WEBVTT - Rick Wilson & Caroline Kitchener 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.160 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:08.840 today's best minds. 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:10.680 And gay couples. 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:15.520 Rush to get married and have children before the Trump inauguration, 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:18.920 always a great sign. We have such a good show 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.680 for you today the Lincoln Projects Rick Wilson stops by 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.840 to talk about what Cash Bettel's appointment to the FBI 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:27.040 directorship means. 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:28.560 Then we will talk. 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:33.760 To the Washington Posts Carolyn Kitchener about the latest horrors 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.240 in the post row world. 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:36.960 But first the. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:41.760 News Somalie, it was a quiet weekend. Well, everyone ate 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.080 Turkey and slept through trip to Fenn, but I think 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.120 there were some interesting stories. So the first one we 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:48.400 have is I'm going to shock you here. The Trump 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:51.680 administration is laughing at the Democrats decorum. 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.120 This is one of the problems with trying to cover 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:59.520 an autocrat right. So Republicans are delighted that Biden took 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:03.000 pictures with Trump and did a peaceful transfer of power, 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.680 or at least did that first meeting. And they think 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.240 of it as an own because this is. 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:09.480 All about owning the Libs. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.800 So Trump campaign people told Rolling Stone some of us 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:16.559 have been laughing about it. Democrats spent all this time 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.039 calling Donald Trump and Nazi and Hitler, and now it's 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.319 just smile for the cameras. Again, like, this is this 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.720 fundamental problem we were just talking about with Rick Wilson, 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.600 and you'll hear us get all cranky with each other. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:33.080 But like, an autocrat as a candidate is different than 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.560 an autocrat as a president, right, Democrats have this problem, 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.600 which is they don't want it. They didn't want to 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:43.360 normalize the auto, the autocracy and the candidate. But now 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.479 that he has won, he has. 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:47.680 To be covered. He has to be covered, period. 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.520 Paragraph So I do think this is very hard to cover. 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.360 And again this is the fundamental disconnect between covering an 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:59.880 autocrat and a democracy and trying to cover what is 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:04.160 that normal while still being clear eyed about what is normal. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.760 But Democrats had no choice. They had to protect norms 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.240 and institutions. Do I think it was great that they 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:14.480 took photos? Not especially, but do I think that we 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.920 at least need one party that stands up for the 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.040 rule of law and the way we do things in 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.040 this country. And if we had two, just think of 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:23.799 what we could do. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:28.040 Yeah, it could all feel so normal, like twenty fifteen Somali. 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:31.760 We now know the makeup of the House and how 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.040 this Congress is shaken out, and we're starting to understand 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.200 how Republicans kept their majority in Congress. 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:38.040 What are you seeing here? 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.840 So this is a really interesting moment because if you 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:47.400 look back at the twenty sixteen Congress, I was actually 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.000 went back and looked at the twenty sixteen Congress. In 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:56.280 the twenty sixteen Congress, Democrats had I had only really 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.520 got shellacked at the House. So Democrats at one hundred 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.880 and ninety four seats and Republicans had had forty one seats, 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.480 so they could pretty much do anything in Congress. And 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.560 in fact, what they did the House Republicans was they 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.600 shut down the budget. They shut down they shut down 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:15.560 the government. That was one of the first things they did. 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.320 They controlled the House, the Senate, the Presidency, and they 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.359 shut down the government. So they had two forty one 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.320 Democrats had one ninety four. Now Republicans have two hundred 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.720 and twenty seats and Democrats have two fourteen seats. And 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.880 by the way, that is actually not you know, the 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.440 final result will be two twenty to two fifteen. That's 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:41.840 the GOP majority. That is one of the smallest margins. Ever, 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.640 It's even smaller than it was last Congress. The Congress 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:51.920 when Republicans had tenth Congress was was a bigger margin 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.200 than this, and they could barely pass anything. So but 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.280 I think it's important to realize that there's one reason 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:03.080 why Republicans won the House as cycle, and it's North 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:10.200 Carolina jerrymandering. So they Republican supermajority in North Carolina redrew 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:15.000 the districts to favor the GOP North Carolina. This is 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.680 Wiley Nicol who was a Democratic member of Congress. North 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.320 Carolina is one of the most jerrymandered states in the country. 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.719 We have to spend more on litigation than anyone else 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:26.400 in the country. 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:27.120 One of the. 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:31.279 Poster children for extreme partisan jerrymandering. This again is a 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.360 little bit of Republicans winning by cheating. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.680 One of the more disturbing pieces of news that dropped 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.760 over this holiday weekend was email that Pete Hegseith, who's 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.960 nominated for Secretary of Defense, mother wrote about him disrespecting women. 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:45.920 What are you seeing here? 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:51.119 Yeah, So, Pete Hegsa's mother wrote a email to her son, 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:56.280 who is hoping to become director of the Department of Defense, 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:01.440 and she sent it on April thirtieth, twenty eighteen, when 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:03.240 he was in the middle of a divorce from his 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.279 second wife, and she said, you are an abuser of women. 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:08.799 That is the ugly truth. And I have no respect 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:09.679 for any man. 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.240 Who belittles that belittles, lies, she sleeps around, and uses 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.479 women for his own power and ego. Penelope Road, you 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.480 are the man you have been for years, and as 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.599 your mother, it pains and embarrasses me to say this, 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.520 but as a sad, sad truth, your abuse over the 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.720 years to women, dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, and belittling 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.400 needs to be called out. So this was after his 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.800 second wife had filed for a divorce, after hegseeth head 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.760 coworker in the email, Penelope Road, Sam is a good 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:43.120 mother and a good person under the circumstances you created. 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.960 And I know deep down that you know. For you 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.680 to label her as unstable for your own advantages, despicable 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.560 and abusive. Anyway, there's a lot to this storm and 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.680 it's really quite upsetting. 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.880 And you know then the mother did, in fact. 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:03.360 Say she had written back and sent another email, but 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.080 she did not share it with the New York Times. 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.640 Yeah, this is coupled with many of the remarks he's 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:09.760 made about women do not paint a good picture for 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.040 the fellow We should give a little primer. So President 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.479 Trump truth this weekend that he might give one hundred 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.680 percent tariffs against bricks. I noticed a lot of people 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.200 don't know what bricks is, which is Brazil, Russia, India, 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:24.760 China and South Africa. 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:25.599 What do you think about this? 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:31.000 So this is Trump threatening something, threatening to do something 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:33.880 that probably isn't going to happen anyway. Trump is very 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.560 good at solving problems that aren't real problems. So bricks 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.880 had been musing about going off the dollar and maybe 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:45.720 using the Chinese currency or some other currency, but they're 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:50.040 not going to do this. And so Trump threatening tariffs 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:53.440 to people for something they won't do is his kind 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.120 of problem solving and none of us should be surprised 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.760 by it. He is using tariffs as a way to 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:00.000 try to get people to do what he want. 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.400 Yeah, and I look forward to the riots in the 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.680 streets when all our Chinese products have that big of 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:08.360 tariff on them. 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:08.760 Yeah. 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.080 I mean, I also just think this is like one 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.640 of these great threats for him because it's never gonna happen, 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:15.400 so he doesn't have to worry about it, so he'll 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:16.040 threaten it. 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.600 Yeah, this will be lost in the dustbin of other 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:19.920 truths that never happened. 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.080 Rick Wilson is the founder of the Lincoln Project in 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.800 the host of the Enemy's List, Welcome Back, Too Fast Politics, 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:31.920 Rick Wilson. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:33.880 Hey, Mally Johns Fast. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving? 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.640 Yes the best. I saw you deep fried a turkey. 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.360 Yeah, I did deep fry a turkey as a man. 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.080 Does you at RFK? Listen, I'm deep fried. I've deep 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.720 fried about I don't know twenty five turkeys in my life. 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.480 I'm writing of other things too, But RFK does not. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.520 He does not represent the whole frying turkey brand everybody. 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.760 I mean, I'm just I'm just telling you. RFK is 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:56.920 the definitional turkey frying guy. 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:02.239 So here's a question besides turkey, which is the subject 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.040 I want to delve deeper into because it's such a 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.000 disgusting animal that I don't like to eat and it's 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.200 quite gross. But more important, there really is a possibility 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.120 to burn oneself quite badly. 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:16.680 Oh, yes, many people do and you know, and I 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.120 really thought about doing this. I actually had written the 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.520 tweet and everything, and the tweet was only libtard shill cut. 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.160 Don't fry their turkeys in the garage. It's only those 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.560 liberal frogs who cook them outside. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.199 So we are it is Thanksgiving weekend, which means Donald 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:39.000 Trump must make more announcements, because what is a weekend 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:43.080 for if not making more appointment announcements. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.840 To shock and horrify the American people. 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.040 This is one that he had been playing back and 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:51.120 forth with. We knew it was possible. We thought perhaps 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.400 he would Cash Betel go. 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:58.040 Okay, you know, here's the thing. The entire purpose of 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:02.440 all things Trump is to verify and to dismay the 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.040 American people. We get it, we do. We get it. 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.960 We get it. Cash Battel is a guy who is 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:11.000 deeply unqualified, of course that goes without saying, to be 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.280 the FBI director. But he's also a guy who's promised 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.600 many many times now that he will be the artificer 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.320 of Trump's revenge strategies against everyone who has ever offended him, 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:22.840 and so on and so on. 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.760 And so on, so a lot of people, by the way, 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:26.199 you and. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:27.880 I are on the list. I'm afraid to say, but 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:30.560 you know what, I think we are right now at 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.040 a moment where where Donald Trump has had a loss 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:38.280 with Matt Gates being taken out of contention for Attorney General, 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.560 and he wants and has been sold this vision by 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:45.280 Bannon and others that the purpose of the FBI and 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.679 the Department of Justice is to punish Trump's enemies. You know, 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:52.079 he's he's if cash Betel is confirmed, and I think 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:56.800 he probably will be because don't expect miracles from the Senate. Kids, 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:58.320 just don't, just do not. 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.000 I want to pause for a second because this is 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.160 something near and dear to my heart, and I want 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.920 to talk about why we should have hope and why 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:08.959 we should not be cynical. And this is going to 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.920 be very annoying to you and probably listeners. But the 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.559 reason why I want I want to have this conversation 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:20.520 is because this is the more cynical we are, the 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.240 more things are baked in, right, the less cynical we are, 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.880 the less things are baked in. So, for example, they 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:32.679 can lose three to four senators, Trump does not necessarily 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:36.320 give a shit about whether or not these people get through. Right, 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.000 He puts them up. But like Matt Gates isn't through 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.160 now it's Pambondy. That was like a two second news cycle. 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:47.840 So I think that Republican senators have more power than. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:48.440 They think here. 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.400 And we know with Matt Gates, the reporting at the 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.559 NBC reporting was that a senator told them you have 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.520 twenty to thirty senator Republican senators voting against this nomination. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.960 I'm just saying, like, I don't think we should ever 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:03.960 think of any of this as as baked in. We 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.720 should always try to open the door to people doing 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.640 the right thing, even though history has shown us that 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.439 they haven't. This is a time though, that is much 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.239 scarier than the last trumpad. 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.600 I think. I think, look, the great news, the good news, 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.199 I won't say greatness. The good news is that Donald 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:27.080 Trump's people are by and large fucking morons. Right actually, 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.520 in the traditional political sense of they are actually stupid people. 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:32.960 Many of them are really dumb. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:37.400 I was actually reading about some of the people and thinking, God, 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:39.800 these people sound really really dumb there. 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.520 Many of them are. Many of them could be easily 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:47.360 overcome by inanimate objects right there. They are not smart guys. 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.440 Now are they going to be in positions of tremendous power. Yes, 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.319 they are. That should that concern all of us, absolutely, 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:57.000 it should. However, I believe right now that you've got 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.640 got a very narrow window for Donald Trump to to 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.160 execute the on the worst of the crazy that he 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.400 wants to execute on that window. That window is again, 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:09.120 it is a narrow window, not a wide window. And 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.240 I think it's going to be hard for him to 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:13.080 pull off some of the bullshit he wants to pull 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.400 off with these people as the Senate ends up moving 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.920 from just talking about these things to having to actually 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.880 take votes on the nominations of these people, as the 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.480 Senate moves on to actually having to live up to 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.120 actually having their names on saying oh, yeah, I was 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.439 one of the guys who voted for cash Patel, right, 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.840 I was one of the people who voted to put 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:41.480 cash fricking Patel into the head of the FBI. I 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:46.560 spoke to three separate FBI officials FORBI officials over the weekend, 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.520 and none of the ones that you people think, by 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:49.000 the way. 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.000 Interestingly enough, not ones on cable news, not ones on. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.199 Cable news, all of whom said to me, Yes, the 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.640 FBI is much more conservative than a lot of people think, 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.680 but this is crazy, and this guy is this guy 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.840 is it will be? As it was pointed out to me, 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:04.800 he said, do you Somebody said to me, do you 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:09.199 want Devin Noon as this guy? He wrote, demo, Yeah, 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:13.200 in charge of all counter intelligence, domestic counter intelligence in 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.839 this country? Is that the guy you want in that job? 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:19.360 And the answer is obviously not only no, but fuck no. 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.760 But you know, you've got a very You've got a 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:28.200 very narrow, narrow window. While the compliance in the Senate 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.480 is still high because right now the Senate guys they're 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.800 not trying to negotiate for They're not trying to negotiate 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.600 for what they're going to do about you know this 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.840 or that budget item. They're all sort of like, ah, fuck, 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:40.240 we got to just deal with Trump. We'll get the 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.679 inauguration done, we'll get the we'll get the non controversial 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.520 appointments done and move on from there. That is not 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.360 going to be easy. The longer it goes, the harder 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.960 it's going to get. And look, I think this weekend 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.640 putting Charles Kushner up there as our ambassador to France 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:57.520 was an insult both to the French. 0:13:57.880 --> 0:13:59.959 Can you push back can I push back here for sure, 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.960 And I hate to be the person to say this, 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:07.160 but ambassadors are fucking that's a pay for play gig, right, Yeah. 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.200 But here's the thing. We're also in the middle of 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.920 a European conflict right now. It's going to require serious people, 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.480 and France is one of the most important players in 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.560 the in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. And so 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.920 I'm concerned that Trump did that very deliberately to fuck 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.119 to mess with the entire. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.200 I mean, except Trump put Newt Gingrich's wife as ambassador 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.320 at to Holy See, his third wife, right, a Catholic. 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.160 I mean, like, yeah, here's the thing we're not really 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.200 worried about. We're not really worried about the Vatican right 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:40.360 now in terms of a war fighting posture, right. 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.320 But I'm just saying, like, ambassadorships are known to be 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:45.200 nonpartisan grift. 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.960 You know, you pay, you get an ambassadorships. 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:49.560 But here's the thing. I mean, the Court of Saint 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:53.120 James is the a position ambassadorship. That's that's the top 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.320 of the pile. There's none better than that. You don't 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.560 get a better you don't get a better diplomatic opportunity 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.320 than that. Francis the second. 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.800 Yeah, but he's putting he's putting Johnson in the or 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.080 at least last time you put Johnson in the you know, 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.520 big Republican donor. 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:09.520 I mean, I don't. 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:15.840 I think putting unqualified people in ambassadorships is not is nonpartisan. 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:18.760 I think it's insulting though to our allies. And I 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.680 think it I think it shows you once again this 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.920 is an unseerious person and in a serious time. 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.000 Yeah, but except we know he's an un serious person. 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.840 We know he's a fucking moron. But what's important is 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.720 like Cash Battel should be an eleven. 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.000 Charles Kushner should be a two. 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.440 I don't. I don't dispute. Well, I think like a four. 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.280 But okay, I don't dispute that Cash Battel is is 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.000 legitimately problematic and dangerous. Right, Well, let's not let's not 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.440 pretend anything otherwise. He's a bad guy, and he's a 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:51.200 guy who who is going to publicly try to be 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.080 the face of Trump's revenge play. 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.440 And that is you know what, No, I gotta tell 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:56.160 you really bad. 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.360 That's pretty bad. And and as Charlie Sykes wrote, you 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.160 know the purpose of Cash battels to terrify people. That's 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.560 why he's there. And you know, Tim Snyder has that 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.760 phrase sato populism, where like the purpose of this kind 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:11.480 of populist decision, you know, we're going to put a 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.560 guy who's gonna tear it up because it's all corrupt, 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.160 is to scare the fuck out of people. It's a 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:19.160 dangerous position for the country, but it's also kind of inevitable. 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:20.560 You know. We have to we have to we have 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:24.360 to sort of adjust our reality to the inevitability of 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:25.280 the of the shit. 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:26.440 I agree. 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.520 I also think that when we talk about Cash Battel, 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.920 he's really scary. We have had really scary FBI director 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.440 Herbert Hoover put my grandfather in jail. 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:42.440 Herbert Herbert Hoover was a president, right, Jed Houverer, Yeah, yeah, 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:47.680 Jed Gruber. I mean, and we have had nothing comparable 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.240 to Hoover in our lifetimes. 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:50.880 Right. 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.800 No, No, thankfully, you know, thankfully. But I do think 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.080 it's important that we not we don't take our eye 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.960 off the ball. This is potentially an extraordinarily bad set 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:01.680 of outcomes. 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.879 No, I agree, which is why I think it's so 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.800 important that people like Mike Ground who was on ABC 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.440 today talking about how how good Christopher Ray is. There's 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.600 no reason Ray has three more years on his term, right, this. 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.640 Is there's no way Trump let's Ray stay in that office. 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:20.600 They will die on that hill. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:26.240 Yeah, But I also think, like there's RFK, there's Ray Talsy, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:28.200 and then there's Pete Hegseth. 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.119 Well, look, I think I think Pete Hegseth is now 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.639 edging toward being disqualified in this job. But even in 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:37.960 the minds of some of Trump's allies, they're not like 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.639 this email from his own mother about his character and 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.960 the way he treats women. I am not easily. You 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.840 and I are both, you know, were fairly jaundice about 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.080 this kind of thing. That was pretty horrifying. I think 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.960 we have to just admit it. That was pretty pretty 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.600 damn horrifying. That was not if you're a person with 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:59.280 any judgment about character, and you think character matters at all, 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:01.959 you can't have this guy as the secretary of Defense. 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:02.520 You just can't. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:07.600 Right, Adultery is against the rules in the army. 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.680 Yes, well, yes it is. It is very much against 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.400 the rules. And by the way, not simply because there's 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.240 some moral thing there. It's because it compromises you in 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.679 your in your national security position. It makes you vulnerable 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:26.320 to blackmail, it makes you vulnerable to manipulation, it makes 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:30.760 your decisions questioned by your own people as well. But 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.120 I do think it's important that we look at all 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.600 of these sort of moments we're in right now and 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.080 ask the question, like, you know, is there a solution 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.359 to the Cash Betel problem? Is this a guy you 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:44.399 can you could find a way to ensure that he 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.320 doesn't get the nomination. I think there are still there's 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:51.160 still a possibility he doesn't get it. But right now 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.680 Trump is he's going to start acting more and more 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:59.600 childish and judgmental and angry as things are denied. 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.960 To him, except that he also doesn't really care if 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:07.240 these people get through. So you know, certainly not RFK Junior. 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.360 Right, here's the thing, Okay, I generally agree with that, 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:13.679 that he doesn't really care much about these people. I 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.000 generally agree with that, but I'm always curious, and lately 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.200 particularly curious. I'm always curious. Like Trump wants certain things, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.560 he wants certain outcomes. One of those outcomes is revenge 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.479 on his enemies, right, and a guy like Cash mattel 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:31.600 is offering him that, mister President, I will, I will. 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.600 I will crush your enemies before you. I will humiliate them, 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:36.800 I will hurt them. I will, I will bankrupt them. 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:38.919 I will. I will use the power of the state 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:42.440 to go after people that don't like you and that 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.280 have and that have hurt you, sir, so so badly. 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:47.640 But I look, I find this. I find the entire 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.840 idea that Trump is going to let this go and 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:54.880 is not going to respond to opposition in the Senate. Now, 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:57.760 there will be a point where he says that he's 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.119 going to start, you know, acting, asking his people to 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:05.080 revenge him from these these people in the Senate who 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.399 aren't giving him what he wants. I mean, I'm you 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.119 know that Mike Davis guy. The other day, right after 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.320 Patel was named, Mike Davis came out and said something 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:15.679 to the effect of of, yeah, I dare you not 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.160 to vote for him, We'll make your lives a living hell. 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:18.520 Right. 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:21.080 But they didn't even have to not vote for Matt Gates. 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.960 I mean, that's just you know, like Ma Gates, I mean, 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:26.200 that's the other thing. Just for a minute to pause 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:30.960 and think about It's December first, right. So Trump doesn't 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:36.000 even get into office until January twenty first, there's a 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.960 lot of time, just like we saw with Matt Gates, 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.800 Like Matt Gates pulled himself out of this thing because 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.119 he knew there was a lot more coming, right, Sure, 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:49.080