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Speaker 1: Hello. Welcome to Fast Politics. I'm Molly Chongfast, and we

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Speaker 1: have a great show for you today. Later in the show,

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Speaker 1: we'll talk to Tennessee House Representative Justin Pearson about his

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Speaker 1: run for Tennessee's 9th District. But first, we have the

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Speaker 1: Jim Acosta Show's Jim Acosta to talk about the Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court rejecting Trump's culture war.

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Speaker 2: Jim Acosta.

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Speaker 1: Jim Acosta.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Molly. Good to see you.

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Speaker 1: Good to see you. Do you want to pay $ 50

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Speaker 1: million for a pardon?

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Speaker 2: I mean, what is that?

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's... A lena haba.

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Speaker 2: This is the stuff, you know, when I saw the

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Speaker 2: Kennedy Center story the other day that involved Rick Grinnell

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Speaker 2: and there was something going on there. Right. And a

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Speaker 2: lena haba. The snakes are starting to eat each other.

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Speaker 2: The rats are starting to eat each other. They're starting

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Speaker 2: to rat each other out. And this is what we

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Speaker 2: can expect to see over the next two years, if

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Speaker 2: and when the Democrats take control of both the House

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Speaker 2: and the Senate, is there are going to be hearings.

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Speaker 2: And they're not going to be able to say executive

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Speaker 2: privilege on everybody. They're not going to be able to

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Speaker 2: block everybody from being called to testify. And so you're

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Speaker 2: going to have people like, I guess, Rick Riddell and

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Speaker 2: Alina Haba refusing to testify, and maybe there'll be contempt motions.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. But This is sort of the unraveling

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Speaker 2: of MAGA and Trump 2.0. And all of this corruption,

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Speaker 2: this ocean of corruption is just going to be exposed.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be like the tide has come in.

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Speaker 2: Now the tide is going to come out. And all

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Speaker 2: the garbage that was floating around in the ocean is

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Speaker 2: just going to be sitting there on the seabed for

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Speaker 2: all of us to take a look at. And it's

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Speaker 2: not going to be a pretty picture.

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Speaker 1: Well, you and I have covered this administration for a

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Speaker 1: decade since we were in our 30s and young. And

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Speaker 1: in our 30s, what happened in Trump 1.0, which I

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Speaker 1: think we're going to see a lot more of, is this...

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Speaker 1: where people would just come out and start leaking and start... So, like,

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Speaker 1: this Alina Haba-Rick Grinnell story, I was.

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Speaker 3: Like, oh, I.

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Speaker 1: You know, the punchline of this story is there was

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Speaker 1: a $ 9 million donation to the Kennedy Center from the

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Speaker 1: Democratic Republic of Congo via, right, Alina Haba's billionaire husband

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Speaker 1: who's in his... I think he's in his 20s.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And... So, I mean, I do think these, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're going to see more and more of these stories.

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Speaker 1: That's when I read it, I was like, oh, this

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Speaker 1: is the beginning of these.

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Speaker 2: Right. And the Kimberly Guilfoyle American Express story. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the list goes on and on. And it's sort of

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Speaker 2: like the popcorn meme, you know, the guy eating. I mean,

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Speaker 2: that's going to be all of us over the next

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Speaker 2: couple of years. But thank God. I mean, thank God

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Speaker 2: some of this stuff is going to be exposed because

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Speaker 2: it's just been a corruption bonanza. And, you know, the question,

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Speaker 2: I think, becomes, Can the Democrats follow the money and

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Speaker 2: investigate what Trump has been doing on some of these

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Speaker 2: really big ticket items, on the crypto, on the stock

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Speaker 2: trading stuff? That's the really scandalous stuff, the Qatari jet.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's some really scandalous stuff to uncover. And

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Speaker 2: I think this is why he's becoming unglued. This is

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Speaker 2: not the same candidate that you and I used to

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Speaker 2: cover during the first term or the run-up to the

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Speaker 2: first term. He acts completely unhinged. All the time. But

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Speaker 2: some of this stuff is just it's it's it's it's madness.

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Speaker 2: You know, he's descending into madness.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk about some of the unhinged stuff that

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Speaker 1: happened this week. So there's a lot of talking about butts.

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Speaker 2: Butts. Yeah, I know. I'm waiting for him to break.

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Speaker 2: I know. I'm waiting for him to break out into

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Speaker 2: a rendition of Baby Got Back.

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Speaker 1: So there's a lot of that kind of thing, a

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Speaker 1: lot of Trump talking about the many, the reflecting pool

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Speaker 1: and the helipad and.

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Speaker 2: The, you know. But can we talk about the ass stuff?

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Speaker 2: Can we? Is that? Why is he? OK, I just

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Speaker 2: want to know, why is he going on into these rallies?

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Speaker 2: And he's not just doing it in Ohio. OK, he

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Speaker 2: goes to North.

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Speaker 1: Carolina, which is known to love. But is it?

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Speaker 2: I thought it was the Buckeye State. Maybe it's right.

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Speaker 1: The Buckeye State. But no, again, right. He did talk

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Speaker 1: in North Carolina. I mean, I do think there's a

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Speaker 1: certain extent which Donald Trump probably doesn't know where he is.

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Speaker 1: And that is not necessarily like there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of candidates when you're barnstorming the country and you're in

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Speaker 1: a different state every couple hours.

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Speaker 2: Like, sure.

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Speaker 1: Again, You could actually be pretty with it and still

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Speaker 1: not know where you were because you're doing so many

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Speaker 1: of these talks.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, this is not really barnstorming. This is burning

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Speaker 2: the barns of the Republican Party. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 2: he's he's doing one of these a day, but he's

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Speaker 2: going to the most ridiculously red states, red places in America.

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Speaker 2: And it just tells you everything that you need to

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Speaker 2: know about how much trouble he is in right now.

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Speaker 2: And a lot of these places, they don't want him there.

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Speaker 2: I think it's been hurting them.

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Speaker 1: Well, that's like Ken Paxton talking about him being a

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Speaker 1: drag on the ticket. He's going to Texas. He's going

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Speaker 1: to red states. He's going to Kansas. And he's going

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Speaker 1: to Iowa. South Carolina. South Carolina is pretty wild.

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Speaker 2: Wow. I mean, I was looking at the polls and

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Speaker 2: Darlene Graham is maybe up a few percentage points in

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Speaker 2: the latest polls for South Carolina over Annie Andrews. Not um,

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Speaker 2: normal territory for the Republicans to be in, in the

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Speaker 2: state of South Carolina. And I was talking with the pollster,

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Speaker 2: Democratic pollster, uh, John Anzalone about this. And if you

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Speaker 2: go into the numbers and go into the cross tabs and,

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Speaker 2: you know, the so-called hashtag cross tabs and look at

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Speaker 2: all of that stuff, um, the enthusiasm gap is massive

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Speaker 2: between Annie Andrews and Darlene Graham. That is the case

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Speaker 2: in a lot of these battleground states. And they're the

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Speaker 2: Republican Republican electorate by and large is just absolutely depressed

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Speaker 2: right now. And Donald Trump is getting the Kool-Aid drinkers.

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Speaker 2: He's getting the cultists and the guys who beat up

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Speaker 2: protesters and things like that. But he's not getting independence.

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Speaker 2: He's getting destroyed by independence. It's terrible.

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Speaker 1: In 24, he won South Carolina by 18 percentage points,

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Speaker 1: which is quite a lot.

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Speaker 2: Quite a lot. And his name is Graham and her

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Speaker 2: name is Graham. Right.

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Speaker 1: That should not be a swing, you know, district.

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Speaker 2: This should not be close right now. But Darlene Graham completely,

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Speaker 2: I mean, she had one of the gaffes of this

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Speaker 2: campaign cycle when she said, well, I don't really think

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Speaker 2: about national security. I don't know that much about national security.

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Speaker 2: And everybody's like, uh, what?

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Speaker 1: But it's also, it wasn't just a gaffe. I mean,

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Speaker 1: she really can't answer questions. I mean, and part of

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Speaker 1: this is, this is another candidate, though, that was a

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump candidate. So Donald Trump has put the Republican

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Speaker 1: Party here, right? Like Darlene Graham was his pick, just

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Speaker 1: like Ken Paxton was his pick.

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Speaker 2: Correct. Right. That's right.

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Speaker 1: Just like Tom Tillis is not running for reelection because

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Speaker 1: he didn't want because Trump didn't want him to. So

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Speaker 1: those are three seats where we three Senate seats where

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump directly did something to fuck over his party.

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Speaker 4: Excuse my French.

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Speaker 2: No, that's right. And then there are cases where they

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Speaker 2: just have really shitty recruiting. Like, for example, how is

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Speaker 2: it a good idea to have Vivek Ramaswamy running for

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Speaker 2: governor of Ohio? I don't know really anybody who thinks

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Speaker 2: that is a good idea or ever was a good idea.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk. Yeah, we should talk about this.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, first go. Keep going.

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Speaker 2: Well, no, I interviewed him a few years ago during

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Speaker 2: my old days at my old network, and I thought

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Speaker 2: he was just one of the slimiest people that I

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Speaker 2: had ever interviewed. Kind of scummy. And, you know, I thought, well,

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Speaker 2: this is kind of what MAGA is right now. They

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Speaker 2: don't answer straight questions. They, they just lie, you know,

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Speaker 2: to your face, but why he, they thought he would

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Speaker 2: be a good idea to run for governor of Ohio

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Speaker 2: is beyond me. And now he, because he's so they're

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Speaker 2: so desperate that they may lose the governor's race in Ohio,

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Speaker 2: which again, those kinds of seats will be key in

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Speaker 2: the run-up to 2028 presidential campaigns and so on. I'm

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Speaker 2: not surprised that he is going down to the bottom

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Speaker 2: of the barrel of And, you know, attempting to pull

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Speaker 2: this gutter move with this ridiculously awful, disgusting ad that

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Speaker 2: he's running against Amy Acton.

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Speaker 1: So this ad that Vivek created or that somebody in

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Speaker 1: his orbit created basically has the mother of Amy Acton

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Speaker 1: saying that Amy is a serial liar. When, in fact,

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Speaker 1: the evidence is that actually the mother who lost custody

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Speaker 1: of the daughter and stayed married to the stepfather who

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Speaker 1: was alleged to have abused her and who was actually

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Speaker 1: supposed to go to jail or was about to stand trial.

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Speaker 1: and has other allegations of sexual abuse from other children,

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Speaker 1: not just Amy.

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Speaker 2: And the brother says this happened, too. Her brother says

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Speaker 2: this happened.

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Speaker 1: And so this ad is particularly disgusting. And also then, luckily,

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Speaker 1: Amy's campaign had immediately a response video with the brother

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Speaker 1: saying that these people are just, you know, this is...

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Speaker 1: We haven't really ever seen, I don't think I've ever

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Speaker 1: seen an ad that argues whether or not the candidate

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Speaker 1: has been sexually abused as a child.

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Speaker 2: No, exactly. And I mean, to me, this is, I mean,

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Speaker 2: this is pure Vivek Ramaswamy. This is pure, you know,

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Speaker 2: Trump politics where they will literally throw anything at anybody

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Speaker 2: in order to stay in power. And I, I haven't

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Speaker 2: played it on my show. I know other people have

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Speaker 2: played it, you know, People played clips of it here

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Speaker 2: and there and that sort of thing, which I guess

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Speaker 2: is fine. But it's a really horrendous spot. And it

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Speaker 2: may be kind of a defining moment in the cycle

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Speaker 2: because you have Republicans now. coming out of the woodwork,

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Speaker 2: people like Nikki Haley and so on saying that this

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Speaker 2: is atrocious. And at some point, and we've all been

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Speaker 2: waiting for this to happen in this Trump era, at

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Speaker 2: what point is the gag reflex triggered? At what point

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Speaker 2: do people finally say enough is enough and we're tired

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Speaker 2: of the bile and vitriol and this poison that's been

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Speaker 2: injected into our veins. And I think this ad is

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Speaker 2: emblematic of maybe where we're starting to approach as a country.

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Speaker 2: And if so, thank God, I hope that that is

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Speaker 2: the case because I don't know how we go on

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Speaker 2: like this as a country. And, but this is, this

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Speaker 2: is very emblematic of the Trump era where you, you

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Speaker 2: would tear somebody down over something that is just completely

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Speaker 2: at the heart of a moment that, that, changed this

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Speaker 2: person's life, Amy Acton's life. I mean, she went through

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Speaker 2: so much as a kid growing up. It's kind of

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Speaker 2: an amazing story how she's been able to rise to

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Speaker 2: the place where she is, where she may be on

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Speaker 2: the verge of becoming the governor of Ohio after everything

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Speaker 2: that she's been through. And for Ramaswamy to try to

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Speaker 2: exploit a moment of intense pain in her childhood, to me,

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Speaker 2: it just sums up who he is as a human

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Speaker 2: being and what this movement has been about since the get-go.

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Speaker 1: And also, at first, they said they didn't do the ad. Right.

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Speaker 2: They totally lied.

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Speaker 1: They did do the ad. And then they spent $ 4

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Speaker 1: million running the ad. And again, so the idea that

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Speaker 1: you're litigating whether or not someone has been sexually abused

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Speaker 1: as a child is pretty disgusting.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: And also, but then we did see this Ohio paper

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Speaker 1: come out and endorse Amy.

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Speaker 2: Right. So- And that's going to be extraordinary. Ohio, I mean, Molly,

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Speaker 2: you and I are watching a lot of these races.

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Speaker 2: And Maine is big. If Susan Collins goes down, that's big.

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Speaker 2: If Darlene Graham goes down, that's big. If Sherrod Brown

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Speaker 2: can go back and win that Senate seat and Amy

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Speaker 2: Acton can win the governor's race in Ohio, Ohio is

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Speaker 2: one of those states where, I mean, you and I

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Speaker 2: like a year ago would have been like, Ohio is

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Speaker 2: a red state. That's a MAGA state. They're not voting

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Speaker 2: for Democrats anymore. That Apparently, Max Miller may lose that

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Speaker 2: congressional seat outside of Cleveland to Brian Poindexter. Right.

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Speaker 1: Who is a uniquely terrible candidate, too, with allegations of

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Speaker 1: abuse against the daughter, the mother, the daughter of Bernie

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Speaker 1: Marino says that he broke her daughter's collarbone. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is really rough stuff here. This is not a

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Speaker 1: candidate who should be running for office.

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Speaker 2: No, I mean, and this has been, you know, this

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Speaker 2: this Trump. recruiting class of the 2026 midterm is going

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Speaker 2: to go down as just one of the biggest debacles.

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Speaker 2: And the Republican Party has earned this. They put everything

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Speaker 2: into Donald Trump. They did not try to stop him.

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Speaker 2: Did they ever try to stop him at any moment

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Speaker 2: during the first two years of this second term? Maybe

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Speaker 2: the ones who bolted on the Epstein files, maybe Thomas Massey,

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Speaker 2: that's about it. It's nuts.

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Speaker 1: But when you're running for office and you're a Republican

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Speaker 1: and you are saying, my party has refused to run

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Speaker 1: a check on the most powerful president ever, but vote

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Speaker 1: for me.

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Speaker 2: Just give us another chance. Right.

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Speaker 1: I mean, like, why have a Republican Congress if they're

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Speaker 1: not going to do anything, if they're just going to

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Speaker 1: rubber stamp the president? It's like they've given up all

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Speaker 1: their power at this moment.

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Speaker 2: That's right. And you know, this is down into the marrow.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think JD Vance has now come out

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Speaker 2: and said, why are Republicans giving Vivek Ramaswamy such a

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Speaker 2: hard time? Do they all have to be slime balls?

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Speaker 2: Is JD Vance really that big of a slime ball

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Speaker 2: that he doesn't? I mean, I guess he just says, well,

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Speaker 2: by showing a weakness here that I won't get Trump's backing.

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Speaker 2: It's all about political calculations. Are you not a human being,

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Speaker 2: JD Vance? I mean, there's just, it's, And I think

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Speaker 2: people have had enough of this. I really do. I

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Speaker 2: think that we, and maybe I'll be wrong and I'll

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Speaker 2: have egg on my face on election night and we'll

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Speaker 2: be shocked by these, these findings and these election results

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Speaker 2: and so on. But I just get this in, in

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Speaker 2: the polling would just be the, this, the credibility polling

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Speaker 2: by and large, I think would just be completely shattered

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Speaker 2: if we're all wrong about this. But I just get

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Speaker 2: the sense that people have now hit the breaking point.

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Speaker 2: They've just said, that's it. I've had enough. I'm done

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Speaker 2: with this.

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Speaker 1: You can tell, I think, that listeners and viewers can

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Speaker 1: see our anxiety.

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Speaker 2: A little bit.

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Speaker 1: We're 12 and a half, really 13 days right now

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Speaker 1: from the election. And, you know, I think all of

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Speaker 1: us are a little bit concerned. There was polling from

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Speaker 1: The Times today that had the generic with Democrats at

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Speaker 1: plus 11. And when you read that article from Nate Cohen,

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Speaker 1: what you see is that there he also feels anxious.

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Speaker 1: Like nobody wants to have egg on their face here.

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Speaker 1: Nobody wants to. You know, we know what we see

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Speaker 1: in the polls. We know what we talk to voters,

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Speaker 1: what they say. We know what candidates see. But again,

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Speaker 1: we have we've been wrong before. And so true.

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Speaker 2: But my concern is a couple of things. One is,

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Speaker 2: you know, I don't look at a lot of legacy

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Speaker 2: corporate media as much anymore. I just don't do it.

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Speaker 2: I've just been really disappointed in what I've seen. You know,

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Speaker 2: when you look at places like CBS and where Barry

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Speaker 2: Weiss is, I mean, it's just ridiculous. But Donald Trump

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Speaker 2: out on the campaign trail, and I hope our friends

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Speaker 2: in legacy media have been showing this stuff. I don't

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Speaker 2: think that they have been. I don't think they've been

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Speaker 2: covering it enough. They're sort of late to the party

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Speaker 2: on a lot of these stories.

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Speaker 1: You want to talk about the helicopter?

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Speaker 2: I mean, the way Donald Trump has been going off

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Speaker 2: on Abdul Al-Sayed and calling him Mohammed or talking about

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Speaker 2: Roger Marshall in Kansas as a shy lot. And, you know,

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Speaker 2: some of this, the way he is just the way

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Speaker 2: he's talked about Ilhan Omar and Somali.

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Speaker 1: Immigrants in Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: This is the most racist I've heard Donald Trump, I think,

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Speaker 2: in the entire time that I've covered him. I mean,

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Speaker 2: when he was talking about poisoning the blood of America

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Speaker 2: in 2024, I guess that was pretty bad. But this

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Speaker 2: is overt racism. Klan talk that we're hearing from the

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Speaker 2: president of the United States out on the campaign trail.

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Speaker 2: That's his closing message. Just absolute Klan talk. And I just,

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Speaker 2: you know, I, I hope that the press is showing

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Speaker 2: it enough so that people are getting a full whiff

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Speaker 2: of this because I don't think it's going to work

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Speaker 2: well with independence. I covered the 2018 campaign when he

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Speaker 2: was obsessed with that caravan. And I heard from Republican senators,

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Speaker 2: lawmakers and their staffs up on Capitol Hill who said

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Speaker 2: that this was devastating in swing districts and in battleground

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Speaker 2: states and things like that. So I have the suspicion

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Speaker 2: that this is going to be a bigger event, negative

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Speaker 2: event for Donald Trump than what we're looking at right

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Speaker 2: now in the polls, because I think he is turning

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Speaker 2: off people by leaps and bounds. But I say that

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Speaker 2: with the caveat in that I hope the media has

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Speaker 2: been showing all this stuff And it's not just us

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Speaker 2: in independent media talking.

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Speaker 1: We're almost out of time, but we got to talk

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Speaker 1: about the helicopter. This is a clip that I saw

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Speaker 1: but hadn't watched. And then I watched it and I

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Speaker 1: was pretty shocked by it. So it's a clip of

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump walking to the helicopter and waving. And you think, oh,

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Speaker 1: this is nice. And then the cameraman pulls back and

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Speaker 1: you realize he's not waving at anyone.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 1: So what the fuck is that?

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Speaker 2: What the fuck is that?

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Speaker 1: You're a fancy television anchor.

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Speaker 2: I mean, let me tell you something. I've seen him

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Speaker 2: do this before. He has done this for a number

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Speaker 2: of years where he will pretend wave to supporters. You know,

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Speaker 2: he's watched too many clips of Ronald Reagan or I

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Speaker 2: don't know what it is. But he's living through the

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Speaker 2: own biopic that's playing in his mind and his insane mind.

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Speaker 2: There's this, you know, golden hued biopic that's playing in

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Speaker 2: his brain. And so he thinks that when he's going

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Speaker 2: to the helicopter, he should wave to something on the

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Speaker 2: way to getting into Marine One. And he's not really

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Speaker 2: waving to anybody. Is it a sign of the dementia?

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Speaker 2: Is it a sign of his declining faculty? I don't

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Speaker 2: really know. But he has been doing this fake thing,

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Speaker 2: this fake wave thing for some time now. And it's

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Speaker 2: super weird. But I think it has something to do with,

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Speaker 2: you know, he's a legend in his own mind. And

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Speaker 2: it's now just getting weirder. It's not as weird as

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Speaker 2: talking about John Husted's ass, but it's weird.

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Speaker 1: I still think it's pretty bad. It's pretty bad.

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Speaker 2: And I do think, and I don't know what, again,

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Speaker 2: what the national coverage has been, and maybe they just

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Speaker 2: sane wash it and sugarcoat it. We don't talk about it.

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Speaker 2: But the way he meanders to the helicopter, the way

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Speaker 2: he falls asleep almost every day in the Oval Office,

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Speaker 2: I did not see those things when I covered him

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Speaker 2: in the first year. And now he is 80, and

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Speaker 2: he sounds like a lunatic on the campaign trail, and

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Speaker 2: he doesn't look good. He looks like shit. I don't

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Speaker 2: know if anybody's noticed that, but when they zoom in

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Speaker 2: on him, He looks terrible.

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Speaker 1: He does not look good, yeah.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I can just say what I see. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And what I see is not good. No.

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Speaker 1: I think that's, and there was a clip of him

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Speaker 1: wandering by the car the other day.

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Speaker 2: Wandering by the car, and it looks like they're diverting

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Speaker 2: him back to the car. And, you know, the rapid response,

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Speaker 2: 47 people say, how can you say that? He was

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Speaker 2: doing something, and we just turned him around. And he's

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Speaker 2: just closing his eyes for a moment, and he's just

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Speaker 2: resting his eyes in the Oval Office.

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Speaker 1: He's resting his eyes.

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Speaker 2: They just bullshit about everything. He's declining. He's declining. And

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Speaker 2: I have said this before. Maybe you and I have

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Speaker 2: even talked about this. Joe Biden says we killed Medicare

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Speaker 2: once during a debate. Political career over. Presidency basically over.

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Speaker 2: Donald Trump does this almost every day. If Joe Biden

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Speaker 2: was talking about somebody's ass on the campaign trail all

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Speaker 2: the time, what would we do?

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Speaker 1: They'd shit a brick over at CNN.

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Speaker 2: They'd shit an absolute fucking house. That's what they would do.

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Speaker 2: But for Donald Trump, he just talks about asses.

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Speaker 1: Jim Acosta.

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Speaker 2: I love you, Molly.

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Speaker 1: We laugh to keep from crying.

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Speaker 2: If you don't laugh, you'll cry.

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Speaker 3: Molly, it's time for the headlines. And you know who

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Speaker 3: is here to... get world peace for us?

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Speaker 2: Steve Witkoff.

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Speaker 3: He's gone and he's called Putin a humanitarian. You know

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Speaker 3: what I think of when I think of the way

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Speaker 3: Putin's treated his people? And when we've been basically degrading

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Speaker 3: communism for 50 years in this country? It feels a little...

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Speaker 3: off-brand to me for a Republican administration to be saying that.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so I just want to point out, Steve Wyckoff

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Speaker 1: has no qualifications. He has no qualifications. He went to

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Speaker 1: the Morris A. Dean School of Law at Hofstra. for

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Speaker 1: law school. He went to Hofstra for undergrad. He's a

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Speaker 1: former attorney and real estate investor, and he's the founder

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Speaker 1: of the Wyckoff Group, his family real estate business. He

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Speaker 1: has zero qualifications, and he has zero training. He has never,

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Speaker 1: I mean, maybe he took some classes in college, but

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Speaker 1: I want to point that out before we talk about this.

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Speaker 1: He's worth two and a half billion dollars and he

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Speaker 1: has a crypto company, I think is a generous word

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Speaker 1: for the crypto company that his sons and he runs.

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Speaker 1: He's been a major beneficiary of Trump's largesse for seemingly

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Speaker 1: just because they're friends and they play golf together. So

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Speaker 1: there's no reason why this person should be doing anything

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Speaker 1: serious in our government. And what is he doing? Well,

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Speaker 1: he just met with Vladimir Putin, called him a humanitarian.

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Speaker 1: It is shocking. He says. OK, Wyckoff. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: RT posted this because they were so excited in a

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Speaker 1: video posted to social media. Wyckoff thanked Putin and Putin.

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Speaker 1: They released a hostage, which is something you have to

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Speaker 1: wonder who's making money on this deal. And then Wyckoff

433
00:21:38,070 --> 00:21:42,210
Speaker 1: thanked Putin for describing President Donald Trump as a humanitarian

434
00:21:42,710 --> 00:21:47,330
Speaker 1: and added, you are a humanitarian also, sir. And I

435
00:21:47,590 --> 00:21:52,090
Speaker 1: salute that. I commend you and I thank you again. OK,

436
00:21:52,109 --> 00:21:57,580
Speaker 1: I mean, we are in like having basically scrimmages with

437
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:05,620
Speaker 1: Canada and Norway and our government is making footsie with

438
00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:10,240
Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin. who is currently trying to level the country

439
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,680
Speaker 1: of Ukraine so that he can take it over on

440
00:22:13,700 --> 00:22:17,070
Speaker 1: his way to Europe. I mean, it is like, it's

441
00:22:17,230 --> 00:22:22,070
Speaker 1: like we are the baddies here, team. And I am just,

442
00:22:22,650 --> 00:22:26,530
Speaker 1: I mean, I watched this video and thought it was AI.

443
00:22:28,060 --> 00:22:30,820
Speaker 3: Well, it is pretty ridiculous. And I think a lot

444
00:22:30,859 --> 00:22:34,979
Speaker 3: about the Academy Award-winning documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin. And

445
00:22:35,180 --> 00:22:38,570
Speaker 3: you see the way people are silenced there. It is

446
00:22:38,619 --> 00:22:40,350
Speaker 3: an authoritarian nightmare.

447
00:22:40,619 --> 00:22:40,899
Speaker 2: Yes.

448
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:45,169
Speaker 3: It is fully dystopian. So to say humanitarian is really,

449
00:22:45,250 --> 00:22:46,270
Speaker 3: really beyond the pale.

450
00:22:46,650 --> 00:22:52,390
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like, it's not even funny. It's just disturbing.

451
00:22:52,530 --> 00:22:56,130
Speaker 1: And it's also, I mean, what's so amazing about this

452
00:22:56,250 --> 00:22:58,400
Speaker 1: is This is a person who has no idea what's

453
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,020
Speaker 1: going on. So it's not like we have a team

454
00:23:02,260 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: of really smart negotiators there. It's not like we even

455
00:23:05,380 --> 00:23:09,470
Speaker 1: have a we have the president's golf buddy who knows nothing,

456
00:23:09,950 --> 00:23:13,070
Speaker 1: who is trying to get some, you know, who maybe

457
00:23:13,170 --> 00:23:15,270
Speaker 1: is trying to make money for himself or his kids

458
00:23:15,410 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 1: or Trump. And this is on the heels of Trump.

459
00:23:19,180 --> 00:23:23,909
Speaker 1: What happened earlier this week where Elon Musk turned, we think,

460
00:23:24,070 --> 00:23:26,480
Speaker 1: turned off Starlink for the Ukrainians.

461
00:23:26,540 --> 00:23:28,260
Speaker 3: It's at least now being reported since the last time

462
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,580
Speaker 3: we discussed this that it was Elon's call to do this.

463
00:23:31,100 --> 00:23:31,340
Speaker 2: Right.

464
00:23:31,660 --> 00:23:36,780
Speaker 1: So and again, we have Marco Rubio saying that it's not.

465
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,350
Speaker 1: But I think there's a scenario where Elon and Trump

466
00:23:40,369 --> 00:23:46,470
Speaker 1: maybe talked about this without papering it to, quote, Don Jr.

467
00:23:46,470 --> 00:23:51,790
Speaker 1: 's former fiance, Kimberly Goff Oil. But either way, like

468
00:23:52,270 --> 00:23:55,730
Speaker 1: we now see that our and our government is on

469
00:23:55,770 --> 00:23:59,300
Speaker 1: the side of the murderous dictators, which is. just an

470
00:23:59,380 --> 00:24:03,730
Speaker 1: insane thing to think and to say and to know

471
00:24:03,750 --> 00:24:08,669
Speaker 1: is true. So again, like this will have terrible repercussions

472
00:24:08,830 --> 00:24:13,850
Speaker 1: for everything in every way. And again, if Democrats win

473
00:24:13,869 --> 00:24:17,460
Speaker 1: the House and the Senate, there is going to be,

474
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: I don't even know how they start unrolling this.

475
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:24,640
Speaker 3: So Molly, this headline is something, brace for impact, protecting

476
00:24:24,700 --> 00:24:27,100
Speaker 3: people in the economy when the AI bubble bursts. You

477
00:24:27,140 --> 00:24:30,510
Speaker 3: and I have long been skeptical of the claims of

478
00:24:30,570 --> 00:24:34,580
Speaker 3: these AI CEOs who seem to be jacking up their

479
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,040
Speaker 3: inevitable IPOs. And there's a lot of evidence here that

480
00:24:38,060 --> 00:24:42,940
Speaker 3: they're in a real race against disaster as this blitzscaling

481
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:45,340
Speaker 3: comes real head-to-head with our economy.

482
00:24:45,980 --> 00:24:49,980
Speaker 1: So basically what's happening here is that the Magnificent Seven,

483
00:24:50,030 --> 00:24:56,730
Speaker 1: the seven tech stocks that have basically powered our economy

484
00:24:56,790 --> 00:24:57,470
Speaker 1: for the last.

485
00:24:58,440 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 3: year.

486
00:24:59,300 --> 00:25:04,620
Speaker 1: Or two, those stocks are benefiting from the AI bubble, right?

487
00:25:04,700 --> 00:25:08,940
Speaker 1: Because these are companies that do computing and they are

488
00:25:09,100 --> 00:25:13,360
Speaker 1: using this money to build data centers. And what's happened

489
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,260
Speaker 1: now is there's a sense that all of this is

490
00:25:17,340 --> 00:25:20,879
Speaker 1: kind of out of, I want to say that the

491
00:25:20,980 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 1: AI companies have gotten over their skis and the valuations

492
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,300
Speaker 1: are not matching what is actually happening on the ground.

493
00:25:27,460 --> 00:25:31,330
Speaker 1: And so we're seeing a lot of this sort of

494
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,729
Speaker 1: pre-bubble symptoms. And the problem is because this administration has

495
00:25:35,770 --> 00:25:39,910
Speaker 1: been so off the rails, there were some things put

496
00:25:40,010 --> 00:25:44,220
Speaker 1: in after the 2008 financial crisis, some guardrails put in

497
00:25:44,619 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: to prevent them from happening again, to prevent the kind

498
00:25:47,220 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: of borrowing that happened in 2008, to prevent the kind

499
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,750
Speaker 1: of need for bailouts that happened in 2008. Well, a

500
00:25:55,510 --> 00:25:58,369
Speaker 1: lot of those guardrails, you'll be surprised to hear, have

501
00:25:58,410 --> 00:26:01,650
Speaker 1: been taken off by the Trump administration and a lot

502
00:26:01,670 --> 00:26:03,890
Speaker 1: of the regulation. I mean, remember, this is the guy

503
00:26:03,930 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 1: who came in and fired all these inspector generals. So

504
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,659
Speaker 1: when the crash happens or when the bubble pops, and

505
00:26:12,700 --> 00:26:15,169
Speaker 1: that can mean any number of things, right? That maybe

506
00:26:15,210 --> 00:26:17,790
Speaker 1: just means the markets go down a little bit, but

507
00:26:17,810 --> 00:26:21,209
Speaker 1: it could mean more. We're going to end up seeing

508
00:26:21,230 --> 00:26:24,390
Speaker 1: a lot more carnage than we would have seen had

509
00:26:24,430 --> 00:26:29,370
Speaker 1: some of these guardrails been in place. And so So

510
00:26:29,850 --> 00:26:32,970
Speaker 1: it's very scary. And when we see these IPOs moving up,

511
00:26:33,890 --> 00:26:37,850
Speaker 1: like the anthropic IPO, the thinking is they're probably doing

512
00:26:38,130 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 1: it because they are worried that the market's going to

513
00:26:42,970 --> 00:26:44,540
Speaker 1: crash and they're not going to be able to do

514
00:26:44,619 --> 00:26:47,980
Speaker 1: it for a long time. And so that's what we're

515
00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:52,879
Speaker 1: looking at. And again, none of us know when this

516
00:26:52,940 --> 00:26:55,199
Speaker 1: is going to happen, but it's certainly a worry. And

517
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 1: You know, these are big blue chip companies that a

518
00:26:58,270 --> 00:27:01,890
Speaker 1: lot of pension funds are invested in and a lot

519
00:27:01,930 --> 00:27:04,290
Speaker 1: of people are invested in. And then if you lay

520
00:27:04,510 --> 00:27:08,250
Speaker 1: over that, the bond market problems, it's just not a

521
00:27:08,270 --> 00:27:08,810
Speaker 1: great moment.

522
00:27:09,470 --> 00:27:09,650
Speaker 2: Yeah.

523
00:27:09,750 --> 00:27:12,850
Speaker 3: And we saw two indicators that are a little scary

524
00:27:12,890 --> 00:27:15,669
Speaker 3: that we should say is which is that character.ai, which

525
00:27:15,710 --> 00:27:17,209
Speaker 3: was one of the first of the business filed for

526
00:27:17,250 --> 00:27:18,910
Speaker 3: bankruptcy this last week.

527
00:27:19,050 --> 00:27:20,060
Speaker 2: And then as well.

528
00:27:20,710 --> 00:27:24,050
Speaker 3: There's a report from Business Insider that Amazon has been

529
00:27:24,130 --> 00:27:27,290
Speaker 3: hoarding GPUs that they can't build data centers fast enough,

530
00:27:27,330 --> 00:27:30,730
Speaker 3: which is jacking up NVIDIA's price and doing lots of

531
00:27:30,750 --> 00:27:33,470
Speaker 3: market disruptions, which is a little odd.

532
00:27:33,910 --> 00:27:36,230
Speaker 1: Right. So what is, is that Amazon is buying up

533
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,900
Speaker 1: chips that they can't use and stockpiling them, making chips

534
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:44,580
Speaker 1: more expensive, but also, you know, it's just a bad,

535
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 1: destructive business practice.

536
00:27:46,700 --> 00:27:48,970
Speaker 3: As somebody who could say it for our business, what

537
00:27:48,990 --> 00:27:51,810
Speaker 3: it affects is we are a hard drive dependent business.

538
00:27:51,830 --> 00:27:54,530
Speaker 3: We're a CPU dependent business because it takes it. And

539
00:27:55,130 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 3: computers and hard drives have gone up sometimes 4X depending

540
00:27:59,100 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 3: on when I buy them. And it's a really, really

541
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,940
Speaker 3: bad thing for a lot of people who are trying

542
00:28:03,980 --> 00:28:06,510
Speaker 3: to create things right now because they decided to hoard.

543
00:28:06,970 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm shocked that Amazon is once again acting in

544
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,660
Speaker 1: bad faith. Who could have seen it? No one. Yeah,

545
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:15,540
Speaker 1: not I.

546
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,420
Speaker 3: But while we shift the gears to some new fresh hell,

547
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,119
Speaker 3: which is a thing we're calling social experiments, but we're

548
00:28:22,290 --> 00:28:26,070
Speaker 3: calling themselves to the public polls, 50 Plus One, a

549
00:28:26,190 --> 00:28:30,550
Speaker 3: great journalistic outfit, caught this company Wedgwood Polls, who are

550
00:28:30,609 --> 00:28:34,350
Speaker 3: now admitting their polls were bogus. Molly, we should say, like,

551
00:28:34,430 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 3: one of the things that you and I– go back

552
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,180
Speaker 3: to a lot on this podcast is what we'll see

553
00:28:39,380 --> 00:28:42,270
Speaker 3: is that these candidates tell us they can't fundraise because

554
00:28:42,310 --> 00:28:44,830
Speaker 3: these aggregate polls say they're down because a bunch of

555
00:28:44,890 --> 00:28:48,310
Speaker 3: junk polls get put into the aggregate. And then they

556
00:28:48,350 --> 00:28:50,530
Speaker 3: go to go to say red to blue to fundraise

557
00:28:50,630 --> 00:28:53,130
Speaker 3: and they can't get the fundraising money or just from

558
00:28:53,190 --> 00:28:55,450
Speaker 3: other things. Donors are like, I don't believe you can win.

559
00:28:55,890 --> 00:28:58,130
Speaker 3: So the, when these polls are in that have no

560
00:28:58,190 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 3: basis in fact, it can really hurt our candidates a

561
00:29:02,740 --> 00:29:04,850
Speaker 3: lot of the time or hurt the outcomes of our

562
00:29:04,870 --> 00:29:06,420
Speaker 3: primaries with worse candidates.

563
00:29:07,020 --> 00:29:11,860
Speaker 1: Right. And they're saying it was an experiment despite.

564
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 2: Having no history.

565
00:29:15,100 --> 00:29:20,340
Speaker 1: Formal credentials or real data. We were added to major

566
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,780
Speaker 1: polling aggregators, including The New York Times, 50 plus one,

567
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:28,110
Speaker 1: Vote Hub, and treated like a legitimate news source. So

568
00:29:28,570 --> 00:29:32,770
Speaker 1: their polls showed the progressive candidate winning.

569
00:29:33,330 --> 00:29:35,940
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's a weird thing here that there's a

570
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 3: Republican founder, there's a bunch of desperation. We should say G.

571
00:29:39,420 --> 00:29:44,060
Speaker 3: Elliot McMorris, who is part of this, is very skeptical

572
00:29:44,100 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 3: that this was supposedly progressives rigging things.

573
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,070
Speaker 1: Right. But you could see. Right. I mean, so it's

574
00:29:51,110 --> 00:29:55,130
Speaker 1: most famous for having a Tiffany Hong poll that showed

575
00:29:55,170 --> 00:29:56,390
Speaker 1: her like 26 points ahead.

576
00:29:57,490 --> 00:29:59,580
Speaker 3: And we should say this is old practice for Republicans.

577
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:01,780
Speaker 3: You know, there is groups like Trafalgar and there's lots

578
00:30:01,820 --> 00:30:03,860
Speaker 3: of tricks to polling. Like, for example, a lot of

579
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,020
Speaker 3: them will be off in the odd year and then

580
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 3: try to get more on in the next year so

581
00:30:08,340 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 3: that they can get more a higher grade in the

582
00:30:10,460 --> 00:30:13,770
Speaker 3: polls for being more accurate. And then they're taking money

583
00:30:13,850 --> 00:30:16,390
Speaker 3: for clearly off polls. One of the ones that got

584
00:30:16,430 --> 00:30:18,350
Speaker 3: a lot of accusations for this was the polling that

585
00:30:18,390 --> 00:30:21,430
Speaker 3: had Andrew Cuomo up by double digits in the New

586
00:30:21,470 --> 00:30:22,100
Speaker 3: York mayor poll.

587
00:30:22,590 --> 00:30:25,650
Speaker 1: Right. I mean, the one thing I would say is

588
00:30:25,750 --> 00:30:28,469
Speaker 1: that they're sort of saying they just made it all up.

589
00:30:29,990 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 1: I mean, but basically they did just fake everything. And

590
00:30:35,130 --> 00:30:39,980
Speaker 1: the good news is that G. Eliot Morris was investigating

591
00:30:40,020 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 1: Wedgwood for faking their data. And so but they are

592
00:30:43,220 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: saying that they were doing a social experiment, but really

593
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,380
Speaker 1: they were just doing fraud.

594
00:30:47,590 --> 00:30:48,489
Speaker 3: Grifting, grifting.

595
00:30:48,550 --> 00:30:49,450
Speaker 2: That's the way these days.

596
00:30:50,580 --> 00:30:52,620
Speaker 3: So, Molly, we have one last treat of a news

597
00:30:52,660 --> 00:30:55,570
Speaker 3: story that I like to give every once in a while.

598
00:30:55,610 --> 00:30:57,490
Speaker 3: This is one of my favorite things that people do

599
00:30:57,550 --> 00:31:00,510
Speaker 3: because they're so checked out. So we have Minnesota GOP

600
00:31:00,550 --> 00:31:04,090
Speaker 3: House candidate Eric Pratt, who left the AI prompt about

601
00:31:04,150 --> 00:31:06,270
Speaker 3: Trump's unpopularity in their website.

602
00:31:06,610 --> 00:31:10,090
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was amazing. No, I mean, look, this is

603
00:31:10,130 --> 00:31:14,430
Speaker 1: an incredible little bit. And a part of this is like,

604
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:19,070
Speaker 1: you know, they just let the AI do it. And

605
00:31:19,150 --> 00:31:22,230
Speaker 1: so the line is the president is not popular. So

606
00:31:22,390 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 1: all messaging should be focused on local and political needs.

607
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 1: And again, that's what we're seeing right in this in

608
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,060
Speaker 1: this moment in American life is that the president is

609
00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:38,590
Speaker 1: not popular. And so the so they're trying to focus.

610
00:31:38,630 --> 00:31:42,590
Speaker 1: And again, Texas Senate hopeful. It always comes back to

611
00:31:42,630 --> 00:31:46,250
Speaker 1: Texas Senate hopefuls. Ken Paxton called Trump a drag on

612
00:31:46,290 --> 00:31:49,330
Speaker 1: his campaign in a leaked audio clip earlier this month.

613
00:31:50,150 --> 00:31:54,950
Speaker 1: And one GOP source told Politico that Trump's unpopularity had

614
00:31:55,090 --> 00:31:58,610
Speaker 1: made the midterms a lot more difficult to navigate. Say

615
00:31:58,650 --> 00:32:03,990
Speaker 1: it to his face, baby. Justin Pearson represents the 86th

616
00:32:04,820 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 1: District in Tennessee's House of Representatives. Welcome, welcome, Justin Pearson.

617
00:32:10,100 --> 00:32:11,720
Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I

618
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:12,620
Speaker 4: truly appreciate it.

619
00:32:12,980 --> 00:32:16,050
Speaker 1: I feel like you've been a presence in my life,

620
00:32:17,070 --> 00:32:19,950
Speaker 1: in your work in Tennessee for a long time. So

621
00:32:20,710 --> 00:32:24,290
Speaker 1: tell us what you're running for and why your seat

622
00:32:24,390 --> 00:32:26,470
Speaker 1: is now very much on the map.

623
00:32:26,810 --> 00:32:26,990
Speaker 2: Yeah.

624
00:32:27,490 --> 00:32:30,610
Speaker 4: So I'm running for the United States Congress District 9.

625
00:32:30,610 --> 00:32:32,730
Speaker 4: This was a seat that was gerrymandered to be a

626
00:32:32,780 --> 00:32:36,500
Speaker 4: Trump plus 21 district. And our campaign and our movement

627
00:32:36,940 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 4: has brought it to within four points of us being

628
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 4: able to win it. And so we're working really hard

629
00:32:41,860 --> 00:32:43,680
Speaker 4: to get out the vote now because it's during early

630
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 4: voting to make sure that people realize how close we

631
00:32:46,620 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 4: are and that we can beat this gerrymander if we

632
00:32:49,660 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 4: all vote.

633
00:32:50,420 --> 00:32:52,370
Speaker 1: One of the things you've done is you're in the

634
00:32:52,410 --> 00:32:55,790
Speaker 1: state legislature and you took you ran for a seat.

635
00:32:56,130 --> 00:32:58,690
Speaker 1: Part of what I think is important that why I

636
00:32:58,750 --> 00:33:00,890
Speaker 1: wanted you to come on, among other things, and you've

637
00:33:00,910 --> 00:33:02,430
Speaker 1: been moved from red to blue.

638
00:33:02,450 --> 00:33:02,630
Speaker 2: So why?

639
00:33:03,300 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 1: You very much are a real race now. But part

640
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 1: of what happens when you have a seat like the

641
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,140
Speaker 1: one you're running for, where nobody really wants to run

642
00:33:14,180 --> 00:33:17,790
Speaker 1: for it because it's so hard to run, what you do,

643
00:33:18,610 --> 00:33:22,370
Speaker 1: explain the importance of what you, like, you could actually win,

644
00:33:22,750 --> 00:33:25,590
Speaker 1: but even before that, you made a big decision to

645
00:33:25,670 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 1: do something for the good of really the Democratic Party

646
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:31,140
Speaker 1: in a very tough state.

647
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:33,430
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean... The truth of the matter is, in

648
00:33:33,470 --> 00:33:36,010
Speaker 4: the South, we have suffered from a lack of investment

649
00:33:36,810 --> 00:33:39,890
Speaker 4: in our politics for a very long time. And we

650
00:33:39,950 --> 00:33:42,510
Speaker 4: forget not only that there are Democrats here, but there

651
00:33:42,530 --> 00:33:45,530
Speaker 4: are disaffected Republicans. There are people who aren't participating in

652
00:33:45,570 --> 00:33:49,040
Speaker 4: politics because they don't have any candidates who they believe in,

653
00:33:49,630 --> 00:33:52,900
Speaker 4: quite frankly. And we have a responsibility of going to

654
00:33:52,940 --> 00:33:56,150
Speaker 4: those places and to those areas. And sharing our vision

655
00:33:56,170 --> 00:33:58,630
Speaker 4: about the type of state, the type of country that

656
00:33:58,650 --> 00:34:00,970
Speaker 4: we want to live in. And that's what we've been doing.

657
00:34:01,170 --> 00:34:04,050
Speaker 4: And so, yes, it's an extremely difficult race. I'm having

658
00:34:04,070 --> 00:34:06,330
Speaker 4: to raise money. You can hear my voice cracking a

659
00:34:06,370 --> 00:34:08,310
Speaker 4: little bit. I am on the phone for hours and

660
00:34:08,350 --> 00:34:11,330
Speaker 4: hours every single day. In addition to doing four to

661
00:34:11,370 --> 00:34:14,750
Speaker 4: five events a day. Because I believe in this district.

662
00:34:14,790 --> 00:34:17,250
Speaker 4: I believe in this campaign. But I believe in what

663
00:34:17,290 --> 00:34:20,130
Speaker 4: we are building. Because what we are ultimately building is

664
00:34:20,170 --> 00:34:24,450
Speaker 4: more power. that is transforming Tennessee politics, Democratic politics, and

665
00:34:24,489 --> 00:34:28,739
Speaker 4: American politics. I mean, Donald Trump mentioned my name last week, right?

666
00:34:29,140 --> 00:34:31,580
Speaker 4: He wouldn't do that if he wasn't worried about us,

667
00:34:31,620 --> 00:34:34,320
Speaker 4: if he wasn't worried about this campaign. And so that

668
00:34:34,540 --> 00:34:37,420
Speaker 4: gives me so much confidence and should give everybody confidence

669
00:34:37,700 --> 00:34:40,760
Speaker 4: that we're in a serious competitive race here that can win,

670
00:34:41,090 --> 00:34:44,130
Speaker 4: but also that the people who live here are a

671
00:34:44,230 --> 00:34:49,090
Speaker 4: part of this American democracy that have oftentimes been overlooked

672
00:34:49,390 --> 00:34:52,260
Speaker 4: or looked down on. by folks in the national sphere.

673
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,100
Speaker 1: Will you tell our listeners the story of how you

674
00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:59,339
Speaker 1: shot to national prominence? Because I feel like it was

675
00:34:59,380 --> 00:35:02,280
Speaker 1: a very brave thing and it was a similar situation

676
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 1: of like making a move for democracy for the greater good.

677
00:35:07,700 --> 00:35:08,450
Speaker 3: Yeah.

678
00:35:08,710 --> 00:35:12,970
Speaker 4: I mean, March 27, 2023, there was a horrible mass

679
00:35:13,010 --> 00:35:16,410
Speaker 4: shooting that happened at the Covenant School, a private Christian

680
00:35:16,450 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 4: religious school in Nashville. It was the same day that

681
00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:22,759
Speaker 4: I was officially sworn in to be a state representative.

682
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,380
Speaker 4: And a couple of days later, 7,000 people came to

683
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:30,719
Speaker 4: the Capitol protesting, demanding that we do something, anything to

684
00:35:30,780 --> 00:35:33,780
Speaker 4: protect the lives of students and teachers, because it shouldn't

685
00:35:33,820 --> 00:35:36,050
Speaker 4: be a hazard for a child to go to school.

686
00:35:36,610 --> 00:35:38,609
Speaker 4: It shouldn't be a worry that a parent or loved

687
00:35:38,710 --> 00:35:40,669
Speaker 4: one who's a teacher isn't going to make it home.

688
00:35:41,230 --> 00:35:45,270
Speaker 4: And all of my colleagues, Republican colleagues, just laughed at them,

689
00:35:45,590 --> 00:35:49,489
Speaker 4: mocked them, jeered at them. And myself, along with two

690
00:35:49,530 --> 00:35:53,190
Speaker 4: other representatives, went to the well of the House floor

691
00:35:53,750 --> 00:35:56,980
Speaker 4: after we were denied the opportunity to speak about gun safety,

692
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,339
Speaker 4: after our voting machines were turned off, to say, we

693
00:36:01,380 --> 00:36:03,819
Speaker 4: need to listen to these people. We need to hear

694
00:36:03,860 --> 00:36:07,140
Speaker 4: their voices. And so we interrupted business as usual, walked

695
00:36:07,180 --> 00:36:10,470
Speaker 4: down to the middle of the House floor and said,

696
00:36:10,850 --> 00:36:14,609
Speaker 4: they're here asking for us to do something. And we're

697
00:36:14,650 --> 00:36:17,190
Speaker 4: ignoring them as business as usual. And for that, I

698
00:36:17,210 --> 00:36:19,549
Speaker 4: got expelled. out of the state house. I actually lost

699
00:36:19,590 --> 00:36:24,540
Speaker 4: my job in a unanimous vote of Republicans the first

700
00:36:24,580 --> 00:36:27,279
Speaker 4: time in our state's history that it was a partisan

701
00:36:27,660 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 4: expulsion that happened. But it was in an attempt to

702
00:36:30,580 --> 00:36:35,240
Speaker 4: silence me, to silence my fellow representatives, and to show

703
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,560
Speaker 4: other Democrats in particular that if you step out of line,

704
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:40,419
Speaker 4: this is what we will do. But as my mama

705
00:36:40,460 --> 00:36:42,940
Speaker 4: always says, with the government for bad, God will turn

706
00:36:42,980 --> 00:36:46,850
Speaker 4: into good. And that expulsion, a week later, I got

707
00:36:46,890 --> 00:36:50,620
Speaker 4: reinstated by my Shelby County Commission. A couple months later,

708
00:36:50,660 --> 00:36:53,400
Speaker 4: I ran for office again and won the primary with

709
00:36:53,460 --> 00:36:56,760
Speaker 4: over 90% of the vote. And I've been back serving,

710
00:36:57,020 --> 00:37:00,910
Speaker 4: pushing for these gun safety laws. And it matters because

711
00:37:00,950 --> 00:37:03,370
Speaker 4: in our state, 71% of people believe we need more

712
00:37:03,390 --> 00:37:06,230
Speaker 4: gun safety laws. You know, I and my wife both

713
00:37:06,250 --> 00:37:09,090
Speaker 4: have lifetime permits to carry in firearms, but people who

714
00:37:09,110 --> 00:37:11,989
Speaker 4: are responsible gun owners, they only want responsible gun owners

715
00:37:12,070 --> 00:37:16,049
Speaker 4: to have firearms. It's just common sense. And so We

716
00:37:16,090 --> 00:37:19,790
Speaker 4: are continuing sort of that fight because I've since then lost,

717
00:37:20,350 --> 00:37:23,930
Speaker 4: had a brother pass away by a gun suicide, tragically,

718
00:37:24,510 --> 00:37:27,390
Speaker 4: called 988 if you're ever struggling. And so it really

719
00:37:27,469 --> 00:37:29,830
Speaker 4: matters that we pass laws that we know are going

720
00:37:29,850 --> 00:37:32,819
Speaker 4: to help people to be here and to live well.

721
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,799
Speaker 4: But I think in Tennessee and across the South and

722
00:37:35,820 --> 00:37:39,480
Speaker 4: a lot of places, we're listening to those who have

723
00:37:39,500 --> 00:37:42,259
Speaker 4: the most money and the most power. And we're ignoring

724
00:37:42,900 --> 00:37:45,549
Speaker 4: the people who we're supposed to be representing here. And

725
00:37:45,570 --> 00:37:48,500
Speaker 4: in District 9, that's who I'm finding. Farmers who are

726
00:37:48,540 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 4: in debt, teachers who are underpaid, factory workers who are

727
00:37:52,739 --> 00:37:55,859
Speaker 4: getting a fair shake. This is what we are dealing with,

728
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,660
Speaker 4: and we're building solidarity and community with people in a

729
00:37:58,700 --> 00:37:59,210
Speaker 4: powerful way.

730
00:37:59,510 --> 00:38:03,790
Speaker 1: So are you seeing this thing, which we've seen in

731
00:38:03,830 --> 00:38:05,810
Speaker 1: a lot of other red states? You know, I've talked

732
00:38:05,830 --> 00:38:09,140
Speaker 1: to a ton of different And one of the things

733
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 1: they say is that a lot and we see it

734
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,859
Speaker 1: just writ large that there are Republican candidates who are

735
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,050
Speaker 1: just not who have never really had to defend their seats.

736
00:38:20,090 --> 00:38:22,969
Speaker 1: Roger Marshall is a great example. And so they're just

737
00:38:23,030 --> 00:38:26,350
Speaker 1: not ready for primetime. Is your candidate the candidate you're

738
00:38:26,370 --> 00:38:30,210
Speaker 1: running against like that? Because it's an R plus 21

739
00:38:30,210 --> 00:38:33,509
Speaker 1: and it's a gerrymander. So you would assume they'd slot

740
00:38:33,530 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 1: someone in there who wasn't really so great.

741
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 4: Exactly. And he's not great at all, honestly. He is

742
00:38:40,180 --> 00:38:43,219
Speaker 4: supported by all these corporate PACs. Elon Musk wrote him

743
00:38:43,260 --> 00:38:46,089
Speaker 4: a $ 10, 000 check the day he announced his campaign. He's

744
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:50,730
Speaker 4: a mean, evil, vile person, quite frankly. Racist, bigoted, xenophobic

745
00:38:51,150 --> 00:38:55,130
Speaker 4: MAGA and Trump-endorsed candidate. And what he represents is honestly

746
00:38:55,150 --> 00:38:57,569
Speaker 4: the worst of Tennessee and the worst of America. But

747
00:38:57,610 --> 00:39:01,319
Speaker 4: what I think we know in this moment is that

748
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,140
Speaker 4: people are tired of it. They don't want more Trumps.

749
00:39:04,700 --> 00:39:08,230
Speaker 4: They want actual solutions. that impact and improve the quality

750
00:39:08,250 --> 00:39:10,410
Speaker 4: of their lives. They don't want people who are saying,

751
00:39:10,450 --> 00:39:13,069
Speaker 4: I'm going to bring Trump's agenda to Tennessee. They want

752
00:39:13,110 --> 00:39:17,200
Speaker 4: people who are bringing our agenda to D.C. That's what

753
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,799
Speaker 4: we are. That's what we are doing. And so I

754
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,700
Speaker 4: honestly think they really started to rest on their laurels.

755
00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:25,290
Speaker 4: They didn't think this was going to be a fight.

756
00:39:25,710 --> 00:39:28,469
Speaker 4: And now that it is, he's loaned himself one point

757
00:39:28,550 --> 00:39:34,010
Speaker 4: five million dollars. Trump has visited our state three times

758
00:39:34,090 --> 00:39:37,109
Speaker 4: in the last month. Now they know that this is

759
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 4: an extremely competitive district that they weren't prepared for, quite frankly,

760
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 4: because they thought they'd rigged it just right. But they

761
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 4: didn't count on our people power movement to show up

762
00:39:47,500 --> 00:39:49,110
Speaker 4: in full force as it is.

763
00:39:49,500 --> 00:39:52,819
Speaker 1: When you talk to voters, do they, are they, like,

764
00:39:52,940 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 1: we have these polls, right, their data point, and we

765
00:39:56,200 --> 00:40:00,239
Speaker 1: have these videos from the gas stations of, you know,

766
00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:04,060
Speaker 1: three-time Trump voters being like, why is my gas so expensive?

767
00:40:04,460 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: But are you seeing that on the ground in Tennessee?

768
00:40:07,580 --> 00:40:08,219
Speaker 2: Absolutely.

769
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 4: I mean, one of my lead organizers in Lincoln County

770
00:40:10,700 --> 00:40:13,509
Speaker 4: had voted for Trump in the past. Now, people are

771
00:40:13,570 --> 00:40:16,950
Speaker 4: sick and tired of being lied to. They're tired of

772
00:40:16,969 --> 00:40:20,460
Speaker 4: the corruption. They're tired of These elected officials are going

773
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:24,279
Speaker 4: and buying and trading stocks, right? They're mad that the

774
00:40:24,300 --> 00:40:26,980
Speaker 4: president of the United States has made billions of dollars

775
00:40:27,260 --> 00:40:30,759
Speaker 4: while they can't afford a full tank of gas. That

776
00:40:30,820 --> 00:40:33,510
Speaker 4: is frustrating for a lot of people. And I think

777
00:40:33,550 --> 00:40:35,509
Speaker 4: the truth of the matter is, and what I've shared,

778
00:40:35,850 --> 00:40:39,410
Speaker 4: I said, listen, whether you are a Republican with a

779
00:40:39,430 --> 00:40:42,710
Speaker 4: MAGA hat or not, you don't get special privileges at

780
00:40:42,730 --> 00:40:46,130
Speaker 4: the gas pump or at the grocery store, right? That's

781
00:40:46,170 --> 00:40:50,070
Speaker 4: just not happening. And so- I think our message focusing

782
00:40:50,130 --> 00:40:53,149
Speaker 4: is consistently on just like the economic reality that people

783
00:40:53,170 --> 00:40:55,690
Speaker 4: are in. We need to increase wages. We need to

784
00:40:55,730 --> 00:40:58,450
Speaker 4: tax the billionaires. We need to make sure we expand

785
00:40:58,489 --> 00:41:01,510
Speaker 4: and pass Medicare for all, stop these toxic data centers.

786
00:41:01,790 --> 00:41:04,549
Speaker 4: Like these are the things that people are really interested in.

787
00:41:04,590 --> 00:41:06,910
Speaker 4: And they want leaders who aren't going to be bought

788
00:41:07,510 --> 00:41:10,610
Speaker 4: by those in power, right, into silence.

789
00:41:11,630 --> 00:41:14,890
Speaker 1: So one of the things that you're, you know, if

790
00:41:14,950 --> 00:41:18,359
Speaker 1: you do win, you're going to have this issue, which

791
00:41:18,420 --> 00:41:22,120
Speaker 1: is voters are really mad. And they're mad because Trump

792
00:41:22,140 --> 00:41:25,719
Speaker 1: said they were going to deliver for them. And that

793
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,899
Speaker 1: did not happen. Like, you're going to have to make

794
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:34,060
Speaker 1: really tough decisions, like, you know, supporting leadership, like they're,

795
00:41:34,540 --> 00:41:38,020
Speaker 1: you know, supporting the establishment. I mean, where are you

796
00:41:38,060 --> 00:41:38,500
Speaker 1: with that?

797
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:42,460
Speaker 4: Yeah, my main focus is the next 13 days, because

798
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:43,779
Speaker 4: I want to win so that I can be a

799
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:46,620
Speaker 4: part of those conversations. But I know that as our party,

800
00:41:47,219 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 4: looks ahead, even toward 2028, we are going to have

801
00:41:51,460 --> 00:41:54,680
Speaker 4: to have a different vision for our country that distinguishes

802
00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:58,480
Speaker 4: us from establishment Republicans. And honestly, the thing that I

803
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 4: hear on the campaign trail right after I hear how

804
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:04,710
Speaker 4: much people hate toxic data centers, how unaffordable things are,

805
00:42:04,770 --> 00:42:07,570
Speaker 4: including housing and medical care, the next thing that I

806
00:42:07,610 --> 00:42:10,730
Speaker 4: hear is that the two systems and the two parties

807
00:42:10,770 --> 00:42:13,010
Speaker 4: look so much alike so that nothing's going to change.

808
00:42:13,250 --> 00:42:16,320
Speaker 4: And I think we have a responsibility and an accountability

809
00:42:16,620 --> 00:42:19,980
Speaker 4: to change that. You should know that the Democratic Party

810
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,760
Speaker 4: is the party that's going to be supporting working class folks,

811
00:42:23,460 --> 00:42:27,580
Speaker 4: poor folk, against the billionaires and the corporate elites. You

812
00:42:27,620 --> 00:42:31,660
Speaker 4: should know that our party is the party that lifts

813
00:42:31,820 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 4: up the little person, right, and doesn't stand on the

814
00:42:35,580 --> 00:42:38,819
Speaker 4: side of the billionaires who attack and oppress us. Our

815
00:42:38,900 --> 00:42:42,580
Speaker 4: party is the party of unions, right, and good wages

816
00:42:42,620 --> 00:42:46,700
Speaker 4: and good jobs. But right now, we've got corporations who

817
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:49,600
Speaker 4: are playing in both sides, right? And they're trying to

818
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,940
Speaker 4: select these AI companies, crypto companies, they're trying to select

819
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:54,879
Speaker 4: the leaders. And I think we need to be paying

820
00:42:54,940 --> 00:42:57,690
Speaker 4: really close attention to that because I think ultimately that

821
00:42:57,710 --> 00:43:02,350
Speaker 4: doesn't just hurt us as a brand that creates consternation

822
00:43:02,390 --> 00:43:05,210
Speaker 4: within the consciousness of people when it comes to trying

823
00:43:05,290 --> 00:43:08,360
Speaker 4: to engage in politics and seeing that things aren't changing.

824
00:43:08,690 --> 00:43:11,510
Speaker 4: because the two systems look too much alike.

825
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:15,779
Speaker 1: So data centers, you guys have really a lot of

826
00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:19,419
Speaker 1: data centers. Talk to me about where you are with that,

827
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:21,779
Speaker 1: what you guys can do with that, and what you

828
00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:22,580
Speaker 1: plan to do.

829
00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:25,850
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I was at a city council meeting for

830
00:43:25,890 --> 00:43:28,490
Speaker 4: six and a half hours yesterday because we were fighting

831
00:43:28,510 --> 00:43:30,870
Speaker 4: for a data center moratorium, and we lost the vote.

832
00:43:31,010 --> 00:43:34,430
Speaker 4: It was 6-6. It was tied, unfortunately. But we were

833
00:43:34,469 --> 00:43:36,980
Speaker 4: that close to being able to pass a moratorium in

834
00:43:37,020 --> 00:43:40,270
Speaker 4: our city. And unfortunately, we have become the example for

835
00:43:40,330 --> 00:43:43,589
Speaker 4: why other cities are passing moratoriums, because we have weak,

836
00:43:44,210 --> 00:43:48,850
Speaker 4: fickle political leadership who are listening more to Elon Musk

837
00:43:48,910 --> 00:43:50,850
Speaker 4: and the Chamber of Commerce than they are to the

838
00:43:50,890 --> 00:43:54,270
Speaker 4: people in our communities who are suffering from nitrogen oxides

839
00:43:54,570 --> 00:43:57,509
Speaker 4: and suffering from formaldehyde and pollution that is coming from

840
00:43:57,550 --> 00:44:00,819
Speaker 4: these hyperscale data centers. Right now, our goal is to

841
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:03,819
Speaker 4: continue to organize our community's resistance, but also to help

842
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:05,920
Speaker 4: them build the political muscle and power that they need.

843
00:44:06,230 --> 00:44:08,250
Speaker 4: They've got to go to the polls in this election

844
00:44:08,390 --> 00:44:11,260
Speaker 4: and next year. And so we're not letting electoral politics go.

845
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,040
Speaker 4: But we also recognize that there's going to have to

846
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:16,880
Speaker 4: be some national protection, which is why I'm going to

847
00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:18,760
Speaker 4: support a national data center moratorium.

848
00:44:19,180 --> 00:44:23,669
Speaker 1: You have a governor's race in your state, former stylist

849
00:44:23,730 --> 00:44:30,630
Speaker 1: Marsha Blackburn. Would you talk us through that race? Because

850
00:44:30,730 --> 00:44:33,030
Speaker 1: she was a senator. Now she wants to be governor.

851
00:44:33,370 --> 00:44:35,860
Speaker 1: Tell us what it's like on the ground in Tennessee.

852
00:44:35,900 --> 00:44:38,740
Speaker 1: And has this helped Democrats in the state?

853
00:44:39,140 --> 00:44:39,540
Speaker 2: Absolutely.

854
00:44:39,580 --> 00:44:41,880
Speaker 4: Marsha Blackburn is one of the most hated politicians in

855
00:44:41,900 --> 00:44:46,140
Speaker 4: the state of Tennessee because she is a rubber stamp

856
00:44:46,300 --> 00:44:48,370
Speaker 4: for Donald Trump and everything that he wants to do.

857
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:51,580
Speaker 4: She doesn't seem to have a mind of her own.

858
00:44:53,300 --> 00:44:55,819
Speaker 4: Whatever he says she's going to do has been like

859
00:44:55,860 --> 00:44:57,719
Speaker 4: that in the Senate. We expect it to be like

860
00:44:57,739 --> 00:45:01,819
Speaker 4: that if she unfortunately became governor. But right now we

861
00:45:01,860 --> 00:45:05,839
Speaker 4: are seeing the surging of Jerry Green for governor, who's

862
00:45:05,860 --> 00:45:09,190
Speaker 4: really inspiring a city councilor out of Memphis, Tennessee, who

863
00:45:09,230 --> 00:45:12,830
Speaker 4: has experience in each of the grand divisions that really

864
00:45:12,890 --> 00:45:16,069
Speaker 4: is exciting the base. And she's bringing in a lot

865
00:45:16,110 --> 00:45:18,980
Speaker 4: of Republicans, too. to engage and to show up and

866
00:45:19,020 --> 00:45:23,080
Speaker 4: participate and join in the fight for the gubernatorial race.

867
00:45:23,500 --> 00:45:26,840
Speaker 4: And the thing we were not anticipating, there's an independent

868
00:45:26,910 --> 00:45:30,649
Speaker 4: who's taking away a lot of Marsha Blackburn's votes. This

869
00:45:30,690 --> 00:45:33,290
Speaker 4: guy running for governor, Hatley, and he's spending millions of

870
00:45:33,330 --> 00:45:36,550
Speaker 4: dollars against her. And so there's a big fracture happening

871
00:45:36,570 --> 00:45:40,440
Speaker 4: within the Republican Party that creates an amazing opportunity. for

872
00:45:40,860 --> 00:45:44,460
Speaker 4: Jerry Green to build a coalition of Republicans, Democrats and independents,

873
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:47,080
Speaker 4: similar to how we are doing, that is going to

874
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:48,560
Speaker 4: potentially put her in the governor's mansion.

875
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 1: It's just so interesting to be in these districts right

876
00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:57,780
Speaker 1: now where you have sort of a real chance. And,

877
00:45:58,060 --> 00:46:01,410
Speaker 1: you know, the map is just moving in totally fascinating ways.

878
00:46:01,969 --> 00:46:05,590
Speaker 1: When we talk about the data centers, how much data

879
00:46:05,610 --> 00:46:08,590
Speaker 1: center build out is there already in Tennessee? Yeah.

880
00:46:08,860 --> 00:46:11,850
Speaker 4: So we have, I think, over 40 data centers in Tennessee.

881
00:46:12,550 --> 00:46:16,430
Speaker 4: We've given over $ 103 million in tax breaks to data centers.

882
00:46:18,370 --> 00:46:22,450
Speaker 4: In Shelby County, we have four huge data centers operated

883
00:46:22,510 --> 00:46:25,089
Speaker 4: by Elon Musk, but we have nine in total. And

884
00:46:25,170 --> 00:46:28,490
Speaker 4: in District 9, there's now been a proposal for two

885
00:46:28,550 --> 00:46:32,839
Speaker 4: data centers, hyperscale data centers, one in Piperton, which is

886
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:35,500
Speaker 4: in Fayette County, and then another one in Lawrenceburg, which

887
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:38,279
Speaker 4: is actually Amish country. And these are Republicans who are

888
00:46:38,300 --> 00:46:42,840
Speaker 4: pushing those projects onto their communities, which are overwhelmingly rural

889
00:46:42,860 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 4: and overwhelmingly vote for Republicans. And those are the places

890
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:47,520
Speaker 4: where we're actually starting to see a lot of growth

891
00:46:47,860 --> 00:46:51,900
Speaker 4: toward our way because of my stance against data centers,

892
00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:54,320
Speaker 4: not for a couple of months, but for several years.

893
00:46:55,050 --> 00:46:59,029
Speaker 4: But we're being surrounded and it's being forced on us

894
00:47:00,010 --> 00:47:04,610
Speaker 4: without any of our permission, but our elected leadership. Republicans

895
00:47:04,670 --> 00:47:06,910
Speaker 4: and Democrats, because I have a Democratic mayor in Memphis,

896
00:47:07,350 --> 00:47:09,900
Speaker 4: have failed us and have failed to protect our communities.

897
00:47:10,739 --> 00:47:15,219
Speaker 1: The Elon Musk data centers are sort of the worst, right?

898
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:21,820
Speaker 1: Because they have these turbines that are gas-fueled, and so

899
00:47:21,890 --> 00:47:24,730
Speaker 1: they are more polluting, right?

900
00:47:25,190 --> 00:47:25,450
Speaker 2: Right.

901
00:47:25,989 --> 00:47:29,549
Speaker 4: So he has, in essence, built a power plant. His

902
00:47:29,570 --> 00:47:31,290
Speaker 4: first data center, which is three miles away from my

903
00:47:31,330 --> 00:47:35,710
Speaker 4: wife and I's home, had 35 illegal gas turbines that

904
00:47:35,730 --> 00:47:40,049
Speaker 4: they used, which created more pollution than the international airport,

905
00:47:40,070 --> 00:47:44,860
Speaker 4: the Memphis International Airport. Now they have 59 illegal gas

906
00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:47,719
Speaker 4: turbines right on the border of Tennessee and what's called

907
00:47:47,739 --> 00:47:52,840
Speaker 4: South Haven, Mississippi, that are operating 24-7 and again polluting

908
00:47:53,420 --> 00:47:57,140
Speaker 4: nearly tripled the amount of what the Memphis International Airport does.

909
00:47:58,260 --> 00:48:01,350
Speaker 4: This is a horrendous situation we are in. And they're

910
00:48:01,390 --> 00:48:04,509
Speaker 4: operating 24-7, creating a lot of traffic. There's a lot

911
00:48:04,530 --> 00:48:06,710
Speaker 4: of people from out of town who are building and

912
00:48:06,750 --> 00:48:10,350
Speaker 4: constructing these data centers. But this isn't to the benefit

913
00:48:10,390 --> 00:48:12,930
Speaker 4: of our community. We are being treated as an extractive

914
00:48:12,969 --> 00:48:17,049
Speaker 4: colony and a sacrifice zone of billionaire Elon Musk and

915
00:48:17,070 --> 00:48:20,029
Speaker 4: has been allowed to happen, unfortunately, with the support of

916
00:48:20,110 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 4: local leadership who rolled out the red carpet for him

917
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:27,839
Speaker 4: without asking any questions. And I think ultimately, as we

918
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,620
Speaker 4: live in this period, What is apparent to me is

919
00:48:30,739 --> 00:48:33,940
Speaker 4: we need better leadership from Congress, the state house, all

920
00:48:33,980 --> 00:48:36,400
Speaker 4: the way to the city council and the county commission

921
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:40,080
Speaker 4: level to actually protect people's needs. Because the truth of

922
00:48:40,100 --> 00:48:42,440
Speaker 4: the matter is we've got the wrong people in power

923
00:48:42,900 --> 00:48:45,710
Speaker 4: in this moment in time where things are drastically changing

924
00:48:45,790 --> 00:48:48,250
Speaker 4: for our country and for our world. And what I'm doing,

925
00:48:48,330 --> 00:48:50,509
Speaker 4: running for the United States Congress, is not just to

926
00:48:50,530 --> 00:48:52,770
Speaker 4: be a voice of reason, but a voice of intellect

927
00:48:52,830 --> 00:48:56,150
Speaker 4: on one of the most important issues in human history,

928
00:48:56,510 --> 00:49:00,270
Speaker 4: as it relates to artificial intelligence, artificial general intelligence, robotics,

929
00:49:00,310 --> 00:49:02,930
Speaker 4: and automation, whereas the guy that I'm running against is

930
00:49:02,969 --> 00:49:05,299
Speaker 4: paid for by the AI industry. And so you're going

931
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:08,479
Speaker 4: to get two very different visions of our country because

932
00:49:08,500 --> 00:49:08,719
Speaker 4: of that.

933
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:11,759
Speaker 1: When you talk to voters, I mean, this is like

934
00:49:11,780 --> 00:49:14,650
Speaker 1: the big question we all have, like sitting behind our

935
00:49:14,690 --> 00:49:19,529
Speaker 1: desks on the coast, is like, do voters, you know,

936
00:49:19,570 --> 00:49:22,569
Speaker 1: there's so much misinformation, there's so much disinformation, there's so

937
00:49:22,610 --> 00:49:26,700
Speaker 1: much is lying. Do voters get it? Like, I mean,

938
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:31,739
Speaker 1: it feels like these data centers are a palpable example

939
00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:35,710
Speaker 1: of something like, but I mean, do voters get it?

940
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:37,840
Speaker 1: Do voters see it? And are voters angry?

941
00:49:38,180 --> 00:49:41,850
Speaker 4: Voters get it. Voters see it. Voters are angry. I

942
00:49:41,890 --> 00:49:44,009
Speaker 4: was in Fayette County at a town hall meeting related

943
00:49:44,030 --> 00:49:46,279
Speaker 4: to data centers. And they were asked, how many of

944
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:48,359
Speaker 4: you would want a hyperscale data center by your home?

945
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:50,740
Speaker 4: And how many of you do not want a hyperscale

946
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 4: data center by your home? And everyone raised their hand.

947
00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:54,660
Speaker 4: Most of the time that I spent talking was with

948
00:49:54,680 --> 00:49:58,529
Speaker 4: a Republican guy named Mr. Vaughn, who was very frustrated

949
00:49:59,030 --> 00:50:01,069
Speaker 4: by the fact that a data center might be being

950
00:50:01,090 --> 00:50:04,230
Speaker 4: built next to his home and to his family's community

951
00:50:04,270 --> 00:50:06,070
Speaker 4: where he thought he was going to retire for the

952
00:50:06,110 --> 00:50:08,470
Speaker 4: rest of his life. And he's worried about the air pollution.

953
00:50:08,510 --> 00:50:11,110
Speaker 4: He's worried about the noise pollution. He's worried about the

954
00:50:11,210 --> 00:50:16,800
Speaker 4: aquifer being misused by these billion-dollar data center tech oligarchs.

955
00:50:17,180 --> 00:50:20,020
Speaker 4: And he used that word, not me. And so it's

956
00:50:20,660 --> 00:50:23,860
Speaker 4: cutting across all of the differences that they try and

957
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:26,580
Speaker 4: convince us that we have, because people now are just

958
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:29,259
Speaker 4: starting to pay attention more. And it is very clear

959
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:32,400
Speaker 4: that this is a billionaire class versus the rest of us.

960
00:50:32,719 --> 00:50:35,799
Speaker 1: Do you think that that will galvanize the vote?

961
00:50:36,260 --> 00:50:39,800
Speaker 4: Absolutely. I know people are going to the polls. today,

962
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,219
Speaker 4: who's saying, you know what, I'm Republican, but I hate

963
00:50:43,260 --> 00:50:45,140
Speaker 4: these data centers and I know he's going to fight

964
00:50:45,180 --> 00:50:49,060
Speaker 4: to stop them. It is motivating people. It is a

965
00:50:49,140 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 4: motivating factor in this election to have people who are

966
00:50:54,340 --> 00:50:56,460
Speaker 4: against data centers being in positions of power.

967
00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:57,600
Speaker 2: Not only.

968
00:50:58,900 --> 00:51:02,800
Speaker 4: We are spending money on ads, we are sending mail.

969
00:51:02,820 --> 00:51:06,940
Speaker 4: We're doing everything we can to articulate this real challenge

970
00:51:07,060 --> 00:51:08,880
Speaker 4: because the truth is, it's coming for all of us.

971
00:51:09,290 --> 00:51:12,270
Speaker 4: And there aren't that many issues in our country that

972
00:51:12,290 --> 00:51:15,689
Speaker 4: you can say that very clearly about. But 67% of

973
00:51:15,710 --> 00:51:19,219
Speaker 4: data centers, hyperscale data centers are playing for rule America.

974
00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:21,020
Speaker 4: And at the same time, you have the president of

975
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:22,799
Speaker 4: the United States saying, just let them in, just let

976
00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:25,060
Speaker 4: them in. Like that is where we are right now.

977
00:51:25,420 --> 00:51:27,540
Speaker 4: And I do really think it's galvanizing is where people

978
00:51:27,580 --> 00:51:31,240
Speaker 4: break with these administrations, where they break with the Republican Party,

979
00:51:31,540 --> 00:51:33,000
Speaker 4: because they want to have folks who are going to

980
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:35,680
Speaker 4: stand up against the data centers. And you're seeing that

981
00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:38,609
Speaker 4: in Tennessee. You're seeing that in Texas and all across

982
00:51:38,620 --> 00:51:39,029
Speaker 4: the country.

983
00:51:39,390 --> 00:51:41,880
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you, Justin Pearson.

984
00:51:42,100 --> 00:51:43,819
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. I'm so grateful to have been

985
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:44,239
Speaker 4: here with you.

986
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:48,859
Speaker 2: And now your moment of suffering.

987
00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:51,000
Speaker 1: Jesse Cannon.

988
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:55,580
Speaker 3: Bye, Junk Fast. So Trump has another redecorating idea. And,

989
00:51:55,680 --> 00:51:58,000
Speaker 3: you know, many of us have long said that when

990
00:51:58,060 --> 00:52:01,000
Speaker 3: Trump is in office, why even have press briefings because

991
00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:03,480
Speaker 3: it's all lies? Well, Trump has a better idea of

992
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 3: what to do with the room.

993
00:52:04,780 --> 00:52:07,610
Speaker 1: Turn it into a pool. Yeah. He wants to build

994
00:52:07,790 --> 00:52:12,100
Speaker 1: an indoor pool. First of all, I want to pause.

995
00:52:12,540 --> 00:52:14,960
Speaker 1: I think Donald Trump doesn't totally know this is not

996
00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:17,390
Speaker 1: his house and that he's going to have to move out.

997
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:19,779
Speaker 3: I don't think Trump knows much of where he is

998
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:20,560
Speaker 3: these days at all.

999
00:52:20,680 --> 00:52:25,060
Speaker 1: I mean, after that video of him, so he's walking.

1000
00:52:25,460 --> 00:52:27,239
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen it, you should see it. He's

1001
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:32,100
Speaker 1: walking to the helicopter. He stops and waves. Then the

1002
00:52:32,140 --> 00:52:34,840
Speaker 1: cameraman pulls out and it becomes clear he's not waving

1003
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:40,500
Speaker 1: at anyone. He's just waving. So my man, the helicopter waver,

1004
00:52:40,780 --> 00:52:43,640
Speaker 1: may in fact not be playing with a full deck.

1005
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:46,700
Speaker 1: And so he would like to turn the White House

1006
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:49,800
Speaker 1: press room into a swimming pool. I want to say,

1007
00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:51,420
Speaker 1: as someone who has been in and out of that

1008
00:52:51,460 --> 00:52:54,950
Speaker 1: press room, it's not a very big room. You're going

1009
00:52:54,969 --> 00:52:58,350
Speaker 1: to have a swimming pool next to your press office.

1010
00:52:58,690 --> 00:53:01,410
Speaker 1: The room next to it is all the offices of

1011
00:53:02,010 --> 00:53:05,610
Speaker 1: the people who work for the president, your press secretary,

1012
00:53:05,670 --> 00:53:08,950
Speaker 1: your deputy press secretary, all the people like that. So

1013
00:53:09,469 --> 00:53:13,940
Speaker 1: if you build a pool there... It's just ridiculous. All

1014
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:17,700
Speaker 1: of this is ridiculous. We have entered silly season in

1015
00:53:17,739 --> 00:53:20,319
Speaker 1: the Trump presidency, and it may never end.

1016
00:53:20,820 --> 00:53:23,460
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to the Trump bathing suit shots where

1017
00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:25,600
Speaker 3: we can see that all those pictures that they make

1018
00:53:25,640 --> 00:53:29,100
Speaker 3: in AI of his big muscles are totally, totally true.

1019
00:53:29,300 --> 00:53:32,160
Speaker 1: No, I'm sure that's not true. It is so insane,

1020
00:53:32,200 --> 00:53:34,920
Speaker 1: by the way. I mean, the idea that they would build,

1021
00:53:34,940 --> 00:53:36,280
Speaker 1: I mean, what?

1022
00:53:36,969 --> 00:53:40,270
Speaker 3: The smell of chlorine while Stephen Chung gives a press

1023
00:53:40,310 --> 00:53:41,210
Speaker 3: briefing is going to be great.

1024
00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:43,180
Speaker 4: Oh, you can't.

1025
00:53:43,489 --> 00:53:45,310
Speaker 1: Well, you're not going to be able to give a

1026
00:53:45,410 --> 00:53:46,469
Speaker 1: press briefing.

1027
00:53:46,489 --> 00:53:48,070
Speaker 3: It would be nice and echoey in the pool.

1028
00:53:48,090 --> 00:53:49,930
Speaker 1: You're going to give a press. You're insane.

1029
00:53:49,950 --> 00:53:52,930
Speaker 3: So just picture Peter Doocy in the pool asking questions.

1030
00:53:53,290 --> 00:53:55,760
Speaker 3: They call it a press pool. That's where this came from.

1031
00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:57,540
Speaker 3: This is like the asylum thing.

1032
00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:02,830
Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in

1033
00:54:03,190 --> 00:54:08,530
Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday to hear the best

1034
00:54:08,610 --> 00:54:12,940
Speaker 1: minds in politics make sense of all this chaos. If

1035
00:54:12,980 --> 00:54:16,060
Speaker 1: you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend

1036
00:54:16,540 --> 00:54:19,680
Speaker 1: and keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening.