On this episode of Normally, Mary Katharine Ham and Karol Markowicz break down the fallout from the collapse of Spirit Airlines and whether the blocked merger with JetBlue helped seal its fate. They also dive into new polling showing cracks in the Democratic coalition, including shifting Black voter support toward Republicans, and discuss the political implications heading into 2026. Plus: new legal trouble tied to Anthony Fauci’s inner circle raises fresh questions about COVID-era transparency and accountability.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, guys, we are back on normally, so it was normal,
a chance for when the news it's weird.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I am America, I'm Carol Marca. How's it going.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's all right. I went camping this weekend and realized
very quickly, did you very old? I am? I'm old?
I'm old. I can't do that. What am I doing?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Are you no longer sleeping on the ground? Years old?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I mean I wasn't even on the ground. I had
a cot and I still was a mess. Everything hurts,
everything hurts. Yeah, full outdoors though. I am camping cursed though,
because every time I go the weather is a mess.
So this time I went camping in May and it
was thirty five degrees overnight.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh my god, we've done it where it was really cold.
Me we've barely ever been camping but just the few times.
But the last time we did it, it was so
cold that my husband, me and the boys like ended
up huddling for warm in the middle of the night,
and our daughter woke up in the morning, like, how
did nobody alert me this? I was freezing all the
way over here on my own abandoned me? We did,
(01:05):
But you know, my favorite camping trip ever is we
got somewhere, we set up a tent. We like hung
out all day with our friends. Then it started pouring
at night and we were like, you know what, let's
go home. We did it like we have been out
here all day. This was fantastic, But what about if
we just drive home to our warms.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
The daytime is my favorite part of camping. It's like,
I'm off fine, I'm outdoors, it's very pretty. That part
was good. But the the gals got some of their
camping nights in for their badges and we did the thing.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Alrighty, shall we get to the news?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay? Yes, Spirit Airlines is no more, and I actually
am bummed about it. We talked about it on a
previous show. But they flew some routes that only they flew,
and you know it's going to be difficult without them.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yes, and I took Spirit from time to time when
they had a leg that worked for me. I was
not shy about it. It's there's a fight on over
who's to blame for the loss of Spirit Airlines. And
it had declared bankruptcy. It was working to reorganize. It
(02:16):
had been in trouble for some time, and the Biden
administration several years ago said no to a merger with
Jet Blue on the basis that I don't know, there's
not enough airlines for us to choose from if those
two discount airlines merge, and right.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Their argument was that it would reduce competition, but you know,
it has really reduced competition. Spirit Airlines not existing anymore,
much less competition. Actually, I feel like the airlines like
Jet Blue and Frontier and whatever are very excited, like
they're like, we are introducing all these new routes where
Spirit used to fly well, and all these people who
(02:54):
would never be caught dead on a Spirit Airlines flight
are like, are like Trump killed Spirit Airlines.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And look, I concede that high jet fuel prices, which
are in part driven by Iran war externalities, might have
been a death knell or part of it. But this
company has been limping around and attempted to right itself
several years ago and was told no by the government,
(03:23):
Like that's right.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
They've had repeated bankruptcies before jet fuel was ever in issues.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
And perhaps had they merged with another airline, they would
have been able to absorb a shift in jet fuel prices.
Which was their idea when they were pitching the merger.
I just I also just why does the government even
have a say in whether two free companies can merge?
I just have never been on board for that at all.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I don't understand why Elizabeth Warren gets to pressure anybody.
She pressured the DOJ to block the Jet Blue deal,
which again, who is she? Like, She's got no experience
at all running anything, and yet she's in charge of
urging regulators to say no to the deal. How does
this make any sense? And the anti trust stuff in
(04:12):
Congress just seems like, again, the airlines that are benefiting
from this, how is that not antitrust? How is that
not the benefit here that they're all going to have
new routes because they've eliminated a branch of their competition.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, it's just like there should be extraordinary compelling interest
of some kind if you're going to stop two companies
from merging, because the two companies are just two companies
in a free country, and if they want to work together,
they should be able to work together. And in this case,
I think it would have given spirit a little more runway. Sorry,
I that was its way out, And here we are.
(04:53):
But look, this is part of Democrats sort of living with,
particularly liberals like Elizabeth Warren, living with the consequences of
the policies that they endorse. Her policy aim explicitly was
you will stand alone. You will not be given tools
to fix this problem. And then she's like, well, well,
(05:16):
well look what you've done, mister Trump. And I reject
that you had a large part in this, ma'am, and
you must take responsibility for it.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
She will not, right, And look, you and I were
not thrilled that Trump was floating the US government buying
a piece of syrup. Right, why would we want to
own an airline that isn't making it? I just it
makes no sense. But Jet Blue merging with it would
have made sense. It would have elevated both airlines. They
(05:47):
would have had larger number of customers. It just all
around would have been a better move for the two airlines.
And I don't understand how this benefits anybody.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, it's not great. And now you've got many pans
to Spirit Airlines that from people who again have probably
never sat there but in a Spirit Airlines seat before.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I don't like it when companies go out of business,
But if you cannot survive as a company without being
bailed out. That is part of the system, that's part
of capitalism. I don't want these people to lose their jobs.
I also, as you know, do not want to be
in charge of bailing them out, and would have preferred
if these two companies could have worked that out between themselves.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Right. I get the argument that some people on the
right were making about the Trump potential bailout where the
government screwed Spirit Airlines over, it should be up to
the government to bail them out. I just I hear you.
I still didn't think that would be a wise decision,
So I'm glad we didn't go that route. But you know,
fifteen to seventeen thousand employees are affected by this Spirit
(06:56):
Airlines going out of business. People were left stranded. Other
airlines stepped in and tried to help, which is noble.
You know, you kind of don't expect that kind of
behavior from the airlines, but they did a good job.
It's sad, and it shows that the left flank of
the Democratic Party is in control, and they're in control
(07:18):
in so many ways. We'll talk about Grand Platner in
the next segment, but it just the far left is
the Democratic Party. Now it's no longer. Oh, the Democratic
Party has a leftist flank. The leftist flank is the party.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Well, and we can talk about it even before we
get to Platiner in ways that the Democrats sort of
have to contend with the policy results and what that
means for voters on the ground. We have. One of
our favorite segments, of course, is Harry Enton on CNN
saying things that pan don't want to hear, and look,
Republicans are in no small amount of peril in this
(07:52):
midterm year. Yes, saving them is that people still really
dislike Democrats and there are a lot of no, there's
a handful of Democrats who are in the centrist democrat
ish area going like this is a big deal, guys.
People really don't like us, and they have not regained ground. Therefore,
Democrats are not gaining adherents as Trump loses approval, which
(08:17):
is going to blunt what they're able to do in November.
Here's Harry Enton explaining how that's happening in one of
the most formerly devoted blocks of African American voters.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Here he is you we're seeing right now in the
numbers as President Trump and the Republican Party are chipping
away at the long term advantage that Democrats have had
with black voters. With African Americans. You can see it
right here. Look Trump's approval among African Americans at this
point in term one, he was at twelve percent. You know,
he's been losing ground with a lot of people. He's
gaining He's gaining ground with African Americans. He's up to
(08:50):
sixteen percent at this point. And you say, this isn't
that big of a shift, But I will tell you
Republicans absolutely love this shift that's going on because Democrats
have had such a long term advantage. The fact that
he's actually gaining ground versus where he was in term
number one, this has major implications for elections down the
line because Democrats, especially in a lot of these type races.
(09:12):
You talk about places like Georgia, right down on the South,
you see this type of movement for Trump actually gaining ground.
This could have major ramifications and help put Republicans over
the top and a number of Southern places in the
midterm elections.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
So do you see this as part of a bigger trend?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I see this as absolutely part of a bigger trend.
Donald Trump's Republican Party is absolutely gaining ground, not just
him gaining in terms of his approval rating, but look
at the party I d margin, Kate, because this to
me was absolutely stunning. Look at this party ID margin
among African Americans. At this point in Trump term, number one,
Democrats had a sixty three point advantage. That is absolutely
(09:48):
fall and look at where it is now, a double
digit shift away. Democrats, of course still have the advantage,
but it's a twelve point shift to the Republican Party.
And I look back through GALLUS records they sent me
their records, and this, in fact lead that Democrats have
is actually smaller than any lead from two thousand and
six to twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I mean that's something.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Those numbers are low, obviously, twelve and sixteen percent, those
numbers are low. The numbers of African Americans who do
vote Republican are relatively low. But anytime you see a
double digit shift, that is danger for a coalition. I
think some of the areas where you see this on
issues based stuff is on education, where Democrats had a
(10:31):
generation's long twenty plus point lead over Republicans, and during
COVID it was like back down, to back down to
even if not, if not losing that issue. Healthcare is
another one where on occasions you will get blocks of
these two excuse me, you will get blocks of voters
who have turned very quickly away from Democrats on that
(10:51):
issue of perennial strength. And now this is a part
of the coalition on which they have had a luck forever.
That during Trump too is like, actually, we're hanging here.
And that's been the question all along is can Trump
pull people and then keep them there? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Right, And that remains to be seen, but so far
it's a shift that actually matters. And you know that.
The thing is that when you have these minority shifts
where we talked about this during the election with Jews,
like when you have even if it's a small number
of voters who move from one side to another, you
(11:28):
can change the electorate in places that matter, like in
Pennsylvania for example. And I think you're gonna if Donald
Trump could make a shift in black voters in Georgia
that moves Georgia back into the red column, and that
would be very very interesting. I also think stuff like
no taxes on tips and just lowering taxes overall people
(11:50):
saw more money in their checks this year. I think
that kind of thing matters a lot, especially when the
Democrats are the party that always runs on affordability. If
Trump is able to take that affordability message from them,
that would be very good.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
The way they should put a lot more emphasis on that,
like a lot of people don't know where that came from.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And then lat oh Man, you and me talking about
what the Republican Party should be talking about.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And then lastly, I want to point out that speaking
of coalitions or coalition members, the Democrats need, Spencer Pratt
out in LA is talking explicitly to moms. Here's a
little bit of his online content which has been just
very enjoyable. Yeah, so he is talking about LA.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
And because I've been campaigning, the thing that has impacted
me the most is meeting hundreds and hundreds of moms.
And they're the most activated people in Los Angeles right now.
And you know why, because they don't feel safe. Moms
send me messages with stories and videos that are so disturbing.
If I were to share them on my accounts, they
get banned. Crazy drug addicts exposing themselves to their children,
(12:52):
hardcore drug use assaults, It's shocking what LA moms have
to endure because of the reckless policies of Karen Bass
and Nitthia Rahman, who really just don't care about their concerns.
It's really shifted my vision in a very real way.
I'm realizing that my true mission as mayor is to
protect our moms. They need to feel safe. They're scared
to just walk their baby stroller to the park and
(13:12):
enjoy the weather. They're scared to grab their mobile order
at Starbucks. They're on pins and needles sending their kids
off to school. I'm sorry, but how have we accepted this?
As a man, as a father, nothing is more important
than the safety of my children and my wife. Women
and children first. We have that maxim for a reason.
It's true in an emergency, and it's true for this election.
(13:33):
Women and children first. If I accomplish nothing else as mayor,
it will be to make moms and their kids feel
safe in the city of Los Angeles. Again.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Man, I'm gonna have my heart broken when he loses.
I mean, when when the further left candidate than Karen
Best win that happen.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
But look it is when he says, how have we
allowed this to become a city because he's right. Bass
and Nythia, the other woman running, they not only don't
care about mom's complaints about going to the park or
a Starbucks mobile order, they would they would make fun
of them for having issues with the fact that this
(14:16):
is what they see on their way, and he's he's correct.
We run into this all the time where the problem
that the liberal policies have created is so disgusting, whether
it's the uh, the rated X content in school, or
the people you see on your street corner next to
the park, that you can't communicate it on social media
(14:37):
because or in a public meeting because it's so racy.
That's how bad it is.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, yeah, I hope LA does the right thing.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It'd be nice. Yeah, no, no, better than.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
To expect it. But it's just in such a bad place,
like they're going to try to do something. They're going
to try to make a big move, I think, and
it's either going to be him or Nythia, and yikes.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I think. I think it'd be nice to have a
person who recognizes that parks should be approachable by moms
with kids and strollers without being scared.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
This used to be something democrats believed I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
There are public parks, by their public parks. This is
one of the few things that I believe is a
good government function and win. Functioning correctly brings great joy
to people. But they refuse to let them function correctly.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
That's unfortunate. All Right, We're going to take a short
break and come right back with some grim Platner and
his Tottan coffe. Oh, we are back on normally where
my co host Mary Katherine Ham got into it over
the weekend with the left wing podcast hosts at Pod
(15:49):
Saves America. Mary Catherine doesn't seem to think that Nazi
tattoos are okay for some reason. What's the problem?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Much to my surprise, this is something worth content over
for John Favreau of the pod Bros. Okay, here's his
original tweet. He had said in the past, let me
know when a far lefty candidate appears with a Nazi
sympathizer and we can chat. So everybody's been pointing this out,
he says, I didn't delete it because I stand by it.
But if Maga World has decided their best play is
(16:19):
to insult Mayner's intelligence by trying to fool them into
thinking Platner's old tattoo makes him a Nazi sympathizer. Best
of luck in November. And I just said what I
think is quite common sense. I think if one is
trying to figure out if a candidate is sympathetic to Nazis,
one of the most important tests is whether the candidate
knowingly got a death head tattoo signifying an elite, brutal
(16:39):
group of SS officers and kept it until the second
he wanted to run for Senate and someone noticed. It's
an insult to everyone's intelligence to suggest otherwise. Sorry, his
medicare thoughts from last week are not permanent body art
or absolution. Carol, does it seem reasonable to you that
Nazi tattoos are a heuristic for dumb and back?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You think, right, Like, it used to be just a
shorthand and now it's like, no, no, what does it
really mean.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Let's not assume. Yeah, he's that he's incorrect about this.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, And the Left has like been pretending that he
didn't know, that he didn't know, and there's so many
stories about the fact that he did know, that he
knew exactly what it was, and he used to refer
to it as my tottan cop because he did know
what it was, and this pretense that this guy had
no idea is just that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Also, his former political director was like, come on, guys,
he's a military history buff. You're telling me he didn't
know about this.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Uh, Like Favreau goes on to Darvo this thing reverse
victim offender, because now I'm the problem for noticing. Yeah,
he says, I don't know. You strike me as someone's
smart enough to know that A good good test as
to whether someone is sympathetic to Nazis is if they've
ever said a single word in their entire life that
(18:07):
could be construed as sympathetic to Nazis. I mean, I'm
quite sure we could find some stuff, but he says, yeah,
he says, I guess the story you'd have us believe
is this a group of American Marines who risked their
lives for this country. See I'm I'm not patriotic enough here, please,
decided to get skull and crossbones tattoos together in their
twenties that they all knew were Nazi symbols. They then
(18:28):
kept their actual Nazi sympathies hidden for the next decade.
Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Yeah, come on,
everything makes you a white supremacist except an actual Nazi tattoo.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
He also has shared content from white supremacist figures. He's
been on questionable podcasts. He had old Reddit posts that
you know, had racist connotations. It just not even that.
Before we get into he said that women should take
some responsibility and sexual assault scenarios. I mean, all of
(19:02):
this is things that used to bother Democrats. Now there's body,
there's a we need, Yeah, we need to stop Donald Trump,
so it doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
There's a body of work, including artwork on his body.
Like it's just it's so insane to me. This is
their grand platner on when it comes to white supremacy
and racism and Nazi accusations. This is the moment when
public health told you you could go outside to do
the George Floyd oh yeah, protests. This is the moment
(19:33):
they didn't. They didn't believe any of it. They don't
believe any of it. The second rate, that the dog
whistle is actually a literal tattoo on their preferred candidate.
They're like, how dare you insult this man's service to
this country exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Our friend Philip Klein points out that something that you
and I had talked about as well. He writes, now
we'll have to listen for months to arguments that it
is our moral duty to support the Nazi tattoo guy
over the threat posed by centrist Republican Senator Susan Collins.
Because Trump, if you can't support Susan Collins, I don't
want to hear it. She is the centrist of the Centrists,
(20:14):
and the idea that she's too far gone and you
have you must line up with the Nazi. That's the
only way to make you know, make this make sense.
You have to go with the Nazi because she's too
far out is what they're going to try.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
And that's the old vote for the criminal. It's important,
vote for the tattoo guy. It's important. That's the argument.
And no, I reject that this guy was clueless. And
also even if you're clueless, this is horrendous judgment.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And he had been daying tattoo for another fifteen twenty
years before he got rid of truck this year when
he was interested in running for office. Oh so fascinating, Yeah, fascinating.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Now, our friend Matt Whitlock also points out an incredible
look at where the Democrats are today. Janet Mills may
have had a ton of weaknesses, but she had Schumer money,
was a sitting governor, has things, she can actually tout
his accomplishments, and she lost to the Nazi tattoo guy.
There's some part of me that thinks she lost because
he's the Nazi tattoo guy, that this is just gaining
(21:19):
steam and is going to be a pro going forward.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, I think there is some truth on the left,
with the far left base that some amount of signaling
anti Semitism is a feature, not a bug yet. And
that's that's the thing too, is like he's like, this
man has never expressed anything related, Well, he does frequently actually,
(21:45):
like he's applauded Hamas and it's tactics in I feel
like that's Nazi adjacent, that that's certainly sympathetic to a
certain strain of thought.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Who would the Nazi support in that exchange?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
So yeah, it's well, we'll see what happened.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Don't know, he might win, He might win. Susan Collins,
of course, is largely you know, she's a tough cookie
over there in Maine. We'll see what happens. But yeah,
it could be an election where Democrats have a really
good run in a bunch of states, and that could
be one of them. And then there'll be a guy
in the Senate who had a Nazi tattoo, knew about it,
(22:25):
and people voted for him many.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
What what can definitely conclude is that dog whistles are canceled.
We don't there's none.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
If that ain't one, they're done, right, yep, elon musk
waving to a crowd. That's a dog whistle. But the
Nazi tattoo isn't well.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And the difference is that my heuristic for bad and
dumb is having a Nazi tattoo. His is being right
of center. Right, So as long as this guy is
left of center, everything's fine.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
All right. We're going to take a short break and
come right back with more on normally.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Okay, we are back on normally with some COVID updates,
and we are still mad, bro, and we are still mad,
and someone may actually pay a price other than American
school children. Here's Rand Paul tweeting about it. Fauci's right
hand man was just indicted for conspiracy and destruction of
federal records. We have learned that he was basically creating
(23:26):
code words to get around Freedom of Information and Act requests,
basically covering up what they were covering up because journalists
and activists and citizens could then not request that information
so that they could prove what these jerks were doing,
which we kind of knew they were doing.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah, It's like, the thing is that Fauci getting Biden's
pardon right at the end there and getting a blanket
pardon for a bunch of years. It was so suspicious
and questionable. I think that made people look into the
figures around and I have to believe that that played
some role, because I feel like people would not have thought, oh,
(24:06):
let's look into a former advisor of Fauci and whether
or not he covered up or concealed information had Biden
not pardoned Fauci. I think it's a direct line.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Well, and like, I don't think people should hide federal
records from that, but I think they should think they
should be punished for that. And like there's a lot
of occasions, as we noted last show, where you know,
I think the Koma indictment is not likely to succeed
and is dumb I think several moves that this DOJ
have made have been sloppy and not well done. This
kind of thing, hiding in an emergency situation information from
(24:40):
the public that is too pertinent to whether they are
being totally lied to by public officials should be punishable right.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
And using private emails. I know when Hillary Clinton did it,
people tried to portray it as no big deal. But
like as my husband said at the time, he'd be
fired for that at his you know, not anything related
to government job if he used private email to talk
to clients and conduct business. So the fact that Fauci's
(25:10):
guy here is using private email to avoid foil laws
o sensibly is really an issue. And also that he
apparently deleted these emails and tried to make them disappear.
The cover up is really bad here.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And they are his attempts. By the way, the things
that are at issue here is emails to other scientists
attempting to reinstate suspended grants that had to do with
gain a function that they didn't like Congress didn't want
us funding.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Like the thing is that the you know, the lying
about the vaccine side effects was also just so harmful
to the image of public health in going forward, and
it did not obviously end with just COVID. People have
a lot of suspicion around all vaccines. Now, we totally
called that this would happen. The cover really did damage
(26:01):
to us all and I don't know when we kind
of find a path out of it where we could
trust our health officials again.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Well, and what happens is that people do end up
going down rabbit holes and finding other messengers who are
sometimes equally problematic. There are others that are responsible and
you're getting good information from. But yes, we in relinquishing
this public trust. They did themselves a ton of harm
and did American voters a ton of harm because it
(26:31):
is hard to sift through who is trustworthy who is not.
And most importantly, I would like none of these people
who lied about this systematically to have any power ever. Again. Yeah,
that's especially randy Whenardens still in charge somewhere so here
we are.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah, but you know the other liars, maybe they
never work in public policy again, that would be nice,
would be nice. Well, thanks for joining us on normally
normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you could subscribe anywhere
you get your podcasts. Get in touch with us at
normally the at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening and
when things get weird act normally M.
Hey, guys, we are back on normally, so it was normal,
a chance for when the news it's weird.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I am America, I'm Carol Marca. How's it going.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's all right. I went camping this weekend and realized
very quickly, did you very old? I am? I'm old?
I'm old. I can't do that. What am I doing?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Are you no longer sleeping on the ground? Years old?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I mean I wasn't even on the ground. I had
a cot and I still was a mess. Everything hurts,
everything hurts. Yeah, full outdoors though. I am camping cursed though,
because every time I go the weather is a mess.
So this time I went camping in May and it
was thirty five degrees overnight.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh my god, we've done it where it was really cold.
Me we've barely ever been camping but just the few times.
But the last time we did it, it was so
cold that my husband, me and the boys like ended
up huddling for warm in the middle of the night,
and our daughter woke up in the morning, like, how
did nobody alert me this? I was freezing all the
way over here on my own abandoned me? We did,
(01:05):
But you know, my favorite camping trip ever is we
got somewhere, we set up a tent. We like hung
out all day with our friends. Then it started pouring
at night and we were like, you know what, let's
go home. We did it like we have been out
here all day. This was fantastic, But what about if
we just drive home to our warms.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
The daytime is my favorite part of camping. It's like,
I'm off fine, I'm outdoors, it's very pretty. That part
was good. But the the gals got some of their
camping nights in for their badges and we did the thing.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Alrighty, shall we get to the news?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay? Yes, Spirit Airlines is no more, and I actually
am bummed about it. We talked about it on a
previous show. But they flew some routes that only they flew,
and you know it's going to be difficult without them.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yes, and I took Spirit from time to time when
they had a leg that worked for me. I was
not shy about it. It's there's a fight on over
who's to blame for the loss of Spirit Airlines. And
it had declared bankruptcy. It was working to reorganize. It
(02:16):
had been in trouble for some time, and the Biden
administration several years ago said no to a merger with
Jet Blue on the basis that I don't know, there's
not enough airlines for us to choose from if those
two discount airlines merge, and right.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Their argument was that it would reduce competition, but you know,
it has really reduced competition. Spirit Airlines not existing anymore,
much less competition. Actually, I feel like the airlines like
Jet Blue and Frontier and whatever are very excited, like
they're like, we are introducing all these new routes where
Spirit used to fly well, and all these people who
(02:54):
would never be caught dead on a Spirit Airlines flight
are like, are like Trump killed Spirit Airlines.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And look, I concede that high jet fuel prices, which
are in part driven by Iran war externalities, might have
been a death knell or part of it. But this
company has been limping around and attempted to right itself
several years ago and was told no by the government,
(03:23):
Like that's right.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
They've had repeated bankruptcies before jet fuel was ever in issues.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
And perhaps had they merged with another airline, they would
have been able to absorb a shift in jet fuel prices.
Which was their idea when they were pitching the merger.
I just I also just why does the government even
have a say in whether two free companies can merge?
I just have never been on board for that at all.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I don't understand why Elizabeth Warren gets to pressure anybody.
She pressured the DOJ to block the Jet Blue deal,
which again, who is she? Like, She's got no experience
at all running anything, and yet she's in charge of
urging regulators to say no to the deal. How does
this make any sense? And the anti trust stuff in
(04:12):
Congress just seems like, again, the airlines that are benefiting
from this, how is that not antitrust? How is that
not the benefit here that they're all going to have
new routes because they've eliminated a branch of their competition.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, it's just like there should be extraordinary compelling interest
of some kind if you're going to stop two companies
from merging, because the two companies are just two companies
in a free country, and if they want to work together,
they should be able to work together. And in this case,
I think it would have given spirit a little more runway. Sorry,
I that was its way out, And here we are.
(04:53):
But look, this is part of Democrats sort of living with,
particularly liberals like Elizabeth Warren, living with the consequences of
the policies that they endorse. Her policy aim explicitly was
you will stand alone. You will not be given tools
to fix this problem. And then she's like, well, well,
(05:16):
well look what you've done, mister Trump. And I reject
that you had a large part in this, ma'am, and
you must take responsibility for it.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
She will not, right, And look, you and I were
not thrilled that Trump was floating the US government buying
a piece of syrup. Right, why would we want to
own an airline that isn't making it? I just it
makes no sense. But Jet Blue merging with it would
have made sense. It would have elevated both airlines. They
(05:47):
would have had larger number of customers. It just all
around would have been a better move for the two airlines.
And I don't understand how this benefits anybody.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, it's not great. And now you've got many pans
to Spirit Airlines that from people who again have probably
never sat there but in a Spirit Airlines seat before.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I don't like it when companies go out of business,
But if you cannot survive as a company without being
bailed out. That is part of the system, that's part
of capitalism. I don't want these people to lose their jobs.
I also, as you know, do not want to be
in charge of bailing them out, and would have preferred
if these two companies could have worked that out between themselves.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Right. I get the argument that some people on the
right were making about the Trump potential bailout where the
government screwed Spirit Airlines over, it should be up to
the government to bail them out. I just I hear you.
I still didn't think that would be a wise decision,
So I'm glad we didn't go that route. But you know,
fifteen to seventeen thousand employees are affected by this Spirit
(06:56):
Airlines going out of business. People were left stranded. Other
airlines stepped in and tried to help, which is noble.
You know, you kind of don't expect that kind of
behavior from the airlines, but they did a good job.
It's sad, and it shows that the left flank of
the Democratic Party is in control, and they're in control
(07:18):
in so many ways. We'll talk about Grand Platner in
the next segment, but it just the far left is
the Democratic Party. Now it's no longer. Oh, the Democratic
Party has a leftist flank. The leftist flank is the party.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Well, and we can talk about it even before we
get to Platiner in ways that the Democrats sort of
have to contend with the policy results and what that
means for voters on the ground. We have. One of
our favorite segments, of course, is Harry Enton on CNN
saying things that pan don't want to hear, and look,
Republicans are in no small amount of peril in this
(07:52):
midterm year. Yes, saving them is that people still really
dislike Democrats and there are a lot of no, there's
a handful of Democrats who are in the centrist democrat
ish area going like this is a big deal, guys.
People really don't like us, and they have not regained ground. Therefore,
Democrats are not gaining adherents as Trump loses approval, which
(08:17):
is going to blunt what they're able to do in November.
Here's Harry Enton explaining how that's happening in one of
the most formerly devoted blocks of African American voters.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Here he is you we're seeing right now in the
numbers as President Trump and the Republican Party are chipping
away at the long term advantage that Democrats have had
with black voters. With African Americans. You can see it
right here. Look Trump's approval among African Americans at this
point in term one, he was at twelve percent. You know,
he's been losing ground with a lot of people. He's
gaining He's gaining ground with African Americans. He's up to
(08:50):
sixteen percent at this point. And you say, this isn't
that big of a shift, But I will tell you
Republicans absolutely love this shift that's going on because Democrats
have had such a long term advantage. The fact that
he's actually gaining ground versus where he was in term
number one, this has major implications for elections down the
line because Democrats, especially in a lot of these type races.
(09:12):
You talk about places like Georgia, right down on the South,
you see this type of movement for Trump actually gaining ground.
This could have major ramifications and help put Republicans over
the top and a number of Southern places in the
midterm elections.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
So do you see this as part of a bigger trend?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I see this as absolutely part of a bigger trend.
Donald Trump's Republican Party is absolutely gaining ground, not just
him gaining in terms of his approval rating, but look
at the party I d margin, Kate, because this to
me was absolutely stunning. Look at this party ID margin
among African Americans. At this point in Trump term, number one,
Democrats had a sixty three point advantage. That is absolutely
(09:48):
fall and look at where it is now, a double
digit shift away. Democrats, of course still have the advantage,
but it's a twelve point shift to the Republican Party.
And I look back through GALLUS records they sent me
their records, and this, in fact lead that Democrats have
is actually smaller than any lead from two thousand and
six to twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I mean that's something.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Those numbers are low, obviously, twelve and sixteen percent, those
numbers are low. The numbers of African Americans who do
vote Republican are relatively low. But anytime you see a
double digit shift, that is danger for a coalition. I
think some of the areas where you see this on
issues based stuff is on education, where Democrats had a
(10:31):
generation's long twenty plus point lead over Republicans, and during
COVID it was like back down, to back down to
even if not, if not losing that issue. Healthcare is
another one where on occasions you will get blocks of
these two excuse me, you will get blocks of voters
who have turned very quickly away from Democrats on that
(10:51):
issue of perennial strength. And now this is a part
of the coalition on which they have had a luck forever.
That during Trump too is like, actually, we're hanging here.
And that's been the question all along is can Trump
pull people and then keep them there? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Right, And that remains to be seen, but so far
it's a shift that actually matters. And you know that.
The thing is that when you have these minority shifts
where we talked about this during the election with Jews,
like when you have even if it's a small number
of voters who move from one side to another, you
(11:28):
can change the electorate in places that matter, like in
Pennsylvania for example. And I think you're gonna if Donald
Trump could make a shift in black voters in Georgia
that moves Georgia back into the red column, and that
would be very very interesting. I also think stuff like
no taxes on tips and just lowering taxes overall people
(11:50):
saw more money in their checks this year. I think
that kind of thing matters a lot, especially when the
Democrats are the party that always runs on affordability. If
Trump is able to take that affordability message from them,
that would be very good.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
The way they should put a lot more emphasis on that,
like a lot of people don't know where that came from.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And then lat oh Man, you and me talking about
what the Republican Party should be talking about.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And then lastly, I want to point out that speaking
of coalitions or coalition members, the Democrats need, Spencer Pratt
out in LA is talking explicitly to moms. Here's a
little bit of his online content which has been just
very enjoyable. Yeah, so he is talking about LA.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
And because I've been campaigning, the thing that has impacted
me the most is meeting hundreds and hundreds of moms.
And they're the most activated people in Los Angeles right now.
And you know why, because they don't feel safe. Moms
send me messages with stories and videos that are so disturbing.
If I were to share them on my accounts, they
get banned. Crazy drug addicts exposing themselves to their children,
(12:52):
hardcore drug use assaults, It's shocking what LA moms have
to endure because of the reckless policies of Karen Bass
and Nitthia Rahman, who really just don't care about their concerns.
It's really shifted my vision in a very real way.
I'm realizing that my true mission as mayor is to
protect our moms. They need to feel safe. They're scared
to just walk their baby stroller to the park and
(13:12):
enjoy the weather. They're scared to grab their mobile order
at Starbucks. They're on pins and needles sending their kids
off to school. I'm sorry, but how have we accepted this?
As a man, as a father, nothing is more important
than the safety of my children and my wife. Women
and children first. We have that maxim for a reason.
It's true in an emergency, and it's true for this election.
(13:33):
Women and children first. If I accomplish nothing else as mayor,
it will be to make moms and their kids feel
safe in the city of Los Angeles. Again.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Man, I'm gonna have my heart broken when he loses.
I mean, when when the further left candidate than Karen
Best win that happen.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
But look it is when he says, how have we
allowed this to become a city because he's right. Bass
and Nythia, the other woman running, they not only don't
care about mom's complaints about going to the park or
a Starbucks mobile order, they would they would make fun
of them for having issues with the fact that this
(14:16):
is what they see on their way, and he's he's correct.
We run into this all the time where the problem
that the liberal policies have created is so disgusting, whether
it's the uh, the rated X content in school, or
the people you see on your street corner next to
the park, that you can't communicate it on social media
(14:37):
because or in a public meeting because it's so racy.
That's how bad it is.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, yeah, I hope LA does the right thing.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It'd be nice. Yeah, no, no, better than.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
To expect it. But it's just in such a bad place,
like they're going to try to do something. They're going
to try to make a big move, I think, and
it's either going to be him or Nythia, and yikes.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I think. I think it'd be nice to have a
person who recognizes that parks should be approachable by moms
with kids and strollers without being scared.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
This used to be something democrats believed I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
There are public parks, by their public parks. This is
one of the few things that I believe is a
good government function and win. Functioning correctly brings great joy
to people. But they refuse to let them function correctly.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
That's unfortunate. All Right, We're going to take a short
break and come right back with some grim Platner and
his Tottan coffe. Oh, we are back on normally where
my co host Mary Katherine Ham got into it over
the weekend with the left wing podcast hosts at Pod
(15:49):
Saves America. Mary Catherine doesn't seem to think that Nazi
tattoos are okay for some reason. What's the problem?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Much to my surprise, this is something worth content over
for John Favreau of the pod Bros. Okay, here's his
original tweet. He had said in the past, let me
know when a far lefty candidate appears with a Nazi
sympathizer and we can chat. So everybody's been pointing this out,
he says, I didn't delete it because I stand by it.
But if Maga World has decided their best play is
(16:19):
to insult Mayner's intelligence by trying to fool them into
thinking Platner's old tattoo makes him a Nazi sympathizer. Best
of luck in November. And I just said what I
think is quite common sense. I think if one is
trying to figure out if a candidate is sympathetic to Nazis,
one of the most important tests is whether the candidate
knowingly got a death head tattoo signifying an elite, brutal
(16:39):
group of SS officers and kept it until the second
he wanted to run for Senate and someone noticed. It's
an insult to everyone's intelligence to suggest otherwise. Sorry, his
medicare thoughts from last week are not permanent body art
or absolution. Carol, does it seem reasonable to you that
Nazi tattoos are a heuristic for dumb and back?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You think, right, Like, it used to be just a
shorthand and now it's like, no, no, what does it
really mean.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Let's not assume. Yeah, he's that he's incorrect about this.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, And the Left has like been pretending that he
didn't know, that he didn't know, and there's so many
stories about the fact that he did know, that he
knew exactly what it was, and he used to refer
to it as my tottan cop because he did know
what it was, and this pretense that this guy had
no idea is just that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Also, his former political director was like, come on, guys,
he's a military history buff. You're telling me he didn't
know about this.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Uh, Like Favreau goes on to Darvo this thing reverse
victim offender, because now I'm the problem for noticing. Yeah,
he says, I don't know. You strike me as someone's
smart enough to know that A good good test as
to whether someone is sympathetic to Nazis is if they've
ever said a single word in their entire life that
(18:07):
could be construed as sympathetic to Nazis. I mean, I'm
quite sure we could find some stuff, but he says, yeah,
he says, I guess the story you'd have us believe
is this a group of American Marines who risked their
lives for this country. See I'm I'm not patriotic enough here, please,
decided to get skull and crossbones tattoos together in their
twenties that they all knew were Nazi symbols. They then
(18:28):
kept their actual Nazi sympathies hidden for the next decade.
Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Yeah, come on,
everything makes you a white supremacist except an actual Nazi tattoo.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
He also has shared content from white supremacist figures. He's
been on questionable podcasts. He had old Reddit posts that
you know, had racist connotations. It just not even that.
Before we get into he said that women should take
some responsibility and sexual assault scenarios. I mean, all of
(19:02):
this is things that used to bother Democrats. Now there's body,
there's a we need, Yeah, we need to stop Donald Trump,
so it doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
There's a body of work, including artwork on his body.
Like it's just it's so insane to me. This is
their grand platner on when it comes to white supremacy
and racism and Nazi accusations. This is the moment when
public health told you you could go outside to do
the George Floyd oh yeah, protests. This is the moment
(19:33):
they didn't. They didn't believe any of it. They don't
believe any of it. The second rate, that the dog
whistle is actually a literal tattoo on their preferred candidate.
They're like, how dare you insult this man's service to
this country exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Our friend Philip Klein points out that something that you
and I had talked about as well. He writes, now
we'll have to listen for months to arguments that it
is our moral duty to support the Nazi tattoo guy
over the threat posed by centrist Republican Senator Susan Collins.
Because Trump, if you can't support Susan Collins, I don't
want to hear it. She is the centrist of the Centrists,
(20:14):
and the idea that she's too far gone and you
have you must line up with the Nazi. That's the
only way to make you know, make this make sense.
You have to go with the Nazi because she's too
far out is what they're going to try.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
And that's the old vote for the criminal. It's important,
vote for the tattoo guy. It's important. That's the argument.
And no, I reject that this guy was clueless. And
also even if you're clueless, this is horrendous judgment.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And he had been daying tattoo for another fifteen twenty
years before he got rid of truck this year when
he was interested in running for office. Oh so fascinating, Yeah, fascinating.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Now, our friend Matt Whitlock also points out an incredible
look at where the Democrats are today. Janet Mills may
have had a ton of weaknesses, but she had Schumer money,
was a sitting governor, has things, she can actually tout
his accomplishments, and she lost to the Nazi tattoo guy.
There's some part of me that thinks she lost because
he's the Nazi tattoo guy, that this is just gaining
(21:19):
steam and is going to be a pro going forward.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, I think there is some truth on the left,
with the far left base that some amount of signaling
anti Semitism is a feature, not a bug yet. And
that's that's the thing too, is like he's like, this
man has never expressed anything related, Well, he does frequently actually,
(21:45):
like he's applauded Hamas and it's tactics in I feel
like that's Nazi adjacent, that that's certainly sympathetic to a
certain strain of thought.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Who would the Nazi support in that exchange?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
So yeah, it's well, we'll see what happened.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Don't know, he might win, He might win. Susan Collins,
of course, is largely you know, she's a tough cookie
over there in Maine. We'll see what happens. But yeah,
it could be an election where Democrats have a really
good run in a bunch of states, and that could
be one of them. And then there'll be a guy
in the Senate who had a Nazi tattoo, knew about it,
(22:25):
and people voted for him many.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
What what can definitely conclude is that dog whistles are canceled.
We don't there's none.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
If that ain't one, they're done, right, yep, elon musk
waving to a crowd. That's a dog whistle. But the
Nazi tattoo isn't well.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And the difference is that my heuristic for bad and
dumb is having a Nazi tattoo. His is being right
of center. Right, So as long as this guy is
left of center, everything's fine.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
All right. We're going to take a short break and
come right back with more on normally.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Okay, we are back on normally with some COVID updates,
and we are still mad, bro, and we are still mad,
and someone may actually pay a price other than American
school children. Here's Rand Paul tweeting about it. Fauci's right
hand man was just indicted for conspiracy and destruction of
federal records. We have learned that he was basically creating
(23:26):
code words to get around Freedom of Information and Act requests,
basically covering up what they were covering up because journalists
and activists and citizens could then not request that information
so that they could prove what these jerks were doing,
which we kind of knew they were doing.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah, It's like, the thing is that Fauci getting Biden's
pardon right at the end there and getting a blanket
pardon for a bunch of years. It was so suspicious
and questionable. I think that made people look into the
figures around and I have to believe that that played
some role, because I feel like people would not have thought, oh,
(24:06):
let's look into a former advisor of Fauci and whether
or not he covered up or concealed information had Biden
not pardoned Fauci. I think it's a direct line.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Well, and like, I don't think people should hide federal
records from that, but I think they should think they
should be punished for that. And like there's a lot
of occasions, as we noted last show, where you know,
I think the Koma indictment is not likely to succeed
and is dumb I think several moves that this DOJ
have made have been sloppy and not well done. This
kind of thing, hiding in an emergency situation information from
(24:40):
the public that is too pertinent to whether they are
being totally lied to by public officials should be punishable right.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
And using private emails. I know when Hillary Clinton did it,
people tried to portray it as no big deal. But
like as my husband said at the time, he'd be
fired for that at his you know, not anything related
to government job if he used private email to talk
to clients and conduct business. So the fact that Fauci's
(25:10):
guy here is using private email to avoid foil laws
o sensibly is really an issue. And also that he
apparently deleted these emails and tried to make them disappear.
The cover up is really bad here.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And they are his attempts. By the way, the things
that are at issue here is emails to other scientists
attempting to reinstate suspended grants that had to do with
gain a function that they didn't like Congress didn't want
us funding.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Like the thing is that the you know, the lying
about the vaccine side effects was also just so harmful
to the image of public health in going forward, and
it did not obviously end with just COVID. People have
a lot of suspicion around all vaccines. Now, we totally
called that this would happen. The cover really did damage
(26:01):
to us all and I don't know when we kind
of find a path out of it where we could
trust our health officials again.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Well, and what happens is that people do end up
going down rabbit holes and finding other messengers who are
sometimes equally problematic. There are others that are responsible and
you're getting good information from. But yes, we in relinquishing
this public trust. They did themselves a ton of harm
and did American voters a ton of harm because it
(26:31):
is hard to sift through who is trustworthy who is not.
And most importantly, I would like none of these people
who lied about this systematically to have any power ever. Again. Yeah,
that's especially randy Whenardens still in charge somewhere so here
we are.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah, but you know the other liars, maybe they
never work in public policy again, that would be nice,
would be nice. Well, thanks for joining us on normally
normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you could subscribe anywhere
you get your podcasts. Get in touch with us at
normally the at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening and
when things get weird act normally M.
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