1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: today's best minds. And President Trump has frozen one hundred 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: and seventy five million dollars of the University of Pennsylvania's 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: funding over an excuse that he's using, which is trans women. 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,319 Speaker 1: We have such a great show for you today, ye 7 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Al Franken shows. Al Franken discusses changing leadership in the 8 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: Senate and what it would mean. Then we'll talk to 9 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: et Injermentum newsletter editor Josh Cohen about the future Democrats want. 10 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 2: But first the news, Mollie. 11 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,239 Speaker 3: The thing that makes me be able to go to 12 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 3: sleep without taking a truckload of melatonin each night is 13 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 3: that Donald Trump keeps suffering multiple legal blows every single day. 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is Trump one point zero being a lot 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: like Trump two point zero being a lot like Trump 16 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: one point zero, a lot of the stuff that Trump 17 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: wants to do. And again, I'm going to remind all 18 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 1: of you that in July, Jesse and I did this 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 1: YouTube series. It makes us look like we're psychics. We 20 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: just read this stupid website that the Heritage Foundation stupidly published. 21 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 3: Read a pdf that had command to f a lot 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,040 Speaker 3: of times to see how many different ways they said 23 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 3: the same fucking thing over and over again. 24 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 2: Exactly. 25 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: It was not gone with the wind, it was not 26 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: check off, it was not the brothers caramotts off. It 27 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: was in fact the Heritage Foundations mandate for leadership. 28 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 3: But some would say there was some power broker going 29 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 3: on it. 30 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: There was some power broker in going and it was 31 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,919 Speaker 1: a lot of repetition and a lot of chapters written 32 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: by members of Trump's first administration who, surprised, surprise, went 33 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: back into his second administration. Who could have seen this coming? 34 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: How about everyone who was paying attention. So one of 35 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: the things that we both I think, when we were 36 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: talking about this in July and so sbsequently in the 37 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: healthscape that is our lives, we noticed that a lot 38 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: of this stuff seemed really illegal, right, like you know, 39 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: dissolving agencies like you know, ending the Department of Education, 40 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: stuff like that. And so in fact it turns out 41 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: that all of the courts also think these illegal things 42 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: are illegal, which is now created an atmosphere where MAGA 43 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: now hates all the federal judges. And so the good 44 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: news is that Trump just keeps losing in court like 45 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: he did the first time. The bad news is that 46 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: these federal judges are basically like the rest of us 47 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: now being harassed by the Maga wing of the Mega Party, 48 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: which uses X as a sort of four Chan to 49 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:55,519 Speaker 1: get together and organize, utilize, and harass the rest of us. 50 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 3: I do like this four Chan metaphor for what X 51 00:02:58,919 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 3: is for them. It's good. 52 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's basically, you know, it's a it's 53 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: a message board for people who you know, use straight 54 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: armed salutes to invoke bad guys from the Second World 55 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: War who I have no idea. 56 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 3: So one of the worst things I've done in my 57 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 3: brain is I've listened to like episodes of Joe Rogan 58 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,239 Speaker 3: and Steve Bennon's War Room, where I've heard these people 59 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 3: who love to think their immune systems are just so 60 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 3: awesome talking about how if we could just figure out 61 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 3: the antibodies from the people who don't catch things, that's 62 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 3: where we're really going to find the good stuff. And 63 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 3: it's like some bad movie plot that we're going to 64 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 3: solve bird flu with this, And that is exactly what 65 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 3: RFK Junior is telling our government to do. 66 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 2: Wait what Wait? 67 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: First, wait what, Oh, okay, RFK juniors unveils into drubbing 68 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: planned to combat bird flu. So let's just talk about 69 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: this for a minute. Trump is at war with the Cords. Meanwhile, 70 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: MAGA is at war with nature, basically nature and science. 71 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 2: This is like a larger theme. 72 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: We're seeing that the truth has gotten so stretched out 73 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: and sort of impaled that it is no longer the truth. Right, 74 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: It's a sort of mimiogram of the truth. And one 75 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: of the things we see here is like Trump has 76 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: these statements. I'm going to go back to the story 77 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: we were just talking about for a minute because they 78 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: think that it can shed light on the story we're 79 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: talking about right now. So Trump is on Truth's Social 80 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: complaining about these judges, and he says, if a president 81 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: doesn't have the right to throw murderers and other criminals 82 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: out of our country because a radical left lunatic judge 83 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: wants to assume the role of president, then our country 84 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 1: is in very big trouble and doesn't fail. Okay, So right, 85 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: this is this way of perverting the truth. Right. The 86 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: truth is this judge is just not a radical left lunatic, 87 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: and he's saying, you just have to do due process 88 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: before you kick people out of the country, and make 89 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: sure that you're kicking out the right people, sending them 90 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: to a country that perhaps they've been to before. This 91 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: is exactly the same kind of thing with the RFK stuff, Right, 92 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: It's this idea that you're not seeing the world in 93 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: a normal way, you're seeing the world in this kind 94 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: of paranoid way. And in fact, the thing that makes 95 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: me think of is the paranoid style, right, Richard Hofsteinter, 96 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: this idea the paranoid style of American politics. Right, This 97 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: is this idea that the sort of world of conservative 98 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: thinkers looks at things in a way that is sort 99 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: of the opposite of what's really happening. 100 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 2: And this is like the sort of legacy of Nixon 101 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 2: and Agnew. Yeah, I was thinking about pat Buchanon. 102 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 3: See, I only say that the way John McLaughlin used 103 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 3: to say it did and yell at going. 104 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 2: But you can, right. 105 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: So Pap Buchanan is another one, right, where there's sort 106 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: of there's a sense in which everything that's real is 107 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: not really real and things that are wrong or maybe right. 108 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: So here's the deal. RFK Junior has taken a step further. 109 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: He is doing these things when it comes to public health. 110 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: And I think, honestly, this is where we see the 111 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: post COVID paranoid style of post COVID politics in a 112 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: way that is the most destructive, right, because Trump's war 113 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,480 Speaker 1: on the judiciary is destructive. But it's a little bit different, right, 114 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: We've sort of seen it before. We know what it is. 115 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: It's much more on the surface, ourf case war against 116 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,720 Speaker 1: science and technology, and the sort of hearkening back to 117 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:30,239 Speaker 1: the early earlier times in American life when we didn't 118 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 1: have vaccines is actually more insidious. 119 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 2: So here's what's happening. 120 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,159 Speaker 1: He has decided that the bird flu should be allowed 121 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: to spread unchecked to identified birds that could be immune. 122 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: And I think this is important because what he is 123 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: saying here is that he's just not going to try 124 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: And this is what they did with COVID too, Right 125 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: with COVID, they said, Now, why this is going to 126 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: be bad is because we are going to all get 127 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: bird flu and die. Maybe we won't all get bird 128 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 1: flu and die, but a a lot of birds are 129 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 1: going to die. 130 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,799 Speaker 2: B a lot of people are going to get. 131 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 3: Sick, and crucial to a lot of US Americans, a 132 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 3: lot of pets are going to die, right, A lot. 133 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 2: Of pets are going to die. It's just terrible. 134 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: Kennedy said in a reason Fox News interview that farmers 135 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through 136 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 1: their flock so they can identify the birds. They'll identify 137 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: them all right, because they'll be dead and preserve the 138 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: birds that are immune to it, an idea experts say 139 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: would be dangerous and hurt the poultry industry. 140 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 3: So, Mali, I know you sometimes tell people you're nepo 141 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 3: oldie online, but I got news for you that's getting 142 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 3: put into policy now. Because the DOJ is asserting Trump 143 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 3: hypothetically as the power to purge all female agency heads 144 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 3: or those over forty. That's two strikes there. Miss. 145 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 2: Here's the thing. 146 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: Just because a lot of conservative men don't like being 147 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: married to women over forty doesn't mean they don't have 148 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: a use on this planet. I'm sorry to tell you 149 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: that's not how any of this works. And look, you'll 150 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: remember that women over a college educated women did not 151 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: over Trump, right, because we read the Trump Department of 152 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: Justice asserted in court on Tuesday that under its theories, 153 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: could the president decide he was not going to a 154 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: point or allowed or remain in office any female heads 155 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: of agencies or heads over forty years old. Judge Karen Henderson, 156 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: a wild leftist Reagan appointee on the DC Circuit of Appeals, 157 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: asked the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and you know what 158 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: he said? 159 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:32,199 Speaker 2: He said, I. 160 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: Think that would be within the president's constitutional authority under 161 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 1: the removal of power, because honestly, who wants to be 162 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: married to someone over forty. 163 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 3: Not I My wife turns it in August and putting 164 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 3: her on notice. 165 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, baby, we are, by the way, kidding, 166 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: we're both mid to late forties. 167 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 3: Yes, Somali. Mister Trump told me and the American people 168 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 3: that day one he's going to putin in his place, 169 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 3: and the war in Ukraine, He's going to make peace 170 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 3: in the Middle East. 171 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, good work. 172 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 3: Then there was these recent ceasefires, and I have news 173 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 3: for you. They're done. They're fucking done. 174 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 2: I am shocked. I am shocked to hear that. 175 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: I think from Trump one point zero, where he said 176 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:22,440 Speaker 1: who knew healthcare could be so complicated? I feel like 177 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:26,079 Speaker 1: we could put this on every thing that Trump falls into. 178 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,719 Speaker 1: Who knew that any of this could be so complicated. 179 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: It's complicated and Donald Trump learning how to do government 180 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:35,839 Speaker 1: one minute at a time. 181 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:36,960 Speaker 2: Lucky us. 182 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 3: Yeah. 183 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: Al Franken is a former senator and the host of 184 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: the Al Frankin show. 185 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 3: Oh and Molly. He appears in the new Netflix TV 186 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 3: series The Residence, which is out now. 187 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: Welcome Back, Too Fast Politics, Al Franken. 188 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 4: Thank you, great to be back. Molly. How you doing now? 189 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 2: You're actor Alfred versus. 190 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 4: I'm actor Al Franklin again. I've done it before, but 191 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 4: there's been a hiatus from my acting career. But I'm 192 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 4: very excited about this show. I'm in The Residence all 193 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 4: right to pitch the show. It's a murder mystery. It 194 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 4: takes place basically. The biggest character in it is the 195 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 4: White House Residence, not the West wing, but the East wing, 196 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 4: and there's a murder. The chief usher is the murderer. 197 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 4: So this involves all the staff and all the people 198 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 4: who were at this big dinner for the Australian Prime Minister. 199 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 4: It's a great show. When I got the script, I 200 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 4: really loved it, but I didn't know how it's going 201 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 4: to be great it's going to be but it was 202 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 4: and it is so I was very excited when I 203 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 4: saw and they sent me the episodes and they're great, 204 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 4: great cast. 205 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:49,560 Speaker 2: Who else is in it with you? 206 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,679 Speaker 4: Well, Uzzo Aduba, who people would know from Orange is 207 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 4: the New Black. She's the only person I know that 208 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 4: is one an Emmy in acting for both a comedy 209 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:03,079 Speaker 4: and a drama in the same show. 210 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 2: Oh wow. 211 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,559 Speaker 4: Yeah. So each one year they submitted it as a comedy, 212 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 4: one year they submitted as a drama, and when it 213 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 4: got more dramatic, and she won in both categories two 214 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 4: different years. So she has that distinction. She plays the 215 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 4: detective who solves this thing after in the and you 216 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 4: solve it in the eighth episode she does. 217 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 2: That is very cool. 218 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:27,319 Speaker 1: Yeah, so I feel like we have our distractions from 219 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: watching Donald Trump dismantle the federal government. Mine is my 220 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: book is coming out in June. Yours is this very 221 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: cool show, which Jesse and are both going to watch. 222 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: I think of this, like, you have been a United 223 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: States senator, so you really do care about the federal 224 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: government and like what is happening right now. I would 225 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: love to just talk through a little bit about what 226 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: you think is happening right now to Republican senators because 227 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:59,079 Speaker 1: there are still a bunch that are there that you've known, 228 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: and they have survived one Trump administration, right and now 229 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: they are into their next and I just am wondering 230 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: what you think it's like for like a John Soon. 231 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 2: I don't think they are having fun either. 232 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 4: Oh God, no, no, I don't think anybody's having fun 233 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 4: there right now, because the Republicans have all caved except 234 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 4: for Markowski and Collins and McConnell. 235 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 2: Bafflingly, Well, it's not baffling, but you know what I mean. 236 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:31,959 Speaker 4: It's not baffling at all. McConnell, I don't know it was. 237 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 4: But how many did he vote? 238 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 2: Know on three four? 239 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 4: I think at least three. But I mean, he's not 240 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 4: running for reelection, so everybody else is just scared. You know. 241 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 4: We have Musk saying he's going to spend at least 242 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 4: one hundred million on the primary of these guys if 243 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 4: they defy him, and they all seem to be scared 244 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 4: of him. They all are scared of him, There's no 245 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 4: doubt about it. So that's why they're caving every day. 246 00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: Elon has done a ton of stuff over the first 247 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: six weeks, and now we're starting to see the courts 248 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: are just basically like, no, you can't do any of that. 249 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: So you can't do usai D, you can't do this, 250 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: you can't fire. I mean, God bless the democratic ags. 251 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: Jesse and I interviewed one in July who was like, 252 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: basically said, we don't think she's going to win, and 253 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: we have spent the last six months sitting down and 254 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: figuring out all the lawsuits we're going to have to file. 255 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 4: That was in July, Yeah, July. 256 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: And we were both like, no, he doesn't know what 257 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 1: he's talking about. 258 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. 259 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 2: After we end up recording, I go and she's going 260 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 2: to win and he was. 261 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,319 Speaker 1: Like, no, she's not gonna win. He's like, but here 262 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: are the lawsuits we're going to file. But they filed 263 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: all these lawsuits. 264 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 4: Who do you blame that she didn't win? I know 265 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:43,439 Speaker 4: who I blame. 266 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 1: So this age was Okay, go ahead, you know it's 267 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: not his fault. But I'm just saying, I just want 268 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: to I want to tell you what he told us 269 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 1: because I think. 270 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 4: No, it's not his fault at all. That's not what 271 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 4: I'm no. 272 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 1: I know, but I mean, I just want to tell 273 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 1: you what he told us because I think think it 274 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 1: is interesting, and it got me thinking about the election 275 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: in a certain way. He said, I am in He's 276 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:10,679 Speaker 1: in a blue state, in a but very Latino state, 277 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: and he said, they're just not going to vote for her. 278 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: He said, the Latino men are not going to vote 279 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 1: for her. And it was like in his mind, he said, 280 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: it just doesn't matter. He said, it's just not happening. 281 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: I think Latino men, I think white, non college educated women. 282 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 2: I don't think she could have broken through there. 283 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 4: Well, I think it because it started so late and 284 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 4: Trump took the right tack and you know, and went 285 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 4: after both her and Biden. I was scared throughout, but 286 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 4: I thought it was going to be fifty to fifty 287 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 4: on election night, and it wasn't. It was fifty forty nine. 288 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 2: Who do you blame? 289 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: This is the most spiritual thing you can do is 290 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: re litigate the twenty twenty four cycle. 291 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 2: I can't stop so well. 292 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 4: I blame Biden for not dropping out much sooner, for 293 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 4: not honoring what he said going into the I thought 294 00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 4: he had a great presidency in many ways, many pomplishments, 295 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 4: but he had to know that he wasn't up to snuff. 296 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 4: And of course that debate was a harrowing thing to watch. Yeah, 297 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 4: and then to not pull out then was ridiculous as well. 298 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,880 Speaker 4: But that's relitigating stuff that everyone relitigates in their mind 299 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 4: every day as they go to sleep. 300 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: I don't think we should continue on but on this 301 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: depressing dijectory. But since we're just going to do it 302 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: one more minute, not it the cardinal sin as I 303 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: see it is running from populism whatever. That looks like 304 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: Democrats had a much more populist policy program, right, I mean, 305 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: tax cuts for rich people is not populism. 306 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 4: Well, how about these these medicaid cuts. 307 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 2: Eight hundred and eighty billion over ten years. 308 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 4: Yeah, and that wait, wait till people on medicaid see 309 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 4: that realize that's happening to them. 310 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 2: Let's talk about that. 311 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: Because there's sort of a pause between Trump doing crazy 312 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: stuff and like the average American feeling it. 313 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 2: How long do you think that is? 314 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know when this kicks in, 315 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 4: but when it kicks in that you know. One of 316 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 4: the things is like Medicaid expansion, which was under the 317 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 4: Affordable Care Act, and one of the great things in 318 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 4: the Affordable Care Act. You look at how many red 319 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 4: states didn't sign up for that, but then through voters 320 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 4: insisting on it in all these different red states, it 321 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 4: was adopted in a you know, on by a ballot initiative, 322 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 4: and it's the best thing happens to rural hospitals. And 323 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 4: the states that haven't done it, those red states that 324 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 4: are in basically the Confederacy and Wisconsin, I guess those 325 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 4: states have lost rural hospitals. It's a disaster for them. 326 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 4: And so but now we're going to have people who 327 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 4: are on straight medicaid, not through Medicaid expansion, and they're 328 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 4: going to be really hurting. Yeah, they're going to notice that, 329 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,520 Speaker 4: and hopefully that will work in the midterm, but that's 330 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 4: a long way away. And in the meantime, this horrible 331 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 4: stuff has happened. 332 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: It's like the accelerationist case for Trumpism, right, like that 333 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:09,879 Speaker 1: you want people to notice it because last time Democrats 334 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: were in a way too effective at preventing some of 335 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: the effects of Trumpism, right, Like, he's not going to 336 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: cut stuff because he wasn't able to last time. Was 337 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: a refrain I heard all the time. 338 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,360 Speaker 4: I guess, so, you know, I was there during part 339 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 4: of that, and that part of it. He had the whole. 340 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:28,679 Speaker 4: He had the whole thing. First couple of years he 341 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:32,440 Speaker 4: had the House, the Senate, and the White House. Now 342 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:34,680 Speaker 4: he does and it's a whole different story here. 343 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious because they passed the CR. 344 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:39,960 Speaker 2: It is not great. 345 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 4: Either way was bad. 346 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 2: Now either way was bad. Now here's my question for you. 347 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,640 Speaker 1: You and I both know, and I think a lot 348 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,120 Speaker 1: of people that a lot of the conversations I've had, 349 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: like behind the scenes, have been with staffers or members 350 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: who have said things like, you know, it was impossible 351 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:58,160 Speaker 1: situation right, Like I know for a fact they told 352 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: Schumer's office that RUSSA could not wait for a shutdown, 353 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 1: that he planned to make every single hr person in 354 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: all the federal agencies deemed essential workers and then just 355 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 1: keep going, right, just spend those weeks of no of 356 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:19,560 Speaker 1: government shutdown just firing everyone he could without the purview 357 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: of the federal government. 358 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 4: That sounds about right, and that's why Schumer did what 359 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 4: he did. But the counter to that is that how 360 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 4: long would that have lasted? The air traffic controllers are necessary, 361 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 4: and I guess you end up having Trump say what's 362 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 4: necessary and what's not necessary. Right. 363 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: Besides that is the counter that is would Mitch McConnell 364 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: have been like, Oh, okay. 365 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 4: I guess he would have. I don't know, But so 366 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 4: what so the government shuts down, right, that gives Trump 367 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 4: all the power to decide what's essential and what's not essential. 368 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 4: And Mitch is just one of the three that I mentioned. 369 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 4: They all voted yes on it, all the Republicans, right, 370 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 4: I think it was every one of them, And so 371 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 4: I don't know what McConnell would have done, but I 372 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:06,880 Speaker 4: don't think it would have done anything different. 373 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 2: Right if Mitch had been in leadership at the time. 374 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 4: Yeah, well, yeah, that's what I mean. If we're doing 375 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 4: a lot of what ifs today, the. 376 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: Question is could you have gotten anything out of Trump 377 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: world if you have no leverage? 378 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's the real question. 379 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: People are mad because they feel that Chuck Schumer did 380 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: not get enough from Trump World. 381 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 4: They got nothing. Right, They wrote that bill without any 382 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 4: any concessions at all. When he said let's vote you know, 383 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 4: yes on this. It was a terrible choice between the 384 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 4: worst of both worlds. I mean, it was terrible. 385 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, So do you think that? 386 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,719 Speaker 1: So A lot of people are saying now that tchumor 387 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: should not be in leadership. 388 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 2: What do you think about that? 389 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 4: Well, I could see them trying to make a change. 390 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,639 Speaker 4: It just be who would challenge and who would wants 391 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:57,160 Speaker 4: that job? 392 00:19:57,359 --> 00:19:58,880 Speaker 2: Who do you think want that job? 393 00:19:59,160 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 3: I don't know. 394 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,360 Speaker 4: I I see, you know, Chris Murphy being out there 395 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 4: very loudly, but I think that he probably thinking about 396 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 4: the White House as opposed to being leadership of the 397 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 4: you know, of a minority right now, and it's it's 398 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 4: a kind of a thankless job. So yeah, I don't know. 399 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,720 Speaker 4: It's not going to be Durbin or them. They would 400 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 4: want someone young, right, I. 401 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 2: Mean, I think Durbin may not run again. 402 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: As from what I understand, I think we really have 403 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: a question of like what leadership should look like. For example, 404 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi, people were mad at her because she was older, 405 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:36,120 Speaker 1: but she never brought things up to the floor that didn't. 406 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 4: Pass right, right, right, she was brilliant. 407 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:38,640 Speaker 2: Right. 408 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: We saw how good she was at that when we 409 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:43,479 Speaker 1: saw Mike Johnson get in there, because Mike jun then 410 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:45,400 Speaker 1: it's actually quite a hard job. 411 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 2: So she is a really good leader. 412 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: Now does she reflect the entirety of the Democratic Party? 413 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: Absolutely not, But doesn't necessarily. 414 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 4: Matter, and no one does, right. 415 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: And it's a big tent. So the question I think is, 416 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: first of all, do you want a leader who who 417 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: is a spokesman? Can those things be different? 418 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:03,440 Speaker 5: Right? 419 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,160 Speaker 1: Because usually you kind of have a candidate, a presidential candidate, 420 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 1: and then you have a member of the party who 421 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: is in leadership, and those two things don't necessarily need 422 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:14,640 Speaker 1: to be the same. 423 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 4: Oh, not at all. You know Harry Reid. I remember 424 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 4: always people saying why is Harry Reid the leader? And 425 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 4: I said, for a really good reason. But you know, 426 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 4: he wasn't a popular national figure, but he was a 427 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 4: great leader. Nancy Pelosi never Speaker of the House, doesn't 428 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 4: usually run for president. Sometimes you have, but senators do. 429 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,120 Speaker 4: But I can't think of a majority leader or minority 430 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 4: leader except for Bob Dole who ran for president. 431 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 2: Can you no? And it did not go well for 432 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 2: Bob Dole, I think more importantly. 433 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 4: Well, he did lose, and he lost by quite a bit. 434 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 4: That was that Clinton midterm. And it's not a road 435 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,320 Speaker 4: to the White House certainly, And I don't know who 436 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 4: would want this job right now. I haven't heard any 437 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 4: rumblings of that, have you. 438 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: So Punchbowld today had some thing about Brian Shots Punchball, 439 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,680 Speaker 1: which I listen to and read, but is much much 440 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: better sourced. 441 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 2: On the right than the left. When you read it, 442 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 2: you see that. 443 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: And that's not true for all of them, but they 444 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: had sort of Brian Shots his wants at Durbin's job, 445 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: but maybe he wants leadership. 446 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 4: Durban is the whip right. 447 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:21,920 Speaker 1: Is the whip right, and he's also the chair of Judiciary. 448 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:23,560 Speaker 1: I mean, he's super important. 449 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 4: Well, Shots doesn't want that. 450 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 1: And the other thing is that if you're leader in 451 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: the Senate, you need to know all of those people, right, 452 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:33,920 Speaker 1: I mean, the job is to be able to talk 453 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: to everyone and to form consensus, whatever that looks like 454 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: in a Trump Senate. So I would think you don't 455 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: necessarily want the youngest person. You actually want people who 456 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: have you know, Chuck Shots. 457 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 4: Has been there a pretty long time now, I would say, yeah. 458 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 2: No, he has. 459 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:52,440 Speaker 1: I mean I think he'd be good, though, Like, what 460 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: you need if you have someone taking on humor, I'm 461 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 1: not sure you have that is someone who is ensconsed 462 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: enough to be like a Shot, but brave enough to 463 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 1: go against one of your party's biggest leaders, right. 464 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:09,879 Speaker 4: And I just don't see it happening. I mean, I 465 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 4: think of Sheldon white House or someone like that as 466 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 4: that kind of person, But I don't think Sheldon wants 467 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 4: that kind of job. 468 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: Right, And that I think is the thing that the 469 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: more vocal part of the party doesn't totally understand, is 470 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,199 Speaker 1: that this is not happening in a vacuum. This is 471 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: happening in an institution where people do six year terms. 472 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, and who are very comfortable in those terms. And 473 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,200 Speaker 4: I just don't see someone challenging Schumer, that's all. 474 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,919 Speaker 1: And Schumer is now has all these protesters, he had 475 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: to cancel his book tour, he had this, and that 476 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: I mean, you. 477 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 4: Know, not, it's a shame on the book tour. What's 478 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 4: it is about being Jewish? 479 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: It's a book about anti Semitism. So, okay, we're both Jewish. 480 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:54,120 Speaker 1: You're Jewish, we're Jewish. 481 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 2: We're both too right, Yeah, right, congratulations to us. 482 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 4: Are you interested in the book by Chuck Schumer on 483 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 4: any Semitism? 484 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 2: You're so mean? Why do you ask me such? Hi? 485 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:12,200 Speaker 2: Oh look, we're out of time. I'll Reagan. I hope 486 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 2: you'll come back. 487 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 4: Oh I will, I will if you'll have me. 488 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,680 Speaker 2: Are you kidding me of course. 489 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 4: And watch The Residents on Netflix. 490 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:21,800 Speaker 2: Netflix. I'll watch it. 491 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 4: It's great. 492 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: Josh Cohen is the editor of the newsletter at Injermentum. 493 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:34,200 Speaker 1: Welcome back, but it's been a while too fast politics. 494 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 5: Josh, Hello, it's good to be honest. It's been like 495 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:38,959 Speaker 5: I think last of Masani was during the election. 496 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,639 Speaker 2: Oh that turned out great. Yeah, so let's talk. 497 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: We're in the wilderness here. You have this really good block. 498 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 1: You're such a good and interesting writer and thinker. And 499 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: one of the things you do is you've sort of 500 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: you've been running through the possibility is for twenty eight, 501 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: but also what do you sort of think talk to 502 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:03,919 Speaker 1: me about who you feel like as leading the party 503 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 1: right now. 504 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 5: It's a really tricky situation because I did immediately after 505 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 5: the election, when they first started putting out the twenty 506 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 5: twenty eight polling, the consistent thing, if we're gonna like 507 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 5: look that far ahead, it has consistently shown Kamala Harris 508 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,919 Speaker 5: with like a meaningful lead. She's been around thirty thirty 509 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 5: five forty percent of the vote, while everybody else, like 510 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:28,840 Speaker 5: this whole list of mostly identical kind of white governors 511 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 5: in swing states and Pete Budachees on top of that, 512 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,400 Speaker 5: they've been AOC has been pulling him like the mid 513 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,440 Speaker 5: to low to high single digits. So in that sense, 514 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 5: like she is still kind of like the front runner 515 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 5: and the person that people like think of when they 516 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 5: think of the Democratic Party. But the thing is, and 517 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 5: I noted this like a couple like a week ago 518 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 5: and people got really mad about it, is that she's 519 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,919 Speaker 5: been very very absent since the election. Like part of 520 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 5: that is like the tradition, but she's only really shown 521 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 5: up for like Broadway plays and award shows. It's like 522 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 5: the traditional kind of thing that an outgoing administration does, 523 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,159 Speaker 5: where they like don't criticize a new party. But the 524 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,640 Speaker 5: thing is is that this isn't really a traditional set 525 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 5: of circumstances, and they certainly didn't certain yeah, and they 526 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 5: didn't campaign on Trump being a traditional opponent. So for 527 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,000 Speaker 5: her to kind of abide in to go to like 528 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,119 Speaker 5: the kind of default mode where they just kind of 529 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 5: sink into the background, I think that there's like a 530 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 5: contradiction there and their behavior and kind of how people 531 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 5: feel about the moment. And this is something that I 532 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,200 Speaker 5: thought was very interesting. I read this in an AP 533 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 5: piece about the huge rallies that Bernie Sanders has been 534 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 5: doing his office. Actually, during the first couple of weeks 535 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 5: of Trump's administration, they deliberately just thought, like, Okay, we 536 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 5: could probably organize these things, but we'll just wait back 537 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,959 Speaker 5: to see if, like anybody wants to take a public 538 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,399 Speaker 5: role in like doing this kind of tour and like 539 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 5: trying to press an argument and framework for the next 540 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,880 Speaker 5: four years. But nobody did it over the first month, 541 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,439 Speaker 5: so they just thought, well, if nobody's doing it, we 542 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 5: should do it. And that they did it and it 543 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,120 Speaker 5: got this massive response he's been getting like presidential campaign 544 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,200 Speaker 5: rally sizes and like the February in March of an 545 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 5: off year. I think that things are very much up 546 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 5: for grabs. Anybody who's kind of treating this moment in 547 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,399 Speaker 5: the way that they kind of described it over the 548 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 5: past number of years is somebody who I think people 549 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,679 Speaker 5: will gravitate towards. Because there's a lot of people who 550 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,159 Speaker 5: didn't necessarily like Bernie when he ran for president that 551 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,879 Speaker 5: I've seen, like across social media, like saying that they 552 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 5: have a renewed appreciation for him just because he's going 553 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 5: out and giving speeches. It's not any like kind of 554 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 5: huge thing. But he's acting in the way that you 555 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 5: would expect someone to act in this moment. And I 556 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 5: think that anybody who fits that role as somebody who 557 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:45,679 Speaker 5: could get a lot of goodwill very early. 558 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:46,480 Speaker 2: Yeah. 559 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: I mean what Trump did that was smart and that 560 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: set him up. Trump right defies gravity. He's his own 561 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,840 Speaker 1: I mean, you can't run on his playbook, because his 562 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: playbook is be famous for twenty years for being a 563 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: brother businessman, Like it's unreplicatable. But what he did, which 564 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: I think is smart, is in the first two years 565 00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: of the Biden administration. I'd love you to like actually 566 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: tell me everything my theory is right or wrong, because 567 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: I have this theory that what Biden did wrong was 568 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 1: that he spent two years wildly avoiding the press, shutting 569 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,879 Speaker 1: them down at every moment, being aggressively boring, refusing to 570 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 1: participate in anything a start contrast to and again this 571 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: is no love for Trump here, but Trump does pool sprays, 572 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: He talks to the media on the airplane, he's in, 573 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,120 Speaker 1: he's out, He's talking to them all the time. Now 574 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: he only does interviews with friendly outlets like Fox or 575 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: Real America Voice or Mark Levin, but he's still doing 576 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 1: a ton of media and like Biden, in the first 577 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: two years, you know, you could count in one hand. 578 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,960 Speaker 1: And then in the second two years they just started 579 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: panicking and trying desperately to get some coverage, but they 580 00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: still didn't want to give their guy out. 581 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 2: So it ended up being. 582 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,560 Speaker 1: Just like whereas Trump has been sort of running a 583 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:07,920 Speaker 1: shadow government this whole time, which I think has served 584 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: him guy. 585 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 5: I totally agree with that. One of the things that 586 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 5: really struck me when he first got into office was 587 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 5: just the following politics and their buying for four years 588 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 5: and he was such like a managed kind of just 589 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 5: his total lack of a presence. And then Trump comes 590 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 5: in on day one. He has like these press pools 591 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 5: around the resolute desk in the Oval office where he's 592 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,920 Speaker 5: just like talking with them about whatever for like an hour, 593 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 5: and that totally drives the news on the conversation. It 594 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 5: made me realize, like, oh, Biden really did leave a 595 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 5: lot on the table here, and a lot yeah, he 596 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 5: had such to put nicely communication deficiencies that I don't 597 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 5: know if he did try to do a blitz throughout 598 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 5: his four years that it would have. But like even 599 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,640 Speaker 5: like just basic stuff like press conferences. He only gave 600 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 5: like three Oval office addresses, even though his presidency was 601 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 5: very eventful and he had a lot of stuff he 602 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 5: needed to manage public opinion. It was just a very 603 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 5: reactive kind of strategy instead of a proactive one, and 604 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 5: they ended up kind of being swamped on the issues 605 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 5: by the end of. 606 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: It because they couldn't control the narrative at all. And 607 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,840 Speaker 1: it's something I see in democratic electives at large, is 608 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 1: this idea. You know, you'll see like a good example 609 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 1: is congressional leadership. Right, they'll come out with a statement, 610 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: You'll get them on TV. You know, you get leader 611 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: Jeffries on TV once, so we you know, maybe you'll 612 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: make a little video. 613 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 2: You know. 614 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 1: There's just not the same kind of effort at flooding 615 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: the zone. 616 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:30,920 Speaker 4: Yeah. 617 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 5: I think that the stuff that Bernie has done is 618 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 5: because like as somebody who's more on the left, he 619 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 5: does stand out even like among our tendency, as somebody 620 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 5: who's been uniquely successful and like the remarkable thing and 621 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,320 Speaker 5: like this is stuff people were saying like about him, 622 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 5: like early in the eighties before anybody knew who he 623 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 5: was nationally, is that he was an extremely effective messenger 624 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 5: in terms of discipline, just saying the same thing over 625 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 5: and over, like when he was mayor of Burlington. It 626 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 5: got to the point where he defined the terms of 627 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 5: the debate so much that by the end of his 628 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,240 Speaker 5: tenure even his opponents were really speaking like kind of 629 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 5: the same language as him, just proposing different kinds of 630 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 5: ways of doing the problems that he made the center 631 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 5: of politics. That's art that Democrats have really lost, I 632 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 5: think in kind of the very consultant driven kind of 633 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 5: like structure that they have where it's always chasing polling 634 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 5: instead of driving it, which I think is possible. 635 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,280 Speaker 2: Chasing polling is a really good point. 636 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,720 Speaker 1: So the people we've seen out on the stump, right, 637 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: Chris Murphy, endless right videos, movies on television and everything 638 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: everywhere tweeting up a storm. 639 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:35,600 Speaker 2: I mean, Bernie was the first. 640 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: To do it, and he is doing the town halls 641 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: and they're getting huge response. And I actually was texting 642 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: with one of his people about like the huge response 643 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,800 Speaker 1: and they're going to Republican districts. So okay, So we've 644 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: got him, We've got Murphy, and we've got Tim Walls. 645 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: I mean, can you think of anyone else who's sort 646 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: of out there in that same kind of way. 647 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:57,960 Speaker 5: He did bring Sean Fain on his tour. 648 00:31:58,360 --> 00:31:59,680 Speaker 2: Oh yes, you're very smart. 649 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 5: And he also is bringing AOC to his tour in 650 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 5: the West. He's going to like Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona, 651 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 5: I think, and she's coming along with him, which is 652 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 5: like an interesting piece of kind of secession management. 653 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: Right because he's been criticized for not having a successor 654 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: because he is eighty three. 655 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 5: Yeah, he is eighty three. He'll be eighty seven and 656 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 5: twenty twenty eight, and that'll be a pretty valuable endorsement. 657 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,240 Speaker 5: And you don't know if that he'll be around to 658 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 5: give that hopefully. I mean, he seems pretty spry right now. 659 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 2: But he's pretty spy and he's very sharp. 660 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 3: Yeah. 661 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, the chief of staff of my guy Pritzker, you 662 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: know who she is. 663 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 2: Right, Anna had this very. 664 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: Smart thing which she tweeted, which was basically, this is 665 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: not about left or right right, the left side of 666 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: the party, the middle of the party, the more sort 667 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: of modern never trumpling of the party, which is basically 668 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: what it is at this point. It's actually about are 669 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: you going to fight or are you going to not fight? 670 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think that people really underestimate how like 671 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 5: there was the kind of like now infamous James Carville 672 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 5: line in his New York Times off ever, he said, Oh, 673 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 5: Democrats need to play dead, and he's obviously just one person, 674 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,200 Speaker 5: But that really is the kind of strategy that the leadership, 675 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 5: the kind of fighter versus not fighter thing, that's what 676 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:21,480 Speaker 5: they're taking. They are trying to be as non confrontational 677 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 5: as possible. They're trying to just like let Republicans take 678 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 5: up all the attention so when things get bad then 679 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 5: people will blame them and they'll go to Democrats as 680 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:30,760 Speaker 5: an alternative. 681 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:32,560 Speaker 2: That's the wrong play, I think. 682 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,760 Speaker 5: Yeah, it's not really what any opposition I think is 683 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 5: ever really done. 684 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:37,480 Speaker 4: Right. 685 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:38,400 Speaker 2: He doesn't work. 686 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:40,840 Speaker 5: They didn't do that in twenty eighteen. There was like 687 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,680 Speaker 5: they were very active in opposing him, and there's I 688 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:47,040 Speaker 5: think there's sort of like this weird kind of revisionist 689 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 5: history where everybody's trying to paint everything that involve the 690 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,720 Speaker 5: eight years of resistance to Trump as this kind of 691 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 5: retrospective failure because of what the end result was. But 692 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 5: if you look at what they did during his first 693 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 5: four years, like this kind of era that's now being 694 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 5: looked back on, is like this embarrassing too woe thing 695 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:07,120 Speaker 5: that created a backlash. It was very effective in and 696 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 5: of itself. Trump came in with the trifecta in twenty sixteen, 697 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 5: and he left in twenty twenty. His party had lost 698 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 5: the presidency of the House in the Senate, the last 699 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,080 Speaker 5: time that had happened so quickly for I think a 700 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,560 Speaker 5: president whose party was newly elected, I think was like 701 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 5: Grover Cleveland or something. It's not typical for a party 702 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 5: to come in like I know Herbert Hoover did, but 703 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 5: he was like at the tail end of three administrations. 704 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,359 Speaker 5: It's not typical for a party to lose that much 705 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 5: goodwill that fast. That was a real like. So a 706 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:38,360 Speaker 5: lot of what Democrats did during the first four years 707 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 5: did work. Yeah, it did work. 708 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know what annoys me about that because 709 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: I agree. I think there's a lot of like shitting 710 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:50,320 Speaker 1: on twenty sixteen because you know, saying it was cringe 711 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:51,400 Speaker 1: or whatever. 712 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 5: Or twenty eighteen the resistance. 713 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 2: Right. 714 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: When you would talk to people about the twenty twenty 715 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 1: four election, you would say, well, you know, Donald Trump 716 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: wants to do this, this and this in voters would say, 717 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,240 Speaker 1: but he didn't do it last time, so he won't 718 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 1: do it this time. And in some ways Democrats were 719 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,360 Speaker 1: really a victim of their own success, right Like Trump 720 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:13,799 Speaker 1: had wanted to repeal Obamacare had it not been for 721 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: Meghan McCain's dad. You may remember him as a United. 722 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,320 Speaker 5: States Senator, as obscure figure. 723 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 2: Right who me and Meghan made it all on her own. 724 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 2: Of course, had she not made it on her own, 725 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 2: she had this. 726 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: Father who actually was the vote that thumbs down that 727 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,279 Speaker 1: saved healthcare for all of these millions of people. I 728 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 1: don't know why we're shitting on the sort of success 729 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 1: of that. And the other thing I want to ask you, 730 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:42,640 Speaker 1: I heard a friend of mine say this on a podcast, 731 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: and I got really mad at him, and I actually 732 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:46,360 Speaker 1: called him up and yelled at him because I was like, 733 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 1: my favorite thing to do is call people up and 734 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,040 Speaker 1: yell at them about their opinions. 735 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:51,640 Speaker 2: But he had said, we are in. 736 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: A cycle of back to back to back backlashes where 737 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,560 Speaker 1: voters are so angry that they're going to backlash, you know. 738 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: And he said Hair's going to lose and Trump is 739 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: going to win, not because they want trumpsm but because 740 00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 1: they're angry at the administration, they have right now talk 741 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: me through that idea. 742 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 5: There is something to say about that. And I think that, like, 743 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:12,479 Speaker 5: if you look at it for a very broad view, 744 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,319 Speaker 5: it's just this kind of long period where people don't 745 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:18,239 Speaker 5: really feel like the central issues that they're angry about 746 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,279 Speaker 5: are are being like really directly addressed. We are now 747 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,000 Speaker 5: on like a third straight like this will be a 748 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 5: one term presidency. I'm like, it's our third straight one 749 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,920 Speaker 5: term presidency. I can't like I think like during the 750 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,480 Speaker 5: Cold War period, only like there were two total presidents 751 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:37,799 Speaker 5: like Carter and hw Bush were one term presidents and 752 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:40,960 Speaker 5: just lost reelection and it wasn't because they were killed. 753 00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 5: This is a remarkable period of like swings back one 754 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 5: way and the other. And I do think that there 755 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:49,640 Speaker 5: is a lot to be said about people voting for 756 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:53,440 Speaker 5: Trump over Harris because like not necessarily as an endorsement of 757 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:56,959 Speaker 5: his program, obviously it was a very narrow election. And also, 758 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 5: like what you were saying about Trump's first term, this 759 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,080 Speaker 5: is something I wrote about, like is in this piece 760 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 5: or like a month or two ago, about the main 761 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:10,400 Speaker 5: contradictions of like Trump's presidency, Trump's biggest advantage, like by 762 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,000 Speaker 5: the end of the election, was that people, like a 763 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,759 Speaker 5: majority of people looked back on his first administration or 764 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,680 Speaker 5: they saw it as a retrospective success, which was not 765 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:20,719 Speaker 5: the case at all. He never had positive approval during 766 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:22,759 Speaker 5: his first term, but people look back in what he 767 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,480 Speaker 5: did then when like they thought, like the international scene 768 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 5: was relatively peaceful and the economy wasn't undergoing like an 769 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 5: acostal living crisis, and just like relative stability compared to 770 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 5: the post COVID world, and they looked back on that positively. 771 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 5: But I think is fascinating is that that is that 772 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,799 Speaker 5: that comes after four years where the right has broadly 773 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:47,360 Speaker 5: written off Trump's first term as a miserable, compromised failure. 774 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 5: Like their entire way to explain the election to this 775 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:53,800 Speaker 5: they like twenty twenty to the sent that they recognized 776 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 5: that they even lost it was that, oh, Trump had 777 00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:59,239 Speaker 5: too many globalists around him, he wasn't prepared enough, he 778 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 5: didn't have he wasn't truly socially conservative enough, he wasn't 779 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:07,600 Speaker 5: dedicated enough to the cause. So they have undergone this 780 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:12,280 Speaker 5: extensive effort to really like institutionalize this form of politics 781 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:16,120 Speaker 5: that they're imagining is what people really wanted. And at 782 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,319 Speaker 5: the tail end of that entire process, when they get JD. 783 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:21,680 Speaker 5: Vance's VP and they have the America First Policy Institute 784 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:25,040 Speaker 5: and Product twenty twenty five planning out all these radical changes, 785 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:28,919 Speaker 5: what people vote him in on is over that first term, 786 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,840 Speaker 5: they have gifts avowed more than anybody else. And I 787 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 5: think that if that's what a lot of people expected, 788 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:36,680 Speaker 5: they were going off with what they knew, and his 789 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,920 Speaker 5: approval has like plummeted in the past couple of weeks, 790 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 5: like even more rapidly than a honeymoon bomb usually fades. 791 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,160 Speaker 5: And I think that the people were generally by the 792 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 5: end of twenty twenty four, they were fine with the 793 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:51,120 Speaker 5: idea of a good economy and mean tweets. They weren't 794 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:54,160 Speaker 5: like so disgusted by Trump as a figure, Like it's 795 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,319 Speaker 5: been a decade since he entered politics. They're basically just 796 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,800 Speaker 5: CETI sized to whatever his shtick is. They were fine 797 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,080 Speaker 5: with that. But instead of getting like what they got 798 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:05,279 Speaker 5: during his first term, which is just him being this 799 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,480 Speaker 5: character while things seem to go well, which is a 800 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:11,720 Speaker 5: compromise people were willing to make, they're getting this huge 801 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:16,120 Speaker 5: paleocon ideological project that was never really litigated during the 802 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,759 Speaker 5: term itself, and I think like presenting like obviously, there's 803 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,480 Speaker 5: the oligarchy thing, and like talking about how the rich 804 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,239 Speaker 5: people control it and it's not real democracy. I think 805 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:28,480 Speaker 5: that's a very effective framing that Republicans can't really respond to, 806 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,920 Speaker 5: but also just kind of turning the narrative of elite 807 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:35,279 Speaker 5: capture on its head and talking about how his administration 808 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 5: is being run by these kind of like super ideological creeps. 809 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:41,920 Speaker 5: It's a message that the right has hit liberals with 810 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 5: for a long time. Like I think making the Heritage 811 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,920 Speaker 5: Foundation a household name was one of the few real 812 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:51,480 Speaker 5: impressive successes of twenty twenty four on the Democratic side, 813 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 5: and more of that I think will be helpful. 814 00:39:54,800 --> 00:40:00,200 Speaker 1: It definitely seems like we're in a very abnormal them 815 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:05,120 Speaker 1: all time in American politics. So when we talk about 816 00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:09,240 Speaker 1: like Democrats winning back at the midterms, like it feels 817 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 1: like a fair amount of sunny optimism here, we are 818 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:17,480 Speaker 1: definitely down rabbit hole. Certain things make me think like 819 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 1: will be okay. The incompetence of this administration, the feeling 820 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:28,240 Speaker 1: that Trump you know, already running out of gas. The 821 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: things that make me think we're not going to be okay, 822 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:34,480 Speaker 1: Elin and Trump basically whipped the House vote. You know, 823 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 1: that's clearly what happened here, Republicans in Congress of giving 824 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:41,920 Speaker 1: away their power at an alarming clip. I mean, what 825 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:45,440 Speaker 1: are you watching to sort of tell you whether or 826 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:46,399 Speaker 1: not to sleep at night? 827 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:49,719 Speaker 5: This is going to sound like kind of dire, but 828 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:51,840 Speaker 5: I guess, like to the U Stent, they're actually listening 829 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,400 Speaker 5: to court orders. I mean, no, no, it's not dire. 830 00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:56,480 Speaker 2: I mean that's right. 831 00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:00,360 Speaker 5: You've had jd Vance like LARPing about like oh like 832 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,280 Speaker 5: and like whatever, like eighteen year old Nazi staffer posted 833 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 5: a Napoleon quote on his Twitter page, right, But at 834 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 5: the same you do see them kind of complying with 835 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:13,759 Speaker 5: even like the stuff with the deportation flights. They like 836 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 5: there was obviously all the bragging on Twitter, but like 837 00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:19,839 Speaker 5: they're still litigating that and they're making this convoluted legal 838 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,239 Speaker 5: argument as to why it was still legal, like to 839 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:24,440 Speaker 5: the extent that. I mean, there's like all these really 840 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:28,240 Speaker 5: the right wing like Third Amendment Project whatever they're called, 841 00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:30,520 Speaker 5: Like these right wing people on Twitter who are like 842 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,480 Speaker 5: freaking out and like saying, oh, the judiciary better get 843 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,000 Speaker 5: their act in line, because nothing says we have to 844 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,760 Speaker 5: listen to them. So the extent that like the constitutional 845 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,840 Speaker 5: order is still in operation, I think that that is 846 00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:44,280 Speaker 5: a positive sign. 847 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,600 Speaker 1: Yes, so sad that we're having this conversation, but. 848 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,399 Speaker 5: Yes, go on the question of like elections, I think 849 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 5: is something people are worried about. That's less of like 850 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:56,600 Speaker 5: in terms of the just the pure logistics of it. 851 00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 5: That's less of an immediate concern because those are held 852 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,160 Speaker 5: the state level. If there was like a problem with 853 00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:06,160 Speaker 5: Republicans like in red states, like stopping elections, they've had 854 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:08,759 Speaker 5: that power for a while and they haven't like exercised 855 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:11,879 Speaker 5: it yet, I guess. And even then, like I mean, 856 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:13,600 Speaker 5: I don't know, there's just a lot of like the 857 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,520 Speaker 5: basic kind of machinery that is still I guess intact 858 00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:19,880 Speaker 5: at this point. I guess that makes it so I 859 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,319 Speaker 5: can kind of talk about stuff like twenty twenty eight 860 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:24,239 Speaker 5: without feeling like it's pointless. 861 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:28,200 Speaker 1: I'll take it. I'll take it. Yeah, Josh, will you 862 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:29,440 Speaker 1: please come back soon? 863 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:32,120 Speaker 5: Of course, of course, any time. 864 00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:40,880 Speaker 6: They're no more thickly Jesse Cannon Smelly, we are often 865 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 6: exhausted by the stupidity of GOP State House laws. 866 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,920 Speaker 3: But Arkansas, I think they did the thorough pummeling of 867 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,600 Speaker 3: my exhaustion this week where they brought up a bill 868 00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 3: that could ban hairdressers from giving gender non conforming haircuts 869 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:54,799 Speaker 3: to minors. 870 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 2: Yeah. 871 00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:58,880 Speaker 3: The Party of Freedom, MALLI, the Party of Freedom. 872 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 2: The Party of Freedom. So yeah. 873 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:07,520 Speaker 1: Earlier this month, Arkansas State Rep. Mary Bentley, looking for 874 00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:12,640 Speaker 1: a place on the Supreme Court, introduced HB sixteen sixty 875 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:15,880 Speaker 1: eight a law that would be more appropriate in sixteen 876 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:20,640 Speaker 1: sixty eight, the Vulnerable Youth Protection Act. It's an anti 877 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:25,799 Speaker 1: trans bill that does not actually criminalize anything, but it 878 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:31,680 Speaker 1: weaponizes civil enforcement by permitting lawsuits against people who support 879 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:36,040 Speaker 1: trans people by providing or helping to receive gender affirming 880 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,040 Speaker 1: care or affirming young people in their transition. 881 00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:45,239 Speaker 2: So again, this is the same as Sbaight. 882 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:45,719 Speaker 4: Right. 883 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:49,080 Speaker 1: These are the idea right. Remember in Sbaight, it was 884 00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:53,439 Speaker 1: this abortion law in Texas made it so that men 885 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:57,040 Speaker 1: whose wives or girlfriends had had abortions could sue the 886 00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:01,400 Speaker 1: people who helped them. This is this idea that you 887 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:07,720 Speaker 1: can deputize other Americans to be your henchmen, and it 888 00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:11,880 Speaker 1: is meant to scare people, and it is meant to 889 00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:16,520 Speaker 1: make life harder for people, and it is meant to 890 00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:20,959 Speaker 1: put women, especially those in abusive relationships, in a place 891 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,960 Speaker 1: where they have less power. So this is a page 892 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: out of the Matthew Cosmeric, the judge from Texas who 893 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:31,920 Speaker 1: has been very involved in the Comstock Act. This is 894 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:34,920 Speaker 1: a page out of these guys book. Right, this idea 895 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:40,800 Speaker 1: that you can deputize people to go and harass women 896 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:44,760 Speaker 1: who have had abortions, and here we have a way 897 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:49,160 Speaker 1: to harass people who give haircuts to minors. This is 898 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:52,120 Speaker 1: the kind of thing where it seems very stupid and trivial, 899 00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:57,480 Speaker 1: but it's actually sort of this step towards a police state, right, 900 00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:59,960 Speaker 1: It's a step towards less for. 901 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,839 Speaker 3: America, the true or Wellian state where your neighbors are 902 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,160 Speaker 3: telling on each other and your neighbor you've deputized everybody 903 00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:10,360 Speaker 3: as a law enforcement agent. Of this and exactly what 904 00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:13,200 Speaker 3: the warning was and orwell, yeah, that stuff. 905 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:18,319 Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in 906 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:24,080 Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday to hear the best 907 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:28,440 Speaker 1: minds and politics make sense of all this chaos. If 908 00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:31,520 Speaker 1: you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend 909 00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:33,600 Speaker 1: and keep the conversation going. 910 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:35,200 Speaker 2: Thanks for listening,