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Speaker 1: Hey, guys, ready or not, twenty twenty four is here,

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Speaker 1: and we here at Breaking Points, are already thinking of

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Speaker 1: ways we can up our game for this critical election.

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Speaker 1: We rely on our premium subs to expand coverage, upgrade

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Speaker 1: the studio ad staff give you, guys, the best independent

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Speaker 1: coverage that is possible. If you like what we're all about,

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Speaker 1: it means the absolute world to have your support. What

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Speaker 1: are you waiting for? Become a premium subscriber today at

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Speaker 1: Breakingpoints dot com. Good morning, everybody, Happy Thursday. We have

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Speaker 1: an amazing show for everybody's day. Extra amazing because Crystal's back,

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Speaker 1: thanks to be back. Has something to take care of

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Speaker 1: on Tuesday. But I know Ryan did a fantastic time.

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Speaker 1: He did. He did. Let's to get into this morning.

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Speaker 1: We are starting to get to look at a bipartisan

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Speaker 1: actually pretty good potential response to Ohio. We can see

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Speaker 1: whether it gets through the House in the Senate, but

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Speaker 1: we'll tell you all about that. Also, new developments on

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four front. We've got a bunch of

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Speaker 1: new polls that show Trump extending his lead, and we

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Speaker 1: also have new comments from Ronda Santas about Trump that

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Speaker 1: are very interesting. Some actually good news on insulin prices.

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Speaker 1: So we will break all of that down for you.

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Speaker 1: What exactly does it mean and how far reaching is it?

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Speaker 1: A new report from the government. I guess the government

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Speaker 1: this week is like in the business of admitting things

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Speaker 1: that were obvious for a long time since that we're

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Speaker 1: obviously true that they'll just air out into the publicat guys,

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Speaker 1: guess what Havana syndrome was fake all along? New report

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Speaker 1: says it's not Russia, it's not China. Guess we'll just

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Speaker 1: never know what it is. So anyway, we will break

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Speaker 1: that down for you as long as well as a

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Speaker 1: little bit look back in time at the way that

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Speaker 1: all of this was sold to the public, so that

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Speaker 1: we do not forget. And we also have a bit

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Speaker 1: of a warning coming from China towards Elon Musk and Bronco.

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Speaker 1: Marchaitic is going to be on to talk about the

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Speaker 1: state of democracy in Ukraine as a really in depth

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Speaker 1: report that is worth digging into. But let's go ahead

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Speaker 1: and start with the very latest out of Ohio. Let's

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Speaker 1: go and put this up on the screen in terms

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Speaker 1: of a bipartisan response that is in the works here,

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Speaker 1: we've got a group of six senators who are introducing

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Speaker 1: what they're calling the Railway Safety Act of twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: It is aimed at preventing a repeat of what they

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Speaker 1: describe as the toxic firestorm in East Palestine, Ohio. The

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Speaker 1: senators involved evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. You like

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Speaker 1: to see that, you've got jd Vance shared Brown. Of course,

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Speaker 1: the two senators from Ohio. You also have the two

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Speaker 1: senators from Pennsylvania, neighboring state where the toxic plume floated,

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Speaker 1: that is Bob Casey and John Fetterman. And then you

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Speaker 1: also have Marc Rubio of Florida and Josh Holly of Missouri.

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Speaker 1: Details on what they are proposing here. This is according

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Speaker 1: to a summary that Politico saw. The legislation would number one,

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Speaker 1: require rail carriers to give advanced notice to state emergency

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Speaker 1: response officials before running trains carrying hazardous materials. Apparently, some

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Speaker 1: of the firefighters and other first responders first on the

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Speaker 1: scene had no idea what they were dealing with, which

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Speaker 1: is bad in terms of response, it's very in terms

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Speaker 1: of their health. So that's number one. Number two, they

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Speaker 1: would mandate trains run with at least two person crews. Now,

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Speaker 1: this train in particular did have three people on board,

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Speaker 1: but we know this is far from the only derailment

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Speaker 1: that happens in a given year. There are roughly one

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Speaker 1: thousand trained derailments. This is different than other countries around

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Speaker 1: the world, and the rail industry has been pushing and

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Speaker 1: this is insane to me to reduce the crew numbers

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Speaker 1: from two down to one. And this is something that

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Speaker 1: others have been entertaining in the past. So that's number two.

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Speaker 1: Number three require better monitoring of railcar wheel bearings, which

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Speaker 1: overheated in the Ohio train accident according to the NTSB

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Speaker 1: and likely cause the train to jump the tracks. And

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Speaker 1: number four increase penalties for wrongdoing in the industry. So

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Speaker 1: some mestrics there to try to hold the industry to account. JD.

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Speaker 1: Van said, through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity

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Speaker 1: to ensure that what happened in Ease Palatine will never

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Speaker 1: happen again. We owe every American the peace of mind

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Speaker 1: that their community is protected from catastrophe of this kind.

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Speaker 1: And we have a quote from Shared Brown. Of course,

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Speaker 1: the other Ohio senator rail lobbyists have fought four years

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Speaker 1: to protect their profits at the expense of communities like

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Speaker 1: East Palestine and Steubenville and Sandusky. Those are all neighboring communities.

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Speaker 1: These common sense, bipartisan safety measures will finally hold big

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Speaker 1: railroad companies accountable. So this is maybe not everything, but

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Speaker 1: this is a real response that could make a measurable difference.

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Speaker 1: And it is very, very encouraging to see. Yes it is.

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Speaker 1: And unfortunately, despite the fact that it was introduced in

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Speaker 1: a bipartisan way by the both of the senators from

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Speaker 1: Ohio and both of the senators from Pennsylvania, you have

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Speaker 1: these corporate lobbyists effectively who are in Congress, who represent

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Speaker 1: from the Republican Party, specifically Representative Troy Nels. He is

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Speaker 1: on the Transportation Committee. He's one of the leading people

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Speaker 1: who with this legislation would have to go through. And

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Speaker 1: let's put this up there on the screen. He's already saying.

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Speaker 1: He's like, well, you know, hold on a second here,

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Speaker 1: we have to make sure that there's not too many

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Speaker 1: bird some regulations. He said, quote, A lot of people

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Speaker 1: have a lot of ideas right now. The NTSB had

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Speaker 1: their preliminary report. They'll be more information coming, but here's

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Speaker 1: the most discussing quote that we've seen yet, crystal quote.

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Speaker 1: The real industry has a very high success rate of

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Speaker 1: moving hazardous material to the point of ninety nine percent. Plus.

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Speaker 1: Let's not have some more burdensome regulations and all this

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Speaker 1: other stuff. The other one, Representative Rick Crawford, who is

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Speaker 1: the top Republican on the rail panel before the housewipt

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Speaker 1: for control, he also said, we need to wait for

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Speaker 1: the experts before quote, we start speculating on what legislative

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Speaker 1: fixes might be offered if it's necessary. Probably a little

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Speaker 1: premature at this point. You almost cannot make those quotes up.

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Speaker 1: And this, you know, If anything, it just shows you

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Speaker 1: where the continued split in the GOP is. And unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: you know, Holly, Rubio and Vans are far on the uh.

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Speaker 1: They are absolutely, you know, away from where the mainstream

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Speaker 1: of much of the party is. They want to use

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Speaker 1: most of the Republicans in this party want to use

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Speaker 1: it as an opportunity to cleave Buddha Jege over the head. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm here for that, but then when it comes time

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Speaker 1: to actually increase the fines on the railroad. The other

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Speaker 1: point is on Congressman Nail's point a ninety nine percent

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Speaker 1: plus success rate. Okay, but if the tail end disaster

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Speaker 1: is really bad, then you need to make sure that

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Speaker 1: you do everything possible to make sure that a mass

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Speaker 1: poisoning of an American town never happens again. And this

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Speaker 1: shows you more than anything where the logjam could come from.

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Speaker 1: I also do want to say, is not a guarantee

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Speaker 1: right now that this legislation could pass the Senate. I'm

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Speaker 1: assuming most of the Democrats will probably be able to

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Speaker 1: come on board, but you need nine Republicans. There's only

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Speaker 1: four that are on that list. Can you really get

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Speaker 1: five to cross over here? That's right, you need to

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Speaker 1: get to sixty. I suspect every Democrat would be on board.

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Speaker 1: The divide here really is in the Republican Party, and

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Speaker 1: it's very interesting. I mean, you can see what the

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Speaker 1: rail lobbyist strategy is here. And this is totally classic.

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Speaker 1: We've seen this a million times before. They just want

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Speaker 1: to delay, They want to kick it down the road

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Speaker 1: where people forget about all of this. And so the

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Speaker 1: line you're hearing from these Republican house members, many of whom,

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Speaker 1: by the way, are in the pocket of the railroad industry.

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Speaker 1: They want to say, well, we got an NTSB preliminary report,

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Speaker 1: but we got to wait for the final findings before

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Speaker 1: we really come in and figure out what to No,

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Speaker 1: we know plenty about this incident and about so many

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Speaker 1: other derailments to go ahead and act. But that's what

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Speaker 1: they always try to do. If they can just delay,

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Speaker 1: if they can just push it down the road until

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Speaker 1: people have forgotten about the emotion and the horror of

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Speaker 1: this incident, then they think they can kill the thing altogether.

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Speaker 1: And look, it works all the time. So it is

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Speaker 1: a good and effective strategy, especially when you have people

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Speaker 1: like these bozos in the house who are ultimately on

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Speaker 1: your side. Let me tell you there's another piece of

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Speaker 1: the response that JdE Vance has been proposing. This also

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Speaker 1: meeting with a lot of pushback from Republicans. Let's go

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Speaker 1: and put this up on the screen. So he's proposing

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Speaker 1: an aid program for this area specifically, because think about it, guys,

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Speaker 1: you got people. Now you think you can sell your

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Speaker 1: house in East Palestine, good luck? What do you think

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Speaker 1: your house is worth? Now? What do you think this

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Speaker 1: is like? Now? For you know, people who don't have

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Speaker 1: a choice and have to stay there, or for people

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Speaker 1: who feel like this is not safe. I need to go.

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Speaker 1: There has been a huge financial hit. You think people

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Speaker 1: are gonna want to go, and you know, visit the

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Speaker 1: local coffee shop in East Palestine now and risk whatever

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Speaker 1: still floating in the air and floating in the water.

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Speaker 1: This is going to be a huge economic hit to

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Speaker 1: this area, which, by the way, guys, has been hit

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Speaker 1: hard many times before. So Vance is pitching a PPP

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Speaker 1: style program for Ohio. Basically every Republican that they quoted

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Speaker 1: here was like, let's just wait and see again. Same thing.

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Speaker 1: They then don't necessarily say no, although some of them

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Speaker 1: did come out and basically say no. They're like, let's

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Speaker 1: just wait and see what happens, see what happens down

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Speaker 1: the road, which again is code for let's just wait

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Speaker 1: until everybody forgets about this and we can do absolutely nothing. Yeah. Look,

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Speaker 1: look here's Shelley Moore Capital and you know why this

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Speaker 1: drives me nuts. She's Virginia. You should be on board

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Speaker 1: exactly what type because they'd be good for West Virginia too.

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Speaker 1: If you set this presdent quote, it's something I'd be

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Speaker 1: willing to take a look at. It would be difficult.

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Speaker 1: I want to see those small businesses get back. I

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Speaker 1: know they're having trouble with that. But how do you

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Speaker 1: quantify a training derailment over some kind of other thing.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Look at the pre market, pre disaster

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Speaker 1: value of a house or of a business, then figure

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Speaker 1: out how much they lose after and try and make

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Speaker 1: them home again. It's something to consider. I'd have to

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Speaker 1: see how he would enact something like that. Why don't

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Speaker 1: you help him? You're from one of the most impover

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Speaker 1: states in the entire country? Or here? John? Can this?

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Speaker 1: You know these people drive the same thing Louisiana. Louisiana,

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Speaker 1: by the way, has its own fair share of horrific

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Speaker 1: environmental disaster. Same thing. I understand where Senat Advance is

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Speaker 1: coming from. We've all had natural disasters. When we do,

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Speaker 1: we try to help each other. But it needs to

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Speaker 1: be thought through. A little time needs to pass. We

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Speaker 1: don't even know what the health impacts are going to

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Speaker 1: be yet of a trained d railman, much less the

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Speaker 1: economic impact. I would look at anything that JD wants

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Speaker 1: to propose. What does that mean? Of course, we don't

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Speaker 1: know what the health impact is going to be. Get

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Speaker 1: out in front of it. One of the things that

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Speaker 1: we actually do know is that income is one of

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Speaker 1: the single best determiners of whether you are going to

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Speaker 1: live a long time and be able to seek treatment

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Speaker 1: or not. Good luck if you're poor, you don't have

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Speaker 1: health insurance or you have some terrible high deductible plan

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Speaker 1: that you're going to go and seek the medical treatment

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Speaker 1: that you would otherwise. You've been talking about medicare about

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Speaker 1: being able. We have to make the whole point of

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Speaker 1: help something we cover here all the time. Don't just

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Speaker 1: treat the symptom, try and make sure that it doesn't

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Speaker 1: become a problem. If you've been exposed now to toxic chemicals, man,

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Speaker 1: it's time to kick it into high gear. Like you've

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Speaker 1: got to really take care of your body and make

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Speaker 1: sure that you are getting wet by maybe quarterly blood tests,

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Speaker 1: like you need a lot of modern insurance not going

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Speaker 1: to cover any of that. So why would we wait

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Speaker 1: until you get cancer before we're going to start Ten

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Speaker 1: years down the road and there's a cancer cluster bingo,

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Speaker 1: think of how hard it was and how by the

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Speaker 1: skin of its teeth. The legislation I think is called

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Speaker 1: the Packed Act. Yes No for toxic burn pit victims

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Speaker 1: who you know suffer from all kinds of different cancers

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Speaker 1: from their exposure while they were in war zones fighting

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Speaker 1: for our country. Think of how hard it was to

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Speaker 1: get that done in Congress. You think that ten years

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Speaker 1: down the line, if you have a cancer cluster here,

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Speaker 1: that you're going to be able to get action through Congress. No,

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Speaker 1: if anything is going to happen, it's gonna happen now

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Speaker 1: while the media is still covering it, while this is

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Speaker 1: still fresh in people's minds, while it's still in the news.

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Speaker 1: You wait, you're right, Senator Kennedy. He was the one

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Speaker 1: who made that comment. Oh, we don't know what the

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Speaker 1: long term health impacts are. We don't know. That's why,

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Speaker 1: at the very least these people should have health care,

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Speaker 1: but they should definitely have economic assistance too. And you

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Speaker 1: want to make Norfolk Southern pay for it? I am all, well,

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Speaker 1: that would have a Senator Brown said, Norfolk Southern's going

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Speaker 1: to pay for all of this percent. Good to go

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Speaker 1: with that. But this is no excuse for just turning

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Speaker 1: the other cheek and say, oh, well, we'll just wait

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Speaker 1: and see what happens and hope it all gets better.

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Speaker 1: The White House, there's some reporting they are also weighing

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Speaker 1: if they could provide some kind of economic relief. It

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Speaker 1: seems like they are very sort of like all over

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Speaker 1: the place and very uninformed in terms of what their

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Speaker 1: thoughts are and what they could do. Let's go and

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Speaker 1: put this up on the screen. This from our friend

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Speaker 1: Jeff Steing over the Washington Post. Biden aids weigh economic

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Speaker 1: aid for East Palestine after derailment. The administration wants to

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Speaker 1: make Norfolk Southern pay for any cost, but is exploring

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Speaker 1: backup options. It says the exact details of any White

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Speaker 1: House action are unknown. Administration say it's determined to force

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Speaker 1: Norfolk Southern to pay. They also might face challenges in

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Speaker 1: crafting financial aid package for a town that is fewer

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Speaker 1: than five thousand people, but many residents have already decided

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Speaker 1: to leave the town keep their children out of school,

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Speaker 1: putting pressure on the federal government to help the reeling

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Speaker 1: ross community. And as part of that process, AIDS have

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Speaker 1: looked at whether existing federal dollars could be used to

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Speaker 1: help small businesses. The administration is also considering infrastructure improvements

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Speaker 1: in the area. The talks are described as preliminary, and

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Speaker 1: administration of stress it remains possible the White House decides

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Speaker 1: against devoting economic aid to East Palestine. Everybody spoke on

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Speaker 1: condition of anonymity, So that's good there. Yeah, let's just

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Speaker 1: speak on and I don't know, I mean just the level.

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Speaker 1: You know, look on a purely political basis, you don't

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Speaker 1: think it's very popular for the Republican senator to team

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Speaker 1: up with the Democratic senator and to offer up cash

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Speaker 1: and to a railway safety bill. Why is the White

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Speaker 1: House letting himself get outflanked on this? I don't understand, Biden.

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Speaker 1: I'm a union guy Scranton, Joe, what are you doing? Say?

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Speaker 1: You know, first, it started with breaking the railway strike.

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Speaker 1: That was probably original sin number one in terms of

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Speaker 1: basically telling you guy, these guys screw you. Two, visiting

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Speaker 1: Kiev before East Palestine. Three, then basically turning at political

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Speaker 1: and saying since Trump went to Theaset Palistine, I can't

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Speaker 1: go to these Palestine and saying no, the president has

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Speaker 1: no plans to go over there, and then just you know,

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Speaker 1: these middling plants. It's it's really disgusting because you're basically

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Speaker 1: watching the establishment Republicans team up with what maybe just

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Speaker 1: maybe just lazy or just non thinking the establishment Democratic

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Speaker 1: Party on this. They just want to move. They're like, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: but now that it's become a political hotbed issue, we

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Speaker 1: don't want to be seen caving. And the actual people

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Speaker 1: there are the ones who are actually getting screwed. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And that's that's actually why I think it's such a

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Speaker 1: terrible story. They don't want to set a precedent of

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Speaker 1: actually helping people when they need help. I mean, that's

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Speaker 1: the bottom line. It's five thousand people. This is nothing

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Speaker 1: in terms of like the federal budget, even if they

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Speaker 1: can't force Norfolk Southern to ultimately pay for which of

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Speaker 1: course they obviously should. But that's what they're afraid of,

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Speaker 1: is the precedent of, like, oh my god, then we

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Speaker 1: might have to help people in the future when things

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Speaker 1: get screwed up. They don't want that precedent ultimately. But

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Speaker 1: to your point on the politics, Biden re member, he

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Speaker 1: did that bipartisan press conference with Mitch McConnell in Kentucky,

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Speaker 1: travel there to teut the infrastructure bill. Could do the

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Speaker 1: same thing here with Jade Vance. Go jd Vance, shared Brown,

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Speaker 1: go to Ohio. You know, Greatack his ppp idea or

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Speaker 1: work together with him on crafting something else, if there's

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Speaker 1: a better approach that you prefer. Ultimately, you know, that

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Speaker 1: would be a boon to show that this is a

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Speaker 1: price cident. Who really cares about citizens of Ohio state

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Speaker 1: that not so long ago was a swing state and

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Speaker 1: sort of back up his working class man of the

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Speaker 1: people supposed credibility. So I just think they have both

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Speaker 1: on the substance and on the politics of this, really

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Speaker 1: bungled this whole situation. But just to go back to

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Speaker 1: the beginning, the fact that there is a bipartisan bill

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Speaker 1: that addresses some real issues is a very hopeful thing.

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Speaker 1: It has difficult odds, especially in the Republican held House,

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Speaker 1: but perhaps there's a chance here because of the public

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Speaker 1: pressure and scrutiny on this event. Ultimately, back to let's

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Speaker 1: go ahead to this next piece. So I mentioned that

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Speaker 1: the strategy of the rail lobbyists is to delay, delay, delay,

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Speaker 1: And then also when you heard some of the Republicans

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Speaker 1: echoing this exact talking point, they are now placing ads

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Speaker 1: in Politico, which in instances has been very favorable to

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Speaker 1: industry on this whole Ohio story. They're paying Politico to

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Speaker 1: place ads that are touting their great record of safety,

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Speaker 1: they say Politico presented by the Association of American Railroads,

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Speaker 1: this is all reporting from our friends over at Lever News,

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Speaker 1: and they say, when it comes to safety, ninety nine

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Speaker 1: point nine percent is not enough. Well, ninety nine point

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Speaker 1: nine percent of all hazmat shipments that move by rail

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Speaker 1: reach their destination safely. We know a single incident can

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Speaker 1: have significant impacts. So basically the idea here, Sager is

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Speaker 1: like government doesn't need to act us could folks at

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Speaker 1: the rail Association, lobbyist group, whatever they're called, We're working

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Speaker 1: on it. We've got this. Don't you worry about it? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I mean, what the hell are they doing over there?

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Speaker 1: And you know, this is one of those which we

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Speaker 1: brought you some of the reporting from Politico. But this

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Speaker 1: is part of what the problem is with corporate media.

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Speaker 1: Like when you have straight up newsletters and other things

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Speaker 1: that are being straight sponsored by the Association of American Railroads.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that it's an accident that the Railroad

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Speaker 1: Association calls plut and say, hey, we need to buy

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Speaker 1: some status on your newsletter. Do you know why they

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Speaker 1: do this? Let's explain. Politico is one of those outlets,

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Speaker 1: especially that newsletter that we brought you play book. Everybody

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Speaker 1: in Washington reads this thing, and I really do mean

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Speaker 1: like everybody from the lowest level staffer all the way

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Speaker 1: up to probably the White House Chief of staff. It's

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Speaker 1: like an internal it's almost like a gossip girl, to

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Speaker 1: be honest with you, for like the biggest losers in DC.

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Speaker 1: There you go, Tiger, That's right. That's a great way

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Speaker 1: of putting it. And so the reason why these associations,

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Speaker 1: these lobbyists and all these others buy ad space in

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Speaker 1: them is it's the easy way where you're not just

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Speaker 1: targeting let's say, a mass audience. You know, people like

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Speaker 1: who we speak to. You're speaking directly to the decision makers,

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Speaker 1: to the people who would be most influenced by the lobbyists.

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Speaker 1: And their direct hope is to try and get their ads,

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Speaker 1: their spin, their propaganda in front of their eyes. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you can understand why they would want to

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Speaker 1: do that, But if you're a journalistic outlet, how can

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Speaker 1: you possibly report fairly on this when you were taking

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Speaker 1: money from them at the exact same time that it's

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Speaker 1: outrageous And they do this with everything just so people

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Speaker 1: know when they're reporting on anti trust Facebook miraculously just

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Speaker 1: starts coughing up whenever they're reporting on what was. Whenever

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Speaker 1: they're reporting on medical issues, you'll have the American Medical Association.

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Speaker 1: I've seen the defense industry sponsors technologs of times. It's

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Speaker 1: one of those where and here everybody thinks it's business

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Speaker 1: as usual. It's like you and I are some of

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Speaker 1: the only people in this town are like, hey, this

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Speaker 1: is kind of crazy, right, are we just not going

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Speaker 1: to talk about this well? And to add insult to

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Speaker 1: injury here? I mean, you're so right that this is

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Speaker 1: just core to the disgusting corporate business corporate media business

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Speaker 1: model and why they will never be good arbiters of

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Speaker 1: like facts and journalism, especially when it comes to an

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Speaker 1: issue related to industry. Before politicos started running these new ads,

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Speaker 1: their national Politics reporter actually attacked the Lever for asking

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Speaker 1: their readers to help fund their continued reporting on East

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Speaker 1: Palestine derailment and train safety RL. So think about this.

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Speaker 1: The Lever gets attacked for asking readers to support their

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Speaker 1: work like grassroots reader sponsored journalism, not getting a bunch

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Speaker 1: of money from the rail industry to then report on this,

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Speaker 1: and then you know they turn around and that's exactly

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Speaker 1: what they get. So they're criticizing the funding of Lever News,

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Speaker 1: getting grassroots readers, supported, donations and funding, and meanwhile they're

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Speaker 1: just taking cash from industry and somehow that scene as

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Speaker 1: a superior. It's insane. Yeah, so can you explain it again?

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Speaker 1: What is their exact critique here? So here, I'll pull

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Speaker 1: up the tweet that he's sent. He basically so this guy,

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Speaker 1: Adam Ran is his name, to call him out, national

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Speaker 1: politics correspondent for Politico. He tweeted David sirot as the

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Speaker 1: lever it's fundraising off of the East Palestine Ohio train derailment. No,

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Speaker 1: it's called if you are independent news, you rely on

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Speaker 1: regular citizens to fund your journalism instead of industry lobbyists

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Speaker 1: like Politico does. So he is smearing David as somehow

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Speaker 1: and the Lever as somehow like disgraced on this. Oh,

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Speaker 1: David does his job. He exposes this before anybody else

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Speaker 1: and then ask people to help support his mission. I

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Speaker 1: get emails from the Washington Post in the New York

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Speaker 1: Times every time they break some stupid ass Trump scoop

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Speaker 1: being like, do you want to stick it to power?

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Speaker 1: Sign up for the New York Times. So okay, first

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Speaker 1: of all, it's fine what he's doing. You know, people

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Speaker 1: do have to make a living, and if you want

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Speaker 1: to support that type of work, we are very happy

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Speaker 1: to partner with the lever and official break import I

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Speaker 1: think the very first one. Right, So first break, why

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Speaker 1: do you think this is exactly the reason? And you know,

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Speaker 1: he can't even fathom that this is somehow something that

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Speaker 1: he needs to highlight as some some sort of nefarious act.

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Speaker 1: When this guy's getting you know, at least in part

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Speaker 1: some of his paycheck, it's coming from somewhere. He should

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Speaker 1: absolutely be coming from railroad lobbyists, defense industry, oil and gas,

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Speaker 1: like any lobbyist interest in the city has spun in Politico,

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Speaker 1: and he has the nerve to come after David Szerota

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Speaker 1: for doing grassroots fundraising for independent media. Right anyway, all right,

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Speaker 1: it's really something. Yes, let's talk about twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 1: some fun stuff and an interview actually conducted yesterday which

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Speaker 1: will bring you some parts of But let's start very

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Speaker 1: first with the twenty twenty four race with Ron DeSantis

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Speaker 1: and with Donald Trump. So of course, you know, despite

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Speaker 1: everything that you might hear in the media, for Trump,

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Speaker 1: things are actually going pretty well. Let's go and put

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Speaker 1: this up there on the screen. Four of the latest

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Speaker 1: polls of GOP primary voters not only see Trump leading DeSantis,

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Speaker 1: they actually show him extending his lead over DeSantis. So

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Speaker 1: here's the four aggregation Emerson Trump fifty five, DeSantis twenty five,

429
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:44,200
Speaker 1: Yahoo News Trump forty seven, Desantus thirty nine, Echelon Trump

430
00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,840
Speaker 1: forty six, DeSantis thirty one, Fox News Trump forty three,

431
00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 1: DeSantis twenty eight. All four of them show an increase

432
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,600
Speaker 1: for Trump in February over the last month. So this

433
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,919
Speaker 1: is why it's important. Let's say and bacon polling errors

434
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,920
Speaker 1: and many of these other types of things. Let's say

435
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 1: that the poles can be off significantly as they were,

436
00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,280
Speaker 1: then it's important within these poles to see movement because

437
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 1: obviously the polsters are going to have the same errors

438
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 1: baked in, and then within that we can see some track.

439
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,280
Speaker 1: So we can't infer truth. You know, even the aggregate

440
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 1: of in twenty twenty two is totally wrong. Yeah, found

441
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,600
Speaker 1: and these poles in this race right then, oh, all

442
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,439
Speaker 1: over the laces, all of them map. So you got

443
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: him all the way from thirty nine down to what

444
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 1: was twenty five was the lowest. I mean, that's not

445
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:34,399
Speaker 1: actually not terrible if you consider like what the range is,

446
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,400
Speaker 1: and again importantly all four Sea movement towards Trump. Why

447
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 1: is that? Well, A Desanta's not a candidate. So if

448
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 1: I was a DeSantis person, I'd be like, look, he's

449
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:44,439
Speaker 1: not even a declared Canadate. I haven't even had the

450
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 1: race on, But what are we learning? The first mover

451
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:50,960
Speaker 1: of trump advantage is so immense, and he is near

452
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:54,439
Speaker 1: fifty in almost every single one of these. That's higher

453
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,760
Speaker 1: than where he started off in twenty sixteen when he

454
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,480
Speaker 1: swept all of the early primaries going into Super Tuesday.

455
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,880
Speaker 1: So if you see the increasing trend of candidates getting

456
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 1: in the race, Nikki Haley, viviak Ramaswami, you got Pence

457
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,240
Speaker 1: on the line. Possibly DeSantis. He's going on a tour.

458
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,119
Speaker 1: He's got a new book out. Apparently he's going to

459
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 1: South Carolina and New Hampshire and Iowa. Complete coincidence. Who

460
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,880
Speaker 1: else why would anyone go there for a book tour?

461
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: But I think we know said we have Tim Scott

462
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,480
Speaker 1: who wants to get in the race. Who got all

463
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 1: these other people? Right? K? Yeah, Glenn you know, everybody's

464
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:29,960
Speaker 1: on the fence right now. You know, probably half the

465
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,720
Speaker 1: people I mentioned are either already running or going to run,

466
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,520
Speaker 1: and you're just recreating the same dynamic, except that Trump

467
00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,640
Speaker 1: is actually stronger right now than he was. That's last time.

468
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 1: That's the most important thing. And you know, there was

469
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,360
Speaker 1: a lot of second guessing of when he launched his campaign,

470
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:48,119
Speaker 1: remember after the midterms didn't go well for him and

471
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: did go really well for Ron DeSantis. That was like, oh,

472
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:52,560
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is the time to launch

473
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 1: when he's weak. I think that was I mean, we

474
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 1: said at the time, we thought it was exactly the

475
00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:59,199
Speaker 1: right time to launch, actually to try to lock in

476
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,399
Speaker 1: support and get that first mover's advantage. And listen, not

477
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:04,440
Speaker 1: trying to say I told you so, but I think

478
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:06,439
Speaker 1: we can see that there has been an advantage for

479
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,919
Speaker 1: him in coming out first the you know, the hit

480
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: he took both from the midterms and also from the

481
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,600
Speaker 1: initial phases of the whole classified document situation. I think

482
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 1: that has all really faded so that now not only

483
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,440
Speaker 1: is he doing well against Ron de Santis, by the way,

484
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 1: he's also doing well against Joe Biden. And he's he's

485
00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:27,919
Speaker 1: now he's sort of let go. I wouldn't say he's

486
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:29,920
Speaker 1: really you know, put it in the past, but he's

487
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 1: talking a little bit less about his election conspiracy obsessions,

488
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,760
Speaker 1: and he's focused on issues that are quite intelligent for

489
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,119
Speaker 1: him to be focused on, in particular social security and

490
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,560
Speaker 1: Medicare and also Ukraine. These are issues where there's a

491
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,680
Speaker 1: real divide in the Republican Party. He's positioning himself alongside

492
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,679
Speaker 1: the base against where a lot of the Republican sort

493
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:53,359
Speaker 1: of elite commentariat is. That's precisely straight out of the

494
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,639
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen playbook, and it's putting a lot of his adversaries,

495
00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,959
Speaker 1: including Ron de Santis, in a difficult position, ultimately extraordinary

496
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,720
Speaker 1: difficult position. And we have here's the other problem for DeSantis.

497
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,960
Speaker 1: His responses and his comebacks to Trump have just been

498
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 1: weak as hell, like we need to all be. They're getting,

499
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:14,320
Speaker 1: they're degrading, they're honestly like Ted Cruz twenty sixteen levels

500
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:16,359
Speaker 1: of just like, dude, what the hell are you doing?

501
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 1: So here is his response Brian Kilmead on the Brian

502
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:23,520
Speaker 1: kill Meads Show, where he says it's silly season. That's

503
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:25,359
Speaker 1: all he could come up with. Let's take a listen,

504
00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:27,359
Speaker 1: so govern I'm too. As soon as they close the book,

505
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:29,399
Speaker 1: I said, this guy's running for president. This seems to

506
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 1: be a blueprint to run for president, because if I

507
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:33,199
Speaker 1: look at your career, and if I look at what

508
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 1: you say, you don't just say this was good for today.

509
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 1: This is good for families, It's good for state, this

510
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 1: is good for a country. You were concerned about the

511
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,919
Speaker 1: country from the day you stepped into the campus of Yale,

512
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,560
Speaker 1: reinforced Harvard, fought for it in Iraq? Am I wrong

513
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:47,880
Speaker 1: to assume that there's in the excellent chance you're running

514
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,640
Speaker 1: for president. Having kids in school during covid on, opposing

515
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,800
Speaker 1: the employer vax mandates and things like that. Education we've

516
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,439
Speaker 1: led the way. I like to see a competition amongst

517
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,440
Speaker 1: all the all the red states about you know, who

518
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 1: can kind of outdo each other. Think it's a blueprint

519
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,160
Speaker 1: for other states. I do think it can be applied nationally.

520
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: But it's less about me than about I think the

521
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: underlying principles that we need to restore our country. I

522
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 1: read the whole thing. Now, one disparaging word about President Trump.

523
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 1: Are you guys speaking now? Do you plan on speaking

524
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 1: to him, he sees to be taking some shots at you. No,

525
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 1: I mean, look, I mean it's silly season. I mean,

526
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 1: you know how some of this stuff goes. And obviously

527
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:21,720
Speaker 1: he does his thing, and it's just that's kind of

528
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 1: kind of who is. But what I wanted to do

529
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 1: was was just given honest appraisal of kind of how

530
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 1: we got to this point, the failures of the DC

531
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 1: Republican establishment and how Donald Trump was speaking to things

532
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,159
Speaker 1: that some of the old guard refused to address. And

533
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:39,280
Speaker 1: that's just a fact. What is this? And then he

534
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: turns around and praises Trump. That's the point. That's always

535
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:43,879
Speaker 1: the issue. You know, we're about to get to we'll

536
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,160
Speaker 1: talk a little bit a little bit. I interviewed viag Ramaswami,

537
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 1: same thing. You know, he had to praise Trumpy. He

538
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 1: offered a little bit of and we'll play you exactly

539
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,479
Speaker 1: what that was. But that's a big problem when you

540
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 1: can't criticize the person that you ostensibly want to replace.

541
00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,199
Speaker 1: I mean, what are we doing here? It's just not

542
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,439
Speaker 1: going to happen. And look, I'm sorry, it's silly season.

543
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 1: That ain't gonna cut it. Like, you have got to

544
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,880
Speaker 1: come through with an actual critique of why you would

545
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,840
Speaker 1: be better And I'm sorry, nobody cares about your book.

546
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: Like I was telling you while we were listening to them,

547
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 1: like why do they even bother with these books? You know,

548
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,719
Speaker 1: all these guys, No politician book is ever good, always

549
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: springboards stuff. Tell you why. The technical reason part of

550
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 1: why they do it is because of the intricacies of

551
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,199
Speaker 1: campaign finance. So it allows them to go through the

552
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 1: store and do royalties and have staff that are involved

553
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,400
Speaker 1: with it and pay that staff and not like officially

554
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: have launched a presidential campaign. So that's one reason why

555
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: they ultimately do it. But I did. I listened to

556
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:44,040
Speaker 1: this whole interview. It was really embarrassing on Brian Kilmean's

557
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,439
Speaker 1: part because, Okay, you have a guy who's governor of

558
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,439
Speaker 1: an important state, who is almost certainly going to run

559
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,280
Speaker 1: for president, who is a very strong contender to run

560
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,479
Speaker 1: for president, and you spend like fifteen minutes of your

561
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 1: twenty minute interview talking to him about his Walt Disney wedding.

562
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,119
Speaker 1: Like come on, I mean, that's just embarrassing as a journalists.

563
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,880
Speaker 1: And one of the things that you see is, yeah,

564
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 1: it's true. I think Fox News really likes Ron DeSantis.

565
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:13,400
Speaker 1: The whole Rupert Murdoch empire really likes DeSantis. But one

566
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 1: of the things that's come out in all of these

567
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 1: text messages and exchanges from the dominion lawsuit is they

568
00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 1: don't really have control over the Republican base anymore. You know,

569
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:25,360
Speaker 1: they wanted to initially try to steer them in one direction,

570
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 1: and then when the base was going one way on

571
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:29,639
Speaker 1: stop the deal and they were trying to go on

572
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,719
Speaker 1: the other way, ultimately they're like, yeah, we can't do it.

573
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:33,359
Speaker 1: We're just going to go for the ratings because these

574
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,520
Speaker 1: people will all abandon us. So they don't have the

575
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: control over the Republican base that perhaps ultimately they once did. Right, Yeah,

576
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: I think you're right, and just you know, in general,

577
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,920
Speaker 1: it's a humiliating, just way that these guys are unable

578
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 1: fundamentally to critique the leading candidates. And that is why

579
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: he is the leading candidate. Yes, he's in the race,

580
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: and you know what, to the extent like they never

581
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 1: directly criticize him, but to the extent that they carve

582
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 1: out positions that are different from him, their positions are worse, right, right,

583
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 1: They're like, actually, we need to cut like Mike Pence,

584
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: we need to cut we need to privatize Social Security,

585
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: and we also need a national abortion band like. Those

586
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:14,440
Speaker 1: are worse, Yes, you are different from Trump. Those are

587
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 1: worse positions. Ultimately, Nikki Haley, same thing. Got to put

588
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: entitlements on the table. And she's also you know, going

589
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: against the Republican base in terms of Ukraine Aid as well.

590
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 1: So he's also positioned himself better politically than almost any

591
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:31,880
Speaker 1: of the other contenders to the extent that they carve

592
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 1: out any different positions whatsoever. And you got at this

593
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: with a Vivek as well, who one of the areas

594
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: where he's different from Trump is he also would put

595
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: entitlement cuts on the table and says that Trump spent

596
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: too much money when he was an office show. That's

597
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: not an improvement over Donald Trump for like eighty percent

598
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,520
Speaker 1: of the public. That makes you worse. And speaking of this,

599
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,960
Speaker 1: we had a hilarious moment on Fox News, so Killmead

600
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 1: goes down to a Florida diner. By the way, diner

601
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: Fox News might be the most mid and awful Fox

602
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 1: of all time. Just I don't know why people in

603
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 1: a diner are somehow more representative of everybody else but whatever.

604
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 1: I don't know why these people are in a diner

605
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:11,360
Speaker 1: on workday. That's another question. Let's get to that. So

606
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,240
Speaker 1: Brian kill Me and his Florida diner is like, so,

607
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: who's gonna vote for Ronda Sanders? Anybody want to vote

608
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 1: for rond de Sanders? The results are unintentionally hilarious. Let's

609
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 1: take a listen. First off, Met Jroe dining here. I

610
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: got a question for you, ready, Hi, twenty twenty four?

611
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 1: Who's pumped up for the election? TI wrapped fire? Who's

612
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 1: your man? Who's your woman? My man? Donald Trump? Donald Trump,

613
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:45,040
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, Christy Trump, Christie? No, who's your man? Trump woman?

614
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 1: Trump Trump Trump? A lot of Trump fans Trump and

615
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 1: Nicky Haley, Nicky Haley, Donald Trump and Nicky Haley. All right,

616
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: so far, a lot of Donald Trump? I see, I see, uh,

617
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 1: Governor DeSantis? What about President sand I like it? I

618
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 1: like it? Who's your pick? Oh, gos, I'm either yes,

619
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:16,240
Speaker 1: Trump Trump Trump trump trumpet des Santa's either or that's

620
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 1: a problem. He goes over this lady, she's literally wearing

621
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 1: a dessanta shirt, thinking that like, surely this one's going

622
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: to give me Desanta's and she's like they're both good

623
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 1: either one. I hate to be proven right in many

624
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 1: of these cases. And I understand that a lot of

625
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 1: people would like to move on from Trump. I'm not

626
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 1: saying it wouldn't be better, but you know, you got

627
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 1: to live in reality sometimes. And if you want to

628
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 1: talk about some of the most hardcore people who are

629
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,040
Speaker 1: going to show up in a GOP primary, people who

630
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: take time out of their workday and or are retired

631
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,800
Speaker 1: in a Florida diner, showing up for a Fox News

632
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 1: event is about as good as it gets for a

633
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 1: testing ground of like, Hey, how is this all going

634
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,480
Speaker 1: to work out? And what did we hear? Whoa? And

635
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,240
Speaker 1: that was almost almost every single answer was Trump, Nikki Hale.

636
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: But she said Trump, and yeah, exactly, she goes Trump

637
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: and Nikki Haley. So it's like ep right exactly, so

638
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 1: and she's like, yeah, she's all right, but Trump Trump

639
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 1: at the first listen. I've tried to explain it here,

640
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: like Trump has a special connection to the Republican base

641
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 1: in a way that no Republican politician has had since

642
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan and likely before that since I don't even know,

643
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 1: maybe Barry Goldwater. And it's one of those where it's

644
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:23,560
Speaker 1: difficult to explain. You kind of have to see it

645
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 1: to believe it. Honestly, even just talking and listening to

646
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 1: people like us trying to tell you about it, it's

647
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,920
Speaker 1: always better to just hear it from them themselves. Now, look,

648
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,120
Speaker 1: let's be fair, not necessarily representative, but if you were

649
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 1: to look where you might see an actual explosion of

650
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 1: to Santa's interest and a possibility of winning people over,

651
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 1: it would be in a Florida day and a Florida

652
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 1: diner is a pretty likely say that was clearly what

653
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:49,960
Speaker 1: he thought as well going to that, that's what I

654
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,000
Speaker 1: I don't think that's how he thought that would all unfold.

655
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, it really does have a lot of

656
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 1: a lot of twenty sixteen vibes when everybody but Trump

657
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: was fighting to basically be the Trump alternative, taking shots

658
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: at each other. They're not afraid to come after one another,

659
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 1: right Mike Pence going after Ron DeSantis for example, a

660
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,080
Speaker 1: lot of other shots taken at Rond de Santis. They're

661
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:16,680
Speaker 1: not afraid to fight amongst each other. But if you

662
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,080
Speaker 1: think Trump is just going to implode and go away,

663
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 1: like there's nothing in recent history that suggests that's ultimately

664
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:25,680
Speaker 1: the case. And meanwhile, while this is all happening on

665
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 1: the sidelines, his poll numbers are going up. So at

666
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 1: some point somebody, and this is the problem, is they

667
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 1: know that whoever actually comes after him, kind of a

668
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,800
Speaker 1: prisoner's dilemma, ya, is probably going to get noved ye,

669
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: And so none of them wants to be that person,

670
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 1: and so they all just step back. Actually, his administration

671
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 1: was great, and his policies they were wonderful, and you know,

672
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 1: I think he said a lot of things that needed

673
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,400
Speaker 1: to be said. Okay, then why aren't you then why

674
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: should anyone vote for you over the guy that you

675
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 1: are telling them was actually wonderful and great too good.

676
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: It's one of those where I just think they will

677
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 1: never be able to work themselves out of it. And

678
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 1: the longer that this goes on, the better off Trump is.

679
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 1: Trump is fun again in a way that he hasn't

680
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 1: been in a long time. He seems, I think always

681
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:10,440
Speaker 1: has been better off whenever he's not president. That's kind

682
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: of like whenever he was at his most full Fulsome

683
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: he's got the team around him. Some of the guys

684
00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:19,200
Speaker 1: like Jason Miller's original comms director from twenty sixteen. He's

685
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,280
Speaker 1: on a very very light staff and frankly, that's frankly,

686
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,840
Speaker 1: we know whenever he best operates. Yeah, I'm only talking

687
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 1: here as a politician, not as a competent commander in chief.

688
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:31,879
Speaker 1: But look, that's ultimately how you get elected. And from

689
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:33,759
Speaker 1: this point forward, I think this is going to be

690
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,000
Speaker 1: the most formidable dynamic. Okay, so sticking with this. Had

691
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:40,440
Speaker 1: the opportunity yesterday. Vivik Ramaswami just recently and renounced his

692
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,560
Speaker 1: run for president. He's a former biotech executive who sold

693
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 1: his company and made a lot of money, made some

694
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,200
Speaker 1: interesting rumblings over the last couple of years. So he

695
00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:51,440
Speaker 1: wrote a book called Woke, Inc. It was actually a

696
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,640
Speaker 1: fantastic book in my opinion, because it was about ESG,

697
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,600
Speaker 1: and specifically about the takeover and the use of shareholder

698
00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:00,799
Speaker 1: capitalism to push values that don't necessari not only align

699
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: with American public, but really much more hurting the country

700
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,759
Speaker 1: using these values and others to go away from the

701
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 1: core value of business. Let me go ahead, let me

702
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,120
Speaker 1: just say, because I think we have a different view

703
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,000
Speaker 1: on this. My critique of ESG is that it's just

704
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:18,360
Speaker 1: like a basic corporate virtue signal that is actually meaningless

705
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: and doesn't really accomplish what they claim that it's ultimately accomplishing.

706
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: His view is like corporations have too much power. But

707
00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 1: then also he doesn't actually have any critique of corporate power,

708
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,919
Speaker 1: of like argument of how you would check corporate power.

709
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,719
Speaker 1: I actually wouldn't even disagree. One of the original disagreements

710
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:39,719
Speaker 1: if a vac and I ever had was I was like, well,

711
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 1: held on a second, here, I hate ESG. I'm very

712
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: against ESG. And I was like, but what if an

713
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,920
Speaker 1: American company wanted to actually take make less money by

714
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 1: making stuff in America? I'm like, would you be against that?

715
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 1: And he's like, well, you know, it would possibly conflict

716
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,480
Speaker 1: with shareholder capitalism. So the point that I'm making is

717
00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,959
Speaker 1: that he is probably much more of a free market

718
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:02,120
Speaker 1: died in the wool capitalist. Yes, he's got a good

719
00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 1: I think critique of ESG. I don't necessarily agree with

720
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:06,879
Speaker 1: a lot of what he says. All right, let's put

721
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 1: that to this, let's put that to the side. So

722
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,640
Speaker 1: he wrote this book, kind of became prominent. He was

723
00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,359
Speaker 1: on Fox News quite often. He wrote another book about

724
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,239
Speaker 1: the Nation of Victims, kind of outlining his philosophy. So

725
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to interview Vivegue and one of

726
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:20,919
Speaker 1: the things I wanted to get to with the Vegue is, look,

727
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:22,319
Speaker 1: I tried. You know. One of the things I told

728
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:23,960
Speaker 1: him at the top, I said, I'm going to take

729
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,120
Speaker 1: you seriously. I'm gonna take you seriously as a candidate.

730
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 1: We took Andrew Yang seriously, we took Telsea Gabbard seriously.

731
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:31,799
Speaker 1: He came on the re alignment because it's comfortable. We've

732
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,200
Speaker 1: interviewed him a couple of times there and we have

733
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 1: a long standing relationship. But in this you're going to

734
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:40,319
Speaker 1: see that Marshall and I press him a little bit

735
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 1: on some of the interesting political questions that he hasn't

736
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,200
Speaker 1: gotten to. And one of those that I was really

737
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,080
Speaker 1: intent on getting was Trump, because I'm like, look, you

738
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:50,800
Speaker 1: cannot sit here just and say Trump is a friend,

739
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,399
Speaker 1: and why I'm moving forward? What was wrong with America? First?

740
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 1: One point zho why two point zero? A lot of

741
00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 1: people from that diner that we just played you that clip,

742
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,239
Speaker 1: they liked, why should they vote for you? And he

743
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,360
Speaker 1: offered what I thought to date was his first tapid

744
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,400
Speaker 1: criticism of Trump. Let's take a listen to some of that,

745
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:11,719
Speaker 1: as well as some of the policy disagreements. What was

746
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:13,440
Speaker 1: wrong with America? First? One point? Oh, why is that

747
00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:15,800
Speaker 1: nothing was wrong with America? Person But I would I

748
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 1: wouldn't borrow the lingo America first if I thought something

749
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 1: was wrong with it. I care a lot about national unity,

750
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:25,319
Speaker 1: and I know President Trump, he's a friend. He's misunderstood

751
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,920
Speaker 1: on this. He cares about national unity too, I know

752
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 1: he does, but he I don't think is capable in

753
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,600
Speaker 1: the same way of delivering it, because if he was,

754
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:35,440
Speaker 1: we wouldn't be where we are right now. On the

755
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 1: election of twenty twenty, was it stolen or not? Yes

756
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,840
Speaker 1: or no question? Yes, but not in the way that

757
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,720
Speaker 1: not in the way that you mean that question. Okay,

758
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 1: so what do you mean? But I think the technology

759
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,319
Speaker 1: companies tilted the scales of public debate. Okay, I think

760
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:52,720
Speaker 1: that this was I think the Hunter Biden laptop story

761
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:55,320
Speaker 1: epitomizes what was wrong with the lead up to that

762
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,360
Speaker 1: election cycle. There was a true story that was censored

763
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 1: in the name of misinformation, actually created more misinformation that

764
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:05,440
Speaker 1: somehow this was Russian disinformation. Guess what this was American

765
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 1: disinformation that that actually wasn't a true story. No disagreement

766
00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:10,040
Speaker 1: on much of what you said, but I do have

767
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,040
Speaker 1: to get specific because it's an important thing. I'm talking

768
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,399
Speaker 1: about mass voter fraud. There was no mass voter fraud

769
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty election. I have not seen any

770
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,359
Speaker 1: evidence of mass voter fraud. I distinguished that from micro

771
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,680
Speaker 1: examples that have clearly been reported and documented. So, you know,

772
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: the first first initial criticism that Iyet to see from

773
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:29,319
Speaker 1: him from Trump still tepid, let's be honest, which was, well,

774
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:30,959
Speaker 1: you know, I want to unit America and if Trump

775
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:32,040
Speaker 1: could have done it, then he would have done it,

776
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:34,560
Speaker 1: which actually I don't think is a bad message for

777
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: a general election candidate, but in a Republican primary. I

778
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,319
Speaker 1: don't know how that's going to fly. Also, let's all

779
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 1: be here, like, look, I think he's correct, there was

780
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 1: no massive voter fraud in the twenty twenty election. I

781
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:47,360
Speaker 1: think you're going to have a tough time winning in

782
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 1: the nomination with a blunt, basically statement of fact like that,

783
00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 1: as much as I would like it to be that way, Crystal,

784
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 1: how many GOP primary candidates did we say go down

785
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 1: overstop the steal? Yeah, over a dozen yes. Now, look

786
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,440
Speaker 1: all of them lost tests in GOP primary. It's huge.

787
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:05,320
Speaker 1: We have to be honest here. So I think that

788
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,200
Speaker 1: that answer certainly could be a problem for some of

789
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 1: the folks in MAGA. If you listen to some of

790
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,439
Speaker 1: the longer interview, one of the things is I asked

791
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:14,920
Speaker 1: him out America. I think, really it came down to

792
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,719
Speaker 1: this two point oh versus one point zero. I would

793
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 1: love to believe that there is a two point zero,

794
00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 1: but I'm looking at that diner. I think people like

795
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,960
Speaker 1: one point h and when I say one point oh,

796
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:27,560
Speaker 1: they like Trump. It's just a it's a personality. It's

797
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,719
Speaker 1: paired with Trump. Occasionally there's some policy and stuff that

798
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,200
Speaker 1: is sprinkled within there. And I just, you know, I

799
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,960
Speaker 1: didn't get from that interview yet. I'm like, you know,

800
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: based on what I know and have seen from the

801
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,719
Speaker 1: dynamics of primaries with Republicans, I think it would be tough.

802
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:44,600
Speaker 1: It's a tough way. I mean, he uses a lot

803
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:46,919
Speaker 1: of buzzwords that don't mean a lot, like his whole

804
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,320
Speaker 1: like we need a national identity. I don't really know

805
00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:51,880
Speaker 1: what that means concretely. And then when you talk about

806
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 1: specific policy differences that he has from Trump. As I

807
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,640
Speaker 1: said earlier, he's worse. He's worse in terms of listen,

808
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 1: I mean in terms of my opinion, but also in

809
00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: terms of the opinion of like eighty percent of people,

810
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 1: including an overwhelming majority of the Republican primary base, that

811
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 1: wants Social Security and medicare to stay intact. So he's actually,

812
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:16,160
Speaker 1: in a way not America first two point zero. He's

813
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 1: sort of like a regression, a throwback on issues like

814
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 1: that to more of the Paul Ryan Mitt Romney mindset,

815
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,279
Speaker 1: the other piece that we get a glimpse of there,

816
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,479
Speaker 1: And actually Marshall asked him a really great question about

817
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:30,920
Speaker 1: He was like, Okay, you say you want to be

818
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:34,279
Speaker 1: a unifier, but what you're saying about climate change in

819
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,320
Speaker 1: particular is going to like instantly piss off half of

820
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 1: the country. And I think what he's speaking to there

821
00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:43,719
Speaker 1: is a core Listen. I'm not a Republican, obviously, this

822
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 1: guy's not for me, and I have a disagreement with

823
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: him on any number of issues. However, I think the

824
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:52,800
Speaker 1: core flaw at the center of his case is he

825
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,320
Speaker 1: wants to be a unifier, but he's talking about and

826
00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:01,360
Speaker 1: leaning into culture war issues, which are inherently going to

827
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,359
Speaker 1: divide the country figues, but that's what the base likes,

828
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 1: and that's fine. But to be honest, but if you

829
00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:08,600
Speaker 1: want to be a unifier, there's an obvious set of

830
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,920
Speaker 1: issues that you talk about which have appeal, you know,

831
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:17,279
Speaker 1: non like across partisan aisles, which are listen, what do

832
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:20,399
Speaker 1: most people care about? They want a job, they want

833
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,680
Speaker 1: a good wage, they want to have healthcare. He doesn't

834
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 1: talk about any of that, which for most normal people,

835
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:29,760
Speaker 1: like these are the things that they really care deeply about,

836
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: or being able to depend on social security when they retire.

837
00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: That's an actual unifying agenda. If you want to be

838
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:42,080
Speaker 1: a unifier, leaning into like transgenderism and you know, the

839
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:46,040
Speaker 1: central bank, digital currency and affirmative action or whatever whatever

840
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:49,480
Speaker 1: you think about those issues, they're not exactly big national

841
00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:51,840
Speaker 1: unifying issues. I couldn't help but think that to be honest.

842
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:53,719
Speaker 1: You know, look, I would love to brand affirmative action

843
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:55,359
Speaker 1: now that you'd be very popular thing. Would I run

844
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:57,399
Speaker 1: on it? Probably not. It's one of those where it's

845
00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:59,160
Speaker 1: just not really at the top. You know, I'm a commentator,

846
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 1: I can talk about it. I know it's popular certainly,

847
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:03,000
Speaker 1: But like if I were running for office. I'm not

848
00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 1: sure that be the one that I would lead into.

849
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:09,920
Speaker 1: It's just missing the point of like the core issue.

850
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,719
Speaker 1: It's yes, okay, I agree with your posies, that's fine, right,

851
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:15,920
Speaker 1: but like that's your platform, And that was the first thing.

852
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:17,759
Speaker 1: He brought it up multiple times. I mean, that's the

853
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 1: thing he's leaning it, and okay, you know, we'll see

854
00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: if it works out for him. My actual uh, I

855
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:24,320
Speaker 1: will say I actually thought one of the more interesting

856
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:26,080
Speaker 1: parts is on Medicare. And I was like, okay, well

857
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,400
Speaker 1: what about soci security medicare because it actually goes on

858
00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:30,320
Speaker 1: a little bit more than the critique of spending. And

859
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:33,239
Speaker 1: he was like, well, maybe we would cap medicare at

860
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 1: like ten million, And I was like, dude, that's just

861
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:37,960
Speaker 1: that's like not a lot of people. He was he said,

862
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:39,319
Speaker 1: that's a lot of people. I was like, I don't

863
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 1: think that's a lot things testing. I mean, these are

864
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:46,800
Speaker 1: classic neoliberal, like conservative suggestions about these products. Have no

865
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:49,400
Speaker 1: issue with means testing into ten million. But it's one

866
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:50,960
Speaker 1: of those where I'm like, I don't think that even

867
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 1: scratches the surface, because how many people have more than

868
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:55,000
Speaker 1: ten million dollars in this country? Maybe one hundred thousand,

869
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:57,920
Speaker 1: like maybe, I mean that's er point oh one percent almost.

870
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:00,120
Speaker 1: I do have an issue with means testing, even at

871
00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 1: the high end, because the reason these programs are so

872
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:04,919
Speaker 1: popular and successful is because everybody feels they have a stake.

873
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:06,879
Speaker 1: That's fair. But I'm saying without ten million dollars, you're

874
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:08,720
Speaker 1: not going to use medicare you have private health insurance.

875
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:10,319
Speaker 1: It's one of those is a non issue, like it's

876
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:11,960
Speaker 1: you know, we're not paying for your hel You're going

877
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,160
Speaker 1: to save the government three dollars congratulations, maybe less. Yeah,

878
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:18,440
Speaker 1: So anyway, so that was actually you'll actually lose the

879
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 1: government money because of the additional paperwork it will take

880
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,279
Speaker 1: for people to prove that their income is lowered than

881
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,479
Speaker 1: so we have that that was there. I also press

882
00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:29,319
Speaker 1: them a little bit on abortion, and I actually think

883
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,799
Speaker 1: that it was an interesting answer that it gave more

884
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 1: politically popular, but also could be a problem for him

885
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:35,800
Speaker 1: in the primary. Let's take a listen. One of the

886
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:39,280
Speaker 1: vice president Pence, and big disagreement between him and President

887
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 1: Trump is on a national abortion ban. Where do you

888
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:45,280
Speaker 1: stand on national abortion ban? So? I am pro life, However,

889
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:48,239
Speaker 1: I think that for years, on constitutional grounds we have

890
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,000
Speaker 1: correctly argued that this is a state's issue, and I

891
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 1: think it should remain a state issue. I think overturning

892
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 1: Row in the Dobbs decision I think was the right

893
00:43:56,200 --> 00:44:00,840
Speaker 1: decision on hard constitutional grounds, full stop. I'm hardline on that,

894
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:04,120
Speaker 1: crystal clear. I think that we constitutionally finally got it right.

895
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:06,279
Speaker 1: That's where I'm at. For years it was argued to

896
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,960
Speaker 1: be a state's rights issue, and both for constitutional as

897
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: well as public policy reasons, I think that's where it rested.

898
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,319
Speaker 1: So would you sign any federal abortion legislation fifteen week ban,

899
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: twenty two week ban as proposed in the Congress. As

900
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 1: somebody who is staunchly pro life and unapologetic about that fact,

901
00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:24,240
Speaker 1: I think that the states should get to that answer.

902
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 1: So one of the things that he said, Crystal is

903
00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:27,719
Speaker 1: I would leave it to the states. If you want

904
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:30,080
Speaker 1: to continue watching. I actually press him for this might

905
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,200
Speaker 1: actually be the biggest problem for him in the primary.

906
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:34,840
Speaker 1: I said, okay, but what about a federal ban, like

907
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,799
Speaker 1: do you remember the Lindsay Graham fifteen week He actually said,

908
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,440
Speaker 1: I wouldn't sign any federal legislation. I would leave it

909
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:43,720
Speaker 1: fully up to the states. Now I'm not necessarily posted

910
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 1: to that, but from a primary standpoint, the pro life

911
00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:49,840
Speaker 1: community is definitely going to have an issue because that

912
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 1: gives California, DC and others the ability to have legalized

913
00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 1: like late term abortions if they want to at the

914
00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:59,440
Speaker 1: same time that you would have in Alabama or a

915
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:01,840
Speaker 1: Texas or any of these other places that do have

916
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:05,160
Speaker 1: an abortion band. So that act think actually could be

917
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,000
Speaker 1: a little bit dicey in terms of Now I'm not

918
00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:10,040
Speaker 1: saying it isn't politically popular, but one of the reasons

919
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:12,440
Speaker 1: that Trump probably has way more wiggle room than anybody

920
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 1: else is he appointed the justices that got roversus way done.

921
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:18,520
Speaker 1: So that's the first time I've heard vivag talk about abortion,

922
00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:21,240
Speaker 1: or at least pressed on that, And I think actually

923
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 1: that might be one of the more significant ones where

924
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:25,920
Speaker 1: there could be some disagreement with the evangelicals. Now for

925
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:28,760
Speaker 1: su would he ever win them in the first place? No? No, No, probably.

926
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,319
Speaker 1: I mean if Mike Pans isn't they got place right,

927
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:33,320
Speaker 1: They already got their guys. So I actually thought this

928
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 1: was one of his better and more clear answers. She

929
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:37,799
Speaker 1: clearly knew what he thought about it. You pressed him

930
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:39,759
Speaker 1: on Okay, would you sign anything? Is like, no, leave

931
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:42,719
Speaker 1: it to the States consistent. So I thought that was

932
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:45,879
Speaker 1: actually a pretty solid answer, because yeah, I don't think

933
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:48,799
Speaker 1: the evangelical vote was really up for grabs for him

934
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:50,839
Speaker 1: in any case. Yeah, I think that's fair. And then

935
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:54,120
Speaker 1: finally there was a thing where Veg went on Hugh

936
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:56,640
Speaker 1: Hewitt Show, and Hugh Hewett, I don't really know why.

937
00:45:56,719 --> 00:45:58,640
Speaker 1: He's a conservative radio host. For those who know don't know.

938
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,640
Speaker 1: He has these weird pay issues. He's obsessed that everybody

939
00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 1: know about. One of them is the nuclear Triad. So

940
00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:06,279
Speaker 1: for those who don't know about the nuclear triad, it's

941
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,760
Speaker 1: nuclear defense of the United States land, sea, and air anyway,

942
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:11,800
Speaker 1: So he asked Vivik, do you know what the nuclear

943
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:13,799
Speaker 1: triad is? And Vivik was like, no, I don't. He said,

944
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:15,200
Speaker 1: but I'm a quick study. And one of the things

945
00:46:15,239 --> 00:46:17,919
Speaker 1: that Marshall actually really pushed him on. He's like, look,

946
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:19,920
Speaker 1: you said you're a quick study. He's like, but you're

947
00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:22,360
Speaker 1: running for president now, He's like, how are you gonna

948
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:25,560
Speaker 1: get to the level of knowledge that you need to

949
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: be president? And look, some of these are arbitrary, but

950
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:31,440
Speaker 1: it does matter, right, Like whether you have a familiarity

951
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:34,400
Speaker 1: with issues and some of that he gave an interesting answer.

952
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,680
Speaker 1: Let's take a lesson. You had an interesting interview with

953
00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:40,880
Speaker 1: Hugh hewittt earlier in the week. You didn't know what

954
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:43,840
Speaker 1: the nuclear triad meant, pride was. We'll put that to

955
00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:46,080
Speaker 1: the side. You can learn what that term means. I

956
00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:48,080
Speaker 1: know you know what it is now that said, I

957
00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,640
Speaker 1: think the significance behind the question, though, is the president

958
00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:53,479
Speaker 1: is in charge of the means to end the Earth.

959
00:46:54,080 --> 00:46:57,440
Speaker 1: You can definitely train to learn what acronyms mean. I'm

960
00:46:57,520 --> 00:46:59,080
Speaker 1: not convinced that you could learn in a year and

961
00:46:59,160 --> 00:47:02,719
Speaker 1: a half. Bring partisan Fox News hits podcasts like this,

962
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:06,280
Speaker 1: How do I actually sit down with Shijing PingER Vladimir Putin?

963
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:08,759
Speaker 1: Convince me otherwise? Because I got your point about how

964
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:13,480
Speaker 1: I work, and thank you for taking the superficiality out

965
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:15,920
Speaker 1: of it, because you know, anyone can learn a term, right,

966
00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:18,480
Speaker 1: So this is a word. Okay, I understand that there's land,

967
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:20,320
Speaker 1: air and see. But but I'm approaching this with humility.

968
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:21,359
Speaker 1: So I think I think one of the things that's

969
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:24,000
Speaker 1: different is yes, I'm I fast, steady. Yes, have I

970
00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:27,120
Speaker 1: taken on other complicated problems before and learn them fast. Sure,

971
00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:29,840
Speaker 1: but I got to approach this, and I am approaching

972
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:31,400
Speaker 1: this with humility. So I'll just tell you where I

973
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:33,040
Speaker 1: came from. Earlier today, I was having lunch upstairs in

974
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:35,680
Speaker 1: my house. I'm in the basement now with a former

975
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:38,560
Speaker 1: cabinet level secretary from the Trump administration who was over

976
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,200
Speaker 1: here visiting me. We spent two hours training. We're going

977
00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:42,880
Speaker 1: to tape that. We're gonna do it daily. We got

978
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:45,160
Speaker 1: two hours at least daily where there's somebody coming in

979
00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:47,800
Speaker 1: fly in here spending time with me in Columbus, Ohio.

980
00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:50,799
Speaker 1: We're going to actually let the world watch how I learn.

981
00:47:51,239 --> 00:47:54,239
Speaker 1: So it's an interesting idea. I mean, look, on the

982
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:57,040
Speaker 1: one hand, realities. Look, I appreciate the humility. I will

983
00:47:57,040 --> 00:47:59,000
Speaker 1: say this. I mean, I don't want to laugh at anybody,

984
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:01,000
Speaker 1: because what do we learn with Yang campaign? All Right,

985
00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:03,319
Speaker 1: Like with Yang, there's like you can have two percent

986
00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:05,400
Speaker 1: of the Democratic Party or whatever and you can have

987
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:08,759
Speaker 1: a significant impact on the battle of ideas, et cetera.

988
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:10,239
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to dismiss it. I've known the

989
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:12,719
Speaker 1: guy for a while. I do think he's smart. That said,

990
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:15,440
Speaker 1: I think the biggest hole here is with the Republican

991
00:48:15,719 --> 00:48:19,160
Speaker 1: primary voter, and you know his bet is basically the

992
00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 1: Obama bet, like New Hampshire and Iowa. But you know

993
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:24,920
Speaker 1: a lot of these issues they might do well on

994
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,120
Speaker 1: Twitter absolutely, you know, like you're talking about central bank

995
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:29,520
Speaker 1: digital currency, actually do care about that. I definitely would

996
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:31,840
Speaker 1: be opposed to it, But if I was running for office,

997
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,680
Speaker 1: I would never run on that count your like core platform.

998
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,520
Speaker 1: I also just think look with Trump, I mean the

999
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:40,600
Speaker 1: stop the Steel answer that he gave. I just think

1000
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:42,400
Speaker 1: that's going to be the biggest problem for him. And

1001
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:44,600
Speaker 1: I don't know if you want a primary that way.

1002
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:48,160
Speaker 1: I wish it weren't so, But look at every Republican

1003
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:53,040
Speaker 1: politician who was successful in a primary in twenty twenty two,

1004
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:55,879
Speaker 1: almost all of them endorsedtop the Steel, and if they didn't,

1005
00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:58,839
Speaker 1: they came pretty damn close to actually losing their seat.

1006
00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:01,839
Speaker 1: That tells you something. Yeah, we've seen how it's gone

1007
00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:04,000
Speaker 1: when people try to do high brow stop. Yeah, we see.

1008
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:08,520
Speaker 1: Because ultimately his response to you was like, I don't

1009
00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:10,640
Speaker 1: mean it was stolen in the way you're saying it.

1010
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 1: It's no, no, it's not the way you're saying it.

1011
00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:15,760
Speaker 1: It's the way that the like seventy percent of Republican

1012
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,319
Speaker 1: voters who think it was stolen. They don't think like, oh,

1013
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:22,880
Speaker 1: social that's part of it, right, No, they mean the

1014
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:28,400
Speaker 1: what deneshe desuza like mules and bamboo ballots and like

1015
00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 1: they mean real votes were changed, kind of voter fraud.

1016
00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:35,520
Speaker 1: And so you know, you're trying to have it both

1017
00:49:35,560 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 1: ways by saying, yes, I think it was fraudulent, but

1018
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:40,440
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think any votes were actually stolen.

1019
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:42,879
Speaker 1: That's not going to be sufficient for what they want

1020
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,799
Speaker 1: to hear. Ultimately, I agree completely. So anyway, you can

1021
00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:47,680
Speaker 1: go watch the full thing. Yeah, I thought you did

1022
00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:50,160
Speaker 1: a good job interviewing, getting some things to him that

1023
00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:52,319
Speaker 1: he hadn't been pressed on before, which is always an

1024
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,719
Speaker 1: interesting it's important additive to the conversation. My goal. Look,

1025
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:57,319
Speaker 1: you know this is the problem like when he's an author,

1026
00:49:57,360 --> 00:49:58,960
Speaker 1: it's one thing because we're just talking, you know whatever,

1027
00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:00,279
Speaker 1: go to sick of that. But I was like, hey, man,

1028
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:02,080
Speaker 1: like you're running for a Republican president. I got to

1029
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:03,880
Speaker 1: ask you about the debt ceiling. I got to you know,

1030
00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:06,440
Speaker 1: like we've got abortion, stop the steal, Like these are

1031
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:08,920
Speaker 1: all we live in this world. You and I Crystal

1032
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:10,880
Speaker 1: and like you, and I know what the actual checkboxes

1033
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:12,960
Speaker 1: are for anybody wants to make it in Washington. And

1034
00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:15,160
Speaker 1: that was kind of marshall Nized goal in getting out

1035
00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:16,880
Speaker 1: of that. So go watch the full thing if you're interested.

1036
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:19,120
Speaker 1: Unfortunately we didn't have as much time as I would

1037
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 1: have liked, but he said he would come back, so

1038
00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:22,520
Speaker 1: we'll see, we'll see. Why did we get to it?

1039
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:30,239
Speaker 1: We have some actually good news. So giant drugmaker Eli

1040
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:33,560
Speaker 1: Lilly announced that they are going to cap the price

1041
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:36,080
Speaker 1: of insulin. Now there are a few caveats that I'll

1042
00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:37,919
Speaker 1: get to in a moment, but first let me play

1043
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:41,840
Speaker 1: for you the CEO of that company announcing the change today.

1044
00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:45,560
Speaker 1: We're announcing a seventy percent price cut on our most

1045
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,920
Speaker 1: commonly used insulins, which will phase in over this year

1046
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:51,279
Speaker 1: and effective today, a thirty five dollars cap. As you

1047
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:55,000
Speaker 1: said on out of pocket why is that pharmacy counter. Yeah,

1048
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:57,239
Speaker 1: So this is a culmination of about seven years of

1049
00:50:57,640 --> 00:51:00,359
Speaker 1: work we've been doing to reduce the price of our

1050
00:51:00,480 --> 00:51:05,040
Speaker 1: insulince launching our own generic to our own best selling brand.

1051
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:08,880
Speaker 1: But with the change last year in the Medicare party benefit,

1052
00:51:08,960 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 1: the senior benefit to thirty five dollars. We think that

1053
00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 1: should be the new standard in America. And so what

1054
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:17,800
Speaker 1: we could wait for Congress to act or the healthcare

1055
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:20,680
Speaker 1: system in general to apply that standard. We're just applying

1056
00:51:20,719 --> 00:51:23,160
Speaker 1: it ourselves. So what he's referring to there was a

1057
00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:26,400
Speaker 1: change that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act that

1058
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:28,719
Speaker 1: would limit out of pocket costs for those who are

1059
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:31,160
Speaker 1: on Medicare. And he's basically saying, Okay, well, that's the

1060
00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:33,200
Speaker 1: new standard, so we're going to move forward with that.

1061
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:35,840
Speaker 1: President Biden's reaction here. Put this up on the screen.

1062
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:39,640
Speaker 1: He says, huge news. Last year, we capped insulin prices

1063
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 1: for seniors on Medicare, but there was more work to do.

1064
00:51:41,800 --> 00:51:44,600
Speaker 1: I called on Congress and manufacturers to lower insulin prices

1065
00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:47,600
Speaker 1: for everyone else. Today, Eli Lilly is heeding my call.

1066
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:50,400
Speaker 1: Others should follow. Let me go ahead and show you

1067
00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:52,879
Speaker 1: why this matters so much and just how much you're

1068
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,160
Speaker 1: being ripped off right now by these drug companies when

1069
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:57,000
Speaker 1: it comes to insulin. But this is the case for

1070
00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:00,239
Speaker 1: so many drugs across the board. Put the next up

1071
00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:02,759
Speaker 1: on the screen here, So this chart shows you the

1072
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:06,759
Speaker 1: average price per vile of insulin by country. Here in

1073
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:11,440
Speaker 1: the US it's damned near one hundred dollars. The next

1074
00:52:11,719 --> 00:52:17,440
Speaker 1: highest Japan at fourteen dollars, so still way less than

1075
00:52:17,480 --> 00:52:19,560
Speaker 1: the thirty five that they're moving it down to. Of course,

1076
00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:21,880
Speaker 1: thirty five is huge improvement over the one hundred dollars

1077
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:24,160
Speaker 1: that it is basically now in Canada, just across the

1078
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:27,920
Speaker 1: border's twelve dollars, Germany eleven, France nine, UK seven fifty

1079
00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:32,000
Speaker 1: in an Australia seven dollars. So this is again not

1080
00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:35,480
Speaker 1: just insulin. Every drug is like, we pay so much

1081
00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:39,480
Speaker 1: more for prescription drugs than every other country in the world.

1082
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:43,240
Speaker 1: They use you and our healthcare system like their piggybank.

1083
00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:46,600
Speaker 1: This is where they make the overwhelming majority of their profits.

1084
00:52:46,719 --> 00:52:48,360
Speaker 1: All right, let's go and put this next piece up

1085
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:50,480
Speaker 1: on the screen, which gives you some of the caveats

1086
00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:53,360
Speaker 1: here because I think myself you everyone's sort of like,

1087
00:52:53,719 --> 00:52:56,160
Speaker 1: what's their play? Because I know you're not just doing

1088
00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:58,600
Speaker 1: the sound and the goodness of your heart. Here's the

1089
00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:00,560
Speaker 1: New York Times article. They say Eli Lily says it

1090
00:53:00,560 --> 00:53:04,000
Speaker 1: will cut the price of insulin. The company also trumpeted

1091
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,600
Speaker 1: an existing policy that caps monthly out of pocket costs

1092
00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:11,000
Speaker 1: for its saving products at thirty five dollars. They go

1093
00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,560
Speaker 1: on to report that their moves are somewhat limited. The

1094
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:17,040
Speaker 1: lower list prices, which will take a factor over the

1095
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:19,840
Speaker 1: course of this year, apply only to the company's older

1096
00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,520
Speaker 1: insulin products, and a large percentage of diabetes patients who

1097
00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:27,960
Speaker 1: need insulin take products made by two other major drug manufacturies,

1098
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:31,040
Speaker 1: Santa Fies. Maybe how you say that At Novo Nordisk,

1099
00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:35,320
Speaker 1: insulin costs are estimated at ten dollars per file to manufacture,

1100
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:39,600
Speaker 1: so they're still making a hefty profit here, and they

1101
00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:42,000
Speaker 1: also have I think it's important to always remember this.

1102
00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:45,680
Speaker 1: When insulin was actually invented by Frederick Banting. When he

1103
00:53:45,719 --> 00:53:47,799
Speaker 1: helped invent the drug, he refused to put his name

1104
00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:50,239
Speaker 1: on the first patent application. He thought it would be

1105
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:52,560
Speaker 1: at odds with the hippocratic oath he had taken as

1106
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:55,520
Speaker 1: a physician. The two scientists who's names were on the

1107
00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:58,279
Speaker 1: patent application transferred it to the University of Toronto for

1108
00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:01,360
Speaker 1: one dollar in hopes of making it as widely available

1109
00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:03,319
Speaker 1: and affordable as possible. That, of course, has not happened,

1110
00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:07,720
Speaker 1: they say. In recent years, the leading insulin manufacturies, including Lily,

1111
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:12,520
Speaker 1: have replaced older products with newer, costlier versions and steadily

1112
00:54:12,760 --> 00:54:17,480
Speaker 1: increased their prices. So catch here is most patients are

1113
00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:20,480
Speaker 1: using other products from other companies number one. Number two,

1114
00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:24,360
Speaker 1: it only applies to the older versions of insulin that

1115
00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:27,960
Speaker 1: Eli Lilly themselves offer. And so if I had to guess,

1116
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:30,400
Speaker 1: you know, they like the brand play, they like the

1117
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:32,680
Speaker 1: halo that they get from making this big announcement on

1118
00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:35,920
Speaker 1: cable news and all of the coverage. They're hoping to

1119
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:39,360
Speaker 1: eat into some of the market share of those other companies,

1120
00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:42,320
Speaker 1: and ultimately they still can make a hefty profit on this,

1121
00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:44,680
Speaker 1: even at the thirty five dollars price point, which again

1122
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:48,279
Speaker 1: is still more than what everybody in other countries gets

1123
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:50,400
Speaker 1: charged for this. That's why the Inflation Reduction Act thing

1124
00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:53,200
Speaker 1: was so stupid. It's because we're only capping it for

1125
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:56,000
Speaker 1: seniors who are on Medicare. And look, I'm not saying

1126
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:57,840
Speaker 1: that it's a bad thing. I think that's great. But

1127
00:54:58,160 --> 00:55:00,279
Speaker 1: you know a lot of people also have diabetes who

1128
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:02,800
Speaker 1: are not on Medicare. So you know, I actually just

1129
00:55:02,880 --> 00:55:07,320
Speaker 1: saw the numbers. One in ten Americans have diabetes, about

1130
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:10,279
Speaker 1: a third are pre diabetic. You're myself included by the

1131
00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:12,839
Speaker 1: way working on that. If you are too, God speed

1132
00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:13,960
Speaker 1: to you, I know that it's going to be a

1133
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:17,320
Speaker 1: difficult journey. Now. The point is, though, is that this

1134
00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:22,000
Speaker 1: drug is vitally important for those one to ten Americans

1135
00:55:22,120 --> 00:55:26,480
Speaker 1: and many have died and or can go bankrupt simply

1136
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:29,880
Speaker 1: because of insulin management. Now, if you have a good healthcare,

1137
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:32,000
Speaker 1: that's one thing, but if you don't, this is a

1138
00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:34,879
Speaker 1: genuine like this will not only save your life, think

1139
00:55:34,880 --> 00:55:37,239
Speaker 1: about also the type one diabetics. So that's a whole

1140
00:55:37,280 --> 00:55:40,080
Speaker 1: other story. You know, with people who actually produce no insulin,

1141
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:42,560
Speaker 1: this is one hundred percent of something they rely on,

1142
00:55:42,960 --> 00:55:45,480
Speaker 1: and many of them who come from disadvantaged backgrounds have

1143
00:55:45,520 --> 00:55:49,319
Speaker 1: along had problems here. Another problem also that we talk

1144
00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:52,120
Speaker 1: I've talked about ad nauseum is the rebates with the

1145
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:54,920
Speaker 1: drug companies. So one of the fakeries here is that

1146
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:57,319
Speaker 1: you will have a child or a family member who's

1147
00:55:57,400 --> 00:55:59,920
Speaker 1: got diabetes and then you have an X amount of

1148
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:02,560
Speaker 1: spend that you're allowed to spend on drugs. And so

1149
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:05,080
Speaker 1: with these costs, like you're going there, you're paying this

1150
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:07,480
Speaker 1: fake thing and it comes out of the amount of

1151
00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:09,759
Speaker 1: money you need to spend on prescription drugs, and the

1152
00:56:09,840 --> 00:56:13,120
Speaker 1: drug in the price inflation negotiated between the drug companies

1153
00:56:13,320 --> 00:56:16,439
Speaker 1: and the pharmaceutical companies is such that it's much higher

1154
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:18,480
Speaker 1: than you would have paid if you've just paid out

1155
00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:20,920
Speaker 1: of pocket. That's the nuts part of it, because then

1156
00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:24,040
Speaker 1: let's say that this person with diabetes, who probably statistically

1157
00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:27,719
Speaker 1: has obesity or some other underlying health condition, if then

1158
00:56:27,760 --> 00:56:29,960
Speaker 1: they need more drugs, then a lot of it is

1159
00:56:30,040 --> 00:56:32,200
Speaker 1: already come out of the pre spend that they're allowed

1160
00:56:32,239 --> 00:56:34,040
Speaker 1: to have on drugs. And next thing you know, you're

1161
00:56:34,120 --> 00:56:36,560
Speaker 1: unfallable on medical bankruptcy. And what did you just do

1162
00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:39,680
Speaker 1: your monologue on one of the biggest reasons why people

1163
00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:42,400
Speaker 1: have low credit scores in the South, which deprives you

1164
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:44,759
Speaker 1: of a hell of a lot in American life, is

1165
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:49,000
Speaker 1: medical bankruptcy. Medical debt. Medical debt is now the number

1166
00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:52,520
Speaker 1: one source of debt held by collection, so debt that

1167
00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:56,320
Speaker 1: is behind that's the number one driver of bankruptcies is

1168
00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:59,960
Speaker 1: medical debt. It is Our healthcare system is pure insanity.

1169
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:02,120
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, I don't want to like I told

1170
00:57:02,160 --> 00:57:05,000
Speaker 1: you the caveats. This is good. It's an improvement, don't

1171
00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:07,200
Speaker 1: get me wrong. And I do think there is something

1172
00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:10,400
Speaker 1: to say here about the fact that you had, you know,

1173
00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:13,600
Speaker 1: a lot of political attention on this issue, you had

1174
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:17,280
Speaker 1: the president involved, you actually got some legislation pass. So

1175
00:57:17,360 --> 00:57:19,080
Speaker 1: they can kind of see the writing on the wall

1176
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:21,200
Speaker 1: here as well in terms of the direction that things

1177
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,840
Speaker 1: might be heading in. And so they decided, all right,

1178
00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:25,680
Speaker 1: we'll just take the hit and get a little bit

1179
00:57:25,720 --> 00:57:27,760
Speaker 1: of a halo, and it's pr out of it. So

1180
00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:31,520
Speaker 1: it just shows you when the president actually does use

1181
00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:34,640
Speaker 1: his bully pulpit, when Congress actually does take some actions,

1182
00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:38,880
Speaker 1: it can force industry to at least do a little

1183
00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:41,440
Speaker 1: bit to make people's lives better as well. And so

1184
00:57:41,520 --> 00:57:44,720
Speaker 1: I think that's an important piece of this ultimately too. Yeah, No,

1185
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:46,920
Speaker 1: I think it's important. I think people should take away

1186
00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:48,800
Speaker 1: from this that it's just, you know, the fact is

1187
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:51,160
Speaker 1: this is mostly pr Most people still are going to

1188
00:57:51,200 --> 00:57:52,240
Speaker 1: have to pay a hell of a lot more for

1189
00:57:52,280 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 1: insulin than they should. Yeah, it's an even at thirty

1190
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:59,160
Speaker 1: five dollars, they're still making a massive, massive profit off

1191
00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:04,480
Speaker 1: of all of us. Okay, next flock turns out, I

1192
00:58:04,640 --> 00:58:07,959
Speaker 1: know you CAUs will be shocked. Havana syndrome was fake

1193
00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:11,040
Speaker 1: all along. Who could have possibly predicted it and put

1194
00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:13,320
Speaker 1: this up on the screen. This is just amazing. So

1195
00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:15,920
Speaker 1: this is from the Washing Post. They say Havana syndrome

1196
00:58:16,360 --> 00:58:20,960
Speaker 1: not caused by energy weapon or foreign adversary. Intelligence review

1197
00:58:21,040 --> 00:58:24,360
Speaker 1: finds after years long assessment, five US intelligence agencies conclude

1198
00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:28,400
Speaker 1: it's quote very unlikely and enemy wielding a secret weapon

1199
00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:31,840
Speaker 1: was behind the mysterious ailment. Now, I don't know if

1200
00:58:31,840 --> 00:58:34,360
Speaker 1: you followed our coverage on all of this, but this

1201
00:58:34,560 --> 00:58:38,600
Speaker 1: was always highly suspicious. There was an infamous sixty minutes

1202
00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:43,320
Speaker 1: airview where they played what this Havanah syndrome supposedly sounded like,

1203
00:58:43,840 --> 00:58:46,000
Speaker 1: and they go to grade likes, it's not the sound

1204
00:58:46,080 --> 00:58:48,360
Speaker 1: that causes the injury, it's the impet the sounds of

1205
00:58:48,440 --> 00:58:52,440
Speaker 1: byproduct whatever. Well, people analyze the sound and they're like,

1206
00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:56,160
Speaker 1: that's literally crickets. It's literally just crickets making that sound. Yes,

1207
00:58:56,560 --> 00:59:00,400
Speaker 1: So there has never been any actual proof offered to

1208
00:59:00,440 --> 00:59:04,400
Speaker 1: the American public that this was some crazy new energy

1209
00:59:04,520 --> 00:59:07,560
Speaker 1: directed weapon, and it was always Russia that they wanted

1210
00:59:07,600 --> 00:59:10,000
Speaker 1: to pin this on, even though again no evidence offered

1211
00:59:10,040 --> 00:59:12,080
Speaker 1: for any of this. So we were, I would say,

1212
00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:15,000
Speaker 1: deeply skeptical from the beginning. Let me read you a

1213
00:59:15,040 --> 00:59:18,320
Speaker 1: little bit of this report. They say that the mysterious

1214
00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:20,880
Speaker 1: ailment known as Havanason did not result from the actions

1215
00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:24,120
Speaker 1: of a foreign adversary. The new intelligence assessment caps a

1216
00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:26,640
Speaker 1: year's long effort by the CIA and several other US

1217
00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:30,160
Speaker 1: intelligence agencies to explain my career diplomats, intelligence officers, and

1218
00:59:30,240 --> 00:59:32,640
Speaker 1: others serving in US missions around the world experience but

1219
00:59:32,720 --> 00:59:36,760
Speaker 1: they described as strange and painful acoustic sensations. Many of

1220
00:59:36,800 --> 00:59:39,320
Speaker 1: the afflicted personnel say they were the victims of a

1221
00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:42,000
Speaker 1: deliberate attack, possibly at the hands of Russia or another

1222
00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:46,800
Speaker 1: adversarial government. Claimed that the report contradicts in nearly every respect.

1223
00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:48,960
Speaker 1: They ow go cocker, Yeah, I mean, look, this is

1224
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,520
Speaker 1: one of those which smelled from the beginning and it

1225
00:59:51,680 --> 00:59:56,360
Speaker 1: became this insane deep state like one of those things

1226
00:59:56,400 --> 01:00:00,120
Speaker 1: where they looked at it as an opportunity to I

1227
01:00:00,440 --> 01:00:04,240
Speaker 1: highlight the dangers of the things that they face overseas

1228
01:00:04,440 --> 01:00:06,840
Speaker 1: and what they exactly that they have to deal with.

1229
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:08,800
Speaker 1: And look, we have a couple of clips here from

1230
01:00:09,080 --> 01:00:12,680
Speaker 1: some of the Wild Times on MSNBC where they aired

1231
01:00:12,800 --> 01:00:16,160
Speaker 1: so called survivors of Havana syndrome. What it did to

1232
01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:19,240
Speaker 1: have Ana syndrome and the credulousness which which they offered.

1233
01:00:19,280 --> 01:00:22,040
Speaker 1: It was clearly in the spirit of Russia Gate, because

1234
01:00:22,080 --> 01:00:25,040
Speaker 1: that was supposedly, you know, Russia was the main, number

1235
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:28,800
Speaker 1: one major culprit who was poisoner using secret weapons on

1236
01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:30,800
Speaker 1: our diplomats. Let's take a listen to some of that.

1237
01:00:31,240 --> 01:00:35,160
Speaker 1: Was there a possibility that you'd been attacked in some way? Well,

1238
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:36,560
Speaker 1: you know, well, you know, the first thing that went

1239
01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:38,280
Speaker 1: that came through my mind was it might be something

1240
01:00:38,360 --> 01:00:40,200
Speaker 1: like food poisoning. You know, I mean, look, I traveled

1241
01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:42,160
Speaker 1: all around the world. I think I'd been sick in

1242
01:00:42,200 --> 01:00:46,400
Speaker 1: every continent. But my suspicions started growing when you know,

1243
01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:49,000
Speaker 1: the next day and the days after, the symptoms didn't

1244
01:00:49,000 --> 01:00:51,200
Speaker 1: necessarily abide, and when I got back to the United States,

1245
01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:54,800
Speaker 1: particularly in early twenty eighteen, you know, I developed symptoms

1246
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:57,120
Speaker 1: such as brain fog, I lost my long distance vision.

1247
01:00:57,640 --> 01:00:59,000
Speaker 1: You know. At that point, I think, you know, it

1248
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:01,040
Speaker 1: was it was pretty clear to me that something very

1249
01:01:01,160 --> 01:01:03,680
Speaker 1: unusual had happened. This is a big deal. You know,

1250
01:01:03,800 --> 01:01:06,040
Speaker 1: these are attacks. You know, it's it's you know, it's

1251
01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:09,840
Speaker 1: an active war against US officials, active war against US

1252
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:11,960
Speaker 1: statist That is a big deal. Saga maybe we just

1253
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:14,120
Speaker 1: had food poison That would have been a big deal. Yeah,

1254
01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:16,440
Speaker 1: maybe he just had food poisoning. My dude, Like, what

1255
01:01:16,800 --> 01:01:19,680
Speaker 1: is going on here? So these people there's I got

1256
01:01:19,760 --> 01:01:21,720
Speaker 1: to play for you this other one and it's the

1257
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:25,800
Speaker 1: whole thing is just amazing because it's one of NBC's

1258
01:01:26,200 --> 01:01:31,080
Speaker 1: main like national security reporters, Kendelanian, and uh, they don't

1259
01:01:31,160 --> 01:01:34,080
Speaker 1: present this as like there's this crazy theory out there

1260
01:01:34,160 --> 01:01:36,400
Speaker 1: that maybe it was Russia, but you know, there's no

1261
01:01:36,520 --> 01:01:39,919
Speaker 1: evidence to really back that up. No, his sources tell

1262
01:01:40,040 --> 01:01:44,240
Speaker 1: him that they actually have communications that they intercepted that

1263
01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:47,680
Speaker 1: indicate Russian officials are talking about this. And again to

1264
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:49,920
Speaker 1: go back to the Washing Post report that's now debunking

1265
01:01:49,960 --> 01:01:52,960
Speaker 1: all of this quote, Uh, this person added there was

1266
01:01:53,040 --> 01:01:56,080
Speaker 1: no intelligence that foreign leaders, including in Russia, had any

1267
01:01:56,160 --> 01:01:58,960
Speaker 1: knowledge of or had authorized an attack on US personnel

1268
01:01:58,960 --> 01:02:01,680
Speaker 1: that could explain the symptom. So something got lost in

1269
01:02:01,760 --> 01:02:04,520
Speaker 1: translation there with our guy ken Over at NBC. But

1270
01:02:04,680 --> 01:02:07,840
Speaker 1: just again, take a listen to the way that this

1271
01:02:08,080 --> 01:02:10,960
Speaker 1: was presented to the American public, not like an out

1272
01:02:11,040 --> 01:02:14,120
Speaker 1: there theory that people are thinking about and maybe possibly,

1273
01:02:14,240 --> 01:02:15,840
Speaker 1: but this would be really out there. No, no, no,

1274
01:02:16,280 --> 01:02:19,520
Speaker 1: This was presented as all but fact of what was

1275
01:02:19,600 --> 01:02:23,320
Speaker 1: going on here. Take a listen exclusive new reporting this

1276
01:02:23,400 --> 01:02:26,840
Speaker 1: morning from NBC News. Intelligence agencies investigating attacks on US

1277
01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:30,640
Speaker 1: diplomats in Cuba and China now strongly suspect that Russia

1278
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:33,240
Speaker 1: is to blame. Twenty six government workers in Havana had

1279
01:02:33,280 --> 01:02:36,240
Speaker 1: mysterious brain injuries starting in late twenty sixteen, and then

1280
01:02:36,320 --> 01:02:38,760
Speaker 1: this year, one US worker in China was diagnosed with

1281
01:02:38,840 --> 01:02:40,840
Speaker 1: similar symptoms. Joining me now with more on this as

1282
01:02:40,880 --> 01:02:44,280
Speaker 1: NBC News Intelligence at National Security reporter Kendelanian. So this

1283
01:02:44,440 --> 01:02:47,080
Speaker 1: has been a mystery. The CIA, the FBI, other intelligence

1284
01:02:47,080 --> 01:02:49,040
Speaker 1: agencies have all been working to try to figure out

1285
01:02:49,200 --> 01:02:52,280
Speaker 1: what exactly happened here. Why do they suspect Russia now?

1286
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:54,160
Speaker 1: And what's the evidence that they have. Well, it's still

1287
01:02:54,200 --> 01:02:56,480
Speaker 1: partially a mystery, Chris, but they have more and more evidence,

1288
01:02:56,560 --> 01:02:58,640
Speaker 1: they say, three US officials tell us pointing to Russia,

1289
01:02:58,720 --> 01:03:02,480
Speaker 1: including communication intercepts that suggest that the Russian intelligence agency

1290
01:03:02,560 --> 01:03:04,680
Speaker 1: was involved. Now, really there was only three suspects from

1291
01:03:04,680 --> 01:03:07,120
Speaker 1: the beginning here, Russia, China, and the Cubans. The Russian

1292
01:03:07,160 --> 01:03:09,960
Speaker 1: and the Chinese intelligence services operate in force in Cuba

1293
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:12,280
Speaker 1: and it's still believed that it's possible that some element

1294
01:03:12,280 --> 01:03:14,920
Speaker 1: of the Cuban intelligence services cooperated with this. The other

1295
01:03:15,000 --> 01:03:16,680
Speaker 1: interesting thing we're reporting here is that one of the

1296
01:03:16,720 --> 01:03:19,600
Speaker 1: technologies used to injure these American spies and diplomats was

1297
01:03:19,680 --> 01:03:21,880
Speaker 1: some kind of microwave weapon that is so sophisticated the

1298
01:03:21,920 --> 01:03:24,160
Speaker 1: Americans don't even fully understand it, and they've been testing

1299
01:03:24,400 --> 01:03:26,760
Speaker 1: some kinds of aspects of this technology, so kind of

1300
01:03:26,800 --> 01:03:29,200
Speaker 1: reverse engineering, is that what they're trying to do? Absolutely,

1301
01:03:29,280 --> 01:03:32,320
Speaker 1: because the military has been the US military has worked

1302
01:03:32,320 --> 01:03:34,439
Speaker 1: on microwave technology and tried to deploy it as weapons

1303
01:03:34,480 --> 01:03:36,480
Speaker 1: over the years. Apparently the Russians have as well, and

1304
01:03:36,560 --> 01:03:38,520
Speaker 1: it can make people think they're hearing sounds. That's why

1305
01:03:38,600 --> 01:03:40,880
Speaker 1: initially this was thought to be a sonic attack of

1306
01:03:40,960 --> 01:03:42,640
Speaker 1: some sort. Chris, what do we know about the people?

1307
01:03:42,720 --> 01:03:45,520
Speaker 1: Were individuals targeted? Was it just a group that was targeted?

1308
01:03:45,640 --> 01:03:48,000
Speaker 1: And do we have any idea about a motive why

1309
01:03:48,120 --> 01:03:50,600
Speaker 1: these people? And then again these are only theories, But

1310
01:03:50,680 --> 01:03:52,120
Speaker 1: what our sources are telling us is that this was

1311
01:03:52,120 --> 01:03:54,160
Speaker 1: an intentional attack, because initially people thought it could be

1312
01:03:54,200 --> 01:03:56,800
Speaker 1: a byproduct of some spying technology gone awry, but it's

1313
01:03:56,840 --> 01:03:59,080
Speaker 1: now believed that this was meant to hurt these spies

1314
01:03:59,120 --> 01:04:02,040
Speaker 1: and diplomats who have suffered serious brain injuries. And if

1315
01:04:02,040 --> 01:04:03,600
Speaker 1: this is confirmed it was Russia, Chris, it would be

1316
01:04:03,600 --> 01:04:05,560
Speaker 1: a game changer because the sort of unwritten rules of

1317
01:04:05,560 --> 01:04:07,240
Speaker 1: the spying game are you don't go after the other

1318
01:04:07,320 --> 01:04:10,120
Speaker 1: person's spies and diplomats, you don't try to hurt them. Yeah.

1319
01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:14,680
Speaker 1: So anyway, that's that's the way it was presented, like

1320
01:04:14,840 --> 01:04:18,640
Speaker 1: this was all It was definitely Russia. They intercepted these

1321
01:04:18,680 --> 01:04:21,680
Speaker 1: communications that they really were leaning in this direction of

1322
01:04:21,760 --> 01:04:24,520
Speaker 1: this energy directed weapon all amount of sense. Yeah, and

1323
01:04:24,800 --> 01:04:27,040
Speaker 1: this is not a joke. That wasn't just that was

1324
01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:31,760
Speaker 1: NBC News that was on like actual network television that

1325
01:04:31,880 --> 01:04:36,480
Speaker 1: went out to buy some smod's like five six million people.

1326
01:04:36,840 --> 01:04:40,360
Speaker 1: Where's the retraction? What kind of reporting is this? It's

1327
01:04:40,440 --> 01:04:43,040
Speaker 1: complete bs to the extent that the Russians probably did

1328
01:04:43,080 --> 01:04:45,240
Speaker 1: talk about it there. Can you believe these dumbasses things

1329
01:04:45,280 --> 01:04:47,960
Speaker 1: that we shot microwaves at them in Havana. They're literally

1330
01:04:48,080 --> 01:04:51,800
Speaker 1: laughing at us probably in Moscow that we took it seriously. Also,

1331
01:04:52,280 --> 01:04:55,720
Speaker 1: let's not forget the US Congress and Biden passed and

1332
01:04:55,960 --> 01:04:59,920
Speaker 1: signed into law quote unquote aid for victims of havanas,

1333
01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:02,920
Speaker 1: so do we get our money? Pack? What happens to

1334
01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:05,440
Speaker 1: that money? They did that before they were able to

1335
01:05:05,480 --> 01:05:07,720
Speaker 1: get their act together in the Packed Act for burn

1336
01:05:07,800 --> 01:05:10,400
Speaker 1: Pit Victims correct burn Pit victims were bailed out after

1337
01:05:10,680 --> 01:05:13,200
Speaker 1: quote victims of Havana syndrome. I actually really want to

1338
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:14,920
Speaker 1: know what happens to that money. Now. I don't wish

1339
01:05:15,000 --> 01:05:18,680
Speaker 1: sickness on anyone, but you know, there's probably a high

1340
01:05:18,760 --> 01:05:22,840
Speaker 1: correlation between being a spook, being deployed for a long time,

1341
01:05:23,080 --> 01:05:27,440
Speaker 1: and neurosis. Can I just say that sure, probably stressful.

1342
01:05:27,560 --> 01:05:30,400
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's a very stressful job that can lead

1343
01:05:30,480 --> 01:05:33,240
Speaker 1: to all types of like real symptoms where you're having

1344
01:05:33,400 --> 01:05:38,040
Speaker 1: like real physical impacts. Everybody deserves the care that they need.

1345
01:05:38,520 --> 01:05:42,280
Speaker 1: But let's not invent fake syndromes. Let's just say it

1346
01:05:42,360 --> 01:05:45,920
Speaker 1: was probably psychosomatic from day one. And yeah, anyway, that's

1347
01:05:45,960 --> 01:05:47,640
Speaker 1: what we'll leave it at that. Let's go to the

1348
01:05:47,680 --> 01:05:50,080
Speaker 1: next one here. This is a very interesting story that

1349
01:05:50,120 --> 01:05:53,439
Speaker 1: actually highlights one of the initial problems about Elon buying

1350
01:05:53,520 --> 01:05:56,320
Speaker 1: Twitter that most people were not focusing on, which is

1351
01:05:56,600 --> 01:05:59,560
Speaker 1: that Tesla, the company of which the vast majority of

1352
01:05:59,640 --> 01:06:03,840
Speaker 1: Elon wealth is based in of course, has major business

1353
01:06:03,920 --> 01:06:09,360
Speaker 1: ties to the CCP beyond actually just financial but manufacturing

1354
01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:13,240
Speaker 1: ev battery supply chain, a major reliance on being able

1355
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:16,120
Speaker 1: to do business in China that was negotiated and now

1356
01:06:16,240 --> 01:06:19,040
Speaker 1: long years long into the deal, such that if Tesla

1357
01:06:19,120 --> 01:06:21,720
Speaker 1: did he lose some of its Shanghai facilities and some

1358
01:06:21,800 --> 01:06:25,040
Speaker 1: of its other battery supply chain and others inside of

1359
01:06:25,120 --> 01:06:27,600
Speaker 1: China would be a devastating blow to the company well

1360
01:06:27,680 --> 01:06:30,640
Speaker 1: as predicted his ownership of Twitter, and now the voicing

1361
01:06:30,680 --> 01:06:32,840
Speaker 1: of his opinions is causing a bit of a problem.

1362
01:06:32,920 --> 01:06:35,040
Speaker 1: So let's put this up there on the screen. Chinese

1363
01:06:35,120 --> 01:06:38,800
Speaker 1: state run media warned the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, he

1364
01:06:39,040 --> 01:06:43,439
Speaker 1: was risking his relationship with China after he retweeted about

1365
01:06:43,520 --> 01:06:46,840
Speaker 1: the US government's quote low confidence assessment in the COVID

1366
01:06:46,920 --> 01:06:51,080
Speaker 1: pandemic originating in a Wuhan lab. The warning is one

1367
01:06:51,160 --> 01:06:53,800
Speaker 1: of the first that has yet been issued towards Elon,

1368
01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:56,560
Speaker 1: and it was actually published in the Global Time. So

1369
01:06:56,920 --> 01:06:58,560
Speaker 1: for people who don't know what the Global Times is,

1370
01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:02,920
Speaker 1: it's kind of all state All media in China is

1371
01:07:03,000 --> 01:07:04,880
Speaker 1: state run, So let's put it that way. That said,

1372
01:07:05,040 --> 01:07:08,760
Speaker 1: it's nuanced because the state run media they allow the

1373
01:07:08,920 --> 01:07:12,400
Speaker 1: hard line like the tiger element of the CCP. That's

1374
01:07:12,440 --> 01:07:14,560
Speaker 1: the Global Times. They're like the attack dogs, and then

1375
01:07:14,560 --> 01:07:16,360
Speaker 1: they have the more diplomatic ones. We're like, no, we

1376
01:07:16,360 --> 01:07:18,440
Speaker 1: shouldn't write that in the Globals is the one Matt

1377
01:07:18,560 --> 01:07:21,200
Speaker 1: Gates does, That's right, Yeah, so, like the Global Times

1378
01:07:21,320 --> 01:07:24,439
Speaker 1: is one of those where they they'll frequently attack people

1379
01:07:24,480 --> 01:07:27,440
Speaker 1: on Twitter and even though there's no Twitter in China. Hilariously, anyway,

1380
01:07:27,480 --> 01:07:29,720
Speaker 1: the point is is that they warned Elon that by

1381
01:07:29,800 --> 01:07:33,480
Speaker 1: publishing this that you are quote breaking the pot of China.

1382
01:07:33,840 --> 01:07:37,320
Speaker 1: Breaking the pot after eating in Chinese means quote biting

1383
01:07:37,440 --> 01:07:40,120
Speaker 1: the hand that feeds you. So China is not dumb.

1384
01:07:40,240 --> 01:07:43,360
Speaker 1: They know exactly what their relationship to Tesla means. They

1385
01:07:43,520 --> 01:07:46,320
Speaker 1: know that Elon needs them quite a bit. We should

1386
01:07:46,320 --> 01:07:48,440
Speaker 1: also not forget I've did an entire monologue about this,

1387
01:07:48,760 --> 01:07:51,040
Speaker 1: not only about the business ties, but Elon in the

1388
01:07:51,080 --> 01:07:53,840
Speaker 1: past has set some sketchy stuff about China. He's used

1389
01:07:53,880 --> 01:07:57,200
Speaker 1: like Chinese social media to be like congratulations to like

1390
01:07:57,320 --> 01:08:01,400
Speaker 1: the anniversary of the Communist revolution and congratulating them on

1391
01:08:01,520 --> 01:08:03,920
Speaker 1: the you know, like anniversary of their government, and he

1392
01:08:04,040 --> 01:08:06,040
Speaker 1: has made a lot of trips to China and met

1393
01:08:06,080 --> 01:08:08,480
Speaker 1: with some of the most senior officials, and it just

1394
01:08:08,560 --> 01:08:10,840
Speaker 1: comes down to the fact that China owns about eighty

1395
01:08:10,880 --> 01:08:13,640
Speaker 1: five percent of the ev battery supply chain around the world,

1396
01:08:13,680 --> 01:08:17,240
Speaker 1: and with Tesla specifically, they need that Shanghai facility in

1397
01:08:17,439 --> 01:08:19,599
Speaker 1: order to make sure that they can continue. The growth

1398
01:08:19,680 --> 01:08:21,760
Speaker 1: of the company is vital to the stock price, which

1399
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:24,240
Speaker 1: is making a hit right now. So this actually could

1400
01:08:24,320 --> 01:08:27,360
Speaker 1: be from my knowledge, really the most consequential thing to

1401
01:08:27,439 --> 01:08:31,080
Speaker 1: come yet from Elon's ownership of Twitter, because it's specifically

1402
01:08:31,160 --> 01:08:34,680
Speaker 1: him retweeting and airing these concerns. And you know, on

1403
01:08:34,800 --> 01:08:37,160
Speaker 1: top of ideologically, of course he's kind of aligned with

1404
01:08:37,240 --> 01:08:39,600
Speaker 1: that he's into cash twenty two or what he's going

1405
01:08:39,680 --> 01:08:41,599
Speaker 1: to do. It's and it's the supply chain, and it's

1406
01:08:41,600 --> 01:08:44,920
Speaker 1: also obviously China's domestic market for its huge if he

1407
01:08:45,000 --> 01:08:48,479
Speaker 1: has massive So this is really important for Tesla. And

1408
01:08:48,640 --> 01:08:50,240
Speaker 1: just I pulled a couple examples of what you were

1409
01:08:50,240 --> 01:08:53,240
Speaker 1: talking about, Sager. So days after the US enacted the

1410
01:08:53,439 --> 01:08:56,800
Speaker 1: Weager Forced Labor Prevention Act in January, Tesla opened a

1411
01:08:56,840 --> 01:08:59,560
Speaker 1: brand new showroom in Jinjang, that is the region with

1412
01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:02,479
Speaker 1: the four labor camps center. Mark or Rubio at that

1413
01:09:02,520 --> 01:09:05,040
Speaker 1: time accused Tesla quote helping the Chinese Communist Party cover

1414
01:09:05,120 --> 01:09:08,680
Speaker 1: up genocide and slave labor. There's also another incident that

1415
01:09:08,840 --> 01:09:11,640
Speaker 1: I was reading about where there was a lot of

1416
01:09:11,720 --> 01:09:16,720
Speaker 1: criticism on Chinese social media over some accidents that people

1417
01:09:16,760 --> 01:09:19,400
Speaker 1: were claiming were caused by like Tesla's breaking system and

1418
01:09:19,600 --> 01:09:23,760
Speaker 1: perhaps a self driving system or whatever. And Musk reportedly

1419
01:09:23,960 --> 01:09:26,439
Speaker 1: actually reached out to the government to get them to

1420
01:09:26,520 --> 01:09:32,120
Speaker 1: try to censor that. Not so, I mean, it just

1421
01:09:32,160 --> 01:09:34,599
Speaker 1: gives you a sense of like, you know, this business

1422
01:09:34,680 --> 01:09:37,600
Speaker 1: relationship has been very close, it's been very symbiotic. The

1423
01:09:37,680 --> 01:09:41,040
Speaker 1: Chinese government likes having Tesla there. It's prestigious. You know,

1424
01:09:41,160 --> 01:09:44,439
Speaker 1: they need high quality cars to feed for their own

1425
01:09:44,560 --> 01:09:47,920
Speaker 1: ev domestic market. That's important to them, but it's far

1426
01:09:48,040 --> 01:09:52,439
Speaker 1: more important. Like China can afford to lose Tesla, no problem, Elon,

1427
01:09:52,560 --> 01:09:55,280
Speaker 1: Musk can't really afford to lose the Chinese market and

1428
01:09:55,360 --> 01:09:57,240
Speaker 1: the supply chain and all the pease built. What China

1429
01:09:57,280 --> 01:09:59,360
Speaker 1: did with Elon was brilliant, And this is why I

1430
01:09:59,400 --> 01:10:01,400
Speaker 1: look as much, you know, I don't want them to.

1431
01:10:01,479 --> 01:10:03,080
Speaker 1: I admire them. I have to. So one of the

1432
01:10:03,120 --> 01:10:04,800
Speaker 1: things that they did is they're like, hey, we got

1433
01:10:04,920 --> 01:10:07,640
Speaker 1: cheap labor, we got the raw materials. Come on in here.

1434
01:10:08,080 --> 01:10:10,880
Speaker 1: You build up this nice facility, which we never allow

1435
01:10:10,960 --> 01:10:13,240
Speaker 1: American companies to do. Well. One of the things that

1436
01:10:13,280 --> 01:10:15,320
Speaker 1: a company like Tesla does when they build that facility

1437
01:10:15,720 --> 01:10:17,719
Speaker 1: is then they go out and they find the sources

1438
01:10:17,840 --> 01:10:20,880
Speaker 1: and they build this whole vertically supply chain right from

1439
01:10:21,120 --> 01:10:23,120
Speaker 1: the suppliers to the companies and the workers and the

1440
01:10:23,160 --> 01:10:25,680
Speaker 1: facilities and all that. But lo and behold all of

1441
01:10:25,720 --> 01:10:28,679
Speaker 1: the infrastructure that supports the Tesla supply chain. Oh, let's

1442
01:10:28,800 --> 01:10:30,840
Speaker 1: use it for the Chinese EV supply chain. So they

1443
01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:34,599
Speaker 1: not only got to keep control of Tesla basically now

1444
01:10:34,680 --> 01:10:38,160
Speaker 1: by controlling his access to facility, now they have all

1445
01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:41,479
Speaker 1: of these sourcing areas and companies and all of the

1446
01:10:41,680 --> 01:10:45,240
Speaker 1: know how and the technology for the Chinese supply chain.

1447
01:10:45,320 --> 01:10:47,840
Speaker 1: And then ten years from now, if they kick Tesla out,

1448
01:10:47,840 --> 01:10:49,160
Speaker 1: they're like I don't care about you. They're like, I

1449
01:10:49,200 --> 01:10:50,920
Speaker 1: don't think about you at all. We have our own

1450
01:10:51,640 --> 01:10:54,519
Speaker 1: EV companies. You built the supply chain, and the gave

1451
01:10:54,600 --> 01:10:57,040
Speaker 1: us a technical know how and brought all your executives

1452
01:10:57,080 --> 01:10:59,000
Speaker 1: in you made us rich and it didn't cost us

1453
01:10:59,040 --> 01:11:01,640
Speaker 1: a single dime. In fact, you paid us to do it.

1454
01:11:01,960 --> 01:11:04,040
Speaker 1: This is what they do in a lot of different facilities.

1455
01:11:04,080 --> 01:11:06,720
Speaker 1: So again, you know, like they are our advisars, but

1456
01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:09,560
Speaker 1: I got to admire them. They're smart the way that

1457
01:11:09,600 --> 01:11:12,880
Speaker 1: they handle themselves over there. For Elon, I think this

1458
01:11:13,040 --> 01:11:14,880
Speaker 1: is a big problem, and it's one of those where

1459
01:11:15,960 --> 01:11:18,320
Speaker 1: it might be one of the most consequential things that

1460
01:11:18,520 --> 01:11:21,040
Speaker 1: ends up, because look, what if there's a future Hong

1461
01:11:21,120 --> 01:11:24,560
Speaker 1: Kong protests, what if there's more COVID zero protests that

1462
01:11:24,640 --> 01:11:27,880
Speaker 1: are happening. Do you think that they will not resort

1463
01:11:27,960 --> 01:11:30,000
Speaker 1: to telling Elon, we will kick your ass out of

1464
01:11:30,080 --> 01:11:32,680
Speaker 1: China if you don't censor that on Twitter. They know

1465
01:11:32,920 --> 01:11:36,360
Speaker 1: and have done it before to many tech CEOs, including

1466
01:11:36,400 --> 01:11:39,920
Speaker 1: the TikTok CEO of xiang Jiming. They have no qualms

1467
01:11:39,960 --> 01:11:42,719
Speaker 1: whatsoever about putting the screws on you. From that angle,

1468
01:11:42,960 --> 01:11:45,479
Speaker 1: I really think he's very vulnerable. Well, and to zoom

1469
01:11:45,520 --> 01:11:48,519
Speaker 1: out from Elon specifically, this is the perfect case in

1470
01:11:48,600 --> 01:11:52,800
Speaker 1: point of why having any of your like democracy, free

1471
01:11:52,840 --> 01:11:56,120
Speaker 1: speech infrastructure in the hands of one person whoever that

1472
01:11:56,240 --> 01:11:58,240
Speaker 1: person is whether you think that they're aligned with you

1473
01:11:58,400 --> 01:12:00,519
Speaker 1: or have the right values or well in touched or whatever.

1474
01:12:01,040 --> 01:12:03,519
Speaker 1: You're always going to run into issues like this because

1475
01:12:03,600 --> 01:12:06,360
Speaker 1: people are flawed, they have conflicts of interest, they have

1476
01:12:06,520 --> 01:12:09,080
Speaker 1: blind spots, et cetera. So this is just kind of

1477
01:12:09,120 --> 01:12:12,720
Speaker 1: a cautionary tale of that mode of hoping that one

1478
01:12:12,960 --> 01:12:21,040
Speaker 1: good billionaire is gonna rescue your democratic infrastructure. Salt democracy, Crystal,

1479
01:12:21,080 --> 01:12:23,360
Speaker 1: what are you taking a look at? Well, got a

1480
01:12:23,400 --> 01:12:25,840
Speaker 1: new entry for you in our travelog as we journey

1481
01:12:25,880 --> 01:12:29,160
Speaker 1: across scam Land, fake media mogul who's now been indicted

1482
01:12:29,200 --> 01:12:31,640
Speaker 1: and interested on multiple charges of fraud in what the

1483
01:12:31,680 --> 01:12:35,840
Speaker 1: government says was a multi year, multi million dollar effort

1484
01:12:35,920 --> 01:12:39,599
Speaker 1: to defraud investors, including some wild tales of fake documents,

1485
01:12:39,960 --> 01:12:43,599
Speaker 1: selling stock that didn't exist, and even identity theft. Meet

1486
01:12:43,640 --> 01:12:46,639
Speaker 1: Carlos Watson. We first introduced you to Carlos in September

1487
01:12:46,680 --> 01:12:48,559
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one, when Ben Smith, who was then

1488
01:12:48,560 --> 01:12:50,840
Speaker 1: at The New York Times, blew the lid off of

1489
01:12:50,920 --> 01:12:54,120
Speaker 1: his whole puffed up media scam. Here is that article.

1490
01:12:54,200 --> 01:12:56,800
Speaker 1: In its Smith explains how Watson attracted a who's who

1491
01:12:56,880 --> 01:13:00,519
Speaker 1: list of investors for his millennial media play was called Ozzie.

1492
01:13:00,840 --> 01:13:04,400
Speaker 1: From Loreene Palll Jobs to Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway,

1493
01:13:04,520 --> 01:13:07,880
Speaker 1: to some big institutional players like publishing giant Axel, Springer,

1494
01:13:08,160 --> 01:13:11,720
Speaker 1: media investment bank, Lion Try, the Ford Foundation and iHeartMedia.

1495
01:13:12,160 --> 01:13:15,439
Speaker 1: Billionaire hedge funder and major dem donor Mark Lazr ended

1496
01:13:15,520 --> 01:13:18,519
Speaker 1: up as chair of the board. All in, Ozzy was

1497
01:13:18,560 --> 01:13:22,760
Speaker 1: able to raise more than eighty three million dollars. Now,

1498
01:13:22,880 --> 01:13:26,519
Speaker 1: Ozzie build itself as a quote diverse, global and forward

1499
01:13:26,560 --> 01:13:29,680
Speaker 1: looking median entertainment company focused on the new and the

1500
01:13:29,760 --> 01:13:33,000
Speaker 1: next bunch of garbage buzzwords that apparently rich people fell

1501
01:13:33,040 --> 01:13:35,519
Speaker 1: all over themselves for now. Their launch video, which is

1502
01:13:35,560 --> 01:13:38,879
Speaker 1: still pinned to their YouTube channel, includes both Hillary Clinton

1503
01:13:39,040 --> 01:13:42,080
Speaker 1: and Carl Rove, even as the text on that video

1504
01:13:42,120 --> 01:13:44,680
Speaker 1: declares that Ozzie is for the daring and the unconventional.

1505
01:13:45,080 --> 01:13:46,800
Speaker 1: So won't shock you to find out that all of

1506
01:13:46,880 --> 01:13:48,760
Speaker 1: those millions of dollars went to produce a bunch of

1507
01:13:48,880 --> 01:13:52,120
Speaker 1: content that was safe, unoriginal garbage that absolutely no one

1508
01:13:52,200 --> 01:13:55,800
Speaker 1: cared about. It was an instant and consistent failure. A

1509
01:13:55,880 --> 01:13:58,759
Speaker 1: quick perusal of the Ozzi YouTube channel exposes quite clearly

1510
01:13:58,920 --> 01:14:00,880
Speaker 1: just how much of a failure are Ozzi ultimately was.

1511
01:14:01,200 --> 01:14:05,240
Speaker 1: Their average video garnered mere hundreds of views. Some didn't

1512
01:14:05,240 --> 01:14:08,240
Speaker 1: even break into the hundreds. Even videos that were able

1513
01:14:08,280 --> 01:14:11,040
Speaker 1: to crack into the thousands often had next to no engagement,

1514
01:14:11,200 --> 01:14:13,599
Speaker 1: creating a strong suspicion that the views they did receive

1515
01:14:13,760 --> 01:14:17,400
Speaker 1: were probably purchased. Now. According to Ben Smith's reporting, there'd

1516
01:14:17,439 --> 01:14:20,920
Speaker 1: long been rumors about Ozzie's actual success versus all of

1517
01:14:20,960 --> 01:14:24,040
Speaker 1: its puffery, but the wheels really came off with one

1518
01:14:24,160 --> 01:14:27,479
Speaker 1: fateful conference call. So Ozzie was trying to raise additional

1519
01:14:27,560 --> 01:14:29,519
Speaker 1: cash to keep their head above water. The company was

1520
01:14:29,760 --> 01:14:32,559
Speaker 1: now loaded up with high interest debt, churning through massive

1521
01:14:32,600 --> 01:14:34,880
Speaker 1: amounts of cash in order to just keep the lights on.

1522
01:14:35,400 --> 01:14:38,639
Speaker 1: Goldman Sachs was considering an investment, but there was one catch.

1523
01:14:39,000 --> 01:14:41,880
Speaker 1: The investment bank wanted to hear from YouTube about their

1524
01:14:41,960 --> 01:14:45,400
Speaker 1: partnership with Ozzie and about Ozzie's supposedly great performance on

1525
01:14:45,439 --> 01:14:48,320
Speaker 1: the channel. Of course, there was no partnership, and Ozzie's numbers,

1526
01:14:48,439 --> 01:14:51,160
Speaker 1: readily available to anyone who had the Internet, were absolute

1527
01:14:51,240 --> 01:14:55,240
Speaker 1: garbage Rather than defeat. However, Watson and his co founder

1528
01:14:55,320 --> 01:14:58,760
Speaker 1: Samir Raw cooked up another scheme. Now, Rao got the

1529
01:14:58,800 --> 01:15:01,519
Speaker 1: meaning switched from Zoo, where of course faces are visible,

1530
01:15:01,560 --> 01:15:04,679
Speaker 1: to a regular old conference call. He then used voice

1531
01:15:04,760 --> 01:15:08,160
Speaker 1: altering software to mask his own normal speaking voice and

1532
01:15:08,360 --> 01:15:12,200
Speaker 1: pretended to be a YouTube executive attesting to the company's

1533
01:15:12,240 --> 01:15:15,960
Speaker 1: phenomenal partnership and track record. Goldman actually wasn't buying it.

1534
01:15:16,040 --> 01:15:18,680
Speaker 1: After the call, they reached out to the actual, very

1535
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:22,280
Speaker 1: confused YouTube executive who Rao had impersonated, and confirmed what

1536
01:15:22,320 --> 01:15:25,160
Speaker 1: they had suspected all along, that the whole call was

1537
01:15:25,280 --> 01:15:30,320
Speaker 1: completely faked. In response, Carlos Watson, well, he immediately threw Rao,

1538
01:15:30,479 --> 01:15:33,080
Speaker 1: his co filen founder, under the bus. Watson claimed he

1539
01:15:33,120 --> 01:15:34,600
Speaker 1: had no idea about the call at all, and that

1540
01:15:34,720 --> 01:15:37,000
Speaker 1: Rao was just having a mental breakdown, which led to

1541
01:15:37,080 --> 01:15:40,040
Speaker 1: this outrageous behavior. Once the whole situation was exposed in

1542
01:15:40,040 --> 01:15:42,280
Speaker 1: The New York Times, Watson doubled down on these claims

1543
01:15:42,280 --> 01:15:45,559
Speaker 1: and proclaimed to Today's Shows Craig Melvin that far from

1544
01:15:45,680 --> 01:15:49,680
Speaker 1: killing the company, these revelations would lead to Ozzie's Lazarus

1545
01:15:49,760 --> 01:15:53,240
Speaker 1: Moment joining us now exclusively. Carlos Watson, Ozzie Media's CEO.

1546
01:15:53,320 --> 01:15:55,320
Speaker 1: Good morning two Starm, good morning, good see Thanks for

1547
01:15:55,400 --> 01:15:57,360
Speaker 1: coming in. Let's start with the status of Ozzy as

1548
01:15:57,400 --> 01:15:59,200
Speaker 1: we say it right now. Reports that the company shutdown

1549
01:15:59,200 --> 01:16:00,960
Speaker 1: on Friday? Is that true? Is the company shut down?

1550
01:16:01,000 --> 01:16:02,439
Speaker 1: Are you still loving for business? You know we're going

1551
01:16:02,479 --> 01:16:04,760
Speaker 1: to open for business, so we're making news today. This

1552
01:16:04,880 --> 01:16:06,479
Speaker 1: is our Lazarus moment, if you will. This is our

1553
01:16:06,520 --> 01:16:09,599
Speaker 1: tail and all moment. Last week was traumatic, It was difficult,

1554
01:16:10,240 --> 01:16:11,960
Speaker 1: heartbreaking in many ways, and at the end of the

1555
01:16:11,960 --> 01:16:14,240
Speaker 1: week we did suspend operations with a plan to wind down.

1556
01:16:14,400 --> 01:16:16,080
Speaker 1: But as we spend time over the weekend, we talked

1557
01:16:16,120 --> 01:16:18,439
Speaker 1: to advertising partners, we talked to some of our readers

1558
01:16:18,479 --> 01:16:21,080
Speaker 1: and our viewers, our listeners, our investors. I think Ozzie's

1559
01:16:21,320 --> 01:16:22,640
Speaker 1: is part of this moment, and it's not going to

1560
01:16:22,680 --> 01:16:24,679
Speaker 1: be easy. But I think what we do with newsletters,

1561
01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:27,120
Speaker 1: what we do with TV shows, original TV shows, podcasted more,

1562
01:16:27,280 --> 01:16:28,920
Speaker 1: I think is a place. Let's talk about this phone call.

1563
01:16:28,960 --> 01:16:31,360
Speaker 1: I mean, did you know that your partner, the co

1564
01:16:31,439 --> 01:16:33,439
Speaker 1: found of this company, was going to impersonate a YouTube

1565
01:16:33,439 --> 01:16:36,519
Speaker 1: executive on a call. Yeah? No, and it's sad and

1566
01:16:36,600 --> 01:16:40,479
Speaker 1: it's difficult. It was wrong. Obviously they figured it out

1567
01:16:40,600 --> 01:16:43,160
Speaker 1: very quickly. But here's the thing. Someone would wonder perhaps,

1568
01:16:43,320 --> 01:16:44,840
Speaker 1: I mean, you're on a call with Golden Sacks, you're

1569
01:16:44,840 --> 01:16:47,360
Speaker 1: trying to score forty million dollars in funding. Why were

1570
01:16:47,400 --> 01:16:48,560
Speaker 1: you not on the call? And how did you not

1571
01:16:48,640 --> 01:16:50,800
Speaker 1: have any knowledge of the call? You know, part of

1572
01:16:50,840 --> 01:16:52,479
Speaker 1: the fundraising process, you end up talking to a lot

1573
01:16:52,520 --> 01:16:54,240
Speaker 1: of people, and I'm not on every call, and there

1574
01:16:54,280 --> 01:16:56,040
Speaker 1: are lots of these reference calls that happen. They I

1575
01:16:56,080 --> 01:16:58,160
Speaker 1: think probably ended up talking to three, four, maybe five

1576
01:16:58,880 --> 01:17:00,560
Speaker 1: of our references. They also to talk to members of

1577
01:17:00,600 --> 01:17:02,479
Speaker 1: the team, They talk to more other investors, and so

1578
01:17:02,560 --> 01:17:04,160
Speaker 1: they're a fair number of things that are involved, and

1579
01:17:04,200 --> 01:17:06,080
Speaker 1: you're not a part of all of them. Now, this

1580
01:17:06,320 --> 01:17:09,320
Speaker 1: was not, in fact, their Lazarus moment. In reality, was

1581
01:17:09,320 --> 01:17:12,439
Speaker 1: the beginning of the end. Last week, Carlos Watson was arrested.

1582
01:17:12,760 --> 01:17:15,639
Speaker 1: He was charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy

1583
01:17:15,720 --> 01:17:19,080
Speaker 1: to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. He'll be

1584
01:17:19,120 --> 01:17:21,720
Speaker 1: shocked to learn that Watson Courtney of the government was

1585
01:17:21,840 --> 01:17:25,240
Speaker 1: in the room coaching row when that infamous Golden Sax

1586
01:17:25,320 --> 01:17:28,519
Speaker 1: conference call all went down. Now, Rao has already pled

1587
01:17:28,560 --> 01:17:30,880
Speaker 1: guilty along with Watson's former chief of staff, and they

1588
01:17:30,880 --> 01:17:33,960
Speaker 1: are presumably singing to the Feds about everything that they know.

1589
01:17:34,320 --> 01:17:36,719
Speaker 1: According to the indictment, this was not even the first

1590
01:17:36,800 --> 01:17:40,120
Speaker 1: time that Watson impersonated a media executive in a desperate

1591
01:17:40,160 --> 01:17:42,599
Speaker 1: bid to raise more millions for the whole failing enterprise.

1592
01:17:42,880 --> 01:17:45,519
Speaker 1: For years, he allegedly engaged in a web of just

1593
01:17:45,760 --> 01:17:49,120
Speaker 1: outright lies about the company's revenue, their projected revenue, the

1594
01:17:49,280 --> 01:17:52,000
Speaker 1: nature and existence of their TV contracts, the timing of

1595
01:17:52,040 --> 01:17:55,840
Speaker 1: their stock offerings. He invented the possibility of a company's sale.

1596
01:17:55,960 --> 01:17:59,280
Speaker 1: They forged documents and signatures, and in one noteworthy instance,

1597
01:17:59,600 --> 01:18:01,880
Speaker 1: a bank they were trying to secure funds from wanted

1598
01:18:01,920 --> 01:18:04,760
Speaker 1: to see proof of a cable network contract for the

1599
01:18:04,880 --> 01:18:07,080
Speaker 1: second season of an Ozzi TV show. Of course, that

1600
01:18:07,160 --> 01:18:10,120
Speaker 1: contract didn't actually exist. So what, according to the indictment,

1601
01:18:10,160 --> 01:18:12,720
Speaker 1: did Watson do in face with this dilemma, Well, he

1602
01:18:12,880 --> 01:18:16,599
Speaker 1: directed Ozzie's then CFO to send the bank a fake

1603
01:18:16,720 --> 01:18:19,360
Speaker 1: signed contract between Ozzie and the cable network reporting to

1604
01:18:19,439 --> 01:18:22,800
Speaker 1: be for the second season. When the then CFO refused,

1605
01:18:23,040 --> 01:18:26,360
Speaker 1: raw with Watson's approval, sent the fake contract, which contained

1606
01:18:26,600 --> 01:18:29,360
Speaker 1: terms favorable to Ozzie and a forged signature, to the bank.

1607
01:18:29,680 --> 01:18:32,639
Speaker 1: Copying the then CFO. Later that day, the then CFO

1608
01:18:32,800 --> 01:18:35,160
Speaker 1: emailed Watson and Row to say that she was resigning,

1609
01:18:35,240 --> 01:18:40,200
Speaker 1: effective immediately. She explained, quote, this is illegal, This is fraud.

1610
01:18:40,600 --> 01:18:43,160
Speaker 1: This is forging someone's signature with the intent of getting

1611
01:18:43,160 --> 01:18:46,320
Speaker 1: an advance from a publicly traded bank. She continued to

1612
01:18:46,439 --> 01:18:49,200
Speaker 1: be crystal clear. What you see as a measured risk,

1613
01:18:49,600 --> 01:18:53,639
Speaker 1: I see as a felony. Ozzie accumulated years of lies

1614
01:18:53,680 --> 01:18:55,840
Speaker 1: and fraud and obvious public failure when it came to

1615
01:18:55,920 --> 01:18:58,760
Speaker 1: the content. Yet Watson was able to fool so many

1616
01:18:58,840 --> 01:19:01,800
Speaker 1: elites in parting with millions of dollars. Even at the end.

1617
01:19:01,880 --> 01:19:04,759
Speaker 1: Once the whole Goldman Sacks conference call debacle was all exposed,

1618
01:19:05,120 --> 01:19:07,960
Speaker 1: billionaire chair of the Board Mark Lasari stood by his man,

1619
01:19:08,120 --> 01:19:11,320
Speaker 1: apparently buying the whole mental breakdown cover story. He told

1620
01:19:11,360 --> 01:19:13,680
Speaker 1: The Times quote, the board was made aware of the

1621
01:19:13,720 --> 01:19:15,559
Speaker 1: incident and we fully support the way it was handled.

1622
01:19:16,320 --> 01:19:18,960
Speaker 1: The incident was an unfortunate, one time event. Carlos and

1623
01:19:18,960 --> 01:19:20,640
Speaker 1: his team show the kind of compassion we would all

1624
01:19:20,680 --> 01:19:22,600
Speaker 1: want if any of us faced a difficult situation in

1625
01:19:22,640 --> 01:19:25,200
Speaker 1: our own lives. How did they all get van boozled

1626
01:19:25,600 --> 01:19:27,640
Speaker 1: well Carlos had worked at Golden Sacks himself, not to

1627
01:19:27,680 --> 01:19:31,120
Speaker 1: mention McKinsey Consulting, It was a Harvard grad former MSNBC anchor,

1628
01:19:31,360 --> 01:19:35,040
Speaker 1: so his elite credentials card was fully filled out. Those

1629
01:19:35,120 --> 01:19:37,600
Speaker 1: positions also gave him knowledge the elite circles and the

1630
01:19:37,680 --> 01:19:40,040
Speaker 1: language of finance and media, so that he knew how

1631
01:19:40,080 --> 01:19:42,080
Speaker 1: to fake and lie what he needed to fake and lie.

1632
01:19:42,479 --> 01:19:44,639
Speaker 1: He was a black founder making content that was totally

1633
01:19:44,680 --> 01:19:46,400
Speaker 1: comfy for the ruling class at a time when there

1634
01:19:46,479 --> 01:19:49,679
Speaker 1: was a big push for trailblazers and hollow identity plays

1635
01:19:49,960 --> 01:19:52,240
Speaker 1: well radical black media. They didn't have a chance of

1636
01:19:52,280 --> 01:19:55,679
Speaker 1: getting funded, but this Every billionaire in the country, dying

1637
01:19:55,720 --> 01:19:58,200
Speaker 1: to burnish their brand and sue their conscious could get

1638
01:19:58,200 --> 01:20:01,400
Speaker 1: behind this kind of drivel and Watson's pitch it landed

1639
01:20:01,439 --> 01:20:03,600
Speaker 1: at exactly the right time. He sold them all on

1640
01:20:03,680 --> 01:20:06,120
Speaker 1: reaching a millennial audience that they didn't really understand, but

1641
01:20:06,160 --> 01:20:10,120
Speaker 1: which they were desperate to cash in on literal fake media. Now,

1642
01:20:10,200 --> 01:20:12,519
Speaker 1: as for me, I'm going to take Carlos's downfall and

1643
01:20:12,600 --> 01:20:15,240
Speaker 1: unmasking the official elite paper of record, The New York Times,

1644
01:20:15,280 --> 01:20:18,639
Speaker 1: as a hopeful sign. Maybe, just maybe, the shelf life

1645
01:20:18,720 --> 01:20:21,200
Speaker 1: of the type of vapid identity play that Watson was peddling.

1646
01:20:21,560 --> 01:20:25,040
Speaker 1: Maybe it's finally reached its expiration date. So we tracked

1647
01:20:25,080 --> 01:20:27,040
Speaker 1: this one early. And if you want to hear my

1648
01:20:27,240 --> 01:20:30,559
Speaker 1: reaction to Crystal's monologue, become a premium subscriber today at

1649
01:20:30,640 --> 01:20:36,360
Speaker 1: breakingpoints dot com. What do you look at zagre Well,

1650
01:20:36,520 --> 01:20:38,880
Speaker 1: I won't lie and say it hasn't been satisfying watching

1651
01:20:38,920 --> 01:20:40,960
Speaker 1: the mainstream media reckon with the fact that the Energy

1652
01:20:41,000 --> 01:20:44,679
Speaker 1: Department and now the FBI director say they believe COVID

1653
01:20:44,800 --> 01:20:46,559
Speaker 1: is the result of a lab league from the Wuhan

1654
01:20:46,640 --> 01:20:50,080
Speaker 1: Institute of Virology. They were so smug for so long

1655
01:20:50,200 --> 01:20:53,360
Speaker 1: on the possibility. They smeared people who discussed it as racists.

1656
01:20:53,520 --> 01:20:55,840
Speaker 1: They kept it out of the public consciousness for years.

1657
01:20:56,120 --> 01:20:58,200
Speaker 1: One way to look at it is the truth inevitably

1658
01:20:58,280 --> 01:21:01,000
Speaker 1: came out. That's a victory, right. But another way, and

1659
01:21:01,080 --> 01:21:02,960
Speaker 1: the way I'm increasingly looking at it, is this is

1660
01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:09,080
Speaker 1: a classic Washington story. Corruption, no accountability, time, disclosures, captured media,

1661
01:21:09,360 --> 01:21:12,640
Speaker 1: most importantly, no consequences. When you step back and you

1662
01:21:12,720 --> 01:21:16,519
Speaker 1: consider it, the origin of COVID matters immensely for many reasons.

1663
01:21:16,720 --> 01:21:19,679
Speaker 1: Number one, We need to make sure this never happens again.

1664
01:21:19,920 --> 01:21:22,000
Speaker 1: If this is the type of gain of function research

1665
01:21:22,120 --> 01:21:24,880
Speaker 1: which led to one deadly pandemic, we should be damn

1666
01:21:24,920 --> 01:21:27,720
Speaker 1: sure we have the highest safety standards worldwide if it

1667
01:21:27,800 --> 01:21:32,000
Speaker 1: continues to be practiced. Number two. Even the Chinese controlled

1668
01:21:32,040 --> 01:21:35,640
Speaker 1: World Health Organization says that some three quarters of a

1669
01:21:35,800 --> 01:21:39,960
Speaker 1: billion people have been confirmed infected with COVID, which means

1670
01:21:40,000 --> 01:21:42,320
Speaker 1: a real number is likely orders of magnitude higher. Some

1671
01:21:42,640 --> 01:21:45,599
Speaker 1: seven million people have died from it. While it could

1672
01:21:45,600 --> 01:21:48,080
Speaker 1: have been a lot worse, COVID was still a disaster

1673
01:21:48,280 --> 01:21:50,840
Speaker 1: for the human race. It shut down our societies. It

1674
01:21:50,960 --> 01:21:53,960
Speaker 1: gave immense power to the government. It fundamentally reset a

1675
01:21:54,040 --> 01:21:56,880
Speaker 1: lot of American and global life, the relationship to the state.

1676
01:21:57,200 --> 01:21:58,960
Speaker 1: As important as it is right now to grapple with

1677
01:21:59,000 --> 01:22:01,320
Speaker 1: those changes, not lose sight of what caused it in

1678
01:22:01,360 --> 01:22:03,120
Speaker 1: the first place. And I made a comment in one

1679
01:22:03,160 --> 01:22:04,720
Speaker 1: of our last shows about how this is just like

1680
01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:08,320
Speaker 1: IRAQ WMD. I increasingly believe that a comparison rings true.

1681
01:22:08,560 --> 01:22:11,439
Speaker 1: IRAQ WMD was, depending on who you believe, either fake

1682
01:22:11,520 --> 01:22:14,519
Speaker 1: from the beginning or the greatest intelligence failure in modern mystery.

1683
01:22:14,800 --> 01:22:17,400
Speaker 1: It was used right senior government officials to manipulate the

1684
01:22:17,439 --> 01:22:19,600
Speaker 1: press and the American people to lead us into a

1685
01:22:19,640 --> 01:22:23,120
Speaker 1: similarly disastrous war in Iraq. It took full year, two

1686
01:22:23,280 --> 01:22:26,919
Speaker 1: full years after the invasion of Iraq for Congressional Commission

1687
01:22:27,000 --> 01:22:30,080
Speaker 1: on What WMD's and Intelligence to admit it was fake

1688
01:22:30,200 --> 01:22:33,120
Speaker 1: the whole time. It took months later even for President

1689
01:22:33,200 --> 01:22:36,080
Speaker 1: Bush to admit to the American people he was wrong,

1690
01:22:36,400 --> 01:22:38,600
Speaker 1: and really up until two thousand and six before he

1691
01:22:38,600 --> 01:22:41,960
Speaker 1: would really fully acknowledge it. Why did that delay matter,

1692
01:22:42,320 --> 01:22:45,719
Speaker 1: because by the time the debate of that was happening

1693
01:22:46,200 --> 01:22:48,960
Speaker 1: was about what to do in Iraq, should we surge

1694
01:22:49,000 --> 01:22:51,559
Speaker 1: and withdraw? How do we deal with insurgency? And because

1695
01:22:51,600 --> 01:22:54,719
Speaker 1: by that time, the CIA director, the man perhaps most

1696
01:22:54,760 --> 01:22:57,920
Speaker 1: responsible for the false intelligence estimate in Iraq, had already

1697
01:22:58,000 --> 01:23:00,479
Speaker 1: resigned from the government. By the time we really and

1698
01:23:00,600 --> 01:23:05,360
Speaker 1: fully acknowledging in Rumsfeld, George Tenant, Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby,

1699
01:23:05,439 --> 01:23:07,519
Speaker 1: many of the others who are no longer in they

1700
01:23:07,560 --> 01:23:09,840
Speaker 1: were no longer in positions of power that they once held.

1701
01:23:10,160 --> 01:23:12,600
Speaker 1: And sure there were yells from Democrats in Congress and

1702
01:23:12,720 --> 01:23:14,800
Speaker 1: the media about how they were liars, how they should

1703
01:23:14,800 --> 01:23:17,920
Speaker 1: be held accountable, but not one to this day has

1704
01:23:18,000 --> 01:23:21,719
Speaker 1: suffered any consequence for their role in leading the American

1705
01:23:21,760 --> 01:23:24,320
Speaker 1: people to the war in Iraq. In fact, when the

1706
01:23:24,400 --> 01:23:26,760
Speaker 1: report dropped, of course it was a big deal, but

1707
01:23:26,840 --> 01:23:29,240
Speaker 1: most people had mostly moved on. It was just a

1708
01:23:29,360 --> 01:23:31,559
Speaker 1: fact of life that the government had lied about wmd

1709
01:23:32,000 --> 01:23:33,880
Speaker 1: Now what to do with the mess in Iraq? And

1710
01:23:33,880 --> 01:23:36,320
Speaker 1: the hundreds of American troops are getting killed by IEDs.

1711
01:23:36,680 --> 01:23:38,360
Speaker 1: The crazy party is, though, is when you compare this

1712
01:23:38,520 --> 01:23:42,040
Speaker 1: lab league Lablaque honestly might be worse. At least, the

1713
01:23:42,200 --> 01:23:46,920
Speaker 1: US Congress agreed on a bipartisan commission to investigate whether

1714
01:23:47,200 --> 01:23:50,839
Speaker 1: WMDs were a lie or not. Our Congress is totally

1715
01:23:50,920 --> 01:23:53,639
Speaker 1: split on partisan lines. Republicans are the only ones willing

1716
01:23:53,680 --> 01:23:57,160
Speaker 1: to investigate the lab league. Democrats repeatedly blocked these attempts

1717
01:23:57,200 --> 01:23:59,760
Speaker 1: in Congress. In fact, the only reason that we even

1718
01:23:59,840 --> 01:24:03,360
Speaker 1: know about this Energy Department and FBI intelligence assessment is

1719
01:24:03,439 --> 01:24:06,640
Speaker 1: because the GOP took control of House and the intelligence

1720
01:24:06,680 --> 01:24:09,960
Speaker 1: community was preparing summaries for subpoenas that they are expected

1721
01:24:10,000 --> 01:24:13,320
Speaker 1: to deliver on the intelligence as related to the lab leak.

1722
01:24:13,640 --> 01:24:17,400
Speaker 1: To date, none of this has been publicized, None of

1723
01:24:17,479 --> 01:24:20,840
Speaker 1: it has been declassified for the American people or people

1724
01:24:21,000 --> 01:24:23,559
Speaker 1: like us to go through and read the raw documents

1725
01:24:23,640 --> 01:24:25,960
Speaker 1: or the intelligent summaries or interviews of any of these

1726
01:24:26,000 --> 01:24:29,080
Speaker 1: people involved. It is not an accident you're hearing about

1727
01:24:29,120 --> 01:24:32,360
Speaker 1: this three years later because the principal actors involved can

1728
01:24:32,479 --> 01:24:36,719
Speaker 1: no longer suffer any real consequences. The chief criminal amongst

1729
01:24:36,760 --> 01:24:40,000
Speaker 1: them is doctor Fauci, the man most responsible for dispensing

1730
01:24:40,200 --> 01:24:42,840
Speaker 1: US funds to the Wuhan Lab and for covering it

1731
01:24:42,920 --> 01:24:45,479
Speaker 1: up in the media. He's gone. He left the government

1732
01:24:46,040 --> 01:24:49,000
Speaker 1: in an NIH in December. He's no longer subject to

1733
01:24:49,040 --> 01:24:52,000
Speaker 1: the same requirements to appear before Congress, and he's no

1734
01:24:52,120 --> 01:24:54,639
Speaker 1: longer an employee of the US government subject to previous

1735
01:24:54,680 --> 01:24:59,160
Speaker 1: scrutiny he made his millions documentaries, book deals, speaking fees.

1736
01:24:59,439 --> 01:25:02,720
Speaker 1: I have zero confidence whatsoever anything will happen to him

1737
01:25:02,920 --> 01:25:05,200
Speaker 1: for lying to us repeatedly about the lab leak and

1738
01:25:05,280 --> 01:25:07,560
Speaker 1: about actively covering it up at the time or the

1739
01:25:07,640 --> 01:25:10,280
Speaker 1: media angle. There's no more famous example on a rack

1740
01:25:10,439 --> 01:25:13,760
Speaker 1: WMD than Judy Miller, who published straight up Bush propaganda

1741
01:25:13,840 --> 01:25:15,719
Speaker 1: on a rack for WMD for the New York Times.

1742
01:25:16,040 --> 01:25:18,519
Speaker 1: Now Look. She eventually was fired for her role in that,

1743
01:25:18,680 --> 01:25:21,439
Speaker 1: and she had to apologize on lab leak though, look

1744
01:25:21,479 --> 01:25:24,560
Speaker 1: at this. Apoorva Mondavli, the lead COVID reporter for the

1745
01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:27,360
Speaker 1: New York Times, She wrote in May twenty twenty one, quote,

1746
01:25:27,400 --> 01:25:29,800
Speaker 1: someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory

1747
01:25:30,000 --> 01:25:33,120
Speaker 1: and maybe even admit its racist roots. Alas that day

1748
01:25:33,200 --> 01:25:35,720
Speaker 1: is not yet here. She not only wrote that she

1749
01:25:35,920 --> 01:25:39,280
Speaker 1: won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of COVID in

1750
01:25:39,360 --> 01:25:42,479
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Now that the US government even admits

1751
01:25:42,560 --> 01:25:48,000
Speaker 1: lab leak is almost certainly true, is there an apology recrimination? No? Nothing,

1752
01:25:48,400 --> 01:25:52,080
Speaker 1: that's the crazy part. Absolutely no consequences. The same people

1753
01:25:52,160 --> 01:25:55,000
Speaker 1: who dismissed it with a straight face, pretending they never did.

1754
01:25:55,320 --> 01:25:57,840
Speaker 1: And just like with the rack WMD, they just wanted

1755
01:25:57,840 --> 01:26:00,920
Speaker 1: to fade away into the distance, become something else. That

1756
01:26:01,080 --> 01:26:03,800
Speaker 1: something else can be important, but the original sin must

1757
01:26:03,920 --> 01:26:06,360
Speaker 1: never be forgotten. And that's just one of those where

1758
01:26:06,360 --> 01:26:07,880
Speaker 1: I keep coming back to it. And if you want

1759
01:26:07,920 --> 01:26:11,000
Speaker 1: to hear my reaction to Sagre's monologue, become a premium

1760
01:26:11,040 --> 01:26:17,320
Speaker 1: subscriber today at Breakingpoints dot com. Bronco Marchatic is a

1761
01:26:17,360 --> 01:26:19,400
Speaker 1: staff writer for Jackman and he joins us, now great

1762
01:26:19,439 --> 01:26:22,800
Speaker 1: to Caeesar. Good see many fleas flanks over. Yeah. Absolutely,

1763
01:26:22,920 --> 01:26:24,600
Speaker 1: I think I'm getting better at saying your name, so

1764
01:26:24,720 --> 01:26:27,600
Speaker 1: I've been worth working on it here. So let's go

1765
01:26:27,680 --> 01:26:29,680
Speaker 1: and put this latest piece up on the screen, which

1766
01:26:29,760 --> 01:26:33,400
Speaker 1: is thoroughly reported and I think really significant and important.

1767
01:26:33,439 --> 01:26:36,120
Speaker 1: The headline here is the state of Ukrainian democracy is

1768
01:26:36,240 --> 01:26:39,639
Speaker 1: not strong, subhad is. One year after Russia's invasion, Ukraine

1769
01:26:39,720 --> 01:26:43,880
Speaker 1: is backsliding away from democratic freedoms and liberal pluralism. Let

1770
01:26:43,920 --> 01:26:46,320
Speaker 1: me just read another piece here. You write Bronco. While

1771
01:26:46,360 --> 01:26:49,080
Speaker 1: authoritarianism is nothing new in the country, and the country

1772
01:26:49,160 --> 01:26:51,840
Speaker 1: being Ukraine, it is severely worsened in the wake of

1773
01:26:51,880 --> 01:26:54,280
Speaker 1: the invasion, which has seen a centralization of power by

1774
01:26:54,400 --> 01:26:57,439
Speaker 1: Zelenski's government and a crackdown on dissonance and all things

1775
01:26:57,560 --> 01:27:00,519
Speaker 1: quote pro Russian. A lack of Western Median per book attention,

1776
01:27:00,600 --> 01:27:03,880
Speaker 1: coupled with US and European policies actively exacerbating it, are

1777
01:27:03,960 --> 01:27:06,839
Speaker 1: helping to fuel the problem. So give us the outlines

1778
01:27:06,840 --> 01:27:10,800
Speaker 1: of what you found here. Yeah, I mean, as you said,

1779
01:27:11,000 --> 01:27:13,960
Speaker 1: authoritarism in Ukraine is not a new thing. I mean

1780
01:27:14,040 --> 01:27:17,040
Speaker 1: even in the Zelenski in tween nineteen, Ukraine has been

1781
01:27:17,160 --> 01:27:20,400
Speaker 1: ranked lower than in Hungary by Freedom House in terms

1782
01:27:20,439 --> 01:27:24,439
Speaker 1: of you know, democratic credentials. It's actually gone lower by

1783
01:27:24,479 --> 01:27:28,720
Speaker 1: some measures under Zelenski, you know, started cracking down on

1784
01:27:28,840 --> 01:27:32,879
Speaker 1: opposition parties and the like as his popularity started plummeting,

1785
01:27:33,000 --> 01:27:35,880
Speaker 1: you know, towards twenty twenty one or so. But it's

1786
01:27:35,960 --> 01:27:38,320
Speaker 1: really ratchet up since the start of the war, which

1787
01:27:38,400 --> 01:27:41,679
Speaker 1: to some extent is understandable. I mean, I think any country,

1788
01:27:41,760 --> 01:27:44,200
Speaker 1: you know, you look at at war time, you tend

1789
01:27:44,280 --> 01:27:46,560
Speaker 1: to see a curtailment of freedoms and civil liberties and

1790
01:27:46,600 --> 01:27:49,519
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. But I mean, you know,

1791
01:27:50,320 --> 01:27:54,439
Speaker 1: just to say that it happens and it's an organic

1792
01:27:54,560 --> 01:27:56,840
Speaker 1: outcome of a country being attacked does not mean that

1793
01:27:56,920 --> 01:27:59,320
Speaker 1: it's okay. And I think, you know, if we really

1794
01:27:59,439 --> 01:28:03,479
Speaker 1: take these ideas about defending Ukrainian democracy seriously, I think

1795
01:28:03,479 --> 01:28:05,080
Speaker 1: it's the something that we have to pay attention to. So,

1796
01:28:05,160 --> 01:28:09,240
Speaker 1: you know, what we've seen in Ukraine is dissidents, not

1797
01:28:09,400 --> 01:28:11,759
Speaker 1: just people on the left, but all kinds of anti

1798
01:28:11,880 --> 01:28:14,560
Speaker 1: war voices, all kinds of voices that are you know,

1799
01:28:14,680 --> 01:28:18,920
Speaker 1: taking a different line towards his conflict than say the

1800
01:28:19,160 --> 01:28:22,000
Speaker 1: Ukrainian authorities would like who, you know, talk about the

1801
01:28:22,080 --> 01:28:24,519
Speaker 1: fact that this was a civil war before it was

1802
01:28:24,680 --> 01:28:27,840
Speaker 1: an invasion by Russia and so on and so forth.

1803
01:28:28,640 --> 01:28:32,120
Speaker 1: They've been rounded up, arrested, There's been allegations of torture.

1804
01:28:33,439 --> 01:28:38,280
Speaker 1: You know, Zelenski has basically eliminated all kinds of opposition media.

1805
01:28:38,360 --> 01:28:44,719
Speaker 1: He's centralized all the TV networks almost under one government platform.

1806
01:28:45,240 --> 01:28:48,160
Speaker 1: There was a law passed recently that he signed into

1807
01:28:48,240 --> 01:28:53,439
Speaker 1: law and I think December that basically gave the Ukrainian

1808
01:28:53,479 --> 01:29:00,120
Speaker 1: government under Zelensky wide latitude to basically censor media that

1809
01:29:00,280 --> 01:29:05,240
Speaker 1: that that was inconvenient in some way. You've had crackdown

1810
01:29:05,360 --> 01:29:08,519
Speaker 1: on sort of things that perceived as pro Russian or

1811
01:29:08,560 --> 01:29:11,880
Speaker 1: parts of Russian culture, which is very significant because that

1812
01:29:12,080 --> 01:29:16,040
Speaker 1: was already one part of the grievance that that that

1813
01:29:16,320 --> 01:29:19,639
Speaker 1: that led to civil strife within Ukraine even before this invasion.

1814
01:29:20,640 --> 01:29:23,840
Speaker 1: So you've had raids and so on on on the

1815
01:29:23,960 --> 01:29:27,240
Speaker 1: Ukrainian Orthodox Church around the country, you know, monasteries and

1816
01:29:27,360 --> 01:29:31,000
Speaker 1: churches and the like. You had book banning the banning

1817
01:29:31,080 --> 01:29:33,200
Speaker 1: of speaking Russian, and you know, there's a country where

1818
01:29:33,200 --> 01:29:36,280
Speaker 1: a lot of people spoke Russian before the war, and

1819
01:29:36,400 --> 01:29:38,240
Speaker 1: and and still do. I mean, you know, some people

1820
01:29:38,280 --> 01:29:42,360
Speaker 1: have definitely voluntarily decided to abandon Russian as the sort

1821
01:29:42,360 --> 01:29:45,120
Speaker 1: of patriotism, but there's still people who speak Russian and

1822
01:29:45,200 --> 01:29:49,439
Speaker 1: consider a Russian cultural heritage pretty central to their lives.

1823
01:29:50,920 --> 01:29:54,679
Speaker 1: You've had, you know, you've had a lot of people

1824
01:29:54,760 --> 01:29:59,679
Speaker 1: being harassed and like by Ukraine's security service, the SPU.

1825
01:30:00,560 --> 01:30:05,679
Speaker 1: You've had this proliferation of blacklists, private blacklists, which basically

1826
01:30:05,880 --> 01:30:10,160
Speaker 1: less people who are meant to be traders in the like. Uh.

1827
01:30:10,360 --> 01:30:13,599
Speaker 1: And then you know they sometimes less their addresses, their

1828
01:30:13,640 --> 01:30:17,120
Speaker 1: phone numbers, so on and so forth, identifying details. You know,

1829
01:30:17,320 --> 01:30:22,600
Speaker 1: often the evidence is flimsy to to non existent. You

1830
01:30:22,760 --> 01:30:27,720
Speaker 1: have the prosecution of collaborators, and those collaborators again it's

1831
01:30:27,760 --> 01:30:32,120
Speaker 1: a very elastically defined term. For in some cases it's

1832
01:30:32,280 --> 01:30:36,040
Speaker 1: just people who have voiced opinions that are not any

1833
01:30:36,160 --> 01:30:41,960
Speaker 1: longer considered you know, appropriate. Uh. You know I've already mentioned,

1834
01:30:42,040 --> 01:30:44,439
Speaker 1: you know, mentioning civil war. But also you might add

1835
01:30:44,479 --> 01:30:47,800
Speaker 1: to that just people who happen to work trying to

1836
01:30:47,840 --> 01:30:52,759
Speaker 1: survive under Russian occupation, who take on positions say running

1837
01:30:52,760 --> 01:30:55,680
Speaker 1: a hospital or fixing rail lines and so on and

1838
01:30:55,760 --> 01:30:59,880
Speaker 1: so forth, and then when when those areas have been liberated,

1839
01:31:00,200 --> 01:31:04,240
Speaker 1: they have been charged as collaboratives for doing work under

1840
01:31:04,280 --> 01:31:07,639
Speaker 1: those occupiers. So there's a there's a broad range of stuff,

1841
01:31:07,720 --> 01:31:12,439
Speaker 1: but overall it paints a pretty grim picture for Ukrainian democracy,

1842
01:31:12,479 --> 01:31:14,400
Speaker 1: and it is kind of liberal pluralism, which I think

1843
01:31:14,439 --> 01:31:17,320
Speaker 1: we in the West see as kind of you know,

1844
01:31:17,479 --> 01:31:19,880
Speaker 1: pretty natural to any sort of liberal democracy. But it's

1845
01:31:19,920 --> 01:31:24,960
Speaker 1: slowly in this case, rapidly disappearing in So why does

1846
01:31:25,000 --> 01:31:27,200
Speaker 1: that matter then for the end state of like whatever

1847
01:31:27,320 --> 01:31:29,240
Speaker 1: that this might look like. And what does it pose

1848
01:31:29,280 --> 01:31:32,840
Speaker 1: as a problem, if any, for the West in trying

1849
01:31:32,920 --> 01:31:38,120
Speaker 1: to deliver a peace for this conflict. I mean one problem,

1850
01:31:38,520 --> 01:31:45,000
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, the conflict between rival or dueling visions

1851
01:31:45,080 --> 01:31:46,519
Speaker 1: of what the country is. You know, is there a

1852
01:31:46,760 --> 01:31:51,240
Speaker 1: single Ukrainian identity that comes under sage that you know,

1853
01:31:51,360 --> 01:31:55,280
Speaker 1: people everyone speaks Ukrainian, everyone has this kind of culture

1854
01:31:56,360 --> 01:31:59,600
Speaker 1: versus this is a pluralistic society where you know, you

1855
01:31:59,680 --> 01:32:04,000
Speaker 1: haveeople speaking multiple languages, where people you know, you can

1856
01:32:04,120 --> 01:32:07,160
Speaker 1: have people with existing within Ukraine or having some sort

1857
01:32:07,200 --> 01:32:09,880
Speaker 1: of ties to Russian heritage. You know that that was

1858
01:32:10,080 --> 01:32:13,880
Speaker 1: an issue that was alive before the war, and it

1859
01:32:14,040 --> 01:32:17,759
Speaker 1: was the product of a lot of conflict within the country.

1860
01:32:17,760 --> 01:32:20,639
Speaker 1: I mean, that's part of the reason why there's been

1861
01:32:20,720 --> 01:32:24,080
Speaker 1: this war on the Dombas for the last nine years.

1862
01:32:24,840 --> 01:32:28,639
Speaker 1: And so if the idea is that it's just gonna

1863
01:32:28,760 --> 01:32:30,400
Speaker 1: you know, you're going to solve that problem by just

1864
01:32:30,479 --> 01:32:34,519
Speaker 1: basically using force or using government power to kind of

1865
01:32:34,560 --> 01:32:37,160
Speaker 1: stamp out all this, I think that's going to cause

1866
01:32:37,240 --> 01:32:39,360
Speaker 1: problems long term. However, much you know, people may be

1867
01:32:39,479 --> 01:32:43,759
Speaker 1: unified now naturally as they kind of resist the Russian invasion,

1868
01:32:44,320 --> 01:32:46,880
Speaker 1: I think it's a little naive to think that's going

1869
01:32:46,960 --> 01:32:49,880
Speaker 1: to hold. And I mean, you know, in terms of

1870
01:32:51,200 --> 01:32:53,920
Speaker 1: what the endgame looks like. I mean, you know, some

1871
01:32:54,000 --> 01:32:56,960
Speaker 1: people might say, well, this is only temporary, this is

1872
01:32:57,120 --> 01:32:59,160
Speaker 1: just during wartime. But again, I mean, these trends were

1873
01:32:59,200 --> 01:33:03,040
Speaker 1: happening with Zelenski beforehand. It wasn't just Zelenski, of course,

1874
01:33:03,120 --> 01:33:06,519
Speaker 1: I mean the previous prison before in Porshenko. He was

1875
01:33:06,560 --> 01:33:10,519
Speaker 1: also known for some authoritarian measures. So I would love

1876
01:33:10,600 --> 01:33:11,880
Speaker 1: to say that, you know, this is just going to

1877
01:33:11,880 --> 01:33:15,320
Speaker 1: be a temporary thing, but I fear that this is

1878
01:33:15,400 --> 01:33:17,960
Speaker 1: going to be a trend that if and when this

1879
01:33:18,160 --> 01:33:22,680
Speaker 1: war finally ends, which hopefully it does that it really

1880
01:33:22,800 --> 01:33:28,200
Speaker 1: poses some real challenges to having a proper democracy. I

1881
01:33:28,240 --> 01:33:31,080
Speaker 1: think it also speaks to the Disney version of this

1882
01:33:31,280 --> 01:33:34,000
Speaker 1: war that has been sold to the American public, where

1883
01:33:34,080 --> 01:33:38,360
Speaker 1: it's portrayed as this really clear cut war over values,

1884
01:33:38,479 --> 01:33:42,040
Speaker 1: with liberal democracy Ukraine on one side and authoritarian Putin

1885
01:33:42,160 --> 01:33:44,000
Speaker 1: on the other side. And what you're showing here is

1886
01:33:44,080 --> 01:33:46,759
Speaker 1: that the reality at best is a lot more complex

1887
01:33:47,160 --> 01:33:50,240
Speaker 1: than what is being portrayed in the Western media and

1888
01:33:50,320 --> 01:33:52,639
Speaker 1: what is being sold to the American public as well.

1889
01:33:53,360 --> 01:33:55,560
Speaker 1: I'd love for you for people who don't understand, to

1890
01:33:55,720 --> 01:34:00,120
Speaker 1: just help situate Zelenski on political spectrum, help situate his

1891
01:34:00,280 --> 01:34:04,000
Speaker 1: allies on a political spectrum the you know, prior to

1892
01:34:04,040 --> 01:34:06,840
Speaker 1: the war, the descent against him, like give us a

1893
01:34:06,920 --> 01:34:09,920
Speaker 1: sense of where the political dividing lines are and were

1894
01:34:10,000 --> 01:34:14,320
Speaker 1: in Ukraine. Well, I think Zelenski now is portrayed as

1895
01:34:14,360 --> 01:34:17,479
Speaker 1: this kind of Churchilean figure. He's this guy who's defending

1896
01:34:17,600 --> 01:34:22,360
Speaker 1: Ukrainian democracy, he's helping it to survive and possibly even thrive.

1897
01:34:22,520 --> 01:34:24,840
Speaker 1: And you know, as you said, this whole war is

1898
01:34:24,840 --> 01:34:28,599
Speaker 1: about a battle between democracy and authoritarianism. I mean that's

1899
01:34:28,840 --> 01:34:32,680
Speaker 1: not really quite the case. And first of all Zelenski,

1900
01:34:33,120 --> 01:34:36,479
Speaker 1: as I said, he began centralizing power. Before this happened.

1901
01:34:36,479 --> 01:34:42,879
Speaker 1: He actually his leading parliamentary opposition, the Pro Russian Opposition

1902
01:34:43,160 --> 01:34:47,879
Speaker 1: for Life bloc, They had ten percent of seats in parliament.

1903
01:34:48,520 --> 01:34:51,800
Speaker 1: You know, after after Zelensky's popularity started falling down, they

1904
01:34:52,000 --> 01:34:56,880
Speaker 1: they actually ended up being sort of nick and neck

1905
01:34:56,920 --> 01:34:59,760
Speaker 1: with him in the polls. And not just that, but

1906
01:34:59,840 --> 01:35:03,160
Speaker 1: I one of their candidates beat one of Zelenski's own

1907
01:35:03,240 --> 01:35:07,679
Speaker 1: parties candidates seven other people party. They beat this candidate

1908
01:35:07,720 --> 01:35:09,960
Speaker 1: in Selenski's own hometown, which was a bit of a

1909
01:35:10,360 --> 01:35:13,120
Speaker 1: one of those bellwether elections. So they were definitely an

1910
01:35:13,160 --> 01:35:17,120
Speaker 1: electoral threat, you know, leading into into into elections between

1911
01:35:17,160 --> 01:35:25,200
Speaker 1: twenty three and uh, you know, Zelensky sanctioned it's It's leader.

1912
01:35:25,360 --> 01:35:30,479
Speaker 1: He closed its leaders opposition as sorry as media outlets,

1913
01:35:32,520 --> 01:35:34,240
Speaker 1: which is a pretty extreme thing to do. Was actually

1914
01:35:34,240 --> 01:35:36,640
Speaker 1: condemned by the EU at the time. Interestingly, it was

1915
01:35:36,800 --> 01:35:39,920
Speaker 1: it was kind of cheered on by US officials at

1916
01:35:39,960 --> 01:35:43,800
Speaker 1: the time, but there you go. You know, in terms

1917
01:35:43,800 --> 01:35:46,480
Speaker 1: of his politics, I mean, besides the kind of centualization

1918
01:35:46,560 --> 01:35:49,080
Speaker 1: of power which you know, you consider readers, maybe an

1919
01:35:49,400 --> 01:35:52,200
Speaker 1: act of disparation from a politician who has lost some

1920
01:35:52,280 --> 01:35:54,040
Speaker 1: of the shine that you had when you first came in.

1921
01:35:54,840 --> 01:35:58,960
Speaker 1: Zelensky is a a party a pretty neo liberal. I mean.

1922
01:35:59,080 --> 01:36:01,719
Speaker 1: One of the big things that that they put forward

1923
01:36:02,160 --> 01:36:05,599
Speaker 1: and they actually managed the past during during the pandemic

1924
01:36:05,680 --> 01:36:10,599
Speaker 1: in tween twenty, was to start selling off Ukrainian farmland,

1925
01:36:10,600 --> 01:36:13,559
Speaker 1: which is of course, you know, the richest agricultural land

1926
01:36:13,760 --> 01:36:16,360
Speaker 1: in the world. And there was there was a there

1927
01:36:16,400 --> 01:36:19,600
Speaker 1: was a law from the time of independence that that

1928
01:36:19,840 --> 01:36:25,360
Speaker 1: banned the sale of farmland to private hands, which Selenski

1929
01:36:25,439 --> 01:36:27,720
Speaker 1: opened up finally, and by the way, he opened it

1930
01:36:27,800 --> 01:36:31,120
Speaker 1: up at the urging of of of the the EU

1931
01:36:31,280 --> 01:36:33,920
Speaker 1: and the IMF. You know, these these institutions that are

1932
01:36:34,000 --> 01:36:38,240
Speaker 1: meant to be sort of you know, supposedly guaranteeing Ukraine's sovereignty.

1933
01:36:39,600 --> 01:36:41,600
Speaker 1: Even there was a there's a you can find a

1934
01:36:41,640 --> 01:36:44,040
Speaker 1: piece from the Atlanta Council interestingly back in I think

1935
01:36:45,200 --> 01:36:47,760
Speaker 1: one but they talk about how you came into powers

1936
01:36:47,760 --> 01:36:50,880
Speaker 1: as kind of liberal figure, but actually him and his

1937
01:36:50,960 --> 01:36:54,960
Speaker 1: party's record on LGBTQ issues, for instance, has been pretty warnful,

1938
01:36:55,000 --> 01:36:57,400
Speaker 1: which again stands in star contrast to the kind of

1939
01:36:58,479 --> 01:37:02,439
Speaker 1: image that we've been given absolutely, Yeah, good point. I

1940
01:37:02,479 --> 01:37:04,280
Speaker 1: think that's all all said. I really encourage people to

1941
01:37:04,360 --> 01:37:07,160
Speaker 1: read the piece just for a very nuanced and specific

1942
01:37:07,240 --> 01:37:09,800
Speaker 1: and detailed, well reported view of what is going on

1943
01:37:10,000 --> 01:37:12,400
Speaker 1: on the ground there Bronco. It's always great to see you.

1944
01:37:12,439 --> 01:37:16,479
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking the time. Thanks Man, absolutely,

1945
01:37:16,960 --> 01:37:18,840
Speaker 1: thank you guys so much for watching. Really appreciate it.

1946
01:37:19,080 --> 01:37:21,519
Speaker 1: By the way, Chrystal, I just checked before the show,

1947
01:37:21,880 --> 01:37:25,200
Speaker 1: this is officially the biggest week in Breaking Points history.

1948
01:37:25,320 --> 01:37:28,439
Speaker 1: So that's cool in terms by all of our numbers,

1949
01:37:28,760 --> 01:37:31,720
Speaker 1: in terms of subscribers, in terms of our downloads, and

1950
01:37:31,760 --> 01:37:34,600
Speaker 1: in terms of our views cumulatively. So I want to

1951
01:37:34,600 --> 01:37:37,240
Speaker 1: say thank you to everybody for sticking with us. You

1952
01:37:37,280 --> 01:37:40,640
Speaker 1: guys are absolutely incredible. It's just been it's been what

1953
01:37:40,720 --> 01:37:42,880
Speaker 1: an absolute wild month of February was for all of us,

1954
01:37:43,000 --> 01:37:44,800
Speaker 1: starting with Rogan and Austin and all of that. And

1955
01:37:44,840 --> 01:37:46,840
Speaker 1: we had a lot of fun stuff that happened here

1956
01:37:46,920 --> 01:37:48,519
Speaker 1: on the show, and just want to say thank you

1957
01:37:48,640 --> 01:37:51,479
Speaker 1: to everybody. You guys really enjoyed Counterpoints yesterday. We could

1958
01:37:51,520 --> 01:37:53,760
Speaker 1: see that, so thank you for sticking with them for

1959
01:37:54,000 --> 01:37:56,160
Speaker 1: enjoying all this content. We've got some fun stuff coming

1960
01:37:56,240 --> 01:37:59,000
Speaker 1: for you. On the weekend for Crystal specifically, so look

1961
01:37:59,040 --> 01:38:01,200
Speaker 1: out for the channel on that. I think you guys

1962
01:38:01,240 --> 01:38:03,280
Speaker 1: are really going to enjoy that good content. Other than that,

1963
01:38:03,400 --> 01:38:04,759
Speaker 1: we will see you all on Monday.