No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Major update in Trump's effort to ban mail ballots by midterms

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Brian explains the ongoing litigation surrounding Trump’s execute order banning mail-in ballots. Brian interviews the Democratic Senate nominees in Maine and South Carolina, Troy Jackson and Annie Andrews. And Norm Eisen discusses Trump’s latest beef with the Kennedy Center.Support Annie Andrews: https://drannieandrews.com/Support Troy Jackson: https://www.jacksonformaine.com/Support Norm Eisen: https://www.democracydefendersfund.org/Written 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.

We're going to make some sense of the ongoing litigation surrounding Trump's executive order banning mail-in ballots. And I've got three interviews. I'm joined by the Democratic Senate nominees in Maine and South Carolina, Troy Jackson, and Annie Andrews, and Normize and discusses Trump's latest beef with the Kennedy Center. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. So here's the headline that caught my attention for all the wrong reasons. Justin, Judge Talwani, has lifted her order blocking the USPS rule on mail-in ballots for the 2026 elections. Tawani, clearly frustrated by the Scotis decision, says she has no choice and applies Supreme Court based on its ruling on flawed premises.

So obviously, reading something like that might instill some degree of fear that Trump is succeeding in his bid to eliminate mail-in voting in accordance with his executive order in the lead-up to the midterm elections. That is not the case. So here's a quick refresher on how we got here. Back in March, Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Postal Service to only deliver mail ballots. to voters on his pre-approved government list to use new envelopes with mandatory barcodes, among other new edicts. This immediately triggered a wave of lawsuits,

including one from a coalition of pro-voting groups and another from 23 Democratic-led states plus Washington, D.C., led by California. A federal judge in Massachusetts, Judge Talwani, issued a permanent injunction blocking the order, Trump's order, in the California case. The administration appealed that all the way up to the Supreme Court and on Monday this week, the Supreme Court invalidated that injunction. That was what took

over as the bad news that everybody had read about. Now, here's the part that matters and the part that a lot of the panicked coverage is glossing over. The Supreme Court did not rule that Trump's executive order is legal. It didn't touch the merits at all of the executive order. What it said was purely procedural, that Judge Tawani moved too fast, that the order was based on speculation, about what the USPS would eventually do before USPS had actually published that final rule. But since then, the USPS has finalized the rule, so now the whole process can move forward.

But I think what's interesting here is that the administration hasn't even tried to defend this executive order on the merits in any of those lawsuits. They have spent the entire fight hiding behind procedural arguments about standing and timing, an issue called ripeness, because they know that if court actually had to weigh in

on whether Trump has the constitutional authority to dictate how mail ballots are administered, they lose every time. And don't take my word for it. It is literally in the Constitution. Article 1, Section 4 is about as clear as constitutional text gets. The power to regulate the time, place,

and manner of elections, belongs to the states and to Congress, not the executive branch. Trump doesn't get a vote on how Massachusetts or California or any other state runs its own elections. He cannot unilaterally rewrite the rules for mail-in ballots any more than he could unilaterally rewrite the rules for who counts as American citizens.

This isn't even a close call on the merits. And it's telling that Trump's own Justice Department seems to know that, since again, they haven't even bothered making the substantive legal case. Meanwhile, the Democratic-led states didn't just sit around while this whole process was playing out. They immediately filed a new lawsuit on Wednesday that called for a temporary restraining order on an expedited schedule. And in a separate case in D.C.

on the same issue, Democratic plaintiffs renewed their own bid to block the order, arguing that now that the final rule exists at the hands of the USPS, the earlier procedural objections don't apply anymore either. So now they can actually litigate this thing

on the merits. So in other words, the machinery of actually litigating whether this executive order is constitutional is now fully underway on multiple fronts. And this is a fight that Donald Trump has to actually

win on the substance instead of hiding behind, well, you move too fast. Which brings me to the timing question, because this is where I think people should actually feel better about the outcome here, not worse. There is a legal principle that I've spoken about at length that's called the Purcell doctrine. It's basically the idea that the courts have to be reluctant to change election rules too close to an election because it creates confusion and chaos for voters and election administrators. It's usually invoked by conservatives who are trying to block last-minute changes that favor Democrats. But now, that same logic cuts against the Republicans. So we're under three months out from the midterms, roughly 68, 69 days, litigating the actual constitutionality of this executive

order, meaning full briefings, potential appeals, likely another trip up through the circuit courts. All of that takes time, a lot of time, time that Donald Trump does not have if the goal is to have this scheme fully implemented before November. So here's where this actually leaves us. Trump won a procedural skirmish about when courts can intervene, not a substantive victory about whether he has the authority to do any of this in the first place. The real fight, the fight about whether a president can unilaterally dictate how mail ballots are handled, that hasn't even started yet. And it's a fight the administration has spent months actively avoiding because the Constitution is not on their side. And even in the best case scenario for Trump,

where the courts do move fast and everybody stays on an expedited schedule, the practical runway to actually stand up a functioning nationwide system before November is virtually impossible. And look, I know that, you know, from a 30,000-foot view, news like this can feel despairing, especially when headlines make it sound like Donald Trump just won some sweeping victory to mess with how you vote. But I want to be really clear about something.

This is nowhere close to a done deal. Democratic-led states and voting rights, groups like the League of Women Voters and election attorneys, including Mark Elias and Norm Eisen, are fighting this on multiple fronts simultaneously in multiple courts right now. The moment that USPS published its final rule, the plaintiffs had new complaints filed within hours. That is a sign of a legal apparatus that is prepared and coordinated and moving as fast as the system allows. So yes, it's worth understanding the stakes here, absolutely, but our elections are still going to be free and fair this November because the people who's in time,

entire job as defending that outcome in court are there every single day making sure of it. Next up are my interviews with Annie Andrews, Norm Eisen, and Troy Jackson. No Lie is brought to you by Birch. I am legitimately so excited for this sponsor. I just switched over to a Birch mattress, which is Helix's all natural and organic line. The Birch lineup includes the original, well-loved, Birch Natural mattress, along with its premium upgrade, the Birch Lux Natural Mattress, that's what I use. They also have an option for your little ones, the Birch Kids' natural mattress, I've begun slowly transitioning everything to all-natural, from toilet paper to deodorant to clothing, but the one with the biggest impact on my life was my

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with a new mattress from Birch. Go to birchliving.com slash BTC for 20% offsitewide. That's birchliving.com slash BTC and get 20% offsite wide. Birchliving.com slash BTC. I'm joined now by the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maine, Troy Jackson. Thanks so much for joining me.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. So I want to dive right into something that the vice president just said about Bitterford, May, and there was an ice killing that took place in Bidford. Here's what he had to say. When you have a law enforcement action, when you have somebody who is committing a crime in the United States of America, and you go and arrest that person. Now, I believe the person who was shot was not part of the underlying investigation, but

when the officers approached the person they were trying to arrest, that person drove away from the scene and what at least the law enforcement officers argue is that that person posed a danger to the community. Again, I'm not going to prejudge the case because I think everybody is entitled to their case, not in the court of public opinion, but a court trial by their juries, an actual real investigation if that's what ultimately happens. Everybody is entitled to understand what's going on, whether what they're being accused of is actually legitimate, and ultimately, of course, if there is a criminal prosecution, then they're

entitled to a jury by their peers. But when I look at that case, what I see is inevitably a country that is trying to enforce its laws and that hasn't for a long time. And while Democrats get extremely agitated about this case, again, we're investigating that case. They're being dishonest if they say that we're not investigating that case. But what I see from Democrats is people who are far more worried about a shooting involving an illegal alien than they are about the fact that tens of thousands of manors died from fentanyl overdoses by that poison brought into our community. And so my message to the Democrats who are so worried about that situation

is to say, have a little bit of perspective. We can absolutely investigate every shooting, and we will. But we can also secure our border and ensure that that poison stops coming into our country and that is our priority and that's our emphasis. All right. So that was, again, J.D. Vance, who seems to be defending ICE amid the killing of a man from Maine. Can I have your reaction to that comment?

Well, I mean, first and foremost, I mean, I mean, really what I think is like, what an asshole. I mean, you know, people didn't do anything wrong. This young man, you know, had his papers, had a social security number, who was going to work, he had a three-year-old daughter, and they murdered him in the street of Bitterford.

And the guy that did it, you know, was a rent-a-cop, not really even law enforcement. And, you know, I mean, that is not what we need in this state and in this country. I mean, we need to be a welcomed state.

This is not, and I just think, you know, JD is completely out of touch with what's going on, and that is the case. I mean, him and Susan, And Trump, they're all out of touch.

They don't know what it's like for everyday manors. And I can't believe anyone would say that. I mean, even I said that this was not the guy they're looking for. And they murdered them. I mean, there's just no other way to say it. And to that end, I mean, you had mentioned Susan Collins being in lockstep with Donald Trump. She's voted with him 96% of the time.

So can you please help me reconcile this chasm between how Susan Collins likes to present herself, which is as this, this moderating voice in the Republican Party when at the same time, she is, she is as aligned with Donald Trump as nearly you could possibly get. Yeah, I mean, she's just a rubber stamp for the foolishness that's going on in this country, his agenda. The, I mean, and Manors are no now. I mean, they're watching how she plays this weird little game of how she counts the votes and then throws people a bone four percent of the time when they don't eat her.

but anytime that they need her she's right there when the big beautiful bill right there to get it out of committee I mean that's something that's killing health care in this state and in this country I mean we're really in jeopardy of our health care system crashing you know the tariffs in Maine are killing this this state you know across border and you know what's going on in Iran is you know driving fuel prices but you know the other thing about getting back I mean you know she went out and told us that she used her power to get ice out of here back in February, which was a lie because here this is what happened in Bitterford, and then she turned around and gave them $70 billion more to go ahead and do more. I mean, it's just ridiculous the way that she operates, says that she has power, but she won't use that power to actually do anything to check Trump.

To that end, I mean, talking about the bait and switch that Susan Collins keeps pulling, she just did that with Todd Blanche a couple of weeks ago, where, again, she made sure that her party had the requisite number of votes before she courageously announced that she wasn't going to be voting in favor of Todd Blanche. But doesn't it just undermine the entire, quote, unquote, brave stance when five minutes later you have just enough Republicans who also come out and say that they're not going to, that they are going to vote for Todd Blanche, so that that'll mean he has enough support to get over the finish line?

Well, Senator Collins has been acting like everyone here in Maine is stupid and that we don't understand how these things go. But, you know, the fact that she's done this consistently, like you said, count the votes and then turn around and act like, you know, she's standing up for, you know, whatever. But, you know, the Republicans have the votes that push people through, push the policies through. I mean, people know better. They've watched it too long. And she's going to see in November. how people aren't stupid. They're rejecting the foolishness that she's trying to do.

We're not dumb. We understand it very well. And she's going to feel that, like I said, in November. What have your conversations with voters been like? And I asked that because Susan Collins has been able to persevere. That's the first point. That Susan Collins has been able to persevere even in otherwise very blue cycles, like 2018. But on the other, another point that I want to make is like,

for a lot of people, and I say this to candidates who are running against elected officials in otherwise red states or states that have consistently voted for Republican politicians, it's not always that easy to just pull somebody off of their partisan affiliation. It is intertwined with voters' identity. And so for a lot of people, it's not just a matter of saying, oh, I voted for Republican last time, I'm going to vote for Democrat this time. Like people view themselves as Republican in the same way that they've view themselves as as whatever their their geographic location is, as whatever their socioeconomic

status is, their their nationality, you name it. And so for the folks who have been longstanding Republicans or longstanding Susan Collins voters, what have some of those conversations been like on the campaign trail? Well, I mean, I think again, you know, Collins has done it for too long. Now people know exactly what she's about. And the thing about Maine, I mean, yeah, you have have people that are hardcore Democrats, hardcore Republicans, but there's a big slice of 40, 45% of people in the middle that do cross lines, you know, vote for different things. I mean, the last three presidential elections, I was on the ballot with Donald Trump and I won in my area when he was winning the same thing. And same thing with Collins. I mean, Maine's pretty independent in that

regard that, you know, we will cross lines for people that we think are going to fight for us. And I think there was a while that people thought that was Susan, but they don't believe that anymore because she's right in lockstep with Trump. And Trump is way underwater here. I mean, two years ago, he did well in the second CD, but he was talking about trying to help people with housing, you know, affordability issues. Now he doesn't even know what affordability is.

You think that's a made-up word. I mean, it's just a joke so that they get more money into the pockets of people like Elon Musk. And Mainers, no. I mean, they know and they're not afraid to vote. against their own party if their own party is screwing them. You had mentioned winning your election. Talk about your state Senate district because this is not, this is not even really a swing district.

This is a district that Republicans and Trump won before you were able to take that seat. Well, I think my area of the state and really large part of the second CD, I mean, they're looking for somebody to fight for them. And, you know, Democrats don't always stand up and talk about economic issues like we should. That's something I've always done. That's what got me started in the politics, was fighting for economics, trying to make people's lives better. And I've never forgotten that. And so I think, you know, people know what my background is, what my history is.

You can go to Jackson from Ame.com and find it there. I mean, I got a long history. I know what my record is, and I'm proud of it. You know, but what I haven't been fighting for is billionaires, like Susan. has. And that's what the difference is going to be in this election. I'm fighting for Mainers. I always have. I always will. She's fighting for wealthy elitist from some other part of the world. And again, she's going to, she's going to know what a big mistake she's done. Can you talk about your time as president of the state Senate in Maine and what you were able to pass for the people

of Maine? Kind of inform a little bit about how you would act as a U.S. Senator? Well, again, I think this is a big part of the difference. I mean, when Susan was putting Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, knowing that they were going to go after Roe versus Wade, I mean, I just, I don't believe her at all. Here in Maine, I was sponsoring one of the most progressive bills to make sure that people have access in Maine. I made sure that low-income people had access under Maine care to abortions and services

because I believe it was in health care. I've been fighting for prescription drug coverage. I mean, I've had like six bills get passed. Some of them, unfortunately, our governor vetoed, but saying that it was a federal issue. Well, all right, I'm happy to, you know, take this to the federal side and go after big pharma. You know, I've passed universal school meals, child care, you know, and I pass those bypiresonly with Republicans because I was able to get through them that is something that is important to everyone. You know, it's not a Republican Democrat issue. We need workers.

We need good child care. We need kids to be able to go to school and learn on a full stomach, not the empty stomach. Yeah. And then, you know, I passed a pile of labor, you know, bills, workers rights bills that I think we probably could have done more on based off of enforcement. but again, that's why I'm going to the federal government because there's a lot of things that I believe needs to get done in this country to help the people that I care about. And I just don't see enough people fighting for them. And so let's say, for example, let's say we have Democratic control of the House, the Senate,

and ultimately the White House. What would you like to see done in the first 100 days of full Democratic control? Medicare for all. You know, I mean, that's been always my guy. thing. I'm known as a labor person in Maine and I am, but health care is like the number one problem for people that I care about. And it's getting worse. And so, you know, and I don't see any reason. I mean, we've got money for bombs. We got money for wars in Iran. We got money for ice. We got money for wealthy people, but we don't have money for health care like every other

industrialized country in the world. So that's definitely. going to be, you know, my number one goal. But I mean, I have a lot of things that I want to work on, you know, energy in Maine, you know, getting energy so that we can, you know, protect our climate, workers rights. So, I mean, the list is endless, but health care for all. You know, there are going to be Republicans who come out of the woodwork and say what they say every time a Democrat mentions Medicare for all and say there's not going to be any way to pay for it. Everybody's costs are going go up. And so what's going to be your response to those folks who inevitably try to push back against Medicare for all? Well, my first response is going to be you bunch of hypocrites. You know,

there you are with government-sponsored health care and you're deciding who else in this country is worthy of government-sponsored health care. I believe everyone is. But I just can't, I can't believe that anyone that is on the government's health care can make that same argument. But I would say that there's always money for all these other things. There's money for tax cuts. There's money for wars in Iran that never ran. There's money for ice. I mean, you know, we can do this.

And actually the studies all show us that we're spending that money in the economy already. We're spending way more money already to provide Medicare for all. What's happening now is people with power and influence. are keeping their monopoly system, making sure that they're profiting off of our health care system. And I'm sick of it. And, you know, it's also worth noting that our national debt is now topping $40 trillion. And the biggest payment that the government is going to be making is interest on our debt, which has exploded under Trump because he's felt completely unburdened to spend money on everything

other than the very America First agenda that he himself ran on. So just wanted to add that in. Well, that and slush funds for J6 people, ballrooms. I mean, I mean, like that slush fund that he created, that could have built a transmission line here in Maine to get a lot of power out to the rest of New England. I mean, we could be helping people have lower energy rates all across New England and clean energy rates and the jobs it creates. But instead, you know, he's more concerned about having a slush fund for his cohorts down there in January 6th. Right. I mean, it's about priorities and they don't have the right ones. There was a new Fox News poll that showed you leading Susan Collins 48 to 46.

What was your reaction to seeing that poll, notwithstanding the fact that it appeared and was run conducted by Fox News? Yeah, well, I mean, all those things are great, but, and, you know, you mean, you check polling. But for me, this race is something that's super important. I don't want to let my constituents down. And so, you know, we're running wide open all the time to make sure that people across the state know that, you know, I'm in this to win it. And I don't care what the polls actually show at the time. You know, I know that we still have name ID that we have to get up. And so making sure we do town halls, making sure that we have.

we get out and meet people, hear their concerns is really what I think is going to win this race for us because they're going to know how sincere I am about fighting for them. And, you know, the polling will take care of itself. And to that end, Troy, how can folks who are looking to help your campaign do so? Yeah, I mean, like I said, we get into this late. You know, we got Elon Musk up against us. So resources are important. Jackson for Maine.com, 510 bucks is a big deal. Okay. Well, I'm going to put that link to your website right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. As Troy mentioned, there is an absolute influx of funding coming from Elon Musk and other right wing figures into this race because they know that if Troy wins this race, if and when Troy wins this

race, that the U.S. Senate will go the way of Democrats as well. So everything rides on what happens in Maine. For those who are watching and listening right now, if you have the ability to donate a little bit of money, this is a race that absolutely can use it. So again, I'm going to put that link right here on the screen and also in the post description. If you're listening on the podcast, I'm going to throw it in the show notes. With that said, Troy, thank you so much for taking the time today. Best luck in the campaign trail. Hey, thanks a lot. It's been great being on here. My wife is going to be super, super impressed. Thank you, brother. No Lie is brought to you by Zock Doc. So I am a procrastinator to the nth degree, and that includes making doctors appointments, because I just know

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If they were sick, they had to get up and go to work because the doors weren't open. We weren't making money. My mother passed away when I was 11 and my father just over a year later. For the past 30 years, I've worked hard for the people of South Carolina. And for the past seven years, I've led a state agency. And I understand the struggles faced in South Carolina families because I've faced them too. So I'm joined now by the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in South Carolina, Dr. Annie Andrews. Dr. Andrews, I have to ask first and foremost for your reaction to this new idea being perpetuated by Darlene Graham and I guess the right more broadly that what we should aspire to is that Americans will get so,

sick that they pass away before their kids even reach 13 years old. And somehow that is the message of hope and inspiration that we should have moving forward. Yes. Well, thank you for having me. I don't think Darlene intended to unroll her health care plan on that stage last night. But she certainly did, and it seems to be what you just said, work hard even when you're sick and then die. I believe that Darlene's parents deserved better than they got. I believe that health care is a human right. I believe we need to work every single day to shift this profit-motivated health care system to a patient-centered health care system. I've seen it firsthand as a pediatrician. I've worked in children's hospitals my entire 20-year career, taking care of sick and injured

children. This isn't just a policy paper for me. This is real life or death. Well, to that end, it's not just Darlene Graham, who is kind of offering up a disastrous health care plan in real time. We've also seen the consequences play out by Republicans who are actually in power. Measles has now taken the lives of two people in Pennsylvania. Can I have your reaction to the fact that we have our nation's health apparatus, which is being led by an avowed anti-vaxxer, and the consequences of that are as predictable as you could imagine? Exactly, because science is going to science, no matter if you believe in it or not. The day RFK Jr. was nominated to lead HHS was the day that I really started to seriously consider getting in this race for the U.S.

Senate because as a pediatrician, he's been my professional arch nemesis for decades. He's nothing more than a grifter and a conspiracy theorist who's been peddling an anti-vaccine conspiracy theories for decades while simultaneously enriching himself over my 20-year career. I've watched as rates of vaccine refusal and vaccine hesitancy climb and climb and climb because of the disinformation that RFK Jr. has injected into our public health system. And of course, now he is leading the Department of HHS. And because of this disinformation campaign of his, we've seen outbreaks of preventable infectious diseases. You know, we also had an outbreak of the measles in South Carolina. In Spartanburg County, we had nearly a thousand cases of documented measles. And it's not going to stop at the

measles. We're going to have increased cases of flu and RSV, of whooping cough, polio tetanus, and one that I think a lot of people don't hear a lot about bacterial meningitis, because we give two really effective vaccines to prevent bacterial meningitis. to infants at two, four, and six months of age, that has drastically reduced the incidence of this devastatingly, often fatal condition. So we need to win in November so that we can get RFK Jr. out of his current position as Secretary of HHS. And it is going to take us decades to recover from the level of disinformation he's injected into our public health system. Well, I think that's, that's in large part what makes Darley and Graham so dangerous in this moment is because she's shown

that she's not particularly competent or qualified for this job. And so the reason that she's there is expressly not because she has anything to bring to the Senate seat, but rather because she would be completely obsequious and pandering to Trump and RFK. And so when they want to put forward some idea, dangerous though it may be, she's going to be there to rubber stamp them because she doesn't actually have any qualifications of her own to back up some informed decisions. Yeah, that's exactly right. And I think that's why the entire Republican Washington machine got behind Darlene Graham.

They spent millions and millions and millions of dollars. You know, Trump came to Myrtle Beach to rally for her. They really leaned into this because exactly what you said, I think they believe they can control her. I think she's being told what to say. She has explicitly said she supports 100% of Donald Trump's agenda. She will be a rubber stamp for this administration. You know, she has completely forgotten the fact that Congress is meant to provide checks and balances over the executive branch. I've been talking to voters in South Carolina for over a year.

I know they deserve better. I know they want better than this. We don't want a rubber stamp for any president or any political party in the Senate seat. We want a thinking person who will work hard every day to solve the problems South Carolinians are facing. And that's what I'm offering them on the ballot in November. To kind of hammer down that point even further, here's a quick clip that went pretty viral from from Darlene Graham's debate, primary debate, against her Republican opponent, Ralph Norman. On the national security question as well, Senator, are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States?

If so, why? I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States, and if so, why or how? I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security. I'm not that informed on national security, so. But I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years.

So I will do everything I can to support the military. So right there, you can see that she's, again, not coming with any qualifications or knowledge about what it is. She's going to be litigating and writing laws about, presumably writing laws about. She's just there to kind of be a rubber stamp for this administration. What was your reaction to seeing that moment in particular right there, where she just kind of gave the game away and offered up, you know, I don't actually know anything about foreign policy, but here's a boilerplate platitude. I love the troops.

Yeah, I mean, it was just, it was embarrassing, honestly, and it just shows how deeply unprepared she is. And being new to politics is not an excuse to being unprepared. I'm a pediatrician, and if I showed up to work unprepared, a child could die. This is a very serious job she's applying for and a job she actually has right now. So if she doesn't know the answers, I suggest she maybe like schedules some study sessions, maybe polls an all-nighter, does the hard work to get prepared for the very important job she has and the job that she's asking South Carolina voters to give her for six more years. Why is it important that there is an actual health care professional in Congress at this particular moment? You know, we're witnessing a truly unprecedented coordinated

attack on every aspect of America's health care system, whether it's the impending Medicaid budget cuts, the threats to Medicare, allowing the Medicare Part D tax subsidies to expire, the ACA tax subsidies to expire, you know, whether it's what RFK Jr. has done to totally dismantle the routine childhood immunization schedule, the defunding of the CDC or the NIH, all of the foodborne illnesses we've seen across the country. Like, there's never been a more urgent time to elect physicians to all levels of office. But in particular in this race, I would be the first ever pediatrician senator. I can go toe to toe with R of K Jr. and hold him accountable for the lies that he's been spreading and the disruption that he's wreaked havoc on our federal

Department of Health and Human Services. I won't just be a yes vote for health care reform. I will bring my lived experience from working within our broken health care system to these conversations. I can lead these conversations. And to me, again, it's not just about policy. It's not just about the bullet points in the bill. This is life or death. This is very, very real life. Every American should be able to afford to see a doctor. Every American should be able to afford their prescription medications. A trip to the emergency department should not send you into bankruptcy. We are the only developed country in the world who hasn't figured out how to build a health care system that actually meets the needs of everyone in the country. Are you in service

in favor of Medicare for all? I'm a pragmatic person. I believe we need a health care system that meets the needs of everyone in this country. I believe with every cell in my body that health care is a human right. But I'm a person who lives and is running in South Carolina. And I know that this country is not politically ready for a shift from this deeply profit-driven health care system we have to a universal health care system. What my plan is, number one, stop the impending Medicaid budget cuts. Number two, reinstate the tax subsidies, use the negotiating power of this country to lower prescription drug prices broadly, but then take a really important pragmatic step towards development. a health care system that actually serves everybody, and that is a public option, because if we

offer a public option and people like me who don't have employer-based health insurance can choose to purchase a health care plan from the federal government, that removes the profit motivation from that transaction. The people who purchase that plan will look around and say, you know what, this is actually way better than the plan I was paying for, that so much of my money was just going to pad private insurance company shareholders' pockets. And so there will be a domino effect. More and more Americans will choose this public option. And then we can have a productive bipartisan conversation about taking the next step to the ultimate goal. But again, I don't think we need to let perfect be the enemy of good.

We all recognize the system we have now is failing miserably. And we need to talk to each other, compromise, work across the aisle to move the ball down the field. What is the latest polling show in South Carolina in terms of this race? We have some really exciting polling that we just released today that shows that I'm tied with Darlene right out of the gates. It's 41 to 41. And on the informed ballot, I go up five points. And the informed ballot is just neutral information about me and neutral information about Darlene. Importantly, I'm plus 33 with independence. Darlene, even though most people didn't know who she was

six weeks ago, is deeply underwater. Her net favorability rating is minus something double digits. It's not good. So we have a real path to victory here. You know, this was an unexpected circumstance. I've been in this race for over a year. I never anticipated. I would be running against Lindsey Graham's sister. But here we are. She's a really bad candidate. She's a weak candidate. She's unprepared. She's not doing the work. We have a national political environment that is very favorable to Democrats. And then in me, we have a not your average Democratic candidate. You know, I'm overperforming a generic Democrat in South Carolina by 25 points with independence and 19 points with non-Maga Republicans. So that creates a real path to victory in an environment like this.

You know, I'm sure campaigning in South Carolina, you've had plenty of conversations with independents and Republicans, or at least Republican voters. What has been the one issue on which those voters are seeing their confidence fall in their own party and instead are showing support for you? The one issue, I mean, honestly, the war really tipped a lot of people sort of of over at the deep end. People who were already growing really frustrated just by the rhetoric in Washington, D.C., how broken it is, you know, seeing, you know, the behavior out of Donald Trump. But this entry into this war really flew in the face of everything the hardcore MAGA Republicans

in South Carolina thought that Donald Trump stood for. And so that turned them off. And then meanwhile, there's a lot of Mitt Romney, John McCain-style Republicans on the center right in South Carolina Republicans like my own dad, who are just so deeply disgusted by the level of corruption and dysfunction in Washington, D.C. They're embarrassed by what their party has become. They're looking for another option like me, and that is what I am offering them. But I think it's the whole wide range of issues that Trump campaigned on failed to deliver on. You know, you cannot be simultaneously, pardon my language, an asshole and also have a bad economy and expect to win an election. And that's the situation we're in. The economy is not meeting the needs of your average American.

income inequality, wealth inequality, continues to grow and grow and grow. And we have politicians in D.C. who spend their days enriching themselves. Right. I mean, it would be bad enough having this economic environment. But for a party that had campaigned expressly on bringing down costs only to see those costs surge, a party that had campaigned expressly on releasing the Epsine files, only to suppress those files, a party, as you said, that had campaigned expressly on no new foreign wars that's now engaged in a brand new foreign war in the Middle East that's cost. over $130 billion that should be going to domestic priorities. I mean, it's not the Democrats who pushed this idea of America first.

That was Trump's campaign slogan and now watching billions and billions and billions of dollars either go overseas or into his own pocket, I think is sending a message loud and clear to his voters that it's not the forgotten guy that's getting the attention in this administration. It's the polar opposite. It's the very elites who Donald Trump and Republicans had railed against during the entire campaign. Yeah, and I think there's a lot of signs that everything you just said is exactly right. Because, yes, Donald Trump, you know, supported Darlene, spent millions of dollars in this race. Darlene barely won last night.

She only won by five points. She lost in the upstate. Ralph Norman supporters are talking online about a writing campaign. They're talking about staying home. They're talking about voting for me. We have a really divided Republican Party. Also, I got more votes on my primary night on June 9th than Darlene got last night after millions of dollars were spent on her behalf. So the Republican Party is not this, they don't have this stronghold, this strangle hold on South Carolina anymore because they've lost sight of what they used to be.

And we need a healthy two-party system in this country if we really ever want to make any progress because the people on the far left are never going to convince everybody on the far right to think like them and vice versa. We have to remember that there's, you know, way more that unites us than divides us. If we ever want to make progress in this country, we need to talk to each other, work across the aisle and move the ball down the field. For those who are looking to help your campaign, where can they go? Dr. Annie Andrews.com. They can chip in what they can. Obviously, there's going to be a ton of money poured into this race once Republicans catch wind of the fact that we're tied. Once they settle, you know, come to terms with the fact that they have propped up an incredibly weak, unprepared candidate, and that we have a really strong Democrat running in this state.

So I need people all across the country to support my campaign, chip in what they can, follow along on social media. And, you know, this is a way we can expand the Senate map that people weren't really considering just a few weeks. ago. And it's really exciting for me to be a part of that, for me to help deliver a Senate majority in November so that we can actually do the work of governing on behalf of Americans everywhere. Well, I'm going to put a link to your website right here on the screen and also in the post description. For those who are listening on the podcast, I'm going to put it in the show notes. If Democrats are able to win this race, Democrats have the U.S. Senate. So this race is monumentally important. Also just says like a point of personal privilege. I am the child of

two health care workers. And if ever, there was a desperate need. to have a pediatrician in the U.S. Senate. It's right now. Also, I went to my pediatrician until I was like 23 years old. So I never had like an internist or a general practitioner. I just kept going to my pediatrician. So I am a big fan of that space. So with that said, thank you so much for taking the time today and best luck in the campaign trail. Thank you so much for having me. We have some breaking news right here that shows the depths that Donald Trump will go to to protect his own ego. I'm going to put some reporting on the screen right here. According to CNN, the Trump administration is threatening to demolish the Kennedy Center if renovations aren't

allowed. The leading paragraph says, Kennedy Center may need to be demolished and replaced with an open-air performance base if its current building cannot undergo extensive renovations, lawyers for the venue said in court papers on Monday. I'm now joined by Norma Eisen. who is the founder of Democracy Defenders Fund. You have been litigating against Donald Trump's efforts to rename the Kennedy Center after himself. Norm, can I have your reaction first and foremost to this new news that if Donald Trump can't get his precious name

etched onto the building, that he's going to do the adult temper tantrum version of taking his ball and going home and instead just demolishing it. You literally read my mind. I was going to say it's like the kid. who does to want to play by the rules. I'm taking my ball and going home. This is an example, Brian, of why Donald Trump is so corrupt

and he's lost in court so often. And he's lost in the court of public opinion where he has historically low unpopularity ratings approaching only Nixon at the depths of his corruption crisis. there is no need to destroy the Kennedy Center. The whole point of this legal fight is Donald Trump can't put his name on it. So now, because the court has said, your name has to come off, he says, I'm going to destroy the whole thing. Everybody sees through this.

It's corrupt to use government resources in this fashion to do. destroy a building in a fit of peak. It's going to cost the American taxpayers money. The court will not allow him to do it. We will stop destruction of the Kennedy Center in court if he dares to try it. I think it is just a red flag. You know, he wants to get everybody all wound up. So we, you know, we need to We need to call it out. And as Barack Obama used to say, judo flip, this is why Donald Trump is hated. It's a sick joke. And we won't allow it to happen.

Don't worry, folks, the Kennedy Center is not going to be demolished. It's going to be repaired. It can be repaired while being left open. We've done that before. It is not the disaster. They just had a movie premiere a couple months. for Melania's movie in there. It was our, the Kennedy Center honors.

The thing is, it's not a dilapidated wreck. It needs repairs. It's going to get the repairs. We're in court. We got this. And I don't think the judge will permit the demolition of the Kennedy Center. Norm, can you speak about the status of the lawsuit against Donald Trump's kind of second iteration of this attack, which is, okay, I can't plaster my name.

onto the building by renaming it the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Performance Center, but he did want to kind of take credit by etching his name into the building for renovating the space. Can you speak about the status of that lawsuit? For heaven's sake. We won the lawsuit. I argued the naming issue myself. Congress has said it can be named that Kennedy Center and the Kennedy Center only. The statutes are very clear. It's not one wall.

It's a whole section of the United States Code, and all the statutes make clear that's how it's got to be. And now he's coming back. He says, oh, essentially here's what he's saying, Brian. Oh, no, Judge, you just said my name can't go before, on top of John F. Kennedy's other building. So I'll put it below John F. Kennedy's name twice. No, it doesn't work that way. You can't rearrange. It's not like Scrabble where you move the tiles around. You can't put your name on the building, Donald.

We've stopped it. We're going to stop it again. Our client, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, has been very brave in speaking out about this. She's been bold. Democracy Defenders and our co-counsel, Nathaniel, Zelensky and the wonderful folks at the Washington Litigation Group are fighting this. We're going to be back in court again this week. And, you know, this is truly, it's like the, it reminds me, you know, of a toddler who wants to hurt his parents. So he beats his own head against the wall. I mean, It's so ridiculous. It's so juvenile. You just have to laugh. If he weren't wasting taxpayer dollars on the litigation, why doesn't he get back, Brian? Why doesn't he get back to reducing costs for Americans, to having a competent government, to the things he said he would do? Instead, gas is more expensive,

health care is more expensive. There's a housing affordability crisis, and he's having tantrums about putting his name on the Kennedy Center and demolishing it. Maybe it's a fantasy because, you know, he's demolished the east wing. He's building that hideous ballroom. But we're litigating there. We're litigating here. And here we won, and his name is not going on the building,

and he's not going to demolish. Well, you know, two things on that point. One, in a way, he's giving an interesting playbook to Democrats who, I don't know, may or may not want to rename the Donald J. Trump ballroom the second he leaves office. So if Donald Trump is proving himself to be, you know, the person who establishes precedent for renaming structures that were otherwise named by previous presidents, I am so excited to hear what he thinks about the subsequent Democratic president renaming his precious. ballroom. I assume he'll be in full favor of it, given the fact that he is falling over himself to rename John F. Kennedy's structure. I think we should, yeah. But the second point- save the money, save the money from demolishing the Kennedy Center, put it in escrow and use it to tear down that idiotous ballroom. A hundred percent. So the second point I wanted to make, though, is that when Donald Trump has a desire to do something, he's showing that he'll stop at nothing to do it. Like we are on month, I don't know, I don't know what, of this saga to try and get his

name on the Kennedy Center. So when it's something that's his priority, he stops at nothing to get it done. He won't let the court stop him. He won't let prosecutors. He won't let judges. He won't let other branches of government. And yet we've stopped him hundreds of times. Look at, look at the democracy defenders. We have over 300 legal cases in matters. birthright citizenship. We stopped him. The firing of Dr. Lisa Cook, we won that in the United States Supreme Court. His $1.7 billion slush fund was an endowment for insurrectionists. 35 federal judges went to court. We represented them. We stopped that. The Kennedy Center naming has been stopped. It's going to be stopped again. It's like all the other cases, they said, oh, the reflecting pool. We've got to. got that case thrown out. He's pushing the Paramount Warner's merger. So we got that case, supported the AGs and getting that case.

They said, we're going to close the merger. No, they've got to wait for a year. And on and on and on. He doesn't get everything he wants. But I think the point that I want to make on that is that when something is his priority, he'll stop at nothing to try and see it through, which goes to show that when he doesn't do something, when he doesn't lower cost, when he doesn't release the Epstein files,

when he doesn't bring gas prices down, when he doesn't end foreign wars in the Middle East, it's not because he can't, it's because he doesn't care. Because when he does care, he's broadcasting the lengths that he'll go to to get those things done. So when people are hurting in this country, it's only because Donald Trump doesn't have any care in the world to actually lift a finger to help you.

He should be focusing all of this energy. I'm helping people with the cost of living crisis, the competence driven by a competence and a corruption and a chaos crisis. Instead, he's bogged us down with a can't win war, a morass in Iran driven gas prices up, cost hundreds of Americans' lives or casualties. He's driving prices up with his nutty tariffs like Canada, you know, these huge tariffs are going to make life more expensive for Americans, he's alienating our allies, is a mess at home with these corrupt vanity projects all over D.C., squandering the money that should be helping the American people. And it's so counterproductive because every time he does this, Brian, he just deepens the hatred that the American

people have for him record low popularity for an American president, approaching Nixsonian, modern American president, approaching Nixone and Lowe's, it's self-destructive. He's helping nobody, including himself, by threatening to destroy the Kennedy Center, absurd. Yeah, putting on full display what his priorities actually are. Norm, as always, I want to promote the democracy Defenders Fund, which has been doing invaluable work with countless lawsuits across the country to make sure that this administration is held to account for what they're doing. So that link for those who are looking to support that work is right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video.

The indefatigable Norm Eisen, thanks for taking the time today. And thank you, as always, for the work that you continue to do. Brian, I'm going to get off our visit and I'm going to file our brief, just like birthright citizenship. Remember, the Supreme Court said on a procedural issue, rejected the first birthright case. We brought the second birthright case, and we won. We're about to bring a case with wonderful partners. We're on this USPS executive order.

We're going to go to court and we're going to win, including working side by side with others in parallel state AGs, our friend Mark Elias and many others. So I'm going to go get back to it. maybe you'll have me on next time to talk about how that case is going. Done deal. Norm, as always, thanks so much. Thanks, Brian. Thanks again to Norm Eisen, Annie Andrews, and Troy Jackson. That's it for this episode. Talk to you on Sunday. 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 and a review. And as always, you can find me at Brian Tyler Cohen on all of my other channels, or you can go to bryantaylorcoen.com to learn more.