Latest / Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar / 8/10/26: Mitch McConnell Discharged, Hillary Warns Abdul About Communist Attacks
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hey, guys, Saga and Crystal here.
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- 0:33Speaker 2: We have an update in the is he dead or alive?
- 0:37Speaker 3: Saga?
- 0:37Speaker 2: That is Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Let's put this
- 0:41Speaker 2: up on the screen. So allegedly he has now been
- 0:43Speaker 2: discharged from that rehabilitation center in a hospital here.
- 0:47Speaker 3: In Washington, DC.
- 0:50Speaker 2: This has been a nearly eight week medical absence, all
- 0:53Speaker 2: caused by what him and his office are claiming was
- 0:56Speaker 2: a minor fall with no significant injuries. And yet here
- 1:00Speaker 2: we are two months later, having only received two still
- 1:05Speaker 2: images that could easily be AI. I'm not saying they
- 1:08Speaker 2: are AI, but they easily could be AI. No video,
- 1:11Speaker 2: no audio, no nothing. And now with no actual sightings
- 1:16Speaker 2: of him, he has allegedly been moved from this hospital
- 1:19Speaker 2: rehab center in DC to his home in Kentucky. He
- 1:23Speaker 2: said it in a statement on the advice of my doctors,
- 1:26Speaker 2: I'll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home
- 1:29Speaker 2: during the state work period it I'll continue to engage
- 1:32Speaker 2: with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business. A
- 1:36Speaker 2: spokesman did not say whether the senator would return to
- 1:39Speaker 2: the Senate when the chamber, which is scheduled to begin
- 1:41Speaker 2: a five week break starting Monday, returns to session in September.
- 1:45Speaker 2: That absence began in June when he was hospitalized after
- 1:48Speaker 2: falling unconscious at his home. In July, he broke a
- 1:51Speaker 2: long silence, saying he had suffered from a fall in
- 1:54Speaker 2: a mild case of pneumonia and had since been transferred
- 1:57Speaker 2: to a rehab center to continue his rec Let's put
- 2:01Speaker 2: D two up on the screen. Here was the original
- 2:05Speaker 2: statement from the office of the attending physician, just as
- 2:08Speaker 2: just so you can recall what we were told happened
- 2:11Speaker 2: two months ago. And yet he still is not being
- 2:13Speaker 2: seen in public whatsoever. Senator McConnell experienced several falls throughout
- 2:17Speaker 2: the year that have been attributed to his post polio condition.
- 2:19Speaker 2: He was admitted to the hospital four weeks ago after
- 2:22Speaker 2: falling at home and sustaining minor injuries. A comprehensive evaluation
- 2:27Speaker 2: by a multidisciplinary team determined he had no fractures, no
- 2:30Speaker 2: cardiac abnormalities, stroke, tumor, or hemorrhage, which is different, by
- 2:34Speaker 2: the way, than what was reported in that nine to
- 2:37Speaker 2: one to one call from his home. Early in his hospitalization,
- 2:40Speaker 2: he developed pneumonia, which responded rapidly to antibiotic treatment. The
- 2:43Speaker 2: remainder of his hospitals stay focused on physical therapy strategies
- 2:46Speaker 2: to reduce his risk of future falls. He's been medically
- 2:48Speaker 2: clear to continue fully participating in his intensive physical therapy program.
- 2:54Speaker 2: We've got some eagle eyed reporters outside of McConnell's home
- 2:58Speaker 2: in Louisville, Kentucky that spotted some medical devices there.
- 3:03Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and take a look at this. You
- 3:06Speaker 3: know about Ms McConnell or who's so.
- 3:09Speaker 2: What you can see there in those boxes is some
- 3:11Speaker 2: sort of a device that is intended to help lift
- 3:14Speaker 2: elderly people from their recliner chairs, so indicating apparently that
- 3:20Speaker 2: he is unable to easily at least stand up from
- 3:24Speaker 2: just a seated position.
- 3:25Speaker 1: Shout out to these shoulders. Man, I love these people.
- 3:27Speaker 1: This is this is old school, this is the real stuff.
- 3:30Speaker 1: We're zooming in. We're taking pictures of lifts, We're covering
- 3:33Speaker 1: the right stories. Seriously, nobody else is going to do it.
- 3:36Speaker 1: It's easy to go up on Capitol Hill and shove
- 3:38Speaker 1: your phone in a in a live senator's face, but
- 3:41Speaker 1: to actually see what's going on with these people that
- 3:45Speaker 1: you know, there's very few who were actually on the
- 3:47Speaker 1: on the on the beat. And I do want to
- 3:49Speaker 1: emphasize part of the reason is is that on Capitol Hill,
- 3:53Speaker 1: speaking the way you and I are now is state
- 3:55Speaker 1: class A is uncomfortable. The staffers will freeze you out.
- 3:58Speaker 1: McConnell's staff, they're all over the building. They can still
- 4:02Speaker 1: be like, oh, I can't believe he would be so
- 4:04Speaker 1: disrespectful to the former Senate majority of them. So that's
- 4:07Speaker 1: why it's really only independent journalists that are really hammering
- 4:10Speaker 1: the story and are asking it in a very difficult way,
- 4:12Speaker 1: like is he able to climb the stairs. Yes or no?
- 4:14Speaker 1: Why is CNN or all these others. They have all
- 4:16Speaker 1: the money in the world. They could do it if
- 4:18Speaker 1: they wanted to, but they're not right, and I think
- 4:20Speaker 1: that's very important. You also saw that a lot of
- 4:23Speaker 1: their staff are now again being chased down by some
- 4:25Speaker 1: of these by these independent journalists. One of them here,
- 4:29Speaker 1: Nicholas Ballacy. I want to make sure I give him credits.
- 4:33Speaker 1: Has been following around the McConnell chief of staff, just
- 4:35Speaker 1: being like, Hey, how's your boss? Just take a listen.
- 4:38Speaker 4: I read that mcconnald's been discharged. Are you guys going
- 4:41Speaker 4: to release a video of him?
- 4:44Speaker 5: Though?
- 4:44Speaker 4: Just to kind of quell any of the speculation or
- 4:49Speaker 4: any of the rumors online. You probably read everything that's
- 4:54Speaker 4: going on, So just wonder what you're going to do next.
- 5:00Speaker 1: You never see that on the Hill. It's like unspoken.
- 5:03Speaker 1: You're not supposed to make the staff the story. Why not,
- 5:05Speaker 1: as he points out, the man makes two hundred and
- 5:08Speaker 1: twenty six thousand dollars a year and won't say why
- 5:10Speaker 1: McConnell has not released a short video of his absence
- 5:12Speaker 1: passes some seven weeks on Capitol Hill.
- 5:15Speaker 5: It's nuts.
- 5:15Speaker 1: Yeah. Also, this is not even a job that you
- 5:17Speaker 1: can work from home. We were trying to figure this
- 5:19Speaker 1: out yesterday. McConnell tried to vote, which is insane in
- 5:23Speaker 1: this Agricultural committee, I believe, by proxy. So he tried
- 5:28Speaker 1: to get one of his elderly buddies in the Senate
- 5:30Speaker 1: to vote for him by proxy. It turns out that
- 5:33Speaker 1: in that specific Senate committee, you're not allowed to vote
- 5:36Speaker 1: by proxy, so his vote didn't count. But who is
- 5:39Speaker 1: making that call? Like remember Diane Feinstein when what was
- 5:42Speaker 1: Amy klobachar leans over and is like just vote yes.
- 5:45Speaker 1: I mean, is that what's happening right? Like is he
- 5:47Speaker 1: all there? There's been no video of him talking, of
- 5:51Speaker 1: him walking, of his estimate of coming home. He spent
- 5:54Speaker 1: two months in the hospital. I mean you and I
- 5:57Speaker 1: both know the hospital. The last thing. They don't want
- 5:59Speaker 1: you there, like kick your ass, you can get somebody
- 6:01Speaker 1: else in there. Now, he's got home healthcare aids who
- 6:03Speaker 1: are at home lift devices. Look, he's a very very
- 6:06Speaker 1: rich man because of his wife, who's you know, like
- 6:08Speaker 1: a half a billionaire or something. So I'm not saying
- 6:11Speaker 1: he's like not getting good care at home, but it's
- 6:14Speaker 1: obvious now with the machines and being you know where
- 6:18Speaker 1: he is. He's been missing now for quite some time.
- 6:20Speaker 1: If he was able to talk, they would release a
- 6:22Speaker 1: video of course, have to with this one, and it's
- 6:24Speaker 1: like they still won't do it. That's what's so crazy
- 6:27Speaker 1: about it.
- 6:27Speaker 2: The lift chair and we're going to show you. Home
- 6:29Speaker 2: Health Aid have convinced me he is he is alive.
- 6:32Speaker 1: No, he's alive.
- 6:33Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm convinced of that much at least, but I'm
- 6:36Speaker 2: also convinced that he's in very poor condition because there
- 6:39Speaker 2: was no They smuggled him out of this hospital, presumably
- 6:43Speaker 2: in the dead of night. There were no photos of
- 6:45Speaker 2: him being discharged because you've had reporters there, very few
- 6:48Speaker 2: from the mainstream mountlets, but you know Desiree who we
- 6:51Speaker 2: had on the show, there's a handful that are like
- 6:53Speaker 2: staking out the hospital to try to catch any potential movements.
- 6:57Speaker 2: So they waited till the time then there was nobody there.
- 6:59Speaker 2: They ushered him out. I assume they took him because
- 7:01Speaker 2: there were no sightings of him at either the DC
- 7:04Speaker 2: Airport or at the Louisville, Kentucky Airport, which is not
- 7:07Speaker 2: all that large.
- 7:09Speaker 3: Someone would have spotted him.
- 7:10Speaker 2: He is obviously very famous individual, well known, very easily recognized, etc.
- 7:15Speaker 2: So presumably it probably took a private jet to get
- 7:17Speaker 2: home to escape any kind of scrutiny.
- 7:19Speaker 3: Which again, if he's.
- 7:20Speaker 2: In great condition and he's having twenty minute phone conversations
- 7:23Speaker 2: and Sharpe's attack and better than ever and just had
- 7:26Speaker 2: a little fall, don't worry about it. You would want
- 7:29Speaker 2: to release some video evidence. You wouldn't be afraid of
- 7:31Speaker 2: cameras catching you as you're going to the airport to
- 7:34Speaker 2: continue recovery.
- 7:35Speaker 3: At home, etc.
- 7:36Speaker 2: So I think he's alive, but he's in very very
- 7:39Speaker 2: bad condition, because that's the only thing that explains the
- 7:41Speaker 2: complete cover up of any sort of visual or audio
- 7:45Speaker 2: evidence of him being in sound mind and body. And
- 7:49Speaker 2: with the Senate so closely divided, obviously his vote makes
- 7:53Speaker 2: a big difference on a lot of different things. Todd
- 7:57Speaker 2: Blanche was confirmed over the weekend because they were able
- 8:00Speaker 2: to get basically all of the Republicans, say for a
- 8:02Speaker 2: couple inline Cassidy, who was very reluctant, embarrassing that he
- 8:06Speaker 2: ends up having to Trump after Trump, you know, did
- 8:09Speaker 2: all sorts of things to make sure that he was
- 8:11Speaker 2: defeated in his primary. But in any case, they narrowly
- 8:13Speaker 2: got that over the finish line. But there's a whole
- 8:15Speaker 2: host of issues like that that could literally come down
- 8:18Speaker 2: to McConnell's vote. Are they going to figure out how
- 8:20Speaker 2: to have him vote by proxy while we have no
- 8:23Speaker 2: idea whether he even knows that votes are going on,
- 8:27Speaker 2: or that he's a United States senator, or what day
- 8:30Speaker 2: of the week it is. It's so completely insane. Put
- 8:34Speaker 2: D six up on the screen. This is the again.
- 8:37Speaker 2: Nicholas Ballacy tweeted this out. I like that his last
- 8:41Speaker 2: name is almost ballsy. This is a home healthcare aid
- 8:44Speaker 2: who was coming and going from McConnell's residence.
- 8:47Speaker 3: You can see this is her leaving.
- 8:49Speaker 2: She's hurrying, you know, not answering any questions into a
- 8:53Speaker 2: waiting car so that she can get away. What's interesting
- 8:56Speaker 2: is there's another video of her when she's coming in.
- 8:57Speaker 2: She's very chatty. She doesn't get give away any information
- 9:01Speaker 2: that's particularly relevant, but she's engaging with the reporter, very friendly.
- 9:04Speaker 2: And then this, I think is the attending physician who
- 9:08Speaker 2: is also leaving and also completely stonewalling, won't answer any questions, etc.
- 9:12Speaker 2: So in any case, that's what we've got, and it's
- 9:17Speaker 2: a story about this man who's incredibly important and powerful.
- 9:21Speaker 2: It's also a story about the complete lack of curiosity
- 9:25Speaker 2: and media interest from the national media, which to me
- 9:28Speaker 2: is astonishing. It's a story of the fact that you
- 9:31Speaker 2: have this tight knit club here in DC that encompasses
- 9:35Speaker 2: both Democrats and Republicans, because I guarantee you there are
- 9:38Speaker 2: a lot of people in this town who know exactly
- 9:40Speaker 2: what is going on, some of them in the press corps,
- 9:42Speaker 2: by the way, who are saying absolutely nothing. And of
- 9:46Speaker 2: course it's a story about an aging, declining empire ruled
- 9:50Speaker 2: by a bunch of geriatrics, some of whom don't even
- 9:54Speaker 2: know you know, what time it is, what day it is,
- 9:56Speaker 2: and that they're even United States senators anymore.
- 9:58Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. Did we play the Thune clip,
- 10:00Speaker 1: because that one is very important. Let's let's take a
- 10:03Speaker 1: listen here, John Thune, who is the Senate Majority leader.
- 10:06Speaker 1: They said, have you been able to visit him? Like,
- 10:09Speaker 1: have you talked to him? Do you know anything about
- 10:11Speaker 1: when he's going to be back? Nothing? Take a listen,
- 10:14Speaker 1: mister leader.
- 10:15Speaker 4: Do you want to see Mitch McConnell put out a
- 10:17Speaker 4: video of some sort. Put out a video, mister mcconnald's
- 10:21Speaker 4: I think you should, well, I think sir so, do
- 10:28Speaker 4: you think McConnell needs to put out some sort of
- 10:30Speaker 4: video to show this condition to the public. McConnell.
- 10:34Speaker 1: Oh, again, that's a decision between him and his staff.
- 10:37Speaker 4: Have you visited him in the hospital, Sara, Have you
- 10:40Speaker 4: been able to visit McConnell in the hospital. Have you
- 10:43Speaker 4: able to visit him in the hospital.
- 10:45Speaker 6: I have not.
- 10:47Speaker 4: You have any update on his condition. Do you think
- 10:51Speaker 4: he's going to be back? Is he going to give
- 10:53Speaker 4: him an ultimatum to come back to vote? Since you
- 10:55Speaker 4: have a slim majority your regulation.
- 11:00Speaker 1: I mean, look at that, he's got nothing to say.
- 11:02Speaker 1: It's so crazy, it really, it's absolutely nuts in my opinion,
- 11:06Speaker 1: Like you have the Senate majority leader, haven't visited him
- 11:09Speaker 1: in the hospital, and he goes oh.
- 11:12Speaker 2: When he figures out what he's being questioned, he's like, oh,
- 11:16Speaker 2: he was shocked, stunned, uncomfortable. He locks up, and also
- 11:20Speaker 2: like we're not aware of any of these people visiting him,
- 11:24Speaker 2: which is interesting, you know, I mean, I'm super rich.
- 11:27Speaker 1: They got pjs, they can fly around, be there in
- 11:30Speaker 1: and out in an hour.
- 11:31Speaker 2: Unless he's been in view the whole time, up until
- 11:35Speaker 2: just now when he got moved to Kentucky again in
- 11:37Speaker 2: the dead of night. So number one, they must not
- 11:40Speaker 2: care that much about it, because they must not really
- 11:42Speaker 2: like him as a human being because someone you know,
- 11:45Speaker 2: you go visiting in the hospital. But yeah, number two,
- 11:47Speaker 2: they're worried about being spotted and then having it face questions,
- 11:51Speaker 2: et cetera.
- 11:52Speaker 3: So they've all just ate away.
- 11:53Speaker 2: The only person we know of who's gone to visit
- 11:55Speaker 2: him is his own wife, who when he initially fell
- 11:57Speaker 2: ill and was in the hospital, the first thing she.
- 11:59Speaker 3: Did was fly to China.
- 12:00Speaker 1: So, I mean, it's the most inspiring love story, it
- 12:03Speaker 1: really is. That's exactly what you want.
- 12:05Speaker 2: You can see the way his friends and family loved
- 12:07Speaker 2: ones are really coming through for him.
- 12:08Speaker 1: And when you get married, you're just like, you know
- 12:10Speaker 1: what I want whenever I'm deathly ill is for you
- 12:13Speaker 1: flight half way across the world to conduct a routine
- 12:16Speaker 1: business meeting with the Vice Premier of China. One of
- 12:18Speaker 1: us can only hope for that type of relationship. But
- 12:21Speaker 1: I think, see, I think it's not that they don't
- 12:23Speaker 1: like him, it's if you see him, then you have
- 12:25Speaker 1: to say what his condition is. So it's easier to
- 12:27Speaker 1: just say, oh, I have no idea. I haven't talked
- 12:29Speaker 1: to him. His wife says, he's fine. You know, it's
- 12:31Speaker 1: one of those where you don't check out because if
- 12:33Speaker 1: you know, the ant people would know because they're reporters
- 12:36Speaker 1: that some people who are staked out if you visit it.
- 12:38Speaker 1: If you visit, you could say, Kenny, talk, what's his condition?
- 12:42Speaker 2: As you look by the way, Jonathan is lying he
- 12:45Speaker 2: knows what the condition is because it's his job to know,
- 12:49Speaker 2: because he's he's the majority of that He asked to
- 12:51Speaker 2: know who where am I getting the votes from for
- 12:54Speaker 2: whatever agenda items, whatever things need to pass. To say that,
- 12:58Speaker 2: whatever their priorities are, you have to know are my senators.
- 13:02Speaker 3: Alive or dead?
- 13:03Speaker 2: Are they capable of being here in person to cast
- 13:06Speaker 2: a vote. So he's one hundred percent lying when he
- 13:09Speaker 2: says he has no idea about his condition and really
- 13:12Speaker 2: has nothing to offer. He does know now he I
- 13:14Speaker 2: think probably is honest about not visiting him in the
- 13:17Speaker 2: hospital because of the political peril that would require, et cetera.
- 13:21Speaker 2: But he definitely has He's spoken with the wife he
- 13:24Speaker 2: knows what the true condition is, he just doesn't want
- 13:27Speaker 2: to say. And as participating in this cover rup, here's.
- 13:29Speaker 1: The thing, we have got a full month till we
- 13:31Speaker 1: find out even more because the sentence out August recess
- 13:35Speaker 1: is here, they're not back until September fourteenth, right, so
- 13:38Speaker 1: literally thirty three or thirty four days away from today.
- 13:42Speaker 1: So he's got thirty four days to rehab at home
- 13:45Speaker 1: before maybe.
- 13:45Speaker 3: He'll show up minor, no big deal fault.
- 13:47Speaker 1: But that's the thing, is that August recess could not
- 13:49Speaker 1: have come soon enough for him because now he doesn't
- 13:51Speaker 1: need to be in the chamber and there's no vote.
- 13:54Speaker 1: So it's one of those where I think, I honestly,
- 13:56Speaker 1: I would hope that at least some decision has to
- 13:59Speaker 1: come to a point back in September, because at that point,
- 14:02Speaker 1: I mean, we're talking about total insanity. I guess they
- 14:06Speaker 1: could just continue to weekend and berniees this thing from
- 14:08Speaker 1: September because he's not running for reelection. Yeah, just let him,
- 14:11Speaker 1: you know, go off in the sunset. We'll just have
- 14:12Speaker 1: no idea.
- 14:13Speaker 2: Here's the other thing, Andy Basher, really Governor Kentucky step
- 14:17Speaker 2: up to the plate, bro I mean you had two
- 14:19Speaker 2: entities according to a podcast appearance that told you this
- 14:22Speaker 2: man was dead and there's no sign of life. He's
- 14:26Speaker 2: provided you as governor of the state with no evidence
- 14:29Speaker 2: that he is of sound mind and body whatsoever. So
- 14:33Speaker 2: fill the seat and then take it and then let
- 14:35Speaker 2: it be a challenged in court and have a discovery process,
- 14:38Speaker 2: like just move forward, say okay, this man is no
- 14:41Speaker 2: longer able to serve on filling the seat, and then
- 14:43Speaker 2: let the courts challenge it and fight it out. And
- 14:45Speaker 2: that way, at least you're gonna number one, look like
- 14:48Speaker 2: you're doing something you care and you're a fighter. In
- 14:50Speaker 2: number two, have some ability to force transparency because otherwise this.
- 14:55Speaker 1: Game is just going to continue and doe. And like
- 14:57Speaker 1: you're talking about the politics of it, I talked about
- 14:58Speaker 1: the string Feinstein. It would always just enrage me, like
- 15:01Speaker 1: I'm sorry. There are four point six million people who
- 15:02Speaker 1: live in Kentucky. Like you serve some sort of representations, Senators,
- 15:05Speaker 1: you'll just sit around doing nothing, like if you've got
- 15:07Speaker 1: if you're a veteran, you've got problem with your VA benefits.
- 15:10Speaker 1: The easiest way to get something done is have a
- 15:11Speaker 1: United States, especially a powerful United States senator, call on
- 15:14Speaker 1: your behalf like that's a big deal.
- 15:15Speaker 2: And they did not vote for that staffer who is
- 15:18Speaker 2: now doing presumably everything for this office. And miss McConnell
- 15:23Speaker 2: is not just any old senator. He is one of
- 15:25Speaker 2: the most senior, powerful members of the Senate with all
- 15:29Speaker 2: sorts of you know, seniority and what that entails. So yeah,
- 15:32Speaker 2: for now they just only have ran Paul as their
- 15:35Speaker 2: only representation. They're missing in action one of their senators.
- 15:38Speaker 2: And yeah, that is not right.
- 15:39Speaker 1: It's not right when you have a real senator who
- 15:41Speaker 1: can actually make stuff happen for you. I've seen it,
- 15:43Speaker 1: you know, up close. If you are a powerful constituent,
- 15:46Speaker 1: they shouldn't always be this way. But if you're you know,
- 15:48Speaker 1: a company or something like that, you can you can
- 15:50Speaker 1: usually get your senator on the phone and they can
- 15:52Speaker 1: get stuff moving and that stuff, you know, matter if
- 15:54Speaker 1: tax problem VA benefits law your stat Actually, of course
- 15:58Speaker 1: he is. The way that these guys, guys who are
- 16:00Speaker 1: very unpopular always get themselves reelected is they entrench themselves
- 16:04Speaker 1: with the business community and they're leaning heavily into constituent services.
- 16:08Speaker 1: But when you're gone and you literally, you know, maybe
- 16:09Speaker 1: you're unable to completely speak. You can't do that. So
- 16:12Speaker 1: that's the part that bugs me more than anything, is
- 16:15Speaker 1: I just know there's four and a half million people
- 16:17Speaker 1: out there without the representation that they deserve in the
- 16:19Speaker 1: United States Senate. It's bullshit. Yeah, it's just we all
- 16:21Speaker 1: just sit around and we're like, oh, okay, you know,
- 16:23Speaker 1: like like Dianne Feinstein, who represented the most populous state
- 16:26Speaker 1: in the Union, and nobody ever said a single word
- 16:28Speaker 1: about it. It's insanity.
- 16:30Speaker 2: Total democracy failure, Total democracy fail This should not be allowed.
- 16:34Speaker 3: It should persist. There have to be some sort.
- 16:36Speaker 2: Of competency requirements, requirements to take questions via town halls,
- 16:41Speaker 2: disclose what your true condition is.
- 16:43Speaker 3: Like, this is insanity. It can't continue with you.
- 16:45Speaker 1: All right, let's get to Michigan.
- 16:49Speaker 2: So, in the wake of his victory in the Democratic
- 16:52Speaker 2: primary in Michigan, Hillary Clinton has emerged to give Abdul
- 16:56Speaker 2: al Saian some advice about how to win the state.
- 16:59Speaker 3: Let's take you're not going.
- 17:01Speaker 7: To convince Republican voters in Michigan, and the real fight
- 17:05Speaker 7: will be how do we make sure that people who
- 17:07Speaker 7: voted for Haley feel comfortable voting for abdul lsaid, and
- 17:13Speaker 7: how do we get independence to feel comfortable? And you
- 17:16Speaker 7: can see that it's not just about Michigan, but the
- 17:19Speaker 7: Republican messaging is communists, socialists. It's going to be a
- 17:25Speaker 7: very effective attack, and so people on the left have
- 17:30Speaker 7: to be prepared to answer that and to be effective
- 17:34Speaker 7: at answering it. Do you think communist is an effective
- 17:37Speaker 7: attack in twenty twenty six, Well, all I know is
- 17:40Speaker 7: that's the attack that Trump is leading with, and I
- 17:42Speaker 7: assume they've tested it, and I assume that they have
- 17:45Speaker 7: reason to believe that it's effective, or they wouldn't be
- 17:49Speaker 7: beating the drum on it. Because now it's not just him.
- 17:51Speaker 7: Vance has done it. Others are doing it. They are
- 17:54Speaker 7: trying to, you know, bring back scare tactics about our candidates.
- 17:59Speaker 7: And you know it didn't work in New York, Ma'm Donnie
- 18:03Speaker 7: was elected and there was a lot of money spent
- 18:05Speaker 7: against him. When you have an effective candidate on the left,
- 18:09Speaker 7: it still is going to be a close race.
- 18:12Speaker 2: I love soccer, even the concept of asking Hillary Clinton,
- 18:15Speaker 2: who very very very famously lost Michigan twice in a
- 18:20Speaker 2: shock upsight to Bernie Sanders, shock upset and then a
- 18:23Speaker 2: shock upset to Donald Trump in the general election, what
- 18:27Speaker 2: the best course of action is to win in the
- 18:28Speaker 2: state of Michigan.
- 18:29Speaker 1: I'm like, I feel like, take a crazy phil the
- 18:32Speaker 1: only Democrats is what is it nineteen eighty eight? No,
- 18:36Speaker 1: I'm thinking Wisconsin. It might have been longer than that
- 18:38Speaker 1: when somebody who had won Michigan, what is going to
- 18:42Speaker 1: to lose Michigan, which was considered the blue Wall if
- 18:45Speaker 1: you're young and you weren't there, that was the most
- 18:49Speaker 1: everyone knew. You know, Pennsylvania has always kind of been
- 18:52Speaker 1: the blue Wall. Famously, Pennsylvania was always a toss up,
- 18:55Speaker 1: always has been, like in my lifetime. But you know,
- 18:58Speaker 1: Wisconsin and Michigan, especially in Michigan, which I believe Trump
- 19:02Speaker 1: only won by like ten thousand votes in twenty sixteen,
- 19:05Speaker 1: that was the shock of all shocks on election night.
- 19:09Speaker 1: And so yeah, I remember when she lost to Bernie.
- 19:13Speaker 1: Everyone was like, oh, it's you know whatever, you know,
- 19:15Speaker 1: it's like, it's a shock that it doesn't matter at
- 19:17Speaker 1: the end of the day. The Democratic voters that it
- 19:19Speaker 1: was inconceivable that this woman would lose Michigan except to
- 19:24Speaker 1: like Debbie Dingel or whatever, who was like, I don't know,
- 19:26Speaker 1: I'm a little worried about this. Yeah, yeah, I mean
- 19:29Speaker 1: that's just just what to me is like, this is
- 19:31Speaker 1: the problem with our media, the way that we venerate
- 19:34Speaker 1: these types of politicians. And then we're about to just
- 19:35Speaker 1: talk about Obama. But you know, Hillary just said something
- 19:38Speaker 1: there where she said it's impossible to win Republicans. I
- 19:41Speaker 1: completely disagree with that. Wall Street Journal is a story
- 19:44Speaker 1: out this morning that you have Republican party is losing
- 19:48Speaker 1: its edge with voters on the economy. In the first term,
- 19:51Speaker 1: Trump's net approval of handling on the economy at its
- 19:55Speaker 1: absolute low point was minus three. Today it sits around
- 19:59Speaker 1: minus four. So we are talking about a forty percent
- 20:02Speaker 1: delta to the first term, which, as you know, the
- 20:05Speaker 1: first term it wasn't popular, but a lot of people
- 20:08Speaker 1: had the you know, I mean you remember this and
- 20:10Speaker 1: under Biden, all the boomer Republicans had the Joe Biden
- 20:14Speaker 1: I did that stickers with gas and sure could use
- 20:16Speaker 1: some mean tweets right now. This was like the if
- 20:18Speaker 1: you have a boomer grandpa who's a Republican, like he
- 20:21Speaker 1: almost certainly had that bumper sticker. I don't see the
- 20:23Speaker 1: bumper sticker around anymore. Oh, you know, I don't see
- 20:25Speaker 1: anybody putting that type of cope anymore. So, sure, you've
- 20:28Speaker 1: got a few Fox News boomers and others who were
- 20:31Speaker 1: on board, But I mean I looked at the data
- 20:34Speaker 1: in Michigan. You got a lot of young people, and
- 20:36Speaker 1: you got to also, you know, one thing she's also
- 20:39Speaker 1: again wrong about, is just about Haley Stevens.
- 20:41Speaker 3: No.
- 20:42Speaker 1: The reason why Trump won Michigan and Slotkin also won
- 20:45Speaker 1: is there was a literal crossover vote of people who
- 20:48Speaker 1: by definition voted Republican for Donald Trump and did not
- 20:52Speaker 1: vote for a list or and voted also for Slotkin
- 20:55Speaker 1: over Mike Rogers over Mike Rodgers. Right, so it's like
- 20:57Speaker 1: that person exists right now. Of course you could win
- 21:00Speaker 1: them over. Trump won a lot of people who voted
- 21:02Speaker 1: for Joe Biden. Yeah, in twenty twenty. That is exactly
- 21:05Speaker 1: how you win an election, especially in a battleground state
- 21:08Speaker 1: like this. That's what Abdul shouldn't. That's what any candidate
- 21:11Speaker 1: should be doing, frankly, is you have to win crossover vote.
- 21:13Speaker 2: I mean, think about what a powerful lane he can
- 21:16Speaker 2: occupy and is occupying. You can oppose data centers, oppose
- 21:20Speaker 2: the war and run on the economy and affordability, those
- 21:23Speaker 2: are on all of those issues, you're going to find
- 21:26Speaker 2: a lot of discontent with. Yes, some Republican voters who
- 21:30Speaker 2: had voted for Trump, but we talked about the Trump
- 21:32Speaker 2: mom Donnie voters like this is a thing. And I'm
- 21:35Speaker 2: not saying you're going to win them all over, but
- 21:37Speaker 2: certainly the sort of like independent Republican voters, some of
- 21:40Speaker 2: the people who aren't absolute partisan diehards. But I do
- 21:44Speaker 2: think you're right to sort of hone in on that
- 21:47Speaker 2: comment from her, because to me, it's very emblematic of
- 21:50Speaker 2: typical democratic elite thinking and where they lost in the
- 21:54Speaker 2: first that's right, and where they just they assume that
- 21:57Speaker 2: certain groups are with them when you shouldn't.
- 21:59Speaker 5: Right.
- 21:59Speaker 2: They assume, oh, Latinos will be with us, period, end
- 22:01Speaker 2: of story. We don't really need to do anything. They
- 22:03Speaker 2: assumed that, you know, basically one hundred percent of black
- 22:06Speaker 2: voters would be with them forever. They assumed young voters,
- 22:10Speaker 2: you know, and young men would be with them forever.
- 22:12Speaker 2: And so there are these assumptions that certain groups will
- 22:15Speaker 2: lockstep stay with them that are not true. And there's
- 22:17Speaker 2: also an assumption on the other side that you can't
- 22:19Speaker 2: then win back. Once the state is gone. It's gone,
- 22:22Speaker 2: oh Iowa. It's just gone.
- 22:23Speaker 3: We Ohio. We just can't win it anymore. It's over,
- 22:25Speaker 3: end of story.
- 22:26Speaker 2: When my experience has been I think all of our
- 22:28Speaker 2: experiences have been over the past several elections, you actually
- 22:32Speaker 2: have a broader swing electorate than has been portrayed.
- 22:35Speaker 3: And again, partisanship does run deep.
- 22:37Speaker 2: You have some people who are very locked in and
- 22:40Speaker 2: there's nothing you can do and the only question is
- 22:41Speaker 2: whether they're going to show up or not.
- 22:43Speaker 3: But there is actually a large.
- 22:45Speaker 2: Demographic that is open in a moment of incredible tunnel
- 22:48Speaker 2: and change like this. So I think that's a really
- 22:50Speaker 2: important point, and I do think that Abdul has positioned
- 22:55Speaker 2: himself smartly.
- 22:55Speaker 1: You know.
- 22:56Speaker 2: The other thing on the communist point, I'm not going
- 22:59Speaker 2: to say that it's doesn't have any power behind it
- 23:02Speaker 2: and that there isn't a reason why they're leaning into this.
- 23:05Speaker 2: It's also the same attack that they use in literally
- 23:08Speaker 2: every election, no matter who is run. And they said
- 23:10Speaker 2: the same thing about Obama and about Biden and so
- 23:13Speaker 2: about Hillary, and they're saying it again again. I think
- 23:16Speaker 2: it has some impacts, but at a time when Trump
- 23:19Speaker 2: is like taking stakes in a lot of companies, and
- 23:22Speaker 2: what used to be verboten in American political political discourse
- 23:26Speaker 2: has been brought into the mainstream. I think they're going
- 23:29Speaker 2: to have to do better than just he's a scary
- 23:31Speaker 2: comedy in order to be Abdulla and other capable candidates
- 23:34Speaker 2: like him.
- 23:35Speaker 1: Like with Trump and the dictatorial fascism stuff didn't land
- 23:38Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four. You know, maybe land now. At
- 23:41Speaker 1: the time, it didn't land. And look, obviously that was
- 23:43Speaker 1: a failure in messaging. And at the end of the day,
- 23:46Speaker 1: most people either voted with their wallet or whenever it
- 23:49Speaker 1: came to immigration in order to they were like, look, maybe,
- 23:52Speaker 1: but we're going to roll the dice. That's how people
- 23:54Speaker 1: will feel whenever it comes to the communists and the
- 23:57Speaker 1: socialist attack. You've also got Obama out here, our favorite
- 24:00Speaker 1: E two up here on the screen. Obama reached out
- 24:03Speaker 1: to both Senate candidates in Michigan. The emphasis in his
- 24:06Speaker 1: calls was unifying Democrats after a difficult primary. And so
- 24:10Speaker 1: I don't know, I never know what to make of this.
- 24:13Speaker 1: You know, the van did Obama from on high coming
- 24:16Speaker 1: down and putting his blessing upon these two candidates, but
- 24:20Speaker 1: it always seems to be in such a way where
- 24:22Speaker 1: he's trying to he's trying to recreate the same thing
- 24:25Speaker 1: he did in his presidency, where he came in and
- 24:28Speaker 1: even though he had no reason to do so, decided
- 24:30Speaker 1: to give a huge amount of power to these like
- 24:32Speaker 1: Bill Clinton and I He literally hired Hillary that's the
- 24:34Speaker 1: secretary of State. He always is trying to push these
- 24:37Speaker 1: more insurgent candidates who again follow some of the playbook
- 24:40Speaker 1: that he laid out to do the same thing, even
- 24:42Speaker 1: though his strategy was a total and a complete failure.
- 24:45Speaker 1: I'm not saying Abdul Elsaia doesn't necessarily have to reach
- 24:48Speaker 1: out to Haley Stevens voters, but you know, Hailey Stevens
- 24:50Speaker 1: herself endorsed him and is like, look, I'm all in
- 24:53Speaker 1: behind it.
- 24:53Speaker 3: What else He's been very gracious, Yeah, I.
- 24:55Speaker 1: Mean yeah, it's kind of admirable, to be honest, it is.
- 24:58Speaker 1: It's like, you know, I rarely see it in politics today,
- 25:02Speaker 1: but what I found here in this like warm and
- 25:05Speaker 1: encouraging discussion to unite Democrats to win Michigan in November,
- 25:09Speaker 1: is they're always trying to, like tamp down the reason
- 25:12Speaker 1: why he won in the first person. That's kind of
- 25:14Speaker 1: how I look at it.
- 25:15Speaker 2: I mean, I will just say, look, as much as
- 25:17Speaker 2: I have plenty of complaints about the Obama era, he
- 25:22Speaker 2: is one of He is the most popular politician in America.
- 25:24Speaker 1: Sure that is reality shouldn't be that.
- 25:26Speaker 2: And Obdule needs to earn trust with especially older black
- 25:32Speaker 2: voters in Michigan and make sure they are turning out
- 25:35Speaker 2: in numbers that you know that are going to be
- 25:37Speaker 2: important to get him across the finish line. And there
- 25:40Speaker 2: was a, you know, a smear campaign that was run
- 25:42Speaker 2: to convince them that he hates Michelle Obama and he's
- 25:45Speaker 2: sexist and all these sorts of things, and that Obama
- 25:47Speaker 2: endors Taley Stevens. So if Obama does decide to actually
- 25:52Speaker 2: get involved in this race and campaign for Abdul, I
- 25:54Speaker 2: do think that that will be an important marker. I
- 25:57Speaker 2: think the the sort of fake Obama dorsement of Hailey
- 26:01Speaker 2: Stevens is a big part of the reason why she
- 26:03Speaker 2: was able to make it as close as she ultimately
- 26:06Speaker 2: was able to make it. And then also these ads
- 26:08Speaker 2: that were running suggesting again that Abdul hates Michelle Obama
- 26:11Speaker 2: and the sexist against her or whatever. So I think
- 26:14Speaker 2: we have to keep that in mind. KAMMLA endorsed him
- 26:16Speaker 2: as well. I think this also. You know, again, as
- 26:19Speaker 2: much as we have a critique here, it is undeniably
- 26:22Speaker 2: the fact put E three up on the screen is
- 26:23Speaker 2: undeniably the case that many black voters have very warm
- 26:28Speaker 2: sentiments towards her and favorable opinion of her. I've seen
- 26:31Speaker 2: I don't know, Sager, you probably didn't see this. There's
- 26:33Speaker 2: all kinds of lefties who are like mad about him
- 26:35Speaker 2: accepting her endorsement, like do you want to win or not?
- 26:38Speaker 2: It's not like he abandoned his principles to come to her.
- 26:42Speaker 3: She came to him.
- 26:43Speaker 2: He's not endorsing her, although he did vote for her,
- 26:46Speaker 2: but he's not endorsing her.
- 26:47Speaker 3: She is coming to him.
- 26:49Speaker 2: I mean, this is addition, right, you need to make
- 26:52Speaker 2: sure that you've got the entire democratic base behind him,
- 26:56Speaker 2: all of that, and then appeal to the winnable independence,
- 27:00Speaker 2: winnable Republicans based on what is a very strong populist message.
- 27:04Speaker 2: So I think obviously he's gonna accept Kamala Harris's endorsement.
- 27:09Speaker 2: It would be so can you imagine if you rejected
- 27:12Speaker 2: her endorsement, the chill that would put into like the
- 27:16Speaker 2: black voters who were skeptical of him in Detroit and
- 27:18Speaker 2: went for Hailey, Stevens, etc. That would be political suicide
- 27:21Speaker 2: to do something.
- 27:22Speaker 1: Sorry, Latoy's you're retarded. Okay, I can say that again.
- 27:25Speaker 1: Now it's twenty twenty six.
- 27:26Speaker 2: There's a moon that just doesn't want to win, you know,
- 27:28Speaker 2: like we have to live into the reality.
- 27:31Speaker 1: Being a Republican who doesn't want Trump's endorsement. It's like, yeah, good, Look,
- 27:33Speaker 1: it's like shooting yourself in the heart. Do you want
- 27:35Speaker 1: to win or not? I mean, yeah, I don't know.
- 27:37Speaker 1: That's that is beyond stupid. But the bigger question actually
- 27:40Speaker 1: is whether he's going to win. That's honestly the more
- 27:43Speaker 1: interesting question. I probably would bet on him right now.
- 27:46Speaker 2: Just because of the national climent. Is also I mean,
- 27:49Speaker 2: he is a talented candidate. I think people are seeing
- 27:52Speaker 2: that he's very quick, he's very confident, he's very forceful,
- 27:56Speaker 2: and he has This is another thing that some leftists
- 27:59Speaker 2: were matter.
- 28:00Speaker 3: He called himself a capitalist. I don't care what he
- 28:01Speaker 3: calls himself.
- 28:02Speaker 2: Look, the reality is that, yes, if you pull the
- 28:04Speaker 2: general population, socialism is still unpopular. He's running in Michigan
- 28:08Speaker 2: and he's trying to win. He's not compromising on his principles.
- 28:11Speaker 2: But if he's going to compromise on like the label
- 28:13Speaker 2: he calls himself, I don't know why we would complain
- 28:15Speaker 2: about that.
- 28:16Speaker 1: I first of all, obviously, again this is y'all just
- 28:19Speaker 1: too much Twitter brains, like, get over it. People, Do
- 28:22Speaker 1: you want to win?
- 28:23Speaker 7: Why not?
- 28:24Speaker 1: But beyond that, yeah, sure, don't listen to me, you
- 28:26Speaker 1: don't have to. But my more, my bigger point for
- 28:30Speaker 1: Abdul and why I think I would probably would bet
- 28:32Speaker 1: on him, is if Alyssa Slotkin, who I sat across
- 28:36Speaker 1: from and s frankly one of the most unimpressive politicians
- 28:38Speaker 1: I've ever met. Sorry, Alyssa, it's true, just in terms
- 28:41Speaker 1: of your ability to communicate, if that lady can beat
- 28:44Speaker 1: Mike Rogers in a wave read election, I'm sorry, Like,
- 28:47Speaker 1: how exactly is Mike supposed to win? But I just
- 28:50Speaker 1: especially with the national mood and to use the Hillary example,
- 28:54Speaker 1: if Mike Rodgers can't win with the back of these
- 28:58Speaker 1: young voters, these uncommitted voters, all these people who are
- 29:01Speaker 1: either not voting for Trump, or depressing the vote for
- 29:05Speaker 1: the number. If she can win in that environment, how
- 29:07Speaker 1: the fuck is she supposed to Is he supposed to win?
- 29:10Speaker 1: Whenever you've got a bunch of disaffected Republicans, we're not
- 29:12Speaker 1: coming to vote period. I mean, look, it's fine to
- 29:15Speaker 1: get to get people to vote when they're scared, but
- 29:17Speaker 1: it's just not really how it works. Like, you know,
- 29:19Speaker 1: you've got to have something positive. That's largely why Abdul
- 29:23Speaker 1: again in my camp, in my opinion's campaign is very intelligent.
- 29:26Speaker 1: Is it's hopeful campaign, and it's a very zorround ask like, look,
- 29:29Speaker 1: we're fighting against whatever, fascism, et cetera, but we're also
- 29:32Speaker 1: doing healthcare. We're talking about affordability, we're talking about spending
- 29:36Speaker 1: more money here than overseas. What is Mike Rogers running
- 29:39Speaker 1: on Abdulla is bad? I mean, it's just not enough.
- 29:42Speaker 1: Like I've seen this, I've seen this story too many
- 29:44Speaker 1: times in politics. It can work, don't get me wrong.
- 29:47Speaker 1: The Trump twenty twenty campaign was the closest that it
- 29:50Speaker 1: ever came actually to working, which is basically like Joe
- 29:53Speaker 1: Biden is a tool of you know, defund the police,
- 29:56Speaker 1: and he still lost at the end. Of the day.
- 29:57Speaker 1: So that shows that even with you know, he had
- 30:00Speaker 1: the most intense culture war since the nineteen sixties, and
- 30:04Speaker 1: you still weren't able to win the election with that.
- 30:07Speaker 1: How are you going to win today with the economy word.
- 30:09Speaker 2: That's a great that's a really great point. I mean,
- 30:14Speaker 2: they're just leaning into like, oh my god, he's a
- 30:16Speaker 2: Muslim in Scara. Did you know his full name is
- 30:18Speaker 2: Abdu Rochman Muhammad al Sayad, And so Abdul responded to that,
- 30:22Speaker 2: and then Trump had also put out this post that
- 30:25Speaker 2: showed like him and Milania in formal wear and then
- 30:27Speaker 2: Abdullah and his wife who's wearing a job at like
- 30:30Speaker 2: a diner, and said something like two different Americas, and
- 30:32Speaker 2: of course again Abdul Rochman Elsai. So he responded to
- 30:36Speaker 2: both of those things, one at the Unity rally that
- 30:40Speaker 2: they held in Michigan. The other one was on a
- 30:43Speaker 2: Sunday show. Let's go ahead and take a listen to
- 30:45Speaker 2: how he's tackling those.
- 30:46Speaker 8: Being at President Trump. Last night, he posted on social
- 30:48Speaker 8: media a photograph of him and First Lady Milania Trump
- 30:52Speaker 8: in formal attire next to a photograph of you and
- 30:56Speaker 8: and your wife. You appear to be in a restaurant
- 30:59Speaker 8: booth or something. Your wife is a psychiatrist. She's wearing
- 31:02Speaker 8: a hit job. The caption was two very different Americas.
- 31:07Speaker 8: What was your response when you saw that?
- 31:10Speaker 9: Yeah, he's right. One in which your overlords are two
- 31:14Speaker 9: people who don't like each other but joined in the
- 31:16Speaker 9: interest of making billions of dollars off of you, or
- 31:20Speaker 9: two people who genuinely love each other, enjoyed some pancakes together,
- 31:24Speaker 9: want to come together to build the kind of America
- 31:26Speaker 9: where they can raise a family and know that that
- 31:29Speaker 9: family is going to have the good thing. So, yes,
- 31:30Speaker 9: you've got two different visions of America. Donald Trump's vision
- 31:33Speaker 9: is the one you're living in right now. Can you
- 31:35Speaker 9: afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries? Do you
- 31:37Speaker 9: believe when you look your kids in the eye, that
- 31:39Speaker 9: they're going to have a better future than you did?
- 31:41Speaker 9: And Sara and I are running because when we look
- 31:43Speaker 9: our daughters in the eye, am Median Cidin, we want
- 31:45Speaker 9: them to believe that they're every bit as able to
- 31:48Speaker 9: have a better future than the one that they could
- 31:53Speaker 9: have had under the Trump administration, that they can live
- 31:55Speaker 9: together with their sisters and their brothers in America in
- 31:59Speaker 9: a way where they lock arms to build the good
- 32:01Speaker 9: things that they deserve together, where they know they'll have
- 32:03Speaker 9: the health care that they need and good jobs, and
- 32:05Speaker 9: that they don't have to go fifteen minutes and know
- 32:08Speaker 9: that there are kids who live fifteen minutes away whose
- 32:10Speaker 9: lives are very, very different than theirs because we've been
- 32:13Speaker 9: for far too long, okay, with a level of inequality
- 32:15Speaker 9: in this country. I want them to live in America
- 32:17Speaker 9: where they can breathe clean air and drink clean water.
- 32:20Speaker 9: And actually, Sar and I like each other. I don't
- 32:22Speaker 9: know about the first Lady and the president, but from
- 32:24Speaker 9: what I've heard, it's a bit of a rocky road going.
- 32:26Speaker 1: Donald Trump seems to say, being a gift to the
- 32:28Speaker 1: Republican Ponte, what do you say to that.
- 32:29Speaker 9: I'm gonna give to the state of Michigan, God willing
- 32:31Speaker 9: and hope to win this election, And he says, if
- 32:34Speaker 9: you pardon the language you're full of, what do you
- 32:37Speaker 9: say to the at least I don't let mine go
- 32:39Speaker 9: in the middle.
- 32:39Speaker 2: Of the Oval Office, very zoron likability there with the
- 32:43Speaker 2: Donald Trump attack to immediately turn it to yeah, you're right.
- 32:46Speaker 2: Two visions of America. One that's for the oligarchs. You know,
- 32:49Speaker 2: do you like this vision of America that you're living
- 32:51Speaker 2: in right now? Or are we going to try to
- 32:52Speaker 2: make things more affordable and go a different way? Immediately
- 32:55Speaker 2: back to you know, not doing the like oh my god,
- 32:58Speaker 2: that's so racist and it's not fair and making it
- 33:00Speaker 2: about him. Instead, he immediately turns it to his core campaigns.
- 33:04Speaker 1: Well, in the words a very successful politician who I
- 33:06Speaker 1: remember covering a lot, not me us, right, it's a
- 33:10Speaker 1: common slogan. Look, they're gonna try I maybe it's just me.
- 33:13Speaker 1: I don't think that this type of stuff is gonna
- 33:15Speaker 1: work all that well in Michigan, especially when you have
- 33:17Speaker 1: one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States.
- 33:19Speaker 1: That's where I'm like, look, maybe in Maine, maybe in
- 33:22Speaker 1: you know, like a super white lily state, but here,
- 33:25Speaker 1: like in Michigan, where you know, Trump actually courted a
- 33:29Speaker 1: significant part of the Muslim vote, I mean his own people.
- 33:32Speaker 1: Remember the ham Atrak mayor and other were endorsing Trump. Like, look,
- 33:35Speaker 1: I've talked to some of the people on the Trump campaign.
- 33:37Speaker 1: They acknowledged that the Kamala Gaza and the no wars
- 33:41Speaker 1: in the Middle East was the only reason that they
- 33:43Speaker 1: won that state. They know it for sure. And people
- 33:46Speaker 1: like Grenell and a few others who were on the
- 33:48Speaker 1: ground were instrumental in getting the ham Atrak mayor and
- 33:51Speaker 1: a lot of the other Muslim community leaders to outright
- 33:54Speaker 1: endorsed Trump over Kamma at that time. That's why when
- 33:57Speaker 1: I see this type of stuff, I'm like, look, I mean,
- 34:00Speaker 1: why do you think Rogers lost? He wasn't willing to
- 34:02Speaker 1: do it.
- 34:02Speaker 2: If you if Kamala had won the Arab American vote
- 34:07Speaker 2: at the levels that Abdul.
- 34:09Speaker 3: Won in the primary, she would have won the state.
- 34:11Speaker 1: I crunch the numbers we were talking about, who was
- 34:14Speaker 1: Hylery earlier. If the same amount of blacks vote in
- 34:16Speaker 1: the city of Detroit in twenty sixteen that they did
- 34:19Speaker 1: for Obama, she wins the election. But she took blacks
- 34:22Speaker 1: for granted, and that's why she lost.
- 34:23Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
- 34:24Speaker 2: So Mike Rogers is doing this whole like, oh, he's
- 34:28Speaker 2: the moral centrist now and he's reaching out to disaffected
- 34:31Speaker 2: Democrats who think Abdul is too extreme. He recorded this
- 34:35Speaker 2: video with his wife. This is clearly going to be
- 34:37Speaker 2: sort of a core strategy for them.
- 34:38Speaker 3: Let's take a lisson.
- 34:39Speaker 5: If you're among the majority of Democratic voters that woke
- 34:42Speaker 5: up on Wednesday feeling well hopeless because the person who
- 34:46Speaker 5: won does not represent your values, well, just no, there
- 34:50Speaker 5: is still hope. Michigan deserves a senator who was ready
- 34:53Speaker 5: to sit with you, hear from you, and represent you.
- 34:56Speaker 5: The parents across Michigan who won an education system that
- 35:00Speaker 5: sets up their kids for success, you have a home
- 35:02Speaker 5: with us. To grandparents across Michigan who are heartbroken from
- 35:06Speaker 5: watching their kids and grandkids leave the state. You have
- 35:10Speaker 5: a home with us. To young people who are looking
- 35:14Speaker 5: for real solutions to solve our housing affordability crisis. You
- 35:18Speaker 5: have a home with us. To working families who don't
- 35:22Speaker 5: want higher taxes and lower paychecks, Well you have a
- 35:25Speaker 5: home with us. And to the vast majority of people
- 35:28Speaker 5: across Michigan who do not want to throw their support
- 35:31Speaker 5: behind a campaign filled with anger, divisiveness, calls for violence,
- 35:36Speaker 5: and the views that are out of touch with your values,
- 35:39Speaker 5: well you have a home with us. The fight is
- 35:42Speaker 5: far greater than just left versus right. The fight is
- 35:45Speaker 5: for the very soul of our nation. Over the next
- 35:48Speaker 5: ninety days. I'm going to work hard to earn your trust,
- 35:50Speaker 5: to earn your support, and earn your vote. We have
- 35:53Speaker 5: a state to save, Michigan. Let's get to work.
- 35:57Speaker 2: This actually feels like a Hillary Clinton ad from twenty sixteen.
- 36:00Speaker 1: Yeah, and I look at at data, So the data
- 36:04Speaker 1: actually tells us because it feels like this is like
- 36:07Speaker 1: country club reach out, right, And that's actually kind of
- 36:09Speaker 1: what happens. So if you look at the data who
- 36:12Speaker 1: voted for Abdul Elsai at who voted for Hailey Stevens.
- 36:15Speaker 1: People who voted for Hailey Stevens are predominantly people who
- 36:18Speaker 1: are either much wealthier or make over a few hundred
- 36:21Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year, or are traditional black Democrats in
- 36:24Speaker 1: the state who are kind of convinced by the Obama
- 36:27Speaker 1: like the Obama fake ad campaign by APAX and its allies.
- 36:31Speaker 1: The people who voted for Abdul predominantly much more college
- 36:34Speaker 1: educated white. I mean, it's kind of the traditional dsa
- 36:37Speaker 1: downwardly mobile, college educated coalition. Okay, but what you could
- 36:41Speaker 1: see with Rogers is he's still trying to get some
- 36:44Speaker 1: of those people who are distaste like they find Trump distasteful,
- 36:48Speaker 1: but they find you know, higher taxes a lot more,
- 36:51Speaker 1: so he wants those voters to kind of come into it.
- 36:53Speaker 1: Actually doesn't make sense, but again, coalitionally, I do think
- 36:57Speaker 1: he's going to have a much more difficult times. That's,
- 37:00Speaker 1: by the way, another reason why they're going to hammer
- 37:01Speaker 1: this Israel thing until Kingdom come not just for the
- 37:04Speaker 1: money that it comes over, but they want to strip
- 37:06Speaker 1: away any of the traditional Jewish Democratic vote who normally
- 37:09Speaker 1: two thirds of Jews vote Dems. So they want all
- 37:11Speaker 1: those people to come over to Rogers kind of in
- 37:14Speaker 1: an interesting sigh out. But a lot of it is
- 37:16Speaker 1: going to be a lot of it will come down
- 37:17Speaker 1: to this education where the Republicans need high low they
- 37:21Speaker 1: need the educated rich, and they also need the uneducated
- 37:25Speaker 1: but uneducated rich. But they also want like the more
- 37:28Speaker 1: working class white to be with them. The DSA and
- 37:32Speaker 1: Abdulla type candidate is going to need the downlroadly mobile
- 37:34Speaker 1: white college educated Democrat and they need those traditional black
- 37:38Speaker 1: Democrats and other parts of that coalition to come in
- 37:41Speaker 1: for them, which is why his strategy with Obama makes
- 37:44Speaker 1: total sense, because those people were vera Obama.
- 37:46Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, look, here's the thing. At the
- 37:49Speaker 2: end of the day. I think there's a lot of
- 37:51Speaker 2: delusion among the Republicans that because the primary was close,
- 37:56Speaker 2: that means there's a lot of dissatisfaction with Abdullah's the nominee.
- 37:59Speaker 2: And I think just from all of the rallying around him,
- 38:02Speaker 2: You've got Pete coming in, You've got Kamala. They did
- 38:05Speaker 2: this unity rally. Haley Stevens been very gracious. I think
- 38:09Speaker 2: you can already see that that.
- 38:10Speaker 3: Was a delusion.
- 38:11Speaker 2: Democrats, whether they love Abdul or whether they got some
- 38:15Speaker 2: issues and concerns, they are very united in not handing
- 38:19Speaker 2: Trump more power. And Mike Rogers at the end of
- 38:21Speaker 2: the day is number one and reconstructed neo gon who's
- 38:24Speaker 2: never seen a war he didn't like in a deep state,
- 38:27Speaker 2: by the way, and number two a Robert stand for
- 38:29Speaker 2: Trump who started engaging after criticizing Trump after January sixth,
- 38:33Speaker 2: then flipped on a dime when it was politically useful
- 38:35Speaker 2: to him and started doing the same election conspiracy bullshit
- 38:39Speaker 2: that he knew would be required to get Trump's support.
- 38:42Speaker 3: This is who this guy is.
- 38:43Speaker 2: Also, by the way, Abdul's made a big deal of
- 38:45Speaker 2: the fact that he immediately Mike Rodgers after he lost
- 38:48Speaker 2: his last campaign, immediately moved to Florida, and has now
- 38:51Speaker 2: moved back to posils himself as mischief.
- 38:54Speaker 1: I'm well, Obden's rich too.
- 38:55Speaker 3: I'm sure. I'm sure he is.
- 38:57Speaker 2: But in any case, last PC year, you know there
- 39:00Speaker 2: was a this was from the Unity rally. I referenced
- 39:03Speaker 2: this earlier, Rogers and others making a big deal out
- 39:06Speaker 2: of like, oh my god, did you know what his
- 39:08Speaker 2: real name is? Let's go and take a listen to
- 39:10Speaker 2: how Abdullah is responding to that.
- 39:12Speaker 10: Now, Mike, I'm just gonna remind you if you don't
- 39:15Speaker 10: know how to say the name, keep the name out
- 39:16Speaker 10: your damn mouse, or just call me Abdul. But I
- 39:26Speaker 10: got some opinions about his name.
- 39:28Speaker 6: See is very fitting for him, Rogers, because that's his
- 39:34Speaker 6: answer every time a corporation or Donald Trump tells him
- 39:36Speaker 6: to do something. Mike, we need you to put a
- 39:41Speaker 6: data center in the backyard.
- 39:43Speaker 10: Roger, Mike.
- 39:47Speaker 6: We need you to hike their prescription drug prices.
- 39:49Speaker 1: Roger, Mike.
- 39:53Speaker 6: We need you to rubber stamp this war we shouldn't
- 39:55Speaker 6: be fighting. Roger, Mike, this one's Donald Trump. I need
- 40:02Speaker 6: you to lick these boots, Roger.
- 40:06Speaker 3: They that shut up.
- 40:07Speaker 1: Let's call it what it is. That's an Obama. That
- 40:09Speaker 1: is an Obama rip off. That's also code switching, and
- 40:12Speaker 1: I'll call it for what like sorry, like, what the
- 40:14Speaker 1: fuck are you doing it?
- 40:15Speaker 3: What do you mean?
- 40:15Speaker 1: Come on, it's like a black said Obama type thing
- 40:18Speaker 1: how he talks. No, it's not. I've interviewed the man
- 40:21Speaker 1: many many times.
- 40:22Speaker 2: No, no, this is I think it's but it does
- 40:24Speaker 2: sound like Obama. I will just say, like, it's kind
- 40:27Speaker 2: of a corny as hell line and he kind of
- 40:29Speaker 2: pulls it off.
- 40:29Speaker 3: So people are people ate it up in that room?
- 40:33Speaker 4: Yes?
- 40:33Speaker 1: The women. I mean that was the quintessential democratic woman,
- 40:36Speaker 1: like fifty five years old with the kookie glasses. I mean, look,
- 40:39Speaker 1: I mean no hate. You know, we're all in this
- 40:41Speaker 1: country together. But sure, I'm sure she ate it up.
- 40:44Speaker 1: I'm not just to me. I found it corny as fuckable. No,
- 40:47Speaker 1: I mean I ate in that club. I could. I'm
- 40:51Speaker 1: sure you think so it didn't work for me. I
- 40:54Speaker 1: think he's doing an Obama impression. Look, I put all
- 40:58Speaker 1: of this is.
- 40:58Speaker 2: I did admit though he is a very talented politics,
- 41:02Speaker 2: very charismatic, always quick on his feet. That clip we
- 41:05Speaker 2: played where they were like, oh, Obama says, what was it?
- 41:08Speaker 2: Some so Obama says you're a piece of shit or whatever,
- 41:10Speaker 2: and he was like, oh, well, at least I don't
- 41:12Speaker 2: let mine go in the Oval office.
- 41:13Speaker 1: Trump Trump says you're a piece Yeah.
- 41:15Speaker 2: Exactly, Sorry, sorry Trump, I mean to come up with
- 41:18Speaker 2: that on the fly, like that to me in some.
- 41:20Speaker 1: Smart look, he's battle tested. He did lose previously to
- 41:23Speaker 1: Gretchen Witmer. He had some problems. I just think cold.
- 41:27Speaker 1: This is also where the candidate thing, like I was
- 41:29Speaker 1: talking about with Slocking, if Alice Slocking can beat my
- 41:32Speaker 1: Rogers in a wave election, like I don't even know
- 41:34Speaker 1: if it matters, like we're talking about a few genuinely,
- 41:37Speaker 1: Like I I really believe at this point candidate quality
- 41:40Speaker 1: is like a plus plus plus or minus two points.
- 41:44Speaker 1: I don't really believe in it anymore. Whenever it comes
- 41:46Speaker 1: to national elections, we have had too much evidence. Whenever
- 41:49Speaker 1: it comes to national national stakes where people will put
- 41:53Speaker 1: aside everything, yeah, whenever it means you're going to vote
- 41:56Speaker 1: the right way, like it's just and Democrats are pissed off.
- 41:59Speaker 1: I think if you a dx your name in the
- 42:01Speaker 1: state of Michigan, I think you're gonna win.
- 42:02Speaker 3: I kind of agree with that.
- 42:03Speaker 2: I always come back to the guy who's Attorney General
- 42:06Speaker 2: of Virginia, j jo right, who had those text messages
- 42:09Speaker 2: that come out that we're Devin. They were like, I
- 42:11Speaker 2: want to murder my opponent.
- 42:12Speaker 3: And he won, and he won. People were like, yeah,
- 42:15Speaker 3: but he's a Democrat.
- 42:16Speaker 1: And you're talking about statewide, right, Yeah, you're talking about
- 42:18Speaker 1: statewide where the stakes aren't Frankly, let's be honest, it's
- 42:21Speaker 1: not that fucking high. Yeah, we're talking about vote in
- 42:23Speaker 1: the United States Senate plus or minus. Like for most people,
- 42:26Speaker 1: I'm saying this has always been the case since Tea Party,
- 42:30Speaker 1: even more so today. The candidate quality, Like, I just
- 42:33Speaker 1: don't think it matters that much anymore unless you're I
- 42:35Speaker 1: don't know who was the guy who ran in North Carolina.
- 42:37Speaker 1: I don't even remember the guy's name, right, Cooper No,
- 42:40Speaker 1: who ran against him, the preacher who had all this
- 42:42Speaker 1: weird Porner right fantasies. I forgot these people come and
- 42:47Speaker 1: go Roy Moore that you know, it takes somebody like that.
- 42:49Speaker 3: Yeah, it matters a lot.
- 42:51Speaker 2: In the primary mattered a lot for Zorn in his
- 42:53Speaker 2: primary goes from one percent to winning. It mattered for
- 42:56Speaker 2: Abdul in his primary, who is up against the whole
- 42:59Speaker 2: mission sixty million dollars, et cetera. But I do think
- 43:02Speaker 2: in a general election, you're right that the national mood
- 43:04Speaker 2: is more important matters.
- 43:06Speaker 1: It can't managate it statewide. That's actually why I think
- 43:08Speaker 1: we're going to talk about Hoog tomorrow. I think might
- 43:10Speaker 1: be in trouble statewide. Whenever it comes to governor, it
- 43:13Speaker 1: just people vote very differently whenever it comes to the
- 43:15Speaker 1: stakes that are there. Andy Basheer a good example, dem
- 43:18Speaker 1: governor Republican. You know what, what are these Republicans win
- 43:22Speaker 1: by whenever it comes to the nationwide election like plus three.
- 43:25Speaker 3: Oh in Kentucky.
- 43:26Speaker 1: Yeah, it's bonkers. But then they'll vote for a Democrat.
- 43:28Speaker 1: So you know, I wouldn't underestimate that. So I actually
- 43:31Speaker 1: I'll say candidate quality matters more in a state wide election,
- 43:34Speaker 1: but when it's nationwide, stakes are just too high.
- 43:36Speaker 2: When we saw Virginia and New Jersey, those were state
- 43:39Speaker 2: level elections.
- 43:40Speaker 3: The point in both Abigail Spamberger and.
- 43:43Speaker 1: It was the first time you could react.
- 43:44Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true. It's like that's the point.
- 43:46Speaker 1: I mean look, it's it's complicated. Obviously, we'll see. I
- 43:49Speaker 1: still wouldn't bet. I wouldn't say that it wouldn't hurt,
- 43:52Speaker 1: like to have a wave of Democrats in an election
- 43:55Speaker 1: where everybody's just kind of voting and pissed off. It
- 43:57Speaker 1: definitely wouldn't hurt to be statewide on that. But people
- 44:00Speaker 1: are much more willing to go with a different party
- 44:03Speaker 1: when the stakes are not high at the federal level
- 44:06Speaker 1: at the end of the day, for abdul And or
- 44:08Speaker 1: Mike Rodgers, it's like, are you going to vote for
- 44:09Speaker 1: Trump or not? Right, Like that's an up or down
- 44:11Speaker 1: question of expression of disapproval or whatever. Whereas with you know,
- 44:16Speaker 1: with statewide elections, it's much more complicate, like property tax,
- 44:19Speaker 1: the data centers. I mean, I think it matters a ton,
- 44:22Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, But there's so much evidence now
- 44:24Speaker 1: for how people vote in that way that I would
- 44:27Speaker 1: just I would want to date next to my name
- 44:28Speaker 1: in any potential swing state. There's just no way around
- 44:31Speaker 1: it with the right Now, that's the reality. Okay, I
- 44:35Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoy the show. We're about to do
- 44:37Speaker 1: our ama, so we'll see that