Latest / Before You Speak / Before You Speak | Episode 48 | Trump, Trump and more Trump... is it getting old yet?
Transcript
- Elwyn: Bro, that's not what he was saying. And now I don't trust any other of your analysis because you're so mad about this thing that, you know, if even the CNN fact checker is like, it's not what he was saying, folks, you know, like I was there, I heard the whole thing, it's not what he was saying. Then it's like wait twenty-seven minutes for him to say and do something else equally stupid. And be mad about that. Derek: What's up, y'all? Welcome back to the Before You Speak podcast. I am your host, Derek Peterson. just processing the fire hose in my news feed with this guy that's around me somewhere. Elwyn: That was a very enthusiastic what's up. I want you to know. That was like extra extra enthusiastic. Derek: I'm feeling it today. I'm feeling I dude, I've dude, I've been vibing on these the the news this week, you know. and by that I mean fucking furious. So I'm ready to go. Elwyn: Well well that's good. okay. That's everybody, I'm Elwyn and fire hose of my newsfeed is filled with Kenyan Ebola and Russian plague. Let's go old school pandemic shit that kills us all really quickly. Derek: I can't do it again. We'll get into that a la a little bit later, but we can't do I I genuinely think that the country would like that people would rather die and get the plague than than than go through another pandemic situation. Elwyn: The Russian plague has a if if you don't catch it in like two hours, you die in twenty-four. Yeah. Yeah. Derek: really? Hmm. Okay. Well, that solves that problem. All right. Well, the the news this week has been a little bit crazy. I think we'll start here. I like I this is just kind of an overarching conversation about the corruption that probably just continually needs to get talked about because it goes unnoticed all the time. But you know, Trump is now sending billions of dollars in direct payments before weeks before the midterm. The administration says that these are legitimate government programs responding to economic needs, which my neighbor actually got one of these checks. Like we were talking about it last night. She got five hundred dollars that said basically she was overcharged. for her, she's on one of it's from I think she's old enough to be on Medicare, but it was something with the ACA subsidies, I think, and like a rebate check. But that rebate check also came with a letter from President Trump himself that said that you know, Biden messed up and this is payment for reimbursement for his mess up and being overcharged. And he hopes that his goodwill is reflected in the midterms this year, which is just another level of like, dude, we're they're trying to buy votes. This is fucking ridiculous. Elwyn: Yeah, I mean it y y it's possible that the payments are legit, right? Like and you can't time those payments based on an election. That would be equally shitty, right? If they if if all those payments were legit and they were like, We're not sending it out until after the election, then the people who need the money would would be like, No, fuck you, I need the money now. But tying it to a nakedly political letter, you know, it gives away the game. It's d not really much different than saying, you know. I'll give you five grand if you vote for Republicans. but I I I don't know. I th I think that people are less swayed by that stuff. Like was your neighbor like, yeah, now I hate Biden and I'm and I love Trump. Derek: And no, no, and I've been actually she said the same thing that a lot of other people have said. and the especially the people on threads that have gotten these checks. So, like anybody that's on the fence about this stuff, I mean, they see right through it, right? and then the people that are well to do, which my neighbor is doing just fine. So she's like, Yeah, we donated half of it to the Tal Rico campaign. We donated money to a homeless shelter, and then one other Charity cause. So like the $500 they got back, they're like, we're just gonna funnel this money. I think one of them was a company that it's supporting some of the detainees from ICE, like the litigation, lawyers, some of those things. So yeah, basically a lot of people are just funding opposition party, you know, ta or whatever you would call it, causes that are are gonna be beneficial for them. So, you know, like yeah, I don't know that it goes too far, maybe for some really old people that are on the fence. I don't know. Elwyn: Yeah, I I mean it definitely it shouldn't happen. It's definitely the kind of thing that should be legislated out. I don't think that it it is super effective. I think it's interesting that, you know, Trump's base instinct is just to buy votes, to try and like actually literally buy votes. but I do think people more and more, even in the magosphere, are like he had to stop he had to say that he would stop having the US government pay for that those ads. Right, he had to walk that back and and say, I'll have my super back pay for them. That's a pretty I don't know, I was pretty startled by that, you know, because that means that people on the right were like, Bro, th this crosses a line. I think there is actually some line somewhere that he can cross that people are like, No, don't do that. And it seems to be well, no, like that was one, right? The the the paid for by the US government Derek: There isn't. There's not. Well, let me Elwyn: was clearly won. So I think there's this vibe. That people don't like if they feel like they're being bought or their money is being used to corrupt an election on their T V screen. Is it enough? No. Like, do more should more people be aware of his open corruption everywhere else? Yeah, of course. but I do think that a lot of people now s they just see through that and they're like, Yeah, all right, great. Thanks. I gotta go t pay eight dollars a da a gallon in diesel. So fill Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: up fill up my this will fill up my tank once. Derek: Yeah, I mean this is why I'm not hopeful. I wanted to read this to you because it this these two kind of connect, which is you know, ABC is reporting that defense companies backed by Donald Trump Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have received or been promised more than six billion in federal contracts. since the brothers opened these investment firms. The latest example is Andril. Which is getting a $2.9 billion contract from the Navy as a part of a six point six billion dollar sub submarine manufacturing project, which you know Don Jr.'s venture capital firm 1789 is invested in Andrew. So this is like the part of me that feels like more and more hopeless about this stuff. Because like if Trump spent half of the time he spent being the most corrupt motherfucker on the planet as just trying to be a good president, we would probably be in okay shape. But the level of this corruption, like like think about this. Like the fact that his sons are getting defense contracts and this is the this is the methodology that they're using to funnel money from the the government is I mean it's brilliant because A, they've closed off all reporting from the Pentagon. People aren't allowed in the Pentagon I just saw, I can't remember which congressman it was, but I just saw a video from a congressman that tried to fly over to the Middle East and see what was going on with the troops and the wars, which typically is always a welcomed adventure for these guys. Like they go over, they check in, get you know, and then relay information back to their constituents. they were denied all access to everybody. No were like weren't allowed anywhere near bases, troops, anything. which is so there's this secrecy, all this stuff going on, right? So and then Trump's kids are getting six billion dollars in contracts from the Pentagon. So they're gonna they're gonna their net worth is gonna be higher than their dad's relatively soon because of taxpayer money. And this money never gets audited, like because of because it's it falls under the national security risks. So like they're not gonna they're not gonna report any of the stuff going on with these contracts because they're all under the the guise of national security. This is just fucking insane that people are not up there should be a lynch mob in front of the White House protesting this. Elwyn: I mean, yeah, of course, of course, noted submarine captain Donald Donald Trump Jr., you know, piloting the Red October is is ranked corruption. The you know the thing that I always have this part of me that gets exhausted with shit like this, because it's all like everything you said is completely right. It's naked corruption. Our foreign policy is being completely run by people who are in the in the Best light, 50% concerned about foreign policy and 50% concerned about their their own business interests. There was a report today that Steve Whitkoff or this week that Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner, when they're over talking to Putin about ending the Ukraine war, are also spending just as much time talking about business deals in Russia. You know, it's a and Jared Kushner, by the way, not a confirmed government employee, right? No background check. Deeply embed, deeply backed by cut cutteries and Saudi Arabian money. But this shit has been going on since January of twenty seventeen. I mean, Ivanka Trump ha in twenty seventeen had like a dozen patents grant granted by the common Chinese Communist Party, where it taken her ten years. She had been waiting for those patents to be granted. They were granted immediately, including by the way, a patent on voting machines. Just you know, also coffins. and then there was a pandemic. Interesting. Actually, I gotta look into that. you know, like The only difference between this term and the last term is it's much more naked, it's much more overt, it's much more like they just don't give a shit about anybody knowing about it. And I really don't think they give a shit at all about anybody knowing about it. so yeah, there's this part of me that's like, you're right. Why isn't anybody up in arms about this? Why don't we care? But also why have we never cared? Like this isn't This isn't new. And you know, if I really wanted to get like totally partisan about it, why did we care so much about five hundred grand to Hunter Biden from Barisma? But we don't care about, you know, and and and the knock on that was like, Hunter Biden has no expertise in architectural engineering or whatever the fuck Barisma was doing. Like, come on, Don Jr. and Eric Trump are our submarine experts. Give me break. so yeah, it Our foreign policy, our government is being run by people who are absolutely as interested, if not more interested, in enriching themselves. And they've never been shy about that. Trump has never been shy about that before he was president. You know, it's just more and more glaring. But unfortunately for me, now I look at these stories, I'm like, yeah, again, I'm not surprised by any of them, which means that I can't get like angry about them because it's just It's the same shit and and we're willing to allow it. You know, if I was a senator or a re representative, I'd be like, great, this I'd be up on a soapbox with legislation Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: screaming about this, but I'm a I'm a guy with a podcast, you know, and a a podcast and a vote. That's that's what I go to Derek: Up we're up on our Elwyn: war with, a podcast and a vote. Derek: We're up on a podcast screaming about it, which, you know, Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: we're getting we're getting like 50 listens a week now. So like, you know, we're Elwyn: That's pretty good. Derek: that's it's pretty there's 50 people that are willing to suffer through this hour with us. So I'm I'm stoked Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: about that. But dude, I was listening to Jon Stewart today and he said something that was actually that I never thought about. And I was like, man, like this is a thousand percent correct. And I don't under we need to rephrase our thinking about this because We keep be getting told we're in this affordability crisis, right? Affordability crisis, affordability crisis. Everything is this affordability crisis. And it's when you use the word crisis, that assumes that it's something that's being done to you, not something that you're doing yourself. But the affordability issue in the United States is just historically bad policy by Democrats and Republicans alike. It's just terrible policy. And we we talk about it as if it's this thing that's happening to us that we have no control over. And it's just not true. It's just there is it's this kind of shit. It's six billion dollars in corrupt money going to somebody's family where you know that they're not going to deliver on even like an iota of of value that they're getting. Like the amount of money that they're getting, they the deliverables will be significantly less than what we're paying. And the the I've been saying this for years now, like that the best place to be financially is G government adjacent. You if you're getting government contracts, you will you you 10x what you would do with a normal like contract outside of it. Because in the free market, you get competition, right? Our government for some fucking reason does these no big contracts. And when I say for some fucking reason, I mean the reason is they're giving these contracts to people that they know and that they're going to benefit from, which is why these people funded their campaigns in the first place. Yeah, there was like the report that came out this week too that Christy Gnome, some guy that gave 10 grand to Christy Gnome's campaign, she then turned around and right before her exit, like approved a contract for like $200 million worth of jets from his company. Like, God damn it, dude. Like this is like this is this is why prices are always going up. Like, and furthermore, this isn't just why prices are going. The thing that's terrifying about this, and this is part of what gets me about all of it, is so if you're hanging on by a thread right now, like look, people are managing prices right now. People are managing their lifestyles and they're getting through it. That's it's the stress of the situation right now is is very high. But honestly, the reason why almost half of my friends' mental health is going down the fucking toilet is that we're not just thinking about right now. We're thinking about how do we keep up. in for the next five years at this pace. Like that's the that's the part of this that is brutal is that we're watching and there is no policy. There is nothing that we can hope for that is going that feels like it's gonna turn this shit around. Because every t around every corner and every time we wake up and we read the news, it's just more corruption, more bullshit, prices are going up, interest rates are going up, everything's getting worse. And it's like, dude, how long can we hang on by a fucking finger? 'cause it feels like they're gonna ask us to do this forever. Elwyn: Yeah, until we elect people who who see it, you know, and and until there's some sort of restoration of public service in the mind of our public servants. you know, I do I do think that people this current crisis, you know, the the cost of diesel and the cost of gas, you know, it is a little bit different in that I think everybody knows this is because of s of of a policy decision that Trump made. This isn't there's no you know, there's no longstanding policy that sort of got handed off from administration to administration. There's no deeply embedded, you know, like grocery lobbyist or anything like that or pharmaceutical lobbyist that's been affecting legislation along the way. There is the decision that he made to go to war. and of course I'm sure there were military contractors asking to do that. And and like of course there was corruption behind the scenes. Like no doubt, no doubt. But I think that in the in the general public, people see it. They see like, yeah, gas on February twenty-seventh was two forty-nine a gallon in Texas. Gas on October 7th is 379 a gallon. And it's been there for a while and it's not going down. I I think it's just too it's so obvious this time that people every time you know somebody goes on, more and more even on Fox News, And they're like, no, this is Biden's fault. The the even the Fox News hosts are starting to be like, nah, you know, really? Are you sure? It's been two years, you know, like gas wasn't this high, diesel wasn't this high under Biden, you know, and I think that that's relevant. But at the end of the day, like it only gets fixed if the people that we elect choose to fix it. Derek: Yeah. It you're not wrong. And but like it's not even just fixing it. There at this point, there needs to be repercussions for what's going on because I will not accept that this just needs to necessarily be fixed. Dude, the fact that we are at war and that the people that are benefiting the most from us being at war happens to be the president's children and the companies that they're invested in that also happen to be making weapons strategically that they invested in, you know, just you know. Months, if maybe a year prior to us going to war, like this isn't conspiracy theories anymore. This is just Elwyn: No. Derek: like d they have a track record of doing this shit. And it is insane to me that we are not up in arms about this because. Elwyn: Yeah, where where's the money from Venezuela going? Where where why don't we have an accounting from the money from Venezuela? Why don't we have an accounting of the oil from Venezuela? Right? What th this is we're we're just simply taking money from that country, I think, at this point, right? Like there's been it's the money's supposed to go into a cutteries bank account. There's no accounting or auditing of that bank account. You know, of course this money is being spread amongst ten ten shit bags. you know, I was thinking the other day, like What would what would arresting folks like this, what would arresting the Trump family look like? How could that be done? Could that be done in a way where people bought into it? And I feel like s maybe it could be done if it were the most like transparent thing ever, where every single document they looked at was immediately made public. you know, where there were like Daily press conferences about that information where there was like zero left behind or left left closed. Because, you know, I'm I'm gonna be like, yeah, they're guilty, throw them in jail right away, right? Straight to jail. but of 40% of the country is gonna be like, This is lawfair. They didn't do anything wrong, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. but there has to be some some sort of accountability. They are breaking the law every day, right in front of us, right? openly corrupt, openly stealing our money, openly subverting our interests in the in the course of stealing our money. So yeah, there has to be accountability. But doing that Derek: Yep. Elwyn: is gonna be tricky. Derek: it is gonna be tricky, but it's it's necessary. Like if we actually it depends, like do we actually want to fix this shit or are we going is this just gonna be the same old, same old? Because the we are effectively destroying the middle class and you know, and not just the middle class, dude. You're like when when things are not regularly improving or we see the potential for improvement, you're killing hope. And when you're killing hope, you're you're Killing people's motivation to innovate and to do amazing things. And dude, and then people that just want to live regular lives. People that are like, dude, I just want to go to work. I want to go to vac on vacation once a year. I want to retire when I'm between 65 and 70 years old and be able to hang out with grandkids. Like that's all I want. Like, you're killing that as well, like the potential of that. And it it's destroying a lot of us. Yeah. And exactly. Elwyn: And are are we a nation of laws or not? You know. Derek: Are we actually which right now it doesn't feel like that at all? So which leads me well, do you wanna end there? You got more to say on that one. All Elwyn: We can end Derek: right, it's cause this kind of it's all a little bit connected. I think the behavior pattern is there on this stuff, but Trump is now telling Republicans that it's okay to vote by mail. What do you think about that? Elwyn: I mean I wouldn't trust. Yeah. I mean I I Derek: We spent podcasts talking about him him fighting this. Elwyn: have no issue with voting by mail. Trump's always been just a rank hypocrite on this. He votes by mail. I guess the fact that he's telling Republicans to vote by mail is good because he's not he he wants them to vote. it does give away the game, right? Where he he doesn't actually believe that there's fraud in mail-in voting. he's just been lying about that the whole time. But yeah, I d voting by mail is proven and secure. If he wants to tell Republicans to vote by mail, go ahead. Tell Republicans to vote by mail. I don't I don't care, to be honest. Like he doesn't I don't care if he tells Democrats to vote by mail, also. And like he should be saying voting by mail is safe and I encourage everybody to do it. But on the list of things that I expect him to do, that's pretty far down. you know, I know Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: that mail-in-ballot requests and what has been returned skews incredibly high to the re democratic side. And I also know that like Democrats listening to him talk about mail in voting as corrupt and watching him try to fuck with the Postal Service and and mail in voting, they're likely to do one of two things. Vote early by mail, vote as soon as they can by mail, so there's enough time, or not vote by mail at all. Republicans, you know, they're not as motivated. I think he it's probably some s part of it is a recognition that he's like, just get your fucking vote in, guys. We're in trouble. You know, if you can't get there, vote by mail. Like all that shit I've just Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: forget it forget it all. I didn't mean it. You know, just vote, please vote. my God. 'cause it is looking that bad. Derek: Yeah. See, I I I look at this a little bit different because it's just this is the behavior pattern, right? It's we're gonna get up, we're gonna scream about how terrible this thing is to try because we're trying to coerce or change the election process to get into our favor. And then we go we push, push, push until finally it's all fucking exhausted and it's not gonna happen. And then the flip happens, and it's like none of this shit ever happened. All of the the months of him telling house us how how our elections aren't safe and that mail in voting is terrible and that they need voter registrations from all the states and like all like we need the save act passed all this shit that's push push push push push until it's not there and then as soon as it's they realize they're not getting it it's like all right well like we were just lying about all of this anyway. So like go ahead and vote by mail. it's all fine and safe and you're you're good. And it's like, dude, this isn't a fucking game. This is our lives. Like, this is like, and I recognize that maybe politics isn't that important to everybody else, but this is this is it for us. Like these policies and how these people are running the country have a direct impact on not just our pocketbooks anymore. Dude, this all this shit has a direct impact on our mental health. It's why we started a podcast to talk through this stuff because it's so hard to process all of it and the different layers of of how complicated it is all all is and who's involved and what's actually right and what's actually wrong and where does it where does the rubber meet the road on all this stuff. And I'm just tired of this. I'm just tired of these these these type of situations. Elwyn: Yeah, I think that it's not that anything you said there is something I I disagree with fundamentally or even a little. I think that I have two reactions. One is I no longer can get mad about everything. There's just too much to get mad about. So I think I'd rather be like big mad about a few things than small mad about a million things, because then I lose I lose track if I'm small mad about a million things. But also like what What moves the needle? I'm interested in what could potentially move the needle. you know, what what I'm always wondering is when do people turn? When do people wake up to the grift and the corruption and the hypocrisy and be like, I can't vote for this fucking guy? And I know I've referenced this before, and you turned me on to the podcast, The Necessary Conversation, you know, with the mom who's MAGA, and it's just fascinating to hear what gets her going. Like what gets her mad at Trump and what she just doesn't care about. And moreover, how much she'll take that she doesn't agree with and still just support him, right? So it's like everything you said is right, but but what moves the needle? What gets people who have voted for him to recognize that that was a mistake and that in doing so they they Ushered in a post-truth environment. They ushered in, you know, foreign policy run by corruption. they they ushered in lies and, you know, hatch act violations, because who fucking even knows what the hatch act is. so I'm always kind of looking at that. Like, is this gonna make a difference? And I've so that's why I feel like on the vote by mail thing, it's like they're more than willing, those those MAGA folks, they're more than willing to turn on a dime. And be okay, great, I'll vote for mail. Trump said it's safe. I'll vote for mail. And they're like, Well, he said it wasn't safe before. It's like, well, now he does. So he must have done something or seen something or fixed it. And now I can vote by mail. He did a good job. He he fixed the problem. It's you know, it's my guy. Like, so it's like, Okay, it it yeah. It's it's he's lying and it's hypocritical bullshit, but it doesn't move the needle for me. Derek: Yeah. I'm with you on that. I think that there's also, and you know, this could just be this could be completely wrong, but I I think it there is to some degree like boomers in general are a much more loyal class of people in the sense that the things that they've been a part of and taken part of for the majority of their life, they are unwilling to cut ties from because of the amount of time invested in those things. You know, and and this is lived out in a negative way. And it you know, loyalty can be negative when, you know, you're in a situation that's not good for you, right? Like we've seen this in business all the time where somebody is loyal to their job and they stay there for 40 years and then get cut like get fired right before, you know, they're about to get their pension or some shit that it's just awful, right? And their loyalty is completely you know, used against them essentially. And I feel like with boomers, there's like getting them to unlatch their their white knuckled, you know, hands from the Republican Party at the moment is just virtually impossible because these are values that they've stood by for the majority of their life. Where, you know, you start to see millennials, I think, are kind of flip-floppy. Like my generation, like I had to learn the hard way to stop being like I think it was in me because my parents are that way. Like I watched my mom work and get shit on by the same company for years and years and years. And I started down that path and then finally was like, wait, this isn't a good environment. And then I started realizing like, my loyalty belongs to people that deserve my loyalty, not just everybody. But I think we're see the generational shift we see in all a lot of that is that like boomers are loyal to their party no matter what, because it's ingrained in part of who they are. And these are probably the same people that worked shitty ass jobs and for a shitty boss their entire life and were and stayed with it because it was the right thing to the right thing to do in their mind. Whereas I think the younger generation is hopefully wise enough to see like, look, dude, if these people aren't serving you, you owe them no loyalty and we should move on. I I guess that's the silver lining in all of this and the hope that I can see in it, but Elwyn: Yeah, I mean I think there's also a there there's probably also a a function of with Trump in particular and and this time in in the United States, to defend Trump you have to dig in so deep that to Derek: Yeah, you do. Elwyn: to to let go of that is like letting go of ten years of Fighting and investment and defending and to to acknowledge that all of that was that that the other guy was right all along. And yeah, that's pretty hard to do. You know, to to have some sympathy for the boomers, like, you know, yeah, I have no sympathy because you fucking voted for the guy three times. Jesus Christ, how could you do that? But there is a part of me that that will acknowledge, you know, like. Yeah, it must be very, very hard. And on that podcast, by the way, like the mom is getting closer and closer, but they can't get her to disavow Trump. And I think it's just that. It's just she's like, I'm in so deep. You know, I can't get out. And I and I'm it's fine. I'm fine not getting out. Right. Derek: You know, I can understand it to a degree because I'm a Los Angeles Clippers fan. And you know, we started with Donald Sterling, we moved into Steve Bomber, now we have all this stuff. And every around every turn, I'm like, why do I still buy hats and jerseys and support this franchise that has not served me at all? Not once. But Elwyn: It's a good analogy. I'm a I'm a I'm a Mets fan. Derek: yeah, it's a we Elwyn: Ha ha ha. Derek: We've you we have a hist we we know what it's like to be loyal to something we should absolutely Yes. I Elwyn: You you root for the laundry. You know? So you so in politics I think it it's I think there's a lot of that also. I think it's you know, like yeah, it's very hard to to just say, you know what, I'm I'm out, but sometimes it's gotta be done. Derek: All right, so we we need to talk about this a little bit too, because Trump is at the forefront of everything all the time. at the Nebraska rally, he was Trump was talking about the elevated gas prices resulted by the Iran war and called the gr gas prices, the higher prices, a small price to pay for keeping the world safe. and then immediately continued into what we would call a hypothetical I ran taking out of Los Angeles and San Diego, which to be honest, man, like this this kind of stuff is so this triggered me a lot because what was it? earlier this year we did a podcast where I I was very clear. I I genuinely think that there is a situation where just before the elections happen, that there is an attack on US soil and that That attack on US soil is used as a catalyst and a reason to delay or you know cancel or just basically mess up the midterms in general. and you know, this this kind of stuff, dude, even in a hypothetical way, like this isn't okay to me. Like, dude, these are American citizens, and whether you agree or not, or whether you're just trying to be funny or not, like there comes there at some point, like. And to be honest, I hope every Trump supporter in Los Angeles and San Diego takes note of all this that, you know, this this mofo does not give a crap and is potentially okay with a nuke being dropped on your city. So like Elwyn: I d I don't think that's what he was saying at all. I I Derek: Okay. Elwyn: think that and you know, Daniel Dale is like the CNN fact check guy and he was like, No guys, that's not what he was saying. I think if if if you take his quote and rephrase it and like, look, I'm not one to defend Donald Trump, but we've got ten years of l I am. I am about to, yeah. Derek: well you're about to you're about to, Ellen. Elwyn: we've got ten years of listening to him speak and understanding his vocal mannerisms You know, so what he said was basically the high price of gas is a small price to pay. It's just a little thing. They could drop a a bomb on San Diego or Los Angeles. It's just a small price to pay. That if he if he says it like this, gas is just the high price of gas is just a small price to pay. Look, they could drop a bomb on Los Angeles or San Diego. This is just a small price to pay. For the I think people would be like, yeah, no, he's he's saying one is a big price, the other is a small price. you know, is it stupid? Yeah. Should he have said it? No. is it smart for him to be continuously arguing that in California, $9 diesel is a small price to pay? Also, no. But this one I just think is like sometimes you gotta turn the outrage machine off and just be like, It's not it's just not what he meant. He wasn't I I don't believe that he was advocating that he was saying the bombing of two major American cities would be a small price to pay. I I I just I heard it. I didn't I didn't think he meant it that way. I continue to not think he meant it that way. I think he's just it's just how he talks. Derek: See, I I'll push back on that because I disagree. I've watched that clip probably ten or fifteen times and different people cutting it up. And d I'm done giving this guy forgiveness for the shit that he says. Like I I'm sorry. This is you this is coming from the guy that also says words matter. And so yeah, like I I no, like it the Elwyn: Yeah, but it's not but it's not forgiveness. It's not it's it's just like what do we gauge honestly? What what do we when we watch him say his stupid shit, do we evaluate it honestly or do we evaluate it not? Derek: Well, they it's so the the TV the T V mic got cut immediately. So like right after he said that, they actually had to try they were trying to cut the the mic that was broadcasting to to TV because they're like they were like, no, like this is not good. and so like when you actually listen to the clip, right after he says it, you automatically start to hear a bunch of echo because they the only mics that are now are they're picking up what's going the mics from the room. rather than the direct mic into the feed because they cut the feed mic because of what he said. I I don't necessarily believe that it was that it was him just saying it like that. I think that there is a look, we have a history of this guy shitting on Los Angeles and s California. Dude he sent the he sent ice in and then sent the what National Guard in to fuck with people the entire time like I there's a very clear storyline of him and his feelings towards Californians. and so yeah, like I yeah, so Elwyn: Yeah, no no question about it. But Derek: I I I don't and and after actually watching him say what he said in those clips, I I just don't I didn't I don't agree. I don't think he I don't think he was saying it like that. I I'm not gonna give him the grace that it needs. Elwyn: Yeah, I mean, th this is also a losing battle every single time with him. You know, like it it just really is it in in a in a big way, in a way that damages the credibility of the left who wants to point out how horrible of a person he is. Right? Like in Charlottesville in twenty seventeen, you know, there was the f you know, very fine people on both sides, and that got cut and clipped to death. If you play that that tape. One minute more, literally one minute in the next breath, he's saying, you know, not the Nazis. There's no good Nazis. Right? So everybody that sat there screaming, myself included, he said there's fine people on both sides. How can you do that? There blah blah blah blah blah. Everybody else is like, bro, listen to the whole fucking thing. Now you're just an asshole with no credibility who's gonna take something, clip it. And leave out very important context to make a point that is unjustified by the facts. So I'm not saying that this is exactly the same thing, but what I am saying is one, I heard it differently. And I and I'm, you know, I'm cued to hear these things, just like mm you know, anybody, like just like you are. But even that one, I was like, I'm just not, I don't like right away. I was like, I don't think that's what he was saying. I I don't think he was saying, let's blow up these two cities. And You immediately open yourself up to people being like, Bro, that's not what he was saying. And now I don't trust any other of your analysis because you're so mad about this thing that, you know, if even the CNN fact checker is like, it's not what he was saying, folks, you know, like I was there, I heard the whole thing, it's not what he was saying. Then it's like wait twenty-seven minutes for him to say and do something else equally stupid. And be mad about that. Derek: You're not wrong. I mean, there's I agree with your analysis on like look, w if we're outraged about stuff that he was saying that really he didn't mean or like when it comes out and unfolds, it's like, okay, you listen to an extra couple minutes of the clip and it's clearly taken out of context. And I can't remember the longest version of the clip that I watched, so I think it's Elwyn: But also it it it's not just like the the larger point I think for me is you when I when I'm choosing kind of what I need to be outraged about and what I'm gonna speak about, I have to be one hundred percent sure. One hundred percent sure. And that's hard and that cuts a lot of stuff out. Like I don't know if you remember also in his first term, there was the like kid, the high school kid. At a protest in Washington, DC, like at the Lincoln Memorial, and there was a Native American guy banging a drum, and somehow they got put put together, and like you had this stare down of this like white, rich shitbag kid, you know, with a smug smile on his face, staring down some Native American old man, and everybody went bonkers. Like, look at this, like bowl, this is so disrespectful. How could we do this? And my so I was in on it, right? and context, you know, like a day later it was like, yeah, that was just like a three-second clip out of a whole 10-second thing that min that mitigates and diminishes the the fury of it all. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: you know, so I my that's my larger point, which is like to be outraged for me, for me to bring something up, it's like this has to be. In my view, and and in my opinion matters too, right? But in my in my opinion, in my view, like you can push back on it, but I'm quite certain I'm right about it, you know. Derek: Well, they i whether you're right or not, I think that there's still two things that put me make me uneasy about the whole situation is one, I still feel like there's some kind of major event that's going to take place before the midterms, which I'm hoping it doesn't. I hope I hope that I'm wrong about this because the last it's honestly the last thing I want. It's just after seeing how this administration has behaved and the policies they've implemented and how they've talked about people and how little they actually care about human rights in general. yeah, I don't I just don't trust anything that he says on on that level. And then two, like, yeah, like I we know his disdain for California and California politics. And it's hard for me to separate the two. And maybe, maybe the CNN fact checker is right and it's not necessarily what he was intending to say. at then The worst case scenario there is that it's just a really bad fucking choice of words and a terrible analogy. and enough to send people spiraling, which, you know, I I care more about the corruption, honestly, than all of that, you know, unless it comes to fruition. Unless there's actually an attack on Los Angeles, at which point I'm like, Yeah, fuck this. This it's this is a step way too far. So Elwyn: Yeah, the worst thing about what he said is that Donald Trump and Eric Trump just got a six billion dollar contract from the Defense Department. Derek: Yeah. Yeah, that's yes. all right, well let's let's talk about the the Russian plague. You wanna you wanna Elwyn: Sweet. Derek: the so a twenty-eight-year-old laboratory worker at a Russian anti plague research institute in Siberia died last week from a mini mysterious form of pneumonia, is what they're calling it. Prompted this prompted authorities to quarantine roughly two hundred people. Because she worked at the institute that studies the plague and dangerous pathogens, the story immediately raised concerns about a possible laboratory exposure. But so far, Russian authorities have said they've found no evidence that she died from the plague or anything connected to the laboratory. and then thousands of tests have reportedly found no dangerous pathogens among her contacts. So the who is asking Russia for more information, but shockingly, they're not playing. So Elwyn: Yeah, I mean, she mysteriously died of plague-like symptoms in a plague-like manner in a lab from while working in the lab that worked on basically gain of function research for the plague. so anyway, pneumonia is really bad and we should all be careful, I guess. Derek: Ha ha. Elwyn: the the I mean, I don't think this is the beginning of like a plague pandemic, but when you couple that with you know now Kenya had their first case of Ebola, I think, coming over the border from the Ivory Coast, you know, and you have this general cut in in funding for any type of organization that would study and prevent pandemics from happening. You you have to pay attention to some of this stuff. And when especially when you had like COVID six years ago that killed a bunch of people. I mean, it it was funny, one of the things that some of the people I heard talking about the Russian plague were like, well You know, it's unlikely that this would spread like COVID because you die within twenty-four hours. So it just won't spread as fast. Like, okay. Is that is that Derek: Right. Elwyn: what we're is that we're psyched about right now that the newest lab leak has you know, just just kills you much, much quicker. And if you don't Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: get a a vaccine in like two hours, it's over. nobody trusts the Russians. I know that. You know, they did quarantine. I don't think that they've stopped flights in and out of the area. They might have stopped some local flights. but there hasn't been a whole thing. But yeah, it we gotta we gotta watch it and nothing like going back five hundred, six hundred years and you know, to some Black Death days. Derek: Yeah. Well, I can't do another quo COVID. to be honest, if we got the plague and I was dead within twenty four hours, I think that I would probably prefer prefer that over don't tell my wife. no, but the like there's there I mean there's a couple layers to this for me still. and I'm gonna put my conspiracy hat on for a second because you know, like we're we're watching We're watching the world get and and power and money get condensed to a smaller and smaller group of people that basically are just taking all of our money, like all of the taxpayer money, they fund their projects and their people with them, then they turn around and buy other things that also then continue to with our taxpayer dollars that actually make them money in the other world, like Ivanka buying you know. the shit she bought in 2017 is a prime example of that. You know, like if if she actually did buy a coffin company or a coffin manufacturer just before COVID hit, yeah, like this is something that fucking should be researched and looked into. But like, dude, they we we've literally have every tech giant on stage telling us that the technology is getting out of control and it we could all be potentially dead. but the their beyond that, the value of human life that they portray through all of this, like their willingness to just speak about people as expendable and not important, this all just feels Elwyn: While simultaneously promising that they are the ones to properly manage this. Derek: Yeah. And and and so like all of this feeds into this this whole thing that like for me that I'm like, dude, if if something was released, like to me, it there is a world where you could see that one of these companies was behind it because like it's a they view humans, especially the middle class and poor, as a drain on the system. And there's no value, which ironically enough, middle class and poor people still pay taxes, which is why they most almost every one of these fuckers got to where they're at. But like just the lack of like any kind of like human connection or just care in general. It's it's all money, all business, all the time. and this it's terrifying to have our country ran by people like that because I don't think we can trust like if there is another outbreak of something, like, yeah, like I who f Elwyn: we can't trust, yeah. We not Derek: Yeah, who fucking knows where it came from? Elwyn: we also can't trust each other to respond to we can't trust society Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: to respond in a manner that will protect society. yeah. Derek: No, we're all fucked. No, there ha half of the people will be dead in the street still saying like, I refuse to believe in the science. Yeah, I'm not staying home even though Elwyn: No masks. I mean, half of them died in 2020, anyway. yeah. Derek: I can't see and my eyes are bleeding and I'm about to whatever. Yeah. But yeah, so I I mean I I'm struggling. What are your what's your Do you have anything else on this topic that you want to throw in there? So the last thing I wanted to talk about was we briefly brought this up in our pre-call, which was interesting because you know we're starting to see, well, we talk a lot about the Supreme Court. with Democrats potentially taking control of the Senate in November, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, which we will never speak of in a good light. they're in their 70s. And I think to be honest, I think every Democratic candidate should be f forced to answer the question publicly. if Trump puts a new Supreme Court nomination on the table, how are you voting? And if the answer to that is at all in favor, they should not be elected. They should have to answer their constituents. Elwyn: Yeah, so the Yep. So I brought this up because there was an article that came out in some publication somewhere that asked a few senators that question. and most of the senators that they asked said no, they would not they would they would be in favor of not allowing a Donald Trump Supreme Court nominee get to the floor of the Senate. Because that's what we're talking about, right? Like if the Democrats have the have the Senate, if By some cosmic accident or mistake, Chuck Schumer is still the leader of the the majority leader. Should he even put a nominee up to a vote? That's that's the question that we're talking about. And there's precedent for this, of course. When Scalia died and Obama was president and the Republicans held the Senate, Mitch McConnell said he's not Merrick Garland, Obama's nominee, never made it to the floor for vote. McConnell was completely open about it. I'm not letting him up for a vote. And he gave us a reason it's too close to an election, but that's all horse shit. And we know that because when Ruth Bader-Ginsburg died, it was like votes had already been cast and he rammed through Amy Coney Barrett. so no, I I happen to believe that they absolutely should not let any Trump nominee get to the floor. I think I have to go back to our predictions episode because I think that I said one of my predictions was that the Democrats would take the Senate and that. If Alito and Or Thomas did not retire over the summer, that it was an incredible own goal by them. And looks like it might be an incredible own goal by them. So to my ore, by the way, also 72, you know, and and not in tremendous health. but no, of course not. Fuck you. Just like fuck you. No, Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: that's that's that's using power. That's the theory of power. How you use power when you have it matters. And Dick Durbin, who was on his way out anyway, you know, he was like, no, I don't want to do a whole tit for tat thing. And Ruben Gallego, the senator from Arizona, kind of was asked, Well, is this like a tit for tat thing? And he was like, Well, I don't think this should be the case every time you have a president from one party and a Senate controlled by the other party, that a nominee doesn't get to the floor. But I think we need to balance things out. I kind of feel like maybe that should be the case. Maybe this is a good pattern that we fall into where we now know when we're voting for president in 2028. If I've I don't know what the Senate map in 28 looks like, but let's say it looks like the Democrats are gonna hold the Senate in 2028. That we know if we vote for a Democrat, we're vote we're gonna get Supreme Court nominees. If we vote for a Republican, we're not. It because that's what the practice has been, and that's the new That's the new normal. Because I think if that's the new normal, then we can get legislation passed. It's like, well, guys, Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: if you're not bringing these nominees even to the floor, then we need to fix how Supreme Court justices are named to the bench. And we need to do that by saying, you know, every two or three years, a certain number of justices come up for come up for reappointment or their their term limits come up. there's more f flavor for that anyway. Right now in the Senate. So I feel like this is the kind of norm where it's like, great, let's have an eight person court for two years. No problem with that. So there there's no rule or law that says the Supreme Court has to have nine justices. It hasn't always had nine justices. It's not required to have nine justices. If you want to have eight, have eight. Okay? Great. It makes it instead of six three, right? It's five three. And if you get one crossover judge, you're four four, and whatever the lower court ruling. was stands. So yeah, I'm with you. Like if there's a it's why the Democrats need to get to fifty two, so you take Fetterman out of the equation. and then yeah, Schumer or whoever the majority leader is, these guys just they don't get to the floor. You're just simply not bringing them to the floor. Derek: How does the math work on that? So how many seats does the Senate currently need to how many Democrats need to win their races for us to get to fifty two? Five? And what so Elwyn: Five. So yeah. Derek: in what what places? So do you know what seats are most likely what we could get with that? Elwyn: Yep. So North Carolina is almost a lock to flip. the Republicans stopped spending money there. They they pulled their they pulled their money. So Democrats have Derek: Yeah, I heard that on Pod Save America this week. Elwyn: Yeah. So Democrats have 47 now. And I say five because you I think you need to get to 52. So you take Fetterman out of the equation, he can cross the aisle, then it's fifty-fifty, and Vance comes and breaks the tie. So you need fifty-two, not fifty-one. So Roy Cooper in North Carolina should be one. That's forty-eight. Sherrod Brown has a pretty healthy lead in Ohio over the incumbent. That would be a flip. That's 49. Osoff in Georgia is a hold, but he looks like he's gonna win. Talerico in Texas, of course. I mean, the polls look good. Derek: That'd be a flip. Yeah. Elwyn: so there's 50. You have Paltola in Alaska, who is generally polling closer ahead. Josh Turk in Iowa is has the there was a poll today that has him up seven. Derek: Wow. Elwyn: his polling margin is getting wider and wider. Susan Collins, unbelievably in Maine, just never dies. Fuck that shit never dies. So that's not a lock, it's but that's another one. There, so those are the six. Like I can see the Democrats getting to 53, where they Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: flip Maine, they flip Iowa, they flip North Carolina, they flip Texas, they flip Alaska, they hold Michigan, and they hold Georgia. but Kansas is absolutely in play. Kansas is now viewed as a toss-up. The Republicans just put money into South Carolina. you know, so yeah, there's like the map, Florida, she's even closer. I don't but I don't have any faith in that. The map is Derek: Yeah, no. Elwyn: shifting like all every day it shifts further and further blue. But fifty-two is the to me the magic number. You need five. Fifty-three is I think possible and lovely. Derek: Yeah, that's interesting, man. Like I I I mean, again, fingers crossed, but you're you're right. I mean, people are fucking furious at the moment. And hopefully, you know, a two or two to five hundred dollar check from Donald Trump doesn't swing these elections in the other direction, which to be honest, I don't think it will because I think I think the battle that most people are experiencing, even if you did vote Republican and voted for Trump and all of this, is far greater than a small payoff. And I think people Are experiencing the stress and the hopelessness of dude, if these prices continue to go up, we're not going to we're at the end. Like we're we're not we're we're beyond paycheck to paycheck right now. And if we if if this is what we have to live in for the next, you know, two to four years, we're fucked. And my hope is is that people vote as a result of that. Because yeah, life's not fucking easy and our mental health is all deteriorating as a result of it. So well To increase my mental health and thankfulness, who are we telling the sh it better not be me today? Who are we telling to shut the fuck up? Elwyn: No, no. So today, of course, is October seventh, which makes it the three-year anniversary of October seventh, twenty twenty-three. So Zoran Mamdani and Lloyd Doggett and every fucking Democrat who put out a statement today saying that we hold in our hearts and memory all the people in Israel and all the the the the innocent folks in Israel who were killed and kidnapped and raped and murdered on October seventh. And also we have a spot in this for you know all the horror that has happened October October 7th. Both those guys said maybe two-thirds of their words were about Israel's actions after October 7th, and one third was about what happened on October 7th. Shut the fuck up. Today is October 7th, okay? You have 364 other days of the year to shit on Israel if you want. Okay, what happened on October 7th happened to Israelis. It happened to Jews, right? Yes, there were other Druze there were some Christians that were also killed then, but it was an attempt to eradicate the Middle East of Jewish people by Hamas terrorists who have made that their outspoken and overt mission for 20 years. If you can't find in your soul the space on one day to memorialize Simply the thing that happened on that day, not the shit that happened after that day, then you are an irredeemable piece of shit and should shut the fuck up. We don't memorialize December 7th, 1941 by talking about all the people that died in World War II, right? We don't memorialize September 11th by talking about all the war crimes that we committed in Afghanistan and Iraq after that. Because that's not what we're fucking memorializing, you assholes. Okay. Find it. Greg Abbott. Greg Abbott ordered the flags in Texas to be flown at half mass today. Because today, three years ago, twelve hundred Israelis were killed. And I've been watching videos of that day all week. And there's no like it's it's an awful massacre. And that does not take away from all the other shit that happened. Like you can find if you have to be able, as a human being, to find space. To say what happened to these people was awful and never should have happened. And these people did that thing on that day to these people. Period. Stop the conversation. Have a moment of silence and go buy your fucking groceries or do whatever it is you were gonna do on that day anyway. You do not need to put the word but anywhere in that fucking statement, mom mom Donnie or Doggett. Okay? It just It doesn't make you an anti Semite, I don't think. Okay, but it tells me very plainly that you don't really give a shit about the experience of Jewish people. You cannot simply carve out an experience for Jewish people and leave it at that. You have to undermine Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: it. You have to layer over it, paper over it with some other shit. Right? And we don't do that for other people. We don't do that for other people. We d we make Juneteenth a national holiday, okay? Right? We we honor tragedies that happen to people and we leave it at that. We we find the space in our day, the time in our hearts, right, to to honor the tragedies in this world. But it seems like only when it comes to this type of shit do we put butt into that statement. And it's fucking wrong. And when I'm off this podcast, I'm sending an email to the Democratic group that I'm a part of telling them that I'm out, that I'm withdrawing, and I'm gonna switch my registration away from Democrat. Because I vote I agree with every Democratic policy. I will vote Democrat probably for the rest of my life, but I cannot align myself fully with a party that can't see that. How can you not see that? How can you not see that a group of people in this country who have stood by your side for decades, if not centuries, In fighting for the same policies, for the same social justice initiatives, for equality, for fairness, that those people are asking for one day, one day, where you don't shit on their country, where you don't allude that maybe they deserved it, where you don't say that they did worse shit after. One fucking day. You can't do that? Shut the fuck up. Don't make any statement at all. Greg Cassar made no has made no statement. I checked before we went on the podcast. He made a statement on October 7th, 2024, not 2025, not 2026. Cowardly, shitty. Make a fucking statement, but it's better than the asshat statements that these fuckwads made Doggett and Mamdani. So anyway, my mental health is doing fucking great. Shut the fuck up, you two. Derek: The well I'll take that it wasn't me, so I'm good with that. the the flip side of it is you're a thousand percent correct like in no in no way shape or form because like even if you just want to look at this in its simplest form, everybody that that died on October 7th was an innocent Israeli. Like everything that happened and so if you're talking about that day, like that's all that needs to be said. Nothing else needs to be Like and I think your example of nine eleven was was fantastic. Cause yeah, we don't we don't memorialize nine eleven with a caveat of but we then went and fucking destroyed the Middle East afterwards and spent, you know, twenty plus years at at war. So like, you know, like let's Elwyn: Yeah. The the videos from October seventh, right, that in many cases Hamas put out, because they recorded all this, they're all over social media, at least on my extremely unhealthy algorithm. And if Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: you can't watch these things, if you can't see the texts, you know, from fathers to their daughters who are hiding in a dumpster before they get murdered, and just say, Yep. That's really bad. And I'm gonna take the space to say that that thing was really bad. That these 367 kids at a at a music festival who died, that that was really bad. And stop talking at that moment. If you can't do that, you are broken. You're broken inside. It doesn't mean that you're forgiving everything that came after that. It means that you have. capacity for humanity and empathy for something terrible that did in fact happen to innocent people. And if you're like, no, they're Israeli, they're guilty for all the shit. No, fuck you, you're broken then too, because they didn't deserve it. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: So yeah. Derek: Yeah, thousand percent agreed. Well, I'm sorry that those guys were dickheads today, Elwyn. and if and if I could have written Yeah, you can Elwyn: Yeah, they were dickheads. I knew it was coming too. I've been like I've been waiting for it. Like the last three days, I've like, what the fuck, man? What the fuck are people gonna say? And the the worst have said the worst, right? Like some of the guys who are just the worst. They're out there saying the worst. but no, Derek: Yeah. Well Elwyn: you you can't you you don't get my voter registration number. At the very least, I can say I'm not aligned. with the Democratic Party. I you know, I'll vote the way I vote and those who know me know that I'm probably gonna vote Democratic forever. You know, okay. But don't call me. Derek: We don't have another option. Elwyn: Yeah, don't call me and ask me for help or money. Derek: Yeah. Now we don't have another option and it sucks because you know, historically the two party system and the fact that we're forced to vote for Democrats when to be honest, like they've had a number of opportunities to fix shit before and haven't done so. you know, I'm I'm good with shitting on Democrats for for a time too. So well, cool man. What are we talking about next week, Ellen? We're gonna try to take over the world. Elwyn: I'll send you another text a week from now, three hours before we start, like, hey, are we talking about something? Derek: The well, I know we're always talking about the news, which is why we we're hyper in tune with it. But yeah, specifically I think these weeks leading up to the midterms is probably actually beneficial for us to delay a little bit so we can discuss relevant topics once we jump on. So we'll we'll see y'all next wait, what's our sign off? Elwyn: Yeah yeah, Clarence Thomas is a piece of shit. Greg Abbott hates you and Susan Collins is concerned. Derek: See y'all next week. Bye Dano. Elwyn: See you next week.