LIVE: Trump Just GOT the Report He FEARED Before Midterms...

Everything costs too much and the. Republicans need you to know one thing. above all else. That has nothing at all. to do with policy decisions of any kind. The new White House press secretary is. going to make somebody's career at. Saturday Night Live. A lot is happening. and I have a lot of clips. Welcome back. to the podcast for the 54% of Americans. who regularly vote for progress and want. to convince their friends and family. members to join a majority. Uh Ravi is. not with us today. Uh but we will be. joined in a little bit um by Senator.

Angus King of Maine. But you you got. just me for a bit. So let's go through. first the numbers. Remember uh President. Trump was elected on a promise that on. day one he was going to get rid of. inflation. Uh and then of course he came. into office and he said, "Hey, you know. what? We should have higher tariffs or. lots of tariffs that make everything. more expensive." And then he was like, "Let's go to war in Iran. uh that won't. affect gas prices at all. Let's look. into the price of things at the moment. right before we go into sort of the uh.

the home stretch of this of this. campaign. Uh price changes over the last. year according to the September CPI. report. Fuel oil is up a meager 74%. gasoline 34.2 2 gas utilities 5%. electricity 4 and a.5% the overall CPI. 3.7% food away from home 3 and a.5%. apparel 3.4% shelter 3.2 transportation. 2.7 medical care 2 and a half food at. home 1.8 8 new car 6 used cars down one.

and a half. So that's a victory. Uh like. here's this tweet from Heather Long. This is a rough September inflation. report. Biggest monthly jump since May. Higher than expected inflation and core. inflation. Core inflation for the past 3. months is running at well over a 3%. annualized pace. That's problematic. Inflation at 3.7% is totally wiping out. wage gains at 3%. Yes, high gas and. diesel prices are the major driver, but.

also big jumps in airfares, used car. prices, recreation, medical and apparel, the energy shock is spreading. So the. point there is that while they try and. act like the war in Iran is over here. and then prices are over here, when that. doesn't work, they act like, well, gas. prices have gone up. But that really. doesn't have to do with anything. But. what you need to recognize when you talk. to people about this is that the price. of gas, the price of oil is shocking the. price of everything else in addition to. the tariffs and and everything else that.

Trump is doing. Not to mention the. corruption and how that is affecting. spending and people's confidence in the. economy. Now, that's how much everything. costs. Generally, when you are running. for reelection as say a president uh or. rather the party in power in this case, you really don't want stuff to cost a. ridiculous amount. And you especially. don't want to be very clearly to blame. for things costing a ridiculous amount. But you know what? Don't worry about any. of that. Don't worry to pay about paying.

attention to that right now because the. president has a brand new press. secretary and I think maybe they thought. this would be a fun little distraction. Let's go to the video of how that's. going. >> to officially be part of this incredible. journey together. And with that, I will. take your questions. here in our new media seat. So, when you are preparing to address a. group of people, it is fine to write. down what you want to say, but then see.

what you want to do is you want to read. that out loud to yourself a few times so. that when you read it, it doesn't sound. so much like you're reading it. Now, ideally, what you might do if you were. in a position that say required you to. address that same group of people on a. daily basis is you might start to. internalize that thing that you want to. say so that when you step out there, you. could say something like, "I'm really. excited to embark on this journey. together and to do it here from this. seat in this new media center." Do you. see how I heard it once and then I just.

looked right at you and said it without. a teleprompter? That's just sort of reps and also. confidence. Uh, I get it. She was. probably super nervous. Um, but this was. not a great debut. So, according to the. backgrounder from the New York Times, she spent the next eight minutes reading. nervously from a script, looking up at. the cameras every couple of lines. Then. she said she was ready to take some. questions. She called on only three. reporters, dropped one wild piece of. news, made a slip, mixing up her husband. and her president, then darted out of. there after just five and a half. minutes, leaving the White House press.

corps to scratch his collective head. All told, Miss Dakaria picked only a few. outlets from a list she was holding, Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail. The president was asked how he thought. Miss Dakaria had fa had fared in her. first briefing and why she had taken so. few questions. I thought she was very. good, he said. In the social media post. he made last week announcing her. appointment, he called her an attorney. and she identifies herself as a lawyer. This reporter asked the president in. which state Miss Dakari had passed the. bar exam. Mr. Trump turned to look at. his new press secretary. She took two.

small steps closer. When I moved to. China, she said, "Asked Slater for. clarification. White House officials. would not say whether or where Mr. Karia. passed a bar exam." Now, look, I want to. talk about this for a second because a. lot of people in our side of the aisle. are running wild with this and they're. saying, "Wait a minute. She never passed. the bar exam. Why is she calling herself. a lawyer?" All that. I don't care about. any of that. Uh, I went to law school. I. did pass the bar exam, but I have no. idea whether I would have referred to. myself as a lawyer if I hadn't I I don't.

think Ravi ever took the bar exam. I. don't know if Ravi's ever called himself. uh a lawyer. I know I've referred to. Ravi as a lawyer. He went to Yale Law. School. Um and you know, then we have. this whole thing going on where a. candidate that that I support um Abdul. El Say is in Michigan. Uh he has an MD. he practiced, you know, public law in. the sense that he uh ran like the health. agency in Detroit and I think for the. state for a long time. I don't know that. he ever took boards or saw patients. Um.

but you know, the Republicans want to. argue with then he's not a doctor. I. don't I don't have any interest in any. of those debates. What I will tell you. is that if you've been saying you're a. lawyer, but you never passed the bar. exam, and somebody says, "Did you ever. pass the bar exam?" You don't have to be. like, "Well, wait a minute. Are you. challenging whether I'm a lawyer? Just don't lie and say you took the bar. exam. Like it's it's pretty simple. My. dad has this saying about certain people.

which he sometimes says uh people who. are you know not truthful generally and. he'll say he or she would lie when the. truth would help. And this is one of. those examples where uh Mr. Zakaria. could have just said, you know, I never. I never did take the bar exam or I never. passed, you know, or whatever, but I I. went to law school and whatever. Say. whatever you want. Just you don't got to. lie. Like, nobody expects the press. secretary to have passed the bar exam.

and be a lawyer. Like, it's not an. important part of the job. Why do they. lie when the truth would help or end the. conversation? It's like an a weird. reflex uh with these folks, and this is. just indicative of it. Okay. Uh Lakshi. uh Jane has an interesting tweet here. going back to the gas prices and. everything which is it it perfectly. tracks um Trump's approval versus the. gas prices. And you can see that they're. it's like as gas prices go up, approval. goes down. Um so while Republicans are.

trying to tell everybody that, you know, Trump and the Republicans themselves. have nothing to do with gas prices, it. feels like the American people are not. buying it. And I love this clip of. Speaker Mike Johnson because he's. explaining how it's all a. misunderstanding. This thing about gas. prices. This doesn't have anything to do. with policy. But listen to the end of. his answer. It's it's really something. >> There's lots of answers to that. The. first thing is if the idea we're all. frustrated, everybody's frustrated about. fuel prices obviously, but that's not.

related to policies. It's not related to. the Republicans in office. It's hard to. make that case though to a voter who. knows Republicans are running the House. and the Senate and the White House. >> Yes. But if I give them a couple of pure. facts and they understand it easily, this is related to the straight of. moose. The it is not yet resolved there. >> I love that. I I love that part. Like. we're all looking for the guy who did. this. uh what he wants to say here, right? In. his mind, this kind of makes some sense, but he can't say it the way that he.

wants to say it or the way that he means. it. So in his mind, what he means is, look, we're having an election for. Congress. I'm trying to stay the speaker. of the house. We would like to have uh. the Senate still after this election. And what he wants to say is like, look, we know that this dude who we nominated. a few years ago and who we managed to. get elected twice, we know that he is a. massive embarrassment. And we actually. also know that the war in Iran was a.

really bad idea. And even though some of. us thought it was a good idea at the. beginning, we all now understand it was. a really bad idea. The thing is we can't. actually say that to you, you know, because he's our boss. Uh so we can't. agree with you publicly, but what what. we need you to understand, American. people, is like we don't like him. either. We're also frustrated. So when. you think about prices and your voting, please just keep in mind that the prices.

are high because of that guy, our boss, who remember neither you nor I like. So. you know, don't hold that against us. Let us stay in power. We didn't do. anything wrong. That's what he's trying. to do. But he can't say that. So he puts. forward the absurd sounding idea that. it's just because of the straight of. Hormuz. It's not because of any policies. by Republicans. Never mind the fact that. the straight of Horn moves is closed on. again off again because your boss who.

you support launched a war with Iran. that we really should not have launched. in the first place and that the vast. majority of the American people told you. was a really bad idea and you've had. multiple opportunities to stop as a. member of Congress as the speaker of the. house in your case and you have refused. to do it. But again, he would like you. to know that, you know, he doesn't. really like any of that stuff. I I I. tell you, I've been saying this for a. while, and every time this happens, I. know it's closer and closer to true. We. are going to reach a point where people.

are going to talk about Donald Trump. Republicans who were for him are going. to talk about Donald Trump the way they. talk about the Iraq war, the way people. who were for the Iraq war talk about it, like it was just this natural. occurrence, this uh like natural. disaster that just happened and we. really don't know how it happened, but. you know, it's part of our history now. That's that's how they're going to how. they're going to talk about it. So, all. right. Um, a few clips from some debates. over the past few days. Um, I really.

really love this moment uh with Oaf and. Collins because um you can see when you. watch this that one, you got to remember. Collins is behind in this deal and he's. trying to throw a Hail Mary, but he he. rehearsed this bit. You can tell because. he's like reading the whole thing and. trying to get the line just right. Which, by the way, if you ever debate or. run for an office or, you know, if you. debate in front of people, do your best. to internalize what it is you want to.

say and then just kind of say it in your. own words because the BS filter that. Americans have for politicians speaking. and appearing to be reciting something. memorized is so finely tuned at this. point that it's really counterproductive. to do what Collins does here. But what I. love about this clip is that he makes. this attack. He's trying to, you know, attack OAF on the O on the Epstein files. because of some allegation that's made. against somebody who may have given.

money to Osaf or something. And Oaf is, you know, John just looks shocked that. uh that the guy brought it up in the. first place. And I love the way he pulls. back the fourth wall here and is like, you should talk to somebody on your. team. And then if you're watching this. clip that we're about to play and not. just listening, you should watch Colin's. face after Osaf says this because he. starts looking around like, "Yeah, who. did who did put me up to this? This was. real stupid." All right, watch. He slept. on the Epstein island. He stayed at his.

Manhattan townhouse. He sent Epstein ice. cream and said, "It's for the girls.". You claim to fight against the Epstein. class, but I'm going to tell you, this. call is coming from inside the house, and the Epstein class is on stage right. now, and it's you. Will you condemn Reed. Hoffman and apologize for your hypocrisy. tonight? >> Mike, who on your team advised you to. raise the Epstein files?

You voted to cover up the evidence. Mike, listen, folks. I want to repeat it. again. It's important to understand when. Congress was voting on whether to. release that evidence. We all knew what. had happened, but you voted to cover up the evidence. even though you knew 14year-old girls. had been raped because Donald Trump told. you to. Donald Trump, who by the way is. named a thousand times in the Epstein. files. Have you ever met with Jeffrey Epstein's.

victims? When they ask you why you voted. to cover up the Epstein files, do you. have an answer? What would you say to. them tonight, Mike? After you voted to. cover up evidence of the most notorious. sex trafficking ring in American. history, the vote is public record. You. voted to cover up the Epstein files. You. should explain that vote to Jeffrey. Epste's victims right now. >> Collins. >> I mean, watching Collins have to sit. there and take that is like watching.

like when when a when you're watching a. baseball game and the team you're. pulling for goes down like 13 nothing in. the fourth inning and you know like, oh. my god, we have five more innings to sit. here and work our way through this game. when we know we have no chance to win. I. mean, that's that's the look on on his. face. He he knows that John's going to. go off for a minute and he knows he. stepped right in it. Uh and it was just. a great way uh for John to handle it. Looked right at him the whole time. Uh I.

just I don't have a reason for playing. that other than I just really enjoyed. it. All right, couple of ads um from. races that I don't think we expected to. be talking about in October of 2026. here, but uh let's look at we talked u. last week about how creative ads are. getting at not presenting as political. ads to start with and uh why we think. that's really smart because it helps. them to to break through. Um check out. this ad from the Democratic candidate. for US Senate in Mississippi. It starts.

with the comments of the uh incumbent. senator Gone price of beef continuing to. go up. >> You know, you have so many proteins to. choose from. >> Pick another protein. I'd rather. pick another senator instead. >> Pick another protein. She done lost her. damn mind. I'd rather pick another. senator. >> Pick another protein. What the. >> Pick another senator instead.

I just I just really like that one. I. think it's really clever and doesn't. sound or look like a political ad at. all. This one maybe a little closer to. normal, but it's still pretty good. This. is uh an attack out in the South. Carolina Senate race. What I think is. interesting about it and what I think. listeners can learn from it is it. doesn't require you to indict the entire. not always do you have to indict the. entire Republican party to make your. argument. You can just go after their. candidate. Uh, and in this case, they're.

separating off Darlene Graham from. other, you know, what the ad basically. says are good and respectable senators, including her late brother, and saying. like she's not like them and creating a. permission structure for you to not vote. for her. So, let's watch that. >> South Carolina has a proud tradition of. respected public servants, but is. Darlene Graham ready to join me? I'm not. that informed on national security. >> But Darlene does know a lot of. Washington insiders who handpicked her.

And now data centers are bankrolling her. campaign so they get no regulations. Data center Darlene. She'll put their. needs ahead of yours every single time. New Deal for All Inc. is responsible for. the content of this advertising. Okay, so that's one side of this deal, which is you just say, "Look, she's not. the right person. Even though you may be. a Republican, and if you're in South. Carolina, the majority of you are, that. doesn't mean you got to vote for her.".

uh because there's plenty of people out. there who they consider themselves. Republicans, probably will continue to. after this election. Um but who don't. like the Republicans right now, but it's. very hard for them to say like, well, I'm going to vote for the Democrat. Right? So, you've got to create a. permission structure. So, you probably. have people like this in your life. You. got to create a permission structure. where they don't necessarily have to. feel like they're voting for the. Democrat so that they can say to. themselves and to others, well, you.

know, I'm a Republican, but I just. couldn't vote for X. Sometimes that's. what you got to do in order to win. Now, there's the completely other side to. this, which is what we're seeing going. on in Maine right now, right? which is. where what uh Susan Collins wants to do. is take a state that leans Democratic at. in a year that leans heavily Democratic. and get people to once again say, "Well, I'm a Democrat, but I vote for Susan. Collins because and what Troy Jackson. and his campaign are now doing, that's.

really smart." And this is what uh you. know you can do if you're if you feel. like you're in a conversation like this. where the wind is a little bit at your. back because like if you're talking to. somebody who has expressed a lot of. displeasure with Trump or maybe they. come from a family or a community that. is a little more Democratic or whatever. it is you're trying to bring them. around. What Jackson is doing here is. he's trying to do the opposite. He's. trying to create a permission structure. for mayors who are probably Democrats. who have often voted for for Democrats. but have always voted for Susan Collins.

to finally uh say, you know what, I'm. not going to vote for Susan Collins this. year. And he he takes her words and he. uses them to make the point that the. greater issue here is probably about. having Democrats actually control the. Senate. And you can't do that. And you. can't vote to have that happen while. voting for Susan Collins. And then he. furthermore sort of adds on to the idea. that you know what good is it for you to. uh you know be somebody who says you. know how the appropriations process.

works when you won't stand up to the. Republicans anyway who aren't taking. care of us. So he does a really good job. here of taking her and her longevity and. personal probably appeal to Mayners and. kind of taking it out of the equation. I I think we did have an agreement. before Donald Trump tore it up and and. decided to go to war and and you know, Senator Collins uh says that um you. know, she voted against it nine times, but she didn't have the votes. Well,

that sounds like then we probably ought. to have Democrats in charge of the US. Senate so that we have the votes to stop. this war. Uh they hold Donald Trump in. in check because it sounds like the. Republicans won't do that. they're. they're totally giving up. Uh their job. is being a check and balance on um on. Donald Trump. And I would say the one. other thing about that too is like, you. know, Senator Collins would like to. school us on how uh this all works. Well, I know very well how. appropriations works. And if she wants. to stop the funding for it, she has the.

ability to stop the funding for it, but. she's not willing to because she will. not stand up against Donald Trump and. Senator. >> So, I mean, sometimes it's that simple. Sometimes the argument you got to make. is look I you may feel one way, you. know, most of the time, but right now if. you want this and this is an argument. you can make at home to a lot of people. If you agree with me and it seems you do. that this war is stupid, I think we can. both agree that it ain't going to end. with Republicans in control of Congress.

The only way that because Trump's not. going to end it. The only way it's going. to end is if Democrats are in control of. Congress. And so if one of the most. important issues to you is the war and. the price of things as a result of the. war, then you should vote for Democrats. right now to be in control of Congress. because otherwise ain't nobody going to. stop this war. I think it's a very. simple uh and actually very correct. argument and I think it's really smart. Uh and it's nice by the way to be in a.

moment where we have the wind at our. back and we can make arguments like. that. Okay, now that was like a really. smart interesting argument. Meanwhile, let's check in on JD Vance and just how. desperate they're getting. Let's go to. this clip where Tapper breaks it down. pretty well. Vice President JD Vance was in Texas. today rallying for State Attorney. General Ken Paxton, who is a Senate. nominee there. His scandals have given. Democrats hope of taking a Texas Senate. seat for the first time since 1988.

So, how worried are Republicans about. Paxton losing? Well, we've apparently. reached a brand new campaign stage where. the vice president is insinuating that. the Texas Democratic Senate nominee, James Telerico, is gay. I love you too, sir. In a totally platonic way. To be clear, I I'm the vice president, not James. Terico. But I got to.

It's worse than that. A Taler Rica. statement uh in the past in which. Telerica was trying to express. compassion for trans kids was twisted by. the vice president into. well this. he he was asked what he loves in life. besides his own family and friends and. he responded without skipping a beat and. I quote trans children. Now, you got to wonder what the internet.

search history of a man like that looks. like. Ladies and gentlemen, you don't. want to find out. Neither do I. Not exactly the sign of a party. convinced that they can win on their. record or on ideas. >> Uh, you know, I I'm just a Jewish kid. who went to Catholic school. Um, so I. don't consider myself to be any kind of. expert in the teachings of Jesus, but I.

haven't even seen that clip of James. Talico saying that, but I bet it was. something along the lines of Jesus loves. everybody. I bet that's probably what he. was talking about. Um, and I bet JD. Vance knows that. And although also by. the way JD Vance is just like that. classic guy who's been given a. microphone and thinks that as a result. he must be really good at uh and really. just really charming. He's just like. that classic cringy kind of humor that's. not funny, but where he thinks it's.

funny and he think and he like anyway. like both of those jokes he made, even. if you were to take out that they're. offensive and mean and not based in any. sort of reality, uh they're also just. not funny. Those like what he thinks are. punchlines are not punchlines. Um. anyway, so uh but Chris Christie I think. summed this up really well. the way that. the Republican party is closing in a. really desperate fashion this campaign. and how their subservience to Trump is.

requiring them to make arguments that. they know are really really bad. arguments. And and I I'm gonna play this. in a second, but I just I want us to. hearken back and remember that in the. midterm in 2022 when we did surprisingly. well while Biden was president, part of. the reason that worked is because Biden. didn't jump down the throat of every. Democrat who said that they disagreed. with Biden or distanced themselves from. Biden on something. And when you think.

about the times during Obama's. presidency, uh I mean I I ran, you know, in 16 at a time when Obama was very. unpopular in in my state. Um and I, you. know, I think I disagreed with them on. like one thing, maybe two. Um but I. never ever got the sense that the Obama. administration expected feelalty and. loyalty from me. In fact, I got a much. stronger sense that they were like, "Hey, if you need to disagree with us. with us on something, do it." And almost.

encouraged me to when I was like, "No, I. really don't disagree with you on much.". That's like a healthy like that's not. just good political strategy. It's like. good for our country and for our. politics. Because if it's always like. blue versus red and that's it, that's. not a discussion, right? It's just going. to be zero sum, winner take all, whoever's in charge gets everything they. want. as opposed to when when there's. nuances in there and we can disagree on. things for real. Then like when we drive. consensus and compromise and things get.

done. Uh but you know Christiey's point. here is that it's lo that required. loyalty to the president is obviously. bad policy but his point here is that. it's really stupid politics. So let's go. ahead and uh let's go ahead and watch. this clip of Christie here. But look, as. a Republican, I sat here shaking my head. at the political malpractice that was. committed on this air with you by Tom. Emmer. Here is the Republican argument. for the last 3 weeks. It's okay to sell.

or to buy oil um from a thug KGB. dictator in Russia that will use it to. kill free Ukrainians. The American. people don't get the fact that the. economy is great. And so when they have. to pay all they have to pay at the. grocery store and at the gas station, they just don't get it. And by the way, it's okay to live stream a murder by the. United States government executing on. the death penalty. Those are our three. closing arguments to try to maintain our.

majorities in the House and Senate. This. is malpractice. And and the fact Tom is. smarter than that. He knows better than. that. But what you heard throughout it. is this absolute requirement that you. must stand by everything Donald Trump. says and does if you want to remain in. leadership in the House or the Senate. And it is it is malpractice to good. Republicans all across this country who. care about the issues we care about. And. then we have guys like Tom who know.

better on the air on his knee in front. of Donald Trump as he is saying things. like he said in the lead and here that. he can say the stupidest things in the. world and people will believe him. It's. not true anymore. >> Elon, what are you hearing? >> One of the ways you know that we're that. we've really got the wind at our back. right now is that when you listen to. guys like Chris Christie talk Chris. Christie made a decision, right? He. parted with Trump. He parted with Trump. in a big way, but he didn't become a. Democrat. He didn't even become an.

independent. Chris Christie made the. decision, I'm going to remain a. Republican, and I'm going to be very. critical of Trump. Uh, you can kind of get a sense now when. Christie is talking. He has an. enthusiasm. that he has not had over the last few. years because you I feel like a guy like. Chris Christie sees a light at. And now he. not a reckoning where people are. properly held accountable, but there is.

going to be a political moment. where people are going to look for where. they go next. And there's a real chance. that they might look to people who. remained Republican but were critical of. everything that was happening because. that might create an all new permission. structure for some people politically. And so when you see somebody like Chris. Christie being able to uh feel confident. and ascendant within the party, not. without it, espousing views like that,

that's how you know they're in real. trouble and we really have the wind at. our back. And so, you know, enjoy this. moment. Um, all right. Let's talk for a. minute about uh how corruption in the. Trump administration should be linked to. all of this. And we said this a bit last. week, but it's important to make the. point to people that it is not just a. matter of dumb policies that have. resulted in an increase in prices. Robbie was making this a point this. point two nights ago on CNN that they.

are managing to get quite rich, those in. the Trump administration. and they're they've and they don't seem. to care about the fact that things cost. more for you. In fact, they've been. saying. skip this protein. Uh, you know, tighten. your belt in this way. You know, don't. spend money on this. Like, we we have to. we have to tighten our belt. Well, they're just like taking our money and. engaging in all sorts of corruption to. get really rich. So, you know, there's. been Bloomberg News pointed out billions. of dollars worth of contracts predicting.

oil would fall and the. were placed about 15 minutes before. Trump announced a U-turn on Iran in a. post on Truth Social and then the. consumer um or the CFTC staff began to. investigate and then they were. immediately. uh Trump's tripled since he won the. presidency in 2024. Now, you'll mention. that to people and some people will be. like, "Well, you know, that's how it is. for rich folks. Like, once they're rich,

they just kind of get richer." No, no, no, no. His net worth tripled since he. won the presidency two years ago. The. guy's 80 years old and his and his net. worth tripled in the last two years. while he was supposed to be in a. full-time job for us. That's pretty fishy considering he's. telling all of us that we just need to. shut up about the fact that stuff costs. too much for us right now. Uh, and then. Aaron Blake had this on CNN. He said, "Trump has pardoned nine of the last 11. GOP congressmen to be convicted of.

federal crimes. His DOJ has indicted, tried to indict, or taken investigative. steps against 13 Democrats currently. serving in Congress. When it comes to. GOedly. been scrutinized, basically just. really difficult to ignore. Oh, and also. Trump did pardon one Democratic member. of Congress, but it mostly seemed to be. a ploy to get parties. And then when the. guy didn't switch parties, remember he. was super mad about it. Uh, and then. meanwhile, because they want us to.

understand that the economy is actually. doing better than we think and to not. look over here where the economy is not. doing well, the Trump administration is. delaying the release of IRS data on the. impact of the big beautiful bill. Now, why would they do that? They would do. that because their argument, not just. with Trump, but with Republicans for a. long time, has been, hey, here's how it. works. We give more money to rich people. because rich people are the smartest. with money. And then that creates a lot. more tax revenue because they do all. sorts of cool stuff with it and they. hire lots of people. And then, you know, that really helps us uh, you know, fill.

up the government budget and make sure. you get a good job. Of course, none of. that works. Uh, it's not really how it. works. And I guess was probably going to. make that clear. They said, "We'll just. wait on this. We just won't release this. at all." Uh, and then finally, this is. going to transition us into what we're. going to talk about after the break. Um, the Wall Street Journal has reported. that there are new speed limits on. Starlink terminals operated by Elon. Musk, SpaceX, uh, and disrupted drone. that has disrupted drone attacks over. Russian occupied Ukraine. Meaning, uh,

it's disrupted Ukraine from defending. itself. Ukrainian officials and mil are. saying this. That gets to the way in. which we are now uh very dramatically. pulling back from our support of Ukraine. and defending itself and now buddying up. to Russia which is a huge scary mistake. And when we come back from the break. we're going to talk. Senator from co-authored an oped with. General Mark Hurtling in the New York. Times about this. So be back in a. minute.

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to use our code uh to support our show. Uh, I've never had this happen before, but we lost the video and audio feed. So, I'm doing this from my phone. Can. you tell from the different audio. quality? But I didn't, you know, we've. got Senator King waiting to come on and. I'm ready to talk to him about this. oped. And I was like, I'm not going to. make him not come on the show because. something happened in my home internet. So, uh, with that, so now that we're. back and thanks everybody for hanging in.

while we weren't, um, Senator Angus. King, independent senator from Maine, been on the show before. Uh Senator King. uh wrote this op-ed with General Mark. Hurtling uh and it's all about the. dangers not just to Ukraine but to the. United States of us stepping back from. our relationship with them and you know. really stepping more into a relationship. with Russia and what that means for the. entire world. So let's see with me on. the phone. Can we still bring in Senator. King?

No, can't tell. Let's see. Ah, says he's logged off. This is fun. You know, sometimes this how it goes. While they try and get him back on, I'm. going to read to you some parts that I. was going to tee up about this op-ed. So, uh, one of the points that they make. is they say, "The danger of war between. America's autocratic adversaries and our. democratic allies is rising around the. world for one simple troubling reason.

the enemies of liberal democracy. increasingly think America is weak and. fickle. So the point being that you know. part of the way to uh avoid being in a. major war with China or with Russia is. to have them understand that we are not. unwilling to stand up for what we. believe in and we are not unwilling to. if worse comes to worse actually go to. you know armed conflict with them. That's one of the things that keeps us. out of armed conflict. It's been.

historically referred to as deterrence. Um they go on to make the point that. aggressors rarely attack their potential. victims all at once, but rather one at a. time, usually proclaiming their. ambitions are limited. Hitler started. with the Sudin land and chess. Czechoslovakia and only then went on to. Poland, Belgium, and France. Mr. Putin. has started with Ukraine. It's a super. important point because you hear people. on the right um say all the time that uh. you know well it's a limited engagement. It's just it's between Ukraine and.

Russia. It has nothing to do with us. No, that's where it starts. They want to. go a lot a lot bigger than Ukraine. Um. they go on to make the point that um the. effectiveness of deterrence depends. entirely on what the adversary believes. If either our capacity or our will is in. doubt, deterrence fails and catastrophe. becomes a lot more likely. And the grave. danger we now face is the current. administration has undermined both. prongs of deterrent strategy in. different theaters. A lack of will in. Ukraine and a lack of capacity in in.

Iran. So, we're trying to get Senator King. back, but what I want to tee up for this. conversation is just the idea that when. we do something like we did this week, which is to completely reset our policy. toward Ukraine and say, you know what, uh, as Trump did, that Ukraine ought to. get rid of Zillinsky and they ought to. make a deal with Russia, who was the. aggressor here. Ukraine is the victim. Don't forget that. Um, he completely. abandoned Zinsky. He makes some claim. about there being a ceasefire on energy.

when neither side knew anything about. that. Neither side confirmed that at. all. And then while we're sanctioning. countries that are dealing with Russia, he in order to try and get diesel prices. down for the midterms goes and gets a. bunch of uh um a bunch of other um a. bunch of diesel from Russia, completely. undermining the whole thing, which puts. Russia in a better position to attack. Ukraine. Um, it makes no sense. So, with. that, I think we have Senator King now.

Let's see if we can bring him in. Okay, Senator King, thank you. We're having. all sorts of technical difficulties. In. fact, this is the first time I've ever. had to try to do this from my phone. So, >> well, Jason, Jason, I don't want to. interrupt you, man, because you're doing. such a good job. >> I'm just reading your stuff. >> I'll just sit here and say, "Amen.". >> Uh, well, I appreciate that. I'm just. I'm just reading your stuff. uh cuz I. didn't know if I had your back cuz I'm. just looking at these little uh through. a little like Periscope on my phone. Um. so I was teeing it up. Start with uh how.

you felt this week when you found out. that now we are um we were going to go. get diesel from Russia. Uh like what was. your initial reaction to that? >> My my initial reaction is this is. Trump's Munich. This is u a disastrous decision and it. makes no sense, Jason, because it's not. going to affect diesel prices here. In. fact, yesterday diesel futures were up. 5%. That's the market telling Trump he.

they don't they don't buy what he's what. he's selling here. Uh to put it in. perspective, the the amount of diesel. that we're talking about getting this. month that he talks about in his in his. truth social post. is about three and a half hours of the. diesel that's used in the in the world. Uh you know, three and a half hours in a. given month. I mean, it's it's nonsense. It's literally a drop in the bucket. So, the question is, who does this help? And. the answer is Putin. It helps him. It's.

it's it there's no other beneficiary of. this. And I loved it when the president. said he wanted to thank Vladimir Putin. Thank him for what? He's not giving us. anything. He's selling diesel that uh. he's going to use to fund the war. against Ukraine. I mean, it the the. whole thing stinks. It's it's a uh it's. a disastrous decision. And as you know, some Republicans have started to speak. up. all the Republicans should speak up. because they all voted in 2022. The vote.

was 100 to zero in the Senate that we. weren't gonna buy any oil or oil. products from from Ukraine. So, not only. is this, you know, terrible policy, but. it's illegal and uh the Congress is. hopefully going to respond. >> Yeah. From Russia, you mean? I think. >> Yeah. Did I say Ukraine? I meant Russia. Sorry. >> No, absolutely. I I I got it. Um, okay. So, I was trying to, and maybe you can. help me. I was trying to come up with.

the right analogy for this this week, and I just couldn't. And I tried. something. I I like put it on blue sky, but I don't think it really worked. It's. becau because I was thinking about the. fact that, okay, so we went into a war. in Iran that didn't make any sense, that. we should not have gone into, and that. war is not going well. A supporter of. Iran is Russia, right? Our ally is. Ukraine, which Russia has invaded. And. now we are enriching and doing business. with Russia in order to deal with the.

problem at home politically caused by uh. the war with Iran. And like the only. thing I come up with is it's like you're. having trouble affording your mortgage. So, you get a payday loan to try and. alleviate some of the credit card debt. you got when you paid your mortgage. because ultimately that really affected. your credit score and now you need to. get that down. Like, I can't come. It's. like so boneheaded I can't figure out an. analogy. >> Here's one that I came up with and we.

had this was a case here in Maine some. years ago where we had a a volunteer. fireman who was uh charged and convicted. of arson. He started fires because he. wanted to be the guy to help put them. out. And in this case, Trump is trying. to fix a problem he created. The price. of diesel on, you know, February 27th. was what, three something, 380, I think. And this entire increase is due to the. Iran war. And now he's trying to be some. kind of hero to fix it. But what he's.

doing to fix it won't do anything about. diesel prices. And it's only going to. help Putin. Listen, I made a list the. other day. I sat down. I don't have it. in front of me. Putin's wish list for. America. If if Putin had had set up had. set out and said, "Okay, here are the. things I wish they would do." This guy, this president is doing almost all of. them. Try to break up NATO, withdraw our. troops or reposition our troops in. Eastern Europe, abandon Ukraine, uh.

break up our alliances around the world. All of these things divide our country, weaken democracy, undermine confidence. in our elections. I mean, this these are. this is what Putin would have, you know, if he if he was uh had his had his had. his brothers, this is exactly what he'd. be doing. And that's what's happening. It's it's it's tragic for our country. But the point that General Hurtling and. I wanted to make in that oped is is. bigger than this terrible deal and and. those kinds of things.

Deterrence is what has kept us safe for. 80 years from a world war. The idea that. if somebody attacks us or our allies, they're going to pay a huge price and. therefore don't do it. The best war is. the one that doesn't occur. The problem. is deterrence rests on two facts. One is. capacity or capability. What do you have. in the way of weapons and and manpower? But the other is will. Do you have the. will to use those? And the key to it,

Jason, is the adversary has to believe. you. They have to believe that you have. the capacity and you have the will to. use it. Well, we've undermined both of. those principles in the last year and a. half. Number one, we've shown in. Ukraine, we don't have the will. We. don't we're not going to stick to it. We. don't have the stomach for a prolonged. conflict. And in Iran, we've shown the. limits of our capacity, our capability. We've been bombing Iran on and off for. seven months. no achievement of whatever. strategic goals there were at the.

beginning, which we never really were. clear on. So, this is a bigger problem, Jason, than just what's going on right. now. This is endangering our country on. an ongoing basis. Basically, instead of. deterrence, what this administration is. providing is an invitation. to probe and attack and move in to uh. neutral countries and countries that are. our allies. I think that's such an important point. and I think using like explicitly.

talking about the concept of deterrence. is important because so often folks on. the left who you know typically are the. opposition here to Trump uh have I think. been hesitant to talk about deterrence. because it feels sort of 80s cold warish. and then it makes people feel like you. know maybe that's the old way of doing. things. But you're you're absolutely. right like deterrence and the concept of. it is what created the world order that. kept us safe for a really long time,

right? And and I and I think it's it's. it's also just really important because. often times when we complain about. things like abandoning Ukraine or uh. trying to uh get out of, you know, any. responsibilities with NATO or. criticizing NATO. I think the right. often. characterizes and sometimes unfairly but. successfully the opposition as just.

being precious about institutions and. norms. And I think sometimes that makes. the American people go, "Yeah, like who. cares about NATO? Who cares about these. things? You're just trying to be. politically correct and and polite when. there's no room for that." But your. point, I mean, you even titled the. article something about it's not just. about testosterone. that the point here. is that these this this order that was. created by deterrence, it's not just. about trying to keep institutions and. norms in place. This stuff has a. practical uh use and it it keeps us out.

of other wars. >> Well, that's the whole point. And and. you know, people forget we had two. horrendous World Wars in 25 years in the. 20th century. And it was the structure. after World War II that was deliberately. established of deterrence that uh has. kept us safe. We we've been in conflicts. of course, but nothing even close to. World War I or World War II because. Russia and now China have known until.

the last year or so that they better not. mess around with uh with attacking us or. our allies or they'd pay a high price. That's the whole that's the whole idea. That's the keystone of our national. security strategy and it has been for 80. years. And that's why General Hurtling. and I wanted to write that piece. because, you know, we're we're sort of. delued with daily news like the the. terrible G diesel deal. But we're. missing the big picture, which is uh.

here's a perfect example. Putin is. probing Eastern Europe right now. drones, sabotage, cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns trying to mess. around with their politics. And instead. of showing that we're going to not. tolerate that, we're just backing away. We're repositioning our troops. We're. reducing our force posture in Eastern. Europe, which is basically a signal to. Putin that, you know, do what you want.

in in Eastern Europe and we're not going. to really bother you. the next thing you. know, we're going to be in a real. serious conflict uh where this guy Putin. wants to reestablish the Soviet Union. He's told us that. That's what he wants. to do. And at the very moment that he's. pushing and probing, we're as I say, as. we said in the article, it's precisely. the wrong message at precisely the wrong. time. >> So, okay, last question, Senator. Um and. you sort of talk about this toward the.

end of the article. uh let's say, you. know, two years from now, uh we we get a. president who understands all these. points that you're making. Um how do we, for lack of a better uh better way of. putting it, how do we put the crap back. in the horse? Like how do we undo this? What what will be the steps? >> Well, I think there there are a couple. steps. Number one, and you know, we. wrote this before this diesel deal. Uh, one of the first steps would be to. enforce the Lindsey Graham sanctions law.

uh to put pressure on the Russians to uh. finally uh get get out of this uh. invasion of Ukraine. And by the way, I've got to say I'm really sick and. tired of the president talking about. Zalinsky and say you got to make a deal. >> You make a deal. This isn't a real. estate deal, Mr. President. This is a. country fighting for its existence. that's being brutally attacked. civilians, schools, hospitals, energy. infrastructure. Uh these people are. fighting for their lives. This isn't.

like, oh yeah, we'll give you a little a. few acres here or there. Uh so one of. the things is to enforce those. sanctions. That's what's going to put. pressure on Putin. Instead of enforcing. them, of course, over the weekend the. the administration went in exactly the. opposite direction. Uh the other thing, there's several other things that we. need to do. We need to reestablish and. quit pissing off our allies. One of the things I've learned being on. armed services and intelligence now for. more than a dozen years is.

allies are our asymmetric advantage in. the world. China has customers. We have. allies. Russia doesn't have much of. either allies or they don't have any. allies to amount to anything and and and. no nothing in the way of customers. We. have allies and this administration has. systematically. alienated those allies whether it's in. Asia or or in in Europe or in other. parts of the world. So a couple things. is start to rebuild those alliances.

uh enforce the sanctions uh against. Russia and and go back in and and. support the the Ukraine which would be. the best way to deter Russia's. ambitions. dictators want to go further. and as I say Putin has told us that. So. I think I think we've just got to. reestablish. uh the relationships and the and the. structure uh that we had before the last. two years. >> Well, I really appreciate you in the.

general writing uh this article and I. appreciate you making the points and I. appreciate you coming back on. Always. good to have you. Thank you so much for. joining us, Senator. >> Anytime, man. Great to see you. >> You too. All right. Uh well, so Robbie will be. back next week. Um I will be out next. week and then the week after that we'll. we'll both be here. Um I will do one for. for us. I guess it's it's one for me uh. since you know it's just me here. Um I. had a big thing announced this week um. that was really exciting that I've been. uh kind of sitting on been building and.

not been able to talk about for um like. a well over a year. Robbie's known about. it uh and people close to me have known. about it but it's really exciting which. is that um I launched uh Twin Pines. Entertainment which is a film and. television studio that I co-founded with. uh two friends of mine who are. experienced uh Hollywood executives and. all three of us are are natives of here. in the Midwest, me from Kansas City, them from St. Louis. It's based in. Kansas City with offices in LA and it's. going to focus on uh you know Heartland.

oriented stories, film, television um. through the lens of sports fandom. Uh. and it's just basically under the. premise and and our belief that you know. our our entire lives really uh Hollywood. has sort of overlooked the middle of the. country in terms of where to set things. and what kind of stories to tell. Now, I. will credit them for having recently. discovered uh the existence of Texas, and I love all those shows. Um, but. we're interested in seeing a lot more. stuff uh about and for this part of the.

country, and we think that there's a. rich audience there for it, and I'm. really excited. It's obviously a new. chapter for me. Um, I've, you know, been. a storyteller in the sense that I've. written a couple of pretty successful. books, but this is a different kind of. storytelling, and it's really fun. Um, and I'm I'm super excited about it. And. if you want to learn more about it, you. can go to uh my socials, particularly I. I put a couple articles about it up on. on my Instagram, which you can check. out. Um so that's been uh that's been. really fun. It's been fun to get to tell. people about that thing that we've been. building um for quite some time. So a.

new new chapter for me. But anyway, thanks everybody for joining. You can. find all that at Jason Cander. That's. where all my stuff is. You can find all. Ravi stuff at RaviGupta. Um thank you to. the Midas Mighty. And remember, we all. have a platform. Make sure to use yours. today.