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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,

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Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of

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Speaker 1: today's best minds, and Texas has passed a new aggressive

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Speaker 1: voting bill that was suppressed Democratic votes. We have such

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Speaker 1: an interesting show today. The intercepts Ken Klippenstein talk to

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Speaker 1: us about the tensions with Iran that are keeping him

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Speaker 1: up at night. Then we'll talk to move On's Rana

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Speaker 1: Epting about the organization's plan to take back the.

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Speaker 2: House for Democrats.

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Speaker 1: But first we have legendary Republican operative, the Lincoln Project.

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Speaker 2: Stuart Stevens.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Fast Politics. Stuart Stevens, thanks for asking

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Speaker 1: me to the party. Molly, thank you for being so great.

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Speaker 1: I feel like this was the week the DeSantis dream

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Speaker 1: and dreams in quotes, but it kind of died.

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Speaker 3: People never have a sense of how difficult it is

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Speaker 3: to run.

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Speaker 4: For president, That's true.

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Speaker 3: It's not even you know, it's something to say it's

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Speaker 3: like going from high school or from college to the NFL,

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Speaker 3: but it's really more like going from junior high to

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Speaker 3: the NFL. They make a big deal out of Desantus

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Speaker 3: winning by nineteen points. Well, you know, I worked for

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Speaker 3: Charlie Chris to guy he beat and all of the

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Speaker 3: races that he did when he ran as a Republican,

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Speaker 3: which he won all those races a journey general governor.

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Speaker 3: But as far as I know, I think it's an

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Speaker 3: accurate statement that no party switcher has ever defeated an

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Speaker 3: incumbent of the party. He switched to Bill Weld in

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Speaker 3: Massachusetts when he was reelected. He was re elected in

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Speaker 3: Massachusetts by thirty three points, So I mean Rick Perry

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Speaker 3: was re elected by double digits.

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Speaker 4: How do he do?

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Speaker 3: I think it's a false sign of confidence or something.

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Speaker 3: In my view, what's happening here is this is a

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Speaker 3: campaign that's really being run by the Santus and his wife.

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Speaker 3: He just has that feel of a vanity can pain.

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Speaker 3: They're going to raise a bunch of money that's going

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Speaker 3: to go to a lot of structure, but none of

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Speaker 3: that matters as much as you think it does, and

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Speaker 3: particularly in a presidential race where you're going to get

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Speaker 3: attention otherwise, and I think it just becomes you're buying

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Speaker 3: speakers to turn.

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Speaker 4: Up the volume of noise.

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Speaker 3: I mean, that'll make it music, and it just never

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Speaker 3: works that way. I don't know if you've watched the

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Speaker 3: guy out there.

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Speaker 2: Molly, he just he's terrible.

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Speaker 4: It seems miserable.

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Speaker 3: You go to find some guy in an orange jumpsuit

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Speaker 3: staring in the camera. To find anybody else as miserable,

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Speaker 3: you know. I mean, these are like hostage videos.

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Speaker 1: But what I'm struck by is like so many of

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Speaker 1: the National Review crowd. I mean, I got to see

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Speaker 1: this firsthand when I wrote this piece about how DeSantis

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Speaker 1: is more dangerous than Trump, because I do think he

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Speaker 1: I actually believe he is. But all these National Review

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Speaker 1: people came after me and they were like, how dare

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Speaker 1: you you know? And I realized like he was their

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Speaker 1: great white hope, and I thought, like, these people, they

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Speaker 1: really believe that he's going to be their president. And

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Speaker 1: I was like, how do you think a person with

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Speaker 1: no charisma wins the contest which is just largely about charisma.

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Speaker 3: I find it fascinating the whole National Review thing, because

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Speaker 3: first that they think that, but secondly that they have

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Speaker 3: invented this idea of who the Santus is. I mean,

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Speaker 3: it's a National Review really supporting a guy that uses

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Speaker 3: the power of the state to try to crush a

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Speaker 3: free enterprise.

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Speaker 4: Corporation that doesn't.

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Speaker 2: Agree with like Disney.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's really what they agree in.

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Speaker 3: Do they really want to get into the book banning business.

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Speaker 2: I think we know the answer to this.

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Speaker 4: And I don't think they do.

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Speaker 3: I think that they just are so desperate to believe

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Speaker 3: in something that you know, they're out there and there's

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Speaker 3: a drought the volcano belchis so they start worshiping. It

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Speaker 3: rains and they start worshiping volcanoes. So it's got to

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Speaker 3: be a connection.

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Speaker 4: Here, you know.

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Speaker 3: I think it's just sort of sad they're not all

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Speaker 3: like that. Jay Nordleyser, who's a Navy of yourways, actually

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Speaker 3: lives on the side and he still kept the faith

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Speaker 3: there and I love the stuff that he writes for

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Speaker 3: the NRO. It's just illusionary and it all goes back

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Speaker 3: to this idea that you could do something like support

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Speaker 3: Donald Trump and then it would be like it never happened. Right, Okay,

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Speaker 3: we're going to get the benefits of that. We're going

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Speaker 3: to get these Supreme Court justices. We're gonna get this,

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Speaker 3: We're gonna get But then it's we're just going to

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Speaker 3: forget the fact that seventy percent of Repoling Party doesn't

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Speaker 3: think that Joe Biden is a legally elected president.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you can't unring that bell.

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Speaker 4: These things are linear.

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Speaker 3: It's all in a process of how democracy side into autocracy.

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Speaker 3: These step by step by step. It's not going to

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Speaker 3: be like Chili any end day. They're not going to

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Speaker 3: at the palace, but it'll be like Victor Orbin and Hungary.

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Speaker 4: Who is their model.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, No, they love Orbon, which is really scary, I mean,

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Speaker 1: just completely terrifying.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think the problem we have is it's

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Speaker 3: difficult to imagine the unimaginable, and it is so hard

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Speaker 3: for those of us who have always known America in

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Speaker 3: a certain way imagining America becoming something that is dramatically

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Speaker 3: different than it is. But there's no reason that can happen.

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Speaker 3: It is happening. I think the steps are in place.

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Speaker 3: The other thing that really strikes me about the sentence.

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Speaker 3: You know, there's this model of big state governors, Republicans

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Speaker 3: who get elected President Reagan, Bush, Romney tried. We lost,

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Speaker 3: if you haven't heard, but they were positive people. They

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Speaker 3: were optimistic, they had an expansive view of the world.

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Speaker 3: They were likable. You were drawn to him and you

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Speaker 3: look at the Santus. He's just angry at the world

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Speaker 3: and there's no policy. We used to say that, I mean,

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Speaker 3: it was sort of bullshit, but we used to say

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Speaker 3: it that. You know that governors were the laboratories of ideas.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: So I want to ask you a question that I've

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Speaker 1: been thinking about a lot, and this is goesee idea

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Speaker 1: that there's no policy. There sort of is a policy, right,

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Speaker 1: it's just wildly unpopular, right, Cutting social security and medicare,

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Speaker 1: making more guns more available, that's popular with the base,

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Speaker 1: but not popular with the middle. Taking away abortion, you know,

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Speaker 1: not teaching sex at in schools. I wonder if you

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Speaker 1: know some of what's happening is they know that a

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Speaker 1: lot of their ideas are losers.

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Speaker 3: There is an agenda, there's not a positive policy agenda.

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Speaker 3: I think that it goes to the truth that you

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Speaker 3: spoke that the scientist is more dangerous than trun At

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Speaker 3: a certain point in politics, you know, Haley Barber used

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Speaker 3: to say this, you got to be for something that

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Speaker 3: people are for, right, And it's kind of obvious, but

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Speaker 3: this stuff isn't popular except with a decreasing minority of

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Speaker 3: the people. I don't understand why they aren't able to

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Speaker 3: come up with some construct of an economic plan that

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Speaker 3: people would find appealing. But the party it exists now

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Speaker 3: Republicans and be Democrats. And that's really not what a

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Speaker 3: typical political party does. That's sort of like a cartel.

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Speaker 3: No one says, like, what does Opek really believe in?

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Speaker 3: Like they still all, what is a narco cartel? What

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Speaker 3: is their real theory of government?

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Speaker 4: You know?

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Speaker 3: It's like, well they still dope, man. So it's really

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Speaker 3: almost silly to ask these people this. I don't think

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Speaker 3: that we've ever seen anything like this, of a kind

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Speaker 3: of complete collapse of a party of any reason to

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Speaker 3: exist other than to not be the other side. The

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Speaker 3: last couple of days, there's been turn on Fox. You

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Speaker 3: see people like Laura Ingram lecturing young people why they

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Speaker 3: should be voting publican.

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Speaker 1: Right, why they should vote Republican. It's just baffling, like

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Speaker 1: does she.

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Speaker 3: Not I you know, it's like, you know, we're still

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Speaker 3: going out. You just don't know it.

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Speaker 1: Trump is going to be the nominee. That seems pretty clear.

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Speaker 1: There's nobody who's going to come in there and dislodge him.

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Speaker 1: I mean, unless there's some world in which and I mean,

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Speaker 1: we've seen that that one indictment just made him more popular.

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Speaker 1: I mean, maybe Jack Smith comes in there, but it

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Speaker 1: just seems like he's on a collision course with the

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Speaker 1: nomination at this point.

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Speaker 4: I would agree with that.

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Speaker 3: Look, you could look at a guy like the Tantas

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Speaker 3: and you say, Okay, does he have the ability to change?

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Speaker 2: No, clearly not.

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Speaker 3: If he did, then what is happening now? I don't

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Speaker 3: think is fatal, but I don't think he has either

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Speaker 3: the ability or the desire to. And when you define

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Speaker 3: yourself like, don't back never back down.

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Speaker 1: Right, But it's a fundamental thing. You cannot elect. I mean, look,

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Speaker 1: and I got in trouble for saying this, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Ducaucus. But like and Carrie

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Speaker 1: and even your beloved Mitt Romney, Like, those guys were

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Speaker 1: not charismatic guys, I'm sorry to tell you.

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Speaker 5: I mean, they just weren't the cut.

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Speaker 2: They were smart, and they weren't decent.

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Speaker 1: But American people aren't necessarily that's not what they're looking

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Speaker 1: for in a presidential candidate.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: No, Look, I mean there's a reason People magazine sells

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Speaker 3: more copy than Foreign Affairs, right, you know, we are

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Speaker 3: still a personality driven culture. It's not a bad test

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Speaker 3: in a campaign when you look at it and you go,

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Speaker 3: who is enjoying the campaign the moment, and it's sort

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Speaker 3: of like sports and political parties take on personality, and

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Speaker 3: he's the way sports seems to and the personality of

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Speaker 3: the Republican Party is very angry, aggrieved, embittered. They're giving

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Speaker 3: a party. You just kind of don't want to go

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Speaker 3: to that party. I mean, I can remember got so

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Speaker 3: painfully in two thousand and New Hampshire. I was working

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Speaker 3: in the Bushy campaign, right, So we had a sixty

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Speaker 3: five point lead at one point in New Hampshire and

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Speaker 3: we managed to lose by nineteen So I mean, really

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Speaker 3: you really have to work at that, particularly when you're

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Speaker 3: out spending the other guy like three to one.

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Speaker 4: I mean, that's not something easy to do it really

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Speaker 4: to do that.

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Speaker 3: But we off to New Hampshire and there was John Became.

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Speaker 4: This is when he was doing the.

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Speaker 3: Straight Talk Express and he was having the time of

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Speaker 3: his life. And then you would go to our rallies

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Speaker 3: and it was like, oh god, it's like so much

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Speaker 3: more fun over there.

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Speaker 4: I can't we just stand there? No, No, we got

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Speaker 4: killed a new hair.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk about the great White hope of the

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Speaker 1: Republican Party.

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Speaker 2: Chris Christie.

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Speaker 1: I feel like he's Schrodenjers Christie because he both works

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Speaker 1: for the administration or the Trump administration as it and

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Speaker 1: is against the Trump administration.

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Speaker 2: You know what is happening.

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Speaker 3: Look, this is deeply personal to me. I worked in

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Speaker 3: all of Chris's races.

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Speaker 4: I love the guy.

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Speaker 3: When he beats an incumbent Democrat. The way that he

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Speaker 3: did it was really incredible, and that was a very

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Speaker 3: joyful campaign. You know, Christy had a great time out

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Speaker 3: there campaign and it breaks my heart to see what

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Speaker 3: happened to him. It's a perfect example. Had he just

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Speaker 3: stayed true, this would be his moment. He could come

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Speaker 3: in and say, I told you so. It's difficult for

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Speaker 3: me to go out here and say negative things about

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Speaker 3: Chris Christy because I liked him so much.

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Speaker 2: I think you've explained it exactly right, right.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's the phenomenon that Rick Wilson talks about

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Speaker 1: that everything Trump touches dies as sooner or later, you

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Speaker 1: debase yourself for him and he ruins you.

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Speaker 4: Same with Nikki Haley.

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Speaker 3: Nicky Haley had stood the person, stayed the person she

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Speaker 3: was when she stood next to Marco Rubio in the

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Speaker 3: South Carolina primary and told the truth about Donald Trump

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Speaker 3: that he acts like someone I would tell my kindergarteners

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Speaker 3: never to be like like. Had she stayed that person,

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Speaker 3: this could be her moment. The same with even take

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Speaker 3: a guy like Glenn Youngkin. So had Glenn Youngkin not

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Speaker 3: run on CRT, had he not run on playing the

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Speaker 3: race card? Had he not once he got elected, gone

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Speaker 3: out and endorged Kerry Lake?

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Speaker 2: Yeah that was a miss.

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Speaker 3: Well, then you could say, here's a guy, seems like

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Speaker 3: a likable guy, and maybe, but you can't do that

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Speaker 3: and then pretend.

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Speaker 4: That it didn't happen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 3: Look at someone we never talked about him for reasons

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Speaker 3: that I'm obvious. But the former governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson.

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Speaker 3: He was a client of mine and as of the

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Speaker 3: candidate's running now, most people aren't aware of the fact

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Speaker 3: that As is running, but he is running.

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Speaker 1: But he's he's kept his powder dry the most of

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Speaker 1: any of those guys.

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Speaker 3: He is, he has kept the most true And to

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Speaker 3: do that as an Arkansas governor, right, it's not the

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Speaker 3: easiest thing.

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Speaker 2: That's a seat now occupied by Sarah Sanders.

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Speaker 1: Sarah Sanders, right, who is the main bona fides is

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Speaker 1: that she worked in the Trump administration and is the

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Speaker 1: daughter of the governor.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of people in the Trump world who lied,

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Speaker 3: like basically all of them.

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Speaker 4: Sarah Hutchinson is one of the few.

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Speaker 3: Who admitted she lied to the FBI and they got

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Speaker 3: elected governor. You know, so, so, so where are there

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Speaker 3: successful Republicans?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 3: So? I just I saw a poll yesterday that Phil Scott,

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Speaker 3: the Republican governor Vermont, where I live now, is the

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Speaker 3: most popular governor America.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I work for Phil Scott. I know the guy.

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Speaker 4: There's nothing magical about what he does. He's a guy.

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Speaker 3: He gets up in the morning, he goes to work

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Speaker 3: and tries to be a good governor. And he's not

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Speaker 3: mad at the world. He's not trying to get on

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Speaker 3: Fox News. He doesn't have some insane ambition about taking

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Speaker 3: over the world. He actually likes being a public service

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Speaker 3: and that's really all.

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Speaker 4: I take.

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Speaker 3: Charlie Baker in Massachusetts, I work for him. Charlie was

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Speaker 3: wildly popular. Larry Hogan, I work for Larry Hogan. Help

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Speaker 3: elect all these guys. But here's a really telling thing

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Speaker 3: about them, Molly, that people don't and you got to

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Speaker 3: kind of be it's a little insider. But as popular

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Speaker 3: as they are, they cannot pick their own state party chairman,

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Speaker 3: which a governor not being able to pick their own

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Speaker 3: state party chairman is so un imaginable in politics. It's

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Speaker 3: like Bill Bilichchek, you know, I have to call somebody

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Speaker 3: before he can like put in a quarterback. That just

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Speaker 3: shows how distant they have come from where the party is.

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Speaker 3: But if the party had any sense, if we really

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Speaker 3: believe this whull shit that we, you know, should run

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Speaker 3: things like a business, you look.

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Speaker 4: At these guys, you go, wait a second. If we

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Speaker 4: could win.

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Speaker 3: These states, Massachusetts from aunt Maryland and the general election,

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Speaker 3: we own the world. So what can you guys teach us?

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Speaker 3: You be our models, because what you're doing is work.

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Speaker 2: Don't be fascist.

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Speaker 1: But it's not even that people love Biden so much.

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Speaker 1: It's just that they are terrified of what's on the

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Speaker 1: other side as well.

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Speaker 2: They should be.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I actually think Biden's doing a very good job,

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Speaker 1: and I think they are, you know, I mean, every

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Speaker 1: administration has its void bobbles and problems. But it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1: They're running against complete lunatics. I mean, you know, the

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Speaker 1: other side is, you know, inspecting children's genitals. I mean

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Speaker 1: this is not a hard decision. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: even the quarter quotes smart Guy is in a death

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Speaker 1: spiral with Disney.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: To be a Republican now is exhausting. Yeah, because it

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Speaker 3: requires you to be constantly angry, which is a horrible

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Speaker 3: feeling in life. And it requires you to feel like

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Speaker 3: a victim, which is a horrible feeling. And the whole benefit,

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Speaker 3: the great beauty of living in a civil society is

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Speaker 3: not having to think about government, not have to wake

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Speaker 3: up in the morning and wonder, like, is the person

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Speaker 3: who's running our country? What mood is that person in?

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Speaker 3: And Biden frees you from that. Biden is a celebration

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Speaker 3: of the virtues of boredom.

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Speaker 2: It's true.

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Speaker 1: And that's what Tony Ivers said in Wisconsin too. He said,

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Speaker 1: I got first Democrat to get reelected in Wisconsin in

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Speaker 1: a million years.

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Speaker 2: I won by being boreding Stuart Stevens. I hope you

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Speaker 2: will please come back.

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Speaker 3: Of course, I'm like the crazy uncle at Thanksgiving dinner

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Speaker 3: should be careful, inte.

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Speaker 2: You have no idea.

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Speaker 1: My uncles are much crazier than you could ever. I'm

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Speaker 1: telling you, I am men, but you are the greatest

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Speaker 1: and I really appreciate you.

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Speaker 4: Thank you all the best.

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Speaker 1: Ken Clippenstein is an investigative reporter for The Intercept. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to Fast Politics, Ken clipp.

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Speaker 2: And Stein going to be with you, guys.

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Speaker 1: We're delighted to have you. What is the thing that

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Speaker 1: is keeping you up at night right now?

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Speaker 5: Just one?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you can do too, But I want to know, like,

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Speaker 1: because I feel like, you know a lot of shit

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Speaker 1: that should we should be worried about.

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Speaker 2: So tell me what is really freaking you out.

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Speaker 5: I would say that tensions with Iran are really escalating

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Speaker 5: in ways that have gone sort of unnoticed because of

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Speaker 5: understandably the terrible war in Ukraine that everyone is focusing on.

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Speaker 5: But we have a you know, Israeli government that is

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Speaker 5: very right wing, unprecedentedly right wing, and the US ambassador

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Speaker 5: to Israel has publicly encouraged them to do what they

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Speaker 5: think that they need to do with regard to the

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Speaker 5: Iranian nuclear question, which you know could spell this app

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Speaker 5: depending on how that's interpreted by Netanyahu.

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Speaker 2: Wait, just say more.

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Speaker 5: In the collapse of the Iran Deal, the diplomatic agreement

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Speaker 5: wherein Iran agreed not to enrich nuclear technology for a

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Speaker 5: weapon in exchange for being able to, you know, have

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Speaker 5: sanctions relaxed on them so they can trade with the Europeans,

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Speaker 5: with the West. Since Trump abrogated that deal and the

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Speaker 5: Biden administration was unable to reinstate it, we're in a

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Speaker 5: situation where the Uranians are enriching nuclear technology, not to

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Speaker 5: the point of its being a weapon. The CI Director

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Speaker 5: and our intelligence community in the Nuclear Posture Review made

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Speaker 5: clear that they have not yet made that decision to

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Speaker 5: go ahead with the weapon, but they are enriching so

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Speaker 5: that if they do make that decision, then they can

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Speaker 5: obtain a weapon much more quickly than if they hadn't enriched.

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Speaker 5: What that does is it makes it so that the

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Speaker 5: Israelis can say, you know, we have to do something

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Speaker 5: about the enrichment, even though again they haven't yet decided

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Speaker 5: if they're going to pursue a nuclear weapon. They have

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Speaker 5: aircraft that could do a airstrike on these facilities. That

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Speaker 5: I mean, they have all sorts of options. Israelize a

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Speaker 5: powerful military and it's kind of a question mark as

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Speaker 5: to you know, how far net Yahoo and not just him,

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Speaker 5: but the far right elements within his ruling party would

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Speaker 5: be willing to go and to what extent our country

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Speaker 5: and in Washington would be willing to try to pressure

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Speaker 5: them to not do it, or to stop that, or

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Speaker 5: to reverse course. But really, I think a lot of

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Speaker 5: this flows from the failure to reinstate that those diplomatic

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Speaker 5: accords first put in place by President Obama. And now

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Speaker 5: we're going to see how what the response to what

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Speaker 5: Iran is doing is going to be, and that can

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Speaker 5: be very scary depending on how that plays out.

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Speaker 1: All Right, I'm pretty scared about that. Okay, that's because

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Speaker 1: it keeps me up at night. You've written about the

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Speaker 1: war and Yemen. I was hoping you could talk about

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Speaker 1: that because it's related.

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Speaker 5: Right, According to the UN, the biggest humanitarian crisis in

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Speaker 5: the world. There's a Saudi led air coalition to try

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Speaker 5: to oust what are called the Hoothy rebels, who themselves

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Speaker 5: pushed out a government that was friendly to ri Odd

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Speaker 5: friendly to the Saudis. And over the course of this war,

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Speaker 5: which began under the person who's now de facto ruler

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Speaker 5: of Saturday. Iba Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman at the

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Speaker 5: time was the defense minister. I think this was in

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Speaker 5: twenty fifteen or twenty sixteen. He began the war and

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Speaker 5: ironically enough called it Operation Decisive Storm because he was

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Speaker 5: so confident that it would be over in a couple

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Speaker 5: of days. And of course it turns into this Vietnam

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Speaker 5: style morass which is now and it's I think eighth year,

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Speaker 5: no sign of it ending a devastating effect in the

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Speaker 5: people of Yemen. Has killed thousands and thousands of children

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Speaker 5: from hunger. The ones that survived are overwhelmingly malnourished. Has

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Speaker 5: created the biggest cholera epidemic in modern history. And it's

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Speaker 5: not just the air campaign led by the Saudis. It's

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Speaker 5: a blockade, a naval blockade, and a ground blockade of

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Speaker 5: them so that they can't get resources into the country,

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Speaker 5: whether that's humanitarian assistance, food, medicine, things like that, which

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Speaker 5: studies have shown the majority of Jumeni's have to depend

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Speaker 5: depend on. So this is not a marginal issue that

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Speaker 5: affects a fraction of the country. This is something that

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Speaker 5: affects most Jumenis. And so that what I learned the

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Speaker 5: course of researching that story, based on leaked Pentagon documents

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Speaker 5: that have been circulating in the press, was that actually

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Speaker 5: the Saudis were having secret negotiations with the Houthis prior

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Speaker 5: to the normalization deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which

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Speaker 5: I think was very positive and take some of the

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Speaker 5: pressure off, take some of the incentive off of the

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Speaker 5: Saudis to support this air war and blockade, because the

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Speaker 5: fear was that the Huthis you know who you know,

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Speaker 5: obviously are tribal, all sorts of problems. It's not a

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Speaker 5: group that you want to endorse by any means. With

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Speaker 5: this normalization agreement, there's less fear on the Saudist parts

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Speaker 5: that the Hoothies are going to be doing things to

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Speaker 5: them on the behalf of the Iranians, and so what

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Speaker 5: these leak documents which highly classified and you can see why,

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Speaker 5: because they want to keep secret that they're undertaking these

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Speaker 5: negotiations with this group that they've you know, deemed terrorists.

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Speaker 5: The Houthi's actually predated that normalization agreement, may have been

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Speaker 5: related to it, but I think it is a cost

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Speaker 5: for a lot of hope, I myself hope will be

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Speaker 5: an impetus for people to try to push for further negotiations,

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Speaker 5: not just around a ceasefire, because what's been celebrated is, oh,

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Speaker 5: we have this great ceasefire. They're not having these cross

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Speaker 5: border raids and attacks and air strikes, which is good.

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Speaker 5: But the reality is the majority of people are dying

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Speaker 5: not actually from the fighting, from the air strikes, from

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Speaker 5: the cross border raids. They're dying from that blockade that's

443
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 5: keeping the food in medicine and humanitarian supplies from getting in.

444
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,240
Speaker 5: So my great hope is that they're able to come

445
00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:16,879
Speaker 5: to some sort of agreement where they will lift that

446
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 5: blockade and allow those resources to reach the people of Yemen,

447
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,959
Speaker 5: and and this terrible famine is really what it is.

448
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: So let's talk about some of the other reporting that

449
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:31,160
Speaker 1: you've done. One of the most interesting story non stories

450
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,280
Speaker 1: I feel like over the last couple of years has

451
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:38,159
Speaker 1: been Havana syndrome. Can you explain what is going on

452
00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:39,280
Speaker 1: with Havana syndrome?

453
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:39,760
Speaker 4: Yeah?

454
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,359
Speaker 5: So, in twenty sixteen, a Vanison is named after US

455
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 5: diplomats and spies who operating in the US embass in

456
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,199
Speaker 5: Cuba reported having these mysterious suite of symptoms A lot

457
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,639
Speaker 5: of them were sort of cognitive. They hearing loud and

458
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 5: explicable noises, having headaches, suffering nausea whole list of things

459
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,200
Speaker 5: that are kind of hard to define and understand. They

460
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,760
Speaker 5: started reporting all these strange symptoms and it was clustered

461
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:05,640
Speaker 5: around this embassy in Havana, and initially this was blamed

462
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,360
Speaker 5: on what was suspected to be some kind of directed

463
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:10,480
Speaker 5: energy weapon, and so there's a whole debate around do

464
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 5: these things even exist? Is this even possible? And so

465
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 5: subsequent to those reports, US personnel and other embassies began

466
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 5: reporting somewhat similar symptoms, and so the CIA led an

467
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,200
Speaker 5: investigation to try and find out what that was, and

468
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 5: the results were released last year, and what they found

469
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,320
Speaker 5: was that in the majority of cases they were able

470
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,720
Speaker 5: to explain those by pre existing medical condition, untreated psychiatric

471
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,679
Speaker 5: problems to be clear, you know, in some of the

472
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,720
Speaker 5: cases remain and they're not able to understand what it is.

473
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,959
Speaker 5: And so subsequent to that interim report that was released

474
00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 5: last year, just in March last month, there was a

475
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 5: much more detailed intelligence community assessment drawing on a bunch

476
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,479
Speaker 5: of different intelligence agencies trying to answer that question what

477
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 5: most of them ended up concluding was essentially the same

478
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 5: thing that most of these cases have environmental causes or

479
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 5: you know, pre existing medical conditions.

480
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 2: Or stress right right, or stress that kind of.

481
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,400
Speaker 1: Sorry to interrupt you, but things that pops up when

482
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: you are really unwilling to deal with, you know, all

483
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 1: of the stress you're under it. I mean, these are

484
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: people who are working in high stress situations totally.

485
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 5: And to be clear, yeah, I mean I know you

486
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:14,920
Speaker 5: know some former CIA officers and they don't seem to

487
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 5: have a lot of trust in their medical system, and

488
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,080
Speaker 5: so there's there's some amount of fear that they're not

489
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 5: going to be taken care of or that they're misunderstood.

490
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 5: That sort of is the backdrop of all of this,

491
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,639
Speaker 5: and that the CI director in is announcement about the

492
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:26,679
Speaker 5: findings was like, look, I'm not saying that anyone is

493
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:29,800
Speaker 5: being dishonest or that they're lying to us. Like we

494
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 5: believe that these that something real is going on, we

495
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,160
Speaker 5: just don't know what it is exactly. And I think

496
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:35,879
Speaker 5: the subtext is kind of we don't know if this

497
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,199
Speaker 5: is a psychiatric thing, which in itself does still need

498
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 5: to be treated even if it's not in order, you know,

499
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 5: even if it's not coming from these directed energy weapons.

500
00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,239
Speaker 5: As the intelligence found that it's not, they said they

501
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 5: have a high degree of confidence that it's not coming

502
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 5: from a foreign adversary. It was initially blamed on Russia.

503
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 5: And it's kind of a funny case because whenever I

504
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 5: talk to people that work in the intelligence community for

505
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,239
Speaker 5: a while, I had asked them early on what they

506
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 5: thought about this, and I realized it was like a

507
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,920
Speaker 5: roar shot test. Whatever the person's p folio was, whatever

508
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,760
Speaker 5: foreign country they're worried about, they tended to think that

509
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 5: they were behind the Havana syndrome. So I knew, I

510
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,479
Speaker 5: knew an FBI kind of intelligence oppicer. I was like, oh,

511
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,359
Speaker 5: it's got to be the Chinese, and this person's portfolio

512
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 5: was China, And you know, to be fair to them.

513
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 1: It's a roar shack a little bit, right, It's what

514
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 1: you wanted to be as opposed to maybe psychiatric stuff

515
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: from being under a ton of stress, right.

516
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,399
Speaker 5: And I think, to be fair the folks in the community,

517
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,360
Speaker 5: they do see all sorts of horrible things that these

518
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 5: foreign adversaries are doing. They're seeing all sorts of terrible

519
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:31,680
Speaker 5: things that the Chinese are doing. That the Russians are doing,

520
00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 5: that the Iranians are doing. You know, don't dispute any

521
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,879
Speaker 5: of that, but I think that tends to have the

522
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 5: effect that you start seeing them around every corner where

523
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 5: perhaps they're not because you know, they operate in a

524
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,320
Speaker 5: very secret environment. They can't talk to anybody about these

525
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 5: things outside of their immediate colleagues. There's a needed, no

526
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 5: basis for everything. So I think it creates this very

527
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:51,879
Speaker 5: unhealthy kind of like echo chamber. I guess where you know,

528
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 5: they can't there's no and so I understand why they

529
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 5: get so paranoid about a lot of it. But we're

530
00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,119
Speaker 5: kind of seeing this play out in the form of

531
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 5: this syndrome there trying to figure out what it is

532
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 5: so that the US government calls it anomaloust health incidents.

533
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:05,520
Speaker 5: That's the term they've used for it, and what I

534
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,520
Speaker 5: found depending on just released its budget last month and

535
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:12,120
Speaker 5: it had a thirty six million dollar request for responding

536
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 5: to the Havana syndrome. That includes not just medical treatment

537
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,640
Speaker 5: for the individuals, but like R and D like research

538
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 5: to try to find out what the risks are associated

539
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 5: with it, you know, what might be causing. So it's

540
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,120
Speaker 5: like part of a whole, and it's an interagency thing.

541
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 5: I think that it's a lot of the money goes

542
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,800
Speaker 5: through the DoD because they have the medical facilities, you know,

543
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,160
Speaker 5: the most significant medical facilities to deal with these things.

544
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,120
Speaker 5: According to this budget, which is like a thousand pages long,

545
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 5: but if you click through it, you can find quite

546
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 5: a lot of detail in it because it's describing like

547
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,479
Speaker 5: what do we need money for? It talks about all

548
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 5: these other agencies coordinating with them, and a lot of

549
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 5: it is classified. There was an Inspector General report recently,

550
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 5: I think just earlier this year that said that one

551
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:49,639
Speaker 5: of the chief problems in treating these cases is so

552
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,640
Speaker 5: much of the information is classified that the doctors can't

553
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 5: figure out what the heck is going on and can't

554
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 5: share information with each other. Yeah, so it's kind of

555
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:57,120
Speaker 5: like in some ways, I think the story's and indictment

556
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 5: of the overclassification and oversecrecy of the intelligence community to

557
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 5: a point that it's hurting there on personnel and something

558
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:03,199
Speaker 5: like this.

559
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, was there anything when you were looking through that

560
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 1: budget that stuck out to you?

561
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,000
Speaker 2: I was actually wanted to ask you about that, just.

562
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,119
Speaker 5: Like how byzantine it was. I mean, as we know,

563
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 5: the Pentagon budget is enormous. It's just sprawling us. Yeah,

564
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 5: it's just sprawling eight hundred and forty two billion dollar

565
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 5: requests that they put forward, which, by the way, when

566
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,480
Speaker 5: the Republicans under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in his debt

567
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 5: limit bill, which includes you know, cuts to all kinds

568
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 5: of domestic programs from clean energy subsidies, student loan forgiveness,

569
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,400
Speaker 5: food stamps, all of these things, does not touch the Pentagon.

570
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 5: Like the single biggest expense that we that we have.

571
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,200
Speaker 1: Right, single biggest expense that we have while we are

572
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,680
Speaker 1: currently not at war and has never been shaved at all.

573
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just a little bit.

574
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,239
Speaker 1: Curious since you've seen this document, did you see like,

575
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,760
Speaker 1: you know, ten million dollar toilets. Have they gotten better

576
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:54,959
Speaker 1: at not doing stuff like that?

577
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:57,639
Speaker 5: No? I mean what you've seen is like a huge

578
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,280
Speaker 5: shift towards contracting that on a scale that has never

579
00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 5: existed before. So a lot of this money is going

580
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 5: to private contractors, which you know, if you talk to

581
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 5: some of the older military brass, they're kind of bitter about.

582
00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 5: They're like, why are we having you know, mercenaries doing

583
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 5: all these things? Like this should be a you know,

584
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 5: there's a sense of honor in the military. I think

585
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 5: that's a real thing, and people take pride in it,

586
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 5: and I don't think they like the direction in which

587
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 5: it's gone. But that's something I'm struck by, just how

588
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:25,160
Speaker 5: much is contracted out and how central the Pentagon system.

589
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 5: I mean, you talk about why the GOP wants to

590
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:29,639
Speaker 5: cut from all of these popular programs but don't want

591
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 5: to cut from this, I would imagine it just you know,

592
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 5: the Pentagon seems very deft at distributing money out to

593
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 5: companies in all of these different key districts that Congress

594
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:40,720
Speaker 5: people probably aren't going to want to lose access to

595
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 5: those jobs in that money. So it's just like this

596
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 5: huge leviathan that just keeps growing. And I thought that

597
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 5: this case was kind of a illustration of that because

598
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 5: what we saw is so in the Inspector General report,

599
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 5: I mentioned a couple of minutes ago, they've doubled the staff,

600
00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:57,520
Speaker 5: more than double the staff used to respond to its full

601
00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 5: time military personnel that have been detailed to Avana Centum,

602
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 5: including a two star general, is being detailed to responded.

603
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 5: So it's like it's just like everything else in the military.

604
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 5: It's not unique to Avana Synium. It's like that part

605
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 5: of the budget just keeps growing.

606
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about this mad Gates war

607
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 1: criminal story.

608
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:18,400
Speaker 2: What is happening.

609
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,840
Speaker 1: It's funny because all these you know, maga congress people

610
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 1: can hire whoever they want, and they really do.

611
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 5: Yeah, in this case, they weren't ashamed of it at all.

612
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:30,640
Speaker 5: When I went to the spokesperson for Gates that were like, yep,

613
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,560
Speaker 5: we're proud of this, and we back our boys overseas.

614
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 5: And the way that they've tried to frame it is

615
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,960
Speaker 5: like military service members are you know, treated unfairly. It's

616
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 5: very much like the discourse around policing here. She's like, oh,

617
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,640
Speaker 5: police have a very difficult job and sometimes they have

618
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:47,840
Speaker 5: to make tough decisions that you don't understand. You're never

619
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,040
Speaker 5: gonna understand how hard that is. But when you delve

620
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 5: into the details of this story, it really didn't seem

621
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 5: that complicated to me.

622
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 1: A hard decision did not kill someone. It's funny because

623
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 1: it's like it does remind me. During the Trump administration,

624
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: there was a lot of like pardoning war criminals, and

625
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: you know, remember that that terrifying guy who had you know,

626
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 1: killed all these people, and they gave him a pardon.

627
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 2: I mean, this is just.

628
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 1: This idea of normalizing war criminals and normalizing violence more generally.

629
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 5: No, you're exactly right. There was specifically a caucus in

630
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,320
Speaker 5: the Congress that Gates was a part of. Louis Gohmert

631
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 5: and several other conservative Republicans are part of. And the

632
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 5: entire point of this caucus is commuting or lessening or

633
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 5: reducing or pardoning sentences for service members that had been

634
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 5: convicted of these crimes. I mean, you mentioned one case.

635
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 5: So there's the case of Eddie Gallagher during the Trump administration.

636
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 5: He's probably that.

637
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 2: Was who I was thinking about.

638
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 5: Yeah, gone, yeah, probably the highest profile case. He was

639
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 5: a Navy seal who had a teenage prisoner of war.

640
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 5: I think he was accused of stabbing him to death,

641
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 5: and then, if I recall correctly, he sent pictures kind

642
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 5: of like bragging about it to one of the other seals.

643
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 5: And so that was one of the cases where I

644
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 5: think he was pardoned or I can't remember exactly what.

645
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 5: Trump intervened in some fashion a trial. And so this

646
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 5: is part of the whole project that is taking place.

647
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 5: And so in the case of Gates' aid, who had

648
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 5: actually been working there for several months. And I was

649
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,200
Speaker 5: tipped off to this by a friend who's a congressional aid,

650
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 5: who said, Hey, why has no one done a story

651
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 5: on Matt Gates's aid being a war criminal. I was

652
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 5: like what. I couldn't believe the words because it is

653
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 5: so surreal because he'd been there for like, I think

654
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 5: six months or something. So I look into the case.

655
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 5: It turns out what the guy told me was exactly right.

656
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 5: This this individual had been interrogating an Afghan civilian whom

657
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,840
Speaker 5: he suspected of working with the Tailban, and during the

658
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,360
Speaker 5: course of that interrogation shot him in the you know,

659
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 5: straddled him and then shot him in the head, and

660
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 5: then told some of other service members afterwards, Oh, I

661
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 5: think I thought it was lying, so I killed him.

662
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 5: And so he was sentenced to I think it was

663
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 5: like a life Yeah, it was a life sentence. And

664
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 5: then what ended up happening was after some of these

665
00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:52,719
Speaker 5: Republicans intervened, the military board ended up reducing his sentence

666
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 5: and letting him out after I think it was maybe

667
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 5: a decade or so. And so right after that then

668
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 5: Gates hired him, and now he's not just an aid

669
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 5: to Gates, he's specifically an aid on defense issues. And

670
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 5: so when I went to the Press secretary, they weren't

671
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 5: embarrassed at all.

672
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:16,080
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh because it's so upsetting and

673
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 1: profoundly disturbing.

674
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 2: And I mean, as someone.

675
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 1: Who you know, my grandfather was a Communist who worked

676
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: in the Voice of America and was, you know, very

677
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:32,480
Speaker 1: anti war, but committed to World War Two because of Nazis, obviously,

678
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 1: and we were on the other side with the Nazis,

679
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 1: so they like that. But the idea that we have

680
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 1: in our government, you know, a group that is trying

681
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: to make war crimes more socially acceptable, it just blows

682
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 1: my fucking mind.

683
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 2: Anyway, continue, Yeah, I.

684
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 5: Came to this with an open mind because to some

685
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 5: extent I think it's true. I mean, you have these

686
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 5: kids that are like nineteen or overseas. I think about

687
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 5: myself when I was nineteen, God where I have I mean,

688
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 5: I probably wouldn't shoot someone in the head when I'm

689
00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 5: interrogating them, but you know, maybe I'd do something stupid.

690
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 5: So I really wanted to give it a fair hearing.

691
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 5: And look, into the details of the case, and unfortunately

692
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 5: it was not the sort of you know, nuanced complex

693
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 5: issue that I think Gates in that caucus I was

694
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 5: talking about tried to make it out to be. It

695
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 5: really seemed to be a lot more black and white

696
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 5: to me, as do many of the other cases. Unfortunately,

697
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 5: so I think it's sort of a misdirection because they're

698
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 5: praying on people's good will and understanding that God, we

699
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 5: send these kids out there, they probably aren't emotionally prepared

700
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 5: for these things. I totally get that. I happen to

701
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 5: agree with that, but you can't just have a blanket

702
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:31,239
Speaker 5: amnesty for every crime because of that, you know, you

703
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 5: have to look at the specifics exactly.

704
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 2: Ken clippen Stein, I hope you'll come back.

705
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 5: My pleasure is really nice chatting with you guys.

706
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 1: Rana Epting is the executive director of move On.

707
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 2: Welcome Too Fast Politics.

708
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,719
Speaker 6: Rana, Thank you, thank you for having me.

709
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: We're delighted to have you. So first things first that

710
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about is move On

711
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 1: is working on winning back the House by targeting. Tell

712
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 1: us about your plan, because this is pretty interesting.

713
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 7: Yeah, So there's eighteen Republicans that won their House elections

714
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,320
Speaker 7: this last cycle in twenty twenty two, but turns out

715
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,760
Speaker 7: in twenty twenty those districts went for Biden.

716
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 6: So these guys are super vulnerable.

717
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:19,160
Speaker 7: They're in moderate districts, they won as moderate Republicans, but

718
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:23,080
Speaker 7: lo and behold, they're voting with the extremist wing of

719
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,959
Speaker 7: the party the vast majority of the time. In fact,

720
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,680
Speaker 7: we looked at all their e votes, they're voting with

721
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,160
Speaker 7: Marjorie Hilly Green one hundred percent of the time. I'm

722
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 7: like thirty of the most consequential votes they've taken since

723
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 7: they came into office.

724
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:37,520
Speaker 6: This year.

725
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 7: We're on the case. We think they're beatable. We're going

726
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,359
Speaker 7: to keep hammering on them. We started a few months ago,

727
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:45,799
Speaker 7: and we're going to go all the way through the

728
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 7: twenty four election cycle and get these guys out of

729
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:49,280
Speaker 7: office and take back the House.

730
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,880
Speaker 1: Can you explain to us a little bit about certainly

731
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:57,280
Speaker 1: a bunch of those districts are in New York State, right.

732
00:34:57,640 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 6: Yeah, there's a bunch in New York State.

733
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,000
Speaker 1: Can you talk about the districts in New York State,

734
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,160
Speaker 1: because you know, as someone who lives in New York State,

735
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 1: I feel like they really fucked up, and I want

736
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: to talk about it.

737
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 7: I think that's a great description of what happened. They really,

738
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 7: they really messed this one up. Yeah, a lot of

739
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,360
Speaker 7: these districts should have gone to the Democrat. And I

740
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,279
Speaker 7: think the kerfuffle in New York State this last cycle was.

741
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 1: Really redistricting and just like bad campaigning or no campaigning

742
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 1: in the case of like Sean Patrick Maloney who was

743
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:34,360
Speaker 1: doing national television the Sunday before the election.

744
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:35,760
Speaker 6: Right, So you've.

745
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,479
Speaker 7: Got so here are the Republicans. You've got New York now,

746
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:43,480
Speaker 7: thanks to the fumble, you've got represented to La Looda right,

747
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:51,879
Speaker 7: New York one Lawler Molinaro. Oh, our favorite George Santos.

748
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,000
Speaker 1: Right, that's right, and that's Nasau County. That's a D

749
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:54,799
Speaker 1: plus two.

750
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 6: And then we've got Williams in New York twenty two.

751
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 2: Right. And then also we have at Desposita.

752
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 1: Right, the Sean Patrick Maloney seat which he lost to

753
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 1: a Republican. Yeah, so how do you flip these seats?

754
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 7: We have to expose these Republican electeds for the extremist

755
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 7: elected officials.

756
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:18,799
Speaker 6: That they are.

757
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:24,040
Speaker 7: I mean, they ran campaigns positioning themselves as moderates and

758
00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 7: so far they have not legislated accordingly, and so it's

759
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 7: not you know, our job is to just make the

760
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 7: facts plane to the voters in their districts that this

761
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 7: is not what you signed up for. I think that's

762
00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:39,880
Speaker 7: something we can do over the next two years. So

763
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,600
Speaker 7: we're gonna we're pouring through the SEC filings. We're going

764
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,600
Speaker 7: to be making sure we're researching all of their actions

765
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 7: and their speeches and what they're doing. So there's like

766
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 7: opposition research happening. But we've also got to like when

767
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 7: they do the wrong thing, we got to call them

768
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 7: out on it. So we've got organized cohorts of members

769
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 7: in these districts ready to spin up actions in their

770
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 7: district lobby meetings, bird.

771
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,279
Speaker 6: Dogging, what have you. And then you know, we drive

772
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,280
Speaker 6: paid media plays as well.

773
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,520
Speaker 7: But you know, it's kind of never letting your eye,

774
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,320
Speaker 7: never letting your focus go elsewhere, and really really giving

775
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 7: these guys a hard time. And look, if they end

776
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,560
Speaker 7: up governing as the moderates they say they are great,

777
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,280
Speaker 7: I think that's, you know, probably what the voters wanted.

778
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 6: But right now that's not what the facts they're telling us.

779
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,279
Speaker 1: So let me ask you about these other seats that

780
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:32,920
Speaker 1: you guys are targeting.

781
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 7: Yeah, so we've got a lot in California. You mentioned

782
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 7: that we've got Duarte in California thirteen. Mike Garcia is

783
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 7: a famous name. I mean, here's the thing. I can

784
00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 7: go through the list, right, but honestly, these people aren't

785
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,320
Speaker 7: Besides George Santos, they're flying under.

786
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:52,880
Speaker 2: The radar right right, right right.

787
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 6: And that's the problem is they're saying, elect me, I'm.

788
00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 7: A moderate, rebel headed Republican, and yet they're allowing the

789
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:05,400
Speaker 7: most extremist wing of the Republican Party all the shots,

790
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,840
Speaker 7: and they're voting with them. And so that's the problem.

791
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 7: So a lot of these names most people may not

792
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,400
Speaker 7: have heard of. But if we're successful, which I believe

793
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,000
Speaker 7: we will be, these guys are going to be famous,

794
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:17,720
Speaker 7: you know, in a year.

795
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,360
Speaker 1: Right, because it is this idea that in the Republican

796
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,880
Speaker 1: Party now there are no moderates. Right, if you don't

797
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,760
Speaker 1: vote one hundred percent of the time with Marjorie Tayler Green,

798
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 1: you are out.

799
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 6: Yeah, imagine what it could have looked like.

800
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:38,440
Speaker 7: Remember when they were voting for a speaker McCarthy earlier

801
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 7: this year, and what then the chaos that ensued, Like,

802
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 7: imagine what it looked like if those eighteen supposed moderate

803
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 7: Republicans had put their foot down and said, no, we're

804
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,719
Speaker 7: not conceding to Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gates and

805
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 7: Lauren Berber in these and we're putting our foot like

806
00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 7: they have more power, they're not exercising it. They're allowing

807
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:01,759
Speaker 7: the party to be this extremist.

808
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 2: Party because they're scared of the base.

809
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:07,000
Speaker 7: Yeah, exactly, and they're scared of those that got elected

810
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:08,560
Speaker 7: in these base heavy districts.

811
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:10,080
Speaker 6: But these guys are beatable.

812
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:14,960
Speaker 7: I mean, you've got Representative David Schweiker in Arizona, he

813
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 7: won by less than a percentage point, right, and then you've.

814
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 6: Got like Rep.

815
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 7: Duarte in California, who won by less than six hundred votes.

816
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:26,319
Speaker 6: Like, this is beatable stuff here.

817
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,160
Speaker 7: We just got to be focused and we've got to

818
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 7: make plane to the voters what these guys.

819
00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 2: Are up to. So tell me what else you're working on.

820
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 7: All the campaign we're doing is really focused on the

821
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 7: eighteen Republicans in those Biden districts, but there is a

822
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 7: lot of other stuff that's happening as well. I mean,

823
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,440
Speaker 7: you've got this Clarence Thomas business. Our members have been

824
00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:48,400
Speaker 7: outraged around Clarence Thomas since the beginning of time, but

825
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,279
Speaker 7: most recently earlier this year, we had a petition over

826
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 7: like one point three million members signed in a matter

827
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 7: of a weekend to demand that he stepped down or

828
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 7: be impeached. People have had I've had it, and then

829
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 7: you have this news that he's taken at least six

830
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:11,120
Speaker 7: trips on Harlan Crowe's private jet places like Indonesia.

831
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 1: I mean, what would the recourse be for something like that,

832
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:18,719
Speaker 1: for a Supreme Court justice that's pocketing millions of dollars

833
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:19,920
Speaker 1: from his owners?

834
00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 7: I mean, what can we actually do about it? So,

835
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 7: first of all, I don't have to tell you. I mean,

836
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,279
Speaker 7: the threat is huge. The fact that this is all

837
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:32,520
Speaker 7: coming out and you're seeing Republicans, most of them shrug

838
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 7: their shoulders.

839
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,000
Speaker 6: And say, what are you going to do about it?

840
00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:39,920
Speaker 7: Is very, very detrimental to the people's faith in our

841
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 7: democratic system period. And this is the highest court of

842
00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:47,400
Speaker 7: the land. So if we want to I am not

843
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 7: a believer in tearing down faith in democracy, like I

844
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:54,320
Speaker 7: think that is a very scary posture to be in.

845
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 1: Right, But I mean, is there a impeachment proceedings. I mean,

846
00:40:57,719 --> 00:41:00,800
Speaker 1: it's great to have a lot of people in a petition,

847
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:02,719
Speaker 1: but what could.

848
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 7: Because there's a split conger Congress, it's tough, but Democrats

849
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,839
Speaker 7: could all be calling for impeachment of Clarence Thomas. They

850
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:13,280
Speaker 7: could be forward on this. They don't have the votes

851
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,759
Speaker 7: because we don't have all of this, we don't have

852
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,960
Speaker 7: the majority, but we could be calling for the Senate

853
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:23,120
Speaker 7: could be launching hearings and to Clarence Thomas.

854
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 1: Right, So that makes sense, So that would be something

855
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,440
Speaker 1: to focus on, is Senate hearings.

856
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,279
Speaker 6: For That would be a good thing to focus on.

857
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:33,360
Speaker 7: Also, John Roberts has a responsibility to maintain the integrity

858
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 7: of the court, so he could be having backdoor conversations

859
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,680
Speaker 7: or public conversations demanding that this is enough is enough, right,

860
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:42,239
Speaker 7: Like they have to protect the integrity of the highest.

861
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 2: Cordab land right right right.

862
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:44,640
Speaker 6: Though.

863
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:46,759
Speaker 7: I mean, it's not an easy slam dunk in terms

864
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,640
Speaker 7: of what the answer is, but shrugging our shoulders is

865
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:50,399
Speaker 7: definitely not that.

866
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:52,520
Speaker 6: And there's a lot that Democrats can do.

867
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,960
Speaker 7: Even with their limited with their with being the minority

868
00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:59,240
Speaker 7: in the House, but especially with the majority in the Senate.

869
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:03,919
Speaker 1: So let's talk about this McCarthy death ceiling fight, which

870
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:06,719
Speaker 1: is on the horizon. I mean, what does this look

871
00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 1: like for your organization? I mean what this seems like

872
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:13,520
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that there certainly have to be

873
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,120
Speaker 1: five Republicans who could go along with Democrats.

874
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 7: They might be, you know, five of those eighteen we're

875
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,479
Speaker 7: talking about. Shouldn't they be voting to support the full

876
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:24,400
Speaker 7: faith and credit of the United States?

877
00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:24,759
Speaker 5: You know?

878
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:29,080
Speaker 7: So I think this is one a winnable thing for

879
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:33,680
Speaker 7: the president. But Speaker McCarthy and the extremeist wing of

880
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:37,279
Speaker 7: this party, they're just going to keep playing football with

881
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 7: the credit of the United States, and it's going to put.

882
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:43,279
Speaker 6: All of our economic well being at risk.

883
00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:45,560
Speaker 7: So it's not just what's in it for the president

884
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:47,920
Speaker 7: or what's in it for our campaigning, it's like, what's

885
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:49,000
Speaker 7: in it for the country.

886
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:51,719
Speaker 6: This is insanity. I mean, we're in.

887
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:55,680
Speaker 7: This position in the first place because Donald Trump and

888
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:58,879
Speaker 7: Republicans when they were in office, made all these tax

889
00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,479
Speaker 7: cuts for the wealthy, and so that's why we're talking

890
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,200
Speaker 7: about deficits and all of that. But increasing the debt

891
00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:08,960
Speaker 7: limit is a normal thing every Congress does. There If

892
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:10,640
Speaker 7: you want a way to balance the budget, you do

893
00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:13,759
Speaker 7: that in the budget process. But Republicans are tying these

894
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,879
Speaker 7: two things together and holding it hostage. And I think

895
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:18,920
Speaker 7: at the end of the day, McCarthy and the Republicans

896
00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:21,640
Speaker 7: are going to lose this fight. Nobody wants to see

897
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:26,120
Speaker 7: the US default on its credit and they don't want

898
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 7: to be seen as the people that pushed us into

899
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 7: this nightmare.

900
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:33,160
Speaker 1: Yeah Jesus Nate, this did happen though, that Republicans did

901
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:37,400
Speaker 1: default and it ended up with it was a default

902
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 1: on the American credit rating, and it ended up being

903
00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 1: very bad for the markets. So I do think there's

904
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,520
Speaker 1: really downgrade. There was a credit downgrade and it ended

905
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:48,320
Speaker 1: up being very bad for the market. So I'm just curious.

906
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 1: I mean, why do you think they won't ultimately do it?

907
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:53,399
Speaker 7: Well, first of all, I'm not sure they have their

908
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:59,120
Speaker 7: ducks in a row right do anything, Because last I heard,

909
00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:01,560
Speaker 7: last I read yes yesterday, is McCarthy put out this

910
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:06,000
Speaker 7: plan and then we're already hearing rumblings at behind closed

911
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 7: doors Republicans were.

912
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,400
Speaker 6: Arguing about it, and they're not aligned.

913
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 7: So I don't even know if this is going to

914
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:14,520
Speaker 7: get past the House, let alone be a fight. So

915
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:18,040
Speaker 7: it's taken them this long to even present this package,

916
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,279
Speaker 7: which is absurd, and the American public is not going

917
00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:22,239
Speaker 7: to go for me.

918
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:22,880
Speaker 6: Just think about it.

919
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 7: On the merits alone, the American public want to cut

920
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:30,840
Speaker 7: food stamps, hurt veterans' medical care, put meals on wheels.

921
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:33,160
Speaker 1: I mean, the American public doesn't want it, but the

922
00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:35,640
Speaker 1: Republican Party does.

923
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 7: Yeah, which is the ultimate problem we're in is the

924
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:42,760
Speaker 7: base is holding all of us hostage by their wildly

925
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:43,920
Speaker 7: unpopular views.

926
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:48,239
Speaker 1: Right, So that's quite interesting. So do you think I mean,

927
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 1: here we are with this stat ceiling coming down, I mean,

928
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:58,440
Speaker 1: is there anything right now that people who are listening

929
00:44:58,680 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 1: can do?

930
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:02,359
Speaker 2: Writing the representatives? What should they be doing?

931
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:03,560
Speaker 6: Well, I think a really.

932
00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,040
Speaker 7: Cool thing people should be doing the calling leader of

933
00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:11,360
Speaker 7: Speaker McCarthy's office and telling him to quit playing chicken

934
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,480
Speaker 7: with the full faith and credit of the United States.

935
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:16,680
Speaker 7: I mean, he's not everyone's representative, but he is the

936
00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:19,360
Speaker 7: Speaker of the House and he should be hearing holy

937
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:23,319
Speaker 7: hell from voters across this country. That'd be one thing.

938
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,640
Speaker 7: And then I think, just like talking to folks about

939
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:29,200
Speaker 7: here is what the Republicans are asking for in exchange

940
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,399
Speaker 7: for a temporary one year increase of.

941
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:33,960
Speaker 6: The debt limit. People are going to be enraged by this.

942
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:36,399
Speaker 6: This is not good faith negotiation, right.

943
00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,359
Speaker 1: No, that's definitely true. This has been so interesting. Thank

944
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,160
Speaker 1: you for joining us. I hope you'll come back.

945
00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:44,719
Speaker 6: Oh, I would love to thank you.

946
00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 8: No, Jesse Cannon, Molly Jong Fast You know this Supreme

947
00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:59,279
Speaker 8: Court ruling on mif Prostone was very sad for some

948
00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:02,240
Speaker 8: of the Republicans Injustices Justice Alido.

949
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:05,840
Speaker 2: He did not get his own way and he is

950
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:06,440
Speaker 2: not pleased.

951
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:09,640
Speaker 1: There will be hours and hours of Fox News you

952
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:14,520
Speaker 1: will have to watch to make himself feel better. Jinny

953
00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 1: Thomas will be posting through it.

954
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:22,439
Speaker 8: If somebody could show me the Facebook group post she's

955
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:23,560
Speaker 8: making right now, I.

956
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,440
Speaker 1: Want to see Genny Thomas's Finsta.

957
00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 2: I'm switching by Twitter handle to that.

958
00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:35,720
Speaker 1: Jenny Thomas's Finsta And for that, they are our moment

959
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:40,239
Speaker 1: of fuck Ray. That's it for this episode of Fast Politics.

960
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:43,520
Speaker 1: Tune in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to hear the

961
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:47,040
Speaker 1: best minds in politics makes sense of all this chaos.

962
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:49,840
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed what you've heard, please send it to

963
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:53,280
Speaker 1: a friend and keep the conversation going, and again thanks

964
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:53,920
Speaker 1: for listening.