No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Trump election scheme SURGES INTO SPOTLIGHT

Episode Date: November 3, 2024

Trump’s insidious strategy on Election Day surges into the spotlight, along with what we can do to fight back. Brian interviews independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn from Nebraska about Trump’s pro-billionaire agenda, how he managed to run a tied race against a Republican incumbent in a Republican state, and who he’d caucus with if he wins. And Congressman Daniel Goldman joins to discuss the ways in which Republicans can throw the race into a contingent election decided not by the electoral votes, but rather by the House, and what we can do to stop it. Support Dan Osborn: https://atadvocacy.com/do-gotv?ref=btcShop 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 Trump's insidious strategy on Election Day and what we can do to fight back. And I interview independent Senate candidate Dan Osborne in Nebraska about Trump's pro-billionaire agenda, how he managed to run a tied race against a Republican incumbent in a Republican state, and who he'd caucus with if he wins. And I'm joined by Congressman Daniel Goldman to discuss the ways in which Republicans can throw the race into a contingent election decided not by electoral votes, but rather by the House and what we can do to stop it. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. Okay, I cannot stress enough how important it is for everybody to be prepared for what Trump is going to do on November 5th. Before all the votes are even counted, Donald Trump is going to declare victory. He's going to claim that he won as soon as he possibly can. And here's

what he thinks is going to happen. There are three prongs here. First is that the media will repeat it, perhaps even uncritically, as they often do, and we'll see headlines across the country, certainly in right-wing media, but maybe even in mainstream media, that Trump declares victory, which leads us to the second prong, which is that seeing headlines like that unto itself is going to convince a lot of people that he did win. After all, you can't just declare victory if you didn't win, right? And then a third prong of that is that Republican elected officials will use the fact that people believe Trump won as a justification to object to the vote certification in Congress. They'll say, well, you know, I'm just here representing my

constituents and they believe that there's fraud and that Trump won. And of course, what they won't tell you is that the reason their constituents will think Trump won is because Trump says it and they repeat it. So it's this whole feedback loop where Republicans feed disinformation to their voters, which gets amplified by the media, and then Republicans point to their own disinformation as justification to try and manifest those lies into reality. And again, Republicans know what they're doing. They know that Donald Trump's claims of fraud will be completely unfounded. They know that Trump's claims of victory will be premature, but they won't care and they'll amplify them because they're all committed to the bit of doing Trump's bidding.

They exist to serve at the altar of the god king. And I say all of that, not to scare you, but because the antidote to that plan by Trump is Americans just being well-informed. The more we can undermine Trump's very predictable and dangerous tactics before he uses them, the less of an impact they'll have. The less likely it'll be that newspapers blindly regurgitate Trump's words. And maybe even the less likely it'll be that Trump's Republican foot soldiers

will be to parrot his blatantly false claims. In this situation, knowledge is power, and the more people who understand what Trump will do, the less potent it'll be when he does it. Remember, too, because Trump is just that predictable, we've got backstops in place. According to NBC, there are hundreds of lawyers around the country and in battleground states with thousands of pages of pleadings ready to fight Republican legal maneuverings. That, of course, includes folks like Mark Elias, who you better believe is fully prepared to beat back Donald Trump's avalanche of litigation, which is again to give the opposite. of fraud just by virtue of bringing these cases forward. In fact, they're already doing it.

Republicans have brought forward a record 200 voting and election cases so far this year, with the vast majority of those cases, of course, taking place in swing states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Arizona. And, of course, they're losing damn near all of them, including two just in the last 24 hours as of this recording, one in Georgia and another, which is an emergency motion before the U.S. Supreme Court. But again, it's not really about winning them. It's about simply giving the optics of some nefarious activity happening at the hands of the evil Democrats

just by virtue of these cases being brought. Republicans need a pretense to be able to eventually cry fraud. And so litigating this election with basis lawsuits all over the country is the pretext that they're relying on. But again, to my earlier point, these are nothing but games. They're cheap stunts. The antidote to their effectiveness is going to be our ability to know what's happening and why it's happening so that we can see through it.

So make sure you spread the word because I promise you, for people who aren't that engaged in politics, all of these tactics by Trump and Republicans might seem persuasive, but once you're aware of their plan, it's actually pretty pathetic. And finally, let's end with this. We've got news that Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has activated the National Guard in case of election-related violence. The Department of Homeland Security has designated the January 6th electoral vote certification,

a national special security event. In Reno, they've installed panic buttons for poll workers in case of emergencies. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the street that city hall is on will be closed. So just to take a step back for a minute, just look at what's happening to this country as the result of Trump's lives. We're supposed to be this beacon of democracy for the world. And yet, our elections are now designated as high security events, where violence isn't just exist and it's expected now.

I know everybody listening to this never would have imagined this could happen in the United States of America, and yet not only has it happened, but it's becoming the norm. And worse, is actually being incited even more right now by Trump and his enablers in the GOP. The extent to which this small man has fundamentally altered the fabric of our country, all in service of his own relentless pursuit of power, is unforgivable. But the good news is that we have an opportunity right now to turn the page. These opportunities don't come around often, but we've got one right in front of us. So in these final days, hours, minutes, depending on when you listen to this,

make sure you do your part. Find one or two or three people, make them your responsibility. Go to Kamala Harris's website and find opportunities to volunteer, phone bank, text bank, knock on doors. Remember, this is nobody else's responsibility but ours. It is our democracy on the line. It's our bodies, our freedoms, our rights. We've got agency here, so let's use it.

One quick note, I'll be doing live election result coverage on my YouTube channel on November 5th all evening. and probably throughout the entirety of the week as we await the final results. So please make sure to tune in. You can go to Brian Tyler Cohen.com on YouTube. I'll also have a live interactive map courtesy of Decision DesicenSk HQ.

I'll have live results coming in. So definitely make sure to tune in. Okay, here are my interviews with Dan Osborne and Daniel Goldman. Now we've got independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska, Dan Osborne. Dan, thanks so much for joining me. Hey, thanks for having me on. This race is, primed to be the upset of the election cycle. There's always one. It is very likely looking like

it's going to be this race. What is the state of your race? And how does an independent candidate with no resources from one of the two major political parties end up potentially unseeding a Republican senator in a Republican state? Yeah, well, the state of the race right now is we're tied. You know, there's a independent poll shows 47, 47, 5% undecided. So this is, you know, this is going to come down to a few votes. But ultimately, you know, I think it's, well, for me and my team, it's a lot of hard work. I've done over 180 publicly advertised events. We just get out there.

We talk to people. I did what's called a what ails you tour where I've gone around the state and we just go into the local watering hole. We have a beer with people and we just talk politics. But ultimately, I would say it's the message. You know, it's my message. Less than 2% of our House and Senate come from the working class. It's a complete misrepresentation of the people in my state and certainly the country. You know, working people don't feel like they're getting a fair shake.

They're getting abandoned by both parties. So I think this is, I've been called a breath of fresh air, which, you know, and that is what it is. but it's certainly the broad stroke message is campaign finance reform ending citizens united that states corporations are people and and money is free speech and there's so much influence on our elections from corporations and uh you know i haven't always been a political person you know it wasn't until corporate greed came knocking on my door in the form of uh the kellogg strike you know during COVID we were working seven days a week 12 hours a day that whole year no time off and we made them record profits they went from 19 billion to 21 billion dollars a CEO gave himself

the two million dollar raise everybody enriched themselves and then they tried to take from their workers at the same time so we stood up four u.s plants went out on strike for 77 days and we won a contract um so that that showed me that when we stick together behind issues and causes, we can make a difference in regular people's lives. And I think Robin Williams, the comedian, said it best when he said our politicians should be wearing NASCAR jackets with patches of their sponsors so we know how they've got to vote. And certainly my opponent's no different. But, you know, if you're out there and you're watching this, my average donation still remains

$40. So this campaign truly is powered by the people, the way the framers of the Constitution intended it to be a government buying for the people. You know, in running largely against corruption, you think back to Trump's 2017 tax cut, which conferred 83% of its benefits to the richest Americans. What's your reaction when you see Trump, a billionaire, propped up by Elon Musk, a billionaire advocating for an agenda where, yet again, they can pass tax cuts where the benefits would overwhelmingly favor the richest Americans?

Yeah, you know, I'm always going to be for the little guy. You know, we're seeing what we're seeing right now, and I'll like it to the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill favors corporate farming, not the smaller family farmers and ranchers, which is, I think, the backbone, especially of ag in my state. And we see people play on party politics with it. I mean, the Farm Bill expired September 30th. It's on extension from 2018, so our bean prices, our bushel prices, our crop insurance, it's out of date.

And our farmers are going to start to suffer. And, you know, that's what's so frustrated to me, you know, with politics. It's all about control right now instead of actually just working for the American people. And speaking about farmers, we've heard a lot about tariffs. It harkens back to Trump's first administration where he launched the trade war against China, which obviously impacted the farmers. What do you think when you hear that the main, economic tool that he would wield would yet again be tariffs as it relates to these farmers.

Yeah, you got to be careful with tariffs. I don't rule tariffs out as an option when dealing with trade. Certainly the American worker and the American farmer is always going to be on the forefront of my mind, but you've got to look ahead and how tariffs can damage. So broad stroke tariffs are never the answer. Targeted tariffs, certainly. I would entertain as long as, you know, we have a lot of people thinking about the repercussions of what can happen. Because a lot of times what a tariff does is just comes back on the consumer. And we and me, I end up paying for it. And that's not the way we should be doing business.

So, you know, certainly we, you know, everybody says we have to be tough on China. That's what every politician says, what does that mean? What does it mean to be tough on China? For me, it means, let's get our manufacturing jobs back here. Let's win in the economy. That's how we're tough on China. I was getting our jobs back, getting our, even our defense manufacturing back here to this country. And that's how we went.

You know, you've got support from a pretty diverse swath of people. Who would you caucus with if you get elected? George Norris was the last independent U.S. senator from Nebraska. he helped create the nonpartisan unicameral that we have here in Nebraska that I think D.C. could certainly take a few notes from, but he did not caucus with either party, his last term. And so there's some precedents there. I think the system needs to be challenged. That is why we are seeing here in this state all kinds of money coming in against me because I'm challenging the status quo. The status quo

does not like to be challenged. But I'm not afraid of money. I'm not afraid of the corporations because, you know, during Strike of Kellogg's, they spent over $700 million to try to break the union and they failed because we stood up and we had solidarity as people. And still, you know, the corporations,

they have the influence, they have the money, they can try to rig elections. But we as people still have the power with our vote. If it does come down to you to decide whether Mitch McConnell or, well, I guess Mitch McConnell is outgoing, but a Republican, a Republican becomes the Senate majority leader or a Democrat becomes the Senate majority leader. I guess, I guess what would you do in that instance? Yeah, well, you know, I tend not to deal on my hypotheticals. You know, we got five days to win an election. That's certainly what I'm focused on.

I'm not a political analyst. I haven't actually really been a political guy until corporate recrete came knocking on my door three years ago. What I'm concerned about, what I'm going to do if I'm elected into the halls of power, I am going to face every issue and every policy based objectively on my experiences as a guy who's worked 70 hours a week, not based off of who's given me handouts, certainly, because I don't take corporate money. I don't want to be a part of that world. I just want to work for the people in Nebraska.

So that's going to be on the forefront of my mind because that's who's going to elect me if I get elected is the people on Nebraska. So I want to do what's right by them. How I'm going to operate, how I'm going to navigate those waters. I'll certainly have to figure that out as I go, but I'm always going to have the people on the forefront of my mind. Obviously running against a sitting Republican senator in Deb Fisher,

the Republicans are worried now. What have their most potent attacks against you? What have they been? And what's your response to them? Yeah, you know, they're painting me out to be this radical, liberal. And they've tried to tie me to Bernie Sanders. Here's the thing. During the strike at Kellogg's, the friends of Bernie Sanders, which I'm assuming that's a pack,

gave a check to our members for $25,000. to put food on our tables in the time that, you know, we weren't, we weren't, we were getting a paycheck. And, and so that made me take notice. And I, you know, Bernie Sanders had tweeted some things about positively about our strikes go. I've retweeted those. So they, they use these things and then they, they turn me into something that I'm not. And, you know, that that's what, because that's what they have and I suppose I get it but I think they're going so at extreme I don't think the people in Nebraska are stupid and they're certainly not buying it are you hearing from any lifelong Republicans on the campaign show yeah you know my biggest my biggest donor

is a Republican him and his wife maxed out double maxed 3,300 pre-primary 3,300 as the federal you know, max out states, uh, general. So collectively, you know, $6,600 for, from each of them, it's because of my stance on right to repair it. You know, he owns a key fob business that he refurbishes key fobs and sells it back to people 10 times less than you get it from the, uh, manufacturer. Right. And so that's, that's what the things. And that's what I've done, right? That's why I'm being successful because 180 publicly advertised events I focus on issues

we don't focus on the top of the ticket I don't even like to use the word Republican and Democrat rooms because as soon as that happens people like blah blah they start arguing but then I bring it back to the issues and when we talk about issues we have people

on either side of the aisle we we all start nodding our heads together and we're agreeing like yep these are the issues this is how we fix it and people come up with ideas. That's how I've learned everything that I know about politics is from visiting with people every day and what they need in their perspective field and what issue is important to them. So that's how I'm being successful. Let's just focus on the issues and all this other white noise. Let's just let it go and just talk as people. Let's finish off with this.

There are obviously a lot of lifelong Republicans whose votes you'll be courting within that Undecided 5%. These are people for whom their political affiliation is basically their identity, right? Like political affiliation is in oftentimes is part of somebody's whole identity. So it's hard to to steer away from that. What's your message to these final 5% of undecided voters? Many of whom may identify as Republicans who've only cast ballot for Republicans. How do you bring them over? What's your message to them so that they know it's okay? They have some permission structure to vote for you. Sure. That's that's a great question. Well put. You know, I drive around the state, and if nothing else at the end of the day, if I don't get elected, what this campaign, I believe, has done for people is this brought neighbors together because you drive around the state, you can look across the street for me and my neighbor very, very staunch for Trump. He's got Osborne side in his yard, too, because he knows, first of all, who I am. But you can drive around the state and you will find Trump signs with Osborne signs and Harris signs with Osborne signs and Harris signs. sports size. At a time where we are so divided, that humbles me. And that makes me so happy to be a part of this movement, you know, and being independent that we can bring people together. But I would say, you know, to those folks who are conservative, you know, if Donald Trump gets

elected, I will work with him to secure the border, to help, you know, clean up corruption in Washington. in D.C. And if Harris gets elected, I'll do the same thing. But I'll work with anyone. But again, for me, the people in Nebraska sit at my heart and soul and veterans sit at my heart and soul. And that's who I'm going to work for. Dan, we've got a couple days left here. How can people best help your campaign? Yeah, I would say, you know, I mentioned my average donation is $40. So, you know, we need to get on the radio. We need to give my message out. There's being a lot. lot of money getting spent against me right now, paid me out to be somebody I'm not. So I have to

defend myself. So you could go to Osborne for Senate. That's OSB-O-R-N without an E. I'm not related to the coach, the famous coach in Nebraska. But yeah, you go to OsborneforCenter.com and just throw me some support. And we're going to make this happen. Well, again, as I mentioned at the top, this can and should be the upset of the Senate cycle. So to help Dan make that a reality, again, Osborne for Senate, I'll put that link right here on the screen and in the post description on YouTube and also in the show notes for the podcast. Dan, thank you for taking the time. Best luck in the campaign trail. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Now, we've got Congressman Daniel Goldman. Thanks so much for taking the time.

Oh, great to be here with you. Now, I know we still have an entire election in front of us, but there are a lot of concerns about certification, specifically with regard to the 12th Amendment where many people believe that Republicans. are going to do their best to get a contingent election where it's decided based on not electoral votes, but House delegations where Republicans have a majority. So I'm going to read a passage from the 12th Amendment here. The person having the greatest number of votes for president shall be the president if such number of majority of the whole number of electors appointed. And if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers and

exceeding three on the list of those voted for as president, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately by ballot the president. So is there any worry within the House of Representatives that Republicans will refuse to certify a state and that will bring the whole number of electors down and therefore bringing the total number of electoral votes down from 270 to something more within reach for Donald Trump? Is that a worry among those of you in the House? You hit the nail on the head. I'm very concerned about this. And this is perhaps the most urgent reason why it's so important for Democrats to win the House. is that whoever wins on Tuesday, the majority will control the House on January 6th, because we get sworn in on January 3rd, not the inauguration on January 20th. So the way you described is exactly what the concern is.

Now, there was an Electoral Count Reform Act that was passed in 2022 in part to correct some things or protect against some things that happened January 6th, 2021. But it still leaves a clear pathway for bad actors in the Republican Party to potentially do Donald Trump's bidding and overturn the election. You need a 20% threshold to object to a particular state's electoral votes. That's different from before when it was literally any person, any individual member could object. But if you have 40% of the Republicans, you get 20% of the House, and that's not a huge number, even just to move into an objection. Right. I mean, oftentimes we're looking at pretty

much unanimity among Republicans, which far exceeds the, you know, 20% threshold of the House that they would need. Yeah, there were about two-thirds of the Republicans and maybe a quarter of the entire house last time that objected to the certification of the Electoral College, that would be enough to put us into a potential vote. Then it's a majority vote. And if they throw out enough electors so that neither candidate has 270, then as you point out under the 12th Amendment, it goes to a contingent election where it's not a one person, one vote. It is by state delegation. So all the members of each state get together, they vote, and then that state determines, whoever wins that vote determines who the state votes for. And as you point out, and it will probably remain the same.

The Republicans, in large part because of gerrymandering, have more state delegations than the Democrats do. So I'm very concerned about this, and I believe this is what the little secret plan is that Donald Trump referenced with Mike. Johnson at MSG on Sunday because Donald Trump's been laying the foundation to claim election fraud for many months. And as you point out, they're already talking about all sorts of different issues, different reasons to object to the election, and it hasn't even happened yet. So now that we've successfully given everybody a panic attack who's watching and listening to this, what's the bulwark against this? What is the house doing to prevent this type of nefarious activity from going forward?

Well, first and foremost, win the majority. So, I mean, I think, you know, a lot of these contingency plans, there is work on them. There are many, many people in the house and elsewhere outside, you know, expert lawyers who have been spending a lot of time preparing for all sorts of scenarios. But I will tell you, my perspective, being in the house as a member, I am just focused. on winning the majority on Tuesday because that will solve all of these issues and we will not have to deal with them. And that is far and away the best way to do it. And this is going to be really close. Every vote is going to matter. And if there is ever a time when everybody should

feel like their vote counts, it is in this election. Do you feel like it was a mistake to keep the threshold at 20% of the House, knowing the political environment we live in, the extent to which Republicans kind of fall in line, swarm, and blindly accept, you know, whatever edicts are passed down by Donald Trump? I don't have that much of an issue with threshold. I think that the language of what bases exist in order to decertify a state certification of their own electoral votes are overbroad. It's not clear what it means. means, but they're not sufficiently specific to head off a bad faith effort to overturn the election.

And that's really where, I mean, I wasn't in Congress at the time, and I know these things are intensively negotiated, and oftentimes you get to the point where it is better to have something than nothing. So I'm not criticizing anyone, but if there's anything that I would change in this electoral count reform act, it would be to make it much more narrow and specific as to what reasons Congress could actually decertify a state's certification. Well, if the claims that they bring up to inevitably cry fraud are completely baseless, maybe they've brought these claims to court within their post-election litigation and they're struck down very much in the same way that

that happened in 2020 and 2021, then is that enough of a predicate to strike down these objections in Congress based on the Electoral Count Reform Act? So there are two bases that this act lays out, and one is pretty narrow. The first one is pretty narrow, and it does say effectively, it does say in there that you need to defer to the state or federal courts that have ruled on this. But the second one is perceived a little bit as a catch-all. I don't have it right in front of me, but it's perceived to be a broader statute or I should say a broader basis that can be interpreted in lots of different ways. And so it's not clear what exactly the restrictions are on Congress's power to decertify.

Okay, well, then I guess the most important question is who ultimately adjudicates that claim? Well, my guess is ultimately the Supreme Court of the United States does. And that should scare everyone just as much. Would let's say if Democrats win the majority and Hakeem Jeffries becomes the speaker, would he be the initial person to adjudicate that claim? when it's brought up? The only way it would go to the courts is if it is successful. In other words, if the decertification is successful, and then it will go to the courts. If Hakeem Jeffries is speaker, that means the Democrats are in the majority. And by the time a state has certified

its own electors, I cannot imagine a scenario in which the Democrats vote to decertify a particular state's electoral votes. No, but I guess the question I'm trying to ask here is, is these objections are brought up and they have a basis for their objection. Who immediately adjudicates that objection to determine whether it's valid or not? The House vote is effectively the adjudication of it. So after you get to the 20% threshold, there will be a vote by the House. And the Senate, it's joint session, it's a, I believe it's a joint session.

And so if the, if there's enough votes to say that it should be decertified because of whatever reason they come up with, that's, that's how we adjudicate in Congress. We vote. Then it will go to the courts. Okay. And so the only way it goes to the course is if, is if they get, is if they hit that. one fifth threshold? Is that how it works? No. The only way it goes to the courts is if they throw out the state electoral votes, which requires a majority vote. The threshold is just to allow the objection to proceed. Then there will be a vote on the objection. And the only way that

there would be litigation is if that objection is successful. Okay. And so in theory, to your earlier point, if Democrats have control of the House, then that is the bulwark against this plan succeeding. 100%. That's right. So that's the focus right now for the next four days. And then if necessary, and hopefully it will not be necessary, we'll take the necessary precautions to fight for our free and fair elections, as Democrats do all the time.

Congressman, you're obviously an elected official from New York. New York and California have become focal points for the House because those states have been largely ignored. And that's in large part where Republicans were able to pick off seats to form their majority. What's the state of play right now in New York from what you've seen while you've been campaigning with frontline and hopeful Democratic colleagues out in that state? The feeling is pretty good right now. I think in New York, we were taken by surprise in 2022 a little bit. There is no taking us by surprise this time around. There is an extensive operation, coordinated campaign, a lot of money focused on it, and a lot of focus just from members and others who recognize that New York is, ground zero in many ways for this election. There are seven races in New York that could go either way. And obviously, the majority in the House right now is four for the Republicans. So two of those seats are held by Democrats, and five of those seats are currently held by Republicans. So there's a lot at play here, and I will tell you that people understand that. There's energy, there's a lot of motivation, and it's a combination of things, you know, that we're focusing on. Obviously, the kind of top of the ticket matters. There's no question about it. But, you know,

when you look at the most recent Congress with Republicans in control, it was the most ineffective Congress in history. And the Congress before that, with Democrats in control, was perhaps the most consequential and effective in history. And it is just very clear that the Republicans cannot govern. They cannot do the basic work that Congress should do, much less anything else. And so it is incredibly important, I think, for the American people that Democrats have the majority so that we can continue to fight for the people, not for, you know, billionaires, not for the large corporations, and not for this extreme right, which has taken over the Republican Party. Right.

And that's not just talking points either. I mean, you look at what Republicans actually passed. These are the two houses that had the exact same majority. When Donald Trump came in, he had a majority of Republicans in the House. When Joe Biden was elected, had a majority of Democrats with the same majorities. Republicans passed a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires. There's 83% of the benefits overwhelmingly conferred to the wealthiest Americans in this country. When Democrats had control, Inflation Reduction Act, American Rescue Plan, the gun safety law, the infrastructure bill, the Chips Act, the Pact Act.

So, I mean, like, this, again, like, all you have to do is look at the actual legislation that was passed, who it benefited. And I think that puts on full display which party is working for who in this country. But, Congressman, you have been focused, especially on Project 2025. I know Republicans have been trying to distance themselves from Project 2025, saying that that's, not Trump's agenda? What's your reaction to that? It's preposterous. First of all, much of Project 2025 was already attempted or implemented by Donald Trump. Second of all, the authors of Project 2025 almost entirely worked in Donald Trump's first administration and many are just talked about as lead senior officials in a potential Trump 2.0. It's called Project 2025. It's not called

Project 2029 or Project for the Future, and we've known for since, you know, early 2021 that Donald Trump is going to be the nominee for the Republican Party. This is Donald Trump's efforts. Of course, he's not digging into the details of it. He wouldn't know where to begin. But this is what his effort is to write the wrongs or write the mistakes that he feels he made in the first, his first administration when he was not prepared to be president. And then in his mind, he hired too many competent people who put guardrails around him. And those are the people like his chief of staff, like his vice president, like many cabinet secretaries, 40 of 44 senior officials have come out and said, who worked for him and with him, have said he is unfit and unqualified to be president.

And but what he has been trying to do is map out an agenda and map out a process so that he won't run into those problems. And a big part of Project 2025 is getting rid of the nonpartisan career officials who are the experts who run our government day to day and put in political lackeys, which will absolutely destroy our national security. it will destroy our alliances with democratic countries around the world. It will allow the military to be used against Americans, which is to this point illegal. It will render us very isolated, link us much more with Vladimir Putin and dictators. We will get no intelligence of any value. So our own national security will be hampered. And we will have no diplomatic relations.

It will, it is such a massive. And of course, I should mention what you tried to do the first time is to weaponize the Department of Justice to prosecute his enemies and his adversaries. And so I think that it's hard to really quantify exactly how destructive Project 2025 would be. And so, you know, one of the things I've been trying to do is just focus on a few issues and dig deep. So people understand that if you are going to politicize the entire. government that we will not have a democratic government as we know it. Right. And I'm so glad you brought up that specific point within Project 2025. These Schedule F employees, you know, we have hundreds of thousands of career civil servants,

only a few thousand are political appointees. But imagine what happens to the DOJ, the IRS, the FCC, all of these agencies where the FBI, where there's no longer career civil servants, but rather political appointees. All of a sudden, if you have, if you have these bogus claims of fraud, for example, that even Bill Barr called bullshit when he was Trump's own attorney general, well, now you have people like Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman and Stephen Miller there validating his claims of that's who staffs the DOJ and the FBI. Well, suddenly these bogus claims of fraud will be validated by these people. Imagine what happens if they say that, you know, that nefarious ballots are being cast in Detroit or Philly

or or Milwaukee, for example, in these swing states. Imagine what happens in the next election? How do you properly certify an election without votes from the Democratic stronghold? So there's a lot of problems that can come from that part specifically. So I'm glad that you brought that up and raised the alarm about that aspect of Project 2025. With that said, thank you for taking the time today. Thank you for, again, raising the alarm about these issues in particular. And thank you for the work that you're doing to get colleagues elected from the state of New York.

Thank you. And thank you for highlighting all of this. You are exactly right in your assessment and of the dangers and your comparison of Donald Trump's first two years versus Joe Biden's first two years. And I think that's an excellent comparison that people should pay attention to because that is what's at stake right now. Thanks for having me. Thanks again to both Dan's. That's it for this episode. Let's win this thing.

You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen, produced by Sam Gray, Braeberg. 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 bryantaylorcoen.com to learn more.