Patriotic Speech and Conservative Backlash

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Serious and disturbing allegations of sexual assault in Michigan, Mallory McMarrow drops out making that one a two way race We also look at the conservative freakout over a patriotic speech by New York mayayor oan Mandani. and we ask the question the mainstream media is afraid to ask, is Mitch McConnell alive Currently. I've been wondering that too Dpends on which Twitter you read. Yeah I mean, it's an important question. It is. It is. All right, let's get the news, startarting with the World Cup last week when the U.S. played Bosnia and Herzegovina, Star forward Flow Baligan, got a red card for stepping on a defender's ankle. I said Bosnia and Herzegovina because I remember that that's how it was said in the nineties when Bill Clinton was was was a bombing from the skies. that was during that era. I remember that from when I was a kid. Remember that NATO? But I remember that NATO but now I'm being told it' Bnia and Herzegovin Under FIFA rules, when a player gets a red card, they have to leave the game, their team has to finish the match with only ten players, and the player who got the red card has to sit up the next game. But we found out on Sunday afternoon that FIFA was suspending that second part of the punishment for Balligan after a call from Trump to FIFA Pident Johnny Infantina Now in a long Twitter post on Monday, Infantino said the decision had been made by the association's independent judicial body, but declined to give any specifics. then again This is the guy who awarded Trump the first ever FIFA Pace prize last December. Whatever happened on the call, it seems unlikely that Trump's deep knowledge of the sport changed any minds. I think the referee' call was horrible. And Nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine Nobody talks the referees decision Red card. I didn't know what the hell a red card was when I found out I said you' got toa be kidding This guy just hands up. Okay, your best player is not going to play next week, Gord in the next game I said, wow, that's a lot of power. That's terrible. So Yes, I asked for a review By FIFA. I had nothing to do with the decision. What I did have to do is I said, I think that should be reviewed because I watch the play And he didn't do anything wrong. Okay, so the The red card seems pretty wrong, but so does Trump's meddling? what do you think? Yeah, I'm no ref. but the red card seems like it was bullshit. A lot of people I follow talk about this stuff all the time think it was it worth the yellow card. Leono Messi did something very similar in a different game in this World Cup, D didn't get carded at all. It also seems like they use the video review improperly. So on like a karmic level This is the right outcome, like Plo Balgan deserves to play. He's an incredible player What makes it like head spinning is All the reporting after the Rd card was that there was no way to review. Right. Right? So we all were like, oh man, we're we're screwed here And then apparently it turns out like the president could just call the head of FIFA, his old buddy. And so I am like I have a lot of feelings about this. I'm annoyed that the conversation about this team and their success because they're awesome. They're so good has now kind of like is tainted by this bullshit Um I think it is obviously bad. like well for the from the Trump point of view like, It's not necessarily bad for him to advocate on behalf of his country, right? Like you could imagine another president doing this in a way that just seemed less corrupt. like here Starmer. apppparently waited on the start time of the England Mexico game because he was worried about that. So I think like mostly this is just really, really bad for FIFA iss p for the course for them because they're a terrible corrupt organization twenty fifteen, a bunch of were indicted on like one hundred fifty million in bribes and kickbacks related to the World Cup. The former head of FIFA setetladder was banned from soccer. He's now on Twitter criticizing this decision. So that's when it's getting a little weird. But it's just impossible to separate this decision from the very longstanding, very weird, very corrupt relationship between Trump and Johnny Fantino Trump's a corrupt person. We know that his like one speed when he wants something is brute force. So we don't know what happened any of these calls, but we know that he got the outcome that he wanted Yeah, so a lot of the A lot of the coverage has been around the call itself, but this was There was a shocking amount of administrative focus on the red card in a very short period of time. Andrew Giuliani, who's Rudy Giuliani's son, was appointed to lead some kind of World Cup task force. He apparently, according to the Polito has been talking to Trump several times a week about the World Cup Uh you have Cmerce Secretary Howard Lutnk who is at the game Sing sitting next to inant was sitting I didn't realize he was sitting right next to him saying that he will was offering White House lawyers to assist the U.S. team in trying to fight this. There was other threats from the U.S. team and from the administration behind the scenes around other ways they could challenge this rule and through other kinds of means that I guess the pressure mounted. and then there was this call on top of it. Yeahah, On the one hand Like it does feel like another story where you have The president he's focused on the biggest fireworks, the ballroom, the reflecting pool, the statues, the arches, all that. He's focused on sports, not on the actual substance of the job and the things that people want him to pay attention to. But I have the same feeling as you, which is of all the ways in which Trump could be a bully Bullying to have an advantage removed from Belgium at the expense of a corrupt group of European chauvinists is like not that big of a sin. No, no, it's not. And like for what it's worth, The New York Post had this reporting that US soccer was already preparing to fight the decision. They were especially focused on the VAR system, the video review system, and that it was improperly used to make this call And they were preparing to appeal to something called the Court of Arbitration for Sports. Yes. I don't know what that is, but apparently it would have taken the decision out of FIFA's hands. So maybe they acted to preempt that. So there's a chance here that Trump is taking credit for something that was already in motion, which is something presidents get to do Good or bad All that said Belgium has a right to be pissed off. Other teams have a right to be pissed off. They want one clear set of rules. They never get it from FIFA Imagine though, if this was the twenty eighteen World Cup in Russia, Putin lobbs in a call FIFA to overturn some ruling. We'd all be like ripping our hair out and screaming about injustice and corruption and oligarchy. FIFA hass made similar exceptions, including one for Cristiano Ronaldo to make sure he didn't miss a game in the tournament. So I think just like the way to ultimately understand FIFA is It's basically a criminal organization that just cares about money. And like the way to understand Infantino is he just sucks up to the most powerful person he needs at all times. So I think everyone, of course, assumes that he viewed this as doing a favor for Trump, even if it hurt his reputation. Yeah I can see like you could imagine Obama at a press conference getting a question likeike that was bullshit, man. like that sucks and then. And but you This is where having independent, trustworthy organizations is important, right? Because sure, an American leader should put pressure for the American team, but you need to trust that the other side of it will not let that influence the decisions, but you can't trust that here. You also can't trust that Trump is not abusing his relationships and his financial entanglements with with Infantino and all the rest. So anyway, Trump made soccer about him somehow. For what it's worth, we're recording this at like three o'clock on Monday, Pacific timeim, so two hours before the game. So we don't know the outcome right now U We'll find out. excited to watch. And I just want I watch Angel City, all right. I am a season ticket holder. so I'm not I'm like getting into soccer. Have you been watching these games? You know, here's where my problem is with the way that we because you have it on and I see you getting into it. I find that with soccer, I either want to watch the whole game or I want to see highlights at the end, but I have trouble dipping in and out, because for me it's about like The way like you can watch a team and even if I didn't understand this til I started watching soccer that even if a goal isn't scored during an entire half, you're still like understanding the way the teams are going up against each other and I feel like it's hard to get that when you're just looking for your computer. Yeah, I have to say this has been u One of the best World Cups I've ever seen. Every game has been like down to the wire and exciting. There's been all these late goals. There's been like late goals called back, incredible headers. someome of the best goals I've ever seen like the Cuub of Ee goal to tie it up the second time and over time against Arin know, was like one of the most incredible shots ever. So it just like the storylines, the gameplay itself players delivering in big moments has just been incredible. And that's why it was like particularly annoying to all of a sudden have to talk about Trump again because it was just a reprieve from him. He like, interestingly, despite the cup Being in the United States, what's Canada and Mexico too? He just like hadn't made himself a part of it. He will at the end to help give out the the trophy to the winner with Infantino, but like he'd kind of stayed away from it and now it's just like him again. And some of the worst like concerns about what would happen with people traveling to the U.S haven't, I mean, we haven't seen that much of like what we the worst possible people being stopped being unable to come see the games. You did have this little moment with the Iranian team protest in the U.S., which I thought was way were Mexico when they did it, but I thought it was particularly moving. Yeah, we were real dicks to the Iranians for no good reason. Like we wouldn't let them stay in the United States and make them fly back and forth through Mexico to games. There were some issues with like one of the African refs was denied entry into the country for some like vetting reason that seems like mostly bullshit. But there what the level of anxiety going into the World Cup was way higher than kind of the level of the problem. Yeah, in fact, it's like the opposite. It's like all these foreigners coming to America kind of nervous and feeling like they love it and like going into to Waffle House for the first time and making viral videos. And it's just been like this fun, like joyful melting of cultures. We have beautiful cultures combining in the US. Meanwhile, Trump is heading to Turkey for the annual NATO summit And Trump intervening with one of his reputedly corrupt pals to remove what would have been an advantage for Belgium seems like a pretty good metaphor for European frustrations with American hegemony. There will be a lot of discussion of defense spending and of ending the war in Ukraine, Rsia. Russia was striking at civilian targets in Kieyiv this week, and Ukraine is actually less able to defend itself in part because of a shortage of interceptor missiles madeade worse by Trump's war in Iran. What are you watching for in this summit and what are you hoping for out it Yeah, mean you got at the top line, which is like signs that the divide between the U. S and Europe are widening or narrowing Trump is still furious about the lack of support from Europe When it came to the war with Iran and Europeans are still rightly furious that we started a war with Iran and made, you know harmed them in the process. So we could see more discussion about whether the Trump administration is going to pull US. troops out of Europe to punish countries like Spain that oppose the war. Remember like at some point, Pete Hegseth was floating that we were going to pull troops out of Poland and then Trump heard about it. he got mad. So it's like been all over. Rubo was mad about that too. Yeah, Rubio apparently spiked it as well U And like the best like there's competing worldviews out there. There's like it's time to move on from America worldview that you'rearing from Mark Carney in Canada. and then Mark Ruta, the NATO seecretary generenal is more of the ass kisser, like Ke Trump on sides guy So the other thing Trump loves to do with these NATO summits is browbeat these countries about defense spending He's now demanding that countries spend five percent of GDP on defense by twenty thirty five. Before him, Obama, Bush, others were were critical of NATO countries for not spending enough, but they wanted to get to like two percent. five percent is absurd That said, it's like a fake target becausecause three point five of the five percent goes to military spending and then one point five percent is defined as security related investments. and that could mean like roads, R cybersecurity. I for the record, I wanted to talk about NATO. I did. Ip. And in part because Last year, this was the summit where Mark Ruta, who's the Secretary General of NATO. This is where he called Trump Daddy I think was a low moment for him. It was not great. And it came to represent like the rootus strategy, which is you just suck up to him in public. and you do your best to mitigate the damage in private. But in the year since that summit, you have threaten triffs over Greenland. you have the war in Iran. The administration has proposed and actually enacted some troop drawdowns, are threatening more And then six months ago, that's when Mark Carney gives this speech laying out, I think for the first time in a really I think in a way that felt like a legitimate alternative All right, the sucking up approach Wh trying in private to persuade him doesn't seem to be working, there was a really deeply reported story in the Wall Street Journal about the European view of America. and there was a lot in there, The experience of Europeans coming to the U.S, beseseeching Trump to defend Ukraine, him seeming to agree. and then an hour long conversation with Putin wipes the fucking thing clean and so We're at this moment where there does seem to be a real possibility of Europe actually viewing this is not a Trump problem, but an America problem. Yeah, it's really's it's troubling. I look the On the Ukraine piece, I mean, Trump is going to meet with Zelensky We'll see what comes out of that. Zelensky's wish list is like, I want to be able to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors in my country F feelels like a win win The Ukrainians have done all this really important stuff with drone technology and using that to using drones to intercept drones. you're not spending like three million dollars on an interceptor missile to take them a thirty thousand dollars to head drone. So there's areas of coordination there. Like hopefully trouble just do no harm when it comes to Zelensky not pull backack support intelligence support for them. hopefully we willll like recommit to a serious peace process and stop whatever this joke is that's being led by Steve Wikoff and Jared Kushner and the Russian oligarch of the day that's seemingly just about deal making for those guys. There's also this whole like subplot at NATO about Turkey and whher Erdwan is a reliable partner, whether the U. S should sell Turkey F thirty five, the Israelis really don't want that to happen. And then there's just like the petty shit like here Starmer and Trump don't really get along as Starmer's last NAo Georgia Maloney and Trump, the Italian leader, prime minister, there was a back and forth where he claimed she wanted a picture with him. and she was like, what the fuck are you talking about? Right. So we'll see. I mean, it's just this could be nothing or it could be him just picking a fight a bunch of Eururos. There's a way they're just sick of it. It just seems like they're sick of it. And because the root of thing, right is Hey guys He's demanding five percent. You can count a bridge, Just shut up and say you're doing it. Right it's by twenty thirty five. It's never going to happen. He's going be long gone. Just say you're going to meet the commitment and put forward some way of proving it, right like that then and he wants the flatter in public. He wants the great headline and we can slow roll it and deal with it after he's gone, but there seems to be like Oh, like the a shift in which they're just no longer willing to play along as much as they were before. And in the Wall Street Journal report, there was that Europeans are also Removing Aican tech from their systems, they're urging civil servants to no longer use Microsoft Tams or office. They're spending hundreds of billions of dollars to try to boost Europe's own private space firms, AI companies, and data centers. And it seems like I was interested in this part because it seems asough Trump's his bravado, sort his bullying, it is predicated on America being indispensable and it's too hard to shift away from us. Yeah. But that can that is only true if they treat it as if it is true Yeah, true. I mean, I think they're kind of waking up to How many different ways they're relyant on the US.?ike the NAO piece is obvious, like the US well like seventy percent of NATO, right? If the US pulls out of that. If we refuse to honor the Artle V commitment within NATO, NATO kind of falls apart. So That's been an anxiety for a while I think they're also concerned about their reliance on the big ticket weapon systems. like you're seeing quotes being like, is there a kill switch in the F thirty five if we buy those? And I hope there is. could Trump just turn them off. I still love his country and I hope there is But also like recently we've seen this completely incoherent approach to AI models, like the mythos model from Anthropic O day the administration just cuts it off to any foreign partner, then a couple of weeks later, they turn it back on And I think these European countries understand that like this tech is going to get embedded into everything they do, their economy, weapon systems, everything. and they have no AI industry. And I think they're worried about that. and they're trying to like scramble to catch up a little bit. And then I would imagine they're looking at us replacing NASA with like Elon Musk and kind of worried that their ability to launch stuff into space going forward runs through that guy. Right? Like it's just like two mercurial people. You're relying on the U.S. for defense. you can't trust them anymore. You're relying on Elon Musk to provide access to Starlink. He is capricious about that And then on the other side of it, right like And then they see Mark Carney, right? and Can it Cana is even more dependent on the U.S than the Europeans are, and he's sort of charting this other path, but it's not just that if NATO would go away and then they would be in trouble NATO would go away and then they would have to spend not five percent, but ten percent, fifteen percent. They'd have to have a real defense which currently we subsidize. What's so funny about this is Basically, NATO exists to deter a Russian invasion. And then but Trump sort of doesn't seem to care about Russia invading other countries. So why are we spending all this time browbeedingating European countries to increase their defense spending to five percent? If he fundamentally doesn't really care about the existence of the organization. That's like the internal incoherence of this whole thing. It's just like he feels like we're getting ripped off and he likes to yell at them and that's become his his shick. Right. It doesn't seem like that's the resistance, right? Because They They made the commitment last year. I don't know they all did, but almost all of the countries didn't make was Bain refused, right? They didn't to get to five. per and now this is a meeting about proving they're going to do it. And there's never a day at which They've successfully assuaged Trump and now we can get to the work of rebuilding the alliance. in the years since they made those commitments that's when he threatened to put tariffs on because of Greenland. Yeah, And if you're the UK, I mean, like you have this demand from Trump to increase defense spending. There clearly is a need for them to improve, modernize and beef up their military. but they're also like their economy has been bumping along kind of stagnant for a decade. have pressing economic domest concerns too, and you get hold between the two and then, you know Mark Trump just decides to bully you every once a while. And like Mar Carney gave great speech in Dava, was talking about this sort of post America world I think the challenge is like, okay, in practice, can he really cobble together this alliance of middle powers to really push back on the U S. and become another powerower center. it just remains to be seen. and just Every dollar is not the same dollar It is not good for the U.S and it is quite costly for Europe to have to build redundant capabilities to the United States. That is instead of the U.S, I mean it is Donald Trump does not care about our national interests but it is better for us as a country If they are buying if whatever, two percent of their spending involves purchasing a lot of our support versus four percent of their spending being independent. Well and that's sort of the rub in a lot of this is like when Trump is demanding they spend five percent of GDP on defense spending, most of that money is going to get shoveled overseas to US, know defense contractors to Raytheon and stuff. And it's like a terrible economic investment for the leaders of these countries, it's not really a return on that dollar. It's not flowing through their economy. It's going over to the U.S. because Donald Trump wants it , so we'll keep an eye on, you know, let's see if NATO's around by the next episode. Pod S saave of America is brought by article Article m it effortless to build a home that lasts without the boutique markup. Their curated collections of mid century, coastal, and scandy furniture are designed to mix and match perfectly so you can create a cohesive designer look that will stand the test of time The artle stuff is so well made It looks great, it's simple, but like has great design. 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Then on june fourth, five days before the primary, the New York Times published a story in which women who had dated Platinner talked about a bunch of troubling incidents and dynamics. Platinner then won the primary handily Then on Monday, shortly before we sat down to record this polito published a story in which one of the women in that time story, Jenny Rasicon A Democrat gave more details about her experiences with Platinner. She said that in twenty twenty one, she showed up at her house, drunk, without being invited, went in, forced her to have sex with him against her will She told Political that she withheld those details because she did not want to be known as a rape victim. momoments after the story published, The Platner campaign posted a response video. Here is what Platner said. I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false. Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality it will inflict We are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward state that I love people that I love. The movement I belong to. and the goal of defeating Susan Collins. So just so people know, if he withdraws by july thirteenth, he can be replaced on the ballot. Ty, what was your reaction to the story The allegations in the story are really bad and troubling. They seem credible. They're backed up by documentation. And so obviously the impact politically is not just what's in the story. It's this cumulative impact of a series of articles and allegations about him And the feeling that he' just has not been fully transparent and honest about some of the allegations, like you mentioned. I mean, there was this meeting in Washington a while ago where these questions were put to him directly. And the answer, I think sounds like it was just no And now there's all this reporting. So I think my takeaway from that video was that he's going to drop out of the race. I think he has to drop out of the race. Like you said, if he drops by the thirteenth, the main Democratic Party will choose a replacement by july twenty seventh I have no idea who they're going to choose. I'm very worried now about the prospect of winning this seat if the party can get its act together We ultimately could be in a stronger place politically than we would be with Plattenner and all this baggage if these stories had come out later, I think the challenge is going to be You had all these voters who turned out and voted for Graham Platinner, despite the Reddit posts, despite the tattoos in the story and all the other scandals They were turning out to signal that they wanted something different and that they were angry att the establishment And I don't know who in Maine can like speak to that anger. but also has been vetted by the party and has been through the political process. Because like look, as much as Janet Mills' supporters deserve to be angry and deserve the I told you sos, they're saying today. The problem was that maine voters were not supporting her. didn't to vote for her. And so This wasn't like some online vibes issue, it was like what the electorate was saying in the state where it matters. So I think I don't know where they go from here. And she suspended her campaign before any votes were cast, right? So there wasn't an alternative in the primary. Yeah. he to he has to end the campaign so that we have a chance of defeating Susan Collins. I think the story is horrible I find it Starting from when you interviewed him about the tattoo, he has not always been transparent about it. That has become increasingly true that his denials have just not been backed up by what came next even here in the story, which is deeply reported, backed up by contemporaneous evidence and previous conversations U it comports with what he's said, which is that he was drinking a lot And the story describes him as being drunk, potentially not remembering it the next day. And so then we have a video of him categorically denying something, which it doesn't seem he's really in a position deny So he has to withdraw to give us a chance. And what I took away from watching this video from reading this story is it is clear that This is somebody that has not maybe even been honest with himself about what was going on in the dark phases of his life Yeah. But that is not for us to deal with in a Senate race that will determine the control of the Senate. Yeah Obviously a big lesson here is that vetting is really important. and some of the vetting gets done by campaigns themselves and then ultimately it will be done by the media if the campaigns don't figure that part out Um But like we should be clear about what kind of stuff comes up in vetting. Like the Reddit post should come up in veting, like online accounts that should come up in veting. I've never heard of a campaign like kind of calling exes to sort of suss out stories like this, right? I mean, I think what happens is campaigns have conversations with the candidate, they ask them a series of questions. If the candidate is not candid back to them then they're in a very difficult position. And like when I interviewed Platinner about his reedit posts and the tattoo, like I was not aware of any of these allegations. None of this was public yet just for the record because I would have asked. I still don't think there's evidence that he intended to get a Nazi tattoo on purpose or that he had like Nazi leanings. In fact, I think the Reddit archive like shows the opposite. But like like you just said, like I have come to believe over time and over learning more information that he just wasn't being honest about when he learned that what the tattoo was or what it looked like. And I don't know if he was being honest with himself or the campaign about it. And So I think like the question is like, what do you do with that information? What's the lesson here? I hope it's not that we don't try to run people from outside of politics because I think like that's a good thing. I want people who aren't just like raised in a political system to run for office. I think it's good to have new perspectives. Also, they've clearly been veting problems within the party too like Eric Swawell is in Congress for a decade There were horrifying allegations that came out about him. He was in leadership. He was like close with Pelosi, right? So like, he was an establishment favorite who had some horrible allegations in his past But yeah, I mean, like it's It's horrible. It's awful. It's really sad. a lot of people believed in him, believed in this campaign. I know they're going to feel devastated by this. A lot of people are to be really angry. There's going to be a lot of anxiety about our ability to win this seat and you know, hopefully that main Democrats can pick someone good to replace him quickly and get this righted. Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of I think people. doing their kind of factional of point scoring about it too and fine people can have at it. There are people who felt like this was not a person that should have been trusted with a Senate nomination, because of the Redit posts, because of the tattoo that this was enough to say we should be looking in another direction. That has turned out to be true. but what has consistently been I think The way in which people talk past each other in these sort inter partarty debates is You view Grand Platinner as unacceptable Voters seem to find the establishment candidates even less acceptable. And there there was a way to defeat Graham Platinner with a viable alternative And that wasn't presented during the race And It doesnn't mean criticism of Graam Platinner wasn't completely and totally justified. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with supporting Janet Mills, but now we have to figure out how to find that person who can represent the party in the Senate race because the stakes remain controlled asign. Yeah. And look I think ultimately Don't get the sense that Jenet Mills really wanted to run Yeah, And she was like pushed and pushed and kind of dragged into it And it came through, you know? And like she didn't seem like she wanted to campaign. I understand that. There was also this insurgent candidacy happening And she just yeah, it's just the whole situation is just terrible. Even after the june fourth story, she said, I am still technically on the ballot but didn't reactivate the campaign. So you know, it's a terrible situation. The story is horrible and my thoughts go to think of that person who finally felt like they didn't get their story out the first time the story ran. They felt they had to come forward and tell it an even more gruesome detail. and that is terrible and a brave thing to do. And I still hope you win that fucking seat Pot saave of America is brought you by Tommy Joh Summer can be rough on the body. Public transport is a sauna, your walk to work feels medically unsafe, and sometimes it feels like there's not enough air conditioning in the world to save you. 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I have the they have their second skin underwear, which is my favorite. but I'm excited to try the air. I think I have one pair bear and it's great So light It's so light. Love those uies. Go to Tommyjohnot com todayod and save twenty five percent off your first order with code Crooked. Comfort Pfective. J use code Crooked at check out and upgrade your essentials today Today's show is sponsored by strawberry. me Do you ever look at someone really succeeding in their chosen field and think, how did they get there? And what am I missing One thing is certain, they didn't get there alone Those who reached the highest levels of career success had mentors, coaches, people in their corner who help them think through big decisions and see what they can't see themselves. That is exactly what today's sponsor, striwberry. mee is all about. A lot of us know we're capable of more, we just don't know what the next step is. 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McMorrow is seen as a rising star in the party, but she failed to gain traction in the race and had been stuck in single digits in recent polling. Stevens has the backing of Chuck Schumer DSCC and APAC is positioning herself as the electable Merate. To date though, she's running behind El Saed, a progressive and former crooked host and friend of ours, who's generating big crowds and enthusiasm by running against the establishment, supporting Medicare for all and opposing military aid to Israel. Mallory was trying to position herself between Hailey Stevens and Abdul. Why do you think that didn't ultimately work? Yeah be clear, I also I'm biased, like A ab's a friend. He did a show on her network I'm a donor to his candaign, and so I just want to put that all out there. I think Mallory started as a long shot. Like she she was known online because of like viral speeches a few years ago, but I think statewide, she had very low name ID, and that's a real challenge. And I think Um, you also had del as the like very clear Bernie Sanders endorsed progressive favorite. and then you had Haley Stevens with the Schumer support, the institutional support, and the tens of millions of dollars in outside money that comes with it. I think that thirty two million has been spent on her behalf so far. And then nowaller is left trying to figure out like what is my middle path where I cobble off some votes from the more progressives by being more electable and some from the establishment and it just it never quite worked. and then I think she made sort of what turned out to be a fatal error by attacking a duel for campaigning with this on Piker which made progressives think Um that she was not credible or reliable, and then I think it got ab dual more attention than he had gotten in a very long time and it just sort of like started this slow attrition and support. And so I think also lumped her in with Hay. Yeah. it made her seem more like the establishment, which was sort of played into the abdual message. So I just think like she ultimately never could really find a clear lane. Yeah, there was some also I would just say like a fair amount of hostility towards Mallie McMorrow online And it reminded me a little about of when it was Bernie versus Elizabeth Warren toward the end of that primary and it was like Oh, you know, we have our person And sore you're a threat to our Canandada and it was sort of pretty hostile towards McMorrow So Yeah, now the question is, I think, what happens to There weren't that many McMura voters by the end, but there are still a lot of undecided people. Hailey is going to be making a an electability argument against Abdul. Some of that will be around him being on the left. I think some of it will be subtly or not so subtly about him his identity What do you think Yeah, look I think there's There's sort of this assumption that Mallorory's votes are just going to go to Haley. I think that's wrong. Like I've heard from people who' seen a lot of polling that Malallory's votes are very much split It's not an obvious boon to Hailey Stevens. We'll probably see another poll soon, will have a better sense. but Like the old theory of politics was the progressive lane was like thirty five, maybe forty percent. you know, That was sort of the ceiling. And then the rest of the votes would go to more established kind of moderate normy Ds This cycle though, we're seeing the total rejection of the establishment on the left and on the right We're also seeing progressive candidates all over the country, New York, Colorado, lots of places do really, really well and that would seem to benefit a Dual U there are questions about Haley's abilities as a messenger. There are know foreign policy and support for Israel and APAC has been more of an animating issue than we've seen in a very, very long time. And I think that speaks to anual strength. So those would be all arguments for Um why he could benefit or do well coming out of this move from Mallory. But We don't know. I mean, like there's a ton of money getting spent for Haley. She's a better known quantity in the state And then as you said, I think there will be a lot of talk about electability fear of losing this seat, the strength of their opponent. and you're right, like a lot of that will be code for Abdul's a Muslim guy U, but we'll just see what message resonates with voters. I mean, this this prrimaryies in August I bet a lot of folks still aren't paying attention, so there is time But it's going to be seen as like a huge proxy for a lot of the issues in the party about left right, Israel, Gaza that we'll talk about in a second Yeah, we've been saying for a while now that there is this realignment on Israel. and it seems to be happening very quickly during this primary, John and Dan talked M On the show Friday about Kamal Harris reaching out to Zoron and AOC and the leaders of the uncommitted movement in Michigan as she prepares for her potential twenty twenty eight run. on Wednesday, another potential twenty twenty eight candidate, Brah Emanuel, the son of an Israeli independence fighter and a career moderate will give a speech in Tel Aviv, essentially threatening an end to American support for Israel unless there are major changes. Here's how Abdul talked about the issue recently This is a moral Roschach test. Like if you can't identify the systematic murder of tens of thousands of kids as a genocide And then you want to say that you're a fighter for human rights and dignity That's just hypocrisy So I just think that if you can't call the most heinous violation of human rights, what it is It's hard for me to believe that you're going to go and fight the Trump administration or fight the pharmac CEOs or fight the health insurance CEOs who are making my life unlivable. I do think he's describing like the actual dynamic among a lot of Democratic voters that this issue has become a kind of Shibith for a willingness to take on the establishment, the willing to take hard political positions. But at the same time, his choice of words there is interesting, right? A Rorshach test is something in which you see what reflects your view of it. It's a point in order that and that the thing itself is a way of eliciting what your view might be. And I do think that's happening here too. It's probably why I'm interested in what Rom ultimately says because I think the what I think Abdul is describing the reality of how this debate is unfolding, but that is in part because Joe Biden and Kamal Harris. left such a massive whole both in terms of the policy and any kind of larger framework or message or story about A progressive defense of support for Israel might be Yeah. I mean, I think that for a lot of progressive voters in in the US, especially young people, it's kind of just like a threshold question about your credibility. If you can't look at what's happening in Gaza and say that's wrong and say we shouldn't be funding a genocide or sending more weapon systems with a blank check over to Israel, then they don't believe you on anything else. I think the RM speech is particularly interesting to me. I'm going to talk to them next week on Paday of the World Um becausecause Netanyahu has an election in October at the latest. I think he's going over there in part to kind of stir some shit up and signal to voters in advance of that election. like, hey, it's time to move on from Netanyahu This guy is bad news. He does not He's not serving interests. He's not going to help you in Washington anymore. We'll see if that works I do think like looking thinking back to the Biden kind of era Gazed fights. I think there was a suggestion for a while that the campus activists were performative you know, the people out protesting like they just, that was their thing of the month, right? And I didn't think that was true then and I don't think it's true now. And I think that Y views, again, on Gaza just become like a proxy for this much bigger threshold question about whether people believe you. And frankly, things have gotten worse since then because we had the war with Iran Uh, and, um, all that Trump has you know, done to make things worse there. And so, you know That's where it's like all getting swept up. And so I do think this is going to continue to be a huge issue in Democratic primaries U in this cycle, but also in twenty eight Yeah, this is where I do things like that The ways in which I think pro Israel Democrats or historically pro Israel Democrats have been really caught flatfooted and surprised by the level of intensity and importance that this issue has now taken. And you have seen a lot of those Democrats shift, right? You had Berie Chris Murphyting out putting up resolutions about cutting offilitary offensive military aid to Israel and the number of Democrats being willing to support that ticking up But in the absence, I think of a clear articulation of a view on Israel that is reflective of concedes the substance of the, I think, valid moral critique of U. S. support for Israel especially of military support for Israel and its conduct of the war in Gaz. Um It talks about a position on settlements. It talks about a position on the future of Gaza, two state solution whether or not that is still something that is plausible. What it looks like to actually fight for something like that. What it looks like to hold Israel accountable, right?ike It is true, what Abdul says in that video that If you can't call what Israel has done in Gaza a genocide, then you are failing this moral test. But there are no politicians right now saying something like, I believe Israel's conduct of the world is horrific. I think that they've committed ethnic cleansing. There are genocidal members of that administration. I will leave the definition of genocide to others, But I will tell you, we will make sure that the West Bank is safe for Palestinians and we will remove settlements As part of any deal, we will hold off any funding for Israel until it has withdrawn to the borders. R? Like there is a full throated pro Palestinian Allright. position that acknowledges Israel's right to exist and defend itself that I think could reflect the values of Duls talking about it. but right now just doesn't exist. There's no no one really espousing that position that I'm hearing. Yeah, I think what has broken recently is for a long time there were kind of like political and policy orthodoxies that were just kind of abided by in Washington. You know, it's like there there were seen as most politicians did not stray much beyond, you know, sort of like the forty yard lines of this debate And then when Gaza started, like a bunch of people just started asking, why?ike why are we giving to their credit, like places like Jay Street and other groups were asking these questions earlier, but like People just sort of wondering, why are we giving this country three point three billion a year in military support and then a bunch of additional funding after that Why are we partnering with Bibi Netanyahu to launch this crazy war with Iran when it doesn't seem to serve our interests Why are we whyy does the US Congress welcome in ICC indicted war criminals like Netanyahu and other, you know Israeli political and military leaders. and yet we're having this big dumb fucking fight for a month about Hassan Pikers Twitter to Twitchre And why why is a Democratic administration two of them supporting a government in which their leader comes to the U. S and insults us and basically does politics for the Republican partarty. And you have APAC as an organization that has become completely sort of politicized and sort of attacking Democrats who don't feel exactly to their line. Yeah, I mean, APAC primarily has started sort intervening in Democratic primaries attacking the more progressive candidate about issues that have nothing to do with Israel, and that's robbing people the wrong way. And I think there's a broader sort of waking up to the fact that At this moment, the two state solution is just not realistic in any way. And I think a lot of times when politicians talk about, well, we need peace talks in two states living side by side and blah blah. it's just a way of like punting the question and having a to say that they all know is complete bullshit because the West Bank is getting chopped up Every single day I bu more settlement construction and you know, after october seventh neeither side has any faith in the process, nor do they necessarily support a two state solution anymore That's all true and real. I think we where my only advice to like the more progressive candidates and people on the left is I do think one thing that has gotten lost from the conversation is like any sense of empathy in a lot of these answers about the trauma that Israelis felt on october seventh or that Jews in America feel and fear they feel about anti Semitism. And I think we just need that needs to be more a part of the conversation as we recalibrate these much harder policy issues. Yeah. acknowledging that is not a concession to is not admitting to something right? L like compassion towards Israelis is not to take anything away from No, Benjamin Netanyahu's evil conduct of the war. also And as much as a two state solution seemems like something you just say to get out of the question. It's not like a one state solution is very appealing, not great an either. So it really is like a It's been a arreass for very long time. Like you have to do both. L off course I have enormous empathy for people in Gaza, the suffering of the Palestinian people, like having empathy for the Israelis who were hurt or or killed or kidnapped that day or the people who were scared by the events of October se like They're not mutually exclusive. We can do both. And I think its just it's gotten a little bit lost from the debate. And I wouldll just also say too, like from the other side of it, like you can go back to Rabin describing the importance of a peace process in part because you would get to the point we're at now where people would stop being willing to accept a two state solution. R and start demanding a one state solution. You know, when people criticize Mam Danni, right? becausecause he gets the question like, do you support the right of a Jewish state to exist? and I support a state for equal rights to exist? Th those circles can be squared There can be a state with equal rights that has a Jewish majority, but that requires a Palestinian state, which requires a US that is willing to put an extraordinary amount of pressure on Israel to remove settlements from the West Bank and make a two state solution possible. becausecause the alternative, which is increasingly what people are demanding, is one in which there is no longer a Jewish state in a region which there are a lot of Muslim states. O you a state That is a def facto apartheid state with different laws for different people in different is also religions unacceptable. Yeah Pods of America is brought you by Sleepe. When was the last time you went to bed before midnight without scrolling? Doom scrolling the latest news cycle keeps bin buzzing and worse it raises your core body temperature. A body that's too warm cannot fall into a deep restore of sleep. You're not just mentally exhausted. Your body never actually recovered from the day. Theo fix is simple, lower your bed temperature. I sure you could put your phone down as well, but That's a miracle. Enter Chiliipad two point zero, the water based mattress topper that actuallyly controls your bed temperature from fifty five to one hundred fifteen degrees all night long. No new mattress, no renovation. if fits over what you already have. Chili pad two pointzero actuallyly cools or warms your bed using water and water is key here. 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If we find anything suspicious, like new loans or changes to your financial accounts, we alert you right away, all through text, phone, email, or the LifeLock app. Get the alerts that could make all the difference. Save up to thirty percent with promo code news at lifeifelock dot comot terms apply Speaking of shifting and amorphous borders, we haven't discussed on the show, but Mitch McConnell has been absent from the Senate since he was hospitalized in mid June. His staff and others have tried to downplay it on july first, according to Dispatch audio reviewed by ABC News and other outlets. A person at Mitch McConnell's address was discovered unconscious and a cardiac arrest and EMTs performed CPR. This has led to rampant speculation that McConnell is somewhere in the twwilight realm between life and death where he will be held, and this is what the I think the conspiracy is, where he will be held until august third becausecause after august third The November election would be for the next term as opposed to for the remainder of McConnell's term and Thomas Massey. who is obviously a free agent could run for the Senate. So goes the conspiracy conspiracy theory Would you care to recklessly speculate Man, I don't know. this wasn't really on my radar screen until today, but you know, then I'm seeing there was a reporter named Deser Townsend who was quote tweeting Laura Lumomer. So Laura Loomer for folks who don't know is this crazy far right activist who back in the day once chained herself to the offices of the Twitter building in New York because they like cans like got rid of a account or something? Or I don't know, think I think a gay guy was there. I don know. Yeah, somethingomething like that. So she was think She was like a fringe lunatic, but now she is very close to Dald Trump There's all these reports about how she'll walk into the Oval Office with a list of names of administration officials and get them all fired, including like high level people. I think she got like the head of the NSA fired, right? So Laura Lumomer is someone who has a lot of access at the White House She tweeted a couple of hours ago today A highigh level source close to the White House tells me Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He's not coming back Now That is obviously crass phrasing but I And I don't normally believe her, but I do believe that someone close to the White House would tell her that And then a journalist who apparently had like reported out or broke the story of Mitch McConnell's initial cardiac issues confirmed what she said So there's just like all this churn And it's not coming from like the kind of resistance left, It's coming from the far right spacees about Connell's health and there's just no transparency. and then his wife is in China for some reason. Yeah, she was on a trip very soon after this had happened, which was a little bit strange. So u yeah. and by but I will say As far as ways for Mitch McConnell go out, Uh holding on to power. even in the face of grim death, even in the face of the ultimate end itself As he shuffles off this mortal coil It's the way to do it. It's how he's It's how it is It is how he'd want to go. He would want to go in some sort of nefarious plot in which he is kept alive to fuck Thomas Mas. Yeah. I think that's exactly what he would want. And as much as I don't approve of it I approve it. He diedly love. Yeah He died with his boots on Yeah, We don't know is the We don't. We don't know if you're alive or dead. Can I say something when I worked for Hillary Clinton when speaking of the issue we'reviously talking about Ariel Sharon had fallen into a coma Rember he was the prime minister of Hwkish prime mininister of Israel. He fell into a coma And I had to write this statement announcing that he had passed because we thought he was going to die at any moment And it was going to be a statement from Bill and Hillary Clinton together. And we went back and forth and then it up went over to Bill Clinton's office and it came back. and the line of it the last line of it said, an Ariel Sharon died with his boots on Not a phrase I would have used. is what he wanted to because he was still serving as inur when he fell into the com he was working And then Ariel Sharon was in a coma for weeks, months, maybe longer, was it years? He was in a coma for a very, very long time. And we would have this internal debate being like, how long after you've fallen into a coma are you no longer dying with your boots on? Oh, yeah, what I'm saying? Do you just leave the boots on the whole time? Right Beuse like he didn'tie with his boots on because that was he may have fell down He got into a coma with his boots on, but we can't keep this sentence in. this was weeks Yeah The boots are off. Yeah. Bots are boots are off walking U Speaking of being old, America turned to one hundred fifty this week And Trump got to hold his big Freedom two hundred fifty rally, the culmination of months of meticulous planning. There was dangerous heat, lightning, pandemonium, enough smoke to cause a code red air quality alert. and then on the morning of the fourth of July a white nationalist group called Patriot Front. Featuring around four hundred masked men carrying Confederate flags and chanting, Reclaim America March through the Capitol. goodood news, they decided to be climate conscious and take public transit. Bad news these Uber mention. should have taken Uber because the master race couldn't master the metro Here's how it went. Yeah, they there's a great photo circulating of these guys in their masks on the train and this woman just sitting there being like, what the fuck is going on here? So these guys just they couldn't figure out how to use the metro? I think that they were trying to use one person was trying to swipe them in. But I wonder if they got a bit flummxed by the fact that you have to, I think tap in and tap out.. I don't know that's still the case in DC. I believe it is. I think that's must have been confused by the tap in and tap out That's the situation there. So that was Trump's july fourth a fireworks display that seemed like the Capitol was being nuked and that filled the entire region with smoke gave a pretty uninspired Beach a lot of the there was a lot of people fishing outs tritus from the Sab reflecting pool, which I think been through enough. Yeah really. And I think that closes the chapter on The tune fiftieth birthday America deserves for putting this man in charge Yeah it was just the whole thing was just It's such a sloppy mess in a bummer Yeah. You people passing out You got like I mean, again, Trump couldn't have predicted the weather. It's not his fault that it was one hundred and five degrees. But what is dangerously hot outside One thing you do is you cancel your speech. You don't have your supporters line up for hours and hours and hours. And then you don't put Secret Service in the situation where they're clearing out the national mall because of dangerous thunder and lightning. and the supporters are like accusing them of some sort of conspiracy theory to steal from his big day The whole thing was just selfish and stupid and sloppy and half assed and it could have been really cool. and it's just a bummer It is. Now, various Democrats had their own july fourth counter prorogramming, including Zoron Mamani, who gave a great speech just before the holiday that caused a bunch of conservatives to lose their mind. Here's a few moments from the speech which Mondani delivered from a desesk used by George Washington and with naturalized U. S. citizens all around him Ours as a nation working each day towards the perfection in which it was conceived A nation striving each day to better itself Therein lies the work of America striving. The btering the reaching towards perfection. What a privilege each of us has. to live in a nation that every one of its inhabitants can shape What a responsibility each of us possesses Pve ourselves worthy of all those who came before What power eachach of us holds. to bring America ever closer to the greatness so many have seen. When they looked upon these shores, the greatness that For two hundred and fifty years. has been America What a comy fuck. So I saw the reaction before I saw the speech. what do you think? You're like, Oh, God what do say? you watch it and you're like, oh, that's incredibly patriotic. was look, it was a very obbama message to no surprise that I liked it. patriotic and optimistic Um talking about America's flaws, but in a hopeful way. I mean, that's a very It's a tough needle to thread for a politician, especially if you're brown or black. And you saw in the reaction where you had all these people accusing Zora Mandani of attacking his country or, you know, being critical of it. It's like guys Trump literally says we were a dead country until I came back. You know, hisis view of America is unless he's in charge, it's dead, it's irredeemable. It's American carnage, we're making America great again. So it's just like this very frustrating, endless stupid conversation about what it means to be patriotic. but I think like thought that was a great speech. It was interesting that he decided to step up and do it. because they had to know that this was going to be the reaction. But I imagine that it was just very important to him in this moment where Trump is trying to repeal birthright citizenship and all these kind of like pillars of what makes us a country that is great, that he wanted to be like a to voice the alternative view. Yeah. when I saw, I was like, oh, that's so interesting. He makes interesting he's going to do something. he's going to make a news news a newsmaking speech around july fourth And he's doing it because the podium's open. when the podium's open, he's taking it. Yeah.ike it's just it's open. exxactly. And I thought like it was like there was a I think was Bill Ackman and a bunch of people were saying, Oh, we St evenven sitting at the desk wrong, right? that the Yeah because that all becausecause the desk hasw drawers on both sides And so they saw him sitting on the side where and they said, Oh, this dummy doesn't have to sit at a desk. Yeah. And it really like captured to me like Just the the us first of all, the assumption that everyone but them is stupid. R. And There were so many conservatives jumping in to say that this speech was dark and hateful, that that like how dare this person, but some of them saying, how dare this immigrant who's only been a citizen for eight years criticize my country. fuck you. U But they didn't want to listen, right? Be it's a beautiful and patriotic speech and u He's very like, you know, he did the same thing with the, u with that speech around the Kicks. winning where He's just, you know what? Like I'm gonna there's a moment My job as a leader is to make the most of moments as they come. and he's just so good at that. And I think it drives him a little bit crazy. Yeah, especially people like Bill Ackman where He's making an economic argument and going right at people like Bill Aackman. I think the line was like the powerful think America is an arena of supremacy. And the rest of us should be grateful for being allowed to visit. And he said how small they are, how weak And I saw a tweet from Elon Musk from over the last couple of days. where someone was telling him that he essentially saying you should oppose universal suffrage and Elon said, I have wised up So we've got this trillion trillionaire oligarch suddenly coming out against alll of our. having the right to vote So it felt important and timely because basically he was trying to say, the powerful to try to divide us to turn us against each other