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"The GOP's One-Man Ban." · Pod Save America

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: On today's show, Republicans propose a nationwide abortion ban. MAGA
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Republicans win the year's final primaries in New Hampshire. where
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: conspiracy theorist Don Bolduc will face Senator Maggie Hassan, who
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: we'll be talking to Dan a little bit later in
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the show. Then, Dan gets the chance to compete against
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the reigning champion of Two Takes and a Fake, me.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Congratulations.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Aren't you excited?
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: For your one-point victory in a three-person game.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Before we get started, Lover to Leave It has some
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: great live shows coming up. Love It and Friends will
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: be in Pittsburgh on October 5th, Baltimore on October 7th,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: and Philadelphia on October 8th. Get your tickets to these
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: shows and more at crooked.com slash events. Go check it out.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Love It's hitting the road. All right, let's get to
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the news. With less than 60 days till the midterms,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation that would institute a
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: nationwide ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Senator
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Lindsey Graham's bill would do nothing to protect abortion access
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: before 15 weeks, and in fact would allow states to
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: ban abortion completely. The proposal divided Republican politicians. Some are
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: supporting it. Some are saying they want a full ban.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: And Mitch McConnell said that most Republican senators would, quote,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: prefer this be dealt with at the state level. Yeah,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he hopes that. But even though that's what
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell said, here's what Lindsey Graham said about his bill.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So I'll look forward to the debate. I'll look forward
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to the vote. If we take back the House and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the Senate, I can assure you we'll have a vote
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: on our bill. If the Democrats are in charge, I
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: don't know if we'll ever, ever vote on our bill.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: What do you think, Dan? Should Democrats just put a
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: bunch of money behind that clip and run it as
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: an ad for the midterms?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Most of what Lindsey Graham says is like obsequious word salad,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: but this is a crystal clear delineation of the stakes
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: in this election. If you give the Republicans the majority...
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: they will pass a federal abortion ban. If the Democrats
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: stay in control, there will be no federal abortion ban.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: In fact, Democrats, if we were to get the 52
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: votes we need, will come together to abolish a filibuster
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: to codify Roe v. Wade and protect abortion access in
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: this country. Thank you, Lindsey Graham. You have now advanced
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: to being a professional pundit because you have figured this
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: election out.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: We're about to sort of debate the wisdom of this
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: legislation today. For him to just go out there and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: say that line and draw the distinction that clearly, that
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: is something special from Lindsey Graham. I will tell you that.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: All right. So Graham pitched this as a political solution,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: which is exactly, I mean, it's all politics. There's no
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: way this thing becomes law in the current political environment.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: with Joe Biden as president. As long as Joe Biden
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: is president, there's no way this thing becomes law. So
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: it's purely a political thing. And he pitched it as
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a political solution for Republican candidates who've been losing support
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: over the party's extreme position on abortion in the wake
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: of Dobbs. What was Lindsey Graham thinking here? And we
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: should say that one of the responses from one of
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the Republican senators, Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia, She said,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know what he was thinking there. But maybe
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: you can delve into the mind of Lindsey Graham and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: help us figure out what he was thinking.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Let me try to walk a mile in Lindsey Graham's
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: shoes for the benefit of this podcast, because it's all
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: about the content, as Elijah would say.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I would say that this is very much like when
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: we worked for President Obama, where he would constantly in
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: his– sort of Socratic law professor method of meetings, which
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: you'd find yourself arguing. He'd be like, well, what were
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: they thinking? And all of a sudden you're answering that question.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: You're like, why am I arguing Lindsey Graham's case? But
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: you put me in that position, so I will do that.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I'm putting you here. Yeah, there you go.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Reason one for doing this in Lindsey Graham's mind is
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: it gets him attention. And Sunday show bookings are what
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: gets Lindsey Graham up in the morning. So there's that.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: From a political– that's a personal vision. For the political reason,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the argument really for Republicans would be– and it's not
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: a good argument. I am not defending it. It doesn't
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: make sense. But– It's okay.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: It's okay.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: You caveated it well. I mean any– Anti-abortion. Dan Pfeiffer
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: goes off on an anti-abortion rant.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I never know what's going to end up on social
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: from this company. Dan Pfeiffer defends Lindsey Graham. Anyway, so
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: that's what– every 15 seconds I have to offer a
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: caveat to ensure that– Sure, sure.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Anyway, Republicans know that if you can shift the conversation
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: to a ban after a certain period of time, that
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: is more popular than a complete ban and certainly a
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: complete ban with no exceptions, which is what is happening
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: in states all across this country. And there is polling
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: that suggests that a 15-week ban is much more popular
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: than the standard Republican position. So ideally, what he's trying
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: to do is get all Republicans to be on board
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: with this theoretically surface-level more popular position. There is a
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: problem with it. Just substantively, it does not deal with
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: all of the major problems of the full abortion ban
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Republicans have. It is obviously a proposal put forward by
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: people who think they know better than people who actually
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: have to give birth in this country. Because 15 weeks,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: and this bill has almost no exceptions for health of
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the mother and viability, is that in most cases, you
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: are not going to know about the viability of the
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: pregnancy until after 15 weeks. It's usually close to around
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: 20 weeks when they can look at the anatomy. And
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: so what Lindsey Graham and Republicans are doing is saying,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: that we will force women in this country to carry
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: two-term unviable pregnancies at the risk of their health because
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: we think we know better. That is what he is
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: suggesting here.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: And in fact, in that press conference, after Graham set
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: up the stakes of the election quite well, a woman
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: asked him a question and shared her story of when
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: she found out after 15 weeks that that she would
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: not have a viable pregnancy, that there were fetal abnormalities,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and had to go through the grueling experience of giving
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: birth to that child that died shortly afterwards, which is
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: what the doctors told her would probably happen. And yes,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: 90-something percent of all abortions happen before 13 weeks. But
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: as you point out, the abortions that happen after 15
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: weeks after 20 weeks are a lot of them have
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: to do with fetal viability that risks the life of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: the baby if the baby is born or the health
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of the mother and you know lindsey graham is saying
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: in this bill that there's an exception for the life
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: of the mother but there's not an exception for the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: health of the mother and doctors have been forced in
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of these states with bans already to have
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: to sit there and be like, well, can I perform
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: this abortion? Because, you know, is the woman really in
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: danger of dying? Or could I give her another blood transfusion?
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, it is like the decisions that politicians are
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: forcing on doctors and women. It is fucking crazy. And
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: when you sit there and you pick out 15 weeks
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: because of the way that a polling question is worded,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: where like if you word it another way, you get
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a different result. I mean, it's just, it's so gross
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: to try to legislate based on what is theoretically popular
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: or unpopular based on the wording of a polling question
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and not the science involved in the medical science involved
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: in what doctors know about pregnancy and what women know
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: about their own bodies. I mean, it's wild. It's wild.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: So that's, so the problem is, So let's talk about
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the political problem with what Lindsey Graham has done here,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: since we've now talked about the problem with the actual legislation.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Republicans are split and they're all over the map on this.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: So no one was asking for this. No Republican was
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: really asking for this. And I also think like it
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: seems like voters just aren't going to trust Republicans to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: make decisions about abortion because it's pretty clear that most
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: of them want to ban it completely. What do you
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: think about that?
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's absolutely right. I think the Republican challenge here
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: that Lindsey Graham has forced upon them is sort of
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: best embodied by the fact that Blake Masters, the right-wing
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: extremist running for Senate in Arizona, supports Lindsey Graham's bill,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: but his campaign spokesperson in a since-deleted tweet tweeted, why, why, why,
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: about the news that Graham was endorsed in this bill.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: This is exactly right. Democrats and activists around this country
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: have done an incredible job of making sure that abortion
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: has stayed at the center of this election ever since
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the Dobbs opinion leaked many months ago. In a nation
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: of short attention spans, it is, quite frankly, it speaks
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: to the power of the issue, how motivated people are
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: about it, that it has remained the center of this campaign.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: And at the exact moment where Republicans are trying to
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: shift the focus to something else, Lindsey Graham walks onto
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: a stage and says, just in case you were wondering,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: abortion is on the ballot this fall. And it has
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: put Republicans in a very difficult position because you have
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: to answer the question, you keep it in the news,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: you force them to make decisions between activists and the
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: hard right MAGA extremist activists, and the overwhelming majority of voters.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: And the grand bill is a sign of just how
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: extreme Republicans are, but it's also a political gift to
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Democrats that we absolutely have to take.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I also think that because of some of these bans
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: in states now, voters have heard too many horror stories
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: about the grueling and painful decisions that women have had
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to make. And those stories have made it more obvious
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: to people that Politicians should not play a role in
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: the decisions that women make about their health care during
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: a pregnancy. There's new polling out this morning. This is
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: a SurveyMonkey poll, 20,000 adults. It's quite a big poll.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Seven in 10 Americans. don't think politicians are informed enough
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: about abortion to create fair policies. No shit. You read
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: that poll result and you just see Lindsey Graham in
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: your mind and how he just stumbled into this fucking thing.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, this is exactly why they believe that.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: They believe that because of how Republicans have responded to
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Dobbs over the last several months, which is fucking all
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: over the map and in an extreme way. Also.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Who are the people– the 30% who thinks politicians should
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: make that– are informed enough to make that decision? Have
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: you seen Congress? It's a medical– a personal medical decision, right?
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Like why would you want some Yahoo senator who happens
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: to get a majority of the vote in a polarized–
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: it's like it's insane. I mean the thing to know
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: about Lindsey Graham to always remember is that he is
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: more shameless and opportunistic than you think he is. And
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: he's not as smart as Lindsey Graham thinks he is, right?
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Like that is how you end up in this situation.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: And of course, we don't know for sure how the
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: politics of Graham's bill will play out, but we have
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: a hint because Graham's position was basically the anti-abortion position
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: in Kansas when there was the ballot initiative in Kansas
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: and it lost because the anti-choice side in Kansas ran
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: ads saying, We only want the legislature to enact common
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: sense restrictions on abortion. We're not trying to end abortion.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: They basically were with the Lindsey Graham position, right? Lindsey
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Graham and some of these Republicans now think if they
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: can be for common sense restrictions on abortion, then that's
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: going to be the middle ground. But that was the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: position of the anti-choice side in Kansas, and they lost overwhelmingly.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: So we've already seen some evidence of how this is
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: going to go.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Also, the fact that Mitch McConnell has walked away from
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: it is a pretty good sign about what he thinks
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: the politics are. Because Mitch McConnell supports a federal abortion
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: ban that has been one of his lifelong goals. And
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: the fact that he is now saying, oh, no, it
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: should be an issue for the state is a sign
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: that he thinks what Lindsey Graham did is absolutely miserable politics.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: And the question among all these things is, are Republicans
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: going to get away with it? And the answer is,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I don't know. They will only get away with it
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: if we let them get away with it. So it's
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: ultimately up to Democrats and all of us to keep
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: this issue, the stakes in this election, front and center
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: for the next 50-some days.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: If you're running a Democratic campaign, how does Graham's ban
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: factor into your strategy? Say you got a Republican opponent
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: like a Blake Masters or a Dr. Oz who's been
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: trying to present themselves as more moderate on the issue
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of abortion.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Well, I think what you're... The first step goes beyond
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Lindsey Graham's ban, which is you hold them to account
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: for their more extreme previous position. And you never let
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: that go. And you hammer it and hammer it and
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: hammer it. And then you just use Lindsey Graham as
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: another piece of evidence, along with Mitch McConnell's statement months ago,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: along with what a lot of these candidates said, along
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: with Kevin McCarthy's statement, that if Republicans take control of
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: the House, the Senate, and the White House, they will
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: pass a federal abortion ban. So it won't matter whether
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: you live in a blue state or a red state
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: or a purple state. It won't matter if you win.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: the governor's race or the state legislatures, politicians like Mitch
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: McConnell and Lindsey Graham will make these decisions for you.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: And that is the center of this election. And then
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: you can take that out to all the other issues
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: on which Republicans are overly extreme and out of touch
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: with the American people, from marriage equality to contraception to
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: what books you can read and on and on and on.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, marriage equality, where it looks right before this recording
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: as if they're not going to find the 10 Republican votes.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: And They want to maybe punt it until the lame
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: duck session after the midterms because they don't think they
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: can get 10 Republicans.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Who wants to punt it? Democrats?
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: No, no. Like the Republicans are saying, oh, we should
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: just push it. We should just push it because we're
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: not going to– because basically they're saying they're not going
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: to vote.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's not that they can't find the 10 Republicans.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: They could find the 10 Republicans if they wanted to,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: but they know that they're– that the– right-wing extremists who
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: fuel their campaigns or the foot soldiers in Republican campaigns
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: will go fucking bananas if they had the audacity to
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: suggest that people get to love who they want to
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: love and marry who they want to love. And so
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: they don't want to answer this question now because they
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: worry it's going to cause their base to demobilize.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Well, enjoy the vote because you're going to have to
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: vote on it. All right. So the final primaries of
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the year were on Tuesday in Delaware, Rhode Island, and
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: New Hampshire. where once again the nuttiest MAGA politicians came
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: out on top. The Republican nominee for Senate in New
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Hampshire is a guy named Don Bolduc, who thinks Trump
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: won the election, called New Hampshire's Republican governor a Chinese
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: communist sympathizer, has proposed abolishing the FBI because of Mar-a-Lago,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: and wants to repeal the 17th Amendment, which allows people
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: to elect their U.S. senators, which again is the position
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: he's running for as senator. was Kayleigh McEnany's former press assistant,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Caroline Leavitt, an anti-vax election denier who beat a Kevin
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: McCarthy-endorsed candidate in the Republican primary for New Hampshire's 1st
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Congressional District. Dan, what do you think? How much damage
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: did Republicans do to their general elections chances here in
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: New Hampshire?
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Well, they certainly made their chances worse. I think that
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: is safe to say. But we just have to always
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: remember that in.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Narrow battleground states like New Hampshire, we are operating within
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: a very narrow band, right? There is, yes, their chances
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: of winning may have gone down a little bit, but
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: they're still pretty damn good. And that was true in Arizona,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: whether they nominated Blake Masters or Mark Brnovich. It's true
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: in all of these, you know, Pennsylvania, whether it was
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Oz or McCormick, is they still have a very good
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: chance of winning. And it's very possible that Don Boldek
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: could win, and that Kayleigh McEnany's 25-year-old proudly unvaccinated assistant
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: who defeated a Kevin McCarthy-endorsed State Department employee could also win.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: That is within our possibility. It's worth remembering that while
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: New Hampshire was not one of the battleground states that
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: we focused a ton of time on in 2020, Maggie
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Hassan won by less than 2,000 votes in 2016. So
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: this is going to be a very close race, no
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: matter which lunatic the Republicans nominate.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the good news is Hassan's got a ton of money.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Bolduc has little as of now, but the cavalry could
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: come in there. She'll also be able to run some
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: really fun ads against Don Bolduc that show maybe the
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: New Hampshire's very popular Republican governor calling him an extreme
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: conspiracy theorist and saying he's not a serious candidate.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: Called him a Chinese communist sympathizer.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Although I'm saying that– but yeah, that's– Yes, yes, yes.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: I see what you're saying.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Sanunu, a Chinese communist. Sanunu called Bolduc a conspiracy theorist.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Although Sanunu said that he's probably– after saying I would
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: never endorse him now, he's saying I think maybe I'll
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: endorse him.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the– and Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence have
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: already pledged to put money into this campaign. All the
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Republican super PACs are going to spend money. It doesn't–
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: They like to clutch their pearls before the primary, but
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: then afterwards they get fully on board with no matter
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: how dangerous the kid is. We're seeing the same thing
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania with Doug Mastorato. So this will be a
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: fully funded, well-organized campaign.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Speaking of dangerous, Bolduc told The New Yorker last year
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: he thinks there's a role for the military to play
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: if Trump tries another coup.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: On Trump's side. Obviously, right.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: On Trump's side. Yeah.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: I thought maybe he was supporting saying the National Guard
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: to protect the Capitol.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, no. He's like, if there's another quote
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: unquote stolen election, of course the military might have a
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: role to play. So that's great. He's already trying to
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: backtrack though. Today, Bolduc said he's now saying the election
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: wasn't stolen, even though he said in the past that
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: it absolutely was stolen.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Was he winking while he said that?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: And that Joe Biden wasn't the rightful president. And he
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: also said that he wouldn't back Lindsey Graham's abortion ban.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: He's also someone who.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: He's trying to... He's trying, just like the rest of them.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: He's trying to etch a sketch his way back to
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: the middle.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Etch? Oh, God. Romnesia.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just a 10-year-old esoteric political illusion for nerds of
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: a certain generation like ourselves.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I'm very interested to see who gets that reference.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Who wasn't on our payroll.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Kayleigh McEnany's former assistant here. Chris Pappas is the Democrat
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: she's running against, the House member. He was out, he
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: tweeted this morning, she supports banning abortion, she wants to
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: write the bill to privatize Social Security, and she wants
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to repeal the Affordable Care Act, too. So she's got
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: some problems with her positions as well.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems not great. I'll be honest. I mean, look,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: these are going to be two really, really tough races.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: We are fortunate in our opponents. They're not in the bag,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of work
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: is going to have to be done. But our chances
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: of winning a House seat, we need to win to
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: keep the majority in the Senate seat. We need to
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: keep the Senate and have any chance of expanding that
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: majority of 52 are a little bit better today than
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: they were on Monday.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: The Senate Democratic campaign PAC spent some money attacking Bolduc's opponent,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Chuck Morse, as another sleazy politician with ties to lobbyists
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and Mitch McConnell. So this is another instance where Democrats
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: intervened in this primary. How are you feeling about that
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: strategy and how it played out in New Hampshire?
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: It works perfectly and I've never criticized it. Look, this is...
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: One of those issues where people have really, really strong
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: opinions about whether it is the worst thing that's ever
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: happened or a bit of strategic brilliance. And I just
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: think it's more complicated to nuance. We should be very clear.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: We have a better chance of holding the Senate because
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Don Bolduc is the nominee. That is a fact. History
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: shows it. Polling shows it. Common sense shows it. more
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: extreme candidates tend to lose. And I think they're much
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: more likely to lose against an avowed moderate with bipartisan
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: credentials like Maggie Hassan. It's hard to know how much
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: impact that money actually had. These MAGA candidates are winning
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: pretty easily. Are Democrats just pushing on an open door here?
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Is this the best use of money? Probably not. you know,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: in the world list of things we could be spending
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: money on. But what the one thing I cannot stand
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: is a bunch of pearl clutching from reporters and pundits
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: about how unseemly this is, you know, on if this
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: is unseemly, what the fuck is storming the Capitol, right? Like,
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: let's not try to equate two things. And let's also
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: just remember that the true danger to democracy is Mitch
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: McConnell and and Kevin McCarthy being charged in the House
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: and the Senate when it comes time to certify the
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: 2024 election, it really doesn't matter whether that 50 Republican
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: senators is like 36% MAGA conspiracy lunacists or 50%. What
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: matters is who has the gavel. So the best way to, say,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: protect democracy, to protect the integrity of the next election,
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: protect every freedom we care about, is to keep Republicans
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: out of power.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm in the same camp as you. It's funny
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: you said complicated and nuanced. Axelrod asked me about that
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: because I was on Hacks on Tap this week, one
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: of my favorite podcasts.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: And Ax asked about this because I know Ax feels
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: very strongly about it as well. But I think it's
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: circumstance dependent. And it's also how you do it, right?
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: A Senate Democratic PAC running ads against Chuck Morse as
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: another sleazy politician is a couple months before an election
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: where Chuck Morse easily could have been the nominee is
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: pretty standard fair.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Like, if he could have won on Tuesday night, he
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: was pretty close. And if he did, then we'd want
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: to run those same exact ads against him and call
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: him a sleazy politician that was tied to Mitch McConnell
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: and a bunch of lobbyists. And by the way, like
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you said, if Chuck Morse got to D.C., do we
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: think Chuck Morse would stand up for democracy in uh, if, uh,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: you know, we had a 2020 issue again, you think
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: he'd impeach Donald Trump? Probably not. Probably not.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Definitely not. Definitely not. Look, there's only, there's only one
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: Mitt Romney people. And I think maybe if we're.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Trying to find that out of context, that's fine.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, I can do a lot about why Mitt
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Romney is able to get away with these things. Other
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: people can't, but, um, I think maybe if you're looking
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: for a line of demarcation about how to think about
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: these efforts, um, It is one thing to run an
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: ad about attacking the potential nominee. It is. But if
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: you attack them as being quote unquote moderate, which we
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: saw happen, I think in Colorado where you attack, you're like,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: this is a moderate anti-Trump. You're then making your, that is,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I think I'm not, I'm really not getting into the
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: morality of this because I really don't It's like in
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: the world in which we're dealing with, like this is
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: like really low stakes from that point of view. But
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: that is risky because that's going to end up strength.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: If you bet wrong there, if you make those plays
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: and do not succeed, then the opponent that you did
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: not want is going to be even stronger than you
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: feared were they to win that nomination.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Looking back at the entire primary season now, now that
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: it's in the rearview mirror, on the Republican side, whose
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: party is it? Trump's? McConnell's? Mix of both?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: It's definitely not Mitch McConnell's party. It isn't. He is.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like he had a good track record
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: in this primary season.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: It is very clear that this is a party of
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: MAGA extremism across the board. You can find a couple
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: of little examples in some house races here or there
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: that have a lot of extenuating circumstances, but in virtually
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: all of the races that mattered, the MAGA extremist won.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: And even– I was listening to you and Tommy and
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Lovett talk about the– who's to blame, Rick Scott or
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell? And I just– there's one point of fact
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: I think is very important for everyone to know. And
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: it shows up in none of these stories about Mitch
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: McConnell who's just already shifting blame to everyone else is
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell endorsed Hershel Walker.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like that Mitch McConnell had his arms around some,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: you know, moderate, you know, more electable establishment Republican. He
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: embraced Herschel Walker knowing everything there was to know about him.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: And that's why Herschel Walker won easily relative to some
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: of these other places where the MAGA candidate won pretty easily,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: but not entirely easily because there was an establishment candidate
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: on the other side.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Also, he put Rick Scott in charge of the NRSC.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was fucking stupid.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: So there you go, Mitch. Another sign, this is still
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Trump's party. is the grotesque stunt that Ron DeSantis pulled
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: this week. So apparently the state of Florida paid for
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: a flight that took men, women, and children who had
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: reportedly fled from a dictatorship in Venezuela. And they paid
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: for this flight that went from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: And then DeSantis made sure that the press knew about
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: it so he could show the MAGA base how he
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: owned the libs by sending immigrants to a wealthy liberal island.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: The people of Martha's Vineyard had no advance notice about this.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: But as soon as the plane landed and the men, women,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: and children stepped out of the plane, people on the
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: island immediately responded by offering these families food, clothing, health care, shelter.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: The whole island pulled together and has really been helping
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: them out. So he really showed us, didn't he, Dan?
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Ron DeSantis. Look at those hypocritical Massachusetts liberals welcoming immigrants
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: with open arms.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, just what a cruel fucking asshole, right? People,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: these are human beings. You can be mad they're in
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: this country. You can be mad about how they got here,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: but they are not political fucking props. They are human beings.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: And it just, this is about so much more than
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Ron DeSantis. It is about the Republican Party in the
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: MAGA era. Everyone involved, the politicians, the operatives, the MAGA
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: media all agree that that being a giant asshole is
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: how you get political power. It's what it is. It's
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: the lesson Donald Trump taught us. It's what Adam Serwer said.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: The cruelty is the point. It's not just owning the lips, right?
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: It's not just like making fun of people crying because
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Hillary lost or all of that other stuff. It is
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: about hurting people and showing your base that you are
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: willing to hurt people on their behalf and to hurt people, immigrants,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: black people, Muslims, whoever it is, it is about showing
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: that you have what it takes to be cruel, to
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: prevent this country from becoming more diverse, more tolerant, more progressive.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: And it's so fucking infuriating.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Well, it's also it's competitive assholery at this point, right?
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Because you're Ron DeSantis is trying to show that he's
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: more MAGA than Donald Trump. And so you have to
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: continue to outdo your fellow Republicans that you're competing with.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: to show how big of an asshole you can be.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: And so you continue to do these stunts. But yeah, no,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, imagine you flee from a dictatorship, you sacrifice everything,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: you take your family with you. And then, you know,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: reports from on the ground in Martha's Vineyard are these people,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: they were told when they got on the flight that
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: they were going to go to Boston where there would
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: be jobs and shelter waiting. That's what they were told.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: They were given, they didn't eat for a day. They
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: were put on this flight. They weren't told anything. No
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: one in Martha's Vineyard was told this was happening. The
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: plane lands and they just walk off the plane. Imagine
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: you're one of those people, one of those families, and
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: you get off the plane and you realize at some
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: point that the reason you were sent here is because
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: of a political stunt because some asshole governor figured that
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: other people wouldn't want you where they live. So you
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: were sent somewhere else to try to prove a point
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: because other people didn't want you. I mean, it's just
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: such it's but here's the thing that you point out,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: like it it was done to trigger outrage from liberals.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: This is what he and he now he's got what
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: he wanted.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Which is everyone being outraged. And I actually think that
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the the people who acted best in this situation are
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the people of Martha's Vineyard and the state of Massachusetts
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and the Republican governor, Charlie Baker, too, which is they
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: didn't even, you know, lash out. They didn't say, oh,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: they just said, you know what? Yeah, you sent a
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: bunch of people to us who really need help and
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: we're going to give them help because those are our values.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: We're going to take them in. We're going to give
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: them food. We're going to give them shelter. And that's that.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: So you send people to us. That's what we're going
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: to do because we show compassion. And I actually think
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that's the best way to respond because what they want
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: is for everyone to be fucking triggered by this. You
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: know what? I don't want to give them that satisfaction.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: I don't want to give them either, but I do
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: think there is some value in screaming about this in
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: particular because a thing that I worry about a lot
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: is that let's say Trump does not run because he's embroiled.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know. He's in a prison somewhere or whatever else.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: There is this sense that anything better than Trump is okay.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: I was having a conversation with an incredibly anti-Trump former
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Republican who certainly is more progressive, who is not as
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: conservative as Ron DeSantis, but thinks Ron DeSantis is within
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: the band of pre-Trump normalcy. I was listening to a
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: podcast that Kara Swisher did a long time ago, and
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: she was talking to a big tech guy who's a Republican,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: an anti-Trump Republican who had worked for Peter Thiel, and
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: he's incredibly pro-DeSantis. And the reason he didn't like Trump
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: were all the things that DeSantis does. And so there's
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: this world where DeSantis becomes acceptable to a broad swath
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: of people who found Trump abhorrent because he's simply not Trump.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: And he's actually more dangerous than Trump. And I think
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: there's a real chance that if it's not Donald Trump,
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Ron DeSantis is by far the most likely person to
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: do the Republican nominee right now. And you can just
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: see a world where they decide, the world decides, the
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: reporters who are yearning to return to pre-Trump both sides-ism,
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: think that Ron DeSantis is acceptable. And he is a
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: deeply dangerous, incredibly cruel authoritarian who just tweets less than
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump. That's what we're talking about here.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: And I think that the best way to treat Ron
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: DeSantis is that it was a gross JV fucking stunt.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: We've went through this with Donald Trump before too. And
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the more he's the dictator you should all be scared of,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: The better it is for him, the more he is
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: the fucking goon who has like no regard, not only
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: for most people in this country or immigrants or anyone else,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: but for his own fucking voters. And he's just a
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: fucking con man. The better off we are. And I
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: don't want us to get off on this further understanding. Yeah,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: he is a gross fucking individual. But like the MAGA
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: assholes online right now are so mad. that the people
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: of Martha's Vineyard welcomed these immigrants with open arms and
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: that the stunt didn't work. They're so mad about it.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: I think the challenge for Democrats in talking about Republicans
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: is trying to find a way to talk about extremism
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: without making that extremism a proxy for strength. That is
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: one of the mistakes we made with Trump all the
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: time was we sort of followed along and he very
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: cleverly would trigger us in that way about how all
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: his authoritarian instincts, like when he would post on Instagram
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: or Twitter, like Trump 2024, 2028, 2032, and all of
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: those things, like having the convention, you know, on the
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: White House lawn, you know, in very like North Korea,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: you know, shades of North Korea there. So you don't
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: want to imbue him with strength because strength is one
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: of the most, you know, it's not healthy, but one
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: of the most persuasive political characteristics. So you have to
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: find a way to talk about extremism That is extremism
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: born from weakness, born from fear. And I think that's
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: how we have to think about Trump and Ron DeSantis.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: What Ron DeSantis did is fucking cowardly. He's a coward.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: And it was cheap, too. And it didn't work. So
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: fuck him. And one more thing, Dan. Lindsey Graham's announcement
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: has come just in time for National Voter Registration Day,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: which is this Tuesday, September 20th. Everyone should know that
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Vote Save America is teaming up with our friends at NextGen.com.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: who have ways for you to register young voters by
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: joining their call, text, and social teams online or a
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: state team in person. So head to votesave.us slash nvrd
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: to get involved. Again, that's votesave.us slash nvrd. Okay, when
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: we come back, Dan will talk to New Hampshire Senator
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Maggie Hassett.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Joining us now is the Democratic senator from New Hampshire,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Maggie Hassan. Senator Hassan, welcome to Pod Save America.
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: Well, thanks for having me on. It's great to be
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: with you.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: After Don Bolduc won the primary in your state of
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: New Hampshire on Tuesday, Donald Trump took to Truth Social
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: and wrote the following.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Nice!
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Exclamation point. The Trumpiest people all won in New Hampshire
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: last night. Would you like to take a moment and
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: thank former President Trump for this very trenchant observation about
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: your opponent?
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: All I can tell you about my opponent is that
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: he is the most extreme candidate for the United States
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: Senate that we have seen in decades. Don Baldock would
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: be a yes vote for a national abortion ban. Having
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: said we should rejoice, that was his word when Roe v.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Wade was overturned. He would like to eliminate Social Security,
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: make drastic cuts to Medicare, is an election denier and
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: open to abolishing the FBI. So I will be making
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: the case about the choice in this election. I think
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: we need an economy that works for everybody. And I
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: have a record of delivering bipartisan results to the people
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: of New Hampshire on the things they care about. And
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: I will be working to make the choice in this
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: election very, very clear to folks.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: So you mentioned some of Bolduc's, I would say, unique opinions,
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: like abolishing the FBI, but those are not his only
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: unique opinions. So I thought maybe we could just go
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: through some of them now that you guys are facing
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: off and just maybe get your take on them and
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: see if it gets you on the record on these
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: sorts of things. Okay. So first- Do you agree with
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: Don Bolduc that we should abolish popular elections for U.S.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: senators and simply have state legislators pick them?
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: Obviously, I would disagree with that heartily. Look, New Hampshire
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: is the first in the nation primary and we're first
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: in the nation because we actually were the ones who
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: had the idea that regular citizens should be engaged in
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: electing their presidents as well as members of Congress. So
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: the idea that somebody running for U.S. Senate in New
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: Hampshire would try to take away that right of direct
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: involvement in Senate elections is astonishing.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: I would take it. I won't make you go through
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: all of these, but I would take it you will
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: probably also disagree that Governor Chris Sununu is a Chinese
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: communist sympathizer and that Bill Gates is trying to implant
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: microchips via the COVID vaccine. Opinions offered by your opponent
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: during this election?
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he has offered really outrageous opinions, and they are obviously...
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: just dramatically out of touch with where Granite Staters are,
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: whether they are Republicans or Democrats or independents. It is astonishing.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Having said that, I will let you know that Mike
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: Pence was in the state raising money for him yesterday,
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: and Mitch McConnell is planning to spend $ 23 million against
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: me in this campaign. So they're all in with Don Bolduc.
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: And it's just going to be a really, really close
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: and tough campaign.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: It's also my understanding Don Bolduc has been a, has
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: pushed the big lie, has questioned the legitimacy of the
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: 2020 election, but he's already beginning the process of trying
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: to erase some of these extreme positions. He came out,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I think, this morning and said that he now thinks
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Joe Biden won the election. I imagine that you're not
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: going to let him get away with this sort of,
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: you know, quote unquote, etch a sketch of his extreme record.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: Right. Nobody should be fooled by what Don Bolduc said
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: this morning. He is an election denier. He has been
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: traveling around our state for over a year now, spreading
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: the big lie. On the debate stage in the Republican
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: primary in August, he promoted the big lie again, saying
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: the election was stolen, and went as far too as
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: to say that should the results of the 2024 election
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: be different than the ones he wants, he would work
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: to overturn the election. So this is an election denier.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: This is somebody who would undermine our democracy. And at
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: a time when what I hear from my constituents, which
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: is that they want us to work together the way
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: people in New Hampshire do, to actually lower costs and
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: do things like bring American manufacturing back home like we
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: did in the Chips and Science Act. They want us
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: to help address now, we've worked on prescription drugs, lowering
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: those costs, energy, lowering those costs. We're taking on climate change,
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: but we still got work to do on things like
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: housing and childcare costs. They want us to work together
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: and get these things done. And instead, Don Bolduc just
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: wants to pull us backward, whether it's abortion, whether it's
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: eliminating social security, whether it's denying the election. and undermining
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: our democracy. So I will say to folks, if you're
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: interested in learning more about my record and my campaign
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: and how you can help, please go to MaggieHassan.com. We'd
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: love to have people involved.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: You can tell you have a very talented politician who
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: gets the website in before I even ask the question
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: about the website. So very, very good. I'm sure your
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: campaign team will be very pleased with that. A lot
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: of people, you've mentioned bipartisanship several times this interview. A
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: lot of people think, particularly in the wake of the
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: 2020 election, that bipartisanship would be dead. The Republican Party
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: is in the thrall of Donald Trump and a bunch
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: of MAGA extremists. Most of them are election deniers. Many
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: of your Republican colleagues in the Senate are election deniers.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: But according to the Lugar Center and the McCourt School
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: of Policy, you ranked as the most bipartisan senator of
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: 2021 and the most bipartisan Democratic senator in nearly the
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: 30 years they've been collecting data. How were you able
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: to work across the aisle to get something done and
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: what might be the most polarizing, divisive political environment we've
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: had in a very long time?
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: I look to the example that my constituents set. New
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: Hampshire is 30% Democrats, 30% Republicans, 40% independents. As you know,
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: we are the live free or die state, and we
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: take that sentiment to heart. We really revel in our
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: ability to speak our minds freely and openly and have
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: vigorous disagreements. But then after we do, we sit down
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: and figure out how to solve problems and move the
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: ball forward because we know moving forward is really, really important.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: And so I try to take that example. I also
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: am usually pretty confident that my Republican colleagues are hearing
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: about some of the same things from their constituents that
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: I'm hearing about from mine. A great example of that
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: is surprise medical bills. I worked with Bill Cassidy from Louisiana.
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: to ban that practice. That's another way of lowering people's
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: healthcare costs, right? And that bill which went into effect
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: in January has now prevented 2 million plus surprise medical
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: bills from being delivered to people. That's because Bill was
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: hearing the same thing as I was. And if you
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: can keep the temperature lower and just keep talking to
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: each other, you can get some of these things done.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: And I think it's also a really important reminder to
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: people that while there's a lot of coverage of the polarization,
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: We passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that I was happy
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: to help negotiate. We did bipartisan postal reform, post office reform.
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: We did a bipartisan bill to help our veterans get
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: the health care they need finally for toxic exposures. We
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: did the bipartisan Gun Safety Act. And then we did
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: the bipartisan Chips and Science Act, which I was one
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: of the original sponsors of, which is bringing manufacturing back
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: home helping us with our supply chain challenges, lowering our
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: costs by increasing the supply of semiconductors, among other things,
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: helping us out-compete countries like China and bolstering our national security.
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: So those are the things we have been able to do.
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: And I think it's a real testament to those of
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: us in the Senate, both parties who do know that
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: you have to keep working just the way your constituents do.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Do you think there are, even though we are getting
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: pretty close to the election year, do you think there
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: are prospects for other pieces of bipartisan legislation this fall,
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: maybe Electoral Counts Act reform or enshrining marriage equality?
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: I am hopeful.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: You know, often you don't know whether these things are
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: going to come together until kind of all of a
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: sudden they do. And that has to do with a
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: lot of different factors. We're obviously getting close to the election.
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, I know how
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: important it is to the American people and to our
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: democracy that we move forward here. You know, we talked
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: about the fact that I'm running against an election denier.
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: But Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence seem to be all
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: in with that because, among other things, I won this seat.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: in 2016 by only 1,017 votes, unseating a Republican. So
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: they want the seat.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: Back, right?
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: They're coming after it really, really hard. A lot of
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: things are at stake, everything from a woman's right to
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: make her own decisions and be a full citizen in
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: the democracy to climate and a bunch of other things.
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: But I do know that democracy is on the ballot too.
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: And I think it's really important for all of us
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: just to keep focused on that. And I think one
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: of the things bipartisan accomplishments really help people understand is
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: that their voice and their votes matter and that democracy
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: can deliver when they exercise them. And that's also what's
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: on the ballot this fall.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: You've mentioned abortion several times, your opponent's extreme views on abortion,
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: it being a driving force in this election. Earlier this week,
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: Senator Lindsey Graham proposed a federal ban on abortions after
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: 15 weeks. I want to get your reaction to that
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: bill and what that maybe says about the dangers of
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: a Republican Senate, were they to take over the Senate?
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want people to be really clear here that
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: a national abortion ban is on the ballot in November.
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: McConnell has been pursuing this for decades. Mike Pence supports
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: a national abortion ban, I think said within the last
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: week or so that he wanted the anti-choice forces to
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: double down on achieving a national abortion ban. My opponent
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: has said that New Hampshire's abortion ban, which the Republicans
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: just passed last year, doesn't go far enough and that
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: he would never vote against anti-choice legislation in Washington. It
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: is astonishing to me that anybody seeking to represent citizens
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: in Congress at the same time wants to take away
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: the rights of half of the people they would represent.
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: This is about whether in the world's greatest democracy, women
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: are going to be second class citizens or not. and
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: I will continue to make the case wherever I am
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: in New Hampshire that, and I'm hearing about it from
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: people in New Hampshire all over the state, all political backgrounds,
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: this is a really serious moment for our democracy because
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: taking away rights from women, from half the population, undermines
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: the democracy in significant ways, as does things like election denial.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: So democracy is on the ballot, a woman's health and
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: safety and full citizenship is on the ballot.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: Another, you know, according to polls, central concern for a
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: lot of voters is inflation. While gas prices have been
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: going down for months now, we got a report out
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: this week that inflation still remains frustratingly high. Can you
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: talk a little bit about what you want to do
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: in addition to the Inflation Reduction Act to lower inflation
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: and what, if you get reelected, Democrats back in the Senate,
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: what you're thinking would be the next sort of steps
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: here to lower costs for consumers?
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, there's a number of things. I'll start by
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: just saying I continue to push for a suspension of
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: the federal gas tax. That puts some more money in
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: people's pockets and just really lets people know that we
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: are taking short-term steps as well as the long-term steps,
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: because the Inflation Reduction Act is one of the things
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: that we've done. But the Chips and Science Act is
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: one of the other measures we've taken that really goes
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: after inflation in some longer term ways. But in addition
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: to the gas tax suspension, I think the administration can
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: take steps to help New Englanders and other people in
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: cold climates afford to heat their homes this winter. That's
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: one of the key issues that I'm hearing about from
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: people in New Hampshire, because our energy prices have just
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: gone way up. And there are measures that the administration
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: could take to help with that. The other things that
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: I think are beginning, we're really beginning to see drive
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: inflation are housing costs and childcare costs too. In New Hampshire,
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: we have a real housing shortage. Our vacancy rate is
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: only about 0.5% and a healthy market is about 5% vacancy.
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: And so rents are being raised. People are really worried
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: about being able to stay in their homes So it's
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: well past time that we increased investments in the low
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: and moderate income housing tax credit, which funds most of
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: the low and moderate income housing that we build in
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: this country. But I've also got a bill that will
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: help state housing finance agencies get more workforce housing in
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: towns throughout their states, along with trying to establish and
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: support and fund uh, eviction mediation programs, uh, which are
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: critically important because often people, uh, lose their homes because
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: of a small shortage in their rent payment. And if
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: you can help people mediate that, uh, you can really, um,
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: slow down the churn that eviction causes. So there's short-term things,
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: long-term things. Um, but housing is just a huge part
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: of this. So is childcare obviously. Uh, and last thing
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: I'll say, um, somewhere around 6 million Americans tell us
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: that they would be back in the workforce if they
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: could have help with caregiving responsibilities for a loved one
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: who is aging or has a disability. So getting our
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: home and community-based care system in shape and expanding access
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: to it and paying people who provide home care, family
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: sustaining wage is really, really an important piece of expanding
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: our workforce to really fight inflation, but also help people
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: earn a living and pay their bills.
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: Senator Maggie Hassan, thank you so much for joining us.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: And just to all of our listeners out there, do
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: not take this race for granted. New Hampshire was always
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: very close. It was very close in 2016, and it
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: is going to be close again. So please, if you can,
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: look for a way to help Senator Maggie Hassan beat
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: yet another MAGA extremist, expiring insurrectionist, et cetera. Thank you
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: so much, Senator.
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Dan. Be safe. Take care.
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: All right. We're back before we go. You know, we
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: played Two Takes and a Fake for two weeks. pod.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: The game originated with Dan Pfeiffer. It was Dan's idea
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: right here on a Thursday pod. So we figured we
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: got to let Dan play before we go on to
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: other games. So we're doing one more round here of
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: Two Takes and a Fake to see if Dan can
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: knock off the reigning champion, me. And here we have
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Elijah Cohn, our chief take officer, who's going to take
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: us through it.
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: Before we get started, as much as I like to
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: get credit for other people's ideas, I would like to
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: just once again state that I basically stole this idea
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: from the Ringer's Fantasy Football podcast, which does two jargons
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: and a lie. Similar concept. We've adopted it to politics,
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: but they get the original credit.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you get the adaptation credit. So, I mean,
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: no one else brought it to us.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: I mean i get more credit than you guys i
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: just don't get all the.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Credit exactly that's insane well i didn't come up with
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: the game.
• 50:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah i mean two truths and a lie is is
• 50:12
  Speaker 4: an age-old game it's royalty free at this point i
• 50:15
  Speaker 4: mean they're fantastic.
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: I mean they should they should they should.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Have hasn't popped up anywhere yeah.
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: Okay dan did you have a chance to listen to
• 50:23
  Speaker 4: how it went on tuesday show i abs i absolutely
• 50:26
  Speaker 4: did are you intimidated at all going up against the
• 50:30
  Speaker 4: standing champion.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, a little bit. We'll see. I mean,
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know anyone who consumes more takes than John
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: other than you. So it's, he's hard to beat.
• 50:42
  Speaker 4: He, John went three for three. He identified all the
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: fake ones on Tuesday. And I will say that in
• 50:46
  Speaker 4: preparation for this one, I did a dry run with
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: Tommy this morning and he went, Oh, three. Tommy went
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: over three.
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: All right. Let's see.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: Oh no. Now I'm, Oh no. You're in my head now.
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 50:59
  Speaker 4: It's all mind games. Um, So just to recap how
• 51:02
  Speaker 4: it works, I'm going to read you guys three takes.
• 51:05
  Speaker 4: The producers have seen them. You guys have not. Two
• 51:08
  Speaker 4: of the takes are real. One is fake. You all
• 51:10
  Speaker 4: must decide which take is fake. This game has three
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: rounds across three different topics. You guys ready?
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: So ready.
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: All right. You're well-versed in topic number one. It's Lindsey Graham.
• 51:25
  Speaker 4: So I'm hoping you guys get this one. Obviously, we
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: talked about Lindsey Graham a lot at the beginning of
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: the show. There are a lot of takes about him
• 51:32
  Speaker 4: out there right now, so let's sample a few. Take
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: number one. Lindsey Graham has never been a big pro-life advocate.
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: He wants Republicans to lose. This is sabotage. It's the
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: only way to explain it. That is take number one.
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: Take number two. At the end of the day, Lindsey
• 51:52
  Speaker 4: Graham cares about Lindsey Graham. It's who he is. It's
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: who he always has been. He wants to be in
• 51:58
  Speaker 4: the spotlight, and this was just a chance for him
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: to do that. Take number three. Advocating for a national
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: abortion ban is more important than any short-term politics. Enthusiasm
• 52:10
  Speaker 4: among pro-life Americans is equal to or greater than any
• 52:14
  Speaker 4: motivation by people that support abortion rights. I should have noted,
• 52:19
  Speaker 4: all of these are from Republicans. So that sabotage point
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: is from a Republican also. Which one is the fake, guys?
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: Can you read two and three again?
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: Very seriously.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 52:35
  Speaker 4: You can't see John is really scrunching his face. He's
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: really thinking there. Take two. At the end of the day,
• 52:41
  Speaker 4: Lindsey Graham cares about Lindsey Graham. It's who he is.
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: It's who he always has been. He wants to be
• 52:46
  Speaker 4: in the spotlight. And this was a chance for him
• 52:48
  Speaker 4: to do that. Take number three, advocating for a national
• 52:53
  Speaker 4: abortion ban is more important than any short-term politics. Enthusiasm
• 52:57
  Speaker 4: among pro-life Americans is equal to or greater than any
• 53:00
  Speaker 4: motivation by people that support abortion rights. They're thinking. It's
• 53:07
  Speaker 4: audio medium on YouTube. You can see them thinking here.
• 53:10
  Speaker 4: They're really thinking a lot.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go with two.
• 53:17
  Speaker 4: What's your reasoning behind that? What sticks out about two?
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: I think it's two on the nose.
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: Interesting.
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: Dan?
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go with one. Two seems like something
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: Steve Schmidt would say about Lindsey Graham. And three seems
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: like a take I kind of sort of maybe heard.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: I feel like that about three, too.
• 53:47
  Speaker 4: All right. Well, the champion is off to a strong start.
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: Two is the fake one.
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: Yes! I mean, you just basically... Took a Steve Schmidt
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: take and made it less pretentious.
• 54:00
  Speaker 4: You said, I started sweating earlier in the show because
• 54:03
  Speaker 4: I was like, Dan said basically that also.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: It's my take, just less clever. It's my take, it
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: made it less interesting. Great job. All right, I've got one,
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: oh one to the reigning champ.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: Who said, was number one from Charlie Kirk?
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: It was from Matt Walsh, actually. Charlie Kirk did weigh
• 54:23
  Speaker 4: in on this. He said it was election interference what
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: Lindsey Graham was doing. That would have gotten a thousand points.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: I saw that somewhere. I think someone on our team
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: gave us that one. I think that was in our
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: prep somewhere.
• 54:34
  Speaker 4: Well, that's why I had to take it out. Swapped
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: in Matt Walsh.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: Oh, that was a clip. That was a clip. That
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: was a potential clip. That's what it was.
• 54:40
  Speaker 4: And take number three, it being more important than short-term politics,
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: is Mike Pence.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: That's where I heard it. I did hear that. Okay.
• 54:49
  Speaker 4: All right. Moving on to our second topic, the culture war.
• 54:55
  Speaker 4: I was texting you guys last night. You guys are
• 54:57
  Speaker 4: not regular soldiers in the culture war. How well versed
• 55:02
  Speaker 4: are you in the current outrage cycle over black, brown,
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: and gay characters in TV and movies?
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was saying this yesterday. It's been a busy
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: few weeks with this podcast and offline in the wilderness.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: I have not I have not seen any of these takes,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: so this is going to be a tough one. I
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: did not even know this was going on.
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 55:27
  Speaker 4: Dan, I don't think the Culture Wars come from below
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: deck or Iron Chef yet, so you're... Look, I'm caught up.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: On House of Dragon. I'm aware that there's a Lord
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: of the Rings show that I have not yet seen.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: I am aware vaguely of the Star Wars-esque controversy around
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: some of the characters, so let's see what you got here.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: That's basically where I am, too.
• 55:50
  Speaker 4: So all three of these controversies are real. Two of
• 55:53
  Speaker 4: the quotes are real, but one of them is fake.
• 55:55
  Speaker 4: But again, all three of the controversies are real. So
• 55:57
  Speaker 4: controversy number one is around the new Little Mermaid being black.
• 56:02
  Speaker 4: Here's the take. It's not silly. To be honest with you,
• 56:05
  Speaker 4: it's insulting. How much more of this are we supposed
• 56:08
  Speaker 4: to accept? A black Little Mermaid? The woke left is
• 56:11
  Speaker 4: coming for your entire childhood. That is number one. Number
• 56:15
  Speaker 4: two is about non-white actors being cast in the new
• 56:18
  Speaker 4: Lord of the Rings show. It perverts and corrupts Tolkien's
• 56:22
  Speaker 4: medieval universe. They're trying to woke-ify Middle Earth. It threatens
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: the story's believability. And take number three is about gay
• 56:32
  Speaker 4: parents in the children's show Peppa Pig, which is about
• 56:37
  Speaker 4: animated talking animals. Quote, there's no such thing as lesbian
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: polar bears. If we're worried about the ice caps melting,
• 56:45
  Speaker 4: we definitely don't want to push polar bears to be homosexual. Guys,
• 56:50
  Speaker 4: which one is fake?
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: I will say that I watch Peppa Pig almost every morning.
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: You do? Do you know about Bluey, by the way?
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: So thank God. Finally, now we're watching Bluey, which is
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: much better than any of the other children's programs we
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: have watched.
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, children's programs. Bluey is a top 10 show
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: on global television, hands down.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: I know. Like, I actually want to finish Bluey. And
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: sometimes when Charlie runs out of the room to play
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: with trucks, I'm like, I want to know what happens. Now, fortunately,
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: they're pretty short episodes.
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: Seven minutes.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: Peppa Pig is getting a little. We've seen way too
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: many Peppa Pig episodes now.
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: All right, anywho.
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: Anywho.
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: It's weird we're not more fully versed in the culture wars.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: Dan, you go first this time. You go first.
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go with three just because I want
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: to live in a world where someone on the crooked
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: staff came up with that take.
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm going to go with one.
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 57:55
  Speaker 4: And the result is... John, again, he just sniffs out
• 57:59
  Speaker 4: the fake takes. I don't know how it's possible. Three,
• 58:05
  Speaker 4: the lesbian polar bears is from Allie Beth Stuckey over
• 58:08
  Speaker 4: at The Blaze. And the Lord of the Rings quote
• 58:11
  Speaker 4: is from CNN. There are a lot of real Little
• 58:13
  Speaker 4: Mermaid takes out there. Matt Walsh from The Daily Wire
• 58:16
  Speaker 4: said a black Little Mermaid is unscientific. And Candace Owen
• 58:21
  Speaker 4: said a black Little Mermaid is a mockery. So those
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: takes are out there.
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: I actually watched the Matt Walsh take on video, believe.
• 58:30
  Speaker 5: It or not.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: The leap from Peppa Pig to the lesbian polar bears
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: was just so– it's just too hard to imagine someone
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: coming up with that.
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: I have greater faith in the comedy room at Crooked Media.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: It's not even comedy. It's just so weird.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: It's fucking funny. It is good stuff. It is quality stuff. Yeah.
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: All right. All right.
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: All right, I've already lost, but let's see if I
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: can salvage some respect here. Just yet another Philadelphia area
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: team losing to a Boston area team. Fucking story of
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: my life.
• 59:03
  Speaker 4: We can say this one's worth two. I mean, just
• 59:05
  Speaker 4: to add the stakes to make it.
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: No, I know your generation is in participation trophies, but
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: not us kids. All right. Look, I lost. I can
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: take it. Let's move on.
• 59:20
  Speaker 4: All right. Well, the subject of this next one makes
• 59:23
  Speaker 4: us all lose in a way. It is Mike Lindell.
• 59:27
  Speaker 4: For those of you who are not familiar, Mike Lindell is,
• 59:29
  Speaker 4: Famous first for creating a pillow company called MyPillow, and
• 59:33
  Speaker 4: then he transitioned into being one of the country's biggest
• 59:35
  Speaker 4: election deniers. This week, he made some news. I believe
• 59:39
  Speaker 4: we have a clip if we want to play that.
• 59:41
  Speaker 5: The FBI came after me and took my phone. They
• 59:45
  Speaker 5: surrounded me at a Hardee's. It's disgusting. I don't have
• 59:49
  Speaker 5: a computer. Everything I do, I have that phone. Everything
• 59:52
  Speaker 5: was on there. And they told me not to tell anybody.
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: Importantly... He said it's disgusting. He did not mean Hardee's.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: He meant the FBI taking his phone. We just want
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: to put that out there. Hardee's is a wonderful place.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: When was the last time you ate at Hardee's? Come
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: on now.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: Not at all. I'm just trying to be in touch here.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever been to a Hardee's.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: I made, a hundred years ago on this podcast, remember
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: when Andy Pudzer, I think, the head of Carl's Jr.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: was going to become Secretary of Labor briefly? I made
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: some Carl's Jr. jokes on here about it not being good,
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: and boy- There's the Venn diagram of Carl's Jr. fans
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: and positive American listeners circa 2017. Two overlapping circles. People
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: not happy.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: Look, I love a fast food chain. I don't think
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: we had any Hardee's in New England.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think we now live in a jack-in-the-box
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: state as opposed to a Hardee's state, I think.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so there you go. Anyway, Elijah.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: Go ahead with your takes, yes.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: So Mike Lindell, his phone has been taken by the FBI.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: That's exciting. Can't wait to see what they find on there.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: But I'm guessing people had some takes about this.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 4: It was universal laughter, Mike Lindell. But we decided for
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 4: this last question, we were going to do two real
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 4: Mike Lindell quotes and one fake Mike Lindell quote.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: I like it. I like it.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 4: He's got some heaters. Good luck is all I can say.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 4: Spotting the fake one.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: He's got some heaters.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 4: So quote number one. We've been working on a class
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 4: action lawsuit against all voting machines. We've got county commissioners
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 4: and clerks on board as plaintiffs. It's the most important
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 4: class action lawsuit in the history of America and in
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 4: the history of the world. Here's quote number two. The
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 4: January 6th committee, it's really a deep state operation. I've
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 4: seen the documents. I'm trying to get copies of the
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 4: documents and I'll be releasing them hopefully next week. But
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 4: for Fox News to air any of it, at this point,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 4: Fox News is working with the deep state. And here
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 4: is quote number three. All of our employees are busy
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 4: making pillows right now for the truckers. I plan to
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 4: drop the pillows from a helicopter with little parachutes. I
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 4: cannot give the exact details or there will be obstructionists.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 4: Which one is fake, guys?
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: You go first this time, John.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: I think it has to be three.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 4: Okay. Little parachutes and pillows.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: But if it's not three, that's really funny.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: Can you read one again? Oh, wait, no.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 4: One's the January 6th committee, right? No, two's the January
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 4: 6th committee. One is we have a lawsuit against the
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 4: voting machines. Hmm.
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: He did have a lawsuit against the voting machines.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 4: He does hate Fox. He does love pillows.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 3: Um....
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: You know what?
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: Let's go with two. Let's go with two.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 4: Dan, you should have taken the two points because you
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 4: would have tied. But Dan got one. John finally misses.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 4: Five of six. Two is the fake.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: My perfect record.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he really said that little parachute shit.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: That's amazing. That's amazing. I love that he said that.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: He's got parachute pillows.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: Your problem was you got complacent. It's what Pat Riley
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: calls the disease of more. Happens to a lot of champions.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: That's okay. I still won. I still won. You did.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 3: You did.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: You won. I'm still the reigning champion.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: Congratulations. You know, look, James Naismith, clever enough to hang
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: a peach basket, probably wasn't pretty good at basketball. That's
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: how I feel right now.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: We'll get him next time.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: We'll get him next time. Thank you, Elijah, for those
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: wonderful takes. Thank you to Senator Maggie Hassan for joining us.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: Everyone go have a wonderful week and we'll talk to
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: you next week.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: Bye, everyone.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. The executive
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: producer is Michael Martinez. Our senior producer is Andy Gardner Bernstein.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: Our producers are Olivia Martinez and Haley Muse. It's mixed
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: sound engineer the show. Thanks to Tanya Sominator, Sandy Gerard,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: Hallie Kiefer, Ari Schwartz, Andy Taft, and Justine Howe for
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: production support. And to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: Milo Kim, and Amelia Montuth. Our episodes are uploaded as
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: videos at youtube.com slash crookedmedia.