SimplySafe presents a user-friendly, no-contract home security solution with app control, quick setup, and comprehensive monitoring, offering 50% off and a free first month to new customers. The episode also covers major political developments: President Trump is reportedly abandoning his controversial $1.8 billion slush fund amid court rulings and Republican backlash, while expressing indifference to Iran negotiations and foreign policy. In key state primaries, Iowa and California reflect growing voter frustration with traditional Democratic leadership, energizing insurgent candidates like Josh Turck, Tom Steyer, and Nithya Rahman, while reality TV figure Spencer Pratt taps into public discontent over governance failures. The LA mayoral race exemplifies this anti-incumbent sentiment, with candidates vying to address housing, fire response, and communication failures. Simultaneously, the show urges overseas voters to claim their ballots through votefromabroad.org, highlighting the importance of civic participation. These stories collectively underscore a political moment where public distrust in institutions and a demand for accountability are driving electoral change.
Pots of America is brought to you by SimplySafe. No one wants to imagine their home getting broken into. But the scary statistic is that every 26 seconds in the U.S. a family experiences a break-in. Scary? Yes. But that's why SimplySafe has worked to make home security more accessible to more American families. John Lovitz set up a SimplySafe and, boy, is he happy? - Safe is hell. - Safe is hell. - Happy is safe. - Just no one has set up. - As well as Lovitz did. - No, but crushed it. - Not one. - Very quick. And now you get the app on your phone and so you can sort of run everything from there. With SimplySafe, there are no long-term contracts or hidden cancellation fees. They earn your business by keeping you safe, not by trapping you in a contract. With SimplySafe, you can customize your system to fit your needs, then ships fast directly to your door. The app-guided setup is simple and there's no drilling required so you can install and arm your system in under an hour. SimplySafe is more than just a security camera. It's a comprehensive system of sensors indoor and outdoor cameras and 24/7 professional monitoring. Over 5 million people value and trust SimplySafe with their home security every day. Right now, our listeners will get 50% off a new system when you sign up for professional monitoring and your first month is free. Just visit SimplySafe.com/Cricket. That's half off at SimplySafe.com/Cricket. There's no safe, like SimplySafe. U.S. Voters are broad. Have you got your ballot yet? All states are now sending ballots to overseas voters. So if you want to vote this year, you should request your ballot right away. Go to votefromabroad.org and click Request My Ballot. Ask to receive it by email. Questions? Ask our support team directly. Don't miss this chance to shape the future. Don't delay. Votefromabroad.org. Welcome to "Platte of America," I'm John Favre. I'm John Lovett, Tommy Geetorne. On today's show, we'll talk about the news that Trump appears to be giving up on his $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund. It also seems quite uninterested in ending the Iran war, saying he, quote, "couldn't care less whether talks break down." We're also going to talk about Tuesday's big primaries this week in Iowa and here in California, as well as more turbulence in Maine for Graham Platner and more turbulence for JD Vance and his quest to become Donald Trump's number one boy chosen successor. Then New Jersey Senator Andy Kim talks to me about the horrifying conditions he witnessed at the Ice Detention Center in Newark, where the Senator was pepper sprayed by federal agents. Before we start, you guys see that CBS's Scott Pelley accused Barry Weiss of murdering 60 minutes? That sounds like a really fun meeting to have attended. It was an all-staff meeting convened by Weiss' new hand-picked executive producer Nick Bilton. No Weiss at the meeting. I bet he's your first day at the office. You're trying to find the bathrooms. You're seeing which where your badge works and where your badge does it work. And I think Scott Pelley's saying, "You piece of shit. I will fucking rake your dead corpse over the bones of Don Hewitt." And obviously, love it was hyperbole, but not as much as you might think. Obviously it was pretty close. Reading all over Darcy's status has the whole transcript of the meeting. It was something. Anyway, I just bring that up because if all of you want to support the growth of an independent pro-democracy media company that Barry Weiss can't murder, at least not yet, please consider becoming a friend of the pod subscriber. You get ad free episodes of this show, all your favorite crooked pods. Subscriber only shows like Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer. Our secret extra episode of Podsave America, in full access to all of our sub-stech newsletters like OpenTabs. Check it out at crooked.com/friends. All right, let's get to the news. With the Middle East still a mess and gas prices still high, the president is once again working hard to communicate to the American people. How little he cares about these things. Here he is during a hard-hidden Fox interview with his daughter-in-law, Lera Trump, focused like a laser on his true passion interior design. This will be the entrance into the Borum, the Borum we were right here. No, the Borum is a gift to America for me and from Apple and from lots of great people. How often are you coming out here to check the progress? A lot and we're going to have the inauguration here. This stone can last a million years. You know, most people would put grass on top of a piece of wood. It would be called laminated and then in about two years you'd see the grass falling on the floor. You know, we'll do laminated. This is, look, solid grass, same thing with this. This is all solid. Beautiful solid. Putting, look, we've suffered a lot under this guy. The putting labels on the rooms outside the rooms. To the whole office, like, we know. The whole point of it, man, is we know it's a cool room. It's actually a great thing. You don't need to label it. Did you guys read Ashley Parker's story about Trump as a gay icon in the Atlantic? I did. You will love it. It's so funny. It's so good. They're having the inauguration out there? No, they're not. By the way, Congress decides. I was going to say, yeah, what's the. I'm sure he means like the balls and some of the, you know, the balls that would happen around the inauguration. I mean, says him. He's not there anymore. Right. But he won't be, he shouldn't be involved in the planning of it, you know, one would hope. Does he just, he's just going to stay on as like physical plant director? It should be shaperown for JD. JD is in home. No, so that was on Fox over the weekend. For Fox viewers who want to just a little more on what the government is doing about this terrible economy. On Sunday morning, they get to hear this from top White House economic advisor slash a Democratic party plant, Kevin Hassett. People are spending more on gas, but they're also spending more on everything else. Doctors, groceries, restaurants and so on. And I think that that's a sign that you would see when people are optimistic about the futures. No, Tommy, you put this in Slack yesterday, I think, on Sunday. And I was like, isn't that the clip from last month when Kevin Hassett said this? And then I had to click on it and realize that he basically said the same thing again. But maybe worse this time. No, they just keep putting a maggot Dennis the menace on TV to say stupid shit. I mean, they just like, they could not seem more out of touch if they tried. They're spending more on gas and groceries. Does not suggest that you're optimistic about the future. It suggests that you need gas and groceries. And those are non-negotiable items. They're not taking out loans to start a business. Like, what are you talking about? This is like, oh, is, you know, hey man, like most people are just, they're just not really paying that close attention to aggregate consumer spending. Right, like that matters to you in your morning meeting. Yeah, but then like the lower Trump interview, I mean, Trump clearly wanted to talk about the brass thing he put on the wall. Like, he could, he could write Laura Trump's questions for her if he wanted. It's his daughter-in-law doing the interview. And he's like, they clearly went out and they pitched this. Like, he just, he wants to tell us, I don't give a shit about anyone or anything about in the world except for myself, my arch. And like, he seems annoyed almost that we don't believe him at this point. It's so funny because we also, on Friday's pod, covered Besson in the briefing room when some reporter asked him about, like, people's savings being when people dipping into their savings. And he's like, well, according to the economic literature, that could be two things. One, the doomer view that you just took, which is that people aren't confident. Or they're spending so much because they are confident. And that's why they're dipping into their savings. Yes, people are, people are racking up credit card debt because they're betting on themselves. That's what's going on. Just thought of it, thought of it too late. Phantom of the ballroom. That's what he's sort of aiming for. Something like that. But sort of imagine I said it earlier. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index is at a record low of 44.8 in May of 2026. That's lower than-- Fucking doomer's. Doomer's. Doomer's. So the biggest concern, by the way, is cost of living and gas prices. Yeah, well, you know what the solution is. Turn that frown upside down, all you doomer's. Believe, believe in Donald Trump in his wild. Look, if a man can do that with brass, imagine what he can do for your savings. Besson going out there with the $250 bill to the whole thing, it is crazy. He wants to lose the image. Do you see him holding up the story? Being like, whoever edited this, who did a terrible job? Pissie could have her. He looks so-- He has such a terrible kind of his whole facial expression. It's just so unlikable. Just the holding up the story with the money on it. So obviously none of this is going too well politically for Trump, but unfortunately for him, even his renovations and corruption are running into some stiff headwinds. On Friday, a federal judge blocked Trump's plan to close the Kennedy Center for renovations and also ruled that he can't just rename it for himself. There was a very long truth social post where he was ranting about that that I have to tell you. I honestly couldn't get through it all. It's just he was very upset. Sorry, man. But basically, he's like, I'm giving up on the Kennedy Center. That's it. Forget it. It's like, all right, cool. Yeah. Hey, man. Yeah. Leave her alone. The same day, another federal judge in Florida reopened Trump's IRS settlement with his own DOJ because of what she called, quote, grievous allegations that the $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund was, quote, premised on deception. Then another federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the transfer of money in or out of the fund while she waits to hear arguments and allow suit challenging it. Finally, after all these reports that both Republicans in Congress and White House aides were pushing Trump to just give up on the slush fund altogether. It appears as if he's done just that. Two senior administration officials told Axios that Trump will drop the slush fund with one saying, quote, it's dead for now. DOJ also posted a statement saying it'll, quote, abide by the court ruling blocking it, even though that block is only temporary. Do you guys, we haven't heard from Trump as of this recording? Yeah, we got to hear from this. We got to hear from the big boy before it's done. It's not done to the big boy speaks. Yeah. And even then, who knows? - Even then, right. - Yeah, for sure. - But do you think you backstound this easily?
And I think more importantly, do you guys think this is still a political issue for Republicans? So for also, Senate Republicans actually were pretty bothered by this in a close to our meeting, of course. John Thune was actually out there saying he didn't like this very much, which is impressive for him. Of course, the only thing Senate Republicans could manage to do is quietly oppose it and then bravely leave town. That was their way of protesting it. We're not going to give him more money for immigration that we don't need. And we're going to leave town to signal our, our unhappiness with it. I assume and hope that we'll still have votes on it this week. I think there's no, given that it's only temporarily on hold and Trump clearly wants to do this, I think Democrats need to get Republicans on record that they would oppose having this kind of a slush fund be legal now or in the future. And so let's get them voting on that because even if they're privately saying it, they'll have to publicly do something. Yeah, the for now bothered me. The for now part of that report bothered me. I'm hopeful that, you know, when you're primaring, John Kornin, you're primaring, Bill Cassidy and when Tom Tillis hates you, all Republicans in the Senate, maybe they will prevent this from ever passing or coming to be. I don't know. I don't if you guys read the big New York Times piece from over the weekend about how the slush fund came together, but it read like the blueprint for a future Rico case. It was like Boris F. Stein on the outside like coordinating things. The Trump kids want immunity for like all IRS audits for their tax returns in the future. The professional staff at DOJ are either horrified or quitting. And then the White House political staff was just cut out of the process because they probably clearly that it was toxic. And it's like the most corrupt sounding shit imaginable. And so I don't know. Knowing Trump. It's probably not the end of it. Yeah. Schumer is going ahead with, or he said he's going ahead with making sure they have to vote on it and do it. The vote is going to be on, you know, originally, I think the first time we talked about Democrats potentially proposing amendments on this. It was like to restrict the fund or whatever. There was a couple proposals out there to just ban the fund completely forever. And that's what Schumer is going with reportedly. He said today. And I think that's great because like what Republican now is going to vote against the ban. Now that Trump has said, or at least the White House has signaled that they're giving up on it. So Trump doesn't say anything between now and the vote. Like if you're a Republican voting on this, you can either vote against the ban and really fuck yourself in the midterms because now that White House has abandoned it, but now you're on record supporting it. Or you can vote for the ban. And then the ban becomes law and then it doesn't matter if Trump backs off because now it's against the law. Well, right. There's a pretty good position that Democrats are great. This is ridiculous. There's no good vote for the Republicans. They haven't in the past chosen. This is a political ploy because there is no fund. So I'm voting against this because Democrats are playing politics. They're just creating them an option to be crazy. Of course, just giving that that's another another Craven Pat. Their Republicans have said this is not necessary or it is too late. Those have been two positions. They've taken in the past and trying to stop Trump. The other part of this too is like in fairness to Trump, he must be surprised that there's any pushback whatsoever. It's sort of I think most of caught him off guard that Republican's have found a line because they've tolerated so much brazen corruption, the pardons and all the rest that led to this moment. As even as we're speaking, DOJ is trying to vacate the convictions of the oath keepers that Trump only commuted but didn't part. And so they still are kind of just going full speed ahead without having to worry about the Republicans in Congress. I love that Mike Pence was on the Sunday shows being like, please don't pay the people that tried to hang me. Yeah, you know, it's like Donald's. I watch. I watch to hang me. They set up a stocks in a news. I watched part of that Mike Pence come on on Beat the Press. I don't know why. It doesn't sound like me, but he served you by accident. His book is about like the need to take on the right-wing populist. Well, he's like up there just like praising Donald Trump and how on so many things he's doing such a great job. And then he's like, now I do have to say I am a big critical of his continuing to support the people that tried to kill me, but nobody's perfect. It's unbelievable that he's out here out there like doing the same. I think that there's a very small but non-zero chance that the other option for Donald Trump is saying, fine, I'll just pocket the cash then. Well, he remembers remember he had that pissy post last week when there was a lot of political blowback on the slush fund. And he was like, I could have just kept the money. Well, that's why he's annoyed, right? Because he thought I'm going to do a $10 billion lawsuit. Yeah. And then I'm actually going to do something really cool, which is going to be like beloved by all because I'm not going to keep the money. It was like two clever by half. Yes, yes. And then you can feel that this is the White House staff being annoyed at Todd Blanche for running this drug deal behind their backs. So good. Amazing. All right, let's talk about Iran where Trump can't even seem to get a bad deal, let alone one that would justify the insane amount of money in lives. The war has already cost military strikes have started again around state media said it was pausing negotiations. Trump told CNBC on Monday morning that he quote couldn't care less if the negotiations collapse that they quote took too much time and started to get very boring. This was after he complained on truth social about how negative quote chirping about the war from political hacks is making his job tougher and that we should all just sit back and relax because it will all work out well in the end. It always does. This is Trump then reverse course again and said that talks between the US and Iran were quote continuing at a rapid pace. Taking too long and getting kind of boring is also what he said the one and only time he went down on Ivana. Never never never never can make that mistake. We were we were reliably told by Scott Jennings last Thursday that Trump had reached a deal with Iran that got us quote everything we want. What happened? Is it possible that Scott let us to stress? Yeah. Before I get to Jennings I want to just read a little more of the transcript of the CNBC interviews. This is what Trump told Aiman Javars from CNBC about the peace talks. I don't care if they're over honestly. I really don't care. I couldn't care less if they're over. They're over. If they're not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring. Again, 13 service members dead, hundreds more wounded, tired global economy is on the brink of collapse. Gas prices are up 50%. So he's bored. It's just hard to wrap your head around a politician saying that a president saying that and not being a career ending moment kind of like on site. But here we are. Fox News will never air it. This will never have happened in the mega media world. Now Scott Jennings, uh, fuck don't him from CNN. You know him. You hate him. He's a hack. He's a fool. He mindless. He regurgitates. Uh, whatever talking points he gets sent from the White House, including blatant disinformation. So I expect nothing better from him. Um, but I like, I do hope that this disaster makes the Axios and some other news outlets, um, they kind of cut and paste whatever to some senior administration official told them whether it's Jared Kushner or the press office room ever, uh, should help like rethink how you're doing your job because I get the journalism is very competitive. I get that reporters are battling for every mini scoop these days. But at best you look silly. At worst, uh, you are upon in oil market manipulations, right? This happens every Sunday. And then ultimately, you're pumping out this information to the entire world. Like, remember, economies in Southeast Asia like have stopped because they have no oil and gas. And so on the question of where do we stand on a deal? I don't know. Like one, the deal was off. The deal was on, we're on the cusp of the deal. Then we're bombing the Iranians again. Trump just said he talked directly with the Hezbollah representative. You guys see that today? That's new. That's interesting. And, and then said, and said that that Hezbollah in Israel, they're cool. There's a ceasefire not leviton now. The Iran talks are proceeding quickly. The Netanyah was like, no, no, no, yeah. What are you talking about? So who knows? I also, I mean, you tell me Tommy, but like, I don't think that, um, all the prespinning of what the deal is going to include from the White House is actually helping the negotiations that much. And in fact, maybe hurting them because every time they get close to a deal, then Iran's probably thinking, okay, like we're going to do this. Maybe, you know, and then Trump goes out and is like, we destroyed them. We got the best deal ever. We got everything we ever wanted. And then the Iranians are probably like, well, fuck, no, I'm not going to do this now. Trump is going to have to give on something, whether it's, uh, you know, the duration of the deal, like sanctions relief, unfrozen assets, something, but he refuses to look weak. He doesn't want to look like he gave a JCPOA like agreement to the Iranians. So you're right. I mean, he, it sounds like his staff are kind of giving. And then he goes out and says, actually, no, we're going to take the dust to work and not give him any money, like all the reports of bullshit and you're running, okay, okay, fuck you then. Yeah, I believe there's two things happening. One is what an actual deal will ultimately look like if there is one. And then there's how Trump, how the Trump administration talks about the deal and then what's reported. And this has been, this has been sort of, the media has been getting led around by Trump from when Vance went to Pakistan because Vance goes to Pakistan and then within, within, you know, eight hours, 12 hours, the reports are stalemate, talk at his, and it talks at an impasse, talks are falling apart. There haven't really been talks. And we've spent the next last several weeks having deal falls apart, verge of a deal. Deal falls apart, verge of a deal when what would be happening in the normal administration is the long grinding negotiation of a complicated deal in which there are gifts and takes and, and like, you know, and, and, and puts in, and whatever. And instead, it's the kind of through the Trump prism and so all these outlets
I guess from the administration officials, from who knows, saying we're on the verge of a deal, they report that out faithfully, and then it falls apart the very next day. The reality of, there will be it, hopefully, there will be a deal. It will look something like the JCPOA, and then Trump will declare it the best deal in history, like one hopes that that's what we'll eventually get to, and then this all this up and down shit will have just been sort of like silly Trump chaos on the way there. I guess. - I think what's triggering the hell out of me, though, is ultimately, there will be a reporting on that will evaluate the merits of any deal, but that deal could have been gotten without a disastrous war that led to the deaths of thousands of Iranians versus the service members in the entire economy, and it's like, I'm not worried about this table losing that context. I am worried about the broader media helping Trump sell a deal by doing this constant incremental reporting, by retweeting Scott Jennings saying, "This is a win for the Trump administration," et cetera. It's like, no, this is a disaster, no matter what happens next. - Yeah, 'cause the honest thing to report on this, or if you were some kind of a conservative pundit, the honest thing to even say is, "Glad, it's over now," but that wasn't worth it. And not exactly those words, but that is the tenor of whatever deal we're gonna get, is that there's no way we came out better than we started. - Right, 'cause even just on the Iranian enrichment, what I saw for the weekend or early today was what was on the table was a 20-year moratorium, which is what, up from the 10-year moratorium, so that, you claim this was the worst deal in history, your deal is just a slightly longer timeline on one piece of it with other concessions along the way. - That was our starting position, and then it worked down to 15, maybe, so who even thought? - Who knows, who knows? But it's just like, obvi, like, that he is just, there will be a hard, if there's a deal, it will be a deal that isn't some amazing victory for Donald Trump. He'll call it that, he'll get his 24 hours to say that, and then we'll live with the consequences of having fought the stupid fucking war. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Podsave America is brought to you by Article. Article makes it effortless to build a home that lasts without the boutique markup. They're curated collections of mid-century coastal and scandy furniture or design to mix and match perfectly, so you can create a cohesive designer look that will stand the test of time. We got a bunch of great article stuff here at the office. We have chairs, we have desks and couches, and we've bought so many things from them at this point that I've lost count. It's all super high quality, it looks good. It's comfortable, it all holds up for a very long time. Highly recommended. An article offers fast, affordable shipping across the US and Canada with options for professional delivery if you prefer a hands-off experience. If you have a question or need help with your design choices, Article's customer care team is available seven days a week, offering knowledgeable support and even free interior design services to help you with your home and get it just right. With Article's 30-day satisfaction guarantee, you can shop with confidence, knowing that if you're not completely in love with your new furniture, you can easily return it. This piece of mind ensures you can invest in your home without hesitation. Article's offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more to claim it. Visit article.com/cricot and the discount will be automatically applied to checkout. That's article.com/cricot for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. - Paz de America is brought to you by AG1. Summer is for letting things slide a little. That's the point. But there's one easy thing that takes 30 seconds and covers your bases no matter what the season throws at you. One scoop plus eight ounces of water every morning. AG1. AG1 is a daily health drink with a multivitamin, pre and probiotics, super foods and antioxidants. One scoop, eight ounces of water. The next gen formula delivers 75 plus ingredients and is designed to support gut health, help fill common nutrient gaps and promote improved nutrient levels over time. Late nights, long weekends, spontaneous plans, life happens. AG1 helps you keep one thing consistent, high quality nutritional support every single day, no matter where you start, you're morning. You're like an AG1 person. - I'm a scoop of dig guy. I am a big smoothie for breakfast person 'cause it's super fast and easy and you can figure out exactly what goes in it. It's a pain to put a bunch of greens in your smoothie like by spinach or whatever. - No, thank you. - You don't need to do that. You just get AG1. It gets all of the super foods you need. All the veggies, all the everything, more ingredients and whatever that you would put in by yourself. And it tastes good. I love AG1. - Visit drinkag1.com/cricot to get a free morning person hat and free AG1 flavor sampler in your welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription, an $82 value. That's drinkag1.com/cricot. And if I see you in a free morning person hat, I will punch you in person. (laughing) (upbeat music) As you're listening to this, voters in Iowa and California are voting in some very consequential elections. Let's start with Iowa, where state representative Josh Turck and state Senator Zach Walls are in a tough primary fight for the state's open Senate seat, which will be hugely important. This one has become yet another meta commentary on Chuck Schumer and the DSCC trying to influence key primaries. In this case, in favor of Turck, Schumer hasn't publicly endorsed Turck, but his aligned pack has contributed, so his Jilla Brands. It's reported that he was sort of a Schumer recruit. Much to Turck's dismay. - Yeah, he should endorse Walls, right? - Tommy, you interviewed both Turck and Walls on the show. For people just catching up, what are each of them bringing to the table, what were your general impressions? - Yeah, I mean, so Josh Turck is a state rep in Western Iowa and Council Bluffs. He was born with Spina Bifida. He uses a wheelchair. He's a two-time Paralympic gold medal winner in wheelchair basketball. And he's just like his life story. He's just an incredibly gritty determined guy. Like, he got cut from the men's team six times before he actually won the gold medal. He just kept coming back and coming back and competing. And like, there's videos of him. He literally like climbs out of his wheelchair, climbs up the stairs with his hand, drags the wheelchair up after him and then knocks on doors. Like, that's how he goes door to door. So like, gritty dude, clearly benefiting from being Schumer's pick and an associated nine million dollar vote vets ad buy that has drastically increased his name ID 'cause no one knew who any of these guys were. And then Zach is a member. Zach Wall is a member of the Iowa State Senate. He's from Iowa City. He was sent a minority leader for a couple of years. Our listeners probably saw him speak in 2011, even though they don't remember it. They all knew it was him at the time. He was a 19-year-old. He delivered a speech asking Iowa legislators not to pass a constitutional amendment, banning gay marriage in civil unions that went super viral back in 2011. And it was a great speech, really powerful speech, like supercharges his career. So I interviewed him both. I liked him both a lot. Everyone seems to think that Josh is likely to win. A lot of the people I know who work in Iowa politics think he is more electable because he's one and more conservative parts of the state. But what is it gonna take on Congressman Ashley Henson for Joni Ernst see 'cause she's resigning? And no matter who wins, Iowa is like ground zero for politics. This next cycle, 'cause you got Rob Sand, who could be the next governor. You have this open Senate seat. And then there's like three competitive house races, a bunch of other statewide things. So like Iowa is absolutely crucial. So this was one we're gonna be watching going forward. - I will say that I've been impressed by both of them, by both Josh, Turk and Zach Walls. And yeah, I know some of these Senate primary fights are particularly intense and I know this one is too. I was kind of joking about Josh Turk probably wishing that Schumer didn't spend some pack money on him or necessarily recruit him. But I think that I understand why Walls has tried to make this a race about an outsider versus the establishment as Turk as the establishment. I kind of think that Turk being picked by Chuck Schumer is not quite the same as Turk being part of the establishment or the establishment spending money on him. Like a lot of the money that's been on him is vote vets. So it's like, it's not, at least for me, it doesn't worry me that he's some establishment pick necessary. I feel like the case for that isn't as strong as in some of these other cases. But I also like, you know Zach Walls was in here too. I thought he was very compelling as well. So I like both of them. Love it, anything. - No. (laughing) - I think there's some races where being seen as like the Schumer guy, the DC guy, I think has been a real cross to bear. I think that happened to Nane which we'll talk about in a second. I just don't think it's been that in Iowa as much this time in part because this vote that's by has been so big and so significant in helping push Josh forward. Also he's a known quantity in Western Iowa. I think he's never been worked in DC. Yeah, so I think it's harder to lay that on him. But we'll see. - We should also say that for people wondering, the reason that votes vote vets is spending money on him is not because he's a veteran, but his father was in Vietnam and yeah, potentially exposed to Agent Orange. That's why they think Josh has spined a bit. - But also I think vote vets is seen as doing Schumer's political being here. - Also true, also true. All right, let's turn to California. The big race of course is the jungle primary for governor. We have covered the campaign a lot in between us. We've interviewed Tom Steyer, Katie Porter and Matt Mayhan. We also reached out over a dozen times to the apparent front runner, Javier Basera. And even though they expressed interest, they unfortunately wouldn't commit to a time. Okay, same question for each of you. Who gendered up supporting and why? And who else did you like? If this were a ranked choice voting, who might you support after that? - Well, my ballot still hasn't been filled down. - Ooh. - So I'm still getable. - I'm still getable, I'm still getable. I am gonna vote for Tom Steyer because I would like to see if Basera, if the polls are to be believed and they've been pretty consistent, Basera is going to move on one other will. There's a chance Tom Steyer can be that second person. I would much rather have two Democrats battling it out for the future of the Democratic Party in this state than I would have Basera versus a Republican who has not passed the threshold question of opposing Donald Trump's election lines. Like that to me is a threshold question. You could be frustrated with Democrats in this state. You can believe the Democrats have fucked up in California, but if you can't say that Donald Trump lost that election,
stand up to him, then that is so fucking dangerous. And he's a nut for that. So that's where I'm at. I also really liked my conversation with Tom Steyer. I think you had good answers for some of the questions about where Democrats have gone wrong in California and some of the criticisms. I also really like Katie Porter, but she just hasn't risen to the top of the pulse. Like she was, she sort of slowly fell behind. And I think it sucks because I really like her, but I'm trying to be pragmatic with my vote. - Yeah, I mean, if I could wave a magic wand and make some governor, it'll be Katie Porter, but she's down in the polls. And I'm having the same, I have the same rationale. I want to vote strategically because I think Steyer and Basera, going to a runoff would be great. It would kind of be annoying if we had to deal with, you know, running in Steve Hilton who's a random British short king who's like deep in the tech community. - I don't think it's high to problem, but they do love it. That trigger too of all the criticisms. But I also love that Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco are calling on each other to drop out still, even though Hilton is like crushing Bianco and Trump has endorsed Hilton, but that's where I was. - Yeah, I would, if I were doing rank choice, I would be Katie number one, no question. Because that's who I'd vote for, but that's not the world we live in. - I had a real hard time with this and I voted a couple days ago. I had, California's a big state with it's hard to govern, water problems. I don't really feel, I thought about Basera, but I don't feel confident, giving the top job to someone who's had, he said 35 years in elected office to prove himself, but has received mainly bad reviews from his colleagues and the one exec, especially in the one executive job that he's had, which is HHS secretary under Biden. And you know, just an exit. Like I think his housing policy, which was also like, he's very late to introduce any kind of housing policy whatsoever until after ballots dropped. And then even then it was like, more NIMBY than Steyer or Porter or anything else. And now I hope I'm wrong. And if he wins, then like great, maybe he'll be a great governor. But I was like, I just, it prevented me from voting Basera. Steyer, like I'm more confident in Steyer, but even then like on the experience question, there was just something. For me it was like the combination of, he's never had any experience in elected office or governing anything and is a billionaire who basically like, you know, ran for president first, flamed out there, then spent just the GDP of a small country on this race. And like I think he hit, like I like his position is better than Basera and a lot of the other candidates, but I'm just like, there's just something a little geek to me about it. And I am not as worried if it's Steve Hilton versus Basera or Steyer because the state registration is gonna take care of itself. And there's just, I'm, it's not a concern I have that Steve Hilton's gonna become governor. So I just voted for Katie Porter 'cause I like her. And it's like, I realized that she has, it is the least strategic thing I could do, but Katie to me is like, I've known her while the temperament with her staff stuff is obviously like it bothered me a lot because like we've known her forever and I actually didn't know that until those stories came up and I also don't think she's gonna win at this point, but I'm like, who do I wanna be governor? She's thought about the job a lot. She has like a really well-fighted out policy platform. She's actually worked on passing legislation and getting things done when she was in Congress. And I feel like she's just like done the work for the job more than anyone else. - But if you would rather, Tom, I feel the same way. But I would rather, like, as of right now, and I wanna talk to Harvey or Basera if he's willing, now I think Harvey or Basera has said he wants to come on the show, but he's hoping that he and Hilton get through the other side, right? And then of course we're doing an interview about a Democrat versus a Republican which is very different than a conversation about a Democrat versus a Democrat. But as of right now, I think Tom Steyer has answered some of the harder questions better than Harvey Air. Basera, and if Basera, I'm voting for him, and if I'm trying to get the best, because I believe you, I don't think Hilton's gonna be the governor of the state. I want the best person to be the governor of California. And right now, if there's, I wanna see, and maybe also Basera having to beat Tom Steyer would make him a stronger candidate too. So that's my kind of hope that we can get Tom Steyer through this thing so that we have a better debate and how the air Basera has to be put through his paces if he is gonna win. I do feel like, you know, as sort of Blah, as this race has been for governor, I am very open and hopeful that both like, that either Steyer or Basera will like prove me wrong and become a great governor. And you're right, maybe if it's Basera and Steyer and it run off, then there's even more time for them to duke it out and show that they're ready for the job. We also got a mayoral race going on here in LA. Love it, interviewed a challenger Nithya Rahman for the show, who we all know. And I supported Nithya, donated to her known her a long time. We also reached out to Karen Bass, who has come on the show before, but she opted not to come on before the primary. Nithya and Basera in a close race with reality TV personality turned mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican quasi endorsed by Trump. He said, I like him, I hear he's mag, I like him. And Pratt was in New York over the weekend, closing the campaign like this. - Then even testing your drugs on a dog is the least of the worst of what these demons are doing to these poor animals. They're lighting them on fire, they're raping these dogs, they're abusing them, they're breeding them to the point that they die because they've been so overbred. - Sir, this is a Wendy's, it's a very like. - Yeah, I don't doubt that there's horrible things happening to animals in some of these places, but it's very weird that he decided to go to New York for several days. I think dropped $34,000 on his hotel rooms and left the state the week before the election. - Yeah, there's billboards all around, or at least I saw, I think I saw these two in downtown LA of him saying like, if you're, you know, dogs vote for Spencer Pratt, so he's trying to make this like the closing thing, the whatever reason they think this is something that's gonna break through for them. I don't know. - Can you guys think of this race? Why do you think of that? - Spencer, apparently Spencer Pratt's already sold the rights to do a reality show if he becomes the mayor. Here's my, here's, I think this applies to both the governor's race and to the LA mayor's race, which is when you watch the debates, there is a, and like Steve Hilton, Bianco, Pet Pratt, they are capturing what is a very real frustration with democratic governance in the state, with mismanagement, with a kind of fecklessness and lack of emotion and passion for good government and making shit work, work better, work faster, answer people's concerns. I don't think the answers that these Republicans are offering or that Spencer Pratt are offering are what we need, but the fact that there's an opening speaks to the failure of Democrats, both on policy, but also just as candidates to rise to the, to meet what is like real and deep frustration with people in Los Angeles. These are all democratic voters, for almost all democratic voters. And they have real anger about what they feel is the decline in Los Angeles. Now, I think Nithia cares deeply about the city. I think that she is thinking hard about how to actually address these issues. I think what has been a challenge in both in that debate, I think with her on the campaign trail is, you know, when I talked to her, she made this point, which I really resonated with me, that there's this feeling when you talk about Karen Basik, where's the energy, where's the hunger, where's the speed, where's the sense of urgency, right? That was about the fires, but everything else. And I wanted to see more of that from Nithia. And to be honest, I feel like as a candidate, she hasn't shown the same kind of spirit that she's promising to bring if she becomes mayor, but I do think that she has thought a lot about how to address her housing issues. She saw a lot about what has allowed production to leave Los Angeles, like I am voting for Nithia. And my hope is that Bass and Nithia make it out of the primary so that the two of them can go head to head. And then I think that'll be like a great contest. - Yeah, so I'm full disclosure, I'm a Nithia donor, mostly because your wife asked me to be. But I voted for Nithia too. The reason I'm mad about the status quo too. Like I share a lot of Spencer's rage about the fires, especially the communications issues after the fires are drawing the fires. I don't think he's the answer to those problems, but I share his anger at the frustration. And the problem, it wasn't just that Mayor Bass was out of the country when the fires started, although that was extremely bad. And kind of, in my view, was hard to forgive. But I think hard to overstate how bad the communication was from the city during that period and how scary it was to live here. When the sun would go down and the winds would pick up and you'd lie in bed being like, am I endangering my children by sticking around the city? You know, like that's where people's heads were. And there was just like, the communication wasn't just bad. Remember that night when there was like four mistaken fake amber alerts telling people to evacuate when they didn't need to, right? That shit is unforgivable. So that is why I voted for change. But if we were being honest, I do think Nithia has struggled in this race. She has struggled to articulate clearly what she would do. She seems to struggle to connect with voters on the campaign trail. And then the debate was quite bad. Like Spencer Proud, I think, defined her as like a co-incumpent at the debate. And she didn't seem like a challenger. And so if she makes the run off, I really hope she does, she's got a lot of work to do to get things back on track and to run a lot harder against whoever her opponent is. And take back that kind of like insurgent, like I'm not the status quo message. It has seemed to me like in this race, we've ended up with three archetypes of candidates that we see across the country and have for the last like decade now. Which in bass, you have someone who is very much establishment along with all of the lack of energy that comes with that. And she's kind of just, you know, like running around bragging that like we've reduced homelessness by 17%. And everyone's like walking around and you can see that you're like 17%. And it doesn't look like 17%. And is that a big number? And has also been more nimbian housing. Has sort of gutted a lot of the housing
forms or hasn't pursued them hasn't been a great communicator and you know it's just kind of in the job and doesn't communicate well or a lot and then in nithia you have someone who is like cheap this is like what I was just saying about Katy Porter right who has really thought about these issues who I think is a wonderful public servant and I think could be a really good public servant but like has not met the sort of performance related requirements of a candidate and it is unfortunate that you can't just be ready to be good at the job and be really smart and into the policy and stuff like that and that you also need to perform but we've said this a million times on the show forever like that's what you need and we also have like a lot of Democrats like that across the country and then in Pratt you have someone who when there is democratic governance and a person in power does not fix the problems that an area is facing it is fairly easy for a right wing populist who's good at getting attention and no one's better at getting attention than a reality TV star to come in and tell everyone yes you are pissed I'm pissed too and if you elect me then you can like stick it to the people in charge even though his plans are not just cruel they're just stupid and that he can't do them they're against the law like he doesn't have the power to do a lot of the shit he's talking about he's just making a bunch of fucking you know empty promises he's not going to be able to fulfill a few wins but no one cares about that people care about like okay he's angry and I'm angry and that's enough it was so cool when it's just like you know what fuck it and drove down and said I'm going to run for mayor and that was it was so exciting because it was like you know what she's nobody else is stepping up people no one everyone is frustrated carambass there's a collective judgment that carambass just like just didn't bring like the the energy and and direction of the city needs and she's going to jump in and be the one to do it and I wanted that same energy in the campaign but just hasn't been there like with bass like you know she I when I talked to her I love to leave it a couple was a bright before she came out she she ran claiming she was not going to be an imbi she put out some housing policies that were pretty good but then they got watered down through consensus also sounds like what the Sarah did right and then you and then she comes out against SB 79 because that's what the city council is doing took her years to put to put in charge somebody to make someone the czar of filming and in LA right like she's just no deputy mayor for housing and so like that that to me and you know part of why I think the campaigning does matter and why we why I think like I want to see nithia be a stronger candidate and star campaigner is because in this moment in like in the in our in politics today how you campaign showing that you can do it that's a big part of what it is to be a mayor like someone who's going to be out there every day like hitting the message is going to be like making news all the time showing people what you're doing showing people what matters right like like it's not just about the kind of performance it's not just a show yeah now I will say there's been a ton of you know commentary on this race and analysis people talking about it I have no fucking idea what's going to happen because I know it's just and for people who don't know LA it is 15% registered Republican right and so even if you know Spencer Pratt and some of these polls is getting like 20% anywhere between 20 even as high as 30% that's still like nowhere what you need to win a general election certainly and maybe not even in advance in the primary also the way LA is set up Santa Monica has its own like if you're in Santa Monica or West Hollywood or Beverly Hills or Pasadena like you're not voting for mayor of LA a lot of people think they're Pratt voters and then they're going to get to the polls and figure out that they're not eligible exactly there in LA County and like it could end up so he could either surprise us and do really well or could be the selection where just a bunch of people who don't pay attention to politics at all in other parts of LA just like do to flee vote for Karen Vass or or Nithia like we I just I don't know so pretending that I know what's going to happen is just yeah crazy it's just it is an interesting window into just sort of the zeitgeist of the electorate I mean where there is a anti incumbent rage across the country right now but we're in California state where there's all democratic governance and so Spencer Pratt is sort of channeling that in a different direction it's interesting to see it's also interesting the way he's kind of exposing the incoherence of the nagga and the maha agenda like I remember when they were very mad about the COVID vaccine and now Spencer Pratt is like I will take all the drug addicts and I will lock them up for five days or whatever and force them into this treatment it's like oh okay well that's different then then the freedom agenda that we're talking about under Robert F Kennedy but okay well they don't both the way it were it's a freedom for me not for the not for them yeah I don't know if you guys are excited or looking into any other races in California but Michael Tubbs for lieutenant governor remember crooked contributor and former cricket guest is running for the lieutenant governor love Michael and and her buddy Jake Levine is running against Brad Sherman congressman Brad Sherman in the California 32nd which is palisades and upward stores and Sino in that area yeah and that's one more of them a good challenge and the hope there right is that that he can keep Sherman because Sherman is well known in that district and is expected to to like sort of leave the polls and old these old but if Jake can get it to keep him under 50 and then they can go on to a rock oh one other thing for people watching the returns a lot of Democrats including John love it here have held onto their ballots to the very end and California is always notoriously late in counting ballots and so it's a high probability that this will have a red mirage in the voting it is the returns come in especially this year someone did a party breakdown I think it was Gaelin Drew that in 2022 the final party breakdown was 50% D 29.5% are 19.9% other right now the party break down in the ballots that have come in and this is like election day basically 45.9% 33.5% 20.6% so that so it's already like it's it's off and so the first ballots that are going to be counted are the ones that are already in and so now the electric could also be more read but I am I am already worried about the Spencer Pratt and who knows Donald Trump could jump into and be like we won and then suddenly we're being overtaken as the ballots are counted later in the week so everyone should prepare for that. One possibility I think is like pretty high on the list of possibilities is on election that you have Bessera one Hilton two and a couple days it goes Bessera styer and then all of a sudden Hilton is saying I was knocked out by the demographic machines. The good news is yeah that message I think will resonate nationally I think California voters are pretty well conditioned how stupid and long it takes us to count ballots to wish it was faster but see this is what again this is like the whole thing it's like that's how it is in California we do it the stupidest way fucking possible why why every other states can count ballots in a couple of days why does it take here to weeks fucking stupid I think it's all the mail right because if it if you can if you can drop it in a mailbox on June 2nd on the day of primary then like it takes at least a couple days for the mail to get it yes but then it that is not still long still keeps going but there's oh there's some built-in just because of the course of course you got to get rid of those mail in ballots like Trump says thank God we have mail in ballots our ballot is very long it's complicated lots of things so long search there's lots of musicians you've never heard of it's very thank God for that but mail yeah positive America is brought to you by zipper cruder according to this copy here report by CNBC indicates that almost half of all hiring managers view of candidates enthusiasm is the single most important element when evaluating them for a position you don't want that enthusiasm gap yeah I guess you don't want them to enthusiast you don't want them like breaking in your office I guess well you don't want them falling asleep yeah there's someone climate like world war zing into the place if you need to hire for your business how can you separate the candidates who are really excited about your opportunity from the ones who just me zipper cruder zipper cruder as a new feature that quickly lets you see the most interested qualified candidates first so you meet the right people faster and now you can try it for free as zipper cruder dot com slash crooked zipper cruder's new feature puts the most interested qualified candidates at the top of your list zipper cruder smart matching technology connects you with qualified candidates instantly candidates can tell you in their own words why they're interested in your job no wonder zipper cruder is the number one rated hiring site based on G2 we've used zipper cruder a bunch of times here crooked it has helped us find great applicants fast it really shrinks down the time that you the whole process takes we found and hired some great people we highly recommend it is a great experience use zipper cruder and find enthusiastic talent fast 4 out of 5 employers who posted on zipper cruder get quality candidates within the first day now you can try it for free at zipper cruder dot com slash crooked that zipper cruder dot com slash crooked meet your match on zipper cruder U.S. voters abroad have you got your ballot yet all states are now sending ballots to overseas voters so if you want to vote this year you should request your ballot right away go to vote from abroad dot org and click request my ballot as to receive it by email questions ask our support team directly don't miss this chance to shape the future don't delay vote from abroad dot org long play our docu series exploring the people and forces shaping the south is back news flash the south is the new political epicenter of the country democrats are way on their heels in this region but republicans are going through their own reckoning in the south we're in the final stretch of the midterms and the political map has only gotten more competitive with new states and districts emerging as potential flips so we thought it was time to get back out on the road and take a closer look at what's actually happening on the ground I'm Aaron Haines journalist an expert on all things southern politics and I'm Jennifer Paul Mary former White House communications director tune in on Mondays to long play series on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast we also had more news over the weekend in the main senate race where grand planner is likely to win the nomination in next week.
primary. Stories in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported that as his campaign began last year, Platner's wife Amy Gertner told the campaign staffer that Platner had exchanged sexual messages with several women, and this was after Platner and Gertner were married in late 2023, but that they had stopped before the campaign began, and Platner and Gertner had gone through therapy. The entire situation is very messy. The staffer that Platner's wife told, "Genevieve McDonald has since left the campaign," and she was the one who originally talked to the Wall Street Journal, and she's talked to the New York Times, and she's become a public critic of Platner. Platner said that at least some of what McDonald told the New York Times wasn't true, but both he and his wife Amy Gertner and the campaign have all confirmed the existence of the messages. Then Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign in April, said in an interview on Sunday that actually she's still on the ballot, and she also just posted the first tweet from her campaign account since the tweet where she suspended her campaign, and it was a happy Pride Month tweet. Well, that's a sort of, now they're here and they're there. Try, try or don't. Yeah, you can't have run for office. Come on. What are we doing here? Well, you could make the argument that you kind of have ran into the first position of the status quo. All right, what do you guys think about this latest development and how it might impact the race? I mean, I think the main risk for Platner is the cumulative impact of these stories and scandals along with the Reddit stuff, because I think main voters were, have shown to be quite willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for the past Reddit posts and accept this explanation that I was in a bad place, this happened in the past, I've grown, I've changed, and moved on. You know, I think voters are like, okay, we get that. This latest, what are we calling it, sexting scandal? Like, just stuff was very recent. We're talking like 2023. And so I think these days, sexual allegations of where it's just infidelity, infidelity adjacent, like don't tend to be campaign ending, especially when Amy Gertner said, this is a private matter. We worked through it. I love him. I have a great marriage, et cetera. But I do worry that the cumulative nature of this stuff might make voters think, one, like is this guy a guy, and two, what else do we not know about him? And so I think Platner's campaign can weather this. They will likely weather this. I would recommend less criticism of the media for covering the story. I think it's a valid story to cover. And the New York Times and Wall Street Journal ultimately got the story right. Right. And I would just say, you know, I think you have to own it. You have to own that this was shitty behavior. It was a mistake that we've moved, we've that the two of them have worked through privately. And then in a few days from now, that's when you sort of pivot to the message about getting back to issues, because that's right. That's what voters want to talk about. But there's going to be a period of time where folks talk about this, because it just broke. And I think you can't scold the press for covering a thing that was valid enough that your spouse brought it forward to your campaign staff to talk to them about. So, you know, it's fair game, obviously. Susan Collins was slinging nudes on Snapchat. Like, we'd be talking about it. You know what I'm saying? So by the fall, we might be. We, sorry. All that said, like, I do think what's got that hammer and sickle tattoo to it. Which, which Genevieve McDonald, the platformer, platformer staffer, did here is really shitty on a human level. It's unethical. If I were Amy Gurdner, I would be furious. And so, you know, that part of it's pretty gross. Yeah. Like, if a candidate just had the red story, so like, I was going through a really tough time in my life. And I posted some heinous shit. It was like, and I regret it. But I've been through a lot of therapy. It had to do with my PTSD. And I'm on the other side of it. You'd be like, okay, like people grow and they change. The tattoo, you'd say, I, this was stupid tattoo. I didn't understand what it meant at the time. I'm covered it up. Like, okay. Early in my marriage, I was in a really shitty place and I was having these, I was, I don't know, what he was doing, sexting whatever. But my wife and I have worked through it. And it's a private matter. She's with weird together because we love each other. And that's all that should really count. You'd say, okay, I feel like you add them all up together. And then there's all these insinuations that there's more coming, more coming, more coming. You see why people would be concerned. What I find, like sort of hard to wrap my mind about this is that like, why do we care about red flags, right? All these are not, what kind of centers are you going to be? Is he a good person? Does he have our values? Does he, does he have a good character at root? Or is he a, is he a flawed person who's made terrible mistakes who's trying to become a better person? Or is the insinuation that all of this adds up to evidence that he will be a bad senator who's actually not going to do the things he is claiming, he's going to do, that he's going to be a federalman, right? That he's going to disappoint us in some way, that he has like fundamental flaws. And I don't know the answer to that. What I'm amazed by is how many kind of active, hyper engaged Democrats online who would do shape how we talk about these things claim to know with such certainty about this, right? Like they know, they know, and they're so shocked that other people don't agree with them. And I look, I'm not a main voter. But, but a lot of this is, do you think he's a bad person? Do you think that he's going to lose because of these stories, which is just another way of saying you think the voters of Maine will think he's a person of bad character? I don't know, but I just, I find that it's a lot of people kind of fighting over not whether or not Graham Platner is going to do the things he says he's going to do. And it's the person he claims to be now more kind of relitigating their arguments and anger, kind of at the factions of the party that they're always in dispute with. Yeah, I was in thinking about this. I was trying to separate like my personal feelings about this with like my political analysis of what it means. And personally, it's like, you know, I think infidelity is a mistake and it shows poor judgment. I also, for me, it's like, it's not a deal breaker. If a candidate with past infidelity issues has worked through those with their spouse to their spouse's satisfaction, which is the case here, it's still not great, but it's not a deal breaker. If it's a deal breaker for other people, I don't judge that either. Like you make your own determinations. I think in terms of like the timeline when everything happened, it is very clear to me. I think it's probably clear to everyone now that Graham Platner did not think he was going to be a candidate for office up until the minute he was a candidate for office and lived his life accordingly. And probably, you know, other people say, well, I didn't make mistakes like he did. And I didn't get that kind of debt to it. Correct. Right. Like he lived his life not thinking he would ever be a candidate for public office. And then he ran for office. And then they were like, all right, what's in the past? And all the stuff's coming out, including at the time he decided to run for office, these messages, which his wife brought up to the campaign. So again, all of the accusations and all the stories about Platner have been from about behavior and things he did before he started running for office. Right. And so for me, I think, okay, the whole like I've changed and I've grown, it's not about like I was a kid and did crazy things. It was I was never going to run for office and now I'm running for office and I'm trying to be your senator. So what kind of senator are you going to be? Right. Politically, my analysis of this is you're right that like these things start stacking on top of each other. And I think that the larger issue for people becomes trust, right? Because and this is where the is more going to come out or why didn't the campaign, like, first of all, some people are like, why didn't the campaign tell us this if they knew this? I don't think campaigns are necessarily in the business of dumping all of the opposition research they do on their own. It's incredibly personal painful stuff right into the public. Like that doesn't usually happen. Absolutely not on this one. She came, hey, just so you know, this is something that happened in our past, but we're good. It's not an issue. We're together. We're happy. That is never. Of course, they don't come up. That's a private matter. Right. But I think that look, Andrew Kaczynski on the tattoo story, like who's reporting, I trust a lot in his very good reporter has the, you know, the story that maybe Platner knew what the tattoo signified sometime after he got up before he ran and the, you know, Platner's been a little sort of sketchy on just explaining that. And now this one, it was like, well, I think that she told the, you know, she lied to the times and the time story wasn't right, but it was. So there is this, what I worry about and what I think about if I was them is like, there is a trust issue now that could become a bigger trust issue. And I do think that that the campaign and Platner might think these issues don't matter. They're private or whatever. But he has to now work to build people's trust and keep people's trust between now and November. Because people, even people who like him are going to start to question, well, is, is he telling the full truth about everything? Is there more? Are they transparent? You know, like, and that to me does bear on what kind of Senator you are. So I think the most important thing for them is to like go and do the work and like earn people's trust and take all the tough questions and give all the explanations you need until people are bored, bored asking the questions. Yeah, I think you got to probably be a little more transparent on this one. I also, you know, I hear what you're saying on how you sort of think about this. I don't think most people though draw a line at when you decide it's run to office for kind of like when they judge your decision-making or the morality of this. They may I think I think if like the tattoo is a bridge too far to you, I understand that. I'm not going to tell you otherwise. I mean, what I, you know, when I talk to him about this when we sort of they showed us the video, the thing that I always stuck with me was he took a shirt off and sang that song at his, was it brother's wedding and his sister's law is Jewish. So like, you have to be a real asshole to do that and display that tattoo kind of knowing full well and being fully cognizant of what it meant at that wedding. That to me was a convincing explanation, but I've read Andrew's reporting to that maybe there's some questions about the timeline. I think that's a
fully, a totally reasonable thing to wonder about. I think the threshold question is, are there other things in this guy's past that suggest he ascribes a Nazi or fascist ideology? And that's where the Reddit archive is actually quite useful. - Yes. - Because what it shows is the exact opposite. - I know. - And that's where I think people kind of refuse to kind of engage with this broader body of factual information that we have when we want to assess what this man believes. - And I will say, this is why I personally, and people have seen me do this online, but this is why I get more frustrated with people being upset at the tattoo thing. More than if you're upset with all the old Reddit stuff, and you feel like he's apologized for that, but the apology not accepted, then that's your decision and I understand that. If you're upset about the sexting scandal, then I understand that. But the tattoo thing, the guy just posted on Reddit, again, like he was never running for office, anonymously has all these things that he said that he's now regretting, that are some are offensive, whatever else. None of them even hinted that he has a subscribe to any of this kind of idol. - So that sounds like a commie. - And everyone's like, "Now he's okay." I saw it when we, yeah, when you were about to interview Tommy, and we saw the video, I was like, "What's the problem? It's a skull and crossbones." Now everyone now can be like, "You didn't know it was a fucking bubble." - No, no. - We knew it was a tone crime. - It was a skull and crossbones, and I'm sure maybe if Andrew's story is correct, then at some point, someone said to Platner, "Hey, that's skull and crossbones you've got. Do you know that's a Nazi tattoo?" And he's probably like, "Well, I've been screened for the army twice, and they screened tattoos for this, and no one ever said anything, and I have a Jewish family, no one ever said anything." So maybe he then Googled it and was like, "Oh yeah, it is." But again, it was probably like, "Well, what do I, like, I'm gonna go cover it up." I'm not, and then he did. - Well, so clearly something changed in their thinking between when I talked to him and a couple days later. 'Cause when I talked to him, he was like, "No, I did this. This was the deal. It was a stupid tattoo. I was an infantry man. In Croatia, I was a dumb kid, whatever, and a couple days later, he got it covered up, right? So something occurred to him that, "Oh, actually, this is a real problem that I should fix." - But this is where it's like, people just sort of call him a Nazi, and it's like, and then like, you say, "Well, hold on a second." Like, no one, you don't have to listen anyone. You don't have to believe anyone. You don't have to take more information in. You don't have to have a nuanced view. You can just call somebody a Nazi if you want. The reason symbols matters is 'cause they're supposed to symbolize something, right? Like, we battle about symbols on social media 'cause that's what the medium is for. It's for taking little tokens of something and drawing a conclusion about it. It's very small space, so we do it with symbols. But the symbol has to mean something. It has to be a red flag of something. Do you think he's a Nazi? Of course you don't. Of course you don't. You think maybe he's a stupid tattoo, maybe they're getting care enough about it being a Nazi tattoo. That's a fair argument. Maybe he was pointed out and taken seriously enough. That's okay. All of it's like, just, but like, we just have an honest conversation about it, rather than like, it's a no for me because of the tattoo. It's like, okay, you're free to do that. We're just gonna have the rest of the conversation even if you don't wanna have it. Also, the other thing, and I think ultimately here, this is up to the people of Maine, and this is up to the voters of Maine. And if this whole time, he was going down and down and down and down in the polls and people were not buying this, I don't know, like, okay then, but then he shouldn't be the nominee. Or the end of the day, even Mill stayed in the race because she wanted to fight it out. Well, so even Mill's now saying, like, I'm technically still in the race, whatever. Like, that's fine. If she wants to campaign for the last week, and if she's on the ballot, we're gonna be talking about this race on June 9th, if the people of Maine now decide that they want Janet Mills instead of Graham Platner, because of this last scandal and everything else, then they should do that. And then the national party should get behind Janet Mills and will be off to November. Probably what she quit. Right, because she saw the writing on the wall because she didn't wanna go down in her last race, which is fine. But if Platner gets a ton of votes in the primary and still does really well, then that's what the people of Maine wanted. And they met him. And it wasn't just online discourse like they met him. So we gotta kinda take the lead of the people in Maine. Yeah, so there's a lot of like a, I know we're all used to losing and being fucking losers and we call it a loser mentality. And like a loser mentality is like, this is bad, we have to do something else. I'm scared, I don't like this. This is bad, I'm dumb with this. We can't do this, we have to do something else. And it's like, guys, if there was someone else running, you could have a debate and maybe vote for somebody else. He's right now the only person that's gonna put him up a fight for this race. If you wanna say that Jonathan Mills should get back in, if you wanna say that he should drop out, whatever, say what you want, but really what you're saying is, I'm worried he's going to lose. Well, people are also comparing it to like that. Well, people push Biden out when they thought that Biden did sit there and been like, but that was the opposite. Because in that scenario, the whole country didn't want Biden. And Biden and his campaign were saying, yes, yes, you will get him no matter what. That was, this is a flip thing where the voters of Maine were like, no, we like him and then other people were worried about it. It's just a different. The Biden thing is so. It could come to that when people change their minds. When nobody was challenging Biden and Biden was the nominee and it still seemed like there was a chance he could win. That was actually when we were talk about how we were concerned, he wasn't addressing his age issues, but he's gonna be the person. So we've got to do everything we can to help him win because he's the only person that we're gonna have. Then he eats shit in that debate. Jill Biden thought he was having a stroke. Didn't tell us at the time, okay, babe. But then it was now clear that he could not win. And so it was time to do something in an emergency because it was pragmatic. It was crazy. It was, it was risky, but it was actually pragmatic because it was the only hope of winning the election. Nobody can make that argument right now based on the polls around Grand Planner. They just can't. - Yeah. All right, so that's that. I'm sure we won't talk about that anymore between now and November. One more thing we couldn't resist over the weekend the New York Times published a brutal and hilarious report titled, "Is JD Vance the 2028 Front Runner? Trump has questions." According to the Times, Trump is, quote, not so sure about Vance. Trump has pointed out that Vance's political success has largely depended on Trump's support that Vance takes too many vacations, that Vance opposed the war in Iran, and that Vance, frankly, sometimes doesn't look or act very presidential. We, of course, didn't want to be unfair to JD. So we thought we'd check the tape of some of the moments in question. Let's play. - JD, blood's into conversations. What's that? I wanna have, I wanna have that for at least a couple of days, okay, Jayden? (audience cheering) - Okay, my wife has the right to skydive, but doesn't jump out of an airplane because she and I have an agreement that she's not gonna do that, 'cause I don't know why I'm jumping out of an airplane. - Well, they say it's racist to do anything. I had a dive mountain do yet. And once a day, I'm sure they're gonna call that racist too, but what is, this, what is, Zach, you're gonna have to help me out with their name here. I lost my page here. Okay, all right. - You can't move me on the vice-president of the United States. - It's couch-bucker. You're gonna be on the couch, funny, funny, funny. That's JD, man, so funny. (audience cheering) - Oh, it's just again, great, oh my God, that's so funny. - What did you guys think of the story? - I love the story so much. JD Vance is just the gimp from Pulp Fiction and Trump wheels him out. That little box humiliates him, puts him back in. The details are so funny, like the man who spends one-third of his time at Mar-a-Lago, thinks JD Vance takes too many vacations. Delicious. I love that Trump thought the trophy incident that we just watched there twice wasn't as embarrassing as we all did, and that it just like exposed JD's, it's like a phony, non-sports fan loser. I love the Susie Wiles, took away JD's phone privileges and made him stop texting or tweeting. Like you some, you know, like her teenage son got in trouble. That clip of Trump scolding JD for talking in meetings and not acting like some like CCP commissar is beautiful. Like they set him up, they went through his failure tour. It was the Iran talks, the Victor Orban campaign stop. - Indiana. - Indiana Republicans trying to job on them into redistricting, failure, failure, failure. He killed Pope Francis, people forget about that, but JD Vance was so annoying to Pope Francis. - Got us in America, I had hoped that. - Yeah, he did get us a better pope. - Which who he then, now he attacks him. - Yeah, don't be careful. - Shop in dribbles, yeah, I don't know. - Ultimately, like this is a win win for Trump, right? Because whoever comes next to his JD or Rubio, whoever if they win, Trump will say that's 'cause of me. If they lose, he'll say, can't win without Trump, right? So he's pumped no matter what, but it is so fun watching him just, just fuck with these guys. - One other thing that jumped out to is, the article just states it as a fact that I didn't real, it wouldn't have occurred to me as a fact that Trump is just spending more time with Rubio than he is with JD Vance, 'cause Rubio was, of course, not just Secretary of State, he's national security advisor. And JD Vance can't ride on the plane with Trump because he's vice president, vice president can't go on air force one with the president, it just doesn't happen. And so he's a little bit outside of things. I will say that the, like, the-- - JD Vance's whole life just having FOMO. - Yeah, the Vance, probably has more power in the Trump administration than Kamala Harris did in the Biden administration. I would say, he has more actively involved. He is in the room for big decisions. I think-- - They've given him almost as annoying jobs though. - For sure, for sure, but I think they actually listen when he says stuff. - I don't know how to run. - That's true. - Well, yeah, fair enough. But I mean, even if he, though, by the end Vance was saying he was in favor of doing, if we're going to do-- - It's like Go Big, go Bigger, go home. So even he tried to stay on the right side of that. But anyway, I think like what Trump sees is what we see. Is it like Vance can't help but reveal his nature. He can't help it, he can't help it, he can't go into a donut shop and be normal. He doesn't know how to talk to people because he's putting on a show, but they're like that like ambitious little nerd that kind of like that thing inside of him. It just can't stop from coming out and it makes everyone including Trump uncomfortable. And I love it. - I just want to zoom in again on the social media part with my Twitter pen pal, JD Vance. This is what the time says. In meetings, Mr Van
and it's frequently scrolls his phone and he uses social media to fight with his critics. The president frequently posts a truth social, but he does not spend time replying to people online as Mr. Vance does. I just love that they have separated out the kind of poster, like reply guy. (laughing) Trump's out there and he's posting like 30 times a night in the middle of the night. Yeah, he's a producer really, he's putting it up. And Mr. Vance is there just replying to people online. - How damn you sir. - Suzy Wiles and the other staff have all gotten together to tell him to have an intervention and say that the fighting was beneath his office. - The idea that anyone in that fucking building is gonna tell anyone what's beneath the office. - All right, and yet they do, I know that I believe it. - I know, I absolutely believe it, but they made him say it was for Lent. - Yeah, I know, I know, and he's like, I liked it so much, I just kept it off my phone. - Giving up for Lent, I love that. I love that. - Keep it up. - I took it off my phone finally. - You did? - This weekend. - I'm proud of you. - It was the plan, it was the partner stuff that did it. I was like, yeah, that discourse is real. - I saw it, I saw it, starting blowing up, it's like, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna save my thoughts for Monday. - I was like, I can't have a grand partner thing and then two fights going on. Dave Portnoy tweets at me, and then Nero, with like five tweets, I was like, I'm done. - Yeah, you need me to, it's like the quadrennial, the quadrennial, quadrennial, quadrennial tweet review, where like, you can't be fight, you have to be able to hold one front and also win on another front at the same time. - Is that how you said this more? I was like, the JD Vance thing? Yeah, I'll fight with JD Vance, I'm like, no, this is what I did this week, I was not good. - Okay, not good. - Yeah, it's not fun. - Nice to admit that. - When we come back, New Jersey Senator Andy Kim will talk to me about the conditions at an ICE detention center in Newark, where he was also pepper sprayed by federal agents. (upbeat music) Podsave America is brought to by Quince at the temperatures heat up during summer. You want pieces that feel lighter and more breathable, things that are easy, but still put together. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high quality essentials that feel and look amazing, well made basics, but without the luxury markup, it's that rare balance where everything feels elevated, but still effortless. Quince European linen pants and shirts are the perfect warm weather upgrade to add to your rotation, starting at just $34. Their teas are soft and easy to wear and their lightweight cotton sweaters are perfect for cooler summer nights. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middleman, so you're paying for quality, not brand markup. Quince goes way beyond clothing, custom upholstered sofas, ceramic cookware, premium bedding. It's the kind of brand you end up recommending to everyone for everything. I just got one of the lightweight cotton sweaters. - Nice. - Yeah, 'cause it's good for, you know, it gets a little chillier and light and L.A. even with the warm in the day, and so the lightweight sweat is perfect. - Elevate your summer wardrobe, go to quince.com/cricket for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too, that's q-u-i-n-c-e.com/cricket for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com/cricket. - U.S. voters abroad. Questions? Don't delay, votefromabroad.org. - Longplay, our docuseries exploring the people and forces shaping the South is back. Newsflash, the South is the new political epicenter of the country. Democrats are way on their heels in this region, but Republicans are going through their own reckoning in the South too. We're in the final stretch of the midterms and the political map has only gotten more competitive with new states and districts emerging as potential flips. So we thought it was time to get back out on the road and take a closer look at what's actually happening on the ground. - I'm Erin Haynes, journalist and expert on all things Southern politics. And I'm Jennifer Paul Mary, former White House communications director. - Tune in on Mondays to Longplay Series on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music) - Senator Andy Kim, welcome back to Potsay America. - Yeah, thanks for having me back. - So for anyone who hasn't been following the story, there's a privately run ice detention center in Newark called Delaney Hall. Around 300 people are being held inside. Some have started a hunger strike over the conditions. You tried to visit last Sunday. We're turned away, got in on Monday, Memorial Day, and then by the end of the day, you got pepper sprayed by federal agents. Can you just walk us through that whole experience and what you saw? - Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks for shining our light on this because this is a problem not just for us in New Jersey, but all over this country. This is a facility that has about 800 right now and several hundred of them participating in a hunger strike and the broader protest. But I was been able to go there a couple of times and look, some of the things that I've heard most recently, these are people that are, for instance, a man telling me that he's got stage three lung cancer. Doesn't want to be with him anymore, willing to go back to his home country, but not being allowed to do so, not getting the medical care that he needs. There's a pregnant woman there telling me that she's not getting the medical care that she needs as she's gearing up to have a baby and she's literally looking me in the eye and she's saying, like, do I need to be prepared to have a baby here in Delaney Hall? You know, she has no movement on her case, no understanding what's happened next on the court. You know, the woman that was translating this for me, turned out to be an 18-year-old high school senior who's in there by herself. I actually talked to her mom outside of Delaney Hall and she's worried sick, you can imagine, you know, having your daughter an 18-year-old high school senior in a detention facility by herself. You know, this is a young woman who was telling me, all she wanted to do is go to the prom and graduate from high school this year. And so, like, when Trump's telling you, these are the worst of the worst, telling you that he's going after the violent criminals. You know, I wanted the people across this country to just hear what I'm hearing inside the facility. And sure, they're complaining and raising the concerns about the medical care or the lack of medical care about the, you know, the horrible problems when they're having with food, like one man ran up to me with a milk carton and showed me what was inside and it was just congealed solid on the inside. I'm just disgusting. And, you know, they're raising concerns about the extreme heat that they're feeling. And I felt the too, as I'm sweating there in their room. And it wasn't even a particularly hot day. But what they were also flagging is just like the lack of any movement on their cases. I mean, some of them in there for eight months, some of them in there for over a year, not having any movement forward in any credible way. You know, one man ran to the hallway and grabbed a piece of paper off the bulletin board and, you know, showed it to me. And it showed me that, like, on one day, you know, when the courts came back in the session after the Memorial Day weekend, on one day, on that Tuesday, this one judge had 74 cases before her in, you know, in just one day. And, like, you know, I did the back of the napkin mat. That's like about five minutes per case. I mean, it's a farce of a legal process that's just, you know, keeping them there while, you know, while these conditions are terrible, not moving anything forward and who's paying the bill. It's us. It's the taxpayer dollars that are paying, you know, a Geo group, you know, millions and millions of dollars to run these facilities. So that's, you know, that's, that's at least what I saw inside. - First of all, that is just horrific. And it seems like the delay in hearing these cases is both a function of how many people they are detaining, clearly not the worst of the worst, but a whole bunch of other immigrants, some of whom I imagine could be here legally, as well as just the sort of failure to properly resource the immigration courts with enough judges and to properly resource these facilities. Is that what you took away from it as well? - Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like, look, you know, some of this is absolutely just a lack of investment. I mean, like we're, like, as they're surging up ICE and CBP through the reconciliation bill. And I'm, you know, down here at the Capitol now because they're about to try to push another, you know, $60, $70 billion towards the enforcement side, but where's the energy towards, towards the courts? You know, we already had millions of cases of backlog that was gonna take a decade or so just to be able to get through. Like we all know that we need to invest in the courts that we can have a judicial process that can hopefully take on these cases in a matter of days and weeks rather than years or even longer. And that should, you know, that backlog is what is putting so much strain on our system and it's costing us so much. So that's part of it. But like, look, you can't help but think through. I mean, like this is Geo Group, you know, for those that don't, it may not be following this. Geo Group's a for-profit company that runs this facility, runs 19 other facility, about 20 facilities around this country in charge of detaining over 20,000 people for ICE. You know, this is a group that, you know, it's just making money off of this. Like they're just printing money off of this all. You know, they're getting paid by the bed by the day, you know, so they're not certainly complaining about this process. And like when you, you can't help but think like, look, when Tom Holman comes from Geo Group into the White House, they run this process. When they just showed, actually today is the first day of the new head of ICE that they just picked. And again, straight from Geo Group, you know, like you can't help but think like this revolving door,
of just profiting off of this human misery, you can't help but think like this is the point that they are trying to make things so bad for the detainees there, that detainees just give up and sign whatever papers that they want or whatnot. And I felt it there, like there was just so little accountability. Like, yes, you said, I tried to get into the facility on Monday, early in the day, I tried to get him. I actually even let them know ahead of time and got a truffle to be able to go into the facility that day. I show up the gates and the geo-group guards are just like, nope, like you're not allowed in. And you're like, I'm a US Senator and I've had authorization to do this. I'm authorization by law as well as the permission to come. I literally had to call Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen. I talked to him and told him, like, let me inside. Like, I have a right to be inside. And so finally, they let me inside and I go inside and I talked to the head of geo-group in the facility. And I told him, by the way, your guards just told me that I can't come inside. And he just looked at me and he said, you're a liar. He just literally, to my face, called me a liar. I mean, like, I give you that not because it was insulting to me, but I give you that because I want you to understand like the kinds of dynamics that there are. Like, that situation was very indicative to me of just a lack of care about any accountability or transparency. Like, they don't feel, geo-group doesn't feel beholden to the American people. Certainly doesn't feel beholden to conquer us. And that is, you know, that is because of just this dynamic between ICE and groups like geo-group and Corsific and these other companies, like, they're just in a world and they're the league of their own. They're just like operating off on their own. And because, you know, Speaker Johnson and others are just giving them that kind of carbon watch. So they were just in some, you know, in some world of their own and feel nothing, you know? And so when I, and then when I came out from that facility and was alerted by my team and the people on the ground that there was now like a standoff of people outside. So not only is there chaos inside the lane, y'all, but now I come out and emerge outside and see that there's a standoff between ICE agents. You know, they have a row of ICE agents that are armed. They have an armored vehicle. They, and they're, you know, just in a standoff with the protesters there. I mean, look, you know, like, my immediate concern was like, this cannot become Minnesota. We saw what happened to Renee Good and Alex Pretty. I was terrified that, you know, we're gonna see that type of violence and potentially bloodshed in the streets. So I was trying to figure out like, is there any way to be able to off-ramp this? Is there any way we can be able to lower the temperature? And I was talking to the head of ICE outside there. And the simply, he just told me, look, we're gonna just drive these vehicles, our vehicles out. And I looked across the field there and I said, like, you cannot just simply plow your vehicles through a crowd of civilians. Like, you have to try to figure out, you know, how we can try to do this without the violence. And look, I was trying to see if there's any arrangement, but like, again, like, it shouldn't be just on me. Like, when it comes to de-escalation, like, what role are there officers supposed to play? Like, and that's what I think was so alarming, John, is like, there was just like, at some point, just a feeling of inevitable violence. And it was just so jarring to me. Like, the ease with which ICE just went out and drove their vehicles literally through a crowd, just not even like, not even putting effort to try to avoid that circumstance. It shouldn't be that easy to have violence in the streets of America. Like, it shouldn't be that easy for federal agents that are supposed to swear the same oath that I swear about protecting and defending the Constitution and supporting the American people to find themselves in a circumstance. So it just, you know, I saw this unfold. And immediately, you know, my instinct was to run into it and try to put myself between the ICE agents and the crowd. I was trying to keep that physical separation because that is where we saw so much of the violence escalate in Minnesota. If I could at least keep them physically separated, you know, perhaps we could avoid the worse. But it was, it was, it was so jarring. It was, it was really scary just to see that type of violence in my state, frankly, anywhere in the country. And to know that, you know, this is still, could very well be, you know, a problem that we see continue in my state and elsewhere. And so because you put your body in between the protesters and the ICE agents, the federal agents, eventually, they started shooting pepper balls. I believe that there was one that struck by your feet. And, and, you know, you inhaled it as well. Secretary Mullen and DHS are saying just a number of things that don't seem to be true and certainly are not your account that there is no hunger strike that the complaints are about certain inmates not getting or certain people that are being held by the facility, not getting their ethnic food of choice, that the conditions aren't bad, that nobody was, was directly struck by pepper balls, which about you. What do you make of just the, the, what, what they're saying about all of this? Well, well, first of all, just again, like I saw what I saw, like I talked to the people that there is a hunger strike going on inside and a larger protest. And there are certainly people that are not getting basic care, you know, like, like, again, they're not, they're not asking for, for the moon. They're, they're, they're asking for just a certain baseline of human dignity as, as we're going, especially as we're, again, keeping them there for indefinite amounts of time. I mean, there was, I was in the medical isolation area and there was a man there in the wheelchair. He hadn't left that room in four months because like that facility is just not meant to handle someone with a wheelchair. So they're like, you're stuck in this room now, like, you know, and like, not able to go, did to go and, and leave. He was like, can I at least be at a hospital? And frankly, look, there was actually someone who was sent to a hospital, a woman that was sent to a hospital for quite, for not quite a number of days, by the time I got there, it was like day 12 or 14. The family didn't even know where this woman was. They, because ICE wouldn't tell her what hospital that she was at because of security concerns. So you can't tell them where you're hospital, which hospital you're at. They can tell them the nature of the, you know, the severity of the problem that she had to be at a hospital. I mean, she was there for like 12 to 14 days. That's a, that's a significant amount of time in the hospital. And the family has no idea they can't visit them. And so I asked like, what can the family do to learn about this? And literally like it breaks my brain thinking about this. Like ICE looked me in the eye and said, oh, the family can foyer this information. I mean, just like thinking to myself, like, what? Like their family member could be in some life threatening situation at a hospital. And you want them to foyer this information about their loved one? Like, that's like the, just the craziness of it. So like when, you know, when, when Secretary Maul and her others say this, you know, they're just in like, damage control mode. They saw what happened in Minnesota when the American people actually saw what was happening. And, and the American people, they're smart about this. They understand that there are just lines that should not be crossed. Yeah. And whether that's for American citizens or anybody in this country. And frankly, look, a lot of the people I met with at Delaney Hall, they are married to American citizens and parents of kids that are American citizens. You know, that, that's what I think they're afraid of. They're afraid that the American people will understand and learn the truth about what is happening. In our name, without our money, but without our say and without our approval. And that's just, you know, that's just wrong. And that's what needs to be changed here. You know, we have the capacity to do so. It's just a matter of political will that since administration refuses to put towards this. I know that Governor Cheryl sent in state police to help set up protest zones and sort of ask demonstrators to lower the temperature. Some of the activists outside Delaney heard that is her policing them instead of the feds. Where do you come down on some of the tension between trying to conduct oversight, give people a safe space to protest while also trying to maintain safety in, you know, the general area? Yeah. I mean, first of all, look, I mean, this is chaos that is inherited from ICE, that they have been foaming. And then look, they've been threatening to bring many, many more ICE agents to New Jersey, you know, basically threatening, you know, a surge similar to Minnesota. So I understand, look, I, you know, we're going to try to avoid that scenario. But look, I, you know, there are legitimate concerns at Delaney Hall. And as a result, there are legitimate, you know, legitimate reasons to be able to protest that. And I want to make sure that we are trying to address that. Like we are allowing that kind of space. - I get it, like, you know,
we can't have this unrest continue on. In fact, I'm hearing it from the families of the detainees saying that it's been preventing them from being able to visit their loved ones, that attorneys are not able to get access because some of the roads have been shut down and other things. So, like, look, we want to make sure we're not getting in the way and losing side of what we're really trying to address, which is the detainees and their conditions. But, like, there's got to be a way that we can do this while we are also making sure that, you know, people have the rights afforded to them in the Constitution, especially for free speech. So, like, I'm trying to work on this, trying to address this. I talked with not only the governor's team, but also, you know, Mayor Baraka from Newark to try to think through, like, what other steps, what other ways can we do this that isn't going to just further inflame, you know, what is already this horrible situation that ICE has, you know, thrown our state into. But, you know, it is difficult, but I'm trying my best to be able to push forward in a way that is going to make sure that, again, we're keeping the needs and the plight of the detainees front and center here. As you mentioned, you know, one opportunity to sort of make some change here is, you know, the Senate schedule to consider this $72 billion budget bill funding for ICE that would fund ICE through the end of Trump's term. Obviously, it doesn't seem like Democrats have the votes to stop it in the Senate because it would only require 51 votes, but are you and/or other Democrats planning to offer any amendments that you think might actually be able to pass with some Republican support that might rein in some of the abuses we're talking about, or, or, you know, make any kind of corrections to some of the things that you saw. Well, look, here's what I lay out for you. I mean, there are a whole slew of problems that are facing Delaney. And I want people to know, like, it's not that Delaney is not some bad apple that is just, you know, we just have to address that. This is a system-wide family. Yeah. And, and, and problem. As I said, you know, Geo groups got 19 other facilities, you know, Corsific and other, I mean, like, and, and now, you know, ICE is trying to build these warehouse detention facilities. And hopefully we can push back and stop this. But there's a broader problem, systemic, not just in the culture, but just in the broader process. And, and that's what I'm trying to expose. You know, and so there's three things in particular I'm trying to push towards, both through the legislation as through other means. You know, like, first, like, let's get, let's surge some medical support to Delaney and these other facilities. Like, like, they're clearly people who are not getting the care that they need. And, and Secretary Mollink can can dispute that. But, again, it's not what I'm hearing. It's not what I'm seeing. And, and I just don't see why anyone's going to stand away and say, like, look, let's just try to see. I mean, the DHS has a, a medical unit, you know, we can be able to surge up there in that kind of capacity right away. Like, right now, they have one doctor for one full-time doctor for about 800 detainees, you know, that many of them have significant medical concerns. So, like, that's what I'm trying to do initially. Like, let's surge up there. Let's have, you know, number two, like, let's have like a real investigation into these different claims that are about there, whether it's about the food or the other conditions. And number three, the detainees were very clear with me that it's not just about the conditions. It's just, it's about having that movement forward on their cases. So, I'm trying to, again, take what I'm hearing and figure out how to put it in action. You know, I've been talking to Secretary Mullin this week, telling him what I'm hearing on the ground, trying to see what we can move forward because they can do this on their own if they want to do right now. You know, they could demand, you know, additional doctors, they could demand, you know, efforts to be able to surge this. And that's what I hope people understand. Like, Jail Group got a nearly billion-dollar contract for Delaney Hall. So, they could hire more doctors tomorrow today. But that's going to be less profit for them, right? Like, they could, they could have better quality food or fix the extreme heat that I'm hearing. But then again, that's cutting into their profits, right? So, we can change that. So, I have been and will continue to be pushing for amendments along these lines of just saying, like, let's have a baseline of medical resources available. I hope we can all agree that regardless of the circumstances that someone's in there, like, we want to make sure that they're getting some semblance of medical care for key needs. You know, I'm trying to push forward on something that is about de-escalation trade. I literally submitted that amendment before I even went back to Delaney Hall about how we can ensure that there's de-escalation trading for ICE and CBP after what we saw in Minnesota. And every single Republican on the Homeland Security Committee voted against my amendment. You know, and then I went back to Delaney and saw and experienced what I did. So, I'm pushing forward. But again, like, this is something where we really need the American people to kind of come behind us on this. You know, the only times we've seen this administration back down or pull back has been when there is a wide public outrage. You know, we saw that with Minnesota. No, we see that. Actually, just today, it looks like we're seeing it when the Trump administration seems to be backing off that $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6th riders. I hope that's true, that they're backing off of that. But like, you know, that's what we really need is for us to say, you know, this cannot be what is happening in our country and to be able to try to stop it. And I know, you know, reconciliation and vote aromas in the Senate. This is not like must-watch TV. Like, this is not something that's going to necessarily like, you know, have people tuning in at whatever got out, got awful hour in the middle of the night that, you know, the Republicans force us to vote on these. But like, I asked people, please, like, like, for my stay for our country, like, please tune in to what is happening because what they're trying to do is give upwards of $70 billion more for ICE and CBP. Not only is there no reforms and accountability in there, like what Americans have been demanding since Minnesota. But there's not a dollar in there for you to help you with your health care. There's not a dollar in there for you to help you with your groceries or for the rising gas prices. There's nothing in it for you. It's just more money that's going straight into geogrups pockets to just continue this lawlessness that we see. This cannot stand. And this is something that we have to do everything we can to let people know and try to push back against this in Congress. Senator, I know you have to run because you're working on this issue, but I just wanted to say thank you for joining us and thank you for everything you're doing to highlight this issue and including literally putting your your body in the way at Delaney. So please, please let us know how we can help and and thank you again. Yeah, thanks so much for shining a light on this. It's so important. Thanks to Andy Kim for coming on. Alex Wagner now 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 Cohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt DeGroat, Ben Heffco, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, Carol Pellevive, David Tolls, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Sengel. Our staff is proudly unionized with the writer's guild of America East. Longplay, our docu-series exploring the people and forces shaping the South is back. We're in the final stretch of the midterms, and the political map has only gotten more competitive with new states and districts emerging as potential flips. I'm Aaron Haynes, journalist and expert on all things Southern politics, and I'm Jennifer Paul Mary, former White House communications director. Tune in on Mondays to Longplay Series on YouTube for wherever you get your podcast.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
SimplySafe offers a no-contract, app-guided home security system with easy installation and 24/7 professional monitoring.
The system includes indoor and outdoor cameras, sensors, and is customizable to fit individual home needs.
Over 5 million Americans trust SimplySafe, with a special offer of 50% off and a free first month when signing up for monitoring.
A major political story involves Trump abandoning his $1.8 billion "insurrectionist slush fund" after federal court rulings and internal pressure.
Trump is also shown disengaging from foreign policy, dismissing Iran negotiations and expressing little interest in diplomatic outcomes.
In California and Iowa, key primaries highlight deep voter frustration with entrenched Democratic governance, fueling insurgent candidates and anti-incumbent sentiment.
The LA mayoral race features strong competition between Nithya Rahman, Karen Bass, and reality TV hopeful Spencer Pratt, reflecting broader public anger over mismanagement.
Voter outreach to overseas Americans is emphasized, with a call to request ballots immediately through votefromabroad.org.
Summary:
SimplySafe presents a user-friendly, no-contract home security solution with app control, quick setup, and comprehensive monitoring, offering 50% off and a free first month to new customers. 8 billion slush fund amid court rulings and Republican backlash, while expressing indifference to Iran negotiations and foreign policy. In key state primaries, Iowa and California reflect growing voter frustration with traditional Democratic leadership, energizing insurgent candidates like Josh Turck, Tom Steyer, and Nithya Rahman, while reality TV figure Spencer Pratt taps into public discontent over governance failures.
The LA mayoral race exemplifies this anti-incumbent sentiment, with candidates vying to address housing, fire response, and communication failures. org, highlighting the importance of civic participation. These stories collectively underscore a political moment where public distrust in institutions and a demand for accountability are driving electoral change.
FAQs
SimplySafe is a home security system that offers indoor and outdoor cameras, sensors, and 24/7 professional monitoring. It can be set up with an app-guided process, requires no drilling, and takes under an hour to install and arm.
No, SimplySafe offers no long-term contracts or hidden cancellation fees. Customers are not trapped in agreements, and the company focuses on providing safety without financial traps.
New customers can get 50% off a system and have their first month of professional monitoring free when they sign up through SimplySafe.com/Cricket.
Yes, SimplySafe allows users to customize their security system based on their specific needs, such as adding cameras, sensors, or adjusting monitoring settings.
SimplySafe’s system is designed to be installed without drilling. It uses wireless technology and app-guided setup, allowing users to install and arm their system in under an hour.
Overseas U.S. voters should visit votefromabroad.org and click 'Request My Ballot' to receive their ballot by email. All states are currently sending ballots to overseas voters.
Chat with AI
Loading...
Pro features
Go deeper with this episode
Unlock creator-grade tools that turn any transcript into show notes and subtitle files.
PodcastTranscript AI