Printer? I Hardly Know Her!

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The app and all the components of it are super reliable, and not only does Lucinda enjoy the peace of mind being protected by simply safe, she also enjoys visits from a squirrel who likes to say hi to the outdoor cameras, so that's nice too. Simply safe has been protecting your world for 20 years, celebrate their anniversary and save 60% on your new simply safe system at simplysafe.com/cricod. That's 60% off at simplysafe.com/cricod. Plus, when you order right in our show name and the how did you hear about a survey to let them know we sent you, don't forget there's no safe like simply safe. [Music] Welcome to Platt's day of America. I'm John Fabra. I'm John Loveett. Tommy Vitor. On today's show, the Iran ceasefire officially expires just in time for a round to potentially escalate the war. We'll talk about Trump's strategy of doing nothing, his decision to take out his frustration on South Korea, and his reaction to John Ossoff saying that all the president wants to do is, quote, "travel with Natalie." We'll also check in on the Senate map, specifically why Mary Peltola rejected Kamala Harris' endorsement, and whether a stolen pen might help flip Texas. Then Tommy talks to Brian Pointexter, the union iron worker, taking on Max Miller in Ohio. Before we start, just a reminder, if you haven't subscribed already, please consider subscribing to become a friend at the pod. You get ad-free episodes of this show and all your favorite cricket shows. Ad-free. Plus, you get a whole bunch of subscriber-only shows, like our secret extra episode of Pots-Ave America, called Only Friends, and Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer, and terminally online. You get access to a bunch of great, sub-stack newsletters, and, you know, you get to support independent pro-democracy media. So, cricket.com/friends, go subscribe if you haven't already. Okay, let's get to the news. August 17th is Love It's Birthday, and the day that the MOU of Versailles officially died. Happy 50th, man. Boy. Yes. It's a big one. You don't look at day over 48. Oh, nice. Thank you guys. This light-hearted ribbing. That's what friendship's all about. Here on my birthday. Now it's going to be in the history books. I had a cupcake over the sink this morning for for coming into work. Why'd you do that? Because it's Monday. And it's your birthday. Why'd you just bring it in? What? I put a candle in it. Okay, that's nice. I was already there, at least, singing as well, or just you. Dependent. I've friends brought over a cupcake yesterday. I just ate a leftover one on the sink in a shameful way to celebrate the day. That's all. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. It's tasty. Okay. Well, happy birthday, love it. Thank you. So the MOU died, but it never really lived. The 60-day ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran wasn't much of a ceasefire. In fact, five Americans were killed during that time, and it led to zero diplomatic progress on opening the Strait of Hormuz, or the fate of Iran's nuclear program. The Wall Street Journal has a big story about how intercepted communications show that Iran actually used the last two months to prepare for a bigger, longer war, including churning out more missiles and drones. Trump has used the period to pretend the war wasn't happening. And on Monday, he said that he's not in a hurry to end it, that Iran should raise, quote, the white flag of surrender, and he told Fox News that he's considering, quote, "bombing the shit out of Oman if they get in the way." He expanded on all this during a press avail in the Oval on Monday. Last week, you said that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz to be a territory of the United States. Could you elaborate? Well, I just think it's a great idea. I mean, we control it. We control it with the blockade. We have a blockade. And I like the idea of declaring a territory. Why don't you do that? We have total control over the Strait. Now, they can be a nuisance. They could put a mine in the water, and people don't like having mines hit their billion dollar ships, you know, et cetera. This morning, you said you would bomb the ass out of Oman if they got in the way of re-opening the Strait of Hormuz. Would you say you're out of patience with Oman, a strategic narrative? I don't think it behaves very well, but we handle them very easily, just like we do with the Strait of Hormuz. Correct me if I'm wrong here. Didn't the MOU sort of set out that Oman was going to help mediate talks with Iran about opening the Strait? I think Qatar was the mediator, but Oman is who the Iranians and Omanis have been negotiating a deal where they basically control the Strait of Hormuz and charge fees, so apparently that's why he's mad at them. Are we allies with them in some ways? Yeah, we shouldn't be bombing them. That's what I was wondering. Yeah, no, we don't want to bomb them. Yeah, they're sort of, you know, Oman is like, we can't deal with these despotic, irrational, religious, authoritarian zealots, so we'll have to just deal with Iran instead. So I think most of us had forgotten that the MOU even existed. It seems like there's a pretty concerning gap between Iran's strategic thinking and what in Atlantic peace the other day called Trump's new strategy of nothing. Tell me what do you think about where we are right now. That journal piece was interesting because it just got at the fact that the Iranians had a strategy. They had a plan for those two months. They don't trust Trump, they don't trust him for good reason because he pulled out of the JCPOA and because the US and Israel kept bombing them during talks. So they installed a bunch of hardliners, increased their military capacity, had conversations with proxy groups and prepared them for more fighting while we did fuck all. So Trump just has no path forward. He knows if he restarts the war, it'll cost him politically. There's no way to bomb your way to victory here. He is completely stuck, so he just does these press evils where they get increasingly ridiculous. Now we're going to declare it a US territory like the Gulf of America. We're back to that kind of path forward. And it's a way to pretend that we control it when we don't. It's also interesting that he always, he talks about the naval blockade as if that's what keeps is keeping the straight open even though the straight is not open and we don't control it, but he somehow confused people by saying that the naval blockade that we have Iran is what means that we control the straight. He just doesn't want to deal with it. He doesn't want to deal with it because he doesn't like, there's no, he doesn't like his options. He doesn't like the option of escalation. He doesn't like the option of accepting a deal that's worse than the Obama or a deal if that's even on the table at this point. So he just wants everyone to stop talking about it and when it comes up, oh that we're in control of it and we won and it's good and they lost and they're crazy, but we'll see. And then on to the next topic, like there's no strategy. He wants to focus on the ballroom. I thought the journal story was interesting too because I think we've been talking for a while about how this could just end up being like, you know, Iran just keeps controlling the straight and we all just kind of muddle along and Trump doesn't know what to do. But it sounds like they, like they were talking about the various ways they could escalate the war and what they're thinking about preemptive strikes, sabotage of undersea, internet cables in the Gulf, stirring unrest in Kuwait and Bahrain and possibly ground operations in Kuwait. What the Iranians want to avoid is a scenario where every six to 12 months, the US or Israel bombs them. You know, whether it's regime change, decapitation strikes, you know, hitting their missile sites, hitting their oil and gas infrastructure, they want to increase the cost so that the US and Israel think twice about doing this. And the strategy they've hit on for doing that has been pretty smart, which is bombing all these US military installations in countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and increasing the cost not only for us but for those other countries and the Gulf. And, you know, they've executed it pretty well and it seems to have been pretty effective. And so you're seeing like the Emirates seem to be cutting side deals with the Iranians to create an off ramp. And I think others are pretty soon going to be looking to do the same thing because like they don't want to they don't want a non-stop constant war. I mean, I take around defense analysts close to the government, the regime in Iran, told the journal that the main war in the Iranian view has not yet begun. So that's that's not going to look forward to, huh? The other part of it too is having US bases, having the US military present was meant to be kind of a bulwark or defense. Like look at how look at the security provided by Americans being on on our soil. But now it's been the opposite. It's trying all these attacks. And then, you know, oh, but the US is our partner, but it's in it completely unreliable partner, Oman. We have trade agreement with and we're threatening to bomb them off the face of the earth. So reasons we can't quite understand. Yeah, the only I understand why Iran would want to signal that they'd be willing to to ask late but. I can't imagine they're particularly unhappy with a status quo that looks like this either. Yeah, I mean, I think it's deterrence. I think they're probably prevent getting attacked again, but like, we just have to remember, the Iran-Arrak war lasted for eight years, and it was like grueling, and you know, millions of my people died. And the Iranians, they live there. That's where their country is located. It's on the straight-of-form moves. Like, they know that Trump is going to give up and move on and get distracted into something else, and they're not going to, and so they think they're playing for time. Well, here's one thing that's distracting him. The biggest news out of the Oval Office event was Trump confirming that he ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, which were scheduled to start on Monday. In a truth social post on Sunday, Trump said he thought the exercises were too expensive, and a danger to, quote, "his very good relationship with Kim Jong-un." In the Oval on Monday, he hinted that he spoke into him in the last couple of days and made it clear why he's really pissed at South Korea. It's a very easy military operation in Iran. We can't go around and protect all of these countries, especially when they're not there to help us. Tommy, can you explain what's going on, what the joint exercises, and whether this is a big deal? So we have a lot of troops on the Korean Peninsula. It's 28,500, and have had a mutual defense treaty in place with the Koreans since like the 1950s. And so we do these annual exercises. It's actually two. It's one in the spring, and the one in the late summer, and they are basically drills to deal with the threat from North Korea. And they've been described to me by experts, it's actually pretty important because there's a lot of turnover, especially in the South Korean military. And so you need to have people like have some experience doing these things. And also, battlefield tactics are constantly changing. The North Koreans just sent a bunch of troops to the front in Ukraine, the fight on behalf of Russia, and so they're learning how to use drones and electronic warfare and all these sort of modern systems and tools that you need to just understand. So the North Koreans understandably, I think, hate these drills because they view it as a pretext to some sort of invasion of their country. And that's kind of been the status quo. And so something triggered Trump over the weekend. I don't know what it was because he tweeted a photo of himself with Kim Jong-un out of nowhere as one does. And then the next day, he put out this post about wanting to scale down the exercises, but put out the statement like as the exercises were about to start. So to the extent you're scaling them down, I don't think you're saving a lot of money because the military hardware is going to be in place. The message, as you said, was basically like, if you want help us with our little non-proliferation problem, we won't help you with your little nuclear weapons problem on the Korean peninsula. I don't think that is a particularly rational way forward, but it's Trump and it's filled with peak. He also said that the North Koreans had been respectful. They're unthreatening and respectful. This came a couple days after the North Koreans fired a ballistic missile off into the ocean. A couple times. They're like second tests in under a week. Yeah, they've done like, I think 11 or 16 of them this year. So it's not the most respectful move. And Kim Jong-un's position when it comes to resuming talks with the United States with Trump is that we first have to recognize them as a nuclear state. So that's a pretty strident position in my view. So again, I think it's like a combination of this old hobby horse where he doesn't know why we have troops in the Korean peninsula. It doesn't think it's worth the cost. Plus, he's bitchy that South Korea didn't help us with this stupid war with Iran. And now maybe it's an effort to get diplomacy going with the North Koreans, although I don't know why. He also said in that oval that Kim had gotten back to him. Yeah. Or implied and implied it. No, he finally did outright say that. He's like, I, yes. But he did one of his little teasing pauses first, right? Yeah, like it's very um, well, they won't that talk about like, you know, Iran has some kind of a strategy. Like, the US has now involved itself in this newest quagmire in the Middle East, if the president were focused on the US and its long-term strategic imperatives. And that was his main goal. And all that was on his mind was the good of the country over the over time in our allies. You might want to signal something like what is happening in the Middle East has absolutely no bearing on our ability to protect our allies in Asia, right? That we are able to wage whatever war we're waging against Iran while maintaining protection for South Korea, while protecting Taiwan, while continuing to kind of perform the role that the US performs as a kind of defense against sort of Chinese aggression. Like that, that would be something that a traditional foreign policy of either administration would signal, right? But instead, he's like, because of the war in Iran, our relationship with South Korea is worse than ever. We are less likely to protect them, right? And oh, because we got this ship out there for so long, we're going to take another ship that's in the Pacific, and we're going to send that over to Iran because we actually are going to tie these two conflicts together and that makes us weaker in both places. Terrific. I think that's great. Yeah, and that-- I don't want any more microchips from Taiwan anyway. I'm all set. Well, so the Koreans are suffering because of the war in Iran because they get like 60, 70 percent of their oil through the street of our moves. So we're screwing over all these countries in Asia to begin with. It's also like, how could you not help us in this war that we decided to launch on our own without telling you? Without telling you, for no good reason, there's accomplished absolutely nothing but has hurt the rest of the world. Especially, and by the way, where I said, even in this sentence, we don't need your help. It's like, it's like, you know, Korea is coming over for dinner, and like, Trump's like, you don't need to bring a thing. Where's the fucking line? So, as you mentioned, the Navy pulled its last carrier out of Asia to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, which he was also asked about in the Oval-- this is the aircraft carrier that's been in the Middle East since November, and the conditions have been so horrible. There's also reports that at least two sailors tried to take their own lives by jumping overboard when asked on Friday whether the deployment had gone on too long, Trump said, no, no, no, not nearly long enough. Here's how we responded on Monday in the Oval. There's enough food on the USS Lincoln. Yeah, that was a CNN fake report. The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time, good period of time, but over the years we've had them out there much longer. I was at a group meeting in an ass. Fake news story. So, Pete Higgs said the situation had been completely misrepresented in the commander of sent-com Admiral Brad Cooper visited the ship over the weekend and wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the story's about shortages of food and water were old news and had been addressed. Which is a different statement. Very much so. So, it seems pretty clear they're in damage control mode here. What do you guys think about this story? How bad is this for them? Love it. Having a ship full of people slowly losing their mind because they're on one of the longest deployments ever. I think now maybe the longest deployment ever of a ship like this. They're going for the records said by the Gerald R Ford, 326 days in Vietnam. They're so close. They're so close. Yeah, sort of a worthy record to beat. It matters that it's not a war that was approved by Congress, that the majority of the country wishes we weren't fighting, that has no real goal, that has no sign of ending. One thing, if it was a grateful nation asking these service members to sacrifice on behalf of a cause that we all collectively endorse, sort of a grave decision to send people there for months on end. But that's not what happened and they know that, right? The people on the ship are aware of the fact that this is unpopular. They don't know what the fuck they're there. And it's awful. And then you have Hegseth caring more about the press and Trump pretending it's not happening. And it's disgraceful. And Trump has never had a lot of respect for people who serve in the military. Sometimes he pretends to, but he finds the whole thing a bit embarrassing and confusing. I think he finds the idea of people sacrificing themselves and giving something of themselves without ego, showing discipline and a sense of purpose and mission, kind of embarrassing to him because he's never experienced those feelings. And it comes out over and over and over again. So the Lincoln's been at sea more than 250 days, but no port call in 200 days. I think because the Iranians hit the base they would have used in Bahrain, so they've had to just be out at sea. They've had two days off, I guess, two days they've been at call. Yeah. And so, and that was on the way out there. And they've had food shortages, the plummings all messed up. They're having mental health issues. And the jobs on that flight deck are incredibly dangerous. I mean, they've flown something like 10,000 sorties, I think, off of the deck of that that ship. And, you know, imagine you're on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. There's jets buzzing in, there's airplanes, there's rotors, right? Like you're doing this for weeks at a time with no days off. It's very risky. And like, then you hear the Secretary of Defense lie and just say, nah, there's no issues on that boat. And then you go down to like, wait in a 15 minute line, use the bathroom and you see mold everywhere. And then you hear President Trump say, uh, no, no, the deployments aren't too long. They should be longer. They're not long enough. So like, like politically, this probably won't be all that damaging like big picture, but it is one of the hidden costs of the war that people aren't talking about. And for the sailors on that ship and for their families and for the people who actually understand what's going on, to have your presidents belittle your service like that, to have the Secretary of Defense just lie about the conditions you're living in. It's really messed up, you know, and these guys can't even call home half the time for operational security reasons. There's isolated on the ship. - And it is a lie that they're telling, and we know that because the sailors and Marines have anonymously, because they don't wanna get in trouble, have been complaining about this. And, you know, Tapper, Jake Tapper on CNN, who's talking to the wife of one of the service members, who had to listen to the president say that, and listen to that, 'cause that's say that, and she was like, they can't show some empathy at all for this. She's like, just take some accountability for what's going on with your military, your ships, and your war, it's your war, it's infuriating. Care packages aren't getting there in time. They can't get toiletries on the boat. It's just like, it's inexcusable, and you're right, the lying is the worst part of all of it. (upbeat music) - Pots of America is brought to you by Act Blue, if you're listening to this podcast. We don't have to tell you how high the stakes are in the midterms and in 2028. Act Blue is the platform that has powered democratic campaigns for over two decades, giving candidates up and down the ballot. The tools they need to fundraise, organize, build an online presence and win. 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(upbeat music) - So the story about the Lincoln is already finding its way onto the campaign trail. Here's Senator John Assof talking about it and a whole lot more on Sunday. - And while the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings. (crowd cheering) He golfs and trades stocks. So he doesn't wanna do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar. - So Natalie, of course, refers to White House aid Natalie Harp. Known as the human printer who was chosen over several cabinet officials to join Trump in the catering cart on the way to the secret flight home. For their book Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan also got their hands on, quote, "raw emotional letters" that Harp had been leaving in Trump's private spaces, including one that read, quote, "You are all that matters to me," notes that reportedly alarmed the secret service according to Maggie. Who boy? That's why they had to switch planes. So what do you guys think of Asaf mentioning her by name? - God, it made news. You know, he's obviously like alluding to the rumor that this is more than a president's staffer relationship that there might be something romantic going on that he might be having to fare. It made news, it went viral. I think there's a question of whether it might kick up media coverage of these allegations now in a way that is frustrating to the White House. - You can tell it really, really pissed off the White House staff 'cause Stephen Shoggen, the communications director, put out some unhinge statement. Then the, the-- - Hold them, John Jackoff. - John Jackoff. - Got him. - Got him. Then the Rapid Response 47 account, which is like the White House Rapid Response account, went after the journalist who asked about the quote from CNN. So they are attacking everybody at the moment. - This is what they tweeted, the White House Rapid Response account at Christian Homes. - Someday your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It's quite troubling. - Boy, I just, I'm just sad to hear that she's gonna allow our kids to have so much screen time. (laughing) And also it's a sort of a thrilling idea to imagine our kids having electricity. I saw like Scott Jennings trying to do in this way of like what do you say to young women working in politics? - The mega people trying to say it's sexist. - Yeah, I mean, I just say to any young woman thinking about politics, don't fuck Donald Trump as a rule, but also, and in fairness, right? - Not that we know that that's happening. - Of course not, of course not. And just in fairness, like that's obviously the rumor that everyone's talking about. But nobody's suggesting that Trump is trying to have sex with Dan Scavino, who was also in the cart, right? But was he? - Oh yeah, yes. - And Walt Nauta, two of the conspirators in the Marvel. I go to him. - So, yeah, I don't, who knows? - Or Pete Hegseth. - Or, well, Pete Hegseth was in the cart. He was in the cart. - He was on the secret plane. And who knows what they're doing? - Yeah, look, the letters are, like whatever, people want to insinuate a romantic relationship. Like the letters are embarrassing and gross enough. The fact that she is called the human printer because she just sort of takes this dictation, the kind of worshiping praise she seeped upon Donald Trump is really, I think, you know, is plenty beyond just the sort of the rumors. But I do think like the amount of shit that like, the amount of, like Scott Jennings saying, "Oh, what are you gonna say to young woman who wanna work in politics?" In that press conference that we just had it on our office, just a normal day, it won't even be covered. It's so like normal and expected now. He just sort of lit into a CNN reporter, like stop yelling, stop talking, be quiet, just sort of directed at this woman. Like he is endlessly disgusting in sexist. So like, "Oh, what would you say to young woman "because of this insinuation?" Like Donald Trump is a misogynist. He's a sexist, he's disgusting. And that will be the great shame of this era for any woman associated with him, any man associated with him. - He led into this, that reporter in the most condescending sexist way in front of a 16 year old lifeguard with his guest in the office. And then turned to the lifeguard, I was like, don't you agree and I don't get into it. - Can you believe these people? They get it, these lifeguards get it. - This kid's like, "I wanna go home." This is a lot worse. - And now he's not, he's not even in there. - You don't even have to do the like, what about how bad he is to women either on this? It's like, there were, like obviously we know why Oswald included the word Natalie there, but there were like a million ways he could have done that that could have been fairly characterized as like, cheap, cheesy, resist-lib, blue-mag-a-bullshit, you know? And the point he was making is that, anyway, first of all, anyone who watched the clip, it's not like you just get Oswald insinuating something, you get this image of Trump, who like is a buffoon who like bungled his way into a war that we're all dealing with and paying for, while he is corrupt as hell, not wanting to do his job and just hang out, right? And then Natalie gets inserted in that whole story. But like, she wrote that letter, you mean, you're all that matters to me. The Secret Service is alarmed. Trump himself has said, according to Maggie and Jonathan in their book, that she will never leave me. After all of you will leave at some point and go on and make money and she loves me as much as my wife and children and she will never leave me. When you have all that out there and he says, yeah, all he wants to do is travel with Natalie, I think that's fair. - Yeah, it's reasonable. - It's pretty reasonable, that's all he says. - It's not not weird. - It's like, what are we talking about? Again, apply all those facts to Barack Obama or Joe Biden or anyone else in the White House. - Yeah, Joe Biden would kill that, someone that loyal. - Yeah, no, I said it all leaking about how old he was. - I'm sure Scott Jennings was very upset about allegations of infidelity about Bill Clinton or previous Democrat president. - Right, yeah, you don't want to insinuate anything. - Yeah, there he is. - After she's leaving him notes in private spaces to say you were all that matters to me. - By the way, maybe it is. is just, I have no, no one of us knows, and I'm like, I don't, I don't, I don't care that much. - And that case? It's just creepy. - And that case, he does just want to travel with Natalie. - Yeah, maybe he just likes having a sycophantic, pretty young woman around him all the time who sends him worshipful letters. - Yeah, and he takes her on the catering cart with him. - Yeah. - Maybe she was hungry. - Yep. - There's a third plane where you just get to avoid the consequences of all your bad decisions. That's a catering cart, that's where we go. Start a war, go to plane number three. - Yeah, honestly, the mistake in Oshoff's statement there was saying all they want to do is fly on the defenseless plane gifted by the Emir of Qatar, 'cause that wasn't the plane they went on either. - You might say that a second plane has hit the Trump administration scandals, in a sense, you know? You think about it. - You may want to say that. Trump was actually asked about Oshoff's comments in the oval on Monday, and here's how he handled it. - McDonald's, let's say, if you'd rather travel with your aid, Natalie Hart can build the ball and then do your job as president. - What is your problem? - McDonald's up. - You mean P.W. Herman? P.W. Herman? - Yeah. - No, I would much rather do other things. It's a, we're building a great facility here. We have President Xi coming on September 24th or so. I think it's September 24th. And we'd love to have 2,000 people coming to dinner and celebrating a nice evening, et cetera, et cetera. But we only have a room that's going to hold 89 people and 89 people is not appropriate. So maybe more importantly, it's totally secure with bulletproof windows, bulletproof sides. It's drone proof, it's missile every at the top of the line. And we need it. And especially with what's happened, unfortunately, to the world, you could say. The people that are opposing the ballroom, are people that, in my opinion, are very disloyal to our country, very, very disloyal to our country. You know, when I was in China, we went to the great hall of China, it was a big, beautiful building. And we don't have anything like that. And we have to have that. It's very important. - Just one for everyone. - It's just amazing. - President Xi's coming. What am I supposed to do? I need to make this place look nice and fit all the Chinese who come with him. And when I went there, they had this beautiful, everyone's saying wonderful things about him. And they have this great building. And every, the handsome young senator says that you're focused too much on building a space for parties. And he's like, that guy, he reminds me of P.V. Herman. Now, let's talk about some of these parties I'm thinking about happening. - It's also, it's like, let me pivot from Natalie Harp to my true love, the ballroom. - That's right. - You, honestly, if you don't love this ballroom, you don't love America. - Hey, not his best rejoinder. - No. - That's also tough, because that's like, the disapproval of the ballroom. Is it like, set free? - Pretty high, pretty high. - That's a lot of disloyal Americans. - Let's pivot to something politically damaging. We haven't talked about the ballroom construction in a while. On Friday, the Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court to allow construction to continue after an appeals court upheld a ruling. The Trump exceeded his authority by building without congressional approval. Trump's solicitor General told the court that construction is already 65% complete. So this injunction takes effect on Friday. They've got an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to save them, what do you guys make of this? What happens here? The court says he can't proceed. He's already got half of a belt. More than half of a belt. - Doesn't really seem like a win for anybody. - You know? - Well, it's just gonna be a hole in the ground now. - Then you gotta go to Congress and get it through Congress to fund it. My pitch is you never finish it, and you turn it into some kind of museum of American failure. - Okay, and it's just like in the-- - Failure museum's a good idea. - It's a museum of reckless stupidity and they'll be exhibits and different things, and you can go explore it kind of like an avant-garde-- - The General Lee at Appomattoff. - Yeah, it's a memorial, it's a memorial to our worstic substance. - Benedict Arnold, yeah, for sure. The Knicks, we have the Knicks, and we have all the Trumps in peach vests. - Maybe like a Quibi contoclo quadrants. - No, for sure, yeah, wow, Quibi, Quibi catch it. Somewhere, every cat's a bird is like, I got a weird feeling, right? - You're doing the audio at the tour. This is Quibi, yeah. - It's very short. - It's very pretty. - It's great about the Quibi sections, you get it in and out, in and out, in and out of Quibi. But something like that, where you kind of never finish it and leave it as a kind of a warning to others. Like, remember when they were-- - George Orr Martin could do that. - Yeah, yeah, this is one of the seventh book of this, where the seventh book of it. Remember when there was this contest or this organization was trying to figure out how would you mark nuclear waste sites because 1,000 or many thousands of years from now, if humanity has fallen, you would need to have language and an architecture that would make people afraid, even if they were more kind of gone backwards. And there was a quote, hold on, I want to find it. There was a line that was a, we could also mark it like an old nuclear site that we're trying to protect the future humanity from. And it would just have some language that says, this place is a message and part of a system of messages, pay attention. This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger. And we just make that what the whole vibe is of the kind of half built ballroom. It's a very pithy message. - Wow, free pitch for a Democratic candidate and one of those first primary debates. (laughing) Who's gonna take it? Who's gonna take it? - Nothing is honored here. - I do find it interesting that the whole thing started is like, I want the ballroom, that's what I want. I just want my nice, pretty ballroom. And now, because there's legal consequences potentially, he's like, actually, it's all for the military. The military needed this space. And they are apparently like, look, the underground, there's a world war two error presidential emergency operations center. And they are, I guess, rehabbing that. And now Trump's making it sound like it's basically building a fortress around the White House where there's gonna be drones protecting the White House. And now all of DC and-- - But couldn't the drone base be somewhere near the White House? Can protect it from the-- - It's gotta be a ballroom. - It has to be on the roof. That's how drones are. - Well, you also said they drilled five stories underground, which probably something that the military didn't want him to say. - Yeah, keep that stuff. - It's also like, boy, Trump sure does care about the military, said two sailors splitting a taco for lunch. (laughing) - I'm fucking believable. - I'm very like open to the idea that drone, advances in drone technology have made the White House more at risk than before. And then maybe a, you know, a tent full of world leaders on the South Lawn has more risks to it than we understand or acknowledge. But it doesn't seem like he's sort of manufacturing all these security needs in real time. - Yeah, just so we can get new drapes. - I would just say also, if we're at the point where we have to worry about a military scale drone swarm tackling a state dinner at the White House, a lot of things have already gone wrong. - Where's our drone port? - Yeah. This was the UFC threat, right? That someone was gonna hit the ultimate fighting event on the South Lawn with some sort of drone and the FBI broke it up. Yeah, but it's bad news. - Did you guys see the, in related corruption news, the news on Friday that World Liberty Financial, the Trump family and Steve Wyckoff's son's crypto venture got preliminary approval to act as a bank. What do you guys think about that? - It may be excited that one day our tax dollars would get to bail out that bank. - That's exciting. - That's exciting. - It's exciting. I think one day we can be a part of it. - That's right. - It's just sort of, it's like, Kamala doesn't have a good answer on the view. 15 years later, we're bailing out World Liberty Financial where it's like, what the fuck? God damn it, yes, Joy, I think there's many things I do differently and then all of a sudden, whenever you're heard of World Liberty Financial, President Ossoff is like, yes, World Liberty Financial is too big to fail. - Yeah, I'm not happy about it either. - I didn't want to bail out the bank either, but the crypto, yeah. First President in history to approve, operate, and supervise his own bank. Another historic first for Mr. Trump. Pretty crazy because it's like, it's one thing to launch a coin, but not everyone gets to have the federal government basically stamp that with national approval by giving it a charter because the OCC, which is the office that does this, that can give banks charters for the government, basically went years without receiving a single application between 2011 and 2024. So it's not like they give charters to anyone who wants to start a bank, but now they're giving one to the president's family, which will be regulated by the president's government. - I don't see the problem with that. - Yeah, it also just opens up the door to a lot more kinds of corruption from foreign sovereign wealth funds than all kinds of other ways in which this now allows Trump to find new and exciting ways to make money. So great job, everybody. - It also does seem like a pretty big official stamp of approval on the crypto business and industry at the time when Congress is supposed to be negotiating and writing laws to actually govern these things, which doesn't make me feel great. - Yeah, and I think that timeline I mentioned to 2024 was because after 2024, suddenly all the crypto ventures and they wanted to get, they wanted to start banks too, but who's got approved world liberty financial? - Yeah, I mean, so my understanding of the reason you would want this if you're the Trump family is that currently their stablecoin reserves are held with the third party. So now the Trump family can issue and redeem and then hold collateral themselves and not to pay a third party. So if you have, if you have issued $4 billion worth of USD1, which is their stablecoin, you have to hold $4 billion worth of collateral, Probably in the form of Treasurys, that gives you interesting. and now you keep it all yourself rather than have to go through some third party. - Also, it's a competitive advantage with all the other stablecoins, right? Because now if you want to do business with some in crypto, why not go to the, use the stablecoin that's backed by the US government? - 'Cause that's what this is doing now. - Yeah, there's definitely an impromptur of the US government on the Trump business now. - Thank you. - That wasn't necessarily, but the word I was grasping for another. (upbeat music) (dramatic music) - Podsave America is brought to you by Tommy John. Summer can be rough on the body. Public transport is a sauna. Your walk to work feels medically unsafe and sometimes it feels like there's not enough air conditioning in the world to save you. 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Over the weekend, the silver bulletin had a piece on the seven Senate races, most likely to determine control. Texas, Michigan, Maine, Iowa, Ohio, Alaska, and North Carolina. Dems need five out of those seven. And apparently they almost left North Carolina off that list because the model is quite confident that Roy Cooper will flip that state and even more confident that Asoff will win in Georgia, which is why it wasn't on the list, wild. Wild is that confident about Georgia. We're gonna zero in on developments in Texas, Michigan and Alaska today, but before we do anything stand out to you guys in the analysis of the other Senate races. - The one thing just overall is how the models have to, have scandals and other individual factors of a race matter less as polarization and party line and the sort of partisan voting becomes more and more what defines kind of the outcomes because it tells you that as much as you're hoping that fundamentals kick in in some places, right? If they kick in too hard, say in Michigan to kind of get Abdul over, then you have to worry about what's happening in Texas. You have to worry about what's happening in Alaska, right? And so that was sort of my takeaway from it. And the other was just, you know, you look across this, this, you know, oh, what's the pivot gonna be? And you think about the difference between 2006 and 2018, both years where there was somewhere like an Aedish swing towards Democrats or a point lead by Democrats. And because of the map and because of luck, we lose the Senate in 2018, or we don't, we don't gain the Senate in 2018, we lose seats. And then in 2006, we actually managed to eke out a victory in the Senate, not because we did so much better in a bunch of different races, but because in three or four races, Montana, Missouri, Virginia, we won by 10,000, 40,000, just a small, small margin. And because all of those happened to tip right at the end, just over the line, the whole direction of the country changes. That's, that was, that was what I was sort of panic, getting anxious about as I was looking at the numbers. Yeah. I mean, I was getting anxious looking at them because they were more bullish than I thought, sort of feel emotionally like Nate has Democrats winning Ohio at a 62% probability. That's surprised me. Very bullish on Ohio and Texas. Very bullish on Texas. Mia's main at 70%, Michigan at 68%. Now look, I think we can pull out Michigan and it's a state we should win, but I do think like it's gonna be a battle. I guess I was just sort of surprised at how lopsided some of these numbers seem. I was surprised on the flip side of that, how they are bearish, more bearish on Iowa and Alaska than I would have expected Iowa. They have a 44% Democrats to win and Alaska at 42%. So they were bigger underdogs, those do than I thought. And also, you know, I look at this less than I think for everyone listening. Like if you're looking for, you know, where do I donate? And where do I want to volunteer? And which race it should, you know, they go down the list at the end and they're like, well, there's a couple of their races that are, you know, getting a lot of attention, but Florida where, you know, Democrats are, according to the polls, like maybe up a couple of points, but just the fundamentals and the model and everything else just make it seem like there's not a great chance in Florida. Like it's a quite a long shot. And then even more of a long shot, Nebraska, which was sort of a surprising to me as well. And Kansas, people have been talking about Kansas recently. And then of course, like, you know, we've talked about races in Mississippi and South Carolina and stuff like that. And those just aren't on the radar at all. So, you know, if you, if you want to pay attention and help out in a center race, those seven tend to be the big ones. So Texas is the most likely tipping point state in the model, meaning that it's the state most likely to determine control of the Senate. Right now, Silver has the odds of Telleriko winning at 59%. One big reason is that Ken Paxson is an awful candidate. And sure enough, Telleriko is out with a new ad where he's endorsed by the guy who's $1,000 pen was once stolen by Ken Paxson. Let's watch. This is Ken Paxson. And this is Ken Paxson stealing someone's $1,000 pen. Here's what happened. The incident happened at the Collin County Courthouse. The same courthouse where Paxson would later be indicted for investment fraud. Paxson walked up to the trays next to the metal detectors, rummaged through them, and came across someone else's expensive Mont Blanc pen. He decided to take it for himself. The pen belonged to Joe Joplin, a local attorney who'd accidentally left behind. He was a special gift from his wife. When Joe realized it was missing, he contacted Courthouse Security. This is the footage they pulled. Ken Paxson on camera stealing this man's pen. After the police got involved, Joe got his pen back. He could have pressed charges, but he decided against it. Because Joe's a nice guy. He'd never take someone else's pen, but he also hasn't forgotten who took his. Hi, I'm Joe Joplin, and I endorse James Tallerico for the United States Synch. Vote for James Tallerico. He wants to steal your pen. Paxson response had, "Finders keepers." That trans loving Jesus frequent still a fucking thing. I would just note that I also think you should go to jail for having a $1,000 pen. I was gonna say that's it. Yeah, you're not exactly. I noticed why they didn't put the cost of the pen in the ads because it doesn't exactly help our friendship. Maybe it writes beautifully. It's crazy. It has a beautiful feel. They were written with a $1,000 pen before. I think that's a great ad because obviously on the list of Paxson scandals, this one is the lowest in terms of the impact or the consequences, but it's a fun story that can go viral. I think they did a good, really good job telling it there. Yeah, the midway through just reminding everybody that he was indicted for fraud. He is. So somebody was, I think maybe it was Josh Barr or someone made this point that it is shocking how in every aspect of his life he seems to be a prick or a sleaze just with the exception. His wife of many years, his state senator, leaving him on biblical grounds because of this a fairy had that his people that worked with him were whistleblowers that they believed he was taking bribes. He was impeached in a bipartisan way, but not removed. He's only in this. He's only gotten the nomination because Trump didn't like John Kornin and cited with Paxson as a fuck you to John Kornin, but even Republican Texas, but obviously it referred to someone more electable. He also just not a great fundraiser. He just seems like a shitty fucking guy that nobody likes and it puts Texas in place. Including Republicans. Including Republicans, including Republicans. He just seems like a fucking asshole. Well, in Nate's model, the fundamentals put Texas at R+3.4. So even with the. a huge shift towards Democrats. It's still more of a Republican-leaning state. But, Tel Rico is ahead in the polls by 1.9 average right now. And the reason that they have it as a toss-up, but it's almost at lean D, is just because Tel Rico is a good candidate. And also, Paxson is such a bad candidate and has all these scandals. And also, Tel Rico has raised an ungodly amount of money. - It can't tax down his 90, but he's also an IDA prolific fundraiser. - Tel Rico has raised $65 million to Paxson's $9 billion. What I didn't realize until I read Nate's piece is that Beto O'Rourke had trailed in every single poll against Ted Cruz. - What were we thinking? - And Tel Rico, the betto was great. - No, no, I mean, like, we were also, I was excited, I thought it was good. - Then the Tel Rico's leading Paxson, by as you said, 1.9% in the polling average. It's pretty good. I mean, I imagine all of these races are gonna tighten 'cause they just always do when people pay attention. But, 2026 is a very blue year and Paxson has a very bad candidate. - Ted Cruz was able to eke out a win against Beto. Not because Beto didn't get the votes he thought he was gonna get, but they were surprised by the turnout of Republicans. And we don't like Ted Cruz, but Republicans like Ted Cruz. And Ken Paxson is sort of just a different animal. It's a worse environment. It remains to be seen if it's a worse, overall national political environment, but certainly in Texas, Ken Paxson is not, is just not nearly as good a candidate as a beloved charismatic figure Ted Cruz. - Yeah, and I also think Trump, I mean, Trump's approval was fairly bad in 2018 at the time, but you didn't have the economic approval as well as it is right now, so I think that is the tailwind that I think that Beto did not get in 2018 that Taylor Rico probably is. We haven't really talked about Alaska, where Mary Peltola is trying to unseat Dan Sullivan. Last week, Kamala Harris signed a fundraising email for Peltola urging people to donate. And then Peltola's campaign basically rejected it, saying, quote, "Mary isn't seeking endorsements from anyone from the lower 48. Her focus is and always will be Alaska." Adding to the intrigue, someone leaked to internet journalist Yashar Ali, presumably someone from Harris's camp, that actually it was Peltola's campaign that asked Harris's political operation to send a fundraising email. Peltola is pretty close to Sullivan in the polling, but still an underdog overall. Who do you guys believe here? And what does it say that the Peltola campaign rejected Kamala's endorsement at least publicly? - I mean, I think it shows that they just don't want to nationalize this race in any way, shape or form, that the National Democratic Party brand is toxic. The entire debate about the Democratic ticket in 2024 is politically toxic and they want nothing to do with it, which makes me surprised that anyone on her campaign would ask Kamala Harris to send a fundraising email on her behalf, especially one where the funds were split 50/50 between Kamala's PAC and Peltola's campaign. I could be wrong, what do I know? But Peltola's running an entirely Alaska-focused campaign where she's talking about salmon fishing and local stuff. I don't know, I think you want to nationalize it. - Yeah, who knows? I can see there being, this is an opera, Kamala Harris is going to raise money for us, maybe one part of the campaign, not talking to another part of the campaign, maybe people don't know. - That seems like the most. - Right, and also maybe when you actually read the email, it's just like, it wasn't meant to be something that was so clear, we were together splitting the money 50/50 so it ended up looking worse or maybe it was fully authorized, but then by the time it gets to the candidate, they realize it's a mistake, they want to denounce it. But to me, you look at this and it's like, Mary Peltola has clearly decided that this email and this collection is a liability so we're going to deny it and say we don't want any endorsements for the lower 48 and whoever is inside Kamala's or assuming that that's where that came from, cared more about kind of whatever, claiming it was authorized than doing what clearly, the Alaska campaign thinks it's best for itself, which is to get out of this. It seems like it could be more benefit for Peltola for Kamala Harris to say, "I would never raise money for that woman. She's too moderate to get raised." - Too much of a, too much, yeah. - She's too focused on jobs. - Yeah, too much. She wants to bring people together too much. You know what else? I hate fish. (laughing) - Yeah, that's exactly right. - That's a weird one. - Also, like Mary Peltola didn't endorse Kamala in 2024. - Yeah, because it's just like, it's a long song part of the un-committed statement. - It's a weird statement for Kamala. - Yeah, yeah. - She has to outrun, like Donald Trump won the state by what, 13, 14 points, like it's an uphill climb. So she has to really reject the national debt party. - America's gotta be far away and quiet. - Yeah. - And like she has run really successfully statewide in Alaska before. There's something called a split ticket war score, which sort of like rates your candidate quality, your ability to outperform the ticket. And she was like D+9 and D+22 in her house run. - Monster. - Yeah, so she's very successfully separated herself from the national party struggles and won. - Yeah. Finally, we were in the middle of recording Friday's episode when Fox News dropped their Michigan poll, which has microadgers ahead of Abdul El Sayed by four points, 51-47. Same poll has Democrat Jocelyn Benson up five points in the Michigan governor's race. The Senate Democratic Super PAC, then released an internal poll that shows Abdul ahead by six, but of course that didn't exactly come the waters. What do you guys think about where the race is and what Abdul has to do over the next few months? - So first of all, probably get more votes, right? - Yeah, I should probably get more votes. Look, it's hard. - What do they have to do? - Yeah, it's hard to, you know, first of all, it's hard to trust any of these polls because we just saw an outcome in which Abdul won by a point and the polls had him up by much more overall. Like, it's just hard to know. The one thing that was interesting from, I think it was the Fox poll, is that there was just a bigger group of people that were voting for microadgers for Senate and the Democratic governor candidate than the reverse. And so regardless of whether, you know, you think the poll is exaggerating and what doesn't, like that to me, I think it's sort of interesting and instructive about what he has to do because it's clearly people that either because of what Abdul has said in the past because the state was blanketed and tens of millions of dollars in anti-dual advertising, whatever it may be, there's a lot of people that should be voting with the Democrats and would be if they hadn't been sort of exposed to so much anti-adul messaging. And so what does he have to do to bring those people along? How does he address some of the things that microadgers is gonna be advertising, whether or not APEC puts more money into the state, like there's gonna be a lot that he has to go up against. And one thing I've just noticed about sort of some of the ways in which he's responded to this is he's under so much incoming, a bunch of different Democrats have been asked, like, well, how do you explain for what you said in the past? And I think often the reaction is to kind of argue with the person asking the question and they all do, all the politicians do this. They sort of are like, well, I actually didn't mean to fund. I meant that we should look at where the money's going is a version of something Abdul said in the past and others have to, but you look at what sort of, I think some of the more effective ways of answering that kind of question. Mamdani had an incredible one, I think on Friday or late last week, where the question is, do you think woke one was crazy? He basically just ignores that. And he says, we all change and we all grow. I have said things I don't agree with anymore, but I believe in supporting the police and having a good relationship with the police and we're getting crime down and we're addressing these issues. And like what was, to me, what he's doing and what makes him such a good politician is he's saying, he's not answering the feeling underneath the question, which is what is the reassurance on this issue that gives me credibility across in a range of issues as opposed to constantly fighting to a draw by answering the previous critique or sort of trying to win on points, but rather saying something that is like a value statement that rejects the factual statement you said in the past, right? Just like a clean moral thing that resets what he currently believes in stands for. - I think Abdul's kind of core primary message is still the right one. It was get money out of politics, put money in your pocket and pass Medicare for all. That's a great general election message. Use it to stick to that. Obviously, the primary and Taylor Stevens became more about US support for Israel and APEC funding and dark money generally. And I think trying to move away from that would be beneficial. You know, Abdul, he's gonna have to try to find some kind of like white working class independent voters that maybe have voted for Republicans in the past. He's got to turn out black voters and Democratic base voters. They didn't necessarily get in the primary. So he's got to do two different things at once. Reached a base community and reached these sort of more moderate swing voters. I think he's got the political skills to do that. He's an exciting dynamic guy. He's good on the stump. He can raise a lot of money. He's got like a lot of skills and mic Rogers is kind of like a washed up old Intel committee guy who would rather be in Florida seemingly than in Michigan running this race. But I think we need to treat it as a 50/50 race. I think this is gonna be a close one to the bitter end. - Yeah, the poll doesn't surprise me that much only because I think $60 million of negative ads against you. And then Mike Rogers has none of that. And people mostly remember him as a sort of old school establishment pre-Trump Republican. And obviously like a list of slack and ran a great race against him in 24. But I think the image of Mike Rogers they have in their head is like, okay, maybe I don't agree with him, but he doesn't seem threatening. And $60 million in negative ads, making Abdul seem like a scary Muslim socialistic streamist who's gonna come kill your family is, you know, That's the kind of pulversoil you're gonna get. I also think that, you know, there's work he has to do with black voters, and you can see in this poll, and then the voters, the Tommy, you were just talking about. And like, look, if he just goes to all these voters who say they're gonna vote for Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, just has to convince those voters to like, hey, you're already voting for one Democrat, vote for another, and I think that like some of his ads, and you see this online, like he's had some, even in the primary, he had some like, sort of cringy, millennial cringe videos that I was like, what is that? But it's, I think the point is to make him seem unthreatening to people, which they are going to try to make him seem as threatening as possible, because of his name and religion, at which they're already doing, and that's gonna happen right up until Election Day. And so to try to address that, just by, you know, showing up everywhere and being who he is and seeming unthreatening is gonna be helpful. - I do think having made it through the primary, whether at all these attacks come out ahead, has also given him a lot of credibility. And, you know, by the same token that there are these crossover voters that show where a liability is, what a poll like this won't show is, there are gonna be people that are brought into, that are gonna kind of decide to vote, maybe be excited and energized to participate, because of Abdul, and then those are Democratic votes, they're gonna, that are gonna go down the ticket, right? And those, like, those will be people he brought into the process that won't show up in the same kind of way. And so I do think he has that kind of credibility with the people that came along. And so, like, that does give him the space, I think, to kind of figure out how, to kind of, whatever, overcome that kind of scary Muslim thing that they're gonna throw at him over there. - I mean, he doesn't have to change his views on things, but he can certainly moderate rhetoric to sort of appeal to a broader audience. - That's all, yeah, that, like, I don't, of course, I don't think it's any, it's not about changing what he view, I think like that is, but there is like, I think, honestly, it's because if people, if he can just have that conversation, which is the abdual we know, like, that will work. Like, he is, even like the sort of, they're calling him a socialist, which they'll call anyone a socialist, but he pointedly in interviews. He's like, I don't identify as a socialist. Like, he believed, like, like, there's just, the version of him that existed in the ads is not the version of him that is real. And now we have three or four months for him to actually put that in place. - It's very funny that in the primary, they made these kind of cringy, blues, clues, goofy videos, or Abdul just seemed silly, and all this sort of, like, winced at them at the time. And then, Republican accounts, like, the lives of Tik Tok found them last week and started resurfacing something to them, and be like, oh my God, have you seen this? How cringy? And it's like, you could not do a better job if you tried to target these ads to the audience they're trying to reach. It's like Republicans and sort of, like, conservative audiences who now see this goofy silly side of Abdul, as they are trying to paint him as this dangerous, radical fringe candidate. It's very, very hilarious that they were this stupid about their tactics in the Republican side. The campaign also gets us to buy that first ad out is that of the grandparents. - Yes. - They just, they know that they understand this. - All right, when we come back, Tommy talks to Ohio House candidate, Brian Point Dexter. (upbeat music) - Pots of America is brought to you by Blinds.com. There's a version of your home you haven't lived in yet, where the light behaves just how you want, where the rooms feel finished, where you sleep, till you decide to wake up, not when the sun does. Blinds.com is spent 30 years making it easy to find the perfect fit. With over 25 million windows covered, and 50,000 five star reviews, you can feel confident that you're in good hands, whether you want to go full DIY, bring in license and vetted pros to handle the measure and install, or land somewhere in between. You're always in control, they make it simple to choose the level of support that works best for you with flexibility every step of the way. 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Blinds.com is giving our listeners an exclusive $50 off when you spend $500 or more. Just use code Cricket@Checkout, limited time offer, rules and restrictions apply, seablinds.com for details. (upbeat music) My guest today is a Democratic Party's candidate for Ohio's seventh congressional district. Brian Poindex, you're welcome to the show. - Thank you for having me, Tommy. I'm happy to be here and look forward to answering your questions. - All right, well, glad to have you. So your opponent, Max Miller, has made a lot of news lately for the worst reasons. I'm gonna ask you about him in a minute. But first, tell the audience about yourself, your background and why you decide to get into this race. - Well, yeah, I'm just regular every day average working guy. I've been a member of the Ironworkers Local 17 for the past 19 years where we've built some of the tall buildings and bridges and schools and hospitals in the Cleveland area. I've been a nine-year member of Brook Park City Council, where I showed up and fought for people at the local level, built a reputation of being somebody who shows up when they need me the most. But more importantly, I've been a father of two daughters and I have a bonus daughter, been helping raise them up to be strong, independent, loving, caring women. And that's kind of where I got the most prideful thing about me is I'm a good, good family man and take care of my family to the best of my ability. And yeah, that's me in a nutshell. - Did you help build this new Brown Stadium? And do we feel okay about them moving out of downtown? - Well, I actually worked a little bit on the old stadium. - Oh nice. - In 2014, when we redid the scoreboards, I was on that, that was a good job. It was like telegating every day for work. - That's awesome. Any Sunday, Sunday job site visits? You just gotta be there. - Yeah, it was like Sunday every day 'cause we were on seven days a week doing 12 to 14 hour days to get it done before the season started. So a lot of hard work went into it, but it was a little easier being that we were building the Brown Stadium. - Yeah, that's cool. - The new stadium is underway now. It's just now getting started. They're still doing underground work and stuff like that. So I haven't, we haven't seen anything come out of the ground yet. - Got it, got it. - That's common. - Got it. So you're a opponent, Max Miller, a Congressman Max Miller. He's been accused of some awful stuff, throwing scalding hot water at his ex-wife, holding a gun to her head, fracturing their two-year-old daughters, collarbone, but despite all of that, he's refused to get out of the race and he's instead decided to start attacking his father-in-law, Senator Bernie Moreno, Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, on social media. What's your reaction to these charges and the way Max Miller responded to them? - Well, yeah, they're very serious allegations and I've said it since day one, if they prove to be true, he shouldn't be in Congress. He should be in jail. And I stand by that statement. The folks I've talked to all across this district, whether it's knocking the doors, doing the town halls, I get asked about it a lot. And one of the things that is most troubling is him withholding the blue bunny from his daughter. That's personal to me because my youngest daughter, Ashley, she had bear bear growing up and I remember going on vacation one time. We had to turn back around and get bear bear 'cause she forgot bear bear at the house. So had turned around, got bear bear, and then we were okay to go on vacation. But I just know how personal connections children make with their security blanket or their stuffed animal. And it just shows the kind of leverage, Max Miller holds over people he loves. And if he does that to people he loves, imagine what he does to people he don't really like or doesn't understand. And that kind of behavior has no place in Congress. - Yeah, my daughter has two little pink bunnies that she calls her "loveys." And one time I thought I might have dropped one at the airport and lost it. And you would have thought, my reaction was basically like I'd lost a child. It was like fucking deaf con five in our house. We were scrambling for this thing. Thank God we finally found it like under a blanket or under pillow or something. But you're right. I mean, it does show a level of vindictiveness that is shocking to me as a father. I would do literally anything to ensure my daughter felt comfortable, felt safe, had a good night's sleep. The idea that he would need to give the bunny over to only the court appointed like minder guy that he wouldn't give it to someone else who he deemed a stranger. We know all this, by the way, 'cause he released a text message where he had had this conversation with someone, I don't know if it was Senator Bernie Moreno or like someone who had been dispatched by Senator Moreno to have this conversation with Max Miller. But Max Miller thought that the text messages he released like showed his side of the story, but really just showed him being a sociopath. - Yeah, I mean, I'm no therapist or psychologist. I wouldn't be able to diagnose him as that, but I know as a father, I wouldn't do whatever I had to do to make sure my baby had her bare bare. I don't care who I had to give it to to make sure she got it. - Yeah, same. So I know that, as you know, probably better than anybody. The hardest thing about politics is most normal people just don't have time to read up on it, right? They're busy like getting the kids to school or going to work or doing whatever. They don't seek out political news. So when you're trying to help voters understand the stakes in an election or understand about a candidate, it takes a lot to kind of get something to break through. Has this story about Max Miller or the allegations against him? Has this broken through to voters in your district? I ask in part because there was like, I think a Washington Post story or something that suggested that most voters they talk to as they kind of walk the streets head and heard about it. - Well, yeah, a lot of people are tuned out from politics 'cause politician having given them anything to pay attention to, especially when you consider the fact that most working people, especially the hard working families of this district are doing everything they can just to make ends meet. They're working two or three jobs in some cases. They are working overtime just to get by. And workers used to work and live paycheck to paycheck. Now they're not even making it to the next paycheck. So yeah, it's understandable. I mean, I understand why people would tune out because they got more important things in their life to worry about. But what I hope they would do is lift their head up just for a second, pay attention to what's going on in this race and support somebody like me who understands what they're going through because I actually live what they're going through. And put somebody in Washington who's gonna fight to make sure that they can make that next paycheck ensure that they can start building a life and start realizing the American dream that politicians have taken from us. - Yeah, I've seen a lot of interviews you've done. You've read a lot of stuff, a lot of interviews you've given. And I think you do a really admirable job of trying to refocus the conversation on issues and the economy and the stuff that voters actually care about and that makes a difference in their lives. And I think that's important. I really do respect that. I do think there's also a kind of a threshold question about character from our elected officials that's very important. And I'm wondering how you view that in this context. Like, is an allegation like those that Max Miller's facing is that a place where we should draw a line as a country and just say no, like this guy should not serve in Congress or how are you thinking about that? - Well, yeah, I mean, we've seen politicians be accused of all sorts of things over the past two years especially it seemed like it's ramped up with character issues with politicians. But I think it's really a test of the American public what we're willing to accept from our representatives. And to me, I think it should be a uniting factor. I think Democrats, Republicans, and Independents can come together and set the bar of what we expect from politicians. Not saying that anybody has to be perfect, certainly I'm not perfect. I've had mistakes in my younger years and stuff like that, but what is the bar that we're gonna set of what we can expect from our leaders? And I think this is an opportunity to unite people. And that's what my goal as my main goal in this run is to really unite our district through the party, divide, through the political differences in political spectrum, to get people to understand that we have more that unites us than divides us. And when we put aside some of the political differences and come together, there's strength there. And that's what I hope to bring. And I hope people heat the call and say, "Hey, we cannot accept politicians who aren't gonna live by at least a minimum standard of ethics." - Yeah, in decency. So back on the issue, Trump ran on the promise, basically that he would get cost down and get inflation under control. That was kind of like the core promise of his campaign. Instead, gas prices are up, they've been up for a while, tariffs are making things more expensive. And then I know in Ohio, you've got people leaving the stakes, they can't find good jobs. Trump won your district by 11 points in 2024, I think. Have you been able to talk to some of those Trump voters? And do you find them receptive to the argument that maybe they made a mistake by voting for him and the Trump has made things work and that they might be open to vote if we're a Democrat this time to kind of correct that. - Yeah, I'm not afraid to talk to anybody. I've talked to people who voted for Trump in the past, people who voted for Biden and everybody in between. Not afraid to have those conversations. To me, it's not about a Republican and Democrat issue, it's worker to worker issue. And Trump was able to capture the attention of the worker. This district is a very strong working class district. It's a journey manner district, but the one thing that unites the whole district is the fact that everyone works hard for a living. And Trump captured that message. He said he's gonna bring back manufacturing, he's gonna usher in a gold in the age for workers and what we got was a gold in shower instead. People are working harder and harder, we're getting less and less. And this district also too, in 2018, like Sherrod Brown would have won this district, right, when he ran for Senate in 2018. And it's because Sherrod Brown has always run on the message of fighting for workers. Now his record, fighting for workers' backs, it's backed up by real results, you know. Me as a member of Ironworkers Local 17, the legislation he brought forward actually saved our pension from default. And so along with the teamsters and so many other things that he fought for actually came to bring real value to workers' lives in Ohio. And that's what I'm running on. I'm running because working families haven't realized that gold in the age. And Wall Street's doing great. The billionaires are doing great. Corporations are doing great. But when does it trickle down to the rest of us? When do I get value for the labor that I'm putting in and I'm putting in more and more and more value? And that's what everybody across the district's asking. That's what I'm hearing at the doors. You know, people working again, two or three or four jobs in a household just to make ends meet and people are fed up on it. And so that golden shower is trickling down just forever. You've argued that I saw you in an interview talking about why Democrats have struggled so much with male voters winning over men. You argue that culture and not policy is kind of at the root of it. Can you expand on that and explain what you're thinking? - Yeah, well, like, I mean, the Democratic Party has always stood up for workers, but over the past few cycles, especially that message of fighting for work and families kind of got put on the back burner. And it was almost like they were more, the Democratic Party is a big tent, right? We have a lot of different ideals and perspectives, which is good. I think the more people we bring in to the fold, more ideas, we could find the right idea. But I think they were highlighting some of the issues that were kind of more fringe and more important issues that need to be discussed, but shouldn't be the forefront core of the message. The forefront core of the message should be the most expansive and one that includes the most people. And I think workers' issues, that covers everybody. I don't care if what lifestyle you live, you have to work for a living and that work should have value. That should be our core message. And if people, the way I see it, if people are making progress in their personal lives, then they have the resources and energy they can use to fight for some of those other more fringe issues. - You've mentioned earlier in the interview and you've talked about it in the past sort of having a, what you call the rough and rowdy upbringing, some brushes with the law when you were younger and you're early 20s. What happened? And like, what do you think? What did that experience teach you that has been valuable in later life? - Yeah, I grew up on the West Side of Cleveland. It was a pretty rough neighborhood. So, you know, I mean, it was nothing for a couple dudes to get in the scrap at a basketball game or somebody drive down the street looking at you wrong, they hop out of the car and next, you know, you're throwing down. It was a unique situation growing up. And then, you know, going into adulthood, that was my environment. I brought that into adulthood. I learned quickly that that wasn't the way. You know, and I had some run-ins with the law. I made mistakes. I owned the mistakes. I didn't blame somebody else or sue somebody in the silence over it. And then I paid my price for it. And I moved on and learned from it. And, you know, I want to point out that this was very early in my adulthood, you know, from 18 to 22 years old. But, and then I had a child. And that kind of changed everything. No longer was I the rough and rowdy guy. Just worried about me and myself. I had to worry about a family. And I had to worry about, you know, building a life for my daughter. And then I had another daughter. And, come full circle the past five years as an iron worker. I've been able to teach the new iron workers coming in. And, you know, find those rough and rowdy iron workers that were kind of like me when I was that age. Kind of helped them develop their skills as an iron worker, but also make good decisions so they weren't getting, you know, having the issues that I had when I was younger. Yeah, well, listen, if you didn't want to beat up a Steelers fan at a game in your early 20s, like, where are you even a fan? I mean, look, as a Patriots fan, we've all been there. You know, was it a yinzer? Yeah, because, you know, they're tough. I wouldn't fuck around with those guys. I'm not proud of it, let's just say. I made some mistakes on, you know, now when I go to a game, I just watched the game and my mom does stuff. Yeah, no, I trust me, me too. I remember being at my first ever Red Sox game when I was like a kid. And there was a huge rumble in the outfield right next to us. And I was like, you know, 12 or 13. It looked like Hulk Hogan was getting to fight with some other massive dude. And I was like, all right, never, not for me. not farewell there. You know, I grew up in Cleveland. Don't Google 10 cent beer night. Yes, you'll see what I grew up with. Yeah, it gets wild in Cleveland. Speaking of Cleveland, who are the browns going to start a quarterback this year? Is it going to be Dishon, Shadour, maybe bring Joe Flacco back? What are you thinking? I don't know what they're going to decide. If it were me, if I were making that decision, I would keep developing Shadour. I think he's got a bright future if he gets the reps. I think it gives our offense a little bit more fluidities as he played a little last year. But time will tell, I'm not very hopeful for the season, but I hope he's shocked me. Come on. Normally, normally, normally, I'm like, this is our year at Super Bowl, but I don't have that feeling this year. You guys have Tampa week two. You got to see Baker Mayfield come out of that tunnel on the other side. That's got to be like seeing an ex who, you know, lost a bunch of weight, got a tan looking great, you know, made a lot of money somehow. That's rough. Yeah. I was Baker would have never went anywhere personally, but, you know, I understand the business of the NFL. I'm proud that Baker Mayfield is doing well, but I really just hope our browns do well and Baker Mayfield and we too. This time next year, do you think we, you know, maybe we got Baker back on the team or are we talking about developing archmaning? How is this going to go? Man, this is a tougher interview than I thought. If you're asking me to, like, I got to solve the district seven problems and the browns problem, I'm going to hurt here. Yeah, you're calling me GM. Last question. So we talked about earlier. I mean, the browns are about to move to a new stadium with a dome. Does that make you sad at all? You lose those like late season, kind of late year, you snow games? You know, I've been to a lot of snow games. Like the last great one was, what was it? Like, not last year, the year before last against Pittsburgh, we beat them. It was a blizzard, it was a Thursday night game. Yeah. Great time. But like, no, I'm all about the stadium. You know, one, it's in Brook Park. I'm a city councilman in Brook Park, so to bring the browns of Brook Park is huge for our area. I'm an iron worker, so building stadiums and buildings is kind of my thing. But really, what I like about the dome more than the open lakefront stadium is, is like that lifelong fan who's like, you know, maybe 60s or 70s can't sit out in the cold anymore. They'll be comfortable the whole game or that young family bring in their, their son or daughter for their first game. You know, I took my daughter down on the lake and I remember good games that they wanted to leave, you know, partway through the second quarter because they're freezing in their cold and this rainy. So I think it'll be good. It'll keep people in the stadium even when the browns are, you know, two and 13 or whatever. It'll keep them in the seats and keep, you know, keep, uh, you know, somebody else still want to go because it's a more comfortable experience. And, and you know, let's keep in mind too, fantasy football is kind of a real thing and, uh, I hate when my receiver goes up in a, uh, in an ice bowl game and now he gets me three points. Yeah. Yeah. No, I get that. Listen, I went to the Patriots Broncos game in Denver last year, that like snow white out game and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in terms of a sports fan, but it was so cold and it's like a lot of layers to, uh, to keep us there and I get, you know, once you guys have a dome, maybe you get the, uh, Super Bowl Cleveland, you get to those, all sorts of year round, uh, opportunities for vents and shit like that. That's big economically. Brian Point Dexter, thanks for joining the show. Working folks, find your campaign and, uh, and help out if they want. Yeah. Um, thanks for having me. Uh, people can go to Point Dexter for congress.com. You can hear a little bit about my backstory. You can, uh, watch our videos and really, uh, get a sense who I am. Um, I'm really just the guy next door who decided that I'm tired of watching my community have such a hard time and, uh, I'm going to run and fight hard for working families. Well, isn't it? We appreciate you joining and, uh, everyone check out the campaign and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me and, uh, great to be here. That's our show for today. Thanks to Brian Point Dexter for coming on. Dan and I will be back with a new show on Friday. Pods in America is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, and Ferris Safari, with Reed Charlene, Elijah Kohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt DeGroat, Ben Heffkoat, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, Carol Pellevive, David Tolls, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Single. Our staff is probably unionized with the writer's Guild of America East.