FBI goes OFF THE RAILS with INSANE announcement

Another shock move by Trump's FBI, where. the latest victim of this weaponized. government is state senator Louise Lucas. in Virginia, whose office was just. raided in Portsmouth, Virginia, along. with a cannabis business that Louise is. affiliated with next door. Now, important to note that this comes just. days after Virginia was successful in. passing a 10 to 1 map, where she was one. of the leaders of that effort. The. Virginia redraw will be an important. step in fighting back against the. entitlement that Trump felt to more. house seats in red states like Texas,

North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, just to name a few. Now, the DOJ isn't. offering any information right now, and. we don't have any information about any. charges that have been filed, if any. Normally, in a situation like this, the. responsible thing to do is wait until we. have more information, but I think that. I would be a fool not to point out that. I don't think it's a coincidence that. Louise Lucas is now in the FBI's. crosshairs just 2 weeks after she dared. fight back against Republicans. redistricting overreach, especially. considering weaponizing this Justice.

Department against his political. opponents has become the hallmark of the. Trump administration. We've seen it done. against James Comey, Letitia James, Adam. Schiff, Jerome Powell, Tim Walls, Jacob. Frey. The list goes on and on and on. But, this is what this administration. does. It takes action against anyone who. dares fight back against this White. House. So, Trump can apparently say that. he's entitled to five seats in Texas, but as soon as Democrats fight fire with. fire and seek four seats in Virginia, they sick the FBI on them. It is so.

obvious and so common that even Obama. brought it up in his latest interview. with Stephen Colbert. The White House shouldn't be able to. direct the Attorney General to go around. prosecuting whoever uh. the President wants [cheering] to. prosecute. Right, cuz technically it's. under the executive branch, but the norm. is that it's independent. >> The nor- the the idea is that the. Attorney General is the people's lawyer. It's not the President's consigliere. Right. Even when it's Bobby Kennedy.

That's Bobby Kennedy. And so uh. T- Two of the core. principles of a democracy. Uh we we can. survive a lot. Bad policy, funky elections. Th- There There's a. bunch of stuff that y- You know, we c-. we can overcome. We can't overcome the politicization of. the criminal justice system. The the the awesome power of the state. You You can't have a situation in which. >> [applause].

>> uh whoever's in charge of the government. starts abusing. that to go after their political. enemies. And look, I could sit here and. condemn the hypocrisy of the party that. just last Congress convened a. Weaponization of Government Subcommittee. because they claim to hate weaponized. government just that much. I could. condemn Trump's actions without the. hypocrisy of their past comments. I. could complain about the fact that they. want to abuse their positions to the. ends of the earth and only complain when. Democrats dare punch back. But I'm going. to spare you all of that because you get.

it. At this point, I actually think that. our time is better spent talking about. the solution if and when we're in a. position to solve this with full control. of government. Something that I will. fight for with every breath that I have. in my body. So I'm going to read an. excerpt from my new book which is titled. The Day After. What does reform look. like the day after Trump? Cleaning up. our politics after years of lawlessness. and corruption must start with law. enforcement. You don't need a law degree. to understand the scandal around the. dropping of corruption charges against. New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Trump's.

desire for loyalty for government. officials to follow his orders blindly, including those on his immigration raids. in New York for instance, is itself a. corrupting influence on public service. That's why the interim US attorney and. several other public integrity lawyers. quit their jobs because of the Adams. case. hate the rule of law because it. cramps their corruption. Restoring the. rule of law starts with accountability. for the corrupt officials who have. perverted public service into a private. profit machine. Inside the new Justice. Department, there will need to be a. special unit of prosecutors and.

investigators tasked with pursuing. corruption cases throughout the Trump. years. Not just to deliver justice to. criminals, but to deter future. corruption in later administrations. There were hundreds of prosecutors. involved in the cases surrounding the. January 6th insurrection. The corruption. prosecutions for crimes committed during. the second Trump term will surely. involve similar numbers of prosecutors. However, they must move with more speed. and determination than the Biden Justice. Department. Merrick Garland put optics. above justice. The opposite approach.

must be taken by the next Democratic. Attorney General. Now, if you'd like to. support my work, please consider. pre-ordering my book The Day After. I'm. going to put a link on this screen and. in the post description and in the. comments. As you know, I never paywall a. single piece of my content and I never. will, but this is the one time that I'll. ask for some support. I really. appreciate it. So look, I say this now. because there will come a time when. Democrats are in power again, and I. don't want to waste a single second of. that time negotiating among ourselves. whether it's worth it to take clear. aggressive action. Our lack of action.

before is what landed us here in the. first place. We need to not only hold. these criminals accountable, but deter. them from ever doing this again in the. future. Because you can have a democracy. or you can have this banana republic. weaponization, but not both. You're. watching the No Lie Podcast. Next up are. my interviews with Ro Khanna, Dan. Pfeiffer, and Bobby Lappen. No Lie is brought to you by ZBiotics Pre. Alcohol. So I have to tell you about. this game-changing product that I use. before a night out with drinks. It's. called pre alcohol. ZBiotics pre alcohol. probiotic drink is the world's first.

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I'm joined now by Congressman Ro Khanna. Congressman, there was a hearing today, a private hearing today with Howard. Lutnick who's in Trump's administration. Can you explain what the point of that. hearing was first and foremost and. anything remarkable that came out of it? Well, there turned out to be no point to. it because Howard Lutnick basically lied. throughout the deposition. No one. who has come before our committee, in my. view, has lied more. He was supposed to be forthcoming. He.

was supposed to tell us what he knew. about Epstein. He was supposed to. explain why he had told the American. people that he never met Epstein. when it came out that he had taken his. family to the island on in 2012. And the. reality is. he. basically lied. He said that when when. he told the American people that he. would never meet Epstein after 2005, he. meant just himself. He wasn't talking.

about going and meeting him with his. family. I mean, can you imagine that? That he thought it was too disgusting to. meet him himself, but he was fine to. have his wife and kids go with him. And. then. what was most shocking is I asked him, "Well, you know, you said that Epstein was. blackmailing people. You said that he. was recording massages." And he says, "I. was just speculating." I said, "Okay, what did you base that speculation on?". "No, I was just speculating on a. podcast." And then he says, "Now I don't. believe it anymore." I say, "Why?". Because he said, "I now have consulted.

the Trump administration. and I don't believe it anymore. I don't. think he. engaged in blackmailing." So, it was a. cover-up, it was a lies, uh, you know, Donald Trump would fire him on. the spot if he saw that video. Should. Howard Lutnick resign from his position? Yes. The fact that he's not resigning. is such an indictment of our nation. You. know, here you've had the former Prince. Andrew be prosecuted. You have Lord. Mendelsohn in Britain be prosecuted. It's literally bringing down Norwegian.

royalty. You have business leaders in. France being prosecuted. And here you. have a sitting cabinet member who's lied. about his involvement with Epstein, who. is. lying about whether Epstein blackmailed. or not and his contact with Epstein, who. is basically if you saw the interview, if it was videotaped, you could tell he. was sweating, he was mumbling, he was. nervous, and he's still in the cabinet. It says. that we're taking no accountability for. what I call the Epstein class. People. were caught up with this person and.

excused his behavior. I'm not saying. that Howard Lutnick was involved in any. way in raping or abusing young girls. I. don't believe that based on the. evidence, but I do believe that he knew. much more about what Epstein was doing. and he's covering up. Was that hearing. under oath? I'm assuming the answer to. that is no, and. and if not, is there a situation where. he could be called back to testify given. that you think he was lying during. during during this afternoon's. hearing and and actually get him under.

oath so that there are some some some. consequences if he decides to lie again? Well, there are consequences. There was. a transcribed interview, not under oath, but lying to Congress is a crime even. under a transcribed interview. So, a future administration could certainly. look to to to whether he perjured. himself, and he's put it out there where. more things come out. It it very well. could be evidence of of of perjury. We. should call him again to to testify to.

the American people because his answers. are so unbelievable. Look, if he had. come out and he said. I said that I never met Epstein after. 2005, I was wrong. We did have this. trip. I was embarrassed to disclose it. That's the truth. I didn't want to. subject my family to that disclosure and. I regret it. I should have been more. transparent. You know, I would have. honestly come out and said, "Okay, he. was introspective. He understood he. messed up." But for him to be lying so. blatantly saying, "No, I I I didn't mean.

that my family couldn't meet Epstein. I. was just talking about myself being in a. room." For him to be saying that. "No, I didn't mean that Epstein was. blackmailing people. That Epstein was. video recording people." It's just a. cover-up. And this is what infuriates. folks. People who are powerful covering. up for other rich and powerful men and. the victims, the survivors are the ones. who are treated as dispensable. Two. tiers of justice in America. Can you. talk about the difference here between.

why Howard Lutnick was given. a closed-door deposition versus a public. hearing? Yes, the Republicans are in power. They. want to embarrass the Clintons and they. don't want to embarrass Howard Lutnick. This is not some law school class or any. rational reason why one person was. treated differently. This was the. Republican majority protecting the. president's cabinet member. There is. absolutely zero reason this should not. have been videotaped. And now, I'm sure.

Comer thinks that was a great decision. cuz I I guarantee you, Brian, you. weren't in the room, but you can ask any. others who were if the American people. had seen that interview, Lutnick would. have been done. By the end of today, he. would have been done. Would you be willing to commit to if. Democrats are able to retake the House. in midterms this year that not just. Howard Lutnick, but any of these other. folks who were involved with Epstein in. any way could be called to testify. publicly. Yes, because this is a.

personal cause for me. I I get texts. from survivors every other day. I This. has become so personal to me to see. these women go through what they have. for decades, to see them treated as. totally dispensable, and then to see. powerful men lying, having no remorse, no introspection. Uh I'm not going to. let that stand. And I know some people. say move on, just talk about Iran, just. talk about gas prices, but you can't do. that when you've met these survivors, when you've seen their trauma, when you. have people at airports come up to you.

and say, "Let me tell you about the. trauma in my life when I was abused." Uh. so I'm 100% committed to calling uh. Epstein, I mean Latnik and others. And I. know Robert Garcia, our great ranking. member, has the same passion. Congressman, there seems to be like an impasse here. because we have 3 million files that. still haven't been released. Um Todd. Blanche has basically made it clear with. Pam Bondi's departure that what went. with it was any hope of having those 3. million files released. And so where do.

we go from here where they continue to. be in violation of the Epstein Files. Transparency Act, which you co-sponsored. co-authored with Thomas Massie, and. there just doesn't seem to be any. movement or urgency or desire to to. abide by by. the law, you know, as it as it relates. to those other three 3 million files? Look, people used to ask me, "Is this. going to have to wait till 2029 when we. had a Democratic president?" I used to. say, "No, I think we're going to get. there before that." But at this point. it's going to require a Democratic.

Congress, it's going to require a. Democratic Senate, and ultimately a. Democratic president to get justice, the. true justice. But we're not going to. give up now. We're going to push for. more people like Bill Gates coming, other people who visited the island. coming. Uh Pam Bondi is coming to the committee. You do have a group of Republicans who. I've worked with, Nancy Mace, Anna Luna. Anna Luna, and others who are committed. to at least getting more transparency. and we're going to fight inch by inch. until more files come out and until. people are held accountable. But I can.

tell you this on day one a new president. is going to have to commit to meeting. with the survivors lawyers opening up. investigations releasing the rest of the. files. and on day one when we have the. oversight committee we need to be. I I think having Epstein select. committee where we just have a reckoning. in this country with that Epstein class. And would you be willing to chair that. committee if you were asked? Well, I'm. happy to do it in a bipartisan way but. there are a lot of good people. I mean I. actually think that it may be good to.

have some of the the women who have. really been front and center for. survivors Summer Lee Ayanna Pressley. they also get an opportunity to take the. lead. Yes, Massie and I passed the law. but this is beyond Massie and me and I. think maybe a bipartisan committee with. one of the great women leaders. Summer Lee who got the subpoena passed. in the oversight committee she would be. perfect. And last question here. in terms of the prospect of another or.

another iteration of the Epstein files. transparency act one with teeth against. a DOJ or an administration that seeks to. to violate it is that still in the. works? What are you thinking about that? Well, one Katie Fang I don't know if you. saw brought a lawsuit that's very. compelling. It says that under the. administrative procedures act the. Justice Department is required to give. the files. The administrative procedure. act says that an agency cannot do things. in violation of the law that harm the. public and one of those things is.

not being transparent. So you may have. the files be released under that theory. of the case. Of course you can bring. obstruction of justice and survivors can. Look, I wish Massie and I had included a. private cause of action but the reason. we didn't is the numbers weren't there. You know the Republican attitude towards. trial lawyers and plaintiffs lawyers. I. like them and I believe they're critical. to taking on corporate power. We just. wouldn't have gotten it passed. So, if. we can do it now, I'm open to it, but. again, it runs into the dilemma of how. do you get the Republicans on board?

Well, I appreciate you taking the time. today and thanks so much for the work. that you continue to do on this topic, Congressman. Thank you, Brian. I'm joined now by the co-host of Pod. Save America, Dan Pfeiffer. Dan, thanks. for joining me. Hey, Brian. How are you? Good. So, Dan, we have seen right now in. the aftermath of the Supreme Court. decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, this mad dash from a bunch of Republican. Southern states, Alabama, Louisiana, um. Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, where Republicans are either calling for. or just straight up moving to redraw.

their state's maps. How worried should. Democrats be about this kind of. 11th-hour, this last-minute uh map. redraw in a cycle that had otherwise had. had pretty rosy prospects for Democrats? Well, there's two ways to look at this, right? How concerned should we be for. the battle to take the House in 2026? Then how should we how much should we be. concerned about the longer-term. prospects of the effect of this ruling? So, let's start with the House in 2026.

Look, the Republicans are are going to. be able to pick up some seats they would. not otherwise win, certainly one in. Louisiana. Um these four You know, maybe they'll. get these four seats in Florida, which. predates the decision, but it sort of. legally sort of legally validates the. the redistricting map that DeSantis did. Maybe they get four, they maybe not, it's not super clear. Um maybe they're. going to get one more in Tennessee, we'll see. So, it's a it's a small. handful of seats that they could pick up. that could help them. And in a very. close election, that could be the. difference. Most of the modeling suggests that this.

should not stop Democrats from taking. the House given how how everything else. looks right now in May, but it's not. great. Like we were in a great position. before this decision. This decision has. made things a little bit harder for. 2026. No, but longer term now cuz you had just. spoken about midterms in 2026. Talk. about the longer term implications here. >> The longer term implications are. significant, right? This could end up in. Republicans netting 19 to 20 new seats. It could. it mean the elimination of every.

Democratic district across this almost. every Democratic Democratic district. across the deep south. >> Yeah. Um 30% of the Congressional Black. Caucus could be gone if they fully push. forward here. There are some limits on. what they can do because. most of these districts already read. most of these states are already. gerrymandered to hell already. Once you start gerrymandering them more, there is risk of what's called a. dummymander where you end up making the. map worse for you than it otherwise. would be. But going forward, Congress is. going to be whiter, more Republican,

there's going to be less minority. representation in our government, and. the Republicans are going to have a. structural advantage in the House akin. to the one they already have in the. Senate and the Electoral College. So, I'm not great, I'd say. Now, in terms of a longer term solution. to all of this, um you know, I've been. thinking about like, okay, what do we. need to do? We need the stars to align. so that Democrats can win the House, stars to align so Democrats can win the. Senate, stars to align so that Democrats.

can win the White House. Even then, we. need the stars to align so that we have. enough Democrats who are willing to. eliminate the filibuster. If that. happens, we need the stars to align so. that we can actually pass a new Voting. Rights Act, um so that we can, you know, ban partisan gerrymandering nationwide, for example, so that we can try to. rectify some of these structural issues. But even in that case, even if, as I. said, all the stars align, we have the. same 6-3 conservative court waiting in. the wings to strike anything down. And. so, to what extent do you think that, you know, if we're really looking to.

solve this, the idea of court reform has. to be top of mind as we head into, you. know, a. you know, should we be so lucky a. government where Democrats have full. control to actually. to actually make sure that some of the. the the reforms that we put in place. have a half-life longer than just the. amount of time it takes to sue and get. it up to Clarence Thomas and Samuel. Alito. I've been a long time advocate for. Democrats to embrace court reform. There. are sort of three legs to court reform. One is the very basic and very popular.

idea of a code of ethics, which the. Supreme Court does not have as you can. see in all the corruption involving. Clarence Thomas, questions about Sam Alito, others. Like. we need a code of ethics. Like they need. to be held accountable. That doesn't. solve this problem. The second piece of. that is term limits. Now, if we could get term limits in. place, there are constitutional. questions on that, but there are many. very smart constitutional lawyers who. believe there's a way to write it that. would work where you could essentially. move justices to senior status. much like they do on the federal.

district court level. as opposed to just making them lose. their lifetime federal job. So there's. there's an option there. And then the. next and then that is that's quite. popular as well. And then the probably. most impactful, but unfortunately least. popular is court expansion. It would be. to add justices to the court to. essentially nullify or um. give Democrats an opportunity or give. anyone an opportunity to have more. voices than cuz now we're at this point. where we're nominating people at much. younger ages. So they're serving for 30,

40 years after they were appointed. You. know, creating this long tail effect. where you know, and I I used to use the. example all the time is that when in. back in 2021, when Brett Kavanaugh was Ruth Bader Ruth. Bader Ginsburg's age, my 4-year-old. daughter was going to be in her 30s. So like this is what we are staring at. from the long-term consequences of this. And so we should push for for court. expansion. Is there anything I'd say? What we should do is we should do court.

expansion. We should run on all the. other things, but let's get there and. then figure and then figure it out. Okay, so that that's interesting that. you say that because because I I asked. Gavin Newsom this exact question a few. days ago during an interview and. it was surprising because he kind of. backed away from overtly embracing the. idea of court expansion. And for. somebody who's built his brand on being. a fighter, like he's the guy who made. Prop 50 happen and and probably breathed.

life into it as far as Virginia was. concerned and frankly will hopefully. have set off a domino effect when we see. the same thing happen in New Jersey and. New York and Illinois, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, but that wouldn't. have happened. I I I truly believe it. wouldn't have happened if it didn't. first happen in California. And yet for. him to have kind of. kind of shied away from overtly. embracing it, why do you think he did that? I think. it's it's unpopular. It's the least popular of the things we. push for. Republicans want to run on it.

in 2026. Trump does this all the time. Democrats are going to put 30 justices. on the court. So, embracing it now and. calling for it now does nothing cuz we. can do nothing with that power. Even if. we take the House and the Senate, we. can't expand the court. Like my advice. to Democrats is keep it on the table and. let's see if an opportunity arises where. we can actually do it. I think in a. different world with a different makeup. of the Senate in 2022 and a different. Democratic president in the White House,

there might have been an opportunity to. do it after the court struck down Roe v. Wade. But because Biden opposed court. expansion, because we had Sinema and. Sinema and Manchin, that was not on the table, but just. here's keep it on the table as an option. as we do all the things. And then cuz. embracing it now and running on it now, we can't do anything we can't do. anything with it with it, right? And it. just gives it gives Republicans an. an issue to attack us over that once. again, if we get elected, we cannot. implement. So, it's like I would let let's let the. president or candidate talk about it if.

they want to talk about it in 2028. But, 2026 we can do nothing with it. Just as like kind of just to just to. play devil's advocate for a moment. >> Yeah, of course. Is what the Supreme Court's doing. popular enough as it stands for for. Democrats to to kind of get hurt by. running on the issue of court expansion? Like, it isn't this Supreme Court so. unpopular that there would be many. people for whom the idea of. disempowering Clarence Thomas and Samuel. Alito will actually be kind of an.

affirmative factor in getting them to. vote? The Supreme Court has never been. less popular or less trusted than it is. right now. Um, that is 100% true. I haven't seen polling on court. expansion recently. Um, but it's always. been underwater. And a lot of it is not. is what people don't really understand. like what it means, how it works. Like, it's it's confusing to people. There's. an argument to make for it, but I'm. happy to make that argument that I think. actually does work. Is is that the the. 13 court circuits? I mean, like the the.

the number of the number of justices on. the Supreme Court has always been um, has always been in line with the number. of federal court circuits. Uh, so dating. back to the the early 1800s. There were. there were six federal court circuits, then there were six Supreme Court. justices. That number went to eight, I. believe, in 1837. Then there were eight. Supreme Court justices. Now there are 13. uh, federal court circuits, but there's. still only nine Supreme Court justices. I think the argument that yes, that. argument works. The other way to do it. is the the number nine is not in the.

Constitution anywhere. We have changed. the number of justices on the court many. times, including adding justices when. after Andrew Johnson was impeached but. not removed from office. Um, and so like you can like the number. changes all the time. There's nothing. dirty pool about it, there's nothing. unusual or extraordinary. Just we have. not Congress that. has the power to do it. They just. haven't used that power in a very long. time. Something to say that they can't. Um. But I think like ultimately I think here.

is what I would encourage Democrats to. do is to run against this corrupt. Supreme Court that has gutted Voting. Rights Act, has given power to. corporations, has hurt working people, is is Phil is doing the bidding of. people who who financially benefit. justices like. Clarence Thomas and make the case. against it. And there's a menu of. options you can do to reform the court. Expansion is one of them, but it's not. the only one. And let's run against that. court. Let's make our voters aware of.

how important it is, particularly for. the Senate this cycle, like to understand what a role the. Supreme Court plays because if we take. the Senate, Donald Trump will not be. able to put a justice on the court for. the remainder of his presidency without. the sign-off of Senate Democrats. And. that's a very very powerful thing. And. then if we're ever in power again, fingers crossed and God willing, we can. figure out how to specifically deal with. the problems of the Supreme Court, but. right now like we can't we cannot fix.

that problem. Um. What we can do is talk about is try to. win these races we have. We can make the. case against Republicans, make the case. against the Supreme Court, fire up. Democrats cuz one thing that does We've. seen this in response to voter. suppression before is trying to take. political power away from people often. has a backlash effect against the people. doing the voter suppression, trying to. take the political power away. And we. can do that a way to get up turnout and. a way to ensure that we actually send a. message to the problems of the Supreme. Court that they cannot silence our.

voices. Yeah. I mean and what we again, like to go back to how we started this. conversation, there's no better example. of that than literally just erasing. uh. the ability for black and brown. Americans to have representation in. Congress by eliminating all of these. opportunity districts across the entire. deep south. I would also just add, you. know, yes, we can go back to the 1800s. to point out instances where the the. size of the Supreme Court has been has. been changed, especially for political. reasons, but it happened. what like like a few years ago when when.

the Republicans and Mitch McConnell. refused to give Merrick Garland a. hearing and the Supreme Court was set at. eight justices and it was supposed to be. nine. >> have shrunk the court. They shrunk the. court in a way to ensure the Republicans. had more political power in this. country. And had he not not done that, then. you know, Roe v. Wade may still be the. law of the land. Yeah. Um so, I want to I want to zoom out a. little bit here because as we look at,

you know, this this issue it being one. of many, like we also have the Iran war, we have, you know, the the the rampant. corruption that's taking place, we have. the fact that Trump is focused on his. ballroom and his walkway to the Oval. Office and the the Rose Garden being. paved over and all of his golden crusted. everything. Um we have the fact that health care has. been gutted, food assistance has been. gutted, that prices are rising on. everything as the result of these trade. wars. There are so many instances where.

either promises have been broken or this. administration is engaging in some. behavior or activity that's either. illegal or grossly unpopular. We fall into this trap every time. Trump is in office where there are a. million different directions to look in. and in this mountain of of possible. talking points we could use ahead of an. election, it feels like there's so many. that we get lost in them. And so, you. know, there is no better messenger on. the left than you. And so, as we head.

toward this midterm cycle, what do you. think we should do in terms of picking. and choosing between all these things. which, you know, in a normal world, one. of them would be enough to to sink a. candidate or a party, but we have so. many that we actually risk getting lost. I think I would take a step back from. all of it cuz too often, I think this. has been a real problem with Democratic. messaging over the last 10 years. >> The the laundry list? Yeah, it was it's. a laundry list, but we we think you win. elections by. specific issues, specific slogans, specific incidents. And what it really.

is is you need a a clear, compelling. story about why not Trump, why not the. Republicans, and why us. And I think the. way to do this is And then. And once you have that story, and I can. talk about what that story is, then all. the things that happen on a daily basis, you now have the strategic framework to. decide which of those things fit your. story. And then you use them as data points to. prove the larger story you're telling, not to be individual pieces of evidence. in separate cases against Trump. And so, the argument here, and I think.

it's pretty simple in this election, is. that Trump ran on. lowering prices and making your life. better. And he's doing everything other. than that. He is focused on helping. himself. He is focused on helping his rich. friends. He's focused on helping. corporations. He is spending money on. ballrooms, wars in the Middle East, on himself, and instead of healthcare.

for you, lower prices for you, child. care for you, food assistance for. people. It is Trump is thinking about. himself. He's not thinking Trump and the. Republicans are thinking about. themselves, not thinking about you. Everything that fits under that story. And corruption is, you know, Jon Ossoff. has this. campaign video he put out the last. couple days, which really shows how. corruption can be the overall framework. for this, because all of this fits under. corruption. Right? Why are we We know why can't Why. aren't you getting healthcare? Corruption. Why aren't you getting.

food assistance? Corruption. Because the. people who are getting who are doing. well are the ones who have the most, who. need the least, and are closest to. Trump. So, to that end, I want to take this. opportunity for for folks to know that. if you want to read more from Dan, you. have to subscribe to Message Box. I do. I think it was the first newsletter that. I ever subscribed to. It is the single. smartest analysis that you will find. online. So, I'm going to put the link to. Substack in the post description of this. video. But Dan, I want to give you the. opportunity to talk about something else.

you're doing beyond Message Box that I. think is going to be really, really. helpful. So, a couple weeks ago I launched. something called Message Box Pro, which. is a. subscription consulting service for. people who work in politics and. communications at any level. Right? Because people who sign up get. weekly strategy memos, polling analysis, message guidance, a community of people. to share best practices with, to get my. input on your campaigns, your. initiatives. And I did this cuz we've. been hearing for years from people who. listen to Pod Save America, who maybe.

read my newsletter, to essentially serve. as a consultant to their campaign or. their organization because they can't. afford a pollster, they can't afford a. consultant, they're not getting the. attention from the national party. And. the people who, you know, who are on the. front lines, who need the most help, are. getting the least. And so, I wanted to. try to fill that gap by setting up. Message Box Pro, which you can sign up. for at messageboxpro.com. Great. And I'm going to put that link in. the post description as well. If anybody. who is working on a campaign. or who is connected to a campaign is. watching, could not recommend this more.

highly. To that end, Dan, thanks for the work. that you're doing, thanks for taking the. time today. Awesome. Thanks, Brian. It. was great to talk to you. I'm joined now. by candidate for Maryland State Senate. District 46, Bobby LaPin. Bobby, I wanted to talk to you today because we. have just seen the Supreme Court gut the. Voting Rights Act. Obviously, in the. immediate aftermath of that move, we saw. a cavalcade of deep South red states. begin the process of redrawing their. maps. And I presume that the end result. of this is going to be that every black.

district in the deep South will. ultimately be eliminated. And so that. that raises the importance of making. sure that Democrats can actually fight. back given the fact that this is already. happening. Whether or not Democrats. respond, this is already happening. And. in your state of Maryland, there is the. opportunity to redraw the maps and yet. there's one person standing in the way. of all of that and that's the state. Senate President Bill Ferguson who. you're running against. And so I want to. ask first and foremost, has this Supreme.

Court decision and the subsequent moves. by all these Republican states, Louisiana, Alabama, uh Tennessee, South Carolina, has that. moved Bill Ferguson at all? No, I have to be honest, I don't think. it has. Although so many folks here in. Maryland there are calling. on the governor and both the speaker of. the house and Senate President who Bill. Ferguson is to to. to call for a special session to. actually get redistricting across the. line. I mean, in the end of the day,

if you look at South Carolina, they're. going to redistrict one seat. North. Carolina already redistricted one seat. I mean, this is basically a tactical. defense. of democracy for Maryland to to to. follow suit in protecting American. freedoms. What a lot of people don't. realize is what the game here is. The game is this and it's Project 2025. and I I've spoken about this before. We have seen what Project 2025 has done. so far. We've seen armed police on our.

streets terrorizing our neighbors, killing American citizens. We've seen. the federal government just gutted. We've seen money taken away from the. Department of Education. We've seen. witch hunts against the press and. Trump's political opponents. In the end, this redistricting thing. which was started by Texas, let's. remember Texas started this, it's literally a power grab. It's a. power grab for a president who's. literally putting his face on everything. he can possibly touch to include a. passport. We have never been in this. situation in the history of this.

country. And redistricting um while in a. perfect world, it would be good to have. an independent redistricting um. commission for the entire country for. each state, we do not live in a perfect. world new nor do we live in. uh ordinary times. And extraordinary. times require extraordinary measures. And while every other state is. redistricting. um so they can take away reproductive. rights from women uh to to privatize.

social security so working people won't. have a nest egg when we retire to define. marriage as one man and one woman while. every red state is redistricting to give. this president that power. the Senate president of Maryland. a Democrat. well. he just didn't understand the assignment. I guess. And so there has been no movement here. even in light of the fact that frankly, it's not that this is just the morally. right thing to do. This is actually. existential for for Democrats right here.

because what Republicans want is to. engineer themselves permanent majorities. by not only gerrymandering but. gerrymandering knowing full well that. there's going to be Democrats who rely. on this this kind of archaic idea of of. good government of just good. governmenting ourselves into obscurity. because God forbid. uh we we don't you know always take the. high road even as Republicans are. basically just running roughshod over. the left. You know and I I agree with you. I agree. with you Brian but to be honest with.

you, I don't honestly believe this is a. Democrat first Republican issue. And and. here's why I say that. I believe this is. really a battle for the soul of our. nation. It really is a battle for the. freedoms and the liberties that for. decades and decades civil rights. organizations uh women's rights. organizations, LBGTQ organizations have. fought for. This is literally we're. fighting for that. And I believe the. reason why the Republicans are so apt to. follow the strongman in the White House.

is because here is a person who has made. the wealthy more wealthy than they've. ever been in the history of this. country. And for him to lose power, for. the Democrats to have power, we would. fight to end that wealth. So, in the end. of the day, I think this is really a. fight between the haves and the. have-nots, a fight for the soul of this. country. And. that power. the power, whoever has power in Congress. is so very important to fight this. person who is.

the cause of the rise of. authoritarianism in this country, the. rise of white nationalism in this. country. I'm literally we are losing. America. The very little bit of America. that's good, we are losing it. And every. state, regardless of party, should fight. to protect that. Bobby, we have been talking a lot about. not just fighters versus those who. decide to run. Um, not just kind of like the old guard. versus the new, but the establishment. versus like this these these grassroots. populist upstarts. And that's exactly.

what this campaign is. And so, I'm. curious, as you run against, um, you. know, this is not just any any any state. senate. uh state senator. This is the the. president of the state senate. I'm sure. if if ever there was a machine behind. somebody, it's probably behind Bill. Ferguson. A lot of machines. What is it. What is it like to run against the state. senate president as as someone who, you. know, you you're you're a regular guy? Like you you um. you haven't run for political office. before. And so, what has been thrown at.

you from Bill Ferguson? Well, I think every working person out. there will understand this when I say I. feel like I'm being beat down every. single day from every single direction. You know, I have corporations who are. just funneling money into his campaign. so he wins. Uh, the establishment has. circled the wagons to make sure that he. wins uh and keeps power. uh uh the and keeps power in the state. senate. Um we have randomly we have. Republican dark money that is flowing in.

from some pollster in Florida that we. can't seem to track down. um. putting out push polls saying that Bill. Ferguson is the greatest thing since. sliced bread and calling me a criminal, a communist uh Chinese sympathizer um. a former chair of a uh an extremist. anti-abortion. organization of which I am the. pro-choice I've been endorsed. I'm the. pro-choice candidate in this race. It. just feels like every single day.

the powers. that be are trying to beat us down in. this campaign. But what's amazing about. people power is that the people can see. through that. When people have taken. this you know this survey whether on the. phone or or it was uh via text, they've. come up to us, they've emailed us, they've seen me on the street cuz I'm. always out here. Obviously I'm not here. right now today. um and said, "Man, you won't believe the. survey I just got from Bill Ferguson and. what it really did it made me angry.". And this is what people are tired of in. America, you know? We're tired of.

politicians saying one thing and doing. another. We're tired of politicians that. go into office simply to serve the rich. Bill Ferguson um right now in Maryland. we are facing rising utility costs which. is probably most of America. Um already. because of Donald Trump we're facing. rising fuel costs and rising grocery. costs. And for years and years and years. of all these costs have risen, Bill. Ferguson was taking tens of thousands of. dollars in in campaign contributions. from corporations while doing little to.

nothing to protect you know working. people in this state. Um and. redistricting is yet another example of. that. He dragged his feet on protecting. uh the reproductive rights of women uh, when literally uh, the National Organization of Women came. to him and said, "Look, Roe v. Wade is. going to be overturned. The state of. Maryland needs a constitutional. amendment to protect our rights." And he. dragged his feet. Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the. women in the state went almost an entire.

year without protections. Uh, he dragged. his feet on protecting our our neighbors. from ICE and from the the the. terrorizing of our streets for 5 years. More than 130. civil rights organizations have been. asking him to pass the Community Trust. Act, which would which would, uh, cut. any relationship or cooperation between. Maryland law enforcement and ICE. And he. dragged his feet until this year when he. has a challenger. And redistricting is. yet another thing where he dragged his. feet. And now,

when for months I've been begging him to. do it, for months people have been. begging him to do it, for months we've. warned him, Bill Ferguson, if you do not. redistrict, voting rights could be. crippled by the Supreme Court, and. people will be left defenseless. And it. happened. And here we are. I just got. out of a press conference earlier this. morning where I was calling again for a. special session so we can not just. protect the people of Maryland, but. protect every American in this country. We are a United States of America. And. in a perfect world, like I said, we.

would have independent redistricting. commissions. In a perfect world, we. wouldn't have to be fighting ICE in our. streets. In a perfect world, we wouldn't. have military occupying American cities. I mean, heck, in a perfect world, the. Orioles would go to the World Series. But we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a reality. In a reality where. if we do not act, fundamental civil liberties could just. be erased in this country. And that's. not what I fought for as a soldier. That's not what I fought for as an.

activist. That's not why I'm I'm running. this race. to protect those freedoms and to protect. my neighbors. And I have no clue what. the hell Bill Ferguson is doing because. he's definitely not doing that. Bobby, Bill Ferguson aside, what is your. priority? Like, what do you want to see. different that that isn't happening. right now that would be your priority if. you were to win this race? Man, just like every other American out. there, get the corporate money out of. politics. Can we please just for once.

have elected officials that just answer. to the people and not answer to the. corporations? Have elected people that. actually make choices that support small. businesses, that support families, that. support those who are struggling. Like, there is a dream in America, right? This. American dream where everyone can own a. home and they can work hard and they. can, you know, raise a family and be. safe in their possessions and their. person. Um. the dream is gone. I mean, I'm sure. everyone watching this feels that way,

too. We might look back in the in the. past or when we talk to our parents or. or grandparents about what America was. Look, we have never been perfect, but. this dream that we all share of the. greatness America can be when we start. treating people with equality, when we. start treating workers with dignity, when we start taxing the rich properly. so we can fix our potholes, fix our. schools, lower our bills, lower, you. know, fuel prices.

You know, as a veteran. looking at just the war in Iran right. now, it's yet another example where poor. kids are being sent off to a foreign. country to kill other poor kids. We have. poor kids in this in our own country, in. my city of Baltimore, that we need to. take care of. And that's what I think I. truly want. That's what I'm fighting. for. I'm fighting for a legislature, uh. the politicians to actually be. responsive to the people. not to the corporations or to the. special interests or all those who for. too long.

have held a boot on the neck of working. people. I. you know, to bring up a quote, I am just sick and. tired of being sick and tired. And I. think that most Americans feel the same. way. We obviously are seeing a lot of. races come to the forefront. Um. everyone's got limited resources. Everybody's asking for money. Talk about. what a dollar gets you in in the the. state Senate District 46. that's different from these larger. national races, these gubernatorial. races, whatever it may be.

Well, I mean, if redistricting is any. sign, um all politics is local, you. know? Um the person that has the most. impact on your life is your city council. person or your state senator, state. delegate. I mean, I'm up against a guy. that has almost $2 million in his in his. bank account. Um unlimited amount of. money. Uh he can spend up to $1,000 per. vote to beat me, the working person, to. to quiet our voice. I can maybe spend. three bucks a vote, you know, with yard.

signs and mailers and so on and so. forth. Um when I started this race, I. promised I would never take corporate. money cuz I believe in that. I believe. it's almost impossible to overturn. Citizens United, so we just need to have. people that, you know, stand up and say, "Well, I'm. not going to take corporate money. I'm. only going to ask for the people." Um. and that puts me at a deficit, not just. at a deficit against, you know, fighting. the machine, but at at a deficit of how. I can raise money. Most of my campaign. contributions, the over 4,000 individual. contributions that we've had have come. from working people across Baltimore,

across Maryland, across this country. Our average uh donation size, I believe, is $26.80. My opponent's average. uh donation size is more than $1,300. Um. we're proving something here. This isn't. just a race between Bobby Lepin and Bill. Ferguson. This is the same type of race that Zoran. ran in New York. This is the same type. of race that that Graham is running in. Maine. This is the people standing up.

saying, "We demand our voice to be. heard, and we're not going to take it. anymore.". I fear. if I lose this race, obviously redistricting won't happen in. Maryland. Um there'll be more of the. same, and working people are kind of. used to more of the same. We're used to. being on the losing end of of the. battle. We're used to the powerful. always trying to squeeze us as hard as. they can. But if we win, which it looks like we. have a real possibility of doing, um.

it's the same movement that is happening. all across America where we're holding. those in power accountable, and we hold. those. who are wealthy, who have been. beating us down all the time. We're. holding them accountable, too, and we're. going to make them pay up. Um. I can't tell you how important it is. just for this race that that happens. because it sends a message not only to. the people in Baltimore, the people in. Maryland, but across this country. I. mean, this is becoming a national race. simply because of redistricting. Because.

I'm going against the most powerful. politician in Maryland for all of his. sins and all of his faults. And um. you know, when people ask me. just real quick, "What's the difference. between you and Bill Ferguson?" And I. say, "Well, have you ever heard of Chuck. Schumer?" And they'll say, "Oh yeah, of. course." I'm like, "Well, I'm Well, you. know, he's Chuck Schumer, and I'm a. Bernie Sanders." And um. and that pretty much is is the reality. of the case. You know, I am a a veteran,

a former firefighter, a former school. teacher going door-to-door, thousands of. doors I knocked on, all the community. events, and I'm running against a guy. that writes strongly worded letters to a. dictator. Yeah. I mean, nothing is going to change if we. don't change it ourselves. No one is. coming to help us, but the good thing. about that is that there's no one. standing in our way. If we really want to prove that working. people matter, if we really want to. prove that our voice matters, we're going to win this race. And and.

I'm hoping folks out there, if you. believe it, too, chip in some money because I obviously. I'm going against a Goliath and I'm a. David with a slingshot, and I need more. rocks. Bobby, what website can people go to to. donate? makegoodchange.com. makegoodchange.com. Great. >> If everybody If a thousand people. on this I mean, all the people that. watch this. And this is a real This is. not just, "Hey, I need money. I have a. deadline." I'm telling you this is real. We need to raise another. $85,000.

between now and 2 weeks. $85,000. And if everyone on here just goes and. chips in 25 bucks, 27 bucks, whatever. they can, we can win this, and we can show the. powerful that their days are numbered. Well, look, I I I don't speak with many. state legislative uh candidates just. because of the sheer number of. candidates who are running across the. country, but Bobby, um I I believe. deeply in your campaign. I believe in. you as a candidate. Highly, highly, highly recommend for anybody looking to.

donate, to contribute to a campaign, I'm. telling you your dollar goes far in a. state legislative race like this. Um and. it will have a huge impact because there. is one person in uh a Democratic state. that is standing in the way of. redistricting, and that could be the. difference between uh um a Democratic. Speaker of the House and Mike Johnson as. Speaker of the House. So, this this race. matters uh a ton. And so, uh I'm going. to put that link right here on the. screen and also in the post description. if you're watching uh on on video. If.

you're listening on the podcast, I'm. going to throw it in the show notes. And. again, highly recommend that everybody. who's watching right now contribute what. they can to this campaign. Bobby, um as. always, best luck in the campaign trail. Thanks for taking the time today. Hey, Brian, thank you. Thanks for all. that you do. And to everyone out there, don't lose hope. Remember, we're in this. together, and we can win. To listen to the audio. version of this episode, click the link. right here on the screen and make sure. to subscribe. And of course, to see more. video content, that subscribe button's. on the screen as well. >> [music].