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Speaker 1: rates may vary. Hello there, welcome to a Yes special

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Speaker 1: Friday edition. I told you I was delaying and upload

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Speaker 1: for twenty four hours. We had passed over. Of course

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Speaker 1: I was doing. I know today is good Friday. We

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Speaker 1: got Easter on Sunday, so I'm aware this is to

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Speaker 1: be a big holiday weekend. But the news doesn't stop.

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Speaker 1: In fact, the President made an unusual decision. I think

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Speaker 1: a strange decision to give a speech to the nation

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Speaker 1: on April Fool's Day, on the first night of passover

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Speaker 1: about a war in the Middle East. It seemed like

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Speaker 1: a strange timing decision. It was a speech arguably that

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Speaker 1: he should have given a month, if not more ago.

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Speaker 1: But look, we've got a lot going on here. In fact,

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Speaker 1: I just want to give you a quick rundown of today.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to get a little bit more in Iran.

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Speaker 1: I know I did do a special sort of reaction

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Speaker 1: to the speech that's been sitting on YouTube. Some of

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Speaker 1: you may have heard that already. We'll have a little

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Speaker 1: bit of update on the Pambondi situation. Of course, we'll

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Speaker 1: have questions and hey, when you're By the time you're

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Speaker 1: listening to this, we're going to be minutes away from

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Speaker 1: first pitch for the NAT's home opener Nationals Dodgers where

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Speaker 1: I'll be. So if you see me, give me a

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Speaker 1: little toodcast cheesery if you will. But I digress. But look,

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Speaker 1: let's start quickly. I want to do the Pambondi situation first,

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Speaker 1: and then I want to come back on Iran because

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Speaker 1: I want to give you a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: preview of my guest on my Newsphere show this week,

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Speaker 1: which hit drops on Sunday night. It's Daniel Jurgen, who's

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Speaker 1: probably the most knowledgeable person in this country, if not

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Speaker 1: the world, on the energy markets. He wrote arguably the

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Speaker 1: bible on understanding energy markets. The prize for me, it's

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Speaker 1: a very just if you care about the energy markets

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Speaker 1: and you care about what all this means, this is

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Speaker 1: probably the bible of that. It won the Pulitzer Prize.

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Speaker 1: As he said to me, he goes, he goes this book,

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Speaker 1: it just doesn't die, It just keeps living. And it's like, yes,

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Speaker 1: yes it does. But let's just say, mister Jurgen didn't

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Speaker 1: have a lot of positive things to say about where

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Speaker 1: the economy has headed. But I'm going to get that

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Speaker 1: in a minute. I want to start with the Pam

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Speaker 1: Bondi situation. So the President decides to fire pambody. What's

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Speaker 1: interesting is that there seemed to have been bipartisan calls

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Speaker 1: for her to be fired, and it's quote unquote handling

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Speaker 1: of the Epstein files. But I think we all need

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Speaker 1: to realize, yes, why did Donald Trump fire her? Did

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Speaker 1: he fire her? Because he thought she didn't handle the

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Speaker 1: Epstein files. Well, did he fire her because she wasn't

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Speaker 1: more open with the Epstein files? Did he fire her

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Speaker 1: because she was doing too many partisan prosecutions or not

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Speaker 1: enough partisan prosecutions? And to understand, you know, I think

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Speaker 1: Pam Bondi is Jeff Sessions, And that's what I think

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Speaker 1: everybody needs to understand here. Pambondy is Jeff Sessions, somebody

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Speaker 1: who got the job because the president thought they'd be

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Speaker 1: loyal and got the job because the person promised to loyal.

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Speaker 1: But I think Pam Bondi had the same respect for

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Speaker 1: some parts of the institution that Jeff Sessions had, and

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Speaker 1: there were certain things she wouldn't do or certain things

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Speaker 1: she was uncomfortable doing, and you could kind of tell,

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Speaker 1: right she'd be hand handed about it in one hand

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Speaker 1: and then sort of you know, picked inters. Let Todd

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Speaker 1: blanche the President's personal attorney who's the Deputy Attorney General,

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Speaker 1: sort of deal with the political side of things. And

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Speaker 1: I think it's clear. You know, it's funny. It's one

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Speaker 1: of these things where I know it's going to sound

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Speaker 1: like I'm defending Pambondi. It's not defending Panbondi here. But

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Speaker 1: it's you know, remember why he chose to fire her, right,

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Speaker 1: he didn't do it for the reasons many of you

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Speaker 1: think made her deserving of being fired. And I think

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Speaker 1: that is extraordinarily important in the moment. And let's remind

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Speaker 1: let's look at who he named acting attorney general. His

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Speaker 1: person is one time personal attorney, which is, you know,

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Speaker 1: the greatest conflict of interest that you could put into

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Speaker 1: that position. And now it's all the way up at

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Speaker 1: attorney general. But the issue is, it is impossible to

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Speaker 1: be Donald Trump's attorney general. He does not believe in separation,

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Speaker 1: He does not believe in a fair judiciary system. He

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Speaker 1: wants to weaponize it. He has said he wants to

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Speaker 1: weaponize it right and how to? And he he wants

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Speaker 1: to weaponize it because he believes it was weaponized against him. Right,

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Speaker 1: it's all a revenge to her, and everything is, everything

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Speaker 1: is reactionary with him, and it's probably not. It shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be lost on anybody that that you know Donald Trump's

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Speaker 1: entire adult life, basically his first foray into helping run

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Speaker 1: his father's business was a run in with the Department

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Speaker 1: of Justice when he first had to hire roy Combe

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Speaker 1: to beat back the Justice Department on racial discrimination issues

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Speaker 1: involving him and his father's business. So is no doubt

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Speaker 1: that he is. He'd views it as an antagonist and

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Speaker 1: he wants to essentially being in charge of it, use

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Speaker 1: it and deploy the Justice Department to serve his needs

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Speaker 1: and to serve his political so political end. So I

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Speaker 1: really this is such an odd thing here, but you

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Speaker 1: know it's it very much to me mirrors mirrors the

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Speaker 1: Jeff Session situation. But to understand, you know, Pam Bondy,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's an interesting lesson here. I teach this

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Speaker 1: class how Washington works. Many of you have brought it

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Speaker 1: up before, and one of the I brought one of

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Speaker 1: the guest speakers that I brought in is somebody who

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Speaker 1: who basically had to got punished because of who he

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Speaker 1: worked for. And I'm living because this stuff's off the record,

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Speaker 1: and I always want to promise that to my guest speakers.

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Speaker 1: But the lesson I want my students to im parts

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Speaker 1: like be careful when you know politics is it's a

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Speaker 1: team sport at times. But you know, when you work

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Speaker 1: for an individual politician, you may be asked to do

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Speaker 1: things that you may feel morally is unacceptable, ethically as unacceptable,

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Speaker 1: or is actually illegal. Donald Trump doesn't care about anything

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Speaker 1: other than the loyalty. And it's just interesting. And I

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Speaker 1: think that if you understand Pam Bondi's origin story, I

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Speaker 1: think it will it. It strikes me is we won't

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Speaker 1: know the specific reason why what happened that Trump just

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Speaker 1: said he had enough right, but it was not because

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Speaker 1: she was not more forthcoming about the Epstein files. Trust me,

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Speaker 1: he's mad that she hasn't put that away. And I

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Speaker 1: promise you the next Attorney general is is not going

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Speaker 1: to be given a mandate to be more forthcoming with

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Speaker 1: the Epstein files to Congress. And since she got herself

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Speaker 1: subpoena then got herself by the Oversight Committee, he just

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Speaker 1: wanted to prevent that from ever happening. I'll be curious

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Speaker 1: to see if that subpoena still stands, if she's no

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Speaker 1: longer attorney general. But to understand, you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: Pam Bondi could have easily become an Attorney general in

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Speaker 1: a democratic administration. And I know some of your thinking,

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Speaker 1: what are you talking about, Chuck? Have you lost it?

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Speaker 1: She was actually a Democrat until two thousand. Let me

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Speaker 1: give you a reminder. She she she's the daughter her father,

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Speaker 1: Joseph Bondi, was a local politician. He was the mayor.

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Speaker 1: He was the mayor of a small town in the seventies.

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Speaker 1: So she's sort of grew up in the world of politics. Now,

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Speaker 1: she grew up. You know, she was in democratic politics

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Speaker 1: in the South, which could be very conservative. Right, we

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Speaker 1: know this, all of you know this. Many Many, a

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Speaker 1: Democrat of the seventies, eighties, and even through the nineties,

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Speaker 1: eventually switched to the Republican Party. Come come the twenty

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Speaker 1: first century. But what's interesting about her career. You know,

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Speaker 1: she graduated law school from Stetson. It's a school the Land, Florida,

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Speaker 1: sort of kind of halfway between Daytona and Orlando, but

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Speaker 1: it's in that general area. It's not on the water.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of Inland a little bit. Stetson is a

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Speaker 1: great college baseball team, by the way, that's like the

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Speaker 1: one it's their one d one sport I think is baseball.

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Speaker 1: It's always at a row respected law school. It was

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Speaker 1: one of the only law schools in the state for

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Speaker 1: a while. Now, I mean there was a time Florida

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Speaker 1: State didn't have a law school they do now, et cetera,

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Speaker 1: So she goes to sets in law school. She spent

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Speaker 1: more than eighteen years a prosecutor in Hillsboro County, which

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Speaker 1: is you know, Tampa, big, big Tampa Bay area. Her specialism,

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Speaker 1: she specialized in prosecuting child abuse cases. She was more

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Speaker 1: of a true legal beagle, if you would call it now.

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Speaker 1: She switched to the Republican Party around two thousand, but

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Speaker 1: she didn't really enter politics, if you will, until two

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Speaker 1: thousand and nine. She left her prosecutor job and entered

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Speaker 1: the race for Florida Attorney General, which by the way,

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Speaker 1: at one point was going to feature Marco Rubio, and

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Speaker 1: then he decided instead to run for the US Senate

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Speaker 1: and challenge a sitting governor who decided not to seek

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Speaker 1: reelection but to see US Senate seat at the time

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Speaker 1: a Republican named Charlie Criss. Well. I think we all

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Speaker 1: know what happened there. The irony is if Chris and

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Speaker 1: Rubio had worked out their deal where Rubio runs for

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Speaker 1: AG and doesn't primary Christ, which was a deal that

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Speaker 1: was in the making, and there was a twenty four

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Speaker 1: hour period where it looked like that was going to happen.

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Speaker 1: Pan Bondi never enters, perhaps never even enters Republican politics.

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Speaker 1: But she wins the attorney general race in twenty ten,

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Speaker 1: and it's in twenty thirteen, and this is an important story.

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Speaker 1: The origin of the Bondi Trump relationship is very transactional.

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Speaker 1: In twenty thirteen, when she was attorney general, she received

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Speaker 1: at least twenty two fraud complaints about Trump University. Her

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Speaker 1: office was considering joining a lawsuit that was being brought

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Speaker 1: against Trump University by the New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman.

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Speaker 1: Four days later, though, when that word got out that

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Speaker 1: Florida might join, this would be a bipartisan lawsuit against

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Speaker 1: Trump University, Trump pack donated twenty five thousand dollars to

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Speaker 1: her re election committee, and then Pam Bondi declined to

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Speaker 1: join the lawsuit. Well, that brought her into Trump's orbit.

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Speaker 1: She becomes part of the Trump transition in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: she becomes an impeachment defense attorney in twenty twenty, and then,

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Speaker 1: of course was the backup plan after the mac Gates

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Speaker 1: implosion to bag the start of the second term. The

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Speaker 1: point is is that she she sort of spent half

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Speaker 1: her adult life and half of her legal career just

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Speaker 1: being a career prosecutor sort of and less a politician.

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Speaker 1: And then when she entered the world of politics, yes,

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Speaker 1: through the law an elected attorney general, that's when she

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Speaker 1: started to transactional. But I have no doubt, and I

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Speaker 1: don't know this for fact yet, but we know these

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Speaker 1: stories are going to come out that there were certain

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Speaker 1: lines she just wasn't going to cross because she kind

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Speaker 1: of respected the system. It's exactly what we saw with

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Speaker 1: Bill Barr. Right, Bill Barr as Trump's second attorney general

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Speaker 1: were confirmed Attorney General Matthew Whittaker was the acting in

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Speaker 1: between Sessions and bar. Bar's second attorney The bar was

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Speaker 1: there was clearly lines he wouldn't cross. Right. Look, he

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Speaker 1: was chicken shit to tell Trump no. It's why he

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Speaker 1: resigned early before January sixth. He knew what was coming,

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Speaker 1: he knew it was going to get asked from him,

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Speaker 1: asked of him, and apparently he didn't want to be

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Speaker 1: there for it, so he left it to his deputies

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Speaker 1: to have to stand up to Trump, which they did,

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Speaker 1: and kudos to mister Rosen for doing that. But it

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Speaker 1: was Barr's own way of basically saying there were certain

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Speaker 1: lines he wouldn't cross, and there's no doubt in my

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Speaker 1: mind there were certain lines she wouldn't cross. The irony

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Speaker 1: now is she's basically heard a reputation with the right,

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Speaker 1: and heard a reputation with the legal community, and heard

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Speaker 1: a reputation with the left. Right, so welcome to what

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Speaker 1: happens when you get sucked into Trump's world. You know,

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Speaker 1: this is a question that I remind people all the

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Speaker 1: time whose reputation has been enhanced by working for Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: I joked with an appearance on the Boston Public Radio

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Speaker 1: earlier or earlier in the week, that is, I can

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Speaker 1: only think of two people, Michael Cohen oddly and Stormy Daniels. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it's a punchline, laugh it up. But again, I know

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Speaker 1: there's all sorts of celebrations about Panbine, but just remember

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Speaker 1: he didn't fire her for the reasons that maybe you

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Speaker 1: think she deserved to be fired for. That's not shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be caused for celebration. It actually should be caused for concern.

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Speaker 1: What's coming next to this Justice Department? That should concern everybody,

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Speaker 1: And it's a reminder that we have to radically change

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Speaker 1: I do not think we should have presidents, and I'll

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Speaker 1: I deal with this in a question later in the show.

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Speaker 1: But it's pretty clear that that having presidential appointed had

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Speaker 1: you know, you can if you want a trusted legal system,

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Speaker 1: you can't let an extraordinarily partisan president run the Justice Department.

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Speaker 1: And that's what we're saying very quickly on updating a

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Speaker 1: little bit. Like I said, I've I've said my piece

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Speaker 1: on the on the president's speech, I think he just looked.

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Speaker 1: I think this is a political disaster for him. And

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Speaker 1: after speeding with Daniel Daniel Jurgen, this is not this

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Speaker 1: is he called it. This is the worst. He said,

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Speaker 1: this is already worse than seventy three, worse than any

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Speaker 1: of the energy crises in the in the seventies, and

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Speaker 1: it's any sees there's only been two beneficiaries, as he said,

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Speaker 1: it's Russia in China, and there's only one country's military

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Speaker 1: that has the ability to keep the straight of hormones open,

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Speaker 1: and it's the United States. So we're stuck. He can

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Speaker 1: retreat and say other countries have to do this, They're

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Speaker 1: not gonna be able to do this, and the entire

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Speaker 1: it's going to be global contagion. As we learned during

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Speaker 1: the pandemic, the global economy is global, pure and simple,

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Speaker 1: and so this is this is there's no insulating ourselves

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Speaker 1: from this, none at all. And he's and he's put

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Speaker 1: us in a situation where leaving now and allowing the

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Speaker 1: remnants of the Iranian regime to act as the toll

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Speaker 1: bridge for oil for around the world is a disaster.

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Speaker 1: And it is only I mean, it is an energy

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Speaker 1: crisis that arguably created the stagflation crisis of the seventies.

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Speaker 1: And that's the situation we're staring at right now. It's

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Speaker 1: all it's lose lose situation at this point. And there's

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Speaker 1: a reason I keep telling you, don't follow what he says,

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Speaker 1: follow what we're doing. And we keep sending troops over there.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty clear we're going to probably have to use

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Speaker 1: ground troops to secure the strait of hormones because we're

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Speaker 1: the only entity that can secure the strait of hormones

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Speaker 1: that has the ability to use and if we don't

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Speaker 1: do it, we do risk we risk geopolitical problems that

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Speaker 1: maybe we haven't thought about yet. You know, maybe the

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Speaker 1: Gulf States decide the deal that they cut with the

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Speaker 1: United States, it didn't work it anymore, and they'll decide

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Speaker 1: to partner with China instead of the United States. There's

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Speaker 1: so many derivative disastrous scenarios from this if he just

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Speaker 1: pulls up and leaves, And yet there are so many

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Speaker 1: scenarios and disasters if we send in ground trips. Right,

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Speaker 1: This was why so many American presidents listened to their

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Speaker 1: military advisors and realized how hard and difficult this would be,

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Speaker 1: and you'd better be willing to do it all. And

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Speaker 1: he and we know he doesn't. So this is the

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Speaker 1: worst of all worlds. We have an impatient president who

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Speaker 1: just wants a result and doesn't really understand, apparently how

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Speaker 1: hard this is. And maybe didn't take geography when they

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Speaker 1: were teaching geography a pen. Maybe they didn't, maybe he

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Speaker 1: didn't take a geography class. But geography is not our

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Speaker 1: friend here, and that is a reason why so many

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Speaker 1: American presidents, as much as much as they wanted to

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Speaker 1: get get rid of that regime, realized it was a

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Speaker 1: lot harder than your thought. So on that upbeat note,

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Speaker 1: we're going to sneak in a break here, and when

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Speaker 1: we come back, we're going to talk about more geopolitical

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Speaker 1: problems around the world, but this one China and Taiwan.

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Speaker 1: But this is I mean, I really think that unfortunately

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Speaker 1: we are in a moment right NATO is no longer

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Speaker 1: effective as a current organization because if the American President

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Speaker 1: doesn't believe in it, it doesn't matter that he can't

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Speaker 1: technically withdrawal. It is not a functioning organization at the

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Speaker 1: moment if the American President is not interested in it.

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Speaker 1: And ask yourself right now what he would do if

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Speaker 1: Estonia was invaded by Russia a NATO ally, So he

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Speaker 1: is blown up NATO. He is risking America's essentially leadership,

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Speaker 1: at risk of handing China all sorts of economic and

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Speaker 1: stable relationships with other countries that we were in a

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Speaker 1: contest with China, and Donald Trump made a decision on

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Speaker 1: Iran that puts us on a path to losing that

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Speaker 1: contest with child. This episode of the Chuck Podcast is

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Speaker 1: let's dig into some Friday questions here for the weekend,

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Speaker 1: and I'm going to begin with David B. Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Speaker 1: And he writes, Hey, it's my first time writing in. Welcome.

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Speaker 1: Glad to have you keep him coming. But your video

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Speaker 1: comparing today's political brinksmanship to the eighteen fifties really got

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Speaker 1: me thinking. One area I don't think it's enough intention

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Speaker 1: is whether the core problem today is unequal representation, the

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Speaker 1: growing gap between large and small states, the Senate and

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Speaker 1: Electoral college disparities, gerrymandering, the capped out size, no statehood

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Speaker 1: for DC or Puerto Rico, all of which make many

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Speaker 1: voters feel under represented. If the eighteen fifties crisis ultimately

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Speaker 1: required constitutional amendments to resolve, do you think today's political

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Speaker 1: problems maybe ultimately require structural constitution reforms like expanding the House,

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Speaker 1: adding states, or reforming the electoral college. Love to all

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Speaker 1: that you do, man, David Boy, did you did you

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Speaker 1: just ask questions? I had all of my hobby horses.

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Speaker 1: As you know, I did a actual ted talk on

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Speaker 1: uncapping the House. There's no silver bullet. However, I would

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Speaker 1: argue uncapping the House this idea that this does not

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Speaker 1: require a constitutional amendment, just an act of Congress. Congress

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Speaker 1: stopped expanding the House as the population increased, which was

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Speaker 1: what the intent of the founding fathers were, and I

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Speaker 1: believe if we could stick and I actually have done

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Speaker 1: the math. I've done the math on this and I've

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Speaker 1: shared it before. Point oh three percent of the population.

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Speaker 1: No congressional district should be bigger or smaller than that, right,

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Speaker 1: point oh three. I do think if you set it

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Speaker 1: in the constitution, it helps deal whether whether we grow

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Speaker 1: or shrink. Right, it's very possible we're seeing a flatlining

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Speaker 1: of births in this country. It's very possible our population

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Speaker 1: size could stagnate even shrink as we get older. But

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Speaker 1: point oh three percent at the moment would basically double

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Speaker 1: the current size of the House of Representatives, which would

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Speaker 1: put it back to what the ratio was when they

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Speaker 1: locked in the current four hundred and thirty five number

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Speaker 1: for the House of Representatives back in nineteen thirty. Back

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Speaker 1: then it was about one. Back then it was one

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Speaker 1: per three hundred and fifty thousand, and frankly jerrymandering while

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Speaker 1: it existed, obviously the technologies, it was just harder to do,

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Speaker 1: and in some ways the districts were more drawn as

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Speaker 1: communities of interest as they've gotten bigger. Right, they're eight

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Speaker 1: hundred one right now, we're over eight hundred thousand for

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Speaker 1: each congressional district. Well, to put that in context, a

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Speaker 1: population of eight hundred thousand would make you the one

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Speaker 1: of the fifteen largest cities in America. So are you

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Speaker 1: telling me we have four hundred and thirty five major cities? Right?

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Speaker 1: You know? And the fact of the matter is a

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Speaker 1: major city is not a single community of interest, right.

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Speaker 1: A major city has all sorts of neighborhoods, all sorts

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Speaker 1: of communities of interest. So it is obviously too big.

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Speaker 1: If you go down to point zero three, you get

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Speaker 1: one per three hundred fifty thousand, and I'm lingering on

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Speaker 1: this one answer. For this reason, you don't have to

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Speaker 1: pass the constitutional medment to get her to the electoral

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Speaker 1: college if you simply double the size of the House. Why,

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Speaker 1: because you've actually increased the numerator on the electoral college,

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Speaker 1: right instead of right now it's five hundred and thirty eight. Well,

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Speaker 1: if you double the size, you're literally going to be

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Speaker 1: adding approximately four hundred and thirty electoral votes to the total. Right,

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Speaker 1: So suddenly, instead of five thirty eight, we're going to say,

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Speaker 1: let's put it at eight sixty six. And the point

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Speaker 1: being is that that doesn't mean it's impossible for the

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Speaker 1: popular vote and the electoral college to diverge, but it

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Speaker 1: makes it much more rare. Right, only the closest of

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Speaker 1: elections have the possibility of going in that direction. So

428
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:25,919
Speaker 1: you don't even have to deal with the quote unquote

429
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 1: electoral college issue. You know, if I do think you

430
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,159
Speaker 1: need a constitutional amendment to do this, I am skeptical

431
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 1: of the compact, the ideas out there were states bound together.

432
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,239
Speaker 1: I think it's technically legal, but I think I'm not

433
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:43,200
Speaker 1: sure that I think it does violate the spirit of

434
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,679
Speaker 1: the electoral college, and I think I think you probably

435
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,520
Speaker 1: would have a Supreme Court rule it unconstitutional the compact,

436
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: if you will, And I think that only introduces so

437
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 1: what you're saying is one state votes for one but

438
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,159
Speaker 1: ends up going with another. I think you want to

439
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,120
Speaker 1: talk about feeling underrepresented in our democracy. I think people

440
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: would feel underrepresented in our democracy on that front. But

441
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: your larger question is I do think there's some constitutional amendments,

442
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: So that's one. I definitely think we look. The money

443
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,159
Speaker 1: thing is a big deal, right, whether it's disclosure, you know.

444
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 1: I ultimately think disclose mandatory disclosure is probably the cleanest

445
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 1: first constitutional amendment that is necessary. If we're going to

446
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: equate money with speech. You're going to need a constitutional

447
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 1: amendment if you want to regulate money in politics. Right,

448
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: we can disagree with this current with this current direction

449
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,360
Speaker 1: of the court that equates money with speech, it will

450
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: take you a generation to essentially repopulate the judicial system

451
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,360
Speaker 1: in order to see a precedent like that overturned. Rankly,

452
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 1: the faster way to deal with this, and probably the

453
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 1: more concrete way to deal with this, is with a

454
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 1: constitutional amendment. So some form of money, I think disclosure

455
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 1: is probably the strongest. This I mean, we all should

456
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: know who is spending money to persuade us, period hard.

457
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: Stop this idea of hiding donations dark money you want

458
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 1: to talk about. I mean, that's just be you know,

459
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 1: this is the bag of cash world that we were

460
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 1: trying to get rid of after the Watergate scandal. So

461
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: I think mandatory disclosure, instant disclosure, and I'd like to

462
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 1: see a NASCAR type of situation for all political candidates

463
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 1: or all political organizations that when you spend money in

464
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 1: an election year, you've got to always disclose who the

465
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: who your ten biggest donors are, who you're twenty something

466
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: like that. You know, any donor over one hundred thousand

467
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,760
Speaker 1: dollars has to be disclosed in the ad itself. Right,

468
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: That's what I call it the NASCAR approach. Oh, your

469
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,239
Speaker 1: sponsor's stp oh STP's on the hood, Right, you know

470
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: your sponsor is open AI open aies on the hood.

471
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 1: Your sponsor's anthropic and on the hood. Not people for

472
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,960
Speaker 1: the American way of doing business. Right, that's a ridiculous

473
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: way to do things. So I think you would need that.

474
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 1: You know, then you get to the other issues I

475
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: think you know with with statehood. You know, I actually

476
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 1: think DC and Puerto Rico together make a lot of sense.

477
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: I think Puerto Ricanes, DC probably leans going to be

478
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 1: likely democratic. I think Puerto Rico not so much. And

479
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: I think you could argue that maybe do you create

480
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:35,000
Speaker 1: a Caribbean state, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, all

481
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 1: of the American territories down there into one state. I

482
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,920
Speaker 1: could make an argument for that as well, so that

483
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 1: they're not essentially second class US citizens in the Virgin Islands.

484
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: So you could do that. The it's interesting on the

485
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 1: size disparities about that, or the disparities in the House

486
00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,200
Speaker 1: and the Senate. Look, there's no doubt that's why I

487
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 1: think increasing the size of the House, at least on

488
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: the electoral college, by the way, just to give you

489
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 1: that ratio if you do that, and right now, Wyoming

490
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,600
Speaker 1: has six times the voting power for president than the

491
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:12,880
Speaker 1: state of than an average voter in California. A voter

492
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 1: in Wyoming has more impact on who's our next president

493
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 1: than a voter in California. Now, the Founders always didn't

494
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: want the big states to dominate, but I don't know

495
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 1: if they wanted the small states to have six times

496
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 1: the advantage of the big states. Under my system here

497
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: with an uncap in the House, going to point oh three,

498
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,080
Speaker 1: the current electoral college would put Wyoming in about it

499
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 1: a point oho about two and a half times the

500
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 1: power of a voter in California, which actually feels about

501
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 1: about what if you read what the founders were going

502
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: for in this fear of the big state small states

503
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:49,400
Speaker 1: and creating this balance, that feels like a more proper

504
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 1: ratio that would fall into that. But I do think money,

505
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:58,160
Speaker 1: I think I definitely think we need to figure out

506
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:04,320
Speaker 1: how to eliminate an individual's pardon power on this front,

507
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 1: right that that is that is corruptible. We've we've learned

508
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 1: what's corruptible. I mean the I've always wanted to say this.

509
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 1: I think the the upside of the Trump era is

510
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 1: that it's served as an MRI, an MRI on people.

511
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: We've learned, you know, we've learned who you know, who

512
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 1: has principles, who doesn't you know, who cares about power

513
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 1: more than you know, ends justified, the means, all that business.

514
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: But it's also been an MRI for frankly, vulnerabilities in

515
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 1: our system. And I think we've we've seen that. I'll

516
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:34,920
Speaker 1: give you another one that you didn't require here, but

517
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 1: it feeds off of the Pambonde news. I think we

518
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 1: have to figure out how to how to constitutionally make

519
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: our Justice Department independent. And that doesn't mean the president

520
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 1: doesn't have a say in the appointment. That doesn't mean

521
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 1: Congress doesn't have a say in the appointment. But I

522
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 1: think we need something here that at least creates some

523
00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 1: political distance between the president and the Attorney general, because

524
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,400
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear that we know just remember, you may

525
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: not ocupan Bondy, but President Trump didn't likely didn't fire

526
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: her for the reasons that most of you think she

527
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 1: should be fired. Fired her because she wasn't being protector

528
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: and doing his doing his bidding well enough. And that

529
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 1: is something I think we all have to keep in mind.

530
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 1: You cannot you cannot have that kind of that kind

531
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 1: of close connection there. So that would be one other

532
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: I would add to your list here. But boy, I

533
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 1: really I am. As you will note in my answer,

534
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with uncapping the House. I think before we

535
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:42,840
Speaker 1: try any other reform on small D democratic representation, I

536
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 1: want to see that, implement it first, and then let's

537
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: see how the system sorts itself out. I think it

538
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 1: opens the door for more political parties. I think it

539
00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: opens the door for more coalition governments. I think it

540
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 1: opens the door for more of the country to feel

541
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 1: they have some representation in Congress. Right in this same

542
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 1: way media became too nationalized if we gutted local, our

543
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,959
Speaker 1: politics has become due nationalized because we've essentially gutted local

544
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,799
Speaker 1: and uncapping the House, I think would rebalance that all right,

545
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 1: Like I said, you touched one of my You touched

546
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 1: one of my nerves. Next question comes from Austin. From Austin,

547
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,839
Speaker 1: I think you're I think Austin, you're getting awfully close

548
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 1: to being a member of the toodcast five timers club.

549
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a major party federal candidate with the

550
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,799
Speaker 1: discipline to run on one structural reform like expanding the

551
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 1: House and focus only on that, arguing it unlocks everything

552
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 1: else downstream? Or does political gravity always pull candidates into

553
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,280
Speaker 1: other issues and positions before they can fix the foundation.

554
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:41,759
Speaker 1: Can that kind of candidate even exist or are we

555
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 1: just not ready for that as a country. By the way,

556
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: I loved your point about Democrats needing more moderates independence

557
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:48,800
Speaker 1: than the GOP because of the numbers. I've learned a

558
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:53,120
Speaker 1: lot from your show. Thanks. You know, here's the problem

559
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: with running on reform, especially in a an a bad

560
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:00,879
Speaker 1: economic environment, which I think now we're in a bad

561
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: economic environment that's about to get worse. Is that a

562
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:09,879
Speaker 1: majority of voters ultimately right, we are we are, we are,

563
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:12,839
Speaker 1: we are all selfish as voters. And I don't mean

564
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,600
Speaker 1: that as a criticism. I just mean that as a reality. Right,

565
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,759
Speaker 1: our lives need to be better at the moment, and

566
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:27,280
Speaker 1: you know, making ends meet and worrying about the future

567
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,640
Speaker 1: of the democracy. Right, Just if you're more worried about

568
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 1: making ends meet, it doesn't mean you're you're you don't

569
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:36,800
Speaker 1: care about the democracy, but you sort of you have

570
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: a priority list. I personally think that a one issue

571
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 1: candidate is more effective in Senate and House races than

572
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 1: a one issue candidate for president. Now you can get

573
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:50,920
Speaker 1: to the point, you know, and a one is you

574
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:54,439
Speaker 1: candidate for governor even is a possibility. You can get

575
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:57,680
Speaker 1: to a point and our system can get so broken

576
00:35:57,719 --> 00:35:59,799
Speaker 1: that we may you know, in some ways that that

577
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:02,239
Speaker 1: is that was the promise of Ross Perot. If you

578
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:03,960
Speaker 1: go back, there was this idea that he was just

579
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,160
Speaker 1: going to he was really you know, he's like, we

580
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:09,520
Speaker 1: got two giant problems, giant sucking sound of jobs going south.

581
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,360
Speaker 1: At the time, it was the outsourcing south. Eventually it

582
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:18,200
Speaker 1: was obviously outsourced to Southeast Asia from there and the debt. Right, So,

583
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 1: you know, he tried, but it was when he had

584
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,440
Speaker 1: to respond to other issues that he would start to

585
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,880
Speaker 1: get in trouble, whether it was issues of diversity, issues

586
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:30,839
Speaker 1: of foreign policy. Right, we just know a president, unfortunately

587
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,399
Speaker 1: a president, and we've just all learned this the hard way, right,

588
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 1: And I mean, look at the two thousand election and

589
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:42,560
Speaker 1: go look at all the questions that were asked about

590
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: Osama bin Laden during the debates. Right, we didn't really

591
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: we didn't really prepare either Al Gore or George W. Bush

592
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 1: with questions that were going to be a part of

593
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 1: their next president of the next presidency. And it's just

594
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,360
Speaker 1: inevitable that you're just going to have all sorts of

595
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,640
Speaker 1: other things. So I think it's much more difficult for

596
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,439
Speaker 1: a president to do that. That doesn't mean they can't

597
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,040
Speaker 1: run on a movement. That doesn't mean they can't run like, look,

598
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,440
Speaker 1: we've got to fix the infant, you know, you know,

599
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,120
Speaker 1: instead of running on building roads and bridges, We've got

600
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:16,200
Speaker 1: to run on fixing the infrastructure of the democracy. But

601
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 1: I think you have to connect it to people's everyday

602
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 1: lives that this is going to improve their lives economically

603
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:26,800
Speaker 1: right away. If you don't have that paired with the reform,

604
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 1: you're not going to get there to do the reform.

605
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,400
Speaker 1: And I think that's the current and that's due to

606
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,480
Speaker 1: the current climate we're in now. Look if your economy

607
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 1: goes really into the toilet, look at what happened in Argentina,

608
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,759
Speaker 1: where a guy like Malay was able to that. You know,

609
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: what he was advocating would have been extraordinarily unpopular, you know,

610
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 1: until there's a feeling of desperation. And I don't think

611
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 1: we're not there yet on that front. So I'm not

612
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 1: quite there on a single issue candidate succeeding on the

613
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 1: presidential level, but I could, I would see it. I

614
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,600
Speaker 1: could see a US senator, US Senate candidate, or even

615
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:13,720
Speaker 1: a House candidate pulling that off. I do. So let's

616
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,319
Speaker 1: just see, you know, at some point, right I you know,

617
00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:21,440
Speaker 1: this is the the downside, right you know, this presidency's

618
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 1: going terribly He's cratering the world economy, and it will

619
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:31,360
Speaker 1: inevitably make the economy front and center. And so while

620
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:34,879
Speaker 1: we want to have the intellectual arguments and debates that hey,

621
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 1: we need all these structural reforms, if you don't want

622
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:40,760
Speaker 1: this to happen again, I think it the voter's attention

623
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:42,839
Speaker 1: is going to be on the on what's in front

624
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:44,719
Speaker 1: of them, right, So I think figuring out how to

625
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:50,120
Speaker 1: pair reform with economic stability is I think the key

626
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:55,440
Speaker 1: if you want to elect a reform agenda. Next question

627
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,719
Speaker 1: comes from Akash. I hope I got that right, and

628
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:01,040
Speaker 1: if I didn't, my apologies, and please let us know

629
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:05,359
Speaker 1: how to pronounce it correctly. A Cash, writes Hi Chuck.

630
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:07,880
Speaker 1: With talk of potential blue wave in midterms twenty twenty six,

631
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:09,799
Speaker 1: is there a risk of the same kind of miscalculation

632
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:11,759
Speaker 1: we saw in the midterms twenty twenty two when a

633
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,120
Speaker 1: widely expected red wave didn't materialize, especially since affordability is

634
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 1: a central issue in both cycles regards. Oh, it's interesting.

635
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:19,800
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to go in another direction

636
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,520
Speaker 1: with this question, which is what the Democrats learned the

637
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,040
Speaker 1: wrong lessons like they did in the twenty twenty two midterms. Right,

638
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:28,880
Speaker 1: They overperformed, and Joe Biden incorrectly thought this was a

639
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:32,080
Speaker 1: reaffirmation of his policies and presidency. It was not. It

640
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 1: was just literally a repudiation of the meganominees in key

641
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:41,800
Speaker 1: states and key races. Anyway, the point as for look,

642
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:44,920
Speaker 1: I do think blue wave right wave is in the

643
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 1: eye of the beholder. Fifteen to twenty CE gained by

644
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 1: House Democrats is a wave in this kind of structure

645
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 1: that we're in with the gerrymandering. Ultimately, I have you know,

646
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: if you're gonna ask me how to measure the wave.

647
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 1: I always I've been saying, go to the state of Iowa.

648
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:09,080
Speaker 1: If Democrats sweep gov. Senate and two House seats out

649
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:11,719
Speaker 1: of that state, or even govern two House seats and

650
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:13,759
Speaker 1: come really close in the Senate, but they got to

651
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,640
Speaker 1: win something statewide in Iowa, probably two. But if they

652
00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:18,880
Speaker 1: do that, that to me is the definition of that

653
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,239
Speaker 1: means we there was a wave right because you've taken

654
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,240
Speaker 1: a light red state like Iowa and flipped at blue.

655
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,719
Speaker 1: How many light red states essentially elect blue like blue

656
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,719
Speaker 1: is governor, blue is senator, but really a senator. So

657
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,520
Speaker 1: if both Iowa and Ohio flip and the Senate. Then

658
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,479
Speaker 1: I think that that's a wave, even if it's even

659
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: if it feels narrow and it's fifteen, right, you know,

660
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 1: gone of the days of the sixty house swing or

661
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 1: the forty house swing, et cetera. So that's why. But

662
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:51,359
Speaker 1: the question is is admit the misinterpretation, right? I So

663
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,000
Speaker 1: it's possible there's a also there, and there's you know,

664
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 1: it's possible that that Republicans hold on to the Senate

665
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:02,640
Speaker 1: just because this is such a tough map for Democrats

666
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 1: and yet you know, they could misread what it is.

667
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,800
Speaker 1: So it's look, I think I do think there's probably

668
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:14,320
Speaker 1: too much enthusiasm at the moment for Democrats sweeping, meaning

669
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 1: winning both the House and the Senate. I know the

670
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:21,040
Speaker 1: prediction markets are now have Democrats with over a fifty

671
00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 1: percent chance of doing it. I'm pretty close. In this environment,

672
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,200
Speaker 1: we're a war, you got a global recession and stagflation

673
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,279
Speaker 1: and inflation all doing right. That's that's a recipe for

674
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:40,560
Speaker 1: just a for the incumbent party to get smoked. And

675
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 1: so I could you know, but that doesn't mean every

676
00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:47,160
Speaker 1: race isn't narrow in that situation. So but as far

677
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 1: as miscalculation, I think that I could see if Republicans

678
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,680
Speaker 1: hang on to the Senate them not realizing how much

679
00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:57,279
Speaker 1: of a problem that they still really have. And I

680
00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:00,880
Speaker 1: could see Democrats overreading you know that there, but then

681
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 1: keeping their same leadership in place and kind of nominating

682
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,279
Speaker 1: the same type of Democrat and having the same you know,

683
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 1: just deciding that hey, just running against Trump works and

684
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,680
Speaker 1: let's just keep running against Trump. Right, So, those are

685
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:19,440
Speaker 1: the to me, those are the risks that both parties

686
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 1: have facing this this midterm. This episode of the Chuck

687
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:29,640
Speaker 1: Toodcast is brought to you by Soul. So if you

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Speaker 1: am a customer. Next question comes from Adam David, Florida

716
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:10,880
Speaker 1: via West Virginia. Question is this should Ukraine attempt to

717
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:15,400
Speaker 1: strike Iran through southern Russia into the Caspian Sea and

718
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 1: hit the north side of Iran. Iran is no friend

719
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:21,320
Speaker 1: of Ukraine and has limited retaliatory options. Trump is complaining

720
00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:23,840
Speaker 1: that nobody will come help him. But if Ukraine joined in,

721
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:26,400
Speaker 1: would Trump be a little nicer to them? Actually doubt it,

722
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:29,400
Speaker 1: as he only begrudgingly helps Ukraine because he hates Zelenski

723
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:31,920
Speaker 1: for not helping him with the Biden request that got

724
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:34,520
Speaker 1: him impeached the first time and his eyes. Ukraine therefore

725
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:36,719
Speaker 1: can do no right. On a sports note, grown up

726
00:44:36,719 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 1: in Miami, why aren't you a Dolphins fan? I've been

727
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,279
Speaker 1: a diehard for the Finns since twenty twenty three, and

728
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:43,240
Speaker 1: we need all the help we can get best Adam

729
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:47,239
Speaker 1: and David Florida, where I believe the Dolphins and at

730
00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:50,719
Speaker 1: the home of their training camp. I think it's not

731
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:54,960
Speaker 1: my apologies for messing that up, Oh Adam. I've gotten

732
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,400
Speaker 1: letters from my friends that work at the Dolphins, hopeful

733
00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:01,800
Speaker 1: that I will get fired up invited. When Obama hosted

734
00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,959
Speaker 1: the seventy two Dolphins, the living members of the seventy

735
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,759
Speaker 1: two undefeated team, because I was a Dolphins fan and

736
00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:09,759
Speaker 1: I said, look, I appreciate you thinking of me as

737
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,680
Speaker 1: a Miami person, but I wasn't my You know, we

738
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:19,320
Speaker 1: all are the father and son relationship, right. My father

739
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:24,200
Speaker 1: was a huge Packer fan, and he basically indoctrinated me

740
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 1: into the Packer fandom. The first, it's possible my first

741
00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:34,120
Speaker 1: chapter book as a as a kid was Instant Replay

742
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 1: by Jerry Kramer, okay, which is a story about a

743
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:43,000
Speaker 1: season under Lombardi in the early sixties. And the second

744
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:45,520
Speaker 1: book might have been Run to Daylight, which was Lombardi's

745
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:48,440
Speaker 1: sort of one of those you know, how do you

746
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:52,400
Speaker 1: do it? Books? You know that have become very popular

747
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:55,279
Speaker 1: with coaches, or did for a period of time in

748
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,319
Speaker 1: the eighties and nineties. We don't have those, right, We

749
00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,240
Speaker 1: don't have those coach books anymore. Though they would useally

750
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 1: come out while they were coaches. There's been less of

751
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:10,800
Speaker 1: that lately. And my father and Grant, my father believed

752
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:14,080
Speaker 1: the Dolphins and Joe Robbie, who was the owner, the

753
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 1: original owner of the Dolphins, were ripping off the Hurricanes

754
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,640
Speaker 1: of concessions money back when they were shared the Orange Bowl,

755
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:22,759
Speaker 1: which was a fact they were doing it. The Dolphins

756
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 1: made more money off of the Miami Hurricanes success in

757
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:31,239
Speaker 1: the eighties than the Hurricanes did, and that used to

758
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:35,120
Speaker 1: irk my father. But if you really, you know, I've

759
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:38,640
Speaker 1: always he's never you never said this. He passed away

760
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:41,520
Speaker 1: in the late eighties. But let's just say, as I've

761
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:44,080
Speaker 1: grown up, learned more and realized that Joe Robbie was

762
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:46,480
Speaker 1: a failed Democratic candidate for Congress in the late fifties

763
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:48,879
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, there's a part of me that always thought

764
00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:51,680
Speaker 1: my father just wasn't a Dolphins fan because of Robbie's politics.

765
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:54,280
Speaker 1: But I'm going to I'm good to set that aside.

766
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,839
Speaker 1: I love being a Packer fan. I I don't have

767
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 1: I don't have no negative feelings about the Dolphins. I

768
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:06,520
Speaker 1: I I just don't have that. You know, when you

769
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:09,880
Speaker 1: and the thing is is a kid the good news,

770
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:11,960
Speaker 1: you know, being a Packer fan was terrible. I was

771
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 1: the only Packer fan in my maid. Was sort of

772
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:16,400
Speaker 1: a badge of honor, so you start to carry it.

773
00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:18,799
Speaker 1: And that was something I passed on to my son.

774
00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:20,839
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to let him become a commander's fan

775
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:23,400
Speaker 1: in the heart of his childhood. I mean that, who

776
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:25,400
Speaker 1: who's going to torture their kid to make them be

777
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:29,080
Speaker 1: a Washington command football team fan. Back in the last

778
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:33,239
Speaker 1: thirty years, it's been a disaster. My son's eighteen. It's

779
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:35,840
Speaker 1: literally it took him until he was seventeen before the

780
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:42,360
Speaker 1: Commanders even put on a competitive football team. So so

781
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:45,600
Speaker 1: I've successfully indoctrinated him into the Packers. Of course, Packers

782
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:49,040
Speaker 1: have been good during his childhood. They were fun during

783
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:51,760
Speaker 1: my childhood with lind Dickey, but they weren't the best.

784
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:57,080
Speaker 1: So there it is. But hey, I think I I

785
00:47:57,239 --> 00:47:59,160
Speaker 1: this owner of the Dolphins is better than the last

786
00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:03,040
Speaker 1: couple of owners of the So mister Ross, he wants

787
00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:06,640
Speaker 1: to win, and that's step one of having the right owner.

788
00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:09,240
Speaker 1: I am impressed with what he's done with the stadium.

789
00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:11,920
Speaker 1: He treats the University of Miami very well in their

790
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,520
Speaker 1: shared stadium experience. It doesn't mean I think it's a

791
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:17,920
Speaker 1: great idea for the Hurricanes to be forty five minutes, right,

792
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,200
Speaker 1: you know, four thousand miles away from campus to play

793
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:24,120
Speaker 1: their home football games. But I digress. Now as for

794
00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:26,799
Speaker 1: your question about Zelenski, First of all, kudos to you

795
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:31,080
Speaker 1: for realizing why his issue with Zelenski. It's all about

796
00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:35,760
Speaker 1: what you said, right. He blames Zelenski for his political problems,

797
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:39,319
Speaker 1: and he figures in Zelenski didn't do his bidding right.

798
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:41,520
Speaker 1: It's the same reason why he fired Pambondi. He didn't

799
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:45,120
Speaker 1: fire fire her for all the reasons that nine thousand

800
00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:47,560
Speaker 1: other people thought she should have been fired. He fired

801
00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:51,279
Speaker 1: her because she didn't do his bidding very well. And

802
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:56,200
Speaker 1: that obviously is look Zelensky has been and Ukraine has

803
00:48:56,239 --> 00:48:59,040
Speaker 1: already actually been quite helpful in figuring out how to

804
00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:02,799
Speaker 1: deal with drone attacks and undermine this. And so you know,

805
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:06,239
Speaker 1: the amount that everybody's learned on drone warfare is thanks

806
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:10,760
Speaker 1: to the thanks to Zelenski. And I've long wondered why

807
00:49:11,920 --> 00:49:14,879
Speaker 1: somebody hasn't gotten to didn't get to President Trump and say,

808
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:19,280
Speaker 1: you know, it's Iran that's helping Russia with these drones.

809
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter, right, everything is a transaction to him.

810
00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:26,719
Speaker 1: I'm not going down the Putin road. It's just a

811
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:29,879
Speaker 1: transaction to him, although it does you know, all roads

812
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:33,279
Speaker 1: always seem to lead back to helping Putin. Even this war.

813
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:37,000
Speaker 1: The two biggest, the two biggest beneficiaries of this war,

814
00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:44,200
Speaker 1: of this miscalculation here with Iran or Russia in China. Right,

815
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,960
Speaker 1: nobody is happier right now. As my guest this this

816
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:51,960
Speaker 1: last week on Newsphere, said Daniel Jurgen, there's a self

817
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,480
Speaker 1: satisfied smile that mister Putin has right now because he

818
00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:59,040
Speaker 1: suddenly has a financial lifeline to fund his war against Ukraine.

819
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:03,120
Speaker 1: But I could tell you the way you're thinking is

820
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:07,400
Speaker 1: the way Zelensky was thinking. He's been very leaning forward

821
00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:09,400
Speaker 1: and trying to help. He did that tour of the

822
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:13,400
Speaker 1: Golf States, met with the heads of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,

823
00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:17,960
Speaker 1: basically saying, you know, whatever you need, whatever expertise you

824
00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 1: need in dealing with these drone strikes. You know you've

825
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:23,880
Speaker 1: got all the intelligence from US. Is that that you

826
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:28,200
Speaker 1: want to have, so you know, I do think it's

827
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:32,920
Speaker 1: helped Ukraine's relationship with the Golf States, which could be

828
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:37,879
Speaker 1: important for nation building going forward. But there's no there's

829
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:42,839
Speaker 1: no convincing Donald Trump to help Zelensky. He absolutely sees

830
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:48,759
Speaker 1: it in personal terms. All right. Next question comes from

831
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:53,440
Speaker 1: Judd Jued writes, love your podcast, and I would love

832
00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:55,640
Speaker 1: your opinion on a crazy idea that I had. I

833
00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,200
Speaker 1: love the crazy ideas. It's sort of what is Bill

834
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:01,160
Speaker 1: Simmons as one of my favorite little segments they'll do

835
00:51:01,200 --> 00:51:02,480
Speaker 1: every once in a while, about once a year. Is

836
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:07,360
Speaker 1: half baked ideas, so I'm all for them. How successful

837
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:09,359
Speaker 1: would a presidential canidate be if they promised to veto

838
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:12,560
Speaker 1: almost every piece of legislation reaching their desk, essentially forcing

839
00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:16,319
Speaker 1: both parties to pass legislation to overcome with supermajorities, which

840
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:20,200
Speaker 1: could overcome presidential vetos. I would say, almost to avoid

841
00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:22,960
Speaker 1: Bush's no new taxes promise and allow legislation that just

842
00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:26,960
Speaker 1: overcomes the Senate's filibuster. Could that be a successful way

843
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:30,440
Speaker 1: for a single executive leader to force Article one Congress

844
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 1: to do their jobs and pass compromise legislation, especially if

845
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:36,440
Speaker 1: one party controls the presidency, the House, and the Senate.

846
00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:38,560
Speaker 1: Maybe showing that it can be done will be enough

847
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:41,200
Speaker 1: to make it the norm instead of the exception. Cheers

848
00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:44,840
Speaker 1: jud Jed I love this idea. It feels like, okay, Congress,

849
00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:48,600
Speaker 1: I mean it gets to It's what my solution was

850
00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:52,719
Speaker 1: to the Senate judiciary gridlock right for the filibuster of judges. Oh,

851
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:57,080
Speaker 1: sixty votes doesn't work, well, let's make it seventy five right, Like,

852
00:51:57,440 --> 00:51:59,680
Speaker 1: make it harder not easier. Oh no, we're going to

853
00:51:59,719 --> 00:52:04,880
Speaker 1: make you. You know, if you're a teenager missus curfew,

854
00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:07,040
Speaker 1: do you make the curfew later or do you make

855
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:10,200
Speaker 1: the curfew earlier? Right? Do you make it easier to

856
00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:12,120
Speaker 1: pass something if you can't get it done, or do

857
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:14,920
Speaker 1: you make it harder? You actually should make it harder.

858
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:22,759
Speaker 1: Somebody works harder. It's a terrific idea. I here's the

859
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:30,759
Speaker 1: real problem with your suggestion. The public hates Congress. They

860
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:36,680
Speaker 1: don't care that Congress doesn't work, and so it would

861
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:40,480
Speaker 1: take an education of the country to explain why Congress

862
00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:43,400
Speaker 1: needs to be at the forefront and needs to be

863
00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:47,520
Speaker 1: forced to learn how to work together. You know, there

864
00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:51,840
Speaker 1: is one potential presidential candidate who I think might have

865
00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:56,880
Speaker 1: might have agreed to run on with something like this.

866
00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:00,600
Speaker 1: That it's Mitch Daniels, former governor of Indiana. He's been

867
00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:03,800
Speaker 1: the guy that's been going up against Trump to defend

868
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:07,719
Speaker 1: the Indiana State Senate Republicans who refuse to do the redistricting.

869
00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:14,479
Speaker 1: He is. He has got that that in him, In fact,

870
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:16,280
Speaker 1: that there's a there's a part of me that almost

871
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:21,759
Speaker 1: wants to ring him up, friendly ish with him, ring

872
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:25,319
Speaker 1: him up and present this idea, here's your you've been

873
00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 1: you know, here's your presidential campaign platform to run on.

874
00:53:33,840 --> 00:53:38,920
Speaker 1: But you know it it is it is. Uh. I

875
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:41,319
Speaker 1: don't know if it would work. Look, I think I

876
00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:44,560
Speaker 1: think the better solution to force sort of Congress to

877
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:50,680
Speaker 1: work differently is to start electing more independence and force

878
00:53:50,760 --> 00:53:54,680
Speaker 1: a reckoning where the independents create a folk rum and

879
00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:59,640
Speaker 1: are essentially their own veto over either party. Whichever party

880
00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:02,640
Speaker 1: has got the most extremists trying to run the place,

881
00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:05,719
Speaker 1: be the you know, you'd be the sort of check

882
00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:09,279
Speaker 1: and balance on that. But it takes winning, right. You

883
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:11,440
Speaker 1: can't just come close as an independent candidate. You got

884
00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:14,960
Speaker 1: to win some elections, you know, Dan Osborne and a

885
00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:18,560
Speaker 1: Seth Bodner, Ana Lisa Murkowski, and you know, you start

886
00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:24,720
Speaker 1: to get multiple independents winning who are comfortable essentially saying

887
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:28,359
Speaker 1: no to both major parties for a period of time

888
00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:32,000
Speaker 1: and essentially making them court the court the middle. Because

889
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:34,279
Speaker 1: what you're getting at here is that the plurality of

890
00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 1: America is not represented in Congress. Right, forty five percent

891
00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:41,160
Speaker 1: of the of the country essentially call our self described

892
00:54:41,719 --> 00:54:44,040
Speaker 1: or registered to vote as independence. It's not all of them,

893
00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:46,480
Speaker 1: mean they're not all centrist, but what they are is

894
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:50,560
Speaker 1: they're they're they're not partisans, right, They're not They're not

895
00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:55,239
Speaker 1: they're not group thinkers. And I think that there's a

896
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:58,239
Speaker 1: feeling that, you know, only the special interests are getting represented.

897
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:02,960
Speaker 1: So I think that that's that's where their opportunity is, right,

898
00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:05,879
Speaker 1: you know, you get your you know, Marie Glusen camp

899
00:55:05,880 --> 00:55:11,600
Speaker 1: Perez MGP, you know you're Lisa Murkowski's to work with

900
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 1: a group of other sort of like minded individuals, not

901
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:19,440
Speaker 1: necessarily like minded ideologically, but like minded structurally, you know,

902
00:55:19,520 --> 00:55:22,839
Speaker 1: and how to make the place work better, but a

903
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:28,080
Speaker 1: fun half picked idea. Jed all right, last question, Stafford,

904
00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:31,920
Speaker 1: Downtown LA. I luck that you made the distinction. Downtown LA.

905
00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:35,839
Speaker 1: Not not Malibu, not Santa Monica, not the Valley, not Pasadena,

906
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:39,279
Speaker 1: Downtown LA, not West Hollywood, not East Hollywood. Right, Downtown LA.

907
00:55:40,600 --> 00:55:44,239
Speaker 1: Under rated neighborhood. You know, there used to be I

908
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:48,279
Speaker 1: remember when we remember during the two thousand election and

909
00:55:48,320 --> 00:55:53,400
Speaker 1: I was staying in downtown and everybody, all my Angelina

910
00:55:53,480 --> 00:55:55,080
Speaker 1: friends said, oh, that's the worst place to stay. You

911
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,640
Speaker 1: should be staying here. He's been staying there, And you realize,

912
00:55:57,680 --> 00:56:00,359
Speaker 1: like Downtown is not. You know, Downtown's got a little well.

913
00:56:00,640 --> 00:56:03,160
Speaker 1: I feel like it's gotten better over the years. Maybe

914
00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:07,520
Speaker 1: the arena Staples Centers being there has helped anyway, But

915
00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:11,680
Speaker 1: I digress. Here's your question. I'm wondering what you think

916
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:13,600
Speaker 1: about how the Warren Iran will affect our ability to

917
00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:15,600
Speaker 1: protect our interests in other parts of the world. Given

918
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:18,879
Speaker 1: that money, munitions, and personnel are finite, and the fact

919
00:56:18,880 --> 00:56:21,080
Speaker 1: that Shijingping has said he wants to be able to

920
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:23,440
Speaker 1: invade Taiwan by twenty twenty seven, how much does our

921
00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:26,600
Speaker 1: continued expenditure of each of these make us incapable of

922
00:56:26,600 --> 00:56:29,120
Speaker 1: being prepared elsewhere. I have read that our defense industry

923
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:30,920
Speaker 1: is nowhere near what it used to be, particularly in

924
00:56:30,960 --> 00:56:33,839
Speaker 1: the manufacturing of munitions and in shipbuilding. All of these

925
00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:36,120
Speaker 1: seem very troubling. If we were to lose our supply

926
00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:38,160
Speaker 1: of the most advanced chips that are produced in Taiwan,

927
00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:40,920
Speaker 1: it would be catastrophic to the United States economy. Also,

928
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:43,479
Speaker 1: thank you for your thoughts on March Madness. Thanks again

929
00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:46,640
Speaker 1: for all the great work Stafford Downtown Tola. Thank you, sir,

930
00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:52,360
Speaker 1: appreciate that look I of all episodes for you to

931
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:55,920
Speaker 1: write in on this issue, right Ike Friman and his

932
00:56:56,000 --> 00:57:01,240
Speaker 1: book about Taiwan and China being it. Yes, of look,

933
00:57:01,680 --> 00:57:06,960
Speaker 1: this is the great geopolitical risk that Donald Trump has.

934
00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:11,239
Speaker 1: I mean, no, this is the first American president in

935
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:16,760
Speaker 1: my lifetime that seems to be comfortable handing over America's

936
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:20,400
Speaker 1: leader leadership role in the world, and he's put it

937
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:22,360
Speaker 1: at risk in ways that I don't think. You know,

938
00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:26,960
Speaker 1: it's interesting. There's certainly plenty of people worried about it,

939
00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:29,000
Speaker 1: given the rhetoric he was using in twenty fifteen and

940
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:31,400
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and some of his behavior in twenty seventeen

941
00:57:31,400 --> 00:57:34,480
Speaker 1: and twenty eighteen. But I think we all never thought

942
00:57:34,640 --> 00:57:39,320
Speaker 1: that he would he would just do something this risky,

943
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:44,120
Speaker 1: and he has done something this risky, and he's a

944
00:57:44,200 --> 00:57:49,520
Speaker 1: you know, he's essentially newtered NATO at the moment. NATO's

945
00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:53,880
Speaker 1: not dead, but NATO is. You know, when the current

946
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:57,000
Speaker 1: American president no is an interest in NATO, then NATO

947
00:57:57,080 --> 00:58:02,000
Speaker 1: is not an effective organization at the moment. I'm certainly

948
00:58:02,040 --> 00:58:05,680
Speaker 1: worried that Shijingping is going to look, is going to

949
00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:08,200
Speaker 1: see this moment if he does, if he wants to

950
00:58:08,240 --> 00:58:11,080
Speaker 1: take Taiwan. Now's the time, right while Trump's in office,

951
00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:15,280
Speaker 1: while Trump's distracted. It's certainly my concern. It's why I

952
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:18,280
Speaker 1: booked like now. It's why I've been focused on this

953
00:58:18,320 --> 00:58:22,720
Speaker 1: issue a little bit more because I think I I

954
00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:26,320
Speaker 1: if you were just to play this out strategically, you know,

955
00:58:27,040 --> 00:58:32,720
Speaker 1: pretend you're pretend you are advising the Chinese leader, and

956
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:34,880
Speaker 1: you're saying, when when should you do this? Well, you

957
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:36,480
Speaker 1: don't want to do it when there's a new president

958
00:58:37,400 --> 00:58:39,280
Speaker 1: and a new attitude. You might want to do it

959
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:46,000
Speaker 1: while you have somebody who might negotiate Taiwan away. So

960
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:48,400
Speaker 1: I think it's it's a concern. But what I what

961
00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:50,080
Speaker 1: I learned from Mike, and I hope you learned, it's

962
00:58:50,080 --> 00:58:54,080
Speaker 1: like China's got a China might not be ready for

963
00:58:54,120 --> 00:58:59,640
Speaker 1: this either. And China sees what Russia's been doing with Ukraine,

964
00:59:00,080 --> 00:59:02,480
Speaker 1: sees frankly, what we're doing with a run and realizes

965
00:59:04,320 --> 00:59:07,600
Speaker 1: an ain't going to happen. It doesn't countries don't roll over.

966
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:11,840
Speaker 1: And I don't know how many times world powers have

967
00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:17,160
Speaker 1: to learn this, whether it's Vietnam, whether it's Afghanistan, whether

968
00:59:17,320 --> 00:59:21,280
Speaker 1: it's Iran, right, whether it's Taiwan. This stuff is not.

969
00:59:22,520 --> 00:59:26,160
Speaker 1: You know, you may think you can roll over somebody,

970
00:59:26,200 --> 00:59:33,640
Speaker 1: but somebody has to say, all right, by the time

971
00:59:33,920 --> 00:59:35,800
Speaker 1: you by the time this is uploaded, I will be

972
00:59:35,920 --> 00:59:38,800
Speaker 1: on my way to the Nats home opener. I'm very

973
00:59:38,800 --> 00:59:41,880
Speaker 1: excited about this. You know what that means. It's Nats

974
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:44,800
Speaker 1: Dodgers right, by the way. If you're the Learners, you're

975
00:59:44,840 --> 00:59:47,600
Speaker 1: really ticked off that the Dodgers are the home opener

976
00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:50,560
Speaker 1: because you know, let's be honest, the Dodgers are going

977
00:59:50,600 --> 00:59:52,480
Speaker 1: to sell out whenever you bring them show. Hey, Otani

978
00:59:52,560 --> 00:59:55,880
Speaker 1: sells out wherever you go, so that's not you know,

979
00:59:56,000 --> 00:59:58,960
Speaker 1: so you're actually, if you're the Nats, realizing that you

980
00:59:58,960 --> 01:00:02,080
Speaker 1: don't have the best product on the field to lure

981
01:00:02,600 --> 01:00:05,280
Speaker 1: casual fans into the stadium, you kind of want the

982
01:00:05,320 --> 01:00:07,680
Speaker 1: Dodgers later in the year. Usually they come around June,

983
01:00:08,560 --> 01:00:11,000
Speaker 1: but they've rejiggered the schedule over the last couple of

984
01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:14,240
Speaker 1: years because of the mandatory decision that everybody plays everybody

985
01:00:14,280 --> 01:00:17,520
Speaker 1: now at least one series, which I think is a

986
01:00:17,520 --> 01:00:19,680
Speaker 1: great change, by the way, but it is scrambled sort of.

987
01:00:20,160 --> 01:00:23,160
Speaker 1: You know, when you're when you're a season ticket holder,

988
01:00:23,240 --> 01:00:25,600
Speaker 1: you you sort of follow the rhythm. You kind of know, Oh,

989
01:00:25,680 --> 01:00:27,800
Speaker 1: the Cardinals come here, and the Dodgers usually come in

990
01:00:27,800 --> 01:00:29,560
Speaker 1: this month, and the Cubs usually come in this month

991
01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:31,800
Speaker 1: and d D d well all that's gotten scrambled lately.

992
01:00:32,680 --> 01:00:35,320
Speaker 1: So the Dodgers are the home opener. So, like I said,

993
01:00:35,360 --> 01:00:40,040
Speaker 1: big blow to the learners, basically taking away three sellout

994
01:00:40,080 --> 01:00:43,760
Speaker 1: dates that they would have gotten before. I mean, because

995
01:00:43,840 --> 01:00:47,120
Speaker 1: home opener weekend, you're going to get great. Hopefully we're

996
01:00:47,160 --> 01:00:49,640
Speaker 1: testing the weather here. But I have a few thoughts. Right,

997
01:00:49,640 --> 01:00:53,600
Speaker 1: the Nats are three and three. Here's here's my big takeaway. Right,

998
01:00:53,880 --> 01:00:56,640
Speaker 1: and the hiring of all these raised, raised, raised guys,

999
01:00:56,680 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 1: and you know, the the the the snowy fan in me.

1000
01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:05,200
Speaker 1: That's fan in me, who's you know, middle aged, and

1001
01:01:05,200 --> 01:01:06,720
Speaker 1: maybe you guys want to call me a little over

1002
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:09,320
Speaker 1: the hill, says Hey, this hiring of all the interns

1003
01:01:09,360 --> 01:01:12,080
Speaker 1: from the Tampa Bay Rays organization. We'll see how this works.

1004
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:15,200
Speaker 1: We have a thirty one year old manager, et cetera,

1005
01:01:15,240 --> 01:01:18,440
Speaker 1: et cetera. I say all this, and I can already

1006
01:01:18,440 --> 01:01:22,320
Speaker 1: see a huge difference. It does look like what's interesting

1007
01:01:22,400 --> 01:01:25,560
Speaker 1: is like, to me, the secret of the Ray's success. Right,

1008
01:01:25,600 --> 01:01:29,000
Speaker 1: they have overperformed the amount of money they spend right there,

1009
01:01:29,120 --> 01:01:32,720
Speaker 1: seem to be always contending in the als. They strategically

1010
01:01:32,760 --> 01:01:35,280
Speaker 1: try to win every game and they will change whatever

1011
01:01:35,320 --> 01:01:36,960
Speaker 1: it is, right, Oh, is this the game? We'll try

1012
01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:38,919
Speaker 1: and opener this game because this is you know, we're

1013
01:01:38,920 --> 01:01:40,800
Speaker 1: going to get their best three hitters out right away.

1014
01:01:41,400 --> 01:01:43,520
Speaker 1: They have a plan. You know, if you're going to

1015
01:01:43,600 --> 01:01:45,480
Speaker 1: try to win eighty five to ninety games, which gets

1016
01:01:45,480 --> 01:01:47,120
Speaker 1: you in the playoffs, you got to have a plan,

1017
01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:51,160
Speaker 1: a different plan to win every game. And you know,

1018
01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:53,160
Speaker 1: I think about the plan against the Phillies the other

1019
01:01:53,280 --> 01:01:56,880
Speaker 1: night where all the you know, even you know they

1020
01:01:56,960 --> 01:01:59,600
Speaker 1: they all the lefty hitters seem to have a plan

1021
01:01:59,680 --> 01:02:02,640
Speaker 1: to hit it opposite field, and it really suddenly that's

1022
01:02:02,640 --> 01:02:05,520
Speaker 1: how we got ten runs and nobody hit a homer. Right,

1023
01:02:05,560 --> 01:02:08,040
Speaker 1: It was just getting men on base and putting pressure

1024
01:02:08,080 --> 01:02:12,640
Speaker 1: on the Phillies to make plays. I feel like the

1025
01:02:12,680 --> 01:02:16,280
Speaker 1: at bats look smarter. I'm a little nervous about James

1026
01:02:16,280 --> 01:02:18,120
Speaker 1: Wood right than the Nats are three and three, and

1027
01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:22,360
Speaker 1: Wood's been not a huge factor in all this. But

1028
01:02:22,480 --> 01:02:25,800
Speaker 1: I it's just been a week. But you know, I've

1029
01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:30,200
Speaker 1: been MOPy and doom and gloom and still don't like

1030
01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:34,120
Speaker 1: the way the learners are not investing in this team.

1031
01:02:34,480 --> 01:02:36,760
Speaker 1: But man, I think they've hired some pretty good people

1032
01:02:37,440 --> 01:02:40,439
Speaker 1: because these and this team seems to respond so far.

1033
01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:43,880
Speaker 1: They just seem to be, you know again, where it's

1034
01:02:43,920 --> 01:02:46,120
Speaker 1: a lot more analytics driven, you can talent. It's more

1035
01:02:46,160 --> 01:02:50,640
Speaker 1: analytics driven, and for a team that doesn't have the

1036
01:02:51,480 --> 01:02:54,520
Speaker 1: isn't going to use the resources to compete with the Dodgers,

1037
01:02:54,880 --> 01:02:59,920
Speaker 1: doesn't have the big you know, marquee talent to compete

1038
01:03:00,080 --> 01:03:01,920
Speaker 1: with the Dodgers on a day to day basis or

1039
01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:04,080
Speaker 1: a week to week basis, or even the Phillies or

1040
01:03:04,120 --> 01:03:09,320
Speaker 1: even the Cubs, etc. You could see that they're trying

1041
01:03:09,360 --> 01:03:11,720
Speaker 1: to find edges where they can, and you know what,

1042
01:03:13,560 --> 01:03:16,600
Speaker 1: that's all I want to see. You know. It's unlike

1043
01:03:16,680 --> 01:03:19,000
Speaker 1: the crap product that the Wizards have put out with

1044
01:03:19,040 --> 01:03:22,480
Speaker 1: this tanking situation, which is just embarrassing for the NBA.

1045
01:03:24,280 --> 01:03:28,120
Speaker 1: I'm horrified. It is really left a bad taste in

1046
01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:30,560
Speaker 1: my mouth. I desperately want to try to be a

1047
01:03:30,600 --> 01:03:38,160
Speaker 1: Wizards fan, all right, I do. My son loves the NBA.

1048
01:03:38,760 --> 01:03:40,720
Speaker 1: I wanted him to become a Wizards fan. It's been

1049
01:03:40,760 --> 01:03:42,840
Speaker 1: so bad over a fifteen year period. He's a Suns

1050
01:03:42,880 --> 01:03:44,600
Speaker 1: fan because he was a Devin Booker fan and he

1051
01:03:44,680 --> 01:03:47,400
Speaker 1: just adopted the Sons and he's all in with the Sons.

1052
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:51,600
Speaker 1: And I blame the Wizards that they don't even try.

1053
01:03:51,680 --> 01:03:54,320
Speaker 1: And when you put out you don't even try. Look,

1054
01:03:55,360 --> 01:03:58,000
Speaker 1: it's clear that the Nats are not trying to win

1055
01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:00,880
Speaker 1: a World Series. Their front office isn't, but they at

1056
01:04:00,960 --> 01:04:03,960
Speaker 1: least the evidence is they want to win each individual game.

1057
01:04:05,880 --> 01:04:11,120
Speaker 1: I think the way this way the way professional back

1058
01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:15,640
Speaker 1: and professional basketball always looks even worse during during the

1059
01:04:15,720 --> 01:04:18,720
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament, right because it's so fun and exciting to

1060
01:04:18,760 --> 01:04:24,160
Speaker 1: watch competitive basketball, and then you're like, oh, now, if

1061
01:04:24,160 --> 01:04:27,480
Speaker 1: you happen to see Thunder play the Lakers, they do compete,

1062
01:04:29,400 --> 01:04:31,880
Speaker 1: but you can't watch your own hometown team play because

1063
01:04:31,880 --> 01:04:35,320
Speaker 1: they have no interest in competing. That's no you know,

1064
01:04:35,920 --> 01:04:40,600
Speaker 1: nobody watches the Washington Generals, and eventually people stop watching

1065
01:04:40,600 --> 01:04:42,600
Speaker 1: the Harlem Globetrotters because you kind of knew what was

1066
01:04:42,640 --> 01:04:46,400
Speaker 1: going to happen. And I just it's embarrassing and I

1067
01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:48,560
Speaker 1: hate it, and I really think it's a stain on

1068
01:04:48,640 --> 01:04:51,680
Speaker 1: the franchise. I get it. I get what they're trying

1069
01:04:51,680 --> 01:04:53,200
Speaker 1: to do, and they're not the only team that has

1070
01:04:53,200 --> 01:04:56,439
Speaker 1: done it. Utah is doing it. It's gross. We saw

1071
01:04:56,480 --> 01:04:59,040
Speaker 1: what the you know again, I see it, shoot they

1072
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:02,200
Speaker 1: you know you see it in baseball, but at least

1073
01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:04,760
Speaker 1: on at least you know the Houston Astros when they

1074
01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:08,240
Speaker 1: were tanking as an organization, the players in the field

1075
01:05:08,240 --> 01:05:11,840
Speaker 1: were competing, and the coaching staff on the field was

1076
01:05:11,840 --> 01:05:15,440
Speaker 1: trying to win games. What's really gross about the Wizards

1077
01:05:15,480 --> 01:05:17,000
Speaker 1: is that as soon as the player does well, they

1078
01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:20,680
Speaker 1: bench them. God forbid that the Wizards accidentally win a game.

1079
01:05:21,920 --> 01:05:24,960
Speaker 1: So it is absolutely the NBA is a huge problem,

1080
01:05:24,960 --> 01:05:28,080
Speaker 1: and you want to expand clean up the league. At them,

1081
01:05:28,240 --> 01:05:32,200
Speaker 1: clean this crap up, get a better regular season product,

1082
01:05:32,320 --> 01:05:36,400
Speaker 1: going figure out how to incentivize better regular season basketball.

1083
01:05:37,200 --> 01:05:39,920
Speaker 1: You know, when I was, when I was in my

1084
01:05:40,040 --> 01:05:44,720
Speaker 1: teens and twenties, it was appointment viewing in the eighties

1085
01:05:44,760 --> 01:05:48,640
Speaker 1: and early nineties to see regular season matchups of Bird

1086
01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:53,640
Speaker 1: versus Magic, Magic versus Jordan. You know, you didn't miss it.

1087
01:05:55,160 --> 01:05:58,120
Speaker 1: Nobody's tuning in for a regular season matchup. You don't

1088
01:05:58,160 --> 01:06:01,240
Speaker 1: feel that sense of you know, you've got to fix

1089
01:06:01,280 --> 01:06:03,640
Speaker 1: this at them, You've got to fix this. Basketball is

1090
01:06:03,640 --> 01:06:08,760
Speaker 1: a great sport. This system has created a mess. All right,

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01:06:10,160 --> 01:06:12,680
Speaker 1: enjoy your weekend. I'll see you on Monday.