Lovett or Leave It - Pay your rent, Scott Pruitt!

Episode Date: April 7, 2018

The EPA administrator’s corruption eruption continues. Fox News once again tells a black celebrity to shut up. Florida faces climate change and climate change deniers. Teachers rebel against budget cuts. Trump attacks vulnerable asylum seekers. And the movie Blockers isn’t about sports after all. Live from Miami, Jon is joined by Akilah Hughes, Alicia Menendez and Natasha del Toro to break down the week’s news. Oh and there’s some light Rubio criticism, obviously. What a week.

Miami. It is great to be here at the Olympia Theater. Once held performances by Etta James, Della Reese, and B.B. King. I consider myself the B.B. King of whatever this is. B.B. King and I have such different energies. He seems so cool. Cool wouldn't be what you'd say. Don't agree with me.

See some friends of the pod. Where is Don Goldstein? Are you Don Goldstein right in the front row? Well, Don Goldstein, I shall quote a tweet. My dad is your biggest Baby Boomer fan.

And he'll be at back-to-back shows tonight in Miami, in merch, of course. So far, so good. Today is his birthday. He loves your show and hates attention. Don, happy 61st. I want you to know, sincerely, I didn't read the hates attention part till now. We're both caught off guard.

Still would have done it. I was thinking about Baby Boomers. How many Baby Boomers are here? Let's go up. How many people, how many millennials? Hey, Don, what are you on your phone for? What's going on? It can't wait till after the show? Let's get those phones away. Oh, you think you're taking a picture. That's okay. I like that. Cool. You guys at the Gen X, you guys, you're the, like, nobody knows about you. We don't know what you're like.

Everybody bitches about millennials, and everybody bitches about baby boomers. Nobody even talks about you. It was, like, it was friends mock turtlenecks, and then you disappeared. I guess your cultural legacy is double-breasted jackets over a t-shirt. How are you guys doing up there? See, the problem is I didn't do the Miami joke at the top, but I'll do it anyway now because who cares. Miami is a quaint city full of culture like kamikaze shots in white leather. See, it was right there.

How many of you live in Miami proper? What'd you say? Did you say 305? Pitbull is Mr. 305. And he's your leader. You love Pitbull. Jet skis, cocaine, and pitball. Which makes a ton of sense,

because that's all really fun, and you should have fun, because of how fucked everything is. Love It or Leave It is going on tour first week of May, Columbus, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, second week of May, Mar-a-Lago. So you can get your tickets now. I love Mar-a-Lago.

I think Mar-a-Lago is such a cool place. The pictures that come out of Mar-a-Lago are the darkest pictures I have ever seen posted from a place where people pay to have fun. The shrimp looks so fucking bad. It looks, I mean, it is so grim. These Botoxed, tight-skinned faces, you know what it is about photos of people at Mar-a-Lago?

They're pictures of people smiling who look like they forgot how to smile. Think about applying to Mar-a-Lago now. You saw this guy's a member. They do a great scramble. Okay, enough. Let's start the show. We've got a great show for you tonight. Tonight's panel includes Scott Pruitt, Conor McGregor, and Marco Rubio's once promising career. You know what? I don't want to make the guests sit in silence while I talk about Marco Rubio, so let's

do it now. There has been a lot of conversation about why liberals don't like Marco Rubio. They think we don't like Marco Rubio because he tries to find common ground. That's not why. And I think that there's a genuine belief on the part of some of the people that have worked for Marco Rubio that somehow we don't understand. He's a good guy, he's smart, he cares,

he actually wants to get people together to solve problems, he talks like a normal person. He seems like a normal person. But here's the thing. He has never delivered on the supposed promise of Marco Rubio. Never, never, never. He stuck his neck out on immigration because the party elite told him it was the future of the party. And the second he got on the campaign trail and saw Donald Trump running around and got the blowback, he completely abandoned his position. I mean, you can see it on his face. Marco Rubio's face is the face of a man who knows he's not who Marco Rubio was supposed to be. He looks so pained. And you look at Ben Sasse running around, and I got plenty of problems

with Ben Sasse, okay? But Ben Sasse is like a happy warrior because I think he genuinely says what he thinks. Capitulated to Trump a bit too much, right? But you know he's got a set of principles. I don't agree with them. But you can see that being mostly or at least more than most politicians open about his principles leaves him in a place of having, I don't know,

he seems happy. And that to me is the thing because I think I dislike Marco Rubio for the same reason Marco Rubio advisors swear by him, because they believe that there's some kind of promise in there. And I won't believe in Marco Rubio until Marco Rubio believes in Marco Rubio. All right, let's welcome our panel. She's a contributing editor at Bustle.com and host of a new podcast, Latina to Latina. Please welcome Alicia Menendez.

Hi, how are you? Good, how are you? I'm good. Thanks for being here, you know. Thank you. She's a correspondent on the new investigative Netflix series called The Naked Truth. She also hosts America Reframed on PBS.

Please welcome Natasha Del Toro. Hi, Natasha. You've seen her work on MTV, Spike TV, the site formerly known as Fusion, and all over the internet. She's a writer, comedian, YouTuber, and host of GK Now, a pop culture and food show, friend of the pod, Akilah Hughes. Hi, Akilah. Hi, everybody. Hi. Akilah, how are you? I'm so good. I made a playlist on Spotify with Miami songs, and it's just Pitbull and Welcome to Miami. You know, bienvenido a Miami. That's what they say. Party in the city, you know.

All right, let's get into it. What a Miami. That's what they say. Party in the city, you know. All right, let's get into it. What a week. So, Scott Pruitt, he's having a, he's in a rough patch. First, word broke a few months back that Pruitt frequently used taxpayer money to fly first class even when there are cheaper seats available, including personal trips to his vacation home.

When asked why, he claimed it was for security reasons and claimed that Coach is, quote, politically toxic. Now, it is. We're actually fighting many of our biggest political battles, mostly socioeconomic back there, corporate power being exercised in those seats, but I don't think that that's what he meant. Anyway, news broke last week that he was renting a room from an oil lobbyist for only $50 a night,

which is below market rate, to say the least. And his daughter was allowed to rent a second room for free. Again, this is an expensive neighborhood, and so what people are calling this is a gift. Pruitt claims an ethic lawyer okayed the deal, but the lawyer said this week he never received information about the free room provided to Pruitt's daughter. This week, word broke that he personally okayed two massive raises for two employees who happened to be his close friends in Oklahoma. The White House initially rejected his request for the pay raises because they were so substantial. One of the raises was for more than $50,000 per year, which is close to the median income for an American family. Pruitt was determined to get these raises, so he found language in the Safe Drinking Water Act

so he could raise their wages through a loophole. Reminder, Flint's water is still fucked up. Anyway, when pressed about it, Pruitt told Fox News he knew nothing about the whole thing, but then it came out that, of course, he did. Just to finish out the just pathetic small fry corruption, Pruitt also spent $3,000 to sweep his office for surveillance bugs, $5,800 to install biometric locks with fingerprint readers, spent more than $42,000 to build a

secret phone booth in his office. His own employees need an escort to see him and aren't allowed to take notes during meetings. He has surrounded himself with an unprecedented round-the-clock security detail that has accompanied him on trips to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl. CNN calculated that Pruitt's security detail costs taxpayers $2 million per year, and yesterday it was reported that at least five EPA officials, four of which were high-ranking, were given different positions this year after standing up to Scott Pruitt. And the craziest part is, that's the shit that got him in trouble. The corruption, the deeper corruption, is actually the reason he's there on purpose.

Well, when you're heavily funded by the Koch brothers for many years to launch an ideological crusade against the environment, and then you get in and repeal fuel economy standards and clean air standards purely at the behest of the corporate, and then you get in and repeal fuel economy standards and clean air standards purely at the behest of the corporate donors and polluters that have empowered you throughout your entire career, that's allowed. That's not the scandal. The scandal is a fucking phone booth. This guy is going to drown Miami, and we're going to fire him over the Rose Bowl.

Natasha. Here we go. You made a over the Rose Bowl. Natasha. Here we go. You made a documentary about Scott Pruitt. I did, actually. I know way, way, way too much about this guy. So as you've been watching this unfold, what do you think, what is something that people don't know about Scott Pruitt

that you have found interesting as this has all become public? Well, so Donald Trump, when he got elected, he said he wanted to drain the swamp, and he's basically got Swamp Thing running the EPA. Sadly, I know way, way too much about this guy, and none of what's happening right now is surprising to me at all. So our documentary is called Wasteland. It aired on Fusion.

None of you have seen it. It's really, really good. So what we did was we went to Oklahoma, and we looked at Scott Pruitt's environmental record and the consequences of his leadership in the state of Oklahoma. Now, you may or may not know this if you watch the news, but Oklahoma has a groundbreaking number of earthquakes, you know, and they're man-made earthquakes because this is the oil and gas industry.

It's because of the injection of wastewater due to fracking. What did Scott Pruitt say about earthquakes when he was the Attorney General of Oklahoma? Nothing. He said absolutely nothing, because the people who put him in that position, who funded his campaigns, were from the oil and gas industry. The guy who co-chaired his campaign was Harold Hamm, who's one of the richest oil men of Oklahoma City. So he's in bed with these people. So what did I learn? None of this is surprising to me at all. Scott Pruitt, these are patterns of behavior that he's been exhibiting

from his time as Attorney General in Oklahoma. One of the first things he did when he got into office, he dismantled the unit that looks at environmental crimes in the state of Oklahoma. He decided to reallocate the money from that unit to the federalism unit, which is all about attacking federal overreach, which is about suing, basically suing the EPA. He partnered with oil and gas companies, energy companies, to sue the EPA. That was one of the ways he first came to national attention, was his battles with the EPA. That's exactly right. Yeah, I mean, that's what he's been known to do. So of all the incompetence that Trump has put into different positions, Scott Pruitt is actually one of the

scariest because he knows what he's doing. He knows the EPA in and out. He knows how to dismantle the agency, and that's his goal. The mission of the EPA, the mission statement of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment, right? Meanwhile, Scott Pruitt is interpreting the mission of the EPA to create jobs. He's got the wrong job, you know? This is not his job. Look, he's defending people who are causing earthquakes. It's easy to describe them as like,

this guy is like a movie villain, right? I mean, that's very movie villain, covering up for man-made earthquakes. That sounds like a fourth Austin Powers movie. It's the entire plot of Captain Planet. It's literally just her being like, why are you trying to stop me from destroying the Earth? Akilah, I think that you would be heart.

You remember the one that was, his power was heart? Yeah, that's me. I am that one. He's also the brown one. I mean, there was a black one, though. No. Listen, I remember. I was like, you know, he's just there because of representation purposes.

It is. Everybody else is like, earth, wind, fire. And he's like, heart? The powers were inefficiently distributed. It's similar to Justice League where it's like, okay, I've got a lasso. He's fast. This one is stronger than all men put together. And this other one gets real angry

similar with Captain Planet I don't know heart can't even change a tire but we're sidetracked I digress so no but I did want to ask Natasha one more question about this which is it's easy to kind of caricature Scott Pruitt What does Scott Pruitt think Scott Pruitt is doing sincerely? Like what do you think like he what is his ideology that tells him that I'm weak? I don't care what the press says. This is the right thing to do. Look This guy what kills me about all of this is the sheer hypocrisy, you know, this guy is a Bible thumping states rights the sheer hypocrisy. You know, this guy is a Bible-thumping,

states' rights ideologue who talks about limiting the government, you know, but somehow the rules don't apply to him. Why does Scott Pruitt need a $43,000... He has to soundproof the telephone booth in his office when he's saying that he's all about transparency and rule of law. You know, why is he, he wants to cut the EPA by 30%, basically rendering the agency ineffective when he's taking these first class flights that are costing taxpayers

hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don't believe that he is actually sincere. I mean, he may think so. He talks about states' rights all day long. But I personally think that it's just about his own political ambitions. And this is how he's been doing business forever, you know. And it's just now that he's finally being taken to task. But I think if you asked Scott Pruitt that question, what he would say is, I'm saving American jobs and the American economy, and I'm providing security

for American workers. And that's part of the challenge about how you talk about this and how you message it, which is if you're framing it as like, well, you have to choose between our environmental future, and you have to choose between jobs and affordable cars, then it makes it a hard choice for people when really it's more complicated. But that's not his job. Right? No, I agree. That's just not his job. Right. It is funny. He's like, well, I'm here to create. No, no, we got jobs, people. All right. They're terrible. He got them from Fox News, but that is in their portfolio. Larry Kudlow's on jobs now because we live in a dystopia, but you're supposed to be on

the you're on wind and water man you do wind and water the nut balls from TV they'll handle jobs it's not ideal but it's the world we it's the world we live in but at least

okay I'm sorry I just want to say this sounds like the best gritty reboot of Captain Planet like deep intellectual thoughts about you know are we doing the right thing well like should the world be more important about, you know, are we doing the right thing? Well, like, should the world be more important than Jeff?

You know, I just think it's more interesting. 2018 is about rebooting things for the better. Except for Roseanne. Fuck that. But Alicia, to your point, it does seem as though the kind of deeper scandal about the kind of influence of money on this system that led to someone like Scott Pruitt in this job is actually not getting the attention that this ultimately smaller scandal is getting. At the same time, this is corruption. It's basic corruption. Someone taking advantage of his office, spending taxpayer money. corruption, someone taking advantage of his office, spending taxpayer money. Do you think that this will make a difference? Do you think that this misuse of funds will kind of ultimately lead to Pruitt having to step aside? What do you think? Well, I'll watch Twitter to find out.

I don't know. And I've stopped sort of playing this guessing game because I feel like it's really hard to guess which of the scandal is going to be the one that breaks. What I'm watching for is more the fact that this is a person who, you know, I don't know if you mentioned this in your setup, but like he wanted sirens on his motorcade so that he could get to Le Diplomate for dinner more quickly. I do want to highlight that because... Great restaurant. If you're ever in D.C., check it out. It's just, we put this in the What A Day newsletter yesterday, which everyone should subscribe to at Crooked.com.

But it's like, emergency, wee-oo, wee-oo. Administrator very hungry. Steak frites, yeah. People got fired for that. People got fired for that. He did that. And then he wanted this bulletproof desk and ended up with apparently a very beautiful wooden desk that resembles the desk in the Oval Office. And so it's hard not to watch what's going on and say, like, OK, you're making yourself in the image of the president. And so then should it really be surprising that you are sidelining people within your own administration who are questioning you

when the president of the United States is willing to dismiss his secretary of state, is willing to dismiss his national security advisor, is willing to dismiss his secretary of veteran affairs? I mean, then maybe that's not so surprising when he shows up with a great tan and a blonde do-over you'll know it's full trump akilah to your point we are in miami um do you think it's bad that he wanted to fly first class and give his friends a raise or was perhaps he just engaging in self-care honestly listen as a person who you know gets her nails done regularly because if you hold something on Instagram and your nails look fucked up, people will let you know. I get it.

You know, he's now in the public eye. And so it is important that he makes sure that he's comfortable and also that when asked by his followers on Instagram why his nails look a certain way, he has an answer um and so I guess that's the answer to my question John yeah some people need self-care like I'm not defending I am defending him he should look great and have a bulletproof desk fuck yeah ball out man ball out and then go out to play there's an element of the rent story that you didn't touch on that I think is really special which is that he apparently was behind on his rent that's the thing that broke today it broke today that he was he was not even paying his gift rent if you get a lobbyist to give you an apartment for under market rent

pay the fucking rent and then they changed the locks on him which is so gangster like wow imagine how embarrassing that it's like there's like cameras following you and you're like and it's a touch code so he's just like he's just like i would love a video of i wish it was like it's like literal keys i would love to see a video of him jiggling keys for 20 minutes and then knocking you know in a lot of ways they trapped him in the environment a perfect joke i have been workshopping many scott pruitt environment jokes of that top over the course of our tour and one day i'm gonna get it it. So just to close this out, Trump has obviously been following the news. He tweeted today,

do you believe that the fake news media is pushing hard on a story that I'm going to replace AG Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job, but is totally under siege? I love that so much. Let me finish it.

Do people really believe this stuff? Yes. So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt. So I love that sentence. Scott Pruitt, who is totally doing a great job, but is totally under siege. That is not even confidence. Normally, before you let someone like this go,

you pretend at least... If you're considering not firing someone, you say, I have total confidence in so and so. Because then if they stay, it's not awkward the next time they're in the cabinet room. You know, it's not like, hey, I remember what you said and now I'm still here. It's a bit like if a friend tells you they're going to dump their significant other, and you say, thank God. He is the fucking worst, and we all hate him. And then they stay together.

That's John Kelly's relationship with Scott Pruitt right now. Wait, but those tweets are almost as good as Ted Cruzz and ran paul's tweets did you see them i didn't please ran paul and this is by memory so this is not a verbatim but ran paul's was scott pruitt is likely the bravest conservative in all of washington which is amazing and then also ted cruz's was it began i think obama and his media cronies are out for Scott Pruitt. Yeah, that's a good place to close this out because... Well, no. Scott Pruitt's behavior is clearly indefensible.

You can't defend a $50 a night place in an expensive neighborhood where your daughter stays for free and where you only pay on the nights you're there and where you don't pay the rent and the lobbyist changed the locks like that's not legit uh and you can't defend a lot of the spending so they've gone to this place of they're not coming out right and saying we have to keep scott pruitt because he's an ideological fighter who's good at the fight and who we like and therefore we will overlook his transgressions which is ultimately what they're saying but they twist it to say he's only being attacked because he's so good at what he does for us

and so we should dismiss it because it's not real because of where it's coming from even though these stories have been written up in every publication. And Ed Henry on Fox gave Scott Pruitt the business, which was unusual, to say the least. That was an incredible interview, by the way. If you guys haven't seen it, this guy ripped Scott Pruitt a new asshole.

Do you know what it takes for us to pay a compliment? I'm not speaking for the panel, but for myself. To praise a Fox News interview? I've never even done it. Still haven't? Please don't. When we come back. Okay, stop!

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back! Now it's time for a game called OK Stop. We'll roll a clip, and then when we feel like it, we'll say OK Stop to talk about it. Once every two weeks, a conservative embarrasses him or herself by talking about rap music and how it's a trend that will go away soon

before interviewing Ted Nugent. This week it was Steve Doocy who had a few choice words for Jay-Z which is very exciting. Let's roll the clip. We have to talk about why white men are so privileged in this country. But as a celebrity worth close to a billion dollars. Okay, stop. I mean, just talk about it out of context. Literally just an immediate cut. Just like, he said privilege and it is time to roll.

I'm albino and I'd like to jump into it. I am white and very privileged. Let's chat. Also, just for the people at home, Steve Doocy and a woman are sitting in kind of a news booth as if they're covering 9-11. I mean, seriously. This looks like it's 6 a.m. on a Saturday.

The news just broke. They rushed him into the studio. Jay-Z said something that's going to piss off retirees who live near Miami. According to Forbes, is he the right person to be talking about wealth and privilege? Okay, stop. Successful person worth a billion dollars. We shouldn't hear what he has to say about wealth and privilege why not seems like he might know a thing or two about it jay-z grew up he was raised by a single mother in the projects in bed stye okay i think he may have something to say just

because he's a successful hip-hop mogul doesn't mean that he has nothing to say about white privilege. Also, the greatest privilege on earth is being married to Beyoncé. So, like, what are you? Very privileged, very wealthy. Go on, Jay-Z. I think he's precisely the wrong person to have this conversation. It would be one thing if he had just given up his past, but he continues to promote a message, a divisive message. And, you know, the left is actually promoting him because he's a shiny object to distract people.

You know, what's interesting is I hear people now saying that, oh, President Trump's a racist. But yet every Republican. Before we can even hear the end of this, people are saying that Trump's a racist, but yet every Republican... Okay, stop. Before we can even hear the end of this, people are saying that Trump's a racist, but coming from a black man, like, is this a drinking game? Because I am out of alcohol. So I don't know what they're referring to.

Like, wow, imagine being so token. I can't. I mean, I am literally on a stage right now, and I'm very black, but I'm one out of four. He is one out of 20 billion. Also, just can we get Akilah a refill because there's more to this clip. Yeah, if anybody wants to go get a whiskey diet. It's been called a racist because that's standard talking points for the left

is just to refer to anybody on the right as a racist. If you're a white person and you have an R after your name the right as a racist if you're a white person and you have an r after your name you're a racist i'm a big fan okay stop yeah yep akilah let me remind you that that that the beyonce and jay-z are both just a source of fascination for Fox News. There was one video Beyonce had where Bill O'Reilly, before he got the boot, was just like, how dare she celebrate her sexuality in front of children.

She's a mother. How dare she? She had sex to have those kids dog. We're all on board. No one here is upset about it. I also just... This is a segment about telling Jay-Z to shut the fuck up and go away on a network that regularly runs segments

about how Colin Kaepernick should shut the fuck up and go away and LeBron James should shut up and dribble. And it's a segment about how the left keeps accusing them of being racist, which is like an Ouroboros of racism, because it's like, you know, the snake eating itself, the Ouroboros, who's with me. And it's like, how dare they call me racist for this segment,

which is quite racist, know what they don't even realize though is that like their entire audience turned off the TV this moment is black ass showed up so like I mean yeah true Washington and you know he was one he was the first black man to be invited to the White House and there was a huge backlash. Okay, stop. Did he just say Booker T. Washington? Yeah, it's a deep cut.

What's he talking about now? I don't know. I think that mostly he's just filling time while thinking about the choices that led him here. Just imagine going 100 years back to make a point. And, like, you know, you remember Aunt Jemima on that box of pancakes. Like, that was a big deal. Why is she still saying stuff? Like, what are you talking about, dog?

He was invited to the White House by Teddy Roosevelt. But then we fast forward a little bit over a hundred and something years and you have Sean Carter being invited to the White House or hanging out with President Obama and they're Twitter buddies or excuse me text buddies and no one said a word. Okay stop. I want to ask the audience who would

say a word about that that's negative? The president and Jay-Z conversing and no one speaks out. No one tries to stop it. The president had Ted Nugent at the White House. Ted Nugent, who has threatened to kill Obama, like, basically semi-weekly. One of those things where they want to continue to promote an idea that's not really there.

When you're dealing with individual Americans, dealing with each other individually, we don't have the problems that the left says that we do. He didn't even get a lower third, and he's like, wee, wee, wee, I'm in the house. It's actually internal Fox policy that black guests don't get a lower third. I don't make the rules. That was in Roger Ailes' Cauticel.

Honestly, there goes the neighborhood if you actually know the black people. Let's just make them a shadow. Thank you for this booze, if you're wondering. The booze came. And that's OK Stop. When we come

back, a game. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. Over the last year, three different hurricanes did massive damage to American soil. Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Irma here in Florida, and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. But Donald Trump's response to the hurricanes in Florida and Texas

was wildly different to his response to Puerto Rico, so we thought we'd explore this idea in a game we call Would More Paper Towels Help? You all have your cards. Would somebody out there like to play the game? Hi, what's your name? Michael. Michael, where are you from? Fort Myers. Fort Myers. Yeah. What do you do here in Florida? Well, right now I'm going through a workers' comp case to go back to school, since I got hurt.

You can go back to school? Yeah. That's great. What do you want to study? I'm looking at mechatronics, which is kind of like engineering I heard Megatron are you going to work for and I have to tell you I'll have to report that to the government this is crooked media we stand squarely behind Optimus Prime and we know there's been a fair amount of argument about

whether or not we should be with Optimus Prime or if that kind of neoliberalism is a problem and whether we need to look to more left for more kind of left-wing Autobots. But I would just say, even though there are internal divisions amongst the Autobots, the most important thing is that when the time comes, we stay united against Megatron because, obviously. And your name is Michael. Obviously.

And your name is Michael? Legitimately, Michael, I did that honestly because I didn't hear what you were going to study. It's called mechatronics. Mechatronics, and what are they? It's basically like engineering. It's what engineering is becoming because everything's being automated. You're basically going to fix

whatever is wrong with the robots. It's either physical or it's on a screen. Cool. I'm really glad I came out here. And you guys have your cards. I'm just going to do it out here. We're out here. Question number one.

In Texas and Florida, Donald Trump visited four days after landfall. How long did it take him to visit Puerto Rico? Was it A? Donald Trump was already in Puerto Ricofall. How long did it take him to visit Puerto Rico? Was it A? Donald Trump was already in Puerto Rico for the storm because he, quote, wanted to make sure it wasn't a false flag. Was it B?

After six days of bad news coverage, Donald Trump finally announced he had a plan to visit Puerto Rico and didn't get there until 13 days after the storm hit. Or was it C? He heard that Puerto Rico and didn't get there until 13 days after the storm hit. Or was it C? He heard that Puerto Rico was stormy and immediately sued the island and claimed

he never met Puerto Rico and it's fake. What do you think, Michael? B. It is. It's B. Question number two. After Harvey hit Texas, Trump tweeted, Texas, we are with you today, we are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you every single day after

to restore, recover, and rebuild. After Maria hit Puerto Rico, what did Trump tweet? Was it A? Puerto Rico, we are with you today, we are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you every single day after to restore, recover, and rebuild. Si, se puede. Michael, I don't know the answer, but I hope that's it.

Was it B? They want everything to be done for them, and it should be a community effort. Or was it C? I want to thank Roseanne for her kind words about my response to Hurricane Maria. Can't wait to kick out this lame-o pin to get Roseanne up in this bitch.

What do you think, Michael? The answer is B, but I could totally see him doing C. It could have been C. Could have been C. A little, what is it, fact imitating fiction? Question three, Michael. Nine days after Hurricane Maria hit, FEMA approved about $6 million in individual assistance for Puerto Rico.

In the same amount of time, how much individual relief did FEMA approve for Houston? Is it A? $140 million. And in that same amount of time, the federal government sent 30,000 personnel to the Houston area, but just 10,000 to Puerto Rico. They provided 5.1 million meals and 4.8 liters of water for Houston versus 1.6 million meals and 2.8 million liters for Puerto Rico.

And six months after Harvey, Texas was receiving FEMA funds for more than a dozen permanent infrastructure projects. But so far, FEMA hasn't sent any such funds to Puerto Rico. Or is it B? I think the answer is probably A. Or is it C? Definitely A. Michael, what do you think? I'm going to take a shot and go with A.

You got it. Fourth and final question, Michael. Six months after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, 16% of people still have no electricity and water is rationed daily. How did Trump rate his emergency response? Was it A? A plus. Was it B?

Two tiny thumbs up. Or was it C? Hands down the best emergency response America has ever seen. People are saying, some people are saying, best ever. And it means a lot to me. It's incredible. It's incredible if you think about it. It's a tough

one, Michael. Oh, I've never been able to pace. It is fun to be out here. This is nice. Michael, you side with the robots you will work for them when they destroy us we need an answer

it's so much worse to hear it said by somebody else but it's C it's not it's A we made that up and I'm proud of Travis for capturing Donald Trump's voice so effectively but Michael you still got three or four questions correct. You've won the game. Everybody give it up for Michael.

He's won a parachute gift card. When we come back, a very special, first time ever, Miami-focused game. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Miami, Florida. According to the World Bank, Miami is one of the 10 cities in the world

most vulnerable to climate change. As we speak, Scott Pruitt is doing whatever he can to literally destroy your city, but there are still lots of people out there in denial, even though for South Florida, it's not a distant future, it's here. You guys already have sunny day tidal flooding, which is not normal. So tonight, we'll see how ready Miami is for climate change in a game we'll call Welcome to Waterworld. Here's how it works. I'm going to play this game with our panelists today.

It's an experimental game. We'll see how it goes. So I'm going to ask the three of you together questions about Miami and climate change. If you guess correctly, the sea level will not rise. If you get it wrong, the sea level will rise. If you get three questions wrong, Miami is lost. You guys can work together. Are you ready to play? This is giving me so much anxiety. I think we can do this. There's so much pressure. I don't know is there another game no that guy just said save us

this is basically San Andreas for Miami and you're all the rock I mean also though you should know how to swim if you can float you're never going to die in a water world I'm just saying so Akilah is moving on to mitigation.

I'm not confident, but I'm doing my best. Question number one. According to conservative estimates... For those listening at home, there is a wonderful postcard of Miami and water laughing at the bottom. According to conservative estimates, by 2100, sea levels will rise at least four feet. How many people in South Florida live at an elevation of four feet or fewer?

Is it 0.4 million, 1.4 million, 2.4 million, or God will part the waters, let everyone escape, and then just flood Mar-a-Lago. Honestly, okay, so I lived in Orlando for a bit. And I know it's not super far south, but it was below sea level. So I'm going to say the most people.

How are we feeling as a unit? 2.4 million. 2.4. 2.4, final answer. You got it. Yay! Squad. Question number two.

Because of climate change in the next century, up to $23 billion in Florida real estate could be underwater. What percentage of homes would that apply to in Miami-Dade County? Is it 75% of homes underwater, 85% of homes underwater, 95% of homes underwater, or 0% of homes will be underwater because Dwayne Wade will have used his millions to buy us all huge rafts that we can fit our houses on. What do you guys think? I mean, I believe in D. Wade.

I watch his Snapchats. His boat is wonderful. He goes on boating Fridays. Alicia, what do you think? I feel like we can knock out 95%. Why would that be there? What's the 5% that's being saved? It's a low number. It might as well be.

What were the other numbers? 75% and 85%. Okay, so choose between those. 85%. 85% is correct. Hey! Question number three. The Paris Climate Agreement sets a target of preventing the Earth's temperature from rising 2 degrees

Celsius, after which Miami does not survive. That's just true. If we fail to act and continue on the current path, what temperature increase are we headed towards? 2 degrees, 3 degrees, 4 degrees, 5 degrees, or 98 degrees featuring Nick Lachey? This is Celsius, right? Celsius.

So not 98. Oh, my God. If it goes up by four degrees, don't we have to move over to the next planet or something? Yeah, this is Celsius, so that's like 30 degrees. If zero is 32 degrees... Look, it's nine times the Celsius figure divided by five plus 32.

If you're trying to do it. Is that right? Somebody check that. Somebody check that. I think it's right. My gut says three degrees. Is that your answer together? We're going with her.

We're going with her. Yeah, we got to go with Natasha. I never get it right. Correct. So good. We were told we were never going to get this. You guys are winning.

Crushing. Question four. In less than a century, scientists estimate that how many days out of the year in Miami will contain, quote, deadly heat and how many Floridians will die as a result?

Two parts. Oh, is it, is the, the facts aren't the problem. Floridians will die as a result? Two parts. Oh, is it... The facts aren't the problem. A. 50 days a year will pass the deadly heat threshold and around 40 people will die a year. B. 100 days

and 700 people will die. Or C. 200 days will pass the deadly heat threshold and 1,400 will die or D, close the door. You're letting out the cold air. Do you know what I pay in electricity? Why did they build this house with such high ceilings?

What a waste. I got bagels. I know, but last time we went with the middle one. I feel like that's a trick. Right, I think we have to go with you because I'm drinking. I'm an unreliable source now. I feel like that's a trick. Right, I think we have to go with you because I'm drinking. I'm an unreliable source now. I'm sorry.

So what was it? 100? It was 50 days and 40 people, 100 days and 700 people, 200 days and 1,400 people. So it's 100 or 200. That's fine. It's the B or the C. I don't know, but now the person who said A is in my head.

First of all, Akilah, sign language, it's a podcast. It's not a secret. You just talk it out. A lot of days of deadly heat is a lot of deadly heat. That person's really being decisive. Okay, let's go with that person. Yeah, A sounds right. A.

Wrong. Oh. Who are you? Show your face. The water has risen behind you. That rose precipitously. What was it, 200 people? The sea level has risen and swallowed several cabanas

full of European tourists dressed in all white suits who you look at and think, what do you do for money? Do you exist outside of this place? The correct answer was C, 200 days a year and 1,400 people. That one was hard. It's hot as shit here, says this person in the front row who just gave me a little bit of a wink and tipped her cocktail at me in a way that was very charming.

She's also wearing a hoodie, which I think is an important detail for someone who's like, it's hot as balls, but they're like, that's winter clothes, girl, you know. Fifth and final question. So these are dire statistics, but here in Miami, we can remind people that climate change is here and it's real and we have to do something about it. What should we do? Is it A, give all our money to Elon Musk and just lean really hard on how confident he is in the whole Mars thing? Is it B, fight hard in 2018

to elect people who believe in science and aren't in the pocket of the Koch brothers? And getting involved in your work, community, and school to make sure collectively the U.S. honors the Paris Agreement and does its part even if Trump won't? Or is it C, tame a dolphin and learn to ride it? Is there an all of the above option? I'm just wondering. Yeah, why do we have to choose? You don't necessarily have to. Because if you could tame a dolphin, Elon Musk becomes very irrelevant, I feel.

Did you see how lazy it was that they've had a D for every other question, but for this one, they just mailed it in. I think it's D. I'm calling you out. You mailed it in. I want you to know, Alicia, up until this

moment, I placed my cards out, and I decided you got it right no matter what you said. But then you figured out a way to get it wrong anyway. Incorrect. At this moment, I placed my cards out, and I decided, you got it right no matter what you said. But then you figured out a way to get it wrong anyway. Incorrect. But we still survived. You guys survived. You saved Miami.

You've won the game. And reminder, we need to elect politicians who actually believe in science, because holy shit, climate change is here in Miami. reminder, we need to elect politicians who actually believe in science because, holy shit, climate change is here in Miami. They won. Give it up for our panel for saving the city of Miami. When we come back, the rant wheel. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. Can I ask you a question?

Because it's been eating at me. So we're all colleagues from the past. And Akilah and I got to moderate a presidential forum together. And you had the best question that's ever been asked at a presidential forum, which is, do we need to make America great again? Or is it already pretty dope? And I can't remember who you asked it of, and it's driving me crazy.

Who did you ask that? We're putting this on the show now. I think it's Martin O'Malley. I think it was, and what a waste, you know? Sorry, Martin, I know you're listening, and it's just like, where are you? Where did you go? He's really nice, though.

He seems so smiley. He's very nice. Well, this took a turn, and we're back! Now for a segment we call The Rant Wheel. Here's how it works. We spin a wheel, and where it lands, we rant about the topic. This week on the wheel, we have Edison Bulbs, the film Blockers,

Border Invasion, Rick Scott, Grindr sharing HIV data, driverless car deaths, teacher walkouts, and Marco Rubio made it on there. Let's spin the wheel. It has landed on the film Blockers. I have seen the film Blockers. I didn't know when I first saw the poster, I thought it was about a football little league team because I saw John Cena on the front, and I thought it was about a group of parents battling it out over peewee sports of some kind I didn't

know anything about it but then I went to see it and you know what surprised me it's pretty good I really like blockers wait it's out now did I go to the premiere sure and I had very low expectations because it's called Blockers and there's a chicken on it, which I guess is meant to represent cock blockers, which I didn't understand. And then you come to discover it's a movie about the three parents trying to stop their daughters

from losing their virginity on prom night. And then you think to yourself, I don't care for the politics of that at all. And then you see the movie and you're like, you were aware of the difficult politics associated with this and you definitely tried to address it, at least by Hollywood standards, and I'm very impressed. And Ike Barinholtz, awesome in the movie. John Cena doing his thing. I love Leslie Mann. The kids were awesome. There was a sweet gay story

in the movie. I'm a fan of blockers. And so I will tell you this rant is about naming the movie Blockers, which is a terrible name. Did you know that it was a movie about cock blocking? That all was conveyed to you and you saw that chicken on the thing and you didn't think it was rooster blockers or some unrelated chicken part of the film? Did it intuitively make sense to you that it was about cock blocking? Fascinating. Fascinating. Because I have to tell you, I was baffled by it. What is this blockers about? I thought it was like, you know, oh, John Cena, he's always coached the winning team. And then Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz get together and they're like our kids are smaller and they're the good guys even though it's weird

how movies with children's teams some of the kids are villains and it's like what is this what's going on Mighty Ducks why are these kids evil they're just kids why are we rooting against certain kids and by the way separately really weird experience seeing The Hunger Games because in the theater people applauded when the right children died

and I thought okay are you watching the film The Hunger Games or are you admitting to yourselves that you would watch actual Hunger Games you know what I mean that see it's a weird thing you're like this audience is not having enough emotional distance from the competition itself inside of the film. Point is, Blockers is great. Weird name. Took a turn. Every once in a while I'm hosting the show and I look at the panel and they're looking at me like, and this is popular. People come to see it. Let's spin the wheel again.

It has landed on Rick Scott, a suggestion that comes to us by way of Natasha. Natasha, the floor is yours. I want to rant about Rick Scott, a suggestion that comes to us by way of Natasha. Natasha, the floor is yours. I want to rant about Rick Scott who is our very own Lord Voldemort. Who had that Lord Voldemort shirt on? Could you stand up? Yeah. This is Rick Scott. So Rick Scott threw a hissy fit recently because a federal judge ordered him to revise our voting right system for ex-felons.

Florida is one of four states that takes away your voting rights forever if you've committed, if you are a felon. And so I actually went to, the only way you can get the rights back is if you are a felon and so i actually went to the only way you can get the rights back is if you go you have to wait five years after you get out of prison and you have to go in front of the clemency board which is rick scott pam bondy and some other and and the it's the and the villain from caddyshack um The Babadook. Darth Maul. And it's Rick Scott, Pam Bondi, and some other heartless white person, you know? So they sit up there and they judge you. You go and you plea.

It's actually very emotional. I cried. I was very emotional when I went because these people, they just want their fucking voting rights back, you know? Like, they travel to Tallahassee on a weekday. These are people who, who knows if they even have a job. They travel to Tallahassee to go beg for their voting rights back. They make it really, really hard for these people to get their voting rights.

And they're judged by Pambandi, you know? Like, they just, Pambandi decides if their story is compelling enough. And usually it's if they have a baby in arm or if they are now some sort of volunteer at their church, they may get a chance of getting their voting rights restored. Anyway, it's fucked up.

And this federal judge said, Rick Scott, this is unconstitutional, especially because it's 1.5... 1.5 million Floridians have had their voting rights revoked because of this, and it's 20% of the black voting age population. So, hmm, you tell me. There's a little racial bias going on here. Anyway, Rick Scott, I don't know where this stands right now,

but there is a ballot initiative that's going to be in November. Oh, good. You guys know what's going on. I'm so surprised. And we're in Miami. It's so surprising. Anyway, so in November, you've got to go and you have to vote because if it passes by 60%, then that means that. It's yes on four.

Yeah. If it passes, then felons are going to get their voting rights restored automatically, unless they're convicted murderers or sex offenders. That's my rant. Give it up for Natasha. It is...

This ballot initiative is incredibly exciting. It's incredibly important. Rick Scott is not only preventing people from getting their voting rights back. In 2011, when he first came into office, he and Pam Bondi in the Republican cabinet actually made it impossible for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Floridians to get their vote back.

This is a partisan political effort to prevent people from voting for Democrats, especially black and brown people from voting for Democrats. And I think people also don't realize how little it takes to be convicted of a felony. People think of felony, you think of serious crimes, and many of them are serious crimes. If you possess 20 grams of marijuana, you can be convicted of a third-degree felony and lose your rights to vote forever. And it's incredibly important. It's incredibly important for the future of Florida

that these disenfranchised people get a chance to have their votes counted. So if you've asked yourself, what can I do in Florida? I'm trying to elect a Democratic House. I'm trying to stop Rick Scott from getting to the Senate. I'm trying to do my part. Helping to make sure people understand why it's a really good thing for communities

to vote yes on four is one way you can do that. And I would say go and tell people, by the way, we're going to put it out. We had an incredible advocate for this issue on Pod Save America. That episode just came out and you should really listen to it because he talks about why it's important for communities where people are disenfranchised to get their right to vote. Because even if you have questions about whether somebody should have that vote, in your community, there are people who would be your allies in the fight for funding, allies in the fight for your schools, that could help you get the policies you want, and right now they're denied the right to vote.

So, Natasha, I'm really glad that you shared that. Let's spin it again. It has landed on the topic of border invasion, which is something Alicia suggested. The floor is yours, you know. Thank you. And I'm going to make it quick because my babysitter is only with me until like 1130. So as you probably know, there is a group of immigrants, refugees who are marching together in large part to call attention to just how dangerous it is to make the trek from

a country like Honduras to the United States border in hopes of claiming asylum. And we're in Miami, so everyone here is touched by this issue in one way or another. You're familiar with it. And it's just incredibly frustrating to have this issue be so front of mind for us. And then for the president to see this group of people who are trying to find a better life here in America say that they are trying to invade our border. here in America say that they are trying to invade our border. And it's particularly frustrating because he watches Fox and Friends, and they talk about it as a border invasion. And then those same talking points turn up in tweets from the President of the United States. And especially because he's trying to correlate

the border crossing with the DACA program, which I'm, yeah. And so. And it's, I just want to, I want to, sorry to interrupt, but it's bullshit because they have, I mean, it's not just like, they have nothing to do with one another. DACA applies to people who came here as children. I think that they had to have been here in 2007. Also applications are closed. Applications are closed. President Trump has terminated the program. We're barely able to save for the kids who have already got the program. But for people who don't have people in their life to whom this applies, and for people who are not as familiar with this, it's a really easy way to conflate people who either are DACA recipients, who have lived here their entire lives and consider themselves American. It's a really

easy way to conflate mom and dads who are looking for a better life for their kids with serious criminal individuals who are coming over our border. And so it's a continued narrative that makes it really, really hard to have a robust and forward-looking conversation on immigration reform. Yeah, I think that's really important. And one other thing it conflates is legal and illegal immigration. These are people who are coming to apply, by the rules we've set out, they're going to apply for asylum. And again and again, he not only says we have an illegal immigration problem,

he attacks the institutions of legal immigration, either saying they're not real or that these are actually rapists or whatever he said most recently. And when we were negotiating with Trump over DACA, all of a sudden, this conversation about these kids became a larger conversation about reducing legal immigration. It's a hard turn from blockers. It is a hard turn from blockers. Sometimes we touch on serious things, and that's good, too. Let's spin it again. It has landed on the teacher walkouts.

There have been walkouts in Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia. Huge support here in the Miami crowd. And I think it's really inspiring. I think a lot of these teachers have done it at personal risk, at financial risk. There have been stories out of Oklahoma that school districts are making teachers pay out of their own pocket to cover the cost of substitute teachers. And what we've seen in West Virginia, what we've seen in Oklahoma, what we're seeing in Kentucky is not just people asking for a raise, a deserved raise, but it's, it really feels like a rebellion against a certain kind of government that has run rampant in places

where a certain kind of conservative governance has taken hold. The idea that you can never raise taxes, you can only cut taxes, that that's how you grow the economy, that's how you attract businesses, that's how you make your state stronger. You can only cut taxes. That's how you grow the economy. That's how you attract businesses. That's how you make your state stronger. And what we're seeing is that's just not what's happening. That what has happened is these cuts have not been closed by growth. They've led to huge gaps. And what happens is the taxes get cut first. And then all of a sudden, they have to cut pay or refuse raises or cut budgets for schools. Oklahomans have to go to four days a week. They have not gotten a raise in 10 years.

West Virginia, the case was similar. Kentucky, they're facing something similar. And it's a reminder that this is playing out at the state level. It's also playing out at the national level. The exact same system of first you cut the taxes and create the deficit. Then you close it by cutting vital government services. That's exactly what's been going on with the corporate tax cuts in Washington. That's exactly, Paul Ryan's basically said as much, that next will turn to entitlement reform. And I think what's inspiring about it is, you know, I think

Democrats have been so browbeaten by this kind of cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes opposition, because you have to argue for the, for something more complicated than just more money in people's pockets or more money for businesses you have to argue for what government does the vital role it plays and It's these teachers. I think are making that case better than any politicians ever could In Oklahoma we talked to teachers who were on welfare. They had to live on food stamps because they couldn't make ends meet on their salaries. The kids didn't have school supplies, and more than 100 school districts were on four-day school weeks. Meanwhile, you know why they have such a budget deficit?

Because the oil and gas industry is getting tax breaks that are $500 to $600 million annually. That's money that's being taken out of the coffers of the state. So it's inspiring to see them. In these red states, they're fed up. Yeah, and I think they are fed up. And there are other stories. I mean, it's just so

damning that the heat had to be set at 57 degrees in certain schools to keep the costs down that they couldn't put the lights on in the hallways going to four days a week support staff also being um uh not making enough money and not being able to support themselves without taking on second jobs i mean the idea that we're the richest country in the world and our teachers have to get second jobs uh at night just to stay teachers. And it also, by the way, it hurts the kids in so many other ways because they go through so many teachers because who can stay in that job? Who can stay in a job where you're the lowest paid teacher in the country? You have to find better work. And so they lose all their

talented people and it really hurts the state. And I guess what I take away from it too is we have these red states and I think we sometimes think of places like Oklahoma Kansas and now West Virginia Kentucky as places where we can't compete but these outpouring of people to the streets is a reminder that in the same way that us showing up at women's marches or or people showing up at the airports is a reminder that people are showing up because they don't feel represented and they don't feel like they have a voice. And I think Democrats should compete everywhere.

We should compete everywhere, including places like Oklahoma, including places like Kentucky, because what is clear is these people know now that they have not been served by their government and maybe they've been voting Republican for a very long time, but things change and they change faster than we realize.

And I think we should leave it there. Miami, you have been an awesome crowd. I want to thank our fantastic panel. Guys, give it up for Alicia Menendez, Natasha Del Toro, and Akilah Hughes. Thank you all for coming out. Have a great night.