Latest / Before You Speak / Before You Speak | Episode 39 | Abdul El-Sayed wins in Michigan, Texas bans THC and the news

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Before You Speak | Episode 39 | Abdul El-Sayed wins in Michigan, Texas bans THC and the news · Before You Speak

• Derek: th this was voted on in Texas last year, and 70 percent 70% of Texans said they don't want this. They forced it on us, and now you can you can get two DUIs before the charge is equal to what it now would be to carry one serving of a THC gummy. What's up, y'all? Welcome back to the Before You Speak podcast, where we thoughtfully deep dive into topics that we think are relevant for the times we are living in. but before we do that, I'm your host, Derek Peterson, and I'm gonna process the fire hose of my newsfeed with this guy somewhere around me, depending on where you're watching this. Elwyn: Or listening, I am Elwyn and the Derek: Or listen. Elwyn: fire hills of my news feed is coming to you loud and clear through technological improvements. Derek: So we try to do around here. Upgraded microphones. That means we're serious. The we've been we've been at this. We're coming up on a year marker. We're a few months out from being at the podcasting game for a year, which was our benchmarker to see if we want to continue doing this. how are you feeling about it? You wanna you think we should keep. Elwyn: Well, I think I think we get to take credit for anything that's happened in that year. So because of this podcast where Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: we've started a we've started a world war and killed one and a half senators. So let's go. Derek: Sweet. Yes, yes. Let's go. You know, we're just out here doing the the work of God's work right now. literally, I think. Elwyn: Just doing what we can to help. Derek: We're just a vessel. well let's jump straight into it. where's Mitch McConnell? Any update on that? Elwyn: he is absolutely brain dead somewhere. Like I mean, come on. Derek: Dude. My I made the mistake of posting going at Andy Bashir on threads and I I got ratioed relatively quickly. But in my defense, I do think that people did not actually read what I posted because I basically just posted what I talked about last week, which is like, yo, like, you know, smoke the guy out. Like we I know you can't replace the seat. I know there's a bunch of legal, technical BS that you have to go through. Like literally the entire point of doing it would just be to like fight the way the Republicans fight. and everybody was like, This isn't how we do things, blah blah blah. I was like, you know what? Like Elwyn: please. Derek: this is the problem with establishment democrats, is and we keep running into this. It's it it it to be honest, it is the argument of this kind of election cycle. Is that like there is it's like almost like this painful growth of the Democratic Party where it's like they when they get into power, it just feels like not much happens. And we actually have people coming up that are proponents for change and it feels like they're fighting, like and you know, like so I we're gonna get a message in a in a few days that just says that you know, Mitch took a turn for the worst and whatever, which is annoying. And I think Angie Andy Bashir had an opportunity to expose. make another, you know, case for exposing the corruption and the lies of, you know, this this administration. and he didn't do it. which is not shocking because it seems and he also wrote a letter which is very in line with Chuck Chuck Elwyn: Yeah, that's true. Derek: Schumer and the establishment. So Elwyn: No, I th I thought that your your take on this was actually right on. You know, and you know, I sent you that tweet that Andy Bashir sent put out was that was like, Well, you know, right now without McConnell there's one less vote for nominees and one less vote for the Save Act and all this stuff. And you know, he's right, sure, it's a point. Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: But no, I think your your point is fair. Like this is a stunt. The other side is pulling a stunt, right? Their the their stunt is protecting. Is weekend at Bernie's pretending that then they're not even trotting him out to a pool party, which at least Bernie was like at Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: a fucking pool party. Right? So smoke the stunt out. You know, say, I'm I'm I'm making up my own rule because this is unprecedented. You can take me to court and I'll lose and it doesn't matter. But the purpose of me making up that own rule is to betray the lie, to show you that, like, no, no, no. You don't have a guy that you can wheel out. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: And absent that. you know, absent that I'm naming someone else and and c just call on the bullshit. I I think your take is right on it. You shouldn't have gotten ratioed. Bad job by threads. But you know, you you mentioned something else and I don't know this will if this will come up in what we're talking about today, but I was listening to some listening to some review about the Michigan election last night, which I know we will talk about. And these guys, these folks were they were talking about like what is the centrist dem strategy in Michigan now. And these people who are like hard progressive lefties, they were like, you know, they might just kinda let El Sayed kind of flounder, not fully support him, give him tepid, you know, like, yes, of course we're supporting him, but not really throw the weight of the Democratic Party behind him and because they would rather he fail than he succeed and take the seat. And my God, if that is the strategy of any Democrats, f I I might be completely out. Like Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: You win the goddamn Senate, right? And they were like, Democrats prefer to be on the outside looking in. Like, no, win the fucking Senate. Win win the power, right? And Derek: But what what was well El Said's the reason he won over Haley Stevens was because of his composure and his message. And I I really hope and I don't know because I mean we're seeing this in Texas right now where Paxton refuses to debate Talerico. And who knows, Mike Rogers may refuse to to debate El Said. But if he if he does, I I genuinely think that's a that's Gonna be a very fantastic conversation because the dude is very articulate, he's on point, he knows exactly what his messaging is, like and it's for the people, like genuinely. I haven't heard him. I mean, he has said a couple things. The Israel Gaza stuff is just messing up every Democrat right now. And I I feel like the more people I I feel like he kind of finally landed the ship on that on the last one, and we'll get into this more later, but and just saying where people. Like the we're in the US. Like, let's can we focus on here? Like, can we focus on the here and now? Which was also Jon Stewart interviewed. I don't know you listened to that this week, John Fetterman on his podcast this week. Elwyn: I saw some clips of it. Derek: Yeah, which was a fantastic interview. And his his take was the same. He's like, Fetterman was, you know, all up in arms. He's like, the main issue for me is Israel, Gaza. And John Stewart was like, but we live here. So like, you know, and not to take away from like Elwyn: Yeah, I'm the Derek: the the overarching and and I know that it's more complicated than that, but I still feel like, you know, when we're talking about healthcare and immigration reform and the like there's so many things that impact us directly. the war in Iran, which I know is tied to all of that, but like, you know, let's let's focus on the the stuff that we can that impacts us directly right now. Elwyn: Yeah, I mean I sure, except you know, L L Derek: Am I wrong on that? Tell me I'm wrong. Elwyn: no, no, not I mean you're you're correct in that, you know, we have plenty of things domestically to worry about. Right. The but I think that to the extent you're saying that L Cyed is like, you know, finally was using a scalpel for anything when it came to sort of APAC funding and stuff like that. That's incorrect. He was a blunt hammer where he answered every single question. Literally every single question, by turning it back to the amount of money that APAC was spending to beat him. You know, that's Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: that's not a that's not a finally landing anything. That's beating the shit out of look, money in politics, yeah, that that's part of it. And APAC was the biggest source of money against him in politics, no question about it. And that's legitimate that money in politics argument is legitimate. But, you know, can can we Focus on health care without blaming the w the our lack of health care on Israel? I I feel like we can. Derek: Yeah, and you're not wrong. The APAC thing, I think the APAC thing became came up big because they were backing Haley Stevens so much. But you know, like this the flip side of this is it's gonna come out like every super PAC that's coming out in for Republicans. Republicans fundraise at a level that is like unheard of compared to Democrats, at least in the last, you know, what, five or ten years? The amount of money is just not even close. It's like, you know. I think actually the DNC I think is in the negative at the moment and the the RNC is like has like 200 million. it's just it's bananas. So, but well we'll get more into the election stuff in a minute. I wanted to talk a little bit about the do you think so it sounds like the Republicans have flipped the ones that were holding out on the Todd Blanche confirmation. do you think that's gonna end up going through? Elwyn: I do. I I think the last chance is like this deal that he said he made or the like when he said that the settlement or the audit f the the audit immunity for the Trump family was dead. It it seems like in the legal documents that were actually filed it's not actually completely dead. There's some question about it. But it's just, you know, for every spineless fuck on the Democratic side, there's a there's a a a brother. There's a brother Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: from another mother on the Republican side, right? And in this case, it's Tom Tillis and it's John Cornyn. And they're giving shelter, by the way, for Susan Collins, who has the room now to vote against him. but you know, John Cornyn he was no, I'm not gonna do it because of the slush fund and the tax immunity and stuff like that. And then yesterday, after he voted to move Blanche out of committee, he was like, Well, you know, what can we really do to reign in the presence? Like you could vote no. Like that's what you Derek: Yes. Elwyn: can do. You can fucking vote no, man. Like what what are we what kind of s answer is that? You know, and Tom Tillis, just same thing. Yeah, it's it's just disgraceful the way these guys just fold. And God knows I've yelled about yelled about them folding on the Democratic side. And this is just the Republicans just falling in line for for the kingmaker. Derek: Yeah, but Cornyn doesn't make any sense. Like that that's the part for me that is is brutal, is that, dude, he got primaried because of Trump's endorsement. and then he falls in line, which this to me, and I I was listening to the guys on Pod Save America talk about this, and none of them actually said the thing, which drove me crazy. I'm like, you know that these fuckers are getting paid after the fact. There the the only way any of this makes sense is if there is a deal for Corny to get a bunch of money once he's gone to continue to vote and be a part of this. Because in any other world, somebody else kicks you out of your job and takes it. There's a giant middle finger that you're trying to stick to him. So, like there ha there is only on the other side of this, there is incentives for him to fall in line and continue to do what he he's doing, or none of this makes any sense. And so it drives me crazy when I hear people talk about this in like this complicated like, well, you know, this could be why corn no, it's money. It's money. It's the same reason why all of them are doing it. He's getting paid somewhere. Elwyn: Yeah. It's it's it's money or spineless. It's it's one of the two. It's not some like I don't even know what a third option could be, right? Some like moral stand on the way out that he was the guy who, you know, got Blanche to drop the these things in order to get confirmed. Like Blanche says is on record. He he was recorded saying that. He wants Dobbs, the anti-abortion decision, to be the the law in every state, right? Trump says, has always said it's up to states to decide. Blanche, soon to be attorney general of United States, wants it to not be up to the states to decide. He wants that to be a national decision. He was recorded saying as much. He's gonna go after Mifepristone and, you know, abortion drugs that are shipped by mail. In Texas, the Republicans are already banning IVF, right? Like this is what when you Clear the way for Todd Blanche. You are not taking any moral high ground if you somehow want to sell me that the Trumps can now get their tax returns audited. you know, because first of all, I don't believe that what Blanche signed holds water. I don't I think that they'll do whatever they want once he's in. And second of all, all you did was like, I don't know, open the side door for the wolves to go into the hen house. Instead of opening the front door? Like either way, the wolves are in the hen house, so I don't give a shit how they got there. Derek: Yeah. I'm still of the mindset that all of this crypto stuff going on is for this exact reason is to continue to find ways to pay people with and get what they want in any facet and across the country. And I like I wish I wish we could do an audit of these dudes' finances and every all their holdings, including crypto holdings, after they leave office because I can almost guarantee you Corny's getting something for this. There's there's no way in my head that he's not. So like which it drives me nuts, which also, you know, I I think since we're talking about Texas for a second, I think it's important to bring this up. They just passed the THC ban in Texas because you know, Abbott, Paxton, and then what's the other dude's fat fit Elwyn: Dan Patrick. Derek: Dan Patrick? not to be mistaken for the great Dan Patrick of ESPN, who is also hilarious, the terrible Dan Patrick. Yes, the Elwyn: confused me for two years. Yeah. Derek: the awful Dan Patrick. You know, th this was voted on in Texas last year, and 70 percent 70% of Texans said they don't want this. They forced it on us, and now you can you can get two DUIs before the charge is equal to what it now would be to carry one serving of a THC gummy. It's complete horseshit. If you had an entire plate of of pot brownies, that's a life in prison. Like this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life. And again, like all of this stuff, it just comes back to money. On the back end of all of this stuff, it just somebody's getting paid out somewhere and they're just stepping over all of the people and what the actual people want to line their pockets. It's the most corrupt, you know. Elwyn: Well the weak Derek: Go ahead. Elwyn: Sorry, sorry. the week before or last week, the alcohol and beverage industry lobby gave Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton a whole bunch of money. And of course, who suffers if people are buying THC drinks or CBD drinks? The alcohol industry. Yeah, so yeah, and and it is like the it is deeply undemocratic. Deeply undemocratic because we did vote on this, right? And it's not even a year past the vote where You know, the state legislatures are just completely overrunning the recently expressed overwhelming will of the people in Texas. Derek: Yeah. So like can we just like point out again, like I'm so sick of the them like them being Republicans calling us fascists and communists. Like what they're doing is those that like literally the exact thing. They literally went against the vote of the people to institute a policy that actually oppresses the people. And no one not the I have not talked to a single person in Texas that's like, yeah. I'm for this. Even even my Republican, my Republican buddy was the one that sent me, was sent texting me back and forth different memes about that, and then the Mitch McConnell thing, which I texted you early, which is also hilarious. the I think the last thing we want to jump in on the news though is this reflecting pool thing, because Janine Piro gets blasted by Trump because you know, she can't lie in court. that's ever Like everybody else can, but she can. So she she has to come clean and basically be like, yeah, the guy that knelt down and stuck his hand in the water did not have a box cutter and was not did not cut a 350 foot the best is now that that you you've seen some of those videos released, you're like, there's there's no way humanly possible that this happened. Elwyn: Well also, like the there's cameras on the reflecting pool all the time. Right? There's public cameras that are always on the reflecting pool. Someone cut the that that this made it this far honestly is like a a an indictment on the media who s who were on this a little bit, but somebody why wasn't somebody like, bro, where's the video of somebody cutting a three hundred fifty foot long slash in the water? Right, 'cause it was in the water. So somebody would have had to, by Trump's story, someone would have had to jump in the water, bend down, put a knife in the water, and walk the length of three and a half football fields, cutting the whole time. That's like a ten minute walk. Right? Derek: That's longer than that and water, dude. Like that is like a Elwyn: Yeah, some somebody would have been like, dude, that guy's cutting a long slash. Should we do something? Like this would have been all over social media. And and we were all just like, Derek: Dude, not only that, underneath that is concrete. He's gonna need like four or five blades. Like that first blade is only gonna Elwyn: Yeah. Right. Derek: make it like maybe, maybe ten or fifteen yards. He's gotta replace that thing Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: every so often. Like yeah. Elwyn: And Trump is still on it. He's still today on this shit, you know? And and it's just I don't understand why there's not some reporter that's just going, what the hell are you talking about? Like show us the video. Show us a video of somebody walking three hundred and fifty feet or three hundred and fifty yards and slicing this thing open. Cause you know what there is video of? Trump's entire motorcade driving on the emptied out, recently resurfaced reflecting pool. Tons of vehicles driving on the reflecting pool to like show off how great it was. I wonder what might have cut caused, you know, rips in the surface of the reflecting pool. But the Pyrothing was like especially interesting because I don't know if you heard yesterday, like the he called Pyrot in and Interior Secretary Doug Bergram. and you know, he likes to do this. He likes to get two people in the room, get them yelling at each other, kind of hunger games type shit, right? So Piero apparently she knows from Fox, she she know she knew what was coming, and she came in fucking ready for war. Like a whole briefcase full of documents showing that it was the interior secretary's fault that all this happened, that this whole thing went haywire, because she knows she's fighting for her job. And That's why, probably why she hasn't been fired, because she won her, she kept the she won the ability to keep her job in that fight. But also, like this was reported with multiple sources, this Oval Office meeting. So it's like the day that it happened, a couple hours after it happened. So it's just fascinating to see like it had to come from Pyrrho. Right? Pyrrho had had to leak this out to multiple people and have everybody be like, yeah, yeah, no, tell it, tell the press what just happened. Derek: Yeah. Dude, this is the world that we're living in, and this is what drives me nuts. This is why the claims of fascism are are legit. Dude, we can literally have no video evidence and an administration that's telling us that some innocent dude, some Olympian, cut this pool. Meanwhile, we have a ton of video evidence of ICE agents shooting US citizens and killing them in our streets, and we're told not to believe it. This is fucking insane. Like where we are at as a country is insane right now. Don't believe this, which you see with your eyes, but believe me that this dude cut a 350 foot gash with a you know box cutter down a ref if in the water of a reflecting pool, and we have no evidence of it, and we're not giving it to anybody. Like it's upside down, dude. It drives me bananas. Elwyn: Well, you know, you you know what the last line in nineteen eighty four, the book, is it's I'm gonna mangle this, but it's it says the party's final and most essential command was to not believe what you see and not believe what you hear, right? So that they can so that they can, you know, believe what they're saying, not what you're seeing. And that's exactly what it's exactly what it is. Like but I don't understand why Trump is still like just stop talking about it. You look like Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: an asshole. Derek: Well, he doesn't though. That's the thing, is it for some reason the he gets away with everything and I will never understand how. I will never get this, but it's it's the world we live in and half the country voted for it. So apparently, apparently this is still our problem. all right, you you guess. Elwyn: Clearly, yeah, it's very much very much so. Derek: Apparently it's only our problem. It's only the people that voted against that that are like, yeah, we don't want this still, which is mind-blowing. I I'm curious if the country just in general, if everybody just aligned with Trump, like how quickly everything would just be complete shit. Like how long would the how long would it take for everything, literally everything to be run into the ground? Because that's literally what would happen. It would the the fact that there's no push-pull. You know, there's no that the only thing that keeps keeps any semblance of balance because they would just hoard all the we'd turn into Russia where that's you know, fifty people have all the wealth. Elwyn: Are we not? Derek: I mean we're yeah, okay. Fair point. We're getting there. Elwyn: I mean, probably a conversation for a longer day, right? But like we've had law firms capitulate. We've had the media capitulate. you know, that that individuals on an individual level, there's sixty-five percent disapproval of his presidency is great. it's wonderful. But the institutions that matter, almost all of them, folded right away. you know, the only one, frankly, the like the judiciary has outside of the Supreme Court, most of the judiciary has held strong. You know, like this, he wants states to turn over voter rules, right? That's something that he's always talking about. So twenty states have now been have now been sued, or that that action has been sued in 20 states and it's lost in all twenty. Right? The the courts in all twenty cases have said no, you do not have to turn over the voter rules. That is state information, not federal information. So You know, you have some backstopping in the courts, which is good, and you have the people turning against him, which is also good, but you know, as long as you have the media just glossing over the shit and and simping for him, and as long as you have law firms and businesses who are just chasing the the buck right now, the instant buck, then how different is it from what you described? Derek: Yeah. It it's it's not that different, but and also, you know, like I kind of escalated the beginning of this podcast because it gets into what we're talking about now, which is gonna be, you know, these primary results, which is, you know, faving people in the electorate that are going to actually fight for the people and like the and how crucial this actually is right now. And You know, again, why my frustration with Andy Bashir and like Chuck Schumer and you know Hakeem Jeffries, all these guys not living up to the moment, and because this moment requires something more. The establishment Democrats do not understand the moment we're in, because it's and it and it genuinely feels like that because we're being anybody that has that's not getting fed the red-pilled algorithm is looking at this situation and being like, What the fuck is going on? So, you know, I think it's important that we talk about this. So which leads me us into our first discussion about, you know, what happened in Michigan last night. Abdul Sa El Sayyed wins over Haley Stevens in a pretty pretty close race. which I I Elwyn: Much, much closer than what was expected. Derek: Yeah, and I I think before this a lot of people thought El Sayyid was gonna win by a couple of points, right? At least. Elwyn: The the polling average on real clear politics was of like the last month's polls had him up winning by thirteen. There there was not Derek: Yeah. And it Elwyn: a poll there was there was not a poll within under ten. There was not a a single digit poll in the last month. And it was it's a one point race. Derek: Yeah. Yeah. I I mean when I went to bed last night I was like, she she may come back and win this. So which which was interesting. But so what do you what do you think? I mean, give me your take just overall on your your your thoughts on this his winning and what how the Democrats are viewing this and and go from there. Elwyn: So I think the closeness of it is actually a it's a decent story. like why why did the polls miss and what does that mean about who the campaigns had access to in a sense? Because El Sayed ran a very strong ground campaign. They called, they made millions of phone calls. They knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors. It was an incredibly well-run campaign. Hassan Piker, the podcaster, He was helping call people, he was spreading the word. and the areas and the people that he reached out to, he won big. But the areas that he did not reach out to, older people, landline people, nursing homes, people Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: like that, Stevens won huge. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: so like the closeness of this is interesting going forward. Now, I think outside of the sort of and and we'll talk about the APAC and the money and politics angle because that's extremely relevant too. Is this is now the biggest test for the DSA progressive left by far. You know, Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: this is one where, you know, this is a battleground state. This is a seat that, you know, I'm optimistic about the Senate without Michigan, but with Michigan, the Democrats taking the Senate looks a whole lot better. And Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: this is this is a race where he's not going to be favored. Now A good candidate can come and win. And I don't think Mike Rogers for the Republicans is a very good candidate, but you know, this is now like a litmus test. So you know, how far can these candidates go? How far can the Mamdani DSA progressive left candidate who is virulently anti Israel? you know, how far can they go? Can they win a competitive Senate seat? And yeah, we'll see. Derek: We'll see, especially because I mean, I guess, you know, ALC's in New York, right? and not in the Senate. She's she's in she's Elwyn: Yeah. No, she's a congressperson. Derek: a Congress. Yeah. So like there's it's interesting to see it could w other than and Bernie Bernie's not in the Senate either, right? he is. Elwyn: Yeah, he is. But like to I I think I know where you're going, which the Elizabeth Warrens, the Bernie Sanders, the AOCs of the world, you know, the the the left wing, the current left wing in in power in either the House or the Senate, because we're really talking about the Senate. They're coming from lefty, you know, blue plus thirty states. You Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: know, New New York New York is voting for a Republican voting for a Democrat for president by thirty points. Vermont by thirty points, Massachusetts by thirty points. Michigan is flipping every election by 80,000 votes. you know, so yeah, there's room and there's an obvious path for Bernie Sanders, for Elizabeth Warren to win a Senate seat. That's not a big deal, right? Nobody's surprised when that happens in those states. But in Michigan, with a type of candidate that is new, right? Like Bernie Sanders has been around forever. Elizabeth Warren has been around for a while. you know, but there's no question that. what Al El Sayed represents, what Mom Dani represents, even what AOC, even though she's been around, what they all represent is different in tone and in look than Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. So how does that play not in a in a deep blue state? How does that play in a deep purple state? We're about to find out. Derek: Yeah. And the things that a the things that they're talking about are the in general, you know, like the DSA platform, like, yes, there's a bunch of dumb stuff on it, but we talk about this regularly. Like, you know, Medicare for all, you know, universal childcare, public in you know, helping public schools, like inf public infrastructure, like all of the things that like if you actually talk to even a Republican. Most of the time they're gonna be like, Yeah, like we want all of these things. I and I think the messaging that's starting to and I think the messaging that needs to continue. I think for working class people, and Talarico coined this, like I he was probably the first person to articulate it in the way that I think that it needs to be articulated, is just that, you know, we're like we're we're fighting against the wrong one percent. We're fighting Like, you know, they want to make the trans people the problem. They want to make the immigrants the problem. They want to make the like, but the real problem is the is the people with all the money, because the people with all the money lobby and get all the laws passed for themselves, which is what is actually oppressing the middle class. And so the messaging around corruption and going after like money and politics and overturning citizens united, like It is so good to finally hear some of this messaging come through. I mean, this is stuff me and you, even when we first started this podcast that we started talking, that was like right out hot out of the gate. I think Citizens United was one of our first episodes, which was, you know, like this stuff is really important. And it's if I'm being honest, this is what actually changes our country. If we really want to see change in our country, we've got to get the money out of politics so that people are actually making decisions. For their constituents and and that tension is welcome. Like it's not like I will welcome the tension with somebody that disagrees with me on my views on abortion, that disagrees with me on my views on, you know, Medicare for all, that disagrees with me on my views for public health care. What I don't the fight I don't want to fight is somebody that actually doesn't disagree with me, but they're getting paid to disagree with me, or they're getting paid to. to go a different direction. Cause that's a battle you'll never win. Like you'll and it doesn't serve the people at all. It serves whoever's paying them to have that view. Elwyn: Yeah, I mean I d I I go not I mean I I agree with everything about money and politics. I don't think that I go quite so far as to say that because someone is backed by by a pack that that is why they have that view. I don't I don't I think that's a little too binary a statement to make, you know. but that being said, you know, the amount of money in politics in this election, in El Said's election He got outspent, you know, if you count all the pack money, something like 11 to 1. I think it was a little less than that. I think it was like 67 million in outside money came in for Haley Stevens versus like 7 million for him. And of that 67 million, this is an issue. APAC was about half of it. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: you know, and and APAC probably has a whole host of concerns, not the least of which is the fact that. You know, when they asked him about October seventh, his response was, people who get hurt are going to hurt people, right? Which is a very permissive take on on what Hamas did on October seventh. You Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: know, that's beyond permissive, right? you know, so the there's the money in politics thing is is a real problem. And that's a lot of what this election was about was him saying, I am against the money. I'm against the money. It just happened that he always named APAC, which is like, why are you always naming APAC? You know, it's like, why is that such a bad guy? But look, Texas, the governor, I I think Cornyn has 70 million, Gene Inahos has three. You know, and the interesting thing though is, you know, what could we value the amount of unpaid media that El Sayed got that Trump got in 2016 and 2024? Right. Like when you have a Hassan Piker out there talking about you every single day and making calls and the news is following this race every day for a month, right? That has an incredible amount of value. So, you know, it it's I don't think you know, I feel like the right solution is like you get eight weeks to campaign. Like you can't you can't make campaign speech, you can't do shit for eight weeks until eight weeks before the election day. Derek: Yeah, and even limit the yeah. Elwyn: And then it's all holds barred. I mean no holds barred. Derek: And then limit like, look, you can fundraise up to a certain amount. Like, you know, like let's say 20 million is the number. So every every candidate can fundraise up to 20 million where you get the money, like we don't even have to regulate where you get the money. If you want APAC to fund your entire 20 million, okay. Like it's just disclosed, right? But like if you give everybody the ability to stop at a certain number, and if you can't fundraise to that, level, that's your problem. Like you're that probably means your messaging isn't strong enough. But like, you know, like Texas has a different problem. Texas's problem isn't as much APAC as it's going to be the Christian nationalist billionaires that the the oil money and and the the different packs that we we have here. So I think you know a the I think the El Sayyid problem with and this is also my struggle with the APAC thing right now because it it comes up so much and It's such a deep conversation. Like it's such a conversation that like you just talked about how permissive it was for him to like brush it off with a sentence, right? And I listened to an entire podcast where Jon Stewart unpacked this with John Fetterman, and you know, it was an hour and a half long, and they still didn't get to the root of like the the they there was still stuff missing in all of that. And that's the struggle, right? Is that what What's going on with Israel and Gaza and Iran and all this stuff, it's so complicated and requires such such like intentional dialogue that like to to answer it's almost unfair to have that question asked in general in a short form setting, in a place where you have to give a a a sentence or a a few lines to answer it because it's like No matter what you say in that moment, you're going to piss somebody off because you can't unpack the nuance of your answer in a full conversation, you know? And it that unfortunately it is. Elwyn: Yeah yeah, but I mean I think the that kind of answer you know th like that kind of answer that he gave, which is, you know, people who got hurt are going to hurt other people you know and his just constant railing against APAC. There's a guy popular report, he's been around forever, Jonathan Chait, and he did a piece on how every Every issue, every question that El Syed a was asked, he would turn it against APAC, every single one. Healthcare, public funding for schools, whatever, it didn't matter. It all came down to APAC. And Jonathan Chate asked El Syed about that and and he turned it about APAC. And it was like kind of this like, okay, like what are we doing? What's the boogeyman? Like we're clearly creating a boogeyman here. And you know, th there does create a little bit of a permission structure for, you know. anti-Jewish feelings to slip through the cracks here. You know, so you know, you have this now reckoning that's all wrapped in. He's the avatar for this kind of reckoning that the Democrats have to have. How do they handle the DSA? How do they handle the the progressive left? You know, James, John Fetterman, his take in that interview with Jon Stewart was form your own party, DSA. Don't call yourself a Democrat if you're not a Democrat. Well, that's just fucking stupid. F Stewart's response was like, Well, what about the Freedom Cauc Caucus? It's right on. It's like, no, you're the Democratic Party. These people are running as Democrats. They are part of your party and they stand for a lot of the same shit that you stand for. but they also don't like you very much, and they're really mad at how you've been treating them for 10 years now. the Democratic Party has been treating the DSA like the redheaded stepchild. They took the election from Bernie Williams in twenty sixteen. They did. It's just fact, right? They they didn't necessarily take the election from Bernie Sanders in 2024, but they didn't give Bernie Sanders a chance. You know, they definitely anointed Biden in 2020, right? They they got Amy Klobishar and Pete Butterjuch to drop out right before the South Carolina primary so that the road was clear for Joe Biden. So the DSA is going like, fuck all you guys. Like we are going in, you you can't take this from us now, right? We now have New York City. We've got the Michigan Senate, right? We've got the Maine Senate. We've got all these candidates. So you centrist Democrats, you have to figure out what to do with this, right? You can't eat your own. You you have to figure out how to heal old wounds that are, you know, still very, very live and somehow create a platform that works in a different way in different states. Right. What works in Maine for Troy Jackson is not necessarily going to be the same thing that works in Michigan for Abdul El Sayed. Right. And it's probably the other way around, right? You know, what works for Tal Rico in Texas is absolutely not going to be the same thing that works or does doesn't work in Michigan. Right. So the Democrats have to kind of figure this out. Like, how do we what why are people voting for these people? They're voting for them because of universal health care, because the rent is too damn high, because Everything is too expensive because they they can't buy a house. They're voting for them because they've been lied to by the mainstream Democratic Party. If you're 26, you've been lied to by the from the mainstream Democratic Party for 10 years. They've been taking your voice away in an underhanded way, and you are pissed, right? And they're voting for these guys because these guys are the ones that are out there saying, blow the whole fucking thing up and rebuild it. Which is what which is how Trump won twice. And the Democrats have to just. They just have to come to reckon with the fact that centrist democratic policies are not awful, right? It's not that, you know, the the the defund the police stuff that exists on the left, you know, in the DSA, that's stupid. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: Right? The the it I I fear tremendously that the permission structure for, you know, killing Jewish people is being created on the left. It's always been there on the right, right? This isn't a left-only problem, but it's being The the foundation is being laid for bad things to happen to Jewish people through the permissiveness of the DSA when they talk about Israel. The Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: the Centrist Democratic Party has to figure out a way to thread the needle, but you have to thread the needle. If you're gonna call yourself a big tent party, you can't kick these people out of the tent, especially when they're the fucking ones that are winning elections. You Derek: Mm. Elwyn: know, and con conservative commentator William Buckley said, they said. How conservative do you want? You know, what's the limit on how conservative a candidate should be? And he goes, I want the most conservative candidate that can win an election. Because you can't do shit if you don't have power. Right. So I want the most progressive candidate that can win an election. Right? Can I Derek: That's yeah, that's a great way to put it. Elwyn: I'm gonna I'm gonna do the Republican bullshit, you know, Islamophobia thing, not that I'm Islamophobic, but can Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al-Sayed win an election in a purple state? On progressive policies. We're about to Derek: We're we're about to find Elwyn: find out. Derek: d can you put a phone call into Netanyahu and just tell to chill the fuck out for a while? Like it's it's the Elwyn: You know, Lisa Lisa, Lisa, you know, has she's not as a a fan of Mom Donnie. And so she sends me some stuff that I might not see. And she sent me this thing on Monday that he put together like a c a judicial commission of 18 people that was supposed that he said is going to reflect the diversity of the city. This is New York City. There's not one Jewish attorney on and it's all attorneys, it's 18 attorneys. There's not one Jewish attorney. in New York City in the in this eighteen, right? And you know, she sent that to me and I was like, okay, that's pretty bad. It's hard. That that can't happen by accident. But also Derek: Yeah, I was gonna say like Elwyn: but also I was like, God damn it, Netanyahu and Israel, don't you see what you're causing here? Like, don't you fucking get it? Right? This shit is a backlash to what they've done. And it's like, God damn it, there's no safe place. Derek: Yeah, he's he's you he's leveraging Trump to basically like this was the move, right? For Netanyahu. Like what 'cause once if the Democrats get back in power, like I think a lot of this gets like the funding and different things. I mean, they're gonna struggle. They're gonna struggle to get much from the US beyond that. At the at least at the in the current iteration, unless Israel takes over new leadership and it's somebody that like can rally behind the US and we can build new relationships. But I think Netanyahu is pretty much fucked his relationship with most of the United States, you know, which is which sucks. Like, especially having a bunch of Jewish friends. Like it sucks to see the struggle that they're innately thrown into by decisions that were not their own. So, but let's so let's talk a little bit about the ballot initiatives in I know you wanted to bring up Kansas and Missouri, some of the stuff that's going on there. Elwyn: Yeah, so this was good. There there was a bunch of good stuff last night. you know, El Sayed might be good. I th I think El Sayed might have a better shot against Rogers than Stevens would. So who knows? But in Kansas there was a Republican led initiative to make the Supreme Court an appointed a Supreme Court justice an appointed position rather than an elected position. And Kansas was like one of the first states to protect. Abortion rights after Dobbs. You it's surprising, but Kansas has been kind of on the vanguard of protecting of being states' rights, of of letting the state decide its own thing and of protecting abortion rights. So this Republican initiative to have justices be appointed was really a direct response to that. Like, cool, we want to be able to appoint justices. That are Republican, because there's pretty much always a Republican governor, certainly always a Republican House and Senate in in Kansas. So we wanna get the fucking Democrats out. Ballot lost, I think sixty to forty at least. In Missouri, they have a process where if enough citizens sign a petition and go through the process, you can have a citizen-led ballot initiative. So I don't know if this actually happened there, but I think it, you know, a common ballot initiative would be to like restore the voting rights of felons who have served their time. Right? To say, okay, they've served their time, they can now go a go ahead and vote once they're out of prison and, you know, whatever different states do it differently. That's usually a ballot initiative. So a bunch of citizens get together, they get backing, they have enough signatures, and that shit gets on the ballot in November, and then it passes or it doesn't pass. Well, that being a good expression of democratic values, is of course d kryptonite to Republicans in a state like Missouri. So they put up a ballot that would have ended those that type of ballot initiative and it lost eighty to twenty. It got demolished. Derek: It's fucking fantastic. Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: And the beauty of that, and what I love about those ballot initiatives is that they it's your voice gets heard. Like the people's voice actually gets heard. And I'm starting to really like like lean into this. It feels like this is this is as far as voting goes, this needs to be the fix. Like our like our votes should be heard. Like in in any situation, like If you're voting for something, I like this is why I hate the Electoral College. It's why, you know, people complain about you know, like if you're a blue, if you're a liberal in a red state, your vote doesn't matter in certain elections and like that shit sucks. Like this is the but because like the majority of the in my opinion, this country should ru be ruled by a majority. Like if a policy gains enough traction for the majority of the people to view it as something that should be done, then that's how I bel and I'm not saying majority is like, you know, white people, meaning like the majority of most initiatives are going to actually be blended all cultures and all peoples, right? Like it's gonna be something that actually makes sense to men, women, like, dude, I mean, come on. Yeah, disagree? Elwyn: No, but serious yeah, yeah. I I don't disagree with the with there being opportunities for more direct democracy. I don't disagree with that. And and something like a ballot proposition led by a citizen movement is a great way to respond in a sense to an unrepresentative legislature, right? Where if the legislature passes some laws that you don't like, okay, well fuck you, we're gonna go direct, we're gonna influence this directly through a ballot initiative. But you know, tyranny of the majority at the expense of a minority is a real risk, right? That that is a thing. and that is a thing that this country has particularly been victimized by. So like if you put up by your why I'm shaking my head and why why I'm you know digging in that there's a limiting factor here is like if you're a trans person, you don't want that shit. You do not want the majority ruling on your on your rights, period. You're gonna lose every time, right? If Derek: Fair point. Elwyn: you're a if you're a gay person, you're a little worried. If you're a minority, you're a little worried, right? Like so and that that is why we have courts also, right? To protect those rights. Derek: Yeah, but don't you think that the yeah, but don't you think that the majority of people would still like you know, like so the majority of people I still think are in favor of of and and to be honest, I think are still relatively reasonable. so like when you think about the majority, like on a in a trans rights case, like I'm not somebody that's I I'm not trans. I have no stake in that race or no horse in that race or whatever. And so, but my in general my belief is that more freedoms for more people is better. So, like the majority, I feel like and the majority of Elwyn: Maybe you have a you a daughter that plays sports? Derek: I yeah, but I'm not one that's gonna give a shit if it's a I mean, maybe in wrestling, if like that's that might be the boxing might be the only Elwyn: No but like that Derek: two that I would be like, but then if I'm being honest, I would probably just tell my daughter to forfeit that match if she didn't wanna do it. Like, you know, like rather than make an ordeal out. Elwyn: No, and and I know, and I'm not ascribing that to you, but what I'm saying is that first of all, no, I don't I don't think that the majority of people are quite as enlightened or woke as you'd like to think. But I'm probably just more pessimistic about it. But to take that pessimism out of it, you know, Derek: Texas will do that to you. Elwyn: pe d yeah. And people have to vote, right? Like you're not talking about the the you know adults in the United States you're talking about the voting adults in the United States in in 2022 the last midterm election in Texas turnout was forty seven percent in a presidential election twenty twenty four turnout in Texas was fifty six percent who's tur who's doing the voting right like that's that's what matters it's not the majority of people in the country It's the majority of people who vote and I don't I don't have any faith in the majority of people who vote. You know, I have hope, but I don't have faith ever. Derek: that's I mean I guess i fair point. I've I grew up optimistic and I think more I've slowly been I've I've been losing it a little bit every year ever since then. So Elwyn: I'm getting there with you. I w I want full blown, you know, no faith in humanity. No Derek, you know, like Derek: Yeah. Well, they I wanted we all also wanted to talk about Ohio and if you want to actually get me pissed off, you know, get me going on Max Miller. but what Elwyn: Well, before we before we go to Max Miller, 'cause I think we'll cook on that, did you hear about the guy in Michigan, Trump's candidate, who lost his primary to a guy that dropped out of the race and stopped running six weeks ago? Derek: And no I saw the headline but I didn't actually read it. The Elwyn: Yeah. No, th they Trump endorsed a guy, you know, gave him his full on, you know, MAGA blah blah blah endorsement. The guy's name is Amir Hassan, and I think that that's relevant. And the guy that he was running against, he was running against two people. The guy that won the election last night dropped out of the race a month ago. Very publicly. He said, I'm not running anymore. And and it wasn't close. He won like By the the guy Amir Hassan won won like 30% of the vote. The other guy beat him by like 17 points. And the the immediate takeaway that I've heard is yeah, the MAGA folks were like, nah, Derek: Not Elwyn: MAGA or not. A guy named Amir Hassan. Nope, not for us, man. Derek: That's a bridge bridge too far. Elwyn: Vote voting for John Smith at the top of the ballot or whatever the fuck his name is, right? So this Trump guy lost it. Derek: Yes. They're like, I don't even care who the that guy could have been a Democrat and they would have just been like, I don't care. Elwyn: Yeah. Yeah. The i the only reason it's he didn't lose to a dead person is 'cause the guy happens to be alive. But he was not running a campaign, he was not doing Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: anything, he had dropped out and he still won. Derek: That that's amazing. The I did not hear I I mean I read the the headline 'cause I was going through the headlines this morning on all this stuff. but I am curious like your take on over overall take on what's going on in Ohio before we get to our shut the fuck up today. Elwyn: Yeah, Ohio's batshit right now. I s I don't remember the whole thread. I No, but they're like pr I think they're particularly like Yeah. But I sent Derek: Ohio is always bad shit. Ohio and Wisconsin. Elwyn: you this whole thread and I don't remember them all just going up and down the line of all the Republican Congress people in Ohio that are criminal, corrupt, cheating involved in some sort of sex scandal, sexual abuse scandal. And now the worst one is this guy, Max Miller. Who is a congressperson who has a safe R seat. You know, like he, if he I don't know how safe it is anymore, but it was considered to be a pretty safe seat. He has now been accused of assaulting three different women, starting when he was a teenager, where a a woman said that he pushed her down the stairs and, you know, that it was like the scariest night of her life. Then S all these all these accusations are separate, by the way. They're unconnected to each other. Then Stephanie Grisham, who was Trump who was in Trump's on Trump's staff, he was she was like the travel secretary or something in in his first term, dated this guy and said that he was scary and you know she never knew when she woke up what she was what version of Max Miller was going to be, you know, lying in bed with her. And then this guy's ex-wife. accused her of accused him of assaulting her and accused him of harming their kid. and this starts to get really, really sort of cuckoo bananas right about there, because his ex-wife is also the daughter of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno. Her name is Emily Moreno. Her father is an Ohio senator who knew of these accusations and didn't really talk about them for two years. Right. So now it's all coming out. And I forget what the trigger for it all to come out was, but he's doing this fucking media tour where I if you if you could give him a shovel and tell him to dig, I don't think he would do as good a job. Right? His first Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: his first media thing over the weekend was a Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: a vr video he recorded in his kitchen. Where he was like, These allegations are all untrue. I'll send you the text messages and like if this were true, would she have made me dinner six nights later? And it's like, Bro, that is some abuser talk right there. Like, that is classic abuser dialogue. and then he went on Jake Tapper. Derek: the second the second I saw those, yeah, the second I saw those videos, I went straight to the comments because you you you was just getting lambasted. Like the second that I saw that video post, I was like, dude, this is anybody that knows anything about abuse is going to just like un unload on this. Elwyn: Yeah. Yeah. And then he did an interview on Tapper, yesterday or the night before, and he somehow made it worse where he's like, you know, when when my daughter broke her collarbone and my wife accused me of it, she had been with my daughter for nine out of eleven days and brought her to the hospital for treatment, which is against our co parenting agreement. This fucking guy is mad. that when his wife thought that he broke his daughter's collarbone, she took him she took the daughter to the hospital and didn't tell the guy that she thought did it about that. He's mad at the co parenting agreement, right? It's like it's and his excuse, like why isn't he gonna drop out is hey, Trump in twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen had all sorts of allegations against him and he stayed in. We appreciate Derek: That's a the Elwyn: resilience in this country. Derek: Dude, it drives me freaking nuts. And then to to throw fuel on the fire, I was watching a Jim Jordan get interviewed about this because Jim Jordan was out with Max Miller, you know, campaigning. And, you know, Max Miller's a good guy. You know, we really hope he rewins this seat, whatever. And this the what's her name? Casey, is it Casey? the CNN host basically Played the interview on Newsmax about what he said about Graham Plattner, about how the Democrats will just accept any any any terrible person to to yield their power and to do all this stuff. Meanwhile, the this guy has even more cr credible allegations against him. and just watching Jim Jordan fumble over himself, which actually has happened a few times in the last week, which has been fantastic to watch. That guy's a piece of work. I I'm I'm even Elwyn: Also accused of sexual assaulting wrestlers at at Ohio State. Derek: Yeah. just an awful that's right. I forgot that he was part of the Ohio State Wrestling Program. that is yeah, but also probably why I think he's a piece of shit, because I was a Iowa State guy anyway. So so but it's just we you know, like the the scope to to watch the people on Fox News, you know, blast the left on you know, Graham Platiner and how terrible this is and how the Democrats will do whatever they have to do to get back in power and run whatever candidate they want. meanwhile, dude, just continuous al allegations from all these dudes on the the all these Republicans. And it doesn't even stop there. I've seen like three or four more of like lower level like house candidates that were, you know, again like sexual abuse, You know, rape, all these things. And it's just man, this sucks. It's this is it's exhausting. Elwyn: Well, a guy a guy came out yesterday in it wasn't Ohio, but it was like Michigan, Tennessee, one of these states. He's dropping his reelection bid. he's a sitting congressperson. He's not gonna run for reelection. He's staying in office, because of allegations of sexual abuse. In Texas, the Tony Gonzalez, the Republican, who dropped out because he was accused of assaulting a staffer. The guy who won that election is also an assault A complete piece of shit who I think he I think he's the guy who recently called kids like he doesn't have kids. He he referred to children in general as cum trophies. Yeah, and yeah, yeah, yeah. And Derek: my god. That is I thank God I hadn't seen that 'cause I would have been I would have gone straight to my threads account. Elwyn: Like, like I think I read it like three times. I was like, my God, like fucking really? Like these are the people that the Republicans are running. Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, the fucking my pillow guy, is the Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota. Right? Like what are we doing? At least. Derek: Dude, awful awful human this should this should be like d rule number one. If you have a sexual allegation charge against you at any point in time, you are disqualified to run for office. Like it just it should be that simple. If there is a if there Elwyn: Yeah. At least Platner and Swalwell leave. Derek: Yes, th they left without like everybody else having to force them out. Like all these other dudes are like, no, I'm good. Like, wait, Trump did it. Fine. Elwyn: I mean they they got I mean Platner and Swallow got forced out, yeah, but at Derek: Yes. Elwyn: least they leave. Derek: Yeah, they got forced out because of the the pressure from the party, but like but and that you know, and to their credit, no not to their credit, but you know, Plattner never actually spoke about it, which is probably the reason why he didn't sound as bad as Max Miller as as douchey, because he didn't actually come out and try to defend like full on defend himself beyond just saying like he didn't think the allegations were were true. But when you start to get into the details of like how you how it's not true, that's usually telltale sign of like, yeah, this is not gonna go well for you. So and you're lying. So Elwyn: Yeah. Yeah. Derek: well we'll we'll call our is there anything else you wanted to talk about as far as the what went on yesterday with the with the primary? Elwyn: Think that covers it. Derek: Sweet. Then who are we telling to shut the fuck up today, Owen? Elwyn: So I can't tell if this is a shut the fuck up or a speak the fuck up, but I'm I'm going after the WNBA here. and Derek: All right. Elwyn: and Sophie Cunningham and MAGA Barbie and the WNBA a little bit allowing itself to become co-opted by the Riley Gaines, Sophie Cunningham, white blonde, right creep population. and man, the last thing we need. Is another fucking place for Riley Gaines to pop up and start some bullshit culture war and latch herself on to someone else. And in this case, it's Sophie Cunningham. Look, and Caitlin Clark is mixed in all this, but I think that she from everything I've read, I think she's trying to not be as much as possible. Right? She's trying to just be like, no, let's focus on the core. You know, she got some shit because she went to a Morgan Wallen concert, you know, and he's pretty fucking racist. Derek: He's awful. Elwyn: But y you can go to a concert, right? Like Derek: But I'll be honest, like, dude, SNL booked him. So like, you know, there's also that. Elwyn: Yeah. Yeah, you can you can go to a concert. And if you're a fan of Caitlin Clark and you're mad that she went to a Morgan Molland concert, I don't know, fuck off. but Sophie Derek: Yeah, I would agree with that. Elwyn: Cunningham, like, yeah, bro, she is obviously like just another MAGA Barbie. You could you d it's written all over everything she does. and the WNBA, I think, is in an interesting spot here because people like Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark, who are white, They're getting the views, they're getting people into the arena, and the rest of the league basically is black, and they're about to be thrown under the bus unless the WNBA kind of speaks up and and is like, no, we don't want Riley Gaines doing photo ops on courtside. Because she was this past week, and she's got Sophie Cunningham on on her podcast. And, you know, I get it there's free speech, right? You're allowed to say and believe whatever you want, but You are also kind of an employee of the league. You know, a basketball player, a baseball player, right? They are subject to contracts. They are subject to limitations on their speech. And, you know, the WNBA man, I'm not telling them that they have to tell Sophie Cunningham that she can't speak, but they better figure out a way to get out in front of this because they're going to lose a ton of momentum right away to forces that I don't think that they understand. There is no answer. To right wing media outrage falling in behind Sophie Cunningham and Riley Gaines. And, you know, Riley Gaines would be like, see, this is why we need women in sports. And not it's like, this has nothing to do with it. That has nothing to do with it. Right? So Sophie Cunningham should shut the fuck up. Okay. Riley Gaines, I've told her to shut the fuck up before. Derek: Mm. Elwyn: She should just always shut the fuck up. You know, like I don't understand. She has this kind of aura that she was. This great swimmer who started losing huge when a bunch of men dressed up as women started jumping in the pool and beating her. She was nobody knew who she was when she was a swimmer. And she's her coach was fired for sexual abuse in the locker room, and she stood up on his behalf. The Kentucky coach or the Penn State coach was a sexual abuser in the locker room. And these are the people that the WNBA is allowing to begin to dictate the the conversation around their sport. And you know, core there's like so much shut the fuck up in here. Shut the fuck up to anybody who tells athletes to shut the fuck up and dribble. Like we've heard them say to LeBron. Caitlin Clark is trying to shut up and dribble. And now MAGA is like, well, you have to say something, Caitlin Clark. It's like, what do you want? Right? Which one is it? So yeah, this one is like, speak the fuck up, WNBA. Shut the fuck up, Sophie Cunningham. Shut the fuck up, Riley Gaines. And Caitlin Clark, I don't know. I I don't know what she should do. I feel Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: bad for her because she's it's just in an impossible spot because the whole league revolves around her now. And Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: I'm sure she just wants no part of this. Derek: She needs to shut the fuck up because I have a Caitlin Clark jersey and I do not want to burn that or throw it away, all right? So Caitlin, don't say shit. Elwyn: I Yeah, did I did I tell you I took a three? I took I took a shot from where she hit her record breaking three at at Iowa. Yeah. Yeah, they have her Derek: nice when when you were doing your tour with B. That's awesome. No. Elwyn: number twenty two on the floor on the court of Carver Arena. So they're like, Yeah, take a shot. No, airball. Derek: And if I had to guess, that was probably nowhere even did you even make it to like the free throw line? Elwyn: Yeah, fuck off, yes. But it was an airball. Derek: Fair point. Well, yeah, that sucks too, cause the WMBA is finally s was starting to get some steam. So I do actually hope they figure this out 'cause it's it's the product has gotten better over the years. So but when shit gets like that, this is what happens. So but what do we Elwyn: Yeah, I just I just don't wanna see them get co opted by this th Riley Gaines doesn't give a shit about the WNBA. You know, she really doesn't. she's just yeah. Derek: Yeah. They care about clicks. She's part of that group of people that will say the N-word on camera just to get people outraged because it makes them famous. You know, it's Elwyn: And the and the WNBA is they're they're just if they're not on this shit right away, they're really gonna be the middle of a conversation they don't wanna be in the middle of. Derek: Yep. Well, so what are we talking about next week? Elwyn: we put off isms. Do we want to go back to isms? Con communism, fascism, capitalism. Derek: I think so. Let's do it. Let's I think that is probably a critical aspect of yeah, because dude, especially now that the primaries are over, we're gonna start seeing these pop up pretty continuously. So I think that's our that should probably be our our next topic. And you know, hopefully get I this will be good for me because I need to obviously I've I've learned a lot about these topics in the last few months because of they're being thrown around a lot, but it it'll be good for a little bit more of a deep dive this week on on on all these. So well I guess I'll see you next week. Elwyn: See you next week, man.