Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This is a bad boy.
This is a worldbone.
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
This is a World Gone
Mad.
I'm Jeff Allen Wolf.
Monday Fallout, where theweekend's lies meet Monday's
reality.
From DC across the globe, theFallout is everywhere.
And I'm not here to sugarcoat adamn thing.
Before I start the episode, I'mgoing to let you know about a
(00:29):
major announcement about a WorldGone Mad podcast.
I'll be telling you this at theend of this episode, so please
listen to the full episode, andthen I will reveal all at the
end.
Okay, here we go.
Democrats take a landslidevictory and somehow invite the
(00:50):
GOP to hold the ladder whilethey climb out on a limb.
The great Democratic caven.
The government shutdown just hit40 days.
40 days, the longest in thehistory of this country.
And during those 40 days, themessage from Democrats to
Republicans was clear.
(01:12):
Extend the ACA subsidies or thegovernment stays closed.
That was the line in the sand.
That was the moral stance.
That was the one leverage pointleft for millions of Americans,
24 million to be precise,drowning in healthcare costs.
And then eight Democrats said,yeah, never mind.
(01:36):
They voted with the Republicans.
They gave away the one card leftin the deck.
They said, we'll reopen thegovernment now and trust the
Republicans to deal with healthcare later.
Later, because that always goeswell.
(01:57):
The eight senators, just to beprecise, put them on the record.
Tim Kane, Virginia, Dick Durbin,Illinois, Maggie Hassen, New
Hampshire, Jean Shaheen, NewHampshire, Jackie Rosen, Nevada,
Catherine Cortez Masta, Masto,Nevada, John Fetterman,
Pennsylvania, Angus King,Independent from Maine.
(02:20):
Here's what makes it even moreinfuriating.
We just had a massive blowout onTuesday's elections.
Democrats crushed it everywhere.
Momentum was sky high.
Voters showed up and said, weare done with the chaos.
And what did these eightsenators do with that momentum?
They squandered it in 48 hours.
(02:42):
They turned a victory lap into aprackfall.
They took the one card they hadleft and threw it into the
Republican fireplace likekindling.
Let's just remember who we'retalking about.
This is the same RepublicanParty that tried to overturn
Obamacare 70 times.
(03:05):
70.
They lost in court.
They lost in Congress.
They lost in a public opinion.
Now Democrats are handing theRepublicans the ball again.
Like, here, maybe this timeyou'll play fair.
It's like watching Charlie Browntrust Lucy with the football
(03:28):
again.
Only Lucy's wearing a MAGA hatand holding a pair of scissors.
The deal supposedly gives us inthe United States relief.
Snap benefits.
Air traffic controllers paid.
Wonderful.
But the ACA subsidies?
(03:50):
Those are just, we'll talk aboutit December 14th.
December 14th.
That's what the Republicanssaid.
A date that might as well beengraved on a tombstone because
Speaker Mike Johnson doesn'teven want to bring it to the
floor for a vote.
Jake Tapper asked him recentlytoday about this, and he said,
(04:11):
well, you know, he wouldn'tcommit to it.
Mike Johnson's the guy who'sallergic to health care like
it's gluten.
So here's the trade-off.
Yes, families get food back onthe table.
Yes, planes keep flying.
But every American who pays forinsurance just got shoved under
(04:32):
the bus.
24 million.
Because the people elected tofight for you decided to fold
their cards early.
And look, if you're one of thepeople who needed that paycheck
or those snap benefits, oryou're an air traffic controller
who just wants to get back towork, I get it.
I do.
(04:52):
You shouldn't have beencollateral damage in this
political mess.
You deserved relief, and I'mglad you're finally getting it.
But we can't keep saving onegroup of Americans by
sacrificing another.
Healthcare isn't a December14th, maybe.
It's life or death for 24million people.
(05:15):
And pretending it can wait untilDecember 14th is the part that
makes the whole deal feelrotten.
They didn't just blink.
These eight Democrats blinked,flinched, apologized, and then
wrote the GOP a thank you notefor the opportunity.
(05:36):
These eight senators stood thereand told us this deal puts
Republicans under the magnifyingglass.
Really?
That's your plan?
To trust the same people whospent the last decade trying to
burn the magnifying glass.
This is not strategy.
(05:58):
This is surrender dressed up asbipartisanship.
I get this too.
I really do.
There are real-world stakes.
People needed paychecks.
I understand.
Families needed food.
But leadership means fightingfor both the now and the next.
You don't save the body bycutting out the heart.
(06:22):
You don't save America byletting the insurance companies
win again.
So yes, the government may openagain in the next few days, but
the door it opened might be theone to the hospital billing
department.
And when your next premium, yourhealth care premium, hits your
inbox, and you scream, why thehell is this this high?
(06:46):
Remember these eight Democratswho thought trust was an
improved health care plan.
And now the clock runs for fourweeks.
Does the Senate take this dealas is?
Does the House pass it clean sothe president can sign it and
turn the lights back on?
Then comes December 14th.
(07:08):
Do Republicans actually keeptheir promise and put ACA
subsidies vote on the floor?
Or do they bury it in a drawerand call that governing?
We all know the odds for anextension.
Slim to none.
And Slim just left town.
(07:31):
Open the government today andhand America a healthcare time
bomb tomorrow.
That's the start of our Mondayfallout.
Forty days of shutdown, 40 daysof posturing, and one cowardly
cave-in by eight senators thatremind us all sometimes the real
(07:53):
fallout isn't radioactive, it'spolitical, and it burns just as
deep.
More Monday fallout.
Pardon my corruption.
And while Democrats were busyundercutting health care, Trump
was busy undercuttingaccountability.
(08:14):
This weekend he pardoned RudyGiuliani, that's right, and the
rest of the 2020 election crew.
The same people who tried toflip democracy like it was a
used mattress are now free toroam the country shaking hands
and selling podcasts aboutpatriotism.
We are now officially the nationwhere you can break the law,
(08:36):
torch the Constitution, and walkaway with a smile as long as you
did it for Donnie Boy.
You can lie to Congress, bullyelection workers.
Giuliani, I'm talking about you,pressure officials to find
votes, and if you get caught,the orange get out of jail free
card lands right in yourmailbox.
(08:58):
Think about what this means.
It means the rule of law hasbeen replaced by the rule of
loyalty.
The message is clear.
Pledge allegiance not to theflag, but to the man who tried
to tear it down.
This is no longer aboutpolitics.
This is about survival of truth,of accountability, of the idea
(09:18):
that the law applies toeveryone.
If Trump can pardon the verypeople who helped them try to
overturn an election, what'snext?
Do we pardon bank robbers aslong as they wear MAGA hats?
Do we let arsonists go if theylike the match while humming God
bless America?
(09:41):
It's the judicial equivalent ofsaying, sure, officer, I was
drunk driving, but it was forthe brand.
Giuliani, the man who turnedAmerica's mayor into America's
mistake, now gets to walk freeafter spending years screaming
about law and order.
Law and order for everyone else,not for him, not for the inner
(10:04):
circle.
We used to laugh at bananarepublics where dictators handed
out pardons like party favors.
Now we are the banana republic,and we've got the bruises to
prove it.
Here's the absurd part,listeners, that keeps me awake.
Every MAGA diehard cheeringthese pardons is cheering the
(10:27):
death of their own rights.
Because once power can eraseguilt with a signature, it can
erase yours with a target.
When the law stops protectingthe guilty, it stops protecting
the innocent.
You don't drain the swamp,remember, Donald, drain the
(10:48):
swamp, by pardoning thealligators.
This isn't just corruption, it'sa blueprint for tyranny written
in black sharpie.
This becomes normal, electionsstop mattering, justice stops
existing, and loyalty becomescurrency.
Every future president will lookat this moment and think, why
(11:10):
not me?
And the answer will be silence.
Because once you start pardoningcrimes against democracy itself,
the only thing left to pardon isdemocracy.
That's your additional Mondayfallout.
And it's the moment Americadecided breaking the law isn't
illegal anymore.
(11:32):
It's just networking.
And even more Monday fallout.
The coin lands on its edge.
You know, every once in a while,the Supreme Court actually gets
something right.
It's like spinning a coin on thetable and then watching it stop
and land perfectly on its edge.
(11:53):
You sit there staring, not sureif you should celebrate, take
photos, or what.
Here's what happened.
Back in 2015, the Supreme Courtruled in Obgerfell versus Hodges
that same-sex couples have thesame constitutional right to
marry as everyone else.
(12:14):
That decision made same-sexmarriage legal nationwide.
But one Kentucky county clerknamed Kim Davis decided that her
personal beliefs were moreimportant than the law.
She refused to issue marriagelicenses to same-sex couples,
people who had every legal rightto marry, because she didn't
(12:35):
approve of those marriages.
She turned away couples whoshowed up at the her counter in
tears, some who had waited yearsjust to have their relationship
recognized by the samegovernment they pay taxes to.
She, Kim Davis, later tried toget the Supreme Court to reopen
that fight to let her and otherslike her deny same-sex licenses
(12:58):
again.
And this week, in a rare act ofsanity, the Supreme Court ruled
and said, no, they refused totake the case from her.
They left the 2015 ruling inplace.
So for now, equality survives.
(13:18):
For now, same-sex couples canbreathe a little easier knowing
their marriages aren't suddenlyup for debate because one clerk
somewhere still wants to live in1952.
Shouldn't feel like a miraclewhen the court leaves a basic
human right alone, but it does,because that's how fragile the
system has become.
(13:39):
We've reached the point wherenot destroying progress counts
as progress.
Where standing still feels likewinning.
So yes, the coin this timelanded on its edge.
Don't blink.
That's your brief moment ofsanity before the next round of
(14:00):
madness.
And finally, the last piece ofour Monday fallout.
Sealed, postmarked, butdiscarded.
So after a weekend of betrayalsand pardons, the week ahead
continues with the Supreme Courtdeciding how far they're willing
to bend democracy itself.
(14:22):
They've agreed to hear a caseabout whether, get this, mail
and ballots that arrive afterelection day should still count.
That's right.
We are once again arguing aboutwhether votes that were legally
cast by real people shouldmagically stop existing because
they showed up on the wrong dayof the week.
(14:44):
This isn't about fraud.
It's about the clock.
It's about pretending the postoffice is a time machine and
that democracy expires atmidnight like a carton of milk.
The case started inPennsylvania, where some ballots
arrived a day or two afterelection day, but were
postmarked legally before.
(15:05):
Under state law in Pennsylvania,they used to count.
They said yes.
Republicans want them tossed outbecause apparently, if the
Postal Service slows down,misroutes mail, or decides
democracy can sit in the back ofthe truck for a few days, that's
somehow the voters' fault.
They're punishing citizens fortrusting the very system that's
(15:29):
supposed to deliver their voice.
Think how about how insane thatlogic is.
You do everything right.
You fill out the ballot, yousign it, you mail it on time,
but if a truck gets stuck intraffic or the postal worker
hits Starbucks on the way, yourvote becomes null and void.
(15:50):
That's not election integrity.
That's voter roulette.
And here's the deeper absurdity.
The same people who say everylegal vote should count are now
fighting to make sure legalvotes don't count if they took
the scenic route through themail.
You know, it's like blaming apassenger who checked in on time
(16:13):
on their flight, boarded theplane, and then when the plane
arrives late to the destinationfor whatever reason, the tower
refuses to let it land.
And that's exactly whatRepublicans are asking the
Supreme Court to do (16:26):
toss out
perfectly legal ballots because
too many of them belong toDemocrats.
It's about rigging an electionbefore all the legal votes are
counted.
If the court sides with theseRepublicans, states could start
rejecting thousands of mail-inballots over delivery timing.
(16:49):
Not voter fraud, not fake votes,just timing.
The very system trusted to carrydemocracy could end up being
used to bury it.
The danger here isn't just fewerballots.
It's the message that democracyhas office hours, that your vote
(17:09):
has to punch in by five or itgets written up and sent home.
So yeah, the court's taking thecase, the Supreme Court, and
America once again holds itsbreath, wondering if the
justices will defend votingrights or treat them like an
optional subscription service.
That's your final Monday falloutand your reminder that in this
(17:32):
country, even democracy has toarrive on time or risk getting
returned to sender.
All right, let's hear from you.
I keep yelling it, I keepscreaming it, I keep slamming my
face into a brick wall.
Wolfpacktalks at gmail.com.
That's the email.
(17:54):
Or 833-399-9653-247 voicemailbox.
Or for those of you that get mydirect link, personally text me.
Give me a couple of lines ofyour thoughts and feelings about
this episode and what I said.
And if you disagree, let meknow.
(18:15):
I'm here.
Where are you?
Okay, the major announcement Italked about at the start of the
show and about my podcast.
We're still doing the podcastMonday, Wednesday, and Friday.
And I am going live.
That's right, a World Gone Madpodcast will still be available
(18:38):
again Monday, Wednesday, andFriday.
That hasn't changed.
But in addition, I'm going to bedoing a live stream on TikTok.
Not the same show that you hear.
I talk about the news, but thisis going to be completely
different.
Still news commentary.
So we've already been doing thisfor a couple of days as an
experiment.
(18:58):
It did well.
We didn't tell anybody.
We will be doing a 40-minutelive stream on TikTok Tuesday
nights, Thursday nights, andSunday mornings.
If you want more details, emailme, text me.
I'll be more than glad to letyou know the details.
I'm excited.
(19:19):
TikTok live.
So I'll be doing the podcast andlive stream six days a week.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday,Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday for
the live stream.
I hope some of you will tune inif you can, and if it's
convenient for you on those livestreams.
There is also a replay, it'llsave.
(19:40):
This is the World Gone Man.
I'm Jeff Allen Wolf.
I'll be back Wednesday.
Until then, Wolfpack listeners,remake skeptical.
Keep focused, but most of all,stay hopeful.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
There is chaos in
the world.
Can't you see?
And we need to stand up andfreezer a democracy.
This is a world.