WEBVTT - The Red Wave That Wasn't 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:10.119 Everything's dead. Wait no, sorry, um, it's it could happen 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:15.080 here a podcast about stuff falling apart and today about 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.400 the fact that things fell less apart than people were 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:20.600 worried they were going to fall apart, and in some 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:25.040 ways got might get better. So that's kind of that's 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:30.319 kind of nice. Sure. Yeah, on the whole, we're talking 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:35.720 about the mid terms today and on the whole okay, 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:42.920 I feel okay. Descripture. Yeah, it's the mid terms equivalent 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.920 of getting like an ounce of of of like mid 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.400 grade weed for like fifty bucks. But you find out 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.800 later that like kind of in the middle of it 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:55.800 was like half of a paper towel roll that they 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.920 stuck in there to push up the weight. But it's like, well, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.400 least I got weed. All right, I've introduced the podcast 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:09.880 Who Do We? Who do we have here? Today? You 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:15.240 got me? I'm James Still, that's rightly? Yeah, yeah, I'm Garrison. 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:20.160 I didn't vote. Look at you wow. Way to be 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.360 a way to be an anarchist Garrison or a Canadian 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:30.760 same deff democracy? Yeah yeah, I like committing voter fraud 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.600 for the Democratic Party. Yeah yeah. I also decided to 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.880 not vote for the people who are doing like the 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:41.240 war on drugs in California right now, Garrison, you you 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:45.400 continued your your years long tradition of submitting a crewed 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.760 drawing of the Premier of Canada. Um to to a 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.600 ballot box. Shut, let's Trudeau coming out of a cave. 0:01:57.560 --> 0:01:59.480 Who else do we have on with us right now? 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:05.840 I'm here, Christopher Wong, and I absolutely despise elections, so 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:11.000 I brought my friend who actually does like elections. That's 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:17.160 excellent token election in Jodan pretty much. Yes, Hi, I 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:22.480 am Jack. I am Christopher's token friend, as mentioned um 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.800 and I'm here partly because of nepotism for knowing Christopher 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:31.880 and partly because, as you reminded me, before we got started, 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.360 I had a ninety three percent accurate prediction rating for 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.200 all of the elections that I was paying attention to 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:41.920 this year, so I know some things. Congratulations. I only 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.679 made one prediction before this election, which was, well, it 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:49.640 doesn't feel like Dr Roz is gonna win, which which 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.280 means you did better than a lot of the people 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.680 who are paid to do this. Like, Okay, that man, 0:02:55.880 --> 0:03:00.959 that man said the word crew detay in an election 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:06.040 in Pennsylvania, Like there was he was never good. The 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:08.880 moment that d came out, he was going to lose. 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:14.679 I see, that's much more nuanced than my my political analysis, 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.720 which was the fact that the other guy was much 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.120 taller than him and also way hot, Like if they 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.920 just sounded it with a fist fight, fat could have 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.240 taken it. Yep, which that seems good. H It was fun. 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:29.360 It was a fun election. We all had a good time. 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.840 I enjoy that. Fucking Marjorie Taylor Green and j d 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.720 Vance are going to be in Congress together. That's going 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:38.320 to be fun for everybody. We're all gonna have a 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.240 good time. But I suspect there's probably some stuff we 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.280 haven't like. As you may have noticed listeners, we didn't 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:47.840 do much in the way of pre mid term content 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:52.400 because we all hate it. But but now now we're 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.800 talking about it. So what what what? What should we 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.040 know about these mid terms? What? What? What kind of 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.120 occurred to you as somebody who's like actually has spent 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.760 a lot more time delving into the nitty gritty and 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:08.840 thinking about what was likely to happen. Um. So I 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.720 told Christopher I would say this, and in arness, I 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.920 do genuinely believe it I think the story of these 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.560 mid terms when historians look back at it, will be 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.240 that the Dabbs Supreme Court decision had the same electoral 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.400 impact in the United States as nine eleven did. I 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:27.320 think that is going to be like how this plays 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:32.080 out over time, um, because when you look at how 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.360 things were going before Dabbs and then how things were 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.880 going after Dabbs. Obviously things got a lot worse on 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.400 the policy front because abortion became illegal in a lot 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:45.720 of states. Um. But the election essentially flipped overnight from 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.320 what was going to be a Republican wave to the 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:54.159 even split that we got. And that makes this one 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:58.039 of three post World War two midterms where the incumbent 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.240 party did well, and so this is definitely going to 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.760 be him in term that gets lectured about in policy 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.479 one on one courses for the next hundred years. Also, 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.240 one of those, one of those other three, was the 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.360 nine was to push that left. It was yeah, actually, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.640 I really because obviously I was aware, just because there 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:18.240 was so much cover in saying like this is the 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.880 best performance from an incumbent party in a mid term 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.719 since two thousand two. So it was aware of that fact. 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.279 But for some reason I hadn't put it together in 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:31.120 my head that way that like, yeah, the this means that, 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.440 like the Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade had 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:38.000 kind of a comparable electoral impact to flying two planes 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.080 into a pair of skyscrapers and the Pentagon three plates. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.280 I mean, to be fair whatever, to be fair, the 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:48.120 Supreme Court have killed like in terms of the immediate impact, 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:50.080 the Screme Court will have killed more people than that 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:55.000 by like thurs Day or something. So yeah, the other 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.080 one was was fdos fest made tim right? Uh No, 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.800 the other ones that so I said post World War Two. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.160 The other the other one was when the American electorate 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.120 apparently got so mad at Republicans and pe team Bill 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.760 Clinton that they decided to vote for Democrats in a 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.760 good term. Again, well that's yeah, that's the other thing 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:16.800 Biden can do if it, if it goes south. It's 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.440 good to know their options. Yeah, but um, I think 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.599 non zero chance that'll happen anyway. I mean, I guess 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:28.640 we're still waiting. Who knows. Yeah, Doc Brandon, I enjoyed, 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.719 from from an entertainment perspective, the like three months of 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:34.960 lucidity that we got out of Joe Biden this year, 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.120 We'll see how many more he has in him. Yeah, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:44.640 who knows? So yeah, like it. So you're you're suggesting 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.200 that Dobbs has been like the really pivotal thing here 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.680 in swinging a lot of these close races, right, absolutely, Um, 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.839 and Dobbs definitely being the number one factor. Um. Tragically, 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:59.719 because it's very cringe and I wish this hadn't happened. 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.320 The January six investigation does actually seem to have also 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:09.000 swung several important races. That's I mean, I'm interested in 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.040 your thoughts on this, but I actually I'm I'm glad 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:14.680 that it mattered that they tried to do a coup, 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:19.880 and like I'm glad that people cared about that. I'm 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.440 glad it mattered. I just I just think it sucks 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:24.480 that because the way they went about the investigation was 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:30.040 so incredibly terrible. Yeah. Um, like Marrick Garland is going 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:31.560 to go down as like one of the most cowardly 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:35.560 attorney generals in American history. But um, yeah, It's it's 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.320 pretty clear that in a lot of races like the 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.200 the investigation made a difference. I think this is really clear. 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:46.679 If we're getting into like very kind of under the hood. Um, 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.920 Democrats ran the table in competitive state level secretary of 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.120 State races, and these are the officials that run elections. UM. 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.640 And not only did Democrats run the table, pretty much 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.600 every single one of those candidates out pre formed the 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.240 top of the ticket. So they outperformed governor and Senate candidates. UM. 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.600 So there are a lot of people. This is another 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.280 big story the midterms is that swing voter. Your swing 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.640 voting is back, not swing voting, I'm sorry, split ticket 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.920 voting is back. Um. There were quite a few, there 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.840 were quite a few millions of voters this year who 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.160 voted for Republican in the Senate or a Republican for 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.560 governor and then a Democrat to run their states actual elections. 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.240 That's kind of good. It's so that's also like speaks 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:34.920 promisingly of people's engagement with the political system and education 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.760 about it and the awareness of what these different things do. Yes, um, 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.679 but other like like that, other than that, but just overall, 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:49.080 high level dobbs was the big one. Um. There is 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.760 a person whose name I'm going to unfortunately mispronounce, and 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:55.679 that I should have looked up beforehand. So all right, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.440 this is a safe place for that, Thank you. But 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.160 there's a person there's a guy down in Louisiana named 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.280 John uh cool Van I think is my best guests, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.200 and he is one of the people who makes money 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:10.960 off of like looking at elections UM, and his big 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:15.320 thing is that you can predict the outcome of elections 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.560 just by looking at the nationwide composition of the primary electorate. 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.840 So like, if Republicans turn out more voters in their 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.400 primaries and Democrats to Republicans are going to win the 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.520 election and vice versa. This has been true in pretty 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.400 much every single election for the last thirty years or 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:37.280 so UM, and he unfortunately got led astray UM this 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.080 year because nationwide at the end of the primary season, 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.400 Republicans were up by about like five points, and so 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:47.160 he was insisting the whole rest of the campaign that 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:50.800 Republicans are going to win. That's obviously not really what happened. 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:55.240 But if you look at pre DBS versus post OBS, 0:09:56.040 --> 0:10:01.280 the primary elector at post OBS was Democrats plus like 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.599 up by one point. That is the electorate that we 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:08.559 got in the mid terms. So Dobbs set the tone 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.520 of like what the mid terms were going to be UM, 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:15.160 because we are not going to be legalizing abortion nationwide 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.200 in the next two years because we are going to 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:21.080 have a Republican House almost certainly, Dobbs is almost definitely 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.040 going to be a huge factor in twenty four as well. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.560 I mean, and I guess that, like because the question 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:32.280 I had, and I think a lot of people had 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.880 running into this, especially people who are not election lovers, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:40.560 is like, do things matter? Right? Like? It was Dobbs 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.719 going to matter? And was the were the constant sort 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.560 of Republican assaults on on the ability of people to vote? 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:52.120 Was the fucking attacks on children's hospitals and on trans 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.000 case and stuff like? Was all of that going to work? Like? 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.839 Do do things matter? Still? And? Uh, you know, we 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.880 have to renswer that question. But it does kind of 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.200 seem like that's the positive take out from this is 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:10.839 not like, you know, it's it's probably probably too early 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.800 to say are we seeing some sort of grand progressive 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.960 swing or are people coming around on Biden or whatever 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.440 things politicos want to take. But it does kind of 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.640 seem that, like, on a on a very like ground 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:27.280 floor level, Uh, it mattered that the Republicans were doing 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:32.280 awful things, Yes, mattered. Um, I think Christopher and I 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.360 have talked about how, in his words, Leah Thomas cost 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:39.320 the Michigan Republican Party of the election. Um, let's talk. 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.360 Let's talk about that, because I think a lot of 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.480 people I mean, yeah, let's yeah, let's talk about Okay, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.600 I'll give them I'll give the meme version of it first. 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.240 The meme version of it basically is that there was Okay, 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.360 so there there there was a report released by the 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.719 Republican Party in Michigan after the election when they sort 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:02.079 of got hammered. Part of what they're talking about was like, okay, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:07.000 so inflation is like seven point seven percent right now, right, 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.640 this is the freest election anyone has ever been handed, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.319 like in human history, Like a child could have won 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.679 this election. And the Republicans vanaged to blow it. And 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.640 one of these they talk about this, they spent they 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:25.440 spent like twenty five million dollars, like specifically on ads 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:30.360 about trans like trans kids in sports and everybody mission. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:34.280 It was just like what the yes, real care not 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.600 just not just blew it, but blew it in a 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.160 way that they haven't blown it in forty years. Because 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:42.800 for the first time in forty years, Democrats will have 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:46.520 complete control of the Michigan state government. Yeah. Yeah, And 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:48.400 it's like it's like the other things. It wasn't just 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.880 in Michigan where this happened, right like like quite possibly, 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.560 Like one of the ways they're going to lose the 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.880 Senate is because like the Republicans like entire sort of 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.400 apparatus and Nevada was against the Equal Rights Amendments, which 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:04.959 and specifically they were running against the equal nevented passing 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.440 diversity of the Equal Rights Amendment, like specifically on the 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:13.400 grounds of transphobia, and the e ARRA passed by seventeen points. Uh, 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.560 and replicants are about to lose that Senate. See, and 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.440 it's just like my mein version of this is that 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.960 the Republican Party ran a platform that is like the 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:27.800 political equivalent of like a street preacher, right, like that 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.240 that is the constituency for this. It is like they 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:35.080 unbelievably hate trans people. They like an unbelievably hard line 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.360 anti abortion position, which again like nobody actually likes. And 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.400 you know, it turns out like if if if your 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.200 constituency is street preachers, like the thing an average person 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.000 does when they run into a street preacher is walked 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.400 past them, and it turns out that's what happened to 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.839 hear like this and they got, oh, that's that's that's 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:55.600 the mean version of it. Absolutely, I mean that's not 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.720 just the mean version of it. Is essentially what happened, 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.079 UM in Michigan and Pennsylvania, in all of these states 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.640 where hardline Christian nationalists won Republican primaries, like they went 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:09.560 down hard um and so as Robert said, yeah, things 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:14.040 actually mattered this election, and that's a good thing. UM. 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:18.280 And I think I know for me, as like, I 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.800 went into election night very nervous about my own predictions 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:26.840 because when I put together my um Google spreadsheet that 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.480 will never be shown to any of you because of 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:33.320 how insane it is. UM. And I was picking, you know, 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.800 I got more races wrong, by the way, by picking 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.840 Republicans to win that Democrats actually won, then the other 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.640 way around, because I kept second guessing myself. It's like 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.920 no, no no, no, I'm not I'm being too kind to 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:49.640 Democrats and then I went too far. But when I 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.520 was making those predictions, honestly, I just kept thinking about, like, 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.840 so I'm adopted, my parents are both white, and my 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.360 mom is this like white woman from appalation, Ohio. And 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.680 she is is UM in her upper sixties, so she 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:07.240 grew up in a world before Roe v. Wade UM. 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:14.880 And I had never seen my mom so angry about 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.600 anything in politics, and like she was very very angry 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:22.440 when Trump won. UM. She has been very angry. She's 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:24.840 been very angry about like January six. She's been angry 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:26.520 about a lot of stuff the last several years, as 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:30.360 is my dad UM, because they're both very normally Democrats. 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:36.120 But my mom has never been angrier as far as 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.600 I've seen her than she was angrier about Dobbs. And 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:41.640 it wasn't just like my mom. I was hearing from 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:46.240 friends of mine from across the Midwest who also have 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.840 like normy white suburban parents, and that was kind of 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:52.560 the same thing that I was hearing from them too, 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:54.360 is like, my mom is so upset about this, My 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.040 grandmother is so upset about this. These women who remembered 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.320 what it was like to grow up in a world 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.400 where abortion it was not something that that they had 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.880 access to if they needed it. UM, And that honestly, 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.240 you know, it's it's obviously completely anecdotal. It's not databased 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:10.960 or data driven in any way. But that was just 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:15.160 what I kept thinking about as I was making predictions 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.040 about how the midterm was gonna go. Was you know, 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:20.840 I think that these people are angry enough that they 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.760 are not going to care about inflation. They're not going 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:25.800 to care about the fact that our economy is very 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.400 clearly headed for recession, um, because this is going to 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:43.160 matter more to them, um, And it did. I kind't 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.920 want to move on to talking about what what we 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:52.000 think this sets us up for because I think the 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:54.960 clearest and we talked about this a little earlier, but 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.480 sort of the clearest thing that's positive about this is 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.200 that we have of fewer state secretaries of state and 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.440 state legislatures in the hands of the Republican Party, which 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.880 means more of a chance that like what people actually 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:14.920 vote for is going no matter. Um. Now, we're still 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.239 dealing with the judiciary that is as fucked as it 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.959 was prior to the mid terms and probably won't be 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:27.040 less fucked in a way that is notable, um and aggregate, Yeah, 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:31.119 we can. We can always hope and pray. Yeah. Then 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:36.960 there could be a couple of very specific car accidents. Yeah, yeah, 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.240 yeah on that point. Actually, so there, I know, I 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:44.040 bang on about about like how the United States deals 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.560 with its indigenous people a lot, but like that they 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.040 slated and we'll do an episode on it, but we're 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:52.640 trying to do it properly. Like slated for this Supreme 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.080 Court session is to look at AQUA, right, the Indian 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:59.840 Child Welfare Act, and like the challenge to it, challenges 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:04.560 on out of the basis of other tribal law and 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.720 in places like Arizona, right, Like, indigenous people are a 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.720 large like often like they're supposed to be like the 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:16.120 swing electorate and for like blue Arizona, so they could 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.440 have positive outcomes for for Democrats, it could they could. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:20.840 I don't know how they could go out their way 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.000 to this in French trans indigenous people, but they find 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:24.840 you and exciting ways to do it all the fucking time. 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:30.080 So like that will be interesting. And one thing I 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.200 wanted to raise is like, so I live in California, 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.240 which I think is seen as like the left coast 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.080 and stuff, but we have an alarming amount of really 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:44.200 chuggly people going to the house from California, and yeah, 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:46.639 it's becoming increasingly a bit like where like some of 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:48.320 you live in Oregon, where like you have a very 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.120 The far right in California is larger than the population 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:58.280 of like many United US states. Yeah, yes, and they're 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:03.600 increasingly big mad about like it's small things, m but yeah, 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:05.840 Like I'm just looking at the districts around the one 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.760 I'm in, and a number of them have sent like 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:14.720 anti reproductive rights house representatives back to the House. California 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.639 is a state where, um, the Democratic Party likes to 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.680 flop its way to victory. It's one of it's one 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.119 of the most incompetent state Democratic parties in the country, 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:29.640 which is really saying something because they're competing. They're competing 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.560 with they're competing with Florida. Like, I mean, hey, Oregons 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.480 not didn't do great either, Like the state Democratic Party 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.320 in Oregon had the most narrow governor's race in a 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:44.840 long time, and also the Dems lost their their supermajority 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.600 in the state Congress. They did lose their supermajority, but 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:53.320 Democrats in Oregon do now have the ability to redistrict again, 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.600 so they can take back that seat that Republicans picked 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.680 up because there were is a constitutional amendment that got 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.800 passed by the voters of Oregon that says that if 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.600 Republicans do what they have done in the last few 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.560 years in Oregon, which is walk out of the state 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.520 House any time that a lot of my past they 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.080 get banned for running for re election. But also, like 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:18.679 without the supermajority, I don't know that there's as much 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:23.000 of any I mean, we'll see what happens. Um, but yeah, 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.600 it's there. As a general rule, it seems like when 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:30.280 you've got there's no meaningful competition for what party is 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:32.760 going to be in control of the state. It becomes 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:37.520 a haven for like the political equivalent of grifters to 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:42.960 suck in huge salaries and do very little um and yeah, 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:48.680 yeah math, or to just do like star mayor look 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:54.560 at that may also yeah, and she's up for re 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.040 election in a few months, and we can only hope 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.800 that she that she loses. I can't imagine her winning. 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:06.359 I mean, it could happen, It could happen, It could happen. 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:13.840 Here here's here's an ad break. Yeah what a professional. Ah, 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:17.639 we're back. And you know what, talking about the mid 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:22.439 term elections makes me feel like doing smoking a cigarette. 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.320 Buy cigarettes, kids, they're is good for you. As democracy. 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:31.560 All right, we're back in some other interesting news. This 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:36.919 is also the this this Pessiman terms had more lgbt 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:40.960 Q candidates win office than ever before in a midterm election. 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:46.160 There was a few notable winds uh, specifically with trans 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:52.200 people in the Midwest actually, which has been probably a 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:56.080 decent side. It's it's a good sign, you know, heroes 0:21:56.119 --> 0:22:00.720 are doing good. Yeah, there's been a multiple multiple trans 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.320 people and trans uh particularly quite a few trans women 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:09.439 elected to state legislatives across across the Midwest, like in 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:26.720 Montana and inside uh Midwestern I'm calling that out. Yeah, 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:31.480 well Mountain West. See. Well, the thing is I grew 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:33.960 I grew up in Saskatchewan, which is like above Montana, 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:37.440 and whenever you would drive down, we would always stay 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.440 in the more Midwest east sections and everyone talks it 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:42.720 felt very Midwest to me because of where I lived 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:49.880 in Saskatchewan. So apology apologies to people who are Montana Mountainers, 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:56.080 I guess apologies, No, no, we don't need to be 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:03.840 upon So Zoe Zephyr, who testified against anti trans legislation 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:08.520 previously is now able to vote against it um in Minnesota. 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:11.720 I talk about that, like very briefly, which is that like, Okay, 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:14.840 there are a lot of queer communities in places that 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:19.240 people just fucking ignore. Absolutely, it's just can you cannot 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:24.359 discount these places? Yeah, it's like Missoula specifically has has 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:28.280 a like like pretty substantive queer community. They do good ship, 0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:31.720 they're out there like they're like there's there's this sort 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:34.720 of tendency I think to like like look at like 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:36.600 a state and go like, oh, it's a red state, 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:39.040 like there's whatever. They're just fleeing, and it's like it's 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:40.680 not true, Like there there are a lot of people 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:43.840 who are like have for many years been building a 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:47.080 community there and hanging aucenaciously and building it. And also 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:50.600 in Missoula, people take notice. Also in Missoula, the first 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:55.359 non binary candidate was elected in UH s J. Howell, 0:23:55.720 --> 0:24:00.159 So tou to trans people. It's elected there in in 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:04.400 uh in Missoula. But the way did did did Missoula, 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:12.720 Missoula do this? Portland? Probably Portland's like city councils like 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:16.800 four people. Yeah that's true, yeah, entirely. Yeah, and it 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:21.399 swung and it's pretty conservative that this past election. Actually, um, 0:24:21.800 --> 0:24:26.160 but we also had in Minnesota, uh lay a think 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:29.760 because the first transperson in state lets legislator and in 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:32.920 New Hampshire, Uh, they elected the first transman to a 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:37.160 US state House. So yeah, and and the other other 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:41.000 good thing is um Arizona got a Democratic governor, which 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:45.360 means a whole bunch of potential legislation will probably not 0:24:45.480 --> 0:24:49.720 get signed on because Arizona did have some pretty pretty 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:51.840 pretty bad anti trans station to come up in the 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:54.679 past few years. I also want to talk about So 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:58.760 the Arizona election was critical, not just because it's amazing 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:01.199 that fucking carry La is not going to be governor 0:25:01.280 --> 0:25:06.280 because she is an election denying google Um, but the 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:11.120 nicest thing Blake Masters might be the scariest person who 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:13.399 was running for a life. He is. He is the 0:25:13.440 --> 0:25:20.439 scariest serial killer. Yeah, yeah, yeah he was. He was 0:25:20.520 --> 0:25:23.960