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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,

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Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of

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Speaker 1: today's best minds, and Trump accidentally helped Democrats get some

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Speaker 1: key judicial nominees approved by taking Republicans to watch this

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Speaker 1: SpaceX launch. Thank God. How presidential, very modern day presidential.

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Speaker 1: We have a great show for you today. The Washington

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Speaker 1: Post Dana Milbank stops by to talk to us about

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump's nominations and what they're signaling for our dismal

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Speaker 1: political future. Then we'll talk to Russian media monitor Julia

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Speaker 1: Davis about how Russia is delighting in Trump's recent moves.

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Speaker 1: But first the news.

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Speaker 2: Somali a lot of fun news today, as I'm sure

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Speaker 2: you'll be very shocked, mister Trump is only nominating the

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Speaker 2: best people. And we have wrestling magnate Linda McMahon as

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Speaker 2: Secretary of Education. You might be wondering what she has

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Speaker 2: to do with education, as I was until I read

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Speaker 2: this article.

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Speaker 1: Linda McMahon I actually know from my misspent youth, because

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Speaker 1: she did try once to run for Senate in Connecticut.

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Speaker 1: It was universally hilarious until she dropped out. But I

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Speaker 1: want to point out Linda McMahon. Trump wants to close

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Speaker 1: the Department of Education. So Linda wanted to be Commerce Secretary.

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Speaker 1: She was the co chair of Trump's transition team. She

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Speaker 1: gave him a ton of money, and she thought she

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Speaker 1: was going to be Commerce Secretary. Now what happened was

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Speaker 1: this guy called Howard Lutnek, who also was co leading

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Speaker 1: the transition team with her, ended up getting Commerce Secretary.

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Speaker 1: And that meant that Linda had nothing to get. And

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Speaker 1: since Donald Trump feels he's going to close this Department

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Speaker 1: of Education anyway, he figured he'd just put her there. Now,

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Speaker 1: what I want to realize is like in the last

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Speaker 1: Trump admin, Trump actually put someone in there who was

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Speaker 1: not without her problems, but who was actually interested in education,

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Speaker 1: quite a pedigree. Right had done some education stuff, was

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Speaker 1: from a family they were Some of their education ideas

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Speaker 1: might have been a little screwy, but she actually did

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Speaker 1: work in education. This time, there's no pretense. We're just

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Speaker 1: got a donor needs a job. Let's figure it out.

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Speaker 1: And so she is now going to be heading the

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Speaker 1: Department of Education. This is a little ironic because in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, when she ran for Senate in Connecticut,

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Speaker 1: she had stated that she had a bachelor's degree in education.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how you would get that, But in fact,

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Speaker 1: she had earned a degree in French and a teaching

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Speaker 1: certificate from East Carolina University, and that is not the

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Speaker 1: same thing. And during her brief tenure on the Connecticut

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Speaker 1: State Board of Education the error was made public. It

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Speaker 1: became an issue during her twenty ten campaign for US Senate.

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Speaker 1: She decided to step down from that board because of

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Speaker 1: legislative limits on her political fundraising that could hurt her

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Speaker 1: campaign goals. The point here is that she lied about

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Speaker 1: her education and then tried to run for her senate.

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Speaker 1: Then now she is leading the Department of Education, which

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Speaker 1: is so very perfectly trumpy. I am not even a

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Speaker 1: little surprised. Are you surprised, Jesse?

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Speaker 2: I sure not.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: I was a little shocked this morning where I saw

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Speaker 2: some news as I also learned I shocked some listeners

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Speaker 2: on Monday because I got a text in the morning

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Speaker 2: about our episode that said, why the fuck did you

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Speaker 2: randomly say hot tub crime machine in the middle of

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Speaker 2: the Rick Wilson segment. I said, that is a callback

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Speaker 2: to what you me and Rick used to do. The

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Speaker 2: New Abnormal as we would call Matthew.

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Speaker 1: Whittaker hot tub crime machine.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 1: He has other nicknames. There's a nickname he gets called

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Speaker 1: a lot, but hot tub crime machine is because Matthew

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Speaker 1: Whittaker has been involved in all sorts of gadgy small businesses,

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Speaker 1: including toilets for well and down men, hot tubs. He

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Speaker 1: was involved in some kind of time machine situation, right

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Speaker 1: am I remembering season one of this fiasco correctly.

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Speaker 2: The point what we could say is when you read

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Speaker 2: his dossier of weird fuckery, you literally feel like you

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Speaker 2: may have been slipped at acid tap.

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Speaker 1: So, needless to say, he has a job in this

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Speaker 1: advent because Trump only knows a few people.

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Speaker 2: But only the best people, right.

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Speaker 1: A lot of these cabinet picks are people you've seen

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Speaker 1: on television.

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Speaker 2: He has a qualification that Trump likes. Big goomba energy

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Speaker 2: is what I like to call it.

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Speaker 1: I can't say that because I'm Jewish and that seems

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Speaker 1: like a slur.

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Speaker 2: I come from the part of New Jersey where that's

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Speaker 2: just coming.

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Speaker 1: You can say it because you're Italian? Are you Italian?

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Speaker 2: No, that's not true.

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Speaker 1: I can say that's not true. You can say.

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Speaker 2: Sopranos was filmed.

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Speaker 1: You can say it just he's getting canceled. So anyway,

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Speaker 1: he adds actually served three months as the nation's top

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Speaker 1: law enforcement official after Jefferson Beauregard session step down for

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Speaker 1: allowing Trump to be investigation. Did you remember Jefferson Beauregard

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Speaker 1: Sessions the craziest attorney general we ever thought Trump could

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Speaker 1: appoint before Matt Gates. Whittaker does not bring any so

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Speaker 1: he's going to be I just want to point out

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Speaker 1: he's going to be the ambassador to the North American

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Speaker 1: Treaty Organization NATO, something that Trump has liked. The Department

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Speaker 1: of Education mused about shutting down so you could tell

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Speaker 1: how important this job is to Trump. Mister Whitterker does

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Speaker 1: not bring any foreign policy experience to a job that

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Speaker 1: may serve as the focal point for mister Trump's complaints

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Speaker 1: about how much the United States pay is to help

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Speaker 1: NATO keep Europe secure. And this is like a gift

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Speaker 1: to Vladimir Putin, right, Like, let's put one of our

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Speaker 1: guys in there who doesn't know anything and isn't super

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Speaker 1: interested in it. He is known for his personal loyalty

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Speaker 1: and willing to defend mister Trump during his first administration.

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Speaker 1: He is likely to bring a similar approach to his

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Speaker 1: ambassadorship doing something he knows nothing about.

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Speaker 2: I just want the record to show that I have

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Speaker 2: looked up at Goomba's a sawyer and it actually means friend.

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Speaker 1: All right, Yes, I'll let you. Just just let the

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Speaker 1: record show only cancel Jesse for this, Okay. Mister Trump

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Speaker 1: has repeatedly voiced skepticism about the alliance. He has long

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Speaker 1: threwn to a draw from it, and now hot tub

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Speaker 1: crime machine will run it.

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Speaker 2: Okay, on to a last bit of a fucker in

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Speaker 2: the section. House speaker Mike Johnson has waited on the

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Speaker 2: use of bathrooms in the Capitol Complex. What are you

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Speaker 2: seeing here?

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Speaker 1: So Nancy Mays, in her long quest to become Marjorie

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Speaker 1: Taylor Green has his bathroom bell, Mike Johnson. Now it's

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Speaker 1: a bathroom bell targeted at the new member from Delaware.

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Speaker 1: She wants to make it so she can't use the

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Speaker 1: bathroom because because Sarah McBride is traned. Now, Mike Johnson

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Speaker 1: has a problem here, right, which is he is leading

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Speaker 1: a group that is you know, really delights in hurting

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Speaker 1: trans people. But he is at least theoretically a very

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Speaker 1: serious religious person. So he does not know how he

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Speaker 1: should he be horrible to the trans woman because that's

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Speaker 1: what the base likes, or should he try to operate

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Speaker 1: a little bit in his principles. So he's gone back

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Speaker 1: and forth. So first he said that he wants to

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Speaker 1: make everyone comfortable, and later he said he had to

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Speaker 1: go back and be a little meaner because that's what

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Speaker 1: the base wants. So he said, all single sex facilities

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Speaker 1: in the Capitol and office building are reserved only for

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Speaker 1: individuals of that biological sex. And he then went on

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Speaker 1: and on. He even said, you know, women can only

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Speaker 1: be women, men can only be men. It was more

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Speaker 1: of that, and he also said, like all it's enforceable.

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Speaker 1: We have single sets facilities where reason women's deserve women's

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Speaker 1: only spaces. We're not anti anyone, we're pro woman. Again,

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Speaker 1: that's not really true. They're really not. By the way,

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Speaker 1: if there's one thing they're not, it's pro women. I

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Speaker 1: think it's important policy for us to continue. It always

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Speaker 1: has been, I guess, an unwritten policy, and now it's

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Speaker 1: in writing. He added again, Yeah, it's hard to be

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Speaker 1: both very religious and believe that you're there to take

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Speaker 1: care of others and also be run by a troll.

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Speaker 1: But here we are Speaker Mike Johnson again trying to

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Speaker 1: thread the needle between religion and cruelty.

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Speaker 2: SAMAI I said that that was one last piece of fuckery,

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Speaker 2: but but it's not. I did realize there's something we

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Speaker 2: have to address here, which is that right now we

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Speaker 2: are in these big, big standoff. There's a bunch of

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Speaker 2: journalists right outside the ass Ethics can be while they're

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Speaker 2: weighing whether to release this report on nominated ag Matt cats.

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Speaker 2: One of the things that we were reminded of is

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Speaker 2: at our time with The Daily Beast, there was a

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Speaker 2: very big scoop about all the Venmo payments he made

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Speaker 2: to these possibly underage women, and there's some more details

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Speaker 2: about that here. What are you seeing here?

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Speaker 1: Oh, Venmo gate? So it's Gatesgate. So remember Gates resigned

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Speaker 1: last week to avoid this Ethics Committee report from being published.

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Speaker 1: The Ethics Committee. I just want to point this out.

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Speaker 1: The House Ethics Committee is known to be particularly toothless.

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Speaker 1: So this whole thing becoming such a big deal shows

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Speaker 1: just what a big problem Matt Gates has. Now we

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Speaker 1: have these Venmo payments. Okay, the House Ethics I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think this is the drip to a drip of

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Speaker 1: the House Ethics stuff coming out. But remember the lawyer

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Speaker 1: is speaking to the press. Some of the witnesses are

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Speaker 1: speaking the press. The House Ethics Committee obtained records, including

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Speaker 1: a check and the records of VENMO payments. Remember, Matt

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Speaker 1: Gates's VENMO had been accidentally not private. He had accidentally

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Speaker 1: people could have could see it paid more than ten

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars to two women who were later witnesses in

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Speaker 1: sexual misconduct probes conducted by the House and the Justice Department.

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Speaker 1: According to documents obtained by ABC News, the VENMO records

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Speaker 1: showed that between July twenty seventeen and January twenty nineteen, Gates,

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Speaker 1: who was first elected in twenty sixteen, allegedly made twenty

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Speaker 1: seven VEMO payments totaling ten thousand, two hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: four dollars and two cents to the two witnesses who

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Speaker 1: were over the age of eighteen at the time. Good

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Speaker 1: for them for being over eighteen. They are the very

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Speaker 1: few people in the story who are over eighteen. The payments,

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Speaker 1: which sources said were displayed during closed door testimony ranged

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Speaker 1: from one hundred to more than seven hundred dollars each.

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Speaker 1: Probably not what you want in an attorney's general, but

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Speaker 1: we shall have to watch this play out. The Milbank

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Speaker 1: is a columnist at The Washington Post and the author

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Speaker 1: of Pools on the Hill, The Hooligans, Saboteurs, conspiracy theorists,

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Speaker 1: and dunces who burned down the House. Welcome back, my

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Speaker 1: friend here to keep me from completely falling apart? Data

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Speaker 1: mail Bank.

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Speaker 3: Well, Molly, if I'm the one who's will keep you

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Speaker 3: from falling apart, you're in big trouble because I'm I'm

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Speaker 3: just picking up the pieces over here.

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Speaker 1: Yes, you emailed me like what are we going to

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Speaker 1: talk about? And I was like, I saw the email

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Speaker 1: and I was seized with panic. And then I was like,

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Speaker 1: we are just so incredibly down the fucking rabbit hole.

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Speaker 1: So I wanted to Can we talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: about the uh, the geniuses who are running and now

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Speaker 1: we will again run the United States Congress? Please?

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Speaker 3: Yes, indeed, I'd love to talk about.

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Speaker 1: That, because you have a book about that.

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Speaker 3: I do a book about that, which you were kind

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Speaker 3: enough to mention on this this very podcast. And they

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Speaker 3: did such a fabulous job time that they've been returned

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Speaker 3: with it even it looks like maybe even a smaller majority. Yes, certainly,

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Speaker 3: no better than the last time. So if you thought

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Speaker 3: the last one was a disaster, wait till this one.

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Speaker 1: Get ready. I want to talk about the United States

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Speaker 1: Congress and the House of Representatives because they were so

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Speaker 1: bad in this last two year period. They won the

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Speaker 1: majority quote unquote by you know whatever two or three seats.

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Speaker 1: Then they fired their speaker because Matt Gates got into

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Speaker 1: a fight with him, and then they were almost unable

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Speaker 1: to pass anything even like postal office namings. This time discuss.

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Speaker 3: Well, this time we don't have Matt Gates to kick

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Speaker 3: around because he made me the Attorney General of the

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Speaker 3: United States.

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Speaker 1: Again, we laugh to keep from crying.

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Speaker 3: Continue, I guess so and then, and what are we

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Speaker 3: going to do? Well, Nancy Mace is already moving to

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Speaker 3: ban the first ever trans member of Congress from going

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Speaker 3: to the bathroom. So you know that that is exactly

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Speaker 3: what the voters were asking this Congress to do. They said,

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Speaker 3: we're suffering from inflation in the border, but yep, don't

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Speaker 3: let any trans person in Congress, p.

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Speaker 1: Ever use a bathroom. Yeah. One of the things with

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Speaker 1: Nancy Mace is she's such a great example of what

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Speaker 1: MAGA does when Maga gets the chance. Like, here's someone

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Speaker 1: who was in a much more mixed district, right, and

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Speaker 1: then she got redistricted, and so she decided she no

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Speaker 1: longer believed in any of the more normal values that

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Speaker 1: she had.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's pretty similar to the Aleast Stephanic route.

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Speaker 3: Also now going to be a member of the Trump administration.

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Speaker 1: But least Ivonna got one of those jobs that women

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Speaker 1: get in the Trump administration. You know, you can have

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Speaker 1: that because he really wants to end the un anyway.

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Speaker 3: Right, And that's exactly And Linda McMahon's the other great

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Speaker 3: example of that. You know, who knows you know, because

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Speaker 3: you know, professional wrestling definitely teaches you how to run

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Speaker 3: the education system in the United States. But of course

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Speaker 3: Trump wants to abolish that.

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Speaker 1: Sue anyway, right. I mean that's the thing is, like

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Speaker 1: you are allowed to lead a department that Trump has

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Speaker 1: already said he wants.

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Speaker 3: Gone, right, so you're you're in charge of turning out

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Speaker 3: the lights I guess.

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Speaker 1: Right, I mean, does that mean he keeps it going

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Speaker 1: now because he wants Linda to have something to do

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Speaker 1: because she did run transition.

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Speaker 3: Well, he keeps it going because he won't have the

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Speaker 3: votes to shut it down, you know, And I wonder,

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Speaker 3: Molly about all of these things about I feel like,

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Speaker 3: you know, reading the personnel announcement, it's like onion headlines.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's just, you know, it's too insane to

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Speaker 3: be believed with hag Seth and Gates and all the others.

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Speaker 3: But I wonder how much of this is to just

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Speaker 3: give the app hearans that he's going to go mad

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Speaker 3: and shake everything up and then but we don't know

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Speaker 3: what he's actually going to do. I mean, you got

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Speaker 3: to assume it's at least a possibility. He starts a

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Speaker 3: trade war, he surrenders Ukraine, China goes after Taiwan. You know,

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Speaker 3: we're off to the races here. But you know, last

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Speaker 3: time he didn't do as many crazy things as it

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Speaker 3: seemed he might. Now, I don't want to say he's

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Speaker 3: going to be normal. I'm not doing the whole He's

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Speaker 3: going to be moderate things that ship has already sailed,

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Speaker 3: But the actual level of disruption is tbd.

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Speaker 1: Let's say, well, one of the things that really worked

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Speaker 1: for his favor when he ran for office was he

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Speaker 1: was able to say, well, you know, I said all

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Speaker 1: this stuff, but I didn't do it because Democrats prevented

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Speaker 1: him from doing a lot of it. That is not

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Speaker 1: the makeup anymore. Right, you know, he controls the House,

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Speaker 1: not by a huge majority. He has there's a you know,

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Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell is not in charge anymore. He really wanted

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Speaker 1: to get what's his name, the guy that looks like

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Speaker 1: the president from Mars attacks in there. He was unable

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Speaker 1: the floor Rick Scott, Yes, Scott, Yes, Rick Scott. You

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Speaker 1: know he has Thune who is not quite as much

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Speaker 1: of a lackey. Though. We'll see what happens. Hard to

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Speaker 1: imagine that anyone fails his plans. But again, that was

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Speaker 1: the thing when he was running for office, you know,

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Speaker 1: and voters would say, well, we don't believe he's actually

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Speaker 1: going to do any of that stuff, right, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, I'm of two minds on this one. Is you know,

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Speaker 3: because they have the trifecta of power that they can

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Speaker 3: do all of these truly alarming things that you know,

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Speaker 3: like the House Republicans did try to do last time,

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Speaker 3: and say, well, you know, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden

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Speaker 3: are bottling it up, whether that's going to be restoring

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Speaker 3: the Confederate names or banning the abortion pillar, whatever else.

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Speaker 3: So there's no excuse now. So I mean, I'm worried

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Speaker 3: and alarmed about the potential damage they can do now,

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Speaker 3: but there is part of me that says, have at it, guys,

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Speaker 3: now you've got no excuse. Let's see what your actual

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Speaker 3: agenda is. Because there is nobody to them other than themselves,

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Speaker 3: and I think people will probably quickly see that they

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Speaker 3: can't actually govern in this Congress. You know, like this

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Speaker 3: this House is not going to line up and walk

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Speaker 3: the plank on a vote after vote, but they're not

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Speaker 3: going to be able to blame the Democrats this time.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you harken back to last season of

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Speaker 1: Congress doesn't do anything. We saw the House really deadlocked

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Speaker 1: and basically they needed Democrats to pass anything they could pass.

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Speaker 3: That's absolutely right. But then they could turn around and say, well,

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Speaker 3: you know it's the Senate that's democratic control, or you know,

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Speaker 3: you know Biden will veto something. But those excuses are

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Speaker 3: all gone now. So it's just like, if they can't

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Speaker 3: do something, it's the Republicans, who can't do something, And

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Speaker 3: of course they're not going to be able to do

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Speaker 3: a lot of the crazier things, unless, of course, that

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Speaker 3: they succeed in getting them to walk the plank, and

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Speaker 3: then this little fun experiment ends very badly.

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Speaker 1: Yes, I mean, one of the things that I think

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Speaker 1: a lot about is camps.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump wants camps, and Steven Miller wants to give

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Speaker 1: him camps. Right, wants to deport seven trillion immigrants and

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Speaker 1: ten zillion billion children and families and YadA, YadA, YadA.

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Speaker 1: One of the things when you think about this idea,

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Speaker 1: you have to think about, like, where are you going

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Speaker 1: to build the camps, who's going to staff the camps?

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Speaker 1: How's this going to work? And the big problem with

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Speaker 1: deporting millions and millions of people, besides the ethical considerations

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Speaker 1: of deporting people who are here legally okay, and the

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Speaker 1: fact that you're going to have a lot of trouble

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Speaker 1: getting a country to go along with us, is that

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Speaker 1: you don't have the money to pay for it, right,

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Speaker 1: Like Congress wouldn't give them money for border security, So

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Speaker 1: how are they going to get money to deport millions

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Speaker 1: and trillions and zillions of people?

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Speaker 3: Right. Well, and this was the point with border security

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Speaker 3: during the Biden administration when they looked at the whole

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Speaker 3: list of things that Trump said, you're not continuing my

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Speaker 3: tough on the border policies. Well, that's because many of

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Speaker 3: them were unfunded in the first place, and they had

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Speaker 3: no choice, or the courts had blocked them and they

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Speaker 3: had no choice. So yeah, so the border policy is

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Speaker 3: about to run smack dab into reality. I mean, it's

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Speaker 3: it's so hard to imagine the camps being built federal land.

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Speaker 1: Are they on state land? Right? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: National parks?

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Speaker 1: Who is going to staff them? The National Guard? I mean,

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Speaker 1: like you really are down a rabbit hole here.

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Speaker 3: Right and there of course there's no actual plan. There's

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Speaker 3: probably not even in the concept of a plan here,

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Speaker 3: and you.

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Speaker 1: Know, we love a concept of a plan.

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Speaker 3: We're going to solve the housing crisis by kicking out

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Speaker 3: illegal immigrants as if they're the source of the housing crisis,

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Speaker 3: when in fact they're disproportionately the ones building the house

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Speaker 3: that we need, you know, in the same thing with

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Speaker 3: agriculture workers and everything else. And then how do you

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Speaker 3: get the states to cooperate with all of these things?

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Speaker 3: So it all sounded good, But this is one of

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Speaker 3: those areas where I suspect this, you know, the outrageous

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Speaker 3: rhetoric is going to run into reality. And yeah, he'll

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Speaker 3: make a show of something, but I mean, we all

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Speaker 3: know he's not deporting. What did he say, twenty million people?

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Speaker 1: Twenty million people. It's problematic because there if you're going

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Speaker 1: to like technically look at this, it's a lot of

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Speaker 1: people and many of them are actually not even the

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Speaker 1: math is not math. But the good news about math

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Speaker 1: is that the government efficiency agency named DOGE, which is

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Speaker 1: run by the richest man in the world who got

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Speaker 1: rich off government subsidies. The irony here is pretty pretty

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Speaker 1: rich and another guy who is basically a miniatureum but

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Speaker 1: from Ohio. Those two are going to cut our shumongos.

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Speaker 3: Dad discuss yes, no, and they've already got brilliant plans underway.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: Ramaswami's idea was to cut everything that is not currently authorized,

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Speaker 3: you know, like the not renewed. So oh, sorry, veterans,

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Speaker 3: you've just lost your healthcare.

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Speaker 1: They're super psyched about that.

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Speaker 3: No, that's right, that's perfect. And then Elon must said, right,

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Speaker 3: we're going to cut two trillion dollars. But Trump is

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Speaker 3: already you know, off limits is social Security and Medicare. Defense,

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Speaker 3: I can't do anything about, you know, payments on the debt.

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Speaker 3: So you're down to about let pocket of what is it,

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Speaker 3: forty percent discretionary spending or maybe twenty percent, you know,

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Speaker 3: if we're not including non defense discretionary spending. So you're

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Speaker 3: going to cut two trillion out of that. But guess

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Speaker 3: what that is? About two trillion? So if you were

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Speaker 3: down to the point where you are going to stop

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Speaker 3: every single function that government does, you know, whether that's

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Speaker 3: food safety or TSA or the FBI or everything else

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Speaker 3: the government does. So we'll just say goodbye to that.

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Speaker 3: So that's another place where I'll be I'll be very

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Speaker 3: interested to see how they follow through on that.

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Speaker 1: I want you to go back and explain to our

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Speaker 1: listeners because you did it as a drive by, but

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Speaker 1: I think it's really important, this idea of not funding

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Speaker 1: programs that Congress hasn't approved. Those programs are not fungible.

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Speaker 3: Well, there's two categories. Well, you know, some are the

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Speaker 3: entitlement categories, you know, which which you can't touch at all,

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Speaker 3: but some are I guess in theory. Ones that you know,

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Speaker 3: you could touch. But a lot of government runs on autopilot,

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Speaker 3: so you know, they're not renewed when they're supposed to be,

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Speaker 3: but by general consent, they just keep getting funded anyway,

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Speaker 3: So you know, I mean, I guess Congress could intervene

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Speaker 3: on the other side to stop that from happening, but

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Speaker 3: they haven't done that either. So I don't know. We're

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Speaker 3: talking about half a trillion dollars here, but including as mentioned,

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Speaker 3: what is it. You know, it's one hundred something billion

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Speaker 3: for veterans healthcare, and it's not like because it's not

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Speaker 3: currently authorized or whatever the proper word is, that doesn't

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Speaker 3: mean that the Congress actually does not want to give

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Speaker 3: healthcare to.

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Speaker 1: Veterans, right, I mean, I feel like healthcare to veterans

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Speaker 1: probably not going to be a popular thing.

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Speaker 3: To cut, No, but it has always been the case that, yes,

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Speaker 3: if we're going to get the budget under control and

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Speaker 3: start making a dent in the debt, you have to

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Speaker 3: do something about the things that are driving that, and

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Speaker 3: that is primarily entitlement. So I mean, if you're not

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Speaker 3: going to touch Medicare and Social Security, whether that's with

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Speaker 3: you know, higher taxes for wealthier earners, or extending the

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Speaker 3: retirement aage. I mean, none of it's terribly popular, but

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Speaker 3: that's really the only way to fix the problem. And

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Speaker 3: or increasing revenues through taxes, well, that's off the table.

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Speaker 3: And then you know, then the huge chunk of the

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Speaker 3: budget that is a defense, Well, okay, if that's off

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00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 3: the table, you know, and we did get down to

435
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,400
Speaker 3: this happened in the last Congress. You know, they looked

436
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,879
Speaker 3: at the you know, all of the House Republican commitments

437
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,560
Speaker 3: on this, and that's where I got that bit about

438
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,440
Speaker 3: they literally have to eliminate everything the government does outside

439
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:56,880
Speaker 3: of entitlements and.

440
00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 1: Defense and paying off the debt.

441
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,159
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, that's not that's not an option. Well, I

442
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,679
Speaker 3: guess anything's an option. Now, we could go into we

443
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 3: could go into default on the dest.

444
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,160
Speaker 1: I mean that Trump has in his own personal life

445
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:13,440
Speaker 1: gone into default on debt. Not to get too dumroush here.

446
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,919
Speaker 3: And we had this fight during the last Congress, and

447
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 3: you did have a significant chunk of the you know,

448
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 3: the MAGA Republicans saying that, well, this debt limit, it's

449
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 3: not you know, we can we can blow through it.

450
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 3: It's not a real thing. We can prioritize debt and

451
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:33,400
Speaker 3: pay the debts we want to pay off. I mean,

452
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,640
Speaker 3: and who knows, it's never happened before. Maybe they could

453
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 3: get away with it. But also, you know, maybe that

454
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 3: destroys the dollar as the world's reserve currency and throw

455
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 3: it in the deepest depression we've ever seen. I don't know.

456
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:50,240
Speaker 1: Let's roll the dice, right, delights Russia, Good for Russia.

457
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: I mean, if anyone is winning here, it's Russia.

458
00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 3: Right, well, or China it could be it could be

459
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 3: close on that school, right, It's true, Right, they're doing well.

460
00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,440
Speaker 3: And of course Bobe's done exceptionally.

461
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, BB, it's it's been great for Babe.

462
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:08,959
Speaker 3: Oh heck, it's been good for urban. This has been

463
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:09,919
Speaker 3: good for a lot of people.

464
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:16,399
Speaker 1: Molly, right, exactly, Thank you for orbon BB, all of

465
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 1: arcs around the world. Space travel, can we just talk

466
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:22,840
Speaker 1: about I don't want people. I know there are people

467
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,679
Speaker 1: still listening to this podcast as I decompensate rapidly, But

468
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:32,440
Speaker 1: I do think it has been strangely these rich people,

469
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 1: while wanting to kill us all, are really into space travel.

470
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:39,480
Speaker 3: No, it's true, that's not That's not an area of

471
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 3: complaint that I have I'm sorry that all the money

472
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 3: is going to Elon Musk, but sure, I'd love to

473
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 3: see somebody on Mars. I mean, it is funny the

474
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,840
Speaker 3: way we're sort of bargaining with ourselves and that's not

475
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,119
Speaker 3: so bad, and then we're thinking like, well, actually there

476
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 3: are some intro maybe maybe we don't need fluoride in

477
00:25:55,680 --> 00:26:00,880
Speaker 3: the water. It's some of the things RFK says that crazy,

478
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,159
Speaker 3: you know, like, yeah, yeah, it's be good to limit

479
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 3: pharma and have healthier food. Right, We're all sort of

480
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 3: bargaining here to say, oh, it won't be that bad.

481
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,160
Speaker 1: Well, it's also like, this is the thing about authoritarianism, right,

482
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: because that's what this is. I mean, maybe the maybe

483
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,679
Speaker 1: some of the systems hold and we don't completely become

484
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:24,960
Speaker 1: Russia and we are able to keep this. But ultimately,

485
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 1: if you think about it, right, there are no choices here.

486
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:29,680
Speaker 3: There are no choices.

487
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 1: There are no choices. Right, this is happening.

488
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean we strap in and enjoy the ride.

489
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 3: I mean the only other option, as I was writing about,

490
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 3: is you know, just sort of retreating and ignoring it.

491
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 1: Yes, tell us what you're writing about this week in

492
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:44,440
Speaker 1: the Washington Post.

493
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,159
Speaker 3: Right before we came on. I was saying, I am

494
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,640
Speaker 3: spending this week writing about my adventures on this tractor

495
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 3: I just bought out on the farm. In the many

496
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 3: ways it is conspiring to kill me because I don't

497
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,320
Speaker 3: know what I'm doing with it. So yeah, I'd love

498
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 3: to be just spending my days not reading the news.

499
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:04,040
Speaker 3: I'm reading scandalously little now I'm watching zero in just

500
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 3: sort of wishing it away. But you know, I wrote

501
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 3: this to be saying, you know, we can't retreat. You

502
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 3: have to engage, you know. I mean, look, if you know,

503
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:14,200
Speaker 3: if they send us to the Gulag, I look forward

504
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:16,880
Speaker 3: to bunking with you or something. But until that happens,

505
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,800
Speaker 3: you know, we have to engage and do our best

506
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 3: in this. But you also need to pace yourself and

507
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 3: breathe a little bit, and you know, yeah, it is happening,

508
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 3: and we got to do what we can to fight

509
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 3: the worst excesses of it. But also know that, you know,

510
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 3: we also have our lives.

511
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 1: We've got to protect norms and institutions, and that's in

512
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:38,119
Speaker 1: my mind.

513
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 3: Got to protect those things. And you've got to protect

514
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,719
Speaker 3: the norms in your own life and not decompensate, as

515
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 3: you put.

516
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,680
Speaker 1: It, and that's why I think that you know, we

517
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 1: will continue to do this and until we get sent

518
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: away to the camps. But I do think people it's

519
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:58,040
Speaker 1: okay to take the next until January. He's not in

520
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:01,560
Speaker 1: office until January, so none of this is happening until January.

521
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 1: So we should all ride tractors, read Joan Didion, and we.

522
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,640
Speaker 3: Have sixty days to breathe and to.

523
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:13,040
Speaker 1: Breathe, and so we should enjoy those sixty days of

524
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 1: tractor writing and reading Joe Didion.

525
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,679
Speaker 3: That's it. That's the best we can come up with,

526
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:18,679
Speaker 3: and I'm taking it.

527
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,120
Speaker 1: Thank you, Dana Mobank.

528
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 3: Molly, It's always a delight.

529
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,960
Speaker 1: Julia Davis is the creator of Russian Media Monitor, a

530
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 1: columnist for The Daily Beast, and the author of, in

531
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: their own words, Welcome to Fast Politics Kennel, where dogs

532
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:39,719
Speaker 1: bark and we talk about politics.

533
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 4: Julia Davis, Hi, thank you so much for having me.

534
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,960
Speaker 1: So you and I know each other for a while,

535
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 1: and you do a thing that you do. You watch

536
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: Russian television.

537
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 4: Yes, and analyze it because it's remarkably informative as to

538
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 4: put In splints.

539
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:05,520
Speaker 1: And one might even say prescient. Often Putin's plans and

540
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: the newly re elected president of the United States. Plans

541
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 1: dovetail together. So here is the scariest sentence I will

542
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: say today, Hopefully, what does Putin have planned?

543
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 4: Well, actually, it's remarkably similar to what they have been

544
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 4: discussing for years. The only thing that is different is

545
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 4: that the Trump's reelection happened later than they have hoped.

546
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 4: But they have been talking about this for years, and

547
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 4: unfortunately it's shaping up exactly as what they have hoped.

548
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 4: They have always said that everything depends on Trump being

549
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 4: in power, because they know he will give them Ukraine

550
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 4: and then they can keep moving forward with the rest

551
00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 4: of their plans. But also another important part of that

552
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 4: is they believe that Trump is a destroyer of America,

553
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,440
Speaker 4: and in his second term he would be totally unhinged.

554
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 4: He would be unchained, there would be no guardrails, no

555
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 4: adults in the room, and he would get to destroying America,

556
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 4: which would then become a regional player that is totally

557
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 4: embroiled in its internal affairs, and it would also be

558
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 4: quiet authoritarian, so he wouldn't have to care how much

559
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,240
Speaker 4: of the population agrees with his chosen course of action,

560
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 4: So he would become very much like Putin in that

561
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 4: and America would start to resemble Russia, with a circle

562
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 4: of billionaires controlling poligarchy exactly controlling everything. And the rich

563
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 4: people that agree to fall in line would also be

564
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 4: fine and be able to enrich themselves. The rest of

565
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 4: the population would be too impoverished to have any ability

566
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 4: to fight back, and protests would be outlawed. And you know,

567
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 4: Trump already said he would use the military to stop

568
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 4: any protests. And unfortunately, based on everything we're seeing, based

569
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 4: on what Trump himself has been saying, and the team

570
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 4: that he has chosen, everything points to that dark future

571
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 4: looming on the horizon, and that is exactly what Russia wanted.

572
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:34,440
Speaker 4: They also predicted the West would blink first and not

573
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 4: go all the way to support Ukraine, go only as

574
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 4: far as it takes to keep the war going, but

575
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 4: not really to damage Russia severely. Unfortunately, these approvals to

576
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 4: use long range missiles are too late. Unfortunately, there's not

577
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 4: much time left. And what I'm hearing on Russian state

578
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 4: television right now is that Russia is un likely to

579
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 4: retaliate in any big way against the United States or

580
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,480
Speaker 4: the West because they know Trump will give them exactly

581
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 4: what they want, so it'll be worth it for them

582
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 4: to just hold out for that. And they just released

583
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 4: the Tass, which is one of their biggest newspapers. They

584
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 4: just released an article where an unnamed member of Trump's

585
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,440
Speaker 4: transition team told them that Trump would be willing to

586
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 4: lift all sanctions, resume normal relations with Russia, all trade,

587
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 4: all economic relations. Then the next day Putin says, well,

588
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 4: he's ready to negotiate. It all seems like it's falling

589
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 4: into place where Putin will be rewarded for his aggression

590
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 4: and will get to keep portions of Ukraine that they

591
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 4: managed to conquer, in addition to those that they declared

592
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 4: as theirs but never were able to and they expect

593
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 4: Trump will be fine was letting them keep that as well.

594
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 4: So it's really not looking good either for Ukraine or

595
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 4: for the United States.

596
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 1: Yes, and also this is propaganda, right, so explain to

597
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 1: us a little bit like you are watching Russian propaganda.

598
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 1: So Russia wants Americans to think this is a feed

599
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 1: to complete, but it's actually not right. So I want

600
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:29,760
Speaker 1: you to talk with that in mind. I want the

601
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 1: information from it, but not the gloom because I think

602
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 1: the idea that this has already happened is really the

603
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: most dangerous way we can think of this, because it

604
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 1: hasn't right. Donald Trump is not president yet a lot

605
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 1: of things. You know, America has been this anti democratic before.

606
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,520
Speaker 1: I talk to anyone who grew up in this Jim

607
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 1: Crow South version of color. You know, there's always been

608
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 1: a push pull here. And again, yes, I agree that

609
00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 1: this is not this is far from my deal, but

610
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 1: we have to I think, be thoughtful about not just totally.

611
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 1: Like Russia had never been a democracy, they had really

612
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:14,839
Speaker 1: weak institutions to push back. We have again not great

613
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,719
Speaker 1: checks and balances. Republicans are really willing to roll over,

614
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 1: but there still is a real history in this country

615
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:22,360
Speaker 1: if nothing else.

616
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and it is not a done deal. But I

617
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 4: think it's important for Americans to realize what the worst

618
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,800
Speaker 4: case scenario is so that if we see the country

619
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:36,919
Speaker 4: moving in that direction, we proactively do something. And I'm

620
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 4: observing so much resignation and despair and that's not the

621
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 4: time for that, because if we are resigned to it,

622
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 4: that's when it becomes possible for sure.

623
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 1: And so talk to me though about this sort of

624
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:54,920
Speaker 1: is Russia telegraphing glee at the Trump election. Explain to

625
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,719
Speaker 1: us sort of what you're seeing on Russian television.

626
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:02,880
Speaker 4: Yes, they're absolutely thrilled with his victory and with almost

627
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 4: all of his picks, especially Tulsey Gabbard.

628
00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm hoping you could talk about Tulsea Gabbert.

629
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 4: Sure, yes, And she has been spouting essentially the same

630
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,600
Speaker 4: talking points as they have been for years. They have

631
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,680
Speaker 4: been rebroadcasting her along with Stucker Carlson. She's about the

632
00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:27,440
Speaker 4: same magnitude of importance to them, and so they're absolutely

633
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:30,239
Speaker 4: thrilled that she will now be in charge of all

634
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 4: of these intelligence agencies, and they believe she will help

635
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:40,880
Speaker 4: dismantle or undermine them because for years they have openly

636
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:46,880
Speaker 4: discussed her and described her as their girlfriend, their friend,

637
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 4: their agent, and they are beyond thrilled that she is

638
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 4: getting this position of prominence. And it's really interesting even

639
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 4: back in twenty two. In twenty twenty three, she was talking,

640
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:09,279
Speaker 4: for example, about how they might cut our undersea cables

641
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:14,799
Speaker 4: or Western undersea cables, to quote unquote retaliate against US

642
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 4: for helping Ukraine. And look what is happening now.

643
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:20,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, can you talk to us about the Russian undersea

644
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:22,320
Speaker 1: cables and what that's about.

645
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:26,919
Speaker 4: Yes, they are cutting internet cables at least that's what

646
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:30,919
Speaker 4: is being said. That it's being attributed to their sabotage,

647
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 4: and they have talked about it for years now. As

648
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 4: a matter of fact, they initially attributed this idea to

649
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 4: Tucker Carlson who said in twenty twenty two that what

650
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 4: if they do this? And their response from government officials

651
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,880
Speaker 4: on their state TV was oh, what a great idea?

652
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 4: Why not? And then Talca Gebbert was throwing around the

653
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 4: same ideas as deterrent for the United States opposing Russian anyway.

654
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 4: So they're essentially helping them to put these threats into

655
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:10,279
Speaker 4: American mainstream to scare people off. So that way the

656
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:14,760
Speaker 4: average person would say, well, why would we risk this happening?

657
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,280
Speaker 4: Why not just appease Russia and mind our own business?

658
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:20,000
Speaker 4: And that's exactly what they want.

659
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 1: Right now talk to us about the missiles because Biden

660
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,040
Speaker 1: it's very late to do this, but Biden did in

661
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,800
Speaker 1: fact give Ukraine land minds at missiles. Will that shift

662
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:31,319
Speaker 1: the calculus or is it too light?

663
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 4: I hope that it will, because Russia is really in

664
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:38,320
Speaker 4: a bad state economically. They don't have enough people, which

665
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 4: is why they're involving North Koreans, and they've been talking

666
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,200
Speaker 4: about that for a while now. They not only do

667
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,680
Speaker 4: they not have enough cannon fodder at this point, but

668
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:52,520
Speaker 4: also they don't have enough laborers to even keep making

669
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,360
Speaker 4: their munitions and their weapons. They are running out of people, period,

670
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 4: and so that's why they are an act of desperation

671
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 4: turning to North Korea, which is quite humiliating for Russia.

672
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:11,359
Speaker 4: They really are teetering, and that's what is so disheartening

673
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 4: is that Trump is coming here to potentially throw them

674
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 4: a lifeline where they are not in a good position.

675
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 4: They're not in a strong position right now, and I

676
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:26,120
Speaker 4: hope Ukraine will keep hammering them and taking out their

677
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:30,879
Speaker 4: weapons depots and the troops and whatever else they can

678
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,359
Speaker 4: because it does make a difference, and they still have

679
00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:39,600
Speaker 4: time to cause considerable damage and retaliation for Russia's invasions.

680
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 4: So I was certainly happy to see that this decision

681
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:44,720
Speaker 4: was finally made.

682
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:50,719
Speaker 1: Do you think that Ukraine can theoretically win this in

683
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,960
Speaker 1: such a short I mean it's still three months or

684
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 1: two and a half months.

685
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 4: Well, you know, the best case scenario in terms of winning,

686
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:04,160
Speaker 4: it doesn't necessarily mean a Ukrainian troops storming the Kremlin.

687
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:08,080
Speaker 4: What it simply means is that Russia would withdraw from

688
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,640
Speaker 4: Ukraine the way the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan. And

689
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:14,600
Speaker 4: they could call it a victory or whatever they decide

690
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,520
Speaker 4: to call it, but that would be a victory. If

691
00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 4: they were depleted of their resources and of their human

692
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:23,920
Speaker 4: resources to the point where they had no choice but

693
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:28,160
Speaker 4: to withdraw, that would be a victory. And it is possible.

694
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,879
Speaker 1: Because Russia really is very depleted. Explain to us sort

695
00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,719
Speaker 1: of what that looks like, because I know they've sent many, many,

696
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: many young men to the front and many have died, right.

697
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,720
Speaker 4: Yes, And they have been initially promising that they would

698
00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:48,000
Speaker 4: only send the trained soldiers in the battle, but they

699
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:52,000
Speaker 4: ended up sending just anyone they could get their hands on.

700
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,239
Speaker 4: And the only reason they're not declaring a real mobilization

701
00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 4: because even their shaky demographic have been apparently falsified, so

702
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,839
Speaker 4: they don't even have as many people as they were

703
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:10,000
Speaker 4: said to have, which is already not enough for Russia's size,

704
00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 4: So they are really in a state where it's not

705
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:20,160
Speaker 4: feasible for them to keep this going without outside the support,

706
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:23,640
Speaker 4: and they're already talking about North Korea sending more soldiers,

707
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:27,480
Speaker 4: and that's literally because they need that to keep going.

708
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 4: They can't keep doing it on their own. And it's

709
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:35,719
Speaker 4: a good thing that Ukraine's strikes with these missiles are

710
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 4: specifically targeting the places where they have the North Korean troops,

711
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:45,399
Speaker 4: so hopefully deter North Korea from sending even more when

712
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 4: they see that it's to their certain death.

713
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, great, So explain to us a little bit about

714
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 1: sort of the other picks. So they like Tolci Gabber

715
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:01,960
Speaker 1: for any number of reasons, I'm not saying it, but

716
00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:06,840
Speaker 1: members of Congress have said it that she is Russian asset.

717
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,360
Speaker 1: I mean, like, I've seen at least four different Democratic

718
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:14,520
Speaker 1: members of Congress say that on television. So clearly there

719
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:19,839
Speaker 1: is a there is a group that believes that who

720
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,280
Speaker 1: else are they excited about in the cabinet?

721
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 4: Certainly Musk. They're thrilled about him, and they are repeating

722
00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:34,200
Speaker 4: and rebroadcasting almost every statement that he makes that relates

723
00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:40,480
Speaker 4: to Ukraine or Russia and demeaning Ukraine and talking about

724
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 4: how Russia is in nuclear power and we should make

725
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,680
Speaker 4: a deal with them. And yes, they certainly thrilled about

726
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:53,280
Speaker 4: Musk and the other picks. They're thrilled because they are

727
00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:58,480
Speaker 4: inexperienced and not fit for their positions. So that's the

728
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 4: part of Trump destroying America. And they say that that

729
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 4: basically almost everyone on his team is inexperienced and unprepared

730
00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 4: for what they were chosen to handle. So they like

731
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:16,600
Speaker 4: that a lot. The only reservations they had were about

732
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:21,799
Speaker 4: Waltz and Rubio. But after Waltz criticized the decision for

733
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:26,919
Speaker 4: Ukraine to be able to use American missiles for these strikes, yes,

734
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,840
Speaker 4: they said, okay, so they too will fall in line.

735
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 1: So they're watching pretty close. Huh, very close.

736
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 4: I could see something on our television here and then

737
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,399
Speaker 4: I turn on there and they're already talking about it.

738
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:44,399
Speaker 4: We are like their pet cause they're obsessed with us.

739
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:49,040
Speaker 4: They don't have any politics in Russia, it's whatever Putin says,

740
00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:52,040
Speaker 4: so there's nothing to discuss about their own affairs, and

741
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,480
Speaker 4: their future depends on what happens in America. So they

742
00:42:55,520 --> 00:43:00,759
Speaker 4: are obsessively watching and calculating their next steps.

743
00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:03,040
Speaker 1: So what do they think of tackle Carholson.

744
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:08,200
Speaker 4: They thought that Trump would make him his press secretary

745
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:13,520
Speaker 4: and they were completely thrilled about his visit to interview Putin.

746
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:19,560
Speaker 4: They believe that he delivered some message, some messages between

747
00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:22,640
Speaker 4: Trump and Putin at that time, that he was delivering

748
00:43:22,719 --> 00:43:26,200
Speaker 4: some sort of back and forth messages at that time.

749
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:29,560
Speaker 4: So they totally So they say yes, they say that

750
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,960
Speaker 4: I haven't seen any obviously, any anything concrete, but they

751
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:37,520
Speaker 4: believe that there was some exchange of messages that may

752
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:43,400
Speaker 4: have taken place. And then that interview looked like it

753
00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:48,000
Speaker 4: was produced by North Korean producers the way it was

754
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:53,920
Speaker 4: gushing over everything and didn't ask Putin almost any important questions.

755
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:57,839
Speaker 1: But one of the things about Russian propaganda, which is

756
00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:01,279
Speaker 1: what you have to watch, is that it wants you.

757
00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,799
Speaker 1: I mean again, I'm not defending chuckle crosson by any

758
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:06,719
Speaker 1: certain imagination, but it wants you to think things that

759
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:09,759
Speaker 1: may or may not be true, right like the Steele dossier,

760
00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:14,280
Speaker 1: Like it's better for them. They would like the American

761
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:18,759
Speaker 1: media to run with every story in order to discredit them.

762
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:23,760
Speaker 4: Well, yes, they actually intermixed some truth with some fiction

763
00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:27,440
Speaker 4: and try to pass it off as a story that

764
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:33,719
Speaker 4: the paints Russia as an omnipotent country that gets to

765
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:37,880
Speaker 4: pull the strings here and there, so waiting through that

766
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 4: is those are murky waters, definitely.

767
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:44,560
Speaker 1: Yeah. And in fact, like what I think is so

768
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:48,160
Speaker 1: interesting about like if you look at a lot of

769
00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:51,959
Speaker 1: the stuff that came out about Trump and Russia, some

770
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,759
Speaker 1: of the bits of the Steele dossier really did undermine

771
00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:59,360
Speaker 1: anything else that it called into credibility other things that

772
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:00,800
Speaker 1: seemed more credible.

773
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:05,400
Speaker 4: Right, It was muddy. The waters were muddy because it

774
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,600
Speaker 4: was you know, it had had some things that were

775
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,279
Speaker 4: based in reality and others that were not, and it

776
00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:15,840
Speaker 4: sort of discredited the whole thing. And it's certainly something

777
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:20,439
Speaker 4: that Trump and his followers have capitalized on, just trying

778
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:25,120
Speaker 4: to discredit the whole idea that there is something under

779
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:25,720
Speaker 4: the surface.

780
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:29,239
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you see that as a way that the

781
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 1: admin the coming admin will try to get the media

782
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:35,960
Speaker 1: in trouble, to flood the zone with things that may

783
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,359
Speaker 1: be true, may not be true in order. I mean

784
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:40,600
Speaker 1: we saw that a little bit with the first Trump admin,

785
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:44,120
Speaker 1: where they'd be leaking stuff to some people that might

786
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,839
Speaker 1: not be true or might be set up to embarrass them.

787
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,640
Speaker 4: Yes, I think that our media is in for some

788
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:56,080
Speaker 4: rocky times, and unfortunately some are starting to obey and

789
00:45:56,200 --> 00:46:01,160
Speaker 4: advance and are I'm sure are afraid of retribution, and

790
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,600
Speaker 4: others will you know, they have to be emboldened by,

791
00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:09,440
Speaker 4: you know, the flood of lies that got this election

792
00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:11,919
Speaker 4: where we have it today, and I'm sure we'll only

793
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 4: get worse.

794
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,040
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, Julia.

795
00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:21,600
Speaker 4: Davis, Thank you so much, Molly always my pleasure, no.

796
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:25,959
Speaker 1: More, Jesse Cannon, my John Fasts.

797
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:27,360
Speaker 5: And one of the things we've been talking about a

798
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:31,120
Speaker 5: lot lately is the concept of obeying, an advanced concept

799
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:35,839
Speaker 5: that Timothy Snyder popular arized and we as Democrats are

800
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,840
Speaker 5: trying to not kowtow to trumpet advanced.

801
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 2: But man, they're winding up down in Texas. Is in

802
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:43,680
Speaker 2: the Republican Party to do it? What are you see

803
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:44,000
Speaker 2: in here?

804
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:47,960
Speaker 1: So this is a little more complicated than that. I

805
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 1: think where we are here is just deep deep Craven

806
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:56,040
Speaker 1: sucking up to Trump in the hopes of getting something

807
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:59,880
Speaker 1: from him. Now the Texas Land Commissioner, that's an elected

808
00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:04,000
Speaker 1: job in Texas. Remember, Texas is in a race to

809
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:08,120
Speaker 1: impress Donald Trump and get you know, whatever good is

810
00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:11,160
Speaker 1: Donald Trump can bestow on them. And remember this is

811
00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:14,959
Speaker 1: all oligarchy, right, This is a sort of oligarchy kind

812
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:19,359
Speaker 1: of situation, So Texas Land Commissioner Don Buckingham, showing that

813
00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:21,800
Speaker 1: the ladies can be just as crazy as the men

814
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 1: use of the one four hundred and two acre ranch

815
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:29,080
Speaker 1: in Star County on the US Mexico border for the

816
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:33,320
Speaker 1: construction of deportation facilities. Buckingham, a Republican, made the offer

817
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:35,600
Speaker 1: in a letter sent to Trump on Tuesday, in which

818
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:38,960
Speaker 1: she pledged to support what she has described as the

819
00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 1: largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation's history. Guess

820
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 1: what's also going to be in their families? People who

821
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:51,920
Speaker 1: are here legally and perhaps a journalist or too. Trump

822
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:55,000
Speaker 1: made cracking down on a legal immigration a key component

823
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:58,400
Speaker 1: is a successful twenty twenty four presidential campaigns began to

824
00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:01,839
Speaker 1: rally in October, the then Publican candidate said he won.

825
00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:05,320
Speaker 1: The border will be sealed, the invasion will be stopped,

826
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:10,360
Speaker 1: the migrant flights will end. On Monday, Trump indicated that

827
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:13,440
Speaker 1: he plans to declare a national emergency and deploy the

828
00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:17,160
Speaker 1: military to assist with deportation. In a post on his

829
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:21,480
Speaker 1: Truth social website, It's going to get real dark, real fast.

830
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:23,840
Speaker 1: And also I would like to point out that Trump,

831
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:28,480
Speaker 1: in his first admin twenty sixteen, deported like about a

832
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 1: million people less than Obama did, and heard his first administration.

833
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in

834
00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:44,600
Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday to hear the best

835
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:49,000
Speaker 1: minds and politics make sense of all this chaos. If

836
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:52,080
Speaker 1: you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend

837
00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:55,720
Speaker 1: and keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening.