Latest / Before You Speak / Before You Speak | Episode 50 | $150 Million is the Going Rate For Senators these days... ask Elon

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Before You Speak | Episode 50 | $150 Million is the Going Rate For Senators these days... ask Elon · Before You Speak

• Elwyn: I don't think the people voting for Democrat are like, yes, I love Democrats. I think they're like, we've had the the wool pulled over our eyes by Trump and his people. And and it's very clear that the current presidential administration has d gives no shits about us and is openly corrupt. And I still think everybody else is openly corrupt and doesn't care about us, also. Well, you know, Democrats get another bite of this apple if they win, which is to go and, you know, be productive legislators. Derek Peterson: What's up, y'all? Welcome back to the before your speak before you your speak? Before you speak podcast. because before you speak, you gotta listen to me speak and Elwyn speak. So Elwyn: Yeah, maybe before you speak. Derek Peterson: yeah, before before all of you speak, you gotta listen to us speak. I am your host, Derek Peterson, and I'm processing the fire hose of my newsfeed with Elwyn, who I already said his name, so. Elwyn: Yeah, I am Elwyn and I my the the fire hose my newsfeed this week is alarmingly filled with homoerotic Trump fantasies about Senator John Derek Peterson: No. Elwyn: Husted from Ohio. Kind of a weird closing argument Derek Peterson: All right. Elwyn: for the midterm campaign, but okay, here we are. Derek Peterson: anybody that has like that is not in the magosphere is c looks at this with very sober eyes. We could have called this a long time ago. I am not shocked. When any Republican comes out as being attracted to other men, there is zero shock on my part. The people that are the most vehemently us against these things are usually the ones that wish they were participating in it. So or are just when nobody else is watching. Elwyn: Just such a strange th I felt his a looked at his ass. It was a mountain of muscle. Dude. You're the president of the United States, man. At least try to not be so obviously a deranged old man. Derek Peterson: Yeah, I mean that is the that is like the dementia slash that like more more and more people are talking about this, that he's like the guy's genuinely losing it. So and in losing it, the the one guy that the home healthcare guy on Instagram that got super famous for his takes on all of this, he is predicting that Trump is going to actually out himself and and admit to a crime. live at one of these rallies at some point because that's that's Elwyn: Has he not? Derek Peterson: well I mean he has but I'm they're they're saying like he's he thinks that as his mind starts to go further and further because like that's a thing that dementia does is you are just like brutally honest. Like you just start to say whatever you think and feel at the moment. So like there is a which in for most of us that's not healthy. 'Cause what you think and Phil in the moment is obviously usually a emotional response to something that maybe requires some emotional regulation. before you speak. So Well, we'll see if it happens. Here's the hoping. Fingers crossed. that'd be hilarious if what actually took Trump Trump down was himself. Him just admitting at a rally that he did he stole like the whole crypto thing as a scam. Or yeah, he's just He's do he the only reason he's president is to stay out of jail and to make his kids wealthy before he dies. That's Elwyn: Think he's I think he's on record saying that. I think in like twenty twenty three he's on record saying that Derek Peterson: Is he Elwyn: he has to be president again, otherwise he'll go to jail. I I you know, and I I think that's why they did the Supreme Court ruling so he wouldn't go to jail for having the documents strewn all over the bathroom at Mar a Lago. Like I think he announces crimes every time he speaks. It's just that we don't care. Derek Peterson: Well, we do. We just can't do anything about it. So the Elwyn: Yeah. Well the people who could do something about it don't care. Derek Peterson: Yeah, it's still interesting to me that well, and th this feeds into our conversation later. We'll we'll jump into that, but it's still interesting to me that corruption is the on the ballot for the first time ever, that it's like one of the most highly reported thing reasons why people are voting in the midterms, which side note the the midterm turnout would has been looking pretty good. And Tamara and I went yesterday, and I know our experience was a little different than yours. It took us we had to wait in line for two hours. We went to one of the more popular polling places here in South Austin, but yeah, it was it was a two-hour wait and vibes were good. I was like Elwyn: Yeah, I went to the place I usually go was about a half hour wait, which normally presidential election year I think I waited forty-five minutes instead of it half an hour, so it's not as popular of a place, but I was a a little surprised to see a line, not a lot, but the turnout numbers in Texas are or in Travis County where we are for sure are just unbelievable. They're approaching presidential y years. And it has to be, I think in Texas, some 700,000 people have voted, which is a decent size increase over 2022. You have to measure on like a seven percent population increase over those numbers, but it's still I it it's still a pretty dramatic increase in voting over the population increase. And I think it's just if you look at Virginia, if you look at Florida, similar numbers, and it's Democrats that are voting. and I think the There's a couple of reasons why, but among them is, you know, my thought process is like, all right, they're less likely to fuck with early voting than they are with election day voting, right? There's less likely to be some militia motherfucker out there, Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: you know, on on two on a Tuesday in October than on Tuesday election day. And I think a lot of Democrats are just like, Yeah, I'm not mail voting. I'm getting there as soon as I can and I'm clocking my vote. now That might mean that a lot of Republicans go on election day and it swings things, but yeah, the early voting numbers for a midterm election are are remarkable. Derek Peterson: Yeah. I mean, the we voted in the midterms last time around and it was significantly different. We w we I think we almost walked straight in last time. So I think people are excited for change and to get out and do it. we had some friends that voted yesterday and waited in in line for an hour and a half still. So that's exciting. And I agree. I think everybody's saying the same things like get out and vote early so that you're to make sure that you're you're like you're avoiding any Catastrophic mess up on election day. and then the other thing which was interesting, I saw a guy posting that in I want to say it was Tarrant County, that there was a woman that her and her husband voted. And after they voted, the the clerk there asked them to come talk to them afterwards and then was attempting to give them another voter registration or to validate their address, which the guy that was speaking on the video was very clear. He was like, hey, if you voted, once your vote is cast, do not do anything else after that. Because if they're trying to trap you into voter fraud or to prove that they you voted twice by doing something like this, this is a very like you want to clearly document everything that's going on here. So like if anybody is asking you to fill out an address form or anything after you vote, do not do it. It's absolutely some kind of scam or something else. So be watch out for it, which you know, I think we're all on high alert right now because you know, we're expecting some shit to come up in the next few weeks prior to to the midterm results. Elwyn: Yeah, I and I think that that high alert is probably one of the greatest assets to a free and fair election, to be honest, where just any idea, any inkling, any whiff of impropriety on either side, right? Like Democrats have their have their, you know, eyes and ears peeled for this stuff because they think Trump is gonna fuck shit up, and Republicans are paying super close attention because they think Democrats have been fraudulent. For years and Trump has been telling them they have. So everybody is on high alert. And that means that things will be reported quickly. Like we both saw the same news report, I think, out of Tennessee, about what was probably a machine malfunction. But it doesn't matter. The the the faster those things are reported and circulated around, the harder it makes actual election rigging to occur. you Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: know, the the the sunlight's the best disinfectants on all this stuff. Derek Peterson: Yeah. Yeah. And I did the same. Like after I voted, I went through and checked not only double checked all that all my votes were correct, everything that I had punched in was correct, but then once it actually printed my ballot on the ballot itself, it prints out what you what you voted for. So I just double checked on the ballot again really quick to make sure that Elwyn: It's too then, you know. Derek Peterson: what's that? Elwyn: Once the ballot's printed, you can choose not to cast it, but you can't change your vote. Derek Peterson: Well Yeah, that's the thing is yeah, if if there was something wrong, like if if I if I had printed it out and all of a sudden it said that I had voted for Ken Paxton rather than Talarico, I would have tossed the ballot. So I would have videoed everything and then I would have tossed the ballot. So 'cause I would have been furious. shit Elwyn: They would have been on you for the phone right away. You're not supposed you're not you're not supposed to have a phone in there. Derek Peterson: I would have been okay with that because they if I'm uncovering any kind of serious election fraud, like hey, I clearly voted for double checked my vote too and then it came out different, like go fuck yourself. But yeah, we'll s Elwyn: There is there is it it I am optimistic, you know, I'll just tell you anecdotally. I had a conversation with a woman at at my gym today who I know to be Republican. You know, she's she's worked on Republican campaigns, she works for a Republican lobbying organization, died in the Wolf Republican. I I typically avoid talking politics with certain groups at the gym and and the class she's in is one of them, in part because she's in it. And I just don't want them to feel uncomfortable. But she told me, you know, we were kind of circling around some stuff in a conversation. I was like, wait, we're talking about political ads and stuff like this, and we'll probably get back to that. But you know, I was like, Wait, are you like, are you voting for Tal Rico? And she said, Yes, fuck yes. She goes, at some point, it's about the character of the person. You know, it's just this guy, you know, we're we're already a laughing stock when it comes to corruption and criminals in public office. And he's gonna be our can our candidate and and who that's who we're gonna vote for. I can't vote for that. And she's like, I told my hus she told her husband and her father, like, then d don't vote. Right? Don't vote for Paxton. 'Cause he's just such a he's just a corrupt criminal piece of shit. If you don't like the idea of voting for Talarico, and she happens to like Talerico, but she's like, If you don't like the idea of voting for Talarico, don't vote, but you can't cast your lot behind a guy like Ken Paxton and Man, if that's what someone in in that area of Texas with her background is saying, then not only does Paxton have a people aren't gonna vote for him problem, he has a problem with people who he was counting on voting for him, actively voting for the other candidate. Derek Peterson: Yeah, but this is the crux of the problem is a vote for Ken Paxton, even if you're a Republican, it is could end up being a vote that bites you in the ass anyway. Because what we've know about Ken Paxton is that his corruption does not follow party lines. He will sell out to the highest bidder. So whatever work he's doing and decides to do is he will accept money from, you know, beta Pedophiles, he'll accept money from data center companies, he'll accept money from just about anybody. So, with that being the case, he may not always vote the way you expect him to vote. Because if he's getting if there's more benefit to him voting the opposite direction, he'll do that. And that's the part of it that I'm like, any Republican that thinks this guy is just going to vote the way they want him to, you're wrong. Like Elwyn: Yeah, but I think that only applies to a to a handful of issues. Data centers being probably the one. The the biggest one. Paxton's Yeah. Derek Peterson: Which is the biggest issue in our country at the moment. Elwyn: Yeah, yeah. But I mean, on everything else, Paxton is going to take money from the the the right wing overlords and vote with the right wing overlords and the right wing underlords are are happy about it. You know, so he'll just take some under the table money on the data center stuff and you know. spew some bullshit, but they won't care. You know, so no but I don't think anybody expects the corruption to always flow from one side. I I think it's Yeah, Democrats are taking money from data centers, you know, from AI data Derek Peterson: Democrats can be just as corrupt. I mean, we we've seen it. Yeah, they're Elwyn: centers. Derek Peterson: they're doing they're doing some candidates are doing all the same stuff and we've seen it, you know, we've seen the pushback from all these candidates. Anyone that took money from APAC. We've seen pushback from yeah. Elwyn: That I that's where I was going. Yep. Derek Peterson: So it's it's not that I I think that in general my hope is that all after all of this Citizens United needs to be overturned. And actually, this jumps us right into our topic for now. Elon Musk donated a reportedly $158 million to the Republican Aligned Senate Leadership Fund in September, with substantial spending directed towards supporting Ken Paxton's campaign against James Talerico here in Texas. Republicans are pouring an enormous amount of resources into this race. While Talarico reportedly raised sixty-four million on his own in the third quarter, which is still freaking amazing because this is all small donors, right? So, but I think the bigger issue here is the scale of spending raises questions about how much influence a single wealthy donor should have over American elections. What's your take on this? Elwyn: Well, his I think his total spend, Musk's total spend is up to something like three hundred thirty six million, which is a hundred million basically more than he spent in twenty twenty four on the presidential election. And we know what that bought him. Right? Three months after that election, he's standing in the Oval Office tearing apart all the agencies that were investigating him. you know, basically telling his kid he can wipe his boogers on Trump's suit. You know, like He basically ran the United States government for for a few weeks there before people started to turn on him. So it's very clear that this money buys access and he expects it to buy access. and it's, you know, you said earlier when we were talking, this is a billionaire buying a senator in Texas. This is a billionaire straight up trying to buy himself a Senate seat. He tried to buy himself a judicial seat in Wisconsin in 2025 and failed. You know, but he is actively just he just tries to buy the politicians. And I think it's happened for time immemorial, right? Like people have always tried to buy politicians. Just the politicians have become really, really expensive now. so the numbers are are much, much higher. And the demands, you know, you you expect a lot more for 300 million than you do for 300,000. He had a tweet out today, Politico ran an article about how Democrats Some of the Democrats are starting to talk about how they're gonna gonna investigate him, Elon Musk. And he tweeted out like, He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. If anybody comes after me, I'll come after them and I'll expose them and who's controlling them. And it's like, Bro, th this this is not how this is supposed to work. Right? Like I guess there's nothing wrong if you have fuck you money with telling everybody to go fuck off. But we should we should stand against that. Derek Peterson: I guess that's the that is the point of having fucking money though, I guess, right? No. Elwyn: Right. but but like we should all agree that this is wrong and that this is bad and I think we do, but I think at a fundamental level you're right that we need to change the law so this shit cannot happen. Derek Peterson: Yeah. There's still a bunch of Elon chodes that are just like MAGA that will worship the ground the guy walks on just because he makes money. Dude, the guy is the biggest grifter in the history of grifters. Outside of Donald Trump, I mean, I understand why the two guys like get along and then they clash because when their, you know, interests are aligned, they're both willing to lie cheating still to get whatever they want. The problem is that when their interests aren't aligned, they'll do it to each other, which is creates an issue and they both see it in each other. I mean, Elon's done this with stock prices forever. Like every every time he comes out and speaks about Tesla, he this the flying car that he just dude, that we will never have one of those cars that with that capability on the road. They come out, they do some dumb shit for show to bolster the stock prices, to allow him to borrow more, to make move money around and make different investments and to dude it even Tesla. If you listen to just about every economists with a brain talk, they'll be like, dude, it trades way over what it should be trading for. The multiples just don't don't make sense. Same with SpaceX. And these are viable businesses. They're they're good businesses. Cars and rocket ships. They just they're not as nearly as lucrative as they've been made out to be. Leon Musk should not be the richest person in the world by a long shot. and he is because of ridiculous evaluations of Two companies that are that don't make nearly as much money as they claim to make. So it's it's all Elwyn: Yeah. Derek Peterson: a grift. Elwyn: Well, I mean I for the sake of stirring the pot, I think we can be more nuanced and accurate Derek Peterson: You're gonna go Elon's Elwyn: about about Elon Musk, right? Like the he's not the incredible genius who invented an electric car, right? He didn't Derek Peterson: No. Elwyn: inv he didn't start Tesla. Okay. And he did some shit he did some shitty stuff Derek Peterson: No, he's a bull in a china shop. He was the guy that Elwyn: along the way to, you know, take ownership of Tesla. But Under his guidance, Tesla has recreated the electric car industry. They have they have changed this fundamental industry that hasn't changed in a hundred years to make EVs something viable and something growing around the world. And he deserves credit for that. He deserves credit for his role in PayPal. You know, he he's a shitbag with Twitter. Everybody said it was going to fail when he filed eight fired 80% of the people, but it's still very successful. You know, he he has a way about him. That help that that innovates and creates successful companies in a changing world. But he is also an inimitable shitbag about it. And I think that's where we start sort of start to run into some problems. There have been asshole entrepreneurs and captains of industry forever. JP Morgan rigged the rigged the stock market to his benefit, you know, basically right around World War II. Henry Ford. Did a bunch of terrible shit and was a raging anti-Semi, right? Like none none of these guys are angels. He's just the latest in a long line of of people who, you know, aren't going to heaven. Let's let's put it that way. but he is, I think, unique in how he simply believes that he is above it all, should give nothing back, d deserves a place above. the human race, in effect, for his contributions to the human race. And he has look, he's contributed more to the human race than I have. You know, I I didn't rescue the electric car in in a manner that could, you know, we we see cyber cabs and and autonomous vehicles driving around Austin every day. That's a potential world-changing technology that he's introduced, but that doesn't give him the right to buy a senator. It doesn't give him the right to control wars. You know, it it it We have a problem. We have an Elon Musk problem. and it's c confounded by Elon Musk fanboys and a government that simply doesn't understand what he's doing. Derek Peterson: Th legitimately fair points, I just disagree. Like i I think I don't know that his leadership is the reason Tesla got to where they were at. Like, and granted that's a story we'll never know because he he Elwyn: No, we know it. Th there's there's many books written about it. I mean I I Derek Peterson: Well, meaning like I don't we don't know if if Elon had never taken over Tesla, if Tesla if Tesla makes it as far as they did under different leadership, right? There's cause it Elon isn't actually doing any of this work. It's all the engineers and the people behind the scenes that are doing all the work. In the same way that they're not the ones, you know, he's commissioning the, you know, the space launches and, you know, all the stuff that's going. And look, that business is also incredible. Dude, Starleak is actually an incredible product. it's just not a great product if it's if it's owned and run by a giant asshole. And so like the the vision and the the wherewithal to do all this stuff, I'm a thousand percent with you that I'll give some credit where credit's due. I just almost never I've been in a lot of rooms with people, some very successful, and almost always the best ideas come from like an array of different directions and a run with. And so yeah, like Elon worked himself into a space where he is the guy that gets to take credit for everything that his companies do, whether they're his ideas or not. And so and having worked for some of these companies and seen some of that shit go on, like I'll give credit where credit's due. you know, he's taken Tesla and and and SpaceX to a place where to be honest, that's the thing that Probably nobody else could have done. Nobody else could have, you know, lied their way into getting the stock price to elevate to the levels it has and continue to do that. which is why he's the CEO. But I'm not gonna just be like, Yeah, he is the he is the sole reason why all of these things took place. Elwyn: Now, I'm I'm not saying that I'm not of course he's not the sole reason, but you know, at some point, PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX, it's a quite a it's quite Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: a legacy of of world-changing products, right? He has to get he has to get an awful lot of credit for for being in the founder circle on those three companies. You don't that doesn't mean that I'm that I'm like glazing him or calling him a good guy. I think the the Elon Musk question is much more a question of what do you do? What what does humanity do with someone like him or with someone like Trump or with someone like Larry Ellison, right? Like we have these people that are popping up that are becoming more h have more and more a share of the power, the the the the actual power in the world, right? It's like Ed Norton in The Glass Onion, you living on an island and You know, creating an energy source that can dominate the world. Like this shit is actually kind of happening with Ellison and with Musk and with the Trumps in some sense and Kushner and I'm sure some people out in the Middle East that I don't know about. You know, but w we have to come to grips with balancing the the power of world-changing innovation in especially in a technologically advanced world, and limiting the the power and the control of the people that have all that wealth. Because, you know, I know we were gonna talk about Starlink in Ukraine. It's just it cannot be correct. It cannot be morally right that Elon Musk can call up Donald Trump, because the reporting is they were both involved in this, and say that they're gonna throttle Starlink, for Ukraine so that Ukraine can't defend against missile attacks and can't send drones out at a fast enough speed to be to be useful. You know, th these two people can't put their thumb on the scale in a war that's not in their countries like that. We can't allow that. And if you think, well, who fucking cares? It's Ukraine. Well, let's say that Gina Inohosa wins the governorship in Texas and and James Tal Rico becomes a senator. You know, Starlink is incredibly useful for areas in rural Texas. You know, think of a town I used to own land near Terlingua. The the high school in Terlingua has like 13 people and there's no internet out there. They're using Starlink. Could he just say, I'm shutting down Starlink for Texas because I don't like their governor? Well, clearly he can shut it down for a country because he doesn't want them to win a war. Like we the that amount of power cannot be vested in one person. Period. I I just it has nothing to do with throttling the innovative spirit of the United States. It has to do with understanding when a power has become or a technology has become ubiquit ubiquitous or a public utility and saying, okay, now. This can no longer be subject to the whims of an individual. This has to be subject to the democratic process and the people who we elect to run our society. Derek Peterson: Agreed. Yeah. I think there's not a lot else I think we need to talk about on that because the Elon Musk thing for me, like I I'm a thousand percent in agreement. I think all of this stuff has to to some degree get there needs to be more oversight over it. And it's clear that all of these billionaires investment in politics is to absolutely undo that. Like We're we're their their goal is to cut continue to cut the red tape so that they get more and more power to essentially lord this over us. Because there does come a point where, like, if we are all at the you know, nipple of these billionaires and there's no other solutions, that they do control society. Like they control if they control our food sources and our water sources and our energy sources, you know, and they've consolidated that, then we have to go grovel at the teeth to get. anything we want. And yeah, that's I I I think we've agreed as Americans at the foundation of our country that that is not the society that we were building or what we wanted. if we wanted something like that, we should just go back to a monarchy and elect a king to run everything. Right. You know Elwyn: And I I think we're there, right? I think that's on the ballot with the data centers. You referred to that earlier. You know, it's like Jeff Bezos is saying out loud, like, well, you know, we need to use less water so that the data centers can have more water because the technology coming out of the data that the data centers support is so valuable to humanity, it's more valuable than the water it requires. No, no, no. Also, you know. Who's one of the top donors to the ballroom, right? Amazon and Jeff Bezos. Derek Peterson: Yeah. Yeah, he made all those claims while he was landing his helicopter on his one of his mega yachts and you know, consuming every resource humanly possible at a ridiculous amount for one human being. So yeah, like yeah, the the all of it they can go fuck themselves. And I'm out on the Elon Musk stuff particularly gets to me just because it does feel like he's this one's personal for us because he's in Texas. So and it does feel like Elwyn: It's also very overt. It's really like Derek Peterson: Yeah, he's buying our he's he's he's the I'm can almost guarantee you he's the primary donor for Greg Abbott's campaign, Dan Patrick's campaign, and and Ken Paxton. The only reason Ken Paxton is requiring this much money is because he's so terrible of a candidate. They have to they're they're doing everything in their power to make this work, including sending creating a a company to send fake trans mailers out to Republicans. Dude, that that shit is just ugly and ridiculous. Like, dude, I just like it kills me to think the most vulnerable of us, and as somebody myself who claims to be a Christian, the most vulnerable of us would probably be a trans child, a a child that was struggling with their identity between a boy and a girl. And it and I I'm not saying that I support early sex change or whatever, anything like that. But these are the most vulnerable of us. These are kids that are very confused, insecure, and know nothing. And we've weaponized these children more than anything else on the face of the planet. And that is the most disgusting thing in the world to me. If you fear a child because they're confused about their sexual orientation, you are the problem, not the child. Let's just Elwyn: Yeah, I d I don't think that they fear it. I think that at this point I'm Derek Peterson: They fear it as much as they fear immigrants. Everything every single communication around all this stuff is is is leaned in towards. If these people take over, they're gonna come after your children. That's it. Elwyn: Yeah, I mean I think everybody knows like but they don't fear the trans children. They fear the society that would accept a trans child. Right. Like th and Yes, I agree. Like it doesn't it doesn't Derek Peterson: Sure, but those two things as a child are you able to to emotionally disconnect those two pieces or just that everybody fucking hates me? Elwyn: Yeah. well I mean they're gonna feel like everybody hates them anyway. We don't need to pile on and make it worse. the Derek Peterson: Correct. Other than a T V ad running every fifteen seconds that it communicates that to them. Elwyn: Yeah. I mean I think that mailer in particular it's just boy, they really have nothing. You know, they really have nothing. Like the it it really feels the the the ubiquity of the trans debate in commercials and ads in this election year in particular really feels like we don't know what else to do. Let's run that shit back. And it gets traction. That's the thing though, right? Derek Peterson: Well, this is this is happening across the board, right? So, like Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign produced an advertisement featuring the estranged mother of the Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, who and it publicly attacks you know the daughter's character in the ad. Acton then came out and spoke about her actual experience as a child. Where she experienced homelessness, was abused, and experienced sexual abuse. and even after the fact, despite the backlash from both sides, Republicans and Democrats have actually both come out and been like, Yeah, that's pretty messed up. But Ramaswamy Ramaswamy's campaign is still planning to spend four million to run the ads. Elwyn: They hadn't actually run it yet. It came out online. It you know, it wasn't it there was there had been no paid coverage with that ad when it when it came out Derek Peterson: Really? Okay. Elwyn: yesterday. So it came out and yeah, Amy Acton, the the Democratic candidate, was abused by her stepfather. There's he was criminally charged. I think he went to jail for it. There's, you know, just reams of public records about this. This happened. And Her mother ha in the ad basically comes out saying that her daughter's a liar. So standing on the side of the abusive stepfather, it it's just to use that as a campaign thing is just awful and also stupid. But at the, you know, when it came out yesterday, it hadn't been paid for. And then they asked him about it and he said, Yes, it's mine. And they said, Well, are you still gonna run it? Are you are you actually gonna run this? And he was like, Yeah, we just spent four million dollars. It's gonna start running soon. so it wasn't even he hadn't even spent money. He had the opportunity to like throw someone under the bus and be like, Yeah, we were going to, but after seeing it, no, I think it's horrific and you know, I disagree with my democratic opponent, but nobody should ever have to go through what she went through and we will not be running that ad and whatever, right? But now Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: they're gonna run so hard against that ad. You know, it it's it's just turn Derek Peterson: Yeah yes. Elwyn: it's Turning into a massive gift for Amy Acton and Ramaswamy, who has this reputation of being kind of a smarmy fuckstick anyway, now looks even worse. Derek Peterson: Yes. That guy's has the most punchable face I've ever seen. By far. Elwyn: Extremely punchable face. Derek Peterson: It's so bad. Well, yeah, th this is what I'm saying. I I'm begging Republicans to bring candidates to the table that are actually have values at all. I have not seen a single Republican ad that talked about policy or anything that they were planning on doing, and that wasn't just a straight lie. You know, Abbott's ads here in Texas came out and were like, Hey, we're gonna audit data centers and fix schools. And it's like, bitch, you're the one that's ruining schools and allowing all the data centers into our state. So you're gonna run on fixing problems you created when we all know that you're also funded by Elon Musk, who is paying you a bunch of money so that you'll overlook all of the data center red tape when as soon as the elections are over. So Yeah, I mean if you vote for Republican in Texas, you are voting for data centers and you're voting for you're voting for the continual defunding of our public schools. Elwyn: You're voting for people who don't care about you. Right? Right. That's why I say Derek Peterson: Yeah. And look I Elwyn: Greg Abbott doesn't care about you at the end of the episode. Derek Peterson: Yes. Elwyn: but like the you hit on something there, which is the the Democrats are now starting to roll out good candidates. you know, Talerico is a good candidate. Gina Anahosa could be a good candidate. She's just on the line. Like, but John Osoff, he's already he's an incumbent, but he's a very good candidate. Abdul El Sayyed. Look, I have my issues with him. He's a very, very good candidate. Zoran Mamdani is a very, very good candidate. There's this, you know, bench of young, interesting, good political candidates on the left that doesn't exist on the right. And I think it's it's a a a result of losses in 2016, primarily, you know, and Biden being not exactly a a motivating leader, you know, that that sparked That sparked excitement from people. So we've now had ten years for young people to say, I want to be involved on the Democratic side. We're years away from that from on the Republican side. Derek Peterson: Yeah, but we're seeing that also because, you know, in the same way that our solution to managing the problem of processing like what we're seeing in front of us was to start a podcast and to become vocal about our feelings and try to process this in a way that may eventually help somebody else process as well. The all of these people that are are jumping into these races are jumping in because they genuinely want to make change now. It feels like there are a lot of people that are actually running now for the right reasons, which I don't think I would have said that a couple years ago. Like this is the first time I've seen candidates that I'm like, I'm actually pretty excited about a lot of these these younger candidates and what they're comf comfortable getting up and just and and saying in front of people. And I'm like, yes, we're actually talking policy again. We're actually talking, dude, Tamara and I are fewer dude, Tamara's just Got her back surgery declined by our insurance while simultaneously being told that we're gonna pay double for our insurance next year. So what's coming out of her paycheck every two weeks is now gonna be $400 a paycheck rather than like the $225 that we pay now for the exact same coverage. And that doesn't include the employer side, right? It doesn't include what they're playing, paying on top of that. And that's every two weeks. So we're paying, well, our monthly will go up. I thought it was gonna I thought we were paying a little bit more, but when we broke it down yesterday, so we'll be paying just over eight hundred dollars a month for our well every two weeks. So which is so it ends up actually there's one or two months we that it hits twice or three times. So that we'll we'll have a couple twelve hundred dollar a month, you know, paycheck or twelve hundred dollar out of pocket months. But yeah, dude, it this is ridiculous. It's it's awful. Elwyn: Yeah. And there's it's not just that they're good candidates, right? Like Mamdani Derek Peterson: Universal health care is needed. Yeah. Elwyn: is actually responsive to people. John Osof, as I've learned more about him, like he's very popular in Georgia because he is responsive to people. People can call his office, speak to someone, and they will try and get something done to help that person. That's what an elected official should do, right? We we it it's been for too long. Get elected, go to Washington, get a place there, and you're set. It's why like Roger Marshall in Kansas might lose because they can't figure out that he needed money. Right? Because he was like, Great, I'm a Republican in Kansas. I'm I got it. I got the nomination. I'm gonna win. They nobody needs to spend any money on me. So the Democrats have this incredibly unique opportunity. We've talked about it, and hopefully in a couple of weeks we're doing a podcast, and the Democrats have had a great election, you know, where they can. I don't think the people voting for Democrat are like, yes, I love Democrats. I think they're like, we've had the the wool pulled over our eyes by Trump and his people. And and it's very clear that the current presidential administration has d gives no shits about us and is openly corrupt. And I still think everybody else is openly corrupt and doesn't care about us, also. Well, you know, Democrats get another bite of this apple if they win, which is to go and, you know, be productive legislators. And in that sense, it's very good that in so many cases it's new people or young people. Ossoff's not new, but he's young enough to have that mindset, right? Sherrod Brown better get his shit together. You know, he's a he's a retread. You know, I'm worried about him. Derek Peterson: Yeah, it's but it's you're correct. You know, El Sayed is running on universal healthcare and he's touting it constantly. Talerico, I've heard him say numerous times in interviews in the last couple of weeks about ending Citizens United and going after billionaires and you know, data centers and all this stuff. Dude, this is all of the stuff that people actually care about right now. This is the stuff that actually makes a d a dent in our our pocketbooks and starts to change things. And Yeah, we and if they do nothing with this, if Democrats get power and they fuck all of this up, then yeah, like we'll be talking about we'll we'll have a different podcast, or this one will slowly shift into Democrat hate rather than just but what what it currently is. Which to be honest, if Republicans had any decent candidates right now, I would be trying to find the silver lining in in at least one or two of these. I have not seen one. That I can be like, man, I like that person's actually talking like a normal human being and is not just in this to continue the corruption and is not just a bootlicker to Trump. So, which is I'm over. But well, also, so let's let's talk about this for a second because this was interesting. this is also slightly terrifying to me. I want your take on it. President Trump and JD Vance announced a $25 million initiative offering financial rewards to people. Who report suspected fraud involving the federal involving any federal programs, tips leading to any convictions or significant enforcement of actions could qualify for rewards up to $30,000, while Trump also floated a 1% commission on fraud uncovery or on fraud being uncovered. the administration says the program will protect will protect taxpayer dollars, but the question remains. how the tips will be verified and who will decide which whistleblowers get paid. Elwyn: If if the database of tips coming in is made public, shit, I'm all for it. Right? Let's go. Right? Like why Derek Peterson: Okay. Yeah. Elwyn: not? Let us see what tips are coming in and let us see which tips you respond to. Right? Be even handed about it. Sure. If you want to give out money for for this sort of thing, like we have whistleblower lawsuits and whistleblower protection lawsuits. You can get treble damages, you know, if you if you blow the whistle on a company and monetary damages are found out. Th that's not what it is. I you know, I suspect with you there's a a motivation to collect information about your opponents and a motivation to look like you're actually doing something, you know, right before an election. Wasn't this supposed to be Doge though? Like isn't that what doge was? Derek Peterson: Yeah. Correct. That was essentially t I get a little irked at this because to me this just screams Hey, like I I how many times are we gonna get we're gonna get a n something in our news feed in the next you know couple weeks that the DOJ is now inspecting this person based off a random tip through the hotline. which just happens to be somebody that Trump is angry at or a political opp opponent or some BS, which is that just tracks with everything that's going on. Like the Ilian Omar stuff that's happening right now. Like, you know, like they're going after her citizenship and re reevaluating all this stuff. And they're doing it at a time that's really shitty, like right before an election. Look, if I'm not opposed to and I also think she came here as a minor. So if there was any Elwyn: That's at the crux Derek Peterson: Did Elwyn: of it. Derek Peterson: yeah, if there was any discrepancy on her immigration papers, it should have been between her parents. But if she is here and a naturalized citizen now, yeah, get the fuck out of here. Elwyn: Well, the the issue for the sake of discussing something that's not an that that's not truly serious is her father filled out immigration paperwork and listed her birth date at an age, I think nineteen ninety-one or something like that, an age that would have made her seventeen at the time that he submitted the application. Because if she's not eighteen, the parent can submit the application for citizenship on the kid's behalf. If she was in fact eighteen, if he lied on the paperwork. And she was 18 at the time, then her citizenship is not valid. Then she never became a citizen in the first place, which is what they're trying to prove. Because if she's not a citizen, then she can be deported. yeah, so that that's what they're going after. It's been reported on before, it's been investigated before, they've never found anything. It's pretty clear. Like I think everybody's just they see this for what it is, unless you're just died and it's just red meat for your for his base. I think at this point everybody else sees it for what it is. That doesn't make it right. It shouldn't happen. you know, it's the DOJ being an arm of the president problem that we've that we've talked about. but I also think that like the the Fulton County investigation, that warrant was like a year ago. Nothing. Right? I think it's spectacle for again, for the base to show the FBI coming in and out of the office and carrying boxes and all this shit. You know, if they had found something in that Fulton County investigation, I I feel like they've had enough time to have found something, right? Like they to go through everything and and announce it and make a whole big splash about vote fraud and election rigging and all that shit. I I don't think that that's the point of it at all. I think those papers almost just get put in a closet and they they just want the show of the investigation. Derek Peterson: Yeah, I there's there's probably some truth to that because it's just that's they we live in the their entire objective, I think, for the most part is to distract while they steal money. Like that's the entire objective. So, like, hey, we'll we'll pretend like we give a shit about this thing while we pick your pocket over here, which this this is exactly what this announcement feels like. You know, like they're announcing, we're gonna we're gonna pay out for people that you know, fraud initiatives. While meanwhile, like there's a report that came out today that a billionaire paid fifty million to get a pardon again. And I'm like, Yeah, like the what in God's name? Do you know more about that? The Elwyn: Yeah, that's Alina. I know a little bit more. That's Alina Haba, who was his personal attorney, who was also appointed to be the attorney general in New Jersey, but was improperly appointed or wasn't confirmed in time, so she was removed from her post. Has sometime in the last couple of years married a like Turkish billionaire. Okay. Sounds bad already. but basically I think someone connected with her husband or something like that s gave fifty million dollars to get someone pardoned. And there's some argument over like some other papers that were supposed to be destroyed or not destroyed with Richard Grinnell who's known for the Kennedy Center. It's like a whole bunch of fraud and corruption. Ten X, a hundred X the size of Kimberly Gilfoils, but with a woman who's hotter and closer to Trump, so he doesn't give a shit and she doesn't lose her job. Derek Peterson: That sounds sounds about right. I I think I'm just ready for the corruption to be over. And then the like the irony of them putting a program together to go after corruption and fraud when they are the the benefactors of so much of it. It just it it's mind blowing to me. And it also is like the biggest form of gaslighting on the face of the fucking planet. So like All of this stuff is for show and it's and it's almost as like it's almost as childish as it can get. It's like i in in in essence, right? It's like listening to two kids fight and one kid's like steals something from one kid. So they steal the same thing back and they're just screaming at each other for it, like whose fault it is. It's just the whole thing is just feels childish, like We're stealing all this money. So now we're gonna create a program for the public to im to report any fraud they see out there. And it's just like Elwyn: But I think I think something that keeps me to like a four out of ten on this sort of thing is I really think that people that that sixty five percent of the country sees right through it. I really do. Derek Peterson: I hope so. Elwyn: I think that's why his approval rating is like he has the lowest approval rating of a president going into a midterm election ever. You know, ever. Worse than true Truman was the previous worst. He's worse than Truman, he's worse than himself in his first term, he's worse than Biden, he's worse than George W. Bush. You know, in tw two thousand six when the Iraq war was going on for way too long. I think people just Derek Peterson: And even those poll numbers, I still think they're altered on the high side. I like meaning I don't yeah, I don't know that Yeah, correct. Meaning Elwyn: Maybe. Yeah, like why isn't it twenty? Why isn't it ten or zero? Derek Peterson: like I don't understand I don't I like twenty percent of the American population is still like who are you polling? Elwyn: Yeah, but I think there's always I think there's 30% who yeah, they just they don't care. They but they know. I still think they know that it's corrupt. And I think that 65% of the of the country sees it for exactly what it is, which is just out and out corruption. so these things, peep e any podcast I think that you listen to where they talk about it, they're immediately like, come on, guys, like give us a break. JD Vance did a town hall and someone asked about corruption. And he was like, you know, I have never seen anything corrupt about this president or anybody paying to give access to this president. And, you know, certainly hasn't happened with me. And I think if this president did anything about it, that ever saw that, he would do something about it immediately. And it was just like everybody that was listening to him and and talking about it later was like, bro, not just what are you talking about? But do you think we believe that? Like you you it you you've just sunk your political future because you know you're you're now just obviously a lying hack because the whole everybody with eyes, ears, and a mouth knows that this administration is just wildly corrupt. So to to go forth and say that it's not corrupt at all is just lunacy. You can cry try and defend it and be like, well, you know, he needed the plane from Qatar or You know, crypto coin is a valid form of investment or whatever. It's all bullshit. But, you know, to to say it doesn't exist, I think most of the people in the country now are just like, come on, we can't get rid of Trump, but we can we can send a message against him in this election. so I that stuff I think it bothered me a lot more that people didn't see it in the in his first term. But I think in his second term, as his second term has gone on, a lot more people are like. Why are we in the Saran War? You know, why Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: are we why are we building data centers? it's just too obvious and too relevant. Derek Peterson: Yeah, it which, you know, JD Vance, people he doesn't control the MAGA base like Trump does. Nobody does. So it's gonna be interesting to see what like they're gonna have to have another TV personality, some dumb, dumbass that is just like a rich like I feel like Elwyn: Look at Joe Rogan. Derek Peterson: well, the thing is d Joe Rogan actually has a brain. Like there there's our there is there are times that don't Joe Rogan will say Elwyn: No he doesn't. Stop. Stop. No. Derek Peterson: Look, if Joe Rogan talks about space and aliens, I'm all in. Everything else, n not so much. Elwyn: Guy talks for four hours at a time and gives out like three coherent thoughts in four hours. Derek Peterson: Well, that's because he's high from the get go, you know, like from Elwyn: All right, well now I'm in. Okay. Derek Peterson: the I mean, there I've heard Joe Rogan actually say some smart shit from time to time. I think people if you don't listen to him regularly, but and I'll be honest, he's changed a lot over the last few years, in large part because of his affiliation with the Republican Party, which I'm out on. But a lot of people are, dude. We're seeing like The Trump's on this tour across the country for red states that normally they win and he doesn't have to visit like places like Kansas, places like San Antonio, and dude, he's getting and then tonight he's in South Carolina, I think, and they are he's getting heckled everywhere he goes. They're they're gonna they're having to do all this quality control. I mean, we talked about it last week, the woman that wore the Epstein file shirt and got punched and You know, like there are almost all of these rallies are now getting interrupted at a pace that like we did not see before. Like this shit wasn't happening before. People are there's some stuff going on that I'm I'm a little bit hopeful about. So we'll see. We'll see if it Elwyn: Give you, I'll give you a quick cell phone on the like reporting corruption thing. You know, in Texas, they passed this law where you can report people who who have had an abortion and you can get paid for it, right? Civilians can report on their neighbors and they, you know, the neighbor can get or the doctors or enablers can get sued and you can get like a hundred grand as a tip. So people from the anti-abortion movement that got that law passed some of the people that were associated with getting that law passed filmed themselves ordering miphapristone from while while in Houston and somebody saw the video and is fucking suing them because ordering it ordering miphopristone is covered by that law and they're like yeah no you are breaking the law You are ordering an abortion drug for s for shipment into the state of Texas. That's ten thousand dollars per violation. You ordered it three times. I should have thirty thousand dollars and you should go to jail or whatever. Derek Peterson: Well, you know, it works for somebody somewhere. Elwyn: Yeah. Yeah. Derek Peterson: Dude, we need to what I need to do is just every every person that I really don't like, I just need to start reporting them for shit like this. Like just report random fraud and abortion for like anybody I'd see, anybody I'd see with an abbot or a Ken Paxton. I have not seen one single Ken Paxton sign, by the way, in a yard. I have seen an abbot sign. I've seen one. Elwyn: I I saw a Ken Derek Peterson: And it was in Kyle. Elwyn: Paxton bumper sticker and I pulled up. I was able to pull up next to them at the light and I was like. Derek Peterson: Was it Ken Paxton? Elwyn: I was like, no. I was like, who not just who would vote for him, who would put it on their car that they're voting for him? Like what is what does this human look like? Do they look like humans? Or is it an alien? Is it like six ears, four eyes? This can't be an actual Derek Peterson: Great. Elwyn: sane person that that deserves to have a driver's license, I guess. I don't know. Derek Peterson: Well, can I guess? Can I guess what they looked like? Elwyn: Yeah. Derek Peterson: I'm gonna guess s Elwyn: It was a woman. Derek Peterson: it was a woman. All right. I was gonna guess sixty year old white I was gonna guess white male ten and two on the on the steering wheel and it l probably wearing like a I'm trying to think what's a good like a some kind of like fishing hat or something. But yeah with a beard. That's who I expect. Elwyn: Yeah, with a with a beard. You know. You're wearing a fish you're wearing a fishing trucker's cap and a beard. Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: no, it it was it was a woman and there's a there's a MAGA profile woman that I've noticed in cars which is also sixty years old. the kind of hairdo that only needs to be washed like once a week. yeah. The mouth is downturned. The mouth is like Derek Peterson: Yeah. It stays in place while you sleep. You just get up and just Yeah. Elwyn: you know, just always always looking very grim, Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: you know, decent amount of makeup. Nice bigger earrings, like it there's definitely a like Texas MAGA woman look, to that kind of car and that's what it was. It was like, I know you. Your name is Barbara. Yeah. Derek Peterson: yeah, we've Or Karen. just old Karen. Old Karen is a Barbara. so well let's let's tell somebody to shut the fuck up today, Ellen. Who we tellin'? Elwyn: Yeah, let's keep it on topic. Let's go Don Huffeins. Derek Peterson: Yes. Elwyn: Don Huffeines, who you and I both got the text from him today with the link to that fighting corruption website. Don Huffines, candidate for Comptroller in Texas, used car deal, made his money selling cars, has a bunch of car dealerships. Also owns the Jeffrey Epstein ranch in New Mexico and has fought tooth and nail. To not uncover fraud and child abuse at that at that ranch. You know, he's he's well known now for having bought it and for fighting any sort of investigation at that property, stopping authorities from coming in, delaying that however they can. and this motherfucker is the one who's telling us that he wants to uncover fraud, waste, and abuse. If you're sitting out there and you're trying to uncover fraud, waste, and abuse. And you can't credibly and wholeheartedly say we need to release every single one of the Epstein files. Get out of here. Shut the fuck up. What you that is the biggest abuse scandal of our time, you know, maybe in human history, right? It it's and it's not just the child abuse and the sexual abuse. Of course it's that. It's the abuse of the system. It's the buying of judges and of prosecutors. The the buying Jeffrey Epstein a sweetheart deal from Alex Acosta in Florida back in the early 2000s, the buying Donald Trump to get him to not release it, the the the abuse of the system in putting Todd Blanche in power, the cover-up is itself abuse of the system, corruption of the system. If you're for uncovering and reducing fraud, waste and abuse. You must be for uncovering all the people associated with the Jeffrey Epstein file and covering it up. And he now, he not now, he's been one of Don Huffein's has been one of the guys covering up one of the most interesting potential avenues of this investigation. He didn't have to buy that ranch. Why in God's name? He didn't buy that ranch twenty years ago. He bought it like earlier this year. Right? Why on earth? If I bought that ranch, it would be so that I could open up the gates to every law enforcement official that exists. And so that Derek Peterson: Yep. Elwyn: I could sit there and watch them do what they do and record everything that they took and ask them what they were taking and review every single warrant and follow the paper trail. That's why I would buy that ranch. He bought Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: it for the other reason. He bought it to keep everything out. So for a guy like that, any anybody associated with that to come at me with, you know, hey. Click this link and help us recover fraud, waste, and abuse. Miss me with that entirely. Go shut the fuck up. Lose your election, which he won't. Lose your election and disappear. Man, he's run for governor like five times. He's run against Abbott a bunch of times too. He's like a libertarian nutchob, this guy. yeah, so Don Huffines. Go away. You were terrible as a political pi figure. Now you're terrible as a human. And you're trying to like whitewash that with Some, you know, bogus attempt to uncover abuse when you are the abuse. You yourself are the abuse. Derek Peterson: Thousand percent. Well said. I think I might get on that link and report him. Be like Elwyn: I reported Ken Paxton. Derek Peterson: Yeah, I'm gonna jump on that link and be like, Yeah, Elwyn: I'm I might go on and report him too. Derek Peterson: there's this guy Don Hoffines that bought the Epstein ranch and isn't allow allowing people to investigate it. Like, can Elwyn: Yeah. Yeah. Derek Peterson: we get that sounds like fraud and abuse to me. So can we Elwyn: beautiful thing is that I have to imagine in a day we'll start to see on threads and on on all the socials people just spamming the shit out of that link with exactly that, Derek Peterson: dude, it's it's gotta be. Elwyn: with Ken Paxton, with Donald Trump, with JD Vance. You know, it's like Derek Peterson: Well, we Elwyn: when they take all the tickets. Derek Peterson: I think we need to start a movement around all of this. The the whistleblower program, I think every Democrat should be going to that website and absolutely reporting every fraud a case case. They should be reporting Trump, his crypto scam, his son's contracts with the US government. the all of the presidential pardons that were paid for, all of the corruption around the ballroom and the people that are donating for favors to the ballroom, everything. The the reflecting pool, it the contract that's the contracts that are just going out to all of his buddies and shit's never not getting done or not getting done correctly. And then it just goes away. by the way, remember we tried to try a guy for that apparently Elwyn: Yeah. Derek Peterson: cut the the reflecting pool from end to end. but and now that's been fully debunked and they're like, yeah, that was it was just terrible installment. So like Elwyn: Yeah. Derek Peterson: which we all said from the start. It's like Elwyn: Yeah, the monopoly man contractor didn't know what he was doing. Derek Peterson: Yeah. Let's report all of that through the whistleblower program consistently. and let's just take down the damn website. Elwyn: Actually might I actually might take an hour or so today and just like do that. Derek Peterson: Yeah. I I I if I have time, next time I'm sitting, I'm gonna find the link and next time I'm sitting at like one of my kids' sporting events where nothing is happening, I'm gonna go through and be like, All right, we're reporting all this now. So well I was gonna ask you what we're talking about next week, but we don't have any idea. So you wanna sign us off? Elwyn: Yep, Clarence Thomas is a piece of shit. Greg Abbott hates you. Susan Collins remains concerned. And yeah, we will see you next week. Derek Peterson: See you all next week. Elwyn: I don't think the people voting for Democrat are like, yes, I love Democrats. I think they're like, we've had the the wool pulled over our eyes by Trump and his people. And and it's very clear that the current presidential administration has d gives no shits about us and is openly corrupt. And I still think everybody else is openly corrupt and doesn't care about us, also. Well, you know, Democrats get another bite of this apple if they win, which is to go and, you know, be productive legislators.