The Supreme Court Stops Trump's Mail Ballot Plan, Hegseth Faces Impeachment, and Canada Pivots to the EU

Do you hear that? That sound, right? That means that summer is officially here. It means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shaped like a cartoon. But this summer, Mint Mobile has a better treat. Every plan including unlimited is $15 a month. And unlike Ice Cream, it won't drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture. Does anyone have any cash? Give it a try at MintMobile.com/switch. A front payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 month plan required. $15 per month equivalent to taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes, me slow and network is busy, see terms. I'm Anna Garden. I have a new podcast called Happy Hour with Anna. Each week, I'm inviting a really interesting guest to join me for a drink and a fun conversation at my kitchen table in New York City. I'll be getting personal with actors, chefs, comedians, musicians, and writers I admire. So grab a snack, pull up a chair, and join us. You can watch by searching for Happy Hour with Anna on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Don't we only need to have more fun? Jessica Tarlov's book is out. I disagree is out now and it's a number one you release on Amazon. Just in a category. Okay, that's a big deal though. I'm saying and also I don't want to I am excited, but I am trying to also be less excited because it makes me more nervous and then I feel sick. And so I disagree and I feel sick, but I'm excited also. I'm excited for you. So welcome back to the Raging Perspectives. I'm Aaron Parnas with the Parnas perspective and right with me is my co-host Jessica Tarlov with Raging Moderates. It's just reading the whole intro. It's great to be here. I don't know, I told you I'm nervous. I can't even speak anymore. My book's out. I'll see you guys on the wide. If you're in New York, should we talk about Canada? And we should say that we'll be in these next Thursday, September 24th, 7 p.m. Politics and pros. The big one, the good one. It is the big one. The big one. So we need to fill it up. Aaron and I will be there talking about I disagree and I will be more co here and then whatever you're about to hear for the next 26 minutes. Okay. I want to talk about Canada. I'm just very into him and it seems like the whole world is actually as the US Canada trade war appears far from over that is our fault. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Europe this week pushing for a quote unique alliance between Canada and the European Union. He's pressing for 10 EU countries who have yet to ratify the trade deal with Canada to move forward. Cal she puts the odds at 18% of the US and Canada finalizing their trade deal by November 1st. That matters November 1st. It could even be November 3rd. That's when the election is Donald Trump knows that this is an issue that is becoming a huge drag on their ratings. The economy is personal approval and whether people think that Republicans can do the job. Here's Carney talking yesterday about his relationship with Trump. I went to the White House in the spring of last year and at the end of the meeting President gave me, I want to give you Mark, I want to give you something really special. President Trump, yeah. President Trump, I want to give you something very special. And I opened this box and it's this big gold key. And I was like, wow, Mr. President, that's fantastic. He's like, yeah, it's a key to the White House. You just bring it, they'll let you in. And then he says, maybe they'll shoot you. I was like, and that sort of sums up the relationship that we have. Okay, so there's substance to this, but I really like when world leaders also kind of talk like Housewives. So when he goes, and I was like, this is very Trumpian, obviously, and that it being a gold key. I like the carney, you know, did the hands, which Trump, you know, they might shoot you. What does it mean for the future? It seems very clear that the EU is down with this new relationship. I'm just happy to have them. It feels quite serious though that they are taking this kind of action. Oh, it is. And I think it brings me back to, I don't know if you remember, but during Davos, the economic forum earlier this year, Mark Carney went up there and said, quote, middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu. And that quote really kind of rings true today. Mark Carney is realizing and has realized over the past many months that he doesn't have a viable partner in the president of the United States. He has a very, the best way to, I think I could explain it as just a very, I don't want to say reluctant but more kind of chaotic partner. It's not consistent. You don't know what you're getting out of this, out of this government. And so he's looking elsewhere. He's looking abroad and justifiably so. And so he's looking to Europe. He's looking elsewhere to strengthen ties to kind of redefine the world order in a way. Because what we're seeing right now really is a change in the world order. We are seeing America becoming more isolationist. We're seeing Canada, which was once our closest ally, not just in distance, but also in all I ship is now moving further from us and closer to Europe. And that's big, that's, that's our doing. We did that. So not surprise. I'm curious to see whether or not Canada becomes an associate member, the first ever of the EU. I think that would be significant. Another part of it that was really significant to me and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this was the mutual defense discussion. They talked about establishing NATO like protections for EU countries, which would be significant, not just for Canada, but also for Ukraine ultimately when Ukraine joins the EU, which will happen in the next five to 10 years. So it's a major shift in the world order, but I think it's justifiable. I love the optimism that you think that Ukraine is going to join the EU in the next five to 10 years. I do. I love the optimism about it. It's, you know, long overdue and probably would have helped them before even, you know, Putin took Crimea. It feels quaint now back in 2014. But that would be great. I, the EU with the open door to this Ursula Vonderland or Vendor Lane. I always miss Brown said. It's on your line. It's on your line. You know, posting that they want to have this relationship. He's getting a very good marks even from conservatives like Stephen Harper. And it's been interesting to see folks who follow the Canadian election last time around and kind of kind of put Mark Carney in this bucket with Justin Trudeau and said, like, oh, you know, liberals aren't going to be good at managing the economy. And he's put forward all of these new reforms. And I thought it was particularly telling that Blackstone's president John Gray was talking about how Canada is a sleeping giant economically. He went to this investment summit in Toronto. And that's where Stephen Harper said, I wish that we had done this, frankly, and that you wouldn't expect this to be coming from the liberals that you do have central banker as Prime Minister and Mark Carney. So it seems like things are going his way. And I can't say that I thought that my colleagues who said that the trade war would end on time and even were talking about that happening on Labor Day, right? And that this would never go into effect at full force. We're correct, but this feels like it is deteriorating much quicker than expected. And that Carney is really not waiting around for any further conversations with the US before he makes these new plans, the common defense pact that is going to be much of the world. And we discussed this on last week's raging perspective, or maybe the one before, but the thawing of military relationships or talks with China is also an enormous deal when it comes to this. There's not much sunshine for Americans in terms of what's going on on the global stage. No, there isn't. And it's going to take decades, decades to kind of fix the past, the damage of the past 18 months and the damage of what the next two years will bring, especially a lack of soft power America currently has abroad, whether it's due cuts to USAID or just this kind of unipolar vision that Trump has America isolationism and of JD Vance somehow becomes president is only going to get worse. It's going to take a long time for us to kind of get back to where we once were. Something else that is going to take a long time to get back to where once was is our election system and confidence in our elections and voting is officially underway right now in North Carolina. But that has literally hosting today. Yeah, but you're the lawyer. No, it was great. Do you feel like I'm not going to get there? Or do you want to try this out? I want to try it out. I want to show everyone off your reading skills. Okay. Voting is officially underway in North Carolina, but that hasn't stopped Trump's push to restrict mail and ballots, which has been in and out of courts. The Supreme Court has now blocked Trump's plan to have the Postal Service screen and potentially withhold mail and ballots. In a brief unsigned decision, noting that the plan was likely on lawful, I will note there were two descents. [BLANK_AUDIO] And it was actually, to me, a much closer decision, and I'm happy to talk about why, because of just the mechanics of the Supreme Court, Trump responded in kind on social media attacking his own justices, saying, "These are not the people. "I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court. "They are merely a shell of their original selves." Amy Coney Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch are, in fact, the same people he once interviewed. But Jess, I do wanna get your take on the ruling itself, because you talk about this ruling and just generally voter suppression, and tactics on Fox News all the time. How are you feeling and how are your colleagues feeling? - They're not talking about it that much, which I always take to me in that it's disappointment, like when it gets real quiet. So I think that a disappointment can be taken two ways. So one, that there might have been for this plan in some way, and they feel like there's a lot of voter fraud that's committed through mail-in voting, which Donald Trump does himself, just so you know. And then the other way that I could take it is that they know that mail-in voting is not riddled with fraud and that there are many states, including ones controlled by conservatives that rely on mail-in voting. And there is anxiety that we are heading down a similar path to 2020, not necessarily in terms of the full Shabang, like the January 6th insurrection, but that there are going to be so many court cases that they're going to bring and what lawyers are going to be taking them. I also thought, and I mean, you can connect it to this if you want. But you know, watching Todd Blanche do the job of a press secretary is I'm dying inside from it. I understand you know, coming out there and answering some questions about the DOJ for instance. But the back-to-back weeks of speaking at the RNC convention and then taking the podium in that way and wearing your biases and your extra constitutional view of the presidency does not bode well for the future, especially when it comes to elections and what this guy is going to be willing to do. - Yeah, for sure. I will say, I want to just talk about, 'cause I'm never going to come to the Supreme Court and just legal stuff. So there was a 7-2 decision on its base. Two justices dissent Thomas and Alito. What I found interesting was that there was a Kavanaugh concurrence where Kavanaugh essentially said, "Hey, I agree that this USPS executive order is actually fully constitutional. I just think that it will cause too much chaos between now and election day, which is why I'm signing with the majority." To me, what does that say? - Which means that it could be okay for 2028. - Yes, but no, it won't be. And this is why I don't think it'll be. Kavanaugh, what a concurrence is, a lot of people don't realize is that, yes, I agree with the ultimate outcome, but I don't agree with how you've got there. And so Kavanaugh saying that he agrees with the fact that the order itself is constitutional and having to write that separately in a concurrence, it tells me that there are five justices, Coney Barrett, Roberts, and the three liberals who are all are saying, without actually saying it, that the order itself is unconstitutional. Because if they have all six agreed that the order was constitutional, Kavanaugh would not have written that concurrence explaining why he's agreeing separately. And so the ruling is actually a real signal to the Trump Justice Department. If you bring this up on the merits of the court, you're gonna have five justices who are not going to agree with you. And the five are Roberts, Coney Barrett, Jackson, Sotomayor and Kagan. And then you have the four others in the minority. So I think that's a real signal that I think the Trump Justice Department should learn from this. It's not a constitutional order and I don't think the justices think it is. - Do you think, I mean, obviously, he's going to do the online bullying. But how much behind the scenes, persuasion or conversation do you think is going on between, I would say the courts in general, I'm sure that some reporter would find out if a Supreme Court Justice was low-key dining with Russ vote or, you know, - My God, that would be-- - or something like that. But how much coordination do you think they are attempting at this point? - So I think it's all, I mean, they can't really do much coordination. It's all public persuasion. If they are doing anything behind the scenes and that ever gets out, I mean, you have a Supreme Court justice impeached. I mean, it's just a breach of judicial code of conduct. - Oh, I meant more also a judge's downstream. - Oh, all of the above. It doesn't matter which, it doesn't matter. Justice or judge, but I will say it's interesting. Supreme Court doesn't actually have a code of conduct and they govern themselves. So it's a little bit of a different story. But across the board, when I think the biggest takeaway right now over the past 18 months in the spectrum over the past several weeks, judges, even conservative appointees are fed up with the administration trying to laugh in their face. And what you see is a pointy after a pointy, Bush appointee, Reagan appointee, liberals, conservatives, all kind of uniformly rejecting the Trump executive order as a Trump agenda because they want a signal to the executive branch that we still have this strong third branch of government, the Judiciary. I was on an interview, I spoke with a Bush appointed federal judge, middle district of Pennsylvania, Judge John Jones. He was retired so he can speak out and he told me that he's not shocked and he expects actually more conservative judges to be coming out in blasting this administration and wait to preserve the integrity of the Judiciary, whatever integrity there is left. So I'm not surprised, and I think it's only gonna get worse for this administration. - Well, that seems like a good thing that people are finding their voice. I know this guy is retired, but the courts have been the major backstop against the Trump administration that we've seen. - And this Supreme Court has, by the way. I mean, I think a lot of people say like, I hate the Supreme Court, they always rule for Trump. They don't actually always rule for Trump. They do on many occasions and they have some terrible rulings and I'm not gonna-- - Absolute immunity seems like that. - No, horrible ruling, but like birthright citizenship. They could have ruled for Trump on a number of cases that they actually rule against the president. So it's not always a guarantee to win for this administration. - So if he didn't get what he thought he was getting? - Not always, and that's, to me, I think he's very upset at one man, Leonard Leo, the former head of federal society. He was the one who kind of assured all of these justices in and I guarantee you, when a little retires next term, it's not even an if, I think a little role retire next term. Trump is gonna install one of the craziest conservative justices you'll ever see. I mean, Oboe, or Eileen Cannon, just watch. - I was gonna say, I feel like it has to be Eileen. I mean, he was so, I think he also likes the positive press that he gets when he puts a woman on the court. So he can be like, oh, what's your problem? Oh, you're not a feminist anymore? - Oh, they're the favorite argument of conservatives. Oh, but Trump's cabinet has women in it. And Trump's cabinet has a black man and Scott Turner. He has black friends. Yeah, okay. - He also dated a black woman once. - Trump did? - I think so. - I had no idea. - I think Jossi told me that. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Babish. And on this week's episode of In The Booth, I'm joined by Chef Cookbook author and Food Network Legend, Alex Gourney Shelley. We're talking about shops, the Hamptons, and what it takes to make a cry worthy pasta. You can listen now wherever you get your podcasts. - Hey there, it's Sue Bird. You know the drill. Another week, another new episode of Birds Eye View. This week, I'm thrilled to be joined by Australia's most notable women's basketball player and my former Seattle Storm teammate, Lauren Jackson. She talks about the pros and cons of going pro at 16, the Oful's legendary FIFA World Cup run in 2006, and how her role on a team differs between international tournaments and the WMBA. Plus in Sue's view, I answer your questions about the Yukon documentary that came out. Make sure to check out Birds Eye View on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. - So like any good millennial, I have a love-hate relationship with Gen Z. It's the phenomenon rattling millennials. - They just look at you. - They want something bigger themselves, lifestyle's a priority, motivation is being inspired. - But regardless of how you feel about Gen Z, it's undeniable that they're changing national politics. - Generation Z is increasingly showing less loyalty to traditional political parties, many now more likely to identify as independent. - So what is going on with the kids? - I think the biggest misconception about Gen Z's politics right now is that all of a sudden they're all socialists. That is just not the case. - Yeah, yeah. - They are embracing candidates who are offering new bold ideas in the absence of those ideas from establishment Democrats. - This week on America, actually, Gen Z researcher, Rachel Jamfazzo joins us to separate Gen Z fact versus fiction. - It's not rocket science, and this is, you know, I keep saying like, young voters aren't that complicated after all, it's pretty simple. - Catch us every Saturday on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. - Okay, not much has been happening in terms of progress with the war in Iran, but here at home, Republican Congressman Thomas Massey is hoping to at least spark some change in the last couple of months that he has. Yesterday, he introduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleging he waged the war in Iran illegally. ignore the congressional order to withdraw and cause unnecessary civilian casualties. Check, check, check, check, check. Cal State currently has the likelihood that Hegseth will be out of a job for any reason by December 21st at 29%. Actually, I don't think Pete's going anywhere. We know obviously that Massey is on his way out after Trump and Republicans had to spend a tremendous amount of money to back his challenger. What do you make of going after Hegseth like this? Pretty cool, I think is very interesting. I think that Massey kind of forced the hand of Johnson because I don't know if you saw, but literally right before we hopped on Johnson canceled all votes so that they don't vote actually on the impeachment. Because he's actually afraid that you'll have Republicans cross over and vote to impeach Hegseth. So by the way, they make $174,000 a year and they're not going to be back in session until after election day now. Crazy, right? So they canceled all votes. It clearly worked. It's crazy also to do when you have an election that it's not going well for you. And they keep saying what we want you to be in district and talking to people but they're not doing town halls either. They're just like not going to the midterms convention and not doing their jobs. Correct. I mean, they just, I would love to find someone else in the United States of America who makes six figures, works. I think they've been in session like 20 something days this entire year so far. If you look back last year. It's a nice job if you could get it. Yeah, they only passed like six pieces of legislation last year and a number of them were renaming post offices. So I mean, this is kind of, I would not be surprised if Democrats sweep the midterms because of just the inactivity we're seeing from Congress. And by the way, it's not just like no more impeachment of hexeth, which would have come for a vote this week. But it's also no AI regulation, which we've been trying to stop AI from taking over all of humanity and no affordability legislation, nothing on the war. I mean, nothing. It's all gone. It's just, was you like more of the same and it's unequivocally. No, but I still have a bit of humorism to how I feel about it. I want to shoehorn in because we didn't get to talk about this yesterday and any of our back and forth. That near time, Sienna poll was stunning to me. And not just in Democrats being up basically across the board on issues except Republicans still had a plus to advantage on artificial intelligence. And I'm not sure where that will go now that Trump has said absolutely no regulation and taking the Jensen Wong approach, which doesn't speak frankly to the Democratic base certainly, but not even the Republican base who's very concerned about it. But the stuff that really stuck out to me is that now Republicans are more associated with words like elitist and corrupt. And I was curious if that surprised you too because this is actually a pretty quick turnaround certainly on elitism from the 2024 election where the perception was that Democrats were obnoxious, coastal elites that had no interest or understanding of the lives of average Americans. Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised. I mean, I was surprised to see it in the poll, but I'm not surprised that that's where a kind of America's Americans are going, especially like you look at this administration and is administration of elitist. They were elected by elitist. Elon Musk is the elite. He pumped in hundreds of millions of dollars to get Trump elected. The administration, you look at his cabinet. It's filled of rich people outside of a few people, Kelly left or one of the richest people in the United States Senate when she was serving Linda McMahon, the former, what was it? WWE. Yeah, I mean, wealthy Trump himself is extremely wealthy. I mean, you have some folks except is wealthy. Lutnik, extremely wealthy. Not comparable to. Not comparable, but yeah, Scott Besson. Scott Besson, it's the cabin of billionaires outside of folks like Rubio and Vance. And I mean, listen, I think when Americans see that and I really think that this is all Trump's fault in the sense that he comes out and he says, well, the economy is working for Wall Street. Yes, it is working for Wall Street, but the fact that and he uses the stock market as an example of why the economy is working for Wall Street. And when an average everyday American can afford to invest in that stock market sees the president say that the stock market is performing and therefore the economy is performing, that tells you everything you know. Well said, last thing, though, we're also kind of already there. Let's check it on the Trump family. They are very rich. Okay, we now have details about Don juniors recent wedding in the Bahamas and included an after party paid for by a Russian businessman. I loved the evolution of this story from Eric Trump saying, I don't know who that guy is to that he's paying was at $170,000 and they had a fun fatty cake shipped in, which I understand I am a big fun fatty aficionado myself to it doesn't matter at all to it was just an after party and the fact that it wasn't the main event means that it's no big deal. Why should people care about this and are they going to care about this? Well, I mean, why should people care about it? Why do I care about it? I care about it because on the same day that we learned that Russia has been coordinating assassination attempts on US soil. We learned that DOJ is refusing to investigate this. That's why I care about it because there are so much more than just payments made to Trump juniors wedding. This is a much bigger deal about how the United States has closed it up to a dictator abroad and refuses to hold the Russian government accountable for literally anything. And so that's why I care about it. And so the fact that it's a slap in the face to a lot of Americans and once again is an example of why so many Americans believe that the party your public party is party beliefs because when you have Russian oligarchs donating millions of dollars potentially or hundreds of thousands of dollars over much costs weddings are not cheap these days. I just had one a couple of years ago, they're expensive. I mean, the average American cannot relate to it. And that that's that's part of the problem here. I doubt that you had a fun, fitty cake, chipped in. You didn't have a car. We don't have cakes. No, we had like a dessert bar. I don't like people like that though. Did you have something to cut though? No, I don't like cake. But like the cutting of the cake is a thing. Yeah, and like American culture. We had like a more. All right. Well, we didn't know each other. So I wouldn't even pretend that you should have invited me. I would have. I know we're besties. OK, rapper, Michael Moore has been dropped as an opening act for Ed Sheeran Stadium tour after saying free Palestine on stage. More to it, you know, Ed Sheeran said it was the promoters decision, Bob Kraft obviously played a big role in this. Now other tour date venues are pulling out Ed Sheeran's touring band is not going to play with him anymore in solidarity with Michael Moore. You've been covering this. What is the latest? Yeah, I mean, the latest is all four of Ed Sheeran's opening acts of pulled out. He has no opening acts anymore. His own band pulled out and that's the latest. And I think there is a mass kind of a boycott on the internet of Ed Sheeran right now for not making his views hurt. I mean, I think I saw I read Ed Sheeran statement and my first thought about it was like, I don't I still don't know where he stands on the issue. Like at least stand 10 toes down for what you believe in. He didn't do that in a statement. And so I understand the argument that it was the venues I understand Bob Kraft and I understand all of it. But I also understand that like Michael Moore by saying what he said on stage of free Palestine and even Jesse Waters said, I don't see anything wrong with that. Because there is I mean, you have a first amendment right to speak in this country and you should be able to speak and I find it concerning part of me also find the concerning that some of the stadiums that are boycott or refused to have Michael Moore perform currently have Kanye West on their calendar who is literally yelling hell Hitler. So like that's very concerning to me. So I just I want there to be consistency and I want I don't want there to be this double standard. So I need to get a bigger conversation to have. What do you think of the stance that what I took from Ed Sheeran's statement and what I assume is his position, which part of it is definitely like don't piss off Bob Kraft and you know people that own these stadiums is that they don't want politics in entertainment. Listen, that that's fine, but like that that's not who is Bob Kraft. To me, it's like who is Bob Kraft to say that like that that's if people don't want politics and entertainment and they know that Michael Moore's for example going to be performing and saying something on stage. Then they don't have to go by ticket right. It's the individual's decision whether or not they want to go to a concert what politics could be on stage. And so that's that and it's up to them. They want to support these artists. So I don't I just I don't know if anyone knows me. I'm a big free speech absolutist in the sense that like I don't really don't believe you should be punished for what you say unless it gets to a certain point and we have not gotten to that point, especially here. I'll allow Jesse Waters. We have got to that point. Funny when that happens. All right, a few questions rose see asked you think we would be able to gain some credibility with our quote former allies once Trump is gone. I think so. Yes, but that these agreements and the new relationships do not go or do not end overnight and we're going to have to fight tooth and teeth. nail to get back into their good graces and be welcome back into the fold, not just invited to things. Obviously, that's going to happen. You're still the United States of America, but I think you said earlier in the show decades to reverse a lot of this. Yeah, I mean, 100% will get back to it. I'm not that worried. I just think that when we do get back, it's not going to be like, oh, you're just going to get the same deals we had before in the same good will we had before we're going to work for it. Yeah, Mr. Bestie, not happening. Uh, Jesse Adelman wants to know what's the one topic you wish Democrats were talking about more on the stump now with less than 50 days to go. You want to go? I mean, I'll sit you. I really, and I've been saying this for so long and people, and you're going to disagree with me, I know, and some people disagree with me, investigate, investigate, investigate. Like that has to be, I know, but that has to be the message. And I think Democrats need to be really frank, open and honest and say, listen, like, we're not going to have a, we're not going to have a white house, getting anything past is going to be hard, but what we can do is investigate the hell out of them, like they did us. Yeah. So Robert Garcia, I feel is out there talking about this. And it is very clear from reporting that people in the Trump administration and Trump orbit know that this is coming. As for me, I think that we should be talking about housing more and putting a bold proposals to build, you know, millions of affordable housing units, talking about how we're going to fix Obamacare, not just reinstall subsidies. And there are going to be more voters turning out to vote because their economic circumstance has gotten worse than those that are interested in what happens in an oversight hearing. But I also think you can walk in Chukum. So our answers can coexist. Last one. Can anyone tell me that we're going to be okay? I'm losing hope. Yeah, we're going to be okay. We're going to be okay. We're still here. We're still here. Yeah, you know, we're going to make everything better. No, legitimately, like what we're talking about with the Supreme Court and appreciated your deep dive into the concurrence and the kind of writing on the wall. If Trump is going to push this further, the fact that Americans are waking up to the idea that the Trump administration is lying to them about all this stuff and is not delivering. And I'm not saying Democrats are the perfect south for all of this. They're not. There are a lot of issues with the two party system generally. People are in elected office. I could pick on anyone of any political stripe. But our institutions, they are strong. And the will of the American people is the strongest. Yeah, so have faith in us and tune in again next week for the rage and subscribe to everything. Partners perspective, raging moderates by the book.