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"America’s Next Top Press Secretary." (Live from D.C.!) · Pod Save America

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: What a incredibly long two weeks to slow the spread
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: that was.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: I'm Jane Koston, host of New York Times The Argument
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: and resident of Navy Yard.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: Let's go.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I'm Jon Lovett. I'm Tommy Vsort. I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: And also joining us tonight here at the Anthem, comedian
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: Mike Birbiglia and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: All right. So it's been two years since we've done
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: one of these. So where were we? All right. Donald Trump.
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: This week, an unemployed exterminator from Ohio named Dustin Thompson
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: became the first January 6th defendant to tell a jury
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: that he stormed the US Capitol with a violent mob
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: because of Donald Trump's own words. Quote, if the president's
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: To do that.
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: The New York Times also reported that shortly before the
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: insurrection began, an aide to Roger Stone held a call
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: with Trump supporters where he urged them to, quote, descend
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: upon the Capitol and promised that Trump would impose a
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: form of martial law to keep Joe Biden from taking office.
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: We also learned that the knowledge of Trump's scheme to
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: overturn the election went beyond his inner circle. A book
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: by Jane's colleague, Jonathan Martin, says that Trump told Mitch
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: McConnell that if Brian Kemp decertified Biden's win in Georgia,
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: leaders in Pennsylvania and Michigan would follow. But McConnell kept
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: it all quiet because he didn't want to lose the
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: Senate races in Georgia, of course.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: How did that go?
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Good job, Mitch.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: You nailed it.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: A plus. You nailed it.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: Meanwhile, you know, Trump's former chief of staff and Ginny
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: Thomas text buddy, Mark Meadows, has just been removed from
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: the voter roll in North Carolina.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: As the state investigates....
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, one less voter.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Fuck you. Yes, purges. We got him. We got Mark Meadows.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: He ain't voting there anymore.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't help Cal Cunningham. Oh, no.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Just saying. Tough, but fair. Tough, but fair.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Didn't lose by one. Speaking of text buddies, right?
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Anyway, he's under investigation now. Oops. These things are permanent?
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Oops.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: So, Jane, I feel like the big question around the
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: January 6th investigation has been, just how much responsibility trump
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: and his inner circle bear for the attack itself to
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: what extent do you think all these recent revelations strengthen
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: that case.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Well i think that it's important to separate like what
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: is a legal argument and what actually happened because it's
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: trump responsible like yeah yeah we all saw that we
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: were all here we all did this like If you
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: live in D.C., you remember that day very distinctly because
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: it was like, wow, there are a lot of National
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Guard everywhere and we can't go anywhere and everything is
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: locked down and there's a giant fence.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: Fun.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: But I think legally, I'm interested by the Trump made
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: me do it excuse, which is, again, like if you're
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: a defense attorney, you are coming up with whatever will work.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: And so I like also the note of Trump almost
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: gave me an order. Almost is a very critical word
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: in legal circles, like or, or is. But I do
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: think that, yeah.
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: And I will tell you the almost, it didn't end
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: up working because he was found guilty today.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: No, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. But I respect
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: the attempt. But I think that here you're seeing the idea,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: like when you saw something being put together and you
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: saw people repeatedly saying, like descend upon the Capitol and
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: let's talk about martial law, like the way people were
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: using words, and then for people to say like, no, no, no,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: we didn't mean those words. I think that there's a
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: legal part to that argument of attempting to remove yourself
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: from culpability, but then there's like, yeah, you did it,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: and then you told us all about it, and then
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: you tweeted it too. Like, this isn't court. I don't
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: have to listen to you.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, love it.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: Some people that believed at the time that Trump bore
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: some responsibility and culpability were Republican leaders, including Mitch McConnell.
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: He went from someone who knew about Trump's scheme and
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: said nothing to someone who condemned Trump after the attack
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: to someone who just told Jonathan Swan that he will
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: support Trump if he's the nominee.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: He's all in.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: He's on the Trump train. How much culpability does Mitch
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: have here? And is that a tenable position for him
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: and other Republicans to take?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Let's start with the second part. Is it a tenable
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: position for Republicans like Mitch McConnell to take? Not for God,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: but fine. But let's talk about, but on Earth, no.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: And sadly, not for a good reason. It's untenable not
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: because the media will hold him accountable. Don't wait for that.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: It's untenable because the people that will hold them accountable
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: agree with us that Mitch McConnell is full of shit.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: They just think he's not fascist enough, right? They're like,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: wait a second, we don't want somebody who's half in
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: on Trump, who will say he'll support him, but not
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: be for the authoritarian parts. We want somebody that's all in.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Trump isn't for this nuance. It's not like Trump's like, oh,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: you know what, I'm going to be okay with this
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell guy now that he said he'll endorse me. No,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: they're done. They're done because he didn't go along with
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: the coup for two days in January. Now, as for
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell's culpability, I think we have to be fair-minded people.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: LAUGHTER Good setup.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: What kind of forbearance do we owe Mitch McConnell for
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: three moments in his life? One, December 15th, acknowledging that
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Joe Biden is the president or has won the election.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: January 19th, declaring that the insurrection was provoked by Trump.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: And then three, on February 13th, calling Trump practically and
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: morally responsible before voting to acquit him in the impeachment.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: And I have great news. We owe him none. No
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: forbearance whatsoever.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: You know, you don't... You do not, in fact, have
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: to hand it to Mitch McConnell.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: You don't, in fact, have to hand it to Mitch McConnell. Look,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: let's say you have an arsonist. And he's sexually aroused
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: by the fire he started in a school.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: This took a turn.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very, very.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: And then there's a brief moment where this arsonist feels
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: guilty and calls 911 and says, there's a fire in
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: a school. And then obviously remembers himself and calls back
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: later and says, false alarm. It's a burnt pot roast.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: As he watches a school in flames crumble before him.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: What are we talking about?
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Where's the arousal?
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Is Mitch McConnell the pot roast?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: No, no.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: He's the arsonist. Who's aroused here? Mitch McConnell is sexually
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: turned on by getting three Supreme Court seats done during
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the Trump administration. That's the fire he started. The school
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: is us. Go to your next question. I don't think
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: it was a yes or no question. What's on these cards?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Do you know where you are?
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: We're back. So, Tommy, we have talked before many times
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: about how Trump's two impeachment hearings made for powerful television
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: that ultimately had.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I'm being very generous.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: So was the dropout. It really is good.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Powerful television that had ultimately very little political impact.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: Do you think it's possible that the January 6th committee
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: can avoid that fate... when they begin these hearings in
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: just a few weeks.
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, obviously, I think the hearings are the
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: right thing to do. I think the impact depends, not
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: to duck your question, on what we learn. Congressman Jamie Raskin,
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: who's on the January 6th committee, give it up. He
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: says we'll learn about new crimes that are not in
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: the public domain.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: That's a nice little teaser, nice little tickler.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Like arson? Yeah, I don't know.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: That's fucking a pot roast and a firearm.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: That's a lot of content right there. That's a lot
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: of content.
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: If the DOJ charges Trump or one of his goons
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: with a crime, that would be news. That would probably
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: break through. But I do think for me, the lesson
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: from the last two impeachments were, I left feeling like
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: there was a divide between people that paid a lot
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: of attention, us, and then you guys, and then the
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: MAGA types who paid attention for a very different reason.
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: And then there were a bunch of independent voters, swing voters,
• 9:20
  Speaker 6: or people that weren't really paying attention who kind of
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: caught the edges of what was happening on TV and
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: And what they mostly thought was, I don't like all
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: this partisan bickering, right? Because that's kind of like the
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: lazy thing that everyone can say. So I hope I'm wrong.
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: You know, if Mueller doesn't kind of screw the pooch
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: and let Bill Barr completely whitewash his report for a week, maybe.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Things would be different.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: But I don't know. I was going to say, Mueller's
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: not involved, is he?
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: No.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Where's that guy?
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: Does anyone disagree? Does anyone think that we can get
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: these things to mean something?
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: Look, every congressional hearing has been incredibly impactful.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And no one can prove otherwise.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Okay. Well, so Dan.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: No, I think in.
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: Seriousness, like you have to do it. It's better that
• 10:04
  Speaker 7: doing is better than not doing it.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: These are data points. And the question is, are you
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: actually going to make sure that people know about it?
• 10:09
  Speaker 7: The fact that it didn't work last time is not
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: an argument for not doing it. It's an argument for
• 10:13
  Speaker 7: doing it better.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: And also we're talking about this in the context of
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: politics because I guess that's how I asked it. Um,
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: But outside of that context, it's important for the country
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: to know the full story of what happened when our
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: seat of government was attacked and they tried to overturn
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: an election. That's an important story to tell, whether it
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: has no political impact.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Especially because the person at the center of it is
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: still obsessed with it happening. He's still like, it's always
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: January 2020 for him. It will be for the rest
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: of time. And I don't know if you follow, there
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: was a story I think last year where Maggie Haberman
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: reported that Trump firmly believed that he would be reinstalled
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: in August. And National Review was like, yeah, he actually does. Like,
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: he straight up thinks he'll be returned to office. Which,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: as a side note, is weird to me, because it's
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: not like Trump seemed like he was having that great
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: time as being president anyway. Like, if you can just,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, if we've learned anything over the last couple
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: of days, it's like, why can't you just go be
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: rich somewhere else?
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Just go be rich.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Go hang out. He doesn't know happiness.
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: Well, because it's a vengeance play now. He doesn't want
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: to die and be the guy. In his mind, he's like,
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: I'm going to go out saying that he knows that
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: he didn't actually win the election.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Does he?
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: I genuinely think at this point we're in that weird moment.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: You think he's made himself believe it?
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: I think that we've gotten to a point where he
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: has made himself believe that the Kraken is still coming.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Did I just, I feel like even saying that, I
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: was just like, oh, God.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Oh, those words.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Cindy Powell's right there. You're going to summon her.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: No, no, no.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: But, yeah, I think he really does believe in some
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: manifestation that this is all true.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: Well, so, Dan, like, there's this debate within the Democratic
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: Party about how much candidates in these midterms should focus
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: on Trump and January 6th. There's evidence from polling and
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: focus groups that it's not a priority for most voters.
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: there's also evidence that most voters, a majority of Americans,
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: believe that Trump bears at least some responsibility for the
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: attack as recent as January 22.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: What do you think? How should Democrats handle this one?
• 12:21
  Speaker 7: Well, first, I'm shocked to hear there's a debate in
• 12:23
  Speaker 7: the Democratic Party. First time for everything, I guess. Look,
• 12:28
  Speaker 7: I think as a party, we are dramatically overcomplicating the simple.
• 12:32
  Speaker 7: Of course we have to talk about Trump. He's the
• 12:35
  Speaker 7: former president President of the United States, he's the leader
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: of the Republican Party, and he is a coin flip
• 12:40
  Speaker 7: away from being the future President of the United States.
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: It's insane not to talk about him. The fact that
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: these focus groups and polls show that voters are not
• 12:48
  Speaker 7: interested in the thing we want them to be interested
• 12:50
  Speaker 7: in is not a reason not to talk about it.
• 12:52
  Speaker 7: It's a reason to talk about it. We know that
• 12:55
  Speaker 7: the only way that we can keep the majority in
• 13:01
  Speaker 7: the Senate, we can win a huge chunk of House seats,
• 13:03
  Speaker 7: and we can keep all the key governorships without winning
• 13:06
  Speaker 7: a single Trump voter from 2020. All we have to
• 13:09
  Speaker 7: do is get the people who voted for Biden to
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: come out again. And the way we do that is
• 13:13
  Speaker 7: to remind them of the stakes. And I think the
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: one lesson here is you have to do it. You
• 13:17
  Speaker 7: can't like half-ass it. Like Glenn Trumpkin, you have to
• 13:20
  Speaker 7: tell a story. And that story has to be forward-looking, right?
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: It can't just be, we're going to relitigate January 6th.
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: It's not what happened. It's what could happen if these
• 13:30
  Speaker 7: guys get the reign of power. And that's how you
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: have to work Trump into your narrative.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: And it's not some like, oh, what could happen, theoretical thing.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: I mean, there are candidates, Republican candidates running all over
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: the country, particularly in key offices for secretary of state,
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: for governor in key states, who have basically not just
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: pledged fealty to Trump, but promised to like overturn a
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: future election if given the chance. So like January 6th
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: is not something I think that should be framed as
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: just what happened in the past and we need accountability
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: and we need a full story. But there is an
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: ongoing threat to democracy, an ongoing assault to democracy by
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: not only Trump, but now most of the Republican Party
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: that is very real. It's not central to the election
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: in some way, even though voters rightly are concerned about
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: the economy, inflation, and everything else. But if we don't
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: make that also central, the threat to democracy, then what
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: are we doing?
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I do think a lot of times we
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: yell at the people who will listen to us. It's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: a lot easier to yell at Democrats than it is
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: like feckless mainstream media institutions that are not good at
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: listening to the people who are criticizing them. But I
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: think sometimes we take the narratives that are offered to us.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: The right-wing media offers us one. Democrats are evil and stupid.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: The mainstream media offers us a second. Democrats on the defensive.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Republicans have put them on their heels. And we realize
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: that this conversation about January 6th is hard to fit
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: into that. And they don't really want to talk about
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: it because it's not as fun and the truth seems partisan.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: And so they'd rather avoid it. And so we give
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: in to that. And we try to talk about policies
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: that we know poll better. But that becomes permission for
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: the major institutions that cover politics to go along with
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: what Democrats are saying by changing the subject. And then
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: it's this vicious circle, right? It's a vicious circle where
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: people don't say it's the most important thing. We don't
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: talk about it as being the most important thing. And
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: the country kind of moves on, even as we creep
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: ever closer to a kind of fascistic right-wing movement taking
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: control of virtually all Republican states.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: At this point. Jane, would you like to respond on
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: that direct attack?
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: I know. I didn't hear. I felt it. I was
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: talking about it. A lot of other places.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: I like to think that we are not feckless. We
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: are feckful. Has anyone ever used the word feckful?
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I think I did it. You coined it. We may
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: make an NFT of it. I'm not talking about the
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: podcast department. Love the podcast department. Mikey Barb's.
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: I mean, one last thing, thinking about the Meadows situation where,
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: you know, Republicans have made voter fraud a central issue now.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: And it seems like we can only find Republicans who've
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: committed voter fraud, including one who was the White House
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: chief of staff. Republicans, of course, intend to make crime
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: and voter fraud top issues in the midterms, even as
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: people like Trump and Meadow are committing crimes and voter fraud.
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: Is this hypocrisy worth pointing out anywhere besides on.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Twitter or here in a Pod Save America show? I
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: don't know.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's worth saying crime is bad
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: when anyone does it. Like the idea of like, you know,
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: I can commit crimes, but you cannot commit crimes. I
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: think that that's something that we saw like. during January
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: 6th of people being like, no, no, no, we love cops.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Why aren't you letting us hit you with flags and
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: scream at you and mace you? We love cops. This
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: is how we show how much we love cops. And
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: it's like, no, no, no, they hate cops, but we
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: love them. Let us love you. And like, I think
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: that it's really important to make the point of like, yeah,
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: crime is bad. That no one likes crime. Like, I
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: think that there's something to be said of like, if
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: you are living in a neighborhood that faces crime, that's bad.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: But also, if you are committing crimes, like, you know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: voter fraud, you know, that's bad. And also, if you
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: are a black person who votes in a different district,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: and you're sent to prison, and you're a white person
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: who lives in the villages, and people are like, oh, sweetheart,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: you just didn't know better. No, like, this is where
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: I think, ironically... Like, I don't know. I feel like
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: crime is crime, and crime is, like, bad, and all
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: people who commit crime should receive punishments, and then we
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: should talk about criminal justice reform and talk about prison
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: reform and talk about what an absolute scandal D.C. jail is,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: but that's a different podcast. It's a different podcast.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Can I float a crime by you?
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Let's say you're Jared Kushner. You know your mic is live, right?
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: You're the shadow secretary of state.
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: You happen to help your crown prince friend cover up
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: the murder and brutal dismemberment of a journalist. And then
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: you get a $ 2 billion kickback six months after you
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: leave the White House.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Is that a crime we're talking about?
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: That's a crime. Yeah, and so crime is crime.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I feel like, you know, there's really... I feel like
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: crime is crime works as a t-shirt very effective because...
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: The argument seems to be from Republicans that, no, no, no,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: your crime is worse. It's way worse if you commit
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: crimes over here. But if I commit crimes over here, well,
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: that's different.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: It's like when they were like, Don Jr., he's just
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: a boy. He's a 40-something-year-old man.
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: They very much are putting the white in white-collar crime.
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: I think in all seriousness, though, I think it is
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: absolutely critical that regardless of what Merrick Garland does or
• 19:03
  Speaker 7: what comes of this, that we talk about what happened
• 19:05
  Speaker 7: on January 6th and what they are planning to do
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: in 2024 as a crime. Because when we use terms
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: like assault on democracy or stealing elections or election subversion,
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: that leans into the media narrative of everyone other than
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: Jane's colleagues that normalizes these as crimes. as typical political tactics, right?
• 19:25
  Speaker 7: It is not, look, they found a clever way to
• 19:27
  Speaker 7: win elections by running. It's not like they're running clever
• 19:30
  Speaker 7: ads or invented talking points. It is, they are committing crimes.
• 19:33
  Speaker 7: And we should, if we don't use that term, no
• 19:35
  Speaker 7: one else will.
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: You don't think a lot of people are just using
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: the word subversion and casual conversation?
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: No.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Republicans divided over intense tactics.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: We will be back with more news in just a bit.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Now it's time for OK Stop. The rules are arcane, opaque,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: and inscrutable. Most people don't know this, but I found
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: the first OK Stop video on a scroll in the
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: crooked offices. A little bit of brand lore for you there.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: For those who have not played The Rules Are This,
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: we will watch a video, and when we have something
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: to say about it, we will say OK Stop. What
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: would happen if a radish was brought to life by
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: a genie that had just read Mein Kampf? Well, his
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: name is Charlie Kirk, and he works for a fascist
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: organization called Turning Points USA, and he had some ideas
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: about real estate. Let's roll the clip.
• 20:40
  Speaker 8: We have a huge housing crisis in our country.
• 20:41
  Speaker 9: Okay, stop.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: Okay, stop.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: I would like to note here a couple of things. One,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: if there were any justice in the world, we would
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: not know who this is.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Yep, for sure. Very good.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Very good setup.
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: I long to live.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: One of the things about the Trump era is that
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: it just introduced all of these people into my mind
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: and I want them out. I want them all got
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: like Kellyanne Conway. I don't care about your marriage. I
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: don't know.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I don't care.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: You know what's amazing? Actually, it actually was like the
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: worst possible outcome, which is this. Trump runs. Nobody that
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: was considered respectable would be part of it. So all
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: the kind of just detritus from the Republican movement just
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: got the big jobs inside of the Trump organization and
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Then he wins, and all the scum-sucking, craven bastards outside
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: are like, well, now I want in. There's power there.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: So basically, the dumbest, worst people then also were kind
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: of buttressed by the old hands that all came in after.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: And now we have to know who this fucking asshole is.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Let's continue.
• 21:47
  Speaker 8: I've not seen in a long period of time. But
• 21:49
  Speaker 8: I believe that we need to build horizontally, not vertically.
• 21:52
  Speaker 8: It's one of my speeches. Developers don't like it when
• 21:54
  Speaker 8: I say this, but it's true.
• 21:56
  Speaker 10: Okay, stop.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Developers.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: Do you think he knows a lot of developers? Do
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: you think he's just going up being like, you there, developer,
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: you're going to hate this.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Developers hate this one weird trick. For turning the country
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: into a strip mall. Let's continue.
• 22:19
  Speaker 8: The more liberal the voter. It just is. And if
• 22:22
  Speaker 8: you are, the closer to the ground you are, the
• 22:24
  Speaker 8: more conservative you are. We should encourage people to spread
• 22:28
  Speaker 8: horizontally and not vertically.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Look at Denver.
• 22:30
  Speaker 8: The higher the high rises, has Denver become less free
• 22:33
  Speaker 8: or more free? It's become a dystopian nightmare.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, stop.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: I really like this politics that appears to be based
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: on the book The Wind in the Willows. Badgers and moles,
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: they're down.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: They stay down.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: They wear their bow ties.
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: I have to ask, where does he think Donald Trump lives?
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: You know, those famous... What do you got? What do
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: you got? Listen, we're doing great, people. What do you got?
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: What do you got, John?
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: I just, like, this is... So this is, like, this
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: is his stump speech. He goes around and talks about
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: high rises and that the higher the... This is a
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: thing now, that the higher the building is, the more
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: liberal you are and the lower.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: That's a thing.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: That's absolutely right.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Shit. That's another thing.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: My view on this is that conservatives need to get
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: even lower. Forget ground level. Underground. That is where the
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: real right-wing action has always been. Caves, orcs, sex dungeons.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: That's where real right-wing conservatism, as it does its best work, deep,
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: deep underground. Okay, let's go.
• 23:48
  Speaker 8: Know that now you might say charlie that's a correlation
• 23:50
  Speaker 8: of the causation think about it if you're on the
• 23:52
  Speaker 8: 32nd floor renting not owning if you're not in the
• 23:55
  Speaker 8: weeds and in the yard and understanding what it takes
• 23:57
  Speaker 8: to grow food and to maintain the land are you
• 23:59
  Speaker 8: gonna be more or less likely to actually be a.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Conservative okay stop charlie buddy you you really had something
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: there with correlation not causation he was onto it yeah
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: you're so close to figuring out you almost cracked the
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: code you're like wait a second Maybe ice cream doesn't
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: cause sunburns. Maybe it's somehow connected to a third reason.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Something that happens seasonally. I see a connection between Christmas
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: and snowstorms, but I can't figure out what it is.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: Also, I just, I really, I want to know where
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: we got into tilling the land talk from Charlie Kirk.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Noted Does he till the land.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Would you guess? He's not doing a lot of weeding.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: I'm just going to guess here, especially because it's just
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: like word salad, but it's not even a good salad.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: No.
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: He's not a big fan of renters either. Charlie's like,
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: you know who should count more?
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Landowners. Why didn't we think of that earlier?
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: What if only landowners had political power in this country?
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: I'm Charlie Kirk, and that's my idea.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: LAUGHTER Can't believe we haven't thought of that before. It's
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: an original. It's the first person to think of it.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: What if just the landowner, it's just a certain kind
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: of landowner. Maybe one per household. I also think you're
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: being very unfair to Charlie Kirk. He knows a thing
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: or two about dirt. He's buried a lot of bodies
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: in his mother's backyard.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Wow, okay.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: Just something to think about. Just something to think about.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Should we continue the clip?
• 25:39
  Speaker 8: The higher the building, every single study shows, they become
• 25:42
  Speaker 8: more liberal over time. It's happening in Phoenix, it's happening
• 25:44
  Speaker 8: in Denver, it's happening in Atlanta, it's happening in Dallas,
• 25:45
  Speaker 8: it's happening in Chicago, it's happening everywhere, and yet few
• 25:47
  Speaker 8: people actually say that out loud.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Whatever.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Does he think this is like a brave truth?
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: Few people are willing, everyone's thinking it, everyone's thinking it.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Why does no one else say it out loud?
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Every study has told us about the notorious liberal heartland
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: of Dallas. When I think, I mean, that's also like,
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: if you've ever been to, like, if you've ever seen
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Jerry World, it's very tall. Noted woke stronghold, Dallas Cowboy Stadium.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: John, did you know, did you know what had happened
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: to Denver?
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: Like, I didn't know that Denver had become a dystopian nightmare.
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: It's like, Denver collapsed, and we didn't even read about
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: it in Punchbowl.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: It was like, I didn't, I don't understand.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Denver's lost?
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: What happened to Denver? It's so sad now.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Didn't make Axios. Didn't make, yeah.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Didn't make even the end of Playbook.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: There's always a birthday.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: It didn't even get with the birthdays.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: There's also just so like, we're so, again, because Republicans
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: just for some reason got to be the antagonists in
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: our political system and Democrats have to be the protagonists.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: They're allowed to just be like, fuck the cities. They're
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: full of assholes and everybody knows it. And there's just
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: no compliment on the other side. We're just not allowed
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: to have the same conversation. They're allowed to roam the
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: country just making things up about America's cities that were
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: just violent hell holes full of tall buildings filled with communists.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Would that it were. We should just attack rural areas.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: Ridiculous.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Anything else, Dan? Did we finish the clip or did
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: we already did that?
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: We did it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: I think we did.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Is it done?
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's done.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Any other jokes I wanted to tell them?
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: I just, again, I really, if you told me that
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: there was something that we could do that would mean
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: that I would never need to think about Charlie Kirk
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: ever again, I'm in. I'll sign that.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Let's do it.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: That's great. Men in black things.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, we missed one.
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: Ready?
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Everybody ready?
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: A lot of us liberal and conservative alike did a
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: fair amount of horizontal growing during the pandemic. I'm just saying.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: And that's okay.
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: Stop.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Let's talk some more news.
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: Uh, Seven months out from the midterms, voters keep telling
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: pollsters that they want their leaders to focus on the economy.
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: But Republicans seem intent on fighting culture wars everywhere they can.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: In the last year, right-wing attempts to ban books have
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: hit an all-time high. In Oklahoma and Kentucky, Republicans just
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: banned all abortions with no exceptions for rape or incest.
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: In Florida, Republicans are threatening to retaliate against Disney, the
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: state's largest employer, for merely speaking out against a new
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: law that targets gay and trans kids. Senate Republicans used
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson's confirmation hearings to question the Supreme Court's
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage and attack the judge's
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: mainstream sentencing record as soft on child abuse, a charge
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: that was picked up by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who now
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: calls Democrats the, quote, party of pedophiles, as well as
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: various right-wing pundits who are accusing Democrats of being groomers.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Let's take a listen.
• 29:08
  Speaker 8: Grooming.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Groomer.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: Grooming.
• 29:09
  Speaker 11: Groom.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Groomers.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Groomer in chief.
• 29:12
  Speaker 12: Grooming.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: Groomer.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Groomer. Grooming.
• 29:14
  Speaker 9: Groomers.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Grooming.
• 29:15
  Speaker 10: Groomers.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Groomer.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: Grooming. Grooming.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: Groomer.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: Grooming.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Groomers.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's enough.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's, yeah. Grooming.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Half of these people wouldn't know a hairbrush. Fucking... Fucking.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: They are on message. They are all on message.
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: Jane, it seems like Republicans now want government to dictate
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: what we read, what our kids learn, who we marry,
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: what women do with their bodies, and what political beliefs
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: private companies should hold. What do you think happened to
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: the party of individual liberty and limited government?
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: How much time do you have? First and foremost, I
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: think that the biggest thing has been that people do things,
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: and then people get mad at the people who are
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: doing things and want them to stop. And I think
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: that the entire, I mean, I've talked a lot about,
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: I've written a lot about American conservatism, and American conservatism
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: has always been this weird grab bag of people who
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: normally don't like each other, but they hate other people more.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: So they're like, all right, we'll hang out for now.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: And I think the biggest thing though has been that
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: when people have used freedom and used limited government, and
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: they've been like, I am going to be free to
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: be who I am and marry who I want, all
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: their people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: didn't mean that. That's when you see that Marco Rubio
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: is going after Amazon. He's not going after Amazon because
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: they make people pee in bottles. It's because they're quote-unquote woke.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: You'll notice that all of these Republicans are not standing
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: up for unions. They're standing up for union-esque. Imagine if
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: you went to Ann Taylor Loft, but it wasn't Ann
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: Taylor Loft. It was Ann Taylor Loft Adjacent. That's what
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: they want to do with unions. And so I think
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: a lot of this is about the means by which
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: we control three things. Kids, sex, and the idea of
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: any of those things intersecting. And I think that the
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: real tragedy here is not what this is going to
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: do to people politically, because we're allowed to swear here, right?
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: In these issues, I don't give a fuck about the politics. Like, Like,
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: the idea, like, they're like, oh, no, no, this Florida bill.
• 31:29
  Speaker 9: It polls well.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: I'm like, lots of things poll well. Trans kids matter
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: more than your polls. Like, I was a queer kid
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: in Ohio in the 90s. I did not poll well.
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: You could not have.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: I didn't get to pull at all.
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: Indeed.
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: But, like, the idea here.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: Had to wait till college.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: You got to do it in college?
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I mean.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: But, like, the idea here, and it's like, you hear
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: about this, and it's like, It was also interesting how
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: this became this weird kind of, you know, it went
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: exactly the way everybody thought it would go. It's like, no, no, no,
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: we're just really concerned about gender identity. And then it
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: suddenly became about gay people because, of course, it did.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: Of course, the people who really hate trans people aren't like, no,
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: we're totally cool with lesbians. No, that's totally fine. No,
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: it wasn't. You heard earlier this week Charlie Kirk being like, well,
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: we gave them marriage and now they want to come
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: after your kids. And I'm like, okay, Anita Bryant. Let's
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: bring it back to 1978.
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: But now they want to take marriage back. I mean, like,
• 32:48
  Speaker 5: John Cornyn sitting in that hearing.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: Over my dead body.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Like, talking about Obergefell.
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: I was like, what the fuck is this?
• 32:56
  Speaker 9: No.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: No, silly billies.
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: No.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: I pay married joint taxes.
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: You can, no.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: No. I mean.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: Like, no.
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: I would say, Tommy, like, these positions are morally abhorrent,
• 33:10
  Speaker 5: and you're right, fuck the politics. I would also say, though, like,
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: Do you think Republicans, like, that these are all wedge
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: issues now that are going to help them politically?
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Or have they overreached on a lot of this stuff?
• 33:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah, no, I think to Jane's point, I mean, culture
• 33:24
  Speaker 6: wars have animated the Republican Party for a long time.
• 33:27
  Speaker 6: I mean, Trump was like a special breed of... Did
• 33:30
  Speaker 6: we all call him on the show a truffle pig
• 33:31
  Speaker 6: for culture wars? I think that was... I feel like
• 33:33
  Speaker 6: I'm stealing a joke, but he just shifts around, he
• 33:35
  Speaker 6: finds a fucking thing.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: But he also was the person who was like, I'm
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: the most pro-LGBT person ever.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Well, he's a line sack of shit, too.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's that. Well, yeah, that.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: But also the fact that the moment he was out
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: of the picture and just so focused on January 20th,
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: you have all the social conservatives who are still mad
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: about the Bostick decision before the Supreme Court and all
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: of them being like, we're going to reassert ourselves and like,
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: welcome back.
• 33:55
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: Your point is exactly right. This isn't new.
• 33:59
  Speaker 6: When people are unsettled by change, whether it's women in
• 34:01
  Speaker 6: the workplace or gay rights or civil rights, you see
• 34:04
  Speaker 6: this sort of backlash or this reactionary conservative party. And
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: I think the things we need to remember are One,
• 34:13
  Speaker 6: like you mentioned Anita Bryant, right? She was a nightmare
• 34:16
  Speaker 6: of a singer, celebrity who ran anti-gay campaigns in the
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: late 70s in Florida where she called gay men groomers
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: or said they were recruiting kids. The point I would
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: say is we won that fight, right? And we can
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: win it again. The other thing I'd point out is like,
• 34:30
  Speaker 6: you know, anti-choice campaigners, that was not the core of
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: the GOP until fairly recently. It was sort of like
• 34:36
  Speaker 6: a post-Roe, like late 70s, 80s thing. What happened is
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: they organized. So we just need to organize just as
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: much as they did. And so I do think they've
• 34:44
  Speaker 6: overreached on a lot of these issues. Like the Oklahoma
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: anti-abortion law you mentioned, there's no exception for rape or incest.
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: Doctors can get 10 years in prison for performing an abortion.
• 34:56
  Speaker 6: I mean, 60% of the country supports abortion rights. You
• 34:59
  Speaker 6: mentioned Cornyn, John Cornyn mentioning rolling back the Obergefell decision
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: and taking back gay marriage.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: That polls at 60%.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Mike Braun.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: Senator no one here has ever heard.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Of, Indiana, I believe. Yeah.
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: He raised concerns about interracial marriage and whether that should
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: be an issue left up to this date.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: I forgot to bring that one up.
• 35:18
  Speaker 12: Yeah.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: That is fucking crazy, crazy stuff.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: I'll be sure and let my parents know.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 35:24
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: They'll get right back to him.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: They better keep their heads on a swivel.
• 35:29
  Speaker 6: We have to lift up. They frame this as, oh,
• 35:32
  Speaker 6: we're saving the kids. That's bullshit. We have to lift
• 35:34
  Speaker 6: up these more extreme voices and highlight that and say
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: that is the future. This Oklahoma City anti-choice bill will
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: be brought to the rest of the country if we
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: don't fight now.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: But I want to also be really clear here because
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: I think it's important to note here that, one, when
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: you hear someone talking about the Florida bill, HB 1557,
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: and they refer to it as a sex ed bill.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: It isn't.
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: It doesn't mention sex ed. You could still tell any
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: kid you wanted to any number of whatever heterosexual people
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: get up to, but you just can't mention sexual orientation
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: or gender identity. And it's interesting how every conservative writer
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: is like, oh, you couldn't talk about explicit sex acts.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: I'm like, I see where your mind is. I know
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: what you're up to. But it's very important here that
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: the clear implication of how conservatives talk about this bill
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: is that if gay and trans kids did not know
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: about LGBT life or people or history, they simply wouldn't
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: be LGBT. As if every single LGBT person was straight
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: until someone like waved something in front of their face.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: Until we all accidentally walked into a screening of Paris
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: is Burning and we're like.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: We're in. I'm in. But I do think that's like,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: it is like just a, I think sometimes we spend
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: so much time just sort of pushing back against this.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: And you're right. This is a moral panic. These are
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: several moral panics overlapping each other. No, it won't do
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: anything to stop the gay kids from being gay. And
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: it won't stop the trans kids from being trans. It
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: just makes pain for them. It makes pain for their
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: gay teachers. It makes pain for their supportive parents. This
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: is about extracting pain. And so in the end, of
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: course we win. Of course we win. Those kids will
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: grow up and discover who they are and figure it out.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: even if it means they have to go through a
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: much more difficult childhood because they are showed a world
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: in which they don't get to exist when they are
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: outside of it.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: Well, the worst part is that some of those kids
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: won't make it. And that's the thing about this.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: And some of those kids won't make it.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: You don't have to applaud that. They just won't.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: But the point being, because it's false, because it's a
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: moral panic, it can't succeed. It can only hurt. It
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: can fail by hurting a lot of people. That's all.
• 37:38
  Speaker 5: Well, and Jane, to your point about how there's a
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: lot of conservatives who say, oh, it's about, you know,
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: we don't want really young kids... learning sex ed. So
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: a Democrat in the legislature offered up an amendment to
• 37:52
  Speaker 5: the bill, and the amendment said, okay, let's just use
• 37:54
  Speaker 5: this language, no sex ed at all for kids K-3,
• 37:59
  Speaker 5: and the Republicans voted to pass.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: They said no discussions of sexual activity, and Republicans were like, nope, nope,
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: that's not what we mean. That's not the spirit.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: Not quite specific enough.
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not the spirit.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Of the bill.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: We know what the spirit of the legislation is.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: The spirit of the bill is gay teachers need to
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: be fucking terrified that if they mention their spouse or
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: just describe different kinds of relationships that they can be
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: sued by the worst mom in the fucking class. That's
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: what they want to be afraid of. They want teachers
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: to go to bed afraid. They want being a teacher
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: to be terrible. because ultimately they want to undermine the
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: public schools and make them so rancorous and so awful.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: They want every school board meeting to be a fucking nightmare,
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: every PTA meeting to be a nightmare, every teacher to
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: think this job of service, this thing that they do
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: because they care about kids, they want to make it
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: so awful, so terrible, that fewer and fewer people go
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: into it, so that ultimately the public schools fall apart,
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: so they can privatize one more aspect of community, destroy
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: one more aspect of our society. That is the goal.
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: And also, let's keep in mind that there's a similar
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: bill attempting to go forward in Georgia that would do
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: the same to private schools. It would be, essentially, don't
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: say gay in private schools. Because, again, this parental right
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: of action, you'll hear from some conservatives saying, like, oh,
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: that's not what the bill will do. Well, it's a
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: parental right of action, so we'll have to find out
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: in court.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Right. Again, limited government, private school supporters.
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: I've always said that, you know.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Love free speech.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: You know, conservatism relies on going to court a lot.
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: So, Dan, there was a Vice piece this week about
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: the party of pedophile attack in which a few elected
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: Democrats said that they don't want to, quote, give the
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: attacks oxygen and that, quote, the best thing Democrats can
• 39:41
  Speaker 5: do is ignore the attack and focus on the pocketbook
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: issues that polls show Americans care about most.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: Are they right?
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: Any piece of political advice that begins with ignore the
• 39:55
  Speaker 7: attack should be ignored.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Ignore the ignore the attack.
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: If that was an era, if there was an era
• 40:02
  Speaker 7: in which that worked, it was not it is not
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: now and not anytime which remember. So I do think
• 40:08
  Speaker 7: it is important that Democrats not accept the premise of
• 40:11
  Speaker 7: the argument and run their ads. That's that just. we
• 40:15
  Speaker 7: don't want to repeat the attack, right? You don't want to,
• 40:17
  Speaker 7: all of a sudden, instead of talking about.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: Hi, I'm not a pedophile.
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: I like to raise the minimum wage. I'm not an
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: Asian pedophile. I am very anti-pedophile. No, that is not
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: a good approach.
• 40:29
  Speaker 7: But I think we have to take, and we can't
• 40:31
  Speaker 7: get wrapped around the axle about this one element of it.
• 40:35
  Speaker 7: We have to take this cultural war on full bore.
• 40:38
  Speaker 7: Because it's idiotic that we divide the world into culture wars,
• 40:41
  Speaker 7: which are terrible and bad and divisive, and policy issues
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: which are what we should talk about because we serve
• 40:46
  Speaker 7: spinach as a party and you will like it and
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: think about.
• 40:50
  Speaker 5: Great another great message yes that's right i would not
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: put it in an ad but it is.
• 40:56
  Speaker 7: Like i've seen that poll that says that a slight
• 40:59
  Speaker 7: majority of floridians like they don't say gay about that
• 41:01
  Speaker 7: is a shit poll that is because that poll is
• 41:04
  Speaker 7: asked on ron desantis's terms here's what we know we
• 41:08
  Speaker 7: know that all across the country These issues are the
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: problems they're adopting on abortion, on gay rights, trans rights
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: are unpopular. And even for the populations who may be
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: sympathetic or concerned or anxious about some of the changes
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: in our society, they do not think this is a
• 41:24
  Speaker 7: thing we're supposed to be fucking focusing on right now.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: And that is the argument.
• 41:29
  Speaker 7: If your opponent adopts unpopular positions that are directly removed
• 41:32
  Speaker 7: from the things people should be focused on, you have
• 41:34
  Speaker 7: to talk about it. And you have to highlight the
• 41:36
  Speaker 7: fact that they are doing these things. So I think
• 41:39
  Speaker 7: we have this sort of learned helplessness sometimes as a
• 41:41
  Speaker 7: party that we're going to run away from these things
• 41:43
  Speaker 7: because this is where Republicans are strong. It's actually where
• 41:45
  Speaker 7: they are weak because we don't make them pay for it.
• 41:48
  Speaker 7: So I hope that we aggressively take these on throughout
• 41:51
  Speaker 7: the country. It's the morally right thing to do, but
• 41:54
  Speaker 7: it's also the politically smart thing to do.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: I also think it's worth for Democrats for saying like.
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: Because I think that we talked a little bit about
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: book bans. And I think that in a couple of states,
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: like Democrats have led the charge in some areas of
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: California on attempting to remove books like To Kill a
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: Mockingbird and other ones. Like, you can't. No.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: No.
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: No bans. No bans on books.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: I don't even get that. Why?
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: I don't understand that. And especially because, again, this is
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: about an idea of kids that is separate from what
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: kids are like. We've all been children. Have you met children?
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: They ask weird questions and want to read real weird books.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: And that's awesome and cool and we should let them.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: And I think that it's very important to have an
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: ideology and to have a politics that says books are good,
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: book bans are bad. And yeah, your kid's going to
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: read some stuff. Like, I went to Catholic school, so
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: I read a lot of stuff that was weird and
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: scary and I didn't understand and it was called the Bible.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: Shit goes down in that book.
• 42:55
  Speaker 5: Again, like, I promise you, I'm no pollster, but I
• 42:58
  Speaker 5: promise you, if you go around telling people that Republicans
• 43:02
  Speaker 5: want to ban books, that Republicans have talked about rolling
• 43:06
  Speaker 5: back interracial marriage and gay marriage, that is not going
• 43:09
  Speaker 5: to be popular. It's not just something you don't have
• 43:11
  Speaker 5: to be afraid of. It's something that you should actually
• 43:14
  Speaker 5: talk about and go on the attack of because that
• 43:15
  Speaker 5: is not a fucking popular position in most of the country.
• 43:18
  Speaker 7: Right across the board, jailing teachers, investigating trans kids, jailing
• 43:23
  Speaker 7: doctors and women.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: Going after some of the most beloved people in our society.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: Not popular. It's a miss. Love it.
• 43:34
  Speaker 5: NBC reported new polling today that shows voters are much
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: less inclined to vote for Republicans when they also, another
• 43:41
  Speaker 5: thing they hear about them, Rick Scott, the guy in
• 43:43
  Speaker 5: charge of winning back the Senate, has a plan.
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: Everyone should be talking about Rick.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Scott all the time.
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: Every time he leaves the room, people should be like,
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: where's Rick Scott?
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: Where's Rick Scott?
• 43:52
  Speaker 5: Because Rick Scott, Rick Scott decided to come up with
• 43:55
  Speaker 5: a plan. much to Mitch McConnell's chagrin.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: I don't agree with that. I think he loves it.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's a Republican plan.
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: That will raise taxes on 100 million Americans and eliminate
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: all federal government programs within five years, and then we're
• 44:11
  Speaker 5: supposed to re-up them if we want, because Congress passes
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: all kinds of laws all the time, including Obamacare, Medicare,
• 44:18
  Speaker 5: Social Security. So we've got a Republican now, the guy
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: who's in charge of taking back the Senate, who's out
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: there proudly supporting a plan that says, yeah, I'm going
• 44:26
  Speaker 5: to raise taxes on 100 million people and end Obamacare, Medicare,
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: and Social Security in five years.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Not popular.
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: The poll, surprise, surprise, found that a lot of people,
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: swing voters, everyone, found that when they heard this plan,
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: they were much less likely to vote for Republicans in
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: the midterms.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: I think... Yay, polls!
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: Sometimes politics is hard to understand.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: I think the.
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: Question is, if you're a Democratic campaign, if you're an activist,
• 44:52
  Speaker 5: if you're an organizer, like, it seems like this is
• 44:56
  Speaker 5: a message you might want to break through. Like, is
• 45:00
  Speaker 5: this more, like, you only have limited resources. What do
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: you focus on? Do you focus on this message? You're
• 45:04
  Speaker 5: getting all these culture war attacks that we were just
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: talking about from Republicans. Like, how do you navigate this
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: and still break through with a message that we know
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: is pretty devastating to them?
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: We were talking about this backstage, that one of the
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: most unpopular moments in Trump's entire presidency was when he
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: was actively fighting to repeal Obamacare. I think this is
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: The fact that the Republican plan is to take over
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: the government and sunset Medicare and Social Security while raising
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: taxes on virtually everyone who is not rich should be
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: the core of our message, should be the thing we
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: say every day. It should become famous. And that will
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: happen with discipline, everybody repeating it, everybody being on the
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: same page. That is the, you know, as Biden would say,
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: don't judge me by the almighty, judge me by the alternative.
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: That is the alternative. That must be the core of it. However,
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: I think we should not pretend that we're going to
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: avoid all these culture issues. As Dan said, they are interesting.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: They are fun to talk about. Ron DeSantis attacking Disney
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: is fun and interesting. It is stupid and dumb and entertaining,
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: and we will talk about it. And I think one
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: thing that we have always said is you have to
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: call out the game, and I think you have to
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: call out the game in two ways. One, they're trying
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: to distract from their deeply unpopular agenda, but also because
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: these are moral panics, because these are false, I think
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: sometimes we get a little bit too much in the
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: politics and not enough about the consequences. The story in
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: the Texas Tribune, because they are attacking trans kids, there
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: are real cases of abuse that are going unpunished. Because
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Greg Abbott decided to create us headlines by stopping trucks,
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: real businesses, real companies, real people are being impacted by
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: these shortages because of the traffic and food rotting in
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: trucks and the supply chain. Because they scapegoat voter fraud.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: and do it all across the country, a random person
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: will be arrested because they had court fees outstanding in
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: some district and they had no idea and so they
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: get wound up in this fucking ridiculous process of being
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: told they're the problem, they're the voter fraud. And so
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: I think talking about the fact that A, this is
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: a distraction from their agenda and B, they're causing real
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: harm to people because these are completely false and misleading
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: attacks because they actually don't care about the consequences of
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: their actions is the thing that is just what I
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: would be talking about.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about these culture issues.
• 47:17
  Speaker 5: Tommy, before we move on, I believe there's one more
• 47:19
  Speaker 5: critical issue that you wanted to raise.
• 47:21
  Speaker 6: Yeah, look, I just think there's culture wars and then
• 47:24
  Speaker 6: there's culture wars. Some people are doing it kind of
• 47:27
  Speaker 6: half-assed and some people are doing it right. And I
• 47:30
  Speaker 6: just think we need to be mindful of the attacks
• 47:33
  Speaker 6: that we should be worried about and that are going
• 47:35
  Speaker 6: to land and that we need to think extra hard
• 47:37
  Speaker 6: about how to prepare for.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: So we have a clip of that for you.
• 47:41
  Speaker 10: Disney has for the longest time been a children entertainment institution.
• 47:47
  Speaker 10: This is a gift card taken last week at a
• 47:50
  Speaker 10: Target store. What do you see? What do you see
• 47:55
  Speaker 10: in that? What do you see in that?
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: What do you see?
• 47:58
  Speaker 10: Do you see Minnie in a dress? Or do you
• 48:01
  Speaker 10: see Mickey holding a penis? The people at Disney are pedophiles.
• 48:06
  Speaker 10: The people at Disney are pushing a satanic, godless, child
• 48:11
  Speaker 10: pornography predatory perspective.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, stop.
• 48:15
  Speaker 6: For those of you at home, what he thinks he
• 48:20
  Speaker 6: sees in a picture of Mickey and Minnie Mouse is
• 48:23
  Speaker 6: Mickey holding a big blue cock.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 48:26
  Speaker 6: When I saw this doing a little research for a
• 48:28
  Speaker 6: YouTube show I do called.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: Tommy Gets Red Pilled, I was just going deep on YouTube.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: What did you Google? You don't want to know. Tommy
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: was in an incognito window. You don't want to know.
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: I had the VPN ripping.
• 48:42
  Speaker 6: I thought that this guy was just like a fucking podcaster,
• 48:45
  Speaker 6: Charlie Kirk.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: This guy's running for Senate, I think. This guy's running
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: for a real office.
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: What?
• 48:50
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: That guy's running for Senate?
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: I kind of saw a penis.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: I did, too. Oh, I thought that was the point.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: I definitely saw a penis.
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: For people listening at home, I'm pretty sure it's a penis.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: They got me. They got me.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: So that's what Disney's up against.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: All right. So anyway, I don't know. There's no segue
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: from that, guys. There's no segue.
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: There rarely is from a giant blue penis.
• 49:15
  Speaker 5: Before we move on, it's important for all of us
• 49:17
  Speaker 5: to remember that no matter how democratic campaigns choose to
• 49:21
  Speaker 5: handle these issues, we all have a role to play here.
• 49:24
  Speaker 5: And I hope that these last two segments have really
• 49:26
  Speaker 5: crystallized what the stakes are in 2022. Obviously, this is
• 49:30
  Speaker 5: going to be a tough year. And there are a
• 49:32
  Speaker 5: lot of factors that we cannot control. But our team
• 49:36
  Speaker 5: at Vote Save America is focused, as usual, on what
• 49:40
  Speaker 5: we can control. So if all of you go to votesaveamerica.com
• 49:46
  Speaker 5: slash midterms, you can sign up to get connected with
• 49:49
  Speaker 5: actions that you can take right now. We will host
• 49:53
  Speaker 5: events where we lay out midterm strategy. We will help
• 49:56
  Speaker 5: train you to become organizers. You can pick a region
• 49:59
  Speaker 5: of the country to focus on for the midterms. We
• 50:01
  Speaker 5: have the East, Midwest, South, and West. We are trying
• 50:05
  Speaker 5: to get 40,000 sign-ups by the end of May in
• 50:09
  Speaker 5: order to be ready for November. And each one of
• 50:13
  Speaker 5: us is coaching a region so we can make this
• 50:15
  Speaker 5: needlessly competitive and talk a lot of shit to each other.
• 50:19
  Speaker 5: So everyone, please go to votesaveamerica.com slash midterms and sign
• 50:23
  Speaker 5: up as soon as you can.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 50:29
  Speaker 5: Please welcome to the stage a good friend of the pod,
• 50:32
  Speaker 5: a really good friend of ours before there ever was
• 50:35
  Speaker 5: a pod, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
• 50:43
  Speaker 9: Hi, guys.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Hello.
• 50:55
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: You have some fans.
• 50:58
  Speaker 9: That may be in my team. I gave them like
• 51:00
  Speaker 9: a hundred dollars each to cheer aloud. So there they are.
• 51:04
  Speaker 9: Some of them are single and ready to mingle. I'm
• 51:06
  Speaker 9: happy to talk about it after the show. Um, it's
• 51:10
  Speaker 9: great to be here.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 51:11
  Speaker 7: This is like, as we always predicted back in the
• 51:13
  Speaker 7: Obama campaign, this is how it would end.
• 51:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no, this is exactly the White House press secretary.
• 51:17
  Speaker 5: We're doing a podcast.
• 51:19
  Speaker 9: When we were on a bus eating like jello molds
• 51:21
  Speaker 9: and rolls of Turkey and things exactly where we thought
• 51:25
  Speaker 9: we would be.
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: This is it.
• 51:26
  Speaker 5: Um, All right, so I want to start with something
• 51:29
  Speaker 5: that feels a bit newsy. Earlier today, after the reports
• 51:35
  Speaker 5: that you guys are considering sending a senior official to Ukraine,
• 51:39
  Speaker 5: a reporter asked the president if he's ready to go
• 51:42
  Speaker 5: to Ukraine himself. And I was watching this clip, and
• 51:45
  Speaker 5: then he just said, yeah.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: I was like, oh, oh, OK.
• 51:52
  Speaker 5: Is sending the president to Ukraine something that you guys
• 51:55
  Speaker 5: have talked about?
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: I know there's no plan. Is it something that you
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: guys are discussing?
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: No. Okay.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: No. So he's ready. He's just not like... He is ready.
• 52:03
  Speaker 9: He's ready for anything. The man likes a fast car,
• 52:06
  Speaker 9: some aviators. He's ready to go to Ukraine. It's true.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: He does.
• 52:13
  Speaker 9: We are not sending the president to Ukraine. What I
• 52:15
  Speaker 9: will tell you is that what Boris Johnson did is
• 52:18
  Speaker 9: he took, I believe, an eight-hour train through a war
• 52:21
  Speaker 9: zone to get to the middle of Ukraine. So, no,
• 52:24
  Speaker 9: that is not in the plans for the president of
• 52:26
  Speaker 9: the United States. We should all be maybe relieved about that.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: He's got a few.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: Other things to do. I was going to say thank you.
• 52:31
  Speaker 9: Yes, you're welcome. You're welcome, America. We need him to
• 52:34
  Speaker 9: do a lot of things.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: You know what, Jen?
• 52:36
  Speaker 5: My follow-up question was going to be like, all right,
• 52:38
  Speaker 5: we all know what the risks of that would be.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: Like, What are the rewards?
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: John, you are undervaluing optics?
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say, it's like, yeah, we're
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: not going to risk the president for optics.
• 52:49
  Speaker 9: Okay, good.
• 52:51
  Speaker 7: Every poll, which are always correct, tells us that inflation
• 52:55
  Speaker 7: is the top of every voter's mind. This is something
• 52:57
  Speaker 7: you guys have been navigating for.
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: A long time.
• 53:00
  Speaker 7: What tools do you guys have or things that you're
• 53:03
  Speaker 7: thinking about doing that can help in the next coming
• 53:06
  Speaker 7: months to help relieve some of the pressure that American
• 53:09
  Speaker 7: families are feeling?
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 53:10
  Speaker 9: I mean, one of the biggest impacts on inflation and
• 53:14
  Speaker 9: one of the biggest reasons why it's rising is energy prices.
• 53:17
  Speaker 9: No shit, right? Anybody who goes and puts gas in
• 53:19
  Speaker 9: their car, you know. But if you look at the
• 53:21
  Speaker 9: data that came out earlier this week, it's about 70%
• 53:25
  Speaker 9: of the top line impact. So one of the things
• 53:27
  Speaker 9: we're trying to do is take steps to lower gas
• 53:30
  Speaker 9: prices to have a huge impact in that way. We
• 53:33
  Speaker 9: are also working on the supply chain because if you
• 53:36
  Speaker 9: can get more goods through, this is kind of obvious,
• 53:39
  Speaker 9: and get them on the shelves, then the prices will lower.
• 53:42
  Speaker 9: We're also, though, we're still trying to push for getting
• 53:46
  Speaker 9: a bill passed that will lower child care, health care. Exactly.
• 53:53
  Speaker 9: Things that impact elder care, people's lives. I will say,
• 53:56
  Speaker 9: I know you guys talk about politics a little bit here.
• 53:58
  Speaker 9: I'm going to be careful here because I don't want
• 54:00
  Speaker 9: the Hatch Act police to arrest me outside of the anthem.
• 54:03
  Speaker 7: The most seriously enforced law in the government.
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 54:07
  Speaker 9: A sternly worded press release may be coming my way.
• 54:10
  Speaker 9: But what I will say is that what Democrats could
• 54:14
  Speaker 9: do better, all of us, I am a Democrat. I
• 54:16
  Speaker 9: am working in the White House. I realize I have
• 54:18
  Speaker 9: a megaphone for this.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: She's talking to us, John.
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 54:21
  Speaker 9: Well, you guys too. Republicans have no plan for this.
• 54:27
  Speaker 9: No plan to address inflation. We all agree it's a
• 54:29
  Speaker 9: huge problem. It's the number one issue in polls. Everyone
• 54:32
  Speaker 9: thinks costs are too high. Costs are too high. And oftentimes,
• 54:36
  Speaker 9: we get a little cannibalistic about what our own plans
• 54:39
  Speaker 9: are and whether they're good enough or whether we're passing
• 54:41
  Speaker 9: them fast enough or what have you. And really, if
• 54:45
  Speaker 9: you look at the other side, there's nothing in the cupboard.
• 54:47
  Speaker 9: They have zero plan. We all agree inflation's a problem.
• 54:50
  Speaker 9: They have no plan to address it. We could be
• 54:52
  Speaker 9: saying that more, and I think it would help.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: It's a fair point.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's right.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean.
• 55:00
  Speaker 5: So to do that, to pass that bill, obviously, you know,
• 55:03
  Speaker 5: we have no Republicans that will give us any help
• 55:06
  Speaker 5: on that at all. We do have to get all
• 55:08
  Speaker 5: the Democrats in line. I won't go beyond that. We've
• 55:11
  Speaker 5: all been down that cul-de-sac before. But one thing, you know,
• 55:15
  Speaker 5: we had Ron Klain on Pod Save America a couple
• 55:18
  Speaker 5: of months ago when I asked about student debt relief.
• 55:21
  Speaker 5: And he said, we'll either make a decision on that
• 55:23
  Speaker 5: in May or or if we extend the moratorium, then
• 55:29
  Speaker 5: at least we'll make a decision on it before the
• 55:31
  Speaker 5: moratorium ends. So you guys extended the moratorium until, I believe,
• 55:33
  Speaker 5: August 31st.
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 55:35
  Speaker 5: So is the president taking executive action to cancel some
• 55:42
  Speaker 5: level of student debt still on the table?
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: And when is that going to.
• 55:45
  Speaker 9: Yes, still on the table. Still on the table. So
• 55:50
  Speaker 9: just to play out what Ron Klain was talking about.
• 55:53
  Speaker 9: So as you said, it ends August 31st. We have
• 55:55
  Speaker 9: to then decide whether it's extended. And what you look
• 55:59
  Speaker 9: at is, even though the economy is very strong, we
• 56:01
  Speaker 9: created more jobs last year than any year in history.
• 56:06
  Speaker 9: Even though that's the case, we know, as we've been
• 56:08
  Speaker 9: talking about, costs are too high and certainly not having
• 56:12
  Speaker 9: to pay back student loans. Nobody's had to pay a dollar,
• 56:14
  Speaker 9: a cent, anything in student loans since Joe Biden's been president.
• 56:18
  Speaker 9: And if that can help people ease the burden of
• 56:21
  Speaker 9: costs in other parts of their lives, that's an important
• 56:24
  Speaker 9: thing to consider. That's a big part of the consideration.
• 56:27
  Speaker 9: So between now and August 31st, it's either going to
• 56:29
  Speaker 9: be extended or we're going to make a decision, as
• 56:32
  Speaker 9: Ron referenced, about canceling student debt. Now, it is also
• 56:36
  Speaker 9: true that the president's preference has been from the beginning
• 56:40
  Speaker 9: legislative action and a bill. You know why? Because bills
• 56:43
  Speaker 9: are more permanent. And Congress could send him a bill $ 10, 000
• 56:48
  Speaker 9: in canceling student debt. Sign it tomorrow. You can all come.
• 56:51
  Speaker 9: You're invited to the South Lawn. We'll sign it. We'll celebrate.
• 56:55
  Speaker 9: We'll have drinks with the money we save. So that's
• 56:57
  Speaker 9: another option. But we'll consider it before the end of August.
• 57:00
  Speaker 5: Well, yeah, and so people know that's not passing the
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: buck to Congress. That's ensuring that if there's legislation to
• 57:06
  Speaker 5: cancel student debt, it would be more solid and lasting
• 57:09
  Speaker 5: than if Biden does it by executive action, which I'm
• 57:12
  Speaker 5: sure he might. And then, of course, the courts could
• 57:15
  Speaker 5: do what the courts might do.
• 57:15
  Speaker 9: The courts, and God forbid, at There's a Republican in
• 57:19
  Speaker 9: the White House one day. I mean, they can overturn
• 57:22
  Speaker 9: these things. This is the thing with executive actions. You
• 57:24
  Speaker 9: can go back and forth and overturn them. And obviously,
• 57:28
  Speaker 9: we want something in any of these cases where it's
• 57:29
  Speaker 9: more permanent.
• 57:30
  Speaker 5: I wanted to ask, you know, you heard our conversation
• 57:32
  Speaker 5: about politics and the midterms. I will ask you this
• 57:35
  Speaker 5: in your personal capacity.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: As a Democrat.
• 57:38
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 57:39
  Speaker 5: You heard the quote in that Vice story that I
• 57:43
  Speaker 5: asked Dan about, which is, you know, we have all
• 57:45
  Speaker 5: these culture war attacks and some Democrats said, well, you know,
• 57:50
  Speaker 5: we should talk about kitchen table issues and we should
• 57:52
  Speaker 5: sort of ignore these. How do you think about sort
• 57:56
  Speaker 5: of like a democratic midterm message balancing, and you are
• 58:00
  Speaker 5: a message guru, like balancing like quite a few- I
• 58:03
  Speaker 5: worked for.
• 58:04
  Speaker 9: Dan for many years. This is the secret.
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: I always knew I'd end up working for you.
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: We see you at the podium now.
• 58:11
  Speaker 5: Balancing a few things, what you guys have accomplished- what
• 58:15
  Speaker 5: is left to be accomplished, what the Republicans won't do,
• 58:19
  Speaker 5: and also these attacks that are coming in on all
• 58:22
  Speaker 5: of these cultural issues.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay.
• 58:25
  Speaker 9: So I think you can sum up what we should
• 58:26
  Speaker 9: be doing in like a very simple phrase that Joe
• 58:29
  Speaker 9: Biden uses, but other people use a lot as well,
• 58:32
  Speaker 9: which is, don't compare me to the almighty, compare me
• 58:34
  Speaker 9: to the alternative. And I kind of touched on this
• 58:37
  Speaker 9: a little bit, but in any of those categories, that's
• 58:40
  Speaker 9: what we need to be doing more of. Every election
• 58:43
  Speaker 9: is a choice. You are choosing between two options. You
• 58:46
  Speaker 9: are choosing between two visions of what the country should
• 58:50
  Speaker 9: look like, what we should be fighting for. I do think, look,
• 58:54
  Speaker 9: one thing on the Republican and their side, there are
• 58:58
  Speaker 9: some people and maybe many and maybe I'm just being
• 59:00
  Speaker 9: overly optimistic who actually believe we should be doing horrible
• 59:05
  Speaker 9: things and targeting transgender kids. I don't like to think
• 59:09
  Speaker 9: about those people I don't want to be their friend.
• 59:12
  Speaker 9: But there are also a fair number of them who
• 59:15
  Speaker 9: don't want to talk about inflation, the economy, COVID, any
• 59:19
  Speaker 9: of these issues because they have no plan and they
• 59:21
  Speaker 9: have nothing to say. And they're like, you know what
• 59:23
  Speaker 9: we should do? We don't know what to do about
• 59:24
  Speaker 9: costs or COVID. Guess what? Let's target transgender kids. And
• 59:28
  Speaker 9: that's a reality as well. And so I actually think
• 59:31
  Speaker 9: we can talk about all of these things. And what
• 59:34
  Speaker 9: we really need to be mindful of is Always comparing
• 59:38
  Speaker 9: with what the other option is and what the alternative is.
• 59:43
  Speaker 7: I would like to state that we have, all of
• 59:47
  Speaker 7: us have been friends for 15 years at least. We've
• 59:50
  Speaker 7: worked together for many years.
• 59:51
  Speaker 9: Longer, longer. I mean, it's because we're like 29. That's right.
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: Since we were, we've been friends since we were seven.
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: Jen and I met in 2003.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 9: Actually, just a sidebar for a second here. Because when
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 9: we met, the Carrie campaign, everybody was fired from the
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 9: Carrie campaign or quit. You often say you quit when
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 9: people are fired, just as like a little secret. But
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 9: everybody was fired. And we were like 23. I was
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 9: in Iowa. John was in D.C. And it was like,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 9: so is anybody still working there? What should we do
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 9: now in the campaign?
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: I found out Robert Gibbs.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 5: one of your predecessors at the White House as a
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 5: press secretary.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: He was my boss. I was his assistant.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 5: And a couple people got fired. He quit the campaign.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 5: And he told me, I'm going out for lunch. And
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 5: I was like, okay, cool. And then I get a
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 5: call from a CNN reporter and they're like, can you
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 5: confirm that Robert Gibbs just quit the Kerry campaign? And
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 5: I was like, he told me he just went out
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 5: for lunch. And then Jen called me from Iowa and
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 5: she's like, what's happening there? Are you the only one
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 5: left in the press office that can help us out
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 5: in Iowa? And I was like, unfortunately, yes.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 9: It's true.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: It was a long time. Here we are.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: I take us on that tour down memory lane.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 7: Just to say that it feels absurd that we were
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 7: asking you news questions like we're fucking second-rate Chuck Todd's
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 7: up here. Like, Well, we felt like we had to
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 7: do it. You're the White House press secretary.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 3: No, no, please.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: You are the spokesperson for the United States government.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 9: I'm hoping we can talk about arson and Republicans. I
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 9: wanted to. And then Lovett took it in like a
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 9: really bad direction.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: You need a chart to get to the bottom of
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: that metaphor.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 9: Mickey and Minnie off the table. Like lots of things
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 9: that I wanted to talk about.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 7: Does Joe Biden have a plan for that Mickey thing?
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 7: But anywho, we have to ask and we will keep
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 7: it between us.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: And these people, every one of whom is incredibly trustworthy.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: And does not have access to social media.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: So it's fine.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 9: Yep.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: How much longer can we expect to see you at
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: the podium?
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 9: Well, I will not be there forever. That is what
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 9: I can confirm.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, a professional spokesperson, I see.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 9: You know, I'm not trying to be talking pointy and
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 9: saying this is the best job I've ever had. It's
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 9: amazing in so many ways.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 3: Second.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: Second.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 9: Second, but obviously working for Dan was the number one
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 9: where I would like supply Dan with what were those candies?
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 9: It was like Starburst. There was another kind. I don't
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 9: remember the ones you like.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: Skittles.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 4: Skittles.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: Anyway, Kevin McCarthy, Donald.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, it's on bat. I learned a lot
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 9: from Dan.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 9: Anyway, but and especially in this moment, it's been really
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 9: this amazing honor because when I came into this job,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 9: You know, one of the conversations I had with the
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 9: president and Dr. Biden, the first lady, who's, yes, thank you.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 9: She is a boss. She's amazing. And we've had this conversation.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 9: And a big part of it was kind of bringing
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 9: some stability and calm and returning facts. I know, go figure.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 9: and substance to the briefing room. And following Trump in
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 9: a crazy way has been this huge honor because it's
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 9: like trying to play a small role in stabilizing or
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 9: easing the nerves, healing the nerves of the public in
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 9: a small way. But I talked early on about staying
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 9: for a year. I've obviously stayed longer than a year.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 9: My son, who's three, still thinks I work at the
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 9: Honda dealership. He loves cars, so that's cool. my daughter
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 9: who's six and like a little more advanced. The other
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 9: day she actually said to me, mom, did you know
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 9: there's never been a woman president? I said, I am tracking.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: I'm true.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 9: I said, Hillary Clinton came very close. There's a lot
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 9: to discuss there. We'll do it later. You know? And
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 9: then I said, but there's a girl vice president. It's awesome.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 9: So there's a, there's a girl, I mean, girl, you know,
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 9: she's six. So girl speaker of the house. And she goes,
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 9: is that you? Are you the speaker of the house?
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 9: I was like, No. No, I'm not. So anyway, point is,
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 9: I won't be there forever. If I didn't have two
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 9: kids who are my most important people, you guys have kids,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 9: you know how it is, I would be there forever.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 9: But I need to spend time with them. I love them.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 9: I don't want to miss stuff with them. So I
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 9: don't know. I don't have a date or anything like that.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 9: But at some point, I will be watching from somewhere else.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 7: Well, I would just say that when you got the job,
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 7: there was no question in our mind that you were
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 7: the best qualified person on the planet for that job.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 7: And you've done it, and you've done it with all
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 7: due respect to our other friends who've had the job.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 2: You've done it better than anyone else.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 9: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 5: And I know, like, people aren't going to believe that because, like,
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 5: we're friends with you and we're biased, but it's true.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: It's really true.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 7: I mean, just track the Socky Bomb hashtags on Twitter.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: Hashtag Socky Bomb.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 9: Josh Earnest, do you hear that? Robert Gibbs?
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 4: Just kidding.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: Just kidding.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 9: They're our friends, and they're amazing.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hypothetically, if you were to leave.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 5: What kind of hypothetical advice would you give to your
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 5: hypothetical successor?
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 9: Oh, hypothetically.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 10: Okay.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 9: A couple of things. One is that, I mean, I
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 9: came into this job thinking this, but I think it's
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 9: true even more now. We don't have to underestimate the
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 9: intelligence of the American people. People are not stupid. We
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 9: do not need to talk in a way that is
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 9: like everybody's in kindergarten. People pay attention. We need to
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 9: make things accessible. That's also true. I believe the best
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 9: people who are communicators or spokespeople are ones who are
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 9: also deeply knowledgeable about the issues they're going to talk about.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 9: It's not about reading talking points. This is what I
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 9: would say to any successor. It's not about reading talking points.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 9: You're not like a weather girl. No offense to weather girls.
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 9: They're great. They tell me the weather. But like, it's
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 9: about being able to answer the ninth question, right? And
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 9: being able to talk about things. And I would say,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 9: I know a number of my amazing team members are here,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 9: but I'm a little relentless at times because I want
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 9: to know how to explain what a javelin, the weapon is,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 9: so that people can know what it is, right? You
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 9: want to know how to explain, is COVID a problem?
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 9: Is COVID not a problem? So I'd say that's the
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 9: second thing. The third thing, which I have learned the
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 9: hard way And this is the truth. If anybody ever
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 9: hasn't been in the briefing room, come to the briefing room, whatever,
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 9: it's small. And there are reporters staring at you the
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 9: entire time, even when they're not asking you questions. Sometimes,
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 9: and actually the ASL interpreter, like the American Sign Language
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 9: interpreter said this in a TV interview the other day,
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 9: they're very repetitive. These questions are very repetitive. They ask
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 9: her the same question over and over again. And you
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 9: have to remember you're not at a dinner party or
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 9: you're not at a bar, right? So you're not just
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 9: saying to your friend, listen, I've answered your question nine times, right?
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 9: You have to continue to provide the same context and
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 9: information because in the age of social media and Twitter, otherwise,
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 9: even the best meaning and well-meaning reporters will take one
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 9: thing you said and make you seem like you're Satan reincarnated.
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 7: That kind of cynicism has no place here.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 9: I know, there's a lot we can talk about at Twitter,
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 9: all these things, but those would be my three pieces. And,
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 9: you know, the last thing I would say is the
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 9: best thing you can do is know what the president's thinking.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 9: I mean, that's ultimately your job is to speak on
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 9: his behalf, not on your behalf. You're speaking on his
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 9: behalf what the administration thinks. If you don't know, you
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 9: don't know, and you say you don't know, then you
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 9: call up someone who knows and you go give them
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 9: the answer. And it doesn't have to be a gotcha situation.
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 9: That was like five pieces of advice. That's great.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 4: That's great.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: Exit memo right here. There you go.
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 9: It's right. It's right.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 7: Okay, before we go, I have to ask you a question.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: Okay. Because we have to talk about Peter Doocy for
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: one second.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 9: Okay.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 7: Is he a stupid son of a bitch? Or does
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 7: he play a stupid son of a bitch on TV?
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 9: Well, he works for a network.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 9: That provides people with questions that nothing personal to any individual,
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 9: including Peter Doocy, but might make anyone sound like a
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 9: stupid son of a bitch.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: Well handled.
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 9: Well, here's what I... Can I tell... I don't know
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 9: if this is not going to be popular in this crowd,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 9: but can I tell a nice Peter Doocy story? A
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 9: very quick one?
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: I mean... Okay. Come on.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 9: Well, here's the thing. The president did call him a
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 9: stupid son of a bitch, right?
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 3: So.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 9: That happened and it was like.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: Not in the talking points?
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 9: It was like, oh, okay, that happened. So what do
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 9: you do about it? The president called him. He's talked
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 9: about this a little bit. The president called him and apologized,
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 9: what have you. So he went on TV that night
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 9: and I actually watched Sean Hannity to see what he said.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 9: My mind was like really bending and hurting. I mean,
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 9: there was, if you can imagine, it was like a
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 9: flames and it was like crime, crime, crime. And Kamala,
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 9: the vice president's like walking through the flames and crime.
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 9: I don't even know what was happening. But Sean Hannity
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 9: asked him about the, you know, what the president had
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 9: said and what he said back. And he could have
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 9: been like, he's a son of a bitch or I'm
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 9: standing up for whatever. He could have said anything. And
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 9: instead he said, you know, he called me. We had
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 9: a really nice conversation. I'm just asking my questions. He's
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 9: doing his job. So I will say that was a
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 9: moment of grace. You don't have to like everything Peter
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 9: Doocy says or does, but that is certainly a moment
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 9: of grace by Peter Doocy.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 7: This is why before you were the world famous press secretary,
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 7: everyone called Jen Psaki the nicest person in Washington.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 9: I hate the word nice. I do appreciate, I know,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 9: isn't like it's the word, like anything is better than nice.
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 2: I didn't make it up. I'm just saying what people say.
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 9: No, no, I know. It's a lovely compliment. Thank you, Dan.
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 9: I appreciate it.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 5: And you have been a brilliant press secretary and public servant.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 5: And when we come back, Jen has graciously agreed to
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 5: stay for a game and Mike Birbiglia is going to
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 5: join us as well.
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 2: And we're back. Jen, you're a pro. And because we've
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 2: worked together, you know that I am not. So now
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 2: it's time for a game. To help us play tonight,
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: please welcome the incredibly funny comedian, Mike Verviglia.
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 9: Thanks.
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 4: Hey.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 2: Hi, Mike.
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: Hi, hi, hi.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: Welcome, welcome. Thanks for coming.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 4: This is really... It's like you're having.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 12: The Beatles, Jen Psaki, and now Steely Dan.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 2: No, now those monkeys.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: Here they are.
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 2: Those monkeys. I went after the Beatles. Thanks for joining us, Mike.
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: Oh, thanks.
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 12: I'm so glad, by the way, for just the listeners
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 12: at home, that you were able to gather 3,000 undecided voters.
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: We're going to get them. We're going to get them.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: We're going to make our case. None of them are vaccinated, so... 3,000
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 2: unvaccinated swing voters in D.C.
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: Of all places.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 9: Hard to find.
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: Hard to find. So, Mike, how are you with on-the-spot questions?
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 4: I'm not as good as Jen is. Jen is.
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 12: I mean, I don't know many comedians who could deal
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 12: with hecklers as well as Jen does.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 4: And if she does... Leave politics.
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 12: You always will have a job at Go Bananas in
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 12: Cincinnati or Uncle Funny's in Fort Lauderdale.
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 4: I mean, these are real career options for you.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 9: Thank you.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 2: It's a good backup plan. Something to think about. Something
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: to think about. A switch. So, Jen, speaking of hecklers,
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 2: what would you say is the weirdest question you've gotten
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 2: in your time in the briefing room?
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 9: There are many. But the weirdest question, I think, that
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 9: sticks with me and sticks with the members of the
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 9: press team is, will you commit to us today not
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 9: to euthanize the president's dog?
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: What?
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 12: Yes.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 9: Will you commit that you will not kill the president's dog? Yes,
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 9: I will commit not to kill the president's dog.
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: No matter how many people he attacks.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 9: Right.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 2: We'll sweep him under the rug.
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 4: Who asked that? Who asked that question?
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 2: You think Doug had COVID? No, no. He was attacked.
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 2: I'm so sorry. We'll cut this. Now we'll leave it in. Jen,
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 2: the job of press secretary is one of the most
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 2: public and challenging roles in politics. Every day, the White
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 2: House press secretary faces tough questions from journalists and Peter Doocy.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: And you know what? I was backstage, and I heard
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 2: the nice words. I'm still doing what's on the cards.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: But who could replace Jen Psaki? Who could fill these shoes? Tonight,
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 2: we're going to figure it out in a game we're calling,
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 2: as the president has long said. Hold on. I'm supposed
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 2: to do some vamping. The vamping has begun. Mike, what
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 2: brings you to our nation's capital?
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 4: I'm here at the Warner Theater Friday and Saturday night.
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 2: Friday and Saturday night at the Warner Theater?
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 4: I'm doing a show that I wrote called The Old
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 4: Man and the Pool.
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 2: That's exciting. Go see Mike. I have some breaking news
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: for everybody. And Jen, thank you for being willing to
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 2: do this on stage. I think it's pretty unorthodox.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: Very.
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 2: I can say that right now we know that the
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 2: next press secretary is one of two candidates. One is
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 2: Tommy Vitor. celebrated podcast host and a former spokesman for
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 2: the National Security Council who spent a decade on Capitol
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: Hill and in the White House. Thank you. I'm just
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 2: standing up because it feels right. This is my fucking podium, buddy.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 2: And the other candidate is Mike Birbiglia, a comedian with
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 2: absolutely no experience whatsoever who famously jumped through a second-story
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 2: window while sleepwalking and now has to sleep wearing oven
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 2: mitts so he can't, technically speaking, get out.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 2: Gentlemen, We're going to need both of you to answer
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 2: each question, and at the end, Jen and I will
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 2: declare a winner who the next White House has legally
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 2: agreed to make the press secretary. It's like America's got talent,
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 2: but you wouldn't know it from this press pool. Tommy
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 2: and Mike, are you both ready?
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 3: I feel good. Yeah.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 2: All right, let's do this. All right, here we go.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: I'll kick it off. Tommy, what does President Biden say
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 2: to critics... who claim he isn't doing enough to bring
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 2: down the cost of health care in this country. John,
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 2: thank you. That's such an important question.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 6: I would keep in mind that the American Rescue Plan
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 6: did more to lower costs and expand access to health
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 6: care than anything since the passage of the Affordable Care Act,
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 6: with families saving an average of $ 2, 400 on their annual premiums.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 6: A big fucking deal, as one might say. President Biden
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 6: also fixed the.
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 2: Family glitch by executive order.
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 6: And unlike the family glitch that produced Don and Eric, this.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 2: Is a problem we can solve. Thank you.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: Wow. Okay. Okay.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 9: Thank you, Tommy. Mike, same question to you.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 12: Oh, well, I think Tommy covered most of what I
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 12: was going to say. But I'll say this, a few
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 12: years ago I went for my annual checkup. Which I
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 12: always dread, because I have a lot of pre-existing conditions,
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 12: which I call conditions, because everything is existing, if it does.
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 12: And everything is pre, unless it happened on the way
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 12: to the appointment. And when I see that checklist of
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 12: pre-existing conditions, I circle the whole thing And I cross
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 12: out pregnant.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 4: So the doctor asked.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 12: Me to do the pulmonary test, where you blow into
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 12: a tube and there's a ball in it that simulates
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 12: blowing out a candle, which is why I call it
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 12: the birthday cake test, because it basically tells you how many.
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 4: Birthdays you have left. So I did it. I go, whew.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 4: And the doctor said, go ahead and do it. And
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 4: I said, I did.
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 12: And he goes, do it again. So I gave it
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 12: a little more. And he goes, I don't know what
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 12: to tell you, Mike. If I was going by this
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 12: machine right here, I would say you're having a heart
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 12: attack right now. And I said, if I were having
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 12: a heart attack, I would come here. And I would
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 12: ask you, so am I having a heart attack right now?
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 12: He said, I don't think so. I said, I'm going
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 12: to need a more concrete answer than that. He said,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 12: I'm going to send you across town to a cardiologist
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 12: for a second opinion.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 4: I don't enjoy the term second opinion.
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 12: I was under the impression this first analysis was fact-based.
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 4: I didn't know we were taking swings in the dark.
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 12: If I knew it were opinion time, I'd point out
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 12: I don't enjoy sitting on paper.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 4: It makes me feel like a chicken.
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 12: And I feel like you could digitize some of those
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 12: forms in the waiting room. I feel like I filled
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 12: a few of those out before.
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 4: In closing... What was the question?
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 2: Wow, I gotta say.
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 3: Jen....
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 2: That was unorthodox.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 9: And good, I thought.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 2: Interesting. Interesting.
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 9: Interesting approach. Tommy, President Biden recently extended the pause on
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 9: federal student loan repayments for a third time, this time
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 9: through August 31st. Is the president worried about... a backlash
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 9: if he ultimately decides to cancel a portion of student
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 9: debt held by young people today?
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 6: I'm not the fucking president.
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you for that question, Ms. Ducey. Just kidding. Yes.
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 4: That got weird.
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: It goes with a bit. Yes, Peter, the.
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 6: President is terrified about this. Nothing frightens him more than
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 6: the possibility that he will be celebrated by Gen Z
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 6: like some kind of silent generation Jojo Siwa. Joe Biden
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 6: would hate to be featured in millions of TikToks as
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 6: the president who simps for financial freedom.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 2: No cap.
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: You're right.
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 2: That's what keeps him up at night. Wow.
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 12: Wow.
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 2: Mike, same question for you.
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 12: Apparently Tommy got a hold of my notes backstage.
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 4: That was pretty much my answer.
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: Wow, okay.
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 4: But additionally, I'll say this.
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: Yep, yeah.
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 4: Working the podium a little bit.
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: Is that how you do it?
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great.
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 12: Additionally, I'll say I went to school, you know, at
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 12: Georgetown down the street here, and... I had to take
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 12: a science requirement. I took a computer science class, and
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 12: it was way over my head. And after the first class,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 12: I was like, I'm not going to go to this anymore.
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 12: So I went to the class before the final to
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 12: find out what would be on the final.
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 2: The question was about student loans.
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 12: Thank you so much for repeating it. Jen, I know
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 12: how you feel where they repeat the question after you're
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 12: already doing it.
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 4: The answer.
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 12: We're all in the same boat, you know, we're all
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 12: just doing the same thing up here. So I'm taking
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 12: this computer science class and I show up to the
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 12: class before the final to find out what would be
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 12: on the final. And the guy sitting next to me says,
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 12: do you think we'll get.
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: Back the final?
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 4: And I was like, oh no, we took the final.
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 12: And I ran to the computer science department, and there's
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 12: my professor.
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 4: And I said, sir, I didn't know his name. It's
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 4: a true story.
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 12: I go, I'm in your class. I misunderstood the syllabus.
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 12: I missed the final. He didn't even look at me.
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 12: He looked at the floor and he goes, you get
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 12: the worst grades. And I go, I get a zero?
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 12: And he goes, you get the grade that the person
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 12: who did the worst on the test got on the test.
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 4: And I thought, that's great news.
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 12: Because that's what I would have gotten if I had
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 12: taken the test. Well, it turns out the person who
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 12: did the worst on the test passed the test. So
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 12: I passed the test, and I passed the class. And
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 12: I am proud to be an American.
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 4: Which is all to say, I shouldn't have to pay
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 4: for that.
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 2: Once again.
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 9: That was a really, it was a really strong end.
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 9: I like the America part at the end.
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 2: I think what's amazing about it is, I think what's
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 2: amazing about it is, look, I think obviously Tommy is
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 2: bringing a lot of technical skill to this.
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: What the fuck?
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 2: But as we saw in the Olympics, it's not just
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 2: about technical skill. It's about artistry. it's about creativity personal
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 2: stories no one's saying you're not doing better but we
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 2: are saying that Mike's doing something different.
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 12: Hey stick with it buddy I think you're doing a
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 12: good job.
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 9: You're doing fine Tommy you're doing fine Tommy this is
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 9: another shot for you Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 9: unable to articulate I know but that's not professional keep
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 9: it clean Tommy Any moral red lines during a recent
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 9: Axios interview and said he would support Trump as the
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 9: Republican nominee no matter what. What is President Biden's response
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 9: to this? Does the president have any moral red lines?
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 2: Does Joe Biden have moral red lines? That's the question.
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 6: Yeah, of course he does. You know how I know?
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 6: Because no one's ever asked him that fucking question. You know,
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 6: you only ask a guy if he has moral red
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 6: lines when you know he's a fucking sociopath. Joe Biden
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 6: is surrounded by moral red lines. He's like Catherine Zeta-Jones
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 6: in that movie from the 90s with Sean Connery.
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: Entrapment, yep.
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Mike.
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 6: He is pretty good. You have to keep your word.
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 6: You have to treat people with respect. Joe Biden always
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 6: puts the toilet seat down. Joe Biden wipes down equipment
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 6: at the gym that he did not even use. Joe
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 6: Biden texts you back and he finds the perfect emoji
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 6: to put a button on that combo. The point is,
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 6: Joe Biden thinks Mitch McConnell, he thinks of him as
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 6: a colleague and a friend who is evil and.
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 2: Who he hates.
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 2: That was a good answer. That was actually, that was
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 2: pretty good. Even for Tommy.
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 9: That was good.
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 2: Even for Tommy.
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 9: Brought a little spirit to that one.
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 2: A little spirit to it. He's sort of rising. He's
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 2: rising to Mike's level. Same question for you, Mike. What
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 2: is President Biden's reaction to McConnell saying he will endorse
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 2: Trump no matter what?
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 12: When I was in high school, I joined the wrestling team,
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 12: which was a huge mistake, my teammates explained to me.
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 12: Because wrestling practice wasn't like soccer practice where you could
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 12: sort of blend in.
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 4: You had to wrestle. Or in my case, be wrestled upon.
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 12: By these young, muscly gentlemen whose crotches would inevitably be
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 12: pressed up against my face as though they were doing
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 12: a victory dance. All the while, I'm wearing a women's
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 12: bathing suit called a singlet, but I was building character,
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 12: and that character was a lifeguard from the 1920s.
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 4: Of course, it wasn't.
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 12: Strong enough to compete on behalf of the organization, but
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 12: I would travel with the team. If there was time permitting,
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 12: they'd send us B Teamers out to wrestle their B Teamers.
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 12: And when they did this, I developed a strategy to
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 12: be pinned as quickly as possible, so this portion of
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 12: my life will be over. The strategy ran into a
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 12: snag when I encountered an opponent who had the same strategy.
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 12: So we're out there for a while. We're flashing each
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 12: other looks with our eyes, like, you can pin me,
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 12: you know. Here's my knee. Here's my head, you know.
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 12: It was a stalemate.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 4: But at one point, I found myself pinning this guy.
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 4: I don't even know how. My teammates were shocked. They
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 4: cleared the bench.
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: They go, Mike, squeeze.
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 4: And I squeezed. And all of a sudden, there was
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 4: blood all over the mat.
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 12: I thought, I killed this guy. I'm going to be
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 12: on the run from the law for the rest of
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 12: my life. For Bigley the wrestling bandit. One pin, one kill.
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 12: I realize it's my own blood streaming out of my
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 12: nose onto the mat based on no physical injury whatsoever.
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 12: Just from the sheer nervousness of possibly winning anything at all.
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 12: Ref blows the whistle. He goes, blood on the mat.
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 12: They plug my nose. They go, Mike, get back out there.
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 12: Do what you just did. I had no idea what
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 12: I had just done. I get back out there, and
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 12: I'm pinned immediately. And I would be the closest I
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 12: would ever come to winning a wrestling match for the
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 12: rest of my life.
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 4: So I've never won a wrestling match, but what I
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 4: do have is character. And you know who doesn't have character?
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 4: Mitch McConnell. Thank you very much.
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 2: I've got to say, I gotta say, look, I am shocked. Look,
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 2: obviously we came into this, you and I talked backstage.
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 2: We thought there's no, I mean, obviously Tommy's a seasoned pro.
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 2: There was no chance. I played high school sports. Sure
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 2: you did. The point is, the point is Mike is
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 2: doing things at this podium. We haven't seen this, I mean,
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 2: not since the days of D.D.
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: Myers.
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 2: Have we seen this level?
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 9: The physicality of y'all.
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 2: The physicality of D.D.
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: Myers.
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 2: This isn't figure skating. Tommy, don't be upset.
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 10: A storyteller.
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 2: You're doing your best.
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 9: Mike, a storyteller.
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 2: A storyteller up there. And what is politics if not
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 2: Telling stories. Storytelling.
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 9: And physically moving and talking about blood.
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 2: And physically moving and talking. Tommy, final question for you. Sure.
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 2: Name five cabinet members.
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 6: Secretary of State, Tony Blinken.
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 2: Some Tony stans in the house. Secretary of Treasury, Janet Yellen.
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 2: Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. Attorney General, Merrick Gardland. Pick
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 2: up the pace, buddy. Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland. Secretary of Commerce,
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 2: Gina Raimondo. Oh, I'm so sorry. I accidentally named... Six.
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 12: Wow.
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 9: Okay. Same question for you. I'll give you a hint.
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 9: There's 17 more options. So it's easy. Go for it.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 4: Look, I could name all 500 cabinet members. We all could, right?
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 4: We're all in this. same page about all their names.
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 4: What is this, a quiz?
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 12: I mean, any of us could talk about anything that
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 12: we know about or love.
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 4: I could talk about pizza for 15 minutes. I love pizza.
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 4: I love pizza so much I.
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 12: Get excited when I see the word plaza. Because the
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 12: word pizza itself is exciting.
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 11: It's got pizza in it. Each of the Z's has
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 11: two slices. The A is a slice. It's five slices.
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 12: In one word, which is a literary device I invented
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 12: called onomatopizza.
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 2: Here's the thing. So obviously... We have a lot of information, Jen.
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 2: It's time for us to make our decision. Two incredible candidates. Obviously,
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 2: Tommy came into this as the frontrunner. He has a
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 2: lot of, actually, spokesperson experience.
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: He did a lot of.
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 9: And substantive knowledge.
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 2: Substantive knowledge. And you can't discount that.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: No.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 2: It's important.
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 9: It's a quality.
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 2: It's a quality.
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 2: A factor. It's obviously a... Tommy, we're not saying it's
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 2: not a factor.
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 9: It's a.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's not me.
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: It's you.
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 2: And he's not bad to look at. Tommy, I mean,
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 2: look at that. Look at these guts. Now they're just...
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just trying to butter him up because
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 2: I think we know what we have to do, unfortunately.
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 9: I think we do. We need something fresh and new.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 2: Something unexpected. Something that the political press won't be able to,
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 2: they'll be caught on their heels.
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 9: Something physical. Someone who will move around the room.
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 2: Someone who will shake things up. Shake the Washington game up.
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 2: You know, flip the board. Catan pieces everywhere. I think
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 2: it's time. Jen, I think it's time to announce. It's
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 2: time to announce. You should do it. The next White
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 2: House press secretary. It's Mike Birbiglia.
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: Mike! Oh, yes.
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 2: So sorry, Tommy.
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: Wow. We have a winner.
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 2: And you can see Mike Birbiglia, our next White House
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 2: press secretary, at Warner Theater Friday and Saturday of this week.
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 2: And at his new show, The Old Man in the
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 2: Pool at Chicago's Seven Wolf Theater in May or at
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 2: the Mark Taper Forum in August in Los Angeles. Mike Birbiglia,
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 2: thank you so much.
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 2: Jen Psaki, thank you so much. Thank you, Tommy.
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: Rigged. That was rigged.
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 5: That's our show for tonight. A big thanks to Jane
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 5: Koston for co-hosting. Simone Sanders was supposed to be here.
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 5: She couldn't be here, but we are going to get
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 5: her on a show in the future. So we're excited
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 5: about that. Thank you to Jen Psaki. Thank you to
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 5: Mike Rabiglia. votesaveamerica.com slash midterms.
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 4: Go there now.
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: Sign up. Have a good night, everyone. Thank you so much.
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: Good night, everybody.
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 4: Bye, everybody.
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 5: Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. The executive
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 5: producer is Michael Martinez. Our senior producer is Andy Gardner Bernstein.
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 5: Our producer is Haley News, and Olivia Martinez is our
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 5: associate producer.
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: It's mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick.
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 5: Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis sound engineer the show. Thanks
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 5: to Tanya Sominator, Sandy Gerard, Hallie Kiefer, Ari Schwartz, Andy Taft,
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 5: and Justine Howe for production support. And to our digital team,
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 5: Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford, Milo Kim, and Amelia Montouch. Our
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 5: episodes are uploaded as videos at youtube.com slash perfectmedia.