Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: Iran Chaos, Ceasefire Confusion & Virginia Election Shock

Transcript

Normally Podcast: Iran Chaos, Ceasefire Confusion & Virginia Election Shock · Normally

0:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, are normally the show is normal.
0:08
Speaker 2: It takes.
0:08
Speaker 3: But when you's getting d I am Ray Kane and
0:11
Speaker 3: I'm Carol Marco's. How was your weekend? Mary Catherine?
0:14
Speaker 2: It was good.
0:15
Speaker 1: I chill out. The foreign policy does not chill out.
0:18
Speaker 1: I chill out a little bit over the weekend, and
0:21
Speaker 1: then you and I have to scramble on Sunday and
0:23
Speaker 1: be like, what happened?
0:26
Speaker 3: What was all this?
0:28
Speaker 2: I went shooting yesterday and I'm very excited about it
0:31
Speaker 2: with like my Florida crew. Buck Sexton led the operation.
0:35
Speaker 2: It was awesome at like an outdoor range middle of nowhere.
0:40
Speaker 2: It's really really great, and shot a bunch of different
0:43
Speaker 2: kinds of guns. I learned that wearing Lululemon joggers to
0:46
Speaker 2: the range is a bad idea if you're planning to
0:48
Speaker 2: holister your gun.
0:51
Speaker 3: There was a lot of jokes at my expense, which
0:53
Speaker 3: I took like a champ.
0:55
Speaker 4: There you go.
0:56
Speaker 3: It was so much fun.
0:57
Speaker 1: We, by the way, are remiss and not having on
1:00
Speaker 1: our list. The fact that the NRA released an ad
1:03
Speaker 1: focused on arming the Jews, which we love to see.
1:06
Speaker 3: Love it, love it, love it. It was like the
1:08
Speaker 3: I forgot what it's called locks and loaded the roofs there.
1:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I can't argue with that branding.
1:15
Speaker 3: I know, I love that.
1:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm very into the idea of Jews owning guns.
1:20
Speaker 2: It's still a real challenge because whenever I speak to
1:24
Speaker 2: Jewish groups and I talk very positively about owning guns
1:28
Speaker 2: and going shooting and having a gun and all of that,
1:30
Speaker 2: I get gasps in the room, like like what planet
1:34
Speaker 2: is this that Jews were having this conversation, And I'm like,
1:38
Speaker 2: it's planet twenty twenty six Earth.
1:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, it is a It is a practical need, unfortunately,
1:46
Speaker 1: and I just think people get intimidated because they're They're like,
1:48
Speaker 1: but I but I don't know how to do this,
1:50
Speaker 1: But you know what, you can practice doing it and
1:53
Speaker 1: you can get better at it.
1:54
Speaker 5: Yeah.
1:54
Speaker 2: I wrote a piece about, you know, my own gun
1:56
Speaker 2: on ownership at one point. I think it was on
1:58
Speaker 2: my substack, but it was like, just buy a gun,
2:01
Speaker 2: become a gun person, because it's like buying a car.
2:04
Speaker 2: You can't just be like I bought a car, therefore
2:06
Speaker 2: I know how to drive.
2:08
Speaker 3: That's not how it works.
2:10
Speaker 1: So you got to train yourself. Yep, yep, righty will
2:16
Speaker 1: what's going on in the world.
2:17
Speaker 3: Carol, all is going on in the world.
2:19
Speaker 2: You know, I sent you this tweet this morning because
2:21
Speaker 2: I felt like it really summed it up. A Viva
2:23
Speaker 2: Klampus on X She's a great person to follow, she
2:26
Speaker 2: wrote for those just waking up, there may or may
2:28
Speaker 2: not be a ceasefire, There may or may not be
2:30
Speaker 2: talks between the US Iran, there may or may not
2:33
Speaker 2: be ships moving through the straits of her moves, and
2:35
Speaker 2: there may or may may not be peace talks between
2:38
Speaker 2: Israel and Lebanon. So that's where we are on this
2:41
Speaker 2: delightful Monday.
2:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like, you know, there was the blocking
2:47
Speaker 1: of the straight or Fromers by Iran, and then there
2:49
Speaker 1: was the responding blockade from Trump and the US Navy,
2:54
Speaker 1: and now apparently in the early hours of the morning,
2:57
Speaker 1: an Iranian ship was seased after not observing the blockade,
3:03
Speaker 1: and ran Is saying no, the straits will not be open.
3:06
Speaker 1: So there's a lot going on. There are a lot
3:09
Speaker 1: of possibilities on the table for this week, and one
3:13
Speaker 1: of the issues that our friend Eli Lake, writing at
3:15
Speaker 1: the Free Press points out is that Trump and the
3:19
Speaker 1: negotiators who might be headed back to Islamabad. Are not
3:22
Speaker 1: sure who's speaking for Ran right now right, which is
3:25
Speaker 1: partly a problem of our own making, which is that
3:27
Speaker 1: people just keep getting killed off and so you don't
3:30
Speaker 1: know exactly who's in charge. But it seems like there's
3:33
Speaker 1: a power struggle going on between the people who are
3:36
Speaker 1: talking to the US last time and the people who
3:39
Speaker 1: might talk to the US this time, and they're trying
3:41
Speaker 1: to fight that out.
3:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you kill all the top brass, it gets
3:47
Speaker 2: difficult to see who should be making decisions for Iran.
3:51
Speaker 2: And that's been I think also the issue a little
3:54
Speaker 2: bit for the last week or so, where we don't
3:56
Speaker 2: know who's in charge and we don't know who's speaking
3:59
Speaker 2: for that, because it appeared when we last, when.
4:03
Speaker 3: We last left the audience, that we were.
4:07
Speaker 2: Normally and now it's like Dewey And apparently the US
4:12
Speaker 2: is heading back to Pakistan. I think jd Vance is
4:16
Speaker 2: not going. But Trump is adamant that it has nothing
4:19
Speaker 2: to do with him. It's because of security risks, which
4:23
Speaker 2: is plausible. It's definitely possible, or he could just be
4:28
Speaker 2: saying that we really just.
4:29
Speaker 1: Don't know Trump truth social we're offering a very fair
4:33
Speaker 1: and reasonable deal and I hope they take it because
4:36
Speaker 1: if they don't, the United States is going to knock
4:37
Speaker 1: out every single power plant. Never seen a bridge in
4:39
Speaker 1: Iran no more, mister nice guy, all caps. It is
4:44
Speaker 1: interesting that there's a change in the negotiators for this round,
4:48
Speaker 1: as you point out.
4:50
Speaker 2: But well, it's it's only minus fans, right, It's like
4:55
Speaker 2: it's still wid cough and it's still Kushner. There's just
4:59
Speaker 2: no Vance this time around, which I don't know. I mean,
5:02
Speaker 2: you know, we talk about this on here, that Vance
5:05
Speaker 2: gets some unfair readings, and I try my very best
5:09
Speaker 2: because I'm also partial to those readings of it, that
5:13
Speaker 2: Vance perhaps is not on board with this, that Vance
5:16
Speaker 2: is more aligned with the podcast to stand people that
5:20
Speaker 2: Trump openly bashes.
5:22
Speaker 3: That's all possible, But I do try to give him.
5:26
Speaker 2: The benefit of the doubt because we just don't know,
5:27
Speaker 2: because he just doesn't say. And you know, is he
5:31
Speaker 2: not going to Pakistan because Trump has lost faith in
5:33
Speaker 2: him because he thinks that leaks are coming.
5:35
Speaker 1: Out of his office.
5:37
Speaker 3: That's the speculation.
5:38
Speaker 2: But again, is it unfair to him to speculate like
5:41
Speaker 2: that when it really could be just a security risk.
5:44
Speaker 1: I baseball crank made a very concise point about Vance's
5:49
Speaker 1: role in these things. So it's a pretty clear pattern
5:51
Speaker 1: by now. When we negotiate with our allies, Vans is
5:54
Speaker 1: bad cop, Rubio is good cup. When we negotiate with
5:57
Speaker 1: our enemies, Rubio is bad cop. Vance's good cup, and
6:00
Speaker 1: nobody wants them to call in the boss.
6:02
Speaker 3: I love that. I love that tweet.
6:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's funny because Rubio is not going, and
6:06
Speaker 2: I know that's also like, what does this mean?
6:09
Speaker 1: His absence has been interesting? Did you see this New
6:12
Speaker 1: York Post piece that is written by a centrist Democrat
6:16
Speaker 1: that says, hey, are Dems rooting for the US to.
6:21
Speaker 3: Lose in this engagement?
6:24
Speaker 1: But I thought, I think this is a point worth considering,
6:27
Speaker 1: because look, I don't even think they're particularly coy about
6:31
Speaker 1: the fact that they don't want us, that they don't
6:34
Speaker 1: want us to succeed here. And in fact, I believe
6:36
Speaker 1: it was Tom Friedman actually just said it in a
6:39
Speaker 1: column where he was like, look, I it seems bad
6:43
Speaker 1: if he gets a win here was like, well, it
6:46
Speaker 1: little bit, but it would be good for world order.
6:51
Speaker 3: So no, but that's the thing.
6:52
Speaker 2: They've become more open about it. The Democrat who wrote
6:55
Speaker 2: that New York Post piece is Julian Epstein. And yeah,
7:00
Speaker 2: in another world, I think he would just be a
7:02
Speaker 2: regular Democrat. But in this world he is the voice
7:06
Speaker 2: of reason over there, being like maybe we shouldn't root
7:08
Speaker 2: against our own country.
7:10
Speaker 1: Well, and I think he gets down to something that
7:12
Speaker 1: psychologically is very tough for any of us who are ideological,
7:16
Speaker 1: which is, if they concede that this could work, they
7:19
Speaker 1: have to abandon their worldview that has been in practice
7:22
Speaker 1: for the last twelve to fifteen years, says for the
7:25
Speaker 1: last decade, the Democratic Party has been a party of
7:27
Speaker 1: appeasement and weakness in the face of Middy's terrorists. Barack
7:30
Speaker 1: Obama backed off his redline threat in Syria in twenty twelve,
7:33
Speaker 1: Joe Biden fled Afghanistan and disastrous pull out in twenty
7:36
Speaker 1: twenty one. During their presidencies, both seem to believe diplomacy
7:41
Speaker 1: was the only answer to every problem, even when it
7:44
Speaker 1: was clear diplomacy was failing, so they relied on this
7:49
Speaker 1: like they're just like us, they want the same things.
7:52
Speaker 1: We're just academics having a discussion. And I've never bought that,
7:55
Speaker 1: which is why I'm willing to give Trump a lot
7:57
Speaker 1: of leeway when he goes Marshall on it.
8:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's it.
8:02
Speaker 2: And the thing is that so much of this, as
8:04
Speaker 2: we always talk about, comes down to do you love
8:06
Speaker 2: Trump or do you hate Trump? And I am here
8:09
Speaker 2: to say you do not need to have passionate feelings
8:12
Speaker 2: about any politician in that way.
8:14
Speaker 3: You just don't.
8:15
Speaker 2: You don't need to love him or hate him. You
8:17
Speaker 2: can make decisions based on what he's doing. I have
8:20
Speaker 2: been very open that I was not you know, I
8:22
Speaker 2: had my problems with him many times in the past.
8:25
Speaker 3: I have loved this term. I could not be more
8:29
Speaker 3: of a fan of all.
8:30
Speaker 2: His actions during this term. It just doesn't matter what
8:33
Speaker 2: you think about him as a person. And that's where
8:36
Speaker 2: people get caught up.
8:37
Speaker 1: Well and actually, just as an aside, I wrote for
8:39
Speaker 1: Fox News about Maha Mom's and how you basically can
8:43
Speaker 1: keep some of them in the coalition without going full crazy, right,
8:46
Speaker 1: But this is this is the bargain with RFK as well.
8:49
Speaker 1: Many people look at him and go not love don't
8:53
Speaker 1: love him, No, But I like a couple of things
8:55
Speaker 1: he's put on the table that we could actually get
8:57
Speaker 1: action on.
8:58
Speaker 3: Right where I am also, yeah, so.
9:01
Speaker 1: Did you see the Senate vote last week to determine
9:07
Speaker 1: whether we would provide aid for defensive arms for Israel.
9:11
Speaker 3: It's wild and crazy, but.
9:15
Speaker 2: Democrats are blocking US weapons sale to Israel, and it's
9:20
Speaker 2: forty Senate Democrats voted against that weapon sale.
9:24
Speaker 3: That that party is just spiraling into.
9:28
Speaker 2: Anti Israel insanity, and I hope that Republicans don't follow
9:32
Speaker 2: them down the drain, really, because it really does seem
9:36
Speaker 2: so irrational and insane when Israel is performing at such
9:43
Speaker 2: a crazy level as an ally in this war and
9:47
Speaker 2: just in general with us, that it makes no sense
9:51
Speaker 2: to behave in this way. Plus most of the aid
9:54
Speaker 2: that we give them goes to our own US weapons sales,
9:58
Speaker 2: so we're only hurting our ourselves.
10:00
Speaker 3: Like, I just don't get it.
10:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, this party has clearly seen the writing
10:06
Speaker 1: on the wall with its base, and whether it's offensive
10:11
Speaker 1: weapons or defensive weapons, it doesn't matter because the answer
10:15
Speaker 1: is we're just anti them, right, We are anti the
10:20
Speaker 1: idea that this place even exists in some cases, I
10:23
Speaker 1: mean it, And to me it's been shocking to see
10:26
Speaker 1: how again, how not koy any of them are about,
10:31
Speaker 1: with the exception of like the Fetterman's of the world.
10:33
Speaker 1: You still right, you still have him around saying I
10:36
Speaker 1: feel like we should side with our ally on this
10:38
Speaker 1: one over the jihas terrorists surrounding.
10:41
Speaker 2: Them, right, But yeah, it's it's crazy and it also
10:45
Speaker 2: a lot of this again goes to emotional feelings about
10:49
Speaker 2: Trump and the way that they want.
10:51
Speaker 3: To hurt Trump, so they do stuff like this that
10:53
Speaker 3: Trump would have pose.
10:54
Speaker 2: And it's I also consider it like largely an anti
11:00
Speaker 2: America move. It's the kind of thing that you do
11:02
Speaker 2: when you don't want America's top ally to be able
11:06
Speaker 2: to defend itself well and you want to sever that relationship.
11:11
Speaker 2: But why because you want the US to be on
11:14
Speaker 2: its own island and you don't want them to have
11:16
Speaker 2: strong allies like that.
11:18
Speaker 1: There was a truth social from the President over the weekend.
11:22
Speaker 1: It says, whether people like Israel or not, they have
11:24
Speaker 1: proven to be a great all caps ally of the
11:26
Speaker 1: United States of America. They are courageous, bold, loyal, and smart,
11:29
Speaker 1: and unlike others that have shown their true colors in
11:31
Speaker 1: a moment of conflict and stress, Israel fights hard and
11:34
Speaker 1: knows how to win. President djt okay, that's just unabashedly
11:40
Speaker 1: where I am on Israel, and I think partnering with
11:43
Speaker 1: them has been to both of our advantages. And I
11:47
Speaker 1: do back our democratic ally surrounded on seven fronts by
11:52
Speaker 1: Islami Ji Hottists. And one more thing, I also back
11:56
Speaker 1: the Trump administration's ability to bring the Arab Gulf States
12:01
Speaker 1: together and then to have Lebanon in its government negotiating
12:06
Speaker 1: with Israel to get Hesbola out of the country. These
12:10
Speaker 1: are astonishing changes that seemed to me to be very
12:13
Speaker 1: good for the world order.
12:14
Speaker 2: You think this would be a bigger story, but somehow
12:17
Speaker 2: it's not. And you know, when we were in Israel together,
12:22
Speaker 2: I think it's took two years ago. Now, we were
12:26
Speaker 2: privy to a lot of different briefs and information. And
12:29
Speaker 2: there was one guy who spoke to us. I wish
12:32
Speaker 2: I could tell you his name, but I wrote about
12:34
Speaker 2: it for Fox at the time. But he said, you know,
12:36
Speaker 2: do I know if Israel is the most powerful military
12:40
Speaker 2: in the Middle East. I don't, but I know that
12:43
Speaker 2: Israel is the most powerful military in Israel. Lebanon can't
12:46
Speaker 2: say that they're not the most powerful military in their
12:49
Speaker 2: own country, and that's a problem.
12:52
Speaker 1: And by the way, for all the international law enthusiasts
12:56
Speaker 1: post two thousand and six war between Israel and Hesbla
13:00
Speaker 1: in the south of Lebanon. Heswla was supposed to be
13:03
Speaker 1: north of the Latani River because of a UN resolution.
13:07
Speaker 1: But so strange, people don't seem to care about whether
13:10
Speaker 1: Hesbela follows the UN resolution. They only seem to care
13:15
Speaker 1: that Israel wants to fight Hesbela to get them back
13:18
Speaker 1: north where they should be or out entirely. But now
13:21
Speaker 1: the Lebanon government has decided that they might want to
13:23
Speaker 1: fight Hesbela as well.
13:25
Speaker 2: So there should you know, take back your country. Israel
13:28
Speaker 2: can only do so much for you. They have to
13:30
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, do their own thing. And you
13:32
Speaker 2: need to be able to stand in your own two feet.
13:34
Speaker 2: You need to be the biggest military in your own,
13:37
Speaker 2: your own country.
13:38
Speaker 1: It's true, yeah, true. So here we are. We will
13:43
Speaker 1: undoubtedly be back with more updates on the next episode, and.
13:49
Speaker 2: We're going to take a sharp break and come right
13:51
Speaker 2: back with more on this episode of Normally.
13:58
Speaker 1: Oh right, we are back on Normally with news about
14:01
Speaker 1: the Virginia redistricting. As you all know, mid mid term
14:06
Speaker 1: mid decade redistricting has been a hot story, and Virginia
14:10
Speaker 1: is Virginia Democrats just going for the gold, and by
14:13
Speaker 1: that I mean disenfranchising most of the right of center
14:17
Speaker 1: voters in the state by taking a five to six
14:19
Speaker 1: very fair congressional split in this state and using their
14:23
Speaker 1: legislative power to foist a constitutional amendment upon the people
14:28
Speaker 1: and referendum that would make it a ten to one map.
14:33
Speaker 1: It's an audacious move. And though Abigail Spamberger, the Democrat governor,
14:38
Speaker 1: has certainly suffered in her approval ratings over the last
14:42
Speaker 1: month or so partly due to this, I think where
14:44
Speaker 1: people thought she was a moderate and then she just
14:46
Speaker 1: goes for this immediately out the gate. The referendum looks close.
14:53
Speaker 1: It looks like about a four to five point lead
14:56
Speaker 1: for the Yes side, which is not the size side
15:00
Speaker 1: I want. That is the Yes redistrict to ten to one.
15:03
Speaker 1: I'm going to be voting no. Early voting has not
15:07
Speaker 1: looked shabby for Republicans, but this is a mid term
15:11
Speaker 1: off year, essentially snap election for a constitutional referendum, and
15:17
Speaker 1: I have some problems with the process there by the
15:19
Speaker 1: way that I think they cut a bunch of corners
15:21
Speaker 1: and did illegal things to get this on the ballot
15:23
Speaker 1: to begin with. Really yeah, and the wording is also
15:27
Speaker 1: awful to the point of being possibly like legally problematic. However,
15:33
Speaker 1: Virginia's going to the polls as you are listening, so
15:35
Speaker 1: we will have more on this. But I just want
15:38
Speaker 1: to reiterate that this is going to be one of
15:41
Speaker 1: the worst gerrymanders in the country should it succeed. And
15:45
Speaker 1: here is Democratic Senator Tim Kaine explaining exactly why this
15:51
Speaker 1: is a great idea or trying to listen.
15:53
Speaker 6: Let's talk about the last vote there in Virginia the
15:55
Speaker 6: presidential vote, Vice President Kamala Harris won by about five
15:58
Speaker 6: percentage points, so the state is relatively split with a
16:01
Speaker 6: left lean, but ninety percent of House members from Virginia
16:04
Speaker 6: being from one party.
16:08
Speaker 4: Of Virginians are not Democrats, that's true, but about one
16:10
Speaker 4: hundred percent of Virginians want election results to be respected.
16:14
Speaker 4: We're deeply worried that Donald Trump will try to interfere
16:18
Speaker 4: with the election results this November or in twenty twenty eight,
16:21
Speaker 4: because we saw him do it before, and we have
16:23
Speaker 4: to have a Congress.
16:24
Speaker 5: That will stand up to it.
16:26
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty one, all five Republicans in Virginia went
16:30
Speaker 4: along with Donald Trump in his effort to overturn election results.
16:33
Speaker 4: And so we're giving Virginians a chance to vote, which
16:37
Speaker 4: Republican states have not done about whether they want to
16:39
Speaker 4: have a congressional delegation that will stand up against Donald
16:43
Speaker 4: Trump's tearran.
16:44
Speaker 1: Is it about fairness or is it about preemptively doing
16:48
Speaker 1: crazy things because Trump might do crazy things?
16:50
Speaker 5: Right, the.
16:53
Speaker 1: Rationale keeps shifting. My gut says that that Republicans may
16:59
Speaker 1: lose this thing by a small margin.
17:01
Speaker 3: Oh that would be so painful and perform better.
17:04
Speaker 1: Than folks thought they might. I do think that for Democrats,
17:07
Speaker 1: they have found this to be a tougher fight than
17:09
Speaker 1: they thought it would be. But a lot has been
17:12
Speaker 1: left on the table for Republicans who have not spent
17:16
Speaker 1: a ton of money on this, who have not done
17:18
Speaker 1: a ton of ad placing on this. I am mystified
17:22
Speaker 1: as to why that's the case, because I think it
17:24
Speaker 1: was a very winnable argument.
17:27
Speaker 2: But all right, we're going to be positive it might
17:29
Speaker 2: still be winnable. You know, we're gonna hope that this
17:32
Speaker 2: turns out okay. Again, Today is election day, everybody, So
17:35
Speaker 2: if you live in Virginia, go vote no on this
17:39
Speaker 2: ridiculous redistricting referendum. That's Rocker calls leveling the playing field
17:45
Speaker 2: nine to one, leveling the playing field.
17:47
Speaker 1: There's so many Democrats who hate jerem jerrymandering who are
17:50
Speaker 1: on the side of this incredible jerremanding they including Abigail Schanberger,
17:56
Speaker 1: who was just recently against it. There are a couple
18:00
Speaker 1: decent signs in early voting numbers in the polls that
18:03
Speaker 1: show that the affluent folks who might make up a
18:06
Speaker 1: large part of these new districts are turning most harshly
18:10
Speaker 1: against Spanberger given her broken promise of being a moderate.
18:14
Speaker 1: So there's some there are moments where you see energy here,
18:19
Speaker 1: and particularly I have friends and relatives in the parts
18:22
Speaker 1: of Virginia that would be disenfranchised by this, and they
18:25
Speaker 1: are hot. They're yeah, good, all right.
18:27
Speaker 2: Well, hopefully that motivates people to the polls. I'm gonna
18:31
Speaker 2: stay hopeful. I don't know. I think I've mentioned as
18:33
Speaker 2: on a previous episode. I have a Polster friend who
18:35
Speaker 2: sends me dire predictions and he's hopeful.
18:38
Speaker 3: So I don't know. I think that's that's something.
18:41
Speaker 1: To combine our my negativity and her positivity either one
18:46
Speaker 1: that motivates you. Just get out, Yeah, get out and vote.
18:48
Speaker 4: Do the no.
18:51
Speaker 1: All right, that's what I got for you in Virginia.
18:53
Speaker 2: All Right, We're gonna take a short break and be
18:54
Speaker 2: right back with one more segment of Normally. We are
19:01
Speaker 2: back on Normally, where Spencer Pratt is running for mayor
19:06
Speaker 2: of Los Angeles. He is a reality star, and I
19:09
Speaker 2: would say he was sort of a very mocked reality star.
19:13
Speaker 3: I never watched the.
19:14
Speaker 2: Show that he was on, but I knew the name.
19:17
Speaker 2: Him and his wife, Heidi were sort of the jokes
19:21
Speaker 2: on the show. And now he's a really serious candidate
19:25
Speaker 2: for LA mayor. Telling this story to my sister in law,
19:29
Speaker 2: who was a fan of the show, and like, hey,
19:31
Speaker 2: Spencer Pratt is like the great Hope of LA.
19:35
Speaker 3: Was a lot of fun, but he is.
19:38
Speaker 2: He saw what happened with the Palisades fire, decided he
19:41
Speaker 2: needed to take action and run for office.
19:44
Speaker 3: And that's what he's doing right now. He just got
19:46
Speaker 3: Joe Rogan's endorsement.
19:48
Speaker 2: Even though Joe Rogan moved to Texas a few years
19:51
Speaker 2: ago and no longer lives in LA.
19:53
Speaker 3: But people who root for LA, including myself. I used
19:56
Speaker 3: to love that crazy place.
19:58
Speaker 2: Want La to turn itself around and not be this decrepit,
20:03
Speaker 2: falling apart city that it has become. And Spencer Pratt
20:07
Speaker 2: seems like he really loves that city, really wants to
20:10
Speaker 2: make changes, really wants to make it functional, and that's
20:13
Speaker 2: all very good.
20:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've enjoyed watching him, and I have gotten fed
20:17
Speaker 1: a bunch of his social media stuff and his interviews
20:21
Speaker 1: and his messaging is quite good. He's a compelling speaker,
20:25
Speaker 1: He's a compelling character on the Hills. He just happened
20:28
Speaker 1: to be a villain. By the way, I was a
20:31
Speaker 1: Nielsen family when Laguna Beach was on and the Nowl's
20:34
Speaker 1: The Hills was a was a spinoff of Laguna Beach.
20:37
Speaker 1: So I would like to take partial credit for Spencer
20:39
Speaker 1: Pratt because I watched a lot then while I was
20:46
Speaker 1: charting out numbers for Nielsen. So I'm glad to see
20:50
Speaker 1: him out there speaking common sense, and it really is
20:53
Speaker 1: common sense. So I'm very glad to see him out
20:56
Speaker 1: there making these arguments, and I want to play one
20:58
Speaker 1: that is characteristic of his argument to the people of
21:00
Speaker 1: La just to give you an idea of how far
21:03
Speaker 1: La has fallen, and the arguments he's pitching that some
21:07
Speaker 1: in the town would be like, that's radical, except this
21:10
Speaker 1: is what it is. Here he is on Joe Ruggan
21:12
Speaker 1: talking about crime and how it works in LA.
21:15
Speaker 7: It can't even be called skid row anymore. It's called
21:17
Speaker 7: Los Angeles. We're every community. Before my house burned down
21:21
Speaker 7: in the Palisades, my wife was ready to move because
21:23
Speaker 7: every morning in front of Palisades Elementary that then burned down,
21:27
Speaker 7: and across the street at my son's preschool, a Methodist,
21:30
Speaker 7: there was a lady cleaning her private parts in front
21:33
Speaker 7: of kids.
21:33
Speaker 5: At seven forty five of the morty. You call LAPD.
21:36
Speaker 5: They pull up and they go. You don't know because
21:40
Speaker 5: they can't.
21:40
Speaker 7: Before saw she'd go around the corner and she'd go
21:43
Speaker 7: number two in front of Joe's barbershop. I would know
21:46
Speaker 7: because I had to step over the number two because
21:48
Speaker 7: I'd always park right near Joe's barbershop.
21:49
Speaker 5: So it's not skid row, it's everywhere.
21:52
Speaker 1: So the police are told not to do anything about it.
21:54
Speaker 4: Is that what it is?
21:55
Speaker 5: If you don't enforce the law, what are they gonna do?
21:58
Speaker 2: Right?
21:58
Speaker 1: So this comes down from the mayor.
22:00
Speaker 5: Of course, and then the mayor and the city attorney.
22:03
Speaker 7: If the mayor is not telling the city attorney to
22:05
Speaker 7: prosecute all these misdemeanors, put these people in a mandatory whole.
22:09
Speaker 5: If you're cleaning your private.
22:10
Speaker 7: Parts in front of kids and you're a normal citizen,
22:13
Speaker 7: you are going to jail. You're going to get beyond
22:15
Speaker 7: the citizens app as a sex offender. But the consequences
22:19
Speaker 7: for zombie people, they don't have them.
22:22
Speaker 5: That's crazy. It's not fair for all the normal tax paying.
22:26
Speaker 1: Yes, it is not fair for all the normal tax
22:30
Speaker 1: paying people. And he's right that the police can even
22:34
Speaker 1: come in and try to do something. But if a
22:36
Speaker 1: city attorney will do no prosecuting, which is the problem
22:39
Speaker 1: with my county prosecutor here in Fairfax County, if they
22:42
Speaker 1: do no prosecuting, it doesn't help that the police just
22:45
Speaker 1: pick up the same people over and over again because
22:47
Speaker 1: they just get released. They talk further in the Joe
22:50
Speaker 1: Rogan interview about even for violent crimes and break ins,
22:53
Speaker 1: the city attorney will not prosecute, and these people are
22:56
Speaker 1: out two weeks later on some kind of sweet deal,
22:58
Speaker 1: and it just keeps happening. But this is the price
23:02
Speaker 1: for normal people. And his argument is, I think we
23:04
Speaker 1: should enforce the law. That's his radical idea.
23:08
Speaker 3: It really is his radical idea.
23:10
Speaker 2: It's just crazy that that's where we are with so
23:13
Speaker 2: many blue cities and they keep pretending that everything's okay.
23:17
Speaker 3: And you know his point about that, it's no longer
23:20
Speaker 3: skilled Row.
23:20
Speaker 2: It's everywhere. That's happening everywhere. It's like it used to
23:24
Speaker 2: be contained, you know, like that kind of behavior to
23:27
Speaker 2: the really you know, edges of the city and uncomfortable parts.
23:32
Speaker 3: Now it's everywhere.
23:33
Speaker 2: It's at people's front door, and they're still pretending that
23:36
Speaker 2: everything's fine and they don't need a radical change. They
23:39
Speaker 2: do in LA in New York and other cities. They
23:43
Speaker 2: should pick people that would make that change.
23:45
Speaker 1: And can we also talk about how law enforcement does work,
23:48
Speaker 1: and law enforcement presence and even National Guard presence changes
23:52
Speaker 1: things like for instance, this is from Kyle Smith. Murder
23:55
Speaker 1: rates have fallen across the country, but the decline in Washington,
23:58
Speaker 1: d C. Is startling. In twenty twenty four, it had
24:01
Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy four murders. This year, it's on
24:03
Speaker 1: pace for forty two murders, with twelve so far. That's
24:06
Speaker 1: a decline of almost eighty five percent, and good.
24:13
Speaker 3: It seems good to me. But what if you have
24:16
Speaker 3: the credit Chrump for it? Is still good?
24:18
Speaker 1: Well that's the problem, right, is then everybody who yelled
24:22
Speaker 1: that this is a military application of military occupation and
24:25
Speaker 1: none of this is necessary and the guards shouldn't be here.
24:29
Speaker 1: It worked. When there's an eighty five percent decline in murders.
24:33
Speaker 1: I got to say, I think it was okay to
24:36
Speaker 1: have them here.
24:37
Speaker 2: Perhaps other cities should consider doing the same. It's you know,
24:42
Speaker 2: you know, it just murder, but maybe we should try
24:44
Speaker 2: to reduce it. Well, and if you think about it
24:46
Speaker 2: the other way, it means that helmet. So there's two
24:48
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy two or so, and now there's they're
24:50
Speaker 2: on track to have forty two. So let's say we
24:53
Speaker 2: get even higher than that. It's two hundred people a year.
24:56
Speaker 1: You were losing because you didn't want to enforce the law, right,
24:59
Speaker 1: I think gets worse during the law enforcement.
25:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, even if Donald Trump gets the credit for it,
25:06
Speaker 2: I think maybe saving all those lives would be the
25:08
Speaker 2: preferable thing anyway. Yep, Well, thanks for joining us on
25:13
Speaker 2: normally normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe
25:16
Speaker 2: anywhere you get your podcasts. Get in touch with us
25:18
Speaker 2: at normallythepod at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening, and
25:22
Speaker 2: when things get weird, act normally