Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: Trump's Iran Strategy, Mitch McConnell Health Questions & Graham Platner Scandal

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Normally Podcast: Trump's Iran Strategy, Mitch McConnell Health Questions & Graham Platner Scandal · Normally

0:07
Speaker 1: Hey, guys, we are back on normally the show with
0:10
Speaker 1: normal it takes for when the news gets weird. I'm
0:12
Speaker 1: Mary cather Ham.
0:13
Speaker 2: I'm Carol Markowitz. How are you, Mary Catherine.
0:16
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right. As you can see. I got
0:18
Speaker 1: some new bronzer at Sophora, Like, did I tell you out?
0:21
Speaker 2: My mom is like pol has been looking good. Yeah,
0:26
Speaker 2: she tell.
0:26
Speaker 1: Her, thank you. I think that's someone else's makeup skills usually,
0:30
Speaker 1: or it might be that I turned this wall blue
0:32
Speaker 1: behind me, which is a better look for me.
0:35
Speaker 2: Smart.
0:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, the inside track, guys. On my home office, she.
0:39
Speaker 2: Watches the Instagram reels. She likes everything, and she's you know,
0:44
Speaker 2: she's like Mary Catherine looking hot.
0:48
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Maybe that's because I locked in
0:50
Speaker 1: for America's Birthday. You know, as I said, I'm going
0:54
Speaker 1: to bring it to look hot as the founders intended.
0:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm still America's Birthday high, even after you know,
1:03
Speaker 2: the men's US soccer team lost their game in a
1:06
Speaker 2: spectacular fashion. Yeah, but you know, I'm still America raw rot,
1:12
Speaker 2: and I'm going to be celebrating two fifty till the
1:15
Speaker 2: end of the year. We got a new flag at
1:17
Speaker 2: our house, we're just you know, all about it.
1:19
Speaker 1: Yes, it's true. I mean, somebody said something to me
1:22
Speaker 1: the other day about America that I hadn't contemplated before,
1:25
Speaker 1: which is it's we were optimistic from day one because
1:28
Speaker 1: we celebrate our declaration of independence instead of actually winning
1:32
Speaker 1: the independence, so we get like many more fun things
1:36
Speaker 1: to celebrate for the next through the end of the war.
1:39
Speaker 2: Totally. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I remember finding out that July
1:44
Speaker 2: fourth was our the day we signed independent, you decoration
1:48
Speaker 2: of independence, and not the day we actually got independence,
1:50
Speaker 2: and writing something similar as like a child. So yeah,
1:54
Speaker 2: I like that a lot. We are optimistic, and I
1:58
Speaker 2: just love us.
1:58
Speaker 1: We're so good. It's true. It's true. It's hard, you know.
2:03
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna be like this for a while.
2:07
Speaker 1: Anyway, on to the news.
2:09
Speaker 2: We have to talk about Iran again, because we are
2:12
Speaker 2: back in it. President Trump met with Turkish President type
2:17
Speaker 2: Urtigon because Turkey would like to buy some F thirty
2:22
Speaker 2: five planes. I am of the it's a bad idea, mind.
2:26
Speaker 2: Congress passed a law in twenty twenty saying that we
2:29
Speaker 2: would not sell them materials like that. But Trump is
2:34
Speaker 2: you know, Trump is his own thing, and he says
2:36
Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff, and he said, we're selling them
2:40
Speaker 2: these planes, so we'll see. Also, during that press conference
2:46
Speaker 2: with Urdigon, Trump said that our ceasefire with Iran, which
2:51
Speaker 2: had been tenuous at best, is not going great. So
2:56
Speaker 2: Sentcom posted on x that Iran's demonstrated aggression was on warranted, dangerous,
3:00
Speaker 2: in a clear violation the ceasefire. They're referring to Iran
3:04
Speaker 2: attacking cargo ships. So last night the US drops Iran's
3:08
Speaker 2: oil sanctioned weaver, and then we conduct strikes along the
3:12
Speaker 2: Iranian coast. Trump SEMs to reporters, I mean, we have clip.
3:18
Speaker 2: Should we play the clip of Trump talking and let's
3:20
Speaker 2: hear them do the assessment.
3:21
Speaker 3: I think it's over. I don't want to deal with
3:24
Speaker 3: him and with the scum. You know what scum is.
3:26
Speaker 3: There's scum, there's sick people. They're led by sick people,
3:30
Speaker 3: and they're vicious, violent people, and if they had a
3:34
Speaker 3: nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned,
3:37
Speaker 3: it's over. I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate.
3:40
Speaker 3: They're good people, Steve Woodcuff, Jared Kusher, but they have
3:45
Speaker 3: to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned,
3:47
Speaker 3: it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars.
3:51
Speaker 3: We make a deal, and if I make a deal
3:54
Speaker 3: with him, we have a deal, and he goes out,
3:55
Speaker 3: he talks, We make a deal, everyone's agreed, no nuclear weapon.
4:00
Speaker 3: We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press.
4:02
Speaker 3: They say, we never even talked about it. There's something
4:05
Speaker 3: wrong with them. They're cuckoo. So as I'm concerned, it's over.
4:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're cuckoo.
4:11
Speaker 2: They've been cuckoo the whole time. That was what we
4:13
Speaker 2: were trying to tell you, And that's why the people
4:15
Speaker 2: who oppose the m OU were like, this is never
4:18
Speaker 2: going to happen. And we talked about it on the
4:20
Speaker 2: show where it was like, do we even publicly need
4:23
Speaker 2: to oppose the m OU or do we just know
4:25
Speaker 2: that they're going to gonna blow it on, is going
4:28
Speaker 2: to you know, do whatever they want. And that's exactly happened.
4:32
Speaker 1: Right. Yes, I agree with you, mister president. I agreed
4:35
Speaker 1: with that sentiment several months ago. As you point out, Carol,
4:39
Speaker 1: and you know, this is the the thing about Trump
4:43
Speaker 1: is that he could declare it's over their scum today
4:46
Speaker 1: and then two days from now, Wikoff could be like,
4:48
Speaker 1: we got this deal going and so, by the way,
4:52
Speaker 1: I'm with you on the F thirty five's to Turkey.
4:54
Speaker 1: And also something we haven't talked about, which is that
4:57
Speaker 1: new air force one from Cutter. Like, I don't these
5:00
Speaker 1: side deals with questionable leaders for various aircraft. I'm not
5:08
Speaker 1: for it. But yeah, it sounds like in this case,
5:11
Speaker 1: we hit some eighty targets, including air defense systems, coastal
5:16
Speaker 1: radar and fast boats according to the BBC, and that
5:19
Speaker 1: was a retaliation for powerful strikes on three oil tankers
5:24
Speaker 1: in the Strait of Hormves. Again, I just want to
5:26
Speaker 1: reiterate there's never been a ceasefire on their part, right,
5:30
Speaker 1: and the Strait of horror moves has never been open
5:33
Speaker 1: as a response to any of the deals we've made
5:36
Speaker 1: with them, like in a real sense the entire time. Yeah.
5:41
Speaker 2: And the thing is that there's this you know component
5:43
Speaker 2: online that calls people like us, you know, neo cons
5:48
Speaker 2: or whatever. I'm just never associated with that label. I
5:51
Speaker 2: find out to be not at all what my beliefs are,
5:54
Speaker 2: you know, if it even means anything at this point
5:56
Speaker 2: other than like Jewish or pro Israel. Right, But the
6:01
Speaker 2: thing is that none of us want war. We would
6:03
Speaker 2: love peace with this insane country.
6:06
Speaker 1: But we know that they're crazy.
6:08
Speaker 2: We know that these people have been in power since
6:11
Speaker 2: they you know, since the revolution in the late seventies.
6:15
Speaker 2: And the thing is that they've always been nuts. We've
6:18
Speaker 2: always seen them as this really batshit component out in
6:21
Speaker 2: the world where we have to rein them in. And
6:26
Speaker 2: the thing is that Trump had this amazing opportunity to
6:29
Speaker 2: make that happen like for real. And those of us
6:32
Speaker 2: who again don't want war, don't like war, but understand
6:36
Speaker 2: that we're dealing with crazy people. And I have understood
6:38
Speaker 2: this the whole time. You know, wanted this to be it,
6:41
Speaker 2: wanted this one shot at taking out this insane regime,
6:45
Speaker 2: making life better for the Armanian people, making life better
6:48
Speaker 2: for the whole region, and making life better for the
6:51
Speaker 2: whole world. So you know, I don't know if that
6:54
Speaker 2: means a'm neocon, but whatever.
6:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you. By the way, The New York
6:59
Speaker 1: Times reports that oil prices jump and stocks drop after
7:02
Speaker 1: Trump says Iran deal is over. So you know, that's
7:04
Speaker 1: one of the things that could change his mind in
7:06
Speaker 1: the next couple of days. I'm with you that this
7:08
Speaker 1: appeared to be a weakened Iranian regime thanks to many
7:15
Speaker 1: Israeli strikes and the work together that American and Israeli
7:19
Speaker 1: intel did to take out various leadership. Now, I do think,
7:23
Speaker 1: looking back, as you and I said at the beginning,
7:26
Speaker 1: a speech that laid out, Hey, these guys are psychos,
7:30
Speaker 1: and they're probably not going to concede a defeat. But
7:34
Speaker 1: here's what it looks like that we would weaken them
7:36
Speaker 1: so that they can't reach out from beyond their country anymore.
7:40
Speaker 1: We're going to bury their nuclear stuff under a skyscraper's
7:43
Speaker 1: worth of stuff so that they can't get to it.
7:46
Speaker 1: We're going to assure that these things don't happen in
7:49
Speaker 1: the future, and the people of Iran will have to
7:51
Speaker 1: take it from there. There was an element of this
7:53
Speaker 1: where you couldn't force from the outside with out boots
7:57
Speaker 1: on the ground and the whole thing that everybody's worried about.
8:00
Speaker 1: You need the people on inside to do that, and
8:03
Speaker 1: so I think, but I think there should have been
8:05
Speaker 1: an outlining of like, what does the goal look like
8:10
Speaker 1: more than what Trump did, and then he would have
8:11
Speaker 1: had footing to say this looks like what I wanted.
8:16
Speaker 1: We've weakened them, We've buried the stuff. We're going to
8:19
Speaker 1: make sure no one gets to it. And the straight
8:22
Speaker 1: up homose thing worries me considerably because we don't want
8:25
Speaker 1: to teach them and incentivize them that this is the
8:29
Speaker 1: thing that you can do at the drop of a
8:31
Speaker 1: hat whenever you feel like it, even as a weekend regime.
8:34
Speaker 2: Right exactly. And that's why a win, decisive win here
8:40
Speaker 2: is so important. And again I believe in Trump that
8:43
Speaker 2: he's not going to let this go, but I am
8:48
Speaker 2: concerned that he watches those stock prices and those oil
8:52
Speaker 2: prices and that's the only ballgame.
8:54
Speaker 1: He also made the point in that press conference that hey,
9:00
Speaker 1: don't get that much oil from the straight up horor moves,
9:01
Speaker 1: but you know who does is Europe. And he makes
9:04
Speaker 1: the point again, look, some of this is his own doing,
9:06
Speaker 1: where he bullies Europe or ticks them off and then
9:10
Speaker 1: they don't want to be involved. But also their interests
9:14
Speaker 1: are at stake here saying maybe we gill will help
9:18
Speaker 1: with that while he's sitting right there as well.
9:22
Speaker 2: And their missiles can reach Europe. This is one of
9:24
Speaker 2: the things that they showed during this war, and Europe
9:27
Speaker 2: has to be thinking that these crazy people are not
9:31
Speaker 2: going to say, oh, well Europe didn't help America. They
9:34
Speaker 2: therefore they're not our target. That's ridiculous. That's not what
9:37
Speaker 2: they're going to say. That's how they think to do
9:40
Speaker 2: non crazy things. We have another Trump clip where he's
9:43
Speaker 2: talking about how Turkey is our good friend and all this.
9:47
Speaker 2: And I know Trump says stuff, but this is absurd
9:50
Speaker 2: to me.
9:51
Speaker 3: I'll tell you.
9:53
Speaker 1: I like President Ernola.
9:55
Speaker 3: He rolled out the red carpet. He's terrific. You know,
9:57
Speaker 3: he could have gone into the A lot of people
9:59
Speaker 3: saying with Bib. I like Bob. I think Bib was
10:03
Speaker 3: a terrific wartime prime minister. But Bob said rough things
10:07
Speaker 3: yesterday about Turkey and Rwin and I said, you know,
10:10
Speaker 3: I spoke to him. I said, he could have gone
10:12
Speaker 3: into the war because he doesn't like Israel much and
10:15
Speaker 3: he doesn't like Bby much. And he didn't go because
10:18
Speaker 3: of me. And this is a military power, millions of soldiers.
10:24
Speaker 3: Turkey is very strong. They have a lot of our
10:26
Speaker 3: best equipment. They're trying to get the F thirty five.
10:30
Speaker 3: But he didn't go in. He wanted it he would
10:32
Speaker 3: go in. If it weren't for me, he would have
10:34
Speaker 3: gone in and he would have been on the other
10:36
Speaker 3: side police.
10:39
Speaker 2: You know, Turkey is not considered as big a military
10:43
Speaker 2: power as Iran, and Iran was crippled within days. So
10:47
Speaker 2: this idea that Turkey didn't get in because of Trump,
10:50
Speaker 2: you know, maybe that's true, but the idea that Turkey
10:53
Speaker 2: would be this like extremely tough thing for Israel.
10:57
Speaker 1: Also, let's not give participation trophies. Yeah, congratulations Turkey for
11:02
Speaker 1: not declaring war on Israel.
11:04
Speaker 2: No thanks, Yeah, I do like that. Netmiyahu went on
11:08
Speaker 2: CNN after that and he, you know, called out Turkey,
11:12
Speaker 2: said that they harbor Vos terrorists, say that they threaten
11:16
Speaker 2: Israel and that they're a regime that is infected with
11:19
Speaker 2: the Muslim brotherhood, which they are, and you know, good
11:22
Speaker 2: for him for pointing that out. I the thing is that, like,
11:26
Speaker 2: I like that he doesn't back down and he knows
11:28
Speaker 2: what the threats are to his country, even if Trump
11:31
Speaker 2: is you glad handling Urdigon right now.
11:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that is what Trump does when he responds
11:38
Speaker 1: to somebody who rolls out the red carpet, he makes
11:41
Speaker 1: very clear what that's about. And that can be a real, uh,
11:45
Speaker 1: a real vulnerability when you're assessing people around the world.
11:48
Speaker 1: As we said many times in the past, and in
11:51
Speaker 1: this case, yeah, I think it. I think it's one.
11:53
Speaker 2: Here. We're going to take a short break and come
11:55
Speaker 2: right back with more on normally. We are back on
12:02
Speaker 2: normally where Mitch McConnell has been absent from his role
12:07
Speaker 2: in the Senate and it's been a little bit and
12:10
Speaker 2: that people are starting to wonder and talk. So here's
12:14
Speaker 2: the timeline. In mid June, he is admitted to the
12:17
Speaker 2: hospital after a medical incident at his home. His office
12:21
Speaker 2: doesn't say what happened, little information is released, and that's it.
12:26
Speaker 2: Mid June through early July, he remains hospitalized. Missus several
12:30
Speaker 2: Senate votes, including votes on nominations and that kind of thing.
12:35
Speaker 2: His office keeps saying he's recovering, but not providing any details.
12:40
Speaker 2: Then the lack of updates, of course, makes people speculate.
12:44
Speaker 2: And you have you know, Laura Lumer whatever, I just
12:49
Speaker 2: don't have a lot of faith in what she says,
12:50
Speaker 2: and she never is held accountable when she's completely wrong. Right,
12:55
Speaker 2: said that he is brain dead, and she had a
13:00
Speaker 2: at the White House that gave her that information. And
13:03
Speaker 2: so all these people have now come out and said, no,
13:08
Speaker 2: he is not. And I spoke to him on the phone,
13:10
Speaker 2: including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Majority Whip John Barrasso,
13:14
Speaker 2: and to me, the most kind of important one here
13:18
Speaker 2: is Scott Jennings, who is the conservative voice on CNN
13:22
Speaker 2: and used to be an advisor to McConnell and their friends.
13:27
Speaker 2: So all of these people kind of have a similar story.
13:30
Speaker 2: Where we spoke to him for twenty minutes. We talked
13:33
Speaker 2: about all these topics, including Iran, including Ukraine, including you know,
13:37
Speaker 2: things I've been up to, things that you know has
13:39
Speaker 2: have been going on, but we haven't seen I don't
13:43
Speaker 2: want to say proof of life, but we haven't seen
13:45
Speaker 2: any evidence other than the word of these people, who
13:48
Speaker 2: again I believe at least Scott Jennings for sure. I
13:51
Speaker 2: don't think he would risk his entire career to lie
13:54
Speaker 2: about a phone call with Mitch McConnell. Right, So the
13:57
Speaker 2: question is how what kind of shape is he actually
14:00
Speaker 2: in and when is he returning?
14:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think in all of these cases transparency is required. Oh,
14:08
Speaker 1: he's an eighty four year old man. He's in the hospital.
14:12
Speaker 1: I wish him the best in full recovery. And I'm
14:15
Speaker 1: with you that I doubt these people are saying they
14:17
Speaker 1: talk to him when they didn't. But I think he
14:21
Speaker 1: should make an effort to show his constituents where he
14:25
Speaker 1: is and what's going on and what's the prognosis for
14:28
Speaker 1: him getting back, and that matters to them. I think also,
14:33
Speaker 1: you know, part of the calculation about any political situation
14:38
Speaker 1: like this is that I believe Kentucky has a special
14:41
Speaker 1: election law now for something is the magic day so
14:47
Speaker 1: and I am not. I think it's a fairly new
14:49
Speaker 1: special election law and it would fall very close to
14:52
Speaker 1: the actual general election. So I'm sure that that is
14:56
Speaker 1: partially a consideration of what is going on here. But
15:00
Speaker 1: I do think you just have to be straight with
15:01
Speaker 1: people and do your best to tell them, like, hey,
15:05
Speaker 1: even if I am in a hospital and incapacity for
15:08
Speaker 1: a while, I will I plan to be back at
15:10
Speaker 1: work at this time right and in the meantime, my
15:13
Speaker 1: staff is keeping me up to date on all of
15:15
Speaker 1: your concerns, and please get constituent services here like that.
15:18
Speaker 1: That's just basic stuff that.
15:20
Speaker 2: I feel like you needs to he needs to be seen,
15:23
Speaker 2: and again it's it's not so much to dispel the
15:29
Speaker 2: crazy you know people on the internet as it is
15:32
Speaker 2: for his constituents. So Kentucky is having he's already retired.
15:38
Speaker 1: From he's not running for reelection, right, not ready.
15:41
Speaker 2: For re election. They already have a Senate election happening
15:43
Speaker 2: in November. It's Andy Barr on the Republican side versus
15:46
Speaker 2: Charlie Booker on the Democratic side. That's already all set.
15:50
Speaker 2: The primaries are over. But the question becomes are they
15:54
Speaker 2: doing this or if something is wrong with him? And
15:57
Speaker 2: you know, I saw Robbie Schwab post this thing yesterday
16:00
Speaker 2: that he's not really into conspiracy theories, but he's sort
16:02
Speaker 2: of convinced that the Republican establishment is covering up Mitch
16:05
Speaker 2: McConnell's very severe incapacitation or worse in order to stop
16:09
Speaker 2: Thomas Massey for running for his Senate seat. Now this
16:12
Speaker 2: might be, but I don't really get why would it
16:15
Speaker 2: be Massey and not Andy Barr.
16:17
Speaker 1: Who So I don't understand that either, because how would
16:19
Speaker 1: it materially change the situation. By the way, it was
16:22
Speaker 1: a twenty twenty four change to the law that allows
16:25
Speaker 1: this special election to temporarily fill the role. So if
16:30
Speaker 1: they did a special election, I'm not sure how each
16:32
Speaker 1: of those nominees is picked, or maybe it's just a
16:34
Speaker 1: free for all. But why would we assume that Massey
16:36
Speaker 1: would be the winner or the chosen person in either
16:40
Speaker 1: wings his own district, which then yes, they loved him,
16:43
Speaker 1: and then given the very short timeline to the spet
16:46
Speaker 1: to the general election, which I assume would still be held.
16:49
Speaker 1: You're not just only doing it for that for that
16:53
Speaker 1: special election at that point? How much advantage does anyone
16:58
Speaker 1: gain from several months in at that point? There is
17:01
Speaker 1: an incumbency advantage if you have that seat for a
17:03
Speaker 1: year and a half.
17:04
Speaker 2: But sure, right, sure, I don't know why it wouldn't
17:08
Speaker 2: be bar winning the special election anyway, So I think
17:11
Speaker 2: this is all kind of moot. I understand not wanting
17:13
Speaker 2: to spend the money on campaigning in the special election
17:17
Speaker 2: only to do it in November, if that's the situation,
17:20
Speaker 2: But I don't get the why of this. Let's play.
17:25
Speaker 2: We have a clip of Scott Jennings talking about it,
17:27
Speaker 2: and I was like, watch this clip, and I watched
17:30
Speaker 2: his face and I was like trying to get a
17:31
Speaker 2: read and seeing if there's any poker tells of like
17:35
Speaker 2: lying and I just have to be frank. I don't
17:37
Speaker 2: see anything, so here it goes.
17:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, he called me this morning before I did my
17:43
Speaker 4: radio show. We talked for about seventeen minutes. He talked
17:46
Speaker 4: a lot about the situation where Iran, talk a little
17:49
Speaker 4: bit about Ukraine and what's going on in Europe. I
17:52
Speaker 4: told him I had been to the Teddy Roosevelt Library. We
17:54
Speaker 4: talked a little bit about the history of the vice
17:56
Speaker 4: presidency and how Roosevelt had transformed that in the modern presidency,
18:01
Speaker 4: little history of the Senate. I mean, it was a
18:04
Speaker 4: you know, it was a wide ranging conversation. I talked
18:06
Speaker 4: to him often. I hadn't talked to him since he'd
18:08
Speaker 4: been in I'd gotten a few text messages from but
18:10
Speaker 4: I hadn't spoken to him. So it was good to
18:12
Speaker 4: hear his voice. Voice sounded strong and sounded like he
18:15
Speaker 4: was keeping up with the news to me.
18:16
Speaker 1: Did you ask him how he was feeling?
18:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, he said, you know, he said, was feeling okay.
18:21
Speaker 4: You know, obviously well enough to call me on the phone,
18:24
Speaker 4: and obviously well enough to talk to Barrasso and Foon. Now, look,
18:27
Speaker 4: I'm not qualified to discuss any medical issues or give
18:30
Speaker 4: you any information about that. That's really for him or
18:33
Speaker 4: his his staff to do. But you know, I talked
18:36
Speaker 4: to him from time to time, and I see him
18:38
Speaker 4: from time to time, and you know, we had a
18:40
Speaker 4: conversation today about the things that we normally talk about,
18:43
Speaker 4: which are news today political stuff.
18:45
Speaker 1: Did you come away feeling like he's still capable of
18:47
Speaker 1: serving the people of Kentucky as senator?
18:49
Speaker 4: I came away feeling that he was staying on top
18:52
Speaker 4: of the news. Again. I look his his condition and
18:56
Speaker 4: why he's in the hospital or when he might come out,
18:58
Speaker 4: or look that's that's Do you know why?
19:01
Speaker 1: And are just saying you're got a liberty to share it.
19:03
Speaker 4: I do not know why. I only know frankly what
19:06
Speaker 4: has been reported or what his office has said. So
19:10
Speaker 4: this was it was a personal private call. But but
19:12
Speaker 4: I didn't I didn't probe him too deeply for his
19:14
Speaker 4: medical records.
19:15
Speaker 2: How much of the talking did Scott do, How much
19:18
Speaker 2: did McConnell do. Obviously we don't know, but that sounds
19:21
Speaker 2: like a conversation with someone who's with it.
19:24
Speaker 1: And the thing is that they also they also do
19:26
Speaker 1: sound like McConnell subjects of conversation.
19:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought the same thing. It doesn't sound like
19:33
Speaker 2: you know, if Scott called me in the hospital, I
19:35
Speaker 2: wouldn't talk about any of that stuff.
19:37
Speaker 1: He wouldn't talk about the history of the Senate and
19:39
Speaker 1: the vice presidency and its powers. Yeah, I agree, But
19:43
Speaker 1: I do think being straight with the public about why
19:46
Speaker 1: he's in the hospital is important and they should do
19:51
Speaker 1: that even though yes, it is private, but you're a
19:53
Speaker 1: public servant and public figure. That's how this works. Can
19:58
Speaker 1: I On a similar subject, New Jersey Congressman Tom Keene
20:03
Speaker 1: Junior was gone for four months from the House. Another
20:09
Speaker 1: incident where I'm like, look, i have to I have
20:12
Speaker 1: to let people know if I'm gone for five days, right,
20:16
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm not a house member. It's it's the
20:20
Speaker 1: courteous and correct thing to do. Four months is an
20:23
Speaker 1: extremely long absence. He just came back and he has
20:27
Speaker 1: disclosed to press and public that he was he was
20:31
Speaker 1: suffering from depression. Now that's a sensitive subject, but it's
20:35
Speaker 1: one that can be addressed in real time to say,
20:39
Speaker 1: I am seeking treatment for this. It's pretty severe, but
20:42
Speaker 1: I plan to be because in order for you to
20:44
Speaker 1: be incapacity to not be able to go to work.
20:46
Speaker 1: It must have been fairly severe, right, But I'm seeking
20:48
Speaker 1: treatment and I plan at this date to be back
20:50
Speaker 1: in Washington and paying attention to what I need to
20:52
Speaker 1: be doing. Like that. That is a thing that people
20:54
Speaker 1: can understand, and it's your job to tell them that.
20:58
Speaker 2: Right when Fetterman was out for a while, we said
21:02
Speaker 2: all the same stuff, and it's it's just not appropriate
21:05
Speaker 2: to not tell your constituents where you went. And the
21:09
Speaker 2: thing is, it is your job. Like again, like you said,
21:12
Speaker 2: if you and I can't step away for four months,
21:14
Speaker 2: how could he do it? And he answers to the
21:17
Speaker 2: American people. Think you need to be frank with the
21:19
Speaker 2: American people and back to McConnell if he can't do
21:23
Speaker 2: this job. I understand that a special election we will
21:25
Speaker 2: be a pain. I understand that nobody wants to do it.
21:27
Speaker 2: I understand that the you know, they want to just
21:29
Speaker 2: go on with the election that they have in November.
21:31
Speaker 1: But them's the rules.
21:34
Speaker 2: And if you're incapable of fulfilling your job, you have
21:39
Speaker 2: to tell the American people and you have to step down.
21:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, Keen missed by the way, one hundred and forty
21:44
Speaker 1: votes before his return, so that matters to the voters
21:48
Speaker 1: of that of the seventh district. He's a Republican representing
21:52
Speaker 1: the seventh district of New Jersey. And yeah, apparently the
21:55
Speaker 1: law change was championed by McConnell for the special election,
21:58
Speaker 1: so you know this, this is something that was put
22:01
Speaker 1: in place for a reason. It does seem a little
22:03
Speaker 1: unclear what would be different because even like the Kentucky
22:08
Speaker 1: experts seem to say, I'm not sure you'd see some
22:10
Speaker 1: nomination shake up just because you have it three months early.
22:14
Speaker 2: Right, I'm sure it would lead to more just course
22:17
Speaker 2: race politics, conversations and takes and whatever. But again, I
22:22
Speaker 2: don't see how Massy he becomes the front runner there.
22:24
Speaker 2: He couldn't win his own district, Like, why would he
22:26
Speaker 2: then suddenly become the Senate front runner because of all
22:30
Speaker 2: the resicians of Kentucky really like him. How why? You know?
22:33
Speaker 1: It doesn't make much sense. It sounds like an online
22:36
Speaker 1: theory as opposed to a on the ground theory.
22:40
Speaker 2: Right exactly. All right, We're going to take a short
22:44
Speaker 2: break and be right back with one more segment of Normally.
22:50
Speaker 1: Okay, we are back on Normally with more news about
22:53
Speaker 1: Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine who
22:57
Speaker 1: is embattled many times over by his own hand and
23:01
Speaker 1: his own problems, most recently by a new allegation detailed
23:06
Speaker 1: in Politico by a woman from Maine who he dated
23:09
Speaker 1: on and off, who claims that he came into her
23:10
Speaker 1: house without her permission and then forced himself on her,
23:14
Speaker 1: and it was told in pretty grim detail by Jenny Rasico.
23:20
Speaker 1: He has not dropped out of the race right as
23:23
Speaker 1: we sort of opined he might not the other day
23:27
Speaker 1: because he has leveraged now as the nominee who has been.
23:32
Speaker 5: Backed by he really does large numbers of Democrats in
23:36
Speaker 5: the state, and things go very badly for him the
23:40
Speaker 5: second he's not a candidate, he has no leverage.
23:44
Speaker 2: After that, nobody will be asking him for his opinion.
23:47
Speaker 2: After he's out, he will not have any support from anybody.
23:51
Speaker 2: And it's a lot of people are confused about this.
23:54
Speaker 2: Like Chris Kleiza wrote, platin or try and negotiate who
23:57
Speaker 2: will replace him, suggests he has a deep misunderstand I
24:00
Speaker 2: think of his current situation, you have zero leverage, dude,
24:03
Speaker 2: And Bill Hill does that. This person is a political
24:07
Speaker 2: reporter and didn't bother to check the rules that say
24:09
Speaker 2: Platiner actually can't be forced out by the party, and
24:13
Speaker 2: before tweeting out the little opposite of the fact, let
24:15
Speaker 2: that sink in. It's just he has a lot of
24:19
Speaker 2: leverage right now and zero after he drops, So why
24:22
Speaker 2: wouldn't he stay in?
24:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, we should make clear by the way, this is descriptive,
24:26
Speaker 1: not prescriptive, like he should drop out, but he should
24:30
Speaker 1: as a person who clearly is not particularly interested in
24:34
Speaker 1: honoring others' consent, he is going to do what works
24:40
Speaker 1: for him, and what works for him is to extract
24:42
Speaker 1: something from the party as a price for his dropping out.
24:47
Speaker 1: Because this is like Biden right when Biden was clearly incapacitated,
24:51
Speaker 1: but they had missed their chance to get rid of
24:53
Speaker 1: him before. Oh doesn't we're just doing this again. You
24:57
Speaker 1: guys had a chance to get rid of platin when
25:00
Speaker 1: you knew he had a Nazi tattoo, and you decided
25:02
Speaker 1: not to. So now you're stuck in this pickle where
25:04
Speaker 1: he does have power, just as Biden had power because
25:08
Speaker 1: he was the president. Right, you had to really try
25:12
Speaker 1: very hard to get rid of him because the voters
25:16
Speaker 1: had already spoken that's right.
25:19
Speaker 2: Our producer John was like, I can't believe this is
25:22
Speaker 2: such a good guy that he's not dropping out, you know, like,
25:25
Speaker 2: who could have seen this coming? It's true, they get
25:28
Speaker 2: what they get.
25:29
Speaker 3: Well.
25:29
Speaker 1: I think there's another element to that too, which is
25:32
Speaker 1: all of these DSA aligned folks are very clear that
25:36
Speaker 1: they're not interested in the party, right, And that's similar
25:39
Speaker 1: in outside forces coming into a party on both sides.
25:43
Speaker 1: Trump is similar, right, where we always say, like, why
25:45
Speaker 1: are people thinking he's going to do such and such
25:47
Speaker 1: for the party. That's not really his motivation. The DSA
25:51
Speaker 1: folks are similarly clear that that's not their motivation. So
25:54
Speaker 1: I don't know why people would assume, well, the party's
25:57
Speaker 1: really going to be in trouble if Graham Platner doesn't
26:00
Speaker 1: remove himself. Right, Platner may not care.
26:03
Speaker 2: Right, why would he? And it's funny, look, I like
26:07
Speaker 2: Alex Thompson at at Axios, but they're finding out at
26:13
Speaker 2: Axios that Platner is not actually a working class major.
26:18
Speaker 2: And he bought his house with a two hundred thousand
26:20
Speaker 2: dollars loan from his dad. And it's like all the
26:23
Speaker 2: stuff that we were talking about two months ago is
26:27
Speaker 2: now News in Axios and the fact that you know,
26:30
Speaker 2: he's like Platner and his team pitched him as a
26:33
Speaker 2: working class maner who bought his house with veterans benefits,
26:36
Speaker 2: but it turns out that's not true. And you know, again,
26:38
Speaker 2: we knew all of this, and it's just it's too much.
26:42
Speaker 1: No, I do think it's very enlightening to tune in
26:47
Speaker 1: to write of center podcasters and columnists because and places
26:52
Speaker 1: like the Free Beacon, which breaks a lot of news
26:54
Speaker 1: by the way, if you are not following them, places
26:57
Speaker 1: like the Free Beacon, because you know all this stuff
27:01
Speaker 1: before the mainstream media knows how stuff.
27:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just it's embarrassing how they're just not reading
27:09
Speaker 2: like any of our any of our media and then
27:11
Speaker 2: just pretending not to know. Yeah, like a liberal older
27:17
Speaker 2: person I know, was like, oh, you know, my wife
27:20
Speaker 2: reads New York Times like sorry, like basically to me
27:22
Speaker 2: because I write for the Post. And I was like, oh,
27:24
Speaker 2: it's okay. She'll find out everything in a few months.
27:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, like eight to twelve months from now. She'll know
27:30
Speaker 1: the things that Carol puts in print. You know, it
27:32
Speaker 1: happened with COVID and happened with Russiagate. It happens with
27:35
Speaker 1: all this stuff.
27:35
Speaker 2: Sometime right and then also in Axio, starting with their
27:39
Speaker 2: launch video last August, Platner and his team built him
27:41
Speaker 2: as an oyster farmer, a title mostly of the media,
27:44
Speaker 2: including Axios, at times repeated without scrutiny. But as early
27:48
Speaker 2: as August he told ideologically friendly outlets that he makes
27:51
Speaker 2: little money from selling oysters and it's not how he
27:54
Speaker 2: makes a living. So again, all of this you would
27:57
Speaker 2: know if you read conservative media.
28:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a little clip I believe of my
28:03
Speaker 1: friend Lindsay Fifield, who spoke to Jake Tapper yesterday about
28:07
Speaker 1: some of her experiences in the wake of being vindicated
28:09
Speaker 1: by another source, Jenny Rascoe, coming forward with her very
28:14
Speaker 1: detailed allegations. But by the way came forward, I should reiterate,
28:18
Speaker 1: because the New York Times ticked her off and liberal
28:21
Speaker 1: pundits ticked her off so much with their treatment of
28:24
Speaker 1: Lindsay that she was like, I feel like that really
28:27
Speaker 1: became the story and that shouldn't be the story. So
28:29
Speaker 1: here's Lindsay given the follow up to Jake Tapper.
28:34
Speaker 6: One of the things that was so striking about what
28:36
Speaker 6: Jenny told me yesterday is according to her, he raped her.
28:42
Speaker 6: He passed out the next morning. According to her, he
28:46
Speaker 6: didn't seem to remember anything. She had said, you don't
28:51
Speaker 6: remember what happened last night. You know what happened last
28:54
Speaker 6: night was not okay. He knew, but he didn't ask
28:59
Speaker 6: her what happened.
29:00
Speaker 7: Nope, because he didn't want to. That that rang true
29:02
Speaker 7: to me too.
29:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
29:08
Speaker 6: And then a few weeks later, after she learned she
29:12
Speaker 6: wasn't pregnant because he had not used protection also against
29:16
Speaker 6: her wishoes. Yeah, she reached out to him again, told
29:21
Speaker 6: him she wasn't pregnant, reiterated that what happened was not okay,
29:25
Speaker 6: and again he read it and didn't ask what happened
29:29
Speaker 6: because he knew.
29:30
Speaker 7: And I think that's the thing that And also I
29:34
Speaker 7: don't want to overemphasize this, but this is a man
29:37
Speaker 7: who is so hostile to the feelings of women, and
29:40
Speaker 7: he thinks he is disgusted by any show of emotion.
29:43
Speaker 7: Anytime that I ever cried, anytime that I ever tried
29:45
Speaker 7: to like appeal to him but would start crying, I
29:49
Speaker 7: found myself having to like harden myself or not cry,
29:53
Speaker 7: and he would only respond to like toughness or like
29:55
Speaker 7: masculine energy, basically of just like I'm not going to
29:59
Speaker 7: he would say, don't bring emotions or don't don't try
30:01
Speaker 7: to manipulate me or like he feels like, or any
30:06
Speaker 7: time that I confronted him about any kind of deception
30:08
Speaker 7: or cheating or anything, which was often it was dismissed
30:12
Speaker 7: as just me.
30:14
Speaker 1: Being a a woman stuff, just me being a woman. Yeah,
30:20
Speaker 1: to have problems with any of your boundary crossing and
30:23
Speaker 1: bad behavior.
30:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard to watch when she starts choking up.
30:28
Speaker 2: You know, Linday's such a good person, and it's it's
30:31
Speaker 2: just it's tough. It's still obviously a difficult thing, and
30:34
Speaker 2: it's difficult for her to talk about this. And the
30:36
Speaker 2: fact that she has to all these years later and
30:38
Speaker 2: she has this beautiful family and she's in such a
30:41
Speaker 2: better place is unfortunate. And what's worse is that all
30:46
Speaker 2: these people who should have listened to her didn't, and
30:49
Speaker 2: now they're in this will hear won't he drop out? Situation?
30:53
Speaker 2: And from the Republican or conservative point of view, where like,
30:56
Speaker 2: whatever you guys want, do whatever you want, keep him in,
30:59
Speaker 2: drop him out out, whatever.
31:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think from both from that exchange that she's
31:04
Speaker 1: talking about, and you can tell she's recognizing the behavior
31:08
Speaker 1: from Jenny's story. He doesn't want to know because he
31:12
Speaker 1: knows he can't account for his behavior because he was
31:15
Speaker 1: drunk frequently and out of control. Probably doesn't want to
31:18
Speaker 1: have this information confirmed, and then he's not bothering with
31:23
Speaker 1: anyone's feelings anyway. The dismissiveness is really gross, and there's
31:30
Speaker 1: been dismissiveness from other people too, like Mika Brzhinski, who's like, oh,
31:37
Speaker 1: as long as it's Christine blasi Ford, I don't need anything,
31:40
Speaker 1: but for these women made much more information and really
31:45
Speaker 1: taking a critical eye on this. But I don't know.
31:49
Speaker 1: The whole thing is just revealed how much people are
31:53
Speaker 1: full of it on many subjects.
31:56
Speaker 2: Many many subjects. Nazi tattoo totally okay, you know, talking
32:00
Speaker 2: about how our American troops should die, totally okay, all
32:05
Speaker 2: the disgusting things he said.
32:06
Speaker 1: Sneering Chris Kyle American hero sniper, which my friend like,
32:12
Speaker 1: press just all fine, all fine. And I think Michelle
32:16
Speaker 1: Goldberg wrote a sort of a meicul book column which
32:20
Speaker 1: I think she should have recognized the red flags sooner. Yeah,
32:25
Speaker 1: but she said, like he gave them what they wanted,
32:29
Speaker 1: which was a guy who could string some sentences together,
32:32
Speaker 1: had like this working class.
32:34
Speaker 2: Demeanor last background.
32:36
Speaker 1: Yes, looked like a dude, and they thought, well, this
32:40
Speaker 1: will work. But here's the other thing. It doesn't work.
32:43
Speaker 1: He's underwater with non college maners.
32:46
Speaker 2: Because I see a movie here, because I think a
32:49
Speaker 2: lot of them go, I don't know.
32:51
Speaker 1: That seems like not my kind of man. As as dollar.
32:57
Speaker 2: Alone from his dad to buy his and his mom
33:01
Speaker 2: is his only oyster farm client. No, that's not a
33:03
Speaker 2: working class manor story.
33:05
Speaker 1: He's an oyster farmer in the way that I have
33:07
Speaker 1: been a cucumber farmer at times like six per season.
33:11
Speaker 2: Like I am a basil farmer.
33:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, look, I'm glad now it can be told
33:20
Speaker 1: that in fact this is really bad behavior, and in
33:23
Speaker 1: fact he isn't working class, and in fact a Nazi
33:26
Speaker 1: tattoo perhaps was an indication of all of this. But
33:30
Speaker 1: I don't know. Mister Plattner is not super concerned about
33:33
Speaker 1: what other people want or say no to, and therefore
33:37
Speaker 1: he may stick around for a while.
33:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, as we're recording this on Wednesday, he
33:42
Speaker 2: has not dropped out and apparently he was going to
33:45
Speaker 2: drop out via a recorded video that has yet to
33:48
Speaker 2: be recorded.
33:49
Speaker 1: Sobel'll maybe he'll make his wife do it burn. That
33:53
Speaker 1: made me mad. That made me mad. I'm still mad
33:55
Speaker 1: about them not letting it go.
33:58
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on Normally Normal only airs Tuesdays
34:00
Speaker 2: and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.
34:04
Speaker 2: Get in touch with us at normallythepodt gmail dot com.
34:07
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and when things get weird, act normally