AOC vs. Bezos

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[01:51] Welcome to Pod Save America, I'm Jon Favreau. I'm Jon Lovett. I'm Tommy Vitor. On today's show, Trump says the ceasefire with Iran is on, quote, life support. [02:02] to China. We'll also talk about his new plan to make Venezuela our 51st state. That's a perfect plan. Perfect plan. The follow-up from the Virginia Supreme Court's decision to throw out the Democrats' new maps. [02:12] AOC taking on Jeff Bezos and what she might run for in 2028 and transportation secretary Sean Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos Duffy. [02:20] Getting back to their roots. [02:21] with a new reality television show. Yeah. Excited. Great. [02:27] Quick note before we start, if you're a Friend of the Pod subscriber... [02:30] which if you aren't, [02:31] You should be. You can now buy tickets for this year's Crooked Con. [02:36] special presale just for subscribers. Just for you. [02:45] because you hate pro-democracy independent media, and you love listening to podcast ads. [02:50] You can still buy Crooked Con tickets, but you're going to have to wait until next week, starting on May 19th. You might get a job at CBS. [02:56] You might get a job at CBS. You might get to someday interview Bibi Netanyahu. Bibi Netanyahu. Say, sir, why are you so great? [03:02] Why is your leadership so impressive? There's definitely a limited range of questions you can ask Netanyahu if you get the job at CBS versus if you interview him here at Pod Save America, which I don't think is going to happen anytime soon. Rhodes has got an asking. I think we will be getting Netanyahu before or after we get Biden.

[03:21] Might be an actuarial question. Anyway, either way, CricketCon is going to be a big fun party right after the midterms, November 5th through 7th. [03:32] because he thought that was like jinxing the midterms. I'm like, it's still going to be a big fun part, even if we... [03:36] We're going to still have a party. We're still going to live. Yeah. I mean, you know, what choice do we have? Gallows humor is still humor. June in 2017. I did. [03:45] I did. And we don't connect with two things. And when Trump won, I remember telling Emily, there might not be a wedding now. Yeah. [03:51] And she's like, on related reasons. [03:57] Will she listen? Who knows? That did take you in through with it. Well, Hannah won't tell her. Hannah won't talk about that joke. Don't worry about that. Anyway, don't put this under a comment of Emily's Instagram. [04:11] You know someone's going to send this to her. I'm going to send this to her. Oh, I know. I hate the snitch tagger. It's going to turn up at your wedding is what it's going to turn up. Anyway, you should go subscribe. What are we talking about? [04:21] the pod subscriber. No ads for any of your favorite podcasts at Crooked, and you get to support Crooked Media, and you get subscriber-only shows, and you get all of our sub-stack newsletters. And, by the way, you can start buying a ticket for CrookedCon right now. They're going fast. Go get it. November 5th through 7th, Washington, D.C. It's CrookedCon.com, and you can become a subscriber at Crooked.com slash friends. [04:41] All right. It appears that last week's siren emojis about the U.S. and Iran closing in on a one-page memo to end the war... [04:48] have given way to this week's siren emojis about Trump possibly resuming military action in Iran.

[04:53] Live by the siren emoji. [04:55] Die by the siren emoji. Are we talking about reporters? I mean, that's who usually gives them. Well, actually, no. Reporters do, and now also just random influencers and accounts that don't give you any accurate information whatsoever. It lends such credibility. It does. And it starts with drudge. The siren started drudge. That's true. The siren doesn't make sense as a news break. Then reporters started doing it, and then just random influencer just, you know, trying to gather information that's not in any way, that just shows up in your 4U algorithm. People with names like Joey Bloomberg. [05:25] Bloomberg is reporting it. It's like I collapsed the market for like five minutes. It is all caps anyway. Anyway, all of this comes after Trump rejected Iran's response to the one-page memo. They kept telling it was one page. It's the right length of the memo. They got it all on one page. Anyway, rejected, which Iran waited 10 days to send and included demands for U.S. reparations and permanent Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz. [05:55] initial reaction in the Oval on Monday. I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance. [06:10] of living. [06:12] unbelievably weak. I would say I would call it the weakest right now. After reading that piece of garbage they sent us, I didn't even finish reading it. It was just unacceptable. You know, a lot of people said, well, does he have a plan? Yeah, of course they do. I have the best plan ever. I have a plan. You know what I mean? It's a very simple plan. I don't know why you don't say it like it is. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Were you to allow the removal of all their enrichment? Yeah.

[06:42] ago. They didn't [06:44] Okay? They did two days ago. They said, "You're gonna have to take it. We were gonna go with them." But they changed their mind because they didn't put it in the paper. I've had to deal with them four or five times. They changed their mind. They're very dishonorable people. The leadership. [07:00] Exhausting. Who would have thunk it? He's learning a lot of lessons over and over and over again. Maybe not learning them. It drives me crazy when he says, I have a plan. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. No, that's a goal. Yeah. That's what you want. What a plan. The plan is how you get to that. [07:13] Yeah, right. That's a destination. You need a route. You need a journey. So far as we start week 11 of the war, it doesn't seem like that plan is bearing fruit. It's also funny that he didn't read the whole one page memo. Yeah, finish. Well, yeah, get to the bottom of the thing. Maybe there's some good stuff at the bottom. What if there's some pictures? Tommy, why do you think the latest deal fell apart? And what other options does Trump have at this point? [07:43] We just want you to stop blockading the Straddle Hormuz and give us all this shit. And that's our take. And so now we're back. So all the options are bad. I mean, he can restart the war, which is extremely unlikely to lead to regime change, but will certainly lead to economic chaos in the region. He can keep the blockade going and hope that the economic pain breaks the Iranian regime before it breaks the global economy. [08:05] I don't think that's going to work either. And then he can find a way to declare victory and slink away, which seems like the most likely option, but Iran will probably control the straight-horn moves in that case.

[08:16] I'm very interested in how he keeps talking about the leaders in all these different ways. First, he likes the new leaders because they're better than the old leaders. They killed all the old leaders. Then he also does sometimes, we don't know who the leaders are. And then this one was, they're awful. They're dishonorable people. They're lunatics. [08:34] Yeah, it's also we've been through so many rounds of reporting in which we're where Trump felt we're on the precipice of a deal and then the talks fall apart. But if you take out the spinning coming from. [08:45] the administration, [08:47] Thank you. [08:48] Is it possible that really they've just been far apart the whole time? Because the Venn diagram of on one side you have Trump. [08:54] requiring a deal that is better than the jcpoa the obama deal because he said that deal was the worst deal ever made on the other side you have iran in a stronger position when the war began wanting a better deal than that including uh uh consequences to the yes yeah to the u.s reparations for the cost of the war and uh the power it's gained from having control of the strait or those circles don't overlap so what are we doing here yeah exactly we just we keep and then the [09:24] a coaster, but really we're just dealing with the kind of strategic... [09:27] like reality of this stupid fucking war. [09:31] Yeah. It sounds like bums me out personally. Same. [09:34] Well, it also sounds like, and you know, they said that they, in all these plans and proposals that Iran keeps sending back or responding to, it sounds like they just want to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz. No doubt. And why wouldn't they? Or they want sanctions relief. Or they want sanctions relief. They want one or the other. They need a financial lifeline. Right. But it's also like they're sending over their maximalist position. We send over our maximalist position, and then we just get mad and walk away. That's not how negotiations work. Get in a room.

[09:57] hash it out, give a little on each side, maybe we can come to some conclusion. But they're just like, they're not even trying. [10:03] Trump's like, I didn't read the one-page memo all the way to the bottom. [10:08] Bob Kagan, the hawkish neocon Iraq war-supporting Bob Kagan, that one, just wrote a piece in the Atlantic. He's Robert to me. I'm not close enough to call him Bob. I call him Robert. Bobby, yeah. I call him Bobby. He just wrote a piece in the Atlantic titled Checkmate in Iran that starts, It's hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, [10:33] nor ignored. He then ticks through every conflict since Pearl Harbor and basically makes the case that Trump's fuck-up in Iran will be more consequential [10:41] Then all of them. What did you guys think? I just want to just, before we get into the details of it, the neocon high dungeon of the 2000s I still do not miss. Look, this is a very big blunder. I think it's a little premature to be saying it's worse than Pearl Harbor. Oh, see, I thought Pearl Harbor was actually one of the easier ones because Pearl Harbor's thing was like we came back and we won that one pretty decisively. Sure, in hindsight, it looks pretty fucking good. But a year or so after Pearl Harbor, things were pretty up in the air. [11:11] to go to iraq because that one was he was like yeah then we left then eventually we left iraq stay more stable and i'm like oh did we a lot of yada yada yada there for iraq that was my big note too like i want to build the biggest tent possible but um his idea that iraq was mitigated by like a strategic change and then all's well that ends well because like saddam's not there now i yeah that was a little much for me but this is all like throat clearing around what was truly a bracing

[11:41] including laying out like just how few options Trump has, because part of the reason he called off military strikes, wanted a ceasefire is because of the leverage Iran had when it was striking oil and gas infrastructure in the reason in the region, how he can try to declare victory. But that still leaves the Strait of Hormuz, how like that all the options that Trump has are fucking terrible. Yeah, they're all terrible. And also the Israelis have also just been crystal clear that they don't think the war is over. [12:11] 60 Minutes, he said as much. There's also the war in Lebanon. If you want a weaker ceasefire, I could point you to one, the one in Lebanon, where they're bombing each other all the time, and there's constant fighting daily. There's casualties all the time. Yeah, so I agree with this assessment that the Iranians are not going to give up the Strait of Hormuz unless they get sanctions relief or something really big for it, and that we look weak and we look kind of feckless and unreliable. Yeah. [12:36] It's also like the gall of Trump saying, oh, these people are dishonorable. Like you used previous talks as a smokescreen to bomb the leadership. You have ripped up the previous... [12:50] agreement and you may not have liked it but it was negotiated in good faith by the united states which you can you know which uh uh whose authority came from obama to you so you've kind of undermined our credibility there they have no confidence that trump won't change his mind in a couple months and resume bombing if they accept a deal they have no confidence that israel uh won't uh bomb iran if it views it in its interest even if there is a deal so just like the the the

[13:15] kind of the [13:18] the kind of the way in which we're like stuck in this morass because Trump went into this. So have cocked is just it's it's it's just a gruesome. And it's when you step back and look at it. I think there were times in this conflict where people said, oh, you know, I remember thinking this at one point, oh, he could end up just going back to like Obama's around deal. Right. And then call it a victory. But it's going to be like around. We're like, oh, you know, you all criticized Obama for this. I think it's pretty clear now that [13:42] There's no way he gets a deal. [13:44] That's better or even the same as the Iran deal. It's going to be worse because when the Iran deal was made, Iran didn't control the straight of Hormuz. No doubt. Like this piece made me think about the like not the I knew about the strategic importance of the straight. But just from Iran's perspective now, they've got the control. Even they get some sanctions relief. They're going to have to get a lot more sanctions relief and a lot when they're calling it reparations or whatever than they ever were before because they got the straight. They have full control over it now. [14:14] some tolls. Maybe they share control with other Gulf nations. But it seems like the scenario now where Iran willingly signed some kind of a deal where they fully give up the Strait of Hormuz, and it goes back to being like an international waterway seems very slim. There's no chance. They just got this incredible toy, and they're going to play with it for as long as they want until it breaks or someone takes it away. There's just no chance. Also, it could get worse. If Trump decides

[14:44] but also the Houthi rebels could get involved. They're in Yemen. They could start firing at ships in the Red Sea. They could choke off. The Saudis have been sending a lot of their oil and gas that they can't get out through the Strait of Hormuz west through a pipeline, and then it'll get out through the Red Sea or through the Suez Canal. If the Houthis get involved and they choke off those access points too, prices could hit $300 a barrel. It's a disaster. And also, by the way, we're not even talking about the reason we're there, which is the nuclear material, the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium, [15:14] Sometimes it's dust. Sometimes it's critical to get out. It is still sitting in Iran. And also all of that material was enriched after Trump pulled out of the JCPOA. So it's a problem he created and now is probably not going to solve. I like the scenario that he mentioned where they were all we were going to go in together with the Iranians, like just a group field trip to go to dig under the rubble and to find all the nuclear dust together. I'd go. I thought that was a real. That's a. [15:40] That's a show I'd watch. So this is around giving up the straight through some negotiation. Then there's the other option of trying to take it by force. [15:51] That requires, like, you know, U.S. Navy ships potentially getting fired on and Iran's small boats firing on other ships, too. And then Kagan points out in this piece, too, even if they're not firing on the ships, they can retaliate against Gulf energy infrastructure like they did many weeks ago before the ceasefire. So, like, they have plenty of options, Iran.

[16:21] give a shit about their own people. They kill protesters, all that kind of stuff. They surely are not going to care if they're going to inflict a ton of economic pain on their country. It's not like they care a lot about their people. So yeah, they're going to have the appetite for a lot of pain. Yeah, that's the part that's sort of like chilling about where we're at, because we're in this sort of stalemate in which Trump looks like a loser. He can try to declare victory, but there'll [16:51] and now controlling the Strait of Hormuz, or there's escalation, and we've already done [16:57] We've already launched a massive... [17:00] campaign against Iran and the regime held together, what escalation looks like, how far they'd have to go, because the next escalation is toward the regime collapsing. And that's a combination of economic pressure to squeeze them. That's more an intense military action. And while that is happening, even if it were to happen relatively quickly, you're still talking about Iran unloading whatever it's willing to do in the Gulf. And so just there are terrible [17:30] And this was totally like Trump is a drunk guy at the bar. He's been lifting a lot. We decided to pick a fight. [17:36] with the crazy guy who has cauliflower ear. And that guy is kicking the shit out of him and is willing to go a lot further to win this fight than Donald Trump is. [17:45] and take a lot more pain and it's not going to end well. Yeah. And by the way, you also killed his father, I guess. And there's no gold toilet burn. Like it is like, like there was something someone said once a long time ago, which is like, uh, if someone is willing to fight you, it means they have less to lose. Yep. And, uh,

[18:01] I don't think you've ever learned that because I don't think he's ever been in a real fight. No. [18:12] Pod Save America is brought to you by Nutrafol. Real change comes from small things you do every day that quietly add up to big improvements. That's the idea behind Nutrafol. It's built around a simple, consistent approach to hair health that works from within and delivers visible results over time, not overnight. I take Nutrafol. And basically, I've had, listen. You have so much hair there, I can't even see your face. It would be, if it were up to, listen, if you left it up to nature, basically, I'd be a great swimmer, you know, just like nothing. But I've used the power of modern medicine and defiance of God's will to have hair on top of my head. But even still, I notice like [18:42] six months ago that it was like thinning a bit. And I was like, oh, because I'm out of options. But then I started using Nutrafol and red light therapy. And the combination genuinely really brought my hair back. Red light therapy. Yes. [18:54] The combo has been great. Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand, and it's the number one hair growth supplement brand personally used by dermatologists. Nutrafol's hair growth supplements are peer-reviewed, NSF certified for sport and clinically tested. It's not a one-size-fits-all approach. Nutrafol offers multiple formulas for men and women tailored to different life stages like postpartum or menopause and lifestyle factors such as plant-based diet, so you get support that's actually right for you. Adding Nutrafol to your daily routine is easy. Order online, no prescription needed, with automated deliveries and free shipping to keep you on track.

[19:24] I do it every day. It's part of my routine. And I do the red light therapy at night. And the combo I feel like has genuinely worked. Let your hair become one less thing, taking up space in your head and see thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding in just three to six months with Nutrafol. And it did take the time. It did. At first, I was like, oh, no. [19:40] Oh, no, my wedding. I'm back. Nutraful is offering our listeners $10 off for your first month's subscription. Free shipping when you visit Nutraful.com. And hit your promo code crooked. That's Nutraful.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com. Promo code crooked. Pod Save America is brought to you by Rocket Money. What ridiculous subscription did you discover you were paying for? Any embarrassing doubles? Yeah, a ton of them all the time. There was a time where I was trying to find like a good workout app that gives you some workouts to do. Yeah. And then you like sign up and you subscribe. [20:10] Three workout apps I never use. What am I doing? I was paying for all these different things. At some point, I was paying for one of them twice. Ridiculous. Rocket Money allows you to track subscriptions and cancel them within the app with just a few taps. In fact, Rocket Money has saved users over $880 million in canceled subscriptions. You can categorize automatic transactions across your accounts and customize categories with tags to help shed light on your spending patterns. Set budgets and savings goals. Rocket Money users who create a financial goal in the app save over $70 on average within the first 30 days. [20:40] insights and regular reports on your spending habits. You can even receive real-time alerts for large transactions, upcoming bills, and low balances. Consolidate your checking savings, loans, and investment accounts into a single dashboard to give you a clear picture of your finances. You can even set automated savings with adjustable amounts and frequency. Just set it and forget it to grow toward your goals. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at

[21:10] Cricutrocketmoney.com slash Cricut. [21:15] Good news though for all you drivers wondering if we're ever going to see $3 a gallon gas again. Trump said Monday he's considering suspending the federal gas tax, which is currently about 18 cents a gallon for gasoline and 24 cents a gallon for diesel. The President said he'd suspend the tax for as long as it takes, which seems like not that long if you believe Kevin Hassett, which of course you should, who just said oil prices will drop quickly before the midterms once "the gusher opens." [21:40] Where's the gusher? I guess in the straight? It's in Chuck Schumer's office, now they'd heard about the gas tax bill. [21:45] It excites him. Sorry. Just because he loves it. You know, he does a press conference. Yeah, no, for sure. For sure. Suspending the gas tax. Good idea or great idea? Yeah, suspend the gas tax. Release all the strategic petroleum reserve. Get rid of all the sanctions on Iran and maybe Russia while you're at it. Just go nuts. Prices will stay high, but now we won't be able to pay for highways or mass transit. It's a great idea. Let's do it. Yeah, we already can't pay for those things anyway. [22:15] gas. The assets is supplemental, but we still pay for it ourselves. I mean, having a gas tax is a good idea. The politics of suspending it are great. Just do it. [22:22] This is said like someone who was on Hillary Clinton's primary campaign in 2008. [22:27] I don't even remember. Were we forced to say? I had to think about that, too, because it was like the mandate fight. No, you guys, when we did the Indiana and North Carolina primaries— [22:35] Hillary was saying we should suspend the gas tax. And Obama was saying that's just a gimmick and it's bad and we shouldn't do it. And it's not really going to affect your prices that much. Is that when John McCain sent tire gauges to us? That's something different. That was when we were going to solve. That was when we wanted people to check. He just suggested people check their tires. And they're like, you fucking piece of shit.

[23:01] We like running on these soft tires. Cushy. It's cushy. We're not going to fill up my tires. [23:05] communist bastard. But the point of it is it doesn't actually bring down the prices. No, it's $0.16 to $0.18 a gallon, and then a little bit more for diesel. I mean, it's a bigger deal for... [23:16] truck drivers, commercial, like it does make a big difference for people like that. But it's also ridiculous that Trump said he would do this. Can't do it without Congress. There's some bipartisan legislation that was floating around. It might get a little more lift now that he said it, but he can't do it on his own. Or I guess he's not supposed to do it on his own. Who knows he can try anyway. And yeah, of course, it robs the government of, you know, revenue. It can't afford to lose because we have a lot of big ticket items that we need to pay [23:46] And now apparently painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool American flag blue, which along with some other repairs is apparently going to cost $13.1 million, according to David Fahrenthold at the Times. This is apparently an 88% jump in the cost of what it's going to take to repaint the reflecting pool. And you know why it jumped so high? Because Donald Trump decided to give a no-bid contract to the guy who did all his pools at Bedminster. [24:15] which is Rudy Giuliani hope he feels better they're trying to sue it to stop it it was funny the guy that was suing look it's a process thing but also we just think they chose a bad color which you know they did the tackiest fucking thing come on it doesn't need to look like a god damn splash mountain thing the best blue is North Carolina Carolina blue UNC colors

[24:44] That would be pretty bright in the reflecting pool. I don't know. I'm just making this up. Why does Kevin Hassett always – he looks like Dennis the Menace just took down the biggest nitrous balloon you've ever seen. Then he just spouts like economic bullshit on CNN. It's like he spouts the best – Yeah, he's the best. Get him out there. Yeah. [24:59] Get him out there. $13 million for the reflecting pool. They're voting on the ballroom this week. Remember, that's a billion dollars that they want to add in security. That's a lot of security. Did you see what... What are we doing to that thing? Speaking of your boy, Chuck Schumer, he coined a new term for Republicans because of the ballroom. Did you see what it was? Oh, I didn't. No. Ballroom Republicans. No. [25:20] He's calling the party ballroom Republicans. I know it's one of those. I'm like, it's definitely not using a scalpel there. More of a sledgehammer. But maybe he throws out ballroom Republicans and then everyone – it's like a signal. And everyone says it in a better way. But everyone knows what the message is because he – Shots me at this point last week that because this billion dollars is in the budget, they're all going to have to vote on it. And I think that's great. It's a yes or no vote on the fucking ballroom. Terrific. Yeah, that's good. Terrific. The idea that – They're saying, oh, it's security. Security. Secret Service needs it. Well, would they need it if they didn't have the fucking ballroom? [25:50] Hey, but it's like you'd knock down the East Wing and you got to rebuild it. Did you did you not? Was it a different America in which there wasn't security? Yeah. When you knock down a building. Did you put that line item in the budget when you were doing up the budget for the new ballroom? You knew what the thing was going to fucking cost. It's like it now it's like every fucking now it's like a football stadium where, you know, these donors are going to go to the big unveiling because they're the ones responsible. But the vast majority of the cost of the taxpayers, because of building the if the actual kind of construction is 300 million, but securing the facility is a billion dollars.

[26:20] and required in order to ever use it. It's a taxpayer ballroom, just 100%. Just trying to add it up here. We got, there's the ballroom, there's the... [26:29] Trump-Kennedy Center. There's the Arch. We haven't even started building the Arch yet. Well, get going. We got the, and now the Reflecting Pool. [26:38] They're also, that UFC fight, that's going to take some doing to put up that and take it down on the White House lawn. Now, some of this is like privately funded. Landscaping. It is, of course, it's the worst of all worlds for Trump, best of all worlds for us in the politics. But it's like some of it's being funded by major donors, corporate donors who now get special access to Trump. [26:59] because of their donation, and then the rest is the taxpayers flip the bill. So it's like a good mix of shady influence of corporate allies of Trump and just good old-fashioned corruption. The Reflecting Pool brought to you by Raytheon. So when you're reflecting on your life, you like to think about... [27:18] The drones that like, hey, we got really the reflecting pool wasn't a problem. No, I'm open to the possibility that they could use a ballroom. I don't think it would have been my priority. Right. But the reflecting pool is just doing its thing. It was just it's not the wrong color. It looks great. It's classic. I do think. Listen, I've said this before. [27:36] No offense to Steven Spielberg. I think that that World War II memorial. Oh, yeah. This is my position, which I think is, I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't want the final design. [27:45] trickle-down ballroom. Did Steven Spielberg design it? No, he was part of the post-saving private Ryan. He was helped raise money for it. He was kind of a big booster of it. I don't know exactly what his direct involved. He was not the designer of it, but he was a big face of getting it done. So the Democrat takes over. We're going to bulldoze the ballroom. Bulldoze the World War II memorial. No, no, no. I don't want that. Listen, it stands. What do we paint in the reflecting pool? Is that where Jenny and Forrest Gump reunited? Was that in the reflecting pool? Yes.

[28:15] It is. Don't mess with that, Landmark. Look, painting the reflecting pool, kind of undoing that, that's an easy one. Also, all the gold on the White House. That's coming off. That's easy. The writing on the outside of the oval, that's like cursive gold writing oval this way. Just Cuckliffe's here. Why do you think this house needs a fucking name tag? Everyone knows what it is. That's the whole idea of it. [28:37] It would be funny if they did a big gold, like, in this house, we believe. Kind of like. The Mar-a-Lago au bon pong umbrellas, the yellow umbrellas, those are all going. Those drive me crazy. It looks just like Mar-a-Lago. Yeah, that's the silly color. It's a long list. Well, if suspending the gas tax doesn't work and the gusher of oil doesn't open, [28:55] Trump does have one other trick up his sleeve. [29:16] Quote, [29:17] Venezuela loves Trump. Isn't this the MAGA fever dream? Isn't he president because Joe Biden let in too many people from Venezuelan prisons? Where is Stephen Miller on this one? I don't understand. I'm pretty sure. Every person in a Venezuelan prison would become an American. Right. He would actually make an unprecedented number of Venezuelan prisoners. Quite an amnesty. Every person in the asylum, the worst people in Venezuela would all become Americans. It's a good question. Uh-huh. But I wonder if –

[29:46] Just to play this out, if this administration, Stephen Miller, would make sure that they are... [29:50] Second class citizens who have to stay in Venezuela. We know how they treat the citizens of Puerto Rico. Donald Maduro's advocate here. Well, they're not a member. They're not there. They don't have state. Right. Well, also, it doesn't matter. You need Congress. Exactly. It doesn't matter. He's considering. Oh, you're considering it. So am I. You also need. I mean, I know that we don't care about international law or the U.N. anymore, but it's a flagrant violation of international law. The people of Venezuela would have to, of course, vote on this. It'll be a flagrant violation of an international law. The Venezuelans don't. [30:17] choose to do it. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, presumably you'd have to have some sort of vote on it, which would be lovely. That's quite a presumption. Also, also, boy, creates a bunch of new interesting borders that presumably would also need walls for Mexico to pay for, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Also, he said that they love Trump. And I did look at some polling on this. It was in the Miami Herald, actually, a couple weeks ago, they did a big poll in Venezuela. In January, 92% [30:41] Venezuelans said they felt grateful to Trump for capturing Maduro. That was like a couple days after the capture. And a few weeks ago, it's down to 47%. 89% of Venezuelans reject Trump's continued backing of Rodriguez, and 78% think the country's on the wrong track under her. Honestly, him losing support for deposing Maduro that quickly, it's actually very American to me. It's like, wow, what have you done for me lately, bitch? I'm 100% sure that we've now officially

[31:11] certainly there's an easier way to just steal all their oil than to make them another state. Yeah, that's the end game. Are we doing that now already? The oil is not just like, it's like in the Amazon. It's like very hard to access, actually. It's [31:23] Real pain. I know. I was flirting with not talking about this at all, but we saw what happened with Greenland. [31:30] NATO had exercises, military exercises in Greenland, so we got pretty close on that one. Raphael Lemkin just wanted to shout at us about international law over here. [31:38] Like a Maul Clooney over there. Oh, Maul Clooney. I didn't get the first one. No, no, no. That was very, very, yeah. Save that shit for Ben. [31:48] Take it to the world, Oats. Yeah. Okay. [31:59] Pod Save America is brought to you by Helix. Sleep is so important. A good night's rest sets you up for a great day. I've had all kinds of sleep issues over the years. Brain can't stop, you know. I had a dream last night in the middle of the night that I had signed a contract that obligated me to an unlimited expense over a real estate deal involving apartment buildings. I woke up in a panic. You know, I sometimes think nightmares get a bad rap. If you have a really good dream and you wake up, it's not true. You have a nightmare and then you wake up. [32:29] That's what I've been telling Charlie. Also.

[32:34] Works with a five-year-old. Works with you, too. Also a nice feeling. Sleeping on a Helix mattress. I love my Helix mattress. Which, again, Charlie also does. And... [32:42] We just got Teddy, a big boy bed. And guess what it is? Is it a Helix? It's a Helix. Another Helix on the house. You take the Helix Sleep Quiz and it'll match you with a perfect mattress based on your personal preferences and sleep needs. I had the Dawn Lux. Very comfortable. Get free shipping and seamless delivery. Helix delivers your mattress right to your door with free shipping in the U.S. The Happy with Helix guarantee offers a risk-free customer-first experience designed to ensure you're completely satisfied with your new mattress so you can rest easy with seamless returns and exchanges. Helix offers a 120-night sleep trial and limited lifetime warranty. I'm a huge fan of Helix. It was an upgrade from my previous mattress and I've had it for a long time and it's great. [33:12] HelixSleep.com slash Crooked for 27% off site-wide. That's HelixSleep.com slash Crooked for 27% off site-wide. This offer is exclusive to our listeners. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you. HelixSleep.com slash Crooked. [33:24] Pots of America is brought to you by CookUnity. [33:27] You know how I feel about CookUnity. In fact, I put my order in just yesterday for next week, and I was all excited because there's some new meals that I can get, and had it last night, had it all last week. It's just great. CookUnity is the first chef-led meal delivery service that makes your meals in small batches inside local micro-kitchens across the U.S., not factories, so every dish arrives with the kind of freshness you'd get at the restaurant itself. Meals from Michelin-starred chefs, James Beard winners, and Food Network stars. In fact, when you're picking some of the meals, [33:57] little sign at the top that says James Beard winner. And then you know that that's pretty good. Yeah, that's how you know it. But also there's different users rating it too. Yeah, I like the ratings. I use the ratings too. I use the wisdom of crowds. Oh, it's getting a 4.5? Yeah, absolutely. But I've been using it for a while, so now I have a bunch that are just my favorites that I make sure I have one of every week. They have a moussaka thing that is fucking excellent. Moussaka is great. They have a lot of bowls that are very good too. Some rice in the bowl, they've got some salad bowls. CookUnity works with some of the best chefs in the country

[34:27] delicious meals to your door. There are hundreds of dishes to choose from, and the menu is updated constantly. Over 10 different dietary preferences, high protein, low sodium, GLP-1, pescatarian, gluten-free, and more. Over 25 global cuisines, Mediterranean, Korean, Thai, Mexican, Italian, and more. Taste what happens when real award-winning chefs make fresh, small-batched meals just for you. Go to cookunity.com slash crooked or enter crooked before checkout to get 50% off your first order. That's 50% off your first order by using code crooked or going to [34:57] community.com slash crooked. [35:02] Alright, so Trump... staying on this subject, Trump's about to spend some quality time this week with fellow imperialist Xi Jinping when he takes his first trip to China. [35:10] Since 2017, naturally, Trump will be rolling a few billionaires deep. Elon Musk and Tim Cook are joining, among others, probably because of their diplomatic skills. Can we pause on that? Hey, Tim, you're resigning. [35:22] You don't have to do this anymore, Tim Cook. You know what? I think Tim Cook just likes Donald Trump. I really do. [35:29] I think anyone who thought Tim Cook was just like, I think Tim Cook's just a fan of Donald Trump. I figured he just liked fucking screens. No, fuck Tim Cook. He sucks. Wow. Help your iPhone. All right. Help your Apple cares. Yeah. See you, Pride, Tim, I guess. [35:45] Okay. Anyway, so Tommy, an Asian diplomat in D.C. told Politico they're worried that China might offer to help reopen the strait in exchange for American concessions on Taiwan, which I'm sure if Trump read that would be like, good idea.

[35:59] of a deal would that be? How concerned are you? I mean, I first of all, I'm just skeptical that China could actually force Iran to reopen the strait and kind of go back to the before times, because if you're like China buys 90 percent of Iran's oil. But still, if you're around, you're thinking, look, we get a couple couple million worth of Bitcoin. I've had every boat that goes by. We find a new buyer for that oil. Like, I don't know. I'm skeptical. I asked a China expert friend about this quote in Politico and his take was like, it would likely be more like, [36:29] Bado Hormuz and not sell my Iranian friends any more weapons when you're selling weapons to the Taiwanese and giving them diplomatic cover. That could certainly happen. And Trump, I think, basically said today that Taiwan arms sales are up for negotiation, which is a huge deviation from traditional foreign policy, where that's just not a thing that is discussed with the Chinese. It's, you know, congressionally mandated law. Which he signed, like, right? Yeah. Well, [36:59] on. He cares insofar as losing access to their semiconductors would be an economic calamity, right? And it would be a historic, it would be a historic ego, ego wound. Yeah. But like, he doesn't give a shit about freedom, democracy, human rights, religious freedom, hating communism, all the traditional like things that once animated Republicans on this. So I assume he would trade away Taiwan in a heartbeat for a good trade deal. But even, but Xi Jinping, like he doesn't need Trump to be, to make some historic shift, even rhetorically.

[37:29] if he hears what he wants to hear behind the scenes, that's more than enough. Like, yeah, you do what you got to do. I'm not going to go after you. I mean, so we'll see all that said the Trump administration has greenlit, [37:41] Huge arms sales packages to Taiwan. Now, the rub here is that those haven't been delivered yet. They're like $20 billion behind in the delivery of those weapons. But people like Marco Rubio is making sure that the packages get authorized. So I don't know. And then they're going to be talking about AI a lot as well. Apparently, a good outcome on AI seems like it could be... [38:01] There's reports that they may open a channel of communication to make sure that Cold War style with nuclear weapons. She gives them a chatbot. This is me. Those two going deep on AI. I would like our country cooperating with China on making sure that we are keeping a line open on AI when it gets scary. I talked to Bernie about it last week. It feels like time flies. [38:31] we think we have and allowing unfettered development. There clearly would be some kind of... There's a way to have an agreement about some kind of limits to prevent catastrophic outcomes with AI. That seems like exactly what we would want them to be working towards. And they said they were going to talk about it, so I do think that's genuinely good. I'm sure they'll end up playing. Which is not AI, the nukes. The nuclear decision-making process, no AI on that. And they have both agreed so far to split that off. But there's a lot more. There's plenty of other problems that could end the world.

[39:00] Bioweapons and the rest of it. [39:01] All right. We haven't had a chance to talk about the shitty news we got on Friday about Virginia, where the state Supreme Court overturned the referendum that voters just passed to create new congressional maps ahead of the midterms. Tommy and Dan covered the news when it broke on the PSA YouTube channel. I have to say we crushed it. That's why you should go subscribe for free. Subscribe to Potts of America on YouTube. Free. If you want to see Dan looking spicy on a Friday. Okay. He does most of the YouTube's podcast. [39:27] He pops a top. Oh, he does. Topless YouTube. Is that Friday? Yeah. For Friday. Under the table camera. That's for the subscribers. That's for the subs. Talk about a polar coaster. You're Dom. [39:41] Nice. Anyway. Nobody put this in the comments on MessageBox. [39:47] That's the only way Dan will know this happened. Everybody be fucking cool. [39:51] fucking narcs. Oh, anyway, what was I going to say? Oh yeah. There's been some more developments on the potential redistricting fallout in Virginia and other States ahead of the midterms. Uh, [40:02] Here's glass half empty. Nate Cohn, of course, calculated that Republicans could now lose the popular vote by more than two points and still keep control of the House. Then there's glass half full. Jonathan Martin is out with a column arguing that Republicans still might lose many of the newly drawn districts, which by definition will be more competitive. Amy Walter at Cook Political basically said the same thing. I think you guys probably talked about that on Friday.

[40:32] in a good scenario. Yeah, they could net like 11 or 12, but probably won't. Right. And that's because of the Democrats still winning those tough districts, not because they would still get to redraw them. And Jay Mart argues that they're handing Democrats a generational opportunity to mobilize outraged black voters. Case in point, Republican Representative Ralph Norman said on Monday about the state's lone Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn, who's one of the longest serving black members in the House, quote, I like him personally, but he does not represent the rest of South Carolina. [41:02] So that is part of the point of representing one district in the state, as you represent some people in the state and not all the people in the state. How are you guys processing the news generally and specifically on the question of whether this is all as bad as people think? And on that point, some breaking news while we were recording this. The U.S. Supreme Court did rule. They lifted the injunction on Alabama that they had in place before, now allowing them to pursue their new maps. Shocking. [41:32] you know [41:33] map proposal in the middle of a tornado warning. They just kept going. They're supposed to evacuate. They're like, no, no, no. Stripping away black people's voting rights is more important to us. So what do you guys think? How bad? So I've seen a couple of different numbers, but basically, even with these new maps, if we have, you know, if we went by, let's say 4%, right? Nationally, the house, the house margin is 4%. Then we still win the house. I get... That's an important one just to put an exclamation point on that because

[42:03] if Louisiana, Alabama... [42:05] in South Carolina all go, which now seems like we are definitely headed toward that scenario. And if we won the popular vote by four in that scenario, Democrats still win the House. Right. And so I'm all for doing like a round of worry and recrimination. But I would say that in this political environment, [42:20] The deeper the deeper problem would be not having confidence that against a president with this approval rating with both kind of on the politics and on the policy has been as bad a president as you could ever imagine, as destructive a force as you can ever imagine, enabled directly by Republicans who deserve to be held responsible for this president's misadventures. We ought to be able to beat that four percent. We should focus on that, because if we do that, then not only do we overcome their advantages in the gerrymander, we can win those Virginia seats that on the old map. [42:50] And we can actually prove that some of their maps were drawn too aggressively and make them make them more nervous the next time they look at doing this to try to redraw the maps because the Republican incumbents will start to think, oh, if there's even a slight wave, I could lose my seat. [43:03] Yeah. I mean, [43:04] Democrats won the House popular vote by eight in 2018. So if we're thinking and hoping... [43:11] and expecting this cycle to be better than even 2018, then we should have no problem in the House. And look, if we're not winning by eight, if we're only winning by four, then something else went wrong. Exactly. More than redistricting. Like you said, if after all this, Democrats win by four or five or six in this kind of year, worse than we did in 2018. Maybe they like the ballroom.

[43:35] Maybe they like the ballroom. Maybe they like $5 gas. [43:39] Or six-elegan. People were upset they had so much money left over after they filled up their tank. [43:43] Yeah, people hate it. [43:44] They hate having all the options with what to do with the money. But yeah, and I would also say if this does galvanize people and we are able to win the House, suddenly you have people showing up in the Senate races that might not have otherwise. And it's sort of, you know, Republicans can... [43:58] be hoisted by their own petards. Yeah. Nate Cohn points out the challenge is the, the median district house district now, uh, in the country will have voted for Trump by five and a half points. Um, so that means to win back the majority, you're winning a lot of, not all, but you're have to win some significant amount of seats that, you know, Trump won by five, five and a half. Look, it's, we've already been doing in every, yeah, right. Yeah. The swings from, from 24 to these specials have been like an, on average, I think 13 points, you know, [44:28] are already more motivated. Hopefully they will all learn about this, be angry about it, be even more motivated to turn out. And the good thing about Trump is he just, things are as bad as they've ever been for him politically. And he's like, give me a shovel. I'm not done digging billion dollar ballroom, $1.[redacted address] my stupid car on a fountain for some reason. He's just like wasting his time on stupid shit. And look, the bigger long-term problem here that will outlast Trump is the concentrated power of the state legislatures [44:58] red states, which they have because they have gerrymandered their state legislative districts in such a crazy fashion. And in many cases, like in North Carolina, know that if the full state elects a Democrat as governor, which happens in places like North Carolina, Wisconsin, then the state legislature, which never has to worry about competitive elections or Republicans losing, just takes all the power away from the government. So like at some point, whatever project 2029, whatever long term thing we're doing, like, we have to figure out.

[45:26] a way to win back power in some of these state legislatures in some of these southern states and other heavily Republican states that have gerrymandered themselves on a state level. Forget about the federal level into such a play. And we know from the Constitution, right, that it, you know, endows state legislatures with a lot of power when it comes with elections. [45:47] life like that yeah but that that is you know um and on that note if democrats do control virginia i don't know if you guys saw the mini news cycle about virginia democrats considering whether to uh it was a mini news cycle mini yeah it's over like a mini war which we talked about this morning it's already over um anyway they were considering uh whether to change the retirement age for state supreme court justices uh so to bring it down in order to get rid of all the state supreme court [46:17] change the maps and then have the new democratically appointed, Democratic Party appointed state Supreme Court justices approve the new maps and in time for the midterms. First of all, first, they'd have to get a bunch of new. They'd have to replace those justices because they've been retired by the government at the age of, I think, in decrepit 54. [46:39] I mean, first of all, shout out for points for creativity. [46:47] idea and all of a sudden we're talking about it uh it's real dog another thing says a golden retriever can't be speaker of the house situation is without a doubt undemocratic terrible precedent the kind of thing that voters would absolutely despise in this climate absolutely would do it 100 appropriate you know the governor of louisiana is just talking about on tv how he's like throwing out ballots and he's like it's not my fault yeah it's the court's fault you did cancel an election do we really think abigail spanberger governor spanberger would have wanted to you know kind of

[47:17] independent Republican voters doing this early on. I, [47:19] doubt it i bet she has other things she wants did you see greg sergeant's piece in the new republic when it when it the reason they're not doing it so may 12th which is the day you're listening to this that is the deadline set by the department of elections for having congressional maps in the system in time for early voting in june ahead of the august primary so they couldn't pass the law to lower the retirement age to get rid of all the judges to appoint all the new judges to reach on the maps to send it back to court because the technology because because the technology is so old it takes a lot of time to input new districts into the computers i don't know what that meant [47:49] Are we putting the maps like a fax machine? Yeah, is it punch cards? I don't know what we're doing. Is it a room? Does it overheat? I don't understand. Can you get Claude? But the idea that we could potentially lose the house because the computers... Claude, can you help in Virginia? The computers... If called upon. The Virginia government's computers are too slow to be a democracy. That's where the potential... Did Greg Sargent just call an old person by accident, like a Luddite who doesn't know? I think it was the guy that runs the state senate. [48:19] Yeah, I think, no, no, he got a real guy on the phone. I don't think Greg Sargent got got by AI or anything. He was talking to a real person. But that guy was like, hey, listen. It was Grock. Love the idea. Grock. Love your idea. Yeah, I mean, look, my take on it was, okay. Grock's drawing bikinis on all the state legislators in Virginia. On all the districts. All the districts have just magnificent yavos. Look at these cannons. Okay, it's just so we, yeah.

[48:49] leader Scott Surveld. Yeah, I just meant was he old and doesn't know computers. No, no, no, no. That's fair, but I did want to give him a shout out. I'm calling him the Jim Comey of fucking Virginia. No, I don't think that's fair. No, look, the thing about it is... 86, that idea. He's the one who picked up the phone. Could have been Spanberger. She didn't pick up the phone. Yeah, well, smart. I guess that's why she's governor. I'm not taking that fucking call. [49:14] We'll get rid of all the judges because of democracy? The way? [49:19] To save democracy, I've gotten rid of all the judges. They're worse than us. Everybody get behind me. We're going. Come on. Gavin Newsom's breathing down her neck. Yeah. Gavin Newsom. We could have had all Democratic raps and send them off to fucking Hawaii. That fucking institutional fucking fag. We could have had all Democratic districts. All Democratic districts. What kind of coward was he? Why is Gavin Newsom such a coward? Yeah. Put that out there. No, but. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Governor. [49:49] mission we don't know what the future holds we can still win the house we should fight to win the house yes this made it harder but the idea that like if we knew like with with with certainty that our only path to to having some check on trump was doing this was updating machines was updating the machines buying a new laptop was tim cook's software updating the fucking updating he's not going to give me now updating to c era 15.2 so we can upload the map so the new judges that are young and vital just the 32 year old new democratic judges could approve the map i'd be

[50:19] But everything can get worse. And look, I believe Republicans are leading us down all these escalatory paths all along the way, every step of the way. But this would be a new one and it would be on us. Yeah, yeah. Here's what we're expanding. Democrats is any it's it is clear that any state. [50:39] where Democrats have control either of the governorship or the governorship and ideally the state legislature. If we do not act to maximize the number of seats that we win between now and 28, because this cycle has already passed us by. Which Virginia will have a chance to do. Right, which Virginia will have to do. If you decide to take a pass on that, yeah, then you're fucked. But I expect New York, Virginia, and Colorado better get in the act. Minnesota can, I believe, Wisconsin can, Maryland can squeeze out another one at Illinois. [51:09] be bulldozing the courthouses, you know? I'm guessing that's not going to be part of it. The problem is the Virginia State Constitution, Commonwealth, that gives, you know, the legislature the authority to appoint the judges and gives them certain terms so that you get a bunch of Republicans. It's actually probably fair for democracy. It's probably great for the country. They can expand from seven to 11 seats. You need actually like a big, a super majority in the legislature, I think, to prevent this exact scenario. It sounds like a good [51:39] for america actually right yeah yeah one more thing but again we have to do things as a country yeah and not as individual states which is why you need to eliminate gerrymandering as a country back in this quarter what can you just make a decision the u.s constitution does not require any specifics on expanding uh the number of justices on the supreme court and that is just a custom and i'm now i are we have we ever did the biden administration ever finish that report where we're wearing that report yeah you know i think they did put it on it's on

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[53:53] All right. Anyway, why worry about 2026 when we can speculate about 2028? Nice. AOC made some news over the weekend when she sat down with our pal David Axelrod at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Boy, was there an event that just designed for us? Yeah. Axe at the IOP with interviewing AOC. Good times. We reviewed the IOP tape and I'll tell you all about it. No? Yeah, pretty good. 2017 joke. [54:23] been over the last couple days. There was one response in particular she gave to the age-old question of whether she's planning on running for president or Senate in 2028, we should talk about, in which she answered by pivoting to a Washington Post editorial last week going after her for saying that it's impossible to become a billionaire without breaking rules and abusing workers or paying them not what they're worth. Take a listen. It was very clear this was a veiled threat, right? So the elite saying, [54:52] If you want this job... [54:56] You just stepped out of line. They assume that my ambition is positional. [55:01] They assume that my ambition is a title or a seat. [55:07] and... [55:09] My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country. [55:16] Presidents, come and go. Senate, House seats, elected officials, come and go.

[55:24] But... [55:27] Single-payer health care is forever. [55:30] A living wage is forever. Workers' rights are forever. Women's rights, all of that. Wish this president would come and go a little faster. What did you guys think? I thought it was, in terms of non-answers to questions about... [55:42] Are you going to run for president? That's one of the best words I've heard. They went to the crowd to a guy named Shuck Chumer, who was like, Bands with a question! [55:52] Yeah, we've all heard a million politicians duck that question. And usually it's some version of like, I'm not thinking about that right now. My priorities are on the state of Virginia. My calendar. It's like she made it bigger. She made it about what she wanted to do, the people she wanted to help. I thought that was nice. It was well done. [56:12] durable but not they're not forever the Supreme Court overturned rovers is way but I think that's a little too literal yeah we all know I feel like we would have written the line forever and then and then like the policy nerds or the lawyers would have been like more durable is more accurate which is correct it would have been more accurate to say that yeah almost [56:30] ACA is still hanging on. Yeah, by the skin of its teeth. That's right. I did think it was completely wild. [56:37] To have a... [56:38] Washington Post editorial, not a column, but an entire editorial from the Ed Board, [56:43] Owned by... [56:45] Jeff Bezos being like, hey, stop picking on billionaires. It's so funny. Well, he's like, I'm going to read you the editorial board so that it focuses on free markets and not attacking success. It's like promises made, promises kept, I guess, on what that editorial board would do. I watched the whole thing, though. I'd never heard her talk about the specific experience of going from candidate to overnight celebrity. That was a really interesting story. That's it. And how just like head spinning and insane that was.

[57:15] why she didn't go to med school. Her dad got sick, passed away, actually, and her mom started working on these jobs. It's not just the bartending story that makes her feel like more of a human being than any other politician. It's the very recent past and economic hardship. It's just a very compelling event. It was worth watching the full hour, I think. I will say that the whole conversation about [57:34] should billionaires exist, to me, is not the most productive use of time on either side of the debate, because it's like, here's the thing about billionaires. I just want to make sure that they are taxed appropriately. I want to make sure that they can't use their influence and power to change the laws and have a bigger megaphone than everyone else in the country just because they're rich. But it seems like an academic dorm room debate to be like, should they exist? Should they [58:04] I don't know why we need to be debating that in the first place. [58:06] I feel like it's – I was thinking – there was something about the online debate that was very frustrating to me because there's a lot of people talking past one. There's a few aspects of the online debate that we can get into, but we can start with the billionaires one. And I was trying to figure out what was bugging me about it, and it is, I think, because you end up in this conversation in which the terms are – [58:24] moral and fuzzy terms like earned, legitimate, deserved. And those are because moral language. And I actually think the debate over [58:32] the the kind of morality of who can amass vast sums of wealth and how they do it is not like i don't think it's i think it's more than academic i think the way we have it is academic but [58:42] What was interesting to me is the response. It is absurd that Jeff Bezos' paper is writing a defensive of billionaires. And what was interesting about the defense is that they always land on celebrities like Taylor Swift and Seinfeld.

[58:56] Likeable people. Well, likeable people and people that nobody had a peanut bottle. [59:02] for Taylor Swift to write the music, right? Like nobody had to sew sneakers with their little hands, right? So like they- You see that documentary about the Air Store? [59:10] How many children were working those gears? It seems like she had to pee in a few bottles. Maybe she did. Scooter Braun pissed himself a couple times. That girl. But... [59:18] But then – so it's like, oh, because they really earned it. And what the kind of underlying defense of it is like, well, Taylor Swift, by dint of talent without exploitation, created more than a billion dollars worth of value. And I think I largely agree with that, but where I kind of – but they are talking past the deeper argument, which is – [59:38] a system in which one person can accrue all that wealth like even taylor swift like she's protected by intellectual property law she's been able to take her vehicles on the roads and all the rest and it's not about like like [59:51] the the righteousness or the morality to me like that's just not what i care about i think it matters a lot in politics it's like a system in which those benefits accrue so much is both wrong on the front end and the back end the incentive structure and power structure of the economy and then the tax structure on the back end and so whether billionaires should or should not exist if a lot of them do it is because something is fundamentally broken in the system and they have the ability to exploit that wealth that has kind of also wrecked our politics and like that to me [1:00:21] Yeah, and... [1:00:23] For me, that brings us to [1:00:26] Like, all right, so what are the policy considerations here? What are we going to what rules and laws are we going to put into place to make sure that the system is more fair? How do we tax wealth? How do we tax wealth? And it goes into regulations and lobbying and all that and all the corruption stuff as well. Right. There's there's all that. But and I also think I think about.

[1:00:44] Ruben Gallego and what he would always say after the 2024 election is that Democrats with Latino voters failed the big ass truck test and that people, people in this country want to be rich, working class people want to be rich. And do they all want to be billionaires? Do they think they can be billionaires? No, but they want to be wealthy. And what they just want is to like have a, you know, fair playing field, whatever you want to call it, whatever cliche you want to bring out, but like people want to make a lot of money. And they also want to make sure that people who are [1:01:14] and taxes and don't have more power and influence than everyone else. Yeah. But I think like Democrats end up focusing on the tax side of it and not as much on like the deeper kind of. [1:01:24] like structures that mean, [1:01:27] And individuals, whether they have a union or not, whether they have other protections, let's say non-competes and things like that, all of which mean – and all the productivity gains are sort of going up to the top, which means the individual has less negotiating and bargaining power than they used to. And their dollar doesn't go as far because of all of our failures across housing and all the rest. And to me, those are the questions that I think Democrats struggle the most to answer. [1:01:57] from the taxes. One last thing we have to talk about. Gas prices may be $4.50 a gallon, but Transportation Secretary and Road Rules All-Stars veteran, Sean Duffy, really wants you to get out and take a road trip, so much so that he and his wife and nine children have been apparently doing their own road trip over the last several months, which they've documented.

[1:02:15] In a Ghazi documentary series premiering soon on YouTube, Duffy's wife, Fox News host and fellow Real World and Road Rules star Rachel Campos Duffy, that's where they met, described the project as really wholesome, good family stuff that's an antidote to the, quote, Pornhub world. [1:02:32] we're living in. What kind of road trip to Chigo? Well, she was on real world... [1:02:37] I can never say real world road rules challenge. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, anyway. [1:02:44] Here's a clip. What a beautiful family. Can I say how to Mr. President? Can I say how to the President Trump? We're inviting you along with our family on the Great American Road Trip. The Duffies, they've got tons of kids. I think they have like 11 kids. Nine. Nine or 11 something. [1:03:01] Is there a difference? Before Kid Rock became Kid Rock, you're traveling all over the country. Oh, yeah. Basically an Aerostar van. Dad's real world house. If I never lived in this house, none of you would be here. Was that... That looks so boring. Was that antidote to Pornhub or no? [1:03:16] uh well i mean you've got a lot of kids so something's working all right that's a that's so many first of all [1:03:27] You can't road trip with nine kids. What are we driving? Is it a school bus? Because that looked like a little car. So we're just leaving them behind. Nine kids is a lot of kids. Also, bullshit that they're really driving around the country. They're flying places and then driving around and filming it, right? [1:03:39] You think the moon landing was fake? No. You might be wondering who paid for this massive boondoggle. 501c4 called the Great American Road Trip, Inc., which says it fully funds its own efforts to celebrate and share America's story, and whose sponsors happen to be industries with businesses in front of the Department of Transportation. So that's helpful. And the department later confirmed that,

[1:03:59] taxpayer dollars paid for the secretary's travel to a bunch of the stops but not his family's and the whole thing is official business anyway because he's the transportation secretary and he was doing some transportation there i guess your job is driving right dude remember when the planes were all crashing and like sean duffy was the guy who was gonna fix it well i just watched the guy get hit on the runway in denver the other day i don't know maybe don't road trip around so much look you know this first of all this would bug me less if a they didn't have a bunch of uh sponsors who have business in front of the department of transportation that's and if they [1:04:29] Well, no, I was going to say, I was actually going to say, you know, you know who fucking wouldn't stop talking about Pete Buttigieg and criticizing Pete and Chaston? Rachel Campos Duffy. Rachel Campos Duffy, when they spent two months, when Pete took two months paternity leave because the twins were in the NICU. Yeah, they were. [1:04:48] And she criticized him for that. And so it's like, okay, and now you're going to go do this? It's crazy to film a seven-month reality show. What are we doing? They said that he, like... [1:04:57] popped in for a day here and a day there but it's like whatever if he wants to do it on his days off it's not none of these people are fucking doing a good job anyway in the cabinet it's all a grift i would say he's one guy not my sean yeah he's one guy where it's like dude like you got like real legitimate ongoing like management problems at your department yeah and if and if butt rocket duffy can't fix it who can you know that's what his nickname was in the in the real world [1:05:22] Butt rocket? Why was it that? Because he would run around the house streaking and mooning people. [1:05:29] I remember he did a front moon I think too out of window in one of the episodes but rocket Rachel was I don't begrudge him his youth I don't either there's too much reality TV Trump, Sean Duffy Spencer Pratt torturing us in the mayoral race here all these annoying reality people popping back up and ruining the 2026 Sean Duffy I defended you

[1:05:58] as one of the lesser [1:06:01] uh offenses in terms of actual cabinet performance so far and that remains the case because the bar is so low but there's a rough this is tough i also look as a rule like if someone's producing their own reality show it's just more boring that's just how it goes you got the only reality shows like oh it's wholesome like what would you think that's why people go to bravo con no they want to watch these bitches throw shit you know and get into it he was also a lumberjack [1:06:26] Yeah. We're going to chop some wood? Is that part of the poor nut thing? [1:06:30] He was a lumberjack? Oh yeah [1:06:32] Wow. [1:06:33] I didn't know that. That was a part of the real world Boston thing. Yeah. Huh. That's right. That was his, that was his shtick. [1:06:38] That and Butt Rocket. I don't remember Butt Rocket. I'll send you the video. I thought that was an old joke that was going to be like, I've said it too many times. Also, flagging that he was briefly NASA administrator. You guys remember that? Yeah. Wanted to keep the job. Get some other rockets up there. He's got the expertise. He has a history. He's worked with all kinds of rockets. [1:07:02] Anyway, is that it? That's it. That's our show for today, everyone. Yeah, it is. It's a good one. [1:07:08] It was a gusher of a show. [1:07:12] Dan and I are going to be back with a new show on Friday. So I want to check that out. I think we started. This is a new ending. This is a new end segment of Pots of America. I want to apologize for calling Gavin Newsom a woke. I want to apologize for suggesting that removing the gas tax would cause Chuck Schumer to come. I think I regret saying that or implying it. Now I read saying it. Oh, it was ass rocket. Sorry. Oh, well, same thing. I was just being family friendly pickup. Uh huh. Unlike me.

[1:07:40] A real rump rocket. [1:07:42] I'm sorry. I'm sorry. [1:07:45] That's something different. Speaking of Tim Cook going to China. [1:07:49] What? Oh, fuck. End the show. We're out. [1:07:55] Credits. [1:08:15] Thank you. [1:08:16] you [1:08:18] Airtasker knows that your to-do list can spiral fast. [1:08:22] Prep the backyard for a barbecue, hang new string lights, fix the broken patio chair, and find someone who actually knows how to smoke brisket. At Airtasker, we like our tasks like we like our barbecue. Well done. Throw another task on the barbie. Sign up at Airtasker.com or download the app. Post a task and local taskers will get right on it. [1:08:45] Airtasker. Get anything done.