I've Had It - Big Cult, Little Brains

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

We have some constructive criticism for the country.....Order our new book, join our cult, and more by clicking here: https://linktr.ee/ivehaditpodcast.Thank you to our sponsors:Cook Unity: Go to https://www.cookunity.com/haditfree for Free Premium Meals for Life. Thanks to CookUnity for supporting the show!Earth Breeze: Right now, you can get 40% off with your subscription at https://earthbreeze.com/hadit.Native Path: Get started with up to 66% off and free shipping at https://NATIVEKRILL.com/HADIT.Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://SHOPIFY.COM/haditAddyi, The Little Pink Pill: See full prescribing information and medication guide, including boxed warning for severe low blood pressure and fainting, at http://addyi.com/piFollow Us:I've Had It Podcast: @IvehaditpodcastJennifer Welch: @mizzwelchAngie "Pumps" Sullivan: @pumpspumpspumpsSpecial Guest: Sen. Andy Kim  @SenatorAndyKim ​See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

So are we supposed to start the podcast? Ready? One, two, three. Patriots. Oh shit. Patriots, gay triots, gay triots, black triots, brown triots. Welcome to America's top DEI podcast where we just like to give them hell all day every day.

Pumps, what have you had it with? What I've had it with is I've just fucking had it with voicemail. I've had them with leaving them. I've had them with receiving them. Like there's no world in which you're going to confirm my appointment and I'm going to call you back. Like that's simply never going to happen. If you send me a text and it says confirm and all I have to do is hit see, I'm in.

Stop leaving voicemails. I just feel like we're past that. I left one this morning for a friend on my way to work. I felt guilty about it ever since because nobody fucking wants to listen to a voicemail. Nobody. Well, I don't even think I listen to them anymore because now the smartphone will transcribe.

And so now I just read the transcription of the voicemail. Mine doesn't do that. It does. You just don't know how to do it. Well, that's probably true. But I mean, like, does any appointment think that I'm going to call them back and say, yes, I'm going to confirm? Well, I mean, I think, you know, you're like, we know you're on the cusp of Boomer.

I'm not. I think a lot of Boomers call back. No, I do think Boomers call back. I 100% do. But I'm not on the cusp of being a boomer. You're pretty close. Kylie, what's the age of it? I mean, what's the year of a boomer?

I just feel like if it's like 1970 or 1969, I'm gonna crawl under the table immediately. What's the boomer? 1946 to 1964. That's pretty close. I'm six years past it. Six years? Four years? You're talking about four years. Wait, what's she saying? 64? You're 68? No, I'm 70. 70? All right.

So that's six years. And you act like four years is the world's biggest age gap. So I'm not that close. It's pretty big considering. You can't have it both ways. It's pretty big considering you don't know how to, that you can transcribe your voice memos. Well, I don't know how I can do that. I wish I did. I'll click the message, I'll show you. It's real easy. And then you can read them and then you no longer have to listen to them.

What about when I'm an asshole and I leave them for people because I'm driving? I mean, I felt guilty. Why do you feel guilty? Just because nobody wants to listen to that. If it were me, I'd be like, why did you leave a voicemail? Why? Maybe your friend likes it. I doubt it.

Did you ramble? No, no. I was very short and to the point. All right. I bet it's okay. I think you can alleviate your guilt. It's just a voice memo. It's just not a big thing in Trump's America.

I didn't, you know, like take over in a fascist movement or anything. No, no. I mean, you're not out there triple-Trumping. You're not out there free-basing Fox News. I think we're fine with the rogue voicemail. Okay, I have something that I have to share with everybody. So a friend of mine called me, FaceTime to me Monday night, and I answered the phone and this friend of mine, her name is Liz, her default setting is just smug in general. So I answer the FaceTime and we're making direct eye contact and we're both just silent, staring at each other, which is kind of our thing. Like if we see each other, we just kind of stare. Neither one of us are like the, you know, we're more like, what are you doing? And so we kind of stared at each other and she says, I have a confession that I have to make to you. And I said, okay,

Liz, what is it? And she said, I went to my doctor and you know, I've had tennis elbow from all of the pickleball playing, but I haven't been playing that much pickleball lately. So I was talking to the doctor about some other things, you know, like generalized healthcare. And then she says to the doctor, you know, I haven't been playing that much pickleball, but despite this, my tennis elbow

still persists. And the doctor then inquires, do you carry a Stanley Cup? To which Liz answered, yes. And I know that Liz carries a Stanley Cup because every time we're playing pickleball together in between matches, she goes and gets her Stanley Cup and goes, Hey Jennifer, Hey Jennifer. And she like takes a swig out of her Stanley Cup. She's like, it's delicious.

Do you want to drink? If it's hot or if it's cold, whatever it is, she'll offer it. So she's always trolling me with her Stanley Cup. But this is just another thing to add to the list. Stanley Cup is causing injuries tennis elbow. It's exacerbating tennis elbow. Um, I put it into chat GPT. It appears that it can in fact exacerbate tennis elbow. Nobody needs to carry around a cup that large that that that is that heavy. Yeah. And to say this, Liz has the best smug I've ever seen in my life. She does it better than anybody ever.

Totally. You pale in comparison. Oh no, she's the queen of smug. She's the queen. But you know, the stealing, it makes sense. They are heavy. They are really heavy. And here's the deal. I would still be carrying mine except for the lips. You get wrinkles around your lips. So I've switched cups, but it is heavy. It is heavy. I'm not going to say. So now in addition to it's a gateway to MAGA, it's a gateway to tennis elbow. Just add that to the lid and lead poisoning. Yeah. I mean, I just don't think there's any question about it. So I just thought that was

a pretty interesting evolvement in my ongoing study of the Stanley Cup fetish. And if you're new here listener, the Stanley Cup, I'm not talking about the hockey thing. I'm talking about this American fetish, capitalist consumer fetish, particularly among white women that carry around these large cups that have lead in them and just like drink nonstop. I still will never get over that somebody has to sip on something all day every second of every day. So if the listeners knew, tell them about your hydration issues. Like you're so mad about over hydration. You think everybody's over hydrated. Well I do think everybody's over hydrated and I do drink water all day long, but I found myself in the ER screaming, crying with what was diagnosed a few hours later of kidney stones, which was

worse than childbirth. And I mean, you guys, I was, that was death. It was complete and utter death. I don't go to the doctor. I'm an anti-hypo. I brag about I have 102 fever and I'm not going to go to the doctor because it's a total racket because we all know the fever will go away. And you kind of are judgmental about people that do go to the doctor. Totally. 100% judgmental of hypochondriacs. Totally. Which we all know my husband is one. So when we go to the hospital, he takes me and everybody knows Josh's long, um, toward history with, um, demanding exams,

demanding medical care, and I'm the opposite. And his hypochondria makes me even more of an anti-hypochondriac. So I find myself at the ER wailing, right? I'm completely wailing. They inject me with a couple of doses of morphine, which took my pain from a 10 down to maybe a six. I'm a little bit better. But then they're like, okay, we're gonna take you away for your CAT scan.

And Josh chimes in with contrast or without. I whip my head around like what are you fucking radiologist tech? What do you mean with contrast or without? I just kind of like whip around and he goes, oh I know all about it. I've done both. Right. Right. Of course you have. How would you know with contrast or without? I mean that both. Right. Right. Of course you have. How would you know with contrast or without? I mean, that's just insane. Oh my gosh. I love that so much. That makes me so happy that he did that because it's just a little bit of brevity in that very dire situation. He keeps saying and I'm screaming you guys. I mean, it's just horrific, horrific

pain. My legs are convulsing and I'm just, I can't control it. And I keep saying I'm going to vomit. I'm going to throw up because I felt so much pain that I felt like the only thing I could do was vomit. And Josh goes, well, at least this is happening now and not while we're on our trip. And I'm just like, it doesn't matter when it happens. It's still terrible. You have to know this listener about Jennifer Welch. There is nothing that she has, like I would say a genuine fear phobia of, besides needles, she hates, hates, hates, hates, hates it. You think she hates the emergency room?

Wait till they get near with a needle, like a shot. And my girl was in so much pain, she didn't even bitch about it. You weren't even scared, you just took it like a shot. And my girl was in so much pain, she didn't even bitch about it. You weren't even scared. You just took it like a big girl. When the doctor came back and they'd done the no contrast CT scan, he came back and he goes, well, it's what I thought. You have two kidney stones. I said, does that mean you're sending me home? And he goes, well, yeah, eventually. And I was like, I don't want to go home. And then I realized,

like I've, I'm asking to stay at the hospital. That's how painful I know that any listener that has had this, and this is my first time at 50 years old to have one. It's so brutal, but I survived. I can still kind of feel it. I think it's about to go into the bladder. It's all TMI, but it was traumatizing. But anyway, I do drink a lot of water despite brow beating over hydrators. I drink water all day long. I don't drink cokes.

I don't drink sodas. I don't drink iced tea. I drink water. Yeah, but I don't see you. You don't like carry around a bottle of water. Well, no. Not like I do. No, and that's a part of my personality because I am so against performative hydration. Right.

That I think that that stance drove me straight to the ER to a non-contrast CT scan. Getting shot up with morphine and fentanyl, which could stay in the ER. Who is this person? Oh my God. Welcome to I've had it. I'm Jennifer. I'm Angie HBIC. Let's check in with the lesbians.

Kiki. I'm happy that you're back, Jessica. We were worried sick. I know. You know, if I'm at the hospital, it's bad. It just couldn't be worse. OK. I just have to tell you, we have a new nickname

for Kylie slash Katie slash Kiki the Magic Lesbian slash Kathy. She got a letter in the mail, and it said, dear Riley. We had a brand send us PR packages. And I opened the letter letter and it says, Jennifer Pumps and Riley. We are huge fans. That is hilarious. I think there's just something so funny about calling somebody the wrong name.

I'm glad you think so because your best friend does it constantly. I think it's kind of hilarious. Okay, what do you have in store for us today? I've got some reviews today. This first one is five stars titled Thank You from the Groomers. And Elle writes, when my girl gang of groomers, formerly known as teachers, aren't too busy making kids trans, putting litter boxes in our classrooms and brainwashing America's youth with our liberal woke agenda, despite not even being able to get them to put their name on their paper. We love tuning in to YouTube Rods

to refuel our nasty woman powers. Thank you for being a breath of hope and life to all the public servants out there trying to create kind, empathetic, critical thinkers in Trump's America and his attack on education. You help fuel the fire that keeps us fighting the fight and we so appreciate your support and for bringing us along on pumps lesbian door dash driver journey if you need some groomers to help you transition through that we know a few That is so funny. And here's the thing I want to say about One of the things because there's just so much fuckery that goes on in the MAGA movement

But one of the worst and this started in Trump's first term, is this attack on educators. And it's just so fundamentally wrong to attack the people that educate our children. And then they attribute all of these baseless lies to them, when in actuality, if you look at like a lot of the arrests recently in Trump 2.0 and then you go look at their social media, it's like you got a pedo and

then they're posting about Trump. And then you've got some church guy and they're posting about Trump. And these poor teachers, you know, you have these parents that come screeching in and like, I don't want my kid to hot DUI and I don't want my or DEI or DUI. Morphine. But it's just, I just think it's so arrogant and so insane and everybody deep down knows that teachers aren't doing this. And it's, I don't know, I just, I don't like this component of American culture where they start attacking groups of people that are out doing their jobs. When the attacks, if you were attacking like youth pastors, I get it. There's a huge history along, history there of a lot of fuckery with youth pastors.

If you wanted to start attacking church camps for indoctrinating children, I would say do it. But also as a parent, you don't have to send your child there. But the attacks on teachers, I just, I don't like that. And I know that there's so many teachers that try so hard. They don't have that much funding and all. A lot of these teachers don't make that much money. And then they spend a lot out of their own pocket

to get basic necessities for the classroom. And it's just the not valuing education and not valuing our educators and then demeaning the teachers when they try to form unions is just, it's a really extra layer of evil. Yeah, I'll tell you what, I have so much respect for teachers because I'll tell you what right now,

there's nothing worse about being a teacher than the fucking parents. I mean, I cannot imagine having to deal with everybody thinking their little Johnny's perfect, their child's special, so treat them special, with special privileges. And then you have the attacks on them for doing their jobs, when in so many situations,

the teachers are like the heroes of the story. You know, they're the person that brings a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a kid that doesn't have food, or, you know, reports abuse, or things like that provides a safe place for somebody to talk about what's going on at home and it's gross. And I was elementary ed major. I did my student teaching. I thought, this is way too fucking hard.

There's no way. I hate kids. I don't like farting. I just, all this, I can't do it. I mean, teachers, number one, they're underfunded and undervalued. We need to be applauding them at every turn instead of like driving their head up against a brick wall. I completely agree. All right. Riley, who's next? Okay. The next one is a one star review titled Total Nutjobs. And Mr. Majestic writes,

if you believe America is the worst country ever, this is your show. worst country ever. This is your show. I mean, here's the deal, Mr. Majestic. I guess people like Mr. Majestic don't understand constructive criticism. They don't understand the intent that the founders had for a country to be criticized and for corruption to be called out so it could be brought into the light and corrected. They don't understand this, the MAGA, the basic, majestic MAGA. Well, and I think we all know why. I mean, there's a through line there. Obviously dumb, but they're religious beliefs. They're not allowed to question that.

Therefore you can't question Trump or the MAGA policies or you hate America or you're blasphemous if you criticize religion or ask questions. So it makes perfect sense. Okay. Now I've got some stories from the news we have right now. The IRS is now allowing houses of worship to endorse political candidates, ending a 71-year ban. Okay, so here's what I have to say about this. Do it. Let's put them all on record. Let's put all these mega churches on record supporting Trump. We all know they

do. We all know that they want to. I think this is bullshit. I'm hopeful that democracy survives. And not only does this get reversed, but they are taxed because Big Church is every bit as dangerous as Big Pharma and Big Oil. And Big Church goes widely ignored in the United States of America because the Democrats are too big a pussies to say the MAGA Christian Nationalists is a cult antithetical to the teachings of the religion and despite that we have a secular society they're dangerous little cultists and they vote to harm and injure other people and they refuse to come out because then the Christians are like, oh no, I'm getting persecuted. Meanwhile, they persecute everybody with their religion. So, you know, I just know

that all of these churches, these hellfire damnations and even some diet mega churches, you know, some of these mega churches that are like the take Venmo, you know, they're really really big grifters. They like the authoritarian style of government because it works well for their business model. The more authoritarian your personality, that like psychiatrists did a study, what is the one component that is the through line of trumpers? And the majority of them have an authoritarian personality or defer to an authoritarian personality, even more so than religion.

And so what helps religion thrive is it is an authoritarian. So the thing is you have an authoritarian government, you have authoritarian religion. So all of these people find themselves in these situations and critical thinking, education, teachers, all of that they mask as being evil. You know what I saw the other day? I meant to bookmark this.

Caroline Levitt, at the podium, she was talking about spiritual warfare. That didn't surprise me at all. So okay, to our international listeners, there's this thing in the American South where people believe in the spiritual warfare thing and they think it's happening at all times. And in their worldview, Trump would be with the angels fighting the demons, which would be us and you for watching this. They think this is real. They think it's real and they control the federal government pumps. They think this shit is real.

They believe in spiritual warfare and all these mega churches do too. It's always the talk, you know, spiritual warfare and our fight for spiritual warfare and all these mega churches do too. It's always the talk about spiritual warfare and our fight for spiritual warfare. Remember the first time I heard this, I was just like, what on earth are these people talking about? Well, I grew up with it. So it doesn't shock me at all that she says that. Did you think that there was demons fighting around you? Yeah, I'm sure I did. I mean, I didn't think it was like the devil on my shoulder, the angel on this shoulder fighting, but I definitely thought like if I'm pulled in this direction

and I know it. It's Satan. Right. Like not, I guess I don't think I. Do you think Satan was pulling you? I didn't think Satan. I just thought, you know, that's not the way to go. It's war, you know, that kind of thing. But I will say this, and I'm happy to report this because I think Caroline Levin is the absolute, I think she is an abomination on every level to women, to Christians, to truth seekers, to everything that I think should have respect and merit. She fucking takes a big fat dump on it every time she gets on that podium with

her cross and lies. So I read an article and this made me feel better and that's maybe because I'm a petty, petty person. But universally she has been hated her entire life. Her classmates and her peer group said she was a raging cunt starting like from jump. Everybody at college thought she was net, she was ostracized because she's just meaner than a fucking rattlesnake. And I was like, okay, that makes me feel better that other people, even before she got... Hated her before you hated her? Hated her before I hated her and they see what I see. Like, I was oddly comforted by

that. That like, okay, people do know that she's a lying liar who lies a lot, full of shit, meaner than a rattlesnake. Yeah, she's, I mean, she's terrible. She's a propagandist. But I think what's so crazy about the Trump regime is like you have the like all these different little pockets of evil that conspire separately but parallel to one another. So you have like the rapture preppers, you know, like the have the hallelujah praise worship things at the White House where people are speaking in tongues and, you know, raising their hands and doing, I guess, you know, fighting spiritual warfare.

You have that component, the religious nuts, the Bible thumpers. And then you have like the really evil fuckers like Stephen Miller and whoever works under him where their whole agenda is not just to deport people. That's not enough. They want to torture them. They want to concentrate them. They want to display it. And I guess it's like porn to them, which is a really, really sick thing. And when I think about that a lot, it overwhelms me that you want to deport people. We know they're not interested in deporting criminals

because they go to parks, they go to schools, they go to Home Depot, they go to 7-Elevens. They're not going and getting some FBI alert They go to schools, they go to Home Depot, they go to 7-Elevens. They're not going and getting some FBI alert of some drug house somewhere where people are trafficking human beings or trafficking drugs, which we would all agree those people need to be deported with due process and incarcerated after a trial. That's not what they're doing. And I remembered back pumps when Trump was running and we covered his election so rigorously

that he said at one point, you can tell me if you remember, we'll have to have Kylie look up the clip, but he said something like, yeah, we're gonna round them all up and sometimes you might see a mother crying. Do you remember him saying something like, he said something to the effect of painting the picture Do you remember him saying something like he said something to the effect of kind of painting the picture that it was going to be, you know, that it might tug at your heartstrings, but that's what he had to do to keep everybody safe. I'll have to have Kylie look it up. All right, I'm going to move on the next story. All right, nearly half of parents, 47%, admit they're only staying together for their kids. Okay, here's what I have to say about this. And I think every married person with kids can vouch for this.

Some days, you're only staying married for your kids. Some weeks, you're only staying married for your kids. And then sometimes you're married, you're past that, you're like, oh, I actually really like this person. I'm married to him because we're a family. And it ebbs and flows. It's not always this, but I think that if you've been married and you've never felt this component before,

I don't know if you're processing your feelings fully because it's very difficult to live in a family unit and have adulthood just rain hellfire on you. Bills, kids, their personalities sharing, sleeping next to somebody all the time. You know, it's a lot. Young adulthood is really hard. So I think sometimes, a lot of times I've looked at Josh and I thought, it's a good thing you have these two kids with me because I should be leaving your ass. Oh yeah, I think everybody feels that. Contrast, contrast, contrast. Here's the deal, I did this, I stayed married for my kids and that's one of the biggest regrets I have. I should have pulled the plug way before I did. And I think it's probably

worse to stay together in a toxic situation, at least in my case it was. But having done divorce law forever and ever and ever, I mean that is a reoccurring thing. Totally. And not only just because of the kids, but like the finances. Like our two incomes can support our kids in one household and two cars. But when we separate and get two households, it's going to be a lot more expensive and we can't do it. So finances and kids, they go hand in hand. Yeah. And sometimes it's like, I've been through a phase in my marriage before where I'm glad

that we had the kids because there's a good couple of years there where I was just like, I don't really like this person. I can't stand him. And it made more sense, like you said, for us to stay together. And then we sought therapy, he went to rehab, and things got better. And so, you know, I think for those listeners that are experiencing this, unless you're in an overtly abusive situation, then you have to completely get out. Sometimes that's just a part of marriage. Sometimes it is just the kids that keep you together for a little bit. Absolutely.

I just think being with anybody all the time and living with them is fucking hard. I mean, even your kids, it's hard to live with. Pumps and I need to share with everybody that we have written a book. It's called Life is a Lazy Susan of Shit Sandwiches. Believe it or not, Pumps and I have not always been so rock solid. We talk about all of our trials, tribulations, most of all our fuck ups. Yes, because fuck ups are relatable and a part of the human experience. I have gotten so much feedback regarding the book that because of my situation with the

religion and addiction and all that, that people relate to that. So I do think there's something to take away that's comforting about it, because we've all been in very difficult situations. And listener, what we want you to do, this is the It Book for summer reading. So please get your copy of Life is a Lazy Susan of Shit Sandwiches and take a picture of yourself

with the book in really great places and tag at I've Had It podcast and we will share your images with our Summer It book. You can buy it in bookstores, you can buy it in the link in our bio, you can buy it at Target, Walmart, Amazon, etc. All the retailers, happy reading and happy summer. Everyone's worried about health care costs and big pharma and all the red tape you have to go through when you have medical issue. That's why I am focusing on prevention.

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Great, it's nice to see you. Thank you so much for coming on. I'm sure that work has been somewhat stressful lately around the Senate. That big heaping pile of dog shit of a bill. I mean, that's a disaster. Yeah, it's been a mess. Honestly, it's been really tough. I was, you know, the last time that the Republicans had that trifecta in the Congress and the White House and were trying to gut the Affordable Care Act, you know, I was, you know, the last time that the Republicans had that trifecta in the Congress and the White House and were gutting the trying to gut the Affordable Care Act, you know, I was just

a regular citizen. I was not somebody interested in politics. It was very surreal being on the floor of the Senate this time. You know, I remember watching, you know, John McCain be able to stop them from gutting the Affordable Care Act eight years ago with his thumb, right? Yeah. The gladiator style. And this time around to be actually on the floor of the Senate, to be there and watching this unfold, to talk with my colleagues and be praying for that political courage to return yet again. But, you know, I just, yeah, I just think it was really tough to see and really tough to experience this time around. And, you know, I don't know what's going to happen next here in the Senate. I think that's something that I worry about a lot.

OK, so Senator, we like to talk about, start off with just petty grievances, just everyday annoyances that drive our listeners crazy. So, Senator Kim, what have you had it with? Yeah, well look, I got a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old, two little boys, and we just had them meet up with some of their cousins for a little family reunion. So they were like four boys between the ages six and ten. And every single sentence that they said started with bro. Bro, bro that. I mean, it was just like, and they would just say, not just to themselves, but to me, they're like,

bro, can you get me dinner? I was like, what are you talking about? So I had it with my young boys just saying bro in front of every single sentence. It's a little overwhelming. You know, my sons always say to me, if I text them something like, hey, I got our flights booked, they respond, sick. Every time I see that, I'm always like,

sick of what? And then I realize, oh, you're, this is the word, like I used to say to my mother, oh, cool. And she'd be like, what's cool? You know, she didn't know what it went. And there's a real moment where it makes me feel older. And there's a real moment where it makes me feel older. Yeah, it does. I mean, it definitely makes me feel like I'm missing some of the language that they're referring to. But it's, I don't know, it's also endearing in some ways because I got, you know, these two boys that, you know, they, it's, you know, at that age of two years apart, they like love hate each other. Right. And like like it's cute to see them just, you know, bonding. They sleep in the same room and like they have that kind of brotherly love. So

I don't know. It's fun to watch their personalities unfold, you know, especially at that age. But it doesn't mean that it's any less annoying when they start to do certain things though. We emailed with you prior to your coming on. One of the things that you've had it with is money in politics. So Congress people owning and trading stocks and, you know, like super donor candidates like Elon Musk, Trump, I would assume, and then super PAC spending. So tell us your thoughts on this. Yeah, I mean, I think this is one of the biggest problems that we have out there. And I think the root of so many of the sins and illnesses that we have in our politics. I mean, like first and foremost, like members of Congress and government officials, like we should not be owning and trading individual stocks. That

should be a no brainer. I mean,'ve got colleagues in Armed Services Committee or other committees that have stocks in Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed. We're making major decisions that can affect these companies, these industries. And the American people deserve to know that we are doing things and making decisions based off of what's best for the country, not what's best for one's stock portfolio, for one's bottom line. So that's something that just really pisses me off. There's so many other industries where you're not able to trade stocks because of conflicts of interest. Why is it that we have this? No one's holding a gun to our head to do these jobs. If you care that much about your stock portfolio, please, I'm sure there's something else you can do. That's always been frustrating to me, and especially

what we see right now with the president as well. It's not just about members of Congress. I have legislation I've introduced that would ban members of Congress from owning and trading stocks, but also the president, the vice president, cabinet officials, even the Supreme Court justices. I often say, if you have a job whose job description is in the Constitution of the United president, cabinet officials, even the Supreme Court justices. I often say, if you have a job whose job description is in the Constitution of the United States, you should not be trading and owning stocks. You should be focused on the people. There's a higher calling, and you should be held at a highest level of standard. That's been really frustrating. Also, just writ large like in money and politics like like I have run for Congress against only self funders.

I've only had the chance to run against self funders and it's really frustrating when like someone can just throw in, you know, millions of dollars into their own campaign. And I often say it's like playing chess against someone with all queens. Like, it's just not the same game. I don't have the ability to throw in millions of dollars into my own race. Why is it that someone that can just immediately get so much of an advantage? Same thing with super PACs. I think one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of this country was Citizens United. It has unleashed this curse upon our democracy with billions of dollars being spent.

It makes it harder for us candidates because we now have to compete against these super packs that you don't even know who's funding these. We had one that was coming after me about healthcare. We tried to track down who it was and it was like the best we could find was it went back to some like strip mall, you know, UPS store in Virginia or something like that. We had no idea who was funding these super PACs trying to spread these lies against me. And it just raises up the ability for like Elon Musk and others to have an outsized impact on our democracy. It's inherently unfair and tilted towards the billionaires, which is now what we see

having the influence in this administration as well as in Congress. Let me ask you this. This is something I think is at the core of the Democratic Party moving forward. You have in New York a candidate named Zoran Mamdani who won his primary via grassroots. won his primary via grassroots. And now you have some New York politicians who are Democrats who have not endorsed him. And the one thing that all of these Democrats have in common is they take AIPAC money. And I think this is a real problem for the Democratic Party.

And I think when you put the needs of Israel, who is a completely hawkish country controlled by a total war criminal dictator, Benjamin Netanyahu, and you see that the Democrats right now in power only have a 16% approval rating, and then comes this grassroots, young, good-looking, smart-talking, affordability candidate that just takes New York City by storm and rich white people got the guy elected. And you're not listening to that and you're not endorsing him. And then we did a little deep dive on this and every single one of these senators and

congresspeople, the one thing they all have in common is they are beholden to AIPAC. And I think it's a huge problem. And Israel is underwater with the Democrats right now. Their support has completely reversed, kind of like gay marriage did, super, super fast. Because Democrats cannot watch people being killed and starved and shot in aid lines to get food and feel like we're okay with that. So I just think this is a big problem. And I think more Democrats have to come out and call out their coworkers on this because we're literally on the precipice of authoritarian regime. I mean, who knows

if we're going to make it to the midterms, quite honestly. I mean, seriously. Yeah. No, look, I mean, a lot there that we're struggling with. First and foremost, I mean, you're right. Like, I think about my own Senate race when I was running for Senate. You know, I stepped up to run against an indicted senator, Senator Bob Menendez, who was indicted for corruption. Oh, yeah. But then I also found myself running against the current governor's wife. And the entirety of the Democratic Party actually supported the governor's wife rather than me, including all my Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives supporting

her, not me. And it was just one of those situations where I was basically excommunicated from the Democratic Party in New Jersey for a while. I was radioactive. People there didn't want to have anything to do with me. I found it to be so frustrating in some ways because you're just like, look, let's not be just beholden to concentrations of power. Let's not be beholden to corporate interests or this or that. In New Jersey, we have a machine politics and it's a Democratic Party, my own party that's doing so many things

that I think are wrong, you know, doing so many things that I think are just- Well, let's specifically talk about AIPAC. Do you take money from AIPAC? Yeah. No, no, I don't take money from AIPAC. I don't take- And don't you think that in light of the low approval ratings of elected Democrats. And it's such a layup right now to get high approval ratings against just this idiotic MAGA regime. It should be such a layup.

But our politicians, Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, are tethered to AIPAC, and you can just feel it. You can feel their compromise. And the base of the Democratic Party, we're not stupid. We don't go, okay, we're all into Epstein. Oh, okay, now we're not supposed to be into Epstein. Oh, okay, Jewish space lasers. We actually critically think and think for ourselves. And as I watch it and I watch, why are these guys not endorsing this just fantastic candidate? I think we have to, at this time, politicians like you, communicators like us, have to band together to move the Democratic Party away from this because I think it will be our demise.

We lost two political races to a fucking moron who cannot blend his makeup because of centrist democratic policies. And here's the thing, I live in a red state and I used to buy into this democratic narrative that oh, we need to be in the center because it's going to turn off the right. Centrist democratic policies, if you live in a red state, it only makes the right wing further right because everything they define is in opposition to what the opposing party is. So if you're in the center, they go full tilt, no abortion, even if you've been raped or

it's going to save your life. They go so far right. So at this point, I'm like, fuck it. Let's go all the way left. And really, Bernie's ideas, AOC's ideas, Zoran Mamdani's ideas, they're just not radical. The problem is they are just not beholden to special interests. And I just feel like we have to beat this drum.

I think about this a lot because in the House of Representatives, I represented and won a district that Trump won twice. So, I watched the Republicans try to gut the Affordable Care Act. My congressman at the time, a Republican, was the lead author of the health care repeal bill. He was the one that came up with the idea of gutting pre-existing condition protections. And he won my congressional district by 20 points in 2016. So he thought he was untouchable.

But look, we were able to do a 21-point flip, you know, win this seat, help flip the House of Representatives in 2018. And I won in 2020 this district again, despite the fact that Trump won my district that year in 2020. So, you know, I thought a lot about what does it take to win. And I'll be honest with you, like, so often people in D.C. try to make it seem like, you know, a swing district, swing states, that there just is a blue army and a red army duking it out every day.

It's not the case. You know, what I found in my district is the vast, vast, vast majority of people in my congressional district couldn't stand either party. You know, they have such distrust in politics as a whole. And they appreciated that I'm not somebody that dreamt of being in politics since I. And they appreciated that I'm not somebody that dreamt of being in politics since I was a kid,

that I'm not central casting what you would imagine a U.S. congressman or a U.S. senator to look like. I was only 34 years old when I was first starting to run for Congress. I just doubled the number of millennials in the U.S. Senate on the Democrat side. Like, what they liked was that I was somebody that was coming at it from a different direction. I'm not somebody that's just been waiting for someone else to tell me when I can run.

I didn't ask for permission. And when I was running for Senate, as well as in the House, I was pushing a heavy reform agenda. Some of the things I talked about, money and politics, but also, you know about just fixing our fundamental democracy But from an anti corruption standpoint I think it's powerful because I think so many of the people that are disaffected feeling apathetic about politics You know, they're just frustrated real large about the entire

Project and they want people that are could to come at it from a different direction. So I think corruption and anti-corruption and reform agenda, having a new generation of leadership stepping up, those are the types of messages I think the Democratic Party would benefit from. And I think it's something that can coalesce across ideological spectrum. I don't think that it's only progressives that care about stopping corruption. I think that there's a lot of people that can get behind that. And that's at least what I've experienced so far in my time.

Go ahead. When you look at what you know, what you have proposed in terms of corruption and every time I talk, I hear people talking about corruption in politics, you know, Nancy Pelosi is the first name you hear. And I look at how the stock market and the buying futures like Trump's going to announce a tariff, so we're buying and selling. The way that is working. Is there any way by legislation to protect people right from insider information because of their political appointments? Yeah, well, look, like I said, I introduced legislation that would ban members of Congress,

but also executive branch senior officials from owning and trading stocks because I don't think that we should be able to have that kind of insider knowledge and then be benefiting off of that and trading off of it. I think there's conflicts of interest. I think if you're heavily invested in a certain industry, yes, you may want to make sure that that industry is healthy and continues to succeed. So there's no way to be able to extract that.

And I've seen it. And also, it's just also about the perceptions from the American people. When they're seeing Trump doing what he's doing with the tariffs, turning them on, turning them off, and then they're seeing members of Congress actively trading at the same time, when they see members of the administration actively trading stocks at that time, it certainly gives the perception that this is something that is being dominated because of personal benefit and interest. The American people deserve to know that their elected officials and that their government officials are working for them, again, not for

them, working for the people, not for themselves. And so that's really important, especially at a time when there's such distrust in government. Like 84% of people in New Jersey surveyed believe that their politicians are corrupt. Like 84%, that is a crazy number. It just shows you how widespread the concern is. How can democracy function if 84% of people believe that their elected officials are corrupt? That's not functioning. Right? Like that has to change.

It's not functioning. I mean, I think it's just absolutely not functioning. And Trump has monopolized on that. Let's face it, one of the best things about traveling is eating new food in different locations. I don't like to cook, but I like to eat adventurous things. And that is why I love Cook Unity because they prepare such a huge array of different meals. My favorite meal is the Mediterranean Grilled Shrimp Grain Bowl. And I love this so much. It completely makes me crave it every time. The taste is excellent.

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without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you're allergic to any of Addie's ingredients. Allergic reaction may include hives, itching, or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur. I want to get back to what you were saying about you winning MAGA districts. And I think there's a lot of nuggets there for Democrats. And I think about AOC in the last race, she won districts and precincts that Trump also won. And she went famously to her Instagram Live and asked what it was. Zoran Memdani, same thing. And if you think about the juxtaposition of that, you sitting here talking about anti-corruption,

but think back to what people originally said about Trump. He's so rich, he can't be bought. That's what they thought. They thought he's a billionaire. We worship, That's a symptom of American culture we're going to have to deal with if we survive this. But that we worship rich people and we think that they're somehow superhuman. But I do think the nuggets in your districts that you won, that Trump won. Same with AOC. And the same with Mamdani

is a way for Democrats to look into messaging because all of you fiercely, from what I'm hearing you say, and what they do are fiercely independent, grassroots, not beholden to corporations. And there was this myth among MAGA voters that Donald Trump, because he's so wealthy, couldn't be bought and that he was going to, quote, drain the swamp. We all know that was all bullshit and propaganda, blah, blah. But to the person who doesn't follow the 24-hour news cycle like all of us here, it's not that big of a stretch. Well, he's rich. He says he's going to get rid of all the corruption because people just assume, because of all the aforementioned stock trading and all that

stuff, that they are corrupt. And let's face it, a lot of politicians are really corrupt, either overtly or covertly. So what do you think about moving forward the Democratic Party? Because I feel like we're at a real time here where I feel the base is splintering. I feel it. We feel it in these podcast waves on YouTube, we can feel it. There's a real dissatisfaction in Democrats with the leadership right now, and it's getting fever pitch. So as somebody who has won districts that the Antichrist himself won, Donald J. Trump has won. Tell us what you think the way forward, not for you personally, but as a party. Yeah, you know, this has been a real frustration for me because as I told you, you know, I won, I was one of only seven Democrats that won a congressional district that Trump won in 2020.

That's the only seven of us out of 220 something Democrats in the country. At no point after that 20-something Democrats in the country. At no point after that election did anyone from leadership in Congress or the DNC or the White House ever come to the seven of us and ask us like, how'd you do it? Like, how'd you pull it off? And like, what do you need to do it again? Or how can we take that and scale it or move it? And so that's just been infuriating. And as I told you, my own party was trying to stand in my way and stop me from running when I was running for Senate. So I've experienced a lot of the frustrations of this party. I mean, look, for me, I am a believer in movement politics.

I was a community organizer working on homelessness issues before. I worked on a lot of other ways from the outside. So that's like for me, like, I'm not gonna just, you know, sit by and just kind of wait for somebody to try to figure out what the game plan is. I'm trying to just build it on my own, you know? So we're engaged in this effort right now

to just build off of what we did in New Jersey, to try to mobilize nationwide. For instance, me and Jamie Raskin have started a, or continuing this effort called Democracy Summer, which Jamie has done in the House. I'm doing it now in the Senate, which is trying to mobilize young people around the country to try to get them more engaged. There's a lot that I'm trying to now in the Senate, which is trying to mobilize young people around the country to try to get them more engaged.

There's a lot that I'm trying to do, again, on trying to build a national movement when it comes to reforming politics for taking on so many of these frustrations that people have. So I think that that's really where it is for me, is as much as I can't stand Donald Trump, when you look at what he's doing, like, he is a movement leader on his own side.

You know, we've seen the MAGA movement basically consume the entirety of the Republican Party. Like, the Republican Party does not exist anymore. It has been consumed by this MAGA movement. Well, the Democrats, we're not gonna be able to compete or be able to win. If we're just thinking about this in traditional party politics, this is not party politics. We're up against a movement leader. We need our own movement. We need our own effort on

our side to be able to go up against that. And so I really do think that we need to continue to push on this outside in mentality to be able to build a movement. And it's not going to just come from just the edicts of political party leadership. It's something that we just need to be able to harness. And I hope people see that as we get closer to the midterms. Because that's how I came into office by helping be part of the 2018 wave. I was a candidate that had nobody, no connections to the Democratic Party or the DCCC or whatever. We're seeing those candidates now stepping up

around the country. I hope people can channel their frustrations and anger and channel that towards lifting up some of these incredible candidates that I'm seeing stepping up. These are people that are not waiting for the blessing of party leadership. They're just jumping out there saying that they want to roll up their sleeves and get to work. And I hope people adopt one or two of these candidates or these congressional districts

and try to make sure we can mobilize and be able to win back the levers of power to stop Trump, to restore some of the checks and balances, and then certainly get engaged in a much more fulsome effort to try to shape the party leading into the presidential election cycle. So that's certainly what I'm trying to do. We need to make sure we can get back control over one or both of the chambers. That needs to be our immediate goal in terms of winning back one of the gavels and stopping Trump from just being able to run the tables and be able to do another big beautiful disastrous legislation. We can't let him do that again. So that's at least kind of how I'm

trying to think through this right now. Okay now let's play our game had it or hit it. So we'll list some things and if you like it you'll say hit it and if you don't you'll say had it. Oh you don't, you'll say had it. Oh my God. Welcome to had it or hit it. I would hit it. Had it. Had it.

I hit it every day, sometimes twice a day. Okay. Had it or hit it grocery store bagels. I had it with grocery store bagels. I'm somebody that I actually love making my own bagels. So I make my own bagels and I take that very seriously. And with grocery store bagels, I don't even think they can be called bagels. I just call them circle bread because it is not actually a bagel and I think it does such a disservice to the name. It's false advertising. So that's

something I can't stand. Okay. Last one. Hat it or hit it, your coworkers. My coworkers. It depends on who we're talking about, but look, what I'll say is that, what I'll say is that at least in the Democratic caucus, it's been really extraordinary getting to see and work alongside them, some amazing people there that I've been learning from and engaging in. And just in general, like, well, look, I wanna just put a plug in, like at a time when Elon Musk

and others had been demonizing public servants, I want to lift up public servants. I was a career public servant. I actually started my first job at USAID, which we've seen under attack and decimated. As we're approaching the 250th anniversary of our country, I hope that in this next year, we try to recommit ourselves to public service.

We try to recommit ourselves to recognizing we're part of something bigger than all of us because right now it's being hollowed out. We have a lot of people in Congress now that are what I call performative governance. They're more interested in putting on a show rather than actually governing. So to my colleagues that actually want to govern, I will say hit it. And I want to make sure we're continuing to support public service.

But to those who are just looking out for their own ego and their ambition, I've had it with that kind of stuff. It's just a disgrace. And it's something that the American people deserve better than that. Senator Kim, thank you so much for joining us today and good luck fighting the good fight at work. And I love your shout out to public servants. I could tell Pumps did too.

I think that's a really important shout out. But thank you so much for your time today. Thank you so much. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Take care. All right. That's all we have time for today, you guys. We're so happy to always have so many senators

and Congress people come in and report to us. Please make sure you buy our book, Life is a Lazy Susan of Shit Sandwiches. Pumps is laughing, but we agreed with our publisher that we would promote this. Which is, you did it so seamlessly. And I am a woman of my word, And she can sit and ridicule it. I will keep my word, HarperCollins and all of the people involved as a woman who keeps her word.

We'll see you all later. Listen up, patriots, gaytriots, and natriots. We have a new podcast that has dropped. It's called IHIP News. It's Monday through Friday, every day, 15 to 20 minute hot takes on the political landscape of the United States of America, always served with a side of petty grievances. We are on all the available platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google, whatever. You get your podcasts and YouTube. Please go rate, subscribe and review so that we will chart upwards with America's greatest legal mind, Pumps. Pumps, what does an eagle say? Cacaw! A little bit more enthusiasm. Caca! That's it. That's, that's, caca! That's the patriotism that this country needs right there.