The Rise of Populism in Los Angeles

What's good, media consumers? Welcome to the press box Joel Anderson producer Tucker Tastian, he's filling in After a late night of covering the NBA. we're grateful for him and he's on the ones and twos today. I'm sliding over into the host seat for our fearless leader Brian Curtis, who is out this week on an excursion. He'll tell you a little bit later where he's at. But he's still so dedicated to our podcast that he's going to check in from across the pond a little bit later comoming up on today's action packed pod. The clock seems to be ticking Get it ticking for the oldest and most watched TV newews magazine after another week of turnover and turmoil We'll bring on LA Times columnist Gustavo Alano to talk about the California primaries, where a Trump endorsed Republican has the lead in the governor's race and a Trump endorsed reality star seems headed to a runoff against the incumbent. What the hell is going on in the nation's largest blue state And also we're going to have friend of the show V any goodwill of ESPN who's going to report to us for San Antonio where the New York Kicks took a one hundred lead over the Spurs and the NBA finals on Heat up your fourourth of July at the Home Depot with our wide variety of grills under three hundred dollars and make every gathering one to remember. Give your outdoor space a glow up. Wh whatever your budget is, the savings on seasonal plants starting at five dollars. With the grill fired up and your backyard set to perfection, you'll be able to invite friends and family over to kick off the party Start celebrating with low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot. Prices may vary by stor exions a Iice seey Home Depot com sl priceatch for details. Wednesday. Man, what a week It's been over at five twenty four West fifty seventh Street That's the address to the CBS Broadcast center where the internal conflict has come spilling out in the public. A CBS news editor in chief Barry Weiss started making changes to the venerable TV News magazine sixty Minutes. Things really came to a head after CBS fired longtime executive producer Tona Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharon Alfonzi A week ago. Weiss installed Nick Bilton. and's a former New York Times technology columnist and filmmaker is her pick to lead sixty minutes, nototably Bilton has no experience in TV news. And that's when longtime correspondent Scott Pelly took center stage first charged into the mess during a staff meeting on Tuesday, demanding answers about why his colleagues were fired. He also said Bilton had slender qualifications for this job. and accuse wife who wasn't at the meeting of murdering sixty minutes with her changes Next day. Pelly got his released from the show for what Bilton called insubordination. And even the way that went down is currently under dispute with W saying they tried to find a way back with Pelly and Pelley responding that CBS Brass was quote, openly hostile from the start Now we bring in our Swedish correspondence Brian Curtis brereak it all out, Brian. Good to see you man. It's good to see you. You know, I was eating meatballs I was eating herring . He' gonna to get on the plane Back to the United States tomorrow and just listen to what wonderful press box you would put together But then the Nico Harrison of TV news struck again b Oh what a what a fantastic analogy. Nico Harrison And I had I just had to call because I was like, I to quote Sip Bayless Joel, I am ready to unleash. Oh good. Okaykay. when I saw your text and my phone and you said you thought you had to check out I was like, my I didn't want to do this without you. So I want you to unleash what the hell is going on here? Who do you believe U She's murdering CBS and she's murdering sixty minutes. Scott Pilly's right And she's doing it because sixty mininutes was the one part of CBS newews that she didn't control. The evenvening News with Tony Dopel. That was under control That was if it was going to offend Trump, it was going to offend Trump in a way that Barry Weiss was very aware of. sixixty minutes was not under control We saw that last year when she tried to step in on that se cot. segment about the prison in El Salvador So this is Barry wise Taking control of CBS, taking control of sixty minutes in the most dramatic way possible Did you did you because I think the thing is is that we knew that sixty mininutes was in her sights and people had been suggesting for a while she was going to turn toward it eventually. But there's no way I mean, even even the most u peopleeople most dubious of her leadership I didn't think it would go down like this this quickly that she would actually do that sort of overreach. see this coming at all? I'm a little bit surprised. Yeah. I thought we'd get more of a Bari inflected CB or sixty minutes with most of the same people there I mean she's down to three out of the seven correspondents from last year Yes, right. And that's because we don't know what the other three are doing yet. Right. They may be over for seven. And they just met with a a couple days ago. so this is Leslie Stall whose contract, I think is already up. Bill Whittaker and John Worthheim, right? And they met and they're trying to figure out what what would you do if you were them? because that's what I'm thinking. I was like like this is not the sixty minutes that they signed up for, obviously It's really not. And if John Werthheim can make it through last week's spports Illustrated Purge and this week's sixty mininutes Purge, he deserves some kind of media sururvivor awward. Youally he was filing from the French openp after they fired everybody else or got rid everybody else at Sports Illustrate. I'm like, Wow, he's back at the he's back at another embattled news organization. I mean, it's crazy, man. And again, I kind of thought maybe sixty minutes might be one of those news brands that might be able to survive this. that it's that popular, that iconic Profitable, too, makes money for CBS profitable. And I just thought, okay, well, maybe they might be willing to let that go U in the interest of not rocking the boat because what do you get? from pissing everybody off like this You get control. That's the one thing you get I mean, that's the thing and you and I've asked this question over and over again. What's the point at which David Ellison says maybe hiring Barry to run CBS newews was a bad idea. And I keep waiting for that. All the blowback, all the segments that everybody's done about this, including us But look at this today. You know, Scott Pelly standing up at a meeting saying you are murdering sixty minutes. I mean There's no way that you get there without his blessing because This is just terrible abbsolutely terrible. And to your question, what would you do You have to do what Scott Pelly did, which is you gott to walk Wow. into this economy. into this economy. Well, look, yo, I say that bravely But if you're one of these long t, I mean, Leslie Stull and Bill Whitaker have been there for a long time You know, can you return to a sixty minutes where your executive producer has been let go where your executive editor has been let go two other correspondents have been let go And this is just in the last week. That's happened O the last couple of weeks that's happened where Barry Weiss has tried to interfere in your stories. And if you read the other memo ell fil And by the way, we're not giving out any awards for great media writing this year because they're all going to CBS people who have written memos about their own network Well theyor Chlotte Kleine. Yeah, Jeremy Barr, Claire Malone. you did a great job this year, but all the awards are going to people who wrote memos about CBS. But he had this interesting line. this is Pelly in there where he was saying that they were trying to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story So if if he's correct, How can you wt come back to a show like that That's right. What is there to come back to? and I wouldn't blame anybody for saying I'm out. I gott to walk away from this. So I want to play some quick sound from the PBS NewsHour interview with Steve Croft, who was a sixty mininutes correspondent for thirty years before retiring in twenty nineteen Well, I think that this is journalistic interference. It makes no business sense whatsoever? The show is still doing very well. It's the highest rated news program on television. And it has been that way for more than fifty years The audience was up about nine percent last year And um Why would you mess with it? It's got an audience of about ten million people between nine and ten million people, which is still one of the largest audiences. one network television. And so and it's funny that you mentioned this, Brian because and I I cant I don't know if it was Jeremy Barr who reported this or if it was a New York Post that reported this, but you know, one of the two said that when Barry Weiss has to make tough decisions. She goes. to David Ellison and says, what's your tolerance for pain And he says, Hi So you're right. like David Ellison, I presumably There's nothing that she can do that will dissuade him from leaving her in charge and running it in the manner that she sees fit The one thing I think I would say is if the ratings tank next year If if sixty minutes, I mean, again, and maybe that's not what this is about. Maybe it doesn't matter Maybe we're just trying to make a tame news organization that's not going to piss off The President They miss the only plan Bry Weiss has made Tony De Copol punchline. Like in CBS Eing news like they are putting up my understanding of it embarrassing numbers for a show in that time slot that has been on for that long. right? So any changes that she's made have already redounded to be really, really terrible, right? And so I'm just surprised like Okay, she ruins another, you know, staple of You' network. I'm just I'm kind of skeptical of the idea that they'll move her out of there. Yeah, I think she's got as much string as she wants right now It'd be interesting. I'm grimly fascinated to see what CBS puts up next year for sixty minutes. I was just going to say, like what do you think Cesar fifty nine looks like Certainly like first of all, who says yes? Right? Let's let's let's table those three correspondents we don't know about Major Garrett, what an opportunity for you. you're in the call. There's a whole bunch of people in TV news and you and I know this And these are not like free press correspondents either. These are television news, people who be like, hey Scott Pelly's gone. More opportunity for me to do the big interviews. Yeah. greatreat money, all that, you know the exposure, everything else. I mean, you become one of the most famous, most revered journalist in the world or you used to be Like we don't know that's actually true. and Tucker came on right before we jumped on and said that, you know, and I'm sure people that follow this news has heard this before that Joe Rogan is a is apparently one of the people that Barry Weiss would like to tool this around. I mean, does that that was that was radar online. so let's. But it's no more absurd than anything that's happened so far at CBS. Yeah. Yeah. It really, it really isn't. I mean, it's just I just And by the way, the gaslighting that goes on here where you get rid of the executive producer, You get rid of the executive editor You get rid of multiple correspondence And then Scott Pelly stands up in a meeting Yeah And you say, oh, excuse me, sir, you're being very rude You're being very rude to talk about U us that way. Oh, I'm sorry. he's being rude after everybody's been fired at the show Right. Well get get out of here with that stuff. I mean, screw that. That is unbelievable. And this idea that it's all about politeness at the meet. Yeah.'re out of work I mean, kind work was interfered with. Like I just o, I mean, that just That kind of stuff and part of this is like media reporting, you have to be polite Right? There's a certain politeness that we give our subjects that are sometimes perhaps is not deserved. Right The other one I hear is like, well, you know, Barry Wise thinks that sixty minutes is stuffy and you know, it's not it's CBS news needs to be dragged into the digital age I understand we have to quote a point of view and all that stuff, but What has she done Name one thing drag CBS into the digital age Well, so that's the thing I think that is most annoying and upsetting to me and I mean, we've worked at a lot of media properties, right U And we've seen a lot of layoffs. we've seen a lot of people, you know, just have to leave the business, right? J have to do something else. And that is the thing that infuriates me the most is somebody who has worked under really bad management in a couple places and people who know me, they know the one place, they know at least a couple of places that I'm referring to These are jobs, like it's not just like the Scott Pelly of it all. or the Saron Alfonzi. It's like the people that were just at CBS News radio The people that were working out in the field, these were really good journalism jobs and they were providing for people and giving you know doing really important news, and somebody can just come in and fuck it all up, man. And that happens over and over again in journalism. And it's infuriating to me because there's no reason for it. there is no reason to create this sort of havoc in people's lives R? Like to do this to people to throw them out into this economy where there's just no get. I mean, you know, Scott Pelly is at the end of end of the line. John Worthheim, Leslie Stall. you know, presumably, they'll be okay. But it's all these other people and the other people the producers and other people that work in that building that are going to lose their jobs and going to have to go. And those are the people that I think that Scott Pelly was also I mean, he talked about his colleagues as well, but when he stood up in front of those guys and confronted them, I thought about those people that those are the people that you also need to be standing up for as well because This job is not going to come around again. Like there's just no way to rebuild this again Yes. I completely agree. And I think that's who he is standing up for when he does this. Yeah. It's not for Anchors who make a lot of money. Yeah It's for those people. And look, if if she had come in or somebody like her had come in and said, Hey, you know, we we're just we're an old television organization can't do this anymore. You know, CBS radio. againain, it feels good to say that, but raise your hand if you've been listening to CBS radio lately. We have to figure out a way to go into the future, right? We have to figure out a way to take CBS newews what we like about it. and make it something that people are going to listen to and interact with in new ways. Like let's just let's put aside all of Barry's politics and everything in mismanagement, everything She doesn't have a plan for that either. L changing the news anchor, putting handsome Tony in the chair, that's not a plan to modernize CBS Firing the EP of sixty minutes, that's not a plan to modernize CBS. That's stuff that could have happened in nineteen eighty five TV. Changing anchors, firing correspondence, all that stuff Being mad at sixty minutes, like that that's just stuff that's happened forever Right There's no plan here She's done nothing. and again, we just keep quoting this like what's about, you know, modernizing It's about this stuffy old institution. What has she done to modernize anything Well, I mean, I think I just I think we a lot of people are being incredulous. And again, maybe we should be applying some secular grace here like you said. like mayaybe there will' out a secular grace here not a secular grace and we're really we're really through the looking glass here. But I mean like The thing is right, so you say, okay, I want to modernize all this. Man, sixixty Mines just sent out a release last month talking about how great everything was It was the the nation's number one news program. They've gained viewers on TV, which is a They they've had they've had percent increase right on TV a famously failing medium apparently, right? They've done well on the internet and it's just like There's something that like you like there's some sort of future that you envision in which this no longer works But like, shouldn't you articulate that vision or shouldn't you have you should on at least a small scale have some sort of evidence that this works And you can't point to it. And it just reminds me of everything that is happening in the world. like when Elon Musk took over Twitter. when Jeff Bezel started tearing down Washington Post. And this is I'm going to go I'm a you stonian Texas is just fucking up the Houston public school system and don't really appear. They have no proof that what they're doing works And they just that we just had to believe them that that it was time to change and they had to pivot. And I'm just like I just feel like I don't I don't know, I mean, every obviously nobody coordinated this or maybe, you know, maybe we're not being cynical enough But I just feel like we're looking at people just tearing down our institutions For no reason at all, or maybe the reason is It's in service to Donald Trump, right? Like like like so obviously people are saying that, Brian Are you that cynical? Like do you think this is all coming down On word from Trump Does that does that count as cynical I mean, word from Trump is one thing turning it into an organization that is not going to antagonize Trump as regularly I mean, that that That feels like the obvious plan to me. I don't know I don't know how you would argue otherwise I mean, that's just not what is what what's the other thing? And to to your greater point, I totally take your point about institutions. We're just talking about TV news plan would be, hey, sixty minutes big hit Let's squeeze as much juice out of that as we can Right. whileile we still have a linear TV audience Wow trying to take baby steps into the future or adult steps into the future. by thinking of podcasts and in other ways reporting, other ways we can translate sixty minutes and make it into something other than a TV brand That's what you would do. You wouldn tear it down That'd be the dumbest thing you could possibly do. And we've seen people try this. You mentioned Jeff Bezos. I'll give you Chris Lick at CN. Yeah. You tell basically half of your audience, maybe more than half of your audience because there's a lot of liibbs that watch TV watch TV news. tellell half or more than half your audience, this isn't the place for you Right and guess what? You don't replace them with center rightite viewers viewers just go away Yeah and maybe they don't come back Well, it's and it's crazy too because I've seen people, people that are inclined to give Barryite Barry Wees the The grace that we're not willing to. they say, Oh, you know, look at CBS CBS' median age of its viewers. It's like, you know, f. Oh I saw that it was Caitlyn Flanagan tweeted today and I've never I've never said anything sadder than I read a Kaitn Flanagan tweet while I was Scandinavia. Yeah But I did read that. She said it was six sixty five for viewers of sixty minutes And I'm like, if you could replace all those with thirty five year old. viewers Center right viewers. Great, but you can't do that What it's going to happen is viewers are just going to go away Right And they're never and they're not going to come back and you're going to replace with nobody And then you're like, well, now what do we do? Right. And And the crazy thing is is that sixty minutes has shown you that they have They've managed to grow like that younger demographic. Like in that same release, they talk about how it's adult twenty five to fifty four demographic. It increased by five percent on linear TV, man. So like they're doing something there. Like I don't even know like, you know, I don't know if it's just a change in the presentation or how they're trying to reach people, but they actually manage to get more young viewers in a way. And the other thing about that too is that like on that same chart, I think like Fox News' median age was like Like it' not that much younger. And I don't ever hear anybody being like, man, Fox News needs to pivot. you know, their viewership is getting older. They need to do all this and that. Nobody ever says that about Fox News, right? Because presumably the numbers are good. Well shit, you can say that about sixty minutes too Totally. And it's the problem with everybody in television. This is not it's not the thing is, well, we're just trying to get younger. That's what everybody in TV is trying to do right now. Right. This is the problem of television. Can we say a word about Scott Pelly before? Oh, please T us. Tas takes own. That's still a mind blowing fact to me. Scott Pelly seems like he was manufactured at the TV anchor factory where they create Men with stiff upper lips Yes He feels old fashioned even in the context of a very old fashioned TV show, sixty mininutes. Absolutely The way he talks that clipped kind of speech I suspect if we went to The most die hard sixty five year old viewers of that show and said, what are your three favorite Scott Pelly pieces? ever. They might have trouble coming up with specifics Coming up with I feel a lot of the media writers writing about this today, I'd love to quizz them on that. Well, you know, is that one he did that time. he went into combat, whatever it is The thing about it is He was an inheritor and he's put it this way of an institution It was created people like by people like Mike Wallace and Harry Reasonner and You know, Steve Croft Who didn't seem like he came from the anchor factor. He seemed like he came from the cigar lounge, you know, right? They all every sixty minutes Anchor had a little bit of a different vibe, a different aesthetic, but What it created was this idea that you were in good hands, that journalism was being done the old fashioned way. that there was real reporting And, you know Some of it with news correspondence is genuine journalism genuine bravery. entrepreneurial spirit, some of it is just a vibe Scott Pelly had all of that That's right. He really did and he is he's just such a fascinating figure and for him to go out like this to stand up at a meeting and be like, you sir are taking a dump on my television show. and I'm out of here. That's it. I mean, what a way to go That is the dream. That's what you want. like if you're going be able to do it. The dream maybe is still be employed, but yeah if you had to go. If you gott to go, you gott to go like Okay, last thing Brian, before Ill let you go here Please. If Barry makes the call. Are you gonna take it? Didt you ask me last week? was B job Last week I said if you were going to get offered one hundred if you were going to be Barry, right? But now I'm saying now Barry is like, look, we've got some openings, Brian. We know that you to be one of the best interviewers in the business Um, you know, we want to bring you in and see what you can do here to to hip up sixty minutes, would you do it It's if I can consider this absurd question completely seriously, the answer would be absolutely not Absolutely not. And by the way, can you imagine saying that Do do you Joel, you' going gonna go work at sixty minutes You offer your job as a correspondent. You going? I would think that I was getting punked This was all was to get me to quit my good job to put me down and. But if Barry and Nick Bilton got on a Zoom is like, no, we're dead serious. We love what you've been doing at the press boox., you're not going to sixty minutes. Oh I I mean, I couldn't first of all I wouldn't believe them, but also like how again, this is the thing that they need to think about. Who can trust you Who can trust you out there? Who would want to work for you under these circumstances? Like we've never heard this kind of turmoil. I can't remember this kind of terminal of any network let alone sixty minutes. They' They're the boring clock guys. Nootball seeee, that's where I will one place I will contradict here. sixty minutes has been a powder keg for its entire existence. Okay, well see there you go. You have the. I mean they made a movie about this with the insider. Okay read any of these books. Those guys were always grousing about something. That But it was never, it never got to the point where it's like Oh you could have zero out of seven correspondence You could murder the television program. And really it's not just, okay, we'll get back to normal. We'll start chasing people down the streets, holding documents up again, comeome back here, sir, excuse me one more moment of your time. It's for real this time. Sorry, it's for real And that's our fearless leader, Ryan. Thanks for interrupting your Scandinavian excursion to do this I feel better getting all that off my chest. I'm glad. I'm glad you made us your first stop. I'm showing your. Can you imagine if I've been in the extra legroom section at coach just yelling all that at my seatmate yesterday or tomorrow? Wait, did you push your flight back for this No, I didn't. I owned it Okay. But can you imagine if I was just unleashing on, you know Oh some poor woman who was just, you know driveling around Europe tomorrow. She was like, whyy are you so interested in media Well I mean, again, that text message I got from yesterday, one of the best text messages I've gotten in twenty twenty six. So thank you, man. And I can' wait to see you back stateside next week Youve got it more lukewp takes to out the media. See then Joe. All I see you budy So midway through the third quarter of game one of the NBA finals in San Antonio Dylan Harper hit a little three foot floater in the lane to put them up sixty five fifty one That was the sppur's largest lead to the game. And at that moment, the win probability for San Antonio peaked at ninety two point six percent It wasn't enough The Kicks ran off an eighteen to four run over the next three minutes to close the gap and went on to steal the first game of the series one hundred five ninety five twelfth straight playoff win for the Kicks who have won those games by an unprecedented margin of victory On the press box today, we brought our Madu ESPN's really goodoodwill who has been witness to this historically dominant stretch And you know, today he's been gracious enough to stop arguing with Stephen A. Smith long enough to come on and chop it up with us, man. Vinny, wass good, man. appreciate you join us, bro. A appreciate you ha have me, Ma So let's start here. W Wednesday Night's victory the best playoff game of this run Ooh, that's a great question. I think when you on it compared to the Washington Generals that we were watching in Philadelphia and Cleveland. and yes. I think you mentioned them walking down from being down fifteen at that point I'm goingo between my seats and a green room that has and Kenny Smith in it and I'm just I want to hear there I wt hit it real time. sort of observations of the game And at that point, I'm like, I feel pretty comfortable. All right, this game's about to end. Let me go out to my seat and catch the scene. Let me catch and see what's going on W before you knew it Before you knew it They were storming bad And that's been kind of the story of this next team. They get down, especially in the playoffs. They gotten down to Cleveland And in the first game down twenty two points in the fourth quarter And Joe I just walked him down And they do it so quickly. It's not like a spectacular thing The only spectacular thing that they're doing is like passing the ball around Like that's the only thing that looks like something. Everything that just looks very methodical veryery adult like And you're playing you got a team full of adults with the Kicks and a team full of kids with the spurs and the adults came home with a big piece of chicken last night I was going to say because you're saying that you thought, oh man, they about to wrap it up here because you've seen this enough. you know you know better than that because even me watching it from home, I'm just like I don't know, man. I still kind of feel like the Nicks in the game. Like I never really thought they were out of it, right? because you tell me and I'm you Yeah the spurs didn't look like they did against OKC and again, OKC defending champion. they play hard as shit. It is very hard to get good shots against OKC. They had a lot of depth, you know, they lost their second and fourth best players for but they're very difficult team to play, but it didn't feel like The Kicks was struggling in the way that it looked like the thunder did. Like they didn't seem like they had to effort in the same way. Did you feel that too Yeah, I mean, Look, we know that San Antonio built themselves to beat and compete with OKC Like even if they didn't expect to be here this season like in year one, like they didn't even make the playoffs last year, but you know that there's a team that you're chasing And everybody in the West is going to be chasing Oklahoma City. That does not subsequently mean just because you can be a team that had a seventy win pace that you can beat a New York Kicks team by all the statistical measures before we enter the playoffs is not the same caliber of team But the Kicks have done something Over the course of these last what month and a half, two months Yeah, that completely defies everything that we've seen before. So yeah, my only thought was San Antonio walked down Oklahoma City on the road twice.. They're not going to have the same let downs as the completely un sererious Cleveland cavaliers and Philadelphia seventy sixers, but the Nicks put a clown suit on them too. like there comes a point. where I have to say Okay, it's not just the competition. because sometimes it can be the competition brings out and makes you look better than what you are And sometimes the competition doesn't matter because you are exactly the version of your habits. You are the result of your habits and the micks have generated very good habits over the past couple of weeks. So it doesn't matter if they're better than the Spurs. they're playing better than the Spurs or they play better than the Spurs in game one. Well, and I was going to say too the competition thing is interesting because You're right, L The Spurs are step up in class for the next but. It'd be one thing if they were eking out these games and winning by two or three, but they're doing exactly what a great dominant team would do, which is kicking their ass. Like they're not, you know what I'm saying? L like they're beating teams. And even last night, they won by double digits. like somehow they ended up with a ten point win, you know This is crazy. L the fact, like you said, the fact that this was a close game or a two point game Three minutes left And on the road and w by double digits. Like you have to look up and be like, oh They continue to do this. This is seven straight road games. they've done this and none of the games have been close No of them I want us to play this really interesting moment During call Anthony Towns' post game interview with the inside the NBA crew. I don't know what it was, but I just felt a calm and a peace I don't know it had to bec come from the woman above, so I felt really confident about today. I felt good You know, I felt like a kid. It felt like it was just fun out here. This is something as a kid, you always dream about. You always hope that you just hope to be a NBA player let alone to be in the NBA finals and Um All day it was just a weird feeling. It felt like I was a kid getting ready to go play my Saturday AAU games and Sunday AAU games and A In a way, I felt like I was seeing her in the stands and it was just it was fun. It was really fun. and it was really comforting 'cause you know, game one the MBA finals, you're told how the pressure is going to be and everything is. I don't know It felt like a certain presence was here that was very comforting and very loving. and I felt like I could have fun out here and game one of the NBA finals, which is the weirdest thing because you would expect to have the pressure at the highest. And so in that clip, the woman that Carl Anthony Townes is referring to is his mom. who passed away during the COVID pandemic back in twenty twenty. And so so yeah, obviously it was a very meaningful very just very touching moment The thing that I want to start off with a couple things here, Venny First Kat said he felt ortable out there whichich is really surprising to me because Zach Low, for instance, our colleague here at the Ringer, said it was the most intense atmosphere he'd ever been in. L what What how do you what was the atmosphere like to you? and what do you think the hell how in the hell was it comfortable for Kat to play in that You know what's funny. Be Jo, you've been in stadiums and I'm sure it's a little bit different in stadiums than arenas just because stadiums are so cavernous, right? Yeah Yeah where you where you fill pockets of the atmosphere here You feel like you're in it Like when I was doing a show, like a streaming show court side, before the game started, like right before the national Athem And you could legit feel like twenty thousand people on top of you veryer rarely spillld at a basketball game, but you felt it and it felt thick. The air legitimately felt thick And it's almost like not to be funny, it was almost like your eyes were in HD different way in a different way than they were before. When you're looking, you're like, man, whyy does everything look and feel so vivid? It's because your senses are so heightened by everything. And that's before the game. That's before everything actually going. So once the game starts, you feel it even more And there's this juxtaposition of pockets of Ns fans. weren't wearing those goofy fiesta shirts or whatever it is. L you see it, right? So you know who the Kicks fans are So for Carl Towns to be comfortable in it. This is how I think of it W going to one series in Boston Carl Anthy Tas has played in big time series against Nicoola Yokach in the Denver Nuggets Th San Antonio spurs don't have the same pedigree These are just this is just another team that they're going to play. It's the finals is the biggest thing that they'll play in They know they got a much bigger stace to worry about game three of the finals Monday at the Crib, especially because, you know You know, some invited guests might be showing up. I mean, look, man. I've heard. I've heard Well okay. well so You say that How many Nicks fans do you think were in there? becauseuse I could hear like there was a couple of times during game. I'm like Am I tripping or am I hearing cheers like cheers for the nicks that were like actually audible on TV? L it was it that many But let's say if it's twenty thousand people I'm not even sure if it's twenty thousand you know, twenty thousand seat arena I think that Maybe three or four thousand It's probably twenty maybe fifteen to twenty percent in advance Okay because they were loud at the end like this c No You know what it is, Joe? Once it became apparent that the Spurs were going to lose, the Spurs fans started leaving The Nicksance fade So you could hear it and you could see it as you're walking through and you're like, man, it's a lot of y'all hear. because what I'm saying? goo home. wereere they doing that bong bong shit there too where they they were they they were they were turning up. No, they don't, they don't do the bing bong stuff. B bong. do the let's go Kicks and then they tap you on your shoulder. and I't know about you, Jo. I don't like being necessarily accosted publicly if I don't know you because I'm trying to walk somewhere and you get tense like Like you like youre gonna turn around and swing. But everybody on the internet don't love us, man. You know what I'm saying And most people are most people are cool, but they're like, you pick you hate our team. I don't hate your team. I don't care about your team. But they la out though. I get to them. They travel because like like our buddy Bommani Jones has always said. It's an easier trip If you're a New Yorker So even get on a plane from New York getet put up for a couple days and buy a ticket to come here as opposed to paying those outrageous prices and a crib That's a very good point. That's a And speaking yeah, because I the second thing about this cat thing Is and you've been saying this for a while now that he's the most important guy on the Nicks. You've been saying it for at least two rounds. You said it in the Eastern confonference fininals And then you set it going into the finals Um And look, our mutual friend Bommani, like I already I pissed him off last night. I'm antagonizing him because I'm like it's going to be real funny to me when Kat gets to the championship that Jimmy Butler has been trying to get for his whole life, right? Yeah. I was like I know That's going to be funny. so B guy he was I could tell he was getting agitated with me last night. but What is going on with firstirst of all, you've got a chance to cover him for the year and so like what is going on with Kat? Does hear that noise He claims he doesn't. Okay. And to some degree, I'm sure that there's a level of I can't hear everything But he's slow. Like he understands what's additionally been said about him. You know like we had me and him had this thing a few years ago where he was in Minnesota and there was a game seven against Denver and they beat Denver on the road and him and Anthony Edwards are on the podium and I'm like, hey Usually teams are not supposed to do this. They're not supposed to L that not supposed to win and beat the championship team on the road in a game seven And they were basically like How long do you want us to lose? We've been losing for twenty years. I'm like, y'all twenty years. You know what I mean? So then they lose the next round And he's like And I said to him so, now do you understand what I was trying to say And he said, Yeah he was he wasn't trying to agonizeing him, dog. He antagonized, man. come on. No, no, I just wanted And they hadn't gone through real pain yet. So now when we're around company He will say, Yeahah, this is the person. I couldn't stand him when he said it, but I get it now because I can't wait to prove you wrong Okay, o. And I think that and I think to some degree, Joel, that's where he's at is the criticism and the critiques that have bounced off of him It has to harden you a little bit Right And he's turned into this play. Think about this. he's playing in New York City for the New York Kicks where that franchise and that city has turned the most fan favorite dudes into villains and he's handled it largely with Grace, even though he's been there to be a sidekick and I'm sure he didn't think of himself as a sidekick, and now he's the most integral part on both ends of the floor And you got to face Victor Winbama and hold your own and not do the Shea I Bongals on. Do you know how hard that is for him to fight his instincts? Oh, bro. like this the thing that I was thinking about is that I mean, he had, I think he had four files last night But like I just would like like what? What did Mike Brown Jayalen Brunson unloc in him to make him play like because even like defensively, like that was the complaint about him previously, right? he didn't get the same effort on defefensive he wasn't tough all this other stuff. What has changed with him like on the floor too there what are they doing that has made him look like this You know what's funny And sometimes it's good old fashioned peer pressure Yeah Like you don't want to be the one de that's dragging the rear You know what I mean Like he played with Jimmy Butler and himm and Jimmy Butler didn't get along played with Anthony Ellwards and Aunt was basically kind of on this, Hey man Ce. I'm lifting you up and would always say Carless de man, even though we all know is that guy I think it was psychological to make sure I'm pumping you up, I'm building you up The Nicks don't necessarily do that here. The Nicks are kind of like ain't falling line. We got some serious to do. We We got some serious business going on and he doesn't want to be the guy That's holding everything up And after game through that Atlanta series, They lose two games in a row at the last second by one point. They're falling behind two games to one. There's this finals or else Edict. There's this coach who's brought in to replace Tom To and finally they decided to throw everything on the table. all you want the ball? What you doing here That unlocks this thing that we've seen from Carl Townes who's been a tremendous passer, a tremendous score and if you want to laugh at Bow, Bow sent me a text last night. He said the only person who can stop Carl is Carl And that's when he's on the floor of Victim Win Benyama. So everybody knows the skill set. It's just a matter is he going to do it? And I think he's made a decision that it doesn't have to look in the way that he thought it was going to look. It's going to look in a way that's the most effective because he actually does want to win All right we can't talk about this game without talking about Jalen Brunson too, who Jalen had a rough start hurt his knee in the first quarter, ankle in the second. And at one point, he was only five of eighteen from the field, but then of course he picked it up, closeed things out late, finished with thirty points, thirteen in the fourth. And I saw some crazy stats floating around about him last night, including one from my guy Josh Duvau at the Associated press Jayalen Brunson has averaged eight point two points per game in the fourth quarter and OT in the playoffs with the Kicks. The only person to average more is Michael Jord with nine point three What has this post season run showcased about his stature and place in the game You know at all. it's not even So much this one 'causeuse this one, they've been running through everybody Right Genal, what we think about Jayalen Brnton is to me, he's a playoff riser there's certain players including a guy that you know and that you adore that you will forever defend. He's not a playoff riser. he needs get help, man. I really think he needs to help, but that doesn's neither here nor. We were talkking about James Harden for people that don't know, but yeah S, you know, Jo Joe got a thing for Wwardth souls, y'all. he just he just can I believe in defending people who you know what I'm saying? I don't I don't like to see people get picked on, you know? And you know, I feel sorry for James, but and and transferred it over to Cat. But like Jaylen, I was just like, you know, like he I mean, I know there's this underdog narrative about him, but like his dad was an NBA player. He won the national Championship with Villanova, likeike he's cold, you know what I mean Yeah, but it it's something different though for him to be this size, right? Yeah. Yeah. He's left handed. He's physical. he plays the game to some degree, he plays the game more like a powerfoid than a point guardes because because he's such a hes such a bully And because with Carl Townes doing a lot of things early Jalen Brunson is aive fresher So when you talk about what it hass done for his stature There's only two players in the history of the game., not saying that he's in that category I'm saying there's two players in the history of basketball been the defined number one options at six two or shorter on a championship team Nice say Lord Thomas. Y boy, Stephan Curry. And those guys are number two and number three on my point guard list. I'm not saying Jayalen Bruumpton is going to rise to that level I'm saying that Jayalen Brunson putting himself in the conversation of being the guy at that height to lead a team to a championship That puts some accomplishment status in rare fied air. Like he took thirty shots last night Right. Nobody cares. You know how many times we criticized Allan Iverson taking thirty shots and scoring chucking whatever it was, just chucking But there comes a point where efficiency is the enemy of winning And sometimes you just got to get the shots up. Sometimes you just got to play. And I think that's the one thing that Jayalen Brunton is good at is what whatever the numbers are look like, the numbers are going to look like, but he's dedicated to winning And there's not many players I think that I would trust more in the fourth quarter of a game, not historically, but just right now. Yeah. He is in a bag that When his career is over, he's going to be like, man, I was that dude for a period. Well, the dude for right now and coming into the series, everybody had kind of done the thing with a crown Wimby. It was like all right, it's going to be his league. you know, this was the, you know, the finals are going to be the, you know, the you know, the aftermath or whatever, you know I'm saying it was just going to be, you know, the dessert that they were al corordination. Yeah like all they got to do is do this. And he came out there, man and I was just surprised. likeike he and Stan Van Gundi said something like he thought this was the worst game he played this season or something along those lines. Wh did I told somebody it look like he had baby deer legs at points in the game. What did you what did you see out of Winby last night I didn't see and I don't know people are going to make the comparison. Oh, the Nicks were ready, the spurs weren't It's not that simple. I thought he was tired. I thought like from an emotional standpoint Man, it takes so much out of you to go through a playoff game let alone a playoff series when you've never done it before. L to like we don't explain it enough as a media that how much is required So when they beat Oklahoma City in a game seven. It takes a long time to get Oklahoma City off you. Like they are still smelling Oklahoma City's cologne. You know what I'm saying? They walking in the crib love should have brought you home last year. It's not like Oklahoma City when they plan to. Like that's what I think happened to them last night was They're still dealing with the residue of that series and he was tired. Yeah, baby deer legs, but also Carl Towns is two hundred and sixty pounds beaten on you. OGN and Oi low to the ground I ignore you He was being guarded by Chet Hgrin Yeah. Ch and him operate on this on the same part of skkinny corner. Chck can't do nothing there. He can't check with him. man. And you've been playing every other day, Joe for the past two weeks at some point There comes a regression to where your body has to recalibrate. And I think that's just what it was. I think he's going come back with a vengeance own game too Okay, Okaykay. All right, and I'm going to close out on this because I'm jealous to you, man. You just your first year covering the Kicks, you know I'm saying, Maybe you the good luck chararm or whatever. but the Nick. The it get The Kicks are guaranteed to split, right? And you I saw you say that you thought they could stille a game too, but Game three Madison Square Garden. What do you think is going to be like there so for a number of reasons.. Okaykay? I don't I don't know how early I would have to actually get down to Madison Square Gard to ensure that I get in because those people from basically like, you've been in New York before. you know how those people walk around. They walk around, they chest out and everything else. And And then what if it's do the right thing hot? agitated. stinking in the streets. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all that stuff, like radio Rahim gonna be out there phone box and all that think is going to be the most desperate atmosphere that you could eat whether it's one one or two old, right? I think it's going to be a pretty desperate atmosphere because they've never been realistically close to a championship since nineteen ninety four. Like they split the first two games in Houston in ninety four and then what they do in game three, they lost game three. So I'm not saying it sets up for disappointment. I'm saying the New York Kick fans, who you cannot truly appreciate until you spend more time in New York you get it. Oh, y'all not elitist. Y'all just really love the game. I love it' And y'all just think that everybody is supposed to love y'all when we don't we got our own places to love. You know what I mean? like that sort of thing. But that is going to be seeping in. I'm wondering with all the high prices though panties prices. man. I mean, right And then people gott to pay for the World Cup too, man. There's a lot. I mean, I mean, what Cuub' going to be starting next week. So yeah, I'm just like, who who are the people with money right now Yeah, I don't I mean, It's people with money Yeah I'm just trying to figure out What type of basketball fan you are if it's twenty thousand New Yorkers with that type of money? man. I mean that would be the place where they'd be able to pull it together though, right? They could get that that right so And Aint way anyway, but well look Vinny of ESPN first take, you know, and I told you and I told B this too, man. and I really I meant this. I was like, I saw you on TV, man. I was like, oh, Vinny's aar dog So I'm just really happy for you, Bro, and I'm happy you get to experience this championship run. It's amazing. so Thanks for coming on the Pressbox, brother.f course. anytime, and please come back. We'll have you on after the finals, all right Yeah, let's talk some media stuff. I guess the media takes. Oh shit, let's do it. I'm putting you on the list, so I'm gonna hold you to it, okay? Yes, sir Hi, brother So as we record this segment Thursday afternoon, California is still counting up ballots from its Tuesday primary But We know a couple of things already Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass will advance to the November runoff. will she'll likely face former reality star Spencer Pratt a Republican whose endorsement from Trump he hasn't accepted Yet. And at the top of the ticket, Republican, former Fox News host and British political advisor, Steve Hilton And long timee Democratic politico Xavier Bassetta are currently in the top two spots needed to advance to the November election for governor. Today to talk about those races and the general state of things in California, we've brought on my dude, L.A Times columnist Gustavo Arano, maybe the voice of Southern California? I don't know. I'm just we can start that. This is the thing. tag you put in your column and appe of surprzise finalists in twenty twenty five for opinion writing Gustavo was good man. What's up, Joe? Al great to talk to you, man. Oh man, likewise, likewise, I'm glad you could do this because I've just been fascinated by what's going on in California and I know people look Iowa, Texas and Florida, all this stuff. But like California has some weird shit going on. and I'm going to start with this column you publish Wednesday Um where you wrote Um Anyone who wants to win in Los Angeles needs to realize that anti establishment sentiment is in the air Why Casswa Angelinos have been frustrated with the state of the city for years now. reallyally started with the pandemic exploded in twenty twenty two with that racist audio leak scandal that abended politics in LA really forever. has continued with the homelessness crisis. some of it of LA's you know, all of these crises, some of it's LA's making, some of it comes from the Feds, and of course last year, the tragedy of the Palisades fire, which was in LA City limits. and then on the other side of Los Angeles, the Eaton Fire, which was in Aladina, which is not the city of Los Angeles. That's unincorporated Los Angeles County. But of course, in Southern California, everyone's D Angelino unless you're from Orange County like me.. You know, So I'm not be claiming that So people are just pissed like, you know, on all ends. and so it has And that's one thing that I think is unappreciated when we talk about Los Angeles, the archetype of the anngry Angelino. Whether they were fighting back against the rotise of black political power in South LA, Latino political power, whether it was the San Fernando Valley, which historically has been the wealthier one of the wealthier suburbs of LA. trying to secede from L.A, the city twenty five years ago. What I find fascinating right now though is that the anger is not just angry white guys anymore. It is a lot of people who just want change Historically that anger has come, at least politically has come from the right Now you're seeing it come from the left as well. So on the rights, of course, it's being represented by Spencer Prat, but also you have the march of the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America making big moves. So this is As someone who covers this stuff, I love it. as someone who loves the history of it. I see where these trends are and as someone just living through it, like Damn, it's crazy times right now Well I was going to say, and look theres so there's and you mentioned this in a live blog you posted about how many people and I don't know how many of these people live in L.A. I know some of them do, but like the free press has written a bunch of stuff Tet praising Pratt. The Atlantic has written some stuff, you know bolstering the preat campaign. what is So like is the outside media are they accurately capturing the appeal of Pat or what is going on there you think? They they are, but they're also misjudging the moment because for them, it's an easy story, write this. Bro Freaking reality star, the Hills And know last couple of years was all about crystals and hummingbirds. and then honestly though becomes a legitimate candidate in the sense that he had every reason to run because he lost his home in the Palisades Fire. H father his family lost another home in the Palisades Fire, but also just kind of just out there. And so the appeal of someone like Spencer to run Yeah, you were going to cover it one way or another. But then I think what the media is also getting is And the media is getting it, but I think this is where they're misjudging it. They're treating him as like this Messiah that's got to bring Los Angeles back. And this is where I think a lot of these dispatches I mean, Vanity Fair magazine. Peter Hamby there. Atlantic you mentioned A lot of these people, they're only getting a certain part of LA. For me I don't think they've ever I think they think the east side is not the Latino part but the hipster part and they've never been in South LA except it was the one hundred five freeway on the way to LAX. The people they're talking about, that's not the Los Angeles. I know and that's not to say that they're not onto something because yeah, all swats of the city angry but there are a lot of these parachutes. and that's the other thing. someome of these are Angelinos, but again, their idea their idea of Los Angeles is that oh, LA used to be like a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, like Licorice pizza and now it's turned into just complete and utter hell. And that's just not true at all Well, so a lot of people have made the comparison between Sprcer Pratt and Donald Trump, right? It'sstensibly like confused Republican, right? Because there's not a real like political ideology at work here. Um, and, you know, he was kind of a I mean, I think, you know, I don't I don't think it's a stretch to say that for years he was kind of a reality joke kind of guy. you know what I mean? Like nobody was sayaking thinking about him in this regard, when did you have to start taking him seriously? Honestly from the start, o I because I've seen this story before I I have been covering the rise of Latino Trump supporters since the start since twenty sixteen. It just covering politics, you see personalities, you see the sentiment. I mean, honestly, not I'm not gonna to say I'm someone special. I just am writing all the time. I'm out there on the street, I'm talking to people and I'm seeing the bigger picture and I'm not letting what I think should be pd what is actually happening. So when Spencer ran, I'm like, all right, he's going to have a impossible to defeat narrative, this one narrative that He lost everything in the Palisades fire and he's angry. So right off the bat, you're going to get a lot of like the who are the higher likely voters Pacific Palisades, the wealthy area of West Los Los Angeles. Those are the people who go out to vote. So right off the bat and you're going to grab that Then though He's saying he's not he's a Republican. He told Alex Michaelson on CNN that the reason he became a Republican is because he believed in gun rights because he, you know, he started getting a lot of threats and this is before the Palestes fire. Okay, whatever your origin story is, fine where he really latched on and this is where I say he is very Trumpian is he started Exoriating, excorian, how rec say that damn word, de being libeling unhoused people started calling them zombies. I mean horrible, horrible things. It's basically the same way Trump has demonized undocumented immigrants. He has gone after homeless people. And that's where I knew like Okay, this is going to be where he gets his multicultural coalition because all parts of L.A that have unhoused people on the streets Some of the nastiest commentary on them are coming from black and brown communities. and I think it's but it is happening. and so As and meanwhile, by the way, the Democrats, Oh, Spencer Prat the hills really. He's just doing it to sell buooks. He's just doing it to boost his, you know, clout. And I'm like, no, you're making the exact same mistake you all made with Trump. And now here we are. We don't know the California is notorious for counting its votes late. They those votes tend to go left more than anything. Third place the person who is in third place right now, Nithia Raman Maybe she could make it out there I'm just not calling it because as I kept telling people, once you uncork populist sentiment It is very hard to put back in because it starts spreading like, you know, it just starts spreading It's going to start spreading. I'm not going to say wildfire because it's too close to home it just starts spreading and it is hard to break Um, as you as you've as you've mentioned and and things you've written prep, isn't talking to media, right? Like Oh, he's not talking to he' he's talking to Sickoense. That's who he's talking to. I was going to say so like what what do what is going on there likeike how close has anybody at the times gotten to talking to him And do you think that's a sustainable approach My colleague Noah Hagerty has talked to him in the past because he covers he covered the aftermath of the Palisades fire and other stuff. He's part of our great environmental team. But and then he did talk to us on election night, but it was part of the media scrum, but he has repeatedly refused comment from all my colleagues betteret than that, he hasbasted us when we do write stuff about him when when the other no Noah Noah Goldberg who cover City Hall wrote the piece saying like, oh yeah, Spencer says that he's living in this trailer on his lot in in in palisades on his liine palisades. No, he's actually been staying in Santa Barbara County Oh, Spencer did this whole video just trash talking him. just for me, the the only mention I've gotten, he's retweeted videos AI generated he retweeted an AI generated video making fun of me, calling me a sellout, wearing a Cevara shirt, which come on man. every and if you actually know me, you know, my revol my Latino revolutionaries is Emiliano Sapata and all scored by a salsa soundtrack, which hey the the the my critique of that video You didn't get how I dress. I don't wear t shirts. I don't wear jeans Well, if I wear jeans, I'm wearing it like like, you know, cowboyed up. And again, I'm not going to wear a Cck Aada t shirt. You put too much hair on me But you made me skinnier than I am, so So he retweeted that, which I'm like, all right, cool, at least I know Spcer's paying attention to me, but it is not sustainable because I think in this era where people do not like the mainstream media, it's gonna to get you a certain amount of people, but it's like, what are you afraid of, Spencer? What are you trying to run from? And look, I am not bas I'm not going to go in with a hatchet job. All these politicians are always afraid of that. For us at the times, we just want to ask certain questions and some colleagues of mine are going ask specific questions about their beats. others are just going ask, you know, just different things W So all that like and you know, especially he's doing a lot of that stuff, you know, using social media to I guess sort of degrade the conversation or the discourse around this. very a very familiar game plan Why is it's effective. so like I'm just kind of curious why isn't Why are people lining up behind the incumbent mayor? Because I think and you tell me if I'm wrong about this, Karen Karbest is the first incumbent to have to go through this runoff in like what how many years? twenty, thirty years or something? twentyw years. Yeahah. twenty years. So what what what is going on? Wh are people frustrated with Karen Bastan. like why are they blan you She's suffering. Yeah let's be honest, a big part of it is because of M Misa Jenoir. She is a black woman. There has always been a big segment of the Angelino populular political class that has never liked her, that has always mocked her for coming from South LA from being a powerful black woman and this is some critiques against powerful black women. Hello, That's like the American way. So that's a start, but she's also messed up her being in Ghana while the Palisates fire. She's already said it's the biggest regret of her career. I think she was I don't fault her for that. I I wrote a column right like immediately after that, it's like, I don't fault her for that I you know, where I would fault her is like there's been other stuff that happened. For instance, my colleagues at the time, anotherother one, Lee Cck Magen, she wrote about how there was allegations that when there was a basically a report card from the Los Angeles Fire Department about what happened that she ordered that it be rewritten in ordder so you know doesn't come off as bad as what it was actually actually happened. People have felt that her approach to homelessness, the homelessness crisis hasn't been fast enough. And then the other big thing that has really popped up, you know, and this is something that all of us have to deal with in the media just Hollywood like there has been a dramatic drop in jobs in Hollywood. There's been all these issues. So everyone wants to blame the incumbent on that. And it's really bad. Karen, she is on top. so she's got to make it into the general election. But as as of us talking right now, she only has thirty six percent of the electorate Tw thirds of Angelino's do not want her at this moment as the next mayor. So it is tough, but the one thing I do say about folks who say, o,. and this is where the again, the national media does not understand this. They see these numbers Theyre like, she's gone. it's got to be Spencer or Nathy or whatever. Karen knows how to fight There was a line that I wrote something, something like the reason the game stays in the game is because they know how the game works. and it is still a game in Los Angeles. The people she has lined up against around her, like these are some like labor labor unions, like big time activists all across the valley. Now they're going to double down on that because now they get to say, hey, you want you want a MagA crystal guy to be your guy? No. like you got to go with Karen It's just tough too because I mean, you're right. I mean, Spencer has got, you know, whatever the charisma of being reality, he's got the anger behind him, right? And in comparison, and you tell me if I'm wrong the base on this, I've seen Mayor Bass talk before. I've interviewed her before Um, and I she was on higher learning with my my, you know, colleague Van Lathan about a month ago She's not a great retail politician, is he? L it's like she's not, you know what I mean? I just kind of feel like maybe there's just not In a time when people are mad, she comes off a little flat. Is that fair? She's earnest. That's the problem. We do not like earnest politicians. She is coming She's always come from a good place. I mean, her story is amazing. She was you know she worked in emergency rooms in South L.A when it was bad both with you know murders and a crack epidemic She and other like she she and other activists down in South LA created this famous nonprofit called commommunity Calition that rose after the uprisings in ' ninety two. And so she has always been about reating coalitions, multicultural coalitions, multiracial and you know, and also her family's a blended family. You know, her stepchildren, who she calls her children, they're her children. they're of Mexican American heritage. Their father was the father of her biological daughter, who was Mexican American as well. She really represents that Los Angeles in many ways But she is not You know, she is not a fire breather. That's never been her thing. Her thing is like, no, I build coalitions, I get the work done. I've never found her boring. Have I found her inspiring notot really. Now you compare her to someone like Spencer and look, Spencer We know this like if you're going to be on television, you better know how to spit out things fast, spit out things that stick and then do it again and do it on command. And that's that's why Spencer has been doing so good. That's why Trump did what he did. That's why Schwarzenegger was able to win the way he has. So It'll be interesting though to see how the debates roll out because they did have one debate where Spencer, Karen and Nthia Raman the other main candidate yeah candidate all came out together. Nthia just bombed. She was just tongue tied the entire time. Karen, you know, Karen had to play a little bit of defense. was she like soaring, not really, but she won because when Spencer did try to go after her, like she stood her ground. That's the thing in Spanish we say noeda like when you say of someone can noa, literal translation is they don't allow it to happen. In other words, they stand their ground and they push back and that's what Karen did. But Spencer won it. He fucking won it because he was funny. He his thing this and this is what his rivals and his haters need to realize His shick Yes, he is channeling the angry Angelino, but what saves him overall, he does like a bros willo be bros sc like, oh, I said something wrong. Oop, sorry, man. let me do something else. Oh, like do it. they you know, one of the moderators during that debate it was NBC four. They basically said, oh, like thank you for directing traffic and Spencer just like, o shucks, that's just me That wins. that wins on television. Like I wasn't going to say like, oh, you though you were terrible. Like no, you have to be honest about those things. And so that's something that's Karen Karen's going to have to like you're not going to see Karen become another Karen. Karen's always going to be Karen, goodood Karen, notot bad Karen of course. And so It's got to be interesting. And then one final thing with that dynamic between Spencer and Karen. againg, Spencer knows what hits. So he has been referring to her as Basura. Basura being trashed because, you know, Bass Basura and cheheap, absolutely Do you remember it? Damn straight you do. It's a good line. It's unfortunately, it's a good line. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah he like the stuff Stuff where he's been good at, he's been good at And I think though the national media just gets enamored with that and they're not calling out the bad stuff. And that's what I've been doing in Micol Lumna for the time. J just like one of the things that I say it's like I'm not so much afraid of Spencer. I don't think he's like the devil that way people are going to portray him, but a lot of his like his most ar supporters. Oh, they are just bad, bad news. They are the people who fundamentally hate multicultural, multi class LA and want to revert it back to God knows when. Anyone whoever says, o, it's not like how it used to be in the good old days, run from them. Um, but That populous anger is also apparent in the city council races too, right? Like I mean, apparent like like it's not just all these right wingers and Republicans who are, you know, pissed at like like I read this in your blog, four the six DSA endorsed candidates in first place right now in LA. Is that that's correct? So the left is having a moment in LA too. Okay, so this is really interesting because yes, again, national media are not paying attention All they are enemative Prat saying, yes, there is a conservative, not Republican necessarily, but even because what one of the tropes you see like, oh, you know, this liberal hates Trump is just disgusted with Karen for so he's going for Spencer. You have a populist right wing revolution brewing. and you also see that kind of with Steve Hilton, the Republican who is ly leading in the gubernatorial race They're not paying attention to what's going on because on the left side, you have the Democratic Socialists of America, the LA chapter. They have been playing the Mdami game. They're a couple years behind, but you're seeing it all the fruits of their labor is happening. So six years ago, they were absolutely nobody seen as you know, just a joke, like a leftist also a joke And they're running a novice candidate named Nithia Raman. She wins and ever since then they now have along with Ramen, four other three other council members that they have they have put on the city cououncil, Ugooto Martinez Sunisa Fernandz and Isnabel Hurado. And so this year they endorsed officially five candidates and as you said Four of them are currently in first place. anotherother one is in second place. This is in district nine in South LA, which is historically, of course bllack district. That one's going to be interesting because for the first time in sixty three years, they are gonna to have a council member who is not black.. And so the criticism against theSA, o, you know, even though you know All the candidates that they have in city council, they're all people of color, but they're like, oh no, it's kind of like the same thing in New York It's just hipster white people, you know, armchair communists, blah, blah, blah,, It doesn't really represent what Los Angeles is. Winning in South L.A. They've won in Boyle Hides, the historical heart of Latino Los Angeles. Marissa Roy, who is running for city atttorney. She's currently in first place on a citywide thing. So they have done a great job of capturing on the long term. Spencer is just grasping on to an opportunity of a lifetime and he's just running for himself. likeike he does not represent any movement at all. There are not people running against them. They would not win on the city cououncil race because still you have centrist Democrats who would win and have been, you know not my you know, not my cup of tequila, but they are appealing to their voters. But DSA has been playing that long game and so it's going to be I don't know if they're going to win everything come general election People need to be paying attention to that. And if I mean it'll be interesting I'm always, hey, if you're super left and super right, you all meet together on certain points Think of the alliances there to try to take down the current establishment. I doubt it will happen, but if Spencer is smart, he'd be paying attention and talking to these DSA folks, who'll probably tell to slag off, but hey, weirder things have happened, right think Well, okay, and I can't let you go without talking about the governor's race, which has been a mess. I mean, Eric Swallwell's campaign. which where people may remember derailed by allegations of sexual assault and harassment. He was out of the race in April. The Democrats couldn't seem to get it together. And now the top guy is Hilton, right a trrump endorsed candidate. Uh. is California at risk of becoming a red state. If Hilton, Hilton is not an idiot. He is not an idiot. He is you know, he is a smart guy He's not smart enough though, because what I'm going to give the most credit for is that same thing with Los Angeles, their people are upset. They' just cost of living too much, all this crap We haven't even talked about the ice raids that have been the story and we're approaching the one year anniversary of that. And so Hilton has been traveling the state going to Latino majority communities and specifically for them saying, hey, I know you're paying too much gas. I know California has been passing all this progressive craziness like trying to ban the combustible engine. I did a column a couple of years ago California the what do you call it? California air That's SQAMD. Whoever' in charge of the air quality in California as a whole, they want to ban chraming, which I'm like, Who's gonna suffer from the banning of chroming? All these working class black and brown men who are chroming their fucking low riders. Like I had a seventy four E Dorado. Like if I wantan to chrome my bumper And this is where environmentalists get mad at me, but it's like Look, this is not a trivial thing. A lot of these things are affecting working class people. So Hilton, I give Hilton credit for that. He knows he needs Latinos to win The problem with him is that he's still too enamored of Trump of MAGA. So now he's going around saying, I'm the candidate of legal immigrants. Give me a fucking break. I'm actually gonna go on I'm gonna and I challenge him to do this and he has accepted and like it's gonna happen. I just don't know when. But we're gonna go eat tacos with my dad who came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy who was a truck driver for thirty some years. You'll remember how the Trump administration wants to basically basically make it so that immigrant truck drivers know how to speak English fluently according to them. My dad he did it. So I want Hilton to sell himself to this guy who already has two strikes against the Hilton playbook. And so that's where I think Hilton cannot win unless he changes, which I don't think he will. And then we're saying all of this of course. forgetting or not mentioning just yet that California is a deep loo state and it seems like the second place finisher going into the general election is Javier Besera, who is a known name in in California politics. Yes, boring. I've called them the Chicano Stuart Smally because that's how he comes off across. but hey, the guy knows how to win because here he is right now Gustavo, my man, we're going to have to have you back on. I want to want I'm going to be paying attention to the getting tacos with Hilton, but we also have to have you back on as election day draws nea because this is fascinating. So thanks so much for coming on. we're so glad to finally get you on G Grasses for having me at any time. It's Joel Anderson. Production magic R my got Tucker Tashian Next week Brian will be back from his week long Scandinavian adventure and we're going to demand some stories. I assume he stopped at a half price bookstore there or something sure he had some sort of weird fish. We're going to hear about it. and I'm going to Make him talk about it because I'll be there on Tuesday. And we're also gonna to have a special guest on the press box. MS now's Michael Steeel, co anchor of the Weeknight, former Lieutant goveror of my state, Maryland, and the former chair of the Republican National Committee.hould be a fun conversation. And then it'll be Brian and Dave on Thursday think You guys think Barry Weiss and CBS will come up again between now and then, huh Probably. Anyway See you Tuesday with more lukewarm takes great weekend and stay out of trouble.