Pod Save America - Live from Occupied D.C. with Barack Obama

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

Barack Obama drops by our Crooked Con live show to talk about Democrats' big wins and what we need to push for now. Then, Jon, Lovett, Tommy, Dan, and Alex Wagner talk about the latest data from Tuesday night, the White House's promise that Trump will now focus on affordability, whether Trump is psychologically capable of keeping that promise, and whether Democrats will cave on the government shutdown now that the administration is canceling everyone's flights. Then, Rep. Jasmine Crockett sits down with Dan to  talk about a potential Senate run in Texas, and why Trump just can't stop talking about her. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pod Save America is brought to you by Sundays. When it comes to dog food, it seems like you have to make a choice. You can either have fresh and healthy, or you can have easy to store and serve, but never both. But you don't have to choose anymore thanks to Sundays. Sundays is fresh air-dried dog food made from clean ingredients. Recipes are customized based on the needs of your dog. It's size, breed allergies, activity levels, and more. Unlike other fresh dog food, Sundays does not require thawing, refrigeration, or preparation

because of their air drying process. You just pour and serve. That's it. Sundays was started by Dr. Tori Waxman, a veterinarian who has devoted her life to animals. Sundays has the absolute highest standards for quality and food safety. If it's not 100% all natural meat and superfoods with 0% synthetic nutrients

or artificial ingredients, then it's not Sundays. Every Sunday's order ships right to your door, so you never have to worry about running out of dog food again, and you can cancel a pause your subscription anytime with Sunday's 14-day money-back guarantee. So what are you waiting for? Thousands of dog parents have made the switch and reported pups with more energy, better poop, softer

fur, fresher breath, and all thanks to Sundays. Leo Fabro likes Sundays. He sure does. And we like it too because it's dry food and you can store it easily and it's not uh it's just it's easy and he loves it yeah it's also it's like you want healthy dog food but then it's like these people with the dog food in their fridge it's like what kind of come on come on come on kind of life you live in make the switch to sundays go right now to sundays for dogs.com slash crooked and get 50% off your first order or you can use code crooked at checkout that's 50% off your first order

at Sundays for Dogs.com slash Crooked. Sundays for Dogs.com slash cricket or use code crooked at checkout. Welcome to Potsave America. I'm John Favre. I'm Alex Wagner. I'm John Lovett. I'm Tommy Vitor. I'm Dan Pfeiffer.

I'm Barack Obama. Come on. So, I am, I, I, um, so, so, so, so here's the thing. We, uh, we, uh, now, now, now, I, now, I, I, I, now, I, I, I, I, I, you. I missed you too, which is why I came. But we had a good night on Tuesday. And this is a group of influencers and organizers and activists, people who are fighting the good fight even when things aren't going good. So my first job tonight was to say thank you to all of you,

because you're making a difference each and every day. My second task was to let you know, I cannot believe that these guys have actually somehow built an audience. basically doing the same thing that they were doing in the hold room or in some dive bar in Iowa and that you guys are paying attention. Now, I think we've got a photo up here.

Now, look at these guys. Oh, no. No. First of all, these are not the most embarrassing pictures. My staff who are friends with these guys were in charge of selecting the pictures. I wanted the most embarrassing ones, and they weren't willing to do it because they did not want to humiliate them in this audience, which I think is sweet. It speaks to a culture of loyalty among Obama alumni. But it's not half as fun as I wanted it to be.

We could have had the picture of Tommy with no shirt on. Feel free to Google that if you're not familiar. Although this one of Leavitt is indicative of Leavitt. This is sort of how he was the entire administration. Sometimes he'd wander into the West Wing looking just like that. But the truth is I couldn't be prouder of them because they have not just carried on the values and the struggles that we all engaged in way back when. But they're spreading the word to a new generation of what is possible in politics.

And I said we had a good Tuesday. It was good to see progressives get off the mat. It was a good reminder that it turns out that the American people are paying attention. They don't want cruelty. They're not looking for people on the top trying to entrench themselves in power. They believe in community. They believe in treating people with decency and respect. And what this election also taught us is that it turns out,

it turns out that if, number one, you have candidates with integrity who believe in something, and are in it for the right reasons they can win. And what we also learned is that when young people are engaged and involved, then we win. So, since all of you are directly engaged in speaking to young people and reminding them of what is possible, I just want to encourage you to keep doing what you're doing because, again, Tuesday was nice, but we've got a lot of work to do. And your task is going to be not to impose, you know, litmus tests. We had Abigail Spanberger win, and we had Zohran Mondami win,

and they are all part of a vision. for the future, our job is to say that we want everybody engaged. And we want to have a conversation about how to make sure that every person in this country is treated with dignity and respect and their ladders of opportunity and that there's the possibility of community and that we're getting along, not in some cliche phonyed way, but in a genuine deep way where we recognize, yeah, we have differences, and yes, there are fights that are going to have to be fought,

but that deep down, there is something core in us that we have in common that is extraordinary, and that America at its best leans in to this notion of e pluribusunum, that out of many can come one. So that's the conversation that you need to have. That's the conversation that these guys are all about. I love them.

I love you. Keep up the good work. It's all downhill from here, people. Well, do we just go home now? Should we call it? Bye. Call it. It gets better than that.

It's... That was cool. Cool, but that's nice. You happy with the photo selection? Could have been better. That was a couple hair transplants and GLP ones ago. We've got, we've never heard a crowd do that before. Yeah.

It was pretty cool. And you never will again. We have a great show for you tonight. Jasmine Crockett is here. And we're so lucky to have Alex with us tonight, the newest member of the Pod Save America family, host of the newest Crooked Pod runaway country, already a runaway hit.

I don't know if anyone remembers. You were the first guest host on the very first Pod Save America live show eight years ago in Brooklyn. Oh, man. Special guest, Bill de Blasio. New York, we've come a long way. Time that for full circle.

Same response from the crowd. Yeah. When Bill de Blasio came out. I'm happy that you invited me back. Of course. And not to Bill de Blasio. Sorry. All right, guys.

We had an election this week, and it was good. Maybe the best off-year elections Democrats have had in our lifetimes. So good, in fact, that the results have caused. a party filled with people who still say the 2020 election was rigged to actually acknowledge the reality of what happened on Tuesday night. Last night was a disaster.

It was an electoral blowout. This is a big loss. We got our asses handed to us in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it, Dana. The Democrats had a great night. That is a warning that this thing is going to cut deeper. It is a disgrace.

So even the White House seems to have gotten the message. A senior Trump advisor went on record to say that from here on out, we'll see the president laser-focused on affordability and the cost of living. And here is an unusually humbled and reflective Trump already taking that advice to heart. We've done so much. You know, energy is way down.

Look at energy. We're going to have $2 gas a little bit of that. Groceries are way down. than beef. Now, beef is going to come down. You remember when I started, eggs were up by four times what they were. Two days in the office, and they told me about eggs. I solved that. And the country's doing very well, but as Republicans, you have to talk about it. This week, we're celebrating the one-year anniversary of the most important election victory in the history of our country. And no president has ever come even close to doing what we've done in nine months. My fellow Americans, our movement is

far from over. In fact, our fight has only just begun. We will make America great again. Spirit in the sky. It's so weird. Case you were wondering, that was Tom Homan as a rising sun. There was a whole video they posted. Truth Social was wild yesterday, guys. It was wild.

Let's start with the results themselves. We did a quick reaction show on Tuesday night, but Alex and Lovett, you guys haven't had a chance to weigh in yet. What did you think, Alex? I think, well, a lot of things. I think, number one, we finally have some of the exit polling data. I know Dan is probably eager to talk about it, but I just want to say the idea that Mikey Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger flipped in literally 11 months. A significant percentage of people who voted for Donald Trump

into the Democratic ledger tells you a lot about the state of the Republican Party and the state of the Democratic Party. I think Mikey Sherrill got 18% of Trump's Latino voters in the state of New Jersey. Both of those women got 7% overall of Trump-204 voters to vote for them in this election. That's not a trend line that you want to see if you're a Republican.

That is absolutely heartening if you are a Democrat. It's not just about turnout. It's about people rejecting Donald Trump and everything he stands for in less than a year. In less than a year. Those are numbers that I think everybody should hold on to. And that really, I think for people who care about our democracy surviving through the next century, should hold on to as we go into the midterm election season that, by the way, Donald Trump is going to try and steal. And Zohamam Dhani, like, it's really nice. It's really nice to look at the future of democratic politics

and feel like it could be in good hands. So, yeah, right on, dude. Love it. So, I don't even say anything. Nate Cohen pointed this out that we have consistently underestimated how well Democrats will do when Trump's name is not on the ballot, and we underestimate how we underestimate

how well Republicans will do when his name is on the ballot. And I feel like we did that again. We keep doing that. Like, I went in very hopeful that we would win these three races. I am surprised by how well we did, and I'm surprised by how often I'm surprised. To Alex's point, like, no, 2024 wasn't some grand realignment, right? Trump won people he hadn't won before, but that doesn't represent some inescapable future for us. That support was wide, but it was shallow, and those are people that can be persuaded and be brought back.

And that's what our job is to figure out how to bring those people back again in 2026, when hopefully the electorate would look more like it did in 2025, and then in 2028, when it would look probably a bit more like what it looked like in 24. And then, you know, I was in New York last night for a live show, and the enthusiasm around Zoron was, so palpable and infectious, and, you know, everybody's seen the clips of Schumer kind of avoiding taking a position on it. And I bring it up only because I want to.

But this is the second time in two days. I've been in front of hundreds of really enthusiastic and proud Democrats who have booed the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate. And I think it's a real problem. And that's not to say there aren't hard politics for him and some genuine concerns that a lot of people have. Fine. But it seems to me that there are some Democrats more worried about people thinking Zoron is on their side than worried about how to prove to all of those enthusiastic people that they're on the side of those volunteers and supporters.

And it seems our job is to make the point that President Obama just made, which is we are part of one. one big team that represents a lot of different points of view and that we are a coalition and we're proudly part of a coalition. We're not afraid of it. And now I'd like to bring on our next surprise guest, Chuck Schumer. Joe Biden! So, Dan, you know, I've been wanting to ask you this because we got a couple days, we've got a lot of data. We got some granular analysis from multiple Nates, good and bad, county by county results.

What else jumped out at you from the data? Sure. So, thank you for asking. There are two parts of electoral success, right? There's motivation and persuasion. Motivation is turnout, and turnout was very high in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. even in California, which has no history of Yeah, California, which has no history

of off-cycle elections, and there was nothing on the ballot other than this redistricting initiative, you had nearly 9 million people vote, right? And so Democrats had high turnout. That was good. But what's more important is that, as Alex pointed out, there was real persuasion. You need motivation and persuasion, but mathematically,

persuasion matters more because you don't only just gain one vote or you take one from the other side. So that's a net gain of two votes. And there was very real persuasion here, right? Back in when Democrats were winning special elections in 23 and 24, you would hear people saying, ignore the polls, we win these special elections, elections are what matter. We would point out that winning special elections is good, but we were winning these special elections purely from turnout.

That's not what happened on Tuesday at all. So in the exit polls, right, you have, in Virginia, New Jersey, 7% of people who pulled the letter for Trump one year ago voted for. voted for Spanberger and Cheryl in New York City 9% of 24 Trump voters voted for Zoran and I actually

I find this one even more mind-boggling which is in California 12% of Trump voters voted for Gavin Newsom's redistricting initiative that's wow so but as we've always said on this on this podcast that exit polls

are directionally correct but in precise measures of elections, but we normally have to wait a long time for voter data, but in New Jersey, we actually have specific voter data from half of New Jersey, and what it found is that Cheryl had about a

two and a half point turnout advantage over Kamala Harris. In the half that we have it for, but in those counties, Cheryl upoformed Kamala Harris by nine points. And the only way to explain that is a pretty significant number of Trump voters flipping. And what's even more important and notable there is, of the counties that we have data

includes the counties like Bergen, Passaic, and Hudson, which have large pockets of Latino voters. When you look at the townships with large Latino electorates, huge shifts, so my double-digit shifts or more in Cheryl's favor over 2024. So this is an election where people who supported Donald Trump voted for a Democrat, and that's the thing that's to scare the shit out of every single Republican. Yeah. The craziest that I saw was in Virginia, the precinct, Chas Netticoam is an analyst in Virginia who does really good work.

This crowd knows Chaz Nuttiecombe. Yeah, as I was going to say, the real ones, no. The precinct that flipped the most, 50 points, 50 points swing, was like the most heavily Latino precinct in Fairfax County, which is pretty big. So you do see, like, because people are wondering, like, is it just like differential turnout or some Latino staying home or not? But, like, we are, there's now evidence in Jersey and Virginia that a lot of Latinos who might have pulled the lover for Trump switched over to Democrat this time. Turns out terrorizing black and brown communities doesn't really resonate that well with those black and brown communities. So Tommy, White House, everyone except for Trump, seems to realize affordability is important now.

People care about the cost of living. I do find it amusing that Trump is basically like rerunning Biden's actually everything is great message. But say Trump, say they convince Trump to, you know, talk more about affordability and cost of living, what would that even look like next year? And do you think he's going to face some difficulties doing that? Oh, yeah. So, yeah, it is very funny that he is making the exact same mistake as Biden, which is just to decide that the real problem is that,

we're not getting enough credit for the shit we have already done. That is a mistake that, like, every president makes. I think we have, it's very deeply triggering, I think, for all of us, because we've all been in the meeting where the policy person is like, sir, everything you're doing is great, and everyone has benefited and look at all these statistics, but the message isn't getting out there and the comms people just get, like, destroyed. And it's very tempting to think it's a PR problem, but it's clearly not.

I mean, people are pissed, prices are going up, they made their voices heard at the polls, and now Trump has to actually do something about it. So the analysis is right, but I just have, no confidence that he can change his approach because it would basically involve undoing his entire policy agenda, starting with tariffs, right? I mean, we tariff the Chinese, the tariffs go up, tariffs come down, we give some AI chips, they buy some soybeans, it doesn't make any sense. The Canadians run one TV ad during a baseball game that features the Gipper, we're tariff

in them. The Brazilians are prosecuting their former president who did a January 6th in Trump is mad about that, so he tariffs them. So in the net effect, is it's just a tax on all of us, which makes prices go up. Then there's energy. Trump is killing off all renewable energy programs just because he wants to, even ones that are basically done. And this is happening as we're building massive AI data centers that are increasing the demand. So the price there is just going to keep going up.

Even the ice raids are going to have an economic impact because the construction industry has been constrained by a labor shortage. and once you have ice and CBP goons raiding Home Depot parking lots and going to construction sites that's going to make the cost of housing go up. So the final part that I don't see happening is like he would have to be disciplined.

Donald Trump doesn't want to wake up every day and talk about affordability. He wants a president from a stand country to tell him that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize or to like shake down a Raytheon CEO for money for the fucking ballroom. So the diagnosis is right, but, like, he's not going to do it. Well, he's also psychologically incapable of doing it

because to truly have an affordability message where you feel people's pain, you have to admit you have not succeeded on the thing you said you would do. And Donald Trump's 79 years old, at no point in those 79 years has he ever admitted fault on anything. No.

So I don't think that's going to change now, right? On the same day, he said we're focusing on affordability. He basically called Nancy Pelosi the C-word. Like, I don't think he's going to be disciplines. Well, I mean, he also announced today, they were going to lower the prices of some weight loss drugs. But even when he's doing something like that, he's like, you know, and then all the prescription drugs, they're down 1,000%, 3,000%, 5,000%.

And so even if he doesn't acknowledge that affordability is a problem, which obviously he's not going to do, he's just going to pretend that it's gone and that he solved everything. And again, you cannot tell people that what they are feeling about the economy and their lives is not true. It does not work. It doesn't work. I'm sorry, go ahead, Alex.

I was just going to say, I don't even think he understands the concept of affordability. This is like a game-the-system billionaire who's trying to turn our democracy into a kleptocracy and has turned the White House into the inside of Aladdin's lamp. Do you know what I mean? Affordability is like, did I get a good deal on the marble slab for the arch? He doesn't know anything about anything. I mean, affordability might as well be like Homerian. And it could be like a, you know, a Ph.G course on the Iliad.

Like, he doesn't know anything about that. It's just complete, literally Greek to him. I do wonder if the Supreme Court could potentially save his ass by ruling against him on tariffs. But even then they've said they're going to, they have all these other extraordinary ways to impose tariffs. Which would be very funny. So just think about this. Like, affordability is his message, and he has lawyers in court right now trying to keep people's prices high. and if the court does him in favor and rules against him,

he's going to have those same lines. Try harder. The only thing, he's tried harder at two things, right? Corruption and making your prices high. That's his full agenda. Yeah, yeah. And stopping us from seeing the Epstein files. There you go.

So, Alex, there is the matter of the fact Trump's not going to be on the ballot in 2020, but a whole bunch of Republicans in Congress are. So they have to decide what they're going to do and what they're going to run on. What do you think that campaign looks like? Do they try to break from the president on cost of living and affordability issues? Do they just try to shift the themes of the election to go back to, you know, crime and

immigration? Do they just smile and go down with the ship? Like, what do they do? Do you remember when conservatives used to call liberals the beta cucks? Do I ever? Well, I would say, we have a party full of them now. And that is the GOP. I mean, it's, look, I think the shutdown is going to tell us a lot about the degree to which

pressure will, enough pressure will force him to break with Trump because everything that he's doing right now in terms of the shutdown is terrible politics for them. You know, we're talking about health insurance that's going to rise on 23 million Americans. We're talking about food stamps that keep 42 million people out of poverty, at least half of which live in Trump supporting red states, right? We're talking about basic sort of infrastructure concerns, whether you can fly in an airplane or not and feel safe that affect Americans across the country. And Republicans know they got to do something about this. And by the way, even if they don't want to do a deal with the Democrats, they're going to have to pay the piper when people in their own states say,

hey, man, I can't, I can't go to the doctor anymore. That's like the reality that awaits them. So if they're smart, they'll do something and they'll break with him because he obviously would be happy to see, you know, the country starve and get sick. But he's just, he is a, I really think this is real world sadism, the likes of which we have not seen in this century. So I think that'll be a litmus test. But I mean, it's, it's hard for me to imagine what exactly the Republican platform is beyond Trumpism. It's completely ideologically incoherent. It's nativism, but it's also some kinds of expansionism. It's a populism that is informed by crypto bros and kleptocracy. I mean, And it's completely retrograde.

There's a very strange and now semi-public streak of Nazism that runs through it, or at least dalliances with Hitler that I guess people text about regularly in Republican leadership circles. So, you know, I think that he's laid waste to one of the two parties in America, and it's utterly unclear to me what Phoenix rises from that ash heap. I'm not holding out a lot of hope. Yeah. So then let's talk about Democratic strategy for the midterms. The mood has obviously grown a lot more bullish since Tuesday.

Prop 50 passed in California. And then soon after that, Kansas Republicans announced that they're sort of dropping their effort to redraw the maps in Kansas. On the other hand, Jared Golden, a representative for Maine, Democrat for Maine, said he's not going to be running for re-election again. So it's going to be harder to keep that seat. Love it. Where's your head at on the House right now and sort of the campaign to take back the house? So one thing that's been kind of bubbling up and has been a natural break against how far Republicans can go and gerrymandering is that in order to make a blue seat red, you have to find those red votes somewhere. Where do you find them? Deeper red seats. And so it's all a negotiation.

And they do it behind the scenes. They don't act like, like no republic is going to go public and say, no, no, don't do this. I want to keep my seat. But Republican politicians, like Democratic politicians, are politicians. And they would much rather be in Congress in the minority than be lobbyists in the majority. They would. They want their jobs. They care about their jobs more than they do about a lot of stuff. And all of a sudden, wait a second, these numbers are not just bad. They're very bad. And maybe we've drawn some maps in Texas where it's possible that we've accidentally shaved off just a few too many Republicans in a district here and a district there. Which is why I think you see Mike Johnson out there today saying like, it's fine, it's fine,

right? Because a lot of what their plan is to do all of these gerrymanders is to reassure Republicans that they're not going to lose because they got a little too greedy. And I think that's why you see some of these plans going away. So that to me is what I take away from this so far. it has sent a nervous signal that they're in trouble, which maybe will protect us from how much gerrymandering they were planning to do and puts us in a position to win so, to win big if we do everything right,

and that's not a guarantee, to make it much harder for them to do the kind of shenanigans that Trump is clearly interesting in trying to drum up over the next year with intimidation, with threats of fraud, with schemes to grab voter machines, and all the rest. So nothing is written, but I feel like we all woke up rightly more hopeful today

than we did a week ago. So, Dan, the bulwark had a piece today that said that Democrats have even started to get bullish about retaking the Senate. So everyone knows, it is a steep hill. We would have to keep seats in Georgia and Michigan. We would have to flip Maine and North Carolina and then we need two of the following four,

Iowa, Ohio, Texas, and Alaska. And wait until I hear about their tattoos. There's a Senate race in Maine? What's that? There's a Senate race in Maine? There is a Senate race in Maine. I hadn't heard that. I finally remembered all the states on this one.

So, Dan, what do you think? Are you hopeful about the Senate? Did you ask this question for me? Is my job to raid on people's parade? course. Well, I'm not going to do that, John. All right, yeah. Dan. Dan. Look, if we are being honest here, it is a tough path. But I feel much better about that path after Tuesday, they went otherwise. Because if Spanberger and Cheryl had just won by the same margins that Kamala Harris won Virginia New Jersey by, I wouldn't

feel, I would think that path was closed off to us. Right. And so as you pointed out, and it's not just those seats we have to win. We also have to defend open seats in Michigan, New Hampshire, I would defend John Ossoff, right? I forgot, I forgot New Hampshire and Minnesota too. I was given us those, but all right. And so that is all doable, right? Not in the fact that Democrats just had their first non-federal statewide victories in Georgia in 30 years is, I think, a positive sign for John Ossov. And we have a very good candidate in North Carolina and Roy Cooper.

We have a very good candidate in Ohio and Sherrod Brown. We have an array of interesting candidates in Iowa, right? And then in Texas, we have several good candidates from James Tala Rico to Colin R. Red. And maybe our next guest, Jasmine Crackett. There we go. But here's the thing. Here's the argument for, I think Democrats, to the extent we can do it, have to push all of our chips into the table on the Senate.

Because the 28 Senate map is very bad. We have to defend seats in Pennsylvania. We say that now every time. two years the map is bad. Well, it's all degrees of, it's every, once every, once every six years, the map is good. Um, but we have to defend all those states we held, seats we held on to in 2022. Right. Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania. And there's very few pickup opportunities. Maybe just North Carolina. It's probably the most likely one. And so if we want to have any chance of a, of a governing trifecta for a Democratic president in 2029, we got to make up a lot of ground in

the Senate this cycle, even if we don't take the majority. Um, This is an only good vibes night, right? So we're all just bringing joy to the table. We don't want to bum anybody out. But I do think we should remember the 2022 midterms. Because I think we took some of the wrong lessons from them as a party. Remember, I think President Biden and the people around him saw the 22 midterms as an endorsement of him and his presidency and his political agenda.

When in reality, it was far more. likely that voters in Georgia and Pennsylvania were like, what the fuck? Herschel Walker? You want us to vote for Herschel Walker? Dr. Oz? You want us over Blake Masters in Arizona? Like the single most unappealing human being was maybe ever run for office? And so I think what that did was it delayed a conversation about Joe Biden's age and his capacity to run again. And it delayed a conversation about our gerontocracy. problem as a party and we just we can't we can't do that this time around um 2025 can't prevent us from talking about concerns we all have with leaders in the democratic party it can't uh prevent us from

talking about the need for term limits on congressional committees which i knew you wrote about this week in message box so that young members of congress can actually accrue power and advance um and we just we can't get too high on our own supply we get a little high i think there's an important important point here. Now I will return to my normal role as pessimist, which is even in Virginia, New Jersey, Republicans are more proper than Democrats. And so it's one way you could look at that is, well, I guess the party brand problem is not as big as we thought. That's a mistake, because in New Jersey and Virginia, the candidates were statewide candidates who had millions of dollars to define themselves, in some cases, in opposition to the party brand. When it comes

of winning the House, most congressional candidates, particularly challengers, are generic Democrats in the minds of voters. And so the work we have to do to improve the Democratic Party brand has to start now because we need a better party brand if we want to not just take the House, but have a real majority coming out of 2026. I mean, I just also want to sound a note of caution. I was talking to David Pluff last week for my podcast Runaway Country. I highly encourage you to subscribe to it. And we should assume he's going to try and steal the election, too. I mean, in addition to these sort of structural realities, there is the fact that he is announcing a plan

to try and steal the election through redistricting. He sent election monitors in to New Jersey and California. He will surely send them into blue states or contested races in 2026. He has installed notorious election deniers at the Department of Homeland Security, and he's willing to militarize the National Guard and send it into blue cities on a whim.

And I think we should all be prepared for Trump to pull all of those levers in 2026 because he is desperate, not to have congressional oversight. And the trick is for Democrats and citizens of this country to laugh when he says there's been fraud. It is a farce and he will try and claim it and Mike Johnson will try and claim it. And just like he's not seating Adolito Griehlva, if there's a narrow Democratic majority in the House come 2026, I can bet you Mike Johnson is not going to want to seat it. So everybody needs to be prepared for that reality and dig in

and make sure it doesn't come to fruition. And one way to reduce the chances of that happening is to turn out in such large numbers that it's not close. I think Trump's line in 24 was too big to rig. Yeah, exactly. To rig for us. All right, we'll be back with more news in a bit, but first.

Now it's time for a game. Donald Trump, Dr. Oz, and what sounded like either a filing cabinet filled with silver dollars that got sucked into a jet engine or Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., gathered in the Oval Office today for an historic announcement. They couldn't help but make it weird, so it's time to play. OK, stop.

You know the rules, and if you don't, you'll catch on quick. We're going to watch these goons strut their stuff, and I'll call OK, stop. We'll all descend like the keto-only vultures that we are. And then we'll roll the next clip. Are you guys ready? Mm-hmm. All right.

We have an update, Secretary Kennedy. We thought it was 125 million pounds. Mr. President, our estimate, based on the company numbers as well, is Americans will lose 135 billion pounds by the midterm. Okay, stop. They got their eyes on the prize. Americans voted to be made snatched. That's what 2024 was about.

Who was going to tighten this shit up? We're talking about the British currency? What are we talking about here? We're saying people got to get going. Aggregate weight loss? Yeah, this is about, he is adding up all the pounds that we are going to collectively lose. I will just note that for America to lose 135 billion pounds, collectively every person in this room is responsible for over 400 pounds of weight loss. So get on that stair master because we've got work to do to hit these tough goals from Dr. Oz.

And you can, like, get eaten that. you know, just to get it up and then get down again. Oh, that's good idea. I guess we have a little bit of time. Pad the stats. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

I just, I, like, what is, like, it's not like totally off. It's just like people who literally have their heads up their asses. When you host a Gatsby party, then go off on how much, how people are going to lose all this weight at the same time that you're refusing to pay out SNAP benefits and starving. 42 million people in this country. Like, what in the actual fuck? I mean, part of the strategy is keep grocery prices high. Right, yeah, I guess, yeah, that's one way to think about it.

Just so people understand, they've announced it that they're going to, they've done a deal where they're going to lower the price of drugs like Manjaro and Wegovi and Zepbound and Ozempic. But they, let's see what Trump had to say next about, they couldn't, they just, they can't help but step on a Reagan this. in these moments. Bobby, you haven't changed your view in Tylenol for women

or pregnant? No, as I said. There's some false reports out about Tylenol that Bobby changes you. I don't think he's changed. I'm not going to change until the science change.

Okay, stop. Did he have a long day? Did they move? Like, was he slipped something? He's like, oh my God. Tylenol. Did I take the Tylenol? He took the wrong pill.

That's what happened. He took the Xanax. What did he put in my Tylenol? He took the pill Biden took before that debate. Whatever. He wanted the pro-vigil. Yeah, that's my genuine theory. That's my genuine theory.

They gave him the downer instead of the upper. But back to this. So just to be clear, what this is a moment of, is Donald Trump interrupting? What is ultimately a good announcement for them to say, now, Bobby, there's some report. out there that you're not as insane as I, as everyone fucking thinks. That you're not out there telling people that they should,

that the Tylenol causes autism. And you still think that, right? You still think it's the Tylenol causing the autism, even though that's fucking nuts. He's like, absolutely, sir. Don't worry, sir. All right, let's keep going. I'm at a thousand percent, twelve hundred percent.

Nobody's ever said anything like this. Nobody else could have done it, but I say that modest. When I say that modestly. That's good. That was good. That's self-awareness. He knows that's a joke. That's good.

He got one. He got one. So this is John was referring to this earlier. He's lowered prices by 1,000 percent. Novo Nordic is paying you now. Take it. Take the shot. Can I have handing him out?

Is his chair too big? It looks too big, right? It looks too big. It is big. It is big, even when he leans back. He looks like a baby. It's... His posture is bad, right?

Because even, because when he's talking to RFK Jr., like he's back like this, it's a C curve. It's a C curve. He doesn't have the core strength. This guy's not done a... A couple things Donald Trump does not know how to do. Pay for gas. Use a self-checkout at CVS. Do any kind of obliques...

A crunch. Generate a PDF. Yeah. Pass the ice course. Yeah. All right, let's keep going. You know, leading U.S. company, leading European company, we've dropped in fertility drugs, so we'll make lots of Trump babies. I'm hoping by the midterms.

Okay, stop. Don't drink the water. It's not Tylenol. It's in the water. Don't boo. Fuck! And we're the ones that rig elections? We're hoping to have a lot of Trump babies by the midterms.

Suddenly they believe in replacement theory there. They're bringing in all the Trump babies. Are they Jewish? I don't know. And that's OK, stop. We'll be right back. Positive America is brought to you by Zbiotics pre-alcohol. Whether you're raising a glass to your team winning, catching up with old buddies back in town,

or just trying to stay sane with a house full of relatives, how you feel the next morning still matters. That's why I drink pre-alcohol. Zbiotics, pre-alcohol, probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by Ph.D. scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It's a buildup of this byproduct, not dehydration. That's to blame for rough days after drinking. Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Just remember to make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night. Drink responsibly, and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Love pre-alcohol, loves the biotics, have forever, have a subscription, comes to the house, and then I just make sure I hide them everywhere. So I never forget. And I I'm never without a Zibiotics just in case I want to drink. Even one drink makes you feel better, at least at my age. Make the most of every toast, tailgate, and touchdown this holiday season. Just don't forget to bring pre-alcohol along for the ride.

Go to Zbiotics.com slash cricket to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use cricket at checkout. Zbiotics is back with 100% money-back guarantee, so if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to Zbiotics.com slash cricket and use the code cricket at checkout for 15% off. I wonder how I'll feel when I'm John's age. All right, let's talk about the shutdown, which is now the longest in history. Yes, yes, boo.

Depending on who you listen to and when, it's either about to end soon or going to go on forever, which I'm sure nobody here wants, especially those of you who count on a paycheck from the federal government. Also those of us who hope. to someday get on a plane out of D.C. The Trump administration has decided that starting Friday, the FAA will be reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 different markets. A court is now forcing them to use emergency funds

to pay out SNAP benefits, so that's good. Don't get too excited. Because now money for winter heating assistance programs is on hold, which could potentially leave 6 million households with no way to stay warm. So Senate Democrats have been negotiating with Republicans over a possible deal on Obamacare subsidies to end the shutdown, though Mike Johnson threw a bunch of cold water on that. Today, when he said he will not promise a vote on Obamacare subsidy extensions in the House. But the best

idea, shockingly, comes from none other than Donald Trump. Let's listen. Remember, Republicans, regardless of the Schumer shutdown, the Democrats will terminate the filibuster. the first chance they get. Yeah, we will. Don't be weak. Don't be stupid Republicans. These deranged Democrat politicians will never again have the chance

to destroy America. They try to destroy your country. Republicans, you will rue the day that you didn't terminate the filibuster. There we go, and he's right, he's right. Donald Trump were a 2021 episode of Potsave America. And it'll threaten us with a good time. I'm going to send him an abolish the filibuster tea from

the Crooked merch store. So, Republican senators have already said, absolutely not. The votes aren't there. John Thin said the votes aren't there. People like Tom Tillis said, I will never vote for this. Get rid of the filibuster. Alex, what do you think the Democrats should be holding out for here? Because we're going to start getting more flight delays.

There's the heating assistance, the snap benefits, even though the court ordered them to pay them out. The emergency funding is going to run out. What do you think? Okay. Let's just be clear. Donald Trump, this summer, showed that he is willing to unilaterally rescind congressional funding. Like, that is something that's not going to get tackled in all this, the rescission aspect of all this. Like, he'll do whatever the fuck he wants to do to some degree.

And so Democrats, I think the people that are rightfully holding out right now are saying, how do we have any guarantee that the Americans we are talking to who are terrified that they're going to lose their medical care will have any recourse unless we get something done in Congress. And even then, how do we know that Trump's not just going to undo all of it? There's so much uncertainty. And I think we have to look at this in two ways. There is the immediate pain, which is very real, right? But make no mistake, Donald Trump is withholding the SNAP money.

The money is there. It is in the emergency reserves. It is why federal district court judges are saying, give the money up. American people need to eat. We're not a country that starves. own. We have the money. That is Donald Trump's doing. That is not congressional Democrats. And congressional Democrats are looking for a resolution to a very urgent problem. I don't know

how many people are doing open enrollment started November 1st. We talked to someone this week on the podcast whose medical care is going from $100 a month to $886 a month. Jesus. And this is for care that she needs in order to be a functional person in the workplace and in life. Right? This is not an abstract showdown in Congress. This is people really trying to find an answer that is so urgent and so pressing in the lives of people across this country. So I get it. Like there's the sort of the narrative here of how long Democrats hold up. I think what they're trying to do is get some assurance from Republicans that they're going to fix this problem. People can't go without health. You can't 23 million Americans can't go without health care. That is catastrophic for our country. morally and economically. And, like, I'm not going to fly out. I'm probably going to be here for three months or maybe get deported.

I don't even know what happens to me in Washington, D.C., because, like, my airport's closed and whatever else. Like, this is not, what's happening in the airports is real. All of these things are practical realities that I think need to be dealt with. But let us not put it all on Democrats' play. The reason the worst of this is happening is because we have a recalcitrant sadist in the White House

who does not want to take. take care of the American people. And I guess I don't blame the Democrats that this week, after all these gains, are saying, maybe we don't cave 48 hours after the country showed us, they want us to fight. So I get it. I don't think it's going to go on forever,

but I absolutely understand the strategy to push the Republican Party as far as they possibly can, especially because the president of the United States is saying, this shutdown's a fucking disaster for us. Use the leverage, dudes. That's what I say. Tommy, what do you think?

You think Democrats will stand strong? Yeah, I mean, look, I know he's going to keep ratcheting up the pain, but I don't know for sure, but I suspect that voters will continue to blame the administration more than they blame Democrats, who they intuitively know have no power, especially when it comes to, like, the FAA or the, you know, snap benefits or something like that.

And my message, if I were in a Democratic leader, would be to continue talking about the reason for the shutdown, the fact that, as Alex just said, healthcare prices are about to double, triple, quadruple for people. I would also make the point that Republicans are not serious about ending the shutdown. Like, the Republicans in the House have been out of session this whole time. They're at home, dicking around in their districts.

They're not here, like, trying to cut a deal. And Trump has been even worse. He has just checked out. You know, like, he should be negotiating every day. If I were the President of the United States and I wanted to end the shutdown, I would call the congressional leaders to the White House. house, lock them in the Roosevelt

room and say you're not leaving until we have a fucking deal. We're going to red wedding this thing. I like that. You know, metaphorically. Metaphorically red wedding. And so, you know, but like instead, Trump is giving us a gift,

which is throwing great Gatsby parties at Mar-a-Lago and rebuilding, you know, tearing down and then building the East Wing and shaking down corporations to pay for it. And so like, like, none of this is to minimize the harm that is happening because of the shutdown. Like, I'm flying out on

Saturday. I'm not excited about it. The snap cuts are sadistic. That is the right word for them. There are all these families up in Maine that won't get a bucket of money called LIHEAP, which basically helps low-income people literally heat their homes when it's too cold. But my message to those

people and Democrats who are worried about that is I think Donald Trump is coming for those programs anyway. You know? And I think we got to stand up and win this fight now if we want to defend those things later. Also, like, I find it very odd that Donald Trump, the day after the election,

basically admitted that they lost because of the shutdown and everyone's mad about the shutdown. And so then his next move was, let's make it even more painful by shutting down the airports, cutting the energy assistance. I don't know that's the smartest political move, but, you know.

And also, I'm going to make it about the filibuster, which is ostensibly saying Democrats are lockstep and united and implacable force we cannot defeat. The only hope is that I get the Republicans to bend and break on this issue, which they are reluctant to do because for the same reason, they are annoyed by Trump putting all the pressure on them,

because the second the filibuster doesn't exist, four of the least conservative Republicans in the Senate are the bulwark against the dumbest shit that the House Republicans can come up with on a Tuesday, which is what they're like, no thank you. We morally support the filibuster. Also, without it, our lives are fucking terrible. But also he, by pushing them so publicly, he's also admitting that it's not Democrats keeping

the government shut down. Republicans tomorrow could vote to change the rules in the Senate, get rid of the filibuster, and open the whole government. If you were trying to lose the shutdown fight, this is exactly how you do it. You would be the people who are most blamed for it, but then you would then make everyone's life worse, therefore making them matter at you because they blame you. And then you would take your, then you would

basically affirm the other side's message that you're the ones who shut the government down in some sort of weird nationally televised address. And then you would show everyone how you renovated your bathroom. And then go golfing. I mean, you have flapper parties at your country club in Florida with the, with the

worst dressed, worst work faced people. What? You know what I mean. They're basically wearing masks. It's basically eyes wide shut from that guy. One member of Congress with lots of thoughts on how

her fellow Republicans have handled the shutdown and the election. We already know? It's not Jasmine Crockett yet. Argy Taylor Green. Here she is. I believe the election yesterday was a referendum on not delivering what November 2024 was about. If you were to be able to talk

to Mike Johnson right now, you would tell them what. I tell them the same thing I told him last week, and I yelled at them on the phone on our GOP conference call. What did you say? Is that where is our health care plan? It's non-existent. Don't really know what to do, do you? I like the jacket, too. Do we clap?

Do we know? What do we do? Green also today went out of her way to say nice things, of all people, Nancy Pelosi. When news of Pelosi's retirement broke, Marjorie Taylor Green told CNN that Pelosi, quote, had an incredible career for her party and that she's very impressed at her ability to get things done. Not wrong. Yeah. Yes. Nancy Pelosi.

You might be wondering about Margarety Taylor Green, like, what the fuck is going on? Well, notice reported. on Wednesday that Marjorie Taylor Green has been telling close friends that in 2028 she might run for president. Love it, you clap it up for content.

Love it, you've been working on the exploratory committee. The Marjorie Diller Green situation is so interesting because she's saying things that we agree with, but we don't want to give her credit. And I think that that's pretty justified. Because when someone evolves dramatically, you would

expect them to acknowledge it in some way and say here's why and here's the reason I'm changing. But she just showed up different. And so I don't know if we're living in a Dave situation and that there was a woman who looked like

Marjorie Taylor Green who had an employment operation, and suddenly there's a knock on the door, and she's needed for a daring escapade. At the same time, like, I think when someone who used to be much worse suddenly becomes much better, we shouldn't be upset about it, but I also don't want to go too far. And in some ways, it's like an old David Axelon thing, which is if you see a bear on a unicycle, you don't criticize the technique, you just think, wow. Look at them go. And so that's where I'm at now.

I'm just like, wow. Look at her go. And that's where I reserve judgment. I'm curious what Jasmine Crockett thinks about it. End of thought. So if the bear rides that unicycle all the way to 2028, she will have to face the current frontrunner for the 2028 nomination,

who Donald Trump had some wonderful things to say about this week when he was comparing his own vice president to his quieter Chinese counterpart. They have the equivalent of a vice president. He was, I said, are you going to answer my question? And he's like, he doesn't move. I say, what's wrong with this question?

I will answer all questions. Why don't you behave like that? JD doesn't behave like that. J.D. buds into conversations. What's it? I want to have that for at least a couple of days, okay, Jay. This fucking guy won't shut up. I would say, Mike Pence only spoke when spoken to,

and Trump tried to murder him, so. Reminds me the Chappelle show skit? He's like, you sit when you pee, J.D. It's a prison joke. Never mind. I got it. Dan, how do you think Trump is going to start reacting to all of this 20,000?

28 chatter among Republicans that basically highlights his lame duck status. I think Donald Trump, as any man filled with self-confidence and dignity, will just step back and allow the process to play itself out. Yeah. No, no. Right off into the sunset. Yes. I mean, it's going to be really interesting because there's a very good chance that Donald Trump

becomes more unpopular over time, right? He is, he really is a lame duck. Like, we keep thinking that this is, because Donald Trump was just a lot. elected, this is like the equivalent of Donald Trump in 2017 or Bill Clinton in 1995 or Barack Obama after his in 2009. No, this is the end of Trump's term, right? He is in lame duck status. Even he said he'd never be on the ballot again.

And lame duck presidents tend to fade into the background. But what's interesting is, as Donald Trump becomes unpopular, the Republican primary will remain about loyalty and fealty to Donald Trump because even as bad as they got their kicked on Tuesday in Virginia, the people who voted for the Republican candidate gave Trump a 94% approval rating. 92% in New Jersey. And so he remained incredibly popular with the people who decide the election. So, like, J.D. Vance is going to have to massively kiss up to Trump to get his support

to get the nomination and then be unable to run away from, which is exactly what happened to Jack Chittarelli in New Jersey, right? So it could be very interesting, though, it is. be to our favor probably. Yeah. Tommy, Marjor Taylor Green and Vance aside, the intramaga battle for the future of the party has been raging this week. But unlike Democrats, instead of populism versus abundance, it's populism versus an abundance of Nazis. Yes. You want to explain what's been going on over at the Heritage Foundation? I would love to. Literally nothing I'd like more. So the

inciting incident, as they say, was Tucker Carlson having on his show a guy named Nick Fuentes. Oh. You know his work. For those who don't know Fuentes, Nick Fuentes said, Hitler was cool.

He's a Holocaust denier. He wants to repeal the 19th Amendment. And he said, Jim Crow was better for black people and what's the big deal if they had to use separate water fountains and go to separate schools. He is a vile, racist,

misogynist, in-cell, like genuinely awful person, and Tucker had him on this show and just didn't push him on any of these views for, like, I think, literally two hours. And so this interview goes out, people are horrified. And then out of nowhere, the president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, releases this video on Twitter where he, like, defends his relationship with Tucker and Heritage's relationship with Tucker. And even worse, he refers to the people critical of Tucker having Fuentes on his show as globalists, which is Code 4. Hi. And he said that they were part of a venomous coalition, which is, again, creepy, spidey senses. And this led to this massive rupture

within the Heritage Foundation itself and all these like town hall meetings from the organization are leaking out. And also within the Republican Party, because like there are people that just think Nick Fuentes is vile and beyond the pale and should not be part of this group. And so, you know, This issue exploded this week, but the underlying fight has been boiling under the surface of the MAGA coalition for a very long time. Nick Fuentes was like Charlie Kirk's chief antagonist, and when Charlie Kirk was killed, Fuentes has tried to step into the fore and take over that leadership mantle. And a lot of times this gets discussed euphemistically, like it's a foreign policy issue, or like it's about U.S. support for Israel or what does America first really mean? But really it's like blood and soil

nationalism versus kind of like civic nationalism or like a fidelity to the constitution or ideas. And so Trump, I think, has kept a lid on this thing for a while. But the further he is out of the scene and the more he is viewed as a lame duck, I think the more it's going to come to the fore. And the other piece of this that is really important is that Nick Fuentes, hates J.D. Vance. Hates him. Calls him vile things that I will not repeat because it's just pretty ugly. And so this kind of

when you look closely, like this is a fight about the Heritage Foundation and Tucker Carlson and who can go on a podcast. But really, I think it's like a proxy battle for who is going to determine the future of the Republican Party and just how scary it could be if they go further to like the Fuentes right.

I will just say to that Nick Fuentes hates J.D. Vance, which makes it all the more notable that J.D. Vance has said nothing about this. And in fact, after the mid-term, after the, after Tuesday, had this long tweet where he

was like, enough of this infighting between Republicans. We're all on the same page about blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So he actually sort of implicitly acknowledged that he knows about the fight because he is extremely online like us, but yet has refused to condemn

it, which tells you a lot about J.D. Vance's thoughts about 2028. And Dick Fuentes attacks J.D. Vance's wife and kids. Yep. Specifically. Can I add... Wait, why? Because of their race. What is it about them

that's different? I don't know about you guys, but like we talk a lot about the manosphere. Why in the manosphere on the right does Hitler keep coming up? Like, why?

Is anybody wondering why the Third Reich is like catnip to so many Republicans and conservatives? I mean, this is, I feel like this is actually like a development that needs to be, like, over and over again, it's like, oh, on their text messages or maybe explicitly on their podcast or whatever. Like, they're texting about Hitler, they're talking about Nazis, they're talking about their sympathies with Nazis and Hitler. I mean, I think we talk about, there's been, I think, an overlay of acceptability when it talks about the alienation of young men. But, like, the fact that one of our parties is, you know, giving quarter to the most violent, virulent strain of 20th century politics, the fucking Hitler and the Nazis, and that somehow is dovetailing with the agenda in and around masculinity should be alarming to everybody in this country. And, like, I think needs to be addressed head on. Like, what is it about your version of yourself that finds such kinship with Adolf?

Hitler. Like, this is a fucking problem for this country that in the last three weeks, there have been multiple headlines about Republicans talking about and supporting the actions of Hitler and the Third Reich. Like, this is a problem in America. That was the part that was, I think,

chilling in what happened after the Heritage, because, like, Nick Fuentes is horrible. But then there's reporting about what happens inside of Heritage and some of the younger staffers being upset by Kevin Roberts, walking back what he said, which was some version of, we don't want to punch, I'm paraphrase,

but we don't want to cancel people, we don't want to punch to the right. And there was sympathy for that. And that makes me really, really nervous that there is a kind of cohort of younger activist right-wing people that are getting drawn in this way. It's a very old story. And there is something, at the end of saying the establishment is terrible, everything you've been taught is terrible, the medical establishment is lying to you, the elite, are lying to you. That is a path that you can follow, and at the end of it is the Jews. It's a, like, it's a well-worn path that people take, and it is very, like, it is, it should be alarming to us, you know, the people are like, oh, the kids today on the left with their pronouns.

I know. And it's like, look what the fuck is happening over there. And I do think it starts ironically. It starts as like, I'm going to, I'm going to take down these sacred ideas of like, oh, you can't say something good about Hitler, and it starts out as being kind of fun and a little bit edgy, right? It's rebellious, and it's hard to be rebellious on the right. You're defending ancient traditional patriarchal structures, so you've got to dig deep. And so you find, and so you find, oh, like, wow, boy, I'm going to really get the squares, because I'm going to make a joke about gas chambers. And ironic thoughts lead to suddenly, like, unalloyed versions of them,

and we see that online all around us all the time. And, like, it is a very dangerous thing. It is one of the most dangerous. Anti-Semitism on the left, it exists. This is a threat to Jews in America. It is. And from the quotes that Tommy was reading, too, because I do think that it's all about Hitler, and everyone's like, Hitler, history.

It's like, no, no, no, don't want women to vote. Like, are unbelievably misogynist, black people, Latinos, like, all of it. It is, gay is, it is everyone, right? And they are very open about it, and they're very transparent about it and they do not care who knows. It is just, it's very, it's like,

something that stuck with me that you said, Tommy is like, oh, and they're all having town halls at Heritage, like, what the fuck is the town hall about? You know, it's like, let's have a town hall. Nazis, yay or nay? What do we think? We're really struggling in the organization. What should we do?

Should we condemn the Nazis or no? I'm not sure. Well, there's a real debate. Yeah, which is fucking crazy. One of the leak recordings that came out was Kevin Roberts's speechwriter was like, well, I saw that, you know, there was an opening for,

for everyone to come to a Shabbat dinner if they wanted, but it's against my religion's good one. Will they be mandated? It's like, dude, you're like triggered by getting invited to a fucking dinner. Relax, relax, a little heritage goon.

Well, I eagerly await J.D. Vance's statement on the whole thing. Yeah, me too. Under Doug Emhoff, the Shabbats would have been mandatory. I'm sorry. When we come back, Dan interviews Representative Jasmine Crockett.

Pod Save America is brought to you by Wild Alaskin Company. I'm going to cook tonight, and if I were to cook fish without Wild Alaskin Company, it would be so annoying because you had to go to the store, and then you've got to be like, all right. And you know, you've got to wonder. And it's like, which, I don't know how to pick from these things. I don't know. I don't know how to do it. And then it's like, better get home quick because there's fish in the car.

Wild blasting Company is the best way to get wild caught perfectly portioned nutrition. and done seafood delivered directly to your door. Trust me, if you haven't tasted fish, that's good. I really do like Wild Alaskan Company. I've made salmon, some white fish from them, a bunch of different things, and it's always been great. The box comes, and then you can just take, you know, the fish out, and you put it in the fridge overnight, and the next day, you have, like, perfect, really great-tasting

fish ready to go. I made a miso salmon. I made a butterpoach salmon. I'm thinking all kinds of things. I made a salmon over cabbage, a one pot dish. It was very good. I made a curry, like a coconut curry thing with some white fish. That was great.

Wild Alaskan is 100% wild caught, never farmed. That means there are no antibiotics, GMOs, or additives just clean, real fish that support healthy oceans and fishing communities. Wild Alaskan fish is frozen off the boat to lock in taste, texture, and nutrients like omega-3s. Wildcaught from Alaska, every order supports sustainable harvesting practices, and your membership delivers flexible shipments, expert tips, and truly feel good seafood. Try at risk free 100% much. money back guarantee. If you're not completely satisfied with your first box, Wild

Alaskin Company will give you a full refund, no questions asked, no risk, just high quality seafood. Not all fish are the same. Get seafood you can trust. Go to wildelaskin.com slash crooked for $35.5 off your first box of premium wildcaught seafood. That's wildelaskin.com slash cricket for 35% off your first order. Thank you, Wild Alaskin Company for sponsoring this episode. She's been in Congress for only a short period of time, but she's become one of the most prominent voices in the Democratic Party. Please welcome to the stage.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. I like the lights being up. I can see everybody. They're pretty excited to see you. All right. Okay, sexes. Oh, we're going to do that. We're going to get it out real quick, real quick. Bleach, blonde, bad bill, butch, bye.

I'm glad we did that. Okay. So we've been talking about the great news from Tuesday, right? As you look at the results, what do you take from it? Do you think this is a referendum on Trump, affordability, something else? I think it's all of the above. First of all, I think that it's great that it's clear that Americans understand that Trump cannot do this by himself.

There are all these feeble Republicans that are allowing him to break everything in America. And so we can't give a pass. You can't give a pass to the House Republicans, the Senate Republicans, or even those on the local and state levels who refuse to protect the people that elected them, whether it means that you're going against this administration when it fails to send money. that it was supposed to send to your state, you are always supposed to remember who it is that you represent. But when it came down to money that this administration

and Elon Musk decided to play with, it was the dem AGs that were going after this administration. No Republican AGs were stepping up. When you look at the governors and the mayors that are protecting their people from the disastrous raids that we see ice making, again, it is those local electives. And so I am so proud of the American people understanding that it's not just Trump.

It's everybody else who has decided that they are going to participate in the coup. So we're here in Washington, D.C. in the midst of the longest government shutdown in history. Yeah. As we, none of your Republican colleagues have been here for like six weeks now, I think. Yeah, I lost count. Um, there is reporting that a group of Senate Democrats are open to a deal with Republicans to open the government in exchange for a vote on the Obamacare subsidies. What do you, what's your reaction to that deal?

And what would it take to get your vote to reopen the government? Um, so first of all, I'd have to see it. Um, I almost need Trump to sign and blude. Uh, I mean, I say that very jokingly, but, uh, part of me, like, Yeah. Because here's the deal. What we have seen out of this administration, as soon as he came in, all the things that we voted for in a bipartisan way that were signed into law by Joe Biden, he single-handedly

decided, you know what, I don't like these parts. So therefore, I'm just going to ignore it. Whether we're talking about USAID, which nobody is talking about anymore, but I still remember, he for instance there is supposedly clarifying language on that every federal worker who's been furloughed is going to be paid but like what if he decides he doesn't want to because he's already been flirting with that so when I say that he's going to have to like also sign in his blood what I mean by that is that there has to be an enforcement mechanism there one that says If for some reason, you know, the president signs it into law but then fails to abide by it,

then it collapses or then, you know, there's an automatic trigger for more money going into things or something like that. We had to endure a situation like that before under Biden where we were on a timeline to get our appropriations done. And if we didn't get them done, then like more and more money ticked up to like what the Democrats want it. So they've got to put a trigger in there of some sort to make sure that the American people and what the Democrats, I'm putting that together, because Democrats are fighting harder

for Republican constituents than the Republicans. I mean, that is the thing, right? These Obamacare subsidies that they so very much own to extend, mostly impact people in red states, right? The states that didn't expand Medicaid. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, my state, obviously. is one that's in a very awful situation for a gazillion reasons.

We could go down the list. But, you know, it's Florida. Florida has the highest number of persons that are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act. And so I want people to understand that this is kind of like, in Texas, we have this thing called the Texas Two-Step that actually is multiple reasons we have a Two-Step. We have different Two-Stips. But anyway, it's almost like a Two-Step because it was the big, ugly bill that meant that people's insurance premiums were going to go up. And then basically the Republicans have said,

oh, while you're down, let's go ahead and kick you because those subsidies that normally would help out and make sure that if you are on the marketplace, you can then reduce your out of pocket. We're also going to let that expire. At the same time that we gave permanent tax cuts to people that keep making more and more money, yet we're in a country that has not raised the minimum wage to a very minimum of $8. I mean, we had seven something, you know. So it's insane that it is clear that this administration is all about making sure that they can widen that wealth gap.

And it is so stark. I mean, you look at Amazon and how many people they have laid off. You look at UPS laying off. We know that we've lost approximately a million jobs in the job market. And it ain't even been 12 months, y'all. like this is super bad and it's you know a combination of what the federal government has done to roll back monies that we give out because even if you're not an actual federal government worker we are number one the largest employer in this country number two we give out money to so many other people that sustain them so for instance there's so many people that are concerned about head start and what is happening to head start in the midst of the shutdown right and listen I ain't got no kids but I know some of y'all do and from what I hear it's expensive to raise these children

and so you know when you think about it when people are saying hey I'm going to have to leave the workforce because taking care of my child is cost prohibitive like I can't like it's just better for me to stay at home these are the decisions that people are having to make and to have someone who literally I don't know if he just seen now Okay, I do know he is senile. But also, I don't know if he's saying things like, oh, cost have gone down. And everything's affordable because he's just clueless?

Or did he see now? Now, I feel like it's both. Yeah, I'm with y'all. I feel like it's both. Speaking of the president, he likes to talk about you a lot, right? Even just recently, last week or so, we gave some bizarre answer about why he can remember third terms. he brought your name up. Sort of how does it feel to live rent-free in his head?

I will say that you never could have told me, number one, that I would be in Congress. This is definitely not what I grew up as a little girl one to be. And number two, you never could have convinced me that there would be a president of these United States that may not know anybody else's name besides AOC. He knows AOC too. I mean, everything's falling apart.

And somehow he finds time to worry about a very junior member in the house. It is beyond me. But I think that it goes to show you that Trump may even understand people better than my party apparatus. To the extent that, just work with me for a second, to the extent that he understands who it is that actually communicates with people. And I don't think he cares about the titles. He cares about who he believes is an effective communicator who can take him down.

And so I do have to give it to him. Now, granted, he doesn't understand. You don't say your opposition's name over and over. It just elevates them more. He doesn't get that part yet. But I do think that he sees the fact that there's, you know, these huge crowds that show up for Alex wherever she travels to across this country. He sees how big of a following she has.

And I think that there was one point in time when they really tried to minimize her and they tried to pretend as if she really was not a big deal. And now they can't hide from it. They know that she's kind of a big deal. And like to your point, right, Trump knows who you are because you're very good at getting and holding attention. You're on every platform. You're omnipresent. You're on cable news. You're doing Kendrick Lamar memes on TikTok. You're out there. And since the 24 election, there's been this big conversation among Democrats about how to get attention, right? Because we accurately thought we lost

the attention more than 2024. Like, how do you think about what you do? And why don't more Democrats try to do what you and AOC and others are doing? Yeah. So Alex and I are different in how we, I mean, Alex came in being viral, right? She had this viral campaign video, and so people really wanted to know more. And I think that she spent a lot of time building a rapport with those online. I mean, she came in off of the support of those that were online.

She still dominates as the grassroots fundraiser. The highest fundraising member in the house is Alex. So, and these are small dollar donors. right? And so I think that she's been very effective at really holding kind of the trust and building that rapport with those that are online. With me, it's been a little bit crazier, for sure. Alex hasn't necessarily had all the crazy moments that I have. But I do think the fact that I didn't sign up for this job, like in the sense that obviously I ran, so I signed up. But in the sense that I never felt entitled to this seat.

We have a lot of people on both sides of the aisle that, you know, their parents were in politics and it was always ordained. They were going to be this great politics, you know, all the things, right? That's not my story. And so I am very comfortable in my skin. I'm okay with being my authentic self that may not be everyone's cup of tea. Because I think that it is. important for the people to feel like they have somebody that they can trust and not look at

and think, oh, I'm getting your representative. I'm not getting the real you. When I say that I am fighting for people's lives, I want them to believe me when I say it because it's true. And I think my experience in the courtroom, having practiced for, I think it was about 16, 17 years before I had to stop practicing once I got to Congress. But I typically represented people who usually felt voiceless as a court-appointed attorney, as a public defender, and, yeah, and so I know the real struggles. I know the real causes of so much crime because I've had these conversations, and I know how to see people that typically feel unseen.

And I think it's just my experience, but I knew how to talk to them, whether we were sitting in the jail and I was in some jeans and jays, or if I had to go into court and make sure that I was suited and booted and would represent very well and make sure that the jury did not feel like I was separating them because I could talk to you no matter what part of the spectrum you came from when we were picking the jury. But by the time I've got to argue to the judge, I got to know what I'm talking about. Now, the jury may not know what I'm saying. They may not understand, but they're seeing if the judge is saying that I'm winning the arguments and things like that, and they're hearing me in that way. And so I think that I just have a better idea of how to understand my

audience and make sure that I am effectively communicating with whomever it is that I'm trying to reach. So you said earlier this month that you are thinking about running for Senate in Texas. Can you talk a little... I don't know how many Texas we got here, but they're excited. So can you talk a little bit about your decision making, your thinking there and when you might make a decision? So I won't make a decision. Well, okay, I'll tell you this. If I make a decision, it will be before December 8th, but it will not become public until December 8th. That is for sure.

December 8th, that's the filing deadline. Yeah, it'll be the last minute. Yes, yes, that part. So here's the deal. I only said this once as I was campaigning in California for Prop 50. I let the cat out the bag. Yes, yes. Go California.

I let the cat out the bag that I have no intentions of being in Congress for 30, 40 years. And so, yes, yes. Well, no, no, no, not that part. But yes, not being there forever. So for me, I honestly had planned to go after Ted Cruz. I was strategically planning to go after Ted Cruz. And so I was like, I will do all things and I will prepare. And most people don't know that when I first got into elected office for the state

house, I'd been told that a state senator was going to retire. And so I was actually preparing for that race. And then my state representative ended up becoming the mayor and there was a special election. And I wasn't ready. And I was like, but here we are. We're going. So I went.

When I went to the state house, I only did one term. I thought I would do a total of four terms. That's when I would fully vest on the state house level. And my predecessor called me and said, I'm going to retire. and you should be the one to replace me. Again, not ready. And I jumped into that race. Only, it was, I announced the Wednesday that was the day before Thanksgiving.

So it was the very end, again. Biling was the beginning of December. And so even though I was the last one in, we came out on top, and I was able to make it through the primary and get to Congress. In this scenario, I will tell you that I am so scared that I don't know where our country, will be in four years, that I don't know that I can wait the four years. I truly believe in the fierce urgency of now. When I say I am scared, I am scared. I also know that there are those that believe running for Senate in Texas or running statewide in Texas is just like a dummy

mission. I get it. I mean, it's like every once in a while we get everybody jazzed up And the country is like, it's going to happen. And then they tune in to Texas, and they like, Texas does what Texas does, right? And so here's my analysis. What I believe is, is number one, we've seen that the people are frustrated. And so that's number one. And we know that the last time Cruz ran, that was in a Trump backlash year. That was when Beto came within a little less than three points.

So, yeah, so I say the generic Democrat on this ballot should probably be within three, somewhere between three and five points. I truly believe that just because it's such a bad time for people, right? But the question is, he does, he does. And so does Kim Paxton. So here's the deal. the Republicans, the NRC, has decided that they don't want Ken Paxson because he's a uniquely vulnerable, terrible candidate. And so they have been investing in the primary to try to beat him

because he's so bad. And now when I looked at the fundraising, it looks like they've dried up some of his donors as well. They're doing everything that they can to hopefully try to make it to where he's not the nominee. Now, if Texas isn't in play, why is it that they would be playing so hard, right? So that's number one. But the question overall is this. Is there a candidate that can get people that have never, ever wanted to vote or never paid attention to politics to show up?

I do believe I can. I do. But me believing versus me getting the data to support it is a whole other story. So, you know, there was polling that came out today that suggested that I am the strongest to win the general as well. But I got to do my own internal. So we are finalizing what that looks like because I don't know if you've ever participated in a poll. But normally what they do is they say, do you plan to vote in the next, I know, because everybody's like, who y'all poll? Because you didn't poll me.

Right, I know. I get it. But they always ask, do you plan to vote in the next election? And then if somebody says no, they terminate the poll. And what we need to do is we need to dig a little deeper and ask people, well, if this person was on the ballot or this person was on the ballot or this person was on the ballot, would that make a difference? And I think the reason that we ended up with a surprise candidacy in a Barack Obama was a couple of things.

He did something that no other candidate had done. He inspired people, and he made them believe. And so it was hard to poll for him because there were so many new people getting engaged. There's another candidate that has done that to us more than once. It's the current president. The president is so difficult to poll for because he pulls people that would never engage in politics, and he pulls them in. And so, you know, it's going to be a really tight deadline on finishing up on getting our data in. But once we get it, that's probably going to be my final kind of conversation.

I've talked to some really high people, I'll say it that way, that are also trying to think and strategize with and for me about whether or not this makes sense. All right, so we'll check in with you on December 8th. Yes, December 8th. Okay. The Congresswoman has graciously agreed to stay and play a game with us, but before everyone else comes out, give it up for Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. Jackson, create an unprecedented international tribunal to hold the highest-ranking Nazi officials accountable. Among them, U.S. Army psychiatrist, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Kelly, is assigned the extraordinary task of assessing the mental state of Herman Goring, the notorious former Reichs Marshal and Hitler's second-in-command. During this trial of the century, Dr. Kelly becomes

locked in a psychological duel that reveals a sobering truth, ordinary men can commit extraordinary evil. Nuremberg, written and directed by James Vanderbilt, starring Russell Crow, Rami Malik, Leah Woodall, and Michael Shannon. Now playing in theaters. Tickets are on sale now at Nuremberg-film.com. That's N-U-R-E-M-B-E-R-G-Dash-Film. Here I stand between two teams across the familiar divide. On one side, John Favro, Tommy Vitor, and Dan Pfeiffer, three alpha males.

Testosterone, protein, and liver. lead from that protein ripping through their veins. And as we can see, just by looking at them, despite their brave faces, these are lonely men. These are the faces of the male loneliness epidemic. Laughing, but on the verge of tears. On the other side. We have Alex Wagner and Jasmine Crockett.

Here we have two women being asked to interact with men who are no match for their talents and abilities. What is a woman, the right asks, a person who has to do that? Yeah. And so it's time for a game we call gender. I hardly know her. George Soros has tasked all of us

with destroying the gender binary. But we're going to put a pin in that tonight because it's time for little boys versus girls. Will there be a lightning round that challenges the very foundations of this game and human society itself? Perhaps are you both ready? Yes. And already a little mad at me? Yeah.

Question one for John, Tommy, and Dan, according to an NBC poll, 20% of adult men under 30 years old say they own or trade crypto. What is the share of women under 30 who say they do the same within 10 points? What's the percentage for men? It was 20% of men, you have to guess the percentage for women under 30. If you're within 10 points, I'll give it to you. Five! That guy is a strong feeling at five. I was going to say five, actually.

Five? Why aren't we saying 10? Because then we win either way? Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Because I'm assuming it's on us one of us. You're good. Ten.

Six percent. You got it. Shouldn't have given us the, you shouldn't have spotted us to 10. I'm trying to be generous. or a mistake won't happen again. All right, over to the ladies. According to research released in September, what percentage of American men,

18 to 49, have an active sports betting account? You also have to guess the percentage within 10 points. I think it's high. Like 60? 55. 60 to 70. Yeah, I'm going to say, let's do 60. 60.

60. No. It's 48%. You're so close. Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! That's pretty high. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Next question.

Okay, okay, whatever. And Alex, which tall drink of water formerly of Euphoria and Saltburn is currently starring in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein? Jacob, um, oh my God, Jacob, Delorre, DeLorea, Jacob, you got it.

It is Jacob Allerty. You both got it. Oh, wow. Oh, look at that. Okay. Why do you cast a hot guy to look like that? I don't know. I don't know.

Why do they have Chris Pratt do Mario's voice? Doesn't make any fucking sense. Those used to go to voice actors. Now it goes to the... That's not what this game is about. All right. Now over to the boys. Who wrote the novel Frankenstein?

Mary... Mary Shelley? Fuck, yeah, they got it. I'm going to try to... dump them. All right. Question for, we'll start with Alex and Jasmine.

Crockett, Congresswoman. Can I call you Jasmine for any of the game? Okay, I'm sorry. We were disrespectful. It just said I wrote the name just for myself. According to men, surveyed by YouGov, this is the most beloved actor in America today,

and I will give you hints. This person starred in the Shawshank Redemption, Deep Impact, and Seven. Isn't that Morgan Freeman? Morgan Freeman. Morgan Freeman. You got it. Question for John, Tommy, and Dan. According to women surveyed by YouGov,

this is the most beloved actor in America. This person starred in Unforgiven Outbreak and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. Come on, guys. Kevin Koster? Wrong. It's Morgan Freeman. He's beloved.

by all genders. He was in Robin Hood, Prince of Theat. Of course he is. He helps him get out of there. Morgan Freeman. Morgan Freeman for president. All right. According to NBC news polling, both Gen Z men and women who voted for Harris selected having a job or career you find fulfilling

as their number one personal indicator of success. Gen Z women who voted for Trump put, achieving financial independence. What was the number one indicator of success to Gen Z men who voted for Trump? Having a girlfriend? Success. What was the Gen Z women?

So the Gen Z women who voted for Harris, it was, and for the men who voted for Harris, it was about career and financial independence. For the women who voted for Trump... Oh, no, no, that's not right. It was financial independence. Financial independence for what was for the men, Gen Z who voted for Trump.

Don't you feel like they all just want to get laid? I do. I do believe that. I don't know that that's the answer. Family? I'm going to go with that. I mean, a bunch of, you know, who, okay, I'm not going to say that person.

Yep, we're going with family. You got it. It was having children. Oh. Yeah. Look at that. It's actually interesting. Got a graphic.

All right, John, Tommy, Dan. According to a Pew study released in January, 16% of men say they feel lonely most or all of the time, what percentage of women said they feel lonely most are all the time? Let's go like eight. I just made that up.

Eight? You got it. It's 15%. So the male loneliness and the female loneliness is basically the same. Wow. So we're all lonely. So that's the lesson of the game. That is the lesson. Transgender insanity.

And you know what that sound means? It's time for the genderless bathroom lightning round. Oh, gosh. In this, anyone can call out the answer. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Anyone can call out the answer if they know it. We have a portrait of a child from 1884. Who is this child?

Hillary Clinton. Fault. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, sorry. 1884. It is a photo of a child taken in 1884. Every person in this room knows their name. Every person in this room knows their name by their initials.

Eleanor Roosevelt. It's getting warmer. Oh. One at a time. President of the United States. Wait. What? It's not Edith Wilson, but I see what you're trying for.

This is a child. FDR? FDR. One, two, three. FDR. You got it. Alex said it. Alex said it twice.

That is FDR. That's FDR? Because it used to be that the kids were dressed genderless like in dresses, white dresses. What? So they were like seven. Yeah. Read a book. Wow.

That was a good poll. Come on. That's FDR. What a fruitcake. All right. Next up. I'm going to say each of the members of a band, okay? The first team to name the band wins.

Again, we are in the genderless bathroom lightning round. Lucy Dacus. Julian Baker, shut up. Phoebe Bridgers. Oh. Audience, one, two, three. Boy Genius. Huh?

You never heard of Boy Genius? Boy Genius? I couldn't hear what they said. Boy Genius. It's Boy Genius. Oh, yeah. All right. Next up.

They get a little easier. Name the Netflix show starring Malin Ackerman and known for its terrible wigs and depiction of food. Hunting Wives. And, there we go. Shit. Nice.

I love that show. All right. No one's going to get this. I'm sorry, but it's just been on my mind. Can you name the sitcom that had the first significant transgender character? Alf. It was, it was, it was, no.

It aired in 1977. More, why is it not? And the hint would be, they were moving on up. Taxi? Jefferson? Jefferson? Yes. John got it.

It was the Jeffersons. I was not a sight. Good. Right on Jefferson. The Jeffersons have. George and Weezy. It's an amazing storyline that's shocking. You're like, they did this in 1977.

We should have made more progress. All right, this is the final question. And why does it fit the category? Doesn't matter. At least 17 Real Housewives have been at some point in their lives arrested. But can you name the Real Housewives stars who have not just been arrested, has been arrested, but sentenced to prison time. Terita Judeyce.

Teresa Judeyce. Yep. I was going to say one just went to prison. Salt Lake City. This is you, Jasmine. It's not. It's not. I don't have time for. Do you know? Jenna Lyons go to prison? Jen Shaw.

You got it. Did anyone say, there's one more. It's Karen Hugar. Who? Karen Hugar. He doesn't get it. He doesn't get the point. He doesn't get the point. He doesn't get the point. He doesn't get the point. It's like another one. Hold on.

We're tallying the results. No. Luann was arrested and she went to jail, but she didn't serve prison time. Arrested and convicted and did prison time. I don't know. Luan, Luan just didn't, right? Whatever. The women have won the game.

And that has been gender. I hardly know her. That's our show for tonight. Thank you to Jasmine Crockett. Thank you to Alex Wagner. Thank you to Barack Obama. Thanks to all of you. We'll see you at CricketCon tomorrow.

If you want to listen to Pod Save America ad-free and get access to exclusive podcasts, go to cricket.com slash friends to subscribe on Supercast, Substack, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts. Also, please consider leaving us a review that helps boost this episode and everything we do here at Cricket. Pod Save America is a Cricket Media production. Our producers are David Toledo, Emma Ilic Frank, and Saul Rubin. Our associate producer is Farah Safari. Austin Fisher is our senior producer. Reid Churlin is our executive editor.

Adrian Hill is our head of news and politics. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Jordan Cantor is our sound engineer with audio support from Kyle Seiglin and Charlotte Landis. Matt DeGroote is our head of production. Naomi Sengel is our executive assistant. Thanks to our digital team. Elijah Cohn, Haley Jones, Ben Hefcoat, Mia Kelman, Carol Palaviv, David Tolls, and Ryan Young. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.