Latest / Pod Save America / The State of the Union Is Long

Transcript

The State of the Union Is Long · Pod Save America

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I'm Dan Pfeiffer. I'm Jon Lovett.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: I'm Tommy Vitor.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: All right, guys. We are recording this at about 10 p.m.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Pacific.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: After enduring a speech that will go down in history
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: as the longest State of the Union ever delivered by
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: a president, one hour and 47 minutes, congrats to Donald
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Trump on beating the previous record holder, also Donald Trump.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We're going to get into all the gory details, but
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: let's start with some general reactions. What did you guys think?
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Dan?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Speech was a crime.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Speech was a crime. Yeah. It was a speech crime.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: It was a rhetorical crime, political crime. It really stole
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: people's time.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Time crime. Time crime.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Pre-crime.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was mostly long and forgettable was kind of
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: my takeaway. Like he tried to heighten the drama. He
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: did something innovative. Instead of recognizing people in the audience,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: just having them stand up, he had them enter the chamber.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: I actually thought that was kind of it.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: That's a great way to get the record if you're
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: trying for the longest speech ever.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true. Not a bad touch. I was genuinely
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: surprised he didn't go harder at the Supreme Court justices.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: Should have a little discipline there.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I figured they would. I figured Susie Wiles would keep
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: him on, keep the shot caller on that one. It
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: went so long that we were on Jimmy Kimmel, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: they had to just do the show while the speech
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: was still going. So we didn't even see the end.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: That's how long it was.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: And we're better for it.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: And honestly, we didn't miss anything. Honestly, if we had
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: gone 40 minutes before it ended, we probably wouldn't have
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: missed anything.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I don't really get what he was trying to do here,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: other than set the record for the longest speech.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Well, so the first 30, 40 minutes was basically Trump
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: hosting his own award show. There was... was a combo
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of that so he's you know he's uh... he's given
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: out awards to everyone he's also uh... honoring himself of
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: course uh... by just like bragging about the country in
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the economy everything like that uh... let's let's listen to
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: how the at the beginning.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: People asking me please please please mister president we're waiting
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: too much we can't take it anymore we're not used
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: to winning in our country until you came along with
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: just always losing but now we're waiting too much And
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: I say, no, no, no. You're going to win again.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: You're going to win big. You're going to win bigger
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: than ever.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: And to prove that point, to prove that point, here
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: with us tonight is a group of winners who just
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: made the entire nation proud. The men's gold medal Olympic
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: hockey team.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Come on in.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Get him a better microphone.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: You know, he's complained so many times about his mics
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: at different events. And this is the worst one he's
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: ever had. Anyway, that was a nice moment for the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: men's hockey team, I think.
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: It was a nice way out of his rambling, we're
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: winning too much thing that he's been doing since 2017, basically.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: He's brought it back recently. Yeah.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Because we're winning again?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you think that was, do you think the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: winning message is, I mean, that was a sample of it.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: That was the most ridiculous part before he brought up
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the hockey team. But that first 15 minutes was just straight, like,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: everything is amazing.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: The, the, the, the like warmed over old lines, like
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: we're winning so much. People are upset how much we're
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: winning and watching Mike Johnson and JD Vance cackle behind chortling.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: So funny. This charming, charming man can't, can't stop myself
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: from being so entertained was, was a bit much because
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: it is still like, uh, you know, we're a decade
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: into this and it's still an embarrassment to have Donald
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: Trump up there, you know, shouting and cavorting with these people. And, uh,
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: using his usual lines to great effect among Republicans who
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: can't get enough, watching them applaud things that a few
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: years ago that if a Democrat had proposed, they would
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: say it was an attack on the very foundations of
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: the country, et cetera.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, the speech is fucking insane.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: It'd be just any person who knows anything about politics
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: would have said, here's what you're supposed to do. The
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: American people are unhappy. 60% of them think the country
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: was better off when Joe Biden was president. Three quarters
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: of them think the economy sucks. 50% of them think
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: your policies have made their economic situation worse. 50% of
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: them think their prices have gone up under you. 60%
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: of them hate your tariffs.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And so when you go in- They don't like your
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: immigration policy.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: We haven't even gotten to that yet, right? So this
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: is just the beginning, is any speech has to do
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: with the reality on the ground. And you have to
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: acknowledge that reality and pivot. And no speech, even say
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: the union, changes the trajectory of any presidency. But this
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: is the easiest moment a president has in their presidency.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Not for the speechwriters. But from a pure communications perspective,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: it is a fucking layup. You get a guaranteed applause.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: You get guaranteed coverage. The press covers it straight no
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: matter how insane the speech is. And it's where presidents
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: have demonstrated the political paper they have to make after
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: when their approval rating is in the high 30s like
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Trump says. It is when Bill Clinton said the Arabic
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: government is over. It's when Obama sort of pivoted towards
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: more ardent populism in 2012, sort of in response to
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Occupy Wall Street and prepared to run against Romney. And
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: he did none of those things. He doubled and tripled
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: down on the exact things that have made him this unpopular.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: It really is a speech he gave for himself, written
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: by people only trying to please him and trying to
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: do nothing to actually help Republicans on the ballot.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I think I would have been surprised, Tommy, if he
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: hadn't done that. Because I couldn't imagine a speech where
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: he was actually like, I'm going to acknowledge people's pain.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Well, no, I mean, you got to do it in
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: the most Trumpian way possible, but you could at least
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: dial the rhetoric back. You can't say it's a historic turnaround.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: You can't spend 90 seconds touting all the prices, saying
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: all these prices have gone down when they have not.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Like there, there is a, like, there's the way a
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: normal smart person would do the speech and there's a
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: way Trump would do it. And even in the, by
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: in Trumpian terms, he did it worse than I even
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: possibly imagined.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, he thinks he can shape reality and kind
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: of like bend it to his will. And I just,
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: you know, when you're president, I don't think you can
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: do that. People are pissed about prices. They're pissed about
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: the economy. They're pissed about inflation. If you just scream
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: that we're winning, like the navigator research did dial tests
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: where people, you know, they dial the turn the dial
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: one way. If they're happy with what you're saying, one
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: other way, if they're unhappy with, they're saying the dials
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: went way down when he started to screaming that we're
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: winning now. Then the hockey team comes out. So I
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: think you should forget that moment. There was some controversy
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: today about the men's hockey team being there. I think
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: we should talk about it for a second because we
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: were pretty hot out of the gate criticizing FBI Director
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Kash Patel for burning money to fly over to the Olympics.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: And then when Trump called the players when they're in
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: the locker room after the game and Kash Patel patched
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: them in, he made some shitty comment about the women's
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: team being like, well, if I invite you guys to
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: the White House, I have to invite them too, which
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: is like, weird, you know, sexist old man humor that's
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: like lame and condescending. And also once again shows that
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: he doesn't know shit about sports because the women's hockey
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: team is way better. They have historically have won a
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: lot more titles, but I've seen a lot of people
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: criticizing the players. And I just, I think it's unfair
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: because they're representing the United States. Like it's inherently a
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: political job they're having this moment. Like politicians will try
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: to use you for political purposes. I don't know their
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: political views. I don't really care. I hope I never
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: know them, but like, I think it's unfair to ask
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: them to, not take his call or to reject an
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: invitation to the White House. Like, go if you want
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: to go, don't if you don't. But like, they're not
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: the bad guys here. It's that douchebag Kash Patel for
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: like crashing their party.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: Well, I mean, they did. It is their choice to go.
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: I understand going, being invited, and they are in a
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: difficult situation. Anybody representing America right now is in a
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: difficult situation because the country is represented by an embarrassing,
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: cruel maniac. But when you choose to go in the
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: way that they went, it is unavoidable that they were
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: part of a show that Donald Trump put on. They
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: were the punchline to him saying the country was winning.
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: They were used by Donald Trump and they can be
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: okay with that. They can be uncomfortable with that and
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: not be willing or interested in being involved in politics
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: the next day. But as of right now, those men
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: were all used by Donald Trump for political purposes. If
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: they're okay with that, they don't have to say anything.
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: They're free to do whatever they want, but they also
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: could say they could all, it sucks.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: They don't pick the president, right? Like they make the team,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: they work their whole lives to make the Olympics. They
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: go to this game, they win the gold medal. They
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: should be celebrated. by our country, by our government. Like,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: I get what you're saying. I hear you. But I
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: just think, like, it sucks that the fucking onus is
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: on them to be decent human beings.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that we, it's sometimes hard to realize
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that not everyone is a political junkies like we are
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and also, like, feel the urgency of how bad the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump presidency is, even though, like, most of the
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: country isn't happy with Donald Trump. They don't necessarily, they
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: aren't necessarily unhappy with him the way we are unhappy
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: with them or anyone who is listening to this is
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: unhappy with them. And I think our Our job is
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: to make sure that people understand the emergency. But like
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: if they don't because they're hockey players and they've been
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: focusing on hockey for the last couple of years and
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: they're just kids at this point, like, OK, they went away. Right.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Credit to the women's team.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: And like also it's.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Awesome they didn't go. So like that's definitely different tech.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: I mean, I guess it's sort of what is the
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: responsibilities individuals have. I agree it's unfair that they're in
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: that position, but it would be good to hear what
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: people think. having been used as a tool by Donald Trump,
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: are they happy with that? Are they okay with that?
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: All of us have an obligation, even if it's unfair.
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: I really do feel that way about it. The women's
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: team seem to know that they would rather not go
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: and rather spend the time with Flavor Flav.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess a couple of them, a couple
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: of the men didn't go. I'm pretty much on that.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: If you don't want to go, don't go.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: If you don't want to go, don't go. And don't
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: get criticized. The Olympics are in the United States in 2028.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Every single Olympian is going to have this problem. Are
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: they all going to boycott? I don't think they.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: Should boycott, but I'm also fine with intending. I just wonder,
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: are you... Are you going to say how you feel
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: now that you've been used?
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: That's all.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: What do you feel about this?
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Tell us.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I do think it raises, though, sort of a larger
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: issue about the speech, which is it felt like.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Great segue.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I wasn't even going to segue into what we're supposed
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: to segue into, but I was just thinking about this.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: It does feel like it took place in a different reality.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: These speeches and his speeches now are still covered like
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: a normal speech. It's like we're clapping, the people in
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the panel are like, did he do his job and
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff? And you're like, okay, He
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: is giving this speech at a time when he is
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: about to launch an illegal war after launching previous illegal
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: military action paid for in part with legal taxes. The
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: tariffs at the Supreme Court have now invalidated that are
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: also helping pay for, I don't know, at least I
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: don't know if it's illegal, but at least a lawless
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: paramilitary force that is rampaging through the streets has killed
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: two Americans. Didn't hear anything about that and has like
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: locked up hundreds of people in basically internment camps. Like
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: this is, and meanwhile, the president's like getting rich the
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: whole time and tried to arrest several of the people
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: sitting in that chamber.
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Just for, you know, and it is a weird thing
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to cover this, to talk about this, to analyze this
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: just as a speech.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it pulls you towards a normalcy that should be
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: very uncomfortable in this moment. Yeah. Like we were watching
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: on CNN and they're doing this, they were covering it
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: the exact same way they covered Obama's speeches, Biden's speeches,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: George W. Bush's speeches, where it's like, who's high-fiving the president?
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Who's getting a selfie with the president? Look at this
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: person who's in a tough election talking to the president.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: And it's just, like, I understand. Like, I don't know
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: what else you do. We're doing a little bit right now.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, this goes back to the, this is why
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: I thought about with the hockey team too, because it's like,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: you're just, you make a decision in the moment you
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: go and like, we cover it and we do it
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and people talk about it on the panel.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: And it's like, we're all just living through this.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: We all live in the reality that we're living in.
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: By the same token, the conservatives were critical of Americans
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: who were abroad in the part of the Olympics saying
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: that they felt shame or embarrassment while being proud to
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: be American. And of course, why are the Republicans saying that?
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: They're saying that because they want everyone to treat this
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: like normal. Of course, they don't want to feel the
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: shame and guilt that on their hearts they know they
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: should feel for being part of this.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: Like this is the watching this all unfold. I think
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: part of what you're getting at is Republicans right now
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: are like uniquely unsuited to speak to the actual harm
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: that he's doing, the actual pain that people are feeling, A,
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: because Donald Trump simply cannot admit fault, and B, you
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: feel a bunch of people that are all in a
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: bubble of information, right?
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Trump is in a bubble. These Republicans are in a bubble.
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: They're all applauding each other, celebrating each other. These are
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: people that have inoculated themselves against reality, in part because
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: it is necessary in order to support someone like Donald Trump.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: So, you know, the most important political task that if
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: you want to call it a political that was to
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: tell the American people that he does know the economy
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: isn't improving quickly enough to lay out exactly how he
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: plans to bring down costs. Here's what that sounded like.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: The roaring economy is roaring like never before. Now, the
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: suddenly use the word affordability, a word. They just used it.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Somebody gave it to them.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: They knew their statements were a lie.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: They knew it.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie. Their
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: policies created the high prices. Our policies are rapidly ending them.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: We are doing really well. Those prices are plummeting downwards.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: We want homes for people, not for corporations. Corporations are
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: doing just fine. Ray Sal, thank you very much. Good
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: luck with your home.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: You'll get one soon.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Good luck with your home. You'll get one soon. So
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I noted that he talked about economic accomplishments, made up
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: a bunch of statistics, lies about the economy, all that
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: kind of stuff. The first time he mentioned any kind
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of economic policy proposal, any action he was going to
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: take or policy he wanted turned into a law was
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: at 9.50 p.m. What do you think? Did he move
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the needle there on the econ stuff, Dan?
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, he moved it backwards, right? He just
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: It just, it is, it just, I hate to harp
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: on it, but this is the perspective I look at,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: is that he's a president with a party controlling both
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: houses of Congress in the midterm, where the economy is
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: the number one issue, and he did the exact opposite
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: thing anyone on the ballot would want. You just cannot, like,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: we saw this when we worked for Obama, if you
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: go up there and you tell people the economy is
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: great when they know it's not, you are sticking a
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: thumb in their eye. It is why his approval rating
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: sucks right now.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I will say, like, he does then, the speech
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: is just a kind of, at a matter of craftsmanship,
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: just terrible meanders incredibly long for its own sake. It
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: takes to the minute 50 to get to these proposals.
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: But if you do like, I do think like, I
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: imagine when you look at the dials, you will see
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: that the, the, like the, the, the populist economic policies
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: is actually put forward, not letting corporations buy houses so
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: that people can buy them. The kind of, what are
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: the Trump accounts? Like no tax on tips, no tax
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: on overtime. Like those are all things that I think
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: a more disciplined administration, an administration that really did try
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: to do the actual economic populism that we were afraid
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: Trump would do from the beginning, that didn't do the big,
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: beautiful bill that cut taxes for the wealthy and sort
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: of gave everybody else mostly nothing. That is the worrying
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: version of Trump to me. But I just think the
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: fact that he can't get there until minute 50 and
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: will not now spend the next two weeks hammering it,
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: will go do various events in which he talks about
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: the random things on his mind while posting true socials
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: about Adam Schiff is why it ultimately doesn't matter.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I think in this case, they made the same classic
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: mistake that bad political operatives make with polling information all
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: the time, is they tested these policies, all tested to
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: the roof. I guarantee it. Democrats, Republicans.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: People want something to do on, and we should just
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: go through, something on housing that you mentioned. People want
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: him to do something on prescription drugs. He's made up
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: a bunch of shit that he's done on prescription drugs
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: that isn't really true and that he isn't going to do.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: He also talked about he got agreements from AI companies
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to maybe defray some of the costs of the data
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: centers to pay for the electricity. Like, yeah, good luck
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: waiting for your electricity bill to go down on that one.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: But so, yeah, I'm sure those are the things.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: That I'll pull. But policies don't happen in a vacuum.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Policies are connected to the person who proposes the policies.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: And the person who proposes the policy tells you that
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: this is the greatest economy in history. And all your
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: prices have come down when you know none of those
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: things are true. you're not going to believe he's going
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: to do those things.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Tommy, our friends at Politico, you know what the big
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: headline is?
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: No.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Don't trigger me right now.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: It's late.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: It's, Trump sticks to the script. Republicans needed the president
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: to sell their message to kick off the midterms. They're
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: breathing a sigh of relief.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Get the fuck out of here. That can't be real.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: That cannot be real.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: And then the headline underneath it, Trump allies relieved he's
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: sticking to the script, but do see warning signs. One
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Republican strategist that got a background said, I wish we
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: had more detailed steps to take. Yes, because there are
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: no steps to take.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Also, sticking to a shitty script is not something to
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: be proud of.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: That is what it is. He stuck to the script, guys.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Who are the authors of that piece?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: You know what? No one put their name on it. Well,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: the political lie of no one put their name on,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: but the actual piece, it's a Dasher Burns. It's a
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Dasher Burns joint.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: I just think we're at the point where it's a
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: good night for Republicans when the president doesn't call for
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: the public execution of members of the Supreme Court who are.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: In his presence.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: That's where the bar is. Honestly, I had the same
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: reaction watching. I was like, oh, he was surprisingly disciplined
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: in that he didn't try to kill Amy Coney Barrett
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: or whatever.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Didn't throw his feces at John Roberts.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: If you walk up there and you read the script
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: to Battlefield Earth or something, I don't think it's a win. Right.
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: It's also a script where he says the only way
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: Democrats can win elections if they cheat, where he points it,
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: by the way, off script, he points it like, these
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: people are crazy.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: They ruin the country. They're destroying the country. Yeah, we'll
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: get to that. So on the econ stuff, he's suddenly
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: on board with the stock trading ban and called out
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi. And what I thought, I assume they all
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: thought was a really clever move. We do remember when
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump was against the stock trading ban, when Josh
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Hawley was on board with it and was going to
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: vote with the Democrats. And then Trump posted that that
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Hawley was just being a pawn for the Democrats and
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: he was being used by them and he came out
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: against it. Now he's on the sex trading ban.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: And you know what?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Trump was smart.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: He got Hawley to not do it. And Trump becomes
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: most corrupt president history, makes more money they could ever imagine.
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: Now he's going to fuck all these Congress people over
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: who are trying to get their beaks wet.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: And he'll get the credit. Great move by him, actually.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: They should ban stock trading. They should ban buying and
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: selling crypto or owning crypto companies. They should ban Kalshi
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: as a service or betting on Kalshi if you work
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: in the US government in any capacity. Great, do it.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: We've been talking about this for decades now.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Also, Trump has control of the House and the Senate.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Do what we're waiting for.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: It's not Nancy Pelosi's fault. I'm sure all these tested will,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: but nothing's going to happen. And then what's going to
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: happen when the midterms roll around and none of the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: stuff that Trump talked about tonight actually goes into law
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: or actually happens or makes anyone's lives better. On the tariffs,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: because he mentioned that, he said it was a disappointing decision.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: He said disappointing a couple times. You could tell he
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: was close to maybe losing it, but he held it together.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: It is interesting, I think, on the tariffs that he's
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: going full steam on a tax increase.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: It's insane.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: As As we always know, when you're running in a
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: midterm year and people are upset about the economy and
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: they think the costs are too high, you run on
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: a large tax increase.
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the fact that they landed on the
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: word unfortunate, which he like hammers, it's unfortunate, it is unfortunate,
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: it's unfortunate. I feel like that was a victory inside
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: of a room where people were trying to get him
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: to be as mild as possible. I wonder part of
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: this too, is he's also convinced himself in the interim
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: that they actually couldn't stop him and he's using tariffs
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: like he did before. And it's not like he feels
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: like he was able to put the tariffs back on
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: anyway the the the the began like republican being willing
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: to cheer this stuff although they cheered tariffs less when
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: he's just saying how we're going to make these other
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: countries pay when i think people feel like it is
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: affecting making the people it's incredibly unpopular because people know
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: the costs are uh going to them we now have
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: evidence from these tariffs that 96 of the costs go
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: to americans that is all information people have so Uh, yeah, he's,
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: he's not, uh, he's going down with the tariff ship
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: for sure.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I also think there's, he had a choice to make
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: because he was initially acting like the Supreme court decision, uh,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: is going to destroy the country and the world. And
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: it was the worst thing that ever happened, but that
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: also he still has all the authority to do all
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the exact same tariffs and they're going to be even
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: better than before.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Now they're in stronger legal.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So like, you can't, you can't really do both of
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: those things. So he decided to pick the strength over
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the weakness, right? Because he realized it was fun to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: bitch about the Supreme court, but like that wasn't, uh,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that's not where he wanted to land.
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: I did enjoy the side-by-side shot with Amy Coney Barrett,
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: kind of looking at that sort of frozen face and
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: Trump continuing to go on about how much stronger his
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: legal authority will be.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure she practiced that. Trump did spend a
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: lot of tonight talking about immigration, which he still thinks
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: is a winning issue for him. There was a lot
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: of secure border talk, a lot of detailed, gruesome accounts
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: of Americans who've been killed by immigrants. And then it
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: got even darker.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: We'll balance our budget. The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: remind us that there are large parts of the world
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: where bribery, corruption, and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: those problems right here to the USA. And it is
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: the American people who pay the price in higher medical bills,
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: car insurance rates, rent, taxes, and perhaps most importantly, crime.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: We will take care of this problem. We're going to
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: take care of this problem. We are not playing games.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: So, Tommy, it's obviously gross and dishonest, but do you
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: think that even works for him?
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, like it has become standard issue that
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: there is always a section where he like narrates a
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: series of grisly crimes and then they cut to some
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: poor person whose life was just decimated by these actions.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: And I guess I have TDS, but it's grotesque to me.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: I also found the unbelievably racist attacks in the Somali
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: community to be grotesque and dehumanizing. And just like you
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: were saying, not meeting the moment of the things people
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: are worried about. He starts the immigration section by saying
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: not a single undocumented person has gotten into the country.
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: So why are you still focused on it? We're all
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: mad about the economy, not this.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: Also, pirates operate on the water.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Well, a little throwback.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: Right. But it's not really a pirate.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I do think, Dan, that the way they constructed the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: speech was they knew that to the extent that anyone
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: outside of Trump fans and Trump supporters were watching the speech,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: they're watching the beginning. They're watching like the first 30 minutes,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: maybe the first hour. And so the first 30 minutes
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: is like the award show where it's hard to at
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: least disagree with him. He's not going to say anything
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: too partisan. He's going to tell a lot of lies,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: but he's not going to say anything too partisan. Then
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: as it got into like later in the speech, that's
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: when he started the dark immigration stuff, the Democrats. This
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: is like a juice in the base, you know, who's
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the people who are still hanging on at our. Yeah.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I think that presupposes a little more strategy than they
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: brought to the table here, but you are correct in
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: how it was structured and you will, everyone always starts
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: with the economy. Like that is the standard way of
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: doing it. Normally you get to it like a minute five,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: not a minute 55, but you know, teach their own.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I think from a, like one thing from a political
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: perspective is Trump is living in a 2024 reality, not
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: a 2026 reality. He's talking about the border. He's talking
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: about it as if people trust him on immigration and
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: are deathly worried about immigration and crime. Now those things
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: are true anymore. His immigration approval is now as bad
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: as his approval on the economy, which is quite bad.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: People think ICE is a threat to American citizens and
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: legal residents. People think ICE has gone too far. And
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: so once again, I know Trump is, chemically and psychologically
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: incapable of this, but there is a way to do
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: this that is pretty simple to acknowledge that you don't
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: even have to admit any fault, but that you, that
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: we are like, you could have mentioned the body cam thing,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: which was their proposal that they did.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Did you guys hear him mention ice at all?
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I don't think he said the word, did he?
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I don't think he said the word. Yeah, I don't
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: think so either. Which is wild because I mean, it's
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: certainly an acknowledgement of how unpopular they are, but like
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: you'd think that the way the Trump administration is with
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: everything else. It would have been like the men and
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: women of ICE are, you know, trying to keep us,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: protect us, and they've faced all kinds of assaults and
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: stuff like that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: Did he hit it at all when he was talking
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: about the funding fight and wanting.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: To make sure?
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: No.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: It was about Homeland Security.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: Just Homeland Security wider.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: He focused on like, you know, rescue stories and like
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: brave people who are no longer funded because of Dems
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: and DHS.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Closing in on the hour mark, Trump really started to
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: get nasty towards the Democrats in the room, who mostly
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: sat quietly and refused to clap for him. Take a listen.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: These people are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy. Democrats
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: are destroying our country, but we've stopped it just in
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: the nick of time. If you agree with this statement,
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: then stand up and show your support. The first duty
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: of the American government is to protect American citizens, not
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: illegal aliens.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Isn't that a shame?
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: You should be ashamed of yourself.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: They're blocking the removal of these people out of our
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: country and you should be ashamed of yourself.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: They are Republicans, MAGA, so excited about that moment. It
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: was clearly It was a setup. They are very proud
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: of themselves. You know, Scott Jennings called it a moment
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: of the night. Stephen Miller tweeted, Democrats declared to the
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: world their searing disdain for and profound disloyalty to the
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: actual citizens of the United States. They refused. It was
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: a moment that chills to the bone, which will live
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: for a thousand years.
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: Live for a.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: Thousand years is so funny.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: A thousand years from now?
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: That was like the second one, too. He did another
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: one that was like long and involved. It was crazy.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: They really think that's like the big, they really got.
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: They think they set a trap, an incredible trap.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: So clever.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Masterclass.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Who's ever done that? Delivered a line that you only
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: assume that one side will stand for, even though you
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: know that like most people, come on.
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: Preemptively saying everyone will stand for this unless they're insane.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is once again, like a little bit
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: of the like bizarre, surreal normalcy of it, which is,
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Back when we would do this, you try to find
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: moments and then you would try to use whatever platform
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: you had to make that be the moment. You just
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: tell the report, this is the moment. This is the moment.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: This is the moment of the speech. This is the
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: moment you should show. So they try to do that here. Also,
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: this is an idea that was not originally my idea,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: but I pitched Obama on two separate state of the
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: unions was to do this for raising taxes on the wealthy.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Not about the immigrants?
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: No, but to make the Republicans not stand up.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: And we didn't do that?
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: I don't think we ever, I think I don't think
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: we should.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Have done that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: George W.
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: Bush's move, George W. Bush's move during this, his move
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: was always to say something kind of partisan and then
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: end with something everybody would have to applaud for. So
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: we'd say like, we're going to deregulate. We're going to
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: let you get cut down some of the trees that
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: we don't need anymore. We get rid of some of
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: this onerous taxation because America is going to have the
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: strongest economy in the world that everybody's like.
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: Ah, fuck.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Stephen Miller also said this was the most shocking image
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in the history of the U.S. Congress. He's such a
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: fucking loser.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, if you watch the speech or even if
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: you watch clips, it's just so obvious that Trump is
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: trying to goad Democrats into this dumb child.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: He was not subtle.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: And also, like, it's just no longer interesting. Like the
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: shock value of like them screaming back and forth is gone.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: I don't think anyone really benefits from clips of the
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: president screaming. Screaming back and forth. Like I bet Ilhan
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: Omar will benefit in her community. The people she represents
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: will probably like that she's fighting on their behalf, given
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: like what he's done in Minnesota. But most voters will
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: watch that and think like, this is what I don't
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: like about Washington.
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: We're saying that she was shouting that as he's making
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: this sort of attack on Democrats for not keeping citizens safe,
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: that her district, two people were killed by ICE.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Border Patrol. Um, also like everyone's watching those speech. They
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: know that the Democrats haven't been replying to anything else.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Like they don't think it's a fucking theater. So, uh,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: in the alternate universe where our politics never got this stupid, uh,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: the state of the union would have largely been about,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: or at least significantly about Iran, uh, and explaining to
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the American people what exactly we plan to do with
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the gigantic fighting force. Uh, we have amassed in the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: middle East. Uh, Trump did get to it, uh, quite late,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: pretty briefly. Uh, here's what he said.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe. and our
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: soon reach the United States of America. We are in
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: we haven't heard those secret words. We will never have
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: a nuclear weapon.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Tell me, what was new there? Anything?
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, that line that they're working on missiles that
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: will soon reach the United States of America jumped out
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: at me. It sounded like bullshit. I got checked out
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: with some experts. who have had Intel access much more
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: recently than I have, and they said it was wildly implausible,
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: though obviously we don't know what we don't know, but
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: I think it's just him trying to create a pretext
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: for going to war. Like Iran, it does have a large,
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: diverse array of ballistic and cruise missiles. They can hit
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: a lot of bases in the region. They can hit Europe.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: They can hit Israel, for example, and that's why an
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: attack could lead to a scary response. But the idea
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: that they're going to hit the continental U.S.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Is like.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: nonsense. The other thing you said that was a lie, though,
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: was this claim that, what is it, the secret word?
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: The secret word.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: The secret word, no nukes. The preamble of the JCPOA,
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: the Iran nuclear deal that Obama negotiated with Iran and
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: that Trump pulled out of says, quote, Iran reaffirms that
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: under no circumstance will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: any nuclear weapons. That was in the JCPOA that both
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: sides agreed to. Obviously, we don't trust them. That's why
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: there was all this verification that went along with that deal.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: But Trump just pretends that didn't happen. And he's the
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: source of all this problem. The really remarkable thing to
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: me is like we're on the cusp of war. he
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: made no case for it. I realize that's because it's
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: wildly unpopular, but that problem doesn't go away if you
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: just start the war without making the case.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess it does.
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: I guess.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: It doesn't change the popularity.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: We're sleepwalking towards a conflict that nobody wants.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it solves his problem that people don't want the
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: war that he's about to launch. All right, so after
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: the speech, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger gave the Democratic response
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: because we were in the studio with Kimmel while it
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: was happening. We heard good things, right? which is rare
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: for one of these things. We haven't had the chance
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: to listen yet, so we thought we'd just react to
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: it here for the first time. Do you guys have
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the clip?
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: The president is planning for new tariffs, another massive tax
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: hike on you and your family. They have ripped nursing
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: mothers away from their babies. They have sent children, a
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: little boy in a blue bunny hat, children to far-off
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: detention centers, and they have killed American citizens in our streets.
• 31:13
  Speaker 6: Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed, not
• 31:17
  Speaker 6: an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities. He's
• 31:23
  Speaker 6: enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the
• 31:28
  Speaker 6: corruption is unprecedented. There's the cover-up of the Epstein files,
• 31:33
  Speaker 6: the crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: and billionaires for ballrooms. So I'll ask again, is the
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: president working for you? We all know the answer is no.
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: That was great.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: That was good. I was impressed.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: It was good to hear something. It was good to
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: hear a return to reality. Yes. This is what's happening
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: in the country.
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: And just also some good old-fashioned speech writing.
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: You know, just sort of some cogent sentences.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: That kind of thing. Like the old days.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: What did you think, Tommy? I mean.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: My initial reaction was hearing a moderate like Abigail Spanberger
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: go that hard at ICE funding really tells you how
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: far the politics have shifted on the issue generally. It
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: was like the kind of thing you would imagine she'd
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: be advised not to touch, and now she's just laying
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: into it there.
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I like that she did it in front of a crowd.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: That's good.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: I think responses should only be in front of crowds.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's right. He's got the crowd.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's in a great crowd because half the
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: crowd didn't stand up. The other half didn't. A bunch
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: of people just didn't show up at the speech either.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: But it is nice to have a little energy behind
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: you than to have the, like, straight direct-to-camera kind of.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Also, they didn't complicate the simple. She just gave a
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: speech at a podium with flags behind her instead of, like,
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: trying to put her, like, in a weird room or, like,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: a factory floor or all the other dumb things we've
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: done over the years.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: That is true. Who was it.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: That walked down the steps?
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: Bobby Jindal.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Bobby Jindal. And it was, like, a weird.
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: Remember Rubio reaching across for the water?
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: That was incredible, man.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Now his secretary of state could be the next president, so.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Looks like he got the last laugh, huh? President of Venezuela.
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: There's still time for laughing.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: He's got like three jobs and was the archivist for
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: a while.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: He's not doing that awesome. I'm going to get fired
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: from that.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: All right, before we go, any kind of closing thoughts?
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: We got an Instapoll from CNN. Uh-huh. Apparently the percentage
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: who said it was a very, who felt very positive
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: about the speech was like the lowest in the last
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: 10 years.
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: Woo-hoo.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: So that's something. Of course, those Instapolls, they're always more
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Republican or more, I mean, they're, people watch the speech
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: tend to be people who are already supportive of the president.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: So if it's like a Democratic president, this poll's more
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Democratic if the Republican president.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: I think it was a CBS poll that came out
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: today that said that only 18% of Democrats are planning
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: on watching the speech.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was wild.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I think there are a lot of them. That's the
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: time when Democrats lie to the pollsters.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: I think I heard the CNN poll was like 13
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: or 14 points more Republican than a typical poll, which
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: is like fine. But still, 38%.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: And the question is, does any of this matter anymore?
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: No, probably not. I don't think it does at all.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: I think that like, By the time you finish listening
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: to this podcast, you'll never think of the speech again.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Stealth bombers could be headed to Tehran right now.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: The great shame of our nation, a historical atrocity that
• 34:03
  Speaker 5: he is in office is approving will continue to hover
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: at 38%.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I do not, but unlike what someone told Politico,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: I do not think that he, that sticking to the
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: script gives the Republicans what they need for the midterms.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: I don't think they got what they needed.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: That was, that's an insane stupid thing.
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: They need a genie and a lamp that they can
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: rub and ask three wishes to.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: At this point. Yeah, I don't think. And that's it.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: That's his biggest audience until the midterms.
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: It's just so crazy to be a president. The bar
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: is so low. It's like he read the words, everybody.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: He read the words. They were bad words.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: They made no sense. They really didn't make anything better,
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: but he read them. Mostly.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: Great work.
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: Look, look.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: They've changed the headline now.
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: Uh-oh.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: What Trump avoided in the State of the Union could
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: haunt him in November.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: But then the subhead is- It's like jazz. The president's
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: State of the Union was notable for something his second
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: term has largely lacked. Restraint. When you started screaming that
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Democrats are crazy, I guess that's the first thing.
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: I would love to just like show this speech to
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: a typical Republican in 1996. They'd be like, what happened?
• 35:07
  Speaker 5: Was the president injured? Like, what's going on?
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: There were mistakes he avoided making. Trump did not attack
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. He did not blitz members of his
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: own party who have criticized him. He avoided rambling angry
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: digressions from the script.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: Amazing.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: But then he avoided no new ideas on housing or
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: health care, two defining issues in the midterm campaign.
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Meme in no mention of the Jeffrey Epstein scandals. I mean,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: in fairness, yeah, I don't think he was going to
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: go on a stemwinder on Epstein.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good thing to skip over. I've got some of
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: these files in my pocket. Let me unredact them on
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: live TV. That's what a showman would do. Take out
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: the files. Take out the black tape.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: He didn't blitz members of his own party. Is he
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: the free safety, like, tackling Speaker Johnson?
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: It was for better or worse. Someone else wrote this one.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: There's a To Be Sure paragraph. Eli Stokols wrote this one.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: They changed it. They changed the whole thing. But it's
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: unlikely to change the political trajectory of Trump's second term.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: In some ways, it was nearly indistinguishable from Trump's daily
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: patter in the Oval Office.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: That's correct. Good job, Politico.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: It is also an accurate description of what happened tonight. Anyway,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: it's 10.30 at night. We've got to go to bed.
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: We'll see you guys soon.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Alright, bye everyone.
• 36:26
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