The Future of the Republican Party

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The Supreme Court in nineteen seventy six upheld the basic framework of our campaign finance laws, this contribution thing. like we're going to limit the amount of money that can be given to a campaign. But the RNC said that's not enough. They want that to be unlimited. This was a case where the court had ruled on this question before. and the Supreme Court just sort of like drove through that as if it was just air. And that is a really big deal. The question is like what campaign finance law is this court gonna uphold if it is not this one? Put it this way, if you were Supreme Court trying to look partisan, these are probably some of the things you would do Bween and Rging moderateates, I'm Jesic Tarlv and I am very excited to be joined today by America's foremost election lawyer, Democratic Savior, or he's trying to save us as much as he can. The deck is stacked against him sometimes, but he's still notching up big wins, Democracy Dcket founder, Mark Elias is here. I'm so excited How are you I'm okay, you know, had to H had a good few days was weird. It was like a long, long weekend, you know, between Donald Trump's craziness in Washington, D C, which was really crazier than it seems. That's where I wanted to start, so I'm glad you got us right in there. So I was in DC just on Thursday. We did an outdoor show in the one hundred four degree heat, which was. Hllscape beyond imagination. Now, were you at the um The thing on the mall where nobody went Until Saturday, the internet is dunking on me a lot because I made a video on Thursday when there was no one there. I said, Hey, there's no one out here and you should inside if you are here, it's like there was a little baby, which is very unsafe to have them out in those conditions. Then by Saturday, there were hundreds of thousands of patriots including White nationalists, I'm sure you saw that as well So I have surrendered. People showed up on Saturday to see Donald Trump, but yes, I was on the mall. So I wanted to ask you about this. so like Did they did they think people would show up Do you know what I mean? Be nothing about it seems to be set up to be all that enticing for people to show up Like, of course, people show up for fireworks, but like the little like mini And like the the ill constructed sets, like, did they think people were going to show up for this Definitely. I mean, I guess not enough to actually spend the appropriate amount of money to ensure that the thing didn't break U But yeah, I think that they expect or Trump tells them, rather, if this has my name on it. and it was Freedom two hundred fifty, right? It wasn't America two hundred fifty. It wasn't the bipartisan commission doing something to celebrate Our two hundred fiftieth birthday. I think he says, you know, prepare for the biggest crowd you've ever seen and no one can push back on it. W that weather, how Could you think that you are going to have Thousands that you expected. Apparently, he was very upset by it. W N York there New York was there. It was. But for everyone who was just watching it on TV, it was a completely dismal rating. I would say for his Fair until Saturday But then they were there and then they left and then he came back, right Yes. So the weather got really bad. So they all had to leave that The process for getting in was very trumpian and difficult to get through. Th then they were seeking refuge in all of the federal buildings, and I am not in any way saying that Trump supporters in general are racists, but the scenes of them taking cover in the African American History Museum. You know, I just wanted them like the Maga hats right below the Barack Obama Dplay would have been kind of just perfect serendipity. I want to play this little clip of Trumps speech which finally kicked off A eleven PM and then we had the eight hundred fifty thousand fireworks. I think you guys have the worst air quality of any city in America now as a result of it. But let's listen to T Trump quoting the Declaration of Independence. And as our Declaration of Independence tells us, we are all made in the image of one Almighty God And the communist will never say that That's for sure Is that what the Declaration of Independence says Okay, so the Declaration of Independence doesn't say that. Yeah. But the part that the part that I'm like just marveling at with like all of this communist stuff is This is a guy who spends a lot of time talking to Vladimir Putin. I mean, like we don't need to like speculate who communists are. likeike literally, you know, Vladimir Putin is the head of Russia and is an avowed and like proud communist. So if Donald Trump has any questions about communists, maybe he should maybe he should call his buddy buddy over in Moscow I kind of love that to say, like let's take our attention off AOC and Mom Donny, and we could just direct it to the guy who he had I don't know, like six to eight private conversations with when he was even out of office, you know, while he was the four years when Joe Biden was in there The communist point though obviously speaks to their campaign line, right? and what it's going to look like as we head into the midterms And then the twenty twenty eight presidential. And there's another big piece of it, which he mentioned when he was speaking at the dedication of Teddy Roosevelt's library when he brought up the Save America Act, claiming that it would end cheating on elections. Yeah, he said, if we terminate the filibuster as we should do and immediately vote for the Save America Act, then we will not lose an election for a hundred years I'm which is what a normal which is what a normal leader would say in a democracy. generormal Democratic leader ye Yeah. Right, right. I mean, like over all, like, I mean, let's see, which sounds more like a communist I don't think that he even knows what communist leaders look like or what has happened to their countries Or how many tens of millions have died at their hands? I think it's It only looks like Bernie Sanders to Yeah, like so for for for for him You know, the emptying out the prisons and putting them on the front lines to be canon fodder and no free and fair elections. and, you know, jailing political opponents to Donald Trump is not communism, but, you know, health carere for all. thats where that's where Trump is drawning the line The free bus rides, I think are really what gets him I want to ask you though about the Save America Act ' last time that you were on, we talked a lot about it and it was when it had first started. percolating in earnest, I would say. They've had major setbacks in terms of getting it. Major setbacks. Major setbacks is kind of like, you know, the the situation with the algae in the in the reflecting pool. Like like it's had yes, it iss fair to say the Save America act has had major setbacks I'm just waiting for the presresident to say it's the result of a three hundred and fifty foot long gash that an Olympic canoeist did while wearing his gear. But what You know, as someone who is deep entrenched in what's going on with all of these election lawsuits What do you make of the fact that they keep bringing it up even though they know that they don't have the votes to do it. And do you think there is any workaround or way that they are going to be changing? of law as it relates to what you're going to have to present when you vote or when you register Yeah, so I think it's two different questions. The first is why are they bringing up the Save of America Act? The second is they are they done? And the answer to the first is the bringing up the Sf of America Act because Donald Trump believes that by repeating a lie over and over and over again he can affect public opinion, right? Donald Trump's whole vision of this is that you tell a lie You double down on the lie You move you shift the overton window in kind of where the debate happens When all of that isn't enough, then you go to court. and when that doesn't happen, you incite a violent insurrection. Like that's the pathway for twenty twenty. And like a version of that is kind of where we are. They are in the losing in court phase of this right now. But the rhetorical point is you know, captured by this bill, which by the way, you know doesn't even contain in various versions all the things he talks about, sometometimes he adds things, sometimes he drops things out.? It's just kind of a catchall for a rhetorical device of If you let me, Donald Trump, run these elections, If you let Republicans do what they want with the elections, then we won't lose And if we don't do those things, then Democrats will win and we'll call it fraud. So that's what I think is going on with the Save America Act. It doesn't have the votes to pass. it's not going to pass. like I said, depending on the day, it includes or doesn't include different provisions But the second question is Beyond the rhetoric, is Donald Trump going to do more things? and is he going to try to weaponize the government? against free and fair elections. And there the answer is yes. he's right now trying to get the postal service into the game to try to have them refuse to deliver mail in ballots. He tried to get the courts through a lawsuit the RNC brought that we my law firm and I litigated against and won in the Spreme Court tried to get mail in ballots that are postmarked by election day they werece afterwards thrown out that would have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands. And you know, look, we're only four months out. He's going to continue, they're continuing to try to get access to state voter files. They' zero and eleven in lawsuits there where my law firm' undefeated,? We haven't seen the end of his efforts to try to rig the outcome of these elections I wanted to run over some of the big Scotus decisions from last week, especially you know the two that you were involved in. You already mentioned the mail and ballot case. I think that was. The beginning of the drumpy, at least for this iteration of opinions that Amy Cononey Barrett was an enormous mistake, R right? I guess they're just like singling her out. That's the. So can you talk a bit more case and then I guess the implications starting with midterms like can they bring another mail and ballot restriction case and Are we going to be talking about this again or does it seem like Every state's protocols are going to be in place for this election on the post office U I saw it seemed like a minor detail, but they would have to build a portal, like an online portal to be able to do this, which they can't get done in time.. So that might be what saves us on that front. U Say more about the mail and vally case. Yeah. so first of all, I can't not comment on the point that you started with which is You can look at the breadth of decisions from this court and say this was a pretty bad Supreme Court term for people who care about the rule of la the rule of law and, you know, individual rights and liberties. And the idea that the conservatives took away from this to be absolutely over the moon angry Amy Comey Barret, right who like honestly voted with the six three majority in case after case. but in this one case, this one case didn't didn't do so or the fact that, you know, they treat the birthright citizenship defeat that they had as somehow like, you know, a sign that the the courts are are standing in the way of Donald Trump as they are allowing him to fire systematically, virtually anyone in the federal government he wants is really a testament to the ability of the right wing to have an insatiably unreasonable demand. You know, there was a book many, many years ago. I think it was something like, how do to negotiate like a two year old You're right? because like toddlers, they negotiate, like they're like, I want ice cream for every meal and you're like, no, no, no, you can't have ice cream and before you're all of sudden done, you've given them some ice cream. right? Likeike that's literally how the Republicans think about the courts. And it's just it's astounding. All right, on the mail and ballot front though. This was a very important case in that the U. S. Supreme Court said that that the effort by Republicans to disqualify Categorically, Ballots cast before election day, postmark for election day, put in the mail before election day, but received because they came through the mail after election day, that those ballots would not be systematically and categorically thrown in the trash That's what this case was, right? So So the RNC had argued that the nineteen states that allow ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by election day perceived afterwards, the RNC said there's all need to be rejected. The court said no And it was a five four decision written by Justice Connie Barrett and with the Chief Justice as the other your fifth vote And yeah, look, this is a big win for democracy. It's a big win for my law firm and I. this is a big win for voting rights. The fact is the RNC brought this case because they understood that it involved hundreds of thousands, maybe more than a million votes in a presidential year. that it would impact Democrats more heavily than Republicans, That's actually part of their original complaint as to why they had standing. And that's because more Democrats vote by mail than Republicans, but also younger voters and minority voters tend to have their ballots arrive later than older voters. So this was a big win. It was a setback for Donald Trump and the Republican party. But to your point Like no, they're not done. Like theyre not they're not like, oh, well, you know, now we'll just play by the rules. You know, that just we'll just compete on the level playing field of ideas. No, now they are talking about other ways to try to target these ballots and others like them, including by telling the postal service not to deliver mail in ballots unless the names of the voter is on an approved list Uh they suffered a setback in court on that as well. Uh but look, you know, this is going to be a dog fight between now and election day How are the conservative states that rely on mail and voting or believe in our right to be able to vote dealing with this or they kind of just like standing back and letting it play out? Here's the thing and Jesse, you see this probablyro more than I do and up close and personal. Since I don't hang out with, you know, like Republicans don't call me. I don't I don't hang out with You got no crossover friends? No, I really, honestly I don't. I used to. I used to have a lot, but they don't you know, anyway. But but there are only two kinds of Republicans right now. There is proud MGa and scared MGa So the proud MGa, they're just like Donald Trump doesn't mail and voting. We hate maail and voting. We don't care about anything but being proudly with Donald Trump And then you have the people who like when the cameras are off when the V when the microphones are off when when you're in private, they pull you aside and they're like, this is b shit crazy. Like this doesn't make any sense at all. I don't know why we're doing this. I don't understand why he keeps saying this I don't does he not understand We have to run an election. Doesn't he understand that Republicans have an advantage in this particular state with this particular kindy of voting But like honestly, they're only doing it when like I said, the cameras are off, the microphones are off and noobbody's there. because then what happens when the microphones turn on and Donald Trump's paying attention, they're just scared MACA And so yeah, they're less loud They're less, you know, they're less, u, uh strident But you don't see them standing up. Shly the Republican who stands up in public and proclaims that Donald Trump has lost his marbles and on voting is just being a demagogue. Like you don't find them. they don't exist And one of the biggest risks, I think, to democracy is that Democrats keep trying to want to make them exist, right? Like Brad Rasenberger, I wrote a pie saying Brad Rasenberger is just a Republican vote suppressor. And I was way ahead of my time. That is what Brad Rasenberger is. Like Brad Rassenberger has, you know, since people last paid attention to him on the left, which was when he didn't find votes that didn't exist in early January of twenty twenty one after the electoral college aly met. Since then he has attacked the Voting Rights Act He has he has stood by several iterations of voter suppression laws in Georgia. Like there just isn't this like Republican party that exists that is willing to say, no, we should be defending the right to vote Yeah, it has been frustrating for me. I mean, I do get to see moments because of my job where people are caught off guard and literally didn't know details about a thing like the Save of America Act and then the on air Revelation. like, well, that's kind of crazy. But you're so right about Brad Raffensberger. and I was even, you know Georgia, I think in general is a good state to look at stuff like this because you have Jeff Duncan, who actually switched over, right? And just Democrat the party. Right. because that was the only option. And I was looking at Rick Jackson, the nominee on the Republican side for governor. and he has an amazing story. He's built this enormous business, hugely philanthropic, etcetera. You know, He's an election denier too I guess like Chris Christie just couldn't make it through, right? someomeone who, I guess can still hold up the fundamental principles of what the Republican Party is or was and tell the truth about what's going on right now. and I don't know when that ends. Like does Donald Trump leaving the stage mean that suuddenly we're going go back to normal and Marco Rubio will sound like you did in twenty sixteen. I mean, I doubt it. I don't think don't think first of all, I think that there's a mistake that people make all the time. And it's it's an understandable one that they think like, o, we're in a polit we're in an abnormal political environment. And what I always say is no we are in the political environment where like I hear this all the time when I hear federal prosecutors, former federal prosecutors, you know, give various interviews and they like, this is not how the Department of Justice does things. And I'm like, this is totally how the Department of Justice does things. It may not have been how the Department of Justice did things. but but it is how the Department of Justice does things today. And so like, no, I don't think it snaps back because I don't think there is a back to snap to. Like I think this is this is who Marco Rubio is. It's not it's not like like for a period of time, maybe he was pretending Do you really think like There is this world in which Donald Trump leaves the scene and all of a sudden, JD Vance is like, oh You know, I really am going back to the whole like, you know, thing is America Hitler Yeah, right? Like and Marco Ruby was like I'm right with you, brother You know, I'll wear you one hundred ten percent of that Ted Cruz jumps in and says, Oh, yeah Oh yeah, this was all crazy.ike no, that isn't the case. Like this is what the Republican Party is and it's moving forward with Support for the show comes from an article Think back to your first apartment. Was all the furniture basically reinforced cardboard Relatable Well, for those of us who are past that stage of life, article makes it easy to curate your home with stylish, long lasting furniture at an unbeatable price. Whether your personal style is mid century modern, coastal, or scandy inspired, you'll find beautiful pieces. In fact, they'll look great mixed, and matched. That's because every article item is thoughtfully designed to make your space feel cohesive and stylish I know this from personal experience. I have artle furniture. I have a coffee table and I have a lamp from them. 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Check out the product locator at pureleaf. com slash findash us Support for the show comes from Harvey AI The future of laaw is eentic not just tools that assist, but AI agents that navigate complex matters That's why Harvey created agents that can do the work from end to end They build a plan, pull from secure data sources, run subagents in parallel, and draft the work product ready for your review So you delegate the work and on the judgment Trusted by more than sixty percent of the AMLaw one hundred and leading Fortune five hundred legal teams, Harvey is the AI operating system designed specifically for legal work Harvey, AI, Tailored for law Learn more at harvey. Ai An Scotus question that I had for you because you had another case where you were not successful on. you were nice enough to start with the one the one that was That one's really important. And I always want to get into Amy Coney Barrett stuff.'m like she just voted against Haitians. and she has Haitian children. L she has done plenty for you. But this campaign contributions case To me stood out as perhaps the most serious or most dire for the future of elections. and it basically made it so the last frontier political organizations that couldn't colle with the campaigns directly were the political parties themselves And the RNC brought this case and they won. Now Democrats, that means we can spend two. We just don't have very much money. And I would like to talk to you about that as well. as we talk about the elections, more writ large. But can you talk about that case and the implications Yeah, so this is a very important case and it didn't get as much attention I think for a couple of reasons first is it was expected that It was going to come out the way it did. The second is, I think there's kind of like a sense, well, the campaign finance system is broken, so how much more broken is it going to get? And I get that This was a very important case because for a couple of reasons. The First is that you know, the Supreme Court in nineteen seventy six upheld basic framework of our campaign finance laws The idea was if you are making a contribution to a candidate Congress can limit how much. And it doesn't have to be super precise, like whether the limit is two thousand dollars or three thousand dollars or five thousand dollars like We're going to let them Reasonable contribution If you're trying to limit independent expenditures, then we're not going to let you do that Citizens United in twenty ten extends that to corporations And then the third was disclosure We've seen a lot of breakdown around disclosure We've obviously seen the through citizen genitics aftermath, this kind of like explosion of the independent expenditure and kind of what is independent and like, you know, these superbacks are now big, big, not just players, but like in some ways dominant players But the one piece that it kind of held was this contribution thing. like we're going to limit the amount of money that can be given to a campaign or in the case of a coordinated expenditure, an in kind contribution. How much money you can spend where you're talking to the campaign and basically doing what it wants? And the political parties had always been given more special rights there than anybody else. The political parties give could essentially spend millions of dollars, for example, in a big Senate race. in total coordination with the candidate, totally one hundred percent paying their bills even, right? Just total coordination But the RNC said that's not enough. They want that to be unlimited. And they tried to do that in the mid nineteen nineties and they failed. They tried to do it in two thousand one and they failed again And now they did it and they succeeded. And so the first reason why this is an important case is that just from a starry decisis standpoint, like just from the standpoint of precedent and we you know, we used to do a lot of hearings in Congress when there were nominees in which they talk about precedent or precedent on precedent or super precedent. rememember all these terms? like to try to get at this idea that like these justices are not going to come in and just like willy, nilly change what prior courts had said. And what's interesting about this case is that this was a case where the court had ruled on this question before And you know, it goes back a long time and it was more recent. And the Supreme Court just sort of like drove through that as if it was just air. Like Dery there was no there was not like a lot of hand wrringing at the among the conservates to try to figure out why it was that a law that had been on the books since the nineteen seventies that had been upheld in Buckley had been upheld in the early in the mid nineties had been upheld in the early two thousands, all of a sudden now was not the case. But the second is that it really did a contribution limit, right? This was the amount that parties could spend in full coordination with their candidates. And that is a really big deal. And so the question is like what campaign finance law is this court going to uphold if it is not this one And so I do think it'll have jurisprudential effects, and then on the politics of it, you can't help but ask yourself. You know, here we are This year. and the Republicans wanted to be able to unwind the Voting Rights Act in time for twenty twenty six. And this court D after day after day in a series of decisions, the Cay decision being the most notable, but then its's aftermath Allowed them to do that, redraw maps. And they wanted to be able to spend more money at a time when their party has more money in the bank. And the Supreme Court said yes And like if you're the Supreme Court and you're trying to, you know, not appear Let's put it this way, if you were Supreme court trying to look partisan These are probably some of the things you would do I don't think that they're thinking about their appearances all too much. I mean, maybe Chief Justice Roberts on occasion, but like when I see Clarence Thomas just like, you know, walking around with Republican lawmakers down on the Capitol, I just think like we've just moved past it and it is the Yolo phase of life What do you think actually happened with the NPR leak? or not mistake about Alito. Do you think Alito is imminently retiring Um First of all, it's the weirdest thing ever Right Like she doesn't make those kinds of mistakes. Like I get it, she's eighty two, but like she doesn't just kind of hear something. and then hit publish on an article that was prew wrritten with the Friday date on it Yeah, I I mean, I I would have I guess I bought the idea that they had a pre write mishheard and then somehow someone presses a button is I mean like if that's how NPR works It doesn't seem like a great thing. No, and it's NPR, right? It's not like, oh, Breitbart hit publish or something. But look, I think that it goes to a larger question of like how how we cover the Supreme Court. You watch the way that Capitol Hill Reporters cover members of Congress, and they chase them down the hall and they ask them all kinds of questions and sometimes they ask them and sometimes they don't. And, you know, you watch even the way frankly the media and conservative media even cover the president And they still like ask them questions. You watch the way the Supreme Court reporters cover the Supreme Court and it is largely a stenographher's game. Like it's like, you know what I mean like there's not, you know, I know this is not getting directly at your your your your your your question about like, what do I think of the NPR error? I mean, I think it's terrible that it happened. but I also kind of like has like Where's the investigative reporting? You know what I mean? Mike whereere is that? Like there doesn't seem to be the same effort to sources behind the process and tell what's really going on internally I mean, it is interesting, I think, you know, this happening just a few days after regime change came out. Yes. When you see the level of reporting and confirmation that had to go into every piece of that, right? L Right. But I keep coming back to this, which is like if they can get and I don't know whether they had tapes or just good notes or whatever I really want to know, but they wouldn't tell me. But from the situation room, I just asked myself like why is it that when it comes to covering the court, there never seems to be that kind of sourcing Or there has not been for many, many decades. Yeah, it is interesting or that we don't even You know, know about the jobs decision leak Right? like how that happened? Correct. And I think the answer is and I think the answer is because The media and lawyers and society as a whole until very recently not agree with something you just said. And in fact, even when you said it, I kind of like Even I for a moment, like sort of like, huh You said that you don't think the court cares about how it looks other than maybe the Chief Justice occasionally. And like you're absolutely right, by the way, Jesse. Like it's not like it's not like you're you're wrong. It's just like, The problem is there are too many people like me. know, in my reaction here you know and too many people, lawyers, observers, they treat the court as different. Like they think, oh, well of course they care about the legitimacy of the institution the way Mike Johnson doesn't. Of course they care about the appearances of the court in the way that you know, Donald Trump doesn't. And like I think your original reaction is right, which is like No, they're in the what do you call the Yol look phace Yeah I mean, I think so. like if you Just think about what appearances are allowed, like how a Jenny Thomas, I'm going on Clarence Thomas a lot for this, but like how she can just be an open partisan like that, right and do the things that she does. You know that it's fundamentally changed, right? And even from the time that they've been on the court Right? Like I was listening to you talking with Hillary Clinton. from a few days ago and she's talking about her votes against Alito and Justice Roberts And if people could get in a time machine and go back and look at You know, those confirmation hearings versus what we're going to get with Eileen Cannon or Ted Cruz or whoever's coming next, right? You would pray for nine Alitos Right? Oh maybe that's too much. nine Roberts says And you're for expanding the court Yeah. I'm look, I think we need court reform in a number of different directions First and foremost, we need ethics reform. Like to this day, I am baffled by the idea that, you know, if if I try to go to dinner with a member of Congress and I pay pay, I can't. But, you know, people can like give whatever they want, seemingly to members of court, which makes no sense. Like everyone's like, well, justice and so didn't put it on their disclosure form. I'm like, why are they allowed to accept it? Like I don't understand I literally don't understand. And the justices will be like, well, we're constitutional officers. And I'm like, well, so are members of Congress, but like they're not allowed to accept gifts. Like why why can't justices live on their salary the way every other American does I mean, they've got they make a pretty good living and if they don't, they can leave the bench and go probably make even more and they get a pension and they've got lifetime employment. I mean, like it just it's crazy. So I think that's number one. But number two, yeah, I think that the Supreme Court needs to expanded for a few reasons. Some of them are just purely logistical. I actually think we need to expand the lower courts. I don't think we have enough federalistrict court judges. I don't think we have enough court of appeals judes The dockets moved too slow. The Supreme Court only here heard fifty eight cases last term. Like it's just like not there's just like not enough to it. Beyond that, I think that we need court expansion because I think that the current dynamic there and the way in which We have done confirmations and the way in which they are selected, I think need to be reformed as well you think because I need to talk to you about Mitch McConnell, too, because I can't think about the Supreme Ct without thinking about Mitch McConnell in twenty sixteen and the question of where is Mitch McConnell right now? I just fox, No who is. I don't we don't we don't have a drone on him. I don't know. It hasn't I'm planning on bringing it up today though because What is going on there that the guy has like allegedly been in the hospital for three weeks and that his wife flies to China three days after normal The normal thing that one would expect a wife of someone whose husband is in the hospital to do. With an elderly husband, it's like an eighty six year old man who falls every other week And we just came off of Tom Kane disappearing for four months or whatever, so he could use paid sick leave to deal with his depression, and I hope he gets the help that he needs. But don't be such a hypocrite So What is going on with Mitch McConnell? Do you think this is all about the august third deadlines? Be if he there can't be a special election past august third, right? It would just roll into the regular November election, but if he needs to resign or if God forbidd he passes away, Andy Basher could call a special election, you know, in the next three and a half weeks Look, I've got no idea. I mean, like all the people who do not who do not consult with me, I'd say I'd put Mcon Donald Trumump on the top. right? Donald Trump definitely does not consult with me. Stephven Miller does not consult with me. Mitch McConnell does not consult with me. Look, I have no idea what is going on with him. and his health certainly, I hope he I hope he recovers from whatever whatever it is Um I do think that like the situation in New Jersey, as you mentioned I mean As I recall, there was a there was something what last term where there was a Republican member in a memory care facility and Yeah. Arizona or Texas, like I don't know. I think Arizona. Yeah. in Arizona, it feels like we ought to have better system. You know, like for like they all have to get that microchip that people thought Bill Gates had put in them. Or or, you know, I know this is I know this is like maybe sounds a little bit harsh, but like Someone someone on social media said this like in the in the NFL, like if a player is out, they have to like give a reason like they have a hamstring injury, like you know be like you know, so and so in mem long term memory care facilility suffering from Alzheimer's likeike, do know what I mean?ike I don't know. likeike it just feels like someplace There is certainly a certain amount of privacy that you want to give members of Congress. But on the other hand, like the people of Kentucky and the country probably have a right to know a little more of what's going on with Mitch McConnell than they currently do. I think they did, frankly, with Tom Keen in New Jersey, had a right to know more. Maybe they didn't need to know everything But like these are full time jobs I think that somehow we've there is this sort of expectation that like, oh you know, if a member of Congress just is not, you know, seen for a while and not hearing and voting, it's like, oh well, oh well So you know, I don't know where to strike that line, but it does feel like there is a line to strike Yes, I'm all for striking that line and would just also add that what it is someone like Mitch McConnell, who is one of the more ruthless legislators, certainly in the modern era, right with a capacity to do anything thinking about you, Eric Garland, like they don't call him The Grim Reaper for nothing It feels like something more nefarious is going on. and it would be nice to get an answer on that. And if he can't do his job, there should be a special election You Jesse, it's interesting. I've thought I've actually thought about this before Do you think McConnell is going to benefit from the fact that Trump came along because like Mitch McConnell, like you're right, was the grim Reaper and was viewed as ruthless and willing to do anything But like he is now even viewed as someone not as terrible as Donald Trump, likeike do you think? Do you think I mean, I haven't fully gone like George W. Bush with him where I'm like,y, I'd love to have him come over and maybe he could draw a picture of my daughters or something like that. But like Right? And that members of his staff and this relates directly to the kind of lawsuits. that you guys are litigating, you know, people who worked for him are speaking out publicly about making sure that our elections can't be federalized and saying things like guys, this is not what the Republican Party stands for. Like you are doing everything that we said we would never do. So yeah, Mitch McConnell, H a beer. Hang out, maybe. If he's feeling well enough I'm not sure I'd give him a beer Well, whatever his drink of choice is on my list of people disturb me on a daily basis. I think very little about him. But if I look at the long game then W and Mitch McConnell are still there for me, for sure. Now can I be honest with you, you are probably exposed to some of the worst of the worst I mean, like there are members of the House and Senate that the rest of us are probably immunized from even being aware exist that you probably given your job have to know who they are and you're like, whoa Mark, you don't even know. You think McCondle's bad. You should learn about these other people I mean, I I mentioned this earlier about, you know, sometimes when you show up with the facts about, you know, something that's going on or the details in a bill, like the Save America Act and you get this look like, well, that's, you know That's batch it, right? Like it can't possibly be this way. Like people didn't know about Congressman Max Miller and pouring scalding water on his wife. Right? Like that just doesn't turn into something that is, I guess discussed within the Republican caucus or that his wife or now former wife is Bernie Marino's daughter But they know, you know, what AOC had for lunch And veryer frustrating u for the show comes from cotton, the fabric of our lives. Once you look for it, it's everywhere. Just take a peek in your closet. Your favorite sundress, your comfiest concert tea, your most breathable bedsheets. All of your staples and a whole lot more are made from cotton. It's the comfortable, breathable, and durable material that only gets better with every wash So next time you shop, check the tags for cotton It's the fabric of our lives Here's a question. What if women's healthcare was actually built around women? 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Visit your nearest crox store today the World Cup Are you into it or I have become mildly into it. L I'm not I'm not a I'm not a per. but but I am now. and of course, we would not have An good or happy thing in the United States withoutd without Donald Trump ruining it? Well, this is what I want to talk to you about. So Donald Trump was just in the oval before we got on here to record talking about his call into FIFA. So let's play a clip of that. I understand sports really well really well And that wasn't a foul No, these are two Great athletes that got tangled up Then I started hearing that that means you can't play in the next game. Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA, the referee's decision Red card. I didn't know what the hell a red card was. When I found out I said, you got to be kidding This guy just hands up. Okaykay, your best player is not going to play next week, Cord in the next game I said, wow, that's a lot of power. That's terrible I know sports really well and I didn't know what a red card was. Is That's the best part, right? It starts with I know sports really well. It ends with that red card didn't know what that was. but boy, that's a lot of power. It's a lot of power and I'm jealous. And some plac in between was and that wasn't a foul Right L like you know, now he's like he's he's g got from I know a lot about sports. I know what a I know what a foul is in in in World Cup soccer and that's not one But man, that red card thing I mean, where the hell did they find that from So Belgium is appealing this. I don't know where it goes. I imagine the FIFA is not going to overrule their change decision. France is still favorite. I think Calci has said at thirty four percent Like is everything touches just kind of destroyed. I mean, I've seen a lot of people digging in. like I I prefer Balligan can play greatly. I don't think that he should have had to sit out the thirty five minutes. I don't I actually knew what a red card was. I didn't think it was a red card. I saw, you know what other players had done and hadn't been gotten anything called on them But now it's turned into this big ock And a test of our patriotism, apparently's at least that's what I've seen on the internet Look, I think Donald Trump It's not that everything he touches goes wrong. I mean, a lot of what he touches goes wrong. Everything he touches goes corrupt And that's that's like the through line. like everything about Donald Trump is corrupt.