WEBVTT - Dana Milbank & Julia Davis 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.160 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:11.959 today's best minds, and Trump accidentally helped Democrats get some 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:16.840 key judicial nominees approved by taking Republicans to watch this 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:22.119 SpaceX launch. Thank God. How presidential, very modern day presidential. 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.959 We have a great show for you today. The Washington 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:27.760 Post Dana Milbank stops by to talk to us about 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:32.720 Donald Trump's nominations and what they're signaling for our dismal 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:38.080 political future. Then we'll talk to Russian media monitor Julia 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:44.120 Davis about how Russia is delighting in Trump's recent moves. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:45.479 But first the news. 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.920 Somali a lot of fun news today, as I'm sure 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.720 you'll be very shocked, mister Trump is only nominating the 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:57.480 best people. And we have wrestling magnate Linda McMahon as 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.600 Secretary of Education. You might be wondering what she has 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.160 to do with education, as I was until I read 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:03.720 this article. 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:09.040 Linda McMahon I actually know from my misspent youth, because 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.960 she did try once to run for Senate in Connecticut. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.959 It was universally hilarious until she dropped out. But I 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.280 want to point out Linda McMahon. Trump wants to close 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.360 the Department of Education. So Linda wanted to be Commerce Secretary. 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:29.480 She was the co chair of Trump's transition team. She 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.280 gave him a ton of money, and she thought she 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.800 was going to be Commerce Secretary. Now what happened was 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:40.760 this guy called Howard Lutnek, who also was co leading 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.520 the transition team with her, ended up getting Commerce Secretary. 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:48.080 And that meant that Linda had nothing to get. And 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.440 since Donald Trump feels he's going to close this Department 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.280 of Education anyway, he figured he'd just put her there. Now, 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.840 what I want to realize is like in the last 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.880 Trump admin, Trump actually put someone in there who was 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.320 not without her problems, but who was actually interested in education, 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.000 quite a pedigree. Right had done some education stuff, was 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.320 from a family they were Some of their education ideas 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.040 might have been a little screwy, but she actually did 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.080 work in education. This time, there's no pretense. We're just 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.600 got a donor needs a job. Let's figure it out. 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.960 And so she is now going to be heading the 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:30.080 Department of Education. This is a little ironic because in 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.919 two thousand and nine, when she ran for Senate in Connecticut, 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.440 she had stated that she had a bachelor's degree in education. 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.920 I don't know how you would get that, But in fact, 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.440 she had earned a degree in French and a teaching 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:49.160 certificate from East Carolina University, and that is not the 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.360 same thing. And during her brief tenure on the Connecticut 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.400 State Board of Education the error was made public. It 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.880 became an issue during her twenty ten campaign for US Senate. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.720 She decided to step down from that board because of 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.880 legislative limits on her political fundraising that could hurt her 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.200 campaign goals. The point here is that she lied about 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:14.080 her education and then tried to run for her senate. 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.320 Then now she is leading the Department of Education, which 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:24.800 is so very perfectly trumpy. I am not even a 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:26.880 little surprised. Are you surprised, Jesse? 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:27.880 I sure not. 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:28.280 Now. 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:30.359 I was a little shocked this morning where I saw 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.959 some news as I also learned I shocked some listeners 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.200 on Monday because I got a text in the morning 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:37.560 about our episode that said, why the fuck did you 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.360 randomly say hot tub crime machine in the middle of 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.200 the Rick Wilson segment. I said, that is a callback 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.720 to what you me and Rick used to do. The 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:47.760 New Abnormal as we would call Matthew. 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.000 Whittaker hot tub crime machine. 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:50.880 That's right. 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.920 He has other nicknames. There's a nickname he gets called 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.800 a lot, but hot tub crime machine is because Matthew 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:01.400 Whittaker has been involved in all sorts of gadgy small businesses, 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:07.120 including toilets for well and down men, hot tubs. He 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.520 was involved in some kind of time machine situation, right 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.360 am I remembering season one of this fiasco correctly. 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:18.559 The point what we could say is when you read 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.720 his dossier of weird fuckery, you literally feel like you 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.240 may have been slipped at acid tap. 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:26.760 So, needless to say, he has a job in this 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.599 advent because Trump only knows a few people. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.000 But only the best people, right. 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.240 A lot of these cabinet picks are people you've seen 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:36.000 on television. 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.960 He has a qualification that Trump likes. Big goomba energy 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:40.159 is what I like to call it. 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.560 I can't say that because I'm Jewish and that seems 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:43.559 like a slur. 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:45.680 I come from the part of New Jersey where that's 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:46.080 just coming. 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.760 You can say it because you're Italian? Are you Italian? 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.560 No, that's not true. 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:58.960 I can say that's not true. You can say. 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:58.920 Sopranos was filmed. 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.599 You can say it just he's getting canceled. So anyway, 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.000 he adds actually served three months as the nation's top 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.880 law enforcement official after Jefferson Beauregard session step down for 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.840 allowing Trump to be investigation. Did you remember Jefferson Beauregard 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:19.839 Sessions the craziest attorney general we ever thought Trump could 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:23.960 appoint before Matt Gates. Whittaker does not bring any so 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:25.640 he's going to be I just want to point out 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.600 he's going to be the ambassador to the North American 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:33.080 Treaty Organization NATO, something that Trump has liked. The Department 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.520 of Education mused about shutting down so you could tell 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.280 how important this job is to Trump. Mister Whitterker does 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.560 not bring any foreign policy experience to a job that 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.680 may serve as the focal point for mister Trump's complaints 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:46.960 about how much the United States pay is to help 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.440 NATO keep Europe secure. And this is like a gift 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.000 to Vladimir Putin, right, Like, let's put one of our 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.720 guys in there who doesn't know anything and isn't super 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.640 interested in it. He is known for his personal loyalty 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.200 and willing to defend mister Trump during his first administration. 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.479 He is likely to bring a similar approach to his 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.560 ambassadorship doing something he knows nothing about. 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:10.320 I just want the record to show that I have 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.960 looked up at Goomba's a sawyer and it actually means friend. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.880 All right, Yes, I'll let you. Just just let the 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:21.719 record show only cancel Jesse for this, Okay. Mister Trump 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.839 has repeatedly voiced skepticism about the alliance. He has long 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.839 threwn to a draw from it, and now hot tub 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:30.440 crime machine will run it. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.719 Okay, on to a last bit of a fucker in 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.120 the section. House speaker Mike Johnson has waited on the 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.320 use of bathrooms in the Capitol Complex. What are you 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:40.880 seeing here? 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.480 So Nancy Mays, in her long quest to become Marjorie 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:49.680 Taylor Green has his bathroom bell, Mike Johnson. Now it's 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.279 a bathroom bell targeted at the new member from Delaware. 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:55.840 She wants to make it so she can't use the 0:06:55.880 --> 0:07:01.440 bathroom because because Sarah McBride is traned. Now, Mike Johnson 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:04.600 has a problem here, right, which is he is leading 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.600 a group that is you know, really delights in hurting 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:13.880 trans people. But he is at least theoretically a very 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:18.800 serious religious person. So he does not know how he 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.720 should he be horrible to the trans woman because that's 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:26.640 what the base likes, or should he try to operate 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.960 a little bit in his principles. So he's gone back 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.040 and forth. So first he said that he wants to 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.840 make everyone comfortable, and later he said he had to 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.960 go back and be a little meaner because that's what 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.600 the base wants. So he said, all single sex facilities 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.600 in the Capitol and office building are reserved only for 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.960 individuals of that biological sex. And he then went on 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.240 and on. He even said, you know, women can only 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:58.200 be women, men can only be men. It was more 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.120 of that, and he also said, like all it's enforceable. 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.160 We have single sets facilities where reason women's deserve women's 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:08.040 only spaces. We're not anti anyone, we're pro woman. Again, 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:11.160 that's not really true. They're really not. By the way, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.240 if there's one thing they're not, it's pro women. I 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.720 think it's important policy for us to continue. It always 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.560 has been, I guess, an unwritten policy, and now it's 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:22.680 in writing. He added again, Yeah, it's hard to be 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:27.600 both very religious and believe that you're there to take 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:32.080 care of others and also be run by a troll. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.560 But here we are Speaker Mike Johnson again trying to 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:39.560 thread the needle between religion and cruelty. 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.319 SAMAI I said that that was one last piece of fuckery, 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.240 but but it's not. I did realize there's something we 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:47.840 have to address here, which is that right now we 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.079 are in these big, big standoff. There's a bunch of 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.719 journalists right outside the ass Ethics can be while they're 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:57.240 weighing whether to release this report on nominated ag Matt cats. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.040 One of the things that we were reminded of is 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.240 at our time with The Daily Beast, there was a 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.920 very big scoop about all the Venmo payments he made 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:07.760 to these possibly underage women, and there's some more details 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:09.400 about that here. What are you seeing here? 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:16.360 Oh, Venmo gate? So it's Gatesgate. So remember Gates resigned 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:21.360 last week to avoid this Ethics Committee report from being published. 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:23.560 The Ethics Committee. I just want to point this out. 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.800 The House Ethics Committee is known to be particularly toothless. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:31.079 So this whole thing becoming such a big deal shows 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.320 just what a big problem Matt Gates has. Now we 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.319 have these Venmo payments. Okay, the House Ethics I mean, 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:40.880 I think this is the drip to a drip of 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.520 the House Ethics stuff coming out. But remember the lawyer 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.840 is speaking to the press. Some of the witnesses are 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.199 speaking the press. The House Ethics Committee obtained records, including 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:55.040 a check and the records of VENMO payments. Remember, Matt 0:09:55.080 --> 0:10:00.640 Gates's VENMO had been accidentally not private. He had accidentally 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.320 people could have could see it paid more than ten 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.240 thousand dollars to two women who were later witnesses in 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.559 sexual misconduct probes conducted by the House and the Justice Department. 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.800 According to documents obtained by ABC News, the VENMO records 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:20.040 showed that between July twenty seventeen and January twenty nineteen, Gates, 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.240 who was first elected in twenty sixteen, allegedly made twenty 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:29.360 seven VEMO payments totaling ten thousand, two hundred and twenty 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.800 four dollars and two cents to the two witnesses who 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.080 were over the age of eighteen at the time. Good 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.240 for them for being over eighteen. They are the very 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.320 few people in the story who are over eighteen. The payments, 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.840 which sources said were displayed during closed door testimony ranged 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.760 from one hundred to more than seven hundred dollars each. 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.840 Probably not what you want in an attorney's general, but 0:10:53.120 --> 0:11:00.640 we shall have to watch this play out. The Milbank 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.080 is a columnist at The Washington Post and the author 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:07.520 of Pools on the Hill, The Hooligans, Saboteurs, conspiracy theorists, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:12.640 and dunces who burned down the House. Welcome back, my 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:18.800 friend here to keep me from completely falling apart? Data 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:19.360 mail Bank. 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.560 Well, Molly, if I'm the one who's will keep you 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.560 from falling apart, you're in big trouble because I'm I'm 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.440 just picking up the pieces over here. 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:29.559 Yes, you emailed me like what are we going to 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.720 talk about? And I was like, I saw the email 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:37.640 and I was seized with panic. And then I was like, 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:43.920 we are just so incredibly down the fucking rabbit hole. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.480 So I wanted to Can we talk a little bit 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:51.560 about the uh, the geniuses who are running and now 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:55.240 we will again run the United States Congress? Please? 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.679 Yes, indeed, I'd love to talk about. 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.000 That, because you have a book about that. 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.480 I do a book about that, which you were kind 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.439 enough to mention on this this very podcast. And they 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.479 did such a fabulous job time that they've been returned 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:14.560 with it even it looks like maybe even a smaller majority. Yes, certainly, 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.560 no better than the last time. So if you thought 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.040 the last one was a disaster, wait till this one. 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.360 Get ready. I want to talk about the United States 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:25.800 Congress and the House of Representatives because they were so 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.280 bad in this last two year period. They won the 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:34.640 majority quote unquote by you know whatever two or three seats. 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:40.520 Then they fired their speaker because Matt Gates got into 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.480 a fight with him, and then they were almost unable 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:50.760 to pass anything even like postal office namings. This time discuss. 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.640 Well, this time we don't have Matt Gates to kick 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.680 around because he made me the Attorney General of the 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:56.679 United States. 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.199 Again, we laugh to keep from crying. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.680 Continue, I guess so and then, and what are we 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.480 going to do? Well, Nancy Mace is already moving to 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.880 ban the first ever trans member of Congress from going 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.440 to the bathroom. So you know that that is exactly 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:16.040 what the voters were asking this Congress to do. They said, 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.880 we're suffering from inflation in the border, but yep, don't 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:20.960 let any trans person in Congress, p. 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.000 Ever use a bathroom. Yeah. One of the things with 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.920 Nancy Mace is she's such a great example of what 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.680 MAGA does when Maga gets the chance. Like, here's someone 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.560 who was in a much more mixed district, right, and 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.880 then she got redistricted, and so she decided she no 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.760 longer believed in any of the more normal values that 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:44.360 she had. 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:49.280 Yeah, I mean that's pretty similar to the Aleast Stephanic route. 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.760 Also now going to be a member of the Trump administration. 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.240 But least Ivonna got one of those jobs that women 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.520 get in the Trump administration. You know, you can have 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.280 that because he really wants to end the un anyway. 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.040 Right, And that's exactly And Linda McMahon's the other great 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.040 example of that. You know, who knows you know, because 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.800 you know, professional wrestling definitely teaches you how to run 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.240 the education system in the United States. But of course 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:18.520 Trump wants to abolish that. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.320 Sue anyway, right. I mean that's the thing is, like 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.080 you are allowed to lead a department that Trump has 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:26.760 already said he wants. 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:29.400 Gone, right, so you're you're in charge of turning out 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:30.680 the lights I guess. 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.120 Right, I mean, does that mean he keeps it going 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.440 now because he wants Linda to have something to do 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.040 because she did run transition. 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.440 Well, he keeps it going because he won't have the 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.920 votes to shut it down, you know, And I wonder, 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.880 Molly about all of these things about I feel like, 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:51.560 you know, reading the personnel announcement, it's like onion headlines. 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:53.800 I mean, it's just, you know, it's too insane to 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.000 be believed with hag Seth and Gates and all the others. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.160 But I wonder how much of this is to just 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.800 give the app hearans that he's going to go mad 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.640 and shake everything up and then but we don't know 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.440 what he's actually going to do. I mean, you got 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.000 to assume it's at least a possibility. He starts a 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:14.520 trade war, he surrenders Ukraine, China goes after Taiwan. You know, 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.600 we're off to the races here. But you know, last 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.600 time he didn't do as many crazy things as it 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:22.280 seemed he might. Now, I don't want to say he's 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.680 going to be normal. I'm not doing the whole He's 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.520 going to be moderate things that ship has already sailed, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.240 But the actual level of disruption is tbd. 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.160 Let's say, well, one of the things that really worked 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.040 for his favor when he ran for office was he 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.520 was able to say, well, you know, I said all 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.440 this stuff, but I didn't do it because Democrats prevented 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.600 him from doing a lot of it. That is not 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.320 the makeup anymore. Right, you know, he controls the House, 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:54.080 not by a huge majority. He has there's a you know, 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:58.280 Mitch McConnell is not in charge anymore. He really wanted 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.080 to get what's his name, the guy that looks like 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.520 the president from Mars attacks in there. He was unable 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.400 the floor Rick Scott, Yes, Scott, Yes, Rick Scott. You 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:10.840 know he has Thune who is not quite as much 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.120 of a lackey. Though. We'll see what happens. Hard to 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.960 imagine that anyone fails his plans. But again, that was 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:19.600 the thing when he was running for office, you know, 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.760 and voters would say, well, we don't believe he's actually 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:23.480 going to do any of that stuff, right, you. 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.680 Know, I'm of two minds on this one. Is you know, 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.120 because they have the trifecta of power that they can 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.400 do all of these truly alarming things that you know, 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.800 like the House Republicans did try to do last time, 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:37.320 and say, well, you know, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.320 are bottling it up, whether that's going to be restoring 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:45.480 the Confederate names or banning the abortion pillar, whatever else. 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.120 So there's no excuse now. So I mean, I'm worried 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.200 and alarmed about the potential damage they can do now, 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.240 but there is part of me that says, have at it, guys, 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.120 now you've got no excuse. Let's see what your actual 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.560 agenda is. Because there is nobody to them other than themselves, 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.760 and I think people will probably quickly see that they 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.760 can't actually govern in this Congress. You know, like this 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.320 this House is not going to line up and walk 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:12.760 the plank on a vote after vote, but they're not 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:14.720 going to be able to blame the Democrats this time. 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.600 I mean, if you harken back to last season of 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:23.080 Congress doesn't do anything. We saw the House really deadlocked 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:27.040 and basically they needed Democrats to pass anything they could pass. 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.000 That's absolutely right. But then they could turn around and say, well, 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.479 you know it's the Senate that's democratic control, or you know, 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:37.000 you know Biden will veto something. But those excuses are 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.920 all gone now. So it's just like, if they can't 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.879 do something, it's the Republicans, who can't do something, And 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:44.320 of course they're not going to be able to do 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.800 a lot of the crazier things, unless, of course, that 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.520 they succeed in getting them to walk the plank, and 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.000 then this little fun experiment ends very badly. 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:58.400 Yes, I mean, one of the things that I think 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.480 a lot about is camps. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:00.840 Right. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.200 Donald Trump wants camps, and Steven Miller wants to give 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:09.360 him camps. Right, wants to deport seven trillion immigrants and 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:16.320 ten zillion billion children and families and YadA, YadA, YadA. 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.240 One of the things when you think about this idea, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:21.359 you have to think about, like, where are you going 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.919 to build the camps, who's going to staff the camps? 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.600 How's this going to work? And the big problem with 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:31.760 deporting millions and millions of people, besides the ethical considerations 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.960 of deporting people who are here legally okay, and the 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.040 fact that you're going to have a lot of trouble 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.439 getting a country to go along with us, is that 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.400 you don't have the money to pay for it, right, 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:48.600 Like Congress wouldn't give them money for border security, So 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.359 how are they going to get money to deport millions 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.479 and trillions and zillions of people? 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:56.240 Right. Well, and this was the point with border security 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.400 during the Biden administration when they looked at the whole 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.040 list of things that Trump said, you're not continuing my 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.639 tough on the border policies. Well, that's because many of 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.080 them were unfunded in the first place, and they had 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.440 no choice, or the courts had blocked them and they 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.199 had no choice. So yeah, so the border policy is 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.160 about to run smack dab into reality. I mean, it's 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.879 it's so hard to imagine the camps being built federal land. 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:24.200 Are they on state land? Right? Yeah? 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:25.200 National parks? 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.800 Who is going to staff them? The National Guard? I mean, 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.480 like you really are down a rabbit hole here. 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.160 Right and there of course there's no actual plan. There's 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.160 probably not even in the concept of a plan here, 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:38.480 and you. 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.600 Know, we love a concept of a plan. 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.080 We're going to solve the housing crisis by kicking out 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.040 illegal immigrants as if they're the source of the housing crisis, 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.639 when in fact they're disproportionately the ones building the house 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:53.919 that we need, you know, in the same thing with 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.919 agriculture workers and everything else. And then how do you 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.480 get the states to cooperate with all of these things? 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.680 So it all sounded good, But this is one of 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.720 those areas where I suspect this, you know, the outrageous 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.800 rhetoric is going to run into reality. And yeah, he'll 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.200 make a show of something, but I mean, we all 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.160 know he's not deporting. What did he say, twenty million people? 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:19.440 Twenty million people. It's problematic because there if you're going 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.359 to like technically look at this, it's a lot of 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.919 people and many of them are actually not even the 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.480 math is not math. But the good news about math 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:33.040 is that the government efficiency agency named DOGE, which is 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.200 run by the richest man in the world who got 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.679 rich off government subsidies. The irony here is pretty pretty 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:44.240 rich and another guy who is basically a miniatureum but 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:49.080 from Ohio. Those two are going to cut our shumongos. 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:53.160 Dad discuss yes, no, and they've already got brilliant plans underway. 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:53.359 You know. 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:59.200 Ramaswami's idea was to cut everything that is not currently authorized, 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.480 you know, like the not renewed. So oh, sorry, veterans, 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:03.840 you've just lost your healthcare. 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:05.720 They're super psyched about that. 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.080 No, that's right, that's perfect. And then Elon must said, right, 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:11.720 we're going to cut two trillion dollars. But Trump is 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:16.119 already you know, off limits is social Security and Medicare. Defense, 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.480 I can't do anything about, you know, payments on the debt. 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.080 So you're down to about let pocket of what is it, 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.800 forty percent discretionary spending or maybe twenty percent, you know, 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:29.880 if we're not including non defense discretionary spending. So you're 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:31.640 going to cut two trillion out of that. But guess 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.239 what that is? About two trillion? So if you were 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:36.439 down to the point where you are going to stop 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.600 every single function that government does, you know, whether that's 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:45.560 food safety or TSA or the FBI or everything else 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:47.840 the government does. So we'll just say goodbye to that. 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.120 So that's another place where I'll be I'll be very 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:52.679 interested to see how they follow through on that. 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:54.840