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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 Mike Johnson vows to hold federally

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Speaker 1: hostage to the state of California after the deadly fires.

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Speaker 1: We have such a great show for you today. The

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Speaker 1: Atlantics George Conway stops by to talk to us about

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Speaker 1: the Jack Smith report and Biden's final days. Then we'll

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Speaker 1: talk to The New York Times Ryan Mack about Tech Bros.

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Speaker 1: Fires and what's happening in California. But first the.

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Speaker 2: News, Smalie, have you been popping the popcorn while Pete

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Speaker 2: Higgsith gets confirmed today?

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Speaker 1: No, I have been watching the Pete Hegseith confirmation and

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Speaker 1: thinking to myself, they prepared him really well.

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Speaker 2: Can I play you a contradiction to prepared very well?

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Speaker 1: Yes?

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Speaker 3: Please, mister Higgs said, I do not believe that you

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Speaker 3: are qualified to meet the Oldwhelm meet the band job.

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Speaker 3: We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you. A

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Speaker 3: variety of sources, including your own writings, implicate you with

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Speaker 3: disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racists, and sexist

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Speaker 3: remarks about men and women. In uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault,

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Speaker 3: sexual harassment, and other troubling issues. I have reviewed many

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Speaker 3: of these allegations and find them extremely alarming. Indeed, the

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Speaker 3: totality of your own writings and elected conduct that would

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Speaker 3: disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in military,

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Speaker 3: much less being confirmed.

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Speaker 1: As a Secretary of Defense.

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Speaker 3: Nonetheless, I understand that you reject many of these reports

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Speaker 3: as they involve whistleblowers, non disclosure agreements, and are anonymous,

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Speaker 3: although numerous sources the HECKSA.

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Speaker 4: What is the highest level of international negotiations that you

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Speaker 4: have engaged in that you've led them? Because the Secrety

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Speaker 4: Defense does lead international security negotiations, there are three main

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Speaker 4: ones that the Secretary of Defense leads and signs. Can

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Speaker 4: you name at least one of them?

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Speaker 1: Could you repeat the question, Sena, sure, what.

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Speaker 4: Is the highest level of international security agreement that you

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Speaker 4: have led? And can you name some that the Secretary

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Speaker 4: of Defense would lead? There are three main ones.

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Speaker 5: I have not been involved in international security arrangements because

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Speaker 5: I have not been in government other than serving in

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Speaker 5: the military, So my job has been you name one

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Speaker 5: of the three main ones that talking about defense arrangements,

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Speaker 5: I mean NATO might be one of the one that

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Speaker 5: you're referring to.

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Speaker 4: Status of Forces agreement would be one of them, stead of.

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Speaker 5: Force status of forces agreement. I've been a part of

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Speaker 5: teaching about Status of Forces agreement.

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Speaker 4: You don't remember to mention it. You're not qualified, mister heiseth.

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Speaker 4: You're not qualified. You talk about repairing our defense industrial.

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Speaker 1: Complex, you're not qualified to that.

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Speaker 4: You could do the acquisition and cross servicing agreements, which essentially.

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Speaker 1: I thought he did a pretty good job. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm not a head fan, and you know, there are

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Speaker 1: definitely cabinet appointees that seem like they will sail through.

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Speaker 1: I was sort of on the fence about whether he

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Speaker 1: would sail through, but I actually think he's going to

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Speaker 1: get through. And look, the problem with him is twofold, right,

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Speaker 1: he's not competent to run a three million plus organization

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Speaker 1: of more than three million people. And he's also clearly

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Speaker 1: has some form of alcohol issue. Maybe he's not God,

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Speaker 1: I mean right, I mean, he clearly has. He's clearly

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Speaker 1: a person who should not drink. But I thought he

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Speaker 1: did well. I thought they prepared him well. And the

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Speaker 1: only moment where he really got flu mixed was when

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Speaker 1: he couldn't answer that question to Duck Wars, I thought,

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Speaker 1: what the mistake that Democrats made here was not coordinating

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Speaker 1: better with each other. And I think that what would

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Speaker 1: have worked really well. And I'm not sure why they

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Speaker 1: didn't do this, and I know that they don't historically

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Speaker 1: do this, but I think they should start was I

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Speaker 1: wish they had had each member of the committee focused

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Speaker 1: on a different aspect. I think they would have done

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Speaker 1: better had they asked questions and then made him answer

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Speaker 1: them instead of like I saw this a couple of

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Speaker 1: different times in the hearings. You had someone like Senator Jillibrand,

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Speaker 1: who's obviously, like, very passionate about this topic for obvious

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Speaker 1: reasons as am I. But you know, she'd ask him

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Speaker 1: a question he wouldn't be able to answer, and then

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Speaker 1: she'd just keep going. And I wonder how much if

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Speaker 1: these interviewers, if these senators would ask a question and

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Speaker 1: push push push for answers, that they might get more

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Speaker 1: Like I think that the moments of like a senator

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Speaker 1: grand standing, and that we saw this on left and

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Speaker 1: the right. We always see this, you know, that's kind

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Speaker 1: of the joke about these committee hearings. I almost wondered

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Speaker 1: if we could have more of the just like push

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Speaker 1: him to try to get him to answer questions, because

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Speaker 1: if you can't answer a question that says more than

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Speaker 1: a senator saying stuff we already know they think.

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Speaker 2: Or they collapse like Kavanaugh did with the I drink beer, right.

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Speaker 1: I think that might have been a better way to

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Speaker 1: do it than to just sort of keep going, you know,

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Speaker 1: keep talking and talking and talking. We get it, we

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Speaker 1: get it, And I think that would have been better. Look,

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Speaker 1: I never thought that Democrats would be able to prevent

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Speaker 1: hegseeth and I'm not sure how Like the ones that

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Speaker 1: I the ones that keep me up at night are

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Speaker 1: Gabbard and RFK and Cash Battel. Everyone else I think

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Speaker 1: is sort of I just don't know how many people

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Speaker 1: you can possibly filibuster. And I think he's going to

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Speaker 1: get through.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, seems that way after today, so mally switching gears.

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Speaker 2: Jack Smith's report dropped last night, and it seems like

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Speaker 2: Trump would have been convicted as the analysis. What are

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Speaker 2: you seeing here?

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Speaker 1: Well, with all this stuff, you know, the rules were

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Speaker 1: made that like you can't convict a former president, you

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Speaker 1: can't do this to a form, you know, they were

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Speaker 1: at every point there were these rules that the Justice

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Speaker 1: Department made that protected Trump from any accountability, and then

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Speaker 1: they sort of tried to get him accountability and they couldn't.

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Speaker 1: So I do think, like Merrick Garland, the fact that

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Speaker 1: this even got released so far after Trump was in

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Speaker 1: office is a really good example of how much these

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Speaker 1: this was sort of a failure on the part of

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Speaker 1: Merrick Garland, Like, this stuff should have come out right away.

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Speaker 1: They should have, you know, gone all in unaccountability, They

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Speaker 1: should have held Trump accountable. Now, this coming out a

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Speaker 1: week before he's inaugurated, less than a week before he's inaugurated,

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Speaker 1: he's a real sign that everything didn't go the way

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Speaker 1: it was supposed to it. There's not a ton of

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Speaker 1: new information though the forty fifth president inspired his supporters

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Speaker 1: to commit acts of physical violence. That's a statement you

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Speaker 1: really don't want ever written about you. He's spread a

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Speaker 1: false narrative about election fraud in the twenty twenty race,

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Speaker 1: he determined in the final report. So, I mean, those

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Speaker 1: are serious, serious, serious allegations, which we also happen in

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Speaker 1: real time. And then let's also add that Trump is

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Speaker 1: so struck by them that. In response, he hits out

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Speaker 1: at Smith at one am when normal people are sleeping,

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Speaker 1: but he and Elon are on the internet, branding Smith

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Speaker 1: to be deranged and a lame brain prosecutor. Look, it's

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Speaker 1: a weird moment in Trump world, where you have he's won,

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Speaker 1: he's about to be president again, and yet he's still

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Speaker 1: really angry that Jack Smith is releasing this report. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's funny. It's like, you think about it, it's like

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Speaker 1: Trump knows deep down that he did something wrong. Right,

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Speaker 1: People who don't think they did something wrong don't stay

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Speaker 1: up all night tweeting about a report, right, they just

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Speaker 1: go bad. I mean, I'm serious, Like there's like real

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Speaker 1: telltale heart stuff going on here. By the way, the

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Speaker 1: fact that this gets released a few days before the confirmation,

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Speaker 1: it makes everybody look stupid, right. It makes the people

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Speaker 1: supported Trump look stupid. It makes Trump look stupid. It

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Speaker 1: makes the people who know that Trump did someling wrong.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know it under it sort of makes

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Speaker 1: a mockery of everyone on the left and the right

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Speaker 1: because it shows that the system doesn't work, that it

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Speaker 1: didn't work, and that you know, Trump is now going

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Speaker 1: back into office. So I think of it as like

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Speaker 1: it really shows it on every point that nobody did

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Speaker 1: what they were supposed to do, and that democracy, you know,

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Speaker 1: it continues to be in real peril.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of things that are in peril. For as

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Speaker 2: long as I can remember paying attention to the news

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Speaker 2: would be sitting at the table with my family. I

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Speaker 2: can remember Republicans wanting to cut SNAP. But I would say,

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Speaker 2: right now, we're probably in the time where the crosshairs

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Speaker 2: could be shot most effectively, and it's looking like that's

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Speaker 2: where Republicans are aiming very early on in these first

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Speaker 2: hundred days of the Trump administration.

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Speaker 1: So the central tension here is that Trump and Republicans

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Speaker 1: want to cut the social safety net. They want to

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Speaker 1: take away stuff like Snap, and they want to do it.

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Speaker 1: That's food stamps. They used to be called food stamps

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Speaker 1: when we were young. They want to do it in

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Speaker 1: order to pay for these billionaire tax cuts, millionaire billionaire

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Speaker 1: tax cuts. So the underlying tension of the election was

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Speaker 1: always that these twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen tax cuts, they

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Speaker 1: basically the only piece of legislation Trump was able to enact,

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Speaker 1: would expire if Biden or Harris Scott elected, re elected,

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Speaker 1: and so what happened instead when Trump won was that

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Speaker 1: he wants to make the fiscal conservatives happy by giving

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Speaker 1: them something. He wants to keep these tax cuts where

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Speaker 1: they are, and so what he is planning to do

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Speaker 1: is cut Social Security of Medicare. But that's very unpopular,

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Speaker 1: and so Republicans are trying to figure out a way

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Speaker 1: to cut Social Security and Medicare without getting political blowback

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Speaker 1: for cutting Social Security and Medicare. And there's different stuff

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Speaker 1: going around. Look, you know, Mike Johnson has a one

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Speaker 1: seat majority in the United States Congress. He has now

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Speaker 1: been told that he has to punish California for having wildfires,

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Speaker 1: you know, even though they are the fifth largest economy

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Speaker 1: in the world and pay into the federal government quite

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Speaker 1: a bit more than any of the states that Donald

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Speaker 1: Trump likes. Right, there's sort of the quote unquote good states.

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Speaker 1: So hard for me to imagine that this will end

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Speaker 1: well for anyone. I do want to just add the

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Speaker 1: California if they decide they don't want to be a

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Speaker 1: part of America, they could be their own country tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: And so playing chicken with California on federal aid seems

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Speaker 1: like a loser for them right, because, like think about it,

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Speaker 1: there is no world in which this doesn't end poorly

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Speaker 1: for Trump and for everyone involved. So I think that

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Speaker 1: I think that that ultimately California will get as much

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Speaker 1: eight as it wants. And I think that all this

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Speaker 1: dumb grandstanding about woke won't serve anyone.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, except for Republican fundraising from the people who who

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Speaker 2: cheer for that stuff.

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Speaker 1: George Conway is a contributor to the Atlantic and a lawyer.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back, too Fast Politics, My best friend and also

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Speaker 1: fellow dog owner, the one the only Papa Conway.

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Speaker 6: Welcome, Welcome, well, thank you for having me once again

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Speaker 6: for the five thousand, six hundred and forty seventh time.

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Speaker 1: Look, man, you make good content.

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Speaker 6: We're just here, No, I just feel when you can't

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Speaker 6: find anybody better. I'm the one you go to, which

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Speaker 6: is fine, Which is fine. That's one role as your friend,

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Speaker 6: it's my role.

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Speaker 1: That is an insane, insane thing to think, but I'll

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Speaker 1: let you do if it keep if it keeps you humble.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about why it's a bad idea to issue

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Speaker 1: preemptive pardons and make a complete mockery out of the

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Speaker 1: justice system. You might not know where I stand on this.

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Speaker 6: I don't believe in making a complete mockery of the

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Speaker 6: justice system. So therefore, if you believe that the preemptive

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Speaker 6: Partners would do that, I support your position completely. No

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Speaker 6: I understand the rationale for them or the motivation for them.

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Speaker 6: I think there are a lot of people and have

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Speaker 6: actually had this discussion on Michael Cohen's podcast and express

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Speaker 6: this view, and he yelled at me, but he always yells,

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Speaker 6: that's what he does on his podcast. But my view,

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Speaker 6: you know, I feel bad for the people who could

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Speaker 6: potentially be victimized by bullshit prosecutions by the next administration.

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Speaker 6: On the other hand, I don't believe that people who

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Speaker 6: have not done anything wrong should be tarnished with the

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Speaker 6: suggestion they have done in something by being offered a pardon.

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Speaker 6: And I think legally accepting a pardon does not actually

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Speaker 6: constitute an admission of guilt, but it is commonly viewed

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Speaker 6: as such. I think the best way to defend people

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Speaker 6: who are subject to false accusations and trumped up accusations,

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Speaker 6: so to speak, would be to defend them, and I,

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Speaker 6: for one, will contribute money and I will contribute time

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Speaker 6: to help these people I think there are going to

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Speaker 6: be a lot of lawyers who will volunteer to help

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Speaker 6: these people. And that being said, I don't you know,

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Speaker 6: it's small consolation to having your life potentially turned upside

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Speaker 6: down by bullsh investigation. But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 6: I still think there is some justice left in our

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Speaker 6: justice system. And you know, at the end of the day,

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Speaker 6: you still have to prove of facts in a courtroom

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Speaker 6: beyond a reasonable doubt that const due to crime in

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Speaker 6: order to put somebody in jail, and with good lawyering,

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Speaker 6: and I think that, you know, the risk that people

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Speaker 6: are really going to be unjustly prosecuted is not high

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Speaker 6: and convicted, I deeply, deeply empathize with people who might

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Speaker 6: be subject to this. This is just the way we

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Speaker 6: have to do it. I mean, I don't think the

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Speaker 6: preemptive party really would be constructive. It would be used

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Speaker 6: politically against the people who are standing up for democracy.

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Speaker 6: I just think there's so many reasons that it's a

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Speaker 6: bad idea. It shouldn't get off ground. And I think

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Speaker 6: I don't think it's actually going to happen. I think

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Speaker 6: what happened by now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I also think part of it is that

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Speaker 1: the people who are the very famous people like the

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Speaker 1: Liz Chenese. It ultimately is actually worse to publicly take

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Speaker 1: these pardons, is worse for democratic norms than to not.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I am sure that Liz Cheney would never accept

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Speaker 6: the party, she would not ask for one, and she'd

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Speaker 6: be perfectly happy to engage in a fight over And

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Speaker 6: they have so many defenses, these people who worked in

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Speaker 6: the January sixth Committee, this is all going to end

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Speaker 6: up being smoke by the chief lunatic. My new title

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Speaker 6: for him is first Felon of the United States. And

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Speaker 6: again that's ffotus all caps. It should be capitalized because

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Speaker 6: out of respect, first felons should be capitalized. It should

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Speaker 6: be capitalized because it's referring very specifically to an individual.

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Speaker 6: So any English teacher will tell you that he is

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Speaker 6: the first felon in multiple senses, the first felon to

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Speaker 6: ever be elected president and to become president. He is

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Speaker 6: the chief felon of the United States in the sense

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Speaker 6: there are no other felons who really exceed his authority

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Speaker 6: in power. And I was achieved as much as him,

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Speaker 6: so I mean, he really is the first felon of

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Speaker 6: the United States. And maybe I should raise some money

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Speaker 6: for a billboard.

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Speaker 1: I think that's coming. There's no way that's not coming.

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Speaker 6: Billboard to go up and say, welcome to you know,

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Speaker 6: to somewhere in Palm Beach. Welcome to mar A Lago,

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Speaker 6: home of the nation's first felon. First felon, of course,

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Speaker 6: would be really nice mugshot picture of the first felon.

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Speaker 1: That's wonderful.

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Speaker 6: This is and this is my announcement of this idea.

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Speaker 6: I think people should do this maybe and I save

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Speaker 6: this for your podcast.

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Speaker 1: It clearly seems that this is coming. So let's talk

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Speaker 1: about the Jack Smith report that broke last night. It

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Speaker 1: feels to me, and again I could be wrong, that

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Speaker 1: were those two have dropped a little earlier, it would

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Speaker 1: have been a little bit better to discuss.

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Speaker 6: I think it would have been better for the report

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Speaker 6: to have dropped earlier. I think it would even be

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Speaker 6: better than better if the whole investigation had been conducted earlier.

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Speaker 6: It led to this report. The report is, you know,

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Speaker 6: absolutely a scathing condemnation of the first felon of the

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Speaker 6: United States, but it doesn't add much to the public record.

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Speaker 6: I mean I skimmed through it and I read the

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Speaker 6: press reports because I figured that if there was something

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Speaker 6: additional juice, that there was juicy that we didn't know before,

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Speaker 6: the press would have seized on it. But I skimmed

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Speaker 6: the one hundred and thirty seven page and then footnotes,

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Speaker 6: and it doesn't appear that there is that much in

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Speaker 6: there that is new, I mean. And the fact of

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Speaker 6: the matter is, most of what we know about what

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Speaker 6: Trump did on January sixth, twenty twenty one, we knew

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Speaker 6: by January eighth, twenty twenty one, Okay, after we read

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Speaker 6: the morning newspapers on that day, after a full day

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Speaker 6: of reporting, knew what he did, what most of what

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Speaker 6: he did was on the public record, and it certainly

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Speaker 6: was you know, I think the January sixth committee did

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Speaker 6: an excellent job investigating this, and I think I'm sure

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Speaker 6: Jack Smith not only replicated that but exceeded that. But

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Speaker 6: the truth of the matter is we've already seen basically

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Speaker 6: what the material that would have prosecuted him and convicted him,

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Speaker 6: you know, when after the Supreme Court's Community decision, it's

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Speaker 6: all out there, and all of that information, most of

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Speaker 6: that information, it wasn't necessary to conduct all of those

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Speaker 6: other investigations of all the minions, the one thousand people,

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Speaker 6: the Proud Boys, the whatnot and the other hooligans who

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Speaker 6: were convicted. There should have been a parallel investigation starting

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Speaker 6: champe Ey twentieth twenty first, twenty twenty one, the US

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Speaker 6: Attorney's office. They should have handled the people on the hill,

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Speaker 6: the jan sixers, the little guys, and there should have

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Speaker 6: been a special council appointed then to handle what happened

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Speaker 6: from the White House down and then could have them

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Speaker 6: meet if there were connections, you have the people work together.

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Speaker 6: But if they had done that, this case would have

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Speaker 6: been tried two years ago or three. It wasn't that complicated.

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Speaker 6: Knew what he did on the theories that Smith ultimately

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Speaker 6: brought this case, and it was a streamline case because

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Speaker 6: it was directed at one man, the man who, as

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Speaker 6: the report says, instigated the entire event, the entire attempt

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Speaker 6: to overthrow the Constitution of the United States, and the

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Speaker 6: violence against police office, the destruction at the Capitol. It

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Speaker 6: was all because of him. Now you cannot you can't

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Speaker 6: say that he was conspiring with the individuals who conducted

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Speaker 6: the physical violence. But he did try to pollute the

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Speaker 6: electoral process. He tried to commit fraud on state legislators,

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Speaker 6: on the Congress, all selectoral certificates, so many things that

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Speaker 6: just basically were out there in the public, and the

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Speaker 6: theories on which Trump was charged didn't require an investigation

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Speaker 6: from the bottom up. Now, I hate to say this

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Speaker 6: about Garland because I admire Attorney General Garland for his

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Speaker 6: intelligence and his integrity.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, let's go. I love this, let's go, let's

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Speaker 1: get this.

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Speaker 6: Report is effectively a significant condemnation of how he conducted

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Speaker 6: himself in his four years. This information could have been

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Speaker 6: obtained by twenty twenty three, at the latest of twenty

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Speaker 6: twenty two.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we saw it on television.

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Speaker 6: We saw it on television, as again or repeating myself.

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Speaker 6: And the other thing is that what happened was because

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Speaker 6: there was no ongoing investigation in twenty twenty one of

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Speaker 6: Trump people forgot about his It should have been immediately

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Speaker 6: framed as potential criminality, which it was potential criminality, but

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Speaker 6: it wasn't framed as such because everybody was. The Justice

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Speaker 6: Department went off and did what it had to do,

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Speaker 6: which is prosecute the hundreds of hooligans and morons who

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Speaker 6: conducted all the destruction on Capitol Hill.

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Speaker 1: Mayor Garland was a person whose whole life was about

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Speaker 1: becoming a Freme Court justice, world's most careful person. Ever,

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Speaker 1: that is not so one you should have leading the DOJ.

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Speaker 6: Well, it isn't, It isn't. I mean, I'm not second

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Speaker 6: guessing him, okay, because I'm first guess. On the day

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Speaker 6: after the inauguration, you may recall, I wrote a five

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Speaker 6: thousand word piece argue that multiple special counsels should be

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Speaker 6: a point to investigating Trump because there were so many

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Speaker 6: different things that he committed that did that were potentially criminal,

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Speaker 6: from his finances to the Stormy Daniel's case to Ukraine,

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Speaker 6: the Ukraine extortion that was criminal. Also, this is first guessing,

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Speaker 6: not second guessing. And I think history is not going

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Speaker 6: to look well on Attorney General Garland. And I hate

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Speaker 6: to say that because I think, you know, he was

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Speaker 6: an admirable person. All You're right, he was in the

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Speaker 6: wrong job. It was the wrong job. I mean that,

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Speaker 6: I think really more than anything. I mean, I think

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Speaker 6: it was important to have somebody a perceived integrity, which

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Speaker 6: he has, right but in the end, but in the end,

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Speaker 6: you needed somebody who was going to push this thing

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Speaker 6: fast and he ultimately found the guy to do that.

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Speaker 6: And you look at look at other criminal prosecutors, look

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Speaker 6: at Menendez. He got convicted, and he was indicted after Trump.

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Speaker 1: And Menendez going to jail, correct.

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Speaker 6: And he was indicted. I think after Trump it was

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Speaker 6: imperative to keep the thing going just because to move

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Speaker 6: the thing quickly, not only because it was important that

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Speaker 6: this was the most significant crime they have committed in

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Speaker 6: public life ever, but because Trump could be depended upon

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Speaker 6: to run again in order to avoid prosecution. Was pretty

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Speaker 6: clear he was going to do that by twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 6: And this notion, this self deceptive notion that both Senator

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Speaker 6: McConnell had, that Trump would somehow go away, which it

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Speaker 6: was shared by them by people in the Biden administration,

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Speaker 6: a lot.

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Speaker 1: Of people on the Biden administration.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, this man is like a vampire.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I also think these are the norms that he crushed.

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Speaker 1: To think that those norms would somehow work to prevent

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Speaker 1: him from bad and criminal acts is kind of nutting.

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Speaker 6: Well, no, the norms are fine, The norms were fine.

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Speaker 1: Well, they didn't work, right.

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Speaker 6: They can work, they do work, they should work.

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Speaker 1: They usually work on someone normal.

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Speaker 6: But the reason is there was a lack of energy.

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Speaker 1: This is a small point, but I'm going to make

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Speaker 1: it because it's my podcast. Is that these norms work

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Speaker 1: if you have shame or if you have some pause,

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Speaker 1: and they work on literally almost everyone, but they don't

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Speaker 1: work on Trump and to try and use them.

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Speaker 6: Okay, we're talking about different norms. You're talking about norms

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Speaker 6: of behavior.

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Speaker 1: No, I'm talking about Justice Department norms. Right, Like, usually

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Speaker 1: when you have somebody in a court case at some

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Speaker 1: point that they sit for trials or they follow subpoenas.

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Speaker 1: Trump doesn't do stuff like that.

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Speaker 6: Look, I don't agree in the following sense. Yeah, I

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Speaker 6: guess he doesn't follow to me, yes, but you can,

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Speaker 6: you can enforce things against him. There was nothing preventing

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Speaker 6: Garland from getting all the evidence that he needed. The

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Speaker 6: problem was that the norms were not followed by the

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Speaker 6: Justice party. He was not treated like the criminal that

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Speaker 6: he is. Okay, you know he complains that he was

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Speaker 6: singled out. Yeah, he was singled out for special helpful

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Speaker 6: treatment to him. Anybody else who did this, Okay, like

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Speaker 6: the classified documenting the class would have been basically arraigned immediately.

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Speaker 1: Right, let's have two seconds here, on the head Seth fight.

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Speaker 1: So Pete headsets totally unqualified allegations of sexual.

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Speaker 6: I disagree that he's totally unqualified. The United States Department

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Speaker 6: of Defense is probably I mean, it's the largest employer

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Speaker 6: in the world, and it is probably the largest purchaser

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Speaker 6: of alcohol in the world. I mean, you think about it.

435
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:50,800
Speaker 6: You've got px's all around the nation, you have officers clubs.

436
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 6: There is no way that the Department of Defense isn't

437
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,199
Speaker 6: the largest booze purchaser on the planet. And that is

438
00:24:58,240 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 6: something that heg Seth could manage.

439
00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:01,359
Speaker 1: Yes, very much.

440
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 6: In fact, I mean I think I'm sure the Joint

441
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:05,880
Speaker 6: chiefs will be happy to take him on a tour

442
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,439
Speaker 6: of all the officers clubs to keep him busy whilst

443
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 6: they conduct the business of the other business.

444
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:12,639
Speaker 1: So just to just to cut you off here for

445
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 1: a second, as much.

446
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 6: As I well, you're you made the mistake of inviting you.

447
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: No, I'm happy to have you, but just for two seconds.

448
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:24,439
Speaker 1: There's a real pressure campaign going on. Heg Seth has

449
00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,199
Speaker 1: sherpas who are very much good at doing that Maga

450
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 1: thing of intimidating people and making them do what they want.

451
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 1: Does he get the only sort of people who could

452
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,720
Speaker 1: possibly There was a piece yesterday in The New Yorker

453
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:43,199
Speaker 1: from by our friend Jane Mayer who said that basically

454
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 1: Collins refused to meet with the with one of the

455
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:51,840
Speaker 1: alleged victims. So talk to us about one of the accusers.

456
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 1: Talk to us about what you think. I mean, does

457
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:57,199
Speaker 1: he get through? And if he gets through, is he

458
00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 1: put in a little room where he can buy all

459
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 1: the booze? I mean, where does this go?

460
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 6: I have said time and again and I repeat myself

461
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:09,360
Speaker 6: that nobody is ever going to go broke betting on

462
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,240
Speaker 6: the spinelessness of Republican senators. Okay, so that that's that's

463
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 6: the thing. I mean, obviously, if if two or three break,

464
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,199
Speaker 6: that could be you know, that should be enough. But

465
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 6: you know, unless they if Jony Earns caves, if these

466
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,680
Speaker 6: if these women cave, if Senator Collins won't even meet

467
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 6: with some of the victim, I mean, you know, that

468
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 6: tells you a lot. It tells you that that tells

469
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 6: you that they're afraid that the cowards and they consider

470
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, I susant Collins. So how when

471
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 6: is she up again for re election.

472
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 1: In two years?

473
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,480
Speaker 6: In two years it's like, and how old is she?

474
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 1: And that's a purple state.

475
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 6: That is a purple state.

476
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 7: It's my point is like these people care less about

477
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:49,399
Speaker 7: their own reputation and integrity, and they're they're willing to

478
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,400
Speaker 7: debase themselves time and again for this mean even the

479
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:57,120
Speaker 7: better and Collins is a little bit better, not much, right,

480
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 7: but but she is a little bit better. I mean,

481
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 7: you know, I like to see what Murkowski's gonna do.

482
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 6: She's got some.

483
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,120
Speaker 1: Cohmonists, Yeah she does.

484
00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 6: And Joanie Ernst, who actually knows, you know, who is

485
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 6: really good on defense issues and there's a good reputation

486
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 6: on defense issues, and herself was an assault victim. If

487
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 6: Trump gets her vote, it's over. The guy's going to

488
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,960
Speaker 6: go through. But it just shocks me that these people

489
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 6: put there. I mean, why be elected to an office

490
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,240
Speaker 6: if you're going to debase yourself. I do not understand that.

491
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 6: It's something that I will carry with me to my

492
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 6: grave about Republican politicians and the spinelessness of Republican politicians,

493
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 6: which is why we have Donald Trump today.

494
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. The one sort of real piece of news

495
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 1: from this report was this Pence that Trump while he

496
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,879
Speaker 1: was watching the riot rage. The TV where Trump was

497
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: sitting show a rider saying that Pence was Trump's last hope,

498
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 1: and then Trump issued a tweet directing the mob to

499
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,880
Speaker 1: target Pens Is that sort of I mean we sort

500
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 1: of knew that.

501
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, the exact

502
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 6: timing of it is interesting, but we knew. We mean,

503
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 6: he was pressuring Pence for weeks, okay, and they met

504
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,679
Speaker 6: and it wasn't a pleasant meeting. So of course he

505
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 6: was going to say something about Pence of course, like

506
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 6: we can't be friends. And good for Karen Pence for

507
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 6: not even acknowledging Donald.

508
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 1: Trumps mother Beence. Welcome to the resistance, mother.

509
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 6: Pet Yes exactly.

510
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 1: George Conway the one, the only Thank you for joining.

511
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:31,679
Speaker 6: Always good.

512
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 1: Ryan Mack is a journalist at the New York Times

513
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,720
Speaker 1: and the co author of Character Limit, How Elon Musk

514
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 1: Destroyed Twitter. Welcome back to Fast Politics, Ryan Mack.

515
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 8: Thanks for having me.

516
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 1: Delighted to have you. So you are right now in California.

517
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 1: You are where the fires are. You've been reporting about

518
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 1: the fires. So can you get us sort of caught

519
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:57,520
Speaker 1: up on where we are now?

520
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 8: Sure? I'm typically a technology for the New York Times.

521
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 8: I'm based in Los Angeles, but for the last week

522
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 8: I've been turned into a full time fire reporter. You know,

523
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 8: it's all hands on deck down here. It's kind of

524
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 8: an unprecedented disaster. I've kind of lent my reporting help

525
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 8: to where I can around the newsroom. You know where

526
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 8: we stand right now. There's two major fires, the Palisades

527
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,120
Speaker 8: Fire which is still raging, as well as the Eton

528
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 8: fire out in kind of the eastern part of LA

529
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 8: and around a town called Altadena, which was devastated. I've

530
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 8: been reporting largely in Altadena. I haven't been to the

531
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 8: Palisades yet, but I can tell you what I've seen

532
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 8: out there is just absolute destruction of whole neighborhoods. A

533
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 8: lot of folks have used this metaphor of a bomb

534
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 8: going off, and I've never been in a bomb zone

535
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 8: or a war zone, but it looks bad. It's just horrible.

536
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,720
Speaker 8: So yeah, we have dozens of reporters around town. They're

537
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,880
Speaker 8: a measurable number of outlets here trying to understand what's happening.

538
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 8: There haven't been a clear picture of how these fires started,

539
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 8: but they have spread very rapidly given the weather conditions

540
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 8: down here and terrible.

541
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, from what I understand, the Altadena fire and the

542
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 1: Pasadena fire are now contained right or out.

543
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 8: No, the Altadena fire, which is the Eden fire, is

544
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,880
Speaker 8: still going. I think the last I checked it was

545
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 8: in the thirty ish percentage containment is where they were

546
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 8: estimating it at. The Palacies fires is less contained. That's

547
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 8: on the west side of La. It's threatening communities in.

548
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 1: Malibu and Brentwood, right.

549
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was stopped from going to Brentwood, which is

550
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 8: another neighborhood, but it's kind of moving westward up into

551
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 8: some more rural areas. But there are people up there,

552
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 8: you know, into Panga, into Malibu, and they're continuing to go.

553
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,520
Speaker 8: You know, there's we're talking on a Tuesday afternoon right now.

554
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 8: The winds are supposed to get continue to be bad

555
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,440
Speaker 8: through tonight and so we're just going to have to

556
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 8: see where we end up tomorrow morning with the winds

557
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,040
Speaker 8: and if other you know, if this thing picks up.

558
00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 8: There have been other fires that have started as well

559
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 8: in the southern California region, and there's one now called

560
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 8: the Auto Fire, which is more towards Oxnard, which is

561
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,560
Speaker 8: kind of northwest. So you know, they're beyond the fires

562
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:10,960
Speaker 8: that are happening now, there's a lot of concern about

563
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 8: other ones starting some of the inland Empire and what

564
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 8: those could do to kind of already stretched resources.

565
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: Can you explain to us sort of what because I've

566
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,200
Speaker 1: been following them, because my brother lives there, my father.

567
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: What I've had a really hard time sort of getting

568
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: my head around is kind of like how this happened,

569
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 1: because it seems like there are a number of factors

570
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 1: that caused this, and I'm wondering if you could just

571
00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 1: talk us through that.

572
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think at first I'd like to speak to

573
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 8: like understanding how this is because you know, I haven't

574
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,240
Speaker 8: really lived through a fire like this in my lifetime,

575
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 8: even though I've grown up in southern California, grew up

576
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 8: in Orange County and fires are kind of always a threat.

577
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 8: You know, I haven't lived in a neighborhood that's been

578
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 8: devastated in this way.

579
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,959
Speaker 1: But from Diddion to Nathaniel West, I mean this has

580
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 1: been a It's yeah, it's part of.

581
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 8: The way of life done here. But I will say,

582
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 8: like now, having lived through on I don't think you

583
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 8: can understand the scale until you've been here. You know,

584
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 8: it almost consumes your life. You wake up every morning,

585
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 8: I now check this app called Watch Duty, which I

586
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 8: wrote about recently me too, you know, to check the containment.

587
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,640
Speaker 8: You know, you're paying attention to very large aircraft these

588
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 8: like water carriers and where those are going. You're paying

589
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 8: attention to the press conferences that are happening every couple

590
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 8: hours to get updates on you know, number of missing people,

591
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 8: number of dead, and it just consumes you. Yeah, and

592
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 8: now having that's been my last week, it's been it's

593
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,760
Speaker 8: been interesting because you know, I've read about disasters in

594
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,480
Speaker 8: the past, especially things like the hurricanes down in you know,

595
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 8: the Southeast that happened late last year, but when you're

596
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:48,720
Speaker 8: living through it, it's it's a whole nother matter. It's just

597
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 8: been devastating.

598
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 1: The problem was that it was so many fires. Just

599
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,240
Speaker 1: sort of get us up to speed on.

600
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 8: Yeah, there was a lot of concern heading into you know,

601
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 8: last Tuesday, a week ago, there were these very high

602
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 8: winds that were coming through southern California, known as the

603
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 8: Santa Ana Winds. I know, winds are a part of

604
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 8: life here, especially in this time of year, but there

605
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,840
Speaker 8: was already concern that if there was a fire event.

606
00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 8: These winds could spread embers very quickly. It could spread

607
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 8: fires very quickly, and there's a lot of dry vegetation

608
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 8: in these hillsides and on these mountains that could be

609
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 8: consumed by an inferno. And on top of that, I

610
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 8: don't think we had the resources to be prepared for

611
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,680
Speaker 8: kind of a two pronged attack in a way, you know,

612
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 8: if I think, you know, if there had been one fire,

613
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 8: it would have been more manageable. But because there were

614
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 8: two fires that happened in quick succession, you know, the

615
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 8: winds also prevented these aircraft from getting up in the

616
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 8: air and being able to douse these blazes. So this

617
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 8: thing just took off first in the Palisades and then

618
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 8: in Altadena up in the hills and were kind of unmitigated,

619
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 8: you know. I was I was talking to residents in

620
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 8: Altadena who who got alerts about the wind, but by

621
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 8: the time the fire was literally at their doors or

622
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 8: they had no more service, the power was out in

623
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 8: their area, They had no internet, they couldn't have communication,

624
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,279
Speaker 8: and they kind of just got up and left because

625
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 8: they were smoking their homes, their trees were on fire.

626
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 8: I don't know We're still assessing the causes and the

627
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,239
Speaker 8: failures here, but there seemed to be a failure of

628
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 8: communication of significant warning, even though there was already concerns

629
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 8: about the winds. And I don't think anyone expected that

630
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,359
Speaker 8: these fires could go into these neighborhoods in the way

631
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 8: that it did. Became an urban fire in a way

632
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 8: where it hopped from home to home. You know, we

633
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,959
Speaker 8: think about fires in southern California, you know, going through

634
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 8: the brush and rural areas or non populated areas, But

635
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 8: in Altadena, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains,

636
00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 8: like this fire moved miles beyond the mountains into the town,

637
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,879
Speaker 8: to the point where you can go for blocks and

638
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,359
Speaker 8: not find kind of an intact home.

639
00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:54,200
Speaker 1: So talk to me about misinformation, because it feels like

640
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,879
Speaker 1: there's been a fallod of misinformation here. It's hard for

641
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,239
Speaker 1: even me, like works in this business, to sort of

642
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 1: figure out like what's real what's not real? Like and

643
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: I know that the right has wanted to say this

644
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:15,400
Speaker 1: was fires started by migrants, that this was somehow the

645
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: fault of homeless people. So can you just talk us

646
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 1: through some of the misinformation going on?

647
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,680
Speaker 8: I think The key to understand any disaster is that

648
00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 8: there's always going to be fear. There's real fear among

649
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:31,280
Speaker 8: people who aren't getting high quality information because we simply

650
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 8: just don't know. And in those you know, minutes, in

651
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 8: those hours, in those days where there is a lack

652
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:41,040
Speaker 8: of good information, you know, there there is bad information

653
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 8: that's going to permeate, and there are people that are

654
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,000
Speaker 8: going to try and take advantage of that situation and

655
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 8: spread bad information. Whether that's because they you know, are

656
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 8: trying to mean well and they're trying to you know,

657
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 8: help others, or they're maybe trying to you know, advance

658
00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 8: some position politically. There was a lot of blame on versity,

659
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:04,400
Speaker 8: equity and inclusion initiatives in city government for example. You

660
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,240
Speaker 8: know that is a kind of favorite right wing argument

661
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 8: that DEI is destroying the world. I mean we saw

662
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,840
Speaker 8: it when, for example, the doors were falling off Boeing planes.

663
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,200
Speaker 8: You know, right wing influencers and kind of high profile

664
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,840
Speaker 8: and high profile individuals we're pushing this idea that you know,

665
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,400
Speaker 8: Boeing is woke and it's affected by DEI and therefore

666
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 8: you know, pilots are bad and planes are bad.

667
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, is greed whoa now.

668
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 8: And you know that that became an argument, and immediately

669
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 8: after the fires, you know, people just looking for things

670
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:43,280
Speaker 8: to blame, organizations to blame, and yeah, and that environment

671
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:48,160
Speaker 8: causes certain misinformation to proliferate, and it's hard beating back

672
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 8: those essentially lies in those moments because you know, as

673
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,759
Speaker 8: a reporter, you're trying to report accurately. You know, you're

674
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 8: trying to check everything, whereas someone who is you know,

675
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 8: spreading information only has to hit their re tweet button

676
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 8: or has to put some unverified claim online and it spreads. So, yeah,

677
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,120
Speaker 8: I saw the DEI stuff. There's a you know, discussion

678
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:12,359
Speaker 8: about migrants for example, kind of your play the hits

679
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 8: kind of from right wing members. Yeah.

680
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's a lot of blame, you know, towards

681
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 1: elected I get, I completely get. I have to say

682
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,520
Speaker 1: part of the problem, from what I understand, is that

683
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:28,800
Speaker 1: the fact that they were multiple fires meant that even

684
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 1: though there was quite a lot of water, the water

685
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: pressure ended up dropping and that was why some of

686
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:38,279
Speaker 1: the hydrants were empty. Is that correct or Am I

687
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:38,839
Speaker 1: wrong there?

688
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 8: Yeah, there are a lot of concerns about about water,

689
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 8: and I don't think we've ascertained what exactly happened here.

690
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:47,440
Speaker 8: But I mean, oh.

691
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: Really, so you think it might be the reservoirs, because

692
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 1: I know there's one reservoir that was offline.

693
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,360
Speaker 8: You think about your home, right and this is a

694
00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:58,279
Speaker 8: firefighter put this to me. You know, think about your home.

695
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:00,640
Speaker 8: Let's say you turn all your all yours. You know

696
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:02,719
Speaker 8: you're not going to get the best you know in

697
00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:04,080
Speaker 8: your home, you're not going to get the best shower

698
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:07,319
Speaker 8: pressure water pressure from your shower. Similar kind of thing

699
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,720
Speaker 8: happened here where people are all drawing from the same source.

700
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,760
Speaker 8: You know, you have firefighters trying to link into hydrants,

701
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,600
Speaker 8: you have people trying to use their garden hoses to

702
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 8: spray down their rooftops. You know, everyone's trying to save

703
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,239
Speaker 8: their homes, and it's drawing from this resource and preventing

704
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,840
Speaker 8: sometimes emergency workers from getting the best possible use of water.

705
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:31,840
Speaker 1: Okay, so you think it was water pressure.

706
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:33,440
Speaker 8: Though, h yeah. And I mean I've talked to some

707
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 8: firefighters in Altadena, for example, who said, you know, above

708
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 8: a certain above a certain street, they would tap into

709
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,040
Speaker 8: a fire hydrant and wouldn't get any water at all.

710
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 8: A thing that we have to think about as well,

711
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 8: in which we also saw in Malle for example, with

712
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 8: that kind of horrible fire. Is that when you turn

713
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 8: the power off, it prevents the pumps from going and

714
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:55,120
Speaker 8: pumping water through the system. And so there's always this

715
00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:56,960
Speaker 8: trade off of turning off power.

716
00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,760
Speaker 1: Explain why you why they turn off the power.

717
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,920
Speaker 8: They turn off the powers to prevent these lines from

718
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:05,720
Speaker 8: being electrified. You know, these above ground lines which could

719
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 8: you know, fall in high winds and spark a blaze.

720
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,280
Speaker 8: So utility companies are always weighing this kind of trade

721
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,600
Speaker 8: off of do we keep the power on and run

722
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,400
Speaker 8: this risk you know of potentially a power line going

723
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,120
Speaker 8: down and sparking a flame, but you know, maintaining power

724
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:24,799
Speaker 8: to people who who would be unhappy if their power

725
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,960
Speaker 8: went out, maintaining the water because you know, water pumps

726
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,279
Speaker 8: rely on on electricity, or do we turn this thing

727
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:34,200
Speaker 8: off and you know, maybe piss off residents, but you know,

728
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 8: prevent that fire risk from happening. And I think it's

729
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 8: a really tough call because you don't know when you

730
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:41,719
Speaker 8: when you've made the right decision, when you turn off

731
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:44,040
Speaker 8: the power and everything goes right and then no fire happens.

732
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:45,919
Speaker 8: It's not like you get a pat on the back

733
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:48,000
Speaker 8: and be like, yeah, you stop that fire, because you

734
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 8: know no one, no one knows that you stop that fire. Right,

735
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,360
Speaker 8: there's no reward for that. And actually, some some utilities

736
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:57,080
Speaker 8: here we've understood like don't even have a power shut

737
00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:00,720
Speaker 8: off plan, Like they it's not in their emergency plan

738
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 8: to shut off the power. There's other mitigation techniques. That's

739
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 8: kind of the trade off there with electricity.

740
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 1: So let's talk for a minute about preparedness because this

741
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 1: is the new normal, right, probably not five fires going

742
00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 1: at once, but certainly we will see more fires, more

743
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,800
Speaker 1: dry cartments, more fires. This is where climate change is going.

744
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,879
Speaker 1: This is where we're heading. Since you are in California,

745
00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:29,200
Speaker 1: since you are in southern California, you're seeing the discussion

746
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:33,680
Speaker 1: move towards. For example, we know that in Pacific Palisades

747
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,360
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, a state farm dumped like twelve

748
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:41,800
Speaker 1: hundred policies in July. So here you have a scenario

749
00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:45,640
Speaker 1: where people can't get insurance, which means they can't get mortgages,

750
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:50,839
Speaker 1: which means they maybe can't rebuild, so or they get

751
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 1: the money, but they rebuild, but they can't they can't

752
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,440
Speaker 1: insure the value. So do you think there's an eye

753
00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 1: for what a new California can look like? Or do

754
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,880
Speaker 1: you think too soon? And what's the conversation around that.

755
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 8: I know those discussions are happening. I've been so close

756
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,880
Speaker 8: to the ground and paying attention to you know, just

757
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 8: people sifting through their rubble and trying to say what

758
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,040
Speaker 8: you know was left people trying to figure out where

759
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:18,239
Speaker 8: they're sleeping tonight. You know, I've been in Altadina more

760
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,200
Speaker 8: than the Palisades. I haven't been in Palisades at all,

761
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,800
Speaker 8: but Altadena is not as wealthy of a neighborhood as

762
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:26,200
Speaker 8: the Palisades, and so you have people sleeping in their

763
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 8: cars and you know, packed into the surviving home of

764
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,680
Speaker 8: the family. You know, you have people thirteen fifteen people

765
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 8: sleeping in a home now because all these families are

766
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:38,400
Speaker 8: crammed in there because homes are lost. So yeah, I

767
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 8: think that discussion is being is happening. It's certainly being had,

768
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:47,279
Speaker 8: and there's wondering about how LA will rebuild. It's just

769
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,960
Speaker 8: not something I've really been in tune with because you know,

770
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:51,799
Speaker 8: I've been out in the field.

771
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 1: In the field, though, are people talking about rebuilding their houses?

772
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: I mean, how are they sort of processing this loss.

773
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's tough. Alta Dina for example, these some of

774
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:05,520
Speaker 8: these families have lived there for decades, many generations within

775
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 8: their homes. Altadena is a pretty diverse community. Black Hispanic families.

776
00:42:11,239 --> 00:42:14,000
Speaker 8: There are you know, white families some like that have

777
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,480
Speaker 8: moved in recently as property values have gone up and

778
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:18,879
Speaker 8: has become kind of a more desirable place to live.

779
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 8: You know, Altadenas is somewhat more rural than your average

780
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 8: Los Angeles county town. People keep horses, for example. You

781
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,960
Speaker 8: get a lot of space, and it's on the east side.

782
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:30,319
Speaker 8: But these families that have lived there for decades have

783
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 8: seen their home values go up astronomically. You know, some

784
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:35,799
Speaker 8: people have talked to you know, their parents bought their

785
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,719
Speaker 8: home for one hundred thousand dollars and now it's I

786
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:40,839
Speaker 8: think the average home values anywhere from one point two

787
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:42,600
Speaker 8: to one and a half million dollars in the area,

788
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:45,719
Speaker 8: and so that was kind of everything for them, right

789
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:49,200
Speaker 8: that was that was their generational wealth. And so now

790
00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:52,239
Speaker 8: that that's gone, that's taken from them. They're not sure

791
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 8: because like it's going to be expensive to rebuild. Even

792
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 8: if they do rebuild again, Like we talked about you,

793
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,520
Speaker 8: you're not clear if they're going to be ensured. So

794
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 8: what happened if another event like this happens again, Because

795
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:05,640
Speaker 8: it's very likely, you know, we're not in a situation

796
00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:08,759
Speaker 8: where we are reversing the effects of climate change. Yeah,

797
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:12,239
Speaker 8: it's super tough. And there are people in those neighborhoods

798
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 8: whose homes have survived, and you ask it sometimes. You know,

799
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:17,880
Speaker 8: it's also very random where the fire hits, right, because

800
00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:20,200
Speaker 8: I've been on blocks where there's one or two homes

801
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:22,839
Speaker 8: that have survived and the rest of like completely been

802
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:25,680
Speaker 8: you know, incinerated. And you talk to those people and

803
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 8: they're like, I'm lucky my home survived. But am I

804
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:29,920
Speaker 8: really lucky because I'm going to live in this neighborhood

805
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:31,759
Speaker 8: where there's nothing around me and it's going to be

806
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:35,800
Speaker 8: under construction for years, if under construction at all. So yeah,

807
00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:37,320
Speaker 8: it's just it's such a tragedy.

808
00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:41,480
Speaker 1: Here you are covering this place where you grew up,

809
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:45,239
Speaker 1: basically like you're breathing the air, you're watching the sort

810
00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:48,839
Speaker 1: raine from the sky. How are you handling it well?

811
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:50,880
Speaker 8: For when I want to underline that I'm extremely lucky,

812
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,239
Speaker 8: Like my home was not affected. I was out of

813
00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:56,600
Speaker 8: an evacuation zone, and my way working through this is

814
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:59,239
Speaker 8: and helping others is kind of reporting on it the

815
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:01,920
Speaker 8: best I can. That being said, as a resident of

816
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 8: LA with you know, La County, with some ten million

817
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,719
Speaker 8: other people, I'm concerned. You know, I don't know if

818
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:10,800
Speaker 8: they are on breeding is okay, you know, I don't

819
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,400
Speaker 8: know if the water supply is going to be okay.

820
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,680
Speaker 8: I'm concerned about people finding housing in a in already

821
00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:18,880
Speaker 8: like kind of stretched housing market. You know, on a

822
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 8: personal level, I've I thought of living here for a

823
00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,360
Speaker 8: long time and buying a home eventually and kind of

824
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,759
Speaker 8: settling down. I don't know if that's feasible anymore, or

825
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:30,399
Speaker 8: if that's even a reasonable thing. And that's really sad

826
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 8: to think about when you know you've finally, you know,

827
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 8: I've moved around a bit in my life and finally

828
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:36,520
Speaker 8: find the place that you want to come back to

829
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 8: because this is where I'm from and in a way,

830
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:41,080
Speaker 8: and I don't know if it's a long term option.

831
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,200
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ryan Matt.

832
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:45,600
Speaker 8: Thank you, thanks for having me.

833
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 6: No mor.

834
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:51,960
Speaker 1: Jesse Cannon Smelly.

835
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:53,640
Speaker 2: We have an update on a thing we've talked a

836
00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:56,839
Speaker 2: lot about a continuous bit of fuckera down in North

837
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:00,320
Speaker 2: Carolina with former guests of the podcast Justice Riggs. Seems

838
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 2: that she got a pretty great victory here.

839
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:07,879
Speaker 1: Yeah, Justice Riggs, guest of this podcast Judge in North Carolina,

840
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:11,120
Speaker 1: so they won't be able to toss and North Carolina

841
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 1: Judge denies Republicans' request to toss sixty thousand ballots. Look,

842
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:21,960
Speaker 1: Republicans did not win this Judge ship, but they really

843
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,839
Speaker 1: are mad. And when Republicans don't win, they cheat, and

844
00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:28,439
Speaker 1: that is what we are seeing here is they want

845
00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:31,800
Speaker 1: to cheat. They want to throw out with Justice Riggs

846
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:37,640
Speaker 1: her victory in order to win and keep control over

847
00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: North Carolina. You'll remember that North Carolina they ran a

848
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 1: really terrible candidate for governor, a guy called Mark Robinson.

849
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:50,120
Speaker 1: He lost, which is probably the best thing we can

850
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,640
Speaker 1: say about him. And Republicans are really just trying to

851
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,799
Speaker 1: keep control over North Carolina. But they're doing it by

852
00:45:55,840 --> 00:46:01,600
Speaker 1: trying to cheat, which is really just app absolutely should

853
00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 1: not be surprising to anyone. That's it for this episode

854
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 1: of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and

855
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:16,720
Speaker 1: Saturday to hear the best minds and politics make sense.

856
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:21,120
Speaker 1: Of all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast, please

857
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:24,200
Speaker 1: send it to a friend and keep the conversation going.

858
00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:25,800
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.