Authenticity and Ambition in Politics

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Call one eight hundred five two six seven seven three six to learn more or visit trimphiaradio d. com This episode is brought to you by Fox One Watch all one hundred and four matches of the FIFA World Cup live in four K for just nineteenll ninety nine cents a month, with three days free Build your own multi view, choose up to three streams, and follow players spotlights. Stay on top of every moment with live stats, highlights, and instant replays. The FIFA World Cup, streaming live on Fox One, offers a subject to change seefox. com for complete terms and conditions Hello and welcome to the Rest is Politics. US with me, Katy K. And welcome to the bizarre History of the United States Versailles and Donald Trump with me, Anthony Scaramucci. Okay, Caty, what the hell is going on? Let's Let's start talking like Trump What the hell is going on, Katdy What is going on? What is going on? We know there was a lot of gold which the president likes, we'll get found just a minute. Okay. Today guys, we are going to talk about the details that we've learned from the U.S Iran deal that Trump has just signed. In Versaill, yes. shouldh anyone Qestion you will, ever sign a historical treaty in Versailles again, ever. Maybe not We've clearly got a situation where America is offering political and financial concessions to Uh Tehron The bloody conflict has ended up, I would argue with a deal that is significantly worse than the one that Barack Obama got over a decade ago. So we're going to go through all of that. this exercise in hubris in the first half of the show. and in the second half of the show, we're going to talk about the launch of JD Vance's new book, Communion, findinding My wayay backack to faith We'll get into what Vance is trying to achieve with the release of this book and all of the slew of interviews that he has done remaking himself into a softer cuddlier JD Vance. But let's start with Iran. Okay, Andntony bought I bought a prop I bought for those of you watching a time machine. I know it looks like a Kleenex box, but it's not, it's a time machine And you, Anthony Scaramuchci, are gonna enter this time machine And you are going to go back to your days as White House communications director. Oh my God. I thought you would enjoy a little bit of role playing. And somewhere in the bottle of this box of Kleenex, which is actually now your White House commommunications director office I'm going to ask you to explain How this deal that President Trump signed last night invest I very proudly With his signature showed up the paper to everybody. There is Immuel Macron sitting next to him. Marco Rubio standing looking like, oh my God, he wanted to be anywhere else right behind him Mister Communications director, how is this a good deal for the United States of America? Please explain. Hold on a second. Sarah, Sarah Huckabee Sanders Pass me the bottle of Adavan. Bring it over here. Let me chug a few of those. Okay, I'm ready now, Gaddy. I'm ready. Okay. Okay. So the first thing is you have a blithering idiot And that would be Howard Lutnik. And I would just ask you please, if you like theater and kabuki theater and stupidity Watch the facial expressions and the gesticulations of Howard Lutnik as the orange buffoon is talking nonsense, like saying the kids at Hamas are born with machine guns in their hand Rubios like this U Shoot me now, Rubio. And Lucknk is like this. I mean, haa haa I mean, you gott to be I mean I don't even understand how you could be sanding there and actually acting like that. I mean, I don't, I don't even get that. will'll study that forever There'll be a new book called The Emperor really does have no clothes and he lives in Versailles But I've just got to say a couple of things. Okaykay, numberber one It's a terrible deal. By the way, you have now just been fired again as communications director, just putting it out there. You didn't actually last eleven seconds, let alone eleven days. Of course. because as I have said on this program, Lincoln had a team of rivals. Trump has a hall of mirrors which is appropriate for Versailles. He's standing there and they just want to reflect back to him who they think he is and what they think he wants But I literally watch Fox News all morning because I wanted to see what the right wing propagandists were going to say about the deal. They don't like the deal. They're even citing the Wall Street Journal on Fox News about how absolutely horrific the deal is. and so Katy, the real question is, will this deal last three days of Trump watching cable television in the study off the Oval Office where he has that big flat screen And he's fumbling around with the remote. Will it last three days And my guess is it won't actually. this is going to be another quagmrish nightmare Caty, I gott to take people back for thirty seconds in history And I want to go back to the Sykes Picos treaty which we are still living with And of course, this was a secret deal between the French and the British where they carved up the Middle East and they created as a result of these borders triribal disputes that still last in the Middle East today. But I just want to say this to people Please remember this when you're thinking about the Middle East over the last one hundred and ten years Every negotiation has been about what the powers say they're doing. which is self determination and stability and peace and what they are actually allocating, which is oil caddy choke points. Basing rights, capital flows And so ultimately this came down to money And pressure on Donald Trump. My God And this guy really is disinhibiting right before us. So earlier in the year, we have more oil than we know what to do with. We're totally independent and we don't need anybody's oil. We're running out of oil, Katy K. And four weeks from now, if I don't have any oil, we're going to have an international crisis and an economic nightmare. And I am going to be Herbert Hoover. and that is who I do not want to be. I mean he's literally telling us his inner fears as he's standing there at the press conference in Avon Katdy, I Don't understand How people know how bad this is and they're willing to stand there And I'm going I'm going to say something, you know, I was very surprised that Jamie Diamond was there Because if you if you watch the signing, he was sitting to Trump's left Schwartzman, the CEO of Blackstone and then Jamie was next to him. I love Jamie. I think he's one of the smartest people in finance. But he's being sued by Donald Trump and the bank is being sued by Donald Trump And yet he got his camera out and took a picture of Trump signing the deal And so explain that to me. Help me understand that because Jamie to me Super principple guy G his shit together. He's a great leader Dude, what are you doing standing Swartzman, I get, but what are you doing standing? Okay Help me with that one. Hel me with that one. Jamie Diamond walks into the palace of Versailles and as Donald Trump has been at pains to say, this is not guilt. This is the real thing. I mean, this is not the Oval Office guys and the Liberacci decoration. This is the real thing. And I don't know, mayaybe even Jamie Diamond walks in there and he's wowed by the gold and the sense of majesty and he can't resist taking a selfie. But all he needed to do was read this document. Look, I think This is the story of Hubris This is a president and a team who think they can solve difficult problems because they're smarter and stronger and better businessman than everybody else. They ignore all of the historical and logistical challenges. They grab for the first solution that they can find And when it goes incredibly wrong, they refuse to admit they failed. Bear with me for a second. I want to tell you about the reflecting pool in Washington, DC It's a reflecting pool. Wh cares Donald Trump made a big display of emptying the pool and fixing it and painting it American flag blue and it opened a great ceremony Six days ago. Bright blue, looked lovely. for six days. That reflecting pool is now full of algae Who cares? It's a pool? In the great scheme of things, it doesn't matter But it is simple Tomatic of exactly how Trump runs his presidency step one You announce your intent to solve some big problem that no one else has managed to solve. Ukraine in one day. America's trade deficit Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, or an algae ridden reflecting pool Step two, you ignore all of the challenges that your predecessors may have encountered and there were Iignnore the fact that there were reasons why you couldn't solve those things. reasons that those previous attempts failed because you think your predecessors were just too stupid too weak like Barack Obama Then you try to solve the problem yourself, you grab any idea off the shelf so long as it's quick and it involves a few bangs. and then you fail, spectacularly. And that is what he's done. He's done it with the Pool. he's done it with Iran. He's doing it with the country. He's doing it with the country right now as we watch And guess what? the American taxpayer in every single case picks up the bill. In the reflecting pools, he didn't even put it out for teer. He just gets his guy, his mate who does swimming pools for his golf courses. he doesn't even put it out for teer. So he doesn't have competitive bids. In the case of Iran, it's eighty billion dollars that they spent on the war and now three hundred billion do dollar program that they're going to give and help contribute to rebuild Iran for its reconstruction. So Katy, I have nothing to add there because I think it's an analysis that I completely agree with. but I gott to ask you about Hexeth So Trump said something where I think Ducey said to Trump I do like this guy's nameamed Duy. You know, if you're not American and you don't know what Duce means, okay, then look it up in the Uurban Dictionary. But anyway, Ducey's asking Trump, White House correspondent from Fox about JD Vance and Trump says, Yeahah, I sent them there if it works I take the credit for it and if it doesn't work, I got to blow him up blah blah, blah. But Hex Seth is actually in that crosshair He went to the podium, Gaddy. He lied every day about the war He rebuked every journalist and told them, you need to cover the war this way, not that way, thumping the podium with this five dollar American pocket square Is he in trouble here? Is he going to get blown out by Trump? It's a great question. JD Vances clearly being set up as the full guy going around on American television telling us that what that after forty seven years, suddenly the Ayatollers and thelamicck everybody's got rockets. They need a few rockets too And a nuclear program? Hey, I mean, the neighbors have a nuclear program. Why not give them a nuclear program? And JD is literally going on American television, including Fox News and saying, Iran is a normal country now And Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are such brilliant negotiators that they have what persuaded the Iranians to abandon forty seven years of death to America for o, let's be Pals And business partners and this is going to be Rosie. I mean, JD I'm sorry, that woodipper. that woodchipper has your name on it this week. The woodchipper has caught on, Katdy. People walk by me and say, oh The woodhipper. they see JD in the woodhipper. They see JD we got that eight months ago. We knew he was going in a woodsipper. We just know Trump, you know? Right in there. But You're right on Hegeth, I think that's so interesting because Hegseth is the one who told us that it was death, fire and fury onto Iran. This was the holy war that we were winning. I understand that Republicans are particularly mad at Hexeth. for lying to the country and for lying to the president. And making those, you remember those incredible videos he made at the beginning of that like a cinematic thing of America at war drawn from a Hollywood plot or the kind of iPad that he would show Donald Trump in cabinet briefings of stuff just random stuff being blown up And it turns out that actually that was not the strategy that ost military commanders thought it might need it to be. So I'm seeing the pushback from Republicans. and it's very interesting. I had a conversation last night with a senator who is on the Foreign Relations Committee And I asked him about what he's thought. and he told me he's seen a lot of intelligence around Iran in the last few days. and I asked him what he thought of this deal. His words, ludicrous, ill informed, fantastical. He said it reveals the depths of their mistaken belief that just by saying it, you can make it so But here's what I think is interesting about what he is seeing. The intelligence is suggesting that the IRGC is more hardline now and in control and consolidated their power than they were at the beginning of the war And there is no way they are becoming Switzerland and they will use this big injection of cash that they are going to get on day one from oil sales They will use that to shore up their weaponry in a way that puts America and American allies at risk. the MOU effectively that has been signed hurting America's national security And and I think it's, as this senator pointed out to me Kushna has always had this belief that you could Just do a business deal with people. and that would override all of their historical or ideological or theocratic beliefs. And I remember having conversations with Jara Kushner telling me that, you know, if you just gave the Palestinians shiny condos During the first term, he would say, we can fix the Israeli Palestinian issue. because we understand that they are just like us and we can basically buy them off And I think that's what is so absurd here when you got JD Vance going around saying trying to get us to believe that this is a country that it has banandnoned the ideology that it's held so dear for the last forty seven years to be what, you know, like a business partner. I just totally misunderstand what it means to be involved with a fanatical regime. And that was the exact criticism, believe it or not, on Fox News and from the Wall Street Journal, forty seven years later, they're not abandoning the fanaticism and the theocracy, but Katy, I want to posit something, agree or disagree. Here's the Iranian playbook dissected over forty seven years We're gonna negotiate, we're gonna relieve pressure on ourselves and try to get some sanction relief And then we're going to preserve our regime, just like you just said, we're going to get the refinancing of the IRGC And, the other thing we're going to do, we're always gonna to wait out the American electoral clock because we don't have an electoral clock, but they do And they've done it to every administration. Okaykay? So the regime is not measuring time. in new cycles It's measuring time in decades. And this is something that Trump's team I don't know who's advising them But why did't they sit down and say, okay, here's what's going on, right You know, Scott Anderson I think you know wrote a great book last year called King of Kings about mistakes that we make. He opens up the book and this is, of course about the fall of the shop And he opens up the book and the first sentence is from a CIA security report It says March of nineteen seventy nine We expect the Iranian regime under the shot to be durable long term and sustainable. And six months later, we're in a wild crisis in Iran getting everything wrong We got it wrong with the coup with Mosae in nineteen fifty three We got it wrong with propping up the sha and not understanding the fanaticism. It's forty seven years later. And we're still getting it wrong. And I'm just saying to my fellow Americans The American centrism doesn't work You got to get in the boots of the people that you're negotiating with. Let me tell you another thing doesn't work, the bombs don't work anymore because you can bomb the people And if you go to bankrupt Iran Guess what happens? It becomes more instable And it becomes more theocratic and it becomes more repressive So you know, it reminds me of what Kennedy once said You said, you know, I don't have a lot of power in the job Yes, we're the quote unquote, most powerful country with the quote unquote, most powerful military. But you know what It doesn't work that way. We learned that in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. And now we're learning it again in Iran. And I'm telling you Kaddy I don't know what leader is going to emerge in the United States that is going to call BS on all of this nonsense clapping for him in Versailles Did you see the clapping, Katdy He's signing it with the cardiac arrest signature, you know, like a bad EKG signature. And they're Oh happy Guys, are you are you kidding me guys What are you doing guys? I thought if you looked at President Macron, it was pretty muted clapping. and I'm Rub Marka Rubio looks like he's in hostage video and wants to be anywhere else And is not commenting on the deal. And Marco Rubio has gone radio silent as our friend Mark Polymoropouolis has pointed out, because he is hoping that this is his twenty twenty eight moment and that JD Vance gets pinned with this and is the full guy, as the president even said at that press conference to Peter Doocey's question. He said, yeah, if this fails, I'llin it on JadeD Vance. But that's not even how the media works, so G. So channel Marco Rubio Mr. Rubio Secretary of state, what are your thoughts on the deal? Go ahead, channel your best, Marco Rubio. Whatere is he going to say? This is the problem that he is not going to say anything. this is why you and I were talking a few months ago. and what was Marco Rubio's smartest play about six months ago resign from this administration That is the only way Marco Rubio can go to the country and say As Senator Cassidy is calling it, Republican Senator Cassidy part of the Yolo Caucus Or as Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic likes to call it the Janice Joplin Caucus. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose is out there saying this is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades. Marco Rubio kn if he's going to be a serious candidate in twenty twenty eight, he needed to get out. Before the worst foreign policy blunder in decades. He's not going to do that, but I'm going to say this before we go to a break and talk about my fellow Catholic, JD Vance. We'll talk about the irony of that Kat he's not going to do that, but I'll tell you what he should do because he's tight with Suszie Wiles He should stage a glide path out of the administration because Trump is going to fire him And Trump is going to humiliate him And if Brubio smart, he'll be like, Okaykay, Suzie, I'm preparing for my twenty twenty eight presidential race And so therefore, I've got to glide myself out of here. And I'm sure some rich guy will pay Trump fifty, one hundred million dollars to be seecretary of state for the last couple of years here. Let me And you figure out a plan to get me out of here before Trump decapitates me He's not going to do the brave thing like saying, hey, dude, you're a crazy person. I resign. He's not going to do that. You know, he's afraid of Trump's primary the hold that Trump has on the primary caucus. Trump has just put a millstone around the necks of JD. Vance and Marco Rubio and it is going to take a heck of a lot of explaining because there are not many people who think this is going to serve America well. It's cost an awful amount of money. thirteen Americans have died, five hundred Americans have been injured, countless Iranians have also died And Iran ends up in a stronger position. So taking this defeat, which is what it was, America has just negotiated the terms of its surrender and trying to explain that when you're running for president of the United States in only a year's time, which is when the primaries really kick off Trump has just made it a heck of a lot harder for both JD Vance and Marco Rubio. Worth reading guys, we're gonna go to a break and talk about JD Vance's book launch, but it is worth reading Senator Cassidy's tweet that he put out about Reagan rolling over in his grave. We now have the people who are actually Donald Trump primaried and guess what happens? The wounded bears Now, saying what all of the rest of the Republican caucus is thinking. I lost the election. So now I'm going to be an honest man. You know, I lost the election So now I'm going to be principled. I lost my balls, but now I found them. Okay, we're gonna take a break. Anntony, you have a few kids. I imagine you're looking forward to father' day. It's a special day in the UK, also here in the US. and look as a dad myself, I wanted to give our listeners a quick tip. This year Why not give your dad a membership to the restless politics US. And because we love all the dads out there, those who send us questions who are in our founding members club, those who come to our shows and come up and speak to us afterwards, we are offering a twenty five percent discount on an annual gift membership. I mean, come on, Gaddy, what dad Wouldn't want our exclusive founding members Q and A, our members only miniseries, ad free listening, early access to our live shows, ticketing and much, much more. Just head to the restest ispoliticsUS dot coma you can click on gifts and the gift will land straight in your dad's inbox right on Father's Day It's an excellent Father's Day present. I would know. Go to there is pololitics US. com Click on something to make your dad a founding member. Happy Father's Day everybody Happy fall this day. Antony, you have a few kids I imagine you're looking forward to Father's D. It's a special day in the UK. also here in the US. and look as a dad myself, I wanted to give our listeners a quick tip This year Why not give your dad a membership to the restless politics US. And because we love all the dads out there, those who send us questions who are in our founding members club, those who come to our shows and come up and speak to us afterwards, we are offering a twenty five percent discount on an annual gift membership. I mean, come on, Gaddy, what dad wouldouldn't want our exclusive founding members Q and A our members only minis series, ad free listening, early access to our live shows, ticketing, and much, much more. Just head to the rest ispiticsUS. com where you can click on gifts and the gift will land straight in your dad's inbox right on Father's Day. It's an excellent Father's Day present I would know. go to the rest is politics US. com Click on something to make your dad a founding member. Happy Father's Day everybody Happy fall this day Welcome back to The Rest is Politics. JD Vance is out with a new memoir. He wrote Hill Billy Elegy ten years ago, Massively successful book propelled him into the public spotlight. was the platform really from which he became the Senator from Ohio and then went on to become the Vice Pident. It was a book that was the story of the hardship of Appalachia growing up in this difficult town where there were a lot of drug issues and it was wildly heralded by liberals when it came out in twenty sixteen who were desperate to try to understand how they'd missed the rise of Donald Trump as the guidebook. for MGa and for white working class Americans and the hard times that they were going through in the heartland of the country And now Jie Vance is out with a new memoir, Cunion finding My wayay Back to faith Ied to say that JD Vance is out with a new memoir called The Art of the Deal because he is the one out there are selling the Iran deal, as we just spoke about. But anyway, no, this one is about his faith And this is a sort of manifesto for the role of religion in public life. He talks about transitioning from Protestant Christianity to atheism, to Catholicism talks about his faith giving him a sense of purpose. and about how his wife, Usa, who is a practicing Hindu has actually encouraged him over the years to become a practicing Christian and to get to church every Sunday because she says it makes him a better man. I full disclosure, I have not read the book. I know Anthony that you got an advanced copy of it and you've had a chance to read it. so I want you to talk about the book. I'll talk about the rollout of the book because he's done a slew of interviews this week. on different networks on American television that I think have been very revealing of what he is trying to do to position himself to run for twenty twenty eight and we can talk about whether or not he did a good job on that. But you read the book what did you think of it And I like his writing style and I believe he wrote the book because I read Hill Billy Elllegy And I actually took my copy of Bill Eology and I compared the writing style, and I think it's him. And I think it's I think it's a very clear voice and There's a lot of ambiguity to JD Mance and there's a lot of hypocrisy But this is really a man in search of something. He's trying to find himself. There's no question about that I guess I would say about the book is that he talked about returning to Christianity. He chose Catholicism, explains why. But he says he was in the secular wilderness pursuit of material goods and ambition. but he's lying to himself because he has changed his mind and he's morphed himself five or six times politically pursue his ambitition And so if he was a straight up guy Caddy, he would be like, Hey, man This is how I grew up. This is what I learned at Yale Law school. I actually have a high IQ And I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood. And so it's just like I, I've said this to you off Air Caddy. I was at Harvard And I had these whiny boarding school types waxing and waning. and I'd look over at them say, hey, dude, there are kids putting in sheetrock in my neighborhood that are smarter than you, But you know what? The father puts in sheet rock And that's why they're putting in Sheet Rock. So why don't you take a breath here And that's the part of the book that I like about JD Vance. is a very, very smart guy. but he's lost his way. he's trying to tell you that his Catholicism has reanchored him into a less material position the words that come out of his mouth and I'll let you address the book tour is really about the staging ground for his ambition And it's not it's very disingenuous, Gaddy. Okaykay. So just if you took the two books and you read them And JD Vance was not pursuing this wild ambition and doing stuff in his political career that he knows is wrong. Then you'd look at them. this is a guy that is on a journey of self discovery like a Joseph Campbell journey, Rite of passage. But what this really is is a staging book for his ambition. And by the way, you know this Gaddy. he just hired Trumps one of Trum'sputy chiefs of staff placeac as Chief of Staff. so he's telling you First of all, I am running. Remember I said I wasn't sure if he was running telling you I am running And I'm running full MAGa with Trump's magazine. Well One last point. he got permission from the White House And Trump's inner circle, of course Trump himself didn't read the book But they gave them the thumbs up on the book. because he's going forull MGa Okay, so that's all I have to say, but I would recommend to somebody that hates JD Vance, by the way. actually read his book Yeah I'm going definitely going to get a copy now because you need to understand him because this son of a bitch could end up as president of the United States. We have another nut as the president of the United States and you better you better get yourself at least some understanding of who he is. We're going to do a series over the summer on JD Vance because yes, he is running. and I think that the irony, the disconnect of somebody saying as he does in the book because I've read the reviews the book. I've got my ambition in check Hello Where did he write the book from? Anntony, I'm just trying to think, where was he living when he was writing the book Well I mean, What was he doing? Hanging out with his family in Ohio He was writing the book from the Vice Pident's mansion. The Naval observatory. I don't think you can with a straight face claim that you have your ambition in check. and write a book from the Vice president's mansion. But I think you'll write and this is one of the things I want to talk about on the book tour that I thought was interesting because one of the things he writes about in the book is that in twenty twenty one, he goes out on one of the shows and says that Liberal women without kids are a ruining America The cat lady comment. The cat lady comment that they are cat ladies without kids and they are ruining America They were resurfaced in the twenty twenty four campaign. And in the book, he now says that that was a bone headed comment. And he wants to go on the TV shows and he's going on the view, which is a soft TV shows and he's wanting to tellell people that he's apologizing for that comment and actually, you know, he he's become a sort of more softer, empathetic man But actually This shift isn't moral growth. This is just responsiveness to whatever is politically expedient in that moment. In twenty twenty one It was expedient for him to perform at full cat lady anti woke maggy. in twenty twenty six His numbers are underwater with female voters So it's expedient for him to apologize. That isn't A man finding his values, that's a man finding his market It's a very different proposition. I think that's was my takeaway from even that Inident, but you see him on these shows. he goes on the view, which is a left leaning show He comes out because he is so smart This is an intelligent guy and super articulate And he's kind of unflappable. So he comes out onto the set of the view and he's looking tanned and he's looking relaxed and he starts off with a joke about how, so this is a show of MAGA Republicans, right? That's what my Cs team told me. and it sounds kind of horribly sort of awkward can. but he's trying to do the self deprecating thing And he's trying to be JD Vance who is accessible andks about wants to talk about his kids and can bat away because he's smart. he bats away their questions about policy and immigration and detention centers And he's clever enough to not say anything that's going to get him in trouble with the boss, but he's also got a real keen eye on trying to be the more personable, self deprecating JD Vance But then He goes on Fox And a different JD Vance appears. and this is the JD Vance who is contemptuous and combative and dismisses congressional Republicans as quote It doesn't bother me that congressional Democrats disagree with our policies, it bothers me that they are just terrible people So many of them How does the terrible people, JD Vance? fit with the guy on the view who is talking about how he's been boneheed and wants to appeal to everybody and is being self deprecating. It's not working for him as you know. It's not working for him. It doesn't land because it's not authentic. That's the problem. Butet, I want to give another piece of evidence to what you're saying right out of the book I went back and compared communion to Hill Billy Ege to see the comparable writing styles. He says in the book and I quote, My family's problems We're not created by governments or corporations or anyone else He's now writing in communion No, I got that wrong. My family's problems were created by governments and corporations through free trade and offshoreing Okay, it can't be both Right? So and he also talks about Anne Rand who wrote Atlas shrugged. She comes out of communism in Russia And she becomes this wild free market libertarian And he and Peter Teal are accolytes of hers And now he's transitioning from that into something that's more populist and protectionist. There's no C to the moral anchor. Okaykay? You know, And again, I'm not defending myself explaining myself for a moment. I see what's going on in the country. I'm traveling with Trump I'm my all, sixty nine, seven year old guy He might be able to help create a postpartisan presidency and transform the country. Man, did I get that wrong? And I've had to eat Cow for the last decade. But at least I'm honest about it Vance is not doing that. Vance is like, Hey, man, I want to be president so badly that I'm going to keep flipping my position. You know, and when Hillary took the Chicago cub hat. because she was in Chicago and then she flew to New York and put the Yankee hat on That was it canan't do that Okay, I don't know what's yourritish football team? Do you have aritish football team? Well, Tom supports Man City, so I guess that's But Felix supports Arsenal, so I've got two That's a problem when they play against each other, But there we go Let's go with Man City. I can't be a man united supporter. If you're running for office and you were a man city supporter as a kid and you moved And now you're going to be a man unite or whatever. the people are going to look at you and say,, they're going to give you that. Okaykay, then no, right This is what Vance is doing Okay, so title of the book should have been Weather vanin for my ambition Okay, but having said all that, it is a really good book If you're a bookworm and you like good writing, this guy knows how to write, Katdy. He knows how to write and he knows how to talk. And he's a very good writ. He's a very smart guy. I would love to sit down with fans and say, hey, dude, knock it off. If you really want to be president at a time of your nation's peril to truth to the people. And I don't know that he is capable of that. Definitely not. Or rather It's possible that if we were to say will the real JD Vance stand up The real JD Vance is the guy that goes to the Munich Security confonference and slams America's allies. Possibly. The real JD Vance is the guy that gets Zelensky into the oval Office and berates a wartime leader in a way that is mortifying to Zelensky and actually to Vance himself. That's the real JD Vance. It's not the guy who is trying to be cuddly. and self deprecating. That's the show he puts on when the room wants to see it, but it's a show. And I think we are living in a time where audiences and voters will reward this weird commodity called authenticity and you can't play act at authenticity. It's a hard thing for you to Put on as a coat of armor, you just have to have it Trump has it Trump has authenticity he doesn't give a shit He'll say, Ohh yeah, give them missiles, having spent the last ten years, saying don't give them any missiles. Give them money, having spent the last ten years. and he doesn't care. That's his brand. That's his brand. He's got two things that come out of his mouth at the same time. But JD's brand is inauthentic And I think that makes it very hard for him to win over voters. So before we go, from your journalistic eyes, as objective as possible What do you think the generic opinion is of the American voter of JD Man Like you said, Okaykay, here's the tear sheet. like you and I, let's say we had a British football player H here's the scouting report. What is the Tar sheet on JD Vance I actually don't think they have one very much at the moment And that's why he's doing this book tour now because he knows he's got to get out there and he has to at least get people to have an opinion of him But If they have an opinion at all It's the opinion of the vice President he hasn't said terribly much He's a guy who If you were going to start replaying the clips, what's the highlight reel that will inform people's opinion going into twenty eight highighlight reel has to include his dressing downown of Zelensky in the oval office It has to include the Munich Security Conerence And then you'll get a little bit of this view interview, which shows a little shambolic and chaotic thrown in where he's trying to be. I'm just a regular guy whose wife is having another baby and G me a onesie and I'll make a silly joke about myself. So it's a confused view. All right, well let me rephrase the question. Is it working for him what he's trying to do all of the polymarkets and the betting markets and the opinion polls show it's not working for him, Anthony. He was ahead in the polling To be the twenty eight twenty eight Republican nominee But he is sinking fast and Marco Rubio is rising fast So at the moment I don't think it's working for him. what do you think? Let me throw the question back to you. I don't think it's working for him. and I would also say that it could work for I would also say that it could work for him. It's not going to work for him We did a special on Rubio. Our founding membership got to view that two part special on Rubio. We're going to do it on Vance as you said. But to understand Rubio Rubio is way more cunning And Rubio knows when to talk and when not to talk and You know, he got hammered by Trump after his Munich Security conference speech. So Vance played to the audience of one Rubo played to the European audience And when he came home, he got hammered and Trump literally said, at an open mic if it speaks like that again, I may fire him. And h ho haaha and he was joking But there's a lot of seriousness in that But Rubio is more conning than Vance And so I think Vance is also because he's un anchored. Like Rubio is on anchored and he doesn't give a shit about being on anchored Vance is un anchored, but he's trying to write in the book Communion that he's anchored. Do you see what I mean?? And you're almost better off saying, you know what? My brand is I'm un anchored. know, I'm going say whatever at least is authentic. Right. I'm un anchored, but I'm going to try to prove to you that I'm anchore. You see what I mean? My brand is that I am super ambitious and I want to become president of the United States. Exactly That's the authentic JD Vents. Exactly. But he doesn't want to say that. He wants to say I'm what Hanging out with my family and finding God. One last thing which I think is important here is that the Catholic vote, seventy million Catholics two percent swing in the Catholics in the swing states solve the election And if you're not a New York Nick fan, you may have missed this. Spike Lee personersal friend of mine and the Oscar winning director was wearing a Pope Leo jersey New York Nick Pope Leo jersey. Signed. signed by Pope Leo Okay. And if you didn't get the symbolism of that If you're Marco Rubio or JD Vance and you're not paying close enough attention because we know that Spike Lee dislikes both those guys and we also know the Pope dislikes both those guys as evidenced by that. These guys are going to have trouble Both of them. with the Catholic vote the support of the pope. So don't forget that in this whole equation. so You know, the book is not working, brother. I've just let you know the book is not working because people see through your malarkey We're going to leave it there, but do join us when we start that series for our founding members. You can become a founding member at the Rest is Politics, US C We're going to release that over the summer. So we'll let you know when that is coming out because JD Vance could be the next president of the United States and I'm excited to dig into his profile more and see if we can find some redeeming authentic qualities