MAGA Can't Stop Freaking Out Over Jon Ossoff

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You know, grass has a life like humans have a life. This has all been redone. It's all been topsoiled. In other words, we put topsoil, brand-new earth on top. It's very, you know, a lot of good ingredients in that earth for grass. If you're grass, you're very happy. If you're grass, you're happy. But this grass is the highest quality. It was given free of charge by Scotts Miracle Grow, Scotts. And Scotts is a great company. They actually contributed to my campaign. I must be honest. You'll figure that one out. But for the last number of years, no tents have been used because tents are very dangerous. Tents are made out of plastic or canvas. And they don't stop even the smallest of ammunition or bullets. About what? Reopen the negotiations. Maybe at some point. But right now, I think the situation is so good. Situation around is so good. Everything's going great. When I was in high school, my mom, whenever I go to concerts, my mom would say, "Just don't smoke any bad grass." Well. I was like, "Are you worried I won't get high? What are we talking about here?" Only the best grass. A swag for this kid. No one else in the country is happy. Grass is happy. The grass is happy. First of all, that's not even a cool construction project. It's just like a circle. Just putting a helipad in. Just a granite circle, apparently. Also, can you imagine how loud it must be in every single meeting? Every meeting. There's like multiple construction sites on the White House grounds. Or if you're in any of those places around the White House. I bet if you're at the hotel next door, all of that. You're sitting in the Oval Office. You're trying to decide if we're going to bomb Iran again, and you just hear hammering all day long. Trump likes that. The ad that he just did for Scott's Miracle-Gro there, shares of Scott's Miracle-Gro rose 6% on those comments. Somebody in the White House bought some options yesterday. I decided to research Scott's Miracle-Gro just for fun. See if they're a good company. Nice. In 2012, Scott's Miracle-Gro was the first company to do this. Scott's Miracle-Gro pleaded guilty to illegally applying insecticides that were toxic to birds to its wild bird food products. Whoa. They had to pay over $12 million in fines and penalties. So, in other words, they had this like bird seed. They put insecticide on it to prevent infestations while it was being stored, knowing that it would then be toxic to the birds it would be fed to. Does RFK Jr. know this is happening? Probably not. There was a label on the insecticide that said, "Store Aside 2 is Extreme." It was extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife, and they were like, "Eh, fuck it." Speaking of Miracle-Gro, if you want to help us miraculously grow our YouTube and have our shares rise like Miracle-Gros did, please subscribe. It's free. Just hit the button right there. Subscribe to Pod Save America, and it'll surface more great Pod Save America content in the algorithm as we try to serve as a counterweight to all that right-wing media slop. I got to say, you know, 70-something days out from the midterms, this guy is locked in. And no negotiations on Iran anymore because things are so good. Well, so what's weird about that is Jared Kushner did an interview on Fox News on Monday, and he said, quote, "We are having very positive and active conversations." Then he said the diplomacy is, quote, "Probably more robust than it's ever been." Robust is one of those— I love robust. It's just the worst. And then on Tuesday, Trump posted, quote, "There are no talks or conversations with Iran." So I didn't—like, was he brushing back Jared? Was Jared lying? It's hard to say. Was Jared just, like, spouting the talking points you say on diplomacy, like, "Yes, we're having robust conversations?" Yeah, we're having—I don't know. Who even knows? And then I saw today, so Gulf countries are currently exporting 9.2 million barrels of oil per day. In July, they were exporting 12 million barrels of oil a day. Before the war, they were exporting 18 million barrels of crude oil per day. So things are great. Things are great. We're just ripping. Wow. So in other news, this is day four of the fallout from the most vile, despicable, misogynistic words ever spoken from the mouth of an elected official. I'm talking, of course, about John Ossoff's baseless allegation that the president likes to, quote, "travel with Natalie." That's it. That's the whole—those are the three words that we're talking about here. Here's a representative sample of the MAGA crashout from White House Press Secretary hopeful Scott Jennings. He's willing to do it in a scripted rally, but he's not willing to defend it after the fact. It's despicable. Ashley? I mean, just all this sort of fake outrage just really infuriates me. It's not fake, I can assure you. It is. It is not fake. I mean, especially when the president— You don't put words in my mouth. It's not fake. She let you speak. No, but you're putting words in Ossoff's mouth. He never suggested— I am really— Hold on a second. He never said— Hold on. Ashley, please speak. Scott, please listen to what she has to say. We all respected when you had the platform. I thought we were going to get a "get your hand out of my fucking face" again. I was like, these shows are—the format is so rote. It's like dickhead says dickhead thing, someone attacks him for it, host scolds them for being civil on set. Dickhead talks over everyone else to make sure that he's not forced to actually respond in a way that's not just his angry talking points. Listen, I can't grow a goatee, and that's on me. That's a cross I have to bear, but I wouldn't—if it looked like that, I'd shave it anyway. Yeah, that is a— I don't know how I can look there. I don't—I don't—I mean, he's definitely trying out for the job with this, for the White House press secretary job. Oh, you think? Although— He has been floated. I got to say, you need to be a bit more unflappable than Scott Jennings. Scott Jennings is too emotional. Yeah, he flaps. He's too emotional to be White House press secretary. Carolyn Leavitt, you can say a lot about her, liar, all kinds of stuff, but like she doesn't—she's kind of unflappable. Oh, no. Her countenance was, "I just took a beta blocker and a Xanax." Right? Nothing's getting through here. Yeah. Yeah. Like, Scott is a pussy. Yeah. He's a whiny little bitch. A whiny pussy. The idea—yeah, the civility police are out in force on this. It is so stupid. Listen, obviously, John Ossoff did something pretty savvy here, which is he kicked up a conversation about Donald Trump's weird relationship with this 35-year-old woman who his own staff refer to as the human printer. And she is so important to Donald Trump that she went on the secret plane while—more much like Hamas, he used the rest of his staff as human shields on the decoy. So, the New York Times posted some of Natalie's letters to Trump. Can I do a dramatic reading for you? Please. Please. "I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland." Apparently, there's video of her chasing behind his golf course. Yes. She wasn't fast enough. "I want things to always be right between us. I also know I've been distracted all week, forgetting to eat throughout the days and even forgetting to sleep and only catching a couple hours at a time." The letter concluded, "With all my heart, Natalie." Who among us has not written the line to our boss, "I want things to always be right between us"? "My dearest Robert Gibbs, I am so sorry that I forgot to eat and forgot to sleep." That is a very unhealthy relationship if you're apologizing for forgetting to sleep and eat because your boss presumably is working due to art. "With all my heart, Natalie." Here's the thing. The Secret Service raised alarms about the letters that she was leaving Donald Trump. So yeah, John Ossoff saying he wants to travel with Natalie and build his ballroom. Again, that is all John Ossoff said, and then everyone else jumped right to the implication that like, you know, they're fucking or whatever or something. And it's like, I think it's, I mean, I think John Ossoff went sort of, went sort of easy on the whole thing because the idea, the idea that she's sending him these letters about how she always wants things to be right between them and she's, she cares, she likes, she cares about him more than anything and- Yeah, Trump, I think Trump's line was like, "She's the only one who loves me as much as my family." Yes. "Everyone else will cash out and be gone and she will be there." Again, this is not a healthy boss-staffer relationship. This is like a 35-year-old woman with no relevant experience in government who just literally chases after his golf cart. His golf cart prints out positive news about him, apparently surfaced the video of the Obamas as apes. Yes. And helped him share that one. So nothing about this is normal and it's like perfectly, it's perfectly appropriate to raise questions about this. Yeah. So Scott Jennings later in that clip was like, "How would John Ossoff like it if, you know, someone started saying that one of his young staffers, one of his young female staffers, blah, blah, blah, and started implying all this stuff," I'm like, "Well, if one of John Ossoff's young female staffers." Yeah. If one of his young female staffers was caught writing letters to him that say, "You are all that matters to me and I always want everything to be right between us," and it alarmed his security. think it would be very fair for republicans to say something about that and again remember like we don't need to go through the hit list of all the times donald trump has been a horrible cynical person but one that came to mind to me today was remember when uh nancy pelosi's husband paul pelosi was attacked and bashed on the head with a hammer trump was out there suggesting and spreading the conspiracy that this was staged or that it was his lover right i mean like he's the worst person in the world fuck all these like there's clearly this coordinated effort like so the white house apparently has these discord communities or other like group chats where they send their little kind of outside forces and minions talking points to push back on whatever defends you know trump and some against some attack they lit up that group chat around this one which suggests to me that this is something that really bothered trump personally pod save america breaking news is brought to you by zip recruiter with everyday interactions becoming incredible increasingly impersonal someone going just one extra step can be huge like when my doctor takes the time to call me with test results instead of sending them electronically they came back positive for gay it makes me feel like a human being again if you're hiring great candidates can also go the extra step and tell you why they're interested in your job on zip recruiter as a way to stand out from others in the pool and zip recruiter has a new feature showing you the most interested qualified candidates first so you can meet the right people faster zip recruiter's powerful matching technology finds qualified candidates quickly and they're also able to tell you in their own words why they're interested in your job so try zip recruiter and meet great candidates who will go the extra step for your job four out of five employers who post on zip recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day try it for free today at zip recruiter.com slash crooked that's zip recruiter.com slash crooked zip recruiter meet your match on zip recruiter my focus on this it has little to do with it was like a brilliant ploy by john ossoff like i think it's fine he did it it got attention whatever i'm like more interested in this than i'm incensed by the reaction from the right on this because it's like the hysteria and it's like you know scott's trying to say it's not fake either it's fake and you're all bullshit or it's not fake and you have no fucking idea what has happened over the last 10 years or like or you're not really listening to what john ossoff said or you're reading into something even more than he tried to imply like what do you yeah i mean like what andrew gillum's line was a hit dog holler like i to me this the reaction suggests that maybe there is fire where there was smoke i actually i think it's great that they're overreacting like this i think it's great that stephen chung and the white house rapid response account is basically sharing these john ossoff remarks like yeah they're doing ossoff's work for him they're getting this message out there in a way uh that doesn't often happen and you and i were laughing about how um there's just sort of like narrative out there in the media the political media that's like oh john ossoff has mastered the clipping economy and communications and it's like he's like he's doing a very effective job of taking a stump speech putting a couple of kind of newsworthy lines in there making gets clipped and shared on social media back in the obama days we called that a topper on a speech it was the thing you did every event i guess it shows how far like the party has fallen and yeah it's a pretty standard thing communications 101 right like here's my nut graph that i'm going to hope that people quote and i'm going to get the message in there but i'm going to get something in there that gets it some attention so that the message gets at attention and then people will talk about it and i'm going to get something in there that gets attention and then people will talk about it like that's how politics has worked you know the word it like that's how politics has worked you know the word news news news 75 of that is new so you say something new 75 of that is new so you say something new 75 of that is new so you say something new about something relevant and interesting every day about something relevant and interesting every day and then the media will cover that well i know and then the media will cover that well i know and then the media will cover that well i know i saw people being like well you know it just it i saw people being like well you know it just it i saw people being like well you know it just it just distracted from the rest of his message just distracted from the rest of his message It's like, no, it didn't. It got the message attention. If it wasn't there, no one would have covered that message. Yes. Our friend and former colleague David sort of like, you know, did a bit of civility police hand wringing about the tweet. It's like, I'm sorry, you're just so wrong here. Like you might not like the suggestion that Ossoff did not make that. Frankly, I made right that like he might be hinting at some sort of affair or something with Natalie Harp. But it is just unequivocally true that by including the line about traveling with Natalie, Ossoff got these comments a hundred times more attention than they would have. Well, yeah, I just it's I thought it was strange that Axe came down on that side because I thought that the way Ossoff did it was so much more so much subtler than some resistance libs would do. Like, look, I think when when Gavin Newsom was on a tear last year and his account was and they were like, I thought they went way harsher. Gavin was out there being like, we're selling Trump knee pads. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What is that about? Right. Yeah, exactly. Like there was a cringe resistancy way to do this that Ossoff did not do. I actually think that he did it in a nice kind of subtle way that everyone kind of got, you know, he raised the question and he got an attention. But it wasn't the overreaction is is crazy. Yeah, it was not like subtle, subtle, but it was subtle enough that I think it was entirely appropriate. And by the way, you know, in Trump adjusted terms, give me a break. I know, I know, I know. Well, there's one person who's actually making sense on this. And this person always is making sense on on issues like this, on controversies like this. Let's listen to a straight shooter, Jesse Waters. It is to suggest that Trump surrounds himself with attractive women. Yeah, I think he's done that his whole life. I don't think he's very upset about the comment. Am I phased by this comment? No. Has Trump said? Has Trump said so much worse, so much more sleazy things against other people? Yes. Have I defended those things? Absolutely. So I'm not going to pretend I'm all hot and bothered about it. And the president doesn't even care. He's like, what? Who? Oh, Pee Wee Herman. Next. Story was over. I mean, shout out, Jesse. Maybe he should be the next White House press secretary. Maybe he'd be better than Scott Jennings. I've seen Jesse Waters make that kind of comment a few times. But he just sort of, like, doesn't want to get into the civility policing on the left or the right. It's one of the things he's consistent about. Because I think at the end of the day, he just kind of wants to be kind of, you know, a frat humor, you know, shit talking, you know, like, have fun with, like, his commentary. He also wants everyone to know that, like, he's in on the game. Right? Like, he's like, I get that this is all bullshit, what we're doing here. And I'm just, like, having fun. Now, whether it was intended or not, Jesse Waters. Had the best sort of press advice, communications advice about this. Which also, Donald Trump's instinct was the same as Jesse's. Which was, when Trump was asked about it in the Oval, he went off on the ballroom and something else. And he didn't show that he was mad at all. Jesse wasn't mad at all. If everyone on the right had just shrugged it off and been like, oh, Trump doesn't care, we don't care. No one would be talking about it. Yeah. The one thing Jesse was wrong about is Trump didn't really shrug it off. He seemed a little rattled by it. He was rattled. But he didn't flip out. He didn't flip out. But then he flipped it on the reporter later. Right. And it just, like, it seemed like it got in his head. I got to say, though, calling John Ossoff Pee-wee Herman. So lame. Pee-wee's Playhouse was on, Big Top Pee-wee was released in 1988. Well, I mean. How many people do you think know who the hell Pee-wee Herman is at this point? You know, and Maggie Haberman has reported this and talked about this a lot. But, like, all of his references are just stuck in the 80s. That's it. He's still living in the 80s. He doesn't have any pop culture references beyond that. Sorry. Pee-wee's Playhouse ran from. 1986 to 1990. Also, John Ossoff doesn't look like Pee-wee Herman. He's, like, a young, good-looking guy who's quite effective on this dump. So you can try it. I think I might go back to the drawing board on the nickname, sir. He's got Alfred E. Newman and Pee-wee Herman. Again. Those are the two that he uses. Mad magazine. That's what I'm saying. I was a subscriber. Yep. Loved it. And watch Pee-wee Herman. It's just not working. Yeah. All right. Finally, there was a debate in South Carolina last night between Darlene Graham and Ralph Norman ahead of the runoff election next week. The winner faces Democrat Annie Andrews to fill the late Lindsey Graham Senate seat. Darlene, Lindsey's sister, has an endorsement from Trump who will be campaigning for her in South Carolina on Friday. Let's see how she did. Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, saving up to 25% off grocery store prices. Beef jerky, microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Have you met my kids? And with BJ's gas, she gets there for less. They call me the road warrior. This is your home, road warrior mom. Home of the save. Open for just $20 at BJ's dot com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members only. BJ's, home of the save. I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question? Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? And if so, why or how? I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security that I'm not that informed on national security. So I do. Support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years, so I will do everything I can to support the military. My dad was in the army. I'm not a polished politician up here. I'm not. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military points for honesty. Yeah, that's not that hard of a question. Yeah. So, like, yes, we support Taiwan. Gerbil, gerbil, gerbil. Something about China being a threat. You can move on. I don't know what I'm talking about, but vote for me is a tough sell. I was going to say, here's here's another thing she could have tried out there in the same vein. She could have been like, you know what? I haven't caught up as much on this, but I'm going to study these issues and I will know everything about national security. Right. China once I get to the Senate, like she could have still been honest about how she didn't know and not like hung such a lantern on her problems that she said three separate times, national security isn't my thing, which is just like giving your opponent. Yeah. And like, I actually think there's a version of look, national security is not my thing that could not hurt you at all with voters because they're not electing a commander in chief. They're electing a U.S. senator. It just happened that her deceased brother, R.I.P., was one of the most bloodthirsty warmongers in the history of the United States Senate. Maybe that's something people want to move past. But yeah, I mean, she just looked like a bumbling fucking idiot. Like, sorry to say it. I'm sure she's a lovely person. I found myself enjoying that, but then also being like, I hope it doesn't hurt her too much because I actually think I think the seat is a little bit more in play than people assume if she ends up winning the primary. Because remember, Lindsey Graham only survived his primary because he sucked up so hard to Donald Trump. And became so MAGA. But he underneath that, there were people who were like, they still thought he was a squish for South Carolina Republicans. Oh, absolutely. Look, there were Graham always had some bumpy primaries. He would find a way to sort of muddle through it by being a psycho on, you know, immigration or whatever in the last six months. Could she is there any risk of her losing a general election? I doubt it in South Carolina. I do agree with you. She's a terrible candidate. I think, look, people are mad at the establishment. They're probably also mad. They're probably mad at when the establishment tries to take a Senate seat and provide it as a gift to a relative. Like, that's not a thing that's going to sit well with a lot of people. That's what I think. Like, I think if you combine, you know, Trump's approval ratings, which are still good in South Carolina, but not as good as they once were. People are upset about Iran. They're just like everywhere else and prices just like everywhere else. And now you have a candidate who people are feel like was forced down their throats and seems like she doesn't know anything. You know, I mean, the couple of polls before Lindsey Graham died had Annie Andrews and him, like, pretty close to each other. Now, those are early polls. So who the fuck knows? But I don't think it's it's if she wins, I think it's interesting. Yeah, it could be interesting. I just I have no confidence of Democrats winning that seat ultimately. But we'll find out. I mean, look, everything is weird right now. We've got establishment more moderate candidates coming out of nowhere to win primaries on the Democratic side. Last night in Florida, we had a DSA candidate coming out of absolutely nowhere to win the Senate primary there. Angie Nixon deputed Alexander Vindman, despite Vindman raising what, like $19 million to her $1 million. So down is up, up is down. No one knows anything right now. So we'll find out. That one, I feel more confident saying not not sure. Florida's a tough state for us. Not sure we're going to. They moved it from likely R to solid R after Angie Nixon won. And look, I think Angie Nixon, when we talked about. You know, she's DSA and she's like she's basically the first statewide DSA nominee ever. So but she doesn't like I looked at some of her videos. She doesn't seem like it. She doesn't seem like, you know, she was just talking about, she's like, I don't support defunding the police and all that. She's like more of a fighter. So, like, good for her if it was if she had just upset Alexander Vindman in a state like, I don't know, any other state, but any other purple state, but Florida, North Carolina, even Florida is tough. Wisconsin, Michigan. I would be like, OK, maybe that Florida Florida, there's just so much demographic change that has gone in favor of the Republicans. There's so many, you know, sort of groups, whether it's Cubans or other Latino groups that have drifted away from the Democratic Party for a variety of reasons. Socialism is a tough sell among a lot of those, you know, communities from countries that experience real socialism. So who knows? Look, I personally I'd written off Florida, even if Vindman won. So I know I heard. I saw someone say this might actually be a blessing for us because we're going to spend a lot of money in Florida that was pointless anyway, and that we can save that money. So I was like, yeah, that's not bad. Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts and Faris Safari with Ree Chirlan, Elijah Cohn and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt DeGroat, Ben Heathcote, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, David Tolles, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young and Naomi Singel. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. Tami regularly hauls stuff. I love her. I love her. She's been a great help to her kids at college. Home of the Save. Join for just $20 at BJs.com/Mosquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members only. BJ's. Home of the Save. Cozy season is ahead. And you'll be spending way more time inside. Is your home ready? Don't worry. With Wayfair, you can upgrade your space without breaking the bank. Score up to 70% off during their Labor Day clearance on furniture, area rugs, mattresses and more. Plus, surprise flash deals you can't miss. 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