0:06

Welcome to talking

0:07

fans. a round table that brings

0:09

together prominent former federal officials

0:12

and special guests for a dynamic discussion

0:14

of the most important political and

0:16

legal topics of the day. I'm Harry

0:19

Littman. On the heels of

0:21

several weeks of predictions of a Republican

0:23

juggernaut, democrats were celebrating

0:26

this week after defying expectations

0:29

in a midterm that has them at

0:31

the threshold of retaining power

0:33

in the senate while seeding an

0:35

exquisitely narrow majority to

0:37

the Republicans in the house. There

0:40

is no doubt that the Democrats dodged

0:42

a bullet, and it was another feather

0:44

in the cap of president Biden,

0:46

who has posted a remarkable record

0:49

of legislative and political achievements

0:51

in two years, notwithstanding a

0:54

razor thin working majority and

0:56

poor approval ratings from the American

0:58

public. and yet and

1:00

still appears likely that the Republicans

1:03

will eke out a lesser than expected

1:05

majority in the House and

1:07

that the loudest and most aggressive

1:10

voices there will come from

1:12

the MAGA crazy contingent that

1:14

is hell bent on mounting any

1:16

investigation it can muster against

1:19

Biden and the Democrats while

1:21

engaging in reckless brinkmanship over

1:24

the debt limit. Moreover,

1:26

Donald Trump, whose self anointed

1:29

candidates fared poorly overall,

1:31

Nevertheless, waxed triumphant and

1:34

continued to telegraph an imminent

1:36

announcement of a twenty twenty four

1:39

candidacy. to the dismay

1:41

of Republican strategist who

1:43

see Trump's entry as a surefire

1:45

ticket for losing in next

1:47

month's runoff election in Georgia

1:49

between Herschel Walker and Rafael

1:52

Warmock. Thus, notwithstanding

1:55

a persuasive demonstration, that

1:57

the majority of the electorate is

1:59

sick of Trump's brand of authoritarian politics.

2:02

It remains far from definitive that

2:05

the toxic effects of Trumpism are

2:07

on the wane. To sift through

2:10

the Democrat's surprisingly strong

2:12

performance, the best result

2:14

in the midterms for the party in the

2:16

White House in a generation. And

2:18

to analyze what it portends for

2:21

the lame ducks session, the next

2:23

Congress, and the twenty twenty four

2:25

elections, we have an unbelievably

2:28

well qualified group of political

2:30

experts. and they are.

2:33

Senator Al Franklin, who currently

2:35

hosts the Al Franklin Podcast,

2:38

one of the most popular podcast on politics

2:40

in the country, the most popular podcast

2:43

by an ex senator and comedy writer.

2:45

He

2:46

also served as US senator, of

2:48

course, from Minnesota from two thousand nine

2:50

to two thousand eighteen, and

2:52

that, of course, was after his

2:54

incandescent rise to fame as a

2:56

writer, comedian, and

2:58

author. Over the past year, he

3:00

has made his return to comedy with

3:03

The only former US senator currently

3:05

on tour? Tour. Yes.

3:08

Exactly. I've seen it. You

3:10

should too. It's well worth it.

3:13

Senator Franken, thank you as always

3:15

for being on talking fit. My pleasure

3:17

is always.

3:18

And another dollward

3:20

friend of the podcast

3:22

representative, Ted Liu,

3:24

he was just reelected to

3:26

California's thirty third congressional district

3:28

in the US House of Representatives. and

3:31

currently sits on the House Judiciary Committee,

3:34

uh-oh, and the House Foreign Affairs

3:36

Committee, as well as cochair of the Democratic

3:39

Policy and Communication. committee. He

3:41

is, of course, a former active

3:43

duty officer in the US Air

3:45

Force and served in the reserves

3:48

retiring with the rank of Kerno in

3:50

twenty twenty one. Thank you for

3:52

your service, and thank you as always

3:54

for returning to talking fans. Thank

3:57

you, Harry.

3:58

and thrilled to welcome

3:59

a first time guest, hopefully,

4:02

not the last senator Heidi

4:04

Heitkamp. who served as

4:06

senator for the state of North Dakota

4:08

from two thousand thirteen to two thousand

4:11

nineteen, the first woman elected

4:13

to the US senate from her state and

4:15

the last Democrat to hold statewide

4:17

office or represent North Dakota in

4:20

congress. She also served as

4:22

the North Dakota Attorney General from

4:24

nineteen ninety two to two thousand.

4:27

After leaving the Senate, Senator

4:29

Hightkamp co founded the one

4:31

country project which helps Democrats

4:34

reconnect with rural voters. She's

4:36

a contributor on CNBC and

4:39

ABC and not least. In

4:41

a couple months this January, she

4:43

will officially step into her role

4:45

as the director of the University of

4:48

Chicago's Institute of

4:50

politics. Thank you so much

4:52

for joining talking feds. And senator,

4:54

could I ask you to give us a quick

4:56

explanation of the Institute

4:59

of Politics and what it does and what you'll

5:01

be doing?

5:02

Hopefully, what it does is inspire young

5:04

people to participate in the political

5:07

process. A lot of young people love policy.

5:10

Don't know a lot about politics, but you can't

5:12

do one without the other. And so -- Yeah.

5:14

More than that, for those of us

5:16

who are adults and maybe little more jaded,

5:18

the instant politics offers us hope

5:20

by meeting incredibly bright

5:23

and inspiring young people who really

5:25

care about the country and care about their future,

5:27

but also care about our collective future.

5:29

So I'm proud to do it.

5:31

It

5:31

seems to have been one of the secret

5:34

weapons this last week as the

5:36

greater turnout from young voters.

5:38

Okay. we have times to talk about

5:40

looking ahead, but let's spend a little bit

5:42

of time just looking back at

5:44

the buoying results

5:47

of the week I guess the question is,

5:49

were the polls that were consistently pointing

5:52

to a distinctly better night for

5:54

Republicans wrong? or

5:56

did something happen

5:58

that created a democratic last minute

6:01

surge over the last seventy two hours?

6:03

I just think polling is bad.

6:06

Yeah. And so and

6:08

it it usually has been bad,

6:10

for example, in sixteen and twenty

6:12

in the wrong direction. and so

6:15

scary. But my

6:17

wife said this last night, Fannie said this

6:19

last night, she said, The American

6:22

people said, stop it.

6:24

This was getting really frightening, our

6:27

democracy. So it

6:29

turns out that Roe

6:33

and democracy were

6:35

bigger than the

6:37

economy and crime, I think. And

6:41

it's astounding. This

6:43

is a historical what happened.

6:46

yesterday. And thank God.

6:48

Yeah. I mean, just by numbers going

6:50

back to two thousand two where

6:53

there were regular losses of

6:55

thirty or more seats. You know,

6:57

the pollsters did try on this. In the

6:59

summer, people were calling out democracy

7:01

and abortion dogs as salient.

7:04

and then less so in

7:06

October and November, but there's a lot of reasons

7:09

at least from the exit polls to think abortion

7:11

for one really did matter.

7:14

Do you have a sense of whether it was

7:16

a kind of national as

7:18

Fannie puts it, you know, stop this crap?

7:21

or was it sort of state by state

7:23

and it just added up? I

7:25

think the first thing that we need to think about, and

7:27

I know it's not popular, but the polls weren't

7:29

really that broad.

7:30

if you consider that they were all

7:33

within the margin of error, that we

7:35

were we were told that data

7:37

would be close, that Arizona would be close,

7:39

Georgia would be close. Pennsylvania would

7:41

be close. They were all close and they were all

7:43

within the margin there. On

7:46

the kind of sweep that you would expect

7:48

in the host of representatives, want

7:50

you to think about the fact that in

7:52

twenty twenty, we went into that

7:54

race thinking if we won the presidency,

7:57

there would be a twenty to

7:58

thirty seat

8:00

swing to the Democratic side. Guess

8:02

what? We lost fifteen seats.

8:04

And so if you think about kind

8:07

of the trend line A lot of low

8:09

hanging fruit in the host of representatives

8:11

went in twenty twenty. And so

8:14

had we won those seats you

8:16

would have seen probably a bigger swing.

8:18

But at the end of the day, and and and

8:20

most of the posters would tell you there wasn't a

8:22

lot of public bullying in August.

8:25

So we weren't seeing the slide,

8:27

but we also were behind the curve

8:30

on the return back to the Democratic party.

8:32

And so I think a lot of wishful

8:35

thinking, and I think there was a lot of

8:37

junk pulling that the Republicans dumped

8:39

into the national average. And as a result,

8:41

we ended up you know, kind of maybe

8:43

being led down the Primrose path that

8:45

this was going to be a big suite. But

8:47

if you looked at the raw data, it wasn't

8:50

that far off.

8:51

So Democrats clearly over performed.

8:54

And I think one reason is our messaging

8:56

of putting people over politics and

8:58

focusing on lower cost safer

9:00

communities and better paying jobs resonate

9:02

with American people. At the same

9:04

time, I do think Senator Franken

9:06

is right that abortion and

9:09

democracy weighed heavily on people's

9:11

minds, and you can see that with a number

9:13

of Democratic, Secretary of State candidates

9:16

who all won. In terms of

9:18

polling, the reason is bad

9:20

is not because many pollsters

9:22

are bad. It's because political polling is

9:24

somewhat different. Home and

9:26

Jungle was actually pretty darn accurate assessing

9:29

preferences. So there was a poll for

9:31

example that said, hey, do you prefer

9:33

a lucky charm cereal or a frosted flake

9:35

cereal? and it came out fifty five,

9:37

forty five, you can bet it's pretty

9:39

accurate that across America, that's what

9:41

people believe. But political only has

9:43

to do one more thing, which is predict.

9:45

Three weeks from now, do you go buy

9:48

lucky charm cereal? Or do you just push your

9:50

mind across a flake cereal, or do you not buy any

9:52

cereal at all? And that is a pure

9:54

guess. And at that point, posters are literally

9:57

making predictions. They're no longer assessing

9:59

preferences, and that's why the polling can

10:01

be all over the place. You

10:02

know, I know it's not an article of faith,

10:05

but I think that if you actually objectively

10:07

looked at the polling, it wasn't that far

10:09

off. what we got wrong and

10:12

what the pollsters

10:12

got wrong was momentum. You

10:14

know, they assumed that trend lines were gonna

10:16

continue. and

10:17

they really underestimated, especially

10:20

in states like Michigan, states

10:22

like Pennsylvania, the

10:24

significance of abortion, the

10:26

significance of ROVI wave being overturned.

10:28

And so I think it was more of a

10:30

momentum failure to

10:32

determine and where the wave was going.

10:35

And the bottom line is I think

10:37

the mistake that the democrats would make

10:39

and with all due difference to the congressman

10:41

is assuming that your economic message

10:44

won. What won on Tuesday

10:46

was the Supreme Court reversing

10:49

Roe v. Wade, and Donald Trump

10:51

putting himself on the ballot and reminding

10:53

people, we don't want that chaos.

10:55

We don't want that crazy back. And

10:57

so Donald Trump has more to

10:59

do with the Democratic victory than what I think

11:01

people are giving them credit for. The

11:03

demographics also of the turnout

11:06

was different than I think pollsters

11:08

thought too, which was that we

11:10

just had lot of young people

11:13

turning out. vary a historical

11:15

there. Right? They disappoint election

11:17

after election, but not but not this time.

11:20

Yeah. In a midterm. And Why

11:22

would young people be activated

11:25

by rope? Right. Why?

11:29

Who did that? who could have

11:31

anticipated that? So

11:33

my son who was a SOHorn

11:36

college, now he he's a birdiest

11:38

supporter, and he was sort of down on democrats.

11:40

because think we're doing enough in a whole bunch of

11:42

areas. And then he saw a January

11:44

six committee hearing, and

11:47

he came to and he said I get it now.

11:49

I'm voting Democrat. And so I think

11:51

-- Why would -- just committee hearings also

11:53

probably voted This is your son, and he didn't

11:55

get it till then.

11:59

I have to put a

12:01

plug in for the organizational skills

12:03

of so many young Democrats. unless

12:05

we need to be reminded that

12:07

the new generation generation z

12:10

is much more diverse.

12:12

And when you look at the breakdown between

12:14

young people, we traditionally look at brown

12:16

and black people as opposed to white people.

12:19

The

12:19

white students voted

12:20

pretty balanced. But

12:22

because we have a majority

12:25

in this country that is moving towards

12:27

diversity, you saw that

12:29

as a double factor. I think it's not just

12:32

young people. It's young people of color that

12:34

really carried this election. It

12:36

does feel to me that the Republicans are

12:38

always doing, you know, final

12:40

rearguard maneuvers because and

12:42

they're becoming more and more a minority

12:45

party, but and if the young voters are

12:47

really in, that would be a game changer.

12:49

Let me take it from the other direction. though, because

12:51

well, it it'll be a little while, I guess,

12:54

maybe into next week before the

12:56

scorecard lineup is fully settled.

12:58

you know, that's a blink of an eye and Al

13:00

Frank in election time. But

13:02

is there any drama left?

13:05

And here's what I mean to say, the

13:07

stakes between, say, fifty

13:10

versus fifty one dam seats in the

13:12

Senate or two twenty or two twenty

13:14

three in the House, Is it at all meaningful

13:17

or is the table basically set

13:19

at this point for the next two years?

13:21

Fifty one makes a big difference in the senate.

13:24

because of committees. Right now,

13:26

the committees are even, and

13:29

it's very hard for Democrats to

13:31

get anything done. You can't change rules

13:33

without getting a vote from,

13:35

you know, Republican and they refuse to do that.

13:38

Sometimes they just refuse to show up.

13:40

So it would make hey. Make

13:43

it a lot easier to do work in committee. That's

13:45

for sure. So it would make a big difference.

13:47

Also, we wouldn't be relying on

13:50

two boats as much. We could

13:52

just get one for when

13:54

we need get some reconciliation. But,

13:56

no, it makes a big difference, you know.

13:58

margins absolutely matter in

14:00

the house and let's say the Republicans

14:03

have two eighteen votes barely having

14:05

the majority That would mean

14:07

not a single member of the Republican

14:10

caucus could

14:11

leave, get sick,

14:13

decide to do something else, because then

14:15

media flips to a democrats or vice versa.

14:18

Democrats, let's say, get two hundred eighteen votes.

14:20

The same thing. So it can make

14:22

it very hard to govern if the margins

14:24

are very folks. And so that

14:26

would make a difference. I was

14:28

gonna add, and I don't wanna step

14:30

on progress with Lou's territory.

14:32

But where they will get their majority,

14:34

if they get the majority, is in

14:36

moderate districts, in those New York districts.

14:39

And I saw a statement today by a

14:41

new congressman in New York talking about, we

14:43

need to work together, we need to reach across

14:46

the aisle. we can't be divisive. You

14:48

know, the day of Trump is over. And

14:50

and honestly, where they've

14:52

picked up those votes is going

14:55

to be very, very difficult if

14:57

if this is the slimmest of majority in

14:59

the house to retain and

15:01

maintain that hardcore party

15:04

loyalty. Those people won't come

15:06

back if they go full on

15:08

Mega in the Congress.

15:10

I kinda don't necessarily agree

15:12

with that. I mean, it depends how narrow the

15:15

margin is. But by

15:17

and large, they've gotten rid of all the moderates

15:20

in the house. And, Ted, you can tell me if

15:23

that's the case. It seems to

15:25

me that moderates were either

15:27

redistracted out or lost or

15:29

retired. And because

15:32

of gerrymandering, the

15:34

the people get elected are much more

15:37

right wing and I defer

15:39

to you, Ted, on this. But I I do

15:41

kinda think that unless

15:43

it's really narrow, that

15:46

wing of the party is gonna dominate and

15:48

decide what happens in the vouch. So

15:50

suffering, I think generally you're

15:53

correct It's true that the

15:55

number of moderate Republicans right now in the

15:57

republican caucus can fit in a phone booth.

15:59

But think

15:59

senate high camera is correct with especially

16:02

regarding New York, a number

16:04

of these districts when districts that Joe

16:06

Biden won by double

16:09

digits or by six or seven

16:11

points, these are districts that Democrats should

16:13

have won. and we are gonna win

16:15

in two years in presidential. When New

16:17

York acts like a blue state, there were some

16:19

very specific local and state factors

16:21

that I think affected this specific

16:24

cycle, which will not be present

16:26

two years from now. So these Republican

16:28

newly elected members have to

16:30

act like Democrats if they

16:32

wanna get reelected. I just don't

16:34

think there's enough of them. Well,

16:36

I I think if we old if they only

16:38

have a full four vote majority, You've

16:41

got one in New Jersey and three in New

16:43

York that'll make all the difference. And we don't

16:45

know yet what happens in California.

16:47

But interestingly enough, on

16:49

the popular vote, the Republicans

16:51

actually won the popular

16:54

vote in house races

16:55

and yet their majority in there or

16:57

what the expectations were. So this is

16:59

an interesting election to analyze and

17:02

we don't know. We're we're trying to do this armchair

17:05

right after the vote. think we'll know

17:07

more in a couple weeks. But, yeah, I would

17:09

not wanna be Kevin McCarthy. I think it would

17:11

be --

17:11

Yeah. -- he's gonna be speaker of the house miserable

17:14

job. By

17:14

the way, just on that, does everyone agree

17:17

you hear, you know, a sort of whisper saying

17:20

he won't have the votes? You see any

17:22

prospect for that? If

17:23

the mortgage is very close -- Yeah. -- if

17:26

let's

17:26

say your holdings do get

17:28

the house and it's two hundred eighteen or

17:31

two nineteen or even two twenty, I

17:33

think we hard for McCarthy

17:36

to unify his caucus because it only takes

17:39

a handful of freedom caucus

17:41

members to defect. So

17:44

I don't know if he will become

17:46

speaker. I think the margins do matter greatly

17:48

right now. there's

17:49

a lot of Twitter yac

17:51

yac about whether you all

17:53

would vote for Liz Cheney. As you know, the

17:55

speaker doesn't need to be a current member.

17:58

and a lot

17:58

of people suggested

17:59

that the Democrats a lot of

18:01

the Chinese people should vote for Liz Cheney

18:04

for speaker. here's

18:05

what I wanted to ask. Again,

18:07

it's sort of the nuanced sort

18:09

of politics or subterranean politics

18:12

of the house. I think a fear

18:14

is that the handful of

18:17

moderates will basically give

18:21

up passed to the MAGA crowd

18:23

for all the mischief at once too. In other

18:25

words, they won't push back

18:27

on any of the kind

18:29

of ridiculous over the top aggressive

18:32

agenda of investigating everything

18:35

and anything. They'll use their

18:37

chips such as they are on a little

18:39

bit of legislation maybe joining with

18:41

Democrats. So if that's true,

18:43

even the very narrow margin

18:47

won't do a lot to

18:49

blunt the kind of

18:51

over the top investigations agenda

18:54

they might be planning what do you think about

18:56

that sort of supposition? Well,

18:58

control of the house does

19:01

matter significantly precisely as you

19:03

say Harry because if all the gabbles

19:05

change, all the chairmanship's changed, then,

19:08

yes, a number of these committees could do

19:10

a lot of investigations of the Biden administration

19:13

and that's just something that

19:16

we can't really do much about if we don't control

19:18

the house as Democrats. In terms

19:20

of what the investigations will be, I think it

19:22

will be moderated because of how

19:24

slim the margins are going to be.

19:26

And I don't think that Biden

19:28

is going to be impeached I think if this

19:30

was a big red wave, that may have been

19:33

possibility, but I can't imagine that

19:35

happening now. May I predict

19:37

something? Yeah. There you go. It's gonna

19:39

be really ugly. Yeah.

19:41

It's just going to be ugly. That's

19:44

my prediction. This is gonna be ugly.

19:46

But will it be a gift to Democrats

19:48

in twenty twenty four than this ugliness,

19:51

the brand of ugliness involved? I think

19:53

so. Yeah. You I did see

19:55

a tweet from you saying, run, Donald,

19:57

run. Maybe

19:59

we can move to him now. We've stayed away

20:01

for all of twenty minutes. So

20:04

what about Trump?

20:06

How does he come out of the midterms?

20:09

And what's his next move if you

20:11

care to predict? either repeatedly saying

20:13

on social media for last

20:15

year that Donald Trump should stop

20:18

being weak and some in the courage to be clear

20:20

for president immediately. And

20:22

I hope he does that. I hope he declares

20:24

before the Georgia Senate runoff. I

20:26

I really hope he gets a courage to do

20:28

that.

20:29

Three votes for that? Oh, yeah. Well,

20:31

I

20:32

think he's wounded. Uh-huh.

20:34

And there's nothing more

20:36

interesting than a wounded sociopath. Well,

20:41

let's not forget the other

20:42

motivation. And and, Harry, I I don't

20:44

wanna step on your territory. You know a lot

20:46

more about this than I do, but I think

20:48

he is falsely

20:48

assuming that if he declares

20:51

his candidacy that it will somehow inoculate

20:54

him from indictment, inoculate

20:57

him from the civil lawsuits that he's confronting.

20:59

And so he's get an additional motivation,

21:02

not just I need to be center stage

21:04

and I want to be the most important guy in the room.

21:07

He thinks that this is the give out

21:09

a jail free card. I don't think that

21:11

is. We can all debate on whether Mira

21:13

Garland is going to appoint a

21:15

special prosecutor if he does. That's

21:17

tomorrow's discussion. But I think

21:20

his calculation, the former president's

21:22

calculation, is that he needs

21:24

that protection from civil and criminal

21:27

litigation that's ongoing. No.

21:28

It's a great point. I'll put my prosecutor's head

21:31

on and give the answer to that wrong.

21:33

You know, it's it's just not gonna do

21:36

it, although he could think it and he

21:38

might think it will, you know, increase

21:40

the fuhrer. What about for

21:42

him the calculation that congressman

21:44

Lou just really adverted to now?

21:46

I assume everyone's telling him stay

21:49

the hell out of it until after

21:51

the Georgia runoff. But

21:53

he's confronting Tuesday,

21:55

a newly muscular candidate

21:59

in DeSantis, maybe DeSantis

22:01

can make moves and shore up

22:03

or secure the big funders, etcetera.

22:06

Did he kind of say he was gonna

22:08

announce two weeks after I mean He said

22:10

the fifteenth, a big announcement on the fifteenth.

22:13

Okay. So if he backs out

22:15

of that, that's very

22:17

uncharacteristic of him. and

22:20

opens him up to scorn and ridicule,

22:23

which is what I do.

22:26

So, well, in the only ex

22:29

senator and Tory Tory.

22:31

I actually think that he's

22:33

gotten his feelings hurt. because

22:35

he assumes that everybody who's been

22:37

successful in the Republican Party

22:39

is because of him. And this

22:41

is disloyalty. and he's

22:43

going to punish that disloyalty by

22:46

announcing early and making their lives

22:48

miserable. And, you know, I've said this

22:50

and I don't have any reason to

22:53

support it, you know, but I guess in politics

22:55

today, you can say whatever you think. You

22:57

know, if I'm Donald Trump, I

22:59

say to the classic kind

23:01

of traditional Republican Party. Watch

23:04

me. I'll take my base, my supporters,

23:06

and I'll take a walk. you can't

23:08

win elections without my base. Mhmm.

23:11

And so keep messing with me

23:13

and I'll mess with you. And

23:15

so this is payback for

23:17

what he perceives to be complete

23:19

disloyalty by people he

23:21

thinks he's made their

23:22

political careers.

23:24

I

23:25

agree with Heidi. The best thing that

23:27

could happen for Democrats in twenty

23:29

twenty four is Rhonda Sanders

23:31

or someone else gets nominated for president.

23:33

because then I believe Donald Trump will

23:35

burn down the republican party.

23:37

I agree. I think that he is just outraged

23:40

because he just assumes that Dasante's

23:42

would be nothing without him. You saw it in

23:44

his public statements today.

23:46

Can

23:47

I export this a little bit more at the

23:49

house level of Congress on this? So

23:51

you know, it's been easy for them all

23:53

to be wild eyed crazies

23:56

in the minority. But now if

23:58

we assume that the Republicans over slight majority,

24:00

do you prefer receive any kind

24:02

of separation among

24:05

the people who we now all

24:07

cluster together as the magna

24:09

crowd Is there any kind of

24:11

opening for a little bit of

24:13

an extreme extreme moderate

24:15

split as you see it? Or

24:17

do you think that other than the

24:20

three or four folks that Senator

24:22

Hicamp refers to, it's going to be

24:24

a very unified group

24:27

of, say, two hundred fifteen?

24:29

I've learned to never underestimate

24:32

the Republicans' ability to go

24:34

full on crazy. And I believe

24:37

that we're gonna have investigations of

24:39

hundred Biden's laptop,

24:41

investigations of, you know, or democrats

24:43

really taking children's blood

24:45

and making their concoctions and make us high.

24:48

I mean, you get some crazy stuff, and

24:50

I think they can't help themselves. That

24:52

is my view. Alright. let me go

24:54

to one meaningful issue,

24:56

which is the possibility of

24:59

putting the country's full faith in

25:01

credit at risk. So

25:03

certainly, there seems to be the appetite

25:06

for that among a lot of the MAGA crowd.

25:08

Do you think there's gonna be any move

25:10

this is for everybody in the lame duck? period

25:13

to try to increase the debt ceiling

25:15

or somehow blunt a

25:17

new majority's power to do that. Certainly

25:20

hope I hope so. I

25:22

went through this a couple times, but

25:24

mainly in two thousand eleven where,

25:27

of course, what we're talking about, I think, your

25:30

audience knows this. But

25:32

the debt ceiling, which

25:33

will

25:34

be set to expire, I think, in the first

25:36

half of next year, what they did in

25:38

the eleven was just hold a gun to our head

25:40

and said, we will not raise

25:43

it. And that is the

25:45

full faith and credit of the United States is

25:47

at stake? For the first show, which has never

25:49

ever been sacrificed

25:52

like that. Yeah. Oh, it'd be crazy.

25:54

and it would cause a worldwide economic

25:56

disaster. But that's the gauntlet

25:58

of the head. That's

25:59

playing

25:59

chicken. Right? And

26:02

we had to compromise them. Obama had

26:04

to compromise on spending. They've

26:06

been talking about Social Security

26:09

and Medicare reducing that. McArthur

26:11

said that. Scalia said that.

26:14

But I'm what I'm hoping is McConnell

26:17

will do what they did a year ago

26:19

or last December. which

26:21

is basically let the Democrats

26:24

and the Senate do it with reconciliation. They

26:27

passed the bill last year to

26:29

allow the Democrats to do

26:31

that. So I obviously,

26:34

that's what we're we're hoping happens.

26:36

if I can just add something, maybe

26:38

people hear this and they think, well, what's the

26:40

big deal? We

26:41

did a hearing in the banking committee when

26:44

they were threatening it, when I was in, and

26:46

all the regulators came in and said, this is

26:48

a bell you can't un ring. And

26:50

even if they have to discount treasuries

26:53

one or two percent, it will create

26:55

a financial crisis. McConnell

26:57

understands that. And I think Nancy

27:00

Pelosi, if she doesn't have a gavel,

27:02

and I think congressmen can speak better

27:04

to this. The time to do this may be

27:06

the lame duck because that may be the last opportunity

27:09

where the debt limit is not weaponized

27:12

by the far right? I

27:14

think that if Republicans

27:17

control the house and the first thing the American

27:19

people see is that their full faith

27:21

in Credit United States gets shredded, I

27:23

believe they will be blamed. And

27:26

I think folks need to understand the context of

27:28

this particular election cycle, we

27:30

had high inflation. And it was high worldwide,

27:33

ensuring the US was not immune from it,

27:35

and we had also higher than normal gas

27:37

prices.

27:38

any competent opposition party

27:40

would have destroyed the party holding

27:42

the White House. That did not happen because

27:45

people actually overlook

27:47

some of these economic factors and look to craziness

27:49

of the Republican Party. If now the Republicans

27:51

go in again and try to mess

27:53

up the economy, I think that probably will

27:55

get very angry and blaming on them and hold

27:57

it against them two years from now.

27:59

I really think that's true and it's

28:01

happened before and that goes back to

28:03

is there anything that matters now between fifteen

28:06

fifty one in the senate? If it's isolated

28:08

to the house that this postage

28:11

taking is happening. I think the blame gets

28:13

more clearly focused on them.

28:15

Let

28:16

me follow-up. How do you see

28:18

Mitch McConnell figuring in

28:21

this whole sort of stew over

28:23

the next couple years. He's

28:25

totally laser focused on

28:27

now will be on prospects for twenty

28:30

twenty four. And how does that

28:32

influence him to try to tamperize?

28:34

McConnell's

28:34

problem in this next Congress

28:37

will be there'll be at least ten

28:39

of his caucus who get up in the morning, look

28:41

in the mirror and see the next president of the United

28:43

States. and

28:44

they are not gonna have his agenda. They're

28:46

gonna have their agenda. And they're gonna

28:48

use the Florida message. And and so

28:51

he may lose some

28:53

ability to control the

28:55

caucus based on these personal agendas.

28:57

And, you know, McConnell is pretty crafty,

29:00

but he's also losing some of his best

29:02

lieutenants. He lost Lamar, he lost

29:04

ripe blindfold to retirement. And

29:06

so I think he's getting pretty lonely

29:08

in that old guard of Republican leadership.

29:11

And now he's got to deal with the likelihood of

29:14

Al's friend, Ted Cruz.

29:18

Al famously said he

29:20

liked him

29:20

better than any other senator, and that

29:22

wasn't much. I'll I'll do the joke.

29:24

It's Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Okay.

29:27

The joke is I probably like Ted Cruz. More

29:29

than most of my colleagues like Ted Cruz, and I

29:31

hate Ted Cruz. There you go.

29:33

Sorry, I didn't need to step on your

29:35

life. But my point is that

29:37

he will have to manage a

29:40

self centered group of people, whether

29:42

it's Josh Holly, whether it's Ted Cruz,

29:45

whether it's Mike Lee who's always out

29:46

there on some kind of tangent.

29:49

That's not consistent. And you

29:51

think about the discipline of Mitch

29:53

McConnell, but he didn't control

29:56

Scott, and now you see a bunch of senators,

29:58

Republican senators saying,

29:59

we don't wanna vote on whether we're

30:02

going to put him back into leadership.

30:03

until after the Georgia

30:05

election? Well, that's not exactly

30:08

a ringing endorsement for

30:09

him becoming the next leader. So we'll see

30:11

what happens. I

30:12

just wanna add that I think it's

30:14

just terribly sad he doesn't defend

30:17

his wife against Donald Trump's racist

30:19

attacks. I mean, this is your wife.

30:21

You gotta defend her, and it just

30:23

makes me very sad to see that situation.

30:25

Oh, he

30:25

just steams in private instead of

30:28

actually doing the craziest thing and taking

30:30

them on in public.

30:37

It's time now for

30:38

our sidebar function in which we ask

30:40

a well known person to explain

30:42

an important concept in the news.

30:45

And the concept today is limit

30:47

on campaign advertising, legal

30:50

requirements for what candidates must

30:53

can and can't do in the

30:55

ads that have been ubiquitous these

30:58

last couple months. And to

31:00

explain that important topic, I am

31:02

really happy to welcome the

31:04

multi talented Jack

31:07

Black. A renowned actor

31:09

comedian AM Musician, best

31:11

known for his iconic roles

31:13

in high fidelity, school of

31:15

rock, Gulliver's travels, Bernie

31:17

Kung fu, Panda, tropot Thunder,

31:20

and the Jumanji franchise.

31:23

Jack was nominated for a Golden Globe

31:25

for his work in School of Rock and

31:27

Burney and he received a star

31:29

on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in

31:31

two thousand eighteen. He is

31:34

also, of course, the lead vocalist

31:36

of the comedy hard rock duo, tenacious

31:40

d, and he and his bandmate, won

31:42

a Grammy for best metal performance in

31:44

two thousand fifteen. I

31:46

give you Jack Black on

31:49

limits on campaign advertising.

31:52

Limitations on political campaign

31:55

advertising. During any

31:57

federal election season, our

31:59

TVs, radios, and phones

32:01

are flooded with campaign advertising.

32:04

whether in the form of dramatic commercials or

32:07

images of beaming candidates, attempts

32:10

to attract votes are everywhere. But

32:12

what are the parameters for these

32:14

communications? Can

32:16

a candidate say whatever they want?

32:18

Can they make promises they don't intend

32:21

to keep the answer is more

32:23

complicated than you might expect. The

32:25

FEC or Federal

32:27

Election Commission provides broad

32:30

guidelines for campaign advertising, regardless

32:33

of who or what group is behind it.

32:35

The clearest Bedrock principle is that

32:37

any sort of public communication on behalf

32:40

of a candidate

32:41

must include a clear and conspicuous

32:43

disclaimer.

32:45

That rule applies regardless of the form

32:47

of the advertisement. Example, broadcasts,

32:51

radio bits,

32:53

newspaper or magazine snippets,

32:56

billboards, and mass mailings,

32:59

and the funding source. A

33:01

political action committee, PAC,

33:04

a

33:04

corporation, or an individual.

33:07

Moreover, the rule applies whether or not

33:09

the ad explicitly asks viewers

33:11

to vote for a candidate

33:13

so long as it is related to a political

33:15

campaign. In

33:16

terms of the content of the disclaimer,

33:19

It

33:19

must include who paid for the communication

33:21

and, depending on the type

33:23

of communication, whether it

33:25

was authorized by any candidate or

33:27

candidate's committee. Thus

33:29

the familiar coda in political

33:31

ads where the candidate says they approved

33:34

this message. Turning

33:36

to the content of political advertisements,

33:39

The situation is more murky and

33:41

more problematic. Unlike

33:43

commercial advertising in general, which is

33:45

governed by a bevy of rules to protect

33:48

against fault speech. Political

33:50

ads are essentially no holds barred.

33:54

Effectively, a candidate can

33:56

lie or hyperbilize in

33:58

an advertisement and face no

33:59

legal repercussions. This

34:02

is a result of

34:04

the court's strong enforcement for the

34:06

first amendment rights of

34:08

candidates and political speakers, which

34:10

provides extensive speech protection

34:13

to all public discourse, which

34:15

includes campaign ads. For

34:18

talking feds,

34:19

I'm Jack Black.

34:22

Thank you Jack Black for

34:24

that explanation. Just

34:26

a couple points to add about the

34:29

phenomenally broad reach

34:32

of Jack Black. He also

34:34

has, as most people know, the wildly

34:36

popular YouTube channel, Jablinsky

34:39

Games, where he publishes gaming

34:41

videos and other content,

34:44

and maybe my two favorite moments

34:46

of Jack Blackcomb, his

34:48

hilarious turn as

34:50

Jeff Portnoy in Tropic Thunder,

34:53

and his surprising Tour

34:55

de Force singing, let's

34:58

get it on at the end of

35:00

high fidelity.

35:04

Alright.

35:07

It is now time for a

35:09

spirited debate brought to

35:11

you by our sponsor, total line,

35:13

and more. Each episode,

35:15

you'll be hearing an expert talk

35:17

about the pros and cons of a particular

35:20

issue in the world of wine,

35:22

spirit, and beverages. Thank

35:24

you, Harry. Today's

35:25

spirit of debate asks, to

35:28

decant or not to decant?

35:30

That is the question. And the short answer

35:32

is yes. But when

35:35

should you decant? First

35:36

off, what is it? Decanting

35:38

is the process of slowly pouring

35:40

liquid in this case wine

35:42

from

35:42

one container to another without

35:44

disturbing the sediment at the bottom. It

35:46

is important to separate the wine from the

35:48

sediment if there is a lot of it because

35:51

a sediment can dampen the aromas

35:53

and flavors in your glass. Decanting

35:55

wine also helps the wine to

35:57

airrate. which is the process of introducing

35:59

oxygen

35:59

to the liquid.

36:01

No doubt you've heard or even said the

36:03

phrase, let the wine breathe.

36:05

Well, that's what decanting does best. allowing

36:08

those aromas to expand while making

36:10

the wine more flavorful and balanced. And

36:12

it's never a bad idea to decant a young

36:15

bold wine. In fact, at

36:17

total wine and more, our guides recommend

36:19

allowing an hour or two for the process

36:21

to work best. This is not advisable

36:24

for mature wines, that just need to be separated

36:26

from their sediments. Leaving a mature

36:28

wine and a decanter for too long could

36:30

cause flavors to become muted from too much

36:33

aeration. Not only young

36:35

reds and whites can benefit from decanting.

36:37

Despite some controversies over the practice,

36:40

decanting some sparkling wines like

36:42

Maíbruit champagne, can expand their

36:44

flavors. Remember to taste your

36:46

wine while decanting. To be sure it is

36:48

not left air rating for too long, and

36:50

don't forget the younger and more closed

36:52

the flavors are when you open the wine, the

36:55

more it will benefit from the decanting process.

36:57

Even a few seconds of aeration or

36:59

a quick swirl in your glass will do wonders

37:02

to your favorite wine from total wine and more.

37:04

However, the best rule of thumb is

37:07

whenever you can, to can't. taste

37:09

and enjoy when it feels best to you.

37:11

It's

37:11

personal.

37:13

Cheers. Thanks

37:14

to our friends at Total Wine

37:16

and More for today's spirited

37:19

debate.

37:20

So I want to be

37:22

focused on a couple years out and I

37:24

guess sort of doing it by

37:27

persons as maybe as good as anything.

37:29

So a very good night. No.

37:31

For Biden, there was a lot of

37:33

talk on this podcast last

37:35

week of about if the numbers are

37:38

as dismal as they were looking,

37:40

which by the way wasn't even all that dismal

37:42

in the overall history historical precedent

37:45

that the talk would be immediate

37:48

about somebody else at the head

37:50

of the ticket does everyone agree

37:52

that it's now

37:53

Joe Biden's decision whether Joe

37:55

Biden's gonna run for president and no

37:57

one's gonna get in the way of that?

38:00

I think that was always true whether

38:02

you had a good result on Tuesday

38:04

or not. It's always been Joe Biden's decision.

38:06

It's really hard for anyone

38:09

who's

38:09

the Democrat, when there's a Democratic

38:11

president to take that on, especially

38:14

when by all accounts, you

38:16

look at the agenda. The agenda has been fairly

38:18

successful. in terms of promoting

38:20

Democratic ideals and Democratic

38:23

desires. Yeah.

38:24

He's got a little spring in his step

38:26

right down too, though. Yeah. Right. you

38:28

know Yeah. I mean, look, his record,

38:31

both politically and legislatively, for

38:33

given the razor thin margins he's been working

38:36

on or are splendid and it's a

38:38

bit of a dilemma why the approval

38:40

ratings don't follow. You

38:42

know, once the the inflation reduction

38:45

act actually kicks in, and

38:47

seniors are going like, holy macro.

38:50

I really have to pay two thousand dollars as

38:52

a cap. Wow. I didn't know

38:54

that.

38:55

and L, the cost

38:57

of living adjustment on Social Security

38:59

is going to hit next year. All of a sudden, they

39:01

look at their Social Security check and say,

39:03

wow, this

39:04

is a pretty good thing.

39:06

Joe Biden has done a remarkable

39:08

job in two years. He's gotten

39:11

more laws passed that have

39:14

made huge changes that have

39:16

helped American people than many presidents

39:18

have done in eight years. he got

39:20

infrastructure through something the former president

39:22

only talked about and wish he could have done.

39:25

So it's pretty amazing what Joe Biden has

39:27

done. Alright. So let's shift

39:29

over. We've talked about them maybe

39:31

even too much, but back to Trump

39:33

for a moment. So bad

39:35

political night. His guys

39:37

don't fare so well. They're telling

39:40

him not to run. But does

39:42

it do anything to

39:44

reduce the support from his base?

39:47

And if it doesn't, are all the

39:49

sort of dangers he poses kind

39:51

of unabated. There's a feeling

39:53

of having dodged a bullet

39:56

with his name on it for last week,

39:58

but

39:58

you know, have we really given that

40:01

the source of his power seems not

40:03

really political elections

40:06

as much as this kind of rabbit

40:08

base that loves him more than

40:11

the democracy. I

40:12

think his ability to

40:14

cheat if he were to either

40:16

we've honed out many again in

40:18

two years. It has been diminished. Now

40:20

we have democratic candidates for secretary of state,

40:23

won a number of these critical states,

40:25

but also I do believe we will pass

40:27

on a bipartisan basis the electoral

40:30

reform act that would also make it harder

40:32

for Donald Trump to cheat if you

40:34

wouldn't become the open nominee. When

40:36

do you think that will pass congressman?

40:39

Donald supports it, and and,

40:41

man, I I think if Donald Trump

40:43

is attacking his wife, I could see McConnell really wanna

40:45

get that act through and as bipartisan

40:48

support. As I understand it though, there

40:50

is danger with the act. thank

40:51

God. We they didn't win these secretaries

40:54

of state. But part of the danger

40:56

of the act is that if the states certify.

41:00

And by the way, we have this case

41:02

in the supreme court from North Carolina that

41:06

can give the state legislatures complete

41:09

control over determining

41:11

who won the election. So

41:13

that's not over yet. As against

41:15

state courts. I mean, Morvy Harper

41:17

in a in a couple weeks. Sorry, but I it's just

41:19

such a stunning proposition. I don't think people

41:22

realize how radical it is.

41:24

So, Kerry, can I ask you this question? How

41:26

could a legislature just reverse the result?

41:28

Wouldn't that fundamentally

41:30

affect everyone's right to vote?

41:32

That's guaranteed? in the constitution,

41:34

how

41:35

would that happen?

41:36

So I I can answer this.

41:38

First of all, the the right to vote

41:40

is not exactly ever

41:42

been articulated and it just has

41:45

different components, but

41:47

they would say as a matter

41:49

of federal law, of federal

41:51

constitutional law that if a

41:53

state legislature says something and

41:55

a state court says something else,

41:58

the state legislatures just win.

42:00

And why is that because of a

42:03

snippet of a mention of state legislatures?

42:05

It's really out there could

42:08

federal court come in and say, look,

42:10

your state voted for Biden

42:12

fifty two forty eight. You can't just

42:14

reverse it because you feel like it. But what's

42:16

the top federal court? So the federal

42:19

court that would come in and say you can would

42:21

be that, yeah, that US supreme

42:23

court, and what they would say is It's

42:25

really crazy, of course, because, you know, in every

42:27

state, that's the role of the state Supreme

42:30

Court, is to be the final determiner

42:33

of state law. but the holding would

42:35

actually be if there, you know, go back to Florida

42:37

two thousand, which was the first whisper

42:40

we ever heard of this. And, you know, you had

42:42

the Florida legislature and the Florida

42:44

Supreme Court, and they would just say it's

42:46

the same relationship as the federal

42:48

and state government, the legislature, which, of

42:50

course, you know, is controlled by

42:52

Republicans

42:54

more than any other institution government.

42:57

Their rule is final, even over

42:59

that of a court. So it turns topsy-turvy,

43:01

everything we've ever heard. I've

43:04

been very critical of

43:06

the court in a lot of ways continue

43:08

to be, but this one seems so

43:11

crazy to me, but I'm really looking forward to

43:13

the argument to get a feel. I

43:15

wanna point out one thing. the

43:17

state supreme court justices

43:19

unanimously

43:19

filed an amicus

43:22

brief saying, don't do this.

43:24

And I have to believe that that will

43:26

have an incredible influence on the Supreme

43:28

Court. I

43:29

think we see the danger in this,

43:31

but I really don't see the court siding.

43:34

with plaintiffs in this lawsuit. From

43:36

your lips, they've been throwing thunderbolts

43:38

and just I think it's pretty clear that from

43:40

last week, they're getting ready for one on

43:42

affirmative action, but it does seem to me,

43:45

radical revolutionary on the one hand,

43:47

but also completely, I think

43:49

the legal term would be for cocked. It's

43:52

just where does it come from, but,

43:54

you know, it's a court that is really

43:58

flexing its muscles in many ways.

44:00

So you were saying congressman that

44:02

you think his ability to cheat his last.

44:04

And look, the guy has never been over

44:07

fifty percent even as a president, so

44:09

maybe it's never gonna completely go away.

44:11

But you didn't get the margins, you

44:13

know, a night like Tuesday and few

44:15

more things like indictment and such

44:18

really do point toward the, you

44:20

know, end of our national nightmare?

44:22

I

44:22

think it's it's stuck in the right direction

44:24

and You also had Democrats doing

44:27

quite well statewide. Yeah. These

44:29

swing states. We won the governorships of

44:32

Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.

44:35

It looks like when when the senator

44:37

races in Arizona and

44:39

probably Nevada. And so if you're a Republican

44:42

looking at this, you gotta be worried because if you

44:44

cat window states in twenty twenty four, there

44:46

is basically no path to victory for a Republican

44:48

candidate for the White House.

44:50

This

44:50

is a really special panel because

44:53

all of you have been in the

44:55

field and had campaigns

44:58

with good days, bad days, good strategies,

45:00

and bad. I just wonder what

45:02

do you think are the lessons learned,

45:04

if any, from this last go

45:07

round? And, you know, what do you think

45:09

democratic candidates should be

45:11

taking from it as they

45:13

look ahead to the next cycle.

45:16

I

45:16

think I wanna talk about

45:17

the issue of abortion and choice.

45:19

One

45:20

of the things that happened in Kansas

45:22

is

45:23

they did a lot of research, what

45:25

messages work, and the freedom

45:27

message worked. It says my

45:29

right, my freedom, my body.

45:32

And the democrats up and down

45:35

in states where this was on the ballot

45:37

in these state races

45:38

where the issue of

45:40

choice made such a difference.

45:42

They stuck with that freedom message.

45:44

I mean, they just didn't get in the weeds. they

45:46

made values arguments. And

45:48

I hope that what we take from this

45:51

is that we can't be wonky

45:53

we have to speak to people where they

45:55

are, and that's about values. Howard

45:57

Bauchner: I'm

45:58

gonna get

45:59

very

45:59

operational here. So the only

46:02

reason that

46:03

a number of our Democratic

46:06

incumbents in the House came back, and we did

46:08

so well, is because they had the resources

46:10

to be on TV. And so

46:13

there is a federal candidate's

46:16

discount in buying TV ads.

46:18

So basically, a

46:20

candidate for Congress can buy TV

46:23

at normally one

46:24

fifty price, twenty percent the price

46:27

of a Super PAC or any other organization. So

46:30

if

46:31

a

46:32

congress woman in congressmen spend

46:34

a thousand dollars for TV, and we probably

46:36

super hack for example, if it's been five thousand.

46:38

in order to match the the same

46:41

ratings points. And Democratic

46:43

comments had a four to one advantage,

46:46

basically, in money. And so even

46:48

though Republicans in dollar amounts

46:50

outspent Democrats, they really

46:52

didn't have a big advantage in actual

46:54

TV time because of how much our

46:56

incumbents had raised. So

46:58

donating to your favorite member

47:00

of Congress in terms of your frontline members

47:03

is very important. And second thing I wanna

47:05

point out is field is very important.

47:07

During the pandemic, we lost a

47:09

number of close races by a few

47:11

hundred votes, sometimes by a few dozen

47:13

votes because we didn't think

47:15

knocking bunch of doors in the real pandemic

47:17

was a great idea. We didn't do that

47:19

this time. We had a massive fuel program in

47:21

many of these districts, and I think that mattered especially

47:24

because of early voting.

47:26

that's now given campaigns the ability

47:29

to go after people who haven't voted yet

47:31

and really drill down on the more infrequent

47:33

voters. And I think the Republicans are

47:35

shooting themselves in a foot by telling

47:37

people and have to do milk ballots and not to

47:40

do early voting, and that makes it hard for them.

47:42

to turn out the voter base that they need.

47:44

I'm

47:45

gonna do less

47:47

less operational. I

47:49

would have advice to candidates which

47:52

is go everywhere.

47:55

Heidi is really focused on

47:57

rural areas. this

47:59

is, of course,

47:59

statewide.

48:01

But, you

48:02

know, one of the great things

48:04

about representing a state is you meet everybody.

48:06

And that means you meet

48:09

people who are Republicans

48:12

and candidates win. Candidates

48:14

can win by being really good.

48:17

And part of being really good is going

48:20

around and showing people that

48:23

you care about them and that

48:25

you're a person, a human being.

48:28

And I think that's

48:30

just advice for candidates. And

48:33

again, that's a statewide thing. But

48:36

door knocking, of course, is is huge.

48:39

And I think we dropped the ball in

48:41

twenty because, you

48:43

know, unite here, which is

48:45

the hospitality unions, they were

48:47

on the doors in Nevada

48:50

and in Arizona and

48:52

in Georgia and in Pennsylvania in

48:54

the last cycle, we took ourselves

48:57

out of it. the Biden campaign did

48:59

to model good behavior, but

49:01

they did model good behavior and get

49:03

very few COVID cases. So

49:06

I would

49:07

love if our candidates

49:10

made sure that they got out there and talked

49:12

to people. you know, when Ted Cruz

49:15

went to Cancun and then

49:18

he lied and said, oh, I was only going

49:20

to drop the girls off. And I remember

49:22

he said, oh, I'm gonna go back and help. And

49:25

Ben Shapiro said, the

49:27

right wing jerk said,

49:29

well, what can he do anyway? And

49:32

Heidi knows that you're one of only

49:34

two national

49:35

government officials that that represent your

49:37

whole state. And

49:38

and There's a whole bunch you

49:40

can do. But one of the things that

49:42

you do,

49:43

I learn more in disasters. I learn

49:45

more in tornadoes. I learn more in floods.

49:48

about the people

49:50

in Minnesota

49:51

that I can tell you. And you

49:53

see people stepping up and you don't care

49:56

whether a Republican or democrat.

49:58

We have to have heart.

49:59

Alright. Now I gotta go. No. No. No. No.

50:02

You got one minute for talking five, but it's

50:04

like the x-ray, you know, half of life is showing

50:06

up. super super valuable

50:08

info. Our talking five and, you

50:10

know, it was a happy week. So I'm just going

50:12

with what was your biggest sort of high

50:14

five moment OF THE

50:16

WEEK AND WHY?

50:18

I KNOW MY SARA

50:20

PALAN IN THE RASOST BEING

50:22

DOWN twenty POINT.

50:23

No

50:25

no explanation necessary. Mine

50:27

was. I didn't wanna do

50:29

the fiber. I It was election

50:33

deniers conceiving, hilarious.

50:38

Mine is Lauren

50:40

Boeber race not called. And

50:44

I just gotta go home town, former

50:47

Braddock mayor, Federman wins.

50:52

We're out of time. Thank

50:55

you so much to senator Heitkamp,

50:57

senator Franken and congressman

50:59

Liu, and thank you very much to listeners

51:02

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53:01

Talk to you later.

53:16

Hi. I'm Dahlia Lothwick, legal

53:18

correspondent, host of Slates Amicus

53:21

Podcast and author of the brand

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53:25

the law, and the battle to save America.

53:27

Twenty twenty two has already been

53:29

a consequential year for Supreme Court news,

53:32

and this new term will be no

53:34

different. with voting rights, environmental

53:36

protections, affirmative action, indigenous

53:38

rights, and LGBT queue rights,

53:41

all on the docket. Join

53:44

me on Amicus for in-depth analysis

53:47

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conversations with experts who will

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53:55

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