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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 Utah State reps said Nazi flags

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Speaker 1: can fly in Utah schools, but not Pride flags. We

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Speaker 1: have such a great show for you today, talking Feds.

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Speaker 1: Harry Littman stops by to talk about all the criming.

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Speaker 1: Then we'll talk to Congressman Eric Swawell about protecting citizens

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Speaker 1: from DOGE and doge's many unlawful aggressions on your data.

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Speaker 1: But first the news.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's very few bipartisan things in this country,

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Speaker 2: but you know what, I think we all agree on

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Speaker 2: the people over seeing nuclear weapons should have jobs and

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Speaker 2: do them and show up to work each and every day.

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Speaker 1: I mean, many people are saying, look, Elon Musk is

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Speaker 1: taking a sledgehammer to the federal government. He has no

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Speaker 1: government job. He's one of Trump's rich donors. He has

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Speaker 1: about as much business cutting the federal government as Marion

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Speaker 1: Adelson does. I mean, you might as well just invite

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Speaker 1: her in there, right, because this is just very rich

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Speaker 1: donors going to town on the federal government. No congressional approval,

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Speaker 1: no congressional appointment, this is just we are in fantasy

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Speaker 1: land here. Trump's administration has laid off between twelve hundred

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Speaker 1: and two thousand employees at the Department of Energy. By

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Speaker 1: the way, I love that. They can't even tell you

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Speaker 1: how many, right, it's just a lot. And from the

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Speaker 1: Nuclear Security Administration, the Loan's office. Two sources familiar with

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Speaker 1: the decision told Reuters, by the way, we have that

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Speaker 1: we have layoffs at the VA. You know, the VA,

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Speaker 1: which provides healthcare for veterans. You know, veterans, the people

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Speaker 1: that Republicans pretend to like, right, pretend to care about.

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Speaker 1: But those people, they're healthcare getting cut off, getting curbed. Right.

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Speaker 1: By the way, those NIH grants a lot of that

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Speaker 1: still paused. That's cancer research just paused because Elon needs

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Speaker 1: a tax cut. But by the way, not just the VIA,

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Speaker 1: there's other stuff. Democratic lawmakers confirmed to the outlets that

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Speaker 1: layoffs could impact workers at national laboratories, hydroelectric plants, cold

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Speaker 1: War era nuke sites. You really don't need people working

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Speaker 1: in those places, do you really? I think it's fine.

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Speaker 2: Get some interns, listen the blind. They should have security

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Speaker 2: jobs that are nuclear sites. That seems like a good

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Speaker 2: place for them. To work.

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Speaker 1: The Department of Energy employs approximately fourteen hundred federal workers

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Speaker 1: and oversees ninety five thousand contractors across various energy and

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Speaker 1: security sectors. Well, now they employ less. According to two sources,

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Speaker 1: the layoffs followed the arrival of three representatives from billionaire

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Speaker 1: Muss Department of Government Efficiency at the agency. One source

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Speaker 1: revealed that approximately three hundred and twenty five employees had

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Speaker 1: been dismissed from the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees

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Speaker 1: the US nuclear weapons fleet and works to secure radiological

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Speaker 1: materials worldwide. We never needed them, they're cocks.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it wasn't everyone losing their mind just a few

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Speaker 2: months ago thinking that radiation had gone loose in New

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Speaker 2: Jersey and there's drones flying everywhere to find it. Really,

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Speaker 2: it's not a thing we're concerned about. But Bally, one

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Speaker 2: of the things I think about a lot is everybody

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Speaker 2: talks about national security. You know what really says security

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Speaker 2: the doose people who are getting access to every single

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Speaker 2: part of this government, who can't even secure their own website.

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Speaker 2: This is web literacy most high school students have these days.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, in case you're wondering, things are going great over

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Speaker 1: a Doge. So basically the doge website has been defaced

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Speaker 1: because anyone can edit it. So there's a website created

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Speaker 1: to document how Elon Mush his team is eveserating the

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Speaker 1: US federal government and it is open anyone can edit it.

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Speaker 1: This is the same Doge organization that has gained unprecedent

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Speaker 1: access to sensitive US financial systems with data on millions

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Speaker 1: of Americans. You and me, our social security numbers are

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Speaker 1: being looked over by a guy. You'll remember him as

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Speaker 1: Big Balls, that guy. My favorite part of this whole

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Speaker 1: story is that these are young people who have very

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Speaker 1: similar ideological peccadillos to Elon Mush. They are young, they

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Speaker 1: are some of them have had serious ethical problems at

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Speaker 1: their jobs, and now they are paging through our data

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Speaker 1: and also making mistakes. If that weren't enough, will doge

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Speaker 1: dot gov displays a banner describing itself as an official

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Speaker 1: website of the United States government. The developers say it

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Speaker 1: feels like it was completely slapped together and doesn't appear

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Speaker 1: to be running on government servers. Even better, you love it.

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Speaker 1: Love it.

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Speaker 2: So since we last spoke, there's been more evidence of

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Speaker 2: woke Mitch McConnell running aloof through the Capitol. He had

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Speaker 2: some choice words after R. FK Junior was confirmed as

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Speaker 2: h Secretary the other day.

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Speaker 1: Yes, hero of the resistance, Mitch McConnell, who installed not one,

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Speaker 1: not two, but three Supreme Court justices to dismantle American democracy.

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Speaker 1: That guy does not like RFK Junior. Senator Mitch McConnell

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Speaker 1: issued a blistering indictment of Robert F. Kennedy Junior on Thursday. Yes, yes, Queen,

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Speaker 1: the Kentucky Republican.

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Speaker 2: Did not have a big oldcard at twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 2: Molly jug Fast, Yes, Queening Mitch McConnell.

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Speaker 1: Well, he's not happy. You know, he did have polio.

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Speaker 1: By the way, Trump then said maybe he didn't have

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Speaker 1: pull and he wasn't totally sure. But I don't think Again,

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Speaker 1: many people aren't saying right two seconds on, I really

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Speaker 1: think Mitch McConnell had polio. I don't think he's lying.

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go out a limb, hear. I don't

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Speaker 1: think that Mitch mcconald has spent his entire life faking

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Speaker 1: a limp and lying that he had polio in order

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Speaker 1: to stick it to RFK. Junior. I just don't The

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Speaker 1: seneconfirmed the longtime anti vax activist and really let us

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Speaker 1: be honest and complete in any number of reasons deplorable

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Speaker 1: human being to the Department of Health and Human Services

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Speaker 1: on Thursday by a vote of fifty two to forty eight.

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Speaker 1: We're all going to die. McConnell was the only Republican

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Speaker 1: to vote no. Because we have hit end times. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I have nothing good to say about this except pray.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I have sort of to say, quarantined that area

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Speaker 2: in Texas that has all the beasles, but that's a story.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, luckily vaccine. You know, viruses don't spread, so it

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Speaker 1: should be fun maybe to get some leeches in there

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Speaker 1: and will be okay.

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Speaker 3: Oh I like that.

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Speaker 2: So message discipline usually a thing you want out of

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Speaker 2: a new administration. Yes, it's sadly not going so well

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Speaker 2: over around the Defense Department and with Vice President JV.

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Speaker 4: Dance.

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Speaker 1: Yes, everyone's favorite JD. JD stands for whatever. JD Vance

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Speaker 1: has issued a stark warning. Okay, so we got Hegseth

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Speaker 1: saying for NATO that Ukraine can't join. HeiG Seth goes

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Speaker 1: out there and says NATO's off the table for Ukraine,

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Speaker 1: a very good position when you've started negotiating to immediately

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Speaker 1: take the one thing that Ukraine had out of the equation.

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Speaker 1: Then Van says stark warning to Russia, threatening the potential

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Speaker 1: deployment of US troops. By the way, Vance also went

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Speaker 1: out to the Security Forum, which is like very serious

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Speaker 1: Europeans being very serious together. Harris went, it was extremely

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Speaker 1: serious and important. She thought of it as sort of

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Speaker 1: like one of her highlights of her career as vice president. Well,

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Speaker 1: Vance rolls in there and he tells them all that

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Speaker 1: they should do more to protect themselves, that America is

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Speaker 1: really busy with China right now, and he basically gives

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Speaker 1: the ur on your own speech. But while also doing that,

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Speaker 1: and he makes everyone really upset, and all of these

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Speaker 1: Europeans are pretty offended by this Vance speech. And while

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Speaker 1: that's going on, Vance also manages to disagree with Fox

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Speaker 1: and Friend Weekend host and now Defense Secretary Pete Hexas.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations to all who celebrate. Harry Littman is a former

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Speaker 1: US attorney and the host of the podcast Talking Fads.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to another law politics mash up with Me Harry

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Speaker 3: Ligman and Molly Jong Fast on what seems to me

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Speaker 3: like a pretty crazy wild day in law and politics.

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Speaker 3: I nevertheless want to take a second besides saying hi

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Speaker 3: to Molly and everyone knows, special correspondent for Ranny Fair,

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Speaker 3: host of the podcast Fast Politics.

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Speaker 1: And we ran into each other last week in California.

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Speaker 3: In California, we hung out, we both talked to Chris Hayes.

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Speaker 3: But again, the big headline here is you've got a

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Speaker 3: new book coming out in June. You want to just

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Speaker 3: give us a quick skinny on that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I have a new book coming out in June,

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Speaker 1: but it's miles away, but yes, it's called How to

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Speaker 1: Lose Your Mom. It'll be interesting.

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Speaker 3: We'll come and talk about then. And this it's really

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Speaker 3: important to me. I'm totally obsessed, as you won't be

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Speaker 3: surprised to hear with what's happening at DOJ. And it's

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Speaker 3: totally clear to me, as a DOJ alum and someone

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Speaker 3: steeped in that culture that this is huge and very

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Speaker 3: very clear. But my question slash concern is, Mollie, do

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Speaker 3: you think this penetrates the public mind and kind of

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Speaker 3: comes home in a way that people can really see

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Speaker 3: the clear line between corruption and rule of law and

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Speaker 3: it has purchased or is this one of three stories

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Speaker 3: this week?

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Speaker 1: So let's just set the table for those who are

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Speaker 1: not completely read in. I live in New York City

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Speaker 1: where we have a curse. It's called the mayoral curse,

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Speaker 1: and it is real, and we have our most recent

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Speaker 1: mayor is a man called Eric Adams, who it seems

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Speaker 1: as if he's shockingly corrupt. Now, perhaps it is just

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Speaker 1: normal business as usual with Turkey and not corrupt, but

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Speaker 1: he had many There were a couple of years where

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Speaker 1: it was like he's going to get into and he's

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Speaker 1: going to get indicted. Then eventually he did, in fact

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Speaker 1: manage to get indicted. And now there is a bizarre

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Speaker 1: situation where Trump World did this. Tom Holman, the head

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Speaker 1: of ICE, went on Fox and Friends, which is Donald

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Speaker 1: Trump's favorite show, and he sort of threatened the mayor

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Speaker 1: and said, well, you know you're in trouble, but we're

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Speaker 1: going to pause it as long as you do what

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Speaker 1: we want you to do. It was, by the way,

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Speaker 1: it's worth watching because I don't think there's ever been

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Speaker 1: something like this in America.

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Speaker 3: The jocularity of it, right, yeah, crazy, right, And.

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Speaker 1: Also like just you know, you can't threaten people on television.

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Speaker 1: I mean, just the sheer criminess of the whole thing.

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Speaker 1: Like you know, at every point I was watching and thinking, oh,

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Speaker 1: I'd actually read reporting man, and I thought, oh, that

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Speaker 1: can't possibly be right. And then I started watching and

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Speaker 1: I was like, oh, wow, yeah, just shocking. The mayor

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Speaker 1: now is in this sort of detente where he thinks

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Speaker 1: he is going to get pardoned or not pardoned, but

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Speaker 1: he's going to have his prosecution basically possimist, yes, without prejudice,

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Speaker 1: so it could come back if he displeases Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: and his cronies, which I don't think there's any precedent.

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Speaker 1: It's like Watergate, if Watergate were smoking angel dust. And

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it's just so incredibly beyond the pale.

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Speaker 1: Our Governor Kathy Hochel, who is very cowardlay, could dismiss

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Speaker 1: the mayor tomorrow.

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Speaker 3: I've in fired him, not dismissed yet.

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Speaker 1: Right, yeah, be like, this is ridiculous. You're not going

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Speaker 1: to drag the city through this. She will not do that,

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Speaker 1: at least not yet. She is known to be quite cowardly.

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Speaker 1: This would fit her personality. I would be shocked if

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Speaker 1: she did it, is that what you were asking. I

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Speaker 1: can't even remember what you were asking.

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Speaker 3: Not really, So there's two things that are happening.

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Speaker 1: So there's this shit show here. I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: everyone is hort you.

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Speaker 3: On angel dust, but you agree that said though, the

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Speaker 3: way it really rings home to me, Molly is what's

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Speaker 3: going on within the Department of Justice, where Trump's handpicked

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Speaker 3: acting Deputy Attorney General has basically tried to hold guns

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Speaker 3: to successive heads, saying you must dismiss this case even

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Speaker 3: though the facts and the law I admit are fined.

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Speaker 3: That's the same as saying you must violate your oath,

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Speaker 3: as doj attorneys. And we're now up to you mentioned

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Speaker 3: Saai massacre that was three people involved, We're now up

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Speaker 3: to something like seven or eight, three or four in

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Speaker 3: Southern District of New York. Then they bring it to

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Speaker 3: main Justice and really high level people are resigning rather

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Speaker 3: than doing this. So to me, it's seismic in some

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Speaker 3: ways bigger than what happened in either Stai massacre or

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. Here's my question in a sentence, is

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Speaker 3: will this ring home to people as a clear this

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Speaker 3: weaponization by the Trump folks.

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Speaker 1: Yes, you're not going to have anyone working in the government.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this is the accelerationist case for trump Ism

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Speaker 1: is the idea that the Justice Roberts Justice John Roberts

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Speaker 1: versus the Voting Rights Act. You know, if you cut

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Speaker 1: away in it, that is much more dangerous than if

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Speaker 1: you just set fire to the whole thing. And I mean, look,

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Speaker 1: are we going to be able to come out of

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Speaker 1: this thing and have a normal functioning democracy? That I

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Speaker 1: don't know, right That I think is a real open question.

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Speaker 1: There are a number of different things that could happen.

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Speaker 3: This out tell them the regular people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Like these are just government agencies. I mean that's

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Speaker 1: the thing that I think is so striking about Elon.

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Speaker 1: It's like a lot of this stuff Elon is doing,

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Speaker 1: if you were a little quieter, he could get away

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Speaker 1: with it without the same you know, like they could

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Speaker 1: legislatively cut I mean they control all yeah, right, I

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Speaker 1: mean they could cut everything, they could make just but

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Speaker 1: the thing is they're not such good legislators. So we

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Speaker 1: find ourselves in a situation where we just have this

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Speaker 1: Elon's and the computers trying to fire everyone, and it's

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Speaker 1: hard to imagine that doesn't get people's attention.

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Speaker 3: Okay, your turn, but quick legal footnote. You mentioned Roberts,

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Speaker 3: who might really matter here. The person who resigned today

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Speaker 3: with a blistering letter as a John Roberts clerk who

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Speaker 3: had two tours of duty in a rock. Yes, it's

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Speaker 3: so good, guys, bad guys.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And the person who resigned yesterday was a

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Speaker 1: Scalia clerk. I mean you don't think of Scolia.

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Speaker 3: As you know.

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Speaker 1: I mean we're like, we're almost to Aldo Clerks and

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Speaker 1: Thomas Clerks.

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Speaker 3: Right, this is a nightmare cast of characters for Deer.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I think what's important here to remember, and this

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Speaker 1: is like people don't go into these businesses. They don't

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Speaker 1: go into the law to make money, right, They do

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Speaker 1: it because they think it's right. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: what we're looking at with these government employees too. They

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Speaker 1: are in it to do what's right, whereas the tech

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Speaker 1: billionaires are in it to make money. So like Elon

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Speaker 1: is in it to make money. And even like all

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Speaker 1: of these billionaires who have like back down and kissed

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Speaker 1: the ring with trump Ism, and even a lot of

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Speaker 1: these Republican politicians, I mean, maybe they're afraid of getting

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Speaker 1: primary or getting death threats. But like when you look

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Speaker 1: at these billionaires, you see these people are willing to

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Speaker 1: do anything to protect their bottom line. CEOs billionaires, and

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Speaker 1: so you really do see these career law people are

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Speaker 1: not in it for the cash.

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Speaker 3: I mean, they're in it for the pride of what

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Speaker 3: they do. And the thing that I hope people recognize

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Speaker 3: is they've told them to stand up and violate their

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Speaker 3: ows and lie. They're at the absolute marrow of who

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Speaker 3: they are as professionals. These are guys who you know,

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Speaker 3: are on a fast track to judge ships and stuff,

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Speaker 3: and they're just letting it go.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean I think that that is correct.

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Speaker 1: Let's go to where we are here with the legality

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Speaker 1: of all of this. We're seeing a lot of Trump

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Speaker 1: administration not doing the money they were supposed to not

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Speaker 1: you know, freezing funds that were impounded. So you have

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Speaker 1: Congress allocating funds for things, and the Omb freezing it

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Speaker 1: and not paying them out. I talked to some academics

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Speaker 1: this week who said that a lot of the NIH

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Speaker 1: funds are not flowing right. Even though a court has

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Speaker 1: ordered them to start paying, they're still not paying. So

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Speaker 1: what happens now?

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Speaker 3: Okay, First, is it illegal? You bet? This is third

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Speaker 3: grade stuff. Congress passes laws, and in their laws they

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Speaker 3: say give X money, We've appropriated it to these people.

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Speaker 3: That's not something now for the executive that executes the

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Speaker 3: laws that he wasn't around for third grade to just ignore.

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Speaker 3: There have been other administrations that are pushed on the envelope.

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Speaker 3: They're just saying, screw you, we don't follow the law,

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Speaker 3: Make us do it. So what happens now? Lawsuits? There

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Speaker 3: are forty of them. There's been injunctions entered in six

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Speaker 3: of them, and I think the ones you mentioned will

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Speaker 3: in fact be enjoined. We put the freeze on it

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Speaker 3: for three days so we can then have a trial.

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Speaker 3: They have a trial. I think it does eventually play out, Molly,

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Speaker 3: and they have these very aggressive assertions of executive power.

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Speaker 3: I don't care what Congress says, I can do whatever

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Speaker 3: I want. That one of them reaches the Supreme Court,

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Speaker 3: and if the court surprises us, as it did with immunity,

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Speaker 3: then they unlined everything and they get away with it.

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Speaker 3: But I think in the short term it gets enjoined.

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Speaker 3: And the immediate crisis question is does Trump ignore what

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Speaker 3: courts tell them. That would be the sort of ultimate

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Speaker 3: constitutional crisis. But I think for now it goes to courts,

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Speaker 3: district courts who have to take the law as it

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Speaker 3: is and they enjoy it, so enjoin it means why

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Speaker 3: I'm sorry. They say you can't do this, they put

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Speaker 3: a freeze on it. Then the executive is supposed to

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Speaker 3: appeal that, which they've done in a couple instances. Of course,

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Speaker 3: if they instead, and this is like JD. Vance's whispers

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Speaker 3: say screw you, we're gonna do what. We're gonna impound anyway, right,

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Speaker 3: which is what.

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Speaker 1: Jd Vance has been tweeting about.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, gone, this never happened. Whatever people say. I just

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Speaker 3: had a subset about this. If we go through the

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Speaker 3: historical parallels, it's never happened, and we would be really

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Speaker 3: really and up against it exactly right. Constitutional crisis.

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Speaker 1: Say they're like, no, what can the courts do?

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Speaker 3: The courts can absolutely order them. And there are cases

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Speaker 3: in which not the president, but like in the Civil

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Speaker 3: Rights era, Governor Faubus of Arkansas said no, and the

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Speaker 3: courts that we mean it, and all nine of us

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Speaker 3: sign it, and you know what, he knuckled under and

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Speaker 3: the courts will say it very firmly, and I think

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Speaker 3: they will, by the way, even this Supreme Court. Then

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Speaker 3: Trump says, fuck you. I'll take that as a talking

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Speaker 3: fed's vulgarity, not a faster politics one. And we are

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Speaker 3: up against it, like way way up against it. It's like,

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Speaker 3: you know, military force and popular sentiment. We are. This

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Speaker 3: is exactly what the framer's worn about. Not to get

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Speaker 3: two pointy headed, but if the executive says, I don't

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Speaker 3: care you said that, but I'm not going to do

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Speaker 3: it anyway. This is the soul of an authoritarian society, right.

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Speaker 1: Pretty scary.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, I always love looking at your stuff

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Speaker 3: in preparation for this, even though so much is happening now.

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Speaker 3: But I did want to talk to You've had a

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Speaker 3: couple of Vanny Fair articles about Elon Musk, just on

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Speaker 3: some journalistic level, what a weird and crazy figure. But

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Speaker 3: you said, most recently that he's ushered in a new regime,

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Speaker 3: one that defies Bill Gates's spirit. By the way, new

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Speaker 3: book from him, we should uh, we'll be checking out

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Speaker 3: of capitalistic largest. Basically, he seems kind of like Trump

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Speaker 3: to be not just indifferent too, but contemptuous. Of humanitarian impulses, aid,

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Speaker 3: you know that that is not only feels like the

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Speaker 3: right thing to do, but seems to be administration after

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Speaker 3: administration has concluded in our national interests. The strong sense

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Speaker 3: that comes through as we're in a new era to

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Speaker 3: the extent about capitalism itself, to the extent Musk is

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Speaker 3: defining it? Is that right? And what conversation should we

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Speaker 3: be having about Musk? That maybe is getting lost in

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Speaker 3: just the sheer spectacle of his dancing around and insulting

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Speaker 3: people and doing crazy stuff.

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Speaker 1: What should not be lost is why is he in

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Speaker 1: the computers? Why does he need to go into computers

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Speaker 1: if he wants to have an audit? Why not have

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Speaker 1: an audit? Why does he need to bring his ideological

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Speaker 1: young coders, many of whom he shares ideological affiliations with,

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Speaker 1: Why are.

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Speaker 3: They in the cat stay far right?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Why? Why? Like, just explain to us why, because nobody

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Speaker 1: can tell us why? Right? The admin won't tell us why.

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Speaker 1: He won't tell us why he's fighting fraud. He has

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Speaker 1: yet to find any fraud. What he's found are things

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Speaker 1: that he doesn't like, which, well, he doesn't think that

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Speaker 1: USA should spend money on HIV prevention. He may not

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Speaker 1: like that, but that's not fraud. That's just something he

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Speaker 1: doesn't like. So the question is what are we doing here?

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Speaker 1: And the fact that we can't get an answer, and

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Speaker 1: the fact that the answers we're getting are either completely

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Speaker 1: divorced from what sounds reasonable. I mean, like that is

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Speaker 1: the thing that gets me. That is the big question

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Speaker 1: is like why does he need to get in those computers?

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Speaker 1: Is he training AI? Because we've seen there's so much

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Speaker 1: stuff to train AI on, it hardly seems necessary to

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Speaker 1: train it on the federal on all of our federal information.

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Speaker 1: So what are we looking at? What is he doing?

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Speaker 1: Why is he in there?

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Speaker 3: We would need some financial information among other things that

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Speaker 3: he had so far he hasn't given, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So that I think that's a big question. And

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Speaker 1: then I mean I have other thoughts, Like he does

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Speaker 1: use this anti democracy language as pretends that he's spreading democracy.

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Speaker 1: You know, he says, I want to restore a democracy.

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Speaker 1: He's mad at judges for checks and balances. He says

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Speaker 1: America can't be a democracy if judges have checks and balances.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he uses a lot of that Orwellian double

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Speaker 1: speak that is pretty destructive, but it's also just quite strange.

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Speaker 1: And like I think about yesterday when Mody, the President

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Speaker 1: of India, tweeted out a photo and on one side

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Speaker 1: is him and all of his advisors, and the other

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Speaker 1: side is Elon his third wife maybe wife, maybe not wife,

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Speaker 1: and many of his children. And I understand having kids.

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Speaker 1: I have a lot of kids. I have them in

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Speaker 1: my twenties, but you know, there's also places to bring

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Speaker 1: your kids and places not to bring your kids. And

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Speaker 1: when you're negotiating with the President of India, first of all,

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Speaker 1: by the way, why he's negotiating with the President of

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Speaker 1: India when he's not an elected official, Okay, but even still,

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Speaker 1: like I mean, just the idea that a Republican donor,

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Speaker 1: because that's that's all he is, right, is involving himself

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Speaker 1: in just dismantling the federal government. I think that's a

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Speaker 1: big deal.

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Speaker 3: I get off the train right there. But I'm you know, legal, yeah, but.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not entirely sure at his polling. Trump

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Speaker 1: is in this honeymoon period where his polling is as

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Speaker 1: good as it's ever been. But even in this honeymoon period,

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Speaker 1: Elon's polling is not great. You know, he's still underwater

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Speaker 1: about nine points and there is no world in which

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Speaker 1: there are you know, he's a billionaire. He's not even

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Speaker 1: fucking from here, right, he is from South Africa, his parents,

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Speaker 1: you know. I mean, they're just so many reasons why

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Speaker 1: American voters unless I mean, I don't know, maybe TikTok

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Speaker 1: and the algorithms can do something to make this guy

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Speaker 1: seem likable, But in my mind, I think they have

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Speaker 1: a real uphill climb.

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Speaker 3: So you think he's going to crash and burn at

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Speaker 3: some point.

431
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Speaker 1: I think someone who doesn't sleep at all is heading

432
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,400
Speaker 1: for right, Yeah, number one. I mean I personally need

433
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 1: to sleep at least six seven hours a night, So

434
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,400
Speaker 1: that is number one. But also, we've had this American

435
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,360
Speaker 1: experiment and it has never involved a really rich guy

436
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,120
Speaker 1: from somewhere else coming.

437
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,320
Speaker 3: In richest in the world.

438
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:16,600
Speaker 1: Yeah.

439
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 3: Really, it does seem unprecedented and not what certainly not

440
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:22,919
Speaker 3: what people voted for. I kind of thought he was

441
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,719
Speaker 3: just a sort of mincing little supporter there and all

442
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 3: of a sudden he's running the joint. Okay, your turn.

443
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:31,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I want you to talk to me about, like,

444
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,359
Speaker 1: is what Elon Musk is doing it's is it illegal?

445
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: And if it is illegal, how could that be prosecuted.

446
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 3: It's a great question because what it really is is

447
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 3: like mind blowing, what the what are you even thinking?

448
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 3: And but then you take a deep breath and get

449
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 3: down to law. And he was sued twice yesterday on

450
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:54,520
Speaker 3: a theory Molly that is legal and nerdy, but I

451
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,679
Speaker 3: think has teeth and it's one that conservatives have always loved.

452
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 1: And this is themocratic attorneys generals doing.

453
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,959
Speaker 3: This well in general, you see the the you know,

454
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:09,159
Speaker 3: nineteen twenty twenty two, democratic age's really stepping up. But

455
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 3: here's a creative lawsuit and off hand Larry Tribe others

456
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,320
Speaker 3: seems pretty good to us. Jeff Bladner, here's the deal.

457
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 3: There are three kinds of people who work in the

458
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:25,480
Speaker 3: executive brands. Principal officers like, cabinet infier officers like but

459
00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:29,120
Speaker 3: they're important US attorneys and then everybody else. The law

460
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 3: is clear for infeeror officers. You can appoint them if

461
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 3: you're a president, but Congress has to authorize you to

462
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 3: do it. That's what is happening with the whole was

463
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 3: happening with the old Jack Smith thing. Principal officers have

464
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 3: to be nominated by the president and confirmed. That is

465
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:50,399
Speaker 3: the appointments clause, which the conservatives are so into, saying,

466
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 3: you can't mess with the president's power. And what makes

467
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:58,360
Speaker 3: a principal officer or infeeror officer. It's a little loosey goosey.

468
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,959
Speaker 3: It's based on responsibility and lines of authority. But who

469
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,320
Speaker 3: the hell is this guy? He is now I think

470
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,919
Speaker 3: been clearly put above the cabinet. The cabinet people are

471
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 3: all sort of reporting to him. He and this is

472
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 3: the lawsuit. Really seems like he's been made a principal

473
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,639
Speaker 3: officer and if that's right, got to nominate him and

474
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 3: confirm them. So that's a very interesting legal challenge. Then

475
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,040
Speaker 3: everything else. Trump is trying to get away with it, saying, oh,

476
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,719
Speaker 3: he's given advice and we're adopting it. Different parts of

477
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,639
Speaker 3: that advice are illegal, like don't spend the money that

478
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 3: Congress told you to spend. But the general attack on

479
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 3: Musk himself that your question, what is he doing here?

480
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,640
Speaker 3: And who is this guy? I think the best legal

481
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 3: garb for that theory is you've given him that kind

482
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 3: of authority, you got to treat him differently under the Constitution.

483
00:27:54,520 --> 00:28:01,200
Speaker 1: Right, And I mean it just seems so incredibly shocking.

484
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 3: I mean that's part of It's like, oh, it's got

485
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 3: to be illegal one, But then what do lawyers do.

486
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 3: They got to like take that feeling, go in the

487
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,879
Speaker 3: law books and figure out something that'll have purchase in

488
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:13,679
Speaker 3: the courts. But I think this is a good one.

489
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,120
Speaker 3: It's not the only one, but it's the best one

490
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:17,880
Speaker 3: i've heard. We'll see how it goes. As I say,

491
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 3: two of them were filed just yesterday. Great, all right,

492
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 3: My last one to you. In the SDNY thing, you

493
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:27,920
Speaker 3: have Trump, you know, trying to say we're not weaponizing government.

494
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,400
Speaker 3: They were, and now it doesn't hunt. You had him

495
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 3: in the campaign Molly saying, oh I'm not for Project

496
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,680
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five, And sure as hell, here he is.

497
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 3: And it's just page after page of Project twenty twenty five.

498
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,920
Speaker 3: And as you've pointed out, the guys at his highest

499
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 3: rating ever. Do we think that not only his weird

500
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 3: anti charisma, charisma, whatever the hell it is, Trump factor,

501
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 3: it's not just that, but actually the Project twenty twenty

502
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 3: five kind of pretty extreme, mean spirited principles have now

503
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,680
Speaker 3: attracted the support of the majority of the American people.

504
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,360
Speaker 1: No, I think what's happening is that they haven't seen

505
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:13,360
Speaker 1: any even in action. In some ways, I think Democrats

506
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 1: were very much a victim of their own success when

507
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 1: it came to Trump. So they prevented a lot of

508
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 1: what Trump wanted, right, Like he wanted to repeal Obamacare,

509
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: he was not able to do that. You know, there

510
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: were all these different things he wanted to do that

511
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 1: he wasn't able to do. And in the end of

512
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: the Trump Aadmin. Government spending was way up. Now it

513
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,880
Speaker 1: was because of the pandemic, but it was so Democrats

514
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:38,960
Speaker 1: were like, oh, he's going to do Project twenty twenty five.

515
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: And people were like.

516
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, the book at the convention, right right, right.

517
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 1: But they were like, yeah, maybe, but last time he didn't.

518
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 1: I think it was very hard to make the case

519
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: that that was going to happen because there wasn't a

520
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 1: lot of precedent for it. So what I think now,

521
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: as we look onto this, you're seeing cuts at the

522
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 1: VA and cut for Medicare, And these are cuts. These

523
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 1: are not even legislatid cuts. These are just elon fork

524
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 1: in the road email cuts. So those cuts, if they're

525
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 1: really accurate. And again they you know, I don't know

526
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 1: how I mean, but even just like the freeze, the

527
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 1: NIH freeze, right, the NIH funding freeze, these things are

528
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:25,440
Speaker 1: not popular, right, Like people don't like the reason why

529
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: billionaires have had to spend billions and billions of dollars

530
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 1: trying to promote tax cuts and stuff like that is

531
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: because voters don't like it, right, They don't like tax

532
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 1: cuts for corporations. Who is that for corporations? Not shareholders?

533
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 1: So Republicans. So I think that as it goes through,

534
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 1: people are going to see like, oh I used to

535
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: have this and now I don't. Oh who's president? I mean,

536
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 1: you know, I think that is definitely going to happen

537
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:56,800
Speaker 1: and be real. And you're already seeing like cuts to snap.

538
00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: These are Trump voters, right, These red states are not

539
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: filled with affluent people.

540
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, now people in Alabama now can't pay their electric

541
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:06,520
Speaker 3: bills right.

542
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 1: Right, And even like in Alabama is a really good

543
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 1: example because the University of Alabama is the biggest employer

544
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 1: in that state. So you have funding frozen to the

545
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 1: largest employer in a red state. I'm sorry, but like,

546
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 1: sooner or later, that's going to catch up with you.

547
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 1: So now the question, I think the real question will

548
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 1: be how much can this sort of maga media complex

549
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,040
Speaker 1: cover for this. How much can they spin? Can they

550
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: spin you used to get two hundred dollars a week,

551
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 1: Now you get one hundred dollars a week. Can they

552
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: spin that? Maybe they can. I don't know. I'm not

553
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 1: a psychic, but I think that's where we're going to

554
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 1: get to.

555
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 3: Got it? Yeah? Trump said the other day, Oh, there

556
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 3: now will be paying it first.

557
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: Elon said that. I mean, you know, you're taking stuff

558
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: away from people. But again, like Democrats keep saying they're

559
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,560
Speaker 1: going to do this, and Trump voters are like, no,

560
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 1: we are out of time. Thank you, thank you, thank.

561
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,240
Speaker 3: You always great Another Molly mashup coming next month. Thank

562
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,720
Speaker 3: you very much. Men O Man heavy time for both

563
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 3: of us.

564
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 1: Thank you, Harry Lentman. That was really good. Congressman Eric

565
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: Swahwaw represents California's fourteenth district. Welcome back to Fast Politics,

566
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: Congressman Eric.

567
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:24,560
Speaker 4: Swahwell, Hey, Molly, what's happening?

568
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,960
Speaker 1: I am without words today. I was on the internet

569
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 1: and I noticed that the federal government took eighty million

570
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 1: dollars of FEMA money back from the UH from New York.

571
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,720
Speaker 1: What can they do that? Also, what are we doing?

572
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 4: No, they can't do any of the shit right.

573
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 5: It's mostly just this shock and awe campaign and the

574
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 5: courts are just catching up with them on it. The

575
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 5: courts don't move at the speed of their corruptionism. Yes,

576
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 5: the courts are catching up. That's the good news. And

577
00:32:58,320 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 5: we're winning in the courts.

578
00:32:59,400 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 4: Also.

579
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 5: The good news now they'll be appealed and ultimately will

580
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,480
Speaker 5: be in front of the Supreme Court and we're going

581
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 5: to see is this the Supreme Court that said that

582
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 5: Trump had to be sentenced before the inauguration when he

583
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,760
Speaker 5: tried to escape that, or is this the Supreme Court

584
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 5: that gave him absolute immunity. It's been quite a you know,

585
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 5: schizophrenic court, and so it's hard to tell what they'll do.

586
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:24,640
Speaker 5: But the good news is like this stuff is being

587
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 5: paused and that one's probably going to be paused as well.

588
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 5: And then in the House, you know, look, we have

589
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 5: government funding coming up.

590
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 4: On March fourteen.

591
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:38,520
Speaker 5: These geniuses have never been able to fund the government

592
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 5: on their own. The majority of the votes have always

593
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 5: come from Democrats. Spoiler alert, they're not going to be

594
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 5: able to fund the government on their own again. And

595
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 5: so I promise you, my Democratic colleagues and I we

596
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 5: are not going to fund a government that they have

597
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 5: already shut down, and we are in a government down

598
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 5: right now. We're not going to be a part of

599
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 5: anything you know, that funds like further shutting down of services.

600
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 5: And so that's the leverage I see us as having here.

601
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:13,920
Speaker 1: So I'm really glad you said that, because that is

602
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,840
Speaker 1: what everyone wants. I mean, what you just said was

603
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 1: exactly the thing that I think a lot of us

604
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 1: have been ringing our hands about, which is there's one

605
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:28,239
Speaker 1: piece of leverage that Democrats have left, right, which is

606
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 1: that Republicans cannot legislate their way out of a paper bag.

607
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,920
Speaker 1: So you have this funding shutdown, and then you have

608
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:41,279
Speaker 1: that Republicans, who care so much about fiscal responsibility want

609
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 1: to raise the debt ceiling four billion dollars.

610
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,480
Speaker 5: And they didn't want to do this when they saw

611
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 5: it as a way to own Joe Biden over a

612
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 5: year ago, when Democrats were seeking, you know, to do

613
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 5: a shorter term debt ceiling raise, which is essentially just

614
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 5: paying our bills. But and Trump was tweeting at the

615
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,960
Speaker 5: time that Republicans absolutely should not do it again.

616
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,760
Speaker 4: He just wanted to, you know, fuck over Joe Biden.

617
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:07,160
Speaker 5: That was the only thinking behind it, and reeding to

618
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 5: do with making sure we pay our bills and that

619
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,720
Speaker 5: we don't default upon our credit. And now that it's Trump,

620
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,560
Speaker 5: he's like, well, I can't give away these big that's me.

621
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 4: You want to pay out to the billionaires.

622
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 5: So I can't give away all this money to the

623
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,000
Speaker 5: billionaires without raising the dead ceiling.

624
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 4: That's why he needs to do that.

625
00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,040
Speaker 5: But you know, Molly, we have to be careful just

626
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 5: pointing them out as hypocritical, that doesn't work anymore. I've

627
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 5: priced in that these guys, you know, just because they

628
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 5: said A on Tuesday and they're saying Z on Wednesday,

629
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,040
Speaker 5: that doesn't matter. We need to boil it down to

630
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 5: you were promised cheaper eggs and all you've gotten is

631
00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,160
Speaker 5: cheaper talk, you know, from the Republican And that's really

632
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:49,200
Speaker 5: all that's going to matter.

633
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 1: And by the way, I went to the grocery store

634
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,000
Speaker 1: to die and there was like a little sign that's

635
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,279
Speaker 1: like our eggs are more expensive. I want you to

636
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:02,200
Speaker 1: explain to us the New Vogue Conversation topic in political

637
00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 1: circles is that Democrats are not doing enough. I actually

638
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,440
Speaker 1: think that you guys are starting to really kick it

639
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 1: into gear. So tell us what you guys are doing.

640
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:14,400
Speaker 5: A big part of this is just being present, letting

641
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:19,279
Speaker 5: our be heard, and I've tried to update my constituents

642
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 5: every couple days with an Instagram Live. I'm doing a

643
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 5: town hall on Tuesday next week in Union City, the

644
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,719
Speaker 5: heart of my congressional district. But just being accessible right now,

645
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 5: I think is really important so that people know that

646
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,880
Speaker 5: you know you're listening. Every week or so, I'm doing

647
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,000
Speaker 5: this under the Dome, a series where I do about

648
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,400
Speaker 5: a five to six minute behind the scenes of what

649
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,439
Speaker 5: we're working on that week, so people know that I'm

650
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:47,319
Speaker 5: in the fight and I'm trying to draw them in

651
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 5: as well. So I've just recommended my colleagues be as

652
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:54,359
Speaker 5: accessible is possible. Always on as a model right like

653
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:59,720
Speaker 5: of social in the community on television. Just be always

654
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,040
Speaker 5: on right now so people know you know that we

655
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,680
Speaker 5: have not shrunk in our duties. But I also say

656
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,799
Speaker 5: to people who are on the sidelines right now and

657
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,799
Speaker 5: they're demoralized and they're upset about what happened in the

658
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 5: November election.

659
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,800
Speaker 4: I tell them, I understand.

660
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,799
Speaker 5: If you are not yet ready to join the fight,

661
00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 5: and when you are ready, I'm ready to hold your

662
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 5: hand and go to battle with you. So just tell

663
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:26,840
Speaker 5: me when you're ready, and I'll fight for you, and

664
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:27,960
Speaker 5: others will fight for you.

665
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,319
Speaker 4: But I'm all in.

666
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:32,719
Speaker 1: Right now, Let's talk about sort of what Democrats can do.

667
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,279
Speaker 1: So there's going to be a dead ceiling fight, there's

668
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:39,359
Speaker 1: going to be a government shutdown fight. You don't have

669
00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,480
Speaker 1: control of the House, but you have sort of some

670
00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:44,920
Speaker 1: control of the House. So talk us through. Can you

671
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:48,160
Speaker 1: guys do hearings? What kind of oversight can you guys do.

672
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 5: We can kick ass in these congressional hearings. And I

673
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 5: think you're seeing us rise to the occasion in that regard.

674
00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:00,200
Speaker 5: Like you know, watch rober Garcia, a sophomore member from

675
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 5: Long Beach, you know, Marjorie Taylor Green first day ever

676
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,759
Speaker 5: with the Gabble today doing this doge hearing, and he

677
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:12,760
Speaker 5: was great. He was responding, landing points, using demonstrative evidence

678
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:13,920
Speaker 5: to make his points to it.

679
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:14,439
Speaker 4: It was good.

680
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 5: He was working in all all forms of media to

681
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 5: do it. And I'm just excited about this next generation

682
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:24,360
Speaker 5: of leaders that we're seeing, for example, on the Judiciary Committee,

683
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:28,839
Speaker 5: we added Jasmine Crocket and Dan Goldman and Jared Moskowitz.

684
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 5: I mean, these were people who really shined in the

685
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,480
Speaker 5: Oversight Committee last year and now they're on Judiciary under

686
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,279
Speaker 5: Jamie Raskin's leadership. And so yeah, it's also hearings we

687
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 5: hold them accountable. And then we have our own legal

688
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 5: strategy that Leader Jeffries is starting to roll out to

689
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,239
Speaker 5: show you know, what we can do as well to

690
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,759
Speaker 5: join the legal fight, you know, to stop you know,

691
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,799
Speaker 5: the worst of the Trump administration so.

692
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:53,920
Speaker 4: We're not we're not helpless.

693
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:55,719
Speaker 5: And then, by the way, we need to show the

694
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 5: country who are the people on the Republican side that

695
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,440
Speaker 5: are making the decisions about your life, who are most

696
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 5: likely to be thrown out of office if they make

697
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,040
Speaker 5: the wrong decision, And so that you know, you give

698
00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 5: them a homework assignment so they know who are the

699
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 5: twenty to thirty people who we should start organizing and

700
00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 5: mobilizing around to beat if they were to take away

701
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 5: your health care or increase the cost of it.

702
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 1: So you're going to hit frontliners on the GOP side.

703
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 4: We have to.

704
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:24,799
Speaker 5: This is important only because right now and I can

705
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:28,360
Speaker 5: say this is somebody who ran against an incumbent myself

706
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,680
Speaker 5: when I got elected. This is the period of time

707
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 5: where candidates are deliberating over whether they want to run

708
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 5: for office. And we'll know by early fall who are

709
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,480
Speaker 5: the candidates running and the seats that we are the

710
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 5: best shot at winning, and the caliber of those candidates

711
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:46,600
Speaker 5: is going to matter. And so what we can do

712
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:49,840
Speaker 5: on the inside right now in Congress is to create

713
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:53,840
Speaker 5: an environment where the waters are worn and they feel like, Okay,

714
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:56,800
Speaker 5: I'm going to make this big sacrifice, put my family

715
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,479
Speaker 5: through hell, have to ask all my friends for money,

716
00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 5: knock on one hundred thousand doors, and will it be

717
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:04,879
Speaker 5: worth it? Is there a shot for me to win?

718
00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,880
Speaker 5: So we can create the environment where they see that

719
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:10,719
Speaker 5: it's worth it, so that we attract the best who

720
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:12,359
Speaker 5: can give us the best shot to win. And if

721
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 5: we win the House, Molly, we cut our time in

722
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:16,319
Speaker 5: hell and half right.

723
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 1: And if you win the House, you can do oversight.

724
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:21,480
Speaker 1: One of the things I've been struck by is watching

725
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 1: members of the Doge Committee but opening the door again.

726
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: What I don't understand is you've got Republicans want They're

727
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:33,000
Speaker 1: saying that they want to cut waste, but really they

728
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:37,680
Speaker 1: want to cut the government subsidies the kind of thing

729
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 1: I mean, don't They just want to cut the social

730
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,400
Speaker 1: safety net and they're saying that the safety net is fraud.

731
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:43,719
Speaker 1: I mean, explain this, gass.

732
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,479
Speaker 5: The only way you know to pay for these tax

733
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:49,960
Speaker 5: cuts that they're proposing, you know, would be cuts to

734
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,960
Speaker 5: the Affordable Care Act, Social Security or Medicare and Medicaid.

735
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 5: That there's no way around it. And so that's what

736
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 5: they're going to have to do. And by the way,

737
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:03,280
Speaker 5: we are seeing as Doge cuts, the government under Trump

738
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:06,840
Speaker 5: is going to spend you know, more on Musk's government

739
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:08,040
Speaker 5: funded projects.

740
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,080
Speaker 4: Right, So he's in these systems.

741
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:13,080
Speaker 5: I would put him on a top five list of

742
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 5: individuals who benefit the most in America from government spending.

743
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 5: And he's in there making cuts as his contracts expand.

744
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 4: So that that is right. Concert.

745
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,240
Speaker 1: Do you know what Elon Musk and his merry band

746
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,319
Speaker 1: of early twenty year olds are doing in all those

747
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:32,360
Speaker 1: government computers.

748
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:35,319
Speaker 5: They're in your data, they're in my data, they're in

749
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:37,000
Speaker 5: the data of Americans.

750
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:38,399
Speaker 1: And what are they doing in there?

751
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 5: They're going through to see, you know, how they can

752
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:46,239
Speaker 5: change the way that government funded programs are funded. And

753
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,719
Speaker 5: we've seen this because of the filings that these departments

754
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:53,319
Speaker 5: and agencies have had to do under court order. And

755
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:57,520
Speaker 5: we learned, you know, yesterday that one of these doge bros.

756
00:41:57,800 --> 00:41:58,480
Speaker 4: He was supposed to.

757
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,840
Speaker 5: Be in what's called a read only part of the

758
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 5: Treasury Department's data, but that he was given accidentally. They said,

759
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:10,240
Speaker 5: you know, the ability to edit and to take affirmative acts.

760
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 5: Whether they are acting maliciously with our data or whether

761
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 5: through mistake, these unvetted, untrusted individuals are getting access to

762
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,160
Speaker 5: our data, it's still a shit show, right. I don't

763
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:25,839
Speaker 5: care if it's malice or unintentional. I don't want these

764
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:28,640
Speaker 5: unvetted individuals to have access to our data.

765
00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:31,400
Speaker 4: It just seems like a big violation of our priduice.

766
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:34,719
Speaker 1: Also, why do they want the data? Like, that's what

767
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:37,560
Speaker 1: I don't totally understand, Like, tell me what the sort

768
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,359
Speaker 1: of what they say the excuses for doing it.

769
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,879
Speaker 5: They would argue that they're trying to look at how

770
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 5: the government spends money and who the recipients are and

771
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,560
Speaker 5: whether there's cuts that can be made. Now, of course,

772
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:55,680
Speaker 5: if they're like chat gpten this thing, they're essentially looking

773
00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:58,600
Speaker 5: for any anything that has to do with climate change,

774
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:00,719
Speaker 5: anything that has to do with the verse city. We

775
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:06,120
Speaker 5: had one massive government agency whistleblower come to our office

776
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 5: and tell us that a particular project was told get

777
00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:14,560
Speaker 5: rid of everything on your website and in your materials

778
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,880
Speaker 5: that refers to climate change. So there's this just practice

779
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:22,880
Speaker 5: of identifying government programs that help people that don't align

780
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,279
Speaker 5: with what Donald Trump wants. And these are ones that

781
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 5: are already funded by Congress and deleting them and ending them.

782
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:31,000
Speaker 5: And you know, the good news is is I said,

783
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:32,800
Speaker 5: the courts are not going along with this right now,

784
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:33,919
Speaker 5: but that is their aim.

785
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 1: What can you do in Congress to sort of put

786
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,280
Speaker 1: the brakes on? Are you guys willing to do more

787
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:45,640
Speaker 1: sort of blocking doors and forcing them to do whatever

788
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,239
Speaker 1: they can do? I mean, what else can you guys do?

789
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:51,279
Speaker 5: My vote is the most powerful tool that I have.

790
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 5: I am going to block a further government shutdown. So

791
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,600
Speaker 5: I'm not going to support anything that keeps the government

792
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:59,319
Speaker 5: shut down, which is what they're doing right now. My

793
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,000
Speaker 5: voice is the other effective tool, and so I'm going

794
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:04,680
Speaker 5: to continue to update my constituents, tell them what they

795
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:07,239
Speaker 5: can do in the fight as well, and who they

796
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:11,480
Speaker 5: should be holding accountable and so that we socialize, you know, with.

797
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 4: The public what the cost is of all of this.

798
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:14,800
Speaker 5: But I think at the end of the day, Molly,

799
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:17,799
Speaker 5: what this really has to be about is what the fuck.

800
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,520
Speaker 4: Does any of this have to do with lowering.

801
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:22,799
Speaker 5: The cost of your groceries. That's what I promised he

802
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,360
Speaker 5: had a mandate to do that. He never manage to

803
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,200
Speaker 5: go look at our data, you know, with people that

804
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:31,080
Speaker 5: don't work for the government. You have a mandate to

805
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:33,640
Speaker 5: put the most violent people who have ever you know,

806
00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:36,879
Speaker 5: attacked the government and put them on our streets. Hen

807
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:40,840
Speaker 5: to have a mandate to fire FBI agents who combat

808
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,920
Speaker 5: terrorism and public corruption and money laundering. He didn't have

809
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 5: a mandate to do any of that, but that's where

810
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 5: his focus, you know, seems to be. And then anything

811
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:53,360
Speaker 5: that goes wrong he just blames Dei. That's what he says.

812
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,520
Speaker 5: If there's an airplane crash, it was DEI. If there's

813
00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:57,960
Speaker 5: a fire in La it was Dei, Which means to

814
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,879
Speaker 5: me that the next time he says something was caused

815
00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:06,400
Speaker 5: by DEI, that to him, DEI stands for didn't ever investigate,

816
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:10,440
Speaker 5: Because that's just an alibi for them to not be

817
00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:13,000
Speaker 5: held accountable for what's happening on their watch.

818
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:15,160
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

819
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:17,560
Speaker 4: Eric, of course, thank you all.

820
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:28,320
Speaker 2: No, momentlefut, Jesse, Cannon, Molly, we know this stuff is coming.

821
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:31,840
Speaker 2: North Dakota is going to try to ban the morning

822
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:33,720
Speaker 2: after pill, because that's smart.

823
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:39,400
Speaker 1: I never saw this coming. I never ever ever saw

824
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:44,399
Speaker 1: this coming. I never ever, ever, ever ever saw this coming. Yes,

825
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:48,600
Speaker 1: who could have seen that the Republicans who wanted to

826
00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:54,560
Speaker 1: ban the abortion pill would take their banning powers to

827
00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:58,080
Speaker 1: the morning after pill. Look, the whole idea is that

828
00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:00,799
Speaker 1: Republicans believe that a sperm and an egg is a

829
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:03,839
Speaker 1: person and that that person should have more rights than

830
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:07,480
Speaker 1: you do. And that is how we got here. So, yes,

831
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:13,080
Speaker 1: North Dakota, the Republicans are going to do this personhood

832
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:18,239
Speaker 1: bill HB thirteen seventy three, which would make abortion of

833
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:22,080
Speaker 1: crime that can be prosecuted similar to murder and assault.

834
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:25,320
Speaker 1: But that said, if you murder a woman, you're probably okay.

835
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:29,319
Speaker 1: It defines an unborn child is an egg innisperm. Does

836
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:32,879
Speaker 1: this pass? I mean there's no reason why it won

837
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 1: I mean, these guys are out of control, by the way,

838
00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:38,600
Speaker 1: I just want to point out this is what Project

839
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:41,400
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five wants to do, and if you don't

840
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 1: see that birth control is next, then I don't know

841
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:48,120
Speaker 1: what to tell you. That's it for this episode of

842
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:55,000
Speaker 1: Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday

843
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:58,480
Speaker 1: to hear the best minds and politics make sense of

844
00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:03,040
Speaker 1: all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast, please send

845
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:06,720
Speaker 1: it to a friend and keep the conversation going. Thanks

846
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 1: for listening.