March 6, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode, Mary Katharine Ham and Karol Markowicz discuss the aftermath of Trump's address to Congress, focusing on the reactions from both sides of the aisle. They explore the importance of normalcy in political discourse, the emotional moments during the address, and the recognition of fallen heroes. The conversation also delves into recent Supreme Court decisions regarding presidential power and the political implications of women's sports legislation. Normally is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Tuesday & Thursday.
#Trump #Congress #political #reactions #StateoftheUnion #SupremeCourt #womens #sports #politicaldiscourse #emotional #moments #recognition #service #members #politicalstrategy
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, Guy's friends, Normany's countrymen. We are back on Normally,
the show What Normal It Takes for when the news
gets weird. I am Mary Cavinham.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I'm Carol Markowitz. Hi, Mary Catherine. We are recording
this the day after Trump's addressed to Congress, and I
have to say, the news got weird.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I mean we all expected entertaining, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, No, the speech I thought was fantastic. I just
thought the reaction and the response around it was beyond
I really did think it was a new level of insanity.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah? I think I am going to sound like a
concern troll, like I'm telling the left what to do,
and maybe I'm trapping them, But I truly think the
best thing to do would just be to sit very normally,
clap when you like something, ignore it when you don't,
and then leave the chambers. You give him so much
(01:02):
less to work with when you do that. I think
the paddles are so weird that the Democrats have decided
to use and hold up when they're upset, because it's
so mimable. You just erase what's written on them and
you write new things on them. That's right, why why
would you do that?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It made no sense. You know, I get the concern
troll thing, but I have to tell you that alone
in my bedroom with no one around, I am screaming
at the screen. Just be normal, like it's not you know.
I wasn't trying to trick them into anything. You're just like,
can you just be quiet? Can you not shake a
cane at the president? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
It's mildly concerned. At the beginning, they weren't going to
let him speak at all like that, there was going
to need to be a mass escorting out of much
of the Democratic caucus, which would have been bad. So
they chilled out after al Green, who was the cane shaker,
was escorted out of the room. But I think they're
in a true position because they do need to be
(02:02):
more normal. And one of the things I tell our
friends on the left is, you're so weird that people
turned to Donald Trump as the more normal option. Now,
Donald Trump is many things, many good things, many bad things,
entertaining all these not normal, right, He's like, he's definitely
an oddball, but he's normaler than y'all.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Way more way more normal.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So yeah, I don't think it was effective, but their
base requires that they do things that are theatric and
big to stop this allegedly not normal duly elected president.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But I have to imagine that their base can't possibly
like them not applauding a thirteen year old cancer survivor.
I just again, I look at it from the right.
If it was Republicans not applauding a thirteen year old
cancer I would not like that and so and while
I would want the Republicans to stand up to say
(03:05):
Joe Biden or whoever the president is, I still would
not appreciate that kind of behavior. And I think it
would have been better if they hadn't shown up, and
that would have been more understandable to me than what
they ended up doing. And of course some of them
did walk out. I know that Congressman Frost from Florida,
(03:26):
one of the very very few Democrats we have here,
walked out and then took a selfie with a bunch
of other congress people that walked out, and his shirt
showed Trump an important message, no kings live here.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
He said, what what well? And when your behavior is
that it gives him an opposition that is once again
dumber than any thing he could have ever hoped for
and unpopular. Right when you sit in that chamber, Look,
I think we have passed the point of sort of
(04:00):
like pure motives, and things have gotten more circusy over
the years for these states of the Unions. However, when
people bring guests, the guests are real Americans who are
getting a chance to be in that chamber to do
something big. They're being honored for something real. There's a
veteran steel worker who has fostered forty children, I mean,
(04:24):
a saint walking the earth. And look when I was
watching Obama's and when Republicans were there for Obama's speeches. Yes,
sometimes these people are used to push certain policies that
you may not agree with.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Course, Yeah, but the person themselves, in their personal story,
you just got to suck it up and be like, yes,
because I'm there for that part, right, and we'll disagree
about the Medicaid whatever later, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, but they can't do that.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, it should be our moment of unity, and it's
just such an easy one for them to accomplish, and
yet they still can't. Mike Solana on X tweeted in
two thousand and nine, Joe Wilson shouted you lie in
the middle of Obama's speech, and it was a major
national scandal. Both parties condemned the outburst, and Wilson formally
publicly apologized very different times. Now none of these regular apologizing.
(05:18):
And of course their argument is, well, look at Trump,
look at what Trump does. And again, like you said,
Trump comes off far more normal than they do. I think,
like the most abnormal part about Trump last night was
him referring to Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren from the stage, a
living that clearly I don't know compared to their behavior,
(05:43):
it sort of seems small potatoes.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, And to illustrate how little they're able to embrace
a thirteen year old kid who's struggling with brain cancer
who wants to be a police officer when he grows up,
and then his deputye by the head of the United
States Secret Service as a Secret Service agent. It was
such a beautiful moment. Just it was the first one
(06:06):
that Chad that made me cry a little bit when
his face lit up because he clearly was surprised by this.
This is how we'll do two of them. This is
how Nicole Wallace responded to this.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Moment, and I think this was a lesson in finding
one thing that you let yourself feel, and I let
myself feel joy about DJ And I hope he's alive
for another you know, ninety five years, right, And I
hope he lives and the life he wants to live.
He wants to be a cop. He knows what he
(06:39):
wants to do, and maybe when you have childhood cancer
that crystallizes for you. And I hope he has a
long life as a law enforcement officer. But I hope
he never has to defend the United States capital against
Donald Trump supporters. And if he does, I hope he
isn't one of the six who loses his life to suicide.
And I hope he isn't one who has to testify
against the people who carried out acts of seditious conspiracy
(07:02):
and then lived to see Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Pardon those people. Girl, am woman, get it together.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
What are you doing, lady?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
What was There's got to be a break in your
brain that says, Okay, look, I know I'm still I'm
mad about January sixth, Yeah, but it should not be
applied to the story of the thirteen year old cancer
brain cancer sufferer, like that's.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Just who's getting like a secret service appointment.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
He gives the service director a hug.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, these are just it's beyond And again, I think
about what I would think if it was happening on
my side, and I would not appreciate.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
It, right, I would want you to just do the thing, Yeah,
like clap for the kid. I saw a funny Twitter
back and forth between Tom Nichols of the Atlantic and
Kathy Young. I believe, oh my god, I'm discussing what
was the proper way to do that, and Kathy was arguing, like,
maybe maybe you could clap for him, and He's like, no, not,
(08:08):
you can't clap because you're just giving into the manipulation.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I hope those two get to the bottom of it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You've lost the plot, my friends, you really have. I
believe you have another clip of.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yes, one more clip, let's do.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
It for the record. And this is disgusting.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
The President made a spectacle out of praising a young
man who serves thus much survived pediatric cancer, as if
the President had.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Something to do with that. This was in the.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Midst of him praising dog Doge. Cuts, among other things,
have cut off funding for ongoing research into pediatrics it's disgusting.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
That was Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I don't feel like he claimed any credits any you know,
by this kid with cancer. I think that kid is
doing the surviving all on his own, with the help
of his family and his doctors. I do not believe
Donald Trump said that he was responsible for the life
this kid living.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
He didn't just didn't really, He didn't even really do policy.
He segued slightly into sort of health policy and HHS,
but like not enough that it should keep you from
cheering for the kid with cancer.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, it's a step too far.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Now. A lot of the guests were so lovely last night.
The widow of a slain officer, Stephanie Diller, was there.
She has one one child, one young child who she's
raising on her own. Now. Uh, there was Corey Confortoire's
family was there, A kid whose dream was to get
into the United States Military Academy, who was accepted on
(09:51):
the spot by the President of the United States, which
is not that nice, at which point he high fives
DJ was so good.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
So a lot of really good moments. I want to
draw attention to one policy moment that I think should
be a bigger deal than it is. This is Trump
announcing something we did not know before the State of
the Union.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
Here's ago ISIS terrorists killed thirteen American service members and
countless others in the Abbygate bombing during the disastrous and
incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not that they were withdrawing, it
was the way they withdrew perhaps the most embarrassing moment
in the history of our country. Tonight, please to announce
(10:36):
that we have just apprehended the top terrorists responsible for
that atrocity, and he is right now on his way
here to face the swift sword of American justice.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I wanted to let the applause go on for a
bit because you'll see that even for catching a terrorist
of isis K who killed thirteen Americans and one hundred
and seventy Afghanistan citizens, the Democrats are in their seats.
And there was a close up shot too of several
just like scrolling on their phones while this was happening,
(11:18):
In classic Donald Trump's style, ash Pttel was out at Dulles.
I think as the speech was happening, receiving this transfer
of custody of this ISIS kid terrorist. And I just
want to note for everyone, because you might not know,
that is the first time that the Abbygate thirteen service
members have ever been mentioned in a major presidential address.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That is so wild to me.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
How is that possible? Biden had three State of the
Union addresses after their deaths to mention them. He never did.
Their families were not invited as guests to recognize them.
They famously behind the scenes tried to get phone calls
with him, tried to get face to face face meetings
with him. You'll remember when he did the dignified transfer
(12:04):
it dover that he was accused of catching his watch,
checking his watch, and was indeed caught on camera doing that.
There have been all sorts of issues with that administration
wanting to forget that this happened. And many presidents have
to deal with the fact that calls they make end
(12:24):
up causing the deaths or contributing to the deaths of
American service members. And you know what you do, You
do the hard thing, and you give those families recognition,
and you make sure you put them in the speech.
In twenty twenty four, his last chance to mention them,
he did not, although he mentioned Afghanistan in general, at
(12:46):
least once touting something else he was doing. There were
also five other service members who had lost their lives
in the two months before the State of the Union.
They were unmentioned as well, So the empathizer in chief
was not that for these families. And those families went
to Donald Trump, who Donald Trump notes, he knows well,
he's not faking that, right. They went to him, they
(13:08):
got the recognition. They brought him to Arlington. You'll remember
during at the anniversary last year, at which point the
press decided it was bad for Trump to to Arlington
after being invited by these families.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It's so disgraceful, Carol. I'm writing about it for OutKick,
but it's so disgraceful that I forget how disgraceful it is.
And I just want to add one more data point.
One of the fathers, Steve Nacooey, of one of the
Marines who died at Abby Gate, was a guest of
representative masted at the twenty twenty four last year's State
of the Union and he interrupted to yell Abby Gate
(13:49):
and United States Marines. He was arrested and charged with
a crime, Carol, because they the charges. Yeah, thanks, guys.
But that's the difference in how these things are treated
and the credit that Biden got for being like Bo's
father and just like mister empathizer. Well, Donald Trump gets
(14:11):
no credit while he's actually doing the thing.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That's right. Ugh, yeah, this is I love that you
are writing about this. I love that you mentioned this.
I had not realized that abvigate was never mentioned in
an official address. That is mind boggling to me. It's,
you know, what the thing is. It's obviously a difficult
thing to take responsibility, yes, but it's also part of
(14:33):
the job, and it's not that difficult to suck it
up for a short period of time, say their names,
talk about what happened, say that we're going to find
the people that did this.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Another thing, well, that's the other thing. When they when
they retaliated for this, they retaliated against a family. Oops,
and got that wrong. So I hope we are now
getting it right. And you know, Biden, I think mentioned
it in releases. He may have mentioned it in passing
when he had chances to lift these families up, when
he had chances to meet with them every time they
(15:06):
took a pass. And it's it's been appalling to me
the whole time, and I think the arrest of the
gold Star Father really put the icing on the cake.
Absolutely unacceptable, amazing stuff. So I'm well, thank you Trump
for mentioning them.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
We'll be right back on normally, switching gears a little
bit to what's happening at the Supreme Court. There was
a decision this morning that ruled that USAID must pay
out its foreign aid contracts and lifted the freeze that
(15:43):
the Trump administration had put on those contracts. Justice Alito
had a scathing opinion that included the words I am stunned,
because I think a lot of people are stunned. And
he also noted in his dissent today the Court make
a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial
(16:03):
hubris and imposes a two billion dollar penalty on American taxpayers.
This is so bizarre to me. How can it not
be the president's I don't want to say roll, but
certainly is prerogative to fund whatever projects the country wants
to fund.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I don't get it. So this what Alito wanted, and
what would have been eminently possible, is for this to
continue going through a discussion of the merits at the
appropriate channels instead of doing this argument about a temporary
restraining order, because his argument is it's not a temporary
restraining order because once this money's gone, you ain't seeing
(16:43):
it ever again, right right. Yeah, So if your temporary
restraining order requires someone to throw two billion dollars out
the window, then that's a problem. Now, the folks who
were going to get paid by this two billion dollars,
some of the parties that sued, they say, well, this
is for work already done. I'm willing to listen to
that argument, but it should go through the proper steps. Now,
(17:06):
what the Supreme Court did is they send it back
to this district court, which Alito I think rightly is saying,
how can they be the final arbiter on this makes
no sense?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
They send it back to the district court and said, like,
you need to clarify this. Do I think that that
district court is going to act in good faith to
clarify this within the limits of its powers. I am
not sure about that, and Alito was not either.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, it's confusing, you know. I spoke to my friend
Josh Hammer, who I considered one of the top conservative
legal minds he made the point that it sounds like
what the Supreme Court is saying is that Trump Doge
are a circumvention of Congress and that the president's job
is just to hit send on funds Congress appropriated, which
(17:52):
again makes not that much sense to me. I get
that he's not involved in what funds go where specifically,
but it's certainly I think, in his purview to say
this is money being wasted. I don't see how.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It's not well. And Alito makes the point that a
pause to go through the courts to figure out who
has power on the merits of these arguments would not
irreparably harm people, although it would be a hardship on
some of them. However, sending the money without having a
process for checking and seeing whose power it is does
(18:30):
potentially irreparably harm taxpayers. Who's two billion dollars it is.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, it's really disappointing to see Amy Coni Barrett on
the wrong side of this. I think that people are
starting to get nervous that she may not have been
the great conservative hope that people had imagined she was.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I try not to get too nervous too fast, but
I got to say that ever since the Roberts Obamacare decision. Yeah,
you know, I'm sensitive. I'm sensitive. Yeah, I'm also open
to the idea that these guys can disagree in good
faith and that I don't actually understand all of this.
But this one does feel like maybe we should have
(19:14):
just gone through the appeals court and she chatted about
this some more.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
We're going to take a short break and come right
back with Normally, all the Democrats voted against the Protection
of Women and Girls in Sports Act of twenty twenty five,
which is just insane to me. They needed sixty votes
to clear the Senate's legislative bilibuster. They only managed fifty one,
(19:42):
all from Republicans Senator Warren you know Pocahuntas for people
who remember held her thumb down as she voted because
she really wanted people to know if she opposes female athletes.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Yeah, again, this isn't eighty twenty issue. And I myself
as an ideologue and sometimes on the twenty percent shide
of issues.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And so I'm gonna I'm not gonna hate on you
if you need to stand up on principle. Occasionally, this
one just seems like a real easy win, Like eighty
percent of American people are like, yeah, we should just
have the women's sports and not the men potentially beating
them and hurting them in those sports. By the way,
(20:28):
one of the guests at the joint session was a
young woman I believe her name is Peyton McNabb, who
got a traumatic brain injury from having been injured by
a transathlete boy athlete under these rules. And again it's
another situation where Democrats can't bring themselves to acknowledge this
(20:51):
very simple and popular thing, right because it's a Trump thing.
And I saw some people there was some back and
forth on Twitter last night saying, well, he doesn't really
care about women's athletes.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I mean he's shown kind of that he does.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Actually, this is the thing, that's what they say that
about veterans too. He doesn't care about veterans, right, But
he's the one meeting with the families. But he's the
one pushing the executive order, right, so generally.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Action and not the emoting personally.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Like to me, it's unimportant whether he actually watches women's volleyball, right,
they probably like it. But if he does or not,
I don't care. But if he's clearing the way for
my daughters in the future to play safely.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
That's a win for me exactly. And he has granddaughters
he certainly may care about this. There was an exchange
on x that I found very illuminating Brad Piquette, who
is a state rep for the thirty seventh district in Michigan.
He said, he posted, I don't know to call it anymore.
He tweeted both of my US Senators, Gary Peters and
(21:59):
Eli Slotkinner opposed to my daughter playing sports against other
girls only? What a sort to fall on with only
one of you at the end of your political career.
A response he got from Julie Brisey, who is another
Michigan representative in House District seventy three, said, but what
are you doing to stop tariffs so Michigan cars don't
(22:19):
get eight thousand dollars more expensive while tayotas don't. And
what about the price of eggs? Who cares about who
your kid plays in sports? What are you doing to
help hard working Michigan factory workers and farmers survive? Who
cares about your kid? He cares, he cares about his kid.
I think that's really what they don't understand is that
American parents care about their children. I know, it's surprising
(22:42):
and chanting and really not how Julie Bricksy thinks it
should work. We should care about Michigan factory workers more,
but no, we care about our kids, and so that
would be priority one, and Michigan factory workers are certainly
on the list as well. But the first priority is
our children and keeping them safe and out of harm's way.
(23:04):
And what's particularly interesting about this issue is that the
trans issue is touchy in some places and some some
you know, there are some definitely fifty to fifty issues
around trans questions, but sports, biological boys playing in girls
sports is simply just not one of them. And everybody
(23:25):
with eyes understands why biological boys can't play in girls
sports and this whole who cares about your kid? I mean,
continue to run on that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I saw in exchange that I thought was illustrative as well,
which is Megan McCain brought up Peyton McNabb and said,
you know, it's important to protect people like her. I'm
glad that the President is doing this. I'm worried for
my daughters and Andy Cohen, they're like buzz, yeah, says
surprised you're buying into the vilification of the trans community,
(23:58):
given the real problems happening in this country, your previous
allyship of the LGBTQ community, and the fact that this
non issue affects about four people in this country. He's
wrong on the facts. It's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of competitors who have taken podium slots and scholarships and
all sorts of things from women, But he's totally wrong
(24:21):
on the politics. And he decided to dig in on
the issue of a woman who got a traumatic brain
injury from this kind of danger. It tright to me
shows how committed they are to this losing issue.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
They really are.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
By the way, when they say like this isn't a
big deal, there's only a few of them who made
it a big deal. Who required that women athletes not
only lose to boys, but stand on the podium and
cheer and say how amazing it was to feel so
inclusive and lose, Like who was it that made this
a national store?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Wasn't us? And also talking about you know, first of
allmocrats always say that they're there to represent these tiny minorities,
and that's the whole thing. They are changing our language,
getting rid of terms like mother and using inseminated person.
How many people in the whole country are pregnant and
don't feel comfortable with the word mother, and I would
prefer inseminated person, Like I don't even believe there are four.
(25:19):
I would be surprised to find four people.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
We can't find them.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
No, they don't exist. I think that if you are
a biological woman, even if you have transitioned and you
are pregnant with a baby, you still want to be
a mother and not an inseminated person.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So yeah, and one last point on this, which is
that Alyssa Slutkin of Michigan was the responder what do
they call it, the rebuttal to this speech. It's a
very unenviable position. You have to give a speech to
a dark closet with no one after the president has
spoken to a joint session. So even if it's Biden,
(25:56):
you're having a tough time following. She did a good
job of seeming medium normally. Yeah, but this is the problem.
Look at the voting record from just this week, and
it turns out she's not in line with seventy nine
percent of Americans who believe this thing.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
That's right, This very sane, normal, obvious thing that Democrats
have decided to fight to the death, and so okay,
let's do it.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Let's fight to the dos.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah. Well, thanks for joining us on normally. Normally airs
Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get
your podcasts. Get in touch with us at normallybepod at
gmail dot com. Thanks for listening, and when things get weird,
act normally
Hey, Guy's friends, Normany's countrymen. We are back on Normally,
the show What Normal It Takes for when the news
gets weird. I am Mary Cavinham.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I'm Carol Markowitz. Hi, Mary Catherine. We are recording
this the day after Trump's addressed to Congress, and I
have to say, the news got weird.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I mean we all expected entertaining, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, No, the speech I thought was fantastic. I just
thought the reaction and the response around it was beyond
I really did think it was a new level of insanity.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah? I think I am going to sound like a
concern troll, like I'm telling the left what to do,
and maybe I'm trapping them, But I truly think the
best thing to do would just be to sit very normally,
clap when you like something, ignore it when you don't,
and then leave the chambers. You give him so much
(01:02):
less to work with when you do that. I think
the paddles are so weird that the Democrats have decided
to use and hold up when they're upset, because it's
so mimable. You just erase what's written on them and
you write new things on them. That's right, why why
would you do that?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It made no sense. You know, I get the concern
troll thing, but I have to tell you that alone
in my bedroom with no one around, I am screaming
at the screen. Just be normal, like it's not you know.
I wasn't trying to trick them into anything. You're just like,
can you just be quiet? Can you not shake a
cane at the president? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
It's mildly concerned. At the beginning, they weren't going to
let him speak at all like that, there was going
to need to be a mass escorting out of much
of the Democratic caucus, which would have been bad. So
they chilled out after al Green, who was the cane shaker,
was escorted out of the room. But I think they're
in a true position because they do need to be
(02:02):
more normal. And one of the things I tell our
friends on the left is, you're so weird that people
turned to Donald Trump as the more normal option. Now,
Donald Trump is many things, many good things, many bad things,
entertaining all these not normal, right, He's like, he's definitely
an oddball, but he's normaler than y'all.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Way more way more normal.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So yeah, I don't think it was effective, but their
base requires that they do things that are theatric and
big to stop this allegedly not normal duly elected president.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But I have to imagine that their base can't possibly
like them not applauding a thirteen year old cancer survivor.
I just again, I look at it from the right.
If it was Republicans not applauding a thirteen year old
cancer I would not like that and so and while
I would want the Republicans to stand up to say
(03:05):
Joe Biden or whoever the president is, I still would
not appreciate that kind of behavior. And I think it
would have been better if they hadn't shown up, and
that would have been more understandable to me than what
they ended up doing. And of course some of them
did walk out. I know that Congressman Frost from Florida,
(03:26):
one of the very very few Democrats we have here,
walked out and then took a selfie with a bunch
of other congress people that walked out, and his shirt
showed Trump an important message, no kings live here.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
He said, what what well? And when your behavior is
that it gives him an opposition that is once again
dumber than any thing he could have ever hoped for
and unpopular. Right when you sit in that chamber, Look,
I think we have passed the point of sort of
(04:00):
like pure motives, and things have gotten more circusy over
the years for these states of the Unions. However, when
people bring guests, the guests are real Americans who are
getting a chance to be in that chamber to do
something big. They're being honored for something real. There's a
veteran steel worker who has fostered forty children, I mean,
(04:24):
a saint walking the earth. And look when I was
watching Obama's and when Republicans were there for Obama's speeches. Yes,
sometimes these people are used to push certain policies that
you may not agree with.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Course, Yeah, but the person themselves, in their personal story,
you just got to suck it up and be like, yes,
because I'm there for that part, right, and we'll disagree
about the Medicaid whatever later, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, but they can't do that.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, it should be our moment of unity, and it's
just such an easy one for them to accomplish, and
yet they still can't. Mike Solana on X tweeted in
two thousand and nine, Joe Wilson shouted you lie in
the middle of Obama's speech, and it was a major
national scandal. Both parties condemned the outburst, and Wilson formally
publicly apologized very different times. Now none of these regular apologizing.
(05:18):
And of course their argument is, well, look at Trump,
look at what Trump does. And again, like you said,
Trump comes off far more normal than they do. I think,
like the most abnormal part about Trump last night was
him referring to Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren from the stage, a
living that clearly I don't know compared to their behavior,
(05:43):
it sort of seems small potatoes.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, And to illustrate how little they're able to embrace
a thirteen year old kid who's struggling with brain cancer
who wants to be a police officer when he grows up,
and then his deputye by the head of the United
States Secret Service as a Secret Service agent. It was
such a beautiful moment. Just it was the first one
(06:06):
that Chad that made me cry a little bit when
his face lit up because he clearly was surprised by this.
This is how we'll do two of them. This is
how Nicole Wallace responded to this.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Moment, and I think this was a lesson in finding
one thing that you let yourself feel, and I let
myself feel joy about DJ And I hope he's alive
for another you know, ninety five years, right, And I
hope he lives and the life he wants to live.
He wants to be a cop. He knows what he
(06:39):
wants to do, and maybe when you have childhood cancer
that crystallizes for you. And I hope he has a
long life as a law enforcement officer. But I hope
he never has to defend the United States capital against
Donald Trump supporters. And if he does, I hope he
isn't one of the six who loses his life to suicide.
And I hope he isn't one who has to testify
against the people who carried out acts of seditious conspiracy
(07:02):
and then lived to see Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Pardon those people. Girl, am woman, get it together.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
What are you doing, lady?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
What was There's got to be a break in your
brain that says, Okay, look, I know I'm still I'm
mad about January sixth, Yeah, but it should not be
applied to the story of the thirteen year old cancer
brain cancer sufferer, like that's.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Just who's getting like a secret service appointment.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
He gives the service director a hug.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, these are just it's beyond And again, I think
about what I would think if it was happening on
my side, and I would not appreciate.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
It, right, I would want you to just do the thing, Yeah,
like clap for the kid. I saw a funny Twitter
back and forth between Tom Nichols of the Atlantic and
Kathy Young. I believe, oh my god, I'm discussing what
was the proper way to do that, and Kathy was arguing, like,
maybe maybe you could clap for him, and He's like, no, not,
(08:08):
you can't clap because you're just giving into the manipulation.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I hope those two get to the bottom of it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You've lost the plot, my friends, you really have. I
believe you have another clip of.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yes, one more clip, let's do.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
It for the record. And this is disgusting.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
The President made a spectacle out of praising a young
man who serves thus much survived pediatric cancer, as if
the President had.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Something to do with that. This was in the.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Midst of him praising dog Doge. Cuts, among other things,
have cut off funding for ongoing research into pediatrics it's disgusting.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
That was Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I don't feel like he claimed any credits any you know,
by this kid with cancer. I think that kid is
doing the surviving all on his own, with the help
of his family and his doctors. I do not believe
Donald Trump said that he was responsible for the life
this kid living.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
He didn't just didn't really, He didn't even really do policy.
He segued slightly into sort of health policy and HHS,
but like not enough that it should keep you from
cheering for the kid with cancer.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, it's a step too far.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Now. A lot of the guests were so lovely last night.
The widow of a slain officer, Stephanie Diller, was there.
She has one one child, one young child who she's
raising on her own. Now. Uh, there was Corey Confortoire's
family was there, A kid whose dream was to get
into the United States Military Academy, who was accepted on
(09:51):
the spot by the President of the United States, which
is not that nice, at which point he high fives
DJ was so good.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
So a lot of really good moments. I want to
draw attention to one policy moment that I think should
be a bigger deal than it is. This is Trump
announcing something we did not know before the State of
the Union.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
Here's ago ISIS terrorists killed thirteen American service members and
countless others in the Abbygate bombing during the disastrous and
incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not that they were withdrawing, it
was the way they withdrew perhaps the most embarrassing moment
in the history of our country. Tonight, please to announce
(10:36):
that we have just apprehended the top terrorists responsible for
that atrocity, and he is right now on his way
here to face the swift sword of American justice.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I wanted to let the applause go on for a
bit because you'll see that even for catching a terrorist
of isis K who killed thirteen Americans and one hundred
and seventy Afghanistan citizens, the Democrats are in their seats.
And there was a close up shot too of several
just like scrolling on their phones while this was happening,
(11:18):
In classic Donald Trump's style, ash Pttel was out at Dulles.
I think as the speech was happening, receiving this transfer
of custody of this ISIS kid terrorist. And I just
want to note for everyone, because you might not know,
that is the first time that the Abbygate thirteen service
members have ever been mentioned in a major presidential address.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That is so wild to me.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
How is that possible? Biden had three State of the
Union addresses after their deaths to mention them. He never did.
Their families were not invited as guests to recognize them.
They famously behind the scenes tried to get phone calls
with him, tried to get face to face face meetings
with him. You'll remember when he did the dignified transfer
(12:04):
it dover that he was accused of catching his watch,
checking his watch, and was indeed caught on camera doing that.
There have been all sorts of issues with that administration
wanting to forget that this happened. And many presidents have
to deal with the fact that calls they make end
(12:24):
up causing the deaths or contributing to the deaths of
American service members. And you know what you do, You
do the hard thing, and you give those families recognition,
and you make sure you put them in the speech.
In twenty twenty four, his last chance to mention them,
he did not, although he mentioned Afghanistan in general, at
(12:46):
least once touting something else he was doing. There were
also five other service members who had lost their lives
in the two months before the State of the Union.
They were unmentioned as well, So the empathizer in chief
was not that for these families. And those families went
to Donald Trump, who Donald Trump notes, he knows well,
he's not faking that, right. They went to him, they
(13:08):
got the recognition. They brought him to Arlington. You'll remember
during at the anniversary last year, at which point the
press decided it was bad for Trump to to Arlington
after being invited by these families.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It's so disgraceful, Carol. I'm writing about it for OutKick,
but it's so disgraceful that I forget how disgraceful it is.
And I just want to add one more data point.
One of the fathers, Steve Nacooey, of one of the
Marines who died at Abby Gate, was a guest of
representative masted at the twenty twenty four last year's State
of the Union and he interrupted to yell Abby Gate
(13:49):
and United States Marines. He was arrested and charged with
a crime, Carol, because they the charges. Yeah, thanks, guys.
But that's the difference in how these things are treated
and the credit that Biden got for being like Bo's
father and just like mister empathizer. Well, Donald Trump gets
(14:11):
no credit while he's actually doing the thing.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That's right. Ugh, yeah, this is I love that you
are writing about this. I love that you mentioned this.
I had not realized that abvigate was never mentioned in
an official address. That is mind boggling to me. It's,
you know, what the thing is. It's obviously a difficult
thing to take responsibility, yes, but it's also part of
(14:33):
the job, and it's not that difficult to suck it
up for a short period of time, say their names,
talk about what happened, say that we're going to find
the people that did this.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Another thing, well, that's the other thing. When they when
they retaliated for this, they retaliated against a family. Oops,
and got that wrong. So I hope we are now
getting it right. And you know, Biden, I think mentioned
it in releases. He may have mentioned it in passing
when he had chances to lift these families up, when
he had chances to meet with them every time they
(15:06):
took a pass. And it's it's been appalling to me
the whole time, and I think the arrest of the
gold Star Father really put the icing on the cake.
Absolutely unacceptable, amazing stuff. So I'm well, thank you Trump
for mentioning them.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
We'll be right back on normally, switching gears a little
bit to what's happening at the Supreme Court. There was
a decision this morning that ruled that USAID must pay
out its foreign aid contracts and lifted the freeze that
(15:43):
the Trump administration had put on those contracts. Justice Alito
had a scathing opinion that included the words I am stunned,
because I think a lot of people are stunned. And
he also noted in his dissent today the Court make
a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial
(16:03):
hubris and imposes a two billion dollar penalty on American taxpayers.
This is so bizarre to me. How can it not
be the president's I don't want to say roll, but
certainly is prerogative to fund whatever projects the country wants
to fund.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I don't get it. So this what Alito wanted, and
what would have been eminently possible, is for this to
continue going through a discussion of the merits at the
appropriate channels instead of doing this argument about a temporary
restraining order, because his argument is it's not a temporary
restraining order because once this money's gone, you ain't seeing
(16:43):
it ever again, right right. Yeah, So if your temporary
restraining order requires someone to throw two billion dollars out
the window, then that's a problem. Now, the folks who
were going to get paid by this two billion dollars,
some of the parties that sued, they say, well, this
is for work already done. I'm willing to listen to
that argument, but it should go through the proper steps. Now,
(17:06):
what the Supreme Court did is they send it back
to this district court, which Alito I think rightly is saying,
how can they be the final arbiter on this makes
no sense?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
They send it back to the district court and said, like,
you need to clarify this. Do I think that that
district court is going to act in good faith to
clarify this within the limits of its powers. I am
not sure about that, and Alito was not either.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, it's confusing, you know. I spoke to my friend
Josh Hammer, who I considered one of the top conservative
legal minds he made the point that it sounds like
what the Supreme Court is saying is that Trump Doge
are a circumvention of Congress and that the president's job
is just to hit send on funds Congress appropriated, which
(17:52):
again makes not that much sense to me. I get
that he's not involved in what funds go where specifically,
but it's certainly I think, in his purview to say
this is money being wasted. I don't see how.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It's not well. And Alito makes the point that a
pause to go through the courts to figure out who
has power on the merits of these arguments would not
irreparably harm people, although it would be a hardship on
some of them. However, sending the money without having a
process for checking and seeing whose power it is does
(18:30):
potentially irreparably harm taxpayers. Who's two billion dollars it is.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, it's really disappointing to see Amy Coni Barrett on
the wrong side of this. I think that people are
starting to get nervous that she may not have been
the great conservative hope that people had imagined she was.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I try not to get too nervous too fast, but
I got to say that ever since the Roberts Obamacare decision. Yeah,
you know, I'm sensitive. I'm sensitive. Yeah, I'm also open
to the idea that these guys can disagree in good
faith and that I don't actually understand all of this.
But this one does feel like maybe we should have
(19:14):
just gone through the appeals court and she chatted about
this some more.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
We're going to take a short break and come right
back with Normally, all the Democrats voted against the Protection
of Women and Girls in Sports Act of twenty twenty five,
which is just insane to me. They needed sixty votes
to clear the Senate's legislative bilibuster. They only managed fifty one,
(19:42):
all from Republicans Senator Warren you know Pocahuntas for people
who remember held her thumb down as she voted because
she really wanted people to know if she opposes female athletes.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Yeah, again, this isn't eighty twenty issue. And I myself
as an ideologue and sometimes on the twenty percent shide
of issues.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And so I'm gonna I'm not gonna hate on you
if you need to stand up on principle. Occasionally, this
one just seems like a real easy win, Like eighty
percent of American people are like, yeah, we should just
have the women's sports and not the men potentially beating
them and hurting them in those sports. By the way,
(20:28):
one of the guests at the joint session was a
young woman I believe her name is Peyton McNabb, who
got a traumatic brain injury from having been injured by
a transathlete boy athlete under these rules. And again it's
another situation where Democrats can't bring themselves to acknowledge this
(20:51):
very simple and popular thing, right because it's a Trump thing.
And I saw some people there was some back and
forth on Twitter last night saying, well, he doesn't really
care about women's athletes.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I mean he's shown kind of that he does.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Actually, this is the thing, that's what they say that
about veterans too. He doesn't care about veterans, right, But
he's the one meeting with the families. But he's the
one pushing the executive order, right, so generally.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Action and not the emoting personally.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Like to me, it's unimportant whether he actually watches women's volleyball, right,
they probably like it. But if he does or not,
I don't care. But if he's clearing the way for
my daughters in the future to play safely.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
That's a win for me exactly. And he has granddaughters
he certainly may care about this. There was an exchange
on x that I found very illuminating Brad Piquette, who
is a state rep for the thirty seventh district in Michigan.
He said, he posted, I don't know to call it anymore.
He tweeted both of my US Senators, Gary Peters and
(21:59):
Eli Slotkinner opposed to my daughter playing sports against other
girls only? What a sort to fall on with only
one of you at the end of your political career.
A response he got from Julie Brisey, who is another
Michigan representative in House District seventy three, said, but what
are you doing to stop tariffs so Michigan cars don't
(22:19):
get eight thousand dollars more expensive while tayotas don't. And
what about the price of eggs? Who cares about who
your kid plays in sports? What are you doing to
help hard working Michigan factory workers and farmers survive? Who
cares about your kid? He cares, he cares about his kid.
I think that's really what they don't understand is that
American parents care about their children. I know, it's surprising
(22:42):
and chanting and really not how Julie Bricksy thinks it
should work. We should care about Michigan factory workers more,
but no, we care about our kids, and so that
would be priority one, and Michigan factory workers are certainly
on the list as well. But the first priority is
our children and keeping them safe and out of harm's way.
(23:04):
And what's particularly interesting about this issue is that the
trans issue is touchy in some places and some some
you know, there are some definitely fifty to fifty issues
around trans questions, but sports, biological boys playing in girls
sports is simply just not one of them. And everybody
(23:25):
with eyes understands why biological boys can't play in girls
sports and this whole who cares about your kid? I mean,
continue to run on that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I saw in exchange that I thought was illustrative as well,
which is Megan McCain brought up Peyton McNabb and said,
you know, it's important to protect people like her. I'm
glad that the President is doing this. I'm worried for
my daughters and Andy Cohen, they're like buzz, yeah, says
surprised you're buying into the vilification of the trans community,
(23:58):
given the real problems happening in this country, your previous
allyship of the LGBTQ community, and the fact that this
non issue affects about four people in this country. He's
wrong on the facts. It's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of competitors who have taken podium slots and scholarships and
all sorts of things from women, But he's totally wrong
(24:21):
on the politics. And he decided to dig in on
the issue of a woman who got a traumatic brain
injury from this kind of danger. It tright to me
shows how committed they are to this losing issue.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
They really are.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
By the way, when they say like this isn't a
big deal, there's only a few of them who made
it a big deal. Who required that women athletes not
only lose to boys, but stand on the podium and
cheer and say how amazing it was to feel so
inclusive and lose, Like who was it that made this
a national store?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Wasn't us? And also talking about you know, first of
allmocrats always say that they're there to represent these tiny minorities,
and that's the whole thing. They are changing our language,
getting rid of terms like mother and using inseminated person.
How many people in the whole country are pregnant and
don't feel comfortable with the word mother, and I would
prefer inseminated person, Like I don't even believe there are four.
(25:19):
I would be surprised to find four people.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
We can't find them.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
No, they don't exist. I think that if you are
a biological woman, even if you have transitioned and you
are pregnant with a baby, you still want to be
a mother and not an inseminated person.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So yeah, and one last point on this, which is
that Alyssa Slutkin of Michigan was the responder what do
they call it, the rebuttal to this speech. It's a
very unenviable position. You have to give a speech to
a dark closet with no one after the president has
spoken to a joint session. So even if it's Biden,
(25:56):
you're having a tough time following. She did a good
job of seeming medium normally. Yeah, but this is the problem.
Look at the voting record from just this week, and
it turns out she's not in line with seventy nine
percent of Americans who believe this thing.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
That's right, This very sane, normal, obvious thing that Democrats
have decided to fight to the death, and so okay,
let's do it.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Let's fight to the dos.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah. Well, thanks for joining us on normally. Normally airs
Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get
your podcasts. Get in touch with us at normallybepod at
gmail dot com. Thanks for listening, and when things get weird,
act normally
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