WEBVTT - Sam Seder & Ben Collins 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.160 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:12.280 today's best minds. And Governor Pritzker says, in any other country, 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.760 if federal agents fired upon journalists and protesters when unprovoked, 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.919 what would we call it? If federal agents march down 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:24.119 busy streets, harassing civilians and demanding their papers, what would 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.200 we say? I don't think we'd have any trouble calling 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.639 it what it is, authoritarianism. We have such a great 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:34.599 show for you today, The Majority Report, Sam Cedar stops 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.360 by to talk all things government Shutdown. Then we'll talk 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:43.360 to the CEO of the Onion, Ben Collins, about how 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:49.839 Trump's retribution shut down his new mockumentary Jeffrey Epstein Bad Pedophile. 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:51.040 But first the news. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:54.200 So Moley, the grift is coming from inside the house. 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:59.240 A camera woman captured Scott Besen texting exposing the mystery 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:01.360 we've all been wondered about. Why the fuck are we 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:02.800 giving Argentina all this money? 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.520 Why are we giving Argentina all this money? 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.600 I think you should read what it's set it in 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.440 the little text message from the Agriculture Sky Secretary. 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:16.640 So here's the text message She's worried China has outmaneuvered 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.560 the US by buying up Argentine soybeans at the expense 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.200 of our farmers, even as the administration plans to bail 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:28.160 out Argentina with billions of dollars. What's nice about this 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.200 administration is that everything is so stupid. 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.720 Yeah, So Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rowins was texting and 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.280 basically saying, this is a real bad, bad, bad idea 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:40.080 for our ecotomy. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.520 Yes, and you'll be shocked to hear, but she's right. 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:49.440 She is very much right, very very much right. Look 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.800 how Scott Bessant got photographed, How this text got for 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.480 I mean, there's just so much stupid to unpack here 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.920 Scott betch than texting photographs of it. I mean, just 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:06.160 all bad and nutty. And also why and again, why 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:10.000 are we bailing out Argentina? Why someone explained to me 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.720 why we're bailing at Argentina. 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.400 Because what we've voted for was for these people to 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.120 be grifting as much as they would like. It's the 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.200 freedom to grift, is administration. 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.520 The freedom to grift, that is correct. So there we 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:29.840 are Donald Trump grifting away because he loves freedom, and 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.440 in this case, the freedom to grift Somalia. 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.960 You've explained to listeners before that I have this rule 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.240 that I don't like to talk about things that are 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.720 coming up when there's so much things to analyze that 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.160 have happened. But I've been waiting, like it's Christmas morning 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.680 for mister Trump and Pete Hegsath to address our military leaders. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.840 Today. It was Christmas of stupid. I got Cole. 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.840 All of these top military leaders from around the world, 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:59.960 from places like Taiwan, you know, wherever they were stationed. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:05.600 Pete hegg Seth brought everyone back to Quantico, Virginia, and 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.040 he made this speech that covered a lot of stupid, 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:13.760 preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.400 in that pursuit. Not because we want war, No one 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.680 here wants war, but because we love peace. Like real 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.280 nineteen eighty four stuff, Got a war so that you 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.760 can have peace. Got his strength so you can be weak. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:29.520 Don't forget the war on woke, Molly. 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.200 He spent a lot of time complaining about woke. He 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.840 spent a lot of time complaining about people being fat. 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.560 Ironically, there was somebody there on stage with him. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.800 He cursed well, and then Donald Trump got up there. 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.680 I mean, what I think is interesting is like, clearly 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.600 hag Seth wanted to make a political speech. Remember there 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.800 is a low key succession war going on behind the scenes, 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:57.760 and it's like RFK Junior versus Pete hegg Seth versus JD. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.720 Van's Like, this is happening because as you know, the 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.200 more exhausted Donald Trump is as he reads the teleprompter, 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.560 the more that that crew is all fighting behind the scenes. 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:12.440 So super interesting to watch heg sas decide that he's 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.320 going to get this speech and then Donald Trump to 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.640 come in and be like, and I'm speaking too, because 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.920 remember that was never the plan until pretty recently. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.320 Yeah, but what has been the plan for quite a 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.200 while is this deploying military members to train in the 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:31.120 streets thing. I think this is the more worrisome statement, 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.800 even if it was poorly worded or something that gets 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.640 defeated a lot, because it really shows that they're talking 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:40.200 about this all the time, and it's not good. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.760 Right, I mean, this is this thing of trying to 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:47.200 get the troops in cities. It's not good. It breaks 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.320 the law that passe Commentita's Act says that you can't 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.000 just send troops willing Nelly. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:53.960 It's all bad. 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.440 It's all bad, it's all scary, it's all worrying, it's 0:04:57.480 --> 0:04:59.839 all not what we do in this country, Somali. 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.880 We had a lot of fun drops from the Epstein 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:04.520 files last week. 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.039 Three different ones, and soon we're going to have the 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.840 great Jason Leopold on to talk about all of this 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.320 data that they are all of his information about Epstein 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.560 that they are dropping. There is a ton of information 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.280 about Epstein. And what's interesting to me is you have 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.560 the House Oversight Committee that has been really well run 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:29.560 by the Great Robert Garcia, friend of the show, friend 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.080 of mine also, who's done a really good job being 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.200 out there getting the information. He got, the birthday book 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.760 he got, you know, he's subpoenaed stuff, he's gotten it. 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.960 You Know what's interesting is sometimes when Democrats are doing 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.200 really well, you don't see it because you just see 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.880 the information and you don't necessarily understand how you got it. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:54.680 But Robert Garcia is the head of Oversight and he 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.680 has really done an excellent job, and he took over 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.200 for Jerry Connelly. As you know, this is some thing 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.520 that's gotten got me very upset because I felt that 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.000 Jerry Connolly was not the right person for the job. 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.320 So now there is a new candidate that has won 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:13.720 in Arizona. Her father was the member of Congress before 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.120 he died. She has run, she has won. Her name 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.680 is Adelita Grihava. She's a Democrat from Arizona. She will 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:25.080 be the two hundred and eighteen signature on the Epstein 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.520 Files discharge petition once she's sworn in. You know who 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:33.000 doesn't want to swear her in? Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.960 doesn't want to swear in because Mike Johnson doesn't want 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:41.480 to release the Epstein files. And Representative Catherine Clark, also 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.280 friend of the show, the number two Democrat in the House. 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:46.719 She's going to come out swinging, which I think is 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.799 really the right thing in this Any delay in swearing 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:55.599 and representative elect necessarily deprives her constituents of representation and 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.279 calls into question if the motives behind the delay is 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.279 to further upoid the release of the Epstein files, which 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.919 why else would why else would Mike Johnson do this? 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.680 Why else? What would the other reason he would do 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:12.760 for not doing this? 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.080 There's no other reason Aside from that, they play dirty, 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.480 which is what I wish there would be even a 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.200 little bit of effort on Hakeeman Schumer's side would be 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:24.800 just give me twenty five percent of the energy that 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:25.200 they give. 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:25.600 Please. 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.320 Yeah, but it's good that she was out there, and 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:32.520 it's good that she was talking about it, and it 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.640 is for sure, for sure the right thing. But yes, 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:42.280 that is true. Sam Cedar is the host of The 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.720 Majority Report. Sam Cedar, Welcome to Fast. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.960 Politics, Molly, thank you for having me. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:51.080 Governments get a shut down. Everything's going great. 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.160 I am of the opinion that the government has been 0:07:55.520 --> 0:08:01.800 more or less inoperative for months, short of its fascist 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:06.920 wing that they have deployed to Chicago, in LA and 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.400 the city coming to you Tennessee. 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:10.760 You know, look, there's been. 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.040 A lot of ice activity in New York as well, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.000 in the Bronx and bedsty and we're just going to 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.120 get more of that. But in the meantime the other 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.960 government functions. In fact, this week there's one hundred and 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.200 fifty four thousand government employees who took the buyout, which 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:29.840 is the highest number I think ever on record for 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.640 a year. They have not been working for months. We've 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.360 been paying them, they've not been working for months. I mean, 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.320 so government shutdowns are bad as a political matter. I 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.000 think the American public is going to be aware of 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.400 what is happening in a way that they haven't been 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:50.360 aware until now. And part of that is a failure 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:53.160 of political leadership from the Democrats too, in my estimation, 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:54.640 democratic leadership, I. 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:56.880 Should say, yeah, you know, like I spend a lot 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:01.400 of time thinking about how different it was in twenty 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:05.560 sixteen than it is now, Like how in twenty sixteen 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.559 there was a feeling that this is not who we are, 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.040 and in twenty twenty four there's a feeling this is 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:13.760 exactly who we are, right Like. 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.760 Yeah, I mean I think that feeling is also a 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:22.120 function of like where you and I might sit in society. 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:26.000 I mean I had conversations I remember, explicitly, you know, 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:31.360 having conversations with black people, brown people who are like 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.320 not surprised at all, this is exactly who we are. 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.200 But yes, I think that there was a much bigger 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:42.000 surprise element. The other big factor, frankly, was the courts 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:46.600 did not have two hundred and fifty Trump appointees in 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:51.640 twenty sixteen, and Russell Vote had not had four years 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.440 to figure out how to do this in a way 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.680 that would would be more expedient, and then I would 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:04.120 say there was far greater unity now the Republican Party, 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.920 you know, the last vestiges of what the Republican Party 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:09.880 were killed off, so there was no pretending anymore. 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:12.360 And they were in Bolden. 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.480 Because they were let back in. So all those things 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.560 are different. It's a very different environment, I think. On 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.840 the Democratic side, I think there is also a different 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:26.280 environment because there is a I think, at least amongst 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:31.360 like people, not so much necessarily the political class, awareness 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:36.559 of their political late leaders failing to meet the moment. 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.120 I really do think that's out there. I mean, you 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.040 see it in the polling. Democrats are a poll worse 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.319 than Republicans, you know, even. 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:49.600 Though it's all slightly better but still not well. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.720 Okay, I mean slightly better. I mean, I think these 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:57.520 people are still going to vote for Democrats largely, but 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:02.120 the dissatisfaction with Democrats between the dissatisfaction Democrats in twenty 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:07.360 sixteen and Democrats now, it's more Democrats who are dissatisfied 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.280 with the Democratic Party, and that I think is is 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:11.319 much more pronounced. 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:13.839 I mean, there are a number of really bad things 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.120 happening at once. But it does feel as if there's 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.640 also a sort of tea party movement in the Democratic Party. 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:24.640 Yeah, but if you're saying that there is an insurgency 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.120 and there's a grassroots like a sort of dissatisfaction, I 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.920 think that's absolutely true. I think it's necessarily different because 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.920 of the way that the Democratic Party has viewed its 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.400 base and populism versus the way that Republicans did. So 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.600 it's it's, you know, it's gonna be a struggle. It 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.520 played out in the Harris campaign, I think too, and 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:48.760 I think it's you know, it's pretty clear who won 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.960 that argument. And I think a lot of what we're 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:56.920 seeing now is the tide is turning and it's going 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.680 to play out. It's gonna get you know, like, look 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:01.560 to me if you want to see how this really 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:02.320 plays out in. 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:07.280 My mind, Graham Platner, and if Mills jumps in at Mills. 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:11.520 Yeah, if Mills jumps in and she will as the 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.839 as Chuck Schumer and Christian Gillier Joe Brand's candidate, You're 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.520 going to see it play out there. And I think 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.520 that's going to be really an important primary. 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.320 Do you think she jumps in, because my sense is 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.400 that at seventy nine, running for the Senate is kind 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:31.880 of I mean, she said she doesn't want to. 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.960 Has she I read as like as recently as a 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:38.920 week ago that she was leaning towards it. 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.280 Okay, so I mean maybe she does. But what I 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:43.240 had read lost. 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:44.240 Do I think she wants it? 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:48.400 I imagine she probably wants to retire, But I think she's 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.600 also getting a lot of pressure from, like I say, 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:56.360 the Senate Campaign Committee and Chuck Schumer. I absolutely think 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:58.760 it's a huge mistake to run somebody who's going to 0:12:58.800 --> 0:12:59.960 be seventy nine when they. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:01.479 Turn into the governorship. 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.520 But this is where I think that that dynamic is 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:08.600 playing out, where you have Schumer and Jillibrand pushing someone 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.680 in a desperate attempt to I think, I mean, I 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:15.920 don't know what. I don't know how someone a rational 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.920 person thinks this is a good idea, particularly in this environment, 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.040 particularly when we lost the last election because we had 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:26.000 a candidate who you know, originally was you know, too 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.800 old and would not concede that notion. Where we've had 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:35.240 we are waiting on releasing the Epstein files to seat 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:39.400 a Democrat because we lost three Democrats to death in 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.839 the past nine months where we watched Dianne Feinstein, and 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.480 by Diane Feinstein, really we have to say, like her 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.960 staff essentially keep her in office all the things that 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.160 we saw in terms of the Supreme Court and whatnot. 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:53.560 I don't know if it would have made a difference 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.880 we had somebody who was sort of you know, aware 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.720 of her surroundings at that time. But I mean to 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:05.320 not see the abject fallacy of perceiving a candidate to 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.280 be strong at age seventy nine as they enter into 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.559 the office, I think is just insane. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.280 It's repeating a mistake the party has recently made. There 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.640 are just a bunch of different sort of arguments for 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.840 and against the shutdown, which is we are which by 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.280 the time people listen to this will be either about 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.840 to go into it or have just gone into it. 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.520 There's an argument to be made. I mean, the base, 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:33.560 the Democratic base definitely wants a shutdown, and Jeffreys Camp 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.320 has wanted a shutdown since March, right, I mean, they 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:40.360 were for a shutdown in March. So there is an argument. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.320 And it was Schumer who caved in March because of 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.320 the threats of you know that it will mean more 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.800 power for the Trump administration. So there's an arguments. 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:55.440 Sensibly right right, public argument was yes, right. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.000 But again so there is an argument to be made 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:03.680 that shutting down the government actually elevates the fight about healthcare. 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.600 But again it's a dangerous gambal because Trump is already 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.240 saying that it's about healthcare for illegals, and what is 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.920 true and not true in this post truth world doesn't 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:19.560 necessarily matter if enough people believe it. So do you 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.040 think it's good, do you think it's bad? And where 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:22.920 do you come down on. 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.000 I think they should have done this. In March, Donald 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.600 Trump put out a video after Chuck Schumer had come 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.120 out and said, I think the President has finally heard us. 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.360 Which it's very nice of Chuck Schumer to say that 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:36.120 Donald Trump is a reasonable person and know he is listening, 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.000 and remind everybody how they were locked out of the 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:43.120 White House and only we're allowed in at Trump's behest. 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:47.680 I mean, it is horrible, horrible politics. It's in my estimation. 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.280 But moments after, not moments an hour after Chuck Schumer 0:15:53.800 --> 0:16:00.200 said that, Donald Trump posted an AI version of Chuck 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:05.080 Schumer and Hakim Jeffries. Jakim Jeffries was in a sombrero 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:10.280 with a you know, a cartoonish mustache. There was Mexican 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:15.040 music playing, and Chuck Schimer was saying yes. 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.280 And not to put too fine a point on it. 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:22.440 And Chuck Schumer was ai generated saying, you know, everybody 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.560 hates us, and we want illegals to come in the 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.360 country because they're going to ultimately vote for us. My 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:31.600 point being that we didn't need a government shutdown, We 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.400 didn't need to give a trumpet an excuse he went 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.240 and did that. That is the new reality to operate 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:42.640 at this moment because you are afraid of how the 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.640 Trump administration is going to lie about you, or the 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.200 Republicans in the House are going to rely a lie 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.880 about you, and to operate in such a way that, like, 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:57.800 if we power enough then maybe they won't notice we're 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.800 here is absurd. The reason why Chuck Schumer is doing this, 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.480 the reason why Chuck Schumer would not want to shut 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.159 down the government is because there is a belief in 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:13.480 democratic leadership that if we don't do anything, if we 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:20.040 just make people think that we don't exist, then the 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:24.720 midterms will be exclusively a referendum on Trump, and that's 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:30.800 what we need to win, and it is it could work, certainly, 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:38.600 like in a secular cycle environment, it should work. There 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:40.600 are headwinds in so far as like there's going to 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:41.400 be redistricting. 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.320 It didn't work in twenty twenty four. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.359 It did not work in twenty twenty four, not at all. 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:54.000 And if you're relying on people to be aware of 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:56.600 what Donald Trump is doing and why it's bad, you 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.240 nibble around the edges, like you make the issue not 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:02.680 extending Obamacare like. 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.960 Really is that? Like is that really that some total 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:08.760 of like is that even now? 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.400 That may be part of it, but like the idea 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.360 that the Democrats don't have to take a position on 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:20.560 anything is a total fallacy. It is like the the 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:25.120 vacuum that they leave allows the Republicans to run roughshot 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:32.399 over them. And the it is astonishing to me that like, Okay, 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.680 Donald Trump is completely lying about you. The JD Vance 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.040 is out there, He's completely lying about what you're even 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:41.600 holding out for. How do you walk up to those 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:45.159 microphones in that press conference right right? Just as a 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.879 political matter, the only time that you are guaranteed to 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:53.520 have the news cover what you say broadly speaking, is 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.240 when you walk out of that meeting with the president, 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.200 and so you get up there and you don't say, well, 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:06.800 we're we're about extensions on Obamacare and recision and pocket recision. 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:08.919 Nobody knows what that means. I mean, you and I 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.600 know what that means. But we do this professionally. You 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:13.880 get up there and you go. Donald Trump has been 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.920 cutting services for people illegally. Donald Trump wants to raise 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.360 your insurance rates. We want to stop that, and we're 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.280 not going to sign on to this unless he agrees 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:27.040 to it. Donald Trump is destroying farmers with tariffs. 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:28.320 We want to stop that. 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:30.879 You and I know that has nothing to do with 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:35.120 the budget, but you could restore Congress's ability to shut 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.280 down the tariffs. And you know what they're lying, Wake 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:43.920 up and smell the effing coffee. It is example after 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:49.399 example after example of the failure of democratic leadership to 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:54.440 understand this moment. They may win by pretending they don't exist. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:58.200 I don't know where they go from there. Frankly, it's 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.600 probably you know, I mean, we saw what happens when 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.119 you do that. I mean, that's what Kama Harris ran on, 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:08.800 like no change, But I think that's leaving a lot 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:14.240 up to chance. Frankly, you need to have a message, 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.040 and I cannot tell you what the Democratic message is 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:22.640 because they have explicitly avoided having one. No, I mean 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:27.640 you can read you can read Carvel from February. Don't 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:31.440 do anything is what he said, and they are following 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:32.680 that to a t. 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.960 So it was a really good piece in the New 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:41.800 York Times opinion section yesterday about the idea that there's 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:47.400 a class war coming to the Democratic Party that I'm 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:48.600 not sure did you read that piece. 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.199 I haven't read that piece, but I that would not 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:51.800 surprise me. 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:57.199 The story about how you either run as populous or 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:02.480 you basically give up. I mean, that's essentially what that. 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:08.200 There is a populist lane, and it's available. Almost nothing 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:09.440 else is available. 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:14.239 Really, what I mean, what else you tell me, like 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.879 even like even as a like Kama Harris ran as, 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.919 I am republican friendly at least you know Cheney style republicanism, 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:24.080 which it didn't work. 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:25.480 That did not work. 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.080 No, there are not a lot of white women who 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.639 loveless Cheney who have decided they're going to vote for Democrats. 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:34.919 It's it's even worse than that. What they did is 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.520 they basically said, Donald Trump is not part of the establishment, 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:41.959 right because we have the establisher right here. We are 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.159 the Republicans and the Democrats. He's somewhere out he's like 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:46.240 a third party. 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:50.800 And that made him a little more like that's great. 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.880 I mean, Donald trumple's running on as a change candidate 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:56.840 and as an outsider. And Kamala Harris went around the 0:21:56.840 --> 0:21:59.800 country and said he's an outsider and he's going to 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:01.040 bring change and we're not. 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.680 But as a I mean, what is the other option? 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.320 I mean, first of all, aside from the fact that 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:11.639 we desperately need that, because if you look at like 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.800 all the economic indicators, and this is why I think 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:19.560 the Biden administration got caught up the economic industry indicators 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:22.280 on you know, like top line paper. I think things 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:24.960 are going to start to look worse soon. But the 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.640 reason why they're maintaining is because we have such incredible 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.919 wealth and equality in this country that literally twenty percent 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:36.560 of the people are scaffolding all of these economic numbers. 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:41.480 And it does not tell us the story. These economic 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.520 indicators do not tell us the story that they used 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:47.600 to tell us thirty years ago or forty years ago. 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:52.119 Because we have such incredible wealth inequality. Now that a 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:57.120 concentrated group of people can support what looks like good 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:01.919 economic indications while eighty percent of the population suffers. You 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.640 need to address this. We need a popular economic populism 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.719 without a doubt. What fascinates me about the only thing 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:11.840 that's attempted to rival it is this sort of like 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:17.800 amorphous abundance agenda, which is, you know, backed by open 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:20.439 AI people. They've done the hundred wait. 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:22.840 Wait, wait wait, I want you to do this because 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:25.879 Jesse is obsessed with this. I think it needs a 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:29.199