Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Super Tuesdays - Are Democrats Headed For A Blue Wave… Or A Blue Tsunami?

Transcript

Super Tuesdays - Are Democrats Headed For A Blue Wave… Or A Blue Tsunami? · The Chuck ToddCast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: We are inside of 10 weeks before the midterm elections.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I didn't count a number of days until 2028, but
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: we will be. That's Chuck Todd. I'm Chris Lizza.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This is Super Tuesdays.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Like, subscribe on your various podcast apps. Chuck, how are you?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I'm doing well.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, we got a little college football appetizer over
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: the weekend.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Week zero.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Just to have something like, you know, watching. I mean, shoot,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: on Friday, I was watching those FCS games.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I watched some of TCU North Carolina on Saturday in Ireland.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: And then I was on the sidelines of a soccer
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: game on Sunday when I overheard someone saying, Did you
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: know that Jordan Hudson was born in 2001? So it
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: was a really nice rapper on the weekend. Yeah.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Belichick gets a win. Yeah, no, he did. He did.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: It was just, look, the thing that excites me, and
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: I did this in my Monday pod about college football season,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: is it's become such an important place to do political advertising.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: I see it all the time. We talk about this.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: We see ads.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: You get so much more. It's one of the downsides.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: For some reason, MLB, you used to be able to
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: do this when you'd watch extra, when they called it
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: extra innings. I don't think they call it extra innings anymore.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: And I've had it for decades. And I loved being
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: able to, in election year, all right, let me see
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: what the ads are running on the baseball games, right?
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm just sort of, you know, I love
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: that impact, but I want to actually see the ads air,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: not just, you know, trust. And- For some reason, MLB
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: at-bat doesn't allow that anymore.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I guess they're trying to sell, you know, everybody's trying
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to sell whatever little pocket that they control of audience.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: But on these football games, you see more and more
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: of them now.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: It's cheaper to buy the national.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: by if you're doing a North Carolina Senate.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: And it's something people can't fast forward.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Right, Chuck?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: They can't fast forward because it's like the last live
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: thing people watch. So it was interesting.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: I saw anti-Watley in the TCU North Carolina game and
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: in the NC State UVA game. I saw anti-Talarico. I
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: read that Tallarico debuted an ad in the TCU game.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: I didn't see it.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't see that.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Look, I'm not going to sit here.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Was it on NBC?
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Is that what it was on? No, the game. Or
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: was it ESPN? ESPN.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: But look, I'm not going to sit here and say
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I was watching every second of it. I had multiple
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: things going, so I'm not going to. I didn't notice it,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: but I noticed the anti-Tallarico stuff because it aired more
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: than once. It was an ad that hit more than once.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: And it just, you know.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: It it's always interesting who is airing and who isn't.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: And you're like, huh, how come there's no pro Watley side?
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: And how come I didn't see any pro Tallarico side
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: on this?
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: So I just did a I just did something on
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a bunch of research for something unrelated on the Texas
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: numbers because it is. And we're going to talk.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: But let's just let's talk about Texas just for a sec. Yeah.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: It seems as though in the last five days, Republicans
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: have woken up to the fact that, A, this is
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: a real race, and B, they have a real money problem.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: So John Cornyn, who lost the runoff to Paxton, says,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to raise money in Texas, and Paxton
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: is lazy and a bad fundraiser. Some of that's sour grapes,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: but it also might be true. I just went and looked.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Then you had John Kennedy on Fox News after Paxton
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: was on Fox News. And John Kennedy said, hold on,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: I've got that. OK, he said, quote, money is an issue.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: This is John Kennedy from Louisiana, Republican senator. And and
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I thought this was the most interesting thing. We in
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the Senate don't have the money budgeted for Texas, which
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: is basically like a and he then goes on and
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: says Donald Trump's going to have to carry that. Are
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: you aware of the cash on hand disparity, Chuck?
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: It's massive.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: 21.5 million for Tallarico, 1.75 million for Paxton, just for
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: people wondering. Go.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I understand that.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: But there's also another place where the money goes the
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: other direction in the same state, and that's the governor's race.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Now, to me, what's happening in.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: The governor's race is, shows you how bad the environment is.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: All the political handicappers are moving it from solid Republican
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: to either lean or likely.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: It's easy to.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: See why Paxton is not a good candidate and all
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: this stuff. But there's a lot of Texas Republicans who
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: are trying to make themselves feel better that somehow, oh,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: this is a Paxton problem. This isn't a GOP problem.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: And it's like, Oh, no, folks, this is a GOP problem. Like,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: you know, take the ad that they were hitting Tallarico on.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: It was actually quite a remarkable ad because I don't
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: know if you knew this, but because the Chinese are
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: buying up all this Texas land and apparently a state
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: representative in the minority.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Is is the guy who let it all happen. He's
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: so powerful.
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Tallarico was so powerful as a state rep that he
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: was able to blow past the Republican governor, blow past
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the Republican speaker, blow past the Republican attorney general and
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: somehow orchestrate.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: This Chinese conspiracy to buy up Texas land.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: You know, but I do remind my friends on the left,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: just because it's an absurd premise doesn't mean people won't
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: believe it.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: You better push back on it. The point being is.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I think that's the problem here is that the Republicans
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: have been in one party state for an entire generation plus.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Things aren't going well. You can't just keep blaming people
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: that don't exist, okay? And then the Democrats just haven't
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: existed in the state to be a problem. It is
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: all Republican policy decisions.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: If you want to blame policy.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Who are you going to blame?
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 3: There's only one party to blame here. So, look, I
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: get what they're trying to do. And this data center
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: thing is such a problem. Muck it up with China
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: and all this stuff.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Hope that people get confused. But it tells me that
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: it's a larger issue than just Ken Paxton's not elected.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: No. This is an entire.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Correct.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: You know, I don't think a Republican on the statewide
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: ticket is going to cross 55.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Right. Not a single one. I think it's interesting.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: They have like 15 statewide races, right?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I think you're right.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I imagine the highest vote getter. You know, mark it down.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I'm going to make a bet that not a single–
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: that the highest vote getter on the Republican side.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Won't break 55.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: It might not break 53. I– You're right about environment,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: because I think it's so easy to be like, well,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Ken Paxton's a bad candidate. And he is a demonstrably.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, I have competing thoughts on that one. He's
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: never lost a race, too. He's been running in a
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: single party state. So, like, it's not proof to me.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: He may be a good primary candidate and not a good.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I think he's probably not a good general election.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: He only got what did he get in 18, like 52?
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Didn't win by a lot.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: He drastically underperforms in general elections. correct and then now
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: everybody's paying attention and it's a one part it had
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: been a one-party state so it's like now who cares
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: he's gonna get outspent right heavily you start doing the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and the and the and you're like it just feels
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: like all of a sudden people are like oh wait
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: texas is a problem it's like yeah yeah it is
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: um the data center thing is interesting i want i
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: want to bring this in because i was fascinated by
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: this because this is let's call this this is the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Is you use this and I use it to is
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump. Is this a long con by Democrats to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: put a Republican president in who would award them them
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the House and Senate majorities in 2026? Because he is
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: doing basically everything you would do. The latest is this
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: for people haven't seen it. Let me put it up here.
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  Speaker 2: So this is Trump. This is Monday morning. The only
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  Speaker 2: reason that communities.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Throughout the U.S. should not want data centers is they
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: want to end up being backwards and poor. If they
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: want to be successful and rich with far lower taxes
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  Speaker 1: and jobs all over the place, let data rain. Why
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  Speaker 1: rain is capitalized, I do not know. If we kill
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the golden goose, you will only have yourselves to blame.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: China could not be happier with this anti-data center movement. Actually,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: they can't believe it is happening. We talked last week
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: about this, Chuck.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, the politics of data. I get more questions about.
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  Speaker 3: I love these rich people from New York City trying
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: to tell other Americans how they should live.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: From Florida.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just the guy built his entire political
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: movement on being anti-elite.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: And he's coming.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: He couldn't come across more out of touch and elite
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: in that statement. I mean, it is basically you idiots.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Why don't you just call them deplorables, President Trump?
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: You don't know what's good for you.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Good luck with that messaging.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: The issue... Well, let me ask you this. I talked
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to our friend, Reed Wilson, probably six weeks ago now,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: and I said, what's an issue? He runs state affairs,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: covers what's going on in the state legislature, state legislatures.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: And I said, what's an issue that's becoming a big
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: deal in state legislatures that we're not talking about a
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: lot on the national level, but we will come 2028?
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  Speaker 2: And he said, oh, no question, data centers. Well, he
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: was right, but.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: It's been faster like is this an actual issue now.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Look i i you know over the summer i was
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: spending time right i was in dothan alabama number one
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: issue was the anti-data centers i told you during the
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: the the uh blues uh air show one of the
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: banners instead of you know you had five dollars sex
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: on the beach and then you also had hey i
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: don't like these data centers right like You know, I mean,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: it's everywhere and it has been everywhere and it's only
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Washington that's discovering, you know, this is a classic case
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: of the voters have been pissed off about this for months.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: My God, I've been hearing about it in Loudoun County.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, Washington is, there's this, all this coverage this
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: week that says, oh.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Wow, data centers. And you're like, What the hell?
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Like, is your head in the sand? Drive out 267 West.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: It was part of the Virginia campaign in 25. Right.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: We've been hearing, I mean, you have to intentionally pretend
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: it doesn't exist to think this wasn't an issue. And
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: now it sort of finally- More political consultants are sharing, hey,
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: just see what happened to my focus group.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: You ought to try it, right?
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Like it feels like one of those, well, I'm going
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: to try it in my campaign.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Oh, this works, you know? Yeah. And now it's everywhere. And,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: you know, that's how. But politics is a copycat business, right?
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: And what's interesting, look, the most interesting thing about this
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: is there's only a handful of issues over the decades, frankly,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: that where voters force the politicians to deal with it,
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: not the other way around.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: The most recent example before this that I could think
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: of is the opioid crisis.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: This was something that the politicians were refusing. They never
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: were talking about it left or right. And then the
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: New Hampshire.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Purdue Pharma moved a lot of money around to make
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: sure they wouldn't talk about it. Try to minimize it.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: And then.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: And then the New Hampshire primary in 2015, I really
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: credit that because it really, frankly, it focused, there were
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: so many Republicans running, they kept hearing it. And so
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: a few of them just started saying, hey, I keep
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: hearing about opioids. And then they all, it sort of stuck,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: but it was a, that's an issue. Same thing where
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: the voters forced it upon the politicians. Politicians didn't just
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: manufacture it. And this one is the same thing. And look-
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: A lot, there was a very lengthy sort of call
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: it an essay, call it a column in the Times
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: over the weekend, David Wallace-Wells, and sort of, it's very
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: similar to, you know, what myself and a bunch of
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: us have been writing about over the last couple of
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: months on this, which is, it's a little bit of
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: a lot of things when it comes.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: With tech, right? We're just sort of, we're frustrated by
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: all of it.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: And it all sort of is, is the data center
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: sort of encompasses our Frustration at big tech companies or
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: frustration of politicians who seem to be getting.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Rich off of these deals. Right.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: It's it's it's sort of it's got a little bit
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: of everything that frustrates voters these days about our system,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: whether it's the political side that's rigged or the economic
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: side that's rigged.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: So totally agree with you. It's just become an issue
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: faster than I thought. I think it is an issue. Look,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I was watching ads because I was I'm a nerd.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I was watching ads in the Wisconsin governor's race. Tom Tiffany,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the Republican, is attacking David Crowley. The Democratic nominee is
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: data center David Crowley, because I think he signed on
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: for something in Milwaukee. I mean. It touches a lot
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: of places. You saw Josh Shapiro literally reverse course last year,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: touting $ 20 billion.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Basically, he and Abbott are the two big flip-floppers on this, right?
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: They were both very leaned in, and they both are
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: like scared shitless of what.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: They just saw. Now he's like, well, we need to
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: take a pause and slow down. It's like, well, last
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: year you were gung-ho. Kathy Hochul has announced. I mean,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I just think it's like you said. Once the ball
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: starts rolling downhill and political consultants realize you can bash
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: the shit out of people who are pro data center.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Now everybody uses.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: Big tech right now is big pharma, meaning there's not
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: there is no there is nothing that a voter won't
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: believe in the negative about them.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: OK, and that's it.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Just the assumption of negative of that, they'll they'll always
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: put them put their own interest ahead of yours is
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: baked in. And so it's an easy boogeyman. Right now,
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: I don't know how long it's going to last. These things,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: what works, this stuff works until it doesn't.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: So people wear out on it.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: There's one fascinating development over the last week that I'm
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: curious about. It's the blue collar trade unions who are going, hey, man.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: These are good jobs. It's jobs for this.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Yup.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: And you know, this is getting electricians, but you got
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: to build them. And it's been interesting to watch as,
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: as there's this rush to be anti data center, all
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: of a sudden left and right there, all of a
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: sudden there is this, the cohort that is pro it is,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: it is like blue collar labor unions. And you know,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: A handful of what I would call the futurists who
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: would say, you know, we do need to find a
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: place for this. It's like being pro-nuclear energy during the
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: 80s when everybody was afraid of nukes.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: You know, and I think that that's where the pro-data
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: center crowd is. It's like, yeah, I understand why everybody's
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: pissed off at them.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: We need them.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Can we find a better place to do it without
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: disrupting the lives of everyday Americans?
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: They're just quiet right now. So, okay. The blue-collar trade
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: unions thing is really interesting.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: It's just something to watch. Where do they go?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: It's a strain to watch.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: It's just a strain to watch, exactly, because they're already–
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: the rank and file of blue-collar trade unions, while the
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: leadership all leans left, the rank and file in some
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: cases leans right.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: We know that Trump got a decent chunk of those votes.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Why is there a– I always wonder about this. Is
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: there a political calculus to Donald Trump being– as pro
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: data center in an anti data center moment, he can't
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: have like a, he is not a technological person, his
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: understanding of AI and how it's powered and it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Is not super advanced.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: So what is it about Chuck? Like why? Cause he
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: said it last week, like he's clearly like doubling, I mean,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: double down a lot, but he's doubling down on it. What,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: what's the root do you think?
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Well, the cynic in me would say it's his own
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: financial problem.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: He's got his own financial ties.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: To answer all your questions.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: And with him on whatever you want to call it,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, that
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: explanation is usually the explanation for him.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: But, you know, let's give him the benefit of the doubt,
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: which is presidents, I would argue. And, you know, it's
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: like like, look, he's the president right now. I would
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: want my presidents to be thinking about, well, what's in
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: the best interest collectively?
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: We need to do this.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: Now I wouldn't, you know, obviously he should, the way
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: he's speaking about it is idiotic.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Do you want to be poor?
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, he just doesn't understand, you know, he, when
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: they passed out the empathy gene, he was, he was skipping,
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: he was skipping the line.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: But, you know, like I said, I, I, The cynic
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: in me assumes there's a financial connection and why he
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: won't do it. And he seems to– I mean I
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: guess you could say he's being loyal to the tech
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: industry that's been loyal to him all of a sudden.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: But I think it's also possible that somebody explained it
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: to him. in the same language as the railroads that, Hey,
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: that this is what this is about. You've got to build,
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: you had to build tracks for the railroad industry to
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: take hold. We've got to build data centers for the
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: AI industry to take hold.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: So, and he may not be wrong about that, by
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the way, Chuck.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I don't want to rule out that, that maybe he's
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: actually thinking in that, you know, way I, you know, I, I,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: like I said, 99.9% of the time he's motivated by self-interest. Right.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: But, you know, I guess what I've tried to do
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: is put myself in in the shoes of an American
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: president at this time, which is, well, we've got to
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: we've got to solve this data center problem. The answer
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: is not the answer is the answer isn't don't build any.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Let's go backward in time. Right.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: The answer is we need to figure out how to
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: do this in the least possible in the way that
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: damage disrupts American life in the least possible way. And
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: that is what leadership.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Would look like.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: But this president doesn't know how to lead and he
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: never has.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard not to think it's self-interested just because
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: of how much water is under the bridge on that.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Everything else is always self-interested. This would be a real
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: exception to the rule.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about Trump in 26 because I'm fascinated.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: The Atlantic a couple days ago reported that Trump huddled
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: with his advisors and basically said, I want to run
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: a campaign– I want to use the money in the
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: various accounts, one of which is Mac Inc. that has
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: $ 400 million in the bank. I want to run ads
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: in these districts that tout my accomplishments in a second term.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: He said with Darlene Graham in South Carolina, he used
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the words, pretend I am on the ballot to talk
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: about voters. He said that again in an interview with
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Trey Gowdy on Sunday on Fox News. They need to
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: pretend I'm on the ballot. Am I missing something here
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: that that's a dumb strategy when you're in the low forties? Like, well,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, maybe this is a self-interest thing. Tell me
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: what I'm missing.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Let's think about previous wave years where the party in
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: power wanted the president to disappear.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Um, And for the most part, presidents accepted the premise, right?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Bill Clinton in 2000 didn't campaign much for many Democrats
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: because nobody wanted to deal with the Monica questions. and
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: it frustrated the shit out of him. And he famously
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: went and campaigned for Jay Dickey, I think it was.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: That's right. In Arkansas. And won it and then said, see,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: if you had used me, you'd have won more races.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: Now, I think what the reality is, yeah, they needed
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: some of Bill Clinton's messaging without his baggage at the time.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: George W.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: Bush at 06. That dude didn't show up anywhere. Understood it.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: accepted the premise.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Told candidates it was okay to throw him under the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: bus barack obama 2010 you know sort of got it
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: right you didn't see he certainly was he did things
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: that were beneficial to him and anybody that wanted help
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: he gave him help but he was also not forcing
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: his way on the way ditto in 2014 you saw
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: a similar a similar mindset now You and I, this
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: is where I think we have to remember some of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: our post-election analysis from previous cycles.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: And I say this because it's going to sound like
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: I'm giving Trump kudos here.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: I'm not.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: But if you're the party in power, they're going to
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: run against you anyway. That's right.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: Do you run and hide or do you embrace? Do
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: you just sort of say, look, yeah, it's hard, but
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: these policies are going to work. And that's why I
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: stand with them. It's sort of like, do you try to,
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: is the best way to blunt it, embracing it and
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: sort of at least paralyzing the conversation, right?
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: You know, at least engaging with the, not everything is terrible.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: The point is, is that I could, you know, if you, if,
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: If the Republicans say, yeah, I don't want Trump in
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: and Democrats say I don't want Trump in, what is
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: the message everybody hears?
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Hey, you don't want Trump in.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: So there's a part of me that says, well, you know,
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: maybe that's a way to get base turnout up.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: That's the only thing I could think of. Right.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: The only time waves happen is when base turnout for
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: the party in power is down. And so can you
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: make it? You know, so now the problem is Trump's
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: a terrible messenger.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: He doesn't you know, and I do think you can't
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: bring him in the sort of the first tier of races.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: You can't bring him to Ohio, North Carolina, Maine, Alaska
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: or Maine. Right now or Michigan.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Now, when you start to say to yourself, OK, because
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: this to me is and it's to a question, you know, Michigan,
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: if you lose Michigan, if you're the Democrats, then suddenly
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: you need that fifth state.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: You're looking for a fifth state.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: 80% chance, according to DDHQ, that if, Chuck and I
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: work with on these primary election nights, if Democrats lose Michigan, 80%
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: chance Republicans retain the Senate.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Right. Because it's that important.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Look at the next level. Look, the easiest path to
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: the majority is North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, Alaska, and holding
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: all of their defenses. Right. That gets them the four seats.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: And think about the states they're winning with Paltello. She
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: had just one statewide two cycles ago. Sherrod Brown had
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: one statewide a couple cycles ago.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Cooper.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: You're dealing.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: And then Maine was the one state that Kamala Harris carried.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: Like you're dealing with winnable states even in a Trump environment.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: It's the realm of the possible in any environment.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: The second you need one more state, well, then that
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: enters Iowa, enters Texas, enters Kansas.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Nebraska.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Nebraska.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Enters Montana.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: And if we want to add a South Dakota, South Carolina, Mississippi,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: go right ahead.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: They're all kind of the same.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: The point is it requires a triple bank shot.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Of some way, shape, or form.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: It is another– a level higher of difficulty, right? It
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: is the quadruple, triple Lux instead of the triple, whatever.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I was going to go with the triple Lindy because
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: I just watched Rodney Dangerfield back to school. It was
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: on TBS.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: You got to go quadruple Lindy to probably carry Kansas
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: and Nebraska, right?
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: So I do think that.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: But that's but that's also look at you can bring
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: Trump to Iowa. You can bring Trump to Texas. You
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: can bring Trump to Kansas. You know, so given where
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: this campaign is being contested and you essentially have it
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: anywhere from light red territory to medium red to dark red.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: There are worse strategies.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Now, putting Trump front and center, making it a referendum
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: on Trump, it will goose turnout on the left. Now,
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: maybe there's not much more you can goose it, right?
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: Does it add to the deficit with independence?
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: It might.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Although he's pretty low already, Chuck.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, I guess that's the question. Is it the
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: more you see him, does it make that worse? And
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: it might.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Like, this could be that- He's so allergic. Independents are
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: so allergic to Trump that putting him front and center
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: just turns the independent vote into a Democratic vote.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Just reminds them again of what they don't like.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: But I look at the Darlene Graham rescue mission and
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: the one place he campaigned, she wins by 50. You
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: can't discount his potential ability to win.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: To improve MAGA turnout.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: I wrote down.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: And it does look like this is, look, it does
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: look like everybody's conceded. Democrats are going to gain seats
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: in the House and the Senate.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: That's a given.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: That's a 99.9% given at this point, barring aliens invading.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: The question is whether this turns into a wave. And
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: that is all about whether MAGA turns out or not.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: And if they don't, this thing is a tsunami. If
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: they do, maybe it looks somewhere in between 2018 and 2022.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, it.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Looks a little like 2022. I wrote down while you
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: were talking, I wrote down what I would say would
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: be the best message if you're going to, with a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: sort of drive-based, juice-based turnout, and Trump's going to talk
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: about himself. Crime is down. The good things in the
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: one big beautiful bill, no taxes on tips, cars. Democrats
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: are socialists. The border is safe. Now, if he could
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: do that, it might work. The problem I find, Chuck,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I'm interested– I mean, he's such an inconsistent messenger. The
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: issue I would have is if I asked the average
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: person on the street, name one thing about Donald Trump's
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: second term. My guess is the vast majority who could
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: name anything would say one of two things, Iran or
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: some form of tariffs. Like, you know, I would include
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: like any kind of price increases, things are. And I
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: would say if people, I don't know the people who
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: say Iran, but say gas prices are higher. Like, I
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: do think crime down, one big beautiful bill, socialism, the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: border is secure is not a bad message. I just
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: think it winds up getting, sorry for the, I just realized,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: trumped by the other things that aren't really accomplishments, but
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: that's what people know.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: Dude, this election feels like, and that's, I think this
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: election's already about the cost of living. It's about the
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: cost of living. Everything else is derivative of it. Iran
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: war is about the cost of living. Even data centers
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: is about this. Like, all of it is derivative to Boy,
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: government still doesn't know how to make policy to make
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: my life easier. They're just making it harder. And I
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: think that's ultimately why I still think there's a better
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: chance this is a tsunami than this is.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: A small Democratic pickup year.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: I think the odds are greater this is a seven-seat
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Senate pickup, 25 to 30-seat House pickup, even with the
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: redistricting barriers. than it is, say, 3 in 10.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: You know, I.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Just went back and looked at this. And it seems
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: to me, I'm with you.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: And history would suggest, I went back and looked at
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: the Cook Political Report, the races they had in toss-up
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: through the years. Senate races, I'm talking about. Almost to
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: a cycle, they all... go in one direction there are
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: outliers where it's like three and one or two and
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: one but it seems unlike me i can't remember even
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the movement's in the same direction always because they hold
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: right and that's the point all the movement i promise
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: you all the polling in mid-october will look like we're
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: underrating democrats come the actual results come november Yeah, I mean,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: it's just it tends to be that way. Like, it
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: seems unlikely to me that Democrats are going. I think
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: this is the most likely outcome right now in Decision
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Desk HQ's model, which I understand it's a model, but
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: like their most likely outcome is 50-50.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: So Republicans control Senate.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: To me, it's like.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: I think Democrats will either win one or two seats
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: or like five.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean?
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Like, it just, it seems unlikely to me that.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: Like- 2000 is the only year that I ever saw
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: everything split the difference.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Right.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: It was why nobody expected that. It was sort of like, oh,
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: everybody's theory of the case was right. And most of
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: the time there is a just enough movement in one
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: direction or the other to.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Create a decisive result. That's all. Now, 22 was less so. Yes.
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: 22 was a weird, was a weird, you know, but
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: that's because you had Dobbs, you had bad Trump nominees,
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: and you had a, and you had an unpopular Biden.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: And still some level of COVID kind of coursing through.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: It was a mixed stew that sort of created the
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: very narrow, you know, missing, you know, basically it was a,
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: It was a Republican victory, but it was like, oh,
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: it was like Florida State's win over New Mexico State
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: over the weekend.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: It was not what Mrs.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Todd wanted to see. Well, they won and they had.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: And but boy, I don't think next week's going to
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: go well.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: And it was like. You won, but.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: You thought, boy, that should have been bigger. We're going
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: to come to regret the lack of– 100%. And this
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: is the cycle they regret that.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Over the weekend, my son's team was up 3-1 in
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: soccer with 10 minutes left, and we wound up tying 3-3.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: And it was like, well, we didn't lose. But on
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: the other hand, that tie feels like a loss.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the 2022 midterms.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: I do– let's– oh, one other thing on this. Somebody
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: said to me on– Nah, it's fine. I'm battling a cold.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: It's the only time my voice is deep. Somebody said
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: to me over the weekend, they said, well, what happens
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: if Republicans win the New Hampshire Senate race but Democrats
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: win the Texas Senate race? And I was like, I
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: just don't see any way that that would happen because
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: it would require– A non-nationalized election, which we really haven't seen.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Can I just pump the brakes here in New Hampshire?
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: I can't tell you how often this happens with New
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: Hampshire more than any other state because of its place
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: in presidential primary.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Law and all this stuff.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: We get one poll that shows something we hadn't seen
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: before and everybody's like, well, this must be true. I mean,
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: we just have gotten through a cycle of a bunch
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: of crappy polling. We're not sure how it's all done.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: We've had all this ridiculous polling on Graham Plattner that
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: told us that Graham Plattner was this unbelievable political force
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: until he wasn't. So color me a little skeptical. I mean,
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: do I think John Sununu is a good candidate? I do.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: Do I think he's going to benefit from the popularity
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: of his brother as governor?
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: Do I think Pappas is kind of not the greatest candidate?
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I do. Kind of a generic Democratic member of Congress.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: And I kind of think his message of saying, hey,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: you need to take this race more seriously to Washington
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: is weird for the candidate himself to do. I mean-
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: To me, it's like, hey, I'm not that good of
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: a candidate, so I need some more help. Right. Spend money.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Who says that?
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: You know, you should have a lot more confidence.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: I think we both land in the same place, which
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: is like Pappas plus four or five.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: Look, New Hampshire is allergic to Trump in general elections.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Just seems yet to carry it.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: Republicans, you know, they can win a governor's race.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: And they've proven it multiple times.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: But we know that those don't run in tandem, right? Otherwise,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Kansas would be electing Democrats. They haven't won a federal
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: race since what? Sununu 02? Sununu.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Is that the last time they won a federal?
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Might have been the last time they won any federal race. Statewide.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Statewide, yeah.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: Or even the two congressionals, right? That had been a while.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: That's true. It was quite 02. But the- Yeah, no.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: And we know governor's races are not Senate races. They're different.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: Look, I think- I'm very curious to see if the,
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: if Pappas has been asleep at the wheel and he's
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: allowed this progressive to come catch him.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Yep. We'll find out. Yep.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: But, but it's just, it's just unlikely that that happens.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: That's all I'm saying.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Like, sure.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: Could it happen?
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: But usually these things move in tandem, right? It's like,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: it just, it's just how we see it happen.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, as a political junkie, I'd love to see
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: irrational results, irregular results that are hard to, that are
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: hard to track. Like the only way you'd normally see
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: something like that is, here's what I would say. If
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: you get that result, that's a result you get that
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: says really good, it was a solid Republican night. people
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: were just allergic to these scandal-plagued PACs.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: That's right. It was about PACs and not about Republicans.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: That's the only outcome where that would work. That's the
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: only outcome that would explain that scenario that someone painted.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: I want to do this before we keep going, which
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: is something somebody asked you over the weekend, which I
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: love this, which is what state keeps Democrats up at
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: night and conversely, what state keeps Republicans up at night?
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: I have mine.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: Well, I will tell you, you want me to reveal?
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: So let's do let's do which state keeps Democrats up
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: at night the most. First, we'll both do it and
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: then we'll do Republicans. All right.
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: I probably I should. I've already given it away. And
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: it's simply because of what happens. to the Senate map
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: if Michigan.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: We're going to land in the same place. I was
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: going to say Michigan.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: Michigan is 100% to me because literally, if Haley Stevens
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: were the nominee now, we wouldn't be talking about Michigan.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: We'd be talking about Michigan as much as we talk
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: about New Hampshire, meaning, yeah, that's going to be a
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: single-digit race. And boy, in another year, it could be,
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: but it wouldn't be the same. Abdul El-Sayed is a
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: different story. He's clearly a polarizing figure. He's still doing cleanup.
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: When you're think about how much cleanup he's done. The
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: primary was 30 days.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Ago, Chuck.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: He's talking about a sound piker every damn day since. Correct.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: I mean, he is.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: He couldn't be.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: The only the only thing helping him is that every
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: day Trump has made Mike Rogers life more miserable with
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: Canada and tariffs and the like the it's the national,
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: you know, Trump has done nothing but help Democrats nationally,
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: including in Michigan and Maine. But Abdul El-Sayed is totally
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: off message and can't seem to get on message. So
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: to me, Michigan– and again, it goes to what I
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: said earlier. If Michigan is– if Democrats lose Michigan, the
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: leap from the four that they can flip to the
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: fifth state, it's– now, am I bullish on Iowa? And
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: our friend Quinn McCord is a little less so. I'm
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: more bullish on.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: It than he is.
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: But it is another leap. you have to take for
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: Democrats have to perform even better to pull off an Iowa,
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: to pull off a Texas, to pull off a Nebraska.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Numbers are just worse.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: You know, all of these states we're talking about, the
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: Democrats have a path to 47.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: And I can tell you- Man, he came within five. Right.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you this.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: And I said this, I'm surprised that we've not seen
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: more efforts by these red state Democrats to promote libertarian candidates.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: Because I think Tallarico- I would absolutely have a super
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: PAC set up, and maybe they do already, that does
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: nothing but promote the libertarian candidate.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Just lower the win number.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: In the reddest rural counties in the state.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: If you can get 48, you win rather than 50.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Make it a 48%. I'd do the same thing in Kansas.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: I'd do this.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: Obviously, we know Montana and Nebraska are different stories there.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: But certainly in Kansas and Texas and, frankly, Mississippi and
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: South Carolina. Those would be the places I would be
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: messing around with that, just like they're doing with the
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: marijuana candidate and the Green Party candidates where they can't.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Can I– I want to stick on Michigan for one second.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: So you stuck with Michigan too?
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: I just– it's– What does Jocelyn Benson's number have to
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: be to basically make it impossible for Rodgers to win?
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Over 55?
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: I was going to say 54. 54. I think if
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Jocelyn Benson wins, the governor's 54, El-Sayed will win with
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: 50 and a half to 51. I think that's right.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: But I want to ask you this. Yes, it is
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Michigan for me that keeps Democrats up at night. But
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you this because you have a
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: unique perspective on this. Mine as a Gentile is like,
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: what the hell is Abdul El-Sayed doing? Like, Hassan Piker
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: is a provocateur. He is going to say things continually.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: I don't really know who this guy is. I don't
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: know who he is either.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: He came kind of out of nowhere, to be honest.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: He's relevant because he just live streams. He's a real-life
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: Truman Show.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: He's a streamer.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: And I'm supposed to care? I know. But my point is, Chuck,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: whether or not Abdul El-Sayed thinks that the Hasan Piker
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: thing is being blown out of proportion, it's just a
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: reality in the race. Why the hell he went and
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: spoke in front of the Jewish– the state party convention
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: was in Michigan this past weekend in Lansing. He, Al-Sayed,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: went and spoke and said, back in March, there was
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: an attack on the Detroit synagogue. Al-Sayed said, hurt people,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: hurt people. A lot of the people in the Jewish
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: community were upset about that. He said, I shouldn't have
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: said it. But he won't repudiate Hassan Piker and be like, look,
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: I don't want this guy within a thousand miles of Michigan.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Why not? Because politically, it makes no sense. The Republicans say, well,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: it's because he believes everything that Piker believes. And I'm like,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine that's true. At the same time, why
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: would you keep not walking away?
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: This is the Trump blueprint.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: You know, never apologize. And there's this whole mindset. And
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: I get the sense that there's a lot of people
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: on the left that have the same attitude, which is
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: I'm tired of apologizing for my views. And if they
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: don't have to apologize for their views, why do I
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: have to apologize for my views? No, I mean, i
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: i that's my best that's the best yeah analysis i
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: could come up with i get it um you know
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: i know here's the thing i've got a bunch of
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: things i would do if i were in his shoes
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: but you know what i don't know what he really
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: believes i know that's and at the end of the
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: day does he really want to make an effort to
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: convince Jews he's not anti-Israel? He's just simply anti-Bibi? Well,
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: if he's serious about it, there's plenty of ways to
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: prove this. Maybe call up Rahm Emanuel and say, hey,
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: I want to have an event with you and you
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: interview me on this topic and let's talk about it.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: Or give a big speech. Correct. There are ways to
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: do this, but if you believe....
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: Well, if I do that, it alienates this group and
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: I don't want to alienate this group.
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: Then that tells me something.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: I think it's revealing that it's so obvious from a
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: purely political strategic standpoint that you need to lop. You
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: need to lance that boil and never.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: Talk about it again.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: And he's not.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: Well, and he's doing the worst possible thing. He's like,
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: instead of lancing the boil, they're lancing everything around the boil.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: Like I was wrong to say this. I was right.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: He's dead.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: You know, why does anybody care what a podcaster from
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: California thinks?
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So what then do it? Like it's a strange
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: make either. So this is the thing. If you're not
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: going to apologize, then don't do the other stuff. I
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: totally go all in, but to try to like, have
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: it both ways is either matters or it doesn't matter. Correct.
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: And he's, And it does feel as if he's somehow
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: trying to walk a line that allows Piker people to say, yeah,
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: he's just saying what he has to say to keep
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: the donors happy.
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: Like he's, and you're like, you're, you're, you're, you're pretty
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: much convincing everybody that you're just not on the level
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: on this.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: I just don't know why you're not on the level. Well,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: it's like Donald Trump. It's like Donald Trump and white supremacists. Ah,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: he's not a white supremacist, but he's not going to
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: condemn them.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he'll never condemn Fuentes. He'll never condemn.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Right, so... Yeah.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: Like, we get what you're doing.
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: So, again, you know, I always say it's like, look,
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: we've talked about this before. Politics has always been about imitation.
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: And you see, he had success... making no apologies for
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: his extreme views. And if anything, you know, and by
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: the way, did it with Bernie Sanders, right? And what
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: is it about both Bernie and Trump that the average
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: voter will say, well, I know where they stand.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: Authenticity, authenticity, authenticity. Whatever that means to people.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: All right, let's do the Republican side. I gave away
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: mine first, so you go ahead and do yours. What
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: is the one state... that is the, and I think
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: there's a couple of candidates here. It isn't one obvious one.
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you the answer I gave, which you probably
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: already know in your head, because you know the way
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: I think about these things, but what's your answer?
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: I think from a sheer scale and financial perspective, the
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: answer is Texas, because it's going to cost, even if
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: you can drag taxes across the line, which they may
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: well be able to do, That's like $ 150 million. He's
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: not going to raise it. He's just not. The other one,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: if I was Republicans, that I would worry about, because
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: there's so many weird variables, rank choice voting, two people
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: with the same name, is.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: Alaska.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Because Dan Sullivan, the incumbent, hasn't really done anything wrong,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: but Paltola is uniquely positioned. They should win that race,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: but I think they're probably not winning it right now.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: But in terms of orders of magnitude, the amount of
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: money Republicans are going to have to spend in Texas is,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: you know, minimum 10x what they're going to have to
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: spend in Alaska. So I guess I would say Texas.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: I could be persuaded on Texas. I didn't say Texas
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: or Alaska.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, interesting.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: Look, I get it on Alaska because you could make
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: an argument. Quinn and I were having this argument that
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: Alaska is the majority maker. So if it's the majority maker, it's–
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: I just– it's not expensive.
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: No.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: It's not hard.
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: So that's why I don't know if it– I think
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: it's annoying, but I don't know if it keeps them
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: up at night. I looked at it from a– I think,
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: like I said, I could– the Texas argument is strong.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: Because– Just so much money.
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: But– You also have Abbott, who's got a couple hundred
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: million dollars himself.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: So and it's a Trump plus 13 state. I said Iowa.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because I can understand that thinking the three three
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: house races. I mean, when you look at it, they
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: could flip the in theory, the majority is all in Iowa, right?
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: The three house seats could be the majority that it
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: could be the fourth Senate seat. And then having a
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: Democratic governor going into 28 in a state that you
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: didn't want to put in play could suddenly get put
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: back into play. Like, there's just a lot. Yes, it's
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: a small state, but right. It's also hard to attack Turek.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: It's hard to attack a guy who's in a wheelchair
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: and was a multi-time Paralympic gold medal. Like, that story
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: is hard to attack.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: All true. I do think.
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: Hinson is actually a better candidate than Jody Ernst would
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: be simply because she's.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Not the incumbent.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: And, you know, look, as Quinn and I were going
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: back and forth on this, as he said, as he
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: made the point, he goes, you know, Hinson could win
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: it simply by performing a little, you know, sort of performing,
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: you know, only winning the fourth congressional district, but just
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: coming out really close in the first, second and third.
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: Like that's how, you know, and the fact that she
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: comes from a part of the state Democrats need to
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: do well in, in order to win statewide, which is
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: Eastern Iowa.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: So it is, I.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: Do think that the bar is a is probably higher
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: in Iowa than I appreciate. But I also think that this,
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: this Republican ticket's really weak. Zach Lane is really weak.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: He's not done anything.
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: And I don't know, you know, at some point Hinson
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: might even have to distance herself from.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: I actually think Hinson, to.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: Your point, I actually think Hinson is probably the best
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: of their options in terms of the Republican ticket, better
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: than Ernst. She is a member of Congress, so she's
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: an ideal.
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: No, Ernst would have been, right. It's not the best,
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: but Ernst would have been incumbent senator.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: But it's better than the alternatives.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: And that would have, I think, been in a weird way.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: And the whole we're all going to die someday thing
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: would have haunted her.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: It just would have. I mean, there is something to
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: be said.
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: This is one of the rare cases where The getting
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: rid of the incumbent might have actually been a small
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: net positive on that. I actually think I like Joni Ernst.
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: I think she was a I think she's a good senator. Yeah,
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: she was somebody I like. I like having me to
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: like having in the Senate. But but yeah, she had
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: she kind of just never was comfortable in Trump's Washington.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: And you're starting.
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: She didn't know how to be anti-Trump and survive.
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: And she was just like, I'm out. Like, I kind
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: of get it.
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: Like, you know, you're like, look, I'm not going to
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: be Liz Cheney.
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: That's not who she is. And that's OK.
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: I don't think everybody, you know, that's that's not for everybody.
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: And it's like, I'm just out of this.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: You know, get me out.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: I do think just while we're on Iowa for one
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: more minute, I do think and you're starting to see
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: it pick up a little bit in terms of national
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: media attention. But I think take that. 30 of the
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: buzz john ossoff is getting and devote that 30 to
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: what rob sand is doing in in iowa it's a
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: very interesting candidacy now he's starting to get some more
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: national attention yeah it's a very interesting candidacy and the
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: i love.
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: What he said he said today got caught on tape
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: saying yeah this two-party system i think it you know
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: it's designed to prevent choice and.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: To keep power for.
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: It's not away from the people and i'm like go
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: get them man go go say it.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Um I would recommend to people Jonathan Martin's interview with
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Rob Sand from last week in Politico. Very good, Rob Sand.
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: I liked it because he said, Jay Mark said, would
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: you want Kamala Harris to campaign with you? And he
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: was like, nope. So, you know, it got me thinking,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to ask you this question. And I
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: have an answer there. I have noticed there's really only
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: one 2028er that has truly been welcomed by in the
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: bluest parts of places and in the reddest places where
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: Democrats are. And there's only one.
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: And I think we're all, and myself included, underrating this guy.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: Who am I referring to? All right, Guy, that's helpful.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: The name that came to mind because I know he's
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: going to New Mexico soon is Buttigieg. Is that right?
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: It is. Look, this matters. I remember in 06, Obama
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: was invited everywhere. Kansas Democrats invited him, South Dakota Democrats.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: He did an event in West Virginia. Meanwhile, you have
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: people like Claire McCaskill going, I don't want Hillary anywhere
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: near here.
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: Keep Hillary away. I don't need her here.
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: Just like Rob saying with Kamala, uh-uh. No Kamala, please.
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: No this person, please. No that person, please. And while
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: I think Eddie Beshear is welcome in Iowa, I don't
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: think it's not as if Angie Nixon wants Andy Beshear.
• 49:11
  Speaker 4: No.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: Or somebody, I don't know. I mean, that's a bad example.
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: The left doesn't want Andy Beshear.
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: Buttigieg right now sits in this space. where he brings
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: a crowd, whether you are in the inner city, suburbs,
• 49:28
  Speaker 3: or rural America. I can't think of another current Democrat
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: not named Barack Obama who could do that.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: Tell me one who can. I think that's right.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: And that makes me think I'm underestimating Buttigieg's chances.
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: I think I'm doing that.
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: I went through this exercise when he said, and it
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: all started when Rob Sand said, I don't want Kamala here.
• 49:52
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, it got me thinking, okay, who's been
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: welcome and who hasn't? Where have people been going? And
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: you know all these candidates won.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: Look at Gavin Newsom. Gavin Newsom went to Michigan and
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: couldn't get anybody to campaign with him.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: Right. Gavin Newsom's going to South Carolina.
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: I didn't see any, you know, the governor candidate will-
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: appear with him because that race is not considered.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: It's not going to happen.
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: That guy needs.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: Andrews is not likely to appear.
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: Andrews hasn't done it. Like you're not, you know, and again,
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: you know, it's interesting to me. It says something.
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: Pete is the one that you don't, nobody, he's not
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: considered a crazy lefty.
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: Nope.
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: Nor is he considered an anti-Democrat. Like he's sits in
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: this space. That is that I think, Look, I think
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: Biden's baggage is pretty heavy.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: That's what we talked about. And his ability to win
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: black voters, I still think is up in the air.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: And all that is pretty tough, but.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: The guy- Liz Smith is smiling.
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: He's still trying.
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: I'm just like, if you want to put fannies in
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: the seats.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: I've heard about this.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: Asses in seats.
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: He puts asses in seats.
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: People are still curious what Pete has to say, whether
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: you are a progressive or a Trump skeptic Republican. Pete
• 51:09
  Speaker 3: is interesting to people, just like Obama was in 06. Look,
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: I'm not sitting here saying he's Obama, but he's of
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: all the 28 or so far who are active. The
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: guy is being invited to more states than any other 28er.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: I think that's really important. And I always say it's not,
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: it's not determinative, but the asses in seats metric does matter.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: People being interested to come here, you speak, does matter.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: Doesn't mean they're going to vote for you, but it
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: does matter. They're interested in that. All right. I got
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: two more political things, media things I want to do. Yeah, man. One, again,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: because you're uniquely positioned.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: To talk about this. I have a feeling I know
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: where this is going.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump, Kristen Welker makes a, Your successor at Meet
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: the Press makes up what I took to be a very,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: I don't mean this in a pejorative way, but bland,
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: inoffensive comment.
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: It was innocuous.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: Explain to people. Explain to people. So she makes this
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: comment not actually on Meet the Press. She makes it
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: in an interview with the local NBC affiliate. So explain
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: to people why she would be talking to them, first
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: of all.
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: So on Sunday morning, both before the show and after
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: the show, You know, you would do and Kristen does
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: very similar. You know, you do a bunch of promotion
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: with local affiliates, the local news lead ins, you know.
• 52:24
  Speaker 3: And so, for instance, the show is taped from nine
• 52:27
  Speaker 3: to ten live to tape. It's at ten thirty in
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: the D.C. market at ten o'clock is local news. WRC
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: is doing local news. And, you know, right after you're
• 52:39
  Speaker 3: done taping, she's sitting on set. And so I'm just
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: picturing how Donald Trump, you know, he's flipping around and
• 52:46
  Speaker 3: the and Fox News Sundays ends at nine. And he's probably,
• 52:50
  Speaker 3: you know, wondering when does meet the press start? So
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: he's got them all going and then he sees Welker.
• 52:54
  Speaker 3: So he probably, you know, he's got his five box going.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: We know this.
• 52:58
  Speaker 3: I've seen this TV that he that he uses for
• 53:01
  Speaker 3: all of this. And he sees Welker pop up on
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: the NBC screen while he's waiting for Meet the Press
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: at 1030. So he probably quickly tuned in. And anyway,
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: so we called them crosstalks. Other networks call them talkbacks.
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: And so what happens is sometimes we'll suggest, here are
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: a couple of potential questions you might want to ask
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: the moderator. Sometimes the anchor goes off on their own
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: and asks.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: I have no doubt.
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: You're just promoting the show. You're talking about the show.
• 53:30
  Speaker 3: And so- I mean, I'm sitting here.
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, going.
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: And so what we really need to this is not
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: about Kristen Welker. This is not about NBC. This is
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: about how fragile is this person? This 80 year old
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: man is so fragile that somebody saying that his endorsement
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: doesn't have the juice it once had. triggers him to
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: the point that he melts down and begs for the,
• 53:57
  Speaker 3: like even the, even the newsbusters crowd, I read their
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: story about your research center, right? This is this crazy,
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: like Bozell grift, the Bozell family grift operation. That's been in, uh,
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: been going on since the Nixon days, but even they
• 54:14
  Speaker 3: couldn't write it up. They basically said, actually, if he
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: does this with the FEC, it weakens their case against ABC.
• 54:21
  Speaker 3: And like, You know, sort of acknowledges that Trump's full
• 54:24
  Speaker 3: of shit here, but they can't say Trump's full of
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: shit because, God forbid, they actually are honest about anything
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: they write about.
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: But what I mean, what is that?
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: But they couldn't even they couldn't even come up with
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: a but they they wanted to write something. I mean,
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: I guess kudos that they admitted that what that what
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: they just wrote it as neutrally as is as they're
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: capable of writing. because it was such a ridiculous statement.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: The point being is that Trump is, I mean, you know,
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: we keep, it's like, at what point, you know, we've
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: talked about this for years, Trump's mental state, right?
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: He's very fragile. His ego is so, you know, he can,
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: you can set him off. We know people have to
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: be careful what's said around him or he becomes like incoherent.
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: Like he's just, you know, he's a really broken, sad,
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: fragile man. And, you know, kind of very similar, I guess,
• 55:21
  Speaker 3: to what this Pete Hegseth is.
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: And we're getting to that. We're getting to that.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, Trump is. Here's the thing.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: The Economist wrote about this a couple of weeks ago that,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: you know, once Trump starts to realize the public has
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: decided he's a loser.
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: He could become more dangerous.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: It's a cornered animal.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think I mean, look at this meltdown again.
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: Kristen Welker said.
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: The most.
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: Innocuous, normie thing you could say. Basically, like there's a
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: mixed bag of his endorsements.
• 55:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was like, you know, it was not me
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: calling him, you know, the most unqualified person ever to
• 56:07
  Speaker 3: hold the office of the presidency.
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: She didn't say that.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: Not even close. She just simply said his endorsement's been
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: kind of a mixed bag. Yes.
• 56:15
  Speaker 3: And even gave him credit for the Darlene Graham thing.
• 56:18
  Speaker 3: I think it says a lot more about his own
• 56:21
  Speaker 3: mental state than anything else. And I know, you know,
• 56:26
  Speaker 3: the Republican Party just washes its hands of this hostage
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: situation they've allowed themselves to be in where you've got
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: this incredibly fragile ego that dictates policy based on his mood.
• 56:40
  Speaker 3: It's kind of crazy.
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: And I would say, agree with everything you said.
• 56:44
  Speaker 3: And I would just, and I don't want to turn
• 56:46
  Speaker 3: this into a bulwark podcast. And I don't, you know,
• 56:50
  Speaker 3: cause I, I joke, you know, the bulwark is sort of,
• 56:53
  Speaker 3: I feel like that, that they're very focused on this and,
• 56:56
  Speaker 3: and I, and I get it. I'm not going to
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: dismiss it. I kind of feel like that there's only
• 57:02
  Speaker 3: so many times you can keep worrying about it, but
• 57:05
  Speaker 3: my God, you know, We talk about the 25th Amendment
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: so much it's meaningless at this point, but it's pretty
• 57:12
  Speaker 3: clear to me that there is an attempt to try
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: to protect Trump from himself at times, and it doesn't
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: always work.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: Well, and I would put the Kristen Welker thing on
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Sunday with the Maggie Haberman stuff on Friday where he
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: does the same thing.
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: By the way, the story was true. He didn't like
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: how the story was explained.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: The story was that Trump wasn't going to New York
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: because in New York on the 25th anniversary of September 11th,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: and I think on every anniversary, no one speaks. They
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: read the names.
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: They just read the names.
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: And then he wanted to speak and he's going to
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: speak in the Pentagon. And then he goes off and again,
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: talk about, you know, using a bazooka on an ant-sized story.
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: Same with what he did with Kristen.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: Attacking her, saying she's unattractive. This happens all within 48 hours.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: They have to be twins. Now, look, there's also one
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: other thing that Mrs. Todd would remind me of.
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: He's more triggered when women criticize him.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: Yes. And so you– It's true.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: You can dispute it. The facts are the facts.
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: Facts are the facts.
• 58:21
  Speaker 3: He gets more triggered when women criticize him than when
• 58:24
  Speaker 3: men criticize him.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: The last thing I have on my list in terms
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: of politics is Pete Hegseth. I gave him worst week
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: in Washington this past week for the start– I mean look.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: It seems to me pretty clear at this point that
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: Pete Hegsa doesn't give a shit about the First Amendment
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: and the protections offered to him about freedom of the press.
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: You have– why don't you talk about your– Well.
• 58:46
  Speaker 3: I just like– I mean this– and Sean Parnell, let's like–
• 58:52
  Speaker 3: remember who he hired to be his press liaison. I mean,
• 58:55
  Speaker 3: do you remember who Sean Parnell is?
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Is it the same Parnell that ran in Alaska? Yes.
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: I thought it was.
• 59:02
  Speaker 3: It ran for office and was sort of kind of
• 59:06
  Speaker 3: an unhinge kind of guy.
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: You know, it's a straight i thought it was the
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: same guy and then i was like because he ran
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: for like the house or the senate he ran i
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: mean everything's a statewide race in alaska but federally well
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: i also ran he run in pennsylvania too i don't
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: know but i said.
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah he was the senate candidate in pennsylvania golly um
• 59:26
  Speaker 3: that was sort of you know um Anyway, he's always
• 59:34
  Speaker 3: kind of been a bit MAGA, right? Which is sort
• 59:36
  Speaker 3: of how he got on the radar.
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: Of that world.
• 59:40
  Speaker 3: But anyway, I just, boy, I don't, you know, he
• 59:44
  Speaker 3: hires these influencers. Hegseth is a very online guy.
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: Yes. And he cares so much about his image.
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 59:52
  Speaker 3: And, you know, you've got, You know, his former TV
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: producer spouse who apparently operates as if she's, I guess,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: the first lady of the Pentagon. I think he introduced
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 3: her as that, you know, and and now I was
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: I was searching. I was searching for the greatest political
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: ad that I've ever, you know, least effective. But one
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 3: of my favorite political ads, which is it's a simple
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: black white lettering on a black background, Spiro Agnew for
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: vice president.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: And it's just somebody laughing.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: That's kind of how i feel about running for president
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: and you're just like that's right news reported that he
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: is running for president and i will note he was
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: in iowa earlier this month campaigning for candidates you don't
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: do that by well this.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: Is where we talked about this last week like the
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 3: the parade of crazies from the cabinet that probably i
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 3: was gonna say.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: We talked about the cabinet it's kind of the cabinet.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 3: Cabinet primary yes and the and the you know between
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: let nick and you.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: Know, RFK Jr. and Hegseth and Hegseth and these guys,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: Tulsi Gabbard, maybe again, all like.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 3: Somehow think that there's that there's that there's.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: How does this guy.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: Have a job, Chuck? Is it just audience of one?
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: Trump likes it.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: You know, I got I've got theories. I wouldn't say
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: out loud. I don't know. I think it's an audience
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: of one.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 3: I think Trump's kind of obsessed with him, you know,
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 3: because he's always obsessed with people that have the look, right?
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, central casting. Loves the Hank Seth look, which I
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: kind of, I mean, we haven't had a defense secretary
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: with that kind of hair since Bob McNamara. How did
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: that work out? It's so true.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, the guy looks like McNamara to me. I'm like,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: is that McNamara's grandson?
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: He's like doing push-ups.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: He's just as effective.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: Talking about high tea. He really is as empty of
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: a suit that that I've seen there. But realistically, like
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: this is a mess what's going on at the Pentagon.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: And I don't this is.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 3: Where it's one thing for elected Republicans in Congress to
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 3: stay silent on some.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: Of this stuff with the.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 3: With the building and the ballroom and the Kennedy Center.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 2: I get it.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 3: You can't chase after every squirrel when it comes to Trump.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: No, you've got to differentiate between mountains and molehills. Lake Ontario,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: Lake America doesn't really matter.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 3: Are you telling me that an excursion against Iran has
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 3: suddenly made us.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 2: Run out of weapons?
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 3: We're about to embark on the 25th anniversary of 9-11.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 3: We have increased the defense budget every single year since 9-11.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: $ 1. 5 trillion now.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 3: What the hell have we spent all this money on
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 3: if an excursion, president's words, against Iran makes it where
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 3: we don't have enough munitions in case somebody else decides
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 3: to attack us? Like, What kind of shit show are
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 3: we running at the Pentagon over the last 30 years,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 3: 25 years, let alone what's happening right here at the moment?
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 3: Where's the oversight? Where's Congress on this? I mean, I'm
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 3: sorry if my son were were were enlisted. I'd be
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 3: like I'd be fearful that he didn't have all of
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 3: the everything that he needs to be a soldier. Are
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 3: you able to keep them healthy and feed them and.
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 2: Give them USS Abraham? Chuck, apparently the answer is no.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: This should be a huge story.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 3: And it's because there's so much noise out there. Nobody's
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 3: quite sure which stories are the ones that really matter.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 3: This one should be a much bigger story. We're running
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 3: out of weapons? In a war with Iran?
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: If you search Lake Ontario name change and running out
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: of weapons, Lake Ontario name change is going to be
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: way more stories written about it and is so much
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: less important.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, I get that people don't like it. I
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: understand why people don't like it. Whatever.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: But it's– there's actual troops and sailors on front lines here, right?
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: I just– I'm like, where's– come on, Roger Wicker. Like
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: this is a crisis.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: Where are you? And frankly, where have you guys been over?
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: Look, I mean, this is one where you're like, just
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 3: like the $ 40 trillion debt everybody owns. The fact that
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 3: we have spent all this money at the Pentagon and
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 3: we can't fight a war. We can't fight the war
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 3: of 2026. We are not capable. Are you kidding me?
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: Especially when the president of the United States says every
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: single speech, how he's rebuilt the military and we have
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: the best military and we're winning everywhere. And the facts-
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: Don't support it. I mean, they just don't.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: They really don't.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: All right. I want to propose something to you. Let's
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: do a few minutes on our favorite subject, which is.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: The Washington Nationals. On Sunday, the Washington Nationals entered the
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: ninth inning with a 2-0 lead against the Florida Miami Marlins.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: They lost 6-2. Was this the worst loss of the season, Chuck?
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: And if so, who do we blame?
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: You know, they took two of three. They're playing. You
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: know that they're playing.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: It's a four-game series.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: Very weirdly, they're playing Monday. Playing Monday.
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 3: But yes, two of three. Look, I, you know, so
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 3: I'm not as, you say is the worst. I actually
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 3: would look at it as it was our season in
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 3: a nutshell.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 2: Actually, this is me in a nutshell.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: This is me in a nutshell.
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 2: So good. It's one of my favorite Mike Myers movies.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 3: Anyway, so I don't know if it's the worst loss,
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 3: but by the way, the night, was it the Friday?
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 3: What's our first walk-off? First walk-off win, Dylan Cruz.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Your boy, Dylan Cruz. I know you love him.
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: DC3.
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: You're not a fan, are you?
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 3: No. I, you know, I guess, but the season sort
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 3: of is.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: I was going to say the.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: Phillies losses mattered more because we were actually.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: Potentially in the wild card.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: Now those were so much worse because it was just
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: devastating to watch this one.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: Right. Hit by pitch errors.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: I know, but it was kind of expected. Here's the
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 3: here's the stat that still blows me away from the
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 3: other night. That we broke our record, which we set
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 3: last year of use of rookie pitchers. So last year
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 3: we used 14 rookie pitchers who first time they ever made,
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: they appeared in the major leagues was with the Washington
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 3: Nationals in 2025. This year we have had 15 and
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 3: I'm guessing we'll probably get 16 or 17, 18 by
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 3: the time. So somehow the Washington Nationals have used 30 pitchers,
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 3: brand new pitchers, last year and this year, and we've
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 3: yet to find like- Five.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, none of them. Who are good?
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 3: The Foster Griffin, they deserve some credit for getting and
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 3: then trading, which that I understood. But they intentionally decided
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 3: not to target any bullpen help and thought, well, they'll
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 3: just keep- just literally throwing.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: Spaghetti arms at the wall.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: Well, here we are.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, just some of these guys, you look at
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 3: it and you're like, when they miss the strike zone,
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 3: they sometimes hit the ump.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: I mean.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: It is hard to watch, and yet I feel like
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: I'm becoming more and more like Statler and Waldorf. Why
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: do we always come here? I guess we'll never know.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: It's like some kind of torture to have to watch
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: the Nats. That's how I feel, and yet I still watch.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: My favorite Nats stat is that... I do want to
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: get my James Wood bobblehead, but... Yeah, where are James
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: Wood bobbleheads? My kid wants one. Yeah, season ticket holders.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: You get them set aside, but I got to get
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: there in the next week to pick it up. The
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: Washington Nationals lead the league in stolen bases and home
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: runs and will miss the playoffs.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 3: The last time a team led in stolen bases and
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 3: home runs was the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: Now, they won the whole frickin' thing.
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: Huh.
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 4: Huh.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 2: I guess pitching, but they also had Oh, I don't know.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: A guy named Don Newcomb and Carl Erskine and Hall
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: of Famers pitching for them.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: They were pretty good. They had something called starting pitching.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: We've got Cade Cavalli and then nothing else.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 2: Cade Cavalli and pray for rain. Andrew Alvarez. I like Alvarez.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: Me too.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: I was just going to say. I like Alvarez. I'll
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: get that.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: We are, if you are listening or watching this Tuesday,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: we will be live at 830. On Tuesday night, Massachusetts primary,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: Seth Moulton versus Ed Markey. It's a generational primary.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: But Markey's on the old guys. Markey's the liberal. Old
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: liberal versus young moderate. This is a race.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 3: By the way, so Massachusetts in November is going to
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 3: vote on changing their primary system to a top two.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 3: Regardless of party uh martin uh molten markey in a
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 3: november election i don't think it would be that close
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 3: i think molten would win by eight to ten.
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: It's interesting i wonder if he runs if we go
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: into this top two in massachusetts i don't i think
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: that Elizabeth Warren will be the last liberal elected in
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: Massachusetts for a long time. It's a very interesting thing.
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: There's a couple primaries for the house right now that
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: would be different.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 3: If that was Steve Lynch is another one. Lynch could
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 3: win a top two situation.
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: And lose in this current.
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 2: He, you know, he could easily, you.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 3: Know, Lynch is probably more likely to lose his primary
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 3: than Markey is to Moulton.
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think more likely than Richie Neal, too. Yeah.
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 2: But you're right.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: If that changes. Anyway, we will be live 830 to 10-ish.
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: If you are listening or watching on Tuesday. we are
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: almost at the end of the primary season. You should
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: have already, I assume you're already a subscriber to the
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: Chuck Todd cast. If you're not, you need to be
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: do so. Chuck is also on beyond the pod on
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: sub stack. I am on sub stack.
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: And so what you call it, right? So what? And
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 2: Chuck dynastic, is it? What is football? It's Alabama football, right?
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 2: Which I'm intrigued by.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: It's I've got, look, we've, It's funny, the power of football, man.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: First of all, I just, I know more people are
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: listening because.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 3: I'm hearing from more people about it, right? It's just
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 3: like the power of football.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: Football is undefeated in this country. It's saving television. It
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: really is.
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: But we interviewed Feinbaum and we haven't dropped the Feinbaum
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: interview yet.
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 2: We're going to, I think, drop that pretty soon.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 3: But he said he was trying to get Nick Saban
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 3: to run for Senate.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: Love it.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, if Tommy Tuberville can do it, let's be honest.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 3: Well, that's, I am, if I were to pick my
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 3: long shot upset, it would be Doug Jones.
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, let's do long shot. I think I'm going
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 2: to put that down as a segment. We should do
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: in the future. The points. How's that? Doug Jones, Doug
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 2: Jones of the probably like seven and a half. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 2: I think the March.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 2: This is this is would have been my calling. Right.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 2: Which is give me election point spreads. I know I'd
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: never lose.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: Doug Jones and the points.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: Chuck Todd, Chris Lizza. Subscribe, like, comment. We'll see you
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: later tonight. See you live stream.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hopefully my voice will be better. Bye, everyone. See you, Chuck.