Latest / Pod Save America / “Beat the Press.”

Transcript

“Beat the Press.” · Pod Save America

0:01
Speaker 1: Thank you.
0:20
Speaker 2: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
0:22
Speaker 1: I'm Jon Lovett.
0:22
Speaker 3: I'm Tommy Vitor.
0:23
Speaker 2: On today's pod, Joe Biden announces vaccines for all by
0:26
Speaker 2: May 1st, and Donald Trump wants the credit. The return
0:29
Speaker 2: of tan suit journalism and why progressives are concerned about
0:32
Speaker 2: some of the president's foreign policy decisions during his first
0:35
Speaker 2: 50 days in office. Before we start, Lovett, tell us
0:38
Speaker 2: about this weekend's show.
0:39
Speaker 1: Great Lovett or leave it. It was a very funny episode.
0:42
Speaker 1: I had a great conversation with Ed Markey. Ira joined
0:44
Speaker 1: to play Pepe Le Pew. Went very well. James Adomian
0:48
Speaker 1: doing Bernie and the MyPillow guy. I basically left and
0:51
Speaker 1: just let him talk to himself for a while.
0:53
Speaker 3: It's so funny.
0:55
Speaker 2: That was the best Bernie Sanders impression I've ever heard
0:58
Speaker 2: from anyone. I was laughing so hard during that segment.
1:00
Speaker 2: It's very, very good. Check it out. Also, don't forget,
1:04
Speaker 2: Crooked's new sports podcast, Take Line, premieres this Tuesday. It's smart, funny, thoughtful,
1:12
Speaker 2: so good. It's hosted by Emmy winner Jason Concepcion and
1:15
Speaker 2: WNBA champion turned team owner Renee Montgomery. who talk through
1:18
Speaker 2: all the ways that sports culture and politics intersect on
1:21
Speaker 2: and off the court. Take Line's first guest is Jeremy Lin,
1:25
Speaker 2: which is pretty cool. Subscribe to Take Line on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
1:29
Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts. How great is that, guys?
1:32
Speaker 3: Lin Sanity.
1:33
Speaker 4: That is just a perfect get for them for the
1:35
Speaker 4: first episode.
1:37
Speaker 3: Sorry, Knicks fans.
1:38
Speaker 2: I can't wait. Finally, what better way to make it
1:41
Speaker 2: clear that you support voting rights and abolishing the filibuster...
1:44
Speaker 2: than by wearing it on your brand new Crooked merch.
1:50
Speaker 2: There are new t-shirts with phrases like organizing works, abolish
1:53
Speaker 2: the filibuster, make democracy easier, and more. I'll definitely be
1:57
Speaker 2: wearing an abolish the filibuster t-shirt everywhere.
1:59
Speaker 1: You are an abolish the filibuster t-shirt.
2:05
Speaker 2: These t-shirts are perfect for making your re-entrance into the world.
2:09
Speaker 2: Check them out now at crooked.com slash store. All right,
2:14
Speaker 2: let's get to the news. So, President Biden marked the
2:17
Speaker 2: one-year anniversary of the pandemic with his first primetime address
2:20
Speaker 2: on Thursday evening. We had heard that there would be
2:23
Speaker 2: some pretty big news in the speech, and the president
2:25
Speaker 2: certainly delivered.
2:26
Speaker 5: Tonight, I'm announcing that I will direct all states, tribes,
2:30
Speaker 5: and territories to make all adults, people 18 and over,
2:35
Speaker 5: eligible to be vaccinated no later than May 1.
2:39
Speaker 2: President then followed up with this.
2:44
Speaker 5: Nice.
2:45
Speaker 2: You guys think the air horn was overkill there, or no?
2:48
Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty great.
2:51
Speaker 1: I think the problem is it spooked Major and bit
2:53
Speaker 1: another agent.
2:57
Speaker 2: That's pretty big. May 1st. Anyone who wants one can
3:00
Speaker 2: get one. Now, he did say that you, it's not
3:03
Speaker 2: like everyone will get one, but the eligibility, the prioritization
3:06
Speaker 2: groups are now everyone as of May 1st, which I
3:09
Speaker 2: think is pretty exciting.
3:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's great. I think everybody should get
3:16
Speaker 1: vaccinated as soon as possible so that when I go
3:19
Speaker 1: to a Las Vegas buffet in like late, late June,
3:25
Speaker 1: it's cool.
3:27
Speaker 3: Well said.
3:28
Speaker 2: He also said there was a good chance that by
3:31
Speaker 2: July 4th, we'll be able to have small gatherings. He
3:33
Speaker 2: said it doesn't mean large events with lots of people together,
3:35
Speaker 2: but small groups. Like considering that we just passed 100 million,
3:39
Speaker 2: we just passed 100 million shots twice as fast as
3:42
Speaker 2: the White House said we would. Do you think this
3:44
Speaker 2: is like another example of them sort of under promising
3:47
Speaker 2: over delivering? Because if I'm getting if people are getting
3:49
Speaker 2: vaccinated or in May, then on July 4th, everyone else
3:53
Speaker 2: is vaccinated. I'm hanging out with hanging out in close quarters.
3:56
Speaker 3: Joe Biden, I love you.
3:58
Speaker 4: Thank you for all the work you've done to speed
3:59
Speaker 4: up this vaccination rollout. Get the fuck out of here
4:02
Speaker 4: with your small outdoor barbecues on July 4th.
4:04
Speaker 3: Nonsense.
4:05
Speaker 4: We are doing whatever we want once we're once we're vaccinated.
4:09
Speaker 4: Like you could have had a small outdoor barbecue last
4:11
Speaker 4: July 4th, right? Like outdoor activity is safe.
4:15
Speaker 3: I get the like caution.
4:17
Speaker 4: I get why the CDC is warning against sort of
4:20
Speaker 4: non-essential travel at this point, even for vaccinated people. But
4:23
Speaker 4: at some point, I think we need to paint a
4:26
Speaker 4: little bit more of a picture of normalcy and not
4:29
Speaker 4: try to set a bar that we can leap over.
4:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I don't actually think that's true. I think
4:34
Speaker 1: that they've done that along the way, but I think
4:37
Speaker 1: that you just start doing the math and you're like, okay,
4:39
Speaker 1: if everyone is eligible by May 1st, and let's say
4:41
Speaker 1: it took six to eight weeks to get everybody there first,
4:44
Speaker 1: and then another three to four weeks to get a
4:46
Speaker 1: second shot for people that are getting Pfizer and Moderna,
4:49
Speaker 1: and then you have a two-week window in which it
4:51
Speaker 1: takes to have the immunity that the CDC says you
4:54
Speaker 1: need in order to do all these things, you start
4:55
Speaker 1: to see that July 4th for huge parts of the
4:57
Speaker 1: country is pushing that deadline. which I think is all
5:01
Speaker 1: they're really getting at. I don't think they're saying you
5:03
Speaker 1: can't have a barbecue with everybody in August. I think
5:05
Speaker 1: they're just being realistic about what July means if you
5:08
Speaker 1: care about following the guidance. He's not even saying it's
5:11
Speaker 1: a diktat. He's just saying you would be able to
5:13
Speaker 1: do this safely, which I think is true, though I
5:17
Speaker 1: think people will, as they have it throughout this year-long crisis,
5:22
Speaker 1: not listen.
5:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.
5:25
Speaker 2: Also, I realize July 4th is a time for outdoor barbecues,
5:27
Speaker 2: but if I'm Me and a bunch of my family
5:29
Speaker 2: and friends are vaccinated.
5:31
Speaker 4: Indoor hangs only 2021 indoor hang.
5:33
Speaker 1: Listen, love it.
5:35
Speaker 6: Love it.
5:35
Speaker 3: That's fair. Like, you know, there is this.
5:37
Speaker 4: Weird, annoying thing with most of these vaccines that it
5:39
Speaker 4: takes like four to six weeks until you're fully vaccinated.
5:41
Speaker 4: I just think that outdoor activities have been safe from
5:45
Speaker 4: like day one. Barbecues have been relatively safe unless you
5:48
Speaker 4: have 30 people from different households there and you're all
5:50
Speaker 4: using the. the same tongs and you're like close talking
5:53
Speaker 4: or whatever. And, you know, it felt like a bit
5:55
Speaker 4: of an underplaying of where we could all be by
5:57
Speaker 4: July 4th, I hope. But basically my brain has decided
6:01
Speaker 4: that I am now just going to be angry at
6:05
Speaker 4: negative news that I don't like because there's so much
6:08
Speaker 4: COVID fear porn online and overemphasize all the good things
6:12
Speaker 4: that I'm excited about.
6:14
Speaker 7: Yeah.
6:14
Speaker 1: I mean, I do think it sucks that like, Joe
6:16
Speaker 1: Biden has to take on the role of responsible parent
6:20
Speaker 1: who's like, don't climb that fence.
6:21
Speaker 7: Totally.
6:22
Speaker 1: Wash your hands. And then like Fox News is like
6:25
Speaker 1: weekend uncle that's letting everybody try a beer, you know?
6:27
Speaker 1: And I think that that sucks.
6:29
Speaker 3: It does.
6:30
Speaker 1: But I don't know a way out of it.
6:32
Speaker 6: Yeah.
6:32
Speaker 2: And look, the CDC, when they put out the guidelines,
6:34
Speaker 2: I think they did a pretty good job. Because there
6:37
Speaker 2: is some concern if there's vaccinated people mingling with unvaccinated people,
6:40
Speaker 2: especially unvaccinated people who are very vulnerable, still not positive
6:44
Speaker 2: about cutting transmission and what if you pass?
6:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, listen, again, I don't want to get yelled at
6:49
Speaker 4: by a bunch of listeners. I'm not suggesting that anyone
6:52
Speaker 4: do anything irresponsible. I'm not saying go to spring break
6:56
Speaker 4: and start beer bonging with your unvaccinated friends. I'm just
7:00
Speaker 4: saying that I think people are smart and they know
7:02
Speaker 4: how to be responsible. They know when they're with high-risk people.
7:05
Speaker 4: They know when they're with vaccinated people. We all can
7:07
Speaker 4: just kind of be smart. Tommy, I will be beer
7:13
Speaker 4: bonging with.
7:14
Speaker 3: My vaccinated friends.
7:14
Speaker 4: It'll be you and Pauly Shore and a bunch of
7:16
Speaker 4: Gen Xers.
7:17
Speaker 1: And look, Tommy lives his values. I didn't get it,
7:21
Speaker 1: but I know that the sex party email he sent
7:23
Speaker 1: out did say you don't have to bring your vaccination card.
7:26
Speaker 3: Thank you.
7:26
Speaker 1: You have to drop your card and your keys in
7:29
Speaker 1: the bowl. No invite for me this time, but I'm
7:31
Speaker 1: going to get there. You know, it's great to have
7:33
Speaker 1: my in-laws here for the last few days. I'm glad
7:35
Speaker 1: they're listeners. I love you guys. During the speech, Biden
7:41
Speaker 1: didn't mention the name of his predecessor, Donald Trump. though
7:43
Speaker 1: he did criticize the federal government's response in 2020. And
7:46
Speaker 1: he also talked about the steps he's taken over the
7:48
Speaker 1: last 50 days in office to speed up the national
7:51
Speaker 1: vaccination program. This was enough to send Republicans and right-wing
7:55
Speaker 1: media into a fit of rage because they think that
7:57
Speaker 1: Biden should have given Trump credit for the vaccines. They
8:00
Speaker 1: even got some real reporters to play along. Let's take
8:03
Speaker 1: a listen to some of these clips.
8:04
Speaker 6: We don't need to go over the 500,000 dead.
8:07
Speaker 3: We had that moment.
8:08
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the future moving forward.
8:11
Speaker 6: Every time he has a chance to praise a previous administration,
8:14
Speaker 6: he not only doesn't.
8:15
Speaker 2: Praise, he kicks them in the groin.
8:17
Speaker 6: He needs to pick up the phone, I suggest, call Mar-a-Lago,
8:21
Speaker 6: and yeah, bring unity to the country as he says
8:24
Speaker 6: he so desperately wants, and thank President Donald Trump.
8:28
Speaker 8: On the development of the vaccines, it was Operation Warp
8:31
Speaker 8: Speed that was invented executed, initiated.
8:35
Speaker 6: Under the former president.
8:36
Speaker 8: So in the spirit of bipartisanship and unity last night,
8:38
Speaker 8: as opposed to the first comments, which spoke about the
8:40
Speaker 8: denials in the first days, weeks, and months, why not
8:43
Speaker 8: just say, with credit to the previous administration and the
8:45
Speaker 8: former president for putting us in this position, we are
8:47
Speaker 8: glad that we have been able to.
8:48
Speaker 2: Move it forward.
8:49
Speaker 3: That is an excellent recommendation as a speech writer.
8:53
Speaker 2: Guys, should we all be thanking Donald Trump for saving
8:56
Speaker 2: our lives? Would either of you like to read aloud
8:58
Speaker 2: the statement that NBC's Peter Alexander read to Jen Psaki
9:02
Speaker 2: as an official thank you To Mr. Trump from Pod
9:04
Speaker 2: Save America?
9:07
Speaker 3: No, thanks.
9:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, hard pass. I like Peter Alexander a lot. Like, personally,
9:12
Speaker 4: he's a really good reporter, a really good guy. I
9:14
Speaker 4: just think the thing about this Washington debate and so
9:17
Speaker 4: many other Washington debates.
9:19
Speaker 3: Is who gives a shit?
9:20
Speaker 4: Like, what politician walks around thanking his former rival, the
9:25
Speaker 4: one he just beat in election, especially one as terrible
9:27
Speaker 4: as Donald Trump? I mean, like, presidents get... blame and
9:30
Speaker 4: credit for things that happen on their watch. And so, yes,
9:33
Speaker 4: I am glad that Trump pre-purchased a bunch of vaccines.
9:36
Speaker 4: It seems like the obvious move even then at the time,
9:40
Speaker 4: but good on them, right? But they didn't invent the
9:43
Speaker 4: science that led to the vaccines being created, right? The
9:47
Speaker 4: idea was to pre-purchase vaccines and that would lead to
9:51
Speaker 4: the rapid deployment of the vaccinations once they were ready,
9:54
Speaker 4: but that actually didn't happen. If you look back at
9:57
Speaker 4: the deadlines that were set by the Trump White House,
10:01
Speaker 4: in September of 2020, Mark Meadows said the White House
10:04
Speaker 4: was aiming to have 100 million vaccine doses ready by
10:06
Speaker 4: the end of October of last year and up to
10:10
Speaker 4: 300 million doses ready in January. They missed that goal
10:14
Speaker 4: by the mile. They missed the later goal of 20
10:16
Speaker 4: million shots in December. So It's great that they helped
10:20
Speaker 4: get the vaccines developed, but the most important part of
10:22
Speaker 4: that was the distribution.
10:24
Speaker 3: And the Trump team.
10:25
Speaker 4: Utterly failed on that. And meanwhile, the Biden folks have
10:29
Speaker 4: done some really smart, creative things to increase production. They
10:32
Speaker 4: got Merck to work with Johnson & Johnson to ramp
10:34
Speaker 4: up the production of the J & J vaccine. They've
10:37
Speaker 4: just been competent. They've gotten it out faster. They've gotten
10:39
Speaker 4: it into people's arms. So you don't get credit for
10:42
Speaker 4: doing half your work.
10:44
Speaker 2: Also, Joe Biden gave them credit for the work that
10:47
Speaker 2: they did.
10:48
Speaker 3: There is that.
10:48
Speaker 2: Back in December, back in January, whenever it was in
10:51
Speaker 2: the winter, he said, yeah, I got to give them
10:53
Speaker 2: some credit for helping to speed the development of the vaccine.
10:56
Speaker 2: That is what they did when it came to distribution.
10:58
Speaker 1: You're right.
10:58
Speaker 2: They basically just gave some vaccinations to states and said,
11:01
Speaker 2: all right, go for it. You're on your own. You
11:03
Speaker 2: can do whatever you want now. Yeah.
11:05
Speaker 1: I mean, they dropped it off They wanted to just
11:07
Speaker 1: sort of drop it off in parking lots. I mean,
11:08
Speaker 1: they didn't really have a plan for how to distribute
11:11
Speaker 1: beyond giving it to the states. And it created a
11:13
Speaker 1: bunch of bottlenecks that the Biden administration had to come
11:16
Speaker 1: in and fix. I'd also say too, what has been
11:20
Speaker 1: the greatest contributor, one of the greatest contributors to the
11:23
Speaker 1: fact that we had this incredible vaccine ready in less
11:27
Speaker 1: than a year, investments in basic science and research that
11:31
Speaker 1: Democrats have fought tooth and nail to protect against antagonism
11:34
Speaker 1: from Republicans, including many of the Republicans demanding fealty to
11:37
Speaker 1: Donald Trump right now for decades. We are very, very
11:41
Speaker 1: fortunate that that basic research was conducted.
11:46
Speaker 2: Under Barack Obama, the federal government funded a startup that
11:50
Speaker 2: wanted to create an mRNA vaccine. That startup is called Moderna.
11:55
Speaker 2: I don't see Barack Obama out there demanding his fucking
11:59
Speaker 2: thank you card from Joe Biden.
12:00
Speaker 3: Well, it's funny.
12:01
Speaker 1: It's like, it really is that there is this, obviously
12:04
Speaker 1: there's this hole in our politics that this other person
12:08
Speaker 1: used to fill up. And one of the pieces of
12:11
Speaker 1: coverage that we just lack for now is like the
12:14
Speaker 1: ongoing psychological needs of this one person. And this is
12:17
Speaker 1: a little bit of a return to that. Like, of
12:19
Speaker 1: course you should thank the previous president. Don't you understand
12:22
Speaker 1: his psychological need? He has a great need to be thanked.
12:25
Speaker 2: Well, it's also like it's another example of the collective
12:29
Speaker 2: amnesia of all of us and especially the press sometimes.
12:31
Speaker 2: Like some of the very outlets that have been asking
12:33
Speaker 2: the White House these questions say, why don't you give
12:36
Speaker 2: Trump credit? Headline from these are headlines from December and January.
12:39
Speaker 2: New York Times, Trump administration passed on the chance to
12:42
Speaker 2: secure more Pfizer vaccine. Remember that? nbc trump administration has
12:46
Speaker 2: stopped all transition activities and funding that will slow if
12:50
Speaker 2: not completely halt vaccinate vaccination efforts we forgot about that
12:54
Speaker 2: the fucking there was like a late transition because the
12:56
Speaker 2: president was trying to stage a coup that was bad
13:00
Speaker 2: you know i mean uh cnbc operation warp speed at
13:03
Speaker 2: a crawl vaccinating americans will take 10 years at current
13:05
Speaker 2: pace so yeah like a couple months ago everyone was
13:07
Speaker 2: complaining about the trump administration's vaccination strategy getting actual shots
13:13
Speaker 2: in arms now a couple months later it's like why
13:15
Speaker 2: isn't trump getting a whole bunch of credit like what
13:17
Speaker 2: it's fucking wrong with people um so one argument in
13:20
Speaker 2: favor of biden giving trump some credit on the vaccines
13:23
Speaker 2: which of course he has done in the past um
13:26
Speaker 2: is you know some people argue that it might help
13:28
Speaker 2: persuade more vaccine hesitant trump supporters to take the shot
13:32
Speaker 2: uh love it do you think that's worth a few
13:33
Speaker 2: mentions from biden.
13:36
Speaker 7: Wow.
13:36
Speaker 1: It's quite a bank shot. It's quite a bank shot.
13:40
Speaker 1: We have to figure out how to get reluctant Republicans
13:47
Speaker 1: to get vaccinated over time.
13:49
Speaker 4: It's important.
13:50
Speaker 1: I think there's a number of ways to do that.
13:53
Speaker 1: I actually interviewed Adam Grant, who's a psychologist, about this.
13:56
Speaker 1: And there is actually a lot of research about how
13:58
Speaker 1: you turn people who are against vaccines into people that
14:01
Speaker 1: are willing to get vaccines. It's very little. Haranguing doesn't
14:05
Speaker 1: work telling people that they're bad doesn't work, but actually
14:08
Speaker 1: talking through their concerns and speaking to them under the
14:11
Speaker 1: presumption that they want what's best for themselves and their
14:13
Speaker 1: community is the way you get there. There's actually a
14:14
Speaker 1: lot of data on the best way to do this.
14:16
Speaker 1: I don't know how that data is reflected and whether
14:20
Speaker 1: or not Joe Biden needs to pretend that Donald Trump
14:25
Speaker 1: is the greatest vaccine president to get it done. I
14:27
Speaker 1: do think one thing that would have certainly helped is
14:29
Speaker 1: if Donald Trump sent out a fucking picture With him
14:33
Speaker 1: getting the vaccine, he decided to get it in secret.
14:36
Speaker 1: In fairness to, you know, we are very fortunate that
14:38
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, one of the many positions he could be
14:41
Speaker 1: taking right now is that he thinks the vaccine is
14:43
Speaker 1: a hoax. It's a pure luck thing and his own
14:45
Speaker 1: ego that's preventing that from happening. He's told the country
14:48
Speaker 1: that he got vaccinated when he did that, you know,
14:51
Speaker 1: two hour thing at whatever you call it, CPAC. He
14:55
Speaker 1: won't release a picture of it. I actually just think
14:58
Speaker 1: this is going to come down to a lot of
14:59
Speaker 1: Republicans talking to each other. I don't think Joe Biden
15:01
Speaker 1: is the best messenger for these people.
15:03
Speaker 2: Anyone see this Frank Luntz focus group? He actually convened
15:07
Speaker 2: a group of vaccine-hesitant Trump voters, and he had convened
15:11
Speaker 2: them all on Zoom. And then he had some Republican
15:13
Speaker 2: politicians delivering messages to them about why they should get vaccines,
15:17
Speaker 2: Kevin McCarthy, a couple others. And then he had Tom Frieden,
15:21
Speaker 2: who ran the CDC for Obama, who just didn't, he
15:24
Speaker 2: didn't talk about his Obama affiliation. He just said, I'm
15:26
Speaker 2: a medical expert. Here's five facts. You know, the number
15:29
Speaker 2: of doctors who've chosen to get vaccinated is upwards of
15:31
Speaker 2: 90 plus percent, blah, blah, blah. And they were all
15:34
Speaker 2: convinced by Frieden. And none of them were convinced by
15:37
Speaker 2: the Republican politicians. And they didn't even think that they
15:40
Speaker 2: wanted to be convinced by Trump because they thought that
15:42
Speaker 2: like all politicians are sort of playing politics with the
15:45
Speaker 2: vaccine on both sides of the aisle, which is, you know,
15:48
Speaker 2: a problem on its own. But it was interesting that
15:50
Speaker 2: just like straight science messages helped persuade these people.
15:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, it does seem like that government involvement in the
15:57
Speaker 4: vaccination effort is one of the biggest impediments to people
16:01
Speaker 4: wanting to get it. And if you just speak to
16:02
Speaker 4: them respectfully, if you provide them information, if they hear
16:05
Speaker 4: about lots of their friends getting the vaccine and not
16:08
Speaker 4: having problems, I think hopefully this problem will start to
16:11
Speaker 4: work itself out. But yeah, I think Biden politicizing it
16:14
Speaker 4: or people hectoring others for not wanting to get the vaccine.
16:19
Speaker 4: That seems like the worst case scenario to me.
16:22
Speaker 6: Yeah.
16:23
Speaker 1: I do also think one piece of this that's important
16:26
Speaker 1: is it's not just about Republican politicians telling people to
16:30
Speaker 1: get the vaccine. Part of it is the fact that
16:33
Speaker 1: Republican politicians have spent the last year downplaying the virus itself.
16:37
Speaker 1: So simply having Republicans out there saying this is serious
16:39
Speaker 1: and vaccination is what allows us to open up society,
16:42
Speaker 1: I think is actually important. Maybe even you know, one
16:45
Speaker 1: of the most important things that they can do.
16:47
Speaker 2: Though it was interesting, the one politician that was somewhat
16:50
Speaker 2: effective with the focus group was Chris Christie, because he said,
16:53
Speaker 2: I was skeptical. I got sick. I almost died. I
16:57
Speaker 2: had a couple people I know died. And I realized
16:59
Speaker 2: that sometimes you don't want to trust the government and
17:01
Speaker 2: people play politics. But because of all these personal experiences
17:05
Speaker 2: I've had, because of some of the science that I've heard,
17:07
Speaker 2: I've changed my mind. And like him being persuaded sort
17:10
Speaker 2: of helped them.
17:10
Speaker 3: So it's interesting.
17:10
Speaker 4: Yeah.
17:20
Speaker 2: So Biden isn't just getting nagged by reporters over who
17:22
Speaker 2: gets credit for vaccines. The White House press corps has
17:25
Speaker 2: been laser focused lately on what the public wants to know.
17:28
Speaker 2: Questions like when will Joe Biden let a room full
17:31
Speaker 2: of reporters yell questions at him? Why didn't Joe Biden
17:34
Speaker 2: book any of his staff on the Sunday shows? Who
17:36
Speaker 2: does Joe Biden think he is going home to Delaware
17:39
Speaker 2: for the weekend? These are all real media generated controversies lately.
17:44
Speaker 2: Let's listen to a few more.
17:46
Speaker 7: Just one more. The president has traveled back to Wilmington
17:48
Speaker 7: a couple of times since taking office. The CDC does
17:52
Speaker 7: still urge people not to travel for personal reasons. Obviously,
17:56
Speaker 7: presidential travel is very different than commercial travel. But should
17:59
Speaker 7: the president be doing more to set an example about
18:02
Speaker 7: personal travel during a pandemic?
18:05
Speaker 3: Who promised the White House cat? What happened to that?
18:08
Speaker 1: Where is the cat?
18:09
Speaker 2: Today's a good day for the cat.
18:11
Speaker 5: About three things.
18:12
Speaker 8: That's okay.
18:12
Speaker 4: The dogs, immigration, and then governor.
18:15
Speaker 3: Another dogs question.
18:16
Speaker 6: Okay, go ahead.
18:17
Speaker 3: Just a quick clarification on the dogs.
18:19
Speaker 7: Okay.
18:20
Speaker 8: Can you confirm that it was a Secret Service member
18:22
Speaker 8: who was bitten?
18:22
Speaker 1: And can you also reassure the public that Major Biden
18:25
Speaker 1: will not be euthanized.
18:26
Speaker 7: As a result of this?
18:29
Speaker 4: Like, if you really, the briefing isn't your only chance
18:34
Speaker 4: to ask Jen Psaki or the press office a question.
18:36
Speaker 4: If you desperately need to know whether a dog is
18:40
Speaker 4: getting euthanized, you can send an email, man.
18:42
Speaker 3: That's a crazy thing to ask live. What is wrong
18:45
Speaker 3: with you? Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me.
18:47
Speaker 2: Will the president, can you confirm that the president will
18:49
Speaker 2: not be killing his own dog?
18:52
Speaker 1: Is this like... First of all, the movie Beethoven came
18:55
Speaker 1: out a long time ago. Our feelings about.
18:59
Speaker 2: Anyway.
18:59
Speaker 1: Maybe that's also striking about that question. This is very silly,
19:02
Speaker 1: but I heard that question. I was like, oh, that
19:04
Speaker 1: must be from some kind of right-wing outlet. And it did.
19:07
Speaker 1: It was from the Post trying to drum up, make
19:09
Speaker 1: this more serious than it.
19:10
Speaker 2: The New York Post.
19:11
Speaker 1: The New York Post. Not the Washington Post.
19:13
Speaker 2: That right-wing rag.
19:15
Speaker 1: Bezos own. But of course it's a right-wing... reporter trying
19:21
Speaker 1: to stir that up, but like poor majors, not a Democrat,
19:25
Speaker 1: poor majors, a dog, you know?
19:28
Speaker 4: I mean, the grandkids, the, I don't, it's just a weird,
19:31
Speaker 4: weird thing to ask live on TV.
19:35
Speaker 2: But it's not, I mean, so, you know, has, uh,
19:38
Speaker 2: Why do you guys think that tansuit journalism has returned here?
19:41
Speaker 2: This is not just the dog. You know, we talked about,
19:44
Speaker 2: I mean, the fucking questions about the AP. has now
19:49
Speaker 2: ran two stories a couple months apart about Joe Biden
19:53
Speaker 2: going back to Delaware over the weekend. And they couch
19:57
Speaker 2: it by saying, oh, the White House is on the
19:59
Speaker 2: defense about this because the president has told people to
20:02
Speaker 2: not travel unnecessarily during a pandemic. But Joe Biden, who is,
20:06
Speaker 2: by the way, vaccinated and travels on fucking Air Force One,
20:10
Speaker 2: is somehow a risk or not following his own example
20:12
Speaker 2: by going back to Delaware. Does the AP not have
20:15
Speaker 2: anything better to do?
20:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, that one is bafflingly stupid, and I find it inexplicable, to.
20:22
Speaker 2: Be totally honest with you.
20:25
Speaker 1: Well, so I feel like it's two things. One's old,
20:29
Speaker 1: and one is based on how they covered Trump. I
20:33
Speaker 1: think the part that's based on covering Trump is, We
20:36
Speaker 1: did stories about Trump traveling all the time. So now
20:40
Speaker 1: we need to do the same stories for Biden, even
20:42
Speaker 1: though the context is very different. So there's a lot
20:44
Speaker 1: of kind of performative objectivity, like performative nonpartisanship to kind
20:51
Speaker 1: of cover their bases. And I think one of the challenges,
20:56
Speaker 1: you know, if you want to attack Joe Biden as
20:59
Speaker 1: frequently as you attacked Donald Trump, you have to really, really,
21:03
Speaker 1: really raise the bar.
21:04
Speaker 2: That is the question is, why do they feel like
21:08
Speaker 2: they have to attack Joe Biden as much as they
21:10
Speaker 2: attack Donald Trump? Why is that journalism that you must
21:13
Speaker 2: strike a balance above all else?
21:15
Speaker 4: I don't think that that's what they feel. Look, I
21:17
Speaker 4: think that adversarial journalism is good. They should be hard
21:21
Speaker 4: on Biden. They should ask tough questions. What I think
21:24
Speaker 4: we're starting to see is the fact that Donald Trump
21:27
Speaker 4: was good for the media business and Joe Biden so
21:30
Speaker 4: far maybe isn't, right? So let's start with the Sunday
21:33
Speaker 4: shows question. Over the weekend, Politico wrote a whole piece
21:37
Speaker 4: about how Joe Biden didn't put someone out on the
21:39
Speaker 4: Sunday shows. And why would you do that if you're
21:42
Speaker 4: trying to sell your COVID relief plan? Now, there once
21:45
Speaker 4: was an era when the Sunday shows were drove the
21:49
Speaker 4: news even on Monday. That is just not the case anymore, right?
21:51
Speaker 4: The Sunday shows today are where you go to ask
21:54
Speaker 4: questions like, who is John Barrasso? Who is Bill Hagerty?
21:58
Speaker 4: Who is Patrick Sullivan? One of those names is a
22:01
Speaker 4: fake senator.
22:02
Speaker 3: Can you guess which one? Hagerty. Nope, that's real.
22:08
Speaker 2: Patrick Sullivan is made up.
22:10
Speaker 3: There's a Dan Sullivan.
22:12
Speaker 1: I remember when Barrasso showed up.
22:14
Speaker 3: Who does he represent?
22:15
Speaker 2: I remember when.
22:15
Speaker 1: Barrasso showed up in the Senate because we were working
22:17
Speaker 1: in the Senate at that time. And I was like, Barrasso, Barrasso.
22:20
Speaker 4: Love it.
22:21
Speaker 2: Don't you remember? We gave Barack Obama a joke about
22:25
Speaker 2: John Barrasso for the Correspondents' Dinner. We said the joke
22:27
Speaker 2: was something to the effect of, who's John Barrasso?
22:30
Speaker 6: Right.
22:30
Speaker 1: That's probably why I remember it.
22:32
Speaker 4: So today, right, the Sunday shows today mostly exist to
22:35
Speaker 4: make– Daily Show producer Matt Negrin go insane because Chuck
22:40
Speaker 4: Todd won't ask a question about the fascist mob attack
22:42
Speaker 4: on the.
22:43
Speaker 3: Capitol, right?
22:43
Speaker 4: In 2021, though, like the reason this advice was so
22:46
Speaker 4: dumb and bad is because in 2021, not only are
22:49
Speaker 4: the Sunday shows not the best way to reach voters.
22:51
Speaker 4: They almost guarantee you that Joe Biden or Kamala Harris
22:55
Speaker 4: or someone will get an unrelated political question that will
22:58
Speaker 4: then screw up their efforts to make the coverage about
23:01
Speaker 4: the vaccine rollout and all the things they want to
23:03
Speaker 4: talk about.
23:03
Speaker 3: Right.
23:03
Speaker 4: So it's just it's pure self-interest. And I think the
23:06
Speaker 4: press conference question is very similar.
23:09
Speaker 2: You know what, Tommy? What gave that away, what you
23:11
Speaker 2: just said, was the way that Politico wrote it up,
23:13
Speaker 2: because they said, the Biden administration didn't book any staff
23:17
Speaker 2: on the Sunday shows. Horrible thing. You know, they have a, they,
23:20
Speaker 2: of course, Politico quotes a Sunday show producer saying they're
23:22
Speaker 2: leaving a vacuum. That's baffling. Like, oh, that's self-interested, of course.
23:27
Speaker 2: But then they put in parentheses, actually, Anthony Fauci and
23:31
Speaker 2: Marcella Nunez-Smith were on the Sunday shows, but they dismissed
23:34
Speaker 2: them as, quote, medical staff.
23:36
Speaker 3: Like, medical stuff.
23:38
Speaker 2: And then, oh, and by the way, Janet Yellett was
23:39
Speaker 2: on too. Because you know what? Actual policy people who
23:42
Speaker 2: have substantive things to discuss, they don't count because they're
23:45
Speaker 2: not political people that you can play gotcha with. Because
23:48
Speaker 2: that's what they fucking want.
23:49
Speaker 1: Well, it's, you know, there's also, I've been away from
23:53
Speaker 1: society for years. So my thoughts are getting more and
23:56
Speaker 1: more wild. I was thinking about the way that Republicans, conservatives,
23:59
Speaker 1: you know, they work the refs. They say that there's
24:01
Speaker 1: a bias in these outlets. And I think that there
24:03
Speaker 1: is some sense in which that's true, which is that like,
24:06
Speaker 1: reporters from Chuck Todd to Hugh Hewitt and Tucker Carlson,
24:09
Speaker 1: they're cosmopolitan elites, right? They move in circles. That is real.
24:14
Speaker 1: But I do think that there's this other kind of
24:16
Speaker 1: like cultural bias in how supposedly nonpartisan entities treat Republicans
24:20
Speaker 1: versus Democrat. And I don't mean this in terms of gender.
24:23
Speaker 1: I just mean this in terms of what it feels
24:25
Speaker 1: like in terms of how they're treated. But like Republicans
24:29
Speaker 1: are treated as if they're masculine and Democrats are treated
24:32
Speaker 1: as if they're feminine. And what do I mean by that?
24:34
Speaker 1: is it is assumed that Republicans will be strong, intransigent, confident,
24:40
Speaker 1: and that their needs need to be heard and appeased.
24:42
Speaker 1: And it's Democrats' job to be nurturing, supportive, to listen,
24:47
Speaker 1: and to take care of those needs. It is why
24:50
Speaker 1: the idea of someone asking Mitch McConnell, what are you
24:52
Speaker 1: doing to create unity today? Or asking Ted Cruz, what
24:55
Speaker 1: are you doing to bring the Senate together? Or asking
24:57
Speaker 1: Tom Cotton, why are you not doing more to address
25:00
Speaker 1: the fact that you alienate so many urban Americans. It's
25:03
Speaker 1: why these questions are so much more unusual than the
25:06
Speaker 1: ones pointed at Democrats. There's like an assumption that Republicans
25:10
Speaker 1: are who Republicans are and it's Democrats' job to kind
25:13
Speaker 1: of nurture and help them figure out how to work
25:15
Speaker 1: together for the benefit of the country. And I think
25:17
Speaker 1: that the insurrection has called like four years of Trump, obviously,
25:21
Speaker 1: but closing with the insurrection has like called that out
25:24
Speaker 1: and made it all seem all the more ridiculous. And
25:27
Speaker 1: the two options can't be like when you have a
25:30
Speaker 1: situation in which nonpartisan and truth are not on the
25:32
Speaker 1: same side, these shows just have to choose. And I
25:36
Speaker 1: think they're really struggling to make that choice.
25:38
Speaker 2: I think that reporters know that Republicans are more likely
25:41
Speaker 2: to lie and more likely to be shameless about it
25:43
Speaker 2: and Democrats, and they want to hold Democrats to a
25:45
Speaker 2: higher standard. I also do think they're trying to like...
25:48
Speaker 2: Maureen Dowd wrote a column a couple of weeks ago
25:50
Speaker 2: about how like, hey, Democrats, we're not on your team.
25:52
Speaker 2: The press isn't on your team. We're not allies. And
25:55
Speaker 2: all and all these reporters shared it around to also
25:59
Speaker 2: be performative about like, yes, we're tough on both sides. Like,
26:01
Speaker 2: I do think there is this attempt to try to,
26:04
Speaker 2: you know, both sides, everything and to be tough, equally
26:06
Speaker 2: tough on both Biden and Trump. And I think the
26:10
Speaker 2: reason it's a problem just from the journalist perspective is
26:13
Speaker 2: they're You know, adversarial journalism is important. Accountability is important.
26:16
Speaker 2: There's plenty of things that you can criticize the Biden
26:19
Speaker 2: White House on. There's plenty of policy issues. We're going
26:21
Speaker 2: to talk about the MBS sanctions pretty soon. We can
26:24
Speaker 2: talk about the... Crisis at the border with unaccompanied migrant children.
26:29
Speaker 2: We're about to talk about Andrew Cuomo. Like there are
26:32
Speaker 2: plenty of things that you can talk about and criticize
26:34
Speaker 2: Joe Biden on. When you're down to like dog euthanizing
26:38
Speaker 2: and is he going home to fucking Delaware and why
26:42
Speaker 2: aren't we getting a press conference? Like you're just going
26:44
Speaker 2: to cause people to take you less seriously when you
26:47
Speaker 2: have actual criticisms of the administration that are based in substance,
26:51
Speaker 2: which they should.
26:52
Speaker 3: So here's an example.
26:53
Speaker 4: Peter Baker tweeted a link about how Joe Biden hasn't
26:56
Speaker 4: done a press conference. He added the following text on
26:58
Speaker 4: top of it. At this point in office, Trump had
27:00
Speaker 4: given five news conferences. Obama had given two, George W.
27:03
Speaker 4: Bush three, and Clinton five. Biden so far has given zero. Now, again,
27:06
Speaker 4: I think reporters have every right to advocate for access, interviews,
27:10
Speaker 4: press conferences, whatever, but there are a bunch of problems
27:12
Speaker 4: with Peter's tweet. Great New York Times reporter, by the way. First,
27:16
Speaker 4: it is deeply misleading. Four of the first news conferences
27:18
Speaker 4: that Trump gave or right after bilateral meetings with another
27:21
Speaker 4: head of state. Those are not full press conferences where
27:24
Speaker 4: they talk for an hour and it's just Biden up
27:26
Speaker 4: there alone. It's called a one-in-one or a two-in-two where
27:29
Speaker 4: both leaders take a couple of questions from the press. Obviously,
27:31
Speaker 4: Joe Biden can't hold bilateral meetings right now because of COVID,
27:35
Speaker 4: so those aren't happening. Second, I think making Trump your
27:38
Speaker 4: baseline for access is absurd because what value did we
27:43
Speaker 4: get out of Trump shouting lies or the puffery from
27:46
Speaker 4: Fox News and OAN or from like Combat with Jim
27:49
Speaker 4: Acosta and CNN.
27:50
Speaker 3: Right.
27:50
Speaker 4: Like Trump would literally scream over a helicopter engine so
27:54
Speaker 4: that no one could ask him follow ups. And so
27:56
Speaker 4: I realize that combat is good for ratings, but it
27:59
Speaker 4: was not good for people who wanted factual information. And
28:02
Speaker 4: that's why I feel like these criticisms of Biden in
28:05
Speaker 4: the press conference. seem annoying and self-interested, right? So again,
28:09
Speaker 4: be tough on Joe Biden. But yes, do not spin
28:13
Speaker 4: this as me wanting the press being on my side
28:18
Speaker 4: because I'm a Democrat, blah, blah, blah. That is not
28:20
Speaker 4: the argument. The argument is that the press core sometimes
28:23
Speaker 4: has priorities that are about themselves and are not necessarily
28:27
Speaker 4: about what voters want or their readers need from the
28:30
Speaker 4: people they cover. And that's what drives me crazy in
28:32
Speaker 4: these situations.
28:34
Speaker 2: The three of us started an entire media company because
28:37
Speaker 2: we didn't believe the press is on our side or
28:39
Speaker 2: should be on our side. We're partisan Democrats.
28:42
Speaker 1: The problem that they're having is we've come to accept
28:45
Speaker 1: that they're not on President Biden's side. I'll also say this.
28:50
Speaker 3: One part of.
28:53
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's strategy for answering questions that is not acknowledged
28:56
Speaker 1: in any of this coverage, and I understand why, is
28:58
Speaker 1: he also did, he's done two town halls. He did
29:00
Speaker 1: one right after the election. And he did one quite
29:03
Speaker 1: recently in which he took a bunch of questions from
29:06
Speaker 1: regular people. And I think one of the challenges that
29:09
Speaker 1: these reporters have in asking for a press conference is
29:11
Speaker 1: that regular people ask better questions than the professionals, which
29:14
Speaker 1: brings us to a segment we call Meet the People
29:17
Speaker 1: slash Beat the Press. We're doing impromptu quiz, boys. Here's
29:21
Speaker 1: how it works. I'm going to read you a question.
29:24
Speaker 1: It is going to be a question from a reporter
29:26
Speaker 1: asked of Jen Psaki or a regular person. who is
29:29
Speaker 1: not a journalist, asked to Joe Biden. I've tried my
29:32
Speaker 1: best to take out, what gives it away. And I'm
29:37
Speaker 1: going to alternate. Tommy, I'll start with you. Considering that
29:42
Speaker 1: hybrid and virtual school instruction has been in place for
29:45
Speaker 1: nearly a year now, what is the plan and recommendation
29:47
Speaker 1: to get students back into the brick and mortar buildings?
29:51
Speaker 1: Was that the people or was that the press?
29:53
Speaker 2: That sounds like a real person to me.
29:55
Speaker 1: You got it. John, over to you. Mexico's President Obrador
29:59
Speaker 1: says the people coming into the U.S. right now see Biden,
30:01
Speaker 1: President Biden, as the migrant president. Do you take that
30:04
Speaker 1: as a compliment?
30:06
Speaker 2: That's got to be a reporter.
30:07
Speaker 1: You got it. Tommy, do you have a plan to
30:10
Speaker 1: vaccinate those who are most vulnerable sooner to give them priority?
30:14
Speaker 7: Person.
30:15
Speaker 3: Correct.
30:16
Speaker 1: John, you're proposing a $ 15 minimum wage given the lower
30:19
Speaker 1: cost of living and specifically in the Midwest, many business
30:22
Speaker 1: owners are concerned that this will put them out of business,
30:24
Speaker 1: forcing them to downsize their cup benefits. How can you
30:26
Speaker 1: instill confidence in small businesses that this will benefit the Midwest?
30:30
Speaker 7: Hmm.
30:31
Speaker 2: Person.
30:32
Speaker 3: Correct.
30:33
Speaker 1: Tommy, the administration has refused to call it a crisis,
30:35
Speaker 1: instead referring to it as a challenge and saying what
30:38
Speaker 1: you call it doesn't make a difference on how we're
30:41
Speaker 1: responding to it. But aren't those the steps that you
30:43
Speaker 1: would take if it was a crisis that you had
30:45
Speaker 1: on your hands?
30:46
Speaker 3: Oh, that's a classic reporter question.
30:48
Speaker 4: Let's get wrapped around the axle about the lexical definition
30:51
Speaker 4: of a word.
30:52
Speaker 3: I love it.
30:54
Speaker 1: John, that's correct.
30:55
Speaker 3: John, over to you.
30:56
Speaker 1: What will you do so that small mom and pop
30:58
Speaker 1: businesses will survive over large corporate entities?
31:02
Speaker 2: Definitely a person.
31:03
Speaker 7: Correct.
31:04
Speaker 1: Next question for you, Tommy. I was shaken by the
31:06
Speaker 1: attack on the Capitol and our democracy more broadly by
31:09
Speaker 1: your predecessor and his followers. While I appreciate efforts being
31:11
Speaker 1: made to bring them to justice, I worry about ongoing
31:13
Speaker 1: threats to our country from Americans who embrace white supremacy
31:16
Speaker 1: and conspiracies that align with it. What can your administration
31:19
Speaker 1: do to address this complex and wide-ranging problem?
31:23
Speaker 7: Person?
31:25
Speaker 1: That's right.
31:26
Speaker 3: John, over to you.
31:27
Speaker 1: With all the principles kind of crisscrossing the country next week,
31:30
Speaker 1: it's an interesting list of states. I'm wondering- Reporter, reporter.
31:34
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, even though this relief package has no support,
31:37
Speaker 1: what have you been hearing or what do you expect
31:39
Speaker 1: to hear from Republicans in these states?
31:41
Speaker 2: Oh, they're so bad. Their questions are, your questions are
31:44
Speaker 2: so bad.
31:45
Speaker 1: You got it.
31:46
Speaker 2: A process question that asked you predict, to predict.
31:49
Speaker 3: Okay, good.
31:50
Speaker 2: God damn it. They're so bad.
31:52
Speaker 3: Tommy, over to you.
31:53
Speaker 1: Our nation's experience with and through the COVID-19 and other
31:55
Speaker 1: recent tragedies have strengthened the foundation of division among Americans.
31:59
Speaker 1: What are your immediate and tangible plans to address how
32:02
Speaker 1: deeply divided we are as a nation?
32:05
Speaker 3: I'm going to say a reporter.
32:07
Speaker 1: No, no, that was a person.
32:09
Speaker 2: That was a person. Okay, you know, listen, I get
32:11
Speaker 2: the question.
32:12
Speaker 4: I find it a little ridiculous and unrealistic, but okay.
32:16
Speaker 1: They're influenced by reporters.
32:17
Speaker 2: That person could be a White House reporter.
32:19
Speaker 7: Right, right, right.
32:19
Speaker 2: That person could get a new job.
32:21
Speaker 1: And finally, John, Politico ran a poll yesterday. I'm not
32:24
Speaker 1: sure if you saw it. Finding that 53% of Americans
32:28
Speaker 1: think that it should be a ban on transgender athletes
32:30
Speaker 1: competing in women's sports, including 40% of Democratic respondents who
32:34
Speaker 1: agreed that there should be a ban and 49% of independents.
32:36
Speaker 1: But looking at this through his call for unity lens,
32:39
Speaker 1: do you think these opinions are coming from a place
32:41
Speaker 1: of trying to protect women's rights or equity in athletics
32:43
Speaker 1: or just flat out bigoted opinions that the president shouldn't
32:46
Speaker 1: acknowledge at this point in time?
32:48
Speaker 2: I mean, you had me at the political poll, which
32:49
Speaker 2: I know that millions of Americans wake up to every
32:51
Speaker 2: single day. But the unity lens is a really extra touch. Yeah,
32:55
Speaker 2: that's definitely a reporter.
32:57
Speaker 1: John, you got it. I have to say, only because
33:01
Speaker 1: Tommy was tripped up by a unity question that very
33:05
Speaker 1: well could have come by a reporter. This one goes
33:07
Speaker 1: to John today. This one goes to John today. It
33:09
Speaker 1: was a tough thought. Only one incorrect question. Great job, boys.
33:12
Speaker 3: Well done.
33:12
Speaker 1: Meet the people, beat the press.
33:15
Speaker 3: Good quiz.
33:15
Speaker 2: We should do that all the time.
33:17
Speaker 3: Great job, boys.
33:19
Speaker 2: Before we leave the press conference question, too, one of
33:22
Speaker 2: the silliest things about this whole episode is that the
33:24
Speaker 2: White House has promised that he will hold a press
33:26
Speaker 2: conference by the end of the month.
33:28
Speaker 1: Cancel it.
33:28
Speaker 3: It's coming.
33:29
Speaker 2: Cancel it. All these stories are just about the fact
33:32
Speaker 2: that it hasn't happened yet, but it is going to happen. Also,
33:35
Speaker 2: Jen takes questions seriously. almost every single day from the press.
33:39
Speaker 2: Biden has done sit-downs with 60 Minutes, Good Morning America,
33:42
Speaker 2: which will air on Wednesday.
33:43
Speaker 3: Ron Klain engages.
33:44
Speaker 4: More on Twitter than almost anyone I know, the White
33:46
Speaker 4: House chief of staff.
33:47
Speaker 3: There's plenty of access.
33:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can shout. Biden's taken shouted questions before. So
33:53
Speaker 2: the guy's talking plenty. The guy's talking plenty.
33:55
Speaker 1: I'm radicalized.
33:56
Speaker 3: I'm radicalized.
33:57
Speaker 1: Cancel everything with these people. They'll learn. It used to
34:03
Speaker 1: be a pool, John.
34:15
Speaker 2: One more thing. Some reporters are also pushing a narrative
34:18
Speaker 2: that the next Joe Biden scandal could be Andrew Cuomo scandal.
34:22
Speaker 2: It seems like just about every Democratic politician in New
34:24
Speaker 2: York has now called for the governor to resign in
34:25
Speaker 2: the wake of allegations that he covered up the number
34:28
Speaker 2: of COVID nursing home deaths in his state, sexually harassed
34:30
Speaker 2: and groped employees. and cultivated a toxic work environment. Biden
34:35
Speaker 2: has expressed support for the independent investigation into Cuomo being
34:38
Speaker 2: led by New York Attorney General Tish James. But Axios'
34:41
Speaker 2: Jonathan Swan wrote over the weekend that the scandal is
34:43
Speaker 2: becoming a Biden problem because the president's silence is, quote,
34:46
Speaker 2: increasingly conspicuous. And his position, quote, already seems unsustainable because
34:51
Speaker 2: supposedly Biden is the only Democrat who could get Cuomo
34:54
Speaker 2: to resign. What do you guys think of Biden's position here?
34:58
Speaker 2: He did say, I believe late last night, someone shouted
35:01
Speaker 2: a question at him about this. And he basically towed
35:03
Speaker 2: the White House line, which is, you know, let's see
35:06
Speaker 2: where the investigation goes. Right.
35:07
Speaker 4: I mean, I think both Biden and Jen have said
35:09
Speaker 4: that the allegations are troubling and that they want to
35:11
Speaker 4: see a swift and thorough investigation of the allegations that
35:15
Speaker 4: is being independent, but it's being led by Tish James,
35:18
Speaker 4: the attorney general.
35:20
Speaker 3: Doesn't that seem like the right answer?
35:21
Speaker 4: I mean, if somehow Cuomo is innocent of this multitude
35:25
Speaker 4: of allegations, and I'm not suggesting that I believe that's
35:28
Speaker 4: the case, but hypothetically, then obviously some due process important.
35:32
Speaker 4: But since Cuomo is trying to blame all of these
35:35
Speaker 4: allegations on cancel culture, which is Trumpian, frankly, I think
35:41
Speaker 4: it actually helps his accusers and everyone involved who want
35:45
Speaker 4: justice to be served here to be able to point
35:47
Speaker 4: to due process and evidence gathered and say, those are facts.
35:51
Speaker 4: You were treated fairly. That is not cancel culture. That
35:53
Speaker 4: is what we learned from an investigation. I mean, that said,
35:57
Speaker 4: in addition to these sexual harassment allegations is the news
36:01
Speaker 4: that broke yesterday that Cuomo's vaccine czar was calling around
36:05
Speaker 4: to try to gauge political support for him. And that
36:08
Speaker 4: seems like just another outrageous abuse of power that might
36:13
Speaker 4: be impeachable in its own right. But it does seem
36:15
Speaker 4: like Biden has taken the appropriate position here and certainly
36:22
Speaker 4: said he's troubled by the allegations.
36:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, you know, Schumer, Gillibrand, the entire
36:28
Speaker 2: New York congressional delegation, and obviously a ton of politicians
36:31
Speaker 2: in New York have not waited for the investigation. They
36:33
Speaker 2: just called on him to resign. I think Cuomo is
36:36
Speaker 2: clearly incredibly stubborn here. He's given multiple press conferences now
36:40
Speaker 2: where he's basically just like, fuck you people, I'm not resigning.
36:42
Speaker 2: He's not going away. So I think the idea that
36:45
Speaker 2: Biden can get him to resign is not real. Sorry,
36:49
Speaker 2: that's important.
36:50
Speaker 1: That's based on nothing. Like the idea that like Biden
36:53
Speaker 1: has some like a special power here to get Andrew
36:56
Speaker 1: Cuomo to resign, I think is like, why do you
36:58
Speaker 1: believe that? What's the evidence for that? Like, Andrew Cuomo
37:01
Speaker 1: has decided it is his interest not to resign no
37:03
Speaker 1: matter what happens. Unless, like, why does Biden change that calculus?
37:07
Speaker 1: I don't think there's any reason to believe it does.
37:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
37:11
Speaker 2: What the White House is probably thinking, because he's the
37:13
Speaker 2: president of the United States, is that you need to
37:15
Speaker 2: have some certain standards and processes in place before you
37:17
Speaker 2: call on someone to resign. Like, I think Andrew Cuomo
37:20
Speaker 2: should resign.
37:21
Speaker 3: Great.
37:21
Speaker 2: That's cost free for me. Right. He's a fucking asshole.
37:25
Speaker 2: He should be governor anymore. I'm a podcaster. But like,
37:29
Speaker 2: I think that for Biden, like they want to be
37:31
Speaker 2: able to say that an investigate and we all believe
37:34
Speaker 2: in the investigation. Tish James is right. going to be
37:37
Speaker 2: very thorough. She's an independent source. She has obviously clashed
37:40
Speaker 2: with Cuomo in the past. So it's not like we
37:44
Speaker 2: would think her investigation would be somehow controlled by Cuomo.
37:46
Speaker 2: It's going to be a very good, tough investigation. You know,
37:49
Speaker 2: Jen said this morning, the White House also wants the
37:51
Speaker 2: investigation to happen quickly. I think that like a long
37:55
Speaker 2: drawn out investigation where Cuomo just gets to sit there
37:57
Speaker 2: while their investigation happens is bad, right? You want something quick.
38:00
Speaker 2: But I do think if you're the president of the
38:02
Speaker 2: United States and in the White House, you want to
38:03
Speaker 2: be able to point to something that says, there was
38:05
Speaker 2: a process followed, there was an investigation, here was the findings,
38:08
Speaker 2: and now he should go. Because, you know, you need
38:12
Speaker 2: to have standards for when there's other claims that happen.
38:16
Speaker 1: I would say also that, like, Andrew Cuomo is a
38:20
Speaker 1: massive prick. And he has now been embroiled in multiple
38:25
Speaker 1: scandals that should undo his administration. Joe Biden is the
38:29
Speaker 1: president of the United States. And from the very beginning
38:32
Speaker 1: of his, even his candidacy, He has made it a
38:34
Speaker 1: hallmark of how he campaigns and how he governs to
38:40
Speaker 1: try his best not to be central to a bunch
38:44
Speaker 1: of ongoing, even very important controversies. And I think that
38:49
Speaker 1: has behooved him at a number of key points as
38:51
Speaker 1: a candidate, as president. I think he is trying his
38:54
Speaker 1: best to not be the headline in every story in
38:58
Speaker 1: the country. And I think that there's value to that.
39:01
Speaker 1: I think there's value to that.
39:03
Speaker 2: And I do think the due process point that Tommy
39:06
Speaker 2: had made before is important. And I don't think when
39:09
Speaker 2: allegations like this are raised, they necessarily even have to
39:12
Speaker 2: be law enforcement investigations, right? Like, I think you need
39:15
Speaker 2: some official body, quasi-official body who can look at allegations,
39:19
Speaker 2: an independent body to look at them, whether it's in government,
39:21
Speaker 2: whether it's law enforcement, whatever it may be, to give
39:24
Speaker 2: people some faith in the process that goes into sort
39:29
Speaker 2: of airing these allegations. and making sure that they're credible
39:35
Speaker 2: and investigated. And I think that's sort of where he's at.
39:38
Speaker 4: And I think that's so important for the accusers because
39:41
Speaker 4: we live in a culture now where Donald Trump just
39:43
Speaker 4: calls everything fake news that he doesn't like and denies, denies, denies.
39:47
Speaker 4: And if you have real process and you gather evidence
39:49
Speaker 4: and you lay it all out and make that case,
39:52
Speaker 4: it doesn't matter what they say about it. It doesn't
39:53
Speaker 4: matter if Cuomo calls it cancel culture or Trump calls
39:56
Speaker 4: it fake news. If it's laid out in black and
39:58
Speaker 4: white with clear evidence, then he's going to have to go.
40:03
Speaker 2: Yeah.
40:05
Speaker 6: Okay.
40:05
Speaker 2: So one last issue that we haven't talked much about
40:07
Speaker 2: yet on Pod Save America is President Biden's early foreign
40:10
Speaker 2: policy moves. So on the domestic side, I think a
40:13
Speaker 2: lot of progressives have been pleasantly surprised by Biden in
40:15
Speaker 2: these first 50 days, especially with the American Rescue Plan.
40:19
Speaker 2: That is less true on foreign policy. In particular, progressives
40:22
Speaker 2: have criticized the administration's failure to impose sanctions on Saudi
40:25
Speaker 2: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after they released a report
40:28
Speaker 2: explicitly tying MBS to the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
40:33
Speaker 2: They've also been criticized for the failure to get back
40:35
Speaker 2: to the negotiating table with Iran over their nuclear program.
40:38
Speaker 2: and Biden's decision to carry out airstrikes against Iran-backed militias
40:41
Speaker 2: in Syria. This has sparked concerns about whether Biden is
40:44
Speaker 2: willing to rethink American foreign policy beyond just rolling back
40:48
Speaker 2: some of the worst moves of the Trump administration. This
40:50
Speaker 2: was summed up in a Daily Beast headline last week
40:52
Speaker 2: that read, is this the week Biden returned to the blob?
40:57
Speaker 2: The blob, for those of you who don't know, is
40:59
Speaker 2: Ben Rhodes's term for the Washington establishment's mindset on foreign policy. Tommy,
41:04
Speaker 2: what do you think? How much of the critique is warranted?
41:07
Speaker 2: And why do you think that the Biden folks made
41:09
Speaker 2: some of these decisions?
41:11
Speaker 4: Look, yeah, like re-entering Paris, getting rid of the Muslim ban,
41:14
Speaker 4: those are important things, right? I mean, Paris was largely symbolic.
41:18
Speaker 4: Getting rid of the Muslim ban was the... obvious and
41:21
Speaker 4: easy to do through executive order, but really important. I
41:24
Speaker 4: do think now is when it gets complicated. And I
41:29
Speaker 4: am a little worried that the Biden folks haven't yet
41:31
Speaker 4: reentered the JCPOA or the Iran deal. They seem to
41:34
Speaker 4: be stuck in this dance with the Iranians about who
41:37
Speaker 4: will offer concessions first. And they're listening to attacks from
41:43
Speaker 4: Congress suggesting that they need to expand the Iran deal,
41:46
Speaker 4: that they need to make it about more than just
41:47
Speaker 4: the nuclear program and make it about all of Iran's
41:50
Speaker 4: malign activities.
41:51
Speaker 3: In the region.
41:52
Speaker 4: And what I'm worried about is them potentially missing the
41:55
Speaker 4: window to get back into this deal because the Iranians
41:59
Speaker 4: have a presidential election in June that might lead to
42:01
Speaker 4: the election of a hardliner, right? And then the next
42:04
Speaker 4: big issue they have looming is the Trump administration negotiated
42:08
Speaker 4: a deal to get all US troops out of Afghanistan
42:11
Speaker 4: by May 1st. There's like 2,500 to 3,500 troops there now. Basically,
42:13
Speaker 4: everyone thinks that trying to pull all of those troops
42:18
Speaker 4: out in the next couple of months would lead to
42:20
Speaker 4: a disaster. And the negotiations, the peace talks aren't going
42:23
Speaker 4: that well. So you could have a scenario where Biden
42:26
Speaker 4: delays that withdrawal and suddenly he is seen as more
42:30
Speaker 4: conservative than even Trump on ending the war in Afghanistan.
42:33
Speaker 4: There's a, There's a related conversation about counterterrorism and drone strikes,
42:37
Speaker 4: both the efficacy and the legal authorities of those programs.
42:41
Speaker 4: There's a big surge of asylum seekers on the southern border. So,
42:44
Speaker 4: you know, Biden has the most leeway to just do
42:47
Speaker 4: stuff on foreign policy, but it also could be where
42:50
Speaker 4: he faces some of the most challenging problems and is
42:56
Speaker 4: less willing or able to appease progressives. So I do
42:59
Speaker 4: think it's something we need to watch. The Iran nuclear
43:02
Speaker 4: deal is the one I'm most focused on because I
43:05
Speaker 4: do think that is a choice they could get back
43:07
Speaker 4: in tomorrow. And I'm just worried that the blobby people,
43:11
Speaker 4: the Tom Cottons of the world, and even like Senator
43:13
Speaker 4: Bob Menendez of New Jersey are going to keep pressuring
43:17
Speaker 4: Biden to take a more conservative line. And what I
43:19
Speaker 4: want from the Democratic Party is to be full-throated and
43:23
Speaker 4: proud of diplomatic solutions to problems.
43:26
Speaker 3: Talk to Iran, talk to North Korea.
43:28
Speaker 4: Get the right folks together to talk about Afghanistan and
43:31
Speaker 4: Syria and all these problems. Be proudly in favor of
43:35
Speaker 4: a nuclear deal that had worked. And let's get past
43:39
Speaker 4: this absurd dynamic in DC where it's much easier to
43:42
Speaker 4: be for a war than a diplomatic agreement.
43:44
Speaker 3: It's crazy.
43:45
Speaker 2: I know you guys talked about this on Pod Save
43:47
Speaker 2: the World, but on the Khashoggi issue, why did the
43:51
Speaker 2: Biden administration not take more aggressive action there? And do
43:55
Speaker 2: you think that some of the reasons they didn't were
43:57
Speaker 2: legitimate or like what were their reasons for not doing more?
44:00
Speaker 4: I mean, they made the point that usually when you
44:03
Speaker 4: have diplomatic relations with a major country like a Russia,
44:06
Speaker 4: like a China, like a Saudi Arabia, even when you
44:10
Speaker 4: put sanctions on other elements of that country for doing
44:13
Speaker 4: some bad thing, you don't end up sanctioning a head
44:16
Speaker 4: of state. Now, Mohammed bin Salman is not the head
44:19
Speaker 4: of state currently, but he's basically the de facto head
44:21
Speaker 4: of state, the next in line to the throne. So
44:23
Speaker 4: they basically didn't want to rupture the entire U.S.-Saudi relationship
44:28
Speaker 4: by personally sanctioning him. I understand that, but I think
44:31
Speaker 4: it was a mistake here because Khashoggi's murder and the
44:35
Speaker 4: treatment of journalists and dissidents by the Saudi government and
44:38
Speaker 4: by countries like Russia and China has.
44:41
Speaker 3: Become a bigger issue.
44:43
Speaker 4: And candidate Biden was very clear that he would crack
44:46
Speaker 4: down on the Saudi leadership. And then they created this
44:50
Speaker 4: whole new set of sanctions, the Khashoggi sanctions, that was
44:52
Speaker 4: designed to target people who go after journalists or dissidents,
44:57
Speaker 4: but they gave the first one who did it a pass.
44:59
Speaker 3: And I think that just, it landed wrong.
45:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
45:05
Speaker 6: Yeah.
45:05
Speaker 2: It didn't seem too great. Are there foreign policy decisions
45:09
Speaker 2: or overall foreign policy directions from the Biden administration that
45:13
Speaker 2: you think progressives should be happy about that you've been
45:16
Speaker 2: happy about?
45:17
Speaker 4: I think you guys would both agree that like putting
45:19
Speaker 4: climate change at the center of everything the U S
45:21
Speaker 4: government is doing and all our diplomacy and naming John
45:24
Speaker 4: Kerry to this major position, uh, and, and, you know,
45:28
Speaker 4: supercharging efforts to not just get back into the Paris
45:30
Speaker 4: climate accords, but to renegotiate a whole set of deals
45:33
Speaker 4: that would.
45:34
Speaker 3: Actually solve the problem.
45:35
Speaker 4: Like that's, it's, it's the, it's the existential question we
45:38
Speaker 4: have to deal with after we get through the COVID
45:40
Speaker 4: existential question.
45:41
Speaker 3: Right.
45:41
Speaker 4: So like that does make me very hopeful. Uh, and
45:44
Speaker 4: he didn't just do the bare minimum. Like he's, He's
45:47
Speaker 4: really so far like demonstrated that this is going to
45:51
Speaker 4: be one of the most important things they do, period.
45:55
Speaker 2: Oh, and I know I know one that I thought
45:56
Speaker 2: was promising is that they the White House has endorsed
46:00
Speaker 2: a new authorization for the use of military force because
46:06
Speaker 2: they have we still have the one where that sort
46:08
Speaker 2: of gives the administration, whatever administration, almost unlimited power to
46:12
Speaker 2: sort of conduct military. conduct military strikes in a lot
46:17
Speaker 2: of the Middle East and everywhere.
46:20
Speaker 4: Obama also came out in support of an AUMF. Getting
46:23
Speaker 4: it actually repealed and getting a new one through Congress
46:26
Speaker 4: is much, much trickier than it sounds because Congress is
46:30
Speaker 4: cowardly and they don't want to tackle hard problems a
46:33
Speaker 4: lot of the time, but it's critical.
46:35
Speaker 3: They have to do that.
46:37
Speaker 1: We've now spent 30 years watching Congress cede its authority
46:42
Speaker 1: to the White House and They don't want to be
46:44
Speaker 1: in charge of when we use force and they don't
46:46
Speaker 1: want to be in charge of declaring when we don't.
46:48
Speaker 1: They want to complain.
46:49
Speaker 2: In either direction.
46:50
Speaker 3: Yep, exactly right.
46:51
Speaker 1: And I do think Biden did campaign on restoring some
46:54
Speaker 1: of those congressional prerogatives and it would be good to
46:57
Speaker 1: see that begin.
46:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you and Ben talk about all this all
47:01
Speaker 2: the time. The opportunity in foreign policy is you're the president,
47:04
Speaker 2: you get a lot more power to do what you
47:06
Speaker 2: want without Congress in a lot of situations. But the
47:09
Speaker 2: challenge is, there is a mindset on foreign policy that
47:12
Speaker 2: is very conventional, that takes over both parties and is
47:17
Speaker 2: sort of resistant to sort of big change and sees
47:21
Speaker 2: every problem as a problem that can be dealt with
47:23
Speaker 2: either militarily or other ways that are not necessarily diplomatic.
47:27
Speaker 2: And that's a real problem.
47:29
Speaker 8: Yeah.
47:29
Speaker 4: I mean, listen, we just learned recently about huge hacks
47:33
Speaker 4: on US companies and government infrastructure by the Russians and
47:36
Speaker 4: the Chinese. There's going to be a ton of pressure
47:38
Speaker 4: on Biden to respond in some way.
47:41
Speaker 3: The US has.
47:44
Speaker 4: Pre-ordered most of the vaccines in the world, but there
47:48
Speaker 4: is going to be a need to give some of
47:50
Speaker 4: that back and distribute it to other countries that weren't
47:55
Speaker 4: able to secure those early doses or else we're going
47:57
Speaker 4: to see variants rampaging through other parts of the world
48:00
Speaker 4: and coming back to us. So there's big, complicated political
48:04
Speaker 4: questions ahead of these guys. that I think they'll do
48:07
Speaker 4: the right thing on. But, you know, they're going to
48:09
Speaker 4: be fighting against not just Republicans, but this like blobby
48:13
Speaker 4: mindset in D.C.
48:15
Speaker 1: After, by the way, you know, look, I mean, some
48:17
Speaker 1: of this, we are 60 days into the administration. We
48:21
Speaker 1: were talking about decades old implacable problems after four years
48:26
Speaker 1: of horrific misrule, like some of this, you know, it's
48:30
Speaker 1: a sticky wicket.
48:31
Speaker 3: Totally.
48:31
Speaker 2: You know?
48:32
Speaker 7: Yeah.
48:32
Speaker 4: No, these, like these are, you know, you sort of
48:35
Speaker 4: mentioned this earlier, I mean, the, the, the challenge of
48:39
Speaker 4: asylum seekers coming to the Southern border at this time
48:43
Speaker 4: of year is a perennial one. And there's just a
48:47
Speaker 4: lack of infrastructure in place to deal with that. And
48:49
Speaker 4: there's also just a broken set of laws.
48:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean, I was reading the stories on
48:55
Speaker 2: this this morning, like you've got all these migrant children coming,
48:58
Speaker 2: a lot of them teenagers. And by law, the United
49:02
Speaker 2: States can't just release them into the country, even if
49:04
Speaker 2: it wasn't the law. They're kids. Where are they going
49:07
Speaker 2: to go? What are you going to do? So they're
49:08
Speaker 2: trying to hold them while they try to match them
49:10
Speaker 2: with family in the country somewhere or put them into
49:13
Speaker 2: the foster care system if they can't find families to
49:16
Speaker 2: take them. But in the meantime, while they're holding them,
49:18
Speaker 2: some of the conditions are terrible. They shouldn't be at
49:20
Speaker 2: border facilities, but sometimes the HHS facilities are full. So
49:23
Speaker 2: they're trying to build new ones as fast as they can.
49:26
Speaker 2: But it still doesn't mean that the conditions aren't awful.
49:30
Speaker 2: Some of these are just tough problems of governing that
49:33
Speaker 2: are almost non-ideological in many ways. It's just about sort
49:37
Speaker 2: of getting government moving and just dealing with these sort
49:40
Speaker 2: of intractable problems of migration and stuff like that.
49:43
Speaker 1: But I do actually think this is what ties back.
49:45
Speaker 1: You know, we joke about the problems in the DC press,
49:49
Speaker 1: but I think this is where you come to where
49:50
Speaker 1: you see over a long period of time that there's
49:52
Speaker 1: a real erosion of our ability just to have really
49:55
Speaker 1: hard debates because you look at what took place on
49:57
Speaker 1: the Sunday shows about this very difficult issue. And a
50:00
Speaker 1: lot of the debate on these shows was about, is
50:02
Speaker 1: Joe Biden responsible for for the fact that there's been
50:05
Speaker 1: a surge of migrants at the border. And you have
50:07
Speaker 1: senators like Chris Murphy and others doing heroic work, Nancy Pelosi,
50:10
Speaker 1: like trying to just sort of like, this is a
50:12
Speaker 1: bad situation. It must be addressed. But here's how it
50:14
Speaker 1: happened in the past. You spend so much time like
50:17
Speaker 1: debating bad faith arguments that you rarely get to the substantive, difficult,
50:22
Speaker 1: challenging part of the policy debate.
50:24
Speaker 2: The question we want answered is, what should we do
50:29
Speaker 2: about the crisis at the border? What should Biden be doing?
50:32
Speaker 2: What is he doing wrong? What could he be doing right?
50:34
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean you can't criticize him or criticize the response,
50:37
Speaker 2: but trying to just be like, is it his fault
50:38
Speaker 2: or not his fault doesn't get you to the solution.
50:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
50:41
Speaker 4: No, listen, political considerations have, in Florida specifically, have led
50:45
Speaker 4: to terrible policy outcomes for decades. I'm very worried the
50:49
Speaker 4: Democrats are going to look at us getting trounced in
50:51
Speaker 4: the Miami area and think, oh man, we can't go
50:54
Speaker 4: back to Obama's opening with Cuba, even though the Cuba
50:58
Speaker 4: embargo failed decades ago. And it was obviously time to
51:02
Speaker 4: move past it. But I worry about the political considerations.
51:05
Speaker 4: I worry about people saying, yeah, we got to keep
51:07
Speaker 4: taking a super hard line on Venezuela. We got to
51:09
Speaker 4: sanction the shit out of them every chance we get,
51:13
Speaker 4: even though you have hospitals in Venezuela that have two
51:16
Speaker 4: hours of power per day no gauze, no saline, let
51:20
Speaker 4: alone like COVID.
51:21
Speaker 3: Vaccines, right?
51:22
Speaker 4: It's like there's real world harm and impact on innocent
51:25
Speaker 4: people in other countries that gets driven through just broken,
51:30
Speaker 4: stagnant political considerations.
51:33
Speaker 3: And I just, I hope we can push through it.
51:35
Speaker 4: It's just, you know, sometimes it takes a long time
51:37
Speaker 4: and it takes a more honest conversation and one that is,
51:40
Speaker 4: you know, not designed for Sunday show appearances, for example.
51:44
Speaker 2: So in conclusion, Joe Biden, Answer the question, is Major
51:50
Speaker 2: going to survive?
51:51
Speaker 3: Great question.
51:54
Speaker 2: That's what we're wondering. That's where we are. And until
51:57
Speaker 2: you're– if you want to come on the show, talk
51:59
Speaker 2: about it here, you're more than welcome. But we will
52:01
Speaker 2: be challenging you just as much as we challenge a Republican.
52:04
Speaker 7: Yeah.
52:05
Speaker 1: We're going to have a little clock. It's just basically,
52:07
Speaker 1: has Major– no, I've got to stop.
52:09
Speaker 3: I've got to stop.
52:09
Speaker 1: Has Major– no, I'm not doing it. I'm not finishing
52:12
Speaker 1: the clock.
52:13
Speaker 6: Nope.
52:13
Speaker 2: Nope. All right, everyone. That's our show for today. And
52:18
Speaker 2: we'll talk to you soon. Pod Save America is a
52:23
Speaker 2: Crooked Media production. The executive producer is Michael Martinez. Our
52:27
Speaker 2: associate producer is Jordan Waller. It's mixed and edited by
52:31
Speaker 2: Andrew Chadwick. Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Thanks to
52:34
Speaker 2: Tanya Somenator, Katie Long, Roman Papadimitriou, Caroline Rustin, and Justine
52:38
Speaker 2: Howe for production support. And to our digital team, Elijah Cohn,
52:42
Speaker 2: Narmal Konian, Yale Freed, and Milo Kim, who film and
52:45
Speaker 2: upload these episodes as videos every week.