Rick Wilson

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back too fast politics for Wilson.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Mollijong Fast as always a delight to be with you.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
I'd delight to be with you. So Trump first administration
ever to fuck with snapbetefit's longest shut down ever heading
into Thanksgiving. My man just got a show lacking in
the twenty five election cycle, and the administration has come
out of it with the decision to try to what like,

(00:26):
prosecute states for trying to fill SNAP benefits on their own.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Pretty much, the message today has been don't feed those
starving people that we're starving. I mean, and I think
it is. I think it is pretty remarkable. How how Yeah,
that's exactly right. One was good too. I think it's
pretty remarkable how we're leaving off the word children. Yeah,
this because the majority of the people that are receiving

(00:51):
these benefits, the benefits go to their kids. If you
watch Fox, you think these people are all buying you know,
it's all like they're buying lottery tickets on mental cigarette
because we're so subtle here at Fox. You know, it's
just such a racist dog whistle. But a lot of
people that are getting this.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Are Trump supporters, Red states.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Red States, Red congressional disters and their kids, white people
in red state, White white people in red states.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I'm gonna make you be old. Rick Wilson, the one
who tweeted about how sad you were about Dick Cheney dying.
We love you and we know that you worked with him,
and it's different when you're friends with someone. But what
are the sort of what's the political calculus on fucking
with food stamps?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I mean, is that like it's this is something that
gives Russell Vaught a heart on and so.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
But they do have to theoretically at least win elections.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Hypothetically, but you know, they also look at elections as
sort of more optional than they used to be. But
in the case of of of SNAP benefits, there is a.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Two folk looking up some data for me.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Not I'm actually not, But then benefit problem is twofold
for them one there's a racist dog whistle. They need
to get the Trump based back in line. Okay, even
though most of the people receiving SNAP are not minorities,
not illegal immigrants, because they don't get SNAP just so
everybody knows. They need something to juice the Trump base backup.
Because even with his base, Trump's numbers are down. The

(02:19):
second part of this is there is a exercise of
presidential authority argument being made by Russ Fott Stephen Miller,
those guys inside the White House that holding the line
on this and saying that the president gets to control
all aspects of this is one more of their presidential
you know, plenary powers of the president that cannot be
gainsaid and that the law doesn't matter what it says.

(02:40):
The president's will overrides the law.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Let's talk with this through you know, government longest shut
down ever, Right, Yeah, I mean there are certain like
facts about trump Ism that I feel like we just
don't repeat enough, Like this man is the oldest person
to ever have become president. Yes, so on Friday when
he kept falling asleep during things.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Which was I thought quite special.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
I mean, did you were you waiting for the CNN
package on that? I mean, did you want to You know?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
I was told by a number of people that any infirmity,
slowness of wit, any alteration from the patterns of a
healthy fifty year old deserved immediate, consistent, ongoing critical media
concern at every second for the rest of their presidency.
But apparently that rule was you know, is now one

(03:37):
of those like more in the more in the in
the breach than the observance.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
So what do you think the game here is? Like,
clearly Republicans did if even if they're saying, even if
they're not saying it to be true, they definitely saw
that Tuesday was fucking slacking for that.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh they know it. And by the way, by the way,
their own polsters are telling them, wake the fuck up,
their own polsters are telling them this has been really
bad for you guys, because it has been. This has
been a very bad month and change for the Republican
Party because you know, the harm being done to poor

(04:13):
people is not the point. The harm being done to
their own base is the point. And there's been a
lot of harm done to their own base.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Trump has been insane and done insane stuff. Like it's
been a decade we've seen a lot of like him
where you're like, how does this work for anyone? But
with this it feels more like he's actually just been
sort of like checked out and not focused.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, I was gonna sort of sort of say if
you felt the same way I did about this, there
has been a sort of he's like a passenger right
right now. And and yes he wants to troll people
and talk and you know, do his usual tough guy act.
But there feels it feels a little different to me
right now that that he has been much more, much

(04:58):
more just like yeah, well you know Democrats, Yeah, he'll
read the talking point, but there's not much there there,
There's not much. There's not much emotion to it.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Trump did a couple of weeks ago he was like,
on this Nobel Peace Prize kick or he was going to.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Sell these wars. Well, he's just going to give him
one now, and.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Then they put out the prize. He didn't get it.
It turns out you had. It's not just like you
just can't just like think about it and get it
and weird huh yeah. And then now we're in the shutdown,
he wants to get rid of the filibuster. I think
it's a little bit interesting and important. Like if we
look at last week, so Tuesday is this election, Mikey Cheryl,

(05:41):
this is a this is a race that I've covered,
so I'm really more sort of read in on it
went from uh, it was a by It was a
D plus six for Harris, a D plus thirteen, I think, yeah,
probably for Mikey right twelve point eight, I think now she.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Did very well. She did very well. And look this
breakdown of fundamental voter behavior with these governor's races all
through with that through line of economics. Republicans had locked
that thing up with Trump for such a long time
of Oh, Trump's good on the economy, Trump's the economy.
President Trump's the guy who's going to make the economy

(06:21):
hum again. Those things are now gone because people know
he's not going to do anything for the economy. He's
not going to help people survive, he's not going to
help people prosper. He's helping his buddies, he's building a ballroom.
He gives zero fs about anybody else and anything else.
And so I think that both Ryl and Spanberger, they

(06:42):
were so good, they were so on point about sticking
with affordability and jobs in the economy that they really
gave everybody, gave all the Democrats a path forward that
is much more terrifying to republiclkins then if they had said, oh, well, yeah,
we will relitigate the culture war with you one more time.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
It's funny to me because Glenn Youngkin mister Reshnask he
won Virginia by two points. Abigail Spanberger, she won Virginia
by fourteen plus. When Youngin won, everyone said he was
going to be president next.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
That's what I was told by many people that Glenn
Youngkin was the inevitable next president. Somehow that has not
worked out well. I will say this, the delta among
the numbers in Virginia was so enormous, The change level
of votes, including in very red parts of the state
and very rural counties of the state, was so enormous

(07:46):
that I spoke to one Republican polster on Friday night.
I get Friday morning, I guess, and he said, yeah,
I'm so having trouble believing the numbers. And if I
was like if I was like all my clients, I
would tell you it was stolen election. But it they
just beat our ass. And there is a little Republican
vibe space emerging of oh the election was still and

(08:07):
of course it wasn't. But that tells you how badly
they got whipped, and how badly they know they got whipped.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
The Georgia numbers so these are Georgia's state wide Public
Service Commission. That's right, we had two candidates. R plus
two swung to a D plus twenty five.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
One of my big theories of this case is you
could never beat the culture war by fighting another culture war,
but you could beat the culture war by fighting an
economic war. And they had the same message of span
Burger and Cheryl and mom, Donnie okay to be fed,
don Yeah, economics, economics, economics, families, prosperity for individuals, taking

(08:49):
care of people, the economic argument, that's the underlying thing.
It turned all the bullshit about culture war stuff and
trans issues like it turned them actually into a into
a negative for the Republicans, which you know, call me crazy,
but this is a they were trying to play like.

(09:09):
You know, now, that's what I call Culture War twenty
twenty four edition. And it just didn't work. You know.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
There were so many news cycles that were like Democrats
have lost Latino voters. They'd lost them. They've lost them,
They've lost them, They've lost right, it's all over, they're back.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
The phrasing that a lot of people use that I
think is exactly right is Trump did not win those
voters over. He just rented them. He had them for
a cycle, and a lot of them were impacted by
what was then the Biden economy with high inflation and
high prices and high gas price as well. Those high
prices are still with them, and they're family members, relatives, friends,

(09:46):
are being rounded up on the streets. They are not
down with the ice the ice capades, if you will,
And sohole this whole idea that his fans were permanently
part of the Republican coalition has really fallen apart. And
the only to that that I would point out for
our Democratic friends is they did not come back to
you over climate change or abortion or gun control or

(10:08):
any other portfolio of issues. They came back to you
because of the economy and the horrors that are being
played out in our streets right now. So those are
things to keep in mind when you're talking about how
do you take that return of this coalition and maximize
it in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Right, That is true, and I think that's a really
important point. But also, but also you know, you don't
at the end of the day, you don't really know
why you get those voters.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
You have some knowledge of it from the exit polls,
you don't have you don't have amazing granularity on it. Though, honestly,
but we do know, we do know from a lot
of the exit polling, we do know from some of
the voter file research that we've been engaged in and
others have been engaged in. There's no powerful argument right
now on the Republican side that says, hey, you know what,

(10:57):
you should stick with us because we're going to make
things more affordable. They have failed to do that well.
And we're going to stop rounding up your friends, family members, cousins,
and neighbors in the streets because they're not going to
stop doing that right now. And so I just I
feel like there's a moment here where democrats, you know,

(11:18):
can say this thing worked, do more of this.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Thing right right?

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Right?

Speaker 1 (11:23):
No, for sure? Well, and also so I just want
to get through last week. So we have this huge day,
which is also good for people care about democracy, and
it feels like maybe we're going to get out of
this thing eventually. And then the next day Donald Trump
gives Republican senators the tour of his flattened East wing,

(11:45):
some of the new gold lettering and also tells them
they have to get rid of the filbuster discuss.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Look, well, the the real telling point there is what happened.
The minute he said he you have to get rid
of the filbuster, John Thune walked out the door, and
within minutes of leaving that meeting, they were telling reporters
the votes aren't there. No, it's not going to happen.
So and I think that also says something my way.
I think that says that Republicans are worried now that

(12:12):
if this economic message plays out as it played out
this year, plays out next year, they could lose the Senate,
which is not something I wake up in the morning
and think that's one hundred percent possibility. But if they
are in a position where they could lose the Senate,
if they are in a position where they where they
are are much more constrained about what they say and
do because they think they might lose the Senate, they

(12:33):
are going to show more resistance, even if it's kind
of passive resistance to what Trump is saying, because when
he comes out and says in the filibuster, that's not
like a simple task for them, that's not like a
trivial task for them. That's a gigantic institution reshaping objective.

(12:54):
And part of their fear about this is that if
they make this move. If they make this play, I decide, Okay,
we're going to get rid of the philibuster, and the
Democrats win the Senate back next year they have no filibuster.
The tide of the world ebbs and flows, molly and not.
Everything for the last ten years has felt like it's
going in the way of the good guys. But right now,

(13:16):
you know, we need to go back and look at
the examples. When Trump's on the ballot, he pulls out
those unlikely voters. When he's not twenty eighteen, twenty twenty two,
twenty twenty five, things ain't good.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
I want to go to the tariffs for a minute,
because the next day we see the Supreme Court. They
have been just so fucking craven at every point. They're
enabling this food stamp fight. Like, how hard is that?

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Now? I will say, I had a very smart lawyer
tell me the way she did that is the only
way she could do it and keep it future cases alive.
I understood, like, because I had the same reaction, I
was like, the fuck is this?

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Nobody is criticizing Kotenji Brown's Brown Jackson because we know
that she had to do and also, so she's in
the minority. Like the liberal justices are just doing as
much as they can, but.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
They're they're just they're just trying to get by.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah. But the but that Wednesday tariff case where we
saw Gorsic and a Justice Amy starting to push back like,
you know, maybe we don't want to ruin ourselves.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Did you notice how how unusual it felt to hear
justices on pretty much opposite sizes of these equations making
the same lines of questioning to the to the Solicitor General.
I mean when I when I when I'm hearing Amy,
Komi Barrett and Neil Gorse's sounding like Kataji Brown Jackson

(14:41):
in an argument about the legality of taxation through tariffs,
I'm like, what world is this? I have more of this, please?

Speaker 1 (14:49):
And you know, I mean, what's so important about trump Ism?
And what I always I think is like you have
to remember is like this is a fucking paper tiger, right,
you push back at all and the whole thing apart, right,
And even when you saw those you know, when these
when the justices were finally like, well, isn't that taxation?
And then the Admin was like, well, there's there's a

(15:11):
regulatory there's.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
A regulatory fees that somehow are like taxes but not now.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
It's the Ball and Green massacre.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Right, it's alternative facts. There's this idea among Republicans that
the obedience to Trump is and always will be absolute,
and that everybody plays by that rule. And I, you know,
I think as a as a general principle that has
been correct. At a moment we're in right now, where
we see the court finally step up and do something

(15:42):
that doesn't feel like full capitulation to Trump.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
It's kind of remarkable, But it's also the Marjorie Taylor
Green question, right, Like, nobody here is a good person,
but some of these people are seeing a political opportunity.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
If you yeah, if you look at Josh Hawley, uh,
Tom Cotton, Marjor Taylor Green, a handful of others who
ran Paul even, who are like bringing these critiques of
trump Ism now into the forefront at the risk of
being yelled at by Trump or tweeted at by Trump,
or Laura Lumer going after going through their garbage. Lumered

(16:23):
that moment we're in, I think it's I find it
kind of fascinating because we didn't believe that that that
was possible two years ago for people to you know,
be so consistent and never and unfailingly loyal to him.
And yeah, it is breaking around the edges. Trumpsm is
still incredibly dangerous, and there's a big movement of these

(16:45):
billionaire a holes around trump Ism that make that make
whatever its successor virus is incredibly dangerous. But guys, he
falls asleep in the.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Chair multiple times.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Absolutely, you know, I will