WEBVTT - Jim Acosta & David Gilbert 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.120 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:12.240 today's best minds, and the American Bar Association is asking 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.600 lawyers to adhere to the rule of law. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:17.720 We have such a great show for you today. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:23.560 Substacks own the Jim Acosta Shows. Jim Acosta joins us 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:27.360 to talk about Trump's strategy to poke holes in the 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.040 weak points of the government. Then we'll talk to Wired's 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:36.800 David Gilbert about the threats Elon Musk's DOGE and the 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:41.240 teenagers who work for it pose to US national security. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:42.320 But first the news. 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:47.280 My we are no fans of Harrick Adams at this podcasts. 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.040 The news is very bad. So I think what was 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.800 an interesting thing though, was actually to do a timeline 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.040 of this before we get there, which was that yesterday morning, 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.680 I woke to a tweet that I immediately sent to 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.040 you and many people, which was Mayor Adams gathered as 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.000 top commissioners early Monday to give marching orders under the 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:10.160 new administration. Don't criticize President Trump, don't interfere with immigration enforcement, 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.039 and trust the mayor, sources told the city, and I thought, hmmm, 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:15.600 why would he do that. 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.199 And then so I would like to take a moment 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.880 here to step back for a second and embrace. 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.440 What you and I both know to be the mayoral curse. 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.000 Yes, I think you and I discussed this off air 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:32.800 every week for years. 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.080 We discussed this often and always. 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.320 The greatest city in the world has a mayor problem 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:45.280 and it rhymes with Adams. No, we have the worst 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:50.080 mayors in the world were cursed basically Rudy, I actually 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:55.680 like Bloomberg, but you don't. And then the groundhog killer Bill. 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.280 De Blasio, build Abudle, build Bungler. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:05.480 And then now we have our mayor, a simple dyslexic man, 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.480 just like everyone else. Now I'm dyslexic, so no shade 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:13.519 on dyslexia. It's my favorite learning disability. But he's very 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.280 corrumpt Let's be honest here, being mayor is about more 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.919 than just hanging out at zero bond. And this is true. 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.920 So basically what this all looks like to me. So 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.560 the mayor got indicted a bunch of indictments. There was. 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:31.600 First of all, there was a while when everyone knew 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.639 he was going to get indicted, and everyone in his 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:38.280 inner circle kept resigning or marrying each other. Then eventually 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.960 he got indicted, and there were supposedly more indictments coming. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.400 He got indicted for his sketchy relationship with Turkey, but 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.320 there's definitely also other stuff going on. Then he went 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.720 and sucked up to Trump, and now he has had 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:58.240 his indictments dismissed but without prejudice, which means that if 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:03.960 he stops behaving and letting Trump's deportation squads in, if 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.640 he stops doing that, then Trump can refile the charges. 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.600 By the way, there's a lot of insane details about this. 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:12.639 You should definitely read. 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.280 There's articles in the Times and The City Is this 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:17.600 really great news source that covers a lot of this. 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.720 Helgate also did a phenomenal one right Hellgate. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.359 There's all sorts of insane details here, but the net 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:28.960 net of the story is that basically. 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.760 Our mayor is now free to. 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:37.680 Act as Trump's lackey until Trump decides that he doesn't 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:42.640 need him anymore. And that is not super surprising because 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.040 we saw him sucking up to Trump to try to 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.760 get a pardon. But it's yet another dark day for 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:50.080 American democracy. 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.720 But what I really appreciated is, in typical Maga fashion, 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:56.680 they had to make sure that everyone could understand the message. 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.960 So what they did right after that was the next headline. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.920 Trump has part in former Illinois Governor Rod Blogoyevitch, who 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.920 did some of the most brazen bribery you've ever seen. 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.400 And he would that's okay because Rod Bolgoyevitch has been 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.120 kissing my ass for quite a while, and I want 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:14.840 to show this is all you got to do. 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.440 Yes, yes, yes, Rod Blogoyevitch. 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.720 So you'll remember he tried to sell the US Senate 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:28.080 seat vacated by former President Barack Obama. He served as 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.840 the governor for six years. It's funny because remember on 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:35.719 this podcast, we interviewed the great Governor Pritzker, and I said, 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:37.400 what are you doing next? And he said, if I 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.479 can serve out my second term, I will be a 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:40.760 history maker. 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:45.360 Which was left us both lefting, so we probably had 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:45.840 to cut it. 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.720 He's like our hero after saying that, But federal prosecutors, 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.239 I mean, look, he turned the government into a money 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.839 making operation for himself, or tried to and shaking down 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:01.240 at children's hospital and racetrack owners who among us, and 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.159 he went to do out. Look, the larger issue here 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.320 is that Donald Trump doesn't want bribery to be illegal 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:12.600 and let us continue here. Because Trump pauses enforcement of 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:17.000 law banning foreign bribery, you would think that this is 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.080 a law that you can't pause. First of all, when 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:25.040 is foreign bribery good? Like I would like my government 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.400 officials to be able to feel comfortable taking bribes from 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:29.640 foreign governments. 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.360 Kind of feels to me, not like training the swamp, 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.200 but importing the alligators into the swamp. 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:39.120 The Foreign Corruption Practices Act. What I love about this 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.720 administration is that we are learning all of these laws 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.359 that you and I never thought, Like, who would have 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.840 even thought? The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.320 for companies to operate in the United States to pay 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.400 foreign government officials to secure or keep business deals, you know, 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:56.760 like kickbacks. 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:58.120 Well, Donald Trump said no. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.080 Kickbacks, okay, ordered to pause in the enforcement of a 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:06.560 federal law aimed at curbing corruption in most multinational companies. 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.479 Curbing corruption, you say, no one wants that. That sounds terrible, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.920 says it creates an uneven playing field for people who 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:15.320 want to be corrupt. 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:17.800 Can't curb it, gotta do it. 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.320 The law makes it illegal for companies that operate in 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.960 the United States to pay foreign government officials to secure 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.600 business deals. This is like quid pro quo is known. 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.360 It's one of his favorite things. The law was enacted 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.440 in nineteen seventy seven. By the way, I just want 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.360 to pause for a second. This another post Watergate seventies 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.479 anti corruption law that Donald Trump is taking a pickaxe to. 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.640 Worth thinking about that for a minute. Mister Trump has 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.320 objected to the law. I love mister Trump. Mister Trump 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.080 has objected to the law which had led to charges 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.920 in huge minds against some of the world's largest companies. 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.919 I mean, this is the thing, right, God forbid? So 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:01.560 anyway that is now not being in forced because what 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:02.839 are laws anyway? 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.640 It's really funny. The only time you'd have to learn 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.400 about these laws is when we'd meet shady characters like 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:13.680 Paul Manifort and Eric Adams. Trump sick offense which now 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.280 has led us to a logical conclusion in the reality 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.800 based world aka not ours, which is that the US 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.040 has slipped to a do low with the interraditional corruption Index. 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:28.160 Yes, shocking, I know you'll be shocked here. 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.240 It's almost like causes, right. 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.280 I man, incredible stuff. 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:39.480 Here we go lowest ever the US received its lowest 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:47.920 ever Corruption Perceptions Index score since the Transparency International's current 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:52.760 scale was established in twenty twelve. According to the group's 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:57.280 annual ranking of public sector corruption across one hundred and 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.920 eighty countries, the US is one of the forty seven 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.240 country is to receive its lowest score yet effectively at 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:06.480 its most corrupt point. 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:08.000 You don't have to tell me that. 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.840 I think we all agree that anyone who has read 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.920 a newspaper in the United States of America knows there 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.840 something sketchy going on in our government. We should not 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.120 be surprised at all a four point drop since twenty 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.679 twenty three. I wonder what changed in twenty twenty three. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.440 The cleanest country is Denmark. Finland and Singapore are the 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:34.839 three cleanest countries, which is a bit strange. Seventh year 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:38.920 in a row that Denmark has led the pack. Venezuela, Somalia, 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:40.599 and South Sudan. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.600 Make up the bottom three. We're coming for you. 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.000 Baby, America, America, America. 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.040 America, American. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.480 So let's do one last piece of light news before 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:52.960 we end. 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.680 No, this is my favorite story of the week. This 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:57.720 is everyone's favorite story of the week. 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.360 I would even instruct the listeners. You just go seek 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.559 out this clip and get a nice smile for yourself. 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.600 Donald Trump declines to endorse JD. Vance as twenty twenty 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:07.080 eight Republican successor. 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:11.560 This is the one bright spot of the corruption, the stupidity, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:16.080 the anti science. There's so much bad stuff that comes 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.280 out of the ADMIN, and yet they are occasionally a 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.760 moment of just incredible hilarity. 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.480 This is like my favorite moment. Donald Trump declines to 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:27.160 endorse JD. 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:31.760 Vance's twenty twenty eight Republican successor. President Donald Trump said 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.160 in a preview of his Super Bowl interview on Monday 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.720 that it's too early to endorse Vice President Jady Vans. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:42.320 Brett Baher said, do you think of Vance as your successor? 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:47.720 And Trump said no, he is said no, and these said, budd, 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.000 He's very capable. I think you have a lot of 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.600 very capable people. So I don't know if anyone remembers 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:57.080 from the first season of this disaster, but Mike Pence, 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:06.880 Mighty Mike Pence, would like a word. Jim Acosta is 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.480 the author of The Substack of The Jim Acosta Show 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:14.040 and the author of the New York Times bestseller The 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:18.000 Enemy of the People. A dangerous time to tell the 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:23.720 truth in America. Welcome to Fast Politics, Jim Acosta. 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:25.680 Molly, how are you. It's been too long. 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.440 It's been too long and things are going great. What 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.040 are we like in the first month of the Trump 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.719 administration and we're already we have to cover of the 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.400 New York Times. Is it a constitutional crisis? 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.240 Yeah? I do think it is a constitutional crisis. I mean, 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.640 you have the American Bar Association putting out a statement 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.040 saying that the administration cannot just violate the law, cannot 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.760 just violate orders from a judge. You know, the American 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.880 Bar Association doesn't just do that willy nilly. My sense 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:56.920 of it is is that, you know, having covered Trump 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.920 the first time around, it is the shock and ag campaign, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.040 and he is trying to poke and prod different pressure 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.200 points and see, you know, where the vulnerabilities are. And 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.920 you know, he wasn't able to pull this off on 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.400 January sixth of twenty twenty one, and so he's trying 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.800 to figure out and his team is trying to figure out, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.319 how do we go about putting together this maximalist view 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.560 of the executive branch? And you know, I do think 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.600 people should be alarmed. I don't think that that's overstating things. 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.920 There's been a lot of talk about how these people 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:36.520 want to grow presidential power, shrink the checks and balances, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.680 sort of disassemble some of the founding principles of how 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:44.959 American democracy works. I'm surprised at how much Doge has 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:47.920 played a part in that. Are you and discussed? 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.480 Yeah, I mean, Molly, you and I were watching this 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:54.920 during the campaign, Elon Musk was talking about Doge. Trump was, 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.280 you know, putting Elon Musk on stage with his dark 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.000 mega hat and all of that. It just seemed like 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.160 a joke. It seemed like a lark. And I mean 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.920 they were deadly serious during the campaign. And what we're 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.600 now finding out is that, you know, basically Elon Musk 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.840 is operating like a co president. And you know, one 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:15.640 of the things that you know, people need to be 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.560 alarmed by is I think we're seeing a level of 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.439 corruption already inside the government that we have not seen 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.640 since the Watergate days when you have I mean, there's 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.199 there's a guy named Big Balls or something, what is 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.880 his name. He's nineteen years old, and he's been he's 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.520 been put in place over at State and DHS and 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.280 you know, who are these people who appointed them. I 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.280 find this to be highly alarming. We have not seen 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.079 anything like this before. And you know, I was down 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.080 at the Treasury Department. I wanted to go check out 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:48.599 the protest that they had the other day outside the 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.400 Treasury Department. It seemed like, you know, people are just 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.959 starting to wake up to what is taking place. I mean, 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:01.000 I think that this is, without question and infiltration by 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.480 an oligarch who is not only looking to feather his nest, 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:11.280 but again realize some vision of a maximalist, autocratic, authoritarian 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.160 style view of how the government should work in this country. 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.520 And it's just it's just completely anesthetical to the experience 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.080 you and I and others have had our entire life, 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:21.480 and so there should be pushback. 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:24.480 Yeah, I think that's true. And I also think there 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.440 is starting to be real pushback, which I guess is 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.120 good and also is strange. And the funny thing to 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.760 me is like they are trying to take away things 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:35.559 from people. 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:41.880 I mean, like healthcare CFPB, right exactly, CFPB, A lot 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.880 of stuff that are the kind of things that people 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.840 have gotten used to, and I'm not sure they understand 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.160 that they can be taken away exactly. 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.800 I mean, I think that we've sort of been operating 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.839 under the premise over the last you know, fifty years 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:01.320 or so that you know, the government does some things. Yeah, 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:03.360 every once in a while, there's some waste, fraud and 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.080 abuse that needs to be rooted out, but by and large, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.560 we've been plugging along as a country with a social 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:15.559 safety net, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, government funded science, scientific 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.200 research of the work, the important work that they do 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:22.440 at the nih usaid that this notion that in addition 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:24.920 to having the Pentagon with the strongest military in the world, 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.320 you're also going to have soft power. I mean, all 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.760 of these sort of basics that people like John McCain 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:35.120 and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton and you name it, 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.240 Mitt Romney all sort of agree on this is what 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.160 government does. All of that. The rug has been pulled 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.600 out from under all of that, and I think we're 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.920 right now living through all of this collectively in real 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.720 time and upending of the American way of life that 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.360 you and I have been accustomed to for the last 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.600 fifty years now. I mean, I was talking to James 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.400 Carvel about this yesterday on my substack. He is of 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.560 the mindset that progressive Democrats that left so on, people 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:01.760 in the center center right, you care about all this, 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.560 should just sit back, let Trump fall in his face. 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.680 He's going to do it in time and so on. 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.720 I do worry a little bit that that is perhaps 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:11.600 letting the barbarians to the gate. 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.160 Yeah, yeah, I think that's a mistake for any number 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:14.840 of reasons. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.080 I do too, And I love James. I heard him 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.320 say it. I was like, you know, some people are 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.960 just frigging traumatized by what is going on in this 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:22.840 country right now. 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.640 I think also games is you know, certainly there will 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:31.320 be unforced errors, which are probably the only way that 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.760 democracy makes it through this thing. I don't think that 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.800 people should And in fact, the truth is, pushback works 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.160 with this crew, and we've seen that again and again 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.040 and certainly when it comes to things like ice going 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:48.400 into schools and ice going into searches and sending people 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:53.040 to GIMO. These are real shock and all paradigm shifts, 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.680 things that we don't do in this country using the 0:15:55.920 --> 0:16:00.320 American military on civilians. These are things we don't and 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.320 there has to be pushback or else they won't stop. 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.840 That's absolutely right. My experience has been with Trump that 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:12.240 the only language that he understands is pushback. The only 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.360 language she understands is sort of going nose to nose 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.760 in a way that says no this far and no farther. 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.480 One of the problems that we are experiencing right now 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:26.520 is there is almost no pushback inside the Republican Party anymore. 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.080 The enablers are in charge, and you know when they 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.000 are putting somebody through like Tulsea Gabbert for Director of 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.960 National Intelligence. You talk to diplomats around Washington. They are 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.120 terrified of that prospect that somebody as gullible as she 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:43.800 is when it comes to eating hook line and sinker, 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.800 swallowing hook line and sinker, talking points from the Kremlin 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:48.920 and Basha al Asada and that sort of thing. To 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:50.440 think that she's going to be in charge of the 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.000 intelligence community is astounding. When you have somebody like cash 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.160 ptel Over at the FBI. There were times, and it 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.120 wasn't that long ago, Moley, and again this is what 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.160 I'm talking about, the rug pulled out from under all 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.320 of us. There was a time, I don't know ten 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.560 years ago when you would have had ten fifteen Republican 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.440 senators saying, oh, hell no, we're not doing Tulsa Gabert. 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.479 We are not doing cash Betel and all of that 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:12.760 is out the window, right. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.360 No, No, we are definitely in a different world than 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:21.000 we were in twenty seventeen. Oh those halcyon days of 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.000 twenty seventeen, which we're not so great either. What I 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.320 think is useful when we look at this admin is 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.200 that there have been many dark times in American democracy 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.480 before this, and I always feel like it's important to 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.840 think of like post reconstruction, like you know, I mean, 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.520 some of it is that affluent white people have not 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:46.280 necessarily gone through this kind of civil rights war the 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:50.800 way that people of color have right, especially in the 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:52.760 you know, we've seen that in the South and the North. 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.359 Jim Crow is a really good example of that. But 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.920 there have certainly been other times when the government has 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:02.160 decided that they that they want to root out people 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.399 who don't agree with them. I think that's a helpful framing. 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:07.000 What do you think about that? 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.840 I think so too. I mean, George Clooney is bringing 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.200 back good night and good luck to Broadway here, and 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:16.399 it is a perfect time to relearn the lessons of 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.840 the Red scare. I think it is a perfect time 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.240 to relearn the lessons of the civil rights movement of 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.520 the nineteen sixties, when people were you know, it sounds 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.600 sort of I guess corny or Quaine or cliche. This 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.040 to some I suppose not to be, but that folks 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.639 would rise up and want to march on Washington because 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.600 they're outraged over what is taking place. That is as 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:41.800 american as baseball. I mean, that is as american as 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.160 the George Washington portrait that is over my shoulder right now. 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:47.240 That is as American as a statue of liberty. To 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.720 scoff at that, I mean, it's almost as though the 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.840 language we are using, the discourse we are having, has 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.040 been so warped and manipulated, in large part by people 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.400 in the right who have cowed much of the country 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.240 into this position that, oh yeah, that their point of 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:05.240 view is completely within the realm of normal political dialogue. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:05.560 No. 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:09.240 Donald Trump has but become a very effective vehicle for 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:12.199 folks on the far right to push everybody to the 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.120 edge of the cliff. And at some point you have 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:18.000 to stop retreating. At some point you do have to 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.320 dig in your heels and you have to stand your ground. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.960 And you know the other day, when you know, Trump's 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:25.080 on air Force one coming back from the Super Bowl 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.040 or whatever, and he's talking about the January sixth defendants 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.560 were the ones who were assaulted. He was making that 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.000 claim to reporters. I mean, we are in a place 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.439 right now where the truth is just completely out the 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.720 window for almost half of the country, and so there 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:45.720 just has to be a muscular, determined, relentless pushback from 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:47.920 people who want to protect the American way of life. 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.080 And I just think that that is completely within the 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.439 bounds of like normalcy. I mean, I just, you know, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:55.919 why the hell is that not happening. You know, it 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:56.800 should be happening. 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.840 I'm so struck by the way that ever you want, 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.200 or at least a lot of these people in Trump 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.920 world don't really believe in any of this. So right, 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.199 like Trump is the convert. Jade Vance was never Trump 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.760 until a couple of years ago. Like all these people 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.240 don't really believe in any of this. I mean, even 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.480 Elon was Democrat, was donating to Democrats too. I mean, 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.400 I just, you know, it doesn't seem like anyone feels 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.480 any of this real deeply. Talk to me about that yeah. 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:27.840 I think that's an excellent point, Molly. I mean, you know, 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.040 when jd. Vance of Yale Law School is saying that, 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:36.560 you know, judges can't overrule legitimate actions from the executive 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.560 or whatever it was that he posted the other day, 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.320 just basshit crazy stuff for a guy who appears to 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.400 be reasonably intelligent. I think what they have found, Molly, 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.520 is they found a trick that works. And I was 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.879 talking about this with Timothy Snyder and Applebaum in the 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:54.240 week before the election, and you know, one of the 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:56.840 scary things, and it is a sorry state of affairs 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:02.280 about authoritarianism, about autocracy, about fascism, is that it works 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:07.640 with a sizeable percentage of a civilized society. I hate 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.480 to put it out there like that, but it absolutely 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.280 is the case. And so what does that mean for 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:14.679 the rest of us. For the rest of us, it 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.200 means it doesn't matter if they feel a deeply down 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:19.879 in their bone marrow or if they know that this 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.680 is all crap and they're peddling it anyway, the rest 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.000 of us have to say, no, you know, you take 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.640 that somewhere else. That's just not going to work here. 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:32.600 This idea that you don't have smart senators on the 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:35.080 Republican side of the aisle up on Capitol Hill saying, 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:37.120 what in the hell are you talking about taking over 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:39.160 the Panama Canal? What in the hell are you talking 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.000 about taking over Canada and Greenland? 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:41.640 Stop? 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:45.439 It's nonsense. It's crazy talk. But it gets people on 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:48.719 the right riled up. And I think it is very 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.919 much in line with this autocratic, authoritarian view that they 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.040