Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - Krystal and Saagar REACT To Liz Cheney Defeat

Episode Date: August 17, 2022

Krystal and Saagar react to Liz Cheney's overwhelming defeat in the Wyoming GOP primary and the possibility she runs in 2024To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/To listen to Breaking Points as a podcast, check them out on Apple and SpotifyApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-points-with-krystal-and-saagar/id1570045623 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Kbsy61zJSzPxNZZ3PKbXl Merch: https://breaking-points.myshopify.com/Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0E005CD6DBFF6D47  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. seen the news lately. So 95% of the precincts are in. And what do we have? Can't say throw it up here on the screen because we've got no elements. 66% of the vote for Harriet. Is it Hageman? I don't actually know. Anyway, 66% of the vote for Harriet Hageman. She got 113,000 votes. Liz Cheney received 49,000 votes clocking in and a rocking 28.9 percent of the vote furthermore uh cheney did not win a single county in the state of wyoming except for teton county which apparently is where all the rich uh millionaires and billionaires live and albany county of which she only won by three percentage points so there you go. Two counties out of the entire state. I think those are both counties that Biden won in Wyoming, right? So remember at the end of

her campaign, her like last ditch strategy was to try to get Democrats to re-register as Republicans so that they could vote in the primary. And I think some of them did. I mean, obviously it was not even close to enough, but turnout was way up. And she did really well in these, you know, lone blue counties in the state was the only place where she performed. So it does look like there were a lot of Democrats who crossed over and voted for her. But ultimately, it's Wyoming. That strategy was not going to not going to work out. And I mean, it was clear for a while that this was the outcome that was going to happen. It's just a question of how bad of a landslide it was going to be. And it looks like it was pretty bad. Her final ad, you know, she had that viral ad with her dad who was like, you know, going saying Trump is a coward. And then her final closing ad was also all about Trump, all about democracy, all about

January 6th. So it was clear she was positioning herself for what comes next and was not in doubt herself about what this outcome was going to be. Yeah, it's funny. I have to read this, which is that, you know, standing. So whenever she cast her vote, I have it up here in front of me. She spoke with CBS News and standing alongside Dick Cheney, she called today's election win win or lose, the beginning of a battle for the future of democracy. And you just can't help but look at it when she's standing right next to Dick Cheney and not see the irony. I mean, as you and I have said, you're like, look, yes, it's great that she was like, Trump, you're a liar.

But that does not absolve the sins of the Cheney family that have wrought upon the United States of America. And I feel like the media is just completely unable to handle this. There are some progressive left commentators that I have seen at least just be like, hey, no, like actually the Cheneys are bad. But, I mean, you'll remember that MSNBC clip. I think we – did we play it earlier this week or maybe in last week's show where – I forget. The guy on the Today Show was like, is it me or do progressive love Dick Cheney now? I was like, oh, God, no. What is – not everything has to be about this, people.

Yes, yeah. I mean, it exposes a bit of a divide on the everybody left of center. There's the people who still have three brain cells to rub together that remember that she is actually opposed to everything that you stand for um and just did this one thing that was correct and good and noble but does not absolve her or her dad of all of their sins and his war crimes and her covering for his war crimes and all of that um not to mention the idea that the cheneys are committed to democracy i think a lot of people in the Middle East might have something to say about that and their approach to it. I think a lot of people here might have something to say about that and their approach to it. Let's not forget that he had no qualms about working with George W. Bush to steal that election back in 2000.

They just were much more competent at it at the time. But, yeah, I actually retweeted this from Kasim Rashid, who's a progressive activist who ran for Congress actually in the district that I live in. He said, FYI, Liz Cheney opposed the Voting Rights Act and the minimum wage increase, the Quality Act, the Equal Rights Amendment, the George Floyd Act, Build Back Better, the infrastructure bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, the $35 insulin bill, Women's Health Protection Act, anti-gas price gouging bill, and by the way, voted with Trump Women's Health Protection Act, anti-gas price gouging bill, and by the way, voted with Trump 93% of the time, which I think that final point

is a really important one because it cuts both ways. Like this lady, if you're a Republican and you claim to stand for conservative positions, she's been there with you. It's just on the one issue that now defines all of our politics in a terrible way. Where do you stand on the question of Donald Trump that both sort of resistance liberals and the Republican base have completely lost their minds? Yeah, this is my entire monologue tomorrow, which is a teaser. I have said it before on the show. You're either with Trump or you're not. It's actually very simple. You know, people will point to Brian Kemp. And actually, while I was writing the monologue, I didn't even come across as Crystal.

But Kemp was like, I absolutely commit to backing Trump in 2024. Even the guy who was supposedly oppositional is like, no, I bow before you. Same thing. Same deal. I mean, here he is in Virginia, a state that is a suburban state at this point, dominated by the northern Virginia suburbs, was able to win for governor by trying to like, you know, kind of walk this tightrope line. But I think it's also important to note with Youngkin, who gets held up as sort of like a third way path for Republicans. The only reason he was able to get the nomination is because the elites, the Republican Party elites, basically made it so that there wasn't a real primary and handed him a nomination. If he had actually had to duke it out, grassroots primary, not only the things that he would have had to say to try to win that, but he probably would not have been able to

get far enough, you know, right in terms of fealty to Trump to be able to get through a Republican primary. So he's not a good model here either. You know, and I mean, I am a person who is going to continue to fight to make it that Trump is not the sole dividing line in politics, because I think it's I think it's the I don't have a problem with divisive politics, but it's the wrong dividing line. Yes, that's right. And it makes all of our it's the thing that I object to most about Trump, honestly, is the way that he turns all of our politics all the way around into just being about how you feel about this one terrible person. The other thing that was, of course, very eye catching in the wake of Liz Cheney's defeat is she went out and gave a speech and basically was like, yeah, I'm I run for president in 2024. So what do you all think? Let me read the quote. Quote, Abraham Lincoln was defeated in elections for the Senate and House before he won the most important election of all.

Just like Lincoln. That's what I think of when I think of Liz Cheney. uh however lincoln may we forget in his famous lincoln douglas debates actually became a national icon and pamphlets were circa so we're circulated all across the nation also we had a very different public at the time not to mention the quote-unquote republican party secessionist out anyway so like i don't have to get too much into the weeds of why exactly it's not a one-to-one situation. But you pointed this out. I mean, Reid Hoffman, the billionaire, his chief money man came out and said – His donor advisor. Sorry. Donor advisor.

I'll just say – The term of art, donor advisor. Donor advisor. His donor advisor came out and said they would commit up to, what was it, $20 dollars at a minimum for a chain GOP campaign. He said that he knew other billionaires who would feel similarly inclined. And I mean, I guess that's the question. It's not really clear to me. Would she want to run in the Republican primary?

I think she would have to. Would she run for the forward party? Would she run as an independent? Like what would what would be the lane? Because, I mean, it's stupid that she has the best support, the highest support among Democrats. But that is, in fact, where our highest support is at this point. Right. But apparently so in that donor advisor or whatever he said, he said specifically in a GOP primary in order to, quote, siphon off votes from Trump. Now, I don't think that she's going to siphon off any votes from Trump in a national primary.

This is where it just borders on absolute delusion. Like, frankly, if anything, let's say if your desire is to, quote, unquote, unseat Trump. I don't think that's possible, but let's say it is possible. Well, then what you would want to do is coalesce around a single candidate who would have some credibility, both with the MAGA base and some so-called disaffected Republicans, probably Ron DeSantis. Although, again, I do not think I think he thinks well, even in a head to head primary, I think he would lose. But you're going to run Cheney. She would just siphon off votes from whomever this so-called third way

candidate for the GOP is. So it would probably only repeat the 2016 primary and be counterproductive to handing Trump the nomination, if that is your so-called goal. And this isn't all just about grandstanding. So let me say that the problem with running anyone against Trump, Cheney, DeSantis, Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, whoever else has been flirting with it, is that he has made the whole Republican Party about himself. So it doesn't matter if at one point you had some credibility with the MAGA base. The minute you're like, I'm going up against Trump, I'm trying to defeat Trump, you're dead to them. So I mean, that's the problem with it. That's the genius and the big issue for the country with how he so effectively made the party solely about how you feel about him.

So if you oppose him, if you critique him, you are definitionally a rhino. You know, you are pushed. You are outcast. You are censored by censored by the party in places like Wyoming and places like Arizona. And so that makes it impossible, really, to defeat this guy. And so, I mean, I guess what I will say for Cheney to kind of play devil's advocate here is at least she has a case she's willing to make against Trump. That's a good point. Ron DeSantis doesn't even have a case he's willing to make against this guy. So at least she has something to say if she ran in a primary against him. Now, again, I mean, I think on policy, she was with him 93 percent of the time.

But at least she has a critique of his behavior and his threat to democracy. And she has things to say that she is willing to say. And I really haven't seen that from anyone else other than, you know, maybe like Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland might be the only other person who's kind of willing to take him on in that head on way. And hey, listen, I mean, that's not going to win you a Republican primary. Does it raise some doubts for some independence for a general election? Maybe I mean, I could buy into that case, but anyone who's like fantasizing that Liz Cheney is going to be the Republican nominee in 2024, I don't even think that, you know, the Reid Hoffman and his crew, I don't think they really think that. They believe that she might be able to ding him up and damage him

and press him on some things that are uncomfortable on a debate stage, but that's about all. Yeah, I think you're right. All right, Should we talk about Alaska? What do we got? Alaska. Okay. So I'm really interested in Alaska because you have two very interesting candidates who are on the ballot this election season. One is Lisa Murkowski, the senator who also famously sort of has been at odds with Trump and he's trying to defeat her there. And then you have Sarah Palin, former governor, former vice presidential candidate, who's trying to make a comeback. Representative Don Young had died while he was in office. He had held that at-large Alaska congressional seat for many, many decades. And he passed away in office. So

this is the election to replace him. So there's a couple of things that make this, to me, interesting and complicated. Number one, Alaska has just implemented ranked choice voting. So the way their system works now is you have an initial round of voting where it's just a free-for-all. Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green Party, everybody is on the ballot. And you vote for who you want to go to the next round. And the top four vote getters, top four, then go to the next iteration to try to actually win the seat. So that's the one thing that to me makes it really interesting. This, by the way, I mean, I've given Andrew Yang some shit for the Ford Party and many other people have because it doesn't really stand for a whole lot.

But the one thing that they are pushing for is ranked choice voting, which is something that I think is a benefit and would be good for democracy. OK, so there's that. The other piece that makes it a little bit interesting and complicated is Palin is on the ballot, was on the ballot twice. Once for a special election to replace Don Young right now and serve out the rest of his term through November. And then again, in the initial round of that voting process to ultimately, you know, replace him for the full term in November. Okay. So if you're still with me, let me tell you what the results are. In that, let me pull this up, the latest here, you have Murkowski looking like she is in good shape to head to the sort of full round of voting where you will actually decide who is going to be the senator next time around. She was the highest vote getter with 44 percent at this point. Now, Alaska takes a long time to get the results in.

So it says they estimated 69% that has reported thus far. So she's the top vote getter. The next highest vote getter is the Trump back candidate. Shibaka, is that how you say it, Sagar? I really don't want to be honest with you. But anyway, the Trump back candidate was second, close on her heels. And then you have a bunch of other also ran brands who are way, way further down. But they will take the top four into the actual general

election when they decide who's going to be the U.S. senator. I think in Murkowski's case, the fact that they had this ranked choice voting instituted means that she's got a shot to hang onto her seat. Whereas if she had to win in a Republican primary, she would probably be facing a situation much like Liz Cheney. I don't know that she would have gotten blown out as bad as Cheney, but I think, you know, especially given how close these vote totals are in the initial round, it's pretty likely that she would have had a problem in a Republican primary. So that's Murkowski. I think she may be saved by ranked choice voting and the fact that you have this wide open, you know, what they call a jungle primary. Then you have the Palin race.

And this one's very interesting because the three main contenders in the for Don Young's seat are Palin, Begich, who's another Republican, but more of a moderate figure. And that name is very famous in Alaska, although most of most baggage is in Alaska are Democrats. But I was going to say, I remember a certain Mark baggage. Yeah. Yes, indeed. Yes. Indeed. It's sort of one of these like well-known political families in Alaska. And they're all Democrats except for this. And then you've got a Democrat, Mary Peltola. And so because and the fourth top vote getter in the initial open primary actually dropped down and endorsed Peltola, who is the Democrat. So in this special election that will fill out the remainder of Don Young's term, the Democrat is actually leading in the first choice voting.

Thirty eight percent pale in a second at thirty two percent and baggage is second at 32%, and Begich is third at 29%. What will happen now is they will take the top two, if no one gets the majority, which they're not going to, they'll take the top two, Begich will be kicked off, and then everybody's second choice who voted for Begich, those will be added onto the totals, and you keep doing that until you come up with a majority, somebody winning a majority of the vote. So in theory, the Democrat could actually win it because Palin is so polarizing that a lot of baggage voters, even though he's a Republican and Peltola is a Democrat, it's possible a lot of them actually put her as second choice. So for Murkowski, to make a long story short, and I know this is all a little bit complex, but for Murkowski, it looks like ranked choice voting might save her. For Palin, who was the top vote getter in the first round jungle primary, it may be actually what ends up tanking her. But it's unclear. I mean,

she's still got a really good shot at winning this as well. In fact, I think she probably is still the favorite to win this seat. So that's what it looks like. Yeah, well, actually, this is the argument for rank choice voting, which is that part of the problem with, you know, divided primaries and polarizing candidates is that while they might get an outright like outright plurality that in terms of a majority, they never would have gotten that. So rank choice makes it so that the person who is the least polarizing and the most consensus person is generally arrived on. Actually, you know, I'm kind of a fan of rank choice voting, by the way. I'm a fan of rank choice voting. For those who are wondering, Glenn Youngkin won the GOP primary because of rank choice voting at the Democratic Convention.

Just to be clear about why and what type of politicians that, yeah, they rigged the primary because they didn't want the Corey Stewart, you know, redux of what happened the previous time. And I mean, listen, it worked. Alaska also, frankly, is rigging its primary specifically for Murkowski and for these type of candidates by implementing ranked choice voting, which is kind of interesting. I mean, I think that Murkowski's people were involved in getting this through and getting this instituted because they knew it would benefit her. But I am a fan of rake choice voting, just even to put some of the complicated mechanics of it aside, because it just allows you to actually vote for who you want and not worry about like, oh, gosh, is that going to be a spoiler if I vote for like, for example, in this situation, you probably would have had a lot of people who wanted to vote for the Democrat. But we're like, I don't know if the Democrat has a shot in Alaska. So maybe I really need to vote for this baggage, for example, in this situation, you probably would have had a lot of people who wanted to vote for the Democrat, but were like, I don't know if the Democrat has a shot in Alaska. So maybe I really need to vote for this baggage dude. Maybe he's the one who has the best shot. Instead, you get to actually legitimately vote for who you like the best. And to me, that's a power, you know, that recommends it pretty powerfully, just that quality alone. And not

to mention, it does give third party candidates more of a chance for exactly that reason, because you don't have a bunch of like, you know, resistance libs out there, like yelling at how you're ruining democracy, because you're voting for the Green Party or whatever. So I am a fan. And this is an illustration of the way that it creates a very different dynamic. I mean, it's possible in Wyoming, if it had been ranked choice voting, I don't know that Liz Cheney would have won, but she would have had a much better shot than she had in a Republican primary. So it does kind of change the, it really does shape the electoral environment and change the type of candidates that you end up getting. Yeah, I think it's really fascinating. We're going to watch, obviously, we'll have an update

on the show tomorrow. I think the final ballots for Nick Bejicich will exhaust sometime soon. And we're filming this early in the morning on Wednesday. So we'll figure it out. But two very, very interesting results. I guess I like I said, I'll do a monologue. I will have more for everybody tomorrow. But I'm glad we were able to do this. It was fun. Yeah, absolutely. And it'll be it'll be interesting if palin ends up back in our policy i want her to come back i kind of weird flashback well i i said yesterday in in my monologue i went and started like watching okay what's she saying these days like what's

she up to what's her rhetoric like and i was expecting it to be really nutty. And I mean, it's Sarah Palin, so of course it is kind of nutty. But she seemed so tame compared to the MAGA stars of today that it was very interesting for me. I was like, oh, because I mean, she was a real bomb through. I mean, she was so devised, so polarizing. And just sort of the cutting edge of that type of aesthetic, like the Trumpy aesthetic. And now there are a lot of people who have taken it a lot farther than she is going at this point.

So it's kind of- Imagine in 2010. Yes. Just thinking Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin would be desirable. Would be tame. Yeah. Well, and then the last thing I'll say about the Palin thing, because I am kind of interested in it,

is for Alaskans, what at least it looks like, and I can't claim to be an expert on Alaska politics, but people still have a lot of reservations about the fact that she quit when she was older. And they feel like she quit, she cashed out, she chased fame and kind of left us high and dry and forgot where she came from. Didn't she have a TV show? Like a moose hunting show? She did. She had some like Alaska reality show. I think there was some like, wasn't there like a Palin family reality show or something?

Yeah, I think so. And then she was on, was it not Dancing with the Stars? I remember the furry, like she was wearing a bear suit or something. Oh my God, yeah, you're right. Some sort of dancing show. I don't know. Anyway, the sense that seems to come from the lack of voters that are interviewed. She was on Dancing with the Stars. I feel like she abandoned them.

Dancing with the Stars, yes. In a furry bear suit, hot pink. I don't remember. I didn't watch it. What a disgrace. Okay. Anyway, Hot Pankers. I don't remember. I didn't watch it. What a disgrace. Okay. Anyway, it's never dull. We'll see you guys tomorrow.

See y'all tomorrow. This is an iHeart Podcast.