Lovett or Leave It - Art of the Kneel

Episode Date: May 26, 2018

The big Korea summit is off. The NFL stands for nothing. Trump invents fake scandals and goes after women’s health and reproductive freedom. Plus how slow are American trains? And how fast is the Millennium Falcon? Lots of big questions to answer. Live from Boston Calling, Jon is joined by Alyssa Mastromonaco, Erin Ryan, and Blair Imani to break down the week’s news and make fun of Harvard.

Hello, Boston Calling. It is great to be here at Harvard. Harvard didn't let me in the old-fashioned way, which I do not take as an indictment of myself. Jared Kushner got in. We're here at the Harvard Athletic Facilities, though, of course, throughout Harvard's history, its most traditional sport was find the Jew.

Oh. Don't like it when it comes for you. How many people here are Harvard students? How many people here aren't? Good. Yeah. We're Harvard. Our graduates ascend to the top echelons of American society and then the good ones and the evil ones battle to a draw.

400 years. Canceling each other out. A music festival in Boston. Finally a chance for you to get drunk and loud.

You never do that. Oh, okay. I guess we'll do it. I guess we'll go see the National and get fucked up. Before we get to the show, I do want to say, Pod Save America and Love It or Leave It are coming to Nashville on Friday, June 22nd, and you can still get tickets. I don't know if any of you guys are going to make it.

You're here. What are you booing? Are you booing Nashville? You don't get to be in Cambridge and boo Nashville. Also, June 5th, primaries in California. All right, we are doing what we can to make sure that those candidates come out of those primaries and they can hit the ground running by going to crooked.com slash crooked8. And I just want to remind everybody to participate in that.

We have got a fantastic show. I cannot believe the guests we've lined up. We have CeCe Sabathia. We have Giancarlo Stanton. And Aaron Judge. Apparently they're Yankees. I want you to know that I am such a fan of sports that I replaced Giancarlo with a phonetic spelling so that I would say it right. And I actually practice CC Sub-C. I practice it, but I psych myself out. I psych myself out. Whatever. Who cares? How are you guys doing out there? Thank you guys for coming to this political podcast amidst

a festival of music. What a time to be alive. We really do have a fantastic show. I'm so excited for the guests that we have. She's an activist and the author of Modern Herstory, Stories of Women and Non-Binary People, Rewriting History. Please welcome Blair Imani. Hi, hi, hi. She is jumping her intro

and the New York Times bestselling author of Who Thought This Was a Good Idea and a Crooked contributor. You like more than me. Please welcome Alistair Mastromonaco. So excited. And she's a senior editor at the Daily Beast, a CNN contributor, and a Crooked Media contributor.

Please welcome friend of the pod, Erin Ryan. So excited to have the three of you here. Erin, how are you? I'm good. I'm also excited that the three of us are here. Not you, John, but these two. No, I get it. I'm excited because these people you'll probably be hearing

a lot more from. So we're very excited. Erin is going to be launching a podcast with Crooked Media. We've been hyping it for long enough. It finally has a name. The name of the podcast is Hysteria. You'll be able to subscribe to it very soon,

but it is going to be Erin and a group of incredible all-star women, including Alyssa and Blair. And I'm so excited. Oh, we just saw what everybody looks like. I'm excited to be Crooked Media's first Muslim host. Yes, Blair's first. We have three women in L.A. who are amazing.

We have these two and one more in New York, also amazing. I hope you love it. I think it'll be fun. All right. Let's get into it. What a week. After a long and arduous six weeks of winging it, Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he is calling off a June summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un. He announced the cancellation in a letter released by the White House

where he blamed, quote, tremendous anger and open hostility from the side of North Korea and said it wouldn't be appropriate at this time to move forward, this after they made fun of Mike Pence in a way that sadly we all agreed with. Tensions started escalating after human margarine. Mike Pence said that if North Korea didn't come to the table, they would end up like Gaddafi, the leader of Libya who was deposed and murdered.

People don't like being compared to Muammar Gaddafi. That's just Diplomacy 101. And people don't like to think about being dragged through the streets and killed as a consequence of giving up your nuclear program. Again, all covered in Diplomacy 101. Trump ended the letter to Kim by saying, someday I look very much forward to meeting you, but deleted the part he wanted to write about how he had already laid his outfit out for the summit on the floor in the shape of a person

like it was the first day of school. The letter from Trump came out three hours after North Korea said it had shut down its only nuclear test site and it allowed a group of journalists from Britain, China, Russia, South Korea, and the United States to watch engineers destroy tunnels where all six of its nuclear tests had been conducted. In fact, it was that group of journalists that let North Korea know about the Trump letter, which again, if I had been on that trip and had realized I knew something that they didn't and it was about things not going well, I would not have raised

my hands. When you're in a North Korean nuclear tunnel, don't bring bad news. Don't share bad news with strangers in any tunnel. Just as a rule, the reported demolition was the first concrete step North Korea had taken toward nuclear disarmament, while the White House gift shop offered a steep discount on the price of the Korean summit commemorative coins. You look at that crazy, ugly coin and you think, what could have been? Alyssa, there was a piece by Matt

Iglesias a couple weeks ago that anticipated the collapse of these talks, saying, why are we taking Donald Trump's nuclear diplomacy seriously? Did you at any point throw caution to the wind and say, I don't know, maybe this is working? Or did the whole time you're thinking people are crazy? Well, like, you have to assume that there's a reason it hasn't happened before. Like, there have been very smart presidents, including the one that I worked for. And, you know, mostly we were just stoked that nothing bad happened. The thought that Donald Trump was going to come in and be like, I got this. He doesn't even have like Asia experts in the White House yet. So I don't know who was doing

the talking, but no. Okay. I agree. That seems right. Erin, you saw some conservatives say, oh, look at this. You know, Trump got some hostages out. Now the North Koreans are back to requesting a meeting. They took down this site. This is a success. Even Axios said that Trump milked this for all it was worth. Gross. No milking. Gross. So obviously, bigger fish to fry, but don't talk about milking in politics. Is there any merit to this argument to you? You know, I think that there's a specific kind of strain in Washington that is so devoted to licking Donald Trump's taint that they're willing to declare anything that he does a win, a win for Donald Trump. Earlier today,

Donald Trump motioned to a window in the White House and said, there's Melania. Look at her. The reporters turned around and nobody was in the window. I would not be surprised if Axios writes an article that's like, Donald Trump's Melania window misdirect was a real win for the president.

That's when he became president. That's when Donald Trump became president. His wife turned invisible. So obviously we're talking about North Korea. I do think it is worth exploring for just a moment the fact that the first lady is missing. And just a reminder, if you have seen Melania Trump, we have an artist rendering of what she might look like with a mustache, a hat. I was picturing the Hamburglar for whatever reason. I was picturing Melania as the Hamburglar.

I need the hamburgers. Blair, why do you think the press was so interested in finding a way to call this a win for Donald Trump or to build up what he was doing in North Korea as some kind of a different version of him. What do you think?

It's really bizarre. It's like, did we not learn history? Do we not know what state media looks like? Do we not know what fascism is? But it's really perplexing to see kind of the cowardice. And I think about like Michelle Wolf, really called everybody out and they've learned nothing Yeah, I guess North Korea is really hard and maybe we need a different approach, but Donald Trump didn't crack it his business skills

Did not close the deal if it was the art of the deal. it was like a Jackson Pollock. Just splattered. So the North Korea situation is obviously very complicated and a lot smarter people have tried and not succeeded at solving it. What's crazy to me is the presidency is the only job that is hard where you're like, well, maybe if someone who doesn't know what they're doing tries it, hard where you're like, well, maybe if someone who doesn't know what they're doing tries it, maybe they'll do it. Like imagine if like Steve Kerr stopped being like the coach of the Warriors and you're like, you know what? We found a toddler to coach and win the NBA championship. It just, it doesn't make any sense to me. It's funny to be like, what if a toddler took over coaching the Warriors? What if Donald Trump took over coaching the Warriors? I mean, it's so crazy. It just might work. Let's let him try. Let's let him coach the

Timberwolves and see if the Timberwolves can do anything. Yeah, it is true that it's like the presidency as a job has become so abstracted and so big that we forget that it's a job that you have to show up at and read for and prepare for. No, no, no. This is the first time the presidency has seemed abstract to anybody. It's like we always knew what the job was. No war. Let's make some money. Maybe gas prices aren't too high. Like somehow Donald Trump has sort of abdicated all responsibility for everything

because, you know, it's hard. I don't know how to end a segment on North Korea. I hope we make it. I really do. And I have to say, I think we'll long remember Seattle. The strength of its people, the culture. We'll carry the legacy of Seattle forward. And I think that's the most important thing.

When we come back, OK, stop! Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Is that a pundit? Is that a... That's a pundit. What are you holding? That's Pundit. That's a picture of Leo.

You know what? I'm going to leave this in. Somebody just held up a picture of Leo, but there is a Pundit as an angel. You know what? They're both fantastic. You Googled Pundit and Leo popped up. Interesting.

Interesting. I just want to point out that the whole Podsave slash Crooked world Is very dog heavy Until now Alyssa and I have cats We have cats We're cat ladies

And cool Extremely cool Super cool Save that shit for hysteria And cool. Extremely cool. Super cool. Save that shit for hysteria. And we're back! We're back! Now, for a game we call OK Stop. Here's how it works.

We'll roll a clip. Wherever it stops, we'll talk about it. Last year, a number of football players kneeled during the national anthem. But this year, it seems like the NFL is going to try to make them stand. Trump is very happy about this and went on Fox and Friends to talk about it. Let's watch. This is the first time you're hearing this. What's your reaction, Mr. President? Well, I think that's good. I don't think people should be staying in locker rooms, but still, I think it's good. You have to stand proudly for the National. Okay, stop. It's hard to stand proudly when you've got bone spurs that allowed you to defer

the draft five times. You shouldn't be playing. You shouldn't be there. Maybe you shouldn't be playing. You shouldn't be there. Maybe you shouldn't be in the country. Okay, stop. They shouldn't be in the country. They shouldn't be in the country. They should be removed from the country. And imagine that they're U.S. citizens. You know what?

I bet the average NFL player pays a lot more in taxes than Donald Trump. Proudly for the national anthem and the NFL owners did the right thing if that's what they've done. It's starting soon when NFL season starts. I bet there's going to be a little box on the somewhere online where it will say so many people actually were on the sidelines and so many people. Okay, stop. The SNL version of him is so much better than the real him. Am I wrong? No, you're not wrong. And the cartoon president, my cartoon president version of him is phenomenal. They always look like they woke up in some kind of a spaceship, and they looked out the window, and they saw a tiny, tiny Earth very, very far away.

And then an alien came, the alien has many legs, and said, if you ever want to get back to Earth, do this show. And be as good at this as this is. Be this. Do this as well as you can, and maybe you'll get to go to Earth again. That is so accurate. Thank you.

Good job. Thank you for saying that. It is accurate. It's always weird to me when the people that have really strong sports opinions are people that could not play the sport. Like, none of those guys can throw a spiral. None of them.

I don't know exactly why the NFL did it, aside from the fact that you look at the ratings and they're in a skid. Well, the guidelines now say they have to show respect for the flag and for the anthem. I think that's what most people were upset about. They understand there's an issue. Some of these players...

Okay, stop. Why are liberals the ones who get the reputation of being easily triggered snowflakes when these people are losing their goddamn shit about what football players are doing? Like, honestly, you know what? If you don't like it, then just process it and move on. This is also, it is a patriotism minstrel show.

These people do not give a shit about the anthem and the kneeling. No one who does this job can feel the emotion ascribed to being offended. The part of them that feels those kinds of things died a long time ago. This is a performance of patriotism. That's what Trump is doing. That's what Dunn Jr. is doing on Twitter. These people have never sacrificed anything. They've never given anything. Donald Trump doesn't give a shit about the

national anthem. He doesn't. He also doesn't give a shit about federal workers because he just made it easier to fire them today. Yes. Sorry. The other thing too is the NFL has so thoroughly fucked this up. Like, what should happen is completely obvious, which is the NFL should say, we don't agree with the kneeling,

but we respect players who are expressing their views. We wish that they would stand. We have encouraged them to stand, but we are not going to dictate how people protest in the United States. And then the owners should have supported it. Which is what the NBA does. Which is what the NBA does. Which is what the NBA does.

And then the NFL says they have this new policy, which they call a compromise, which they didn't clear with the players, which some of their own owners, including the Jets owner, who has a name, Johnson, said that he's going to pay the fines to their players haven't heard from Bob Kraft yet have you guys heard from Bob Kraft

I mean nothing in America that has been called a compromise has ever like been for justice or freedom I recall a certain Missouri compromise that made slavery like balanced out before the Civil War like read a fucking book

this is a compromise. If I were like, Blair, I'm going to go to your house and I'm going to steal all your stuff. And you were like, don't. And then I said, okay, compromise. I'm going to go to your house and steal all your stuff and you're going to like it.

There's a compromise. And it makes sense because I'm a person of color and you're white i am white i mean the compromise that they've basically offered is you can protest in the bathroom right like stay in the locker room and like it's really hard to protest in the bathroom it's not the right vibe um you're like, do I just stand in here? That's creepy. You're not going to kneel in there. That got a U.S. senator in trouble. So it's not a good compromise.

I think you're right. And that's OK Stop. When we come back, we're going to play a game. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. You know that annoying friend you have that asks if you read that piece in the Atlantic and you have to act like, no, I'll get to it, but you know you won't.

And also, like, just tell me what's in the piece. Like, why are you asking me if I read it? What was in it? Why should I have read it? Did you guys see that piece in The Atlantic by Adam Serwer? He makes the point that while it's very difficult to keep up with all the Trump scandals, most of them boil down into just one big scandal. In almost every situation, the president or his associates are seeking to profit personally or financially from their official duties and powers.

And that is why Trump and his, you know, squad of criminals. His syndicate, again, I don't know whether or not he deserves to be called a crime syndicate because crime syndicates seem more professional. It's more of a gang. I don't know. But regardless, that's why they've been spending all this time trying to muddy the waters, confuse things. Trump has tried to muddy the waters because ultimately what we're talking about is very simple. A bunch of different kinds of crimes and misbehavior and misconduct that adds up to the corruption we see in the White House. So we thought we'd help you keep up with these Trump lies and scandals in a game we're calling Two Lies and a Lie. Vinitra, are you in the house?

Yes. Hi, Vinitra. Hi, John. You're my favorite. I love you. Perfect. So I understand that you just became a U.S. citizen. I did 10 days just became a U.S. citizen. I did, ten days ago.

Mashallah. And you just graduated from law school. Yesterday. Where'd you go? Harvard. Harvard Law School? All right, nobody's perfect. So we wanted, I'm so glad you're here.

I'm so glad you're here, John. And I'm excited for you to play the game. Thank you. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here, John. And I'm excited for you to play the game. Thank you. I'm very excited to be here. In this game, we'll read three lies, two that Donald Trump offered, and one that we made up. Your job is to figure out which one we made up. Are you ready? I'm ready.

Question number one. To silence impending news of his affair, Donald Trump reimbursed his crime butler, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment he made to an adult film actress just weeks before the 2016 election. Which of Trump's lies about this payment is a fake lie? A lie lie? Is it A? A bored Air Force One, he said, No, I don't know about this payment. You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. I don't know where he got the money from.

Is it B? In a subtweet, he said, So much fake news. Never been more voluminous or more inaccurate. But through it all, our country is doing great. We're getting through it together. Is it C? In a speech before his Christian supporters, he said, You'd think I'd have to pay for this sort of thing. Me? Do I look like the kind of guy you ask to pay?

Come on, folks. I need a shower after that one. I'm going to say C. You got it. I like it when we play games and they're not just joke answers. It's kind of hard to figure out what's going on. Question number two. Trump's son and mediocre CrossFit enthusiast, Don Jr., met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower ahead of the election

in the hopes of receiving incriminating information about Hillary Clinton. Which of the following lines is not a lie Don Jr. told about this meeting? Is it A? Who? Who are we talking about? You know how many people I meet at Trump Tower? You wouldn't even believe how many people. It's a hub. It's a hub.

Or is it B? We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children. Until that day, I had never heard of the Magnitsky Act and had no familiarity with this issue. Or is it C? When I said, if it's what you say, I love it, about possible incriminating information from Russians, I meant it was a colloquial term to say, hey, great, thank you.

Ooh, what do you think? Oh, I'm going to say A. You got it. All right. All right. Benitra's doing great. That one was hard. That one was hard.

I was thinking about it while we were hearing the clues. It was hard. Question number three. Robert Mueller is methodically working his way through the collusion investigation, and sources are saying that he plans to compete that investigation on his own timetable. But Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, doesn't like that so much, which of the following is a lie he did not utter, but probably will in a matter of days. Is it A? Mueller's team said they'd wrap it up in September, which is good for everyone because no one wants this to drag into

the midterms. Is it B? I'm a lawyer, and I can tell you for a fact that there's only so much investigating you can do. At some point, you just gotta be like, our time is up for this, we're out of gas. That's what police work is all about. At some point, you put the file in a drawer. Or is it C? We will no longer be a punching bag for the liberal media,

for people who created crimes in their own fantastical mind and out of anger they lost the election. Dot, dot, dot. We are at the point where we are saying, let's get to the end. We are coming up on the one-year anniversary. You have nothing. What do you think? Oh, they're all so stupid.

I don't know. I'm going to say B. You got it. I just want to pause to note that you've got nothing is something you can say when no charges are filed. It can even be something you say when 75 charges have been filed. But it cannot be something you say when 75 charges have been filed against 22 people and five have pled guilty. Yes. Where's the crime?

We've got five confessions. If you plead guilty, you're confessing to crimes. It's what they make you say. You say, I did the crimes. You have something. That's literally what it means to plead guilty. You go into a courtroom and a judge says, how do you plea? And you say, he has something. He really has something. It's not nothing, your honor. Okay, question four. has something. It's not nothing, Your Honor. Okay. Question four. The Trump campaign colluded with Russia

to interfere in the 2016 election. Which of the following lies were never told by Donald Trump? Is it A. Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation where, by the way, there was no collusion

except by the Dems. Or was it B? The only collusion is the Democrats colluding with the Russians. The Democrats colluding with lots of other people. Lots of people. Was it C? There's been nobody tougher on Russia than me. That all being said, if we can get along with Russia, that's a good thing, not a bad thing.

Was it D? House Intelligence Committee rules that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. As I have been saying all along, it is all a big hoax by the Democrats based on the payments and lies. There should never have been a special counsel appointed. Witch hunt! Was it E? By the way, and the Intelligence Committee and everybody else has found no collusion. There's no collusion with me and the Russians.

Or was it F? Much of the bad blood, I'm sorry, with Russia is caused by the fake and corrupt Russia investigation headed up by the all-Democrat loyalists or people that work for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all, except for Rosenstein, who signed FISA and Comey letter.

No collusion. So they go crazy. I think he said all of them. That is correct. And I will say, those people in the crowd shouting all of the above almost cost you the game.

We accepted your answer, but it was none of the above. You know? Harvard. Shame. And that's two lies and a lie. Give it up for a new American citizen, Vinitra. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for playing.

Thank you for being here, and thank you for being here. When we come back, we're going to play a game by the Trump administration's recent decision on Title X. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

And we're back! Now for a game we call Multiple Choice for Choice. As a candidate, Donald Trump made his anti-choice stand central to his campaign. This included a promise to defund clinics that provide family planning, health care for women, and abortions, like Planned Parenthood, and to appoint anti-choice judges to the federal courts. This week, Donald Trump announced his latest effort to deliver on that promise, the domestic gag rule. Under this order, under his eye,

doctors at any federally funded health clinic cannot advise a woman weighing an abortion about where she can get one. Doing so would risk much needed funding from Title 10, the only federal statute that issues grants to clinics that provide family planning and health services to low-income and uninsured people who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford them. It follows a long series of American laws targeting women who want to make decisions about their own health and their own bodies, so we thought we'd highlight some of that history tonight in a game we call Multiple Choice for Choice. Would someone out there like to play the game?

Hi, what's your name? Casey. Casey? Casey the paralegal. What was it? Casey. Casey. Yes the paralegal. What was it? Casey. Casey. Yes.

Sorry. Sorry. Now I'm listening, though. Usually I forget the name, like I'm at a cocktail party, and then I just say, oh, you know. You know your name. You know Casey. That one. Casey, are you a student?

Are you part of the? Recently graduated. Recently graduated. Where'd you graduate from mass bay mass bay yes mass bay congratulations thank you casey are you ready to play i am ready and you're familiar with what the trump administration has recently been doing sadly question number one earlier this year there were reports that the trump administration banned the centers for disease control from using certain words in official documents, though the CDC later claimed it was not a ban or prohibition on words,

but rather suggestions on how to improve the chances of getting funding. What were some of these ungood words? Is it A, pee tape, gold shower, and big daddy urine president? Is it B, urine president. Is it B? Fetus, evidence-based, and science-based. Or is it C? Ovulation, menstruation, and tampon. So it's B. It is. It was B. Question number two. In 1993, which current Supreme Court justice wrote a controversial op-ed in the Washington Post? Is it A? Samuel Alito, who wrote that Pennsylvania should uphold a law that requires women to get the permission of their husbands before they have an abortion. Is it B?

Clarence Thomas, who wrote that all abortions must be cataloged publicly and all on all subsequent job applications, the patient must affix to the huge red letter A to the top under his eye. Or is it C? Ruth Bader Ginsburg who wrote that women should be able to get an abortion up to one year after the child is born.

I think they cut that from the RBG documentary. Deleted C. All of those are honestly pretty crazy but I'm going to say A. You got it. I think they cut that from the RBG documentary deleted scene all of those are honestly pretty crazy but I'm going to say A you got it Samuel Alito is garbage just my usual reminder

whoever's out there make sure Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn't have a walk-in tub I've said it before I'm going to keep saying it it's one of the most important things you'll go to crooked.com slash crooked8 and you can make sure that Ruth Bader Ginsburg has no lip when she has to bathe. Nothing to step over, no risk of falling.

Question number three. Currently in America, it's legal to buy an AR-15 by giving $30 to a guy you meet at a Denny's parking lot, but which of these anti-women laws is still on the books? Is it A? In Indiana, a person who has ended their pregnancy must bury or cremate their fetus, even in the case of a miscarriage. Is it B? In Georgia, you're only allowed to buy a sex toy if it's needed medically or educationally or for legislative or law enforcement purposes.

Or is it C? law enforcement purposes. That's funny. Or is it C? Rape victims in seven U.S. states can be legally forced to share custody of their children with their attacker. Oh my god. I'm gonna say B.

It was all of the above. Those are all real. Why are we rooting for that? That's awful. We're not rooting for all of the above. It's just the facts we've been given by the world. Isn't every sex toy in some sense educational? Amen to that, brother.

Guys, give it up for Casey who won the game. And the parachute gift card. Did we get Venetra a parachute gift card? She got one, too. So that's great. You know, before we move on, I just wanted to discuss this issue a little bit. What do people need to understand about Trump's new gag rule? And what do you think people can do to sort of fight back?

Okay. So first of all, the domestic gag rule is something that conservatives have been trying to push for a long time. Ronald Reagan actually pushed a more intense version of this that got caught up in the courts. And by the time the Supreme Court ruled, actually five to four in favor of allowing that gag rule to exist, Bill Clinton had been elected president and he just kind of undid it. So the gag rule requires like American clinics that provide birth control to not even mention the fact that an abortion is a thing. It's the same thing that we do internationally under Trump when it comes to entities that we

give aid to. So like let's say you're a clinic in Kenya that provides a birth control shot to women. If you mention the fact that abortion exists, then you're not eligible for U.S. funding. There's actually on-the-ground results from this. Actually, there's an article in that CNN, a team of three reporters from CNN published this week that found that actually in gag rule situations, the abortion rate goes up. It's not a way to reduce abortion. It's a way to increase unsafe abortion and to punish women who are pregnant. And if it's happening there, it'll happen here. There's no reason to think it won't happen here.

Blair, you actually worked for Planned Parenthood, is that right? Yes, I did work for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. What did you take away from what the Trump administration has been doing based on your experience? I think that it's, so I worked there when he was elected and it was like we were in full like battle mode. We're going to protect our patients, we're going to protect people. But because of the stigma in the United States around abortion, a lot of people who would come to our clinics nationally would be really afraid that abortion wasn't even legal. So people were so misinformed that they were really denying themselves health care and access. And one story that I'm really proud of is this grant we had to provide free pap smears to women in Brownsville, Texas, which is

right by the border. And it was so funny because our doc, like the doctor there and the nurses there were like, there are so many pap smears. Oh my God. Like they were so overwhelmed. These pap smears are priced to move. But I was so proud of it because we were busting our asses to get the word out. I worked in communication. So we tried to make sure that it got on the news, that people knew that this was an available service in English and in Spanish. And one woman had driven three hours to the closest clinic to her, which was the clinic that was providing the free pap smears, and she found out that she was pregnant. And she was able to get the prenatal care that she needed. But it was also the first pap smear that she'd ever had in her life, and she had been sexually active for over 10 years

at that point. And I still get chills when I tell that story because this is what Planned Parenthood does. Like, everyone wants to stigmatize abortion and deny women their autonomy, but Planned Parenthood is doing the work that, you know, the state of Texas wouldn't even do. And I have tons more stories like that,

but when I was working at Planned Parenthood, it just really confirmed to me that access to reproductive care of all kinds, abortion, should you need it or not, should be universal because women should be able to decide about their bodies. Can I add something really quickly? I also want to add that the idea that abortion has to be excluded from the conversation about birth control is really ridiculous. A woman I know went to Planned Parenthood when she had just found out she was pregnant, and abortion was part of the conversation, but so was having the child. And when she was at Planned Parenthood, she had a conversation with a counselor there and decided to have the child. But part of that discussion was the possibility that she wouldn't.

Planned Parenthood provides an entire range of options. And I think that women aren't stupid. And when women go to get health care, when women go to get health care and you feel like you're receiving compelled speech from a doctor, you're less likely to feel like you're getting informed advice. And in fact, when I worked at Planned Parenthood, it was around the Zika virus. No, I wouldn't say crisis, but you know, rise of Zika virus. And I did, I created a specialized training for our staff that we wouldn't coerce people to end their pregnancies if they had Zika

virus. We wanted to make sure that we were continuing to inform people about the potential hazards and the potential outcomes, health outcomes. But Planned Parenthood is so deeply committed to making sure that we're not coercing people either way. We're providing information. We're providing science-based, evidence-based information. Those words are not allowed anymore. So as we talk about the importance of access to care in this way, Alyssa, I know there's something you've been focused on that I think a lot of people don't know. I didn't know. I learned this from you. What are trigger laws and how do they relate to this debate? How many people know what trigger laws are? Good on you guys who do. But here is a couple things. One, before we get to trigger laws, one thing to add on to Erin is that the global gag rule has affected 4,000 clinics worldwide.

And it has resulted in infant mortality, women who die in childbirth. It's like everything about it is just so ill-advised. Anyway, trigger laws. So the best way to explain a trigger law is by example. Trigger laws. So the best way to explain a trigger law is by example. If the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade tomorrow, then tomorrow in 33 states, abortion would be illegal immediately. So the most important thing to anyone here or anyone who is listening to the podcast is to call your governor. You have to call your governor and ask what would happen if Roe v. Wade were overturned. Because in some states like New York, it's incredibly nuanced.

But the only states that, of the 17 states, are the ones that have state laws that protect a woman's right to abortion. And so, which is a constitutional guarantee currently. So that's what you should do. Call your governors and find out and make sure that they know that you're watching and you're listening because people don't think that we know, but we know. And I didn't know until I talked to the president of NARAL. She's the one who told me and I googled it and now I'm sharing my googling with you. And I just want to add that the fight for choice and access to reproductive health is one that originates in the states. And people have lost sight of that, I think. I think it's

extremely important for you to be engaged at the local and state level. Because this could go away. We're behind the eight ball here. So pay attention to what's happening at the state level. And I think something, too, that's cool that we were talking about earlier is that this is happening like in ireland right now um with the repeal the eighth um and it's really exciting to see the exit polls we were on the way here when erin saw on her twitter feed i believe that the exit polls are showing that folks are voting to repeal but do look at the hashtag repeal the eighth it is so uplifting to see like irish women from like across the world returning home to vote and men and men as well that's a beautiful thing

and non-binary folks i'm sure as well um but just really like i i've never been interested in irish politics but y'all like this is so compelling and so beautiful to see people standing up for each other's autonomy and we can do that just calling. It doesn't have to be a huge referendum vote. We can stand up for each other right now. As goes Dublin, so goes the world. That's a good place to leave it. When we come back, the rant wheel. Don't go anywhere. Love it or leave it. There's more on the way. Leave it, and there's more on the way. And we're back. Now for the rant wheel.

Here's how it works. We spin a wheel wherever it lands. We rant about that topic. This week, we have Oceans 8, Tom Perez endorsing Cuomo. We have Susan B. Anthony, the Millennium Falcon, the Royal Wedding Dress, Tom Brady, Harvard, and American Trains. Let's spin the wheel. Yes. It has landed on the millennium falcon i'm not quite ready yet to enter the debate over the

film solo in part because i want to give people a chance to see it but i will talk for just a moment about a ship called the millennium falcon i get that it's a fast ship. I get it. It's a fast ship. How did it stay a fast ship for so long? The best car in like 1947. It's probably pretty fast for 1947. But you're still bragging about how it's the fastest car in like 2007? I don't think you are. I don't think you are. What if there was just a plateau of like space,

aerospace technology? So the Millennium Falcon is the best ship ever? Why do no other ships look like it? Why is it the only ship in that shape? Why? Why is it shaped like that? And if that's a good shape, make other ships shaped like that.

The shapes are all in different shapes. Don't boo me. Don't boo me. Why is it so fast and how did it stay fast for so long? The thing looks very rink-a-dink. It's famously rink-a-dink. And I get that that's a cool part of it. But how could it be fast in the prequels and in the main ones and in the later ones?

You know? It's inexplicable. Let's spin it again. It has landed on Tom Perez endorsing Andrew Cuomo, which was suggested to us by one Alyssa Mastermonaco. Let me talk about how angry this made me. First of all, the New York State gubernatorial primary is in fucking

September. So why any man would have thought it necessary to endorse Andrew Cuomo when, by the way, if you're listening to anything that's happening in New York, Cynthia Nixon is fucking killing it.

Killing it. I don't care. Killing it. I don't care if she's Miranda from Sex and the City. I don't care. She was also the assistant secretary of the Treasury in Too Big to Fail. So, like, I'm sorry. More qualified than Arnold Schwarzenegger to be governor of california and i really don't know why a democrat like the head

of the national democratic party thought that trying to elbow a very qualified woman. Okay, qualified is subjective. Fair. But she has a message. She is working her ass off and she should be given a chance because trying to get her out of the race is no different than when people tried to get Bernie out of the race. And the truth is, a challenge

is nothing but good for the entire party. So, fuck yeah. I would also add to that that Cynthia Nixon's candidacy has been something that's super resonant with New Yorkers. Andrew Cuomo as a governor has been somebody who's been, he's been a huge letdown. I mean, he's not on the subways. He's not on the subways. He's been a huge letdown. And as a New Yorker, I was kind of on the, I was like, I'm not going to pick a person

to support but now I have picked a person to support and it's not the person that Tom Perez wants me to support

the other thing too though is that this man he never really to put my Cardi B on he ain't really that influential

you know like he didn't have to do this it seems like he's trying to grasp at relevance and really just like trying to grasp at patriarchy for sure but i don't think that american voters are really like especially democrats are too enchanted with the democratic party especially with like this continual sellout as evidenced by this endorsement. Boo. Yeah. I just think there's been this effort to try to pretend that Cynthia Nixon isn't a serious candidate

and that her ideas don't have to be taken seriously and that even though there is this upcoming primary that somehow, and that there are people who said they wouldn't endorse in primaries, are stepping in to endorse as if this isn't a race of one person against another, but a sort of a confirmation of the person who's definitely going to be it. And there's no question and there's no real contest here. And telling voters they don't have a choice is a surefire way to make sure

that they don't listen to you. And I think that Cynthia Nixon needs to be taken seriously by Andrew Cuomo. And by the way, he may not be taking her campaign seriously, but it seems very clear that in his decision-making as governor, he is making decisions now to try to co-opt what she is doing because he may not recognize her as a threat publicly, but he's certainly recognizing her as a threat privately. I have gotten invited to so many inclusion and diversity events as a Muslim bisexual black person living in New York. Y'all, I've gotten invited to hella pride events

from his office. I've gotten invited to hella iftar events. I didn't, like, it just seems so fraudulent to see like, Cynthia speak up about something related to diversity and inclusion and then all of a sudden his office will sound out like hella newsletters. And it's like, I didn't give you my email address. Why do you have it? Let's spin it again.

Yay! It has landed on Oceans 8, which I believe was suggested by Blair. Yes! That's all I have. No, I'm kidding. So I just saw, I saw a pre-screening of it recently,

and go see this movie y'all like, Oh, I am so glad. I was so worried. I was terrified. I was planning to leave in the middle of it. Cause I'm, I'm that bitch. Like I was like, I was planning to leave in the middle of it. I did not think it was going to be good. I was like, eh, um, it's a a little heavy on ad placements, but whatever. But you liked it. It was so good. Yes. Solid acting.

Solid acting from Rihanna. Solid acting from Awkwafina, who's a friend of mine. And I'm really glad that they had a diverse and inclusive cast. It was really kick-ass. That is so cool. When I saw that you were suggesting Ocean's 8, I was so afraid that I was going to find out that it was bad for a reason I didn't understand.

And I thought I was going to learn something. I thought there was something I was missing. Nope. No think pieces from me. I thought it was stellar. The take is go see it. That's so exciting. Man. But the funny thing is, though, that the reason why I suggested it is because people are doing all the press right now for the press circuit and somebody asked kate blanchett do

you think this film will inspire young women and she was like to do crime like what the heck it's like not every movie with women in it has to be the make it or break it i'm going to like commit myself to whatever this genre of living it. When Cate Blanchett wants to encourage crime, she stands by Woody Allen. Yeah, she does. You guys know where I stand.

Let's spin it again. Boom. It has landed on Susan B. Anthony, which was suggested Boom! It has landed on Susan B. Anthony, which was suggested by one Aaron Ryan. I'm on the edge of my seat. It was suggested by me. So Susan B. Anthony, the person I have no beef with. I have beef with Susan B. Anthony, the list. The Susan B. Anthony list for the uninitiated is an organization that aims

to elect anti-choice candidates and provide public education that is anti-choice. When Donald Trump was the keynote speaker at the Susan B. Anthony list banquet this Tuesday. So here's my main problem with the Susan B. Anthony List banquet this Tuesday. So here's my main problem with the Susan B. Anthony List. They hold themselves as pro-life. They've branded themselves as pro-life. The only thing that they have done

is fought for women's self-determination and for a serial philanderer who has been married three times to speak at their annual gala for life. What they haven't fought for philanderer who has been married three times to speak at their annual gala for life what they haven't fought for are the lives of children who are crossing the border are the lives of children who are killed by gun violence are the lives of americans who are financially crippled by medical bills to the point that they don't seek care. They haven't fought for the lives of people

who are already alive. All they have fought for are the lives of women to be forced into motherhood. So I think the Susan B. Anthony list, I hate the phrase pro-life. I hate that Donald Trump spoke at the Susan B. Anthony list. I also want to add that while Donald Trump was speaking at the Susan B. Anthony list gala, he kind of went off script a little bit where he said that 2018 is maybe not as important as 2016. He did say that. He did say that at the gala. So it is funny that at Susan B. Anthony's list dinner, Donald Trump could not be presidential. Let's spin it again probably. What? It has landed on American trains.

Our trains are terrible. I was like, oh, very great. I took what's supposed to be the best we've got, are terrible. I took what's supposed to be the best we've got, the Acela. From New York to Boston, it was a hundred

fucking degrees in that thing. It constantly feels like you're about to derail and I wouldn't worry about it, except our trains are constantly derailing now. I honestly don't know what's more likely being in a train that derails or just getting sucked out of the window of an airplane. Just you're outside.

It's happening more and more. People aren't talking about it. It's happening more and more. People aren't talking about it. You know, I've gotten in some trouble for attacking a certain American generation. That generation is the baby boomer generation. Now, baby boomers have many fine qualities, but thick skin is not among them. And I want to be clear, all right? This is mostly directed at baby boomers in positions of wealth and power. Baby boomers who inherited the great public works and public goods of their parents and then spent it the fuck down.

And we, those of us who are not baby boomers, and I don't want to leave my Gen Xers out, all right? And I don't even want to leave my good baby boomers out do we have any good baby boomers in the house nah it's a music festival Jimmy Buffet's not here right we have accepted so little from these people from the people that came before

and we are living with the crumbling ruin of what they left us. And Donald Trump is the baby boomer supernova. And I thought about it because I was on a shitty train that can't go fast because our tracks are bad. And we need to stop accepting the limitations of that generation and what they set for us and what we can do,

because it has narrowed it has narrowed our politics so much and made them so small and it's very frustrating all right that's the rant wheel now for a segment we call ending on a high note. We had a bunch of primaries recently. Stacey Abrams in Georgia became the first black female major party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. Amy McGrath in Kentucky, a veteran, first female Marine to fly an F-18 fighter jet on a combat mission. Yes, there are places where we can be cynical and we see the party endorsing somebody and not giving other candidates a chance. But what we have also seen is countless women and men

and others running for office for the first time. And our job now has to be to harness this incredible energy to win the House, to maybe win the Senate, and start taking our country back. You know, Donald Trump couldn't imagine that the 2018 midterms could be as important as the 2016 election because he's not on the ballot and everything's about him. And I don't know whether or not the 2018 elections are more important than the 2016 elections. But I do know that it will be if we lose.

It will be if we lose. These could be the most important midterm elections any of us ever have the chance of voting in. And we've seen so much enthusiasm and we've seen so much activism. We've seen people volunteering for the first time and knocking on doors and donating and helping. But we have to figure out how to harness that and turn it into votes. And that's what our mission is now. We have spent the last 18 months in basically campaign mode. There's never been a time like this.

The campaign feels like it never stopped. We're paying attention like it's October. It's been October every single day since November of 2016. It is exhausting and it is relentless. And I know that we're all really tired and frustrating. And I know that when it comes to politics, we all walk around angry, but the tears are right there. We all pretend it's not true, but it is true. But now we are in the final stretch. The election is coming and everything we do now counts and we have to win the house we can win the senate so go to crooked.com slash crooked a to donate and help do whatever you can

if you're in massachusetts there are swing districts not just here but in maine and new hampshire and new york we have to do everything we can and then i think that's a, you know, that'd be really good, you know? And that's our show. I want to thank Blair Armani, Alistair Mastromonico, Aaron Ryan. I want to thank Boston Calling for coming out. Thank you all so much. Give it up for Venetra becoming a new citizen. Bye, everybody. Bye, everybody.