March 10, 2024 • 37 mins
This week, the MPU gang does a post-mortem on President Biden's State of the Union, Katie Britt's GOP response, the latest in the presidential campaign and the Israel-Hamas War, and has some fun with the Oscars.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:15):
Welcome to The More Perfect Union thepodcast. It offers real debate without the
hate. I'm Kevin Kelton, andThe More Perfect Union is made possible by
a ninety one point five million dollarbond grant from the Chubb Group and listeners
like you and listeners like Rebecca Cushmeider. I'm here in my kitchen like so
(00:38):
many of you, to do apodcast. But how emotional I get when
I talk about this country in Kensington, Maryland. Oh my gosh. That
was the response to my opening.And here was another response to my opening
is DJ McGuire. That's right,DJ maguire coming to you from Hampton Roads,
(01:00):
Virginia, courtesy of Dark Brandon's DarkMoney. This is a rock and
week. We've got a lot tocover, guys, a lot to cover,
a lot of dark money all overthe place. Let's start with Trump
posting his ninety one point five milliondollar bond that was brought to you by
(01:21):
the Chubb Group. Did you guysknow about that? Yeah? I heard
about that. And all I've gotto say is I don't think we as
a nation are mature enough to experiencefour years of saying Secretary Chubb, when
whichever Chubb granted him that money getsa cabinet post in exchange for that loan.
It's a company incorporated in Switzerland,so Donald Trump is borrowing is borrowing
(01:48):
from a effectively a foreign public corporation. I thought he hated people who did
stuff like that. We do knowthat the CEO, a fella named Evan
Greenberg, was put on Trump's Tradeadvisory group when he was president. So
these people already have history of screwingup our trade policy. Now they're apparently
(02:10):
going to screw up our justice system. That's no surprise. I mean,
the cronyism is what it is inTrump world, you know. I'm just
I'm actually impressed that there's somebody leftfrom that trade advisory group that hasn't been
burned by Trump's policies and is stillwilling to do business with him. I
think most people fled his company,didn't they. And on the bright side
of the dark money issue this week, I just discovered this before the podcast
(02:36):
Dark Brandon has his own source ofdark money. Seems there's some really rich
couple in New York or funding hiscampaign to the tune of millions and millions
of dollars. And I said toDJ dress before we started. To me,
that's the feel good story of theweek. Like, is it Bill
and Hillary Clinton? Did they starta pack? Well, let's see if
(02:59):
I could find out what their nameswere. If an AI crypto investigator,
if an AI crypto investor has cometo the realization that Joe Biden is the
only obstacle between the United States ofAmerica and Russian colonization, well then that's
(03:22):
okay with me. First names first. Yeah, the enemy of my enemy
is my friend. That's right.So let's look at the state of the
Union. I assume everybody so atleast part of it. Oh yeah,
I watched it from start to finish. It was like I made myself stay
awake for it because I knew thatyou were going to let quiz me on
(03:42):
it, Kevin. I figured there'dbe well. I was able to take
a nice nap while he was walkingto the podium as he got stuck with
Marjorie Taylor Green yelling at him inher trucker hat. I gotta tell you,
I thought the classiest thing of theentire night was that he turned the
tables on her she had handed him. I guess this emblem, Yeah,
(04:04):
it was a button a button andhe had the wherewithal And obviously this wasn't
scripted because he didn't know that wasgoing to happen. When she started calling
out that name, he reached forthe button, he said the name correctly,
He told the woman's story. MarjorieTaylor Green dared him to say the
(04:25):
woman's name, and he made ita centerpiece of the speech, and he
did it off the cuff. Ithought that was really classic. I thought
it was great. And here's thething that Margery Taylor Green isn't bright enough
to understand. Democrats are not prorape and murder like that. We're not
here to make that a thing.We don't want people to be brutalized when
(04:48):
they're out for a run. Wejust don't differentiate as strongly between criminals with
legal documentation and criminals without legal documentation. We don't want anybody to be re
or murdered by anybody else. Yeah, in the Republican's minds, Americans have
the right to rape and murder people. Well, yeah, do not.
(05:11):
It was I mean, it was. It was a good speech. It
was definitely a campaign speech, andit it did what he needed it to
do. And I like the wayhe's flipping the age question a little bit
and making it about experience, becausethat was really the only way out.
I was thinking about it this morning. I wrote a bunch of pieces about
Joe Biden back on our website intwenty twenty, and one of the things
(05:32):
I had said then was that hedidn't he doesn't have an underbelly. You
know, he's an open book.There's you can't you can't go find some
secrets about him. And the Trumpcampaign really hit that wall in twenty twenty
and didn't know how to campaign againsthim. And this year they tried to
manufacture a scandal with Hunter and they'veyou know, they've gotten some traction with
(05:57):
questions about his age. But that'sall they that's all they've got. That
that's all they've got. So forhim to be able to find a path
out of that narrative is probably goingto leave the Republicans side a little bit
flat footed. Yeah, they're they'rethey're not going to know what to do.
(06:20):
They're going to have to try togo back to issues. The problem
is for the Republicans is that alot on a lot of the issues that
they would normally really go after JoeBiden hard. Donald Trump actually agrees with
Biden on a lot of them,or is worse than Biden on them from
a center right point of view,So they can't use them. They can't
(06:40):
use you know, they can't reallyuse economics because Donald Trump is just as
bad on international trade, He's justas bad on regulations. He just likes
different regulations. He clearly wants agovernment that is just as active as Joe
Biden's. In fact, he wantsthe government that's more active. He just
wants use it to punish his enemies. None of the actually good for economic
growth, so they can't really usethat as an argument. The worst Biden
(07:05):
foreign policy mistake was actually following theTrump policy in Afghanistan, So they can't
use that. They're on the wrongside issue. They'll use it, but
it's you know, that was thatwas the summer of twenty twenty one.
That was the summer of twenty twentyone. But yeah, Joe Biden's approval
rate, of course, that I'msure there will because Joe Biden's approval Joe
(07:29):
Biden's approval rating was at fifty percenton August fourteenth, twenty twenty one.
It has never been there since Ikeep, you know, I keep telling
people how important that was in theperception of him and how much he has
had to do and still has todo to recover his image in the administration's
image from that point. The troubleis the idea that Donald Trump could do
(07:55):
a withdrawal better than Joe Biden onlyworks with Donald Trump's partisans. Nobody else
actually believes that kind of nonsense.The age issue is the one that works
the best. And yeah, mine'sgoing to address it. I mean,
how much history would be different overthe last fifty years if Gerald Forda just
made a crack about how clumsy hewas. I mean, think about it.
(08:18):
Yeah, so we're not going tospend the whole show on the speech,
but I wanted to talk about acouple of things that he mentioned.
First of all, he brought upshrink flation, which is something that I
was only tangentially aware of until hebrought it up in the State of the
Union. I'm sure you guys weremore aware of it than I was.
And I just read an article todayagain prepping for the show, that told
(08:39):
me even our houses are being targetedby shrink flation. Builders are now to
save money building smaller houses with fewerdoors and fewer windows and fewer cabinets.
So yes, you get the sameprice house, but you get less house
for it. Did you guys knowabout that? I didn't know about that.
(09:01):
That's interesting that cutting down on doorsand windows is a cost cutter.
I feel like there's fire codes thatneed to evaluate that. I mean,
regresses are a big deal. Yeah, but a lot of houses have more
than they need. Yeah, justit's less time cutting dry wall, which
(09:22):
probably saves in labor. There's lessglass. But the thing that bothers me
is that, yes, shri inflationis out there. It is a version
of inflation where instead of instead ofa higher price for the same product,
it's a smaller sized product for thesame price. But it's not market forces.
When it comes to residential real estate. This is the result of decades
(09:46):
of nimbiism, continually restricting housing supplyyear upon year, decade upon decade,
and we are finally coming to termswith the fact that you simply cannot do
that that kind of thing and accountfor a growing population, even a population
growing as slowly as the United Statesof America. The tide is slowly turning
(10:11):
on this, but nothing in residentialreal estate is due to quote unquote market
forces. The other thing that wasbrought up in the State of the Union
was his strong stance pro Ukraine.Again, I know that we all are
champions of that position. I wasa little shocked today, although nothing that
Carrie Lake ever says should shock me. But she was being interviewed on CNN
(10:35):
and they asked her about where shestood on Ukraine, and she said that
she felt it was time to stopfunding them. And when they asked why,
she said that war is lost,not it's going to be lost,
or she said that war is lost. Well, that's their whole thing.
They don't want to admit their rootingfor Russia. They don't want to admit
(11:00):
Donald Trump is rooting for Russia.So now they're pretending, oh, it's
just over. Never mind that thereare that there are large swathes of Ukrainian
territory that Russia has never stepped footin. They have not stepped foot in
anything west of the Chernoble power Plant, which is half the freaking country.
(11:22):
Odessa has never been under occupation,Leviv has never been under occupation. The
war is not lost. Ukraine ishaving trouble because they have to ration ammunition,
so they are losing a couple oftowns and hopefully they can keep it
to that instead of losing major territory. But the idea that the war is
lost is ridiculous. It is gaslighting, and it is meant to confuse people
(11:48):
and make them think that Ukraine isno longer something they have to worry about,
so they can just sit on theirhands and Vladimir Putin roll over all
of eastern Europe. None of thatis true. Point isn't half the point,
or maybe in the entire point ofPhuton's incursion into Ukraine to gain control
of the Black Sea ports? Yes, you know, and every day that
(12:09):
he has not been allowed to progresscloser to those ports and gain control of
those ports is actually a victory againsthis ultimate goal. Russia is losing the
naval battle to a country that doesn'thave a navy, which is a I
mean Russia, was it Russian warship? Go fuck yourself? Wasn't that the
yeah response at the beginning of theword what did I see? I saw
(12:33):
a headline and I think it wasFriday, and I didn't get a chance
to explore it. The Pope suggestingthat Ukraine. Surrender. Did that happen
or did I dream it? Hedidn't say surrender, he said negotiate.
He called it the courage of thewhite flag. The problem. But the
thing is, I, as aCatholic, now have to remind everyone that
Pope Francis was an Argentine cleric whowas a little too comfy with the various
(12:58):
fascist regimes that ruled that country inthe nineteen seventies. Sorry, folks,
it is what it is. Yeah, And you know what, peace,
love and understanding has its place.But when one country is trying to swallow
up your country and they're not willingto negotiate, we go back to the
whole issue with Israel and Hamas.Why can't we have a seased fire with
(13:22):
both sides because one side doesn't wantit, that's why. Yeah, yeah,
and we're we're seeing that with Hamasmoving the goalposts. Yes. At
first it was let's get to ceasefire so we can exchange hostages. Okay,
fine, you can have six weeks, six weeks pause, release hostages.
And I was like, no,no, no, no, no,
we didn't want six weeks anywhere.We want a permanent ceasefire. And
(13:45):
now you're seeing some of hamas favoriteI'm going to call her Hama's favorite representative,
Rashida to Layeb. I have triedto consider her position and good faith.
I have done it over and overagain. She is an outright Anti'sonist,
and I've come to the conclusion thatanti Zionism really is anti Semitism.
We can discuss it if we want, but it may take another hour.
(14:07):
You're not going to get any disagreementfrom me. Well, I know that.
But I have tried to give herthe benefit of doubt. I've tried
to say that she's just looking lookingout for for for I would say her
people, because she herself is ethnicPalestinian, just like the people of Ireland
are my people, even though bothof us American, I don't mean differently.
But when she changes her demand fromceasefire to lasting cease fire, that
(14:33):
means she is following the goalpost thatHamas is moving. That she is not
interested in what anyone else outside ofHamas has to say about the matter,
and that means that she is noweither gaslighting us or being gaslighted by Hamas.
Either way, she cannot be listenedto. And I am glad that
(14:54):
the administration, and that most ofthe overwhelming majority of the Democratic Party is
not doing so. The Israeli governmenthas done plenty of things worthy of criticism,
no doubt Biden himself has criticized them. He did it at the State
of the Union itself. But justinsisting on doing whatever Hamas wants is not
going to solve this problem. Iwish Congresswoman play you've understood that, but
(15:20):
clearly she doesn't, and until shedoes, she need Because she doesn't,
she now needs to be replaced bya Democrat who does so. I sincerely
hope she loses her congressional primary.Well, let me speak. I'm not
going to speak to Talib and herprimary, as that probably has political ramifications
(15:41):
far beyond just that district. ButI'm going to take a shot here.
We all know that it's folly foranyone to suggest they have a solution in
the Middle East. Anyone who thinksthat they can solve the Middle East is
as deluded as you can be.But that said, I am going to
put forward idea here, not fora full time or a permanent solution,
(16:03):
but how the United States and Israelcan counter this proposal in a way that
I think would be to Israel's advantageand accomplish the goal that everybody wants,
which is to see less killing inthe Middle East. They should say yes,
if Hamas will release all of thehostages and the bodies of hostages that
(16:26):
they are holding under controlled and agreedupon schedule, we will agree to a
permanent cease fire as long as thereare no more attacks on Israeli land.
And the second that Hamas or Hesblahfires one missile into Israel, the permanent
(16:49):
ceasefire is no more. Yeah,put it on that a conditional ceasefire,
but full of the permanen cease fireuntil they attack us, US being Israel.
But at that point they fire oneor two missiles, and then the
question becomes, is Israel really goingto send in a massive military force kill
(17:12):
a whole bunch of human shields andblah blah blah, etc. Etc.
And there's no guarantee that the Israeligovernment in that future timeframe is going to
look at that and decide, well, one or two missiles is worth a
full military effort. Again, didJay you misunderstood my suggestion? And that's
okay because I probably didn't explain itclearly enough I'm not saying that Israel should
(17:37):
pull out of Guza. They've madeit clear they have no intention of pulling
out of Gaza, and I'm nottalking about the so called two state solution.
I'm talking about a permanent ceasefire.Israel will maintain their troops and they
will maintain control of Gaza until thereis a new ruling authority there. But
(18:03):
if one missile crosses the border.This is no longer the pre October seventh
world, where Bibet Yahoo may haveindicated that one or two missiles do not
justify a massive incursion into occupied territories. This is the new world in which
if they ever try anything again,they will suffer a massive retaliation. And
(18:27):
your point is well taken. Itwould be very expensive and very complex to
pull all those men and all ofthose troops out of Gaza and then have
to invade Gaza again. I'm notsaying that. I'm saying they stay there
and the Gozans won't like it.But you know, I've got to say
(18:49):
the F word to the Gozens.You're living in a new world now,
a world that was created by thepeople that ostensibly represent you, and yes,
you need to get tons more relief. You need to be able to
return to your homes. But weain't going back to the pre October seventh
world ever. Again, a permanentceasefire is not a long term solution for
(19:12):
anybody. I know where you're comingfrom, Keaven, I know what you're
flying. But the simple fact ofthe matter is a lasting cease fire,
which is the demand, is impossibleexcept in one scenario, and that is
a surrender to Hamas. If you'renot going to surrender to Hamas. Unfortunately,
(19:36):
this has to keep going now,it should keep going in a way
that does not that is not socallous regarding Palestinian civilians. That is something
where I think the agreement most peopleagree, But that's not the same thing
as you should not prosecute this war, and then the Hamas people have been
(20:00):
trying to find various different ways tosay Israel should not prosecute this war,
and you can tell and I've doneit. I've seen it on social media
myself. When you start pressing thatabout why they are so upset at what
Israel is doing, why they arewilling to call it genocide, which it
is not, by the way,however terrible you may think it is it
(20:22):
doesn't mean the definition agreed. Youask them what you would have them do
differently, give them all sorts ofconditions that they can match, and they
don't answer any of them. Theygo all the way back to nineteen forty
eight, they go back to bizarresettler colonialism talking points because they're not really
interested in any of that. Theyare interested in Israel's destruction, and they
(20:45):
really couldn't care about anything else,and they're using all these word salads as
cover for what they really want,which is an end to the Jewish state
of Israel. And if you aregoing to tell us that self determination is
an acceptable and noble goal for everyoneexcept the Jewish people, then you are
(21:08):
being antisemitic. Period. End ofparagraph, last page in the book.
I won't hear anything else from anyoneelse about this anymore, and you won't
hear anything else from me about iteither. Well, thank you guys for
giving us that Ted talk. Iwould just like to spend a few minutes
(21:36):
trying to show the difference between moderateDemocrats and moderate Republicans, because we had
an example of them as a resultof Super Tuesday, where basically the front
runners swept everything except Vermont which wentfor Nikki Haley, an American Samoa which
nobody pays attention to except during footballseason and primary season, well and whenever
(22:02):
between Johnson's on the screen. Theywent for can you blame us? Like,
can you blame us for paying attentionto when Joanne Johnson's on the screen.
No, No, he is atribute to American Samoa. Nothing against
him. He is a tribute tomanhood ritt large Sorry, all right,
diversion there when that? When thatwas over, Dean Phillips, who had
(22:26):
basically had an opportunity to maintain afundraising line, get himself a guaranteed television
slot as a Biden skeptic just askingquestions, basically put all that aside and
effectively ended his own political career bysaying, I'm out of this race.
(22:49):
I'm endorsing Joe Biden. He putthe country above himself. He put the
country above his own ambition. AndI'm sure it's not the last week scene
of Dean Phillips. He'll probably comeback later, but he'll come back because
he's a decent guy who actually hadand actually has some character and some recognition
(23:11):
of the moment that he is in. Yeah, I mean, he'll probably
like he'll he'll end up as governorof Minnesota or something like that. He'll
be Well, let me ask youguys this. I'm going to play Devil's
advocate for a moment. Why isDean Phillips a good guy for dropping out
of the race and endorsing the presumptivenominee of his party. But when people
(23:34):
do that on the Republican side,they're not good people. I'll happily answer
that. Dean Phillips dropped out ofthe race because he was rejected by the
Democratic Party. He endorsed Joe Biden. He made it clear he endorsed Joe
Biden because he believed Joe Biden waselecting Joe Biden was in the best interests
of the country. He didn't endorseJoe Biden because he was a Democrat.
(23:57):
He endorsed Joe Biden because Joe Bidenis the best person in the field and
they both had But isn't that whatthe Republicans think they're doing. No,
I know these people. I wason the other side, if you remember
for twenty five years. I knowscores of moderate Republicans. I know them
(24:19):
at the local elected level. Iknow them at the state elected level,
and I used to know one ortwo of them at the federally elected level.
These people have no courage. Theyare utter cowards. They actually use
cowardice as one of their selling points. I am afraid of them, but
(24:44):
I will help you because I'm afraidof you too. They have their own
views, but they don't have enoughcourage. They don't They literally do not
have the courage of their own conviction. Each and every one of them know
that Donald Trump is an existential dangerto the country. Each and every one
(25:06):
of them know that Joe Biden isa Democrat for which they have disagreements,
but with whom they can work becausea number of them have worked with him
over all sorts of issues over thelast several years. But none of them,
except for Phil Scott, Governor Vermont, are willing to step out and
say Joe Biden is the better choicethan Donald Trump, even though each and
(25:29):
every single, mfing one of themknow that Joe Biden is the better choice
of Donald Trump, because they aretoo afraid of losing their careers. They're
too afraid of losing the sweet lobbyinggig that they can get as a Republican
lobbyist and as the Republican whisperer forthese various interest groups. They are too
afraid of their own voters. Theyare simply afraid of everyone and everything around
(25:56):
them, and they are going tolive their lives as cowards. They are
going to die as cowards. They'regoing to be forgotten as cowards. The
only question is can the rest ofus cobble together and hold the pro democracy
coalition so that we don't go downwith them? So just slightly change in
(26:18):
the subject a little bit. Ihave a new concern this week. I
guess the ongoing melodrama, the ongoingsoap opera of the More Perfect Union from
now until sometime in the mid Januaryof twenty twenty five is going to be
Kevin's nightmare of the week. I'mnow no longer so worried about how the
(26:40):
election is going to turn out votewise, who's going to get more votes,
who's going to win the swing states? I'm concerned about what I'm calling
the Succession election. Did you guyswatch Succession, especially in the last season.
I didn't. As soon as Iheard what it was, I made
a habit to avoid it because asto some extent, A lot of us
(27:02):
are living that just from the outsideand on the inside, well, we
are living it. So I wasokay, So I'll bring you up to
speed. In the final season ofSuccession, there was a subplot about a
presidential election with a moderate Democrat runningagainst a very right wing Republican. Where
did they come up with that ideaand how Roy Starr, the company that
(27:23):
owned the Fox News of that littleuniverse, that fictional universe, they were
of course aligned with the Republican.Anyways, come election day in this fictional
national general election, a fire brokeout at a big Wisconsin election center and
(27:47):
over one hundred thousand mailon ballots weredestroyed in this fire. Nobody knew whether
it was arson or whether it wasa fire on. And because Wisconsin law
didn't have any way to adjudicate this, and they couldn't determine or they couldn't,
you know, reconstruct those ballots,one hundred thousand mail in ballots that
(28:11):
would have gone to the Democrat ina large majority no longer existed. Therefore,
the Republican won the presidency in asqueaker The reason that I'm calling this
the Succession election is because I havea fear that's been literally keeping me up
at night the last several days thatwe're going to see something like that on
(28:33):
a larger scale in twenty twenty four. I believe that the forces that want
Donald Trump back in the White House, and of course the ones that we
know of were the Proud Boys andthe Oathkeepers and you know right wing groups
that are in the public domain,but there are also probably many that no
(28:55):
one or certainly we don't know about. They're being choir right now, but
I don't believe they're going to letthis election slip away without a fight that
they intend to win. And Ithink that there's going to be a lot
of high jinks right before and duringelection day that are going to skewer the
results of this election. I agree, and I think election security has to
(29:19):
be one of the top priorities forevery state Secretary of State or attorney general.
And I think the FBI needs tobe monitoring this, and honestly,
I'm not sure the CIA doesn't needto be monitoring this, because you know,
we are we're talking about foreign interference. They're just there needs to be
significant intelligence and investigative We're going onstarting now right, and it ain't happening.
(29:45):
It ain't happening. And you andI had this conversation offline, or
I should say, off the showduring the during the week. The thing
is, Rebecca, the secretaries ofstate and the attorney generals of Wiscon in
Michigan and Pennsylvania, they have noclue how to defend against this stuff.
(30:06):
They don't have the resources, theydon't have the criminal investigative capacity, the
investigative background. They're just assuming it'sgoing to be another election day and they
just have to get enough sixty fiveyear old senior citizens to show up as
poll workers and everything will be fine. Well, no, no, I'm
going to disagree with that last statementbecause I know election workers in North Carolina
(30:33):
and their lives are already more dangerousthan they were than they were several years
ago. That is something that hasalso hit media reports all over the country.
I mean, the two Georgia electionworkers are still owned eumpty squad millions
of dollars from Rudolph Giuliani. Itis impossible for anyone to think that twenty
twenty four is going to be ascalm as even twenty twenty little in twenty
(30:56):
sixteen. I don't think anybody believesthat, whether or not someone thinks there
is a deliberate conspiracy to destroy votesor to say, seize polling places,
which is not something we should discount. I don't know how far along that
stuff is being investigated, one becausethey're not really going to tell us in
(31:18):
March of an election year how faralong they are investigating that kind of thing,
because this far out you don't wantto let your targets know that you're
onto them, because they're just goingto bury themselves deeper and make it harder
for you to go after them.Of course, but I don't believe it's
hypening. I do think. Ido think there is concern in Michigan.
(31:41):
I know there is concern in Pennsylvaniabecause the Secretary of State is one of
the was the the honest Republican electionofficial in Philadelphia who got death threats from
Trumpers all the time. He knowsthe danger that's out there. I don't
share your pessimism, Kevin, butI do think raising the alarm is viable,
(32:01):
because at worst we'll find out that, oh, yeah, they really
were on top and everything's okay.At best, someone will hear this and
say what are we doing regarding thiskind of thing? And a light bulb
will go on in somebody's head thatshould have gone on months ago. So
is it a concern? Yes,it should be a concern. Do I
(32:22):
think it's being handled? I personallydo. But that's no reason for people
who don't think it's being handled tokeep their mouths shut. Go ahead and
sound the alarm, because it's somethingthat is alarming enough that it needs to
be sounded, whether it's being addressedor not. Well, certainly, if
it's brought up on the more PerfectUnion, the authorities in Washington will be
(32:44):
aware of it tomorrow. Right.And finally, Rebecca, you so beautifully
and perfectly were channeling Katie Britt atthe top of the show that if I
may, could I ask Katie aquestion or two about this year's Oscars.
Yes, Kevin, Yes, Katie. We're as we speak now, it's
(33:07):
a few hours before the Oscars,and I'm going to ask you about your
predictions. But first, Katie,how did you feel about Barbie being snubbed
this year at the Oscars. Ibelieve that the Barbie movie was preaching a
false idea of womanhood and trying toindoctrinate our most vulnerable children with feminist ideals.
(33:32):
And if we don't understand the patriarchyshould really be about horses, then
you are just ken Kevin. Andlastly, Katie, do you have any
predictions for this year's oscars. Iwould like to nominate Scarlett Johansson for her
portrayal of Me My Life last Night. That's not a movie, Katie,
(33:54):
that's a television show. Facts don'tmatter, Kevin, matter like they don't
matter. When I talk about ayoung girl who was trafficked under the Biden
administration, and by Biden administration,I mean Bush administration in America, by
which I mean Mexico. For thosewho didn't follow that story, Katie Britt
(34:16):
told a very compelling story about awoman who was a victim of trafficking,
and Senator Britt made it sound likeit was something that had happened quite recently
in the United States, And infact, the woman's story took place during
the Bush years and was it entirelytook place in Mexico. So it is
not the fault of anyone in theUnited States, certainly not Joe Biden.
(34:37):
But Nancy Mace would say, forpointing out those facts. You are rape
shaming. Yes, another reference tosomething that was said of the News this
morning. And again as Democrats,I would like to say, we are
not pro trafficking and rape like wedon't like that. That's why we try
(34:58):
and pass things like the Violence AgainstWomen Act. We try to pass red
flag laws to make sure people withdomestic abuse accusations against them can't get more
weapons. We are trying to havecomprehensive sex education that teaches the idea of
consent. We are not in favorof anybody trafficking anybody or raping anybody.
(35:19):
Our policies do reflect that. AndKatie Bridge needs some smelling salts. And
it's why Joe Biden made the bipartisanborder deal that was so good. Even
Mark Langford at the State of theUnion had to admit that Biden was right
about it. James Langford, JamesLangford thinks James Blyford wrote it right.
(35:40):
And he just sat there and said, yep. He just sat there and
said, he said, Yep,that's true. Yep, that's true.
Yep, that's true. We hada plan in place to begin to fix
the situation at the border, butDonald Trump put the kibosh on it because
he wants the issue to run againstin the fall of twenty two four.
(36:00):
He's not insured in fixing anything.He just insulted in complaining about things.
And with that, we want tothank everybody that what you will, and
we want to thank you for listening. If you like what we do here,
please share our show with the linkto our show on your timeline,
on your Facebook timeline, and onyour other social media platforms so your friends
can discover us as well. Wealso want to thank the great Alan Keeney.
(36:23):
We miss you dearly. Allen.He's the man who composed and plays
our MPU podcast theme and with thatgreat Greg but Choose that couldn't be with
us today. He's all playing saxophonesomewhere and I think he would do like
(36:45):
star studded red carpet NA chose withlots of like commentos in the cheese to
mirror the red carpet and and youknow, eat them with while wearing lots
of borrowed Harry Winston jewelry on yourhands.
Welcome to The More Perfect Union thepodcast. It offers real debate without the
hate. I'm Kevin Kelton, andThe More Perfect Union is made possible by
a ninety one point five million dollarbond grant from the Chubb Group and listeners
like you and listeners like Rebecca Cushmeider. I'm here in my kitchen like so
(00:38):
many of you, to do apodcast. But how emotional I get when
I talk about this country in Kensington, Maryland. Oh my gosh. That
was the response to my opening.And here was another response to my opening
is DJ McGuire. That's right,DJ maguire coming to you from Hampton Roads,
(01:00):
Virginia, courtesy of Dark Brandon's DarkMoney. This is a rock and
week. We've got a lot tocover, guys, a lot to cover,
a lot of dark money all overthe place. Let's start with Trump
posting his ninety one point five milliondollar bond that was brought to you by
(01:21):
the Chubb Group. Did you guysknow about that? Yeah? I heard
about that. And all I've gotto say is I don't think we as
a nation are mature enough to experiencefour years of saying Secretary Chubb, when
whichever Chubb granted him that money getsa cabinet post in exchange for that loan.
It's a company incorporated in Switzerland,so Donald Trump is borrowing is borrowing
(01:48):
from a effectively a foreign public corporation. I thought he hated people who did
stuff like that. We do knowthat the CEO, a fella named Evan
Greenberg, was put on Trump's Tradeadvisory group when he was president. So
these people already have history of screwingup our trade policy. Now they're apparently
(02:10):
going to screw up our justice system. That's no surprise. I mean,
the cronyism is what it is inTrump world, you know. I'm just
I'm actually impressed that there's somebody leftfrom that trade advisory group that hasn't been
burned by Trump's policies and is stillwilling to do business with him. I
think most people fled his company,didn't they. And on the bright side
of the dark money issue this week, I just discovered this before the podcast
(02:36):
Dark Brandon has his own source ofdark money. Seems there's some really rich
couple in New York or funding hiscampaign to the tune of millions and millions
of dollars. And I said toDJ dress before we started. To me,
that's the feel good story of theweek. Like, is it Bill
and Hillary Clinton? Did they starta pack? Well, let's see if
(02:59):
I could find out what their nameswere. If an AI crypto investigator,
if an AI crypto investor has cometo the realization that Joe Biden is the
only obstacle between the United States ofAmerica and Russian colonization, well then that's
(03:22):
okay with me. First names first. Yeah, the enemy of my enemy
is my friend. That's right.So let's look at the state of the
Union. I assume everybody so atleast part of it. Oh yeah,
I watched it from start to finish. It was like I made myself stay
awake for it because I knew thatyou were going to let quiz me on
(03:42):
it, Kevin. I figured there'dbe well. I was able to take
a nice nap while he was walkingto the podium as he got stuck with
Marjorie Taylor Green yelling at him inher trucker hat. I gotta tell you,
I thought the classiest thing of theentire night was that he turned the
tables on her she had handed him. I guess this emblem, Yeah,
(04:04):
it was a button a button andhe had the wherewithal And obviously this wasn't
scripted because he didn't know that wasgoing to happen. When she started calling
out that name, he reached forthe button, he said the name correctly,
He told the woman's story. MarjorieTaylor Green dared him to say the
(04:25):
woman's name, and he made ita centerpiece of the speech, and he
did it off the cuff. Ithought that was really classic. I thought
it was great. And here's thething that Margery Taylor Green isn't bright enough
to understand. Democrats are not prorape and murder like that. We're not
here to make that a thing.We don't want people to be brutalized when
(04:48):
they're out for a run. Wejust don't differentiate as strongly between criminals with
legal documentation and criminals without legal documentation. We don't want anybody to be re
or murdered by anybody else. Yeah, in the Republican's minds, Americans have
the right to rape and murder people. Well, yeah, do not.
(05:11):
It was I mean, it was. It was a good speech. It
was definitely a campaign speech, andit it did what he needed it to
do. And I like the wayhe's flipping the age question a little bit
and making it about experience, becausethat was really the only way out.
I was thinking about it this morning. I wrote a bunch of pieces about
Joe Biden back on our website intwenty twenty, and one of the things
(05:32):
I had said then was that hedidn't he doesn't have an underbelly. You
know, he's an open book.There's you can't you can't go find some
secrets about him. And the Trumpcampaign really hit that wall in twenty twenty
and didn't know how to campaign againsthim. And this year they tried to
manufacture a scandal with Hunter and they'veyou know, they've gotten some traction with
(05:57):
questions about his age. But that'sall they that's all they've got. That
that's all they've got. So forhim to be able to find a path
out of that narrative is probably goingto leave the Republicans side a little bit
flat footed. Yeah, they're they'rethey're not going to know what to do.
(06:20):
They're going to have to try togo back to issues. The problem
is for the Republicans is that alot on a lot of the issues that
they would normally really go after JoeBiden hard. Donald Trump actually agrees with
Biden on a lot of them,or is worse than Biden on them from
a center right point of view,So they can't use them. They can't
(06:40):
use you know, they can't reallyuse economics because Donald Trump is just as
bad on international trade, He's justas bad on regulations. He just likes
different regulations. He clearly wants agovernment that is just as active as Joe
Biden's. In fact, he wantsthe government that's more active. He just
wants use it to punish his enemies. None of the actually good for economic
growth, so they can't really usethat as an argument. The worst Biden
(07:05):
foreign policy mistake was actually following theTrump policy in Afghanistan, So they can't
use that. They're on the wrongside issue. They'll use it, but
it's you know, that was thatwas the summer of twenty twenty one.
That was the summer of twenty twentyone. But yeah, Joe Biden's approval
rate, of course, that I'msure there will because Joe Biden's approval Joe
(07:29):
Biden's approval rating was at fifty percenton August fourteenth, twenty twenty one.
It has never been there since Ikeep, you know, I keep telling
people how important that was in theperception of him and how much he has
had to do and still has todo to recover his image in the administration's
image from that point. The troubleis the idea that Donald Trump could do
(07:55):
a withdrawal better than Joe Biden onlyworks with Donald Trump's partisans. Nobody else
actually believes that kind of nonsense.The age issue is the one that works
the best. And yeah, mine'sgoing to address it. I mean,
how much history would be different overthe last fifty years if Gerald Forda just
made a crack about how clumsy hewas. I mean, think about it.
(08:18):
Yeah, so we're not going tospend the whole show on the speech,
but I wanted to talk about acouple of things that he mentioned.
First of all, he brought upshrink flation, which is something that I
was only tangentially aware of until hebrought it up in the State of the
Union. I'm sure you guys weremore aware of it than I was.
And I just read an article todayagain prepping for the show, that told
(08:39):
me even our houses are being targetedby shrink flation. Builders are now to
save money building smaller houses with fewerdoors and fewer windows and fewer cabinets.
So yes, you get the sameprice house, but you get less house
for it. Did you guys knowabout that? I didn't know about that.
(09:01):
That's interesting that cutting down on doorsand windows is a cost cutter.
I feel like there's fire codes thatneed to evaluate that. I mean,
regresses are a big deal. Yeah, but a lot of houses have more
than they need. Yeah, justit's less time cutting dry wall, which
(09:22):
probably saves in labor. There's lessglass. But the thing that bothers me
is that, yes, shri inflationis out there. It is a version
of inflation where instead of instead ofa higher price for the same product,
it's a smaller sized product for thesame price. But it's not market forces.
When it comes to residential real estate. This is the result of decades
(09:46):
of nimbiism, continually restricting housing supplyyear upon year, decade upon decade,
and we are finally coming to termswith the fact that you simply cannot do
that that kind of thing and accountfor a growing population, even a population
growing as slowly as the United Statesof America. The tide is slowly turning
(10:11):
on this, but nothing in residentialreal estate is due to quote unquote market
forces. The other thing that wasbrought up in the State of the Union
was his strong stance pro Ukraine.Again, I know that we all are
champions of that position. I wasa little shocked today, although nothing that
Carrie Lake ever says should shock me. But she was being interviewed on CNN
(10:35):
and they asked her about where shestood on Ukraine, and she said that
she felt it was time to stopfunding them. And when they asked why,
she said that war is lost,not it's going to be lost,
or she said that war is lost. Well, that's their whole thing.
They don't want to admit their rootingfor Russia. They don't want to admit
(11:00):
Donald Trump is rooting for Russia.So now they're pretending, oh, it's
just over. Never mind that thereare that there are large swathes of Ukrainian
territory that Russia has never stepped footin. They have not stepped foot in
anything west of the Chernoble power Plant, which is half the freaking country.
(11:22):
Odessa has never been under occupation,Leviv has never been under occupation. The
war is not lost. Ukraine ishaving trouble because they have to ration ammunition,
so they are losing a couple oftowns and hopefully they can keep it
to that instead of losing major territory. But the idea that the war is
lost is ridiculous. It is gaslighting, and it is meant to confuse people
(11:48):
and make them think that Ukraine isno longer something they have to worry about,
so they can just sit on theirhands and Vladimir Putin roll over all
of eastern Europe. None of thatis true. Point isn't half the point,
or maybe in the entire point ofPhuton's incursion into Ukraine to gain control
of the Black Sea ports? Yes, you know, and every day that
(12:09):
he has not been allowed to progresscloser to those ports and gain control of
those ports is actually a victory againsthis ultimate goal. Russia is losing the
naval battle to a country that doesn'thave a navy, which is a I
mean Russia, was it Russian warship? Go fuck yourself? Wasn't that the
yeah response at the beginning of theword what did I see? I saw
(12:33):
a headline and I think it wasFriday, and I didn't get a chance
to explore it. The Pope suggestingthat Ukraine. Surrender. Did that happen
or did I dream it? Hedidn't say surrender, he said negotiate.
He called it the courage of thewhite flag. The problem. But the
thing is, I, as aCatholic, now have to remind everyone that
Pope Francis was an Argentine cleric whowas a little too comfy with the various
(12:58):
fascist regimes that ruled that country inthe nineteen seventies. Sorry, folks,
it is what it is. Yeah, And you know what, peace,
love and understanding has its place.But when one country is trying to swallow
up your country and they're not willingto negotiate, we go back to the
whole issue with Israel and Hamas.Why can't we have a seased fire with
(13:22):
both sides because one side doesn't wantit, that's why. Yeah, yeah,
and we're we're seeing that with Hamasmoving the goalposts. Yes. At
first it was let's get to ceasefire so we can exchange hostages. Okay,
fine, you can have six weeks, six weeks pause, release hostages.
And I was like, no,no, no, no, no,
we didn't want six weeks anywhere.We want a permanent ceasefire. And
(13:45):
now you're seeing some of hamas favoriteI'm going to call her Hama's favorite representative,
Rashida to Layeb. I have triedto consider her position and good faith.
I have done it over and overagain. She is an outright Anti'sonist,
and I've come to the conclusion thatanti Zionism really is anti Semitism.
We can discuss it if we want, but it may take another hour.
(14:07):
You're not going to get any disagreementfrom me. Well, I know that.
But I have tried to give herthe benefit of doubt. I've tried
to say that she's just looking lookingout for for for I would say her
people, because she herself is ethnicPalestinian, just like the people of Ireland
are my people, even though bothof us American, I don't mean differently.
But when she changes her demand fromceasefire to lasting cease fire, that
(14:33):
means she is following the goalpost thatHamas is moving. That she is not
interested in what anyone else outside ofHamas has to say about the matter,
and that means that she is noweither gaslighting us or being gaslighted by Hamas.
Either way, she cannot be listenedto. And I am glad that
(14:54):
the administration, and that most ofthe overwhelming majority of the Democratic Party is
not doing so. The Israeli governmenthas done plenty of things worthy of criticism,
no doubt Biden himself has criticized them. He did it at the State
of the Union itself. But justinsisting on doing whatever Hamas wants is not
going to solve this problem. Iwish Congresswoman play you've understood that, but
(15:20):
clearly she doesn't, and until shedoes, she need Because she doesn't,
she now needs to be replaced bya Democrat who does so. I sincerely
hope she loses her congressional primary.Well, let me speak. I'm not
going to speak to Talib and herprimary, as that probably has political ramifications
(15:41):
far beyond just that district. ButI'm going to take a shot here.
We all know that it's folly foranyone to suggest they have a solution in
the Middle East. Anyone who thinksthat they can solve the Middle East is
as deluded as you can be.But that said, I am going to
put forward idea here, not fora full time or a permanent solution,
(16:03):
but how the United States and Israelcan counter this proposal in a way that
I think would be to Israel's advantageand accomplish the goal that everybody wants,
which is to see less killing inthe Middle East. They should say yes,
if Hamas will release all of thehostages and the bodies of hostages that
(16:26):
they are holding under controlled and agreedupon schedule, we will agree to a
permanent cease fire as long as thereare no more attacks on Israeli land.
And the second that Hamas or Hesblahfires one missile into Israel, the permanent
(16:49):
ceasefire is no more. Yeah,put it on that a conditional ceasefire,
but full of the permanen cease fireuntil they attack us, US being Israel.
But at that point they fire oneor two missiles, and then the
question becomes, is Israel really goingto send in a massive military force kill
(17:12):
a whole bunch of human shields andblah blah blah, etc. Etc.
And there's no guarantee that the Israeligovernment in that future timeframe is going to
look at that and decide, well, one or two missiles is worth a
full military effort. Again, didJay you misunderstood my suggestion? And that's
okay because I probably didn't explain itclearly enough I'm not saying that Israel should
(17:37):
pull out of Guza. They've madeit clear they have no intention of pulling
out of Gaza, and I'm nottalking about the so called two state solution.
I'm talking about a permanent ceasefire.Israel will maintain their troops and they
will maintain control of Gaza until thereis a new ruling authority there. But
(18:03):
if one missile crosses the border.This is no longer the pre October seventh
world, where Bibet Yahoo may haveindicated that one or two missiles do not
justify a massive incursion into occupied territories. This is the new world in which
if they ever try anything again,they will suffer a massive retaliation. And
(18:27):
your point is well taken. Itwould be very expensive and very complex to
pull all those men and all ofthose troops out of Gaza and then have
to invade Gaza again. I'm notsaying that. I'm saying they stay there
and the Gozans won't like it.But you know, I've got to say
(18:49):
the F word to the Gozens.You're living in a new world now,
a world that was created by thepeople that ostensibly represent you, and yes,
you need to get tons more relief. You need to be able to
return to your homes. But weain't going back to the pre October seventh
world ever. Again, a permanentceasefire is not a long term solution for
(19:12):
anybody. I know where you're comingfrom, Keaven, I know what you're
flying. But the simple fact ofthe matter is a lasting cease fire,
which is the demand, is impossibleexcept in one scenario, and that is
a surrender to Hamas. If you'renot going to surrender to Hamas. Unfortunately,
(19:36):
this has to keep going now,it should keep going in a way
that does not that is not socallous regarding Palestinian civilians. That is something
where I think the agreement most peopleagree, But that's not the same thing
as you should not prosecute this war, and then the Hamas people have been
(20:00):
trying to find various different ways tosay Israel should not prosecute this war,
and you can tell and I've doneit. I've seen it on social media
myself. When you start pressing thatabout why they are so upset at what
Israel is doing, why they arewilling to call it genocide, which it
is not, by the way,however terrible you may think it is it
(20:22):
doesn't mean the definition agreed. Youask them what you would have them do
differently, give them all sorts ofconditions that they can match, and they
don't answer any of them. Theygo all the way back to nineteen forty
eight, they go back to bizarresettler colonialism talking points because they're not really
interested in any of that. Theyare interested in Israel's destruction, and they
(20:45):
really couldn't care about anything else,and they're using all these word salads as
cover for what they really want,which is an end to the Jewish state
of Israel. And if you aregoing to tell us that self determination is
an acceptable and noble goal for everyoneexcept the Jewish people, then you are
(21:08):
being antisemitic. Period. End ofparagraph, last page in the book.
I won't hear anything else from anyoneelse about this anymore, and you won't
hear anything else from me about iteither. Well, thank you guys for
giving us that Ted talk. Iwould just like to spend a few minutes
(21:36):
trying to show the difference between moderateDemocrats and moderate Republicans, because we had
an example of them as a resultof Super Tuesday, where basically the front
runners swept everything except Vermont which wentfor Nikki Haley, an American Samoa which
nobody pays attention to except during footballseason and primary season, well and whenever
(22:02):
between Johnson's on the screen. Theywent for can you blame us? Like,
can you blame us for paying attentionto when Joanne Johnson's on the screen.
No, No, he is atribute to American Samoa. Nothing against
him. He is a tribute tomanhood ritt large Sorry, all right,
diversion there when that? When thatwas over, Dean Phillips, who had
(22:26):
basically had an opportunity to maintain afundraising line, get himself a guaranteed television
slot as a Biden skeptic just askingquestions, basically put all that aside and
effectively ended his own political career bysaying, I'm out of this race.
(22:49):
I'm endorsing Joe Biden. He putthe country above himself. He put the
country above his own ambition. AndI'm sure it's not the last week scene
of Dean Phillips. He'll probably comeback later, but he'll come back because
he's a decent guy who actually hadand actually has some character and some recognition
(23:11):
of the moment that he is in. Yeah, I mean, he'll probably
like he'll he'll end up as governorof Minnesota or something like that. He'll
be Well, let me ask youguys this. I'm going to play Devil's
advocate for a moment. Why isDean Phillips a good guy for dropping out
of the race and endorsing the presumptivenominee of his party. But when people
(23:34):
do that on the Republican side,they're not good people. I'll happily answer
that. Dean Phillips dropped out ofthe race because he was rejected by the
Democratic Party. He endorsed Joe Biden. He made it clear he endorsed Joe
Biden because he believed Joe Biden waselecting Joe Biden was in the best interests
of the country. He didn't endorseJoe Biden because he was a Democrat.
(23:57):
He endorsed Joe Biden because Joe Bidenis the best person in the field and
they both had But isn't that whatthe Republicans think they're doing. No,
I know these people. I wason the other side, if you remember
for twenty five years. I knowscores of moderate Republicans. I know them
(24:19):
at the local elected level. Iknow them at the state elected level,
and I used to know one ortwo of them at the federally elected level.
These people have no courage. Theyare utter cowards. They actually use
cowardice as one of their selling points. I am afraid of them, but
(24:44):
I will help you because I'm afraidof you too. They have their own
views, but they don't have enoughcourage. They don't They literally do not
have the courage of their own conviction. Each and every one of them know
that Donald Trump is an existential dangerto the country. Each and every one
(25:06):
of them know that Joe Biden isa Democrat for which they have disagreements,
but with whom they can work becausea number of them have worked with him
over all sorts of issues over thelast several years. But none of them,
except for Phil Scott, Governor Vermont, are willing to step out and
say Joe Biden is the better choicethan Donald Trump, even though each and
(25:29):
every single, mfing one of themknow that Joe Biden is the better choice
of Donald Trump, because they aretoo afraid of losing their careers. They're
too afraid of losing the sweet lobbyinggig that they can get as a Republican
lobbyist and as the Republican whisperer forthese various interest groups. They are too
afraid of their own voters. Theyare simply afraid of everyone and everything around
(25:56):
them, and they are going tolive their lives as cowards. They are
going to die as cowards. They'regoing to be forgotten as cowards. The
only question is can the rest ofus cobble together and hold the pro democracy
coalition so that we don't go downwith them? So just slightly change in
(26:18):
the subject a little bit. Ihave a new concern this week. I
guess the ongoing melodrama, the ongoingsoap opera of the More Perfect Union from
now until sometime in the mid Januaryof twenty twenty five is going to be
Kevin's nightmare of the week. I'mnow no longer so worried about how the
(26:40):
election is going to turn out votewise, who's going to get more votes,
who's going to win the swing states? I'm concerned about what I'm calling
the Succession election. Did you guyswatch Succession, especially in the last season.
I didn't. As soon as Iheard what it was, I made
a habit to avoid it because asto some extent, A lot of us
(27:02):
are living that just from the outsideand on the inside, well, we
are living it. So I wasokay, So I'll bring you up to
speed. In the final season ofSuccession, there was a subplot about a
presidential election with a moderate Democrat runningagainst a very right wing Republican. Where
did they come up with that ideaand how Roy Starr, the company that
(27:23):
owned the Fox News of that littleuniverse, that fictional universe, they were
of course aligned with the Republican.Anyways, come election day in this fictional
national general election, a fire brokeout at a big Wisconsin election center and
(27:47):
over one hundred thousand mailon ballots weredestroyed in this fire. Nobody knew whether
it was arson or whether it wasa fire on. And because Wisconsin law
didn't have any way to adjudicate this, and they couldn't determine or they couldn't,
you know, reconstruct those ballots,one hundred thousand mail in ballots that
(28:11):
would have gone to the Democrat ina large majority no longer existed. Therefore,
the Republican won the presidency in asqueaker The reason that I'm calling this
the Succession election is because I havea fear that's been literally keeping me up
at night the last several days thatwe're going to see something like that on
(28:33):
a larger scale in twenty twenty four. I believe that the forces that want
Donald Trump back in the White House, and of course the ones that we
know of were the Proud Boys andthe Oathkeepers and you know right wing groups
that are in the public domain,but there are also probably many that no
(28:55):
one or certainly we don't know about. They're being choir right now, but
I don't believe they're going to letthis election slip away without a fight that
they intend to win. And Ithink that there's going to be a lot
of high jinks right before and duringelection day that are going to skewer the
results of this election. I agree, and I think election security has to
(29:19):
be one of the top priorities forevery state Secretary of State or attorney general.
And I think the FBI needs tobe monitoring this, and honestly,
I'm not sure the CIA doesn't needto be monitoring this, because you know,
we are we're talking about foreign interference. They're just there needs to be
significant intelligence and investigative We're going onstarting now right, and it ain't happening.
(29:45):
It ain't happening. And you andI had this conversation offline, or
I should say, off the showduring the during the week. The thing
is, Rebecca, the secretaries ofstate and the attorney generals of Wiscon in
Michigan and Pennsylvania, they have noclue how to defend against this stuff.
(30:06):
They don't have the resources, theydon't have the criminal investigative capacity, the
investigative background. They're just assuming it'sgoing to be another election day and they
just have to get enough sixty fiveyear old senior citizens to show up as
poll workers and everything will be fine. Well, no, no, I'm
going to disagree with that last statementbecause I know election workers in North Carolina
(30:33):
and their lives are already more dangerousthan they were than they were several years
ago. That is something that hasalso hit media reports all over the country.
I mean, the two Georgia electionworkers are still owned eumpty squad millions
of dollars from Rudolph Giuliani. Itis impossible for anyone to think that twenty
twenty four is going to be ascalm as even twenty twenty little in twenty
(30:56):
sixteen. I don't think anybody believesthat, whether or not someone thinks there
is a deliberate conspiracy to destroy votesor to say, seize polling places,
which is not something we should discount. I don't know how far along that
stuff is being investigated, one becausethey're not really going to tell us in
(31:18):
March of an election year how faralong they are investigating that kind of thing,
because this far out you don't wantto let your targets know that you're
onto them, because they're just goingto bury themselves deeper and make it harder
for you to go after them.Of course, but I don't believe it's
hypening. I do think. Ido think there is concern in Michigan.
(31:41):
I know there is concern in Pennsylvaniabecause the Secretary of State is one of
the was the the honest Republican electionofficial in Philadelphia who got death threats from
Trumpers all the time. He knowsthe danger that's out there. I don't
share your pessimism, Kevin, butI do think raising the alarm is viable,
(32:01):
because at worst we'll find out that, oh, yeah, they really
were on top and everything's okay.At best, someone will hear this and
say what are we doing regarding thiskind of thing? And a light bulb
will go on in somebody's head thatshould have gone on months ago. So
is it a concern? Yes,it should be a concern. Do I
(32:22):
think it's being handled? I personallydo. But that's no reason for people
who don't think it's being handled tokeep their mouths shut. Go ahead and
sound the alarm, because it's somethingthat is alarming enough that it needs to
be sounded, whether it's being addressedor not. Well, certainly, if
it's brought up on the more PerfectUnion, the authorities in Washington will be
(32:44):
aware of it tomorrow. Right.And finally, Rebecca, you so beautifully
and perfectly were channeling Katie Britt atthe top of the show that if I
may, could I ask Katie aquestion or two about this year's Oscars.
Yes, Kevin, Yes, Katie. We're as we speak now, it's
(33:07):
a few hours before the Oscars,and I'm going to ask you about your
predictions. But first, Katie,how did you feel about Barbie being snubbed
this year at the Oscars. Ibelieve that the Barbie movie was preaching a
false idea of womanhood and trying toindoctrinate our most vulnerable children with feminist ideals.
(33:32):
And if we don't understand the patriarchyshould really be about horses, then
you are just ken Kevin. Andlastly, Katie, do you have any
predictions for this year's oscars. Iwould like to nominate Scarlett Johansson for her
portrayal of Me My Life last Night. That's not a movie, Katie,
(33:54):
that's a television show. Facts don'tmatter, Kevin, matter like they don't
matter. When I talk about ayoung girl who was trafficked under the Biden
administration, and by Biden administration,I mean Bush administration in America, by
which I mean Mexico. For thosewho didn't follow that story, Katie Britt
(34:16):
told a very compelling story about awoman who was a victim of trafficking,
and Senator Britt made it sound likeit was something that had happened quite recently
in the United States, And infact, the woman's story took place during
the Bush years and was it entirelytook place in Mexico. So it is
not the fault of anyone in theUnited States, certainly not Joe Biden.
(34:37):
But Nancy Mace would say, forpointing out those facts. You are rape
shaming. Yes, another reference tosomething that was said of the News this
morning. And again as Democrats,I would like to say, we are
not pro trafficking and rape like wedon't like that. That's why we try
(34:58):
and pass things like the Violence AgainstWomen Act. We try to pass red
flag laws to make sure people withdomestic abuse accusations against them can't get more
weapons. We are trying to havecomprehensive sex education that teaches the idea of
consent. We are not in favorof anybody trafficking anybody or raping anybody.
(35:19):
Our policies do reflect that. AndKatie Bridge needs some smelling salts. And
it's why Joe Biden made the bipartisanborder deal that was so good. Even
Mark Langford at the State of theUnion had to admit that Biden was right
about it. James Langford, JamesLangford thinks James Blyford wrote it right.
(35:40):
And he just sat there and said, yep. He just sat there and
said, he said, Yep,that's true. Yep, that's true.
Yep, that's true. We hada plan in place to begin to fix
the situation at the border, butDonald Trump put the kibosh on it because
he wants the issue to run againstin the fall of twenty two four.
(36:00):
He's not insured in fixing anything.He just insulted in complaining about things.
And with that, we want tothank everybody that what you will, and
we want to thank you for listening. If you like what we do here,
please share our show with the linkto our show on your timeline,
on your Facebook timeline, and onyour other social media platforms so your friends
can discover us as well. Wealso want to thank the great Alan Keeney.
(36:23):
We miss you dearly. Allen.He's the man who composed and plays
our MPU podcast theme and with thatgreat Greg but Choose that couldn't be with
us today. He's all playing saxophonesomewhere and I think he would do like
(36:45):
star studded red carpet NA chose withlots of like commentos in the cheese to
mirror the red carpet and and youknow, eat them with while wearing lots
of borrowed Harry Winston jewelry on yourhands.
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