WEBVTT - Evan McMorris-Santoro & Dave Weigel 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.120 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:09.200 today's best minds and. 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:15.360 New Reuters ipso's poll says fifty one percent of Americans 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:20.119 are opposed to military strikes against drug boats. 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:22.639 We have such a great show for you today. Notice 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:27.960 his own Evan McMorris, San Toro stops by to talk 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:32.479 about the post Epstein email fallout. Then we'll talk to 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:38.560 Semaphore's Dave Weigel about the vibe shift since election Day. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:39.560 But first the news. 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:42.760 What would you say if I told you that Trump 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.120 is taking his cues from Zoronmandani. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:51.560 I would say that I wouldn't actually be that surprised, 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:56.000 because I had some reporting that's said as much. 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.760 Well, now all everybody's talking about is affordability, and I 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.800 think it's a very interesting story that particularly more is 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.160 Cats told on our podcast last week that when everybody 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:09.120 was thinking of other things, Zoron had a hunch that 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.120 even though the pulling said othertherwise, that affordability was the 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:13.480 real thing people needed to talk about. 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.560 And now it's trickled all the way up to the 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:16.120 White House. 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:21.880 So we know that Trump found Mondani to be popular 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.680 and to be charming, and that he had sort of 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.320 like game recognized his game, Like he saw a politician 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.640 that had that thing that he has, and he was 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:37.720 both threatened and also inspired by it. But the problem 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.920 was affordability for Trump. Is that Trump is now, I mean, 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:46.480 he's basically in if you do the math, his fifth 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.720 year in office, and he has yet to make anything 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:57.840 more affordable. If anything, things seemed to be less affordable 0:01:57.880 --> 0:01:58.480 than ever. 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.000 Right, you walk in the grocery aisles, your jaw drops 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:03.360 at the prices these days. 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.520 Right, So the idea that Trump could somehow vibe shift 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:13.200 this seems in my mind to be kind of not 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.440 But maybe he'll be able to do it. But this 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.520 affordability issue is kind of like I just don't think 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.360 you can put lipstick on a pig like this. I mean, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.480 it's this idea that the richest cabinet in the world, right, 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.080 the richest cabinet, These are the richest people in the 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.400 world serving in the government. You have an administration that 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:39.720 the first three months you had Elon Musk practicing reverse philanthropy. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.600 It's hard to spin this as now they care about 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:46.040 affordability just because Democrats want an election on affordability. 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.839 So Fanny Willis's Georgia election interference case against Trump will 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:52.560 carry on for now with a new prosecutor. 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:57.880 Yeah again, look, this is super interesting because, like, this 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.760 is something that Trump does not want, just like the 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:08.960 Epstein files being released, just like the Supreme Court arguing 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:13.960 against his tariffs, right, just like him hearing some of 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:20.000 his Supreme Court justices complaining about the tariffs or pushing 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.760 back on the tariffs. This is not what Donald Trump wants. 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.480 And you know, little cracks in Trumpism are showing, and 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.480 you know, you could say I'm being overly optimistic, but 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.320 I really think that's what this is. Like, he is 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.920 losing his power over the Republican Party. When Marjorie Taylor 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:43.640 Green and Lauren Boepert and Nancy Mays and Tomas Massey, 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:46.800 when these people are breaking with him, they're breaking with 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.720 him because they see opportunity, because they see a place 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.840 where the party is no longer Donald Trump's. And so 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.400 things like this, every little bit of this starts to 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.880 disintegrate the power of trump Ism. And these things are meaningful. 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.280 And Georgia is a really good example of the place 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.880 where there are two Democratic senators. They lost a state 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:10.440 house race. I think this is meaningful. 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.200 Yeah, no, I totally agree with you that I think 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:17.839 this is a show of the increasing weakness. So weird, 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:22.480 weird week of lots of related news stories. We see 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.360 such a disturbing story in the New York Times about 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.520 former congressman and Trump's ag pick, Matt Gates and a 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.320 seventeen year old girl who is trying to get braces. 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.479 Think about this is like a backlash to a backlash 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.200 to a backlash, right, me too, you know, sort of 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.200 canceled a lot of these bad guys, and then there 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.719 was kind of a backlash and Donald Trump got reelected, 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.840 and now we come back to this fact that some 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.880 of these people are just bad people. So here's the story. 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.960 Trump initiated a g pick. He denies report he paid 0:04:56.200 --> 0:05:00.680 for sex with a homeless seventeen year old saving money 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:05.520 for braces. Like, every part of the story is so bad. 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.400 But these kind of stories, people don't come up with 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:13.120 these things haul coths usually, so a bombshell bipartisan report 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.560 from the House Ethics Committee. By the way, the House 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.640 Ethics Committee is known to be toothless. So the idea 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.560 that they have come up with something that is this 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:27.000 bad is a pretty good sign that my man Matt 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.919 Gates was too no good that he Gates regularly paid 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.360 women to engage in sexual activity. One of those transactions 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.080 involved a seventeen year old girl in twenty seventeen. The 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.680 girl's lawyer, Lord be Wolf, spoke to The New York 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.240 Times after a federal judge unsealed documents related to the 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.839 seventeen year old's alleged experience. So she's homeless, she is underage, 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.320 and she's being taken advantage of. Greenberg later paid her 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.520 four hundred dollars to meet him on his boat. Greenberg 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:58.320 is an ally and friend of Gates is who was 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.719 in jail for sex trafficking. Greenberg contacted her again and 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.960 paid first sex seven times before inviting her to a 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:09.960 party at the home of Chris Dorthworth, a former Republican 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:13.520 member of the Florida State House of Representatives. Gates attended 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:17.760 the party, which took place Underly fifteenth twenty seventeen, had 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.720 sex with the seventeen year old twice that evening. Her testimony, 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.120 which was included in the report seen by The New Time, 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.239 stated that she was paid four hundred dollars documents stay 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:29.960 she danced in front of them and swam naked in 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.960 the polls popper. She then moved to Texas to use 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.599 her minimum wage income to pay for braces. The alleged 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.800 incident only came to light when Greenberg was investigated for 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.120 mailing fake letters to a school where a political opponent worked, 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:48.400 claiming the opponent had sexual relationship with a student. Look, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.360 this guy could have been the head of the DOJ. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:52.560 Like the DOJ. 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.920 Everybody think he was running for governor this round, And yeah, 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:57.400 I think this is the end of that. 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.920 In congratulations Governor Byron do. 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:08.240 It's so so so disturbing, and it's so dark and 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:10.320 it's just horrific. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.720 Speaking of Florida, not my favorite state. 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.360 When we did our little dot com project twenty twenty five, 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.080 one of the things you really noticed reading that document 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.920 is these people are real excited to get their warped 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.280 ideas into schools. And what we now see is Florida 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.480 will be adopting the Heritage Foundation's school agenda. 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.080 This is so if Florida has really cooked its own 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:40.040 education crew and just beyond and they've adopted this conservative 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:45.720 education plan, it is from Heritage. Heritage is pretty cooked. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.720 It's developed by again, this is Project twenty twenty five. 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:54.560 Basically Florida Governor Ronda sant All Governor Ronde Santas wants 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.560 is to be president and he thinks that if he 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:02.360 goes the most MAGA, he will be president. And there 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.480 is almost really no evidence to support that MEGA is 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:10.440 ideological as much as it is just you know, charismatic 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.440 and a lot of ways, MAGA is really just whatever 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.240 Trump wants it to be. But this crew has a 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:21.280 sort of ideological bent. And so they're going to take 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:27.960 over these Florida schools and you know, God only knows 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.560 what they'll do to these kids. They'll teach them, you 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:35.040 know that dinosaurs were not you know, real, and who 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:39.200 even knows, But Florida students and families deserve investment in 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.040 their public schools, not a political pledge written by outside groups. 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:50.880 Isn't this actually just political campaigns? Like it's a little 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:57.160 ironic trojan horse. Here, here we are, ladies and gentlemen, 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:04.560 and there we go. Dave Weigel is a reporter at 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.720 some before. Welcome to Fast Politics, Evan, Alight, thanks for 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.600 having me. I'm so excited to have you to talk 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:17.079 about how this insane moment in American political life. 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.040 That's your evergreen intro, right, you use that for every 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:22.760 episode pretty much. 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:28.680 I think today sometimes American politics is just really disappointing 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:34.760 and sometimes it's really worrying. But right now we're in 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.320 this period like I feel like the first nine months 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.920 of Trump's administration, it was like, oh shit, this American 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.240 democracy experiment may be over. And now I feel like, 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.320 oh no, these guys are doing what they did last time. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.280 Yeah, well, you know I did. I was in a 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:58.000 c SPAN analyst on election night, so I sat there 0:09:58.000 --> 0:09:58.480 all night a. 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.520 Question try and to make me jealous. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:03.160 No, yes, exactly, but no. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:04.640 The fun thing about doing on CCS. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.440 On you know, I'm like obsessed with c SPAN, and 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:09.600 you take calls. 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.160 And everything, and the funny thing about it is that 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:12.440 it's like you're just kind of like a learning the 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.920 studio with the host and you're watching all of the. 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.240 And also no one is watching it, but may that's right. 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.679 Well, you only had some callers it, Okay, my mom watched, 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.640 I think, but they they do a lot of uh 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:26.760 they you know, they show all the speeches and everything. 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:29.800 So it was fascinating for me because that night was 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.280 sort of as you say, it was this moment of like, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.120 oh right, like politics are actually still happening, Like this 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:41.840 administration is failed to message itself because you know, heading 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.400 into that cycle, right, the whole idea was this administration 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.560 is so different. This is a dimocrat of politics. Right, 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.720 They're going to be able to stay in power forever. 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.439 We're going to win every election. Democrats have nothing, they 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.080 can't do anything. And then sort of every different kind 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.920 of style of Democrats they were around the ballot effective 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:04.400 won all over, which is I was a strange moment 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.920 of like, oh okay, I guess the loss of Grabby 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.480 do apply. And then of course the most hilarious part 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.079 about that is that I'm like home that someday or whatever, 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.160 whatever Sunday, that what recent Sunday, doing my newsletter that 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.840 I have you for notice, and like as we're watching 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.520 this implosion of the democrats shutdown strategy happen in real time, 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:25.520 and I was another moment where all of a sudden, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.520 everyone's like, oh my god, the Democrats they're they're they're 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.720 they're doing it, they're blowing it. It's this oh my god, 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.720 and we're and we're backing this idea that like politics 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.360 is broken forever and the Democrats are blowing it. And 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:41.280 then where we sit today, the President looks completely feckless. 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:42.960 He's had his own business yelling at him by H 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.480 one B. Visa's telling him about Epstein, yelling him about 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:47.920 the things he's been saying and doing. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:48.480 Uh. 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.920 And the Democrats, which like three days ago were like 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.640 forever gone and destroyed because of this of this shutdown 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.040 thing that's like agent history now and now we're back 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.760 in this world in which Trump is once again bad 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.440 and not and has no control and can't handle anything. 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.360 So you're right, And this is one of the wildest 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.920 roller coasters I had been on, and I think it 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:14.880 does sort of end with Trump is like not doing 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.120 that great and his administration is not doing a great 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.200 job of communicating or rechiging itself very well. 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:24.559 He's also, my man is underwater on all the things. 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:26.080 Yeah. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:28.959 Look, the most interesting thing I've been tracking this since 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:32.319 the beginning of the administration, right, because the main thing 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.800 this administration tried to do and pitch, just like on 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:40.200 administrations do, was twenty twenty fours economics an economy election. 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.000 This president said, I'm an economy guy where I do 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.600 a bunch of economy stuff, and I've been tracking through 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.560 the entire time kind of the messaging that they've been 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.240 trying to do, and if it has mostly been look, 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:54.679 we know what we're doing. People are going to tell 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.120 you this is bad, but it's actually really good. You 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:57.600 got to hang out air, trust us, and you've got 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.840 to believe us. Right, the polts have shown that that's 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:04.280 now really been working, and now this president has reverted 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:09.040 to the kindie economic messaging that was just the Biden 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:13.400 economic message. You like, actually, you the American people are wrong. 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.360 Everything is great, We're doing great. Everything rocks. And that 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.280 is kind of a funny full circle moment because you're 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.080 in the situation where you're just looking at this. I've 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.280 talked to Biden officials throughout the administration like sort of 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:25.760 like from the beginning of this, Like you can go 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:27.520 back and look at the reporting I was doing in 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:29.960 January to now, and I ran the story a bunch 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.520 of times of like officials from a Biden administration being like, 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.840 oh my god, Like they're saying the same stuff that 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:37.720 we said. They're doing the same stuff that we said. Right, 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.920 Because this this central challenge of like, we have these 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.640 basic economic problems that will probably take a long like 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.600 need long term solutions, but the public wants short term solutions. 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:49.080 Right. 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.319 This guy was supposed to be able to figure that out, 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:52.959 because the whole thing about Trump is he's such a 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.439 great communicator, he's so well trusted and so well believed 0:13:55.679 --> 0:14:00.000 that he's the guy people will follow into hell because 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.480 some promises there, but the other side things will be good, 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:06.160 and that is one thousand percent not happening. And so 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.480 you were watching them flail around the same way that 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.680 other administrations short face the same problem flail around, which 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.680 is that way they have no way to explain to 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.440 people what to do about these prices and things like that. 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:25.920 But I do think that a real difference between trump 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:32.200 Ism and normal administrations of any stripe is that Trump 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:37.440 did tariffs, and tariffs made things more expensive. So like 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:42.920 he ran saying like I'm going to make bacon cheaper 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:48.160 and then almost immediately did everything he could to make 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.440 things more expensive. Now, I don't think he thought that's 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.960 what he was doing, but that is a direct a 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.200 direct consequence of. 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.120 The tariffs, that's right. And I'm going to tell you 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.720 they had no plan for this have been talking to that. 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.000 I think I've been reporting on just being an administration, okay, 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.320 because I kept asking them, you know, like there's a 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:09.040 political supporter perspective, So what's your plan from prices go 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:10.720 up because of terrorists? What's your plan? What are you 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:11.120 going to say? 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:11.760 What are you going to do? 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:13.800 And what they would say to you repeatedly over and 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:15.920 over was they're not going to go up. They're not 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:17.560 going up. It's not going to happen. They're not going 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.360 to go up. They're not going to go up. Lately 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:21.240 they've been saying things like, well, look a little bit 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.280 of short term pain, you know, but they haven't been 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.160 doing that right along, and they can't. And now they're 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.280 talking about me piling back some of these teriffs. You know, 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:30.560 just switch over. But I'll say, you know, the other 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.120 major difference is that they don't appear to have a 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:38.000 message that at all connects with what people are actually 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.760 feeling and thinking about. You know, like a lot of 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.680 things with the Biden administration, they did a lot of 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.480 stuff that actually sort of like was sort of what 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:47.280 experts and a lot of folks think it's sort of 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.920 the right thing to do to freeze and manufacturing jobs back, 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.440 raise wages. You know, you can look at the inflation 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:54.600 and the rest of the whole world and the inflation 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.120 of America, and it was like kinds of better in 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.240 America during that inflationary period, et cetera. They couldn't really 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:03.760 communicate that because of various and surnry reasons, primarily you know, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.120 Biden was not the best person to be commun getting it. 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:11.680 The Trump administration is like face planting wildly with its attempts. 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.040 Like a thing that really fascinated me to happen recently 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.440 was almost sudden You're like, oh, what about a fifty 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:17.320 year mortgage? 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.000 Guys? 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.800 Cheaper it's longer, it's gonna be fifty years, so like 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:24.400 it's cheaper to get it because you have to pay 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:28.240 less money every year. Brilliant and like immediately maga world 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.920 and sort of folks who aren't like the populists right 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:33.680 said like what are you talking about? Like you wann't 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.840 be able to pay more money to the banks? You 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.200 want there to be more debt, like. 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.320 Like like this this is a solution that like when 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.760 it was rolled out, it was like strutting around like 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.120 a ha, we got it, Like did off fifty year mortgage. 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.000 And it's like immediately everyody's like this insitute i've ever 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.080 heard and you've not heard about it again, right, this 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.000 This is the kind of thing that's happening, is that 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.000 the reality of the situation is they have got to 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.600 give you know, they wanted they get an affordability message 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.560 that actually like takes on some of this stuff like 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.600 prices and things like that and some destructural stuff that 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.919 they're just not that interested in. Tariffs were supposed to 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.320 do it. But tariffs again makes everything more expensive right now, 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.840 Theoretically down the road, it doesn't. And they needed Trump 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.280 to be the guy to carry the public forward with them, 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.000 and it's not happening. One the taco thing, right, he 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:24.359 kept flipping around on these terairufs. 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:24.800 Anyway. 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:29.200 Two, they can't stand the heat, which no administration can 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:33.480 stand either, which is like they're doing this, well, holy crap, 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:38.080 we could just drop the tariffs and maybe prices will 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.000 go down, and they're gonna do that's what they're talking about. 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:40.280 Truth. 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.240 But you know, the healthcare thing, they have no plan 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:45.480 on the healthcare thing, as they've never had, right, Democrats 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.199 had a plan out, They've talked about it they have 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.800 an idea of how to bring healthcare costs down. In 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.200 this particular case, this ACA subsidy thing that would shut 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.879 down what's about was like literally a moment where you 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.640 could sign it, build and bring costs down. Republicans don't 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.680 want to do it. They're trapped in their own kind 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.800 of world on this. And I think it was sort 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:10.800 of always coming. But everybody just thought that these magicians 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.919 in Trump's White House, led by Trump himself, that somehow 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.639 have some sort of magic beings that could you know, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.880 get through through this. They don't have it. And now they, 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:23.840 you know, they look like people who are just kind 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:25.560 of like grabbing anything they can get their hands on, 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:27.879 like a fifty year mortgage that nobody wants. 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.320 Yes, the fifty year mortgage that nobody wants. What you 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.960 see with this administration when you when you see them 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:39.280 start to fall apart. What I think is so interesting 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.440 is you see what good messaging looks like and bad 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:49.119 messaging looks like. For example, Ebstein. So this administration is 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.800 on the run from Ebstein, right, And there was this 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.919 dump yesterday of thousands of emails. They had things like, 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:02.080 you know, Trump in Epstein, an in Palm Beach Thanksgiving 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.840 twenty seventeen. Now did they have a meal together, Who knows, 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:09.520 But there are emails that say they were both there 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:13.040 at the same time after Trump was already president, which 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:19.480 means that Trump's timetable, if these emails are true, is incorrect. Right, 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:21.880 that his timetable of not speaking to the guy since 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.760 two thousand and four is bullshit. So they're just the 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:29.320 dump after dump after dump of emails and this and 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.080 this one and that one, and a lot of them 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.840 that say Trump is stupid, like a lot. 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:36.880 Yeah, very traffic emailing. 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.520 Yes, that's right, Yes, I mean a lot of typos. 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:42.840 What are your take? What's your I want to talk 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:44.960 about the messaging on the Epstein, but first I want 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.080 you to talk about your take on the Epstein emails. 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.000 Wellok, the Epstein emails themselves. I don't know that what 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.760 we had seen, Like you mentioned this idea of like 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.600 the timeline changing and things like that. I think all 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.840 you have to know about whether or not the administration 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.639 was worried about out more Epsteam stuff coming out is 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.080 because of how worried they are about more stuff coming out, 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.280 they're casting, you know, they drag Lauren Bobert through the 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:12.479 situation room to try and get her to kill this 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:13.520 discharge petition. 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:17.280 Did it work the first and last time that Lauren 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.920 Bobert will ever be invited to the situation room? 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.080 Oh no, I mean never say never. Twenty twenty eats 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.280 up that far away, Molly, I shut up? 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:29.760 Why do you hate me? But as Sarah Palin Lauren 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:31.480 Boebert ticket. 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.879 Now, I think it's a Bobert emptg. I think I 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:36.959 think it's like it's time to get the space lasers 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:37.440 onto the sky. 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:38.280 I think it's well, you do. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.320 Not use my queen's name in vain and continue. 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.080 But anyway, so you only have to know that they 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.359 that they don't want themut because it worked too hard 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:48.679 to think you get them out in ways that are 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.720 really embarrassing. I mean, you know they've tried to pressure 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.280 lawmakers and they couldn't get them to do it. On 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.000 the messaging front, I will tell you I spent yesterday 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:58.199 or the day after the emails came out. I just 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.359 sort of watched every stream daily stream of and email 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:06.000 and checked with my colleagues, reached out to every single 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.879 one of the right wing influencers that got that binder 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.439 back in February from PAYM Bondy the Epstein Binder that 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:15.200 like completely kicked off his entire. 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:19.280 Things was such a disaster, right, amazing, You've reached to 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:20.440 every single one of them. 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:22.040 I reached out to everything one of that. Well, we 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:23.960 reach out to a one or watch their st because 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:26.120 we all do daily streams and stuff. So we checked 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:28.000 in and see what they were all doing and saying. Right, 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.000 and in general, what they're saying is that like, look, 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:33.600 these emails don't don't change the story. Trump is like 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:35.760 not part of this. He's not the bad guy, and 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:37.280 these emails like he's not the bad. 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:38.719 Guys in all the emails. 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:41.080 Their view on the substance is that this doesn't actually 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.760 incriminate him more. And look, look these emails, they don't 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:48.280 say anything. They're not definitive, right, definitive is that birthday book? 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:48.560 Right? 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:53.119 That's like, oh wow, things are this is very bizarre. 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:57.920 But I do say things like he knew about the girls. 0:21:58.160 --> 0:21:59.920 Yeah, but like you know, you look at the context, 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:02.480 like whatever, this is what they said. But on the 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:04.840 messaging front, I will tell you, on the messaging front, 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:10.400 they are absolutely baffled. One guy said, I don't know 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:13.159 why he keeps using the word hoax. I think he 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:19.159 doesn't know what the word hoax means. Like, wow, everything 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:21.520 that the White House is doing to try to shut 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:24.120 this down Trump talking about a hoax. You know they 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:26.919 were not into the distart petition. I will say, like, 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:28.919 you can look at some messaging, like I don't know 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:30.240 what the White House is doing in terms of. 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:31.040 Pocket of these folks. 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:34.200 My colleague Jasmine is pretty sure that they are fairly 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:37.280 regularly reaching out to the right wing media spear on 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:42.080 this issue. Though as yet it's not like those influencers 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:46.680 were egging the Republicans on to break with the president 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:48.200 and vote for the and vote for the bill to 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:52.760 get these morripcing files out. But they were baffled at 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:56.359 the messaging, very confused and really like I said, this 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:57.919 whole thing, but you know, he doesn't know what a 0:22:57.920 --> 0:22:59.800 word hoax is, Like why he keep staying oaks Like 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.080 you're in the emails, this is real. What you've told 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:05.320 people is that you didn't do anything wrong and you're 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:07.760 not part of any of the amy criminal And the 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:10.320 emails don't seem to change that conversation. Why not just 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:12.399 let them out? Why not just talk more about that 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:14.159 and put that more out. It's opposed to this weird 0:23:14.200 --> 0:23:16.639 thing of like this is not a real story. This 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:19.320 is not a real story. So that's from people who 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.760 like desperately want want that to be real. They're the 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.080 ones who are saying Trump is really messing up this messaging. 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:29.000 So that to me was really fascinating, and I think 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:31.000 there was a really illuminating as to where this moment 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:34.320 is that like they really don't know how to deal 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:36.400 with this because they've got a guy at the top 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:38.960 to keep saying, what are you talking at? Hoakx fak, 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:42.280 they're making this up and like nobody thinks that everybody 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:46.520 wants to see these emails, and they're not able to 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:48.439 get up in front of it because they have this 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:50.040 weird message of like this is not a work, this 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:52.920 is a waste of everybody's sorry, and like which by 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:55.880 the way, may end up very well being, but like, 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:57.359 who do you want to see this? 0:23:57.400 --> 0:23:57.800 At this point? 0:23:57.800 --> 0:23:58.679 Who doesn't want to see them? 0:23:58.680 --> 0:23:58.880 Though? 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:10.320 My favorite for problematic messaging problem involves Megan Kelly, who 0:24:10.520 --> 0:24:16.440 had a clip where she was saying a young fifteen 0:24:16.520 --> 0:24:19.440 year old is not the same as a five year old. 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:24.560 Live your life, so you are never defending the difference 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:30.320 between having sex with teenagers and having sex with toddlers. Fair. 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:34.520 Fair, it's a good word to live. I do have that. 0:24:34.600 --> 0:24:37.080 I do have that tattooed on my arm. You know, 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:40.160 I think it's a good it's a good rule of thumb. Look, 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:41.320 how did she get. 0:24:41.119 --> 0:24:45.240 To how did she mental gymnastics herself into a moment 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:48.399 where she was defending that? 0:24:48.800 --> 0:24:52.159 So I look, I think I don't really know what 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:54.480 to get in the head of digging Kelly particularly, but 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:56.439 I will. You know, this is this thing of how 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:58.520 they're all trying to cretchel themselves to deal with this, 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:04.280 and you know, this is a good this this is 0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:07.680 the very like only like the weirdest libertarians you've ever 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:10.639 met in your life are the ones who do the like, well, 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:17.520 actually California is actually right, like it doesn't really particularly 0:25:17.760 --> 0:25:25.040 matter very much, like, but but down this road, it's like, yeah, yeah, 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:28.000 this is this is one of those stopp incriminating yourselves conversations, 0:25:28.000 --> 0:25:30.600 you know, right, But I think that, But I think 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:32.440 that it's because they're in this really tough spot because 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:38.320 they have they have nothing to grab onto because nobody 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:40.120 like the messaging of this thing is not like, yeah, 0:25:40.160 --> 0:25:43.960 put them all out. We're fine, We're fine, but please 0:25:44.000 --> 0:25:46.800 don't release anything else. And also like, look, you know 0:25:46.880 --> 0:25:49.240 it's been interesting because Megan tell you think it is 0:25:49.280 --> 0:25:53.200 representative of something going on in the concerative movement right now. 0:25:53.280 --> 0:25:56.240 You know, she was the one who really cluded me in. 0:25:56.480 --> 0:25:59.359 I watched her stream and clued me into all the 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:03.720 posts Charlie kirk assassination and talk about the conspiracies and 0:26:04.359 --> 0:26:07.760 you know, about Israel, about exactly Israel and the idea 0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:09.400 like she was only clued me into all that because 0:26:09.440 --> 0:26:12.320 she was the one talking about Candice Owens being a 0:26:12.320 --> 0:26:13.800 genius and all that sort of stuff. 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:15.919 So she's anti Semitic too. 0:26:16.560 --> 0:26:17.720 Well, I don't know anything about that. 0:26:17.880 --> 0:26:19.840 She says that she's not at all. She's like, she's 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:22.120 very strongly she strongly does. 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:25.600 Think Israel might be responsible. 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:29.880 Well, no, she had a whole clip that was talking 0:26:29.880 --> 0:26:32.199 about Candace. This is right off the assassination things. You know, 0:26:32.200 --> 0:26:34.560 there's things have changed ince then. But she talked about 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:38.720 how there was a you know, this sort of leading 0:26:38.760 --> 0:26:41.520 that Charlie Kirk was supposed to have had at Bill 0:26:41.560 --> 0:26:44.400 Appman's house and like this, you know, and and how 0:26:44.400 --> 0:26:46.280 it was. The whole idea was that Charlie Kirk was 0:26:46.520 --> 0:26:49.800 moving into an anti Israel position. And this is only 0:26:49.880 --> 0:26:51.960 just very worthwhile to note all their worked while to 0:26:52.040 --> 0:26:54.880 understand and this is a really reasonable conversation to have, 0:26:55.359 --> 0:26:58.800 and like that is a sort of growing conversation as well. 0:26:58.840 --> 0:27:00.560 And so when you see making Kelly's saying something that 0:27:00.640 --> 0:27:04.320 sounds like really like the sort of farthest right take 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:08.880 on stuff, it's because like that far right is really 0:27:09.000 --> 0:27:11.919 gaining a lot of traction right now, and at the 0:27:12.000 --> 0:27:14.600 same time, the White House is trying to figure out 0:27:14.640 --> 0:27:20.800 its way through this you know, really self imposed thicket 0:27:20.840 --> 0:27:22.840 that if I mean, you know, it grew a thicket 0:27:22.880 --> 0:27:24.960 and jumped into it when it comes to this, you know, 0:27:25.000 --> 0:27:26.560 to this Epstein stuff, I mean, it's you know that 0:27:26.640 --> 0:27:29.480 I don't know. The Binders are the perfect example of that, 0:27:29.480 --> 0:27:32.359 where it's like they didn't release all the files but 0:27:32.400 --> 0:27:34.159 said that they did, and like the whole thing was 0:27:34.400 --> 0:27:35.480 really really wild. 0:27:35.800 --> 0:27:37.200 But like I think this there's all. 0:27:37.080 --> 0:27:40.240 Swirling in a moment right now where like just suddenly 0:27:40.359 --> 0:27:43.840 this whole political project does not seem that standing on 0:27:43.880 --> 0:27:47.719 such a firm ground right now, they're talking about you know, 0:27:47.760 --> 0:27:50.960 there's some in this conspiracy world. They're Taksinbau, who counts 0:27:50.960 --> 0:27:54.919 as a panophile. These were paying Megan Kelly, you know 0:27:55.480 --> 0:27:57.560 even the other people are talking about is the presence 0:27:57.640 --> 0:28:00.239 bringing up talking about a hoax? Is it is kind 0:28:00.240 --> 0:28:02.760 of like a moment where if you were in politics, 0:28:02.760 --> 0:28:05.160 if you were running for something right now, you would 0:28:05.160 --> 0:28:07.480 not want to be in their camp. Yeah, and that 0:28:07.600 --> 0:28:09.800 is like a rare moment that has not been true 0:28:09.880 --> 0:28:12.480 since sort of November of last year. 0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:17.040 Yeah, oh man, it's all happening. 0:28:18.840 --> 0:28:19.200 It is. 0:28:19.800 --> 0:28:22.000 I mean, it really is like a very very very 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:24.480 rapid plip. But it's getting weirder and weirder. Molly, I 0:28:24.520 --> 0:28:26.400 think it's like a I. 0:28:26.359 --> 0:28:32.320 Don't know, you mispronounced stupider and more depressing. 0:28:33.400 --> 0:28:35.639 I don't know, we get that a shutdown conversation and 0:28:35.720 --> 0:28:38.200 like just just right after we get coming up from 0:28:38.240 --> 0:28:40.040 New Year's break. So I mean, if you. 0:28:40.120 --> 0:28:43.240 Like that, thank you, Evan, of course. 0:28:43.000 --> 0:28:44.800 Molly, thank you. Please help me on as it gets 0:28:44.840 --> 0:28:45.560 weirder and weirder. 0:28:45.920 --> 0:28:54.600 Yes, Evan McMorris Santro is a reporter at Notice. Welcome 0:28:54.640 --> 0:28:55.920 to Fast Politics, Dave. 0:28:55.800 --> 0:28:57.840 Blagle, It's good to be here. Thanks for having me. 0:28:58.080 --> 0:29:01.640 We find ourselves and yet an they're incredibly strange but 0:29:01.720 --> 0:29:05.960 also very stupid moment in American history. You're an intrepid reporter, 0:29:06.320 --> 0:29:10.600 and you have been intrepidly reporting. What are you seeing? 0:29:10.960 --> 0:29:14.760 Here's the fundamentally worst question ever in American politics? What 0:29:14.840 --> 0:29:15.520 are the vibes? 0:29:16.520 --> 0:29:17.640 Is that the worst? 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:18.160 Oh? 0:29:18.200 --> 0:29:21.360 Okay, I'll roll with that. So they shifted. I guess 0:29:21.360 --> 0:29:23.760 that's the worst answer to that question. They did shift, 0:29:24.200 --> 0:29:26.520 And I wrote it about this last week, and I 0:29:26.560 --> 0:29:28.200 followed up a little bit this week after I went 0:29:28.240 --> 0:29:30.920 to Omaha and talked to Democrats in a swingy region 0:29:30.960 --> 0:29:36.000 there that before Tuesday there was a worry this is 0:29:36.080 --> 0:29:38.600 very different than eight years ago, a worry that Trump 0:29:38.640 --> 0:29:42.280 actually was more popular than Democrats, understood that Poles were 0:29:42.320 --> 0:29:45.480 underrating him, and that he had made games with Latinos 0:29:45.520 --> 0:29:47.760 and young people that Democrats were not doing good job 0:29:47.800 --> 0:29:50.800 of reversing. And you saw this in coverage. I'd say 0:29:50.800 --> 0:29:54.320 more coverage of New Jersey than Virginia. Reporters going into 0:29:54.360 --> 0:29:56.520 the field, it's finding that, Okay, we went to a 0:29:56.600 --> 0:29:59.200 Latino event, they don't seem that excited. Therefore, things that 0:29:59.440 --> 0:30:02.160 have been moving in Trump's direction, and then the election 0:30:02.280 --> 0:30:05.160 happens and they weren't. So you saw that big shift 0:30:05.240 --> 0:30:08.600 in how Democrats conceive of the electorate and its concerns, 0:30:08.680 --> 0:30:10.680 which is, if I could sum it up, what we 0:30:10.760 --> 0:30:13.360 need to do as Democrats is to point out the 0:30:13.400 --> 0:30:15.800 costs are still high and a bunch of other economic 0:30:16.040 --> 0:30:19.120 problems are still bad. And Trump didn't fix this, and 0:30:19.160 --> 0:30:22.040 so he hit us with She's for them and he's 0:30:22.040 --> 0:30:24.440 for you. We're going to him with my Republican opponent 0:30:24.520 --> 0:30:26.440 is for Trump, and I'm for you. I'm the one 0:30:26.480 --> 0:30:28.800 who cares about you. This guy is just making money 0:30:28.800 --> 0:30:31.400 for himself. He's cutting tax for his friends. Insert the 0:30:31.400 --> 0:30:33.800 rest of democratic messaging. But what changed is that they 0:30:33.840 --> 0:30:35.560 weren't sure it was working, and now that thin get. 0:30:35.400 --> 0:30:38.120 Is Yeah, I'm going to tell a story that sounds tangential, 0:30:38.120 --> 0:30:40.120 but I actually think is really relevant. I have a 0:30:40.160 --> 0:30:43.719 friend who's a very smart strategist. He's very smart, but 0:30:43.800 --> 0:30:46.360 I think he's a little bit centrist in a way 0:30:46.360 --> 0:30:48.680 that I think is a little bit destructive. But I 0:30:48.720 --> 0:30:53.240 heard him on a podcast saying voters are so angry 0:30:53.640 --> 0:30:56.160 that Biden is going to lose and we're going to 0:30:56.240 --> 0:31:00.000 have backlash to backlash to backlash. Basically like voters are 0:31:00.160 --> 0:31:02.720 just going to they don't have patience, so they'll kick 0:31:02.760 --> 0:31:05.280 one person out and then they'll kick that. They'll change 0:31:05.320 --> 0:31:07.760 so quickly they'll be bodship to bib ship to bid ship. 0:31:07.840 --> 0:31:09.000 Is that what's happening here? 0:31:09.560 --> 0:31:14.720 That was the concern. And specifically, let's say that everyone, 0:31:15.360 --> 0:31:18.440 if you average of everyone's media consumption of politics, the 0:31:18.480 --> 0:31:21.880 country is less trusting of institutions than it was at 0:31:21.920 --> 0:31:25.479 any point in modern history. Enterplayed mass media history and 0:31:25.520 --> 0:31:28.240 that benefits Republicans. That was the worry for Democrats is 0:31:28.280 --> 0:31:30.560 that occasionally we're going to be the party that's not 0:31:30.600 --> 0:31:33.240 in power, and we can exploit that. When we're in power, 0:31:33.280 --> 0:31:35.240 we don't know how to make people stop rejecting us. 0:31:35.720 --> 0:31:39.240 And so this was a lot of the angst about Biden. 0:31:39.320 --> 0:31:41.000 And I covered this over the course of the year. 0:31:41.120 --> 0:31:43.480 Ye's not over, but I think most debates were mostly 0:31:43.480 --> 0:31:48.120 happening before November. Hey, we Democrats, we reponsible Democrats tried 0:31:48.120 --> 0:31:50.000 this with Joe Biden. We did a bunch of populous 0:31:50.040 --> 0:31:52.760 stuff and it didn't benefit us. So gosh, maybe we're 0:31:52.760 --> 0:31:55.040 stuck in a backlash loop. Like you were saying forever, 0:31:55.400 --> 0:31:57.840 and I don't think that was changed by the election. 0:31:57.960 --> 0:32:01.280 But Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey, in New York all 0:32:01.320 --> 0:32:05.240 have opportunities to deliver something in the context to don 0:32:05.280 --> 0:32:07.240 Trump being president trying to undermine them. And so what 0:32:07.320 --> 0:32:10.560 was really powerful for Mamdannie and Cheryl more than well 0:32:10.560 --> 0:32:12.920 the whole year for Demo president In Virginia, the fact 0:32:12.920 --> 0:32:16.360 that Trump was was firing federal workers was toxic Republicans. 0:32:16.400 --> 0:32:18.280 They never came up with an answer. They punted, they 0:32:18.320 --> 0:32:20.680 got destroyed. In New Jersey and New York, it was 0:32:20.720 --> 0:32:23.320 more direct. The President out of spite, is going to 0:32:23.360 --> 0:32:25.800 be cutting things. New York and New Jersey was expecting 0:32:25.880 --> 0:32:28.720 things they paid through the tax dollars paid for. So 0:32:29.000 --> 0:32:31.240 New York was suing all year and I mean, you 0:32:31.320 --> 0:32:33.400 know this suing all year for just funding that the 0:32:33.440 --> 0:32:36.240 city had received that the administration wanted to take back. 0:32:37.360 --> 0:32:40.640 In New Jersey, it was the Gateway tunnel. Trump in 0:32:40.680 --> 0:32:42.360 a snit was just going to cancel this funding that 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:45.560 the state fought twenty years for. That threat is going 0:32:45.600 --> 0:32:48.040 to continue existing. And so this is a new dynamic 0:32:48.080 --> 0:32:50.760 for Democrats is the parties in power in a bunch 0:32:50.800 --> 0:32:52.960 of places. It's going to try to do things and 0:32:53.360 --> 0:32:56.040 Trump will be they're undermining it. And will voters say, 0:32:56.680 --> 0:32:58.600 we wish you would change your policy and just agree 0:32:58.640 --> 0:33:02.240 with Trump, or will they say, dang, I wish Trump 0:33:02.320 --> 0:33:05.440 was not screwing this up. Is it giving them not 0:33:05.480 --> 0:33:07.720 in the jail out, get out of jail free card, 0:33:07.760 --> 0:33:11.200 but something to say if let's say, in four months, mom, 0:33:11.240 --> 0:33:14.040 Donnie's entire agenda has not been in place. Yeah, I 0:33:14.040 --> 0:33:17.160 think it does. And Republicans experienced us under Biden. It 0:33:17.240 --> 0:33:20.000 was easier for their incumbents even to get elected with 0:33:20.120 --> 0:33:23.280 a very few exceptions under Joe Biden because they could say, look, 0:33:23.440 --> 0:33:25.280 I'm greag ab but I'm trying to fix the border, 0:33:25.280 --> 0:33:28.640 and this administration screwing with me a less intense versus 0:33:28.680 --> 0:33:31.320 of that, I think happening. Fewer people being trafficked in 0:33:31.400 --> 0:33:34.840 buses across state lines, but I see that happening already. 0:33:35.240 --> 0:33:36.920 And I want to repeat myself too much from the 0:33:36.960 --> 0:33:39.600 first question, But there was a year Democrats not being 0:33:39.640 --> 0:33:42.800 sure if that was true. But maybe maybe it turns 0:33:42.800 --> 0:33:45.920 out that voters do think Trump is right. And you 0:33:45.960 --> 0:33:48.200 saw this in New York right away because I from 0:33:48.200 --> 0:33:52.800 the story I wrote yesterday or for Wednesday. I talked 0:33:52.800 --> 0:33:55.120 to people who've been on the Spikey Cheryl campaign and 0:33:55.160 --> 0:33:59.040 then we're going to work for Kathy Hogel, and they 0:33:59.480 --> 0:34:01.520 this is at least to Fanic was not that threatening 0:34:01.680 --> 0:34:05.440 to them on Tuesday last week, very much less so 0:34:05.480 --> 0:34:08.239 on Wednesday, because it looks like she's just going to 0:34:08.320 --> 0:34:11.080 defend the Trump agenda even if it hurts the state, 0:34:11.200 --> 0:34:13.840 and that's a terrible place Republicans to be. They figured 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:14.200 that out. 0:34:14.560 --> 0:34:17.359 Yes, I think that's right. Has there ever been a 0:34:17.360 --> 0:34:20.680 politician with worse timing than a least to phonic. 0:34:20.840 --> 0:34:24.160 Maybe Hillary Quittin and Kamala Harris because they both Hillary 0:34:24.200 --> 0:34:26.520 and then Kamala in twenty nineteen ran at the one 0:34:26.600 --> 0:34:28.879 time in history when being a Democrat who was tough 0:34:28.880 --> 0:34:34.879 on crime was bad. Maybe that first Stephanic. She's one 0:34:34.920 --> 0:34:37.600 of many House members who are going to run statewide 0:34:37.640 --> 0:34:40.880 this next year. The leading candidates for governor of Iowa 0:34:41.280 --> 0:34:45.440 for governor of Wisconsin the Republican primary have been in Congress, 0:34:45.520 --> 0:34:48.840 voting for Republican priorities in Congress and against Democratic bills. 0:34:48.920 --> 0:34:50.919 She has done the same thing, but in a much 0:34:50.920 --> 0:34:53.920 more intense way, and her campaign. I don't know if 0:34:53.960 --> 0:34:56.399 if she is an auxiliary of the New York Post 0:34:56.480 --> 0:34:58.640 or the New Ropost and auxiliary for every day her 0:34:58.680 --> 0:35:02.600 campaign is basically at least dephonics said something terrible at HOKL. 0:35:02.600 --> 0:35:04.319 But when your post has a feature on it and 0:35:04.320 --> 0:35:06.560 then the campaign puts out what the New York Posts said, 0:35:06.560 --> 0:35:08.920 a bottles to phonic, that was always going to exist. 0:35:09.080 --> 0:35:12.480 But is this a bad cycle to be a Republican 0:35:12.800 --> 0:35:14.880 on record for their whole agenda? It looks like it 0:35:15.000 --> 0:35:17.680 kind of is, because what was the benefit from the 0:35:17.719 --> 0:35:20.359 tax bill so far Republicans If they all voted for 0:35:20.400 --> 0:35:23.040 the tax bill this summer in bluespates, that means they 0:35:23.080 --> 0:35:25.440 could say, hey, I cut your taxes with the salt deduction. 0:35:25.719 --> 0:35:28.279 They did fine in Nassau County and that's it. I mean, 0:35:28.320 --> 0:35:30.239 they got they got pretty creamed. And the rest of 0:35:30.239 --> 0:35:33.080 New York, certainly in the high tax parts of New Jersey, 0:35:33.120 --> 0:35:35.719 Morris County is the sort of place that it's full 0:35:35.719 --> 0:35:38.000 of people who want, we're going to use that salt deduction. 0:35:38.440 --> 0:35:40.719 And it had been a Republican and it flipped to 0:35:40.840 --> 0:35:43.120 Mikey Sheryl again, I compare a lot of stuff in 0:35:43.160 --> 0:35:46.000 twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, because I think Democrats are in 0:35:46.040 --> 0:35:49.319 a different position, but Trump is also more eubuistic and 0:35:49.560 --> 0:35:52.920 less limited by his advisors. In twenty eighteen, Republicans say, well, 0:35:52.920 --> 0:35:55.080 at least we have an economic situation that people are 0:35:55.120 --> 0:35:57.239 not blaming Trump for. It's pretty good where you can 0:35:57.320 --> 0:35:59.600 run on that no matter what other things blow up 0:35:59.600 --> 0:36:02.480 for Trump and immigration was really their biggest weakness in 0:36:02.520 --> 0:36:05.480 twenty eighteen. Now Republicans are a week if you look 0:36:05.480 --> 0:36:08.279 at polling on who's handling the economy? Did are their 0:36:08.280 --> 0:36:10.359 policies helping you? And they're just pretending that they're not. 0:36:10.400 --> 0:36:14.239 They're pretending to hear Republicans. It's the Scott Bessett line. 0:36:14.239 --> 0:36:15.879 It's all going to be great yet next year, don't 0:36:15.920 --> 0:36:19.560 worry about it. Now, there's a little bit of punitory saying, well, 0:36:19.600 --> 0:36:22.560 that's exactly what Joe Biden was doing four years ago. 0:36:22.560 --> 0:36:25.640 It didn't work. Biden had an okay midterm considering. 0:36:25.800 --> 0:36:27.800 I mean, part of the problem for Biden was the 0:36:27.920 --> 0:36:31.040 way overperformed in the midterms, and that gave him confidence 0:36:31.080 --> 0:36:31.760 to run again. 0:36:32.120 --> 0:36:36.240 Yes it duh. So the economy though might one people 0:36:36.320 --> 0:36:39.719 see they didn't see Biden at that point, and over 0:36:39.760 --> 0:36:42.080 time they blamed him for inflation, even after inflation had 0:36:42.080 --> 0:36:45.640 gone back down. But in polvan And said who's responsible 0:36:45.640 --> 0:36:48.319 for the econmy Biden and wagging Trump already owns that, 0:36:48.400 --> 0:36:50.520 and Trump wanted to own it. Trum Trump that talks 0:36:50.560 --> 0:36:54.080 about the golden age of America beginning on his inauguration 0:36:54.239 --> 0:36:56.719 day and talked about how great the economy was all year, 0:36:56.760 --> 0:36:59.279 and in the same interview they'll say that things are 0:36:59.320 --> 0:37:01.600 better and also if they're bad, it's Joe Biden's fault. 0:37:01.600 --> 0:37:03.640 This is the JD. Dvance line we inherited and Joe 0:37:03.680 --> 0:37:06.359 Biden but fully suggests the voters don't think that. And 0:37:06.840 --> 0:37:10.319 you're seeing the most significant response to that since the 0:37:10.360 --> 0:37:13.319 election has been the administration rolling back some tariffs. Are 0:37:13.360 --> 0:37:15.920 saying it's going to and not saying sorry, we're wrong, 0:37:16.320 --> 0:37:18.640 that the terroriffs actually cost you money and they're unpopular, 0:37:19.040 --> 0:37:21.279 but saying to lower prices. We're going to get rid 0:37:21.320 --> 0:37:24.640 of these tariffs. Who knows who put them in there. 0:37:25.560 --> 0:37:29.040 I mean, it's not like Trump has been on the 0:37:29.200 --> 0:37:32.840 record just musing about how great tariffs are all the time. 0:37:33.400 --> 0:37:37.640 Yes, and that turned out to be unpopular. So really, 0:37:37.800 --> 0:37:40.680 like in New Jersey and Virginia, I was giving Democrats. 0:37:40.680 --> 0:37:42.399 And the piece I've written since the election is that 0:37:42.520 --> 0:37:45.080 I think I said just that the interest of journalists 0:37:45.160 --> 0:37:49.040 and candidates are often at odds, and journalists wanted the 0:37:49.080 --> 0:37:52.759 Democrats to have more exciting messages to write and new 0:37:52.840 --> 0:37:56.200 responses to Republicans. And also you saw this, I'm not 0:37:56.320 --> 0:37:59.040 really being negative at the Year Times, but you saw 0:37:59.239 --> 0:38:01.560 a one year Time story by Shing Goldmacher a couple 0:38:01.560 --> 0:38:04.200 weeks for the election about demograph are still running around 0:38:04.440 --> 0:38:06.800 about Trump? Are they ever feeding the mistakes of the past? 0:38:06.960 --> 0:38:07.720 Does it work? 0:38:07.960 --> 0:38:10.000 Does it work? And yes? The reason it worked is 0:38:10.080 --> 0:38:12.560 because Trump was taking credit for a great economy and 0:38:12.600 --> 0:38:15.920 voters thought, actually, tariffs are costing me too much, and 0:38:15.920 --> 0:38:18.160 everything else is costing me too much, So I don't 0:38:18.160 --> 0:38:20.040 want to vote for the park. He's taking credit for 0:38:20.080 --> 0:38:23.240 this economy and it's too late. You already see people 0:38:23.280 --> 0:38:27.600 blaming them for just prices not being that simple. Now. 0:38:27.600 --> 0:38:29.319 There are layoffs that people who have been laid off 0:38:29.360 --> 0:38:31.080 or unhappy about, but the main one is just he 0:38:31.120 --> 0:38:33.680 said prices would go down, he cleaned they were down already. 0:38:33.880 --> 0:38:35.719 They weren't, so he's just going to keep saying it, 0:38:35.920 --> 0:38:38.200 and he's the well part where he is. I think 0:38:38.360 --> 0:38:42.880 analogus to Biden is the bidenminstration would say, Hey, good news, everybody. 0:38:43.040 --> 0:38:46.360 This one good that has been famously too expensive is 0:38:46.520 --> 0:38:49.520 now much less expensive and people didn't care anymore. Oh 0:38:49.560 --> 0:38:52.880 we fixed the baby formula outage. Nobody cared. That is 0:38:52.960 --> 0:38:55.320 one thing they have in common that even Trump can't benefit. 0:38:55.360 --> 0:38:58.000 If people are angry about something, and you're angry about 0:38:58.000 --> 0:39:00.600 goes away, nobody says thank you, President for fixing it. 0:39:00.800 --> 0:39:03.200 He's better at advertising than Biden, but hasn't really done 0:39:03.200 --> 0:39:04.000 anything for him. 0:39:04.080 --> 0:39:06.440 I also think the problem for him is there is 0:39:06.440 --> 0:39:11.520 a reason why politicians don't promise undoable things, and that's 0:39:11.640 --> 0:39:15.160 because a lot of political gravity that didn't apply to 0:39:15.200 --> 0:39:17.839 Trump is sort of catching up with him, right. Like 0:39:18.360 --> 0:39:20.680 he used to be able to say stuff and no 0:39:20.680 --> 0:39:23.080 one would ever be like, well what about But it 0:39:23.120 --> 0:39:26.120 does seem like now there's you said tariffs were great. 0:39:26.200 --> 0:39:28.719 Now everything's more expensive, you know what I mean? Like 0:39:28.760 --> 0:39:31.680 there seems to be some amount of political gravity catching 0:39:31.760 --> 0:39:32.200 up to him. 0:39:32.520 --> 0:39:34.600 Yeah, I'm obsessed. I don't think I wrote about this 0:39:34.600 --> 0:39:37.200 week except for social media. I'm obsessed with how the 0:39:37.200 --> 0:39:39.560 deministration will keep floating that people are going to get 0:39:39.800 --> 0:39:42.440 three months either a rebate check from Doze or from 0:39:42.520 --> 0:39:45.120 teriffs or the terroriffs. From that positim than anything. And 0:39:45.600 --> 0:39:48.280 before we got on, I was just checking my email 0:39:48.360 --> 0:39:50.960 and indep I have a fundraising email. I'm on a 0:39:50.960 --> 0:39:53.200 couple fundraising lists. Is to see what they get. What 0:39:53.239 --> 0:39:55.240 people who donate to the CAAAN it's get not they donate. 0:39:55.280 --> 0:39:57.879 I just signed up. It's psychotic. Don't do it unless 0:39:57.880 --> 0:40:00.920 you're reporter. But yesterday I have If you are a 0:40:00.960 --> 0:40:04.319 donor to Donald Trump, you got an email saying would 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:07.080 you accept a terror rebate check signed by Trump? And 0:40:07.560 --> 0:40:09.239 I do think it's starting. I watch a lot of 0:40:09.280 --> 0:40:11.840 local news, partly because that's where campaigns are advertising and 0:40:11.920 --> 0:40:15.560 spending time, and local loser report. How there are a 0:40:15.600 --> 0:40:17.360 lot of segments, and there have been all year, but 0:40:17.400 --> 0:40:20.400 in the last week since this terror frebate discussion began, 0:40:20.680 --> 0:40:23.600 segments that are just a version of the President says 0:40:23.640 --> 0:40:25.360 he might send out a check. What would it look like. 0:40:25.360 --> 0:40:26.920 We talked to an expert about whether you're going to 0:40:26.960 --> 0:40:29.880 get your check after a while. I think it's reasonable 0:40:29.880 --> 0:40:32.000 for people to say I am unhappy because I thought 0:40:32.040 --> 0:40:33.920 i'd get a check and I did not. That's what 0:40:33.960 --> 0:40:34.680 it's happening too. 0:40:34.920 --> 0:40:37.120 That's a fundamental problem with Trump is is he has 0:40:37.160 --> 0:40:39.680 only a couple of ideas, and he's like, well, send 0:40:39.680 --> 0:40:42.759 people money that work during COVID, but there's not a 0:40:42.800 --> 0:40:45.200 mechanism for that. We got to talk about the shutdown. 0:40:45.520 --> 0:40:49.000 So it feels like the Democrats in the House did 0:40:49.160 --> 0:40:52.520 actually stay together, you know. I mean Mike Johnson helped 0:40:52.560 --> 0:40:54.479 them in a certain way by never bringing them back, 0:40:54.560 --> 0:40:58.439 and it was the Senate that caved. Now, I from 0:40:58.480 --> 0:41:01.680 someone who has covered the Senate deems the way that 0:41:01.760 --> 0:41:05.319 this vote went down to have only people were up 0:41:05.320 --> 0:41:09.480 for reelection in twenty thirty, people who were retiring, and 0:41:09.600 --> 0:41:13.160 people who were not necessarily in danger voting to reopen 0:41:13.160 --> 0:41:15.880 the government seemed a little bit too cute, I have 0:41:16.360 --> 0:41:20.520 in my mind. Then, to have the Senate majority leader 0:41:20.920 --> 0:41:24.560 vote now and give a long speech, it felt as 0:41:24.600 --> 0:41:27.480 if the vibes were Chuck wanted to end the shutdown. 0:41:28.040 --> 0:41:31.279 That is fair. I've not been my colleague Burgess ever 0:41:31.320 --> 0:41:33.760 it and other people who covered a Senate more closely 0:41:33.800 --> 0:41:37.319 and daily than I do have gotten the feedback on this. 0:41:37.760 --> 0:41:40.160 So it's fair to say that Schumer and other Democrats 0:41:40.239 --> 0:41:43.920 were pushed into this shutdown strategy that they did not 0:41:44.000 --> 0:41:46.440 fully support, and they were surprised how well it works. 0:41:46.520 --> 0:41:49.439 That is, and they turned it down in March, right, 0:41:49.520 --> 0:41:51.279 and then they got so much pushback they had to 0:41:51.280 --> 0:41:52.000 go along with it. 0:41:52.160 --> 0:41:54.480 One they got pushed back. I think also importantly, and 0:41:54.520 --> 0:41:57.080 you've talked about this, is that in March the idea 0:41:57.120 --> 0:41:58.880 of a lot of holdouts he did not want to 0:41:58.880 --> 0:42:01.560 do a shutdown was if do a shutdown, russ vote 0:42:01.640 --> 0:42:03.400 is going to fire a bunch more people because he 0:42:03.400 --> 0:42:05.960 wants to do that anyway. And they learned over the 0:42:05.960 --> 0:42:08.040 course of the year that russ vote was just gonna 0:42:08.120 --> 0:42:11.120 just fire people anyway. They actually did get well. One 0:42:11.120 --> 0:42:13.640 of the only things they got as a benefit from 0:42:13.719 --> 0:42:16.800 ending the shutdown is officially that there's not gonna be 0:42:16.840 --> 0:42:18.919 any more reduction the force while the government shut down. 0:42:19.040 --> 0:42:21.280 Now in the law, there shouldn't have been any reductions 0:42:21.320 --> 0:42:23.799 of forces during the shutdown anyway, but that changed everything 0:42:23.840 --> 0:42:26.560 where Democrats said, we actually have a president who's just 0:42:26.600 --> 0:42:29.480 going to try to fire people try to cut funds, 0:42:29.960 --> 0:42:32.360 do it before court stops them, and then if the 0:42:32.400 --> 0:42:34.840 court stops them, it's too late. That changed everything, and 0:42:34.880 --> 0:42:36.880 I think that's gonna that's gonna That mindset will be 0:42:36.920 --> 0:42:39.920 there for the next impass in January. I'm already predicting 0:42:39.960 --> 0:42:42.760 an impass over over healthcare funding. They also became convinced 0:42:42.800 --> 0:42:45.280 that if you're a Democrat, wanted to be over and 0:42:45.480 --> 0:42:48.319 I actually Timillary has expressed this, I think better than 0:42:48.320 --> 0:42:50.880 a lot of Democrats had, is well, you've changed the 0:42:50.920 --> 0:42:56.839 conversation to healthcare, right, which yeah, yeah, and you got 0:42:56.880 --> 0:43:00.400 things queued up for the Epstein discharge petition, which is 0:43:00.440 --> 0:43:03.560 an advantage. So you should just take this win and 0:43:03.640 --> 0:43:05.680 go on because you're not going to get something out. 0:43:05.920 --> 0:43:08.560 And that, to me is credible because there's no shutdown 0:43:08.920 --> 0:43:11.360 the part in order to shut to the end the shutdown, 0:43:11.400 --> 0:43:14.160 the President just gave the House or the holdouts whatever 0:43:14.200 --> 0:43:17.000 they wanted. That's that's not crazy. But for the Schumer 0:43:17.080 --> 0:43:19.040 role in it was that definitely that he was pushed 0:43:19.120 --> 0:43:22.520 by both progressives and by reality and he was talking 0:43:22.560 --> 0:43:24.880 to Robins trying to make a scandal out of this, 0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:27.400 but he was taught, he was in contact with progressive 0:43:27.440 --> 0:43:29.719 groups like Indivisible to Move On that were saying, please 0:43:29.719 --> 0:43:31.919 shut the government down? Should he not be? I guess 0:43:31.960 --> 0:43:34.320 the idea there is that Democrats should not listen to 0:43:34.400 --> 0:43:37.719 their interest groups. But the end that's true, that that 0:43:37.840 --> 0:43:39.759 is true, and those same interest groups are going to 0:43:39.800 --> 0:43:43.320 want a new leader. But not to write Schumer's biography 0:43:43.320 --> 0:43:45.960 for him. But the role of him as leader for 0:43:46.000 --> 0:43:48.239 the next few weeks or a few years is going 0:43:48.320 --> 0:43:51.120 to be losing a bunch of Donald Trump, maybe winning 0:43:51.160 --> 0:43:53.920 the Senate and then maybe facing pressure. I actually already 0:43:54.000 --> 0:43:57.319 facing pressure AT's retire next year. So it's like being 0:43:57.360 --> 0:43:59.160 being the Senate leader is not a great is not 0:43:59.280 --> 0:44:01.840 a great place to suddenly come in and dominate and 0:44:02.120 --> 0:44:04.360 run your party's agenda. If did Bernie Sanders is in 0:44:04.520 --> 0:44:07.240 the party leadership, like undermining you, that's part of a job. 0:44:07.800 --> 0:44:10.560 Didn't he say that he was going to not run 0:44:10.600 --> 0:44:11.240 for reelection. 0:44:11.600 --> 0:44:12.359 He didn't say that. 0:44:12.440 --> 0:44:14.319 He hasn't He hasn't come out and said it. 0:44:14.640 --> 0:44:14.799 No. 0:44:14.960 --> 0:44:17.520 So what happened with Biden was that Biden's team in 0:44:17.560 --> 0:44:21.399 twenty nineteen let word go out for some reporters that hey, 0:44:21.440 --> 0:44:23.680 he was considering a one term pledge, and so people 0:44:23.680 --> 0:44:25.879 who wanted to think Biden would run for one term 0:44:26.160 --> 0:44:28.840 got some got something to hang on. And I'm not 0:44:28.840 --> 0:44:31.160 trying to insall he'll for not memorizing ever news article, 0:44:31.200 --> 0:44:33.600 but that became like didn't I read one somewhere that 0:44:33.600 --> 0:44:34.879 he probably one term? 0:44:35.160 --> 0:44:38.359 It really did help him when because he could make 0:44:38.400 --> 0:44:41.799 a case that maybe it was that Trumpian thing of 0:44:41.840 --> 0:44:45.880 being a roar shack, right, you'll be whatever is wanted. 0:44:45.840 --> 0:44:48.799 Yes, and that Schumer has not been that definitive. It 0:44:48.880 --> 0:44:51.399 did just that people in New York politics looking at 0:44:51.400 --> 0:44:54.800 his calendar, which includes Schumer used to be famous for 0:44:54.840 --> 0:44:57.480 going to every county in the state every year. He 0:44:57.520 --> 0:45:00.800 has not done that discycle. So he he turns seventy 0:45:00.800 --> 0:45:04.480 five this month, he turned seventy six after the midterms. 0:45:04.680 --> 0:45:07.840 Would he be announcing in twenty twenty seven that he 0:45:07.840 --> 0:45:10.359 wants to run for reelection That would take him into 0:45:10.400 --> 0:45:13.719 his mid eighties. That's the assumption. So does he want 0:45:13.760 --> 0:45:15.880 to say I Chuck Schumer right now, want to give 0:45:15.960 --> 0:45:18.360 up my leverages leader and say that I got bullied 0:45:18.360 --> 0:45:20.560 out of this job by move on? Yeah? Probably not, 0:45:20.880 --> 0:45:24.400 but the invisible I guess job application going on for 0:45:24.440 --> 0:45:27.000 Senate leader. That's already been happening, and part of it 0:45:27.080 --> 0:45:29.960 is people in New York saying we don't think Schuber's 0:45:30.000 --> 0:45:32.560 going to run it again. There's so many different angles 0:45:32.560 --> 0:45:35.720 on this, but I want to get too tangential about 0:45:35.719 --> 0:45:38.200 who would replace Humor. That's already happening because a lot 0:45:38.239 --> 0:45:39.360 of people think he's not going. 0:45:39.160 --> 0:45:40.760 To run, who would replace Schuma. 0:45:41.000 --> 0:45:44.440 So a lot of conversations about aoc NO in leadership. 0:45:44.640 --> 0:45:47.760 In leadership, Brian Schottz Center for What Hawaii has done 0:45:48.239 --> 0:45:50.160 most of the work to get himself ready for that 0:45:51.040 --> 0:45:54.160 compared to other people Amy Clover Shard in the leadership 0:45:54.200 --> 0:45:56.319 and would be in the position. No one else has 0:45:56.360 --> 0:45:59.040 been making moves that way, especially because I do think 0:45:59.080 --> 0:46:02.680 there are their discrepancies between what progresses want the job 0:46:02.719 --> 0:46:04.840 to be what the job ends up being. And so 0:46:05.080 --> 0:46:06.680 a lot of progresses say, why can't we have the 0:46:06.719 --> 0:46:10.480 most progressive fighter we have in the Senate every day 0:46:10.560 --> 0:46:14.239 leading the messaging and the counterpoint. B Well, that's not 0:46:14.280 --> 0:46:16.560 Republicans have Republicans didn't say, look at the Senate, we 0:46:16.600 --> 0:46:19.920 need somebody like Josh Hawley or Rick Scott to lead us. 0:46:20.640 --> 0:46:22.960 Rick Scott rand he lost. You have to be kind 0:46:22.960 --> 0:46:24.959 of a sin eater in the job. You have to 0:46:25.000 --> 0:46:27.359 be there for awful deals, and you have to if 0:46:27.360 --> 0:46:29.719 you let's say there's a big Senate if Democrats have 0:46:29.760 --> 0:46:32.000 a great Senate election in the midterms and they win, 0:46:32.239 --> 0:46:35.160 Sharon Brown wins the seat, and Mary Paul Tola and 0:46:35.200 --> 0:46:38.279 Alaska wins and they get everything, they get almost everything 0:46:38.280 --> 0:46:39.960 they want to. But there's a new demograph from Iowa. 0:46:40.200 --> 0:46:41.480 Some of them are just not going to vote with 0:46:41.520 --> 0:46:44.040 Progresses on everything, and so you'll need some of these. 0:46:44.080 --> 0:46:47.080 So I'm not trying to That is why shots who 0:46:47.120 --> 0:46:49.160 got elected as a progressive, he was appointed to the 0:46:49.200 --> 0:46:51.600 seat and then got reelected with the supported Progresses over 0:46:51.640 --> 0:46:54.879 a more conservative candidate. He's already been willing to buff 0:46:54.920 --> 0:46:57.400 progressive on some issues, and that's why people think, all right, 0:46:57.440 --> 0:46:59.680 well he's ready. He's getting himself ready to win if 0:46:59.680 --> 0:47:03.640 he runs for leader. His colleagues, including conative more conservative Democrats, 0:47:03.680 --> 0:47:04.480 to say, great. 0:47:04.640 --> 0:47:07.000 Yeah, Dave Wigo, I hope you'll come back. 0:47:07.239 --> 0:47:10.040 Oh yeah, thanks for having me. All these post election 0:47:10.120 --> 0:47:14.759 periods are we actually have data? Really are great, so 0:47:14.840 --> 0:47:21.800 happy to do it. They're no more pfectly. 0:47:21.920 --> 0:47:27.040 Jesse cannon Somali Trump and his administration as a weapon 0:47:27.120 --> 0:47:31.359 they're just so thrilled to use against anyone whoever wronged them. 0:47:31.520 --> 0:47:34.799 And friend of the show, Congressman Eric Swolwell is the 0:47:34.880 --> 0:47:39.000 latest victim of their weapon. He just announced today that 0:47:39.080 --> 0:47:41.640 he's going to be running for governor of California and 0:47:42.080 --> 0:47:44.000 they're going to go after him for mortgage fraud. 0:47:44.360 --> 0:47:48.279 Bill Pulti works in the Trump administration, and what he 0:47:48.320 --> 0:47:52.479 does is he finds people who have mortgages, and then 0:47:52.760 --> 0:47:55.719 he finds enemies of Trump and he puts that Vinn 0:47:55.760 --> 0:47:59.680 diagram together. And I think that Eric is the fource 0:48:00.480 --> 0:48:04.680 Democrat that Bill Poulti has accused of mortgage fraud, with 0:48:04.920 --> 0:48:08.759 varying degrees of success. But you know, here's the thing 0:48:08.840 --> 0:48:12.520 about prosecuting people politically, it doesn't have to work and 0:48:12.640 --> 0:48:17.080 necessarily like it's clearly bullshit, but it doesn't necessarily have 0:48:17.239 --> 0:48:20.880 to work in order for them to get the Jews 0:48:20.920 --> 0:48:24.719 from it. So that's what we're seeing here is just 0:48:25.160 --> 0:48:29.560 a lot of them sort of grasping at straws and 0:48:29.719 --> 0:48:33.560 trying to get this going. I don't think that they 0:48:33.560 --> 0:48:36.040 can get any of these going because they've just done 0:48:36.160 --> 0:48:39.440 so many, and they've all looked so intentional. So I 0:48:39.560 --> 0:48:41.880 don't think that Trump world will get to do this. 0:48:42.040 --> 0:48:43.920 And like, this is one of these things where it's like, 0:48:43.960 --> 0:48:47.480 thank god they're stupid, because if they had been smart, 0:48:47.880 --> 0:48:49.680 you know, and they had been like and they had 0:48:49.719 --> 0:48:53.120 sort of like made up different cases, like some were 0:48:53.160 --> 0:48:55.600 mortgage fraud and some were this and some were that. 0:48:55.680 --> 0:48:59.880 Like in Putin's Russia, people get arrested for stuff like 0:49:00.120 --> 0:49:04.560 iss right. So I do think that as much as 0:49:04.600 --> 0:49:07.600 there's a certain amount of this that is scary, it's 0:49:07.640 --> 0:49:12.560 also so stupid and thank god it's so stupid. That's 0:49:12.719 --> 0:49:19.920 it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 0:49:20.120 --> 0:49:24.040 and Saturday to hear the best minds and politics make 0:49:24.160 --> 0:49:28.160 sense of all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast, 0:49:28.520 --> 0:49:31.920 please send it to a friend and keep the conversation going. 0:49:32.400 --> 0:49:33.520 Thanks for listening.