Lovett or Leave It - Can't Hardly Debate

Episode Date: October 17, 2020

W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu join to break down the week's news. We play OK, Stop to cover the two town halls that replaced one debate. Jon talks to the Washington Post's Dave Weigel about what he's seeing on the campaign trail in the homestretch. And we quiz a listener on some complicated ballot measures written to confuse and discourage you. (Check out votesaveamerica.com/ballot because it is good.)

Welcome to Love It or Leave It Home Stretch. Homestretch On the finish line now Can we please get the fuck out of here? Double check your plan to vote Then call your friends, neighbors, and strangers Till you know they're voting too This is the homestretch When we wake up the morning after Well you know you did enough Just think, for more years of this shit.

I don't even want to think about that. Double check your plan to vote. Then call your friends, neighbors, and strangers till you know they're voting too. This is the home stretch. That amazing song was sent in by Lily Hiddleman. Heidelman? Lily Heidelman. Lily Hiddleman. Lily, you're great. If you want to make a Homestretch song, send it my way at leaveitatcricket.com. That's leaveitatcricket.com, and maybe we'll use yours.

This is our third to last show before the 2020 election is done, and we are officially in the Homestretch. That means each week we will be hyper-focused on doing what we need to do to win the election between now and November 3rd and keeping ourselves upbeat and motivated along the way. Now it is time for Homestretch Homeroom, where I say what it is that is your weekly syllabus, a term I hate to use for some reason,

where we talk about what you need to do this week to make sure we defeat Donald Trump and win up and down the ballot. There's more on the ballot than the presidential race this year. As important as that is, there are other important things that you need to know about.

We don't want you to walk into your polling place or open that envelope as the case may be this year and get caught off guard because there's not just one giant box that says not Donald Trump. So head to Vote Save America to build your own ballot and create a voting cheat sheet before you head to the polls. Our tool will show you candidates for president, the House, your state and local representatives. It will also tell you

if you get to vote for a U.S. senator, governor, district attorney, judges, and more this year. It also breaks down the ballot measures, propositions, amendments, rules, whatever they call them where you live. So it's a guide that will tell you what a yes or no vote means. So you don't have to guess when you're in the voting booth. It's really helpful information. If you've already voted, help your friends and family get started on their plan to vote by learning what's on their ballot this year at votesaveamerica.com slash ballot. But first, they're comedians and co-hosts of the podcast Politically Reactive. Please welcome W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabalu. Welcome, fellas. Hey, John. How are you?

Good, Hari. How are you, Kamau? Ah. Terrible question. Terrible question. All right. Well, let's get into it. What a week.

So these are dark and dangerous times, and we like to begin with a joke that is mindless either with regard to the topic or the quality of the joke itself. Here we go. Former Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid said that the government is concealing important evidence of UFOs and has been for years. Now, if we could just find signs of intelligent life in Congress. Oh, is that the punchline? That's it. Oh, it's good.

John, it's good. I like it. It has knuckleheads, huh? It has a structure. It has an ending. It was really good, John. I like it. It has knuckleheads, huh? It has a structure. It has an ending. It was really good, John. I liked it. Thanks. Thanks. On Monday night at a campaign event in Florida,

Trump said to the adoring crowd, I feel so powerful. I'll walk into that audience. I'll walk in there. I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women, everybody. This could be another side effect of that drug he's on, which I think is called Molly.

That's a good one. That's good. That one I would do. It's cool that he's embracing his bisexuality, even at a late age. You know, like we're all so negative about Trump. But look at this, some growth. I think he's misjudged his base

to assume that the men in his base want to be kissed. I feel that that's the type of base that would not like that and be very upset. Or does he really understand what Proud Boy means now and he's judging his base accurately.

The Proud Boy thing got hijacked online recently. Maybe he saw that and was like, oh, is that what we're doing now? I'll do what I have to do. Maybe you don't like Trump as much as me because I slept with him. Yeah, I'm confused about it. I feel really confused. I'm confused by all these feelings.

That's actually a thing that somebody has said. I'm really committed to making America great. We also learned that Trump reportedly wanted to pretend to be frail while he exited Walter Reed Hospital, only to surprise everyone by abruptly dropping the act like

Willy Wonka, which makes sense because Trump has approached the pandemic like Willy Wonka. He's willing to fuck up some kids to make sure factories run smoothly. That's like a... Bill Hicks wrote that joke. Journey for that one. It's also a

DC Comics meets Roald Dahl mix-up that nobody saw coming. James and the giant peach-faced asshole. I just like the fact that Trump thinks he walks strong. He thinks he normally walks in a way that inspires confidence and strength

when, as far as I can tell, he walks like a bag of squirrels. It's not like he's a dude who walks in any way. That's a strong walk that guy has. Yeah, it's definitely two racist 12-year-olds in a trench coat kind of a thing. If I was a child and i saw donald trump open his shirt and a superman logo appeared i would burst into tears like no that's not superman like every credible musicians but like stop playing my music i would love the fact that

like dc would have to be like are we gonna have to sue the president is superman gonna sue donald trump i've said this before. I'll say it again. The music on the right generally sucks because Ted Nugent songs are always available. He would happily give them away to the right for free and they don't take it. Kid Rock is

available. Nobody's taking Kid Rock songs. Their music sucks. That's why they always take Born on the 4th of July. They always take the songs on the left and have to be told, we will file a cease and desist order if you do not stop playing that. They choose songs like Fortunate Son and they choose songs like Born on the Fourth of July because when it comes to lyrics, they are not originalists. They definitely treat Fortunate Son like a living text. Yeah, they do.

Because they are not clearly taking the intended or clear meaning of those words. That's for sure. Yes. Big on choruses, not big on verses. Born in the USA, they're definitely seeing it at face value. They have no value of the intent of that song, no reason to think about the fact that it's a criticism of the U.S. It's just like, ah, we can chant to this. This segues neatly into a hate crime.

I was at the 2004 Democratic Convention, and I was at an anti-war protest, and a restaurant started blasting Born in the USA to kind of make a point to the protest. But of course, like it's an anti-war protest song. So he was hoisted. That shopkeep was hoisted by his own petard in that case. Hoisted by his own petard. It's my catchphrase. It's my catchphrase. That is his catchphrase.

That's my catchphrase. Your use of language is delightful, John. Let me's it's what what did you you say on our show revanchist revanchist the word the word i said twice because i'm a fucking pedantic piece of shit you the common man's touch has never been what people have claimed about you our episode with you came out uh today and we had to do a hold up, wait a minute, which is when we clarify something on you saying that word to give the proper definition

to the audience. And then we went back into the interview with you just to make sure everyone was on the same page. That is so embarrassing for me. I'm so sorry. And check out Politically Reactive out now. Let's get the plug. Let's get the full plug.

It's a crossover. It's a crossover. It's a crossover. Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN he didn't consent to being used in a Trump campaign ad and that the ad took his comments out of context. He's going to be pretty unhappy when he finds out about Fauci's choice hydroxychloroquine gummies. Cures what ails you. finds out about Fauci's choice, hydroxychloroquine gummies. Cures what ails you. Fauci has never endorsed a candidate over his decades in public service, but you know that at his house, there is a hole in the floor because Fauci filled out his ballot at home

and voted so hard for Joe Biden, his pen went through the table, into the floorboards, into the subbed. His filling out of that little bubble for Joe Biden is like when the acid comes out of the alien and alien and drips through multiple layers. That is how obviously hard fucking Anthony Fauci is voting for Joe Biden. Are we, are we crazy? Like, like, what are we, we pretend? Come on. There are so many holes throughout his house that he's just punched through. There's no way a human being can maintain that level of calm for this long during a period that is this bad. He, Donald Trump is against everything this man has worked

towards, including the use of logic and the valuing of science. There is nothing, nothing this man has done right. I can really see Anthony Fauci. Remember that Coney 2020 guy? I can see Anthony Fauci on November 2nd just naked through Bethesda, Maryland, or whatever suburb he lives in, just screaming at everybody to vote for Joe Biden, just completely cracking. He made it so close to the

end. In my community, we call that a Martin Lawrence. That's what we call it. But I like the Coney reference, too. Also known as a Junior Mariah Carey, depending upon what your era is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. I mean, look, you can point to, you know, there's Britney Spears shaving her head, striking that car. And by the way, to this day, look, I support Britney Spears' efforts to gain greater control over her conservatorship.

That's something I think. I like you're finally like, jokes aside, everybody, I just want to say I support Britney Spears' right to have control of her bank accounts and medical records. Absolutely. I support that, true. Yeah, I just, I err on the side of, I err on the side of Britney, you know? That's just where I'm at. That's your other catchphrase.

Britney 2020. Twitter and Facebook slowed the spread of a New York Post article featuring what are claimed to be emails from Hunter Biden regarding Ukraine obtained by Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon. Two people, if they forwarded you an email with an attachment, you would be afraid to open it because it was 100% fake and a virus. You would 100% not open that. All the spacing would be fucked up. The first clue it was fake was that the email was from hunterbidenathotmail.com. I mean, I think, aren't we just with limiting any post from the New York Post?

Isn't that just a good policy in general, just to not take stories from the New York Post, not let them spread around the internet? Yeah, I think that's great. I learned that on a Public Enemy album, I think. The New York Post shouldcine fighting and politics is 100% of Donald Trump's worldview. If your paper is how Donald Trump created this idea of how the world works, probably not a great source of information. Also this week, an FBI agent testified that the men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer also considered kidnapping Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia. Look, a lot of us had big plans during this

pandemic. We said we'd use the time to learn a skill or write or kidnap an elected official because we've pickled our brains in right-wing poison and chosen to direct our lack of agency and dignity outward toward easy targets of blame because we've been encouraged to do that by propaganda and in the absence of real community sought a form of dark solace with like-minded people who also chose to embrace grievance and racism and hatred because we lack the tools to understand the deeper and truer sources of our pain and in fact have been steeped from a young age in a culture that says being a man means it is weak to try. Ba-dum-bum.

That was like a Dennis Leary, for people who remember Dennis Leary. And enough with this kombucha. Yeah, exactly. It was almost a Lenny Bruce and then it went into a Dennis Leary. Oh, okay. All right. Well, I got to stay over. Yeah, no, you were good.

That was good. Although it was so long, I can't remember what the subject was anymore. It was the right-wing terrorist group. Oh, yes, the kidnapping. Yes, the kidnapping. It was about the kidnapping. Where the sheriff, Dar Leaf, which is also, sometimes you can tell by a name somebody's not right. Yeah, yeah. Where the sheriff, Dar Leaf, which is also, sometimes you can tell by a name somebody's not right. Dar Leaf said that, well, do we know if it was a kidnapping or was it an arrest?

How are we supposed to know? Well, you also have Trump today talking about how terrible, like, you know, he's basically, you know, playing footsie with these people to this day. I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that the police official couldn't tell the difference between an arrest and a kidnapping. Can we just sit on that just for a brief moment? How like that seems like it allows for every crime possible using the. Was this a robbery or a forced loan? Like how? Where is the line that this person is drawing?

Well, we know. Oh, Harry, I think we know where the line is. It's called White Skin. White Skin. Love that song. That song, White Skin, is something Trump has been playing at his rallies. Right.

But he doesn't know that it's actually written by Vin Diesel. That's something Trump doesn't realize. The Taliban has endorsed President Trump's re-election bid. For their complete list of endorsements, be sure to check out the latest episode of Pod Death to America. Nice.

Nice. Yeah, I don't think. Your reaction was the exact amount that that deserved. That's a joke that is better made by somebody who's actually not the host of Pod Save America. I think that one's a little inside. Yeah Save America. I think that's a little inside. I think that's a good note. This is what we're here to do, is give notes on the jokes.

As you are. That's why you're here. If we made that joke on Politically Reactive, then I think it's just a little inside baseball. It's a little aggrandizing. Kind of self-referential. What am I, Dave Eggers now? Take that, Dave Eggers. I, Dave Eggers now? You know? Take that, Dave Eggers.

I love Dave Eggers. I think. Yeah, but he's already taken that job. You don't need to be Dave Eggers. That's right. Dave Eggers, boo. That dude dressing kids up as pirates, teaching them to read. Hey, that kid's not an astronaut, Dave Eggers.

Why are you pretending? It's time. It's time. It's time. Hurry. Finally. It's a new segment we have on Politically Reactive called The Growing Conservatism of Hari Kondabolu. Why are you pretending he's a pirate? He's not

going to become a pirate. He's just trying to read. What are you trying to do? And as he grows more conservative, he also grows just slightly less intelligible. That's kind of how that works. That's how it works. That's how it works. What's the New York Times doing on here?

I get the post every morning. What the hell is the New York Times doing here? Five sections? What? Where's the color? You sound like when Benedict Cumberbatch needs to do an American accent. Speaking of anti-democratic regimes, the Trump administration may succeed. That's based on the Taliban. That's how far back we are.

The Trump administration may succeed in stopping the census early after the Supreme Court ruled in their favor without explanation. Which reminds me, I think we should all learn to count up from nine to, say, 11 or perhaps 13. Because of the court. Packing the court. We should pack the court. We should pack the court. It's too far afield. It was too far afield.

It was too far afield. When you said 9 and 11, that's when I got them like, 9-11, how is this a 9-11? Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's an infringement on 9-11's copyright. You're absolutely right. Yeah, as a parent who's recently had many breakdowns over my 9-year-old Zoom math homework, I just got panicked when it sounded like a math joke, so that's where I was at.

Initially, I was like, 9-11 and Taliban jokes. Man, John's really dipping into the old well, isn't he? He's going back a little bit. Yeah, yeah, the thunder road. Of course, this week, the biggest news is the news we are all compartmentalizing and trying to pretend isn't happening, the confirmation

hearing of Supreme Court nominee and founding father mind reader Amy Coney Barrett. On day one of the hearing, Senator Lindsey Graham said this is probably not about persuading each other unless something really dramatic happens. Like, I don't know, several members of the committee testing positive for coronavirus or refusing to get tested at all so they could have the hearing anyway. You know, we're doomed The Democrats actually called George Washington To testify

And he pointed at Amy Coney Barrett And said why is she talking And She didn't know what to do Because wow that is a founding father She's a witch Burn her Do you see where she couldn't name the five things that the first amendment protects Yeah yeah father. She's a witch. Burn her.

Do you see where she couldn't name the five things that the First Amendment protects? Yeah, yeah. She went through all of them except conveniently forgot protest. She did. Guns. Bullet. She remembered guns. Machine guns. I'm still on George Washington because I think what he would have done is said, and by the way,

that woman is correct. I have lots of thoughts about this technology and did the whole time. You can definitely know what I would have thought about everything here. I am not petrified by the witchcraft all around me with these electric fires, a term I don't understand. So you want me to stare directly into this devil box to state the truth? I have lots of thoughts about net neutrality. I'm glad to be back. When Cory Booker was talking to Amy Coney Barrett, I kept thinking, oh, the founding fathers wouldn't have liked this.

No, no, no. They wouldn't have liked this at all why are we pretending or if you're Thomas Jefferson it meant it might have turned you on it's so bad I think about something to think about so Amy Coney Barrett initially used the term sexual preference when referring to the LGBT community and then later apologized for the implication that sexual orientation is a choice just put your paws up because you were born this way, baby, she said, speaking directly to the Constitution, a document that she believes, based on a completely incoherent legal theory,

offers little protection for LGBTQ people. Sort of out of the joke section. So she refused to take positions on virtually any major issue that may come before the court, even refusing to weigh in on the importance of a peaceful transition of power. The Post also reported that Barrett would not comment on the court's 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas that struck laws criminalizing homosexual conduct or the court's 2015 ruling that said same-sex couples could not be denied the right to marry. Now, of course, the hearing has a goal, which is to pretend that Amy Coney Barrett doesn't think what she obviously thinks and has written down many times.

Correct. But I actually think it's fair to assume that she is more likely to have joined Scalia, her professed role model, and Thomas and Rehnquist in dissenting in Lawrence v. Texas rather than sign on to Anthony Kennedy's, at the time, 6-3 majority, which was about the constitutionality of criminalizing gay relationships because police opened the door and walked into a private home where two men were having sex. They were arrested for the act of having sex, and that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

It was as cut and dry as you get. They opened the door. People were having sex. They were arrested for having the sex. Here is what Anthony Kennedy said in his store. It's a beautifully written opinion. This is what he said. He said, had those who drew and ratified the due process clauses of the Fifth Amendment or the 14th Amendment known the components of liberty in its manifold possibilities, they might have been more specific. They did not presume to have this insight. They knew times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once Amy Coney Barrett does not agree. That's it. She doesn't agree with that statement.

She has made that incredibly clear, and I don't have a joke. Well, I think she would view it as the police didn't actually open the door. God opened the door after Satan had closed it. So that's another interpretation of the events. And that actually is strictly out of the Constitution, I believe.

That's right out of the Constitution. God opened the door. I like to believe that when the devil closes the door on two men having sex, God opens a window. And finally this week, Facebook announced it will ban content at long last that denies the Holocaust. Because they found that Holocaust denial was eating up way too much hard drive space. Like, yeah, they want to allow it, but this is a getting out of hand. They just need to clear up the servers. They just need too much space

taken up by Holocaust denial. You see. I can't upload my cat video because it's not, it doesn't, because my cat believes that the Holocaust happened. And the thing is, even the name Facebook sounds evil. Do you know what I mean? It sounds comically evil.

Like 30 years ago, Facebook, it just sounds like something that would take faces. It would devour. It's a ridiculous thing. Yeah. It sounds like something a wizard opens to give you a new face. Right, right, right. They wanted to call it your privacy book, but that just felt too on the nose. Yeah,

monetizing your privacy book. Shout out to my former high school classmate, Divya Narendra, who helped create Facebook and then sued Zuckerberg with the Winklevoss twins. Hey, nice.

Little personal connection. I remember him in the movie The Social Network being played by a guy who was Italian. Yeah, yeah, I remember that too. I remember him in the movie The Social Network being played by a guy who was Italian. Yeah, I remember that too. I remember thinking, because Divya was a very attractive man. I remember people being friends with me so they could find out if he was single.

Repeatedly. Repeatedly. And I kept thinking, this man is more handsome than the actor playing him and considerably browner. Well, I'll say this. That actor whose name escapes me is hot. The Winklevoss twins are not as attractive as Armie Hammer, who played both of them. And I, for one, respect that decision.

The Social Network, if you watch it, is a super strange movie that doesn't totally hold up. It has some very, very weird ideas about what being a man is all about. But when you sign up for Sorkin, that's what you get. Yeah. W. Kamau Bell, Hari Kondabalu, this was a delight. As always, it is wonderful to see you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, John. Thanks for having us. When we come back, look, there was a Biden town hall, there was a Trump town hall this week. And so that means it's time for OK, stop. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

And we're back. So this week there was supposed to be a presidential debate, but obviously that didn't happen because Donald Trump got a little bit of the acting bug, which was acting like getting COVID was very cool. Anyway, he pulled out of a virtual debate because he thought it would make him look bad. Then ABC had said they would use the same time slot for Joe Biden to do a town hall. And then NBC said, we're going to do a town hall with Trump at the same time. And then a lot of people on Twitter were very, very upset about that. And I think probably a bit over-torqued. It was worth being annoyed about, not freaking out about. And what ended up happening is both town halls took place at the same time. Donald Trump did a terrible job. Joe Biden did a great job. The comparison was striking,

which is what we would have gotten from a debate anyway. Savannah Guthrie did a pretty great job holding Trump accountable and following up. The whole thing ended up probably being a good thing for Joe Biden and a bad thing for Donald Trump. A little lesson there, I think, which is just because Donald Trump thinks something is good for him doesn't mean it is. We should do our best in these final two weeks to think with our own brains and not Donald Trump's brain. That is true when it comes to his efforts to claim he has some say over the election. That is true when it comes to his efforts to say that the results will be rigged and that the votes won't be counted. And I think it's also true about how much Donald Trump benefits from people being

exposed to Donald Trump. Anyway, did I say it's time for OK, stop? Now it's time for OK, stop. That was the point. Let's roll the clip. Just the other day, they came out with a statement that 85 percent of the people that wear masks catch it. So, you know, that's what I heard and that's what I saw. OK, so they didn't say that. That's obviously not true. That's not true. Anyway, let's keep going. Hey, I'm president. I have to see people. I can't be in a basement. I can't be in a room. I can't be, I have to be out. You can see people with a mask though, right? I can, but people with masks are catching it all the time. Okay, stop.

So before we go to Biden, before we go to Biden, I just would like to point out once again that Donald Trump said after he contracted the coronavirus and likely helped spread it to dozens of people, including his wife and son, he claimed to have gotten it, that he gets it. And he is basically saying the same thing now as he said before, a reminder that the vast majority of Americans support masks. They recognize that masks are how we reopen, that masks are the small step we can take to get back to normal life. And the issue of managing the virus and taking it seriously is obviously still one of Trump's worst issues because of moments like this. But let's go see what Joe Biden had to say. Let's switch channels. The words of a president matter. Absolutely. No matter whether they're good, bad, or indifferent, they matter. And when a president doesn't wear a mask or makes fun of folks like me when I was

wearing a mask for a long time, then, you know, people say, well, it mustn't be that important. But when a president says, I think this is very important, for example, I walked in here with this mask, but I have one of the M95 masks underneath it. It's estimated by every major study done from the University of Washington to Columbia that if, in fact, we wore masks, we could save between now and the end of the year 100,000 lives. Okay, stop. lot. Okay, stop. So one other moment that happened during this town hall with Trump is it turns out in the debate in which Donald Trump made fun of Joe Biden for wearing masks, a debate at which Donald Trump likely had the virus, he basically refused to say that he was tested before the debate. He refused to say that he was tested before he showed up to be in a room with Joe Biden and that by the grace of God, by sheer luck, we got out of that debate

with Joe Biden remaining healthy and not having the virus. And so that's, I don't really know what's left to say about this. I am glad that we now have the ratings. More people seem to have watched Joe Biden than watched Donald Trump, But that anybody who was worried about what would happen if Donald Trump got exposure in a town hall, I think was wrong to assume that just because Donald Trump thought it was good for him, that it would be good for him because this was an absolute disaster, especially because of moments like this, which we are about to watch. Just this week, you retweeted to your 87 million followers a conspiracy theory that Joe Biden orchestrated to have SEAL Team 6, the Navy SEAL Team 6, killed to cover up the fake death of bin Laden. Now, why would you send a lie like that to your followers? I know nothing about it.

You retweeted it. That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody. Okay, stop. That was an opinion of somebody. That's the standard. That's an opinion of somebody. Okay, stop. That was an opinion of somebody. That's the standard. That's an opinion of somebody. But Savannah was really good here. Let's finish the clip. And that was a retweet. I'll put it out there. People can decide for themselves. I don't get that. You're the president. You're not like someone's crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever. No, no, no. That was a retweet. Okay, stop. I just want to say, look, I really appreciated the way Savannah pushed back on Donald Trump because she did it with just kind of common sense, simple follow-ups. Like,

wait a second. This is not normal. This is deeply strange what you're doing. You're the president. Why are you retreating? You're the president. Studies show wearing masks could save 75,000 lives. Wait a second, you're the president. Just moment after moment of taking the position of not a kind of pundit, not somebody inside of DC, but just sort of, I think, the common sense questions that he has struggled with the most. After the town hall was over, the Trump campaign obviously started tweeting about how unfair it was, giving statements about how Savannah was too tough. You see one of Trump's apologists on Twitter said, oh, this is unbelievable. Savannah's being super

aggressive. And then over on ABC, it's like we're listening to Mr. Rogers. Like, yeah, that's a pretty good comparison. But then somebody went through and pulled out all the questions that Donald Trump had to answer from Savannah. And there are questions like, why don't you want to wear a mask? Or will you denounce QAnon? They're not gotcha questions. Like a gotcha question. There's a clip going around of Joni Ernst in Iowa not knowing the break-even price for soybeans. And man, that anchor has such a shit-eating grin. And I'm really glad he asked that question. But it is a gotcha question. And it is awesome that Teresa Greenfield knows something about the break-even price of corn and listening to her talk about it is very soothing, and I very much hope she wins. But that's a gotcha question.

A question where you have to know a specific fact that you might not otherwise know that's embarrassing to not know, even though it's quite reasonable to not have it on the top of your head. That's a gotcha question. It wasn't a gotcha question when Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin, what do you read? And it's not a gotcha question to ask the president to denounce a bullshit conspiracy theory. It's only a gotcha question because he doesn't want to answer it because he wants to keep the support of these maniacs despite the harm that it causes. Anyway, let's watch what I think is one of the strangest moments in the history of presidential politics. Let's roll the clip.

Good evening, Mr. President. Thank you very much. I have to say you have a great smile. Thank you. I mean, just so you're so handsome when you smile. So I saw that happen in real time and it was one of the most nauseating things I've ever seen. However, then today we learn that that woman, I believe her first name is Paulette, is actually voting for Joe Biden. And somehow that makes it weirder.

Like, I'm glad she's voting for Joe Biden in Florida. She plans to early vote for Joe Biden in Florida. But that means that she doesn't even support Donald Trump, but she thinks he's hot. And I find that incredible. I think it's incredible that, yeah, like, I'm a woman with blood in my veins. I want to make out with Donald Trump. I'm not going to vote for him. Like, yeah, he's like super sexy. We all get that. Like, look at that killer smile. I want to jump his bones, but not in the White House. That's crazy.

Like, I've never put this person in the White House. I just want to like make out with him, like on a couch and cuddle with him because I think he's so, so sexy. But he shouldn't be president. I'm voting for Joe Biden, you know? Fuck Trump, marry Biden. Classic position. And that's okay, stop.

When we come back, I talk to Dave Weigel from The Washington Post about what he's seeing in the final days of this campaign. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. He is a national reporter for The Washington Post and author of the book, The Show That Never Ends. Please welcome Dave Weigel. Hey, it's good to be here. Dave, good to see you. So, you know, one thing I wanted to ask you about is something I've always appreciated about how you cover politics is you're a creature of Twitter, but you still recognize that Twitter and the world are two separate places. Yeah.

And I think one of the ways I think you've been able to do that is by kind of being out there on the road. Have you been able to go out on the road as much as you otherwise would have? How has it been trying to get that kind of real experience in this sort of period? Well, definitely not as much as I otherwise would have. I mean, if I pulled up my schedule from four years ago, certainly at this point in the campaign, like T-minus 20 days or 19 days, I was on the road all the time. I think I left DC and didn't return for like two weeks or something. So that's not how I travel now. I went out west for a week and knew that I had one trip west. So I went to Utah for the debate. I went to Arizona for a story. I went to Oregon for a story.

And I might take one or two more trips but in terms of figuring out what is on Twitter and what's happening in real life and whether they diverge it's a little bit of that paying attention to people's conversations what is supplantive all the voter conversations I would have had of just I have friends who don't pay that lot of attention to politics right I have friends outside DC who I play PS4 with or watch movies with or check in with over email. But I just know people for whom this is not their life. And I hear what they hear about. And sometimes they'll hear about a conspiracy theory that broke through, but they don't believe it.

But 90% of the stuff that is thrown around the campaign, they don't hear about at all. And they get TV ads. And the thing that they were cluing me on pretty early, and this is like June, July, is that a lot of the anti-Biden attack ads, even if they weren't super fond of Biden to begin with, they didn't believe them. So there's been a problem for Trump, I think, throughout this campaign in a way that's been

underrated, is that coming into something where most people think you're lying and your opponent is not, is a really tough problem. It hasn't been treated that way because Trump won, but that has colored my expectations too, where a lot of stuff is just going to be said and people say, that's Trump and they don't believe it. And I feel like being on Twitter, but not basing my opinions on Twitter makes that clear when that's going to happen. It's interesting. You know, I've seen a few people talking about that this week, which is, you know, we've talked about how stable the race has been since June. But actually, a year ago, before the primary was in really full swing, people were noting that Biden had this

like roughly 10 point lead. And there was this expectation that we would say, you know, don't worry about that. You know, this is something the left said too, right? This is something that everybody kind of said, which is you can't trust a poll this far out, wait until a billion dollars falls on Joe Biden's head. But here we are a billion dollars later and it's sort of pretty stable. Or on Bernie's head as it would have been. And just the weird thing has been that the Trump campaign did not adjust to not running against Bernie Sanders, right? They've come up with these lines of attack on Biden, some that just don't make sense. I think what they really don't get is that the left, even now, like this week, closed

the election with Biden up in the polls. The left has qualms with him, and they get irritated by stuff. But they're not looking for reasons to abandon him. Just Trump exists. And you can see this happen in real time. People are more exhaustedly supporting him. They're not looking for reasons to bolt. So I think the not just the negativity, but the Trump campaign bet a lot on being able to cleave younger voters and nonwhite voters away from Biden, get people to stay home. And that hasn't really happened. And that was a ton of their spending. No, and I think that speaks to the moment. I think that speaks to kind of a lack of, you know, Trump's version of appealing to the left, trying to peel people off his occasional

random bursts of tweets. But I think it also speaks to Bernie, AOC, a lot of leaders on the left, a lot of people on the left have sort of recognized, embraced that, you know, this is our one ticket out. There's no other trains coming. It's weird because the Trump folks should have known that because this is what happened with the conservative base in 2016 when they need to be dragged along. Polling showed until really like this point in the race that he was softer with Republican voters than any other nominee. And they saw how the base just came around back. I mean, apart from the Evan McMullin class of Republicans who didn't live in places that were that competitive, they saw how the base, when they really want to win,

when they're really angry, how the other party's base is really hard to demotivate. And for some reason didn't bake that in. But I guess I've also been surprised at how resilient Biden is, despite the spending. I'm happy with some of the predictions I've seen this year. And they're not like Kruskin prediction. Just I'll see your facts and say, I'm not sure how this is going to play out. Or this doesn't seem like it's going to go the way that the chin waggers on TV say it's going to go. But I was surprised in 2019 and I believe some of that.

That is Biden had a record like Hillary Clinton that Trump would be able to exploit again. I think the problem instead has been what I just mentioned, but also that Trump's been looking for some smoking gun or some dramatic thing to shake up the race or some accusation against Biden that's going to shift everything. He just can you continue doing maybe intensified it because of COVID-19. With Hillary, one, he had that stuff happening naturally, either from people's impressions of Hillary Clinton, or from the FBI investigation or from hacks. he had stuff coming out about Hillary Clinton that enforced people's negative perceptions. He doesn't have it with Biden in the same way, because it's not built on that foundation. So he doesn't have a foundation of a nominee that

people don't trust to run against, without focusing on, here's my trade agenda, here's my jobs agenda, like the stuff he did focus on 2016, he spent even more time looking for something that's going to rock the race up, either be it being like urban unrest, which Biden handled pretty nimbly, or some of these, you know, accusation, unmasking the Durham report, you could go through them, there's almost this concurrence between like QAnon posts and stuff Trump is saying that this is the next thing, dementia. This is the next thing that we're going to use to really rock Biden. But it's left people not knowing what he stands for in a second term. And with a very clear idea of like a fairly popular democratic populist Biden agenda. Like when you see people ask who they expect to be better on

this or that issue, who's going to change things, just Biden's been able to win the argument because Trump often is like leaving the field to look for something weird and unexpected throw at Biden. Yeah, I do think one of the things we'll be parsing in the years after this period is the relationship between normal politics and abnormal politics, right? Like so much of this fight is being fought in abnormal politics, chaotic Trump tweets, accusations, misinformation. But then you look at some of the kind of contours of the race, normal politics abides.

You have basically a president without a second term agenda that has created a real gap in a message for him. You have Joe Biden campaigning on the ACA and the economy and getting us out of a national crisis and urging people to vote. You say that Trump has been looking for some kind of a kind of October surprise. I'm surprised to hear that you don't think we have it. You know, Rudy Giuliani tells us that a plowed Hunter Biden dropped off a laptop full of corrupt emails at a tech center and that this is going to upend the race. I am skeptical. There are red flags around this story. What did you make of this Rudy Giuliani

maneuver? This is something that Giuliani had been promising for a while. And I honestly think the reporting on how this was obtained and what he said about it has been more interesting than the contents of it. The Rudy theory is the Trump theory that there's going to be some dirt that comes out about Joe Biden that convinces people he's crooked as Hillary was, and that's going to change everything. This fits into that pattern. But again, it's before this, it was, you know, will Biden open up his Senate records and disprove this sexual assault accusation? It was all sorts of elements of Biden's record that were going to explode on him. With the Hunter Biden story, the problem just from the outset has been

that it's not the candidate. They're trying to link Joe Biden to corruption in ways that either have been done already, not going to be compelling. Like, for example, this dump of emails that Rudy Giuliani seems to be controlling the publication of had this, what is reported to be an email from a Burisma executive to Biden thanking him for setting up some meeting. But we already had, 13 months ago, a photograph of like another Burisma board member playing golf with Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.

And people saw it and the Trump campaign is using ads and they just like didn't care. What Rudy Giuliani is saying, if you see his broadcast on YouTube, is that he's trying to build this mafia case that Hunter Biden has been collecting money and floating the Biden family for decades in Rudy's view, because his reading of this one text. And we have Joe Biden's, like, we know what he owns, we know what property

he owns, we know how he spends, we know his tax records. He's been investigated by the Senate Republican Committee, but even being vetted for president, being vetted for vice president, can you hide this for decades? I suppose you could, but it sounds more like a conspiracy theory because Joe Biden just has not gotten this, it's the opposite of a callous, this long-term problem that Hillary Clinton had where people are willing to believe anything negative about him. They're trying to change his image in effectively 18 days now, because there's not much more time for people to vote for the election. And it's trying to fit a theory that becomes problematic because

Biden can answer it with some financial data, and he can disprove that he's been secretly getting millions of dollars and for whatever reason, only spending them on like a rehab Corvette, whereas the president cannot talk about, doesn't even get asked about, just kind of prompting people to ask about the people come to his clubs and ask for favors. The Trump family's business around the world has continued, has been president. The whole thing's confusing because in 2016, he could say, Hillary Clinton has a bunch of emails she was hiding. She has a bunch of corrupt associates.

She has a foundation. What's up with that? And with Biden, there's nothing he's really throwing at him that is not more compelling if you ask the question or poke around in Donald Trump's finances. So it's been confusing. And so the usual pattern of these things, and again, this is one that it's not like WikiLeaks where they just are publishing the emails online. This is Rudy Giuliani so far, a member of the president's campaign, sending it to friendly media. So it can't be vetted in the same way. It can't be shared the same way as something that's just open sourced, leaked, published. People have set up like rules and how they write this stuff. So it's hard for it to get out. But even when it gets out, it just poses these questions that are

not obviously about Joe Biden. They're not connected to him in the same way that the email hacks in 2016 were. And again, it sort of, it speaks to normal politics. This is an accusation being directed at one candidate that more applies to the candidate making the accusation. But, you know, look, we see these polls, they are double digit national polling leads for Joe Biden, but we're all sort of smarting from 2016. We want to make sure we're thinking about the things we're not seeing. Are there any, in any of your reporting and anything you're seeing, are there worrying signs for Joe Biden, despite some of these advantages that he's had? Not that you see on the ground. So I just was in Utah and Arizona and Oregon, like I said, and I was in all those places in some form or another in 2016. I don't have a picture perfect

memory of what it was like. But you notice when you do see evidence of support for Donald Trump, evidence of support for Joe Biden, you talk to people around there about what it was like. People maybe have inflated in their memories how many Trump signs they saw. But generally, you're not seeing outside of super, super conservative areas, the visible Trump support. You're not seeing when you drive around the, I never thought there would be interest in this candidate, but look, barn after barn is decorated with Trump signs. And I'm barely bringing up lawn signs because the president kind of thinks it's a good

metric. I was in Oregon and I was surprised. This is a state where Trump is not really competing now, but he does have one TV ad running. You have most of the state, not most of the people, most of the state is rural. And I drove around a lot of it for the story I was writing. Didn't see a ton of super passionate Trump support in places he's going to win, but I didn't see the same sort of ultra fandom that I did before. And do you see anything that makes you nervous about, we've seen a lot of reporting around the way polls have adjusted since 2016, but we're all, you know, that's what makes a surprise a surprise. You know, is there a big pool of non-college educated white voters that we're not talking to? Like, are you worried about that? Are you seeing any evidence of that? Yeah, that's what I was thinking

of before, because this was the Trump campaign's dream was everything holds basically steady from 2016. Maybe the president's made some gains in all white voters, but there are even more white voters without college degrees who wouldn't have voted, never voted before, and they'll turn out for the president. I do think they've located some more of those voters. They have registered more of those voters in Florida, a little bit in Texas, actually a little bit in Arizona and Nevada, even as Democrats are doing better. They found some, it's just, not to sound like Chuck Schumer talking about about Pennsylvania 2016, but it's not clear that for every one of those they gained, they haven't lost two voters in the suburbs somewhere. Another thing that they've done pretty well is find those people. I was just saying, you're not seeing the, gosh, I wouldn't

have expected that effect when you drive out of suburbs. And the idea being floated more frequently is, well, there's lots of voters who won't admit they love the president, but will vote for him. That's like one impossible to prove. And I don't know you can prove it's only going one direction, that there's not more people whose neighbors have Trump flags and Trump pinatas and, you know, Trump branded yachts in the yard or Trump branded boats in the yard, I should say. Because Trump supporters, I mean, when I see Trump supporters when I'm driving, it is never one sign. It is like you're setting up a Trump themed gender reveal party or something with the amount of like Trump merchandise in the yard, I see.

So the voter registration numbers are interesting, but it's not clear that they replaced a bunch of Democrats with that. They've clearly lost some more. Last question for you. You know, beyond the presidential race, you just wrote a little bit about what you're seeing in state legislative races. What do you see happening in this cycle that's new or unusual in terms of enthusiasm around some of these sort of efforts to flip state houses? advertising everywhere for Democrats in newly competitive seats. And I spent a decent amount of time in Scottsdale, which is not a liberal city. And you could definitely tell it was moving left. So what you see is Democrats kind of early in the cycle had a map of what they wanted to flip, and they've raised a ton of money. Republicans have raised money well too, but they've done much better nationally through the Republican State Leadership Committee. That's been outpacing the

Democratic version of that. But Democrats running for down ballot stuff have been raising more than they would have otherwise. And that's, the story is pretty visible on Twitter, which is that people learned after 2016, oh, I should pay attention to who represents me in the state senator. I'm going to tweet these six candidates who deserve our money. And you've seen this rainfall building into a flood effect that really hyped up in the last month. The national groups had a plan to execute them. I think the Republican plan to hold on to state legislatures was pretty good, and they're going to mitigate some damage. What was not quite prepared for was Democrats would recruit in more places and have more money and not just be on the ballot, but be able to leaflet

everywhere, run ads on TV, send ads to voters. Like people tell you, this is why these races were sort of resistance battlefield, because people realized, wait a second, it only costs $50,000, then you're dominating a state race. Dave Weigel, thank you for being here. I actually want to ask one, it's a simple question. It's a one word answer. Sure. What time do you expect to go to bed in the early

morning hours of November 4th? I don't think I'll go to bed. I think if the polls are right now, the country would go to bed knowing who won probably by 11 Eastern time, which is earlier than most people will say. I feel as though I've invited bad juju. I've invited the demons of superstition, and I'm emotionally throwing things behind me. Nothing is written. Nothing is certain. Dave Weigel, thank you so much for being here. Awesome. It was really good to be here. Thank you. When we come back, we're going to play a game that takes a look at some of the complicated sounding ballot measures that you may see on your ballot this year.

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. on your ballot this year. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Voting is a lot like board games. The more complicated it is to understand, the fewer players you'll have around the table.

Hear that, Gloomhaven? A game that you probably haven't heard of because it comes in a box that seems like it's a joke box because it's so big and inside, there are so many types of cards and pieces. It genuinely shocks the conscience and I get so much shit from Spencer, Eric, and Brendan about how complicated it is because yeah, this is my leisure time. So perhaps I have had a CBD gummy with CBD and italics. And no, I don't want to approach a rule book with post-it notes and a Sharpie the way major corporations approach contracts when they're trying to get out of

a lawsuit. And by the way, they started meeting to play without me until the fucking pandemic. So now we only play Settlers online and occasionally code names. So that resolved the Gloomhaven thing. Anyway, the point is, when it comes to ballot measures, the interest behind these poorly worded paragraphs are trying to confuse you with legalese and jargon in the hopes you'll vote against your values

or not vote in a referendum at all. And we hate that here at Vote Save America because we believe in democracy. So we launched our ballot tool that allows you to understand everything on your ballot and build out a sample ballot so you know everything up and down that thing so that you can get some helpful information on these dastardly props to highlight how important it is to do your research so you're ready and you don't have to skip over a ballot measure that sounds pro-water but is actually written

by the bad guys in the film Quantum of Solace, it's time for a game we call You Gotta Prop. Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down, because what's going down is Uber not wanting to provide healthcare to drivers. Here to play the game, we have Kimberly.

Hi, Kimberly. Hi, how are you doing? I'm great. Where are you in the world? I am in Austin, Texas. And what have you been doing to make sure that we win in Texas and that we win this election? I have been volunteering my time to answer calls for the Texas Democratic Party's voter assistance hotline. I've also written a ton of postcards, but those are to voters in Florida. Nice. And I've sent text messages for the Biden campaign.

All right. Kimberly's doing her part. I like to spread it around. That's good. That's good. That's good. So Kimberly, here's how it works. I'm going to read a question that's on about a ballot measure somewhere in America, and you're going to hear some multiple choice answers and you'll tell us what the prop actually does. Are you ready? I am ready. Question one, Florida Amendment number one. This amendment provides that only United States citizens who are at least 18 years of age,

a permanent resident of Florida and registered to vote as provided by law shall be qualified to vote in a Florida election. Does it A, change the Florida constitution from every citizen can vote to only a citizen can vote, meaning it would have literally no impact whatsoever? B, remove the word every citizen can vote from the Florida constitution and requires an election official to verbally confirm you are mature enough to vote after your 18th birthday by seeing if you can convincingly light a cigarette? Or is it C, requires that parties are listed by reverse alphabetical order on voting ballots for no apparent reason other than making sure Democrats

are last? Gosh, C sounds nefarious enough to be right, but I'm going to go with the first one. You're right. It has no impact. It just changes the first part from every citizen to only a citizen. The goal is to mobilize anti-immigrant settlement so that they go to the polls and help Donald Trump. The exact same thing is true of Amendment 76 in Colorado and Amendment 1 in Alabama. So just nefarious, actually. Just nefarious. You got it. You got it. No actual impact. Question number two is about Missouri Amendment 1. Here's what it says. Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to change processing criteria for redrawing

state legislative districts during reapportionment, change limits on campaign contributions that candidates for state legislature can accept from individual or entities, establish a limit on gifts that state legislatures and their employees can accept from paid lobbyists, prohibit state legislatures and their employees from serving as paid lobbyists for a period of time. Does this ballot measure A not take effect even if it were to pass because it was put on there as a senior prank by the students of Amos P. Godby High School? Is it B, it returns Missouri to a system of partisan gerrymandering for redrawing districts but hides it inside of fake reforms which include things like lobbyists would be allowed gifts of $0 instead of $5. Or is it C,

also known as the I said no gifts amendment. Amendment one is designed to implant the idea of gifts in the minds of lobbyists who otherwise might not have picked up a little something for state legislatures. I'm going to go with B, although I have no idea. Yes, it is B. Two years ago, Missouri voters approved the Clean Missouri Initiative, a ballot measure to fight partisan gerrymandering by replacing the governor-appointed commission that drew legislative districts with an independent demographer. This is designed to undo all of that.

Two courts have called the language of the amendment in the ballot misleading and false, and parts of it were rewritten. It is still on the ballot, though, and it is designed to be confusing. Final question, Kimberly. Okay. Final question. I'm ready. Before we get to it, let me ask you this, something I like to ask everybody. What are you streaming? Emily in Paris, for some reason, it's terrible, but it's so watchable. And New Girl, which I've seen before, but for some reason, I feel the need to rewatch shows that I've already seen. I get that. I've been watching sitcoms that I've seen before. It's very comforting. I would like to ask you two things. One is about Emily in Paris. You know, Tommy Vitor, co-host of Pod Save America, host of Pod Save the World, he began by making fun of Emily in Paris,

and then it turned out it wasn't Hannah making him watch it. He was just watching. He watched it by himself. It's very watchable, but it's also like the writing is horrible. And I don't really understand why I keep watching, but it's like 11 p.m. at night. I'm still watching, but I've only gotten to like three or four episodes. All right, Kimberly, enough stalling. It's time for the final question.

Final question. This is question three on California Proposition 25. A yes vote will replace the money bail system with a system based on a determination of public safety and flight risk and limits detention of a person in jail before trial in most misdemeanors. What does this proposition do and who is for it? Is it A, this would rid California of its punitive and unjust cash bail system but replace it with an algorithm that may have new and terrifying ramifications? Is it B, Democratic leaders including Gavin Newsom back this measure while the no side is backed by the GOP and funded by the bail bonds industry to prevent reform and save cash bail despite the

harm it does? Or is it C, probation officers in the SEIU are for it, but groups like the ACLU and Human Rights Watch and LA County public defenders want you to vote no because of their fears for how this may leave people in jail as a result of an unproven algorithm and a system that may only exacerbate racial injustice? Is it all of the above? Yeah, I mean, I think Kimberly just like dramatically, like you could have thought about it

and like kind of put some, like I'm not sure on the ball, you know, but I'm really sorry. No, I'm an attorney and I have a lot of attorney friends in California. So this has been a huge topic of conversation. So, yes, it is all of the above. This is like, I think, a classic example of how hard it is, I think, sometimes how hard we make it to vote for people, because this is a really tough call. Those urging us to vote.

No, those are the people I would want to vote with. Those are the people I side with. But the people urging me to vote yes are also like the people I don't want to side with some of these no people either. Why am I voting with the bail bondsman and Human Rights Watch? It doesn't make any sense. So you're a lawyer? I am a lawyer. How are those legal calls going to protect people in Texas to make sure their votes count? I am a lawyer.

How are those legal calls going to protect people in Texas to make sure their votes count? They're going really good. Most of the calls are about people needing help either obtaining an absentee ballot or how to fill out an absentee ballot. The other swath of people are asking me to confirm that they're registered or help them find a polling place. And then some people come in with really interesting questions. Like I had one the other day that was, I voted for a Republican the last time around. Can I vote for a Democrat now? Which are the kind of calls that I really like, although make me a little nervous. Well, Kimberly, you've won the game.

Awesome. Thank you so much for what you're doing in Texas to protect the vote and the cards you're sending to Florida and the information you're gathering from California. You're really helping in a lot of different places. Thank you so much. You're welcome. And for everybody listening, if you want to fill out your ballot and get some information in advance, go to votesaveamerica.com slash ballot.

You can fill out your sample ballot and you can make sure you have a plan to vote. It's an incredibly useful resource when you're going to have to go ahead and fill out your ballot and give you some information on some issues or candidates that you might not otherwise know about. Thank you so much. When we come back, we'll end on a high note. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It. There's more on the way. And we're back because we all need it this week, here it is, this week's High Notes, submitted by you, the listener. Hi, John Lovett. My name is Meredith. My highlight of the week is that I got my mom to vote for Biden. She's been a very conservative Republican her entire life. And I had her watch the Michelle Obama closing statement and that convinced her.

It was a great day. Thanks. Hi, this is Scott from Macon, Georgia. I stood in line on Monday for three hours to vote. There were tons of people there. I've also spent this week phone banking and text banking for the first time ever. It's been an interesting experience,

but a great one. Gotten a lot of great responses. Keep up the good work. Thanks. Hey, Lovett. It's Jake calling from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Our daughter's birthday is on October 11th, which is National Coming Out Day. And this year for her birthday, she surprised us by actually coming out. So I couldn't be prouder as a parent and it was

a great, great way to feel happy again. So that's my handbook for the week. Thanks so much. Bye. Hi, Lovett. This is Stacey calling from South Carolina. My high note this week is an email we got from our children's school. We live in

a rural area with lots of children below the poverty line. And the email said that they will be providing free meals for all children under age 18, whether or not they're even in school. And it's breakfast and lunch every day for the rest of the school year. And that just really made me happy that they're so in tune with their students' needs. Thanks. Have a good day. Thank you so much to everybody who submitted those high notes. If you want to leave us a message about something that gave you hope, you can call us at 323-521-9455. There are 17 days

until the election is done. Sign up for Vote Save America right now to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to hold the House, to win back the Senate, and elect Democrats up and down the ballot. Thank you to W. Kamau Bell, Hari Kondabalu, Dave Weigel, and everyone who called in. Thank you to everyone out there volunteering, calling, texting, donating, and spending every waking moment trying to win this election. 17 days left. Let's win this thing. Also, a very special thank you to Elisa Gutierrez. This is her last week working on Love It or Leave It. She has started on the very first day of Crooked Media, and we are sad to see her go,

but we are so excited to see what she does next. She is someone I will miss so much. Everybody at Crooked will miss so much. I am not going to go on too long here because she's literally in this Zoom and though her camera is off, I feel her growing increasingly uncomfortable with this amount of earnest emotion and attention. her intelligence, her ideas and creativity to make love it or leave it what it is to help reshape it. When we went into these closet episodes to make sure that this show does what we set out to do from the beginning, which is what we always try to do with everything that we do at Crooked, which is entertain, inform, but inspire people to be involved. And I'm grateful to her and everybody on the team here. And that's it. That's it.

You're lucky my camera wasn't on because I was uncomfortable. I feel like after all these years, that's one of the only times anybody's ever heard you on the show. So we'll miss you, Elisa. That was very earnest and nice. Thank you.

And have a great weekend, you know, along the way. Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, Elisa Gutierrez, Lee Eisenberg, our head writer, and the person whose gender reveal party started the fire, Travis Helwig. Jocelyn Kaufman, Pallavi Gunalan, and Peter Miller are the writers. Our assistant producer is Sydney Rapp. Bill Lance is our editor, and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McLean and Jamie Skeel, for creating and running all of our visuals,

which you can't see because this is a podcast, and to our digital producers, Nar Melkonian and Milo Kim, for filming and editing video each week so you can.