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Trump Mugshot-enfreude · Pod Save America

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Tommy Vitor, and we
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: have another packed show for you today. We are going
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: to talk about the latest Trump indictment news. this horrific
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: hate crime in Florida and the response by Rod DeSantis
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and Vivek Ramaswamy, the 60th anniversary of the March on
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Washington and Dr. King's legacy, and then some big elections
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: happening later this year in the political implications. Favreau and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Levitt are still on a break. They told me they
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: wanted to see other podcasts, you know, kind of enjoy
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: their summer. So we asked for an upgrade and we
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: asked our friend Adisu Demesi to co-host today. He has
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: worked for Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Gavin Newsom,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Cory Booker, he's one of the smartest strategists in the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party and my friend at DC. It's great to
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: have you.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: It is good to be here.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: A jilted host.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I will try to be a handsomer, blacker stand-in for
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Fabs and Lovett.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Okay, perfect.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, combined. You're two of them combined. That's how good
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: this is going to be. Later in the show, you're
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: going to hear my interview with Dr. Heather Boucher. She's
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: a top economist in the Biden administration. We talk about
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: how the White House is battling inflation, housing prices, student loans,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: talked about prescription drugs. And then Crooked Media's own Hallie
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Kiefer will be back for a game inspired by the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: cringy Trump merch that's out there and the late, great
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Bob Barker. So please stick around for that. So, Adisa,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: let's get to the news. We finally last week got
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: a look at Trump's mugshot, sort of a weird, intense,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: glaring vibe. He self-reported that he is 6'3, 215 pounds,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: which is the exact same height and weight as Baltimore
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Were you surprised that the president,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: former president, is so shredded?
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: I was surprised, yes. I mean, I will say the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: group chats lit up, but maybe more about the.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Fake measurements than about the mugshot because 6'3, 215, we
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: had a little betting pool going. I was sure he
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: was pushing three bills. I don't know. Maybe he is,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: but it's a bald-faced lie in a series of much
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: more important bald-faced lies, but par for the course with
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: this guy.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll get to many. I think he also announced
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: that he shot a 67 and won his own club
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: championship over the weekend.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Shocking.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It's just like a weird thing to be that shameless
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and lie that brazenly all the time.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: If he had been like, I'm 255, I would have
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: been like, ah, maybe he carries his weight different, you know, like,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: or something in a different place. But 215, it's like, come.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: On, bro.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Come on, buddy. Come on. You're not an NFL quarterback.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: But we digress. So there's all this legal news happening
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and swirling around Donald Trump. One big question that's going
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: to take some time to sort out is when all
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of his various criminal trials will actually get scheduled. In D.C.,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: where Trump is being charged for attempting to overturn the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: 2020 presidential election, Judge Chuck Kinn has scheduled Trump's trial
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: for March 4th, which is the day before Super Tuesday.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Lots of action in Georgia happening too. Former White House
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Chief of Staff Mark Meadows spent hours Monday testifying before
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: a federal judge in Atlanta. He's attempting to move the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: racketeering case against Trump and their various goons to a
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: federal court, which broadens the jury pool. One of Trump's
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: co-conspirators in the Fulton County RICO case, Kenneth Cheesebro, asked
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to have his trial within 70 days, which led Fulton
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: County DA Fannie Willis to propose an October 23rd start
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: date for all of them in these trials. So Adisu, look,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: all these dates are probably going to change and move around,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: but let's just talk about the politics. Obviously, I want
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a verdict in one or all of these cases before
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: anyone has to vote for this guy or vote against
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: this guy. But I also worry about Trump's team spinning
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: like the tiniest procedural wins into some sort of vindication.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: How are you thinking about the politics of these cases?
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: First of all, I want to apologize to my Civ
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Pro professors from law school for the total mess I'm
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: about to make of this. I am a lawyer in
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: name only. But I think, look, I think that it
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: is going to be a long 15 months. I think
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: there are going to be a lot of twists and turns.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing that this does for Trump
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: in terms of the Republican primary, at least, is it
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: ensures that he's at the top of the conversation, you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: is front and center in terms of the conversation, just
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: like he was last week in that debate, even without
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: being there. And so March 4th, if the federal trial
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: really does go down March 4th, that is the day
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: before Super Tuesday next year. And whatever may happen in
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: the elections on March 5th, I can pretty much guarantee
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: that the news is going to be about whatever's happening
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: in the Trump trial and not necessarily what's happening with
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: the voters. Now, so I think in a lot of ways,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: it's about whether all news is good news or bad
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: news for Donald Trump. And I think in terms of
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: the Republican primary, the answer is probably, yeah, the more
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: he's in the news, the better it is for him,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: regardless of the substance. But then we get to the
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: general election, and I am not one of those people
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: who subscribes to the theory that Trump is Teflon. Criminal
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: trials and convictions will stick to the guy. And so
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: we'll see what happens if the justice system plays out
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: before November 5th and so be it.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm totally with you that I do not think
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: this helps him in the general election. But just to
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: give everybody a quick rundown of what we're looking at
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: so far, January 15th, we're supposed to start the Eugene
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Carroll defamation case. March 4th, the federal 2020 election trial.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: March 25th, the New York State hush money trial scheduled
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: to start. Then May 20th, the classified documents case is
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: scheduled to start. And then July 15th is the Republican
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: National Convention. So it's going to be a busy guy.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, fair.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: He's going to be– I actually think Nikki Haley had
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: a– was it Nikki Haley who had a pretty good
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: line the day after the debate where she said he's
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: going to be in the courtroom more than the campaign trail?
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Good alliteration and probably true. Possibly true.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. It's worth noting that Mark Meadows said that he
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: had been in Georgia where, you know, during one of
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the sort of signature verification audits that was happening. And
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: he tried to go visit the audit location, but he
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: said he was just in the area because he had
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: some kids who lived there and was just like happened
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: to be in town.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: So, you know, just just driving by.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: These are the legal theories you try to make fly
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: when you're in this much trouble. So a desued an
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: organization called the Republican Accountability Project launched an ad campaign
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: targeting Trump over the Georgia indictment. This spot is apparently
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: going to run on Fox News in Phoenix, Milwaukee, and
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Here's a clip from that ad.
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: Because in America, the rule of law still matters. And
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: that's why Donald Trump has been charged with 91 felonies
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: in four separate cases for attempting to steal an election,
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: falsifying business records, and mishandling classified information. We've seen what
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: happens when people start believing nothing matters. That's why it
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: doesn't matter that Donald Trump was president of the United States.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: It doesn't matter that he is currently running for the presidency.
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: This is America. No one is above the law. That's
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: why it matters that Donald Trump faces consequences.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: For his actions.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Some real movie trailer shit there with that ending. It
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: feels like the ad is like for a candidate named
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: rule of law. I'm not entirely sure what the point is.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: I think I don't know like anyone he's reminding this
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: guy's running. Maybe it's a to remind the press that
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: this whole like, you know, nothing matters approach to covering
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Trump was bullshit.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: I think that's right. And I think it's largely aimed
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: at people like us, people who are paying attention to politics. Voters,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: you know, the thing about if Trump does have a superpower,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: it's that voters have a very burned-in opinion of him.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Republican voters, Democratic voters, even independent voters. The good news
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: for us is that that burned-in opinion is negative on
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: the whole across the majority of the electorate. The bad news...
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: for democracy and for his opponents is that Republican voters
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: feel the opposite, right? That he is popular, he remains popular,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: and none of this information is new to them. In fact,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: in some ways, it makes them feel better about him,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: but they've created a Frankenstein's monster, right? The voters, he
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: has enough support within the Republican primary electorate to have
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: a strong hold on the nomination right now. He's not
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: guaranteed to win, but I think he's the favorite. You
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: turn to the general election against Joe Biden, and I
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: think it's a whole different ballgame.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: A whole different ballgame. OK, well, a big to be
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: continued on this subject. But let's turn to this horrifying
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: news out of Florida, where on Saturday, a 21-year-old white
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: man killed three black people at the Dollar General store
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: in Jacksonville, Florida. There's no doubt that this was a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: hate crime. The shooter left behind a racist screed. He
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: literally drew swastikas on the gun he used. This guy
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: had tried to access the campus of a nearby historically
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: black university, but was asked to leave by a security guard.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Thank God. A little over a year ago, 10 people
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: were murdered in another hate crime in Buffalo, New York.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: There have been at least 470 mass shootings in the U.S.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: so far in 2023. Between when we started preparing for
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: this segment and when we started recording, we just learned
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: about another shooter on the campus of UNC. So you're
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: hoping everyone there is okay. But, you know, D.C., like
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: we're long past the point in this country where people
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: seem to have stopped being shocked by mass shootings because
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: they happen so often. I'm starting to wonder whether we're
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: getting to a similar place in the media, in our culture,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: in developing a similar numbness to these hate crimes because
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: they're happening over and over and over again.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's sad. Beyond sad. And it's outrageous,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: you know, that somebody can walk in and buy a
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: a killing weapon designed to kill human beings and go
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: out there and kill people based on the color of
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: their skin or their religious creed or what have you.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: And that it doesn't even break the, you know, the
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: A block of the news. With that said, I think
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: sometimes in our feelings of despair and sometimes hopelessness, we
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: forget the voters still care desperately about this. Americans still care.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: And regardless of whether it's at the top of the news,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: if you do a poll, if you look at what
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: voters are themselves volunteering about the issues that matter to them,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: gun safety legislation, getting guns off the streets, out of schools,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: still pulled towards the top. The salience of the issue
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: hasn't changed in years, certainly since Sandy Hook, since Buffalo
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: last year, Pittsburgh the year before that. And so it does,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: it pisses me off, obviously. It makes me like beyond
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: angry to think that another one will come and go
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and three Black people are dead. Three people are dead
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: and three Black people specifically are dead at the hands
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: of this man. And, you know, we're going to all
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: move on with our lives, but.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I think we have to continue to put this front
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: and center as an issue to win elections and ultimately
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: change laws and change minds as well.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So two candidates who got asked about what happened
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. Here is
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: some audio of DeSantis commenting on the shootings.
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: I was able to speak with Sheriff T.K. Waters in
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: Jacksonville about the horrific shooting that took place. This shooting
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: based on the manifesto that they've discovered from the scumbag
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: that did this was racially motivated. He was targeting people
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: based on their race. That is totally unacceptable. This guy
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: for his actions. And so he took the coward's way out.
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: But we condemn what happened in the strongest possible terms.
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: We've offered support for Sheriff Waters in the city of Jacksonville.
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: And we send our condolences to the victims and their
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: families who were the victims of a very cowardly act.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: So that's pretty straightforward from DeSantis. Here's a portion of
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: what Vivek Ramaswamy said when asked about the shootings on
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Meet the Press. And he took the conversation to a
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: conversation about affirmative action potentially being responsible for what happened.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Here's a clip.
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: I do believe that racism in many cases is manufactured
• 12:04
  Speaker 7: in a way that creates more racism in this country.
• 12:07
  Speaker 7: I cannot think of a greater way, Chuck, of driving
• 12:10
  Speaker 7: racism in this country than to take something else away
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: from someone based on the color of their skin. And
• 12:17
  Speaker 7: so is there existing racism in the United States?
• 12:19
  Speaker 8: Of course there is.
• 12:20
  Speaker 7: But those last burning embers of racism, the last thing
• 12:23
  Speaker 7: I want to do is throw kerosene on it. And
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: yet that's exactly what I believe the modern culture is
• 12:28
  Speaker 7: doing by creating race-based quota systems that deny people access
• 12:33
  Speaker 7: to goods or services based on the color of their skin.
• 12:36
  Speaker 7: The right answer to stop discrimination on the basis of race,
• 12:39
  Speaker 7: as John Roberts said it, is to stop discriminating on
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: the basis of race.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: It just, it's really remarkable that- It's like.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Nails on a chalkboard to me, man. Yeah, I know.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, even Ron DeSantis can sort of state what
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: happened clearly and be like, this was a racial hate
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: crime based on the manifesto where the killer told us
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: why he did it. And Vivek Ramaswamy goes to this
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: disgusting place where he's blaming victims, blaming, like, it's outrageous.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: But this is the modern Republican Party, unfortunately, right? Shock jock, asshole,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: enemy creation. is the brand. You know, Adam Serwer said it,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the cruelty is the point. Like that is what appeals
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: to a not insignificant portion of Republican primary voters. And
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: so Ramaswamy is playing the, he's playing the game, right?
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: And I don't know if he's running for president, vice president,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Fox News host, OAN host, whatever the hell he's trying
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: to do. He's doing what I think the Trump Republican
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Party has taught its disciples to do, which is be
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: an asshole. And it will pay off and use the
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: quote unquote culture war to divide people when I think
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: what DeSantis said is correct. This was a pretty clear
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: case of just a racist jerk, not a big enough word,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: killing people because he didn't like them. And why can't
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: we just leave it there and fight the root cause
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: of that as opposed to these absurd anti-woke you know,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: screeds that the Viveks of the world are putting out there.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: It makes me, it literally, I could go on forever.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: It pisses me off to no end. And I'm sure
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: most of the listeners as well.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, it's just, it's so, what's so frustrating
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: about him is he, he says all these things where
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: he's like, oh, we need, you know, leadership that sets
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the right tone. He claims to be running to try
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: to bring people together, but it's so clear that he's
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: doing the opposite. There was an event in Iowa where
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Ramaswamy accused Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of being part of The
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: modern KKK, because he disagreed with something she said about,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: you know, her views on African-American voices in politics and
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: other people of color in politics. And him saying he's
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: running on uniting the country while calling Ayanna Pressley a
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: member of the KKK is like so self-evidently divisive and
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: pouring kerosene on the fire.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: It's ridiculous. And honestly, he's getting what he wants with
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: us talking about him, right? Which is like also the
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: thing that just frustrates the hell out of me. Something
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: we learned, I think, the hard way in 2015 and
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: 16 with Trump. that we have to be careful about,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean you can let stuff like this slide. And,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: you know, President Biden wrote an op-ed today about the
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. And I went
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: back and read the speech this morning in preparation for this. And,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: you know, one thing that Martin Luther King said there
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: that day was that Black folks and Black folks' allies
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: have to operate on a higher plane of dignity and
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: discipline when we are dealing with the issues of racism
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: in this country. And I think Congresswoman Presley has tried
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: her best to do that in the last couple of
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: days around this. And I think it's incumbent on all
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: of us to do that as well. I think back
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: to when I was running Cory Booker's campaign for president
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: in 2020, we went and he gave a speech at
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: the church in Charleston where Dylan Roof murdered nine people.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: And the families that showed the grace and forgiveness to
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Dylan Roof, who didn't deserve it, but as a way
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: to heal themselves, to heal their community. That's the way
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: that Black folks and anti-racists in America have lived for decades,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: centuries in this country. And it's the only way in
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: some way, you know, to live as a Black person
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: in this country or as an anti-racist ally. And so,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: you know, we can't let the vivakes of the world
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: pull us down as hard as that is. You know,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: it really gives me pause to talk about it, but
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: also I understand calling out you know, racism and behavior
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: like that, where you see it is part of the
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: job of being a good ally. And so I think,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: you know, that's what we're doing here, all at the
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: same time, trying to starve them with a little bit
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: of oxygen, I hope to.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I hear you. Well, let's talk about the
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, because, you know,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: as this murder was happening, tens of thousands of people
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: are gathering in the same spot in Washington to talk
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: about Dr. King's work and the need to continue it
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: and not just commemorate it. And so there's obviously a
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: legislative piece Of that unfinished work, it includes voting rights,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: police reform, you know, a long list of things we
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: need to get done through Congress. But, you know, there
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: is also like moral work and work of leadership. And
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: I know like you sort of references the the rose
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: colored glasses version of Dr. King that that people kind
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: of talk about now, I don't think reflects the reality
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: of how divisive his work was in terms of like
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: the broader country at the time. And I know that
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I'm aware of sort of like how Dr. King was
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: viewed and how that work was talked about, but still
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: like seeing how Trump and Vivek are talking about these
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: issues and the way they are inflaming everyone makes me
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: worry that, you know, the sort of like moral and
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: cultural leadership we need to accomplish the rest of that
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: legislative agenda is getting much more difficult because of them,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: because of their presence and the way they're leading the conversation.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I think that's absolutely right. And I think, you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: one of the things in the many errors that Vivek
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: made in that clip that you ran. One of the
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: biggest is that the dying embers of racism, nice metaphor,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: but live in the real world, man. I think Trump
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: exposed a wound in some ways that was always there
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: and never healed. Not in some ways. I think that's
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: exactly what he did. And now the Viveks of the
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: world and Ron DeSantis of the world and others are
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: just pouring salt in it for their political benefit in
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: the that is, it is just false that the legacy
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: of racism in this country is dying. It is better.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: I'm not, don't get me, don't get it twisted. It
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: is better than it was 60 years ago when Dr.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: King stood on at the Lincoln Memorial, but there's a
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: lot of work left to do. And the only way
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: I'm obviously speak, preaching to the choir here with you
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: and probably with your listeners as well, but the only
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: way to actually take on the issues of racism is
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to acknowledge that fact. And It's exactly what the Republican
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Party in its modern form doesn't do and the Democratic
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Party does.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the frustrating trick that these Republicans always try
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to pull, and I saw this for nine years working
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: for Obama, was whenever a Black politician talks about racial injustice,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: you're called divisive. And the Republican Party settled on basically
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: a narrative that Barack Obama was making racial division in
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: this country worse rather than just talking honestly about the
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: challenges that everyone knew currently existed, right? Like Vivek and
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: DeSantis and Trump, they want to gloss over problems and
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: do this kumbaya bullshit and pretend that, oh, we should
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: just go back to being uniters like Dr. King once was,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: when the reality was in 1966, King had a 63%
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: unfavorable rating. And in 1966 Harris poll, 50% of white
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Americans said King was hurting the civil rights effort more
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: than he was helping it. So that was the reality
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: of fighting for justice at the time, and it's the
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: same as today.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: And 20 years later, there was a federal holiday day after.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: That's the hopeful piece of this, right? Which is things
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: change in America if you continue to fight for them.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: And I do think that Trumpism and that wound that
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: he has, you know, uh, re-exposed is going to take
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: us some time to clean up and, and, and fix,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: but I think we can do it.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: And we've seen in America that progress is not inevitable,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: but it's, it's possible.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: And you can be infuriating slow. Uh, South Carolina didn't
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: make Martin Luther King day a mandatory holiday until the
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: year 2000. Uh, and the super bowl was moved out
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: of Arizona by the NFL in 1993 because Arizona had
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: yet not yet made it a state holiday. So, uh,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: everyone thinks Colin Kaepernick was the first time that like
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: sports and racial politics became divisive. Absolutely not. Just read
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: one book, guys.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: So, you know, you and I were talking this morning,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: there's a bunch of really important elections happening this year.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: The issue of abortion rights and access is going to
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: be front and center in most of them. At last
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: week's Republican debate, it was clear that Republicans are quite
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: divided over abortion, especially over whether to support a federal
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: abortion ban, which is very unpopular among a broader electorate,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: but popular among their base. The Republican National Committee chair,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Ronna McDaniel, wants Republicans to do a better job articulating
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: their position. Trump's former aide, Kellyanne Conway, accused Republicans of
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: panicking and burying their heads in the sand when it
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: comes to abortion. In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin apparently wants
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: to win back control of the state's General Assembly by
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: running on a 15-week abortion ban. Adisu, how do you
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: think Republicans should take on this issue and run on it?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: I don't want to give them advice. But I think.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I do think they're grasping for reasonableness here, um, after
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: decades of unreasonableness. And frankly, you know, the, the thing
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: that Democrats need to do to give us some advice
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: is we can't let them run away from their extremism for,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: since 1970, since before 1973. Uh, but certainly even over
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: the last couple of years, Trump himself said women should
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: be punished, punished for seeking an abortion. Um, thrown in jail,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: whatever it may be. I don't even want to think
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: about what he might want to do. We should tie
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: that around the necks of all these guys. And all
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: of them have expressed support for abortion bans at some level.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: But what I think they're doing is trying to find
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: a position that is more tenable because they realize America
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: is a pro-choice nation. America believes that the government should
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: stay out of our bedrooms, our doctor's offices. And that
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: is a fundamentally American libertarian, not in the partisan sense,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: but libertarian position. And so I don't know if they're
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: going to be successful at this. I think their base
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: is going to continue to pull them to the extremes here.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: But it's on us. If I would give, again, I'm
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: going to give us some advice. Don't let them do it.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: They are where they are and they have been. And
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: most of these candidates, if not all of them, have
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: been very explicit in public about their support for abortion bans,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: for no exceptions. And we have to make sure that
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: holds through next year.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I think that every election boils down
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: to sort of a conversation among the candidate and the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: campaign strategists about emphasis and how much to talk about
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: one issue versus another. At some point in every campaign,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: if you're talking about it as some sort of social issue,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: some pollster will tell you, you should only be talking
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: about the economy. We have to focus on this. You know,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: we literally can't talk about anything else. How do you
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: think that balance will go this time, seeing how many
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: elections have been fought and won on abortion access recently?
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a false choice. I also think
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: most people think it's a false choice now. Also, abortion
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: is an economic issue, a family issue, as we all know.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: But I think if there's one thing I've been really
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: surprised about over the last year and a half, and
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: this is my own biases as a man, as what
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: have you, just how potent the issue remains a year
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: and a half after the Dobbs leak, at least. But
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't be surprised because the Supreme Court hasn't taken
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: away a right. The Supreme Court has been a progressive
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: institution in the traditional sense since Brown, right? That's seven years,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: entire life of most of Americans. Suddenly they're taking rights away.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: And I don't think that sits right with most Americans.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: And I don't think that that was a flash in
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: the pan 2022 thing to answer your question directly. I
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: think we need to talk directly and aggressively and a
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: lot about abortion as both in and of itself and
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: also illustrative of what Republican governance can be. And I
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: worked on some elections last cycle where we figured out
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: how to talk about abortion and the economy together, not
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: just abortion, but a lot of these book bans and
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: anti-woke Republican culture war issues by saying, look at what
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: they're focused on versus what we're focused on. Things might
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: not be perfect for your pocketbook right now, but Joe Biden,
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: Democratic Senator X, candidate for Governor Y is at least
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: trying to do the things that matter to you while
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Ron DeSantis, Carrie Lake, whoever else it may be, is
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: focused on these things that are actually taking things away
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: from you and not relevant to your life. I think
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: that frame is going to be really important going into
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: next year.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: So that's really interesting. So it's like part an extremism frame,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: but also like a, hey, Ron DeSantis is picking fights
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: with fucking Mickey Mouse. Like, do you want some serious people?
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Is that kind of- Did I.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Steal that one for an ad?
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I mean- And voters are just sick of that.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: They're like, this is dumb. This is nonsense. They get it.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: They totally get it. And particularly the non-Republicans, right? Independents
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: and Democrats. And it also motivates, it motivates Democrats at
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: the same time it persuades, you know, independents, which I
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: think is an important, there aren't many issues or I
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: shouldn't say that, but it's important to try to find
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: issues that do both at the same time. And abortion
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: rights is definitely one of those, but this broader frame about,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: you know, Mickey mouse against your gas bill or the
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: price of insulin for your, you know, your diabetes is
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: I think one that really works and resonates with you.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: That's great. So you and I were talking earlier, you
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: said there's some big elections coming up this year. We
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: got the Pennsylvania Supreme court, the Virginia Senate, there's a
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Ohio abortion ballot measures and the Kentucky governor's races. You
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: want to give us like kind of a, A sense
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: of what we should be looking at?
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: There are no off years, I'm told.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: There we go.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: I do think among many races, those that you just
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: mentioned are going to be really, really important. Ohio, I'll
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: start there. We just had a couple of weeks ago,
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: a big win, making sure that the threshold to change
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: constitutional amendment in the state stays where it is. And
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: now we're going to basically have what we had in
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Kentucky and Montana and Michigan last year, an abortion rights
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: referendum on the ballot come November. Huge deal in a
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: state that sure might be trending red, but as we
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: saw in Kentucky and Kansas and places like that, this
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: issue actually cuts through the noise and can maybe bring
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: some people back towards the Democratic Party as.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: We head towards- And a huge Senate race.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: As we head towards Sherrod Brown and other races in
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: 24 and 26 and beyond. Pennsylvania Supreme Court, something I'm
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: really focused on here. Very similar abortion, I think is
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: going to be front and center in that race. It's
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: a court that Democrats control right now, four to two.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: There was one death uh, late last year. So control
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: isn't technically up in the balance of the court, but, um,
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: you know, one loss we lost in 21 to see
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: if we lose one more here in, uh, in 23,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: we're on a knife's edge in a state that is
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: the biggest swing state in the country, obviously implications for democracy,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: but also abortion, um, uh, and other issues. And then
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: the Virginia, you mentioned it earlier with, uh, Yunkin, who
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: I think is a dangerous fellow. Uh, he is, he
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: is a Trumpism in a Patagonia vest. And if Democrats
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: don't hold on to the state Senate, which is our
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: last bulwark against unified Republican control in a blue state,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: or certainly a light blue state, Youngkin's going to take
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: away God knows what. Abortion rights probably top of the list.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: So no off years, man. No off years. We've got
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: some big elections in some important states. And I hope
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: people are paying attention and giving their money, thinking ahead, obviously,
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: to the presidential and to next year and the Congress.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: But these elections are going to lay the groundwork for those.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: What do you make of Youngkin saying he wants to
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: run on a 15-week ban with some exceptions? I mean,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: it seems like everywhere else that's viewed as a political loser,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: and there was an NBC story where they're kind of
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: laying this out.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: It's a good question, man. I know from reports, at least,
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: that he is harboring thoughts of running for president, whether
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: that be in 28 or a late entry into 2024.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: I think it is a litmus test issue for Republican
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: primary voters to some extent. And, you know, the theory
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: of the case for a young candidacy is Trumpism in
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: a pretty package or a nicer package. And so abortion
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: bans are part of that part of that package. So
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: I think I think we have a lot. I think
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: keep it. putting Virginians first is most important here. We
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: got to protect Virginians and that means keeping the state, uh,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: the state Senate and winning back seats in the legislature,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: but they could have had to 24 and beyond. We
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: are creating a monster if we let Glenn Young can
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: have a political win.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: And how you feeling about Kentucky? I know they've got
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: a big governor's race. Oh yeah.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: So we have a democratic governor in Kentucky for those.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: I know a great guy, uh, right for the state, right. Uh,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: sort of, uh, genuine Democrat in the old Southern Democrat mode,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: but not in the bad ways. Um, But Daniel Cameron,
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: I think similar to Youngkin, the attorney general, who's the
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Republican nominee, African-American guy, you probably remember him from the
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: Breonna Taylor episode. of 2020 and 2021, is a rising star,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: I think, in the Republican Party and has a real chance,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: a good, strong candidate. And so Governor Beshear, I think,
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: he really needs our help, right? It is, like I said,
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: one of the last bastions of Democratic governance in the South.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: And he is an incredibly strong candidate and a bulwark
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: against some really bad stuff going on in Kentucky against
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: a guy who we could be seeing on a national
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: stage in four years or eight years if we don't
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: watch out.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we got to win that one. Yeah, Andy Beshear
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: is such an interesting candidate. You almost forget that he's
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: there in Kentucky and you're like, you don't want to
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: tell anybody because it's like, let him fly under the radar.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Let him, exactly. Don't talk too loud about him because
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: let him do his thing in Kentucky because he's doing
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: good things for us.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's it for the news for today. If what
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: we just talked about and the prospect of watching more
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: of these Republican debates has you less than excited, I
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: have a solution for you, which is to join the
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Friends of the Pod community. You can watch the debates
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: with all of us on Discord and not with Elon Musk.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: You also get bonus content and ad-free Pod Save America episodes.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: So go to crooked.com slash friends to subscribe. Also, we've
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: got a Labor Day sale going at Crooked Media here
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: for merch. 15% off, tons of new stuff. Go to crooked.com
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: slash store. We're going to take a quick break now.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: When we come back, you'll hear my interview with Dr.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Heather Boucher. She's one of Biden's top economic advisors. So
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: stick around for that. I am thrilled to welcome Dr.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Heather Boucher to the pod. She serves on President Biden's
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Council of Economic Advisors and is the chief economist for
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: the Investing in America Cabinet. Welcome to the Crooked Media offices.
• 31:25
  Speaker 8: It's a thrill to be here today. Thank you so much.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Is there a special Investing in America cabinet room?
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: It is probably Natalie's office. So, yes, there is probably
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: a special room. There are a lot of, you know,
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: posters and, you know, things for all the tours.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Lanyards?
• 31:41
  Speaker 8: I don't know that there's lanyards, but there might be hats.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: You're going to need to get some more swag. We
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: had Kirk Campbell on the show the other day, and
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: he said that basically he went to the Biden summit
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: with the presidents of Korea. And Japan, just so he
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: could steal stuff.
• 31:56
  Speaker 9: Wow.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: So you got to get on that.
• 31:58
  Speaker 8: Okay, on it.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: That's a pro tip from Kurt. Okay, let's talk inflation,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: if that's okay. So I know you spent a lot
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: of time combating inflation. It's sort of the number one goal.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: I am not an economist. I am so not an
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: economist that I majored in philosophy in college. So I'm
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: hoping you can explain this to me as you would
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: an idiot. It seems to me there's kind of two elements.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: The first was, let's fix all these supply chains together.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: that got broken during the pandemic. I remember when they
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: were like, you could see the ships waiting off of
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles because they couldn't get to the ports. People
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: couldn't get goods. The prices went up, right? Makes sense.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I know you've been untangling those. And then there's the Fed,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the Federal Reserve, which has been increasing interest rates, which
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, makes money more expensive, right? It
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: makes it harder to buy a home or just more
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: expensive and sort of like a blunt force instrument to
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: cool off the economy. Is there more that I'm missing
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: about sort of how you're approaching this?
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: That's a great summary. Now, let's remember that the reason
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: that we had those supply chain challenges in the first
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: place is because we had this global pandemic that upended
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: the economy in the United States, but also globally. It
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: meant when a factory shut down halfway around the world,
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: American firms couldn't get the parts they needed, and then
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: consumers couldn't get the things that they wanted, and that
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: helped fuel price increases. And then, of course, the war
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: in the Ukraine, which upended global energy prices, and that
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: caused a lot of the inflation.
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: So your points in terms of, okay, so we had
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: this inflation. How did we get through it? Key was
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: getting those supply chains working again. It was absolutely imperative.
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: Ports here in LA, all around the country, the president
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: did a lot of work to help the ports run
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: more smoothly to sort of get those back on track.
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: And there's a lot of data and indicators now that
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: show that supply chains are running um, back to normal
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: in many parts of the country. And so that certainly
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: is a key reason why inflation has come down so
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: much from, uh, last summer. It has come down by
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: over two thirds. So we really have made a lot
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: of progress there. And then of course the Fed has, um,
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: done its part, you know, it's, it's in charge of
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: price stability and, um, they've been raising interest rates and that,
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: you know, it's had some effect across the economy as well,
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: helping to keep those, contain those prices. I will also
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: add that the president has taken other steps, um, you know,
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: steps to make sure that gas was available through releasing
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: oil through the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but also things like
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: the Inflation Reduction Act, which is about thinking about some
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: of the bigger structural price issues that families face, as
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: well as all the work that he's done to make
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: sure that businesses are competing more fairly, which again is
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: also about some of the structural challenges with prices in
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: the economy.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you loved it the other day when he
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: said the Inflation Reduction Act doesn't really reduce inflation. It's
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: all about green investment.
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: As his economist, it is definitely about great investment. It
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: is also about reducing prices. So let me be very clear. Now,
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: the president is, of course, never wrong, but.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: Of course.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: He does like policy jazz at these fundraisers.
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: Well, I think that he is very right to focus
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: on the fact that with that piece of legislation, we
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: are making historic investments in clean energy that will reduce
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: prices for families. It'll make the transition to clean energy
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: as we build this new clean energy economy is going
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: to lead to lower prices and prices that are less volatile.
• 35:15
  Speaker 8: Super important.
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: And there's all of these subsidies for consumers to help
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: people make that transition and for businesses to make those investments.
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: So he is, of course, right there. But that is
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: about prices. And then, of course, there's a lot of
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: things in that legislation that were explicitly reducing prices for
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: families in terms of health care.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Right, right. One thing that's really challenging for consumers on
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: the West Coast, I think you're from Seattle, right? I am. Right.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: So you understand this, you know, Seattle, Portland, cities all
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: across California are are dealing with shortages of housing and
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: affordability crises as a result. That means rents are going up.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: It means homeownership feels completely out of reach for a
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: lot of younger people. I saw a report in Axios
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: this morning about how apartment construction starts in major West
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Coast cities are way, way down in 2023 because interest
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: rates make getting a loan to do so more expensive.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: There's increased material costs. That comes on top of lots
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: of parochial barriers that I'm sure you know about. And
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: in California, you have NIMBYs pretending they want to help
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: homeless people, but then blocking the construction of affordable housing
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: in their neighborhood because they don't want their home price
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: to go down. So I'm curious what the administration can
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: do to make sure that things that are happening today,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: like interest rate increases that are designed to reduce inflation
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: don't lead to more inflation down the road if there's
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: less housing stock.
• 36:40
  Speaker 8: Well, it's a great question.
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: And I love the way you're pulling together both the
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: short term and the long term. So certainly, housing remains
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: a challenge for millions of families, and higher interest rates
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: does make it harder to afford a home. The president
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: has had a robust housing agenda, making it more possible,
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: especially for renters, to have access to affordable housing. It
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: is certainly a big family budget item. But we have
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: to be thinking... As the Fed is doing its job
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: to make sure that we're lowering prices, the immediate issue
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: of making sure that things slow down a little bit,
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: that we get a little bit less demand, is going
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: to help the whole economy have those lower prices that
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: we've seen over the last year, which is going to
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: be really beneficial and is already beneficial to consumers all
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: across the country. I think one of the other challenges
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: that we saw during the pandemic in terms of inflation
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: connected to different ways that people were– using, thinking about
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: homes during the pandemic is so many people wanted more space.
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: They didn't want to be living in little apartments, which
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: also is a part of the reason why we've seen
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: that shift from services towards goods is people, you know,
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: wanted more outdoor space. So they were purchasing a whole
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: bunch of different kinds of things. And we're seeing some
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: of the reversal of that over time as well.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Got it. I remember, you know, there are some unforeseen
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: consequences from these sort of rate increases. Everyone probably remembers
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: the Silicon Valley bank collapse. Basically, they took in all
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: these deposit money, they invested it in long-term securities, like
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: 30-year treasury bills. People said, hey, we need our money
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: back now because we can't get more VC cash to
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: fund our startup. They had to sell these securities at
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: a loss. Fast forward and the bank's insolvent. Do you
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: guys feel confident that unforeseen consequences from these rate increases
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: like that have kind of been shaken out of the
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: system or there's a way to kind of see around
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: the curve and see what might be out there? Because
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: I remember there was a moment after SVB collapsed where
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: people were like, oh, my God, these are the unforeseen
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: consequences of a massive rate hike we've all been waiting for.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: You know, it must be the first of many dominoes. Luckily,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: that doesn't seem to be the case. It was like, what,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Signature Bank, I think, one other bank, Regional Bank went down,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: but that was it, I think.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: So, I mean, here's the thing. We have had very
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: low interest rates for a very long time. And so
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: you say unforeseen consequences, but certainly people that track this
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: knew that there were certainly people that, you know, had
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: really put a lot of emphasis on the fact that
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: rates would continue to stay low. And when that didn't happen,
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: that could upend their business models. You know, certainly the
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: president has been very, very clear that the Fed is independent.
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: We can't comment on Fed policy.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: That must be so annoying, Graham.
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: Well, it's also good because it's somebody else's responsibility to
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: deal with that part of the economy. So you know,
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: certainly there's a number of constraints there. But, you know,
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: one of the things that I just came from the
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: Jackson Hole Conference, where the Federal Reserve has this annual
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: conference where central bankers from all around the world meet
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: and have these conversations. And I had an opportunity to
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: talk to a And I think one of the really
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: important things to know is it was because of decisive
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: action on the part of the administration and the financial
• 39:57
  Speaker 4: regulators that were able to get through the situation that
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: happened in the spring so well. It did not have
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: the contagion that it could have had. So that's really
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: an important fact. And then, of course, on the other side,
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: the administration has been in so many ways supporting investment,
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: particularly in clean energy. to provide some of that access
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: to capital or those opportunities, making it a little bit
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: cheaper for firms to invest that hopefully can make it
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: still possible for that innovation to occur. One of the
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: very first paper that was presented at the Jacksonville Conference
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: was on the connection between innovation and monetary policy. So
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: certainly something on people's minds right now.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So when I was in government, one
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: of the constant risks to the economy seemed to be
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: the government in the form of you know, intractable fights,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: government shutdowns, et cetera. We seem to always be on
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: the cusp of another government shutdown, including maybe next month.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Are you able to quantify the economic impact from a
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: government shutdown? I don't know. It's probably the duration probably matters,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: but a week, two weeks, three weeks.
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: Well, it certainly has a negative effect on the economy.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: That is, that is very, very clear. And it has
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: a negative effect on the families and the individuals that
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: are directly affected by a shutdown. Um, You know, everything
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: from people not being able to, you know, use national
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: parks to not being able to get, you know, access
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: to really important government services or, you know, everything in between.
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: There are definitely negative economic consequences. I think it was,
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: you know, this is something we spent a lot of
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: time thinking about over the course of the spring with
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: the debt ceiling challenge. And the fact that they were,
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: you know, that the administration working with Congress was able
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: to get to a solution. that allowed us to not
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: default on U.S. debt was such a historic and important accomplishment.
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: But it is really quite challenging that we keep coming
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: so close to this time and time again.
• 41:59
  Speaker 8: I would agree there.
• 42:00
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Seems like there's got to be a better way to
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: run a railroad than the.
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: Last few years. Certainly. But you also need consensus on
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: what it is that government is trying to do. You
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: need to try to continue to forge. It has to
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: be bipartisan at the end of the day. consensus on
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: what is government for, what kind of investments we should
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: be making, and how we should be paying for them.
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: And I think one of the things that you've seen
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: the president be able to do in his economic policy
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: over the past couple of years is put together bipartisan
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: legislation that not only addresses real needs, but is able
• 42:32
  Speaker 4: to do so in a way that was fiscally responsible.
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: We paid for, you know, the president was able to
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: pay for what he did and actually reduce deficits over time.
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: And then, of course, in the Inflation Reduction Act, make
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: significant investments in the ability of the treasury to actually
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: bring in the money. And one of the things that
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: I think economists are increasingly discussing, and certainly many of
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: the folks that I'm talking to are increasingly clear on,
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: is that we definitely need to find ways to raise taxes,
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: particularly for those at the top, and to make sure
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: that our corporate tax system.
• 43:01
  Speaker 8: Is bringing in the revenue that we need in a.
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: Way that allows us to make the investments that we
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: need to make to keep the economy moving forward.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it seems particularly difficult to tax wealthy people
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: who are not necessarily earning a lot of income, right,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: but are, say, billionaires because they started a company that
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: we all use every day for everything, like Amazon.
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: Exactly, but that has certainly been a big focus of
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: this president, right? All of the investments that are happening
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: right now in the Internal Revenue Service, making sure that
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: they're able to do their job, they're able to enforce
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: the laws on the books, making sure that people pay
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: their fair share of taxes. Right. And then, of course,
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: the corporate minimum tax, really making sure that those at
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: the top are paying their fair share has been a priority.
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: I think we have a lot further to go on that, though.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Another thing we hear about a lot from listeners
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: is student loans and a lot of back and forth
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: on the issue. I imagine people are pretty confused at
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: this point, right? President Biden's plan for student debt relief.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: was blocked by the Supreme Court after six Republican-led states
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: whined about it and filed suit because they thought it
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: would hurt corporate profits. I believe borrowers have to start
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: paying interest payments again starting later this week. I know
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the administration recently launched the Save Student Loan Repayment Plan.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Can you help us understand how that works, who can apply,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: and what the process looks like going forward? Because I
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: also saw in the Wall Street Journal today that four
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: in 10 borrowers had their loans transferred from one service
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: provider to another debt servicer in March. And like, that's
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: got to be incredibly confusing to get an email from
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: some company you've ever heard of saying you owe them
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: a bunch of money. I wouldn't necessarily pay that right away. Certainly.
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: So this has been, you know, let's start from the,
• 44:46
  Speaker 4: you know, the first principle here, which is that student
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: debt is an enormous challenge for millions of families. And
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: It was really important, especially during the pandemic when so
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: many people weren't working, that people didn't have to pay
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: those loans for that period of time. Getting that system
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: back up and running, which is what was a part
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: of the debt ceiling compromise that happened last spring, that
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: that is now happening starting next month, that is an
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: important next step. And the Department of Education has been
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: working on on-ramps to make that easier for folks and
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: to make sure they have the information. I wanted to
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: get out my notes here because people will, you know,
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: if you have student loans, going to studentaid.gov will have
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: information on how people can access both the new SAVE program,
• 45:32
  Speaker 4: which is a program that helps people be able to
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: pay their loans off relative to how much income they
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: have and their family structure, not just how much their
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: loan balance is.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: It's a discretionary income, right?
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah. So it helps because, you know, if you go
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: to college, but Maybe this year you're not making as
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: much money or you're taking time off because you're a
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: new parent or you're moving to a new city and
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: so maybe you're not working because your spouse got a
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: job in a different city or whatever it is. Making
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: sure that those loan repayments are really consistent with the
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: borrower's family income and their family composition, that's what the
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: SAVE program is all about. It's a part of a
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: longstanding program for income-based repayment so that you're paying relative
• 46:14
  Speaker 4: to what you can pay. But the Department of Education
• 46:16
  Speaker 4: has really worked hard to make that program more effective
• 46:20
  Speaker 4: make it easier for folks, and make sure that it
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: really is calibrated to family incomes. So folks that have
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: loans should go to studentaid.gov. And information I know, I've
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: actually been hearing from a number of friends in recent
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: weeks who've gotten letters about their student aid, and a
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: few of them have actually had some of their loans forgiven.
• 46:42
  Speaker 4: And we're certainly seeing that happening all across the country.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Another pretty exciting piece of the IRA was giving
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: the government some limited ability to negotiate down the cost
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: of prescription drugs. I saw that later this week, the
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: administration is going to list the 10 prescription drugs that
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: were selected for Medicare price negotiations. I believe you probably
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: can't talk about those yet. If you can, maybe we
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: sidebar that. We do some stock trades.
• 47:09
  Speaker 8: I will not be mentioning.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's fine. We will not insider trade on the show.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: What's going to happen though, this will lead to direct
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: negotiations between Medicare and these drug manufacturers without naming the drugs. Obviously,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: I was kidding. How does this work exactly? Is this
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: like buying a car? You're like, I'll give you five bucks.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: They say, I'll give you 10. You put on your jacket,
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: you walk away. How does that happen?
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: Well, so this is something that the Department of Health
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: and Human Services has been working on. It's a really
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: important part of the Inflation Reduction Act. It's one of
• 47:37
  Speaker 4: the reasons why it will reduce inflation over time. The
• 47:40
  Speaker 4: United States has been an outlier in not allowing the
• 47:44
  Speaker 4: Medicare program to be able to negotiate over drug prices
• 47:47
  Speaker 4: so that they can pull those prices down. Again, I
• 47:50
  Speaker 4: don't have the list of drugs, and I would refer
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: to you, my colleagues, for all the stops and puts,
• 47:55
  Speaker 4: you know, the ins and outs on exactly how that
• 47:56
  Speaker 4: is happening. But, you know, I do think that in
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: this basket of policies, one of the exciting thing to
• 48:02
  Speaker 4: have seen is that, you know, the president made it
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: clear that lowering drug prices was an important priority. Capping
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: the price of insulin for Medicare recipients at $ 35 a
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: month was an important step taken. And then seeing private
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: actors come in and say, hey, we're going to do
• 48:15
  Speaker 4: that as well. You know, really trying to get these
• 48:18
  Speaker 4: markets to make them work for people. You know, we
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: haven't gone through the three planks of Bidenomics yet, but
• 48:23
  Speaker 4: this is an opportunity to bring in the third one,
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: which is around market structure and competition, making sure that
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: markets work. And that's what this is about, making sure
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: that when you go out and buy drugs or when you're,
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: you know, for Medicare, our grandparents or parents go out
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: and buy drugs. that they're getting a fair price is
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: such an important economic issue for families. And something that
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: I don't think we think enough about, that part of
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: government's role is making sure that the rules of the
• 48:46
  Speaker 4: game are fair, that those markets are really working, and
• 48:49
  Speaker 4: giving a really big insurance company the power to negotiate
• 48:52
  Speaker 4: so that they're not just a price taker, but that
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: they're able to say, hey, I could, you know, I
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: have all of these customers, you can make this much money,
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: is a really important piece of the puzzle and a
• 49:01
  Speaker 4: significant economic step forward.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a big deal. And anyone who's been
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: in politics for as long as I have, like how
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: hard Democrats have fought for this exact, or at least
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: fought for this principle for a very long time. You
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: mentioned Bidenomics several times. What's the pitch? We have a
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: listener who has a friend who is on the fence
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: about voting for Joe Biden. Can you give him the
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: pitch for what he's done and what you guys will
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: do in a second term if President Biden is reelected?
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: Certainly.
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: One of the great things, I think, about Joe Biden,
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: the president, is that he keeps at the core of
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: his economic policy each and every day how he can grow, build, sustain,
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: enlargen America's middle class, create that economic security, create that
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: economic opportunity. And so all of our economic policy has
• 49:48
  Speaker 4: been focused on making sure that, in his words, we're
• 49:51
  Speaker 4: building an economy from the middle out and bottom up.
• 49:53
  Speaker 4: And that's what Bidenomics is. Okay, well, so those are words,
• 49:57
  Speaker 4: but how do you actually grow and support and sustain
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: the middle class? And it's about making those investments in
• 50:04
  Speaker 4: America and all across the country You know, as the
• 50:07
  Speaker 4: president likes to say, making the investments in American people
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: is one of the best investments we can make. So
• 50:12
  Speaker 4: everything from making sure that we have the roads and
• 50:14
  Speaker 4: bridges to the broadband to the structures around us that
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: make the economy work, making sure that. Government is making
• 50:20
  Speaker 4: those investments in a way that crowd in private sector investments,
• 50:24
  Speaker 4: which we've seen so much of over the past year.
• 50:26
  Speaker 4: It's been an incredible year.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: A lot of factories, a lot of battery factories opening.
• 50:30
  Speaker 4: Huge investments skyrocketing off the charts. If I could show
• 50:35
  Speaker 4: charts on a podcast, I would show you this chart
• 50:36
  Speaker 4: where investment just, you know, it's gone sky high. That's
• 50:40
  Speaker 4: really important because that's not just government. That's private actors saying, oh,
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: I see where we need to go. We're going to
• 50:45
  Speaker 4: make those investments. Well, from those investments will come the
• 50:49
  Speaker 4: good jobs and the economic benefits for communities. So that's
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: the first pillar. But the second is making sure that throughout,
• 50:56
  Speaker 4: we're doing it through empowering and educating workers. If you
• 51:00
  Speaker 4: want to grow the middle class, you need to make
• 51:01
  Speaker 4: sure that workers have those opportunities, but they are empowered.
• 51:04
  Speaker 4: This is the most pro-union president in our lifetimes. And
• 51:09
  Speaker 4: making sure that we are investing in education and training
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: and all the skills that workers need to be able
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: to succeed in the labor market. And then third is
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: this question of making sure that the rules are fair,
• 51:20
  Speaker 4: that there is fair competition, that the market structures actually work.
• 51:24
  Speaker 4: So he's thought about it from the perspective that what
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: we make and how we make it matters. What we
• 51:32
  Speaker 4: make here in this country in America and how that
• 51:34
  Speaker 4: process happens, that is really the cornerstone to economic security
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: because the vast majority of us get the vast majority
• 51:42
  Speaker 4: of our income from holding down a job. And so
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: that's how we're going to grow the middle class. In
• 51:46
  Speaker 4: terms of the future, the president came in during an
• 51:50
  Speaker 4: economic crisis, was able to work across the aisle to
• 51:54
  Speaker 4: put in place historic legislation to not only deal with
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: the urgent crisis in front of us, the pandemic and
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: the ensuing recession, but really set in place the foundations
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: for economic growth for decades to come, particularly through investing
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: in new technologies like semiconductors, but also in helping us
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: build a clean energy economy.
• 52:15
  Speaker 8: I'm a labor economist.
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: And the one thing that is really clear, if you
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: care about what happens to labor in America over the
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: next 20 years, is how we build that clean energy economy.
• 52:26
  Speaker 4: Because that's where investment's going to come from. It's where
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: jobs are going to come from. And it's where American
• 52:30
  Speaker 4: competitiveness is going to come from.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: Unions want to make sure these are union jobs when
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: we're starting.
• 52:35
  Speaker 8: They're good jobs. They're union jobs.
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: We have that opportunity. But also that we have those jobs.
• 52:39
  Speaker 4: That we live in a world now where We're all
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: the victim of global events in terms of how much
• 52:48
  Speaker 4: we pay for energy. There is a future that is
• 52:50
  Speaker 4: not that far down the road where prices can be
• 52:53
  Speaker 4: less volatile, where energy can be cheaper, and we have
• 52:56
  Speaker 4: the opportunity to manufacture it, to build those things, build
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: battery plants, build wind turbines, build solar panels in ways
• 53:04
  Speaker 4: that can be cost-effective but also can create jobs here
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: in the United States.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: That's a good pitch. To your argument, though, about how
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: globalized these problems are, I believe your colleague, the Commerce
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: Secretary Gina Raimondo, is in China for meetings today. We're
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: recording this on Monday. She's going to talk to government officials,
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: business leaders. I think she's going to Shanghai Disney to
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: just let them know that Ron DeSantis is coming and
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: you got to be prepared for a really dumb fight.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: President Biden recently referred to China's economic problems as, quote,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: a ticking time bomb. Economists thought that China's economy would
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: drive a third of global economic growth this year. That's
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: getting revised down left and right. You see investors pulling
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: money out of Chinese markets. There's a lot of concern
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: about ghost real estate, you know, these buildings that were
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: built and no one wants to live in them. And
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: they're getting, you know, one of the biggest developers has
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: defaulted on some coupons. The question is, you know, how
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: concerned are you about this impacting U.S. consumers? You know,
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: we see like China's, I think, hiding economic data. You
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: were just with a group of the smartest economists in
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: the world. Like, was this front and center?
• 54:07
  Speaker 4: Interesting. At the conference, there was not as much discussion
• 54:11
  Speaker 4: on China as we just had here, as you just
• 54:13
  Speaker 4: sort of brought up. I mean, it was really, there
• 54:16
  Speaker 4: was a lot of, I mean, a lot of really
• 54:17
  Speaker 4: important things were discussed, but it was, you know, really
• 54:22
  Speaker 4: about how countries have recovered from the global pandemic and
• 54:26
  Speaker 4: that shock and how we are thinking about supply chains,
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: but there wasn't so much a China-specific focus on some
• 54:33
  Speaker 4: of those big questions moving forward. You know, We live
• 54:36
  Speaker 4: in a global economy. What happens in China certainly does matter.
• 54:40
  Speaker 4: And certainly the extent to which they are growing or
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: not growing has a variety of implications. I mean, one
• 54:46
  Speaker 4: of them that has become a little bit more potent
• 54:51
  Speaker 4: since the war in Ukraine, where we've all been thinking
• 54:53
  Speaker 4: about energy prices because they've been so volatile, is if
• 54:56
  Speaker 4: they're growing more, then that could be putting more demand
• 54:58
  Speaker 4: on global prices. If they're not growing as much, maybe
• 55:01
  Speaker 4: there's a little bit of easing. What does that do
• 55:03
  Speaker 4: to prices in Europe as we're sort of looking to
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: the next winter?
• 55:08
  Speaker 8: So there's that.
• 55:08
  Speaker 4: But then, of course, they're a really important producer. They're
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: a really important importer. So we do need to be
• 55:14
  Speaker 4: thoughtful about it. I mean, I think our job as economists,
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: we're always looking around the corner to see, okay, what
• 55:20
  Speaker 4: are some of the risks and challenges that are going
• 55:22
  Speaker 4: to affect U.S.
• 55:23
  Speaker 8: Consumers?
• 55:25
  Speaker 4: And so China is certainly on the watch screen right now.
• 55:30
  Speaker 8: I think, too, that.
• 55:32
  Speaker 4: There's been so many, especially with the CHIPS and Science Act,
• 55:37
  Speaker 4: so much of a discussion about where we are moving
• 55:40
  Speaker 4: in terms of new technologies, what that bilateral relationship is.
• 55:45
  Speaker 4: My colleagues have made, across the administration, have been very
• 55:48
  Speaker 4: clear that we value that trade relationship, but we need
• 55:51
  Speaker 4: to make sure that it works for the American people.
• 55:54
  Speaker 4: Jake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser, has focused on making
• 56:01
  Speaker 4: sure that we have this foreign policy for the middle class,
• 56:03
  Speaker 4: that we're making sure that as we are thinking about
• 56:05
  Speaker 4: our foreign policy and thinking about our trading relationships, that
• 56:09
  Speaker 4: they are not just good for trade in a general sense,
• 56:13
  Speaker 4: but that we are really focusing on how is this
• 56:15
  Speaker 4: helping us grow, build, and sustain and support the American
• 56:18
  Speaker 4: middle class and American jobs, and how is it creating
• 56:20
  Speaker 4: that economic security that comes from national security. So I'm
• 56:24
  Speaker 4: sure that those will be a number of the issues
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: that the Secretary will be talking about there in between
• 56:29
  Speaker 4: Disney rides, which I hope she gets to do a
• 56:31
  Speaker 4: little bit of.
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I hope that's fun. I've never been to Shanghai Disney.
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: Is it the same?
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: I have no idea.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: Is it the same thing somewhere else? Who knows? We'll
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: call Bob Agger.
• 56:39
  Speaker 8: I bet there's princesses, though.
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure. There's got to be a Frozen category. Final,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: most important question. There have been some articles about how
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: the Barbie movie and concert tours by Beyonce and Taylor
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: Swift may or may not be propping up the entire
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: global economy. Do you have an opinion on this? Is
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: this something you can quantify?
• 57:00
  Speaker 4: Well, it is really exciting to see the power of
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: women and their purchases having an effect on what economists
• 57:10
  Speaker 4: and economic commentators are talking about all over the country
• 57:13
  Speaker 4: and all over the world.
• 57:15
  Speaker 8: We've seen a lot post-pandemic.
• 57:17
  Speaker 4: People are really excited about getting back out there and
• 57:21
  Speaker 4: going to places with a lot of people and doing
• 57:23
  Speaker 4: all these things. I think that is certainly a piece
• 57:24
  Speaker 4: of it. But it just also speaks to the buying
• 57:27
  Speaker 4: power of women and the things that these incredible global superstars.
• 57:32
  Speaker 4: You have seen bump-ups in particular places as those tours
• 57:38
  Speaker 4: have come through, and it's had a big effect on
• 57:40
  Speaker 4: hotel rooms and spending and all the swag and all
• 57:43
  Speaker 4: the different things that people buy alongside of it. But yeah,
• 57:47
  Speaker 4: that's all I can say on that.
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Billion-dollar tour.
• 57:51
  Speaker 4: It's a really big deal, and these are incredible performers.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Keep them out there. We need them to rescue
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: the economy. Dr. Heather Boucher, thank you so much for
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: doing the show. It's great to meet you. And thanks
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: for the work you're doing.
• 58:02
  Speaker 8: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: Crooked Media Zone, Hallie Kiefer is back. Great to see
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: you again. The last time she humiliated me in front
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: of the audience because I forgot the name of the
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: lawyer on The Simpsons.
• 58:26
  Speaker 3: We really humiliated yourself.
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: You're right. She's back to hurt me again, though. Just kidding.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: The new Trump mugshot dropped. Yes. The internet responded with
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: some of the most cringeworthy merch known to man, so
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: we had to make a game.
• 58:39
  Speaker 3: Out of it. We had to. What do we got?
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 58:42
  Speaker 3: Whether you believe he's innocent or you've been alive at
• 58:45
  Speaker 3: any point in the last 1,024 days.
• 58:49
  Speaker 3: One thing's for certain, hitching your wagon to Donald Trump
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: is a surefire way to make money. Not make meaning,
• 58:54
  Speaker 3: or a better future, or a country your children would
• 58:56
  Speaker 3: be proud of, but money nonetheless. Which is why we're
• 59:00
  Speaker 3: going to play a game called The Price is Wrong, Bitch!
• 59:02
  Speaker 3: A title which we owe, of course, to the Adam
• 59:04
  Speaker 3: Sandler classic, Happy Gilmore. RIP to Bob Barker, who, as
• 59:08
  Speaker 3: Twitter also pointed out, got as close as he could
• 59:10
  Speaker 3: to 100 without going over. So in honor of Bob
• 59:14
  Speaker 3: Barker's demise and Trump's mugshot, gentlemen, I'm going to show
• 59:18
  Speaker 3: you actual items of Trump mugshot merch available for purchase
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: on Etsy. And you will have to guess its price without,
• 59:25
  Speaker 3: of course, using the price rules without going over.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Beautiful.
• 59:29
  Speaker 9: Okay.
• 59:30
  Speaker 3: Whoever correctly guesses the price of the most items wins
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: an actual Trump mugshot souvenir that you will have to
• 59:35
  Speaker 3: buy yourself because Kirk is not paying me enough to
• 59:37
  Speaker 3: do that. Are you ready?
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: We're ready, baby.
• 59:41
  Speaker 3: All right. First up, we have Blue Steel. It is,
• 59:44
  Speaker 3: of course, a t-shirt with Trump's mugshot and a picture of, naturally,
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: Derek Zoolander and Hansel doing the Blue Steel pose from Zoolander.
• 59:53
  Speaker 3: And it is captured, rigged election, call that Blue Steel.
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: A classic reference that transcends time and taste. Gentlemen, what
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 3: is your bid for Blue Steel?
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: Fire away.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: $ 10.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: 99. Great. Okay. $ 29.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 5: 99.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: You know, Desu, it goes to you because, again, you
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: did not go over.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: It is $ 24.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 9: 99.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: That's too much. So technically... It is simply too much.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 3: You did go over.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: Okay. You know what? We'll rotate who goes first because
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: then you can do the one cent over thing.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Also, I should inflate all my guesses because
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: these are people taking- Well, you'd think so. Oh, but
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: maybe not.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 3: Okay. You'd think so, and then you will see some
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 3: prices and be like, boy, things over at Etsy.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: Are- Getting wild over there.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 3: How is it cattywampus? I don't know if that's exactly
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 3: the word, but next up we have the Trump mugshot
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 3: velveteen blanket. Snuggle up under the watchful eye of your king,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump, with his velveteen blanket featuring his glowering face.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: It's available in three sizes, so I picked the largest
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: size because for some reason that seemed less sad. The
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: idea that you might have someone else there with you
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 3: after purchasing this. So for the 60 inch by 80
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 3: inch Donald Trump mugshot velveteen blanket, name your bid, Tommy, please.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: I think that my California king costs $ 49.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 3: 99.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: Okay. All right.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: See, I'm going for exploitative pricing here. How about $ 60?
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 3: Now, it is $ 44.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: 99.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 3: So what happens if the price is right?
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: No pun intended.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 3: Literally. What happens if both of you are over? I've
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 3: actually never seen prices right. I'm so sorry.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: I think we both lose.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: I think we both lose.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 3: So I would say both losers.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: You've never seen prices right?
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 3: You know, if I was homesick, it was more of
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 3: a Madlock afternoon for me. I never saw it.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 3: Now, this is a natural. Up next, we have the
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 3: Trump mugshot shot glass. Pretty self-explanatory. Take yourself on vacation
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 3: with a Trump mugshot shot glass. How much is this
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 3: bad boy?
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: Adisu, you are up.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: By the way, I absolutely love the height thing in
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: the background here.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 3: It's perfect.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: Perfect. I'm going to go with 10 bucks.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 3: Okay, great.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 6: Tommy?
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: See, I'm thinking you can get a shot of rail
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: tequila at Senior Frogs for like three bucks and that
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: this thing is like $ 3. 99.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 3: Again, Adisa, you are closer. It is, for some reason, $ 11.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: 19.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. Couldn't tell you why, to what end. However,
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 3: he is absolutely crushing you, Tommy. I'm so sorry. We
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 3: have a couple more.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 2: Hold this L.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 3: You still have time to not only catch up, but win.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: Great, thank you.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 3: Next time we have the Trump Bad Girls Club t-shirt.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, sweet Jesus, no.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 3: Yes, featuring Trump's mugshot along with similarly iconic mugshots of
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 3: Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. This t-shirt is memorable because
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 3: it's the item we found that part of me honestly
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 3: wants to purchase. I won't, though. Or will I? No,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 3: I won't. Gentlemen, please, bid away. Tommy, we're back to you.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: I think I would wear this.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 3: I know. $ 14. 99.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, great.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: I'm doing it. I'm doing $ 15. Sorry. I know it's
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: more than that.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 3: Again, it is $ 22. 59 at DeSue once again.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: Smoked.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 3: And I would want to say we were potentially going
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 3: to do two rounds, like both a pro-Trump round and
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: a resistance round. And what is, I think, perhaps scary
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: about the impending election is they were indecipherable.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: It was celebrating.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 3: It was like pro-Trump, but yet celebrating him being in prison.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 3: So the fact that it was unclear, well, something for
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 3: you guys to solve on the pod. I just want
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 3: to flag that now. Next up, something a little more interesting.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 3: This is the guilty pleasure wine. This is a bottle
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 3: of wine.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: Are we sure it's wine?
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 3: Well, there's no proof. There's no proof the liquid in
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 3: this bottle is wine. Thank you for flagging. It could
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 3: simply be poison or nothing. You were buying, it's really
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 3: for the bottle, so I don't know if you're like
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 3: drinking it right away. It has Trump's mugshot and it's
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 3: called Guilty Pleasure. It's described as a bold blend of
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 3: racketeering and arrogance. You can also, while you're at it,
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 3: get a Rudy Giuliani or a Mark Meadows bottle, which
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 3: is insane.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: Mark Meadows bottle. Who wants that?
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 3: Please submit your bids.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: Could you imagine opening up your box and getting your
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: Mark Meadows bottle?
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: Just being so disappointed.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: Just like, oh, man.
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 3: Just cuddling up in your Trump mugshot velveteen blanket all alone,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 3: I imagine. Please, if you would submit your bid, go ahead.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is, I'm going to go two buck. Okay.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 3: Okay, Tommy, I really, I have faith that you can
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 3: get one of these.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go with $ 9. 99.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 3: Okay, I get a D, so it is the winner.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 3: It is $ 6. 50. $ 6. 50. So in fact, our cheapest item
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 3: so far, something that you put into your body that
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 3: doesn't seem good. That doesn't seem good at all. Only
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 3: two more. Only two more. It's too late to win, Tommy,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 3: but to either stop overthinking it or start overthinking it.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 3: The opposite of whatever you're doing right now.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Will do.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 3: Next up, another t-shirt. You can have a whole wardrobe
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 3: if you really wanted to, but why? We, this one
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 3: has Trump's mugshot with a phrase, grab him by the
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 3: penal code. My question about this is what side is
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 3: this for?
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 3: Because if I like Trump, I'm like, well, I don't
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 3: like him going to prison. If I don't like Trump,
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 3: why would I want to grab him by the penal? Anything?
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 3: What maniac would purchase this? We don't know the reason
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 3: ours is not to reason why ours is meant to
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 3: do or die. Or in this case, guess the price
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 3: of this t-shirt. Adisu, I think you're, you're up again, right?
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 2: Am I first? I, uh, I don't remember, but, um,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: I really don't want this. I want to lose this one,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: but I'll go $ 19.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 4: 99.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: I want to say I've designed some t-shirts in my day.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 3: All of these is what you're saying?
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: I made my friend, they're pegging out here, a t-shirt
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: back in the day. You know Show Me Equal. I
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: made that for him. This poor model who had this
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: shirt sort of like AI imposed on her chest and
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: had no idea. I feel for her. I'm going to
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: say $ 12.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 5: 50.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, great.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 3: Now, there are two different. I'm so sorry. Which one
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 3: was yours again?
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: $ 20. Okay.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: Again, he did win. It is $ 24. 30. He's sweeping this.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: I am dominating.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: Last one.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 3: Last one. And I think what's great about it is
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 3: it's an item that I don't know how you would
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 3: ever guess the price of this. It's just something like,
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 3: it's not something like a t-shirt. Oh, no, no, no.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: You got to come to some black homes.
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 3: Okay, great.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, good.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 3: Okay, good. All right.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 3: Well, then I think we know. But finally, God has
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 3: abandoned us long ago. So in these trying times, place
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 3: your faith in someone who might be able to do
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 3: a little something about it.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: Prayer candles.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, man. Fulton County District Attorney Fonny Willis, now available
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 3: in prayer candle form. Hey, worth a shot.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: I'm ready to pay.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, sorry.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 2: He goes first. Tommy, you are up.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 3: Have you ever lit a prayer candle perhaps to, to
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: bring Trump down?
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, no, I've, I've, no, I've, um, no.
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, again, I.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 3: Was like, of all of these, I don't know how
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: you will price this.
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: So definitely, you know, I've lit some, some candles in
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: some churches, but not like this. Uh, this one, let's go.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 7: You can do this, buddy.
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: Uh, $ 11. Okay, great.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 3: Not bad. Not bad.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 2: I'm ready to pay like, $ 1. 99 for this, that's $ 199.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: But I'm gonna guess like 25 bucks.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 3: Okay, we finally have a winner, Tommy. I would say
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 3: a winner, by which I mean you got one. It
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 3: isn't that the white man's win.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 3: You got one, and in my mind, well, yeah, you won.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 3: And you see, you, of course, actually won the game.
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 3: But Tommy, a round of applause for a good try,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 3: and you finally got one again.
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: What was the price?
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 3: Well, it's on sale for $ 16. 20, originally $ 18. So it's
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 3: actually only 10% off. So in case you're like, I
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 3: don't know, but that 10%, get it now. Get it
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 3: while it's hot.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: Can you send me the link for this after the show?
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: I will send all of them to you. I will
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: buy it for you. Text me your address.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 3: I lost.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: I got smoked. I'll buy you four of them. I
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: think I lost by four or five.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 3: I think you have to.
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 3: We'll all light them and fingers crossed. Again, maybe it'll help.
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 3: We don't know.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: Well, Hallie, thank you for helping me show my ass
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: to the audience again.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 3: It's always a pleasure, Tommy. It really is.
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: Adice, thank you for doing the show.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: It was my pleasure.
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: You're a fantastic co-host.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: I had a blast.
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 3: You did a great job. That was incredible.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm good at the Price is Right.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: And thank you again to Heather Boucher for... Boy, wait
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: till she finds out how her interview ended, what was
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: followed by it. But that's all we got for this week.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: And we'll talk to you guys next week.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 9: Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. The executive
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 9: producer is Michael Martinez. Our producers are... Andy Gardner Bernstein
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 9: and Olivia Martinez. It's mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 9: Jordan Cantor is our sound engineer with audio support from
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 9: Kyle Seglin.
• 1:09:09
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• 1:09:10
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• 1:09:14
  Speaker 9: and Justine Howe for production support. And to our digital team,
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