Latest / Before You Speak / Before You Speak | Episode 45 | Are We Hungary Yet? Authoritarianism in the USA

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Before You Speak | Episode 45 | Are We Hungary Yet? Authoritarianism in the USA · Before You Speak

• Elwyn: you're right about the creating of a militia, but more importantly, the immigration stuff creates an other. And Authoritarian regimes need an other. They always need some group upon which they can heap the blame for everything that ails in this country white people. Don't have a job, we need an other. Can't afford a house, there has to be an other to blame it on. You know, no health care, the others are reading your emergency room. Derek: What's up y'all? Welcome back to the Before You Speak podcast. I am your host, Derek Peterson, and just processing the fire hose of my newsfeed with this shmuck somewhere. I I Elwyn: Schmuck, bro. It's coming out hot. All right. Derek: know, I I already know how this podcast ends, so Elwyn: The so, yeah, my name is Halloween and yeah, I am processing the fire hose in my newsfeed, which is anticipating a flood of batshit Donald Trump, freak out, crazy, crash out, truth social posts. My my the fire Derek: Let's do the Elwyn: hose in my newsfeed is like taking a a pregame nap before before he blows up. Derek: Yeah, dude. I mean it already started. They every time I see his truth social posts, I just think of the the text messages I get from my ex-wife. Her her text messages are like eight pages long, and then my responses are usually one sentence or a couple words, and then I get eight pages response, and then like once I'm like, I'm not even reading this. Elwyn: I I was at I was at an event at a Rosh Hashanah lunch the other day and there were like thirty, forty people, whatever, and I just looked over and there was two guys and they were looking at someone's phone and what they were looking at was what was very clearly an incredibly long text message. And they were laughing, and I have no idea what they were talking about or what the text message was about, but my thought was I wonder if they're laughing because there's something in the text message, or laughing at the idea that anybody would ever you know, consider typing a text that Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: long and think that it would possibly be read. Because if Derek: Yes. Elwyn: it's if it's more than the length of the of the screen, I'm out. I'm out. Derek: Yes. Elwyn: Fucking T L D R please. Derek: Yeah. I'm gonna copy and paste that into my my Gemini and be like, hey, can you can you summarize Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: this for me? Well Elwyn: That's right. That that's not what text is for. Derek: no, not at all. And the best is is all of my buddies that have like gone through divorces and have like ex wives that are difficult, we all get the same kind of text messages. It's like the same like super long text messages received and then one-word responses. so we can all relate on all this. So I wouldn't be surprised if they were like. Elwyn: I've I've only gotten texts like that twice and I was like, What the fuck is this? And they were insane and the texts were insane. Derek: Yeah. Yeah, if it's that long, you know that there's there's some crazy in there. So if you if you need to explain that much stuff to get to your point, we're over text, then yeah, you start a podcast like us. but so today we wanted to do something a little bit different. I want you to be able to take the the lead a little bit here because there's some significant Jewish holidays already started. Elwyn: Yeah, so I appreciate it. Just a few minutes at the top to I don't know, I feel like if I can ever spread awareness of you know, the Jewish calendar and Jewish holidays, cause you know, I think people have probably heard of the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The, you know, I s many have not, but many also have. And those are the two biggest holidays on the Jewish calendar. the Jewish calendar is a 13-month calendar, so they come at different times every year. But they are always eight days apart. if you ask any Jewish person when Rosh Hashanah is next year, they don't know, by the way. They have to Google it. It's kind of Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: a it's kind of a running, running meme on like Jewish Instagram, Justagram, whatever it's called. so Rosh Hashanah was over the weekend, was on Saturday. And that is the Jewish New Year, quite literally. Rosh Hashanah means head of the year. and then Yom Kippur is The Day of Atonement, but the period in between the two is very, very relevant. And this is something I didn't know this until like ten years ago. you know, so that we're right now in the period called the Days of Awe. And what happens in in the religion is on Rosh Hashanah, the it is said that the book of life is opened, right? So and and there's a whole prayer. that that says that on Rosh Hashanah we open the Book of Life and during the days of awe we hope to be inscribed in the Book of Life for the next year. and on R Yom Kippur, the Book of Life is closed. so that's kind of like the big finish, right? We go to temple all day, we don't eat, we're like atoning, you know, kind of last minute. If we didn't make it in on days one through seven, you know, come on man, let's get me in. Get me in, I'm really sorry for all the stuff I did. I'm being flippant and that'll probably get me written out of it at one day, but whatever. but I think it's just an interesting little part of what it means to be Jewish that a lot of people don't really know about. People might know the what's the what's the the calendar in December, the twenty five days that some people do. Derek: the my gosh, I could have said it if you didn't ask me just now. It's the Elwyn: Ha ha ha. Derek: I'll rema it'll pop into my head in a minute. But yes, I know what you're talking about. You open the Elwyn: Yeah, you got you got like different shit each day, you know. Derek: yeah, you open the little boxes and eat the chocolate for every day. Yes. I forgot what it's called. Elwyn: Yeah, so so you guys eat chocolate. We hope that we are gonna live through the next year by being inscribed in the book of life. And that's what's going on right now. so you know, and it is really quite as literal. I mean, I d if if you believe, it is kind of quite that literal. During this time, we are hoping to be inscribed in the Book of Life for the next year. so I think some people know about Rosh Hashanah, but not Yom Kippur. Some people know of Yom Kippur. Like, isn't that when you guys fast? Yeah. Yep, that is. but not many people know about the connection between the two and I think it's a just an interesting connection to share with folks that these holidays are intrinsically linked and they are really by far the two most important holidays, and this is the most important week in the Jewish calendar for that reason. Derek: Yeah, dude, that's awesome. Thank you for sharing. yeah, all of my Jewish holiday calendar is off because when I lived in Los Angeles, the Jewish holidays were fantastic because traffic was like night and day different. I would wake up one day and be going to work and the normal hour and a half commute all of a sudden turned into fifteen minutes like it really should have been normally. And I'm like, Where is everybody? And then you get to the office and like nobody's there, and I'm like, Jewish holiday. I I Elwyn: Der Derek just casually blaming Jews for traffic. I know. I know. Derek: No, it's just how many Jews live in Los Angeles. I'm not blaming Jews for anything. other other than yeah, I mean, thankful that when they have holidays they don't go to work. I you know, I would do the same thing. So I don't go to work on Christmas. Elwyn: Derek just gratefully crediting Jews for random Tuesdays with no traffic. Derek: Exactly. And I was very thankful for those days. So you know, I'm not Jewish, but you know, I'll I'll take a light traffic day any day. So thank you to all my Jewish friends out there that celebrate Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. So yeah, and well, I'm sorry. Elwyn: It's all on a weekend this year, you don't get shit, by the way. Sorry. Yeah. Derek: Austin Austin doesn't have quite the Jewish community that LA did, so Elwyn: That's yeah, completely true. Derek: so well let's let's jump into dude, there's a lot going on. So we'll transition Elwyn: There's a lot going on. Derek: those we found out Mitch McConnell is alive. i but th this is yes. Elwyn: Mm-hmm. Derek: After seeing Mitch McConnell alive, I'm even more convinced that he's dead. So No, I did not Elwyn: Did you see him move? Derek: I just saw the the turtle face with the stuck smile that we Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: are officially in weekend at Bernie's mode. They are filling him full of drugs and they may have even like did some plastic surgery to pin his face up. I that is just it's creepy. So they he should not be in the seat that he's in, and he should not be getting paid for anything that he's doing. Like this is not. Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: It's not correct. So any Elwyn: The idea that he's an effective human at this point is laughable. Derek: Yes. It's I I mean, we've all dealt with elderly people in these situations, right? Like at this fo anybody listening to this podcast is I'm gonna guess around our age. So most of us have dealt with er elderly parents or grandparents passing away or anybody at some point. Yeah, dude, and it's just it looks like that. It's they they're gone essentially. They're not the same person they were prior to the stuff happening. So yeah, he shouldn't and this These are the decisions that get made that his vote involves and all of that th this stuff matters. So he should not be effectively in the seat that he's in. So yeah, they they need to they need we need to change the laws around all of this. And I hope that if anything comes from this, it should be hopefully change and term limits and age limits. So Elwyn: Yeah, completely agree. He's he's alive only because the word alive is binary. You either are or you aren't. And English is an imprecise language. So like when a cold front hits Texas in the summer that the temperature drops from 103 to 98. You know, in the same in the same vein, Mitch McConnell is alive. But you're exactly right. It's it's ludicrous that anybody thinks he has the capacity to be voting on anything at all, including you know, his dinner and what shirt he wears. Like he he's not making those decisions, I'm quite sure. Why should he making be making decisions that impact the entire country? So yeah, term limits, age limits, in you know, capacity, basic capacity limits. Derek: Mm-hmm. Yeah, the the home healthcare expert that's all over Instagram, which who I love, he was talking, he did Elwyn: He must have lost his mind. Derek: a he did, but he was in discussing this video, he was he was pointing out like it's clear that somebody else dressed Mitch McConnell. You can see by how his shoes are done that it was somebody else that put on his shoes. Like, this is not a person that is has the faculties to even put on his own clothing. So, you know, like there's if you can't put on your own clothes, you should not be voting in Congress. So yeah, I'm against it or in the Senate or whatever he he does. Elwyn: You're an a you're an ablist. Derek: Me? No. Elwyn: Yeah, yeah. If you if if you're ninety and you can't dress yourself, you can't be a senator. That's yeah, of course, of course that's correct. What how is this not already the standard? What the fuck? Derek: I I would I'll I'll take being an ableist in this situation. if that's what Elwyn: Yeah, if that's what that means, yeah. Yep. Derek: that means. Yes, absolutely. I'm an ableist. the Pete Hegseth. So this is interesting. So today Thomas Massey got or was it yesterday? It might have been yesterday that he actually Elwyn: Yesterday. Derek: it was announced, but so yesterday Thomas Massey gets on the House floor and calls for the impeachment of Pete Hegseth. he kept this close to the vest, according to his interview with CNN, because he knew that if he did not, that they would find a way to squirm out of it. and shortly after, well, not shortly after this morning, Mike Johnson effectively just sent everybody home because there there's two main things that so obviously the Save Act was potentially gonna get voted on again, and now that's gone. So the opportunity for that to get done, but Pete Hegseth getting impeached and then they were going to also vote. I think there was there another Epstein thing that was up for vote as well. I think there was a second, which they've Elwyn: Was there was their second vote their bill, like the massey Kahana bill, the second one? Derek: Yeah, that they may have already that might have been the what caused the the last yes. Elwyn: They were gonna hold the one guy in contempt. There there was a contempt vote for was it Leon Black or something like that who's been subpoenaed to testify on the Epstein files and he's been delaying it and delaying it and delaying it and he couldn't delay it anymore, so I think they were gonna hold him in contempt and I think they were gonna find him in contempt. Derek: Yeah, and then there was an AI bill that was about to get for protections and regulations on AI. And so apparently the combination of all of that was basically Mike Johnson to be like, hey, everybody go home. we're not gonna we're not gonna talk about any of these things until after the midterms, which to me is just like, yeah, this is the most l dude, for having all level of government in your party in control, this is the worst I can I've ever experienced it in my life. And granted, you know, that's not I mean I guess I'm halfway through my life at least. Please God be halfway through my life. But the I I dude, I've never seen anything like this before with no legislation happening and them just sending people home because and and having all level of government in your favor. Elwyn: Yeah, they have they have just simply abdicated their role of governance. They they've just decided they I don't even think they've decided that they don't need to do their job. I think they've decided that they don't have a job to to do. That it just doesn't their job is to get in front of cameras and politic and get elected and not to actually legislate. it's it's an underreported story how ineffective this Congress has been and how much Mike Johnson is content to simply let days pass. I mean, bedtime has got to be this time's this guy's favorite time of day because it means that another day is over. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: you know, instead of like waking up and thinking, cool, I'm gonna do stuff or okay, this can be a hard day 'cause you know, Massey's got Heg Seth in his crosshairs, but I'm gonna whip my whip my caucus and I'm gonna figure this out and Blah blah, I'm gonna actually do my job. Instead of waking up like that, I think he goes to sleep at the end of the day, like, whew, got through that one. Doing nothing. Derek: Yeah. But this is the exact fucking reason why we're all furious. Like Elwyn: Yes. Derek: w there this is why we don't trust government right now. Is it's a as much as it this is a giant fucking game to them, and it's the American people's lives that are at stake. Because the like the war powers resolution, I believe, was backup for vote as well. And the war is single-handedly responsible. And nobody's even hiding this anymore. Every economist is now coming out and saying inflation is bad because of the war. Inflation and war and tariffs. These are the two reasons why the Fed, and we'll talk about this in a second, why the Fed just raised rates again. The these decisions are impacting American lives. Dude, a gallon of diesel diesel gas is over is like six and a half dollars. And there were some places that it got over it got over ten dollars and they didn't have the signs. Elwyn: Yeah, they don't have the Derek: To to actually so they can only do nines across the board. Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: I literally saw a gas station next to my house updating their sign a couple days ago, or no, it was yesterday when I was driving by to add an extra space for in case it goes up even more. Which is, dude, this is just insane, man. Like we like one of the most critical times in our history where things are more unaffordable than ever before. And our government is taking breaks and sessions just to be like to stay in power. Like, this is exactly why our constitution was built the way it is. It's to protect us against shit like this. And they found loopholes to avoid it. and if they rig the election in some way, shape, or form, dude, there's going to be a revolt. Like people are people are pissed off, even Republicans. Elwyn: Yeah, I mean at some point what what you don't want is for the the population, the populace of any country ever to be like, What do you guys do? We don't need you. We're taking matters into our own hands. And you know, that's a I don't know we're not there yet, but they're certainly laying the groundwork for that. Like what what do we need Congress for right now? What what benefit is this Republican Congress to us, the people? Zero. Zero. But I do think that like the polls keep getting worse. The generic ballots I mean, every day I see some poll for a House seat which is like this district was Trump plus fifteen and the Democrat is up by two. you know, which even if that district doesn't swing, right, it it's that those districts are at all competitive. I I think that people are well aware Of what's going on and why it's going on. And they're well aware that everything they're getting fed from the Republican side is bullshit. And more importantly, they don't trust the Democrats, but the Republicans are simply making it they're doing everything they can to make it absolutely impossible to vote for them. Like I I can't understand why anybody right now would go in and and credibly say, Yeah, I'm gonna vote for a Republican because Bleh because X, Y, or Z. There is no X, Y, or Z. It everything is terrible because of tariffs and because of the war in Iran. The Saudi Saudi Arabia just announced that they're not shipping oil to Europe in September and possibly October. They're just not shipping it because the Houthis blew up the pipeline. Right? Like, that seems bad. I don't know. I'm not an oil and gas expert, but that seems really bad. Derek: No, it's it th all of this is is fucking terrible. And dude, the it's Republican policy right now is so bad that well, a half the people that were endorsed by Trump for Republican seats right now won't won't even get in and debate Democrats for their seat. And this is this is a byproduct of like, dude, when you cannot Get in front of your constituents and talk policy because you know that you are going to get like Abdul El Sayed in Michigan, Mike Rogers won't debate him. Talerico here in Texas, Ken Paxton will not go near him. And I understand they don't have the incentive to do it because they think that their seats are probably more secure than maybe they they actually believe they are. But like, dude, like this this is a problem. If you're if our if the people that are supposed to represent Texas will not even get in front of us and like talk policy with their opposition, like go fuck yourself. Like what are like what are you doing for us? You're basically just telling us you have no interest in actually helping the people that all of this is for show and fodder and that you're going to jump back in and do exactly what you were gonna be doing before, which is exactly what Abbott and Paxton will do here in Texas. As soon as the midterms are over, they're gonna go right back to pushing you know data centers all throughout rural Texas and you know, banning Elwyn: Horse. Derek: yeah, banning THC and throwing people in prison for minor offenses of THC because the alcohol lobby and all the all the lobbies against THC because they're obviously taking money from other industries. Like this this is not how America is built to work. It's I mean it's We're seeing the loopholes of people taking advantage of it, but we're this isn't what how we're meant to opt. Elwyn: Yeah, Democrats lose elections because people don't like their policies, because they feel like and and they get too wonky, right? They they feel like they they become beholden to corporate interests, but they rarely lose because they do nothing. Because you know, that's like that's rarely the case. Democrats, by and large, are usually trying to do something. You know, too often it's the bidding of corporate overlords instead of, you know, paying attention to the people. But Republicans now, yeah, th they are like you say, they're not talking policy. Do you understand what the Republican Party's policy platform is today? Because I don't, right? I don't think that the Republican Congress people support the war, but they won't go on record against it. I don't think they support tariffs, but they won't go on record against it. And they will try to make some like mealy mouth arguments in favor. Mike Rogers got booed off the stage in Michigan for trying to do that. You know, they outside of, you know, trans trans women shouldn't play sports and bathroom bills and burning library books, like literally, literally outside of those things, what is their policy? Ken Paxton has at least put out a policy, which is Kamala Harris's presidential economic policy. $50,000 first-time credit for homebuy. Kamala Harris was $25,000 and everybody freaked out about it, right? Derek: That was a wait, Ken Paxson actually put that out. That was a Republican. This is fantastic. Elwyn: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. His policy, his economic policy platform is moderate Democrat 2 2024 Kamala Harris, which everybody shit on, is Ken Paxton's economic policy. No, I don't believe for a second that he believes any of that shit. Any of it at all. Because he spent the last 15 years telling us how much he hates it. So, you know, there is no There is no platform that has any credibility on the Republican side. The the Democrats, I mean, I don't know that they're any better, but they are gonna have an opportunity to show something better, I hope. Derek: We have some dude, we have some young people that are actually talking about like real stuff now. Like I'm there there is some excitement around some of these candidates, like Asaf, Talarico, Abdul El Sayyed, like the these guys that are in battlegrounds right now, battleground states, and dude, they they're talking as if they actually care about people and that they they have a little bit of the moxie to push through agendas that actually support Americans, like You know, like universal healthcare. We were having this conversation, I think, last week a little bit where we were talking about like, man, universal healthcare changes so much for a so many people in all facets of life, changes life for business owners, business owners that aren't responsible for taking care of all of their employees' healthcare. It takes, you know, if people like even in our family and a bunch of my friends. If they weren't beholden to their job because of their health care, they don't want to lose their health care, there's a chance they get out and start a new business or do something that they potentially in the future employs a bunch of people, which that's exactly what we need to stimulate our economy. And so yeah, there's a bunch of good policies that are being talked about now. Now we are at that point where if the Democrats take over and win all these midterm elections, and then we get the presidency in 2028, if we do nothing with it. I'm done. I'm done with Democrats. Elwyn: yeah. Derek: I'll be, I'll be, I'll be the first to say, you know what? I we are starting a different party and doing something else because I I won't fuck around with them again. If we get another a bunch of Chuck Schumers, and even Chuck Schumer, I saw was out there today talking about saying something about how great John Fetterman was recently. And I was just like I was like, I Elwyn: Jesus Christ. Get the fuck out of here. Derek: was like, Schumer, can you not fucking read the room anywhere? Who are you surrounding yourself with? He's like the democrat Elwyn: Also, F Fetterman i is an a piece of shit. I don't know if you've seen some of the text messages that come out. But like Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: they say that they say that when you when you win, what you should what you should run on is that you're gonna fix what the last guy broke. And what you should try and do is fix what the last guy broke. To your point, when when Derek: Everything. Elwyn: Democrats take power, yeah, the the Republicans broke everything. So Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: fix so fix shit. That you that everything If you cannot fix something when everything is broken, yeah, you're go away. Derek: Yeah. So the midterms are all focused on data centers, AI. They're gonna be focused on affordability, obviously, war in Iran, you know, getting us out of all of that stuff. The this is the I mean, which is critical. I I don't think that we're gonna be we're not gonna see much hack happen economically until we get our we get out of the Iran war. Like this is the and anybody that supports this at any point anymore, like. Go fuck yourself. Like get out of here. Like, no there this there was so much evidence that this was never a threat in the first place. And now that we are dragged into it, we have potentially created more terrorists in the future than we could ever imagine, and we're less safe than ever before. So, like, yeah, like they they need to find a way to negotiate themselves out of this. And yeah, Trump's gonna look like an asshole because the deal's gonna be far more fair favorable for Iran than it was. before and they don't we don't have the choice. So but if we ever want to get back to a semblance of normalcy, then we have to. And you know, that and then we the combination of that with what's going on in AI right now, which is really weird because like you get like the guys that are quitting these companies and being like, it's not safe. Like the AI is going to kill us in a few years. And then you have other people coming out and be like, Nah, we're, you know, it's still relatively mild or whatever. And you know, I I've listened to both sides speak. and obviously my limited experience with AI would say it's hard for me to believe that it's as far advanced as some of the people that say it's that far advanced is. But I'm also not one to be like, no, that's not possible because this stuff could get really scary quickly. Elwyn: Well the the three CEOs of the three main companies are all saying we need to slow down. I don't know. I feel like we should probably listen to them. I you know, I I don't I don't understand why that's not basically dispositive. You know, like they know they know the most. They benefit not at all. I d not obviously at least from slowing the r slowing their role, you know. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: so why we don't listen to them? I have no idea. I don't believe at all that we need to win this race against China. I think that that's just a construct that we're being sold to to blue light this. Fucking Trump with his like, all you need is a high IQ president to regulate AI. Bro, his version of AI is the AI slop shit that he puts out on Truth Social, and that is not what we're talking about. We're not talking about Claude, we're not talking about ChatGPT. We're talking about frontier models that break the internet and break all the rules and do whatever the fuck they want. And according to everybody that knows these things, they're all saying, like, yeah, by the way, these things are breaking the rules and breaking the internet and doing whatever the fuck they want. And we can't control it because it's happening way faster than we thought it would. so somebody regulate us and everybody's like, Derek: Well, that's what the that's one of the bills that they were going to apparently work on, and passing legislation in this session. And then they Mike Johnson just said everybody home, which again, complete horseshit. But like this is every every indust industry that poses any kind of health risk to the American people is regulated. You know, like you look at the car industry, like we go through safety checks and seat belts and they have to have airbags and you know, housing. You know, to build a house, you have to go through, get all these permits, and then you have to have inspections, and you have to make sure that the concrete was poured right and that the plumbing was ran right, and like everything was done prior to, and it's up to code before you do anything. Like the the it's not s at all far-fetched or out of the norm to be like, okay, we need to understand the technology in a way that we have a group of people at least that can build out regulations for this to make sure it's safe. Like it's that simple. Like it's it's not rocket science and anybody that's opposing this, yeah, like there's this is another thing like we talked about last week with like global warming. The I the I told you so is probably gonna come too late if it gets to that point. we're gonna be like I told you so as we're getting murdered by robots or you know, have some boils on our skin that we have no idea where they came from and no way to get them to go away. So Yeah. Elwyn: Yeah, yeah, as we as we eat diarrhoea lettuce and unable to go to the doctor while being pursued by our robot overlords and Derek: Yes. Elwyn: you know the Hal is telling us that we can't shut down our computer. Yeah. Yeah, we'll use smoke signals to send out, I told you so. But it'll be worth it. I'm here for that. I'm here for that Derek: That'll be Elwyn: smoke signal I told you so. Derek: Hey, I've gotta learn I told you so in like what's it called? The SOS, the Morse code. Elwyn: Do you know it in sign language? Derek: I told you so? I mean, maybe. Yeah, just be I think of that's actually no, I don't. I'm no maybe Elwyn: You're not you're not winning you're not winning any arguments at home, are you? Derek: that's a good thing. I am gonna ask Tamara immediately after this. So yeah, should Elwyn: Yeah, she's gonna know it right away. Derek: She'll be like, yeah. I I'm then I'm gonna be like, that's what that means. I you've been saying that Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: forever. Like, I didn't know. well, let's jump into our the meat of our conversation today. We're going back a little bit on this one and talking through the just the authoritarian theme of this Republican administration. and I like to run so in my head. actually one of the reasons we started this podcast is I read a book that was written by Ben Rhodes that was kind of talked about the authoritarian playbook that Victor Orbon ran to basically take Hungary from a democracy to an authoritarian, you know, state, which interestingly enough ended this year. Like Orban, like people got so pissed off and realized that the lies that they were fed for years were wrong. That they actually finally revolted and got the dude out. But there's a lot of similarities that run run through it. And so, you know, we're we're gonna break off a few of these, but with some of the stuff going on, I think it's important to know what was like how the parallels between how how it happened in Hungary and what's happening in the United States, because there's a lot of similarities. So like, so we'll let's start here. The because elections is Obviously we've been talking about this a lot with the midterms coming up, undermining the confidence in elections, and then seeking more control over election administration. So basically screaming that elections are not you can't trust them, and that the only way to trust them is to give me more control over them. that is the step one in the authoritarian playbook. Does does that sound familiar to you at all? Elwyn: Little bit, a little bit. I'm I'm searching through my memory. no so so that I mean, we as you were talking before, I was trying to think I I think we don't appreciate how much courts can save democracies, right? So like the Supreme Court came out and ruled that Trump's mail in ballot executive order cannot be implemented this cycle. It did not rule on the merits of the order. and that's somewhat relevant, but it did rule seven to two, ending the issue for this election cycle, as far as I can tell. it is worth noting, you know, that sh Samuel Alito wrote a dissent for him and Clarence Thomas, who is a piece of shit. and you know, so this was all an injunction, right? He Trump wrote the executive order, and then people go to court to s to get a preliminary injunction against it taking effect. And when you s file for a preliminary injunction, you have to show two things. One, that if the thing goes that you're gonna win, you have a likelihood of success on the merits. And two, that if the thing is allowed to go forward, there will be irreparable harm suffered. Okay, so the people challenging this had to show one, that they're gonna win, that the executive order is unconstitutional, and two, That if they don't enjoin it, if they don't stop it from taking effect, irreparable harm will be suffered. So seven to two now. Kavanaugh wrote a short dissent, and I'm not so sure he's a vote against the executive order. He seemed to say, you know, he seemed to be more worried Derek: Course he's not. Elwyn: about the timeline. Yeah, he seemed to be more worried about the timeline, but willing to entertain an argument that the US Post Office can do this, even though it's not them like they were doing it pursuant to an order. It's a little backwards. They didn't just decide to do it. They were told to do it. And it's the telling of the doing it that's the thing. But Alito Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: basically said, you know, I think that they're gonna win on the merits, because of course he's a hack. And then he said, even if they weren't, I don't see that there is irreparable harm. Right? So The irreparable harm being claimed, of course, is the disenfranchisement potentially of millions of votes, because the mailin the mail-in ballots don't go through. And he saw that and he was like, Meh. Not irreparable harm. Some guy named Gonzalez votes illegally, though, or registers to vote illegally, or some woman named Rahman that whoa, you know, turn the whole thing over for that. But millions of people, the entire state of Utah getting disenfranchised, like, nah, nah, good with it. So but Unbalanced, like take the win, Elwyn, because this was a win. And it was seven to two, it wasn't five to four. You know, you had Roberts, Barrett, and Gorsuch who did not join any of the descents, who, you know, seemed to have maybe had enough on this one. Derek: Yeah. And you know, like w we're using the example of the mail in ballots for this right now, but like if I'm being honest, the mail in ballots and this situation is is to me the like a a distant problem in comparison to just the money in our election cycles. Like Citizens United is the thing that actually needs to get overturned. And there are politicians right now running on this, like This getting the money out of politics again. Like finally people are opening their eyes. And to be honest, it it is a little bit more bipartisan too. Like there's a lot of people on both sides starting to scream about this. So man, can you imagine seeing like Republican Republicans running on a platform of getting money out of politics? Like, if that ever happened, I would be like, this is we're getting somewhere now. Maybe Elwyn: Something like seven of the top eight donors are re are donating to Republican candidates. Derek: Always. Yeah, yeah. That which is why. You know, like this is it's a tell in our elections, where the majority of the money is coming from because Republicans are getting all almost all of their money is coming from large corporations and super PACs and almost all of the the big Democratic names, Asof Tel Rico and Abdullah Sayyid, almost all of their money is coming from small donors. They're not taking pack money. Most of them are deliberately not taking pack money. and Talerico in Texas has raised almost like almost 70 million, I think, of in small donors, which dude, this is this is a tell that people genuinely want this shit to change. Like when you're raising that kind of money from on small donors as a, you know, a small town guy in Texas, like I the There is something brewing, at least at least to say like, man, there's a lot of people that see this as a problem. Elwyn: Yeah, we need just like eight to ten week election cycles that are federally funded where every House race gets X amount of money, every Senate race gets X amount of money, presidential races get X amount of money, debates are mandatory, and and private donations are done. If you want to donate, you donate to some independent third party that gives it straight to to fund the federal elections. Derek: Yeah. I I I it's that simple. I think you're a thousand percent correct on that. I think the only thing that I would say that people have an opportunity to build outside of that is a social media following. meaning like it like Mamdani won in New York because of social media. Like he stood out on a street corner and had conversations with people. And as a result of that, people started to fall in love with him and they're like, I believe this guy, he's real. And that's the kind of shit we want our politicians doing. We want them out and get engaged with the Elwyn: Yeah, that's exactly right. Like if Derek: people. Elwyn: right, if they're gonna if they're gonna build a social media following by you know, then they're responsible for how they build it and it requires direct engagement, one way or another. You can screw it up, you can crush it, it doesn't matter, right? But yeah, you're th i in that regard, you're responsible for exactly what you're saying. It's just a modern way to go and have a town hall in a sense. Derek: Yeah, agreed. And it's something that would I that in and of itself would change our election system. And the thing that we've seen more than anything is that the amount of money that is pumped into the Republican side by special interest groups to get their legislation passed. So almost all these Republicans are funded by, you know, large tech oil companies, energy companies, people that are alcohol, lobby, you know, all the people trying to get their shit taken care of. And that's the and if that's if you're taking money from those companies, you are not representing the people's best interests because you can't take money from a data company and then represent rural Texas when they're fighting against the data center that you accepted the money for. So it's just it doesn't work. anything else you want to hit on there? Cool. So second part of this, our authoritarian takeover is they they don't just attack the press and journalists, they actually change the economic ownership of the of the press, of the newspapers, of the social media companies, of the television companies. And we if there was an example of authoritarian takeover, like there we don't have a better example than this. more clear as day because you know we watched TikTok get sold for significantly undermarket to the majority shareholder Ellison's who Trump donors Ellison's were also approved to by Warner Brothers which owns a bunch of the news networks and including CNN which happens to be or did happen to be a little bit more liberal. I believe CBS may have been part of the the the merger from prior to as well. we've watched all these tech oligarchs and like Bezos and all these guys go out and buy our newspapers, our most you know the the publications that we've relied on to be as non-biased as possible have now been purchased and are you know you can't trust Half the shit that comes out of them. and then so do we're seeing this in real time. And then also the FCC, you know, like Brandon Carr, not allowing Telerico to go on late night shows, even when they've interviewed Republicans. Jimmy Kimmel had Trump on in 2016. Like these aren't necessarily partisan issues, but then at the same time they allowed Ted Cruz to go on College Game Day and talk about policies for you know, which Absolutely nobody fucking wanted the guy there in the first place. Like got booed off television and to the point where people in the background, you could audibly hear them screaming, Ted, you suck during the broadcast. Like, so it's clear you don't put Ted Cruz on game day without knowing like that he that that this is going to happen. You do it knowing you're pushing an agenda for somebody. So like this is a clear example to me of just like, yeah, they they've bought the media. Elwyn: I think it's I don't know. I d I don't need to be fair to Ted Cruz here because I think you're largely right. But he is pushing a bill that is designed to pr to protect college sports in the NIL era. So that it's not it's not completely unconnected to something that he's quite forcefully advocating for. But that being said, yeah, I I mean CBS is now basically state run media The Washington Post isn't quite state run media, but they can't be trusted at all. Every now and then they write an editorial that's like, really? They said that? you know, the the TikTok, all all of them, clearly owned by Trump donors. Sinclair Media Group, we've covered that in the past also. You know, they cover they cover so much local media. and when I watch the news, you know when I watch the news, it's local news and it's because it's on after a sporting event. Right? So Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: Local news is relevant. You know, people watch local news. That's why it still exists. So if you have one company that owns thirty percent of the local news outlets, and that company happens to be like quite openly a a donor to the party in power, because it doesn't matter if it's Republican or Democrat, right? then that's bad. That is state run media. Plain and simple, right? And and Trump has absolutely tried to coalesce media, the the larger media landscape, into one giant state run media. mouthpiece for himself. And the media has been, you know, forget about like the Ellisons who are making business decisions. The individual media members, the Jake Tappers of the world, have been startlingly complicit in it. Right? In just allowing people to come on and spew complete bullshit without without fact checking it, without interrupting them and being like, that's n simply not accurate. Like it it's my it's my duty as a journalist to tell my viewers That what's going on now is not accurate. I've you know, I heard that once on NPR and I was stunned. It was during first term Steven Skeep, the morning guy. They were doing the impeachment hearings in like 2018, and he had someone on, and he actually shut their mic. And he said, I'm sorry, I have to do you know, I'm sorry, I don't mean to cut you off, but it's my duty to tell my listeners that what you just said is factually inaccurate and the opposite is true. Right, like there there is an obligation on the part of journalists to do that. Period. And and the media companies, I don't expect them to care about the obligation, but I am surprised at how much the actual journalists have just simply said we don't care either about our obligation. So the media is a dis is a disgrace. Sixty minutes, their ratings were down like eleven percent year over year for their first for their first episode. And I don't know, I was watching football and I saw a lot of commercials for it, so You know, I think mainstream media is dying as a result. But all that. There is no question this is a part of the Orban playbook to to coalesce media into one state run media mouthpiece. And they have since day one in twenty twenty five, they've been very, very open about that's what they're trying to do. Derek: Yep. Yeah. And dude, that 60 minutes piece about the buying pardons, dude, there was no actual reporting talking about how wrong that was. In hon in all honesty, and I didn't watch the full episode, I just watched clips of it, but most of the people, most of the people that watched it were up in arms about like them actually not making how clear How wrong all of this is making that point clear, like, because it actually probably muddied the waters even more and almost almost made it sound like, like basically, like, yeah, if you have the money, this is essentially kind of like how it works. Like, no, that is not at all how pardons were ever designed to work. And it's beyond, I love following Liz Oyer, the pard the ex-parton attorney for the the Justice Department. Like she's a fantastic follow. And if if anybody that's listening to this is interested, she explains all of this stuff in detail pretty regularly. So and much smarter than we are. so well, me. But maybe not you. Elwyn: Yeah, me too. Derek: I'll I'll concede to Liz Aware any day. I'll be like, Yeah, I don't know. You you you tell me. but yeah, I mean there is there's enough there where I for me I'm like, yeah, this is a clear attempt, like and part of the playbook. So let's move on to the the third part of this, which is you know, we we talk about immigration, but immigration is immigration is a this is a opportunistic platform that was meaningful to Republicans and we all understand why they felt like Biden had an open border policy and that you know, the crime and anything that happened as a regard as a result of an illegal immigrant doing something wrong was amplified, you know, 20 to 50 X or whatever it was during to and created a bunch of outrage. So but this also created an opportunity for basically the the current administration to create a militia that sh shows a force of forceful power as a basically a state-run militia that and you know in august 51 000 arrests were made by ice and over three quarters of those were had no criminal criminal background or record so these these aren't this isn't what we we signed up for this was very much intentionally in my opinion designed to do exactly what they've done is to go into cities and start to scare people Basically be like Elwyn: I think this is precisely what we signed up for. Derek: Yeah. Elaborate on that. Elwyn: It's it I they stood at the Republican National Convention with giant signs that said mass deportations now. This is precisely what people who voted for Trump signed up for. They don't care if the people have a criminal record or not. They might say they do. Those that are a little squishy, you know, they're like, Well, I thought they were de deporting the worst of the worst, you know, but there's probably still some really bad people. If if 25% I guarantee you, if we spoke to people, if twenty-five percent of the fifty thousand that were deported had criminal records, they're like, This is great. That's fifteen thousand criminals or twelve thousand criminals off our streets. If thirty-eight thousand, you know, innocent people, well, they broke the law when they got here, so they're not innocent, first of all, and don't care because twelve thousand criminals came off. The you're right about the creating of a militia, but more importantly, the immigration stuff creates an other. And Authoritarian regimes need an other. They always need some group upon which they can heap the blame for everything that ails in this country white people. Don't have a job, we need an other. Can't afford a house, there has to be an other to blame it on. You know, no health care, the others are reading your emergency room. You know, the schools, there has to be an other. There always has to be an other. And Yeah, th this was they've been using the immigration debate to canonize to lionize, not lionized, the the reverse, to demonize demonize, you know, brown people as the other. You know, there's a reason why you're not getting ahead in life. It's because the the immigrants are taking your jobs. There's a reason why you can't get health care, it's because the emergency rooms are overrun with immigrants. There's a reason you can't afford a house, because somehow illegal immigrants are driving up the price of housing in this country. You know, there's a reason why, there's a reason why, there's a reason why. And the reason is always immigrants because it allows people to coalesce around something that just intrinsically sounds good to them. Like it's not my fault that my life is shit, that I can't afford gas, that I can't get a job, that my kids can't move out of the house, that the healthcare system in this country is terrible. It's not my fault. It's the immigrants' fault. It's their fault. If we only get rid of them. Everything will be better. And that's what that taps into. And that creates this very, very visceral, very, very loyal column of support, right? If you talk to most diehard MAGA Trump supporters right now, I guarantee you that the number one, if you ask them what what do you think he's done that's good? How has he helped? I guarantee you, guarantee the number one thing they say is he's closed the border. Derek: Yeah. You're you're not wrong. I think you're at that. I mean that you nailed that point. And I I kind of lost that point as well about the other. I was more focused on just the show of force, you know, them having a bunch of video of them rolling into American cities, fully armed, shooting American citizens when needed. Elwyn: To get the other. Derek: Yeah, to get the other. And you know, and anybody that's opposed to this right feels like the other. So like guys like me and you. You know, like there's a world where, like, dude, when ice rolls through Austin, Texas, I'm not gonna lie, like, I'm super uncomfortable. I'm like, because I know in my heart of hearts that I'm staunchly opposed to it. So and I'm not opposed to immigration reform. And I'm not opposed to, you know, upholding immigration laws. there just need that like there was just a so like there's a way to do this that's humane, you know, like there's a way to do this to extract Close the borders, get criminals out, and create a clear path to citizenship for people that are here that are benefiting our society and doing a bunch of the jobs that you know, most white kids don't want to do. And so, like that, with that being the case, like yeah, like I I had forgotten that about the kind of like them being the the the finger to point at, which is also part of the authoritarian playbook as well. But, you know, like. Those three points I think are critical. And I I kind of wanted to land the ship with this thought is just that, you know, like if this was the direction we were headed, actually direct actual direction we were headed, I think it's really important, you know, because we're on the we're on the opposition side right now, right? We're looking at this and being like, we don't like any of this the stuff that's going on. and here's why, because it runs against our values and our political views. But So even if you were in support of a lot of the stuff that's going on, whatever power you're comfortable giving your guy, imagine giving the exact same power to a politician that you trusted the least. If and if that scares you, then may like imagine momdani being president. And if that if that scares you, then maybe your your guy shouldn't have that kind of power. Elwyn: Correct. The power that you're willing to give Trump, are you willing to give it to El Sayed or AOC? And if not, then it's not a question of the person, it's a question of the power. Derek: Yep. agreed. Well, you know, I think we can just wrap it there today. I don't know if we need to jump into Elwyn: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Derek: All right. Who are we telling to shut the fuck up today? I went, Yes! I got away from it. Elwyn: Not you, Derek. Not you. Not you. It was gonna be you until last night and this morning, okay? You got a last-minute Derek: Hmm. Elwyn: reprieve from fucking New York Mets fans Derek: Mm. Elwyn: who entirely need to just, god damn it, shut the fuck up. I haven't been this angry about anything in months. So Derek Derek: And I haven't been this happy all day. Elwyn: left the o the U Ohio State UT game in the third quarter and missed this epic comeback. That Derek: Shoot I would. Elwyn: And then and then like really tried to defend it and think I might have heard him say, I'm gonna die on this hill. So I was ready. But so the Mets, for those who don't know, I think everybody knows they're a baseball team, right? They had this guy the last eight or nine years, Pete Alonzo, all-time franchise leader in home runs, fan favorite, homegrown talent, you know, all time great Met. I quibble with, you know, statistically how great he is, whatever. But they let him go last year. They let him walk in free agency. They didn't match the he signed with the Baltimore Orioles. They they didn't match his offer. And the Mets have been terrible this year. And that move for that guy has just put the Mets fan base into a frothing rage of apoplectic anger all year long. It's unbelievable the revisionist history. But okay, whatever. That's not what's making me angry. This week, the Orioles are playing the Mets in New York. Okay. Two teams. The Orioles are still in contention, but they're on the outside looking in. The Mets season is over. These they're not meeting, these games aren't meaningless because the Orioles need them. But of course, the story is Alonzo coming back. Last night, second game of the series. So now Alonzo's like eight at bats, eight opportunities for the crowd. Get up. Yay. We love you, Alonzo. Standing. we're so mad at the GM. Fire David Stearns. To do all of that. He comes up last night, ninth inning. Mets are up by one. Okay? One out in the ninth. He hits a fucking bomb of a home run, takes his bat, fires it at the dugout, does the whole let's fucking go. Right? Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: Arm bump, chest bump, full selly, full celebration with his teammates. The fucking Mets fans give him a standing ovation and a curtain call. He just cost the team the game. And the Mets fans are like, yeah, that's our guy. And Derek: Huh. Elwyn: I went into an instant fit of rage. Instant fit of rage. Right? Just what a what a fucking disgrace. Right? Root for your team to win. Period. That's your first job as a sports fan. Everything else is after that. But you root for your team to win, right? And online and it with a couple friends, they're like, Nope. Nope, this was great. This was called the best thing that has happened to the Mets all season by some Met fans. So the most the biggest Mets social media group group put up a a six lit six item list of all the great things that have happened in these two games the Mets have lost. And one of them is like two of the Mets players were like, Yeah, you know, that was pretty weird. We kind of thought that was strange that our fans were cheering for the other team so much. You know, we wish they would cheer for us like that, you know, a little more. And the Mets fans are like, shut the fuck up, you don't know what you're talking about. You're Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: a piece of shit anyway. And I'm just like, no, no, no, a thousand times no. Root for your team. Him hitting that home run doesn't make Steve Cohen feel sad and want to fire David Stearns. They've heard this bullshit for 150 games. They've said they're not firing David Stearns. There's nothing new here. Okay? You guys are just so hung up on your anger that you can't see what you're doing anymore, which is rooting against your team. You know, the Mets have Derek: That's a Elwyn: two of the the Mets have two of the best young rookies in the game right now, Carson Benj and AJ Ewing. You know, these guys are out there playing hard every day. Carson Bench hit the home run to give the Mets the lead in the third inning. They held that lead until the ninth, right? He's he's out there busting his ass. AJ Ewing ran into a wall trying to catch a fly ball. And the fucking fans are rooting for them to lose. They're rooting for them to lose. And they're defending it. They're defending it to their teeth. I d I yeah. Shut the fuck up, Mets fans. Derek: Dude, this is like the definition of like cut off your nose despite your face situation. But like it one, it's also fantastic because like it's also feels like from an outsider's perspective, like so New York. Like it's like the like basically like they're so mad at their team that they're willing to fuck say fuck you to their team and cheer on another team at home, which is it's Elwyn: It's exactly what they're doing. It's like Derek: just is hilarious. But like I Like I was thinking about that, like as you were talking, I was thinking about like when you know when Matt Stafford went back to Detroit after as a Ram. you know, like I think everybody was there, was like, Hey, we up we appreciate the years and the sacrifice that you, you know, made being for being in Detroit, 'cause I'm a big Detroit Lions fan. but at the same time, as soon as like that we got all of the, you know, hey, thanks, Matthew, for everything. then it was straight to fuck you, I hope you die. And we're gonna Elwyn: Yes. Derek: send everything at you that we could possibly send. And furthermore, when you won a Super Bowl without us, then I now I hate you even more. Yes, yes. Elwyn: That's right. You fuck you forever. That's right. And that that's a great it's a great analogy because he never won with the Lions, but he had some good moments, right? Right? Derek: Yeah, we had yeah, we had he had some teams that to be honest, they sh there's no reason why they should not have won with Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush, and Domican Sue. Like that that those teams were stacked. Elwyn: And they they made the playoffs a couple times with him, right? But they never brought it home. And at some point you just say, All right, shit, it's not working with him. We're turning the corner and we're gonna try and make it work in another way, right? And that's really what the Mets did with Alonzo. And you can say, I don't agree with the move, right? Look, I think David Stearns should be fired, not because he made that move, but because he did such a bad job replacing him. you know, and he's responsible for that. But you c at some point it it the the Stafford comparison is great. Right? You didn't win with him. Right? So he comes back, you give him the video board tribute, you give him the standing ovation, you give him the polite applause, great teammate, had some good moments, show all that shit. But if you're standing and cheering as he's leading the team down on a game-tying drive with two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, you're not a fucking fan of your team anymore. I don't know what you are. I don't know what you are, but you're not a fan of your team. You're an insane person. You know, who just spent $300 to watch their fucking team lose and is like, yeah, that'll teach you David Stearns. You know? People are like, the Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: the guy who runs that social media group, he was going back and forth with me. And I never comment on social media, but I commented on his shit. And he's like, No, you don't understand. This is a protest against David Stearns. I'm like, fucking David Stearns isn't going getting fired. They've said that 10 times this year. This is just Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: you jerking off. all over the team that you're supposed to be rooting for and then Derek: I Elwyn: getting mad when the people on that team are like, you know, it would've been nice to not be jerked off on. I would have been happier Derek: Yes. Elwyn: without that. So Derek: Well, I'll t you know what I agree with you. That was way worse than anything I ever did. So fuck you, all Elwyn: Yeah, yep. You got a reprieve. Derek: you New York Mets fans. Or thank you, all you New York Mets fans. Elwyn: You should be saying thank you. Derek: Well, what are we talking about? Elwyn: Thank you, thank to the Jews for no traffic on Yom Kippur and thank you to the Mets fans for no shut the fuck up segments. It's a it's a perfect bookend. And now what do we do? We do Clarence Thomas is a piece of shit, Greg Abbott hates you, and Susan Collins is concerned. Derek: Yeah, I'm gonna, you know what? You're you're responsible for the I do the intro, you're responsible for the outro now. So that's that's Elwyn: There we go. Love it. Derek: that's gotta that's your tagline after you shut the fuck up. But we'll we'll see y'all next week when we talk some more about some really important stuff in an angry way, most likely. See y'all. Elwyn: See ya.