October 27, 2025 • 42 mins
A mayoral debate that felt like a prize fight. A White House wing torn down for a 9,000-square-foot ballroom. Sanctions that squeeze Russia’s oil lifeline while summits dissolve overnight. And a healthcare shock that sends families scrambling to schedule surgery before premiums explode. We pull these threads together to show how spectacle keeps crowding out strategy—and how that choice lands on everyday people.
First, we take you ringside at New York City’s final debate: Cuomo swinging for the knockout, Mamdani refusing to fold, and Curtis Sliwa playing the comic heel with punchlines that stick. The crowd roars, the polls barely move, and a bigger story emerges about outsiders consolidating power in America’s cultural capital. Trump’s name hovers over the stage—weaponized by rivals, leveraged by critics—because branding beats policy when the lights burn this bright.
Then we zoom out. Sanctions hit Rosneft and Lukoil, but the messaging leaves room for quick reversal. Tomahawk missiles are denied to Ukraine under the banner of training timelines, a fig leaf for escalation fears. The war-on-drugs pivots to the Caribbean with boat strikes and covert authorities targeting Venezuela, while allies and critics wonder whether there’s any doctrine beyond momentum and mood. Meanwhile, China policy swings a heavy tariff hammer at a tech-driven contest that can’t be bludgeoned into submission. It’s improvisation at scale—sometimes effective, often disorienting.
Back home, the bulldozers arrive at the East Wing. The argument isn’t about taste; it’s about the meaning of the people’s house. Past presidents expanded for function and safety; this remake prioritizes spectacle, privately funded and publicly symbolic. At the same time, a surprising student debt relief deal offers real wins for long-suffering borrowers—PSLF buybacks, long-overdue discharges—yet the horizon darkens as 2028 threatens core income-driven plans. And then there’s the gut punch: marketplace premiums jumping an average of 18 percent as enhanced subsidies lapse, with Georgia as a hard-hit case study. Families face impossible choices, insurers warn of a spiral, and leaders rehearse the same talking points while costs outpace paychecks.
If you want a clear map through the noise—how local theater reflects national power, how foreign policy whiplash hits your wallet, how symbols rewrite norms and subsidies prop up shaky systems—this is your guide. Listen, share with a friend who’s doomscrolling, and leave a review to tell us where you’re feeling the squeeze most. Your stories shape what we unpack next.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
Welcome back folks.
Tonight, I want to take youstraight into the electric chaos
that was the final New York CityMyoral debate.
Three men, one stage.
Ziran Mamdani, the progressivefirebrand, assembleman Andrew
Cuomo, the comeback kid whorefuses to quit, and Curtis
Sleewa, the beret wearingRepublican street fighter who
refuses to be ignored.
Let's be clear, this wasn't yoursleepy local debate about
(01:06):
potholes and zoning ordinances.
No, this was a night fight inthe nation's most watched city.
It felt like a Shakespeareandrama staged at Madison Square
Garden.
Cuomo versus Mamdani.
A brawl for the ages from thevery start, Cuomo zeroed in on
Mamdani.
He wanted to draw blood.
You could see it in his eyes,hear it in his voice.
He painted Mamdani as anexperienced, unserious, a man
(01:27):
unworthy of shepherding eightand a half million souls.
Cuomo said, I did things.
You've never had a job.
You've never accomplishedanything.
You missed 80% of your votes.
Now I've seen Andrew Cuomo on adebate stage before.
This is a man who relishes thekill shot.
But Mamdani didn't fold.
He came with his own arsenal,calling Cuomo a desperate man,
Donald Trump's puppet.
And then the dagger, Trump wantsAndrew Cuomo to be mayor, not
(01:48):
because it'll be good for NewYorkers, but because it'll be
good for him.
That's the kind of line thatsticks.
Because it's not just Cuomoversus Shea, Mam Dani, it's the
ghost of Trump hovering over thestage.
The Trump factor, used like aboogeyman in a children's tale,
here's the thing Trump hasbecome the gravitational force
of this race, even though heisn't running.
Mamdani uses Trump as a cudgel,Cuomo is his boy.
Cuomo flips it and warns ifMamdani wins, Trump will treat
(02:08):
New York like his personalpunching bag.
But listen closely.
Trump himself has said Mamdaniis basically unbeatable.
He's even called Mamdani's risea gift for Republicans, the idea
being, fine, let progressivesown New York City, see how it
burns.
So the city is caught in a hallof mirrors.
One candidate calls anotherTrump's puppet.
That candidate warns the otherwould be Trump's chew toy.
And the real Trump is watchingfrom the sidelines, smirking,
knowing that either way his nameis stamped on the marquee.
(02:29):
Enter Curtis Slewa, the StreetFighter with the One-Liners now,
let's talk about Curtis Sleewa.
A Republican in New York City islike a cat trying to swim
upstream possible, but notpretty.
But you have to hand it to him.
Slewa had some punchy moments.
He roasted Cuomo for fleeing hisgovernorship.
You didn't leave, you fled.
That's not just an attack,that's a meme.
And then over and over hereferred to Cuomo and Mamdani as
two school kids.
He knows his role here, not thepolicy wonk, not the visionary,
(02:52):
but the guy throwing tomatoes atthe main act, and the crowd ate
it up.
A rowdy audience changes thegame, speaking of the crowd,
this wasn't a silent debatehall.
No, this was an arena.
Cheers, booze, applause like aprize fight.
And Mamdani had the moment ofthe night when he brought
Charlotte Bennett, one ofCuomo's accusers, as his guest.
He looked Cuomo in the face andsaid, What do you say to the 13
women you harass?
That's not a debate tactic.
That's courtroom drama.
(03:13):
Cuomo, of course, defaulted tohis legal shield.
The cases were dropped, but inthe theater of politics, that
moment hung heavy.
No knockout, no game changer, sodid the debate matter.
Honestly.
Probably not.
90 minutes of fireworks, sure.
A few viral clips, sure.
But the polls are clear.
Mamdani is cruising with adouble-digit lead.
Cuomo looked sharp but nottransformative.
Sliwa was entertaining but notascendant.
(03:35):
The takeaway is simple.
Mamdani has become a phenomenon.
Against the establishment,against Cuomo's heavyweight
legacy, against Trump's sneers,he's still standing.
Not just standing rising.
The historical lens, outsidersbecome in the center now.
Let's step back.
American politics has a longtradition of outsiders who
weren't supposed to whine untilthey did.
Think uh Varella LaGuardia,Flower, who oh shocked New York
in the 1930s, cutting 30s bycutting through corruption.
(03:58):
Think Harold Washington inChicago, who broke through as
the city's first black mayor.
Think even Bernie Sanders, theman Mamdani often echoes who
went from being written off as afringe socialist to reshaping
the Democratic Party'svocabulary.
Mamdani, like those figures,represents more than just
himself.
He's the symbol of a risingleftist generation that refuses
to apologize for beingunapologetically progressive in
the biggest city in America.
And that, my friends, is whyCuomo fights so bitterly against
(04:18):
him.
Cuomo doesn't just want to win.
He wants to stop history frommoving past him.
The cultural stakes, New York issymbol, not just city, and
here's the bigger thing (04:24):
this isn't just about trash pickup
and subway delays.
New York City is a culturalbeacon.
What happens here reverberatesacross the country.
If Mamdani wins, it will be readas a victory for the left at a
time when the NationalDemocratic Party is tacking
center to survive Trump.
If Cuomo wins, it's a story ofestablishment redemption, the
old guard reclaiming thedriver's seat.
If, by some miracle, Sleevawins, it's a populist revolt in
America's bluest bastion.
This race is a parable about thefuture of urban politics, the
(04:47):
power of progressive ideas, andthe lingering shadow of
Trumpism.
Closing reflection, the glidepath and the trap of power, so
where are we?
Mom Dani's on a glide path toGracy Mansion.
But let's not romanticize it.
Glide paths can turn into traps.
Because once you win, once youinherit the throne, the hard
questions begin.
How do you govern a city that'sbroke, broken, and bristling
with crime, housing crises, andinequality?
How do you turn slogans intoscaffolding?
(05:08):
Andrew Cuomo can sneer, CurtisSleewa can jeer, Trump can leer
for Mar-a Lago butt at the endof the day.
New Yorkers will soon place thekeys of their city into new
hands.
And the real question isn't whowon a debate, but whether the
man who wins the mayoralty canturn firebrand passion into
durable leadership.
That's the debate we should allbe watching, not on a stage, but
in the months and years ahead.
On Wednesday, he sat down withNATO Secretary General Mark
(05:29):
Rutt, and between the warmhandshakes and the photo ops,
his administration dropped themost serious economic hammer yet
on Russia.
Sanctions against Rosneft andLuke Oil, the two crown jewels
of Moscow's oil empire.
Now let's not sugarcoat thiswhen you sanction a country's
oil.
You're not nibbling around theedges.
You're striking at the jugular.
Oil is the bloodstream of theRussian state.
Putin funds his war machinethrough it.
He keeps the lights on and hiskleptocratic system with it.
(05:50):
He props up his oligarch cronieswith it.
So Trump finally pulled thetrigger and said, It was time.
But you'll notice somethingabout Trump, he always leaves
himself wiggle room.
These sanctions, he said, won'tbe on for long because he hopes
the war will be settled.
That's not exactly Roosevelt in1941 promising unconditional
surrender.
That's Trump in 2025 signaling,I'll put pressure on you, but if
you play ball, I'll lift thewheat.
It's transactional diplomacy,the art of the deal, applied to
(06:12):
the art of war.
The summit that vanished andright alongside the sanctions,
the much-hyped Budapest PeaceSummit with Putin evaporated.
Trump said it just didn't feelright.
Think about the TUS foreignpolicy being driven not by grand
strategy, not by exhaustivebriefing books, but by whether
the president's gut feels righton a given Wednesday.
The Bible says, let your yes beyes and your no be no.
Trump's foreign policy has oftenbeen yes, no, maybe we'll see.
(06:32):
And that ambiguity makes alliesnervous.
Hungary's foreign minister isalready tweeting, the meeting
will happen, it's just timing.
So which is it?
The theater of diplomacy isbeing written like improv comedy
actors, waiting for the star todecide whether he'll show up for
rehearsal.
The Tomahawk question, complexthen there's the Tomahawk
missile debate.
Ukraine wanted them.
Zelensky pressed for them.
Trump said no.
His reasoning?
These weapons take six months toa year to learn, so only
(06:53):
American hands can really pullthe trigger.
Now, let's pause.
That explanation, technical asit sounds, also masks the deeper
truth.
Giving Ukraine tomahawks wouldescalate the war dramatically.
Those missiles could hit deepinto Russia, striking fuel
depots, command centers, evenMoscow suburbs if launched far
enough.
Once you hand those over, you'reno longer just arming a friend,
you're inviting a new phase ofconflict.
So Trump dresses it up as alearning curve problem, but the
(07:14):
real concern is escalation.
He wants leverage over Putin,not a NATO-Russia direct clash.
Zelensky, of course, says thatrefusal weakens Kyiv's
bargaining power, and he'sright.
But this is where U.S.
presidents always standbalancing solidarity with
Ukraine against fear of abroader war.
The war on cartels, foreignpolicy meets domestic fear from
Eastern Europe, Trump pivoted tothe Southern Hemisphere
promising new strikes on SouthAmerican drug cartels, and not
just at sea on land.
That's a remarkable escalation.
(07:36):
The US military has already sunkdrug boats in the Caribbean,
killing dozens.
Now Trump is talking aboutbootsword drones crossing
borders to strike cartels on theground.
Here's where the Constitutioncollides with the
commander-in-chief.
The founders gave Congress thepower to declare war for a
reason.
And you've got senators likeRand Paul already warning these
strikes are flat out illegal.
Trump's answer?
We have legal authority.
It's a national securityproblem.
(07:56):
This is classic Americanoverreach.
We declare war on drugs in the70s.
It morphs into massincarceration at home, secret
wars abroad.
We militarize everything, fromtraffic stops in Baltimore to
the Caribbean Sea.
And now the president is openlymusing about launching land
strikes against cartels insovereign countries.
History tells us these movesoften expand faster than the
American people anticipate.
China looms, soybeans, tariffs,and nukes, and then there's
(08:18):
China.
Trump is preparing to head toAsia and he predicts a meeting
with Xi Jinping where they'llmake a deal on everything.
Soybeans, tariffs, even nuclearweapons.
I want you to stop and considerthe absurd breadth of that
statement.
Agriculture, trade, arms controlall in one big deal.
It's pure Trumpian theaterinflate expectations so high
that any agreement, howevermodest, feels monumental.
Meanwhile, the real fight withChina isn't soybeans, it's tech.
(08:38):
Rare earth minerals,software-driven exports.
Who controls the guts of the21st century economy?
That's the contest.
And Trump's answer once again istariffs.
He hits China with 100% dutiesstarting November 1st.
He sees tariffs as a hammer thatfixes everything.
But tariffs are a bluntinstrument in a world of
precision warfare.
They hit farmers, they raiseprices, they roil markets, yet
Trump frames them as morepowerful than rare earths, more
(09:01):
powerful than diplomacy.
Historical parallels.
Sanctions, summits, andstrongmen if this all feels
chaotic sanctions one day,cancelled summits the next,
tariffs thrown in like confettiwell.
History is full of this kind ofimprovisational diplomacy.
Think Richard Nixon openingChina in 72 with almost no
preparation.
Think Reagan and Gorbachev atRegajavich walking away from a
deal at the last second butresetting the global chessboard
anyway.
The question is, will Trump'smaneuvers produce peace or
(09:22):
paralysis?
Sanctions can force movementsout Africa's apartheid regime
bent under them in the ADZ, butthey could also entrench
dictators think Castro in Cuba.
Cancel summits can look strong,or they can look flaky.
Refusing weapons can keepAmerica out of war or leave
allies twisting in the wind.
Trump is playing with highstakes, but his moves are
reactive, not strategic.
He responds to the move, to theoptics, to the moment, and the
world watches, adjustingaccordingly.
(09:42):
The fragile weight of leadershipat the end of the day, the
thread running through all thisis Trump's instinctive style.
He doesn't trust thetechnocrats, the institutions,
the planners.
He trusts his gut.
Sometimes that gut instinctlands on the right side of
history.
Sometimes it puts the world indeeper peril.
What we saw this week was apresidency operating on
improvisation.
Punish Russia but hint atrelief.
Cancel Putin but keep the dooropen.
Deny tomahawks but promise otherthings, threaten cartels on
(10:04):
land, then pivot to soybeans andnukes with Z.
It's whiplash diplomacy.
(12:01):
And yet it's the reality of ourtimes.
America is still theindispensable power.
Every word, every cancellation,every tariff sends ripples
across oceans.
So as Trump jets off to Asia,sanctions in place, summits on
ice, cartels in his crosshairs,and tariffs looming, the world
is left asking, is there amethod to the madness or just
madness with occasional method?
That's not just about Trump.
That's about us as citizens wholive with the consequences of
presidential instinct.
(12:22):
And history will judge not thegut feelings, but the outcomes.
So the wrecking ball has swungat 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the
east wing of the White Househome to the First Lady's Office,
the Visitor Center, the SocialSecretary, the whole machinery
that manages the ceremonial lifeof the presidency is being torn
down.
And why?
Because Donald J.
Trump wants a ballroom, not justany ballroom, a 9000 square
foot,$300 million millionmonument, to grandeur that he
(12:43):
says will be one of the greatballrooms anywhere in the world.
Let that sink in.
The White House, built in 1800,burned by the British in 1814,
rebuilt and expanded acrossgenerations, reshaped by
Roosevelt, Truman Kennedy,Reagan has just had one of its
key wings ripped off becauseTrump wants a gilded ballroom.
The White House has symbol, notjust structure, the East Wing
isn't just a small building, asTrump dismissively called it.
It was built during FranklinRoosevelt's presidency in 1942,
(13:06):
meant to house the growingadministrative staff during
World War II.
It became the anchor for theFirst Lady's office and the
ceremonial face of American softpower.
It's where dignitaries arrive.
It's where the small details ofhistory, who greets, who hosts,
who writes the calligraphy forinvitations get carried out.
Tear that down, and you're notjust shifting offices to the
Eisenhower building across thestreet.
You're bulldozing a piece of theAmerican story.
The White House isn't just brickand limestone.
(13:27):
It's a symbol of continuity.
Every generation that's livedthere, every president, every
first lady has left a mark, butthey've done it with respect for
what came before.
Even Truman, who gutted theplace structurally, rebuilt it
to look the same.
Trump?
He's doing something nopresident has ever done,
demolishing an entire wing forpersonal spectacle.
The King's Ballroom, Trumpframed it this way.
It'll be used to host worldleaders.
Sure.
(13:48):
But Hakeem Jeffries, the HouseMinority Leader, cut to the
chase.
This isn't about diplomacidesabout Donald Trump wanting to be
celebrated like a king.
A 90-0-0 square foot ballroom.
That's for Siles, notWashington.
That's the hermitage in St.
Petersburg, not the White House.
And let's remember, Trumpalready has a taste for gaudy
ballrooms.
Mar-a-Lago has one.
His New Jersey Golf Club hasone.
This is a man who seeschandeliers and gold leaf as
(14:09):
markers of power.
And now he's carving it into theheart of American democracy.
The cost is ballooning tooriginally$200 million million,
now$300 million million.
He says it's funded by him andprivate donors.
Think about the donors part.
Private billionairesbankrolling, a ballroom in the
White House.
Monarchy dressed up asRepublican government.
Democrats cry foul, Republicansstay quiet predictably,
Democrats are furious.
(14:30):
Richard Blumenthal calls it agigantic boondoggle.
Jeffries calls a coronationarchitecture.
But notice the silence or evenquiet approval from many
Republicans.
They're not rushing to defendthe East Wing's historical
integrity because Trump's basedoesn't care about preservation.
They care about spectacle.
And this is spectacle incarnate.
It's also another example ofTrump redefining the presidency
in his own image.
The people's house is beingreshaped into Trump Tower South.
(14:51):
The symbolism is not accidental.
History of White Housealterations, let's remember the
history here.
Presidents have made changes.
Jefferson expanded it withterraces.
Teddy Roosevelt built the WestWing to house his staff.
Truman had to rebuild itcompletely after structural
collapse.
Jackie Kennedy famously restoredand curated it to embody
American history, but each ofthose changes was rooted in
necessity, safety,functionality, or preservation.
(15:11):
Trump's change is rooted indesire, in ego, in the need for
grandeur.
That makes it different.
That makes it dangerous.
Because once you treat the WhiteHouse like a personal palace,
you've abandoned its role as anational symbol.
Theology of palaces versushouses now, let's go a little
deeper.
The Bible has plenty to sayabout kings and palaces.
Solomon built a temple of theLord, but he also built his own
palace, twice as large, coveredin cedar and gold, and the
(15:32):
prophets criticize rulers whoadorned their houses while
neglecting justice for thepeople.
Amos said, You lie on bedsinlaid with ivory and lounge on
your couches, but you do notgrieve over the ruin of Joseph.
That tension is alive here.
Do we need a White Houseballroom or do we need a
government that functions?
Do we need chandeliers or do weneed affordable housing in
Washington, D.C.?
When rulers choose spectacleover service, scripture tells us
it's a warning sign.
A leader who builds ballroomswhile neglecting the common good
(15:52):
is a leader with prioritiesupside down.
Preservation versus to Gress,the White House Historical
Association tried to soften theblow.
They scanned the East Wingdigitally preserved it, saved
artifacts.
But think about that digitallypreserved.
We're living in a world wherethe tangible is sacrificed for
the virtual.
You can tour the East Wing in aVR headset, but you can't walk
through its halls anymore.
That's progress, yes, but alsoloss.
And maybe that's the perfectmetaphor for Trump's presidency.
(16:14):
The replacement of substancewith spectacle, history with
holograms, stewardship withself-aggrandizement, the
ballroom really means.
So what does this all mean?
On paper, it's justconstruction.
A new space for dinners andreceptions?
But symbolically, it's seismic.
The East Wing built in the timeof war to expand the capacity of
the presidency is gone.
In its place, a palace ballroomfunded by private donors
designed for opulence, meant toglorify the man in office.
(16:35):
When future generations lookback, they may not remember the
arguments about tariffs ortomahawk missiles.
But they will see thephotographs, Trump's ballroom
rising where the East Wing oncestood.
They will ask, was this a houseof the people or the palace of a
king?
And maybe, just maybe, they'llsee it for what it really is, a
monument not to Americandemocracy, but to one man's
hunger for grandeur.
Now here's something I neverthought I'd say.
Student loan borrowers got a winout of the Trump White House.
(16:57):
Let me repeat that.
In the middle of a governmentshutdown, with education
department employees furloughedin courtrooms gummed up, a deal
was cut that actually meansmillions of Americans will see
long-awaited debt relief.
And the architects.
The American Federation ofTeachers, who dragged the
administration into court andrefused to let go until the
government honored itsobligations.
This agreement is narrow, it'stechnical, but for people who've
been paying on their loans for20 or 25 years, grinding it out
(17:18):
faithfully, this is the light atthe end of the tunnel.
Debt relief is coming.
And at least for those whoqualify this year, it will be
taxed as income.
That alone is a small miracle.
Debt forgiveness in America, along torture history, let's put
this in context.
Debt forgiveness is not new tothe American story.
In fact, it's biblical.
Every seven years in the Hebrewscriptures, debts were to be
released.
The Jubilee Early 50 was aneconomic reset, land returned,
(17:39):
slaves freed, debts erased.
It was God's way of preventingpermanent cycles of poverty.
Fast forward 2,000 years, andAmerica has perfected the
opposite, debt as aninheritance.
Parents die and their childreninherit not just heirlooms but
bills.
We tell 18-year-olds, go tocollege, chase your dreams, then
saddle them with loans that lastlonger than marriages.
Student loans, unlike creditcards or mortgages, can't be
discharged in bankruptcy.
(17:59):
You can fail at business, filebankruptcy, and get a clean
slate, but fail at a degree inSally May will stalk you to your
grave.
So when we hear that peoplewho've been paying for 20, 25
years are finally eligible forcancellation, that's not a gift.
That's just as delayed.
Trump's big, beautiful bill inthe politics of contradiction,
but here's the irony, Trumphimself has been no friend to
student borrowers.
His so-called big beautiful billof 2028 eliminates income-driven
repayment altogether.
(18:20):
The very plans pay as you earnincome contingent repayment that
let people manage debt andeventually reach forgiveness.
Gone.
So what this deal reallyrepresents is a carve-out.
A concession to lawsuits.
Borrowers stuck in limbo, leftwithout relief because of the
administration's pause are beingtold, fine, you can get your
discharge.
But in three years, the entirestructure of forgiveness
vanishes.
This is Trump politics in anutshell one hand gives, the
other hand takes away.
(18:40):
He'll stand at a podium andboast I gave relief, tremendous
relief, the best relief.
And the fine prince says, butonly until I rip the program out
by the roots in 2028.
The legal battle after theadministration, the reason this
deal happened at all was becausethe AFT sued.
They took the administration tocourt after a froze processing
of loan forgiveness.
And the irony deepens.
The Trump team blamed the Bidenadministration, saying Biden's
illegal mass cancellationefforts broke the system and
(19:01):
forced them to pause.
Think about the gall here.
Biden tried broad cancellationcourts, blocked it.
Trump pauses lawfulcancellations then says, we had
to fix Biden's mess.
Borrowers caught in the middle.
That's politics as usual.
Two administrations, twoparties, and the people paying
interest the whole time.
The win is significant though.
Monthly status reports to thecourt mean advocates can keep
the administration's feet to thefire.
Transparency matters, because ifthere's one thing bureaucracies
(19:22):
are good at, it's slow walkingpromises into oblivion.
Public service loan forgiveness,a lifeline restored, there's
another detail buried in thedeal, PSLF buybacks.
But public servants teachers,nurses, social workers, this is
a lifeline.
Months in forbearance can nowcount toward forgiveness.
Anyone who's tried PSLF knowsthe horror stories.
Payments don't count because ofa paperwork error servicers
miscalculate ten years ofservice vanish in a glitch.
This at least reclaims lostground.
(19:44):
But again, only if you act.
Only if you switch plans, if youcall your servicer if you know
the loopholes.
Our system puts the burden onthe borrower to navigate a
labyrinth of acronyms IRICR pay,PSLF.
Miss a turn in your trap forlife.
The human stakes.
Families in limbo, let's stepback.
Behind the acronyms are familieswho have been paying since the
90s.
Parents who took out loansbefore their kids were born now
helping those sane kids withFASI forms.
(20:05):
Teachers who enter classrooms onthe promise of forgiveness, only
to watch deadlines slip away.
Nurses who work through apandemic still chained to debts
older than their students.
The government shutdown delaysall of this.
95% of education departmentstaff are furloughed.
So even with the deal, even witha court order, it could take
weeks or months to processcancellations.
For people who've already waited25 years, that's insult on top
of injury.
Historical parallels, thepolitics of forgiveness
(20:25):
throughout history, governmentshave wrestled with debt as both
an economic and moral issue.
In the ancient world, rulersdeclared debt jubilees to reset
society.
In medieval Europe, the CatholicChurch condemned usury and tried
to regulate lending.
In post-war America, the GI Billoffered a path to free or nearly
free education for veterans,creating the middle class.
And here we are now, forgivenessonly after lawsuits, forgiveness
that expires in 2028,forgiveness taxes income after
(20:47):
2026.
This isn't jubilee.
It's begrudging, piecemealmercy.
The Jubilee we haven't had, sowhat should we make of it?
On the one hand, this is realrelief for real people.
Borrowers who've given decadesto repayment will finally see
zero balances.
That matters.
It matters to their families,their futures, their dignity.
On the other hand, this is areminder of how broken the
system is.
(21:07):
We celebrate forgiveness not asa right, but as a courtroom
settlement.
We ration grace like it's ascarce resource.
And we're still on track toeliminate the very programs that
made forgiveness possible in thefirst place.
The Book of Proverbs says, theborrower is servant to the
lender.
For too long, America has livedby that verse enshrining debt as
a kind of servitude.
What we need is a vision closerto Jubilee, where education
doesn't mean bondage, whereknowledge doesn't mean change,
where the path to opportunitydoesn't begin with 30 years of
(21:28):
indenture payments.
Until then, deals like this areband-aids.
Important band-aids, yes.
But the wound remains open.
SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
There's an election happening in New York City, and
one candidate is making peoplesee red.
SPEAKER_01 (21:40):
Self-proclaimed New York City communist is Zoran
Mandami.
Who is a socialist communist.
Well, Mandami the communist.
SPEAKER_03 (21:46):
An avowed communist.
SPEAKER_04 (21:47):
I call him my little communist.
SPEAKER_03 (21:49):
Well, love him or hate him, everyone seems to
agree.
This guy's a communist.
SPEAKER_05 (21:56):
a communist?
SPEAKER_03 (21:58):
I'm not saying that.
SPEAKER_05 (21:59):
People are saying that.
Really?
That's what nobody told me.
I'm a co-chair of the communistparty.
Co-chair.
Co-chair.
SPEAKER_03 (22:06):
Wow, they really make you share everything, don't
they?
Well, it's better.
Cooperation is the name of thegame.
According to Joe Simmons,co-chair of the Communist Party,
we're using the C-word allwrong.
You say he's not a communist.
No, no, no, no, no.
He's a Democratic socialist.
Okay, so explain the differenceto me between the Communist
Party and the DemocraticSocialist.
SPEAKER_05 (22:27):
Well, the Communist Party believes that capitalism
needs to be impliedfundamentally.
SPEAKER_03 (22:33):
No, what's so distasteful about capitalism
anyway?
SPEAKER_05 (22:55):
But also taught us believe that they can function
in the fine word of theDemocratic Party.
SPEAKER_03 (23:07):
Oh, I agree with you there.
Oh God, did that make me acommunist?
All my life, I thought communismwas about military trades,
dictatorships, and using thefull apparatus of the state
between one single box.
SPEAKER_05 (23:23):
Oh God.
We've got a bad name over theyears.
Bad reputation, I should say.
People believe that communismand socialism means government
control.
But that's not true.
No?
No, not at all.
Socialism, communism, anddemocracy are not opposites.
And one of the great things isthat you should be able to
choose what you do.
(23:44):
Perhaps you'd like to run a foodco-op.
And if you don't want to run afood co-op, maybe you'd like to
run a farm.
And if you don't want to run afarm, maybe you'd like to run a
theater company?
Maybe you'd like to be a futureperson.
How about a park ranger?
Oh, no park ranger.
How about an astronaut?
(24:04):
Tell me what you'd like to do.
Spend more time with yourfamily.
SPEAKER_03 (24:08):
Oh, that's a bad thing.
But why do people think thatMombani's supported?
Momdani is a communist.
What is it exactly that youthink people see Monthani doing
that would cause them to callhim a communist?
SPEAKER_05 (24:26):
Affordability.
Any effort to put forward anidea of a more equitable
distribution of wealth islabeled socialist or communist
in an effort to just dismiss itout of hand.
It's called red baiting.
(24:46):
Red baiting.
Red baiting anti-communism goalis to justify people.
That's what happened to usduring the McCarthy period, you
know.
SPEAKER_03 (24:56):
Okay, but McCarthyism was 70 years ago.
Surely we've learned our lessonby now.
SPEAKER_04 (25:02):
Members of Congress and even former presidents have
been openly embracing wildfreedoms, socialism, Marxism,
and straight up communism.
Um Radical.
SPEAKER_03 (25:21):
Okay, that sounds a lot like my baby.
But how do we know for sure thatthe Democratic Party isn't full
of communists?
Well, it's kind of new.
(26:39):
I disagree with you.
Even though people are divided,if we're gonna be divided, at
least the right thing.
SPEAKER_01 (26:52):
By his own count, President Donald Trump has
settled eight wars, from theGaza Strip to Southeast Asia,
during his nine months inoffice.
But in a place much closer tohome, he now seems determined to
start one.
With dozens of warships andplanes and thousands of U.S.
troops newly deployed to theCaribbean Sea, Trump has
declared an armed conflict withdrug trafficking groups he has
designated internationalterrorists.
U.S.
air attacks have blown up atleast seven boats that Trump has
charged were carrying drugs tothe United States in
(27:13):
international waters fromVenezuela, in the process
killing dozens of allegedtraffickers.
He has also signed a finding orauthorization document for CIA
covert operations in Venezuelaand charged its president,
Nicolas Maduro, with beingillegitimately elected and
heading a narcotics cartel.
I authorized it for two reasons,Trump said last week.
Venezuela, he said, was theworst abuser of open border
policies under the Bidenadministration, emptying its
prisons, mental institutions,insane asylums of migrants to
(27:34):
the United States.
The other thing is drugs.
We have a lot of drugs coming infrom Venezuela.
Asked if he had authorized theCIA to take out Maduro, Trump
said it would be a ridiculousquestion for me to answer.
But I think Venezuela is feelingthe heat.
White House spokeswoman AnnaKelly referred to Trump's public
statements in response to arequest for clarification of his
policy in the region.
She added in an email that,these decisive strikes have been
against designatednarco-terrorists bringing deadly
poison to our shores, and thepresident will continue to use
(27:56):
every element of American powerto stop drugs from flooding into
our country and to bring thoseresponsible to justice.
Trump has made clear hisintentions to go beyond blowing
up boats, saying, we're going tostop them by land in Venezuela.
Several people familiar withinternal administration
deliberations said any initialland attack would probably be a
targeted operation on allegedtrafficker encampments or
clandestine airstrips, ratherthan a direct attempt to unseat
Maduro.
Some said the U.S.
deployments and boat strikeswere psychological warfare to
(28:18):
promote fractures in theVenezuelan armed forces or
persuade Maduro to step down.
But Trump has said nothing todispel concerns that the United
States could launch a full-scalemilitary operation, having
declared war againstnarco-terrorists and designated
Maduro as the head of at leastone of them.
There really is no turning backunless Maduro is essentially not
in power, said one person amongthose interviewed for this
article, who, like others, spokeon the condition of anonymity
about the sensitive issue.
At the end of the day, if youhave authority to take out
(28:39):
cartel runners at sea, you cantake out the cartel boss, the
person said.
The vast majority of illicitdrugs entering the United
States, and virtually all of thefentanyl, do not come from or
through the Caribbean, but fromalong the Pacific coast, or by
land from Mexico, according toU.S.
government and UN experts.
Venezuela is generally used as aconduit for cocaine produced and
trafficked by Colombianguerrilla groups, primarily the
National Liberation Army, orELN, by its Spanish initials.
(28:59):
The Cartel de los Souls, theterrorist-designated Venezuelan
group that, according to theTrump administration, is headed
by Maduro, is largely made up ofsenior Venezuelan military and
regime officials who facilitateand take a cut of profits from
drug trafficking and othercriminal activity.
I think we are ways off fromhaving a military presence on
the ground in Venezuela, saidJuan Gonzalez, who served as
National Security Council'ssenior director for Western
Hemisphere Affairs during theBiden administration.
It doesn't mean that they won'tuse U.S.
(29:20):
assets to try to go inside ofVenezuelan territory, but it's
much easier to go after ELN'ssafe havens, that border
Colombia, inside Venezuela, thanto go inside Caracas.
While Trump's preciseinstructions to the CIA are
highly classified, two peoplefamiliar with the document he
signed described it asauthorizing aggressive agency
action against the Venezuelangovernment and associated drug
traffickers.
The document does not explicitlyorder the CIA to overthrow
Maduro, but it authorizes stepsthat could lead to that outcome,
(29:42):
said the people familiar withit.
The spy agency has moved to beefup its presence in the region,
surging personnel to theCaribbean and surrounding area
to collect human and electronicintelligence, the people
familiar with the matter said.
The Pentagon has already surgedU.S.
Special Operations Forces intothe region, including an elite
helicopter unit.
The U.S.
is at a turning point.
Washington needs to decide whatit wants, said Jeff Ramsey, a
Venezuela expert at the AtlanticCouncil.
The president came to officecampaigning to end endless wars,
(30:03):
but he's found himself nowchampioning what may be
America's longest war, which isthe war on drugs, fear of
mission creep.
For many outside observers,including lawmakers and regional
experts, it is still unclearwhether Trump's actions thus far
are part of a political ormilitary strategy designed to
curtail the flow of drugs, leadto Maduro's overthrow, or be
part of a broader pivot towardLatin America.
It would certainly ratchetthings up if they began doing
strikes on land insideVenezuelan territory, especially
(30:23):
if those strikes had a politicalpurpose, said Tom Shannon, who
served in several senior StateDepartment positions, including
Assistant Secretary for WesternHemisphere Affairs and Under
Secretary for Political Affairsduring the Obama administration,
and for the first five months ofTrump's first term.
This is where I think theadministration is going to get
itself in trouble.
They're not being clear to theAmerican people about what's
going on here, Shannon said.
If it's just drug trafficking,great, but they've got a way
oversized force, and there's anintimidation message here that
(30:44):
is only being articulatedthrough acts and through the
announcement of covert actioninside Venezuela.
Admiral Alvin Holsey resignedlast week as head of the U.S.
Southern Command, less than ayear into a three-year
appointment, something thatShannon and others attributed to
his discomfort over theCaribbean operations.
Critics have argued that thestrikes are violations of U.S.
and international law, and thatthe administration has not
provided sufficient evidence orcredible legal justification.
Neither Holsey nor DefenseSecretary Pete Heggsith gave a
(31:04):
reason for the Admiral'sdeparture, but you have to
assume this is why he decidedhis career is over with, Shannon
said.
This is going to be my legacy?
War crimes?
More broadly, the administrationhas said it wants to refocus
American foreign policy awayfrom further flung parts of the
world and toward the WesternHemisphere.
The forthcoming national defensestrategy, usually produced by
the Pentagon every four years,is set to make defending the
U.S.
homeland and the near abroad toppriorities, according to
multiple people familiar withthe document.
(31:26):
Those priorities are also likelyto be reflected in the
administration's nationalsecurity strategy, produced by
the White House, and alsonearing release.
The choice has rankled manyuniformed military leaders, most
of whom still consider China'srapid military buildup the most
pressing national securitythreat.
Some lawmakers and regionalexperts doubt whether there is a
strategy for the hemisphere atall, seeing instead a series of
policies toward individualcountries whose treatment by the
administration has more to dowith their fealty to MAGA
(31:47):
policies and Trump's personalpreferences.
I think the policy in theAmericas is really a mishmash
right now, said Senator TimKane, Democrat Virginia, who has
long focused on policy towardLatin America.
We're engaging in militaryaction in the Caribbean, and
we're giving Argentina 20billion bucks if their midterms
turn out the right way, Caintold a gathering of reporters
Friday.
You tell me what the throughline is.
Close friends and foreignmeddling.
Argentina will hold legislativeelections next Saturday, and the
(32:08):
government of President JavierMile, an avowed MAGA disciple, a
narco-capitalist and Trumpfavorite, is predicted to lose
seats in the midst of aneconomic downturn.
If Miley prevails, Trumppromised when the Argentine
leader visited the White Houselast week, he'll get the$20
billion to prop up the Argentinepeso, and maybe$20 billion more.
If he loses, Trump said, hintingto Argentine voters that the
economy's rescue hangs in thebalance, we won't waste our
time.
The administration has praisedthe conservative president of
(32:29):
Paraguay, whom Secretary ofState Marco Rubio called an
extraordinary partner lastsummer after that government
agreed to take U.S.
asylum seekers.
Ecuador, which indicated awillingness to reopen a U.S.
military base closed by aprevious government, was
promised.
A possible free trade agreementduring a Rubio visit last month.
At the same time, Trump hasthreatened stiff tariffs on
Chilean copper, that country'sprimary export to the U.S.,
despite an existing free tradeagreement and Chile's trade
deficit with the United States.
(32:49):
Trump hit Brazil with a 50%tariff after the criminal
conviction of former presidentand Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro
for plotting a coup against thenation's current president, Luis
Ignacio Lula da Silva.
But after a brief handshake withLula at the United Nations last
month, Trump proclaimed they hadexcellent chemistry, and a
future sit-down was in theworks.
Lula, Chilean President GabrielBoris, and Colombian President
Gustavo Petro are leftistsnearing the end of their terms.
(33:10):
Last weekend, Petro accusedTrump of a military attack on a
fishing boat in Colombian watersand killing a Colombian citizen.
In response, Trump said he wascutting all USAID to Bogota,
whose military and intelligencerelationship with the United
States has been the closest inLatin America, and would likely
impose crippling tariffs.
Calling Petro a lunatic and anillegal drug leader, Trump said
on social media that if hedidn't clean up Colombia's
illicit cocaine production, theUnited States would do it for
(33:30):
him, and it won't be donenicely.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon saidit struck another alleged drug
boat, this time in the waters ofthe Eastern Pacific.
Cuts in military assistance toColombia risk a vital
intelligence partnership, justas the U.S.
ramps up military activity inthe region, Gonzalez said.
It's not going to punish Petro,he said, and may actually
improve his weak domesticstanding.
Trump may have just given him aplatform to be a popular former
president who stood up to theUnited States, which is what
(33:50):
Petro is looking for.
In Venezuela, the government hascontinued to attack political
opponents and protesters whilemobilizing troops to coastal
areas and, according to Maduro,enrolling 8 million people in
civilian militias.
The CIA had organized all thecoup d'etat in Latin America,
and presidents assassinated,Maduro said after learning of
Trump's CIA authorization.
Speaking on state television,Defense Minister Vladimir
Padrino said he didn't want toalarm people.
But I do want to warn thepopulation that we have to
(34:11):
prepare, because theirrationality with which U.S.
imperialism acts is not normal.
This is the first time we haveindicators that they are taking
this threat seriously, saidAndre Serbanpont of the Latin
American Research Group Cries.
They understand thatconventional capacities don't
stand a chance against apossible U.S.
intervention.
Even with purchases andcontributions from Russia,
China, and Iran, Venezuela'smilitary is outdated and unused
to combat.
The logic behind Venezuelanmilitary purchases was to send
(34:31):
ideological messages rather thanaccessing the best technology,
said Jose Gustavo Arrocha, aretired Venezuelan Army
lieutenant colonel now living inthe United States.
In the end, Arroca said, what istruly relevant and why the
regime is a threat is itsasymmetric capabilities in
intelligence, infiltration,buying favors, and
disinformation.
Any Venezuelan response isunlikely to present a
significant impediment to U.S.
forces.
Jeffrey Korn, a retired Armyofficer and director of Texas
(34:52):
Tech University's Center forMilitary Law and Policy, wrote
on the War on the Rocks website.
But, what began as a limitedaction against a handful of
alleged drug smugglers couldquickly expand to an interstate
war, regime change, and all thesecond and third order
consequences the United Stateshas experienced that are often
harder to address than defeatingthe enemy in battle.
For now, Trump seems unconcernedby Venezuela's defense
preparations.
Videos distributed by Maduro'sgovernment show civilians, many
(35:13):
of them older, being trained torepel an invasion.
He reposted one on his truthsocial media account, showing a
woman running awkwardly with along gun in her hands.
Top secret, Trump wrote.
Herrero reported from Caracas.
Noah Robertson and Alex Hortoncontributed to this report.
SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
Folks, I want to talk about something that's not
abstract, not theoretical, butpainfully real.
Right now, as we speak, millionsof Americans are logging on to
healthcare marketplaces andseeing numbers that make their
jaws drop.
Premiums are skyrocketing for2026.
We're talking about the steepestyear-over-year price hike since
the Affordable Care Act was born12 years ago.
18% increases on average.
Some people seeing theirpremiums double, even triple.
A family of four in Georgia,making$1.82, 0-0 ready middle
(35:51):
class, already feeling squeezednow staring at annual premiums,
jumping from around$3,500 tonearly$7,000.
And if they're just above thesubsidy cutoff,$24,000 a year
for insurance.
That's a mortgage paymentstrapped onto your health care.
The politics of deadlock, why isthis happening?
Because Congress is locked in abitter standoff.
Democrats say we won't fund thegovernment unless the COVID era
premium subsidies are extended.
(36:12):
Republicans say reopen thegovernment first, then we'll
talk.
And in the meantime, ordinaryAmericans become collateral
damage.
This is the story of Washingtondysfunction.
Subsidies expire, premiumsspike, families panic, and
lawmakers point fingers.
Republicans call the subsidies aband-aid that hides the failure
of Obamacare to control costs.
Democrats argue those subsidieswere the one thing keeping
coverage affordable formillions.
And as they fight, thegovernment remains shut down 95%
(36:33):
of the education departmentfurloughed.
Marketplaces publishing premiumswithout clarity on relief.
Georgia has ground zero look atGeorgia.
Second highest enrollment of anyStitra in marketplace.
96% of enrollees there gotsubsidies this year.
That means 1.4 million Georgiansdepended on that cushion.
Now with subsidies gone, theirpremiums spike overnight.
And here's the twist (36:51):
even rep.
Marjorie Taylor Greinhard ridebomb throwing anti-ACA to her
bones, he's breaking with herparty.
SPEAKER_05 (36:57):
Why?
SPEAKER_00 (36:57):
Because her own adult children's premiums are
doubling.
Suddenly the politics ofideology meet the politics of
lived experience.
Nothing like a family bill tomake you rethink your talking
points.
Senator John Ossoff, theDemocrat fighting for his
political life in Georgia, seesopportunity here.
He's making this the core of hisre-election pitch, extend the
subsidies or watch familiessuffer.
The politics of healthcare neverwent away their back with a
vengeance.
The human cost behind thesenumbers are lives.
(37:18):
Take Jody Fioletto, a31-year-old in Atlanta, making
about$40,000 a year.
She's been paying$160 a monthfor coverage.
Next year that nearly doubles.
So what does she do?
She schedules surgery this yearwhile she knows she's covered
because she doesn't know what2026 will look like.
That's what insecurity does.
It forces people to make medicaldecisions based on fear of the
calendar, not based on health.
This is what we've normalized inAmerica.
A healthcare system where peoplesay, I'd better get this
(37:39):
procedure done before myinsurance disappears.
That's not health care.
That's survival.
Historical lens, the subsidystruggle, let's step back.
The Affordable Care Act wassupposed to fix this by creating
marketplaces and subsidies, butit was also a political
compromise.
To get it passed, Democrats leftprivate insurers in charge.
That meant costs were alwaysgoing to rise with hospital
prices, with drug costs, withmedical inflation.
Subsidies were the duct tapeholding it together.
When COVID hit, Congress juicedthose subsidies so more people
(38:01):
could afford coverage.
For the first time, familiesmaking above 400% of the poverty
line qualified.
That was transformative millionssuddenly insured premiums at
record lows.
But those subsidies weretemporary.
Everyone knew it.
And now the clock has run out.
We've seen this before.
In 2017, Republicans tried torepeal the ACA altogether.
That failed.
But they succeeded inundermining parts of it,
(38:22):
removing the individual mandatepenalty, cutting funding for
outreach.
Every time Washington deadlocksconsumers pay the price.
The cultural battle health ascommodity or right, this is more
than math.
It's a cultural question, ishealth care a right or is it a
commodity?
Other developed nations decideddecades ago that health is a
right.
Britain, France, Canada, Japan,they treat coverage as
universal.
(38:43):
In America, we still treathealth insurance as a
marketplace good, something youbuy if you can afford it.
That's why we talk aboutsubsidies instead of guarantees
about open enrollment instead ofentitlement.
And that's why every few yearsthe fight over premiums becomes
a political crisis, because thesystem itself is designed to
wobble without constantinfusions of cash.
The political fallout, thepolitical fallout is already
visible.
Vulnerable Republicans in SwingDistrict 13 of them are begging
House Speaker Mike Johnson toextend the subsidies.
(39:05):
They know their constituents arelogging on right now, seeing
premiums spike, and blamingwhoever's in power.
Democrats like Patty Murray arehammering the message,
Republicans are letting premiumsdouble.
Republicans counter, Democratsbuilt a broken system and use
COVID subsidies to paper overthe cracks.
Both parties are playing hotpotato with healthcare while
families watch their budgetsimplode.
Insurers in the spiral, and thenthere are the insurers.
They say the expiration ofsubsidies will drive healthy
(39:26):
people off the rolls, leavingonly the sick, which makes
premiums rise further.
It's the death spiral everyonewarned about when the ACA
launched.
Add to that medical inflation,$1,000 want weight loss drugs,
hospital consolidation andinsurers argue their hands are
tied.
But let's be honest, insurancecompanies aren't charities.
They're corporations protectingmargins.
And when premiums rise 18%, CEOsdon't feel it.
(39:48):
Jodi and Atlanta does.
Closing reflection a nation ofsticker shocks, so here's the
truth, unless Congress actsmillions will go into 2026 with
premiums they simply can'tafford.
Some will forgo coverage.
Some will gamble on stayinghealthy.
Some will cut corner skipappointments, delay
prescriptions, cancelprocedures.
And a country already fracturedby inequality will fracture
further between those who canpay$24,000 a year for coverage
and those who simply drop out.
(40:08):
Healthcare is not abstract.
It's a monthly bill.
It's a decision between premiumsand mortgages.
It's a surgery scheduled earlyout of fear.
And until we stop treating it asa partisan football and start
treating it as a human right,we'll keep reliving this cycle.
Subsidy fights, premium hikes,government shutdowns, families
left in the lurch.
The prophets of old will callthat injustice.
The economists call it marketfailure, I just call it wrong.
And as open enrollment looms inNovember, millions of Americans
(40:30):
will be staring at their screensasking one simple question Can I
afford to be healthy next year?
And that, my friends, is thequestion Washington refuses to
answer.
Welcome back folks.
Tonight, I want to take youstraight into the electric chaos
that was the final New York CityMyoral debate.
Three men, one stage.
Ziran Mamdani, the progressivefirebrand, assembleman Andrew
Cuomo, the comeback kid whorefuses to quit, and Curtis
Sleewa, the beret wearingRepublican street fighter who
refuses to be ignored.
Let's be clear, this wasn't yoursleepy local debate about
(01:06):
potholes and zoning ordinances.
No, this was a night fight inthe nation's most watched city.
It felt like a Shakespeareandrama staged at Madison Square
Garden.
Cuomo versus Mamdani.
A brawl for the ages from thevery start, Cuomo zeroed in on
Mamdani.
He wanted to draw blood.
You could see it in his eyes,hear it in his voice.
He painted Mamdani as anexperienced, unserious, a man
(01:27):
unworthy of shepherding eightand a half million souls.
Cuomo said, I did things.
You've never had a job.
You've never accomplishedanything.
You missed 80% of your votes.
Now I've seen Andrew Cuomo on adebate stage before.
This is a man who relishes thekill shot.
But Mamdani didn't fold.
He came with his own arsenal,calling Cuomo a desperate man,
Donald Trump's puppet.
And then the dagger, Trump wantsAndrew Cuomo to be mayor, not
(01:48):
because it'll be good for NewYorkers, but because it'll be
good for him.
That's the kind of line thatsticks.
Because it's not just Cuomoversus Shea, Mam Dani, it's the
ghost of Trump hovering over thestage.
The Trump factor, used like aboogeyman in a children's tale,
here's the thing Trump hasbecome the gravitational force
of this race, even though heisn't running.
Mamdani uses Trump as a cudgel,Cuomo is his boy.
Cuomo flips it and warns ifMamdani wins, Trump will treat
(02:08):
New York like his personalpunching bag.
But listen closely.
Trump himself has said Mamdaniis basically unbeatable.
He's even called Mamdani's risea gift for Republicans, the idea
being, fine, let progressivesown New York City, see how it
burns.
So the city is caught in a hallof mirrors.
One candidate calls anotherTrump's puppet.
That candidate warns the otherwould be Trump's chew toy.
And the real Trump is watchingfrom the sidelines, smirking,
knowing that either way his nameis stamped on the marquee.
(02:29):
Enter Curtis Slewa, the StreetFighter with the One-Liners now,
let's talk about Curtis Sleewa.
A Republican in New York City islike a cat trying to swim
upstream possible, but notpretty.
But you have to hand it to him.
Slewa had some punchy moments.
He roasted Cuomo for fleeing hisgovernorship.
You didn't leave, you fled.
That's not just an attack,that's a meme.
And then over and over hereferred to Cuomo and Mamdani as
two school kids.
He knows his role here, not thepolicy wonk, not the visionary,
(02:52):
but the guy throwing tomatoes atthe main act, and the crowd ate
it up.
A rowdy audience changes thegame, speaking of the crowd,
this wasn't a silent debatehall.
No, this was an arena.
Cheers, booze, applause like aprize fight.
And Mamdani had the moment ofthe night when he brought
Charlotte Bennett, one ofCuomo's accusers, as his guest.
He looked Cuomo in the face andsaid, What do you say to the 13
women you harass?
That's not a debate tactic.
That's courtroom drama.
(03:13):
Cuomo, of course, defaulted tohis legal shield.
The cases were dropped, but inthe theater of politics, that
moment hung heavy.
No knockout, no game changer, sodid the debate matter.
Honestly.
Probably not.
90 minutes of fireworks, sure.
A few viral clips, sure.
But the polls are clear.
Mamdani is cruising with adouble-digit lead.
Cuomo looked sharp but nottransformative.
Sliwa was entertaining but notascendant.
(03:35):
The takeaway is simple.
Mamdani has become a phenomenon.
Against the establishment,against Cuomo's heavyweight
legacy, against Trump's sneers,he's still standing.
Not just standing rising.
The historical lens, outsidersbecome in the center now.
Let's step back.
American politics has a longtradition of outsiders who
weren't supposed to whine untilthey did.
Think uh Varella LaGuardia,Flower, who oh shocked New York
in the 1930s, cutting 30s bycutting through corruption.
(03:58):
Think Harold Washington inChicago, who broke through as
the city's first black mayor.
Think even Bernie Sanders, theman Mamdani often echoes who
went from being written off as afringe socialist to reshaping
the Democratic Party'svocabulary.
Mamdani, like those figures,represents more than just
himself.
He's the symbol of a risingleftist generation that refuses
to apologize for beingunapologetically progressive in
the biggest city in America.
And that, my friends, is whyCuomo fights so bitterly against
(04:18):
him.
Cuomo doesn't just want to win.
He wants to stop history frommoving past him.
The cultural stakes, New York issymbol, not just city, and
here's the bigger thing (04:24):
this isn't just about trash pickup
and subway delays.
New York City is a culturalbeacon.
What happens here reverberatesacross the country.
If Mamdani wins, it will be readas a victory for the left at a
time when the NationalDemocratic Party is tacking
center to survive Trump.
If Cuomo wins, it's a story ofestablishment redemption, the
old guard reclaiming thedriver's seat.
If, by some miracle, Sleevawins, it's a populist revolt in
America's bluest bastion.
This race is a parable about thefuture of urban politics, the
(04:47):
power of progressive ideas, andthe lingering shadow of
Trumpism.
Closing reflection, the glidepath and the trap of power, so
where are we?
Mom Dani's on a glide path toGracy Mansion.
But let's not romanticize it.
Glide paths can turn into traps.
Because once you win, once youinherit the throne, the hard
questions begin.
How do you govern a city that'sbroke, broken, and bristling
with crime, housing crises, andinequality?
How do you turn slogans intoscaffolding?
(05:08):
Andrew Cuomo can sneer, CurtisSleewa can jeer, Trump can leer
for Mar-a Lago butt at the endof the day.
New Yorkers will soon place thekeys of their city into new
hands.
And the real question isn't whowon a debate, but whether the
man who wins the mayoralty canturn firebrand passion into
durable leadership.
That's the debate we should allbe watching, not on a stage, but
in the months and years ahead.
On Wednesday, he sat down withNATO Secretary General Mark
(05:29):
Rutt, and between the warmhandshakes and the photo ops,
his administration dropped themost serious economic hammer yet
on Russia.
Sanctions against Rosneft andLuke Oil, the two crown jewels
of Moscow's oil empire.
Now let's not sugarcoat thiswhen you sanction a country's
oil.
You're not nibbling around theedges.
You're striking at the jugular.
Oil is the bloodstream of theRussian state.
Putin funds his war machinethrough it.
He keeps the lights on and hiskleptocratic system with it.
(05:50):
He props up his oligarch cronieswith it.
So Trump finally pulled thetrigger and said, It was time.
But you'll notice somethingabout Trump, he always leaves
himself wiggle room.
These sanctions, he said, won'tbe on for long because he hopes
the war will be settled.
That's not exactly Roosevelt in1941 promising unconditional
surrender.
That's Trump in 2025 signaling,I'll put pressure on you, but if
you play ball, I'll lift thewheat.
It's transactional diplomacy,the art of the deal, applied to
(06:12):
the art of war.
The summit that vanished andright alongside the sanctions,
the much-hyped Budapest PeaceSummit with Putin evaporated.
Trump said it just didn't feelright.
Think about the TUS foreignpolicy being driven not by grand
strategy, not by exhaustivebriefing books, but by whether
the president's gut feels righton a given Wednesday.
The Bible says, let your yes beyes and your no be no.
Trump's foreign policy has oftenbeen yes, no, maybe we'll see.
(06:32):
And that ambiguity makes alliesnervous.
Hungary's foreign minister isalready tweeting, the meeting
will happen, it's just timing.
So which is it?
The theater of diplomacy isbeing written like improv comedy
actors, waiting for the star todecide whether he'll show up for
rehearsal.
The Tomahawk question, complexthen there's the Tomahawk
missile debate.
Ukraine wanted them.
Zelensky pressed for them.
Trump said no.
His reasoning?
These weapons take six months toa year to learn, so only
(06:53):
American hands can really pullthe trigger.
Now, let's pause.
That explanation, technical asit sounds, also masks the deeper
truth.
Giving Ukraine tomahawks wouldescalate the war dramatically.
Those missiles could hit deepinto Russia, striking fuel
depots, command centers, evenMoscow suburbs if launched far
enough.
Once you hand those over, you'reno longer just arming a friend,
you're inviting a new phase ofconflict.
So Trump dresses it up as alearning curve problem, but the
(07:14):
real concern is escalation.
He wants leverage over Putin,not a NATO-Russia direct clash.
Zelensky, of course, says thatrefusal weakens Kyiv's
bargaining power, and he'sright.
But this is where U.S.
presidents always standbalancing solidarity with
Ukraine against fear of abroader war.
The war on cartels, foreignpolicy meets domestic fear from
Eastern Europe, Trump pivoted tothe Southern Hemisphere
promising new strikes on SouthAmerican drug cartels, and not
just at sea on land.
That's a remarkable escalation.
(07:36):
The US military has already sunkdrug boats in the Caribbean,
killing dozens.
Now Trump is talking aboutbootsword drones crossing
borders to strike cartels on theground.
Here's where the Constitutioncollides with the
commander-in-chief.
The founders gave Congress thepower to declare war for a
reason.
And you've got senators likeRand Paul already warning these
strikes are flat out illegal.
Trump's answer?
We have legal authority.
It's a national securityproblem.
(07:56):
This is classic Americanoverreach.
We declare war on drugs in the70s.
It morphs into massincarceration at home, secret
wars abroad.
We militarize everything, fromtraffic stops in Baltimore to
the Caribbean Sea.
And now the president is openlymusing about launching land
strikes against cartels insovereign countries.
History tells us these movesoften expand faster than the
American people anticipate.
China looms, soybeans, tariffs,and nukes, and then there's
(08:18):
China.
Trump is preparing to head toAsia and he predicts a meeting
with Xi Jinping where they'llmake a deal on everything.
Soybeans, tariffs, even nuclearweapons.
I want you to stop and considerthe absurd breadth of that
statement.
Agriculture, trade, arms controlall in one big deal.
It's pure Trumpian theaterinflate expectations so high
that any agreement, howevermodest, feels monumental.
Meanwhile, the real fight withChina isn't soybeans, it's tech.
(08:38):
Rare earth minerals,software-driven exports.
Who controls the guts of the21st century economy?
That's the contest.
And Trump's answer once again istariffs.
He hits China with 100% dutiesstarting November 1st.
He sees tariffs as a hammer thatfixes everything.
But tariffs are a bluntinstrument in a world of
precision warfare.
They hit farmers, they raiseprices, they roil markets, yet
Trump frames them as morepowerful than rare earths, more
(09:01):
powerful than diplomacy.
Historical parallels.
Sanctions, summits, andstrongmen if this all feels
chaotic sanctions one day,cancelled summits the next,
tariffs thrown in like confettiwell.
History is full of this kind ofimprovisational diplomacy.
Think Richard Nixon openingChina in 72 with almost no
preparation.
Think Reagan and Gorbachev atRegajavich walking away from a
deal at the last second butresetting the global chessboard
anyway.
The question is, will Trump'smaneuvers produce peace or
(09:22):
paralysis?
Sanctions can force movementsout Africa's apartheid regime
bent under them in the ADZ, butthey could also entrench
dictators think Castro in Cuba.
Cancel summits can look strong,or they can look flaky.
Refusing weapons can keepAmerica out of war or leave
allies twisting in the wind.
Trump is playing with highstakes, but his moves are
reactive, not strategic.
He responds to the move, to theoptics, to the moment, and the
world watches, adjustingaccordingly.
(09:42):
The fragile weight of leadershipat the end of the day, the
thread running through all thisis Trump's instinctive style.
He doesn't trust thetechnocrats, the institutions,
the planners.
He trusts his gut.
Sometimes that gut instinctlands on the right side of
history.
Sometimes it puts the world indeeper peril.
What we saw this week was apresidency operating on
improvisation.
Punish Russia but hint atrelief.
Cancel Putin but keep the dooropen.
Deny tomahawks but promise otherthings, threaten cartels on
(10:04):
land, then pivot to soybeans andnukes with Z.
It's whiplash diplomacy.
(12:01):
And yet it's the reality of ourtimes.
America is still theindispensable power.
Every word, every cancellation,every tariff sends ripples
across oceans.
So as Trump jets off to Asia,sanctions in place, summits on
ice, cartels in his crosshairs,and tariffs looming, the world
is left asking, is there amethod to the madness or just
madness with occasional method?
That's not just about Trump.
That's about us as citizens wholive with the consequences of
presidential instinct.
(12:22):
And history will judge not thegut feelings, but the outcomes.
So the wrecking ball has swungat 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the
east wing of the White Househome to the First Lady's Office,
the Visitor Center, the SocialSecretary, the whole machinery
that manages the ceremonial lifeof the presidency is being torn
down.
And why?
Because Donald J.
Trump wants a ballroom, not justany ballroom, a 9000 square
foot,$300 million millionmonument, to grandeur that he
(12:43):
says will be one of the greatballrooms anywhere in the world.
Let that sink in.
The White House, built in 1800,burned by the British in 1814,
rebuilt and expanded acrossgenerations, reshaped by
Roosevelt, Truman Kennedy,Reagan has just had one of its
key wings ripped off becauseTrump wants a gilded ballroom.
The White House has symbol, notjust structure, the East Wing
isn't just a small building, asTrump dismissively called it.
It was built during FranklinRoosevelt's presidency in 1942,
(13:06):
meant to house the growingadministrative staff during
World War II.
It became the anchor for theFirst Lady's office and the
ceremonial face of American softpower.
It's where dignitaries arrive.
It's where the small details ofhistory, who greets, who hosts,
who writes the calligraphy forinvitations get carried out.
Tear that down, and you're notjust shifting offices to the
Eisenhower building across thestreet.
You're bulldozing a piece of theAmerican story.
The White House isn't just brickand limestone.
(13:27):
It's a symbol of continuity.
Every generation that's livedthere, every president, every
first lady has left a mark, butthey've done it with respect for
what came before.
Even Truman, who gutted theplace structurally, rebuilt it
to look the same.
Trump?
He's doing something nopresident has ever done,
demolishing an entire wing forpersonal spectacle.
The King's Ballroom, Trumpframed it this way.
It'll be used to host worldleaders.
Sure.
(13:48):
But Hakeem Jeffries, the HouseMinority Leader, cut to the
chase.
This isn't about diplomacidesabout Donald Trump wanting to be
celebrated like a king.
A 90-0-0 square foot ballroom.
That's for Siles, notWashington.
That's the hermitage in St.
Petersburg, not the White House.
And let's remember, Trumpalready has a taste for gaudy
ballrooms.
Mar-a-Lago has one.
His New Jersey Golf Club hasone.
This is a man who seeschandeliers and gold leaf as
(14:09):
markers of power.
And now he's carving it into theheart of American democracy.
The cost is ballooning tooriginally$200 million million,
now$300 million million.
He says it's funded by him andprivate donors.
Think about the donors part.
Private billionairesbankrolling, a ballroom in the
White House.
Monarchy dressed up asRepublican government.
Democrats cry foul, Republicansstay quiet predictably,
Democrats are furious.
(14:30):
Richard Blumenthal calls it agigantic boondoggle.
Jeffries calls a coronationarchitecture.
But notice the silence or evenquiet approval from many
Republicans.
They're not rushing to defendthe East Wing's historical
integrity because Trump's basedoesn't care about preservation.
They care about spectacle.
And this is spectacle incarnate.
It's also another example ofTrump redefining the presidency
in his own image.
The people's house is beingreshaped into Trump Tower South.
(14:51):
The symbolism is not accidental.
History of White Housealterations, let's remember the
history here.
Presidents have made changes.
Jefferson expanded it withterraces.
Teddy Roosevelt built the WestWing to house his staff.
Truman had to rebuild itcompletely after structural
collapse.
Jackie Kennedy famously restoredand curated it to embody
American history, but each ofthose changes was rooted in
necessity, safety,functionality, or preservation.
(15:11):
Trump's change is rooted indesire, in ego, in the need for
grandeur.
That makes it different.
That makes it dangerous.
Because once you treat the WhiteHouse like a personal palace,
you've abandoned its role as anational symbol.
Theology of palaces versushouses now, let's go a little
deeper.
The Bible has plenty to sayabout kings and palaces.
Solomon built a temple of theLord, but he also built his own
palace, twice as large, coveredin cedar and gold, and the
(15:32):
prophets criticize rulers whoadorned their houses while
neglecting justice for thepeople.
Amos said, You lie on bedsinlaid with ivory and lounge on
your couches, but you do notgrieve over the ruin of Joseph.
That tension is alive here.
Do we need a White Houseballroom or do we need a
government that functions?
Do we need chandeliers or do weneed affordable housing in
Washington, D.C.?
When rulers choose spectacleover service, scripture tells us
it's a warning sign.
A leader who builds ballroomswhile neglecting the common good
(15:52):
is a leader with prioritiesupside down.
Preservation versus to Gress,the White House Historical
Association tried to soften theblow.
They scanned the East Wingdigitally preserved it, saved
artifacts.
But think about that digitallypreserved.
We're living in a world wherethe tangible is sacrificed for
the virtual.
You can tour the East Wing in aVR headset, but you can't walk
through its halls anymore.
That's progress, yes, but alsoloss.
And maybe that's the perfectmetaphor for Trump's presidency.
(16:14):
The replacement of substancewith spectacle, history with
holograms, stewardship withself-aggrandizement, the
ballroom really means.
So what does this all mean?
On paper, it's justconstruction.
A new space for dinners andreceptions?
But symbolically, it's seismic.
The East Wing built in the timeof war to expand the capacity of
the presidency is gone.
In its place, a palace ballroomfunded by private donors
designed for opulence, meant toglorify the man in office.
(16:35):
When future generations lookback, they may not remember the
arguments about tariffs ortomahawk missiles.
But they will see thephotographs, Trump's ballroom
rising where the East Wing oncestood.
They will ask, was this a houseof the people or the palace of a
king?
And maybe, just maybe, they'llsee it for what it really is, a
monument not to Americandemocracy, but to one man's
hunger for grandeur.
Now here's something I neverthought I'd say.
Student loan borrowers got a winout of the Trump White House.
(16:57):
Let me repeat that.
In the middle of a governmentshutdown, with education
department employees furloughedin courtrooms gummed up, a deal
was cut that actually meansmillions of Americans will see
long-awaited debt relief.
And the architects.
The American Federation ofTeachers, who dragged the
administration into court andrefused to let go until the
government honored itsobligations.
This agreement is narrow, it'stechnical, but for people who've
been paying on their loans for20 or 25 years, grinding it out
(17:18):
faithfully, this is the light atthe end of the tunnel.
Debt relief is coming.
And at least for those whoqualify this year, it will be
taxed as income.
That alone is a small miracle.
Debt forgiveness in America, along torture history, let's put
this in context.
Debt forgiveness is not new tothe American story.
In fact, it's biblical.
Every seven years in the Hebrewscriptures, debts were to be
released.
The Jubilee Early 50 was aneconomic reset, land returned,
(17:39):
slaves freed, debts erased.
It was God's way of preventingpermanent cycles of poverty.
Fast forward 2,000 years, andAmerica has perfected the
opposite, debt as aninheritance.
Parents die and their childreninherit not just heirlooms but
bills.
We tell 18-year-olds, go tocollege, chase your dreams, then
saddle them with loans that lastlonger than marriages.
Student loans, unlike creditcards or mortgages, can't be
discharged in bankruptcy.
(17:59):
You can fail at business, filebankruptcy, and get a clean
slate, but fail at a degree inSally May will stalk you to your
grave.
So when we hear that peoplewho've been paying for 20, 25
years are finally eligible forcancellation, that's not a gift.
That's just as delayed.
Trump's big, beautiful bill inthe politics of contradiction,
but here's the irony, Trumphimself has been no friend to
student borrowers.
His so-called big beautiful billof 2028 eliminates income-driven
repayment altogether.
(18:20):
The very plans pay as you earnincome contingent repayment that
let people manage debt andeventually reach forgiveness.
Gone.
So what this deal reallyrepresents is a carve-out.
A concession to lawsuits.
Borrowers stuck in limbo, leftwithout relief because of the
administration's pause are beingtold, fine, you can get your
discharge.
But in three years, the entirestructure of forgiveness
vanishes.
This is Trump politics in anutshell one hand gives, the
other hand takes away.
(18:40):
He'll stand at a podium andboast I gave relief, tremendous
relief, the best relief.
And the fine prince says, butonly until I rip the program out
by the roots in 2028.
The legal battle after theadministration, the reason this
deal happened at all was becausethe AFT sued.
They took the administration tocourt after a froze processing
of loan forgiveness.
And the irony deepens.
The Trump team blamed the Bidenadministration, saying Biden's
illegal mass cancellationefforts broke the system and
(19:01):
forced them to pause.
Think about the gall here.
Biden tried broad cancellationcourts, blocked it.
Trump pauses lawfulcancellations then says, we had
to fix Biden's mess.
Borrowers caught in the middle.
That's politics as usual.
Two administrations, twoparties, and the people paying
interest the whole time.
The win is significant though.
Monthly status reports to thecourt mean advocates can keep
the administration's feet to thefire.
Transparency matters, because ifthere's one thing bureaucracies
(19:22):
are good at, it's slow walkingpromises into oblivion.
Public service loan forgiveness,a lifeline restored, there's
another detail buried in thedeal, PSLF buybacks.
But public servants teachers,nurses, social workers, this is
a lifeline.
Months in forbearance can nowcount toward forgiveness.
Anyone who's tried PSLF knowsthe horror stories.
Payments don't count because ofa paperwork error servicers
miscalculate ten years ofservice vanish in a glitch.
This at least reclaims lostground.
(19:44):
But again, only if you act.
Only if you switch plans, if youcall your servicer if you know
the loopholes.
Our system puts the burden onthe borrower to navigate a
labyrinth of acronyms IRICR pay,PSLF.
Miss a turn in your trap forlife.
The human stakes.
Families in limbo, let's stepback.
Behind the acronyms are familieswho have been paying since the
90s.
Parents who took out loansbefore their kids were born now
helping those sane kids withFASI forms.
(20:05):
Teachers who enter classrooms onthe promise of forgiveness, only
to watch deadlines slip away.
Nurses who work through apandemic still chained to debts
older than their students.
The government shutdown delaysall of this.
95% of education departmentstaff are furloughed.
So even with the deal, even witha court order, it could take
weeks or months to processcancellations.
For people who've already waited25 years, that's insult on top
of injury.
Historical parallels, thepolitics of forgiveness
(20:25):
throughout history, governmentshave wrestled with debt as both
an economic and moral issue.
In the ancient world, rulersdeclared debt jubilees to reset
society.
In medieval Europe, the CatholicChurch condemned usury and tried
to regulate lending.
In post-war America, the GI Billoffered a path to free or nearly
free education for veterans,creating the middle class.
And here we are now, forgivenessonly after lawsuits, forgiveness
that expires in 2028,forgiveness taxes income after
(20:47):
2026.
This isn't jubilee.
It's begrudging, piecemealmercy.
The Jubilee we haven't had, sowhat should we make of it?
On the one hand, this is realrelief for real people.
Borrowers who've given decadesto repayment will finally see
zero balances.
That matters.
It matters to their families,their futures, their dignity.
On the other hand, this is areminder of how broken the
system is.
(21:07):
We celebrate forgiveness not asa right, but as a courtroom
settlement.
We ration grace like it's ascarce resource.
And we're still on track toeliminate the very programs that
made forgiveness possible in thefirst place.
The Book of Proverbs says, theborrower is servant to the
lender.
For too long, America has livedby that verse enshrining debt as
a kind of servitude.
What we need is a vision closerto Jubilee, where education
doesn't mean bondage, whereknowledge doesn't mean change,
where the path to opportunitydoesn't begin with 30 years of
(21:28):
indenture payments.
Until then, deals like this areband-aids.
Important band-aids, yes.
But the wound remains open.
SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
There's an election happening in New York City, and
one candidate is making peoplesee red.
SPEAKER_01 (21:40):
Self-proclaimed New York City communist is Zoran
Mandami.
Who is a socialist communist.
Well, Mandami the communist.
SPEAKER_03 (21:46):
An avowed communist.
SPEAKER_04 (21:47):
I call him my little communist.
SPEAKER_03 (21:49):
Well, love him or hate him, everyone seems to
agree.
This guy's a communist.
SPEAKER_05 (21:56):
a communist?
SPEAKER_03 (21:58):
I'm not saying that.
SPEAKER_05 (21:59):
People are saying that.
Really?
That's what nobody told me.
I'm a co-chair of the communistparty.
Co-chair.
Co-chair.
SPEAKER_03 (22:06):
Wow, they really make you share everything, don't
they?
Well, it's better.
Cooperation is the name of thegame.
According to Joe Simmons,co-chair of the Communist Party,
we're using the C-word allwrong.
You say he's not a communist.
No, no, no, no, no.
He's a Democratic socialist.
Okay, so explain the differenceto me between the Communist
Party and the DemocraticSocialist.
SPEAKER_05 (22:27):
Well, the Communist Party believes that capitalism
needs to be impliedfundamentally.
SPEAKER_03 (22:33):
No, what's so distasteful about capitalism
anyway?
SPEAKER_05 (22:55):
But also taught us believe that they can function
in the fine word of theDemocratic Party.
SPEAKER_03 (23:07):
Oh, I agree with you there.
Oh God, did that make me acommunist?
All my life, I thought communismwas about military trades,
dictatorships, and using thefull apparatus of the state
between one single box.
SPEAKER_05 (23:23):
Oh God.
We've got a bad name over theyears.
Bad reputation, I should say.
People believe that communismand socialism means government
control.
But that's not true.
No?
No, not at all.
Socialism, communism, anddemocracy are not opposites.
And one of the great things isthat you should be able to
choose what you do.
(23:44):
Perhaps you'd like to run a foodco-op.
And if you don't want to run afood co-op, maybe you'd like to
run a farm.
And if you don't want to run afarm, maybe you'd like to run a
theater company?
Maybe you'd like to be a futureperson.
How about a park ranger?
Oh, no park ranger.
How about an astronaut?
(24:04):
Tell me what you'd like to do.
Spend more time with yourfamily.
SPEAKER_03 (24:08):
Oh, that's a bad thing.
But why do people think thatMombani's supported?
Momdani is a communist.
What is it exactly that youthink people see Monthani doing
that would cause them to callhim a communist?
SPEAKER_05 (24:26):
Affordability.
Any effort to put forward anidea of a more equitable
distribution of wealth islabeled socialist or communist
in an effort to just dismiss itout of hand.
It's called red baiting.
(24:46):
Red baiting.
Red baiting anti-communism goalis to justify people.
That's what happened to usduring the McCarthy period, you
know.
SPEAKER_03 (24:56):
Okay, but McCarthyism was 70 years ago.
Surely we've learned our lessonby now.
SPEAKER_04 (25:02):
Members of Congress and even former presidents have
been openly embracing wildfreedoms, socialism, Marxism,
and straight up communism.
Um Radical.
SPEAKER_03 (25:21):
Okay, that sounds a lot like my baby.
But how do we know for sure thatthe Democratic Party isn't full
of communists?
Well, it's kind of new.
(26:39):
I disagree with you.
Even though people are divided,if we're gonna be divided, at
least the right thing.
SPEAKER_01 (26:52):
By his own count, President Donald Trump has
settled eight wars, from theGaza Strip to Southeast Asia,
during his nine months inoffice.
But in a place much closer tohome, he now seems determined to
start one.
With dozens of warships andplanes and thousands of U.S.
troops newly deployed to theCaribbean Sea, Trump has
declared an armed conflict withdrug trafficking groups he has
designated internationalterrorists.
U.S.
air attacks have blown up atleast seven boats that Trump has
charged were carrying drugs tothe United States in
(27:13):
international waters fromVenezuela, in the process
killing dozens of allegedtraffickers.
He has also signed a finding orauthorization document for CIA
covert operations in Venezuelaand charged its president,
Nicolas Maduro, with beingillegitimately elected and
heading a narcotics cartel.
I authorized it for two reasons,Trump said last week.
Venezuela, he said, was theworst abuser of open border
policies under the Bidenadministration, emptying its
prisons, mental institutions,insane asylums of migrants to
(27:34):
the United States.
The other thing is drugs.
We have a lot of drugs coming infrom Venezuela.
Asked if he had authorized theCIA to take out Maduro, Trump
said it would be a ridiculousquestion for me to answer.
But I think Venezuela is feelingthe heat.
White House spokeswoman AnnaKelly referred to Trump's public
statements in response to arequest for clarification of his
policy in the region.
She added in an email that,these decisive strikes have been
against designatednarco-terrorists bringing deadly
poison to our shores, and thepresident will continue to use
(27:56):
every element of American powerto stop drugs from flooding into
our country and to bring thoseresponsible to justice.
Trump has made clear hisintentions to go beyond blowing
up boats, saying, we're going tostop them by land in Venezuela.
Several people familiar withinternal administration
deliberations said any initialland attack would probably be a
targeted operation on allegedtrafficker encampments or
clandestine airstrips, ratherthan a direct attempt to unseat
Maduro.
Some said the U.S.
deployments and boat strikeswere psychological warfare to
(28:18):
promote fractures in theVenezuelan armed forces or
persuade Maduro to step down.
But Trump has said nothing todispel concerns that the United
States could launch a full-scalemilitary operation, having
declared war againstnarco-terrorists and designated
Maduro as the head of at leastone of them.
There really is no turning backunless Maduro is essentially not
in power, said one person amongthose interviewed for this
article, who, like others, spokeon the condition of anonymity
about the sensitive issue.
At the end of the day, if youhave authority to take out
(28:39):
cartel runners at sea, you cantake out the cartel boss, the
person said.
The vast majority of illicitdrugs entering the United
States, and virtually all of thefentanyl, do not come from or
through the Caribbean, but fromalong the Pacific coast, or by
land from Mexico, according toU.S.
government and UN experts.
Venezuela is generally used as aconduit for cocaine produced and
trafficked by Colombianguerrilla groups, primarily the
National Liberation Army, orELN, by its Spanish initials.
(28:59):
The Cartel de los Souls, theterrorist-designated Venezuelan
group that, according to theTrump administration, is headed
by Maduro, is largely made up ofsenior Venezuelan military and
regime officials who facilitateand take a cut of profits from
drug trafficking and othercriminal activity.
I think we are ways off fromhaving a military presence on
the ground in Venezuela, saidJuan Gonzalez, who served as
National Security Council'ssenior director for Western
Hemisphere Affairs during theBiden administration.
It doesn't mean that they won'tuse U.S.
(29:20):
assets to try to go inside ofVenezuelan territory, but it's
much easier to go after ELN'ssafe havens, that border
Colombia, inside Venezuela, thanto go inside Caracas.
While Trump's preciseinstructions to the CIA are
highly classified, two peoplefamiliar with the document he
signed described it asauthorizing aggressive agency
action against the Venezuelangovernment and associated drug
traffickers.
The document does not explicitlyorder the CIA to overthrow
Maduro, but it authorizes stepsthat could lead to that outcome,
(29:42):
said the people familiar withit.
The spy agency has moved to beefup its presence in the region,
surging personnel to theCaribbean and surrounding area
to collect human and electronicintelligence, the people
familiar with the matter said.
The Pentagon has already surgedU.S.
Special Operations Forces intothe region, including an elite
helicopter unit.
The U.S.
is at a turning point.
Washington needs to decide whatit wants, said Jeff Ramsey, a
Venezuela expert at the AtlanticCouncil.
The president came to officecampaigning to end endless wars,
(30:03):
but he's found himself nowchampioning what may be
America's longest war, which isthe war on drugs, fear of
mission creep.
For many outside observers,including lawmakers and regional
experts, it is still unclearwhether Trump's actions thus far
are part of a political ormilitary strategy designed to
curtail the flow of drugs, leadto Maduro's overthrow, or be
part of a broader pivot towardLatin America.
It would certainly ratchetthings up if they began doing
strikes on land insideVenezuelan territory, especially
(30:23):
if those strikes had a politicalpurpose, said Tom Shannon, who
served in several senior StateDepartment positions, including
Assistant Secretary for WesternHemisphere Affairs and Under
Secretary for Political Affairsduring the Obama administration,
and for the first five months ofTrump's first term.
This is where I think theadministration is going to get
itself in trouble.
They're not being clear to theAmerican people about what's
going on here, Shannon said.
If it's just drug trafficking,great, but they've got a way
oversized force, and there's anintimidation message here that
(30:44):
is only being articulatedthrough acts and through the
announcement of covert actioninside Venezuela.
Admiral Alvin Holsey resignedlast week as head of the U.S.
Southern Command, less than ayear into a three-year
appointment, something thatShannon and others attributed to
his discomfort over theCaribbean operations.
Critics have argued that thestrikes are violations of U.S.
and international law, and thatthe administration has not
provided sufficient evidence orcredible legal justification.
Neither Holsey nor DefenseSecretary Pete Heggsith gave a
(31:04):
reason for the Admiral'sdeparture, but you have to
assume this is why he decidedhis career is over with, Shannon
said.
This is going to be my legacy?
War crimes?
More broadly, the administrationhas said it wants to refocus
American foreign policy awayfrom further flung parts of the
world and toward the WesternHemisphere.
The forthcoming national defensestrategy, usually produced by
the Pentagon every four years,is set to make defending the
U.S.
homeland and the near abroad toppriorities, according to
multiple people familiar withthe document.
(31:26):
Those priorities are also likelyto be reflected in the
administration's nationalsecurity strategy, produced by
the White House, and alsonearing release.
The choice has rankled manyuniformed military leaders, most
of whom still consider China'srapid military buildup the most
pressing national securitythreat.
Some lawmakers and regionalexperts doubt whether there is a
strategy for the hemisphere atall, seeing instead a series of
policies toward individualcountries whose treatment by the
administration has more to dowith their fealty to MAGA
(31:47):
policies and Trump's personalpreferences.
I think the policy in theAmericas is really a mishmash
right now, said Senator TimKane, Democrat Virginia, who has
long focused on policy towardLatin America.
We're engaging in militaryaction in the Caribbean, and
we're giving Argentina 20billion bucks if their midterms
turn out the right way, Caintold a gathering of reporters
Friday.
You tell me what the throughline is.
Close friends and foreignmeddling.
Argentina will hold legislativeelections next Saturday, and the
(32:08):
government of President JavierMile, an avowed MAGA disciple, a
narco-capitalist and Trumpfavorite, is predicted to lose
seats in the midst of aneconomic downturn.
If Miley prevails, Trumppromised when the Argentine
leader visited the White Houselast week, he'll get the$20
billion to prop up the Argentinepeso, and maybe$20 billion more.
If he loses, Trump said, hintingto Argentine voters that the
economy's rescue hangs in thebalance, we won't waste our
time.
The administration has praisedthe conservative president of
(32:29):
Paraguay, whom Secretary ofState Marco Rubio called an
extraordinary partner lastsummer after that government
agreed to take U.S.
asylum seekers.
Ecuador, which indicated awillingness to reopen a U.S.
military base closed by aprevious government, was
promised.
A possible free trade agreementduring a Rubio visit last month.
At the same time, Trump hasthreatened stiff tariffs on
Chilean copper, that country'sprimary export to the U.S.,
despite an existing free tradeagreement and Chile's trade
deficit with the United States.
(32:49):
Trump hit Brazil with a 50%tariff after the criminal
conviction of former presidentand Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro
for plotting a coup against thenation's current president, Luis
Ignacio Lula da Silva.
But after a brief handshake withLula at the United Nations last
month, Trump proclaimed they hadexcellent chemistry, and a
future sit-down was in theworks.
Lula, Chilean President GabrielBoris, and Colombian President
Gustavo Petro are leftistsnearing the end of their terms.
(33:10):
Last weekend, Petro accusedTrump of a military attack on a
fishing boat in Colombian watersand killing a Colombian citizen.
In response, Trump said he wascutting all USAID to Bogota,
whose military and intelligencerelationship with the United
States has been the closest inLatin America, and would likely
impose crippling tariffs.
Calling Petro a lunatic and anillegal drug leader, Trump said
on social media that if hedidn't clean up Colombia's
illicit cocaine production, theUnited States would do it for
(33:30):
him, and it won't be donenicely.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon saidit struck another alleged drug
boat, this time in the waters ofthe Eastern Pacific.
Cuts in military assistance toColombia risk a vital
intelligence partnership, justas the U.S.
ramps up military activity inthe region, Gonzalez said.
It's not going to punish Petro,he said, and may actually
improve his weak domesticstanding.
Trump may have just given him aplatform to be a popular former
president who stood up to theUnited States, which is what
(33:50):
Petro is looking for.
In Venezuela, the government hascontinued to attack political
opponents and protesters whilemobilizing troops to coastal
areas and, according to Maduro,enrolling 8 million people in
civilian militias.
The CIA had organized all thecoup d'etat in Latin America,
and presidents assassinated,Maduro said after learning of
Trump's CIA authorization.
Speaking on state television,Defense Minister Vladimir
Padrino said he didn't want toalarm people.
But I do want to warn thepopulation that we have to
(34:11):
prepare, because theirrationality with which U.S.
imperialism acts is not normal.
This is the first time we haveindicators that they are taking
this threat seriously, saidAndre Serbanpont of the Latin
American Research Group Cries.
They understand thatconventional capacities don't
stand a chance against apossible U.S.
intervention.
Even with purchases andcontributions from Russia,
China, and Iran, Venezuela'smilitary is outdated and unused
to combat.
The logic behind Venezuelanmilitary purchases was to send
(34:31):
ideological messages rather thanaccessing the best technology,
said Jose Gustavo Arrocha, aretired Venezuelan Army
lieutenant colonel now living inthe United States.
In the end, Arroca said, what istruly relevant and why the
regime is a threat is itsasymmetric capabilities in
intelligence, infiltration,buying favors, and
disinformation.
Any Venezuelan response isunlikely to present a
significant impediment to U.S.
forces.
Jeffrey Korn, a retired Armyofficer and director of Texas
(34:52):
Tech University's Center forMilitary Law and Policy, wrote
on the War on the Rocks website.
But, what began as a limitedaction against a handful of
alleged drug smugglers couldquickly expand to an interstate
war, regime change, and all thesecond and third order
consequences the United Stateshas experienced that are often
harder to address than defeatingthe enemy in battle.
For now, Trump seems unconcernedby Venezuela's defense
preparations.
Videos distributed by Maduro'sgovernment show civilians, many
(35:13):
of them older, being trained torepel an invasion.
He reposted one on his truthsocial media account, showing a
woman running awkwardly with along gun in her hands.
Top secret, Trump wrote.
Herrero reported from Caracas.
Noah Robertson and Alex Hortoncontributed to this report.
SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
Folks, I want to talk about something that's not
abstract, not theoretical, butpainfully real.
Right now, as we speak, millionsof Americans are logging on to
healthcare marketplaces andseeing numbers that make their
jaws drop.
Premiums are skyrocketing for2026.
We're talking about the steepestyear-over-year price hike since
the Affordable Care Act was born12 years ago.
18% increases on average.
Some people seeing theirpremiums double, even triple.
A family of four in Georgia,making$1.82, 0-0 ready middle
(35:51):
class, already feeling squeezednow staring at annual premiums,
jumping from around$3,500 tonearly$7,000.
And if they're just above thesubsidy cutoff,$24,000 a year
for insurance.
That's a mortgage paymentstrapped onto your health care.
The politics of deadlock, why isthis happening?
Because Congress is locked in abitter standoff.
Democrats say we won't fund thegovernment unless the COVID era
premium subsidies are extended.
(36:12):
Republicans say reopen thegovernment first, then we'll
talk.
And in the meantime, ordinaryAmericans become collateral
damage.
This is the story of Washingtondysfunction.
Subsidies expire, premiumsspike, families panic, and
lawmakers point fingers.
Republicans call the subsidies aband-aid that hides the failure
of Obamacare to control costs.
Democrats argue those subsidieswere the one thing keeping
coverage affordable formillions.
And as they fight, thegovernment remains shut down 95%
(36:33):
of the education departmentfurloughed.
Marketplaces publishing premiumswithout clarity on relief.
Georgia has ground zero look atGeorgia.
Second highest enrollment of anyStitra in marketplace.
96% of enrollees there gotsubsidies this year.
That means 1.4 million Georgiansdepended on that cushion.
Now with subsidies gone, theirpremiums spike overnight.
And here's the twist (36:51):
even rep.
Marjorie Taylor Greinhard ridebomb throwing anti-ACA to her
bones, he's breaking with herparty.
SPEAKER_05 (36:57):
Why?
SPEAKER_00 (36:57):
Because her own adult children's premiums are
doubling.
Suddenly the politics ofideology meet the politics of
lived experience.
Nothing like a family bill tomake you rethink your talking
points.
Senator John Ossoff, theDemocrat fighting for his
political life in Georgia, seesopportunity here.
He's making this the core of hisre-election pitch, extend the
subsidies or watch familiessuffer.
The politics of healthcare neverwent away their back with a
vengeance.
The human cost behind thesenumbers are lives.
(37:18):
Take Jody Fioletto, a31-year-old in Atlanta, making
about$40,000 a year.
She's been paying$160 a monthfor coverage.
Next year that nearly doubles.
So what does she do?
She schedules surgery this yearwhile she knows she's covered
because she doesn't know what2026 will look like.
That's what insecurity does.
It forces people to make medicaldecisions based on fear of the
calendar, not based on health.
This is what we've normalized inAmerica.
A healthcare system where peoplesay, I'd better get this
(37:39):
procedure done before myinsurance disappears.
That's not health care.
That's survival.
Historical lens, the subsidystruggle, let's step back.
The Affordable Care Act wassupposed to fix this by creating
marketplaces and subsidies, butit was also a political
compromise.
To get it passed, Democrats leftprivate insurers in charge.
That meant costs were alwaysgoing to rise with hospital
prices, with drug costs, withmedical inflation.
Subsidies were the duct tapeholding it together.
When COVID hit, Congress juicedthose subsidies so more people
(38:01):
could afford coverage.
For the first time, familiesmaking above 400% of the poverty
line qualified.
That was transformative millionssuddenly insured premiums at
record lows.
But those subsidies weretemporary.
Everyone knew it.
And now the clock has run out.
We've seen this before.
In 2017, Republicans tried torepeal the ACA altogether.
That failed.
But they succeeded inundermining parts of it,
(38:22):
removing the individual mandatepenalty, cutting funding for
outreach.
Every time Washington deadlocksconsumers pay the price.
The cultural battle health ascommodity or right, this is more
than math.
It's a cultural question, ishealth care a right or is it a
commodity?
Other developed nations decideddecades ago that health is a
right.
Britain, France, Canada, Japan,they treat coverage as
universal.
(38:43):
In America, we still treathealth insurance as a
marketplace good, something youbuy if you can afford it.
That's why we talk aboutsubsidies instead of guarantees
about open enrollment instead ofentitlement.
And that's why every few yearsthe fight over premiums becomes
a political crisis, because thesystem itself is designed to
wobble without constantinfusions of cash.
The political fallout, thepolitical fallout is already
visible.
Vulnerable Republicans in SwingDistrict 13 of them are begging
House Speaker Mike Johnson toextend the subsidies.
(39:05):
They know their constituents arelogging on right now, seeing
premiums spike, and blamingwhoever's in power.
Democrats like Patty Murray arehammering the message,
Republicans are letting premiumsdouble.
Republicans counter, Democratsbuilt a broken system and use
COVID subsidies to paper overthe cracks.
Both parties are playing hotpotato with healthcare while
families watch their budgetsimplode.
Insurers in the spiral, and thenthere are the insurers.
They say the expiration ofsubsidies will drive healthy
(39:26):
people off the rolls, leavingonly the sick, which makes
premiums rise further.
It's the death spiral everyonewarned about when the ACA
launched.
Add to that medical inflation,$1,000 want weight loss drugs,
hospital consolidation andinsurers argue their hands are
tied.
But let's be honest, insurancecompanies aren't charities.
They're corporations protectingmargins.
And when premiums rise 18%, CEOsdon't feel it.
(39:48):
Jodi and Atlanta does.
Closing reflection a nation ofsticker shocks, so here's the
truth, unless Congress actsmillions will go into 2026 with
premiums they simply can'tafford.
Some will forgo coverage.
Some will gamble on stayinghealthy.
Some will cut corner skipappointments, delay
prescriptions, cancelprocedures.
And a country already fracturedby inequality will fracture
further between those who canpay$24,000 a year for coverage
and those who simply drop out.
(40:08):
Healthcare is not abstract.
It's a monthly bill.
It's a decision between premiumsand mortgages.
It's a surgery scheduled earlyout of fear.
And until we stop treating it asa partisan football and start
treating it as a human right,we'll keep reliving this cycle.
Subsidy fights, premium hikes,government shutdowns, families
left in the lurch.
The prophets of old will callthat injustice.
The economists call it marketfailure, I just call it wrong.
And as open enrollment looms inNovember, millions of Americans
(40:30):
will be staring at their screensasking one simple question Can I
afford to be healthy next year?
And that, my friends, is thequestion Washington refuses to
answer.
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