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Trump Blames Harris for Assassination Attempt · Pod Save America

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I'm Jon Levitt.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: I'm Tom Evitor.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: On today's show, J.D. Vance admits the pet eating conspiracies
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: are fake. as the people of Springfield continue to deal
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: with bomb threats.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Sounds like he's eating crow.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: Tough.
• 0:34
  Speaker 5: Boo!
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Kamala Harris sits down for more interviews as Donald Trump
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: once again dominates the news. And with just 50 days
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: to go until the election, the former president makes his
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: most important announcement. Yet, the Trump family is finally launching
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a crypto platform.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: We've all been waiting.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Great timing, man.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Great timing. Right at the top of the crest.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: But first, as I'm sure you all know by now,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: it appears as though another lunatic tried to assassinate Donald
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Trump on Sunday while the Republican nominee was playing a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: round of golf at the Trump International Golf Club in
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: West Palm Beach. Secret Service agents spotted the muzzle of
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: an assault rifle poking through the bushes near the next hole.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: They opened fire. The suspect fled and then was arrested
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: in a highway stop. Ryan Wesley Routh, age 58, has
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: been charged in federal court with possession of a firearm
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: by a felon and possessing a firearm without a legible
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: serial number. More charges could follow as the FBI continues
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: to investigate. Leaders of both parties have expressed shock and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: anger that an attempted assassin could get so close to
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the former president, especially after he was shot at a
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: rally just two months ago. President Biden did a quick
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: press avail before getting on the helicopter on Monday at
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the White House. Here's what he said.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Thank God the president's okay. I think we got a
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: full report so far. One thing I want to make clear.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: The service needs more help. And I think the Congress
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: should respond to their needs.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: If they in fact need more service people.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Is there anywhere else we could do the press conference?
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: No, we just do them by the jet engines now.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Trump did them by the jet engines. Biden did. This
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: is just a new thing. Maybe if Kamala Harris wins,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: she can put an end to that practice. Anyway, this
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: is a small issue. Apparently, Trump and Biden spoke this
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: afternoon after that. They had a Wait, I said a
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: cordial conversation. Trump said we had a nice talk.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, we got to stop meeting like this.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about the predictably insane political fallout
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: in a bit, but let's start with how this could
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: have happened again. According to the charging document, Routh hid
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: along the edge of the golf course Saturday night and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: waited there for about 12 hours. We've all been through
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of Secret Service sweeps. It does seem hard
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to believe that someone hanging around the president's golf course
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: with an AK-47 and a sniper scope wouldn't get spotted
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: for 12 hours? Do you think it's fair for the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Secret Service to be in the hot seat right now?
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: So I think the golf course is like 15 minutes
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: from the club. So it's not the same terrain. It's
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: also like, this was not a scheduled golf outing. This
• 3:11
  Speaker 6: is what's called an OTR. So Trump didn't announce it
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: ahead of time. He just decided to play golf and
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: then went to the golf course. So there's just a
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: different level of protection for events like that. You're not
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: securing the entire perimeter necessarily for a candidate versus the president.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: It does raise the question that if it was an
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: OTR and wasn't announced, how did the gunman know that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: he would be there?
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: Because Trump plays golf every single Sunday. I mean, I
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: think there's a broader, look, the part of this is
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: obviously not Donald Trump's fault, but every conversation with Secret
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: Service about protecting an outing or going somewhere, whatever you
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: want to do, it's a back and forth, you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: like you're pushing them to let you do things To
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: get into the crowd, you're pushing to go overseas into
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: war zones.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: They're pushing back and saying that's not safe.
• 3:56
  Speaker 6: And apparently in the past, the Secret Service has told
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: Donald Trump, hey, man, people can see you from public
• 4:02
  Speaker 6: roads when you're golfing. Like, here's news media footage of
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: you on the golf course. Like, a sniper rifle would
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: have the same exact vantage point.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Washington Post basically said that the Secret Service said, hey,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: you want to golf at your clubs, but it's too
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: predictable because basically— People know that you'll be at the
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: club that you own closest to where you're currently staying,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: which is public information.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Every Sunday.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: And so when President Obama was golfing, and he golfed
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: too much. No, I'm kidding. He would go to military
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: bases and more secure places. And this is just, I
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: think people were rightly pretty upset about what happened in Butler.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: And so they're kind of drawing that into this and
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: assuming that something went wrong here, which is why I
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: think in their press conference, the Secret Service was pretty
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: irate about saying that this was the system working. Whether
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: that's totally true, I don't know. But I do think
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: this is just a different circumstance and the challenge of
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: securing a giant golf course surrounded by public roads that
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: the president often goes to, which is why I think
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: you get to President Biden in Ro Khanna talking about
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: wanting more support for the Secret Service, because if this
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: is where Trump is going to be regularly, clearly it
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: is very hard to secure something as big as this.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: And like Tommy said, it is always a negotiation between
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: the Secret Service and the protectee. In this case, it
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: was Trump. But like, you know, Obama would have these
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: negotiations with the Secret Service all the time. The Obama
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: administration would, Alyssa Mastromonaco could speak to this better than us.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: But especially with events that are announced ahead of time,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: even though there's more protection, sometimes if it's open air,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: it's outside, there's a big crowd. If it's in a
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: foreign country, right? Like Secret Service just gets nervous about this.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, they always defer
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: to the protectee because, you know, either it's the president
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: or a former president or whatever, but they can at
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: least voice their concerns before that and try to give
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the best advice they can and warn the protectee of
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: what might happen. Yeah.
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: I just think we need more information here. Like in Butler,
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: clearly like you, it was similar in that you had
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: some individual agents doing heroic work. The PPD people, the
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: people around the president dove on him after the shots
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: were fired. They put themselves in harm's way. And then
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: in this case- you had some member of the PPD
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: detail walking the perimeter of the club, saw the gun
• 6:17
  Speaker 6: muzzle engage the person, drove them away, right? So Secret
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: Service did their job on a sort of individual basis.
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: But there's a question of like, hey, is this process,
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: is this system working? If you, like, can we call
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: something an OTR when you are doing it so regularly?
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: I think probably not.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: I think like people, so just why the difference between OTR,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: like what that is traditionally is, You don't assume that
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: there's somebody waiting to kill the president at every random
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: coffee shop in America. So if the president just is
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: going to stop on an unpredictable way at an ice
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: cream place or a restaurant or something to meet people,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: they don't do as much to secure that because you
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: would never know the president was going to be there.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: They keep calling this a golf outing and OTR, but
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: everybody knew he was going to be there, especially including
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: this guy who is laying in wait for 12 hours.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: So, Lovett, as you mentioned, Ro Khanna. was one of
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the first Democrats out of the gate with a response.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: He said that Secret Service should immediately come to Congress
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: and tell them what resources are needed to expand the
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: protective perimeter so that they can allocate resources in a
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: bipartisan vote on the same day. In The Times, there
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: was a suggestion from a former Secret Service agent who
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: protected Obama that Trump should get the same level of
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: protection that current presidents get because he's a former president
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: running to be president and is an extremely polarizing figure.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And so you want the same level of protection. At
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the press conference on Monday, the Secret Service said Trump
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: has the highest level of protection. What do you guys
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: think of it?
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: So first of all, one thing that came out of
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: that press conference I think is worth mentioning is that
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: the acting head of the Secret Service made a point
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: of saying that the Biden administration, Department of Homeland Security, Congress,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: like there is bipartisan support and that the Secret Service
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: feels supported by Biden, by Trump, His administration by Congress
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: only because there's so much. I'm glad that he did
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: that because you could see Republicans saying, oh, this is
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: the Democrats not wanting Donald Trump to have defended. And
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: that's not there, though.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: It's interesting because Biden did say with the helicopter blades
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: going that Secret Service is stretched thin and does need help.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: So I do think there's a, seems like there's a
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: resource issue here.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: I mean, watching the acting director, I mean, he was like, look, yeah,
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: we need, we've been doing more with less for a
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: very long time, but also you can't just tell me
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: to like give more agents overtime because he said, I
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: wrote down the quote down men, women of the secret
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: service right now, we are redlining them, meaning like we
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: are working them so far beyond their capacity to do
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: just more overtime. So there does seem to be like
• 8:49
  Speaker 6: an aggregate manpower question. And there also was some back
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: and forth on whether Trump's getting the same detail.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: You know, like, so the, the local sheriff who his
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: kink seems to be telling reporters, they only get two
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: or three questions and then shutting the rest down, which
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: is very funny. The Palm beach guy, he said yesterday
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: that if Trump had been the act, the sitting president,
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: they would have actually been able to like man, the
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: perimeter at the course, the acting director today seemed to
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: push back on that. Although he might've just been saying hey,
• 9:17
  Speaker 6: like the president, Trump has PPD, which is the presidential
• 9:20
  Speaker 6: protective detail, a CAT team, which is the counter-assault team,
• 9:23
  Speaker 6: which are the super, super heavily armed guys who basically,
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: if there's an incident, go towards the shooter and engage
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: them so the president can flee. But it's not clear
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: that they have the uniform detail agents making a huge
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: perimeter around the president the way you would do with
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: a sitting president.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And someone asked Dick Durbin about this And he was like,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the problem with resources for the Secret Service is it's
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: not like you can just go hire more Secret Service
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: agents off the street. It's a finite resource here that
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: needs time to actually get more of them.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Also, by the way, he said do more with less.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: This has been an ongoing issue with the Secret Service. forever, right?
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I remember in 2008, I just went and looked back
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: at it, that there was this issue around defending so
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: many presidential candidates when in 2007, the race had already
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: seemed to begin. You have a former first lady running
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: for president, former president campaigning on her behalf. You have
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Barack Obama had already begun receiving threats when he's campaigning.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: And so this is just The point that they're always
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: trying to provide 100% fail-safe protection, and that's impossible, and
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: there's always limited resources.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the prospective assassin. Routh has an extensive
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: arrest record, including a 2002 conviction that involved a three-hour
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: standoff with police that resulted in charging him with possessing
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a weapon of mass destruction characterized by local press as
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: a fully automatic machine gun. As for his political views,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: they've been all over the place. He says on social
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: media he backed Trump in 2016, Biden in 2020, and
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: has supported the typical combo of Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Those are his different candidates.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: He's also fairly obsessed with the war in Ukraine and
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: has routinely contacted the Ukrainian military with what one official
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: described to the New York Times as, quote, nonsensical ideas
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: that can best be described as delusional. Of course, none
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: of these details matter to Trump, who waited less than
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: 24 hours to blame Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, calling them, quote,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the real threat. In an interview with Fox, where he
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: also said that, quote, their rhetoric is causing me to
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: be shot at. And they are the ones that are
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: destroying the country, both from the inside and out. Lovely.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Trump also posted that, quote, because of this communist left rhetoric,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: The bullets are flying and it will only get worse.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: So our borders must be closed and the terrorist criminals
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: and mentally insane immediately removed from American cities and towns.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: So the rest of MAGA world has, of course, followed
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: suit with Don Jr. blaming radical leftists and Elon Musk tweeting, quote,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: the incitement to hatred and violence against President Trump by
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the media and leading Democrats need to stop. And this
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: is after Musk tweeted and then had to delete a
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: tweet where he said, no one is even trying to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: assassinate Biden slash Kamala, and then later claimed this was
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: some kind of a joke.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: You just didn't get it.
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: Some of the best comedians in history, just people don't
• 12:16
  Speaker 6: get them at that time.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: He's so dry.
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: He's just such a dry witch. He's so funny, we
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: don't get it.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: He's supposed to comedy. He made excuses for himself by saying, like, man,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: you know, a joke works in the room. You tell
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: it to a bunch of people, and then you post
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: it online, it doesn't work as well, with just a
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: window into such a bleak and empty existence that he
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: must have, just... spouting off this nonsense to a group
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: of yes goons that are sitting around in a circle saying,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: great one, Elon. Post it, my man. Post it. You're
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the best.
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: Sometimes a joke works with all the people you paid,
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: but then it doesn't outside.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's called love it or leave it.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: So after the first assassination attempt... There was a brief
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: period of so-called unity. Donald Trump was a changed man.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Everyone was going to hold hands.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: He only told that story one time.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was only going to tell that story because
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: it was too painful.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: And then on Twitter spaces. Right.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Now we're right into blaming the left. It doesn't matter
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: what the details are about this guy. It doesn't matter
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: anything that happened, any of the investigation, what it might uncover, whatever.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. We're going right after the left immediately.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Were you guys surprised at how fast this happened? And
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: what do you make of their response in general? Here
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: we are sitting 24 hours after this happened. Surprised?
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: No, not surprised. Look, this is like a conspiratorial movement,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: like a paranoid movement that doesn't care what the facts say,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: just whatever is useful. It is useful to them in
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: this moment, in their minds, to believe that this is
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: some leftist. So they're going to say it. That's what
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: ties all these disparate lies that they're telling.
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: Are they useful?
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Then they're going to tell them. I think we are
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: past the point where we can expect Don Jr. to
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: show the kind of I don't know, seriousness, wisdom, maturity
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: to understand that the stakes of political violence are too
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: high to behave in this way. So you'll wait a
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: long time for Don Jr. to show that kind of maturity.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: So no, I wasn't surprised.
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: It is one of the rare times I am sympathetic
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: to Trump. I mean, almost getting shot in the head
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: has to have screwed him up. It has to, it
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: would mess up anybody. Like you'd be scarred for life
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: if you almost, you literally just ducked a bullet. Then
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: for it to happen again, I would be absolutely furious. Now,
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: that doesn't like justify blaming Democrats, like putting out all
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: these statements that are clearly going to just make inflame
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: everyone's worst instincts in this moment. It's also like in
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: the first case, in the Butler shooting, that shooter.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Was immediately killed. He didn't have much of a social
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: media presence. They couldn't find a lot of information about
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: the motive.
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: This guy is sitting in custody. They have him, they
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: have his gun, they have his social media posts.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: He sounds like many broken brain people on the internet, frankly,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: if you look through his Twitter feed.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: I mean, to the extent that he has a motive
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: beyond maybe just having lost his marbles, we'll be able
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: to figure it out.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: I think that was the motive.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, they decided to hang their hat on
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the fact that he said he supported Biden in 2020.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: that he wanted Trump to lose, that he said bad
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: things about Trump, even though he was a former Trump
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: supporter himself. They don't care what the full picture is
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: or what the motivations are or whether this guy's mentally
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: disturbed or anything. All they care about is they had
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: one little thing and they were able to say, Boom.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: He's a radical leftist.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: He's fully politicizing it.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Of course, of course.
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: I'm just saying, like, on a human level, boy, would
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: this have fucked me up if I were him.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: He also said in that Fox interview.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, but that's completely different.
• 15:46
  Speaker 6: He said in that Fox interview, they use highly inflammatory language.
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: I can use it, too. Far better than they can,
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: but don't.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, if Donald Trump wanted to do the first
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: interview and be like, I can't fucking believe this almost
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: happened to me again. What is wrong with the Secret Service?
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: There's too much violence in this country. There's too much
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: potential for violence.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: Maybe.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, maybe I should look inward too. But if he
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: said that and he was just really angry, that'd be
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: one thing. That's not what happened.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the guy's anti-Trump. He tried to kill Trump. That goes,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: he's a wacko. The jump to, this is not being
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: incited by Democrats. This is just a narcissistic, mentally ill
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: fucking wackadoo that's been posting all kinds of things for years.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Of course it's absurd to tie it to Democrats. Of course,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: it's dangerous. Of course, that's what he does.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: How do you guys think that the Harris-Walls campaign and
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: other Democrats should react to all of this? So far,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: they've done everything that you would expect normal politicians to do, right?
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: You have, like I said, Ro Khanna was out there
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: saying we should give them more protection. Most Democrats have
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: said that. Joe Biden had a call with them. Kamala
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Harris put out a statement saying this is horrific. Everyone's
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: doing the right thing. And now all these Democrats are
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: also getting attacked by Donald Trump and getting blamed for this,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: do you just ignore it and move on? Do you
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: punch back?
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I was thinking about that. I feel like there's two,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: I had two different sort of, I think, ways to
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: try to talk about it without just like taking the
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: punch right in the face and then ignoring it. One
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: is to say, this is awful. This shouldn't happen in
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: this country. We denounce political violence. But we also need
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: leadership that understands that in moments that feel dangerous and threatening,
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: You turn the temperature down. You don't turn it up.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: You try to demonstrate the kind of politics you want
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: to see, that you don't go around attacking everybody you
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: can think of because you're upset. That's not what a
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: leader does. A leader tries to bring the country together
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: and try to remind people about how dangerous political violence is,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: whether it's from the left or from the right or
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: for some crazy guy. I think that's one way to
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: do it. I think the other way to do it
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: is to say, We denounce political violence. We denounce political
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: violence when it's against Donald Trump. We denounce political violence
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: when it's Donald Trump inciting an insurrection. It's dangerous to
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: a democracy. It's dangerous. We're glad Donald Trump is safe.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: And we're glad Democrats and Republicans are denouncing this kind
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: of political violence. And I'm really glad Democrats and Republicans
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: came together to denounce the kind of violence we saw
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: at the Capitol. We ought to put a stop to
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: all this, that kind of thing. Those are the two thoughts.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, I know.
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: I think the most important thing was what Joe Biden
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: did to call him to offer more resources. I mean, like,
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: it's crazy.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: We can't get our arms around this problem. Like, we
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: should be able to.
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: Like, the message it sends to the entire world that
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: we can't protect the president of the United States is
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: insane to me.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Also.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: Or potentially the next president of the United States.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Also, not to have.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: What are we doing?
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I know we have the same exact conversation about gun
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: violence and gun legislation every single time something like this happens.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: But the guy was a convicted felon who... was convicted,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: had three hour standoff with police in 2002 where he
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: had a machine gun, multiple other weapons charges.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Like this person should not have been able to get
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: a gun. And, you know, most laws in most states
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: say that they, he shouldn't have been able to get
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: a gun. So perhaps he got it illegally or whatever.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: But like the idea that criminals, mentally unstable people can
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: get their hands on these weapons is absurd.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Absurd.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I also like, I do think we just need
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: more information to know, like, The Secret Service is saying
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: that their systems worked. Then there's a question how close
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: this person was able to get to Donald Trump. They're
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: describing it as an assassination attempt. Assassination plots, attempts, whatever,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: are foiled. They happen, right? I forgot about this. Just
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: last year, in August of last year, Biden was going
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: to Utah. Before Biden went to Utah, FBI went knocking
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: on the door of a guy that had been issued
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: some threat. The guy ended up killing the guy. He
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: called himself a MAGA Trumper.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: A January 6th rioter was arrested June of last year
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: outside of the Obama's home in D.C. with weapons and
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: explosives outside the Obama's home.
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: This is why the Elon Musk tweet was just so
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: wrong on so many levels. First of all, there's publicly
• 20:04
  Speaker 6: documented incidents of where there have been threats against Obama
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: or Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. Second of all, he
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: doesn't know all the threats the FBI and the U.S.
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: Secret Service sees every single day against the president or
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: these candidates. Like it would chill you to your core.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: It's terrifying.
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: And so like saying something like that, that attempts to
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: make this a Republican versus Democrat thing is just stupid.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And I think if like Kamala Harris, if she's asked
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: about it, I think your answers are right, Levitt. And
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: I also think it's just, I take these things extremely seriously.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Like the attempt on any leader's life, is very serious.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: And that's why we're working with Secret Service. We're going
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: to make sure there's enough protection. And it doesn't sound
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: like Donald Trump and his people are taking it seriously.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: It sounds like they're looking at it as another political
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: opportunity for his campaign, which is what he does. And
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: I think that's just dangerous. It's dangerous for him. It's
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: dangerous for all of us. It's dangerous for the whole country.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: This is why we can't go back to this. You
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: put it right in the category, which the Springfield thing
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: is as well that we're about to talk about. Of,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: you know, it is purely for Donald Trump's own political
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: gain and nothing else. That is all he sees this
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: stuff as.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: It's also just, man, we just didn't know how many
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: people did not have the responsibility, the perspective to be
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: able to talk about this in public. Like John Jr.,
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: all of them, Ted, all these guys, they just don't
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: have the ability to treat this seriously. They can't, they
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: don't truly accept the stakes of like what happens to
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: this country if we really do descend into political violence.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: So other than blaming Democrats for a lunatic's attempt on
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the former president's life, it was a pretty standard weekend
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: for the Republican ticket. There's a headline I loved in
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Sunday's Wall Street Journal that I think really summed it
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: up well. quote, Trump posts disdain for Taylor Swift. Vance
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: defends pet eating claims. Subhead, Republicans had planned to campaign
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: on the economy, but that topic is getting less attention.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: The paper is, of course, referring to Trump posting on
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Truth Social on Sunday in all caps, I hate Taylor Swift.
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: Do you think we would have led with that if
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: not for this horrible assassination?
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was the kind of post that I
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: was getting so many texts from people who were like, wait,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: is that real? Or is that like a parody thing
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: that someone did? And I looked twice. I went on
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Truth Social. I really want to know. He did. He
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: just wrote, I hate Taylor Swift in all capital letters.
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: It's like she has the most intense online fan base.
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: I would not want to kick that beehive just for
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: purely political reasons.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: It's also, it's not even like he's trying to needle
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: her or take a shot at her. He just, it's just,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I hate her.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: That's all he had to say. I hate her.
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: Right, right.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: This is sort of like, because she doesn't like you.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Right, yeah, that's it.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: You actually were putting out AI images of her support
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: being important to you literally a week ago.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: It is the most distilled example of how Trump works.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: You think Trump bad? You bad.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: You like me? You're good. You don't like me? You're fucked.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: That's it. That's his presidency. So anyway, that was just
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: hours after his running mate did a tour of the
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Sunday shows. What? They just keep putting J.D. Vance out
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: on all of these Sunday shows. It's so weird that
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: he has become like the de facto spokesperson for the
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Trump campaign because Trump can't do normal interviews or refuses to,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: doesn't want to. He just wants to keep posting and
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: doing his rallies. So they send J.D. Vance out as
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: like the ultimate Zamboni, Trump Zamboni, trying to like intellectualize
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: all the random... threads of Trumpism.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: I guess they decided, it's interesting to think about because
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: the last time he did the full round of Sunday shows,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: I feel like maybe you could say it was better
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: for him than his previous outings in the public. that
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: were about fucking couches and women not having children being awful. Obviously,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: it was bad for him, but I didn't describe it.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: And this one's about eating pets. Hasn't improved too much.
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: He also spent half of the day Saturday just in
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: old school Twitter fights with random people.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: He's posting through it.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: He was fighting with Crystal Ball. He was fighting with
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Zay Jelani.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: Nuts.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Folks, you guys at home probably know.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: We know because we're sickos.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: We're posters. We're posting through it too.
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: Thoughtful people on the sort of progressive Bernie sort of spectrum.
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: But like, what are you doing, man?
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: So anyway, after he's finished posting on Saturday, I guess
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: he didn't do Sunday show prep. Then he goes on
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the Sunday shows. And he said this, his most contentious
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: interview was with CNN's Dana Bash. Here's how it went.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: The American media totally ignored this stuff. until Donald Trump
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: and I start talking about cat memes. If I have
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: to create stories so that the American media actually pays
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: what I'm going to do, Dana, because you guys are
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: completely letting Kamala Harris coast.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: You just said that you're creating a story. We ought
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: to be talking about public policy. Sorry, you just said
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: that you're creating the story.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: What's that, Dana?
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: You just said that this is a story that you created.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: So the eating dogs and cats thing is not... We
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: are creating.
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: Dana, it comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: American media focusing on it. I didn't create 20,000 illegal
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: migrants coming into Springfield.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Source, next door.
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: Yeah, man.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Look, whoever calls into my office and says anything, we
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: automatically believe that person. We just share it.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: And I've been a senator for a while, and I
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: just decided to start drawing attention to this a week
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: and a half ago.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Right, yeah.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Also, the 20,000 number is not right.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Particularly not right is the illegal part.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: They're all legal. It's just wrong all the way down.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Anyway, Ohio's Republican governor, Mike DeWine, went on ABC's This
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Week to push back on some of these claims from
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: JD Vance and Trump.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Let's listen.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: I think these discussions about Haitians eating dogs and cats
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: and other things needs to stop. We need to focus
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: on what is important. What is important is that we
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: get primary care health to everyone in a very growing city.
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: that we do other things in regard to housing. These
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: are kind of basic things that we need to do.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: We need to focus on those and not this discussion
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: about Haitians eating dogs. It's just not helpful. And again,
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: these people are here legally. They're here legally.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: So in the week since the debate, bomb threats have
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: shut down Springfield City Hall and a middle school, caused
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: lockdowns at two hospitals, evacuations at two elementary schools, And
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: on Monday, officials closed a college in town for the
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: week because of continued violent threats, including shooting and bombing.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: You think that's the media attention J.D. Vance was hoping
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: for when he created the story to focus the media
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: on the suffering of the people of Springfield?
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: I think that, look, a week and a half ago,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: we were not talking about the 1990 Immigration Reform Act
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: as passed by George H.W. Bush and passed by Congress
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: in a bipartisan way to create the temporary protected status program.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: And now that's all we're talking about.
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: It is the conservative mantra as coined by our friend
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: Ben Shapiro used to be facts don't care about your feelings.
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: Now it's my feelings are all that matters. And, you know,
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: I'll make up my own facts. So that's lovely.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Like no one was talking about this until J.D. Vance
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: started posting cat memes. That's something that he said on
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: a national television program.
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: It's like, in a sense, this narrative is no different
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: than all the news cycles about caravans In past elections,
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: remember 2018, 2020, there was always some scary sort of
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: ISIS-filled caravan coming towards the border. Now it's this more
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: lurid example of people allegedly eating, you know, Fido. The thing,
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: they're really stretching when they get to the geese. Geese
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: absolutely suck. They're here illegally from Canada. Eat them all.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: But also the guy that was photographed with holding the goose,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the dead goose, it was a different town and it
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: was roadkill. And so he was just picking it up
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: off the street.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Also, also, RFK Jr. famously tells stories about finding and
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: eating roadkill that he finds on the side of the road.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Picture of him looking like he's eating a dog. Dog carcass.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: We went so quick from they're stealing your cats to
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: they're eating city geese. What, the fucking king's deer? You
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: can eat city geese.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Who cares? We are a week from the debate.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Can't believe that, by the way.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, a week after the debate that Donald Trump
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: lost badly, according to all the polls, And we are
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: talking about they're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: It's been remixed on TikTok as a song. It's all
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: everyone's talking about. It's in the news. A Trump advisor
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: told the Bulwark's Mark Caputo that they are happy to, quote,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: take the hit on the fake pet eating story, quote,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to prove the bigger point. We talk about abortion. We lose.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: We talk about immigration. We win. Trump is also reportedly
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: planning a trip to Springfield. We don't have details about
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: that yet. What do you guys think? Is this issue
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: a winner for the Trump campaign, Tommy?
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: I mean, look, I did wake up this weekend and
• 29:16
  Speaker 6: read the news and think Republicans have successfully elevated the
• 29:20
  Speaker 6: issue they want to talk about to the top of
• 29:22
  Speaker 6: the agenda, which is immigration. And they're doing so in
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: a very racist, divisive way. So this is the terrain
• 29:30
  Speaker 6: Trump wants to be on. Now, I think we've seen
• 29:32
  Speaker 6: enough focus groups and data from the debate that shows
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: that people basically mocked him when he started ranting about
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: people eating dogs and cats et cetera. They thought it
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: did not play well with anybody, not Trump voters, not
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: undecideds on anybody. So, you know, this could be just
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: like self-interested spin from some advisor. It could be bullshit,
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: but you know, I, it's just something we want to
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: be mindful of. Like Republicans want the focus to be
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: on immigration and, we want the focus to be on
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: abortion access, democracy, the economy, other things. And it's just
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: something to have in the back of your mind.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: I saw that quote and I thought, well, that's one
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: way to spin a week of news cycle about people lying,
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: about people eating pets and your candidate losing a debate
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: by saying something that people laughed at. Do I think
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: we're on better ground when we're talking about abortion?
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: But do I think that this is automatically a winner
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: because the issue is a winner for them when they're
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: talking about it in this completely ham-fisted and ridiculous way?
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: And by the way, their strength is on the border.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: We are figuratively and literally so far from the border.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: We are talking about legal Haitian immigrants and a racist
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: attack on them. I think that there's no reason you
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: can't turn this to your advantage by saying, A, Obviously,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: we need to address our immigration system, but this is
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: a ridiculous attack on legal immigrants who did nothing but
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: come to a place that the city and the Republican
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: governor and businesses wanted them to come to to build
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: a better life. And two, the reason they want to
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: talk about this is because they want to talk about
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: anything other than their position on abortion, on taxes, on
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: the environment, not on guns. They want to scapegoat immigrants
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: instead of talking about what matters to you. And I
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: think if you can do both of those things, I
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: don't think there's any reason to think we shouldn't be
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: talking about cats and dogs and geese.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they succeeded in elevating the issue of
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: immigration so that that's what we're talking about. And they
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: succeeded at getting away from a discussion of how bad
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump was at the debate and how good Kamala
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Harris was. I don't think this was the immigration discussion
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: that they wanted to have. And I think they probably acknowledge,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: they're acknowledging that too, right? Like it's not the perfect
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: immigration conversation since it's fucking Looney Tunes. But yeah, I
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: think what Trump tries to do and successfully does is
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: he just wants the attention. He doesn't care if it's
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: good attention or bad attention. He just wants to be
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: the main character. And she was the main character for
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: too long, and she won the debate, and so he
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: just worked his way back in. Do I think it
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: was a strategy to work his way back in?
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: No.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: All these things are just like, instinct and he says
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: something stupid. And then it's like, there's some reaction to it.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: And he's like, Oh, I'm getting some reaction. Let's just
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: do more now.
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Like it's all instinctual, but it's still fucking.
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: And what it's only like, look, all he talks about
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: is whatever is six feet in front of his face.
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: And I think he's embarrassed about his debate performance. He
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: knows he got his clock cleaned. And so they're constantly
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: spinning it. But on some level, I do think they've
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: successfully gotten back to terrain. They want to talk to,
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: you know, you're right about all the distinctions. This is
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: not illegal immigration. This is temporary protected status, et cetera,
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: et cetera. no one knows what the fuck any of
• 32:49
  Speaker 6: that means, right? So they're just like, they're talking about
• 32:52
  Speaker 6: a lurid story.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: They're lying.
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: It's this racist imagery. It's spreading on social media. And
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: there's a piece of that that they think might be
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: helpful to them. They could be completely wrong, but I
• 33:02
  Speaker 6: like kind of took at face value that there's some
• 33:04
  Speaker 6: strain of thought in the campaign that believes this.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Well, and let's talk about it from the perspective of
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Kamala Harris's campaign, right? So they, every morning get up
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: and think, okay, we have some work to do. One,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: We have to continue to disqualify Donald Trump in the
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: minds of voters and define him as too risky for
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: a second term. The bigger goal is to define Kamala
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Harris in voters' minds who don't know her that well,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and particularly voters who haven't decided whether they're going to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: vote or whether they're going to vote for her, to
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: make sure they know who she is, what she stands for,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: what her plans are. And I'd say on that part,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: They didn't get as much done during the debate as
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: probably they need to because she had to spend the
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: entire time kicking Donald Trump's ass, which she did. And
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: so they got the disqualified Trump part. But now in
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the next 50 days, they have to figure out ways,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: in addition to paid media, to break through every day
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: with what's Kamala Harris's vision? What's her plan? How does
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: it compare to Donald Trump's plan? And I would say
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: from that perspective, it's tough to have this in the
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: headlines all the time or in the last couple of
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: days because you're just coming out of this debate, you
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: have all this momentum. So like, how do you what's
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: the next step, you know, and so that that's tricky.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: No, I agree with that. And also, like, if you're
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: in a swing state, you're seeing national news headlines, maybe
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: or somehow you're seeing the news by osmosis about this
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: debate about something going on in Ohio, immigrants, dogs, you know,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: it sounds insane and stupid and Donald Trump's crazy. But
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: also you're being deluged with ads by Donald Trump saying
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: Biden failed at the border, Kamala will fail the border,
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: the border is broken, criminals are sweeping in. They're doing their,
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: an immigrant got in a car accident, an immigrant did this,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: an immigrant did that. And you're sort of seeing a
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: lot of that day in and day out. I do
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: worry about that too. Like it's a little more effective
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: in the context of a bunch of heinous ads.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Well, it raises the question, they have so far ignored
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: this story on the campaign trail. The campaigns put out
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: statements and posts and stuff like that. But Kamala Harris
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: has not really talked about it. Tim Wallace hasn't really
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: talked about it. I think that's obviously by design. I
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: think that's probably been fine so far. At some point,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: they'll either get a question in interviews or they'll have
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to comment on it. I sort of wonder
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: if Kamala Harris doesn't go out there and say.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: Like, you know what?
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: This isn't about helping the people of Springfield. This is
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: about helping Donald Trump and J.D. Vance's campaign, which is
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: like their entire stance on immigration is about helping their campaign.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: She said in the debate, it's not an issue, a
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: problem to solve. It's a problem to run on. And
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: People in Springfield, they want to live their lives. They
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: want affordable housing. They want good health care. They want
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: public safety. They don't want to be used as political
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: props for Donald Trump and his campaign. They need help.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: And that's what we need, too. And then she has
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: an affordable. The real problem that that led the city
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: manager in Springfield to send a letter to Congress that J.D.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Vance was copied on that started this whole thing was
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: we've had this influx of immigration over the last couple
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: of years and. It's driven up some housing price, made
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: housing tough here for people. So we need help with housing.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Didn't say we need help on immigration because it was
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: all legal immigration. And they believe that the immigrants have
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: benefited the economy and the city as a whole. But
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: we do need help with some housing. Well, Kamala Harris
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: has got a great housing plan that she can talk about.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: And J.D. Vance and Donald Trump don't give a shit
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: about housing, nor do they give a shit about anyone
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: in Springfield having health care, you know. So I might
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: just drive that.
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: I think this is also something you can make fun
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: of at a big rally. Oh yeah. I think you
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: start with just mocking this and then I do want,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: you have to land at the serious point, but I
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: just started saying like, what are these fucking people talking about?
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: These people are out of their minds. They're ranting and
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: raving about this made up stuff. They sound ridiculous. They
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: are ridiculous.
• 36:40
  Speaker 6: They're embarrassing.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: Like kind of like, just like, just mock them mercilessly.
• 36:44
  Speaker 6: Moments like this remind you that Trump also is backed
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: by a right-wing propaganda apparatus. Like the New York Post
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: is did a story about a Haitian motorist who made
• 36:53
  Speaker 6: an illegal turn in Springfield, Ohio.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: This is the headline.
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: Smashes into mom driving with autistic daughter. So this was
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: a minor traffic incident with no injuries involving licensed drivers
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: hundreds of miles from New York that somehow make it
• 37:07
  Speaker 6: to the page of the New York Post.
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: Hmm.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: I wonder why that happened. They got an Ohio traffic
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: reporter on the end.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: Pete. Pete reporter.
• 37:13
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• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Kamala's continuing to do more interviews. She's doing a live
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: stream with Oprah from Michigan this week. And over the weekend,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: she sat down with a local ABC affiliate in Philly,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: made no news whatsoever. You guys think that's the right strategy?
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: What do you think about the interview stuff?
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, you're not doing the Philly interview to
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: make news with the ABC affiliate. You are doing it
• 38:54
  Speaker 6: to get more coverage on that station in that market.
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: So I think if the worst that comes of this
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: is that Axios is mad that you didn't create a
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: headline for them, that is fine. So she should be
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: doing way more of this stuff. In 2007, in the
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: primary in Iowa, we did local news at every event.
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: You got more coverage if you did that. And 99%
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: of the time, it was about substantive policy stuff. And
• 39:14
  Speaker 6: 1% of the time, it was about why you didn't
• 39:17
  Speaker 6: wear a flag pin. And that controversy dogged you until
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: the end of time.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's sort of like- Sounds very specific.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: You don't. KCRG.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: You make news at the national level to try to
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: reach the people at the local level who might otherwise
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: not have known whatever else you were talking about that day.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: You're talking to the people. You've done the local interview
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: is how you get to those people. I think Kamala
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Harris should be making news, do it at a rally.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: like make news about this at a rally. You don't
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: need to make news in a local interview.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah. It's also just do more of these, do more
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: local TV. Like you, part of this process, like it's
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: great to do the local TV hit when you're in Philly,
• 39:50
  Speaker 6: but the next step is do a satellite tour when
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: you're sitting in Philly. So you're talking to stations in
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: North Carolina and Pennsylvania and Georgia and like everywhere.
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: And I thought that watching the interview, it was a
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: good interview. Like as she went on again, she looked
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: more comfortable and especially, and sounded more comfortable, especially she
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: got to, Issues of public safety and criminal justice and
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: gun safety where she has like worked a lot. You know,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: I think the economic stuff can be like a touch
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: tighter and more comparative with Donald Trump. Even in local
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: interviews when you're not making news, like he wants a
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: tax cut for the rich. I want a tax cut
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: for the middle class. He wants this. I want this
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: and just sort of do that. But I think, again,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: it just you just keep taking swings at these.
• 40:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah, take swings and then find ways to elevate the
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: things you want to talk about. Like, for example, I
• 40:32
  Speaker 6: saw a story today in ProPublica. about a woman in
• 40:36
  Speaker 6: Atlanta who died because she had a complication from a
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: medication abortion and then could not get a completely routine
• 40:42
  Speaker 6: procedure called a DNC to fix it. And that is
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: because earlier this year, Georgia made it a felony punishable
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: by up to a decade in prison to perform that procedure.
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: So go to Atlanta, sit with her family, talk to
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: the doctors in the state, do a press conference, do
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: TV interviews, like talk about the fact that this woman's
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: six-year-old kid now doesn't have a mom. because she couldn't
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: get a completely routine procedure in the state. Like that
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: is like this woman, Amber Thurman, like that is the
• 41:07
  Speaker 6: kind of story that I think makes news locally, makes
• 41:10
  Speaker 6: news nationally, gets you on the train you want to
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: talk about and highlights like a huge contrast.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: In this election.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: And I also think you're right that some of the
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: stuff you want to do is like a topper or
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: an insert at a rally speech. But I do think
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: something like that is great to do in a local interview,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: knowing that when you tell this story in a local interview,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: not only will it make news in that local station,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: but national reporters will pick that up and it will
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: drive national coverage as well, right? So I think you
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: can do both.
• 41:39
  Speaker 6: Republicans constantly do this, but it's like, it's always some
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: grisly murder of a white girl by like a migrant, right?
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: That's like what they look for. We should be highlighting
• 41:47
  Speaker 6: stories like this one.
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Speaking of made up Republican stories, they're also circulating a
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: tweet now from an anonymous reporter An anonymous right-wing account
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: called Black Insurrectionist, I follow back true patriots. That's the
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: whole Twitter head. This account posted a completely unverified affidavit
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: from an ABC whistleblower that says everyone at ABC News
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: wanted Harris to win. They gave the Harris campaign a
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: list of questions ahead of time, and they promised not
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: to raise certain topics. Said the whistleblower, gorsh.
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: It's goofy.
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: What?
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: It's Disney.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: The whistleblower is goofy.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Another post that was not black insurrectionist was some random
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: blog said that the whistleblower has now died in a
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: car accident also.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, they got him.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: They got him. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared that one, I believe.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Ted Cruz shared the black insurrectionist affidavit. GOP
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: donor Bill Ackman quote tweeted it at Bob Iger, Disney
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: CEO Bob Iger, demanding a full investigation.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: He's at Angel City getting going, what's this now?
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: Like, I just raised this because is this something to
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: take seriously or is this just chum for the MAGA
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: base and we all just... Although there was a Republican
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: House member on TV saying, like, we should have a
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: congressional investigation into this, into ABC, which I think is
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: great because then they can just play footage from the
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: ABC debate.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and why didn't you follow up here?
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Ridiculous.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: Look, I think this is stupid and in the same
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: way that, like, Republicans harping still on Joe Biden, I
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: think is good. Like anything that's like, yeah, you, yeah.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't think Martha Raddatz is going to
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: get a lot of electoral votes at this rate, you know, but, but,
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: but I do think there is something serious happening, which
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: is that there was like some kind of blood brain
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: barrier between senators and right-wing cranks on the internet. Even
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: like right-wing cranks who are also venture capitalists. Like there
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: used to be some standard, like a senator wouldn't just,
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: share something so inflammatory and obviously stupid because they had
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: some respect either for their constituents themselves or the country,
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: some combination, those things seem to be gone. And like
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: this conspiratorial mindset is really dangerous. It is just dangerous.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: You know, like Ron DeSantis goes to the microphones and says,
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: Florida is going to be conducting its own investigation into
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: the assassination attempt.
• 44:18
  Speaker 5: Why?
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Because we can't trust the Department of Justice. Why? Because
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: they've launched this witch hunt against Donald Trump.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: And some of them are like, oh, the FBI is
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: in on it. There were moles in the Secret Service
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: and the FBI that planned the assassination attempt. I mean,
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: this is what they're... And look, I think that, again,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: squaring the circle between they are dangerous in plotting all
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: this and they are a bunch of fucking clowns. They
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: are a bunch of fucking clowns who shouldn't have power
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: because the consequences are very dangerous. When you have a
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: bunch of clowns who tweet this shit and you give
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: them some power and you give them subpoena power and
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: they can pass laws and God forbid Donald Trump becomes
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: president of the United States. It's scary.
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: And the guardrails that used to exist are just gone.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: Like there was a difference between how elected Republicans spoke
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: and right wing radio hosts and commentators spoke. those Republicans
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: in elected office very much enjoyed the way in which
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: those hosts and people inflamed the base, but they didn't
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: fully embrace it.
• 45:21
  Speaker 6: They kept some distance.
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: They kept some respect for their institutions, for the truth,
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: for their role. And that being gone is very dangerous.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: It tells you what kind of Republican party will be
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: in power if Donald Trump wins.
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: The kind of Republican party that's going to, his chief
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: of staff, Laura Loomer, Flying around with Donald Trump.
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: Don't give him any ideas.
• 45:43
  Speaker 6: I kind of think this is a problem that goes
• 45:44
  Speaker 6: beyond the elected Republican party because it just, it shows
• 45:47
  Speaker 6: that misinformation and disinformation is coming from literally anywhere. Like
• 45:52
  Speaker 6: this is not AI. This is not a deep fake.
• 45:54
  Speaker 6: It's not a cheap fake. It's someone tweeting essentially a
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: word document with a bunch of allegations in it. And
• 46:01
  Speaker 6: all of a sudden it is just going everywhere. Like
• 46:03
  Speaker 6: Bill Ackman is a wildly successful huge asshole, but hedge
• 46:07
  Speaker 6: fund person who should, in his job, be able to
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: vet good and bad information to make stock trades. Instead,
• 46:14
  Speaker 6: he's sharing this to millions and millions of people demanding
• 46:17
  Speaker 6: a response.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: From Bob Iger via Twitter.
• 46:19
  Speaker 6: You know, you have Elon Musk sharing this stuff.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, all these rich people, they've had too
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: much time on their hands and they've spent too much
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: time online and all their brains have been fucking pickled
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: by the Internet.
• 46:29
  Speaker 6: It's just it's so it's so funny, though, like the
• 46:32
  Speaker 6: years and years and years we heard that, you know,
• 46:34
  Speaker 6: social media sites were too liberal and biased towards progressives.
• 46:39
  Speaker 6: And you've got Elon Musk sharing this stuff. And now
• 46:41
  Speaker 6: I think I read today he spent more than 30
• 46:44
  Speaker 6: million dollars on his super PAC to help Trump. You know,
• 46:48
  Speaker 6: it's just like so, so thoroughly tilted the other direction
• 46:52
  Speaker 6: in terms of, you know, Twitter being just a, you know,
• 46:55
  Speaker 6: feeding ground for all things MAGA. And yet we're still
• 46:59
  Speaker 6: locked into this idiotic framework where people complain about liberal
• 47:02
  Speaker 6: bias in tech.
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: But even like, yes, I agree with all that. But
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: even without Elon Musk and these right wingers kind of
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: taking over Twitter, there is something inherent to a kind
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: of media that encourages paranoia and that encourages people to
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: share false information, to not be able to trust information,
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: that rewards right-wing politics. I mean, I think we see
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: this all over the world. It's not Bill Ackman and
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: Elon Musk why we see right-wing movements all over the world.
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: There is something inherent to this kind of technology that
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: is like really inflaming people's worst instincts. And like, I
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: guess it shouldn't surprise me that it applies to people
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: that are kind of just living their lives and it
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: applies to elected officials and highly successful people. who have
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: the same fucking adult broken brain, but it does a
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: little bit.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Believing in conspiracies and misinformation, it has nothing to do
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: with level of education, wealth. It can happen to anyone.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: Partisan identification even, right? We've seen some loonies on the
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: left too online. They just happen not to be in
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: elected office. And they just get amplified easier now. Which
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: is the difference. What do you think? Laura Loomer, press secretary?
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what they've been saying before.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: That's what she wants. She wants press secretary. Trump did
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: call her a free... Dan and I talked a little
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: bit about this on Friday's pod. Then Donald Trump was
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: asked about her at an event. And his answer was really,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: he was just sort of like, she's a free spirit.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: She's a free spirit. She's been a supporter of mine.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: I can't control what she says.
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: It sounds like someone who doesn't wear shoes sometimes as
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: opposed to just a right-wing maniac. No, I know. Yeah,
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: she definitely picks wildflowers.
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: I agree.
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: Free spirit for sure.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: She's like a free spirit white nationalist and self-proclaimed proud Islamophobe. Yeah,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: that's who she is. So before we go, Monday was
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: also quite a big day for World Liberty Financial, which
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: is neither a bank that collapsed during the financial crisis
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: nor a company from one of those reverse mortgage ads.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: It is, in fact, a new crypto lending platform and
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: cryptocurrency launched with just 50 days left until the election
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: by Donald Trump and his two adult sons. Here's Trump
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: doing a teaser.
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: Join me live on Twitter spaces at 8 p.m.
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: This September 16th. For the launch of World Liberty Financial,
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: we're embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: and outdated big banks behind.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, we are recording this just one hour before this event,
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: so we have no idea what will happen. But I'm
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: betting that nothing, it won't go seamlessly. It's on Twitter
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Spaces again.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: Here's my prediction. if Donald Trump is not elected the
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: next president of the United States, there will be federal
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: indictments related to this. That's my prediction.
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: I'm just going to throw it out there.
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I could be wrong. But
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: if I'm right, remember.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: Well, tell me, are you going to buy or not?
• 49:53
  Speaker 6: Well, unfortunately my shares of a DJT stock are underwater,
• 49:56
  Speaker 6: so I can't really, I don't have a lot of liquidity.
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: You're going to wait, you're going to wait for those,
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: for those values to recover.
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: Hey, you buy low, sell high, I think they say.
• 50:04
  Speaker 6: But yeah, no, I just think credit to them for
• 50:05
  Speaker 6: finding something more scammy sounding than the Lee Greenwood Bible
• 50:09
  Speaker 6: pack they were selling earlier this year. That like, that
• 50:13
  Speaker 6: takes work. I mean, just the amount, the amount of
• 50:14
  Speaker 6: different ways you can just pump money into this guy's pocket.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: Endless.
• 50:19
  Speaker 6: Behind the scenes now, it's like you could stay at
• 50:21
  Speaker 6: Trump properties, you can buy Trump stock, apparently you can
• 50:24
  Speaker 6: now buy crypto.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Trump trading cards, NFT business.
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: NFT business.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: The new Save America coffee table book where he threatens
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: Mark Zuckerberg with jail time.
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: Well, that's just a good read.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: In a coffee table book of pictures. That's just, that's
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: something that's happening.
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: You know what? You know what? I don't love it,
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: but better than that Tom Ford book everybody has.
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Random boring architecture.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. We got Melania Trump. She's got a new book out.
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: Oh, wow.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: You have a book of photos from Madrid, a place
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: you've never been?
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: She's promoting her book with a video that suggests that
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: the Butler shooting might have been a conspiracy. Yeah. So
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: everything is either a vote-getting attempt or a money-making attempt
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: from the Trump. And really, the vote-getting attempt is just
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: a future money-making attempt, really.
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: Yes. You know what I was thinking about when I
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: saw this? I was like, okay. What is the what
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: is the polling right now if Donald Trump was wholly
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: committed to doing what he should do to win? And
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: like it actually is like kind of a chilling like
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: I'm glad he's launching crypto and that Melania is putting
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: out conspiracy theories to to sell her her book, which
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: I'm sure will be a wonderful beach read. But like
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: and rambling about eating pets, how fortunate we are that
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: in this 50 50 country, this guy is out there
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: doing this shit.
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's foreshadowing.
• 51:39
  Speaker 6: The Trump Media and Technology Group Corp is DJT stock.
• 51:42
  Speaker 6: You can watch it just go up and down based
• 51:45
  Speaker 6: on where he is in the polling. When he has
• 51:47
  Speaker 6: a bad day, like after the debate, it dropped. When
• 51:49
  Speaker 6: he has a good day and his number goes up
• 51:51
  Speaker 6: in the 538 average, it goes up. It's just like
• 51:53
  Speaker 6: it's a way to bribe him by buying the stock, which.
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: Is silly because there'll be. you'll be able to bribe
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: him with cash. This is much more efficient. What are
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: you doing? He takes cash.
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: Also, he's not going to know what to do with crypto.
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: He's like, don't do it. So they give me computers?
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: Don't do it. They give me computers and we sell
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: the computers? How do I make money here?
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: Do I just give someone a laptop at the store?
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 52:21
  Speaker 6: You guys make fake coins and hand it to them.
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay. So before we go, We just want to
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: briefly discuss an upcoming event that will likely eclipse the
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: crypto announcement in both media attention and importance. We here
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: at Pod Save America are very proud to announce that
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: we've been given an exclusive preview of this fall's October surprise.
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: Let's listen.
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, no. A lot of people think of Survivor as
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: a test of endurance, as an experiment in deprivation. But
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: in the end, it comes down to a vote. And
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: you call it a jury, but really that's an election.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: And so for me, I think of Survivor more than
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: anything as an experiment in democracy. Hell yeah.
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: That's cool.
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: I didn't hear that.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: I had never heard that. Whoa, what's up, George Washington?
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: That's good. That was good. I am sweating through my clothes,
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: but it's good.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: Love it to know we were going to play that.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: I had no idea. That was just an exclusive clip
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: we got from CBS.
• 53:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right.
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: Came right to us.
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: It was supposed to be a surprise for you.
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: Survivor.
• 53:38
  Speaker 6: When Jeff Probst was like, how do I fold this
• 53:40
  Speaker 6: season into the election cycle? Did you have that line
• 53:42
  Speaker 6: ready or did you have to noodle on.
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: It for a bit?
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: I came to Jeff with that, yeah.
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: I like that. He's the idea guy.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: No, I'm excited.
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: Wednesday is starting this week.
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: This week?
• 53:52
  Speaker 3: Fuck.
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: Where can people watch?
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: On CBS. You remember CBS?
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: Sort of.
• 53:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 53:57
  Speaker 6: Of course.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you'll watch it on CBS and then you'll
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: tell me how you feel.
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: The Big Bang Theory?
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, it's happening.
• 54:06
  Speaker 6: How are you feeling about your edit? That's really.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: So far, that clip was so far so good. We'll see.
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: That was mostly music.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: That music was exciting.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: Great music.
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: Very exciting.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: I like the strings.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: You know, look. You know, you put your faith in
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: the hands of the survivor gods, see what happens.
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: Slip some crypto to those editors over there.
• 54:28
  Speaker 5: I'm excited.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Stop the steal.
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: I'm excited.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I did.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: Yes. The one thing I, spoiler alert, I did an insurrection.
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: You guys just stormed Jeff Probst.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: Well, everyone tune in to see what happens. I sure
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: will be. That's our show for today. Dan and Adisu
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: will be back with a new show on Wednesday. Bye, everybody.
• 54:51
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• 54:54
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• 54:57
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• 55:00
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  Speaker 1: randos you want in on this conversation. Pod Save America
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: is a Cricket Media production. Our producer is David Toledo.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: Our associate producers are Saul Rubin and Farrah Safari. Reid
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: Cherlin is our executive editor and Adrian Hill is our
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: executive producer. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick.
• 55:29
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• 55:32
  Speaker 1: Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis. Writing support by Hallie Kiefer.
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: Madeline Herringer is our head of news and programming. Matt
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: DeGroat is our head of production. Andy Taft is our
• 55:41
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