NIGHTMARE: Trump faces WORST CASE SCENARIO amid election disaster

I'm not sure the Texas primary could. have gone worse for Republicans. So, it. looks like James Talarico will advance. to the general election. Dave Wasserman. called this race early on for James, which is usually all it takes for this. thing to be completely over. Importantly, Talarico's path to victory. was his overperformance among Latinos in. South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. And Latinos will not only have an. outsized impact on the 2026 election, they'll probably decide the 2026. election. Meaning, it's helpful to have. advanced a Democrat who is supported by. the most important voting block in.

Texas. But, the real problem for. Republicans lies in what happened in. that primary between John Cornyn and Ken. Paxton. Both candidates failed to reach. that 50% threshold, which means the. Republican primary is going into a. runoff. So, what does that mean? It. means 3 more months of infighting. between Paxton and Cornyn, which means. their favorable ratings will only be. driven further down after 90 more days. of infighting. And also, importantly, more money is going to be set on fire. for 3 months. Already, this is the most.

expensive Senate primary ever. The Texas. Senate primary has cost almost $130. million with about 90 million of that on. the Republican side. So, now, instead of. spending money going after Talarico, Republicans are going to dump God knows. how much more cash into this Senate. Republican runoff. An absolute nightmare. scenario. And let's be clear, the fact that this. much money is being spent in Texas, in. ruby red Texas, is a testament to how. bad the environment is right now for the.

GOP. If 100 million bucks is being spent. on that state, imagine what that means. for North Carolina and Alaska and Maine. and Ohio, which are generally considered. even closer, even more purple than Texas. is. And by the way, we've got excellent. candidates there, too. Mary Peltola, Sherrod Brown, Roy Cooper, and then. either Gran Planter or Janet Mills in. Maine. Those people can win, and they. can definitely win in an environment. where Democrats are over-performing 12, 14, 16, or more points over 2024.

And let's be clear, things are only. going to get more difficult for Trump. and Republicans as time marches on. because he seems only capable of doing. things that drive down the favorables. for himself and his party. Whether it's. the fact that costs are surging thanks. to Trump's trade war, the Epstein files. cover-up happening in real time, a new. war in the Middle East thanks to the no. new wars president that Trump said could. last forever, the fact that said war is. raising gas prices and crashing the. stock market. If you were to engineer.

actions that could depress turnout for. your party and drive up enthusiasm for. the opposing party, it would look. exactly like what the GOP is doing right. now. So, I want to be clear. The point of. this isn't to make anybody feel. complacent. It's the opposite. It's to. show you that something that seemed. impossible just a few months ago is. actually within reach now. We could win. statewide in Texas for the first time. since 1994. We could win the Senate and. own both chambers of Congress after this. midterm cycle. That would serve as the.

ultimate check on Trump's abuses. And we. can transform what the Democratic Party. looks like so that it is less. establishment, younger, more dynamic, more progressive, more tech-savvy, and. better representative of their. communities. That is how we fix the. Democrats brand problems by ushering in. a new party that's ready to meet this. moment in a way that we haven't seen. before. And we just took the first steps. toward exactly that future. And in fact, to that end, here is James Talarico's. speech in the immediate aftermath of the. election returns coming in. Thank you. Thank you all so much.

>> [cheering]. >> I appreciate y'all. Thank you for. staying up. Thank you. Thank you. Tonight. Tonight, our campaign is shocking the. nation. We. >> [cheering]. >> We are still waiting for an official. call, but we are confident in this. movement we've built together. Every. Every vote must be counted. Every voice. must be heard. The voter suppression in my home county.

and in Congressman Crockett's home. county underscores the gravity of this. moment. This This movement is about whether the. people will hold the power in this state. and in this country. We We launched this underdog campaign 6. months ago in my hometown of Round Rock, Texas. And [cheering] since then. And since then tens of thousands of.

Texans have showed up to rally with us. in every corner of the state from. Beaumont to El Paso from Amarillo to. Brownsville and everywhere in between. We have recruited more than 28,000. volunteers who are organizing in every. community across [cheering] this state. And we have shattered grassroots. fundraising records all without taking a. dime from corporate packs.

This. >> [cheering]. >> This is a people-powered movement to. take on this broken, corrupt political. system. This is truly a campaign of, by, and for. the people. >> [cheering]. >> We are not We are not just trying to win. an election. We are trying to. fundamentally change our politics. And. it's working. The number of young people.

who showed up to vote in this election. is unprecedented. The number. The number of Texans who have never. voted before, but showed up in this. election is unprecedented. The number of. independents and Republicans who voted. in this Democratic primary is. unprecedented. This. >> [cheering]. >> This is proof that there is something. happening in Texas. Tonight.

Tonight the people of our state gave. this country a little bit of hope. And a little bit of hope is a dangerous. thing. I want to thank y'all. Thank you for. being here. Thank you for being in this. fight. God bless you all. Thank you. You're watching the No Lie podcast. Next. up are my interviews with Gavin Newsom, Rob Bonta, and Bobby Lupin. No Lie is. brought to you by Huel. So, my biggest. problem in 2026 by a mile is that I have. no time for even the basic stuff. Work. is so busy and as I'm sure all of you.

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exclusive offer of 15% off online with. my code BTC at huel.com/btc. New customers only. Thank you to Huel. for partnering and supporting this show. No Lie is brought to you by Rocket. Money. So, what is the most ridiculous. hidden fee or subscription that you. discovered you were still paying for? For me, I've got music service. subscriptions that I haven't logged into. since like 2022 that I've been paying. for every single month. I know that. people watching have got gym memberships. and streaming services, you name it, that you're charged for every month and.

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for large transactions, upcoming bills, refunds, and low balances. Let Rocket. Money help you reach your finance goals. faster. Join at rocketmoney.com/brian. That's rocketmoney.com/brian. rocketmoney.com/brian. I'm joined now by the governor of. California, Gavin Newsom. Thanks for. joining me. Good to be with you in. person. I appreciate it. First, I have. to ask a question to get this out of the. way. Is there anything you want to let. us know about aliens? Any any. information you want to divulge? >> Go viral. Go viral.

Uh, you know, I I I actually I prefer to. keep that between myself and sort of my. my uh state security team. Well, I I I. feel like I'm I'm obliged to ask a. follow-up question. So, are you sure. there's nothing [laughter] I I just. there's only so much the public can. absorb. I actually have a. I do have a serious question. If there. was something, would would you know? Would they tell you something? You know, that's just something I just wish not to. discuss publicly. I I don't want. >> [laughter]. >> You know, you giving this open-ended. answer is not going to help me out. >> never forget. I I asked some other.

presidents, some other living. presidents, the same exact question, but. I never got a good You see, you got you. got a much more revelatory answer from. Obama than these others. They're. tight-lipped. >> Tight-lipped. You know, so I don't know. I don't know if that leads more. conspiracies or or eliminates it. It. does. It definitely does. Yeah, it. definitely does. But they have I say. people believe like chemtrails. So they. honestly they like you're part of that. conspiracy on chemtrails. >> Conspiracy theories are the currency of. the internet right now. So everything. And by the way, including why we're. dressed exactly the same today, which.

you know We'll leave it We'll We'll just. leave it leave it vague. >> That's good. Um okay, so let's let's. jump into uh news of the day right now. We obviously have a lot going on, but a. major story that's kind of uh been. circulating on both the left and the. right side of the aisle is the issue the. continued issue of the DOJ's throttling. of the investigation uh into Jeffrey. Epstein. Uh recently James Comer decided. to haul the Clintons in front of uh the. Oversight Committee to testify. Do you. think that Donald Trump should be uh in. that in front of that committee. testifying? Well, I mean, what's good.

for the goose by definition. Come on. I. mean, you know They set the tone the. tenor. Comer's got to do it. Or if he. doesn't do it, the next administration. the next Oversight Committee needs to do. it. By definition. Come on. They set the. they set the standard. They lowered the. bar raised the bar depending on one's. perspective and they made a mistake in. that respect. I mean, what they put out. today and yesterday as relates to some. of the videos and. how Hillary Clinton you know ran circles. around them. even Bill did is. you know, indicative of the mistake that.

Comer continues to make as relates to. his oversight functions. But you know, by definition the guy who appears more. than anyone else in the Epstein files. and he's more responsible in more ways. and more days for more of the distrust. and mistrust, the redactions and the. questions the president himself. must appear and testify. Why do you think that Comer was so. hell-bent on trying to bring Bill. Clinton in front of the committee or and. Hillary Clinton in front of the. committee? >> the they I mean, it's the Pizzagate.

folks. Back to your conspiracy and the. open question. These are the These folks. who just they thrive and live in that. muck. in that sort of dark corner of the world. we're living in. I mean, the sort of Q. world, etc. And so, in many ways it made sense. Plus, they. want to embarrass the Clintons. They. want to make this a Democratic thing. They want to do it through the lens of. the prism of a political dynamic, and. they want to move the bright lights away. from Donald Trump. They're doing his. bidding, period, full stop. They're not. supine. They are activists in the cause. of protecting Trump and Trumpism and the.

MAGA movement. And he is I mean, he's just so. He's He's so bad at it. That's the difference here. And. yeah, exactly. And he's he's just I. mean, he is he's flailing. He's only got. a few more months. That's the saving. grace here. Look out when the shoe's on. the other foot when you got guys that. are approximate to where we are, Robert. Garcia and these others that know what. the hell they're doing. And so, you know, these folks better. strap on. They better put get ready for. Make sure they're not deleting anything. Make sure they got lawyers. And make.

sure that they're prepared to testify. because a hell of a lot of a lot of. people are going to be brought in. including the DOJ itself. What would. your message be to all of these MAGA. verse figures, the Kash Patel's, Dan. Bongino's, Pam Bondy's, Alina Habba's, all of these members of Congress, these. these senators who all threw their even. J.D. Vance who threw their weight behind. this idea that the only way to usher in. some degree of transparency, some degree. of accountability was to elect Donald. Trump because they were the ones who. would expose this criminal cabal.

of of pedophiles who rose to the the. highest levels of government. And then. you you've got Donald Trump in office. You have all these people who built. their brands off of off of condemning. what was happening in the government who. are then put in positions of power like. Kash Patel and Dan Bongino. And all of a. sudden we are immersed in yet another. government-wide cover-up, the very one. that they that they claimed to condemn. >> Yeah, the difference is their. fingerprints are all over this and. they're caught Um, you know, in in plain. sight. So, they're all going to be held. to their own standards, their own.

standards of accountability, the ones. that they were purporting and promoting. Those are the ones they were trying to. hold everyone else to. Now they are part. of the problem. They're not on the. outside looking in. What Bongino, whatever is, he's back on the outside. Uh, but he whiffed, failed. And so he. either was lying, knowingly lying the. entire time. He's yet to apologize for. lowing knowingly blatantly lying about. everything, or he's completely in on. that cover-up. And that will be. uncovered. The difference is there will. be accountability on the other side. Now, the only thing that can stop that,

and it's something we need to be open. uh our eyes wide open to, is the fact. that these guys could all get. presidential pardons on the way out. And. I can see a scenario where Trump right. now is deleting everything. Not just. deleting things, literally removing any. just scrubbing everything. Uh, and we. already we already found out that. there's three files uh that contain. information about uh about allegations. against Trump himself that miraculously. Yeah. >> uh conveniently didn't manage to get. released. >> Yeah, so look, nothing about it. everything it's not complicated. I mean,

this is it's just. he's he has done everything he could to. stop these things from being made. public. So, by definition, there are. things in there that imply that he is. part of the problem. Something big is in. those files. Period. Full stop. It's not. complicated. This is not It's there's no. other rational conclusion. And it's. always about him. He doesn't mind laying. everybody else out. He may be a little. uncomfortable about it, particularly if.

they're business partners, particularly. if they're part of the grift and they're. going to be part of the larger economic. opportunities for him personally. But at. the end of the day, it's always about. him. So, there's something in the files. that implicate him in a profound and. outsized way because Trump can absorb a. lot. and figures he can shapeshift, change. the conversation, shock and awe, move. to, you know, advance a different agenda. and then move the the media focus. elsewhere, but even he recognizes. whatever's in there.

is so immovable in terms of the impact. and damage it would do to him that he. cannot. allow it to be made public. What's. interesting you say that because there. was uh some sound released by Marjorie. Taylor Greene who kind of revealed that. Donald Trump told her that his friends. would get hurt, which struck me as. bizarre because. Trump Trump's the main character in all. of the activities that he participates. in. Like he. since when has Donald Trump done. anything to protect anybody else not. named Donald Trump? And so when he tells. Marjorie Taylor Greene, we couldn't. possibly release the files because I.

wouldn't want my dear friends to get. hurt. And so I'll I'll jump on I'll fall. on the grenade here. Like like me me. I'll. >> largess Like so do you buy that idea. that Donald. >> again, and I only. way I buy that as a. component part, a partial. uh rationale is there's an economic. interest that's tied to that. To your. point, he'll he'll he'll lay anyone out. He'll he'll run anyone over, but if. there's an economic benefit of not doing. it. uh if there's some residual damage that.

could incur from it, uh he won't. So. it's again, it's just not that. complicated. We tend to overcomplicate. these things. What's interesting is the. some members of the Republican Party are. waking up to it and the fact that the. Republican Party itself even would. release what they did release is. remarkable because the public opinion is. just so overwhelming that they could not. even resist the reality of their. political situation and they had to buck. their dear leader. So I want to switch gears a little bit.

here. Uh you've written the new book. Young Man in a Hurry. >> Epstein is not in it. So if you were. looking for anything on Epstein, it's. not in this book. And this is this is. out for sale. So for anybody looking to. to purchase a copy, again the title is. Young Man in a Hurry and you can get it. anywhere books are sold. There's one. particular excerpt that I wanted to that. I wanted to read. 10 months earlier Bush. had made the decision to invade Iraq. after his administration's historic. campaign of lies convinced the American. people that Saddam Hussein possessed. weapons of mass destruction. We could. not extricate ourselves from that costly. conflict for another 17 years. And yet.

here we are in March of 2026 finding. ourselves on the the doorsteps of. another war in the Middle Eastern. country. And so given what you've. written about there and what we all. lived through. during the Bush era, what do you what do. you foresee happening as Donald Trump. continues to kind of jump headfirst into. this thing clearly with no plan? Which. is remarkable because how badly that was. implemented, adopted, and initiated, at. least there was some. vague attempt at building a coalition.

and a rationale. >> who it was. Somebody said at least at. least Bush had the had the the decency. to to to have a better lie. >> lie, yeah. You I mean or or at least put. someone else up there to do it, poor. Powell. But he tried to build an. alliance and he at least tried to build. a rationale and try to get the public. buying them. Trump didn't do any of. that. And so it's consistent by the way, as you know. He's had more military air. strikes than Biden did in his entire. four years in his first year. >> Right. And and that includes I mean. there there are there are military.

actions not just in Iran but Venezuela, Somalia, Nigeria, Libya, Yeah, and. people forget that. It's the guy who. promoted none of that. So once again, Trump is consistent in. his inconsistency, the fact that he said. he would never do something like this. and lied about it. J.D. Vance did same. People like Tulsi Gabbard did the same. You go through the list of all these. MAGA guys. They lied. And so that's. unsurprising, but here we are with now a. regional war. We've got the Gulf states. under attack. We've got our allies under.

attack. We now have oil prices starting to. skyrocket. We got Strait of Hormuz. Hormuz which has 20% of the world's oil. blasting through it with not a lot of. activity. We've seen the market. volatility. We're now going to pay the price. Six be. uh members of the military have lost. their lives. Uh others likely are going. to lose their lives. Uh and again, Trump. can't land on a rationale. No imminent. threat. Yes, there was an imminent. threat. Oh, inevitably there would have. been because Israel was going to go. anyway, says Rubio. Then they shapeshift.

again, say well, no, it's about the. nuclear program. Wait, you just said it. was obliterated. So, that doesn't fall. through. No, it's about the missiles. No, it's about the proxies and the. militia. No, it's about the navy. Uh. they cannot simply land on any. rationale. And so, it's a remarkable. remarkable expression. uh of sort of this cluelessness in terms. of the foreign policy, but the profound. consequences in real time, unintended. and intended, that we're all going to. have to suffer through. Why do you. presume he actually did this? So, there's a few Look,

if I was going to give my best attempt. to sort of give a rational theory of the. case, >> Yeah. you know, it was. >> this might be imbuing rationality where. there exists none. is it that that. after October 7th and what's happened in. terms of Israel, not just in Gaza, but. the impact of Hamas and the impact of. Hezbollah and some of the Iranian. proxies, what happened in that 12-day. war last year and the degradation of. their nuclear program, not to. obliteration, but the success of those. early strikes. They had a degraded. regime. And they had this sort of.

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, at least. once in 37 years of the current former. regime leader, 47 years overall, to hit. them hard and finally deliver that. punch. Netanyahu who's facing elections, potentially facing corruption charges, has opportunity uh to move forward an. extreme agenda, sort of Israeli. apartheid with the annexation of the. West Bank. He's trying to take over any. most influence in the Supreme Court, his. own political survival, uh obviously. prodding and pushing in this respect.

And Trump had sort of set himself up by. putting so many military assets. And I. think it was Napoleon or someone said, "The only use that you can't that it. that it is not appropriate for a sword. is sitting on it." And so he couldn't. sit on those assets. And so they moved. And in some ways that. was not necessarily shocking. Particularly after Trump's sort of. drunkenness in terms of his forays in. the Western Hemisphere with Maduro and. how they're going to try to do you know, we'll see where they are adjacent to.

that in Cuba and this sense of purity as. it came out of that that those military. strikes on those on those nuclear sites. So you know, from that position and his. position of weakness domestically his. desire to always be the star doesn't. care if he's the heel or the hero the. ease to which the executive branch can. move those operations. and challenge norms, traditions, even. the War Powers Act. in that respect it wasn't shocking. But. beyond that, what is equally.

shocking is the fact that it's clear. they didn't even think through who would. operate. They said, "Well, oh yeah, we. killed that was the guy we were hoping. would take over. We killed him as well. and that person too." And well, we'll. see maybe maybe the person he said today. could be worse. I don't know. Jesus, this all happened it could be worse. Yeah. I mean it's it's jaw-dropping the. incompetency at full display. You know, I've gotten the question and I'm sure. you've seen this question floating.

around too is this idea that you know, while all of this stuff is happening at. the hands of somebody who feels. completely reckless is this some. entrance into World War III. And so. what what would you say to that? I just we can't allow that to happen and. that just that that's a pit in the. stomach that I just you know, we we we. have agency. We can shape the future. Congress can shape the future. They're being more assertive. I. appreciate that. >> More more assertive? >> Well, at least members of our party. You. have to have some assertiveness to be. more to be more assertive. >> I'm talking about not the majority but. at least members in the minority that. have aggressively calling out which I.

appreciate. >> So they vote. >> in favor of bringing back their their. own authority. >> know. I mean, I've. I I still vaguely remember and and I. think it was eighth grade or or. freshman sophomore year high school the. Constitution. And this notion of co-equal branches of. government and war powers and and war. powers act. I mean, little it's not that. complicated. Uh and so, by definition, that's an easy. vote for Democrats. Um but look, the the. the nature that this is now and you're.

seeing the UAE, you're seeing it. obviously Lebanon's getting more and. more serious uh back and forth with. Israel. Uh the fact that this now is a. regional war um is alarming beyond. words. And obviously, seeing what's what. where China is in relationship to this, the impacts on oil and any oil impacts. are going to disproportionately hurt. them and their and Asian allies uh. United States allies at least in Asia. Uh where this plays as it relates to. Ukraine vis-à-vis Putin. I mean, Putin's. over three here. I mean, the only good. thing look is supreme leader was a. tyrant. Unquestionable. That's just a.

fact. Uh but there are a lot of tyrants. out there. So was Saddam. Uh there's. consequences when you take out the. tyrant, you take out the leader and you. try to impress upon this notion of a. regime change. Um and so, that's the. consequence we're going to have to live. with and we have to contain that. And um. and so, I hope that Congress, public. opinion and here is what really matters. The markets. Contain. Seems to be the only thing that. moves thoughts, period. Bond market, stock market and the oil markets. So,

you had mentioned um you had mentioned. Donald Trump's uh. trying to basically usurp some authority. domestically as it relates to these. these uh foreign incursions. And one. concern that I've had is we saw just a. few days ago the Washington Post. reported that that the Trump. administration was uh basically putting. together a memo that would declare that. they have extraordinary powers in the. aftermath of what they say was China. interfering in the 2020 election. Um. this would allow them and I think that. the word that the Washington Post used.

was to unlock extraordinary presidential. powers over voting. And then of course, once the bombing started in Iran, one of. the first things Trump posted was Iran. had had interfered in the 2020 and 2024. elections and this is the consequence of. that. And so we've seen numerous. instances where Trump is looking for. some foreign scapegoat to give himself. the pretext to declare, you know, extraordinary powers domestically as far. as our elections are concerned. If he does issue some executive order as.

the governor of California, what do you. do in the immediate aftermath of that? And there was some implication that he. was trying to connect the the Fulton. County issues with the Maduro as well. I. mean, so we've seen this over and over. He tries to exercise these emergency. powers so he can have more authoritarian. opportunities to assert himself without. any oversight and without any. rational engagement with the co-equal. branch of government. The only thing. that's stopped him ultimately are the. courts, which is interesting. The only. thing there's a vague heartbeat. I don't. want to oversell the US Supreme Court.

right now, but there have been at least. two decent opinions as it relates to. tariffs and obviously the National. Guard. So look, where we are is we're. calling this out in real time. We. continue to make the point. Future. happens here first when it comes to so. many of these things that we are. America's coming attraction. We saw that. in the federalization of the National. Guard. We saw that Greg Bovino and his. mass men, the secret police. We saw that. as it relates to what he tried to do on. election day with the board tech teams. to chill free expression and speech. What he did with the DOJ, what he did by. saying this election was rigged before.

one vote was cast on election morning. through Twitter social. We made the. point and a lawsuit months ago before. the lawsuit was highlighted in Minne in. Minnesota. related to the DOJ going after our. voting rules rules. So we're in. litigation. I was in Fulton County. talking to their elections officials and. what he's trying to do there to take. over that. I mean, this guy is not. screwing around. The federalization of. the of of or nationalization rather of. of the the vote and then looking at 15. states in particular.

Why did we do Prop 50? It was all a. relationship that he will go to the ends. of the earth to rig the election to. steal this election in plain sight. So, yeah, we have to draw the line, litigation, formal authority, use our. moral authority, continue to remind. people what's at stake, call every one. of these things out. None of this is. we're not overstating things here. We. may be understating. and that report only highlights that. This guy is not screwing around and this.

is it for us. This is this is the whole. whole game. 2026. It's only thing that. matters is getting Speaker Jeffries in. office. Only thing that matters is that. we put everything on the line to save. this republic, to save this democracy so. we can celebrate 220. you know, 251 years of this historic. project. When you went to Fulton County, what did they have to say? It's. jaw-dropping what's going on there. I. mean it's actually shocking beyond. words. Was there was there a was there a.

mechanism wherein that wherein they. don't allow Tosi Gabbert to get the get. the ballots because she was able to do. that at the end of the day. >> They took everything and now what. they're trying to do is potentially use. again some authority, some mysterious. authority. >> Right. to then. appoint their own election commissioners. to oversee one of the most critical. counties election in the next um uh with. the next ballot. I mean this is. it's happening in plain sight. >> Yeah. So, it's it's not they're not. uh. you know, they they.

we uh we may you know, people may tune. in and say, "Geez, these guys are a. little bit uh you know, unhinged in. their comments." No, no. We we're. This guy's unhinged in his action. Yes. And it's happening with the complicit. propaganda network in Fox and this media. that's not hauling them out and a supine. Congress to your point and and his. current speaker who's in on this and all. of the folks out there. that in the national security and these. sort of power agencies and these sort of. you know the OJ IRS all these others.

that are all part of of this larger. effort to suppress free speech and free. expression and ultimately impact the. outcome of the election and remember if. it goes south he'll likely suggest that. it was rigged and then the vote count. will be in doubt and the prospects of. even speaker Jeffries is going to be put. into question because speaker Johnson. may play games on the back end of this. So I want to use something that you said. to to go into a.

our last topic here and that is you had. mentioned the idea of a complicit media. and of course we're we're here in Los. Angeles and we just found out that. moving forward is the merger between. Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery. beating out Netflix to do so which means. if it does go through that David Ellison. the Ellison family the pro-Trump Ellison. family would consolidate even more of. their hold on on the entertainment. industry and specifically on the news. because it's not just CBS where Barry. Weiss is in charge but now we've got CNN.

which would be under the thumb of the. Ellison family as well and so I've. spoken to the Attorney General Rob Bonta. obviously he has some authority he has. some standing to challenge this if he. decides to you know that his. investigation shows that there's grounds. to do so from what you've seen on your. vantage and I know that your office is. different from his office but just based. on what you've seen do you think that. there that this is a violation of. antitrust law? Well they're going to and. look they they have a responsibility to. review it sort of other AGs not just the.

state of California no state's going to. be more impacted than California we're. going to be impacted in many different. ways you can just go to the you know to. the. media reality of the creative community. impacts and the loss of jobs. We've seen with these mergers in the. past, even the Fox Disney merger, the. number of productions that were. substantially reduced, the marketing. teams, the cloud computing, and And the. cost for consumers? going to also be. impacted because you've got more. consolidation, less competition in the. space. It also have impact on real. estate here in Southern California. And.

obviously the streaming components that. are merging, but you saw a car. at the federal level already say. everything looks rosy and fine. And the fact that you began with saying. the Ellis of Faming mean David who I. know and but you know, he's there with. Lindsey Graham. at the State of the Union. And they're not even faking it. They're not even faking it. And so, you. know, this is it's code red. You know, and. >> [laughter]. >> who no one wants to see this kind of. consolidation. It's tick tock.

Uh now it's CBS and CNN. I mean, you. think for a second Trump is not going. through the list of primetime can-. candidates to replace the current. primetime lineup at CNN. I mean, I was. just at CNN a couple days ago with. Anderson Cooper and doing his podcast. You felt the chill there. Yeah. And I. mean, it's this is a chill and now you. know, that chill is also going to be. reflected in what's not said on CNN. starting yesterday, the day before. The segments they don't produce as.

everyone's preening and auditioning. right now. Just trying to keep their. careers going to save their jobs where. producers start moving. Everybody's in. the shapeshifting space. And that's what. so insidious about what's going on. So, yeah, I'm glad Rob's taking a look at. it. He of course sent a letter even if. Netflix was going to do this deal to. both suitors saying he's taking a look. at. That's his legal response and. obligation. Uh but I but I hope all this. stuff gets the kind of vetting that the. American people deserve before it's too.

late. So, I know that that that is more. of a national issue, but as far as the. entertainment industry in California, I. want to go a little bit local here. because again, we are here in LA and. over the last, you know, decade or so, the industry has been. pretty decimated. Not just and and we've. spoken about this virtually every time. that that we have an interview, we speak. about this issue. Not just because other. states have been able to to grab. business from from Los Angeles, but now. other countries are doing the same. And. so, what needs to be done. to get work back to Los Angeles, to get.

the industry back into Los Angeles? Well, I mean, I obviously doubling the. If you had a a magic wand. So, doubling. the tax credits was great. It was. important, but it was a stopgap measure. We need to substantially streamline all. the local permitting, which is a huge. issue, remains a massive issue. Uh you do not have the local permitting. problems in a lot of other states that. continue to persist here in Los Angeles. and in the region. Uh we have to have a. simple one-stop shop as it relates to. that. Not just state permits, federal. permits, to the extent there are some.

overlays, but notably local permits. So, localism is determinative in that. respect. Number two, the debate about. above the line. as it relates to the tax credit. The. ability to get folks from overseas, particularly compete with the UK, you have to start looking above the. line. New Jersey did a version. Their. tax credits have actually produced some. results in that respect. That that that. has a lot of support and a lot of. opposition. But again, I'm magic wand. right now. >> Right. So, you'd start to address that.

You combine those two things. You have a. much more proactive and assertive. combination of state, regional, and. local support for the industry, support. for advocating to writers to write. scripts. that are place-based, which is a. critical component of this. Uh one of. the things we've seen with a lot of. production that has landed here, it. started with the writer uh that started. drafting and writing in a landscape that. >> need every writer to to place their. their their projects on Sunset. Boulevard, basically. And and and so, it's a combination of.

all those factors. I- I If you're able. to say that, and by the way, I have a a. crew here that's that's looking at you. and nodding as you're saying that. they're streamlining the permitting. process, and I know how it goes in Los. Angeles versus other cities. If If it's. so easy for you to say that, why is it. not easy enough for the City Council, for example, to just enact it? Well, this is exactly what I'm doing when it. comes to the rebuilding. I was just in. the Palisades talking about some of the. continuing issues as relates to permits. and rebuild uh for the fires itself. Uh.

you know, it's it's just You know what. it is? It's just layers and layers of. jurisdiction and bureaucracy. LA County. has 88 cities. We just think about the. functionality or lack thereof as it. relates to just different jurisdictions. and how you navigate within the county. when you're doing shoots in multiple. cities within the county. So, it starts. from that labyrinth and that. perspective. And so, you've just got to. break down all these damn barriers, and. that's about local leadership at the end. of the day. Yeah, we can assert. ourselves. We have executive orders. We. can do the tax cuts as it relates to the.

film tax credits that we did at the. state level. But, localism, I'll say it. again, is determinative in that respect. And it's getting people everybody to. understand how vulnerable this moment is. in Los Angeles. You've got so many great. things happening, so much built. investment and capital. Uh this merger. sort of offers, you know, they're going. to have to double down on Burbank in. many respects. It's one of the big It's. a huge real estate portfolio play as. well, which is important. Uh Netflix. still plays an outside role in terms of. production down here. We're seeing the.

industry shift, and uh obviously that. shift has its downside, but also there's. some opportunities there. And so, this. is a critical moment. The state will. play its role, but again, in terms of. streamlining, reorganizing, recalibrating, deal with NIMBYism not. just from a housing mindset, but a. filmmaking mindset. Uh everyone has to. understand how vulnerable this moment. is, how we can lose this. Uh and I also. hope that Trump, I'll end on this, also takes this opportunity to do. something for American filmmaking.

by creating some incentives federally so. that we can bring back these productions. domestically and that also is a big part. of this. Right, like you said, I mean. the UK has taken a lot of work, Canada. has been taking work for years and years. and years. Um if you were so effective. at mobilizing this state as it relates. to Prop 50 and these maps to fight fire. with fire and neutralize the power grab. that we saw in Texas. Is there that same. fervor to.

cut through red tape and kind of you. know, we've spoken about the abundance. agenda and actually making liberal. governance work. Um is there is there. that same. desire among you know, down ballot. leadership in this state to do exactly. that to make liberal governance work? Well, I I think there is. I think the. public's had it. They want liberalism. that builds. I mean, that's why we got. our the holy grail housing reforms done. last year. But of course I had to put it. in the budget. Still wasn't easy. I had. to link it which is not where you do.

legislation, but it was on land use. reforms and then ultimately what we. refer to as sequel reforms. And it was. profound and it will be profoundly. consequential. What's interesting that. people that opposed it initially were. sort of protecting their local flank. were quietly supporting it but publicly. had to oppose it because the politics. But that said the politics is beginning. to shift and so look, I've done 28. executive orders. Just wait. You name it, I've waved it coming to. back to the rebuild of LA post the. fires. And to the extent there's an.

executive order I can sign in the space, I'm happy to do it. >> you're if you're able to wave if you're. able to wave those things as it relates. to Pacific Palisades and the fire. rebuild what about statewide? >> It's all through an emergency lens. Back. to Donald Trump and the manufacturing of. emergencies. So it's it's a it's a. cautionary point. But in that emergency. mindset of course we had it at scale in. COVID and uh people can adjudicate the. merits and demerits of that. But, in. these emergency frames, you have a lot.

more authority in these. but when you have these sort of slower. deaths, as it were, that are, you know, sort of. flashing yellow lights, it's more. difficult. But, I think we're there with. with Hollywood and I think, look, everyone says the right things. Everyone. I talk to in local government, all the. members of the board, city council, all. say the right things. It's just a question of leadership. landing and doing the right things and. being accountable. Well, to that end, I'm going to read a couple of sentences. from your book here to to end off on. that note. And that was a conver- I'm.

going to read about a conversation that. you had on the phone. It was "What the. are you doing here? Why do we work. so hard to win if you can't do something. bold? This is a short life, Gavin. Your. time as a politician to get things done. is just a blip. And so, to that end, I. mean, there is not that much time and. and we have the opportunity to. you know, rebuild this state and rebuild. this city. And I do hope that people. take that to heart and use the power. that they do have to do exactly that. >> that. That was a relationship to. same-sex marriage in 2004 before.

anyone was ready for it. And so, look, that's the spirit that defines the time. It's the abundance mindset. It's the. spirit, look, that I think we have to in. closing acknowledge that Trump has. brought to the endeavor. He's stretched the mind of possibility. of what can be done. It's just. destruction is not strength. He's not a. builder. He's a destroyer. We need to be. builders. The Democratic Party needs to. be builders. But, with that same mindset. of urgency that's reflected in that. quote and I think in the urgency of your.

question. Again, the book is Young Man in a Hurry. by Gavin Newsom. Again, I'm going to put. that link in the post description of. this video and also on the screen. Governor Newsom, I appreciate taking the. time. >> be with you. Thank you. I'm joined now. by the Attorney General of California, Rob Bonta. Thanks for joining me. My. pleasure. Good to see you, Brian. So, news just broke that Paramount will be. merging with Warner Brothers Discovery, beating out Netflix for this merger, and. it consolidates a lot of the media under. the pro-Trump Ellison family. Obviously, this is what Trump wanted. He seemed.

hell-bent on making sure that Netflix. didn't get this didn't get this deal, that it would be. Larry Ellison and David Ellison who. actually got this deal so that they can. turn CNN, for example, into what they've. turned CBS into, which is a pro-Trump. media outlet. Recognizing that this. isn't going to face any pushback at the. hands of the DOJ or the FTC, who. obviously wants this deal and they exist. as appendages of Trump himself, there. still exists the possibility that state. attorneys general can have some impact. here. And nobody has more standing.

in terms of these two movie studios. merging than California. And so, as the. Attorney General of California, can you. give us some insight into the standing. that you might have in terms of stopping. this from happening? Absolutely. And And first, I'll say this. is not a done deal. To those who think. it is, I say not so fast. They are There. are regulatory hurdles, including my. office's overview and review, and on you. know, pending current. investigation that need to be completed.

And so, we are looking at this merger. and whether it violates antitrust law, whether it has whether it's. anticompetitive, whether it is going to. raise prices and lower wages for workers. and reduce competition and quality and. choice, all part of the analysis. And we have. independent authority as a state, and. there are other states who are. interested in conducting a review as. well, regardless of what the United States. federal government does. Regardless of. what the US DOJ does. If the US DOJ.

approves the merger, we still have an. opportunity to block the merger if we. wish. You know, we have to finish the. investigation and uh to some final. conclusions about what action is. appropriate. Maybe we will agree that. the merger uh can go through. Maybe we. we think it should be blocked or maybe. something in between. But, the main. point is we have independent authority. and we're going to exercise that. authority. We're going to do it right. Uh no politics, just looking at the law, looking at the facts, looking at the. impacts. um that are appropriate to look at under.

an antitrust analysis, uh get our. experts look under the hood, um and um. make a decision. So, uh we're engaged in. that process now and we will complete. that process and make a final decision. In in the event that you do find that. this is a violation of antitrust law, who's the arbiter of whether or not. that's that's true? Is it the California. state system or is it the federal court. system? This is usually in in federal court, but. uh. when we bring cases with the federal. government or multi-states and we're.

asserting something under federal law. like the Sherman Act or or the Clayton. Act, often we're in federal court. Um. not always. We have a case right now. against Amazon where we have a state law. antitrust claim under the Cartwright Act. only and we're in San Francisco Superior. Court, in state court. But, more often. than not, uh particularly when it's a. multi-state action and when federal. there's a what we call a federal. question, um a federal uh statute at. issue again uh the Clayton Act or the or.

the Sherman Act, then we are in federal. court. Federal District Court. I ask. that question because the end of the. line for the federal court system is. obviously the US Supreme Court, which is. a political actor. I mean, they might. claim that they're some neutral arbiter, but it is a political actor. And so, does that play any. um role in in the decision-making. process as to where this whole um case. is going to end up? Like, could that. play some role in terms of whether uh. whether you look into violations of.

state versus federal law when you're. determining where and and how to bring. this case? Generally not. Um. you know, it's something that we're. not unaware of. Um, I will say recently. some big victories for California um and. massive embarrassing losses for Trump in. front of the US Supreme Court where he. has three of his appointed justices. serving, whether be the National Guard. case out of Illinois, the recent tariffs. case last Friday, you know, his. centerpiece economic policy or or Prop.

50, California's lawful. um partisan redistricting measure. We. won on all those in front of the US. Supreme Court. And Trump very much. wanted the opposite outcome. So, I think. the Supreme Court can be a place where. when we bring the law and the facts and. we bring in a compelling case as we did. in all those cases, we can we can. prevail. But, um. we're we have like our Live Nation. Ticketmaster case in the District of New. Jersey. um. our Amazon case is really unique in.

being in superior court. So, it's more. likely than not that we'd be in federal. court. And these cases don't often get. to the US Supreme Court. They're they're. usually. addressed at the district court level. Um sometimes with appeals, but. usually, you know, we have we have a. judge assigned to the case and. um you know, we get to an outcome on. liability and then, you know, we we move. to damages and potentially injunctive. relief and US Supreme Court doesn't. usually have a role to play. And I do want to talk about those other. cases that you have going on right now. including the case against Amazon and.

the case against Ticketmaster. Obviously, the the latter is. um a highly publicized one because. everybody knows what it's like to try. and buy tickets these days. But, I I. want to um stick with the Paramount. Warner Brothers Discovery merger for. just another moment. In terms of the. consolidation of these major media. conglomerates, when we've seen other. media companies merge together, what. kind of an impact has that had on price? Because obviously, you know, the point of these antitrust laws is to. make sure that that.

that it doesn't result in higher prices. for consumers. It it would it would lend. itself to reason that when these, you. know, that when an already dwindling. number of movie studios or media. companies merge, they then have the. ability to raise the raise prices. And. so, I'm just curious in in navigating. this question right off the bat, in. previous mergers, have you seen that. exact behavior happen? Because that. might lend some insight into whether or. not what we're going to see right now. could be legal or illegal.

Yes. Um. we have seen this before. Generally, when you have corporate consolidation, prices go up, quality goes down, wages get lower, choice is decreased, and so, you know, there's less. competition. We want high competition. We want affordable prices. We want choice for the consumer. And so, corporate consolidation is antithetical. to all those things. It could still be. lawful. That's why we have to look. Uh.

but there are some real red flags here. based on the size of these, as you. mentioned, these. corporate conglomerates. They they they operate in multiple. markets. They're not just studios. They. also operate in in the streaming market. As you mentioned, they also operate. specifically in. in news. And so, there are massive impacts across. multiple markets of a potential merger. here. But generally, yes, when you see. corporate consolidation, you also see. prices going up along with it. Okay, so. I want to zoom out to the other to.

include the other cases that you spoke. about. But before we get into the. specifics on Amazon and Live. Nation/Ticketmaster, why is it the responsibility of. attorneys general like yourself to take. this on when, you know, isn't this. exactly what the FTC should be doing at. the federal level? Like isn't it their. job to make sure that, especially in an. administration that beat its chest about. affordability, that they're not creating. anti-competitive behavior that only, to.

your exact point, raises the prices for. consumers by allowing mergers like we're. seeing right now. A very astute. question. Yes, the federal government. has traditionally played this role to. enforce antitrust law, whether it be the. United States Department of Justice or. the FTC as you mentioned. Both have big. offices, big teams. that have been able to to do this work. This These are high-resource cases. They require economists and experts and. large trial teams to present the case.

and apply the law and. traditionally the federal government has. been a central player, if not the. central player, in these in these. cases. In addition to the tariffs, which. raise prices for consumers across. our nation, not enforcing antitrust law is. perhaps the. you know, just as powerful or an. additionally powerful driver of costs. for a that the president is allowing.

for. A president who said he was going. to reduce costs on day one. So, if he. didn't have his unlawful tariffs and. just let them be struck down. by the Supreme Court or never. implemented unlawful tariffs in the. first place and if he just did what. every other. antitrust federal antitrust division. did at the US DOJ and through the FTC. and enforced the law, he would reduce. prices, but he's going the opposite way. Costs costs are going up. So, in the. absence of the federal government doing. their role, doing their job, states need. to step up and fill that role and fill.

that gap. California is the largest. state Department of Justice in the. nation. The only Department of Justice larger. than us is the US DOJ. We have a big. team. We focus on and prioritize. antitrust work and we're prepared to do. our due diligence on these cases, complete our investigations for the ones. we're investigating, you know, go to. trial if necessary. or or resolve the case in a way that's. consistent with our demands. if we're going to settle on all these. cases and we will and we're not uh.

likely going to be operating alone. You. know, we our our Ticketmaster. Live Nation case is already a. multi-state case with multiple states in. it and I know there's interest from. other states in. Paramount Warner Brothers as well. Can you talk about those two outstanding. cases, the Ticketmaster Live Nation case. and the Amazon case? Sure. I mean, we have. a we filed a suit already. We being the. federal government and multiple states. in the District Court of New Jersey.

against Live Nation Ticketmaster for. violating federal antitrust law. specifically the Sherman Act. So, this. one actually includes the DOJ along with. the state AGs. Is that correct? >> It does and it started under Biden. They're. in in the live music, the live concert. industry, Ticketmaster Live Nation operates. tickets, promotion, and venue, all of them. And. they they leverage them against each.

other. They require sort of tying. arrangements so that you have to use all. three and they stifle competition and. they they jack up prices. You know, as. you mentioned, this is an area where. people who have been, you know, have. their own personal experience with. Ticketmaster know these prices are just. way too high and it and it doesn't make. sense. So, there's a lot of public. sentiment behind. this this legal case. It's moving towards trial now. We. believe that the the federal government. might be.

um. not acting as we hope they would in. staying strong and staying firm and and. having strong demands and a strong. position for settlement and if and if we. can't get that in settlement, then going. to trial. So, it's looking more and more. unfortunately like the states are going. to have to carry the load, which we can. and we will. But it is it's your point very. unfortunate that the federal government. is. asleep at the wheel when it comes to. enforcing antitrust law and protecting. consumers. and protecting anti-competitive conduct. by these big corporations. And then and.

then the Amazon case? Yes, Amazon is a case we brought on our. own. Just California, we are the only. plaintiff. We're suing in California. Superior Court in in San Francisco and. we assert essentially a price-fixing. scheme where Amazon claims that they. have the lowest price on their platform. But what they do is they actually raise. prices. when there is a. a vendor on their platform has the same.

product on a on another platform, another retailer's site at a lower. price, they demand that the vendor raise. the price on the other platform so it's. the same as the higher price on Amazon. and Amazon can then claim it's the it's. the lowest it's the you know, there's no. lower price offer, but it's because they. price fixed and raised prices. across different retailer platforms. They might also ask the vendor to take. their product off the other platform so. there so there's no. comparison price.

And in this way Amazon raises prices. instead of lowers them by using their. their power, their leverage, their. their their conduct to really squeeze. these vendors who need Amazon to be able. to sell their product and be able to be. successful. So we this just this week we. filed a preliminary injunction motion. During the course of our investigation, we found additional evidence supporting. this scheme. and providing additional documentary.

evidence. to to support it and we are moving. immediately to have. that action and that conduct stopped. If. you want to talk about. you know, lowering prices, this you. know, so many people use Amazon and. Amazon is raising their prices through. this illegal price-fixing scheme and we. think that this can make a real. difference in everyday Americans' lives. and it's unlawful. In the event that. California is successful, is there a way. that other state AGs could copy the. exact case that you've brought against.

Amazon and, you know, replicate it 49. other times so that they can either, you know, put Amazon in a situation. where they're going to lose 49 other. times or recognize that if they're going. to. um engage in monopolistic behavior or. anti-competitive behavior, that that. it's going to cost them a lot more money. and so that might force them into a. position where they preemptively change. their ways so that they're not, you. know, so that there's some deterrent. effect basically. Yeah.

You know, California drives markets a. lot. Uh large, you know, fourth largest. market in in the nation, of course, fourth largest economy in the world if. we were a nation. So, it might be that. Amazon, should we prevail here and and. uh secure the relief that that that that. we believe is warranted, that they could. change their. their practices. throughout the United States of America. Don't know that, but that's not. impossible. Um if not, then yes, we we do provide a. sort of blueprint and a. um. a guide uh book for how others might.

pursue similar cases. They'll need to. have a a similar law like our Cartwright. Act here. We have our own anti um. anti-trust law here in the state of. California under state law. Uh I don't. think all states have that. Uh so, they. would need they would need to have the. the the appropriate tool, but Yeah. Yes, either we uh are able to deliver the. result nationwide on our own or other. states could join in the effort. And and. that's that's a good point to other. states to consider adopting legislation. like the Cartwright Act so that in an in. the event we have a Republican Party in.

power that is perfectly content to. engage in the cronyism that we're seeing. right now, at least there is some. bullwark at the state level like the one. that um that we're lucky enough to take. advantage of here in in our home state. of California. So, with that said, uh. Attorney General Bonta, as always, I. appreciate the time. I appreciate it, too. Thanks, Brian. Good to see you. I'm. joined now by Bobby La Pin, who is. running in Maryland's 46th Senate. District. Bobby, you are running against. somebody who's been dubbed the most. hated Democrat in America. Uh you just. found a way to get his attention uh in a.

way that you haven't been able to do. before. Can you explain what you did? Uh yeah, so. becoming into this race, you know, what. pulled me into this race, to give you. background and understand where this. came from, the guy that I'm running. against twice killed a provision in a. bill that would have prevented Maryland. law enforcement cooperation with ICE, the called 287G agreements. Um I live in a pretty highly immigrant. neighborhood, and so that really made me. angry. I announced that I was running. against him, and just hours after I. announced my candidacy, he turned he.

turned his uh he changed his position on. 287G agreements. And we actually passed. the ban in this in this session. It's. been signed into law. Um. so with redistricting, because. redistricting's such an important issue, um uh you know, we you can't turn on the. news without seeing the horrible things. that are happening in this country. And I try to use my voice, my social. media, you know, my volunteers, uh my. supporters, to try to push redistricting. into the point that in a representative.

democracy, where we elect people to go. to represent us, the last thing that. should happen with any type of bill that. is popular or impactful is that it dies. behind closed doors. So, the. redistricting bill in Maryland. overwhelmingly passed in the House of. Delegates. In fact, each district in. Maryland has one senator and three. delegates, and the three delegates in. the district that I'm running in, basically the three delegates that work. with my opponent, Bill Ferguson, they. all three of them voted for. redistricting in the House of Delegates. When that The was sent over to the.

Senate, Uh Bill Ferguson used his power as. Senate President to basically kill it in. committee. Didn't have a hearing, didn't. have a vote. So, we started a petition. through Move On. Um and the petition. basically said, you know, regardless of. where you are in redistrict, you know, whether you're for it or against it, I. think we can all agree on this, that in. a representative democracy, that only. works if the people we elect actually. represent us. And so, by. my opponent disallowing the rest of the. 46 senators in the state from even.

having a debate or a vote on the floor, it literally attacks the foundations of. democracy itself. So, we had almost 7,000 signatures uh. for that petition, basically requiring. that there be a debate and uh vote on. the Senate floor. Uh we got that in. about a week, and I delivered it. personally to the State House. Um I wasn't allowed to see him because I. wanted to give it to him personally, face-to-face, you know, man-to-man type. of thing. Um but that wasn't accepted.

So, uh a nice police officer over there. delivered it to his office for me. Um from that point, we heard nothing. Uh. the petition's still out there, it's. getting more signatures, but in the. reality of things, and I guess this is. the sad part here, is, you know, our. deadline to file for candidacy in. Maryland was Tuesday. And in order for redistricting to even. be still an option, we would have to. pass now a a series of new laws in both. the House of Delegates and the State. Senate,

basically moving back the deadline to. file for candidacy and also moving back. our primary, which if we couldn't even. get redistricting to have a simple. debate in the Senate, it's just out of the [snorts] question. that these two additional laws will. probably be introduced and voted on. Yeah. You know, Bobby, I think one of the. biggest problems that Democrats are. contending with is this idea that there. are a lot a lot of anti-democratic or. undemocratic aspects of the party. You. know, it's been playing us for a genera. a decade now. I mean, we we saw the the. super delegate situation with with.

Bernie and Hillary and and even in this. latest general election cycle, there. there always felt like there wasn't. enough of a choice. What is this What is something like what. Bill Ferguson is doing here or has done. here? How does that further add to the. brand problems of the Democrats are. contending with? It's it's a it's 100% and I don't want. to say it's all Democrats, either. I. just want to say that it's status quo. establishment Democrats. You know, the. corporate back Democrats because there. are a ton of people out there like me,

progressives who aren't taking money. from corporate packs, who aren't taking. money from developers, who are earnestly. doing this because I'm a working person. trying to fight for working person. And. I feel both parties, Republicans and the. establishment Democrats, aren't fighting. for me and people like me, obviously. And the redistricting goes into this. this deeper conversation about what's. happening in America. When I was a government teacher in high. school, I used to tell my students that. the biggest impact on your life is local.

government. You know, all government is. local. And if you think about what's. happening throughout this country, it is. horrible obviously. We need to win back. Congress. I want to want to say that. that's so super important. We need to. fight back against authoritarianism. But. while we're all focusing on Donald Trump. and everyone is focusing on DC, like all. the Democrats, for the last decade. MAGA has quietly and methodically. been looking at state races. They've. been trying to take over school boards,

they've been trying to take over city. council races, they're trying to take. over state legislators legislatures, you. know, and meanwhile, the Democratic. establishment is focusing so much on DC, so much on an organization that has less. than a 30% chance of actually passing. meaningful legislation that working. people. by large amounts would agree to in this. country. It's literally Congress it just seems. like if I was running for Congress and I. won, I would feel like I'm going to DC. to just bat my head against the wall.

because it doesn't seem we've seen it. all. Like nothing happens. And the best. that we can rely on from this Congress. is is strongly worded letters. to Donald Trump, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Um well, also also we know I'm sure. there's a post office or two getting. renamed. So don't don't forget about. that. >> right right. And probably banners going. up and so on and so forth. But like like. and this is what I mean. And this is. what I want people to understand cuz. it's so super important to understand. how local politics is. When Florida banned books,

that wasn't Congress that did it. It was. their state legislature. This week alone, we saw that transgender. people in Kansas are being threatened. with jail time if they don't turn in. their driver's license and their IDs and. change it to their birth gender. Literally, you'll go to jail either you. out yourself or you go to jail. And that. was a state legislature. You know, if we. look at uh energy prices, if we look at. the way snap is administered, if we look. at how we spend money on education,

that's all of your state legislature. Even redistricting itself, let's be. honest about this. Uh Texas, California, Ohio, North Carolina, here in Maryland, wasn't Congress. All state legislatures. And while it is. important to win back Congress and it is. important to support progressive. candidates. um who are trying to shake up the party, the more you. ignore. the local and the state, your city. councils, your county councils,

that is how MAGA can have a lifetime. hold on this country. And I just want to remind people about I. mean look at the guy that I'm running. against, okay? We already talked about. that, you know, hundreds of Maryland. families were deported because he failed. to ban 287G agreements. Why? Because he. said he was afraid of retaliation from. Donald Trump. I entered the race as a. good working person trying to do good by. my community, and he changes his stance. I have I have. poor folks, brown and black folks all.

over Baltimore City that live near a. trash incinerator, a trash incinerator. in which my candidate took money from. And meanwhile, it's causing a hundred. million dollars worth of health damages. each year for working people. And while. everybody is focusing on Donald Trump. and the Congress and so on and so forth, we have state legislators out there all. throughout this country who are taking. advantage of local people. That is where. I really want to implore people that. they have to pay attention. The biggest. investment you can make in life, the.

biggest investment, is investing in. someone who will go to, you know, whatever your statehouse is or whatever. your city council is, and literally. bring your voice with them. Someone who. is unbought by the corporations and only. owes allegiance to the people, the. working people. of this country. Through Citizens United and through all. of these things that we have seen, you. know, in the past couple of years, uh. you know, it feels hopeless out there, right, Brian? It feels hopeless. But. here's the hope in this. Here's the hope.

in this, and I want to be clear about. this. There's what? 537. elected federal politicians in DC. There's roughly 8,000 elected state. representatives throughout this country. There are 165. million working people in this country. So, although the billionaires can use. their money to buy elections like they. buy a yacht, and our media, owned by the. same billionaires, are trying to keep us. distracted by fighting each other over. cultural wars while they're trying to. win this class war.

We have to remember the strength that. people have. 165 million working people. in this country. If we rise up together, if those people would find a guy like me. and donate 27 bucks to a campaign. I'm. running against a guy who's got 2. million. This is how we take our voices back. By. one city council. district at a time, by one county. council district at a time, by one state. at at a time, and then we'll take the. federal government. That was that was. perfectly put. I'm going to put the link. to that point before we continue to.

donate to Bobby's campaign right here on. the screen and also in the post. description of this video. If you've got. a few bucks and you're looking to help. elevate the voice of somebody whose. voice clearly needs to be elevated, please take this opportunity right now. It can have a big It can have a big. impact. And look, there there is a. reason that. you know, I don't interview a lot of. state Senate candidates in in various. states across the country. In fact, I. don't think I've interviewed any state. Senate candidates in any state across. the country, but there's a reason that. I'm interviewing Bobby and that I've. interviewed Bobby before. It's because. his voice is one that we need to. elevate. This is somebody who who should.

be in a position of power. So again, if you if you have the. opportunity to donate, please go ahead. and do so. Bobby. >> to say and I got to say Brian real. quick. It's not about me, man. It's. about all of us. Like we all feel the. same way. I'm just saying what everyone. is saying at home in their living room. Everybody watching this video and your. videos, everyone's saying the same. thing. We are just fed up, you know? And. but yes, I do need the help. So. makeagoodchange.com, I would appreciate. you all if you can just pitch in what. you can. 27 bucks for democracy, y'all.

Bobby, to that end, what is the focus of. your campaign? I know I know. what was the impetus to kind of to jump. in and join, but let's say you have the. opportunity to represent your. constituents in the 46th district in. Maryland, what's going to be your. priority? Affordability, 100%. I mean, it's I think it's the you know, we. listened to that ridiculous State of the. Union the other day, right? This. ridiculous State of the Union that's. trying to tell us, oh yeah, the. economy's great, everything's good. The.

Dow's at $50,000. Um. but meanwhile, that doesn't really. translate well into bread prices or, you. know, the amount of money that we have. in our bank accounts. Yeah. >> Right now in Maryland and in most in the. 13 states in our energy grid are facing. incredibly high. energy bills. I mean, energy bills that. are so high that senior citizens are now. choosing between keeping the lights on. or buying their prescription medication. Working families are having to choose. between going out and like taking their.

kids to a movie or paying their. electricity bill. I mean, I'm talking. about my electricity bill. I live like. an 1,100 square foot home. See, you guys. I'm I'm purely a working person. I live. in an 1,100 square foot home with my. wife and our electric bill was nearly. $500 for 1 month. How is that even possible? And in the. end you go back and you see that the guy. I'm running against has taken over. $100,000 as the Senate President from. BGE, our local. uh uh utility monopoly. He's taken.

personally, you know, tens of thousands. of dollars from utility companies. And. then he comes to the people and he says, "Oh, I'm blaming BGE on all this." But. how can you simply stand there and tell. working people that, "Oh, the utility. company is super super bad." when. literally what were they paying you for, Bill? What what did they give you 25 He. took In 2024 he hosted a $25,000 per. ticket Colorado getaway. We live in. Maryland, okay? Colorado giveaway of which the CEO of. BGE attended. And the CEO of Washington.

Gas and Light and United Healthcare and. CareFirst. $25,000 a ticket. And what's crazy is if. you think about that, like $25,000 is a. ton of money to me, you know, as a. working person. But if you step back and. you look at how much profits the utility. companies, how much profit Exelon made. in 2024, $25,000 to them is the equivalent of 7. cents. Yeah. >> So for 7 cents Bill Ferguson sold these.

senior citizens out. Sold these working. families out. These struggling young. people trying to still afford a life. You know, we have rent prices that are. spiraling out of control. We. The American dream is dead. You know, like everyone is talking about rent. stable stabilization and and and rent. caps and that is very very much needed. But we also have to talk about this. American dream where people can own a. home. You know, we're pushing so many young. people in just being renters and no one.

is talking about, well, what should we. do to make housing more affordable where. young people can have that American. dream that folks had decades ago. The pride of owning your own home. And. be able to have some spending cash in. your pocket at the end of the day to go. out to a movie, to go have a drink with. friends, to go watch a football game. Affordability is the biggest thing. And for years from the. beginning when they. enslaved people to do the work of the. rich. Then the immigrants came to this.

country to do the work of the rich. All. mistreated. All mistreated cuz the rich. have always controlled the the roost. But in the end of the day, the hope is. this. 537 federal politicians, 8,000 state. politicians, 165. million of us. Hardworking Americans who. built this country with our hands. Not our pocketbooks. That's the power, man. Perfectly put, Bobby. I'm going to leave. it there. Again, for those who are. watching right now, I'm going to put the. link to donate to Bobby's campaign right.

here on the screen. He's running against. Bill Ferguson who has been dubbed the. most hated Democrat in America. We don't. have to settle for bad Democrats. We. don't have to settle for bought and sold. Democrats. We have a solution here. It's. right in front of us. I would ask if you. have the opportunity to don- to donate, donate. If you have the opportunity to. volunteer for Bobby's campaign, volunteer for the campaign. If you know. anybody in Maryland, please send them. this video, send them Bobby's. information, uh subscribe to his social. media, and share his uh social media.

post with them. We don't have to settle. uh. for for for what we don't deserve here. So, uh Bobby, best of luck in the. campaign trail. As I've. as I've said before, and uh and thanks. for taking the time today. And thank. you, Brian. And thank you for you using. your voice, too, man. I appreciate you. To listen to the audio version of this. episode, click that 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.