Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Chuck’s Commentary - America Could Enter A “Reform Era” Post-Trump + Top 5 Most Absurd Awards Created To Soothe Trump’s Ego

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Chuck’s Commentary - America Could Enter A “Reform Era” Post-Trump + Top 5 Most Absurd Awards Created To Soothe Trump’s Ego · The Chuck ToddCast

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Speaker 1: They're happy Wednesday, and welcome to another episode of the
1:54
Speaker 1: Chuck Podcast A little rundown on today. It is Wednesday,
1:58
Speaker 1: which means you're gonna get a't a top five list.
2:02
Speaker 1: I got a fun one for you. It involves the
2:06
Speaker 1: president and prestigious awards, so I give you a big hint.
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Speaker 1: But maybe you still won't quite know where I'm headed
2:14
Speaker 1: with that. We'll do some letters, but I want to
2:16
Speaker 1: begin today with you know, one of the things that
2:21
Speaker 1: I'm mindful of is that sometimes we're so dark and
2:24
Speaker 1: negative that we sometimes can miss a big deal taken
2:31
Speaker 1: place in plain sight. Right, And to start with an
2:35
Speaker 1: issue that has not really made the rounds on cable television,
2:39
Speaker 1: you haven't seen much of it on social media, and
2:42
Speaker 1: it certainly has yet to generate a Chiron countdown clock.
2:49
Speaker 1: But it might matter a lot more than most of
2:51
Speaker 1: the headlines we've been dealing with over the last few weeks.
2:55
Speaker 1: And it's a constitutional amendment proposal that is now circulating
2:59
Speaker 1: in Congress that would allow congressional lawmakers to nullify a
3:05
Speaker 1: presidential pardon. This is not a bill that, while you
3:09
Speaker 1: may have, it's not an idea that would have gotten
3:11
Speaker 1: much traction or must interest even five years ago. But
3:15
Speaker 1: something like this seems very plausible to me, and it's
3:18
Speaker 1: plausible enough that I wanted to give it a little
3:20
Speaker 1: extra attention. And that's sometimes the role I feel like
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Speaker 1: I can play best here, which is like, hey, you know,
3:28
Speaker 1: I used to run a mainstream news supposed mainstream news organization,
3:32
Speaker 1: a couple of them. Here's what I would be leaning
3:35
Speaker 1: into there, and you should be too. And that's sort
3:38
Speaker 1: of a role I like to play sometimes, but we
3:43
Speaker 1: may be seeing a major structural shift in conversation at
3:47
Speaker 1: a time that we really needed, and it may be
3:52
Speaker 1: to me. I hope it gives you a little bit
3:54
Speaker 1: of hope, because it gives me. I'm granted, I'm looking
3:57
Speaker 1: for it. So I'm looking for this, which is that
4:00
Speaker 1: maybe we have begun a new era of reform that
4:03
Speaker 1: you know, like the progressive era of the early twentieth century,
4:06
Speaker 1: which created some needed constitutional reform that we're finally starting.
4:12
Speaker 1: I've been saying, we're going to get it, We're going
4:14
Speaker 1: to get it. Well, guess what. We're finally starting to
4:16
Speaker 1: see a concrete proposal, and the fact that it starts
4:20
Speaker 1: with pardons is actually not surprising to me, because we
4:25
Speaker 1: knew something was going to trigger. Right I think you know,
4:29
Speaker 1: in reform eras happen when enough people on both sides
4:32
Speaker 1: of the aisle side, it's the rules that need to
4:35
Speaker 1: be tightened or changed that a singular president can't do.
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Speaker 1: The fixes that we now know are systemic or structural.
4:44
Speaker 1: So look, why did we start with pardons? Well, I
4:45
Speaker 1: think it's pretty obvious what triggered this right pardon power,
4:48
Speaker 1: and it's how it's been abused, particularly with this president.
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Speaker 1: Under Donald Trump, the pardon power has become so politically
4:55
Speaker 1: charged in ways we haven't seen ever on the presidential level.
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Speaker 1: We've seen governors sell pardons for profit, we have not
5:03
Speaker 1: seen presidents do it. It is aggressively as Trump has.
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Speaker 1: We've seen what appear to be potential pay to play
5:14
Speaker 1: pardons in some form or another. But it would be
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Speaker 1: one controversial pardon by a president, you know, not essentially
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Speaker 1: the entire process being monetized, which is what's happened here today.
5:25
Speaker 1: And so under Trump, you know, some of the most
5:29
Speaker 1: controversial ones. Right, there's the broad January sixth partons for anybody,
5:33
Speaker 1: and that is that has allowed a lot of bad
5:35
Speaker 1: people who deserve to be behind bars not to be
5:37
Speaker 1: behind bars. Some of them have committed crimes as their
5:40
Speaker 1: pardon was made official. That's been a total a disaster
5:47
Speaker 1: by doing that. But we know why he did it.
5:49
Speaker 1: It's his own personal motivation, believing that somehow January sixth
5:54
Speaker 1: was not what it was, that it was somehow a
5:56
Speaker 1: lawful protest. We know he pardons people that are represented
5:59
Speaker 1: by longtime political allies or people like Roger Stone who
6:04
Speaker 1: get paid as sort of an intermediary for the pardons.
6:09
Speaker 1: We know that's taking place. I mean, you know, you
6:12
Speaker 1: don't think the former president of Hondura's got pardoned for free,
6:16
Speaker 1: do you. So you know that sits out there. And
6:21
Speaker 1: then there's this pattern of Trump where he pardons people
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Speaker 1: that are accused of doing things that he's been accused of,
6:27
Speaker 1: always in the white collar space, in particular financial crimes
6:32
Speaker 1: and things like that. So we now know it's fair
6:35
Speaker 1: to say that the perception is that pardon power is
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Speaker 1: now drifted towards the personal and political. It's no longer
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Speaker 1: what its original construct was about, which was constitutional mercy,
6:51
Speaker 1: if you will. Now it's about political protection. And look,
6:56
Speaker 1: it's like everything Trump does he's not the first to do,
7:00
Speaker 1: and he's not the you know, it's not as if
7:02
Speaker 1: it's not been done by members of both parties. He's
7:05
Speaker 1: just done it more aggressively and more you know, sort
7:08
Speaker 1: of like rubbing our nose and dog manure face, right,
7:11
Speaker 1: like he's grotesque about it. But what Joe Biden did
7:15
Speaker 1: at the end of his term, I've always thought was
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Speaker 1: just as bad as what Trump's doing because he almost
7:20
Speaker 1: gave Trump a license to do it when he did
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Speaker 1: his preemptive pardons that involved family members that had no
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Speaker 1: business getting a pardon at all or certainly seemed to
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Speaker 1: get pardoned for, you know, not for the thing he
7:34
Speaker 1: claimed they were getting pardoned for, but you know, and
7:37
Speaker 1: even used clemency at times that did generate some partisan backlash,
7:41
Speaker 1: and it seemed like some of his sweeping commutations were
7:44
Speaker 1: tied to some political issues that he wanted to bring
7:48
Speaker 1: to the forefront. So again, while Biden didn't do it
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Speaker 1: as ham handedly as Trump is, what he did with
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Speaker 1: his family at the end was grotesque. The preemptive pardons
8:00
Speaker 1: using Trump as the as the as the rationale to
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Speaker 1: do it was all the more awful, I'll be honest,
8:06
Speaker 1: because it just assumed corruption in the process itself. And
8:10
Speaker 1: so I understand you assume Trump is corrupt, but then
8:14
Speaker 1: to essentially do it before Trump actually does what you fear,
8:19
Speaker 1: you know, you've suddenly committed your own slate of corruption there.
8:24
Speaker 1: So it is. And frankly, in order to get institutional change,
8:28
Speaker 1: you need bad actors on both sides. So, you know,
8:32
Speaker 1: if we want to make the Biden pardons sort of
8:34
Speaker 1: the you know, the oh, by the way, I think
8:37
Speaker 1: it's worthy, those preemptive pardons. Let's not I'm not sure
8:41
Speaker 1: this is not equal both siderisms here. Okay, what Trump
8:45
Speaker 1: has done is on an unprecedented level. But to get
8:49
Speaker 1: this structural reform, you're going to need bipartisan buy in.
8:53
Speaker 1: And what Biden did was awful. What Trump does has
8:56
Speaker 1: been worse. So no matter what, whether you support the
9:00
Speaker 1: individual actions or oppose them, the structural concern has become
9:04
Speaker 1: the same that the power of pardoning presidential pardons has
9:09
Speaker 1: become a high stakes political instrument now in the last decade,
9:13
Speaker 1: and it's got to change. And now that both parties
9:16
Speaker 1: are fearing how the other might wield this power, that's
9:20
Speaker 1: when you actually start getting reform conversations, and it is
9:26
Speaker 1: incredibly important. So late last year, a Maryland Congressman by
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Speaker 1: the name of Johnny Oulzuski introduced a constitutional amendment to
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Speaker 1: give Congress the opportunity to nullify a pardon, and it
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Speaker 1: would under certain conditions, and it would essentially it's the
9:46
Speaker 1: similar to what the power Congress has now to override vetos. Now,
9:51
Speaker 1: what made me interested in this story this last week
9:56
Speaker 1: is that this was a Democrat introducing it. So, and
9:59
Speaker 1: you sometimes can get these partisan ideas introduced and there's
10:02
Speaker 1: nobody on the other side that's interested. Well, Don Bacon,
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Speaker 1: a Republican from Omaha, Nebraska who's not running for reelection,
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Speaker 1: decided to sign on as an early co sponsor and
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Speaker 1: it made him the first Republican to support this constitutional amendment.
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Speaker 1: And it's always important. The minute you can get something
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Speaker 1: by partisan it suddenly has traction and has an opportunity. Now,
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Speaker 1: let me read you the proposal word for word here
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Speaker 1: of this pardon amendment that Congress may, by a vote
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Speaker 1: of two thirds of each House, nullify any pardon granted
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Speaker 1: by the President of the United States upon petition of
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Speaker 1: twenty members of the House of Representatives and five members
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Speaker 1: of the Senate. A vote shall be held within a
10:39
Speaker 1: specified period to determine whether such pardon shall stand. So again,
10:44
Speaker 1: it's modeling. So this amendment specific amendment would model the
10:48
Speaker 1: process after what is the veto override structure, So they
10:52
Speaker 1: wouldn't abolish the presidential pardon. Something I might consider there's
10:57
Speaker 1: not partisan punishment, but it's a good old fashioned constitutional check.
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Speaker 1: Would be something the founders would be impressed with because
11:05
Speaker 1: it's a it's a high threshold to nullify a presidential pardon.
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Speaker 1: That's not easy. Two thirds of each House of Congress
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Speaker 1: and to get your sort of twenty members of the House,
11:13
Speaker 1: five members of the Senate. That's probably the easy part.
11:15
Speaker 1: The hard part is getting that two thirds. I might
11:19
Speaker 1: argue that, you know, the I think the having leaving
11:22
Speaker 1: one person with any of that power is the mistake itself.
11:25
Speaker 1: And then maybe you create a pardon board that includes,
11:28
Speaker 1: you know, the two longest serving members of the Supreme Court,
11:32
Speaker 1: the you know, say, you know, the two longest serving
11:35
Speaker 1: members of the House and the Senate, the Attorney General,
11:38
Speaker 1: the president, and the Vice president, something like that. That
11:41
Speaker 1: would become a pardon board where no one individual could decide,
11:44
Speaker 1: but you would bring bring individual cases there. But either way,
11:50
Speaker 1: the fact that Congress has a bipartisan amendment to potentially
11:54
Speaker 1: at least put a check on the pardon power of
11:57
Speaker 1: the president is a big deal, not a small deal.
12:01
Speaker 1: And I think it signifies the start of something. So
12:04
Speaker 1: let's zoom out here. The last time Americans felt that
12:06
Speaker 1: the structure itself was compromised, we Americans amended the Constitution.
12:11
Speaker 1: And it wasn't an abstract it was all scandal driven.
12:14
Speaker 1: Let me tell you the story of the Seventeenth Amendment.
12:16
Speaker 1: All Right, before nineteen thirteen, state legislatures chose US Senators.
12:21
Speaker 1: The system had been rotting for years. Deadlocks had left
12:24
Speaker 1: too many Senate seats vacant. Party bosses essentially controlled the
12:28
Speaker 1: appointment process. Wasn't the voters hadn't much say at all.
12:32
Speaker 1: Wealthy interests with lobby state house votes. I mean, look,
12:37
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I think you know, the lower down
12:39
Speaker 1: the ladder, you go the most corruptible institutions or state legislatures,
12:44
Speaker 1: then city councils, right, you keep going down. Right, The
12:46
Speaker 1: least corruptible these days has been Congress. So imagine all
12:50
Speaker 1: that power deciding a US Senate in the state level.
12:54
Speaker 1: It was a mess. But it took a big scandal
12:58
Speaker 1: to sober the public up and say, hey, enough of
13:00
Speaker 1: this shit. Let me tell you the story of a
13:03
Speaker 1: gentleman named William Lowermer in the state of Illinois. He
13:08
Speaker 1: was elected by the state legislature to the US Senate,
13:11
Speaker 1: I believe in nineteen oh nine. Well, soon after, a
13:14
Speaker 1: state legislator confessed that he was paid one thousand dollars
13:17
Speaker 1: to vote for the guy. That's roughly thirty five thousand
13:20
Speaker 1: dollars today. Investigators then uncovered and what was called a
13:24
Speaker 1: jackpot slush fund that allegedly used was used to secure
13:28
Speaker 1: enough votes in a Chicago hotel bathroom. So the Senate investigated.
13:33
Speaker 1: They cleared him once, but the public outrage exploded. New
13:37
Speaker 1: evidence emerged of just how this process worked, and so
13:40
Speaker 1: by nineteen twelve, the Senate declared his election corrupt and
13:43
Speaker 1: vacated the seat. But what America saw was a Senate
13:47
Speaker 1: seat that was effectively purchased. So guess what happened? We
13:51
Speaker 1: finally changed the constitution. It had been building for a while,
13:54
Speaker 1: but it took a scandal like that one to sober
13:56
Speaker 1: ebody up and say yeah, seventeenth Amendment suddenly moved Senate
14:00
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14:04
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Speaker 1: todcast for thirty percent off. Let me tell you the
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Speaker 1: story of the sixteenth Amendment. Right, they've ability to tax income.
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Speaker 1: Right that has its roots in income inequality of the
17:10
Speaker 1: early parts of the Industrial Revolution. Right right around that
17:14
Speaker 1: same period, industrial wealth was exploding. Sound familiar. Tariffs taxes
17:20
Speaker 1: on consumption were the federal government's primary revenue source. Working
17:23
Speaker 1: families paid disproportionately a larger share of tariff revenue to
17:28
Speaker 1: the government treasury than the wealthy people did. The wealthiest
17:32
Speaker 1: industrialists paid relatively little in any kind of taxation. Supreme
17:36
Speaker 1: Court even struck down an earlier attempt to create an
17:38
Speaker 1: income tax. He said it was unconstitutional. Well, so reformers
17:42
Speaker 1: amended the Constitution to make a federal income tax unquestionably legal.
17:47
Speaker 1: And the sixteen Amendment wasn't subtle. Subtle. It was all
17:49
Speaker 1: about shifting the burden upward. And why was there traction
17:53
Speaker 1: for that at that time? Because you had these wealthy industrialists.
17:56
Speaker 1: Income inequality was massive, you know, you had an explosion
17:59
Speaker 1: in sort of abused labor, child labor. It was terrible.
18:03
Speaker 1: So this is why the public appetite for this was huge.
18:07
Speaker 1: The public believed these elites, these robber barons. That's why
18:10
Speaker 1: they got the name. We're gaming the system, We're robbing
18:14
Speaker 1: the system. So the system was changed. And let's not
18:18
Speaker 1: forget the nineteen Amendment, which also came in this same period.
18:21
Speaker 1: Half the population wasn't allowed to vote simply because of
18:23
Speaker 1: their gender. Nineteen the amendment corrected that it was an
18:26
Speaker 1: incremental reform. It was structural expansion of small d democratic
18:30
Speaker 1: power at a time when the public felt that the
18:34
Speaker 1: democracy was slipping away. So it looked like the elites
18:38
Speaker 1: were gaming the system. The wealthy were getting wealthier while
18:41
Speaker 1: the rest of us were being left behind. And oh,
18:45
Speaker 1: by the way, the democracy wasn't really even representing the
18:48
Speaker 1: most of the country. Because half the country couldn't couldn't
18:51
Speaker 1: vote that structural reform. That's a reform era. Question is
18:55
Speaker 1: are we about to do the same thing now. Look,
18:57
Speaker 1: not every reform from that era was a good idea.
19:00
Speaker 1: The eighteenth Amendment Prohibition was born of moral urgency, right
19:04
Speaker 1: temperance movements believed alcohol was destroying families, corrupting politics, and
19:08
Speaker 1: undermining public virtues. So basically at the same time of
19:13
Speaker 1: distrust of politicians, distrust of elites, this is why one
19:16
Speaker 1: of these this moral amendment got through, right to ban
19:21
Speaker 1: the manufacturing and sale of alcohol. Well, that ended up
19:24
Speaker 1: actually jumpstarting crime, arguably created the modern mob system that
19:29
Speaker 1: we still deal with today. Black markets, organized crime, all
19:32
Speaker 1: that mess. And so within fourteen years we're like, ooh,
19:35
Speaker 1: that was a bad idea, and so the twenty first
19:38
Speaker 1: Amendment repealed prohibition. So it's an important lesson because reform
19:43
Speaker 1: eras are powerful and they're also potentially risky. When we
19:46
Speaker 1: amend the constitution, we are playing with the architecture of
19:49
Speaker 1: the country itself. Some reforms will stabilize the democracy. Direct
19:53
Speaker 1: election of senators, did the income tax, did women the
19:56
Speaker 1: right to vote? Did others overcorrect like prohibition It's something
20:00
Speaker 1: I think about about the balance budget Amendment. I'm sort
20:03
Speaker 1: of intrigued by it. I kind of in theory agree
20:06
Speaker 1: to it. And then you're like, what would this mean?
20:08
Speaker 1: Could this create an economic catastrophe for us in ways
20:13
Speaker 1: that we have not, you know, because of the unintended consequence.
20:16
Speaker 1: So and I'm mindful. I think we're going to have
20:18
Speaker 1: an era of reform. So the question is what does
20:21
Speaker 1: that look like. I do think this that historians may
20:25
Speaker 1: one day say see the Obama and Trump presidencies as
20:29
Speaker 1: bookends of the same structural frustration. They had different ideologies,
20:34
Speaker 1: but it was the same demand. They were elected to
20:36
Speaker 1: shake things up, to change the system, fix what feels broken.
20:40
Speaker 1: At the time, the public thought, well, maybe a president
20:42
Speaker 1: could restore some balance. Turns out structural corrosion requires structural repair,
20:50
Speaker 1: and structural repair requires constitutional thinking. They alone cannot fix it,
20:57
Speaker 1: meaning a singular president Obama couldn't do it. Trump clearly
21:01
Speaker 1: cannot do it. So if this pardon conversation gains traction,
21:06
Speaker 1: expect more to follow. And this one should. This one,
21:09
Speaker 1: to me is an easy one to get traction for.
21:12
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, it's one of those things
21:15
Speaker 1: that could be an interesting way for Republicans to show
21:19
Speaker 1: some independence from Trump but grounding it in the Constitution
21:24
Speaker 1: and for protection of future presidents abusing the power of
21:28
Speaker 1: the pardon. So it's also a pretty good way to
21:32
Speaker 1: sort of keep track of Huh. You know, it's almost like,
21:36
Speaker 1: you know, if I were a Republican strategist trying to
21:40
Speaker 1: mitigate the damage that's coming in this midterm year, I
21:43
Speaker 1: might want a vehicle like this pardon constitutional amendment where
21:47
Speaker 1: I can sign on as a co sponsor to show
21:49
Speaker 1: my independence, to show that I still care about some
21:53
Speaker 1: sort of I have some ethical lines that I'd like
21:57
Speaker 1: to draw here. So if this pardon thing gains traction,
22:02
Speaker 1: where else could we see some reform attempts of the
22:05
Speaker 1: constitutional sort. Well, I think we could have limits on
22:08
Speaker 1: executive emergency authority. If Congress won't do it, maybe we'll
22:12
Speaker 1: put a constitutional amendment into force Congress to realize it's
22:15
Speaker 1: authority there. Maybe there's clearly if we want to do
22:20
Speaker 1: anything in the in campaign finance, whether it's limits or transparency,
22:26
Speaker 1: basically outlawing anonymous contributions, you're going to need Since the
22:31
Speaker 1: courts have used the First Amendment as a shield on
22:35
Speaker 1: anything to reform and to reform in the campaign money
22:38
Speaker 1: era area, then you need a constitutional amendment. I think
22:42
Speaker 1: that will get traction in some form. I think transparency
22:45
Speaker 1: is the way to go, because again, when you're trying
22:47
Speaker 1: to pass the constitutional amendment two thirds support in the House,
22:50
Speaker 1: you know it's got to pass the House, in the
22:51
Speaker 1: Senate plus thirty eight states. You've got to have something
22:54
Speaker 1: that you can talk everybody into. You know, my pet
22:57
Speaker 1: issue on this run is indicates the expansion of the
23:01
Speaker 1: House representative. It's been capped at four and thirty five
23:04
Speaker 1: since their early twentieth century. It is, you know, we
23:08
Speaker 1: should not have congressional districts that are sized of major
23:10
Speaker 1: cities eight hundred thousand people. We should have congressional districts
23:13
Speaker 1: that are somewhere between three hundred and fifty and four
23:15
Speaker 1: hundred thousand. And you could put a constitutional amendment and
23:18
Speaker 1: say no congressional district can have a population more than
23:21
Speaker 1: you know, point oh three percent of the population. Basically
23:23
Speaker 1: you can. You can have it as right now, right
23:26
Speaker 1: if you base it on three hundred fifty million people
23:29
Speaker 1: you're looking at you know, I think it is I
23:32
Speaker 1: think it's point oh one point oh three would get
23:35
Speaker 1: you about three fifty four hundred. So that's the hope
23:40
Speaker 1: is that reform eras cascade. It doesn't stop at one idea,
23:43
Speaker 1: that you actually have a series of amendments. And that's
23:47
Speaker 1: that's the moment. I think we're headed to the And
23:49
Speaker 1: this this is why this symbolic decision by Bacon to
23:52
Speaker 1: become the first Republican on this particular constitutional amendment, one
23:56
Speaker 1: that I think would have broad support. If you polled
23:58
Speaker 1: it in my polling for and put it out there
24:01
Speaker 1: show that it does, you could you could see the
24:05
Speaker 1: beginning of something here. And I think it's important because
24:09
Speaker 1: an individual can at least can re establish norms, but
24:12
Speaker 1: they can't protect us from future demagogues. Constitutional amendments, though,
24:17
Speaker 1: are not easy, right they require two thirds of Congress,
24:20
Speaker 1: a ratification of thirty eight states. But guess what, It
24:25
Speaker 1: was a daunting challenge to do that when we were
24:27
Speaker 1: stripping state legislatures of Senate selection power, when we imposed
24:31
Speaker 1: an income tax on the richest people in America and
24:36
Speaker 1: the public won that argument, right, seems daunting these days
24:41
Speaker 1: to go after the tech titans doubling the electorate through
24:44
Speaker 1: women's suffrage, that was a big deal. So the point is,
24:48
Speaker 1: and that wasn't easy, and it was never going to
24:50
Speaker 1: be easy. But here's how you kind of know when
24:53
Speaker 1: reform begins. Reform begins when exhaustion becomes bipartisan and exasperation
24:59
Speaker 1: becomes by partisan. And we're starting to get there. We're
25:02
Speaker 1: approaching bipartisan exhaustion with all of this executive overreach, and
25:07
Speaker 1: there are more sort of Republicans understanding that, you know,
25:12
Speaker 1: the next time it could be a Gavin Newsom that's
25:14
Speaker 1: making their lives miserable. It's a lot easier to get
25:20
Speaker 1: bipartisan support for structural changes than it is, frankly, for
25:23
Speaker 1: policy changes. And I think we can get bipartisan support
25:28
Speaker 1: to check unchecked power, and the pardon power is one
25:32
Speaker 1: of those. So look, as we approach America's two hundred
25:36
Speaker 1: and fiftieth anniversary, the question isn't whether the Constitution is sacred,
25:40
Speaker 1: it's whether we are willing to maintain it and use
25:43
Speaker 1: the tools that we have at our disposal right now
25:47
Speaker 1: to demand a better structure for our democracy. The pardon
25:51
Speaker 1: debate may be the first crack. And I want to
25:54
Speaker 1: jump on this with enthusiasm. This is great news. You
25:58
Speaker 1: feel down about the direction in this country. The fact
26:01
Speaker 1: is you're not alone. People are very frustrated with it,
26:04
Speaker 1: and we know we've got to make some structural repairs.
26:07
Speaker 1: This is an important symbolic moment. What Don Bacon did
26:12
Speaker 1: O Losewinsky. My apologies for mangling your name there, Congressman Johnny,
26:17
Speaker 1: but this is a big deal. I think we are
26:19
Speaker 1: at the early stages of what's going to be a
26:21
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen year run of important reforms that we
26:25
Speaker 1: will Some of them will be incorrect, what we reforms
26:28
Speaker 1: with unintended consequences, perhaps just like with prohibition. You know,
26:31
Speaker 1: I'm not guaranteeing every reform we make will work, but
26:35
Speaker 1: once we start, this one is a common sense one.
26:37
Speaker 1: I think everybody can agree to it. Nobody should, No
26:40
Speaker 1: president should basically sell pardons, and we need to have
26:43
Speaker 1: some mechanism to prevent when we know it's happened or
26:47
Speaker 1: it looks really awful. And I can tell you those
26:50
Speaker 1: January sixth pardons probably would not have would have been nullified.
26:56
Speaker 1: So you know, the presidential pardon power might not be,
27:00
Speaker 1: to you, the worst thing Trump does, but it is
27:05
Speaker 1: a structural change that I think can lead to other change.
27:09
Speaker 1: So in Congress finally starts debating constitutional guardrails. If we
27:16
Speaker 1: can get them there instead of partisan revenge, then we're
27:19
Speaker 1: getting somewhere that becomes durable. So look, reform eras don't
27:22
Speaker 1: start with certainty. They start with the feeling we have
27:25
Speaker 1: right now, discomfort. We know it's not working, we know
27:30
Speaker 1: something's wrong. This system doesn't work. And if you're truly
27:33
Speaker 1: honest with yourself, if you're an Obama Trump voter, you
27:36
Speaker 1: thought an individual could fix this, I hope you're now
27:39
Speaker 1: convinced no individual can fix this. We need structural change.
27:44
Speaker 1: And if this week is any indication it's possible a
27:48
Speaker 1: reform era has finally begun. Yes, I'm looking for it,
27:53
Speaker 1: but goddamn it, we need it. And there's no better
27:57
Speaker 1: place I think to start than what is staring at
28:00
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Speaker 1: should really think about it, especially if you've got a
31:18
Speaker 1: growing family. We've got to hope we get a consensus
31:25
Speaker 1: at some point when it comes to America's role in
31:28
Speaker 1: the world. As much as you know we can have
31:30
Speaker 1: healthy disagreements on a lot of domestic issues, America's role
31:34
Speaker 1: in the world is one we're gonna have to accept
31:37
Speaker 1: the premise that one's sixty percent of us agree in
31:39
Speaker 1: a direction that we ought to take it. Just a
31:42
Speaker 1: few quick observations, I've got a fun little top five
31:45
Speaker 1: list for you here, but I wanted to do a
31:46
Speaker 1: few quick observations, and I wanted to do it following
31:49
Speaker 1: Bob the Bob Blackwell interview about what we saw in
31:52
Speaker 1: Munich and the different roles. It was interesting to see
31:55
Speaker 1: Rubio and the reception he got. You know, Marco's reception
32:01
Speaker 1: by the Europeans at the Munich Security Conference reminded me
32:03
Speaker 1: of bringing thirsty people water. He didn't bring them cold water.
32:09
Speaker 1: He just brought them some hydration. It wasn't as antagonistic
32:15
Speaker 1: as Jade Vance a year earlier. It wasn't as pointed
32:21
Speaker 1: as it was a year earlier. It wasn't as personal,
32:24
Speaker 1: it wasn't as as doom and gloom. And it's sort
32:29
Speaker 1: of the role Rubio has been playing, right, And you
32:32
Speaker 1: heard the conversation that Bob and I had about sort
32:35
Speaker 1: of this interesting role Rubyo is, in some ways, I think,
32:39
Speaker 1: seize himself as a potential bridge between sort of Trump's
32:43
Speaker 1: destruction of the world order and those that would like
32:46
Speaker 1: to preserve some form of the old world order. And
32:48
Speaker 1: what does this look like. Obviously Rubya hopes to be
32:50
Speaker 1: the guy that builds it, right, he would like to
32:53
Speaker 1: be the president, or maybe this is his portfolio if
32:57
Speaker 1: he is, if there's some sort of Vance Rubio ticket
33:00
Speaker 1: that succeeds Trump on this front. But you know, make
33:07
Speaker 1: no mistake. I mean, you know, Rubio still gave it
33:10
Speaker 1: tough love, but he at least showed that he knows
33:13
Speaker 1: how to use diplomatic language. And when you're the secretary
33:15
Speaker 1: of State, you better be pretty good at using diplomatic language.
33:18
Speaker 1: But I think what you heard there, and that's, you know,
33:21
Speaker 1: the whole the open question I have about Rubio and
33:24
Speaker 1: is and his decision to to try to work with
33:28
Speaker 1: trump Ism rather than fight against it like he did
33:31
Speaker 1: for a few years when it first came aboard, was
33:36
Speaker 1: is you know at some point if he if Trump
33:39
Speaker 1: thinks Rubio is causing problems, he will throw Ruby onto
33:42
Speaker 1: the bus. If what Rubio has suggested becomes unpopular, he
33:45
Speaker 1: will throw Ruby onto the bus. Then again, the same
33:47
Speaker 1: is true with Jadie Vance as well. And that's why
33:51
Speaker 1: it's very precarious when you build a political identity based
33:55
Speaker 1: on the whims of a single individual. You know, I
33:59
Speaker 1: think the thing that you know, Rubio may not ever
34:04
Speaker 1: be able to win over a MAGA voter on his own.
34:07
Speaker 1: He may need the endorsement and the stamp of approval
34:10
Speaker 1: by Donald Trump. The question is, one, is that still
34:14
Speaker 1: a big enough constituency by twenty twenty eight. That's an
34:17
Speaker 1: open question I have in my head. And two, can
34:24
Speaker 1: Rubio be both a MAGA person and at the same
34:29
Speaker 1: time be trusted by either side to help build a
34:32
Speaker 1: new world order to engage in multilateralism, which Rubio himself
34:37
Speaker 1: I think does believe in multilateralism, even if Donald Trump
34:41
Speaker 1: does not, And so that's an open question. The other
34:46
Speaker 1: story coming out of Munich is the reception that alexandri
34:48
Speaker 1: O Cassio Cortez got. And you know, it's a classic
34:52
Speaker 1: case of if you want her to succeed, you said, oh,
34:55
Speaker 1: look she's made her debut on the foreign policy stage.
34:57
Speaker 1: If you want her to fail, you're like, oh, look
34:59
Speaker 1: at how much she flubbed on her debut on the
35:01
Speaker 1: foreign policy stage. I will just say this, look, I
35:06
Speaker 1: think that that she could have. It did look like
35:10
Speaker 1: she didn't study for the test enough, and I'm surprised she,
35:16
Speaker 1: you know, didn't have a more you know, prepared answer.
35:20
Speaker 1: At the same time, I think it's healthy to if
35:23
Speaker 1: you're thinking about running for national office too I'm glad
35:26
Speaker 1: she went to this event. Get to know some of
35:28
Speaker 1: the players make some early mistakes. If you're going to
35:32
Speaker 1: make mistakes, make them now, not in the actual campaign. Here,
35:35
Speaker 1: learn what you don't know. Learn uh those and you know,
35:39
Speaker 1: when it comes to foreign policy and political campaigns, you know,
35:43
Speaker 1: the key is not to block put yourself in a
35:46
Speaker 1: rhetorical corner that will become problematic down the road. Right.
35:51
Speaker 1: The best example of this is when Barack Obama drew
35:54
Speaker 1: a red line of chemical weapons being used by Bashar
35:57
Speaker 1: al Asad at Syria. Once he did it, he said
35:59
Speaker 1: it was a red line. Well, how are you going
36:01
Speaker 1: to enforce that red line if he crosses it? Sure enough,
36:04
Speaker 1: Asad crossed it, and we didn't enforce the red line.
36:08
Speaker 1: I don't think Obama regrets not enforcing the red line.
36:10
Speaker 1: I think he regrets ever drawing that sort of hard
36:13
Speaker 1: and fast rule on that. So I think that that's
36:16
Speaker 1: a lesson that all newcomers to presidential politics, as they dabble,
36:21
Speaker 1: as they dip their toe in the foreign policy water's
36:23
Speaker 1: got to learn that. But the second observation I have
36:27
Speaker 1: about the AOC issue is it's just amusing to me
36:30
Speaker 1: how many people on the right one and dunk on
36:33
Speaker 1: her for a small mistake. Here a flubb there but
36:35
Speaker 1: the equator in Venezuela. And you're sitting there going, really,
36:40
Speaker 1: we're going to hold her to account on a geographic
36:43
Speaker 1: mistake when we've got Donald Trump and all of the
36:48
Speaker 1: crazy and geographic nonsense that he talks about. Where he doesn't,
36:52
Speaker 1: I mean, he literally is the John Belushi character in Animiles.
36:56
Speaker 1: You know, he might as well be saying things like
36:59
Speaker 1: when the Germans on Pearl Harbor, you know, type of mindset.
37:03
Speaker 1: And I don't you know whether this is about her
37:08
Speaker 1: and there's an obsession on the right to just dunk
37:11
Speaker 1: on her whenever you get a chance, which there's something
37:13
Speaker 1: to that, or if it's a sign that maybe maybe
37:18
Speaker 1: folks are embarrassed by how ignorant Trump comes across about
37:22
Speaker 1: so many things in foreign affairs and about geography. I mean,
37:27
Speaker 1: you know, do you think he can name fifteen countries
37:31
Speaker 1: in Africa? Let alone all the countries in Africa? But
37:33
Speaker 1: do you think he can name fifteen? Ten? What number
37:36
Speaker 1: would I have to lower myself to before you think
37:38
Speaker 1: he can name? You know, I think he'd struggle at ten.
37:42
Speaker 1: You know, I think many Americans would struggle at ten.
37:44
Speaker 1: But many Americans are not president of the United States.
37:47
Speaker 1: So the point is is that it is amusing to
37:49
Speaker 1: me when we want to hold our political opponents to
37:52
Speaker 1: higher standards than we will hold people that are quote
37:56
Speaker 1: unquote on our side or that we're sympathetic too. And
38:00
Speaker 1: let's just say I saw a lot of that on
38:01
Speaker 1: the right this week when it came to AOC All right, now,
38:04
Speaker 1: I want to have a little fun with my top
38:06
Speaker 1: five lists this week. As you know, sometimes it's serious
38:09
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's whacky. And I thought there was a
38:13
Speaker 1: We've had some ridiculous attempts at currying favor with Donald
38:17
Speaker 1: Trump take place over the last couple of years, and
38:21
Speaker 1: I thought it would be worth doing a top five
38:25
Speaker 1: list on the most ridiculous awards Donald Trump has received
38:30
Speaker 1: in order for in order for entities to try to
38:33
Speaker 1: curry favor, and it's usually corporations or in one case
38:38
Speaker 1: an international entity and in another case. So I'm giving
38:41
Speaker 1: you my top five most absurd awards manufactured and created
38:50
Speaker 1: to soothe Donald Trump's ego. Top So, number five on
39:01
Speaker 1: the list is one that he got in twenty twenty four.
39:03
Speaker 1: It's the McDonald's French Fry Certification pin. It is, you know,
39:10
Speaker 1: after his stint working the friar at a Pennsylvania McDonald's
39:13
Speaker 1: during the campaign. So as pre president, he was given
39:15
Speaker 1: a commemorative pin and a certificate for his service, and
39:19
Speaker 1: of course Donald Trump treated it with the gravity as
39:21
Speaker 1: if it was a state dinner, the ultimate everyman award.
39:25
Speaker 1: Who famously loves a quarter pounder. So his French Fry
39:28
Speaker 1: Certificate pin is number five on my list of most
39:31
Speaker 1: ridiculous awards that He's been given by companies and corporations
39:35
Speaker 1: in order to curry favor. It's this most recent award
39:39
Speaker 1: that triggered the idea for this list. This one he
39:42
Speaker 1: just received. Number four on my list is the Undisputed
39:46
Speaker 1: Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal Award. I bet you didn't
39:49
Speaker 1: know that that existed. Well, it is. The Washington Coal
39:52
Speaker 1: Club recently bestowed that actual title upon Donald Trump. So
39:57
Speaker 1: it's not just a coal award, you know, looking out
39:59
Speaker 1: for the coal. I mean it's not the first time,
40:01
Speaker 1: but this one is specific and it uses some of
40:03
Speaker 1: Trump's favorite phrases. Right, undisputed champion beautiful clean coal. Right,
40:09
Speaker 1: So this is the award the undisputed champion, a beautiful
40:11
Speaker 1: clean coal. I mean it is right out of like
40:15
Speaker 1: the old WWF and all the crazy names they used
40:18
Speaker 1: to give to their various championship belts. Right you had
40:21
Speaker 1: the you'd have the the the world champion. Then you'd
40:24
Speaker 1: have the inter continental champion. Nobody ever explained what the
40:27
Speaker 1: hell the inter continental champion was. I think my man
40:29
Speaker 1: Paul Orndorf was that. I think uh uh was the
40:33
Speaker 1: was the inter continental champion? I don't think, but that
40:36
Speaker 1: was never You know, hul Cogan was bigger than just
40:38
Speaker 1: being the intercontinental champ, if you will. So he is.
40:42
Speaker 1: Now this this feels like that that you gotta I
40:45
Speaker 1: gotta hand it to the Washington coal Club. That's that's impressive.
40:48
Speaker 1: That was impressive. Number three on the list is FIFA
40:51
Speaker 1: and the Peace Prize. Right in the middle, right deep
40:55
Speaker 1: of the arden. Last year, when Trump was campaigning and
40:59
Speaker 1: begging for the Noble l Peace Prize, our friends at
41:02
Speaker 1: FIFA who loved to curry favor with those in power,
41:05
Speaker 1: no matter how corrupting it looks to them. FIFA doesn't care.
41:10
Speaker 1: They manufactured a peace Prize because why not. They knew
41:18
Speaker 1: that Donald Trump wanted a Peace Prize. So FIFA gave
41:20
Speaker 1: him the Peace Prize. So they did it during at
41:22
Speaker 1: the Trump Kennedy Center, right, and the final draw for
41:26
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six World Cup, and they decided to
41:30
Speaker 1: create this brand new accolade just in time for Trump's
41:33
Speaker 1: return to office. Right. You know, it's you know, it's
41:38
Speaker 1: like getting an award from your barber that says you're
41:40
Speaker 1: the you're the best haircut customer this week, you know.
41:45
Speaker 1: But good old FIFA, you can count on that number
41:48
Speaker 1: two on the list. This one is the Tim Cook Special. Right.
41:52
Speaker 1: I'm sure some of you were thinking, well, you got
41:53
Speaker 1: to include the Tim Cook thing. So and this is
41:56
Speaker 1: not the first time Tim Cook has actually given him
41:58
Speaker 1: a couple of awards over the year. And the first term,
42:01
Speaker 1: Cook gave him a commemorative plaque, right, it was a
42:05
Speaker 1: circular piece of mac pro glass. But you know, for
42:11
Speaker 1: the second one, he had to really up the stakes,
42:13
Speaker 1: so he gave the twenty four carrot golden glass statue
42:18
Speaker 1: featuring a circular piece of gorilla glass on a gold base.
42:24
Speaker 1: What it really was was a physical manifestation of the
42:27
Speaker 1: trade deal Apple needed. It was less an award and
42:33
Speaker 1: more of a please don't tax our iPhones trophy at
42:37
Speaker 1: the time that it was given, but it was you know,
42:41
Speaker 1: the gold played gold carrot, all that business. It was
42:44
Speaker 1: just it was just awful. But number one on the
42:46
Speaker 1: list matters because of how much it mainstream Donald Trump
42:55
Speaker 1: back into the Republican Party post January sixth. And it
43:02
Speaker 1: was when the NRSC, when it was chaired by Rick Scott,
43:06
Speaker 1: he created the Champion for Freedom Bowl as an award
43:10
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one for Donald Trump. And this is
43:15
Speaker 1: April of twenty twenty one. He gets this award. This
43:18
Speaker 1: is three months after January sixth. He's supposed to be
43:21
Speaker 1: persona non grata, but neither Kevin McCarthy, who stood next
43:25
Speaker 1: to him, and then Rick Scott. They were the two
43:28
Speaker 1: people who greased the skids the most for bringing Trump
43:31
Speaker 1: back into the mainstream and this award. So Scott presents
43:36
Speaker 1: Trump with the inaugural NRSC Champion for Freedom Award. And
43:41
Speaker 1: it was a bowl. It was a large engraved silver
43:46
Speaker 1: serving bowl. There were some people that joked that Scott
43:51
Speaker 1: didn't know what to give him, so he grabbed the
43:52
Speaker 1: first punch bowl he could find from the office kitchen
43:54
Speaker 1: at the NRSC. Had it engraved, and it was all
43:57
Speaker 1: about making sure Trump knew, or that Trump's supporters knew
44:02
Speaker 1: Rick Scott was on his side. But it was that
44:04
Speaker 1: award that moment. It was not just the award itself.
44:08
Speaker 1: And so while I'm having a little bit of fun
44:10
Speaker 1: here and how all of these people right, you know,
44:13
Speaker 1: we'd think Trump looks ridiculous for taking these awards seriously,
44:17
Speaker 1: but the people given these awards really it's not a
44:20
Speaker 1: good look. Rick Scott doing what he did post January
44:22
Speaker 1: six just a bad look. You know, maybe it held
44:25
Speaker 1: party unity, but really we're gonna pick party unity over
44:29
Speaker 1: the disaster of January sixth, or Tim Cook and his
44:32
Speaker 1: gold statue, or FIFA and the absurdity of their Peace Prize.
44:37
Speaker 1: You know, in some ways the most honest is the
44:39
Speaker 1: Cole folks man. You know what they know what they want,
44:42
Speaker 1: they know what they're focused on, and they know they
44:45
Speaker 1: have a guy, and so in that sense it's an
44:47
Speaker 1: honest one. And you know, the French Fried French fry
44:51
Speaker 1: pen is just sort of amusing. Notice what I didn't
44:54
Speaker 1: put on here was the actual peace Nobel Peace Prize
44:57
Speaker 1: that Machado that the winner of last year's Peace Prize
45:01
Speaker 1: gave to Trump, and she like took it to a
45:03
Speaker 1: frame store and had it like put together. Like it
45:06
Speaker 1: was like a like you were featured in a newspaper
45:08
Speaker 1: article for the first time, and you get these companies
45:11
Speaker 1: that want to sell you a framed version of it
45:13
Speaker 1: so you can display it in your office with a plaque.
45:16
Speaker 1: She basically did that, took it and then gave him
45:19
Speaker 1: her Peace Prize. So but I didn't think it belonged
45:22
Speaker 1: in the top five because it was the prize itself
45:25
Speaker 1: is not it was not awarded to him, And I
45:28
Speaker 1: don't know what to call it. I guess you would
45:30
Speaker 1: call it the Machado Peace Prize, but it's its own
45:32
Speaker 1: category and it's the But I'll tell you we're you know,
45:39
Speaker 1: we complained my generation links to complain that we gave
45:42
Speaker 1: away too many trophies to millennials, right they where that
45:45
Speaker 1: everybody gets a trophy. Generation. Please let's not keep doing
45:50
Speaker 1: this to our presidents. I mean, I know that Trump
45:53
Speaker 1: is arrested development and he's desperate for accolades, and if
45:57
Speaker 1: he can't get accolades that have historic meaning, then make
46:00
Speaker 1: them up and it makes him happy. Apparently, I get it.
46:04
Speaker 1: A lot of these people have business in front of
46:06
Speaker 1: the government, and if this is what it takes, and
46:08
Speaker 1: sadly we know how easy you know this, you know,
46:12
Speaker 1: and a few bucks. It was a long way to
46:14
Speaker 1: persuading this president. This is why we had to do
46:19
Speaker 1: something about about this unilateral This is why you always
46:24
Speaker 1: need to check on the executive all right, now it's
46:34
Speaker 1: time for a little ask, Chuck, Ask Chuck. Matt ah
46:41
Speaker 1: trom Manchester, Tennessee. All right, Manchester, Tennessee. I wonder how
46:45
Speaker 1: many Manchesters there are around the country, right, Manchester, New Hampshire.
46:50
Speaker 1: Of course it's the Manchester I spend the most time in.
46:52
Speaker 1: But Manchester, Tennessee, all right, didn't know that one, Matt
46:55
Speaker 1: h And Hey, I've been a fan since your rested
46:57
Speaker 1: days and your show is now my go to for
46:59
Speaker 1: BLAE Insight. And enjoyed your interview with doctor and Andrews,
47:02
Speaker 1: which got me thinking, as a center left voter in
47:03
Speaker 1: deep red Tennessee, do you think I'll live to see
47:05
Speaker 1: a Democrat win state white here again? I missed the
47:07
Speaker 1: days of Phil Bredison and Al Gore, but they feel along,
47:09
Speaker 1: they feel long gone. You know, it's interesting, Matt, you know,
47:13
Speaker 1: when I was in the eighties, the South was splitting
47:17
Speaker 1: up between sort of new South, old South, right, and
47:20
Speaker 1: there was in the new South states were Florida, Georgia,
47:24
Speaker 1: North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. And then supposedly the old
47:29
Speaker 1: South states here you're Alabama's or Mississippi, or South Carolina
47:32
Speaker 1: you're Arkansas. You get where I'm going. And you've seen, right,
47:37
Speaker 1: the new South states have swung either or swing swinging,
47:42
Speaker 1: have been or competitive or you know, in the case
47:45
Speaker 1: of Virginia a little more blue, case of Florida a
47:48
Speaker 1: little more red. But you've seen that. The head scratcher
47:52
Speaker 1: to me has been Tennessee. That the fact that Tennessee
47:55
Speaker 1: hasn't moved in the directionally the same way that both
48:01
Speaker 1: Virginia and North Carolina have moved has always been mildly
48:04
Speaker 1: surprising to me because it particularly with the growth of Nashville, right,
48:07
Speaker 1: Nashville is now like this artist's hub, particularly for on
48:10
Speaker 1: the on the music side of things. And you know,
48:13
Speaker 1: look what Austin did to to you know, became bluer,
48:18
Speaker 1: and obviously you know, Hollywood itself and being a has
48:23
Speaker 1: certainly given a very you know, darker blue tint to
48:26
Speaker 1: southern California than it used to have in itself. So
48:31
Speaker 1: I think there was I think I certainly I thought
48:34
Speaker 1: nash the growth of Nashville would naturally create more competition
48:39
Speaker 1: in the state that all of that, and we haven't
48:41
Speaker 1: seen that. Now. There's a few things. My friend Brad Todd,
48:43
Speaker 1: a Republican consultant from Tennessee. He says, you know, the
48:47
Speaker 1: growth of Nashville has been different than say the Research
48:51
Speaker 1: Triangle or Atlanta, Atlanta, or northern Virginia. And I thought
48:54
Speaker 1: Nashville would sort of behave the same way has And
48:57
Speaker 1: he said, part of it is you've had a lot
48:59
Speaker 1: of Midwesterners moved to particularly the sort of the larger
49:04
Speaker 1: Nashville ex scerbs right Franklin County in particular, but the
49:07
Speaker 1: excerbs of Nashville. And he says, like on a Saturday,
49:10
Speaker 1: you can go to some of these subdivisions and you
49:13
Speaker 1: don't see it falls. You don't see any Tennessee Vall's
49:15
Speaker 1: flag in the fall, but you do see Michigan, Indiana,
49:19
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Wisconsin. And he said there's been a lot
49:23
Speaker 1: of sort of Republicans have left those states and moved
49:28
Speaker 1: to a lower tech state like Tennessee and the expanding
49:32
Speaker 1: excurbs of Nashville, and that that is that the migration
49:37
Speaker 1: has not been as as swing voter or as liberal
49:41
Speaker 1: as the migration you saw in northern Virginia Research Triangle
49:44
Speaker 1: or Austin or the Atlanta suburbs. But look, we've seen
49:50
Speaker 1: some signs at Nashville itself gets competitive. So look, I
49:56
Speaker 1: think the biggest problem that Tennessee Democrats have in general's Memphis.
50:01
Speaker 1: Memphis is just it's a city that has fallen behind. Right,
50:06
Speaker 1: there was a time that Memphis was a growing city
50:09
Speaker 1: FedEx being headquarters. There was I'll be honest with you.
50:14
Speaker 1: I've traveling and out of Memphis a lot always have
50:16
Speaker 1: gone back thirty years now and you know, just just
50:22
Speaker 1: in the in the areas in and you know, I
50:24
Speaker 1: think about the area in and around of Graceland now,
50:27
Speaker 1: the airport hotels, you know, the crime issues pretty pretty
50:33
Speaker 1: bad these days. All the airport hotels are like behind
50:36
Speaker 1: these like huge, you know, ten foot iron fences, black
50:42
Speaker 1: you know, sort of those black iron you know fences,
50:45
Speaker 1: and it screams like not welcoming all around that part
50:51
Speaker 1: of Memphis. And so you know, it is it is
50:54
Speaker 1: sort of stagnanted. You know whether this Look, Tennessee Republicans
50:58
Speaker 1: have made a living running against Memphis forever, and Memphis
51:02
Speaker 1: was racial code words. You know, it was the largest
51:06
Speaker 1: African American population in Tennessee concentrated wise, was in Memphis.
51:11
Speaker 1: But it is stalled growth wise. I wish I had
51:14
Speaker 1: a better explanation. I haven't studied it enough, but you know,
51:17
Speaker 1: Memphis feels like it's headed in the wrong direction in
51:22
Speaker 1: you know, there was a time both in Memphis and
51:24
Speaker 1: Nashville felt like where they were both growing. And I think,
51:28
Speaker 1: you know, better democratic governance of Memphis and more success
51:34
Speaker 1: in Memphis might I think raise the prospects of of
51:40
Speaker 1: more credibility for Democratic candidate statewide. Look, I think that
51:44
Speaker 1: there is just and there's no pipeline anymore. Right when
51:46
Speaker 1: they carved up the Nashville seat so that they did
51:49
Speaker 1: it as a hub and spoke where they just took
51:51
Speaker 1: pieces of Nashville to try to make it so that essentially,
51:54
Speaker 1: I think the only Democrat you really are going to
51:56
Speaker 1: end up with is the is the congressman from Memphis.
52:02
Speaker 1: You don't have somebody that wins in swing districts that
52:05
Speaker 1: then become that become like a Phil Bretison that knows
52:09
Speaker 1: how to run stay wide. And you've also had that
52:12
Speaker 1: scandal with the Nashville mayor. So when you think about
52:14
Speaker 1: the places where the benches would develop, where there could
52:17
Speaker 1: be benches for candidates to develop, mayor of Nashville is
52:20
Speaker 1: a big one. The congressional you haven't had that. So
52:25
Speaker 1: let's just say it's a lot of work to do.
52:26
Speaker 1: If I were advising Tennessee Democrats, I'd be like, go
52:29
Speaker 1: get your Memphis house in order and then get started
52:33
Speaker 1: at sort of change, you know, improving your brand in
52:39
Speaker 1: the Nashville area. Next question comes from Ann and should
52:45
Speaker 1: I say love listening to your time machine message today.
52:47
Speaker 1: I'm a high school US history and US government teacher.
52:49
Speaker 1: I've always argued that some years in history require a
52:51
Speaker 1: book addressing events in just that year. You hit one
52:54
Speaker 1: of those years today, eighteen forty eight. You are so right.
52:57
Speaker 1: I'm not bright enough to write it and to just
53:00
Speaker 1: diletantese to focus my attention. I'm passing the baton to
53:04
Speaker 1: you get writing. If eighteen forty eight is it your
53:06
Speaker 1: cup of tea, maybe nineteen sixty eight would be more
53:09
Speaker 1: to your taste, and no, you're right. I mean it
53:11
Speaker 1: was a time of disruption. There was. It was sort
53:13
Speaker 1: of peak fear of the industrial age, and it was
53:16
Speaker 1: more in Europe. It was you know, brewing in this country,
53:21
Speaker 1: but it was definitely something hit in London more, which
53:23
Speaker 1: is hence why that came. You're absolute right, there is
53:26
Speaker 1: more to eighteen forty eight as a touchdowne in history.
53:31
Speaker 1: Just to put some meat on the eighteen forty eight
53:34
Speaker 1: bones there, and I do expect you to grade me
53:40
Speaker 1: and tell me. I just want to give folks a
53:43
Speaker 1: quick run through. Why do you put that way? So
53:46
Speaker 1: what makes eighteen forty eight unique is that it wasn't
53:49
Speaker 1: one single war. There were spontaneous, contagious irruption of over
53:53
Speaker 1: fifty different revolts across Europe, and all of it was
53:57
Speaker 1: without our modern communications of the moment. Right, This wasn't
54:00
Speaker 1: the Internet. This didn't get contagious that way. You know.
54:03
Speaker 1: You had the fire started arguably in Sicily in January.
54:08
Speaker 1: Then there was Paris in February, where the monarchy went away,
54:12
Speaker 1: the revolutionary spirit kept going. You had you had the
54:17
Speaker 1: Austrian Empire, the prince fleeing to London, you had the
54:25
Speaker 1: Prussians agreeing to a promise of a constitution and a parliament.
54:31
Speaker 1: You had Italian reunification. One could argue there was a
54:35
Speaker 1: collision of isms liberalism, the middle class wanting constitutions, free speech,
54:40
Speaker 1: the right to vote, that was happening over Europe. You
54:42
Speaker 1: had nationalism. You had ethnic groups Hungarians, Germans, Italians, checks
54:46
Speaker 1: they wanted their own independent countries. Right, we still had
54:48
Speaker 1: a Prussia at that time, No Germany. Socialism was on
54:51
Speaker 1: the rise with obviously with what I pointed out, with
54:54
Speaker 1: Marx and all of that. So she was saying, yes,
54:59
Speaker 1: there needs to be a book. Well. The historian GM
55:02
Speaker 1: Trevellion called eighteen forty eight the turning point at rich
55:05
Speaker 1: modern history failed to turn. Its a great turn of
55:07
Speaker 1: phrase that he had. Everything seemed to collapse that year,
55:12
Speaker 1: and then by eighteen forty nine there was a conservative snapback.
55:15
Speaker 1: Monarchs regained their nerve, the Russian czars three hundred thousand
55:18
Speaker 1: troops to help Austria across the Hungarian revolt. The French
55:21
Speaker 1: Republic ended when Napoleon's nephew declared himself the emperor. So
55:26
Speaker 1: it was sort of but eighteen forty eight served as
55:28
Speaker 1: a bit of a precursor to what was to come, right,
55:31
Speaker 1: and we ended up with the Russian Revolution about fifty
55:33
Speaker 1: years later, and you know, the fall of the Ottoman
55:37
Speaker 1: Empire and all of that, so sort of it was
55:40
Speaker 1: it was sort of like the first tremors of the
55:43
Speaker 1: big breakup that would eventually take place in the late
55:46
Speaker 1: nineteenth thirty twentieth century. But you're right, eighteen forty eight
55:50
Speaker 1: worthy of its own book. It's a really good podcast
55:54
Speaker 1: serial idea too. Sort of you know some years, you
55:58
Speaker 1: know years where you know where, years where decades happened,
56:03
Speaker 1: and decades where years happened. Right, So thank you for
56:08
Speaker 1: that suggestion, Anne, And I don't know if I did
56:11
Speaker 1: did the answer to your question a service? Hopefully I
56:14
Speaker 1: got more people interested in eighteen forty eight, which is
56:16
Speaker 1: the real goal. All Right, I'm just gonna sneak in
56:19
Speaker 1: two more questions here because I am. As soon as
56:22
Speaker 1: I'm done with this taping, I'm going to go celebrate
56:25
Speaker 1: my grandmother's ninety ninth birthday. She turns ninety nine this week.
56:30
Speaker 1: How about that? Ninety nine? And she is well aware
56:37
Speaker 1: of everything that's going around around the world. She can't
56:39
Speaker 1: read the way she used to do anymore because of
56:41
Speaker 1: her eyesight. But she listens probably to like two books
56:44
Speaker 1: a day. I mean, she's a book on tape connoisseur.
56:48
Speaker 1: All right. This one comes from Max w Out of Alexandria.
56:53
Speaker 1: Here use of historical precedent to help analyze kurtent political
56:55
Speaker 1: actions leads me to ask about the Bill of Rights.
56:57
Speaker 1: Trump administration is assaulted the first, the fourth, fifth, and
57:00
Speaker 1: the six amendments numerous times, and it has recently gone
57:03
Speaker 1: after the second Amendment when it justified the alex Pretty
57:05
Speaker 1: shooting because he brought a gun to the protest. So
57:06
Speaker 1: what's left is the third Amendment quartering soldiers the only
57:09
Speaker 1: one in the Bill of Rights left unmolested by this administration?
57:13
Speaker 1: Maybe the eighth, maybe the ninth. And where's the libertarian
57:16
Speaker 1: outrage at the demolition of their personal rights? I'll hang
57:18
Speaker 1: up and listen. Let's seez a remax w Actually, I
57:22
Speaker 1: think this is where you're starting to see some libertarians
57:25
Speaker 1: get cranky about it. I follow a whole bunch of libertarians.
57:28
Speaker 1: I'm going to have the editor in chief of Reason
57:29
Speaker 1: magazine on soon to actually talk about this very issue.
57:35
Speaker 1: I know. This is Here's how I view these tests
57:39
Speaker 1: of liberties that are challenged by Trump. You know, the
57:44
Speaker 1: Republicans that are exhausted from defending Trump when they're willing
57:47
Speaker 1: to speak out on these things, and so they're they're
57:50
Speaker 1: kind of MRIs for who's got any principles left? So
57:55
Speaker 1: I find these moments useful in figuring out which one
57:59
Speaker 1: of these guys in cos will put the country before
58:02
Speaker 1: the party if the chips are truly down, and which
58:05
Speaker 1: ones won't. It's moments like this they give us this.
58:07
Speaker 1: You're right about this, I mean, I would argue that
58:15
Speaker 1: you know, in any given day, I mean it is
58:17
Speaker 1: it does feel like half the Bill of Rights get
58:20
Speaker 1: violated on any given day by this administration. But you know,
58:26
Speaker 1: does anybody believe do you think Donald Trump's read one
58:29
Speaker 1: federalist paper in the last twenty years. Maybe he read
58:32
Speaker 1: one in high school? Maybe? All right, last question for
58:35
Speaker 1: this episode comes from Dennis Dennis Rights. Why isn't anybody
58:40
Speaker 1: talking about the real possibility that potentially two conservative Supreme
58:43
Speaker 1: Court justices could resign Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, especially
58:46
Speaker 1: if the Democrats are likely to win the Senate to
58:48
Speaker 1: allow Trump to nominate one, possibly two young, mega friendly
58:50
Speaker 1: justices to the Supreme Court, extending his legacy forward for decades.
58:54
Speaker 1: Even if the Republicans maintain their majority in the Senate
58:57
Speaker 1: following the twenty twenty sixth election, the real possibility still
58:59
Speaker 1: remain that either one or two of the justices would
59:02
Speaker 1: resign prior to Trump leaving office in twenty twenty nine,
59:04
Speaker 1: allowing him to have nominated five Supreme Court justices during
59:08
Speaker 1: his time as president. Thank you, Dennis. Look, you know,
59:12
Speaker 1: I think you will know when the White House finally
59:15
Speaker 1: fears losing the Senate in twenty twenty six when you
59:18
Speaker 1: start to hear those whispers grow louder about Alito and
59:21
Speaker 1: or Thomas. My friend Bruce Melman, you should check out
59:26
Speaker 1: his sub stack. Every Sunday he puts out these terrific
59:29
Speaker 1: PowerPoint slides, and he didn't want to basically anticipating the
59:34
Speaker 1: potential for a Supreme Court opening, and he said, look,
59:37
Speaker 1: Trump loves to try to try to set records or
59:41
Speaker 1: to surpass or be and he would love to nominate,
59:45
Speaker 1: you know, to get up to five. I think in
59:47
Speaker 1: Bruce's telling, let me get the Bruce charts out here
59:49
Speaker 1: a minute, because they were terrific on this topic. He
59:53
Speaker 1: pointed out that right now, Trump has, as you point out,
59:56
Speaker 1: has had three. He's right now he's in a seven
1:00:01
Speaker 1: way tie for the thirteenth most Supreme Court justices appointed.
1:00:05
Speaker 1: But if he gets two more, he's then tied with
1:00:08
Speaker 1: Lincoln for the fourth most all time. In case you
1:00:10
Speaker 1: keep it score, George Washington is appointed the most members
1:00:13
Speaker 1: of the Supreme Court eleven, followed by FDR. Took him
1:00:17
Speaker 1: three terms plus a month to do nine. Andrew Jackson
1:00:22
Speaker 1: did six. And then you have three guys at five. Taft, Eisenhower, Lincoln, Grant, Nixon, Cleveland, Harding, Truman,
1:00:30
Speaker 1: Harrison all had four, and then Reagan got three, and
1:00:35
Speaker 1: he's the most, and Trump has three. No, there's no
1:00:38
Speaker 1: other modern era with three. You have to go back
1:00:42
Speaker 1: to before then you have to go back to It
1:00:45
Speaker 1: appears Hoover got three, and then before that Woodrow Wilson,
1:00:50
Speaker 1: before that Teddy Roosevelt. So look, I think Alitos seemed
1:00:56
Speaker 1: to give hints that he sort of exhausted from doing this.
1:01:00
Speaker 1: There's a lot of assumptions that Thomas is ready to
1:01:02
Speaker 1: take the RV on the road and just do more
1:01:04
Speaker 1: trips on his RV. He loves to do that, and
1:01:09
Speaker 1: I think they're both true believers right there. You know,
1:01:12
Speaker 1: it's a it's a tough decision for Trump because the
1:01:14
Speaker 1: two oldest are also the two most supportive right They
1:01:17
Speaker 1: vote with Trump more than any other two members of
1:01:20
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, So, you know, and you look at
1:01:23
Speaker 1: his appointments. Do you know that Amy Coney Barrett voted
1:01:29
Speaker 1: gave him fifty three percent of the time voted in
1:01:32
Speaker 1: favor of the Biden administration when she was you know,
1:01:37
Speaker 1: so did Roberts, but she voted more with Roberts than
1:01:40
Speaker 1: she did. You know, Alito and Gorsage ninety five percent
1:01:43
Speaker 1: of the time do they vote with Trump, and only
1:01:46
Speaker 1: Gorse it's twenty nine percent of the time voted with
1:01:49
Speaker 1: with Biden. But both Thomas and Alito voted only eighteen
1:01:53
Speaker 1: percent of the time with the Biden administration whenever they
1:01:56
Speaker 1: were in front of the Supreme Court. So they're Trump's
1:01:59
Speaker 1: most support you know, two of their most supportive justices.
1:02:03
Speaker 1: So you push them out. You know, Kavanaugh Barrett have
1:02:07
Speaker 1: both been you know, a little you know, more center
1:02:11
Speaker 1: right than right wing. Gorsas has been more right wing,
1:02:15
Speaker 1: but he's been unpredictable in a couple of different issues,
1:02:18
Speaker 1: So you know, nothing always goes to plan. And the
1:02:24
Speaker 1: irony is that he would be getting rid of his
1:02:25
Speaker 1: two most supportive justices if he pushed them out. But
1:02:30
Speaker 1: I think this is coming. I think there are going
1:02:32
Speaker 1: to be Republicans whispering in Trump's ear that, hey, nothing
1:02:35
Speaker 1: will help rally the base more than a Supreme Court opening.
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Speaker 1: This is what worked in twenty eighteen. It kept you know,
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Speaker 1: it helped Republicans win a couple of Senate seats even
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Speaker 1: in a bad midterm year. Maybe this does the same.
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Speaker 1: Now here's a question that I have that was in
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Speaker 1: a pre Dobbs environment, who gets more fired up now
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Speaker 1: for open Supreme Court justices? But when it was Roe v.
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Speaker 1: Wade that the right way was fired up about, it
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Speaker 1: was clear that anytime the Supreme Court was an issue,
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Speaker 1: it motivated the right more than the left. Does that
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Speaker 1: change in the era of Dobbs that you know will
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Speaker 1: will a Supreme Court opening motivate the left more than
1:03:16
Speaker 1: the right? This time? We haven't had that in a while.
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Speaker 1: But usually, when you know, it's whoever feels the side
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Speaker 1: that feels as if the courts are the most against them,
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Speaker 1: And right now I think the left feels like the
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Speaker 1: courts are more rigged against them than the right feels
1:03:29
Speaker 1: like the courts are rigged against them. Right, there's not
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Speaker 1: as many liberal judges are doing this to us type
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Speaker 1: of victimhood these days on the right, because Trump's had
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Speaker 1: quite a few you know, they've they've gotten quite a
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Speaker 1: few wins. So that's you know, Do I think that
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Speaker 1: Republican strategists will believe this will help them? I do?
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Speaker 1: Are they right? I'm not one hundred percent convinced. And
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Speaker 1: with that, I'm going to go figure out what. Let
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Speaker 1: me tell you one thing about my I got a
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Speaker 1: great anecdote about my great my mother. She's made in
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Speaker 1: ninety nine years. You know, the single thing she hates
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Speaker 1: eating the most fresh vegetables, So there you go, all right,
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Speaker 1: but she eats the most of anything chocolate or sweet,
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Speaker 1: and she's still going strong. I'm not saying so hey,
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Speaker 1: mister Pross, you know the healthy food guy doesn't always
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Speaker 1: worked that way. All right, with that, I'll see you in
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Speaker 1: twenty four hours.