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Speaker 1: They're happy Wednesday, and welcome to another episode of the

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Speaker 1: Chuck Podcast A little rundown on today. It is Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: which means you're gonna get a't a top five list.

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Speaker 1: I got a fun one for you. It involves the

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Speaker 1: president and prestigious awards, so I give you a big hint.

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Speaker 1: But maybe you still won't quite know where I'm headed

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Speaker 1: with that. We'll do some letters, but I want to

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Speaker 1: begin today with you know, one of the things that

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Speaker 1: I'm mindful of is that sometimes we're so dark and

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Speaker 1: negative that we sometimes can miss a big deal taken

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Speaker 1: place in plain sight. Right, And to start with an

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Speaker 1: issue that has not really made the rounds on cable television,

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Speaker 1: you haven't seen much of it on social media, and

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Speaker 1: it certainly has yet to generate a Chiron countdown clock.

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Speaker 1: But it might matter a lot more than most of

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Speaker 1: the headlines we've been dealing with over the last few weeks.

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Speaker 1: And it's a constitutional amendment proposal that is now circulating

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Speaker 1: in Congress that would allow congressional lawmakers to nullify a

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Speaker 1: presidential pardon. This is not a bill that, while you

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Speaker 1: may have, it's not an idea that would have gotten

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Speaker 1: much traction or must interest even five years ago. But

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Speaker 1: something like this seems very plausible to me, and it's

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Speaker 1: plausible enough that I wanted to give it a little

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Speaker 1: extra attention. And that's sometimes the role I feel like

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Speaker 1: I can play best here, which is like, hey, you know,

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Speaker 1: I used to run a mainstream news supposed mainstream news organization,

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Speaker 1: a couple of them. Here's what I would be leaning

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Speaker 1: into there, and you should be too. And that's sort

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Speaker 1: of a role I like to play sometimes, but we

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Speaker 1: may be seeing a major structural shift in conversation at

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Speaker 1: a time that we really needed, and it may be

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Speaker 1: to me. I hope it gives you a little bit

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Speaker 1: of hope, because it gives me. I'm granted, I'm looking

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Speaker 1: for it. So I'm looking for this, which is that

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Speaker 1: maybe we have begun a new era of reform that

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Speaker 1: you know, like the progressive era of the early twentieth century,

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Speaker 1: which created some needed constitutional reform that we're finally starting.

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Speaker 1: I've been saying, we're going to get it, We're going

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Speaker 1: to get it. Well, guess what. We're finally starting to

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Speaker 1: see a concrete proposal, and the fact that it starts

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Speaker 1: with pardons is actually not surprising to me, because we

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Speaker 1: knew something was going to trigger. Right I think you know,

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Speaker 1: in reform eras happen when enough people on both sides

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Speaker 1: of the aisle side, it's the rules that need to

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Speaker 1: be tightened or changed that a singular president can't do.

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Speaker 1: The fixes that we now know are systemic or structural.

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Speaker 1: So look, why did we start with pardons? Well, I

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Speaker 1: think it's pretty obvious what triggered this right pardon power,

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Speaker 1: and it's how it's been abused, particularly with this president.

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Speaker 1: Under Donald Trump, the pardon power has become so politically

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Speaker 1: charged in ways we haven't seen ever on the presidential level.

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Speaker 1: We've seen governors sell pardons for profit, we have not

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Speaker 1: seen presidents do it. It is aggressively as Trump has.

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Speaker 1: We've seen what appear to be potential pay to play

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Speaker 1: pardons in some form or another. But it would be

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Speaker 1: one controversial pardon by a president, you know, not essentially

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Speaker 1: the entire process being monetized, which is what's happened here today.

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Speaker 1: And so under Trump, you know, some of the most

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Speaker 1: controversial ones. Right, there's the broad January sixth partons for anybody,

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Speaker 1: and that is that has allowed a lot of bad

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Speaker 1: people who deserve to be behind bars not to be

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Speaker 1: behind bars. Some of them have committed crimes as their

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Speaker 1: pardon was made official. That's been a total a disaster

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Speaker 1: by doing that. But we know why he did it.

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Speaker 1: It's his own personal motivation, believing that somehow January sixth

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Speaker 1: was not what it was, that it was somehow a

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Speaker 1: lawful protest. We know he pardons people that are represented

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Speaker 1: by longtime political allies or people like Roger Stone who

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Speaker 1: get paid as sort of an intermediary for the pardons.

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Speaker 1: We know that's taking place. I mean, you know, you

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Speaker 1: don't think the former president of Hondura's got pardoned for free,

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Speaker 1: do you. So you know that sits out there. And

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Speaker 1: then there's this pattern of Trump where he pardons people

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Speaker 1: that are accused of doing things that he's been accused of,

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Speaker 1: always in the white collar space, in particular financial crimes

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Speaker 1: and things like that. So we now know it's fair

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Speaker 1: to say that the perception is that pardon power is

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Speaker 1: now drifted towards the personal and political. It's no longer

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Speaker 1: what its original construct was about, which was constitutional mercy,

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Speaker 1: if you will. Now it's about political protection. And look,

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Speaker 1: it's like everything Trump does he's not the first to do,

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Speaker 1: and he's not the you know, it's not as if

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Speaker 1: it's not been done by members of both parties. He's

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Speaker 1: just done it more aggressively and more you know, sort

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Speaker 1: of like rubbing our nose and dog manure face, right,

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Speaker 1: like he's grotesque about it. But what Joe Biden did

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Speaker 1: at the end of his term, I've always thought was

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Speaker 1: just as bad as what Trump's doing because he almost

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Speaker 1: gave Trump a license to do it when he did

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Speaker 1: his preemptive pardons that involved family members that had no

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Speaker 1: business getting a pardon at all or certainly seemed to

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Speaker 1: get pardoned for, you know, not for the thing he

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Speaker 1: claimed they were getting pardoned for, but you know, and

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Speaker 1: even used clemency at times that did generate some partisan backlash,

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Speaker 1: and it seemed like some of his sweeping commutations were

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Speaker 1: tied to some political issues that he wanted to bring

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Speaker 1: to the forefront. So again, while Biden didn't do it

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Speaker 1: as ham handedly as Trump is, what he did with

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Speaker 1: his family at the end was grotesque. The preemptive pardons

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Speaker 1: using Trump as the as the as the rationale to

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Speaker 1: do it was all the more awful, I'll be honest,

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Speaker 1: because it just assumed corruption in the process itself. And

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Speaker 1: so I understand you assume Trump is corrupt, but then

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Speaker 1: to essentially do it before Trump actually does what you fear,

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Speaker 1: you know, you've suddenly committed your own slate of corruption there.

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Speaker 1: So it is. And frankly, in order to get institutional change,

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Speaker 1: you need bad actors on both sides. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: if we want to make the Biden pardons sort of

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Speaker 1: the you know, the oh, by the way, I think

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Speaker 1: it's worthy, those preemptive pardons. Let's not I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: this is not equal both siderisms here. Okay, what Trump

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Speaker 1: has done is on an unprecedented level. But to get

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Speaker 1: this structural reform, you're going to need bipartisan buy in.

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Speaker 1: And what Biden did was awful. What Trump does has

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Speaker 1: been worse. So no matter what, whether you support the

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Speaker 1: individual actions or oppose them, the structural concern has become

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Speaker 1: the same that the power of pardoning presidential pardons has

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Speaker 1: become a high stakes political instrument now in the last decade,

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Speaker 1: and it's got to change. And now that both parties

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Speaker 1: are fearing how the other might wield this power, that's

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Speaker 1: when you actually start getting reform conversations, and it is

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Speaker 1: incredibly important. So late last year, a Maryland Congressman by

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Speaker 1: the name of Johnny Oulzuski introduced a constitutional amendment to

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Speaker 1: give Congress the opportunity to nullify a pardon, and it

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Speaker 1: would under certain conditions, and it would essentially it's the

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Speaker 1: similar to what the power Congress has now to override vetos. Now,

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Speaker 1: what made me interested in this story this last week

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Speaker 1: is that this was a Democrat introducing it. So, and

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Speaker 1: you sometimes can get these partisan ideas introduced and there's

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Speaker 1: nobody on the other side that's interested. Well, Don Bacon,

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Speaker 1: a Republican from Omaha, Nebraska who's not running for reelection,

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Speaker 1: decided to sign on as an early co sponsor and

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Speaker 1: it made him the first Republican to support this constitutional amendment.

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Speaker 1: And it's always important. The minute you can get something

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Speaker 1: by partisan it suddenly has traction and has an opportunity. Now,

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Speaker 1: let me read you the proposal word for word here

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Speaker 1: of this pardon amendment that Congress may, by a vote

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Speaker 1: of two thirds of each House, nullify any pardon granted

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Speaker 1: by the President of the United States upon petition of

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Speaker 1: twenty members of the House of Representatives and five members

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Speaker 1: of the Senate. A vote shall be held within a

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Speaker 1: specified period to determine whether such pardon shall stand. So again,

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Speaker 1: it's modeling. So this amendment specific amendment would model the

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Speaker 1: process after what is the veto override structure, So they

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Speaker 1: wouldn't abolish the presidential pardon. Something I might consider there's

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Speaker 1: not partisan punishment, but it's a good old fashioned constitutional check.

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Speaker 1: Would be something the founders would be impressed with because

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Speaker 1: it's a it's a high threshold to nullify a presidential pardon.

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Speaker 1: That's not easy. Two thirds of each House of Congress

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Speaker 1: and to get your sort of twenty members of the House,

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Speaker 1: five members of the Senate. That's probably the easy part.

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Speaker 1: The hard part is getting that two thirds. I might

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Speaker 1: argue that, you know, the I think the having leaving

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Speaker 1: one person with any of that power is the mistake itself.

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Speaker 1: And then maybe you create a pardon board that includes,

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Speaker 1: you know, the two longest serving members of the Supreme Court,

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Speaker 1: the you know, say, you know, the two longest serving

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Speaker 1: members of the House and the Senate, the Attorney General,

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Speaker 1: the president, and the Vice president, something like that. That

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Speaker 1: would become a pardon board where no one individual could decide,

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Speaker 1: but you would bring bring individual cases there. But either way,

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Speaker 1: the fact that Congress has a bipartisan amendment to potentially

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Speaker 1: at least put a check on the pardon power of

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Speaker 1: the president is a big deal, not a small deal.

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Speaker 1: And I think it signifies the start of something. So

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Speaker 1: let's zoom out here. The last time Americans felt that

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Speaker 1: the structure itself was compromised, we Americans amended the Constitution.

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't an abstract it was all scandal driven.

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Speaker 1: Let me tell you the story of the Seventeenth Amendment.

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Speaker 1: All Right, before nineteen thirteen, state legislatures chose US Senators.

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Speaker 1: The system had been rotting for years. Deadlocks had left

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Speaker 1: too many Senate seats vacant. Party bosses essentially controlled the

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Speaker 1: appointment process. Wasn't the voters hadn't much say at all.

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Speaker 1: Wealthy interests with lobby state house votes. I mean, look,

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Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I think you know, the lower down

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Speaker 1: the ladder, you go the most corruptible institutions or state legislatures,

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Speaker 1: then city councils, right, you keep going down. Right, The

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Speaker 1: least corruptible these days has been Congress. So imagine all

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Speaker 1: that power deciding a US Senate in the state level.

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Speaker 1: It was a mess. But it took a big scandal

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Speaker 1: to sober the public up and say, hey, enough of

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Speaker 1: this shit. Let me tell you the story of a

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Speaker 1: gentleman named William Lowermer in the state of Illinois. He

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Speaker 1: was elected by the state legislature to the US Senate,

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Speaker 1: I believe in nineteen oh nine. Well, soon after, a

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Speaker 1: state legislator confessed that he was paid one thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: to vote for the guy. That's roughly thirty five thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars today. Investigators then uncovered and what was called a

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Speaker 1: jackpot slush fund that allegedly used was used to secure

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Speaker 1: enough votes in a Chicago hotel bathroom. So the Senate investigated.

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Speaker 1: They cleared him once, but the public outrage exploded. New

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Speaker 1: evidence emerged of just how this process worked, and so

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Speaker 1: by nineteen twelve, the Senate declared his election corrupt and

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Speaker 1: vacated the seat. But what America saw was a Senate

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Speaker 1: seat that was effectively purchased. So guess what happened? We

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Speaker 1: finally changed the constitution. It had been building for a while,

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Speaker 1: but it took a scandal like that one to sober

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Speaker 1: ebody up and say yeah, seventeenth Amendment suddenly moved Senate

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Speaker 1: elections directly to voters. So corruption became visible and the

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Speaker 1: story of the sixteenth Amendment. Right, they've ability to tax income.

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Speaker 1: Right that has its roots in income inequality of the

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Speaker 1: early parts of the Industrial Revolution. Right right around that

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Speaker 1: same period, industrial wealth was exploding. Sound familiar. Tariffs taxes

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Speaker 1: on consumption were the federal government's primary revenue source. Working

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Speaker 1: families paid disproportionately a larger share of tariff revenue to

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Speaker 1: the government treasury than the wealthy people did. The wealthiest

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Speaker 1: industrialists paid relatively little in any kind of taxation. Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court even struck down an earlier attempt to create an

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Speaker 1: income tax. He said it was unconstitutional. Well, so reformers

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Speaker 1: amended the Constitution to make a federal income tax unquestionably legal.

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Speaker 1: And the sixteen Amendment wasn't subtle. Subtle. It was all

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Speaker 1: about shifting the burden upward. And why was there traction

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Speaker 1: for that at that time? Because you had these wealthy industrialists.

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Speaker 1: Income inequality was massive, you know, you had an explosion

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Speaker 1: in sort of abused labor, child labor. It was terrible.

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Speaker 1: So this is why the public appetite for this was huge.

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Speaker 1: The public believed these elites, these robber barons. That's why

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Speaker 1: they got the name. We're gaming the system, We're robbing

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Speaker 1: the system. So the system was changed. And let's not

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Speaker 1: forget the nineteen Amendment, which also came in this same period.

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Speaker 1: Half the population wasn't allowed to vote simply because of

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Speaker 1: their gender. Nineteen the amendment corrected that it was an

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Speaker 1: incremental reform. It was structural expansion of small d democratic

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Speaker 1: power at a time when the public felt that the

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Speaker 1: democracy was slipping away. So it looked like the elites

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Speaker 1: were gaming the system. The wealthy were getting wealthier while

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Speaker 1: the rest of us were being left behind. And oh,

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Speaker 1: by the way, the democracy wasn't really even representing the

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Speaker 1: most of the country. Because half the country couldn't couldn't

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Speaker 1: vote that structural reform. That's a reform era. Question is

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Speaker 1: are we about to do the same thing now. Look,

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Speaker 1: not every reform from that era was a good idea.

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Speaker 1: The eighteenth Amendment Prohibition was born of moral urgency, right

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Speaker 1: temperance movements believed alcohol was destroying families, corrupting politics, and

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Speaker 1: undermining public virtues. So basically at the same time of

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Speaker 1: distrust of politicians, distrust of elites, this is why one

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Speaker 1: of these this moral amendment got through, right to ban

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Speaker 1: the manufacturing and sale of alcohol. Well, that ended up

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Speaker 1: actually jumpstarting crime, arguably created the modern mob system that

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Speaker 1: we still deal with today. Black markets, organized crime, all

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Speaker 1: that mess. And so within fourteen years we're like, ooh,

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Speaker 1: that was a bad idea, and so the twenty first

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Speaker 1: Amendment repealed prohibition. So it's an important lesson because reform

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Speaker 1: eras are powerful and they're also potentially risky. When we

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Speaker 1: amend the constitution, we are playing with the architecture of

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Speaker 1: the country itself. Some reforms will stabilize the democracy. Direct

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Speaker 1: election of senators, did the income tax, did women the

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Speaker 1: right to vote? Did others overcorrect like prohibition It's something

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Speaker 1: I think about about the balance budget Amendment. I'm sort

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Speaker 1: of intrigued by it. I kind of in theory agree

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Speaker 1: to it. And then you're like, what would this mean?

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Speaker 1: Could this create an economic catastrophe for us in ways

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Speaker 1: that we have not, you know, because of the unintended consequence.

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Speaker 1: So and I'm mindful. I think we're going to have

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Speaker 1: an era of reform. So the question is what does

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Speaker 1: that look like. I do think this that historians may

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Speaker 1: one day say see the Obama and Trump presidencies as

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Speaker 1: bookends of the same structural frustration. They had different ideologies,

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Speaker 1: but it was the same demand. They were elected to

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Speaker 1: shake things up, to change the system, fix what feels broken.

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Speaker 1: At the time, the public thought, well, maybe a president

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Speaker 1: could restore some balance. Turns out structural corrosion requires structural repair,

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Speaker 1: and structural repair requires constitutional thinking. They alone cannot fix it,

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Speaker 1: meaning a singular president Obama couldn't do it. Trump clearly

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Speaker 1: cannot do it. So if this pardon conversation gains traction,

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Speaker 1: expect more to follow. And this one should. This one,

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Speaker 1: to me is an easy one to get traction for.

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Speaker 1: And I think, you know, it's one of those things

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Speaker 1: that could be an interesting way for Republicans to show

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Speaker 1: some independence from Trump but grounding it in the Constitution

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Speaker 1: and for protection of future presidents abusing the power of

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Speaker 1: the pardon. So it's also a pretty good way to

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Speaker 1: sort of keep track of Huh. You know, it's almost like,

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Speaker 1: you know, if I were a Republican strategist trying to

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Speaker 1: mitigate the damage that's coming in this midterm year, I

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Speaker 1: might want a vehicle like this pardon constitutional amendment where

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Speaker 1: I can sign on as a co sponsor to show

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Speaker 1: my independence, to show that I still care about some

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Speaker 1: sort of I have some ethical lines that I'd like

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Speaker 1: to draw here. So if this pardon thing gains traction,

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Speaker 1: where else could we see some reform attempts of the

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Speaker 1: constitutional sort. Well, I think we could have limits on

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Speaker 1: executive emergency authority. If Congress won't do it, maybe we'll

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Speaker 1: put a constitutional amendment into force Congress to realize it's

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Speaker 1: authority there. Maybe there's clearly if we want to do

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Speaker 1: anything in the in campaign finance, whether it's limits or transparency,

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Speaker 1: basically outlawing anonymous contributions, you're going to need Since the

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Speaker 1: courts have used the First Amendment as a shield on

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Speaker 1: anything to reform and to reform in the campaign money

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Speaker 1: era area, then you need a constitutional amendment. I think

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Speaker 1: that will get traction in some form. I think transparency

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Speaker 1: is the way to go, because again, when you're trying

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Speaker 1: to pass the constitutional amendment two thirds support in the House,

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Speaker 1: you know it's got to pass the House, in the

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Speaker 1: Senate plus thirty eight states. You've got to have something

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Speaker 1: that you can talk everybody into. You know, my pet

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Speaker 1: issue on this run is indicates the expansion of the

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Speaker 1: House representative. It's been capped at four and thirty five

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Speaker 1: since their early twentieth century. It is, you know, we

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Speaker 1: should not have congressional districts that are sized of major

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Speaker 1: cities eight hundred thousand people. We should have congressional districts

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Speaker 1: that are somewhere between three hundred and fifty and four

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand. And you could put a constitutional amendment and

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Speaker 1: say no congressional district can have a population more than

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Speaker 1: you know, point oh three percent of the population. Basically

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Speaker 1: you can. You can have it as right now, right

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Speaker 1: if you base it on three hundred fifty million people

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Speaker 1: you're looking at you know, I think it is I

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Speaker 1: think it's point oh one point oh three would get

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Speaker 1: you about three fifty four hundred. So that's the hope

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Speaker 1: is that reform eras cascade. It doesn't stop at one idea,

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Speaker 1: that you actually have a series of amendments. And that's

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Speaker 1: that's the moment. I think we're headed to the And

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Speaker 1: this this is why this symbolic decision by Bacon to

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Speaker 1: become the first Republican on this particular constitutional amendment, one

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Speaker 1: that I think would have broad support. If you polled

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Speaker 1: it in my polling for and put it out there

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Speaker 1: show that it does, you could you could see the

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Speaker 1: beginning of something here. And I think it's important because

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Speaker 1: an individual can at least can re establish norms, but

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Speaker 1: they can't protect us from future demagogues. Constitutional amendments, though,

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Speaker 1: are not easy, right they require two thirds of Congress,

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Speaker 1: a ratification of thirty eight states. But guess what, It

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Speaker 1: was a daunting challenge to do that when we were

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Speaker 1: stripping state legislatures of Senate selection power, when we imposed

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Speaker 1: an income tax on the richest people in America and

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Speaker 1: the public won that argument, right, seems daunting these days

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Speaker 1: to go after the tech titans doubling the electorate through

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Speaker 1: women's suffrage, that was a big deal. So the point is,

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Speaker 1: and that wasn't easy, and it was never going to

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Speaker 1: be easy. But here's how you kind of know when

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Speaker 1: reform begins. Reform begins when exhaustion becomes bipartisan and exasperation

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Speaker 1: becomes by partisan. And we're starting to get there. We're

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Speaker 1: approaching bipartisan exhaustion with all of this executive overreach, and

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Speaker 1: there are more sort of Republicans understanding that, you know,

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Speaker 1: the next time it could be a Gavin Newsom that's

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Speaker 1: making their lives miserable. It's a lot easier to get

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Speaker 1: bipartisan support for structural changes than it is, frankly, for

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Speaker 1: policy changes. And I think we can get bipartisan support

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Speaker 1: to check unchecked power, and the pardon power is one

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Speaker 1: of those. So look, as we approach America's two hundred

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Speaker 1: and fiftieth anniversary, the question isn't whether the Constitution is sacred,

428
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 1: it's whether we are willing to maintain it and use

429
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:47,119
Speaker 1: the tools that we have at our disposal right now

430
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,679
Speaker 1: to demand a better structure for our democracy. The pardon

431
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 1: debate may be the first crack. And I want to

432
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: jump on this with enthusiasm. This is great news. You

433
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 1: feel down about the direction in this country. The fact

434
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 1: is you're not alone. People are very frustrated with it,

435
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,480
Speaker 1: and we know we've got to make some structural repairs.

436
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 1: This is an important symbolic moment. What Don Bacon did

437
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,959
Speaker 1: O Losewinsky. My apologies for mangling your name there, Congressman Johnny,

438
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:19,840
Speaker 1: but this is a big deal. I think we are

439
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:21,919
Speaker 1: at the early stages of what's going to be a

440
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,199
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen year run of important reforms that we

441
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: will Some of them will be incorrect, what we reforms

442
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: with unintended consequences, perhaps just like with prohibition. You know,

443
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,639
Speaker 1: I'm not guaranteeing every reform we make will work, but

444
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 1: once we start, this one is a common sense one.

445
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 1: I think everybody can agree to it. Nobody should, No

446
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 1: president should basically sell pardons, and we need to have

447
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,600
Speaker 1: some mechanism to prevent when we know it's happened or

448
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 1: it looks really awful. And I can tell you those

449
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 1: January sixth pardons probably would not have would have been nullified.

450
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: So you know, the presidential pardon power might not be,

451
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: to you, the worst thing Trump does, but it is

452
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 1: a structural change that I think can lead to other change.

453
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:16,119
Speaker 1: So in Congress finally starts debating constitutional guardrails. If we

454
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: can get them there instead of partisan revenge, then we're

455
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 1: getting somewhere that becomes durable. So look, reform eras don't

456
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: start with certainty. They start with the feeling we have

457
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:29,919
Speaker 1: right now, discomfort. We know it's not working, we know

458
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 1: something's wrong. This system doesn't work. And if you're truly

459
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,240
Speaker 1: honest with yourself, if you're an Obama Trump voter, you

460
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 1: thought an individual could fix this, I hope you're now

461
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 1: convinced no individual can fix this. We need structural change.

462
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: And if this week is any indication it's possible a

463
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:53,360
Speaker 1: reform era has finally begun. Yes, I'm looking for it,

464
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,680
Speaker 1: but goddamn it, we need it. And there's no better

465
00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:59,959
Speaker 1: place I think to start than what is staring at

466
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 1: in the face the misuse and abuse of the presidential

467
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Speaker 1: park pattern. This episode of The Chuck Podcast is brought

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Speaker 1: Right now, mortgage rates are at a three year low,

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Speaker 1: good life insurance is incredibly important. I know from personal experience.

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Speaker 1: I was sixteen when my father passed away. We didn't

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Speaker 1: have any money. He didn't leave us in the best shape.

496
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Speaker 1: My mother, single mother, now widow. Myself sixteen trying to

497
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Speaker 1: figure out how am I going to pay for college

498
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Speaker 1: and lo and behold, my dad had one life insurance

499
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Speaker 1: policy that found wasn't a lot, but it was important

500
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Speaker 1: at the time, and it's why I was able to

501
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Speaker 1: go to college. Little did he know how important that

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Speaker 1: I am here to tell you about Etho's life. They

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Speaker 1: would be billed monthly. As of March twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 1: Business Insider named Ethos the number one no medical exam

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Speaker 1: slash chuck. So again, that's Ethos dot com slash chuck.

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Speaker 1: Application times may vary and the rates themselves may vary

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Speaker 1: as well, but trust me, life insurance is something you

522
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Speaker 1: should really think about it, especially if you've got a

523
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Speaker 1: growing family. We've got to hope we get a consensus

524
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:28,280
Speaker 1: at some point when it comes to America's role in

525
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 1: the world. As much as you know we can have

526
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: healthy disagreements on a lot of domestic issues, America's role

527
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 1: in the world is one we're gonna have to accept

528
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 1: the premise that one's sixty percent of us agree in

529
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: a direction that we ought to take it. Just a

530
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,480
Speaker 1: few quick observations, I've got a fun little top five

531
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 1: list for you here, but I wanted to do a

532
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 1: few quick observations, and I wanted to do it following

533
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: Bob the Bob Blackwell interview about what we saw in

534
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 1: Munich and the different roles. It was interesting to see

535
00:31:55,360 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 1: Rubio and the reception he got. You know, Marco's reception

536
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 1: by the Europeans at the Munich Security Conference reminded me

537
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 1: of bringing thirsty people water. He didn't bring them cold water.

538
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 1: He just brought them some hydration. It wasn't as antagonistic

539
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: as Jade Vance a year earlier. It wasn't as pointed

540
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: as it was a year earlier. It wasn't as personal,

541
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: it wasn't as as doom and gloom. And it's sort

542
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,000
Speaker 1: of the role Rubio has been playing, right, And you

543
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 1: heard the conversation that Bob and I had about sort

544
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 1: of this interesting role Rubyo is, in some ways, I think,

545
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:43,120
Speaker 1: seize himself as a potential bridge between sort of Trump's

546
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 1: destruction of the world order and those that would like

547
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 1: to preserve some form of the old world order. And

548
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 1: what does this look like. Obviously Rubya hopes to be

549
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 1: the guy that builds it, right, he would like to

550
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: be the president, or maybe this is his portfolio if

551
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,720
Speaker 1: he is, if there's some sort of Vance Rubio ticket

552
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 1: that succeeds Trump on this front. But you know, make

553
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: no mistake. I mean, you know, Rubio still gave it

554
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 1: tough love, but he at least showed that he knows

555
00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 1: how to use diplomatic language. And when you're the secretary

556
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: of State, you better be pretty good at using diplomatic language.

557
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: But I think what you heard there, and that's, you know,

558
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: the whole the open question I have about Rubio and

559
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 1: is and his decision to to try to work with

560
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,240
Speaker 1: trump Ism rather than fight against it like he did

561
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 1: for a few years when it first came aboard, was

562
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,440
Speaker 1: is you know at some point if he if Trump

563
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 1: thinks Rubio is causing problems, he will throw Ruby onto

564
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: the bus. If what Rubio has suggested becomes unpopular, he

565
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:47,840
Speaker 1: will throw Ruby onto the bus. Then again, the same

566
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:51,520
Speaker 1: is true with Jadie Vance as well. And that's why

567
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 1: it's very precarious when you build a political identity based

568
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 1: on the whims of a single individual. You know, I

569
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 1: think the thing that you know, Rubio may not ever

570
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 1: be able to win over a MAGA voter on his own.

571
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,680
Speaker 1: He may need the endorsement and the stamp of approval

572
00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:14,319
Speaker 1: by Donald Trump. The question is, one, is that still

573
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 1: a big enough constituency by twenty twenty eight. That's an

574
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 1: open question I have in my head. And two, can

575
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:29,239
Speaker 1: Rubio be both a MAGA person and at the same

576
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: time be trusted by either side to help build a

577
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:37,320
Speaker 1: new world order to engage in multilateralism, which Rubio himself

578
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 1: I think does believe in multilateralism, even if Donald Trump

579
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: does not, And so that's an open question. The other

580
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,440
Speaker 1: story coming out of Munich is the reception that alexandri

581
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 1: O Cassio Cortez got. And you know, it's a classic

582
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,279
Speaker 1: case of if you want her to succeed, you said, oh,

583
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,720
Speaker 1: look she's made her debut on the foreign policy stage.

584
00:34:57,760 --> 00:34:59,520
Speaker 1: If you want her to fail, you're like, oh, look

585
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 1: at how much she flubbed on her debut on the

586
00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 1: foreign policy stage. I will just say this, look, I

587
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,880
Speaker 1: think that that she could have. It did look like

588
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:16,080
Speaker 1: she didn't study for the test enough, and I'm surprised she,

589
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 1: you know, didn't have a more you know, prepared answer.

590
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: At the same time, I think it's healthy to if

591
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:26,760
Speaker 1: you're thinking about running for national office too I'm glad

592
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:28,799
Speaker 1: she went to this event. Get to know some of

593
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:32,000
Speaker 1: the players make some early mistakes. If you're going to

594
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 1: make mistakes, make them now, not in the actual campaign. Here,

595
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 1: learn what you don't know. Learn uh those and you know,

596
00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:43,000
Speaker 1: when it comes to foreign policy and political campaigns, you know,

597
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 1: the key is not to block put yourself in a

598
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,839
Speaker 1: rhetorical corner that will become problematic down the road. Right.

599
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,080
Speaker 1: The best example of this is when Barack Obama drew

600
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,120
Speaker 1: a red line of chemical weapons being used by Bashar

601
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,759
Speaker 1: al Asad at Syria. Once he did it, he said

602
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:01,759
Speaker 1: it was a red line. Well, how are you going

603
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:03,919
Speaker 1: to enforce that red line if he crosses it? Sure enough,

604
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 1: Asad crossed it, and we didn't enforce the red line.

605
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,399
Speaker 1: I don't think Obama regrets not enforcing the red line.

606
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,319
Speaker 1: I think he regrets ever drawing that sort of hard

607
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: and fast rule on that. So I think that that's

608
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,920
Speaker 1: a lesson that all newcomers to presidential politics, as they dabble,

609
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: as they dip their toe in the foreign policy water's

610
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 1: got to learn that. But the second observation I have

611
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,800
Speaker 1: about the AOC issue is it's just amusing to me

612
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 1: how many people on the right one and dunk on

613
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 1: her for a small mistake. Here a flubb there but

614
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:40,280
Speaker 1: the equator in Venezuela. And you're sitting there going, really,

615
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,839
Speaker 1: we're going to hold her to account on a geographic

616
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:48,080
Speaker 1: mistake when we've got Donald Trump and all of the

617
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:52,880
Speaker 1: crazy and geographic nonsense that he talks about. Where he doesn't,

618
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,959
Speaker 1: I mean, he literally is the John Belushi character in Animiles.

619
00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:59,360
Speaker 1: You know, he might as well be saying things like

620
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,759
Speaker 1: when the Germans on Pearl Harbor, you know, type of mindset.

621
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:08,279
Speaker 1: And I don't you know whether this is about her

622
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,479
Speaker 1: and there's an obsession on the right to just dunk

623
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,720
Speaker 1: on her whenever you get a chance, which there's something

624
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:18,320
Speaker 1: to that, or if it's a sign that maybe maybe

625
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:22,680
Speaker 1: folks are embarrassed by how ignorant Trump comes across about

626
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:25,919
Speaker 1: so many things in foreign affairs and about geography. I mean,

627
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 1: you know, do you think he can name fifteen countries

628
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 1: in Africa? Let alone all the countries in Africa? But

629
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,799
Speaker 1: do you think he can name fifteen? Ten? What number

630
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,799
Speaker 1: would I have to lower myself to before you think

631
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,799
Speaker 1: he can name? You know, I think he'd struggle at ten.

632
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 1: You know, I think many Americans would struggle at ten.

633
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:46,680
Speaker 1: But many Americans are not president of the United States.

634
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 1: So the point is is that it is amusing to

635
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:52,279
Speaker 1: me when we want to hold our political opponents to

636
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:56,919
Speaker 1: higher standards than we will hold people that are quote

637
00:37:56,960 --> 00:38:00,120
Speaker 1: unquote on our side or that we're sympathetic too. And

638
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 1: let's just say I saw a lot of that on

639
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:04,799
Speaker 1: the right this week when it came to AOC All right, now,

640
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 1: I want to have a little fun with my top

641
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: five lists this week. As you know, sometimes it's serious

642
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's whacky. And I thought there was a

643
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:17,120
Speaker 1: We've had some ridiculous attempts at currying favor with Donald

644
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:21,359
Speaker 1: Trump take place over the last couple of years, and

645
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,960
Speaker 1: I thought it would be worth doing a top five

646
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,239
Speaker 1: list on the most ridiculous awards Donald Trump has received

647
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,239
Speaker 1: in order for in order for entities to try to

648
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 1: curry favor, and it's usually corporations or in one case

649
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:41,839
Speaker 1: an international entity and in another case. So I'm giving

650
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:50,240
Speaker 1: you my top five most absurd awards manufactured and created

651
00:38:50,320 --> 00:39:01,239
Speaker 1: to soothe Donald Trump's ego. Top So, number five on

652
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,279
Speaker 1: the list is one that he got in twenty twenty four.

653
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 1: It's the McDonald's French Fry Certification pin. It is, you know,

654
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,280
Speaker 1: after his stint working the friar at a Pennsylvania McDonald's

655
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,919
Speaker 1: during the campaign. So as pre president, he was given

656
00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: a commemorative pin and a certificate for his service, and

657
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,799
Speaker 1: of course Donald Trump treated it with the gravity as

658
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,320
Speaker 1: if it was a state dinner, the ultimate everyman award.

659
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:28,839
Speaker 1: Who famously loves a quarter pounder. So his French Fry

660
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,200
Speaker 1: Certificate pin is number five on my list of most

661
00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:35,000
Speaker 1: ridiculous awards that He's been given by companies and corporations

662
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:39,360
Speaker 1: in order to curry favor. It's this most recent award

663
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,319
Speaker 1: that triggered the idea for this list. This one he

664
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 1: just received. Number four on my list is the Undisputed

665
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,239
Speaker 1: Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal Award. I bet you didn't

666
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 1: know that that existed. Well, it is. The Washington Coal

667
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:57,360
Speaker 1: Club recently bestowed that actual title upon Donald Trump. So

668
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 1: it's not just a coal award, you know, looking out

669
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:01,080
Speaker 1: for the coal. I mean it's not the first time,

670
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: but this one is specific and it uses some of

671
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:09,480
Speaker 1: Trump's favorite phrases. Right, undisputed champion beautiful clean coal. Right,

672
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:11,920
Speaker 1: So this is the award the undisputed champion, a beautiful

673
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 1: clean coal. I mean it is right out of like

674
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,200
Speaker 1: the old WWF and all the crazy names they used

675
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 1: to give to their various championship belts. Right you had

676
00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 1: the you'd have the the the world champion. Then you'd

677
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:27,200
Speaker 1: have the inter continental champion. Nobody ever explained what the

678
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,479
Speaker 1: hell the inter continental champion was. I think my man

679
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:33,560
Speaker 1: Paul Orndorf was that. I think uh uh was the

680
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 1: was the inter continental champion? I don't think, but that

681
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,400
Speaker 1: was never You know, hul Cogan was bigger than just

682
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 1: being the intercontinental champ, if you will. So he is.

683
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,120
Speaker 1: Now this this feels like that that you gotta I

684
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,719
Speaker 1: gotta hand it to the Washington coal Club. That's that's impressive.

685
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 1: That was impressive. Number three on the list is FIFA

686
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,759
Speaker 1: and the Peace Prize. Right in the middle, right deep

687
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: of the arden. Last year, when Trump was campaigning and

688
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,239
Speaker 1: begging for the Noble l Peace Prize, our friends at

689
00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:05,400
Speaker 1: FIFA who loved to curry favor with those in power,

690
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:09,399
Speaker 1: no matter how corrupting it looks to them. FIFA doesn't care.

691
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:18,279
Speaker 1: They manufactured a peace Prize because why not. They knew

692
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 1: that Donald Trump wanted a Peace Prize. So FIFA gave

693
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 1: him the Peace Prize. So they did it during at

694
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,319
Speaker 1: the Trump Kennedy Center, right, and the final draw for

695
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:30,359
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six World Cup, and they decided to

696
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,280
Speaker 1: create this brand new accolade just in time for Trump's

697
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:38,879
Speaker 1: return to office. Right. You know, it's you know, it's

698
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:40,759
Speaker 1: like getting an award from your barber that says you're

699
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,880
Speaker 1: the you're the best haircut customer this week, you know.

700
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,279
Speaker 1: But good old FIFA, you can count on that number

701
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 1: two on the list. This one is the Tim Cook Special. Right.

702
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:53,440
Speaker 1: I'm sure some of you were thinking, well, you got

703
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 1: to include the Tim Cook thing. So and this is

704
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: not the first time Tim Cook has actually given him

705
00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:01,000
Speaker 1: a couple of awards over the year. And the first term,

706
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:05,680
Speaker 1: Cook gave him a commemorative plaque, right, it was a

707
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:10,920
Speaker 1: circular piece of mac pro glass. But you know, for

708
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,400
Speaker 1: the second one, he had to really up the stakes,

709
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:17,680
Speaker 1: so he gave the twenty four carrot golden glass statue

710
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:22,520
Speaker 1: featuring a circular piece of gorilla glass on a gold base.

711
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,359
Speaker 1: What it really was was a physical manifestation of the

712
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 1: trade deal Apple needed. It was less an award and

713
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:37,879
Speaker 1: more of a please don't tax our iPhones trophy at

714
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:40,160
Speaker 1: the time that it was given, but it was you know,

715
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:44,319
Speaker 1: the gold played gold carrot, all that business. It was

716
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 1: just it was just awful. But number one on the

717
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:55,280
Speaker 1: list matters because of how much it mainstream Donald Trump

718
00:42:55,360 --> 00:43:02,520
Speaker 1: back into the Republican Party post January sixth. And it

719
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 1: was when the NRSC, when it was chaired by Rick Scott,

720
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 1: he created the Champion for Freedom Bowl as an award

721
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:15,920
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one for Donald Trump. And this is

722
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,520
Speaker 1: April of twenty twenty one. He gets this award. This

723
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:21,279
Speaker 1: is three months after January sixth. He's supposed to be

724
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:25,759
Speaker 1: persona non grata, but neither Kevin McCarthy, who stood next

725
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: to him, and then Rick Scott. They were the two

726
00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:31,720
Speaker 1: people who greased the skids the most for bringing Trump

727
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:36,000
Speaker 1: back into the mainstream and this award. So Scott presents

728
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:41,719
Speaker 1: Trump with the inaugural NRSC Champion for Freedom Award. And

729
00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 1: it was a bowl. It was a large engraved silver

730
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:51,000
Speaker 1: serving bowl. There were some people that joked that Scott

731
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:52,520
Speaker 1: didn't know what to give him, so he grabbed the

732
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:54,680
Speaker 1: first punch bowl he could find from the office kitchen

733
00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:57,799
Speaker 1: at the NRSC. Had it engraved, and it was all

734
00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 1: about making sure Trump knew, or that Trump's supporters knew

735
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:04,759
Speaker 1: Rick Scott was on his side. But it was that

736
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:08,520
Speaker 1: award that moment. It was not just the award itself.

737
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:10,080
Speaker 1: And so while I'm having a little bit of fun

738
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: here and how all of these people right, you know,

739
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,120
Speaker 1: we'd think Trump looks ridiculous for taking these awards seriously,

740
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 1: but the people given these awards really it's not a

741
00:44:20,239 --> 00:44:22,560
Speaker 1: good look. Rick Scott doing what he did post January

742
00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 1: six just a bad look. You know, maybe it held

743
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:29,759
Speaker 1: party unity, but really we're gonna pick party unity over

744
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:32,920
Speaker 1: the disaster of January sixth, or Tim Cook and his

745
00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 1: gold statue, or FIFA and the absurdity of their Peace Prize.

746
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 1: You know, in some ways the most honest is the

747
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:42,480
Speaker 1: Cole folks man. You know what they know what they want,

748
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:45,080
Speaker 1: they know what they're focused on, and they know they

749
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:47,640
Speaker 1: have a guy, and so in that sense it's an

750
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:51,760
Speaker 1: honest one. And you know, the French Fried French fry

751
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:54,439
Speaker 1: pen is just sort of amusing. Notice what I didn't

752
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,040
Speaker 1: put on here was the actual peace Nobel Peace Prize

753
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:01,440
Speaker 1: that Machado that the winner of last year's Peace Prize

754
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:03,400
Speaker 1: gave to Trump, and she like took it to a

755
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,239
Speaker 1: frame store and had it like put together. Like it

756
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,400
Speaker 1: was like a like you were featured in a newspaper

757
00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,080
Speaker 1: article for the first time, and you get these companies

758
00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:13,600
Speaker 1: that want to sell you a framed version of it

759
00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 1: so you can display it in your office with a plaque.

760
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:19,920
Speaker 1: She basically did that, took it and then gave him

761
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: her Peace Prize. So but I didn't think it belonged

762
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,480
Speaker 1: in the top five because it was the prize itself

763
00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:28,440
Speaker 1: is not it was not awarded to him, And I

764
00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:30,120
Speaker 1: don't know what to call it. I guess you would

765
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,439
Speaker 1: call it the Machado Peace Prize, but it's its own

766
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:38,759
Speaker 1: category and it's the But I'll tell you we're you know,

767
00:45:39,719 --> 00:45:42,719
Speaker 1: we complained my generation links to complain that we gave

768
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:45,920
Speaker 1: away too many trophies to millennials, right they where that

769
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 1: everybody gets a trophy. Generation. Please let's not keep doing

770
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,120
Speaker 1: this to our presidents. I mean, I know that Trump

771
00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:57,400
Speaker 1: is arrested development and he's desperate for accolades, and if

772
00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:00,359
Speaker 1: he can't get accolades that have historic meaning, then make

773
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:04,840
Speaker 1: them up and it makes him happy. Apparently, I get it.

774
00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:06,600
Speaker 1: A lot of these people have business in front of

775
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:08,880
Speaker 1: the government, and if this is what it takes, and

776
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,120
Speaker 1: sadly we know how easy you know this, you know,

777
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:14,600
Speaker 1: and a few bucks. It was a long way to

778
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,960
Speaker 1: persuading this president. This is why we had to do

779
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:24,520
Speaker 1: something about about this unilateral This is why you always

780
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:34,799
Speaker 1: need to check on the executive all right, now it's

781
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:41,239
Speaker 1: time for a little ask, Chuck, Ask Chuck. Matt ah

782
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:45,840
Speaker 1: trom Manchester, Tennessee. All right, Manchester, Tennessee. I wonder how

783
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 1: many Manchesters there are around the country, right, Manchester, New Hampshire.

784
00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:52,279
Speaker 1: Of course it's the Manchester I spend the most time in.

785
00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:55,480
Speaker 1: But Manchester, Tennessee, all right, didn't know that one, Matt

786
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:57,800
Speaker 1: h And Hey, I've been a fan since your rested

787
00:46:57,880 --> 00:46:59,719
Speaker 1: days and your show is now my go to for

788
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:02,240
Speaker 1: BLAE Insight. And enjoyed your interview with doctor and Andrews,

789
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:03,960
Speaker 1: which got me thinking, as a center left voter in

790
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 1: deep red Tennessee, do you think I'll live to see

791
00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:07,640
Speaker 1: a Democrat win state white here again? I missed the

792
00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:09,760
Speaker 1: days of Phil Bredison and Al Gore, but they feel along,

793
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:13,120
Speaker 1: they feel long gone. You know, it's interesting, Matt, you know,

794
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 1: when I was in the eighties, the South was splitting

795
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 1: up between sort of new South, old South, right, and

796
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:23,840
Speaker 1: there was in the new South states were Florida, Georgia,

797
00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:29,239
Speaker 1: North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. And then supposedly the old

798
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:32,200
Speaker 1: South states here you're Alabama's or Mississippi, or South Carolina

799
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:37,040
Speaker 1: you're Arkansas. You get where I'm going. And you've seen, right,

800
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:42,400
Speaker 1: the new South states have swung either or swing swinging,

801
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,839
Speaker 1: have been or competitive or you know, in the case

802
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:48,440
Speaker 1: of Virginia a little more blue, case of Florida a

803
00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:52,840
Speaker 1: little more red. But you've seen that. The head scratcher

804
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:55,480
Speaker 1: to me has been Tennessee. That the fact that Tennessee

805
00:47:55,560 --> 00:48:01,000
Speaker 1: hasn't moved in the directionally the same way that both

806
00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:04,400
Speaker 1: Virginia and North Carolina have moved has always been mildly

807
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,719
Speaker 1: surprising to me because it particularly with the growth of Nashville, right,

808
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:10,920
Speaker 1: Nashville is now like this artist's hub, particularly for on

809
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:13,400
Speaker 1: the on the music side of things. And you know,

810
00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:18,280
Speaker 1: look what Austin did to to you know, became bluer,

811
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:23,040
Speaker 1: and obviously you know, Hollywood itself and being a has

812
00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 1: certainly given a very you know, darker blue tint to

813
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:29,640
Speaker 1: southern California than it used to have in itself. So

814
00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:34,200
Speaker 1: I think there was I think I certainly I thought

815
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:38,880
Speaker 1: nash the growth of Nashville would naturally create more competition

816
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:41,080
Speaker 1: in the state that all of that, and we haven't

817
00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:43,520
Speaker 1: seen that. Now. There's a few things. My friend Brad Todd,

818
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 1: a Republican consultant from Tennessee. He says, you know, the

819
00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:51,440
Speaker 1: growth of Nashville has been different than say the Research

820
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,480
Speaker 1: Triangle or Atlanta, Atlanta, or northern Virginia. And I thought

821
00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:57,440
Speaker 1: Nashville would sort of behave the same way has And

822
00:48:57,440 --> 00:48:59,160
Speaker 1: he said, part of it is you've had a lot

823
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:03,920
Speaker 1: of Midwesterners moved to particularly the sort of the larger

824
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:07,680
Speaker 1: Nashville ex scerbs right Franklin County in particular, but the

825
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:10,760
Speaker 1: excerbs of Nashville. And he says, like on a Saturday,

826
00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:13,000
Speaker 1: you can go to some of these subdivisions and you

827
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:15,439
Speaker 1: don't see it falls. You don't see any Tennessee Vall's

828
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:19,440
Speaker 1: flag in the fall, but you do see Michigan, Indiana,

829
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Wisconsin. And he said there's been a lot

830
00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:28,120
Speaker 1: of sort of Republicans have left those states and moved

831
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:32,160
Speaker 1: to a lower tech state like Tennessee and the expanding

832
00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:36,680
Speaker 1: excurbs of Nashville, and that that is that the migration

833
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:41,240
Speaker 1: has not been as as swing voter or as liberal

834
00:49:41,239 --> 00:49:44,640
Speaker 1: as the migration you saw in northern Virginia Research Triangle

835
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:50,839
Speaker 1: or Austin or the Atlanta suburbs. But look, we've seen

836
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 1: some signs at Nashville itself gets competitive. So look, I

837
00:49:56,680 --> 00:50:01,160
Speaker 1: think the biggest problem that Tennessee Democrats have in general's Memphis.

838
00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:06,120
Speaker 1: Memphis is just it's a city that has fallen behind. Right,

839
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:09,120
Speaker 1: there was a time that Memphis was a growing city

840
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:14,120
Speaker 1: FedEx being headquarters. There was I'll be honest with you.

841
00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:16,600
Speaker 1: I've traveling and out of Memphis a lot always have

842
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:22,360
Speaker 1: gone back thirty years now and you know, just just

843
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:24,600
Speaker 1: in the in the areas in and you know, I

844
00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:27,680
Speaker 1: think about the area in and around of Graceland now,

845
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:33,040
Speaker 1: the airport hotels, you know, the crime issues pretty pretty

846
00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:36,280
Speaker 1: bad these days. All the airport hotels are like behind

847
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:42,200
Speaker 1: these like huge, you know, ten foot iron fences, black

848
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,520
Speaker 1: you know, sort of those black iron you know fences,

849
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:51,000
Speaker 1: and it screams like not welcoming all around that part

850
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 1: of Memphis. And so you know, it is it is

851
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:58,640
Speaker 1: sort of stagnanted. You know whether this Look, Tennessee Republicans

852
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,120
Speaker 1: have made a living running against Memphis forever, and Memphis

853
00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:06,040
Speaker 1: was racial code words. You know, it was the largest

854
00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:09,560
Speaker 1: African American population in Tennessee concentrated wise, was in Memphis.

855
00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:14,799
Speaker 1: But it is stalled growth wise. I wish I had

856
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:17,520
Speaker 1: a better explanation. I haven't studied it enough, but you know,

857
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:21,920
Speaker 1: Memphis feels like it's headed in the wrong direction in

858
00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:24,200
Speaker 1: you know, there was a time both in Memphis and

859
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,160
Speaker 1: Nashville felt like where they were both growing. And I think,

860
00:51:28,480 --> 00:51:34,680
Speaker 1: you know, better democratic governance of Memphis and more success

861
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:40,120
Speaker 1: in Memphis might I think raise the prospects of of

862
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:43,880
Speaker 1: more credibility for Democratic candidate statewide. Look, I think that

863
00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:46,799
Speaker 1: there is just and there's no pipeline anymore. Right when

864
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:49,359
Speaker 1: they carved up the Nashville seat so that they did

865
00:51:49,360 --> 00:51:51,399
Speaker 1: it as a hub and spoke where they just took

866
00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:54,840
Speaker 1: pieces of Nashville to try to make it so that essentially,

867
00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:56,880
Speaker 1: I think the only Democrat you really are going to

868
00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:59,960
Speaker 1: end up with is the is the congressman from Memphis.

869
00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:05,359
Speaker 1: You don't have somebody that wins in swing districts that

870
00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:09,920
Speaker 1: then become that become like a Phil Bretison that knows

871
00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:11,920
Speaker 1: how to run stay wide. And you've also had that

872
00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:14,919
Speaker 1: scandal with the Nashville mayor. So when you think about

873
00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:17,719
Speaker 1: the places where the benches would develop, where there could

874
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:20,480
Speaker 1: be benches for candidates to develop, mayor of Nashville is

875
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:24,240
Speaker 1: a big one. The congressional you haven't had that. So

876
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:26,440
Speaker 1: let's just say it's a lot of work to do.

877
00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:29,640
Speaker 1: If I were advising Tennessee Democrats, I'd be like, go

878
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:33,320
Speaker 1: get your Memphis house in order and then get started

879
00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:39,360
Speaker 1: at sort of change, you know, improving your brand in

880
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:45,320
Speaker 1: the Nashville area. Next question comes from Ann and should

881
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:47,279
Speaker 1: I say love listening to your time machine message today.

882
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:49,479
Speaker 1: I'm a high school US history and US government teacher.

883
00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:51,680
Speaker 1: I've always argued that some years in history require a

884
00:52:51,719 --> 00:52:54,680
Speaker 1: book addressing events in just that year. You hit one

885
00:52:54,719 --> 00:52:57,719
Speaker 1: of those years today, eighteen forty eight. You are so right.

886
00:52:57,760 --> 00:52:59,880
Speaker 1: I'm not bright enough to write it and to just

887
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:04,320
Speaker 1: diletantese to focus my attention. I'm passing the baton to

888
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:06,319
Speaker 1: you get writing. If eighteen forty eight is it your

889
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:09,080
Speaker 1: cup of tea, maybe nineteen sixty eight would be more

890
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:11,000
Speaker 1: to your taste, and no, you're right. I mean it

891
00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:13,879
Speaker 1: was a time of disruption. There was. It was sort

892
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:16,719
Speaker 1: of peak fear of the industrial age, and it was

893
00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:21,040
Speaker 1: more in Europe. It was you know, brewing in this country,

894
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,279
Speaker 1: but it was definitely something hit in London more, which

895
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:26,480
Speaker 1: is hence why that came. You're absolute right, there is

896
00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:30,120
Speaker 1: more to eighteen forty eight as a touchdowne in history.

897
00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:34,040
Speaker 1: Just to put some meat on the eighteen forty eight

898
00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:38,640
Speaker 1: bones there, and I do expect you to grade me

899
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,440
Speaker 1: and tell me. I just want to give folks a

900
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:46,200
Speaker 1: quick run through. Why do you put that way? So

901
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:49,520
Speaker 1: what makes eighteen forty eight unique is that it wasn't

902
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:53,640
Speaker 1: one single war. There were spontaneous, contagious irruption of over

903
00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:57,200
Speaker 1: fifty different revolts across Europe, and all of it was

904
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:00,680
Speaker 1: without our modern communications of the moment. Right, This wasn't

905
00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:03,640
Speaker 1: the Internet. This didn't get contagious that way. You know.

906
00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:08,319
Speaker 1: You had the fire started arguably in Sicily in January.

907
00:54:08,680 --> 00:54:11,600
Speaker 1: Then there was Paris in February, where the monarchy went away,

908
00:54:12,760 --> 00:54:17,520
Speaker 1: the revolutionary spirit kept going. You had you had the

909
00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:25,480
Speaker 1: Austrian Empire, the prince fleeing to London, you had the

910
00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:29,839
Speaker 1: Prussians agreeing to a promise of a constitution and a parliament.

911
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:35,480
Speaker 1: You had Italian reunification. One could argue there was a

912
00:54:35,480 --> 00:54:39,960
Speaker 1: collision of isms liberalism, the middle class wanting constitutions, free speech,

913
00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:42,360
Speaker 1: the right to vote, that was happening over Europe. You

914
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:45,960
Speaker 1: had nationalism. You had ethnic groups Hungarians, Germans, Italians, checks

915
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:48,680
Speaker 1: they wanted their own independent countries. Right, we still had

916
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:51,880
Speaker 1: a Prussia at that time, No Germany. Socialism was on

917
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,400
Speaker 1: the rise with obviously with what I pointed out, with

918
00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:59,319
Speaker 1: Marx and all of that. So she was saying, yes,

919
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:01,840
Speaker 1: there needs to be a book. Well. The historian GM

920
00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:04,960
Speaker 1: Trevellion called eighteen forty eight the turning point at rich

921
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:07,800
Speaker 1: modern history failed to turn. Its a great turn of

922
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:12,480
Speaker 1: phrase that he had. Everything seemed to collapse that year,

923
00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:14,960
Speaker 1: and then by eighteen forty nine there was a conservative snapback.

924
00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:18,840
Speaker 1: Monarchs regained their nerve, the Russian czars three hundred thousand

925
00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:21,799
Speaker 1: troops to help Austria across the Hungarian revolt. The French

926
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:26,719
Speaker 1: Republic ended when Napoleon's nephew declared himself the emperor. So

927
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:28,839
Speaker 1: it was sort of but eighteen forty eight served as

928
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:31,239
Speaker 1: a bit of a precursor to what was to come, right,

929
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:33,399
Speaker 1: and we ended up with the Russian Revolution about fifty

930
00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:37,640
Speaker 1: years later, and you know, the fall of the Ottoman

931
00:55:37,680 --> 00:55:40,040
Speaker 1: Empire and all of that, so sort of it was

932
00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:43,000
Speaker 1: it was sort of like the first tremors of the

933
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:46,160
Speaker 1: big breakup that would eventually take place in the late

934
00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:50,600
Speaker 1: nineteenth thirty twentieth century. But you're right, eighteen forty eight

935
00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:54,719
Speaker 1: worthy of its own book. It's a really good podcast

936
00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:58,799
Speaker 1: serial idea too. Sort of you know some years, you

937
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:03,480
Speaker 1: know years where you know where, years where decades happened,

938
00:56:03,719 --> 00:56:08,279
Speaker 1: and decades where years happened. Right, So thank you for

939
00:56:08,320 --> 00:56:10,560
Speaker 1: that suggestion, Anne, And I don't know if I did

940
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:14,680
Speaker 1: did the answer to your question a service? Hopefully I

941
00:56:14,680 --> 00:56:16,719
Speaker 1: got more people interested in eighteen forty eight, which is

942
00:56:16,719 --> 00:56:19,840
Speaker 1: the real goal. All Right, I'm just gonna sneak in

943
00:56:19,880 --> 00:56:22,960
Speaker 1: two more questions here because I am. As soon as

944
00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:25,360
Speaker 1: I'm done with this taping, I'm going to go celebrate

945
00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:30,360
Speaker 1: my grandmother's ninety ninth birthday. She turns ninety nine this week.

946
00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:37,560
Speaker 1: How about that? Ninety nine? And she is well aware

947
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:39,479
Speaker 1: of everything that's going around around the world. She can't

948
00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:41,239
Speaker 1: read the way she used to do anymore because of

949
00:56:41,280 --> 00:56:44,359
Speaker 1: her eyesight. But she listens probably to like two books

950
00:56:44,400 --> 00:56:47,440
Speaker 1: a day. I mean, she's a book on tape connoisseur.

951
00:56:48,719 --> 00:56:52,680
Speaker 1: All right. This one comes from Max w Out of Alexandria.

952
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:55,720
Speaker 1: Here use of historical precedent to help analyze kurtent political

953
00:56:55,719 --> 00:56:57,520
Speaker 1: actions leads me to ask about the Bill of Rights.

954
00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:00,279
Speaker 1: Trump administration is assaulted the first, the fourth, fifth, and

955
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 1: the six amendments numerous times, and it has recently gone

956
00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:05,160
Speaker 1: after the second Amendment when it justified the alex Pretty

957
00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:06,920
Speaker 1: shooting because he brought a gun to the protest. So

958
00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:09,919
Speaker 1: what's left is the third Amendment quartering soldiers the only

959
00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:12,920
Speaker 1: one in the Bill of Rights left unmolested by this administration?

960
00:57:13,160 --> 00:57:16,080
Speaker 1: Maybe the eighth, maybe the ninth. And where's the libertarian

961
00:57:16,080 --> 00:57:18,520
Speaker 1: outrage at the demolition of their personal rights? I'll hang

962
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:22,320
Speaker 1: up and listen. Let's seez a remax w Actually, I

963
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:25,160
Speaker 1: think this is where you're starting to see some libertarians

964
00:57:25,680 --> 00:57:28,200
Speaker 1: get cranky about it. I follow a whole bunch of libertarians.

965
00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:29,880
Speaker 1: I'm going to have the editor in chief of Reason

966
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:34,480
Speaker 1: magazine on soon to actually talk about this very issue.

967
00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:39,000
Speaker 1: I know. This is Here's how I view these tests

968
00:57:39,080 --> 00:57:44,280
Speaker 1: of liberties that are challenged by Trump. You know, the

969
00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:47,040
Speaker 1: Republicans that are exhausted from defending Trump when they're willing

970
00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:50,200
Speaker 1: to speak out on these things, and so they're they're

971
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:55,320
Speaker 1: kind of MRIs for who's got any principles left? So

972
00:57:55,440 --> 00:57:59,160
Speaker 1: I find these moments useful in figuring out which one

973
00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:02,560
Speaker 1: of these guys in cos will put the country before

974
00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 1: the party if the chips are truly down, and which

975
00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:07,640
Speaker 1: ones won't. It's moments like this they give us this.

976
00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:11,200
Speaker 1: You're right about this, I mean, I would argue that

977
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,880
Speaker 1: you know, in any given day, I mean it is

978
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:20,280
Speaker 1: it does feel like half the Bill of Rights get

979
00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:24,920
Speaker 1: violated on any given day by this administration. But you know,

980
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:29,800
Speaker 1: does anybody believe do you think Donald Trump's read one

981
00:58:29,840 --> 00:58:32,240
Speaker 1: federalist paper in the last twenty years. Maybe he read

982
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:35,440
Speaker 1: one in high school? Maybe? All right, last question for

983
00:58:35,800 --> 00:58:40,080
Speaker 1: this episode comes from Dennis Dennis Rights. Why isn't anybody

984
00:58:40,120 --> 00:58:43,200
Speaker 1: talking about the real possibility that potentially two conservative Supreme

985
00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:46,360
Speaker 1: Court justices could resign Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, especially

986
00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:48,000
Speaker 1: if the Democrats are likely to win the Senate to

987
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:50,800
Speaker 1: allow Trump to nominate one, possibly two young, mega friendly

988
00:58:50,920 --> 00:58:54,160
Speaker 1: justices to the Supreme Court, extending his legacy forward for decades.

989
00:58:54,440 --> 00:58:56,880
Speaker 1: Even if the Republicans maintain their majority in the Senate

990
00:58:57,080 --> 00:58:59,720
Speaker 1: following the twenty twenty sixth election, the real possibility still

991
00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:02,120
Speaker 1: remain that either one or two of the justices would

992
00:59:02,120 --> 00:59:04,400
Speaker 1: resign prior to Trump leaving office in twenty twenty nine,

993
00:59:04,600 --> 00:59:08,360
Speaker 1: allowing him to have nominated five Supreme Court justices during

994
00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:12,120
Speaker 1: his time as president. Thank you, Dennis. Look, you know,

995
00:59:12,240 --> 00:59:15,560
Speaker 1: I think you will know when the White House finally

996
00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:18,320
Speaker 1: fears losing the Senate in twenty twenty six when you

997
00:59:18,360 --> 00:59:21,560
Speaker 1: start to hear those whispers grow louder about Alito and

998
00:59:21,720 --> 00:59:26,360
Speaker 1: or Thomas. My friend Bruce Melman, you should check out

999
00:59:26,360 --> 00:59:28,920
Speaker 1: his sub stack. Every Sunday he puts out these terrific

1000
00:59:29,520 --> 00:59:34,080
Speaker 1: PowerPoint slides, and he didn't want to basically anticipating the

1001
00:59:34,120 --> 00:59:37,520
Speaker 1: potential for a Supreme Court opening, and he said, look,

1002
00:59:37,560 --> 00:59:41,040
Speaker 1: Trump loves to try to try to set records or

1003
00:59:41,080 --> 00:59:44,320
Speaker 1: to surpass or be and he would love to nominate,

1004
00:59:45,160 --> 00:59:46,720
Speaker 1: you know, to get up to five. I think in

1005
00:59:47,400 --> 00:59:49,600
Speaker 1: Bruce's telling, let me get the Bruce charts out here

1006
00:59:49,640 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 1: a minute, because they were terrific on this topic. He

1007
00:59:53,840 --> 00:59:56,640
Speaker 1: pointed out that right now, Trump has, as you point out,

1008
00:59:56,680 --> 01:00:01,320
Speaker 1: has had three. He's right now he's in a seven

1009
01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:04,920
Speaker 1: way tie for the thirteenth most Supreme Court justices appointed.

1010
01:00:05,400 --> 01:00:08,080
Speaker 1: But if he gets two more, he's then tied with

1011
01:00:08,200 --> 01:00:10,680
Speaker 1: Lincoln for the fourth most all time. In case you

1012
01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:13,920
Speaker 1: keep it score, George Washington is appointed the most members

1013
01:00:13,960 --> 01:00:17,840
Speaker 1: of the Supreme Court eleven, followed by FDR. Took him

1014
01:00:17,880 --> 01:00:22,520
Speaker 1: three terms plus a month to do nine. Andrew Jackson

1015
01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:30,200
Speaker 1: did six. And then you have three guys at five. Taft, Eisenhower, Lincoln, Grant, Nixon, Cleveland, Harding, Truman,

1016
01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:35,240
Speaker 1: Harrison all had four, and then Reagan got three, and

1017
01:00:35,320 --> 01:00:38,320
Speaker 1: he's the most, and Trump has three. No, there's no

1018
01:00:38,360 --> 01:00:42,680
Speaker 1: other modern era with three. You have to go back

1019
01:00:42,720 --> 01:00:45,680
Speaker 1: to before then you have to go back to It

1020
01:00:45,680 --> 01:00:50,680
Speaker 1: appears Hoover got three, and then before that Woodrow Wilson,

1021
01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:56,160
Speaker 1: before that Teddy Roosevelt. So look, I think Alitos seemed

1022
01:00:56,160 --> 01:00:58,600
Speaker 1: to give hints that he sort of exhausted from doing this.

1023
01:01:00,200 --> 01:01:02,440
Speaker 1: There's a lot of assumptions that Thomas is ready to

1024
01:01:02,440 --> 01:01:04,280
Speaker 1: take the RV on the road and just do more

1025
01:01:04,320 --> 01:01:09,680
Speaker 1: trips on his RV. He loves to do that, and

1026
01:01:09,720 --> 01:01:11,960
Speaker 1: I think they're both true believers right there. You know,

1027
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:14,320
Speaker 1: it's a it's a tough decision for Trump because the

1028
01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:17,640
Speaker 1: two oldest are also the two most supportive right They

1029
01:01:17,720 --> 01:01:20,320
Speaker 1: vote with Trump more than any other two members of

1030
01:01:20,360 --> 01:01:23,840
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, So, you know, and you look at

1031
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:28,320
Speaker 1: his appointments. Do you know that Amy Coney Barrett voted

1032
01:01:29,040 --> 01:01:32,440
Speaker 1: gave him fifty three percent of the time voted in

1033
01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:37,200
Speaker 1: favor of the Biden administration when she was you know,

1034
01:01:37,480 --> 01:01:40,640
Speaker 1: so did Roberts, but she voted more with Roberts than

1035
01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:43,520
Speaker 1: she did. You know, Alito and Gorsage ninety five percent

1036
01:01:43,560 --> 01:01:45,680
Speaker 1: of the time do they vote with Trump, and only

1037
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:49,400
Speaker 1: Gorse it's twenty nine percent of the time voted with

1038
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:53,600
Speaker 1: with Biden. But both Thomas and Alito voted only eighteen

1039
01:01:53,640 --> 01:01:56,200
Speaker 1: percent of the time with the Biden administration whenever they

1040
01:01:56,200 --> 01:01:59,320
Speaker 1: were in front of the Supreme Court. So they're Trump's

1041
01:01:59,320 --> 01:02:03,440
Speaker 1: most support you know, two of their most supportive justices.

1042
01:02:03,800 --> 01:02:07,560
Speaker 1: So you push them out. You know, Kavanaugh Barrett have

1043
01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:11,080
Speaker 1: both been you know, a little you know, more center

1044
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:15,439
Speaker 1: right than right wing. Gorsas has been more right wing,

1045
01:02:15,480 --> 01:02:18,240
Speaker 1: but he's been unpredictable in a couple of different issues,

1046
01:02:18,280 --> 01:02:24,280
Speaker 1: So you know, nothing always goes to plan. And the

1047
01:02:24,320 --> 01:02:25,960
Speaker 1: irony is that he would be getting rid of his

1048
01:02:25,960 --> 01:02:29,480
Speaker 1: two most supportive justices if he pushed them out. But

1049
01:02:30,600 --> 01:02:32,360
Speaker 1: I think this is coming. I think there are going

1050
01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:35,280
Speaker 1: to be Republicans whispering in Trump's ear that, hey, nothing

1051
01:02:35,320 --> 01:02:39,280
Speaker 1: will help rally the base more than a Supreme Court opening.

1052
01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:42,560
Speaker 1: This is what worked in twenty eighteen. It kept you know,

1053
01:02:42,600 --> 01:02:45,600
Speaker 1: it helped Republicans win a couple of Senate seats even

1054
01:02:45,600 --> 01:02:48,880
Speaker 1: in a bad midterm year. Maybe this does the same.

1055
01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:51,120
Speaker 1: Now here's a question that I have that was in

1056
01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:55,280
Speaker 1: a pre Dobbs environment, who gets more fired up now

1057
01:02:55,320 --> 01:02:58,360
Speaker 1: for open Supreme Court justices? But when it was Roe v.

1058
01:02:58,440 --> 01:03:01,720
Speaker 1: Wade that the right way was fired up about, it

1059
01:03:01,800 --> 01:03:04,400
Speaker 1: was clear that anytime the Supreme Court was an issue,

1060
01:03:04,480 --> 01:03:07,400
Speaker 1: it motivated the right more than the left. Does that

1061
01:03:07,560 --> 01:03:12,680
Speaker 1: change in the era of Dobbs that you know will

1062
01:03:12,920 --> 01:03:16,320
Speaker 1: will a Supreme Court opening motivate the left more than

1063
01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:18,280
Speaker 1: the right? This time? We haven't had that in a while.

1064
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:22,200
Speaker 1: But usually, when you know, it's whoever feels the side

1065
01:03:22,200 --> 01:03:24,640
Speaker 1: that feels as if the courts are the most against them,

1066
01:03:25,000 --> 01:03:26,800
Speaker 1: And right now I think the left feels like the

1067
01:03:26,840 --> 01:03:29,040
Speaker 1: courts are more rigged against them than the right feels

1068
01:03:29,040 --> 01:03:31,600
Speaker 1: like the courts are rigged against them. Right, there's not

1069
01:03:31,720 --> 01:03:34,400
Speaker 1: as many liberal judges are doing this to us type

1070
01:03:34,440 --> 01:03:38,840
Speaker 1: of victimhood these days on the right, because Trump's had

1071
01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:40,680
Speaker 1: quite a few you know, they've they've gotten quite a

1072
01:03:40,720 --> 01:03:43,520
Speaker 1: few wins. So that's you know, Do I think that

1073
01:03:43,720 --> 01:03:47,200
Speaker 1: Republican strategists will believe this will help them? I do?

1074
01:03:47,800 --> 01:03:52,960
Speaker 1: Are they right? I'm not one hundred percent convinced. And

1075
01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:56,960
Speaker 1: with that, I'm going to go figure out what. Let

1076
01:03:57,040 --> 01:03:58,880
Speaker 1: me tell you one thing about my I got a

1077
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:00,640
Speaker 1: great anecdote about my great my mother. She's made in

1078
01:04:00,680 --> 01:04:03,240
Speaker 1: ninety nine years. You know, the single thing she hates

1079
01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:09,280
Speaker 1: eating the most fresh vegetables, So there you go, all right,

1080
01:04:09,960 --> 01:04:13,600
Speaker 1: but she eats the most of anything chocolate or sweet,

1081
01:04:14,840 --> 01:04:18,200
Speaker 1: and she's still going strong. I'm not saying so hey,

1082
01:04:18,240 --> 01:04:22,720
Speaker 1: mister Pross, you know the healthy food guy doesn't always

1083
01:04:22,720 --> 01:04:25,360
Speaker 1: worked that way. All right, with that, I'll see you in

1084
01:04:25,360 --> 01:04:26,040
Speaker 1: twenty four hours.