WEBVTT - Josh Marshall & AG Rob Bonta 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.120 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.520 today's best minds, and the White House has paused all 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:11.880 federal grants. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.200 We have such a great show for you today. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:20.560 Talking points memos, Josh Marshall looks into how Trump's spending 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:25.480 freeze impacts everyday American life, and we'll talk to California 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:31.120 Attorney General Rob Bonta about how Democratic augees are writing 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:32.199 back against Trump. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:36.920 And first the news Somalie saying I told you so 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.800 in this era is a not very helpful thing to do. It's, 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.360 if anything, I think, depressing. But all we have seen 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.320 for days on days is just Project twenty twenty five 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.440 coming true exactly how we said it would, and it 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:54.760 makes me want to slam my head into a table 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:56.000 more than anything else. 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.400 What I would say is this, It's not surprising. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.120 It's week two of Trump and Trump is now implementing 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.400 some of the nuts and bolts of Project twenty twenty five. 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:08.240 You and I know all about this because we did 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:13.160 a whole YouTube series on this in July about Project 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.560 twenty twenty five. So none of us are particularly surprised 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:23.199 by this. But it is chaotic and upsetting and pretty 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.920 much exactly what we thought it would be. So I 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:28.880 just want to talk for a minit about the ethos 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.360 of Project twenty twenty five. So Project twenty twenty five, 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:33.560 it was called the Mandate for Leadership. It was a 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.679 large book of ideas, a sort of wish list of 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:42.479 the things that Republicans desperately wanted, and on that wish 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:46.320 list the idea. And Thomas Zimmer, who was a Georgetown professor, 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.840 talked to me about this this summer and he pointed 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.200 out that the whole idea here is that the first 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:55.279 Trump administration was of policy failure, that they weren't able 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.680 to implement the really radical stuff that they wanted to do, 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.960 and that was Project twenty twenty five. As people started 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.760 to google it, it got very unpopular because they started 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:06.480 to learn about it, and what they learned was that 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.960 Project twenty twenty five is largely. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.040 About removing a lot of. 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:14.239 The social safety net that was put in to practice 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.000 by FDR Right, A lot of the stuff that is 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.480 either set up to protect people to give them a 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.840 possibility where there's something between, like you know, to get 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:25.720 them back on their feed. That that needed to go, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.160 and I want to add that that needed to go 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.359 to make way for tax cuts for very rich people. Remember, 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.959 Trump is pruning the federal government, not because the federal 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:42.000 government doesn't work, but because really, really, really rich people 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.120 do not want to have to pay taxes at thirty 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.560 eight to forty forty five percent. They want to pay 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.760 taxes at twenty percent ten percent. And for them to 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.720 do that, that would mean that the federal government has 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.800 to do less stuff for people. And so part of 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:02.280 this is enacting the product the Project twenty twenty five agenda. Now, 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.920 in the first Trump administration, there was a guy who 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.360 was the head of the Office of Management of Budget 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.280 and the OMB. The Office of Management and Budget is 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:17.120 set up to duel out the money that Congress puts 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.280 towards different things. The idea is that Congress is supposed 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.320 to decide what money goes to what. But what happened 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.160 when Russ Faugh was the head of OMB the last 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.919 time was that he decided he didn't think money should 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:34.600 go to Ukraine. Money that Congress had allocated to Ukraine, 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.480 he decided that it shouldn't and so he held that 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:41.400 money and ultimately that led to Donald Trump's first impeachment, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.520 right the quid pro quote no aid for Ukraine if 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.080 you can't get me dirt on Joe Biden. Oh how 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:52.800 I long for those halcyon days of the first Trump impeachment. Anyway, Well, 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:56.160 we still had a mainstream media and a few Republicans 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.360 in Congress who were not total shills for Donald Trump. Anyway, 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.520 the point of this story is that now we have 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.640 Russ Vought. He's waiting for Senate confirmation that is supposed 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.720 to happen on Thursday. This timing is not so good 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.560 for him because if there are any Republicans who have 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.400 a spine, and maybe there are two, and perhaps there 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.480 are more, if you call them every day, I mean 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.440 I'm saying, like, if you jam their phone lines and 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.120 you call your senator right now, or call your congressman 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.080 right now, and you just keep calling, even if they're 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.400 a Republican, they get hundreds of thousands of Jesse. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:33.599 You know this, Jesse. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.039 What happens when members of Congress get hundreds of thousands 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:39.080 of phone calls. 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.120 They get very very shock. And we've seen proof of 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.680 this before that a lot of the time when you're 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.280 getting these calls, it is not going to pause your 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.240 deepest conviction. Like the thing people get wrong about this 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.880 is that when you are as Zella, Mike Pence has 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.600 not changed his mind on abortion, but something he's squishy 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.479 on and doesn't really care that much about, like whether 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.839 Cash Bettel gets through or not, Well that might change 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.800 a mark Wayne Mullen if they fear the wrath. I 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:07.520 think there's gonna be a lot of wrath felt this 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.000 week about Medicaid, which we're going to be talking about soon. 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.760 That with the congressional phone lines getting flooded right now. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.080 And I know this because I'm married to somebody who 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.039 takes these calls, it's very very very very easy to 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:22.599 sway them on the things they are persuadable on. 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.080 So anyway, the point of this is that if you. 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.839 Call your senator, if you call your congressman, and you 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.479 say to them, do not approve Russ Bobb, do not 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.360 go along with letting Donald Trump have the power of 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.360 the purse, because Congress is really giving. 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:42.640 Away its power here and that is what we're seeing. 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:47.040 Anyway. So this omb memo came out yesterday. It says 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:51.040 that five o'clock on Tuesday, which is when we are 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.800 taping this, but you will be listening to this on Wednesday. 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.680 It says at five o'clock on Tuesday, all federal. 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.200 Grants and loans will paused. 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:06.080 So all White House federal grants loans will be paused 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:10.159 by five o'clock unless there is a court injunction. I believe, 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.920 and again I could be wrong. You guys know, if 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.520 you listen this podcast, you know I'm never wrong. But 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.960 except when I am, I believe that what's happening here 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.480 is that there's going to be an injunction and that 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.320 this is going to have a code to the Supreme Court, 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.040 and the Supreme Court is going to look at it 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.000 on the shadow docket because what Donald Trump I actually 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.640 think wants to do here is a repeal of the 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:40.120 nineteen seventy four Impoundment Act, which made it so that 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:47.200 the president could not stop congressionally allocated money from being distributed. 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.880 I actually think this is a legal play. 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.279 As much as it's trying to freak everyone out, I 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.400 also think it is a legal play. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:07:00.400 Yeah, I don't think that's wrong. Somali, I am a Doo, 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.320 follows the AI thing very very closely. Starting around Friday night, 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.120 everybody started talking about this deep seek thing that happened 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:10.320 from China, where China basically made an AI model for 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:15.080 one one hundredths two one one thousandth of what many 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:17.920 of these AI people were talking about building something like 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.360 this for that is much more efficient. Now while some 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.520 people have said it has some holes in it, that 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.720 is kind of a team of AI in that it 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.600 looks really nice but has some very big falls when 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:30.720 you look under the hood. But Trump was about to 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:36.400 give five hundred billion dollars in AI initiative, and uh oh, 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:37.680 that's not looking so on. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:42.360 Yeah, so again, this is another Chinese app that's causing 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.480 problems in America. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:47.040 Not to be confused with TikTok. We don't know what 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:47.760 the play is. 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:52.280 We don't really know how good this AI is and 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.440 whether it's better than the homegrown American AI, but we 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:01.680 do know that China is yet again perhaps eating our lunch. 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:03.400 Maybe not, we'll see. 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.880 I think the most interesting thing though, is Nvidia's stock 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.840 falling by over six hundred billion dollars in a day, 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:14.000 being one of the largest losses, and really a lot 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.840 of people feel like this is now Trump putting a 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:21.520 very bad investment from our text dollars into something and 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.120 yet to get a funnel towards rich people. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.800 I mean, the only thing I would say is we 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.800 don't know if it's real or not. Because you'll remember 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:35.280 that Trump trotted out that Sawbank CEO in twenty seventeen too, 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:36.839 So who knows, I mean, I. 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:37.480 Wouldn't you know. 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:41.520 Maybe he made the investment, maybe he just had pretended 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:42.559 to make the investment. 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.400 No one knows, No one knows, solid point. 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.160 Josh Marshall is the editor of Talking Points Memo. Welcome 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.839 back to the podcast, Josh Marshall. 0:08:57.880 --> 0:08:58.800 Thanks for having me. 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:03.200 I had always thought that Project twenty twenty five was 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.160 the plan because they kept saying project twenty twenty five 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.840 is the plan, except when Trump was like, no, no, 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:10.520 never heard of it, never heard of it. 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.800 Yeah, I mean it was run out of his campaign basically, 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.440 so that was always a good indication. 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:16.000 By his people. 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.920 Yeah. Well, I mean almost literally out of his campaign. 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:22.400 But yeah, yeah, is this the day that the American 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.720 people like sort of thread the needle and are like, 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:27.800 oh wow. 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.600 Well, I think last night is when we saw, you know, 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:36.160 the collision come into view. I'm not sure that a 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.600 lot of people are going to realize it today because 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.520 I'm not sure that the headlines that people are seeing 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.480 are quite making it clear in that case. I'm not 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.640 even sure in every case that that is a failure 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.880 of the media. Although there's plenty of that to go around. 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.520 It's difficult to capture quite what's happening. I mean, I 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:01.840 think the you know, substantively what the president is doing 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:07.800 is he's doing kind of a unilateral government shutdown on steroids. 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.960 It is both less than a government shut down in 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.280 some ways and very much more in other ways, and 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.800 that obviously has all sorts of implications. Again, it takes 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:19.679 a lot for things to break through to people, but 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:21.600 I think we're I think we're pretty much there, because 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:23.679 this is going to show up pretty quickly in a 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.719 lot of areas. There are the hot button things, and 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.880 then there are the more in some ways more mundane 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.920 things but that people will see in their own neighborhoods, 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:34.760 in their own lives. 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:36.840 I just want to pause for a minute and talk 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:41.280 about how this is actually kind of legal, right. It's strange, 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.520 it's unusual, but it's also technically like, I mean, I know, 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.560 Donald Trump doesn't really care. There is a thing the 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:54.040 Impoundment Control Act of nineteen seventy four, a post Nixon 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:59.840 anti corruption statute, which created a world where the president 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:03.080 cannot withhold funds because he wants to. 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.240 Now, Russ vought in Trump one point zero. 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.520 You'll remember he withheld the money for Ukraine and that 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:12.079 led to Trump's first impeachment. 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.480 Right, Well, there's two levels of this. First of all, 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:18.439 what he's doing here is on its face, I think 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.559 on constitutional this isn't just a matter of statute law, 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.199 and it's not just a technicality. Basically, I think most 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:29.439 people would agree that a president has some discretion at 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:34.360 the margins of how to what pace to spend moneys 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.840 that are appropriated and ordered to be spent by Congress. 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.800 At the margins is the key thing. After President Nixon 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:47.840 tried to do very small and focused versions of what 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.760 President Trump appears to be doing now, and that led 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.679 to creating this Impoundment Act that you just referred to. 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.960 And what that act does is it basically says that 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:01.320 if the president wants to say, okay, this, I'm going 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.480 to slow down or stop this one area of funding, 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:06.679 he has to go to Congress and get approval for that. 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.000 So that's what that is. No one at the time 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.760 envision this, which is basically I'm going to stop all 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.920 spending everywhere for everything, which is basically what he's doing. 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.360 But I think the key thing to understand here is 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:22.080 that this isn't just a matter of violating the Impoundment Act, 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.679 which the administration will certainly say is unconstitutional. It's also 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.559 what he's doing here is unconstitutional and in the most 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.840 basic level that the Congress is in charge of spending, 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.960 that's where spending is decided, and what he's doing here. 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.640 If the president can do this, the Congress's control over 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.040 spending becomes basically meaningless. 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:42.600 Right. 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.520 So it's taking away power from a co executive branch, 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.839 which was again part of Project twenty twenty five. Right, 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.440 the idea was give as much power as possible to 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:56.160 the presidency, stripped the executive branches from their power, make 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.600 him the boss, the big boss. I'm curious now here 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.240 we are. We've sort of gone down this rabbit hole 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.840 the reading reporting. You know, the Republicans in the House 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:11.200 are having a meeting in durral in the Trump deraw 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.840 right under the floodpath to talk about their legislative agenda, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.440 which is largely a tax cut for very rich people 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.679 and trying to take stuff away from the federal government, 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.160 you know, trying to cut Medicare and trying to do 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.679 anything they can to save money so they can give 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.240 these billionaires a tax cut. The reporting I've read so 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:34.640 far shows that the Republicans are pretty reticent to challenge Trump, 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.440 despite the fact that there is no world in which 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.480 any of this is okay. Are you surprised at all? 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.960 I'm not surprised. There's clearly no appetite to challenge him 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.280 at all. I think that I'm only surprised at what 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.320 he's doing in the sense that he is doing it 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.040 on a blanket level, which will not only hit the 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.520 things that he wants to hit, but will hit the 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.000 things that I think he's much more indifferent hitting, but 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.199 will show up pretty dramatically for people everywhere. 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.480 It's the chaos of Trumpism. 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.600 Right, It's the chaos of it. And I think that 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.160 at the scale in which you know, as of eleven 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.559 forty three on Tuesday morning, he seems to be doing it, 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.560 it will have pretty dramatic and immediate not only showing 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.000 up when, like you know, the local daycare center has 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.480 to shut down like next week, but also will be 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:30.360 a big jolt to the economy. This is going to 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.840 have effects that people are going to see, and at 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.560 that point, we're going to have to see what everybody 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.160 wants to do about it, because I think we have 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.880 seen very clearly, if it comes to a norm or 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.360 what you know, I guess we now call technical illegalities, 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.600 Republicans don't care. You know, they don't care when it 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:54.520 comes to things you're relative in long term care. If 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.680 the long term care facility shuts down again next week, 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.120 people are going to see that, right, and then you're 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.320 going to have to That's a different kind of conversation. 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:06.720 And I don't have any certain expectations what that conversation 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.600 is going to produce. It's but it's a different conversation, 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.320 and I think that's that's why this is a This 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.040 is a big deal. This isn't like, oh, we're gonna 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.080 you know, we're not going to send you know, some 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.680 anti tank missiles to some country you've never heard about. 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:23.280 You It's actually like aid to your grandma, which she's 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.000 been getting this whole time, and now she's not going 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.000 to get it because Donald Trump says. 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:29.880 Now, well, Molly, let me say one additional thing that 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:31.920 I think is important for people to think about most 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:36.360 cancer research in this country. Trials that cancer research, basic research, 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.520 all of it. Most of it's funded by the federal government. 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.600 What this does it immediately stops all of it. And 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.280 that just doesn't mean things in the distant future. That 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.760 means things will stop because the people doing the research 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:49.840 don't know when the next check is going to come. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.960 So these things are again things that most people who 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.240 are casual observers of politics think that these are things 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:58.960 that are just kind of on autopilot that are never affected, 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.640 but they will be effected if what he is now 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:03.800 saying he will do he actually does. 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:08.440 This is the accelerationist case for trump Ism. If Donald 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:13.480 Trump were John Roberts and he were very cunning and 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.600 wanted to slowly dismantle the administrative state so that no 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.000 one would notice, we would be looking at a very 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.400 different week two, right, we'd be looking at a week 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:27.760 two that was don't worry, those Democrats are such liars. 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.280 We just want to trim the fat of the federal government. 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.720 But that's not what Donald Trump is, right. Donald Trump 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.720 has moved fast and break things. So what we're looking 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.800 at is a real sea change. Right, we're looking at 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:44.480 a real American government that will be much smaller if 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.320 they're able to pause almost all of it. 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.960 Smaller is an understatement less functional, right, Well, think of 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.080 it this way in terms of what is not affected, 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.040 what does not appear to be affected is a the military, 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:03.240 and b salaries or government employees, which obviously is the 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:07.240 big deal to government employees. And then direct payments from 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:11.520 Social Security and medicare okay, those things right there are 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.359 most of the federal budget. But that leaves kind of 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.720 everything else the government. The federal government does, and a 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.520 huge part of what the federal government does is contract 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.679 for lots of things to happen. It gives money to 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.119 state and local governments to do various things, run schools, 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:31.600 run hospitals, blah blah, blah, blah blah. A lot of 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.439 medicaid is in the form of grants. It's not to 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.280 individual people. So it's not just that it'll be smaller 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.080 and less functional. In a basic way, it'll stop doing 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.679 almost everything it does because everything that it does outside 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:47.400 of again the military and checks to those two programs, 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.600 and that's only direct checks. The check that actually goes 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.520 to you personally, there's a lot of stuff that is 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.040 grants to hospitals and blah blah blah blah blah. So 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:58.920 it is honestly a little hard to understand exactly what 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.840 their plan is is. I think basically what they're really 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:06.159 trying to do here is two things. One is force 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.240 the principle that the president is in charge of all spending. 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.199 So take that power back. And once you take the 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.080 power back, you know, you probably decide, Okay, I want 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:17.439 to do this, that and the other, but first you 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.040 want to kind of set the principle. The other thing 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.399 is I think that they want to take all of 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:29.119 these different kinds of spending and have the stakeholders, you know, 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:33.639 hospitals when it comes to Medicaid and medicare, schools around 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.240 the country when it comes to all that funding, blah 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.960 blah blah blah. Wants to get all these stakeholders to 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:41.719 kind of come hat in hand to the president, well, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:43.960 you know, what can you do to make it worth 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.879 his while? Those, I think are the two things that 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.359 are going on here. Because this doesn't just go to 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.760 fund the woke mind virus right or whatever they call it. 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.440 It funds a lot of things that they want too. 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:01.880 Yeah too, and again I think, look, people don't like answer, right, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.800 It's very unpopular. And I think that when you hear 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.440 something like that, because look, I mean in a more 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.680 serious vein. Obviously, cancer has impacted all of our lives, 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.120 some more directly than others. But when you hear something 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.639 like that, that's shocking. But that's what this does, and 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.560 it's not an exaggeration. It shuts all of that off. 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:25.240 So it's going to get everybody's attention. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:26.480 And I think. 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:32.320 It's worth just pausing for a moment and talking about 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:38.440 how the things that the federal government does besides cancer 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:43.199 research FEMA, right, I'm thinking about the stuff that in 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:47.160 the Health Department, a lot of that stuff. Trump said 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.280 he had a mandate, and the mandate was He's going 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.919 to make things cheaper, right, like that we were going 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.240 to if there was anything that was all a little 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:56.960 bit of a mandate, it was this idea that was 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:58.000 going to make things cheaper. 0:19:58.359 --> 0:19:59.360 So here we are. 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.960 Now we have this bird flu, right, which is all 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:06.399 these chickens have to die because they are spreading this 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:07.160 bird flu. 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:10.400 So that is a thing that. 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:14.520 Will actually make eggs even more expensive. So that is 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.879 a thing that the federal government has been monitoring, and 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:21.480 if it's on pause, that is going to increase the 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:26.040 likelihood that there will be more unmonitored cases of bird flu. 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:28.800 Am I right, yeah, I mean the bird flu situation 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.320 is very ominous. Even if you figure none of this 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:34.800 was happening. You know, the big thing happened almost a 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.600 year ago now where it moved into the cattle. That 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.040 seems to be ongoing, So that is a big, big 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.080 deal even if none of this was happening. I don't 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:48.119 know offhand the precise mix of surveillance and monitoring on 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:53.240 that front that is from you know, government employees versus 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.320 grants and loans and blah blah blah blah blah. But 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:01.040 putting a huge jolt into the federal bureaucracy short circuiting 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:06.240 a lot of the funding will unquestionably hobble that effort. 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:08.680 There's no way it can't. It's difficult to describe how 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.600 widespread this is, and again, as with so many things 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:16.760 with Trump, it's a little hard to say is this 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.720 going to still be the policy tonight? How carefully was 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:24.040 this thing written? If you look at it, it doesn't 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:28.080 seem terribly carefully written. And by that I'm not trying 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.720 to kind of give people, you know, solace. Like the 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:34.040 point is is that this is really coming into the 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.400 classroom with the battle axe and you're swinging it around 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:40.520 and like, are you going to kill all the kids? Well, 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.440 you know it's not great, but it's so jagged. Who 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:46.240 knows exactly who's going to get hit? 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:49.880 Right? And this is the move fast and break things right. 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:53.280 This is like by design set up to be non 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:58.480 specific and to be you know, quite problematic. I want 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.600 to talk through something with you that happened this weekend, 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:07.920 which was the appointment of Pete Heagseth to the DoD. 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:14.639 He is unqualified, he is likely has some issues with 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:23.040 the drink. He has certainly some many allegations of sexual misconduct, 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:24.400 and perhaps. 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.560 More are violence misconduct. 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:32.280 Right, Yeah, there's just many reasons to be skeptical of 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.639 disappointment for any number of reasons. I want to talk 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:39.600 for a minute about Mitch McConnell voting against him, because 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:43.720 despite the fact that Tillis was expected to vote against him, 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:46.560 and then somehow, after meeting with him for two hours, 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:50.080 he decided it wasn't Who knows what the calculus there was, 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:53.080 But I'm just curious what you think about the idea 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.400 that Mitch mcconnald voted against him and what you think 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:56.440 that could portend. 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:00.840 It may pretend that we are entering the dark Mitch 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:04.440 era for Trump, Right, that's possible. We know who Mitch 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:07.840 McConnell is. We've lived with Mitch McConnell back deep into 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:11.920 the Obama era. Having said that, it is also true 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.159 that many of the things that are happening right now 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:19.640 are going so far rogue that it shouldn't surprise us 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:23.800 if extremely conservative, extremely cynical people say is a bit 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.080 much for me, I can't go with you on Matt thing. 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:29.600 Having said that, Having said that, plus, I think it's 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:32.000 clear that you know Mitch McConnell has a bit of 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:34.600 a polio. Is a bit of a sore point for 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:35.520 Mitch mcconnal's. 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:37.080 Many people are saying, yes. 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:40.240 Yeah, exactly, So that is an issue. Having said that, 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.439 there's also another possibility, and I think this is actually 0:23:43.440 --> 0:23:47.600 something coming up with RFK Junior specifically, there's one scenario 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:51.760 where someone like Mitch McConnell says, hey, I can't support 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:55.159 this guy. I'm going to vote no, or in the 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:58.680 background says I'm not going to like try to actually 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:02.959 sink it for you. There's another scenario, and I'm against 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:07.199 talking specifically about the Kennedy confirmation process, where what I 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:10.240 hear from people who are kind of working that confirmation 0:24:10.480 --> 0:24:12.760 on the anti side is that they think there are 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:15.679 potentially as many as six or seven Republicans who will 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:18.400 vote against him. So what they are working on now 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:21.040 is they are trying to do everything they possibly can 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:23.919 to make sure there are no democratic defections, because if 0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:28.199 there are democratic defections, it's much easier for Publicans just 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:30.359 to say, hey, if you guys, aren't you know, just 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:33.560 to go ahead with all of that. There is also 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:37.080 they're looking very closely at McConnell because again, he probably 0:24:37.160 --> 0:24:41.200 votes against But there's a scenario where again McConnell says, 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:43.760 indirectly to the White House, I'm going to vote against, 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:45.720 but I'm not really going to try to, you know, 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:48.439 screw you guys here and make it fail, or he 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:51.800 can say I'm actually going to use my remaining influence 0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:54.480 and try to get those six or seven to vote no. 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:57.879 So I don't know quite where. I don't think we 0:24:58.040 --> 0:25:02.280 know yet where McConnell's is on that spectrum of doing 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:04.960 just his votes, kind of sending a you know, kind 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:07.920 of a vote for posterity and legacy or is it 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:09.320 something a little more And I don't think we I 0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:10.320 don't think we know yet. 0:25:10.480 --> 0:25:15.240 I agree. I also American Democracy the final season. Stay 0:25:15.320 --> 0:25:19.560 tuned everyone. Yeah, Oh, thank you, Josh Marshall. 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:20.840 Thanks a lot. 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:27.000 Rob Banta is the Attorney General of California. Welcome too 0:25:27.080 --> 0:25:31.639 fast politics. You're actually general, right General Banta? 0:25:32.760 --> 0:25:34.760 Attorney General Banta A G. Banta? 0:25:34.800 --> 0:25:38.760 In general you are general though, right general? 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:44.000 So you are the general of the great State of California, 0:25:44.240 --> 0:25:47.719 fifth largest economy in the world. So this summer we 0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:51.439 interviewed a bunch of attorneys generals and we talked to 0:25:51.520 --> 0:25:55.479 them about the plans that you guys have put together 0:25:56.200 --> 0:25:59.440 for what would happen if Donald Trump was elected. 0:25:59.640 --> 0:26:01.160 And are of doing these. 0:26:01.040 --> 0:26:06.280 Post constitutional to quote Russ Vought, sort of jiu jitsu 0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:10.440 on the federal government. So talk us through is this 0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:13.360 what you thought it would be? Is it worse than 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:15.520 you thought it would be? And explain to us what 0:26:15.880 --> 0:26:17.520 is exactly happening here. 0:26:17.920 --> 0:26:18.960 It's what I expected. 0:26:19.480 --> 0:26:23.960 Yeah, And when I say that, I mean unfortunately day 0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:28.640 one and the immediate days that followed actions that violated 0:26:28.640 --> 0:26:31.439 the law, violate the constitution. That's his brand, that's what 0:26:31.480 --> 0:26:34.080 he does. It's what he did in Trump one point zero. 0:26:34.320 --> 0:26:35.520 It's what he said he would do. 0:26:35.760 --> 0:26:36.760 It's what he said he would do. 0:26:37.000 --> 0:26:39.880 He channeled it, he indicated it the whole time and 0:26:40.520 --> 0:26:43.560 telegraphed it. Now he's doing it, so not a surprise. 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:47.359 And the Attorney generals, the Democratic attorney's general in the 0:26:47.440 --> 0:26:50.720 United States, have been working together for months preparing for 0:26:50.880 --> 0:26:53.480 the possibility of this moment and now the reality of 0:26:53.520 --> 0:26:56.440 this moment. We've been meeting, we've been thinking, we've been 0:26:56.600 --> 0:26:58.760 looking at what he says he's going to do, what 0:26:58.800 --> 0:27:00.959 is inner Circle says he is going to do, what 0:27:01.040 --> 0:27:03.840 Project twenty twenty five indicates he might do, and preparing 0:27:03.880 --> 0:27:06.960 for every scenario so that we're ready. And we believe 0:27:07.040 --> 0:27:09.960 that preparedness and readiness is the best antidote to the 0:27:10.040 --> 0:27:13.160 threats that are coming, and we should be ready as 0:27:13.200 --> 0:27:15.240 soon as an action is taken that we believe was 0:27:15.280 --> 0:27:18.199 unlawful to go to court to stop him, and we 0:27:18.280 --> 0:27:22.120 did that with the Birthright Citizenship Executive Order on day 0:27:22.160 --> 0:27:23.680 one he issued it. 0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:24.640 The end of the. 0:27:24.640 --> 0:27:28.600 Day on day one of his inauguration. The next morning, 0:27:28.600 --> 0:27:30.760 we were in court with the filing. We had the 0:27:30.800 --> 0:27:34.040 briefing and the filing ready. We just had the dot, 0:27:34.080 --> 0:27:36.440 the i's, cross the t's press print and file it. 0:27:36.520 --> 0:27:38.479 Because he said he would do it. We prepared for 0:27:38.520 --> 0:27:41.320 that scenario and we are ready to file now. We 0:27:41.359 --> 0:27:44.199 have a restraining order of stopping him from the unconstitutional 0:27:44.240 --> 0:27:47.359 executive order attacking birthright citizenship, and that's. 0:27:47.280 --> 0:27:49.440 Our plan for all the things he might do. Now. 0:27:49.760 --> 0:27:52.679 Will he surprise us with something up a sleeve that 0:27:52.720 --> 0:27:55.960 he hasn't talked about that he decides during the course 0:27:56.000 --> 0:27:59.200 of his administration to do. For sure, we'll be ready 0:27:59.240 --> 0:28:01.840 for that too. We're watching every action that he takes, 0:28:01.880 --> 0:28:04.920 including the Office of Management and Budgets memo last night, 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:08.560 and we'll be ready to act as appropriate on any 0:28:08.600 --> 0:28:09.880 action he takes that's unlawful. 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:13.960 So I'm wondering if you could explain to us a 0:28:14.000 --> 0:28:18.160 little bit about since you're in California, I wonder how 0:28:18.240 --> 0:28:22.760 surprised you were when he started going after FEMA. 0:28:22.920 --> 0:28:26.879 Not surprised, certainly disappoint it. I think very unfortunate to 0:28:27.080 --> 0:28:32.080 even go down that route and consider conditioning funding for 0:28:32.880 --> 0:28:36.720 disaster relief when people have lost everything and are in pain, 0:28:37.200 --> 0:28:40.000 and when there's a tradition in the United States of 0:28:40.040 --> 0:28:43.880 America for the federal government for presidents too immediately and 0:28:43.920 --> 0:28:50.760 decisively and quickly deploy massive resources to states hurt by disaster. 0:28:51.000 --> 0:28:53.840 President Biden did that for Florida and for Texas when 0:28:53.840 --> 0:28:56.360 they were hit with devastating hurricanes. That was the right 0:28:56.360 --> 0:28:58.320 thing to do. He didn't ask if they were Red 0:28:58.320 --> 0:29:01.320 states or blue states. He said they were with Americans 0:29:01.360 --> 0:29:02.800 who need help, and they deserve it, and they're going 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:05.040 to get it. That's exactly what mister Trump should be 0:29:05.040 --> 0:29:07.560 doing here. He ran for and is the president of 0:29:07.560 --> 0:29:09.880 the United States of America, not the president of the 0:29:09.920 --> 0:29:12.440 Red States of America and the Blue states. If they 0:29:12.480 --> 0:29:14.840 do the things he wants and follows the right conditions, 0:29:14.840 --> 0:29:17.280 that's not how it works. So he's trying to condition 0:29:17.760 --> 0:29:22.440 FEMA funding on a potential voter id law when there's 0:29:22.600 --> 0:29:26.760 absolutely no evidence of any widespread voter fraud, or on 0:29:27.480 --> 0:29:32.040 a new water policy when there is nothing about California's 0:29:32.040 --> 0:29:35.680 water policy that helped they contributed to the fires in 0:29:35.880 --> 0:29:41.320 La So entirely different policies unrelated to the fire at hand, 0:29:41.880 --> 0:29:47.320 and a potential distancing and different approach than what every 0:29:47.360 --> 0:29:49.600 president of the United States of America has done before. 0:29:49.680 --> 0:29:51.040 So it's a dangerous game. 0:29:51.080 --> 0:29:54.720 It's inappropriate, and I think and expect that he will 0:29:54.760 --> 0:29:57.720 provide the funding because of the disaster, and he came 0:29:57.720 --> 0:30:00.280 to La. Our governor met him on the tarmac, met 0:30:00.280 --> 0:30:02.840 with leaders in La. He was able to survey the damage, 0:30:02.840 --> 0:30:07.000 and I hope and believe that after seeing that damaged, destruction, devastation, 0:30:07.280 --> 0:30:09.920 the pain that Americans are in, he will do what 0:30:09.960 --> 0:30:13.080 every president has done before and provide the fighting without conditions. 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:17.080 California pays more into the federal tax system than it 0:30:17.120 --> 0:30:20.520 gets out now. Right now, it needs a gazillion dollars 0:30:20.560 --> 0:30:25.080 because the fires. But historically, you guys are a like 0:30:25.200 --> 0:30:27.960 New York where I live a net. You guys take 0:30:28.000 --> 0:30:30.320 care of the red states that don't pay as much 0:30:30.360 --> 0:30:31.400 into federal taxes. 0:30:31.440 --> 0:30:33.760 So I'm wondering if you can. 0:30:34.040 --> 0:30:37.600 I mean, there must be like a palpable anger even 0:30:37.600 --> 0:30:42.959 from Republicans in California about how unfair it is to 0:30:43.040 --> 0:30:46.200 pay so much into the federal government and then in 0:30:46.240 --> 0:30:49.520 your hour of need be you know, nickeled and. 0:30:49.440 --> 0:30:51.080 Dimed hundred percent. 0:30:51.240 --> 0:30:55.360 We are a massive donor state, the fifth largest economy 0:30:55.400 --> 0:30:57.720 in the world, the tenth pole of the American economy. 0:30:57.840 --> 0:31:01.080 We give more, far more billions and billions of dollars 0:31:01.120 --> 0:31:04.200 more to the federal fisk and purse than we receive 0:31:04.360 --> 0:31:09.160 back in federal funding. We subsidize other states, many of 0:31:09.160 --> 0:31:11.440 them happen to be red states, including the great State 0:31:11.520 --> 0:31:14.560 of Louisiana, where Speaker Johnson is from. And he's talking 0:31:14.600 --> 0:31:18.800 about conditioning the FEMA funding. Very ironic that he might 0:31:18.840 --> 0:31:21.040 be doing that given the state that he's from, in 0:31:21.080 --> 0:31:24.200 the state that he's talking about, California and Louisiana, it's 0:31:24.240 --> 0:31:27.000 well known in California that we are a donor state 0:31:27.080 --> 0:31:30.000 and that we put money into the federal government's fisk, 0:31:30.080 --> 0:31:32.600 and that in a time of need, like a national disaster, 0:31:32.640 --> 0:31:34.760 we should be receiving the funding, no questions asked. So 0:31:34.880 --> 0:31:38.920 of course it's disappointing, it's frustrating. Unfortunately, it's not surprising. 0:31:39.000 --> 0:31:41.720 We think we're going to work through this. Mister Trump 0:31:41.760 --> 0:31:44.400 is talking about certain conditions, but I think when it 0:31:44.400 --> 0:31:47.080 comes down to it, the funding will be provided without conditions. 0:31:47.320 --> 0:31:49.719 So there are a couple of issues here. One is 0:31:49.760 --> 0:31:53.280 this sort of extra legality of it. One is this 0:31:53.480 --> 0:31:57.920 certain kind of political calculus of it. Do you talk 0:31:57.960 --> 0:32:00.440 to Republicans and do they see how this could hurt 0:32:00.480 --> 0:32:01.280 them in the state. 0:32:01.760 --> 0:32:05.960 Yeah, and Republicans in the state are asking for funding 0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:10.000 from FEMA without conditions, rightfully so, and I'm grateful that 0:32:10.000 --> 0:32:12.640 they are. They're fighting for their state. They don't want 0:32:12.640 --> 0:32:16.240 their state to be treated differently than every other state 0:32:16.280 --> 0:32:18.560 that's ever received disaster relief in America. 0:32:18.760 --> 0:32:20.080 They want us to get the funding. 0:32:20.320 --> 0:32:24.240 There are people hurt by these wildfires from both parties. 0:32:24.400 --> 0:32:28.520 Wildfires don't see party. They just ripped through communities and 0:32:28.600 --> 0:32:31.680 destroyed everything and took everything from Republicans and Democrats alike. 0:32:31.800 --> 0:32:33.680 And it doesn't matter what your party is, Your people, 0:32:33.760 --> 0:32:36.000 your Americans, and you should receive the funding and that 0:32:36.000 --> 0:32:36.840 should be the end of it. 0:32:37.120 --> 0:32:40.480 I wonder if you could sort of talk us through 0:32:40.680 --> 0:32:43.600 some of the other things at the federal level that 0:32:43.640 --> 0:32:47.120 we're seeing Trump World, you know, trying to pull back. So, 0:32:47.280 --> 0:32:50.320 for example, tonight at five o'clock, there has been an 0:32:50.320 --> 0:32:55.120 omb memo which will pause almost all discretionary spending in 0:32:55.160 --> 0:33:00.200 the federal government period paragraph, what can you do as 0:33:00.240 --> 0:33:03.600 a state attorney's general for your state? 0:33:03.920 --> 0:33:06.760 And what does this look like? And how destabilizing is this? 0:33:07.280 --> 0:33:14.880 It's very destabilizing. It's a shocking act of unlawfulness. It 0:33:14.960 --> 0:33:20.720 threatens students in college who are only in school because 0:33:20.760 --> 0:33:22.680 they have federal student loans. 0:33:22.920 --> 0:33:25.400 Those are pelgrams, right, that's right. 0:33:25.640 --> 0:33:31.160 And also children who receive subsidized food programs like Snap. 0:33:31.560 --> 0:33:38.280 And these are programs that need to flow consistently with certainty, 0:33:39.200 --> 0:33:43.920 not be paused or stopped without any notice without there 0:33:43.960 --> 0:33:48.120 being great harm being done. And the President, unfortunately has 0:33:48.120 --> 0:33:51.960 shown and continues to show, both in the Trump administration 0:33:52.000 --> 0:33:55.000 at one point zero and the current Trump administration, that 0:33:55.040 --> 0:33:56.760 he likes to do what he wants, when he wants, 0:33:56.840 --> 0:33:59.320 how he wants. And that doesn't fit well with our 0:33:59.360 --> 0:34:03.560 democratic structure. It doesn't fit well with separation of powers, 0:34:03.560 --> 0:34:06.080 with checks and balances, with the rule of law, with 0:34:06.520 --> 0:34:11.360 the Administrative Procedures Act, with budget being allocated and restricted 0:34:11.400 --> 0:34:13.759 for certain purposes and not for others, and so he 0:34:13.960 --> 0:34:17.640 ends up violating the law consistently. Unfortunately, it's not a 0:34:17.640 --> 0:34:19.319 lot to ask and shouldn't be a lot to ask. 0:34:19.440 --> 0:34:23.239 To ask for a president who complies with the law, 0:34:23.360 --> 0:34:27.160 who follows our constitution. We my office, the California Department 0:34:27.160 --> 0:34:29.800 of Justice, sued him over one hundred and twenty times 0:34:29.880 --> 0:34:32.239 in the Trump one point zero administration, and we won 0:34:32.320 --> 0:34:35.160 over two thirds of the time, meaning a federal judge, 0:34:35.280 --> 0:34:39.160 a neutral decided that mister Trump was breaking the law 0:34:39.239 --> 0:34:42.360 two thirds of those times, and a judge found that 0:34:42.480 --> 0:34:46.640 already with his day one action attacking birthright citizenship. So 0:34:47.680 --> 0:34:50.839 his action, which he seeks to be effective at five 0:34:50.840 --> 0:34:51.879 o'clock today. 0:34:52.320 --> 0:34:53.160 Is very damaging. 0:34:53.200 --> 0:34:56.560 There's a lot of real lives that would be adversely impacted, 0:34:56.640 --> 0:34:59.759 severely harmed, and we are looking at all of our options. We' 0:35:00.000 --> 0:35:02.120 working through the night to be honest with other states 0:35:02.400 --> 0:35:06.439 preparing potential actions based on the illegality of his action. 0:35:06.840 --> 0:35:11.719 Can you explain to us sort of what a Californian's 0:35:11.960 --> 0:35:17.640 life will look like if Trump's federal government free is like, 0:35:17.960 --> 0:35:23.120 it won't just be college, It'll be like, for example, 0:35:23.160 --> 0:35:25.440 I'm thinking about, like if you're in a clinical trial, 0:35:25.760 --> 0:35:29.799 if you rely on any kind of research, if you write, 0:35:29.920 --> 0:35:32.960 I mean, what other aspects of everyday life do the 0:35:33.000 --> 0:35:35.720 federal government control for people in California? 0:35:35.800 --> 0:35:39.719 I mean the same that they impact every American in 0:35:39.760 --> 0:35:44.080 every state. As you mentioned, there's massive grants and federal 0:35:44.120 --> 0:35:48.120 outlays for health and human services, for research, for the 0:35:48.160 --> 0:35:52.799 safety net, healthcare programs, for Medicare and Medicaid, and you know, 0:35:52.800 --> 0:35:55.640 there's Social Security. But I think he's specified in the 0:35:55.640 --> 0:35:57.880 memo that some of those things will be exempted. But 0:35:58.239 --> 0:36:01.240 I'm painting the picture of the mass of social service, 0:36:01.440 --> 0:36:04.560 safety net and set of services and programs that affect 0:36:04.800 --> 0:36:08.880 everyone's life in some way. You know, students in higher education, 0:36:09.360 --> 0:36:14.120 those seeking federal anti poverty support, or food programs or 0:36:14.160 --> 0:36:18.279 federally subsidized housing, you know, whether it's housing, food, healthcare, 0:36:18.440 --> 0:36:21.520 the basics that the things that everyone needs to survive. 0:36:21.840 --> 0:36:26.719 They're potentially at risk based on one seemingly arbitrary and 0:36:26.719 --> 0:36:30.080 capricious decision made by the President when he doesn't even 0:36:30.120 --> 0:36:33.040 have the authority to make that decision. So it's a 0:36:33.120 --> 0:36:35.400 dangerous game he's playing, and he's violating the law in 0:36:35.440 --> 0:36:35.960 the process. 0:36:36.280 --> 0:36:39.600 We knew it because we knew about Project twenty twenty five. 0:36:40.560 --> 0:36:44.960 But it's still completely crazy, right, I mean, to see 0:36:45.000 --> 0:36:47.600 it happen, to see that they're actually doing it is 0:36:47.680 --> 0:36:50.600 kind of nuts. What other things are you looking at 0:36:50.640 --> 0:36:53.480 besides this dismantling of the federal government. 0:36:53.800 --> 0:36:57.080 Well, looking at all the things, certainly immigration a big 0:36:57.120 --> 0:37:01.160 area that the Corump administration has flagged for action, and. 0:37:01.360 --> 0:37:06.040 They're trying to get to have people sort of see 0:37:06.080 --> 0:37:09.279 as much immigration as possible, right, Like they want the 0:37:09.360 --> 0:37:13.520 raids on television. They had doctor Phil in bed, famous 0:37:13.560 --> 0:37:17.200 immigration reporter, Doctor Phil. They are hoping to get more 0:37:17.239 --> 0:37:21.720 attention than they're necessarily deporting, right because for example, those 0:37:21.800 --> 0:37:25.360 deportation flights to Columbia have been going on forever. The 0:37:25.440 --> 0:37:28.879 fact that they were turned around. Now this one flight 0:37:28.960 --> 0:37:32.160 was turned around was largely because it was a military plane. 0:37:32.239 --> 0:37:32.479 Right. 0:37:32.840 --> 0:37:35.719 Yeah, they're trying to you know, there's a lot of 0:37:35.960 --> 0:37:40.640 performative politics here, a lot of showmanship as opposed to 0:37:41.120 --> 0:37:45.680 real substantive progress over years past. This president is a showman, 0:37:45.719 --> 0:37:48.680 he's a salesman. He's trying to sell his agenda and 0:37:48.760 --> 0:37:51.040 show that he's doing something by putting it on TV, 0:37:51.239 --> 0:37:55.400 by bringing military to the border. And I will point 0:37:55.400 --> 0:37:59.680 out the massive hypocrisy in his rhetoric versus his action. 0:38:00.000 --> 0:38:03.239 Talked about going after undocumented criminals and that would be 0:38:03.280 --> 0:38:05.560 his focus that would be his priority. But on day one, 0:38:05.960 --> 0:38:10.240 he went after American citizens and children with the executive 0:38:10.320 --> 0:38:15.800 order attacking birthright citizenship. He went after children learning and 0:38:15.960 --> 0:38:22.320 the faithful praying and patients healing in hospitals and schools 0:38:23.040 --> 0:38:28.080 and churches. With his revocation of the memo preventing immigration 0:38:28.200 --> 0:38:32.799 enforcement at sensitive sites. He went after those folks who 0:38:32.800 --> 0:38:37.360 were participating and fully vetted and approved in legal immigration 0:38:37.440 --> 0:38:41.400 programs where they were seeking refuge in asylum after facing 0:38:41.440 --> 0:38:44.879 persecution and violence in their home country. So what he 0:38:45.120 --> 0:38:48.399 is doing is not consistent with what he has said 0:38:48.400 --> 0:38:51.320 he will do, and he's creating a lot of damage 0:38:51.360 --> 0:38:53.719 in the process. We're looking at the use of the 0:38:53.719 --> 0:38:56.600 military when it comes to immigration and whether it's being 0:38:56.680 --> 0:38:59.959 used lawfully. We're certainly looking at reproductive freedom. His Safe 0:39:00.080 --> 0:39:03.040 Mens and Project twenty twenty five talk about the weaponization 0:39:03.120 --> 0:39:05.840 of the Comstock Act, the revocation of approval of FDA 0:39:05.960 --> 0:39:09.359 for abortion medication, a potential national abortion ban. So we're 0:39:09.360 --> 0:39:11.040 looking at all those spaces. We're looking at see what 0:39:11.040 --> 0:39:13.719 he does on firearms, particularly ghost guns. He could take 0:39:13.719 --> 0:39:16.640 a different position than the ATF under Biden did when 0:39:16.640 --> 0:39:17.840 it comes to treating ghost guns. 0:39:17.880 --> 0:39:19.000 Like what they are guns. 0:39:19.080 --> 0:39:21.000 We're looking at what he does on the Department for 0:39:21.040 --> 0:39:24.279 the Department of Education and his statement that he wants 0:39:24.280 --> 0:39:28.560 to defund them DEI, the LGBTQ plus community. So there's 0:39:28.680 --> 0:39:31.839 many areas where he has started to act with some 0:39:31.880 --> 0:39:34.640 of his executive orders or acted already or said he 0:39:34.680 --> 0:39:36.600 will act, and we're monitoring all of them. 0:39:36.880 --> 0:39:41.760 Can you just talk us through, like, for example, let's 0:39:41.800 --> 0:39:43.760 talk through birthrights citizenship. 0:39:43.960 --> 0:39:46.080 Talk us through what you're doing now on that. 0:39:46.400 --> 0:39:46.640 Sure? 0:39:46.760 --> 0:39:51.160 Yeah, our north star is what mister Trump doing unlawful. 0:39:51.480 --> 0:39:53.120 If it's not, there's nothing for us to do. 0:39:53.360 --> 0:39:55.400 If it is, we'll take him the court to make 0:39:55.440 --> 0:39:58.520 sure he complies with the law birthrights citizenship. That executive 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:01.040 order on day one is a example of him taking 0:40:01.160 --> 0:40:06.200 a clearly and blatantly unconstitutional, unlawful action, and we took 0:40:06.280 --> 0:40:08.440 him to court immediately, as he should have been, and 0:40:08.480 --> 0:40:11.800 we have restrained that unconstitutional action immediately. 0:40:11.880 --> 0:40:12.600 So he issued an. 0:40:12.520 --> 0:40:17.080 Executive order he attacked a fundamental constitutional right, the right 0:40:17.200 --> 0:40:19.799 that says that all persons born in the United States 0:40:19.840 --> 0:40:24.560 of America are American citizens, and he threatened in a 0:40:24.640 --> 0:40:27.960 prospective way, thousands of children to be born in the 0:40:28.040 --> 0:40:31.839 United States, including about twenty five thousand per year in California, 0:40:31.960 --> 0:40:35.200 who otherwise would be American citizens, but because of his order, 0:40:35.400 --> 0:40:37.600 they will not be, and that means they won't have 0:40:37.680 --> 0:40:40.719 access to things like the Children's Health Insurance program CHIP 0:40:40.920 --> 0:40:46.720 or Medicaid, or subsidized housing, or the student loan programs 0:40:46.800 --> 0:40:50.040 or subsidized food programs. They will be deportable immediately. They 0:40:50.040 --> 0:40:52.560 can't work legally, can't vote, can't serve un injury, can't 0:40:52.600 --> 0:40:55.040 run for office, can't have a Social Security number, we 0:40:55.120 --> 0:40:59.200 can't have a passport, and we sued. Over twenty states 0:40:59.200 --> 0:41:01.840 sued in two different courts, and one of those courts 0:41:01.960 --> 0:41:05.560 two days later issued a temporary restraining order preventing the 0:41:05.560 --> 0:41:08.920 implementation of Trump's executive order, and in the process saying 0:41:08.960 --> 0:41:11.400 that in the last four decades on the bench, and 0:41:11.440 --> 0:41:15.480 this is a President Reagan Republican appointee, said he'd never 0:41:15.480 --> 0:41:18.000 seen a clearer case that it was so clear that 0:41:18.120 --> 0:41:20.719 the federal government was violating the law. He said his 0:41:20.800 --> 0:41:23.760 mind was boggled that the US Department of Justice attorneys 0:41:23.760 --> 0:41:26.120 could even come to court and make these arguments, and 0:41:26.160 --> 0:41:28.640 said it was a blatant violation in the Constitution and 0:41:28.680 --> 0:41:29.880 stopped it from being implemented. 0:41:29.920 --> 0:41:31.960 You know, that's what Trump is doing. 0:41:32.160 --> 0:41:36.000 That's what Republican appointees on the bench are saying he's doing. 0:41:36.200 --> 0:41:39.399 And that's what attorneys general will do. We'll take him 0:41:39.400 --> 0:41:41.200 to court when he breaks the law and stop him 0:41:41.200 --> 0:41:43.840 immediately to make sure he's lawfully compliant. 0:41:44.080 --> 0:41:48.120 Thank you, Attorney General Fonta, Thank. 0:41:47.920 --> 0:41:52.440 You now momently. 0:41:53.280 --> 0:41:55.800 Jesse Cannon Molly. 0:41:56.200 --> 0:41:58.360 I never like when we have to long for the 0:41:58.440 --> 0:42:02.879 days of donass don't tell being a policy that's that's ridiculous. 0:42:03.040 --> 0:42:08.600 So Trump has declared transgender soldiers unfit for the US military. 0:42:09.120 --> 0:42:12.279 Yeah, I mean I saw this coming. It's not a 0:42:12.360 --> 0:42:18.160 huge shock. Trump has been at war with people who 0:42:18.160 --> 0:42:23.960 are transgender. This is a very stupid, shitty thing. He 0:42:24.080 --> 0:42:29.520 wants to punish people who are trans because of course 0:42:29.560 --> 0:42:34.759 he does, because the cruelty is the point, and none 0:42:34.800 --> 0:42:38.200 of us should be surprised. It appears to prohibit thousands 0:42:38.239 --> 0:42:42.000 of transgender members from serving in the military, citing issues 0:42:42.000 --> 0:42:43.640 of physical and mental readiness. 0:42:43.719 --> 0:42:45.040 I mean, they'll just say whatever. 0:42:45.360 --> 0:42:52.000 It's just so incredibly shitty and unsurprising and welcome to 0:42:52.200 --> 0:42:57.040 Trump two point zero, where all of his worst ideas flourish. 0:42:57.200 --> 0:42:59.840 Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode to see if those sirens 0:42:59.840 --> 0:43:02.279 that and going off the entire segment. If it was 0:43:02.400 --> 0:43:03.800 just Molly getting taken. 0:43:03.600 --> 0:43:06.680 Away, that was good. 0:43:07.520 --> 0:43:11.879 That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in 0:43:12.200 --> 0:43:17.640 every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday to hear the best 0:43:17.719 --> 0:43:22.000 minds and politics make sense of all this chaos. If 0:43:22.040 --> 0:43:25.080 you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend 0:43:25.520 --> 0:43:27.160 and keep the conversation going. 0:43:27.640 --> 0:43:28.760 Thanks for listening.