No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Legacy media drops the ball amid Trump's bombshell corruption scandal

Episode Date: May 18, 2025

The media drops the ball as Trump descends into full blown corruption. Brian interviews Jamie Raskin about Trump’s $400 million Qatari jet bribe; Beto O’Rourke about his recent spate of town halls in Texas and what it signals for 2026; and Jon Favreau about Republicans’ failed budget bill and what comes next.Save 50% on your system and your first month is free when you sign up for professional monitoring. Visit https://SimpliSafe.com/btc to customize yours! Try SimpliSafe risk-free. If you don’t love it, return it for a full refund within 60 days.Shop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to talk about the media dropping the ball as Trump descends into full-blown corruption. And I've got three interviews. I talked to Jamie Raskin about Trump's $400 million-dollar jet bribe, Betto O'Rourke about his recent spade of town halls in Texas and what it signals for 2026, and Pod Save America's John Favro about Republicans' failed budget bill and what comes next. I'm Brian Teller Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. No Lie is brought to you by Simply Safe. There's no safe like Simply Safe. by any objective measure, you look at what Trump is doing right now, engaging in the most blatant corruption scandals in American history, and in any normal world, this should be

enough to make front page headlines for the rest of his political career. Trump is taking in literal billions of dollars from a crypto coin that he launched, again, going to him personally, that allows him to launder money from foreign investors who want a curry favor with the United States. He just accepted a $400 million jet from Qatar, which he claims is going to be used as Air Force One, even though it's doubtful it'll ever be retrofitted as Air Force One before ultimately just going to him personally. We know that when Trump paired back his tariffs, some people in the know were alerted beforehand and they made off with millions of dollars in a pretty blatant insider trading scandal. Trump's latest golf trip took place in three

countries that just so happened to also have inked real estate deals with the Trump organization. So we're going to see a Trump International Hotel and Tower in Dubai, a golf resort in Doha with Qatar's sovereign wealth funds, real estate arm, and the Trump Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In other words, Trump is exchanging personal profit for favorable deal terms with the United States. This is corruption at its highest order. But you wouldn't know that this is in any way out of the ordinary

because this week, much of the media is spending its time talking about the very, very pressing issue of Joe Biden's cognitive decline. Because why live in the moment and confront the worst corruption scandal in the history of America when you can transport back to the media's safe space in 2021 to 2024. This is all owed to the fact that Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper have a book coming out detailing how the White House covered up Biden's cognitive decline.

And so because they want to sell their book, they make sure every new cycle revolves around this. And because legacy media is a big club, their colleagues cover it too. And of course, the right is desperate not to talk about Trump scandals. And so they're more than happy to talk about this book. And so because this issue serves everybody's selfish interests, this is what they're all talking about, all because a few guys on the supposed left want to sell books, and then the entire conservative movement derives political benefit from helping them. And the cost is that as the U.S. descends

into a full-blown kleptocracy, our esteemed fourth estate ignores all of it, thereby essentially allowing it to happen. Because when Trump sees that his actions aren't warranting too much blowback from the democracy dies and darkness crowd, then the message he gets is, pretty clear, full speed ahead. And look, to put this issue to rest as far as my audience is concerned, did the White House cover up Joe Biden's cognitive decline? Probably. I know that I was taken by surprise when I saw him on that debate stage in June of 2024, as were most Americans who had previously seen him perform perfectly fine at State of the Union speeches and other events. But you know when we adjudicated this issue? In June of 2024, when it became clear

that he couldn't run and when he dropped out of the race, Joe Biden being too old to prosecute the case against Donald Trump is nothing new. The book that these guys are trying to sell, that's new. But Biden's downfall is pretty well documented at this point. Pretty sure we all remember the 2024 election and the events that preceded Trump's victory. Am I upset about the way that things transpired? Of course. Do I wish, in retrospect, that Biden dropped out right after he won in 2020? Of course. Did we have this entire conversation already in November of 2024? Yes. Again, none of this is new. The only thing that's new is that some members of the media want to sell a book. And so the cost to us is that we now have to talk about this issue

every day at the expense of talking about the important stuff, the stuff that actually impacts us, the stuff that incriminates Trump to such a degree that so far outweighs Biden being too old. Donald Trump gets a free pass because legacy media has decided that at this moment in time, the big issue in May of 2025 is that, surprise, surprise, Joe Biden is old. Stop the presses. So look, I've been beating this drum for years, but this is the danger for the left of making legacy media our message distribution system. These outlets are not liberal. They are there to make money for themselves. And if that means helping Trump, then clearly they have no qualms. I hope Democrats look at this and recognize the extent to which we have screwed ourselves

by making these people our messengers. We have to invest in independent media, invest in people and outlets whose priority is upholding the law, protecting democracy, protecting the Constitution, and defeating Donald Trump in the Republican Party. It's not legacy media, and sometimes it takes moments like this to crystallize that exact point. Next up are my interviews with Jamie Raskin,

Beto O'Rourke, and John Favro. No lies brought to you by Simply Safe. So look, I work in political media, I've worked in political media for a long time. I'm obviously no stranger to the realities of the political environment that we live in right now, especially as it relates to safety. And so it's very important that I'm able to stay safe,

that my family's able to stay safe, and that I can focus on my work and my regular life without having to worry about my own safety. And so with that mind, I'm thrilled to be partnering with SimplySafe to give our audience the same piece of mind that I have at a huge discount that's exclusive to our audience.

Traditional alarm systems only trigger after somebody breaks in, which gives intruders time to grab valuables. They might make off with half of my studio before I even know it. With SimplySafe active guard, monitoring agents react in real time to prevent potential break-ins before they happen. Simply save agents can see and talk to potential intruders in real time,

activating spotlights, and even contact the police, all before they have the chance to get inside your home. The app allows you to arm and disarm your system to view camera feeds and to manage features from your phone, giving you full control of your security from anywhere, anytime. Monitoring plans are affordable, starting at around a dollar per day. And best of all, there are no long-term contracts or cancellation fees, and you can try it out with their 60-day satisfaction guarantee or your money back.

I love SimplySafe for two reasons in particular. One, it's really easy to set up. Despite the fact that I work online and that I have to use all of my camera gear and sound gear on a daily basis, I'm really not that technologically savvy. But the reality is that SimpliSafe was especially easy to set up. And second of all, the app functionality is really easy to use. And that is the most important thing for me

that I'm able to just pull up the app on my phone and use it with no problem. Save 50% off your Simply Safe security system when you sign up for a professional monitoring plan and get the first month free. Visit simplysafe.com slash BTC to customize yours. That's simplysafe.com slash BTC. There's no safe like SimplySafe. I'm joined now by Congressman Jamie Raskin. Thanks so much for joining.

Thanks to be with you, Brian. So you have been focused on the issue of emoluments violations for years and years and years now. We have just seen the biggest example of Donald Trump violating that clause in the new reporting that just came. out from ABC News saying that Donald Trump is going to accept a $400 million luxury jet that's going to serve as Air Force One and then ultimately be transferred over to him personally through his presidential library foundation. First and foremost, is this legal? No, it's not consistent with the Constitution unless the president comes to Congress and asks whether he can receive this gift

because Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution, the Foreign Amoluments Clause says that no person occupying any office of profit or trust in the United States, that includes the president, shall receive from a prince, king, or foreign state a present in a monument, which means a payment, an office, or a title of any kind, whatever, without the consent of Congress. So if you want to take a $5,000 vacation gift or a $100,000 check, or a $400 million jet, you've got to come to Congress first to ask. I mean, there's a great story about Abraham Lincoln who received from the King of Siam, a beautiful elephant tusk. It was in the middle of the Civil War. And Lincoln took the Foreign Armaments Clause so seriously, like pretty much

every other president, that he came to Congress and he said, I love this tusk. Can I keep it? And Congress met, and they said, hey, you're doing a great job in the war, honest Abe, and we love you. but no, you can't keep that, turn that over to the Department of the Interior. What do you make of Pam Bondi's justification here who kind of legal gymnastics where she says, well, it's not going directly to Donald Trump, it'll be transferred from Qatar to the Air Force and then over to his presidential library foundation. And so it's not a direct gift from Qatar. It's just there's an intermediary, which is the U.S. government.

Well, it is a direct gift from Qatar. The Qatar government is the one that announces. it and it's being offered to Donald Trump, who apparently is very unhappy with the state of Air Force One, but he's not getting the plane that he wants or won't be ready until 2029. And so it's for him, and then it goes to his library. So it's a gift to him and to his library, and none of that is constitutional. What do you make of the fact also that, you know, this is kind of being given the green light by Pam Bondi, who, of course, in her her past as Attorney General of Florida, accepted a $25,000 donation while her office was deciding

whether or not to pursue fraud charges against Trump University. Surprise, surprise. She opted not to. And she was also a paid lobbyist for the government of guitar, receiving $115,000 per month. And so all of those things would suggest that this would be prime for her to recuse herself from this decision. Would you agree with that? Well, that's the kind of quaint insight you have there. You know, this administration, administration doesn't even dabble in the ethical considerations about anything. They don't even stop it constitutional violations, much less something that's merely statutory or ethical in nature.

And I do fault the Democrats as much as the Republicans for this because we saw this happening in the first administration. And really, that should have been the first impeachment we brought. We should have brought an impeachment against Donald Trump for blatantly violating the emoluments clause. Now, of course, it was difficult to find out everything that was going on because so much of this is done in a clandestine way. But the Democrats on the Oversight Committee, when I was ranking member in the last Congress, we released a report showing $8 million that went directly from foreign governments to Donald Trump. but that was just over a two-year period and to just five of his more than 500 companies.

So we only grasped the surface of it, but still we found $8 million going to the Trump International Hotel in D.C., which I called the Washington a monument and the one in Las Vegas, the hotel there, and the Trump Tower in New York. But you got millions of dollars from the Chinese government, from the Saudi government. And of course, that set the standard.

And then there was this immediate payback that took place after the Trump administration, the first presidency, where Jared Kushner brought back a cool $2 billion from Saudi Arabia, even after the Saudi sovereign national fund recommended against making, you know, putting him in this role, investing for Saudi Arabia. but the homicidal crown prince owed Donald Trump for covering up for his assassination, the drawing and quartering, the dismembering of Jamal Khashoggi. And Trump said, we saved his posterior and they got paid back. But in any event, it was going on during the administration and then immediately after the administration, too. Well, I know that there's a reflex to blame the Democrats, but I do want to ask what the Democrats can be. be doing right now, what the Democrats should do in light of this. And I brought that caveat up at first because really the onus should not be on the Democrats to be the only adults in the room.

Like the Republicans are grown-ass adults who ostensibly also take oaths of office to defend, uphold the Constitution. And so it can't just be that we have to say, okay, well, what are you going to do to the Democrats and just kind of completely absolve the Republicans because their corruption is just so baked into the cake. But in reality, their corruption is so baked into the cake. And there is only one party that's looking to uphold the law and defend the Constitution. And so in light of that unfortunate reality, what is the recourse here? What can Democrats do? What will Democrats do? Well, I appreciate that. And I'm somebody who doesn't blame the Democrats because the Democratic Party is pretty much all we got. We are the party of democracy and freedom

and the rule of law and constitution. But I think that all of us need to take stock of the fact that we cannot ignore corruption as a driving force of this authoritarian movement in the country. And I think that it was soft peddled in the first administration. Now, the courts didn't help us because different people tried to bring lawsuits about the monuments clause, and they kept getting thrown out on standing

and other threshold doctrinal blockages, all of which is to say it was a political question up to Congress to raise it. So we cannot leave this alone, both for constitutional reasons, as I have felt for a long time, but also for political reasons because people understand this is a scam and a rip-off. Donald Trump and his family have made more than a billion dollars a month since this nightmare started in 2025 through the new, crypto grift, which is all the rage within the Trump administration. And, you know, this makes

the Trump Hotel look like a Cub Scout meeting because if tens of millions were flowing in through the Trump Hotel in the golf courses, now it's hundreds of millions or billions of dollars that is coming in an almost completely covert, secretive way. A lot of it from abroad through the meme coins and the other crypto mechanisms they've set up. I understand that that what he's doing right now is a violation of the Constitution. But it's also true that the Constitution in and of itself isn't self-executing and there is no enforcement mechanism in the Constitution. And so how do you push back against what he's doing? If he's violating the Emoluments Clause, then what is the vehicle to actually seek some recourse here? Doesn't

somebody have to be harmed? And I mean, could you make the argument that it's all of the American people that are being harmed? Does that mean that anybody would be able to bring suit against this president? Yeah. Well, unfortunately, the courts have rejected that approach. The courts have really reputed the idea that there's a private right of action that any citizen can bring against violations of the monuments clause. They're really treating it like a political question, which means it's up to Congress to act. And if you've got a compliant majority within Congress, then we've got a serious problem.

So we've got to raise hell over this. And then the moment we get the majorities back, we must legislate to install a legislative machinery behind the constitutional principle, because it's not self-executing, as you say. For a long time, it was. The president's, Republicans and Democrats both really respected the idea that there's a difference between being president of the United States and being in business for yourself and making money. And they accepted what the founders anticipated, which was a wall of separation between the official conduct of the president and then private money making. They thought the president would just set that aside for four years or eight

years or what have you, which is why we have not just a foreign emoluments clause, but a domestic emoluments clause. It says the president is limited to his salary in office and cannot be collecting any other money from government agencies and departments or states. And that's another clause that Donald Trump has been systematically trampling and violating by collecting millions of dollars from other parts of the government, including the Secret Service and the State Department and Commerce and other agencies and departments that went and stayed at his hotels and golf courses and so on. Well, I think part of the raising hell right now that we're engaged in is explaining to people

in this country more broadly why this matters. Why does it impact them? We can see that it's wrong, but a lot of people just don't care about process. They're not worried about defending institutions that they don't think are working on their behalf anyway. And so why is this particular issue? so important, and how can it more broadly impact the American people? Well, there was an interesting book that I read during the first Trump administration

called The Dictator's Handbook by Alster Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, which tells the story of why corruption really lies at the heart of authoritarianism. Because authoritarianism is always about the rule of a small minority in society of the wealthiest, most powerful people against everybody else. And so how do you motivate the people on the inside to stay engaged and to stay loyal to the leader? It's through corrupt grifts. And you can look at, you know,

the way that Vladimir Putin has his oligarchs, all of whom are billionaires and he gives them a franchise. He gets a kickback, but then those people prop up the system. But what that means is everybody else is getting ripped off. And so just like in America today, Trump and his family and his friends are getting just obsessed, obscenely wealthy by what they're doing, they're also trying to destroy social security, Medicare, Medicaid, any program that actually gets resources to the people.

They want to transfer that through tax breaks again to the wealthiest people in the country. That's the only program they've got an upward redistribution of wealth. Well, I'm going to switch topics a little bit, but it's on the same general theme of a dissent into authoritarianism. And that is this idea that was floated by Stephen Miller, that the administration is going to look into suspending habeas corpus, which is basically what prevents anybody in this country from being disappeared by our federal government, being held without any due process. We've seen that play, play itself out to a degree with these legal residents, with Kilmar-Berago-Garcia, who was sent off to El Salvador. But habeas corpus

would prevent the rest of us from really suffering that same fate. I'm going to throw it to a clip right now of Senator John Barrasso. I want to talk about something that one of President Trump's top aides, Stephen Miller, said this week. He said the administration is actively looking at suspending habeas corpus just for our audience. That's the right to challenge a person's detention by the government. This would be a part of the broader efforts to speed up their deportation policies. The Constitution says that habeas corpus may not be suspended, quote, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion.

Would you vote to suspend habeas corpus since the power does ultimately lie with Congress? The president has said he will follow the law. The president says if he disagrees with the law, that he will appeal those things. The president was elected and he won every one of the battleground states on promising to, secure the border and bring safety back to his, to our communities. That's exactly what he is doing. People do not want to live with MS-13 gang members in their communities. The Democrats lost the election because they opened the borders to 10 million illegal immigrants, including members of criminal cartels, drug dealers, gang members. That's what the election was about.

And the president has now seen judges, district judges, radical district judges, using the Their courts to set national standards on making it harder for the president to deport individuals, criminals, and I stand with the president. And yet, Senator, just to put a fine point on this, I want to know what you would do. Would you vote to suspend habeas corpus if this were brought before Congress? Ultimately, this power lies with Congress. The president said he is going to follow the law. He was on with you last week. He said he has great respect for the Supreme Court.

He said he expects the Attorney General to do the right thing, and I expect that the president will. Can you just give me a yes or know what you would do, though? Would you support suspending habeas corpus? I don't believe this is going to come to Congress. What I believe is the president is going to follow the law. He has said it repeatedly. So, Congressman, that was Senator Barrasso, basically leaving the door open to supporting the suspension or elimination of habeas corpus. and, of course, he throws in all these justifications like Donald Trump won the election,

which is apparently some mandate to be able to go ahead and suspend the Constitution. Can I have your reaction to what Senator Barrasso said? You know, it's curious to me this libertarian, authoritarian flip that you see so many of the right-winger is doing because when a Democrat is president, they pose like they're big champions of freedom, and they're always accusing the Democrats of trampling on people's privacy rights and liberty rights and threatening habeas corpus and threatening martial law, the minute they get into office, it becomes clear, that's what their program is.

And then these, you know, preening libertarians suddenly become the most hardcore authoritarianes in the world because it's all about power for them. Look, we've only, Congress has only suspended habeas corpus during wartime, the Civil War and World War II, were the two major times when this happened. And in fact, President Lincoln originally tried to do it by himself, and the Supreme Court rebuffed that, and then Congress in 1863 suspended habeas corpus.

And even today in the right wing, you can hear, you know, people like Rand Paul attacking Lincoln for having unilaterally suspended habeas corpus. It's always been understood that only Congress can suspend habeas corpus, not the president, that, you know, no matter how bad things get, That is a congressional prerogative. But Congress has only exercised it during wartime. Why in the hell would anybody suspend habeas corpus today? You got Donald Trump saying that the border has never been safer. There's simply no justification for it unless you wanted to impose martial law

and destroy constitutional democracy in the country. Right. And at the end of the day, that does look very much like what their priority would be. So we will leave it there. Congressman, I appreciate your time. so much. It's a great brain with you, Brian. I'm joined now by Beto O'Rourke. Thanks so much for joining me. Good to be with you. So you've been hosting a series of town halls across the state of Texas, and you know, you've, you've done this before. You've obviously ran for the U.S. Senate in

2018. You ran for governor in 2022. And so how did these town halls right now feel different from even previous election cycles where Democrats were overperforming like in 2018? I think like a lot of people right now, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to be helpful. And I just know from the Senate race in 18, the governor's race in 22, we just have this ability to bring people together. And importantly, not just Democrats. So, you know, Austin, Dallas, Houston, we've got to be there. But we've been in Mansfield. We've been in Amarillo.

We've been in Wichita Falls. We've been in Denton, Texas. These are the places, frankly, that have been either taken for granted by Republicans or written off by Democrats. and folks are going unrepresented and unheard. So showing up, not only am I learning a lot from the people who attend these town halls, but everyone in attendance is getting to hear each other. Folks know that they're not alone when 750 other people show up in Amarillo, Texas. Or that person who, for whatever reason, you know, isn't a veteran, didn't serve their country,

they get to listen to the man in Wichita Falls who says, how is cutting 83,000 jobs from the VA? Most of them, by the way, will be veterans who will lose their jobs. How is that going to help me get in and see somebody for my service-connected disability or my behavioral health appointment? There's a lot of power in bringing people together. And it does feel a lot like 2017. When I first got out there on the road, you know, people understand clearly what is happening

to this country, undermining the Constitution, the rule of law, the attacks on our fellow Americans, especially the most vulnerable. And they want to see us fight, all of us. And I think this false choice being offered to Democrats, you know, are you going to be more moderate, more centrist? Are you going to be more progressive? It's a wrong question. Are you going to surrender? Or are you going to fight? People want us to fight. It has felt for so long, like the intra-party feud has been whether you're progressive, whether you're a more moderate Democrat, but it doesn't feel like that anymore. And I hope that there is some understanding that it's okay if you are progressive and you're representing a progressive district. It's okay if

you're more moderate. I mean, Jared Golden is not going to win in AOC's district and vice versa. She's not going to win in his district. And that's okay. That's the curse and the blessing of being in a big tent party is that if you want everybody from, you know, Joe Mansion to Bernie Sanders in the party, then you have to be willing to accept and, and appreciate the stances of those very people. But, but now it feels different because it feels like like the overarching theme for Democrats, at least up to this point, has been that this party is really defined. by its weakness, especially unto itself, but especially relative to a Republican Party

that will stop at nothing to get what it wants. And they won't be bound by the Constitution. They won't be bound by the parliamentarian. They won't be bound by their own hypocrisy. I mean, we've watched as Mitch McConnell scoffed the very notion that we could allow Merrick Garland to get a hearing because it was an election year. And yet ushered through Amy Coney Barrett's nomination,

even as votes had already been cast in that election cycle. And so is there some sense, at least among the people that you've spoken with, that this idea of moderate versus progressive takes a backseat to their willingness to actually show up and fucking fight for people? Exactly. I mean, I think sometimes it can seem like the Democratic Party is more interested in being right or even in being polite than being in power. Whereas the Republican Party,

under Donald Trump cares more about power than anything else, to the point you made more than the Constitution, more than our morals, our ethics, more about the criminal code. They just care about power. And that's it. And they've been very, very, very effective at it. And so to meet that challenge, I think we have to be absolutely focused, aggressive, even ruthless about winning power. And I think that needs to include the broadest possible coalition, a true united front. front where we no longer define ourselves along differences of geography, race, or where we are on the policy spectrum. We agree on this much that we're very close to losing what Lincoln called the last best hope of Earth. And 249 years in, if it is our generation that meanly loses everything

that everyone else has sacrificed and struggled and served to achieve, that is on us for eternity. And I know you and the people who are part of this movement are not having that. And so we've got to do everything we can with what we have, where we are to fight back. And so that means coming to the town hall that we're hosting in East Dallas on Monday. It means showing up on the street corner with your neighbor who says, hey, I'm just going to protest on the corner of Mesa and Sondland Park. I hope people show up. I hope somebody sees this sandwich board. I hope it moves somebody. You know, not to invoke something that can be trite because I think it actually is profound at this moment.

You know, Robert Kennedy, the good, the senior, in his ripples of hope speech, he talks about, you know, this question that's on everyone's mind. Who am I against this concentration of power in the hands of the president or in the oligarchs or these billionaire masters of algorithm and influence? What am I against all that? And Kennedy in that speech says, look, you do this thing. You send out this little ripple of hope because you have the courage of your convictions. You stood up to be counted and that ripple is going to meet somebody else's ripple and they're going to continue to meet until there is a current that can break down the mightiest walls of oppression.

That's what's happening in this country right now. So to those who took a chance and showed up at the hands off marches or coming to these town halls or protesting or marching or doing whatever they can, not waiting for the DNC or people in elected office to give them orders, God bless you. that's what's going to save the country. It is not going to be the people in traditional positions of power. It is going to be the people at large. And that's got to be all of us. Petso, are you hearing from folks in these town halls who you've spoken with who might have remained a Republican, even throughout the blue wave election of 2018, even, you know,

during Trump's second unsuccessful run for president in 2020, people who, despite all of that were Republicans and yet now see something different. happening within the Republican Party, see something different happening to our democracy and are, you know, changing their political affiliation or are showing openness to supporting Democrats. An anecdotal, though, this may be, still just curious what you're seeing actually on the ground talking to these people. People in 2024, by and large, wanted change. And there was, whether we think this is fair or accurate or honest, there was one candidate who really embodied that change. Like, I'm going to drain the swamp. I'm going to blow the place up.

I'm going to confound the Constitution. I'm going to undermine everything that you hold dear because this thing, this system, this apparatus isn't working for you. And we cannot judge and we should totally understand how people made that decision. I'm getting $7.25 an hour in Texas. I can't afford to see a doctor. You have one party that's largely defending institutions and the other party that isn't. And those institutions are not working for those people.

And so how can you expect those people to defer to the side that says all, Keep the institutions intact. Exactly. But to your question, I think many of those who in good faith voted for Donald Trump have found that this change is not at all what they were looking for. And instead of making their lives better, he's enriching himself and his cronies. And the things that matter most to them in their lives are not improving. They're not changing at all because he's totally focused on himself and on those like him. I'm seeing those people. I mentioned being in Amarillo, Texas. So Amarillo, is in two different counties. Potter County voted for Trump 80%. Randall County voted for Trump 72%. The place was packed. More than 750 people there, including guys, two rows back wearing Make America Great Again hats. And they weren't there to protest. They had their arms crossed. They were listening. And then, you know, by the end of the town hall, I see their heads nodding. Not necessarily at what I'm saying, but at what their neighbors in Amarillo are saying. This woman stands up, shaky voice, not used to public speaking, and says, my 12th,

year old daughter who has significant disabilities. When Trump cuts the individuals of disabilities Education Act, that's going to target her. She's going to be ending up in some warehouse. And this woman said, I'm a mama bear and I'm going to do everything I can to fight for her. And so she told us that she lives in Canyon, Texas, not too far from Amarillo. And I said, okay, ma'am, when does the Canyon Independent School District Board of Trustees meet? We found out it meets Monday at 7 p.m. I said, anyone near Canyon, Texas, you go have her back Monday at 7 p.m. Let's see if those trustees will vote to fill the gap now that Trump has turned his back on this community. I never asked her party affiliation. I didn't ask the affiliation of

anybody there, but not only did those 750 people hear her story and understand the consequence of Donald Trump, but everyone who picked up the Amarillo paper the next day or watched broadcast television, they saw that people were showing up for one another at this moment of truth. So yeah, I do think we, not we the Democratic Party, not we Beto O'Rourke. I just think, we the people who are stepping up at this moment of truth, I think we're making a difference right now. And I think we're connecting with those voters who want change. Now we have to be able to deliver for them. Right. And be the party that actually embraces change instead of blindly deferring to the same institutions that I think largely have not worked for people in the past. I want to dig

into Texas a little bit because, you know, Texas is like the gift for, you know, Democrats. I mean, once we are able to flip Texas and I think that it's a, and I hope that it's a when, not if, but but then the whole map obviously changes. And it was looking more and more from 2018 to 2020 to 22, like Democrats were chipping away at the Republicans' lead and that we were only, you know, one or two or three cycles away. And then, of course, come 2024, that lead widens again. And that's commensurate with what we've seen in the rest of the country.

But it is still a step back. And so I'm just curious how you see the landscape in Texas that did look really favorable to Democrats and less and less favorable to Republicans. that kind of did revert back to the mean a little bit. In 2030, there'll be a new census for this country. And in that year, we'll learn that Texas picks up population. Yeah.

And much of the Midwest and Northeast loses population. And where we are right now in California. Absolutely. And so by the presidential election in 2032, which will be upon us before we know it, you could win as a Democrat every single one of the so-called blue wall states and you'll still lose the White House. if you can't pick up Texas and the Sunbelt. And you cannot pick up Texas and the Sunbelt if you start working on it in 2032 or 2030 or 2028.

You've got to work on it today. So our group powered by people, we're out there registering likely Democrats on college campuses, the very population that's targeted by the Republicans in power for disenfranchisement, not only registering them, but staying in touch with them to guide them all the way through the election process. It's the most voter suppressive state in the union. got to work harder than anywhere else in the union. But to your great question, and kudos to you for being on this, not today in 2025, the first time I ever talked to you eight years ago you were asking about Texas because you saw the potential, the value, and also the necessity of this

state sooner or later. If we don't get some help from the outside, we're fucked. Not we in Texas, but we, the United States of America. In 2020, to use an example, the Democratic, Democrats nationally spent about $28 per voter turning them out in Georgia. In the state of Texas, $7 per voter. I raised, thanks to many of your listeners and viewers, a lot of money. You know, $7, $25 at a time running for governor, I think $80 million all told. Greg Abbott, the guy I was running against, spent $130 million all told. And that's before independent expenditures and other statewide Republicans spent money in those campaigns.

Look, I hate money in politics. Money is not everything. There are a lot of other factors and qualities that we've got to consider. But until we start putting our money where our mouth is and start investing in places like Texas, then we're going to continue to lose them. And again, it won't just hurt the people of Texas. And it's absolutely killing us literally in Texas. The most obscene abortion ban in America, the least insured state in America,

leading the nation in school shootings in America. All of that is happening in Texas. But that is a future coming to you. if we don't turn this around. So there is no state, in my opinion, more important in Texas. We're doing our part in state, but now we need the rest of the country to come in and help us out as well. And real talk right now, like is the DNC, and you're not here representing the DNC, nor am I. Is the Democratic Party doing what it needs to do to hold its own in Texas or still not? No. And look, if we've learned anything from 2024, we've got to just be really honest if at times we hurt people's feelings

about what has worked and what hasn't worked. And what hasn't worked is this really cynical strategy to pick six or seven states and put billions of dollars into those states and leave everyone else to their own devices to wither on the vine, which has happened in parties across the country. I was just in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The University of Alabama students invited me to be there because Trump had imposed himself on their commencement ceremonies. He wanted to outshine their hard work and their achievement and they said, you know, Trump is not us. This is not what we want the world to see. Hey, Beto, will you and Doug Jones and anyone else who would like to come down and speak to the moment? That was so encouraging to me because they weren't taken orders from central headquarters. They're not supposed to be relevant in today's Democratic Party, but they're a proud people, just like you are here in California, just like we are in Texas, and they want to be heard.

They want to be listened to and they want to lead. And frankly, they're doing a better job of leading than a lot of the folks. who are supposed to be leading us right now out of Washington, D.C. So if there's a silver lining in all this, I think in the broken apparatus of today's Democratic Party nationally, there will emerge these real leaders whose names we don't even know right now in places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama, or in Amarillo, Texas, and they're going to speak to the moment,

and they will carry the urgency that this crisis demands. And I think in the end, we're going to be okay. And I'm optimistic because I'm seeing and listening to these people everywhere I travel right now. And I'm curious about that because, I mean, I know that you have optimism. And that's why it's so great to listen to you. There are at the same time, I'm sure a lot of people, I'm sure that you're even encountering a lot of people, myself included, who are cynical about what to expect, you know, now that we're in a moment where we have a lawless president who has no concern for what the Constitution says.

He's right now defying a unanimous Supreme Court ruling. We have a Republican Party in Congress that is completely. pliable, completely obsequious as far as as Trump is concerned. So he has, he has complete compliance with the legislative branch, with the judicial branch, the top of the judicial branch. He has a DOJ that exists to serve, you know, to do whatever he wants them to do. And so where do you draw faith from in a moment where things do seem so grim? And there isn't much to, to have hope for, at least outwardly. Two things. And I hold on to these two things, because I'm also tempted to despair given the facts that you just laid out. One is to remember who we are,

what we're made of, and where we come from. We have been tested so many times over the last 249 years, you know, from the very beginning at Lexington and Concord to deciding the issue of abolition and slavery and 300,000 plus lives sacrificed to end that. The brave men and women from communities like this one who served and fought in World War II, including the beaches of Normandy in 44 to repel fascism to defend democracy here at home, the civil rights and voting rights leaders and marchers, some of whom gave their lives as well, right, to establish what is close to a true democracy and really the exception in the history of the world. And really, I think still the exception on the planet today. When I think about

it that way, like you and I, we are the errors to all of that sacrifice that came before us. we can't be found wanting at this moment of truth as hard as it is they went through some stuff that I would argue is even tougher against even greater odds so we remember that and then here's the second thing which is we have got to find ourselves in the action that is being demanded of us right now when I'm on a college campus and it can be you know Texas hot 105 degrees muggy I'm in I'm in Houston at TSU but I'm out there registering voters and listening to people and connecting with other volunteers. By the end of that day, though my shirt is soaked through,

I'm completely exhausted. I have never been happier because I'm not on the sidelines. I'm not watching this happen to us. I'm not waiting for some cavalry to ride to our rescue. I am part of the answer. And maybe I registered eight voters that day, but that's eight more people who are on the roles. And I know these other volunteers empowered by people are doing their part as well.

And soon enough, if we're persistent and we're patient, and we meet this moment the way history is calling us to meet this moment, we're going to overcome and we're going to get through this. So that sustains me. That keeps me going. If I fail to do those two things, to remember who we are and to do the work necessary, then I succumb to that temptation. But action, action is the antidote to despair. Action is the key to victory. Real quick, I've worked with powered by people before. Can you just explain how for people who want to donate or to contribute, give anything at all to powered by people, how can you they do that. Yeah. This is an extraordinary organization comprised of volunteers. I'm a volunteer

myself, unpaid. And we train our volunteers to become volunteer deputy registrars in Texas. Which is especially difficult in Texas. The whole system is set up to make it damn near impossible to make sure that you can get anybody registered to vote. After the 2013 Shelby versus Holder decision, which gutted the Voting Rights Act, no state has taken it harder than Texas. You know, the most onerous voter ID laws. One ballot drop-off local. location per county, including Harris County with five million people in the middle of a pandemic, 750 polling place closures. And to your point, Brian, no online voter registration in the year of our Lord 2025, no automatic voter registration, no aid or assistance, especially to those

young people who may not have the time or wherewithal to go down to the county registrar or to print something out, like what the hell is a printer? How do I find a stamp? You know, what do you do when you mail a letter? I've got an 18-year-old. So I know those are real questions that these young people are asking. So we train these volunteers to become VDRs. They meet young prospective voters, literally where they are, very often on college campuses. And in addition to helping them through the registration process,

they personally stay in touch with them as like a voting Sherpa to guide them through, this is the form of voter ID you need. This is where your nearest early voting location is. And because we're a partisan organization, this is who represents your values on a woman's ability to make her own decisions about her own body, on reducing shootings in our schools, raising the minimum wage,

making sure that you can see a doctor. I mean, the basic things that regardless of party or any other difference are what Texans want right now. And so poweredxpeople.com is where you can go. You can sign up to be a volunteer. We'll take you even if you're not in Texas.

There's work that you can do from a distance. You can donate to support those volunteers who are out there. And it's the kind of work that we're going to have to do over the long term. I really see two necessary approaches. One, meet the moment. Get out there and protest. Show your face. Stand up and be counted at this moment of truth. Two, let's take a page out of the Republican playbook and day in, day out, election year, so-called off years as well. Justice of the Peace, school board, all the way up to president, you do the work of registering and organizing voters and putting together the political power we need to win elections and then to deliver once we're in positions of public trust. So that's what powered by people is doing in Texas right now.

Well, I've worked with powered by people in the past. I believe in that in your organization to the ends of the earth. So highly recommend for anybody watching if you're looking to contribute, help out Texas and invest at a time where we need some investments so that I could pay off in the future.

Now is the time to do that. I'll put the link to powered by people in the post description of this video or in the show notes of the podcast. Let's talk about the Senate race happening right now. Can you give a lay of the land in terms of what it looks like because we have John Cornyn running against Ken Paxton?

So you've got John Cornyn who's been the Senate since before you and I were born. Not really, but might as well. Who we have no idea what the guy believes or things. He's absolutely just twisting in the wind, approaching quizzling status right now in terms of his collaboration with the Trump administration. And who cares about the politics of it? But it's hurting the people that he's supposed to serve and represent. In Amarillo, we learned that 13 USDA trucks full of food were turned away from the local food pantry and food bank because the Trump administration, with Cornyn's compliance, cut the USDA supplemental.

25% of rural hospitals in Texas that has already lost more rural hospitals in any other state are on the verge of closing because they're about to cut Medicaid. You add to that these cuts to the Department of Education, Title I funding, schools in big cities and small rural counties alike are closing by the hundreds, if not the thousands. That's John Cornyn. The other guy who's likely to be in that Republican primary for the Senate is Ken Paxton twice or maybe thrice indicted under FBI investigation until this current administration. He is as corrupt and antithetical to the values of Texas as you can find impeached by a Republican majority in the state house, which is... Do you know how difficult it is for Republicans to actually impeach you?

Yeah, Republicans impeached Ken Paxton. He averted conviction in the state house. the Senate trial, in part because the presiding judge in the Senate trial, who is our lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, took a multi-million dollar campaign contribution. Some would read that as a bribe to basically decide the outcome of that in Paxon's favor. I think the threshold now is like $400 million. Yeah. Anything below a full-blown Boeing 747 you're okay with. Yeah, apparently. And certainly in Texas, where there literally are no campaign finance laws, you can take any amount of money from just about anyone, and they do. So that's the choice right now on the Republican

side. You look at the Democratic side, and I know we've been in the wilderness for more than 30 years. I'm so well aware of that as a lifelong Texan, but the talent that you see, including people who are currently holding public office, you look at folks like Jasmine Crockett, a name that you and your viewers and listeners have certainly heard, who's been in Congress a short time was in the State House before that, but it's really made an impact across the state and nationally. You look at James Talarico, a name you may or may not know. I know you know him, but others may not. But if you haven't seen this guy, check him out. He's in the State House, and he's been leading this heroic fight to save our local schools. Our three kids in the

York family go to local public schools in El Paso. The governor is defunding our schools to send more than a billion dollars of property taxpayer money to private schools to help out rich families who are already sending their kids to those schools. And Tallarico has been the leader that we need. And he's a guy to look out for. You look at the county judges across the state, other members of Congress, Greg Casar, who's leading the Progressive Caucus. We really have extraordinary talent in Texas. And so I'm encouraged by that. We don't know who will emerge from that. You have other open positions in in 2026, at least on the on the primary side for governor, for lieutenant governor, attorney general land commissioner on down to state reps, state

Senate. So a really, really important year in Texas in 2026. And it is it is not too early for people to get after it. What about, what about you? You know, I'm doing right now what I think is is most helpful, you know, convening these town hall meetings, running powered by people, getting folks registered to vote. I'm just going to make that my North Star. What can I do that is most useful and most helpful? And right now it is being with people. It is listening to people. And literally at every one of our events, we bring two microphones. I've got a microphone and there's another microphone in the audience. I want to make sure that everyone at this meeting and everyone who follows the live stream in this meeting and everyone who sees the broadcast TV report

from this meeting or picks up the paper tomorrow, gets to hear your voice. You have been unheard. No one's fighting for you. No one even knows you exist because they don't show up because Democrats fear to tread and Republicans don't have to be there. So no one is accountable. But we're going to show up. We're going to listen to you. And so are your neighbors and your fellow Texans and your fellow countrymen. So doing that just is so important. There's real power in that. I'm going to continue to do that. And if down the road there's something else that I can do that is helpful or useful. I will do that. As you know, I'm not afraid of a fight. I'll do whatever it takes. But right now, it's doing this work with Powered by People. All right. Well, I appreciate that

work. And again, highly recommend for anybody watching right now or listening right now. If you can contribute, if you can donate, if you can help in any way, powered by people. They've been doing great work for years and years and years. So highly recommend that you give what you can. The website is poweredxpeople.org. Beto. Appreciate your time, man. Thanks so much. Thank you for having me. I'm joined now by the co-host of Pod Save America. John Favro, Favs, thanks to joining me. Thanks for having me. So this was supposed to be a big celebration, the passage of Trump's big, beautiful bill. The bill fails. And so what are the implications now? What happens from here? So it didn't make it out of the committee. I think five Republicans voted no along with all

the Democrats, and then everyone went home. But a couple of the Republicans that came out of the committee meeting said, well, it has to pass, so we're going to have to keep negotiating. But basically they voted it down because Chip Roy, one of the House members from Texas and some other hardliners in the conference accurately pointed out that this bill is going to increase the deficit by trillions of dollars. So to the extent that Mike Johnson gets their votes and gets them to yes, it means the bill's going to get worse from our perspective because they're going to have to either make deeper cuts to programs like Medicaid and food assistance or their other option is to pair back some of the tax cuts, which I don't seem to do it.

We couldn't possibly do that. Well, if they do opt for the former, which is deeper cuts to programs like Medicaid and food stamps, doesn't that make it even more politically risky for them? I mean, already the prospect of cutting $880 billion from Medicaid and $230 billion from food stamps, is a massive political liability. It's why in 2018, Republicans lost the House because they decided to go after health care and there are no programs that are more popular

than our healthcare programs in this country, Medicaid included. And so doesn't that just make it like, doesn't that put them in a more dire position if they do opt to do that? It certainly puts the front line members so that most vulnerable Republicans in the House who have the most competitive races in 2026,

they barely got to yes, with the Medicaid cuts as they are. So if it gets worse, they're gonna be, keeping them on board is gonna be really tricky. Just to give you a preview of what they might do, right now this work requirement on Medicaid is supposed to take effect in 2029. And you know, the Congressional Budget Office said,

8.6 million people will lose their healthcare because of this. Now, they wanna move the work requirement up so that it happens almost immediately, which the CBO would probably score again and find even more people would lose their health insurance. Because, again, most of the people on Medicaid are working. And the people who aren't working who get Medicaid either have disabilities or they're caring for a child or an aging parent or they're a student. And so if you start forcing those people to have a work requirement to work like, and it's immediate, you're just going to have a lot of people who lose their health insurance.

And we saw that happen in Arkansas. 18,000 people lost their health insurance under Medicaid who were completely eligible and many of them working. there's this idea that that often democrats run against what will happen and it's a less politically potent issue than pointing to what is happening and and so how does that factor in here where where we are running against the prospect of people losing their health care and yes that has some some political gravity obviously and we saw that in in 2018 again when they tried to eliminate the ACA but the reality is that that it hasn't happened yet and so are there limits to how potent Democrats attacks against Republicans could be just by by basically highlighting

a very real risk, but still a risk of something that could happen in the future, not something that people are actually contending with materially right now? Well, I think you have to look ahead to the midterms, right? So midterms are November, 26, so there's plenty of time. If they do move up work requirements and they do pass this bill sometime in the summer, people are definitely going to feel the effects of losing Medicaid, losing food assistance by the time the election rolls around in the midterms. The other big health care issue that people aren't talking about enough is right now, you know, Joe Biden and Democrats passed an expansion of subsidies for people who are getting their insurance from the Affordable Care Act. So right now, if you buy insurance

on the exchanges, you get a little bit of help, a lot of middle class families get help to do this. And Republicans just do not want to extend those subsidies at all. So if they do that, those subsidies will end at the end of this year. And then there's being a bunch of people who only have health insurance on the exchanges because they had the extra help. And they're not going to have that help anymore. Can you explain, like, from a political perspective, as far as Republicans are concerned, what is the upside of engaging in this fight, knowing how damaging it could be to them? I mean, this, if the roles were reversed, I feel like the last thing on earth we would do is go, go up against these earned benefits or take an act to some of the most popular programs

in America. And so what's the, like, what are the politics of this for Republicans? You have a big chunk of the Republican conference who, like, they are, the reason they came to Congress was during the Tea Party era. And so what they dislike more than anything is government spending. Yeah. And especially, and, you know, they are. Their own constituents are survived. Right. And well, then you have a, then you have a section of the Republican Party, like the Josh Hollies of the world, who are like, you know what?

We actually do realize that most of our constituents are on Medicaid or benefit from the ACA subsidies. and so we don't want to touch those things. But a good chunk of the caucus is still Tea Party people. Yeah. With that said, the Tea Party people obviously are ones to engage in all of this bad faith politicking. And we've not seen something as we've not seen outrage as manufactured as we're seeing right now as it relates to this whole James Comey thing.

And so James Comey posts 8647, 86 means to get rid of. James Comey is certainly not the first person in the world to want to get rid of Donald Trump is the 47th president. And so now they're engaging in this whole effort to pretend that James Comey is talking about assassinating Donald Trump and Cash Patel announced that the FBI would be cooperating in any investigation that's carried out by the Secret Service. So can I have just your general reaction to like, I feel like it's been a minute since we've been in a full manufactured outrage cycle.

And yet that's exactly what we're in right now. Well, first of all, I'd say, I don't think anyone's excited when James Comey pops up into the public. That's the funniest thing is like They attack James Comey as if he's some He's not one of ours As if they've got one They picked one off on the left So I think every time he pops up to tweet or post something

I always think it's a little kooky I'm like we don't need James Comey But here's the thing There was all this merch There's you could still buy it that was 8646 Which was Joe Biden's number Because they wanted to impeach Joe Biden And so that was what it's like

Some of the very same MAGA influencers right now that are complaining about this, actually posted 86, 46. 86 means, you know, to get rid of. Originally, it was like, we don't have something on the menu anymore, so it's 86th. We got it off the menu. The hysteria over this from the right is so fucking absurd. Like, no one has done more in this country over the last decade to incite political violence than Donald fucking Trump. And most of his supporters, someone, he posted during the campaign like a truck that on the back of the truck had a picture

of Joe Biden bound and gagged in the back of a car. Yeah. What are we talking about? Of him holding a bat to Alvin Bragg. And the difference now is, though, it's not just a hysteria online and on, you know, Fox and everything.

Now you've got Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence saying that he should be arrested. At least Stefanik said that he should be arrested. They want to investigate him now. I mean, like, fine. A judge is going to laugh this out of court if they ever get that far.

And they're just, at this point, they are looking, this is the same thing with Raz Baraka, the mayor of Newark when they arrested him. They are looking for reasons and excuses to arrest Democrats. This is what they want to do because they want to send a message of fear and intimidation

and tell people that you are not, you should be afraid of speaking out against this administration because if you speak out against this administration, we could easily construe it into some kind of a threat against the president or a threat against Republicans, and then we'll arrest you. I mean, this is like the first instance of the

ever been truly tamping down on First Amendment free speech rights? Do you think that we've seen ways in which when Americans like deeply ingrained rights are threatened, that there is a backlash to that. Do you think that this is going to have the desired effect as far as the Trump administration is concerned of chilling that kind of speech, chilling criticism against this administration, or the opposite where people see this happening and they're like, fuck that and push back even harder? I think it's going to, I think it's going to have the opposite effect. Look, I don't think anyone's like going to the mat for James Comey, but I think, and if all this is, is just people making random threats about Comey and we're going to arrest him. Look, if they actually move forward with this and like charge James Comey with something, I think most of the country is going to look and be like, okay, did the former FBI director who was an FBI agent, then led the agency, was his whole plan that I want to threaten Donald Trump.

So what I'm going to do is walk on the beach, find this, find this group of rocks, put it up. and then immediately take down the post. That's James Comey's plan to threaten the President of the United States. Right. Cool. People are going to believe that. With all the resources that a former FBI director, prosecutor might have. Yeah, his...

It was the shells on the beach. That was the shells on the beach. Yeah. Well, stupider than that is we now have an effort from a Republican congressman to ban porn. I'm sorry, a Republican senator. Who is it? Mike Lee. That's right.

To ban porn. And so I'm just curious. For you now, because I've spoken to Tommy about this, but for you, are you basically compiling everything you can before it goes away? Well, some of my favorites, I'm making sure that they have them, you know, and that they don't take them away, like Indiana,

Indiana Bones in the Temple of Poon. Also, I'm a real big fan of Mad Max furry load is another one that I wanna make sure. Gladiator is a classic. that I want to make sure they don't come after. I just want to say, when Tommy did these, he was looking at his screen. He was right here, right here.

I had to say, in both of these instances, both of you had more time than I did to compare any of this. And so I seem especially lacking in imagination here. But I think between your and Tommy's collection, really, we'll have everything covered. We have quite a collection. I forgot Forrest Hump, too. but anyway. Sorry.

Just, just, I want to talk about the politics of this, though. Like, when you have, when you have something that is so unpopular, I mean, we just talked about health care. I don't know what could be, what could be more unpopular in terms of taking away than health care, but maybe it's porn. Like, that might be the only other thing, especially when you have a very tenuous, when you have a very, a tenuous new faction within your party, which is a majority of, like, young men. And so it would seem

antithetical to your own goals to try and do things that would push them away. But what do you think about the politics of doing something like this? I mean, Mike Lee isn't just an ideologue. He's a politician. He knows that he has to a win elections himself. And yeah, he's going to have an easier time than somebody in a swing state. But like,

this stuff reflects on his own party too. Yeah, absolutely terrible politics. And it's not going to go anywhere. I bet he doesn't get many sponsors. Because look, there's a real question out there about age gating, right? Because as kids have easier access to technology at younger ages, like, do we want all of our kids when they are 10, 11 years old, 9 years old to be able to

go on a device with a screen and access porn? No, of course not. Then there's a question of like what the mechanism is to make sure that doesn't happen. But just listening to you and Tommy talk about this and reading up on Mike Lee's bill, like the, how extensive. How extensive. extensive that is, that would be one of the more unpopular things that you'll see if someone pulled that. I'd like to see someone pulled that. Now, they'll probably frame it if it keeps going places as like protecting our kids. But to be clear, a lot of these sites, if they can't age gate, right, then they'll just disappear, right? And the idea that people can't access porn here in 2025, good luck with that one. Good luck with that one. We will leave it there.

I appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. Thanks again to Jamie Raskin, Beto O'Rourke, and John Favreau. That's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesie, and interviews edited for YouTube by Nicholas Nicotera.

If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app and leave a five-star rating in a review. And as always, you can find me at Brian Tyler Cohen on all of my other channels, or you can go to Briantellercoen.com to learn more. Thank you.