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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,

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Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of

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Speaker 1: today's best minds, and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office clearly

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Speaker 1: altered public records in podium gate.

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Speaker 2: We have such a great show for you today.

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Speaker 1: Representative Andy Kim tells us about primary a sitting Democratic senator,

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Speaker 1: one who has been indicted multiple times as he runs

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Speaker 1: for Senator Menendez' seat. Then we'll talk to Vermont Congresswoman

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Speaker 1: Becca Blint about negotiating Republican disarray in Congress. But first

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Speaker 1: we have the Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. Welcome back

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Speaker 1: to Fast Politics, Dana Milbank.

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Speaker 3: Molly, it is a delight and a pleasure. As always.

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Speaker 1: We woke up on Saturday absolute destruction and carnage in

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Speaker 1: the Middle East. There was no Speaker of the House

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Speaker 1: in case the government wanted to write some checks. We

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Speaker 1: have this pro templar speaker, pro tempt speaker McHenry, who

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Speaker 1: hasn't wears a bow tie and is very adorable, but

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Speaker 1: no one really knows what he can do.

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Speaker 3: Right, Yes, I agree he is. He is kind of adorable.

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Speaker 2: He's cute.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he's a very he's a very little guy,

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Speaker 3: and you know, he's you know, he sort of looks

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Speaker 3: the part when you know, in his side job, he's

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Speaker 3: in charge of the Financial Services Committee, so he also

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Speaker 3: looks really good for that job. And there's more than

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Speaker 3: a few people running around Capitol Hill. They couldn't he

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Speaker 3: actually be the speaker? You know, he's cute and he's competent.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's just such a rare commodity up there

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Speaker 3: that he actually knows the institution, he knows what he's doing.

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Speaker 3: He doesn't necessarily give a lot of leeway to the

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Speaker 3: insane people in his caucus anyway, for all those reasons,

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Speaker 3: he absolutely can't become exactly thus doing he rules him

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Speaker 3: out on all accounts. But the whole thing, obviously is

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Speaker 3: a self inflicted crisis, and so is the notion of paralysis.

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Speaker 3: So look, if there were, you know, God forbid, a

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Speaker 3: situation where you actually had to have Congress act immediately too,

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Speaker 3: you could declare war. Yeah, of course you could do it.

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Speaker 3: It's just sort of vague, you know, the way this

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Speaker 3: was done after nine to eleven, just so they didn't

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Speaker 3: decapitate our government. This guy is just supposed to reside

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Speaker 3: over electing the new speaker. But guess what with two

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Speaker 3: hundred and eighteen votes, or now it's actually two hundred

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Speaker 3: and seventeen votes, because they're vacancies, you could just change

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Speaker 3: the rules. You could do anything you want. So look,

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Speaker 3: if there's something really had to be done, it could

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Speaker 3: be done in a second. So yeah, I mean, I

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Speaker 3: think when people are saying, you know, we're paralyzed and

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Speaker 3: there are all these crises in the world that we

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Speaker 3: can't react to, that is essentially Republicans trying to put

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Speaker 3: pressure on their fellow Republicans to get the speaker thing done.

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Speaker 3: It's not because there's actually a fear of paralysis.

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Speaker 1: Right, it does seem from all the reporting I've read

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Speaker 1: that it doesn't look like anyone is going to get

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Speaker 1: to two seventeen.

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Speaker 3: That easily doesn't. I can't tell you how many hours

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Speaker 3: I've spent now in the bowels of the Capitol outside

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Speaker 3: room HC five they call it in the basement. You know,

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Speaker 3: there's no windows, there's ventilation and plumbing you know, running

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Speaker 3: through there, and it's just you know, a constant stakeout

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Speaker 3: and you know you're sniffing to see what they're eating. Inside.

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Speaker 3: It's just you know, for this, you know, we went

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Speaker 3: to college, well at least you did. It's been pretty grim.

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Speaker 3: It's very hard to see how they get out of this.

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Speaker 3: Scalise doesn't have the votes, Jim Jordan doesn't have the votes.

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Speaker 3: Kevin McCarthy certainly doesn't have the votes, but.

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Speaker 2: He might want to try to get them.

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Speaker 3: Right, and that basically freezes up the contest and prevents

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Speaker 3: the other guys from getting votes. Of course, the moderates,

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Speaker 3: who are very good at squawking and you know, you know,

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Speaker 3: you know, flexing muscle, don't actually do anything. Of course,

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Speaker 3: they could reach out to Democrats to back a McHenry

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Speaker 3: like character and they'd be done with this in a minute.

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Speaker 3: They've decided they've got to do it with Republican only votes.

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Speaker 3: So the real question is do they have the fight

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Speaker 3: in the back room in the caucus and that goes

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Speaker 3: on for days or weeks, and then they bring it

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Speaker 3: to the floor when they finally got the white smoke,

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Speaker 3: or do they actually go to the floor and slug

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Speaker 3: it out there, which of course they don't want to

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Speaker 3: do because it'll look like January all over again.

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Speaker 1: Right, And originally there was some talk that Brett Beher

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Speaker 1: was going to host a televised debate, which would have

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Speaker 1: really made this whole thing, I should show of epic

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Speaker 1: and fascinating proportion.

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Speaker 2: But that was sort of squelched.

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Speaker 3: Right, you could just go through what was the what

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Speaker 3: was the decision making process there where you know, at

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Speaker 3: least defending stud I know, let's bring in Brett there.

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Speaker 3: What could possibly go wrong? So yes, I think that

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Speaker 3: was supposed to be last night. So they instead sat

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Speaker 3: around what they call venting at each other, basically still

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Speaker 3: yelling at the eight disrupted everything and you know, basically

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Speaker 3: just getting a lot of things off their chest but

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Speaker 3: not making any progress.

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Speaker 2: It is amazing.

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Speaker 1: I mean the comment, you know, I read something from

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Speaker 1: Jim Jordan's supporter who said in Congress that the body

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Speaker 1: isn't even cold yet.

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Speaker 2: We need more time.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this is like the fundamental problem with this

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Speaker 1: Republican party.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, Garrett Graves, who's smarter than

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Speaker 3: your average bear, and this caucus or Republican from Louisiana said,

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Speaker 3: you know, at a minimum they're losing weeks because of this,

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Speaker 3: and it could be much longer than that. So you know,

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Speaker 3: what's much longer than weeks. I guess that means months.

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Speaker 3: We've got this November seventeenth deadline for the next a shutdown,

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Speaker 3: and everybody is freely saying they're going to have to

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Speaker 3: blow past that deadline. There is absolutely physically no way

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Speaker 3: to get all twelve appropriations bills passed in that period

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Speaker 3: of time. They're going to need another CR continuing resolution,

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Speaker 3: and they've got maybe ten people eleven people in the

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Speaker 3: caucus who say, under no circumstance will I vote for

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Speaker 3: a continuing resolution. So it's determined not to work with Democrats.

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Speaker 3: So we're coming up against the exact same thing again.

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Speaker 3: So even if they somehow on Wednesday are able to

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Speaker 3: miraculously together behind a speaker, that same speaker is going

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Speaker 3: to have virtually no power to avoid this coming car wreck.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I.

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Speaker 1: Think it's worth sort of pausing for a second and

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Speaker 1: just looking at the forces at play here.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: So you have McHenry, who certainly at least looks normal.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't know everything about him, but he

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Speaker 1: certainly looks the most normal. Then you have Scullie, who

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Speaker 1: has been in leadership. He did call himself David Duke

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Speaker 1: without the baggage and perhaps not the greatest thing one

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Speaker 1: can say about oneself, but it does read as less insane.

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Speaker 1: And then you have Jim Jordan, right, so you have

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Speaker 1: a continuum of like normal too, that shittery.

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Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I would say it's a continuum of crazy

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Speaker 3: all through and through.

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Speaker 4: Now.

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Speaker 3: Both Scalise and McHenry were in their day the extremists

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Speaker 3: in the caucus so interesting. They were the rabble rousers,

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Speaker 3: you know, they were the Matt Gates of their time.

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Speaker 3: And I don't think they've changed it all. I think

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Speaker 3: it's just that there have been so many new iterations

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Speaker 3: of crazy with each election cycle that what was crazy

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Speaker 3: in twenty ten is now totally you know, dead center

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Speaker 3: of the Republican Party. Something similar has happened with Jim Jordan.

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Speaker 3: Nobody would mistake him for a moderate, but in this

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Speaker 3: caucus he was a McCarthy defender. He was essentially part

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Speaker 3: of the establishment and trying to rein in the excesses

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Speaker 3: of the two dozen or so who are just trying

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Speaker 3: to burn everything down. So in today's Republican Party, Jim

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Speaker 3: Jordan even is kind of a moderate.

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Speaker 2: That is true and also just terrifying.

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Speaker 3: There are many things Molly should be terrified about. I

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Speaker 3: have a long list which I keep next to my pharmaceuticals.

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Speaker 1: So now we think that they're going to have this

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Speaker 1: meeting tonight and then the sort of fantasy of the

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Speaker 1: party leadership is that then they'll have a voter and

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Speaker 1: it'll be done.

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Speaker 2: But we all think that's not how it's going to

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Speaker 2: go down.

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Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, And I mean some people say it'll happen

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Speaker 3: in the same way. You know, they say it has

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Speaker 3: to happen, but when you scratch the surface, they say,

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Speaker 3: you know, I just don't see how that actually happens.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, as of now, they're supposed to

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Speaker 3: be voting Wednesday morning, but they don't even know is

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Speaker 3: there going to be a rules change first? Are they

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Speaker 3: going to punish the eight people who ousted McCarthy? Are

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Speaker 3: they even going to have a secret vote in the caucus,

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Speaker 3: or are they going to have a vote where they

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Speaker 3: actually do the roll call? So we don't even know

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Speaker 3: the parameters of the voting, let alone you know, getting

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Speaker 3: to the actual voting itself, where nobody has anything close

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Speaker 3: to approaching a majority. So I think anybody who's saying

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Speaker 3: this will be quickly resolved is being very optimus.

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Speaker 1: Now, one of the things that Matt Gates said when

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Speaker 1: he was making the case against McCarthy was dishonest but

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Speaker 1: also true. So he said, you know, McCarthy really hasn't

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Speaker 1: done anything. He's just named a few post offices. Now,

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Speaker 1: this is true, Right, the things that have come up

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Speaker 1: in the House. Are we to partisan to get anywhere

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Speaker 1: through the Senate or to get to Biden's.

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Speaker 3: Desk, Right, it is true that they have named a

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Speaker 3: few post offices. In fact, that was the last order

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Speaker 3: of business before they deposed him as speaker. I mean,

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Speaker 3: you've got to feel really lucky if you're the guy

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Speaker 3: they named those post offices for. But it's also I mean,

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Speaker 3: it's a little rich for Matt Gates to be saying

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Speaker 3: since he's the reason they're not able to do anything.

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Speaker 3: So it is true you talk about sort of must

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Speaker 3: pass pieces of legislation, the appropriations process. Yeah, they've gotten

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Speaker 3: a lot of messaging bills through that will not clear

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Speaker 3: the Senate and certainly would be vetoed by the President.

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Speaker 3: So you know, I mean, you go right on down

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Speaker 3: the list, you know, And as McCarthy had done, saying

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Speaker 3: we abolished we got rid of the eighty seven thousand

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Speaker 3: irs agents. Well, no you didn't. You have passed a bill, right,

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Speaker 3: that's not going anywhere. So, I mean it's been the

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Speaker 3: spectacularly unproductive Congress. I mean that's Senate and House alike.

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Speaker 3: And that is in the large part because there is

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Speaker 3: no ability so far and the House Republican leadership to compromise.

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Speaker 3: Look in the Senate, there are twelve appropriations bills. Okay,

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Speaker 3: they're being prevented from coming to the floor by Ron

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Speaker 3: Johnson and others. But they cleared the Appropriations Committee with

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Speaker 3: lopsided bipartisan majority. So even now in these crazy times,

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Speaker 3: it is possible to get everybody together and agree on something.

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Speaker 3: So it just will somebody step aside and let that happen.

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Speaker 1: And I think that really is the larger question is

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Speaker 1: does any of this nudge right, this Congress, this Republican

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Speaker 1: House of Representatives towards bipartisanship or power sharing agreement or anything,

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Speaker 1: or are they just too terrified of the primary contests.

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Speaker 3: It's partially that maybe it's the disapprobation of their peers,

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Speaker 3: but every night in the bowels in the Capitol, or

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Speaker 3: every day Don Bacon from Nebraska, perfectly reasonable man says,

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Speaker 3: you know talks. Yes, he's talking with Democrats. You know,

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Speaker 3: maybe there could be changes to the House. Well, I

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Speaker 3: mean talk and talk and talk, but nothing. They never

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Speaker 3: actually do it. It will only take four or five

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Speaker 3: of them at this point to actually reach out and

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Speaker 3: do it. When that's sort of the tragedy of the

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Speaker 3: whole thing is. You know, Kevin McCarthy, had he made

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Speaker 3: even a slight gesture right to the Democrats, he didn't

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Speaker 3: have to give away the store. He could just like

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Speaker 3: I'll give you another one or two on ex Committee.

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Speaker 3: He could have picked off enough votes to retain the speakership.

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Speaker 3: There's such a powerful allergy to it. And yes, they're

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Speaker 3: afraid of the Fox News reaction, the Steve Bannon reaction,

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Speaker 3: the possibility of primaries of you know, not being able

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Speaker 3: to fundraise. But I think they may be more fearful

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Speaker 3: than is even weren't it.

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Speaker 1: Clearly they're afraid of their own shadows. And that's how

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Speaker 1: we got Trump to begin with. But the only winner

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Speaker 1: in this whole fiasco is Matt Gad's right because he

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Speaker 1: got airtime. He seems maga among maga. He's in an

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Speaker 1: R plus seven thousand districts, so it doesn't matter. You know,

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Speaker 1: nobody's primarying him from the right.

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Speaker 3: I would think not. I mean, they do seem to

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Speaker 3: want to kick him out of the Republican Caucus, which,

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Speaker 3: of course, we'll only give him more attention. You should

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Speaker 3: see the way people chase him down the hallway. And

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Speaker 3: he came to the meeting last night and discovered they

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Speaker 3: were going to take away everybody's phone to come into

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Speaker 3: the meeting. He was so incensed by this. I guess

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Speaker 3: he was worried they were going to bug his phone

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Speaker 3: or something. He walks all the way back to his

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Speaker 3: office to drop off his phone and comes back again

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Speaker 3: just so he can make another grand entrance besieged by reporters.

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Speaker 3: So it is crazy how this street thug is now

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Speaker 3: getting a bigger limelight than anybody else on Capitol Hill.

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Speaker 1: So one of the things, like Mike Lawler is a

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Speaker 1: Republican in a Biden district a D plus three going

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Speaker 1: to run against mondare Jones, who's my friend who used

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Speaker 1: to have that seat. Lawler sees the writing in the wall,

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Speaker 1: realizes that this is just a terrible look for him

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Speaker 1: and these seventeen other Republicans who won in Biden district

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Speaker 1: though you know he doesn't care about them. But so

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Speaker 1: he is out on MSNBC and CNN and in the

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Speaker 1: mainstream media saying this is preposterous, this is terrible behavior.

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Speaker 1: Write anything he can to save his job, and you

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Speaker 1: could see like it used to be. You know, if

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Speaker 1: this were a Nancy Pelosi Republican Party, Nancy used to

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Speaker 1: give people dispensations to go and complain about things. You know,

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Speaker 1: she'd say, like, you know, you don't have to vote

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Speaker 1: what's not your district. You know, the votes that an

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Speaker 1: AOC can make are very different than the votes a

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Speaker 1: spamberger can make. You used to see that in the

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Speaker 1: Democrat Party. But I don't think there's any kind of

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Speaker 1: that kind of thoughtfulness in the Republican Party. But Lawler

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Speaker 1: was complaining, Matt Gates is now fundraising off of his

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Speaker 1: anger at Mike Lawler.

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Speaker 2: I mean, doesn't this end in fiasco?

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Speaker 3: Well for Mike Lawler, I remember, right, I assume, yeah.

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Speaker 3: I mean he's sort of comical, like each day he

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Speaker 3: comes in like I'm going to come up with some

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Speaker 3: new name for Matt Gates. You know, he walks out

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Speaker 3: after the debate saying the eight assholes. Right last night

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Speaker 3: he was saying Matt Gates is a vile human being.

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Speaker 3: Was okay, that's maybe true enough, But it's like he

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Speaker 3: can't you know, he's the one who was talking about

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Speaker 3: the clown show, and I guess he figures if he

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Speaker 3: just keeps insulting that that will insulate him in some way.

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Speaker 3: But come on, where's the action here. You can actually

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Speaker 3: do the same thing that Matt Gates and the other

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Speaker 3: eight were doing, but you could do it for the

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Speaker 3: cause of sanity if you really cared.

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Speaker 2: About it, right, but nobody does.

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Speaker 3: I don't want to, you know, ascribe motives. But if

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Speaker 3: this happens time and time again and they never do anything, well,

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Speaker 3: you have to wonder if they really are Maybe they're

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Speaker 3: down with the whole thing to start with, but I

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Speaker 3: don't see how this works well for the Lawlers of

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Speaker 3: the world.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and quite frankly, fuck them.

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Speaker 1: Is this like the actual moment when the leopards are

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Speaker 1: eating their faces?

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Speaker 2: Or is there more?

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Speaker 3: I like that? Maybe Lawler will start I could give

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Speaker 3: him something new to to tag Matt Gates with it.

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Speaker 3: Tonight's I'm heading in there to hear his insult doujure. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean they are sort of self destructing, but come on,

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Speaker 3: I mean they were self destructing in January. It never

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Speaker 3: actually gets destroyed. The Republican brand is pretty toxic. I mean, okay,

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Speaker 3: the Democratic brand isn't a whole lot better.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to stop you here. The Democratic brand is

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Speaker 2: not better than this.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I'm talking about in the assessment of the

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Speaker 3: American public right here, over and over again that not

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Speaker 3: only is Biden's senile, but he's also a criminal mastermind.

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Speaker 2: It's very confusing the.

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Speaker 3: Rare senile American to be a criminal master right. But

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Speaker 3: you know, I mean they're just being constantly fed this diet,

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Speaker 3: you know, and the you know, the borders are completely open,

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Speaker 3: and all the murders, you know. So yes, of course

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Speaker 3: the Democratic brand is tarnished. That's the one thing that

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Speaker 3: the Republicans are still good at is raising doubts that

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Speaker 3: people have for the entire system. So yeah, so I

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Speaker 3: think the Democratic brand is better to the extent that

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Speaker 3: you know, there are persuadable voters out there, but it's

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Speaker 3: all pretty ugly.

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Speaker 1: To Millbank, that was really great. I'm sorry you have

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Speaker 1: to go back to Congress. I feel for you.

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Speaker 3: Well, they've changed the room tonight. It's going to be

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Speaker 3: in the ways and means committee room at the long

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Speaker 3: Worth Feelings. So at least we're out of the basement

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Speaker 3: and onto the ground level. So I'm going to call

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Speaker 3: this progress.

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Speaker 1: Andy Kim represents New Jersey's third congressional district and is

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Speaker 1: a candidate for the New Jersey Senate.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Fast Politics.

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Speaker 1: Representative and current Senate candidate Andy Kim, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: We know each other for a long time, though not well.

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Speaker 2: But I met you.

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Speaker 1: When you were first running for Congress like three terms ago, right.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right. It would have been by twenty seventeen

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Speaker 5: that we met.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you had an incredible story. You had worked.

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Speaker 1: Tell us your story and how you got involved in it,

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Speaker 1: and then about your decision to run for Congress, because

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Speaker 1: all of your backstory is really important and fascinating.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I'm a son of Korean immigrants raised in New Jersey

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Speaker 5: in the district that I now have a chance to represent.

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Speaker 5: I represent the district where I went to kindergarten public

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Speaker 5: school kid that went on to become a Rhodes scholar,

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Speaker 5: a PhD in International relations and then became a United

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Speaker 5: States diplomat and worked in diplomacy and national security because

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Speaker 5: I was a career guy, not a political guy. I was,

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Speaker 5: you know, worked under both Republican and Democratic presidents. But

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Speaker 5: in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, you know, I really few

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Speaker 5: like I needed to step up and do something, and

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Speaker 5: in particular, my congressman of this district that I now represent,

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Speaker 5: he was the lead author of that healthcare repeal bill

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Speaker 5: twenty seventeen and author the amendment that gutted the pre

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Speaker 5: existing condition protections. And at that time, you know, I

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Speaker 5: was my wife and I were expecting the birth of

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Speaker 5: my second son, and he was having a lot of

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Speaker 5: health issues already in the womb before he was born.

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Speaker 5: And I was just really you know, seized by this

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Speaker 5: issue about healthcare and about.

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Speaker 2: Three existing conditions.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and so I decided to you know, step up

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Speaker 5: and challenge my old congressman and do what I could.

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Speaker 5: And I never ran for office before at that time,

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Speaker 5: but I felt like I had to do something.

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Speaker 1: And you won, and that son went on to be

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Speaker 1: born and to be healthy, but to need heart surgery, right, well, yeah, he's.

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Speaker 5: Been getting care. I didn't need surgery, but definitely been

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Speaker 5: you know, try to improve his health. But it just

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Speaker 5: kind of reminds us health issues of no fault of

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Speaker 5: his own right.

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Speaker 2: Right, pre existing conditions that he was born with.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and really important, and they were not able

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Speaker 1: to repeal Obamacare in a really important moment there. But

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Speaker 1: I do think it's really important what you said just

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Speaker 1: now about how much you were a person who was

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Speaker 1: a nonpartisan career diplomat, but who decided they had to

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Speaker 1: do they had to step out of that role and

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Speaker 1: run for office because of the danger that was the

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Speaker 1: trump Ism that has continued to infect the Republican Party.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right. I mean, look, you know, I'm somebody

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Speaker 5: that was fiercely focused on the national security. You know,

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Speaker 5: I served as a civilian out in Afghanistan, and out there,

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Speaker 5: you know, there was always a saying, you know, when

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Speaker 5: you're when you're out there in Afghanistan, nome cares if

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Speaker 5: you're a Democrat or a Republican. And I worked alongside

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Speaker 5: people at the State Department for like a decade. Who

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Speaker 5: we're at my wedding who still to this day, I

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Speaker 5: don't actually know if they're registered Democrats are Republicans, like

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Speaker 5: we just did the work. But you know, there was

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Speaker 5: this kind of recognition of like, look like, you know,

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Speaker 5: despite the problems that we have with partisan politics, and

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Speaker 5: you know, and the challenges on that front, like we

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Speaker 5: have to be able to get engaged, we have to

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Speaker 5: find a way to move forward. My boss at the

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Speaker 5: State Department had this line that just still lingers in

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Speaker 5: my mind. He says, you don't have good government unless

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Speaker 5: you have good people working in government. Right, And I

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Speaker 5: get it that politics is toxic and it makes a

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Speaker 5: lot of people not want to do it, But we

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Speaker 5: can't just see the ground. You know, you can't pick

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Speaker 5: ground to those that are just trying to make it

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Speaker 5: talxic because they want it to themselves, right.

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Speaker 3: You know, a lot.

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Speaker 5: Reasonable thoughtful people to get in politics, so they're making

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Speaker 5: it crazy.

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Speaker 4: But we got to endurt.

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Speaker 1: So I was at home just absolutely infuriated about the

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Speaker 1: situation in New Jersey.

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Speaker 2: Infuriated.

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Speaker 1: A Democratic senator indicted for a second time. The facts

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Speaker 1: of it are as damning as anything you've ever fucking seen.

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Speaker 1: I am a partisan, I am an opinion columnist on

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Speaker 1: the left, and I was so appalled to see my

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Speaker 1: own party engaging in the very.

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Speaker 2: Thing that we had said was wrong with trump Ism,

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Speaker 2: and here you are.

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Speaker 1: I said, who the fuck is going to primary this guy?

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Speaker 1: We cannot be Democrats and have this guy run for reelection.

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Speaker 1: Someone must primary him. And all of a sudden, I

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Speaker 1: look and it's you. So tell me. I have a

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Speaker 1: feeling you're thinking was the same here as.

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Speaker 2: When you ran for Congress.

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Speaker 5: Talk to me, yeah, I mean, in fact, you're right.

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Speaker 5: It is almost identical now that I look back on it.

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Speaker 5: You know, in twenty seventeen, my congressman at the time

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Speaker 5: released the MacArthur Amendment, and I saw all over the

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Speaker 5: news and I turned to my wife and I said,

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Speaker 5: I think I got to do something here. And the

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Speaker 5: next day I launched a tweet that said that I

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Speaker 5: was considering righting against him. And you know, I think

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Speaker 5: I had like twenty one followers on Twitter at the time,

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Speaker 5: you know, but I had no one in New Jersey

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Speaker 5: politics had any idea who I was. But I just

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Speaker 5: I felt like I had to do something, you know,

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Speaker 5: run towards the fire right. And this situation that on

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Speaker 5: folder with Senator Menendez the other week, it felt almost identical.

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Speaker 5: And it's a feeling I've all felt, you know, two

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Speaker 5: or three times in my life. But I read it

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Speaker 5: and I turned my wife and I said, like, I

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00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 5: think we need to do something about this. And I

437
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,679
Speaker 5: just felt compelled. I didn't feel like I needed to

438
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,639
Speaker 5: wait to talk it over with everybody. I'm going to

439
00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 5: just do what I did in twenty seventeen, which is

440
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 5: trust my part, trust my gut, and say like, I

441
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 5: am gonna do everything I can, so I, you know,

442
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,360
Speaker 5: send out a tweet this the day after, almost identical

443
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 5: to what I did in twenty seventeen. I didn't realize

444
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,640
Speaker 5: that until after I had done it, that how similar

445
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,040
Speaker 5: the two episodes were. But I just I knew that

446
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,359
Speaker 5: if I didn't do everything that I could, that I

447
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 5: would probably regret it for the rest of my life.

448
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 5: And here I am, now, you know, a three term

449
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,399
Speaker 5: member of Congress from New Jersey. You know I have

450
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,400
Speaker 5: the ability to step up and try to show what

451
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,760
Speaker 5: leadership means, try to show that we could have a

452
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,439
Speaker 5: politics that can restore integrity. So you know, that was

453
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,679
Speaker 5: just what moved me. It was obviously probably one of

454
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 5: the biggest, if not the biggest, spontaneous decision I've made

455
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,159
Speaker 5: in my career and it's a big risk for me.

456
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like you're not a huge risk taker.

457
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:51,960
Speaker 5: When I feel passionate about some you know, when I said,

458
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,080
Speaker 5: you know, two or three big decisions I made, you know,

459
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:57,200
Speaker 5: the decision to run for Congress to in the first place,

460
00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:58,919
Speaker 5: that was a big risk. I had a newborn and

461
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:00,720
Speaker 5: an eighteen month old before that.

462
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 4: You know.

463
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:02,879
Speaker 5: The other big thing. I mean, you know, I volunteer

464
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 5: to go to serve in Afghanistan that be embedded with

465
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,080
Speaker 5: the military at the height of the war in twenty eleven.

466
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:09,400
Speaker 2: So that's pretty scary.

467
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:11,800
Speaker 5: But I feel in my heart when I know that

468
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,560
Speaker 5: it's something that I feel passionate about, I am willing

469
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,240
Speaker 5: to take big risks for my country.

470
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:22,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, primary a sitting Democratic senator, even though there is

471
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:27,320
Speaker 1: more than reason here to do it is actually quite scary, right, Yeah.

472
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,879
Speaker 5: I mean, look, it's intimidating in terms of just taking

473
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,040
Speaker 5: a step of this magnitude that I wasn't even thinking about.

474
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 5: You know, it is not something I was planning towards. Again,

475
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:40,240
Speaker 5: it just is about doing the right thing and standing

476
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 5: up for what I believe in. Doesn't matter if it's

477
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 5: you know, a Democrat or a Republican. I believe that,

478
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 5: you know, valleys hold consistent across the board, and so

479
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 5: in the same way, you know, I worked under both

480
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:54,919
Speaker 5: Republicans and Democrats before, I'm willing to stand up to

481
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 5: Democrats or Republicans if I feel like they're doing the

482
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 5: wrong thing or if they are not approaching the work

483
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 5: with that heart of public service that it needs to be.

484
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,399
Speaker 1: So let's talk for a minute about one of the

485
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 1: reasons that the situation with Menandez is both really scary

486
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,560
Speaker 1: and also one of the ways he's managed to sort

487
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 1: of keep his job is because he's been known as

488
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 1: the sort of top dog on foreign affairs, which is

489
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:28,440
Speaker 1: why this looks so incredibly bad in every fucking way.

490
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: You actually have a ton of foreign affairs experience because

491
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 1: you were a career diplomat.

492
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 2: Yeah.

493
00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 5: Look, I worked my whole career in national security, you know,

494
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,200
Speaker 5: worked at the State Department of the Pentagon, at the

495
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:44,200
Speaker 5: White House National Security Council, out in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

496
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 5: And I look, I even worked briefly as a staff

497
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,679
Speaker 5: from the Center Foreign Relations Committee when I was younger,

498
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 5: And so I've seen this from a lot of different

499
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 5: angle and I have to say, you know, some of

500
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:58,520
Speaker 5: the allegations that were out there, especially about you know,

501
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:03,440
Speaker 5: providing potentially senseive information to the government of Egypt about

502
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 5: the personnel at the embassy and in country. I mean,

503
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,680
Speaker 5: you know, again, those are our career diplomats. Those are

504
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,960
Speaker 5: people that I worked alongside, or the types of people

505
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 5: I worked alongside. People are put in their lives at

506
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 5: risk to serve in different posts or around the world,

507
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 5: and what we owe them and what the sacred trust

508
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 5: is that we do everything we can to protect them

509
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 5: and look out for them, keep them safe while they're

510
00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 5: doing how countries work out there. Yeah, that allegation against

511
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,080
Speaker 5: the senator was deeply alarmed.

512
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 3: I get it.

513
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 5: It's not as eye popping maybe as the pictures of

514
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 5: the gold bars, but that is something that led me

515
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,480
Speaker 5: to say, hey, look like, look, he absolutely has you

516
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,680
Speaker 5: his right for his day and core, and that presumption

517
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:50,199
Speaker 5: of it is instantil proving guilty. But in terms of

518
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,960
Speaker 5: actually being able to continue to do this job as

519
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 5: a senator, to sit on the Foreign Relations Committee still,

520
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,159
Speaker 5: even though he's not the chairman anymore, Like, that doesn't

521
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 5: give me confidence that alleged here is specific to the job.

522
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,720
Speaker 5: It wasn't something some crime completely unrelated to his job.

523
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,520
Speaker 5: It was about the job. And so that's where I

524
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,720
Speaker 5: just felt like, you know that, you know that I

525
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,120
Speaker 5: was the first person from New Jersey, first official from

526
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 5: New Jersey to call for him to step down, And

527
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 5: it was because I just didn't feel like I could

528
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:20,399
Speaker 5: and the people in New Jersey could have confidence that,

529
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 5: you know, he can do this job still right now.

530
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,920
Speaker 1: And I think that it's really important part of why

531
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:30,560
Speaker 1: trumpsm was so offensive to a lot of us. And

532
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: I think Hillary Clinton said this best public service about

533
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 1: serving the public. I mean, you are here to serve

534
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: the public, and it seems to me like Bob Mernandez

535
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: can no longer do that.

536
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, look, we live in the time of

537
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 5: the greatest amount of distrust in government in modern American history.

538
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 5: I am a Democrat that wanted district that Trump won twice.

539
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 5: So I engage in kind of across the spectrum viewpoints.

540
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 5: And you know, it's often called sort of a battleground district,

541
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,840
Speaker 5: at least my old House seat. But like it makes

542
00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 5: this like there's like a blue army and a red army.

543
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,880
Speaker 5: Duke get it out every day, but like the reality

544
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 5: on the ground is that the vast, vast, vast majority

545
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,320
Speaker 5: of people in my congressional district don't trust either party

546
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,600
Speaker 5: right now, and you know, we have to get engaged

547
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 5: with this idea of like how do we restore that trust?

548
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 5: And it's exactly this kind of stuff that is just

549
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,439
Speaker 5: eroding that trust. And like if I've been saying this

550
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:25,679
Speaker 5: line a lot lately, where I say, you know, I

551
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:29,359
Speaker 5: believe that the opposite of democracy is apathy. So many folks,

552
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:31,399
Speaker 5: especially for a New Jersey, are getting close to that

553
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,439
Speaker 5: where like they see the stuff and like, you know,

554
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 5: this is what my neighbors said, Like we talked about

555
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 5: it on the day of the indictment coming out. My

556
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 5: neighbor's just like that's Jersey. You know, that's Jersey politics,

557
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 5: and I just like it breaks my heart.

558
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 1: Well you're like, that's not New Jersey. Let's make it

559
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:47,719
Speaker 1: not New Jersey politics.

560
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 5: It doesn't have to be. You know, like I'm tired

561
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 5: of my state being this like laughing stock around the

562
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 5: country for politics and our reputation, and just like we

563
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 5: got to stop it. So like that's you know, that's

564
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 5: just the kind this is like a break glass, you know,

565
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,399
Speaker 5: moment for me, just like people in New Jersey are

566
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,040
Speaker 5: fed up, and frankly, you know the reaction all over

567
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:10,680
Speaker 5: the country. I mean, you know, in the first week

568
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 5: after I made this announcement, we raised about a million

569
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 5: dollars from people all over the state, all over the country,

570
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,359
Speaker 5: I think, because people all over the country feel this

571
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 5: way too, even if they're in the up from New Jersey,

572
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 5: they see this and they're just like, how is this

573
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:24,360
Speaker 5: America right now?

574
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 4: Like?

575
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,119
Speaker 5: How is how call it? You know, continuing to have

576
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 5: these kinds of problems.

577
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 1: So I saw some polling, and again I really don't

578
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 1: believe that the Poles know what they're doing, because a

579
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 1: lot of this polling has been so wrong. But I

580
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 1: just I saw polling that showed you way ahead, talk

581
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 1: to us, way ahead of a sitting incumbent.

582
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, I'm I think the polling YA saw it too.

583
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 5: I think there are one or two, I think two

584
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 5: different polls that came out last week that that, you know,

585
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 5: we're encouraging, showing that, you know, the people in New

586
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 5: Jersey A were paying attention and they had seen a

587
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 5: lot of this information. I mean, I guess, you know,

588
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 5: it was kind of everywhere so I feel good about

589
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 5: that that people are informed, but also that they knew

590
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 5: who I was and that they saw that contrast, And

591
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 5: you know, I saw you know, people online saying that, like, look,

592
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 5: like you know, Andy, somebody that has been building his

593
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 5: whole career around this issue about integrity. They cited how,

594
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 5: you know, I've been leading the charge on you know,

595
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:25,160
Speaker 5: banning members of Congress from owning and trading individual stocks.

596
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,120
Speaker 2: Yes, that's something I'm passionate about, going.

597
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, and so like, you know, the hold

598
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 5: that in contrast with what we had heard of the allegations.

599
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 5: I am somebody that's at least been in politics long

600
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 5: enough to know that you can't take anything for granted.

601
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 5: I'm grateful for the early response, and now I think

602
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:44,680
Speaker 5: the needst to keep the pressure on. I mean, look,

603
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 5: I mean he's he's built a war chest of nearly

604
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 5: eight million dollars, he's continuing the fundraise. I want to

605
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 5: make sure that we are strong enough to be able

606
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,719
Speaker 5: to you know, get that word out there and to

607
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 5: you know, the really withstand the pressures of a state

608
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 5: wide campaign in a state of nine knowing people and

609
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 5: two of the biggest media markets in the country. With

610
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,960
Speaker 5: New York and Philly. So there's a lot that needs

611
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 5: to happen. But hopefully what we want and what I'm

612
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 5: hoping to build is the largest grassroots mobilization in New

613
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 5: Jersey's history and the really trust trying to show what

614
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:17,320
Speaker 5: it is that we stand for.

615
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, how would you vote differently?

616
00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 1: You're both Democrats, but you're very You're a very different

617
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 1: person and very different politician.

618
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 2: Yeah.

619
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:27,800
Speaker 5: I mean, look, I think one of the issues that

620
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 5: we talked about, which is about the issues of like

621
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 5: good governance, anti corruption, That's something that I've been really

622
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 5: leading on, really making sure that we're taking those steps

623
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 5: on ethics for four, that we're prioritizing these issues that

624
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,040
Speaker 5: I know are so central because I honestly believe like

625
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 5: if you can't fix the issues of big money and

626
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:50,240
Speaker 5: dark money and politics, that it pedes our ability to

627
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 5: get things done when it comes to gun violence prevention,

628
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 5: or you know, on on so many other issues. You know,

629
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 5: another issue where you know, I just feel like I

630
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 5: had different opinions and clashes is about you know, for instance,

631
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,760
Speaker 5: like prescription drug costs and other things like that when

632
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,560
Speaker 5: it comes to healthcare. So you know, I do feel

633
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 5: like there's certainly going to be differences there. There's going

634
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 5: to be differences on foreign policy as as we've seen

635
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 5: how he's been handling that on a lot of different issues,

636
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 5: Whereas you know, I approach things often from a much

637
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 5: more comprehensive approach, really try to make sure we're engaged

638
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,479
Speaker 5: in the diplomacy that we need. But you know, before

639
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 5: we get to a lot of that, you know, the

640
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 5: core central argument right now is about integrity, and I

641
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 5: think that a lot of people in New Jersey. You know,

642
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 5: we can talk to the issues and that's going to

643
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 5: be important, but ultimately they want to know is what's

644
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:40,960
Speaker 5: in your heart, Like why are you doing this job?

645
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 5: How can I trust you to make the right decisions

646
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 5: for my family?

647
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:46,040
Speaker 2: You know, when push.

648
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 5: Comes to shove, And I think that that's that's where

649
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 5: really right now the fissure is. And I hope to

650
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:52,719
Speaker 5: show that contrast.

651
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:55,880
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us, and I hope

652
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: you will come back.

653
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you for having me, and I absolutely happen

654
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 5: to come back anytime.

655
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 1: Becca Blent represents Vermont's sole congressional district.

656
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 2: Welcome to Beast politics. Congresswoman.

657
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 1: Thank you, you're the lone congresswoman from the state of Vermont.

658
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 1: I feel like the Vermont delegation, like, you guys are

659
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: my people.

660
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 2: It is easy to get your senators.

661
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 1: And you you guys are frequent flyers here. But I

662
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 1: want to ask you what is happening in the United

663
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,800
Speaker 1: States House of Representatives right now?

664
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 4: Oh, Molly, it's terrible, So explain to our listeners. Okay, yeah,

665
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 4: I'll break it down for listeners. Now. We're in this

666
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 4: situation right now because the Republican Party has not dealt

667
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 4: with their extremist Maga way of the party because they

668
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 4: take it over. That's what's going on here. This is

669
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:54,720
Speaker 4: a civil war within the party. And if they had

670
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 4: dealt with trump Ism, if they had dealt with people

671
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,880
Speaker 4: within their party who don't leave in the constitution upholding

672
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,800
Speaker 4: the law, we wouldn't be in this situation. And McCarthy

673
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 4: also really made an incredibly stupid agreement back in January,

674
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 4: agreeing to a rule change that said one person could

675
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:16,840
Speaker 4: call for his ouster. I mean, it's ridiculous. You can't

676
00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 4: govern that way, Amember. The press was asking me the

677
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:23,120
Speaker 4: other day, are you surprised that McCarthy is out? I said, no,

678
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,240
Speaker 4: we all know it would end up here. When you

679
00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 4: have that kind of a rule and you bend over

680
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,120
Speaker 4: backwards to accommodate the extremists, they're going to eat their

681
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,480
Speaker 4: own And so it's really frustrating to watch. And as

682
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 4: I've said to Vermontra's time and time again, the hardest

683
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,240
Speaker 4: part for me is watching the moderates, the people who

684
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,760
Speaker 4: say that they're moderate, who say they're interested in governing,

685
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 4: they don't stand up to the extremists. That's the hardest

686
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 4: part for me, because they'll say privately, oh, this is terrible,

687
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 4: this is terrible for us. We need to bring the extremists,

688
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,680
Speaker 4: We need to get them out of our party. This

689
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,000
Speaker 4: isn't good, and yet they vote in line with them repeatedly.

690
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 4: We got to deal with this reckoning sometime. Unfortunately it's

691
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:07,959
Speaker 4: right now, when you know, we've got a bunch of

692
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 4: things happening internationally. But they got to figure out the

693
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,560
Speaker 4: path forward. We're here as partners, but they've said they

694
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:15,319
Speaker 4: don't want our help.

695
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it would have been so easy for

696
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: McCarthy to have made any kind of deal. Yes, I

697
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: mean his numbers are he only needed you know what,

698
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,439
Speaker 1: five six.

699
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:30,200
Speaker 4: Exactly, and leader Jeffries did make those overtores, like let's

700
00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,000
Speaker 4: talk about some kind of power sharing agreement, let's talk

701
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 4: about equalizing membership on committees, like there are things that

702
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,400
Speaker 4: we can do here, And once again McCarthy said, no,

703
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,440
Speaker 4: I don't need you. Well, clearly he did, and I

704
00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 4: think he didn't realize the extent to which he had

705
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:50,360
Speaker 4: burned all of his bridges by going back on every

706
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 4: deal that he made with both the Democrats and the

707
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,600
Speaker 4: Senate and the White House. Right, you can only do

708
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,319
Speaker 4: that so many times before people say enough, we need

709
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 4: somebody who is more trustworthy.

710
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,240
Speaker 1: So much of the discourse was like, why did Democrats

711
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:09,160
Speaker 1: save McCarthy? Why would they.

712
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:13,320
Speaker 4: Exactly why when we he screwed us over at every

713
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 4: possible opportunity, And in what worlds? In what world would

714
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 4: Republicans ever have given Speaker Pelosi, you know, if there

715
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 4: was a tough race, like it just.

716
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,240
Speaker 2: Doesn't happen to happen, right, this is this.

717
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 4: Is absurd, And this comes back to my original you

718
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,719
Speaker 4: know premise here, which is essentially, there is one group

719
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 4: that's interested in governing, and right now that's the Democrats.

720
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 4: We're interested in government having, you know, functioning governing, keeping

721
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,799
Speaker 4: the government funded, making sure programs are working, and then

722
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 4: you've got a group that is not interested actually in that.

723
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 4: And so again, why would we continue to prop up

724
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:55,920
Speaker 4: someone who said in the hours and the darkest hours

725
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 4: of January sixth, oh, I'm done with this guy. I'm

726
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 4: done with Trump, you know, and and made even stronger

727
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 4: statements in the day's following and then a few weeks

728
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:06,319
Speaker 4: later he's at mar Alaga kissing the ring. So how

729
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 4: can we possibly believe that he's going to be somebody

730
00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:12,560
Speaker 4: long term who's going to deal with the real rot

731
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:13,560
Speaker 4: in that party?

732
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 1: The case Republicans were trying to make was that McCarthy

733
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:22,520
Speaker 1: would be better for Democrats than Jim Jordan.

734
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:24,680
Speaker 2: And I'm going to go on a limit hear and say,

735
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:26,440
Speaker 2: I'm not convinced he would be.

736
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,839
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're not either, because if you look at what

737
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:33,640
Speaker 4: he allowed his extremists to do, so anti abortion, so

738
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:39,360
Speaker 4: anti LGBTQ, so anti the poor and the most neediest

739
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:41,920
Speaker 4: of us, you know, among us in the country.

740
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,399
Speaker 2: Cutting the cr by thirty percent.

741
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,320
Speaker 4: Exactly thirty percent cuts to government would impact every single

742
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 4: American who receives any kind of of supports from the

743
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 4: federal government. It's not fiscally responsible to do that. And

744
00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 4: so yeah, it's one of the things I was saying

745
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 4: to folks back home. How could it be worse? I

746
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 4: would rather have us be able to say, look, if

747
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:09,640
Speaker 4: the Republicans elect Jim Jordan, right, somebody who is in

748
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:13,000
Speaker 4: the thick of it in January sixth, right, the committee

749
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 4: knows that he knew a lot more than he's saying

750
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,400
Speaker 4: he knew. Right, We know he wouldn't comply with subpoenas. Like,

751
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 4: if that's who they choose as their guy, then let's

752
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:24,279
Speaker 4: see it for what it is. Whereas I feel like

753
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,200
Speaker 4: McCarthy was putting a band aid on this gaping chest

754
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,280
Speaker 4: wind and enough already, enough with this dance.

755
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 1: You know, it's so interesting when you say that, because

756
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:38,399
Speaker 1: I really do it does really feel like McCarthy.

757
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,000
Speaker 2: Kept saying, well, I'm a moderate, I'm a moderate.

758
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,040
Speaker 1: He was holding impeachment trials of Joe Biden. He started

759
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 1: in impeachment hearing, I mean, that's not moderate, that's insane.

760
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,680
Speaker 4: And when you've got someone like Ken but who's no liberal,

761
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 4: saying the Biden impeachment inquiry is a sham, right, I mean,

762
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:04,200
Speaker 4: it was pure pure politics and pandering to the most

763
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 4: extreme members of his conference, and so it is. It

764
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,479
Speaker 4: is a reckoning that I thought, honestly would have come

765
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 4: before now. And we'll see what emerges from from their meetings.

766
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 4: I don't see how either Jordan or Scalise gets to

767
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 4: two eighteen. I really don't.

768
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:24,399
Speaker 1: But if they do eventually elect him Jordan, which you're

769
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:31,000
Speaker 1: making eighteen vulnerable Republicans vote for a guy who is

770
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,080
Speaker 1: at best in crime ignorer.

771
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:36,600
Speaker 4: Yes, well, I mean so I sit now with him

772
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 4: on Judiciary. He's the chair. He's been using the committee

773
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:43,919
Speaker 4: to try to figure out ways to get Donald Trump

774
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,440
Speaker 4: off the hook in his you know, legal proceedings. That's

775
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:49,280
Speaker 4: always using our committee. If this is the guy they choose,

776
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 4: let's have this out in the open for Americans to see.

777
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,280
Speaker 2: There's a lot of clarity there. If he gets elected.

778
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,400
Speaker 4: Exactly, I mean, this stuff terrifies me. It is the

779
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 4: the enablers terrify me. The people who know better, the

780
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 4: people who see it and understand how dangerous it is,

781
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 4: but do not seem to understand that they have to

782
00:39:10,719 --> 00:39:14,720
Speaker 4: use their voices because it means more from them coming

783
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,759
Speaker 4: within the conference than it means for any of us, Right,

784
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 4: they just tune us out. If you had the folks saying,

785
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,279
Speaker 4: do we believe in the Constitution or do we not?

786
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:25,840
Speaker 5: Do we believe in the rule of law or do

787
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 5: we not?

788
00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 4: Or we simply you know, an arm of Trump incorporated.

789
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:35,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jesse just sent me that George Santos has endorsed

790
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,239
Speaker 1: Jim Jordan. Yes, but the thing that the House is

791
00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: supposed to be doing right now is the budget.

792
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,719
Speaker 2: Talk to us about where you guys.

793
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,080
Speaker 1: Are with the budget and why this is a complete

794
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:47,919
Speaker 1: shit show.

795
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,239
Speaker 4: Well, so, if you remember, there was an agreement to

796
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:56,359
Speaker 4: prevent a horrible default back in June, and as part

797
00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:02,000
Speaker 4: of that deal, you had spending agreement being made between

798
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:04,880
Speaker 4: the House, the Senate, and the White House, basically saying

799
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 4: here is the amount of money that we're going to

800
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,000
Speaker 4: spend to fund government this year.

801
00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:09,640
Speaker 2: Right.

802
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:13,680
Speaker 4: I think two weeks after that agreement was signed into law,

803
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:18,719
Speaker 4: already they were backtracking and saying that they're actually not

804
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:22,120
Speaker 4: going to honor that agreement. And so you had the

805
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:27,080
Speaker 4: Appropriations Committee and other committees of jurisdiction in the House

806
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 4: trying to build a budget based off of those numbers.

807
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:34,279
Speaker 4: And that's when the Republicans came back under McCarthy and said, no, no, no,

808
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 4: we're not going to agree to those things that we

809
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,239
Speaker 4: already shook on and signed and signed this law. We

810
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,400
Speaker 4: actually want thirty percent cuts to the budget. So we

811
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:46,880
Speaker 4: don't have a working budget right now, and anything that

812
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,439
Speaker 4: we pass under the extremists is going to be dead

813
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:52,839
Speaker 4: on arrival in the Senate. Right that's the piece that

814
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,360
Speaker 4: they don't seem to understand. It baffles the mind. I

815
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 4: came up to my state legislature and I used to

816
00:40:57,239 --> 00:40:59,600
Speaker 4: say this to my senators all the time. Guys, if

817
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 4: we can't get it through the other chamber, we got nothing.

818
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,720
Speaker 4: So can we please be communicating not just across the aisle,

819
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,799
Speaker 4: but across chambers to see what is actually possible? And

820
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 4: it's just been a whole lot of wasted time.

821
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:16,200
Speaker 1: Only way to get things passed in this House would

822
00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 1: be to craft legislation that is more bipartisan or nonpartisan.

823
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:26,160
Speaker 1: And there are certainly things like Israel where both parties

824
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,760
Speaker 1: there's very little daylight between them, but that can't happen

825
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,400
Speaker 1: because these Republicans are so afraid of primary contests.

826
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:33,840
Speaker 2: Right.

827
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 4: Yes, some of it is fear about primary contests, and

828
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:42,040
Speaker 4: some of it is just actually just fear that when

829
00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 4: you have a former president who is willing to take

830
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:49,480
Speaker 4: to social media and basically sick the dogs on you know,

831
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:53,440
Speaker 4: other Americans, like, how could they feel safe? Right?

832
00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:53,800
Speaker 2: Right?

833
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 4: And so it is both days it is worrying about

834
00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:01,280
Speaker 4: their own political careers and putting that above the country.

835
00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:07,400
Speaker 4: And it is also this genuine concern that Trump broke

836
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 4: all of the rules of engagement around politics, and it's

837
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,279
Speaker 4: fine to dehumanize people, to demonize people. I mean, when

838
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:16,680
Speaker 4: you see him in that speech the other day when

839
00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:21,760
Speaker 4: he was mocking the horrible brutal attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband,

840
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,359
Speaker 4: I'm Paul Pelosi like, this is a depraved individual. And

841
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:30,120
Speaker 4: so there's a reason why people within Republican conference are

842
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:33,759
Speaker 4: wanting to distance themselves from him but are afraid to

843
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:37,400
Speaker 4: do so. Now, I'm not excusing the lack of courage,

844
00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 4: Believe me, When you come right down to it, the

845
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:45,239
Speaker 4: whole charade of the moderate Republicans falls apart when you

846
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:46,600
Speaker 4: look at the agenda.

847
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 2: That they passed.

848
00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:51,360
Speaker 4: It was a really nasty, cruel agenda that was essentially

849
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:56,040
Speaker 4: looking to take away supports from low income families and schools,

850
00:42:56,120 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 4: taking away nutritional assistance, attaching writers for abortion bands, for

851
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:05,920
Speaker 4: every piece of legislation, constantly attacking the LGBTQ community. Right,

852
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 4: these are not serious people who are interested in actually

853
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 4: coming together. I don't even want to say in a

854
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:15,800
Speaker 4: bipartisan marina. I just want them to be based in reality. Honestly,

855
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,480
Speaker 4: the bar is pretty low. Like based a reality, you

856
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,280
Speaker 4: can't seem to do math, and you can't get anything

857
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,359
Speaker 4: through if you don't have the votes. And does it

858
00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 4: really work for you to be facing yet another government shutdown? Right,

859
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 4: there's no serious of purpose here.

860
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:34,960
Speaker 2: Well, the goal here is just to raise money, right.

861
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,279
Speaker 4: Yes, And we saw that that was so interesting in

862
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:40,759
Speaker 4: the debate on the floor, and that's what was you know,

863
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:43,880
Speaker 4: it was Republican versus Republican on the debate on the

864
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:47,879
Speaker 4: floor about the speaker and they were pointing out that

865
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:52,680
Speaker 4: Matt and Gates and others were using the speakership issue

866
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:55,160
Speaker 4: to raise money even while we were on the floor

867
00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 4: of the House debating what should happen. Right, And it's

868
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:02,600
Speaker 4: a real problem that I have when I see many

869
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:05,080
Speaker 4: members of the press said, oh, well we learned from Trump,

870
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 4: like we learned that you know, we have to take

871
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:13,360
Speaker 4: this more seriously, we have to, you know, treat candidates

872
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 4: like Trump in a different way. But I'm not seeing

873
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 4: that yet. When I step out of the House of

874
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:23,920
Speaker 4: Representatives and walk down that big, long set of steps

875
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,840
Speaker 4: in the front, who are they chasing down? The press

876
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 4: is chasing down Mack Gates, Margie Taylor Green, and George Santos.

877
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:33,959
Speaker 1: It's funny because you're the second person today to talk

878
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:38,000
Speaker 1: about the press chasing down its So do you feel

879
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:41,759
Speaker 1: like on some level the mainstream media is incentivizing this

880
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:42,840
Speaker 1: kind of bad behavior?

881
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:46,440
Speaker 4: Absolutely? Absolutely, And it pains me to say that. I

882
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:49,319
Speaker 4: have friends who are journalists. I know they try their

883
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:52,240
Speaker 4: level best to get it right, but they have also

884
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:55,880
Speaker 4: shared with me that it is the headlines that drives

885
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,239
Speaker 4: the news and not the other way around. And so

886
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:03,520
Speaker 4: they do chase the conflict to entrepreneurs, right. They do

887
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 4: chase people like Nancy Mace, who you know, she's not

888
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,520
Speaker 4: a moderate, right, and yet they continue to refer to

889
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 4: her as someone who's you know, governing minded. And so

890
00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:16,840
Speaker 4: we have to stop giving these people a platform because

891
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,800
Speaker 4: they're not the ones actually doing the work of passing

892
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 4: legislation to keep government open. They're simply creating problems for

893
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:29,160
Speaker 4: their own ends, not because they're there to serve their constituents.

894
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:33,160
Speaker 4: And I wish they would stop, you know, literally chasing

895
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 4: them down the street to get some kind of comment

896
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:37,880
Speaker 4: from them. It's absurd.

897
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:42,839
Speaker 1: It's a sort of mobius strip of self reinforcing properties.

898
00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:45,000
Speaker 2: But I just strategically for a minute.

899
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:49,400
Speaker 1: So Matt Gate's fundraising off of his fight with Mike Lawler,

900
00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:54,120
Speaker 1: who is one of these vulnerable House Republicans. Aren't these

901
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:58,600
Speaker 1: Republicans like still dealing with a normal electorate, won't sooner

902
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:02,399
Speaker 1: or later, These people, I mean voters don't like this,

903
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:02,960
Speaker 1: do they?

904
00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:05,719
Speaker 4: I mean, oh no, they don't. They don't like it.

905
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:08,200
Speaker 4: And so here's the thing. So we got to that

906
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 4: crisis around the funding of government and the continuing resolution.

907
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,759
Speaker 4: We had, you know, a discharge petition that had been

908
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:18,760
Speaker 4: signed by every single Democrat and we only needed five

909
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 4: Republicans to sign it that simply said, here's a clean

910
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:24,600
Speaker 4: continuing resolution, let's keep the government open.

911
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:25,400
Speaker 2: Did they do that?

912
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:30,000
Speaker 4: No, So we got to the brink of shutdown hours before.

913
00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:34,759
Speaker 4: And they can't help themselves. They can't seem to realize

914
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:37,759
Speaker 4: that they are contributing to the to the chaos and

915
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 4: the dysfunction, And so I thought it was really rich

916
00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:47,640
Speaker 4: that Lawlor and some others were blaming Democrats for the chaos.

917
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:52,560
Speaker 4: That is absurd that they could have diffused all of

918
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:55,839
Speaker 4: this around the continuing Resolution and the funding if they

919
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,640
Speaker 4: had simply signed the discharge petition. It didn't require them

920
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:01,920
Speaker 4: to do any make any brave statements on the floor,

921
00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:05,200
Speaker 4: didn't require them to do any backroom deals with anyone.

922
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,840
Speaker 4: They simply needed to put their signature down on a

923
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:10,640
Speaker 4: piece of paper that said, hey, let's fund the government.

924
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 4: And they weren't even willing to do that.

925
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:15,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they weren't willing to do it because why

926
00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:16,960
Speaker 1: do you think.

927
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,600
Speaker 4: Well, I think they want to have it both ways, right.

928
00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:24,640
Speaker 4: They don't want to draw the ire of Donald J. Trump, right,

929
00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:28,400
Speaker 4: but they also want to act like they're actually moderate

930
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:30,919
Speaker 4: voices within Congress. Well, I'm sorry, you can't do both

931
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:34,680
Speaker 4: those things. You cannot be a moderate who actually is

932
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:40,160
Speaker 4: trying to appease and enable Donald Trump and his supporters.

933
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,040
Speaker 4: You can't. The two are are mutually exclusive.

934
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:45,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you think they're still just so afraid of

935
00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:49,919
Speaker 1: Trump or do you think there's sort of more nuance here?

936
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:53,359
Speaker 4: Well, They're worried about smear campaigns. They're worried about what

937
00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:56,560
Speaker 4: happens if they get a knock on their door from

938
00:47:56,840 --> 00:48:00,439
Speaker 4: people who were activated by something they saw on social media. Look,

939
00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:03,120
Speaker 4: you know, they saw what happened on January sixth cent

940
00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:06,400
Speaker 4: They saw the videos of people yelling, hang like Pence,

941
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:10,320
Speaker 4: Hang like Pence, right, And it's just so much disinformation.

942
00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:13,560
Speaker 4: But honestly, I think about this a lot when I'm

943
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 4: sitting in that chamber. I think, what are the conditions

944
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:21,200
Speaker 4: by which people will be more courageous, will have more

945
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:23,880
Speaker 4: metal and more backbone. And I don't know if you

946
00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:25,799
Speaker 4: and I have talked about this before, but so my

947
00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:29,000
Speaker 4: grandfather was killed in the Holocaust, and I think a

948
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:34,680
Speaker 4: lot about what is it that makes good people not act?

949
00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,520
Speaker 4: And you can look at any movement that is around

950
00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:42,319
Speaker 4: demonizing or dehumanizing people around the globe, right, what is

951
00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:47,439
Speaker 4: it that enables those people to just go along with

952
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,319
Speaker 4: what they know is wrong? And I'm not trying to

953
00:48:50,520 --> 00:48:54,200
Speaker 4: liken Lawler's the role that he's playing here with Nazis.

954
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:55,960
Speaker 4: That's not what I'm trying to say. What I'm trying

955
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,839
Speaker 4: to say is that when you know that it can

956
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:01,640
Speaker 4: be better and should be better. You should do better

957
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:04,799
Speaker 4: whatever way that you can. And that's what worried me

958
00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:07,919
Speaker 4: about coming off of this speaker vote, that they didn't

959
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:11,520
Speaker 4: seem to learn the lesson that they created this problem

960
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:14,160
Speaker 4: by not standing up to their extremists. And it's not

961
00:49:14,239 --> 00:49:14,960
Speaker 4: going to go away.

962
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:16,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not.

963
00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:19,680
Speaker 4: Right, especially again if the press continues to lift up

964
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:23,759
Speaker 4: the voices of Magate's Margie Taylor Green, Jim Jordan. They

965
00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:26,319
Speaker 4: are all these mini Trumps that are coming in his wake.

966
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:29,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you.

967
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:35,000
Speaker 1: I hope you'll come back, absolutely happy to be here.

968
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:40,320
Speaker 2: No moment. Jesse Cannon, my junk fast.

969
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:43,799
Speaker 3: There's really really important things happening in the world, and

970
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,319
Speaker 3: yet people are still discussing the dumbest shit possible, are

971
00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:47,640
Speaker 3: they not?

972
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:48,160
Speaker 4: So?

973
00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:54,080
Speaker 1: A very very fulsome piece of reporting on our vice

974
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,480
Speaker 1: president published in the New York Times magazine this week

975
00:49:57,719 --> 00:50:01,759
Speaker 1: by A. Steed Herndon, who is a very accomplished and

976
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:06,360
Speaker 1: important political journalist. In it, there are a number of people,

977
00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:09,560
Speaker 1: some speaking anonymously, some speaking on the record. One thing

978
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,080
Speaker 1: that stuck out to us, brought to our attention by

979
00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:16,960
Speaker 1: organizer Memes. One of my favorite accounts on the social

980
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:20,560
Speaker 1: media site formerly known as Twitter. I'm all for anonymously

981
00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:23,399
Speaker 1: shit talking your boss, but obviously complaining about a black

982
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:26,560
Speaker 1: woman who is constantly under global scrutiny. Taking time for

983
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:29,520
Speaker 1: hair care is racist, BS, and.

984
00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 2: I'm going to read to you.

985
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 1: A member of Harris's staff remarked on the amount of

986
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 1: downtime the vice president schedules on trips, which includes an

987
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:41,840
Speaker 1: inordinate amount of time dedicated to haircare. Well, listeners, I

988
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,880
Speaker 1: would like to make a confession, I myself spend it

989
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,319
Speaker 1: in Orton, and Jesse can attest to this.

990
00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:50,440
Speaker 3: It's on my calendar all the time.

991
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:52,359
Speaker 2: An ordinate amount of time on hair care.

992
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:57,040
Speaker 1: And I am not even the vice president. So that

993
00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:01,480
Speaker 1: is our moment of fuckery. That's it for this episode

994
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:05,120
Speaker 1: of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

995
00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:07,880
Speaker 1: to hear the best minds in politics makes sense of

996
00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:11,600
Speaker 1: all this chaos. If you enjoyed what you've heard, please

997
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 1: send it to a friend and keep the conversation going.

998
00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:16,240
Speaker 1: And again, thanks for listening.