President enjoys sort of trying to do head fakes

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Speaker 1: because they're so they're more obsessed about media leaks than

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Speaker 1: they are about what's in the best interest of America's

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Speaker 1: national security. But I digress. So that's the question. Now,

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Speaker 1: if if this is what it looks like, in what

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Speaker 1: we would say it looks like under a normal administration,

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Speaker 1: then this would we would probably call this coercive diplomacy.

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Speaker 1: Move the carrier, squeeze the regimes, see if you can

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Speaker 1: get a deal. And you know, you could argue that

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Speaker 1: Trump they might fear a threat from Trump since Trump

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Speaker 1: has dropped bombs on Iran, since Trump did order the

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Speaker 1: killing of Soul the money, so you can't refer to

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Speaker 1: him as taco man when it comes to Iran. He

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Speaker 1: didn't always chicken out when it came to quote threats

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Speaker 1: to Iran, which means, though, does that mean he has

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Speaker 1: room to back down here or does that mean we

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Speaker 1: are likely about to escalating even further? And what is

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Speaker 1: the rationale? Are we putting these folks in the region

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Speaker 1: to make sure they don't attack their own people again,

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Speaker 1: and if they do, we're coming, then we're going to

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Speaker 1: do that. You know, the President rhetorically said that he

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Speaker 1: had the protesters back at this point that he has

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Speaker 1: not had their back now as far as America's national

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Speaker 1: interests are concerned, perhaps that was the right call. That

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Speaker 1: maybe that was isn't the right time if you're if

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Speaker 1: the goal is regime changed, but that is the goal here.

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Speaker 1: I don't think anybody thinks keeping the regime in place

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Speaker 1: is the goal. I don't think if the Iranians, I'm sure,

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Speaker 1: and they be idiots if they believe that they somehow so.

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Speaker 1: Are the Iranians simply trying to buy time to see

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Speaker 1: if they can fortify themselves against an attack. I'm skeptical

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Speaker 1: that they can do that. Or maybe they look at

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Speaker 1: what happened in Venezuela and see that Donald Trump is

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Speaker 1: not serious about a democracy and that if you capitulate

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Speaker 1: enough and you give him control of an important asset,

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Speaker 1: you know, maybe they think give him control of some

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Speaker 1: of their Iranian oil business and that Trump will back off.

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Speaker 1: I know that sounds absurd, but is it right? Is

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Speaker 1: that totally out of the realm of possibility, And yet

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Speaker 1: at the same time, when you've moved this many assets,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to believe you're not going to do something.

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Speaker 1: And in fact, this is where history. He is on

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Speaker 1: the side of some sort of military hot military intervention

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Speaker 1: is coming. The question is what does it look like?

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Speaker 1: And and I guess I would say, yeah, it's not

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Speaker 1: miss right, But let's we've been here before, right. Iraq

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Speaker 1: began as inspectors and pressure, and then we went in

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Speaker 1: when when we wanted to make the point that no,

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Speaker 1: we were going to you didn't accept these terms, there

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Speaker 1: would be consequences. Libya, of course, was a limited intervention,

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Speaker 1: that's how it started. Afghanistan began as targeted conter terrorism.

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Speaker 1: So you know, this is why I think there's going

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Speaker 1: to be plenty of skeptical people left and right about

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Speaker 1: what's happening here in Iran, because America has a history

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Speaker 1: of incremental escalation that feels tactical in the moment, like

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Speaker 1: maybe we're just trying to squeeze for a deal or

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Speaker 1: maybe we're trying to help the protesters, and then in

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Speaker 1: hindsight it's not so strategic, and then we're caught up

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Speaker 1: in something it and if we get involved in regime change,

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Speaker 1: then we own it, right, and we've got to help

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Speaker 1: Aroan build what a new government is going to look like.

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Speaker 1: That's what we're in the middle of here with Venezuela,

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Speaker 1: which I think is kind of a potential disaster when

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Speaker 1: when you're dealing with any you know, just because the

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Speaker 1: authoritarian is agreeing to all your terms in the moment

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean they're an ally. But I fear we're starting

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Speaker 1: to treat the Venezuela viceroy there as as some sort

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Speaker 1: of coerced ally because she's doing everything he wants her

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Speaker 1: to do in the moment. Is that the situation that

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Speaker 1: we're willing to take over in Iran and if we strike,

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Speaker 1: what if we don't get rid of the regime, then

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Speaker 1: what and then do you cut a deal? I mean?

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Speaker 1: So my point is is that I I will be

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Speaker 1: surprised if we back down. It feels as if we're

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Speaker 1: we've almost gone too far to back down now without

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Speaker 1: it being perhaps weakening our influence and position within the region.

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Speaker 1: Right now, we have in some ways a very you know,

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Speaker 1: we're extraordinarily influential with our with the coercive measures that

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Speaker 1: he's been using of late, as well as the financial

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Speaker 1: deals he's cut with the Gulf States. So there's no

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Speaker 1: doubt there is a There is a part I think

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Speaker 1: of Trump that loves sort of how this region, more

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Speaker 1: than any other in the world, is willing to be transactional,

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Speaker 1: which of course is where Trump wants to be in general,

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Speaker 1: with sort of any situation he's in. But I am

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Speaker 1: so to go back to end on this topic where

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Speaker 1: I started. Are we about to go to war with Iran?

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Speaker 1: I seem scenarios that indicate military escalation is more likely

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Speaker 1: than I see scenarios where we're not going to do

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Speaker 1: anything at all? Are we really? Is Donald Trump going

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Speaker 1: to be the guy to cut now? Is this really

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Speaker 1: we're supposed to assume this is a Nixon to China moment?

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump's going to cut a nuclear deal with the

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Speaker 1: Iranian Supreme Leader, and is the Iranian Supreme Leader going

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Speaker 1: to suddenly be his best friend? The way this thug

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Speaker 1: is in Venezuela now that he put into office, So

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Speaker 1: it is I think we have a lot more on

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Speaker 1: the line here then then we fully appreciate. But it

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Speaker 1: does feel like we've passed the point of no return,

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Speaker 1: so we're going to intervene again militarily in Iran. The

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Speaker 1: unintended consequences of this If you've been a listener of

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Speaker 1: this podcast. Over the last couple of months, I've gone

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Speaker 1: through them a lot. Our interventions in Iran have all

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Speaker 1: gone horribly long term, right, And arguably that there is

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Speaker 1: an iatola there in the first place is because of

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Speaker 1: how supportive we were of a of an authoritarian regime

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Speaker 1: that certainly was pro West, but the way they treated

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Speaker 1: their people wasn't necessarily synonymous with the values of the West.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's troubling. And look, I can't wait for

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Speaker 1: a small, d democratic Iran. It's going to be an

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Speaker 1: amazing There's an amazing opportunity here. We should do whatever

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Speaker 1: we can to support democracy in Iran and to support

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Speaker 1: those people that want democracy. But we better be careful

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Speaker 1: and how well we think we can dictate outcomes. Every

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Speaker 1: time we've tried to dictate an outcome does not go

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Speaker 1: domestically here to the You know, I'm a political junkie

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Speaker 1: at heart, and there is this Texas Senate race is

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Speaker 1: quickly becoming an all timer to me. When you've got

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Speaker 1: you know, let's see what happens in November. But my goodness,

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Speaker 1: you've got two incredibly contentious primaries that have developed on

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Speaker 1: the Republican side and the Democratic side. You have a

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Speaker 1: ton of money, you have all sorts of great sort

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Speaker 1: of soap opera type plot twists, everything that you've wanted

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Speaker 1: if you're just a consumer of a great political story

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Speaker 1: and fascinating political tactics, campaigns, all sorts of things. Texas

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Speaker 1: has everything. And guess what, we're going to have a

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Speaker 1: runoff at least in one of these primaries. So you

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Speaker 1: know we're going to get more cow bell going at

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Speaker 1: least a Memorial Day. And as a consumer of campaign politics,

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Speaker 1: that's a lot more popcorn. We're going to have to

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Speaker 1: pot pop to enjoy this one. But let's get into

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Speaker 1: some things, because look, I want to get into the

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Speaker 1: FCC issue in Colbert in a minute. But there's a

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Speaker 1: bigger story developing in Texas that I think is part

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Speaker 1: of a larger trend that I think is about to develop.

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Speaker 1: The two candidates that are spending the most money are

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Speaker 1: currently not leading in the polls, John Cornet and James Tollerico.

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Speaker 1: Now the polling on the Democratic side, there's you know,

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Speaker 1: what we've seen publicly, you know has been, but there's been.

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Speaker 1: You know, it seems like Jasmine, it's very close, but

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Speaker 1: I've seen more. I don't. I've seen more polls with

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Speaker 1: crack of ahead lately than I've seen with Tallary Cohead.

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Speaker 1: But the financial gap between the two is very lopsided,

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Speaker 1: not as lopsided as Cornyn Paxton. My goodness, Right, Paxton

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Speaker 1: has withstood sixty million dollars dropped on his head. Right

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Speaker 1: the Senate, John with John Thune controls the Senate. Republican essentially,

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Speaker 1: Campaign Kitty has done everything they can to stop Ken

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Speaker 1: Paxton because they view Ken Paxton as unelectable, and they've

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Speaker 1: said so many things that it may be sort of

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Speaker 1: they may have. They've they've made the case so well

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Speaker 1: that Paxton is un is is ethically and morally unfit

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Speaker 1: to serve in office, let alone in the United States.

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Speaker 1: Senate that I don't know how the party comes back

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Speaker 1: to trying to help support him. They will, well, because

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Speaker 1: we know how power is the most important currency in Washington.

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Speaker 1: Not your morals, are your ethics, and they will close

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Speaker 1: their eyes and support him if Paxton ends up the

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Speaker 1: Republican nominee. But they have spent sixty million dollars right

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Speaker 1: They have hit him with ads on the fact that

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Speaker 1: he was impeached in the Texas House but then acquitted

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Speaker 1: in the Texas Senate, which also included his wife. Then

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Speaker 1: there was the high profile divorce where his wife publicly

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Speaker 1: said she was divorcing on biblical grounds, essentially saying he

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Speaker 1: committed adultery, he cheated, and all sorts of financial scandals

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Speaker 1: that actually fed into the impeachment. These attack ads have

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Speaker 1: hit Paxton all over the place, and he's still leading.

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Speaker 1: He barely has aired any ads, and in fact, the

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Speaker 1: first ad that I saw was him just putting the

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Speaker 1: other cuts of Donald Trump praising him over the years,

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Speaker 1: so implying that he has Trump's indors. We know that

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Speaker 1: Trump right now has said he's for all of the

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Speaker 1: three candidates, including the Congressman Wesley Hunt, but a few

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Speaker 1: observations here on this money issue and the fact that

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Speaker 1: you know, there's a point, there's a point where look,

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Speaker 1: money matters, but there's diminishing returns the more money you

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Speaker 1: drop on something, especially if you especially if the propose,

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Speaker 1: if if the side you're trying to help isn't very popular, right,

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Speaker 1: And John Cornyn's not very popular, right. He's not popular

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Speaker 1: with the base of the Republican Party, and he's certainly

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Speaker 1: not popular with swing voters in the middle. They sort

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Speaker 1: of they certainly like him better than they like Paxton,

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Speaker 1: but he himself is not popular. So I think that's

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Speaker 1: that's a that's I think that explains why Paxton what

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Speaker 1: these ads have done is Paxton has not been able

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Speaker 1: to grow any support. His negatives continue to rise. But

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Speaker 1: it is not a crude to the benefit of Cornan.

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Speaker 1: If anything, what we've seen is Paxton's numbers have gotten

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Speaker 1: worse in general election matchups. So the irony to this

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Speaker 1: is that the Senate Republicans have essentially made Paxton even

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Speaker 1: more unelectable in the general election. But it is not

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Speaker 1: persuaded Republican primary voters that he's so unelectable they should

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Speaker 1: abandon him. But they've made him more unelectable. They have

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Speaker 1: both Crockett and Talla Errico regularly now lead Paxton in

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Speaker 1: matchups across the board. That is less to do with

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Speaker 1: their candidacies and more to do with how much negative

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Speaker 1: ads have been dropped on Paxton already. I mean, normally,

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Speaker 1: this is what makes this Texas Senate seat so appetizing

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Speaker 1: for Democrats as a pickup. Normally, when you're trying to

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Speaker 1: pick off a seat, if you're you know, the National

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Speaker 1: Party or the Senate Committee is going to spend a

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Speaker 1: bunch of money to try to soften up the you know,

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Speaker 1: especially during these primary phases. But you actually are getting

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Speaker 1: the Senate Democrats are getting help from Senate Republicans and

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Speaker 1: essentially softening up the likely Republican nominee go going forward.

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Speaker 1: And I think that that's what this money has done. It.

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Speaker 1: You know, we saw sort of a lesser extent of this,

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Speaker 1: but like you know, APAC spent a bunch of money

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Speaker 1: to trying to defeat a specific candidate in New Jersey.

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Speaker 1: They successfully made sure that candidate didn't win that special

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Speaker 1: election den primary, but the candidate that ended up benefiting

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Speaker 1: was not the candidate that APAK preferred. It was another

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Speaker 1: candidate who actually was arguably further further away from APAX

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Speaker 1: position than Tom mon Alawski, the former member of Congress

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Speaker 1: that that they were trying to stop in the primary.

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Speaker 1: So when you you know, you never know the unintended

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Speaker 1: consequences on negative ads sometimes and who it benefits definitely

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Speaker 1: hurts the candidate you're going after. Doesn't always accrue to

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Speaker 1: the benefit of the candidate you're hoping to help. And

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Speaker 1: what has happened is Cornan has just not you know,

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Speaker 1: there's been more negative unpackst than trying to reassure Republicans

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Speaker 1: that Cornan is one of them. I guess is basically

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Speaker 1: the issue. And you know, I think it's welcome to

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Speaker 1: the vice grip of the Trump Republican controlled Republican Party. Right,

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Speaker 1: John Cornyn is a Bush Republican. John corn is a

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Speaker 1: Romney Republican. John Corner is a McConnell Republican. John Cornyn

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Speaker 1: is not a Trump Republican. And you know who knows it,

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Speaker 1: Republican primary voters. And I think that's what we've seen here.

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Speaker 1: Let's see if he gets into the runouf I suspect

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Speaker 1: he will. I don't I assume Wesley Hunt does not

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Speaker 1: have the infrastructure to drive turn out to early vote.

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Speaker 1: Corn's been on the ballot so many times, Paxton's been

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Speaker 1: on the ballot a number of times. Both of them

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Speaker 1: know how the early vote works, both of them know

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Speaker 1: how to bank votes. So I suspect that you'll actually

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Speaker 1: see Hunt underperform his poll numbers. You know, if he's

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Speaker 1: polling right now in the mid to low twenties, if

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Speaker 1: you told me he ended up at seventeen or eighteen,

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Speaker 1: it wouldn't surprise me. What's the path for cornan and

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Speaker 1: fifty percent plus one? Especially, you know, we remember a

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Speaker 1: Republican primary about a decade ago with that featured Thad

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Speaker 1: Cochrane against somebody on the right. Well, Thad Cochrane had

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Speaker 1: the benefit of some Democrats willing to go into the

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Speaker 1: Republican Party to prop him up, and he was able

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Speaker 1: to survive in a runoff in a primary because you know,

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Speaker 1: the part of it was Democrats didn't expect to, you know,

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Speaker 1: have a competitive candidate. This is a different situation, and

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Speaker 1: it's I think it's pretty clear that all of this

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Speaker 1: money on Paxton has certainly heard Paxton, but it has

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Speaker 1: been it is it has had a bigger impact on

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Speaker 1: him as a general election candidate, and it's had a

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Speaker 1: very limited impact on him as a primary candidate. And

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Speaker 1: in defense of the nation, NRSC and the and the

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Speaker 1: Senate Republican packs that have been trying to stop Paxton.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's it's funny, you know, they it's easy

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Speaker 1: to say now they've they've got the wrong messaging. Obviously

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Speaker 1: they got the wrong messaging because it's not work it.

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Speaker 1: Paxton has some sort of Trumpian teflon and it may

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Speaker 1: be that it for Republican primary voters to understand how

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Speaker 1: awful Paxton could be for them, they probably have to

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Speaker 1: lose the election before they sober up on this. But

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Speaker 1: we'll see. Now let's go to the Democratic side and

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Speaker 1: the interview that everybody has heard about. Now, if you

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Speaker 1: were a political jungk of you listen to this podcast,

428
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,160
Speaker 1: I know you know the story. James Tolerco goes on Colbert,

429
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 1: we're about two weeks for the primary in the scheduled interview,

430
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: so I want to get to that in a minute.

431
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,440
Speaker 1: The interview somehow gets pulled and there's in and what's

432
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 1: interesting here, by the way, and also a reminder of

433
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: our changing media landscape in another era, if showing up

434
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,680
Speaker 1: on Colbert and tall Erico's hope was to go there

435
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 1: on the first day of early voting to sort of,

436
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:00,719
Speaker 1: you know, maximize attention for his campaign. Having that interview

437
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: polled would have been devastating. But instead, right, they turned

438
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,399
Speaker 1: it into a controversy and then you could get a

439
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,199
Speaker 1: bootleg version of it on YouTube, and then suddenly it

440
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 1: gets more views on YouTube than it ever would have

441
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,159
Speaker 1: gotten on legacy television in the first place. Oh and

442
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: he got to raise two and a half million dollars by

443
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 1: claiming that this is the interview Donald Trump didn't want

444
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 1: you to see. But I'm going to get to that

445
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,159
Speaker 1: in a minute. Boyd reminder that just grievance is a

446
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 1: great fundraising tool left or right, obviously, and we also

447
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 1: are living in a political ecosystem that where perceived censorship

448
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:40,440
Speaker 1: is actually more powerful than the airtime itself. Right, without

449
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,560
Speaker 1: the without the victimhood of the censorship, this would have

450
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: actually gone. It would have been a nothing burger. But

451
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,120
Speaker 1: it does lead me to this next piece of the puzzle.

452
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:56,280
Speaker 1: And I want to be very careful here. Let's talk

453
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 1: about the equal time rule. I'm very familiar with it.

454
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,120
Speaker 1: I've had to deal with it when I was at NBC,

455
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: and it is all about whether your show is considered

456
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: on the news side or the entertainment side. So let

457
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:11,840
Speaker 1: me get it to it. So let's start with this.

458
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 1: Here's the equal time room, section three fifteen A of

459
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,480
Speaker 1: the Communications Act of nineteen thirty four. And by the way, yes,

460
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: all of these rules are out outdated. I know this. Okay,

461
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:27,160
Speaker 1: that's a summary judgment. As my friend George Conway will say,

462
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,639
Speaker 1: those are accepted facts. We got it. But at the moment,

463
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 1: this is the policy. And Section three fifteen A of

464
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 1: the Communications Act of nineteen thirty four says that if

465
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,959
Speaker 1: a broadcast station gives airtime to a legally qualified candidate,

466
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,959
Speaker 1: it must afford equal opportunities to other candidates for that office.

467
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 1: Here are the caveats. It applies to broadcast licenses only,

468
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: so not to anything on anything that's called cable or

469
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 1: any digital platforms like YouTube. It applies to candidates, not packs,

470
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:02,480
Speaker 1: and there are exemptions for bona fide news, bona fide news, interviews, documentaries,

471
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 1: and on the spot coverage. It's why a show like

472
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,719
Speaker 1: The View, which sits under the news division at ABC

473
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 1: can qualify for those exemptions. Late night entertainment shows don't

474
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 1: automatically qualify for that protection because they're not under the

475
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,239
Speaker 1: news umbrella. At most of these news stations, they are

476
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: under the entertainment umbrella. And usually, and this matters, equal

477
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 1: Time issues are triggered by a candidate complaint, not by

478
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: the regulators proactively nudging a network. So this is where

479
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just be honest here. I don't I don't

480
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: know if I'm getting the full story out of Colbert

481
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,240
Speaker 1: or out of CBS. I feel like the both sides

482
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,680
Speaker 1: are cherry picking rather than getting at the core issue here,

483
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 1: So let me get there. So when this tallar Rico

484
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: segment gets pulled and the explanation is legal caution around

485
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 1: equal time, I get how immediately grievance filled the vacuum

486
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: and it became opportunity. So was it censorship? Was it

487
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:06,040
Speaker 1: lawyers being cautious? Was it someone gaining the narrative? Well, sadly,

488
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 1: in this era it doesn't matter because grievance is the

489
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,760
Speaker 1: currency and both parties know how to spend it. But

490
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:18,200
Speaker 1: do keep in mind that here's what I don't understand

491
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 1: and why I'm not jumping on anything here, but I'll

492
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 1: tell you who the real loser is here, and it's

493
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: Jasmine Crockett. And let me explain. So, like I said,

494
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,040
Speaker 1: normally the equal time provisions are triggered when a candidate complains,

495
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: the FCC looks into it, lawyers end up. So I've

496
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 1: been on this side Saturday Night Live. And by the way,

497
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: timing of when an election is and some of this

498
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: has to do with that. Had Jazz had the taller

499
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:54,560
Speaker 1: Rico interview aired, and Jasmine Crockett or her, and there's

500
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: another candidate on the Democratic ballot went to CBS and said, hey,

501
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: one equal time. I know what the CBS lawyers, the

502
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,840
Speaker 1: smart lawyers would have said, Okay, we will give you

503
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 1: the length of the segment was this, we will give

504
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 1: you airtime after eleven thirty at night or I guess

505
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 1: Central time after ten thirty at night, and maybe it

506
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: would have been a you know, they could count up

507
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,600
Speaker 1: the minutes of the interview itself, you know, eight minutes,

508
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: ten minutes, and you get ten minutes on the CBS

509
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:32,160
Speaker 1: affiliates in the state of Texas. So, for instance, I

510
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: believe sometime between Iowa and South Carolina memory served Saturday

511
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:41,239
Speaker 1: Night Live, had some I can't remember which candidate was.

512
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 1: Had a major candidate do a pop in. I think

513
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 1: it was on the Republican side. Somebody filed for equal

514
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 1: time provisions and essentially to comply with the FCC, NBC

515
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 1: agreed to give five minutes on its network affiliates in.

516
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,480
Speaker 1: I think it was the state to South Carolina because

517
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 1: that was the next primary up. It was not you

518
00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 1: were not given equal time across the country itself, just

519
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,560
Speaker 1: in the areas where their voters were going to go

520
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 1: to the polls. This is why it would have just

521
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 1: applied to the state of Texas. So here are the

522
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: questions I have that we don't have good answers for,

523
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: because it does feel as if here's what we don't know.

524
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 1: Was Barry Wise instructed CBS lawyers trying to essentially spook

525
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: Colbert from even putting on Tyler Rico and they just

526
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 1: wanted to keep out of this. Did Colbert only here

527
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: they're trying to stop me from putting on Tallerrico? Screw them,

528
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 1: God damn it. You know this equal time stuff. I've

529
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,800
Speaker 1: had Jasmin Kracken on and he didn't listen to the details, right,

530
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know the answer to these things,

531
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:54,080
Speaker 1: and I'd like more clarity here. It feels like there

532
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,000
Speaker 1: were a lot of people interested in hurrying up and

533
00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 1: pointing fingers than getting at to Okay, did anybody file

534
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 1: a grievance here? Did any candidate ask for equal time?

535
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,400
Speaker 1: You know? Did Colbert and tol Rico? Were they just

536
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 1: simply looking to for a moment. Did they stumble into something?

537
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 1: Because now Colbert has done more to help Taalerico's primary

538
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 1: campaign than simply airing the interview themselves. So, like I said,

539
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 1: the loser hears Jasmine Crockett because taal Rico has been

540
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 1: trailing in the polls. Tall Rico has been not been

541
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 1: as good of a candidate since Crockett got into the race.

542
00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: We've seen multiple polls show that Crockett is no more

543
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,040
Speaker 1: or less of a threat to winning that Senate seat

544
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 1: in a general election. Right. The perception is she can't

545
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,480
Speaker 1: she's going to do worse than Talerrico in a general election,

546
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 1: but there's no polling evidence to back that up. And

547
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,080
Speaker 1: she's leading the primers and I'm running two different races, right,

548
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 1: And there's been this fumble that tall Rico got himself

549
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:05,640
Speaker 1: into where he seemed to trap bad mouth, you know,

550
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 1: sort of knock the candidacy of Colin all Red. But

551
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:13,880
Speaker 1: he used you know, he used Colin all Red's identity

552
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 1: in his way of sort of putting down his candidacy.

553
00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:21,960
Speaker 1: And he seemed to imply that if Jasmin Crockett had

554
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 1: already been in the race, he wouldn't have run that race.

555
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,320
Speaker 1: Now you've heard me say a million times, I'm convinced

556
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:28,719
Speaker 1: taller Rico was never thinking about running for Senate, but

557
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,479
Speaker 1: a bunch of consultants out of Washington in New York

558
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,879
Speaker 1: talked him into it and begged him to do it, saying,

559
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:35,359
Speaker 1: this is a race you can win. You can't win

560
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 1: the governor's race. What would have been in the best

561
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 1: interest of the party probably would have been Tallerrico running

562
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:42,359
Speaker 1: for governor and letting either all Reader or Crockett run

563
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:47,799
Speaker 1: for Senate because ultimately it you know, well, it all

564
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 1: depends on what your focus is. Do you really think

565
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:51,759
Speaker 1: you can win that Senate seat or do you really

566
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 1: want to rebuild the Democratic Party in Texas. Maybe you

567
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,799
Speaker 1: could have done both at the same time. But I

568
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,760
Speaker 1: will tell you this, the sum total of this controversy

569
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,440
Speaker 1: has been it is a bigger boon, and in some

570
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 1: ways Colbert overreaction perhaps or aggressive reaction. That was the

571
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,919
Speaker 1: biggest in kind contribution he could have made to James

572
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,279
Speaker 1: Tollerico's primary campaign. So I wouldn't be shocked if a

573
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:25,800
Speaker 1: lot of Crockett folks are quietly fuming at this, fuming

574
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,440
Speaker 1: at Colbert, upset about the timing. After all, Colbert was

575
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 1: willing to put him on at the at a critical

576
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,440
Speaker 1: moment in his campaign, the start of early voting. So

577
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 1: it's let's just say, I like, I said, I'd like,

578
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: I'd like more on this story. I'm very aware of

579
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 1: how and again and the other thing this is exposed

580
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:52,880
Speaker 1: is these equal time rules are just outdated, silly and

581
00:35:53,640 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 1: frankly need to go away. This episode of the Chuck

582
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:02,920
Speaker 1: Podcast is being brought to you by Quints. As you know,

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Speaker 1: com slash Chuck, Now, I want to get to another

611
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:36,880
Speaker 1: story here that sometimes you read it. You read a

612
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 1: story and you just go, oh, my god, the system's

613
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,759
Speaker 1: more broken than I then even I know how to

614
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 1: explain it. But here it is, and somehow, yes, this

615
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:52,839
Speaker 1: is a cryptos story, but it's bigger than that. It's

616
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:54,719
Speaker 1: about power. Let me tell you a number. One hundred

617
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 1: ninety three million dollars. This This was a nugget that

618
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:03,120
Speaker 1: came across in deal Book, the Andrew Rossorkin newsletter from

619
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 1: the New York Times today. I was an item on

620
00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:11,480
Speaker 1: Wednesday that talked about how very quietly Chuck Schumer's been

621
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:15,880
Speaker 1: begging Senate Democrats to find a way to get to crypto's,

622
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 1: to the crypto industry's side on these on this, you know,

623
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:24,960
Speaker 1: in the stable coin bill, and he basically said, Hey,

624
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: you're the folks around a super pac network called fair Shake,

625
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:35,000
Speaker 1: a pro crypto network of donors and its affiliates have

626
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:36,799
Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety three million, and you better just

627
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 1: get in line or they're going to financially destroy you.

628
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 1: And it was like Wow, this isn't lobbying anymore. This

629
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: is financial coercion, this is this is mob. This is

630
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,560
Speaker 1: a mob sort of a TV mobster like tactic. Let

631
00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 1: me explain. So fair Shake hasd has this war chest

632
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 1: of one hundred and ninety three million dollars. Right, that's

633
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:10,480
Speaker 1: not just influence money, right, that's electoral air superiority money.

634
00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:15,239
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. Chuck Schumer has concluded, and some

635
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:19,360
Speaker 1: Democratic strategists have concluded that be and Shared Brown is

636
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:21,440
Speaker 1: the one who I think is told said that if

637
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 1: it wasn't for the crypto pro crypto money that Bernie

638
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:28,960
Speaker 1: Moreno got in Ohio, that Shared Brown would have could

639
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 1: have won that center race. But Crypto decided that Shared

640
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 1: Brown was an enemy of crypto and they were going

641
00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,160
Speaker 1: to do whatever it took, and that in some ways

642
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:44,200
Speaker 1: Crypto wanted to use Shared Brown as an example to

643
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:46,480
Speaker 1: anybody else that wanted to get in their way about

644
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:52,279
Speaker 1: about regulation. So Shared Brown, who was one of the

645
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,080
Speaker 1: most vocal skeptics of the crypto industry when he was

646
00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 1: in the US Senate, loses after tens of millions of

647
00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:01,319
Speaker 1: dollars flood that race. The lesson that Chuck Schumer took

648
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:04,960
Speaker 1: away was the following, if you cross the industry, you

649
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 1: may not survive politically. So here we are in twenty

650
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:11,359
Speaker 1: twenty six and a fair Shake affiliate announces right now,

651
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,040
Speaker 1: they've put out they have a one point five million

652
00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:17,160
Speaker 1: dollar effort against a Democratic can come a congressman named

653
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,960
Speaker 1: Al Green, and it's explicitly tied because he voted against

654
00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:25,840
Speaker 1: crypto legislation that the super pac wanted to see pass.

655
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,400
Speaker 1: So they're going to make sure they primary anybody that

656
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:33,880
Speaker 1: votes against them, because they want to prove to Washington

657
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,800
Speaker 1: that they know their money isn't just about thanking people

658
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: that help them. Their money will punish those that don't.

659
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,640
Speaker 1: In a healthy system, a party leader whips for votes.

660
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: But in this system, at the moment, party leaders are

661
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,439
Speaker 1: essentially been coerced by a super pack to then tell

662
00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 1: their own members, hey, we can't protect you from these guys.

663
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,319
Speaker 1: If you've got principles and you want to stand up

664
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 1: to them, good luck. They're going to beat the living

665
00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:10,120
Speaker 1: daylight out of you. So they're basically saying, just find

666
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:16,400
Speaker 1: a way to support this. It's deterrence. And what's scary

667
00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:18,920
Speaker 1: is that this is now, I mean, this is what

668
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,040
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley has figured out, and there's so much money.

669
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 1: So's why we're going to have to figure out a

670
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: better way to deal with money in politics. Because if

671
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 1: you can make dissent too expensive, you don't have to

672
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: win a policy argument anymore. All you have to do

673
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 1: is raise enough money to threaten those that may get

674
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,919
Speaker 1: in your way. And if people care more about staying

675
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:47,400
Speaker 1: in office then doing something about then you know they

676
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,000
Speaker 1: shouldn't be there in the first place. So when Chuck

677
00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,799
Speaker 1: Schumer flips on this and says Crypto is here to stay,

678
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 1: we need to get it right, some people wouldn't say

679
00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:00,840
Speaker 1: that was a corruption, that that's just reaction. Has been persuaded.

680
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 1: Has he been persuaded because he now is convinced that

681
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,520
Speaker 1: this is a good financial instrument, or has he been

682
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:09,920
Speaker 1: persuaded because there's so much goddamn money got dropped on

683
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 1: Shared Brown's head. That and all Chuck Schumer cares. You

684
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,520
Speaker 1: know that hey ends justifies the means, and Crypto's not

685
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,480
Speaker 1: the fight worth having in the moment, So screw it.

686
00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:27,720
Speaker 1: I'll take their money and we'll worry about it later. Wow,

687
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:34,239
Speaker 1: we have a broken this again. And look, I am

688
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:40,920
Speaker 1: a cryptoskeptic. I've made that clear. I think we you know,

689
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,920
Speaker 1: it's just like anything I you know, you let something

690
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:47,919
Speaker 1: go without any regulation, and then it gets too big,

691
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:49,839
Speaker 1: and then you're trying to put regulation in. And then

692
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:53,359
Speaker 1: suddenly the industry that grew out of nowhere without any

693
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: guard rails is going, well, we don't want any guardrails,

694
00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:58,359
Speaker 1: and so they and they already have accumulated, and all

695
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,279
Speaker 1: they're trying to do is get the government essentially to

696
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:07,880
Speaker 1: legalize their wealth, a valuation that not everybody agrees is

697
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:12,280
Speaker 1: worth a thing. But they have now lobbied the government

698
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:16,959
Speaker 1: to essentially invent this regulatory structure in order to give

699
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:24,879
Speaker 1: credence to said system. And there are people who are

700
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:29,200
Speaker 1: skeptics of this. And the Senate Democratic leader is saying

701
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 1: that when an opponent has enough money, do not oppose

702
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:38,000
Speaker 1: them anymore, find a way to appease them. Is that

703
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:45,040
Speaker 1: what you want in your elected leadership. It is talk

704
00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:47,840
Speaker 1: about a reminder that money has too much influence and

705
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 1: how weak the leadership of the Democratic Party has become. Finally,

706
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 1: just a little grace note I sort of set it

707
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,759
Speaker 1: up top, but before we get to George Conway, and

708
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:07,640
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's an outrage filled interview. But this

709
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:10,840
Speaker 1: entire there's two things that sort of chat my ass

710
00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:15,120
Speaker 1: about this. If you've read anything about what's happening locally

711
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:18,160
Speaker 1: here with this burst sewer situation with the Potomac, and

712
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:21,440
Speaker 1: when you drive over the American Legion Bridge and four

713
00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 1: ninety five, you can now smell thanks because now you

714
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:28,319
Speaker 1: know the ice is melting, so you know it's been

715
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:31,040
Speaker 1: there a while. And trust me, it's gross to pick

716
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 1: up the the dog poop in my own backyard for

717
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 1: the melting ice. Imagine a burst sewer pipe, right, and

718
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:41,439
Speaker 1: the smell and all of that. But there's two things

719
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,440
Speaker 1: that really sort of show what's wrong. You know that

720
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:46,920
Speaker 1: we've got we've got some problems to fix. One is

721
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:50,480
Speaker 1: we've gotten a president who's who never wants to help first,

722
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:56,239
Speaker 1: and he wants to blame somebody else. Look, this is

723
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,440
Speaker 1: one of those situations where there may be an entity

724
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,920
Speaker 1: to blame. How about fix the fucking problem first. How

725
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:06,200
Speaker 1: about everybody pick up a shovel, mister president, how about

726
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:08,760
Speaker 1: you get your EPA and you get Look, just offer

727
00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:13,040
Speaker 1: a hand and help your fellow Americans. Don't instead say

728
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna help. I'm not gonna do shit until

729
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 1: you come begging for my help and admit it's your fault.

730
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 1: It just this is a continuation. This administration, more than

731
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,720
Speaker 1: any other in my lifetime, has wanted to condition helping

732
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:34,040
Speaker 1: Americans based on political blame. Whether you know FEMA's been

733
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:37,239
Speaker 1: weaponized this way, I've seen. I saw it happen in

734
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:40,520
Speaker 1: Florida when when Governor DeSantis refused to go deal with

735
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:44,480
Speaker 1: flooding issues in Broward County because it was a blue area.

736
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:49,640
Speaker 1: We cannot deal with disasters based on politics, and you know,

737
00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:53,120
Speaker 1: you reap what you sew. You wouldn't want the other

738
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:56,440
Speaker 1: party to do this to your community. And you've seen

739
00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:59,840
Speaker 1: the anger where people thought, and there was some evidence

740
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:02,439
Speaker 1: that a few people didn't help people in that north

741
00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 1: in North Carolina because they thought, oh, they're magot people.

742
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:07,360
Speaker 1: They're not gonna want they're gonna be afraid of FEMA.

743
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:10,600
Speaker 1: They're not going to like me. That's just as bad

744
00:46:10,719 --> 00:46:16,000
Speaker 1: not offering potential help there. Then you, mister President, and others,

745
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 1: trying to point fingers for a situation that may have

746
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:23,880
Speaker 1: a lot of fingerprints and who's to blame here? But

747
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:27,040
Speaker 1: can we not worry about the blame game? In the moment,

748
00:46:27,640 --> 00:46:33,080
Speaker 1: and can we just fix the problem. There's a federal issue,

749
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:37,879
Speaker 1: there's state issues, there's city issues, there's EPA issues, there's infrastructure,

750
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:42,160
Speaker 1: there's all sorts of issues. There's certainly plenty of bureaucratic

751
00:46:42,239 --> 00:46:46,720
Speaker 1: finger pointing, but stop the finger pointing, get off your ass,

752
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:55,680
Speaker 1: and just fix the goddamn thing. Rant two has to

753
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:58,680
Speaker 1: do with the impossibility to find out what the hell

754
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:02,640
Speaker 1: is going on with this situation. We used to have

755
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:06,320
Speaker 1: a very powerful local regional paper here called The Washington Post.

756
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:10,839
Speaker 1: They have decided to no longer be a major news

757
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,520
Speaker 1: organization and they've decided to just be a sort of

758
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 1: trade publication covering Congress in national politics. God bless them,

759
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:23,800
Speaker 1: good luck with that business strategy. But it has really

760
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 1: been difficult to piece together as just a simple resident

761
00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:29,959
Speaker 1: to try to figure out what's the hold up, what's

762
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:34,359
Speaker 1: the break here, you know, And it's because we don't

763
00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:39,879
Speaker 1: have a devoted news organization trying to, you know, help

764
00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:45,279
Speaker 1: all of us in this community live our lives. So

765
00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 1: this is a case where local news dies in darkness.

766
00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:56,920
Speaker 1: Thank you Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis for very early

767
00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:01,520
Speaker 1: on showing us how valuable local news can be and

768
00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:05,840
Speaker 1: what happens when you don't have an outlet anymore to

769
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:09,320
Speaker 1: figure out what's going on. Literally, we're all just trading,

770
00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:13,319
Speaker 1: whether it's on nextdoor Arlington now Montgomery County. Look, there's

771
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:15,640
Speaker 1: a lot of people trying to piece things together, and

772
00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: we're trying to figure out what's happening. But it's a

773
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 1: shame we don't have a local news organization like the

774
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:29,239
Speaker 1: Washington Posts focused on a story like this anymore. This

775
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Speaker 1: episode of the Chuck Podcast is brought to you by

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830
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Speaker 1: should really think about it, especially if you've got a

831
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Speaker 1: growing family. Look, in all seriousness, I find the you know,

832
00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:53,319
Speaker 1: George Conway's argument is incredibly persuasive when I look at

833
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 1: it through the lens the Constitution, the durability of the Republic.

834
00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:04,960
Speaker 1: And I will admit that I'll be equally persuaded by

835
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:09,040
Speaker 1: the political argument that says you got to get power

836
00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:10,960
Speaker 1: before you can start to do these things. And it

837
00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:12,880
Speaker 1: may be that the best way to get powers to

838
00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:16,680
Speaker 1: talk more about affordability than in talking about a third impeachment. Uh.

839
00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:19,960
Speaker 1: And Yet, if there's ever a congressional district where I

840
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:22,880
Speaker 1: think George Conway can have the conversation going, no, this

841
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:25,680
Speaker 1: is what we're going to focus on first, it's probably

842
00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:30,920
Speaker 1: it's probably a district. It's probably a congressional district in Manhattan.

843
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:36,560
Speaker 1: Or I would argue what used to be the the Arlington,

844
00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:40,160
Speaker 1: Alexandria Congressional district of you know, the Don Bayer District

845
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:44,880
Speaker 1: in northern Virginia. Though now it's all getting scrambled up,

846
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:47,920
Speaker 1: so we got we're gonna have some weird congressional districts

847
00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:53,120
Speaker 1: now in Virginia. That Yeah, you want to talk about

848
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:57,520
Speaker 1: misleading ad campaigns, woo the yes I am. I'm not

849
00:52:57,520 --> 00:52:59,520
Speaker 1: sure whether to be impressed with the messaging of the

850
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:05,080
Speaker 1: yes ads on the Virginia Constitutional Amendment, because literally, it

851
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:08,719
Speaker 1: makes you, it makes you think that the only way

852
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:10,920
Speaker 1: to create fairness is to have these new maps and

853
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:15,359
Speaker 1: it's it's and yet then they emphasize temporarily it's they

854
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:20,879
Speaker 1: do a good job of confusing the issue, and they're

855
00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:24,200
Speaker 1: going to have more money on this because it's the

856
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:26,560
Speaker 1: rights had a tough time figuring out how to oppose

857
00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:31,120
Speaker 1: these efforts in other states because you know who started it, right,

858
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:34,200
Speaker 1: This is a case where Democrats brought a gun to

859
00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:38,960
Speaker 1: a knife fight. Normally it's the it's the Republicans that

860
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:41,680
Speaker 1: bring the guns to the knife fight. This time the

861
00:53:41,719 --> 00:53:46,919
Speaker 1: Democrats brought the guns, and Republicans have been surprisingly caught

862
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:50,160
Speaker 1: flat footed on this. That's on the politics side of things,

863
00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:52,400
Speaker 1: and it goes back to that's why I know I

864
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:59,719
Speaker 1: went down there but it goes back to I. I

865
00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:06,200
Speaker 1: don't know if it is history will be kinder to

866
00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:10,000
Speaker 1: us if the constitution is used to throw him out

867
00:54:10,040 --> 00:54:13,719
Speaker 1: of office. But I don't know if you can get there,

868
00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:16,080
Speaker 1: if our country is ready to get there politically yet.

869
00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:20,200
Speaker 1: But he makes a very persuasive case. And what I

870
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:23,640
Speaker 1: admire about his candidacy is he is telling the voters

871
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:26,920
Speaker 1: this is what I'm going to do. So if you

872
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:30,799
Speaker 1: want this done, I'm your candidate. It's all we can

873
00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:33,560
Speaker 1: ask for from people running for office. Tell us what

874
00:54:33,680 --> 00:54:36,279
Speaker 1: mandate you plan to take away from your if you

875
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:40,359
Speaker 1: win this primary, and if you win this election, there

876
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:43,680
Speaker 1: you go. All right, let's get to some ass. Chuck

877
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:51,279
Speaker 1: ass chuck. All right, Ryan asked, I'm probably getting ahead

878
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:53,040
Speaker 1: of things here, but what if and hear me out,

879
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:55,760
Speaker 1: we just gave Trump what he wants. Legacy and treasure

880
00:54:55,800 --> 00:54:57,600
Speaker 1: seem to be his goal, so maybe we use that

881
00:54:57,640 --> 00:55:00,320
Speaker 1: to pass real policy. I want to keep your guitar

882
00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:02,879
Speaker 1: jet great, Just sign a public health care option into law.

883
00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:05,879
Speaker 1: Don't want another Epstein here in cool reform the Warpowers Act.

884
00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:08,920
Speaker 1: I'm mostly kidding, but it's nice to dream about turning

885
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:12,160
Speaker 1: chaos into actual progress. Well, Ryan, I mean, Chuck Schumer

886
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:16,200
Speaker 1: tried this strategy arguably when he was willing to get

887
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:21,440
Speaker 1: codify DAKA for the Wall, and Trump almost took it,

888
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:24,279
Speaker 1: took the deal. In fact, the greatest fear that many

889
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:28,239
Speaker 1: Republicans in Congress have had is that Democrats might start

890
00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:32,000
Speaker 1: being willing to cut deals directly with Trump if they

891
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:35,520
Speaker 1: do things like this, All right, you want your name

892
00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:40,799
Speaker 1: on this. Double the amount of money, right, double the

893
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:44,319
Speaker 1: appropriation so that we can build this high speed rail

894
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:47,160
Speaker 1: here and we'll call it all the Trump high speed

895
00:55:47,239 --> 00:55:57,040
Speaker 1: Rail System. I think we see that that Trump is

896
00:55:57,719 --> 00:56:01,319
Speaker 1: if his base won't go along. I think it goes

897
00:56:01,360 --> 00:56:05,880
Speaker 1: back to and I vacillate on this whether who controls.

898
00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:08,600
Speaker 1: Does Trump have more influence on the magabase or does

899
00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:13,719
Speaker 1: the magabase have more influence on Trump? And I think

900
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:18,359
Speaker 1: when you see how the Epstein files went, I think, uh,

901
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:22,719
Speaker 1: sometimes the megabase has more influence than Trump. Trump's had

902
00:56:22,760 --> 00:56:26,080
Speaker 1: a hard time turning his base against the Epstein file release,

903
00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:34,640
Speaker 1: so right, And I think there are some in the

904
00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:37,040
Speaker 1: MAGA world who just don't ever want to cut deals

905
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:39,560
Speaker 1: with any Democrats. Own the Libs matters more than doing

906
00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:44,560
Speaker 1: what's best for the country. And you know, with Trump,

907
00:56:44,600 --> 00:56:48,600
Speaker 1: his narcissism is so strong that he can be, you know,

908
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:52,520
Speaker 1: persuaded in ways that even the Maga right wouldn't like.

909
00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:58,480
Speaker 1: But ultimately I get what you know, and I know

910
00:56:58,520 --> 00:57:02,320
Speaker 1: your sort of tongue in cheek. Ultimately, welcome to a

911
00:57:02,360 --> 00:57:07,880
Speaker 1: kliptocracy because that's I think what you describe is exactly

912
00:57:07,880 --> 00:57:10,759
Speaker 1: how Trump would like to run the government. All right.

913
00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:15,279
Speaker 1: Next question comes from John ask, Glendale, Wisconsin. Damn, damn

914
00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:17,440
Speaker 1: good guests the last few weeks. Thank you. When I

915
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:20,040
Speaker 1: was younger, I kept up on all the senators and

916
00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:22,520
Speaker 1: most representatives, a bit of a political nerd back then.

917
00:57:22,520 --> 00:57:24,320
Speaker 1: I've got it, I've gotten a bit lazy. Really appreciate

918
00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:27,520
Speaker 1: you having candidates on. It brings my pessimism back to normal.

919
00:57:27,640 --> 00:57:30,439
Speaker 1: Oh good, and gives me refreshing optimism about future leaders. Also,

920
00:57:30,440 --> 00:57:32,920
Speaker 1: you can have such good listener questions. I hear them

921
00:57:32,960 --> 00:57:34,560
Speaker 1: and a lot of times think I was just thinking

922
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:36,560
Speaker 1: about that. Keep up the good work, makes my morning

923
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:38,800
Speaker 1: walks fly by, nice go back, go by the way.

924
00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:41,160
Speaker 1: Agree that Lafleur should have been fired? Wow? John asked

925
00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:44,880
Speaker 1: from Glendale, Wisconsin. Look, I appreciate you saying that and

926
00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:46,640
Speaker 1: I'm going to continue to have more candidates on. We're

927
00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:49,760
Speaker 1: gonna have I know we're working on Molly McMorrow in Michigan.

928
00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:52,720
Speaker 1: I've had Abdulsai ed so we want to get Molly McMorrow,

929
00:57:52,720 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 1: and I want Hanley Stevens, and I want Mike Rogers.

930
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:57,960
Speaker 1: We're going to try to get them all. Matt Mahon,

931
00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:00,720
Speaker 1: I think we're working on him, the mayriffsose he'll be

932
00:58:00,720 --> 00:58:03,440
Speaker 1: coming soon. So we keep them up. We're going to

933
00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:05,960
Speaker 1: keep doing it. We keep working on James tollerco. Maybe

934
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:08,160
Speaker 1: if we tell them that the FCC tail doesn't want

935
00:58:08,200 --> 00:58:12,840
Speaker 1: him on here, he'll show up. One quick bit of

936
00:58:12,880 --> 00:58:18,760
Speaker 1: Packer news, Rich Pisaci is finally gone. Sorry. Like us,

937
00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:21,280
Speaker 1: Packer fans are sort of like, okay, if we're going

938
00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:25,880
Speaker 1: to keep the floor. The worst special team's performance of

939
00:58:25,920 --> 00:58:29,360
Speaker 1: the last three years belongs to the Green Bay Packers.

940
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:32,160
Speaker 1: Extraordinarily terrible when you think about the fact that they've

941
00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:34,439
Speaker 1: been a playoff team and have had this piss poor

942
00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:39,880
Speaker 1: special team's efforts. It has been fascinating to me watching

943
00:58:40,040 --> 00:58:43,880
Speaker 1: the Packer beat Rioters and the Packer gms and all

944
00:58:43,880 --> 00:58:47,720
Speaker 1: this stuff. The apologists for Bisacia Oh Here's what I'll

945
00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:51,080
Speaker 1: tell you, John, if you're wondering, I've been obsessed with this.

946
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:53,720
Speaker 1: I think rich Pisacia is the best source for every

947
00:58:53,720 --> 00:58:56,479
Speaker 1: Packers beat reporter because not all one of them wanted

948
00:58:56,480 --> 00:58:59,120
Speaker 1: to say a negative thing about him, talk about how

949
00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:02,720
Speaker 1: important he was for care in this and that it

950
00:59:02,840 --> 00:59:06,360
Speaker 1: is a reminder just like in politics, you know, beat

951
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:11,600
Speaker 1: reporters don't want to screw their sources, and sometimes the

952
00:59:11,640 --> 00:59:17,040
Speaker 1: bad actors are good sources. And I think Basacia is exactly.

953
00:59:17,080 --> 00:59:19,520
Speaker 1: I mean, what was amazing is I mean, you got

954
00:59:19,520 --> 00:59:22,960
Speaker 1: to give the packers what of course he was fired,

955
00:59:23,240 --> 00:59:25,120
Speaker 1: but they were not yet. I guess I got to

956
00:59:25,160 --> 00:59:27,680
Speaker 1: give the packers credit. No, no, no, no, he's chosen to

957
00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:30,760
Speaker 1: move on and resign and all this stuff. But my goodness,

958
00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:33,760
Speaker 1: we didn't do anything right in special teams. And when

959
00:59:33,800 --> 00:59:39,760
Speaker 1: you look, the biggest you know, Hiddenn advantage that the

960
00:59:39,760 --> 00:59:42,440
Speaker 1: Seahawks had over the rest of the league was their

961
00:59:42,480 --> 00:59:47,040
Speaker 1: special teams. They had a terrific punter, a terrific field goalkicker,

962
00:59:47,440 --> 00:59:52,480
Speaker 1: and an amazing thought returner. That is worth a lot,

963
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:56,800
Speaker 1: all right, mark for Mann Arbor rights. And did the

964
00:59:56,800 --> 00:59:59,520
Speaker 1: Biden administration try to include in the Inflation Reduction Act

965
00:59:59,720 --> 01:00:02,480
Speaker 1: really an environmental bill, some even really call it an

966
01:00:02,600 --> 01:00:05,560
Speaker 1: energy bill. Mark the authority for the EPA to regulate

967
01:00:05,560 --> 01:00:07,800
Speaker 1: greenhouse gasses and classify the gases the pollutant. Seems like

968
01:00:07,800 --> 01:00:10,080
Speaker 1: that would have prevented the situation with the recent executive

969
01:00:10,160 --> 01:00:13,760
Speaker 1: order and likely court cases on eps's environmental and endangement

970
01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:17,360
Speaker 1: finding it is odd at the bill including on the

971
01:00:17,360 --> 01:00:22,320
Speaker 1: incentives to combat GHG without creating legislation acknowledging the problem. Well,

972
01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:30,120
Speaker 1: this gets it to the larger issue of I'm not

973
01:00:30,120 --> 01:00:31,720
Speaker 1: going to get into the details of the bill. I

974
01:00:31,720 --> 01:00:34,000
Speaker 1: want to get into the larger issue that actually George

975
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:36,880
Speaker 1: Conway and I got into, which is Congress is afraid

976
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:39,840
Speaker 1: to do its job right. And there had been this,

977
01:00:40,880 --> 01:00:45,840
Speaker 1: there's been this accepted mindset among Congressional leaders in both

978
01:00:45,840 --> 01:00:50,080
Speaker 1: parties that they're better off keeping language vague because then

979
01:00:50,640 --> 01:00:54,160
Speaker 1: the Executive Branch and the administration and the agencies that

980
01:00:54,200 --> 01:00:58,480
Speaker 1: then implement can you know, they basically get a second

981
01:00:58,520 --> 01:01:02,920
Speaker 1: bite to then interpret how the policy gets implemented. Well,

982
01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:05,600
Speaker 1: that always leads to court cases, which then leads to

983
01:01:05,640 --> 01:01:08,080
Speaker 1: ambiguous language, which then leads to the court saying no

984
01:01:08,160 --> 01:01:12,560
Speaker 1: Congress needs to expressly say what it wants. Ultimately, Congress

985
01:01:12,640 --> 01:01:16,080
Speaker 1: is the problem on just about every issue. You may

986
01:01:16,120 --> 01:01:22,920
Speaker 1: be frustrated. And I think this was the problem is

987
01:01:22,920 --> 01:01:26,200
Speaker 1: that Congress has not been explicit enough in what the

988
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:31,400
Speaker 1: authority is. Congress wasn't explicit enough in what in what

989
01:01:31,440 --> 01:01:35,320
Speaker 1: the in what exactly they wanted the EPA to regulate.

990
01:01:36,560 --> 01:01:40,120
Speaker 1: They were essentially, you know, they in so many of

991
01:01:40,120 --> 01:01:44,120
Speaker 1: these bills, it's sort of up to you know, up

992
01:01:44,200 --> 01:01:46,480
Speaker 1: to the interpretation of the agency experts or you know,

993
01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:50,160
Speaker 1: and I you know, it's this idea of well, you know,

994
01:01:51,600 --> 01:01:53,560
Speaker 1: and I think in fairness, right, Congress doesn't know the

995
01:01:53,600 --> 01:01:57,040
Speaker 1: specific Sometimes you've got to let experts sort of determine

996
01:01:57,080 --> 01:02:01,520
Speaker 1: the best parts of implementation. But a lot of times

997
01:02:01,560 --> 01:02:04,200
Speaker 1: Congress is just hiding so that they can they don't

998
01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:07,920
Speaker 1: have to be declarative on what they've agreed upon in

999
01:02:07,960 --> 01:02:14,720
Speaker 1: their bill. So I think that's the issue. And it

1000
01:02:14,840 --> 01:02:16,960
Speaker 1: is a lot harder to get certain members of Congress,

1001
01:02:17,040 --> 01:02:19,120
Speaker 1: like it was going to be easier to get Mansion

1002
01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:22,360
Speaker 1: to agree to something if you kept in ambiguous what

1003
01:02:22,560 --> 01:02:26,920
Speaker 1: exactly what exactly the authority of the APA would be,

1004
01:02:26,960 --> 01:02:29,640
Speaker 1: That implying that there was always going to be a

1005
01:02:29,680 --> 01:02:33,360
Speaker 1: second negotiation on the implementation process. The point is, gave

1006
01:02:33,400 --> 01:02:35,400
Speaker 1: the executive branch too much leeway. And when you gave

1007
01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:37,760
Speaker 1: that too much leeway, and then you change the party

1008
01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:40,440
Speaker 1: in the White House who has no interest in implementing

1009
01:02:40,440 --> 01:02:43,560
Speaker 1: the bill based on the way it was it was

1010
01:02:43,680 --> 01:02:49,480
Speaker 1: interpreted that when it was passed. So ultimately, the fear

1011
01:02:49,600 --> 01:02:54,160
Speaker 1: that members of Congress have for expressly saying what they

1012
01:02:54,160 --> 01:02:57,800
Speaker 1: hope the legislation does in the legislation itself creates these

1013
01:02:57,800 --> 01:03:01,200
Speaker 1: situations that just invites law suits and makes it easier

1014
01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:03,800
Speaker 1: for courts to intervene. And this is you know, look,

1015
01:03:03,840 --> 01:03:05,640
Speaker 1: I can go back. I think Congress has not been

1016
01:03:05,680 --> 01:03:11,120
Speaker 1: doing it. You know job arguably, you know, we keep

1017
01:03:11,160 --> 01:03:13,000
Speaker 1: we had to go to the courts to desegregate the schools.

1018
01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:15,240
Speaker 1: We get it's always you always had to go to

1019
01:03:15,240 --> 01:03:19,960
Speaker 1: the courts because of the ambiguous nature or the fear

1020
01:03:20,240 --> 01:03:23,760
Speaker 1: that Congress has of stepping out on certain things and

1021
01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:28,960
Speaker 1: trying to codify things in the law. So I know

1022
01:03:29,000 --> 01:03:31,880
Speaker 1: there's some specifics she wanted me to dive into on that,

1023
01:03:32,440 --> 01:03:33,760
Speaker 1: and there's a part of me that I got to

1024
01:03:34,720 --> 01:03:36,520
Speaker 1: I almost want to give this to my daughter and

1025
01:03:36,560 --> 01:03:38,760
Speaker 1: make her do it as a homework assignment, since she's

1026
01:03:38,800 --> 01:03:42,200
Speaker 1: my marine biology major on that front, and she's been

1027
01:03:42,440 --> 01:03:46,760
Speaker 1: studying this and and sort of all of this stuff,

1028
01:03:46,760 --> 01:03:49,280
Speaker 1: and it's a lot more conversant than I am on

1029
01:03:49,320 --> 01:03:53,040
Speaker 1: some of the stuff, Mark, So thank you. Next question

1030
01:03:53,080 --> 01:03:55,440
Speaker 1: comes from Jason An. He writes, Hey, I've heard you

1031
01:03:55,480 --> 01:03:58,200
Speaker 1: mentioned a few times that we do not teach the

1032
01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:00,840
Speaker 1: collapse of the Ottoman Empire enough in class to contextualize

1033
01:04:00,840 --> 01:04:03,000
Speaker 1: the Middle East today. You have articles, books to recommend

1034
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:04,920
Speaker 1: to help a teacher better understand the situation and how

1035
01:04:04,960 --> 01:04:08,040
Speaker 1: the artificial borders led to the ethnic nationalism intentions we

1036
01:04:08,080 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 1: see in the region today. PS. Thanks for talking to

1037
01:04:10,360 --> 01:04:13,640
Speaker 1: my class at SJC in September October. Fun and turbulence

1038
01:04:14,160 --> 01:04:18,240
Speaker 1: certainly for y'all. A season for both of our football teams,

1039
01:04:18,720 --> 01:04:22,400
Speaker 1: all miss for me. Hey, Jason, thanks for saying that.

1040
01:04:22,440 --> 01:04:26,560
Speaker 1: And I look, man, I enjoy anytime bite me anytime,

1041
01:04:27,240 --> 01:04:30,120
Speaker 1: I will be there. Like I said, I actually you're

1042
01:04:30,160 --> 01:04:33,040
Speaker 1: not the first person to ask me for a few recommendations.

1043
01:04:33,120 --> 01:04:36,400
Speaker 1: So here are the two recommendations I gave. Both have

1044
01:04:36,440 --> 01:04:38,360
Speaker 1: been written in the twenty first century, which I think

1045
01:04:38,600 --> 01:04:41,280
Speaker 1: means you'll get the context you need. One is by

1046
01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:44,240
Speaker 1: Eugene Rogan. He's a prominent American historian, director of the

1047
01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:47,640
Speaker 1: Middle East Center at Saint Antony's College in Oxford. So

1048
01:04:47,720 --> 01:04:50,160
Speaker 1: Oxford to Oxford for you there, Jason. It's called Fall

1049
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:53,560
Speaker 1: of the Ottomans. Rogan's central argument is that the Ottomans

1050
01:04:53,600 --> 01:04:57,160
Speaker 1: weren't merely passive victims or minor players, but fought a

1051
01:04:57,240 --> 01:05:02,800
Speaker 1: genuinely significant war across multiple fronts, and the book draws

1052
01:05:02,840 --> 01:05:06,560
Speaker 1: heavily on Ottoman, Arabic and Turkish sources alongside British and

1053
01:05:06,600 --> 01:05:09,360
Speaker 1: other Allied documents. Point is is that the reason this

1054
01:05:09,400 --> 01:05:11,640
Speaker 1: book is good is because it uses more Arab sources

1055
01:05:11,640 --> 01:05:15,120
Speaker 1: and Turkish sources, so much of how we've taught World

1056
01:05:15,160 --> 01:05:17,320
Speaker 1: War One and even the fall of the Ottoman Empires

1057
01:05:17,360 --> 01:05:19,800
Speaker 1: through the prism of the Brits right and the French

1058
01:05:19,800 --> 01:05:22,400
Speaker 1: and the European side of things, rather than from the

1059
01:05:22,520 --> 01:05:24,640
Speaker 1: essentially the Arab side of things. To get a more

1060
01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:28,640
Speaker 1: complete picture. The second book worth reading is another terrific one,

1061
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:33,280
Speaker 1: The Ottoman Rode to War in nineteen fourteen by Mustafa Osakil.

1062
01:05:33,400 --> 01:05:37,280
Speaker 1: He's a respected Ottoman historian. He teaches at Georgetown, so

1063
01:05:37,360 --> 01:05:38,920
Speaker 1: here in my neck of the woods. His core argument

1064
01:05:39,000 --> 01:05:41,880
Speaker 1: is the Ottoman entry into the war was a calculated decision,

1065
01:05:41,960 --> 01:05:45,760
Speaker 1: driven by Ottoman leaders, particularly who saw the war as

1066
01:05:45,760 --> 01:05:51,120
Speaker 1: an opportunity to restore prestige to the Ottoman Empire after

1067
01:05:51,160 --> 01:05:55,920
Speaker 1: the devastating Balkan War losses. So what's good about that

1068
01:05:55,960 --> 01:05:58,600
Speaker 1: one again is that it is more from the perspective

1069
01:05:58,600 --> 01:06:00,880
Speaker 1: of the Ottoman side rather than noise from the perspective

1070
01:06:00,880 --> 01:06:04,520
Speaker 1: of the German side. But there's all sorts of you know,

1071
01:06:04,600 --> 01:06:07,800
Speaker 1: trying to understand sort of the post war of that.

1072
01:06:07,960 --> 01:06:10,800
Speaker 1: And like I said, a couple of drunk Brits and

1073
01:06:10,840 --> 01:06:14,240
Speaker 1: Frenchmen decided to draw these straight lines in the Middle East. YadA, YadA, YadA.

1074
01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:17,720
Speaker 1: We've had nothing but outbreaks of war ever since. But

1075
01:06:17,760 --> 01:06:20,360
Speaker 1: those are my two recommendations there for you, and I

1076
01:06:20,480 --> 01:06:23,240
Speaker 1: just wanted to stay consistent. It's also a pretty good

1077
01:06:23,760 --> 01:06:26,560
Speaker 1: hardcore history on this, Dan Carlin, He's done it. There's

1078
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:30,400
Speaker 1: a few others. A good history podcast is sometimes better

1079
01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:35,120
Speaker 1: than some of the books. All Right, I got two

1080
01:06:35,160 --> 01:06:40,760
Speaker 1: more questions here, I'm gonna go three more questions. Well,

1081
01:06:40,800 --> 01:06:42,280
Speaker 1: we'll see. I got I gotta get out of here.

1082
01:06:42,640 --> 01:06:45,520
Speaker 1: I got a herd out on this recording moment here.

1083
01:06:46,560 --> 01:06:48,840
Speaker 1: But you don't need to do all of that stuff,

1084
01:06:49,280 --> 01:06:52,000
Speaker 1: Jay and New York Rights. You've done multiple top five

1085
01:06:52,040 --> 01:06:53,760
Speaker 1: lists on Senate and governor's vices. But I was wondering

1086
01:06:53,760 --> 01:06:55,320
Speaker 1: if you had a handful of house races that you

1087
01:06:55,320 --> 01:06:57,040
Speaker 1: were keeping an eye on. Even if it's just two

1088
01:06:57,120 --> 01:06:59,120
Speaker 1: or three house races, which ones are you watching closely?

1089
01:06:59,160 --> 01:07:01,200
Speaker 1: And why? Beyond the more well known toss up seats,

1090
01:07:01,360 --> 01:07:03,800
Speaker 1: I'm curious about races like North Carolina eleven, Tennessee five,

1091
01:07:03,840 --> 01:07:07,920
Speaker 1: and the safer red Colorado districts. I will tell you

1092
01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:12,520
Speaker 1: that my obsession is are the Iowa congressional districts one, two,

1093
01:07:12,520 --> 01:07:17,200
Speaker 1: and three. Iowa in general is, to me, is the

1094
01:07:17,240 --> 01:07:20,320
Speaker 1: Petrie Dish of whether the Democrats can be a full

1095
01:07:20,320 --> 01:07:24,480
Speaker 1: on national party again and whether they can get congressional

1096
01:07:24,520 --> 01:07:27,880
Speaker 1: majorities and they can get a Senate majority. Iowa sort

1097
01:07:27,920 --> 01:07:31,840
Speaker 1: of holds the key. Those three seats are swingy seats.

1098
01:07:31,960 --> 01:07:36,520
Speaker 1: You can't drum. You couldn't Jerry Manderum if you wanted to.

1099
01:07:36,640 --> 01:07:40,760
Speaker 1: But I think even you just couldn't figure out how

1100
01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:43,440
Speaker 1: to do it because all the population are in the

1101
01:07:43,440 --> 01:07:49,120
Speaker 1: bluer areas and stuff. So it is I think that

1102
01:07:49,400 --> 01:07:55,720
Speaker 1: those three are the best bell weathers because they're so

1103
01:07:56,760 --> 01:08:03,880
Speaker 1: closely contested by party, because they also include some rural parts.

1104
01:08:03,920 --> 01:08:11,360
Speaker 1: So you know, if Republican turnout is under under is

1105
01:08:11,400 --> 01:08:15,040
Speaker 1: sort of underwhelming in rural areas, democratic turnout is up.

1106
01:08:16,840 --> 01:08:19,439
Speaker 1: I always a place you should see it come to life.

1107
01:08:19,479 --> 01:08:22,800
Speaker 1: And then that's the difference between Democrats winning those congressionals

1108
01:08:22,800 --> 01:08:25,479
Speaker 1: and the districts and losing them. They when they've lost them,

1109
01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:27,360
Speaker 1: they narrowly lose them. When they win them, they narrowly

1110
01:08:27,360 --> 01:08:31,559
Speaker 1: win them. Right, So you know, look, we can I

1111
01:08:31,560 --> 01:08:34,920
Speaker 1: can cherry pick interesting races. I you know, I get

1112
01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:37,800
Speaker 1: why you're interested in Tennessee five. You know, maybe right

1113
01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:40,439
Speaker 1: there's if you're gonna find one competitive seat in Tennessee,

1114
01:08:40,439 --> 01:08:43,320
Speaker 1: it might be that one. I'm very curious to see

1115
01:08:43,320 --> 01:08:46,760
Speaker 1: what happens along the U on the other side of

1116
01:08:46,800 --> 01:08:50,960
Speaker 1: the Rockies. That's a seat that in really bad Republican

1117
01:08:51,040 --> 01:08:53,400
Speaker 1: years has flipped to the Democrats. So I get your

1118
01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:59,000
Speaker 1: interested in some of the redder Colifia, Colorado districts. I

1119
01:08:59,000 --> 01:09:01,680
Speaker 1: think those I if you're for what are the and

1120
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:03,960
Speaker 1: I will get to that I will give you when

1121
01:09:03,960 --> 01:09:06,360
Speaker 1: we get closer, the five seats that will tell me

1122
01:09:07,040 --> 01:09:09,559
Speaker 1: that can help me directionally know which way the winds

1123
01:09:09,560 --> 01:09:13,360
Speaker 1: are blowing, and how you know, will the Democrats have

1124
01:09:13,400 --> 01:09:16,880
Speaker 1: a good night, great night, or an incredible night or

1125
01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:19,320
Speaker 1: a bad night? You know, not winning the House at

1126
01:09:19,360 --> 01:09:21,840
Speaker 1: this point would be considered a bad night. All right.

1127
01:09:21,840 --> 01:09:26,840
Speaker 1: Next question comes from email from Lenexa, Kansas. Anyway, Hey,

1128
01:09:26,880 --> 01:09:28,680
Speaker 1: in today's podcast, you are more optimistic than I am

1129
01:09:28,720 --> 01:09:31,479
Speaker 1: about Congress passing a pardon reform bill. Given Trump's veto

1130
01:09:31,520 --> 01:09:34,120
Speaker 1: power and the Republican Party's unwillingness to challenge him, I

1131
01:09:34,160 --> 01:09:37,000
Speaker 1: see little chance of its passing even if Democrats control

1132
01:09:37,000 --> 01:09:38,680
Speaker 1: both chambers in twenty twenty six. I stand by my

1133
01:09:38,720 --> 01:09:41,240
Speaker 1: earlier point. The only realistic path is fully eliminating the

1134
01:09:41,280 --> 01:09:44,519
Speaker 1: president's pardon powers I outlined in my prior email. I look,

1135
01:09:44,800 --> 01:09:46,800
Speaker 1: that's where I'm at. I think it's I think we

1136
01:09:46,800 --> 01:09:48,120
Speaker 1: had to get rid of I think we had to

1137
01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:51,160
Speaker 1: create a pardon board. But if you're asking me what's

1138
01:09:51,160 --> 01:09:53,639
Speaker 1: a constitutional amendment that I think could get two thirds

1139
01:09:53,960 --> 01:09:56,919
Speaker 1: a support in Congress, it's the one that's been outlined

1140
01:09:57,439 --> 01:10:01,840
Speaker 1: because it is a nullification. It is asking for a

1141
01:10:01,880 --> 01:10:05,479
Speaker 1: super majority in order to even trigger the nullification of

1142
01:10:05,479 --> 01:10:13,200
Speaker 1: the pardon. It it feels like and it and you

1143
01:10:13,240 --> 01:10:18,040
Speaker 1: know it's looked. President can't veto a constitutional amendment because

1144
01:10:18,040 --> 01:10:20,040
Speaker 1: it would in order for it to get out of

1145
01:10:20,080 --> 01:10:22,200
Speaker 1: Congress and has to get two third support, So it's

1146
01:10:22,320 --> 01:10:25,360
Speaker 1: essentially veto proof. So there's no there's no role there

1147
01:10:25,360 --> 01:10:28,800
Speaker 1: for the president for what it's worth on that. So

1148
01:10:28,960 --> 01:10:32,479
Speaker 1: that isn't the issue if you're worried about that. The

1149
01:10:32,600 --> 01:10:34,880
Speaker 1: question is whether Trump turns it into a litmus test

1150
01:10:34,880 --> 01:10:38,360
Speaker 1: against himself or is it something that you let sit

1151
01:10:38,400 --> 01:10:42,799
Speaker 1: there slowly gain support and the second there's a new president,

1152
01:10:43,240 --> 01:10:47,959
Speaker 1: you pass it and you send it to the states.

1153
01:10:50,080 --> 01:10:54,719
Speaker 1: This is where don't let the enemy of the enemy

1154
01:10:54,720 --> 01:10:58,599
Speaker 1: of the perfect. What is it? What's that phrase? Don't

1155
01:10:58,680 --> 01:11:01,519
Speaker 1: let the don't let the perfect be the enemy of

1156
01:11:01,520 --> 01:11:06,599
Speaker 1: the good. And that is why I might like that's

1157
01:11:07,000 --> 01:11:12,080
Speaker 1: I creating a check on the president's pardon power is

1158
01:11:12,120 --> 01:11:17,680
Speaker 1: better than nothing. And what I admire about that this

1159
01:11:17,840 --> 01:11:22,519
Speaker 1: pardon Reform bill is that it's clearly written in a

1160
01:11:22,560 --> 01:11:27,160
Speaker 1: way to try to get as bipartisan of a group

1161
01:11:27,160 --> 01:11:31,280
Speaker 1: of people behind this. As you possibly can all right.

1162
01:11:31,320 --> 01:11:34,720
Speaker 1: Final question Jim from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hey, check, I

1163
01:11:34,760 --> 01:11:36,800
Speaker 1: love the podcast. I'm a full episode kind of guy.

1164
01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:39,120
Speaker 1: Like to hear that. I know which you know who

1165
01:11:39,120 --> 01:11:41,479
Speaker 1: you are. In your segment about one term president, you

1166
01:11:41,520 --> 01:11:43,799
Speaker 1: said that several loss because they were not politically astute,

1167
01:11:43,840 --> 01:11:45,880
Speaker 1: if they were not politically adept, how do they win

1168
01:11:45,880 --> 01:11:50,160
Speaker 1: in the first place? Because they won by being you

1169
01:11:50,200 --> 01:11:53,559
Speaker 1: know who, they weren't right, or you know, George H. W.

1170
01:11:53,640 --> 01:11:56,200
Speaker 1: Bush one because he wasn't Michael ducaccas. He made Michael

1171
01:11:56,240 --> 01:12:00,280
Speaker 1: Ducacca's unacceptable. Carter won because the country was just going

1172
01:12:00,360 --> 01:12:03,320
Speaker 1: to fire. Any Democrat was going to win in seventy six, right,

1173
01:12:03,400 --> 01:12:06,559
Speaker 1: And you know, we like the idea of electing a

1174
01:12:06,600 --> 01:12:10,400
Speaker 1: guy who promised he'd never you know, he'd never lie,

1175
01:12:10,600 --> 01:12:13,360
Speaker 1: and he'd always tell us the truth. So I think

1176
01:12:13,360 --> 01:12:16,599
Speaker 1: that you're not wrong. I mean, look, I think when

1177
01:12:16,600 --> 01:12:18,559
Speaker 1: you you know, if you're asking me, if we ever

1178
01:12:18,560 --> 01:12:21,440
Speaker 1: had a political Hall of Fame, anybody who won the presidency,

1179
01:12:21,479 --> 01:12:24,360
Speaker 1: to me, would automatically get entry. Right. It's like it's

1180
01:12:24,360 --> 01:12:27,240
Speaker 1: like hitting It's like hitting six hundred home runs. You

1181
01:12:27,280 --> 01:12:29,280
Speaker 1: know I'm going to put you in no matter what

1182
01:12:29,520 --> 01:12:35,160
Speaker 1: unless you really prove you cheated. And but a lot

1183
01:12:35,200 --> 01:12:38,120
Speaker 1: of times these one term presidents they won because of

1184
01:12:38,160 --> 01:12:43,160
Speaker 1: who they weren't, and that's usually why it's much harder

1185
01:12:43,200 --> 01:12:46,920
Speaker 1: for them to keep traction and stay in office. All right,

1186
01:12:47,160 --> 01:12:51,439
Speaker 1: with that, let's take a what are we looking at here?

1187
01:12:52,040 --> 01:12:56,879
Speaker 1: Seventy two hour break and, barring war with Iran before Monday,

1188
01:12:57,479 --> 01:13:02,240
Speaker 1: i'll see a Monday. Hey,