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Chris Christie's Last Stand (Live from San Diego!) · Pod Save America

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America, I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: I'm Sam Sanders. I'm John Lovett.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm Tommy Vitor. I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: We have an outstanding show for you tonight. The mayor
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: of San Diego, Todd Gloria, is here.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: We are so happy to have Sam Sanders with us,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: co-host of the excellent podcast, Vibe Check.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I'm so happy to be here. I love San Diego.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I love San Diego.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: All right, let's get to the news. So we had
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: another Republican primary debate this week. While we're all hoping
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: it would be the last, they just announced today there
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: will be three more in January. And after watching Wednesday
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: night's debate in Alabama between Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: and Chris Christie, it's hard to see why.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: The debates will continue until morale improves.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: I'm just mad I had to go to newsnation.com to listen.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: It offended me.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: It was on the CW on my television. They were
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: airing it there. That still exists. So despite promises from
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the moderators that the debate would focus on Trump, the
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: only person who took that seriously was last place candidate
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Chris Christie.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Let's listen.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: I look at my watch now. We're 17 minutes into
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: this debate. And except for your little speech in the beginning,
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: we've had these three acting as if the race is
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: between the four of us. The fifth guy, who doesn't
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: have the guts to show up and stand here, he's
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: the one who, as you.
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: Just put it, is way ahead in the polls.
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: And yet, I've got these three guys who are all
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: seemingly to compete with, you know, Voldemort.
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: He who shall not be named. They don't want to
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: talk about it.
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: The fact is that when you go and you say
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully,
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: who has taken shots at everybody, whether they've given him
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: great service or not over time, who dares to disagree
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: with him, then I understand why the thieves three are
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: timid to say anything about it.
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: Maybe it's because they have future aspirations.
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: Maybe those future aspirations are now or maybe they're four
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: years from now.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, that was Pod Save America guest Chris Christie.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Dan, Christie suggested that, as you heard there, that maybe
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: the reason his opponents aren't taking on Trump directly is
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: because they have future aspirations, which is a take directly
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: from the message box. Questions, did you know he was
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: such a fan? And what do you think Christie was
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: trying to do last night?
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: So when Lovett was preparing to interview Chris Christie, he
• 3:14
  Speaker 7: came to me and said, can you give me some advice?
• 3:16
  Speaker 7: And I said, I need you to do two things. One,
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: do not fall for him. Do not bro out. Number two,
• 3:24
  Speaker 7: grab his phone and subscribe to the message box. So
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: one for two is not bad.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: I just want to say, Dan, I mean, look, if
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: you tell someone don't fall in love with that guy,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: he's a bad boy.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: It's going to happen.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: It's going to happen every goddamn time.
• 3:42
  Speaker 7: So I want to give Chris Christie, Pod Save America guest,
• 3:47
  Speaker 7: John Leavitt role model, the benefit of the doubt.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I don't.
• 3:50
  Speaker 7: And I believe he sincerely believes all those things he
• 3:57
  Speaker 7: said about Donald Trump.
• 3:58
  Speaker 8: Now.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: But I'm sorry, though. Follow up.
• 4:00
  Speaker 9: Okay, go, go, go.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: If Trump won and wanted to appoint Christie... He would
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: do it.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I think no. I think no.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: No, I think this dude has shown that he will
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: do whatever he needs to do to stay around.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Attorney General?
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Sam, I want to give you a warning.
• 4:13
  Speaker 7: Do not attack Chris Christie on this stage with these people.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: You're talking about my friend.
• 4:19
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I just don't trust the guy.
• 4:22
  Speaker 9: Don't even say a bad word about Mitt Romney on
• 4:24
  Speaker 9: this stage with these three. I'll tell you that.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: I just compare him to like Lindsey Graham.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Who, when I covered election 2016, in those early debates,
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: talked so much shit about Donald Trump. And then Trump
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: gets in office and Lindsey Graham is just up that
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: man's ass for four years. I don't trust these guys.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I don't think you should trust them.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Very clear.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 4:47
  Speaker 7: Chris Christie knows this might have been his last debate.
• 4:51
  Speaker 7: The RNC basically had to rig the polling to get
• 4:54
  Speaker 7: him on that stage. Because he was hours away from
• 4:58
  Speaker 7: not making it. And they had to include a poll
• 5:00
  Speaker 7: they would otherwise not have included. I think because News Nation...
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: was desperate for any sort of entertainment at their one
• 5:06
  Speaker 7: moment in the sun.
• 5:07
  Speaker 9: And so this was the moment to do it. We
• 5:10
  Speaker 9: loved it. You guys loved it, as evidenced by your applause.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: We have more clips coming from Chris Christie.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: But I think we have to recognize that Chris Christie,
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: in the mind of Republicans, is a Democrat.
• 5:20
  Speaker 9: So let me put that in perspective.
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: Chris Christie's approval rating among Republican primary voters in the
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: most recent Monmouth University poll is 12%. Do you know
• 5:29
  Speaker 7: what Barack Obama's approval rating with Republicans was on the
• 5:32
  Speaker 7: last day he was president?
• 5:33
  Speaker 11: 14%.
• 5:34
  Speaker 9: Jesus Christ.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: He is not.
• 5:40
  Speaker 7: I'm glad he said it. It's good for the historical
• 5:42
  Speaker 7: record book that he said it. It has zero impact
• 5:44
  Speaker 7: in the Republican primary.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I knew that Dan was going to say this.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: And there was a poll out after the debate that
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: showed they did a pre-debate poll of Republican voters who
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: watched the debate and a post-debate poll. And the one candidate,
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: when they asked... would you be considering this candidate? The
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: one candidate who gained the most out of anyone in
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: the debate was Chris Christie. And then Dan said, okay, well,
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: what percentage? And I said, he went from 21% to 29%.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Huge.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: That's an eight-point bump.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: People considering him.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: In the 20s.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump's at 62. So in terms of polls, endorsements, fundraising,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: Nikki Haley was the candidate with the most momentum heading
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: into the debate. which is why she was the target
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: of so many attacks from DeSantis and Vivec.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Here's some of that.
• 6:35
  Speaker 7: Other candidates up here like Nikki Haley, she caves any
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: time the left comes after her, any time the media
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: comes after her.
• 6:42
  Speaker 8: Nikki, you were bankrupt when you left the U.N. After
• 6:46
  Speaker 8: you left the U.N., you became a military contractor. You
• 6:49
  Speaker 8: actually started joining service on the board of Boeing, whose
• 6:52
  Speaker 8: back you scratched for a very long time, and then
• 6:55
  Speaker 8: gave foreign multinational speeches like Hillary Clinton is.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: And now you're a multimillionaire. That math does not add up.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Nikki is corrupt.
• 7:04
  Speaker 8: This is a woman who will send your kids to
• 7:07
  Speaker 8: die so she can buy a bigger house.
• 7:08
  Speaker 12: Love all the attention, fellas.
• 7:10
  Speaker 11: Thank you for that.
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: First of all, he's mad because those Wall Street donors
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: used to support him and now they support me.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I'm glad we stopped in the shot of Ron DeSantis
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: doing the.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: That's what he always does. Ron DeSantis stands there, like
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: right before he walked out on stage, someone whispered in
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: his ear, you have arms, go.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Whenever I think of Ron DeSantis, I think of Prince,
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: the artist formerly known as, because they wear the same heels.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: They wear the same heels. And I've never forgotten that.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Sam, how do you think that Hayley handled all the
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: incoming in this debate? Because it's probably the most she's
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: taken in any debate. And do you think any of
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: the attacks from Vivek or DeSantis will stick?
• 7:57
  Speaker 8: No.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: I think only the base was watching to even think
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: about having their minds changed. And I think of all
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: of the men clamoring to take Nikki down a notch.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: It just made her seem like the strongest person in
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: the room. And now I just think of it as
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: like Nikki and the boys. It's Nikki and the boys.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: And Nikki seems the least crazy. Nikki seems the least crazy.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: And so I think she won that debate. I think
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: she's got some good money behind her now. But I
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: also think that none of them should get.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Their hopes up. Who listens to The Daily this morning? Yeah,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: you did.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Second half, they introduce this idea of a factional candidate.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Who listens to that?
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: I listened to it.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: We did. So it's this idea. You get an A.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: You get an A plus. They listen. They say, fuck
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: the Daily. They listen to the Crooked podcast, What a Day.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Listen to both. Yes. Listen to both. That's right. The
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: rivalry we all care about.
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: Anywho.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: Long story short, this expert on the daily lays out
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: the case that Nikki Haley is a factional candidate. She's
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: surging right now, but she'll only be really popular with
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: the faction of the GOP electorate. And she'll never get
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: past that faction. And once you see her as that,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: you know that the only way she makes it is
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: if something really bad happens to Trump and he's out
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: of there. Otherwise, she ends up like all the other
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: factional candidates in recent history.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Kasich.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: Factional candidate. McCain, factional candidate. Jesse Jackson, factional candidate. Bernie Sanders,
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: factional candidate. And so I think what Nikki Haley has
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: to do, knowing that, is triangulate in a way that
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: Trump does not have to. Because she knows there's a
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: good chance that she'll never be nominee, so she needs
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: to appeal enough to the right groups of people to
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: be able to land somewhere else after this.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: But I don't know.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: I think she's surging right now, but unless Trump is
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: like taken away in handcuffs, he's the nominee, right?
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Still.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Well, no, I know that Dan here disagrees because he's
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: on the Haley train and he thinks she's going all
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: the way.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Barring Trump being disallowed from running or put in the jail,
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: What puts Nikki Haley over Trump?
• 10:21
  Speaker 9: Absolutely nothing.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Nothing.
• 10:23
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: I have been sitting here for weeks now, listening to
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: people talk about surging Nikki Haley and how she's the
• 10:30
  Speaker 7: alternative to Trump.
• 10:31
  Speaker 9: That is mathematical idiocy.
• 10:33
  Speaker 11: Yep.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: And it drives me insane. Because she's still 30 points
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: behind him.
• 10:36
  Speaker 9: Because look, I get it.
• 10:37
  Speaker 7: The press, they really had in their budget lines a
• 10:41
  Speaker 7: competitive Republican primary.
• 10:43
  Speaker 9: They're not getting that.
• 10:44
  Speaker 7: I think a lot of people would like to live
• 10:47
  Speaker 7: in a country where Nikki Haley, for as bad as
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: she is, could win the Republican nomination, not Donald Trump
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: or Ron DeSantis. That's not the country we live in.
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: Let's put some numbers to this, okay? In a recent
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: NBC poll, they asked voters who their first and second
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: choice was. Donald Trump is the first or second choice
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: of 71% of voters.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: That's a lot.
• 11:06
  Speaker 9: That's a lot. Ron DeSantis, who we all make fun
• 11:09
  Speaker 9: of as a ridiculous, awkward nerd.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Goober. Goober.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: Goober.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Perfect word.
• 11:13
  Speaker 7: 54%. Nikki Haley, 28%. Consider her as first or second choice.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Nikki Haley's approval.
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: Rating has gone down as she has quote unquote surged
• 11:26
  Speaker 7: because more Republican pro-Trump voters have soured on her. Her
• 11:30
  Speaker 7: net approval rating right now, so that your approval rating
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: minus your disapproval rating.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Is 12 points.
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: Donald Trump's 58, Ron DeSantis' 43. It's a fiction in creation.
• 11:42
  Speaker 7: She is exactly, as Sam said, a factional candidate who
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: appeals to the 38% of Republicans who say they oppose
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: the MAGA movement. You cannot get there in a race
• 11:54
  Speaker 7: like this because eventually, this is why all these factional
• 11:57
  Speaker 7: candidates lose. Eventually, it becomes a two-person race, and the
• 12:00
  Speaker 7: factional candidate can't get to 50%.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:05
  Speaker 9: I feel better now, so thank you for allowing me
• 12:06
  Speaker 9: to do that.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: We're on the same page.
• 12:08
  Speaker 13: I thought Sam said fashionable candidate, and I was like, yeah,
• 12:10
  Speaker 13: she dresses pretty well.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: A little bit of feedback was hard to hear.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: That too. Best dressed amongst the bunch. She looks great.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: And we should say why she's a fashionable candidate, because
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: she represents a Republican Party that mostly doesn't exist anymore.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: It's a pre-2016 Republican Party. It's the Republican Party that
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: was more internationalist, less isolationist, more in favor of immigration,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: more focused on free markets and like the debt. And
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: she talks about this every debate. She's like very obsessed
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: with the debt and the deficit and like just all
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: kinds of stuff that Republicans used to care about before
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump came along. And so she is, I think,
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: now the natural place for either anti-Trump Republicans or Republicans
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: who still believe in the party that was pre-Trump. And
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: that's just a third of the Republican electorate. And it
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: just hasn't budged since then.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: I just, watching the debate, it is a testament to
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: how terrible Ron DeSantis is that she's being treated like, oh, wow,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: like charisma, you know, talent. Like, she does fine during
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: this debate. There was a moment that I thought was, like, telling.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I think Chris Christie is... like the best politician up there.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: He's just offering, I do believe that, sorry, deal with it.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: He's my best friend. But he's just offering something they
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: don't want. If he was the best politician, we wouldn't
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: know about Bridget.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Let's go right from here to New Hampshire. He's joining
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: the campaign.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: He's offering something that they don't want, fine. But there
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: was a moment where he jumped in to defend Nikki Haley.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: And it was kind of strange, right? And Nikki Haley
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: just took the compliment. But I think a stronger person
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: you know, she's a better politician than Ron DeSantis, but
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: the idea that she just stood there and let Chris
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Christie defend her as opposed to jumping in.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: But what do you do? I found it quite patronizing.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Yes, it was patronizing. And what do you do in
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: that moment besides just, like, cutting him off? You say,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: I don't need you to fucking defend me, Chris Christie,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: you loser that no one here likes except for the
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Pod Save America audience.
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: Exactly.
• 14:07
  Speaker 14: Also....
• 14:10
  Speaker 13: Chris Christie, you defending me is hurting me with the
• 14:12
  Speaker 13: voters I actually need, so please shut the fuck up.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Stop helping me, you unpopular fuck. Now, if you'll excuse me,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I'm arguing with the most annoying person any of us
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: has ever met.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: But let me take a second to say, and I'm
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: not giving any flowers to Nikki Haley, but to be
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: the only woman on that stage when the men are
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: going after you like that.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: You're in a hard bind.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: You're in a hard bind. So I can totally understand
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: her not responding. to Chris Christie patronizing her. I can
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: totally understand any response she gives because they were bullying
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: her because she's a woman. And I can say that
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: and still not like her, but like they were bullying
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: her because she was a woman. And that was just like,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: they're still doing that. They're still doing that.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:55
  Speaker 13: Can any of you name the three counties in eastern
• 14:57
  Speaker 13: New Jersey that Chris Christie is from?
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: What an insufferable prick.
• 15:02
  Speaker 13: Who sits there and thinks, like, oh, yeah, everyone loves
• 15:05
  Speaker 13: the annoying dickhead who gives geography pop quizzes at debates.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Do you think being president is like, sir? Where should
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: we land the plane?
• 15:13
  Speaker 13: He was like, repeat something you memorized back in the day,
• 15:16
  Speaker 13: like a far-flung country.
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: Bratislava.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: What are you talking about? How did he think this
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: was a good attack? He's not great. He has the
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: energy of a hospital administrator eagerly denying your claim because
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: you filled out the paperwork incorrectly. That hit me hard.
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: So Haley took a lot of incoming from DeSantis, but
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: he took some incoming of his own from Chris Christie.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: for being too afraid to take on Trump. Let's listen
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: to that exchange.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: Why doesn't he just answer the question? The question was
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: very direct. Is he fit to be president or isn't he?
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: The rest of the speech is interesting, but completely non-responsive.
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: And if we were in a courtroom, they'd strike the
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: answer and say, Governor DeSantis.
• 16:02
  Speaker 14: You're a smart man.
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: No, they would.
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: They would strike the answer because you're not answering it.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Is he fit? You have your thing. Is he fit
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: or isn't he?
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: No, I don't have my thing. He's the thing.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Governor DeSantis, let him be. Governor DeSantis, let him be. Ron,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I think we have an opportunity to do something. Yeah,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: we're fucked. I just want to say. We're fucked. Horrible. Oh,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: my God.
• 16:28
  Speaker 12: Horrible.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: I only heard it. Now I saw it for the
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: first time. I'm rock hard right now.
• 16:32
  Speaker 14: Don't egg them on.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Wait.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: It's like, what are you saying? When are we starting?
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: I just think it's amazing to me that Ron DeSantis,
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: through that diatribe, as Christie is just laying into him,
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: he decides to jump in on, no, no, no, the
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: court reporter wouldn't.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Strike it from the record.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Actually, actually.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: You can say anything you want about me, but I
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: am drawing the line at that.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: What I said was admissible. It was admissible. Which is,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: that is his energy.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Tommy, to the extent that this debate mattered at all,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: which I would posit it did not.
• 17:16
  Speaker 7: Sure.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: It was about whether.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: DeSantis or Haley probably helped themselves more since they are
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: the ones battling it out for second place right now.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Who do you think did better?
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: And or do you think either candidate actually helped themselves
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: in this debate?
• 17:34
  Speaker 13: I mean, look, again, I don't have my finger on
• 17:37
  Speaker 13: the pulse of the Republican electorate, as you can tell.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 17:40
  Speaker 13: I'm more inclined to think Chris Christie did well. Ron
• 17:43
  Speaker 13: DeSantis for me. everything he says is delivered in the
• 17:47
  Speaker 13: tone of a child who thinks he bargained 30 more
• 17:51
  Speaker 13: minutes of TV time.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: He's like, no, I did it.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: You said I could watch SummerSlam.
• 17:56
  Speaker 13: You know, it's like, dude, like what are we talking
• 17:58
  Speaker 13: about here? And so it's hard for me to get
• 18:00
  Speaker 13: past that and how annoying he is. I do think
• 18:03
  Speaker 13: he looked weak there and Chris Christie got him and
• 18:07
  Speaker 13: you know, he wasn't answering and he made him look
• 18:09
  Speaker 13: kind of ridiculous. And like he was ducking the question
• 18:11
  Speaker 13: for Nikki Haley. I mean, It is very, very hard
• 18:14
  Speaker 13: in debates when everyone is coming after you. I thought
• 18:16
  Speaker 13: she was very strong in the front and then faded
• 18:19
  Speaker 13: a little by the end because she was just getting
• 18:21
  Speaker 13: hammered from every side. I mean, when this little dweeb
• 18:23
  Speaker 13: holds up like Nikki equals corrupt, what do you do
• 18:26
  Speaker 13: with that? Also, you know, her husband is in the military.
• 18:30
  Speaker 13: He's deployed overseas. And Vivek Ramaswamy said to her, she'll
• 18:35
  Speaker 13: send your sons overseas so she can.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Buy a bigger house. To die. To die. So she
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: could buy a bigger house.
• 18:41
  Speaker 13: Like the meanest things you could possibly say to someone,
• 18:44
  Speaker 13: Vivek Ramaswamy was saying to her. So I think Vivek,
• 18:48
  Speaker 13: you know, look, he had a moment before that first debate.
• 18:50
  Speaker 13: I think his personality has turned off everyone who's seen
• 18:53
  Speaker 13: him speak. I think Haley did well, but took a
• 18:56
  Speaker 13: lot of incoming. And it's not just about, you know,
• 18:59
  Speaker 13: the three or four million people who watched the debate
• 19:00
  Speaker 13: that night. It's about how those attacks get replayed on
• 19:04
  Speaker 13: TV shows the next day, on social media, what gets
• 19:06
  Speaker 13: picked up in ads, what messages get carried forward. And
• 19:08
  Speaker 13: I think she took some tough shots that she's going
• 19:10
  Speaker 13: to have to answer about some of the corruption allegations
• 19:13
  Speaker 13: that he made. DeSantis might have done better just by
• 19:16
  Speaker 13: virtue of getting less incoming and kind of being out
• 19:19
  Speaker 13: of the fray for more time, but it's tough to tell.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: But he still has to be Ron DeSantis. Yeah, he
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: still looks like that. Yeah, but they look that. You
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: look at him and you're just like, oh, this guy.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: He's got to do something with those arms.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: But I will say, having.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: And you watch that debate, and I actually know what
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Ron DeSantis was doing in that debate. I know what
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Chris Christie was doing in that debate. I know Nikki
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Haley pushed back against a bunch of attacks, but she
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: didn't make as clean an argument for her candidacy as
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Ron DeSantis did, as much as Ron DeSantis has to do.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: it using Ron DeSantis' voice.
• 19:52
  Speaker 13: Weirdly, your boy Chris Christie took some really hawkish positions.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: He was like, yes, I would send.
• 19:57
  Speaker 13: Special forces into Gaza to rescue hostages. yes, I would
• 20:02
  Speaker 13: go to war with China over Taiwan. DeSantis ducked to
• 20:05
  Speaker 13: that question, and Christie's like, no, let me tell you
• 20:07
  Speaker 13: about all the places I'm going to fucking attack.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: I have a question for y'all, because I trust y'all's
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: judgment and opinions. I kept thinking watching this debate, all right,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: Trump's not here because he doesn't need to talk to
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: anyone but his base, and he can talk to them
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: whenever he wants, and they look for his words. But
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: all these candidates here are trying in some.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Way to talk to multiple audiences, right?
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: Whether it be donors or maybe moderate swing voters or whoever,
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: but if these candidates on that stage last night know
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: that they'll never be president, who were they really talking
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: to last night, and what do they really want, knowing
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: the endgame is not going to be the White House
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: for them?
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: I think that in their minds, they... have convinced themselves,
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: because I think if you run for president, if you've
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: got the staff, you've got the donors, you go through
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: the whole thing, you're living your life on the road,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: you have convinced yourself that there is a path. Maybe
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: an unlikely path, but things happen. Trump ends up in jail.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Trump drops dead. This is the kind of things that.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: That man's living to be 100.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: I'm going to tell you right now, that kind of
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: nasty doesn't die.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: So this is.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: What they're thinking.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: They're thinking, okay, if something happens to Donald Trump, then...
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Maybe I could go to this state and this state
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: and I could get this constituency and I could do
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: this and that and the other thing.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I think that that's in their mind. That's sad, though.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: And then they're thinking, to Dan's point that he's made,
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: and if that fails, then maybe I'm set up for 2028.
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: I think they're all talking to different audiences. If Donald
• 21:36
  Speaker 7: Trump were to go to prison tomorrow, Ron DeSantis would
• 21:40
  Speaker 7: be the Republican nominee and it wouldn't be close.
• 21:42
  Speaker 12: Really?
• 21:42
  Speaker 9: He is by far the second choice of most Trump voters.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Shut up. By far.
• 21:46
  Speaker 9: It's not even close.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: By far.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: They can't do that. That is true.
• 21:49
  Speaker 9: Not little Ron.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: And if someone can't get... Not Ronnie.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he is.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: We don't like him.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: He's weird.
• 21:55
  Speaker 9: He's awkward.
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: He's an asshole to just enough of the right people
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: for Republicans to be their nominee.
• 22:01
  Speaker 9: That is who it is.
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: Nikki Haley is positioning herself for a post-Trump Republican party.
• 22:08
  Speaker 9: And what is.
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: The problem for her is She started this race as
• 22:12
  Speaker 7: a non-Trump, but she started gaining support as the candidate
• 22:15
  Speaker 7: of the anti-Trump faction. So that has made her less
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: popular and less viable of a leader in the Republican
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: Party in a 2028 race.
• 22:24
  Speaker 9: Vivek Ramaswamy is talking to Trump.
• 22:27
  Speaker 10: Directly he wants an audience of one i am i
• 22:29
  Speaker 10: have and it's unhinged yeah i have no evidence for
• 22:33
  Speaker 10: this but i i would not be surprised to find
• 22:35
  Speaker 10: out that trump's campaign is encouraging him to stay in
• 22:38
  Speaker 10: the race really encouraging him to do what he's doing
• 22:40
  Speaker 10: to just like be a chaos agent there and defend
• 22:43
  Speaker 10: trump on.
• 22:43
  Speaker 7: Stage because at the beginning of that clip we showed
• 22:46
  Speaker 7: ramaswamy is trying to get in there to defend de
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: santis for not saying trump is not fit to attack
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: chris christie.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: And Chris Christie.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Is looking for a spot right up here. He's either.
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: He can't have my seat. He is looking to the
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: person who can provide a sixth chair appearance. I actually, seriously,
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: he's talking to the person who offers contributor contracts at MSNBC.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: CNN Primetime?
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Pull up a chair, Chris.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Christie or leave it. All right.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go ahead and leave it. I'm going
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: to go ahead and leave it, John. That's so funny.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Love is on vacation, filling in. It's Governor Chris Christie.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Let's get into it!
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Our first segment is Bridgegate.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: So the award for the biggest asshole of the night,
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: as always, goes to Vivek Ramaswamy, who was finally stuffed
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: into a locker by Chris Christie in what was certainly
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: my favorite moment of the debate.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Here it is.
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: Okay?
• 23:47
  Speaker 8: You do this at every debate.
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: You go out on the stump and you say something.
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: All of us see it on video. We confront you
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: out on the debate stage.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: You say you didn't say it, and then you back away.
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: And I want to say one.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I'm not done yet.
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: Now look, this man is stealing nonsense.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Let me tell you something.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: This is the fourth debate.
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: The fourth debate that you would be voted in the
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America.
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: So shut up for a minute.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Stop letting straight men run for office. Love it.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: You are our Chris Christie whisperer. So obviously we would
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: like to hear more about what you thought about his
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: performance there. But on Vivek, he's been trying to copy Trump.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: He got a little notoriety early.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: There was some buzz around him. Why do you think
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: his shtick hasn't worked as well with Republican voters as
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump's?
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: He just doesn't have it. Donald Trump, we don't like
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: talking about his strengths, but he has them. I think
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: his great skill is that he's a bully you root for.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: That is his great power.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Is it what?
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: He's a bully you root for. And no American of
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: any political persuasion wants to elect the villain from Ghostbusters.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: And if you ever find yourself in a position where
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: you sound like the villain from Ghostbusters, you're losing. It
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: was the poster in the air for me.
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Once you do that, you got to go.
• 25:27
  Speaker 14: It's so childish.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Nothing good comes from that.
• 25:30
  Speaker 9: Here's another way to think about it. One year ago,
• 25:33
  Speaker 9: Vivek Ramaswamy was the.
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: Guy begging to be interviewed on a midday Fox News program.
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: Here we are in December of 2023. He has beaten
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: the former Vice President of the United States, the governors
• 25:46
  Speaker 7: of North Dakota, Arkansas. He is currently beating the former
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: governor of New Jersey. And I don't think he really
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: wants to be president. I don't think he got in
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: to be president. He got in to be famous.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: We know his name. Or sell anti-woke investment products.
• 26:02
  Speaker 9: Yeah, all the things.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: The really mean HOA president. That's what he feels like.
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: He has exploited the worst elements of our political system
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: to gain what he wants to help himself.
• 26:14
  Speaker 9: That was his plan in the beginning, and he has
• 26:15
  Speaker 9: succeeded at that.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: I think that was his plan. I think then he
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: flew a little too close to the sun.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, he got attacked.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: All day today, apparently, there's a story about this on Fox. Like,
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: they were shitting all over him on Fox. All the
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Fox hosts were mad at him. They were saying he's
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: a clown. Why did he do this?
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Blah, blah, blah.
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: Like, I think he's in danger now of, like, ruining
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: his future career that he aspired to by doing that.
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: People get in president races all the time knowing they're
• 26:40
  Speaker 7: probably going to lose.
• 26:41
  Speaker 9: And they're in it.
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: They're just like, I'm going to do it. I got
• 26:43
  Speaker 7: a case to make. I just want to be out there.
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: And then there's always one moment. It could be, like,
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: five minutes where they believe. they might actually be president,
• 26:53
  Speaker 7: and it fucks with their head for the rest of
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: their life. And that is the price people pay for this.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: That is correct.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: All right, we'll leave it there. When we come back,
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: we'll talk to the mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: And joining us.
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: To tell us more about his administration.
• 27:21
  Speaker 9: Todd Gloria, Mary Gloria, welcome.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: To Pod Save America. Hello, East County. How are you
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: guys doing?
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: When you won your election in 2020, you became the
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: first ever person of color and member of the LGBTQ
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: community to be elected to that office in a city,
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: in a part of the state that has a long
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: history of electing Republicans.
• 27:48
  Speaker 9: Talk to me a little.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: That is definitely something worth applauding. People love Todd.
• 28:02
  Speaker 7: Talk a little bit about how you won that race
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: and what advice you would give to other Democrats trying
• 28:06
  Speaker 7: to break historical barriers all around the country.
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 28:10
  Speaker 12: Well, first off, thank you to a lot of the
• 28:11
  Speaker 12: folks in this audience who didn't just help on that
• 28:14
  Speaker 12: particular election, but for 20 plus years built the infrastructure
• 28:18
  Speaker 12: to make that possible. We were once Richard Nixon's lucky city.
• 28:30
  Speaker 12: To elect the son of a maid and a gardener,
• 28:32
  Speaker 12: the gay person of color, mayor of the city, took
• 28:35
  Speaker 12: a tremendous amount of work. I think about the people
• 28:38
  Speaker 12: who sat in an apartment in North Park to figure
• 28:40
  Speaker 12: out the maps for the first time we could do
• 28:42
  Speaker 12: citizen redistricting in the early 1990s that created a district
• 28:45
  Speaker 12: that was reasonably possible to elect an openly gay person.
• 28:50
  Speaker 12: I won that seat a generation later. and put me
• 28:53
  Speaker 12: on a path, and to your question, I mean, first off,
• 28:55
  Speaker 12: to any wannabe candidate who may be watching or listening
• 28:59
  Speaker 12: to this, I mean, you gotta do the two things
• 29:00
  Speaker 12: your mom told you not to do. Knock on strangers'
• 29:02
  Speaker 12: doors and ask for strangers' money, right? But really and truly,
• 29:07
  Speaker 12: I mean, for someone like myself, it's to make sure
• 29:09
  Speaker 12: that the vast majority of the eighth largest city in
• 29:11
  Speaker 12: this country think that someone who may be significantly different
• 29:14
  Speaker 12: from them actually cares about the same things as them.
• 29:16
  Speaker 12: You know, I'm a tenant in this city, and the
• 29:17
  Speaker 12: housing is too damn expensive, and we need to make
• 29:19
  Speaker 12: it easier for working people to afford to live in
• 29:22
  Speaker 12: San Diego. That you can be a person of color,
• 29:28
  Speaker 12: but you understand that while we call out for police reform,
• 29:31
  Speaker 12: we also need to keep people safe and we have
• 29:33
  Speaker 12: to have public safety that is responsive and picks up
• 29:35
  Speaker 12: your calls when you call 911. And importantly, that there's
• 29:38
  Speaker 12: too many damn potholes and we have to... fill them
• 29:40
  Speaker 12: and fix the streets. And if that can include a
• 29:42
  Speaker 12: bike lane and some pedestrian facilities, that's fine. But long
• 29:46
  Speaker 12: story short, there are a lot of people that spend
• 29:48
  Speaker 12: a lot of time through citizen redistricting, through runoff elections,
• 29:53
  Speaker 12: through the opportunities to allow for someone like me to
• 29:58
  Speaker 12: be able to sit in this role is something I
• 29:59
  Speaker 12: don't forget on any day of the week. And I
• 30:01
  Speaker 12: appreciate this opportunity. Thank you all for the chance to
• 30:04
  Speaker 12: leave my hometown.
• 30:10
  Speaker 7: You brought up affordable housing. I know it's a centerpiece
• 30:12
  Speaker 7: of why you ran. It's a centerpiece of what you've
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: been trying to accomplish. Talk a little bit about what
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: your plan is to deal with housing. It's something we
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: hear about, obviously, everywhere we go in California, but frankly,
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: across the country these days.
• 30:22
  Speaker 12: Well, I'm glad you say that because it's not just
• 30:24
  Speaker 12: a California thing. You know, one of the best parts
• 30:27
  Speaker 12: of my job is I get to be involved in
• 30:28
  Speaker 12: the U.S. Conference of Mayors, an extraordinary organization, nonpartisan. We
• 30:33
  Speaker 12: just come together frequently to talk about issues. And it's
• 30:36
  Speaker 12: striking to me that across this country, this is a
• 30:38
  Speaker 12: common concern. There are homeless people all throughout this country,
• 30:41
  Speaker 12: not just in big urban cities on the coast where
• 30:44
  Speaker 12: the weather's good. And with regard to housing, you know,
• 30:47
  Speaker 12: I know this personally. I'm a tenant. I'm the mayor
• 30:50
  Speaker 12: of the city, but I don't own a home in
• 30:51
  Speaker 12: my city. It's not because I don't want to, but
• 30:53
  Speaker 12: it's because The cost of entry is so ridiculous. And
• 30:55
  Speaker 12: you all pay me plenty. I'm not complaining about my salary.
• 30:58
  Speaker 12: But I am complaining about the fact that we are
• 31:00
  Speaker 12: simply not building enough housing. So, Dan, the answer to
• 31:02
  Speaker 12: your question is we must build more homes.
• 31:05
  Speaker 6: Period.
• 31:06
  Speaker 12: Full stop. Please call my office in the morning. We
• 31:14
  Speaker 12: can work on that. So how do you do that? Well,
• 31:20
  Speaker 12: a number of things. Number one is you have to
• 31:22
  Speaker 12: zone forward. And I think one of my challenges is
• 31:24
  Speaker 12: that I have a city and a city council that's
• 31:26
  Speaker 12: willing to zone for this stuff. I heard someone say ADUs,
• 31:28
  Speaker 12: granny flats, casitas, whatever your favorite term is, that's a
• 31:33
  Speaker 12: form of housing that we don't invest in. There's no
• 31:35
  Speaker 12: taxpayer money in it, but it does represent new housing
• 31:38
  Speaker 12: that is reasonably attainable that doesn't exclude people who make
• 31:41
  Speaker 12: too much for low-income housing but can't afford the luxury
• 31:45
  Speaker 12: stuff that we build aplenty. So you have to zone
• 31:48
  Speaker 12: for this. You have to permit for this. I heard
• 31:50
  Speaker 12: the comment about permits, and I would Say that, you know,
• 31:53
  Speaker 12: one of the things that I've been a part of
• 31:54
  Speaker 12: is making sure that we are actually staffing the government correctly. Dan,
• 31:58
  Speaker 12: when I took over as mayor three years ago, 20%
• 32:01
  Speaker 12: of the positions in our permit department were vacant. No
• 32:04
  Speaker 12: one was working there. So if you were calling about
• 32:06
  Speaker 12: your permit, you had a one in five chance that
• 32:08
  Speaker 12: no one was ever going to return your call. So
• 32:10
  Speaker 12: guess what? You have to pay your public employees enough
• 32:12
  Speaker 12: to actually want to do the job. It's pretty simple.
• 32:18
  Speaker 12: So you do the zoning, you do the permitting so
• 32:23
  Speaker 12: that you actually get a permit at a reasonable amount
• 32:24
  Speaker 12: of time. Quick story, in my State of the City
• 32:26
  Speaker 12: address this year, I've signed an executive order saying that
• 32:29
  Speaker 12: we would permit 100% affordable housing projects in 30 days
• 32:34
  Speaker 12: or less. Shout out to our city employees. They're doing
• 32:36
  Speaker 12: it in 12 days, Dan. They're doing it. It's possible. Zoning, permits,
• 32:44
  Speaker 12: and then we have to have folks step up and
• 32:46
  Speaker 12: move forward. And It does necessarily require change in neighborhoods.
• 32:50
  Speaker 12: That's really challenging. I was with a group of folks
• 32:52
  Speaker 12: this morning that aren't very happy about that. But the
• 32:54
  Speaker 12: answer is, is that we can't just get ours and
• 32:57
  Speaker 12: then pull up the drawbridge and say, good luck to you.
• 33:01
  Speaker 12: We have to leave the door of opportunity open for
• 33:04
  Speaker 12: folks who are willing to work hard. And that's where
• 33:05
  Speaker 12: my mind is at as mayor.
• 33:07
  Speaker 7: So people who advocate for more affordable housing, for building,
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: for zoning, run into obstacles all across the place. The
• 33:12
  Speaker 7: San Diego City Council rejected your wide-ranging housing plan recently.
• 33:17
  Speaker 7: What happens now? Why did they reject it? What happens now?
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: What are you going to do to try to get
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: it through?
• 33:23
  Speaker 12: Well, they did reject it, but watch this space because
• 33:26
  Speaker 12: next week they're going to pass it. We've got to
• 33:29
  Speaker 12: do this. The council knows that. We had an honest
• 33:31
  Speaker 12: disagreement about a couple of, essentially three technical issues. The
• 33:36
  Speaker 12: challenge with politics, particularly local government, is that we have
• 33:40
  Speaker 12: to have open meetings. Our work is done out in
• 33:43
  Speaker 12: the open. And when people are grumpy or have a
• 33:45
  Speaker 12: bad day or just have an honest disagreement, that happens
• 33:47
  Speaker 12: in front of everyone's eyes. And so we will bring
• 33:51
  Speaker 12: that back and we'll get it done. But ultimately, what
• 33:54
  Speaker 12: we have is a council to a person that understands
• 33:57
  Speaker 12: we have to build more housing. And while we can
• 33:59
  Speaker 12: quibble about small things like inclusionary zoning offset requirements and
• 34:05
  Speaker 12: like facilities, at the end of the day, No one
• 34:08
  Speaker 12: on that council is unaware of the fact that we
• 34:09
  Speaker 12: must build more homes. And I believe when we bring
• 34:12
  Speaker 12: this before the council next week, it'll pass. Fun fact,
• 34:14
  Speaker 12: we call it our Housing Action Package 2.0 because 1.0
• 34:18
  Speaker 12: was passed. It has been implemented 2.0. And you better
• 34:21
  Speaker 12: believe there will be a 3.0 and a 4.0 until
• 34:24
  Speaker 12: we get a functional housing economy in the city where
• 34:27
  Speaker 12: working people who want to be here can actually find
• 34:29
  Speaker 12: a place they can afford and, importantly, buy. Because what
• 34:33
  Speaker 12: I'm really concerned about is too many folks maybe be
• 34:35
  Speaker 12: able to find a way to rent But Dan, they
• 34:37
  Speaker 12: can't find a place to buy. And the inability to
• 34:40
  Speaker 12: build wealth, raise a family, find a future for themselves
• 34:42
  Speaker 12: is one of the ways that cities like mine will
• 34:44
  Speaker 12: not win the future. This is why I am so
• 34:46
  Speaker 12: animated about making sure that we can build housing that
• 34:48
  Speaker 12: people can afford.
• 34:49
  Speaker 7: One of the narratives about California that the right-wing media
• 34:56
  Speaker 7: likes to push is to talk about the homelessness crisis
• 34:59
  Speaker 7: in the state. And the way it's always talked about
• 35:02
  Speaker 7: is that no one is trying to do anything about it.
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: I know it's something that You ran on something you
• 35:06
  Speaker 7: worked on. Talk about what you've been doing to alleviate
• 35:08
  Speaker 7: homelessness in San Diego.
• 35:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 35:11
  Speaker 12: Well, let me say very clearly that homelessness is the
• 35:14
  Speaker 12: most complex problem for which people crave a simple solution,
• 35:17
  Speaker 12: and there isn't one. You might get charlatans that try
• 35:20
  Speaker 12: and suggest that there are. We have a former president
• 35:23
  Speaker 12: running around talking about concentration camps out in the wilderness
• 35:26
  Speaker 12: for people. That is not going to work. These people
• 35:28
  Speaker 12: are not criminal. They're poor. They're sick. They need help.
• 35:31
  Speaker 12: And they are still citizens in our government, in our community.
• 35:36
  Speaker 12: They can't be incarcerated for simply being poor. What we're
• 35:40
  Speaker 12: doing is exactly right, exactly. What we're doing as a
• 35:43
  Speaker 12: city is an all hands on deck approach. So we
• 35:45
  Speaker 12: talk a lot about housing because housing is what ends homelessness,
• 35:48
  Speaker 12: but building housing is not quick, even when you expedite stuff, right?
• 35:52
  Speaker 12: And we have people who have urgent needs today. So
• 35:55
  Speaker 12: in the last three years, we have grown our shelter
• 35:57
  Speaker 12: capacity in the city of San Diego by over 70%.
• 35:59
  Speaker 12: We're diversifying our portfolio to have congregate, non-congregate, senior only,
• 36:04
  Speaker 12: women only, LGBTQ youth, we've stood up our first safe
• 36:09
  Speaker 12: sleeping sites, which is sanctioned outdoor encampments. Dan, I want
• 36:12
  Speaker 12: to tell you, this is not something personally I'm very
• 36:14
  Speaker 12: comfortable with. I feel like in an organized society, you
• 36:16
  Speaker 12: live indoors. But what I know is this form of
• 36:20
  Speaker 12: shelter options is actually really attractive to this population. And
• 36:23
  Speaker 12: we're often told no for some other options. Folks are
• 36:25
  Speaker 12: saying yes to this option. And the best part about
• 36:28
  Speaker 12: that is that when they come into these safe sleeping sites,
• 36:30
  Speaker 12: we provide the wraparound services that address the underlying causes
• 36:33
  Speaker 12: of their homelessness and and get them on their way
• 36:35
  Speaker 12: to permanent housing that ends their homelessness. Long story short, outreach, shelter, housing,
• 36:41
  Speaker 12: that's how you do it. And I recognize that it
• 36:44
  Speaker 12: is fun to demonize cities. They make it about democratic cities.
• 36:47
  Speaker 12: They make it about coastal cities. They make it about
• 36:49
  Speaker 12: cities with great weather. But the fact of the matter
• 36:51
  Speaker 12: is every city is dealing with this. And while it's
• 36:54
  Speaker 12: fun to say that no one's doing anything, I'm the
• 36:57
  Speaker 12: chair of the California Big City Mayor's Coalition, the biggest
• 37:00
  Speaker 12: 13 cities in the state of California. All of us
• 37:03
  Speaker 12: are working aggressively on this issue. None of us have
• 37:05
  Speaker 12: found the perfect solution, but all of us, including my city,
• 37:09
  Speaker 12: are getting thousands of people off the streets every single year.
• 37:13
  Speaker 12: And that's something that needs to be applauded and shout
• 37:15
  Speaker 12: out to every homeless shelter worker, outreach worker. Those people
• 37:19
  Speaker 12: do incredible work and they don't get nearly enough thanks
• 37:23
  Speaker 12: or pay because most of these people are minimum wage workers.
• 37:29
  Speaker 12: This problem would be infinitely worse without their hard work.
• 37:32
  Speaker 12: All of them are doing that work. We're doing that work.
• 37:35
  Speaker 12: They get thousands of people off the streets. But, Dan,
• 37:37
  Speaker 12: I will tell you that last year in the city
• 37:38
  Speaker 12: of San Diego, for every 10 people we get off
• 37:40
  Speaker 12: the streets, 13 become homeless. Our growing housing crisis in
• 37:44
  Speaker 12: terms of affordability means that this year that number is
• 37:47
  Speaker 12: for every 10 I get off the streets, 16 become homeless.
• 37:50
  Speaker 12: We've got to build more housing that is affordable for everybody, working, middle,
• 37:54
  Speaker 12: and low-income folks.
• 37:56
  Speaker 5: How.
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: How has the local community reacted to your efforts, and
• 38:02
  Speaker 7: in particular, the safe sleeping encampments?
• 38:05
  Speaker 12: That's a great question because it's a present concern. I
• 38:07
  Speaker 12: got a call from the in-laws the other day because
• 38:09
  Speaker 12: we're proposing a shelter near them. We'll see if I
• 38:14
  Speaker 12: get invited to Christmas. We'll find out. Dan, here's what
• 38:18
  Speaker 12: I have to tell you, and I really want to
• 38:19
  Speaker 12: appreciate the chance to share this with your audience, particularly
• 38:21
  Speaker 12: the San Diegans who are here. When we proposed our
• 38:23
  Speaker 12: first safe sleeping site at the corner of 20th and
• 38:25
  Speaker 12: B at an old city operations yard, It's in the
• 38:28
  Speaker 12: neighborhood of Golden Hill, great neighborhood I represented on the
• 38:30
  Speaker 12: city council. There were extreme concerns from that community. We
• 38:34
  Speaker 12: opened the shelter, and I'm here to tell you that
• 38:37
  Speaker 12: for three, four months into operation, there are no concerns.
• 38:39
  Speaker 12: It is operating well. Olat, our second one, it's in
• 38:42
  Speaker 12: Balboa Park, our city's crown jewel. You know Central Park,
• 38:45
  Speaker 12: you know the Smithsonian, they've got nothing on Balboa Park.
• 38:47
  Speaker 12: It is better than both of those places. That, when
• 38:56
  Speaker 12: Olat was proposed... The institutions were also very, very concerned.
• 39:00
  Speaker 12: It's now operating. It is doing well. The concerns are
• 39:03
  Speaker 12: not there. And what has happened is the folks who
• 39:05
  Speaker 12: were previously encamped in Balboa Park or in Golden Hill
• 39:08
  Speaker 12: are not there anymore. They're inside safe. They're getting the
• 39:11
  Speaker 12: services and they're getting on their pathway to getting into
• 39:14
  Speaker 12: permanent housing. We have to do more of that. We
• 39:17
  Speaker 12: have to do it over and over again until there's
• 39:19
  Speaker 12: no one that's living on our sidewalks. We are too
• 39:21
  Speaker 12: wealthy a city, a state, and nation to have people
• 39:24
  Speaker 12: living in filth. on our sidewalks, in our parks, in
• 39:27
  Speaker 12: the public right of way.
• 39:32
  Speaker 7: One of the issues that voters all across the country
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: are talking about, pollsters say it is, they're telling pollsters
• 39:37
  Speaker 7: it's a top concern right below inflation.
• 39:39
  Speaker 9: And immigration, is crime.
• 39:41
  Speaker 7: What are you hearing from your constituents about crime and
• 39:45
  Speaker 7: what do they want you to do about it?
• 39:47
  Speaker 12: There are a lot of concerns. San Diego showed a
• 39:50
  Speaker 12: 7% reduction in violent crime in the last year. I'm
• 39:53
  Speaker 12: very proud of our police department and everyone working in
• 39:57
  Speaker 12: the effort of both preventing crime and responding to it.
• 40:00
  Speaker 12: But when I tell that to San Diegans, I recognize
• 40:02
  Speaker 12: a lot of them don't believe it. And it's largely,
• 40:04
  Speaker 12: I think, because of the homelessness crisis. While being homeless
• 40:07
  Speaker 12: is not a crime, it does convey a level of
• 40:09
  Speaker 12: disorder that is concerning to people. And I'm here to
• 40:13
  Speaker 12: say that we have to be very clear as progressives,
• 40:16
  Speaker 12: as Democrats, as mayors, to say very simply that lawlessness
• 40:20
  Speaker 12: will not rule the day in our cities. If you're
• 40:23
  Speaker 12: a criminal, that there will be consequences. I think there's
• 40:25
  Speaker 12: a lot of concerns about whether or not there's consequences
• 40:28
  Speaker 12: for significant crimes and even for modest ones. Organized retail
• 40:31
  Speaker 12: theft is a problem. You want to go to Target
• 40:34
  Speaker 12: and get a bottle of shampoo without having to call
• 40:35
  Speaker 12: somebody to come get it for you. That is not
• 40:38
  Speaker 12: too much to ask in this country. And that's not
• 40:40
  Speaker 12: where we're at today. And I think there's a lot
• 40:42
  Speaker 12: of reasons why that's happening. Some of it's about policy.
• 40:44
  Speaker 12: Some of it's about the way those retailers operate. But altogether,
• 40:48
  Speaker 12: we have to do more about this. And that means
• 40:50
  Speaker 12: we have to fully fund our police department. We have
• 40:52
  Speaker 12: to make sure that there are consequences for illegal behavior.
• 40:55
  Speaker 12: And yes, we have to make sure that we work
• 40:56
  Speaker 12: on the prevention side and on the treatment side on
• 40:58
  Speaker 12: the back end. But comprehensively, we have to own this issue.
• 41:01
  Speaker 12: I refuse to let a party that allows weapons of
• 41:04
  Speaker 12: war and illegal guns into our neighborhoods claim that they
• 41:08
  Speaker 12: are anti-crime. They are not anti-crime. We are anti-crime. We
• 41:13
  Speaker 12: will keep Americans safe.
• 41:17
  Speaker 7: So, the mayor has very graciously agreed to play a
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: game with us a little later in the show. It's
• 41:26
  Speaker 7: a ridiculous game, so I apologize in advance. But, please give,
• 41:32
  Speaker 7: he'll be back in a little bit, but first, please
• 41:34
  Speaker 7: give it up for your mayor.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: When we come back, more news.
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: All right, guys, let's talk about the only two candidates
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: who actually have a chance of winning the 2024 election,
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: at least as of right now, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: So the president said at a fundraiser this week that, quote,
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: if Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I'd be running.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: When asked the next day if he believed any other
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: Democrats could beat Trump, Biden said, quote, probably 50 of them.
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: I'm not the only one who could defeat him, but
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: I will defeat him. Meanwhile, Donald Trump participated in a
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: town hall hosted by Sean Hannity, who tried to give
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: Trump a chance to deny reports that he intends to
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: rule like a dictator if he wins.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: Let's see what happened.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: But I want to be very, very clear on this.
• 42:42
  Speaker 11: To be clear, do you in any way have any
• 42:46
  Speaker 11: plans whatsoever if reelected president? to abuse power, to break
• 42:51
  Speaker 11: the law, to use the government to go after people.
• 42:55
  Speaker 11: You mean like they're using right now?
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: You are promising America tonight.
• 42:59
  Speaker 11: You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: Except for day one.
• 43:05
  Speaker 6: Except for?
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: He's going crazy. Except for day one.
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: Meaning?
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: That's not retribution.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: All right, it's not retribution.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: Before he just... They'd never seen stools before. They'd never
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: sat on them before. They don't know how to sit
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: in stools. Their legs were crazy. To be fair, stools
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: are scary. Stools are very scary.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Sam, what did you make of that answer? Was it
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: a joke? Was it a troll? Was it a refusal
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: to state clearly that he would suspend the Constitution?
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: This is the thing about Donald Trump, and we should
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: know this by now, from the team that brought you
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: the almost coup.
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump walks like a joke.
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: And he talks like a joke, and he quacks like
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: a joke, but once he's there, it's not a joke.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: It's a joke till it's not. And he said it.
• 43:57
  Speaker 12: He said it.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: And I just feel like, who's fooled by this at
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: this point? We know what he did.
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: It was not a joke when he literally tried to
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: kick out every trans person in the military.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: Remember that?
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: It was not a joke when he tried to block
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: residents from seven Muslim countries. It was not a joke
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: when he put kids in cages. It's not a joke.
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: And so just because it's funny doesn't mean it's a joke.
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: Donald Trump is funny.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: He is not a joke.
• 44:27
  Speaker 12: He's not.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: He's not.
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: So Biden's campaign jumped all over this right away. They
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: responded by saying, Donald Trump has been telling us exactly
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: what he'll do if he's reelected.
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: He would have bought Greenland if he could.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: What's that?
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: Remember that? Greenland?
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: He was like, I want to buy Greenland. If he
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: could have done it, he would have done it.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: I forgot about Greenland.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: Remember that?
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm going to stop now.
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: Greenland.
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: He's been telling us exactly what he'll do if he's reelected,
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: and tonight he said he'll be a dictator on day one.
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: Americans should believe him. Dan, what do you think about
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: the Biden campaign's decision to hit back on this?
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Do the Biden folks want this fight? How would you
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: talk about it if you were them?
• 45:09
  Speaker 7: I think the Biden folks want to wake up every
• 45:11
  Speaker 7: single day and their main goal is to remind people
• 45:14
  Speaker 7: of what Donald Trump and the White House is like.
• 45:18
  Speaker 7: Because all the polling shows that a significant percentage of
• 45:20
  Speaker 7: the population has forgotten that fact. And because, you know,
• 45:26
  Speaker 7: Biden always says, don't compare me to the Almighty, compare
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: me to the alternative. Right now, people are comparing Joe
• 45:31
  Speaker 7: Biden to the Almighty. There's an up or down referendum
• 45:34
  Speaker 7: on whether they are happy with the state of affairs
• 45:36
  Speaker 7: in this country.
• 45:37
  Speaker 9: Not a choice between a.
• 45:40
  Speaker 7: Good, decent person who has done a really good job
• 45:43
  Speaker 7: under tough circumstances and a narcissistic clown who ran this
• 45:50
  Speaker 7: country on the ground and wants to get an office
• 45:51
  Speaker 7: so we can take away your health care, take away
• 45:53
  Speaker 7: your reproductive freedom, and do a whole bunch of other
• 45:55
  Speaker 7: really terrible shit.
• 45:56
  Speaker 9: And so I think that is the right choice.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: The dictator....
• 46:01
  Speaker 7: Comments from Trump is a trap. Like you and we, everyone,
• 46:04
  Speaker 7: we've all worked for candidates. We can all sort of
• 46:06
  Speaker 7: see the strings behind the puppet here and what happened,
• 46:11
  Speaker 7: which is everyone knew this question was coming.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: I'm sure Hannity told them it was definitely told them.
• 46:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 46:16
  Speaker 7: And so his, they told the Trump campaign advisor, the
• 46:19
  Speaker 7: Trump campaign advisors said, the way to do this is
• 46:23
  Speaker 7: to say, you're going to abuse authority for really popular
• 46:27
  Speaker 7: things like securing the border and making gas cheaper. which
• 46:31
  Speaker 7: is what drill would be drill is not actually for,
• 46:35
  Speaker 7: but that's what it means to some set of segment
• 46:36
  Speaker 7: of people. And so the trap here is strength is,
• 46:41
  Speaker 7: so the way I would talk about this as a
• 46:43
  Speaker 7: banking man is we have to recognize that strength is
• 46:46
  Speaker 7: the vector upon which American politics is decided, right? The
• 46:50
  Speaker 7: candidate who wins in the polling as the stronger leader
• 46:52
  Speaker 7: almost always wins the election up and down the ballot.
• 46:56
  Speaker 7: And right now, Donald Trump has an 11 point advantage
• 46:59
  Speaker 7: over Biden on strong leader.
• 47:01
  Speaker 9: In 2020, Biden had a four-point advantage.
• 47:04
  Speaker 7: And if the way we talk about this is Donald
• 47:06
  Speaker 7: Trump's gonna come in, he's gonna abuse authority, he's gonna
• 47:08
  Speaker 7: do all these things, that communicates strength to some segment
• 47:12
  Speaker 7: of voters. Not us, not the Chris Christie fans out there,
• 47:15
  Speaker 7: but a segment of voters. And in a world in which,
• 47:19
  Speaker 7: you know, Bill Clinton once said, when people are uncertain
• 47:22
  Speaker 7: and they feel anxiety, they would rather.
• 47:24
  Speaker 9: Choose strong and wrong than weak and right.
• 47:27
  Speaker 7: And that is the most trenchant analysis of how Donald
• 47:29
  Speaker 7: Trump has come to power in the United States is
• 47:31
  Speaker 7: that right there. And so when we talk about Donald Trump,
• 47:34
  Speaker 7: we cannot amplify strength. We have to explain that his
• 47:38
  Speaker 7: authoritarian impulses, the fact that he's a bully, comes not
• 47:41
  Speaker 7: from strength but from weakness, that he is insecure, that
• 47:45
  Speaker 7: he is a coward, that he bows down to dictators.
• 47:48
  Speaker 7: He takes his marching orders from CEOs. When times get tough,
• 47:51
  Speaker 7: he hides behind his Twitter account or his social account
• 47:54
  Speaker 7: these days and days.
• 47:55
  Speaker 9: That's who he is. So I think that's why we
• 47:56
  Speaker 9: talk about him.
• 47:57
  Speaker 6: Two, when we.
• 47:59
  Speaker 7: Talk about how Trump would abuse power, we have to
• 48:04
  Speaker 7: make it matter in people's lives, right? If it is
• 48:08
  Speaker 7: just about how he's going to, in the esoterically weaponized government,
• 48:11
  Speaker 7: to attack his opponents, it has to be about how
• 48:14
  Speaker 7: it really affects people. Because, and this is the third
• 48:16
  Speaker 7: thing we have to be very careful of, is we
• 48:18
  Speaker 7: all say that Donald Trump is going to destroy democracy,
• 48:21
  Speaker 7: he's going to light it on fire.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: And that is an.
• 48:22
  Speaker 9: Absolutely true statement.
• 48:25
  Speaker 7: But for a significant portion of the American populace, When
• 48:29
  Speaker 7: we say that, we are talking about the fact that
• 48:32
  Speaker 7: what Donald Trump is going to do is he's going
• 48:33
  Speaker 7: to upend a political system that many of them feel
• 48:36
  Speaker 7: is corrupt and not serving their interests. And so that's
• 48:40
  Speaker 7: why you have to make it a matter to people, right?
• 48:42
  Speaker 7: It can't just be about that Donald Trump's going to
• 48:45
  Speaker 7: destroy democracy because that makes us the defenders of the
• 48:48
  Speaker 7: status quo. It's going to have to be what him
• 48:49
  Speaker 7: destroying democracy does affects you. And so there are a
• 48:53
  Speaker 7: couple of ways to do that. One is to explain
• 48:56
  Speaker 7: that Donald Trump is he is going to abuse power
• 48:59
  Speaker 7: to help himself and his rich friends and not you.
• 49:02
  Speaker 7: He's going to be so obsessed with re-litigating the 2020 election,
• 49:06
  Speaker 7: he's not going to help you lower your costs, raise
• 49:08
  Speaker 7: your wages, make your health care more affordable, make your
• 49:11
  Speaker 7: air cleaner, your water cleaner.
• 49:12
  Speaker 9: Or any of those things.
• 49:14
  Speaker 7: And the other way is that Donald Trump supports a extreme,
• 49:19
  Speaker 7: unpopular agenda that could not pass Congress, right?
• 49:22
  Speaker 9: So he's going to use.
• 49:24
  Speaker 7: Every lever of power in the federal government who will
• 49:26
  Speaker 7: violate every norm to put that agenda into place, which
• 49:29
  Speaker 7: is what he basically said in this interview.
• 49:31
  Speaker 9: So what is he going to do?
• 49:33
  Speaker 7: If he can't get Congress to pass a federal abortion mandate,
• 49:35
  Speaker 7: he's going to use the federal government to put a
• 49:36
  Speaker 7: de facto federal abortion mandate in place. if he can't
• 49:39
  Speaker 7: repeal the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act,
• 49:42
  Speaker 7: he is going to use the federal government to allow
• 49:45
  Speaker 7: people to pollute our air and water. And even if
• 49:47
  Speaker 7: he can't get the Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act,
• 49:50
  Speaker 7: he is going to make it almost impossible to get
• 49:53
  Speaker 7: to access affordable quality care in this country.
• 49:56
  Speaker 9: It's going to affect you. He cares so much about himself,
• 49:58
  Speaker 9: he's not going to help you.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: I do think I mean, the challenge is talking about
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump attacking democracy and talking about defending democracy. It
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: can be a bit of an esoteric topic and say,
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: what does democracy mean? I think if you ask people, like,
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: do you want to live in a dictatorship? The percentage
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: that say yes, probably higher than we'd like. But also,
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: a big, huge majority would say no. And sure enough, like,
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: There was a report about this whole dictatorship thing where
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: Trump's campaign, apparently, is getting a little nervous about this.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: And they don't want.
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: Him to be called a dictator. And so they called
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: up all their allies on Capitol Hill. And they were like,
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: you have to push back on the whole dictator stuff.
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: And we've been talking about the Heritage Foundation. They're doing
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: this Project 2025 where basically.
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: They're laying out all of what Trump's plans are going
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: to be in the White House and how he's going
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: to get rid of the civil service and all the
• 51:05
  Speaker 3: nonpolitical employees and just stack the whole government with Trump loyalists.
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: And apparently Trump's campaign manager called them and yelled at
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: them and was like, do not report on your plans.
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: Because if you tell people he's going to abuse power
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: and do all this shit, we're not too happy about that.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: Like, we don't think it's going to help us in
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: a general election. So they are worried about it.
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: But you're right that, like, when we talk about it,
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: every time you talk about it, you have to connect
• 51:30
  Speaker 3: it to how it could affect people's lives. And I
• 51:32
  Speaker 3: do think, like, living in a dictatorship is affecting people's
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: lives directly, but all the other things he's going to
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: do are also affecting people's lives directly. And by the way,
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: that's why, I thought it was smart that he turned
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: it to drilling and closing the border because he was like, oh,
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: they're calling me a dictator? I'm a dictator because I
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: just want to control immigration and I want to make
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: sure that we're energy independent.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: That's what being a dictator is. Sure, I'm a dictator.
• 51:59
  Speaker 4: But I think laying out how bad of a dictator
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: Trump would be is not enough. And I feel like
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have a number of opportunities
• 52:13
  Speaker 4: to showcase what they're doing for actual American people. And
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: I'm like, I want to hear it more.
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: I want to hear it more.
• 52:19
  Speaker 4: This week, they just forgave how many more billions of
• 52:24
  Speaker 4: dollars of student debt?
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: How many more billions? I forget the exact number, but
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: a lot. Eight. There you go.
• 52:29
  Speaker 4: Um, Just a few weeks ago, Papa Joe was out
• 52:33
  Speaker 4: there with striking auto workers in solidarity for higher wages.
• 52:38
  Speaker 4: Just this week, the Biden White House was talking about
• 52:43
  Speaker 4: seizing drug company patents to lower drug prices. Sing it
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: from the rooftops. And also abortion. I just, like, it
• 52:53
  Speaker 4: will never be enough to tell people how bad Donald
• 52:56
  Speaker 4: Trump is, because everyone already knows, and they still voted
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: for him. And I don't know what it takes for
• 53:01
  Speaker 4: Joe Biden and his crew to really glom onto a
• 53:04
  Speaker 4: strong affirmative message.
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: What does it take?
• 53:08
  Speaker 13: I mean, yeah, you're right, but also it's really hard
• 53:10
  Speaker 13: to get it covered, especially when, you know, you have
• 53:13
  Speaker 13: this showman on one side, you have this primary, fake
• 53:16
  Speaker 13: primary happening on this. It's a crowded space, but you're right.
• 53:20
  Speaker 13: I mean, if more people knew about what he'd done,
• 53:23
  Speaker 13: I do think they would like it.
• 53:24
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: But the challenge is, elections are always about the future
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: and not the past. And they're always about a choice.
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: Except when you have your student loans forgiven. I don't know.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: It's the future. It's your future.
• 53:35
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: But if you're someone who hasn't had your student loans forgiven,
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: and you hear that other people have, and you're like,
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: where the hell are my student loans? Then you're going
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: to go into the ballot box and you're going to say,
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: all right, I have a choice between two candidates. And
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: what the Biden campaign needs to do is say, look,
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: we have been fighting to relieve your student loans. We
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: did it for some people. You put us back in office,
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: we're going to do more. What they're going to do
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: is everything we've done to forgive student loans, they're going
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: to undo it. Everything we did to make prescription drugs
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: cost lower, they're going.
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: To undo it. They've promised that they're going to undo it.
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: So you can vote for us, and we're going to
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: keep fighting to help people just like you, even though
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: we haven't done enough yet.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: We've had a down payment on it. We're going to
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: keep fighting.
• 54:18
  Speaker 3: And if you do that, we're going to go back,
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: and they're going to undo everything that we did, they're
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: gonna take away your healthcare, they're gonna make sure there's
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: a nationwide abortion ban, right? So I just feel like
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: everything has to be the choice and it has to
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: be like what's gonna happen, not just what has happened.
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: Tommy, Axios is reporting that Trump wants a cabinet and
• 54:38
  Speaker 3: White House full of people who have demonstrated a commitment
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: to quote, stretch legal and governance boundaries. Great way of
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: putting it. And he and his team are already floating
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: some names. Stephen Miller for Attorney General. Steve Bannon for
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: Chief of Staff. Kash Patel for CIA. And apparently, Melania
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: Trump's pick for VP, Tucker Carlson.
• 55:12
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: Tommy, do you think Democrats can and should make an
• 55:18
  Speaker 3: issue out of who might serve in a second Trump administration?
• 55:21
  Speaker 3: Or is this just fodder for all of us here
• 55:25
  Speaker 3: and they should just stick to Trump himself?
• 55:28
  Speaker 13: I mean, the challenge, right, is he hasn't officially named
• 55:31
  Speaker 13: these people so they could deny it or say, what
• 55:32
  Speaker 13: are you talking about?
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: You're being hysterical.
• 55:34
  Speaker 13: But let's play it out and talk about how you
• 55:38
  Speaker 13: might make these people the main character. Because Republicans are
• 55:41
  Speaker 13: very good And making fringe characters the main character, right?
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 55:46
  Speaker 13: We spent years at the Obama White House watching Fox News, Demagogue,
• 55:50
  Speaker 13: random people we worked with in the EEOB or whatever.
• 55:54
  Speaker 13: So Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, you guys probably might
• 55:57
  Speaker 13: not know who Kash Patel is. He's this guy who
• 55:59
  Speaker 13: worked for Devin Nunes. He was installed in various national
• 56:03
  Speaker 13: security jobs. He was on Steve Bannon's podcast recently, and
• 56:08
  Speaker 13: they were talking about how they are going to go
• 56:11
  Speaker 13: after judges, lawyers, members of the media, and prosecute them for,
• 56:17
  Speaker 13: I guess, accurately reporting that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
• 56:22
  Speaker 13: Like this is just literally the conversation they had and
• 56:24
  Speaker 13: they're bragging about it.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: They're boasting about it.
• 56:26
  Speaker 13: Like this is the message they want to put out
• 56:28
  Speaker 13: there is this like vindictive, you know, we are going
• 56:30
  Speaker 13: to punish the people you hate message.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: I don't think folks will like that. I think that's
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: something that's worth talking about.
• 56:36
  Speaker 13: I think the idea of Tucker Carlson as vice president,
• 56:40
  Speaker 13: like it's just like so manifestly unserious this is a
• 56:43
  Speaker 13: man who got fired by fox news i don't think
• 56:46
  Speaker 13: people will like that outside of like a small sliver
• 56:48
  Speaker 13: of a maga base so i do think you can
• 56:50
  Speaker 13: make these personnel part of a broader story about the
• 56:55
  Speaker 13: extremism of a second trump term and how much worse
• 56:58
  Speaker 13: it could be but it will take some serious education
• 57:01
  Speaker 13: and it will take like a media apparatus like a
• 57:04
  Speaker 13: fox news to really educate people about who these folks
• 57:07
  Speaker 13: are first and then why they should care.
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah love it um Congrats, you get the Joe Biden question.
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: His two comments about running got a lot of coverage.
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: Do you think he said anything new there? And what
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: is his best answer to that question about other Democrats
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: beating Trump, aside from just saying that there are 50?
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: So I found this whole thing very silly and stupid.
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: I understand why it got pulled out and kind of
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: turned into a story. But really, he just was saying
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: in a slightly different way what he said for literally
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: years since before 2020, which is he was motivated to
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: run in 2020 because he genuinely believed that Donald Trump
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: presented such a danger and that he believed he was
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: the right person, despite the objections of a lot of
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: people in the media, a lot of people in the
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: Democratic establishment, a lot of people that doubted that Joe
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: Biden was the right figure. Joe Biden said, no, I'm
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: going to fight for this whole country. I believe I'm
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: the right person. And he wins the nomination and he
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: wins the presidency. And he does, if nothing else, save
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: the country from Donald Trump. He does that. And a
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: lot of people said he couldn't, and he did it.
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: We end up in this situation where he says he's
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: going to pass the torch. And we get closer and closer.
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: And he decides, no, he's going to run again. Why? Well,
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: because the same logic that applied in 2020 applied now.
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: He looked out and he thought, given the threat that
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: the Republicans pose, given the threat that Donald Trump poses,
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: The same logic applies, and so he's being honest. What
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: he's saying is, I am running because I believe Donald
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: Trump is his threat, and if he wasn't in the race,
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: I might not do it because I'm a very old
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: fucking man. I'm a very old man, and I'm running
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: for president, and I'm a little too old than I
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: should be, but I'm the best you've got, and I'm
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: gonna fucking win. And that's what he's saying. Now, when
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: he says other people could also defeat Donald Trump, fine.
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: When he's saying he would stay in the race, otherwise, fine.
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: I just, ultimately, this is a news cycle in the
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: same way that the fake Republican debate is a news
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: cycle because we're marching towards Trumpism, versus Biden and reporters
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: are a little bit bored.
• 59:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think this is practice for a general.
• 59:15
  Speaker 4: And I think if Joe Biden walked into this general
• 59:18
  Speaker 4: arguing logic and not mojo, he's in trouble.
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: And I think that that.
• 59:24
  Speaker 4: Whole shtick of, well, 50 other people could do it
• 59:28
  Speaker 4: the first thing I respond with is, well, then why
• 59:30
  Speaker 4: not them?
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: You can't do that. I don't know. I don't like it.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's good.
• 59:35
  Speaker 4: And I think that, like, if I were advising Joe Biden,
• 59:38
  Speaker 4: I'd say I'm running again because I have the most experience.
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: I'm a proven leader. I've done all these things, and
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: I want to do more. That's exactly what he's saying.
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: But then just say that.
• 59:48
  Speaker 4: Don't say there are 50 other guys.
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: Who are the 50?
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: Don't say there are 50 other guys.
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: Can we name them? No, I don't think there are 50.
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: I think it's Josh Shapiro. You love that guy. I
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: love that guy.
• 59:59
  Speaker 6: Chris Christie.
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: A Jew that can fix a highway in two weeks?
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: Sign me up.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 4: I just feel like, given the issues that already exist
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 4: around the way voters think about his age and fitness
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 4: for office, everything you say from now until next November
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 4: should be aware of that. And saying there's 50 other
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 4: guys ain't the way, buddy.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: It's not the way.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 3: The Times did a longer story on this, and they
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 3: interviewed Ron Klain, Biden's last chief of staff, and they
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 3: asked him, and he was like, Yeah. Maybe there are
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 3: other Democrats in the country that could do it. But
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 3: Joe Biden is the only person who has beaten Donald Trump.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 3: And so I think he can say that again. I'm like, yeah,
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 3: that's the answer. That's the right answer.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: There are 50 other guys.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: I think that, look, there's a certain mode Joe Biden
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: has when he's walking out of a room while people
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: are shouting and the door's about to close. And and
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: that's and that's when he tries stuff. That's when he
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: gets loose. That's when he does his material. That's when
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: he tests out his road stuff. And sometimes it plays
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: and sometimes it doesn't. And as the door closes, he'll
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: say something like, God love him, door closes. Sometimes it works,
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: sometimes it doesn't. Always the last question that gets you.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 7: The whole thing is so stupid. It's so fucking dumb.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 7: Because as Lowe pointed out, this was the exact thing
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 7: that Joe Biden said in 2019 when he decided to run.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 7: And I think definitely he could have answered the cleanup
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 7: of the question better by simply saying, yes, other people
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 7: could beat him, but I think I give us the
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 7: best chance.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 9: Full stop.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it. But it doesn't matter. Joe Biden is
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: going to be the nominee.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 7: And all of these questions are entirely theoretical and unanswerable
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 7: because either Joe Biden wins and he has proven that
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 7: he is the only, that he's the one who gave
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 7: us the best chance to beat Trump or he loses
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 7: and we'll never know if someone else could have done better.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: That is the thing. Like that is just how it is.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: Dean Phillips erasure. another friend of the pod the the
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: i don't know that he likes you guys no i
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: don't but that's a one-way one-way show with chris christie
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: yeah but the uh i do think that like it's
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: there are there are certain theoretical questions that seem to
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: kind of kind of excite political journalism right now and
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: i do think it's like the theoretical questions around biden
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: and and what would happen if he wasn't running are
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 2: more interesting than the fact that uh that Trump and
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: his associates are basically saying they're going to prosecute journalists.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: And I do think at a certain point, I wish
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: that that theoretical possibility would be as exciting. And maybe
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: it will be.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 7: The amount of news that came out of that comment
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 7: from Joe Biden is a massive indictment of just how
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 7: bored the press corps is right now.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but also what we're going to face for a year.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: Plus. Plus.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 7: But to love its point, there are real things happening
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 7: that are more consequence for the future than Joe Biden's
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 7: decision making process on a decision he has already made
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 7: to in a race in which the primary deadlines have
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 7: passed for most of the states.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: So it's like, what are we doing?
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I just I just feel like, though, and I
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 4: know I'm being a dead horse. Every bit of bad
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 4: tape is an attack ad. Every bit of bad tape.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 4: Just like stop doing that, Joe.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 2: Well, he can't. He's been doing it for 50 fucking years.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: I know. I know. But you know what? I still
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: hold out hope. He's 81 years old, and he's doing
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: his best.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 3: Well, and I think to, like, Lovett's point about trying
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 3: things out, like, I really do think that all of
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 3: these comments are about sort of him.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: He's facing all of this, like, why are you doing
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: this again? You're very, blah, blah, blah. He does have
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: a rationale, like you can tell, is that the.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 3: Man genuinely believed, he is genuinely scared of a second
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 3: Trump term. He thinks that democracy is at stake. I
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 3: do not doubt that at all. And I'm sure he
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 3: has weighed in his mind, yes, maybe I'm not the
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 3: one to do it, but also, is there someone else
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 3: who can do it? I've already beaten Donald Trump. And
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 3: I feel so strongly about this. And so and I
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 3: feel so strongly about like protecting the country and saving
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 3: democracy that even knowing all the risks, I feel like
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 3: I should do this.
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: And by the way, that is exactly what he was
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 2: saying when he made the point that they took out
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: of context and is what he will be saying for
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: the rest of this race. And at some point, and
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: at some point, look, do I wish Joe Biden were younger?
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: I wish it every morning. But at some point... That's
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 2: your first wish. But at some point, look, do I
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: want Joe Biden to be a little better on message?
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: Another thing I wish for every morning. About as likely
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: as him getting younger. But some of this isn't Joe
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: Biden's problem. It's our problem. And I do think that, like,
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: once we get to the point, if we, assuming we
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: are heading towards this when it is Joe Biden versus
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, the time for questions about should Joe Biden
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: have run, is he the right person, all that stuff,
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 2: Our job must be to do everything we can to
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: make that fall away and make it a focus on
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: the actual threat Donald Trump poses and the actual choice,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: as John pointed out. That's our job.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 9: That is exactly right.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 7: Look, Joe Biden is making a very big bet that
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 7: he can overcome the very serious and legitimate.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 9: I think, concerns about his age with a large swath
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 9: of the electorate. He absolutely can.
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: But we also have to recognize that.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 7: There is no person walking this planet that we were to,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 7: if Joe Biden were to say, I'm not running, there's
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 7: no primaries. We just lay hands on that person and
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 7: we say, this person is a Democratic nominee.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, that was out of my bingo card. Dean Phillips'
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: wife is here.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 7: But no matter who we pick has a very real
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 7: possibility of losing to Donald Trump. We live in a
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 7: polarized country with an electoral college that skews Republican. And
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 7: so it doesn't matter if it's Joe Biden, Josh Shapiro,
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 7: Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama. There's a chance in
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 7: that race Donald Trump could win. So there is no
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 7: option that means no anxiety for 2024. That means no
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 7: work for 2024. And so that is the reality in
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 7: which we live.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: All I'm saying is, and I'm going to leave it here,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: I promise.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 4: All I'm saying is, next time Joe gets asked a
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 4: question like that, maybe Joe just says, I'm the only
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 4: one who's ever beaten Donald Trump, and I'm the only
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 4: one who can do it again.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: How about that? How about that?
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: Well, He's a frequent listener. I'm sure he's going to
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: hear this. So we're good. When we come back.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: They print it out for him. Wow.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 9: And we push our interview request back another week.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: When we come back, it's time for a game.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: And we're back. Now, we wanted to play a game
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: with all of you in this holiday season, but before
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 2: we do, it is the first night of Hanukkah. Producer
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: Kira is going to come on out.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: Kira!
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: We have a menorah, a Hanukkiah. All right. Here we go.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: First night of Hanukkah. Take us away.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 15: And please join in if you know the words. Baruch
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 15: atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, asher ki t'shanu bat mitzvotav,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 15: v'tzivanu v'hadlikner she'elchanukah.
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 4: My mom is getting stoked.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: As... As our ancestors did all those years ago, we
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: pressed the button on the target menorah and lighted the
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 2: first candle. We did it.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: Here, everybody.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: All right. All right, everybody. The holiday season is upon us,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 2: and with it brings the perfect synergy of gay and
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 2: straight culture. Cutting down a tree with an axe and
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: then decorating it with twinkling lights. Braving the ice and
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 2: snow to sing three-part harmonies outside an old folks home.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: The fact that French Santa is called Papa Noel. I
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: don't get that one. So we thought it would be
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 2: a perfect opportunity to bring back a beloved Pond Save
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 2: America game, Gays vs. Straight, this time for a very
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: Gays vs. Straight holiday edition. First up, we have our straights.
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: You know them.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: John, Tommy, and Dan. My sweet boys are going to
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: go over here. Sam, you might go over there, please.
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: Sam will be joined by the mayor. Please come on out.
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 2: Gays for the win. And we would love... Where's Punnick
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: going to go? And we would love if somebody... Can
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: we bring the lights up for a second? And we
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: would love if somebody from the audience whose sexual orientation
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: is anything other than crate and barrel registry... that's anything
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 2: less straight than that does count. Olivia is out there.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: Someone right up here, Olivia. And you better be gay-gay.
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: Come on up.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 6: Come on up.
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 9: For real gay.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: I like the bells.
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 2: Hi. Hi. We got a check. We got a check. Hi,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: what's your name? Bisexual. No, no, sure. What a beautiful name.
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 2: Is that Eastern European?
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: Do I have to prove it?
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 2: You don't have to say your name. Wait, can you? No,
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 2: you can give any. No, I'm saying, what's your name?
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 9: Oh, my name is Haley.
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: Haley, great. Haley, we have a test for you.
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 2: To prove your queerness, are you ready?
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm ready.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 2: Name two Troye Sivan songs. Oh, Rush and... Beep.
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. That beep was hard.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 2: What did I listen to in middle.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: What did you listen to in middle school?
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 2: That's bisexual enough. We're good. Okay, thank you. All right.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: We're going to count it.
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 2: Here's how the game works.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 9: Vi is only like 50% gay, right? So do I
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 9: get 50% of that answer?
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 2: I can't jump into that one. That's for y'all. The
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 2: gay team will answer the straightest Christmas questions we could muster,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 2: and the straight team will naturally queen out with some
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 2: gay questions. All right. Are you ready? The dog is gay.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: Come on over. Come on, sweetie. We got you. She's
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 2: definitely gay.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 4: I'm going to start with the gays.
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 2: It's that easy. Time for the first question for the gays.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: This season, a Christmas song hit number one on the
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: Billboard 100 65 years after its release in 1965. The
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: longest journey for a song to become a number one hit.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: What is the song?
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 6: Haley?
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. You got it. Yes. By
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 2: Brenda Lee. Brenda Lee. All right, boys. My beige stallions.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 5: Sorry.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: Okay. I regretted it. I just got to try stuff.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 2: Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree dethroned what extremely
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 2: gay Christmas song from the top of the Billboard holiday
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 2: chart this year?
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 10: Oh.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 6: Mariah Carey.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 2: You got it. You got it. All right, gays. And bisexuals.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: Mayor gays. Noted bisexual.
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 2: Please see you. You're here. Gays and nays. That's just,
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 2: I like that one. Uh, This year, Shudder released a
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 2: gay slasher film in which the, wait, this year, boys,
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: this year, Shudder released a gay slasher film in which
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 2: the protagonist meets an evil angel in a play on
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 2: a classic Christmas movie set in Bedford Falls, New York.
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 2: What is this queer-ass parody called?
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 2: There's a parody gay film, all right?
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: I'll give you, it's an old film, all right?
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: So it's a play on It's a Wonderful Life.
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 2: You're so close. It's a play on It's a Wonderful Life.
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 2: It's a wonderful death. Oh, try a rhyme. Knife? Yes. Tommy,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 2: you got it. Thank you. Good job. We got a
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: lot of help there.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: We got a lot of help from Lovett.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 2: It's a wonderful knife. It's a wonderful knife. Never heard
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 2: of it. Straight culture. All right. Gays and bi's and they's.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 2: And the dog. And the dog. What goat-like anthropomorphic beast
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 2: from European folklore reportedly assists St. Nicholas each December by
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 2: beating naughty children with a birch rod? The mayor's... You
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 2: know this. Hayley, you know this.
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 5: Is it.
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 9: What's the one in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 2: No.
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: Aslan?
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: Wait, say Krumpus.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 6: Krumpus.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 2: Krumpus.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 2: You got it. What is Krumpus? In the 2020 lesbian
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 2: Christmas movie, Happiest Season, Kristen Stewart's planned proposal for Mackenzie
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 2: Davis is thrown for a loop by what beloved bisexual actress?
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 2: That's right. I'll give you a hint. She was on
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 2: Parks and Rec. Yeah, they do get a lot of hints.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: They're straight and this is America. Wow.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 11: Wow.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 4: I think it's only fair for the next question y'all
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 4: are allowed to just tell us the answer.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 2: Parks and Rec. Deadpan. Not an Esplanade, but a.
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 9: Aubrey Plaza.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: Correct.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 2: There we go. I didn't know Aubrey Plaza.
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 9: Famous Delawarean, Aubrey Plaza.
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 2: If you know it, whisper loud. There is nothing gayer
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: to my gay team than making a cake that looks
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 2: like something else. What is a bouche Noel and what
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 2: does it look like? I may have said it wrong,
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 2: shut up. I'm Jewish.
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 12: Booshed Noel?
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: Booshed Noel? Booshed Noel?
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: Shut up!
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 5: What?
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 2: A log! It looks like a log!
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 6: It's a log!
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: Yay! Log. There we go. Yeah. Thank you. That was
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 2: very Great British Bakery. Cher went number one with a
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 2: single off her brand new Christmas album titled simply Christmas,
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 2: meaning she has gone number one with at least one
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 2: Billboard chart in seven decades. Number one in seven fucking decades.
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 2: That's cool. Cher's cool. What is the name of this
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 2: most recent song? I'm going to read you a few options.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 14: Okay.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: Perfect. A, DJ play a Christmas song. B, I like Christmas. C,
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: drop top sleigh ride with Tyga. Or D, Christmas. D? D?
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: I know which one it is. What do you got?
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah. D.
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: No.
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 8: No. A.
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 2: It is A. It's a horrible song and I love it.
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 9: Your instincts are gay.
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 2: In the 2000 Jim Carrey film, The Grinch, who stole Christmas?
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 2: I said that wrong. Listen. Wow. Oh my God. Crushing this.
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: Crushing this game.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 2: Here we go. Here we go. It's great to be
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 2: in Phoenix. All right. The Grinch experiences a connection with
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 2: Who Woman. That's actually correct. That one just sounds weird.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 2: Martha May Juvier. She is played by what incredible character actress?
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 2: This is not a game where you shout out things
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 2: you know. Yes, it is. What is it? It is
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 2: Christine Baranski. That was a straight question? I don't know
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 2: what happened to the straight question. It's Christine Baranski. They're
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 2: all gay questions. They're all gay questions now. The future
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 2: liberals won. This is the future liberals won. Which Christmas
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 2: song features the lyric Don We Now Are Gay Apparel?
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: We wish you a Merry Christmas.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 12: Oh, wow.
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 2: Wow. War on Christmas right there. Jesus Christ. Nothing worse
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 2: than a thing. Confident but wrong. Yeah, that's right. That's right.
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 2: Reminds me for whatever reason of confident or wrong reminds
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 2: me of strength plus experience equals change. Remember that? Hillary
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 2: Clinton slogan from back in the day. Deep cut. So good.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 2: Strength plus experience equals change. Change divided by strength plus
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: experience equals one. Strength minus change equals negative experience. Which
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 2: people wouldn't know. All right, final question. Whoever gets it
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 2: right wins the whole fucking thing. We're already winning, though.
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 2: What does it feel like, Haley?
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 9: But what about us?
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 2: What about you?
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 12: I thought we were winning.
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 2: This is the mayor of San Diego. We're winning.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 14: Bam.
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: Good point.
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 2: Bam. Good point.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 2: Also, we're gay, so we have to win.
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 2: And bisexual.
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: Thank you. And I voted for him. Oh, nice.
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I love it.
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 6: Let's go.
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 2: In 2021, Netflix released a gay Christmas rom-com in which
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 2: a man played by Michael Urie asked his best friend
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 2: played by, played by, I don't even know who this is.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 2: Doesn't matter. To pretend to be his boyfriend at his
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 2: nosy family's Christmas party with adorable results. What is the
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 2: name of that rom-com? That's right. But I'll give you
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 2: a hint. The title is a play on words referencing
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 2: a Christmas song. That's what they said.
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 15: Yes.
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 4: And just like that, the queers have it.
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 16: Give it up for the mayor of San Diego.
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 2: We won. He won. You won. You're fine. Fine.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 16: The gays win. The straights get nothing. That's our game.
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 16: And that's our show. Thanks to the mayor of San Diego.
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 16: That's to Sam Sanders. Thank you, Haley. Thank you for coming.
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 16: Thanks to Pundit. Thanks to our bisexual.
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 2: Good job, Pundit. Bye. Love you, Nina.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 3: Hot Save America is a Crooked Media production. Our producers
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 3: are Olivia Martinez and David Toledo. Our associate producer is
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 3: Farrah Safari. Writing support from Hallie Kiefer. Reid Cherlin is
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 3: our executive producer. The show is mixed and edited by
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 3: by Andrew Chadwick. Jordan Cantor is our sound engineer with
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 3: audio support from Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis. Madeline Herringer
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 3: is our head of news and programming. Matt DeGroat is
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 3: our head of production. Andy Taft is our executive assistant.
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 3: Thanks to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Haley Jones, Mia Kelman,
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 3: David Tolles, Kiril Pallaviv, and Molly Lobel. Subscribe to Pod
• 1:19:11
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• 1:19:13
  Speaker 3: video content. Find us at youtube.com slash at Pod Save America. Finally,
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 3: you can join our Friends of the Pod subscription community
• 1:19:21
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• 1:19:28
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