Episode Transcript
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0:14
Good morning and welcome to We have We have
0:16
a great show for you today. joined by
0:18
Amber Duke, joined by time hosting together. Yes, Our
0:20
first time hosting together, to be here exciting. so excited
0:22
to be here we had even matching so
0:24
or something. know, it's like we had some
0:26
telekinesis or something. news, big news day, We really
0:28
love to see it. man, to get right
0:30
into the over a quarter of obviously. of a The
0:32
world's richest man, Elon Musk, has spent
0:34
over a quarter of a billion dollars
0:36
to help President -elect Trump secure the
0:38
presidency. This is according to federal findings. That
0:41
makes him the biggest individual donor
0:43
of the 2024 campaign. the 2024 campaign. And
0:45
move, the billionaire poured
0:47
The billionaire poured $20 million into a super
0:50
PAC after the late Supreme
0:52
Court Justice Bader Ginsburg, The the
0:54
organization sought to help Trump's
0:56
image by softening his pro -life
0:58
position. position. Musk spent several
1:00
million to cut checks to
1:02
voters in swing states who signed
1:04
a petition supporting the Constitution. Since
1:07
Trump's victory, Musk has become a
1:09
frequent guest at at -Lago and is
1:11
set to lead Doge the the Department
1:13
of Government to eliminate government waste. waste.
1:15
The The total spending that has poured
1:17
into helping Trump is currently unknown, but
1:19
the staggering amounts that have been
1:22
reported been have summoned the political world. if
1:25
Musk is trying to buy
1:27
access to the the president-elect. Well, one Bloomberg
1:29
business pointing out on out on X,
1:31
quote, Musk only been a modest
1:33
political donor until this year.
1:35
told the giving has lofted him into has
1:37
inner orbit. into Trump's has
1:39
seen his his since Trump won
1:41
the election last month. last month.
1:44
Now Trump in the past has
1:46
made supportive comments about Musk, but
1:48
about Musk, but cracks to about his
1:50
presence, one time time saying,
1:52
quote, Elon, what a job, what a
1:54
job he does. He's great. He's great, he
1:56
happens to be a really good guy. You know,
1:58
know, he likes this place. get him out
2:01
of you. I should have done that with
2:03
the Trump voice. Yeah, he loves the place.
2:05
I can't get him out. Incredible. Look, I
2:07
mean, I will say this is obviously a
2:09
broader story about money and politics and whether
2:11
or not billionaires should be able to dump
2:13
so much money into an election and then...
2:15
potentially get rewarded with either cabinet picks or
2:17
in this case an external non-government agency that
2:19
is supposed to be advising the White House.
2:21
But I do think that the oversized focus
2:23
on must does kind of ignore the fact
2:25
that Kamala Harris also spent a lot of
2:27
money and had a lot of money from
2:29
billionaire donors. This is certainly not a Republican
2:31
versus Democrat issue or anything specific to Elon
2:33
Musk. Yeah, that's right. I mean, I think
2:35
there are two parts of the story. There
2:37
is a genuine ideological alignment with Elon, and
2:39
this has been chronicled in the Walter Isaacson
2:41
book about Elon. It's really happened over the
2:43
last four years. You know, Elon used to
2:45
be a basically climate activist calling for carbon
2:47
taxes and things like that. But there has
2:49
been a shift. He calls it the woke
2:51
mind virus, as chronicled in the biography about
2:53
him. He had a trans kid, and he
2:55
became very concerned during the time of COVID,
2:57
with some of the lockdowns in the censorship.
2:59
That moved him towards not just Republicans, but
3:01
the new Trump Republican Party. So there's some
3:03
genuine ideological alignment there, but there's also a
3:05
money story here as well. Does money, him
3:07
spending $250 million, help him get into Maralago
3:09
on a consistent basis? Absolutely. And I think
3:11
Trump very much appreciates that support. That's how
3:13
our political system works right now. I think
3:15
I'm a get money out of politics kind
3:17
of guy. We do need to reform that
3:19
system. But for now, Elon is hanging out
3:22
with Trump. Yeah, I mean, the way the
3:24
system is currently, that's what it is. It's
3:26
basically pay to play. I mean, whether it's
3:28
Elon Musk spending $250 million through these supportive
3:30
packs of Trump, or whether it's, you know,
3:32
Mark Zuckerberg in 2020, spending $400 million and
3:34
get out the vote efforts that primarily benefited
3:36
Democrats, this is, uh, non -partisan
3:38
issue, you guess you could
3:40
say, in a lot
3:42
of ways. I do I
3:44
do think, know you
3:46
know, Elon Musk, as
3:48
you said, is very
3:50
ideologically aligned with Trump.
3:52
So I think sometimes
3:54
the question becomes, or is
3:56
it the chicken or
3:58
the egg? Is Elon
4:00
Musk supporting Trump with
4:02
all of this money
4:04
because he wants to
4:06
move him on certain
4:08
issues? that Or is
4:10
it that Trump already
4:12
supports the issues that
4:14
Elon Musk really cares
4:16
about? Just based on
4:18
what we saw during
4:20
the past couple of
4:22
years in his purchase
4:24
of of X some of
4:26
the things that he
4:28
was talking about. was on X,
4:30
I think there was a natural sort of alignment
4:32
there that happened before he started dumping the
4:34
money in. he heard a great line from
4:36
a friend of mine 10 years ago.
4:38
He said, a the sum of the 10
4:41
closest people to you. the And so the
4:43
no doubt, to you. And so Trump, one of
4:45
those people. as one of And I have no
4:47
doubt that his ideas on government and
4:49
upcoming administration are absolutely shaped by Elon
4:51
Musk, including and the and the Department of of
4:54
Efficiency and Elon's role with that. with that.
4:56
Now going back to the to story,
4:58
one thing that's particularly striking about this
5:00
is the sheer volume and the compressed
5:02
amount of time. compressed amount of time.
5:04
got involved got and financially in
5:06
the Trump campaign Trump campaign assassination attempt
5:08
in the summer. summer. So to
5:10
have that sheer amount of
5:13
money of just a few months
5:15
period of time of pretty unprecedented. unprecedented.
5:17
I also think going back to
5:19
the ideological piece of this, of
5:21
think that that has some constructive
5:24
things to share with the
5:26
federal government. He certainly has a
5:28
perspective on space technology. He
5:30
has a perspective on AI. a perspective
5:32
on AI. And I I think his voice
5:34
is going to be heard. Now,
5:36
Now, part of what we don't
5:38
know a a public is that the actual
5:40
total amount that Yolanda spent. We're
5:43
reporting 250 million because that's because
5:45
reported in the FEC filings. However,
5:47
there are dark money groups, there are dark
5:49
groups that are not required to
5:51
disclose their donors. their donors.
5:53
so so we know actually as a fact
5:55
that you on has a donated to those
5:57
groups and we just don't know how
5:59
much much. That It's also a system that needs to
6:01
be reformed. What I found really interesting about
6:03
about involvement too is how much the
6:05
Trump campaign was willing to outsource
6:07
a significant amount of its ground game
6:09
in some of the swing states
6:11
like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona, to America PAC
6:14
affiliated entities, right? I mean, they, very much
6:16
aligned very much aligned with the
6:18
Trump campaign's idea of turning out
6:20
low and mid propensity voters voters used
6:22
Elon Musk's money to have employees out
6:24
for doors for those efforts. a And
6:26
so it was a very bifurcated effort
6:28
were a there were a lot of
6:30
outside groups that were helping Trump. whereas
6:33
maybe the Kamala campaign
6:35
was more internal DNC oriented and
6:37
of of one. large behemoth, so you
6:39
kind of saw two different strategies from
6:41
these camps. these camps. one thing that I
6:43
do always go back to when it
6:45
comes to the money in politics question
6:47
is that is that when we do see
6:49
that Kamala Harris has outspent Trump pretty significantly.
6:52
I think the total amount between her
6:54
official campaign and then the the packs supporting
6:56
her was close to $2 billion. to $2
6:58
Trump was about and a half billion
7:00
with all of those various efforts. Obviously
7:03
you can't win just based on money, be
7:05
an There has to be an underlying
7:07
message that the American people resonate with. what
7:09
we that was what we saw in
7:11
this election, was that even though Kamala
7:13
Harris significantly outspent Trump, there was something
7:15
about what Trump was was selling people people they
7:17
really liked and and on to of
7:19
how much money Elon Musk or anybody
7:21
else individually put in. put in. Now I want
7:23
to remind people that one of
7:25
the original appeals of Trump going
7:28
back to 2016 was a lot of a
7:30
lot of supporters out here from
7:32
would say that Trump is not beholden
7:34
to anyone. to self -financing his campaign.
7:36
There is the There moment on the
7:38
debate stage on the debate Bush it all up Jeb
7:40
Bush and all his we gotta get rid
7:43
of these super PACs. Now, me at
7:45
the time, certainly packs. Now me at the time,
7:47
certainly hand. a Trump fan. but
7:49
I am a political reformer. I
7:51
was like, I more of that.
7:53
more of that. Let's, yeah, call out. Jeb Bush
7:55
and his his super packed owners. But
7:57
unfortunately, the the drain, the
7:59
swamp mess. Trump, some of which I actually
8:02
did support, did not actually get executed.
8:04
The swamp only got swampier during Trump's
8:06
four years in office, and now certainly
8:09
he's surrounding himself with all kinds of
8:11
big money donors. So I'd encourage him
8:13
to listen to himself from his 2016
8:15
debates because that actually is an appealing
8:18
message. And I'm really interested to see
8:20
some of the crossover with support for
8:22
Doge from Democrats like Bernie Sanders and
8:25
Rokana. to cut down some of these
8:27
wasteful government programs. I think that's going
8:29
to be a part of this realignment
8:31
that we're seeing with Populous Left and
8:34
Populous Right coming together on this shared
8:36
message of, yeah, actually we do waste
8:38
a lot of taxpayer money and we
8:41
have programs that are not adequately serving
8:43
the American people. And now that Republicans
8:45
are in power, maybe we can actually
8:48
work together to achieve some of these
8:50
goals. Right, we had Rokana on the
8:52
show yesterday and we asked him a
8:54
little bit about that. He had just,
8:57
he had just put out his public
8:59
statements saying he was going to work
9:01
with Elon and Vivek on Doge. Well,
9:04
later in the day, he posted again
9:06
saying that Not that X is real
9:08
life, but over 24 million views on
9:11
that tweet is his most engaged tweet
9:13
since he's been in Congress. And basically
9:15
his point is maybe there is a
9:17
hunger for this kind of cooperation, especially
9:20
among populists left and populist right, to
9:22
get rid of wasteful spending, especially if
9:24
some of that corruption happening at the
9:27
Defense Department and defense contractors were getting
9:29
big contracts and often not at the
9:31
benefit of the American people. Often
9:34
cooperation is not sexy, but apparently is
9:36
in that case. Yeah, I love to
9:38
see it. We'll see if it continues
9:40
for sure, and if more Democrats come
9:42
to the table. We have a lot
9:44
more to cover on rising. We're going
9:46
to be back right after this. The
9:48
final hearing of what went wrong with
9:50
the Secret Service in relation to the
9:52
assassination attempts on President-elect Donald Trump took
9:54
place yesterday. Congress grilled acting director Ronald
9:56
Rowe for the mishaps. allowed
9:58
a shooter to target
10:00
then -candidate Trump on
10:02
July 13 13th in Butler,
10:04
Pennsylvania, and then catch a gunman on a Florida
10:06
golf course where Trump was playing. playing. It
10:09
It began so so many other contentious hearings. Let's
10:11
take a look. Congressman,
10:13
I think I was appointed I was appointed July
10:15
and I was there on the 24th
10:17
or 24th or were the second you senior member
10:19
of the Secret Service. of the could have
10:21
gone. Service. I was managing gone. here the
10:23
crisis. from here the crisis. didn't you We Did
10:25
you call match. you were managing the crisis,
10:27
you just said. Did you call the
10:29
detail? the That night on July the,
10:32
that was protecting President Trump. Did
10:34
you call the that night, they were
10:36
operational, that was not. Okay, did you call on
10:38
the next day? Trump? On No, did
10:40
not. were Okay, when did you finally talk to him. I
10:43
I spoke to them they arrived in they
10:45
arrived in Milwaukee. days So four
10:47
days later, July that sounded about right? Yes, sir.
10:49
Okay. So you waited four days, and when we were
10:51
waited four days a couple months were talking
10:53
earlier, a couple months ago, all this is
10:55
an epic failure. We all agree on
10:57
that. And instead of really focusing
11:00
on the egregious errors and the the
11:02
incompetence and improving the doctrine
11:04
and changing the culture, there there
11:06
was a massive appropriations request. We
11:09
know that you have 8 ,000 employees. We know
11:11
that they have a have a $3.1 billion .1 you asked for $2
11:13
And you asked for $2 billion What sticks in our cross
11:15
sticks in our cross to we report to our
11:17
constituents, have to say, this hey, this federal agency
11:19
failed then they and then they wanted to almost double
11:21
their budget. How much would it have cost
11:23
to put somebody on that water tower? How much
11:25
would it have cost to have drones that
11:27
were actually functioning that day? cost to have an have
11:29
an ether cable where you're anti-dron technology
11:31
would have worked? Well,
11:34
the hearing then devolved into
11:36
into this when Pat Fallon of
11:38
Texas attacked Texas attacked Roe. So
11:40
actually, Congressman, what you're not
11:42
seeing is the sack of the detail.
11:45
sack of the detail off, out the the
11:47
view. view. And that is the
11:49
day day we remember the but
11:51
more than 3,000 ,000 people that
11:53
have died on 9 I actually I
11:55
actually responded to zero. I was there
11:58
going was there going through the - of the
12:00
World Trade Center. I was there
12:02
at fresh kills. I'm not asking
12:05
you that. I was there. Congressman,
12:07
the city, I was there to
12:09
show respect. You are not. For
12:11
a secret service member, that died
12:13
on 9-11. You're trying to be.
12:15
Do not invoke 9-11 for political
12:18
purposes. Oh, I'm not. I'm invoking
12:20
me. I have elected a member
12:22
of Congress and I'm asking you
12:24
a serious question and you were
12:26
paying politics. I am a public
12:29
servant who has served this nation
12:31
and you won't answer your question.
12:33
On our day, on our country's
12:35
darkest day. Committee will come to
12:37
order. Committee will come to order.
12:40
Committee will come to order. I'm
12:42
asking you serious questions for the
12:44
American people and they're very simple.
12:46
They're not true questions. Were you
12:48
were there. You wanted to be
12:51
visible because you are listening for
12:53
this job. You're not going to
12:55
get it. You're not going to
12:57
get it. You endangered. You are
12:59
out of line, Congressman. You're out
13:01
of line. You're out of line.
13:04
Because you put those agents out
13:06
of position. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman.
13:08
Mr. Fallon, you're expecting a weapon.
13:10
I did, sir. And you are
13:12
out of line. Okay,
13:15
very testy indeed. So what Congressman Fallon
13:17
was asking about there was a moment
13:19
where there was a 9-11 memorial service
13:22
and Ronald Rowe was there with the
13:24
vice president, Kamla Harrison, the president, Joe
13:26
Biden. And the allegation is that he
13:28
moved his normal position, which was three
13:31
rows behind the charges. to right next
13:33
to them amid this photo op. And
13:35
his explanation is, well, I served at
13:37
ground zero, I was involved in the
13:40
cleanup efforts of 9-11, the rescue efforts,
13:42
so basically I deserve to be standing
13:44
next to the president and the vice
13:47
president. But the question was really about
13:49
whether or not he moved away Secret
13:51
Service members who were there to protect
13:53
the vice president and the president so
13:56
that he could basically get front and
13:58
a lot positioning And
14:00
his his reaction to
14:02
that Crabtree, who's been who's
14:05
been doing amazing reporting on the Secret Service all
14:07
summer since the assassination attempt, really
14:09
angered members of the Secret Service
14:11
rank and file who said
14:13
that he was basically trying to
14:15
deflect from this legitimate line
14:17
of questioning. from by making it
14:19
about of -11 itself, by and they
14:22
were very 9-11 itself. And they were
14:24
by his reaction to that.
14:26
that. Well, you you think
14:28
I think his reaction is quite revealing,
14:30
You know, that know, that is not the
14:32
kind of tone or tenor. of,
14:35
whether any kind of whether acting
14:37
or permanent of the of the
14:39
Secret Service should have. quite sensitive about
14:41
felt quite sensitive about and subject
14:43
and certainly a -11 is a very
14:46
sensitive subject for people. But
14:48
I think it's interesting when you
14:50
look at the room there
14:52
in that video. in that video. Pretty empty
14:54
room, by room by the way a
14:56
lot of members Congress, not there. And frankly, a
14:59
lot of staffers I a lot of staffers
15:01
I talked to on these hearings some of these hearings
15:03
get so boring, they're actually happy when things
15:05
kind of explode a little bit and make things
15:07
interesting. You notice from the
15:09
video video that it was it was a congressman who
15:11
kind of exploded out of nowhere
15:13
and then certainly and then kind of matched
15:15
him kind of matched that kind of kind of
15:18
match. match. I think the root of
15:20
this issue here is we have
15:22
to go back to the assassination attempt
15:24
on Donald Trump. There's a real
15:26
reason why reason Service is being looked
15:28
you. being looked needs to be accountability.
15:31
be There's absolutely no reason why
15:33
that gunman should have had
15:35
a clear line. line. to. the former
15:37
the former president of the United
15:39
States at that rally in at Pennsylvania.
15:41
in I'm sure we've all seen
15:44
videos all seen videos where in it civilians
15:46
who are walking around, who
15:48
are not law enforcement professionals,
15:50
but they still spotted this
15:52
guy but up to the
15:54
roof and this guy to local roof
15:56
and talked to local police and ultimately
15:58
they still were not to do anything
16:01
about that shooter it's it's completely unacceptable
16:03
there's been a little bit of accountability
16:05
at the Secret Service there needs to
16:07
be more there's a rational conversation to
16:09
be had I'm not sure it happened
16:11
in that hearing yeah I mean you're
16:13
right it has to go back to
16:15
that assassination attempt and the tone and
16:17
tenor as you put it of Ronald
16:19
Rowe has left people feeling like the
16:21
Secret Service is more interested in defending
16:23
its actions and trying to protect itself
16:25
that it isn't actually seeking accountability and
16:27
the type of reform needed to prevent
16:29
something like this from happening again. I
16:31
mean, when you heard Kimberly Cheetle testify
16:33
when she was still the director of
16:35
the Secret Service, she was going on
16:37
about how they couldn't put officers up
16:39
on that roof because it was too
16:41
sloped. But then the roof that they
16:43
did have snipers on was more sloped
16:45
than the one that the attempted assassin
16:47
was on. They didn't cover the water
16:49
tower. They didn't allow drone surveillance. I
16:51
mean, all of these things that would
16:53
probably be pretty obvious to anyone who's
16:55
scoped out this location. It was completely
16:58
unsecure. I mean, this guy was able
17:00
to basically just hop offense and climb
17:02
up onto a roof and shoot at
17:04
the president, the former president and now
17:06
president-elect. It's absolutely insane. And then again,
17:08
you have Kimberly Cheetel and now Ronald
17:10
Rowe testifying in front of Congress. And
17:12
I think the American people want to
17:14
see a little bit of humility, right?
17:16
You have made perhaps the gravest error
17:18
in your line of work that you
17:20
can possibly make outside of Donald Trump
17:22
actually being dead right now. And there
17:24
was a bystander who was killed, as
17:26
well as multiple others who were at
17:28
that rally who were innocent, who were
17:30
injured. And you don't even have the
17:32
self-awareness and the respect for the American
17:34
people and the people who you're charged
17:36
with protecting to go in there and
17:38
have a little bit of grace and
17:40
maybe an apology really for your abject
17:42
failure. Oh, we need humility from the
17:44
Secret Service. Now, granted, they have a
17:46
very difficult job. You know, they're doing
17:48
their job when we never hear about
17:50
them. And you're doing all of this
17:52
preparation and putting in all these resources
17:54
for the possibility of a moment like
17:56
what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania. That said,
17:58
it was completely un- Now
18:01
I do want to go back to
18:03
this congressman here who just started yelling
18:05
into his microphone and I think it's
18:07
interesting because I remember I've had the
18:09
opportunity to testify on the Hill before.
18:12
I remember one particular experience where I
18:14
was going with a group of interns,
18:16
I wanted them to kind of see
18:18
what that experience is like. I remember
18:20
after the hearing the intern said I
18:23
can't believe that all members of Congress,
18:25
they're basically cordial. They had a rational
18:27
conversation across party lines. There are a
18:29
couple performative moments, but that's not what
18:31
you see on social media. So unfortunately,
18:34
so many of these hearings don't get
18:36
any attention. The ones that are deserving
18:38
often get the least attention. But in
18:40
this case, the congressman... He's almost calling
18:42
out the acting Secret Service director for
18:44
wanting the photo up and wanting to
18:47
get the attention. But I have a
18:49
pretty good feeling that the congressman is
18:51
doing that exact behavior for himself to
18:53
be seen as tough on the Secret
18:55
Service director. He's definitely getting a new
18:58
cycle out of this. We're now talking
19:00
about it. And so I do think
19:02
the congressman needs to self-reflect on his
19:04
conduct in these hearings. Well, we definitely
19:06
know that when staff are writing these
19:08
questions or these lines of inquiry and
19:11
the Congress people are working with them,
19:13
that they're often looking for that viral
19:15
moment. I would say in this case,
19:17
it was more justified than not, just
19:19
given the sensitivity of the nature of
19:22
what they were asking about, but point
19:24
taken that screaming to your microphone is
19:26
usually not a good look. All right,
19:28
we have a lot more topics to
19:30
cover on rising and back right after
19:32
this. Republican
19:35
Senator from Iowa, Joanie Ernst, is feeling the
19:38
heaf from Maga Republicans over her hesitancy to
19:40
back President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of
19:42
Defense Pete Hegseth. Ernst signaled on Thursday that
19:44
she is not ready to support Hegsez's nomination.
19:46
Well, I did have a very long lengthy
19:48
discussion. Pete yesterday and I do I
19:51
do appreciate his service
19:53
to the nation. I
19:55
also am a so
19:57
veteran. a So we talked
19:59
about a number of
20:02
those issues with the we
20:04
will continue with the
20:06
vetting process. I think
20:08
that that is incredibly
20:10
important. I'm So is we had
20:12
I'm saying is we
20:15
had a very frank
20:17
and productive discussion that we
20:19
I know that we
20:21
will continue to have
20:23
conversation in the upcoming
20:25
months. doesn't sound on your answer that
20:27
you've gotten to a gotten to a I'm
20:30
wrong about that, correct me. me. And if if
20:32
that is the case, it sounds to
20:34
me as if the hearing will be
20:36
critical for his nomination.
20:38
Am I right about that? I think
20:40
you are you are made a name
20:42
for herself made a name for
20:44
herself in the past by championing legislation
20:46
aimed at addressing sexual assault and
20:48
harassment in the military. in the military.
20:51
served in the U .S. Army
20:53
in from 1993 to 2015
20:55
2015. retired as a a lieutenant She
20:57
has been outspoken about her personal
20:59
experiences with sexual assault and violence
21:01
in the military. sexual For years
21:04
the military the struggled to
21:06
reduce the number of
21:08
sexual assaults within the ranks,
21:10
yet we have seen
21:12
little progress in defeating little progress
21:15
in defeating this The
21:17
stories from from are heartbreaking. One
21:21
user on on called Ernst
21:23
Despicable, also popular -wing influencer D D.C.
21:25
Drano, quite a handle, a posted, posted,
21:27
how about the first thing we
21:29
cut cut is all American money you
21:32
keep sending to Ukraine. to
21:34
Ukraine? And host J J.D.
21:36
Rucker chimed in, as as long
21:38
as your plan includes confirming
21:40
Trump's nominees, especially Pete Pete Heggset,
21:42
then sure it's fine. fine. Peg
21:45
Seth is continuing in the fight
21:47
for for secretary despite being embroiled
21:49
in allegations of sexual misconduct
21:51
and alcohol abuse. abuse. Despite her comments
21:53
on Fox News News Thursday, Ernst took to
21:55
act after that appearance to to her support
21:57
for a meeting she was attending with
21:59
with of Government efficiency co-chairs
22:02
Elon Musk and the vague Ramoswami. They
22:04
are discussing plans for slashing the federal
22:06
budget. She posted, I'm excited to host
22:08
the first Senate Doge caucus meeting today.
22:10
I'm sharing my plan with Elon Musk
22:12
and the vague Ramoswami to reduce waste
22:14
and hashtag make them squeal. Earlier this
22:17
week Ernst pitched a $1 trillion federal
22:19
spending cut to the Doge co-heads and
22:21
as head of the Senate Doge caucus
22:23
Ernst has been eyeing doing away with
22:25
work from home policies. and released a
22:27
scathing report on Thursday citing widespread instances
22:29
of abuse and failures from telework practices.
22:32
So you win some, you lose some,
22:34
I guess, for Joanie Ernst, she's obviously
22:36
getting a little bit of that street
22:38
cred back with her work with Doge
22:40
and Elon Muskie and Vécarama Swami. I
22:42
think people were really excited about her
22:44
report. talking about telework practices, a significant
22:46
amount of the federal government is still
22:49
work from home. I think it's fair
22:51
to say that if you're getting a
22:53
taxpayer-funded salary, maybe you should go into
22:55
the office. I don't know, maybe you
22:57
feel differently about that. I'm sure there
22:59
are some hybrid situations for some employees
23:01
that are fine. But yeah, she's taking
23:04
a lot of heat for her position
23:06
on Pete Hegg Seth. People are not
23:08
happy that she is holding up potentially
23:10
his nomination. She's obviously not the only
23:12
one on the Republican side who has
23:14
concerns about some of the allegations that
23:16
came out. But I think the Senate
23:19
only has a limited number of vetoes
23:21
on Trump's nominees. They used one on
23:23
Matt Gates. I'm not sure if they're
23:25
going to be able to force out
23:27
Pete Heggsetth in favor of Rhonda Santos
23:29
as some outlets have been reporting, but
23:31
we'll see what happens. Well, I think
23:34
it's interesting, first with Joanie Ernst, there
23:36
have been some people in the magga
23:38
world who are starting to threaten a
23:40
primary challenge. We're not quite there yet.
23:42
I would say she's still relatively politically
23:44
safe in Iowa. And I think that
23:46
her concern here is pretty genuine about
23:49
her, first of all, her background in
23:51
the military as a reformer around sexual
23:53
assault in the military, which has been
23:55
a great bipartisan bipartisan issue over the
23:57
years. and I think
23:59
she's genuinely troubled. troubled
24:02
by background and she's trying
24:04
to signal signal her opposition to
24:06
him without getting totally called
24:08
out by Donald Trump and
24:10
the MAGA base. There have been some people been
24:13
some people who've even floated her name
24:15
for of of Defense. I think that
24:17
makes her critiques a little bit harder. In
24:19
In the past, you've seen seen who've
24:21
torpedoed different nominees, but not necessarily putting but
24:23
up to replace those nominees. up to replace
24:26
those nominees. One thing
24:28
I noticed yesterday with Pete with Pete Hexat is
24:30
this this headline talking about, know, know, I
24:32
commit to not drinking while on the
24:34
job, which is never a good
24:36
day if that's the headline about you. you.
24:38
so I think Hegzett is inviting a lot of
24:40
this a lot of this criticism. Doesh area
24:42
Now to the doge area that
24:44
she's been commenting on, it's very interesting,
24:46
like you said, I think that
24:48
she's regaining some of her credibility on
24:50
the Magus side by really leaning by
24:52
really that issue. issue. I do think
24:54
there's some important nuance required when it
24:56
comes to the telework policies. to On
24:58
one hand policies. I? hand, do I doubt that
25:00
I doubt that there is some
25:02
abuse of telework policies happening across millions
25:05
of people? there are many millions of
25:07
know, who work of people work
25:09
with the federal government, many who
25:11
take advantage advantage of telework, yes. the
25:13
other hand. hand, many people who choose
25:15
to telework for the federal government
25:17
and various agencies have to make
25:19
the case that their telework is
25:21
helping to save the federal government
25:23
money. so so if the interest here
25:25
is cutting spending with the federal
25:28
government, there are there are that you
25:30
gain with telework and I think
25:32
that's getting missed in that I think
25:34
I guess that's fair, but then the
25:36
question would be Yeah, I well, are you
25:38
doing your job as well at home would
25:40
also you doing your you well at home and also
25:42
are you... You might be I guess, how would you
25:45
be would you be saving money from
25:47
teleworking? Because I don't, pay for transportation or
25:49
parking or parking or? Yeah, part of it of
25:51
it is a lot, the cost of living is higher
25:53
in Washington DC than it is in many
25:55
other parts of the country, so the
25:57
compensation is indexed for the of of
25:59
living the area. if you're working in my home
26:01
state of Wisconsin, for example, you're getting compensated
26:03
less than if you were based in DC.
26:05
So that's part of the rationale for the
26:07
cost savings. Now the other part of the
26:09
story, though, is Doge and Joanie Ernst, they're
26:11
talking about calling everyone back in, cutting these
26:13
telework policies, partly because it's going to cause
26:15
attrition in the federal government, right? You know,
26:17
and I totally get your point that I'm
26:19
a big like work in the office kind
26:21
of guy, I'm big into building a team
26:23
culture, I think culture is the most important
26:25
determinant of success of any organization, and so
26:27
I totally take that point, but the problem
26:29
with the attrition argument is that you're going
26:31
to lose some of the most talented people
26:33
working in the federal government. You want to
26:35
be able to keep your talented people and
26:37
farther people who are not doing as good
26:39
of a job. This kind of across the
26:41
board cutting and using the telework policies as
26:43
a way to just randomly cut people, that's
26:45
not a way to enhance the culture or
26:48
enhance the talent of your organization. One of
26:50
the other ways that Elon Muscom of Lake
26:52
Ramosami have talked about this cost-cutting analysis of
26:54
federal employees based on the cost of living
26:56
adjustments you're talking about is actually moving some
26:58
departments to places in the US that are
27:00
cheaper than Washington DC, which is potentially another
27:02
way to get around that issue of teleworking,
27:04
potentially saving money for people who live outside.
27:06
of the beltway. I wanted to go back
27:08
to this Pete Hyseth question with Joanie Ernst
27:10
for a moment. I do think the headline
27:12
that you're talking about was that he wouldn't
27:14
drink at all when he was Secretary of
27:16
Defense, not just when he's on the job,
27:18
which is a little bit different. Yeah. That's
27:20
right. And I do think that Still not
27:22
a good news day. No, not a good
27:24
news day. I mean, it hasn't been a
27:26
good news day for him for the past
27:28
couple of weeks. Some of the allegations more
27:30
concerning than others, some with better sourced material
27:32
than others. But he's. on the
27:34
the for the past
27:36
four days now now to
27:38
to face -to -face to I
27:40
think that's going to
27:42
be a big part
27:44
of of transition transition team
27:46
actually getting them FaceTime
27:48
with the time with the going
27:50
through the confirmation hearing
27:52
process. process. I I think
27:54
people are actually going
27:56
to be pretty surprised
27:58
by how how and
28:00
experienced a lot of
28:02
these picks are. are. There's sort
28:04
sort of been this
28:06
overarching narrative that if
28:08
you haven't worked in
28:10
government before then you
28:12
don't know what you're
28:14
doing and you can't
28:16
leave these departments. As
28:18
As long as you're
28:20
surrounded with people who
28:22
do know know ins and
28:24
outs and the culture
28:26
of the department inside the
28:28
the government. as long as you As
28:30
long as you have, I think an idea that's
28:32
consistent with Trump's vision, the vision that the
28:34
American people voted for, that then that shouldn't be
28:36
disqualifying just because you haven't worked in a department
28:39
before. We definitely need people with
28:41
new vision to to change things. think there's
28:43
a lot of... lot of corporate capture
28:45
of agencies. I'm very sympathetic
28:47
to nominees who want to help,
28:50
for example, the close the revolving
28:52
door let's take the let's take the
28:54
Defense Department, for example, a huge
28:56
revolving door between senior officials
28:58
at the Defense Department and then
29:00
joining the and then complex and
29:03
lobbying the Defense and lobbying the Defense a
29:05
huge issue. a huge issue. Another piece piece
29:07
of the story that people
29:09
need to know about, however, is
29:12
is Those surrounding organizations,
29:14
organizations just on the periphery
29:16
of the defense industrial
29:19
complex. of power. have a ton of power.
29:21
There's so much money to be made.
29:23
And I think part of what's happening with
29:25
Pete is they they don't respect him. him.
29:27
And they are helping to leak
29:29
a lot of these stories seed
29:31
seed stories of different news
29:33
organizations to basically assassinate his character. And
29:36
I think it just is another
29:38
reminder of how powerful those organizations are.
29:41
Now going back to the federal
29:43
agencies going out across the country, I out across the
29:45
country, I think that's really fascinating
29:47
I think part of the problem we
29:49
have right now is a lot of has
29:51
a lot of people in power
29:53
are highly concentrated in a few
29:56
areas, particularly like Washington It's an It's
29:58
an issue for the government policy. It's
30:00
also an issue for the media,
30:02
by the way. Why that nearly every
30:04
reporter I've worked with lives in
30:06
New York and Washington Washington, a whole rest of the
30:08
country a whole rest of the country out
30:10
there, I've spoken previously The the show about how
30:12
shows like The View to the consider relocating to
30:15
the really help I think that would really help
30:17
them reconnect with people. a And I think
30:19
a similar principle applies for the federal government. I
30:21
totally agree. I mean, when you're living
30:23
in one of the wealthiest enclaves in the
30:25
enclaves in the with a very different culture
30:27
from most of the continental US, that's a
30:29
that's a problem with making generally being touch
30:31
with the out of touch with the
30:34
American people. to move We're gonna have to
30:36
move on, we're out of time
30:38
on this side. we're we're going to be
30:40
back with more rising this. Diversity
30:43
equity, and inclusion, or DEI as
30:45
it's known, be appears to be
30:47
going a bit out of style.
30:49
The University of Michigan on Thursday it
30:52
is that it is slashing the
30:54
diversity statement requirement from its hiring
30:56
process. process. It is also considering a
30:58
broader move away from DEI policies. In other
31:00
words, In other words, there are
31:02
no longer tenured and incoming faculty to outline
31:04
how they would promote diversity, equity,
31:06
and inclusion in their teaching. their teaching. The
31:09
decision comes as the university joins
31:11
other schools in overhauling sprawling
31:13
DEI programs. These These statements
31:15
are credited with helping
31:17
public universities build more diverse
31:19
faculties. But critics that DEA
31:22
that DEI is a form of compelled
31:24
political speech that is often used
31:26
to evade legal restrictions on affirmative affirmative action.
31:28
At least nine states have banned
31:30
DEI requirements per the per of Higher
31:32
Education, Higher with my home with Wisconsin
31:34
as well as Ohio and Missouri
31:37
axing them from public universities last
31:39
year. MIT year. Massachusetts
31:41
and Harvard's faculty of Arts
31:43
and Sciences have as
31:45
well. as well. But who have
31:47
directly benefited from diversity geared
31:49
programs fear fear that chipping away at
31:51
them will hurt lower income
31:53
students. University of Michigan undergraduate
31:56
student, student Mary Battle
31:58
York the New York Times that DEA. are
32:00
the reason she is is able to
32:02
attend the school. school. Astronomye Professor
32:04
at Michigan posted on Blue Michigan posted
32:06
on and quote a cowardly
32:08
and into hiring into hiring
32:11
practices and rubrics That should
32:13
be set by departments
32:15
according to their needs and
32:17
missions missions, administrative fiat fiat.
32:19
Another member of the of the faculty,
32:21
James Hewan, posted on Blue posted on blues
32:24
guy, scholar of anti -racist health. I
32:26
was hired by the by the initiative
32:28
on anti -racism. on This is extremely
32:30
troubling, but I'm glad the faculty
32:32
senate is ready to fight. Senate
32:35
is ready to fight. professor, professor, Essie
32:37
posted, posted, quote, a rally to
32:39
save DEI at the
32:41
University of Michigan. of Michigan, to
32:43
see the the showing up to
32:46
confront this threat. threat. There
32:49
you have it, it. Okay, so of Michigan moving
32:51
away from DEI as well as other
32:53
universities. as other I wonder how
32:55
much of this is due to
32:57
to the of cultural backlash against DEI
32:59
DEI. how much is universities discovering
33:01
that maybe it didn't have the
33:03
outcomes that they were hoping for,
33:05
because I don't think necessarily that that
33:07
the probably pretty liberal administrations of
33:09
a lot of these public
33:12
universities are that concerned about
33:14
what Donald Trump or some conservative activists
33:16
are saying about DEI, think I don't
33:18
think that they would move away from these
33:20
programs unless they were not seeing some
33:23
demonstrated benefit that they were hoping for. hoping for.
33:25
Yeah, that's right. So University of
33:27
Michigan, it's an important important. university
33:29
to be a central part
33:31
of the DEI story of they
33:33
have been because the national leader
33:35
in the higher education field leader in
33:38
DEI. Since 2016, they've invested
33:40
a quarter of a billion dollars
33:42
a quarter of positions, which is the
33:44
highest in the country. which is the
33:46
highest outcomes are part of the
33:48
issue here are hinted at that.
33:50
issue here and you since 2016.
33:52
So since 2016 Black enrollment
33:54
has not increased increased Michigan. and
33:57
black students don't feel more comfortable.
34:00
And that was part of what the
34:02
DEA programs were aimed at doing. And
34:04
so that's part of the issue here.
34:06
I think there is obviously a lot
34:09
of good intent with DEA programs. I
34:11
worked very closely with them when I
34:13
was a student at the University of
34:15
Wisconsin-Madison, some really great people working to
34:18
help students that come from very disadvantaged
34:20
backgrounds. get started at a university, help
34:22
them feel comfortable, help to give them
34:24
financial scholarships or programs like the PASI
34:27
program that do that very effectively. The
34:29
problem now is though the DEA has
34:31
become a cultural war kind of issue
34:34
and it's now becoming counterproductive so I
34:36
actually support a major reform to these
34:38
DEAI programs, I think that we need
34:40
to focus more on how we can
34:43
be creating a more diverse cultural campus
34:45
climate where you hear from a variety
34:47
of viewpoints. And I think that's more
34:49
of what the spirit is intended to
34:52
do, but the brand is disallowing them
34:54
from doing now. Yeah, I mean, it
34:56
clearly prioritizes a certain racial makeup over
34:59
intellectual diversity, which colleges are severely lacking
35:01
in. I mean, if you look at
35:03
the breakdown of professors political affiliations, There's
35:05
something like 50 to 1 Democrats or
35:08
Republican in professor makeups in some departments
35:10
at universities. Even in econ departments now
35:12
it's like 10 to 1, 15 to
35:14
1, which you would think would be
35:17
a more conservative field. And I think
35:19
the obvious answer to a lot of
35:21
the concerns that universities have about making
35:23
sure that they're giving disadvantaged students. the
35:26
opportunity is to focus more on class
35:28
differences and giving benefits to lower income
35:30
students as opposed to doing it based
35:33
on race because you would still be
35:35
impacting a disproportionately black population because they
35:37
are disproportionately low income in the United
35:39
States, but you wouldn't be doing it
35:42
in a way that is perceived as
35:44
discriminatory based on race. So for example,
35:46
when I was at Georgetown, I was
35:48
part of the Georgetown Scholarship Program, which
35:51
is a program for first generation. low-income
35:53
college Yeah, it's a
35:55
great program a great program
35:58
and was mostly black
36:00
and Hispanic students. I
36:02
I was one
36:04
of the few white
36:07
students in it. in
36:10
it, wasn't because they they
36:12
weren't accepting white students, but just
36:14
because the people who were applying to
36:16
Georgetown and getting in who were
36:18
low income getting to be disproportionately black
36:20
and Hispanic students. And I think that's
36:22
a and Hispanic students. And I more equal
36:24
opportunity way of addressing this
36:26
problem this elites having access
36:28
to major universities. And. When
36:30
I I was at Georgetown, I was
36:32
very troubled by some of the the by
36:34
students to what they viewed as racism
36:36
in the because one of their things that of were trying
36:39
to achieve when they would they were trying to
36:41
achieve when they would protest against the
36:43
administration, in particularly in the aftermath of the
36:45
death of Michael Brown and Ferguson, was
36:47
was they were claiming that there weren't
36:49
enough black professors on campus and that
36:51
they needed to hire a certain percentage
36:53
of black professors in order to be
36:55
truly diverse. diverse. But Georgetown actually already had
36:57
a higher percentage of black professors than
36:59
there there are black people .S. population. US So it
37:02
raises this important question of okay
37:04
well what's the stopping point? the Like
37:06
at what percentage or what number of
37:08
black and brown faculty are you
37:10
going to be satisfied to that the
37:12
campus is sufficiently diverse? Is it Is it
37:14
20% 30% 30 percent, 50 percent? Because
37:16
clearly with the commensurate with the general population
37:18
wasn't enough for you. I And I
37:20
think that's where people were like
37:22
okay. were like, OK. You all have gone too
37:24
far, you're way out over your skis, and
37:26
now you're actually making it. difficult for
37:28
Asian and white professors and students to
37:30
have equal opportunity as well. as well.
37:32
Well, one reason reason why I
37:34
think a lot of Midwestern universities
37:36
like University of Michigan, of mater, University
37:39
of Wisconsin. mater University with diversity programs,
37:41
just the with themselves, where
37:43
they primarily draw students from,
37:45
are not incredibly diverse. For
37:47
example, are not in Michigan, campus
37:49
population is 5 there's students of
37:51
color is 5% students of the state
37:53
as a whole has 14 a whole
37:55
of residents that are that so
37:57
there's still So there's still below.
38:00
the state averages, but still there
38:02
isn't, you know, we're not talking
38:04
about some other states where there's
38:06
a lot more diversity. Your education
38:08
is certainly enhanced to your point
38:10
about professors. I think when you
38:12
have a diverse group of people
38:14
who are educating students, that includes
38:16
race, but includes a number of
38:18
other dimensions as well, and I
38:20
would agree with you that class
38:22
should absolutely be one of those
38:24
dimensions. I think one of the
38:26
other problems that I've seen among
38:28
a lot of the DEAI programs
38:30
on campus, which for I want
38:32
to understand, there's a historical basis
38:34
for them, a lot of the
38:36
sort of modern regime of programs
38:38
are rooted in 1960s social justice
38:40
movements. And I think some of
38:42
those programs have not been sufficiently
38:44
updated. And as a result, you
38:46
have, for example, a lot of
38:48
campus safe spaces where you have
38:50
people, particularly of one race or
38:52
a few different races that are
38:54
just essentially segregated on campus. They
38:56
congregate in separate areas. And Michigan's
38:59
DEA programs were meant to actually
39:01
fix some of those problems where
39:03
students from a more variety of
39:05
backgrounds are able to integrate and
39:07
work together. And that didn't necessarily
39:09
happen. So that I think is
39:11
what needs to change. And in
39:13
the words of one of my
39:15
mentors, who runs a great organization
39:17
called Interfaith America, he says, speaking
39:19
about campus diversity programs, diversity is
39:21
not just about the differences you
39:23
like. And I think that's a
39:25
really beautiful way of summing up,
39:27
I think, how these college programs
39:29
need to change. Yeah, I'll make
39:31
one final point on this before
39:33
we wrap. I think no one
39:35
is really taking the problem seriously
39:37
as well if they're not focusing
39:39
on early primary education because the
39:41
reality is if you're getting to
39:43
the college level and you're perhaps
39:45
having lower standards for a group
39:47
of people because you want to
39:49
give them a greater opportunity, you're
39:51
actually setting them up for failure
39:53
and you're doing a disservice to
39:55
them because we see for example
39:57
in law schools that black law
39:59
graduates have a lower bar passage
40:01
rate. why is that? It's because
40:03
they have lower LSAT scores going
40:05
into law school. and are basically
40:07
beyond the point where they can
40:09
go through the remediation necessary to
40:11
get to the level that they
40:13
need to be through that process.
40:15
If you're not starting in early
40:18
education, then you're basically completely behind
40:20
the ball and you're gonna be
40:22
having these students take out potentially
40:24
hundreds of thousands of student loan
40:26
debt to not even really get
40:28
the same outcome that a comparative
40:30
student with the higher entry requirements
40:32
would. So I think it's sort
40:34
of a misplaced area to be
40:36
addressing perhaps disparities in education. Right,
40:38
I'm sure we've both heard about
40:40
students, first generation students, they go
40:42
to elite colleges and law schools
40:44
and business schools, they feel like
40:46
they're fish out of water. More
40:48
programming to help students deal with
40:50
that so they can truly benefit
40:52
from the education and not feel
40:54
so isolated. That would go a
40:56
long way. We have a lot
40:58
more to cover on rising, stick
41:00
around, we'll be back. Aaron Rogers,
41:02
eight for everybody. It
41:04
just feels like you're either for him
41:06
or against it. What you just
41:08
saw is a clip from Netflix's
41:11
new documentary on NFL star quarterback
41:13
Aaron Rogers. Rogers is an elite
41:15
pro football player with a Super
41:18
Bowl ring and multiple league MVP
41:20
titles. He was smeared by the
41:22
mainstream media as an anti-vaxer and
41:25
conspiracy theorist after the coronavirus pandemic
41:27
broke out. In 2021, when sports
41:30
resumed, NFL players were given an
41:32
ultimatum. Get the COVID shot or
41:34
hang up your cleats. Rogers opted
41:37
out. He was raped over the
41:39
coals by the media. Let's watch
41:41
a little more. Losing friendships, family,
41:44
it was heartbreaking. Here come the
41:46
chips. Rogers has something to prove.
41:48
It is on. People getting to
41:51
see behind the curtain. Have you
41:53
thought about going into politics? Once
41:55
I started my spiritual journey, everything
41:58
shifted. The metamorphosis was happening. Most
42:02
people who are not doing the walking.
42:04
I'm not most people. While Rogers
42:06
got slammed by While Roger's got
42:08
slammed by establishment types, this
42:10
documentary is being touted as
42:13
a of sorts, not not just from
42:15
his nearly ending a a career
42:17
ending, torn Achilles, but for his personal
42:19
convictions as well. as well. Well,
42:21
I'm a Green Bay Packers fan, so
42:23
was our quarterback. I have a lot
42:25
of thoughts and feelings about him. He
42:27
brought us to the to land with
42:29
the Super Bowl, and I should
42:31
disclose that I'm that I'm a part owner. I'm a proud
42:33
proud of of the Green Bay Packers.
42:35
I do attend the meetings, and I
42:38
stick to the end with the marketing
42:40
and audit committee updates. Most Most people
42:42
just stick around for the fun
42:44
football updates. updates. I think I think is an
42:46
important sports figure to look at in
42:48
the lens of how our politics has
42:50
shifted. has shifted. Aaron Rogers, we hear about
42:52
the the Iowaska and things like that which I've
42:54
never done myself Can't say I have either Yes,
42:56
although I although I hear a lot of
42:58
great things about it, you know it. You
43:00
know, he basically, him and I, we and
43:03
I, we do have some
43:05
mutual friends and from all accounts,
43:07
he was basically a liberal a
43:09
from Northern California California he has
43:11
stood up for a number
43:13
of important causes including human rights
43:15
rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo
43:18
and many other important issues. issues. But
43:20
all started to change in
43:22
2020 and 2021 with the COVID
43:24
pandemic and his choice to
43:26
in his words get choice to and his
43:28
words get he actually did not
43:30
get the when he He ultimately
43:32
got COVID had to sit out shot.
43:35
He of at least one game due
43:37
to the NFL policy. And as
43:39
a result, it became public that he
43:41
was against getting the vaccines and
43:43
then basically as a broke loose as a
43:45
result of that. And he became
43:47
a figure on the right, but point in
43:50
point in sharing this transformation
43:52
is because there are many, what out
43:54
figures, people in in
43:56
the country I'd call independent
43:58
populists, who to be be on the left
44:01
or more independent leaning in general and have
44:03
shifted to the right and shifted towards Trump.
44:05
It's the what I call it's the Aaron
44:07
Rogers kind of Joe Rogan ecosystem of people.
44:09
Elon Moscow is part of that as well
44:11
and these are all people who formerly voted
44:13
Democratic but now voting for Trump and it's
44:16
important to look at that story because I
44:18
think people like Aaron Rogers feel like he's
44:20
been attacked by a lot of people on
44:22
the establishment left. And despite having some sympathy
44:24
for a lot of left issues, got pushed
44:26
to the political right where he wants to
44:29
be able to speak more freely about things.
44:31
and for people who only get their view
44:33
of Aaron Rogers through reading the New York
44:35
Times, I encourage you to check out the
44:37
Pat McAfee show where he goes on once
44:39
a week and you get to know him
44:42
more as a person. You may disagree with
44:44
his views, but at least he can humanize
44:46
him as a person. He's not an evil
44:48
person. He is a person that is an
44:50
independent thinker, and certainly his spouse has a
44:52
number of views that I disagree with. I
44:54
should note that, but at the same time
44:57
he's a very interesting voice right now. Yeah,
44:59
I love his appearances on the Pat McAfee
45:01
show. And when you go back to what
45:03
he was saying about the pandemic and the
45:05
vaccines, he turned out to be right about
45:07
a lot of it. I mean, his whole
45:10
point was we are some of the healthiest
45:12
people in the world being professional football players,
45:14
particularly quarterbacks. I mean, linebackers might be a
45:16
different story. They have comorbidities potentially through obesity.
45:18
But when you're a quarterback, you're not having
45:20
that issue and the vaccine was most beneficial
45:23
in reducing death and severe side effects for
45:25
people who had multiple comorbidities, maybe didn't need
45:27
to be taken by people who were otherwise
45:29
healthy. We know now that the vaccine did
45:31
not stop you from actually getting COVID or
45:33
spreading COVID, but it was more about reducing
45:35
the symptoms. And what I always found interesting
45:38
about this story about Aaron Rogers as well
45:40
is that he was not the only NFL
45:42
player who was skeptical of getting the vaccine.
45:44
In fact, my quarterback Lamar Jackson at the
45:46
Baltimore Ravens gave multiple public interviews ahead of
45:48
season he talked he how
45:51
about how he was
45:53
not planning on getting
45:55
the vaccine and was
45:57
actually really nervous about
45:59
it because of the it
46:01
authorization. emergency use he did
46:03
not get the same
46:06
backlash get the same I
46:08
don't know why that
46:10
is, but that was
46:12
indeed the case. that was I
46:14
think you're right about this
46:16
problem on some parts of the
46:18
of the left where They're not really interested
46:20
in having in debate about issues. about
46:23
It's more of an ideological purity test.
46:25
And if you fail any if of
46:27
that ideological purity test, you become purity
46:29
test, you And if the right is
46:31
there with open arms there with come in,
46:33
we're willing to have this discussion
46:35
with you. this Why wouldn't they want
46:37
to jump to so to speak, to
46:39
and talk to people who might be
46:41
more open -minded about their views? views? Now
46:44
that dynamic I've seen seen on the
46:46
political right as well right as well with
46:48
the, any any, any who who voted,
46:50
for example, to impeach Donald Donald Trump
46:52
basically isn't in Congress anymore. anymore
46:54
and they conservative people, people like
46:56
Liz Cheney, who by the way,
46:59
I oppose on basically way I oppose
47:01
on nearly every issue. every issue, Adam
47:03
Adam there are many others, who who
47:05
were all basically taken out of
47:07
office or voted out of
47:09
office or chose to retire because
47:11
they were persona non non on
47:13
the right. the right. this of of council culture
47:16
the the inability to hold multiple
47:18
views at at once is a problem I
47:20
see on both the left and the right.
47:22
to going back to Aaron, I'm very excited
47:24
to see this documentary on Netflix. I
47:26
think we'll get to know him a little
47:28
bit more as a human being. And
47:30
you're right, he did get. he did
47:32
get attacked even more than Lamar
47:34
Jackson around his COVID stances, I and
47:36
I think part of it. this is
47:38
an this is an important
47:41
lesson for any of the
47:43
independent populist media or political figures that
47:45
of, speaking of. be careful,
47:47
need to be careful, especially if they're
47:50
not political or they don't spend
47:52
their life professionally doing politics, to
47:54
understand that on on social media with
47:56
some of these media stories, you're
47:58
going to get get lord in. the mud. And
48:01
as I say, you'd never want to
48:03
wrestle a pig in the mud, you're
48:05
only going to get money. And I
48:07
think Aaron has invited a lot of
48:09
criticism. I kind of wish that I
48:11
could have helped steer him in a
48:13
little bit of a better direction and
48:16
know when he's getting ignored into stories
48:18
that he should not be a part
48:20
of because that was a real dynamic
48:22
and that led to Aaron saying even
48:24
more questionable things and getting more into
48:26
a corner that I think you didn't
48:28
want to get into. And so I
48:31
think a lot of people like Aaron,
48:33
they come into politics with really good
48:35
intentions and really get kind of torn
48:37
up as a result of it and
48:39
then you feel just kind of disillusioned
48:41
as a result of it. Like there
48:44
are a lot of good things that
48:46
you can do by being involved in
48:48
politics. You just got to be careful
48:50
about not getting into what I call
48:52
the polarization vortex. Yeah, and part of
48:54
it is not necessarily their fault either
48:56
though, because it seems like everything is
48:59
political now. And even if you express
49:01
religious beliefs like Harrison Booker did, giving
49:03
a commencement address at a Catholic college,
49:05
all of a sudden he was a
49:07
political lightning rod from both the left
49:09
and the right. because he just talked
49:11
about his Catholic faith and his family
49:14
dynamic and what he thought a lot
49:16
of women in the crowd might be
49:18
interested in which is starting a family
49:20
and being wives and mothers and all
49:22
of a sudden he was viewed as
49:24
this like conservative icon and you kind
49:26
of have a choice when you get
49:29
in that moment which is you either
49:31
embrace the fact that you're now a
49:33
voice for some of these issues and
49:35
and part of some partisan makeup, or
49:37
you shy away and you do the
49:39
sort of apologize and back off and
49:41
get out of politics entirely, and it
49:44
kind of sucks that that's the binary
49:46
choice that you have, that you can't
49:48
just express some opinions about really important
49:50
cultural and or political issues without becoming
49:52
sort of a figurehead for some political
49:54
movement. It all gets weaponized and when
49:56
the Harrison Bucker story came out, Patrick
49:59
Mahomes, the star quarterback of the Kansas
50:01
City Chiefs. commented on it and basically
50:03
took the latter out that you're talking
50:05
about which is look we appreciate a
50:07
variety of views in the locker room
50:09
fully support him not necessarily agreeing with
50:11
everything he says and I actually think
50:14
that's a beautiful sentiment because the spirit
50:16
in an NFL locker room where you
50:18
have people coming from extremely different backgrounds
50:20
frankly the kind of backgrounds we were
50:22
talking about in the diversity story earlier
50:24
from very different class backgrounds certainly different
50:26
racial and religious backgrounds And you're all
50:29
brought together to serve a higher purpose,
50:31
which is to go play a great
50:33
game and ultimately win. And I think
50:35
that that part of the spirit of
50:37
the locker room, I'm not saying everything
50:39
in the locker room is great, but
50:41
that part, I think is something that
50:44
our politics can learn from, I think
50:46
is something that Congress can work from,
50:48
because at the end of the day,
50:50
we are coming from all these different
50:52
racial, political, religious, class, intellectual kind of
50:54
backgrounds. And we have to be able
50:56
to have conversations because that's what humanizes
50:59
those perspectives and that's what allows us
51:01
to find often uncommon areas of common
51:03
ground. We're seeing that for example with
51:05
the Doed story, people like Bernie Sanders
51:07
and Elon Musk. So that's what we
51:09
need more of. Let's learn that from
51:11
the football locker room. Totally. I think
51:14
sports has long been a unifying force
51:16
in American life and that's what the
51:18
danger of politicizing everything about it is
51:20
is that you kind of lose that
51:22
commonality and just rooting for a team
51:24
and being part. of that community. We're
51:26
gonna cover more on rising at this.
51:31
A report for the Department of Justice
51:33
released this week found that the Memphis
51:36
Police Department uses excessive force and
51:38
discriminates against black people. The investigation was
51:40
launched after the beating death of
51:42
Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in
51:44
2023. The investigation began six months after
51:47
Nichols was kicked, punched, and hit
51:49
with the police baton as five officers
51:51
tried to arrest him after he
51:53
fled a traffic stop. Let's watch the
51:55
video from the Memphis Police and
51:57
note may find the
52:00
video disturbing. may
52:06
find
52:09
the
52:14
video
52:19
disturbing.
52:26
The report says that, quote, Memphis officers
52:28
regularly violate the rights of the
52:30
people they are sworn to serve. to
52:32
serve. It went further and said
52:34
that the Memphis the Memphis police show,
52:36
or practice of excessive force
52:38
force routinely exhibited discrimination against
52:40
black people and those with
52:42
behavioral health disabilities. health The report
52:44
revealed that a black person
52:46
that a black times more likely
52:48
to be stopped. That means
52:50
the police department routinely conducted
52:52
racial profiling by making unlawful
52:54
stops, searches and arrests. Despite
52:56
these findings, officials in Memphis, Memphis,
52:58
have pushed back against calls for
53:00
greater oversight of the city's of
53:02
department. police In a news conference on
53:05
Thursday, Mayor Paul Mayor Paul Young said the
53:07
been taking steps to address police police
53:09
abuses. pushed back against the city city
53:11
a binding agreement with the federal government the
53:13
is known as a consent decree. is known as
53:15
a consent believe we can make
53:17
more effective and meaningful and meaningful
53:20
change working together with community input.
53:22
and national experts.
53:24
experts than we can bureaucratic, costly,
53:26
and complicated federal government
53:28
consent decree. consent decree.
53:31
The death of Tyree Nichols and
53:33
the The death of Tyree go
53:35
to the subsequent findings go to the
53:37
heart of tensions facing police and
53:39
policing around the nation. been more been more
53:41
reporting on the persecution of black
53:43
people by police since Black Lives Matter,
53:46
which erupted in 2020 in the murder
53:48
of George Floyd. Floyd. All right, so
53:50
interesting report here. There has been There
53:52
from from in Memphis,
53:54
notably notably legal officer. officer
53:57
for the city, Tenara Gibson, that
53:59
that because the. took 17 months to
54:01
complete as opposed to an average of
54:03
two to three years, that she feels
54:05
that there was a rush to judgment.
54:07
And I would note that she is
54:09
black as well as the five officers
54:11
who were involved in that tragic death
54:13
of Tyree Nichols. So I don't, based
54:15
on what I've read of the report
54:17
so far, I'm not sure that it
54:19
fully establishes that there is racial discrimination
54:21
happening with the Memphis Police Department, which
54:23
is over 50% black in terms of
54:25
the officer makeup. Is there police
54:27
abuse? Probably. I'm sure there is in every city.
54:29
But I would stop short of agreeing with the
54:31
Department of Justice's conclusion that this is a racially
54:33
motivated issue and not a power issue. Well, people,
54:36
including this Justice Department report, they're certainly pointing to
54:38
race, but they're also pointing to people with disabilities.
54:40
And so I think as so many of these
54:42
stories try to get weaponized, talk about in terms
54:44
of race, but also in terms of what they're
54:46
describing as behavioral health issues and people with disabilities.
54:48
The report did find that an eight-year-old black boy
54:50
with behavioral health issues was grabbed by the responding
54:52
police officer, lifted into the air and thrown onto
54:54
a couch. They're handcuffing children as young as eight
54:56
years old as well. So we are seeing some
54:58
abuses that are very troubling. And I think when
55:00
you zoom out and look at police departments around
55:02
the country, there has been a... Very important conversation
55:04
about how they can reform their practices now being
55:06
the job of a police officer is extremely difficult
55:08
I have friends for police officers the one thing
55:10
they tell me all the time is that they
55:12
wish they had more Training they have more resources
55:14
for training. They're constantly in these very difficult very
55:16
sensitive and emotional situations. There's a has a huge
55:18
impact on the police officers personally, but there are
55:20
constructive bipartisan solutions to address this issue and I
55:22
think, you know, as this report is pointing out,
55:24
there is excessive force. I think one example of
55:26
excessive force is choke holds and I think seen
55:28
some interesting left-right alignment around reforming the practice of
55:30
choke holds in many police departments and there are
55:32
other opportunities as well. So I hope that, you
55:34
know, this whole investigation sprung from the Tyree Nichols
55:36
case and I'm glad they're looking into it further.
55:38
Sure, yeah, and I definitely am often concerned about
55:40
conversations to reform the police because sometimes we get
55:42
to conversations like defund the police which are hugely
55:44
counterproductive. If you want police to behave better in
55:46
these fraught situations, then the question would be about
55:48
training and potentially more funding, not less. Why are
55:50
you going to take away the resources that they
55:52
need to make sure that they're hiring the best
55:54
officers and training good people? What happens when you
55:57
remove funding from police departments is they end up
55:59
hiring people who are less qualified for the job,
56:01
and you actually are exacerbating the exact issues that
56:03
you're trying to get rid of. And there's been
56:05
a lot of conversation about how police do deal
56:07
with people with disabilities, particularly mental disabilities, because they're
56:09
often going into situations where someone could be having
56:11
a mental health crisis or something similar, where things
56:13
escalate very quickly. And there's been talk about de-escalation
56:15
tactics. One of the issues that I've heard from
56:17
police officers is they have a lot of concern
56:19
about some of the alternative solutions that have been
56:21
suggested for this, which is to send in mental
56:23
health professionals instead of police officers. And although they
56:25
may be better trained in de-escalation tactics, one of
56:27
the concerns is if a situation does turn violent,
56:29
are you then putting someone who is a mental
56:31
health professional but not trained to handle potentially violent
56:33
situations in a situation where they could end up
56:35
getting hurt, and then if they're even accompanied by
56:37
a police officer, they now have two people that
56:39
they're concerned about rather than just the one. Way
56:41
too often in America we're asking for. We're supposed
56:43
to be doing. and we certainly need the mental
56:45
health support social service workers who can do those
56:47
things and police do the things that they're trained
56:49
to do. de -escalation. That's another
56:51
area that I'm seeing
56:53
interesting alignment between left and
56:55
right is more training
56:57
around de -escalation. That's something
56:59
that a number of police
57:01
officers are calling for
57:03
right now. And another solution
57:05
that's come out is
57:07
developing a registry of essentially
57:09
bad cops in America
57:11
because one thing that happens
57:13
is you have a
57:15
bad cop who uses excessive
57:18
force, is discriminatory perhaps
57:20
in one police department, but
57:22
then they move to
57:24
a different police department and
57:26
perhaps in a different
57:28
state and they might not
57:30
be aware of some
57:32
of those issues. And so
57:34
if you can share
57:36
that information across police departments
57:38
across the country, that
57:40
can be helpful as well.
57:42
And that's getting bipartisan
57:44
support. Yeah. I mean, that
57:46
should seem pretty obvious
57:48
to me. And I have
57:50
to say one of
57:52
the reasons why I think
57:54
this has become such
57:56
a fraught partisan issue is
57:58
because of the rise
58:00
of Black Lives Matter, particularly
58:02
in 2020 because they
58:04
were one of the groups
58:06
pushing the defund the
58:08
police solution as they put
58:10
it. And I think
58:12
they created a lot of
58:14
unnecessary fear and really
58:16
exaggerated fear about the police,
58:18
which has made it
58:20
harder for both police to
58:22
do their jobs and
58:24
for citizens to feel like
58:26
they can trust the
58:28
police and have a good
58:30
relationship with them. You
58:32
have a majority of Democrats
58:34
who believe that the
58:37
number of unarmed Black men
58:39
who are killed each
58:41
year by police is in
58:43
the thousands. It's like
58:45
a dozen. I mean, one
58:47
is too many, sure.
58:49
But even if you look
58:51
at the Washington Post
58:53
database of police shootings of
58:55
unarmed Black men and
58:57
that 12 to 14 number
58:59
that's been consistent from
59:01
2014 to 2024, you see
59:03
that if you actually
59:05
look at the individual cases,
59:07
a significant portion of
59:09
them attack the police officer
59:11
before they were shot.
59:13
So even if they didn't
59:15
have a gun or
59:17
a knife, they were still
59:19
maybe trying to beat
59:21
this police officer or take
59:23
their sidearm, for example.
59:25
And so you end up
59:27
getting down to about
59:29
five cases where there was
59:31
an actually unjustified shooting
59:33
and there's maybe four out
59:35
of five where the
59:37
officer was ultimately held accountable
59:39
for their actions. Again,
59:41
if there's one where the
59:43
police officer didn't face
59:45
accountability, that's bad and we
59:47
should fix that. But
59:49
I also think it's important
59:51
for us not to
59:53
overstate the problem because that
59:55
just creates this fraught tense relationship
59:58
between police and civilians
1:00:00
when, I think generally speaking,
1:00:02
both of those groups
1:00:04
are trying to do the
1:00:06
best they can. they They're trying
1:00:08
to and I think the
1:00:10
more the build they can build community relations, policing
1:00:12
policing important. Interestingly,
1:00:14
some of the areas where
1:00:16
you see the least support
1:00:18
for defunding the police police is from
1:00:20
primarily brown communities in places
1:00:22
like my hometown of Milwaukee. hometown
1:00:24
I can also think about some of the
1:00:27
activists who called in the wake of
1:00:29
George Floyd. in the wake of George the police.
1:00:31
the police. Now a lot lot of activists they
1:00:33
kind of kind of get their talking
1:00:35
points from social media it it
1:00:38
becomes kind of a slogan. for policymakers
1:00:40
policy based on slogans, not a
1:00:42
good idea. idea. There's a lot of a
1:00:44
lot of support for actually refunding
1:00:46
the police right now. some of the But
1:00:48
some of to add a add a little
1:00:50
bit more context of the of police was also
1:00:52
about this issue of police officers being
1:00:54
asked to do things that they don't.
1:00:56
do or aren't ready to do. you really
1:00:58
need more social support for people
1:01:00
who are drug with drug addiction
1:01:02
or mental health challenges. need You need
1:01:04
people, to we need to fund
1:01:06
those services as well. the spirit some
1:01:08
of the spirit that I heard
1:01:10
from my friends active in the defund in
1:01:13
the defund the police movement. some some
1:01:15
of those same people who were
1:01:17
calling for the police, not so
1:01:19
much talking about that right now. Unfortunately,
1:01:21
Kamala Harris was one of those
1:01:23
individuals and she has absolutely paid the
1:01:25
price for that. that. So part of the of
1:01:27
the other I'll just quickly point to here
1:01:29
is is the wake of George Floyd there was
1:01:31
there was. Initially a
1:01:33
constructive process in in Congress for
1:01:35
a a justice and
1:01:37
policing reform legislation. unfortunately what happened with
1:01:40
that happened with that quickly into this
1:01:42
got sucked into this polarization vortex who
1:01:44
are where people who are driving
1:01:46
that bill. be a partisan issue they
1:01:48
to be a partisan issue. They wanted
1:01:50
to be only a when they issue.
1:01:52
And even when they had the opportunity
1:01:54
to get some constructive ideas from
1:01:56
Republicans, people like Senator Tim Scott, for
1:01:58
example, they said we actually don't want
1:02:00
to hear your ideas. Well, so then the
1:02:02
question then the question becomes, to are you
1:02:04
here to make a statement or are
1:02:06
you here to solve the problem? a Because
1:02:09
there really are quite a bit of
1:02:11
bipartisan ideas that are out there, but unfortunately
1:02:13
on the easier to keep the issue on
1:02:15
the solve to actually solve. that they want
1:02:17
that political win as opposed to
1:02:19
actually to create a better outcome a better
1:02:21
outcome people. It's all too people, it's all too in
1:02:23
our in our politics today. a We have a
1:02:25
lot more to cover so we'll do that. right after
1:02:27
this. Is
1:02:30
Evil Santa coming to a toy
1:02:32
store near you? Well,
1:02:34
California's Attorney General wants holiday
1:02:36
shoppers to report stores
1:02:38
that do not have not have
1:02:41
gender toy options. California
1:02:43
passed a law back in
1:02:45
January requiring major retailers
1:02:47
to maintain to maintain toy aisles.
1:02:50
Stores who fail to
1:02:52
comply will be slapped with
1:02:54
a with a penalty for the
1:02:56
first violation and up to
1:02:58
$500 for subsequent infractions. California Assemblymember
1:03:00
Evan member who introduced the bill,
1:03:02
said it will said help children
1:03:04
express themselves freely and without bias,
1:03:06
we need to let kids
1:03:08
be kids. to let kids be this
1:03:10
a is this a move? nice on who you
1:03:12
ask. on who took the X to
1:03:14
sound to X to One user One user
1:03:16
saying quote unhinged California Attorney General
1:03:19
Rob Rob Banta is forcing California
1:03:21
department stores to have
1:03:23
a to have a quote gender section.
1:03:25
Bonta is taking is taking the woke
1:03:27
on Christmas to the
1:03:29
next level. Another user said in
1:03:31
you can steal toys from
1:03:33
stores from daylight, but they
1:03:36
must be in a gender be
1:03:38
section Make it make sense.
1:03:40
it make sense. question for me.
1:03:42
What is a gender -neutral neutral I've
1:03:44
looked this up, looked looked this up. This
1:03:46
includes. includes radical things
1:03:48
like puzzles that can
1:03:51
help foster social skills
1:03:53
and cooperative play. puppets
1:03:55
that can help can help kids communicate more
1:03:57
easily and express their feelings. their
1:03:59
feelings. that can help children
1:04:01
work on complex tasks and solve
1:04:03
problems. and solve Part of what's
1:04:05
going on here, I feel like
1:04:07
this is a wing of the this
1:04:10
is a that is struggling to win
1:04:12
on policy win on elections nationally.
1:04:14
Now I know that assembly member
1:04:16
in California, Evan Evan Lowe, worked with
1:04:18
him on a number of bipartisan
1:04:20
things, so with things. organization
1:04:23
future which works with young elected officials.
1:04:25
So he's a great guy. I'm
1:04:27
not going to be great guy him, going to
1:04:29
be trashing him but how go for you go
1:04:31
for it. But I will say that.
1:04:33
say that why are we Why are we
1:04:35
calling it gender neutral toys to begin begin
1:04:37
with? mean, these are normal things that
1:04:39
we all grew up with up with and
1:04:41
puppets. And I think the other thing
1:04:43
here is here is Why mandate that it
1:04:45
that it needs to
1:04:47
be in stores? These are
1:04:49
products that have been
1:04:51
successfully sold to kids for many,
1:04:54
many, many years, long before we
1:04:56
had ever heard what a a gender
1:04:58
neutral toy is. I And I don't
1:05:00
think they need to be mandated,
1:05:02
I think it mandating it and
1:05:04
putting place these penalties. just sets a
1:05:06
just sets a tone and a message
1:05:08
that is counterproductive for the Democratic Party.
1:05:11
Now, in the state of California, you
1:05:13
do have do have super of Democrats in
1:05:15
the state legislature, as well
1:05:17
as as virtually every major position.
1:05:20
So you So you can often get
1:05:22
away with things like this, but
1:05:24
this is why you need to have
1:05:26
diverse opinions represented in state legislature to
1:05:28
of push back on this and
1:05:30
say, want, if we want, a if there's a
1:05:32
market for puzzles. gonna They're gonna exist
1:05:34
and companies are gonna produce that. They don't
1:05:36
need to be mandated into gender to be toys. into
1:05:39
it's just bizarre toys. Yeah,
1:05:41
a Barbie puzzle And gender puzzle,
1:05:43
not gender neutral, and a for boys
1:05:45
I just the whole
1:05:47
idea of even idea of even. saying
1:05:49
that the toys that children choose to
1:05:51
use have any reflection on their gender
1:05:54
is I think I of the problem. the
1:05:56
And when you look at some of
1:05:58
the some of the progressive activist groups on
1:06:00
behalf of transgender youth medical care, for
1:06:03
example, like the ones that are arguing
1:06:05
in front of the Supreme Court this
1:06:07
week, they make the claim often that
1:06:10
one of the early signs of a
1:06:12
child being transgender is playing with toys
1:06:14
that are marketed towards the opposite sex.
1:06:16
And it really is an erasure one
1:06:19
of children who might be homosexual. It
1:06:21
is erasure of people who just don't
1:06:23
conform to normal ideas of what gender
1:06:25
are. and I think is kind of
1:06:28
harmful to put this idea in kids'
1:06:30
heads that they're not normal or they
1:06:32
might even have been bored in the
1:06:34
wrong body if they don't play with
1:06:37
the right toy. And with this assemblyman
1:06:39
saying, let kids be kids, yeah, exactly,
1:06:41
but that's not what you're doing with
1:06:43
this bill. You're actually doing the opposite
1:06:46
of that by unnecessarily politicizing choices about
1:06:48
what toys kids want to play with.
1:06:50
And I think you're exactly right. The
1:06:53
idea that a store needs to be
1:06:55
compelled to sell puzzles or blocks or
1:06:57
whatever else is obviously absurd. Right. And
1:06:59
how do you define exactly gender neutral
1:07:02
toy? And like the enforcement of this
1:07:04
I think is very questionable. I have
1:07:06
friends who I don't have kids yet,
1:07:08
but I have friends who do who
1:07:11
vote consistently for Democrats. And they are
1:07:13
very big on making sure that they're
1:07:15
careful about the toys that their kids
1:07:17
are playing with. Just to your point
1:07:20
about, you know, the style of toys
1:07:22
that kids at a formative age are
1:07:24
playing with might have an impact on
1:07:27
how they identify in terms of gender.
1:07:29
And so my friends, it's interesting, they
1:07:31
vote Democratic, but have kind of a
1:07:33
conservative view when it comes to the
1:07:36
toys that their kids are playing with.
1:07:38
And, you know, it's completely understandable. from
1:07:40
a policy standpoint I always like to
1:07:42
distinguish between personal and policy because personally
1:07:45
you can have that view in terms
1:07:47
of policy let people do what they
1:07:49
want to do with their kids there
1:07:51
might be some parents who have the
1:07:54
opposite opinion yeah I would like to
1:07:56
expose my kids my my male kids
1:07:58
to more feminine toys and vice versa.
1:08:00
They're welcome to do that as well.
1:08:03
The point is to give people the
1:08:05
freedom and that's a great thing in
1:08:07
this country to do that. So I
1:08:10
think the bigger picture here that we're
1:08:12
going to be looking at over the
1:08:14
next few years is Gavin Houston will
1:08:16
be running for president in 2028. And
1:08:19
so you're going to see him doing
1:08:21
a lot of positioning over the next
1:08:23
couple years as he finishes up his
1:08:25
term as governor in California. And the
1:08:28
question is, and this is part of
1:08:30
the problem with our primary system right
1:08:32
now, is you have to go as
1:08:34
far a left as you can to
1:08:37
try and win the primary, and then
1:08:39
suddenly reinvent yourself within a month to
1:08:41
appeal to a general election audience, and
1:08:44
that comes across as disingenuous for a
1:08:46
lot of people. Now, I'm sure Gavin
1:08:48
Newsom will have no... a problem kind
1:08:50
of navigating those waters. He seems to
1:08:53
navigate things quite well politically, but at
1:08:55
the same time, he's going to be
1:08:57
doing more things like this over the
1:08:59
next few years to position himself nationally.
1:09:02
And the problem is, and I've seen
1:09:04
this in Wisconsin where our Governor Scott
1:09:06
Walker ran a Republican ran for president.
1:09:08
You try and do things for a
1:09:11
national audience and it doesn't work for
1:09:13
you in your state audience and your
1:09:15
approval rating goes down and he's going
1:09:17
to face that problem. Yeah, I think
1:09:20
that's true and he's already been trying
1:09:22
to, he's vetoed a few progressive bills
1:09:24
but then apparently signed this gender neutral
1:09:27
bill. It's not exactly
1:09:29
clear what tack he really is taking
1:09:31
going to 2028 because he's kind of
1:09:33
moved both ways. He's trying to be
1:09:36
a little bit of a shape shifter,
1:09:38
but just based on the fact that
1:09:40
one of the most influential ads from
1:09:43
the Trump campaign was the they, them
1:09:45
out against Kamala Harris this past election,
1:09:47
it seems like the Democratic Party would
1:09:50
do well to move away from this
1:09:52
kind of hyper focus on gender.
1:09:54
Especially when it comes to children, a
1:09:56
lot of parents, when you pull them,
1:09:59
are not interested in this kind of
1:10:01
gender identity. the left likes to talk
1:10:03
about. And it suggests to me that
1:10:06
they haven't really learned that much from
1:10:08
this past election in terms of what
1:10:10
cultural issues are popping for Americans and
1:10:13
how Americans react to them. What I'm
1:10:15
looking for in the Democratic Party right
1:10:17
now are people who are being self-reflective.
1:10:20
They are asking the question, what am
1:10:22
I missing? From the most enlightened Democrats
1:10:24
have spoken to you, they're asking
1:10:26
that question right now. Even those who
1:10:29
I would describe as living in an
1:10:31
echo chamber, in a coastal echo chamber,
1:10:33
the more enlightened ones are saying, what
1:10:36
am I missing right now? And for
1:10:38
people who are engaging in some of
1:10:40
these kind of left-wing woke politics and
1:10:43
not seeing the writing on the wall
1:10:45
of where our country culturally is right
1:10:47
now, if you want to win national
1:10:50
elections, that is, they're going to be
1:10:52
losing. And right now we have this
1:10:54
DNC chair race happening over the next
1:10:57
few months. The direction of the
1:10:59
Democratic Party for the next four years
1:11:01
is being decided really over the next
1:11:03
few months. And let's see. which vision
1:11:06
of the Democratic Party emerges? Is it
1:11:08
more like the one that we're seeing
1:11:10
from people like Rokana who are very
1:11:13
more, I would say, more independent-minded? Or
1:11:15
is it more in the Gavin Newsome
1:11:17
direction, which is complicated as you referenced.
1:11:20
The people who are saying that Democrats
1:11:22
did nothing wrong in this past election
1:11:24
cycle over the last few years, be
1:11:27
very wary of those people, please. The
1:11:29
people who are instead saying, hey,
1:11:31
we need to listen and reach out
1:11:33
to and talk to people. We disagree
1:11:36
with including people in the across the
1:11:38
spectrum, including the Obama Trump voters, for
1:11:40
example, in Wisconsin who voted Obama twice
1:11:43
and have now switched to Trump. Let's
1:11:45
have those conversations. Let's pay more attention
1:11:47
to those leaders. Absolutely. All right, we're
1:11:50
going to take a quick break. We'll
1:11:52
be back for rising after this. YMC,
1:11:54
Make America Great Again. The founder of
1:11:57
the Village People, the 70s band that
1:11:59
wrote the disco Bob YMCA changed his
1:12:01
tune on tune on President -elect
1:12:03
Donald Trump using song. After years
1:12:05
years of requesting that the Trump campaign
1:12:08
stop using the iconic the iconic even
1:12:10
suing Trump at one Trump at one Willis
1:12:12
finally gave the gave the the green
1:12:14
light to use the green light to he
1:12:16
is hit. his change on Fox
1:12:18
News change on Fox News Thursday. I
1:12:20
to allow allow the president the
1:12:22
next of use of YMCA.
1:12:24
because to to
1:12:26
genuinely, he seems to
1:12:29
genuinely like you know, so
1:12:31
many other artists were stopping
1:12:33
him from using their music. So
1:12:35
I decided to contact using their music,
1:12:37
so I decided to not
1:12:39
to terminate his, and told them
1:12:41
to not to terminate he seemed to
1:12:44
be bringing so much joy to
1:12:46
the American people. he seemed to
1:12:48
be this use of much joy
1:12:50
to the American done so much
1:12:52
for YNCA. of YNCA. and
1:12:55
brought so much joy to so
1:12:57
many so much joy to so
1:12:59
many people. The song has to
1:13:01
gone back to number one and
1:13:03
it's still number one today. today. So
1:13:05
if he were to ask those
1:13:07
people to perform. the the
1:13:09
song live for him. we'd have
1:13:12
have to seriously consider it.
1:13:14
it. great outfit
1:13:16
there. there. who is named who of
1:13:18
the Year at Fox Nation's Patriot
1:13:20
Awards. the Heard Willis loud and
1:13:22
clear, curious celebrating after accepting
1:13:24
the word, heard watch. loud
1:13:26
and clear. Here he
1:13:29
is celebrating after accepting
1:13:31
the word, let's watch.
1:13:46
The Trump tried to use
1:13:48
other artists' songs before, like Bruce Springsteen's,
1:13:50
born in others and others, The
1:13:52
Foo Fighters, the Foo Fighters, Adele Farrell,
1:13:54
and at least a dozen
1:13:56
others. others. Well, this song has become
1:13:58
quite a phenomenon. A friend of
1:14:00
mine said, Trump made politics, pop culture,
1:14:02
and you know, Trump with this song,
1:14:04
he, I would say, the YMCA song
1:14:07
has now achieved the status that some
1:14:09
of the all-time great songs have achieved
1:14:11
in terms of having a signature dance.
1:14:13
I think about Siz's song, Gangnam style,
1:14:15
The Weekend had blinding lights, where these
1:14:17
dances go viral on TikTok, and it
1:14:19
makes these artists' careers in many cases.
1:14:21
Now in this case part of the
1:14:23
interesting part of the story is that
1:14:25
people are saying the YMCA was like
1:14:27
a gay anthem and now it's a
1:14:29
magga anthem and you know I it's
1:14:31
something that I hear a lot of
1:14:33
people joking about kind of behind the
1:14:35
scenes I don't know if that's exactly
1:14:37
true although I know many of my
1:14:39
gay friends love the song and now
1:14:41
that and magga loves the song as
1:14:43
well that's the great thing about America
1:14:45
and the great thing about music why
1:14:47
I love music and I'm a musician
1:14:50
as well because it helps to weave
1:14:52
together some of the most disparate strands
1:14:54
of American life. Another great example I
1:14:56
think about is like Johnny Cash who
1:14:58
his music appealed to punk rockers and
1:15:00
evangelical Christians and everything in between. So
1:15:02
this YMCA song is apparently doing that
1:15:04
and I love it. Yeah, I think
1:15:06
it's awesome. And going back to this
1:15:08
gay anthem question, I think beyond just
1:15:10
being loved by gay people, there was
1:15:12
a narrative that was sort of being
1:15:14
pushed on social media, that the song
1:15:16
was about gay people gathering at the
1:15:18
YMCA, and the creator actually took issue
1:15:20
with that and said, no, this was
1:15:22
about the YMCA just being a community
1:15:24
spot, especially for black men to go
1:15:26
and hang out. and have a safe
1:15:28
place where they could do that outside
1:15:31
of maybe whatever was happening in their
1:15:33
neighborhoods and actually threaten to sue anybody
1:15:35
who calls it a gay anthem because
1:15:37
he was so offended by the idea
1:15:39
that he wrote this for people who
1:15:41
go to the YMCA to be gay,
1:15:43
I don't really understand it to be
1:15:45
honest with you, but nonetheless gay people
1:15:47
can enjoy the song, maggae people can
1:15:49
enjoy the song, I think that's wonderful,
1:15:51
a nice little cross-cultural moment, and it
1:15:53
is amazing to see how the Trump
1:15:55
dance gone completely viral. You see professional
1:15:57
athletes now doing the dance and celebration
1:15:59
when they score goals or touchdowns or
1:16:01
even on the golf course when you
1:16:03
hit a good shot. The MMA fighter
1:16:05
when he won recently at UFC he
1:16:07
went into it as well. I'm not
1:16:09
going to do the dance. Sorry, keep
1:16:11
going. Totally fair. But I think it's
1:16:14
a huge shift from 2016 and even
1:16:16
2020 where there was this movement of
1:16:18
the silent Trump supporter. of people who
1:16:20
were really scared to publicly express support
1:16:22
for Trump or even be seen as
1:16:24
adjacent to Trump. or normalizing Trump because
1:16:26
there would be so much backlash against
1:16:28
them from the media or what have
1:16:30
you. And now we're in a place
1:16:32
where you're kind of allowed to post
1:16:34
about the president-elect or do a dance
1:16:36
that was popularized by the president-elect and
1:16:38
it doesn't have to necessarily mean that
1:16:40
you're endorsing the guy but just recognizing
1:16:42
that he is sort of an icon
1:16:44
in pop culture. He is going to
1:16:46
be the president of the United States
1:16:48
and I think it's a good and
1:16:50
healthy thing for America to be able
1:16:52
to do that and not have it.
1:16:54
automatically mean that you support every policy
1:16:57
that he is trying to put into
1:16:59
place. Yeah, that's right. I think a
1:17:01
lot of politicians would be wise to
1:17:03
understand that culture precedes politics and so
1:17:05
if you can win in the cultural
1:17:07
arena, help to define the cultural space,
1:17:09
that has a huge downstream impact on
1:17:11
politics and I think a number of
1:17:13
political figures have nailed that over the
1:17:15
years. Trump definitely got it, like he
1:17:17
won with this YMCA song and people
1:17:19
love the dance. And now I notice
1:17:21
that he even integrates like the golf
1:17:23
swing into the dance and people have
1:17:25
picked up on that. So when you
1:17:27
even have variations of the dance that
1:17:29
are going viral, like you've absolutely won
1:17:31
in the cultural realm. But Obama had,
1:17:33
his theme song was the you two,
1:17:35
City of Blinding Lights, that became his
1:17:38
signature song. And I'll honestly say. You
1:17:40
know, there's a lot of Kamala Harris
1:17:42
bashing going on right now because obviously
1:17:44
her campaign did not succeed, but when
1:17:46
she came out with that Beyonce song.
1:17:48
and her campaign brand
1:17:50
was Fetum, that
1:17:52
popped. That's part of part
1:17:54
of what I think
1:17:56
helped to create
1:17:58
a moment where the
1:18:00
vibes were so
1:18:02
high in the the summer
1:18:04
and August going
1:18:06
into September. So I think
1:18:08
If a a campaign
1:18:10
can nail the song
1:18:12
selection, which is
1:18:14
hard to do, always
1:18:16
not always happen, it
1:18:19
pays dividends to it helps define the
1:18:21
brand of the campaign. helps define the
1:18:23
message of the campaign. You might even
1:18:25
get some of those endorsements, I guess,
1:18:27
in the case of the people were the
1:18:29
village people were initially against it, but
1:18:32
now they're for it. I'm I'm sure they're
1:18:34
thrilled with all the Spotify the Spotify I
1:18:36
Oh, I bet. They're raking it in. I think
1:18:38
a broader part of this of this connection
1:18:40
between politics and pop culture too is
1:18:42
authenticity, is right? And one of the reasons
1:18:44
why I think the Trump dance has
1:18:47
been so popular is that he's not
1:18:49
forcing anything to be cool. It's just
1:18:51
kind of him doing like like a. middle age
1:18:53
to older dad dance that they would do at a they would
1:18:55
do at a wedding. doing he's doing
1:18:57
the golf swing because he loves the
1:18:59
golf. to And it's not like a super
1:19:02
hip hop or tick-talk song. It's an
1:19:04
old classic hit from the 70s and he just kind
1:19:06
of he just kind of embraces who
1:19:08
he is and doesn't try right it's it's very
1:19:10
hard to be and right? It's very organic
1:19:12
and kind of natural, which is why
1:19:15
I think it resonates with people come
1:19:17
it doesn't come across like he's intentionally
1:19:19
trying to create a viral moment. He's
1:19:21
just doing it because he kind of
1:19:23
likes it and it's fun. cool I wish more
1:19:25
cool. I wish more politicians of of just
1:19:27
embrace that instead of doing all of
1:19:30
these
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