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Speaker 1: Hey, guys, ready or not, twenty twenty four is here

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Speaker 1: and we here at breaking points, are already thinking of

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Speaker 1: ways we can up our game for this critical election.

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Speaker 2: We rely on our premium subs to expand coverage, upgrade

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Speaker 2: the studio ad staff, give you, guys, the best independent

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Speaker 2: coverage that is possible. If you like what we're all about,

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Speaker 2: it just means the absolute world to have your support.

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Speaker 2: But enough with that, let's get to the showing. Good morning, everybody,

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Speaker 2: Happy Tuesday. We have an amazing show for everybody today.

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Speaker 2: What do we have, Crystal, Indeed.

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Speaker 1: We do lots of big stories that are breaking this morning.

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Speaker 1: We're taking a deep dive to start with into the

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Speaker 1: economy and what could be a perfect storm of a

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Speaker 1: number of troubling storm clouds on the horizon, so we'll

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Speaker 1: look at that. We've also got a Senator Bob Menandez

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Speaker 1: of course and again for corruption, has a pretty incredible

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Speaker 1: excuse for what he says is going on. And at

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Speaker 1: the same time, and this was a little surprising, Nancy

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Speaker 1: Pelosi actually calling for him to step down. So we'll

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Speaker 1: bring you all of that. We also have some updates

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Speaker 1: about Governor Newsom and Clotheing positioning himself. I don't know

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Speaker 1: about for this presidential election, but for the future for

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Speaker 1: something make it moves. He has agreed to that debate

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Speaker 1: with Rond DeSantis over on Fox News, so we'll talk

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Speaker 1: about that. Also make it some interesting legislative choices and

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Speaker 1: earning the ire of a powerful labor union in the state.

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Speaker 1: Sager's got a UFO update for us based on a

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Speaker 1: Michael Schallenberger report, so he'll bring that to us. And

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Speaker 1: we also have a really interesting story here about two

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Speaker 1: podcasters who are hoping that Joe Biden will save their show.

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Speaker 1: We'll give you all of those details. Also excited to

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Speaker 1: be joined by Robert Weisman. He is an expert on

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Speaker 1: government corruption. Gee, wonder how that could be relevantly a

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Speaker 1: great topic. Yes, just happen to work out that there

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Speaker 1: was a little bit of government corruption in the news

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Speaker 1: that we could peg this too. Before we get to

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Speaker 1: any of that, remember, guys, this is a debate week,

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Speaker 1: and so we've got some big plans for you guys.

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Speaker 2: That's right, So we've got the debate special. It is

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Speaker 2: planned for everyone. We will have one preview that will

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Speaker 2: drop tomorrow. There's also going to be a normal counterpoint

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Speaker 2: show for everybody. For premium subscribers, that preview will actually

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Speaker 2: drop later on today and we will have a very

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Speaker 2: special show for everyone on Thursday. So we've got a

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Speaker 2: lot of fun graphics and things planned postgame analysis. If

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Speaker 2: you can help us out, as we said, it's extra production,

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Speaker 2: so extra cost to us. You can sign up at

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Speaker 2: breakingpoints dot Com become a premium subscriber as we said,

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Speaker 2: we'll get the early drops and all those other things.

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Speaker 2: And also everyone just want to say, I know we've

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Speaker 2: been having some issues with Spotify. That's really on Spotify's

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Speaker 2: end over the last couple of days. We are working

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Speaker 2: on it. I know how difficult it is, all the

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Speaker 2: processing nightmares with YouTube and Spotify, but unfortunately, you know,

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Speaker 2: look we are at the mercy of these big corporations.

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Speaker 2: But as we said, we heard you. We are absolutely

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Speaker 2: working on it, and we take it seriously. I know

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Speaker 2: how much people want the show immediately on time. I'm

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Speaker 2: the same way, so I would get a messages.

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Speaker 1: From my parents so in settling that they watch the

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Speaker 1: show every right now.

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Speaker 2: I feel the same way. That's how my mom checks

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Speaker 2: up on me.

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Speaker 1: All right, Let's start though, by taking a look at

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Speaker 1: some of those potential storm clouds on the horizon for

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Speaker 1: the economy. Put this up on the screen from the

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Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal. They had a good report. The headline

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Speaker 1: here is US economy could withstand one shock, but for

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Speaker 1: at once. They outline four different potential factors that could

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Speaker 1: have some level of impact on the economy and are

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Speaker 1: asking the question, Okay, on their own, we could withstand

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Speaker 1: each of these, but if you put them together, what

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Speaker 1: will the impact be. The first one they highlight here

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Speaker 1: is the autoworker strike. If it is prolonged, if it

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Speaker 1: ends up hitting more plans than it is right now,

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Speaker 1: that could shave some small amount off of growth. You also,

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Speaker 1: right now have the threat that we've been talking about

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Speaker 1: here of a lengthy government shut down. Looks very likely

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Speaker 1: that the government is going to shut down next week.

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Speaker 1: The question is how long does it take for them

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Speaker 1: to come to a deal. Obviously that could have a

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Speaker 1: significant impact on the economy as well. The other thing

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Speaker 1: they point to is we are facing the resumption of

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Speaker 1: student loan debt payments. That is quite a significant one.

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Speaker 1: You have a lot a lot of Americans, millions of

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Speaker 1: Americans who are going to be having to put out

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Speaker 1: you know, hundreds, if not thousands of dollars per month

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Speaker 1: to service those debts that has been on hiatus for

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Speaker 1: quite a while. This comes out of time also when

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Speaker 1: Americans are increasingly stressed in terms of their debt load,

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Speaker 1: in terms of their credit card debt, also in terms

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Speaker 1: of you know, the interest rates that they're facing on

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Speaker 1: auto loans, home loans, et cetera. The other thing they

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Speaker 1: point to here is rising oil prices, which obviously hits

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Speaker 1: American consumers extremely hard and sager.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: The other one that I just sort of briefly referenced

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Speaker 1: here that I would add, putting a fifth level of

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Speaker 1: you know, shock to into the economy is the high

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Speaker 1: level of interest rates. Yes, and the fact that the

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Speaker 1: Fed has signaled while they've been holding rates constant, that

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Speaker 1: they could actually hike rates again in the future, if anything,

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Speaker 1: that hangs over the economy more than any of these

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Speaker 1: individual threats they're pointing to.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we just have four simultaneously assaults, immediate assaults

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Speaker 2: on the American pocketbook on top of the systemic factors

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Speaker 2: that we already are destroying so many people. Let's go

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Speaker 2: and put this one up there on the screen. The

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Speaker 2: monthly mortgage payment is actually at an all time high

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Speaker 2: at two thousand, three hundred dollars. The overall mortgage payment

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Speaker 2: in March of twenty March of twenty twenty four, example,

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Speaker 2: was only nine hundred and seventy seven dollars. We currently

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Speaker 2: have the lowest housing affordability on record in the United States,

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Speaker 2: and that's largely because of high prices and because of

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Speaker 2: high interest rates. So people are locked into either their

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Speaker 2: home and they can't move, or their rent is going

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Speaker 2: to be increasing substantially. People always forget that while yes,

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Speaker 2: gas is a leading cost of inflation, shelter is right

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Speaker 2: up there with it. So you have a major assault

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Speaker 2: right now on American affordability going into the most critical

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Speaker 2: time for retailers in the United States, the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 2: when people do Christmas shopping, they buy a lot of clothes,

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Speaker 2: Black Friday, Prime Day, all these other things are coming up.

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Speaker 2: And if you see even a marginal decrease in their

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Speaker 2: overall level of consumer spending, that is going to impact

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Speaker 2: the overall economy. And you know, each one of these

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Speaker 2: things crystal point one percent point two percent, I mean

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Speaker 2: got up. If you have an overall one percent reduction

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Speaker 2: in economic growth. That's a ton actually when we only

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Speaker 2: supposed to grow at two percent in inflation is I mean,

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Speaker 2: who the hell knows what inflation actually is. It could

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Speaker 2: be somewhere between four and nine percent depending on the

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Speaker 2: way that you look at. At the point though, is that

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Speaker 2: all of these are not good news as we head

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Speaker 2: into a critical economic time period for the US economy,

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Speaker 2: and then politically, it's also a terrible thing for Biden.

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Speaker 2: So I really think this is this is you know,

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Speaker 2: it's like nineteen seventies all over again. It's like the

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Speaker 2: only thing that we're missing, thank god, is high unemployment.

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Speaker 2: But unfortunately it's said we still have very high underemployment

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Speaker 2: or we have a decrease in overall real wages relative

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Speaker 2: to inflation.

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Speaker 1: There's also a lot of global signs of trouble. China

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Speaker 1: seems to really be in a very difficult position, especially

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Speaker 1: with their real estate sector. Europe also has seen growth

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Speaker 1: slow much more significantly, and their economies have been struggling

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Speaker 1: a lot more than ours has. We've actually been you know,

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Speaker 1: outpacing the rest of the world in terms of the

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Speaker 1: strength of our economy quote unquote strength of our economy.

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Speaker 1: So when you see the sorts of global factors too.

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Speaker 1: That's another thing to weigh on you to say, okay, well,

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Speaker 1: as some of that coming here as well, are we

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Speaker 1: going to be facing the similar struggles that other countries

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Speaker 1: around the world are. Just to dig in a little

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Speaker 1: bit more on the debt situation for Americans, which has

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Speaker 1: been exacerbated as the Pandemic era programs have all gone

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Speaker 1: away as interest rates have been on the upward swing

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Speaker 1: to try to deal with inflation. But at the same

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Speaker 1: time you have inflation which is also making things so

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Speaker 1: much more expensive and forcing Americans to take on more debt.

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Speaker 1: We've already covered signs of stress there, the fact that

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Speaker 1: credit card debt has hit over trillion dollars for the

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Speaker 1: first time, But we have another indicator that Americans are

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Speaker 1: feeling stressed in terms of their personal finances. Put this

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Speaker 1: up on the screen. You now have credit card losses

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Speaker 1: rising at the fastest pace since the Great Financial Crisis.

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Speaker 1: So what CNBC reports on here is the fact that

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Speaker 1: Goldman Sax is predicting credit card losses are going to

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Speaker 1: continue to climb through the end of twenty twenty four

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Speaker 1: early twenty twenty five. Very unusual that these losses are

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Speaker 1: accelerating outside of an economic downturn. Credit card losses currently

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Speaker 1: stand at three point six three percent. That is up

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Speaker 1: one and a half percentage points from the bottom. So

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Speaker 1: the fact that you have this rapid increase in credit

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Speaker 1: card losses and that it's happening at this kind of

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Speaker 1: unusual time period is really raising a lot of red

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Speaker 1: flags for economists. But it makes sense when you put

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Speaker 1: it in with that picture that I just painted of

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Speaker 1: the fact that Americans were already taking on a lot

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Speaker 1: of debt, They're having to try to deal with high

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Speaker 1: interest rates, They've had the loss of these programs that

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Speaker 1: benefited them, they've had rising prices, and now you add

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Speaker 1: on top of that the fact that student loan payments

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Speaker 1: are set to restart on October one. According to The

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Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal, that restart could divert roughly one hundred

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Speaker 1: billion dollars from americans pockets. That's according to an analysis

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Speaker 1: from a Wells Fargo economist. It's the first time bars

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Speaker 1: will have had to make payments since March of twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: And while you know this is one slice of the economy,

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Speaker 1: it has been significant enough that retailers like Walmart Target

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Speaker 1: and others have been really raising concerns in their investors

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Speaker 1: car calls about what this could mean for spending among

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Speaker 1: some of their core consumer groups. So a lot of

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Speaker 1: uneasiness about what's going on here. And listen, if you're

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Speaker 1: like a normal person out there, none of this is

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Speaker 1: going to be surprised to you, because even as the

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Speaker 1: top line numbers in terms of unemployment have been relatively strong,

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Speaker 1: we know the way that personal finances have been stretched

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Speaker 1: and stretched and stretched over the past several years.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And so actually I'm looking right now

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Speaker 2: at the average monthly car payment right now in the

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Speaker 2: United States, new car payment seven hundred and twenty eight dollars.

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Speaker 2: A used car payment is five hundred and thirty dollars.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that's a lot of money that we're talking

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Speaker 2: about here. That's more than six grand a year after

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Speaker 2: tax income that is being diverted just to people's car notes.

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Speaker 2: And so look, you know, I guess it's a broken record,

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Speaker 2: but it is one of which I think is so

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Speaker 2: so important, is that overall, the personally financial situation of

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Speaker 2: the the average American household is vastly worse today than

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Speaker 2: it was a couple of years ago, and that is

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Speaker 2: going to manifest itself in all sorts of crazy ways

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Speaker 2: in terms of how we spend our money, in terms

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Speaker 2: of how we think about our politics. And it is

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Speaker 2: also why the right track wrong track number is so

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Speaker 2: high for President Biden and why his disapproval rating is

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Speaker 2: so high as well. You just can't get around it.

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Speaker 2: And President Biden just does not seem to have the

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Speaker 2: political will or necessity to actually speak to these everyday

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Speaker 2: concerns and to say that I'm doing everything I possibly

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Speaker 2: can in the immediate immediate term to try to get

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Speaker 2: something done with this. And overall that is just hitting

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Speaker 2: people very, very hard. I think at a mass like

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Speaker 2: sociological and psychic level, which is it's difficult, and you

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Speaker 2: can feel it right now in the country. I think

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Speaker 2: you can feel the level of dissatisfaction absolutely.

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Speaker 1: And I think on the political level, you know, I

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Speaker 1: feel like we say this every election, but there's a

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Speaker 1: wide open lane for someone who actually promises to deliver

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Speaker 1: materially for people, and you know, Biden. Their strategy is

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Speaker 1: they're hoping that is still going to be an incredibly

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Speaker 1: salient issue probably will right They're hoping that, you know,

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Speaker 1: the fact that people hate Donald Trump is going to

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Speaker 1: be a salient issue. I'm sure it will be, and

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Speaker 1: they're hoping that that is going to be enough. That's

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Speaker 1: what they leaned on last time, and look it worked.

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Speaker 1: It's what they leaned on in the midterms, and look

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Speaker 1: it worked. So it's not like it's a crazy strategy.

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Speaker 1: But when you're looking at the polls that have a

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Speaker 1: best tide and that one that we covered yesterday outlier

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Speaker 1: that had Trump up by ten, which again I don't believe,

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Speaker 1: but the fact that you can even have a poll

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Speaker 1: that says that indicates maybe you need to do a

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Speaker 1: little bit more than what you've been doing. Maybe you

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Speaker 1: need to actually have an affirmative economic agenda that is

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Speaker 1: going to deliver for people in the immediate term. And

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Speaker 1: now I've talked about how the industrial policy and some

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Speaker 1: of these bigger picture things like you know, his support

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Speaker 1: for labor rights. I think that's really important for the

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Speaker 1: economy for the mid term, for the medium term, and

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Speaker 1: also for the long term, and is going to be

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Speaker 1: really delivering for workers over that period. We had to

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Speaker 1: talk about the here and now, what have you done

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Speaker 1: for me lately? I don't hear any firmative economic agenda

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Speaker 1: from Actually what I hear from Trump is negative because

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Speaker 1: they want to cut corporate taxes and go back to

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Speaker 1: that well and do even more in that direction. From Biden,

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Speaker 1: I just really don't hear any firmative economic vision at all.

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Speaker 2: Great economic policy is made where it both provides short

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Speaker 2: term relief and cash injection or not even just cash

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Speaker 2: injection cat tax cut. It depends on I'm not in

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Speaker 2: the current term. I'm talking about in the past, but

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Speaker 2: also long term economic design. I talked to a lot

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Speaker 2: of yesterday, So I've been thinking about the Kennedy tax bill,

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Speaker 2: which shaved the income tax but also actually overall boomed

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Speaker 2: the economy from nineteen sixty four, which made it both

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Speaker 2: an immediate cut which boosted consumer spending, but provided a

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Speaker 2: lot of the economic growth that we saw throughout the

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Speaker 2: nineteen sixties. And that was at a time of deliberative

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Speaker 2: process where people actually thought about this stuff, They had

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Speaker 2: real ideas, and it was like a time not only

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Speaker 2: to it was a time where they would both use

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Speaker 2: the political reality with design and in the future. And unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: I think we really have lost a lot of that.

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Speaker 2: The more that we think about it and the way

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Speaker 2: that our policy is being designed right now, fly by wire,

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Speaker 2: is just so ridiculous and stupid, and that just you know,

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Speaker 2: comes and want to underscore again just because we are

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Speaker 2: on the verge of it. We are almost certain now

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Speaker 2: to have a government shutdown. Every person that I have seen,

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Speaker 2: just from a pure timeline level, it doesn't seem possible

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Speaker 2: crystal for them to be able to get out of this,

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Speaker 2: even if the Senate does pass a continuing resolution which

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Speaker 2: is able to get through the House of Representatives through

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Speaker 2: some sort of discharge petition and all of that. Just

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Speaker 2: from a pure time like time on the floor, it's

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Speaker 2: September twenty sixth, we're filming this right now. The government

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Speaker 2: funding expires October one at twelve oh one am. That's

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Speaker 2: just not enough time, you know, to pass these types

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Speaker 2: of bills. And that's without any of the political fights

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Speaker 2: that are happening. So that is going to impact the

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Speaker 2: economy because not only federal I mean the federal government

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Speaker 2: is the largest employer in the United States, but so

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Speaker 2: that just no paychecks that are going out there. But

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Speaker 2: on top of that, there's a lot of other alternative

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Speaker 2: programs that people rely on. For the Feds for services,

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Speaker 2: even tourism we remember last time, like the National Park

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Speaker 2: Service shutdown, stuff like that, all of that and lead

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Speaker 2: into overall economic conditions.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, indeed, all right, So let's transition into the way

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Speaker 1: that current president and former president are trying to signal

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Speaker 1: their support for working class people this week. We do

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Speaker 1: have a historic event today with President Biden showing up

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Speaker 1: at the picket line, expected to arrive in Wayne County,

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Speaker 1: Michigan to join workers there striking workers around noon today.

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Speaker 1: UAW President Jean Fain is expected to join him on

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Speaker 1: the picket line. As we said, first time that we

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Speaker 1: know of that. Labor historians can figure out that a

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Speaker 1: president has ever done this, which I think is a

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Speaker 1: real reflection of the way that the politics around labor

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Speaker 1: unions and corporate power have dramatically shifted in just a

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Speaker 1: few years time, and hugely accelerated by the pandemic. So

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Speaker 1: you have Biden making that trek there today, you have

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Speaker 1: former President Trump speaking to workers also in Michigan in

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Speaker 1: a neighboring county, sort of trying to counter program the

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Speaker 1: Republican debate that's going to be going on. He's going

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Speaker 1: to be trashing the Biden ev Agena. So far, his

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Speaker 1: tactic has been to sort of like trash quote unquote

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Speaker 1: union bosses, but also trash the Biden ev transition and

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Speaker 1: claim that, you know, he's the one who will really

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Speaker 1: help workers because he opposes all of that. So you've

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Speaker 1: got those rival visions at the same time. One of

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Speaker 1: the big conversations that has come out of the auto

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Speaker 1: workers strike, and one of the things they've been talking

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Speaker 1: about a lot, understandably, is how wildly out of step

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Speaker 1: ceo pay at the Big three automakers has been versus

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Speaker 1: median worker pay. Put this up on the screen. You

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Speaker 1: know it's bad when even the Wall Street Journal is like, hey,

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Speaker 1: auto CEOs maybe making three hundred times what workers make

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Speaker 1: is a little bit over the top. So they did

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Speaker 1: what is actually a very useful analysis of where the

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Speaker 1: Big three automakers stand versus other large corporations in terms

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Speaker 1: of their executive compensation, and what they find is lo

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Speaker 1: and behold. Even in an era when corporate executives typically

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Speaker 1: pake wildly astronomical salaries as opposed to the workers, even

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Speaker 1: in that era, the Big Three stand out for just

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Speaker 1: how much their CEOs make versus what the median workers make.

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Speaker 1: So they also point to the fact that wage gains

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Speaker 1: for rank and file employees have not actually kept pace

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Speaker 1: with inflation. Rank and file employees have taken a pay

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Speaker 1: cut when you account for inflation. Meanwhile, over that same period,

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Speaker 1: CEO pay has gone up by forty percent. So that

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Speaker 1: is why these auto workers, among a host of reasons,

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Speaker 1: are calling for significant pay increases because they have actually

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Speaker 1: fallen way behind in terms of their salaries. So let's

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Speaker 1: take a look at some of the specifics. Here Ford's

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Speaker 1: CEO last year earned around twenty one million dollars. That's

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Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty one times the company's median employee earnings,

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Speaker 1: and that's actually the lowest ratio of the Big three.

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Speaker 1: Over at General Mode, Mary Vera made twenty nine million

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Speaker 1: dollars last year, that was three hundred and sixty two

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Speaker 1: times the median employee earnings. And over at Stalantis, the

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Speaker 1: global parent of Chrysler, Dodge and other brands, their CEO

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Speaker 1: last year made around twenty five million, or three hundred

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Speaker 1: and sixty five times the average employee pay. So even

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Speaker 1: when you account for you know what other large corporations

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Speaker 1: are doing, the Big three are at the top end

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Speaker 1: of those pay ratios with their executives wildly out earning

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Speaker 1: by three hundred times what the typical worker is.

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Speaker 2: One of the reasons I always feel like I'm taking

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Speaker 2: crazy pills on this is that we talk in percentages

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Speaker 2: and sometimes we don't even just deal in outright dollar figures. So,

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Speaker 2: for example, under the current contract, the UAW starts at

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Speaker 2: eighteen dollars an hour at an annualized basis, that is

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Speaker 2: thirty seven thousand, four hundred and forty dollars per year.

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Speaker 2: You please please tell me a city in this country

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Speaker 2: that you can quote unquote make it on at thirty

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Speaker 2: seven thousand, four hundred and forty dollars per year. I

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Speaker 2: don't even think you could be a normal renter without

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Speaker 2: penny pinching at that salary. At the top, they can

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Speaker 2: make up to thirty two dollars an hour. Thirty two

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Speaker 2: dollars an hour is sixty six thousand, five hundred and

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Speaker 2: sixty dollars per year. That is less than the overall

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Speaker 2: average household income in the United States at seventy thousand.

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Speaker 2: So what are these people asking for? Okay, we can

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Speaker 2: do a little bit of math. Thirty seven thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: at a thirty percent pay increase is how much. It's

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Speaker 2: around forty something thousand dollars per year. That seems eminently

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Speaker 2: reasonable for a skilled position of a unionized hounor worker.

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Speaker 2: Same whenever we do sixty six thousand, we are just

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Speaker 2: pegging slightly above the overall average household income in the

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Speaker 2: United States. So when you put it that way, I

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Speaker 2: mean it completely falls apart, right, Crystal. When we're talking

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Speaker 2: about we're talking about bargaining so that the top wage

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Speaker 2: gets you to near average in the US, and I

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Speaker 2: think that's fine. The UAW and workers, specifically auto workers,

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Speaker 2: where the bedrock of the American middle class. The idea

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Speaker 2: of the middle class was so you earn about a

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Speaker 2: household income, and on set household income, you could mostly

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Speaker 2: make it. Now, to be honest, even seventy five thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars for a family of four, you're not going to

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Speaker 2: go very far. You could maybe scrape by with some

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Speaker 2: rent in a not a particularly nice house, but you know,

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Speaker 2: you can ish make it. You could probably save up

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Speaker 2: enough to put your kid through like community college. But

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Speaker 2: we're not talking about like high end fly five flying wages.

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Speaker 2: You're not traveling, you're vacation at seventy thousand dollars a year,

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Speaker 2: you're driving a Disney World like if you want to

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Speaker 2: make sure that you're not get taken out any debt.

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Speaker 2: So that's at the top end of the spectrum. I

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Speaker 2: just think we should again talk in real terms. And

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Speaker 2: even this three hundred and sixty five number, it's not

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Speaker 2: particularly useful when you until you think again in the

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Speaker 2: overall dollar figure, we're talking about twenty twenty five thirty

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Speaker 2: million dollars in a single year. Now, obviously, yes, I

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Speaker 2: understand there's a big difference between stock compensation any more,

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Speaker 2: but I also don't even think it's just as useful

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Speaker 2: to just focus in on CEO pay. Let's talk about

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Speaker 2: executive pay. The fact is the executives are all rewarded

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Speaker 2: and overall cash bonuses or sorry, in stock bonuses. And

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Speaker 2: the problem is is that these companies have financially engineered

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Speaker 2: themselves such that they use huge portions of their money

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Speaker 2: to buy back their own stock inflate the overall value,

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Speaker 2: and then said value goes right back into their pockets,

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Speaker 2: which they get to realize that grains. And even if

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Speaker 2: this is the greatest scam in all of America, even

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Speaker 2: if they don't realize. Guys like CEOs, Let's say they

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Speaker 2: have all this stock that's just sitting in their bank.

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Speaker 2: They can take cash loans at very very low rates

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Speaker 2: from their high net worth bankers, and they can live

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Speaker 2: off set cash and never pay one dime on that

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Speaker 2: as attacks. So it's like a perpetual motion machine that

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Speaker 2: these people have created to live multi gajillion dollar lifestyles.

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Speaker 2: The people who are forwarded shareholders, GM, Stilantis, all these people,

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Speaker 2: they're doing fine, but the overall workforce is making well below,

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Speaker 2: even at the top rate, what the average household income is.

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Speaker 2: When you put it that way, every American would be like,

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Speaker 2: all right, I'm cool with this. Yeah, It's just, you know,

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Speaker 2: the way we phrase and talk about all these things,

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Speaker 2: it misses any of the like the brass tacks reality.

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Speaker 2: Can you actually pay a freaking mortgage for your family

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Speaker 2: on the top salary that I mean, Look, we talked

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Speaker 2: about mortgage payments. Good luck at two three hundred dollars

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Speaker 2: at an average mortgage price somewhere even in Michigan, even

435
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,240
Speaker 2: in the heartland. Now at this point, what's the overall

436
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,000
Speaker 2: average price house Maybe four hundred fifty thousand, five hundred thousand,

437
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 2: and that's if you're lucky enough to have one hundred

438
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,480
Speaker 2: grand down, you don't have to pay PMI. So you

439
00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,560
Speaker 2: put all these things together once again, I don't think

440
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:46,760
Speaker 2: it's a very difficult conversation.

441
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,960
Speaker 1: Now, this is what CNBC was calling the politics.

442
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,440
Speaker 2: Of NB Yes, but that's not even envy, that's just normality.

443
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,440
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the politics of like basic fairness and

444
00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,719
Speaker 1: having a functional society. One thing that has been extremely

445
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:03,080
Speaker 1: hard to me, though, is as this strike has progressed,

446
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:07,480
Speaker 1: the American people's support for it has actually only gotten stronger.

447
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 1: So there's a new poll out that shows a shift

448
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,959
Speaker 1: in favor of the workers. Now you have sixty two

449
00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,440
Speaker 1: percent of the country actively standing behind the union. That's

450
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,160
Speaker 1: up from fifty five percent in this Data for Progress

451
00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: poll just one week prior. So in spite of all

452
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:26,879
Speaker 1: of the propaganda that you hear about all the politics

453
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,199
Speaker 1: of envy and all these workers are asking for too much,

454
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,520
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera, In spite of what is literally

455
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:36,359
Speaker 1: decades of propaganda trying to indoctrinate the American people into

456
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:41,399
Speaker 1: believing that rank and file workers do not deserve a

457
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 1: middle class living people aren't buying it, and that, to

458
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:48,120
Speaker 1: me is one of the most heartening, most extraordinary things

459
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: that is happening right now. Is in spite of all

460
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,239
Speaker 1: the money that's been spent on the other side of this,

461
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,439
Speaker 1: all of the years of media propaganda, all of the

462
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 1: bias coverage, all of the bearing and smearing of working

463
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,919
Speaker 1: class people, in spite of all of that, the American

464
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 1: people are not buying it, and that is the most

465
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,480
Speaker 1: beautiful thing to behold here now. I will say, we're

466
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 1: starting to see some dirty tricks from the companies themselves.

467
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,160
Speaker 1: One of them announced that they're shutting down a battery

468
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,440
Speaker 1: plan as sort of like a veiled threat. The UAW

469
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 1: is calling them out for this. Those are the sorts

470
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,720
Speaker 1: of tactics that they will deploy. But I think the

471
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,240
Speaker 1: fact that you already have forward giving some significant ground.

472
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,679
Speaker 1: They're not all the way there, but some significant ground

473
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,480
Speaker 1: in terms of concessions, the fact that you had pilots

474
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:37,200
Speaker 1: and you had teamsters, ups drivers make significant gains from

475
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 1: their own labor activity. I think these auto workers, with

476
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,919
Speaker 1: the president coming today and with the former president showing

477
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,159
Speaker 1: up for whatever reason tomorrow, I think they are in

478
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,159
Speaker 1: a very strong position of leverage, and I'm hopeful that

479
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,000
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to actually secure a good deal,

480
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,679
Speaker 1: which matters not just for them, it matters for the

481
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 1: whole auto industry. It matters for our conception of what

482
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: working people deserve and are able to ask for and

483
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,720
Speaker 1: demand when they band together. So we obviously are going

484
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 1: to keep a close close eye on it.

485
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:05,640
Speaker 4: That's right.

486
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,360
Speaker 2: So why don't we talk a little bit about corruption,

487
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 2: and why don't we talk about overpaid useless folks. One

488
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 2: of those is Senator Bob Menendez. Not overpaid by us

489
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 2: the taxpayer, overpaid by the people bribing him with straight

490
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:24,200
Speaker 2: up gold bars allegedly by the way, for Bob's lawyers.

491
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 2: He had the most incredible defense I have ever seen

492
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 2: about why I had all of this cash stuffed in

493
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:36,439
Speaker 2: his envelopes, stuffed in his jacket pockets bearing the Senate

494
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 2: insignia and his name. I'm not even going to tease it.

495
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 2: Take a lesson.

496
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 5: I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented,

497
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 5: not only will I be exonerated, but I still will

498
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,160
Speaker 5: be the New Jersey's senior Senator. For now, I want

499
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:56,000
Speaker 5: to address four things. First, A cornerstone of the foundation

500
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:02,080
Speaker 5: of American democracy and our justice is the principle that

501
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:07,840
Speaker 5: all people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. All people.

502
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:13,919
Speaker 5: I ask for nothing more and deserve nothing less. The

503
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,760
Speaker 5: court of public opinion is no substitute for our revere

504
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 5: justice system. We cannot set aside the presumption of innocence

505
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 5: for political expediency when the harm is irrevocable. To those

506
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 5: who have rushed to judgment, you have done so based

507
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 5: on a limited set of facts, framed by the prosecution

508
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 5: to be as salacious as possible. Remember, prosecutors get it

509
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:46,919
Speaker 5: wrong sometimes. Sadly, I know that instead of waiting for

510
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,159
Speaker 5: all the facts to be presented, others have rushed to

511
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:55,439
Speaker 5: judgment because they see a political opportunity for themselves or

512
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 5: those around them. All I humbly ask for in this moment,

513
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,119
Speaker 5: in my colleagues in Congress, the elected leaders and the

514
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 5: advocates of New Jersey that I have worked with for years,

515
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 5: as well as each person who calls New Jersey home,

516
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:14,040
Speaker 5: is to pause and allow for all the facts to

517
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:19,879
Speaker 5: be presented. Third, for thirty years, I have withdrawn thousands

518
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:24,440
Speaker 5: of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which

519
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 5: I have kept for emergencies and because of the history

520
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 5: of my family facing confiscation in Cuba. Now this may

521
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 5: seem old fashioned, but these were moneies drawn from my

522
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 5: personal savings account based on the income that I have

523
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 5: lawfully derived over those thirty years. I look forward to

524
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 5: addressing other issues at trial.

525
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,240
Speaker 2: So Crystal, his excuse is he's Cuban. Because I am Cuban,

526
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,560
Speaker 2: I withdraw large amounts of cash. You know why this

527
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,639
Speaker 2: particularly offensive. Guess what, Crystal, His family emigrated to the

528
00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,160
Speaker 2: United States. When do you think nineteen fifty three? Does

529
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,439
Speaker 2: anybody want to tell me when Fidel Castro came to

530
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,440
Speaker 2: power nineteen fifty nine, Aka, he came to this country

531
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:12,560
Speaker 2: under Batista's rule, not under Fidel Castro. So it's just

532
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,880
Speaker 2: miraculous that his parents came to this country six years

533
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 2: prior to the communist takeover, and that he learned through

534
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 2: their legacy of leaving Cuba under a non communist to

535
00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 2: withdraw massive amounts of cash. I will say this one

536
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 2: reason why I'm happy that he said, this is the

537
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 2: easiest thing in the world to check. Okay, fine, you

538
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:33,920
Speaker 2: took out x amount, Let's go check the bank. The

539
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 2: bank easy as hell? Yeah, right. Also, if he was

540
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 2: withdrawing that amount of cash from his bank. You know,

541
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 2: the bank is supposed to alert the FEDS to that.

542
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,160
Speaker 2: Like if you or I walk into a bank, if

543
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,360
Speaker 2: you or I who's not or anyone named not named

544
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,199
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Epstein were to walk into a cash into a

545
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,080
Speaker 2: bank and withdraw anything more than I think it's like

546
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:56,160
Speaker 2: ten thousand and one dollars, then they have to immediately

547
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,479
Speaker 2: alert the FEDS. Now, I mean, look, once again, they

548
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,199
Speaker 2: have easy access to his bank records. You can just

549
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,439
Speaker 2: check it. Be like, all right, as he withdrawn x

550
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 2: amount of cash, well does he have said amount of

551
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 2: cash in his pockets? If it's more than that, where

552
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 2: did the cash come from? Even if he didn't take

553
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,959
Speaker 2: it from a bribe, which again they found the DNA

554
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 2: of the person allegedly bribing him on st cash. Well

555
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 2: you didn't report it to the IRS. And that's a

556
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,439
Speaker 2: crime too. I mean, you know, we should all just

557
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,040
Speaker 2: start using our ethnic heritage's defense should the IRS ever come.

558
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 2: Like the RS comes from me. Oh, I'm Indian. You know,

559
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,879
Speaker 2: we we're real penny pintures. That's that's the actual It's like,

560
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 2: what are we talking about it?

561
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 1: I wonder if his Cuban heritage also led him to

562
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 1: store random gold bars in his house, which, by the way,

563
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 1: he got asked a question about and did not deferred

564
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: answer that one. This wave that went away. Producer Mac

565
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 1: was analogizing this to when Cuomo was saying that he's

566
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 1: not a sexual harasser.

567
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:51,280
Speaker 2: He's just Italian. He's just Italian.

568
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 1: So here we got menandez he he's not corrupt, He's

569
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,880
Speaker 1: just Cuban. He's just Cuban guys, this is what Cubans do.

570
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 2: These are the most shameless people who have evern Now.

571
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 1: I think it's worth noting and also sort of encouraging.

572
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 1: No other politicians would stand by. I'm at this press conference,

573
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: and I know that he tried. He definitely tried, and

574
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,040
Speaker 1: you last time. I mean, listen, it's a low bar.

575
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 1: This should be the easiest thing in the world to

576
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 1: denounce this guy and say this dude should resign. But

577
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: apparently it's been very difficult. You have had a trickle

578
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 1: now of a few other Democratic senators who have called

579
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: for him to step down. Me, so have Fancy Pelosi.

580
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 1: This is maybe the biggest one who is also calling

581
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 1: for him to resign. Will show you that in a minute.

582
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 1: But just the shit. Think about this. This dude was

583
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 1: indicted on the most brazen allegations of corruption you can imagine,

584
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 1: using his position as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee

585
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: to literally sell out the country. I mean, this is

586
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: like traitorous type of behavior that he stands accused of,

587
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: and he announces his reelect like three days later. That's insane.

588
00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 1: The shamelessness of that is just absolutely incredible. It's man,

589
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 1: it's something something.

590
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 2: It certainly is. I guess what. White House can't even

591
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 2: call on him to resign. Here's what Karine Jean Pierre said.

592
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 6: And given that President Biden is the leader of the

593
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 6: Democratic Party, does the president believe that a person who

594
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 6: is facing allegations that are as serious as the allegations

595
00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 6: confronting the Senator, that there is any place for somebody

596
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 6: like Senator Menendez in the Democratic Party.

597
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 7: So I'm going to be very clear, this is a

598
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 7: serious matter. We see this as a serious matter, I think,

599
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 7: and we believe the Senator stepping down from his chairmanship

600
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 7: was the right thing to do. Obviously, the right thing

601
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 7: to do as it relates to anything else. Any decision

602
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 7: that he has to make, that's certainly going to be

603
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 7: up to him and the Senate leadership to decide. But

604
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 7: of course we see this as a serious matter, and

605
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 7: I'm just going to leave it there for now.

606
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,719
Speaker 2: We see his serious matter, and it's up to what

607
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,600
Speaker 2: are we doing here here? Yeah, mister Biden, who remember

608
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 2: his sanctimonious speech on day one, He's like, if I

609
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 2: find out a single one of you I ever mistreat somebody,

610
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 2: or you ever comport yourself, I will call for your

611
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,840
Speaker 2: resignation that day. But Bob, my old colleague, Oh, I've

612
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:09,760
Speaker 2: known him for a long time. That's just how they

613
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 2: are over there as a human. Let's give some credit, Okay,

614
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 2: there have been some people who are willing to call

615
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:17,479
Speaker 2: him out. So you had this statement from summer leave.

616
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 2: If you want to go ahead and read it. The representaive.

617
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought this was strong. I just want to

618
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 1: put it up there to flag it. Go ahead and

619
00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 1: put it up there on the screen. So she issued

620
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:29,200
Speaker 1: the statement saying center Menandez must resign. Corruption is corruption, briberies, bribery.

621
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,760
Speaker 1: We can't talk about holding Thomas and Alito accountable for

622
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 1: selling on our freedoms for luxury vacations and private jet flights.

623
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: If we fail to hold a senator accountable for selling

624
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,560
Speaker 1: on his chairmanship to a dictator gifting gold bars and

625
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: cash to keep military aid flowing to Egypt as its

626
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 1: government violates human rights. Menendez is of course O due process,

627
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 1: but the American people are O. Trust in our institutions

628
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 1: or fight against right wing fascism depends on that trust.

629
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 1: And I think she correctly identifies their saga that if

630
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 1: you want to be the party that's talking about good government,

631
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 1: talking about the importance of democracy and the importance of

632
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 1: rebuilding trust and institutions, how can you look the other

633
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: way on such a blatant, just insane violation of the

634
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 1: trust and the power that he was given. And again

635
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: I can't get over the fact. Remember this is the

636
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:25,600
Speaker 1: second time he has been indicted on similar charges, and

637
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,840
Speaker 1: after the first time back in twenty fifteen, they went

638
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 1: ahead and gave him the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations.

639
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 1: I mean, this is an incredibly powerful position that they

640
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 1: went ahead and decided to give him after he had

641
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 1: already faced similar charges. It just boggles the mind how

642
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:43,960
Speaker 1: this is allowed to happen.

643
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 2: Hen Klippenstein's been pointing out the difference. For example, Senator

644
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 2: Schumer when Trump indictment quote, no one is above the law.

645
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 2: On Menenda's indictment. Bob Menendez is a dedicated public servant.

646
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 2: He has always fired people of New Jersey. And look

647
00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:00,080
Speaker 2: even Pelosi, you know, think about how many sanctums on

648
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 2: these things he said about the Trump charges all what

649
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 2: are serious? We've covered them all here extensively. Yeah, just

650
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 2: even this, even when she does call for him to resign,

651
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 2: it's the most tepid. She has to be drawn to it.

652
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,880
Speaker 2: She's like, you know, kind of she clearly is weighing

653
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,320
Speaker 2: her words very carefully. Take a lesson.

654
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 7: Several host Democrats, along with New Jersey's Governor Phil Murphy,

655
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,680
Speaker 7: have all called on Center Mennindez to resign.

656
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 2: Do you think he should resign?

657
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 8: I respect their position that they are taking, and the

658
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 8: charges are formidable, and if in fact we're going to

659
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 8: say that if you're indicted, you should resign, we have

660
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,040
Speaker 8: a situation in the House, as you know from the

661
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 8: state of New York, that that would hold too. But

662
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 8: right now, sadly, because of the challenges that we face,

663
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 8: because the skepticism that exists in our country about governance,

664
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 8: about this Republican party that doesn't believe in governance, doesn't

665
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,680
Speaker 8: believe in science, so wants to take down on everything

666
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 8: in order to give tax breaks to the wealthiest. We've

667
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 8: got to stay focused on that. And for that reason,

668
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 8: it probably be a good idea if you did resign.

669
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 2: So because the Republicans are bad and bad and bad

670
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 2: and bad and bad, and for that reason, it'd probably

671
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 2: be a good idea. He was like, come on now,

672
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:17,319
Speaker 2: all right, like what are we doing here? Just say it,

673
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,239
Speaker 2: Say it's terrible, Say he's awful, and you know, how

674
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 2: can you have any credibility whatever? You don't call on

675
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 2: the others. But look, I think that the real sin

676
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 2: it's not because Pelosi. She doesn't suffer for this. The

677
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 2: people who are going to suffer are the actual Democratic senator.

678
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,400
Speaker 2: So we gave credit Senator John Fetterman. Let's give it

679
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:37,399
Speaker 2: to Peter Welch from a Democrat from Vermont, came out

680
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,680
Speaker 2: and he said that, he said that Bob man Endez

681
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:42,720
Speaker 2: has got to go. He said it last night and shared.

682
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 2: Brown also came out and said share it. And you

683
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 2: know the thing is too this needs to be representative

684
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:50,320
Speaker 2: of there's a political benefit to being in front of

685
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,560
Speaker 2: these things. Sharon Brown is in a tough spot, right,

686
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,440
Speaker 2: He's running in a Trump plus eight state, longtime survivor,

687
00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,959
Speaker 2: working class democrat, longtime union guy on policy and more.

688
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:02,880
Speaker 2: And I bet you that if he didn't speak out

689
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:05,160
Speaker 2: about this, his constituents would be like, why are you

690
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 2: okay with democratic corruption? And he can stand up and

691
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 2: be like, no, I was the second person to come

692
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,840
Speaker 2: out and call on him to resign. These are, I believe,

693
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,239
Speaker 2: the type of things that penetrate to the core of

694
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 2: how everybody knows that these filthy politicians actually act. And

695
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 2: so for a lot of doubt. You know, if the

696
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,160
Speaker 2: gold bar thing it's so silation, it's so perfect, they're

697
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 2: real average, normal working day people who look at that.

698
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,920
Speaker 2: They're disgusted to see somebody with sixty six thousand dollars

699
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 2: of gold in their house and cash in their pockets.

700
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:36,560
Speaker 2: That we need to normalize this. There's a benefit to

701
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 2: speaking out on it. It's not just partisan. You got to

702
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 2: call out your own side. That's what we what have

703
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:42,400
Speaker 2: we found The most powerful thing on this show is

704
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,520
Speaker 2: when we call out the people that we even even

705
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 2: kind of agree with, right, you know, that's what gives

706
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 2: us credibility too.

707
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 1: That's when it's uncomfortable, and I will say, I mean,

708
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,799
Speaker 1: where are the Republicans on you know, Justice Thomas, Where

709
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:57,280
Speaker 1: are the Republicans on Donald Trump and Jared Kushner and whatever?

710
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,560
Speaker 1: So I don't want to like make it seem like

711
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:01,840
Speaker 1: they've been calling out their own side. You do have

712
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 1: at least a few Democrats here who have, after the

713
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,839
Speaker 1: second indictment with the gold bars, are like, all right,

714
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 1: this is a bridge too far. But again, all of

715
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 1: this should be so easy. It should be so easy

716
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,920
Speaker 1: to look at what ninety nine point nine percent of

717
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:21,240
Speaker 1: the American people would say is completely unacceptable, wildly corrupt

718
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:25,000
Speaker 1: behavior and just say no, no, you cannot continue to

719
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 1: serve in this position. You must step aside now in

720
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,400
Speaker 1: terms of the political landscapement, and has just announced for

721
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:34,840
Speaker 1: his reelect incredibly amidst all of this, he is facing

722
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:38,480
Speaker 1: a Democratic primary challenger. It does seem like, you know,

723
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 1: to use an old saying in politics, the walls are

724
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:43,759
Speaker 1: starting to close in when you've got much of the

725
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 1: New Jersey Congressional delegation, the new Jersey governor now Nancy Pelosi,

726
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:52,240
Speaker 1: now a growing list of Democratic senators all saying okay, dude,

727
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: time's up. Time for you to go. I don't know

728
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 1: that he will step aside, because he obviously is very

729
00:36:57,239 --> 00:37:00,279
Speaker 1: attached to this particular Senate seat and the benefit that

730
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:04,160
Speaker 1: has conferred upon him and his family. But I do

731
00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:07,320
Speaker 1: think if you have everybody line up behind his Democratic

732
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 1: competitor in the primary, there's a good chance that he

733
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:11,680
Speaker 1: could be ousted in the primary. I think that's probably

734
00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: the best chance you have to get this guy out

735
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,960
Speaker 1: of office in the immediate term, because otherwise, you know,

736
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:20,280
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to resign on his own.

737
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,840
Speaker 1: If the pressure as hot as it is right now,

738
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: isn't causing him to fold, is just causing him to

739
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:27,080
Speaker 1: be defined and make up these insane excuses like no,

740
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,359
Speaker 1: actually it's just because I'm Cuban. Then I don't think

741
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,359
Speaker 1: that he's likely to resign over any of this, no

742
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 1: matter how pologies.

743
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,400
Speaker 2: Through the democratic process. Yeah, people of New Jersey, you

744
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 2: guys need to step up. All of you guys did

745
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 2: reelect him. So I don't know what to tell you, right,

746
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 2: but I'm not from there. Maybe he's done something that

747
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:43,840
Speaker 2: I don't know about.

748
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:46,520
Speaker 1: All right, So turning to some other political news here,

749
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 1: this is kind of interesting. So there's been a lot

750
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: of back and forth about Governor California Gavin Newsom potentially

751
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 1: debating Governor Florida Ron de Santis, who are both sort

752
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,759
Speaker 1: of like it's this weird proxy fight both between their

753
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 1: states and their ideaologies, and also between two very ambitious

754
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:04,680
Speaker 1: men who both clearly want to be President of the

755
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:06,920
Speaker 1: United States, but are probably not going to be President

756
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:08,879
Speaker 1: of the United States at least in twenty twenty four.

757
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,480
Speaker 1: So you finally appear to have an agreement between these

758
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: two gentlemen to debate. Let's put this up on the screen.

759
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:18,520
Speaker 1: From Fox News, they announced that Sean Hannity is going

760
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,880
Speaker 1: to moderate the Red State Versus Blue State debate between

761
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,719
Speaker 1: Florida Governor Ran Desantas and California Governor Gavin Newsom. They

762
00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:28,479
Speaker 1: go on to say that this will occur on November thirty.

763
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 1: If it's going to be a ninety minute debate, is

764
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,000
Speaker 1: going to take place at a location to be determined

765
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,920
Speaker 1: in Georgia. It's going to air on Hannity at nine pm. Hannity,

766
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 1: they say, first raised the prospect of a debate with

767
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,360
Speaker 1: Newsom during his exclusive sit down this past June, following

768
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,600
Speaker 1: which Governor DeSantis officially signed on to participate in July.

769
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 1: This will mark the first time the two governors will

770
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 1: face off in a debate. Now, there is some indication

771
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:54,480
Speaker 1: from the Newsom side that it's not quite as locked

772
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:58,320
Speaker 1: in as Fox News is portraying. There's still some details

773
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:00,680
Speaker 1: that need to be worked out that could cause this

774
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:03,319
Speaker 1: thing to fall apart. It looks like one of the

775
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:06,400
Speaker 1: sticking points originally was going to be whether or not

776
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:10,239
Speaker 1: there was a live studio audience. Newsom, I think understandably

777
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,319
Speaker 1: didn't want the optics of a Fox News audience that's

778
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:16,720
Speaker 1: just constantly cheering Desantas and constantly booing him or playing

779
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,480
Speaker 1: into here or whatever. He wanted it to have, you know,

780
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,240
Speaker 1: for the TV viewing audience, more of a neutral feel

781
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:24,440
Speaker 1: to it, which again I think is understandable. He seems

782
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,640
Speaker 1: to have been able to achieve that in terms in

783
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 1: the negotiations. But anyway, that's what we know. It'll be

784
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:30,800
Speaker 1: interesting content. I mean, I'm looking forward to it. I

785
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 1: think it'd be fun very much looking forward. Look, we

786
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,640
Speaker 1: said this in I think this is great. I want

787
00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 1: to normalize this. It's actually a lot of fun. You know,

788
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:39,520
Speaker 1: at the time we haven't done this in a long time.

789
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure why. I'm trying to think about it.

790
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 2: The last governor to win the presidency was it Bill Clinton,

791
00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:48,239
Speaker 2: I think in nineteen ninety two. But it used to

792
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,040
Speaker 2: be I mean for a long time, going all the

793
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 2: way back to the early days of the Republic. The

794
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,880
Speaker 2: Senate and Washington was not seen as the pathway to

795
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,520
Speaker 2: become president. It was to be a successful governor, people

796
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 2: like Ronald Reagan, people like Bill Clinton. State level politics,

797
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 2: your ability to be an executive. There's like, you know,

798
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 2: an adage of like, oh you ran a state, you

799
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:07,920
Speaker 2: can run a country. It's like an executive thing, and

800
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:10,279
Speaker 2: it's probably something to it. But the point though is

801
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 2: that at that time, in the Clinton era and when

802
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:16,320
Speaker 2: things were less Washington centric, there were like debates and

803
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:20,200
Speaker 2: elevation of statewide politicians and they were seen as the future.

804
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 2: It's only like the Obama era onward that we just

805
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,759
Speaker 2: continue to nominate senators, at least on the Democratic side

806
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:28,760
Speaker 2: and obviously even on the Republican side alternatives to Trump.

807
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,080
Speaker 2: You know, DeSantis is more of akin to the old era.

808
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,720
Speaker 2: So my point though, is that seeing the debates between

809
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 2: these two states I mean, look, undeniable. California and Florida

810
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 2: the two of the most dynamic and economically booming states

811
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 2: in the country. I know that sounds odd to say

812
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,640
Speaker 2: about California, but listen, if it was its own country,

813
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 2: it would be like the seventh it would be a

814
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,680
Speaker 2: member of the G seven. It's a massive economy. Even

815
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 2: with the net loss of five hundred thousand dollars five

816
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 2: hundred thousand or so people, it's like forty million people

817
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:57,200
Speaker 2: who live in the state. They have two very different

818
00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 2: visions of governance, and so to see the two of

819
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,840
Speaker 2: them head to head, they're both like running ads in

820
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:03,440
Speaker 2: each other's states, like why you should.

821
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:03,919
Speaker 1: We Yeah, it's good.

822
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:06,360
Speaker 2: It's a good thing. People should watch it. And frankly,

823
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:08,440
Speaker 2: if you live in Florida, if you live in California,

824
00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:11,040
Speaker 2: these people have way, probably way more of an impact

825
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 2: on your day to day life than a lot of

826
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,359
Speaker 2: people who live here in Washington. So to see those

827
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:18,319
Speaker 2: like contrasts about how you run a state and their

828
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:22,200
Speaker 2: ideas and like even some from social policy to economic policy,

829
00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:24,480
Speaker 2: to COVID policy, whatever. I think it's I think it's

830
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,440
Speaker 2: a fantastic thing for the country. Here's really do.

831
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,439
Speaker 1: Here's a question for you, Sager. Like obviously, like I said,

832
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 1: both of them want to be president.

833
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 4: Yeah.

834
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: Newsom has gone to great lengths to say, Oh no,

835
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:35,600
Speaker 1: I think Kamala Harris is great and I wouldn't run

836
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:37,680
Speaker 1: against her. And I love Joe Biden. Of course, Joe

837
00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 1: Biden's going to be the guy. And I have no

838
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:42,040
Speaker 1: concerns about his age whatever. He's been fully on the message,

839
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:44,839
Speaker 1: on the script in terms of Biden Harris. But you know,

840
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 1: if for whatever reason, there was to be an opening

841
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,239
Speaker 1: this year, no doubt he'd jump in. And I think

842
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: he's more positioning himself for twenty twenty eight, no doubt

843
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,680
Speaker 1: about that. In terms of DeSantis, do you think that he, Sacer,

844
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:59,319
Speaker 1: has harmed himself in this primary sufficiently that he would

845
00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:01,479
Speaker 1: be kind of out in terms of a twenty twenty

846
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:02,000
Speaker 1: eight run.

847
00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:04,600
Speaker 2: I don't know. You know, it's a tough question. I

848
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:07,800
Speaker 2: can only say what I've been reading and hearing about,

849
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:12,160
Speaker 2: which is that his presidential run has significantly diminished his

850
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:14,759
Speaker 2: power in the state of Florida. So far, he was

851
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,200
Speaker 2: seen as untouchable, and he was seen I mean for

852
00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 2: a good reason. Yeah, he won the biggest margin for

853
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:24,480
Speaker 2: Florida governor in modern history. He transformed the politics of

854
00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:28,320
Speaker 2: the state. He had ironclad control over the Florida Republican Party.

855
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,520
Speaker 2: Now there's a lot of cracks that are beginning to show.

856
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:32,200
Speaker 2: You got a lot of Florida Republicans who are back

857
00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 2: from Trump. They're also like, oh, you're not as popular

858
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,120
Speaker 2: as we want. Stop, Maybe we're going to buck you

859
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:40,120
Speaker 2: whenever comes to the state legislature. So his overnight transformation

860
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 2: of the state has begun to crumble. And I think

861
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,080
Speaker 2: that the record that people were so celebrating, he's not

862
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,480
Speaker 2: going to have the same ability to just ram through

863
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,279
Speaker 2: and do whatever he wants in the state legislature like

864
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 2: he did at one time, which was the bedrock of

865
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:58,880
Speaker 2: his appeal as president. So at the same time, in America,

866
00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:02,239
Speaker 2: you shoot your shot, wasn't there was a chance? It

867
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 2: was small. I personally wouldn't have done it if I

868
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:06,120
Speaker 2: were him, But if you were as ambitious and he

869
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:08,560
Speaker 2: wants to be president, and there was a time, you

870
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 2: know the moment, and I think he probably did make

871
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,240
Speaker 2: the right call in terms of there is and probably

872
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,319
Speaker 2: still is a small chance that he could be the

873
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:19,239
Speaker 2: eventual Republican nominee but if things can go the way

874
00:43:19,239 --> 00:43:21,279
Speaker 2: that they are, I do think it probably hurt him

875
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 2: overall in the long run. This isn't Reagan running against

876
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 2: Ford in the seventy six primary, which is what actually

877
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 2: made him the air parent this time around because it

878
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:34,280
Speaker 2: was so close and Ford actually had to accommodate Reagan

879
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:36,480
Speaker 2: and even think about making this vice president and all

880
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 2: of this thing because he showed real power and appeal

881
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,359
Speaker 2: to the overall base. Instead, we've seen a reversion from

882
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:46,200
Speaker 2: DeSantis's original high position and poll down to falling as

883
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:49,760
Speaker 2: just your average other Republican. I think that is overall

884
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,239
Speaker 2: a political net, but it's still early. You know, you

885
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 2: don't know.

886
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:54,680
Speaker 1: I think that's sure. The other thing that's a real

887
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:57,000
Speaker 1: issue for him is that donors have fallen out.

888
00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:58,640
Speaker 2: I love with him, probably.

889
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,840
Speaker 1: And I mean for a guy who was really leaning

890
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:02,279
Speaker 1: on that, I'm not going to say he didn't have

891
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,080
Speaker 1: his own base of support. I think he definitely did,

892
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,440
Speaker 1: at least I think that's waned over the over the months.

893
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:10,800
Speaker 1: But he definitely did have his own base of excited

894
00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:14,279
Speaker 1: support nationwide. But he was really making the play to

895
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:19,400
Speaker 1: be the donor alternative to Trump. And you know, they've

896
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:21,799
Speaker 1: all based, not all, but many of them have moved on.

897
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:23,759
Speaker 1: Many of them have fallen out of love with the

898
00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:26,399
Speaker 1: idea that this guy is really the future and this

899
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 1: is you know, really the person they need to get behind.

900
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,600
Speaker 1: They've sort of you know, Florida with Tim Scott, Florida

901
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 1: with Nikki Ale. The latest analysis that I saw is

902
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 1: they've basically given up on it being anybody other than

903
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:38,600
Speaker 1: Trump at this point. Yeah, but I think the fact

904
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:41,399
Speaker 1: that whether it's fair or unfair, and it's hard for me. Look,

905
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: I'm not on a campaign trail. I don't see how

906
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: he's actually interacting with voters. I can't tell how much

907
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 1: the image of him as this like super awkward dude

908
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:53,279
Speaker 1: who you know, has these strange interactions with people. I

909
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:55,399
Speaker 1: can't tell how much of that is real and how

910
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:58,280
Speaker 1: much of it is created. But it kind of doesn't matter,

911
00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:01,320
Speaker 1: because that's the impression of him that has been made

912
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:03,879
Speaker 1: with a lot of people, and it's stuck, and it's

913
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,279
Speaker 1: certainly stuck with that group of donors that he would need,

914
00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:09,320
Speaker 1: you know, their backing in order to make a credible

915
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:13,239
Speaker 1: run in twenty twenty eight. So oddly enough, even though

916
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:16,080
Speaker 1: DeSantis is the one actually in the race right now

917
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,560
Speaker 1: and has gotten so much national media attention and had

918
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:21,080
Speaker 1: the whole Fox News organization pulling for him. I would

919
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: actually say Gavin Newsom is in some ways in a

920
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:27,640
Speaker 1: more powerful political position right now for the future and

921
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 1: for representing the future of either of the two major parties.

922
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the thing is about Newsom. And look,

923
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:36,319
Speaker 2: I can't stand Newsom obviously. I think he's bad in

924
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 2: many respects. And we'll talk a little bit about that

925
00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:42,600
Speaker 2: just in a moment, about policy wise, his leadership under COVID,

926
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,320
Speaker 2: his sliminess and all that. He's a shape shifter is

927
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:48,520
Speaker 2: what he's savvy. You know, I see it when I

928
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:50,480
Speaker 2: call it like I see it. He did well on

929
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,600
Speaker 2: the Sean Hannity interview. He's got the shamelessness enough to

930
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:56,880
Speaker 2: be both like normy ish but also you know, to

931
00:45:56,960 --> 00:46:00,400
Speaker 2: pander to the right coalitional basis. You know, it's not

932
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:03,960
Speaker 2: easy getting elected as the governor of the state of California.

933
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:07,120
Speaker 2: He survived the recall which he could easily run on.

934
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:09,759
Speaker 2: And you know a lot of Democrats they agree with

935
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,080
Speaker 2: Gavin Newsom, so I could I could definitely see a

936
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:14,919
Speaker 2: world where he was able to mount a success also,

937
00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:18,319
Speaker 2: you know, he's probably more likable, and this is sad

938
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,480
Speaker 2: to say, than Kamala Harris, Pete Budajet. So if that's

939
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 2: the bench, then yeah, I think, you know, given where

940
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 2: he is, he could easily become a presidential contender in

941
00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:28,800
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight after Biden.

942
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:32,279
Speaker 1: For me, as a leftist, Newsom's record in California is

943
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:35,799
Speaker 1: very mixed. I think I would compare it favorably to like,

944
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,520
Speaker 1: you know, i'd prefer him to probably like definitely to

945
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:40,960
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris or Pete Bootaget. But as we're about to

946
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:45,080
Speaker 1: show you, I see him and DeSantis both as sort

947
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:49,360
Speaker 1: of similar, almost like mirror images. They're both very clearly ambitious,

948
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:51,640
Speaker 1: they're both very finger in the wind. You know, Desanta's

949
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:54,520
Speaker 1: positioned himself as this tea party small government guy when

950
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 1: he's in the House and when that's the like thing

951
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:59,080
Speaker 1: of the day in the Republican Party, and now he's

952
00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 1: shifted to try to on this more populous rhetoric, etc.

953
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:04,200
Speaker 1: And try to have a break from that past. So

954
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:07,080
Speaker 1: you can see very much the way that he's trying

955
00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:09,720
Speaker 1: to read the mood and trying to translate that into

956
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,040
Speaker 1: his political position is the same thing with Gavin news

957
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:15,040
Speaker 1: You know, he's real finger in the wind, you can see.

958
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,440
Speaker 1: And let's go out and transition now to talking about

959
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:20,680
Speaker 1: his latest move in the state of California, which is

960
00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:24,440
Speaker 1: fascinating because Newsom coming up in California. I mean, this

961
00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:26,400
Speaker 1: is a guy who was really a darling of Silicon

962
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:28,319
Speaker 1: Valley in the tech sector. And you know, a lot

963
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:32,080
Speaker 1: of fundraising in California, not just in California, a lot

964
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:34,600
Speaker 1: of the national fundraising the Democratic Party and some in

965
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 1: the Republican Party too comes from Silicon Valley tech oligarchs, billionaires,

966
00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:42,799
Speaker 1: et cetera. So he's been very closely tied with them.

967
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:46,560
Speaker 1: They've been very responsible for his rise. At the same time,

968
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:50,239
Speaker 1: he's now trying to position himself more on the progressive

969
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,200
Speaker 1: end of the spectrum and as a friend and ally

970
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,840
Speaker 1: of labor, which has also you know, supported him in

971
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:58,759
Speaker 1: many respects throughout his career. So put this up on

972
00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:02,080
Speaker 1: the screen. There was a bill but overwhelming past the

973
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:07,680
Speaker 1: California legislature which would have required that autonomous trucks have

974
00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:12,040
Speaker 1: a human being, an actual truck driver present in them.

975
00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:15,840
Speaker 1: Of course, industry hates it, Silicon Valley hates it. But

976
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:19,400
Speaker 1: labor very much behind this, both out of safety concerns

977
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:23,040
Speaker 1: and also clearly out of job concerns, because if you

978
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:26,879
Speaker 1: actually move to a future where trucks are driven autonomously,

979
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:28,960
Speaker 1: you're talking about a lot of hundreds of thousands of

980
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 1: jobs just in the state of California. So Teamster is

981
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:36,440
Speaker 1: very supportive of this bill, and, like I said, sailed

982
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:42,000
Speaker 1: through the California legislature by huge margins. But guess what. Newsome,

983
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:45,800
Speaker 1: caught in a tough spot between his Silicon Valley donors

984
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,640
Speaker 1: and between labor, decides to back you know who, the

985
00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:54,279
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley donor. So he vetos this bill. It was

986
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,280
Speaker 1: vetoed Friday night. It would a band self driving trucks

987
00:48:57,280 --> 00:48:59,920
Speaker 1: weighed more than ten thousand pounds, ranging from ups to

988
00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:03,160
Speaker 1: evans to massive big rigs, from operating on public roads

989
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:06,080
Speaker 1: unless a human driver is on board. And let me

990
00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:11,800
Speaker 1: tell you something, the Teamsters and their newly elected president

991
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:14,720
Speaker 1: are not having it. Put this up on the screen

992
00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:18,360
Speaker 1: with what they had to say in response. This is

993
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:21,239
Speaker 1: Sean O'Brien. He says, Gavin Newsom doesn't have the guts

994
00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:24,440
Speaker 1: to face working people. He'd rather give our jobs away

995
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:27,640
Speaker 1: in the dead of night. Late yesterday, the California Governor

996
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:31,319
Speaker 1: vetoed AB three sixteen that would have put human operators

997
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:35,840
Speaker 1: in autonomous vehicle, saving jobs and protecting communities. Go on,

998
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:39,279
Speaker 1: He says, ninety five percent bipartisan support in the legislature,

999
00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:43,239
Speaker 1: seventy five percent public support, but Newsom still killed it.

1000
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:46,640
Speaker 1: He's giving a green light to put these dangerous rigs

1001
00:49:46,719 --> 00:49:49,240
Speaker 1: on the road. And there's one more piece here. He says,

1002
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:52,040
Speaker 1: any politician who turns their back on workers to curry

1003
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:55,480
Speaker 1: campaign contributions for Corporate America and big tech, better square

1004
00:49:55,600 --> 00:50:00,600
Speaker 1: up teamsters will not walk away from this fight. Listen,

1005
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:04,719
Speaker 1: maybe it's a small thing, but in this era when

1006
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:09,680
Speaker 1: labor is so highly supported and so popular, and when

1007
00:50:09,719 --> 00:50:13,800
Speaker 1: American people are overwhelmingly backing workers and are very concerned

1008
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:16,880
Speaker 1: about what these new technologies are going to mean for

1009
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:20,000
Speaker 1: the workforce and for safety and for all of our future,

1010
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:22,880
Speaker 1: that you're signing with the tech oligarchs in this moment

1011
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:25,160
Speaker 1: is very telling and very troubling.

1012
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:27,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, and also it comes on the heels of it. And

1013
00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:29,400
Speaker 2: it's funny because I had just told you guys about

1014
00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:31,920
Speaker 2: this before this video went viral. I was in Austin

1015
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:34,719
Speaker 2: for Marshall's wedding, and while I was there, I had

1016
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 2: an Uber driver who was telling me. He's like, man,

1017
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:39,279
Speaker 2: do you know anything about He knew who we were

1018
00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:40,880
Speaker 2: because of the show, and he's like, do you know anything

1019
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:42,920
Speaker 2: about these self driving cars here in Austin. I said, no,

1020
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:45,000
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about it, and she points out

1021
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 2: to me. He goes, yeah, one of these guys always

1022
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:48,640
Speaker 2: hit me. One of these almost hit me yesterday. And

1023
00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:50,760
Speaker 2: he's like, by the way, when you're crossing the street,

1024
00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:53,040
Speaker 2: make sure you watch out because sometimes they don't watch

1025
00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:55,960
Speaker 2: pedestrians properly. And I was like, what this is crazy?

1026
00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:58,680
Speaker 2: And I started looking around. You could actually start to

1027
00:50:58,719 --> 00:51:03,000
Speaker 2: see it. Well, just yesterday a video has gone viral. Guys,

1028
00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:05,000
Speaker 2: let's go and put this up there on the screen

1029
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:07,960
Speaker 2: and play it as I'm talking over it. These are

1030
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:13,200
Speaker 2: all of these crews operated Chevy Bolts causing a massive

1031
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:18,440
Speaker 2: traffic jam. They're autonomous self driving vehicles. And one man

1032
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:20,799
Speaker 2: is going, quote, are you telling me they have no

1033
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:23,080
Speaker 2: way to get out of this? For those who are watching,

1034
00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:25,799
Speaker 2: you can see they're just lined up car after car

1035
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:29,160
Speaker 2: after car. They have no idea where they're going, and

1036
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 2: they are all over the city of Austin, in downtown,

1037
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:35,920
Speaker 2: and it's one of those where, look, I'm a believer

1038
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:39,680
Speaker 2: that we will maybe eventually get to the self driving technology,

1039
00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:43,640
Speaker 2: but having experienced some of it, been in some friends

1040
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:46,319
Speaker 2: and tried multiple different variations, at this point, yeah, we're

1041
00:51:46,760 --> 00:51:49,640
Speaker 2: not there yet yet. I think we're at a point where,

1042
00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:52,239
Speaker 2: you know, autopilot on highways, I think we're there. I

1043
00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:54,719
Speaker 2: think we're there everywhere else, I don't think we're there

1044
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:58,240
Speaker 2: at all, especially not on the city street and especially

1045
00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:00,600
Speaker 2: not Austin where the infrastructure is not ready for the

1046
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,319
Speaker 2: population boom that there is right now. So I think

1047
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:05,920
Speaker 2: it's a little bit crazy. But it gets really to

1048
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,239
Speaker 2: what the bill was saying is just like, hey, we

1049
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:10,520
Speaker 2: want to have human drivers right in the autonomous truck

1050
00:52:10,719 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 2: to make sure, just to make sure that in case

1051
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:16,280
Speaker 2: anything goes wrong, just like in that video, that somebody

1052
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,360
Speaker 2: can do it. Now, if you can prove over millions

1053
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:21,640
Speaker 2: of miles, you know, and all that that that won't

1054
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:24,480
Speaker 2: be the case, then fine, maybe we can have that conversation.

1055
00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:27,719
Speaker 2: But in the interim it's probably a good idea. And

1056
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:31,040
Speaker 2: we're talking about freaking eighteen wheeler trucks here, on major highways.

1057
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:33,080
Speaker 2: I mean, if one thing goes wrong, you can kill people.

1058
00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:35,160
Speaker 2: Oh you get something to get terribly wrong.

1059
00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:38,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And you know you just come to realize

1060
00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,640
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about it, they can get like ninety

1061
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:42,520
Speaker 1: five percent of the way.

1062
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:43,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can get pretty close.

1063
00:52:43,640 --> 00:52:45,800
Speaker 1: You can get pretty close, but that last five percent

1064
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:49,160
Speaker 1: is really important, definite. All these little you know, think

1065
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:54,480
Speaker 1: of how many unusual, unique situations that you would encounter

1066
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:57,000
Speaker 1: on the road. I mean, actually, when we're driving into

1067
00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:59,520
Speaker 1: DC last night, had this there was like you know,

1068
00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:01,560
Speaker 1: some you have broken down in the middle of the

1069
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 1: road and there's a fire truck and there's a police

1070
00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:05,640
Speaker 1: officers in the middle, and you got to do something

1071
00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:08,000
Speaker 1: weird to go around them that you know was against

1072
00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:10,839
Speaker 1: the typical traffic laws, but that's what it was. Necessitated

1073
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:14,319
Speaker 1: that situation. Like they can't deal with those sorts of

1074
00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:17,760
Speaker 1: novel situations or the way that human means actually drive

1075
00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:20,080
Speaker 1: versus like the technical like you always talk about the.

1076
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,360
Speaker 2: Left turn, leftding left turns. It's not there yet, yeah.

1077
00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:25,600
Speaker 1: I mean, and I think it'll probably be a while

1078
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:28,759
Speaker 1: before you can work out because those last pieces are

1079
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:33,440
Speaker 1: so complex and really require like the human eye and

1080
00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:36,080
Speaker 1: understanding of the situation and be able to process these

1081
00:53:36,120 --> 00:53:37,440
Speaker 1: things that are novel. Situation.

1082
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:39,319
Speaker 2: Let me give you the real nightmare scenario. You're in

1083
00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:42,080
Speaker 2: a bad situation. You got to go two ways. You're

1084
00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:44,000
Speaker 2: going to hit somebody either way. There's a kid on

1085
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:46,160
Speaker 2: the left, there's old person on the right. Who's the

1086
00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:50,080
Speaker 2: AI hitting. It's like, well, that's that's a scary one

1087
00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:53,480
Speaker 2: in these morals. Now by the way, we would I mean,

1088
00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:56,040
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even make that. You know, you obviously break

1089
00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:59,360
Speaker 2: and you try as easy as possible, but somewhere somewhere

1090
00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:02,440
Speaker 2: that has to programmed. Yeah, it's like that is a

1091
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:06,200
Speaker 2: terrifying one to even contemplate. And you know, or even

1092
00:54:06,239 --> 00:54:10,000
Speaker 2: in terms of spins, and I've even read or heard

1093
00:54:10,040 --> 00:54:12,600
Speaker 2: about people who like to mess with Tesla's when they're

1094
00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,600
Speaker 2: in autopilots and like go into their lane because the

1095
00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:17,560
Speaker 2: car instantly reacts. But it's not scary. And then also

1096
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:21,560
Speaker 2: it doesn't necessarily compute potholes all that well, something that

1097
00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:24,120
Speaker 2: we have a lot of here in Washington, d C.

1098
00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:27,960
Speaker 2: So it's just there's so so many things and the

1099
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 2: chaos of everyday human life, of which we're just not

1100
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:32,600
Speaker 2: there yet. Yeah, we're just not there.

1101
00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:35,759
Speaker 1: But the moral questions, I mean, that's that's not a

1102
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:39,920
Speaker 1: technological fix. No, yeah, we have about like do you

1103
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:42,520
Speaker 1: hit the dog or do you still crash?

1104
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go, you know, like point squirrel even exactly.

1105
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:48,880
Speaker 1: I mean, these are situations that happen not uncommonly, and

1106
00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:51,720
Speaker 1: we're going to outsource our moral judgment to a computer

1107
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:53,560
Speaker 1: designed by whoever.

1108
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:53,960
Speaker 2: Right.

1109
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:58,319
Speaker 1: Scary scary future, very scary future that Gavin Newsom has

1110
00:54:58,320 --> 00:54:59,560
Speaker 1: now come down on the side of.

1111
00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:06,759
Speaker 2: Bombshell. New report from Michael Schellenberger over at Public his newsletter.

1112
00:55:07,239 --> 00:55:09,360
Speaker 2: He's done some great reporting on the subject, so I

1113
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:11,640
Speaker 2: would definitely want to give him credit. Let's please go

1114
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:13,200
Speaker 2: ahead and put this up there on the screen, and

1115
00:55:13,239 --> 00:55:15,880
Speaker 2: I'm going to read a little bit from his report. Quote.

1116
00:55:15,880 --> 00:55:18,960
Speaker 2: In August, shortly after the US government UFO whistleblower David

1117
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:22,640
Speaker 2: Grush gave testimony to Congress about crash spacecraft and alien biologics.

1118
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:25,719
Speaker 2: Many observers wonder how much credence to put into his testimony.

1119
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:28,800
Speaker 2: Grush is just a single individual. The other individual individuals

1120
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:32,400
Speaker 2: were just former Navy pilots, but at least thirty whistleblowers

1121
00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:35,680
Speaker 2: working for the federal government or government contractors have given

1122
00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:38,640
Speaker 2: testimony or a protected disclosure to the Office of the

1123
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:43,080
Speaker 2: Intelligence Community Inspector General, the Defense Inspector General, and to

1124
00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:46,360
Speaker 2: Congress over the last several months. According to multiple sources

1125
00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:49,720
Speaker 2: now interviewed by public. When told whistleblowers had come forward

1126
00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:53,560
Speaker 2: to share this information, even skeptics the people like Mick

1127
00:55:53,600 --> 00:55:55,960
Speaker 2: West had said it'd be interesting. More people saying the

1128
00:55:55,960 --> 00:55:58,720
Speaker 2: same thing independently makes it more likely to be true.

1129
00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:01,160
Speaker 2: What they say is that this is all in the

1130
00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:04,719
Speaker 2: backdrop of a very confusing report Crystal that came out

1131
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:07,560
Speaker 2: from the Inspector General that was made on September fifteenth.

1132
00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:11,000
Speaker 2: In that September fifteenth letter, the current Inspector General of

1133
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:15,279
Speaker 2: the Intelligence Community appeared to deny that his office was

1134
00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:18,239
Speaker 2: investigating these claims. He said quote that the office has

1135
00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:21,600
Speaker 2: not conducted any audit, inspection evaluation review of alleged UAP

1136
00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:26,360
Speaker 2: programs within responsibility authority of the DNI. But the wording

1137
00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:29,560
Speaker 2: actually of his response gives him a lot of wiggle

1138
00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:32,960
Speaker 2: room of which this testimony now fits into, which is

1139
00:56:32,960 --> 00:56:37,040
Speaker 2: that the original official taxonomy quote for the ICIG activities

1140
00:56:37,160 --> 00:56:40,840
Speaker 2: include audits, investigations, inspections and reviews. It is then curious

1141
00:56:40,840 --> 00:56:44,520
Speaker 2: that an investigation is not being denied. So there's a

1142
00:56:44,520 --> 00:56:47,280
Speaker 2: lot of word salad that this all comes back into,

1143
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:51,600
Speaker 2: but the very basic is what Schollenberger can report. More

1144
00:56:51,719 --> 00:56:56,680
Speaker 2: than thirty former or current officials have made classified disclosures

1145
00:56:56,719 --> 00:56:59,880
Speaker 2: to the Inspector General of both the DoD two con

1146
00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:03,359
Speaker 2: UNGRESS and through the intelligence community around some of these

1147
00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:07,640
Speaker 2: alleged programs and some of the details about what's actually

1148
00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:12,000
Speaker 2: happening here, you know, really go into some of what

1149
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:16,160
Speaker 2: GRUSH has made claims around, both in terms of recovered

1150
00:57:16,200 --> 00:57:20,840
Speaker 2: craft quote unquote biologics, in terms of quote like kinetic

1151
00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:25,840
Speaker 2: incidents in some cases, you know, between these, between these

1152
00:57:25,960 --> 00:57:29,400
Speaker 2: alleged you know, how do I say it being's craft

1153
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:33,640
Speaker 2: whatever people are saying, and I think it's just pretty extraordinary.

1154
00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:36,000
Speaker 2: The other one that I definitely want to highlight is

1155
00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:40,400
Speaker 2: this quote. Testimony has included both firs hand and secondhand

1156
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:44,360
Speaker 2: reports of crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs by the

1157
00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:48,000
Speaker 2: United States, Russian and Chinese governments, the testing of materials

1158
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:52,120
Speaker 2: obtained from retrieve craft, active and ongoing government disinformation operations,

1159
00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:56,920
Speaker 2: kinetic military action with UAP's AKA shootdown or tried shootdown,

1160
00:57:57,120 --> 00:58:00,800
Speaker 2: and contact collaboration with quote non human intelligence, and the

1161
00:58:00,840 --> 00:58:05,560
Speaker 2: successful reverse engineering of a triangle shape craft with unconventional propulsion.

1162
00:58:05,680 --> 00:58:09,880
Speaker 2: So some more interesting reporting there coming out from Michael Schellenberger.

1163
00:58:09,920 --> 00:58:12,720
Speaker 2: And before everybody says like show it to me, I agree, listen,

1164
00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:14,240
Speaker 2: show it to me. I want to see it too.

1165
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:16,480
Speaker 2: I want to see him come before Congress. But don't

1166
00:58:16,520 --> 00:58:19,680
Speaker 2: forget we're seeing a major stonewalling right now in Congress.

1167
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,600
Speaker 2: Congressman Tim Burchett and a Paulina Luna. They've said we

1168
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:24,960
Speaker 2: will have another hearing all of that, that's what they've

1169
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:27,120
Speaker 2: been granted, but they still have not been given the

1170
00:58:27,240 --> 00:58:31,360
Speaker 2: special compartmentalized access to be given a classified briefing Guy Grush,

1171
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:33,960
Speaker 2: which it doesn't make any sense to me. I've spoken

1172
00:58:34,000 --> 00:58:36,640
Speaker 2: now with people on the Hill and I'm like, if

1173
00:58:36,640 --> 00:58:38,760
Speaker 2: you're a normal congressman, like, why is it so hard

1174
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:42,320
Speaker 2: to just book a special compartmentalized facility to get a briefing.

1175
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:43,760
Speaker 2: And they're like, well, if it had to do with

1176
00:58:43,800 --> 00:58:46,080
Speaker 2: iron or something like that, you could get it done easily.

1177
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:48,400
Speaker 2: But they keep getting denied access and it's all up

1178
00:58:48,440 --> 00:58:51,320
Speaker 2: to the House Intelligence Community Committee which apparently doesn't want

1179
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:53,160
Speaker 2: anything to do with this, so a whole there's a

1180
00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:55,040
Speaker 2: lot of crazy stuff that's going on behind the scenes.

1181
00:58:55,120 --> 00:58:57,200
Speaker 1: I mean, it's very If this is true and you've

1182
00:58:57,200 --> 00:59:00,680
Speaker 1: got thirty to fifty more whistleblowers who are corroborating some

1183
00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:03,080
Speaker 1: aspects of the story, obviously anyone would have to look

1184
00:59:03,080 --> 00:59:05,200
Speaker 1: at that and say that's very interesting. Of course, is

1185
00:59:05,240 --> 00:59:08,440
Speaker 1: there a sager Do we have any expectation of when

1186
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:11,360
Speaker 1: we'll learn more about what these whistleblowers are saying, because

1187
00:59:11,400 --> 00:59:15,200
Speaker 1: the information here is very vague about what pieces of

1188
00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:18,120
Speaker 1: the story they're corroborating, whether it's actual you know, the

1189
00:59:18,360 --> 00:59:22,560
Speaker 1: craft retrieval programs, et cetera, or whether it is wrongdoing

1190
00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:25,480
Speaker 1: within this program, which may not be indicative of anything

1191
00:59:25,520 --> 00:59:27,160
Speaker 1: with regard to extra trustrial life.

1192
00:59:27,240 --> 00:59:27,439
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1193
00:59:27,440 --> 00:59:30,280
Speaker 2: I mean, it's one of those where the disclosure can

1194
00:59:30,400 --> 00:59:33,960
Speaker 2: only come through an open forum, and the only open

1195
00:59:34,040 --> 00:59:37,680
Speaker 2: forum that we currently have is Congress, and Congress needs

1196
00:59:37,720 --> 00:59:40,280
Speaker 2: to do more of what they did with Grush. One

1197
00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:42,000
Speaker 2: of the reasons why I love that hearing is, look,

1198
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:44,320
Speaker 2: it's all under oath. If he lied, I'll be the

1199
00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:47,040
Speaker 2: first one to prosecute him, all right, throw his ass

1200
00:59:47,080 --> 00:59:49,240
Speaker 2: in jail because he wasted my time and he wasted

1201
00:59:49,240 --> 00:59:52,800
Speaker 2: the American people's times. He said all this stuff under oath.

1202
00:59:53,120 --> 00:59:56,160
Speaker 2: Now let's get to the point of well, did he

1203
00:59:56,280 --> 00:59:58,440
Speaker 2: lie did he not lie? Let's get to the investigation

1204
00:59:58,520 --> 01:00:02,560
Speaker 2: of the Inspector General community. And also in terms of

1205
01:00:02,840 --> 01:00:04,960
Speaker 2: the way that all of these come out, the parsing

1206
01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:07,600
Speaker 2: of the language, they always try and emphasize one thing,

1207
01:00:07,640 --> 01:00:10,200
Speaker 2: there's nothing going on behind the scenes, this is all crap,

1208
01:00:10,360 --> 01:00:14,920
Speaker 2: But they always leave themselves room for no real explicit

1209
01:00:14,960 --> 01:00:17,240
Speaker 2: denial of what's happening. And I just have to recall

1210
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:20,400
Speaker 2: that when Grush came forward his claims, I'm not saying

1211
01:00:20,440 --> 01:00:22,880
Speaker 2: they were vetted by the Inspector General, but they called

1212
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 2: them urgent and credible. His allegations that were made. He's

1213
01:00:27,080 --> 01:00:30,000
Speaker 2: now spoken out. He's did a big documentary with some

1214
01:00:30,040 --> 01:00:32,720
Speaker 2: of the Yes Theory guys. I recommend people go and

1215
01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:35,600
Speaker 2: listen to it if you're interested. But what I'm looking

1216
01:00:35,600 --> 01:00:37,240
Speaker 2: for is not just David Grush. I mean to me,

1217
01:00:37,320 --> 01:00:38,960
Speaker 2: you know, no offense to him. I think he's, you know,

1218
01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:42,240
Speaker 2: courageous man for coming forward. But it's not about him.

1219
01:00:42,280 --> 01:00:44,480
Speaker 2: It's about the claim, whether it's true, and whether there

1220
01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:47,960
Speaker 2: are multiple other people who can corroborate it. So Shallenberger,

1221
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:49,720
Speaker 2: I mean, was one of the first to also report

1222
01:00:49,800 --> 01:00:52,040
Speaker 2: after Grush came forward about some of what was going on.

1223
01:00:52,240 --> 01:00:55,920
Speaker 2: He's a knowledgeable source and his reporting has not been denied,

1224
01:00:56,240 --> 01:00:59,080
Speaker 2: you know, by people inside of the intelligence community, by

1225
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 2: the DD Inspector General. They always fall back on the

1226
01:01:01,760 --> 01:01:05,200
Speaker 2: same thing, like with the bs NASA conference, We've got

1227
01:01:05,320 --> 01:01:08,360
Speaker 2: no evidence of extraterrestrial life. It's like, yeah, but you're

1228
01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:11,000
Speaker 2: admitting in an open form you have no idea what

1229
01:01:11,040 --> 01:01:13,480
Speaker 2: any of this stuff is. You have no clue. And

1230
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:15,440
Speaker 2: it's like, well, yeah, you have no evidence that it is.

1231
01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:17,000
Speaker 2: You got no evidence that it Isn't you just have

1232
01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:18,880
Speaker 2: no evidence period because you don't know what the hell

1233
01:01:19,240 --> 01:01:22,840
Speaker 2: is going on. And obviously I want to believe, but

1234
01:01:22,920 --> 01:01:25,880
Speaker 2: I'm keeping my skeptics hat on. As everyone saw with

1235
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:30,720
Speaker 2: the Aliens incident, the body on this one, I just

1236
01:01:31,200 --> 01:01:34,640
Speaker 2: want more people to come forward in a public setting,

1237
01:01:34,880 --> 01:01:38,080
Speaker 2: and ultimately it just comes down to programs like ours

1238
01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:41,840
Speaker 2: educating people so that they can pressure Congress. I mean,

1239
01:01:42,040 --> 01:01:44,480
Speaker 2: one thing that I will say about the public pressure

1240
01:01:44,800 --> 01:01:47,480
Speaker 2: when I showed up to that UFO hearing. I was stuck.

1241
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:50,640
Speaker 2: There were there was only thirty seats for the public.

1242
01:01:51,040 --> 01:01:53,520
Speaker 2: Hundreds of people lined up out of the back. The

1243
01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:57,280
Speaker 2: staffers told me they had not seen public participation or

1244
01:01:57,360 --> 01:02:01,160
Speaker 2: enthusiasm for hearing like that since the wreaking Muller report

1245
01:02:01,320 --> 01:02:04,080
Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen. And there's a very different crowd. Some

1246
01:02:04,120 --> 01:02:06,680
Speaker 2: guys that I met there. Burchette even talked about this.

1247
01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:08,680
Speaker 2: One guy flew all the way from Belgium just to

1248
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:12,040
Speaker 2: attend this hearing. Like people are really interested, really in

1249
01:02:12,080 --> 01:02:14,640
Speaker 2: the subject. So yeah, I know, I personally I wouldn't

1250
01:02:14,680 --> 01:02:17,160
Speaker 2: do it, but hey, you know, Belgium's a boring country.

1251
01:02:17,240 --> 01:02:20,880
Speaker 2: No offense. It's very beautiful, don't get me wrong. Good chocolate, Yeah,

1252
01:02:20,920 --> 01:02:24,440
Speaker 2: good chocolate, good fries freaks as they call them, so beautiful.

1253
01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:27,680
Speaker 2: I didn't truy the I didn't have hot chocolate. It

1254
01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:29,520
Speaker 2: was delicious. Antwerp, by the way, one of the most

1255
01:02:29,520 --> 01:02:31,440
Speaker 2: beautiful cities have ever been. To shout out to Antwerp.

1256
01:02:31,800 --> 01:02:34,680
Speaker 2: But my point though, is that immense public pressure and

1257
01:02:34,720 --> 01:02:38,040
Speaker 2: public interest. It's something these politicians and no offense. I

1258
01:02:38,080 --> 01:02:39,840
Speaker 2: think Burchett is a believer, but the rest of them,

1259
01:02:39,880 --> 01:02:42,400
Speaker 2: I don't care. They don't care either way, but they

1260
01:02:42,440 --> 01:02:45,440
Speaker 2: see that the public is animated and interested, and so

1261
01:02:45,520 --> 01:02:47,320
Speaker 2: I think it was a big wake up call for

1262
01:02:47,440 --> 01:02:49,560
Speaker 2: many of the people, at least anecdotally from what I

1263
01:02:49,600 --> 01:02:51,440
Speaker 2: saw when I was in the room, many of the

1264
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:54,240
Speaker 2: people who were in Congress were stunned at the amount

1265
01:02:54,320 --> 01:02:57,680
Speaker 2: of attention that people were that they were receiving of.

1266
01:02:57,880 --> 01:02:59,959
Speaker 2: Just I mean, Burchick was agreed to, like a select

1267
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:03,000
Speaker 2: use taking freaking selfies with them. So play a little

1268
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:05,520
Speaker 2: bit to their vanity, you know, make it politically beneficial

1269
01:03:05,560 --> 01:03:09,320
Speaker 2: to them to push for investigation. And because a lot

1270
01:03:09,360 --> 01:03:11,919
Speaker 2: of the powers that be behind the scenes, like I said,

1271
01:03:11,960 --> 01:03:14,720
Speaker 2: the House Intelligence Community and a committee and others, they're

1272
01:03:14,720 --> 01:03:17,120
Speaker 2: trying to quash this stuff. And so if you show

1273
01:03:17,160 --> 01:03:19,200
Speaker 2: them that it's undeniable and that we have to have

1274
01:03:19,320 --> 01:03:22,360
Speaker 2: more disclosure, more people under oath, and to just talk

1275
01:03:22,400 --> 01:03:24,520
Speaker 2: about it in an open public setting and form and

1276
01:03:24,560 --> 01:03:27,600
Speaker 2: get real yes or no answers to our questions, that's

1277
01:03:27,640 --> 01:03:30,000
Speaker 2: how we move forward and actually have a path to

1278
01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:34,200
Speaker 2: real transparency, which is what our goal should be. Indeed, Okay,

1279
01:03:34,480 --> 01:03:35,600
Speaker 2: let's talk about the podcast.

1280
01:03:35,800 --> 01:03:39,720
Speaker 1: So really fascinating story about how two podcasters and their

1281
01:03:39,720 --> 01:03:42,960
Speaker 1: attempt to launch this new show have run straight up

1282
01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:47,280
Speaker 1: against some Biden era policy with regard to his efforts

1283
01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:49,760
Speaker 1: to end noncompete clauses. Put this up on the screen.

1284
01:03:49,960 --> 01:03:52,400
Speaker 1: Great report from Jeff stinerver the Washington Post. The headline

1285
01:03:52,440 --> 01:03:55,720
Speaker 1: here is their podcast is in trouble. A Biden led

1286
01:03:55,800 --> 01:04:00,800
Speaker 1: crackdown may save them. So the backstory here these two gentlemen,

1287
01:04:01,000 --> 01:04:03,960
Speaker 1: Dan McDowell and Jake Kemp is they had a radio

1288
01:04:03,960 --> 01:04:07,439
Speaker 1: show that was really super popular in Texas. They worked

1289
01:04:07,440 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 1: for Cumulus Media and they couldn't come to terms on

1290
01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:13,680
Speaker 1: new contracts, so they left and they decided to launch

1291
01:04:13,720 --> 01:04:17,520
Speaker 1: their own podcast called The Dumb Zone. Well, lo and behold,

1292
01:04:17,960 --> 01:04:21,919
Speaker 1: Cumulus Media sent them a letter that said, no, no, no,

1293
01:04:22,360 --> 01:04:25,520
Speaker 1: you have a six month non compete. You cannot start

1294
01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:28,840
Speaker 1: this other podcast. Basically you can't work at all for

1295
01:04:29,040 --> 01:04:33,160
Speaker 1: that six month period because of this non compete. Well,

1296
01:04:33,200 --> 01:04:36,760
Speaker 1: as I mentioned before, the Biden administration is trying to

1297
01:04:37,120 --> 01:04:40,560
Speaker 1: end the abuse of these non compete agreements. Back in May,

1298
01:04:40,600 --> 01:04:43,560
Speaker 1: when of President Biden's appointees from the NLRB published legal

1299
01:04:43,560 --> 01:04:47,480
Speaker 1: guidance finding that overly broad non compete agreements violate federal

1300
01:04:47,560 --> 01:04:50,840
Speaker 1: labor law, and so they are going to court to

1301
01:04:51,320 --> 01:04:56,080
Speaker 1: challenge this non compete from Cumulus Media, and it could

1302
01:04:56,200 --> 01:04:59,320
Speaker 1: end up being the case that really ends a lot

1303
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:01,720
Speaker 1: of over really broad and non competes that have taken

1304
01:05:01,760 --> 01:05:07,120
Speaker 1: hold in massive ways on our economy. They had the

1305
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:10,560
Speaker 1: estimate here of just how much of our economy is

1306
01:05:10,600 --> 01:05:13,600
Speaker 1: governed now by non competes, and it's a huge percentage

1307
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:16,320
Speaker 1: of the workforce for things that are insane, like we've

1308
01:05:16,320 --> 01:05:20,440
Speaker 1: talked Soger before about like sandwich makers that are being

1309
01:05:20,480 --> 01:05:24,120
Speaker 1: supposedly governed by non competes. I mean industries where this

1310
01:05:24,200 --> 01:05:26,480
Speaker 1: makes no sense at all, because the original idea is

1311
01:05:26,480 --> 01:05:30,320
Speaker 1: if you are privy to trade secrets, then potentially it

1312
01:05:30,360 --> 01:05:33,080
Speaker 1: makes sense. But it's just gotten wildly on PA.

1313
01:05:33,120 --> 01:05:34,680
Speaker 2: I have it here in front of me. Roughly thirty

1314
01:05:34,760 --> 01:05:38,240
Speaker 2: million workers collectively lose three hundred billion dollars a year

1315
01:05:38,280 --> 01:05:40,720
Speaker 2: in wages because of non compete agreements, according to the

1316
01:05:40,720 --> 01:05:44,760
Speaker 2: Federal Trade Commission, and currently eighteen percent of the entire

1317
01:05:44,920 --> 01:05:48,480
Speaker 2: labor market is currently governed by a non compete agreement.

1318
01:05:48,520 --> 01:05:51,600
Speaker 2: It's total and complete BS. Now, look, we are not

1319
01:05:51,760 --> 01:05:54,800
Speaker 2: saying here you should be able to walk out. Let's

1320
01:05:54,800 --> 01:05:57,400
Speaker 2: say you're a lawyer. You can't walk out with the

1321
01:05:57,560 --> 01:06:00,800
Speaker 2: client list, for example, and just say like in terms

1322
01:06:00,800 --> 01:06:04,919
Speaker 2: of proprietary information. But what should stop you, though, from

1323
01:06:05,000 --> 01:06:07,600
Speaker 2: leaving and then going to the client and be like, Hey,

1324
01:06:07,840 --> 01:06:10,160
Speaker 2: I think that I could provide you a better service.

1325
01:06:10,320 --> 01:06:12,520
Speaker 2: What's wrong with that? If you if it's up to

1326
01:06:12,560 --> 01:06:14,080
Speaker 2: the client, and it's up to you, if you think

1327
01:06:14,120 --> 01:06:16,880
Speaker 2: you could provide a better service, then godspeed. And you

1328
01:06:16,920 --> 01:06:18,880
Speaker 2: know this one, maybe this one is just a little

1329
01:06:18,880 --> 01:06:22,000
Speaker 2: too personal, Crystal, because we quite literally had to suffer

1330
01:06:22,040 --> 01:06:24,720
Speaker 2: the list. I mean, I think people should understand. You know,

1331
01:06:24,760 --> 01:06:27,080
Speaker 2: it's not just white collar workers or people like us.

1332
01:06:27,160 --> 01:06:29,920
Speaker 2: Oh feel bad for the podcasters. There are millions of

1333
01:06:29,920 --> 01:06:32,800
Speaker 2: people who are governed by this and are held and

1334
01:06:32,880 --> 01:06:35,600
Speaker 2: basically forced to work against their will. You and I

1335
01:06:35,720 --> 01:06:38,120
Speaker 2: not to go too into the scenes, we're quite literally

1336
01:06:38,160 --> 01:06:41,000
Speaker 2: forced to work against our will as part of some

1337
01:06:41,160 --> 01:06:44,760
Speaker 2: negotiations and work a place that we did not want

1338
01:06:44,800 --> 01:06:46,640
Speaker 2: to be at in order to make sure that we

1339
01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:50,120
Speaker 2: were not subject to these ridiculous non compete agreement. And

1340
01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:52,680
Speaker 2: one of the reasons why you know this is such

1341
01:06:52,680 --> 01:06:55,400
Speaker 2: a ridiculous one is, Crystal, they're basically claiming that they

1342
01:06:55,440 --> 01:06:59,280
Speaker 2: were not allowed to work for six straight months after

1343
01:06:59,440 --> 01:07:02,360
Speaker 2: not even signing a new contract. It's not like they left,

1344
01:07:02,560 --> 01:07:05,040
Speaker 2: they didn't come to a new agreement. And now they're

1345
01:07:05,080 --> 01:07:08,320
Speaker 2: being sued in court and putting this to a test.

1346
01:07:08,360 --> 01:07:10,080
Speaker 2: So you know, by the way, shout out to my

1347
01:07:10,120 --> 01:07:12,240
Speaker 2: friend Akash saying he actually put me in touch with

1348
01:07:12,280 --> 01:07:14,000
Speaker 2: these gentlemen. He's a friend of theirs. He's one of

1349
01:07:14,040 --> 01:07:17,320
Speaker 2: the ones who encouraged them in order to go public.

1350
01:07:17,400 --> 01:07:18,960
Speaker 2: So all of us do kind of a band and

1351
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:22,240
Speaker 2: stick together. But you know, the point is that these

1352
01:07:22,320 --> 01:07:25,320
Speaker 2: gents have the absolute right, in my opinion, to be

1353
01:07:25,400 --> 01:07:27,720
Speaker 2: able to leave and to continue the show of which

1354
01:07:27,760 --> 01:07:31,920
Speaker 2: the intellectual property had nothing to do with the cumulous media.

1355
01:07:31,920 --> 01:07:34,520
Speaker 2: It had to do with their content, as you and

1356
01:07:34,560 --> 01:07:37,840
Speaker 2: I have discovered over here at breaking points, rebuilding a

1357
01:07:37,880 --> 01:07:40,240
Speaker 2: channel from zero to a million in just the span

1358
01:07:40,600 --> 01:07:42,600
Speaker 2: of two years. It's because it was about me and

1359
01:07:42,640 --> 01:07:44,880
Speaker 2: it was about you, and it wasn't really about whatever

1360
01:07:44,880 --> 01:07:47,920
Speaker 2: we were doing over whatever the Hill was giving us

1361
01:07:48,000 --> 01:07:51,040
Speaker 2: at that time. And that's why it's really about the

1362
01:07:51,120 --> 01:07:55,320
Speaker 2: empowerment to the overall individual citizen that corporations do not

1363
01:07:55,600 --> 01:07:58,560
Speaker 2: own you, even after you were under contract with them.

1364
01:07:58,600 --> 01:08:02,480
Speaker 2: The entire idea actually is very dirty and gross history

1365
01:08:03,160 --> 01:08:06,520
Speaker 2: spanning back to indentured servitude and when we had no

1366
01:08:06,760 --> 01:08:09,160
Speaker 2: labor rights in the seventeen nineties. The idea that you know,

1367
01:08:09,440 --> 01:08:10,920
Speaker 2: you owe me your labor and then I can even

1368
01:08:10,920 --> 01:08:13,680
Speaker 2: control where you go work afterwards because of the trade

1369
01:08:13,680 --> 01:08:15,680
Speaker 2: secrets and all that. We need to get away from this.

1370
01:08:15,680 --> 01:08:17,479
Speaker 2: This is very patrician nonsense.

1371
01:08:17,600 --> 01:08:19,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is I mean, this is a genuinely

1372
01:08:19,760 --> 01:08:22,519
Speaker 1: good direction that the Biden NLRB and actually the FTC,

1373
01:08:22,720 --> 01:08:25,160
Speaker 1: the Federal Trade Commission has also under Biden moved in

1374
01:08:25,200 --> 01:08:27,479
Speaker 1: the same direction. But it's going to, apparently for some reason,

1375
01:08:27,520 --> 01:08:31,080
Speaker 1: take longer for them to issue their guidance. But apparently

1376
01:08:31,120 --> 01:08:33,960
Speaker 1: there was a sort of dispute under the Obama administration

1377
01:08:34,320 --> 01:08:37,720
Speaker 1: between Obama and Biden, and you know, various factions within

1378
01:08:37,760 --> 01:08:41,240
Speaker 1: the administration about this same issue, and Obama came down

1379
01:08:41,280 --> 01:08:42,519
Speaker 1: on the side of that. I don't know if we

1380
01:08:42,520 --> 01:08:45,120
Speaker 1: can really limit these things. Biden has been really clear.

1381
01:08:45,160 --> 01:08:48,040
Speaker 1: He gave a speech several years back before he was

1382
01:08:48,080 --> 01:08:50,800
Speaker 1: in the White House about how he saw this as

1383
01:08:50,880 --> 01:08:53,320
Speaker 1: you know, a violation of federal law. And now the

1384
01:08:53,360 --> 01:08:55,519
Speaker 1: people that he's put in place in the administration have

1385
01:08:55,560 --> 01:08:58,320
Speaker 1: attempted to make good on it. Matt Brunnig, who's the

1386
01:08:58,320 --> 01:09:01,679
Speaker 1: founder of the People's Policy Project and also a labor attorney,

1387
01:09:01,680 --> 01:09:05,240
Speaker 1: he's the one who actually filed the host's petition to

1388
01:09:05,280 --> 01:09:08,439
Speaker 1: the Natural Labor Relations Board to try to uphold this

1389
01:09:08,560 --> 01:09:11,639
Speaker 1: guidance about the non compete clause, and he says, listen

1390
01:09:11,760 --> 01:09:14,920
Speaker 1: if the NLRB finds in their favor, because the courts

1391
01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:18,679
Speaker 1: are supposed to defer to the NLRB's judgment on issues

1392
01:09:18,720 --> 01:09:21,719
Speaker 1: such as this. He says, there's nothing to stop everyone

1393
01:09:21,720 --> 01:09:24,040
Speaker 1: else in the country with a noncompete clause from doing

1394
01:09:24,040 --> 01:09:25,800
Speaker 1: the same thing, because at that point, all you have

1395
01:09:25,840 --> 01:09:28,439
Speaker 1: to do is quit your job. Point to the NLRB case,

1396
01:09:28,520 --> 01:09:31,800
Speaker 1: and you are golden. He also said that this particular

1397
01:09:31,880 --> 01:09:34,680
Speaker 1: suit against the hosts of The Dumb Zone from Cumulus

1398
01:09:34,680 --> 01:09:38,240
Speaker 1: Media perfectly reflects the kind of corporate overreach the nrb's

1399
01:09:38,280 --> 01:09:41,320
Speaker 1: guidances intended to stop. Quote their contract clauses make it

1400
01:09:41,360 --> 01:09:45,200
Speaker 1: so these guys have no outside option. They cannot really

1401
01:09:45,320 --> 01:09:49,439
Speaker 1: leave the employer without facing huge legal backlash. You're bound

1402
01:09:49,479 --> 01:09:53,200
Speaker 1: to the employer, and you effectively cannot leave without their permission,

1403
01:09:53,680 --> 01:09:58,639
Speaker 1: And that is so incredibly important to focus on because

1404
01:09:59,000 --> 01:10:01,639
Speaker 1: think of how much mon popoly consolidation that we've had,

1405
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:04,640
Speaker 1: especially in the media space, but in so many sectors.

1406
01:10:05,040 --> 01:10:07,000
Speaker 1: So if you have no other option, you can't go

1407
01:10:07,040 --> 01:10:10,040
Speaker 1: to a competitor. There are barely any competitors. You can't

1408
01:10:10,080 --> 01:10:12,160
Speaker 1: hang up your own shingle, as these guys did with

1409
01:10:12,200 --> 01:10:14,639
Speaker 1: their own you know, individual podcasts, which, by the way,

1410
01:10:14,640 --> 01:10:16,679
Speaker 1: the appears to have been pretty successful for them. They're

1411
01:10:16,720 --> 01:10:18,439
Speaker 1: doing well. It sounds like a funny podcast. I've never

1412
01:10:18,439 --> 01:10:20,559
Speaker 1: listened to it, but yea, yeah, I don't really sound

1413
01:10:20,640 --> 01:10:24,160
Speaker 1: charming and very sports those stories for culture whatever.

1414
01:10:24,400 --> 01:10:28,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, but if vouches for them, then I'll I might

1415
01:10:28,120 --> 01:10:28,519
Speaker 2: check it out.

1416
01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:31,759
Speaker 1: Actually, But anyway, the point is, you leave these people

1417
01:10:31,800 --> 01:10:35,040
Speaker 1: with no options, like you keep them locked up in

1418
01:10:35,240 --> 01:10:38,080
Speaker 1: it is sort of a form of modern indentured servitude.

1419
01:10:38,360 --> 01:10:41,160
Speaker 1: You keep them completely locked up. So if they're able

1420
01:10:41,200 --> 01:10:44,960
Speaker 1: to succeed and NLRB backs their case, that is a

1421
01:10:45,000 --> 01:10:49,160
Speaker 1: game changer for millions and millions of workers who are

1422
01:10:49,200 --> 01:10:52,040
Speaker 1: dealing with very similar issues, whether they're at a sandwich

1423
01:10:52,040 --> 01:10:54,880
Speaker 1: shop or podcast hosts, or wherever they may be in

1424
01:10:54,920 --> 01:10:55,760
Speaker 1: the workforce.

1425
01:10:55,800 --> 01:10:58,479
Speaker 2: And also, guys, if you support independent media or the

1426
01:10:58,560 --> 01:11:02,000
Speaker 2: ability to consume the content at your own choice, this

1427
01:11:02,080 --> 01:11:04,440
Speaker 2: is an important case for you because there are millions,

1428
01:11:04,600 --> 01:11:07,639
Speaker 2: There are lots of people who work in these media

1429
01:11:07,720 --> 01:11:11,400
Speaker 2: organizations who are tied like down to the stake at

1430
01:11:11,400 --> 01:11:13,760
Speaker 2: these corporations because they own I mean, even look at

1431
01:11:13,760 --> 01:11:16,320
Speaker 2: the Tucker case, look at the way that they're able

1432
01:11:16,360 --> 01:11:18,559
Speaker 2: to that. There's a reason this shows only on Twitter,

1433
01:11:18,720 --> 01:11:20,639
Speaker 2: that's the only place that you can post without being

1434
01:11:20,640 --> 01:11:24,479
Speaker 2: in technical violation well content. Yeah, and even that, they're

1435
01:11:24,520 --> 01:11:26,280
Speaker 2: still trying to sue them. And there's all sorts of

1436
01:11:26,600 --> 01:11:29,559
Speaker 2: behind the scenes stuff like if you are not working

1437
01:11:29,600 --> 01:11:32,120
Speaker 2: somewhere else, they should not be able to control what

1438
01:11:32,160 --> 01:11:34,320
Speaker 2: you are doing. And even if they get you to

1439
01:11:34,360 --> 01:11:37,679
Speaker 2: sign it because you know, bonuses or whatever, like these

1440
01:11:37,680 --> 01:11:40,479
Speaker 2: things should not be enforceable. And if we can keep

1441
01:11:40,520 --> 01:11:42,600
Speaker 2: this at the national level, it will free up a

1442
01:11:42,640 --> 01:11:44,839
Speaker 2: lot of people. And it's one of the last tools

1443
01:11:45,040 --> 01:11:48,719
Speaker 2: establishment media really has over the people because they control

1444
01:11:48,760 --> 01:11:50,439
Speaker 2: the means of distribution. But if we can kill it,

1445
01:11:50,479 --> 01:11:52,519
Speaker 2: then you know, future people like us don't have to

1446
01:11:52,520 --> 01:11:54,080
Speaker 2: deal with that. It was a real headache. It cost

1447
01:11:54,160 --> 01:11:55,040
Speaker 2: us a lot of money.

1448
01:11:54,920 --> 01:11:59,320
Speaker 1: Would be really huge. All right, tccer, what are you

1449
01:11:59,360 --> 01:11:59,680
Speaker 1: looking at?

1450
01:11:59,760 --> 01:12:02,120
Speaker 2: Well? The Ukraine War is dragged on for nearly two

1451
01:12:02,240 --> 01:12:05,240
Speaker 2: years now. It's easy to forget how ubiquitous the support

1452
01:12:05,280 --> 01:12:08,280
Speaker 2: for AID was at the time. Poll after poll showed

1453
01:12:08,320 --> 01:12:12,280
Speaker 2: Americans willing to pay higher gas prices, sustain major supply

1454
01:12:12,400 --> 01:12:15,559
Speaker 2: chain shock and hurt American interests in the short term

1455
01:12:15,680 --> 01:12:18,400
Speaker 2: as long as it meant helping Ukraine. And within that

1456
01:12:18,479 --> 01:12:20,599
Speaker 2: debate was a big fight that I had with many

1457
01:12:20,640 --> 01:12:24,479
Speaker 2: about the nature of bipartisanship and the priorities for American

1458
01:12:24,520 --> 01:12:27,960
Speaker 2: politicians and much of our media class. I would classify

1459
01:12:28,040 --> 01:12:31,120
Speaker 2: many of these people as Ukraine firsters, meaning that their

1460
01:12:31,200 --> 01:12:35,840
Speaker 2: chief agenda is Ukrainian sovereignty, with many American interests secondary.

1461
01:12:36,040 --> 01:12:38,479
Speaker 2: My challenge at that time was the baby formula crisis.

1462
01:12:38,479 --> 01:12:40,920
Speaker 2: For example, it was sweeping the nation, and I sat

1463
01:12:40,960 --> 01:12:44,599
Speaker 2: in one debate. I believed absolutely that most American elites

1464
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:47,600
Speaker 2: cared far more about Ukraine than they did about Americans

1465
01:12:47,600 --> 01:12:50,160
Speaker 2: getting baby formula. The argument was that we can care

1466
01:12:50,200 --> 01:12:53,040
Speaker 2: about both, and what I've always said, show me what

1467
01:12:53,160 --> 01:12:57,600
Speaker 2: gets effortless bipartisanship and is spent without question, and I

1468
01:12:57,640 --> 01:13:00,680
Speaker 2: will show you where power really lies. We have an

1469
01:13:00,720 --> 01:13:03,200
Speaker 2: easy answer, I think, to those questions. Two years into

1470
01:13:03,240 --> 01:13:06,960
Speaker 2: this war, American politicians and most of the American commentariat

1471
01:13:07,080 --> 01:13:10,320
Speaker 2: are Ukraine firsts, perhaps even more than we thought. In

1472
01:13:10,360 --> 01:13:13,839
Speaker 2: the midst of a major fight about a government shutdown, quietly,

1473
01:13:14,000 --> 01:13:17,400
Speaker 2: behind the scenes, machinations have been made. The Pentagon has

1474
01:13:17,760 --> 01:13:22,120
Speaker 2: ensured Ukrainian aid will not be touched secretly without any

1475
01:13:22,160 --> 01:13:25,439
Speaker 2: congressional authorization. The Pentagon has made a new change to

1476
01:13:25,479 --> 01:13:29,400
Speaker 2: its rules through bureaucratic trickery. The Pentagon has internally decided

1477
01:13:29,640 --> 01:13:33,120
Speaker 2: any Ukraine operation will be exempt from a potential government shutdown,

1478
01:13:33,320 --> 01:13:35,960
Speaker 2: meaning the quote key training and other activities in supportive

1479
01:13:36,040 --> 01:13:40,120
Speaker 2: Kiev will move ahead uninterrupted, which means, in plain English,

1480
01:13:40,360 --> 01:13:43,920
Speaker 2: if a government shuts down, millions of everyday American citizens

1481
01:13:43,960 --> 01:13:46,519
Speaker 2: will not get a paycheck, veterans will not get benefits,

1482
01:13:46,680 --> 01:13:49,120
Speaker 2: services for all of us will diminish. But people in

1483
01:13:49,200 --> 01:13:52,080
Speaker 2: Kiev they're gonna get paid. You can't even make it up.

1484
01:13:52,280 --> 01:13:54,280
Speaker 2: Who they decide to pay even when they don't have

1485
01:13:54,320 --> 01:13:57,000
Speaker 2: the constitutional authority to do so shows you who our

1486
01:13:57,040 --> 01:14:00,879
Speaker 2: government really cares the most about, and it's decidedly Ukraine.

1487
01:14:01,080 --> 01:14:04,920
Speaker 2: Sixty minutes invertently revealed to the historic degree to which

1488
01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:07,680
Speaker 2: the United States is not only propping up Ukraine's military,

1489
01:14:07,880 --> 01:14:11,720
Speaker 2: but as backstopping their entire economy and civil society. Take

1490
01:14:11,760 --> 01:14:13,240
Speaker 2: a listen to some of the stuff they found that

1491
01:14:13,240 --> 01:14:14,160
Speaker 2: were funding over there.

1492
01:14:14,800 --> 01:14:19,480
Speaker 9: American taxpayers are financing more than just weapons. We discovered

1493
01:14:19,520 --> 01:14:24,120
Speaker 9: the US governments buying seeds and fertilizer for Ukrainian farmers

1494
01:14:25,240 --> 01:14:30,040
Speaker 9: and covering the salaries of Ukraine's first responders, all fifty

1495
01:14:30,120 --> 01:14:34,240
Speaker 9: seven thousand of them. That includes the team that trains

1496
01:14:34,320 --> 01:14:38,280
Speaker 9: this rescue dog named Joy to comb through the wreckage

1497
01:14:38,320 --> 01:14:44,320
Speaker 9: of Russian strikes looking for survivors. And the US also

1498
01:14:44,439 --> 01:14:49,120
Speaker 9: funds the divers who we saw clearing unexploded ammunition from

1499
01:14:49,200 --> 01:14:52,879
Speaker 9: the country's rivers to make them safe again for swimming

1500
01:14:53,040 --> 01:14:58,240
Speaker 9: and fishing. Russia's invasions shrank Ukraine's economy by about a third.

1501
01:14:58,960 --> 01:15:02,000
Speaker 9: We were surprised to that to keep it afloat, the

1502
01:15:02,200 --> 01:15:05,439
Speaker 9: US government is subsidizing small businesses, so.

1503
01:15:05,439 --> 01:15:09,000
Speaker 2: The US government is funding every single first responder in Ukraine.

1504
01:15:09,120 --> 01:15:12,000
Speaker 2: The US government is buying all the seeds and fertilizer

1505
01:15:12,040 --> 01:15:14,040
Speaker 2: for their farmers. What they leave out there about that

1506
01:15:14,040 --> 01:15:16,360
Speaker 2: small business, by the way, is that it's funding one woman,

1507
01:15:16,400 --> 01:15:19,800
Speaker 2: for example, a woman named Tatiana Abromova, she has a

1508
01:15:19,840 --> 01:15:22,720
Speaker 2: nitwear company. She's a small shop in Kiev who US

1509
01:15:22,800 --> 01:15:26,000
Speaker 2: government officials have assisted in keeping afloat and have even

1510
01:15:26,080 --> 01:15:29,960
Speaker 2: helped her find new customers overseas. It must be nice

1511
01:15:30,000 --> 01:15:32,240
Speaker 2: to be a Ukrainian nitwear company. I know a lot

1512
01:15:32,280 --> 01:15:33,800
Speaker 2: of people over here who would love it if the

1513
01:15:33,800 --> 01:15:36,519
Speaker 2: government paid their bills and then found them customers. As

1514
01:15:36,520 --> 01:15:39,280
Speaker 2: a small business owner myself with Crystal, I cannot tell

1515
01:15:39,320 --> 01:15:42,280
Speaker 2: you how much time we spend making sure our finances

1516
01:15:42,280 --> 01:15:45,879
Speaker 2: are straight, payroll, making sure it runs properly. The trains

1517
01:15:45,920 --> 01:15:48,320
Speaker 2: have to run on time. In many ways, it's even

1518
01:15:48,360 --> 01:15:51,160
Speaker 2: harder than doing the show every day. I know farmers too.

1519
01:15:51,479 --> 01:15:54,559
Speaker 2: They struggle on the knife's edge of making their mortgage payments,

1520
01:15:54,640 --> 01:15:58,920
Speaker 2: and they battle with big grain companies over seas and fertilizer. Meanwhile,

1521
01:15:59,080 --> 01:16:01,240
Speaker 2: those in Kiev don't have to worry about anything. The

1522
01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:04,519
Speaker 2: government has got their back, our government. Perhaps some of

1523
01:16:04,560 --> 01:16:06,680
Speaker 2: this sounds callous, and I really don't want it to.

1524
01:16:07,040 --> 01:16:10,160
Speaker 2: I'm not opposed to aid to Ukraine, only within reason

1525
01:16:10,360 --> 01:16:13,639
Speaker 2: which advances our interests At this moment, we are not

1526
01:16:13,680 --> 01:16:17,639
Speaker 2: only backstopping their entire military, we are backstopping their entire

1527
01:16:17,880 --> 01:16:21,960
Speaker 2: civil society. Biden and Establishment Republicans they say we're going

1528
01:16:22,000 --> 01:16:24,599
Speaker 2: to back Ukraine as long as it takes. It's clear

1529
01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:27,320
Speaker 2: that means not only do the weapons have to flow,

1530
01:16:27,680 --> 01:16:30,320
Speaker 2: putting us in danger of perhaps embroiling into a larger

1531
01:16:30,360 --> 01:16:33,320
Speaker 2: war with Russia, but we've got to backstop their whole

1532
01:16:33,400 --> 01:16:37,280
Speaker 2: civil society for the foreseeable future. Does that seem fair

1533
01:16:37,320 --> 01:16:39,160
Speaker 2: to you or does it seem like we've done our

1534
01:16:39,200 --> 01:16:41,320
Speaker 2: part now? If Europe wants to step up, and they

1535
01:16:41,439 --> 01:16:43,000
Speaker 2: can be our guest if they want to pay these

1536
01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:46,280
Speaker 2: people's bills. But with the US the farthest away and

1537
01:16:46,360 --> 01:16:48,800
Speaker 2: the least at stake, shouldn't we have to pay? Why

1538
01:16:48,840 --> 01:16:52,160
Speaker 2: should we have to pay the vast majority of these countries' bills.

1539
01:16:52,400 --> 01:16:55,240
Speaker 2: Recently there was a concerted campaign to full the American

1540
01:16:55,280 --> 01:16:58,000
Speaker 2: public with talk of how the Europeans have overtaken the

1541
01:16:58,120 --> 01:17:00,840
Speaker 2: US in aid to Ukraine. And that's a fun talking point.

1542
01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:03,680
Speaker 2: It happens to also be totally false. They do this

1543
01:17:03,760 --> 01:17:07,479
Speaker 2: by focusing on non military aid commitments over many years,

1544
01:17:07,720 --> 01:17:10,080
Speaker 2: which the governments have pledged to spend but have not

1545
01:17:10,160 --> 01:17:13,639
Speaker 2: appropriated and not actually spend. When you take that away,

1546
01:17:13,760 --> 01:17:16,280
Speaker 2: what do you find? Shocker turns out the US has

1547
01:17:16,320 --> 01:17:19,479
Speaker 2: provided the vast, vast majority of all military aid, the

1548
01:17:19,520 --> 01:17:22,360
Speaker 2: only one that also matters. Also, even whenever you take

1549
01:17:22,360 --> 01:17:24,600
Speaker 2: away the so called EU classification and you look at

1550
01:17:24,640 --> 01:17:26,920
Speaker 2: it by country guests who still provide in the vast

1551
01:17:26,920 --> 01:17:29,800
Speaker 2: majority of a to Ukraine, you guessed it us. The

1552
01:17:29,880 --> 01:17:33,200
Speaker 2: amount of this side that we have dispersed is vastly

1553
01:17:33,280 --> 01:17:37,280
Speaker 2: disproportionate to our actual interests, and worse, is honestly feeding

1554
01:17:37,400 --> 01:17:41,000
Speaker 2: unrealistic expectations in Kiev. Do they just expect us to

1555
01:17:41,040 --> 01:17:45,040
Speaker 2: pay these nitmakers bills forever, even after the war is over?

1556
01:17:45,280 --> 01:17:47,880
Speaker 2: The answer is probably at this point yes, And the

1557
01:17:47,920 --> 01:17:51,920
Speaker 2: secret answer from US politicians to that question is also yes.

1558
01:17:52,280 --> 01:17:54,320
Speaker 2: I mean, how crazy is that we're paying this nue.

1559
01:17:54,320 --> 01:17:57,160
Speaker 1: And if you want to hear my reaction to Sager's monologue,

1560
01:17:57,200 --> 01:17:59,960
Speaker 1: become a premium subscriber today at breakingpoints dot com.

1561
01:18:03,160 --> 01:18:04,240
Speaker 2: What are you taking a look at? Crystal?

1562
01:18:04,400 --> 01:18:06,240
Speaker 1: As you guys know, Joe Biden will join the picket

1563
01:18:06,240 --> 01:18:09,240
Speaker 1: lines with autoworkers today in what is an extraordinary move

1564
01:18:09,280 --> 01:18:11,559
Speaker 1: as far as labor historians can tell, this is the

1565
01:18:11,640 --> 01:18:13,720
Speaker 1: first time in the history of the nation that a

1566
01:18:13,760 --> 01:18:16,519
Speaker 1: sitting president has actually joined an act to strike, a

1567
01:18:16,560 --> 01:18:19,400
Speaker 1: sign of how rapidly the politics around labor, corporate power,

1568
01:18:19,439 --> 01:18:21,559
Speaker 1: and unions have shifted in recent years.

1569
01:18:22,000 --> 01:18:22,600
Speaker 3: But it's also a.

1570
01:18:22,560 --> 01:18:25,439
Speaker 1: Little bit ironic because Biden's administration has been marked by

1571
01:18:25,479 --> 01:18:28,880
Speaker 1: tension with this very union over the nature of the

1572
01:18:28,920 --> 01:18:33,920
Speaker 1: electric vehicle transition. UAW President Sean Fain, unique among union leaders,

1573
01:18:34,000 --> 01:18:38,160
Speaker 1: has pointedly refused to endorse Biden's reelection pid over his

1574
01:18:38,280 --> 01:18:41,839
Speaker 1: failure to include wage and union requirements in the Inflation

1575
01:18:41,920 --> 01:18:45,200
Speaker 1: Reduction Act. Our partner Jordan Sheridan at Status Quo he

1576
01:18:45,280 --> 01:18:48,679
Speaker 1: recently asked Faine about exactly this issue. Take a listen.

1577
01:18:48,840 --> 01:18:51,120
Speaker 3: Do you need more for the Democratic Party aside from

1578
01:18:51,160 --> 01:18:53,559
Speaker 3: you know, talk and showing up when the cameras are here.

1579
01:18:53,920 --> 01:18:55,320
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean, the proof's got to be in a putty.

1580
01:18:55,360 --> 01:18:56,599
Speaker 10: The proof's going to be in the work. I mean,

1581
01:18:56,640 --> 01:18:59,160
Speaker 10: and as you said, our endorsements are going to be earned.

1582
01:18:59,320 --> 01:19:02,960
Speaker 10: It would drive me nuts as a worker to just

1583
01:19:03,080 --> 01:19:05,880
Speaker 10: watch sometimes we just endorse people and there's really no

1584
01:19:06,000 --> 01:19:09,000
Speaker 10: body of work behind that, and we can't be taken

1585
01:19:09,040 --> 01:19:11,040
Speaker 10: for granted. No more, workers shouldn't allow themselves to be

1586
01:19:11,120 --> 01:19:14,960
Speaker 10: taken for granted. And so, you know, there's a lot

1587
01:19:14,960 --> 01:19:16,479
Speaker 10: of things going on in this economy, and there's a

1588
01:19:16,520 --> 01:19:18,599
Speaker 10: lot of things with the ev transition. I mean, we're

1589
01:19:18,600 --> 01:19:20,360
Speaker 10: not against a green economy. I mean we got to

1590
01:19:20,400 --> 01:19:23,479
Speaker 10: have clean air, we got to have clean water. You know,

1591
01:19:23,479 --> 01:19:25,600
Speaker 10: we've got to have a world for people to live in,

1592
01:19:25,680 --> 01:19:28,600
Speaker 10: future generations to live on. But it's got to be

1593
01:19:28,600 --> 01:19:31,800
Speaker 10: a just transition where you know, labor is guys a seed,

1594
01:19:31,800 --> 01:19:33,960
Speaker 10: it's a table. You know, there's a lot of money,

1595
01:19:34,040 --> 01:19:36,559
Speaker 10: you know, with the IRA that was put in play

1596
01:19:37,080 --> 01:19:40,599
Speaker 10: with the government, a lot of our taxpayer dollars to

1597
01:19:40,640 --> 01:19:43,799
Speaker 10: help fund this transition. But again, like always, the corporations

1598
01:19:43,920 --> 01:19:46,759
Speaker 10: come with their hands out. There's always way the government

1599
01:19:46,800 --> 01:19:48,320
Speaker 10: finds a way to put money in their pockets, but

1600
01:19:48,400 --> 01:19:51,719
Speaker 10: labor gets left behind. Labor cannot continue to be left behind.

1601
01:19:51,720 --> 01:19:54,240
Speaker 10: And that's been our message to the White House, to

1602
01:19:54,320 --> 01:19:57,080
Speaker 10: Congress and to anyone that'll listen. And so you know,

1603
01:19:57,120 --> 01:19:58,400
Speaker 10: that's that's got to change.

1604
01:19:58,479 --> 01:20:01,920
Speaker 1: So i'd score the UAW stride is about two basic issues.

1605
01:20:02,040 --> 01:20:05,559
Speaker 1: Securing the present through increase wages, ending tears, increasing benefits,

1606
01:20:05,560 --> 01:20:09,160
Speaker 1: improving quality of life, and securing the future through protections

1607
01:20:09,200 --> 01:20:11,839
Speaker 1: against plant closures and locked in cost of living adjustments.

1608
01:20:11,920 --> 01:20:14,880
Speaker 1: And it is this future which is most threatened by

1609
01:20:14,920 --> 01:20:18,679
Speaker 1: an EV transition that would follow the standard neoliberal era playbook,

1610
01:20:18,920 --> 01:20:22,799
Speaker 1: in which new technology provides a fresh excuse to fire workers,

1611
01:20:22,880 --> 01:20:26,280
Speaker 1: offshore jobs and undercut wages. Trump was very savvy to

1612
01:20:26,320 --> 01:20:29,000
Speaker 1: pick up on this tension, seeks to cynically exploit it,

1613
01:20:29,080 --> 01:20:31,479
Speaker 1: even if he offers workers worse than nothing, because the

1614
01:20:31,520 --> 01:20:34,720
Speaker 1: EV transition really is the elephant in the room of

1615
01:20:34,760 --> 01:20:37,400
Speaker 1: this strike and of the future of the auto industry.

1616
01:20:37,640 --> 01:20:40,759
Speaker 1: And while it's not up for direct negotiations, the outcome

1617
01:20:40,880 --> 01:20:44,280
Speaker 1: of this strike could well determine whether this transition will

1618
01:20:44,280 --> 01:20:47,200
Speaker 1: in fact spark a blue collar rebirth or be yet

1619
01:20:47,240 --> 01:20:49,640
Speaker 1: another race to the bottom. So the first thing to

1620
01:20:49,720 --> 01:20:52,879
Speaker 1: understand here is that the EV transition is happening regardless

1621
01:20:52,920 --> 01:20:54,360
Speaker 1: of who's in the White House. It's really just a

1622
01:20:54,400 --> 01:20:57,080
Speaker 1: matter of timing. Here in the US, evs are still

1623
01:20:57,120 --> 01:21:00,599
Speaker 1: a relatively small percentage of the overall market, them growing

1624
01:21:00,680 --> 01:21:03,400
Speaker 1: at an astonishing clip in a two year time span

1625
01:21:03,479 --> 01:21:06,439
Speaker 1: between twenty twenty one and twenty twenty three, ev sales

1626
01:21:06,520 --> 01:21:09,960
Speaker 1: shot up by one hundred and forty seven percent. Here,

1627
01:21:10,080 --> 01:21:12,400
Speaker 1: Taesla is still by far the market leader, but other

1628
01:21:12,400 --> 01:21:15,200
Speaker 1: automakers like Ford and Chevy they've been shipping into their dominance,

1629
01:21:15,240 --> 01:21:17,760
Speaker 1: dropping them under sixty percent of the total market for

1630
01:21:17,800 --> 01:21:20,120
Speaker 1: the first time ever. But in some ways, to look

1631
01:21:20,240 --> 01:21:22,280
Speaker 1: just that, the US is really missed the big picture.

1632
01:21:22,560 --> 01:21:26,400
Speaker 1: Global sales of EV's have absolutely exploded. Last year saw

1633
01:21:26,439 --> 01:21:29,680
Speaker 1: sales of ten million electric cars worldwide are expected to

1634
01:21:29,680 --> 01:21:32,840
Speaker 1: spike another thirty five percent just this year. That means

1635
01:21:32,880 --> 01:21:35,640
Speaker 1: electric vehicles will jump from only four percent of the

1636
01:21:35,680 --> 01:21:39,360
Speaker 1: new car market in twenty twenty to eighteen percent this year.

1637
01:21:39,800 --> 01:21:42,880
Speaker 1: Those sales are led by China, which has aggressively incentivized

1638
01:21:42,920 --> 01:21:45,400
Speaker 1: development and provided consumer subsidies to try to make the

1639
01:21:45,439 --> 01:21:48,479
Speaker 1: cars more affordable. The Big three they see the writing

1640
01:21:48,560 --> 01:21:50,840
Speaker 1: on the wall, and even before the Biden ARRA incentives,

1641
01:21:50,840 --> 01:21:54,920
Speaker 1: had begun investing billions into this new market. GM wants

1642
01:21:54,960 --> 01:21:57,400
Speaker 1: to completely switch over to EV's by twenty thirty five.

1643
01:21:57,720 --> 01:22:00,000
Speaker 1: Ford once half of all their sales to be elected

1644
01:22:00,280 --> 01:22:03,920
Speaker 1: by twenty thirty now. Biden is working aggressively to speed

1645
01:22:04,000 --> 01:22:07,800
Speaker 1: this transition, but his policies have been woefully incomplete. Effectively,

1646
01:22:07,960 --> 01:22:11,520
Speaker 1: you got to deliver here for three groups, consumers, workers,

1647
01:22:11,560 --> 01:22:15,439
Speaker 1: and automakers. Inflation Reduction Act only fully delivers for one

1648
01:22:15,479 --> 01:22:17,920
Speaker 1: of these groups, and it will not surprise you which one.

1649
01:22:18,120 --> 01:22:21,679
Speaker 1: In classic DC fashion, the giant corporations got taken care

1650
01:22:21,720 --> 01:22:25,479
Speaker 1: of most fully with generous incentives. This industrial policy is

1651
01:22:25,520 --> 01:22:27,840
Speaker 1: already having a huge impact with North America's surging to

1652
01:22:27,880 --> 01:22:32,560
Speaker 1: become the fastest growing EV battery hub. Meanwhile, the consumers

1653
01:22:32,560 --> 01:22:35,920
Speaker 1: and workers are getting half a glass at best. Consumers

1654
01:22:35,920 --> 01:22:38,960
Speaker 1: get a seventy five hundred dollars credit on certain EV models,

1655
01:22:38,960 --> 01:22:40,880
Speaker 1: but that is still not enough to offset the initial

1656
01:22:40,920 --> 01:22:43,800
Speaker 1: price difference. And the government is tackling the biggest pain

1657
01:22:43,840 --> 01:22:46,720
Speaker 1: point for EV drivers, the lack of charging stations, through

1658
01:22:46,760 --> 01:22:50,720
Speaker 1: funds to build around five hundred thousand new chargers nationwide. Unfortunately,

1659
01:22:51,120 --> 01:22:53,920
Speaker 1: experts estimate we actually need more like two million new

1660
01:22:54,000 --> 01:22:57,240
Speaker 1: charging stations. In terms of workers, the automaker incentives do

1661
01:22:57,280 --> 01:22:59,120
Speaker 1: require jobs to be kept in the US, so those

1662
01:22:59,160 --> 01:23:02,880
Speaker 1: provisions do protect workers from offshoring, but there are no

1663
01:23:03,040 --> 01:23:06,800
Speaker 1: direct requirements on wages, benefits, or unions, a betrayal of

1664
01:23:06,800 --> 01:23:10,160
Speaker 1: Biden's stated desire to be a truly pro union president

1665
01:23:10,640 --> 01:23:12,800
Speaker 1: goes without saying that Trump and Republicans plan to do

1666
01:23:12,840 --> 01:23:15,160
Speaker 1: nothing on evs and to continue union busting, which will

1667
01:23:15,240 --> 01:23:18,639
Speaker 1: virtually guarantee that this industry and its associated jobs will

1668
01:23:18,680 --> 01:23:20,840
Speaker 1: be offshore, and that any plans which happen to spring

1669
01:23:20,880 --> 01:23:23,760
Speaker 1: up here will suffer from low wages and dangerous conditions.

1670
01:23:23,960 --> 01:23:27,000
Speaker 1: Hardly an appealing alternative. But there's nothing strikers can do

1671
01:23:27,200 --> 01:23:29,760
Speaker 1: directly about the EV transition. That doesn't mean the strike

1672
01:23:29,880 --> 01:23:33,680
Speaker 1: is irrelevant to EV unionizing and wages. Just imagine that

1673
01:23:33,720 --> 01:23:37,360
Speaker 1: you work at Tesla and you're watching all of this unfold. Currently,

1674
01:23:37,760 --> 01:23:41,120
Speaker 1: non union Tesla spends about forty five dollars per hour

1675
01:23:41,200 --> 01:23:44,840
Speaker 1: on wages and benefits altogether for their workers. That's as

1676
01:23:44,840 --> 01:23:47,600
Speaker 1: opposed to sixty six dollars right now per hour for

1677
01:23:47,640 --> 01:23:50,040
Speaker 1: the Big Three. So if you work at Tesla, you

1678
01:23:50,080 --> 01:23:52,519
Speaker 1: are already on the short end of the stick, but

1679
01:23:52,560 --> 01:23:54,439
Speaker 1: you're about to watch people who do the very same

1680
01:23:54,520 --> 01:23:57,000
Speaker 1: job as you get a double digit pay increase along

1681
01:23:57,040 --> 01:23:59,960
Speaker 1: with better benefits and job protections, all because they are

1682
01:24:00,080 --> 01:24:03,080
Speaker 1: are in a union. And this administration has just significantly

1683
01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:05,400
Speaker 1: eased the path to unionize thanks to some key National

1684
01:24:05,439 --> 01:24:08,720
Speaker 1: Labor Relations Board decisions. You think workers at Tesla just

1685
01:24:08,760 --> 01:24:12,439
Speaker 1: going to sit back and accept getting dramatically underpaid versus

1686
01:24:12,439 --> 01:24:15,439
Speaker 1: their competitors. They're either going to unionize or Eline's going

1687
01:24:15,479 --> 01:24:17,280
Speaker 1: to have to cough up a good bit more money

1688
01:24:17,320 --> 01:24:20,479
Speaker 1: to try to keep them from unionizing. Sustain with all

1689
01:24:20,520 --> 01:24:22,559
Speaker 1: the ev battery workers and what is now an extremely

1690
01:24:22,600 --> 01:24:26,080
Speaker 1: hot industry here in this country, battery workers don't make

1691
01:24:26,160 --> 01:24:29,519
Speaker 1: anywhere close to what autoworkers are making right now, and

1692
01:24:29,960 --> 01:24:33,800
Speaker 1: they're routinely exposed to incredibly dangerous conditions thanks to working

1693
01:24:33,840 --> 01:24:37,040
Speaker 1: with some very hazardous materials. Jackman wrote a great article

1694
01:24:37,080 --> 01:24:40,960
Speaker 1: recently which documented how wage and safety concerns recently led

1695
01:24:41,000 --> 01:24:45,200
Speaker 1: a Lordstown GM battery facility to unionize. Those workers were

1696
01:24:45,240 --> 01:24:47,880
Speaker 1: being paid about sixteen dollars and fifty cents per hour

1697
01:24:48,160 --> 01:24:50,960
Speaker 1: to risk their health after being exposed to a toxic

1698
01:24:51,040 --> 01:24:54,640
Speaker 1: chemical spill on site. After that spill, they voted to

1699
01:24:54,720 --> 01:24:57,519
Speaker 1: join the UAW by a margin of seven hundred and

1700
01:24:57,640 --> 01:25:01,839
Speaker 1: ten to sixteen. There is to stop other battery workers

1701
01:25:01,880 --> 01:25:04,760
Speaker 1: from following suit. So as you're watching the auto workers strike,

1702
01:25:04,840 --> 01:25:07,320
Speaker 1: just remember it's not just their livelihoods which are on

1703
01:25:07,360 --> 01:25:10,759
Speaker 1: the line. The entire nature of the EV transition also

1704
01:25:10,840 --> 01:25:13,280
Speaker 1: hangs in the balance. Will it be just the latest

1705
01:25:13,320 --> 01:25:15,280
Speaker 1: way to screw workers, or will they be able to

1706
01:25:15,400 --> 01:25:18,519
Speaker 1: organize and secure a new middle class standard of living.

1707
01:25:18,840 --> 01:25:21,639
Speaker 1: The UAW has a chance here to show these workers

1708
01:25:21,640 --> 01:25:25,280
Speaker 1: that the benefits of unionizing outweighs the always present risk

1709
01:25:25,360 --> 01:25:27,679
Speaker 1: of going head to head with the bosses. And even

1710
01:25:27,720 --> 01:25:31,120
Speaker 1: as his EV policy has fallen short, believe me, having

1711
01:25:31,120 --> 01:25:33,479
Speaker 1: the President of the United States joining the strike and

1712
01:25:33,520 --> 01:25:36,759
Speaker 1: signaling that he'll have your back to that doesn't hurt either.

1713
01:25:37,160 --> 01:25:38,800
Speaker 1: And this is really the elephant in the room.

1714
01:25:38,880 --> 01:25:41,639
Speaker 2: And if you want to hear my reaction to Crystal's monologue,

1715
01:25:41,680 --> 01:25:47,599
Speaker 2: become a premium subscriber today at Breakingpoints dot com.

1716
01:25:47,680 --> 01:25:50,280
Speaker 1: A lot of government corruption in the news lately, which

1717
01:25:50,320 --> 01:25:54,320
Speaker 1: seems to be a unfortunately recurring experience. And we are

1718
01:25:54,400 --> 01:25:57,320
Speaker 1: joined by a great guest who is an expert on

1719
01:25:57,760 --> 01:26:01,240
Speaker 1: fighting government corruption. Robert Weissman is the president of Public

1720
01:26:01,280 --> 01:26:04,200
Speaker 1: Citizen and he's actually author of the new book Gun

1721
01:26:04,280 --> 01:26:07,480
Speaker 1: And put this up on the screen, the corporate sabotage

1722
01:26:07,600 --> 01:26:09,920
Speaker 1: of America's future, And I like this part. What we

1723
01:26:10,160 --> 01:26:11,559
Speaker 1: can do about it? Robert, welcome.

1724
01:26:11,600 --> 01:26:13,760
Speaker 2: Great to have you than it's great to be with you.

1725
01:26:14,280 --> 01:26:17,120
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, So what inspired you to write the book

1726
01:26:17,160 --> 01:26:18,719
Speaker 1: at this particular moment in time.

1727
01:26:21,040 --> 01:26:22,720
Speaker 3: You know, one thing I think is coming out of

1728
01:26:22,720 --> 01:26:28,799
Speaker 3: the Trump period, we've been so focused necessarily on fighting Trump,

1729
01:26:29,080 --> 01:26:35,559
Speaker 3: defending democracy, and preventing fascism, that we've turned away to

1730
01:26:35,600 --> 01:26:39,400
Speaker 3: some extent from the underlying factors in our society, the

1731
01:26:39,439 --> 01:26:42,120
Speaker 3: economy and our politics that got us here in the

1732
01:26:42,160 --> 01:26:45,280
Speaker 3: first place. We've also lost sight and all the focus

1733
01:26:45,360 --> 01:26:48,680
Speaker 3: on polarization relatedly on all the things we agree on.

1734
01:26:49,880 --> 01:26:51,120
Speaker 3: So at the end of the day, I think we

1735
01:26:51,200 --> 01:26:54,360
Speaker 3: have a problem of too much corporate power in America,

1736
01:26:55,439 --> 01:26:58,000
Speaker 3: and if you look at the polls, people across the

1737
01:26:58,000 --> 01:27:00,920
Speaker 3: political spectrum agree with that on issue after issue after

1738
01:27:01,000 --> 01:27:02,040
Speaker 3: issue and want to.

1739
01:27:02,040 --> 01:27:02,840
Speaker 4: Do something about it.

1740
01:27:03,920 --> 01:27:06,959
Speaker 2: Robert, you detail in the book you got chapters industry

1741
01:27:07,000 --> 01:27:10,000
Speaker 2: by industry. Can you outline some of the most egregious

1742
01:27:10,040 --> 01:27:12,479
Speaker 2: industries in the way that they influence policy here in

1743
01:27:12,600 --> 01:27:15,080
Speaker 2: Washington through effectively legalized corruption.

1744
01:27:16,439 --> 01:27:18,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, we look at big pharma, big tech, and big oil.

1745
01:27:19,160 --> 01:27:22,000
Speaker 3: If we start with big pharma, that's the industry with

1746
01:27:22,320 --> 01:27:26,840
Speaker 3: the most lobbyists in America probably the most lobbyists in

1747
01:27:26,920 --> 01:27:31,000
Speaker 3: the world. They have more than three lobbyists for every

1748
01:27:31,000 --> 01:27:33,880
Speaker 3: member of Congress. And they do that because they're so

1749
01:27:34,080 --> 01:27:38,040
Speaker 3: dependent on government support, dependent on government support for research

1750
01:27:38,080 --> 01:27:41,680
Speaker 3: and development. They're dependent on taking at a discount or

1751
01:27:41,680 --> 01:27:44,679
Speaker 3: for free the fruits of that government research and development,

1752
01:27:45,000 --> 01:27:47,200
Speaker 3: or dependent on the government to approve their products, or

1753
01:27:47,240 --> 01:27:50,680
Speaker 3: dependent on the government to purchase their products, and then

1754
01:27:50,720 --> 01:27:53,000
Speaker 3: depend on the government to protect their monopolies and purchase

1755
01:27:53,000 --> 01:27:56,200
Speaker 3: their products at too high a price. So we've seen

1756
01:27:56,240 --> 01:27:58,639
Speaker 3: the results of that political influence in each of those

1757
01:27:58,680 --> 01:28:01,960
Speaker 3: areas I'm talking and I've just talked about, including notably

1758
01:28:02,360 --> 01:28:04,920
Speaker 3: and probably the most corrupt deal in modern American history,

1759
01:28:05,439 --> 01:28:09,440
Speaker 3: where we created a Medicare drug program to provide pharmaceutical

1760
01:28:09,439 --> 01:28:13,280
Speaker 3: coverage for seniors, but we prohibited the government from negotiating

1761
01:28:13,320 --> 01:28:14,920
Speaker 3: with the drug companies over that.

1762
01:28:14,920 --> 01:28:16,760
Speaker 4: That's costing us on the order of five hundred billion

1763
01:28:16,800 --> 01:28:18,840
Speaker 4: dollars or the last over the next decade.

1764
01:28:19,280 --> 01:28:21,800
Speaker 3: We've saved about one hundred million of that from the

1765
01:28:21,840 --> 01:28:24,160
Speaker 3: provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, but we got a

1766
01:28:24,160 --> 01:28:24,640
Speaker 3: long way to go.

1767
01:28:25,160 --> 01:28:27,439
Speaker 1: Yeah, talk a little bit about big oil, which is

1768
01:28:27,439 --> 01:28:29,639
Speaker 1: one of the other sectors that you really take into here.

1769
01:28:31,720 --> 01:28:33,960
Speaker 3: Well, Big Oil is perpetrated the greatest crime in the

1770
01:28:34,000 --> 01:28:37,320
Speaker 3: history of the world by denying the climate crisis for

1771
01:28:37,439 --> 01:28:39,240
Speaker 3: years and blocking action on it.

1772
01:28:39,800 --> 01:28:41,519
Speaker 4: We're living with that right now.

1773
01:28:41,520 --> 01:28:45,160
Speaker 3: Everybody's lived through disasters around the world this past year,

1774
01:28:45,560 --> 01:28:47,759
Speaker 3: and we're thinking about these things out of the norm,

1775
01:28:48,000 --> 01:28:51,080
Speaker 3: but they're actually going to be not just normal, but

1776
01:28:51,640 --> 01:28:53,840
Speaker 3: weak versions of the kind of chaos that we're going

1777
01:28:53,880 --> 01:28:58,080
Speaker 3: to experience in the coming decades. And it's not that

1778
01:28:58,120 --> 01:29:00,559
Speaker 3: we didn't know about this problem. In fact, Big Oil

1779
01:29:00,720 --> 01:29:04,439
Speaker 3: knew about the prospect of climate change probably before anyone else,

1780
01:29:04,880 --> 01:29:08,280
Speaker 3: certainly dating back to their corporate boardrooms in the nineteen seventies,

1781
01:29:08,800 --> 01:29:10,840
Speaker 3: and instead of saying, Okay, we're going to share this

1782
01:29:10,920 --> 01:29:13,000
Speaker 3: information and help the world figure out a way out

1783
01:29:13,000 --> 01:29:16,120
Speaker 3: of this, they engage in a concerted effort over decades

1784
01:29:16,439 --> 01:29:19,280
Speaker 3: to deny the science and block action. We're still living

1785
01:29:19,280 --> 01:29:22,800
Speaker 3: with that right now in terms of their objection to

1786
01:29:22,920 --> 01:29:26,519
Speaker 3: moving forward to a clean energy future, and we're certainly

1787
01:29:26,520 --> 01:29:28,160
Speaker 3: living with the results of it every day.

1788
01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:31,560
Speaker 1: You know, one thing I was wondering from your perspective

1789
01:29:31,720 --> 01:29:33,759
Speaker 1: is we've been talking a lot about Bob Men Endez

1790
01:29:34,120 --> 01:29:36,920
Speaker 1: this week for obvious reasons. It stands accused of taking

1791
01:29:36,920 --> 01:29:39,439
Speaker 1: literal gold bars and having hundreds of thousands of dollars

1792
01:29:39,479 --> 01:29:41,760
Speaker 1: of cash stuffed in jackets with his own name on

1793
01:29:41,800 --> 01:29:45,599
Speaker 1: it from these Egyptian businessmen, effectively accused of selling out

1794
01:29:45,600 --> 01:29:49,200
Speaker 1: the country to the Egyptian government, exploiting his very powerful

1795
01:29:49,200 --> 01:29:51,840
Speaker 1: position as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. It's very

1796
01:29:51,880 --> 01:29:56,320
Speaker 1: easy to look at those stories as one of personal failing,

1797
01:29:56,360 --> 01:29:59,439
Speaker 1: which certainly it is that. But do you see broader

1798
01:29:59,560 --> 01:30:02,559
Speaker 1: structure issues or is this about the people that are

1799
01:30:02,600 --> 01:30:03,320
Speaker 1: involved here?

1800
01:30:05,080 --> 01:30:07,439
Speaker 3: Well, I think the Menendez story is kind of a

1801
01:30:07,479 --> 01:30:11,040
Speaker 3: distinct one if the allegations are true. I don't think

1802
01:30:11,080 --> 01:30:13,559
Speaker 3: that kind of corruption normally goes on in Washington, DC.

1803
01:30:13,760 --> 01:30:19,080
Speaker 3: That's kind of like unsophisticated corruption. It's also not structural corruption.

1804
01:30:19,640 --> 01:30:23,560
Speaker 3: And the structural corruption is for sure far more powerful

1805
01:30:23,720 --> 01:30:27,200
Speaker 3: and consequential. It didn't start with the Citizens United decision

1806
01:30:27,240 --> 01:30:30,519
Speaker 3: in twenty ten, but it got way worse than that.

1807
01:30:30,640 --> 01:30:32,559
Speaker 3: Was the decision, of course from the Supreme Court that

1808
01:30:32,640 --> 01:30:36,120
Speaker 3: said companies could spend whatever they want to influence election outcomes.

1809
01:30:36,680 --> 01:30:38,439
Speaker 4: And we've all lived in the world since then.

1810
01:30:38,479 --> 01:30:41,160
Speaker 3: Everybody's familiar with it, but they're not probably familiar with

1811
01:30:41,200 --> 01:30:44,479
Speaker 3: exactly how bad it is. We have twenty five people

1812
01:30:44,560 --> 01:30:47,400
Speaker 3: who are responsible for half of all super pac spending,

1813
01:30:48,080 --> 01:30:50,880
Speaker 3: Just twenty five people. So not so long ago we

1814
01:30:51,040 --> 01:30:52,559
Speaker 3: call that a country described like that.

1815
01:30:52,439 --> 01:30:55,480
Speaker 4: A banana republic. That's the United States of America.

1816
01:30:55,600 --> 01:30:58,200
Speaker 2: So, Robert, you said, what we can do about it,

1817
01:30:58,280 --> 01:31:00,760
Speaker 2: give us some of the prescriptions in the book about

1818
01:31:00,800 --> 01:31:03,880
Speaker 2: how you can actually get to a more bipartisan and

1819
01:31:03,960 --> 01:31:05,000
Speaker 2: less corrupt future.

1820
01:31:06,720 --> 01:31:08,400
Speaker 4: Well, it is a bipartisan in that.

1821
01:31:08,439 --> 01:31:10,559
Speaker 3: I think again, as I said, if you look at

1822
01:31:10,760 --> 01:31:14,440
Speaker 3: people support for raising the minimum wage, taxing big corporations,

1823
01:31:14,520 --> 01:31:19,360
Speaker 3: cracking down on big tech, supporting anti monopoly policy, lowering

1824
01:31:19,439 --> 01:31:23,000
Speaker 3: drug prices, issue after issue, you're seeing seventy.

1825
01:31:22,720 --> 01:31:24,879
Speaker 4: Eighty and even ninety percent support.

1826
01:31:25,880 --> 01:31:27,280
Speaker 3: I think the number one thing to do is to

1827
01:31:27,280 --> 01:31:30,600
Speaker 3: deal with campaign finance, to overturn citizens United and have

1828
01:31:30,680 --> 01:31:33,840
Speaker 3: a system of public financing or small donor financing of

1829
01:31:33,880 --> 01:31:37,120
Speaker 3: our public elections. We've got to deal with regulatory captures,

1830
01:31:37,120 --> 01:31:39,439
Speaker 3: so the regulatory agencies work for the public and not

1831
01:31:39,920 --> 01:31:43,200
Speaker 3: for the corporations they're regulating. We need an aggressive anti

1832
01:31:43,280 --> 01:31:45,840
Speaker 3: monopoly policy to break up the big companies and stop

1833
01:31:45,880 --> 01:31:49,280
Speaker 3: them from leveraging their political influence. We need to support

1834
01:31:49,360 --> 01:31:52,800
Speaker 3: labor unions, so we've got independent check on the power

1835
01:31:52,880 --> 01:31:56,800
Speaker 3: of big corporations by making it legal to organize an illegal,

1836
01:31:57,439 --> 01:32:02,559
Speaker 3: legitimately illegal to interfere with union organizing, and on down

1837
01:32:02,640 --> 01:32:04,000
Speaker 3: the line. There's a set of things. There is for

1838
01:32:04,080 --> 01:32:06,599
Speaker 3: sure no silver bullet to the problem of too much

1839
01:32:06,640 --> 01:32:07,280
Speaker 3: corporate power.

1840
01:32:08,160 --> 01:32:10,320
Speaker 1: My last question for you, Robert, is because I've been

1841
01:32:10,360 --> 01:32:12,679
Speaker 1: thinking about this one recently. You know, you name checked

1842
01:32:12,720 --> 01:32:15,320
Speaker 1: all of these policies that have massive support. You know,

1843
01:32:15,400 --> 01:32:17,120
Speaker 1: I could go through another list that has even like

1844
01:32:17,280 --> 01:32:21,360
Speaker 1: ninety percent level of support banning stock trading by members

1845
01:32:21,400 --> 01:32:25,599
Speaker 1: of Congress as one example, and yet anover happens because

1846
01:32:25,640 --> 01:32:28,920
Speaker 1: of exactly the structural factors that you're talking about. And

1847
01:32:28,960 --> 01:32:30,960
Speaker 1: it makes me question if we even live in a

1848
01:32:31,040 --> 01:32:33,439
Speaker 1: democracy at this point when the will of the people

1849
01:32:33,479 --> 01:32:38,040
Speaker 1: seems to matter really not at all.

1850
01:32:38,200 --> 01:32:40,519
Speaker 3: Well, the only answer is to organize into overwhelm big

1851
01:32:40,560 --> 01:32:43,200
Speaker 3: money power with people, organize people of power. You know,

1852
01:32:43,280 --> 01:32:45,439
Speaker 3: in that one example, there is a problem with stock trading.

1853
01:32:45,520 --> 01:32:47,960
Speaker 3: But we made some progress on stock trading my members

1854
01:32:47,960 --> 01:32:50,920
Speaker 3: of Congress in two thousand and seven. We have public

1855
01:32:50,960 --> 01:32:53,439
Speaker 3: citizens did a lot of work on that. We were

1856
01:32:53,439 --> 01:32:55,280
Speaker 3: banging our heads against the wall for a while. We

1857
01:32:55,360 --> 01:32:57,679
Speaker 3: got some media coverage, and all of a sudden people

1858
01:32:57,720 --> 01:33:00,439
Speaker 3: got outraged and Congress had no choice by to an

1859
01:33:00,439 --> 01:33:02,920
Speaker 3: act and meaningful reforms. Far too little as we see

1860
01:33:02,960 --> 01:33:06,000
Speaker 3: every day. But we made progress. And that's how we

1861
01:33:06,040 --> 01:33:08,880
Speaker 3: make progress every time. You take that example of the

1862
01:33:08,920 --> 01:33:13,360
Speaker 3: Medicare drug program, biggest rip off I think in modern

1863
01:33:13,360 --> 01:33:15,960
Speaker 3: American history, but we just clawed back one hundred billion

1864
01:33:16,000 --> 01:33:18,240
Speaker 3: dollars of that and the Inflation Reduction Act.

1865
01:33:18,280 --> 01:33:19,639
Speaker 4: Again, we should have gone for it all.

1866
01:33:20,000 --> 01:33:22,040
Speaker 3: So we didn't get everything we needed, but we got something,

1867
01:33:22,080 --> 01:33:24,839
Speaker 3: and that's because people rose up and demanded it and overcame,

1868
01:33:25,000 --> 01:33:26,719
Speaker 3: to some extent, the power of big Farma.

1869
01:33:27,160 --> 01:33:29,960
Speaker 2: All right, Well, a hopeful message. We appreciate you joining us, sir.

1870
01:33:30,000 --> 01:33:31,320
Speaker 4: Thank you, great to be with you.

1871
01:33:31,320 --> 01:33:34,160
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, absolutely, thank you guys so much for watching.

1872
01:33:34,200 --> 01:33:36,160
Speaker 2: We really appreciate it. We'll have the debate special for

1873
01:33:36,200 --> 01:33:39,760
Speaker 2: everybody tomorrow for prem subscribers. That drops today, and we'll

1874
01:33:39,760 --> 01:33:43,280
Speaker 2: have a great debate after action report. I guess you

1875
01:33:43,280 --> 01:33:45,040
Speaker 2: could call it on Thursday. We'll see you later.