Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Chuck’s Commentary - Trump Is Sabotaging The Midterms For Republicans + Pam Bondi Has Destroyed The DOJ’s Credibility

Transcript

Chuck’s Commentary - Trump Is Sabotaging The Midterms For Republicans + Pam Bondi Has Destroyed The DOJ’s Credibility · The Chuck ToddCast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode of the Chuck Todcast is brought to you
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: by Wild Grain. Wild Grain is the first bake from
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: frozen subscription box for sour dough breads, artisonal pastries, and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: fresh pastas, plus all the items conveniently baked in twenty
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: five minutes or less. Unlike many store brought options, Wild
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Grain uses some simple ingredients you can pronounce and a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: slow fermentation process that can be a lot easier on
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: your belly, little gut health there right, and richer in
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: nutrients antioxidants. There's also no preservatives and no shortcuts. The
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Wild Grain boxes are fully customizable. In addition to their
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: variety box, they have a gluten free box, a vegan box,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and a new protein box. I will tell you I
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: have done the gluten free box. I have done it
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a second time. I have also used the code the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: todcast code. You use the promo code toodcast at checkout
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you get thirty dollars off. I've already used it as
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a gift to somebody else who loves this bread. It
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: is hard to find good gluten free bread. It is fantastic.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: They give you step by step instructions. I really dig this.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: There is nothing like having an artesian bakery in your
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: freezer to chase away the winter chill. Now is the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: best time to stay in and enjoy some comforting homemade
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: meals with Wild Grain. I obviously highly recommend it. It
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: is worth giving Wild Grain to try. Right now. Wildgrain
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: is offering my listeners thirty dollars off your first box
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: plus free croissants for life. Come on when you go
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: to wildgrain dot com slash podcast to start your subscription today.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: That's thirty dollars off your first box and free croissants
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: for life when you visit wildgrain dot com slash podcast,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: or simply use the promo code podcast at checkout. This
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: is a sponsor I absolutely embrace, so use that code.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Hello there, Happy Thursday, and welcome to another episode of
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the Chuck Podcast. I am coming to you. I'm traveling.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I just wrapped up a panel that I moderated on
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: behalf of the Harvard Kennedy School. I'm not a I
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: literally just was an invited moderator. My panel was a
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: long time Maybec News political reportner Britney Shepherd, former DNC
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: chair Jamie Harrison, and former Republican Congressman from Illinois Rodney
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Davis and we basically did a mid term preview. In fact,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: many of the things I talked about there you've heard
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: me talk about here. But it is, it is. It
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: was interesting to hear sort of what people feel like
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: they have to say publicly. And I say that, and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I think that you know you you know, no partisan
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: and I get it right. Partisans want to be careful
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: and they want to want to be on message. But
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: needless to say, Rodney Davis, who works the Chamber of Commerce,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: he sort of acknowledged that there are some there are
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: some concerns that the Republican Party is being remade a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: party that is not as appealing to the Chamber of
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Commerce Republicans as it once were. And Jamie Harrison acknowledged
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: plenty of problems that the Democrats have and speaking to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: rural America. But anyway, you won't be surprised by this,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: but that you know, those Harvard students a pretty smart
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: last time I checked, and they asked some terrific questions
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: in there. So my thanks to the wonderful hosts at
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the Harvard Kennedy School and the Institute of Politics. There
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: are a lot of this is sort of the original
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: IOP and there are a lot of it. They've been
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: a great model for Institute of Politics all around the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: country on that. So my thanks to there. But that
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: is why I'm not in the home studio. But it
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean I don't have that. I have some truncated
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: show for you. Actually just the opposite. I have a
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: few things I want to get to and in fact,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: let's start with the midterms. I know we've had a
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: lot of crazy stuff happened this week, right the Pam
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: BONDI Epstein hearings. You know, I'm not going to do
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: what everybody starts does these days, which is say, you know,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: congressional hearings are all theater. Yes they're all theater, but
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the theater can matter if there's a SoundBite that lives
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: or a moment that lingers. That's why these hearings do.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I wish that more members of Congress figured out how
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: to not make themselves the focus and make the witness
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: and the question that they want the witness to answer,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the focal point. I think, in fact, a great example
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: of this was an Illinois Congressman, Sean Casten and the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: question that he asked a couple of weeks ago of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Scott Bessant asking about some technicalities about what is Treasury's
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: authority when it comes to overseeing the money that comes
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: from the venezula and oil, and you could just see
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Scott Bessett look like the student in the classroom that
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: got caught not reading, not doing the WHO homework assignment
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the night before and the teacher called on them. In
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: some ways, I found it to be more effective then
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: you do the argument back and forth. But I understand
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the politics of that. The members are trying, you know,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: sometimes it's the only time their constituents know they're doing anything,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: are at these hearings, And of course we know in
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: the Trump administration, cabinet secretaries have an audience of one.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: And it was bizarre to hear Pam Bondi pushed back
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: on one Epstein question by saying, how come we're not
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: talking about the Dow crossing the fifty thousand market. You're like,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: what does the Attorney General have anything to do with
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the Dow Jones industrial average? So but we do know
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: that's that's a comment that was meant for an audience
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: of what the man over at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: But you know, Bondi's credibility issues are pretty she's accumulating
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: quite a few of them. It's been a you know,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it's not been a good good week for the Justice Department.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Janine Piro tried to get a grand jury. You know, infamously,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: grand juries can indict, supposedly can indict a hand sandwich,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: but they can't seem to indict people that that the
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: public doesn't think deserve to be indicted. And so they
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: try to get indictment on those members of Congress who
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: made the video that told rank and file soldiers that
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: they do not have to follow illegal orders, which is true.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: That's upholding your oath. So it I think the decision
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: by the grand jury not to bring those indictments, I
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: hope for those of you that are concerned that somehow
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the government isn't responsive, that people aren't listening, that should
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: be a reminder that, you know, the public public is
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: paying more attention than I think activists and other members
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: of the media think at times, and certainly how elected officials.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: The public's paying attention, and ultimately, you're going to have
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: to trust the voters that they're going to do the
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: right thing when it is up to them to do
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the right thing, and those Grand jurors did the right
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: thing when it was their time to do the right thing.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: So I hope those of you that have been losing
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: some faith in the democracy, losing some faith, that you realize, no,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: when trust the voter, just trust the voter. Eventually, we
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: always figure it out. Okay. The question is how much
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: damage gets done before we as an electorate have to
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: figure it out. But we do always figure it out.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: That's what our history shows. And I'm confident we're going
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: to figure it out again, and we're going to get
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: to a better place, and we're going to figure out
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: how to be have a democracy that's more responsive to left,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: right and center, which is part of the conversation I
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: have with Paul Rykoff. This is not about just TDS,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you know. Here, This is about the system as a whole.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Trust the voter here. And I think that decision by
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: those Grand jurors not to go along with that indictment,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and you know, another embarrassment for the Justice Department. But
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: remember it was Pam Bondi who gave out those who
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: claimed that she had all these Epstein files on her
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: desk and she was doing all this and then now
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: she's in the role of pay no attention to these
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Epstein files. Right when she first got there, it was
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: all about riling up the magabase that cared about the
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Epstein files. And now that they've had to put their
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: money where their mouth is and been forced to actually
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: release these files, and now they've been you know, suddenly
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: they want to redact more. They're afraid of certain things.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: There's been a lot of protecting of Donald Trump here,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: even though again it's it's interesting. There seems to be
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: plenty of semi exculpatory things for Trump in these files, right,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: including the FBI notes that he talked to an FBI
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: agent and seemed to think that what Epstein and Dyllene
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Maxwell are up to was no good. But he seems
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: to be awfully nervous about it. Is it to any
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: friends that are caught up in it? Is it the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: fact that it is his close friend? Is it the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: fact that they are that when they were all when
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: when when Trump and Millennia were a new couple, that
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: the one couple that they interactive with quite a bit
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: was Maxwell and Epstein. Whatever it is, it is, Trump
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: is behaving like he's got more to hide than what
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: we all have actually seen, right, it's a bit of
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: a head scratcher. So, needless to say, I think that
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: that BONDI has cemented her legacy is more partisan, frankly
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: partisan warrior sitting there and not you know, I don't
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: think that's going to be her attorney general portrait is
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: going to be one that is hung up very often
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: by successive attorneys general. I think her portrait will likely
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: be in the basement of that Justice Department building for
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: a long, long, long time. But with that, I want
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: to focus obviously, Look, I'm a campaign guy, I'm a
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: politics guy, and it's an even numbered year, so you know,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: when when in doubt, I'm going to focus on where
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: we are politically at the moment, and there is Look,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I made it clear that you know, it looks like
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the House has already gone. The question is is it
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: going to be a small majority for the Democrats or
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a large majority for the Democrats. Structurally it's hard to
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: see how it becomes a large majority for the Democrats.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: In fact, some of the feedback I got on my substack,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I took what I gave to you guys on Monday,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: and I basically put some charts together as well, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: it's in the substack on how you know, essentially saying
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the cake is basically baked. You've got you know, we've
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: already crossed the fifty plus open seat list. There's already
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: thirty Republican retirements that are more than are likely to come.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: You've got presidential job ratings sitting in the very low forties.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: There's even a handful of polls it shows his approval
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: rating in the high thirties and disapproval rating creeping over sixty.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: That is a recipe for a midterm flip. The question
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: is are there enough congressional districts that Democrats can make
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: competitive to take a Instead of winning ten to fifteen seats,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: can they win twenty to thirty seats. I had a
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: few One of the polster that I trust quite a bit,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: who really is more of an independent these days, but
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: certainly is more familiar with the Republican side of the aisle.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: He shared with me some numbers and reminding me that
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, I believe not a single congressional district
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: that Donald Trump got fifty seven percent or more in
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Democrats were able to flip. That there is there is
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: a ceiling right, there is a ceiling. And then even
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty five Virginia Assembly races, you know,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Democrats were able to win districts that Trump won by
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: five points or less. They were not able to win
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: districts where he won by more than five points. And
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: we've seen Democrats are trying to put some double digit
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Trump districts in play, including one of the Montana seeds
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: with Ryan Zinky, one of the Colorado seats in and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: around Colorado Springs. Bill. That's smart strategy, right, You want
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: to try to stretch the field, make the incumbent party
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: spend more money. The Republicans have more money than the
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Democrats right now, so if you're in the challenger position,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: you want to make them spread dilute their resources a
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: little bit. But the Republicans have a huge problem on
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: their hands. They've got a president who is not interested
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in helping Republicans actually succeed in the midterms. Right. The
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: most glaring example is what he's not what he's done
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: in the state of Texas, or what he's not done
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: in the state of Texas. By staying out of that
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Texas Senate primary, he is per perhaps going to cost
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: his party a half a billion dollars to try to
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: rescue one of the most flawed, ethically and morally challenged
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: nominees that they could ever have. You know, only Roy
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Moore is worse if they end up with Ken Paxton
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: as a nominee, and it's going to cost them an
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: arm and a leg no matter who the Democratic nominees,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: whether it is Tallerrico or it is Crockett. Because Paxon
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: himself is not popular. There are plenty of Bush Republicans
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: and cornn Republicans who are among those who voted to
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: impeach him in the state House, who are not big
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: fans of him. And because Paxson's been very loyal to Trump,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Trump can't bring himself to endorse against Paxton. He views
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Corning as somebody that's not been trumpy enough. He sees Corning,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and there's plenty of people that have whispered in Trump's
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: here that Cornyn's really McConnell and a cowboy hat. And
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: yet if Trump were doing what was in the best
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: interest of the Republican Party, he'd have endorse Cornyn months ago,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: and that primary field might not have been cleared, but
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: he'd be in a lot better place than where they
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: are now. Now, maybe he comes in late and he
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: does endorse. Maybe he is going to wait till the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: runoff to pick between two. Right, Wesley Hunt's flown on
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Air Force one. Right, he's been sucking up to Trump.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: We know Paxton is frankly on issues, has been closer
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: to Trump than anybody else he was. He was pro
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Trump before it was cool among some Texas conservatives, and
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: that matters to Trump. But it was interesting to read
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the stories about this donor retreat earlier this week among
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Republicans and they were getting this, they were getting this
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: presentation about the trouble in Texas. Well, there's one easy
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: way to solve the problem, and Trump won't do it.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: It's fascinating to see, Like when you look look at
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the Senate map for Republicans, Trump has made it harder
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: for them, right. Trump chased Tom Tillis out of the race,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: and now they have a harder look. It is maybe
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Cooper runs against till Us too, but an incumbent till
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Us against Cooper is a look. The races are going
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: to be competitive either way, but Tillos would be starting
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: with a greater advantage than Watley, the former R and
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: C chair, who Trump is endorsed. So they've made North
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Carolina tougher thanks to Donald Trump. Texas is a problem
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: thanks to Donald Trump. What's fascinating. And he just actually
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: potentially just screwed his candidate in Michigan, Mike Rodgers, because
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: out of nowhere, and you know, talk about then the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: under the radar once again, the corrupt lobbying stories of
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: the Trump administration are the stories that gets that go
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: under the radar more than any right, the story I
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: spent a lot of time with last week out the
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Abu Dhabi investments into the Trump organization four days before
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: the inauguration, which you could you start to line up.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: It was filled with quid pro quos that touched the finance,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: pardon that seemed to launch it seemed to change policy
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: on what chips could be sold to the UAE, which
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: now could potentially backchannel and sell them to China. Right,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: all of this that that is to me a story
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: that is as bad as any story in the history
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: of presidential politics and graft, right, worse than Teapot Dome
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: when you when you put it all together, and as
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Andy McCarthy, the legal the conservative legal analyst, at National
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Review was put it, you had to add a couple
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: of zeros to Biden, you know, and he was very
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: hard on Biden. Thought what Biden the Biden's were doing
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: was very corrupt. And he said, he put the he said,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: what the Trump family has done, you had to add
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: a couple of zeros to what the Bidens did to
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: get anywhere near the corruption of what the Trump family
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: has done in this specific scenario. Well, Trump did it again.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: So you may have read about the brand new bridge
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: that would connect Detroit to Windsor, Canada. And Windsor, Canada,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: is that just across the just across the river there
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: in Michigan, the border of Canada. When I was younger,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I one time did the Windsor Ballet. And I'll just
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: sit here and say, if you know, you know, and
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from those of you that may
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: be familiar with the Windsor Ballet. And again, I'm not
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: going any further because I don't know how many people
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: will be upset about that, So I will just leave
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: that on the side. But let's just say Windsor's a
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: lot of fun, it's anyway, but it's a huge you know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: it's important business corridor for Michigan's economy and for Canada's economy.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: And there's only been one bridge for a long time,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: and the guy who owns that bridge makes a lot
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: of money being the sort of the most important, you know,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: transit point between Canada and the United States. Well, Canada
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: wanted another bridge. They wanted to be able to you know, essentially,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: you know, the Loan Bridge was was a lot of congestion,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: it was slowing down movement between the two countries. And
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: so Canada agreed to pay for a new bridge connecting
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Windsor and Detroit. And it was going to be and
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: it's jointly owned by the State of Michigan and Canada
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: and Canada and Canada paid for it Gordyhowe Bridge. It
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: is seen as a economic boon for a lot of
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Michigan companies, very important to the State of Michigan's economy
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: and very important to Canada. And the owner of the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: other bridge, or the guy who can basically gets all
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the all the fees from the use of that bridge.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Lobby's lutnik at the Commerce Department tells him about this,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and then within a day Trump's on truth Social manufacturing
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: some outrage saying he's going to shut down this bridge
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: or he's going to take it over and all because
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: a billionaire got access complained about that it was going
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: to cost him money. Perhaps they've written their sheriff checks
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: to the Trump campaign, so Trump felt like he had
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: be responsive. Well, it put his senate candidate, Republican Mike Rogers,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: in a pretty tough spot because this is just good
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: for the Michigan company. This is not one of those
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: things that is a Democratic bridge or a Republican bridge.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: This is good for Michigan's economy, hard stop. Mike Rogers
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: is a what i'd call a pretty conventional Republican, pro
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: business Republican, and here he's got his president putting him
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: in an awkward position where he wants to essentially use
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the power of the federal government to make it harder
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: for business to do to trade with Canada. Can't think
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: of anything more less republican than that. But this is
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the larger issue that Trump's introduced for a lot of
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Republicans running for office, and his entire sort of protectionist
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: agenda at times with tariffs and things like this, And
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get to that in a moment with
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: that House vote. But the point is is that Donald
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Trump keeps making decisions, making proclamations that actually do tactical
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: harm to the Republican chances of holding the Senate and
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: holding the House. He's undermining Mike Rodgers' campaign in Michigan
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: with this Gordy how Bridge business. He has made it
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: harder for his Party's going to cost him literally a
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: half a billion dollars if Cornan's not the nominee in Texas.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: And like I said, it's all because people have whispered
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: in Trump's ear that Cornan is McConnell with a cowboy hat.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: This episode of the Chuck Podcast is brought to you
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: by American Financing. Let's be honest, the math just isn't
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: adding up lately. Between the grocery store and those skyrocketing
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: insurance premiums, even with a steady job, more families are
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: being forced to rely on high interest credit cards to
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: cover expenses. So if you're a homeowner caught in this
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: cycle carrying balances with interest rates in the twenties, frankly
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: even the thirties, it's time to get some relief. Right now,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: mortgage rates are at a three year low, and my
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: friends at American Financing are helping homeowners pay off that
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: high interest debt at rates in the low fives. Their
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: salary based mortgage consultants don't just push loans on you,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: They build exit strategies from debts. On average, they're saving
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: their customers eight hundred dollars a month, so if you
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: start today, you may even delay the next two mortgage payments.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: There are no upfront fees or obligations. To find out
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: how much you can save. America's Home for home loans
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: is American Financing eight six six eight eight five ten
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: eight that's eight six six eight eight five ten eighty
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: one or American Financing dot net slash the Chuck Toodcast.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Important disclaimer nm LS one A two three three four
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: NMLS Consumer Access dot Org APR for rates in the
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: five start at six point one ninety six percent for
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: well qualified buyers call eight six six eight eight five
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: one zero eight one for details about credit costs and terms,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: or Americanfinancing dot net slash the Chucktodcast. Having good life
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: insurance is incredibly important. I know from personal experience. I
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: was sixteen when my father passed away. We didn't have
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: any money. He didn't leave us in the best shape.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: My mother single mother, now widow, myself sixteen, trying to
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: figure out how am I going to pay for college
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: and lo and behold, my dad had one life insurance
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: policy that we found wasn't a lot, but it was
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: important at the time, and it's why I was able
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: to go to college. Little did he know how important
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: that would be in that moment. Well, guess what. That's
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: why I am here to tell you about Ethos Life.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: They can provide you with peace of mind knowing your
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: family is protected even if the worst comes to pass.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Ethos is an online platform that makes getting life insurance
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: fast and easy, all designed to protect your family's future
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: in minutes, not months. There's no complicated process, and it's
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: one hundred percent online. There's no medical exam require you
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: just answer a few health questions online. You can get
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: a quote in as little as ten minutes, and you
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: can get same day coverage without ever leaving your home.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: You can get up to three million dollars in coverage,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: and some policies start as low as two dollars a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: day that would be billed monthly. As of March twenty
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: twenty five, Business Insider named Ethos the number one no
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: medical exam instant life insurance provider. So protect your family
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: with life insurance from Ethos. Get your free quote at
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: ethos dot com slash chuck. So again that's Ethos dot
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: com slash chuck. Application times may vary and the rates
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: themselves may vary as well, but trust me, life insurance
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: is something you should really think about it, especially if
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: you've got a growing family. And then there's the tariff
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: mess where he's divided his own party, and of course
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: you know, Mike Johnson has no control over it. He
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: is a speaker in name only. But the reason I
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: call him a spino a speaker in name only, is
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: because he can't even control the floor of the House
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: of Representatives. You know, normally control of the House of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Representatives is absolute right. You can have a one seat majority,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: but if you're you're the organizing party. Because the speaker
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: has his own committee can decide what gets to the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: floor and what doesn't. It's called the rules Committee. But
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: of course the rules committee is how the cranky conservatives
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: that hated Kevin McCarthy and essentially created that drama having
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: to do who the hell was going to be Speaker
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the last time Republicans, you know, back at the start
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: of at the start of twenty three, the price of
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Mike Johnson becoming Speaker was to give essentially these cranky
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: conservatives kind of the old Freedom Caucus guys seats on
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the Rules Committee. And it is astonishing how often that
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: a handful of Republicans vote with the Democrats and essentially
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: screw the Speaker and leadership on their ability to control
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: the floor, so they couldn't stop this procedural vote on tariff.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: So what happened Now You've got more Republicans when the
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: vote comes on the floor to repeal tariffs on Canada,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: more Republicans have joined Democrats to repeal those tariffs. All
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: over the Midwest, these tariffs are enormously unpopular. I mean,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: it has made the farm economy in Iowa. Crater right,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I shared with you a couple of weeks ago how
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: their GDP has dropped to fiftieth in the state of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the Union out of fifty states their statewide GDP. And
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: it's all due to these tariffs and what it's done
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: to the farm economy, and soybean's essentially sitting there and
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: not being bought by the Chinese in Michigan, none of
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the the tariffs that they've put on these auto parts.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And then you've got Trump deciding he may pull out
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: of his version of NAFTA that he calls the USMCA.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Just completely pull out now, you know, as I remind
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: people all the time, with Trump, follow what he does.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: More than following. You should follow what he does, not
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: always what he says. He says a lot of stuff.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: He talked about pulling out of the USMCA before, and
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: he ended up signing a new deal. But that would
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: be yet another gift to Democrats in an election year
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: if he totally up ends both the Texas and Michigan
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: economies and other economies by blowing up the USMCA. It's
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: a fair question to ask yourself. Does Donald Trump care
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: about the Republican future of the Republican Party. I have
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: contended here he does not. If there is no president,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: no Republican president elected after him, and while he's alive,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: he will see that as a victory, not as a disappointment.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: If he can make it clear that the only person
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: that can win as a Republican is Donald Trump, he'd
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: rather have that than to see the party grow. There
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: is a selfishness to him. He's got this huge financial
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: they wore chest that he's put together, all these different
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: slush funds. Is he actually going to how much of
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: it is he going to be willing to spend in
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the midterms. Is he going to spend it to help
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: elect Republicans or is he going to spend it in
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: order to focus on his grievances? Right? I mean, look
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: at all the money he's wasting against Thomas Massing in
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: order to deal with a great events. Or look what
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: he's done in Louisiana. Now that's a safer way if
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: he wanted to punish Cassidy. I politically understand why he does.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: But he's lucky that had John Bell Edwards, the last
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Democrats to win statewide in Louisiana, decided not to run
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: for Senate. Now, I think it would be a big
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: uphill battle, but that could have thrown that race into itsizzy.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: It is already hard enough for elected Republicans, and then
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the icing on the cake this week. If you're an
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: elected Republican incumbent member of Congress, House or Senate and
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: you're trying to make the case to voters re elect
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: that because we've got this great agenda. Donald Trump said no, no, no, no, no,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I want no legislation passed this year. He said no
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to doing another reconciliation bill, which is an opportunity to
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: use your congressional majorities to get more of your agenda through.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: He says, And oh, but I got everything I wanted
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: from the one big, beautiful bill. Well that's good for
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump. That's a terrible message of your incumbent member
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: of Congress. Yeah, okay, you did that. What else are
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: you gonna do? How come you didn't do anything this year?
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: What what are these tariffs doing? He is making it strategically,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: forget just take your politics out of it a second. Strategically,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Republicans have an opportunity to put together, you know, a
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: party line bill of some sort. You know, maybe they
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: could put some stuff in there that that creates difficult
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: votes for Democrats, but they don't know how to do
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: politics one on one sometimes, and you have amateur hour speaker,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: you know, which is why you've seed like it is
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: it is. You know, if you if you gave John
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Thune truth serum and ask him what kind of partner
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Mike Johnson is? I think he would say, Mike Johnson's
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: a nice guy who's way in over his head and
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump doesn't care. And the message he's sending by
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: no Reconciliation bill when he said no to doing another bill,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: which a bunch of Republicans wanted to do, is I
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: really don't care about you. I don't care. If you
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: have nothing to run on, you just should just keep
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: running on the one big, beautiful bill. Okay, look, he
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: got a good job report this week. By the way,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: somebody ought to investigate. There's been some it's really bizarre.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: And this is a little bit of an aside, but
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Peter Navarro went on TV two days ago and said, Hey,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: this job's report. You know we're gonna you know, don't
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: be prepared. This won't This may not be the best
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: first jobs report. We've had a lot of deportations, it's
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: having some there's some haywire. And then somebody made a
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: lot of money on Calshi making a prediction that the
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: jobs report was going to be a good job report.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Somebody I'm gonna asked the question, are their administration officials
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: that are saying certain things in public to move the
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: prediction markets one way so they can cash in on them,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: or their friends can cash in on them another way.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying, I'm just saying, first of all, this
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: needs to be looked at. I mean literally, Peter Navarrow
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: went on TV downplaying that this wasn't going to be
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: a good jobs report, and it did affect the Calshie numbers.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: If you watch, if you go back and look at it,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: go look at the at the line, and then all
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of a sudden the number to go over the forecasted
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: number to make your bet. Somebody made some money either
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: hedging Peter Navarro prediction or they knew damn well what
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: was going on. And this is why, folks, these prediction markets,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: when somebody knows the answer are extraordinarily corruptible. They're going
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: to be corruptible. Whether it's as silly as you know
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: what you know, how long will the Caroline Levitt press
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: briefing be the fact that you're allowed to bet on
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: that seems like something that shouldn't be allowed or excuse me,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: predict when you when you see something like this with
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the jobs report, where literally Peter Navarro win on Fox
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Business to downplay it certainly sounded as if he already
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: knew in fact some of us. You know, you saw
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: what he said, and you're think, oh, I guess they're
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: trying to get ahead of what they think is going
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to be a bad jobs report. Oh, by the way,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: why is it leaking out? Now? Why do this many
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: people know about it. It's supposed to be embargo, it's
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: supposed to be aft. You're not supposed to be able
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: to move markets like this, But then it turns out
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: to the exact opposite. I'm just asking questions. Let's just
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: say a lot of other people need to be asking
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: questions on this one. But it was a good job number.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: It's a good jobs report. That's it. Maybe if it's sustainable,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: and maybe Republicans then run on more money in people's
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: pockets if it indeed actually gets stay in their pockets.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: I think the concern I would have as an incumbent
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: Republican is that when these tax rebates come and their
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: tax refunds are there, that people are frustrated that this
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: incredible new refund all had to go to paying for
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: health care, higher electric bills, and higher food costs, and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the refund disappears even faster than the refund they got
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: a year ago. And how's that going to make them
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: feel by June or July, are they going to love
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: this economy? Then the point is what Trump has done
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: to congressional Republicans is he's basically said it's either that
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: or the party's doomed. Either. The big tax rebates that
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: come to people are cite the electorate so much that
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: it secures that makes people feel better, and that somehow
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: this antagonism against Trump starts to dissipate. Call me skeptical,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: but the bottom line is the biggest impediment right now
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: for congressional Republicans to keep their majorities is their own president.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: He is standing in the way, and if Democrats win
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: the Senate, they might only have Donald Trump to think
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: considering how he's missed, how he's made the map harder
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: for his own party, it's quite the feat. But again,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: if you know Donald Trump, well cares more about Trump
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: than he does the Republican Party. And it's something all
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Republicans need to be thinking about because many of these
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: folks are going to get elected and in theory, be
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: in office long after Donald Trump's running the party. So
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: the point is you see more Republicans willing to vote
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: against him in Congress, more Republicans willing to come out
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: against them, and there's a reason he's making their life harder.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: He's making their life a lot harder. All Right, I'm
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: gonna pivot to Paul Reikoff because you know, he's making
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: a pitch for independence and basically supporting a lot of
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: independent candidates running for state wide office but also running
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: for local office. And you've heard me say, look, you
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: know you've got to figure out how to win the middle.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: But the question is what is the middle? And can
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: you be of the middle? And I bring this up
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: because I find it interesting what happened in Japan over
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: the week over last weekend where the new Prime Minister
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: basically she got she she ended up with essentially veto
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: proof majorities in her legislature, and she ended up they
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: her coalition did even better than they thought, right, And
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: what's interesting is that she was able to defeat what
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: was a centrist coalition right that Centris for Form alliance
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: was basically a shotgun wedding in Japan between the Constitutional
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party and the Komu Okay and it was sort
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: of center left center right was trying to trying to
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: be a moderate alternative and we've seen this. This happened
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: in Israel and for a brief period of time, a
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: sort of mode, a coalition of the others, right, everybody
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: who didn't like Bbie got together and they were able
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: to beat Babe. But the problem is they couldn't do
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: anything after that. And it is a reminder, and I
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: vacillate myself on this, right, which is when people call
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: themselves independent, are they also calling themselves centrist or moderate
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: or are they simply saying, hey, no, I'm independent, all right,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: you can't put me in any box. It doesn't mean
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I don't say independent because I'm only in the centrist box.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: And the fact is the centrist coalitions who have tried
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: to sort of beat back a populist or beat back
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: up populasty have struggled. Right, We've seen it in this country. Right,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: You've got a coalition of AOC and Liz Cheney wanting
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: to get rid of Donald Trump and trump Ism. But
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: what the hell does this opposition to Trump stand for
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: other than not being for Trump, right, being anti Trump?
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: And so I think the real challenge, and Paul and
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I get into this a little bit. I think the
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: real challenge for this movement of independence, because, as you know,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: I like I think the parties are hurting us more
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: than they're helping us right now. I think the country
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: would be better served either if we had no parties
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: or we had four national parties. Trying to fit everybody
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: into two parties is quite difficult, right, you know, It's
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: like going to the store T shirt store and finding
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: out the only choices are, you know, extra small and
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: extra large, and you're like, I wear something somewhere in
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: between there. I absolutely think our politics would be easier
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: to understand and we'd have more successful coalition politics is
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: if we were correctly in our four parties, where there
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: were no party could ever get control on their own,
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: they had to work with one of the other three parties.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: But this is the world we're in, and it is
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: and I think that it's a fair debate, and I
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: like I say, I vacillated the political You know, political
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: science will tell you that if you're in the if
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: you're sort of in the mushy middle, you're not going
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: to please anybody. And yet if you alienate the middle,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: that's how you lose races. Right, So the question is
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: is it better to try to appeal to the middle,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: or to force the middle to come to your side
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: because they just can't stomach the other side. And what
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: is a more durable governing coalition. I think we've seen,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: you know, the Cold War era allowed both parties to
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: be more centrist once and because there was the concern
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: about security and security of the country and nuclear war
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: and war with the Soviets, and so it sort of
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: it it's the public sort of was comfortable sort of
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: staying in between the thirty five yard lines. Once that
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: threat ended, we saw more of our colorful spectrum of
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: political ideology on display. And I think it's a fair
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: I think it's a fair debate. Can you know, so,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: if you're going to try to win as an independent,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: you've got to stand for something, not just stand for compromise.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: And I think this has been the that was sort
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: of the mistake of twenty twenty and the mistake of
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the Democrats in the Trump era of assuming what people
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: wanted was was more compromised. They didn't want that, right,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: they did. They didn't like the old way of politics.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: They wanted a new way of politics. And Democrats were
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: doing restoration and Donald Trump was saying no we're going
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: to try something different, and ultimately they want a different
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: not restoration. And yet Democrats can't win majorities in the
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: House and the Senate without winning over the middle. So
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: what is the best way to win the middle, I
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: have to say, And I think that's still an open question,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: and there are various theories of the case, and I
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: think it's going to be a conversation. We're going to continue.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: This episode of the Chuck Podcast is being brought to
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: you by Quints. As you know, a well built wardrobe
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: is about the pieces that work together, hold up over time,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: and frankly allow you to be flexible and sort of
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: business casual to say social casual. Quins does this really well.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: They have premium material, thoughtful design, and some everyday staples
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: that feel easy to wear, easy to rely on even
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: as the weather shifts. I've got some sweaters from Quints.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: I love them. I can use them for here on
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: the podcast. I can do a business meeting with them.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: They have every day essentials. I love the quality so far.
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: It's lasting really well. I've had it for a while.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: They have organic cotton sweaters, polos for every occasion. They
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: have some nice jackets, including you know lighter jackets as
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: things I hope warm up at some point down here
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: in the mid Atlantic. The list goes on. All of
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: it is built to hold up for you to wear
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: this stuff all the time, right, Not just something you
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: pull out once a quarter to look nice at work.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: No stuff that you might wear every week. They only
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: partner with factories that meet some rigorous standards for crashmanship
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: and ethical product. Bottom line, I wear it, I'm happy.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: It's been really good. It isn't going to break the bank,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: So refresh your wardrobe with Quints. Go to quins dot
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: com slash chuck for free shipping on your order and
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: a three hundred and sixty five day opportunity to return it.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: Now available in Canada too. That's qui NC dot com
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: slash chuck, free shipping, three hundred and sixty five day
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: returns quints dot com slash chuck. Do you hate hangovers,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: We'll say goodbye to hangovers. Out of Office gives you
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: the social buzz without the next day regret. They're best selling.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: Out of office Gumanies were designed to provide a mild,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: relaxing buzz, boost your mood and enhance creativity and relaxation.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: With five different strengths. You can tailor the dose to
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: fit your vibe, from a gentle one point five milligram
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: microdose to their newest fifteen milligram gummy for a more
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: elevated experience. Their THHC beverages and gummies are a modern,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: mindful alternative to a glass of wine or a cocktail.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you this, I've given up booze. I
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: don't like the hangovers. I prefer the gummy experience. Soul
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: is a wellness brand that believes feeling good should be
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: fun and easy. Soul specializes in delicious HEMP derived THHC
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: and CBD products, all designed to boost your mood and
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: simply help you unwine. So if you struggle to switch
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: off at night, Sol also has a variety of products
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: specifically designed to just simply help you get a better
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: night's sleep, including their top selling sleepy gummies. It's a
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: fan favorite for deep, restorative sleep. So bring on the
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: good vibes and treat yourself to Soul today. Right now,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Soul is offering my audience thirty percent off your entire order,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: So go to getzold dot com use the promo code
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: todcast don't forget that code that's getsold dot com promo
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: code todcast for thirty percent off. Well, keep track, as
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to be keeping track of these
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: independent candidates running, particularly in South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Mississippi
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: on the Senate level. Those are the most fascinating to me.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: Let's see, you know, can they I don't expect any
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: of it. And of course Dan Osborne and Nebraska. Osborne
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: in Nebraska might be the one that could win. We'll see,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: since he's been since he's done this before, there's a
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: little more familiarity to him running as sort of as
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: a populist independent. I think the measure of success for
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: those other independent candidas can he get in the forties, right,
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: and especially if the Democrats aren't going to put a
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: candidate on the ballot, that gives them perhaps a better
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: shot at getting to the low forties in an Idaho
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: or South Dakota. Probably more likely in a South Dakota
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: than Idaho. But we shall we shall see on that.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: And of course, the most interesting race statewide race featuring
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: an independent I think is the Michigan governor's race with
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: former Democratic mayor Detroit Mike Dougant, but lay, let's do
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: some questions, ask Chuck. First question comes from Kevin. He says, hey,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: I've heard on your podcast and others that Biden quote
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: failed at the border while Trump succeeded. But that framing
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: feels overly simplistic. Isn't Congress responsible for immigration policy? Biden
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: may have made the mistake of trusting Congress to act,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: only for Republicans to back away once Trump wanted a
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: campaign on the issue. Appreciate your centrist approach. There's said
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: centrist word again, right, incrementalist approach is what I would prefer, Kevin,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: But thank you. I appreciate your centrist approach. But I
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: hope future coverage gives more nuanced scrutiny to both sides. No,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: it's look what the failure at the border, though, was
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: not allowing Look Congress. This issue with the with Congress
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: is five five presidential five president presidential administration. Right. George W.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: Bush tried to do it No. Five and it blew
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: up in his face. Barack Obama tried to do it
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen, with the Gang of Eight John McCain
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: Marc or Rubio being the two most prominent Republicans a
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: part of that, but John Baynor decided not to put it.
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: John Bayner has said he regrets not putting that comprehensive
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: immigration reform package on the floor of the House. Now,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: the reason he didn't do it then is it he
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: thought it would cost him as speakership well as he
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: ended up finding out just simply trying to govern was
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: going to eventually cost him as speakership. And that's why
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: he has some regret that he just didn't go for broke.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: Back then, we saw a near miss DACA for the wall.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Back in twenty eighteen, Schumer and Trump were I guess,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: semi negotiating. Seemed like maybe there'd be some movement, and
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: then there was the pollyannish approach that Biden took. And
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry I take it as a Pollyannish approach because
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: he was asking for things that we're never going you
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: cannot do. You're not gonna get immigration reform done unless
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: both parties have skin in the game, and it just
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: it's that was the issue I think with Biden. But
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: what it really was was the enforcement right, not not
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: you know, you talked to I want to be careful here,
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: but if you talk to people that worked in Biden's DHS.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: They will tell you they feel like their hands were
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: tied by the White House in the West Way. And
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: then there was a new chief of Staff in the
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: last two years, and they realized what a political problem
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: was that the border, that there was the constant surge
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: at the border, that they weren't deporting folks right away
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: the way they did during Obama's second term, where Jay Johnson,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: you know, and that's how Obama got the nickname to
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Porter in Chief Jay Johnson and his deputy Alimi Orcus,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: who would become Biden's DHS secretary. Working with a guy
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: like Tom Holman. By the way, we're keeping the border
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: from becoming congested, overwhelmed, whelming, et cetera. And look, I've
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: always thought Stephen Miller and Trump deserved more blame for
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the chaos at the border in twenty twenty one when
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: Biden became president, because Miller scoured the public health emergency
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: laws in order to essentially shut the shut the border
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: down completely using the public health emergency over COVID to
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: do it. You know, as I've said, he basically kinked
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: the hose. And that's what they handed. They had no
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: policy and then you know Biden was going to unkink
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: the hose, and it's like, okay, let's reopen the border. Right,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: the public health emergency is now mitigated. Well, what happened
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: was it served as a magnet, and so folks saw
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: it as well, Trump's not letting anybody in. We better
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: hurry up and get in while Biden's there before somebody
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: else comes back and I let it. So the point
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: is is that there was a there was less enforcement
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: at the border in that first eighteen months of the
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Biden presidency. So yes, it contributed. It wasn't just a
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: perception that he had a porous border. That was the policy.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: What did they do when they needed to tighten things up?
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: The point is is that they could tighten things up
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: if they chose to. Now, this was this was the
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: impact of the interest groups and there were a lot
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: of Look, I understand the empathy that many of these
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: immigration rights groups had on what was happening with kids
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: in cages and everything that happened eighteen and twenty nineteen.
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty, so I understand the anger and the
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: empathy that was there, and there was this concern, and
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: certainly you had a Biden West wing led by run
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: and Claim, the first chief of staff, who was very
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: empathetic to the progressive groups, and they didn't want to
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: And that's why I can tell you my sources that
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: were inside of DHS were like, hey, we had our
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: hands tied, and you know, there were things that could
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: have been done that would have had a more humane approach.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: When the approach that Jay Johnson used in during Obama's
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: second term to keep the border under control, not to
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: shut the border down, but to bring some order to
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: the border and order to the asylum system. Yes, ultimately
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: this is all on Congress, but my god, Congress is
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: at the root of all of our problems. Right. Congress's
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: inability to take control of the of tariffs are why
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: we're all paying more money at the grocery store. Congress's
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: inability to do any accountability on the Trump administration is
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: why paid to play is now the only way to
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: do business in Washington. And yes, Congress's inability to do
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: anything on the border and on the asylum system and
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: to add more and to try to bring some order
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: to modernize our immigration system is why this is essentially
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: thrust upon DHS as sort of the agency of last
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: resort here. So I totally understand your frustration, Kevin. But
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: that is why when I say that Biden failed at
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: the border. Yes, you're right, it is Congress. It is
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: the ultimate failure. But Biden's West wing did not did
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: not let DHS do the basics that could have minimized
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: some of that chaos that many of us saw at
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: the boarder. Next question comes from Scott's c and Placidus,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: New Mexico. He goes, Hey, love the podcast. Really appreciate
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: how you how deep you're able to go on each topic.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: Quick question, do you think one reason Christy Nome is
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: still in Trump's orbit is that he has his site
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: set on Mount Rushmore, hasn't set it directly, but would
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: fit his style. Thanks for all you do well. I
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: just don't think she has any role over that, but
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: that's an interesting theory, and certainly that's how she used
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: to work her magic into getting him happy with her,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: which I think she even brought a little model of
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: what Mount Rushmore would look like if they added a
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: fifth profile there. No, I think it is it is
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: Corey Lewandowski, and I think it's more of there was
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: an old expression. I think it was attributed to LBJ.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: Do you want somebody pissing on your ten or pissing
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: inside your tent? The point being, you know, I think
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: I'm batching this a little bit. And my apologies for
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: the terrible visual mom. I know you don't love when
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: I do some of these more shall we say, visually
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable metaphors. But the point being is if he cuts
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: Nome loose, that also means he will cut Corey Lewandowski's
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: first campaign manager loose. And Corey's a knife fighter. You
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: know he's not going to go down quietly. And you know,
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: I think it's you know why is Kimberly Gilfoor an
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: ambassador Greece even though she's no longer the fiance of
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump Junior. Because he doesn't want somebody filling themselves
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: with grievance, perhaps becoming good sources for people like me.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: And in the first term, all the firings he did,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: all those you know, where no staffer ever felt safe,
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: he ended up creating a lot of sources for a
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: lot of reporters. And so I do think the number
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: one thing that keeps Christy Nome's job safe is her
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: relationship with with her with with Corey Lewandowski, and I'm
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: not when I say relationship or professional relationship. I know
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: all the rumors that are around and all that stuff,
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: but the point being is I don't think Trump and
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: I think that some in the Trump White House don't
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: want a Corey Lewandowskia Christy Nome available to air dirty laundry.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: Next question comes from Alex Why, and he writes, Hey,
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: I just finished listening to your recent podcast on sports betting.
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: I've been a fan of yours for at least past
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: decade and generally mische me press thank you. I'd love
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: to hear a deeper conversation on wealthy athletes and actors
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: endorsing industries that often harm people, like gambling, crypto and
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: insurance companies. My own experience with State Farm after the
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: line of fire showed how some companies actively hurt customers,
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: and it maybe question why high profile figures lend them credibility.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: Appreciate all the thoughtful work you do, Go pack, go
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: Alex Why, Well, it's interesting and look at somebody who's
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: wants you know, certainly needs advertisers to support what we're doing.
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: I want to keep everything free forever, all of you
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: whatever I'm doing, but I do try to make sure
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: that i'm you know, I certainly make sure I'm comfortable
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: with the companies. I'm a I'm going that you want
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: to associate themselves with me, and vice versa. I think
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: it's a I wonder if you're going to see some
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: athletes express regret in the next few years, just like you.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: I think had some actors quietly realize that, you know,
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: what they did with Crypto and FTX was a bad luck. Right.
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: As many of you know, I've not been quiet about
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: my about my interest in the In the TV show Fallout,
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: one of the Walter Groggin's character, he plays you know,
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: sort of two timelines, right, and there's the pre the
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: pre sort of destruction of Earth as we know it
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: and the posts sort of the post apocalyptic Earth. And
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: in pre apocalyptor Earth, he's the spokesperson for the company
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: selling UH, selling access to these UH to these pods,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: right that you know, these these pods that you would
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: live in, you know, these whatever they call them, and
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: you can see, you know, that's almost part of the storyline,
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: is it develops you can see as discomfort he's wondering
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: am I am I aligned with the wrong company? Am
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: I am I misleading people? Am I a spokesperson for uh,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: essentially the Evil Doer? And it turns out, yes, he
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: was the spokesperson for the the Evil Doer. Look, I
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: think in this day, I believe we're entering a moment
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: where there's going to be you know that this is
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: a it's that the most unpopular figures in America are
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: going to be the corporate CEOs and the and the
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: big companies. Right now, you know, we're already we're we're
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: already only like our politicians, like people like me and
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: the media. I think business leaders are next, and and
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: you're starting to see it. But it's a it's a
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: it's a fair question. And I do think this conversation
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: on sports gambling, particularly mobile sports gambling, is one that's
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: going to get more traction because I do think the
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: more the the most effective conversation to have with the
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: public about sort of big tech is sort of the
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: harm how big tech is preying on our most are
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: on sort of the most on some of our most vulnerable,
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: right kids, young adults and older adults. And I think
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: that everything you're describing sort of the success of those
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: industries in many ways is uh is their banking on
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: essentially a lot of people that can't afford to be gambling,
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: to be gambling, and it's you know, it's a bummer
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: because like I said, I enjoy I enjoy gambling, but
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: I can afford to lose I don't. It was always,
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: you know, you're always taught, don't gamble any don't gamble
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: any money you can't afford to lose. Uh. And and
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: I think we all need to do a better job
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: of expressing that to folks, particularly younger people, particularly you know,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: in your in your family orbit reminding people of that
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: all the time, not just some of the time, and
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: not just you know, uh once or twice at the end.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: Thanks to speed up legal legal ease that says call
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: one eight hundred New York Hope or whatever it is,
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: you know, if you've got a gambling problem, perhaps they
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: shouldn't be just I can't tell you how many podcasts
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: where I noticed they put they put all of it
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: now at the very end of the podcast. They don't
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: do it during the gambling at itself. The fact that
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: that's allowed is probably it's probably a mistake there, but
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: it's a fair question. And I wonder if celebrities will
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: start to be a bit more discerning on at least
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: some of them, probably the higher profile celebrities. Some people, Hey, look,
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: you know, everybody's got a price. We all do. Don't
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: think you you know, some of you may say, not me,
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: We all do. Maybe our price is super high and
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: it takes over, you know, and you know, but everybody's
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: got a price, all right, Jim for Michigan. With Democrats
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: pulling out record low approval, could the best strategy for
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: holding or flipping seats be for moderates to follow Dan
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: Osborne's lead and run as independence. As Joe Manchin pointed out,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: the party label alone can be disqualifying in red states.
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: Wooden candidates like Shared Brown, Mallory McMorrow, John Asso, James
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: Salarico's stand a better chance this way, especially when party
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: in I think sometimes turns on them unfairly. Jim from Michigan, Well,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: it's certainly what I thought in places like it was
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: one of the questions I put to Rob sand when
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: he was on this podcast. He's the likely Democratic nominee
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: for governor in Iowa. Uh And I think that, you know,
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: while he's been a Democrat and elected as a Democrat,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: if he ran as an eye, I think it's a
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: virtue signal that would probably help him in that race, right,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: But it does get you know, I do think there
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: is a brand issue, and I do think independent can
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: have a halo effect, but it is you know, I
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: think that you know, the biggest challenge in it when
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: it comes to this growing independent movement is so you
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: heard Paul say it, right, You've sort of where twenty
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: seven percent d twenty seven percent are essentially forty five
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: to forty six percent independent. But if you put those
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: forty six percent of independence on an ideological spectrum, you'd
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: have about half of them would call themselves would probably
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: be self described moderates, but about a quarter would call
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: themselves conservative, and about a quarter would call themselves liberal.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: And so, you know, would I like to see an
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: independent candidate run more as a constitutionalist and saying, look,
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: this is more about restoring congressional authority, restoring the representative
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: part of the representative democracy. You know, it's now sometimes
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: it's hard to motivate voters on process right, voters at
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, we're all, you know, one
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: of the other things that I say I've learned all
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: the time, is what is this little thing taught me?
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: We're all a little bit narcissistic because we all think
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: what's happening around us is important enough to share. But
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: it also means we're all sort of looking what's the
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: benefit to us, And it's been hard to translate how
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: a function in Congress will eventually be a benefit to you.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: And so running is the person that's going to pledge
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: to actually restore Article one in the Constitution. It's not
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: the sexiest message. And at the end of the day, people,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: you know, it's like it's like when when Kamala Harris
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: closed on the democracy message, right rather than an affordability
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: message at the end of her presidential campaign. You know,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: I remember talking with some voters who said, look, I
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: care about the democracy, but you know, I don't have
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: the luxury to worry about it. In addition to worrying
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: about paying the paying the grocery bill. You know, I've
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: got the luxury to be frustrated and outraged about the
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: current situation we're in because I don't have a trauma
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: at my house that I'm dealing with, or or an
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: unexpected healthcare bill or something like that, And I think
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: that that's what's made I think that's what makes appealing
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: as an independent very difficult, because you almost feel the
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: need you've got to criticize both parties. Then you come
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: across as both sides are and it's just it's, you know,
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: I think it's more doable for governors. And I say
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: it in that I do think that I think you'll
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: when you hear this, you'll have already heard my little
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: rant about how I do think that you'll see in
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: a South Dakota. Yeah, an independent center candidate is going
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: to be more appealing than a Democratic Senate candidate. You know,
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: the question is can Democrats expand their brand to in
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: such a way that it's perfectly normal for them to
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: have guys like Joe Manchin. Look, the Democratic Party of
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: the eighties and nineties was that way, and you know,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: arguably they're even and you know there was both parties
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: were a little more ideologically diverse when I was younger,
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: and that lack of perceived ideological diversity is what's driven
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: so many people to say, you know what, I'm an independent.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: I can't associate with them with the Democrats because they've
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: both been defined. Their brains have been defined by their extremes. Right,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: the Republican Party has been defined by MAGA and Trump.
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: Democratic Party is more defined right now by its progressives
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: than it is by its moderates. And so I think
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: that that's you know, can can a party successfully rebrand
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: itself as ideologically diverse without coming accus across as a
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: mush or a squash? And I think that's been a
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: huge challenge. Last question comes from Dakota. He goes, hey,
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: I always appreciate your thought takes. What about my unthoughtful takes?
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: The coda? All right, I don't always share the unthoughtful ones.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: Utah Republicans recently passed a lot to expand the state
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court, already filled with chop appointees to protect jerrymandered maps.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: Doesn't that class with Governor Spencer Cotts and disagree? Better
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: image and he just another politician playing a centrist? Could
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: this open the door for Democrats to make their own
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: moves on court packing? The fact of the matter is
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: the answer to what you're saying is yes, right, which
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: is what opened the door for Democrats to go harder
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: on jerrymandering. Texas decided to open the door in jerrymandering.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is where I as sort
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: of somebody who sees himselves more as a political reformer
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: than anything else. If you're going to try to force
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: me to sort of saying, what activist role would you
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: want to play outside of journalists, and it would be
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: political reformer. Right, We've got and you've heard me rant
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: about these various reforms. I think, you know, we should
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: truly have a judiciary that is filled with referees, So
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: we should probably you know, Spring Court justice probably should
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: need seventy five votes to get confirmation. If you truly
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: want a justice that is not that is as neutral
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: as you can possibly find, make them get seventy five
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: votes and you're and you're likely to have something like that.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: So yes, if they do this and a Spencer Cox
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: right who sort of then you're going to see others
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: try to do But this is not healthy for our democracy.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I think Look, I look forward to speaking
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: with Governor Cox pretty soon. I'm hopeful to get him
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: on one of my shows, either the podcast or a
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: new sphere in the fairly near future. I'm gonna ask
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: him about this because I think you're right. I think
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: it's it's sort of like, do we have anybody that
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: wants to you know, look, I'll take an ideologue left
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: or right if you still will put the Constitution first.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: And I think that that's let's just say, I expect
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: better out of Spencer Cox. I need to learn more
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: about this, about this idea of expanding their state Supreme Court.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: But I think one thing we've learned in politics is
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: that both parties are copycatters, and when one does it,
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: the other is going to do it. And that's been
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: you know, one of my big concerns that Democrats decide,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: if you can't beat Trump, join them, and it's like, okay,
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: they'll do They'll find their own billionaires and they'll find
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: their own pay to players, and we're going to have
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: this like, okay, you purged everybody from this board. We're
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: going to purge everybody from this board. And you did that.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: You know, eventually it's going to make government even more
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: dysfunctional than it appears now if we continue down this road.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: So you know, like I said, I'm trying to be realistic.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: I know, trying to create a campaign message that's about
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: political reform and fairness ain't sexy but it is something
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: we need, which is why I think. Fine, that's the
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: role I'll play. That's what you know, that's what I
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: will continue to use my podcast to do. All Right,
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: that's good this week for questions on this front. Oh,
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: I got to take this next question because it's from Bloomington, Illinois.
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you why I have to take the
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: question from Bloomington, Illinois, because that's where my mother was born.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: In Bloomington, Illinois. I've my grandfather had a family business
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: that he started in Bloomington, Illinois, clothing store there. So Bloomington,
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: So this next question comes. It's greetings from Bloomington, Illinois.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: It's very smart by Lucas to lead with the Bloomington
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: Illinois so it ended up sneaking a sixth questionnaire. He says, Hey,
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: as a public school teacher and proud Army veteran, I'm
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: increasingly concerned that too many schools are failing our students
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: and that's a real threat to our democracy. What can
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: be done to modernize education for today's world? Also, why
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: isn't there more momentum around creating some form of mandatory
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: national service to help American see each other as fellow
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: citizens and not strangers. Thanks Lucas well. I hope you've
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: heard the conversation I had with rom Emmanuel earlier this week,
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: because we we went deep on education. I think I
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: was at a an off the record setting with a
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: former cabinet secretary and a former governor, a Democrat who said,
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: you know who was talking about all the different things
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: that Democrats need to sort of speak a little more
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: truth to power, and one of them was lamenting the
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: fact that we've not really done We've not you know,
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: the public the basic design of America's public school system
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: hasn't changed in one hundred years. That we've not modernized it.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: We've not you know, you know, when I was just
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: finished in college, I think most people thought we were
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: going to have, you know, that the public school system
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: was going to expand from K through twelve to K
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: through fourteen, meaning that there was going to be some
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: form of a thirteenth and fourteenth grade. Maybe we would
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: call it the first two years of communities, maybe be
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: community college, whatever it was, but that there was going
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: to be a that we were going to essentially add
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: two years to the public education system. Maybe it's college credits,
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: technical credits, and we never did right, We never got full.
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: But I think that, you know, I look at the
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: school system I grew up in in Miami Dade and
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: I think Miami Dade County, and it is turned into
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: a four tiered school system that is as follow as
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: you got the private schools and you have the wealthy
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: have access to that, you have charter schools and magnet schools,
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: and that takes parents to know how to navigate and
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: how to figure out which one works best for their kid,
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: and the application process and how to get into a
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: magnet or how to you know, how to qualify for
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: a magnet, or how to get accepted into a charter,
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: which is a quasi application process. And then the fourth
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: tier is just if you if you can't get into
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: a magnet or a charter or a private, you're just
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: stuck with whatever schools left. And those schools what I've
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: never understood. And my old high schools turned into one
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: of these where they didn't become a magnet, and it
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: just sort of deteriorated over time. The schools in that
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: were that became magnet schools for something, maybe for the arts,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: maybe for stem, maybe for they've even had one for
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: like you know, meteorology and coding, all sorts of things.
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: Having those magnet schools rose the success rate of the
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: entire school system, of the that entire school And I
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: do think the magnet system, of all the different experiments
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: has been was the one that was open to everybody. Right.
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: It wasn't fully gaming the system, but it was a
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: reminder every school should be a magnet for something. Every
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: school should have a specialty in something. There's also this
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: issue of age, right, which is you know, there's there's
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: a lot more there's a lot more research that indicates
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: everybody learns at different paces, and some people need fifteen
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: years to get through twelve years of school and some
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: people maybe need ten years to get through twelve years
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: of school. But we've not, you know, we continue and
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: certainly the socialization matters a lot, and there's plenty of
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: studies that indicate that you know, that's that also can
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: be stunting, right if you if people aren't with their
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: peers every step of the way, But we created you know,
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: I think it's held us back into figuring out how
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: to you know, if the goal is like what's the
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: best way to teach kids hard stop? Right, and you
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: know whether it's Look, Rom Emmanuel I thought put it
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: pretty well, and he said, you know, the Republican answer
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: in education has simply been gout the public school system
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: and just go vouchers and let people decide on their own,
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: you know, essentially, let a market sort of decide which
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: are the good schools and which are the bad schools.
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: And he said, and the Democrats gave up on accountability, right,
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: They pushed back against teacher testing, push back against student testing.
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: And now you're starting to see maybe student testing is back.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: That Rom sounded like he missed No Child Left Behind,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: which was a famous Bush initiative that he passed with
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: Ted Kennedy. But for whatever reason, education has fallen off
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: the national conversation. And I know that obviously, in education
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: is one of those issues that are yes, we all
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: know it's locally controlled, but it is an important issue.
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: It's one of the top three issues for most people
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: under the age of fifty they got kids in school.
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: Usually in that matters. In fact, I think one of
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: the reasons why Republicans have made inroads with Latinos is
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: you do any poll of Latinos and usually the top
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: two issues are the economy and education in some order,
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: and Democrats basically for the last fifteen years have just
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: stopped talking about education nationally. Rob and I talked about
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: this on my podcast earlier this week. Republicans are the
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: ones talking about it, you know, And I think it
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: explains why you've seen Latinos be open to supporting Republicans,
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: because Latinos have been more open to school choice. They
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: want good education, whatever it takes. And I think it's
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: sort of like, what's the best energy policy all of
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: the above, what's the best education policy all of the above.
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: And I think ultimately that's what we all want to hear. Now.
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: As for your national service, and count me in, I've
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: you know, I think mandatory national service. I think when
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: you look at the incredible devotion Israelis have for their citizenship,
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: they all have to serve, right for two years, they
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: basically have a mandatory national service. It and look, they
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: have messy politics, but it does create an identity. And
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: I think when we had the draft, uh sort of
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: forced national military service if you will, for many basically
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: for you know, my generation is the first one that
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: didn't get didn't have to deal with a mandatory draft. Essentially,
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: my father did my grandfather did, my grandfather's, my great
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: grandfather all ended up drafted or eligibly drafted. Now, no
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: one's saying we should go back to a military draft,
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: although I do think that sharing that, but mandatory national
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: service where you have Right America and Blue America kids
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: and from both of those areas working together, maybe in
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: a rural school, maybe in an urban school, maybe cleaning
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: up a river, maybe helping to build housing, maybe to
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: work at a food kitchen, whatever it is, but service
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: to the country. Look, I think citizenship when you go
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: to Israel, When you visit Israel. Remember the first time
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: I went to Israel, it really hit me that citizenship
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: was active there. Whatever you whatever your opinion is about
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: the Israeli government, Israeli citizens, they take their citizenship seriously
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: because you know, they got to keep their head on
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: a swivel. I do think national service would help us
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: collectively value our citizenship more citizenship. There's a little bit
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: of work that comes with it, not a lot, but
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: a little bit. And if you know, ultimately, you know,
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: it's like I say this to if you don't like
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: what you know, it's on you. Ultimately, everybody plays a
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: role here. You can't hope some politician bails, you know,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: fixes this problem, or some celebrity or some member of
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: the press. It's going to do your job. You gotta
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: do do the job. And I do think national service.
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: It's interesting to see who's who are the big advocates
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: for national service. George W. Bush was I don't think
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: Trump thinks about it. Wes Moore is doing a pilot state,
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: basically a National service like project. You know, essentially in
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: exchange for National service, you get two years of free
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: college something like that. Right, you do what you do.
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: You know, that's you give to the country, country gets
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: back to you, sort of almost a GI bill for
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: the country. And yeah, I think it would lessen polarization.
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: It's not a full depolarization, but I think it would
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: lessen polarization. But here's the most important thing, Lucas. My
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: favorite question of the day came from somebody from Bloomington, Illinois.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: It's going to make my family very happy. Smart question,
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: pro very patriotic question, very important question, touching a lot
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: of nerves. And I looked, there's no This is why
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: I'm always an advocate of military veterans running for office,
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: because I think they understand the importance of the first
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: hand they've gotten, They've seen the importance of just and chip.
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: They've also they they serve with people that are liberal, conservative, red, blue, rural, urban, black, white, Hispanic,
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: jew Christian, Muslim. You get my point, and all of
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: them have each other's back, and if they don't, they
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: all get hurt. Right, So you know it better than
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: most being an Army veteran, Lucas, so you get it.
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: But we all need to get it better. And I
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: think national service, you know, it is is a I
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: think it's something we need now more than ever because
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: of this, you know, sort of the lost faith we've
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: had in each other, lost faith we have in our democracy,
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: and maybe this is a way to a way to
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: take a step to try to repair it. Well with that,
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: I think that's a much better note to end on. Look,
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: it's the big light sports weekend. I will just say
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: here I am I'm I love the Olympics. My friends
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: at the Gold Zone. I love the Gold Zone. This
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: is the you know, man, I love when the Olympics
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: are in Europe because you get up in the morning
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: on the East Coast Saturday morning, by the way, you know,
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: I get up early, no matter what, because I've got
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: dogs that are going to get up no matter what. Right,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: So I'm getting up early, get that coffee going, and
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: the Olympics are off and there's active stuff going on.
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: And what I love about the Gold Zone is, look,
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: I you know, the sappy stories are nice and all
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: of this, and I know some people love the sort
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: of the soap opera of the Olympics. I like the competition.
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: And what's great about the Gold Zone is they go
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: to competition and it's not always just follow the Americans.
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: They just wherever there's a gold medal competition happening, they
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: take it to it. So you end up getting to
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: see a variety of sports. So look, I know there's
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: no football and we're all pining. You know, some of
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: us are going to be bummed out about that. But
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: you know what, the Olympics are terrific. And the technology,
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, the ability to follow these skiers now and
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: all of this stuff and all the different camera angles
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: that you have and the GoPros, it's unbelievable. It's an
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: incredible experience to watch on TV these days. In fact,
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: it's scary that it is. The Olympics are much better
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: to see, and I think on TV than they are
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: in person, unless you have a family member competing, it's
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: that good. And hey, we're two weeks from March Madness beginning,
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: so you got to start thinking about those brackets. You
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: got to if you want to try to do well,
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: you got to start watching some of these. And we're
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: getting We're in the heart of conference season, and there's
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: nothing more fun than watching a ranked team go on
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: the road try to win a conference road game. Because
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: the toughest thing in sports, I think the toughest thing
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: at all of college sports is to win a conference
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: road game. And I don't care how good you are
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: and how bad the team is, it is there's nothing
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: like going into an enemy arena. The crowd gets fired up,
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: students just want to storm the court. I do think
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: my friends at the University of Miami didn't need to
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: be storming a court after beating North Carolina. You should
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: expect to beat North Carolina at home. So I do
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: think we're court storming a bit too much. But I
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: know I've got plenty to watch this weekend, So whether
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: it's a couple of great college basketball games or the
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: Gold Zone, that's how I'm going to be spending my
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: sports weekend. Yes, I'll miss a little bit of football,
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: but you know I've got my side house of lun
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: sports cards to keep me busy as well. So with that,
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: I'll see in seventy two hours