8/21/26: Bessent NO IDEA Why Oil Going Up, Wild Trump Aide Natalie Harp, Van Jones Israel Propaganda, Fishback Bilzerian FL Fallout

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human I survived nine months in captivity and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files. Every week I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Did you hear the new episode of the Hey Jonas Podcasts? We are at D23, so we'll see who stops by. The cast of Frozen stopped by. Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Adina Menzel. I auditioned for Frozen. What? For Kristoff. They said okay. What are you going to be singing today? I said I don't know. That must have been why you didn't get it. That was you probably won. Plus, Jon Stamos, Jason from Star Wars, and more. And I guess I can share that. Oh, listen to the latest episode of Hey Jonas and the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering the ride on his motorcycle. I choose Option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Saga and Crystal here. Independent Media just played a truly massive role in this election, and we are so excited about what that means for the future of the show. This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else. So if that is something that's important to you, please go to breakingpoints.com, become a member today, and you'll get access to our full shows, unedited, ad-free, and all put together for you every morning in your inbox. We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you at breakingpoints.com. Good morning everyone, it's other Breaking Points Friday, and I'm here with my two favorite co-hosts on Fridays. We've got one after-party host, Emily Gisinski, and we've got Mr. Good-Politik guy, or Kali Holmes here. What's going on here, the rare appearance? We love it. We love it. Crystal is sending her child to college, very emotional for her. She's probably in tears right now. And old. Crystal's old. Crystal's old. Oh Crystal's old. Okay, all right. I'm not touching that. And Ryan, I have no idea where Ryan is. Bless you. I have no idea where Ryan is. Do you guys know where Ryan is? I don't either. I thought he was in San Francisco. He was sending us pictures from San Francisco. So I'm going to go with that's where he is. But it's hard to say at any given moment, it's hard to say. It's like Carmen San Diego. We're in the world as Ryan San Francisco. So let's get to the show. Big show, more econ news. Those US Treasury bonds that we love to hear about are sliding. Emily's going to talk about that. I personally have been digging deep into a lustful romance friendship. Something more between one Miss Natalie Harp, the assistant to our beautiful President Donald Trump. Excited to get into that. Mack is taking a look at Van Jones who is out to do some debunking about videos in Gaza. We'll see how well his debunking goes. And finally, Emily, who is our guest that we have here today? Well, we have Aaron Baker on the show. It's a name you might remember because Aaron joined us last year. He decided to primary Randy Fine from the right. And we're going to talk to him about how that race shook out. He ended up having to run against Dan Bulls, Aaron and Randy Fine. But also we're going to talk to him a bit about his support for James Fishback. So it's going to be, I think it's going to be a somewhat, I don't know, spicy conversation. Griffin. Emily went woke. Yeah. Not to spoil too much. But Emily has gone fully woke. Yeah. That's right. I'm a woke general. It woke 3.0. I'll be leading the charge. Yes. You're going to discharge Kal Kalinsky from the position. All right. Okay. Good news. Why don't we start with our favorite econ guy, Scott Besson, who spoke to, who spoke to the crowd about a spike in oil prices. Let's take a quick listen to that. Yeah. Well, look, anything that happens within a 24 hour period is noise. And you know, I think that once the market understands it, we are focusing on physical consolidation. That we are trying to bring the market back into equilibrium in a generally traded market. I think, you know, I'm confident that bonds will continue declining. We've got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand. So our announcement is for economic action. And I think that the economic action will mean that oil prices will come down sooner. Emily, what do you make of that? Because obviously, we know the bravest thing that you can do as a man is to admit that you don't know something. Did you see people comparing that to a parks and rec moment? We don't really know where the spike is coming from. No, I don't. I missed that. The Treasury Secretary. So he was also on CNBC. And I'm just going to read a bit here from the chief economics correspondent in the Wall Street Journal's summary of that. He said, he said markets weren't properly pricing fundamentals, warranting a more activist approach. This is what played out yesterday. He also said plans for physical consolidation are forthcoming. So this is Besson's quote on CNBC. We're trying to signal that we think this is a thinly traded area of the market that we are in August. And there's been a lot of corporate issuance that's influenced the market. And we believe that there are many underlying factors in turn that the market is not looking at. And we are going to make a market in these. We believe that these yields don't reflect the underlying fundamentals. So that's what he's repeating over and over again goes on to say people have bad information. I have asymmetric information. So I think the market should think, well, why would we have joined the Japanese in the intervention at this time? Do we know something the market doesn't know that in terms of being willing to do. Do you know what I would call Treasury twist? So now we have the Treasury twist here in terms of the bond market. What do I know that the market doesn't know? So I think the market's probably gotten a little ahead of itself. A lot of people not much to do in August. I'm going to read from CNBC here just this morning looking at Treasury yields rebounding in the headline, wiping out the decline following Besson's intervention. So they say bond yields climbed on Thursday coming back from the pullback. They saw the previous day after the Treasury Department announced an intervention aimed at easing pressure on longer dated government debt. And let's just pause there as well. Because one of the things we talked to Jeff Stein about earlier in the week is that Donald Trump, when he did Liberation Day back in April 2025, one of the things that actually the one thing that had him willing to release some of the pressure that Liberation Day applied globally, was that he saw the bond markets get, quote, a little yippy. So just everyone download that in their mind. Trump does care a lot about this as he should. And CNBC goes on to say yields on 10 year US Treasuries, the main benchmark for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt, moved more than five basis points higher to 5 4.7%. The yield level was above the level it held before the 8.30 AM announcement Wednesday that Treasury would be stepping up its bond buyback program. The yield on the 30 year Treasury bond, the primary focus of the accelerated buyback was up more than five basis points at 5.248% the yield on the two year Treasury note was last seen, was last seen up less than one basis point at around 4.185%. CNBC says the moves underscored the difficulty of market interventions, particularly at a time when US debt faces a slew of factors that have been pressuring yields higher. Now he announced, made that announcement Wednesday morning that they're going to double the size of the government debt buybacks, starting on September 9th and then running through November 4th. This is Scott Besant at his, this is his favorite thing to do, basically. Is the strategy just to try to gaslight the market into not accepting the fundamentals of what's actually underlying the market itself? If it sounds like he's just trying to, because you have compounding factors of US national debt just at $40 trillion, you have the Iran war that's driving inflation higher than it otherwise would have been. You have the tariffs and the rebounding effects of that. All of this is like coinciding with this bond crisis. And he's basically saying, no, no, no, I know things that the market doesn't note. So just trust the process, we have this fully under control. And the debt buyback, I mean, with the debt buyback, he's basically like using Klarna at this point, right? To like pay off our American debt, he's using loans to buy more debt. Well, here's how Peter Schiff reacted. He said, Besant said the free market is mispricing long term bond yields. So he wants to use the superior judgment and power of central government planners to correct the mistakes of capitalism. Good thing we didn't elect a democratic socialist president. So it's an attack on vessenda from the right saying listen what we're going to do is correct the market's pricing from the central government. And so yeah, you could call it gaslighting or you could call it having access to a symmetric information, Mac, and you are working with the symmetric information. So obviously on Thursday, Brent crude, do we have this tear sheet Brent crude went up to 9460, a barrel. That is its highest since July 24th drop site reported pulled back down to about $93 a barrel oil drop site reports has now risen for five straight sessions as traders price in tighter middle east supply and the risk of further escalation. Yeah, you just saw that on the screen. So yeah, it's but but I was I was told that the straight of four mooses completely the free and open for transit, right? And the 51st state. And the 51st state that Trump has now taken control of. There was a meme going around. I don't remember. I think it was real. I think someone. Oh, yeah, it was that. What was the guy who like as soon as Charlie was killed last year, the Brynn says named Brynn. Brynn Hollyhand. Brynn Hollyhand. He was like if we can rename the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America, why don't we call it the straight of America? So something could be in the works on that point. We're not there. We've got another clip from Besson here about jobs. Do we should we play that? Yeah, let's roll. Let's roll that one. Yep. All right, because he's because he's bringing asymmetric warfare to all sorts of parts of our economy, including the job market. Let's take a listen. You know, it just wanted to get your read on the economy as we see oil prices marching higher again. We have seen tremendous resilience. As you noted from the consumer, but there are signs that the job market may be cracking a little bit about a week job job report last month. I'm curious about your assessment as to how much we can handle all of this. Yeah, I think the jobs numbers are quite noisy. And you know, again, sir, the other thing that's important too is like the jobs that we're seeing are going to Americans after the deportations that we've seen during President Trump's administration and the closing of the border that like this unfettered migration, we don't need to produce as many jobs. Okay, well, from from yippy to noisy. I want to just say like Scott Besson is obviously a serious person because we're in what sense. We're kind of clowning on him for the his like ridiculous quotes, but in the sense that like he is a mastermind behind the scenes. Like he, this is, you know, he knows a lot of those like the back of his hand to accept anybody can. And so all that is to say he's a serious person to the extent that like he is a deep student of the markets. He understands, you know, to the extent that somebody can. And this is part of the problem. What happens in these spaces? And he is now, I think having the time of his life engineering it from the background. Like that's what I was saying when I'm like, this is Scott Besson in his favorite position. Like he is loving this. I feel like you can see that he is loving this because he is gets to play act as like the mastermind behind the scenes. Now I'm looking at this is Jeff Cox writing in CNBC saying that Besson's interventions hasn't worked. We're talking about, let me post me, we're talking about if I'm remembering the number correctly here, he confirmed as much as $4 billion. Let me just pull this up. $4 billion of what? Yeah. So he confirmed that the size of the buybacks could exceed $4 billion. $4 billion. And so Cox then writes it's not working. He says basically not all the factors that play are fundamental. They include rising competition from corporate bond issuance, like Besson said, as well as suddenly attractive yields of other sovereigns, including Japan, a correlation with oil prices that in turn increases inflation fears and increasing term premiums or the extra yield investors are demanding. He says to combat those problems, Besson could seek cooperation with the Federal Reserve, because guess who's at the Federal Reserve now Kevin Warsh, but has said that the two entities, Besson has said the two entities, quote, would work together in dealing with complications in the bond markets. And as the central bank managers, it's own treasury holdings. He quotes somebody who's the chief credit officer at Moody saying there's also been a structural shift in who buys you as government debt. As central banks shrink their balance sheets and traditional duration buyers reach the limits of how much additional issuance they can absorb. New buyers such as leveraged hedge funds, that's Besson's background. Running relative value strategies are playing a bigger role. So what they really need frankly is an end to the war more than anything else. And that's like the most obvious point. There are deeper underlying problems. They have, they still have a tariff regime, let's we forget, yes, the Supreme Court overturned some tariffs, but they do still have a tariff regime in play. That is economically, well, I was going to say risky, but it's influential in terms of all of this. But they were the war itself with what it's doing to oil prices is what they need to have an end to and they have absolutely no end to it. And now people in DC are saying, well, Besson is more important than Hegseth. Like that's the line. I think it was in political playbook yesterday that Besson is now more important than Hegseth because he's trying to give Trump room to deal with this economic fallout from his purchase Treasury and it's like, good luck. Because the one thing that you need to do is actually just get back to the prewar status quo in the straight of four moves. And you will be in a wildly different position. Good luck with that, though, because there's Iran knows that we have elections coming up. Iran knows that's important to Trump and Republicans. And you're in this mess of your own making. Yeah, I mean, that's what this all comes down to at the end of the day, right? Is that you have this memorandum of understanding and then it sort of fell apart. It was sort of like I would consider it to be somewhat of a surrender document, kind of rightfully so given the fact that we I think by any stretch of the imagination didn't win this war, but they've ended up in a situation now where a couple of days ago, Trump is posting this image, we control the straight of four moves. He says there's no talks with Iran that are even on the table right now. So there is there's not even a hypothetical off ramp or a long term resolution to this into the future. And so I'm looking at Scott Besson and like, you know, he may be knowledgeable on what he on the markets and how they function at that basic level, but like what is he supposed to do if they've been completely backed into a corner and Trump at this point has made the entirety of this war about control over the straight of four moves and is unwilling to make any of the concessions that would be necessary to actually end the war. I mean, we've been backed into a corner at this point. It just it reeks of desperation. Yeah, I think desperation is a good word for that. And I think asymmetric is the best word that I'm the way. It is the best word. It is the best word. But what I was going to say is this is why well, okay, so Besson understands to Max point. Yeah, Besson understands this world, but he also, again, just to emphasize it. Crystal, now we're talking about this with Japan. Like his Japanese intervention. It's something that had happened before. But with him, I just feel like he really relishes this role of playing like global economic mastermind. And again, like it doesn't matter, I mean, I guess it matters a lot. But until you end the war, you're going to see these problems ripple throughout the rest of the economy. And it doesn't that wouldn't make the rest of the problems go away. But it would put us in a situation where you're not seeing this insanity. And yet that's the one problem. That's the intractable problem in all of this. And so he's trying to work with what he has, but he can't change that. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for nine months. I survived. And I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart. And these are the survivor files. I just remember this low taunting voice next to my ear saying shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. Their story is about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 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Listen to pro society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I choose option B. I'm Julie Bignero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, "You smiled at us, not a lot of people smile around here." It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran, or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, Emily, you mentioned sanity, which I think leads us to our next segment, because what is more insane than young love? Of course, I'm referring to one miss, Natalie Harp. Now there's been a lot of stuff this week coming out about Trump's aid, Natalie Harp, and the extent of their relationship. Some of the hits that have been coming out across the week are that there is a very strong physical proximity to the president from this one, Natalie. There has been reports that she once slept in a locker room at a--she spent a summer sleeping in a locker room at Trump's bed minister golf club to remain close to him after she was denied a room. There was another story about her hopping into the trunk of a motorcade car so she could remain near the president, sort of a loony tunes amount of action with her chasing after the president. There was another story where they were on a golf course, and she wasn't allowed into one of the golf carts, so she ended up jogging feverishly behind to catch up with the golf cart Brigade, and there have also been reports of letters that she leaves the president. She is known as his human printer, the one that actually writes the amazing truth social posts that we all read and report on the show every day. He dictates them--he dictates them out loud, and then she types them up and sends them. He dictates them out, and so I wanted to give a taste of who this person is from her own words, from some of her time on O.A.N. to get a little flavor, and then I want to read one of these letters to the president. Well, and we should just to set this up if people haven't been following this, basically this kicked off because of that Washington Post report that Trump left Air Force 1, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the press corps, and many of his own staffers because of what we now know, according to the reports, was a piece of Israeli intelligence that surface that air missile on the ground in Ankara could potentially take down Air Force 1. Our intelligence services didn't judge it as serious, a serious threat--Trump, anyway. We don't know if it was because of Secret Service, or Trump himself, goes on--it leaves Air Force 1 and takes Natalie Harp with him as one of the few people that were taken from Air Force 1 onto the catering truck and making the escape. And so that kicked off this latest wave, Senator John Assof goes in, gives this big viral speech and says Trump would rather be--yeah, let's rock it. And while the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings--he golfs and trades stocks, so he doesn't want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace, gifted by the Amir of Qatar. Wow. Wow. Okay. So then Assof said--he hit this particular--I think Jen Saki pushed him on it, and Assof said this particular aide has been referred to as his security blanket and the like, and the right freaked out. Scott Jennings freaked out and was saying that's like a very unbecoming of a Senator. How do you pick on Natalie Harp, who is a--she does genuinely attribute Trump to surviving cancer because he did what's called right to try in his first administration. Yes. And that did allow her to have access to experimental cancer treatments that can actually change people's lives. It's a good thing. Which other doctors have pushed back on saying that those drugs--the drugs that helped her were actually already available, perhaps, but she has connected it to his right to try. Yeah. I didn't see that. That may be true. She does. No, but you're right. She does. She is the one who connects it directly. So that her brother went on--I think CNN with Aaron Burnett and said that's exactly what it is. She attributes that to Trump, and these rumors about her had been circulating for a while because she is really close to the precedent, and we'd heard previously about notes that had found their way. I think into the presidential bedroom. And so it had been under the surface, but then because of the Washington Post report on leaving Air Force One, it exploded into a major story this week. So with all of that said, Griffin, this little explanation of who Natalie Harp is, she was previously a one-american news network anchor, ended up working in the White House, has been with Trump ever since. Let's roll it. Let's hear from our own words for a second. We can't talk about winning back the House and Senate in 2022, and the White House in 2024. If we don't act on the fact that we probably did win the White House and the Senate in 2020, we shouldn't be afraid to say that because it's true. Do the people know America, as we know it, could be ending in the next two or four years? >> Wow. >> Which is exactly what President Trump is warning of. They think if they can get President Trump, they can get the 75 million people to shut up and stand down. And as President Trump said at CPAC yesterday, each of us, if we haven't already, have a decision to make. Not in 2022 with the ballot box, but right here and right now to choose a side. And by the way, sidelines don't count. The sidelines do not count. Mac, what do you mean? >> This is like this. >> Can I just make a little quip here? It's like the joke news segment that 30 rock would run. Like you know what I mean? It's like if you did a 30 rock cut away, like making fun of segments like this, it watches exactly like that. >> Oh, I end definitely always reached to me as the thing that's on TV in the movie. Like it's like the fake news show in the movie. But Mac, what are we to make of this, is how they first became so connected over the stop the steel thing? >> I mean, the cancer thing that you said makes a lot more sense to me because, and I was talking to Griffin earlier about this, like she really does come across in the letters that she's put out in the behavior of chasing him down the golf course. Like she wrote a whole letter apologizing for her behavior. Like I'm so sorry if I embarrassed you or whatever. It really is like she's in a cult and Trump is just her personal savior. So it does like track on the cancer thing if she credits him with like saving her life for whatever. But it's just bizarre, man. Like this is some of the strangest stuff I've ever seen because even you see it in like the cabinet meetings, right? Like everybody understands that Trump kind of wants everybody to like jerk him off in these cabinet meetings and they go around the table and everybody like praises him in their own little way. Marco Rubio, Pete Hexath, you're the greatest president ever. You've stopped 800 wars, whatever else, but this is like a true believer. Like I don't think necessarily that Marco Rubio believes it when he's, he's sucking up to Trump. This is somebody who was like fully drank the Kool-Aid. This is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ here. Yeah. Well, Griffin, do we have the letters because the Daily Beast says, yeah, pull these up so people can see exactly what Max talked about and Emily, do you have like some sultry piano or maybe like a saxophone? You could play while I read this. All right. You could also just sing. This is the, this is the letter. Dear Mr. President, I'm sorry I thought I was the only one left behind last night and had no idea Margot's car was also pulled over and sent back to the airport. Since I was alone in the van outside customs without my passport, I panicked and should have just called secret service instead of you. I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland. The first day I was told there were no carts and people walked, which is why I walked. The second day I was specifically asked by, I forgot who his name was, but one of the main people who worked there, if I could continue walking and tell any other girls who had head out there to do the same to spare the course anymore carts. If there is anything else I've done to cause you trouble, please forgive me. I know that some people have said I haven't been texting them back and there have been some international sell issues John was having technical issues on the plane too. I want things to always be right between us. I also know that I've been distracted all week for getting to eat throughout the days and even for getting to sleep and only catching a couple hours at a time. I haven't been myself dwelling on the past and the pain of losing my dad and I started letting the remarks of people who haven't bothered me before get to me. Not because I care what others think, because I see myself being lowered in your eyes and good opinion. That is the fear you see. Because I never want to bring you anything but joy. I'm sorry. I lost my focus. You are all that matters to me I don't want to ever let you down Thank you for being my guardian and protector in this life That's what I wanted to use this card for when you saw me at the cash register and once again Did what you didn't have to do and gifted me with the mementos of this trip of a lifetime a coming of age I will return a better person I have to sign off now as the cars are leaving. See you soon with all my heart Natalie and did you notice she uses caps? I mean the viewers might not be able to see this But she uses capitalizations and a Trumpian style. Yeah, that's interesting Aping him and I think this reminds me a lot of something that I found I shouldn't probably say this But I found this in Mac stuff the rest directed to soccer That's true. That's exactly So those were my guardian my my protector in this life Capital P protector But it reminds me of that woman that was dating the like a basketball like billionaire guy who's like I'm his little rabbit Remember that clip. I'm his little bunny And it's not important Listen Griffin, I know you're really big in the sports, but yeah, just try to look like a Dodgers hat on Well, so let's get into the source a little bit here because these were given to Michael wolf and Michael wolf's reporting ranges from Insane like not to do it to a drama true. He's kind of like a T and establishment TMZ Worse he admits to like completely making things up basically that sometimes he dramatizes Yeah, and that's if you're purporting to be a journalist that means that you're often writing fiction So anyway, all those to say this is an actual copy of a letter and Jonathan swan and Maggie Haberman in their book Reported on some of these letters as well and said that they were being left in Trump's personal spaces. So From conversations that I have had about all of this everybody thinks this is weird Yeah, everybody circled the wagons around Natalie Harp this week and defended her vociferously Nobody knows honestly nobody knows what's really happening if it's more than just this emotional Fawning from Natalie Harp, which I think is perfectly plausible like top aides do get access to the living space at the White House because They're working as soon as the president gets up and probably as the president's going to bed So it's not unheard of that staff would be in the residence And that could be quote-unquote personal spaces and it could totally be one a one-way love affair, right? Like Trump is he prizes loyalty here You have somebody who's a little weird and has this deep emotional connection to him credits him with saving their life and knows that he loves loyalty and loves people who fawn all over him and Plays to that and has you perfectly reasonable access to the residents or it could be not that which is the implication And I honestly have no idea. I don't think that people who are in like Trump circles don't have any idea There's no way that there is a Full-blown sexual interaction happening which some are alleging. I mean, there's no way. There's no way I think it's a little bit more like a nurse a nurse caretaker situation than a sexual I mean There's just no way that Trump at his current shape and age can even physically perform Yeah, I mean he said he's a shape that's never been invented before like I just don't see There would need to be like a nuclear reactor amount of blue choux to make that happen. So I think it's something a little bit sadder I think it's yeah, I think it's what what's even sad the saddest part about this is that there's like a 0% chance Trump read that letter in the first Like there's no shot Well, because somehow it got to Michael Wolf which tells me that someone else intercepted it and was leaking it to the press Michael Wolf has also reported that Melania was not seeing on the 2024 Campaign race with Trump because she did not like Natalie's proximity Melania did actually come out yesterday to give a public speech at the White House for the first time Maybe she's feeling some of the heat from this story But there was some defenders of Natalie and people who are very aghast at John Ausef's cruel Scatty remarks and of course Mac want your reaction to this our favorite CNN Panelists Scott Jennings who was challenged on his attacks on Ausef. What's all take a listen to that? Go ahead and just play it because there's such a long history of this Trump punching down insulting women. Let's just play it. I never complaining about it You've called women you don't like fat pigs Dogs, slug and disgusting animals Goldy Road to O'Donnell, but what we want to do is to replenish such a nasty. What's fun? You are the worst reporter no one to see she and it has no ratings because of people like you You know, she's a young woman. I don't think I've seen you smile I've known you for 10 years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile I Quiet piggy. I mean that Dan was pretty straightforward. If you're gonna be outraged over Traveling on a plane with Natalie. Are you gonna be outraged over all those things? I I do not believe in demeaning women in any way number one number two So it's not Is the president is being women and what's not the issue the issue right the issue I have with this? Are you outraged or not about that? The issue I have the issue I have with this is Natalie Harb. That answer is not a public figure. No, where she has no All right, well, that's the incredible moderation at CNN where you can't hear a single thing Mac is Natalie Harb a private I'm so confused by that like what do you mean? She's a top age. She's constantly making public appearances with him Like in what way is she and she can't defend herself like this is it's insane. I mean the hypocrisy angle of it Obviously like it's it's obvious. You don't even really need to to make that point Scott isn't gonna You know admit any of that at the end of the day. I guess I'm just sort of like I watched the John Ossoff clip and if anything I'm like he could have gone way harder like it What is the outrage meter for the Republicans getting upset about this because like what what was actually offensive about what he said It was like kind of a vague implication of like maybe there's something going on there But like okay, it Trump says worse on an average Tuesday. What are we talking about? I think it so the only thing I would disagree with on that like it's it's Glaringly hypocritical from Scott Jennings laughable all of that I think it might be a tiny problem for Osloff in the same way that some of this was a problem for Biden not a massive problem but there's a I guess a broader issue if you are campaigning and this is where actually some of the dark woke gets it right if you're campaigning on restoring American civility and norms and then It's not so much like everyone has low expectations I think at this point of the people who defend Trump but Ossoff if you're trying to like take the when they go low We go high route and go above what you say are the bad standards and expectations and then you do stuff like this It makes people be like oh come on man like which one is it like we either have to go gloves off or you have to like You can't have it both ways and I think that's where just politically not morally but politically I think that's a little bit of an issue like you have to choose a lane like you either have to go full Gloves off or like who's a good example of some I do I'll say you just probably a good example of that. Yeah. He's a good example He's a little sassy No, that's what I mean of gloves off. I think he sort of dark woke. Yeah, that's right But I mean you gotta go one way or the other I get your point Emily, but I also think there's Almost no appetite for the you know, they go low we go high attitude anymore with the Democratic voter base like It's at this point. It's it's you know, everybody's saying fuck it. You know, whatever. We've we've had eight years of a Trump presidency Turn one term to like there are no Standards anymore and even you know to the return to civility. I don't that's not something that I personally care about but like Even if you are quote unquote dark woke or you're a little bit edgy or your gloves off from like a Democratic politician Perspective that's still going to be like Infinitly more civility based than what we're getting from the Trump administration like it's almost unfathomable to think of a democratic version of Donald Trump that is as Brash and and you know up front about just being kind of an asshole all the time like I can't really make a comparison on the left to to any major political figure like that Yeah, there's nobody that will ever be like Donald Trump, but that's this is just no comparison Nobody who will be on a debate stage been like only Rosio Donald It's just never gonna happen. So yeah, it's it's a it's a question of how post Trump Republicans handle that But I do think off off like when he was going viral. Maybe this isn't his fault. Maybe he's not trying that well I don't know. I think he's pretty clearly doing a gentle Obama impression. Oh I think we see Joshua Piero in those sorts. And that's where I'm at home. - Well, and you can see all the camera crews with him. He brings like a professional camera crew with him to get all of these different angles at every single one of these houses. - It's the lower angle, looking up, that's the awesome shot or whatever. - He's a documentary. - And he's on that, he's on that tee. So he's gotten himself all like jacked over the last couple of years. Like he's making a run for it. - I guess the question for both of you, and maybe Mac in particular, who is a fan of the more Kyle Kalinsky dark woke angle is, you know, Trump is so crazy. Is the main Dem electorate gonna just want someone that's exceedingly normal now? Go back to normal. - I don't think so. - Or do they want someone like Abdul who is going to be Trumpian, but for the things that the left likes. And I guess that is the main question for the Dem electorate. - Well, I mean, I don't wanna make this sort of like my wish casting, but I think right now, the energy is more in the Abdul Lane. I think this is why you're seeing sort of a left insurgency, all these DSA candidates that are winning. And you know, you can see candidates that are outspent, you know, 10 to 1, 20 to 1 in some cases. The media is sort of, you know, stacked against them. The establishment is stacked against them. And they're still winning some of these races, or at least cutting it, you know, extremely close. So the energy right now is definitely in the dark woke camp. The question then is, the 2028 Democratic presidential primary rules around are, and I've seen this from, you know, even some of my like family and friends who are sort of more like standard liberals or whatever, progressive lives maybe. And I do, like, it also makes me a little bit afraid because I hear them and they're like, oh, you know, he's good looking, he's very well spoken. Like he has this calming effect. Like I could see somebody like that being a real threat to the left. - And he's pulling very high back just to put that on it. Like he continues to be putting up numbers in the polls and putting out some sort of liberal pheromones. People really can't describe on a specific policy level other than, oh, damn, this guy got on some testosterone. He got jacked up and he's looking good in these low angles. And, you know, I want to feel good about my politician again. And he's veerial in a way that, you know, we had Biden before. So I don't know. - That's true. No, it concerns me. I hope the energy stays till 2028, but I'm not fully convinced. - It was kind of a problem for Beto against Ted Cruz back in the month of 2018. And that like he tried to be on the one hand, Kennedy asked, right, was like Kennedy maxing. And then on the other hand was trying to go gloves off against Trump. And you just, I think you really do just have to pick a lane. Otherwise, people sniff it out. It depends on who you're running against. Like if it's a, if you're up against a weak Republican candidate, or crazy Republican, whatever, you can start, or a super mega Republican candidate, you can start pulling some of that off in a way that's helpful. But I had, like, I don't know. I think the evolution is to just go fully gloves off. That seems to me where people are. But that is interesting, Matt, that like people, normies, you know, are watching this. And I'm like, I kind of like that. I like the way it works. - Well, and you are going to, it's going to be the same ecosystem in 2028 with the establishment and the media. They're going to pull out the same arguments. Oh, you know, let's say Abdul Runs. Oh, he's not electable. Like, you know, whatever, he sort of has this energy in the Democratic voter base. But like he couldn't win in a general election. They're going to pull out the same arguments that they did in 2020 and in 2016. It's just going to come down to whether or not the voter base falls for that again. - Wasn't Beto's vanity fair cover born to run? Wasn't that the tag on his cover? I would like to give that tag to Natalie Harp, her chasing after the golf carts. - I think that'd be great tag for her. Born to run, Miss Natalie. So that's so for Miss Natalie Harp. - When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. - You just remember this low taunting voice next to my ear saying shut up, don't say anything. - Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. - I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed and I just started screaming. - They are abducted, stalked, controlled and nearly silenced. - If you're Bookshelf and you're for you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Pro's Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives and anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet and the conversations everyone can't stop having. - I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed, I'm obsessed. - From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. - It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters and that is the Trojan horse. - Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro's Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. - On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. - I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I choose option B. I'm Julie Piñero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. - Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, "You smiled at us, not a lot of people smile around here." - It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. - Let's move on, Mac. I want you to react to this because of course, one of our main stays here on the show, Van Jones, is out with a new fact check and collab with one, Noah Tishby, about all of this disinformation online about Gaza and how the images are fake. And I will say this video was made in the year of our Lord, 2026, maybe a few years late, let's take a look. - Explain who Noah Tishby is, by the way. - Noah Tishby is a like official Israeli propagandist. She's like worked for Israeli PR and is ignoring my invites to come on the show. Let's take a listen. - You're seeing right now, did not happen. This also didn't happen. I'm here with Van Jones. - We now have this world where when you see something on social media, you have to ask yourself the question, is this real? The people who want to divide, who want to distract, who want to turn people against each other, have super weapons to do something now. Because somebody looked at their phone. They assume that what they're saying is real. I think that's why we have to take a lot more seriously this information for. There's a 24 hour, seven day a week battle for the mind. It's the people who are on Twitch and TikTok and all these other platforms. They're getting literally millions and millions of views. And if you care about facts, you're a disadvantage. Even though the French media is terrible, you have legacy media that's also terrible by following for nonsense. For instance, the picture that broke everybody's heart of the so-called starping baby turned out to not be a starving child. They cut out the full image that showed the sibling perfectly fine. That child had a genetic issue. It was not being starved by Israel. So when you have the mainstream media that is stalling for propaganda or promoting propaganda and won't apologize, and then you have this fringe media that's massively bigger, it requires a different approach to the information world. - This is literally about democracies as we know them. We have to make sure that we verify everything that we see online and don't get hooked into this dopamine addiction that is going to damage us all. Thank you so much, Ben. - Thank you so much. - All right, one note before I get Max reaction, they're like, so we need to dispel all these rumors about starving children. Let's do an inspiring music track. Let's do something like uplifting, climbing the mountain music track here. But so, Mack, let's fact check the fact checkers here. What are they getting wrong here? - Now, in terms of the specific story that they were talking about with the peace from the New York Times of the child who was starving, they're getting at that in the initial New York Times piece. They didn't report that the child also had other underlying conditions. I think specifically it was cerebral palsy in this specific case. But what that ignores is that, yeah, when there's a famine, when there's mass starvation or food shortages that are going on, it is going to be most vulnerable people within society that suffer initially, that suffer the initial brunt of that famine. And that, that's. in the New York Times piece was malnourished, right? And the data on this has been well reported on, well documented, there was malnourishment in Gaza, there was starvation in Gaza, Israel had an explicit policy of restricting aid from getting in to Gaza from the beginning of the genocide. I mean, they openly declared we're gonna cut off the food, the fuel, the water, the electricity, it's an entire population that we're attempting to punish here. None of this was like a secret, but again, the purpose here in this whole piece from Van Jones is to get you to doubt everything, to mistrust everything. The only people that you can trust are the official lines from the IDF or from Benjamin Netanyahu or from the Trump administration or the Biden administration what was happening under him. You can only trust these official sources. Also, we're talking about a guy like Van Jones, this is the same guy who was on Bill Mar, making a joke about dead Gaza babies, right? And laughing about it gleefully. So, to some extent, I don't know if it's a money thing, I don't know if it's just like an ideological thing for him, but he's truly a psychopath when it comes to this issue. - Yeah. - Griffin, do we have the ideological drift of Van Jones? - Yeah, let's take a look back at 1993 Van Jones for a second here to see where the psychopath starts. Maybe it was always this way. Students can do that in 1960, but we can do that in 1970, but students can do that in 1985, '86, in 1993. But we have the United States government building a death camp, a concentration camp. Black people has done nothing wrong, but can stick and want justice, if all is done wrong. If we can't close that death camp, if this generation cannot prevent another Japanese American attorney, then I don't like to, we should all get haircuts and go with your regular jobs and give it up. - We should all get haircuts, get regular jobs, and give it up. So I guess that's what happened. He's been honest. - Yeah, that's not a bad point. He, this would have been around 2009, was singled out by Glenn Beck, back in his Fox News days, early Tea Party days, because Obama had hired him. I believe as a green jobs are. And Van Jones' past radical activism came to the forefront so much so that he lost that job in the Obama White House. And now he's landed at CNN, got a haircut, got a job, to Griffin's point. And the frustrating thing about Revisitation of that New York Times story is that nobody really disputes. It was fair for the New York Times to update the story and say the little boy had cerebral palsy. I think everybody understands that's relevant information. And it just underlines the case, McLeod out, which is that where there are vulnerable populations with people suffering, those people can suffer even worse. They might sometimes bear the brunt, people who are disabled, might sometimes or might always bear the brunt, when there are food shortages. So that is as a hill to die on, to create that as your centerpiece, to make this case about propaganda. I think it's really, really sick. It's just a really gross thing to do. - And it's also like I said at the beginning of this segment, it's crazy that this is a 2026 video, 'cause you could easily see something like this in November of 2023, where they could make that case. But if you were trying to actually do good PR for Israel now, it would be, oh, it's that damn BB Netanyahu that we got to get out of here. And then everything will get fixed. Like, don't worry, elections are coming soon. Yeah, Israel did some bad stuff, and we all agree on that, and it's time to get rid of this government. That would be the effective Israeli PR move at this point, which is also rife with inaccuracies, because the majority of the other political leaders in Israel share very similar strategies towards handling Gaza. So I always wonder with Israel that has access to unlimited resources to create PR, why they choose these people like Noah Tishbee to do these things? Why do they pick these untalented dead-eyed people to add this liberal sheen with no facts and sort of just an underlying base of victimization and you should just be on my side? And I think it's because, you know, they see themselves and people like Noah. Like, they can't fathom what good PR for Israel would be. They see themselves in these terrible actors, and so those are the people they continue to put out, your Michael Rappaports. A lot of these disgusting Twitter accounts, like, who's that one guy in New York, Mac, that we always make fun of? - Y'all y'all can be. They see themselves in these people, and they view these people as the heroes to push their movement, and it just goes to show how just muddy and confused they are about how the world sees them now. - Well, to your point, Griffin, I think there is an element of it where, for, I mean, the vast majority of the last, however many decades here in the United States, Israel didn't really have to do much work in terms of propaganda to convince Americans to support them. It was always just sort of like the baseline, right? You said universal consensus within the upper echelons in Washington, DC, you know, within Congress, within the media, it didn't become a central thing that a lot of Americans thought about until, you know, post-October 7th in this genocide in Gaza, and post-October 7th, so now you have this new reality where it's a live stream to genocide, we're getting countless thousands of images, videos that are on every, especially young people, social media feeds, like, it's just so overwhelming that there is no talented, propagandist who could overcome that. Like, there's nothing to be done at this point, except for the strategies that we've seen Israel use, which is censorship, right? Going after college students, trying to blacklist them, you know, sicking the police on them as we saw under the Biden administration as well in these encampments, you know, so it's censorship. It's these new programs, spending millions of dollars to influence chat GPT and how it responds to Israel and flooding the internet with, you know, Slop AI written, you know, Israeli propaganda pieces so that AI will pick up on that for its information ecosystem. Like, it's strategies like this, and, you know, as we just saw from Van Jones trying to get you to doubt everything that you see, because they basically have nothing else that they can reach for at this point. There is no convincing case that can be genuinely made. - That may be true, but it is still remarkable to me that they're doubling down as they see the numbers go down. Like, they're not changing one bit of the strategy. - Well, another aspect of it, and I think we've seen this in some of the recent races like with Abdul Al-Sahid is, if you guys remember, drop sign news reported, I think it was maybe a year ago or more at this point, that there was like an internal study that was done within Israel where they were looking at what are the most effective ways that we could sort of convince people into a more pro-Israel direction. And the number one thing that they found was increasing Islamophobia, right? That was what they thought was the most effective strategy to sort of when people back to their side was to push Islamophobia to sort of overwhelm the Israel criticism. And I think we have seen a massive, massive spike in Islamophobia against people like Abdul Al-Sahid or just generally in the United States with the Laura Lumer types and the Randi fine types. That's become significantly amplified over the last couple of years with the emergence of more Israel critical and most of them candidates across the country. - Yeah, and I think like not to give the Israeli PR more tips, but like, you know, I said, "Hey, you guys should come out against Nen Yahu "and be like, they're not even doing any of the look. "We're handing out aid in Gaza." Like we're doing like any of those like propaganda bits either. In fact, there's reporting out there's currently a water crisis happening in Gaza. People are struggling to find drinking water. They're having to choose whether they're to cook with it, drink with or obey with it and they can only choose one out of the three. So this like, could suffering continue. There's still bombing tents on what seems like a weekly basis. And so yeah, they don't have any video evidence to show that the situation is improving one bit. So we're kind of just frozen in place until these people are, I guess, laughed out of the room. But Van Jones is still in the room. - Well, and to your point, one final thing on that Griffin, the most effective Israeli propaganda right now is the fact that the media is no longer talking about it. There is no mainstream media coverage of the nearly daily attacks that are happening in Gaza. Israel is still bombing Gaza. They're still, they blew up a medical facility just a couple of weeks ago. You didn't see that on CNN. You didn't see that on MSNOW or on Fox News or whatever else. The media has largely just dropped it as an issue, which I think has in some ways in a dark way helped Israel because it's not such a central focus for a lot of people anymore. - Yeah. All right, well, that'll do it for Van Jones. Get a suit, get a real job. I think that's still my note for Van. - He does sound like Saga. (laughing) - All right, well, let's move on to my favorite state in the nation, Florida. - Well, we wanted to bring you an update in a race that we've been tracking for more than a year. So we're joined once again by Aaron Baker, who actually decided to primary, Randi Fine, more than a year ago, from the right. Aaron, welcome back, appreciate you for being here. - Always a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me back. - Yeah, this was such an interesting race. And Ryan and I interviewed you about a year ago now, just about your decision to get into this race because there was something very interesting happening on the right. And Florida became a place where not even just your district, but Florida, the entire state during this primary cycle became a place where some of this was getting hashed out in some irresponsible ways and some irresponsible ways. So let's start with your race. Because I think you ended up at 13 and a half percent in the race between Randy Fein and Dan Bolzerian. It turned in a little bit of a circus errand. So just catch us up, remind viewers, why you decided to primary Randy Fein from the right when you launched the Iran War had not yet happened. So that was a major update. But what were you thinking when you got into the race and what was it like running as a Republican against Randy Fein? - Well, I mean, I got into the race because I thought he was a genocidal maniac that needed to be taken out of our government. And I still believe that. And that's not gonna change. I mean, you don't change his spots on a leopard. He's, I mean, he is who he is. And his personality's not gonna change. I didn't think it was a fit for this congressional district. However, the voters thought otherwise. - And how did that change once Billzerian got into the race? What was, and you had been running for a while by the time he got into the race. And you were making this case against Randy Fein's foreign policy in a fairly reasonable way. Billzerian gets into the race. What happened? - Yeah, so if we go back in history a little bit. So I filed my paperwork in April, right after fine one, the special election. Dan called me back in December of last year. And we spoke for, you know, a good long while. And he said, you know, after the first of the year, let's catch up and I'll be more than happy to see what I have to do to help you. And that was what I thought was going to be the plan going forward. And then we were never able to reconnect. And then I get a call in late March or maybe mid-March. And Dan says, well, you didn't raise enough money. And I wanted to say, well, no duh. You didn't help me. Like you said, you were going to. He said, so I'm gonna run myself. And I thought, okay, well, you need to get on a plane and you need to get your butt here right now. And at that point, I even offered, you know, okay, if you're serious about this, I'll take you around. I know every square inch of this district, I'll take you to every place that you need to go. And if he had wanted to run a serious campaign, you know, clean up your look a little bit. You know, get a haircut, you know, look like you did back in 2013 when you were a movie extra. You know, maybe, okay, you stand a chance. And you've got to realize who your electorate is. The average Republican voter in this congressional district is 51 years old. So you really got to tone down what you're saying. You can say, I don't want defensive. Or, you know, I don't want offensive weapons. And I don't want any financial aid to Israel. But you can't say that I will take up arms and start exterminating Israelis. That those, you know, you're not going to win a congressional race like that, no matter how much money you have. So, you know, he came in like a bull in a china shop and thought he didn't need to listen to anyone. No campaign events until the last day of early voting, which was the Saturday, which was last Saturday. And he shows up to a fishback event. And, you know, 30, 40, 50 people there and stands around hands up free tacos for half an hour. And then disappears. I, you know, at least on election day, show up somewhere. I mean, on election day, I was at eight different polling locations, you know, still trying to get voters, talking to voters. And, you know, because I believed based on what we had experienced a door knocking, you know, we knocked on about 30,000 doors. Well, my campaign and we had a very positive response. I mean, there was a very anti fine sentiment out there. It's just a matter of, you know, who has the most money, who sends out the most palm cards or most postcards in the mailboxes and who, you know, puts out the most television ads. And that seems to be what people listen to. Or, you know, they don't remember, oh, hey, I met this Aaron guy, you know, three months ago when he came and knocked on my door, they remember, you know, the postcard that they got yesterday or the TV commercial that they saw this morning on Fox News. So, you know, I would tell anyone that wants to go up against an incumbent, you better have five, at least $3 million in the bank in order to, to make a series run at it. But it's, it needs to be a consolidated effort. You don't need five people in the race like we had, you know, you need to be able to get behind that one candidate and say, okay, this is our candidate and this is our path going forward. And we're going to attack airways. We're going to attack mailboxes. We're going to knock on doors for one specific candidate. When you start to split the vote, then it just, it muddies everything up and people are like, well, I don't know if I should vote for Dan or if I should vote for Aaron. Well, let me just go with what I know. Well, let me just vote for Andy, you know, bang, bang, bang, bang. And so, you know, then you get the results that we had. So, Aaron, I do really respect you for taking a stand against Randi Fine's genocidal rhetoric, his Islamophobia. But with Dan Balsarian, it seems like the opposite side of the field. I'm reading a tweet from just July 28 that says, Jews are the problem. Everyone's fear of saying it out loud is what allows it to continue. So, when you say that, oh, he just needed a haircut. He needed to look a little bit more like the Hollywood extra. Was that really the main issue? Or was this race that decided between a candidate that hates Muslims and a candidate that seems to hate Jews? Well, and that's the whole point. You know, I mean, he needed to, if he, if he were going to get in this race, he needed to not say any of that stupid stuff that he says. But, you know, he just can't help himself. So, if you can't help yourself, then you need to get behind one consolidated candidate, which ideally, you know, would have been me because I ran against Randi Fine before. So, I mean, it made sense. Yeah. What did you make of sort of, you're talking about, like the mailers that are going out, advertisements, what did you make of sort of the media ecosystem? What was Randi Fine talking about? What was his campaign running on? And how big of a role do you think that the Iran War and the subsequent inflation and cost of living as a result of that and Israel in general? How big of a role did that play in this election? It didn't play any role at all. I mean, people, at the end of the day, people didn't seem to care. I mean, you have 20 or 30% of the electorate that care about affordability, which is what we talked about nonstop or what I talked about nonstop. So, you know, I mean, there was 43% of the electorate that wanted an alternative. But, you know, 43% of the electorate is not enough and it needs to be, like I said, it needs to be a consolidated effort. And Randi Fine placed the victim card the entire time. If you look back to, you know, the picture that he posted of someone who had fandalized one of his signs, spray painted a swastika on it. And the day after that news story came out, I called the Supervisor of Elections in Pallagor County and I said, where did this picture come from? This picture cannot exist because I was the one that found the campaign sign. And I was the one that went and got an election official to take the campaign sign down. And so then I was talking to one of the reporters at the Daytona Beach News Journal, which he followed up with the Supervisor of Elections. Well, it turns out they put the sign back in the ground in order to take a picture to send to Randi Fine. So, I mean, you know, he's a victim 101, oh, you know, look at me, poor me, poor me, look at what they're doing to my campaign signs. And it's staged. Oh, my gosh. That is incredible. What is the peeling in any way, shape or form about Randi Fine in this district? I mean, like, how can a guy like this win an election? Right. She got me beat on that one. Is it Trump? Is it the Trump endorsement? Yeah. I mean, just just the Trump endorsement, I mean, Trump won this district by 30 points. So, you know, Randi Fine has underperformed Trump at every single stage. You know, I, other than Trump, that's a, what is his sign, say, Trump endorsed, Trump endorsed, Trump endorsed, Trump endorsed, Fine for Congress. And that's how he opens every, you know, every speech that he gets. And, you know, he has absolutely zero respect for the people here, which I had a lot of help behind the scenes from elected officials. But the elected officials didn't want to come out and say, oh, man, you know, we'll support you publicly. They're, you know, they're like, we can't stand this guy, just because of the way he acts, you know, he walks into the building in Flagler County and, you know, snubs his nose. all of the county commissioners, and they're like, well, why are we supporting this guy? You know, we'll be more than happy to help you behind the scenes, but no one wants to come out publicly for fear of retribution. And I get it. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. And I guess, let's say, hypothetically, wave of magic one, you had three to five million dollars running against Randy Fine, and your argument that you were making was amplified. And you had the money to go make this argument to more voters have the conversation on more TV ads and mailers and that sort of thing. Can you just take us into what those conversations were like? Because you mentioned there is an anti fine sentiment, but I'm also just curious as someone from the right saying we shouldn't be talking like this. We shouldn't be thinking like this. We shouldn't continue to send all of this aid. Did you find receptive audiences when you're having those conversations in person like we're Republican voters? And I imagine because you got 13.5% in the vote, some people were like, hell yeah, getting behind you, this is insane. What was that undercurrent? Like how were people thinking about this on the right? I mean, when I would talk to, when I would speak to an audience, nine times out of 10, they would say, Aaron, we're behind you 100%. We agree with everything you're saying that affordability is a major issue. We agree that Social Security has to be fixed in the next Congress. And these are things that Randy finds not talking about. He's talking about I'm Trump endorsed. I'm Trump endorsed. I'm Trump endorsed. Well, good luck after Trump's not here anymore. I have no idea what he's going to do. And what about on Israel? It was really kind of a non-issue. And I think from Dan's perspective, it turned off more voters than it helped with him. If he had simply stuck to a message about kind of down the middle about affordability, you know, and addressed it in a point of four and eight. And, you know, helping seniors with Medicare cost and making sure that seniors get a cost of living increase every year. That would have been a much more receptive message because, you know, that's what I was saying. And basically, he got about 4% more than me with, you know, millions of dollars that he spent. So, you know, I was able to do the same thing, trying to run not far right, not extreme far other right, but kind of down the center. So, to your point, I think that if I had $5 million, it would have been a very easy race. So, Aaron, you mentioned a little bit of the circus of Daniel Zarian showing up to a James Fishback campaign event. And I wanted your reaction to that as well. Now, of course, James Fishback is known as the Groyper candidate. He goes around talking to young men about Goy Slop. He was referring to his black opponent as Byron. And he was going around attacking only fans creators, saying that he was going to tax them and give money to teachers. He had what felt like an organic youth movement on the ground. He drew a lot of crowds. But pulling up some of the results here, he got third place. He got about 10.5% of the vote coming in third behind Jay Collins and Byron Donalds, who actually won. What is your reaction to those results? What does that tell you about the Florida electorate? I did a lot of different events with James. Before James announced, two of us sat down together at a Starbucks and talked about his candidacy and my candidacy. At that time, I was supporting Jay Collins. And I told him I was supporting Jay Collins. If anything changes, keep me in mind and that's kind of where we left it. And then Jay Collins came out with this nonsense about you can't say this and you can't say this. Some of his kind of factual things behind the scenes about he has two kids. Well, he actually has three. Some of those things didn't set well with me. So it was a very easy transition for me to then support James. However, in about April or May, I saw that it was going to need to be a consolidated effort against Byron. And I was with Paul Renner at an event in St. Augustine. And you know, why not ask Paul? You know, this has to be some type of consolidated effort. And no one would put on their big boy pants and you know, take one for the team at that point. They all thought, well, you know, we're just going to run our campaign and it didn't work. The only way for to defeat Byron Donald's in the $100 million or $200 million or how many ever Brazilian dollars he has in the bank now, it needed to be a consolidated effort and it wasn't happening. Outside the consolidation, though, isn't there a moral character question to these candidates? I mean, he's been blatantly racist, you know, saying things like Goi Slop. I mean, he did have a stance about that was anti-Israel that connected to the youth. But did you not have any moral character concerns about either of these guys? Not really. I mean, I think that James's heart was in it for the right reasons. And I think certainly Paul Renner's heart was in it for the right reasons. And, you know, Jay Collins to a certain extent, you know, his heart was in it for the right reasons. But they needed to all sit down in the room and figure out, you know, okay, I'm going to be governor and I'm going to be lieutenant governor and I'm going to have this role in the administration. So, you know, a lot of that rhetoric that happens in campaigns is just that. And, you know, it happens in every campaign now. I mean, to some a little more extreme than others. Yeah, but, you know, at the same time, I think it shows that Lauren's going to have a little bit of a tough time in the general election. I mean, most of the polls right now have him and Jolly virtually tied in the state that, you know, governor DeSantis won by 20 points. So, we're going to see how all that plays out. I suppose just falling up on the fishback point. I see him, you know, he's not dandles Aryan, certainly. And I've actually known him. I talked about this on the show earlier this week for a long time and saw, like, basically a total personality transplant, which I found very odd. Like, I've known him for probably five years. And as soon as he got into the race, he started, to Griffin's point, talking about Goyslop and Byron and all of those different things. And I guess I sort of see what you're saying about taking down Byron Donalds, who's a, you know, not the ideal candidate for conservatives to represent Florida, no question about it. But I guess that it's like at what cost do you try to defeat Byron Donalds and be, you know, potentially David Jolly? Is it worth maybe, is it worth, from my perspective, the answer would be no, like, stoking racial resentments and using terms like Goyslop, how did you think about that, Aaron? Well, it was a, I guess your, your point would be it's almost a tone-down version of Dan, where Dan came in like a wrecking ball and James came in to try to appeal to some of that, you know, over 35 crowd, if you will. You know, at what point is the argument worth it or is the, you know, the rage page clicked worth it? That's, you know, that's a million dollar question. I mean, our race between me, Dan, and Randy certainly turned very ugly at the end. And, you know, that's not something that I'm going to participate in. I'm not going to, you know, say anything that's not true. You know, I'll call you out for saying stupid stuff. And I certainly call Dan out for posting the wrong early voting dates and, you know, just doing stupid stuff and not doing any campaign events or doing scheduling campaign events outside of the district. But I think James tried to, tried to craft a message that could possibly appeal to the over 35 crowd, but just really didn't that much. And some people would see that as like sneaky trying to sneak in bigotry. Did you have those concerns? I just kind of rolled with the punches and, you know, most of the time, there were certain things that James said along the way. And, you know, I would be sitting in the room and it was certainly playing to the audience. You know, if you, for example, we were in Tampa and there were the seating capacity in the room was 600. And the room was completely full. And the fire marshal wouldn't let people in. So I know that there were at least 750 people there. But, you know, I mean, it's really playing to the audience, you know, when he talks about Goyslop and, and I'll, and all that. And, you know, it's, it's all, it's all in good fun. I do think that James has a future in the Republican Party. And I think that, you know, he has a huge following now. He received 170,000 votes. That's nothing to sneeze at. I was going to say last question on that Aaron, I'm sorry to keep doing the fish back that is just when you say it's all in good fun, is it really fun, is that like the kind of fun that you want to get behind if it's, again, by-roan, trying to play up like racial stereotypes, those sorts of things. Sorry, Emily's our resident woke. I think in the end, I did vote for James. In the end, I think James would have made a really good Lieutenant Governor, but that Lieutenant Governor would have had to have been if Paul Renner were at the top of the ticket. I think the two of those were saying the same thing. However, Paul is expert at crafting his message where he's talking about Christian values. There were some cringe moments where I'm like, this is not going to go over well for the over 55 crowd, and we saw that, you know, we did an event in the villages where you have 650 people show up on a college campus in Tampa, and you have 20 people show up in the villages. Wow. Yeah, that's crazy. That's like the college for old people. So Aaron, always exciting stuff happening down in Florida. One of my favorite states, thank you so much for coming on, and we look forward to seeing where you and the Florida Republican Party go next. Appreciate it. Always a pleasure. Thank you, sir. Thanks, Aaron. Okay. Let's round out this amazing Friday show with my favorite part, as always, the AMA questions. Now this first one, let's get spicy right off the top guys, this is from Matthew C. Could there be a coherent to fund the police and anti flock coalition with soccer be convinced? Emily, what do you, what do you, what do you make of that question? Wait, repeat it. Cause my headphones went up briefly. There Matthew C is asking, could there be a coherent defund the police plus anti flock coalition? So I think what they're saying is that it seems like anti flock is very popular. Could that somehow be parlayed into a conversation about defunding the police? I mean, certainly on like an intellectual level, you can make that case. That's basically like the libertarian party, like some anarcho communist. Well, maybe some, yeah, some of the anarcho communists probably and they tend to hang in libertarian circles. I already have, have made that case convincingly, but could you make it coherent, coherent case to the public about that? That's a question I would maybe turn back to you guys like in, in urban areas, could you reinvigorate the defund the police movement with the flock movement as a launching pad? It's not going to bring in a broad coalition of Americans who are generally supportive of the police. Very sensitive about things like flock, very sensitive about militarized policing. You're not going to get a, you know, broad support across America, which has a lot of like, dare I say, libertarian instincts for things like militarized police. That was one of the, one of the narratives that came out of the Ferguson protests is like after Iraq, we're flooding all these local policing units with military capabilities. But on the other hand, I don't know, do you think, like, so I don't think you're ever going to get like a broad coalition of Americans, but in some cities, could you reinvigorate defund with, with flock? I mean, I think so. I, to me, I've always been a defund the police guy and I know that it's not like a popular sort of like movement at this point, but I never really understood why it was so controversial. To me, it's, it's the same argument as, you know, why I think we should be defunding the Pentagon, right? It's, it's that the baseline budget that we have and the baseline equipment that we have for police in the United States of America. I mean, like, there are some localities or, or cities in this country that have a higher police budgets than most countries, military budgets. I mean, it's, it is completely out of control, the amount that we're spending on, on police and on mass surveillance and, and so-called security, like those, those resources could and should be reallocated towards more effective, I think, like, community and social programs. So to me, the argument for defund the police has always been very straightforward and convincing. But in terms of the pushback to flock, what worries me about it is that I think there's a large component of it that people are upset that it's a private company that's sort of acting in, as this intermediary. I don't know if there would be the same energy if it was just, you know, straight up police cameras that were effectively doing the same thing, but the threat is the same, like the threat of mass surveillance, the threat of, you know, this sort of like pre-crime approach. That's there, whether it's a private company like flock that's contracting with, with the police or whether it's the, the police or the government in and of itself. So I hope, I hope that it, you know, we could make some sort of a pairing there. I also, by the way, I've heard online that apparently there's something's happening on Halloween. I'm not gonna say too much about it, but apparently Halloween is the deflock night because people are dressed up in, yes, there's going to be a big, because everybody's dressed up in costumes. And so you have sort of like, you know, crowds of people and everybody's sort of like covering up their identity. So we could see a big deflock movement in a couple of months here coming up. All right. Keep your eyes on that, everybody. All right. This, this next one is for Emily, wait, where'd it go? Okay. This is from Raphael Damien, question for our resident religious expert, Mr. Sinsky, Donald Day Trump doesn't seem to be a pious man, people are saying, but he has recently made remarks that people interpret as religious, most notably that grass has life like human. Grass, it's got life, life, life, life, life humans. Is he a secret Buddhist? And what are your thoughts on his comments? What is his way? I love he find someone, someone posted the funniest thing about this. He says so many things. I, I miss some of the best ones. Yeah. There's some incredible ones. Okay. So this guy, Logan McMillan on X posted, this is the third time Trump has said that grass has quote, life like humans. He is close to embracing the truth, the Buddha like nature of all things and rejecting the false binary of sentience, slash insentience. Is this because he's fucking up the White House lawn and he's like, oh, it looked better when there was grass there. He's been thinking about grass a lot because of that, because of the national mall, which is having grass issues, but he, I don't think this is the wealth. I don't think Buddhism is the wealth from which these thoughts spring. I don't think anybody can know the source of Trump's musings on grass. And I think that's the beauty of it, right? It remains enigmatic. We'll never get to the bottom of what Trump thinks about anything, frankly. It is funny though. Like some of his random, he will just get on a random tear about something like remember when it was Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, he posted like 10 tweets telling Robert Pattinson to leave Kristen Stewart in like 2012. And he was right to do so because now they're both much happier. He's right about the grass, too, apparently. I think it's one of those latent life things, right, Mack? He's seen the sunset of his life and he's coming in tune, but it's also weird because he's had previous statements sort of alluding to like heaven and hell, right? That he's not going? That he's not going to heaven, which is also interesting because it's like, well, if you believe in hell, like, wouldn't you be like trying to redeem yourself in the final way of your, or he's just, he's given up at this point, he's, he's set and going to hell. But this is the beauty of it again. It's like, we will never know. We can, we can talk. We can speculate, but there is no answer. Okay. Final one, Mack. This is from hockey. What if the establishment forces to Zionist candidates upon us for president of 2028? Well, they're definitely, they're definitely going to try to convince. You know, when you look at the slate of candidates, well, I mean, obviously the Republican candidate is going to be a Zionist. I don't think that's even in question. I mean, most likely at this point, it's going to be JD or Mark Rubio, one of the two, or Fishback apparently or fishback or Nick Fuentes or whatever else the universe throws at us. But on the democratic side, I just, I'm nervous right now because I don't know who could be the real, who has the charisma, who has the sort of energy, the capability to really be an insurgent like Bernie style or Bernie level caliber of candidate. It doesn't seem like it's going to, it doesn't seem like it's going to AOC 28. It seems to be spying circling the drain right now. So I don't think, yeah, it probably won't be AOC. It could be if Abdul wins, you know, and he, he really locks in and like focuses on becoming a real national figure over the next couple of years. It could be somebody like Abdul, you got other people like Rokana that are in there. But you know, Rokana's not even an anti Zionist, they're, they're really are very few anti Zionists, truly like Bernie Sanders is not an anti Zionist. Like there's very, very few anti Zionist, you know, high level politicians that could run in 2028. So hockey was his name, apologies, but I think that's like almost an inevitability, but you said hockey. Sorry. He used your name. He used your name. He used your nickname to Jeffries, no, no, I'm just, I, I think it's almost an inevitability that it will be. Griffith calls him hot too. Well, yeah, exactly, I think it, I think it's an inevitability that it will be a, to some extent, a Zionist candidate. But the question then is like, how do politicians like Kamala Harris? or John Ossoff, where do they position themselves in regard to Israel? 'Cause you could have a Zionist candidate who also is willing to restrict weaponry to Israel or who is willing to change the dynamic of that relationship. And I think that's more so gonna be where the test is. - Okay, much to think about, much to look forward to, much to dread, everybody keep their eyes on grass. This weekend, you might find some inspiration in your own life. Everyone go follow After Party with Emily Jashinsky. Go check out Good Poltik Guy, Max Channel. He grinds as well. And the links to that will be in the description. And most importantly, follow me on Instagram.com. - Do it. - Um, true room. - Do it. - Breaking points. We'll be back on Monday. Thank you all so much. And have a lovely weekend. We'll see you later. - I survived nine months in captivity. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. - We are at D23, so we'll see who stops by. - The cast of Frozen Softby, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Adina Menzel. - I audition for Frozen. - What? - For Kristoff. They said, okay, what are you gonna be singing today? 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