0:02

This is a Global Player original podcast.

0:04

We promised you on last week's episode

0:06

of the News Agency USA that Donald

0:09

Trump was going to make a statement

0:11

on abortion. He has. He

0:13

made it on Monday. My view is now

0:15

that we have abortion where everybody wanted it

0:18

from a legal standpoint, the

0:20

states will determine by vote or

0:22

legislation or perhaps both, and

0:24

whatever they decide must be the law

0:26

of the land. In this case, the

0:29

law of the state. Like Ronald

0:31

Reagan, I am strongly in favour of

0:33

exceptions for rape, incest and

0:35

life of the mother. You

0:37

must follow your heart of this issue, but remember,

0:40

you must also win elections to restore our

0:42

culture and in fact, to save

0:44

our country, which is currently

0:46

and very sadly, a nation in

0:49

decline. So there you have it.

0:52

This is how Donald Trump

0:54

thinks he's going to win

0:56

the election. By essentially having

0:58

a hands-off approach to abortion,

1:00

the states can choose and

1:03

he won't interfere. One

1:05

state overnight didn't get the memo.

1:08

That was Arizona, which has

1:10

now brought back an

1:12

almost total ban on abortion

1:14

from a law going back

1:17

to 1864. Welcome

1:19

to the News Agency USA. It's

1:28

Emily. It's John. And Donald

1:30

Trump thought he was doing something pretty cute

1:33

on Monday and clever and tactically

1:35

astute by saying, look, guys, we

1:37

overturned Roe versus Wade. It's now

1:39

up to you, the individual states,

1:41

to decide what is the best

1:44

law for you to have. It's

1:46

not a matter of government. That brought charges of

1:49

a sellout by the anti-abortion lobby,

1:51

by the conservatives, by evangelicals who

1:53

had wanted Donald Trump to go

1:56

further and move America towards, in

1:58

effect, a total ban on abortion. on

2:00

abortion. Trump wasn't buying

2:02

it. But overnight, as Emily

2:04

said, Arizona went a very

2:07

different route. This kind

2:09

of Civil War law that was

2:11

passed in 1864 when

2:13

Arizona wasn't even properly a state, saying

2:16

that not only should abortion in

2:18

effect be illegal, only if the

2:21

mother's life is in jeopardy should

2:23

abortion be allowed, but that anyone

2:25

who is an abortion provider could

2:28

go to prison for two to

2:30

five years. So not only making

2:32

abortion illegal, criminalizing the providers with

2:34

the threat of a prison sentence.

2:37

And that has had a

2:39

curious effect on politics.

2:42

Yeah. And when you say, when you talk about

2:45

Arizona not even being a state in

2:47

1864, we should also

2:49

remind our listeners that women didn't have

2:51

the vote in 1864, that slavery hadn't

2:55

even been made illegal in

2:58

1864. This was a different

3:02

world. And they are bringing back

3:04

this 160 year old

3:06

law in the face

3:08

of what they know many

3:11

women in Arizona will be

3:13

feeling right now, which is

3:16

utter, utter fear. Now,

3:18

I guess it's important to say

3:20

that Arizona had already got an abortion

3:22

limit of 15 weeks

3:25

and this ban will take place in

3:27

a matter of weeks. And

3:30

as John says, it's not only

3:32

that women will be

3:34

penalized, that medical people will be

3:37

penalized, but there's a very odd

3:39

wording around the mother's life,

3:42

which does not include the mother's

3:45

health. And the

3:47

Democrats have actually used a case study of

3:49

a woman called Amanda who was pregnant,

3:53

happy to have the child, hoping to have the

3:55

child miscarried at three months and was

3:57

not allowed medical help or intervention with the sort

3:59

of consequences. of that and

4:01

as a result she got sepsis not once

4:03

but twice and she's been left unable

4:06

to have children. It is unthinkable

4:08

to me that anyone could cheer

4:10

on these abortion bans that nearly

4:13

took my life. The stakes of

4:15

this election could not be higher.

4:17

So this wording does not include

4:19

the health of the mother it

4:22

only includes the actual saving

4:24

of a life and that's something

4:27

that a lot of health professionals

4:29

women are also looking at absolutely

4:31

aghast. We're going to bring

4:33

you some thoughts of Arizona women this

4:36

is from interviews that CNN did before

4:38

the ban came into effect it was done a

4:41

couple of months ago but you can hear just

4:43

how seriously they are taking this

4:46

threat. I don't know why the

4:48

health women's reproductive

4:50

rights are even a political conversation.

4:52

Amen. Why am I in a lot

4:55

of good conversation? Look at

4:57

the end of the day we have two

5:00

potential presidents like you have no business

5:02

up in my body. Exactly.

5:04

It's not only reproductive rights

5:06

they're now talking about IVF

5:08

what is next. I do

5:11

not want anyone a government official

5:13

who is a non-doctor not part of

5:15

my medical team telling me what I can

5:17

and cannot do to my body or what

5:19

is right for my body. And when they're

5:22

actually asked how important this issue is

5:24

in electoral terms for them they pretty much

5:26

tell the reporter it's number one. Yeah

5:29

and that is why the overturning

5:31

of Roe versus Wade that

5:34

we heard Donald Trump congratulating

5:36

himself about is turning

5:38

into a real poison pill for

5:40

the Republicans. Look we just heard

5:42

the kind of sense of fear

5:44

and anger among

5:47

those women about the changes that could

5:49

come about as a result of this

5:51

Arizona Supreme Court ruling. We need to

5:53

consider the politics of this as well

5:55

because if you look at the electoral

5:57

map of America there's nowhere more

5:59

important almost than Arizona. It's what

6:01

they call a purple state. It

6:03

sometimes is Republican, it's sometimes Democrat,

6:05

sometimes red, sometimes blue, therefore purple.

6:07

And the fact of the matter

6:10

is that if this happens,

6:12

if this law comes into effect,

6:14

then there is almost certainly going

6:16

to be a separate proposition on

6:19

the ballot paper come November at

6:21

the presidential election, which is

6:23

calling for a restoration of

6:26

the old law or an overturning of

6:28

the Supreme Court ruling. That

6:30

is likely to get enormous support.

6:33

And that could be devastating for

6:35

the Republicans. And the

6:38

Republican candidate for the

6:40

Senate, Carrie Lake, who

6:42

is an uber MAGA

6:44

supporter, has historically been

6:46

in favor of introducing

6:48

this ruling, is now getting

6:51

very cold for you and saying, well, maybe

6:54

we should just leave it to states rights. And

6:56

maybe we shouldn't be doing this. And we should

6:58

be considering the electoral consequences of it. Republicans

7:01

are terrified at what the

7:03

Arizona Supreme Court has done.

7:05

Well, this is what she said back in 2022. Let's just

7:07

remind you of how

7:10

strongly she felt about abortion just

7:13

two years ago. My personal belief is that all

7:15

life matters, all life counts, and all life is

7:17

precious. And I don't believe in abortion. I

7:20

think the older law is going to take

7:22

and is going to go into effect. That's

7:24

what I believe will happen. Okay, but you

7:26

approve of that. At

7:28

conception? I believe life

7:30

begins at conception. Okay, what do we do about abortion pills?

7:33

What do we do about that? I don't think abortion pills

7:35

should be legal. But today, a slight

7:37

change of tune. She came out with the

7:39

following. I oppose today's ruling. And I'm

7:42

calling on Katie Hobbs. That's the governor

7:44

of Arizona, the Democratic governor of Arizona,

7:46

and the state legislature to come

7:48

up with an immediate common sense

7:50

solution that arizona's can support. So

7:52

long, long ago, in 2022, the

7:55

Carrie Lake did not have any common

7:57

sense, but she's now suddenly seen that light.

7:59

I do demand that the democratic

8:01

governor save my political skin fourth-width

8:03

because otherwise I'm going to get

8:05

hammered in the election. Yeah. And

8:08

Katie Hobbs, the governor, has called

8:10

it a dark day. The

8:12

state senator, Eva Birch, went

8:15

one further describing, I mean,

8:17

extraordinarily really, an abortion she

8:19

had just two weeks ago. Let's listen to her. I

8:22

am state senator Eva Birch. A couple

8:25

weeks ago, I had an abortion.

8:27

A state senator, a

8:30

state senator, a state senator, a state senator, an abortion.

8:33

I was very charged with legal

8:39

abortion here in Arizona for

8:41

a 12-week and I had very much wanted a pregnancy that

8:44

failed by many of my pregnancies before it. I never knew that was

8:46

dying and a miscarriage that was

8:48

destined to happen. Somebody

8:51

took care of me. Somebody gave

8:53

me a procedure that I wouldn't have

8:56

to experience another

8:58

miscarriage for pain. I

9:01

think it would still be, dare I say, a

9:03

political leap for a state senator to go on

9:05

the airwaves and say it was an abortion

9:07

that I'd chosen to have. But millions

9:10

of women in Arizona probably will be

9:12

in that field and now cannot

9:15

do anything about it. Although it is

9:17

worth noting that the

9:19

Supreme Court and the ruling came down

9:21

sort of 4-2 last night, there are two

9:23

people on the Supreme Court in Arizona who

9:26

can actually be voted out of office. So

9:28

the Democrats are now reminding people when they

9:30

go to vote, don't just look at the

9:32

top of the ballot, don't just look at

9:34

the top of the paper, you know, to look

9:36

at who's going to be president or even who's going

9:38

to be governor. Go right the way down

9:41

and you can start electing the Supreme

9:43

Court officials. We know that the

9:45

Supreme Court of the USA is

9:47

chosen for life. You cannot remove

9:50

those people. In this case,

9:52

it could actually have an impact on

9:54

who sits on the Supreme Court in the years

9:56

to come. this

10:00

have taken place, where it has

10:02

been on the ballot about abortion

10:04

rights. In Kentucky,

10:07

a red state. In Ohio, now

10:09

very much seen as a red

10:12

state. In Kansas, the reddest of

10:14

red states, i.e. they

10:16

are all controlled by Republicans. Every

10:19

time it has been on the ballot, women

10:23

and men have voted that women

10:25

should be in charge of their own

10:27

reproductive rights that a woman should have

10:29

the right to choose and have turned

10:32

their back on what

10:34

the Republicans, what conservative evangelicals have

10:36

been campaigning on for the past

10:38

50 years. It is

10:41

clear that there is a

10:43

majority in the United States of America

10:45

that is in favor of

10:47

women having that right to choose. And the

10:49

more it comes up as a voter issue

10:51

in November, you have to

10:53

feel the better it is for Joe

10:56

Biden, even if a lot else for

10:58

him is not going right. Yeah,

11:00

because I think the point about Trump's position,

11:02

and hopefully, you know, this is something

11:05

that journalists will ask him on the

11:07

campaign trail, is where

11:09

does your position leave you

11:12

on things that are not dictated by

11:14

the state? On things like Mepha

11:16

Pristone, the abortion pill that you

11:19

take orally, on whether you should be able

11:21

to get medicines over the counter from, you

11:23

know, one place to another, because

11:25

that stuff is going to be much

11:27

more complicated than just whether a state

11:30

actually dictates who

11:32

or how or when an abortion can

11:34

be done. A lot of this stuff is not

11:36

done surgically, it is done in the

11:39

form of a pill. And I guess that's going

11:41

to be much harder to regulate in terms

11:43

of who can get what or whether you stop

11:46

people buying stuff on Amazon or, yeah, how

11:48

does that work? Well, I mean,

11:51

let's carry on this train of thought

11:53

and follow the logical extension of it.

11:55

If Trump believes in state rights for

11:57

all these fundamental things, what happens

11:59

about I-B? Under my leadership,

12:01

the Republican Party will always

12:03

support the creation of strong,

12:05

thriving and healthy American families.

12:08

We want to make it easier for mothers

12:10

and families to have babies, not

12:13

harder. That includes supporting

12:15

the availability of fertility treatments like

12:17

IVF in every state in America.

12:19

Will he allow states to ban

12:22

IVF? Why not challenge the

12:24

ruling, which some people fear, on gay

12:27

marriage? And let's say that

12:29

becomes a matter of state rights, and it's

12:31

not a matter of federal law that the

12:33

Supreme Court ruled on when Barack Obama was

12:35

president. You put that down to state rights,

12:37

and then you can see, you know, well,

12:39

what about gay rights generally? And you can

12:41

see how that in a lot of America,

12:43

I was going to say progressive America, I

12:46

think that there is a wider consensus than

12:48

just saying it's only liberals who care about

12:50

this sort of thing. I think it has

12:52

gone much wider than that. But you end

12:54

up saying in certain states,

12:56

these things are banned, and it just

12:58

becomes a massive retrograde step. And

13:00

wherever it's put on the ballot,

13:02

people will vote to return

13:05

back to the status quo that

13:07

has been established in these last 50 years.

13:09

Yeah. And I think, you know, this

13:11

wouldn't be a Trump speech unless there are a bit of batshit

13:14

crazy Trump in it. And the batshit

13:16

crazy comes after he's talked about allowing the

13:18

states to make their own minds up. He

13:21

goes on to talk about

13:23

the execution of babies

13:26

after they're born. It must be

13:28

remembered that the Democrats are the radical

13:30

ones on this position because they

13:33

support abortion up to and even

13:35

beyond the ninth month. The

13:37

concept of having an abortion in the

13:40

later months and even execution

13:42

after birth, and that's exactly what it

13:44

is. The baby is born,

13:47

the baby is executed after birth

13:49

is unacceptable, and almost everyone

13:52

agrees with that. Yeah,

13:54

it is unacceptable. I'm an anti-execution of

13:56

babies after birth. I think we call

13:58

that murder. I think we

14:00

just genuinely do call that murder. And it

14:02

is not true. I mean, I feel weird

14:05

even explaining that Americans don't murder their babies

14:07

clinically and legally after they're

14:10

born in hospitals. But the weird

14:12

thing about this is

14:14

it is an argument that I have heard,

14:16

that we have heard put forward to us

14:19

by actual legislators, by people

14:21

in power in parts

14:24

of Southern America. This is a woman

14:26

elected representative that we spoke to

14:28

in South Carolina last year,

14:30

literally parroting what you've just heard

14:32

from Donald Trump. I

14:35

mean, it sounds kind of comical and

14:38

so ripe for parody. And it's

14:40

not serious that people

14:43

are believing shit like this.

14:45

Because where is there any

14:47

evidence that murder executions

14:50

are taking place of babies after they're

14:52

born? Here's a healthy baby, right? Kill

14:54

it. Off

14:56

you go. You know, it's just nuts.

14:58

It's madness. And yet Donald Trump says

15:00

it. And he just has this prayer.

15:02

I mean, we've talked about the kind

15:05

of use of it's going to be

15:07

a bloodbath. It's a border bloodbath and

15:09

it's destroying our country. It's a very

15:11

bad thing happening. It's

15:14

going to end on the day

15:16

that I take office, which will be

15:18

January 20th, it'll end. Donald

15:20

Trump has a sort of faint addiction to

15:23

the most lurid, expressive

15:26

way of telling things that are

15:28

just either total

15:30

nonsense or wild exaggeration.

15:33

And this one absolutely takes

15:35

the biscuit. We'll be back

15:37

in a moment talking about David Cameron,

15:39

Lord Cameron's little trip

15:41

to Mar-a-Lago and why he's just been

15:44

snubbed by the House Speaker. The

15:47

News Agents USA with Emily Maitless

15:49

and John Sople. The

15:53

News Agents USA. and

16:00

on our daily edition of

16:02

the news agents we have spoken

16:05

about how much David Cameron is

16:07

enjoying being Foreign Secretary. And

16:09

it's the role that he is loving and relishing

16:11

and he's travelling the world and he's kind of

16:13

doing his thing. And last

16:15

week when he was at NATO in

16:18

Brussels he did this

16:20

thing which was like he was auditioning for

16:22

a TV host job because it's a two

16:24

and a half minute walking piece to camera.

16:26

And I can tell you that even a

16:28

30 second walking piece to camera is difficult

16:30

enough let alone two and a half minutes.

16:32

But anyway it gets towards the end of

16:35

the piece to camera he's calling for support

16:37

for Ukraine and then he comes out and

16:39

says what he is going to be doing

16:41

this week in America. Final thing we got

16:44

to do get on the phone

16:46

to Speaker Johnson in the House of

16:48

Representatives in Congress in America. Britain's put

16:50

forward its money for Ukraine this year

16:52

so is the European Union. America needs

16:54

to do it. That is

16:56

blocked in Congress. Speaker Johnson can make

16:58

it happen in Congress. I'm going to

17:01

go and see him next week and

17:03

say we need that money. Ukraine needs

17:05

that money. It is American security, it's

17:07

European security, it's Britain's security that's on

17:09

the line in Ukraine and they need

17:11

our help. Well he

17:13

did go and see him and he did

17:15

pick up the phone but Mike Johnson was

17:18

not at home. In

17:20

other words after that trip that David

17:22

Cameron made to Mar-a-Lago to see Donald

17:25

Trump he then went on to Washington

17:28

but we heard that Mike

17:30

Johnson was unable to

17:32

find time in his diary I think

17:34

is the phrase that they use to

17:36

meet Cameron. And I guess

17:39

this reflects something that we've kind

17:41

of been wondering about which is

17:43

does Cameron as a former Prime Minister

17:46

as the now Foreign Secretary have

17:48

the sort of power the

17:50

influence to make Republicans do

17:52

something that you know I

17:55

don't know normal politicians cannot

17:57

do or is Mike

17:59

Johnson right now. listening to people

18:01

like Marjorie Taylor Green, our

18:03

old friend of the old space lasers

18:05

there, who are currently trying to get

18:07

rid of Mike Johnson over

18:10

this exact bill over the Ukraine

18:12

funding, and is Mike thinking,

18:14

I don't really want to listen to a

18:16

Brit on this. My whole job could

18:18

be in jeopardy if I start being

18:21

pushed around by the wrong people. And

18:23

so he said no, he's essentially snubbed

18:25

David Cameron, Lord Cameron. Look, if

18:27

that's what the British did think, that they would

18:30

be able to influence the Speaker of

18:32

the House, then it was heuristic.

18:34

And when have Britain's ever gone to

18:36

America and told America what to do and

18:39

America has done what it has asked,

18:41

America will always do what it was

18:43

going to do. What surprises me about

18:45

the whole atmospherics of this is

18:47

that Cameron would have said, I am

18:49

going to meet him next week. The

18:52

trip would have gone ahead. And it hadn't

18:54

been tied down. Because, you

18:56

know, just before the break, Emily, you said

18:58

the word snub. Brits

19:00

hate that word snub when

19:03

it comes to a senior

19:05

British politician being snubbed by

19:07

an American. And that is exactly what

19:09

has happened and ultimately makes Cameron look

19:12

pretty weak. And yeah, you're right. Mike

19:14

Johnson has got his own internal political

19:16

difficulties with Marjorie Taylor Green, who has

19:18

already told David Cameron, I think let

19:21

me just check my notes to kiss

19:23

my ass over policy

19:25

towards Ukraine. I really don't

19:27

care what David Cameron has to say. I

19:29

think that's rude name calling. And I don't

19:32

appreciate that type of language. And

19:34

David Cameron needs to worry about his own country.

19:36

And frankly, he can kiss my ass. But do

19:38

you think Britain's a good guy in all this? It

19:41

was never going to be a good idea for Mike

19:43

Johnson to meet Cameron. It was dumb of Cameron to

19:46

announce that they were going to get to see each

19:48

other. Yeah, it actually reminds me of

19:50

the moment during the Reagan years when

19:52

Neil Kinnock, who was then the Labour

19:54

leader, went over to America

19:57

and hoped to be given this, you know, big

19:59

audience for the Ronald Reagan, but

20:01

the two did not see eye to

20:03

eye on nuclear defense. In

20:05

fact, you know, we know,

20:07

kinnet was vehemently pro disarmament,

20:10

anti nuclear, and Reagan only allowed

20:12

one little photo of them to

20:14

get out and they had very

20:16

little time together. And this was

20:19

watched so closely by two aspiring

20:21

labor leaders, Tony Blair and Gordon

20:23

Brown, that they never wanted to

20:25

make that mistake. They never wanted

20:27

to be unwelcome in America. And

20:29

they actually, I think, changed their

20:31

whole position on defense, almost

20:34

as a result of seeing how

20:36

embarrassing that was for their

20:38

colleague. And so yes, I don't think it's

20:41

the same with Cameron, because obviously, he's not

20:43

aspiring to be anything more than the foreign

20:45

secretary. And I think he also knows that

20:47

he's got a battle on his hands, let's

20:49

say, at expecting anyone

20:51

in the current Republican party,

20:54

least of all in the position of House leadership,

20:56

to change their minds or to listen to

20:58

a Brit on this. But it

21:01

is going to make that whole question,

21:03

which fundamentally is a massively important one,

21:05

which is how you get more money

21:07

to Zelensky to help him fight the

21:09

war of Putin on his doorstep in

21:11

his yard. And I guess that

21:14

remains unresolved. I

21:16

guess the one thing that Cameron can say, and

21:18

I thought it was pretty odd anyway, in the

21:20

first place for reasons I've gone to talk about,

21:22

but I thought it was, you know, at least

21:25

Cameron got a meeting with Donald Trump, and arguably

21:27

far more important to meet Trump in terms of,

21:29

do you want to meet the organ grinder or

21:31

the monkey, you want to meet the organ grinder,

21:34

you know, Donald Trump is the organ

21:36

grinder on all of this, he is the one

21:38

who's going to call the shots. He is the

21:40

one who is telling Mike Johnson what to do

21:42

and what not to do. So therefore, probably far

21:45

more important for David Cameron to have had a

21:47

meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The one thing I

21:49

wanted to say, though, which struck me at the

21:51

time is really weird, is I'm

21:53

trying to think of an occasion when

21:56

observing British foreign secretary

21:59

has flown first

22:01

to America to meet the

22:03

man who would be president rather than

22:05

the governing body that is

22:07

in power. I know that happens when

22:10

foreign politicians are travelling to London and

22:12

you can see all sorts of people,

22:14

presidential aspirants, have wandered down Downing Street

22:16

and either met the Chancellor of the

22:19

Exchequer, occasionally met the Prime Minister or

22:21

met the Foreign Secretary. It's

22:23

very rare for our Foreign Secretary to go

22:25

and almost pay homage to

22:27

Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and given

22:29

their past, David Cameron has said

22:31

some disobliging things about Donald Trump

22:33

in the past. I happen to

22:35

disagree with her about Donald Trump. I

22:38

think his remarks are divisive, stupid and wrong.

22:40

And I think if he came to visit

22:42

our country, I think he'd unite us all

22:44

against him. Well,

22:46

let's talk now to Brendan Boyle. He's the

22:49

Philadelphia congressman. He's a Democrat. He's in the

22:51

House of Representatives, in other words, and can

22:53

tell us a little bit more of what's

22:55

going on behind the scenes there. What

23:04

did you make, Congressman Boyle, of

23:07

David Cameron's attempts to bring

23:09

the speaker, Mike Johnson, to the

23:11

table on this funding for Ukraine?

23:13

Well, it's great to be

23:15

back with you, Emily. And you know, I

23:17

think that every little bit can help. I

23:19

know that David Cameron had already met with

23:21

Speaker Johnson last December.

23:24

And so I admire his sticking with it

23:27

and doing all that he can to make

23:29

sure the United States fulfills its

23:31

commitments and obligations to protecting those

23:33

fighting for freedom in Ukraine. That

23:36

said, I think we need to be a

23:39

bit realistic. There's only so much any

23:42

foreign secretary of any country could

23:44

do. The reality is

23:46

when it comes to Mike Johnson or

23:48

individual Republican members of Congress, they're

23:51

going to be moved much more so

23:53

by the internal Republican dynamics that are

23:55

going on right now, not

23:57

to mention being moved by a certain.

24:00

former orange-tinted president. Yeah,

24:03

I mean I guess he met the orange

24:05

one a little bit earlier in Mar-a-Lago already.

24:08

But I mean, is there a sense amongst

24:10

your colleagues, amongst the lawmakers, that they just

24:12

welcome, you know, anyone trying to get involved,

24:14

as you say? Or do you think there

24:17

was a bit of pushback? You

24:19

know, please don't tell us what to do. We've got this. No,

24:21

I mean, candidly, this was not exactly

24:23

a, you know, a high profile, and

24:25

I say this with all due respect,

24:27

this was not exactly a high profile

24:29

event on Capitol Hill. There's just so

24:31

much going on each and every

24:33

day here. So I think

24:35

that, you know, hearing from a former

24:38

prime minister and current foreign secretary,

24:41

who is a conservative, could

24:43

help perhaps on the margins with

24:46

those individual Republican members who

24:49

may have before Trump had

24:51

a more traditional Reagan-Bush

24:54

Republican foreign policy, who

24:56

are suddenly, you know, a

24:58

bit at ease with what is going on in

25:01

the MAGA movement today, which has

25:03

turned 70 years of

25:05

Republican orthodoxy completely on its

25:07

head almost overnight. I

25:09

mean, he's fighting the likes of Marjorie

25:11

Taylor Greene now, I guess, who

25:13

has made the speaker's own position

25:16

pretty uncomfortable in recent weeks. Do

25:18

you think Mike Johnson's tenure

25:20

there is potentially coming to an

25:22

end? Well, your

25:24

good friend, Marjorie, is certainly

25:27

causing problems for Mike Johnson. It's

25:30

a question of my mind, though, exactly how many

25:32

other Republican members right now would go along with

25:34

her. You know, she's filed the

25:36

motion to vacate, but she has not deemed

25:38

it or asked that it be deemed privileged

25:40

yet. It's that second

25:42

part that would put it on the clock and

25:45

require a vote within 48 hours. So

25:47

she essentially has fired a

25:49

warning shot but has not pulled the

25:51

trigger. So that key

25:53

distinction in mind, the reality

25:56

is it's a threat that is out there. But

25:58

what our Democrats are saying is that they're not going to be able to do that. leader

26:00

Hakeem Jafris has said, and a number

26:02

of us, myself included, have said, is

26:04

that if Mike Johnson is willing to do

26:07

the right thing here, and that is

26:09

allow an up or down vote on

26:11

the Ukraine bill, there will

26:13

be Democratic members who will vote present,

26:16

because frankly there will be a number of us

26:18

who are just not willing to

26:20

go along with MAGA, Marjorie,

26:23

and her ilk attempting to force the

26:25

House into more chaos. What is

26:27

it like there at the moment? I

26:30

mean, you know, it seems a world

26:32

away, but last January we saw that

26:34

Kevin McCarthy, what, 15, 16 rounds of

26:36

voting? Right,

26:38

to try and get that job for

26:40

himself as House Speaker, and then he's

26:43

kind of, you know, chucked out, and

26:45

then they have all the wrangling about who comes

26:47

next, and now Mike Johnson looks as if he's

26:49

going to be in exactly the same position. How

26:52

do Democrats sort of, I

26:54

guess, get on with the daily job?

26:57

The irony is we Democrats have

26:59

never been more united than

27:01

ever, so it's the constant internal

27:04

divisions within the Republican majority,

27:06

an ever-shrinking one, that has thrown

27:08

the House into total chaos. And

27:10

I have to say, it's been, you know, this

27:12

is my fifth term here, it has by far

27:14

been my most frustrating, because any

27:17

minute the schedule is changing as

27:19

a result of this chaos, and

27:22

yet, ultimately, we did finally, on

27:24

the fifth attempt, keep the

27:26

government funded and avoided a government

27:28

shutdown. There have been

27:30

lower profile pieces of legislation

27:33

that have passed, they're far fewer than I

27:35

would like, and so the

27:37

reality is, and it's a bit schizophrenic,

27:40

while there's all this chaos going on, and that's

27:42

true, and it's blocking

27:44

very important things from happening, beneath

27:47

the surface, which gets less attention, there are

27:49

things that are happening even on a bipartisan

27:51

basis, so both can be true at the

27:54

same time. We began this

27:56

episode talking about what happened overnight in

27:58

Arizona, which I think I think a

28:00

lot of Brits will probably struggle to get

28:02

their head around, quite frankly. You've

28:04

got a Democratic governor

28:06

there, Katie Hobbs. I

28:09

mean, does this make it easier,

28:11

do you think, for the Democrats to

28:14

take Arizona? I mean, you

28:16

know, this is first and foremost a massive human

28:19

issue for the women of Arizona. But on a

28:21

political scale, I wonder what the Dems

28:23

are starting to think. Yeah,

28:26

you know, when something like this happens, it's

28:28

a little awkward to talk about it in

28:30

crass political terms, recognizing that

28:32

there'll be women, thousands of women who

28:34

are, their whole lives

28:37

upended as a result of this decision

28:39

in Arizona. But that

28:41

having been said and acknowledged, the

28:44

reality is this Arizona Supreme

28:46

Court decision is a nightmare

28:48

for any Republican running statewide

28:51

in Arizona. This is one of the

28:53

big battleground states for the

28:55

presidential election. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin,

28:58

Arizona, and Georgia decided the 2020 presidential

29:01

election and they will decide the 2024 presidential election. So

29:05

frankly, this was a huge lift to

29:08

Democrats running in Arizona. My colleague and

29:10

very good friend, Ruben Gallego, is the

29:13

Democratic nominee or about to be the Democratic

29:15

nominee for Senate in that state.

29:17

I think he had a slight lead over

29:20

Kerry Lake to begin with. But

29:22

now for that swing voter

29:24

in the suburbs of Phoenix, who

29:27

might otherwise be Republican leaning when it

29:29

comes to economic policy, this

29:31

will have a major impact. And

29:33

when we're talking about swing states, I

29:35

want to look in Joe Biden's own

29:37

backyard, particularly over

29:40

the issue of Gaza and

29:42

Israel. He's come out today,

29:44

President Biden, saying that Netanyahu has made

29:46

a mistake in Gaza. I think the

29:48

strongest that we've heard from the

29:51

US president, but he is in

29:53

danger of losing potentially

29:55

millions of young in

29:57

quite critical swing

29:59

states. States, not just yours,

30:01

Pennsylvania, but also in

30:04

Michigan, fundamentally, with a huge community

30:06

of Arab Americans. And I'm wondering

30:08

if people around him are

30:10

saying, you've got to move on this, you've got

30:13

to sharpen up on this, it's taken too long.

30:16

The Arab or Muslim, and obviously those

30:18

aren't the same things, but highly related,

30:20

that percentage of the vote in Michigan

30:22

is actually a bit overstated. It's roughly

30:25

two, two and a half percent, and

30:27

it's lower elsewhere, like in my state of

30:30

Pennsylvania. But that said, the base

30:32

democratic votes and younger people

30:35

who are concerned about Gaza, the

30:37

overwhelming majority of them are not Arab

30:39

or Muslim, and yet

30:41

they are passionate and frankly,

30:44

irate at what is going

30:46

on in Gaza. I have never seen, and

30:48

I've been in elective office now 16 years,

30:51

I have never seen an issue drive

30:54

the sort of passions that

30:56

the Israel-Gaza issue has

30:59

incited. The longer this

31:01

war goes on, I will be very blunt.

31:04

This continues to be a

31:06

real political problem for

31:08

not only President Biden, but for

31:10

Democrats writ large. Who

31:12

has been telling President

31:14

Biden to, I guess

31:17

bluntly, sort it out? Because he's been

31:19

very unwilling to pick up the phone

31:21

to Netanyahu from what we've seen, very

31:24

unwilling to actually have those

31:26

sharp words. I mean, I think probably

31:29

even on this side, David Cameron has been

31:31

much quicker and much more forceful on

31:34

his sense of condemnation.

31:37

Not that there is an extraordinary sympathy for what

31:39

Israel went through on October the 7th, but

31:42

a sense of how futile some of

31:44

this military action is,

31:46

just strategically, politically. Well,

31:49

let's recognize that, I mean, I think you

31:52

know support for Israel has obviously always been

31:54

stronger in the US than it has been

31:56

in other countries, and that

31:58

was especially the case. after October 7th.

32:01

But we have seen an evolution, an evolution

32:04

in public opinion in the US. And

32:07

I think that we've seen an evolution

32:09

in terms of the way the president

32:11

handles specifically Benjamin Netanyahu. By

32:13

all media accounts last week,

32:16

President Biden took a very different

32:18

posture with Netanyahu than

32:20

he had previously. You've seen

32:22

some results because of that, the opening

32:24

of a gate that have been closed

32:27

since October 7th. So I

32:30

do think you've already seen

32:32

an evolution in terms of

32:34

the administration approach. I think you'll continue to see

32:36

that even the comments the president

32:38

made literally just a few hours ago. Should

32:41

Congress be funding Israel? Should arms

32:43

be sold to Israel? Well,

32:46

I mean, we have to keep in mind

32:49

that it's not just about Gaza. It's about

32:51

the larger security situation, especially in terms

32:53

of what Iran may do in a reprisal

32:55

attack that many of us are deeply concerned

32:58

may be coming. I think that many

33:00

members of Congress are making a distinction

33:02

though, between defensive weapons such as Iron

33:05

Dome, which saves lives, not

33:07

just Israeli Jewish lives, but Israeli

33:09

Arabs and others, including

33:11

Palestinians versus offensive

33:13

weapons such as the 2000

33:16

pound bombs that do not have

33:18

the same sort of high

33:20

quality capabilities when it comes to targeting.

33:23

The reality is though, I think the vast

33:25

majority of Americans now

33:27

believe that when we're talking

33:29

about tens of thousands of women and children

33:32

being killed in Gaza, that

33:34

is far too high a civilian

33:36

death toll really for anyone

33:38

to accept. Well, I guess, I mean, just

33:40

back to my question then, should the

33:42

sale of arms to Israel stop? You're saying

33:44

no, right? You're saying the funding

33:46

should still go and the arms should still be sold. I

33:49

think the funding will continue. The

33:51

question is, does the administration put

33:54

a pause in order to get a change

33:56

of behavior when it comes to delivering

33:59

the humanities? I think the focus

34:01

right now, though, needs to be

34:03

on a ceasefire with the

34:06

release of at least some hostages, but

34:08

ideally all, combined with

34:10

immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance.

34:12

I think everyone is really

34:14

focused on that now. Let's deliver

34:16

that over the next six to eight weeks and then

34:19

see what we can build on top of that. Last

34:22

one just before you go, I know there's pressure from

34:24

the US networks now to

34:26

see, you know, the cage

34:28

fight, as it were, the Biden

34:30

v. Trump televised debate. Would

34:33

you be urging Joe Biden now to go

34:35

head to head with Trump live on TV?

34:38

Kennedy Nixon, this will not be,

34:40

nor will it be Reagan Mondale.

34:42

But the

34:45

reality is I actually think that

34:47

the debates will help President Biden.

34:49

The first debate, last presidential election,

34:51

no question helped President Biden. His

34:53

poll numbers went up, I think, about five to

34:56

six points in most of the polls

34:58

right after that first debate because people were able

35:00

to see the spectacle

35:02

of Donald Trump. And, you know,

35:04

we're in a very different media environment. I don't have

35:06

to tell you as we're doing this on a podcast. We're

35:08

in a very different media environment today than, say,

35:11

the 1980s or 1990s. TV

35:13

audiences are way down from what they used

35:16

to be because people have so

35:18

many other options. And

35:20

yet there are a few events

35:22

that still drive huge, massive numbers

35:25

of viewers. One is the State of the Union address,

35:27

which we recently had. But the

35:30

other is the presidential debates. I mean,

35:32

50, 60 million Americans watch those. Only

35:34

the Super Bowl draws a bigger

35:36

audience than those debates. That

35:39

is a wonderful opportunity for

35:41

President Biden to show everyone that the sort

35:43

of caricature

35:45

that Republicans have created about

35:47

him, you know, not

35:49

being with it or dementia patient,

35:51

completely false, laughably false for any

35:53

of us who talk to the president

35:55

regularly. So you're saying go, Joe, right? You're saying get on stage.

36:00

I'm saying go Joe, it's a great opportunity

36:02

to reach tens of millions of Americans

36:04

to show them how in

36:06

command the president is, but also show

36:09

them Donald Trump. Because

36:11

every time the American public is reminded

36:13

of who Donald Trump is

36:15

and how he behaves, his numbers also drop. Brendan

36:17

Boyle, great to speak to you. Thanks so much

36:19

for joining us. All right, thank you. The

36:24

News Agents USA with Emily Maitless

36:26

and John Soper. The

36:31

News Agents USA. If

36:34

you were living on another planet, literally,

36:37

you wouldn't have been aware that there was a total

36:40

eclipse of the sun across

36:42

a large swathe of America. If

36:45

you happen to live on this planet Earth, it

36:47

was very hard to escape. It

36:50

was a cause of great joy and people traveled

36:52

from far and wide to watch this rare phenomenon.

36:56

But some people saw something deeply

36:58

worrying that could happen. This is

37:00

Fox News. A celestial event collides with

37:02

a policy failure on the ground. The

37:05

southern border will be directly in the

37:07

path of totality today when the moon

37:09

covers the sun for nearly four minutes.

37:11

We are told that officials are bracing

37:13

for higher traffic than usual, and that

37:15

means a real opportunity for smugglers and

37:17

cartels and migrants to come right in.

37:20

Fox News has reporters far and wide

37:22

following the total solar eclipse as it

37:25

crosses the US. I

37:27

mean, hats off to Fox News,

37:29

who have managed to tie a

37:31

celestial event, a natural phenomenon

37:34

to a surge in immigration. I mean, everything

37:36

is going to create a surge in immigration.

37:38

We know that now if you're watching Fox

37:41

News, that is the thing that really

37:43

gets the viewers blood boiling. At

37:45

this time, it is that four minute

37:47

long eclipse where things got a

37:50

bit darker. Instead, I'm assuming of

37:52

like a whole nighttime of darkness

37:54

when presumably immigrants could be making

37:56

their way across the border. That's

38:00

just cynical of you. That's really cynical. I

38:02

mean if you're a people smuggler, you're just

38:05

looking at that four-minute window thinking, go go

38:07

go go go! For the

38:09

captain line now! For the captain line now! I

38:11

mean why would you do it then? You've got

38:13

to had it. That was Fox News on

38:16

peak form. Fox News at its most.

38:19

Fox News. We'll be back next week.

38:21

We'll see you then. Bye bye. Bye. This

38:25

has been a Global Player Original Podcast.