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Donald Trump: Ass Man

from Pod Save America ·

76m 13s

Donald Trump: Ass Man

The podcast covers a range of political and social issues, beginning with a promotional segment for Simply Safe, a home security service using AI and live agents to prevent break-ins before they happen. The product is highlighted as innovative, user-friendly, and backed by real-time intervention. It transitions to a political deep dive, revealing that Republican leaders are pulling funding from competitive races and redirecting it to safer, more predictable districts—signaling a strategic retreat amid declining polling and financial strain. The analysis notes that Democrats are outspending Republicans in advertising, though Republicans are spending more overall, suggesting inefficiency. Voters are increasingly concerned about government corruption, with a recent Fox News poll showing 88% express serious concern, undermining trust in Republican leadership. The discussion also highlights multiple scandals: Trump’s alleged involvement in crypto deals, the White House’s controversial ballroom spending, and the targeting of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with a citizenship-denaturalization effort. Other stories include the controversial firing of Kim Guilfoyle, the appointment of Katie Zachariah as press secretary—marked by public criticism over her credentials—and JD Vance’s public display of supposed heterosexuality, which is widely mocked as inauthentic and poorly executed. The narrative underscores a broader erosion of trust in political institutions, with scandals and missteps fueling public skepticism. These developments suggest a significant political shift, where both voter sentiment and internal party strategy are under strain.

Transcription

14526 Words, 78889 Characters

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today's presenting sponsor is simply safe home security every campaign lives in fear of the october surprise an event no one saw coming that blows up right before election day simply safe exists to prevent an october surprise from happening in your home the moment someone steps onto your property a live us-based agent is already on it before they ever reach your door it's like a bad marist pole trying to break in your house unlike and seltzer unlike traditional security systems that only alert you after a break-in is already underway simply safe is built to stop it before it starts smart ai powered cameras watch for potential threats and alert a live simply safe agent is ready to intervene the agent intervenes in under 30 seconds speaking through the camera to stop an intruder in their tracks and calls for an urgent 911 dispatch when it's needed the most it's just nate silver being like to use the polling average throw it in the throw it in the flipper our ceo lucinda got a simply safe system installed in her place recently she said the installation process was quick and it was easy one shut up about it the system is up and running in no time plus the app is easy to use and it allows you to arm or disarm the system and check the cameras right from your home join more than six million people who entrust simply safe for their home security right now save 60 off with professional monitoring when you visit simply save.com crooked that's simply save.com crooked and when you order please write in pot safe america in the checkout survey it lets them know we sent you and it really helps support the show simply safe ahead of crime in real time this is troy millings from earn your leisure if you want a small business you know how important it is to stay on top of your numbers that's why i want to tell you about zero that's x e r o zero is a platform built for small business owners that brings accounting payments payroll and analytics together in one place you can access reports visual dashboards forecasts and ai insights to help you better understand your cash flow and make informed decisions about your business learn more at zero.com welcome to pot save america i'm john favre i'm dan pfeiffer on today's show we'll talk about republicans starting to abandon once competitive races the speculation that suzy wiles might soon be out of a job the fact that kim gilfoyle is out of a job katie zachariah's a plus debut as white house press secretary yet more corruption inside the white house trump canceling that live execution the latest on the ilhan omar ordeal and why jd vance is definitely not gay uh then you'll hear dan's conversation with sherrod brown about the race to take back the senate seat in ohio dan how was it are we taking it back i don't want to spoil it here john so you have to wait to the end of the podcast to listen to the interview smart that's smart i thought maybe a little tease a little here's the thing i'd say is there ever such a thing as a bad conversation with sherrod brown no he's the best the best again he gets credit for my marriage so that's that's that's a good thing all right 18 days until the midterms dems lead the generic ballot by just over nine points they're ahead by about three points in the closest senate races inflation is still climbing we learned this week oil prices are still climbing but the republican party's closer you is out there single-handedly trying to turn things around with the focus and discipline for which he is famous they want to mutilate cut your children your son leaves as jimmy and comes back home in three days as janet the rank choice voting with a you go into i guess some kind of a test tube or something i got the highest gay vote of any republican in history i think because of the song my opinion leaker should be shot i hate flies some of the wild animals you have up here that like that like eating you because i'm a freaking genius as well well you got to spend the money in the united states it's called recircling it's called recirculation it's called a lot of things our country is making more money than it's ever made because of the fact that oil is so high tariffs don't cause inflation you know what they cause wealth i've won my election i'm here whether we win this or not that's about it yeah most honest most honest thing he said his true feelings about the election i won my election i'm here whether republicans win or not what do you think the point of any of these rallies is i don't think he knows i think he's like why are they making me do all these rallies i think it'll help um and it's just something to say that they did something really i think he wants to do them it's against the wishes of probably anyone who knows anything about politics because there's just nothing helpful about them you don't think saying that he thinks uh people who leak information to the press in a country that supposedly reveres and protects the free press um saying that they should be shot you know that's helpful do you think it's helpful to say that um that's uh it's good that oil prices are high because the country's never been richer that's not good to say oh i think that's a bad thing to say or the terrorists don't cause inflation they cause wealth well it's just like just thinking about this way right so who is the voter in these states who will go to the trump rally but that was otherwise who was not otherwise going to vote in the midterm election oh yeah yeah you don't think he's you know you think these are getting people off the couch i think 10 years into the trump show we're we're not getting a bunch of like uh just random onlookers who just want to check out the show it is like the most hardcore fan fans are going to vote so what are the people in the states consuming the clips right either on the news or on the media and none of the clips are on message in any way shape or form what do you think he thinks rank choice voting is where and how do you think he feels like a test tube is involved i think that he equates science with things he doesn't understand so he doesn't get it so therefore it must be science he thinks of science the way other people think of magic something beyond the the understanding of a common mind you put a bunch of you put a bunch of votes in a tube and you pull one out yeah basically i just if he was really trying to win the midterms but i'm not worried about him picking my advice on this trust me but if he's really trying to win the midterms he would shut up and just stop not do rallies for sure for sure the best thing he could do would be to fade into the background and let this be a race a bet between you know john husted and sharon brown or mike rogers and a little say it instead he's making about himself a person who is underwater in every state in the country who's in the low 40s in states he won by 20 points has to be the main character every single day and that's not great for republicans no it's not uh we talked on tuesday about the republican plan to start quote trimming the map uh now we have confirmation that it's happening republican super packs have pulled out of house races that were once thought to be competitive in new york nevada new jersey iowa michigan ohio texas and nebraska on the senate side super packs have pulled out of north carolina and are pouring millions into defending nebraska kansas and south carolina punch bowl reports that republican lawmakers in deep red states are approaching super packs with polls showing them losing and five senior republican members of congress have told politico that keeping the house is now likely impossible in their view i know your latest message box is about this uh why should people view these spending decisions as an antidote to their anxiety about a potential uh systemic polling error well i think if you don't want to follow the polls you should follow the money because these are the people who are tasked with this is their job they are steeped in data of all kinds of voting data polling data focus group data fundraising data it is their job to maintain the republican majority both in the house and the senate and they are acting like it is not just a blue wave but we are on the cusp of a blue tsunami like they have they like if you want to read the subtext here that you're a couple of main takeaways one they admit the house is gone they have they have weighed the white flag on it right they are not they as you mentioned they are stopped trying they are no longer trying to beat some of the most vulnerable democratic incumbents in the country people like greg landsman in ohio tom suozzi in new york even henry quayar in texas right they pulled money from suzy lee's race in nevada they are abandoning republican incumbents like tom kaine like the like they they're abandoning the republican seat in nebraska another one in iowa and are moving money to and this is just fucking sweet irony the states that they redistricted that's amazing they it is like the henry quayar seat which is a state a district that they drew to flip abandoning that moving it to another seat they drew to be an automatic republican flip they're putting money in florida spending two million dollars in florida 25 a district that was supposed to be basically an automatic republican pickup after the new district after the new district alliance and then and i you know i mentioned this when we were back in texas they are they move money to alabama too this was a district that they alabama just redrew to take shimari figures district and carve it up oh right and trump won and won the new version of the district by 14 points it was a an opportunity district before that and they're putting money in it right now they're worried about that district because they drew the district that way and so that's a huge deal and then on the senate side just it's worth like we're all we're so focused on all the races and all the money and all the back and forth but i just think it's worth noting john ossoff entered the cycle as the most vulnerable democratic democrat in the country he's in a state that trump won two or three times let's say democrats have rarely won before 2020 and they've abandoned it it's over North Carolina, a state that Democrats. We haven't won a federal race in North Carolina since 2008. When Barack Obama won the first time. And Kay Hagan won the Senate race in 2008. Right. And so no one has won a. We have not won a federal statewide race there since 2008. It's over. They've quit. I'm sorry to say that to Rupert's finance team, but the Republicans are not running TV ads anymore. It's not just the super PACs. Michael Watley currently has no TV reserved for the rest of the time. They're just like, that's it. They're done. And they're putting money in Nebraska and Kansas. Kansas, a state a Democrat has not won a Senate seat since in 94 years. Herbert Hoover was president. Donald Trump was even born yet. And then we haven't won a Senate seat since then. So look, there could be some like just massive error that everyone's polls are wrong. Everyone. Yeah, I was going to say, if that's the case, it's not like, oh, Democrats were too excited and believed all the public polls. It's like, no, it means that Republicans' internal. The whole polling was completely wrong. Yes. And in previous cycles, when there's been Democratic hopium, you've heard a lot of Republicans out there. They're, you know, we know the reporters they dish to showing their internal polls showing, no, we're not, Democrats don't really have a shot in this race or that race. You hear none of that this time. No, the best you hear is some of them being like, it's bad out there, but it's not quite as bad as some of the polls are showing, which like, look, if we end up taking the House and then, you know, it's a 50-50 Senate or, like, a 49-51 Senate and we lose some of these Senate races by, like, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, a point even, like, it is, let me, you said this in the piece, but, like, it is unfortunately in line with a polling error that is just a normal polling error and not something weird. Yes. Even if the polls are perfectly correct, within the margin of error, the range of outcomes include Democrats winning all the Senate seats we're talking about and losing all of them. Yeah. Other than North Carolina and Georgia. Which is crazy enough. Yes, that is crazy enough. That those, like, yeah, if we lost North Carolina or Georgia or we lost the House, that would be shocking. Yes. But, like, anything, any disappointment short of that is not necessarily shocking, it's just disappointing. It would be shocking to the conscience and it would be terrible and we're going to be very upset about it, but it would be statistically not shocking. I will say, I mean, the Republicans have more money than God. They've, like, never had so much money. It is interesting that with all that money, they're still pulling out of some races. I feel like moving money around is something that you do when you have a limited amount of it. Well, so there's a few reasons for this. One is Democrats raise most of their money on the hard side, so that means the candidates raise the money, and so those dollars go much further because we talked about before on TV rates, the TV station has offered them the lowest rate. So that's one. Two, Democrats also were very smart and reserved their time early so they got better rates. Especially because Trump sat on his money for so long they're now having to pay exorbitant rates for their ads. And just as an example of how it works, so James Hallery, who announced $65 million today, he raised that. So that $65 million is just for his campaign. The equivalent of that in Super PAC dollars is about $180-something million. So it is close to, like, basically what the Republicans are going to be all in $200 million in Texas? Yes. Now, he can't spend that on TV in three weeks. Now, some of that money's already been spent. He didn't release cash on hands because that's this report. But Democrats are. We are still. I wrote about this in Mess Parks, too, but there's really interesting data from Ad Impact which shows that even despite all the money. Like, in the month of September, Republicans outspent Democrats by 25%, but I think they only ran like 9% more ads or something like that because of both our strategy and our hard money advantage. The other thing that's interesting is there was a political poll which showed that 25% of people thought that Democrats were running more ads. I saw that. Yeah. Because they've just. They've seen more Democrats. Or they've said they've seen. They recall more. Like, that's the big thing is it's ad recall. Like, you can run all the ads you want, but if the ad is not memorable enough to be recalled, then there was no point running the ads. So, Republicans are. Ads are more expensive, and it appears that they are worse. Do you see. Right before we recorded, I'm sure. You saw it because I think you put it in the Slack, but Trump went off on John Cornyn and Karl Rove. Yeah. Blaming them for a Ken Paxton loss that hasn't happened yet. It's still, like, several weeks out. I mean, he clearly talked to someone in Texas who told him that things were trending in the wrong direction. The two races where Trump is going to take the most blame if Democrats win is Texas because Ken Paxton's the nominee because of Donald Trump and South Carolina where Darlene Graham is the nominee because of Trump. Like, it's one thing to appoint Darlene Graham to just fill out the term as some sort of bizarre tribute to Lindsey Graham by putting. Here's your tribute. We're going to put an unqualified person in your job. But he's the one who convinced her to run for the full term. And if this had. If any of those other, mostly lunatic Republicans who, like Ralph Norman or whoever else who were running in the primary, had just gone, we're the nominee now, this would not be a race. But Darlene Graham has made it a race. Which means they're also spending $5 million there right now that could be spent in some of these other districts. I mean, you could also argue that North Carolina is a Trump problem. Michael Whatley was. Yeah, that's another one. Mike Collins in Georgia against Ossoff was a Trump one, too. That's right. You know what? We're. God. Got my Thursday after the election day message box draft going right now. Yeah, he's done a lot of great stuff. Pods of America is brought to you by Aura Frames. Photos aren't meant to sit forgotten on a camera roll. The best photos aren't just pictures, they tell a story. Aura Frames bring your favorite memories back into your home effortlessly, blending into your space and adding warmth to your day. Share memories in seconds. 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So we've known for a while that this election would turn on cost of living concerns, but the latest Fox News poll, which has Trump's approval rating at a record low, 36%, lowest ever in a Fox News poll, also has 88% of voters saying that they're extremely or very concerned about corruption in government, which is slightly more than the percentage of voters who said the same about inflation, cost of living, gas prices. And you can see why Trump's corruption is starting to break through. Just two more stories over the last 48 hours, I think. The Wall Street Journal ran a story about White House crypto advisor Bo Hines, who owns a consulting firm that was paid $6 million by a crypto company to win favorable positions in the crypto bill that Hines himself was trying to get through Congress, which he did and then got hired by the crypto company after the bill passed. Don't let the revolving door hit you on the way out. $6 million while he was negotiating writing the bill, the crypto bill. He co-owned this company. He stepped back from operations, but the crypto company was paying the firm $6 million. A random company, not some like every once in a while, you know, like there's someone who used to work, you know, has some ownership in like a high level, well thought of. This is a random consulting company that they picked entirely because of. it appears, who the co-owner was. And they got the provisions that they wanted in the bill and it passed. And then he got a job at that fucking firm. Yes. Amazing. Then on Thursday, the Washington Post revealed the full list of White House ballroom donors, several of which, quote, benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts, and in one case, a pardon for a family member. Biggest donation, $25 million from NVIDIA, made three months after Trump decided to let the AI giant sell advanced chips to China over the objections of security experts. Mind-boggling. John, hold on. Isn't Trump's view that we should build a data center on every corner and let AI run amok so that we can beat China? Right, right. Well, yeah, we're going to give them a head start, though. It's the only sporting thing to do. We are going to, we do have to beat China, but, you know, it's tough. We have to run even faster because we're also giving them the chips they need. Got it, got it. So we better hurry up. Yeah. I guess the bright side of it is that we're going to have to give them the chips they need. The bright side here is that corruption is finally registering with voters. Would you make that number popping now? It's surprising to see at the top of the list, but it's not surprising to see it so high up the list. You know, we talked about this navigator poll a couple weeks ago where they asked people the reasons why their costs were high and government corruption was at the top of the list or near the top of the list. And people, they see what's going on. They see it's not just, like, in their minds, it's not just Trump and the Republicans. They see a government that's corrupt top to bottom, but they really connect that to why their prices are to the fact that they're getting screwed. Because, you know, it's not just like my egg prices are up there. It's because Donald Trump did this crypto deal. It's just that there are all these fucking people in Washington, D.C. Most of them are Republican. Most of them have the last name Trump who are getting filthy rich. I'm getting screwed. They're taking care of themselves. They're not taking care of me. And those two things are connected. And we've seen Jim Kessler of Third Way pointed out, pointed this out to me on Twitter today that in the other, in other elections where you've had giant waves, there has been a combination of economic concern and government corruption. Yeah. You have in 2006, the, there are a whole, like, a gazillion scandals, but it ended in the Mark Foley scandal. And then in 1994 was the House Bank helped drive that too. And so, you know, it's not like these things all come together. And so it's very bad, I think, for the party who is led by the guy who's touring the country right now, who is deeply corrupt and also raised everyone's prices. Yeah. And I can't tell whether it's like just the accumulation of all of these corruption stories or it's any one in particular that has been, that has broken through and been really sticky for voters. But you do hear in a lot of these focus groups now, like even Trump voters who are sort of turning on the president will bring up that like, all he does is just, he's like getting rich. Yeah. You know, like you just, they just kind of know that it's just kind of bleeds through at some point. Yeah. I think, I think it is the accumulation. And I, you know, honestly, a lot of people don't really give a shit or they're so cynical. That if the economy is going great, they don't really care if the president dips their beak. But when everything's fucked, all the, it's all the Trump stuff that didn't really bother people as much as we hoped in the first term hit so much harder for him now because people are very, very unhappy what's going on. So it's not, you know, all the insanity is not funny or charming or whatever else. It's just an example of why things suck. And the same, it's true of the corruption too. I really do think it's not the worst example of Trump's corruption, but all of the white house renovation shit. Oh yes. That to me is just because it's, it's visual and it's easy to understand and it's all he fucking talks about. Yeah. So I kind of think that even more, even though that's not how he got incredibly rich, it was a lot of the crypto shit. But I think that the white house renovation stuff, just covering everything in gold, building the fucking ballroom, all that, I think that has really pissed people off. And it's, I'm not even sure people clock like the quid pro quo of corporate donors. To the ballroom who then get government papers. It's more than it's a giant fucking vanity project that the guy is building tacky monuments to himself while I can't afford to put gas in my car. Like people just look at like, what are you doing? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, well, if Americans do end up punishing Republicans for all this corruption on election day, they'll only have one person to blame Susie wild. Uh, at least that's who Donald Trump might blame. According to Politico this morning, uh, the president has reportedly been asking for friends, what they think of his incredibly loyal white house chief of staff. And he is even reportedly started floating potential replacements, including the following names, Steven Miller, Steve Whitcough, Bill Pulte, Kevin McCarthy, and of course, New York Yankees president, Randy Levine. That's what is so funny. It's like, and I was reading that this morning at the Ask Rock of Dawn. This is like all the other names kind of make sense. And then it's just like a random guy who works for the Yankees. What? Um, Trump says this is all fake news, obviously, but no one really believes that. Uh, who's your pick? My pick? Well, I gotta ask, am I picking who I want, who I think it's going to be? Oh, okay. Uh, I don't really know who I want. It's all garbage. Yeah, none of them. No, absolutely. I mean, honestly, I mean, I think she sucks. I think it's ridiculous how much the press gives her, makes, you know, gives her all this favorable coverage, but Susie Wallace is probably the best of that, of that option of Rose Gallery. Yeah. Now I don't know Randy Levine. That's right. Randy Levine, that, that's a, that, that's a high variance pick. Could be great. Yeah, so I don't, I don't know. The Yankees are quite good. Yeah. I don't really know what his job in the Yankees is. Um. No, I, I definitely hate Stephen Miller the most. I think he's the, he's the most. That would probably be the, that'd be the worst. That'd be the worst. Definitely the most dangerous for the country and the world, I would say. Let's see who, who do we think it would be? Who do you think it would be? It doesn't feel like Stephen Miller is a pick that he wants to go with. Not because he's a good pick, but because he's a he's like not that crazy and likes what Stephen Miller does. I think he's a little like, he kind of wants someone who's like Steve Witkoff, Bill Pulte seem more like the universe of people that is just like some guy who he can hang out with and like a business buddy and also just like lets him do whatever the fuck he wants and has no real agenda of their own other than like, what do you want to do today, boss? Yeah, I think that's right. I would be surprised if it was Stephen Miller just because he, Trump, I mean, you, you've heard the things he says about Stephen Miller. He kind of, he understands Stephen Miller and Stephen Miller's purpose. And I don't think running the white house is what he thinks Stephen Miller's purpose should be. Yeah. Um, it kind of, there's like a fork in the road here, which is Steve Witkoff is just like, here's a guy I like hanging out with. He's rich too. He gets me. He's also kind of down with all of my self-enrichment schemes. We can just hang out together and do that. And I don't really have to do any work. Bill Pulte is someone who'd be like, here, I got two years left and I am going to use every level of the federal government to exact revenge on as many people as possible. And I kind of want to stick a middle finger in the middle finger to all the haters. Bill Pulte is that person. Kevin McCarthy is who he picks if he's purely in the mood to have someone to humiliate for the last two years. Yes. Whoever takes this job will be humiliated, which is what you can see him. Like he clearly doesn't like Kevin McCarthy, even if he pretends to like Kevin McCarthy. And so spending two years, just like having Kevin McCarthy be the fucking punching bag for all of Washington, including Donald Trump and trying to humiliate him all the time. It does seem like something Trump would enjoy. That would be good for content, I think. Also, just let's back up a step. Imagine you're Randy Levine this morning. Maybe you sleep in, you know, maybe you were up late. I don't even know what the baseball schedule is, whatever else. And you imagine how many text messages you wake up to. And you think like, did Aaron Drudge like blow his knee out on the way to the locker room? Is it major? Something major happened in baseball? I was named in playbook. As a White House chief of staff. I mean, that's basically like if someone was like, you know what? We're looking for new general managers for the Sixers. We're going to look at Bob Myers, you know, Sam Presti, Dan Pfeiffer and Jon Favreau. It's just like, what? Could happen. It could happen. One other Trump lieutenant who maybe, actually, before we move on, do you think that this is like, do you think he'll let go of Susie Wiles? I kind of think so. I think he'll let go of Susie Wiles. I kind of don't. I don't. I think he is. He's looking for people to blame for what's going on. And I think that there's plenty of people to blame. And I also don't think he gives that much of a shit. And I think there's only one, Jon. One what? Person to blame. Oh, yeah, of course. But he doesn't know that. Well, he does, which is why he's doing this. Right, right, right. But like, also, it's like, he's got two years left. All he wants to do is make money and like, you know, I don't know. Decorate the White House. Has someone who's loyal to him, which is Susie Wiles. Right. And decorate the White House. So like, it feels, it feels like there's a plenty of other people he can fire or blame besides Susie Wiles. But who knows? Who knows? One other Trump lieutenant who may be forced to walk the plank, according to Leanne Caldwell at Puck, former White House political director James Blair, the architect of the redistricting push who left the White House to run the midterm operation from the outside. In fairness, Blair has been pretty busy earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from a pro-Putin government. In the Balkans. So he's been busy doing that. So there's only so many campaigns you can keep track of. Back in May, he was the one who told Playbook that his plan for this midterm was to paint Democrats as woke, weak, and way too liberal. He's tried. Did he do it? It's been the strategy. I guess we'll have John. We'll find out in two weeks. I mean, James Blair is a class example, someone who flew way too close to the sun. Yeah. Well, he also wasn't like, he was never, he sort of just fell into the job, right? Like he's, doesn't have like a long history of being a political Svengali. - Yeah, I know. Truly, I have no idea. It's just he's a guy who began to exist in my life two years ago. When he said woke weak and way too liberal? Yeah, I remember he was on the campaign. And then he did a lot of playbook interviews when he was in the White House. A lot of playbook interviews. The thing I don't understand about this whole story is like, okay, so you blame it on James Blair. He doesn't work in the White House anymore. Well, he's the part of the people who's spending $200 million in Texas. Yeah. He's also, I mean, I'm sure it's probably Trump's fault that they didn't spend money earlier when it would have made more of a difference or at least been able to get a sign-on to buy time. But that's ultimately his job is to figure that out. Well, like what happens to him? He can be fired from, he's getting all kinds, I'm sure he's making unguarded amounts of money from all of these super PACs he's working for. So I guess he gets fired from those. Yeah, and then just makes all of his money from whatever Russian. Well, no, if you're on the outs with Trump, then like if you're a middling political operative, whose entire benefit to people is that they give money to you, it seems like they're getting access to Trump and you no longer have access to Trump, you're going to end up on Dancing with the Stars like Sean Spicer. Speaking of which, we should talk about- What are we pivoting to, Sean Spicer or Dancing with the Stars? We should talk about the brand new White House press secretary. Oh, God damn it. That's a good transition. Yeah, you didn't even know. She's already taken the country by storm, Dan. Katie Zachariah took the podium on Tuesday for a 14-minute briefing that included just three questions and came after she struggled to read a lengthy opening statement that was just riddled with multi-syllabic words and compound sentences. Afterwards, Zachariah, a minor fixture on right-wing TV who has previously referred to herself as an attorney, was asked where she passed the bar, to which she answered, in China. Turns out she did not pass the bar in China or anywhere, but her bigger problem is that her new White House colleagues have already started anonymously knifing her, calling her first briefing, quote, embarrassing and, quote, terrible on so many levels, according to texts received by the Daily Mail. One Republican operative just sent emojis of a dumpster fire. Zachariah didn't brief on Wednesday or Thursday, which is odd because that is her job as the White House press secretary. Yes, yes. I don't know what else she's doing. I guess she did an interview with MAGA influencers, influencer on Real America's Voice, where she attempted to explain both her rough first outing and the whole I'm a lawyer, but not a lawyer situation. Let's watch. Typically, Jack, briefs are in the afternoon, 1 p.m., 1.30 p.m., where the press secretary has ample amount of time to have discussed with all the necessary people, get all the right information. Columbus Day is when I got the briefing materials. And then Tuesday morning, they were completed. And I woke up at three in the morning on Tuesday. I had to prepare with what I had, but they weren't finalized until we didn't finalize everything until about 8 a.m. And I never had a full briefing beforehand. I had already pre-registered to take the bar, and I didn't want to withdraw from that. And we knew we would be moving out to China. And I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who I'd been long distance from for, you know, a long time. And I was obviously incredibly distracted and overwhelmed and excited for finally being married to someone who had been long distance from for, you know, a long time. And so, I don't know, her, the 36 hours or 24 hours or whatever she had seems like excessive. Also, you can't get it in advance because you know what changes? The news. The news. Yes. Also, what is she talking about? She took three fucking questions from Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail. She couldn't prepare 24 hours in advance for her briefing where she took three questions from three of the most right-wing outlets in America. The world. It was 14 minutes, and she needs at least two hours per minute for prep. So, she didn't have sufficient time. So, be fair. And she's not really a lawyer. No. I mean, the thing, like— She graduated law school. She didn't pass the bar. Plenty of people who go to law school never take the bar, so that's not the issue. The issue is that she told the press yesterday that she passed the bar. She also called herself a general counsel at one of her jobs. Yeah. You definitely can't call yourself general counsel if you're not, in fact, general counsel. Yeah. If you haven't passed the bar. Yeah. It just—it seems like a disturbing—like, obviously, this is on brand for this position in the Trump administration, but she is lying to the press a lot about some pretty basic things that are actually public records and provable. Now, there was one good review of her first outing. Here's the headline. Katie Zachariah delivers a powerful inaugural briefing from the White House. Well, you know what? They put out a statement. They put out a whole statement, a whole press statement. It's not what you want. I'll tell you that. You know what outlet doesn't have to suffer through 14-minute White House briefings with zero information? Crooked Media. You know what? If you people become subscribers, we could. We could. We need someone in that room with Katie Zachariah asking the hard questions. Isn't that what you want? Do you want her to just, you know, whiff questions from Breitbart and Daily Mail? Or do you want a Crooked Media reporter in the briefing room peppering her with questions? If so, subscribe. Crooked.com. You can support what we're doing here at Crooked. It's the best way to support our growing, independent, pro-democracy media company. Plus, you get ad-free episodes. Plus, you get a whole bunch of subscriber shows and newsletters. It's great. I'm not authorized to say this, so you cut out the podcast. But I think that if we get 1,000 new subscribers by Halloween, we're going to send Reid to the White House briefing. Reid? Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. He's on the East Coast. I was going to say Elijah, but he's further away. I think we should send Elijah. We should make him drive. Oh, you know what? From North Carolina. You know what? That's his commute every day. 2,000 more subscribers by Halloween. Elijah, he will live stream his drive. Trip to the White House. Yes. To the White House so he can ask Katie Zachariah if she's still there. If she outlasts Scaramucci. I did see in Playbook this afternoon, West Wing Playbook, that like, you know, some of the White House people were like, it was bad, but it wasn't so bad that, you know, that she probably is going to hang on for a while. And because she defends… Has defended Trump on TV for so long and he likes her still, you know, that buys her some time to get better. Like, were you aware that she was the person who existed before she got this job? No, I'd never heard of her name. And you watched Fox. When I saw her, I've never seen her before. All day long. Yeah. Never seen her on Fox. Yeah. Was she on Fox or was she on one of those like… I don't know. Like OAN sort of Newsmax. The only thing I read is that she tried to get a job at GSA and her vision of the job was that she was going to be a public-facing spokesperson promoting the ballroom and GSA wanted her to… The General Service Administration, people in charge of government buildings, wanted her to manage the press office there. And that was… They couldn't come to an agreement. Did you see the story that when she was in China, her husband, that she was so excited about marrying that she forgot to take the bar, that he was doing business with a company in North Korea that was on the sanctions list? I did see that. Also, just imagine… I know this is sort of exhausting, but imagine what the world will look like. If Jen Psaki had worked for a Chinese law firm, a communist Chinese law firm. And Greg was out there doing business with North Korea. Yes. Like, I mean, Fox News would talk about nothing else. The briefing would be about nothing else. It's just… It's wild. Well, good for her. One bit of news that she did make was confirming for the world that Kimberly Guilfoyle was officially out. Yeah. Out as ambassador to Greece, immediately letting the air out of maybe the best story of the year and prompting even more reporting about her corrupt dealings and how she spent her final days. What were your favorite bits? How sad are you that this one's over? Or maybe it's not. Maybe we haven't heard the last of Kim Guilfoyle. One of my abiding passions is U.S.-Greece relations, so I'm glad that she's gone. I take this very seriously. I always have. I think the funniest part in the Wall Street Journal story about her final days is that in there it reports… that she has decorated the embassy full of self portraits I did like that yeah I mean it's not surprising but it is funny I like that first of all I loved Trump's comment about the whole thing yeah which was she wasn't a member of my family she I guess dated my son a long time ago I mean in fairness she did not get married to Donald Trump Jr. even if she had Trump wouldn't have gone to the wedding Tommy and I talked about this briefly on YouTube yesterday and my guess was that she stays she doesn't come back here because she's too embarrassed and she stays in Greece to marry one of those Greek sugar daddies that she has been doing all kinds of corrupt dealings with sure enough New York Post headline today oh wow Kimberly Guilfoyle plans to look quote for a rich European husband after Greek embassy exit nailed it nailed it Dieters Eric Dieters who's the the Amex guy the guy that she wanted to pay off her Amex bill he also filed a defamation suit in Kentucky this afternoon against Guilfoyle for her and her lawyer claiming that he owed her money and has not fulfilled his obligation so he's he's suing her that's cool also amusing in that story I will say that's good is that she tried to tell the White House that the all the text messages were AI generated that's amazing yes just amazing and then she's like watching all the coverage from Greece like nervously and she apparently reached out to Matthew Boyle who's the the Breitbart bureau chief to try to help lobby the administration on her behalf she's always hustling Kim she's always hustling that's how she got to where she is yeah so anyway hopefully hopefully hopefully that's not the last we hear of Kim because it's just it's too fun it's just a great story I think we'll probably at some point in the next two years someone's troubling online topic will be Kimberly Guilfoyle's big factory quitting yeah I know you're gonna say she'll be running for office somewhere which I wouldn't be surprised either Hot Save America is brought to you by Sundaes we are what we eat and believe it or not so are dogs a long healthy active life starts with clean real food nutrition every day that's what Sundaes for Dogs is all about it's human grade real food made with 80% plus all natural meat and nutrient rich ingredients like kale ginger and blueberries Sundaes is air dried and contains zero filler synthetic additives or chemicals it doesn't look or smell like typical dog food it looks like high quality jerky plus it's both vet founded and vet formulated by Dr. Tori Waxman to meet her standards as a veterinarian and dog owner and the best part it's effortless no fridge no freezer no prep no mess just scoop and serve you get the quality of a home cooked meal with the ease of kibble Leo loves Sundaes for dogs all the dogs do all the dogs do you put it in the bowl they all start running whenever we put it out at the cricket office there's almost a little dog food a little dog mini war trying to get to the Sundaes first it's a stampede you don't want to get between the dogs and the beloved Sundaes in it and love it too don't ask make the switch to Sundaes go right now to sundaesfordogs.com slash cricket and get 50% off your first order or you can use code cricket at checkout that's 50% off your first order at sundaesfordogs.com slash cricket sundaesfordogs.com slash cricket or use code cricket at checkout today's show is brought to you by Into the Mix a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice there are 574 federally recognized native nations in the United States and for generations the only stories told about reservation life has been about what's missing Kyle Mestath grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation and decided to change the story after losing people he loved he took the one thing that kept him going skateboarding and built something nobody expected ground control is a skate park a recording studio a film set a music stage and a garden a place where Lakota youth can create compete and see themselves as the main character of their own story and it's not just staying in Pine Ridge it's spreading to other reservations other tribes for kids looking to build community this week on Into the Mix host Ashley C. Ford sits down with Kyle to hear how he built it listen now wherever you find your podcast so I guess this is what passes for good news these days but Trump has officially backed down from Pete Hegseth's plan to live stream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hassan after most Democrats and some Republicans expressed discomfort with that obviously horrific idea Trump finally shut it down on Truth Social writing that while the live stream would have been a quote strong deterrent for the world many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch Hassan die through streaming or through any other visual device thank you for being very specific there as far as who some of those very good and well-meaning people might be turns out it's eight and ten Americans according to a brand new Washington Post poll did that surprise you didn't surprise me I think I think the number you you think it surprised you you think it should be you thought more people would want to watch it no I said it didn't surprise me oh yeah the surprising part is why is it not nine and ten oh you know I mean they went through every demo demographic group like Republicans against it the only demographic group supporting it by like 52-53% maga men yeah seems about right and even then which is what that's Pete Hegseth that is Pete Hegseth's constituency right there but even then those guys want to they will tell people they want to watch it but they're not watching it yeah Pete Hegseth's spokesman said that Hegseth and Trump spoke before Trump's announcement and that the two are quote completely aligned they don't sound very aligned in the they're aligned in the sense that Pete Hegseth wanted to do one thing and then Trump publicly reversed it now they're aligned yes I think this is a what do you think auspicious start for Pete's 2028 campaign yeah probably I think there's been in several the auspicious start was the decision to go to war to war with Iran that was probably that was the original sin in this I'm very much on the impeach Pete Hegseth train if we take back Congress I think it's probably because I think I think if we take back Congress the biggest issue one of the biggest issues will be the war that caused the inflation he's the one who got us into the war he's also a fucking war criminal and just a regular criminal because we weren't at war with the all the boats of civilians that he blew up in the fucking Caribbean so yeah I mean it has to be it has to say I agree with you I'm all for it like I've I have argued on this podcast in my newsletter many places that as deserving as it is impeaching Trump is not the best use of our time and energy but impeaching Hegseth I'd be for that but we have the same problem that I don't think it's going to result in him being removed or replaced with someone who's suddenly you know making decisions that we would welcome so like Kimberly Guilfoyle defense sec def Guilfoyle we also have a more disturbing update about the administration legal assault on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar earlier this week we talked about federal officials searching Omar's D.C. home we now know that they seized Omar's phone and that they've subpoenaed her relatives in an effort to try and strip her of U.S. citizenship and deport her so again as people know she was 17 when her father became a naturalized citizen she came here when she was 11 or 12 17 at 17 her father became a naturalized citizen and investigators are examining whether her age was deliberately misrepresented to make her eligible for citizenship as a minor so if she had been 18 I guess she would have had to apply on her own but because she was 17 she just automatically got citizenship when her father was naturalized as a citizen and so basically they're saying she was actually 18 at the time and so he said she was 17 when she was really 18 and apparently investigators examined a similar tip that they were given during the Biden administration but never pursued it because of a lack of evidence most of the reports point out how unusual it is for this sort of step to be taken so close to an election that's also true but what do you what do you make of all this and the fact that Trump is doing it now and do you think he actually they actually believe that they can strip her of citizenship that they can win this case or bring this case against her or do you think it's just for political show either way it's horrific but I mean I think this is such a bigger deal than the attention it's getting yeah me too the president of the United States has dispatched his politicized Department of Justice to investigate a sitting congresswoman three weeks before an election for the express purpose of deporting that congresswoman stripping her of her citizenship and sending and deporting her that is fucking bananas bananas and whether they I'm sure they think they can do it they always think they can do it they're too fucking stupid to know if they can do it or not they just go for it but the fact that they're they're doing it and trying to do it is the scary part yeah the denaturalization stuff even before yeah Ilhan Omar was mentioned you've been talking about this for a long time I've been it's the it is the scariest thing potentially in the whole Stephen Miller arsenal of actions that he's been trying to take and this and he has been wanting to do this for a long time this was a project 2025 thing he said this before 2024 and you know the government brings these denaturalization cases like a handful every year and it's usually for someone who like recently became a citizen and knowingly committed fraud to become a citizen I mean Stephen Miller wants to go after basically everyone every immigrant who is a naturalized citizen of the United States who he doesn't like and have investigators at DHS or FBI or DOJ or whatever like dig through their lives strip them of citizenship and deport them and that means that like no one who is a naturalized citizen of this country who's an immigrant at some point but is now a naturalized citizen citizen who has their citizenship is safe from being harassed and investigated by the federal government if you piss off Stephen Miller and Donald Trump or someone in the Trump administration. I mean, it is, it is the, it's fucking awful. And like, it's, you know, anyone and, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene said, like, I don't like Ilhan Omar. I never have. You mean trying to get her kicked out of Congress on multiple occasions? This is, this is a crazy thing to do. And, you know, if people think this kind of thing stops at Ilhan Omar, absolutely not. It's not worse. And Stephen Miller has basically told us this. So it's, it's, it's certainly not a one-off. I do think that they're going to have an incredibly hard time doing, I mean, there's the statute of limitations on immigration fraud, which has long since passed. Her father died in 2020. I mean, they would have to prove not just that her immigration fraud, which is long since passed, but that her father died in 2020. Her father, like, knowingly committed fraud, but that somehow she at 17 years old also knowingly committed fraud. And they'd have to have hard evidence of that. And even then they'd have to go through court and prove it in a court of law. So it's like, it is a long way from them actually being able to do it. But just the fact that they harassed her, have gone into her house, have taken her phone, are now digging through her life because of this is fucking insane. And spread, and using the federal government to spread the idea that one of Trump's political opponents is an illegitimate. United States. Yes. Even if you can't actually take it away, it's the, it's the weaponization of that idea. Yep. That is so dangerous. And it's not just Trump and Stephen Miller on this one. Like JD Vance has been saying it too. Yeah. I mean, this is, this is a big thing on the right. This is, you know, Stephen Miller, Todd Blanche, all of them are involved here. Speaking of JD Vance, one last thing before we get to your conversation with Sherrod, Vance went to Texas this week where he showed off his sharp wit and heterosexual orientation. Now, before we get started, I love you too, in a totally platonic way, to be clear. I'm the vice president, not James Tallarico. You get it, Dan? No, no, be more specific. Do you get the joke? Yeah, when someone says, I love you, he says, I love you back. But I just want to make sure, not in the fucking gay way. Like gay James Tallarico, who's gay because he said something nice about trans kids once. And so therefore, I'm going to insinuate that he's a pedophile, which I did at the convention. Because I'd love to see his web history again. He did at this event too. And again, this is all because James Tallarico said a nice thing about trans kids once. That's where this is coming from. There's nothing else there. And so he's using that to then say he's gay. Now where this is like a, like if you were like in seventh grade, you would be too old for that. That kind of humor. If you were in seventh grade in 1997. Yeah, right. It's just, it's so unfunny. It's so, that's why like, put us like. Put aside how offensive it is. I was going to say, put, yeah, put all that aside. It is the dumbest fucking joke. The guy is like, he's so, he, he, everything he does seems so artificial, forced. It's just like, God. He's just a goober. And he's been at, he is, I, I guarantee this. He has been made fun of as a gigantic fucking nerd his whole life. And now he has an airplane, armed guards with him. And he thinks he is cool and tough. And he's trying to be a bully now. And he's so bad at it. And it's just, it's like, there's such little self-awareness and self-confidence. And it's so driven by insecurity. Like to just think that if he just declares how straight he is all the time, like, like what is he? No homo. No homo. - It's just very, it's so embarrassing. - Now, if you want to hear a bully who is confident in his sexuality, let's listen to JD Vance's boss in Ohio this week. - I don't do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass and I looked at the whole. - Yeah. - The piece of ass in question is John Husted. - Yes, in case you were wondering. - Republican Senate candidate from Ohio. And Donald Trump is just checking out his ass. - See. - Good for him. - You know what? More power to him. - You know. - We're not here to kink shame. - I would love, I would love someone to ask JD Vance about Donald Trump's comment. See what he thinks about that. - Probably be a little jealous, honestly. - Did you see John Ossoff's Vance comment the other night? - No. - Oh. - On Chris Hayes? Chris Hayes asked him about Donald Trump and he, and oh, he asked him about JD Vance. - Yeah. - Sort of going around just being a dick, which I guess, I guess JD Vance's role in the final weeks is just like, go around the country, be a huge fucking dick. Make sure you let everyone know that you don't like dick, just that you are a dick. - It's a very important distinction. - Very important distinction, yes. And you know, and so JD Vance thought that he was making fun of James Tallarico. He called Abdul a little weasel who should shut up and be grateful for his country. Uh, yes, that's what he's doing. So anyway, so Chris asked Ossoff about this the other night and here's what he said. - Donald Trump has cemented his legacy in American history as a failure and a disgrace. JD Vance will go down as a footnote in that disgrace. - God, God, it's so good. I don't wanna, I don't wanna do the like, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm glazing Ossoff every time he has a clip there, but it's, it's. - Look, going after JD Vance like that, you got me. - Yeah, it is. I mean, he just, the way in which he delivers an insult. And the thing is, is he would- - Doesn't break character. - Doesn't, it, like, if you just watch this, especially the second debate, they're standing so close together and he is just ripping Mike Collins, a new asshole, over and over again. And it's just with no, like, it's really, he, you know, I know you're talking about Zach's, but he, he's, is, he's one thing I know he does very well and this is it. And honestly, I love it in situations like this. - Now, the bad news from that debate was, did you hear him again? I mean, he, he said, again, he's not gonna run for president in 2028, but then he also said he, he pledged to serve a full term in the Senate. Is he, is he really, do you think that's shutting the door on it? - He might have to be drafted, John, I think. - I will say, I, I forgot that our old boss had also pledged to serve a full term. - Yes, but he, he did, but that, but he, he, unlike Ossoff, had two years between winning that term and running for president. - Right, but then, but then the other side of that is, Ossoff has served a full term. - He has, yes, maybe. - Barack Obama had been a state senator. - Honestly, if you parse the words, he's saying he's not thinking about running for president, which he probably isn't, 'cause he's running for re-election. - Yeah, that part's good. Give you, that gives you plenty of running room. - And he said he's gonna, he said he's gonna serve a full term. He did serve a full term, John. - Oh. - Just saying. But you remember Obama then went out right after the election, did meet the press, and opened the door. - We'll see. - We'll see. - We'll see. All right, when we come back, Dan's conversation with Sherrod Brown. Positive America is brought to you by Quince. You know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing on repeat? The sweater that goes with everything, the perfect pair of pants, or the T-shirt you somehow always reach for first. Those are the pieces that make getting dressed easy, and that's what Quince does best. Quince focuses on high quality wardrobe staples made with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton, and merino wool. The styles are timeless, versatile, and designed to become the dependable pieces. Their 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters start at just $60, giving you the softness and quality you'd expect from a luxury brand without the luxury price tag. 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You can access reports, visual dashboards, forecasts, and AI insights to help you better understand your cash flow and make informed decisions about your business. Learn more at Xero.com. ♪♪♪ Sherrod Brown, welcome back to Pod Save America. Good to be on with you guys. Thanks, or with you personally, not you guys. Thank you. Well, we're a collective, a royal we. It's always you guys, right? No one can tell us apart anyways. You see one, you can't tell them apart, right? That's fine. I got a lot of important things to talk to you about, but you are wearing a Cleveland Guardians sweatshirt. Yep. Game three tonight. How are you feeling? Game three right now, one o'clock. Wow. They moved it from six to one because of weather. So we got campaign stuff to do today, but this fit. And game three, and it's pretty exciting in Cleveland. Okay, that's good. I got seats. I got seats way up in the upper deck, in the cheap seats. So people, I'll meet a lot of people there that are, their tickets aren't that expensive, like regular people in the upper, in the third of three decks. Will we see your opponent in a luxury box somewhere? Is that possible? Yeah. Yes, that's right. If he knows where Cleveland is, I don't know. Fair enough. Who knows? I'm glad you brought up the baseball game because we love baseball and sports here, but also because my first question to you, is about the ungodly amounts of money being spent in Ohio. The Senate Republicans just took out money from North Carolina and Georgia. They're putting more money into your state to try to defeat you. I cannot imagine what it's going to be like to watch the game today. I imagine every commercial will be about you or Amy Acton or the other side. How are you surviving this sort of unprecedented financial assault? Yeah, two nights ago, my daughter, who's in her forties, was a huge fan as a kid. We used to keep score together. She and Connie and I watched the game two, game one, and did watch the Chicago game, game five. And it's a little unnerving to sit there with your kid, even though she's in her forties and watch these nasty lying ads. I mean, it's what they do. They are spending, they're up to about, we think 280, 290 million. The crypto data center crowd, same people are up to 40 some million now, but there's more of us than there are them. And they're talking about, stuff that's just not true. Instead of talking about the war, talking about prices, talking about cuts in rural health and cuts in insurance and cuts for everybody. I mean, that's just not working this year because people realize the real problems in our society. The amount of money is so obscene that I live in California and I see ads about you if I watch Ohio State on Saturdays because they're running national ads in some of these places, just to reach the small slice of voters. Yeah. I didn't even know these were national ads. I know that, you know, I know most of our money, we were literally 60% of our money. We raise 10, 25. And I asked people to come to SherrodBrown.com. That makes a huge difference. 10, 15, 20 bucks. That will win this race because our contributions are grassroots. Theirs are not. You mentioned the crypto packs. The crypto industry spent a ton of money to defeat you in 2024. They're back at it this time around. What is it about you? They're very mad about the, their bill going down. You weren't actually in the Senate when the bill went down, but they're still running ads against you. Like, why are you at the top of their enemies list? Well, it's two things. One, I've spent my career taking on Wall Street, taking on big pharma, taking on big oil, and been successful in many cases. And that's one reason. The other reason is John Husted is their boy. He's called the fair-haired boy from, I'm sorry, the golden boy by First Energy executives. And there was a $61 million bribe from them to send the Speaker of the House to prison. He's called the face of data centers, and they are immensely unpopular in both parties. All that money, they know he's their guy. They know I'm going to hold him accountable. And I guess it's the perfect storm. So they spend literally tens and tens of millions of dollars. You know, everyone is talking about data centers now. I see it in campaign ads all across the country. But I think the first time I saw a national politician or a statewide politician run an ad about data centers, or talk about data centers and stuff, it was you. Why were, how did you end up sort of ahead of the curve on this? And why are data centers such a potent issue in Ohio in particular? Well, I listen to people. You go, particularly in rural, kind of more Trump country, but even suburban areas and cities, you hear about it all the time. And you hear about it because it's an example of a rigged system that John Husted is the guy, as I said, he's the face of data centers, not my words, called that by the media. He got $2.5 billion in tax giveaways from the state, from state taxpayers. They come in, there are 225 data centers, either built or in the process of being built in Ohio. They're gobbling up farmland. They're drinking up water. People have no say in their construction and the land and all that. And then they're going to pay higher electric bills. We have some of the highest electric bills in the state. So it's a combination of, I just listen to people. And John Husted is totally, like he is, he's totally their guy. I mean, he was a special interest guy in Columbus for insurance companies for, you know, for kind of everything, Wall Street. Now he's a special interest guy in Washington looking out for Jeffrey Epstein. He's got major dollars, way more than any other senator from the Epstein collaborator. He's got a conspirator. He's got money from everybody that is every special interest that you talk about on this show. And so no surprise there, but it was so clear that people wanted a voice standing up to these data centers, making sure their electric rates didn't go up, making sure these tax giveaways end and making sure that people had a say in their local communities. Do you have thoughts on if and when you're elected, what a Senate could do to rein in data centers, put some rules of the road to deal with AI even more broadly? Sure. You put, I mean, AI is the next step and there is no real consensus there. But to start with, you take away tax breaks. You require that the electricity costs are paid by the billionaires, mostly from out of state. And you give local communities more say because one day I was in near Bowling Green, a city, good state universities there, just south of Toledo, very good flat farmland. You can almost see Chicago from there. And I was driving at one of the biggest data centers in the Midwest is there. They're building 280 acres. So just gargantuan. And you drive from the city of Bowling Green. Out in the country. And you see family farms everywhere. All of a sudden you see these cranes and these trucks. And it's just, if you're a farmer and you've had your farm for three or four generations, or you just bought land out there to live or to farm, it's just stunning how they have taken over without any input at all from local farmers, local small businesses, local people wanting to live there. You're someone who's been a huge supporter of organized labor throughout your career. Have you gotten pushback? Have you gotten pushback from labor unions on your data center position? Or are you going to sort of come to a consensus? I haven't for two reasons. One, they can count on me to make sure whatever jobs there are, they're union, good paying, good benefit jobs. The other thing is clearly these workers, they don't want their electricity prices going up. They want some local control over where these data centers are in their area. And they don't think that Ohio taxpayers should be feeding these very greedy billionaires that run these companies. So they are no different from somebody else that's not working on data centers, union or non-union. And so they have received very well what I've been saying and doing on data centers. Donald Trump is a huge part of this campaign. He's been in Ohio campaigning. John Husted, I believe, was at the midterm convention. He's appeared with Trump on the campaign trail. He has tried to kind of sort of not really find some areas of distance. He's kind of talked a little bit about maybe possibly doing something about the Iran, war ending. So if you talk a little about the role that Trump is playing in this election, you know, you are running in a state that Trump won three times by double digits. How's it different this time than when you were running in 24? It's different because what's happening, the voters did not vote for this war. Trump voters are not. The voters did not vote for fertilizer prices almost doubling, diesel prices doing dramatically up, gas prices, food prices. Voters didn't vote for it. Voters didn't vote for healthcare increases on their premiums, which caused 160,000 Ohioans dropped their insurance in January and February and hundreds of thousands more are very fearful of what's going to happen in January. This January, you know, Republicans, they voted on the Medicaid cuts and the big, beautiful bill. They put it off till January. Voters understand that and what's already happening in rural hospitals. So Husted has no answer on any of that. He said, his only answer was he said, we've got to end this war. Two weeks later, he voted to continue it. He said, we've got to protect Medicaid. He told a woman with a disabled daughter, he told her, looked her in the eye and said, I will never cut Medicaid. Two weeks later, he voted for the huge Medicaid cuts. So any distance between, I mean, he's, he's, you know, he's been a guy that's done nothing against this war, done nothing to rein in prices in the grocery store, done nothing to protect rural healthcare, none of those things. And voters, We're making sure they know it. He can run all the ads about nasty stuff and distractions, but he's got to answer these issues to everyday Ohioans of all political stripes on how he's done nothing to make their lives better. Nothing. One of the interesting dynamics I've seen in your race is that this is a very anti-incumbent change election, yet I've seen polling that sees that a non-insignificant swath of Ohioans still think you're their senator. Have you run into people on the trail who think you're the senator who are maybe mad about, think you're getting reelected or mad at you about what Congress has done or not done that you had no part of over the last couple of years? I've heard reporters have asked me that question. I've heard some voters say things like, you know, I think there's going to be buyer's remorse in Ohio, but more importantly, they thanked me for the Social Security Fairness Act or the PACT Act named after an Ohioan to protect veterans coming back to the exposure. Those gargantuan burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, they know what we did to save pensions. But voters, it's clear in this campaign who's responsible for the war, who's responsible for cuts in health care, who's responsible for these prices, whether it's fertilizer, whether it's gas prices, whether it's fertilizer prices, or whether it's grocery store prices. So they know who's responsible. I guess anyone who has access to a television, it's pretty clear about what's going on here. Or online stuff. I mean, our presence online has been really, really effective. And we raise a lot of money online, and we communicate with people really well online. I've been told by the Democratic Committee that our online work, our digital work is the best in the country. And whether it's the best or not, it's outstanding. We have superstars running it. That's great. President Obama's coming to campaign for you, I believe, in the next couple of days. Am I here? I do. I do. He, you know, a lot of people running have, in red states, have sort of eschewed national Democrats coming to campaign for him. Obama, he did win Ohio twice. What does he sort of bring to the table? What do you hope to get from that event with him over the next couple days here? He brings an excitement to the table. And I think he's coming because he sees, you know, he sees what I hear and see in Ohio, that people's lives have gotten worse. And Barack Obama cares, he loves this country, he cares a lot about this country, and he sees people's lives getting worse. You know, whether it's a farmer that lost his soybean export, lost his soybean markets. Dramatically, he talks to farmers or to small business owners. I mean, he hears them as I do, who have, who've seen the tariffs undermined, that make it so much harder to run a restaurant. He, we have particularly small retailers. They aren't, people that were regular customers now come once a week instead of twice, or don't come at all. President Obama knows all that. He's got a good antenna. We talk once in a while, he knows that I need the help. And, you know, I guess you compare President Obama coming in to John Husted sending a message out to the tech crowd saying, "I need tens of millions of dollars," and I'll make that contrast any day. Yeah. And, you know, and I will say also, because I know him, he likes Ohio and he also likes you a lot too, so. Yeah. I mean, he's happy to do anything he possibly can to help you. All right. Last question. I saw him a lot in '12, in '8. Yes, yes, yes. We, we were- Not just the campaigns, right? Yes. Yeah. We were in Ohio a lot from, in 2012, a lot. We were in Ohio a lot between '8 and '16. Yes, yes, yes. Most, most importantly, Dan. Yeah. So, you're there all the time. He loves Ohio. Okay. Last question for you. I'm gonna make this very easy for you. You already did it once, but I just can't emphasize enough to our listeners what the, just the amount of money Republicans are pouring in to defeat you. It's like nothing we've ever seen in American politics. How, if anyone here wants to help out, if they have $5, $10, or even more to help you, where can they go do that? Contribute 10, 15, 20 bucks, SherrodBrown.com, or volunteer, and volunteer to send postcards or come to the state to do weekend canvassing, whatever. But SherrodBrown.com, we need the help. It's gonna be, it's, it's 280 million now. It'll be another, who knows how many. Most important, probably the most expensive Senate race in history. And we, can't have, we won't have as much, but we just want enough to compete, and we're on track to do that. And, and being with you on this show really matters. So, I appreciate that. Sherrod Brown, thank you so much. Good luck over the next two weeks here, and we'll be rooting for you on election night. Thanks so much. That's our show for today. Thanks to Sherrod for coming on. Dan, you'll be back in the feed on Sunday with a conversation with Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report, one of the smartest analysts in the game. What are you guys gonna talk about, it says here? I'm guessing the election. Yeah, I don't, I meant to take that out of the outline because, like, we're gonna be talking about the election. We're gonna be talking about the what? The baseball playoffs? Come on, people. Let's adjust the script. J.D. Vance's sexual orientation? We're not gonna talk about that. I won't promise you that. Okay, that's good. Well, everyone should listen because Amy's super smart. And then we will be back in your feed on Tuesday with another Pod Save America. Bye, everyone. Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, and Michael Goldsmith, with Reed Cherlin, Elijah Cohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt DeGroat, Ben Heathcote, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, Kenny Moffitt, Adam Lippert, Joe Joseph Dutra, Desmond Taylor, Dan Farrow, David Tolles, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Singel. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. As someone tuned into politics, you've probably seen the constant bickering about who belongs in the pro-democracy movement. CrookedCon is right after the midterms, and it is going to be the first time we've come together to hash it out in person and kick off the 2028 debate. We just posted a ton more info about what to expect from the big event from November 5th to 7th, so check it out at crookedcon.com and get your tickets now. CNDC!

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Simply Safe offers real-time home security with AI-powered cameras and live agents who intervene within 30 seconds to stop intruders.
  2. The system differs from traditional security by detecting threats before a break-in occurs and alerting authorities immediately when needed.
  3. CEO Lucinda shared positive experiences with installation speed, ease of use, and app functionality, highlighting user-friendly design.
  4. Zero is a platform for small businesses that unifies accounting, payroll, and analytics with AI insights to improve financial decision-making.
  5. Republican strategists are abandoning competitive races, shifting funds to safe districts and deep-red states, signaling a loss of confidence in their electoral prospects.
  6. Internal Republican polling and spending shifts suggest a potential systemic error in the current political landscape, with many races appearing more favorable than data indicates.
  7. Voter distrust of government corruption is rising, with 88% of voters expressing deep concern, directly impacting support for Trump and Republican leadership.
  8. The administration faces multiple scandals, including White House corruption, unlawful denaturalization efforts against Ilhan Omar, and political missteps involving press secretaries and redistricting.

Summary:

The podcast covers a range of political and social issues, beginning with a promotional segment for Simply Safe, a home security service using AI and live agents to prevent break-ins before they happen. The product is highlighted as innovative, user-friendly, and backed by real-time intervention. It transitions to a political deep dive, revealing that Republican leaders are pulling funding from competitive races and redirecting it to safer, more predictable districts—signaling a strategic retreat amid declining polling and financial strain.

The analysis notes that Democrats are outspending Republicans in advertising, though Republicans are spending more overall, suggesting inefficiency. Voters are increasingly concerned about government corruption, with a recent Fox News poll showing 88% express serious concern, undermining trust in Republican leadership. The discussion also highlights multiple scandals: Trump’s alleged involvement in crypto deals, the White House’s controversial ballroom spending, and the targeting of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with a citizenship-denaturalization effort.

Other stories include the controversial firing of Kim Guilfoyle, the appointment of Katie Zachariah as press secretary—marked by public criticism over her credentials—and JD Vance’s public display of supposed heterosexuality, which is widely mocked as inauthentic and poorly executed. The narrative underscores a broader erosion of trust in political institutions, with scandals and missteps fueling public skepticism. These developments suggest a significant political shift, where both voter sentiment and internal party strategy are under strain.

FAQs

Simply Safe is a home security system that uses AI-powered cameras to detect potential threats before an intrusion occurs. When motion is detected, a live US-based agent is immediately dispatched to intervene, and the system alerts emergency services if needed.

A Simply Safe agent responds within under 30 seconds of detecting a potential threat, speaking directly through the camera to stop an intruder in their tracks.

Yes, unlike traditional systems that only alert after a break-in, Simply Safe is designed to prevent intrusions by detecting threats in real time and intervening before any damage occurs.

The app allows users to arm or disarm the system, monitor live cameras, and check security status from anywhere, making it easy and convenient to manage home security remotely.

More than six million people have already trusted Simply Safe for their home security.

Zero is a platform that combines accounting, payments, payroll, and analytics in one place, offering business owners visual dashboards and AI insights to better understand cash flow and make informed decisions.

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