DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Fly the Empty Skies”

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou catch you up on the one-two punch of Tuesday’s Democratic electoral sweep coupled with the understanding that voters blame Republicans for the shutdown, reduced SNAP benefits, the Obamacare benefits crisis and now, a looming crisis facing America’s aviation system.Supreme Court Seems Likely to Overturn Trump's Tariffs: The Supreme Court convenes intense oral arguments, probing Trump's invocation of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to slap sweeping tariffs on imports from dozens of countries, including China, Canada, and Mexico. Justices, including conservatives like Chief Justice John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, voice deep reservations about relying on declared emergencies for unchecked economic powers, questioning if such broad powers unconstitutionally delegate Congress's authority under the major-questions doctrine. As plaintiffs—ranging from toy importers in Illinois to Democratic-led states like Oregon—argue that erratic tariff announcements spike costs and sow uncertainty for businesses, the administration counters by citing historical precedents like Nixon's similar uses, framing a loss as "catastrophic" for U.S. economic health amid global trade wars. Markets rise on the SCOTUS news, signaling Wall Street’s displeasure with Trump’s trade policies.Crisis in the Skies: The FAA will reduce flights at dozens of major airports as early as tomorrow if no shutdown deal is reached, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced. Ten percent of air traffic at 40 airports would be cut, though the details of which specific airports will be impacted was not revealed. “As we start to implement this draw down in service, it will be restricted to these 40 high volume traffic markets,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said. “We’re going to ask the airlines to work with us collaboratively to reduce their schedules.” The “draw down in service” at these busy airports comes as air traffic control staffing shortages during the shutdown of have caused delays. Controllers are considered essential employees and must work during the shutdown, but are not being paid. Duffy has said some are calling in sick to work other jobs or as protest for not getting paid.White House Blamed for High Prices: As Democrats celebrate the elections, Republican analysts say voters are sending Trump a message: get your eye back on the ball—here in the States. Americans, gripped by economic discontent, prioritize affordability over immigration or culture wars, citing persistent inflation, 22% electricity rate hikes in New Jersey, federal workforce cuts impacting Virginia, and the 36-day government shutdown eroding food assistance and health subsidies. Allies like James Blair and Steve Bannon urge Trump to refocus on pocketbook promises—lowering prices, implementing job-creating investments, and addressing "inherited disasters" from Biden—echoing warnings from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that neglecting economic populism invites electoral disaster heading into 2026 midterms.

Good morning, and thanks for tuning in to D-Program with Ted Rawl and John Kiriaku. Filling in for John, who is having a medical procedure this morning, even as we speak, is my best friend, Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis. Thanks for doing John, filling in at John's microphone this morning, Scott. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm glad that John's transitioning. I think that this is, I think it sends a strong, important message to the trans community throughout America.

John, we hope you're doing well. Well, you know, this is like, yeah, that would be really bad if, you know, it was like, oh, we mixed up the patients. You're here for that other thing. You know how like when you get a leg amputated now, they literally mark with a magic marker which leg it is, like with an X to make sure they don't cut off the wrong one because that has happened. I had rotator cuff surgery a number of years ago.

and the morning before I went in, I got with a magic marker, not this one. This is the good one. I like this one. The other one can go. Yeah. A little house, go ahead, John. Go ahead, Scott. No, no, no.

I was just saying I just had cataract surgery a few weeks ago, and they do the same thing, Ted. They put up like a big mark with some indelible ink that takes three days to get rid of right where the eye they're actually supposed to be operating on. Oh, so you look good. Oh, yeah, you're like this. You've got the clear plastic thing and the dot above you. I scared the shit. Maybe the hell out of my grandson.

Don't show up for your Tinder date, you know, three days after your surgery. Yeah, that's the thing. So, yeah, so Scott, thanks for joining us here. Lots to talk about today. Breaking news just right minutes ago, a new report coming out of the federal government saying that current layoff levels are equivalent to those during a recession, characteristic to they're calling them recession-like levels. And we'll talk about how that relates to the election results on Tuesday, which are still

being processed by the Republicans. Looks like the Supreme Court is likely to overturn Trump's tariffs that he's been justifying under emergency actions. I know how you feel about that very strongly. Scott will talk about that. The Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says that starting tomorrow, 10% of the flights at the 40 busiest airports in the United States, including Washington, Dallas, Reagan National, JFK, and Newark International are going to be eliminated, and you and I both know

that's going to have a massive ripple effect throughout the system, and those numbers are only going to go up next week, unless the shutdown comes to an end. We'll talk about the effects of the shutdown and the impact going forward on the Affordable Care Act and everything else. And finally, as Democrats are celebrating the election results on Tuesday, Republican analysts, insiders are saying that Trump needs to get his eye back on the domestic ball here in the United States and quit paying so much attention to foreign conflicts because people here are really hurting and really pissed off. I want to talk about that, too, because he made comments yesterday that were just jaw-droppingly stupid. I mean, they were almost George H.W. Bush stupid.

Oh, that's saying quite a few, quite a bit. We're entering that recession, so. As always, if you have questions or comments or anything you'd like to post in the live chat, questions for me and Scott, please post them in the, if you're watching live on YouTube or Rumble. If you're watching later on, thank you very much for watching. We lost our producer, Robbie West. due to a doxing attack by one of our viewers a week ago, but we have a plan to get him back, he is,

and we have faith in you that you're going to help us make this happen. John and I are each kicking in $250 a month, and if we can raise $1,000 each month from y'all, as Robbie would say, we will be able to make this work. So far, so good. We started doing this a day and a half ago, and we're at $430. So if you are so inclined and you want to support the show by helping Robbie help us,

please go ahead and go to his give send go.com. That's give sendgo.com slash West Glacier Gaming. Let me say that again, five times fast. So it's up on the board. It's up on the screen and go take a look at that. For people who are overseas and who try to donate, we are very sorry. but apparently givesendgo.com only works here in the United States. So for you guys, if you want to support the show and everybody else who wants to just support us directly,

please go ahead and do so. You can do it through a super chat on YouTube or you can donate directly through Rumble. Everything is back to being fully monetized. Okay. And so that's a little bit of the housekeeping here. Let's see if there's... Hey, Ted. Hey, Ted.

Go ahead, Scott. I was just going to ask you, can you go into any detail? know what happened with Robbie? You said, well, yeah, sure. So what happened was that one of our listeners didn't, took issue with him some of the criticism of Israel that he made and also with some of the comments that he made about trans people. And so this person contacted his employer, found out where he worked, contacted his employer, said you're employing a transphobe and an anti-Semite and he should be fired and so they called him in and basically Robbie had been working from home and so to punish him they said he'd have to come in I'm sorry isn't that hilarious it kind of is

so but it is kind of punishment I mean anybody who's ever sat and stop and go traffic on their way to and from work knows that it is punishment not to mention it's unpaid time right like if you have it takes 45 minutes for you to get to and from work that's an hour and a half every day they don't pay you you probably have to dress better than when you're at home so you have to maybe pay for dry cleaning and stuff you know you have to pay for lunch like near the office unless you pack your own so it is kind of a punishment and not to mention you have to be around these really annoying people the worst part Ted is that they feel that the punishment is you must sit in our company I love that

That's hilarious. It's like, oh, you anti-Semitic, anti-transperson. Just for that, you're going to have to sit in a room with me. Yeah, it's kind of a variant on what Dorothy Parker said. Like if you have nothing to say, come sit next to me. So, but this is like, yeah, it's really, really funny. All right, let's, I have an ad. Robbie's a great guy, by the way.

Robbie's awesome. We love Robbie. And we really need him, too. Quick ad, looking for a comfortable, but a unique option for you. your gaming setup. Check out technosportusa.com with a wide range of ergonomic chairs. In an array of colors, you will definitely bring your setup to the next level. Always comfy, never boring. Technosport.

Use code rumble for 10% off your entire order. Have you seen these chairs? They're awesome. They look great. Yeah, they look great. For sure. They really look fantastic. Although in your old English manner there.

My secret undisclosed location. Do you have a can't? under there where you keep the tech cheney and he's still alive and he's still here um so he'll never die when i heard he died i'm thinking he can't die was he ever alive really have you have you yeah so philip blair is asking a good question over on youtube why did the employer humor the troll well i never would have you know i mean it's like that's just absolutely it's a great question Yeah Godna is like

It's normal to go to an office though That's true And Rebellious Rainbow Unicorn says He did not criticize Israel He accurately described the Zionist entity So Yeah so indeed And I agree with Godna

250 a month is so little He wants so little It's true Well he's got other things going on He's got his gaming channel So Robbie's going to kick out rebellious rainbow unicorn says New York City is controlled by three power bases one of which is the NYPD another is real estate yes real estate could Ted explain how they came into play in the election the other

day please so yeah let's just get into that so there are three loci of political power in New York City Wall Street in other words the financial industry that's self-explanatory real estate and the police so if you think about mayors of New York City who've been successful. They had one or two of those. Rudy Giuliani obviously had the support of the NYPD. You think of Michael Bloomberg. He had both real estate and Wall Street on his side, but particularly Wall Street. And they're not, they aren't odds often. We can get into that at some other point. If you think about like Bill de Blasio, he didn't have any of them because he was kind of an accidental mayor, and that made it really hard for him to govern.

I think Zoran Mandani is going to have this problem. Obviously, he doesn't have the support of any of these three sectors. He's declared war on real estate with the rent freeze. Wall Street is just skeptical of anyone who's a self-described democratic socialist, and he's criticized the NYPD on a number of occasions, even though he's trying to mitigate that by keeping the incumbent, police commissioner who every candidate for mayor said that they were going to keep, which is probably for her, very flattering.

Like literally, they all love me. I get to stay no matter what is kind of amazing. Yeah, except in politics, you and I both know when you're sitting, your job is so safe. That's when you start to worry and, you know, pump me up, get the resume up to date and because, yeah. But, Ted, let me ask you this, though, because NYC, New York City has a reputation of being so so liberal. And rightfully so, it seems that how, I mean, so of these three of the real state, police, the NYPD, and Wall Street, none of those seem to be liberal entities. So where does

the liberality come in? Well, so I'm sorry, I'm not really following. Well, none of these are liberal entities, like I said. You know, you mentioned the real estate. The three entities are You're saying, like, how did he get elected is what you're saying? Well, not just that, but New York City has a reputation for being very, very blue. You know, is it progressive blue? Is it Mondani blue? I don't think, you know, well, apparently it is. Where does that come from?

Because as you see, if those are the three entities, if those are the three powers that are driving New York City, then that flies in the face of this election. Well, I mean, Scott, what it's about is these are the elites. These are the powerful loci, loci of power. don't have power. And the only time they have power is at the voting booth sometimes. And this time was a rare opportunity. Normally, the Democratic Party would have shoved Eric Adams down the voters' throats for re-election. But Eric Adams was such a miserable, horrible mayor and mayoral candidate that they couldn't do that. I mean, he was down to 8% in the polls. It just wasn't possible, then, you know, and they couldn't, they didn't coalesce behind a replacement

soon enough. I mean, I think if they'd, if they had somehow gotten Adams to step aside in time to put, install Cuomo at the Democratic nominee, Cuomo would be the mayor elect today. The Democratic Party was in a state of complete disarray because you had a Democratic mayor who was sucking up to the Republican president in order to get, you know, to get a pardon for his obvious corruption charges, you know, every, not only the mayor himself, but everyone around him was hopelessly corrupt. I mean, in many ways, Mbdani is an accidental mayor, too. I mean, it's like people, this was a spite vote for some people, like me, where it's like, oh, wait, rich, like billionaires, like Mike Bloomberg are really pissed and don't want him to be mayor.

Oh, okay, then I'll vote for him. For other people, for sure, like young people, they actually genuinely like what he had to say and what he represented and who he was. And also, he was a very happy warrior kind of candidate. I mean, he's a very appealing, charismatic guy. And, you know, it's just like, and Cuomo struck New Yorker, New York voters as something very old. Like, this is a retread. We're getting a used governor here. As opposed to, hey, we can have someone new and shiny, you know, so who represents, who looks more like New York City looks like, not like an old Italian guy, but like a, you know, South Asian guy. So I think there was, you know, there was a it was a perfect storm that got us here, but it came down to the Democratic part, the establishment's

inability to coalesce. I mean, bear in mind, there's only 11% of voters in New York City are registered Republicans, right? So it's, so whoever the Democratic Party appoints, I know people People are going to be like, well, look at Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani, they were Republicans in name only. They were pro-choice. They were, everyone knew they were only running as Republicans in order to escape the Democratic Party machine. So what happens next? I mean, Mamdani, he's going to be, first of all, he's going to be a lightning rod. They're going to turn him into a lightning rod like they've turned AOC into a lightning rod, right?

They're going to say, look, he's proposing to socialize this, which I don't know that that's scary. people as much as it used to, Ted. You know, we're looking at a capitalist system. You talked about the economy, and I mentioned what Donald Trump said. The economy is great. He was touting his economic successes. I'm going where the stock market is still artificially high. I suspect that's due for correction any time now.

Inflation continues to be, I mean, I go out to dinner once a week with my family. And it's me, my wife, my son, my son, my daughter-in-law, and there, their little baby. So it's four and a half people. And we don't get out of there for less than $130. And we're not going anyplace nice. We're going, you know, we're going. Yeah, it's just I remember when like a meal over $100 to me was an appalling. Oh, yeah. Like, I was like, are you fucking kidding me? I'm not paying like triple digits for a meal. But let's go down the numbers. I mean, unemployment, as you said, is up. Job creation is was anemic the last two times. And those are numbers that were out of control inflation the official rate is now it's ticked over three percent

but you and i both know that's a joke oh yeah you and i both know that's bullshit and that you know so i'm trying to look at what trump is talking about what part of the economy is he's saying is doing okay plus his goddamn tariffs now have driven inflation up even more uh they've ostracized and marginalized America in world markets, so other countries are looking at, are looking at other places, you know, vis-a-vis China, to partner with in terms of long-term economic development. And so I'm still scratching my head. Here's the point, and this is where, here's my point, is that as a true conservative, and I don't believe that this administration is conservative, by any stretch, they spend like

crazy, they use government interference. government, influence government intervention, many aspects of your life, which is exactly the opposite of what conservatives believe. So that's where my anger is coming from today, is that you have to tell me exactly what part of this economy you think is doing just great because none of it is, with the exception of the stock market. And I mean, you know, and when that correction hits, and Ted, you and I both know that's, that's in the mail, it's going to to be ugly and it's going to drive us into recent we're already at recession level numbers in terms of in terms of employment um AI is is ravaging the job market and by the way the AI bubble is massive right

like john and i were talking about this and by the way if you're just joining us john is out today he's supposed to be back tomorrow he's having a medical procedure done and scott standards is filling in um yeah i think the uh you know three three fourths of all growth in the stock market over the the last two years comes from AI. That's not sustainable. I mean, people are throwing money at AI because they just think they have to. And, you know, when people get, like my old boss of Bear Stearns used to say, when you get emotional about money, you lose your money.

That's a great line. But Ted, don't forget the AI component here that no one's talking about, people investing in AI products and AI companies, but AI is driving a lot of that investment. Let's be clear on this. I mean, they're true too. AI has driven the rise in rents. There's a company whose name escapes me right now in Dallas. It's this massive like gulag of a company building in Dallas where they run and build the software for for landlords.

I think it was what was it, Ted, 85%. Which New York City Council has just banned. And they should because what they what the Alchemy algorithm was in the Alchemy that they created was, we can, oh, people will pay this. Well, they have to pay it because, you know, it's where all their shit is. Yes, that's where all your stuff is. So your rent goes through the roof.

And that's due precisely and specifically to AI. So let's not just look at this bubble and say AI companies and AI products, but also the AI itself is driving this. Now, does this sound a little science fictionist, Ted? Does this sound a little like the computers really are? The rise of the cyborgs, yeah. Yes. It is.

I mean, you know, it's the other day, you know, we're both cartoonists. The other day I saw a cartoon that I wish I had drawn. And it was like a Terminator like style, you know, cyborgs. And there's one and there's, there's, there's, and they're all, there's a pile of human bodies. And one, there's one guy and they like, let him live. He always said thank you when he was on chat GPT. if that's all it takes us thank you thank you computer thank you for all you do for us let's let's talk a quick question from and we have we do it we are Cisco cat thanks for the

five bucks question for both of us which city is a bigger shithole Chicago or New York City Scott what do you think oh I you know I work for the Tribune of course and I visited Ted recently in New York City. Oh, my gosh, Ted, that's a tough one because we'll have a shithole off. Yeah. Okay. The crime, I live down in the loop, which if you're familiar with Chicago is exactly what sounds like.

It's the center. It's the downtown. It's the center of the city. And the crime there has gotten pretty, very bad because of the L that loop L train. The L has a loop around downtown. And, of course, it expands out. But going to New York, I have to, I think, Ted, I, boy. Breaking news, by the way.

Okay. Nancy Pelosi will not run for re-election. Yay? I'm not sure what to. Jesus Christ, can you, I mean, that's. Well, she wants to spend more time with her great, great, great-grandchildren. This is, oh my God. Okay.

I've never been a fan of Nancy Pelosi. I never understood Nancy Pelosi's, ability to ascend to the highest levels of power. So my presumption is, behind closed doors, she must be very persuasive, also understand politics at a granular level. You have to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives. So you have to kind of grudgingly respect her for that. But the other stuff, you know, I will forever view this moment as the moment that the Democrats

lost their ever-loving minds. and that's do you remember Trump gave a stay of the union address and when it was over she stood up and very dramatically tore his speech in half yeah and I'm thinking okay that was not it's over it's not great that's what a five-year-old does that's what a seven-year-old does and you know or let's put it let's put it more bluntly shall we ted that's what an oxygenarian does yeah I'm not going to eat this oatmeal damn it well it's what it's what it's what it's what it's what a school marm does. Joe Smithby,

I don't know how to pronounce your name, thank you very much for the five bucks. Thank you. Trying to send money to Robbie using the give, send go, it's asking for your employer personal info. Is this the only option or am I doing something wrong? I don't know.

I haven't been in there because, you know, I'm sending the money directly to Robbie, but just, just lie. You know, it's like whenever, like whenever I had this discussion with a coworker one time and I said, we're talking about collecting data for our company. It's like, oh, we'll ask people how much, you know, we'll ask about how old they are and what their race is, their

racism will collect all this data. And I said, you can't trust on that. I always say I'm a 99-year-old woman. She goes, you lie? And I go, yeah, and she goes, you're the reason that the world sucks. And I was like, here I thought it was global capitalism. But you lied? I mean, my God, Just lie, just lie. You don't have to answer the question about who you work for or whatever. Yeah, just say you work for a newspaper because God knows you'll never be able to get a hold of it. So just do that, man. Wherever you live, the Dayton News, the, you know, the sunset. The Canton Repository, which doesn't exist anymore.

Oh, I'm sorry. Is that true? Great name, though. Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. There were newspapers that had phenomenal names. I miss that. on, like the repository. All of the papers named Republican or Democrat are pretty much gone. Yep, yep.

That's kind of a shame. Well, the Arkansas Democrats still there, right? Yeah, it's still a lot. Well, that's because it was founded. They wanted to be part of the republic. I don't think I was a Republican. Oh, yeah, that makes far more sense than my stupid theory. No, let's talk about tariffs.

Oh, God, okay. Okay, so the Supremes listen to it, it's pretty clearly in the Constitution. It's not just clear, Ted, I'm sorry. This is one of those issues Ted knows that gets me. Rant, take it away. No, it's not just clear. It's as explicit as it can possibly be in the Constitution. Congress imposes taxes, Congress imposes tariffs.

It says it, black on ban. And a tariff is a tax. Of course it is. It's a sales and use tax is what it is. I keep getting numskoles texting me because of my adamant anti-tariff stance. You just don't understand. These are, this is competitive. This is going against people who are unfairly competing with us.

Bullshit. Let's look at Lesotho, shall we, Ted? You know, as Ted and I so often do. In all seriousness, I think it's, I'm, God, I hope I'm right. I'm pretty sure it's Losotho, small African nation. they have a GDP of however much Ted has in his pocket at the moment. They can't buy a lot of American goods, but they have some natural resources we do buy. The arithmetic for the tariffs was based on what percentages of, you know, how much of our trade is in deficit to a given country.

And so Losotho was pretty significant percentage-wise. So they nailed them with like a 100% tariff for their stuff. And it's just like, and they're looking at each other, going, what the hell? Because this makes no flipping sense. And then you punish Brazil because they're prosecuting their former president who, by the way, is corrupt as shit and should be thrown in jail. But, you know, but Trump then adds an extra 25% for Brazilian imports. So it's obviously arbitrary. There's no emergency here.

There's no economic. emergency. Should there be some, you know, a rebalance? Yeah, absolutely. Should we look at some countries that are like China subsidizing their exports so they're cheaper in foreign markets? Yeah, absolutely. You have to look at that. I mean, that's what that's what Japan did to our steel industry in the 70s, totally obliterated it because the government subsidized the steel industry in Japan so much. And we didn't do anything about it because we were on a building screen. We were building skyscrapers. And we liked the cheap steel. And so the United States government did nothing to curtail that. That was wrong. There should have been tariffs, significant

tariffs to create a balance. We didn't do that. And we lost a massive industry, which employed tens of thousands of Americans, if not millions. In good jobs. Yeah. And good jobs. And that's what's, yeah. So look at tariffs now and look at where we are. The Supreme Court had to look at this. They had, and their questioning absolutely falls into what I've been saying for months and months and months, which is the president simply does not have this authority. Now, why the U.S. House of Representatives did not step forward, well, because those knuckleheads like to hold onto their jobs and make, you know, like Marjorie Taylor Green, made four and a half

million dollars last year. You know, do you think she'd make four and a half million dollars if she wasn't a congressperson? Doubtful. Cobra 180 has a comment. The Trump, Trump's solicitor gentleman. General confirmed in the hearing that by his own estimate, 30 to 80% of tariffs get passed on to American consumers. Of course.

It sounds like taxes, but with extra steps. Yeah, of course. Ted, it's just, it's economics 101. We're going to buy a bucket. China sends us a bucket. I can go to Walmart and buy that bucket for two bucks. I like that. Now you throw on 100% tariff.

It's now a $4 bucket. Well, do you think Walmart's, just go sit back then and go, well, you know what, we're all family. We got enough money. We don't need, we can we can suck it up and take that, take the price of the bucket and just, you know, just as as Trump suggested strongly does just eat the costs. Well, I'm a business. Fuck you. That's not how business works. So I'm sorry, the tariffs and I think that the Supreme Court listening to the oral arguments the other day clearly are very cynical about this. hopefully, I've pegged my decision to leave the United States on this. You know this, right?

That if the Supreme Court... On the results of this. I mean, you're probably the only person who's thinking, although Donald Trump himself said that this was the most important Supreme Court legal case in our lifetimes. I think he's right. I think he has a point. I mean, it's because, but it's so obvious and so glaringly obvious that he is in the wrong on this one. The consumers are paying a massive price. This is why I think Democrats have a shot at 26, if they're smart enough to grab it, which they've shown no inclination in that direction. That has not been the case of it. But I would say the inflation you could say is due directly to these tariffs. Now, is that true? Not entirely. But in politics, we've learned that truth isn't necessarily the currency we

trade in anymore. But the tariffs have been onerous. They have been terrible. And, you know, the fact that he's using them as a carrot, or as the stick, rather. Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's, it's really, it's, it's heinous. I mean, the thing is, look, this is this is, this is Trump's entire schick, is to declare an emergency, you know, narco terrorists or whatever. And then use it to do to justify anything he wants. Scott, let's talk about the remedy here. I think it's clear that the court, with direction, court's going to go in. We're expecting a decision in June or July of next summer. So obviously, the Supreme Court doesn't view this as a rocket-docket situation. But they're probably going to rule against Trump. One of the administration's arguments against the plaintiffs in this case,

who are a coalition of businesses suffering under the tariffs, was that they wanted to, that it would be too hard for the government. to rebate and refund the tariffs they've already collected. Because you know how it is. It's sort of like, you know, the old ad for the Roach Motel. The Roach goes in, but the Roach does not come out. Yeah. La Cucaracha Saint-Pran, but no put in Salier, as they said in the Spanish ad on the subway

that I remember so well. That's so great as you remember that. My brain is full of useless shit. So, like, you know, the money goes into, once money goes into the government, it never leaves. So that was the argument of the federal government. Like, really? Like, so if you could, but then the, the plaintiff's lawyer said, well, you could, you could issue a ruling that it lets the government keep what they've collected thus far, but then, you know, not permit the policy to go forward. I just thought that was a funny argument.

It was a, well, and it's the only argument they have. is that, well, we've already collected this stuff. I mean, it would be like... That's the same argument that they made the other day about the food stamps. And they said, well, we can't release the federal funds, the emergency funds, because then we would have to prorate all of the food stamps for the amount that we have as opposed to the full budget, because we're not capable of multiplying a fraction by another number.

We don't know how to do that. I know. I love the... So much of government is laughable in that way because it's so inefficient and so stupid and so ignorant of things like, oh, I don't know, calculators. You know, those newfangled calculators that all the kids have now. So weird. So it's a terrible argument.

It'd be like going to, you know, you bust a meth lab. And they say, but we've already paid for the equipment. Yeah. You know, we're. Yeah. But, you know, it's still what you're doing is really, really wrong. And so what he's doing here is wrong. Now, will this emboldened, Ted, I've got to ask you this,

will this emboldened Congress in any way, shape, or form to actually start imposing its will? Because quick side note, historic note, Congress would have gone, the Congresses I grew up with, the Congresses prior to my birth, even up to a few years ago, would have gone bananas is if their power had been usurped to the degree that this administration has usurped their power. Do you think this will embolden them at all? Do you think they're going to say, okay, well, we've got this decision. Now we can move forward and, you know, maybe question some of his other, you know, antics. Well, Mike Johnson is such a ballsy.

Yes. Yes, he is. Well, I think this seems like a guy. segue, right? Because Congress does have, Republicans in Congress do have a major conundrum right now. So we need to talk about the shutdown. So currently as we speak, effective on November 1st, a couple of things happened. The Affordable Care Act started to disintegrate. People started getting bills saying you no longer owe $3.50 a month. You now owe $13.50 a month. People, and that's going to kick tens of millions of people off the health care. Most of them, interestingly, in Republican states. So Republicans in the House and in the Senate are feeling the pressure, the heat there. The SNAP benefits. I mean, obviously, people who are poor enough to need food stamps,

probably don't have a whole fuck ton of political power. But they're one-eighth of the country, including a lot of children. And they started losing their benefits. Some people will not, I don't understand this. some will get part some will get nothing i'm not sure what how that's decided that some but anyway the point is 20% i think it's one out of eight one out of eight no no between the the administration is saying we're going to give we're going to fund 20% of snap jesus and it's already snap is already a pittance to begin with um so it's 20 basically it's like it's a tip it's nothing um and then uh i think maybe most urgently i mean just think about like how incredibly

terrified the federal government is that anything happening to the aviation industry right so much that after 9-11 they threw billions of dollars at the big airlines and even and in my opinion kind of told a fib about what really happened on united flight 93 like we didn't really shoot it down i mean the fact that the engine was found 12 miles away from the crash site you know engines can bounce you know you never know um but the point is they didn't they didn't want anyone to think that they wanted people to fly. They wanted people to fly fast. It's a huge part of the economy and not for tourism, but for business, right?

I mean, like, you know, like the whole economy seizes up if you don't have working airlines. Tomorrow. So the air traffic controllers are kind of like, some of them are quitting or basically like calling in sick and like taking odd jobs or I don't know. What does a spare air traffic controller do? Do they become a referee or like, what is? I just like, I guess, like literally, like car traffic, you know, the, yeah, like, maybe.

So semaphore signal expert, I don't know. But anyway, the point is, these guys are dipping out because they're, for whatever reason. So as of tomorrow, Sean Duffy, DOT, secretary, it says, we're going to be down, we're going to lose 10% of traffic, air traffic to 40 big airports, right? that you know how it is when you're flying, especially if you have a connecting flight, I'm sorry, Mr. Stantis, so there's storms in the area of another area of the country that you're not even flying to,

but that plane didn't come from there, so you're not going to make your connection, so you're stuck here overnight. You know that feeling. We've all been through that. So that's going to happen like crazy starting tomorrow. It's all, we already have long delays at the TSA lines, hours long.

By next week, I mean, they're like, well, unless the shutdown is resolved by next week, it won't be, right? But the Republicans, they're feeling the heat. The country basically blames the Republicans on the simple logic that they control everything. You control the entire government. So everything that goes wrong is your fault. That may not be fair, but that's how the people clearly see it. So Republicans are going to be blinking, yeah? I don't, here's why I wanted to ask you, Ted, because I'm trying to wrap my hands around this, this issue, and especially this move by the, by the, by the, by the transportation department and transportation secretary Duffy, is this a way to make people suffer? Now, if it is, and it feels like it is, do, does the administration truly believe that the American people are saying, oh, this is all the Democrats' fault? Now, Fox News is certainly pushing that scenario. But most Americans are saying, you know, like,

Like you just mentioned, you run the House, you run the Senate, you run the White House. This is on you. But are they convinced that the American people are going to believe that the Democrats, who frankly are part of the problem here? True. Do they really believe that the Democrats are going to own this, especially when, you know, you're flying to go see Mee Ma'am for Thanksgiving? And you're stuck in Dallas for, you know, 72 hours? I think that, well, I mean, Republicans clearly had the calculus that the Democrats were going to be blamed for the shutdown because historically the party that triggers the shutdown is usually blamed, and that's usually been the Republicans.

That's just not happening this time. And they think that that's what's going to happen. But I think because Democrats are so like off the playing field that, you know, nobody sees them or hears from them. that, you know, the country just, it just does, right? I mean, Scott, as I've told you this privately, you know, privately, you know, the hardest part as a political person is to accept politics and the way things are as opposed to the way you wish that they were. I mean, as a young person, I was like, you know, we're going to have a communist revolution

because look at the disparity of wealth and all that. And it's like, okay, I had to accept at a certain point that we're, not, we weren't near that, that we don't have an organization. I'm not going to get into, the point is that's not real. Republicans are going to have to accept that whether they like it or not, wishing, hoping it to be so does not win elections and it does not make you rise in the polls. Kamala Harris wanted a series of things to be so. And if they were, she'd be president, but they weren't so. I mean, I, you know, I just, I don't, I think they're, going to, at a certain point, you know, there's going to be like a March, like a 1974 style

marched from Capitol Hill up to the White House where some key senators tell the president, listen, you can't keep this up. You've got to, you've got to give, you know, restore the subsidies. You've got to get, we've got to talk to the Democrats. You know, they've won this. Whether it's whether it's right or not, they've won. Yeah, but you just used language that is anathema to Donald Trump, and he will never admit defeat on anything. So I think you're right. I think your instincts are right when it comes to the shutdown is going to go on easily next week. I think two weeks.

I kind of called this earlier in an interview this morning. I think November 15th is the magic day. Can you explain, okay, this is a complete, that's kind of out of left field, but it ties into what we're talking about, Ted. And you've never been able to explain this to me privately, hopefully, you can put me, put me straight. But places like Appalachia, 70% of the people, of the population of Appalachia is, is on food stamps, on SNAP, in other relief, federal relief. They voted, I think the number was 66% for Donald Trump. What? How do you explain, I mean, Alabama, where I live,

It's the same thing. We hate the federal government that keep the government off our backs. We, you know, get the Yankees out of here. Damn Washington, D.C. Yet for every dollar that Alabama sends to Washington, D.C., they get two and a half dollars back. And they don't say no to it. They don't say, no, no, no, we can't afford it. No, we have principles.

I'm trying to get my hands around, my head around, how you can vote for something that you're clearly benefiting from. I mean, specifically. Now we're looking at here in Alabama, numerous counties have over 50% snap, you know, people on snap. The state, Alabama, was a 60% plus win for Donald Trump. How does a voter in those circumstances make that connection? I thought a lot about this, and I'm probably not going to satisfy you because I'm going to give you the same. say the same thing that I've said in the past. So, you know, Thomas Frank wrote that famous book, What's the Matter with Kansas, which is basically what the same question, right? Like, why do

poor people in this case, in that case, Kansas vote for vote Republican? And the answer is it's cultural in large part, right? Like people identify more with the strong sort of, you know, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, ethos of the GOP. You know, like, we don't need no government helping us out, even though we do need the government helping us out. You know, they don't identify with the Democrats because the Democrats seem effete or concerned with stuff that's esoteric or irrelevant or even gross to them like LGBT rights. You know, they just, they feel like maybe it's stuff like I have guns. I like guns.

I believe Democrats want to take away my guns and cancel the Second Amendment. I mean, it's a bunch of stuff like that, right? It's not a perfect answer. I think Democrats, look, can get those people back. You talked about West Virginia. West Virginia used to be a very democratic state, right? Very. So it could be, it was and could be again.

And, you know, it had a Democratic senator for many years, Joe Manchin. I mean, he was not a, you know, a real Democrat. He's a dean, a dino for sure. But still, I mean, the point is you can see that it's possible. And so people vote against their self-interest. And I don't know that, by the way, that's necessarily bad. I mean, in New York City and in, you know, Brentwood, liberal Democrats are often very wealthy and they vote to be taxed more. That's against their personal parochial self-interest.

But, you know, they're like literally, they feel they have a set of values that, like, me, requires. them to sacrifice for the things that they care about. And I think conservatives are the same way. I think it's complicated. I also think the two-party system skews things. There's a lot of voting against the side that you hate more. Isn't that hell of a system we have here, man. Hell of a system.

Beautiful. So Appalachia, Phil, 2082 says Appalachia realizes they don't want to be to on a government, they can't trust, people need help, and they can't depend on a government which ends food stamps. That's an interesting take. That is a very interesting take. And you and I both know that that is exactly why Donald Trump was ascended to the presidency, is that they, those very people did not trust that the Democratic Party, who for years had said, we're on your side. Clearly, we're not. And, you know, that's the head. And Philip Blair reminds us of Senator

Rockefeller of West Virginia, who really was a liberal. Wasn't Bird or was Bird from Virginia? I'm trying to be why. I want to, yeah, no, I thought, I thought Bird was from West Virginia. Well, hopefully our listeners can help us out here. Well, okay, so, you know, let's ask, let's talk about this election real quick, Ted. We've got a few minutes left. You know, is this a bellwether?

Is this, you know, I think Mondani in New York City. New York City is a singular entity. I don't know that you can apply that. But I do believe that the elections in both New Jersey and in Virginia were do not bode well for the Republicans, although Donald Trump did not jump into those races with both feet, as he so often does. I'm not sure if he was reading the polls and just recognize that, you know, these guys, the Republican candidates in those states just weren't very good, although both races tightened up significantly. Now, what happened in New Jersey? I mean, I don't know why. I just think of a other than Chris Christie, I can't think of a Republican,

a high profile Republican winning there, can you? I mean, I sure it's happened. It's happened. I mean, Utersey's a kind of a swingy state. And it's been like a, it's been like, I mean, you know, it's not like a, it's not a solid blue state, really. I mean, you know, the western and southern parts of the states are very conservative. But, you know, look, what happened there was, that was. a boring result. The truth is, it was kind of a replay. The Republican candidate there was a,

this was his third time swinging at the, at the pinata. He was a perennial candidate. He didn't, you know, he had that, you know how like in politics, Scott, you and I have both seen like the 40% candidate, the candidate who will always get 40% and no more than 40%. Yes. Up until recently, Donald Trump looked like the candidate who could never get more than 44%, right? This guy was a classic 40%er. All she had to do was not fuck up, and she didn't fuck up. But she was very bland, and it made people feel this is a change. I was going to say change year.

Last year was a change year. 2016 was a changed year. We've been to change years for 10 years. We're in a change decade right now. And moving on to a, I don't know, change two decades. So people are, they're uncomfortable with these safe, can't these safe politicians who carefully massage every single sentence and every phrase to be just sparkling clean and that's what she was she sounded a little bit like a less exciting

Obama and it's you know but the point is she just got it by default I don't think there's a lot to read in those New Jersey results um you know and the momdani thing you know really truly was baked in ages before um I think what's more interesting is just like things like the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, you know, races that all went Democratic, the races in Georgia that went all Democratic. I mean, clearly the Democrats are energized more than the Republicans are. And right now there's a, there's a lot of analysis within the Republican ranks that basically are Democrat, Republicans,

are saying that the White House has completely taken its eye off the ball. The following is from Politico, right? People don't think, this is an internal White House allies speaking anonymously. People don't think he's lived up to his promises. You've won on lowering costs, putting more money back into people's pockets, and people don't feel that right now. The person noted parallels with Biden, who insisted that America was doing well while people were struggling.

this is the problem Biden had the person said. Another one said the president hasn't talked about the cost of living in months. People are still hurting financially and they want to know that the White House is paying attention in trying to fix the problem as quickly as possible. And basically, he's talking about shit like Venezuela instead. Exactly, exactly. That was, I mean, that's what was his Donald Trump success in 2016. It was his success in 24 is that.

pardon me he at least gave gave voice to those concerns that yeah i feel your pain um i i i mentioned george hw bush if you recall the 92 election um he was saying you know the recession is very shallow it's not it's not that bad and we're coming out of it all of it was true but people on the ground people like you people like me people listening to us right now recognize that things were bad and the fact that this guy didn't seem to care or recognize that. And Trump's comments yesterday, that's why I brought them up. I was so stunned to hear him say that because it was so tone deaf. Yeah. You know, don't, I mean, okay, yeah, he could have taken it to the direction of this is all Biden's fault. This is the Biden economy, biting you in the ass still. And we're working

and that's not completely incredible, right? I mean, obviously in reality, when you're, you know, in month nine of your term, you can totally credibly say that you've got some lingering economic impact from the previous four years. Exactly. But he didn't do that. He said, everything's fine. Don't worry about it. Everything's just dandy.

Well, like I mentioned, I go get a cup of coffee with my wife. It's 10 bucks. You know, it's everybody knows, you know, you can pretend that it's okay, but it ain't okay. And people are losing their jobs. I've just, we had dinner with a friend of ours son last night, and he works in a production facility, and they just laid off half of the workforce because they, because of the economy. That's not an unusual story going around the country right now. A lot of people being laid off, a lot of people.

And let's also, as Ted has mentioned many times, and I agree with them, is that we have an underemployment problem in this country, people who are. are they're employed they have jobs but they don't pay enough for that's a huge problem i would argue it's even worse than uh all the other economic problems i mean you know we have so many brilliant people who are working jobs that are beneath their skill their skill set and so you say well the tariffs that's what's that's what the tariffs are supposed to correct well tariffs take a minimum of a decade to correct things if they correct things at all which large percentage of it doesn't work. They've tried it for, you know, don't look at the 19th century economy of the United States, which was heavily dependent on tariffs. And it didn't work. It kept some of the

industries here. In fact, shipping things back and forth was expensive and dangerous and had enormous risks. So starting a steel industry, letting the industrial revolution come to the United States. But when we wanted to fight against textiles, when we wanted to fight against other, me, other goods, it didn't work. It did not, you saw some textile industries, tick up here again industrial revolution driven largely by textiles but not to the numbers that were significant enough to drag us out of the the Andrew Jackson depressions um he also got rid of the Bank of America which was kind of not smart but that's that's that's another podcast or another another episode another episode um I do and and by the way this is a oh my god the person just

the scroll is going by so fast it's hard to keep track of. Anyway, this is funny. Blake is saying I'm buying a $30,000 house in Nicaragua where my cost of living will be $1,000 a month. That's where we're really at. Stay at your own risk. I think, yeah, I think economically we're going to have the waters have already been boiling. They're just going to get worse going forward. Yeah, I think that's hard to argue with. So some breaking news. This is maybe a counterfactual to the idea that Trump is spending too much time on foreign stuff. Breaking just happened.

Looks like there's a temporary truce slash ceasefire in effect in the Sudanese civil war that was brokered by a Trump representative. That's been a horrific conflict that's been raging on for two years. And it looks like the rapid support forces, the RSF, which is a break. faction of the Sudanese government, which has been fighting the main, the previous main Sudanese government has sat down and the fighting is about to stop there, at least for the time being. And Donald Trump and the administration will get very little credit for it in the mainstream media. I guarantee it.

You won't hear anything. I mean, look at what he did with Thailand and Cambodia, the conflicts. There are a number of conflicts he's jumped in on. Donald Trump hates war. Well, you can think about a lot of stuff. and disagree with him on. But this one, come on, folks. Can we get on board?

Can the Democrats get on board this one that we don't like people killing each other? Well, I'm not sure the Democrats are on board with that, Scott. I mean, Joe Biden, you know, presided and funded and supported and ran interference for the Israel's bloodthirsty conquest of Gaza that killed close to 400,000 people. And it's, you know, just he was all about it. Democrats have been the war party now for, I mean, it's been argued for decades, and I think probably that turns out to be true. But it's really, really clear over the last, you know, 10, 15 years. They're not pacifists, man.

No, they haven't been. But I'm sorry, these are pretty significant accomplishments, getting the ceasefire as unsteady as it is in Gaza. That was a big accomplishment, trying to get Putin to see, you know, sense and trying to get Zelensky to see sense and end that war. But these are all these other little wars that this administration has worked hard to end. And I think that deserves our praise and our admiration. And he's not getting any of that. It's insanity. And maybe you're right. Maybe the Dems have just decided, we're the war party. We're the killing party now. We're all for it. Yeah, no, I mean, I honestly think that, I don't think that, you know, not that they're going to

give any credit whatsoever to Trump. And, you know, nor does Trump ever give any credit whatsoever. over to Democrats. I mean, that's the world that we live in, right? Graciousness is no more. It's crazy. I was just, someone posted the farewell party they had on the Capitol Hill for when Tipo Neil retired. And President Reagan was still, was still president. And just the graciousness of these two guys, you know, and they fought, I mean, they fought in the trenches. This was tooth and tongue. This was tough, tough politics. And, you know, I just have to look back on that and say that you know again i sound like such an old man but those really were better times and there's a better way to govern and that's the last point i want to make to i know we're over

but no one wants to govern and that's that is to the detriment of the republic well that is the issue right people want to to win they want to lord it over their rivals and that's about it Guys, let's do the housekeeping. Let's see, do I have an ad here? No, no ad right now. Scott, thank you so much for sitting in for John Kyriaku. John Kyriaku will be back from his medical travails tomorrow morning, I'm assuming. We're here 9 a.m. Eastern Time as we are Monday through Friday.

Stay tuned for me coming up at 10 o'clock Eastern Time, TMI show with Ted Raul and Manila Chan. We have a lighter take on the news. A little more fun maybe. Well, we try to have fun here, too. And just a reminder on Robbie Aid, we're trying to raise $1,000. We are at $430 for this month. We need $1,000 a month.

So we were at $430 before we went on the air today. I don't know where we are right now. We'll keep you posted. And as soon as we're off $1,000, we'll stop talking about it for the month of November and we'll hit you up in December. But I think we're going to get there. And thank you so much for your generous support. for the show. Scott and I are going to be back on the air in just an hour with the DMZ America

podcast. We'll be interviewing Akron Beacon Journal editorial cartoonist. He's a conservative and a friend of ours, colleague of ours, Chip Bach, and we'll be showing our cartoons and talking about the elections and everything else in the news. So that's about that. So Scott, hang in there and I'll go pee. You have an hour to do it, and I'll see you in an hour. And John, feel better, please. And also thank you to TechSport, the chair manufacturer, who is a sponsor of this show.

So thank you. And y'all bless you. Bye, all. Ciao. Thank you.