Digital Social Hour - Kamala's Strategy Shift: A Costly Election Mistake | Ana Kasparian DSH #862

Episode Date: November 6, 2024

Ready to dive into the political drama of Kamala's Strategy Shift: A Costly Election Mistake? 🗳️💥 Tune in now as the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly unpacks the bold moves and controversia...l pivots of Kamala Harris' campaign. With insightful takes from our guest, Ana Kasparian, we explore the implications of Kamala's billion-dollar fundraising, the unexpected embrace of neoconservatives, and the shifting political landscape. 🌍📊 Don't miss out on this episode packed with valuable insights on what these shifts mean for the upcoming election and the broader political scene. Join the conversation and discover how Kamala’s campaign strategy could impact the race against Donald Trump and the voters' responses. 🤔🤝 From campaign cash flow to geopolitical concerns, this is a discussion you won't want to miss. Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Let's get you in the loop on the latest political narratives and strategies. #donaldtrump #tyt #uselection #kamalaharris #theyoungturks CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:27 - Election Analysis 01:24 - Kamala Harris Campaign Strategy 05:14 - Iran Nuclear Deal Insights 09:18 - Veterans Affairs Discussion 11:26 - Democratic Party Challenges 17:14 - Anna's Political Transformation 20:04 - Student Loan Forgiveness Debate 23:57 - College Education Issues 26:38 - Financial Crisis Overview 27:30 - Rejecting Money Offers 28:48 - Adapting to Digital Media 33:10 - Journalists' Frustrations 34:35 - Media Controversies 35:00 - Ben Shapiro Debate 39:10 - Winning Hearts and Minds 42:20 - Barack Obama Legacy 49:18 - Joe Biden Administration 50:45 - Local Politics Impact 52:40 - Trump's Immigration Policies 57:10 - Atheism Discussion 59:44 - Finding Ana 01:00:05 - Outro APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: Spencer@digitalsocialhour.com GUEST: Ana Kasparian https://www.instagram.com/anakasparianofficial/ https://kasparian.substack.com/ https://x.com/AnaKasparian LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 don't feel that our democracy has really represented their best interests. Our democracy is broken. I mean the fact that our media is celebrating the fact that Kamala Harris was able to raise a billion dollars for her campaign is pretty sick because they see that as, oh, she's succeeding in her campaigning. I see that as, wow, there's a lot of corruption flowing into Kamala Harris's campaign. All right, guys, we have Anna here flowing into Kamala Harris's campaign. All right guys, we have Anna here today, two weeks until the election.
Starting point is 00:00:29 How are you feeling? I feel great. I mean, it's going to go how it's going to go. I'm not the one out there campaigning, so we'll see. Yeah, I think, well, I don't know if you believe all this polymarket stuff and these betting sites, but it's looking pretty lopsided on those websites. I mean, I'm not a gambler. I don't go on polymarket, so I don't know much about that.
Starting point is 00:00:51 From my understanding, people are just betting on who they believe is gonna win, right? And so the people engaging in that think that Donald Trump is gonna win. 62% at the moment. Yeah, I mean, it's not a poll. So I think for um, for those who happen to support Donald Trump, I wouldn't put too much weight behind polymarket bets. I would
Starting point is 00:01:12 look at the polling. I would look at the average of polling, especially as it pertains to some of these swing States. And that's a better indicator of how the elections going. Yeah. Some of these, uh, polling seems to be shifting though. It is. Yeah, over the last few weeks, Kamala Harris has kind of been paralyzed in the polls. Whereas Donald Trump has been closing in on her, certainly in the national polling, she had a comfortable lead at one point and he managed to close that lead. And I think it has a lot to do with a pivot that she has decided to make in her campaign for whatever reason. It's not working out for her, but she's still going in that direction.
Starting point is 00:01:49 Yeah. You're talking about her going on podcasts? Well, no, I'm actually talking about the fact that she's decided to bear hug neocons and she's also decided to move away from some of the more positive optimistic messaging and instead lean into what we've been hearing from Democrats about Donald Trump for so many years now, which is, he's anti-democratic, he's Hitler, the same negative messaging.
Starting point is 00:02:14 Clearly that negative messaging has been less and less effective in Democrats campaigning. And I don't understand why she went from something that clearly was exciting her base to now bear-hugging a neocon like Liz Cheney or Dick Cheney and essentially positioning herself as someone who might be able to skim off of the Republican electorate, you know, there's some portion of Republicans who don't love Donald Trump and so she thinks that she might be able to
Starting point is 00:02:42 who don't love Donald Trump. And so she thinks that she might be able to convince them to join the Democratic Party. And not only do I think that's a faulty campaign strategy, I personally would not want to absorb neoconservatives into the Democratic Party. Like, what are we doing? So I've had a lot of issues with how she's been campaigning lately.
Starting point is 00:03:04 Yeah, I guess she saw Trump kind of taking RFK and Tulsi over to the Republican side and wanted to implement that strategy the other way around, maybe. I don't know if that's what informed her decision to do this, but it was a bad decision. And I think she's making a mistake in thinking that there is any popularity attached to neoconservatism. Yeah. Bush era Republicans are incredibly unpopular. thinking that there is any popularity attached to neoconservatism. Bush era Republicans are incredibly unpopular politically speaking. And it's because of the decisions that they made during the Bush era, the endless wars
Starting point is 00:03:35 that we got involved in, the innocent individuals and civilians who got killed as a result of that. When you look at the young male population and how they're kind of tilted toward Donald Trump, all you have to do is listen to what their concerns are. And there are a lot of young men who are worried that they might get drafted into fighting a war. And instead of focusing on those legitimate substantive concerns,
Starting point is 00:03:58 I think Democrats are making the mistake of just labeling people as either sexist or in some cases racist. Leaning into the identity politics might make sense in some instances, but I think it's really important for the party to actually stop and listen to what the voters are saying. Don't just blame them or smear them
Starting point is 00:04:19 as being bad faith actors or individuals who have malice in their hearts. Yeah, I would definitely, as a 27 year old, I'd be concerned with a mandatory draft. That hasn't happened in a long time, right? No, it hasn't happened in a long time, but things do feel out of control. I mean, there's, you know, of course ongoing war
Starting point is 00:04:36 between Russia and Ukraine. Then you have an ever expanding war in the Middle East, which I'm even more concerned about. You know, just recently there was a terror attack We're expanding war in the Middle East, which I'm even more concerned about. Just recently there was a terror attack against Turkey and now Turkey's bombing multiple countries in retaliation. So things do feel incredibly unstable as it pertains to geopolitical. Bet MGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long.
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Starting point is 00:06:08 I haven't heard anyone on the Democrat side really talk about that concern. Right. Well, how can you when you're appealing to neoconservatives who love this kind of stuff? So is that a policy you lean more towards Trump on the war stuff? Because he wants to end the wars, right? Well, I think Trump talks a big talk when it comes to peace, but his behavior when he was president, he didn't start new wars. I'll give him credit there, but he came awfully close to it. I mean, he was about to do a strike on Iran.
Starting point is 00:06:36 Luckily, he called it off. I think he called it off because there is a significant portion of his base that doesn't want war. And to his credit, Trump is better at listening to his voters as opposed to Democrats. And so I think that stopped him. But I also want to just mention he ripped up the Iran nuclear deal, which was the best way to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. And it was a multilateral deal where there were other Western allies involved.
Starting point is 00:07:07 And there were safeguards in place. There was the ability to check and make sure that Iran wasn't building nuclear weapons. And what really upsets me is that Trump ripped up the Iran nuclear deal on behalf of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Because he's been trying to egg the United States into engaging in war with Iran on behalf of Israel. Really? Yes, absolutely. So when he ripped up the Iran nuclear deal, that paved the way for Iran to go ahead and try to develop nuclear weapons.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Then that gives Israel the excuse to go the United States into engaging in war with Iran, right? Like there was no reason to rip up that deal. And so, I mean, I am concerned that the amount of campaign cash flowing into Donald Trump's coffers to the tune of $90 million from Miriam Adelson will persuade him to go along with what the Israeli government wants to do. And in my view, the current Israeli government is incredibly irresponsible, incredibly belligerent, and is not just merely looking to take out terrorists or terror organizations. They're looking to annex the West Bank territory that belongs to the Palestinians. They're looking to annex part of Lebanon and Northern Gaza. And so I need to hear
Starting point is 00:08:24 something a little more substantive from Donald Trump pushing back against the Israeli government and I have not heard any of that. I've heard him basically engage in rhetoric that would only enable Netanyahu and the Israeli government. He's very pro-Israel, right? Yeah. From what I've seen.
Starting point is 00:08:38 I didn't know he got 90 million from, from what's her name? Ariel Swietelson? Her name is Miriam Adelson. Miriam Adelson. And she's like, what's her role? Hard Swiderson? Her name is Miriam Adelson. Miriam Adelson. And she's like, what's her role? Hardcore pro-Israel individual, which by the way, you can be pro-Israel,
Starting point is 00:08:51 but I don't think that the United States should be funding their war. I don't think that the United States should be aiding and abetting the slaughter of innocent civilians. And that's currently what's happening right now. And I wanna be clear, this is unfortunately a bipartisan agreement. Democrats and Republicans have only enabled
Starting point is 00:09:11 the Israeli government. So this is not my way of blaming Trump while giving the Biden administration a pass. The Biden administration has handled this poorly to say the least. But I don't have much faith in Donald Trump on this issue either. I have noticed that both sides are back in Israel.
Starting point is 00:09:26 That's interesting. Do you think it's always been that way? It hasn't always been that way. In fact, there have been some examples in the past, including Ronald Reagan, including George W. Bush of all people, who I believe is a war criminal. He was willing to leverage American military support to Israel and basically say, we're
Starting point is 00:09:47 not going to send you guys any more assistance until you stop slaughtering innocent people. So the fact that we had presidents in the past who were willing to pump the brakes, you know, gave me a little bit of hope, but things have changed as the Supreme Court has allowed for unlimited campaign donations to flow into super PACs representing various candidates. I think that the corruption in our political system is what informs most of the decisions that our politicians make. Agreed. Especially on the war side. I talked to a lot of veterans, I have them on the show. A lot of them, when they find out the real reasons they were sent over to these places,
Starting point is 00:10:23 they live with regret because they're out here thinking they're doing a good thing and then they come home they find out the real reasons they were sent over to these places, they live with regret. Yeah. Because they're out here thinking they're doing a good thing and then they come home find out what happened. I mean, my heart breaks for them because especially when you think about the Bush years, how many of our men and women in our armed services were deployed multiple times to Iraq or Afghanistan, wars that we should not have been fighting, wars that we did not win.
Starting point is 00:10:48 And then they come back home. Not only do they realize that they fought a war that they shouldn't have been fighting, they're abandoned by our government. Some of them have severe mental health issues as a result of multiple deployments and we have as a country abandoned them. They're struggling with PTSD. It's disgusting. I mean, there's so many veterans on our streets, homeless right now.
Starting point is 00:11:10 And when I hear our Congress essentially approve more and more aid, military aid, more and more funding for weaponry, for wars abroad, it infuriates me. We need to take care of our own. Enough is enough. I'm with you on that. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:28 So any foreign aid at all you think, or just be selective, more selective? Yeah, I would be more selective. And when we talk about foreign aid, I'm not against providing defensive capabilities to our allies, but offensive weaponry, I think we start getting into super shaky territory. So when we're giving Israel 2,000 pound bombs
Starting point is 00:11:50 that they're dropping on hospitals, universities, schools, refugee camps, do we feel good about ourselves? Should we be funding that? Yeah. That's dirty money right there. Israel had a budget surplus not too long ago. In 2021, Israel had a budget surplus. Last time the United States had a budget surplus was in 2001.
Starting point is 00:12:13 Why are we funding their weapons? That's crazy. Someone needs to answer these questions. Yeah. Yeah. And we keep funding more and more. Yep. And it's mind blowing. As our American citizens are currently struggling with drug addiction, housing,
Starting point is 00:12:31 healthcare. I mean, we have so many issues in the US that have been broken, that remain broken, that our politicians pay lip service to when they're running their campaigns. But then once they get elected, all of a sudden they forget about these issues. Yeah. You know, they know how to talk a big talk, but when push comes to shove, they rarely represent the American people in their best interests. And I think, you know, when you look at someone like Donald Trump, the Democratic Party seems to have a difficult time understanding why they're messaging about how he's a threat
Starting point is 00:13:01 to democracy isn't working. Have they stopped to consider the fact that maybe these Americans don't feel that our democratic process has valued them? Maybe they don't feel that our democracy has really represented their best interests. Our democracy is broken. I mean, the fact that our media is celebrating the fact that Kamala Harris was able to raise a billion dollars for her campaign is pretty sick Because they see that as oh she's succeeding in her campaigning I see that as wow, there's a lot of corruption flowing into Kamala Harris's campaign same with Donald Trump I mean, obviously he's taking a ton of money from big dollar donors as well And so what ends up happening is you end up with this political system that
Starting point is 00:13:46 represents the billionaires and the corporations who have the means to pump a ton of money into these super PACs. And these politicians listen to the American people less and less. And what I'm noticing right now with Kamala Harris's campaign is the vast majority of Democratic voters and independent voters, by the way, want us to stop funding Israel's war, but her donors do not want that. And so you have this tension and rather than side with the people and what the base wants, what the voters want, she wants to keep taking that money and avoid even addressing the issue. So if you ever hear her answer questions about Israel and where she stands on it,
Starting point is 00:14:29 you know, she engages in word salad, not because I think she's dumb or she doesn't know what she believes, but because she knows that conflict between the donors and the voters. And so she'll engage in the word salad to avoid answering the question. Right. Something's got to give. The system is broken. Yeah, it sounds like a conflict of interest. social engage in the word salad to avoid answering the question. Right. Something's got to give. This system is broken. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:47 It sounds like a conflict of interest. Do you think they should change who can become a donor and who can't be? I think we need to have public financing of our elections. I think the decisions that were made by the Supreme Court were awful and need to be reversed. I do not believe that money is speech. In order to actually save our democracy, we would need to reverse the damage that's been done by allowing all of this money to flow into campaign coffers.
Starting point is 00:15:12 Right, cause if you don't have hundreds of millions, you're not gonna become president. That's exactly right. How is that a democracy? If I wanted to run for president, I'd have no shot. Yeah. You know, the fact that you'd need to raise a billion dollars in order to compete, that's insane.
Starting point is 00:15:24 Insane. That's why Bernie Sanders didn't make it far, right? Well, Bernie Sanders didn't make it far because the Democratic establishment wouldn't allow him to make it far. They did everything they could to prevent him from winning the Democratic primary in 2016. Then they denied that they engaged in that activity. But then when, you know, Joe Biden had his horrible debate performance, it interesting there were some Democratic lawmakers who were willing to come out and call a spade a spade talk about how there were dirty tricks played to prevent Bernie Sanders from winning the 2016 Democratic primary and look at where we are now that led to a lot of frustration and anger toward the Democratic Party I
Starting point is 00:16:03 think the party actually lost a lot of people because there were voters paying close attention and they saw what kinds of games were being played. And again, if the core message in your campaign is we the Democrats will save democracy, they also need to really consider whether or not their own behavior has been democratic. Not just in regard to how they treated Bernie Sanders, but also in regard to what was going
Starting point is 00:16:30 on in this election, where Joe Biden very clearly is suffering from cognitive decline. That was hidden from the democratic voters. He wouldn't give press conferences. You have all of these public figures in the democratic Party providing cover for Biden, hiding the ball completely. And then by the time it was obvious to everyone because of his insanely bad debate performance, it was kind of too late. And he refused to step down. He was pushed out and Kamala Harris was anointed. So we did not have a robust primary process to ensure that the appropriate or best possible candidate
Starting point is 00:17:10 would be chosen by the voters to run against Donald Trump. And I think now the chickens are coming home to roost. Yeah, I was surprised people were surprised that his cognitive decline was that bad. I knew for like probably a year or two before that debate. I remember doing segments about it on TYT in 2020 and everyone shouted us down. Everyone was furious that we would have the audacity
Starting point is 00:17:35 to bring up these concerns. And event, I mean, we got gas lit on that issue in 2020 and we just kind of dropped it because we're like, okay, I guess we're wrong. I guess we're seeing something that no one else is seeing. But after four years, I mean, obviously the condition got worse. And look, I'm just sick of being lied to by a party
Starting point is 00:17:55 that keeps pretending like they're on the moral high ground. You know, you guys lied to your voters, you guys hid the ball and didn't give us an opportunity to vote for the best possible candidate in a robust primary process. And it's wrong, it's unjust, but they just refuse to take any responsibility for that. So you covered the good and bad on both sides on T.Y.T.
Starting point is 00:18:16 Of course, yeah. You stayed pretty neutral. Well, I did go through a phase of, I think, allowing my personal biases to cloud my perception of reality. I believe I'm doing a better job now in seeing things for what they are. I think that there's a problem with a lot of news of pandering to their audience because they don't want their audience to be upset at them for being the messengers of unpopular realities, I guess. But you have to be willing to take some blowback and inform your audience about what's really going on because the thing that I would not want to do is lie to my audience and have them feel totally shocked if the election doesn't play out in a way that they're expecting
Starting point is 00:19:10 it to play out. And when did that shift happen? Was it this election? I would say definitely this election. So this is the election where I've finally just considered myself unaligned. I announced that on a Substack post for Substack where I'm, you know, now writing in more detail about my analysis on various political issues. And leaving the Democratic Party was more about the fact that this party no longer really
Starting point is 00:19:39 represents me. Doesn't mean the Republican Party does. I don't identify as a Republican, but I'm definitely more independent and more open-minded to voting for the candidate who best represents me. And right now in this particular election, I'm not seeing it. So you're not gonna vote? I wrote in a candidate.
Starting point is 00:19:59 Oh, you did? Yeah, I wrote in Bernie Sanders. I mean, obviously he's not gonna win or anything like that, but for me, it was important to stay true to what my values are and neither candidate represents my values. Wow. Yeah, shout out to Bernie. His 16 run was one of a kind.
Starting point is 00:20:14 It was amazing. I remember being a college student at the time and seeing him everywhere. People really resonated with him back then. That man is the real deal. I mean, he is not some phony politician. He says what he means. He's been saying the same thing for literally decades. And what he says is correct. He focuses on the people.
Starting point is 00:20:33 He focuses on what is broken in our system and what needs to be done to fix it. It is a damn shame that Democrats squashed him and didn't allow him to, in my opinion, be one of the best presidents in American history. It would have been an interesting presidency, I think. Yeah. It would have been so different from everyone else. He's principled. I mean, how hard is it to find a politician who's principled?
Starting point is 00:20:56 Very. And I respect that because he's still saying the same things he was 10 years ago. That's exactly right. Which is, I feel like, pretty rare in politics. Yeah. On the college stuff, on the student loan forgiveness, where do you stand on that whole debacle? I'm in favor of college loan forgiveness, but I think it's also a bandaid on a problem that needs to be looked into and
Starting point is 00:21:15 fixed. So I want students to have some relief. I want, I think it would actually improve the economy. It would open them up to being able to start their lives, have a marriage, have children. I know that these are things that a lot of people want to do, but they feel like they're not financially stable enough to do it. However, I do think that there's something broken in our education system, in higher education. There is a problem with how much these colleges are charging students for tuition, even with the massive endowments that they have. I think that, you know, at this point, if someone is thinking about going to a four-year
Starting point is 00:21:53 institution, they have to think of it as a real investment. If you're going to major in something that isn't going to lead to gainful employment, you're going to be screwed. And so, you know, the mindset needs to change with the incoming students, but the system also needs to change in that the tuition is ridiculous, it's over bloated and something needs to be done about that. Yeah, I see guys like Charlie Kirk saying it's a scam and it's interesting when you look into the numbers of what percentage of people are getting jobs after and how much money they're investing into these degrees.
Starting point is 00:22:27 Yeah. But it worked for you, so you got the flip side of things. Well, I went to a state school and my dream when I was in high school was to go to USC. USC did something super shady and I ended up going to Cal State Northridge as a result of it. So basically when I was in high school, I went to community college and I got two years of community college done at the same time as graduating high school.
Starting point is 00:22:55 Wow, I didn't know you could do that. Yeah, you can. And so I started going to Los Angeles Valley College when I was super young. Actually, I started off at Pierce College, took two courses there and then I moved over to LA Valley College starting in ninth grade. And the reason why I did that is because my parents are immigrants. They came into the United States as Armenian refugees. And so growing up, we didn't have much. And I did not want
Starting point is 00:23:20 to place a financial burden on my parents when it came to college. So I was thinking ahead, finished two years of community college at the same time I finished my high school degree. And the whole plan was get into USC, transfer two years of credits. So I only have to pay for two years of tuition at USC. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:41 USC refused to transfer the units. They said they would only transfer one class and that was English 101. Everything else I would have to retake. Whereas Cal State Northridge was like, not only will we transfer the two years, we will also give you additional funding for college supplies, textbooks, things like that. Cal State Northridge is also closer to where my parents live. So I stayed living with my parents as I went to college. State schools are obviously a lot cheaper than going to a private university like USC.
Starting point is 00:24:13 So when I graduated college, I actually had a savings account of like $10,000 as opposed to student loan debt. But I was a little more scrappy and a little more willing to think ahead. Not everyone is going to do that. And so I do think that there needs to be a rethinking of this entire higher education system. So it ends up actually benefiting people's lives as opposed to hurting people's lives.
Starting point is 00:24:40 Yeah. Why do you think USC did that? That they wanted you to pay more? Of course they did. Yeah. They wanted me to pay at that time, you know, $45,000 a year in tuition. And I just, I was unwilling to do that. And I was unwilling to demand that my parents do that. Yeah. I've learned way more from YouTube and podcasts and shows like yours than ever. Like I went to college for a year and didn't learn anything.
Starting point is 00:25:02 Oh, that's interesting. Where'd you go to college? Rutgers. I grew up in Jersey. Yeah, super liberal state. Yeah, I mean, look, I think real world experience is the most valuable experience. You're gonna learn the most by doing
Starting point is 00:25:16 as opposed to sitting in a classroom. But I went into college with a plan and I wanted to study journalism. Now, some will argue you don't need a journalism degree to be a journalist and I agree to that to some extent, but I wanted to study broadcast journalism. So there was a lot that I did learn, editing the technical side of things,
Starting point is 00:25:39 how to write for broadcast, how to write for print, it's two different writing styles. So if you're going in with a plan and you want to go in with a specialty or an expertise, then I think it makes a lot of sense. But I don't think that four-year colleges make sense for everyone. And I think for some people, you know,
Starting point is 00:26:01 going to a trade school and learning a trade is something that could be very valuable. Especially right now, there is a severe shortage of workers in various trades and these are actually lucrative jobs. I have a lot of respect for workers in the trades. I'm kind of, to some extent, jealous. Like I love carpentry and I kind of want to do carpentry. Um, but at this stage in my life, I'm going to keep going in the direction I've been going in. Yeah, no, you can make six figures as an electrician, a plumber. Oh yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:27 And it's not the sexiest thing, but I mean. I think it's super sexy. I love it, yes. I love woodworking, like working with your hands, building something, being able to like fix stuff in your own home, rather than like calling someone to change a light bulb. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:26:42 You don't see that in my generation. Yeah, exactly. We're not as hands-on as you guys and the boomers. I'm not a light bulb. You know what I mean? You don't see that in my generation. Yeah, exactly. We're not as hands on as you guys and the boomers. I'm not a boomer. Are not, what's in between? Millennial, I'm a millennial. You're a millennial? Okay, I'm the one after that. Gen Z.
Starting point is 00:26:54 Gen Z. Yeah, I mean, millennials are definitely not good with their hands either. Oh, they're not? Yeah, I think, but the millennial generation, I think is the generation that really started to be pushed toward the college education route. They were told as long as you get your education and work really hard, you'll be able to graduate
Starting point is 00:27:13 and build a really nice life for yourself. But that wasn't the case for a lot of people. They graduated into an economic disaster, an economic disaster in which the Obama administration decided not to punish the banks for, and the banks were the ones who created the financial disaster. So I think a lot of what we're seeing today in the political landscape is retaliation for the failures of the Democratic Party
Starting point is 00:27:41 in holding these financial institutions responsible for what they did in destroying so many people's lives. Yeah. I love how objective you are because you'll criticize Democrats, Republicans, doesn't matter for you. Well, there's truth and then there's political campaigning. There's political propaganda. And what do I want to do with my life? Do I want to be a political propagandist or do I want to be a source of accurate information for people? Now I'm a human being and I have no doubt that I will make mistakes in the future because bias is a powerful thing.
Starting point is 00:28:14 But I'm doing my best to hold myself accountable and be as honest as I can based on what I am seeing, what the evidence indicates. And when you really focus on evidence-based reporting, there's a lot to criticize on both sides. Yeah, that's rare in your space, I feel like, because there's crazy money offers in your space. Oh, for sure. You've probably been offered crazy deals
Starting point is 00:28:35 from sketchy companies, and that's respect that you turn those down, so. Yes, there have been some lucrative deals. And one thing that I would say about myself, and it's always been the case since I was a kid, I have a difficult time following orders and I have a difficult time not saying what I actually think. And so I wouldn't be able to survive in a context
Starting point is 00:29:00 where someone is telling me to say something or demanding that I push a specific narrative. I am willing to take a lot of blowback and a lot of heat as long as I'm willing or able to say what I really believe. You know, so- That's why you didn't last long in traditional media. I didn't, no.
Starting point is 00:29:17 You said you lasted like a year, right? Yeah, I lasted about a year at CBS radio. That was my first job out of college. And it just wasn't an appealing environment for me. And I feel like that's like a dream job for people that specialize in journalism, right? Oh, for sure. Especially fresh out of college. Journalism jobs are very difficult to come by. That was true back then. I mean, I graduated in 07 with my journalism degree,
Starting point is 00:29:41 but it's especially true now. A lot of newsrooms have just been decimated. So yeah, because the viewership is down, right? Viewership is down. There's a lot more competition with independent media. I think newsrooms made a poor decision in divesting from the investigative arm of their operation and people just don't trust them. There's a reason why more and more people are getting their information from social media. I don't think that's necessarily a good thing, by the way. I wanna be clear.
Starting point is 00:30:11 But there's a reason for that. And the lack of trust in media is something that legacy media outlets really need to come to terms with and maybe rethink the way that they're doing the news. They're gonna have to adapt. They have to adapt and they have to realize that when they lie to audiences or readers, people aren't stupid and they're gonna figure it out.
Starting point is 00:30:33 And when they do figure it out, that's it, your credibility is gone. And people are no longer gonna come to you for your information or for your reporting. There have been so many examples in recent years that woke me up. You know, I kind of bought into some of these lies and then you dig a little deeper and you realize,
Starting point is 00:30:53 oh my God, in context, the individual that they're attacking actually said X, Y, and Z. You know, there's a lot of misrepresentation happening in the press right now. Yeah, when I see one guy getting attacked from like 20 different outlets, I'm like, all right, what's actually going on here now? I used to not question it at all.
Starting point is 00:31:08 I used to just believe it, but now you kind of have the critical think, right? Well, people base their opinions, and in some cases they're reporting on sound bites or clips. And I think that someone who's actually very prone to being attacked in this way is Donald Trump because of the fact that his rally speeches go on for hours.
Starting point is 00:31:27 I mean, that guy loves to talk. And so what ends up happening is some bad faith actors will clip out or cherry pick his terrible moments. And there are, sometimes he says things that are unhinged, totally unhinged. And so you'll see that clip. And if a reporter or journalist bases their entire reporting on those
Starting point is 00:31:45 clips as opposed to going back and watching the rally and putting it in context, they're going to make terrible mistakes. And so a recent example of that was when they accused Donald Trump of saying that if he doesn't win the election, there will be a bloodbath in the country. And so they try to present him as someone who is advocating for or inciting violence if he doesn't win the country. And so they try to present him as someone who is advocating for or inciting violence if he doesn't win the election. So I went in and watched his statement in context. I was curious, okay, was there more to this statement? And it turns out he was talking about the auto industry, the economy, and how he believes that if the Democratic Party wins, there will be a blood bath in the auto industry, in the economy. And so we reported on that and we made sure that we gave the proper context,
Starting point is 00:32:34 because I don't want our audience and I don't want people in general to fear things that they don't need to be fearful about. And in that case, he didn't say that there would be a blood bath in the country, like a violent backlash if he doesn't win the election. That's crazy, but the average person is not gonna do that research. They're gonna see the headline and then believe it. Average person is trying to put food on their table.
Starting point is 00:32:56 Average person doesn't have the time, the most valuable resource of time to do what journalists are supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be providing a public service. And I think that to some extent, the opposite has happened with some of these outlets. And when they don't understand why they're losing readers or losing audiences, when they don't understand why their debunks of Donald Trump aren't working, they should do some self-reflection.
Starting point is 00:33:24 Yeah. You know, they should do some self-reflection. Yeah. You know, they need to do better. And I think if they do, they could maybe potentially earn that trust back. But what I've been noticing is these organizations and these institutions have decided to kind of lash out at the average American or smear the average American as opposed to listen to the average American
Starting point is 00:33:47 and what their genuine concerns are. I think the people in this country are wonderful. I really do. I think the vast majority of people in America are good people who wanna do the right thing, but they feel that they've been let down by our institutions. And rather than lash out at them,
Starting point is 00:34:02 I think those employed by our institutions, those who have been elected into our institutions need to listen to them. Yeah. When you talk to journalists, do you sense they're frustrated that they can't write about the truth? I don't really sense that frustration. I mean, those conversations don't really happen.
Starting point is 00:34:19 I mean, I don't think journalists are under the impression that they're being told what to write and say. I do think that there are pressures that maybe they're not fully cognizant of, but they do listen to. So audience capture, I think is a good example. You know, if you are providing information through a partisan lens, well, then you're going to cultivate an audience that's gonna expect a partisan point of view in the way that you report the news. And if you then decide, okay, well,
Starting point is 00:34:54 I'm coming at this from a Democrat lens. If you then start to criticize the Democratic Party for something that they legitimately did wrong, well, there's gonna be backlash from your audience. Right. And a lot of people are not going to want that backlash. So they're just going to go along to get along. I see a lot of that happening on the right and the left, by the way. I think that's an issue with a lot of content creators on YouTube. I think that's the case with a lot of,
Starting point is 00:35:23 you know, mainstream media outlets on television. And you just have to be willing to take the heat because I think the truth is more valuable, right? Than your personal emotions and feelings. Which you've done great at because you've gotten some heat over the years. I mean, I've gotten heat. Thank you for saying I've done great at it. It's been difficult. You know, there are days where I feel very
Starting point is 00:35:46 alienated and there are days when, you know, look at the end of the day, I'm a human being. And so when people are dogpiling and I'm just trying to do my best, there are days when I feel like crap. So I, you know, lost it the other day because someone got upset at me. We did a segment about these statements that Ben Shapiro had given at UCLA, because there was just this wonderful student, I don't know anything about this student, but I give him a lot of credit.
Starting point is 00:36:18 He's a Jewish individual himself. I believe he was even wearing a yarmulke, so he's obviously devout. He stands up and he asks Ben Shapiro, don't you have a problem with how Israel has prosecuted this war? When you consider how many innocent civilians have been killed.
Starting point is 00:36:36 And Ben Shapiro basically said that he, no, does not at all criticize them. And in fact, like celebrates the way that they've prosecuted this war. I found that offensive and I wanted to cover the story. So we're covering the story. And I basically said, like, I don't know if Shapiro is lying or if he just doesn't know.
Starting point is 00:36:59 And then I proceeded to provide evidence for why I think what the IDF is doing is wrong. Someone in the audience who doesn't think I'm left-wing enough criticized me for not calling Ben Shapiro a liar outright. It was a second of what we were talking about. It was the most irrelevant portion of what we were talking about.
Starting point is 00:37:17 But I flipped out because I'm like, we just did a 25 minute story where we skewered Ben Shapiro, but it wasn't good enough. Because I'm not pure enough for them, right? Like I have to roll around in the mud and engage in all sorts of gross tactics in order to please them. And so I flipped out and I regret flipping out. I shouldn't have let that person get under my skin, but it wasn't just about that one person. It was about literally now multiple years of people just riding me over the fact that I wanna be a lot more fair and a lot more honest
Starting point is 00:37:54 and a lot more accurate in what I am reporting and sharing. I don't know if Ben Shapiro was lying. What I do know is that we all live in our own media bubbles. And what I'm exposed to in the news might be very different from what you're exposed to in the news. I know that I was in a media bubble for a while and I wasn't exposed to certain stories and certain perspectives that would have given me a more comprehensive perception of what's happening in this country. And so I went out of my way to diversify my media diet and make sure that I have a full view of every story. And so since I've had that experience,
Starting point is 00:38:33 I'm a lot more willing to accept that some people might not know everything that I know. Some people might not be exposed to the same information that I'm exposed to. So instead of coming at people with accusations of bad intent or bad faith behavior, how about giving people information and seeing how they react to that information? I think that's a far better way of moving forward. Way better, that's a great point though, because so many people are exposed to just one side.
Starting point is 00:39:01 Totally, 100%. And I was like that for a while too, and I had to start branching off, because I was having on so many conservatives on the show that I was just only just one side. Totally, 100%. And I was like that for a while too. And I had to start branching off because I was having on so many conservatives on the show that I was just only seeing their side. Exactly, and look, it's really hard sometimes to absorb or listen to a perspective that you very clearly disagree with,
Starting point is 00:39:19 but it makes you stronger in your own arguments if you're gonna engage in a debate, a political debate. And I think what the left has actually gotten wrong It makes you stronger in your own arguments if you're going to engage in a debate, a political debate, right? And I think what the left has actually gotten wrong in recent years is they've kind of like roped themselves off from anyone that disagrees with them on anything. And now when I see some of them engage in debates with right wingers, they haven't had the opportunity to sharpen their arguments. And so I'm seeing them engage in like shallow talking points that are easily debunked and it's not a good look.
Starting point is 00:39:54 When it comes to my values, if you go issue by issue, I'm very clearly on the left. But there are areas where the right actually made some good points. But if you haven't been exposed to those points, you're not going to know how to offer a substantive retort. You're not going to know how to argue in good faith. What I see is a lot of falling back on, oh, you're a Nazi. A lot of like stupid name calling.
Starting point is 00:40:25 And that's not really effective. That's not gonna win over hearts and minds. Yeah, I agree. I was watching the Ben Shapiro one on 25 on Jubilee last night, which is a super left platform I'd say. And all the comments were like, these kids aren't making good points. I haven't watched, I've watched one exchange.
Starting point is 00:40:41 I haven't watched the whole thing. So I can't really comment on that. But yeah, look, when you are forced to argue in favor of your argument, like of your point of view, when you have to essentially deal with someone who disagrees with you and you have to make your case, that makes you sharper, that makes you smarter, that makes you better in your argument.
Starting point is 00:41:02 And so this whole thing about you shouldn't platform X, Y and Z because this person is bad or this person believes things that we don't believe. I totally disagree with that. You went on a debate with Ben, right? I debated him, yeah. I debated him at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce. They invited me to debate him.
Starting point is 00:41:22 That was a legit debate, I think. The second time he had me on his show and that was more of a conversation. Got it. Although we did argue a little bit. So it went well then if he invited you on his show. Yeah. Well, yes, because I felt that he was coming at me
Starting point is 00:41:36 with good faith arguments. I still disagreed with him, but he didn't treat the debate as a blood sport. And as long as you don't treat it as a blood sport, I think that it provides for a real exchange and an actual substantive debate. And that's why I like his debates. I'll watch his debates, but there's this new kid. I don't know if you've seen him, Dean Withers.
Starting point is 00:41:58 No. You haven't seen him. He's just like hot right now, but it's all this clickbait stuff. Like it's just getting people riled up. Yeah. People really like conflict, but it's just not conducive to improving things in this country in any way. Yeah. So you just agreed to disagree with him. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:14 I disagree with him on a lot of things. I mean, he has some perspectives that actually infuriate me. Like his views on Israel infuriate me. Well, he's, that one makes sense for him. He's Jewish. But it's his identity. So I get it. It's been an exercise in, you know, self-control.
Starting point is 00:42:35 But what I really wanna do is find ways to bring people together. Even if they have disagreements, I wanna find ways to get Americans to understand that we should have a shared identity as Americans, regardless of what our political affiliation is. Yeah. I think this country needs to heal.
Starting point is 00:42:52 And one of my biggest regrets is I did go through a period of time where I really did feed into that conflict, unwittingly in regard to how damaging it was to the country. I don't know how big my role was in that. I don't want to take full responsibility for the divisions in this country, but I played some role. And this is my way of trying to improve, do better, and find ways where we can bring people together. Yeah, when you think of a division,
Starting point is 00:43:20 you obviously think of Trump, but it could go as far back as Obama too. Yeah, you know, Obama gets a lot of heat for allegedly dividing the country on race and things like that, but I disagree. In fact, Obama really went out of his way to avoid talking about race. I think what Obama did to divide the country or lead to where we are today is his unwillingness to hold the big banks and Wall Street accountable for destroying the economy. I think that's what led to a lot of anger in this country. Right. And it essentially paved the way for
Starting point is 00:43:52 someone like Donald Trump. So you didn't want those bailouts you wanted the banks to fail basically 100% Yeah. How would that change things you think? I mean, it would change our financial institutions. I don't think we should have any institution that's too big to fail. I don't think we should have any institution that's too big to fail. I don't think that the taxpayer that got screwed over by these banks and their predatory activity
Starting point is 00:44:12 should be held responsible for bailing these banks out. Right. It's unacceptable. Yeah, cause when you deposit money, they can loan it 10 times, right? I mean, that's exactly what happens now. Oh, they still do it now? I mean, look, these banks,
Starting point is 00:44:23 like I'll give you a perfect example. These banks will, I mean, the Federal Reserve prints money, they get access to all this capital. And the whole point for the Federal Reserve to do that was, you know, during the economic collapse was to free up capital so these banks can loan money to small businesses and Americans who needed it. And they didn't do that. They did the opposite.
Starting point is 00:44:52 So that was the big solve for the financial collapse that only empowered these big banks that continued foreclosing on people's homes. Like that money would have been better spent on the American people to keep them in their homes. Instead, so many Americans lost their life savings. They lost shelter. They lost so much.
Starting point is 00:45:14 So can you imagine the amount of rage that led to among the electorate? And then you have someone like Donald Trump come in who speaks to that rage. And of course they're gonna support him because he is speaking to a frustration that these people have been dealing with for so many years. Now, look, I just think Democrats
Starting point is 00:45:36 still haven't caught onto that. And they're still engaging in negative campaigning about how he's so dangerous and how he's so terrible and how he's so racist and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And look, it's not working because that message kind of falls on deaf ears when most people are concerned about whether they're going to be able to pay for food, housing, education for their kids, childcare for their kids. These are bread and butter issues that historically, the FDR Democrats, you know, really did speak to
Starting point is 00:46:11 and made the Democratic Party incredibly powerful as a result. They have moved away from those issues because of the corruption in our political system, because they're now funded by corporate interests. So now the party of FDR has become the party of corporations and the American people are smart enough to pick up on that. Yeah. Yeah, it's almost like these corporations
Starting point is 00:46:33 are really running the show. 100%. Cause they're donating the most and they kind of tell them what to say. I mean, let me just give you a little example of this, okay? You have Kamala Harris saying things like, we need to do something about price gouging, or she said that she would want to do away with something called the filibuster in the Senate. So the filibuster in the Senate is a legislative filibuster,
Starting point is 00:46:57 which requires 60 senators, 60 out of a hundred to vote in favor of legislation in order for it to pass. A simple majority does not stand. So 51 senators vote in favor of legislation in order for it to pass. A simple majority does not stand. So 51 senators vote in favor of something, that legislation doesn't pass. You literally have to get 60 of them to vote in favor. And so Kamala Harris argued that she would want to do away with the legislative filibuster in order to codify reproductive rights. You would need to do that, right? She says that and then she's the good cop. She has the bad cop, Mark Cuban, go on cable television and make abundantly clear, no, I'm against that.
Starting point is 00:47:36 She's not going to do that. Why is Mark Cuban dictating what Kamala Harris would do if she gets elected? He's been very outspoken. Yeah, that's a problem. Yeah. You know? I've never, because I've been following Cuban since Shark Tank, season three or whatever, and he's so outspoken this election,
Starting point is 00:47:54 something just seems weird to me there. Well, he wants to be named the head of the SEC, and I think he's under the impression that he'd have a good shot at that if Kamala Harris wins. I wonder why he wants that. He's already got so much money. SEC, huh. Oh, casino, right?
Starting point is 00:48:10 I have no idea. Like I can speculate, I guess, but he wants that position. It's been pretty clear. And he also really dislikes Donald Trump. So I'm sure that's informing his decision to essentially be like a Kamala Harris surrogate. But my point is his interests conflict with the interests of the Democratic base. And so these conflicts keep coming up over and over and over again. And as Democrats keep siding with the moneyed interests as opposed to their base, they're
Starting point is 00:48:45 going to keep losing people. I think this is the first election in a long time where you have a big loss in voter registration for Democrats. There are less voters registered as Democrats. And are they not noticing the bleeding? Are they not noticing that, hey, you guys are campaigning about how, you know, Donald Trump is a Nazi and he's a threat to democracy and he's so terrible? And he does say really dumb things, you know, on the campaign trail. But don't you guys
Starting point is 00:49:20 ever question why it's so difficult to beat him? Yeah. Isn't that an issue with you? Like, shouldn't you maybe reconsider what, what kind of message you're putting out there and what the party is representing, but they don't do that. And that's the frustrating thing. And, and Trump's touching on a lot of different industries this time around. I mean, going after big pharma, but I haven't seen Democrats talk about that at all.
Starting point is 00:49:40 Well, to be fair, I mean, Kamala Harris keeps bringing up the fact that there was legislation passed under the Biden administration that allows for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, but it's only 10 drugs and it's only the Medicare, you know, system that can do that. So the price of pharmaceuticals doesn't come down for everyone else. She talks about how they did manage to cap the price of insulin, which is a win, and they deserve credit for that. But it's so indicative of what we have seen from the Democratic Party through so many administrations in recent years. They love to do 5% change and then pat themselves on the back and then lash out at voters who say, well, that's not enough. It's not enough.
Starting point is 00:50:27 We do have a broken healthcare system and the fact that Americans are price gouged for pharmaceuticals, especially relative to what other countries are paying for the same drugs is outrageous. And by the way, we fund their research and development through the National Institute of Health. Which we pay for with our tax dollars.
Starting point is 00:50:44 Exactly. So we are paying for their research and development through the National Institute of Health. Which we pay for with our tax dollars. Exactly. So we are paying for their research and development and then these pharmaceutical companies turn around and price gouge us. It's unacceptable. And that's where I'll defend Cuban because he's got the cost plus drugs website. But why is he the one fixing this?
Starting point is 00:50:57 You know what I mean? It's crazy. I mean, it shows, I wouldn't say it shows, but it lends credence to the argument that government can't do anything, that government is useless, right? That government is ineffective. And I think government should play a role in certain sectors of the economy or regulating certain sectors of the economy. But when they are beholden to these corporate interests and unwilling to do that, but when they are beholden to these corporate interests and unwilling to do that,
Starting point is 00:51:25 well, people lose more and more faith in, not just, you know, government, but in our democratic process. And that's what I need Democrats to understand. You can't on one hand, you know, make a big deal about saving our democracy while you are making a mockery of our democracy by not representing the people.
Starting point is 00:51:45 Do you want to see more of the power go towards communities, towards the state? Well, I think local politics and local elections have a much bigger impact on people's day-to-day lives. So there's a lot of attention paid on the national level, but I do think that there needs to be more robust reporting on a local level so people are informed about who to vote for or who best represents them in their local races. But there are issues that the federal government is responsible for. Immigration is a good example.
Starting point is 00:52:19 That is a federal issue. And right now you have various cities across the country grappling with an influx of migrants without any real support from the federal government and that's unacceptable. Yeah the immigration one that's probably the hottest topic this election. Yeah and I can understand why. I mean people think that this is just a Republican issue, it's not. Look at the city of Chicago and what the local community there is dealing with and how they're not just frustrated they're angry.
Starting point is 00:52:45 And I'm not talking about lily white individuals in the suburbs. I'm talking about the black community in Chicago. They are furious because they've been nickel and dimed by the government. They have been dealing with all sorts of societal ills, the lack of housing, the lack of support. And then all of a sudden you have an influx of migrants
Starting point is 00:53:06 who are able to cut in front of the line when it comes to some of these social services and they're pissed and I don't blame them for being pissed. And I'm angry at the federal government for like abandoning these cities and not doing what's necessary to provide the resources to help them grapple with the failures of the federal government.
Starting point is 00:53:24 Yeah. Okay, because failures of the federal government. Yeah. Okay? Because this is a federal government failure. And the Biden administration totally dropped the ball and didn't give a damn about it until it became a political liability. Yep. Now, with Donald Trump, you know, his rhetoric is disgusting. And I was just listening to a town hall that JD Vance did on News Nation.
Starting point is 00:53:48 Chris Cuomo was moderating it. And I think his messaging on immigration is way better than Trump's because Trump uses gross rhetoric that smears all of these people, the vast majority of whom are not coming here to commit crimes, are not coming here to terrorize people. They might be coming here to flee violence. The majority of migrants who have been coming in in recent years are coming here for economic opportunities, which is not protected by our asylum laws, I will admit that. But to smear them all as like these dangerous animals, it grosses me out. And it makes me less receptive to your message. Listening to how JD Vance handled the question, I thought he did a way better job than Trump
Starting point is 00:54:31 does. But the thing about Trump is he can't help himself. And so he runs his mouth and he turns a lot of voters off who I actually think he could attract if he had a little bit of self-control. Yeah, because I feel like we have a record-breaking number of independents this election. Oh, for sure. I've of self-control. Yeah, because I feel like we have a record breaking number of independents this election. Oh, for sure. I've never seen this many.
Starting point is 00:54:46 Yeah, I mean, a lot of people who were registered Democrats decided to register as independents instead. I'm one of them. Yeah, there's tons. Yeah, I could see why he does it because he wants to scare people and tie an emotion to it. So they vote. But it's so counterproductive.
Starting point is 00:55:00 It really is. When he does that, you know, I'll give you a good example. So Springfield, Springfield, Ohio was obviously in the news in recent weeks and it was because of the rhetoric that Trump used to describe the migrant population there. So big Haitian population. And I'm gonna just say, I mean, it's a small town and all of a sudden you have 15 to 20,000 Haitian migrants coming in, that's gonna be disruptive. I totally understand that that's gonna lead to some issues. Let's actually address those issues rather than accuse Haitian migrants of stealing people's cats and dogs and eating them. And look, it's gross in that it directs
Starting point is 00:55:43 violence and hatred toward migrants and I don't agree with that at all. But it's gross in that it directs violence and hatred toward migrants, and I don't agree with that at all. But it's also counterproductive for Trump's campaign because people who might be receptive to his message or might be receptive to the idea that there are issues with immigration that we should find solutions to, like feel repelled by him, feel grossed out by him. He's actually stepping on his own message by using the kind of rhetoric that he does. Agreed, yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:09 I wonder why they all went there specifically. That's such a random place to go, right? There's a lot of demagoguing and a lot of gross stuff happening in our politics these days. And I want to personally lead by example and move away from that. It's hard to get to where we need to be
Starting point is 00:56:26 when our politicians are engaging in that rhetoric. But look, I actually think if Trump had some self-control, I mean, he'd wipe the Democrats out in this election. Really? Yeah, I mean, he's speaking to the issues that matter to the voters. And I, to all the Democrats who might be watching, to all the people on the far left who might be watching who are angered by what I'm saying right now.
Starting point is 00:56:52 Okay, you can be angry. But while the Democrats are talking about how he's Hitler and how you shouldn't vote for him because he's so dangerous, he's talking about the economy. He's talking about immigration. he's talking about the economy, he's talking about immigration, he's talking about the issues. And he is saying things, I mean, look, some of the rhetoric I don't like, but when he talks about bringing jobs back to America, that's going to resonate with people. When he's speaking to the frustrations that some cities are currently experiencing with
Starting point is 00:57:21 an influx of migrants, that's going to be more appealing than hearing the Democrats fear monger about Trump being bad. So this is not me saying that Democrats are worse or Republicans are better. This is me saying, Democrats have dropped the ball. They need to take personal responsibility on that. They need to self-reflect and they need to change the way they campaign. Right, because they've had 12 over the last 16 years in office, right?
Starting point is 00:57:46 Yeah. And now the economy's hurt and then they're putting the blame on Trump, but 12 of the last 16 years were Democrats. And that's an issue for Kamala Harris when she's, you know, trying to make the case for, you know, her presidency. Because she's in office right now. Yeah. You know, and I'll just leave it there. Yeah. No, people forget she's still the vice office right now. Yeah. You know, and I'll just leave it there. Yeah. No, people forget she's still the vice president right now. Okay. So on your Wikipedia,
Starting point is 00:58:10 I never know what to believe on Wikipedia, but I thought this was interesting. It said you were atheist. Yeah. Are you still atheist? Yeah. I mean, I mean, look, I don't believe in organized religion. I had a, I had an experience this year that I'm not fully comfortable talking about. I've talked about it a little bit on our show. I don't know if it was like a spiritual thing. It sounds kooky. That's why I don't talk about it because I don't want people to think I'm kooky.
Starting point is 00:58:35 But, you know, I think that I'm more spiritual and I don't really know how to articulate what I mean by that. But I don't believe in any organized religion. I do not get any atheist energy off you. Really? You seem very purposeful. Oh, interesting.
Starting point is 00:58:52 You seem to be very comfortable with what you talk about. When I think of atheists, I think of a kind of a depressing tone almost. Oh, I don't think that's true. I think there's plenty of atheists who don't fall in that category. Well, I used to be atheist. Oh, I don't think that's true. I think there's plenty of atheists who don't fall in that category. Yeah, well, I used to be atheist. Oh, interesting. Yeah, there's- So maybe I'm just being biased because at that time I was depressed and stuff.
Starting point is 00:59:11 Were you part of like the new atheist movement? It was when I was in high school and a little after, so 2012 to like 2020, I'd say. Interesting. Is that the new movement or no? Yeah, I think so. I mean, there was like 2020, I'd say. Is that the new movement or no? Yeah, I think so. I mean, there was like a brand of atheism that was like for some reason, particularly obsessed with the Muslim religion
Starting point is 00:59:34 and they were very militant about that. And that kind of turned me off. I'm like, I just don't believe in any of these organized religions really. I don't either. Yeah. So we agree on that. Yeah. But I would say I'm spiritual. But I feel that there is something,
Starting point is 00:59:48 I feel very connected to the world around me, if that makes any sense. And it's not just people like nature and there's something greater than us. I don't know if you wanna call that God, but there's, I don't know. I just feel more connected to the world around me than I ever have. Oh, wow.
Starting point is 01:00:04 Yeah. You might need a little psychedelic experience. I've had more connected to the world around me than I ever have. Yeah. You might need a little psychedelic experience. I've had psychedelic experiences. I did not like it. Oh wow. Yeah, not a fan. Damn. That's, yeah, well it's your internal coming out.
Starting point is 01:00:16 Maybe you were dealing with something. Oh, for sure. All I did was lay on a park bench and sob. Like crazy, it was terrible. You gotta be in the right state of mind, the right people around you. I will say though, after afterwards, I mean, it felt like a million pounds was lifted off my shoulders. By the way, this is like years ago. So I felt better, but I just didn't enjoy the experience. And I feel like if I'm going to be putting something in my body, I want to enjoy it.
Starting point is 01:00:41 I can relate. I've had bad moments on trips too. Yeah. And it's been fun. Where can people keep up with you and follow you? Thank you. Yeah. Social media, just look me up, Anna Kasparian. And I have a new Substack. I write there, you know, gives me an opportunity to be more nuanced in my views.
Starting point is 01:00:58 And that's over at kasparian.substack.com. Perfect. We'll link below. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for watching, guys. Check out our stuff. See you next time.

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