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That's thirty dollars off your first box and 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.680 free croissants for life when you visit wildgrain dot com 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.080 slash podcast, or simply use the promo code podcast at checkout. 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:50.080 This is a sponsor I absolutely embrace, so use that code. 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:55.840 Hello there, welcome to Thursday edition of the Chuck Toodcast. 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:58.400 We have a fantastic episode for you. My big guest 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.400 today is Fiona Hill. You may remember Fiona Hill from 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:06.320 the very first Trump administration. She was on the National 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:11.000 Security Staff with the portfolio of Russia. She is not 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:13.840 somebody you would call trumpy. I think she was arguably 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.560 brought in by the hr Holdeman team and she was 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.440 sort of part of that part of that group of 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:25.680 Trump staffers. In term one that was there to restrain Trump, 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.000 if you will, I don't know if she would put 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.839 it as starkly as I put it, but whether it's 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.960 hr McMaster or you had John Kelly or even a 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.720 Wright's prebus, and you know that there was a lot, 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:45.160 particularly in the national security space, of making sure all 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.360 the guardrails were there, and it was about keeping him 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:54.040 from going too much off the reservation. Obviously, folks like 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.440 Fienna Hill were not welcome back into a second Trump term. 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:02.440 But Fiona Hill's expertise on Russia in particular is no 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.639 less important these days, and so we have a great 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.680 conversation about how Russia may view Iran at the moment, 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:14.880 how they view this war, where's this headed, but most importantly, 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.360 where are we headed post Trump? What's the world going 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.640 to look like? What is geopolitical politics going to look like. 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.400 It's a pretty healthy exchange. And if you've ever spent 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:25.720 time reading or hearing from Fiona Hill, I think you 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.120 will enjoy this conversation. We spend a lot of time 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.360 in the war, it so in Iran and sort of 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.519 the whether Trump fully appreciates what he has gotten himself into. 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:36.680 And in fact, if you just look at the headlines 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.640 in the last twenty four hours. You know, what is 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.120 happening is exactly what people like Fiona Hill and others 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.880 would have warned him about and probably did warn him 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.320 about in the first term, and did warn him when 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:50.720 he made the decision to go after Solomoni, and did 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:52.720 warn him when he made the decision to bomb Iran 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.320 the first time, of what could happen. The fact that 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.920 you may get an asymmetrical response. Well, we're in that 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.640 awkward phase of this war where militarily it's a huge success. 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:11.600 There's no doubt the targets that we have chosen to bomb, 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.640 we've been successful with it. So as a military operation, 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:20.240 everything is going fairly well. But the problem is that 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:25.200 the definition of victory for the Iranians now is simply surviving. Right, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.760 just like in some ways in Fiona Hill, well she 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.960 makes this direct comparison. It's sort of similar to how 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.320 Russia viewed Ukraine. They thought it would be quick and dirty, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.480 they thought it would be easy, and then it wasn't. 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:42.240 And then suddenly, even though maybe tactically Russia can make 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.800 more advances into Ukraine and they're acquiring territory here, the 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:52.680 fact that the Ukrainians haven't folded is in itself a 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:57.760 loss for the Russians. And when you make regime change 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:01.719 the focal point, which the President did when he first 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.919 began this effort, when he said the goal he hoped 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.159 that Iranians would stand up and take their government back, 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.480 wasn't as direct as what the Israelis want. The Israelis 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.599 have made no secret about their goals in this war, 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:16.839 and they actually have very clear goals in this war. 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.920 It is to eradicate the threat of this Iranian regime 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.040 that includes regime chains, and this is why they're trying 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.840 to eradicate as blood and right. So whatever, you may 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.800 disagree with some of Israel's tactics, but unlike the United States, 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:32.880 they have a clear mission. They have a clear set 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.320 of goals, and they're trying to execute a strategy in 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.880 order to achieve those goals. Obviously, we do not have 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.200 those same set of goals. What does that look like? 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:48.560 And he is he has boxed himself in because the 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:53.840 military success is not leading to a policy victory, right, 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.960 and suddenly just the regime surviving is in and of 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:01.560 itself a victory for the Iranian reas because they weren't 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.760 knocked out. They weren't taken out by the big bad 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:09.920 Satan of the United States. Right, So he's got an 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:11.880 energy crisis on his hands. And then if he wants 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:13.680 to leave and I spend some time with her, it's 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.080 like okay, Fiona Hill. He's going to want to get out. 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:21.240 He knows this thing is on. How does he do it? 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:21.840 And it's not. 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.320 Clear how easily he can get out. He can stop 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.240 the bombing, he can stop participating, but it doesn't mean 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.400 the straits of horn Moves are going to be open 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:33.560 for business for shipping, whether that's for oil or for goods. 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:38.360 And they're still going to be a tactical need by 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.719 the US military to protect our allies and to protect 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:46.200 and to keep the waters open there. So he is 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.120 going to get dragged in. So the question is does 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:50.480 he get tucked into ground troops. One would assume he wouldn't, 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.160 but if he wants to achieve the goal of regime change, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.320 he would have no other choice. Does he just keep 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.280 this up and hope that over time they just wear 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:03.360 them down? That awfully costly, it's softly expensive. And then 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:09.120 you get accidents like the US military targeting a girls' 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.400 school rather than it was it was the wrong target. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.160 We are now admitting this. We'll see if the President 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.560 puts his own face behind this. It's unlikely he tried 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:21.400 to say it might have been the Iranians that did it, 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:27.920 using us stolen US weapons to somehow blame America for this. 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.760 It is pretty clear that we either had old information 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:36.280 targeting the wrong thing, but we are accepting the blame 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.800 for this. The question is what you know, how how 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.680 do we behave? How does the president behave and actually 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.960 put this information out or is it a typical Trump 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:50.920 and he refuses to do it and makes egg Seth 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.320 do it or makes General Kine do it, which is 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.720 also a possibility. Few other headlines that you shouldn't miss 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:03.560 in the war itself. ABC News is reporting that the 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:09.920 FBI let California sheriffs and other law enforcement officials know 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:15.800 of a potential threat of Iranian drone strikes from the 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:22.040 Pacific Ocean targeting California towns that would be and this 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.680 is the fear of this war is that it essentially 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.760 goes asymmetrical or horizontal, where they try to make the 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:33.360 cost of this very expensive bombing ports, putting minds in 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:39.760 the straight of horn moves. There are sleepers, perhaps sleeper 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:45.280 cells in western cities all over the world that get 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:51.960 targeted with Iranian supported terrorist attacks. These are the concerns, 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:56.080 and this is the metastasizing that's always been something that 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.160 many a policy advisor to many a president who who 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.600 is asked, Okay, what should we do here? Should we 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.040 try to take out this regime has always been sort 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.480 of pulled back by all of the potential fallout and 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:11.160 how complicated. 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:11.240 The fallout is. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:18.080 Unlike unlike Liberation Day, he can't just turn it off. 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.840 And so it is we're we're He is in this. 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.720 That's why I called it quicksand the other day. He's 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.760 in quicksand now and it is hard to imagine how 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:34.400 he's fully going to extricate himself from this without still 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.000 doing a lot of damage to our alliances, leaving the 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:42.040 Middle East in total shambles and screwing up the economy. 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.120 Other than that, this is going really well. And again 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:50.440 militarily it is, and it's and you know, I think 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.000 there's a noble goal here. Getting rid of the scourge 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:57.560 that is this Iranian regime would be good for the region, 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.480 would be good for the Iranian people. But is this 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.760 the best way to do it? And are we blowing 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.520 our credibility to a point where this stuff's going to 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:12.080 get harder down the road, not easier. So, and we 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.160 also learned that the initial drone attack that killed those 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.240 first service members that died, it's a pretty vicious attack. 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.880 We've got seriously injured soldiers. This was a CBS News 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:26.880 report that indicated this serious, seriously injured soldiers in that 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:32.360 attack on an American installation in Kuwait. So the costs 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:38.000 of this war are escalating and the actual cost of 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.200 this war is going to be expensive, and it's going 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.320 to be an extraordinarily tough vote in Congress that I 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.760 can promise you. And Republicans already know this because they're 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.679 thinking about doing a reconciliation bill, believe it or not. Right, 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.640 they can't figure out an electioneer agenda. They can't agree 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:55.719 on anything. They just had their House retreat where half 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.360 the members didn't even show up. Right, this is a 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:01.719 House republ look and majority that kind of knows it's 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.800 over right. The rank and file look like they've already 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.040 pulled ripcord. Half of them didn't show up. Now some 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.480 of them are probably among that one hundred plus that 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.360 didn't show up. A bunch of them are retiring, and 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.720 a bunch of others are running for higher office and 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.720 don't want to be associated with the House Republican brand 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:23.520 at this point. But this is a demoralized majority. They 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.640 don't know what to run on, and the war in 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.120 Iran has now complicated this, and they're going to have 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.080 to figure out how to fund this war, and it's 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.320 possible the only way they could avoid a potential sixty 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.000 vote threshold to fund this war in the Senate is 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.600 to do this under the rules of reconciliation, which means 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.160 no filibustering. 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:42.880 Which means fifty votes. 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.560 And the fact that they're already talking about that as 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.880 a way to fund this war, in some ways, it's 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.200 pretty self defeating. And they realize what a political loser 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.320 this is, that the only choice they have is to 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.880 make this a loyalty test for the President and that 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.880 they're going to need him whipping the vote for this, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.280 and I think we know where that's going to come from. 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:08.640 The other one other sort of extraneous war nugget that 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.240 I wanted to get to is the boy this Pete 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:11.960 hegseth Man. 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.640 He is, he is. 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.439 I'd say he's so thin skinned he has no skin left. 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.960 Apparently they have now barred press photographers from the press 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.520 briefing because they thought the photos that were circulating in 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.720 the various syndication sites where people get photographs were unflattering 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:31.840 to mister hag seth. 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:34.280 Man. 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.120 This guy's got a lot of issues. I don't know 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.320 if they're Freudian these issues, if there's something else, but 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:45.760 you know, his he definitely that guy. You could put 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.319 him on the couch and go a lot of different directions, 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.840 but he clearly that the fact that he's the guy 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.440 in charge of this war at the moment. I'm gonna 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.160 be honest, it's not very reassuring. You have somebody who's 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:05.560 this thin skin, somebody who can't take any negative criticism 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.600 at all, is supposed to be out there, you know, 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:12.839 making the tough calls that are necessary when running a war. 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.360 I mean talk about talk about not giving reassurance to 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.680 the American people. This guy cannot give any real and 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:24.160 his his overt his religiosity or I don't know if 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.720 it's even real. It may be, it may be real, Right, 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:32.160 I'm not going to question his faith, but to to 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:36.559 insert it into the public square. The way he's doing 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:41.040 it is it's not a unifying thing to do, and 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.760 it certainly makes those that serve who are who don't 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.200 share his faith and don't share his belief system really 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.560 isolates them. And uh and and I think makes it 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.600 that much harder to have a cohesive unit. So this is, 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.000 you know, with a very serious war we're engaged in, 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.760 and we have an completely unseerious and unprepared leader at 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:07.760 the Defense Department. You know, look, he never should have 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:13.600 been confirmed. A handful of Republican senators knew it, and 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:18.319 they got They got extorted, basically. And when I say 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.360 they got extorted, they got threatened, right, I think it's 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.440 pretty clear Tilla Scott and Jonny Ernst were both threatened 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.440 to points. And I think there's a reason neither one 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.840 of them are running for reelection. And I think it 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.680 has a lot to do with the confirmation fight over 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.280 Haigsith because it was clear he was unqualified for this job. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.520 It was clear Jenny Earnst thought he was unqualified. It 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.400 was clear Tom Tillis thought he was unqualified. They both 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:44.280 ended up having to support this and they both decided 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:48.240 not to seek reelection. That wasn't a coincidence, but we 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.120 are now seeing why. And I'm sorry that they didn't 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.880 have the guts then to stand up to what they 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.480 knew it was wrong. They knew he was unqualified, and 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:58.600 now we are paying the price for what happens. We 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.200 have a very serious event here. Look, President made the decision. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:07.120 How we conduct ourselves, how we unwind from this. You 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.600 need serious leadership with the Pentagon, and we do not 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.640 have it at the moment. It's very disconcerting, and I 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.120 think we this is one of those things where there's 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.640 kind of a bipartisan consensus that that knows this. Yet 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:24.880 we know you have to stay silent apparently if you're 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.120 on the Republican side of aisle, and that that is 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.520 a considering that life and death. These are somebody in 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.320 charge of life and death decisions at the moment. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:37.840 I know if I was the parent of. 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:39.880 A servant, an active duty service member right now, I'd 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:44.400 be very very concerned about who is calling the shots here. 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:47.120 All right, I want to move. I want to spend 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:48.960 a little bit of time. This is a this is 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.160 a request actually from from a few folks close to me, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:57.760 who I think there hasn't been a good explanation for 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:01.960 what's this, This fight over the so called the Save Act, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:07.720 which is the Republican version of trying to deal with 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.280 election integrity, and we had a Democratic version of this 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.840 that was known as HR one back in twenty twenty one, 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.200 and I thought it would be important to explain the 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:22.240 actual details and explain the philosophical debate that is actually 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.280 taking place between the two parties, and then the sort 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:28.960 of demagoguery aspect of this that Trump is inserted in 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.800 that is blowing this whole thing up. And of course 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.280 the irony is that the fight over this, the polarization 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:41.359 and the partisan weaponization of this bill, could lead Republicans 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.680 in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster. Now 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:47.400 I'm skeptical, but now, John Cornyn, I mean, here's a reminder. 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.360 When you're desperate to win reelection, your principles are the 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.080 first thing that go out the door. Apparently he is 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.000 somebody that has been a fierce defender of the filibuster 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.480 until it was got in the way of his need 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.800 to get Donald Trump to endorse his runoff candidacy in Texas. 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.200 And now he's flipped and he is willing to get 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.760 rid of the filibuster if it is used to pass 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.360 the so called Save Act. So maybe this is real. 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.960 Maybe this is on the table. I'm skeptical the Republicans 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.200 have the votes to kill the filibuster. I don't think 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.639 they do. I think, you know, we know the least 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:25.120 trumpy constituency left in the Republican Party are Senate Republicans. 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.080 You know, I don't believe Mike Grounds will do this. Okay, 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.280 I don't believe Tom Tillis is going to do this. 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.159 I don't believe Bill Cassidy is going to do this, 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:36.600 of course, but I would have said two days ago, 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:38.879 I didn't believe John Cornyn was going to do this. 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:45.240 But you know, everything is for sale in this version, 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.399 in Donald Trump's version of the Republican Party, including integrity 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:54.680 and principles. So thought I thought I would instead, let's 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:59.880 lay out sort of the larger debate here over elect 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:04.000 integrity and what are the true north stars of both parties. 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.600 So the primary goal, right, I think this is an 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:09.480 easy way to explain it. The primary goal of HR 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.239 one Right for the People back in twenty twenty one 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.160 was expansion and access. Essentially, they wanted to federalize standards 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.000 to make voting easier. The primary goal of the Save 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.920 America Act is security and verification. They want to federalized 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:30.040 standards to make voter registration stricter. The Democrats and HR 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.200 one wanted automatic voter registration right, they wanted to move 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.240 the burden to the government to register you via the DMV. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:43.240 With the Republicans, they go the opposite way, and they 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:48.080 wanted proof of citizenship and they are moving the burden 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:52.040 to the voter to provide physical proof of citizenship in 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.280 order to get to vote. When it comes to the 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:59.639 voter rolls. HR one wanted to protect purging to prevent 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:05.280 voters from being removed, whilst the Save Act wants to 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:11.280 mandate frequent purges using DHS citizenship databases. 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:11.480 To do this. 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.359 Then, of course there's the issue of mail voting. Mandatory 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.760 access required. The HR one was going to require states 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.600 to offer that you had to offer no excuse mail 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.480 in ballot options. They didn't say how many dates or 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:27.000 whatever it was, but you know, whether it's a week, 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:31.840 two weeks, etc. What the Save Act would do in 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.879 its current form, it would seek to end universal mail 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.160 in voting, and of course Trump wants to even put 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.359 more curbs on that, which that version of it would 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.399 have to pass one more time in the House because 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.159 that wasn't in this version. So let's dig in deeper 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.679 in here into the Save Act. There's a significant gap 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.359 between the bill that cleared the House and the version 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.399 that President Trump has been championing on the bully pulpit 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.960 over the last couple of days. Here's what the actually 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.080 passed the House. The core of it is the documentary 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:09.000 proof of citizenship. So to register to vote in this 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.560 bill that passed the House, you need a passport, a 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:15.720 birth certificate, or a so called real ID that specifically 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:20.200 denotes citizenship on the ID. And it also requires states 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.920 to submit voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:29.560 for quote unquote scrubbing. Now, what Trump is advocating, he 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:31.560 actually is up the Annie. He said he's not going 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.240 to sign any major spending bills unless this Save Act 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.600 is gold plate it. So he wants the following additions 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.920 that were not in the original House text. He wants 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:45.600 a total ban on mail in ballots except for military 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:50.240 and disability. He wants a one day, one vote manday. 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.840 He wants all voting on one day, and then he's 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.639 got some unrelated culture war writers that he throws in 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:00.119 their bands on transgender participation in sports. 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:01.199 Things like that. 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:07.639 This episode of the Chuck Podcast is brought to you 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.240 by Quints. A thoughtfully built wardrobe comes down to pieces 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:15.359 that mix well and last. That's where Quince shines. 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Go to q U I n CE 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:29.280 dot com slash chuck for free shipping, three hundred and 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:36.439 sixty five day returns quints dot com slash chuck. Now, 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:38.399 let's talk about the reality of the Senate. The bill 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.560 is currently stalled in the Senate, and this is the 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:45.760 bill without those extra gold plated editions that Trump wants advocated. 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:49.879 It needs sixty votes to overcome a filibuster, and Republicans 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:51.760 have a narrow majority. They don't have the sixty votes, 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.240 and they're obviously this is the moment we're in. They're 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:58.159 having this quote debate about whether they should nuke the filibuster, 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.879 and like I said, I don't think they have the 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:06.320 votes to do it, and if they do, and I 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:08.040 specially think they don't have the votes to do it. 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:10.520 Now when the reality of Democrats winning control of the 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:14.000 Senate is not a fantasy anymore, it is a pretty 0:23:14.119 --> 0:23:17.760 realistic outcome of the twenty twenty six elections. Is it 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:21.120 the most likely outcome? No, but it is not an 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:22.400 unlikely outcome. 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:23.360 Right. 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:25.919 We are sitting in the forty percent range, forty to 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:28.960 forty five percent range when it comes to Democrats' chances 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:31.119 of taking the Senate, and I promise you, if the 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:32.720