September 15, 2025 • 30 mins
Join Jim and Greg as they focus on Sen. John Fetterman's refreshingly sensible rebuke of incendiary leftist rhetoric, President Trump trying to rally NATO to boycott Russian oil, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul finally endorsing Zohran Mamdani for mayor.
First, they go through some thoroughly irresponsible coverage of Charlie Kirk's record by the New York Times. But they spend more time appreciating Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman urging the left not to reflexively compare political figures to Hitler every time they disagree with someone. Will Fetterman's common sense doom his bid for another term among Democrats in 2028?
Next, Jim digs into President Trump's call for NATO to unify behind a boycott of Russian oil and impose major tariffs against China until the war in Ukraine is ended satisfactorily. Jim generally likes the idea but urges Trump not to wait if a couple of members don't want to join the effort.
Finally, they roll their eyes as Gov. Hochul finally endorses Zohran Mamdani for mayor. Why is she finally doing it now? What are her political calculations? And how intense is the pressure getting on Democrats who have not endorsed Mamdani yet?
Please visit our great sponsors:
If your business can’t adapt in real-time, you’re in a world of hurt. Get the free e-book “Navigating Global Trade: 3 Insights for Leaders” from NetSuite by Oracle. Download today at https://NetSuite.com/MARTINI
Sleep on an award-winning mattress from Brooklyn Bedding. Get 30% off sitewide at https://BrooklynBedding.com with promo code 3ML, and don’t forget to mention our show after checkout!
First, they go through some thoroughly irresponsible coverage of Charlie Kirk's record by the New York Times. But they spend more time appreciating Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman urging the left not to reflexively compare political figures to Hitler every time they disagree with someone. Will Fetterman's common sense doom his bid for another term among Democrats in 2028?
Next, Jim digs into President Trump's call for NATO to unify behind a boycott of Russian oil and impose major tariffs against China until the war in Ukraine is ended satisfactorily. Jim generally likes the idea but urges Trump not to wait if a couple of members don't want to join the effort.
Finally, they roll their eyes as Gov. Hochul finally endorses Zohran Mamdani for mayor. Why is she finally doing it now? What are her political calculations? And how intense is the pressure getting on Democrats who have not endorsed Mamdani yet?
Please visit our great sponsors:
If your business can’t adapt in real-time, you’re in a world of hurt. Get the free e-book “Navigating Global Trade: 3 Insights for Leaders” from NetSuite by Oracle. Download today at https://NetSuite.com/MARTINI
Sleep on an award-winning mattress from Brooklyn Bedding. Get 30% off sitewide at https://BrooklynBedding.com with promo code 3ML, and don’t forget to mention our show after checkout!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Grab a stool next to Greg Corumbus of Radio America
and Jim Garrity of National Review. Free Martini's coming up.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Hey, really glad you're with us for the Monday edition
of the Three Martini Lunch. We got a lot to
talk about today. We're going to be talking about Kathy
Hulkl the Government New York finally endorsing probably reluctantly, but
I think in her mind weirdly strategically Zoun mam Dami
for Mayor of New York City. We're also going to
be talking about Donald Trump's tweet towards the members of NATO,
(00:33):
his letter as he put it, towards members of NATO
about getting the war over between Russia and Ukraine. And
we'll also talk about some of the reaction that we're
seeing here to the assassination and then the reaction to
the reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. So, Jim,
some folks on the left just can't help themselves. Over
at the New York Times, you've got this Jamel Booey
(00:55):
figure who said of Kirk, his stated beliefs were in
essence that people of his ideological persuasion ought to be
able to suppress the views of the people they don't like,
which I'm pretty sure is the opposite of what he
was doing on every campus. And then there was also
a correction made the day after the killing. An earlier
version of this article described incorrectly. This is a different
(01:18):
article in the Jamil Boy. When I think an anti
semitic statement that Charlie Kirk had made on an episode
of his podcast, he was quoting a statement from a
post on social media and was critiquing it. It was
not his own statement. So again one of those corrections
that few people see and never seems to go the
other way. So applause to you New York Times for
(01:39):
not handling this well. But somebody who is actually having
a positive and encouraging response to this is Pennsylvania Senator
John Fetterman. He sat down with Manu Raju of CNN, who,
now that he doesn't have Joe Mansion to stake out
at his houseboat at the Washington Marina, can actually talk
to some other members of Congress. And so they were
talking about the rhetoric on the left, and unlike most
(02:01):
Democrats to say, oh no, the worst rhetoric is on
the right or we all need to generically tone it down.
When it comes to John Fetterman, he's saying, no, the left,
we got some work to do.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
When I represent a state like Pennsylvania that keeps you honest,
and you always can't forget that a lot of Americans
happen to disagree with you, that does not mean that
they are fascists or now they want to shred the constitution.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
When you hear some Democrats saying Trump is acting like
an autocrat.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, no, that's the thing. I if you actually compare
them to an actual autocrat, that is not just that.
Now last night, for example, people were complain they're protesting
about oh, that's the Hitler Hitler thing. You just don't
ever ever compare anyone to Hitler and those kinds of
extreme things. Now, look what happened to Charlie Kirk. I mean,
(02:54):
you know, the man was shot. Now we have to
turn the temperature down. It's like, we can't compare people
well to these kinds of figures in history. And this
is not an autocrat. This is a product of a
democratic election. It's like I participated in that it was
safe and it was secure, we lost, and the America
(03:16):
people put us in the minority. And now that's that's democracy,
and I revere democracy. I may not like the outcome,
but I have to respect that and I have to
find and work through this and now and that I
do believe that's what's appropriate.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Is so you don't think that Trump is at all
shattering any of the norms of democracy in any.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I'm saying he's definitely different, but that's what America voted for. Again,
I don't agree with many of these things, but that
does not make him an autocra at it. That does
not make someone or you know, compare him to people
like Hitler and these other outlanders.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Things Jim Bud. That's what needs to be said every
you know, every criticism of every politician. That guy's Hitler.
They called George W. Bush Hitler and he's finally calling
bs on his own part on that. They're not going
to like it, but it needs to happen.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
A point on those New York Times articles that refer,
you know, attributed to Charlie Kirk something he was quoting
and was criticizing or denouncing. I have not written for
the New York Times. Listeners, if you think I'm a sellout.
It's because I read columns with the Washington Post, totally
different newspaper. But I have friends who've written for the
New York Times on the right side of the spectrum,
and they say that when they submit a column and
(04:24):
it gets accepted, we want to run this every sentence
and it goes over with a fine tooth comb, and
they have to provide supporting evidence for any consertion they
want to make, even if it strikes them as just
common sense or not even particularly controversial. There is a
really strict, heavy handed editing process for a conservative guest contributor,
and then you can just like attribute something to Charlie
(04:45):
Kirk that he never said, and it's a completely different
standard there. So I think, yes, this is the good Martini.
We will be getting to a good part in a second. No,
but Fetterman, like you know, if the Senate had forty
some Democrats like Fetterman, a lot could get done in
this country and the agreements, the disagreements they'd have would
be much more respectable. Before I dive into the rest
(05:05):
of my thoughts, just like I notice he's still using
the transcription device to put his what someone is saying
on a screen, but otherwise, Greg, he sounds a lot better.
I know he's been it's been two years since the UH,
since the stroke, and obviously these sorts of things happen gradually,
but he's he really sounds much more like a normal
person speaking you might not necessarily know, and he had
that severe stroke, so God bless him, and just generally,
(05:28):
you know, there's got to be some space between Hitler
and I support this person. There's got to be something
He's bad and I disagree with him, but he's not
among history's greatest monsters, and he's not going to send
people into gas chambers. And I think a whole bunch
people are saying, yes, Trump is in that category. You know,
I have disagree, And John Fetterman will be the first
(05:49):
to tell you he has disagreements with him, but that
doesn't mean he agrees with everything. Like he's basically begging
the rest of his party, could you disagree? Sanely? Could you?
Could you see europe political opponents as something less than
history's greatest monster. They're not saying you have to agree,
they're not saying you have to knuckle under, And like
Fetterman's can still get a vote against a whole bunch
of things that Trump administration wants to do. But besides
(06:12):
his recognition the fact that Trump won Pennsylvania, and I
think that, you know, Fetterman does not want to needlessly
alienate Trump supporters in his state. He's got some areas
of agreement Israel, most notably, but he also has said
that it's nothing xenophobic about wanting to secure the border.
Things like that. That, Like, you know, when you have
those handful of areas of agreement and you agree disagree
(06:35):
with respect, you know, you know without froppling at the mouth,
you can get a lot done. So, you know, kudos
Senator Fetterman. And in a time where it's kind of
hard to find anything on Capitol Hill that makes you
feel good, not just his recovery but his approach to politics,
his approach to political disagreement is a really refreshing breath
of fresh air.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
I think you're right. What do you think of his
prospects in I guess he's up in twenty twenty eight.
I think it was twenty twenty right where he won
that race against doctor oz So who knows what the
landscape will look like by then, But playing nice, at
least not calling Donald Trump Hitler is probably not going
to go too well with the bass with considering where
the bass is right now, Connor Lamb's already making noise.
(07:16):
I'm not sure who else in the liberal ranks is
thinking of a challenge. I'm sure there are in the
House ranks and so forth. Maybe at the state level
at the same time, you know, if the numbers aren't
looking good for him, I'm not sure the Republicans should
want him to come over because other than Israel, I'm
not sure what issue he would vote with us on.
But what do you make of what's likely to be
(07:37):
his political future here?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Greg, I'll with you in one second. I'm just checking
one last time. No, still no statement from them at
OZ about the October seventh. The text it is reel,
but still it could come at any day now. He
could be saying something because he said that despite his
past disagreements, he was a strong supporter of Israel. Here
it is September fifteenth, twive figure. Maybe it's in my
(08:02):
spam folder. I don't know. It just didn't seem to
become Raley. Really fascinating to think about how Republicans looked
at that Senate race and the choice between Fetterman and Oz.
Since then Oz now running the Center for Medicaid Medicare
Services over at HHS, I believe so. Look, I think
you know, the good news for Fetterman is that there
will not be one progressive Democrat who wants to challenge them.
(08:25):
There's probably going to be a small army of them,
and if they divide themselves enough, he should, you know,
have a smooth sailing to a renomination for a second term.
If they can unify behind one more progressive alternative, well
then he's going to have some stress. I don't imagine
a scenario in which he switches parties. I think you're
that generally this is still a guy who is a
(08:46):
The irony is you can make an argument he's kind
of populist in his philosophies towards these things, and the
Republican Party is a much more populist and much less
conservative entity than it used to be. So it's not
crazy or unthinkable. I think it's way too early to
content a party switch. I'm thinking of Arlen Spector switching
parties when he looked like he was gonna have a
tough primary challenge from pat to me, and that did
(09:08):
not turn out well for him. It was actually a Sesstack, right,
a former retired as Joe Saystack, one of the few
Democratic presidential candidates who's ever called me up and wanted
to talk the other way around. God bless him, good guy,
and he was. He was in that primary for about
twenty minutes. Yeah, but yeah, so look, there probably will
be a messy primary fight. You figure Fetterman, like I
(09:30):
Fetterman says hey, I need some help. There'll be a
whole bunch of people, probably even on the right side
of the spectrum, where like, as a Democrat, I much
rather have you than any of these other hard lefties
out there. So it's conceivable he comes out through this. Okay, again,
it's not till twenty twenty eight. I was about to say, well,
he'll be helped by having Trump at the top of
the ticket. That would technically be unconstitutional, but Trump keeps saying,
(09:51):
you know, well, I don't think I'm gonna run for
a third No, you can't run for a third term
short of altering that. But again, you would think of
Vance top the ticket or a Rubio or some other figure.
You know, if a Republican is winning the state of
Pennsylvania in the presidential race in twenty twenty eight, and
fatter min is you know, is running for reelection. That's
(10:12):
probably a good scenario for him. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, if he gets the nomination, he'll be in a
better position, I think. But don't forget that John Fetterman
is not only looking at this as an outside observer.
He's felt this venom because of his support for Israel
and going to these rallies on the mall and showing
the flag, even with members of his own staff who
have quit in a fit of rage because he's not
towing the line on the far left exactly where they
(10:36):
thought he should. So he's sick of it.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
It will just jump in and saying I stand by
everything I wrote saying that his you know, state of
his health was really bad after the stroke. He was
really campaigning minimally. We probably you know, listeners probably remember
him during that debate with Oz and that he really
couldn't communicate and that seemed like a really big, you
know deal, checked himself into Walter Reid, and there are
a lot of people who are fairly asking should this
(10:59):
guy be serving as a US so well, he's in
much better shape now. And of course now that he's
in better shape, progressive, well, you shouldn't be there because
he's voting, he's not voting the way we want. Like
now we have a problem, you know, by the way,
like you get treated for brain issues and suddenly you
become more conservative at certain ones, Like you know, I'm
trying not to interpret it that way.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
He's only with us ninety eight percent of the time. Yeah,
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That's NetSuite dot com slash martini. All right, Jim onto
our second Martini, our bad Martini. And President Trump put
(12:37):
out a message. I'm guessing this was probably on truth
social but it always shows up on x which is
where I see it, So I call it a tweet,
even though it probably was a post on truth.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Truth as he likes to call it. Yes he truth?
Did he? Truth?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Truth is now a verb? Why not?
Speaker 1 (12:52):
All right?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So let's take a look at this. The president saying
a letter sent by President Donald J. Trump to all
NATO nations and the world, I am ready to do
major sanctions on Russia. When all NATO nations have agreed
and started to do the same thing, and when all
NATO nations stopped buying oil from Russia. As you know,
NATO's commitment to win has been far less than one
hundred percent, and the purchase of Russian oil by some
(13:14):
has been shocking. It greatly weakens your negotiating position and
bargaining power over Russia. Anyway, I'm ready to go when
you are, just say when I believe that this, plus
NATO as a group placing fifty to one hundred percent
tariffs on China to be fully withdrawn after the war
with Russia and Ukraine has ended, will also be of
(13:35):
great help in ending this deadly but ridiculous war. China
has a strong control and even grip over Russia, and
these powerful tariffs will break that grip. This is not
Trump's war, it would have never started if I was president.
It is Biden's and Zelenski's war. I am only here
to help stop it and save thousands of Russian and
Ukrainian lives seventy one hundred and eighteen lives lost last
(13:56):
week alone. Crazy. If NATO does as I say, the
war will end quickly and all of those lives will
be saved. If not, you are just wasting my time
and the time, energy and money of the United States.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald Trump,
President of the United States of America. And so, what
do you make first of all, of him trying to
(14:17):
get NATO on board to boycott the Russian oil, and
what do you make of him trying to put tariffs
on China? Will get in a moment to his description
of whose war.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
This is frustrating in a lot of ways, because he's
right in bits and pieces of that. You could probably
make an argument that if China was not filling in
the role of Europe into a lesser expent America as
a trade partner to Russia, either Russia would not be
able to continue the war or Russia's efforts to continue
(14:49):
the war would be greatly complicated. That foreign trade, that
foreign investment, is really important to Russia right now, keeping
the Russian economy afloat. They're not alone in that. India
isn't there. Unfortunately, some of our Asian allies like Japan
and South Korea are in there. And yes, some European
countries continue to buy energy from Russia. And that's very
bad because I wrote about you know this in a
in the Washington Post and National Review, a few other places.
(15:12):
We're also buying enriched uranium from Russia for our nuclear plants.
These are in contracts that were negotiated before the war started.
Under those contracts, even if we refuse the delivery, they
would still get paid. So I understand the idea of like, well,
they're gonna get paid one way or another, we might as
well keep, you know, keep getting it. But you know,
our allies could just fiably say, hey, wait a minute,
(15:34):
why are you punishing us for importing Russian energy materials
when you're importing Russian energy materials as well. The other
thing that kind of gets me is, you know, Donald
Trump has had a lot of criticism made of him,
but I'm going to offer a new one today, Gregor,
are you ready sure Trump is such a multi lateralist, Yeah, Irony.
You know, going back to George W. Bush, and he
(15:55):
was this, you KnowI lateralist cowboy, and he didn't give enough,
you know, consideration of what do our He was always
going off on his own, doing his own thing. He
didn't wait to consult with all these other European countries.
And here is Donald Trump saying, well, look, we are
really gonna hammer Russia as long as Hungary and Turkey
are okay with it. Now, that's not likely to happen,
in part because Victor Ovan and Hungary, the ruling party
(16:17):
over there, is fairly pro Putin. I've seen them described
as acolytes of Putin. That's probably putting away. But they
have a warm and fuzzy attitude towards Moscow and are
never going to be enthusiastic about making life too much
harder for Vladimir Putin and the regime in Russia. Erdowan
in Turkey has been a headache for a long time.
He tries to play both sides against the middle. He too,
would be a very difficult person to get on board
(16:40):
with this, But I would just say, like, if the
US thinks this is a good idea, yes, it would
be nice to get everybody else in NATO. And my
guess is of the thirty some countries you could get
twenty nine thirty, you'd get almost everybody probably except for
Hungary and Turkey, on board with this. So why are
we giving them a veto? Why are we waiting for
the Europeans to say, yes, we should do this if
we think this is a good idea we should do this. Look,
(17:02):
Trump has you know, come around and been spoken more
critical of Putin, which is good. It always seems like, well,
in two more weeks, we're going to see, well, two
more weeks keeps going by, two many weeks going by.
This looks and sounds like Putting making an excuse. This
looks and sounds like saying, well, like a person who
really doesn't want to enact these additional tariffs or additional
sanctions or additional punishments on Russia and is looking for
(17:23):
an excuse and is now saying, well, if everybody else
in NATO agrees that we should do this, then we'll
do this. Wait a minute, we're in the United States
of America. Why do we need a permission slip from
anybody else? If we think this is a good idea,
and Trump lays out why this is a good idea,
we should do this. So I think this is he's
so close to actually doing the right thing. He's so
close to getting where he needs to get, and you know,
(17:44):
he's I think there are a lot of people who
have said, oh, he's a stooge of Putin, you know,
all the kind of stuff. When the when Trump makes
decisions like this when he puts, when he frames things
this way, he doesn't make his life any easier, and
he hands his critics a stick to hit him with.
So again, mister president, it's like the Nike st Life,
which was inspired by a guy at the firing squad.
Just do it.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
He's probably not gonna like this term. But what you're
suggesting is a coalition of the willing? Is that right?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
That's what Europe, most of Europe is calling yourself on
these sorts of things. And so, I don't know about you,
I don't love that phrase. Considering the history. I kind
of feel like the you know, the Coalition of the
Willing was full of a bunch of guys who were
like willing to send socks, you know, camping equipment.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
We'll cheer, We'll cheer along side of you.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
What's wrong with alliance? Right? You know, if nothing else
were the Alliance of the willing or the rebel alliance,
whatever you want to.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Call it, all right, real quick. When he says, you know,
this war never would have started when I was president.
It's not Trump's war. It is Biden's and Zelenski's war.
It's obviously Putin's war. Now you can is there anybody
else could be? You can clearly make the case that
Biden's completely incompetent bungling of the withdrawal in Afghanistan encouraged
Vladimir Putin to do what he did. But it is
(18:56):
Putin that launched this war.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, and for right of center supporters of Ukraine like
itself the argument that you know, Biden unified NATO, or
that Biden galvanized NATO or Biden now now Biden was
really hesitant, full of half measures, terrified of escalating the
fight with Russia. Ukraine had to ask Mother May I
on a half dozen different ways. There's always sending weapons systems,
(19:20):
like six months after the Ukrainians said they needed it.
Biden's record on Ukraine was really subpar. And for obvious reasons,
the Ukrainians did not want to make a lot of
noise about this, less than you know, Biden in a
huff decide didn't want to do it. Trump has his flaws.
Trump has also made some things right in Ukraine. I
feel like Trump has given Putin every possible extension, every
(19:41):
possible opportunity to try to get out of this, and
you know, metaphorically Putin has spat in the face of
every single one of them, and it's like, okay, mister President,
what's going to take what you know? How much many
pro times can you be snubbed or ignored or made
fun of to decide you're going to actually take some
action about this? So we continue to wait with baited breath.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Greg, Yeah, no question about that. So all right, well
let's move past. Is not a very pleasant story right there,
although it could get more pleasant depending on what happens soon.
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three Martini Lunch sent you all right, I was foreshadowed
(21:54):
at the beginning, Jim, we have an endorsement in the
New York City mayor's race. It is not a shocking endorsement.
It is kind of a weasily endorsement, if you ask me,
given the timing of it. But Kathy Hulkoldy, less than
competent and really not a good politician who's the governor
of New York State, is endorsing Zoron Mandani for mayor
of New York City. And I think this is happening
(22:15):
for a couple of reasons, which I'll get to and
just a moment, but let's go through her perfunctory writing
at The New York Times today, she says, in the
past few months, I've had frank conversations with him, meaning Mamdani.
We've had our disagreements, but in our conversations, I heard
a leader who shares my commitment to in New York
where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods, and
(22:36):
where opportunity is within reach for every family. I heard
a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable,
a goal I enthusiastically support. Well, thanks for staying super
vague on that. But here's what she really cares about.
Zoorn Mundani and I will both be fearless and confronting
the President's extreme agenda with urgency, conviction and the defiance
(22:58):
that defines New York and will never allow mister Trump
to control our city like the king he wants to be.
We don't see eye to eye, and I don't expect
us to. So Number one, she thinks he's gonna win,
so there's not a lot of risk in this, and
she wants the people who vote for him to vote
for her because she's got a little bit of a
primary fight coming up next year, and she is banking
basically that New York City won't fall apart by the
(23:19):
time next year's midterm elections roll around, and she can
get another four years. So what do you make of
this quote unquote profile and courage.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
This is not a surprising endorsement in a way, it's
kind of interesting that it came relatively late in the cycle.
It's mid September. Mom Dommi is unfortunately still at this
point looks like not just the likely winner, but he's
probably going to cruise to victory. And I suppose if
you're hackle like, you know, she's not gonna endorse Curticily
with a Republican option. No, she got her job from
(23:49):
Cuomo getting kicked out, So it's not like, hey, remember
the guy I replaced, he'd be great for you in
New York City. No, she's not gonna do that. And
Eric Adams, she's not out of prickly warm and fuzzy
relationship with either. So if you make your feel like
a better America, Kathy Hockel is facing the exact same
challenge that a whole bunch of New York City voters.
Sorry like this grad although on this podcast we are
(24:10):
big fans of Courtious leiwa if you haven't checked it
out in the archives, listen to or interview entertaining and
I think makes you feel like, yeah, you wish Sleewa
had a better shot in this race. The other thing
that I found interesting out of this, so yeah, so
she's going through the motions in this hoping it doesn't
get too bad. What I found interesting in this happened
just a little bit after Chris van Holland, UH senator
from Maryland saying that as a time for national Democrats
(24:33):
to get behind Zorun mom Dami. Many party leaders have not. Now,
you and I have been talking throughout this fall, and
obviously the New York City mayor's race gets a lot
of attention because it's in an off year. I mean,
mom Damie is effectively an out and out communist. Despite
what that New York Times article tying itself into NATS
was saying there, he definitely is, you know, let's globalize
(24:55):
the dafada. He looks at the city with crime, with homelessness,
with drug abuse, with poor city services, and he says,
you know what the city needs, We need to run
some grocery stores. That's what's you know, the biggest problem.
If you're a Democrat running in that open house seat
in Omaha, Nebraska, if you are Roy Cooper running for
that Senate seat in North Carolina, Zoron mom Dami is
(25:18):
not your friend, and Republicans can do everything possible to
try to tie you to Zoron mom Dami. So no,
you're not going to be endorsing them. But even if
you're like not a particularly endangered Democrat, I don't know
if you're helping your party very much if you decide
to tie yourself to zoron mumdami, because zoron mum dammy. Unfortunately,
it looks like it's gonna be the mayor, and my
bet is not that New York City has this delightful
(25:40):
renaissance in the next couple of years under a mom
dom You can make an argument that the mayor doesn't
run the city himself, and the city council will probably
not go along with at least some of his ideas.
You know, Hakel may not go along with all of
his ideas, But the question is do you want a
mayor who's pushing in the right direction or do you
want to a mayor who's pushing in the wrong direction.
And mom Doma is definitely that. So like it's not
(26:02):
just like Hakelm's gonna have to get on board. It's
the fact that Van Holland and other Democrats are saying, Okay,
every Democrat jump on the bandwagon really surprising that they
don't grasp the potential risk he presents to the rest
of the party.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Now, they're perfectly fine with socialism as long as the
socialist wins. That was the only hesitation they had going
into that primary. It's pretty clear by now hok actually
says here that she and Mamdanni discussed policing, combating anti Semitism,
and New York's economy. She makes no reference to what
they agreed on, if they agreed on anything. And I
(26:35):
love the fact that they agreed that things should be
more affordable. Did they get me more specific on this
stuff where it's just that, gosh, things cost too much?
They sure do. All right, we're in agreement on that.
Let's move on. So you know, and I don't know
if you saw this gym, if this has been verified,
but I saw somewhere on X that after Van Holland
said that about all the National Democrats getting on board, that,
(26:56):
Hakeem Jeffries, who represents New York City and has not
endorsed Mamdani, said, Chris Van who So if that's true,
you've got popcorn like we talked about on Friday for
Biden and Harris. Now we've got Van Holland and Jeffreys. Man,
this a lot of popcorn. It's gonna be great for
the popcorn industry. On the left.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
You're from Maryland, man, what do you know about this stuff?
You know, you're still.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Having martinis or Margarito's with Hey.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Nothing wrong with Margarita Martiniz. Nothing wrong. You know It's true,
by the way, as listeners can probably tell, Greg and
I at this point as we record this podcast are
sober ish. And I've run into many people like, do
you guys really drink? No, No, we do not, otherwise
otherwise would sound even less coherent than it already does.
So sorry to disappoint you. Maybe we get like fake
(27:42):
ones or something, and we'll raise our glasses now now
that we have video to do, you know, we need
to be more visually interesting.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yes, like maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Some Friday we should do one where we actually drink
and we'll see that.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, we're sober today. I was also sober yesterday when
the Bears lost by thirty one to the Lions. Gym.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
That's the most way to be.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I don't know if you were when the Bills quickly
jumped out to an insurmountable lead on your jets. Both
teams are zero and two. It's midset's the middle of September,
and we're already thinking about draft positioning. I think, but hey,
maybe things will turn around. Probably not, but maybe.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Our teams have had somewhat comparable starts to the season
in a competitive opening game against a tough rival where
they fell apart towards the end, and you're kind of like, ah,
so close. But at least you got to enjoy the
early parts of the game where the teams it looked
like it was making progress. And then Week two just
got blown out. Game was over at halftime. As I
(28:37):
was trying to describe to friends after the game, this
was a game of sometimes you oh, this game was
a story of two halves. Yes, it was that way
for the Jets, in that the first half was an
enormous disappointment, but then in the second half it wasn't
even bigger disupport it like that because you're always like,
oh man, the down twenty to three, can you just
get you? Can you like just show you don't have quit,
Just come out and play on in the second half.
(28:59):
Show No, that's saying this team doesn't have a lot
of quitting. This team has quit coming out of its ears.
This team, you know. So I looked at that, and
so I'm feeling bummed, and You're like, why am I
sitting in this restaurant. I'm having a great time with
my son, But otherwise I'm like you know this. There
are other things I could be doing with my Sunday afternoon.
And then I woke up this morning, Greg and I
see the news Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who's already missed,
(29:21):
you know, last season, a ton of time, missed chunks
of other seasons because of injuries, injured again. Looks like
it's gonna be out three months. And I don't like
like here from a Jets fan and a Bears fan,
Cincinnati Bengals fans, we feel for you. That is brutal,
That is rough. Saw more than a few comparisons to
Andrew Luck that sense of a you know, potentially all
time great quarterback who just doesn't get the protection he
(29:42):
needs and keeps getting injured. So Cincinnati fans, we feel, yeah,
we've been there. That's that is just a rough way
to go. Maybe he can come back, maybe you can
salvage something in the season, but it's really bad when
we've been like, well, thank goodness, were not those guys.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Yes, some other fan base is more depressed than we are.
If that's the silver line, that's what I go for
is after week two, we're not in a good place. Jim,
have a good day, see you tomorrow, See you tomorrow, Greg,
Jim Garretty, National Review. I'm Greg Corumbus of Radio America.
Thanks so much for being with us today. Please subscribe
to the Three Martini Lunch Podcast. If you don't already
YouTube your favorite podcast platform, just make sure you're subscribed
(30:19):
anyway you can, and get your friends to join us
as well. We'd love to have them listening and watching. Also,
thanks very much for your five star ratings and your
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home devices. All you have to say is play Three
Martini Lunch Podcast. Follow us both on x He's at
Jim Garretty, I'm at Greg Corumbus. Have a terrific Monday.
Join us again on Tuesday for the next Three Martini
Lunch
Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Grab a stool next to Greg Corumbus of Radio America
and Jim Garrity of National Review. Free Martini's coming up.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Hey, really glad you're with us for the Monday edition
of the Three Martini Lunch. We got a lot to
talk about today. We're going to be talking about Kathy
Hulkl the Government New York finally endorsing probably reluctantly, but
I think in her mind weirdly strategically Zoun mam Dami
for Mayor of New York City. We're also going to
be talking about Donald Trump's tweet towards the members of NATO,
(00:33):
his letter as he put it, towards members of NATO
about getting the war over between Russia and Ukraine. And
we'll also talk about some of the reaction that we're
seeing here to the assassination and then the reaction to
the reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. So, Jim,
some folks on the left just can't help themselves. Over
at the New York Times, you've got this Jamel Booey
(00:55):
figure who said of Kirk, his stated beliefs were in
essence that people of his ideological persuasion ought to be
able to suppress the views of the people they don't like,
which I'm pretty sure is the opposite of what he
was doing on every campus. And then there was also
a correction made the day after the killing. An earlier
version of this article described incorrectly. This is a different
(01:18):
article in the Jamil Boy. When I think an anti
semitic statement that Charlie Kirk had made on an episode
of his podcast, he was quoting a statement from a
post on social media and was critiquing it. It was
not his own statement. So again one of those corrections
that few people see and never seems to go the
other way. So applause to you New York Times for
(01:39):
not handling this well. But somebody who is actually having
a positive and encouraging response to this is Pennsylvania Senator
John Fetterman. He sat down with Manu Raju of CNN, who,
now that he doesn't have Joe Mansion to stake out
at his houseboat at the Washington Marina, can actually talk
to some other members of Congress. And so they were
talking about the rhetoric on the left, and unlike most
(02:01):
Democrats to say, oh no, the worst rhetoric is on
the right or we all need to generically tone it down.
When it comes to John Fetterman, he's saying, no, the left,
we got some work to do.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
When I represent a state like Pennsylvania that keeps you honest,
and you always can't forget that a lot of Americans
happen to disagree with you, that does not mean that
they are fascists or now they want to shred the constitution.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
When you hear some Democrats saying Trump is acting like
an autocrat.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, no, that's the thing. I if you actually compare
them to an actual autocrat, that is not just that.
Now last night, for example, people were complain they're protesting
about oh, that's the Hitler Hitler thing. You just don't
ever ever compare anyone to Hitler and those kinds of
extreme things. Now, look what happened to Charlie Kirk. I mean,
(02:54):
you know, the man was shot. Now we have to
turn the temperature down. It's like, we can't compare people
well to these kinds of figures in history. And this
is not an autocrat. This is a product of a
democratic election. It's like I participated in that it was
safe and it was secure, we lost, and the America
(03:16):
people put us in the minority. And now that's that's democracy,
and I revere democracy. I may not like the outcome,
but I have to respect that and I have to
find and work through this and now and that I
do believe that's what's appropriate.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Is so you don't think that Trump is at all
shattering any of the norms of democracy in any.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I'm saying he's definitely different, but that's what America voted for. Again,
I don't agree with many of these things, but that
does not make him an autocra at it. That does
not make someone or you know, compare him to people
like Hitler and these other outlanders.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Things Jim Bud. That's what needs to be said every
you know, every criticism of every politician. That guy's Hitler.
They called George W. Bush Hitler and he's finally calling
bs on his own part on that. They're not going
to like it, but it needs to happen.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
A point on those New York Times articles that refer,
you know, attributed to Charlie Kirk something he was quoting
and was criticizing or denouncing. I have not written for
the New York Times. Listeners, if you think I'm a sellout.
It's because I read columns with the Washington Post, totally
different newspaper. But I have friends who've written for the
New York Times on the right side of the spectrum,
and they say that when they submit a column and
(04:24):
it gets accepted, we want to run this every sentence
and it goes over with a fine tooth comb, and
they have to provide supporting evidence for any consertion they
want to make, even if it strikes them as just
common sense or not even particularly controversial. There is a
really strict, heavy handed editing process for a conservative guest contributor,
and then you can just like attribute something to Charlie
(04:45):
Kirk that he never said, and it's a completely different
standard there. So I think, yes, this is the good Martini.
We will be getting to a good part in a second. No,
but Fetterman, like you know, if the Senate had forty
some Democrats like Fetterman, a lot could get done in
this country and the agreements, the disagreements they'd have would
be much more respectable. Before I dive into the rest
(05:05):
of my thoughts, just like I notice he's still using
the transcription device to put his what someone is saying
on a screen, but otherwise, Greg, he sounds a lot better.
I know he's been it's been two years since the UH,
since the stroke, and obviously these sorts of things happen gradually,
but he's he really sounds much more like a normal
person speaking you might not necessarily know, and he had
that severe stroke, so God bless him, and just generally,
(05:28):
you know, there's got to be some space between Hitler
and I support this person. There's got to be something
He's bad and I disagree with him, but he's not
among history's greatest monsters, and he's not going to send
people into gas chambers. And I think a whole bunch
people are saying, yes, Trump is in that category. You know,
I have disagree, And John Fetterman will be the first
(05:49):
to tell you he has disagreements with him, but that
doesn't mean he agrees with everything. Like he's basically begging
the rest of his party, could you disagree? Sanely? Could you?
Could you see europe political opponents as something less than
history's greatest monster. They're not saying you have to agree,
they're not saying you have to knuckle under, And like
Fetterman's can still get a vote against a whole bunch
of things that Trump administration wants to do. But besides
(06:12):
his recognition the fact that Trump won Pennsylvania, and I
think that, you know, Fetterman does not want to needlessly
alienate Trump supporters in his state. He's got some areas
of agreement Israel, most notably, but he also has said
that it's nothing xenophobic about wanting to secure the border.
Things like that. That, Like, you know, when you have
those handful of areas of agreement and you agree disagree
(06:35):
with respect, you know, you know without froppling at the mouth,
you can get a lot done. So, you know, kudos
Senator Fetterman. And in a time where it's kind of
hard to find anything on Capitol Hill that makes you
feel good, not just his recovery but his approach to politics,
his approach to political disagreement is a really refreshing breath
of fresh air.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
I think you're right. What do you think of his
prospects in I guess he's up in twenty twenty eight.
I think it was twenty twenty right where he won
that race against doctor oz So who knows what the
landscape will look like by then, But playing nice, at
least not calling Donald Trump Hitler is probably not going
to go too well with the bass with considering where
the bass is right now, Connor Lamb's already making noise.
(07:16):
I'm not sure who else in the liberal ranks is
thinking of a challenge. I'm sure there are in the
House ranks and so forth. Maybe at the state level
at the same time, you know, if the numbers aren't
looking good for him, I'm not sure the Republicans should
want him to come over because other than Israel, I'm
not sure what issue he would vote with us on.
But what do you make of what's likely to be
(07:37):
his political future here?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Greg, I'll with you in one second. I'm just checking
one last time. No, still no statement from them at
OZ about the October seventh. The text it is reel,
but still it could come at any day now. He
could be saying something because he said that despite his
past disagreements, he was a strong supporter of Israel. Here
it is September fifteenth, twive figure. Maybe it's in my
(08:02):
spam folder. I don't know. It just didn't seem to
become Raley. Really fascinating to think about how Republicans looked
at that Senate race and the choice between Fetterman and Oz.
Since then Oz now running the Center for Medicaid Medicare
Services over at HHS, I believe so. Look, I think
you know, the good news for Fetterman is that there
will not be one progressive Democrat who wants to challenge them.
(08:25):
There's probably going to be a small army of them,
and if they divide themselves enough, he should, you know,
have a smooth sailing to a renomination for a second term.
If they can unify behind one more progressive alternative, well
then he's going to have some stress. I don't imagine
a scenario in which he switches parties. I think you're
that generally this is still a guy who is a
(08:46):
The irony is you can make an argument he's kind
of populist in his philosophies towards these things, and the
Republican Party is a much more populist and much less
conservative entity than it used to be. So it's not
crazy or unthinkable. I think it's way too early to
content a party switch. I'm thinking of Arlen Spector switching
parties when he looked like he was gonna have a
tough primary challenge from pat to me, and that did
(09:08):
not turn out well for him. It was actually a Sesstack, right,
a former retired as Joe Saystack, one of the few
Democratic presidential candidates who's ever called me up and wanted
to talk the other way around. God bless him, good guy,
and he was. He was in that primary for about
twenty minutes. Yeah, but yeah, so look, there probably will
be a messy primary fight. You figure Fetterman, like I
(09:30):
Fetterman says hey, I need some help. There'll be a
whole bunch of people, probably even on the right side
of the spectrum, where like, as a Democrat, I much
rather have you than any of these other hard lefties
out there. So it's conceivable he comes out through this. Okay, again,
it's not till twenty twenty eight. I was about to say, well,
he'll be helped by having Trump at the top of
the ticket. That would technically be unconstitutional, but Trump keeps saying,
(09:51):
you know, well, I don't think I'm gonna run for
a third No, you can't run for a third term
short of altering that. But again, you would think of
Vance top the ticket or a Rubio or some other figure.
You know, if a Republican is winning the state of
Pennsylvania in the presidential race in twenty twenty eight, and
fatter min is you know, is running for reelection. That's
(10:12):
probably a good scenario for him. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, if he gets the nomination, he'll be in a
better position, I think. But don't forget that John Fetterman
is not only looking at this as an outside observer.
He's felt this venom because of his support for Israel
and going to these rallies on the mall and showing
the flag, even with members of his own staff who
have quit in a fit of rage because he's not
towing the line on the far left exactly where they
(10:36):
thought he should. So he's sick of it.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
It will just jump in and saying I stand by
everything I wrote saying that his you know, state of
his health was really bad after the stroke. He was
really campaigning minimally. We probably you know, listeners probably remember
him during that debate with Oz and that he really
couldn't communicate and that seemed like a really big, you
know deal, checked himself into Walter Reid, and there are
a lot of people who are fairly asking should this
(10:59):
guy be serving as a US so well, he's in
much better shape now. And of course now that he's
in better shape, progressive, well, you shouldn't be there because
he's voting, he's not voting the way we want. Like
now we have a problem, you know, by the way,
like you get treated for brain issues and suddenly you
become more conservative at certain ones, Like you know, I'm
trying not to interpret it that way.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
He's only with us ninety eight percent of the time. Yeah,
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(11:38):
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And speaking of opportunity, download the cfo's Guide to AI
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guide is free to you at NetSuite dot com slash martini.
That's NetSuite dot com slash martini. All right, Jim onto
our second Martini, our bad Martini. And President Trump put
(12:37):
out a message. I'm guessing this was probably on truth
social but it always shows up on x which is
where I see it, So I call it a tweet,
even though it probably was a post on truth.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Truth as he likes to call it. Yes he truth?
Did he? Truth?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Truth is now a verb? Why not?
Speaker 1 (12:52):
All right?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So let's take a look at this. The president saying
a letter sent by President Donald J. Trump to all
NATO nations and the world, I am ready to do
major sanctions on Russia. When all NATO nations have agreed
and started to do the same thing, and when all
NATO nations stopped buying oil from Russia. As you know,
NATO's commitment to win has been far less than one
hundred percent, and the purchase of Russian oil by some
(13:14):
has been shocking. It greatly weakens your negotiating position and
bargaining power over Russia. Anyway, I'm ready to go when
you are, just say when I believe that this, plus
NATO as a group placing fifty to one hundred percent
tariffs on China to be fully withdrawn after the war
with Russia and Ukraine has ended, will also be of
(13:35):
great help in ending this deadly but ridiculous war. China
has a strong control and even grip over Russia, and
these powerful tariffs will break that grip. This is not
Trump's war, it would have never started if I was president.
It is Biden's and Zelenski's war. I am only here
to help stop it and save thousands of Russian and
Ukrainian lives seventy one hundred and eighteen lives lost last
(13:56):
week alone. Crazy. If NATO does as I say, the
war will end quickly and all of those lives will
be saved. If not, you are just wasting my time
and the time, energy and money of the United States.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald Trump,
President of the United States of America. And so, what
do you make first of all, of him trying to
(14:17):
get NATO on board to boycott the Russian oil, and
what do you make of him trying to put tariffs
on China? Will get in a moment to his description
of whose war.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
This is frustrating in a lot of ways, because he's
right in bits and pieces of that. You could probably
make an argument that if China was not filling in
the role of Europe into a lesser expent America as
a trade partner to Russia, either Russia would not be
able to continue the war or Russia's efforts to continue
(14:49):
the war would be greatly complicated. That foreign trade, that
foreign investment, is really important to Russia right now, keeping
the Russian economy afloat. They're not alone in that. India
isn't there. Unfortunately, some of our Asian allies like Japan
and South Korea are in there. And yes, some European
countries continue to buy energy from Russia. And that's very
bad because I wrote about you know this in a
in the Washington Post and National Review, a few other places.
(15:12):
We're also buying enriched uranium from Russia for our nuclear plants.
These are in contracts that were negotiated before the war started.
Under those contracts, even if we refuse the delivery, they
would still get paid. So I understand the idea of like, well,
they're gonna get paid one way or another, we might as
well keep, you know, keep getting it. But you know,
our allies could just fiably say, hey, wait a minute,
(15:34):
why are you punishing us for importing Russian energy materials
when you're importing Russian energy materials as well. The other
thing that kind of gets me is, you know, Donald
Trump has had a lot of criticism made of him,
but I'm going to offer a new one today, Gregor,
are you ready sure Trump is such a multi lateralist, Yeah, Irony.
You know, going back to George W. Bush, and he
(15:55):
was this, you KnowI lateralist cowboy, and he didn't give enough,
you know, consideration of what do our He was always
going off on his own, doing his own thing. He
didn't wait to consult with all these other European countries.
And here is Donald Trump saying, well, look, we are
really gonna hammer Russia as long as Hungary and Turkey
are okay with it. Now, that's not likely to happen,
in part because Victor Ovan and Hungary, the ruling party
(16:17):
over there, is fairly pro Putin. I've seen them described
as acolytes of Putin. That's probably putting away. But they
have a warm and fuzzy attitude towards Moscow and are
never going to be enthusiastic about making life too much
harder for Vladimir Putin and the regime in Russia. Erdowan
in Turkey has been a headache for a long time.
He tries to play both sides against the middle. He too,
would be a very difficult person to get on board
(16:40):
with this, But I would just say, like, if the
US thinks this is a good idea, yes, it would
be nice to get everybody else in NATO. And my
guess is of the thirty some countries you could get
twenty nine thirty, you'd get almost everybody probably except for
Hungary and Turkey, on board with this. So why are
we giving them a veto? Why are we waiting for
the Europeans to say, yes, we should do this if
we think this is a good idea we should do this. Look,
(17:02):
Trump has you know, come around and been spoken more
critical of Putin, which is good. It always seems like, well,
in two more weeks, we're going to see, well, two
more weeks keeps going by, two many weeks going by.
This looks and sounds like Putting making an excuse. This
looks and sounds like saying, well, like a person who
really doesn't want to enact these additional tariffs or additional
sanctions or additional punishments on Russia and is looking for
(17:23):
an excuse and is now saying, well, if everybody else
in NATO agrees that we should do this, then we'll
do this. Wait a minute, we're in the United States
of America. Why do we need a permission slip from
anybody else? If we think this is a good idea,
and Trump lays out why this is a good idea,
we should do this. So I think this is he's
so close to actually doing the right thing. He's so
close to getting where he needs to get, and you know,
(17:44):
he's I think there are a lot of people who
have said, oh, he's a stooge of Putin, you know,
all the kind of stuff. When the when Trump makes
decisions like this when he puts, when he frames things
this way, he doesn't make his life any easier, and
he hands his critics a stick to hit him with.
So again, mister president, it's like the Nike st Life,
which was inspired by a guy at the firing squad.
Just do it.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
He's probably not gonna like this term. But what you're
suggesting is a coalition of the willing? Is that right?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
That's what Europe, most of Europe is calling yourself on
these sorts of things. And so, I don't know about you,
I don't love that phrase. Considering the history. I kind
of feel like the you know, the Coalition of the
Willing was full of a bunch of guys who were
like willing to send socks, you know, camping equipment.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
We'll cheer, We'll cheer along side of you.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
What's wrong with alliance? Right? You know, if nothing else
were the Alliance of the willing or the rebel alliance,
whatever you want to.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Call it, all right, real quick. When he says, you know,
this war never would have started when I was president.
It's not Trump's war. It is Biden's and Zelenski's war.
It's obviously Putin's war. Now you can is there anybody
else could be? You can clearly make the case that
Biden's completely incompetent bungling of the withdrawal in Afghanistan encouraged
Vladimir Putin to do what he did. But it is
(18:56):
Putin that launched this war.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, and for right of center supporters of Ukraine like
itself the argument that you know, Biden unified NATO, or
that Biden galvanized NATO or Biden now now Biden was
really hesitant, full of half measures, terrified of escalating the
fight with Russia. Ukraine had to ask Mother May I
on a half dozen different ways. There's always sending weapons systems,
(19:20):
like six months after the Ukrainians said they needed it.
Biden's record on Ukraine was really subpar. And for obvious reasons,
the Ukrainians did not want to make a lot of
noise about this, less than you know, Biden in a
huff decide didn't want to do it. Trump has his flaws.
Trump has also made some things right in Ukraine. I
feel like Trump has given Putin every possible extension, every
(19:41):
possible opportunity to try to get out of this, and
you know, metaphorically Putin has spat in the face of
every single one of them, and it's like, okay, mister President,
what's going to take what you know? How much many
pro times can you be snubbed or ignored or made
fun of to decide you're going to actually take some
action about this? So we continue to wait with baited breath.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Greg, Yeah, no question about that. So all right, well
let's move past. Is not a very pleasant story right there,
although it could get more pleasant depending on what happens soon.
To talk about Brooklyn Betting, Jim, I've had this mattress
for a month now, a little more than a month,
and I'm pretty sure I'm on the verge of declaring
that in all of my decades of existence, this is
(20:24):
my favorite mattress of all time. And that is saying
something because I've had some pretty good mattresses over the years.
But Brooklyn Betting, we ordered the Aurora Lux Model, which
is a cooling mattress so you don't get too hot
while you sleep. It's got some firmness, yet it's soft
somehow at the same time. And here's the thing that
I love to test about new mattresses. When you wake
(20:46):
up after a long night's sleep on a new mattress.
Usually if I'm in a hotel, or we're on vacation
or something, I get sore, especially after a couple of days.
With the Brooklyn Betting mattress absolutely perfect keeps me comfortable
great now.
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three Martini Lunch sent you all right, I was foreshadowed
(21:54):
at the beginning, Jim, we have an endorsement in the
New York City mayor's race. It is not a shocking endorsement.
It is kind of a weasily endorsement, if you ask me,
given the timing of it. But Kathy Hulkoldy, less than
competent and really not a good politician who's the governor
of New York State, is endorsing Zoron Mandani for mayor
of New York City. And I think this is happening
(22:15):
for a couple of reasons, which I'll get to and
just a moment, but let's go through her perfunctory writing
at The New York Times today, she says, in the
past few months, I've had frank conversations with him, meaning Mamdani.
We've had our disagreements, but in our conversations, I heard
a leader who shares my commitment to in New York
where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods, and
(22:36):
where opportunity is within reach for every family. I heard
a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable,
a goal I enthusiastically support. Well, thanks for staying super
vague on that. But here's what she really cares about.
Zoorn Mundani and I will both be fearless and confronting
the President's extreme agenda with urgency, conviction and the defiance
(22:58):
that defines New York and will never allow mister Trump
to control our city like the king he wants to be.
We don't see eye to eye, and I don't expect
us to. So Number one, she thinks he's gonna win,
so there's not a lot of risk in this, and
she wants the people who vote for him to vote
for her because she's got a little bit of a
primary fight coming up next year, and she is banking
basically that New York City won't fall apart by the
(23:19):
time next year's midterm elections roll around, and she can
get another four years. So what do you make of
this quote unquote profile and courage.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
This is not a surprising endorsement in a way, it's
kind of interesting that it came relatively late in the cycle.
It's mid September. Mom Dommi is unfortunately still at this
point looks like not just the likely winner, but he's
probably going to cruise to victory. And I suppose if
you're hackle like, you know, she's not gonna endorse Curticily
with a Republican option. No, she got her job from
(23:49):
Cuomo getting kicked out, So it's not like, hey, remember
the guy I replaced, he'd be great for you in
New York City. No, she's not gonna do that. And
Eric Adams, she's not out of prickly warm and fuzzy
relationship with either. So if you make your feel like
a better America, Kathy Hockel is facing the exact same
challenge that a whole bunch of New York City voters.
Sorry like this grad although on this podcast we are
(24:10):
big fans of Courtious leiwa if you haven't checked it
out in the archives, listen to or interview entertaining and
I think makes you feel like, yeah, you wish Sleewa
had a better shot in this race. The other thing
that I found interesting out of this, so yeah, so
she's going through the motions in this hoping it doesn't
get too bad. What I found interesting in this happened
just a little bit after Chris van Holland, UH senator
from Maryland saying that as a time for national Democrats
(24:33):
to get behind Zorun mom Dami. Many party leaders have not. Now,
you and I have been talking throughout this fall, and
obviously the New York City mayor's race gets a lot
of attention because it's in an off year. I mean,
mom Damie is effectively an out and out communist. Despite
what that New York Times article tying itself into NATS
was saying there, he definitely is, you know, let's globalize
(24:55):
the dafada. He looks at the city with crime, with homelessness,
with drug abuse, with poor city services, and he says,
you know what the city needs, We need to run
some grocery stores. That's what's you know, the biggest problem.
If you're a Democrat running in that open house seat
in Omaha, Nebraska, if you are Roy Cooper running for
that Senate seat in North Carolina, Zoron mom Dami is
(25:18):
not your friend, and Republicans can do everything possible to
try to tie you to Zoron mom Dami. So no,
you're not going to be endorsing them. But even if
you're like not a particularly endangered Democrat, I don't know
if you're helping your party very much if you decide
to tie yourself to zoron mumdami, because zoron mum dammy. Unfortunately,
it looks like it's gonna be the mayor, and my
bet is not that New York City has this delightful
(25:40):
renaissance in the next couple of years under a mom
dom You can make an argument that the mayor doesn't
run the city himself, and the city council will probably
not go along with at least some of his ideas.
You know, Hakel may not go along with all of
his ideas, But the question is do you want a
mayor who's pushing in the right direction or do you
want to a mayor who's pushing in the wrong direction.
And mom Doma is definitely that. So like it's not
(26:02):
just like Hakelm's gonna have to get on board. It's
the fact that Van Holland and other Democrats are saying, Okay,
every Democrat jump on the bandwagon really surprising that they
don't grasp the potential risk he presents to the rest
of the party.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Now, they're perfectly fine with socialism as long as the
socialist wins. That was the only hesitation they had going
into that primary. It's pretty clear by now hok actually
says here that she and Mamdanni discussed policing, combating anti Semitism,
and New York's economy. She makes no reference to what
they agreed on, if they agreed on anything. And I
(26:35):
love the fact that they agreed that things should be
more affordable. Did they get me more specific on this
stuff where it's just that, gosh, things cost too much?
They sure do. All right, we're in agreement on that.
Let's move on. So you know, and I don't know
if you saw this gym, if this has been verified,
but I saw somewhere on X that after Van Holland
said that about all the National Democrats getting on board, that,
(26:56):
Hakeem Jeffries, who represents New York City and has not
endorsed Mamdani, said, Chris Van who So if that's true,
you've got popcorn like we talked about on Friday for
Biden and Harris. Now we've got Van Holland and Jeffreys. Man,
this a lot of popcorn. It's gonna be great for
the popcorn industry. On the left.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
You're from Maryland, man, what do you know about this stuff?
You know, you're still.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Having martinis or Margarito's with Hey.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Nothing wrong with Margarita Martiniz. Nothing wrong. You know It's true,
by the way, as listeners can probably tell, Greg and
I at this point as we record this podcast are
sober ish. And I've run into many people like, do
you guys really drink? No, No, we do not, otherwise
otherwise would sound even less coherent than it already does.
So sorry to disappoint you. Maybe we get like fake
(27:42):
ones or something, and we'll raise our glasses now now
that we have video to do, you know, we need
to be more visually interesting.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yes, like maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Some Friday we should do one where we actually drink
and we'll see that.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, we're sober today. I was also sober yesterday when
the Bears lost by thirty one to the Lions. Gym.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
That's the most way to be.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I don't know if you were when the Bills quickly
jumped out to an insurmountable lead on your jets. Both
teams are zero and two. It's midset's the middle of September,
and we're already thinking about draft positioning. I think, but hey,
maybe things will turn around. Probably not, but maybe.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Our teams have had somewhat comparable starts to the season
in a competitive opening game against a tough rival where
they fell apart towards the end, and you're kind of like, ah,
so close. But at least you got to enjoy the
early parts of the game where the teams it looked
like it was making progress. And then Week two just
got blown out. Game was over at halftime. As I
(28:37):
was trying to describe to friends after the game, this
was a game of sometimes you oh, this game was
a story of two halves. Yes, it was that way
for the Jets, in that the first half was an
enormous disappointment, but then in the second half it wasn't
even bigger disupport it like that because you're always like,
oh man, the down twenty to three, can you just
get you? Can you like just show you don't have quit,
Just come out and play on in the second half.
(28:59):
Show No, that's saying this team doesn't have a lot
of quitting. This team has quit coming out of its ears.
This team, you know. So I looked at that, and
so I'm feeling bummed, and You're like, why am I
sitting in this restaurant. I'm having a great time with
my son, But otherwise I'm like you know this. There
are other things I could be doing with my Sunday afternoon.
And then I woke up this morning, Greg and I
see the news Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who's already missed,
(29:21):
you know, last season, a ton of time, missed chunks
of other seasons because of injuries, injured again. Looks like
it's gonna be out three months. And I don't like
like here from a Jets fan and a Bears fan,
Cincinnati Bengals fans, we feel for you. That is brutal,
That is rough. Saw more than a few comparisons to
Andrew Luck that sense of a you know, potentially all
time great quarterback who just doesn't get the protection he
(29:42):
needs and keeps getting injured. So Cincinnati fans, we feel, yeah,
we've been there. That's that is just a rough way
to go. Maybe he can come back, maybe you can
salvage something in the season, but it's really bad when
we've been like, well, thank goodness, were not those guys.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Yes, some other fan base is more depressed than we are.
If that's the silver line, that's what I go for
is after week two, we're not in a good place. Jim,
have a good day, see you tomorrow, See you tomorrow, Greg,
Jim Garretty, National Review. I'm Greg Corumbus of Radio America.
Thanks so much for being with us today. Please subscribe
to the Three Martini Lunch Podcast. If you don't already
YouTube your favorite podcast platform, just make sure you're subscribed
(30:19):
anyway you can, and get your friends to join us
as well. We'd love to have them listening and watching. Also,
thanks very much for your five star ratings and your
kind reviews. Please keep those coming. Get us on your
home devices. All you have to say is play Three
Martini Lunch Podcast. Follow us both on x He's at
Jim Garretty, I'm at Greg Corumbus. Have a terrific Monday.
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