Morning Joe - D.C. says no to Trump: Residents 'overwhelmingly oppose' police takeover, poll shows

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

D.C. says no to Trump: Residents 'overwhelmingly oppose' police takeover, poll shows

Oh, wow, the Houston Station. Wow, the Supreme Court. Wow, Washington Memorial. Oh, the Capitol. Wow. Okay, the new season of South Park continues. To rag on the Trump administration last night's episode mocked business leaders for cowtowing to the White House and also addressed the federal takeover of the police force in Washington, D.C. Good morning. You're welcome morning, Joe. It's Thursday, August 21st, with us we have. Co-hosts for the fourth hour, contributing writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan O'Meer, also NBC News, NBC political analyst, former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and senior writer at the dispatch and columnist for Bloomberg.

opinion, David Drucker and Willie, you're bringing the big guns out if you're South Park and you have Towley. They bring Towley to Washington, D.C. Yeah, as Alex, our executive producer pointed out, that was literally the only part of the entire show. We could show on this show this morning. They've had a reaction to that whole Paramount deal and the pressure that's been different from some others, which is how much harder can we go at this? And to turn it so quickly, they're on the news every week. So you'll have to go watch it yourself. And the thing is, again, we said it before, and say it again, it's whack them all.

And the United States of America still, you think, oh, you know, oh, you think you can, you know, knock down Stephen Colbert. It's just going to pop up somewhere else. It's just going to pop up somewhere else, and it's going to be a lot worse. The reaction is always much, much worse. Yeah, I mean, they've, they have watched the news,

written about it probably that day, animated it the next day and had it on the air within a week for the last couple of months. Yeah, exactly. It's pretty crazy. So we, speaking of Washington, D.C., that's the lead story today. Yeah, so it kind of goes with what we just saw in South Park. D.C. residents overwhelmingly opposed President Trump's federal takeover of the city's police department, and they do not believe his efforts actually will reduce crime in the district. That's all according to a new poll from the Washington Post and George Mason University. The poll finds 79% of people surveyed in D.C. oppose the president's takeover of the D.C. Police Department and the deployment of the National Guard. Only 17% support it. 65% of D.C. residents say Trump's efforts will not reduce violent crime. When it comes to Congress passing a law to extend the federal takeover, an overwhelming majority. 77% say they oppose it. Still, Vice President J.D. Vance doubled down on claims that residents want a large, police presidents during a visit with National Guard troops yesterday.

Polls show that a majority of D.C. residents don't support the Guard here. So what's your message to the majority of D.C. residents? I'm highly skeptical that a majority of D.C. residents don't want their city to be, to have better public safety and more reasonable safety standards within Washington, D.C. I don't know what poll you're talking about. Maybe the same polls except Kamala Harris won the popular vote by 10 points. Vice President, Defense Secretary, Hags at the Union Station yesterday,

heckled by some D.C. residents there at the station. It was a South Park type entrance for the Vice President of the United States as it went in. You know, Claire, we've been showing a poll over the past week or so that shows the same Washington Post outfit that did the polling that we showed this morning, So that 91% of Washington residents think crime is a problem, is a real problem, especially black Washington residents and women, black women at the top of that list of saying crime is a very serious problem. Same pollster goes out into the film and they go, yes, basically, it is a serious problem,

but this isn't the answer. Which shows, again, you can have a good idea if you overreach in the application of that idea, It does no good. Yeah, and this is a tricky one politically because Democrats, I think, are really worried about seeming like they're against enforcing the law, which is not the case. I think what we really need to flesh out, and they've been playing a game to hide what's really going on with these arrests. I looked at the arrest through last weekend.

The vast majority of them were in two categories. Immigration, like 163. arrest for immigration. That's not what they are supposed to be doing. Right. And secondly, that was the category other. Well, that means anything from DUI to trespassing to petty theft. And then, you know how many people have been arrested for homicide, Joe? Two. Two, yeah. So if the problem is violent crime, you are taking people away from their jobs, like DEA, for example. You can trace a vast majority of the violent crime in this country to drug trafficking. So why are we taking DEA away from their job to enforce drug laws in this country to pick up people on immigration?

It makes no sense. And they are acting like they're doing this big service. What they're really doing is they're flooding the system with low-level stuff, which they have the prosecutors and the judges to handle. So it is complicated. It's not simple. But it's a tough one on messaging because we don't want to ever look like that anybody is against enforcing the law. that's not the issue. It's the Photoshop, the photo op

they're doing and the way they're doing it that makes absolutely no sense if you know anything about crime. And where? And where? But send any reinforcements to southeast to north? I mean, send it to the areas that need it, that the residents would support it. But I mean, John Lemire,

again, that's what we've been saying here all along, which is, okay, great. You want to help D.C. out? Fantastic. Forge a partnership. This hasn't been a partnership. This has been a show for a lot of people, you know, South Carolina National Guard, you know, governors of Southern States, some of whom have cities that have higher crime, higher violent crime per capita. You look at Monroe, Louisiana, where the Speaker of the House is from. He, I mean, he's got no position to talk on this bill, because

that's one of the most dangerous cities in the United States of America per capita, certainly a hell of a lot more dangerous than Washington, D.C., are San Francisco, California. Yeah, we've seen Washington Post has done a great job mapping where these guard members have been, and they're the vast majority, not in high crime areas. It's been a little more the last couple days. They've moved them into some of those neighborhoods. But for the most part, they're by, Union Station, Lincoln Memorial, big photo op places. In the White House, I was talking some officials there yesterday. They still like what they're seeing here. They like the idea. They're tough on crime. They like the images they're creating. That's why they sent out,

the Vice President, the Defense Secretary, Stephen Miller, we're all out yesterday defending this. And I guess, like South Park, that clip was the only bit we could play because the rest of it, thanks to the hecklers, we can't air on morning television. But we're seeing that poll what I feel like a lot of D.C. residents have said from day one. Yes, even those who do believe, we have a crime problem. The city should handle this differently. They don't want it to be like this, David Drucker, because they don't want, it's overreach, yes, but also just the idea of federal troops like this, the precedent it could set.

And we know it would be harder for the administration and do this. in other cities, even though the president has talked about it. But even there, you're Washington. And by the way, don't cut our budget. Right. A billion dollars at the same time. Exactly. A billion dollars, House Republicans, cut a billion dollars, money that could have been used for quality of life and law enforcement in better ways than this show of force that I think most D.C. residents, the polls suggest don't want and think it's purely political. Yeah, look, I think from the get-go, there's, there have been some contradictions here. I mean, the president said he doesn't think the D.C., the District of Columbia needs a bigger police force.

And I think a lot of D.C. residents would disagree. I think what you also saw with the vice president answering that question there is he responded to a question about the poll with an answer to a different question about a different poll that wasn't asked. Yes, D.C. residents are concerned about crime. Yes, I think many D.C. residents would like a larger police force. They don't necessarily want National Guard troops and federal police authorities all over tourist sites. And there have been complaints that there hasn't been enough of these additional forces in areas of high crime in the district that tourists never go to because there's no reason for them to be there. I think there are two issues here for us to remember. And Senator McCaskill was getting at this, right?

I mean, there's the issue of how do D.C. residents feel about this. And as we've talked about here, I am one. I've been one for 20 years. I've experienced this on a daily basis. And there's the issue of how voters outside of Washington who have their own concerns about public safety view the reaction to this by the political parties as a proxy for crime where they live. And it's important if you're going to find that the president is overreaching. This is as a political matter. If you talk to voters, if you think the president is overreaching, it's important.

to acknowledge that crime is a problem, but that there are actual effective ways, if you believe this, to handle it, versus just flooding federal troops into cities and turning them into armed camps. If your answer is statistics, nothing to see here, to borrow a term from South Park, then the president may often come up on the better end of this. Yeah, and South Park, Simpsons, whatever it is. Nothing to see here, move along, move along. But David's right. There are two issues here. One, what do Washington residents think of this?

Overwhelming majority, same overwhelming majority that think crime is a serious problem in Washington, D.C., say, this is not the answer. Now, maybe if they'd figured out a way, again, to team up with D.C. government, that would be seen as a positive thing. But you can't cut a billion dollars from the budget and then go in and let people hang out at Apple stores on Wisconsin. and at the Washington Monument and not go to high crime areas and expect Washington people to support it. Question is, we know what the MAGA base will think. What does swing voters think?

I don't know. I'm kind of like, I don't think they like seeing troops in American cities. Not swing voters. Not the people that are going to side the elections in Virginia and in New Jersey, this year, or the midterms next year. And what we're hearing in that poll from the people of Washington,

the group of people we should be listening to and all of this is there is a problem with crime. Yes, though this is not the solution. Say 80% of them. Let's, as you say, partner, get us more cops. Come out, do something, offer real solutions. This feels theatrical, not just to people who talk about it on television, but people who live in Washington right now. Let's turn to another big story breaking overnight. The Texas House yesterday passed a new congressional map that could give Republicans five more seats after next year's midterm elections. The vote passed along party lines after more than eight hours of debate.

A Texas House Republican who co-sponsored the new congressional map made it clear what this effort is all about. You want transparency? Here's the U.S. Supreme Court legal transparency. The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward. Improve Republican political performance. Each of these newly drawn districts now trend Republican in political performance. While there's no guarantee of an electorate success, Republicans will now have an opportunity to potentially win these districts. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, you can use political performance. And that is what we've done.

Well, I mean, he's just very transparent about that. said what the plan is. They would now like to know what the plan is to wear a black tie on a black shirt in Texas in August. I just don't know many people in South to do that. But anyway, Claire, I think we call that a confession if you were a prosecutor in court. I expected Perry Mason to pop up because he always gets the confessions, right? And, you know, and the sad thing is part of me has to acknowledge the guys right about this. The legacy of the Roberts Court is going to end up not what Roberts wanted it to be because the decisions they made in Shelby and other cases that basic, this couldn't have happened before until the Supreme Court said, no, we're kind

of tired of that old idea that you can't bust up black districts to deny black representation. The Supreme Court said, yeah, now you can bust up black districts and try to, you know, basically that's what they're doing around the country. And by the way, they're destroying black districts. The logic of it was, they said, well, you know what, we've moved far enough along. there's basically not racism anymore. We don't need the federal government actually overseeing certain states who've had 200 years of history of racist doctrine.

Yeah, and we now have reps in representative, state representatives, which I was one, represented a very compact district in the city of Kansas City. We've got a guy in Texas that has 500 miles. They extended his district from Austin, Texas, all the way down to the Mexican border and another 500 miles the other way. It's ridiculous trying to keep it from being a Democrat. So these are so gerrymandered. They are so bad.

But now the Democrats have to do the exact same thing everywhere they can, the exact same thing. Well, that brings us to our next point. Republicans currently control 25 of the 38 congressional districts in the state of Texas. Under the new map, President Trump would have carried 30 of 38 seats all by more than 10 points. Texas State Senate likely will pass the map this evening, and then Governor Greg Abbott is expected to sign it into law by tomorrow. To Claire's point, former President Barack Obama now sharing his support for California's attempt to counter those mid-decade redistricting efforts by Republicans in Texas. At a fundraiser earlier this week, Obama said he had, quote, tremendous respect for

California Governor Gavin Newsom's proposal to redraw his state's congressional maps in response to that effort in Texas. Obama went on to say Democrats must respond effectively to Republican gerrymandering efforts, even if it means breaking with norms, and that Governor Newsom's plan is a, quote, responsible approach. Yesterday, the California Supreme Court said it would not prevent Democrats from moving forward with a plan to redraw congressional districts. After last night's vote in Austin, Governor Newsom posted on social media writing, quote, it's on Texas. You know, Claire, you talked about the districts being drawn, and it's just, it's so unrepresentative, and it's, it's so, so insane. And at the end of the day, you just spur parties,

the other party to do the same thing in other states. And so, so here we go again. And, you know, that's, I've said it before, I'll say it again. People, people always ask, hey, why, why are things so divided in Congress? Say, it goes back to gerrymandering. I mean, it's that simple. I wish we could, I wish the court could revisit this. I mean, this is so insane. Or I wish we could have a constitutional amendment that would actually, you know, end

gerrymandering in the United States, Congress, and on state levels. It would make such a huge difference in the political discourse out there. Yeah, safe seats. Safe seats in the House. create gridlock because the only thing a congressman or congresswoman worries about is a primary it is a disincentive to compromise it is disincentive to long-term legislation that actually businesses and citizens can rely on because it swings back and forth based on who has the majority so this is bad for government but that the answer to what texas is doing is not for

us you know who say it's bad for government to bring our hands and go oh this is bad for government it's bad for government. It's like, okay, fine, you want to do it? Let's dance. Let's go. Let's redraw every single state we can as Democrats to create more democratic seats. That's the only thing we can do right now because if we don't, this country's representative in Washington will not reflect the country, not even close. I mean, thank goodness we still have senators who have to represent an entire state. But what these guys are doing is really, really And by the way, let me just say, I think the Republicans think nobody's paying attention. Yeah.

I think this will have an impact on turnout, especially among Democratic voters. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, no doubt about it. And Dave Drucker, the other consequence, one of the main consequences I see from gerrymandering is you get the people in the safe seats, and I won't even mention their names, but you get the people in the safest seats, they say the most out, especially in the Republican side, they say the most outrageous things.

and they raise a ton of money. The more insulting, the more outrageous, the more vulgar, the crazier, the more insane they sound because they're safe in their district, the more money they raise nationwide, the more their profile goes up. The way they're literally able to stand in the way of anything effective getting done in Congress. And I'm not even talking about a bipartisan way. How many speakers of the House have Republicans had that have had their plans to move a Republican package forward stopped by people in these districts who can be as extreme and as crazy and as obstructionist as they want?

Because those are the incentives in this new gerrymandered world. Well, and we've seen that over the past decade and a half at least because all the action, Joe, is in the primaries, right? I mean, how often are we discussing a topic here? And you guys ask me what are Republicans think? And my answer is usually they don't want to rock the boat ahead of primary season because the only place they're going to have a competitive race is in a Republican primary. I think Democrats also have to look out for this in this way, right? There's a lot of angst on the left.

Democratic voters, sounding like Republican voters did for years, want their party to fight. Fight harder, fight more. And not that they should stand down, not that they shouldn't. respond to fire with fire, but this could create the same sort of dynamic in democratic primaries where voters have to look over their shoulder, knowing that if they cooperate too much with the other party, if they're willing to compromise, if they don't appear to be fighting hard enough, it's the primary where they can be ousted. And we're in a situation. And look, what's happening now with the further gerrymandering of seats is even, is on the one hand,

we could in the short term have some more competitive districts, right? If you look at that Texas map, some is dark red. A lot of it is shaded light red. And that means if this atmosphere goes against the president and his party next year, I've had Republicans in Texas tell me they're worried instead of gaining five seats, you could have 10 competitive seats and you could end up losing seats. But in the long term, what you end up with are, Paul, politicians that don't have a general election to worry about. They have a nomination fight to worry about. And that means they can hold the line, not do anything, get rewarded, and the cycle continues. By the way, Willie, David brings up a great point that others have brought up all

along, and that is they shave it so close that if you have a swing election, this actually backfires. And Democrats have a tidal wave election. We'll see. It could. I mean, depending on things go in the next year and a half. John, it likes almost everything in the Republican Party this day. These days, it comes from the top. This is what Donald Trump wants. He sees over the horizon that next year the midterms could be a problem if he loses the House that obviously slows down his agenda for the last two years of his term. Claire State of Missouri, Indiana, others now saying, oh, Texas pulled this off. We'd like to do it too. The arms race begins with California, maybe New York, and other Democratic states as well. Yeah, we're going to see it go, both

red and blue states, it appears. And I have talked to a lot of Democrats last week or so since it really became a story who initially were, we don't want to do this. Like, we think we should be better than this. This isn't good for the country. We don't want to have the fact that there won't be, you know, beholden to congressmen or women beholden to a general electorate, just about the primary voters. You're going to see blue state Republicans be wiped out or red state Democrats be wiped out. Like, that's not good for the democracy. But now the Texas is going forward with this. I think there was a hope that maybe they would, they would back away. But now that they're doing it, Democrats are saying, yeah, the arms race is on.

And Will you underscore what you can't be said enough, that this is, this is at the best of the president, who looks at next year. And it's not just about his agenda being knocked down. It's like, if Democrats get the House, I'm going to have to face investigations again. They're going to have the subpoena power. They might even go impeachment again. He doesn't want to do that. And this Republican Party, short-term thinking, they're serving this president, this White House, even if the consequences down the road are bad for the party and democracy. Claire, do you think Missouri, Indiana, those states love similar luck with this,

get this through their state houses? Yeah, in Missouri, what they're going to do is they're going to destroy Reverend Emmanuel Cleaver's district. He's represented Kansas City for a long, long time, beloved in Kansas City. They're going to slice up Kansas City to the point that there will no longer be a black congressman representing Kansas City. will be down to one black representative in the state of Missouri in a state that over 40% of the folks voted for the Democrats and they were primarily in the urban areas. So you're really distorting what Missouri is when you do the maps this way.

I think Missouri will. I don't know about Indiana. I think Indiana has kind of pumped the brakes a little bit because they realize this is a problem because these seats are going to be so much more competitive. right so um you know be careful what you wish for here texas may be sorry and by the way i remember when michel obama who i love dearly said you know when they go low we go high well that didn't work out so well and now you see gavin newsom trolling like i never thought i'd see a democratic governor troll doing the kinds of things that the trump folks have been doing now for a long time and i think democrats are beginning to catch on if we play nice we're going to be on the sidelines. So it's time to throw some punches and do what we have to do to make sure our views are represented in D.C.

We were talking yesterday about Gavin Newsom's new combative style, his mockery of Donald Trump. He actually talked about that yesterday. And an interview will play that for you in just a minute. Also ahead, a top Pentagon official says the United States will have a minimal role in security guarantees for Ukraine. So what does that mean? We'll dig into how European leaders are reacting. Plus, we'll go through a federal judge's ruling denying the nine. the Trump administration's request to release the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts.

And a reminder, the Morning Joe podcast, available every day featuring our full conversations and analysis. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. Ooh, it's early. in L.A. 325 in the morning. You don't want to see that hour of the day. But in L.A., I think a lot of people do on the back end. I'll tell you what, we actually have people that

watch the show. Yes. And they wake up very early out there. There are also others who come in very late. Bill Moore once told me he would be in his hot tub. That's right. I remember that. Watching a morning show. By the way, we're friends. We look at the phone. I can't get that out of a hard right now. And nor should you. By the way, the New York Post here talks about Putin the pressure on, and the Post is saying, this is no time for Donald Trump to let up on Vladimir Putin, that they have to put the pressure on. Of course, that's the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal editorial pages said the same thing. And also, can't help, but look at the headline on the front of the Wall Street Journal. And I'm just wondering, those Arab Americans in Michigan that said

they couldn't vote for Joe Biden because of Joe Biden's policy, the same Joe Biden that was calling Netanyahu basically, you know, every day pressuring him, pushing him, cojoling him. I wonder what they're saying now, because the hopes of a two-state solution already low, completely gone now. Gaza being taken over, the West Bank completely out of control. And, yeah, they're running around talking about Genocide Joe, really? Genocide Joe? Well, this is what you got. And it's the worst the situation has been for Palestinians, my God, in our lifetime.

And again, you know, this is what happens when extremists. attack Democratic. It's, you know, it's a lot like 1968 when everybody was going after Hubert Humphrey. They get Richard Nixon. Way to go. That, I mean, it's just their far left extremists. This is what far left extremists basically were voting for when they voted against Joe Biden. Progressives chanting genocide Joe. They had valid concerns about what was happening, obviously inside of Gaza, but it was a binary choice between two men. And there was a reason Prime Minister Netanyahu was in many ways publicly, but certainly privately hoping that Donald Trump would become the next president.

Right. So here we are. Giving him a blank shock. Here we are. And he said he was going to. Huh? Now they're on the outskirts of Gaza City this morning. Yeah, exactly.

All right, let's turn back to California where Governor Gavin Newsom and his press team continue their all-out social media blitz against President Trump and his MAGA supporters. He's been mimicking the president's own style of online posts. Some are rambling diatribes written in all caps, laden with personal insults, self-congratulations. Others feature AI images like Newsom's head on Mount Rushmore. Sorry, that's good.

All caps. Wow, what an honor. Or an illustration of the governor. being preyed over by Tucker calls. Stop it. Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock. Okay, that's good. Who's doing his material, man? Come on.

He's hired somebody. Come on. When the musician Kid Rock hit back at Newsom, his team replied by writing, I hate Kid Rock. That's an ode to Trump's famous attack on Taylor Swift. When another used to complain. Did you ever notice Kid Rock's no, you know, since he turned on me, you know, no longer popular. Right, right, right.

Right. So another user complained that picture, that AI image we showed, was blasphemy. Newsom responded with a repost of an image that Trump shared in May depicting himself as the Pope. Actual blasphemy. Here's what Governor Newsom said last week about this new online strategy. I think it connects here in L.A. in the fires. And how he was completely misrepresenting the facts, misinformation, disinformation. Elon Musk was piling on as well. So yes, I've changed. The facts have changed. We need to change and we need to stand up to this authoritarian. We need to stand up at this moment. It is foundational.

Again, it is not about Republican versus Democrat. This guy is an invasive species. He's completely different. I respect the Republican Party. I'm married and a Republican family. I have deep love and respect for people I disagree with. He is something whole together different and he is unmoored. There is no constraints. So yes, we're going to punch back. Some free political advice from the President of the United States is stop sounding like crazy people. That really is all it is. I mean, this idea that Gavin Newsom is somehow going to mimic Donald Trump's style,

I think that ignores the fundamental genius of President Trump's political success, which is that he's authentic. He just is who he is. You've got to be yourself. You've actually got to talk to people honestly about the issues. I don't think it's that complicated. don't be a crazy person, be authentic. I would agree completely with J.D. Vance there, except for the fact this is the same

JD Vance that mused whether Donald Trump was America's Hitler and said that if you're a Christian, Jesus expects more of us than the vote for Donald Trump or something along those lines. And so, yeah, I do agree, Claire, the best way to win is to be your authentic self. At the same time, I'm thinking Gavin is thinking he can do two things at once, which is have a little fun, punch, get under their skin, and campaign on the issues. Yeah, the fact that we're talking about it shows that he's been really successful in what he's doing and the fact that J.D. Vance is referencing it. And by the way, if we're talking about Donald Trump be really authentic,

I mean, how about all that gold stuff from home goods store? he's tacked up all over the, I mean, fake gold all over your office doesn't exactly read authentic and down to earth. So to the extent that he is himself and that he does vulgar horrible things and that he's shown his immorality at every turn in his life, to that extent he's been authentic. But I hate to call the guy actually authentic in many ways. Yeah, I mean, this is probably also a short-term strategy here from Newsom. I don't think he's going to sign every Twitter post going forward with thank you for your attention to this matter. I think, but it's a sign of some energy. It's a sign of what Democrats do want to see is someone

up there fighting, taking the fight to Trump in some way. Newsom, of course, eyeing 2028 is a way to differentiate himself from others. And he is because of the role California plays front and center here. You know, we know Trump put the National Guard in Los Angeles there for those ice raids. You know, Trump has the last night on true social. Again, when after Gavin New Scum, puts it. You know, it is the blue state now that might be part of the redistricting efforts as well. So Newsom, because of that, knows he's got a spotlight. He's taking advantage on it. Yeah, you know, David, the Pod Save America guys after the election were saying Democrats need to have more fun. There are a lot of terrible things we can say talking about

Donald Trump. There's a lot of terrible things we can say about the Madison Square Garden rally. But it's kind of like, we're having a party, is what the pod guy said. And he said Democrats have always been too dour, too serious, to this, to that. Seems to me that what Gavin's doing here, even though, again, I think when he's campaigning and he's talking about affordability, I said that yesterday, I think you're getting a two-for here. First of all, you're making people laugh because it's obvious parody. That's number one.

But number two, you're showing you're not afraid to fight. And so many Democrats in the past have been afraid to fight. They've been afraid to smile. They've been afraid to openly mock and ridicule and have a good time out on the campaign trail. Newsom's doing both of them at the same time, and the base is loving it. Yeah, I think we've seen from successful candidates right and left that when you are yourself, you're a little bit charismatic, and you're joyful about the work you're doing, it attracts voters. I think what Newsom is trying to do here is make fun of Trump.

Right. And so I think to the extent that voters understand that he's not actually trying to mimic Trump, that he is, you know, that he is trolling Trump, that he's doing this on purpose because he's mocking the entire exercise. I think that that can work for him. And, you know, I think I think what people need to remember is voters will hold different politicians to different standards, right? Trump isn't invulnerable. We saw in 2018 a midterm rebuke. We saw in 2020 he loses. And so voters writ large don't always respond to his antics. But to the extent that they're okay with them, it's because they just look at him as that's who he is for better or worse. And that's just the way he behaves. For politicians that don't behave that way, when voters feel like they're trying to be somebody else because they think that's what we want. That's when it goes awry. And I think Newsom has been clear here that he's not trying to be somebody else, that he's making fun of

somebody else. And obviously with a 2028 presidential bid on the horizon potentially, and the fact that Democratic voters have been so unhappy, whether that's fair or not with what they're getting from politicians in Washington, this sort of energy and fight. It's one of the reasons why Why Republican voters were so excited by Trump, and it's the kind of thing that can get voters on the left excited again if he pulls this off. Well, but here's the funny thing about Republicans responding to Gavin Newsom, responding to the troll. I've spent, like, especially the last year telling people around me, he says, don't, don't respond. When he talks about 2028, when he's holding the cap up, he's doing it to troll you, to get you to scream. to yell, to wave your arms, to say this, to say that.

Now you got Gavin doing these things, and you have Republicans, but wait, but that's exact, again, that's the troll. Democrats have always taken the bait on Donald Trump's trolls. Now you have Republicans taking the bait on his parody of a troll. Pretty good. And he's also doing what you suggest, which is two things at once. He's smiling. He's having fun with this stuff.

But he is, if you listen to him back at home, he is talking about affordability and the things that concern his state. So we'll see if this works long term. And one other thing, in the world that we live in, in the social media world that we live in, if you can make people laugh. Yep. If you can make people laugh, whether it's on TikTok, whether it's on YouTube, whether it's on X. I mean, LeMira and I were sending around some political things last night that were pretty funny. And- potato chips involved?

Was it a different story? We'll get to that. There are potato chips involved. And things that can't be said that were shouted at various public figures. Oh, sure. And some AI stuff. And some of that AI stuff. And I go, you know what?

I'm okay. This is going to all balance itself out because, yes, the machines will take over the world. It will be like the Matrix. But we'll have some good laughs along the way. Laugh why we're crying. Exactly. You know, before, yeah, before they stick it in the back of our neck. That's right. You'll be laughing.

We'll get some good chuckles on eggs. We'll be laughing when they come and put one in the back of our heads. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Let me see the end of this. What did she say? Senior writer for the dispatch, David Drucker. David, always good to have you on. Thank you.

Coming up, we'll take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning, including the Trump administration indefinitely suspending White House tours. Why? Plus, Pablo Torre joins us ahead of a huge series, four games between the Yankees and Rebels. It starts tonight in the Bronx with the team separated by just a game and a half. By the way, for people watching, he's not real. Navajo is completely AI-generated.

We'll tell you about the technology next. Look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. The Trump administration has suspended public tour. of the White House as the president pushes forward on plans to add a massive ballroom to the building. As the Washington Post reports, officials have not released the ballroom's architectural plans or its exact location, even though Trump is rushing to break ground on the $200 million project. Wait, wait, so we're looking at the White House, really. So it is gorgeous, and you know, they're not talking about expanding the East Wing.

are they of the White House there? They haven't said, but if it's going to be that big, they're not going to take over a room. They have to add on. There's a sense, again, nothing has been confirmed that it's going to be something behind the east wing. Okay, so from this thing, it will be contained, this will, this ballroom will be contained inside this east wing, and if it moves, it will go back. Yeah, no, I think it's going to be a new structure, but yes, it would be not, this view would not change. I mean, the president put that big flag in front. That's new.

but the ballroom would be in the back, so more the South Lawn. So if you're out by the Washington Monument looking up towards the White House, you would see it. And that's also the South Lawn is where they've already paved over the Rose Garden. So why not being snarky here? Are we talking about the same area where Barack Obama put his basketball court back there, behind the east? The Cato-Kalent guesthouse of the White House. Yeah, I mean, one project is significantly bigger than the other, but yes, also South Lawn. Well, no, no, no, I'm just talking about location.

I'm not comparing the two. Please, please. Please, Bruce Guy. Be gentle. Now, I'm not comparing the two. I'm just saying, if we're looking at the area, that would be behind the east way. Not from there. Won't change this view. That view will not change. Cannot change this view. Remember we've had members of Congress at these town halls when they're asked why they cut Medicaid? They say, well, the U.S. government doesn't have unlimited money. Yeah. Except to build $300 million ballrooms at the White House, apparently. It took 12 hours for the Navy. to douse a fire on board the USS New Orleans, anchored off Okinawa in Japan.

Pentagon says two sailors suffered minor injuries. The cause still under investigation, the crew will remain on board the ship. And Delta and United Airlines are being sued for selling windowless window seats to passengers. The lawsuits claim the two major airlines do not flag windowless seats during the booking process for passengers

who pay extra for a window seat. Wait, wait, wait a minute a second. You're flying across America this summer, and that's your complaint? I mean, I'm just like, that's a lawsuit? Yeah, well, it is because if you advertise you're getting a window and you pay for a window and you don't get a window, there's a very aggressive trial lawyer somewhere that realizes there's a class action. And class action pulls together all the folks that paid for a window that didn't get a window

and holds the airline accountable. The government's not going to hold them accountable. Maybe I don't want to see the engine on fire. Well, then don't buy a window seat. Okay. But how do you take the TikTok video of the engine on fire if you don't have the window? And then you're a weeping reaction instead of getting off. Can we do really briefly here?

Just briefly. Talk about how bad air travel. I don't know if it's been the same for you all this summer. But air travel this summer, last summer, let's be fair, going back every summer all the way to COVID. It's just been a nightmare, especially I can't speak for out west. I can say, though, going up and down the East Coast is just been a nightmare, whether you're at Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, I mean, DCA, how many flights in and out of DCA are on time? And plus all we've learned, obviously, about all the military flights and all the near misses.

Like, what have people been doing? What have people been doing over the past five years other than giving airlines billion dollar bailout so they could fire their staff, be understaffed? So when people want to start flying again, the entire system's breaking apart. But we got rid of the DEI pilots. So we're good. We're good. Like, my feed, by the way, Joe, is entirely like, maybe this is just my algorithm.

Yeah. But it is just like people fighting inside of airport. Well, it's Sydney Sweeney. right and then people fighting inside of airport terminals yeah and on airwitz and on the planes some of those I think are fake but it's just hard to tell yeah a lot of you know like Amy Klobuchar but truly they're like that she wrote an op-ed-up who recreate fights in an airplane cabin but it's a set yeah because oh this is this is a what's wrong with it really don't get back on don't don't don't go on X I'm off you're gonna know what these are so yeah yeah

Yeah, I'm an old man now. Yeah. Hey, that's Pablo Torre. Hey, I'm a host of AI-generated. I want to be introduced as my. On Metal Arc Media, we like to back in. My internet addiction is my way into the room, typically, so. I sort of like the Max Headroom of 2025.

He is, he is AI-generated. Yeah. Let's talk some fun stuff here. Yes. Four game series. Get that right in the mirror's face. Starts tonight. Yankees Red Sox, renewing the rivalry.

Fighting for the wild card, living in the Blue Jays world. What do you like this weekend? We're going to get crushed. We're here to. Sweet. This false. You guys are going to win. Every.

Right through it. You're going to win every one of these games. You're going to win the series in five. Why are we even talking about it? You can't dilute the feeling that Willie and I clearly felt. Five in a row. First extra innings win, John, on the road all season. Great.

Yeah, that's great. We feel good. We feel good. We feel good. On the road. It's George Stimer Field. It's not exactly on the road. road. Listen. That is

pathetic. Our house has many wings, but it counts. It counts. This is our ballroom. That's right. This is our newly constructed ballroom. Stanton, by the way, last I heard, you know, he had double tennis elbow. Look at that. Elbow flexing. That feels good. How are you guys

feel it? Sox come into this series in the other direction. They've lost three in a row. A couple of heartbreakers the other night against the Orioles, leaving the base loaded. three straight innings. Yeah, but at least it was the seventh, the eighth of the ninth inning that we left. And then we lost in the 10th. So there, we have now slipped a game and a half behind the Yankees.

Red Sox just barely trying to hang on as we go into this four-game series in the Bronx series. You guys will probably win so convincingly. They'll call it after three games. Yeah. But there, the wild card standings have gotten tight. The Royals and Guardians have made a push out. I've got to say the Mariners keep losing.

By the way, while nobody was watching, the Brewers have lost three in a row. The Cubs have won three, no, that's back up to six. It's going to be the Brewers and Detroit in the World Series. You think so? The Brewers, I love that. That would be a great series. Yay, Midwest. Go Midwest.

Tire to the Yankees and the Red Sox. Go Midwest. Oh, the Chiefs fan is tired. Oh, the Yankees and the Red So. You know, Lemire, I mean, the thing is, so the Red Sox is set themselves up really great for a run into September and being strong. And what's happened, what's been surprising is our starting pitching is really. come through. We've had people like Gialito just

been lights out. Bayo's been doing well. A lot of people that most baseball fans maybe not have heard of. Even Walker Bueller's had a couple of quality starts. He's starting to warm up a little bit. But our bullpen, which was one of the best in the American League, our bullpins

fallen apart over the past three games, and we just aren't hitting the ball. Beyond Chapman. Chapman, by the way, I've got to say, I have not seen a relief picture more dominant than Chapman this year. And what's so shocking is he's 37 years old. And Willie, you know this.

You guys know this. Your Yankees fans, somewhere between his 36th and 37th birthday, he figured out how to get Greg Maddox-like control. It's a rare thing. It's unbelievable. He's been stunning. He's been great. But to your point, the bullpen has been really shaky of late. And the offense feels still kind of one hitter short.

and we go back to the trade deadline. The Red Sox, look, the Red Sox have played very well last couple of weeks they have until, but they clearly needed a piece or two and they didn't get it. And now they seem to be at the worst time, Pablo, falling short. While the Yankees obviously have had scuffles, there's some Judge Boone tension, which we, of course, enjoy. But I've fired Aaron Boone five times this year personally. He's back, baby. He's back.

But you know what? He's the man. There's always time. There's always time to win me over again. Dude, I laugh at the Red Sox generally, of course. Yeah, because, I mean, why shut you? We've won five World Series. It's four.

We've only won four. Self-deprecation. Suddenly, this century is really important, but the whole arc of human history doesn't matter. We could live in the 16th century if you would like Pablo. As a student of history, I would like us to remember where we came from, which is a lot of world series. How old were you in 2009? You know, 14. Do you even remember?

the last time the Yankees won a World Series? I was 24, actually. I'm doing the math. It's a long time. It's been 2009. And it was the film. I mean, for God's sake. You see how quick? I mean, phony self-deprecation turns into rage. I'm just saying, it's all right for us

to attack. It's all right for us to attack the Red Sox. It's not okay for you all to attack the Red Sox. Hey, let's talk about football really quickly. Who's going to win the Super Bowl? Player? No, Chiefs. Oh, come on. Just the, I can feel the reality distortion.

Field sitting next day. No, they're not a dying empire. That is the reality distortion. Do you get there? Have you watched the documentary? I haven't yet. It's great. Yeah, it's very good. You're talking about the Travis Kelsey Taylor Swift in a podcast.

I'm telling you that the documentary does a great job on Lamar Hunt. Yeah. And talking about he really was the genius behind trying to expand the NFL internationally. Right. And the whole, you know, there's a lot of history of the NFL in this documentary. It's done by the same people that did last dance. And it's really well done. Six parts.

I was going to say. Oh, wow. It's great. She did all those things. Yeah, it's really well done. And it's not as much Mahomes and Kelsey as it is, a lot of Chris Jones, a whole lot of Andy Reid. Yeah. You know, and he's had a lot of tragedy in his life.

I'll have to watch that. Yeah, it's really good. After I get through my 14th viewing of the Billy Joel documentary, I'll have to go. So who do you think, who do you like this year? I have a rematch of last year. I do. Really? I have Eagles Chiefs.

Now, I'll be at the Eagles Chiefs game on September 14th, so we'll see how the preview turns out. I will say I still got two weeks. Yeah, I mean, the Eagles, I think, are the most talented team. I would like it to be someone like the Bills or the Lions, but I just, I don't know. There's something about them. They still seem a little short.

I think so some, the 49ers are getting some buzz out west. This might be a year back for them. I don't know. Come back to me in a week before. Bill's, Ravens, too, those two teams, they haven't been able to get over the hot because of the Chiefs in this generation. No offense.

we'd like to see someone different. I mean, I'd like to be the Giants. It's not going to happen. No. Not this year. I love it when a New England Patriots fan says, I'd like to see someone different. That's right. How about the Atlanta Falcons?

They'll be all right, right? They've got Pennix. They've got a ton of great weapons for Pennix. If he has a pretty good year, listen, I think we could be eight and eight, nine and eight. Yeah, however many games we play now. Get the banner stitched. The eight and eight. banner to drop from the rafter.

The 9 and 8 banner, yeah. And then Alabama wins the national title on the college side. You're all set. That's going to be tough. It's going to be a tough year. Well, Auburn will claim it anyway, so. No, we have a great, great schedule that we start with FSU. Yeah, it's going to be a great year. Got Oklahoma coming to Tuscaloosa.

That's great. Can you imagine that? That's going to be a blue blood. Yeah, that SEC schedule, no matter how good you are, and Alabama's good this year. Yeah. Quarterback is a question. Right. But you got Georgia, LSU, that league just Texas, it just keeps coming at you.

Vandy. Yeah. Vandy. Vandy now. You got to reckon with Vandy. You guys are coming to Tuscaloosa, too, I think. We're coming to Tuscaloosa in October. I think we will not blindside you this year like we did last year.

I don't know. But our team's good. We still have Pavia quarterback. We had a great coach. If you guys don't throw a goal post into a river, I'm going to be very disappointed. Is there a river right near the stadium of Tuscaloosa? Okay. You could do it again.

Who knows? Who knows? Well, we'll see. This is really going to be the test for the coach to bore. Yeah. You know, I think. Your guy? Your favorite guy?

Not my favorite guy. He got one year at the grace period. Well, not for me. I would have fired him after the sixth week. I mean, listen, he's way too mellow for to be an SEC coach. It's war down there. And I'm dead serious. It's like after the end was, well, you know, we play pretty well.

And I don't know what's going to have it. No, no. It's like, you know, it's like Joe Kennedy said of Bobby Kennedy. He hates like his dad. I like him. That's what we want with our SEC coaches. You got to hate your opponent. You got to get it.

It's smash mouth football. You got to win. You want an emotionally withholding father figure. He's kind of mellow. Yeah. You knew this was a problem when they go, do you think Miller is going to be good this year? They go, yeah, because he said, I'm having fun. I can tell you, anybody that's ever played football in the Deep South,

That's not what you want to hear. You don't want to hear, oh, they're having fun at practice. You want like, you know, we gave them hot water one time in the middle of practice, and they liked it. So anyway. Here's what those SEC coaches are. Kirby Smart at Georgia, beat you by 30. And in this NIL era, he'll hand a list of the players on the other team he thought were good and tell us to go get them from next year. Yeah, exactly.

Go buy them. I want all of them. Boy, I know we got to go, but I just hate NIL so much. I do too. It's destroyed college football. It's really destroyed March Madness. It got your guy out of the job that you're complaining about. Nick Saban goes away because he's like, I don't want to do the grocery shopping in this way.

Well, the thing is, I mean, you've got to recruit four years in a row. You can't build character. You can't tell a kid who had a so-so freshman year. I'll tell you what, you work harder over the summer. You give it your all, maybe you'll get a starting spot. At that point, the guy goes, okay, I'm going to go to Ohio State or I'm going to go to Penn State or something. There are no contracts, so you're trying to like half measure professionalism and everybody's unhappy. Yeah.

So you have everybody now in D.C. saying we have solutions for this. We have a commission for this. And suddenly Triple H is on my television telling us about college football reform. I'm like, what is happening? You know, all you have to do. And I'm serious. Talk to Nick Saban. He had an idea before he left.

He said, pay everybody the same amount. Pay every player that's Division I, you know, give them $30,000 a year or give them whatever it is. it seems to be fair, and do it that way. And, you know, if they want to do side deals later, they can do side deals. But you just can't have, like you said, free agency every year. You got to let the coach's coach. You got to let them build character. You got them, you know, you got to let them, you know, take these kids and their kids at 18

and turn them into great players who can excel in the NFL. That's not happening now. What's interesting, too, on the basketball side, and I heard John Calapari talking about this, but Petino has said it out loud. they don't recruit high school anymore. Right. They just go to the end of the season, who are the best players on the best teams,

and let's go get them. There's no reason to recruit a good, I mean, obviously there are five-star guys. They're going to roll into Duke and all that, but these other programs build, and they're playing within the rules, they build by just creating free agents. The time they used to spend going to scout high school games,

they're now spending finding the donors to write the checks. Right. They're trying to find, like, Tino has that big, The guy that's writing all the checks, I don't know, he's some billionaire that's given him hundreds of millions of dollars for NIL. That's the other thing that's distorted about this. There isn't enough transparency about who's paying for all this. Correct.

Who's paying for all this. I think this is what we talked about before. There's a reason why all the number one seeds won last year. Yeah. Because the second and third level tier teams that might recruit a Larry Bird at Indiana State. If a Larry Bird's at Indiana State in 2025, he's going to be playing at Duke, the next year because they're going to go Larry. We're going to our, you know, Ohio State or something.

We're going to give you $10 million, Larry, if you come play for us, your sophomore year. It's just completely broken. That's why Vanderbilt now has, I believe, the Willie Geist Memorial Shed. Yeah. That is clearly just a slush fund. I haven't even given enough money for a shed. Yeah. But go doors.

Pablo Torre started a good conversation, as always. Thanks, Pablo. You've changed the way we think not only about sports, but life. Thank you, Papa. Thank you. One day I'll be a real person. Oh, whatever.