The Republican Blame Game Begins

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Democrats see the stock market plummet after their victory. We've got tech companies saying they're going to go about this in a little bit of a different way. What it means for AI, along with the broader economy, and is he an actor or provocateur? Well, now he's a convicted rapist. He's been convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. The case against Russell Brand that might not be his last. From ABC News, this is Stark Here. I'm Brad Milky. Whenever a party loses big, whether in a presidential election or midterms, leaders like to conduct what they call an autopsy. Pinpoint some reasons why they lost and hopefully figure out how to address them before the next campaign. Makes sense, especially after what we saw this past Tuesday. But see it through the eyes of a politician for a second. In a perfect world, you would like to find out that there's one clear answer that has nothing to do with you. Then you don't have to change anything about your politics and someone else pays the price. Well, from the moment polls closed on election night, many Republicans have been pointing to one issue. The Iran War. Gas is higher. It hurts people, working class people, and it's higher because of this conflict. That's just the fact. Which is valid, right? Our voter polls showed Americans are overwhelmingly frustrated by the war, by rising gas prices. But they're also frustrated by tariffs and utility bills and health care costs. A majority of House voters said the Trump administration has made health care in this country less affordable. The problem is, almost every Republican lawmaker in Congress voted for President Trump's one big beautiful bill last year. The Iran War though. That's different. That wasn't their idea. Which perhaps has led to the pointing of the finger at one man. Not President Trump, that would be political suicide for most Republicans, but they are pointing the finger at defense secretary Pete Hegseth. The only way to stop this right now is to impeach Peter Hegseth. In fact, yesterday, chatter began increasing about potentially impeaching Hegseth. Let's start the day with ABC's chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Carl John. I would not have been shocked if you told me Democrats were planning to impeach Trump cabinet members. But this is Thomas Massey from Kentucky. What is happening here? Yeah, this is Thomas Massey. Thomas Massey, of course, is a very conservative libertarian Republican who has been a thorn in Trump's side, lost his primary. So he's not coming back. This is lame duck, Thomas Massey. And he's introducing an impeachment resolution, but not just any impeachment resolution. It's what's called a privileged resolution, which means that once it's introduced and read on the floor, it has to be acted on within a couple of days. Now, Massey actually did this in September, and suddenly the House adjourned because Mike Johnson, the speaker, did not want to have a big debate and a vote on impeaching Hegseth right before the election. So that's a big part of why the House was at a session for almost the entire fall before the election. But he's doing it. I spoke to him over the phone. He said that he has every intention to do it almost immediately after Congress comes back into session, that lame duck session next week. Well, you talked to President Trump as well, right? You talked to Massey, but you also talked to the president. I don't know about that call. Like, how is he viewing not just the thing about Hegseth, but also just the entire, like, what are his takeaways from the last few days? Well, let me take the Massey of it first and this impeachment resolution on Hegseth because it is prompted speculation, Brad, among a lot of Republicans, including Republicans, close to Trump, that Hegseth should go. That he's a problem, that the war was a huge drag on Republicans in the election. That Hegseth owns a lot of that responsibility for how he conducted himself as Secretary of Defense. And, you know, so there is this thought that if Trump is going to remove him, he needs to remove him now. First of all, before a big messy impeachment resolution, but maybe more importantly, because if you remove him now, you can nominate a successor. And you could have the vote on confirming the successor while this Congress is still in session in this lame duck. Because, come January, if you got to confirm a defense secretary, you're going to be doing it in a Democratic Congress, a Democratic Senate. So, I asked Trump about this and he said that his language was very interesting. He said, "I have every intention of keeping him," when I asked about whether he would get rid of Hegseth. That's not the kind of language we normally hear from Donald Trump. I want if it was up to me, I would. And he said, "Well, you know, some people say if you're going to confirm a replacement, it's a lot easier now." And he said, "No, you're right about that." So, he acknowledged it would be easier to replace him now than to wait and that he's hearing from friends of his, from his political allies, that Hegseth should go. But I guess I'm also just curious about how President Trump prosecutes this war going forward. Because at one point, he almost used the midterms as like a moment to say, "We're not going to fire on anyone until after the midterms." It's almost like until voters tell us how they're feeling about this. Well, we certainly know how voters feel about the Iran War now, right? According to all the data we've seen now, which brings us to Democrats, John, how do they move forward with this president? Because at points Trump has said, "I'm going to be Mr. Vito if the Democrats are in charge." Now he's openly talking about working with them as they come into power. So, what does this relationship end up looking like? Well, his words to me, the president's words to me on this were actually quite interesting. Because he has said a few things that suggest he's going to reach out to Democrats and he can work with Democrats. And he said that to me. He said, "I've got friends on that side." He said that, "I think we can work together. I think it would be good for the country if we do." So, he's effectively putting out something of an olive branch we can work together, we can make deals. I'm the guy that will sit down with anybody. I make deals with Kim Jong-un and I can work with anybody. But the interesting thing is, as of this moment, Brad, he hasn't even called Chuck Schumer or Hakim Jeffries, the Democratic leaders, to say, "Congratulations on the election or something," or even, "Well, you guys won. Now we have to work together." He hasn't talked to them yet. I said, "I assume you're going to have him at the White House." He says, "Yeah, no, you'll find out when I. Well, I'm sure we'll do that." But he hasn't talked to him yet. My sense is that. So does that signal, like, maybe not so much Kumbaya? Well, my sense is even if the president is in this mode and I don't think there's. I don't think it would be a safe bet to say it's going to last. But if he's in this mode of, "Okay, I can work with Democrats." Democrats aren't really ready to work with him. The way the Democrats who've just won this incredible victory look at it is that for almost two years, we've had a Republican Congress that did virtually nothing to hold the Trump administration accountable on anything. And these Democrats, they're ready to investigate and they're ready to go after the administration on Iran, on the ice overreach, on tariffs. I mean, they are ready to go corruption, the Trump family, that it's hard to imagine Trump finding an opportunity to sit down and have that Kumbaya moment. It's really hard to say. Trump and his Republican cult of followers in Congress have unleashed shameful crisis of cruelty and corruption on the American people. I mean, it's outright corruption. What we're seeing here is outright corruption. All of these people should be held accountable and that includes people very close to the president and his cabinet. And remember, Brad, the president, if he makes a gesture, reaches the handout to the Democratic leadership, and he doesn't get what he feels is a reciprocal hand-back, he's going to get angry and he's going to lash out. And we've seen Donald Trump has an amazing capacity for pain and for pushing a fight to be far beyond where the other side is willing to push it. And I have no doubt that there will be a moment, maybe even in the coming week, where he meets with the new leadership, says nice things about them. And if they don't reciprocate, I mean, I think you could see the wrath of Trump. Right, in escalation, I mean, we've heard about subpoenas. What if the Trump administration says no? We're not responding to subpoenas. What if there are warrants? Like, it starts getting very real and by the way, what? What if Democrats decide to push ahead with legislation? That's what Americans want from them, like real solutions. Would they shut down the government in order to get it? Stuff like that. I mean, this could get very intense, very quickly. Jonathan Carl, tracking it all and calling the players. Thank you. All right, thanks, Brad. Next up on Start Here, what are they saying in Hamilton again? Winning is easy, governing's order. Democrats are already staring down a financial cliff after the break. This show is sponsored by Quince. The best pieces in your closet are the ones you can count on, whether you're heading to work, going out or keeping things casual. And this time of year, Quince is the place to find those pieces, not just for yourself, but yes, for everyone else on your list too. 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We're talking about the NASDAQ, which represents the biggest tech companies. It's worst day and more than a year and a half, dropping 5% in one day. That means more than $2 trillion were wiped out in value from this stock market index in just one day. That's just a massive number. And a lot of this came from some of the companies you really think of as the poster child of AI, like Chipmaker and Vidya. It dropped almost 10% in one day. I released my data center plan, which does, in fact, include a two-year moratorium. What's happening here is investors are worried about this AI boom. And if it might slow down, in part because of what we saw with the midterms, voters overwhelmingly choosing to say they want more restrictions on AI. We'll hold public hearings on AI. We will pass legislation, reasonable guardrails on AI. Including the build out of AI data centers. And as we've talked about, Brad, this spending from tech companies on data centers across the country, hundreds of billions of dollars has really been propping up the stock market and the broader economy. And there have been kind of concerns simmering in the markets for weeks about all of that spending. Is it really going to pay off? Well, now there are concerns about if there are more regulations and a concerted effort from candidates who are elected to slow this down, what does that do for the market and the broader economy, too. And if you thought you were about to make a profit in six months, maybe that's more like 18 months. And what does that mean for your company? But it is easy to say, I don't want any data centers in my neighborhood, but I still want to use Google Gemini. Right. So I mean, as democratic members come into power, what does happen? Because President Trump has said pretty clearly, like if we just stop our innovation, China will swoop in and sort of dominate this market. I mean, our Democrats ready, like what options do Democrats have here? I think this will be what will be the key to watch, Brad, because at the end of the day, these data centers, and if they want to use AI, it will be necessary to build this out in some place. And you've got some companies saying, well, we'll just go to other countries, Elon Musk posted on X. We'll just build them in space. You know, there's all these threats. But at the end of the day, there's an acknowledgement, even from democratic officials, or in governments or local governments, we've visited that these data centers do need to exist. I think this is a new level of transparency and accountability from these companies. And I think importantly, they're doing it immediately. What's happening now is you've got tech companies saying they're going to go about this in a little bit of a different way, whereas in the past couple of years, it's really been the Wild West. They move into these communities. They build these things super fast, and then people are upset afterwards. Now, even just yesterday, you had open AI come out and say, it will make a concentrated effort to, for example, not sign non-disclosure agreements when it's building data centers to make sure that it's paying its way on electricity costs, which a lot of the other tech companies have said they're doing too. It sounds like a small thing, but it was kind of like, we'll figure it out later. Now they're like, we'll figure it out earlier. We're making a much more deliberate effort here, and that's an acknowledgement of where voters stand on this. I mean, our voter polling data showed 76 percent of voters oppose the construction of these data centers. So, the companies are saying, how can we win over communities knowing that this is something that needs to exist, and this technology is only really expanding at this point. More people are using AI, and that's sort of the balance, I think, will be struck. But if Congress acts hastily before the technology is understood, Congress risks killing innovation and setting this technology back decades. The public has had virtually no input into the AI revolution. A lot of heated rhetoric on the campaign trail about this, especially with some of those Democratic governors in states like Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, will they maybe tone it down and find some sort of balance where the data centers come in, but voters who don't want them in their communities can still be happy. Yeah, in the meantime, I mean, Nasdaq was this huge sell off 5 percent, but the other stock markets, the other indices, all of them down, and that kind of reminds us that AI really spills beyond just the tech sector at this point. It has been propping up huge amounts of the American economy, like Elizabeth has said. Thank you so much. Thank you, Brad. American politics have in front of mind all week. But yesterday, there was also a bombshell in the UK as Russell Brand, the comedian and actor who in some circles became a kind of thought leader, was convicted of rape. ABC's Chief International Correspondent James Longman is here, James. If this had been happening in the US, I feel like there would have been breathless coverage of this trial. But because of the legal system in the UK, reporters are rarely allowed to talk about things when they're just accusations. A lot of Americans woke up and were like, whoa, Russell Brand, like the forgetting Sarah Marshall guy, can you just back up and explain what's been happening here? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, yeah, we don't tend to have cameras in court and these are very serious allegations and everything has been sealed until now. But actually, we've not just heard details of what he's alleged to have done. There are interviews been released. His interviews in police custody and him defending himself. So a lot of information, yes, he now faces years in prison. The judge in this case called him a ruthless, calculating and manipulative sexual predator. These allegations go back to between 1999 and 2009, six women came forward to say that Brown sexually abused them. As his profile grew, so too does his sense of entitlement. Today's verdict sends a clear message that no one is above the law. The brand had cornered and quote "molder woman" at a radio station. There are a number of other locations around London. Today's verdict is, first and foremost, a testament to the extraordinary courage, resilience and determination of the women who reported what happened to them. Despite intense media and public scrutiny, they chose to come forward. The police say that a hundred witnesses came forward. They had thousands of documents and he, I should say, has consistently denied this. He often said that he was addicted to sex. He was a sex addict and he had a promiscuous lifestyle, fueled with drugs and alcohol that he regrets that time in his life. But at no time, he said, did he ever force himself on a woman? Of course, he has now been found guilty and he does face a pretty lengthy jail sentence. That's what the judge has said, plus now more women have come forward to alleged sexual assault. I should say a lot of this was rumored for a long time but it kind of thundered back into the public sphere in 2023 when Channel 4 in this country put out. about a documentary where a lot of these women were able to testify some British newspapers picked up on that and then the kind of snowballed back into this trial which has been going on for some time. What you mentioned about his claims of being a sex addict with what the victims have described sort of as a sense of entitlement, he has this whole kind of brand, right? This kind of like irreverent humor and way of looking at the world and in some ways, I feel like to some, especially young men, it came kind of like a philosopher figure. I mean, how does this square with the Russell brand that has been so public in recent years and what does this mean for his fans? I mean, I'm sure that he would love to be described as a philosopher. He was a huge name in British public life. I mean, he was a British comedian who we kind of felt had made it big in Hollywood. He had big movies, he had TV shows, a massive radio shows, married to Katy Perry, people might remember. And he kind of nurtured, as you say, this kind of public image of being more than an entertainer. He had this image of being kind of an alternative intellectual, this kind of very florid way with words. Do your own research, stay awake and open and don't trust the media. And just because, you know, like the people in positions of authority say something, he's bad for you, that don't necessarily make it so. And just because they say something good for you, that don't necessarily make it so. But it was kind of in parallel to these allegations piling up. He then, as he kind of got counseled essentially, he moved away from mainstream life and he moved to the United States. He moved to Florida. He built this massive online following where basically he sort of shared conspiracy theories mixed with this kind of wellness content and also sharing his religious conversion. No, what it is to be persecuted, you know what it is to sometimes feel the actual presence of evil in your life. Where do you turn to? Where do you turn to in those moments? Well, a lot of people across the world are turning to religion. This has been widely mocked here. I mean, a lot of this has always felt like it was just for show. There's one particular moment where he's baptised in the Thames as a born again Christian. That was an especially strange moment. I'm reminded of this appearance he made. I think it was on Pierce Morgan, where he was asked by Pierce what his favourite passage from the Bible was. And then they had this rather excruciating few moments where in the silence of the studio, Russell Brand is kind of flicking through the Bible, trying to find it and thus Morgan proves basically to the audience that this is all just a complete charade. But he has said that he was wearing the full armour of God. That's his quote from Court. But yeah, you're right. He does come from this kind of online world, which is very much populated by men who think they've been wronged by the system. It's this kind of slightly dangerous blend of Macchismo and victimhood, quack wellness and misogyny. I think that he's basically Andrew Tate with the British Dictionary. It's who Russell Brand has become. But now, of course, he has been found guilty by the system. And like I said, he faces a very lengthy jail term. Yeah, really. It's sort of interesting turnaround that like you said, was happening in the public realm for years now, but now has been sort of backed up by a jury of his peers. All right. James Long and Darren London. Thank you so much. No worries, Brad. Okay. One more quick break. When we come back, this job sounds wicked awesome. One last thing is next. This message is brought to you by avocado mattress. When you're shopping for a mattress, you can spend hours reading reviews and scrolling through photos. But the only way to truly know if a mattress is right for you is to feel it for yourself. That's why avocado invites you to come lie down. Every avocado mattress is got certified organic assembled in our California facility with organic cotton wool and latex. No polyurethane phones, no fiberglass, certified made safe and EWG verified. It's a difference you can feel. So curl up. Try any of our avocado mattresses in person at an avocado mattress store or 600 Premier retail locations nationwide. Find out which of our five comfort levels is right for you because buying a mattress shouldn't be a guessing game. And there's no one size fits all when it comes to better sleep. Find your comfort. Come lie down. Add avocado. Shop the holiday sale now and get up to 20% off at avocadogreen mattress.com or select retailers nationwide. This is avocado green mattress.com to get up to 20% off avocado green mattress.com. Hi, I'm Andy Richter, I might not have won the Miraball last season. That was so fun. But I did win the best gig ever. Hosting the dancing with the stars official podcast, get ready for all the inside scoop from the cast. All right, well, let's get to work behind the scene secrets and more from every episode. That's what's long story. It's going to be iconic. Oh, my dreams are coming true. Coming with the stars official podcast, new episodes every Thursday on Disney Plus and Hulu and wherever you get your podcasts. And one last thing, there are studies showing that regional accents in this country are fading. Not dying exactly, but getting kind of muddled, less distinct. Well, don't tell anybody in Boston that. They'll call your ma. A couple months ago, Logan International Airport in Boston launched a contest to be what they're calling the voice of Logan. There are already all these bland welcome announcements from local officials, but neither the mayor nor the governor grew up in Boston proper, let alone have a yard. So the goal here was to find someone whose voice is authentically Boston. Well, this contest exploded more than 6,000 people sent in auditions, asked to read a script full of references to lobster rolls and green monsters. Welcome to Boston Logan International Airport. Front door to the capital of hot, hustle and hometown pride. We are wicked glad you're here. So yesterday, the winner was revealed on Good Morning America. This city runs on iced coffee, raw rendition, an unbeatable teen spirit. So let's go. This is Kristen E.C., he's from East Arlington, mass, where he works as a pipe fitter or as he would say. I'm an HVAC pipe fill. He loves the socks and Ben Affleck movies, and he will now be the first voice you hear when you land. What's your go to Duncan? Medium hot regular. Matt Damon or Ben Affleck? Ben Affleck. My favorite Sam Adams beer. Winter Laga. And like any true Bostonian, he says he only really got serious about this assignment when he was magged by his mom. It was three days left in the competition to send you video in, and he was like, you got to get down there, make the video, send it in, I did it for her, and this all happened. But what I love about this is it flies in the face of this idea that you should be worried about your accent, where you come from. When the movie Fargo came out, there were reports about North Dakotans trying to tone down their own accents. Maybe they look silly to the outside world. New Yorkers used to swear they could hear a difference between a Bronx and Staten Island accents. No more, those days are gone. Between migration and flight routes and media in which we all hear each other all the time, it's easy to wonder if we will lose some of our own local flavor. Well, not if Chris has anything to say about it. Yankee suck it outta here. I've said it before, I've said it a thousand times. I could listen to a West Virginia accent all day like I'm disarmed immediately. North Carolina too is a really good accent, don't lose them people. Start here is produced by Jen Newman, Anthony Ali, Aaron Ferrer, Emily Schatz, and Bika Aaronson. Ariel Chester is our social media producer, Josh Cohen is director of podcast programming. I'm our managing editor. Thanks to John Newman, Terry Gimble, Aimen McNiff, and Katie Dendas. Special thanks this week to the Herculean effort of those who helped us turn around a whole podcast in a few short hours on an election night, Trevor Hastings, Audrey Mostek, Kevin Ryder, Abigail Bowen, Justin Weaver, Alipacorn, Justin Gomez, and Audrey Taylor many many more. I'm Brad Milky, I'll see you next week. Get outta here. Welcome to Italy, hosted by Parker Posey, 12 celebrities will compete in the ultimate game of power, but the games begin the own new original series, The Mob, New Episodes Mondays, streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers, terms apply. The NBA on ESPN is happening now, and we're here from all of it, from the superstar moves to the next gym revolution. Let's get who we are, boy, we another trade. We don't just love it, we love it because the NBA is a world of its own. So from the biggest names to the biggest moments, ESPN is where you call home. ♪ Oh, now ♪