WEBVTT - Interview Only w/ Leigh Ann Caldwell - Trump 2.0 Has Made Capitol Hill Irrelevant 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.840 It's sponsorship time. But you know what, it's really great 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:06.040 when you get a sponsor that you already use. And 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.119 guess what. Quint's is something that in the Todd household 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:10.920 we already go to. Why do we go to Quint's 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.160 Because it's a place you go where you can get 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.680 some really nice clothes without the really expensive prices. And 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:18.840 one of the things I've been going through is I've 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.120 transitioned from being mister cot and ty guy to wanting 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.360 a little more casual but to look nice doing it. 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:27.880 Is I've become mister quarter zip guy. Well guess what. 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:31.920 Guess who's got amazing amounts of quarter zips? 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That's qui nce 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.320 dot com, slash chuck, free shipping and three hundred and 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.440 sixty five day returns quints dot com slash chuck. Use 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:52.800 that code. Well, joining me now for a little end 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.280 of the year. Where the hell is Congress headed? Next 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.480 is a good conversation with my friendly and Caldwell. She's 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:05.240 the chief should the correspondent for Puck, which is more 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.680 and more becoming a must read these days, Puck one 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.560 of my Yeah, it's one of my look in this 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:13.920 day and age of independent you know, where we have 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.919 a lot of people questioning corporate owned media, shareholder controlled media, 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:22.359 all of that nonsense. Independent owned news operations, I think 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.639 are should be having a moment, and let's just say 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.880 Puck's having a moment. How do you enjoy it? 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.919 I love it. It's great. Actually, it's a good place 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:40.120 to work. I get to cover what I want to cover. No, yeah, 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.959 it's it's great. It's I don't really. 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.200 Have You've been at the Washington Post at NBC. Right, 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.920 It doesn't get more mainstream media than that. You and 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:49.600 I got to know each other at NBC. 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:52.640 Yeah, I hired me at NBC. 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.440 I hired Well. I wasn't going to be so presumptuous, 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.799 but I'd like to think I had good judgment here. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.680 What how do you answer the question of, hey, what's 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.320 the difference between LeAnn called Well the reporter for Puck 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:10.320 and Leanne called Well, the reporter for NBC and the 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:12.280 Washington Post. How do you answer that question? 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.360 Oh, my gosh, that's that No one's actually asked me 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:21.000 that question in that way. I would say, there is 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:26.880 not actually a lot of difference in my and how 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:34.120 I approach my job specifically. I am still covering the hill, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:39.600 still covering politics. I think what is different is that 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.560 I have changed my focus completely away from the incremental 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:50.880 and I now think more deeply about the impacts of 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.360 what's happening on the hill. I think about the big 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.839 picture a lot more, and I really get to lean 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:05.120 into kind of the conversations that are happening behind the 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:10.560 scenes instead of what everyone is just saying publicly. You know. 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.200 So I think that rather than my approach, it's more 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.680 kind of the angle that's different. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.719 Yeah, I sort of answer it very similarly. I'll say, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.479 you know, look it, I don't have to worry about 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.240 the busy work of Washington reporting. And what do we 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.080 mean by the busy work of art? Look what you 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.960 just described as incrementalism, like what time is this brief 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.760 and going to be? Is this going to happen the 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.400 next tomorrow or the next day? All important information that 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:42.520 major news organizations it might be planning planning specials around it, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.640 or planning coverage or trying to These are all important 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.960 things that you know, people didn't really understand that part 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:52.039 of our job is when I was Chief White House correspondent, 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:53.960 I felt it a lot more there than I did 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.200 obviously meet the press. But which was and you certainly understood, 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.919 which was the amount of logistics an operational information we 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.960 had to spend our time gathering in order to help 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.320 and again all necessary for the larger organization. And I'm 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.680 not you know, oh the president, you know, take the 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.760 presidential address. Well, suddenly I would have been working with 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.680 our executives. What what are they looking for? What time? 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.000 How much are they asking for? And it's like suddenly 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.760 half my day is being chewed up by this logistical thing. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.920 It's like it's like at home spending half your day 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.039 on hold with the cable company while you're trying to 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.080 figure out how you're getting, you know, how they're going 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.719 to come over to fix something, to not have to 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.479 you know that was there are times that that would 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.120 be thirty percent of your job. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:48.440 Right absolutely, yes, yes, because you have to as you 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.560 well know, there's this production element that you have to 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.720 be that the network needs and so you know, and 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:58.960 my job as a reporter, of. 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.160 Course, you and I are a questioning do they need it? 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.000 Like you know, the amount I mean, I think that's 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:05.680 the thing, Like, I mean, I didn't mean to cut 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.960 you off there, but it's like, yes, if you think 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.400 through if you think about the network through the prism, 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.240 the older prism, then yeah, it makes sense. When you 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.320 think about how consumers get information, it made no sense. 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.240 Yeah, no, I mean that's that's an absolutely great point. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.080 And also it's like, you know, from a reporter standpoint, 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:32.280 it was a lot of making sure you had what 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:37.120 someone else had, and so there was very little ability 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:41.920 to do original thought because it was always making sure 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.919 that everyone, every network or every outlet was in the 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.080 same place jaistically with the content. 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.320 And oh, well, that's an important it's an important point. 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:56.800 Let me put a put a signpost on that wall. 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:00.160 Street journal is reporting that there's going to be a 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:05.159 vote tomorrow on the ACA subsidies. Hey, Leanne, can you 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.760 go check that out? Is it tomorrow? Right? 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:09.200 Like you're like, can you confirm that? 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:15.040 Yes? And it's like yeah, and maybe in the maybe 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.360 confirming that information might get you another piece of information 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.920 that can't help your reporting. Don't get me wrong, Like 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.720 doing that was a totally useless exercise, you know, because 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.800 you were then suddenly all right, well maybe you know 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.400 what else can you tell me? And then suddenly you're like, Okay, 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.400 now I learned a little bit something else. But if 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.520 people wonder why the mainstream media sounds like group think, well, 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.680 it's because all of our bosses are constantly asking us 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:44.400 could we're constantly asking us to confirm everybody else's stories 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.160 and that it would be kind of a circle jerk sometime. 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:53.280 Totally. That's exactly what I tell people, you know, when 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:55.480 you they ask a different version of the question you 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.560 asked me. No one at PUCK has ever said, can 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:04.520 you can affirm this? Like not once it's been It's amazing. 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.240 I have spent zero time confirming other people's reporting. 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:15.440 Yeah, let's talk about Congress this year. There are days 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.560 you think, oh my god, the sky is falling, and 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.640 there are days you're like, yeah, this is just another 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.760 day in the life at Congress, and you know this 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.840 is is this your fifth year covering Capitol Hill? 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.600 No? Oh my godcha longer than that. 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.240 Everything, the time space time continuum is just done for me. 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.200 With Covidney right the day after Trump got elected first term. 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:38.559 So what's that? 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.160 So it's almost about nine years, So you're nine years, 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.280 nine years you've been covering the Hill nine years. I 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.679 could sit here and say you've covered a more dysfunctional 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:50.840 version of Congress than when I started covering Capitol Hill 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:55.520 in nineteen ninety three and ninety four going through there. 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.120 And yet there were veterans back then who'd say, oh, 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.760 you have no idea, you're covering a very this Gingrich era, 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:06.640 so dysfunctional. Da da da da da. Right, like every 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.000 there's always I'm mindful of the following fact everybody thinks 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:14.840 they're time covering Congress specifically is the there's never been 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.600 a time like this, And there's truth to that, right 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:22.840 that we are sort of increasingly like out each Congress 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.800 outdues the previous one in its dysfunctionality. So you've done 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.240 it nine years, So you walk me through your nine 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:30.559 years of dysfunctionality. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.319 Well, let me just say I'm gonna expand that a 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.600 little bit. A lot of people do blame the Gingrich 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.400 years for like going off the cliff. So I guess 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.000 you were there at the beginning of what people now 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:43.920 maybe it's real. 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.640 You know what the Gingrit's apologists would say, It started 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.840 with Jim Wright, and it started with the Democrats in 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:55.280 eighty six when they insisted on seating that's called it's 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.760 this fight called the Bloody Eighth, Indiana's eighth congressional district. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:05.800 A recount indicated that the Republican won. The Democrats didn't 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.200 accept the recount, and they literally seeded the Democrat even 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.040 though the recount had So the point is is that 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.040 it's just like the judiciary wars, Terry Read's fault, It's 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.360 bitch mcconno's fault. Guess what, guys, you all, you all 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.040 broke it and you all have to pay the pottery 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:21.480 barn Bill. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.680 Yeah, totally. So the past nine years during Trump, I guess, 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.920 you know, Trump and then Biden and then Trump again. 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:33.720 Now it's just you know, first four years of Trump, 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:41.440 the story was what everyone how every Republican secretly hates Trump. 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:46.480 Like the story would always be, can you react to 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.000 whatever Trump tweeted it was Twitter back then, or whatever 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:54.600 he said, and people would start to say, oh, I 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.760 didn't see it, you know, try to dodge, but it 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:03.400 was there was so little respect for the man, and 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:08.400 that was always the story. Now and this Trump era, 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.720 I almost feel like what people say about Trump behind 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:18.520 the scenes doesn't even matter because they are doing whatever 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:23.720 he wants publicly, handing away you know, so much of 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.600 their congressional authority to Trump. Even if they don't like 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.720 it and they complain about it, they're doing it and 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:38.240 that's what matters, you know. The the first Trump term, 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:43.599 of course, we went through an impeachment, all the investigations 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:51.480 January sixth, which I was there for. Uh, and it that, 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.839 you know, all of that has changed Congress so much, 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:02.000 the lack of trust between the part parties. People just 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.160 really don't like each other, you know, of. 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.280 Course, and it's no longer theater. It used to be theater. Yeah, 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.480 behind the scenes. Boy, let me tell you Tom Cole 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:13.840 he gets along with everybody, and he may still get 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.760 along with everybody right by the way, for what he's 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:21.280 probably right. Everybody loves Tom Cole. You know, he's too 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.520 he doesn't know how to be mean, which you know, 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:29.280 but for the most part, you would hear it seemed 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.640 more theater than not. And now it seems real, like 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:33.680 this stuff's personal. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.640 It feels well, yeah, it's it's very personal. And it's 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.680 not just for the member level too. The staffs don't 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.440 really like each other like and that's like another layer 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.559 where the staffs. You know, everyone kind of got the joke. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:55.800 And now, for the most part, there are very few 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.480 people who hang Republicans who hang out with Democrats and 0:12:58.559 --> 0:12:59.840 vice versa. Yes, there are some. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.880 Is that just is that a generational phenomenon. I've gotten 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.640 a sense that the younger congressional staffers are a bit 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:12.000 more are well, I mean they were, they were They've 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.959 learned politics in the social media era, which is a 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:19.640 very which is to me, a very awful way to 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.520 have learned politics. But they they sort of believe that 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:27.400 their counterparts are what the social media caricature has created 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:27.679 of them. 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.360 Yeah. Yeah, I think that. I think that there is 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:34.199 a lot of generational component to that. The people who 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.959 have been there for a very long time, you know. 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.640 Still they know how to still like work with the 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.120 other side, or at least at least they know somebody 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:43.600 they can work with on the other side. 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.640 Yeah, yeah, totally. And there's like the appropriators, you know, 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.360 they have to work with each other, et cetera. But 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.400 it's just, you know, January sixth did a lot a 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.760 lot of damage, and it took years for it to 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.800 kind of get back to a base level. And then 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:07.080 now It's just I think that the Congress story is, 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.320 you know, how diminished of an institution will Congress be 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:15.760 by the end of Trump's first term. You know, I 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.160 always question what if Mike Johnson's legacy is, if that's 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:24.800 what it's going to be, if he's just going to 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:29.320 kind of hand over the keys to the capital to 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:30.040 the president. 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:32.880 Well, it was interesting. We were you know, we've gone 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.680 through these fits and starts of strong speakers and week speakers. 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.160 It was a strong speaker, Tom Foley was a week 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.360 Jim Wright. Tom Jim Wright wanted to be a strong speaker. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.640 It sort of got him out, It sort of cost 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:49.400 him the speakership. Fully was a week speaker. Gingrich was 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.000 a strong speaker. Then we had hasted extraordinarily weak speaker. 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.760 Very much more in the lines of the Mike Johnson right, Uh, 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:00.480 Pelosi brought strength again to the speakership, and then it 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:02.960 sort of was trying to encourage Bayner wanted to be 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.080 a strong speaker. He got thrown out for being one. Right, 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.400 Ryan wanted to try to you know, he was trying 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:14.120 to it sort of re establish the speakership. It all, 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.640 you know, it sort of arguably why he left slash 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.880 cost him his role. So I agree with you on Johnson, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.480 but I don't know whether I mean, I think he's 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.680 going to go down as probably an even weaker speaker 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.000 than Dennis Aster. I think it's just saying something. 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.320 Yeah, I think so. I mean, especially how this Congress, 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.440 this session of this Congress ended up. 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.640 We're not and we're not done, right, Like, I mean 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:43.560 this Congress, you know, this. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:47.280 Year of this Sea Congress. Yeah, right, and the last 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:48.800 week was tumultuous. 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:53.440 Well, and it's been tumultuous arguably for the last two months. Right. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:58.280 There was that day where you had a party on 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.200 party crime, right, you had the Democrats trying to censure 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.720 another Democrat. Republicans were met. I mean, it seemed I 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:09.320 was talking with Mike Turner the day after it happened, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.640 and he goes, he said, the only thing missing were 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:13.560 the canes, you know, where they were just going to 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:18.880 start like actually physically assaulting each other. But that, I mean, 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.240 the damage Johnson did to the Institution by keeping them 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.680 away during the government shutdown, I mean that turned out 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.800 to be just a massive miscalculation by his part, wasn't it. 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:35.480 Yeah, he literally wrote the Institution irrelevance and it I 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.640 was shocked at the number of Republicans who were okay 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:43.960 with it, but it proved it. Yeah, it proved to 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:48.480 be a massive mistake. They are going to come out 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:53.480 as being extremely unproductive. They could have been working on 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:58.560 other things. They're way behind, and it just broke a 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:03.120 lot of trust within the party because one thing, a 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:07.159 couple of Republicans actually during that process had said to 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:12.200 me that one of the things that happens, especially like 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.560 during a government shutdown, and you know, the leaders aren't 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:19.119 talking to each other and everything stalemated, but then it's like, 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:21.840 you know, all the rank and files they're bored, and 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.080 so they start talking to each other and they're like, 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:28.800 we're over this. Let's not that their bipartisan plans ever 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:33.120 become reality, but they're talking. Starts to put pressure on leaders, 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:39.840 and he completely eliminated that aspect of what legislators want 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:44.399 to feel is like they are having some sort of 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:49.600 input or say or impact, and he negated that entire 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:56.199 underspoken element of what the shutdown and what just kind 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.359 of like the day to day job is. 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.920 So, why do I think we are underplaying the possibility 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:08.399 of another shutdown? In January. Why do we assume there 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:10.480 won't be one. It feels like to me all the 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.040 ingredients are there for another shutdown in January. 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:17.600 I think that based on my discussions with Democrats so far, 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.800 very preliminary, but they feel like they came out so 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:27.800 much on top of the last shutdown. They completely changed 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.320 the narrative to healthcare, obviously an issue that they are 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:37.000 very comfortable with, and Republicans, as we see, cannot just 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:42.200 a mess, yeah, not deal with and so the risk 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:46.320 of another shutdown the base might get mad, but the 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.720 risk of another shutdown could absolutely like eliminate all of 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:55.080 this goodwill with voters that they have built up by 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.480 fighting quote fighting for health care. 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.240 Having good life insurance is incredibly important. I know from 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.359 personal experience. I was sixteen when my father passed away. 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.760 We didn't have any money. He didn't leave us in 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:16.200 the best shape. My mother, single mother, now widow, myself 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.040 sixteen trying to figure out how am I going to 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:21.240 pay for college and lo and behold, my dad had 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.480 one life insurance policy that we found wasn't a lot, 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.560 but it was important at the time, and it's why 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.920 I was able to go to college. Little did he 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:34.720 know how important that would be in that moment. Well, 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:36.960 guess what. That's why I am here to tell you 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:39.879 about Etho's life. They can provide you with peace of 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.360 mind knowing your family is protected even if the worst 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.320 comes to pass. Ethos is an online platform that makes 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:50.000 getting life insurance fast and easy, all designed to protect 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:54.080 your family's future in minutes, not months. 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So again, that's 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:34.119 Ethos dot com slash chuck. Application times may vary and 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.879 the rates themselves may vary as well, but trust me 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:39.680 life insurance is something you should really think about it, 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:46.120 especially if you've got a growing family. Let me ask 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:50.080 it this way, though, do they everything that they've gained 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.280 by sounding the alarm about healthcare at the time? Right 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:57.080 the whole? Though? You know, in theory, why did they 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.399 Why did they instigate the shutdown to sound the alarm 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:05.640 on healthcare subsidies? So if we still don't have if 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:10.040 we have an alarming problem on healthcare premium skyrocketing, which 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.640 they're going to be, and already being quoted on huge 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:19.960 prices for people, how do you not do whatever it 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:25.919 takes in January when there's an opportunity to essentially corner 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.680 the Republican majority to get them you know, the point 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.000 is do you just want the issue or do you 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.040 want to put it, you know, force them to deal 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:35.000 with this problem? Now? 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.160 I mean, I think Democrats absolutely want the issue. It's 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:42.080 good politics for them. You know, they would never say 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.560 that or admit it, but they do know that the 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:52.520 issue helps them. But there is actually some I think 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:57.320 overly optimistic belief that there are some chances for some 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:01.120 bipartisan agreement and anyway, I. 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:03.600 Think something's coming. I do, well, this is a I 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:05.520 think that is coming. But b I think you have 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:07.640 to use the threat of a shutdown to get it done. 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:10.600 Yeah, And I think that they, you know, maybe they 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:16.119 go there. Like I said, it's it's it's early. They 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:19.600 definitely do not want people to start, any of their 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.520 members to start threatening a shutdown right now, because then 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:28.000 they look like arsonists and and so, you know, obviously 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:32.760 it's very much it's very much a possibility. I personally, 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:35.199 I don't think that they're going to do it. I 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:37.840 think that they're too risk averse to do it. 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.960 But I expected Trump to flip on this and he hasn't. 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:46.440 He's digging in and he dug in again last night, 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:49.760 and it's like I, I, you know, there's a part 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:53.560 of me that's you know, it sits there and says, well, yeah, 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:56.520 I'd love to you. I would beat up the insurance 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:58.960 companies too, like why do we want to give more 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.600 money that? But then my response, my follow up is 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:06.480 what's the alternative system to insurance companies? Mister president? Right, Like, 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:08.880 this is the problem the Republicans have, Well, we don't 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.760 want to subsidize insurance companies. How else are we giving 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:13.679 people healthcare? 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:15.639 Yeah? No, you're going to give them money to the 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:19.760 people instead, but you still have to pay the insurance company. 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:22.760 Right like the people, right, not of it. Really, it 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:25.600 feels like a great it feels good to say it. 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:28.639 We're not going to give it directly to the insurance companies. 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:31.920 We're going to give it to you to give directly 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:33.160 to the insurance companies. 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.159 I know. I was actually surprised too, because there's the 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:42.159 populis strain in the Republican Party that Trump purportedly believes in, 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:43.800 which we all know he doesn't. 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:45.199 That. 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:50.639 Thinks that these Obamacare subsidies need to be extended, at 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:54.639 least for now, until there's another plan or whatever. You know. 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:57.160 Josh Holly is one of those people who's really been 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:01.439 pushing it, and I thought that he was going to 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:07.000 give into but he did not, And I you know, 0:24:07.240 --> 0:24:08.800 and I'm. 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.760