Ryan and Emily discuss Jon Stewart begs Dems on gov shutdown, MTG breaks with party on healthcare, Pam Bondi squirms on Epstein Trump questions, Cuomo lashes out at Zohran.
Eugenia Muzio: https://x.com/eugemuzio
Negar Mortazavi: https://x.com/NegarMortazavi
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Good morning and welcome to Breaking Points.
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Yes, right, so what makes the show work?
Speaker 5 (00:41):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
There's gonna be a lot of fascinating stuff on today's program,
and some of it will make you furious at some
other elements of the media, and hopefully we'll make you
grateful for outlets like Breaking Points, like Dropsite, and as
that gratitude watches over you remember that you can go
to Breakingpoints dot com and become a premium subscriber to
help this thing go along, so that we don't have
(01:03):
to moonlight as speech writers for powerful political figures. So
you don't want us to have to do that.
Speaker 5 (01:09):
That's a little teaser of what's to come.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Ryan has some really great original reporting to share later
in the show.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
And a couple of things that we don't have time
to get to. Yes, if you missed the Katie Porter interview,
it's good viral, go find it incredible. She's like, let
me see if I can torpedo my campaign in one interview. Yes,
it's really incredible.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
Mission accomplished.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The background on her, the knock on her in the
house was always that she was cruel to staff and
also to some other members. Her defender said, no, no, no,
that's sexist. She's just tough. Oh you go ahead and
watch this clip. You tell me who I was right
about that. We also maybe we'll get to cover this
the Virginia election at some point, but there's this wild
ag scandal going on. It's a disaster, and a guy
(01:49):
apparently was quoting Michael Scott from the office but took
four days to say that and got painted as somebody
sending out death threats or something. I don't know whole
thing is incredible, might cost Democrats every day in Virginia.
We'll see. As I was mentioned in the show yesterday,
Alex Coulson, the Drop Site, our Drop site, journal colleague,
(02:10):
and more than one hundred others were released from Israeli prison.
But overnight nine more ships were illegally seized by Israel
in international waters, including the Conscience and eight other ships.
More than one hundred and fifty doctors, journalists, nurses on
(02:31):
their way to deliver said that about one hundred and
fifteen thousand dollars worth of aid to deliver, so that's
now in the hands of the Israelis.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
And Pambonni was testifying in the Senate yesterday, so a
lot of highlights from her very conductious testimony and really
ran the gamut as you would expect it to from
a lot of questions about Epstein, but also some questions
about that Katari jet, some questions about the National Guard,
the uses of the National Guard, and much more so
stay tuned for the highlights and low lights of Pambondi's testimony.
(03:02):
Andrew Cuomo making the rounds talking to Stephanie Rule, talking
to the view It's really something and we'll talk a
bit about Zora Mamdani's controversial I guess we can say
ten to seven hosts. We'll break down the controversy, the nontroversy,
whatever you want to call it, and get to that.
(03:23):
There's also we're going to be talking one of the
journalists who broke a story wide open about the Argentinian
bailout that we covered last week in the soybean context.
Is what we talked about last week, But actually, how
did that money from the United States end up going
to Argentina?
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Why is probably the better way to put it.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Why did that money end up going There are many explanations,
but I think he landed on a pretty good one.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Ryan Yep. Yeah, you Henny O, You Hennet Muzio will
be joining us from Argentina, yep. Who's done a lot
of the reporting that exposed which particular hedge fund executives
were lobbying our hedge fund exact who now serves as
Secretary of Treasury to give Milay a whole bunch of
money to bail them out and screw our farmers along
(04:08):
the ways.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
Good for everyone.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, when nsml's here at home, But that's okay.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Yeah, whatever, don't worry about it. Okay, So should we
get to the shutdown?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, and then we'll talk about some David Froumm and
Douglas Murray stuff at the very end.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
That's right, because you yeah, that's this is the tease.
Let's bring this intro full circle. Ryan teased support breakingpoints
dot com premium memberships. If you can't like and subscribe,
it helps us so much and leave comments. That helps
us so much. But Ryan has a piece of original
reporting that I was going to say dropped that drops
out last night, but I felt really bad saying that,
(04:42):
but it's it's something else.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, and then we'll also have as well. Also got
caught with a running basically a bot campaign, trying to
prop up a new shot, and I run, we'll talk
to the negro a Mota Zabie about that program. It's
just like, how do you even keep your head around
any of the stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I don't know, But I'm glad that at least it's
just bots at this point.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It's spots all the way down.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Yeah, all right, let's get to the shutdown. So yesterday
Donald Trump took questions in the Oval office. We're going
to bring you some of those comments basically centered around
federal workers, and a roller clip of John Stewart for
his insight into how Democrats should be handling this. But
before we do, that's what Trump is going to be
talking about. It's what the conversation was about on Capitol Hill,
(05:27):
is this question of back pay for furloughed workers. The
Trump administration is actually insisting that it can just get
rid of a lot of workers and then not pay
a lot of workers as a way to sort of
up the ante for Democrats. So with that in mind,
let's go ahead and roll this clip of John Stewart
talking about how Democrats should be handling the shutdown fight.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
Seventy five million Americans voted for a Democrat in this
last round of presidential elections, and at this moment they
have zero power at the federal level, not in the House,
not in the Senate, not the executive and not in
the courts. There has not been a moment of conciliation
or concern about the issues and policies that drove those
(06:09):
seventy five million votes. Not a moment at present. The
Democrat's largest victory over these past eight months is getting
a guy who may or may not be a criminal
back from l Salvador so Trump could send him to Uganda.
That was the big win. And then suddenly a small
ask for people's preservation of healthcare is a Molotov cocktail.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I've given him.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
Democrats an enormous amount of shit for their poor leadership,
lack of specific and actionable plans, terrible messaging, abysmal wordplay.
Did I mention poor leadership, But standing up for seventy
five million Americans in this moment to defend the rights
of people to go into a little less medical debt
seems like the least they can fin do.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
So Donald Trump and Russ Vote wrote the Office of
Management and Budget are trying to change the calculus for
Democrats away from even what John Stewart is saying there
and complicate the shutdown conversation. Let's go ahead and roll
this cup of Donald Trump in the Oval Office getting
questions about whether federal workers should.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Be entitled to back pay.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
There was a memo from Russ Vote that suggested otherwise,
here's here's Donald Trump.
Speaker 7 (07:23):
Is it the White House position?
Speaker 8 (07:24):
And if forment workers should be paid for.
Speaker 9 (07:27):
Their that pay?
Speaker 10 (07:29):
I would say it depends on who we're talking about.
Speaker 11 (07:32):
I can tell you this.
Speaker 10 (07:33):
The Democrats have put a lot of people in great
risk and jeopardy. But it really depends on who you're
talking about. But for the most part, we're going to
take care of our people. There are some people that
really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll
take care of them in a different way.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Okay, So that didn't sit well. Actually even with some Republicans.
We'll put a three on the screen. This is Mike
Johnson's website still saying that you actually have to pay
back pay to federal workers. Sam Stein picked up on
that although Mike Johnson is of course supportive of everything
Trump says, for the most part, at this moment, John
(08:07):
Kennedy of Louisiana is not We could go ahead here
in roll A four the president.
Speaker 12 (08:13):
It's not up to the president.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
I mean, his opinion matters.
Speaker 12 (08:16):
The Congress has got to appropriate the money. Did you
read the Constitution?
Speaker 13 (08:21):
So I think it's legal for federal workers.
Speaker 12 (08:24):
We've always we've always paid back pay to the military
and federal workers, and Congress has already always appropriated the
money and we will fish time.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
In my opinion, So this comes down to a dispute
over whether russ Vote is or is not correctly interpreting
what kind of powers he has during a shutdown. I'm
going to read during from NPR here quote the shutdown
does not give Vote or the White House any extra powers.
According to Bridget Dueling, a law professor at the Ohio
State University who worked at OLYMP for over decades, she argues,
it's a clear misunderstanding of the differences between temporary lapses
(08:56):
and appropriations, which is what a shutdown is, versus permanently
laying off worker. She says, quote, this is a bluff.
The White House, meanwhile, says Democrats have left them no
choice but to live for savings across the federal government,
but they've not explained why permanently offs would be necessary
and not just temporary furloughs. So Ryan, this is get
another debate about executive power and how the Trump administration
(09:19):
is challenging norms, not just norms, but also interpretations that
have become norms as it relates to the power of
the purse strings and the power of the executive branch.
All that is to say, I think some of this
is a bluff. I also think it goes into that
bigger picture conversation about executive power they're forcing right now.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Right and you know, people say, well, it's federal law. Well,
federal law is what is literally what Congress says is
federal law. Congress writes the federal law. So theoretically they
could come in and say, you know what we're not, well, yeah,
there's minimum wages that you have to pay to people
there were you know, Kennedy's right. Congress rates some money.
If you appropriate it, then you have to give it
(10:02):
to them. So the president can't just come in and say, well,
I didn't like these workers, but I did like these workers.
And federal workers are all over the country. There's this
idea that they're really only here in Washington and Virginia
and Maryland, but that's not at all the case.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
So oh yeah, it's like eighty percent of federal workers are.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Outside the DC are right, and so, and they all
like Kennedy is just wrong because it's not their fault,
like these are. I think Kennedy just just gets it
on a basic level. These are people who have who
have jobs, They did their jobs, they were told they
cannot come to work. They're now going to be asked
to miss multiple paychecks. Probably which how many people out
(10:38):
there watching this, you know, can can just miss two
or three paychecks? Yeah, and without your entire thing coming
crashing down. Getting in the letters that you start getting
and sort of have red lines under them and read
you know, there's print it on red paper. So he
gets that it's just untenable ethically to not pay them
when it's no fault to their own. And also, as
(10:59):
he pointed out, every single time they have they have
paid the workers in the in whatever deal they come
up with. So I don't I can't imagine a world
in which Democrats do this whole thing because they're ready
to fight fight, fight, fight, fight, but then at the
very end they cave on paying their work the workers.
Like I just Republicans would have to nuke the filibuster
(11:22):
made to like get around paying the workers. And they
don't have the votes for that because Kennedy and others
are not with them on.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
It, unless yeah, I mean they would they would have
to nuke the philbuster. I'm trying to think if there's
another like legislative maneuver, if they could tag it into something.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And also it's not just Kennedy, like the Susan Collins
is not voting for that. Murkowski would not vote for that.
So now now you're down to fifty without and the youth.
You know, something's Utah guys done, like you don't have
the votes to not pay the federal workers RUSS vote.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
So while we're on the topic of Republicans and their
leverage relact thereof to continue the shutdown going, let's roll
this clip actually about FAA delays.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
It's a complicated question.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
As to how FAA ends up with delays during the
or how air travel ends up with delays during a shutdown.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
We'll break it down, but let's mold this clip.
Speaker 14 (12:07):
The air traffic control facility responsible for flights approaching and
departing Nashville International Airport are set to close for five
hours tonight because of short staffing. The Federal Aviation Administration
says that flights will still be allowed to continue flying
during the closure, but pilots are gonna have to contact
the regional air Traffic Control center for permission to enter
the airspace.
Speaker 15 (12:27):
So the reason being given for the staff shortage that's
not immediately clear. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, though, did
say on Monday an increased number of controllers have been
calling out six since the start of the shutdown.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
So if there's this idea that workers might not even
get their back pay, we saw in a twenty nineteen shutdown,
and this is The New York Times zote that this
morning quote controllers at important facilities began calling in sick
at high rates, contributing to widespread flight delays and bringing
a swift end to that shutdown.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
On Monday.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Sean Duffy said he had seen a slight tick up
and sit calls from controllers since the current shutdown began
last week. Ryan, I don't know about you. I would
expect that to go up when you start talking about
potentially taking away the back pay.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Right, And as we said, they're going like they don't
have the votes and not pay them. So it's just
a bluff, But the bluff gets hurt around the world,
especially if you're a federal worker. You're following this news
very closely, so then you're like, all right, well I'm sick.
If I'm not getting paid for this, then I'm not
coming in.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah, you're asking people to like risk just having volunteered
as an air traffic controller in these conditions of which
they're already completely under understaff. Now to your point, I
think they're going to get paid. I do think that
it's a bluff, but I think it's a bluff in
the context of this big picture reorganization that rest Boat
is architecting to consolidate powers he believes should be in
(13:52):
the executive branch, in the executive branch, all of them,
many of them, And I actually don't think he's wrong
about some of them.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
We've debated that before.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
But in this case, they are trying to take away
They're trying to blame Democrats, get Democrats to be blamed,
like the John Stewart argument. They're trying to undercut for
Democrats by saying, well, look what you're doing to federal workers.
We have no choice. That was the line from Mike Johnson.
Russ has no choice. Democrats have left him with this choice.
I don't know how well that's actually going to work
(14:21):
when you are making the decisions in the executive branch
for what's happening. It's not necessarily part of the government shutdown,
so that you have to Everybody knows this hasn't happened
before during government shutdown. So I think the politics of
that argument aren't super easy.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Right, And the way that this should end is that, frankly,
Republicans just just cave on the substance here, because think
about it, what do Democrats want? They want to save
Republicans from a massively damaging political hit where twenty million
people will see their health insurance premiums double in an
(15:00):
election year and Democrats are trying to save them from that.
And who agrees with me, not other than Marjorie Taylor Green.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Well, we'll get to that one second. What did you
make of the John Stewart argument?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
That is the argument, that's the thing that like they
have no plan, they've got no vision, they got no message,
but they have to try something like that. Like that's
that's all that boils down to.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
So how long I mean do you think Democrats put
the politics of it? How long does it make sense
for them to avoid coming to the table. I expect
eventually they will come to the table on the question
of healthcare. And again we went through the specifics and
I thought to give something on it, right, So probably
non citizen ACA enrollment or federal subsidies.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And Democrats keep saying we are not providing health insurance
to illegal immigrants, right, so then just figure out a
way to write that.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Well, I mean they would have to come to the
table on the federal hospital reimbursements, Medicaid reimbursements, and ACA
enrollments for asylum seekers and probably.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
All of that. I mean, if Republicans keep trying to
just undermine their own hospitals, Like so people who are
undocumented come into hospitals, right, so what what what would
Republicans want done? They still the hospital who is required
to treat somebody.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Well, even the Republican planning includes reimbursements, it's just a
lower level of reimbursements.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Which is you know a lot of that is rural hospitals. Yeah, yeah, anyway.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
But that's where I think that they probably will have.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
A lower level. Why lower levels, Like are the hospital
like rural hospitals are too rich? Like what are they
trying to do?
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I mean, I'm sure it has something to do with
the influx of the last several years that federal reimbursements
of skyrocketed for those hospitals, right.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And we should But okay, and there's a point in
the Marjorie and the MTG post that actually goes directly to.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
That Marjorie Taylor Green, Republican. Obviously Republican, Marjorie Taylor Green
is breaking with her party on this question of subsidies,
and honestly in a very smart and principled way, if
I may say so. Let's put this. This is the
video of Marjorie Taylor Green talking about her stance. She
(17:08):
put a couple of tweets out over the course of
the last couple of days breaking with the GOP on
whether or not or how they should negotiate during the shutdown,
and it is a sea change for the last fifteen
years of Republican politics. If this sticks, and it's not
just Marjorie Taylor Green, I'll say it is a sea
change in and of itself given the popularity of Marjorie
(17:30):
Taylor Green with average MAGA and Republican voters. So here
she is talking about her stance on healthcare.
Speaker 16 (17:36):
And to allow Democrats to have some sort of moral
high ground on this issue because they are only the
only ones talking about it, I think is a major
failure from the Republican Party. And I'm not going to
stand there and just keep talking the talking points when
my own adult children can hardly infford health insurance premiums
when everyone in my district. It's the number one issue
(17:59):
that I hear about day in and day out, not
just people on the ACA, but people that have private
insurance as well. And I think it's something that we
have to talk about. And I don't see why the
government needs to be shut down. I really don't. I
believe that if Republicans learn to govern and weld power,
they can use some nuclear option in the Senate, they
(18:20):
can open up the government. We can get back to
work for the American people, and Republicans can solve this
problem that is a very big problem that we can't ignore.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
So I co signed basically all of that. We can
put her original posts up. She like shattered the Republican
consensus on x by a couple of really long posts.
But she said, I was not in Congress and all
this Obamacare Affordable Care.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Act bullshit started. I got here in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
And she goes on to say the ACA made health
insurance unaffordable for her family. And this is actually she
talked to the Megan Kelly interviews. She did what like
a month or more ago. Now that the Affordable Care
Act fight was completely formative, to her political journey, like
that's part of what got her into politics. Many such
cases on the right, and she says, I'm not towing
(19:10):
the party line on this. I'm going to go against
everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire
this year, my own adult children's insurance premius for twenty
twenty six are going to double, along with all the
wonderful families and hardworking people in my district. We even
go ahead and put her next.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
This is aight on before other other good stuff is cooking. Yeah,
all our country does is fun foreign countries and foreign
wars and never does any never does anything to help
the American people. Lots of exclamation points. It is true.
It is absolutely shameful discussing and traders that are laws
and policies screw the American people so much that the
government has shut down right now fighting over basic issues
like this. Again. No, and this is this key point
(19:48):
that I want to bring up later. Again, no funding
for illegals and any benefits for them, but we have
to do something about the absolutely insane cost of insurance
for Americans. You don't hate your government enough. I'm here
in washingt DC this week to meet with anyone who
is America only and will work with me on a
plan for Americans only. And then she has a kind
of a chat shept, but a bunch of stats about
(20:08):
how absolutely brutal it is for health insurance. She picks
up on the illegals point again in the next one.
If you want to do the toothpaste is out of
the tube, she says.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
The toothpaste is out of the tube.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
On Obamacare, and the argument she's making here is, she says,
trying to make clear that I think the entire system
is messed up. She goes on to say, and.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
This is right. Is this what you were looking for?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
We are importing doctors from foreign countries because we don't
have enough American doctors who are being strangled by a
health insurance companies and regulations. People with insurance are crushed
by high hospital bills that subsidize uninsured people's hospital bills.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
A list of problems goes on and on, ding ding
ding ding ding.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So that's where I would stop her. Yeah, all right,
people with insurance are crushed by high hospital bills that
subsidize uninsured people's hospital bills. Yet her parties push is
to increase the number of people who are uninsured, which,
(21:10):
according to her own logic, and she is absolutely correct,
only increases the costs for hospitals, which are passed on
to people with insurance. So what are you doing here?
Like so stop, Like what I would say is separate
out your immigration policy and your health care policy. Stop
(21:35):
trying to do them together. There's nobody coming across the
border like zero, Like actually less than zero. We have
a net outflow of people. Probably at this point, you're
rounding up everybody that's a little bit darker than me,
Like you're doing your immigration policy. If you believe that
uninsured people getting emergency treatment at hospitals because they can't
(21:59):
afford to go to they don't have insurance to just
go to a doctor and do it the right way,
drives up the cost for all of us everybody else.
Why you want to do that? Like, if you think
that's bad, don't do it. I know that's crazy idea,
But if you think it has a bad policy outcome
for Americans, you're American only, right, you guys are all
American only. So hunting people who are actually here legally,
(22:23):
but you don't like their status because you think that
Biden shouldn't have given them the status that they currently have,
although even though it is legal status and they're illegal,
like they're in legal proceedings.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Although the hospital reimbursements do cover people who are not here.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Legally, right, So do you want the government to do
that or do you want the hospitals to charge Americans
more when they come in? Like what are you doing?
Like if you think that prices are too high for
your adult children, are you serious about that? If you're
serious about that, then an act of policy that makes
the prices come down, not something that just needlessly like
(22:58):
goes after undocuments and people like you don't like undocumented people.
You're showing us that, like there's no mystery you don't
like them. You're rounding them up, You're chasing them everywhere,
You're throwing them into paddy wagons, you're putting them intense.
The alligator Alcatraz is still going. You're you're making things
as miserable for them so that they sell the port
like you're you're doing it all right, But then why
(23:20):
also just for pettiness, drive up Americans health care cross
and trying to speak their language here Americans, Americans, Americans right,
you're driving up the health insurance costs for Americans just
out of some sense of bitterness. Now that gets the argument. Well,
it's if if somebody from El Salvador understands that they
can get free medical care at a hospital when they
(23:42):
have a fever in America, then they're going to run
through the Daarien gap and like pay all this money.
Speaker 17 (23:47):
Like that.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's some pole thing. Stop like that, that's not serious.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
It does make it significantly easier to live here when
you're when you don't have when you're.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
The only other possibility is not happening, which would be
you when you show up at a hospital. Yeah, you
have to show your papers, and if you don't have
the proper papers, you are denied cares. And that's never
going to happen. So we're gonna treat people who are here,
who are sick and dying. We're gonna do it. So
the question is how are we going to do it?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Well, this is what I like about her argument is
that she's tapping out of this stupid, stupid notion from
Republicans that they should have their constituents and American taxpayers
who are already paying crazy amounts in their health insurance.
They should just expect them to trust that Republicans at
some point will fix this broken system and in the
(24:41):
meantime hold them hostage to a hike all because Biden
is the one that put the subsidies in place, Like
it is completely stupid. It's a ridiculous argument.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
There they did cares have to have some subsidies.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
It may have, which is true.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
That was Trump.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Yeah, it absolutely may have. So twenty twenty one comes
from Biden. And that's where you explain. You broke this
down in detail last week. That's where a lot.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
Of the.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
That's where a lot of the premiums which would be
affected because those are expiring at the end of the year,
and so the Republican plan to fund the government would
strip away those credit or it doesn't extend them after
they expire at the end of the year. And this
is where Marjorie Taylor Green is tapping into. But this
is where Marjorie Dailler Green is actually tapping into something
(25:26):
that it should be conventional wisdom. It should be completely
obvious to people who are paid stupid amounts of money
as lobbyists and consultants to these idiot politicians and Republicans Seriously,
people's premiums are going to become They're already insane, they're
going to become more insane.
Speaker 5 (25:44):
It's going to be on your watch.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
And you're doing all of it just with this vague
promise that at some point Republicans are going to fix
the entire healthcare system. When they had all of the
momentum in the world behind repeal and replace, could not
land on a consensus replace part of repeal and replace
precisely because of this. And what I like about what
Margor Tayler Green is saying is that, like, listen, I
(26:05):
think it's true that those Biden era subsidies in the
long term actually are and some parts of Obamacare actually
are causing healthcare to get more expensive and have over time.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
I get that.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
And that's what she's saying too, is like, it's true,
but you are not fixing the system. You're just making
the system worse by not extending the premiums the relief.
And so yes, I get it that in the long term,
all of these subsidies are making a bad system worse,
But you're not fixing the system, and you're asking people
(26:36):
to suffer and pay even more money into a bad
system that you are not doing shit about in the process.
It's completely it's like the politics of it are insane,
the substance and the morality of it is completely insane.
And Margor Tayler Green is the only person, the only
person out here making this argument for Republicans, like, we
(26:56):
hinted at it last week, or at least I did
from the right, hinted at it last week, but you
absolutely nothing else about it from the right, essentially, even
though it seems ryan like a very very obvious point.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I think that's right. And I don't want to sound
too harsh on MPTG here because I'm like, I'm with
her on almost all this, and I think she's getting
to the right place, Like I think, I think. I
think what she's shown herself as willing to do is
to be an independent thinker who follows her own logical
train to its conclusion, whether or not that conclusion aligns
(27:29):
with what she's supposed to think as a partisan, right,
because she's supposed to think as a partisan that you're
against these subsidies, yes, And but she worked it out independently,
and she's like, wait a minute, no, I'm sorry, Like
this is not good like, we actually should be for this,
so I could. I think that if she's able to
miss a giant, if get past this holy legal thing,
(27:50):
she'll figure out that, oh yes, uninsured people coming to
hospitals causes huge problems to the system, which are then
born by Americans who have health insurance. We need to
do something about that, whether whether it's some government subsidy
for hospitals as which exists and we just buff that
(28:11):
up so that it doesn't get passed on to Americans,
whatever it is, just figure out something, because it shouldn't
be the failures of the American government should not be
the responsibility of these insured American people. If we're not
actually a democracy, like you know, if you're a real
democracy and you screw up your policy, then yeah, that's
(28:32):
on you. But we're not really one, so we should
be held a little bit more blameless.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
And already there's a story here in NBC News. Trump
has called senior Republicans to ask quoe, what's going on
with Marjorie The answer, MTG has become disillusioned with her party,
especially after the White House talked her out of her
center bit. Well, I would add to that, I think
it's pretty obvious the pushback she's gotten on Israel, as again,
she emphasizes an ardent supporter of Israel has been completely
(28:58):
transformative for her in the way she looks at her
own party. She's never been, you know, a sort of
lockstep supporter of the Republican Party. But I just think
this is a the bigger point that I'll finish on
Ran is just like the blinking red lights should be
freaking Republicans out right now, and they're not listening to
any of it.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
You have.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Normy responses like the new Zach Bryan song about ice
coming and knocking down on your door, and Republicans are
ready to like Dixie Chicks two point zero. I think,
in the words of John Rich, Joe Rogan has said,
what are you doing? Like cut the stuff out and
whatever we may or may not disagree with these guys on.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Like that is there.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
These are flashing red lights for Republicans that they feel
like they have all of this cultural momentum after twenty
twenty four in a way that they thought they never could.
They had Silicon Valley on their side, some people from
Polly but some celebrities. Trump wins the popular vote and
now they're grand project. I think they're they're wildly overconfident
in their ability to sell it to the American people.
(30:02):
It's not just that they feel like they have this
generational opportunity to kind of reorganize the government, because obviously
they think that they do. It's the question of then
what's part of that project, and then how do you
sell it? And right now they're so completely out of
touch with their own voters, people who are like independent
swing voters, people who are rural voters. Not to say
(30:27):
Democrats are in touch, because they aren't either. And that's
a sad statement on the system that basically nobody has
is in touch with voters. And that's, by the way,
how you end up in a situation where people are
desperate and take matters into their own hands and do
vigilanti bullshit more and more in the future, and because
they feel like the system isn't working anymore.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Right, And Trump was elected because prices are too high,
life is too hard, yeah, And everything he's doing is
making things more expensive. And now Democrats are trying to
save him from doubling health insurance premium and Marjorie Taylor
Green is trying to save him from doubling health insurance premiums,
and Trump thinks that Democrats are communists and that what's
(31:09):
wrong with Marjorie Taylor Green. Here's an idea, just don't
double health insurance premiums. What do I know?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
It might actually work with your own voters.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Who don't want to pay double for crappy insurance.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Yeah, it's the instincts that like Steve Bannon has not
to keep going on about this but on NAGA not
wanting entitlements touched. Trump has always had that instinct too.
But here, I mean, it should again be flashing red
lights abundantly obvious that just because these are Biden subsidies
that in the long term are making a bad system worse,
you don't double people's premiums.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
And meanwhile, let's definitely also not do anything about Epstein.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yes, of course, because that's also I mean, nobody cares about.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It, giant hoax. Attorney General Pam Bondi wandered over to
the upper Chamber for a little bit of Epstein question
and no answer session with the Senators. Let's roll be
one here, retiring Dick Durbin.
Speaker 11 (32:08):
Attorney General Bindi, why did you publicly claim to have
the EPSTEIN client list waiting for your review and then
produce nothing relevant to that claim.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
Senator, Senator Dervin, if you listen to my entire clip
on that, I said I had not reviewed it yet,
that it was sitting on my desk, along with the
JFK files, the Martin Luther King files, and I said
I had not yet reviewed it.
Speaker 11 (32:33):
Why was the July seventh memo unsigned?
Speaker 9 (32:37):
The July seventh memo came from the FBI and the
Department of Justice. Director Patel answered those questions very clear.
And you know, Senator Durbin, I find it very interesting
that you refused repeated Republican requests to release the EPSTEIN
flight logs in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four.
You fought that did you take money from Reid Hoffman
(33:00):
campaign donations?
Speaker 11 (33:01):
I will quarrel with you is to read somebody that
you mentioned I never heard of, So who gave the
arder to flag records related to President Trump, to.
Speaker 13 (33:14):
Flag records for President Trump.
Speaker 11 (33:16):
To flag any records which included his name.
Speaker 13 (33:20):
I'm not going to discuss anything about that with you.
Speaker 11 (33:23):
So eventually you're going to have to answer for your conduct.
In this and you won't do it today, but eventually
you will.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
I can't imagine who would have given that order, can you?
Speaker 5 (33:32):
I mean, it's hard to say.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
There's so many times many Actually, you know what's funny
is there are really so many possibilities.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
It could have been anyone who wanted.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
To protect the president other than the president, or you
just don't even need to say anything.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, right, that's True's Sheldon Whitehouse also a little bit
of back and forth as well. Be two.
Speaker 18 (33:48):
There's been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos
of President Trump with half naked young women. Do you
know if the FBI found those photographs in their search
of Jeffrey Epstein's safe or premises or otherwise.
Speaker 17 (34:08):
Have you seen any such thing?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
You know?
Speaker 9 (34:10):
Senator white House, you sit here and make salacious remarks
once again, trying to slander President Trump left and right,
when you're the one who was taking money from one
of Epstein's closest confidence.
Speaker 13 (34:24):
I believe I could be wrong, correct me.
Speaker 9 (34:26):
Reid Hoffman, who was with Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions,
and the Senator sitting right next to you, tried to
block the flight logs from being released, Yeah, you're really
me on President Trump and some photograph with Epstein.
Speaker 18 (34:43):
Come on, The question is did the FBI find those
photographs that have been discussed publicly by a witness who
claimed Jeffrey Epstein showed them to him. You don't know
anything about that, okay, if you.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Weren't watching that her face at the end, she lookedictures
in physical pain.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
This also underscores why would be cool to have an
actual opposition party because so Reid Hoffman, for people who
don't know, is a link He's the LinkedIn billionaire and
has spent ungodly amounts of money trying to smash the
the left wing, the populist wing of the Democratic Party.
So just figuring out ways to go after specifically Bernie Sanders,
(35:32):
aoc Rashida's Lee, Cory Bush jamalbum, the Whole Squad, and
anybody who's remotely adjacent to them. So that was Reid
Hoffman's project. His whole idea is We're going to beat
Trump by first smashing the populist wing of the Democratic
Party because in his theory, well I think two theories.
One is that he doesn't like the populst wings. They
want to attack people. They don't like oligarchs. But his
(35:55):
actual surface argument was those are unpopular people, and Democrats
would be more popular if it's just like the Dick
Durbins and the White Houses of the world, who don't
really say anything offensive to anybody, and then they will
win just by not being Trump. So that's this billionaire
who became deeply involved in democratic politics and was also
tight with this creep Epstein. So again, imagine if you
(36:17):
had just an opposition party that could cleanly say we
don't have anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein because he
represents the oligarch class and we're not with them. That
you're not going to find mom Donnie on a plane
with Epstein, and it doesn't have anything to do with
personal morality. It's just they're not they're not floating around
with the oligarchs. So it kind of allows this this
(36:43):
tap dance that Bondie is doing. Yet it's still completely unconvincing.
It's like, where are the photos? Just where's the photos? There?
Just photos? Where the photos you said, you said you've
got them on your desk. Where No?
Speaker 4 (36:56):
I mean, actually, I think that point is important that
even with that ammunition, Pam Bondi comes into this hearing
knowing that white House, for example, is connected with with
read Epstein, and that actually Dick Durbin has fought Marshall
Blackburn in the past when Democrats were in power over
the flight logs all that's true, But Pam Bondi still
(37:17):
had this complete.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
She was doing one of two things.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
She was either deflecting to blame Dems for their own
connections or for their own corruption, which, as Ryan points out,
there's plenty to work with, but it looks like a deflection,
or as we saw at the end of that clip,
she's just not answering. She's just standing there or sitting
there blank faced and or saying I don't know, I
(37:42):
don't know. Adam Shift, of all people speaking of the Shift,
speaking of corrupt Democrats, let's go ahead and rule Adam
Shift Shift what I would say. Actually, I can't believe
I'm even saying this, Like getting the better of Pam
bondy In is exchange fifty.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Shift is good in these hearings for the most part.
He's not always on the up.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
Nutt theater kid, maybe how maybe that's what this is?
All right?
Speaker 19 (38:05):
B three, you were asked whether you consulted with career
ethics lawyers, as you promised you would do during your
nomination hearing. When you approve the present receiving a four
hundred million dollar gift from the qataris you refuse to
answer that question. You were asked who or what role
you may have played or who played the role in
asking the Trump's name be flagged in any of the
(38:27):
Epstein documents gathered by the FBI. You refuse to answer
that question. You were asked whether Holman kept the fifty
thousand dollars bribe money. You refuse to answer that question.
You were asked whether Homan paid taxes on the fifty
thousand dollars bride money. You refused to answer that question.
You were asked, did career prosecutors find insufficient evidence to
(38:49):
charge James Comey? You refuse to answer that question. This
is supposed to be an oversight hearing overseas.
Speaker 17 (38:56):
Please excuse me.
Speaker 19 (38:58):
You can attack me after my time is over All
of them you can, and I know you've got plenty
of cand attacks. We've heard them all day to day.
Speaker 17 (39:09):
This is supposed to regular order.
Speaker 19 (39:12):
Mana of Jerrem trying to speak. This is supposed to
be an oversight here of the Justice Department, and it
comes in the wake of an indictment called for by
the President of one of his enemies. This is supposed
to be an oversight hearing, and it comes in the
wake of revelations that a top administration official took fifty
thousand dollars in a bag, and this department made that
(39:35):
investigation go away.
Speaker 5 (39:37):
Oversight. It's like I'm talking to practice.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
We're talking practice.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
So she got more questions about Tom Holman. This is
what Adam Scheff was alluding to.
Speaker 5 (39:45):
We can go ahead and roll B four.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
Is there a tape that has audio and video of
the transfer of the fifty thousand.
Speaker 13 (39:53):
You would have to talk to Director Patel about that.
Speaker 8 (39:56):
No, I'm I'm talking to you.
Speaker 13 (39:58):
I don't know the answer. Say you do know the answer?
Call me a liar.
Speaker 8 (40:03):
I didn't call you a lie.
Speaker 13 (40:04):
You just said I know the answer. I said, I
don't know the answer.
Speaker 9 (40:06):
You have to talk to Kate, Director of Tell what
I said is that investigation.
Speaker 8 (40:12):
If you don't know, why don't you know whether there
was a tape in video?
Speaker 9 (40:18):
Senator, I believe that was resolved prior to my confirmation
as Attorney General.
Speaker 8 (40:24):
Do you think that it is of public interest for
the people to know what happened to the fifty grand
that the FBI turned over to Homan.
Speaker 13 (40:31):
Did you hear what I just said?
Speaker 9 (40:33):
That was resolved prior to my confirmation as Attorney General.
Speaker 13 (40:37):
That's why I said I would not know it is.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
It's not resolved.
Speaker 8 (40:42):
There's fifty one thousand dollars. Homan has it or somebody
has it? Do you have no interest in knowing where
it is?
Speaker 13 (40:50):
You're not going to sit here and slander Tom Homan.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Well, Homan did nothing wrong.
Speaker 4 (40:55):
They did indeed, continue to ask questions about Tom Holman,
and she will continue to get asked questions about Tom Hollman.
There's no doubt about that, Ryan, And I mean, the
Epstein story is really the best illustration of the situation
that Pamily, Pambandi, Cash, Baital, Dan Bon Geno and others
find themselves in because they tagged along in Maga world
(41:18):
with this idea of draining the swamp and dismantling the
deep state, and whether or not they were ever sincere
or they ever thought Trump was truly sincere about that,
they now find themselves in this position. And Epstein is
the best illustration of it, of being the deep state
and being defensive of their actions as part.
Speaker 5 (41:36):
Of the deep state.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
And so not only does it allow Democrats to have
this new I don't know if I can call it
moral high ground. I don't really think anyone has a
moral high ground here, but this ability to sort of
claim the populist mantle and say, we're trying to get
questions about or we're trying to get answers about all
of this different corruption, whether it's Epsteine, whether it's a
(41:59):
bride I've been a kava bag, which is the allegation
around Tom Holman, and Bonnie's doing her best to undercut
it by pointing out, hey, you guys have problems too,
but she's the one in power.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Now, right And also, where's the fifty thousand dollars that
was in the Cova bag. It's still in the cop
It's a very hard question to what to what about.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
Like haven't you taken effect granted a kava bag?
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Let me just let me just start over, because this
one apparently is too confusing for you to just answer directly.
Where is the fifty thousand dollars that was in the
kava bag that he took in order to steer contracts.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Well, and are they even saying that he did take it? Like,
this is what we don't have a lot of ideas about.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
I mean, the reporting was that he took it, right.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
But it is the DOJ right now saying that he
actually took it or that he didn't, because.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
Right, they're not right, although the White House at one
point said that's misinformation, right right, But it's like, okay,
well that's your opinion man.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
And Holman has said I did nothing criminal. I did
nothing illegal, So it sounds like home is probably accepted
a bag. I will say, right, right right, I will
say some stuff in the story. You could potentially potentially
I don't know what percentage chance this is, but you
could potentially look at entrapment. But they're not saying enough
(43:20):
to I mean, if it was a cut and dry
entrapment case, they would be out there talking about how
Tom Holman was in trapped by the deep state.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
So they should have asked if he wanted to blow
up a bridge with his paintball buddies, then he'd be
doing life.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
In prison, crazy times, crazy times. So yeah, not an
easy day for Pam BONDI. Nor will it be as
she continues, she will continue to have to sit forward
these hearings.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
So, speaking of Justice Department targets is.
Speaker 5 (43:51):
Yeah, the theme today is corruption.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
Yes, So Andrew Cuomo is still running for mayor of
New York City. Eric Adams is dropped out. I saw
Bill Ackman begging the beret wearing Curtis slee Wah, who
people keep finding like archival clips of Curtis Leewah being
a real one, Like this guy's fun? Who's not fun?
(44:15):
Andrew Cuomo here he is on Stephanie rule.
Speaker 20 (44:18):
There is no governor in the United States of America,
no elected official who fought more with Donald Trump than
I did.
Speaker 17 (44:28):
None.
Speaker 7 (44:28):
You share a lot of his same donors right now.
There are a lot of New Yorkers who are very
excited about your campaign who were also very excited about
Donald Don't tell me that's not.
Speaker 20 (44:37):
Are there New Yorkers who gave money to me and
gave money to Donald Trump?
Speaker 17 (44:42):
Of course?
Speaker 5 (44:43):
Of course why is that?
Speaker 20 (44:44):
And of course, well why not if you are a
New Yorker, you know Donald Trump, you know me, many
of them would give money to Donald Trump and give
money to me and money.
Speaker 7 (44:57):
Why what are you and Donald Trump share in common.
Speaker 17 (45:00):
We're New Yorkers. They know me, they know him.
Speaker 7 (45:04):
But let's just stay on this, and I don't want
to take too much more of your time because I'm
surprised by this. You think that something about Donald Trump
makes someone give Donald Trump a check and Andrew Cuomo check?
What is that thing that the two of you both share.
Speaker 17 (45:16):
I think that people who know him and people who
know me, I think that what are those things? The
personal knowledge? He lived here, I live here.
Speaker 20 (45:27):
You may be a friend of Donald Trump, you may
know me, you may contribute to him, you may contribute
to me, But are there similarity?
Speaker 3 (45:37):
So there's there's I mean, what do you got? It's ridiculous.
It is his idea that he's that Cuomo's the last
one that Trump wants to be mayor, like Trump is
publicly actively campaigning for him. Basically like, who are you
lying to?
Speaker 4 (45:52):
I love it when the politician are so bad. That's
definitely a rule. Looks like Walter crumk. That's incredible stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
I mean, she she's that, She's like, hold on a
second here, this is perfect. Yeah, let's roll stay two.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Also, you were not criminally charged, but investigators in the
DOJ have found the claims credible.
Speaker 5 (46:10):
So what do you say to voters who have a
hard time looking past this.
Speaker 17 (46:14):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 20 (46:17):
When the report was issued, I said I believed it
was politically motivated, and it was. I didn't even know
the allegations at that time, right, it was done in
a report. I didn't even know who the individuals were.
We then spent five years. That report went to five
(46:38):
district attorneys all over the state.
Speaker 17 (46:41):
No one found anything.
Speaker 20 (46:42):
It was then civilly litigated in court the individual actions
for five years.
Speaker 17 (46:50):
That came to nothing.
Speaker 20 (46:51):
I was dropped from the cases, so nothing came from
those allegations. I did say if I offended anyone in
any way, I didn't mean it. And I learned a lesson,
a painful lesson, which is to be much more cautious
(47:13):
about everything you say.
Speaker 17 (47:15):
Any joke, any comment, don't.
Speaker 20 (47:20):
I won't kiss a person on the cheek unless they
initiate a kiss. So it told me a lesson just
to be super cautious, because there is a sensitivity that
has evolved that is real. If people feel it, it's
true and it has to be respected.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
I mean, the other allegations were much more serious than kissing.
Speaker 13 (47:47):
On the cheek.
Speaker 5 (47:48):
It's an incredible club.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:50):
Anyway, that was on the view. By the way, the
first receptionsctione was on the view. I mean right, I
don't has anyone ever considered him because my memory is
yes to be a talented politician in his own right,
and not someone who coasted off his father's name in
his family's connections, because back in COVID. Obviously there are
a million different stories at first about how brilliantly he
(48:13):
was handling it in New York. But it just seems
like so obvious that he's not a good politician. He's
bad at this and he thinks he's good at it
because he's coasted again off of his name and his
family connections for so long.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
Not exactly what he is is he's a very good,
old school Tammany Hall New York style politician.
Speaker 5 (48:35):
Which doesn't necessarily work in this media climate.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
He's not somebody who appeals to people. He very deliberately
prevented New York from being a place where you could
have mass democracy. I don't know if people know this story,
but there was this thing called the Independent Democratic Conference
that existed in the New York Senate at which Cuomo
created and organized to caucus with Republicans so that Republicans
(49:05):
would control without having won the votes, would control the
New York Senate. Why you're like, wait a minute, hold
on a second, that's the wildest thing I've ever heard.
Why would a Democrat actively elevate the Republicans to control
the Senate? Well, because then voters can't do anything and
demand anything, because all the demands then have to funnel
(49:27):
through a divided Albany. And the system that he created
was called three men in a room, and it was
the leader of the Senate, leader of the Assembly, and
the governor. Three men one room. And it didn't matter
what you wanted, like, it didn't matter what you campaigned on,
It didn't matter what voters said were their preferences out
(49:49):
of New York. What mattered was what these three men
in the room wanted. And the way that they enforced
discipline was through vengeance and also through doling out cash.
You sign up with us, you're on team Cuomo. You're
going to get the spoils. You don't, you will never
(50:11):
work in this town again. And so he was very
good at that kind of Albany knife wielding and very
good at setting up a structure that kept the public
at bay. It was in twenty eighteen. So after Trump
was elected in twenty sixteen, I covered this in my book,
the New Yorkers started paying attention to politics for the
(50:36):
first time. So you would have turnout in these elections
of like in the thousands, like shot in the arm
he is, but also importantly indivisible. And these suburban women
and women in the city who and men but driven
by women who were like who were like, wait a minute,
what's the Independent Democratic Conference? But it caucuses with Republicans.
(51:00):
That doesn't sound right, and they're like, oh no, this
is right, this is a thing, and they're like, wait,
Cuomo did this. So they recruited a bunch of challengers
to these fake Democrats. They and along with the Mamdani
wave they beat and the AOC wave they beat these
independent these IDC people, they knocked them out. And then
(51:23):
they finally made it actually Democrats and Senate Democrat in
the House Assembly. And then they no longer had an
excuse of why they couldn't pass anything, and so then
they started passing a lot of clean energy stuff, all
sorts of prison reform, like genuinely progressive stuff started getting
done in New York, and that was an absolute nightmare
(51:45):
for Cuomo, and he started to unravel. He then got
saved for a little while by COVID because he kind
of looked authoritative compared to Trump when he was doing
like little TV things. But then people found out that
he was like killing old people and the homes and
covering up the stats and so that, and then all
the sexual harassment stuff came out, and for some reason,
(52:07):
the story did not end there. No, here we are
in twenty twenty five mentioning the brother's name the story.
Speaker 4 (52:13):
Oh way, dude, again, the story didn't end when he
lost an election.
Speaker 5 (52:17):
He's sticking around. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (52:18):
Actually, everything you just explained about his mastery of the
spoils system in Albany explains why he's also sort of
like stonefaced dead panning to Stephanie Rule, It's why do
I share donors with Donald Trump?
Speaker 5 (52:30):
They know us, they know us, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:33):
My coalition is with Republicans, but also literally.
Speaker 4 (52:37):
But also what we trade in is trust, like in
this personal knowledge system that duh, this is what we
do in New York. Of course, people who know us
know that they can get stuff out of both of us.
That's what he's saying. That's the unsaid part of it.
Speaker 3 (52:50):
He's basically rephrasing George Carlin, Well, why would they support
me and Trump Stephanie, because it's a big club and
we're in it.
Speaker 4 (52:59):
Yeah, right, it's perfect, It's perfect, and it's I mean,
it's so true that if you pull the FEC records
of most very successful people, whether they're in New York
or elsewhere, you find some donations to our some donations.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
Sez they know what they're friends here.
Speaker 5 (53:16):
Let's roll ste three. This is another another exchange that
Cuomo had on the view.
Speaker 20 (53:22):
I am the last person President Trump wants as mayor
of New York City because he dealt with.
Speaker 17 (53:28):
Me as governor.
Speaker 20 (53:30):
New Yorkers watched the movie every day I during COVID.
I was the governor, he was the president. We fought
on a daily basis. He came with all his threats
and all his power and might, threatened to put me
in jail, had me investigated twice by the Department of Justice,
(53:52):
threatened to cut off federal funds. Mad Mandani is a
gift for him. Yes, he wants MONDOMMI two reasons. One
going into the midterms, he will take a picture of Mondammie,
run around the country and say, here's what happened to
the Democrats. They are now communists. They hate the police.
(54:14):
They legalized prostitution, legalized drugs. They want tole like this
Democrat no experience whatsoever.
Speaker 17 (54:23):
Being mayor of New York would be his first real job.
Speaker 20 (54:27):
It's good for Donald Trump because it's the excuse he
needs to take over New York, which he said he will.
Speaker 4 (54:33):
Do mom Dommy if they keep calling him mom DOMI.
But Ryan in that exchange when Cuomo says Donald Trump,
he's Donald Trump's worst nightmare, Andrew Cuomo is Donald Trump's
worst nightmare.
Speaker 5 (54:47):
Just incredible, incredible.
Speaker 4 (54:49):
Point because I think actually it's true Republicans to some
except know that they'll be able to run just like
they did with AOC and they did this with Nancy
Pelosi forever. But run the picture of mom Donnie in
ads and talk about him all the time and try
to make him look like he's representative of where the
Democratic Party is.
Speaker 5 (55:10):
Uh, that's all true.
Speaker 4 (55:12):
But Donald Trump does not want a dem socialist running
his favorite city in the world. It's like just also
the idea that he's afraid of Andrew Cuomo is completely
insane too.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
What do you think Trump's actual nightmares are?
Speaker 5 (55:26):
What's a Trump dream? These are the questions.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
I imagine him dreaming that there's somebody counting his golf stroke.
Speaker 5 (55:34):
I was just going to say that. I was just
going to say that, like.
Speaker 3 (55:37):
You didn't have a four there calling him on it. Yea,
that would be I had a four. It's like you
were four still in the fair way. What are you
talking about?
Speaker 5 (55:45):
That probably is it's an extent. I mean, if he.
Speaker 3 (55:47):
Dream finds out and then there's all this footage and
they're counting his strokes on the footage.
Speaker 4 (55:53):
In order to have nightmares, one must sleep, and Donald
Trump does not sleep.
Speaker 5 (55:56):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (55:56):
I'm skeptical any probably why he doesn't sleep, probably scared
of nightmares.
Speaker 5 (56:00):
Wow, it's going really deep here.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
So Zoron Mamdani posted his October seventh statement and it
became this most predictable news cycle in the world, a
lightning rod for the broader Israel debate. We can put
C four on the screen, the system coverage of it
from media and Ryan, this is one of your beats.
(56:22):
One thing I would say, just right off the bat
is well here. Let you get into it and.
Speaker 3 (56:28):
Then have the statement.
Speaker 4 (56:30):
The statement is if you scroll down, there'll be some
tweets with it, but yeah, you're here.
Speaker 3 (56:34):
You Two years ago today Hamas carried out a horrific
war crime, killing more than one one hundred Israelis and
kidnapping two hundred and fifty more. I mourned these lives
and pray for the safe return of every hostage still held,
and for every family whose lives were torn apart by
these atrocities. In the aftermath of that day, Prime Minister
Netan Yahoo and the Israeli government launched a genocidal war,
(56:56):
a death toll that now far exceeds sixty seven thousand,
With the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble.
Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief
itself has run out of language. I mourn these lives
and pray for the families that have been shattered. Our
government has been complicit through it all. This must end,
The occupation and apartheid must end. Peace must be pursued
(57:16):
through diplomacy, not war crimes, and our government must act
to end these atrocities and hold those responsible to account.
These last two years have demonstrated the very worst of humanity.
We must answer it by modeling the very best, a
relentless pursuit of our hower higher ideals and an unwavering
commitment to universal human rights the Atlantics. David from Media
(57:39):
Notes shared the statement, added, this is a genuinely useful statement.
The chilly formulaic language about the ten to seven atrocity,
the intense angry passion of the denunciation of Israel's self
defense together they arrestingly reveal what the author cares about
and what who he does not care about. So that's
David from who we will talk about later in the
(57:59):
pro We just busted him writing speeches for the Israeli
ambassador while also profiling the Israeli ambassador. But back to
the mom Donnie statement. You notice at the top it
says he got boasted, blasted by both sides. The left
really did blast him over this. What the left did
say is that this line Hamas carried out a horrific
(58:23):
war crime killing more than one thousand, one hundred Israelis
is not factually true. The more than one thy one
hundred Israelis and some foreigners were killed. I don't think
they're quibbling over the foreigners were killed on October seventh.
But we know for an absolute fact that a non
(58:44):
trivial number were killed by Israel. Like that's like that.
Israeli media has reported that as a fact. We don't
yet know the number of it. It may take it
under one thy one hundred. Like that was the that
was what the left was saying. Yeah, that, but I
wouldn't say that the left was like piling on the States.
(59:05):
Also if the left would also acknowledge, like if Hamas
did not launch the attack, Israel would not have been,
you know, enacted the Hannibal directive to kill the Because
it's this thing called the Hannibal directive where Israel has
a doctrine whereby it's better to stop the hostages from
(59:26):
becoming hostages by killing them in some cases, because then
you don't have to negotiate over them, you just kill them.
It's like you're like, well that's insane. Yeah, that is insane,
But that's like a thing that is done, and it
was done in some kid it seem it was done.
It appears to have been done on the beach where
I think seventeen israelis were killed. So there's it's it's
(59:48):
a we don't know the number yet, but it may
be enough to take it under one thy one hundred. Anyway,
that's that's the quibbling from the left.
Speaker 4 (59:55):
But the right, well, but I mean they're right wing
Democrats that were upset with the statement.
Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
That's oh, I say so they're saying that right wing demos,
yeah so, and what's their argument that you shouldn't talk
about that you should only talk about what happened on
October seventh and not since.
Speaker 4 (01:00:12):
So here's not that anyone needs my very very unsolicited
political advice seriously, but the way that I would look
at it, I actually didn't see. I mean, I think
the right wing Democrats and the right wing right wingers
they just don't want any part, Like nothing would have
been good enough from mom Donnie, and they there's no
(01:00:33):
version of the statement that would have been acceptable to them.
I also, like, I didn't think the statement was that bad.
I would have just used the first paragraph on ten
to seven and then used all the rest of it
on ten eight, because I think it's perfectly reasonable on
ten seven to focus on the attack on the Israelis
and then ten eight go all in on the slaughter
(01:00:57):
of civilians in Gaza. Seven and ten eight are different days.
Ten seven is a day that israelly civilians in many
cases we're attacked. Ten eight is the day that this
discussing awful war began, and I would just separate it
into two, but once again, I'm aware nobody needs that
political advice for me, but that's kind of how I
(01:01:17):
was looking at it.
Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Yeah, and it also shows where we are in our
politics that this is infuriating so many people because there
are so it's not just the one thy one hundred
thing that people picked up on, but there a lot
of other things that I don't think anybody expects a
public figure like Montdonnie to take the kind of maximalist position,
(01:01:39):
But there are a lot of concessions embedded in this
statement as well. He refers to the hostages still held,
and you know, the people still held were military. So
people said, well, those are those are prisoners, like when
you if you're captured in battle, you're a prisoner, not
a hosage, or you're at least a captive, like what
(01:02:02):
what else?
Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
I'm sure that people don't love that he referred to
it as a war crime. In the first sence, Well.
Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
There were definitely war crimes carried out, but right saying
you would say, you know, right, exactly, you could say
that war war crimes were included in this in the
active resistance, right, So yes, like're right there, there are
significant concessions being made in here. That's that's a good
point there on that one too.
Speaker 4 (01:02:26):
He's in a I mean, yeah, he's in a very
very very tough spot.
Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
There's no question about it.
Speaker 4 (01:02:31):
In New York, is I mean, the concentration of the
Jewish population in New York is like higher than it
is it is it the highest outside of Israel.
Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
I think it's major. So I think it's second to
Tel Aviv. Yeah, but like huge numbers of those, if
not a majority, voted for Mom Donnie.
Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
Right, Yeah, I mean this is that I've seen a
bunch of people pull out polls saying like New York
Jews don't support Mom Donnie, Mom Donnie. But it's a
pretty sign efficant portion actually get under fording.
Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
Yeah, definitely, Yeah, absolutely, k
Hey, guys, Saga and Crystal here.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election,
and we are so excited about what that means for
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We need your help to build the future of independent
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Good morning and welcome to Breaking Points.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
And how you doing doing great? As a reminder, everyone
get a premium subscription.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yes, right, so what makes the show work?
Speaker 5 (00:41):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
There's gonna be a lot of fascinating stuff on today's program,
and some of it will make you furious at some
other elements of the media, and hopefully we'll make you
grateful for outlets like Breaking Points, like Dropsite, and as
that gratitude watches over you remember that you can go
to Breakingpoints dot com and become a premium subscriber to
help this thing go along, so that we don't have
(01:03):
to moonlight as speech writers for powerful political figures. So
you don't want us to have to do that.
Speaker 5 (01:09):
That's a little teaser of what's to come.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Ryan has some really great original reporting to share later
in the show.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
And a couple of things that we don't have time
to get to. Yes, if you missed the Katie Porter interview,
it's good viral, go find it incredible. She's like, let
me see if I can torpedo my campaign in one interview. Yes,
it's really incredible.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
Mission accomplished.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The background on her, the knock on her in the
house was always that she was cruel to staff and
also to some other members. Her defender said, no, no, no,
that's sexist. She's just tough. Oh you go ahead and
watch this clip. You tell me who I was right
about that. We also maybe we'll get to cover this
the Virginia election at some point, but there's this wild
ag scandal going on. It's a disaster, and a guy
(01:49):
apparently was quoting Michael Scott from the office but took
four days to say that and got painted as somebody
sending out death threats or something. I don't know whole
thing is incredible, might cost Democrats every day in Virginia.
We'll see. As I was mentioned in the show yesterday,
Alex Coulson, the Drop Site, our Drop site, journal colleague,
(02:10):
and more than one hundred others were released from Israeli prison.
But overnight nine more ships were illegally seized by Israel
in international waters, including the Conscience and eight other ships.
More than one hundred and fifty doctors, journalists, nurses on
(02:31):
their way to deliver said that about one hundred and
fifteen thousand dollars worth of aid to deliver, so that's
now in the hands of the Israelis.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
And Pambonni was testifying in the Senate yesterday, so a
lot of highlights from her very conductious testimony and really
ran the gamut as you would expect it to from
a lot of questions about Epstein, but also some questions
about that Katari jet, some questions about the National Guard,
the uses of the National Guard, and much more so
stay tuned for the highlights and low lights of Pambondi's testimony.
(03:02):
Andrew Cuomo making the rounds talking to Stephanie Rule, talking
to the view It's really something and we'll talk a
bit about Zora Mamdani's controversial I guess we can say
ten to seven hosts. We'll break down the controversy, the nontroversy,
whatever you want to call it, and get to that.
(03:23):
There's also we're going to be talking one of the
journalists who broke a story wide open about the Argentinian
bailout that we covered last week in the soybean context.
Is what we talked about last week, But actually, how
did that money from the United States end up going
to Argentina?
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Why is probably the better way to put it.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Why did that money end up going There are many explanations,
but I think he landed on a pretty good one.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Ryan Yep. Yeah, you Henny O, You Hennet Muzio will
be joining us from Argentina, yep. Who's done a lot
of the reporting that exposed which particular hedge fund executives
were lobbying our hedge fund exact who now serves as
Secretary of Treasury to give Milay a whole bunch of
money to bail them out and screw our farmers along
(04:08):
the ways.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
Good for everyone.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, when nsml's here at home, But that's okay.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Yeah, whatever, don't worry about it. Okay, So should we
get to the shutdown?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, and then we'll talk about some David Froumm and
Douglas Murray stuff at the very end.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
That's right, because you yeah, that's this is the tease.
Let's bring this intro full circle. Ryan teased support breakingpoints
dot com premium memberships. If you can't like and subscribe,
it helps us so much and leave comments. That helps
us so much. But Ryan has a piece of original
reporting that I was going to say dropped that drops
out last night, but I felt really bad saying that,
(04:42):
but it's it's something else.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, and then we'll also have as well. Also got
caught with a running basically a bot campaign, trying to
prop up a new shot, and I run, we'll talk
to the negro a Mota Zabie about that program. It's
just like, how do you even keep your head around
any of the stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I don't know, But I'm glad that at least it's
just bots at this point.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It's spots all the way down.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Yeah, all right, let's get to the shutdown. So yesterday
Donald Trump took questions in the Oval office. We're going
to bring you some of those comments basically centered around
federal workers, and a roller clip of John Stewart for
his insight into how Democrats should be handling this. But
before we do, that's what Trump is going to be
talking about. It's what the conversation was about on Capitol Hill,
(05:27):
is this question of back pay for furloughed workers. The
Trump administration is actually insisting that it can just get
rid of a lot of workers and then not pay
a lot of workers as a way to sort of
up the ante for Democrats. So with that in mind,
let's go ahead and roll this clip of John Stewart
talking about how Democrats should be handling the shutdown fight.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
Seventy five million Americans voted for a Democrat in this
last round of presidential elections, and at this moment they
have zero power at the federal level, not in the House,
not in the Senate, not the executive and not in
the courts. There has not been a moment of conciliation
or concern about the issues and policies that drove those
(06:09):
seventy five million votes. Not a moment at present. The
Democrat's largest victory over these past eight months is getting
a guy who may or may not be a criminal
back from l Salvador so Trump could send him to Uganda.
That was the big win. And then suddenly a small
ask for people's preservation of healthcare is a Molotov cocktail.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I've given him.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
Democrats an enormous amount of shit for their poor leadership,
lack of specific and actionable plans, terrible messaging, abysmal wordplay.
Did I mention poor leadership, But standing up for seventy
five million Americans in this moment to defend the rights
of people to go into a little less medical debt
seems like the least they can fin do.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
So Donald Trump and Russ Vote wrote the Office of
Management and Budget are trying to change the calculus for
Democrats away from even what John Stewart is saying there
and complicate the shutdown conversation. Let's go ahead and roll
this cup of Donald Trump in the Oval Office getting
questions about whether federal workers should.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Be entitled to back pay.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
There was a memo from Russ Vote that suggested otherwise,
here's here's Donald Trump.
Speaker 7 (07:23):
Is it the White House position?
Speaker 8 (07:24):
And if forment workers should be paid for.
Speaker 9 (07:27):
Their that pay?
Speaker 10 (07:29):
I would say it depends on who we're talking about.
Speaker 11 (07:32):
I can tell you this.
Speaker 10 (07:33):
The Democrats have put a lot of people in great
risk and jeopardy. But it really depends on who you're
talking about. But for the most part, we're going to
take care of our people. There are some people that
really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll
take care of them in a different way.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Okay, So that didn't sit well. Actually even with some Republicans.
We'll put a three on the screen. This is Mike
Johnson's website still saying that you actually have to pay
back pay to federal workers. Sam Stein picked up on
that although Mike Johnson is of course supportive of everything
Trump says, for the most part, at this moment, John
(08:07):
Kennedy of Louisiana is not We could go ahead here
in roll A four the president.
Speaker 12 (08:13):
It's not up to the president.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
I mean, his opinion matters.
Speaker 12 (08:16):
The Congress has got to appropriate the money. Did you
read the Constitution?
Speaker 13 (08:21):
So I think it's legal for federal workers.
Speaker 12 (08:24):
We've always we've always paid back pay to the military
and federal workers, and Congress has already always appropriated the
money and we will fish time.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
In my opinion, So this comes down to a dispute
over whether russ Vote is or is not correctly interpreting
what kind of powers he has during a shutdown. I'm
going to read during from NPR here quote the shutdown
does not give Vote or the White House any extra powers.
According to Bridget Dueling, a law professor at the Ohio
State University who worked at OLYMP for over decades, she argues,
it's a clear misunderstanding of the differences between temporary lapses
(08:56):
and appropriations, which is what a shutdown is, versus permanently
laying off worker. She says, quote, this is a bluff.
The White House, meanwhile, says Democrats have left them no
choice but to live for savings across the federal government,
but they've not explained why permanently offs would be necessary
and not just temporary furloughs. So Ryan, this is get
another debate about executive power and how the Trump administration
(09:19):
is challenging norms, not just norms, but also interpretations that
have become norms as it relates to the power of
the purse strings and the power of the executive branch.
All that is to say, I think some of this
is a bluff. I also think it goes into that
bigger picture conversation about executive power they're forcing right now.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Right and you know, people say, well, it's federal law. Well,
federal law is what is literally what Congress says is
federal law. Congress writes the federal law. So theoretically they
could come in and say, you know what we're not, well, yeah,
there's minimum wages that you have to pay to people
there were you know, Kennedy's right. Congress rates some money.
If you appropriate it, then you have to give it
(10:02):
to them. So the president can't just come in and say, well,
I didn't like these workers, but I did like these workers.
And federal workers are all over the country. There's this
idea that they're really only here in Washington and Virginia
and Maryland, but that's not at all the case.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
So oh yeah, it's like eighty percent of federal workers are.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Outside the DC are right, and so, and they all
like Kennedy is just wrong because it's not their fault,
like these are. I think Kennedy just just gets it
on a basic level. These are people who have who
have jobs, They did their jobs, they were told they
cannot come to work. They're now going to be asked
to miss multiple paychecks. Probably which how many people out
(10:38):
there watching this, you know, can can just miss two
or three paychecks? Yeah, and without your entire thing coming
crashing down. Getting in the letters that you start getting
and sort of have red lines under them and read
you know, there's print it on red paper. So he
gets that it's just untenable ethically to not pay them
when it's no fault to their own. And also, as
(10:59):
he pointed out, every single time they have they have
paid the workers in the in whatever deal they come
up with. So I don't I can't imagine a world
in which Democrats do this whole thing because they're ready
to fight fight, fight, fight, fight, but then at the
very end they cave on paying their work the workers.
Like I just Republicans would have to nuke the filibuster
(11:22):
made to like get around paying the workers. And they
don't have the votes for that because Kennedy and others
are not with them on.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
It, unless yeah, I mean they would they would have
to nuke the philbuster. I'm trying to think if there's
another like legislative maneuver, if they could tag it into something.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And also it's not just Kennedy, like the Susan Collins
is not voting for that. Murkowski would not vote for that.
So now now you're down to fifty without and the youth.
You know, something's Utah guys done, like you don't have
the votes to not pay the federal workers RUSS vote.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
So while we're on the topic of Republicans and their
leverage relact thereof to continue the shutdown going, let's roll
this clip actually about FAA delays.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
It's a complicated question.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
As to how FAA ends up with delays during the
or how air travel ends up with delays during a shutdown.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
We'll break it down, but let's mold this clip.
Speaker 14 (12:07):
The air traffic control facility responsible for flights approaching and
departing Nashville International Airport are set to close for five
hours tonight because of short staffing. The Federal Aviation Administration
says that flights will still be allowed to continue flying
during the closure, but pilots are gonna have to contact
the regional air Traffic Control center for permission to enter
the airspace.
Speaker 15 (12:27):
So the reason being given for the staff shortage that's
not immediately clear. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, though, did
say on Monday an increased number of controllers have been
calling out six since the start of the shutdown.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
So if there's this idea that workers might not even
get their back pay, we saw in a twenty nineteen shutdown,
and this is The New York Times zote that this
morning quote controllers at important facilities began calling in sick
at high rates, contributing to widespread flight delays and bringing
a swift end to that shutdown.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
On Monday.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Sean Duffy said he had seen a slight tick up
and sit calls from controllers since the current shutdown began
last week. Ryan, I don't know about you. I would
expect that to go up when you start talking about
potentially taking away the back pay.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Right, And as we said, they're going like they don't
have the votes and not pay them. So it's just
a bluff, But the bluff gets hurt around the world,
especially if you're a federal worker. You're following this news
very closely, so then you're like, all right, well I'm sick.
If I'm not getting paid for this, then I'm not
coming in.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah, you're asking people to like risk just having volunteered
as an air traffic controller in these conditions of which
they're already completely under understaff. Now to your point, I
think they're going to get paid. I do think that
it's a bluff, but I think it's a bluff in
the context of this big picture reorganization that rest Boat
is architecting to consolidate powers he believes should be in
(13:52):
the executive branch, in the executive branch, all of them,
many of them, And I actually don't think he's wrong
about some of them.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
We've debated that before.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
But in this case, they are trying to take away
They're trying to blame Democrats, get Democrats to be blamed,
like the John Stewart argument. They're trying to undercut for
Democrats by saying, well, look what you're doing to federal workers.
We have no choice. That was the line from Mike Johnson.
Russ has no choice. Democrats have left him with this choice.
I don't know how well that's actually going to work
(14:21):
when you are making the decisions in the executive branch
for what's happening. It's not necessarily part of the government shutdown,
so that you have to Everybody knows this hasn't happened
before during government shutdown. So I think the politics of
that argument aren't super easy.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Right, And the way that this should end is that, frankly,
Republicans just just cave on the substance here, because think
about it, what do Democrats want? They want to save
Republicans from a massively damaging political hit where twenty million
people will see their health insurance premiums double in an
(15:00):
election year and Democrats are trying to save them from that.
And who agrees with me, not other than Marjorie Taylor Green.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Well, we'll get to that one second. What did you
make of the John Stewart argument?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
That is the argument, that's the thing that like they
have no plan, they've got no vision, they got no message,
but they have to try something like that. Like that's
that's all that boils down to.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
So how long I mean do you think Democrats put
the politics of it? How long does it make sense
for them to avoid coming to the table. I expect
eventually they will come to the table on the question
of healthcare. And again we went through the specifics and
I thought to give something on it, right, So probably
non citizen ACA enrollment or federal subsidies.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And Democrats keep saying we are not providing health insurance
to illegal immigrants, right, so then just figure out a
way to write that.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Well, I mean they would have to come to the
table on the federal hospital reimbursements, Medicaid reimbursements, and ACA
enrollments for asylum seekers and probably.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
All of that. I mean, if Republicans keep trying to
just undermine their own hospitals, Like so people who are
undocumented come into hospitals, right, so what what what would
Republicans want done? They still the hospital who is required
to treat somebody.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Well, even the Republican planning includes reimbursements, it's just a
lower level of reimbursements.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Which is you know a lot of that is rural hospitals. Yeah, yeah, anyway.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
But that's where I think that they probably will have.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
A lower level. Why lower levels, Like are the hospital
like rural hospitals are too rich? Like what are they
trying to do?
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I mean, I'm sure it has something to do with
the influx of the last several years that federal reimbursements
of skyrocketed for those hospitals, right.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And we should But okay, and there's a point in
the Marjorie and the MTG post that actually goes directly to.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
That Marjorie Taylor Green, Republican. Obviously Republican, Marjorie Taylor Green
is breaking with her party on this question of subsidies,
and honestly in a very smart and principled way, if
I may say so. Let's put this. This is the
video of Marjorie Taylor Green talking about her stance. She
(17:08):
put a couple of tweets out over the course of
the last couple of days breaking with the GOP on
whether or not or how they should negotiate during the shutdown,
and it is a sea change for the last fifteen
years of Republican politics. If this sticks, and it's not
just Marjorie Taylor Green, I'll say it is a sea
change in and of itself given the popularity of Marjorie
(17:30):
Taylor Green with average MAGA and Republican voters. So here
she is talking about her stance on healthcare.
Speaker 16 (17:36):
And to allow Democrats to have some sort of moral
high ground on this issue because they are only the
only ones talking about it, I think is a major
failure from the Republican Party. And I'm not going to
stand there and just keep talking the talking points when
my own adult children can hardly infford health insurance premiums
when everyone in my district. It's the number one issue
(17:59):
that I hear about day in and day out, not
just people on the ACA, but people that have private
insurance as well. And I think it's something that we
have to talk about. And I don't see why the
government needs to be shut down. I really don't. I
believe that if Republicans learn to govern and weld power,
they can use some nuclear option in the Senate, they
(18:20):
can open up the government. We can get back to
work for the American people, and Republicans can solve this
problem that is a very big problem that we can't ignore.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
So I co signed basically all of that. We can
put her original posts up. She like shattered the Republican
consensus on x by a couple of really long posts.
But she said, I was not in Congress and all
this Obamacare Affordable Care.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Act bullshit started. I got here in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
And she goes on to say the ACA made health
insurance unaffordable for her family. And this is actually she
talked to the Megan Kelly interviews. She did what like
a month or more ago. Now that the Affordable Care
Act fight was completely formative, to her political journey, like
that's part of what got her into politics. Many such
cases on the right, and she says, I'm not towing
(19:10):
the party line on this. I'm going to go against
everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire
this year, my own adult children's insurance premius for twenty
twenty six are going to double, along with all the
wonderful families and hardworking people in my district. We even
go ahead and put her next.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
This is aight on before other other good stuff is cooking. Yeah,
all our country does is fun foreign countries and foreign
wars and never does any never does anything to help
the American people. Lots of exclamation points. It is true.
It is absolutely shameful discussing and traders that are laws
and policies screw the American people so much that the
government has shut down right now fighting over basic issues
like this. Again. No, and this is this key point
(19:48):
that I want to bring up later. Again, no funding
for illegals and any benefits for them, but we have
to do something about the absolutely insane cost of insurance
for Americans. You don't hate your government enough. I'm here
in washingt DC this week to meet with anyone who
is America only and will work with me on a
plan for Americans only. And then she has a kind
of a chat shept, but a bunch of stats about
(20:08):
how absolutely brutal it is for health insurance. She picks
up on the illegals point again in the next one.
If you want to do the toothpaste is out of
the tube, she says.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
The toothpaste is out of the tube.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
On Obamacare, and the argument she's making here is, she says,
trying to make clear that I think the entire system
is messed up. She goes on to say, and.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
This is right. Is this what you were looking for?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
We are importing doctors from foreign countries because we don't
have enough American doctors who are being strangled by a
health insurance companies and regulations. People with insurance are crushed
by high hospital bills that subsidize uninsured people's hospital bills.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
A list of problems goes on and on, ding ding
ding ding ding.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So that's where I would stop her. Yeah, all right,
people with insurance are crushed by high hospital bills that
subsidize uninsured people's hospital bills. Yet her parties push is
to increase the number of people who are uninsured, which,
(21:10):
according to her own logic, and she is absolutely correct,
only increases the costs for hospitals, which are passed on
to people with insurance. So what are you doing here?
Like so stop, Like what I would say is separate
out your immigration policy and your health care policy. Stop
(21:35):
trying to do them together. There's nobody coming across the
border like zero, Like actually less than zero. We have
a net outflow of people. Probably at this point, you're
rounding up everybody that's a little bit darker than me,
Like you're doing your immigration policy. If you believe that
uninsured people getting emergency treatment at hospitals because they can't
(21:59):
afford to go to they don't have insurance to just
go to a doctor and do it the right way,
drives up the cost for all of us everybody else.
Why you want to do that? Like, if you think
that's bad, don't do it. I know that's crazy idea,
But if you think it has a bad policy outcome
for Americans, you're American only, right, you guys are all
American only. So hunting people who are actually here legally,
(22:23):
but you don't like their status because you think that
Biden shouldn't have given them the status that they currently have,
although even though it is legal status and they're illegal,
like they're in legal proceedings.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Although the hospital reimbursements do cover people who are not here.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Legally, right, So do you want the government to do
that or do you want the hospitals to charge Americans
more when they come in? Like what are you doing?
Like if you think that prices are too high for
your adult children, are you serious about that? If you're
serious about that, then an act of policy that makes
the prices come down, not something that just needlessly like
(22:58):
goes after undocuments and people like you don't like undocumented people.
You're showing us that, like there's no mystery you don't
like them. You're rounding them up, You're chasing them everywhere,
You're throwing them into paddy wagons, you're putting them intense.
The alligator Alcatraz is still going. You're you're making things
as miserable for them so that they sell the port
like you're you're doing it all right, But then why
(23:20):
also just for pettiness, drive up Americans health care cross
and trying to speak their language here Americans, Americans, Americans right,
you're driving up the health insurance costs for Americans just
out of some sense of bitterness. Now that gets the argument. Well,
it's if if somebody from El Salvador understands that they
can get free medical care at a hospital when they
(23:42):
have a fever in America, then they're going to run
through the Daarien gap and like pay all this money.
Speaker 17 (23:47):
Like that.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's some pole thing. Stop like that, that's not serious.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
It does make it significantly easier to live here when
you're when you don't have when you're.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
The only other possibility is not happening, which would be
you when you show up at a hospital. Yeah, you
have to show your papers, and if you don't have
the proper papers, you are denied cares. And that's never
going to happen. So we're gonna treat people who are here,
who are sick and dying. We're gonna do it. So
the question is how are we going to do it?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Well, this is what I like about her argument is
that she's tapping out of this stupid, stupid notion from
Republicans that they should have their constituents and American taxpayers
who are already paying crazy amounts in their health insurance.
They should just expect them to trust that Republicans at
some point will fix this broken system and in the
(24:41):
meantime hold them hostage to a hike all because Biden
is the one that put the subsidies in place, Like
it is completely stupid. It's a ridiculous argument.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
There they did cares have to have some subsidies.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
It may have, which is true.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
That was Trump.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Yeah, it absolutely may have. So twenty twenty one comes
from Biden. And that's where you explain. You broke this
down in detail last week. That's where a lot.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
Of the.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
That's where a lot of the premiums which would be
affected because those are expiring at the end of the year,
and so the Republican plan to fund the government would
strip away those credit or it doesn't extend them after
they expire at the end of the year. And this
is where Marjorie Taylor Green is tapping into. But this
is where Marjorie Dailler Green is actually tapping into something
(25:26):
that it should be conventional wisdom. It should be completely
obvious to people who are paid stupid amounts of money
as lobbyists and consultants to these idiot politicians and Republicans Seriously,
people's premiums are going to become They're already insane, they're
going to become more insane.
Speaker 5 (25:44):
It's going to be on your watch.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
And you're doing all of it just with this vague
promise that at some point Republicans are going to fix
the entire healthcare system. When they had all of the
momentum in the world behind repeal and replace, could not
land on a consensus replace part of repeal and replace
precisely because of this. And what I like about what
Margor Tayler Green is saying is that, like, listen, I
(26:05):
think it's true that those Biden era subsidies in the
long term actually are and some parts of Obamacare actually
are causing healthcare to get more expensive and have over time.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
I get that.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
And that's what she's saying too, is like, it's true,
but you are not fixing the system. You're just making
the system worse by not extending the premiums the relief.
And so yes, I get it that in the long term,
all of these subsidies are making a bad system worse,
But you're not fixing the system, and you're asking people
(26:36):
to suffer and pay even more money into a bad
system that you are not doing shit about in the process.
It's completely it's like the politics of it are insane,
the substance and the morality of it is completely insane.
And Margor Tayler Green is the only person, the only
person out here making this argument for Republicans, like, we
(26:56):
hinted at it last week, or at least I did
from the right, hinted at it last week, but you
absolutely nothing else about it from the right, essentially, even
though it seems ryan like a very very obvious point.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I think that's right. And I don't want to sound
too harsh on MPTG here because I'm like, I'm with
her on almost all this, and I think she's getting
to the right place, Like I think, I think. I
think what she's shown herself as willing to do is
to be an independent thinker who follows her own logical
train to its conclusion, whether or not that conclusion aligns
(27:29):
with what she's supposed to think as a partisan, right,
because she's supposed to think as a partisan that you're
against these subsidies, yes, And but she worked it out independently,
and she's like, wait a minute, no, I'm sorry, Like
this is not good like, we actually should be for this,
so I could. I think that if she's able to
miss a giant, if get past this holy legal thing,
(27:50):
she'll figure out that, oh yes, uninsured people coming to
hospitals causes huge problems to the system, which are then
born by Americans who have health insurance. We need to
do something about that, whether whether it's some government subsidy
for hospitals as which exists and we just buff that
(28:11):
up so that it doesn't get passed on to Americans,
whatever it is, just figure out something, because it shouldn't
be the failures of the American government should not be
the responsibility of these insured American people. If we're not
actually a democracy, like you know, if you're a real
democracy and you screw up your policy, then yeah, that's
(28:32):
on you. But we're not really one, so we should
be held a little bit more blameless.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
And already there's a story here in NBC News. Trump
has called senior Republicans to ask quoe, what's going on
with Marjorie The answer, MTG has become disillusioned with her party,
especially after the White House talked her out of her
center bit. Well, I would add to that, I think
it's pretty obvious the pushback she's gotten on Israel, as again,
she emphasizes an ardent supporter of Israel has been completely
(28:58):
transformative for her in the way she looks at her
own party. She's never been, you know, a sort of
lockstep supporter of the Republican Party. But I just think
this is a the bigger point that I'll finish on
Ran is just like the blinking red lights should be
freaking Republicans out right now, and they're not listening to
any of it.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
You have.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Normy responses like the new Zach Bryan song about ice
coming and knocking down on your door, and Republicans are
ready to like Dixie Chicks two point zero. I think,
in the words of John Rich, Joe Rogan has said,
what are you doing? Like cut the stuff out and
whatever we may or may not disagree with these guys on.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Like that is there.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
These are flashing red lights for Republicans that they feel
like they have all of this cultural momentum after twenty
twenty four in a way that they thought they never could.
They had Silicon Valley on their side, some people from
Polly but some celebrities. Trump wins the popular vote and
now they're grand project. I think they're they're wildly overconfident
in their ability to sell it to the American people.
(30:02):
It's not just that they feel like they have this
generational opportunity to kind of reorganize the government, because obviously
they think that they do. It's the question of then
what's part of that project, and then how do you
sell it? And right now they're so completely out of
touch with their own voters, people who are like independent
swing voters, people who are rural voters. Not to say
(30:27):
Democrats are in touch, because they aren't either. And that's
a sad statement on the system that basically nobody has
is in touch with voters. And that's, by the way,
how you end up in a situation where people are
desperate and take matters into their own hands and do
vigilanti bullshit more and more in the future, and because
they feel like the system isn't working anymore.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Right, And Trump was elected because prices are too high,
life is too hard, yeah, And everything he's doing is
making things more expensive. And now Democrats are trying to
save him from doubling health insurance premium and Marjorie Taylor
Green is trying to save him from doubling health insurance premiums,
and Trump thinks that Democrats are communists and that what's
(31:09):
wrong with Marjorie Taylor Green. Here's an idea, just don't
double health insurance premiums. What do I know?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
It might actually work with your own voters.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Who don't want to pay double for crappy insurance.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Yeah, it's the instincts that like Steve Bannon has not
to keep going on about this but on NAGA not
wanting entitlements touched. Trump has always had that instinct too.
But here, I mean, it should again be flashing red
lights abundantly obvious that just because these are Biden subsidies
that in the long term are making a bad system worse,
you don't double people's premiums.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
And meanwhile, let's definitely also not do anything about Epstein.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yes, of course, because that's also I mean, nobody cares about.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It, giant hoax. Attorney General Pam Bondi wandered over to
the upper Chamber for a little bit of Epstein question
and no answer session with the Senators. Let's roll be
one here, retiring Dick Durbin.
Speaker 11 (32:08):
Attorney General Bindi, why did you publicly claim to have
the EPSTEIN client list waiting for your review and then
produce nothing relevant to that claim.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
Senator, Senator Dervin, if you listen to my entire clip
on that, I said I had not reviewed it yet,
that it was sitting on my desk, along with the
JFK files, the Martin Luther King files, and I said
I had not yet reviewed it.
Speaker 11 (32:33):
Why was the July seventh memo unsigned?
Speaker 9 (32:37):
The July seventh memo came from the FBI and the
Department of Justice. Director Patel answered those questions very clear.
And you know, Senator Durbin, I find it very interesting
that you refused repeated Republican requests to release the EPSTEIN
flight logs in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four.
You fought that did you take money from Reid Hoffman
(33:00):
campaign donations?
Speaker 11 (33:01):
I will quarrel with you is to read somebody that
you mentioned I never heard of, So who gave the
arder to flag records related to President Trump, to.
Speaker 13 (33:14):
Flag records for President Trump.
Speaker 11 (33:16):
To flag any records which included his name.
Speaker 13 (33:20):
I'm not going to discuss anything about that with you.
Speaker 11 (33:23):
So eventually you're going to have to answer for your conduct.
In this and you won't do it today, but eventually
you will.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
I can't imagine who would have given that order, can you?
Speaker 5 (33:32):
I mean, it's hard to say.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
There's so many times many Actually, you know what's funny
is there are really so many possibilities.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
It could have been anyone who wanted.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
To protect the president other than the president, or you
just don't even need to say anything.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, right, that's True's Sheldon Whitehouse also a little bit
of back and forth as well. Be two.
Speaker 18 (33:48):
There's been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos
of President Trump with half naked young women. Do you
know if the FBI found those photographs in their search
of Jeffrey Epstein's safe or premises or otherwise.
Speaker 17 (34:08):
Have you seen any such thing?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
You know?
Speaker 9 (34:10):
Senator white House, you sit here and make salacious remarks
once again, trying to slander President Trump left and right,
when you're the one who was taking money from one
of Epstein's closest confidence.
Speaker 13 (34:24):
I believe I could be wrong, correct me.
Speaker 9 (34:26):
Reid Hoffman, who was with Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions,
and the Senator sitting right next to you, tried to
block the flight logs from being released, Yeah, you're really
me on President Trump and some photograph with Epstein.
Speaker 18 (34:43):
Come on, The question is did the FBI find those
photographs that have been discussed publicly by a witness who
claimed Jeffrey Epstein showed them to him. You don't know
anything about that, okay, if you.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Weren't watching that her face at the end, she lookedictures
in physical pain.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
This also underscores why would be cool to have an
actual opposition party because so Reid Hoffman, for people who
don't know, is a link He's the LinkedIn billionaire and
has spent ungodly amounts of money trying to smash the
the left wing, the populist wing of the Democratic Party.
So just figuring out ways to go after specifically Bernie Sanders,
(35:32):
aoc Rashida's Lee, Cory Bush jamalbum, the Whole Squad, and
anybody who's remotely adjacent to them. So that was Reid
Hoffman's project. His whole idea is We're going to beat
Trump by first smashing the populist wing of the Democratic
Party because in his theory, well I think two theories.
One is that he doesn't like the populst wings. They
want to attack people. They don't like oligarchs. But his
(35:55):
actual surface argument was those are unpopular people, and Democrats
would be more popular if it's just like the Dick
Durbins and the White Houses of the world, who don't
really say anything offensive to anybody, and then they will
win just by not being Trump. So that's this billionaire
who became deeply involved in democratic politics and was also
tight with this creep Epstein. So again, imagine if you
(36:17):
had just an opposition party that could cleanly say we
don't have anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein because he
represents the oligarch class and we're not with them. That
you're not going to find mom Donnie on a plane
with Epstein, and it doesn't have anything to do with
personal morality. It's just they're not they're not floating around
with the oligarchs. So it kind of allows this this
(36:43):
tap dance that Bondie is doing. Yet it's still completely unconvincing.
It's like, where are the photos? Just where's the photos? There?
Just photos? Where the photos you said, you said you've
got them on your desk. Where No?
Speaker 4 (36:56):
I mean, actually, I think that point is important that
even with that ammunition, Pam Bondi comes into this hearing
knowing that white House, for example, is connected with with
read Epstein, and that actually Dick Durbin has fought Marshall
Blackburn in the past when Democrats were in power over
the flight logs all that's true, But Pam Bondi still
(37:17):
had this complete.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
She was doing one of two things.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
She was either deflecting to blame Dems for their own
connections or for their own corruption, which, as Ryan points out,
there's plenty to work with, but it looks like a deflection,
or as we saw at the end of that clip,
she's just not answering. She's just standing there or sitting
there blank faced and or saying I don't know, I
(37:42):
don't know. Adam Shift, of all people speaking of the Shift,
speaking of corrupt Democrats, let's go ahead and rule Adam
Shift Shift what I would say. Actually, I can't believe
I'm even saying this, Like getting the better of Pam
bondy In is exchange fifty.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Shift is good in these hearings for the most part.
He's not always on the up.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
Nutt theater kid, maybe how maybe that's what this is?
All right?
Speaker 19 (38:05):
B three, you were asked whether you consulted with career
ethics lawyers, as you promised you would do during your
nomination hearing. When you approve the present receiving a four
hundred million dollar gift from the qataris you refuse to
answer that question. You were asked who or what role
you may have played or who played the role in
asking the Trump's name be flagged in any of the
(38:27):
Epstein documents gathered by the FBI. You refuse to answer
that question. You were asked whether Holman kept the fifty
thousand dollars bribe money. You refuse to answer that question.
You were asked whether Homan paid taxes on the fifty
thousand dollars bride money. You refused to answer that question.
You were asked, did career prosecutors find insufficient evidence to
(38:49):
charge James Comey? You refuse to answer that question. This
is supposed to be an oversight hearing overseas.
Speaker 17 (38:56):
Please excuse me.
Speaker 19 (38:58):
You can attack me after my time is over All
of them you can, and I know you've got plenty
of cand attacks. We've heard them all day to day.
Speaker 17 (39:09):
This is supposed to regular order.
Speaker 19 (39:12):
Mana of Jerrem trying to speak. This is supposed to
be an oversight here of the Justice Department, and it
comes in the wake of an indictment called for by
the President of one of his enemies. This is supposed
to be an oversight hearing, and it comes in the
wake of revelations that a top administration official took fifty
thousand dollars in a bag, and this department made that
(39:35):
investigation go away.
Speaker 5 (39:37):
Oversight. It's like I'm talking to practice.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
We're talking practice.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
So she got more questions about Tom Holman. This is
what Adam Scheff was alluding to.
Speaker 5 (39:45):
We can go ahead and roll B four.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
Is there a tape that has audio and video of
the transfer of the fifty thousand.
Speaker 13 (39:53):
You would have to talk to Director Patel about that.
Speaker 8 (39:56):
No, I'm I'm talking to you.
Speaker 13 (39:58):
I don't know the answer. Say you do know the answer?
Call me a liar.
Speaker 8 (40:03):
I didn't call you a lie.
Speaker 13 (40:04):
You just said I know the answer. I said, I
don't know the answer.
Speaker 9 (40:06):
You have to talk to Kate, Director of Tell what
I said is that investigation.
Speaker 8 (40:12):
If you don't know, why don't you know whether there
was a tape in video?
Speaker 9 (40:18):
Senator, I believe that was resolved prior to my confirmation
as Attorney General.
Speaker 8 (40:24):
Do you think that it is of public interest for
the people to know what happened to the fifty grand
that the FBI turned over to Homan.
Speaker 13 (40:31):
Did you hear what I just said?
Speaker 9 (40:33):
That was resolved prior to my confirmation as Attorney General.
Speaker 13 (40:37):
That's why I said I would not know it is.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
It's not resolved.
Speaker 8 (40:42):
There's fifty one thousand dollars. Homan has it or somebody
has it? Do you have no interest in knowing where
it is?
Speaker 13 (40:50):
You're not going to sit here and slander Tom Homan.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Well, Homan did nothing wrong.
Speaker 4 (40:55):
They did indeed, continue to ask questions about Tom Holman,
and she will continue to get asked questions about Tom Hollman.
There's no doubt about that, Ryan, And I mean, the
Epstein story is really the best illustration of the situation
that Pamily, Pambandi, Cash, Baital, Dan Bon Geno and others
find themselves in because they tagged along in Maga world
(41:18):
with this idea of draining the swamp and dismantling the
deep state, and whether or not they were ever sincere
or they ever thought Trump was truly sincere about that,
they now find themselves in this position. And Epstein is
the best illustration of it, of being the deep state
and being defensive of their actions as part.
Speaker 5 (41:36):
Of the deep state.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
And so not only does it allow Democrats to have
this new I don't know if I can call it
moral high ground. I don't really think anyone has a
moral high ground here, but this ability to sort of
claim the populist mantle and say, we're trying to get
questions about or we're trying to get answers about all
of this different corruption, whether it's Epsteine, whether it's a
(41:59):
bride I've been a kava bag, which is the allegation
around Tom Holman, and Bonnie's doing her best to undercut
it by pointing out, hey, you guys have problems too,
but she's the one in power.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Now, right And also, where's the fifty thousand dollars that
was in the Cova bag. It's still in the cop
It's a very hard question to what to what about.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
Like haven't you taken effect granted a kava bag?
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Let me just let me just start over, because this
one apparently is too confusing for you to just answer directly.
Where is the fifty thousand dollars that was in the
kava bag that he took in order to steer contracts.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Well, and are they even saying that he did take it? Like,
this is what we don't have a lot of ideas about.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
I mean, the reporting was that he took it, right.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
But it is the DOJ right now saying that he
actually took it or that he didn't, because.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
Right, they're not right, although the White House at one
point said that's misinformation, right right, But it's like, okay,
well that's your opinion man.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
And Holman has said I did nothing criminal. I did
nothing illegal, So it sounds like home is probably accepted
a bag. I will say, right, right right, I will
say some stuff in the story. You could potentially potentially
I don't know what percentage chance this is, but you
could potentially look at entrapment. But they're not saying enough
(43:20):
to I mean, if it was a cut and dry
entrapment case, they would be out there talking about how
Tom Holman was in trapped by the deep state.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
So they should have asked if he wanted to blow
up a bridge with his paintball buddies, then he'd be
doing life.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
In prison, crazy times, crazy times. So yeah, not an
easy day for Pam BONDI. Nor will it be as
she continues, she will continue to have to sit forward
these hearings.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
So, speaking of Justice Department targets is.
Speaker 5 (43:51):
Yeah, the theme today is corruption.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
Yes, So Andrew Cuomo is still running for mayor of
New York City. Eric Adams is dropped out. I saw
Bill Ackman begging the beret wearing Curtis slee Wah, who
people keep finding like archival clips of Curtis Leewah being
a real one, Like this guy's fun? Who's not fun?
(44:15):
Andrew Cuomo here he is on Stephanie rule.
Speaker 20 (44:18):
There is no governor in the United States of America,
no elected official who fought more with Donald Trump than
I did.
Speaker 17 (44:28):
None.
Speaker 7 (44:28):
You share a lot of his same donors right now.
There are a lot of New Yorkers who are very
excited about your campaign who were also very excited about
Donald Don't tell me that's not.
Speaker 20 (44:37):
Are there New Yorkers who gave money to me and
gave money to Donald Trump?
Speaker 17 (44:42):
Of course?
Speaker 5 (44:43):
Of course why is that?
Speaker 20 (44:44):
And of course, well why not if you are a
New Yorker, you know Donald Trump, you know me, many
of them would give money to Donald Trump and give
money to me and money.
Speaker 7 (44:57):
Why what are you and Donald Trump share in common.
Speaker 17 (45:00):
We're New Yorkers. They know me, they know him.
Speaker 7 (45:04):
But let's just stay on this, and I don't want
to take too much more of your time because I'm
surprised by this. You think that something about Donald Trump
makes someone give Donald Trump a check and Andrew Cuomo check?
What is that thing that the two of you both share.
Speaker 17 (45:16):
I think that people who know him and people who
know me, I think that what are those things? The
personal knowledge? He lived here, I live here.
Speaker 20 (45:27):
You may be a friend of Donald Trump, you may
know me, you may contribute to him, you may contribute
to me, But are there similarity?
Speaker 3 (45:37):
So there's there's I mean, what do you got? It's ridiculous.
It is his idea that he's that Cuomo's the last
one that Trump wants to be mayor, like Trump is
publicly actively campaigning for him. Basically like, who are you
lying to?
Speaker 4 (45:52):
I love it when the politician are so bad. That's
definitely a rule. Looks like Walter crumk. That's incredible stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
I mean, she she's that, She's like, hold on a
second here, this is perfect. Yeah, let's roll stay two.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Also, you were not criminally charged, but investigators in the
DOJ have found the claims credible.
Speaker 5 (46:10):
So what do you say to voters who have a
hard time looking past this.
Speaker 17 (46:14):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 20 (46:17):
When the report was issued, I said I believed it
was politically motivated, and it was. I didn't even know
the allegations at that time, right, it was done in
a report. I didn't even know who the individuals were.
We then spent five years. That report went to five
(46:38):
district attorneys all over the state.
Speaker 17 (46:41):
No one found anything.
Speaker 20 (46:42):
It was then civilly litigated in court the individual actions
for five years.
Speaker 17 (46:50):
That came to nothing.
Speaker 20 (46:51):
I was dropped from the cases, so nothing came from
those allegations. I did say if I offended anyone in
any way, I didn't mean it. And I learned a lesson,
a painful lesson, which is to be much more cautious
(47:13):
about everything you say.
Speaker 17 (47:15):
Any joke, any comment, don't.
Speaker 20 (47:20):
I won't kiss a person on the cheek unless they
initiate a kiss. So it told me a lesson just
to be super cautious, because there is a sensitivity that
has evolved that is real. If people feel it, it's
true and it has to be respected.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
I mean, the other allegations were much more serious than kissing.
Speaker 13 (47:47):
On the cheek.
Speaker 5 (47:48):
It's an incredible club.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:50):
Anyway, that was on the view. By the way, the
first receptionsctione was on the view. I mean right, I
don't has anyone ever considered him because my memory is
yes to be a talented politician in his own right,
and not someone who coasted off his father's name in
his family's connections, because back in COVID. Obviously there are
a million different stories at first about how brilliantly he
(48:13):
was handling it in New York. But it just seems
like so obvious that he's not a good politician. He's
bad at this and he thinks he's good at it
because he's coasted again off of his name and his
family connections for so long.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
Not exactly what he is is he's a very good,
old school Tammany Hall New York style politician.
Speaker 5 (48:35):
Which doesn't necessarily work in this media climate.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
He's not somebody who appeals to people. He very deliberately
prevented New York from being a place where you could
have mass democracy. I don't know if people know this story,
but there was this thing called the Independent Democratic Conference
that existed in the New York Senate at which Cuomo
created and organized to caucus with Republicans so that Republicans
(49:05):
would control without having won the votes, would control the
New York Senate. Why you're like, wait a minute, hold
on a second, that's the wildest thing I've ever heard.
Why would a Democrat actively elevate the Republicans to control
the Senate? Well, because then voters can't do anything and
demand anything, because all the demands then have to funnel
(49:27):
through a divided Albany. And the system that he created
was called three men in a room, and it was
the leader of the Senate, leader of the Assembly, and
the governor. Three men one room. And it didn't matter
what you wanted, like, it didn't matter what you campaigned on,
It didn't matter what voters said were their preferences out
(49:49):
of New York. What mattered was what these three men
in the room wanted. And the way that they enforced
discipline was through vengeance and also through doling out cash.
You sign up with us, you're on team Cuomo. You're
going to get the spoils. You don't, you will never
(50:11):
work in this town again. And so he was very
good at that kind of Albany knife wielding and very
good at setting up a structure that kept the public
at bay. It was in twenty eighteen. So after Trump
was elected in twenty sixteen, I covered this in my book,
the New Yorkers started paying attention to politics for the
(50:36):
first time. So you would have turnout in these elections
of like in the thousands, like shot in the arm
he is, but also importantly indivisible. And these suburban women
and women in the city who and men but driven
by women who were like who were like, wait a minute,
what's the Independent Democratic Conference? But it caucuses with Republicans.
(51:00):
That doesn't sound right, and they're like, oh no, this
is right, this is a thing, and they're like, wait,
Cuomo did this. So they recruited a bunch of challengers
to these fake Democrats. They and along with the Mamdani
wave they beat and the AOC wave they beat these
independent these IDC people, they knocked them out. And then
(51:23):
they finally made it actually Democrats and Senate Democrat in
the House Assembly. And then they no longer had an
excuse of why they couldn't pass anything, and so then
they started passing a lot of clean energy stuff, all
sorts of prison reform, like genuinely progressive stuff started getting
done in New York, and that was an absolute nightmare
(51:45):
for Cuomo, and he started to unravel. He then got
saved for a little while by COVID because he kind
of looked authoritative compared to Trump when he was doing
like little TV things. But then people found out that
he was like killing old people and the homes and
covering up the stats and so that, and then all
the sexual harassment stuff came out, and for some reason,
(52:07):
the story did not end there. No, here we are
in twenty twenty five mentioning the brother's name the story.
Speaker 4 (52:13):
Oh way, dude, again, the story didn't end when he
lost an election.
Speaker 5 (52:17):
He's sticking around. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (52:18):
Actually, everything you just explained about his mastery of the
spoils system in Albany explains why he's also sort of
like stonefaced dead panning to Stephanie Rule, It's why do
I share donors with Donald Trump?
Speaker 5 (52:30):
They know us, they know us, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:33):
My coalition is with Republicans, but also literally.
Speaker 4 (52:37):
But also what we trade in is trust, like in
this personal knowledge system that duh, this is what we
do in New York. Of course, people who know us
know that they can get stuff out of both of us.
That's what he's saying. That's the unsaid part of it.
Speaker 3 (52:50):
He's basically rephrasing George Carlin, Well, why would they support
me and Trump Stephanie, because it's a big club and
we're in it.
Speaker 4 (52:59):
Yeah, right, it's perfect, It's perfect, and it's I mean,
it's so true that if you pull the FEC records
of most very successful people, whether they're in New York
or elsewhere, you find some donations to our some donations.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
Sez they know what they're friends here.
Speaker 5 (53:16):
Let's roll ste three. This is another another exchange that
Cuomo had on the view.
Speaker 20 (53:22):
I am the last person President Trump wants as mayor
of New York City because he dealt with.
Speaker 17 (53:28):
Me as governor.
Speaker 20 (53:30):
New Yorkers watched the movie every day I during COVID.
I was the governor, he was the president. We fought
on a daily basis. He came with all his threats
and all his power and might, threatened to put me
in jail, had me investigated twice by the Department of Justice,
(53:52):
threatened to cut off federal funds. Mad Mandani is a
gift for him. Yes, he wants MONDOMMI two reasons. One
going into the midterms, he will take a picture of Mondammie,
run around the country and say, here's what happened to
the Democrats. They are now communists. They hate the police.
(54:14):
They legalized prostitution, legalized drugs. They want tole like this
Democrat no experience whatsoever.
Speaker 17 (54:23):
Being mayor of New York would be his first real job.
Speaker 20 (54:27):
It's good for Donald Trump because it's the excuse he
needs to take over New York, which he said he will.
Speaker 4 (54:33):
Do mom Dommy if they keep calling him mom DOMI.
But Ryan in that exchange when Cuomo says Donald Trump,
he's Donald Trump's worst nightmare, Andrew Cuomo is Donald Trump's
worst nightmare.
Speaker 5 (54:47):
Just incredible, incredible.
Speaker 4 (54:49):
Point because I think actually it's true Republicans to some
except know that they'll be able to run just like
they did with AOC and they did this with Nancy
Pelosi forever. But run the picture of mom Donnie in
ads and talk about him all the time and try
to make him look like he's representative of where the
Democratic Party is.
Speaker 5 (55:10):
Uh, that's all true.
Speaker 4 (55:12):
But Donald Trump does not want a dem socialist running
his favorite city in the world. It's like just also
the idea that he's afraid of Andrew Cuomo is completely
insane too.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
What do you think Trump's actual nightmares are?
Speaker 5 (55:26):
What's a Trump dream? These are the questions.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
I imagine him dreaming that there's somebody counting his golf stroke.
Speaker 5 (55:34):
I was just going to say that. I was just
going to say that, like.
Speaker 3 (55:37):
You didn't have a four there calling him on it. Yea,
that would be I had a four. It's like you
were four still in the fair way. What are you
talking about?
Speaker 5 (55:45):
That probably is it's an extent. I mean, if he.
Speaker 3 (55:47):
Dream finds out and then there's all this footage and
they're counting his strokes on the footage.
Speaker 4 (55:53):
In order to have nightmares, one must sleep, and Donald
Trump does not sleep.
Speaker 5 (55:56):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (55:56):
I'm skeptical any probably why he doesn't sleep, probably scared
of nightmares.
Speaker 5 (56:00):
Wow, it's going really deep here.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
So Zoron Mamdani posted his October seventh statement and it
became this most predictable news cycle in the world, a
lightning rod for the broader Israel debate. We can put
C four on the screen, the system coverage of it
from media and Ryan, this is one of your beats.
(56:22):
One thing I would say, just right off the bat
is well here. Let you get into it and.
Speaker 3 (56:28):
Then have the statement.
Speaker 4 (56:30):
The statement is if you scroll down, there'll be some
tweets with it, but yeah, you're here.
Speaker 3 (56:34):
You Two years ago today Hamas carried out a horrific
war crime, killing more than one one hundred Israelis and
kidnapping two hundred and fifty more. I mourned these lives
and pray for the safe return of every hostage still held,
and for every family whose lives were torn apart by
these atrocities. In the aftermath of that day, Prime Minister
Netan Yahoo and the Israeli government launched a genocidal war,
(56:56):
a death toll that now far exceeds sixty seven thousand,
With the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble.
Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief
itself has run out of language. I mourn these lives
and pray for the families that have been shattered. Our
government has been complicit through it all. This must end,
The occupation and apartheid must end. Peace must be pursued
(57:16):
through diplomacy, not war crimes, and our government must act
to end these atrocities and hold those responsible to account.
These last two years have demonstrated the very worst of humanity.
We must answer it by modeling the very best, a
relentless pursuit of our hower higher ideals and an unwavering
commitment to universal human rights the Atlantics. David from Media
(57:39):
Notes shared the statement, added, this is a genuinely useful statement.
The chilly formulaic language about the ten to seven atrocity,
the intense angry passion of the denunciation of Israel's self
defense together they arrestingly reveal what the author cares about
and what who he does not care about. So that's
David from who we will talk about later in the
(57:59):
pro We just busted him writing speeches for the Israeli
ambassador while also profiling the Israeli ambassador. But back to
the mom Donnie statement. You notice at the top it
says he got boasted, blasted by both sides. The left
really did blast him over this. What the left did
say is that this line Hamas carried out a horrific
(58:23):
war crime killing more than one thousand, one hundred Israelis
is not factually true. The more than one thy one
hundred Israelis and some foreigners were killed. I don't think
they're quibbling over the foreigners were killed on October seventh.
But we know for an absolute fact that a non
(58:44):
trivial number were killed by Israel. Like that's like that.
Israeli media has reported that as a fact. We don't
yet know the number of it. It may take it
under one thy one hundred. Like that was the that
was what the left was saying. Yeah, that, but I
wouldn't say that the left was like piling on the States.
(59:05):
Also if the left would also acknowledge, like if Hamas
did not launch the attack, Israel would not have been,
you know, enacted the Hannibal directive to kill the Because
it's this thing called the Hannibal directive where Israel has
a doctrine whereby it's better to stop the hostages from
(59:26):
becoming hostages by killing them in some cases, because then
you don't have to negotiate over them, you just kill them.
It's like you're like, well that's insane. Yeah, that is insane,
But that's like a thing that is done, and it
was done in some kid it seem it was done.
It appears to have been done on the beach where
I think seventeen israelis were killed. So there's it's it's
(59:48):
a we don't know the number yet, but it may
be enough to take it under one thy one hundred. Anyway,
that's that's the quibbling from the left.
Speaker 4 (59:55):
But the right, well, but I mean they're right wing
Democrats that were upset with the statement.
Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
That's oh, I say so they're saying that right wing demos,
yeah so, and what's their argument that you shouldn't talk
about that you should only talk about what happened on
October seventh and not since.
Speaker 4 (01:00:12):
So here's not that anyone needs my very very unsolicited
political advice seriously, but the way that I would look
at it, I actually didn't see. I mean, I think
the right wing Democrats and the right wing right wingers
they just don't want any part, Like nothing would have
been good enough from mom Donnie, and they there's no
(01:00:33):
version of the statement that would have been acceptable to them.
I also, like, I didn't think the statement was that bad.
I would have just used the first paragraph on ten
to seven and then used all the rest of it
on ten eight, because I think it's perfectly reasonable on
ten seven to focus on the attack on the Israelis
and then ten eight go all in on the slaughter
(01:00:57):
of civilians in Gaza. Seven and ten eight are different days.
Ten seven is a day that israelly civilians in many
cases we're attacked. Ten eight is the day that this
discussing awful war began, and I would just separate it
into two, but once again, I'm aware nobody needs that
political advice for me, but that's kind of how I
(01:01:17):
was looking at it.
Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Yeah, and it also shows where we are in our
politics that this is infuriating so many people because there
are so it's not just the one thy one hundred
thing that people picked up on, but there a lot
of other things that I don't think anybody expects a
public figure like Montdonnie to take the kind of maximalist position,
(01:01:39):
But there are a lot of concessions embedded in this
statement as well. He refers to the hostages still held,
and you know, the people still held were military. So
people said, well, those are those are prisoners, like when
you if you're captured in battle, you're a prisoner, not
a hosage, or you're at least a captive, like what
(01:02:02):
what else?
Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
I'm sure that people don't love that he referred to
it as a war crime. In the first sence, Well.
Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
There were definitely war crimes carried out, but right saying
you would say, you know, right, exactly, you could say
that war war crimes were included in this in the
active resistance, right, So yes, like're right there, there are
significant concessions being made in here. That's that's a good
point there on that one too.
Speaker 4 (01:02:26):
He's in a I mean, yeah, he's in a very
very very tough spot.
Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
There's no question about it.
Speaker 4 (01:02:31):
In New York, is I mean, the concentration of the
Jewish population in New York is like higher than it
is it is it the highest outside of Israel.
Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
I think it's major. So I think it's second to
Tel Aviv. Yeah, but like huge numbers of those, if
not a majority, voted for Mom Donnie.
Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
Right, Yeah, I mean this is that I've seen a
bunch of people pull out polls saying like New York
Jews don't support Mom Donnie, Mom Donnie. But it's a
pretty sign efficant portion actually get under fording.
Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
Yeah, definitely, Yeah, absolutely, k
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