Pod Save America - Republicans' Work Till You Die Agenda

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

Donald Trump tries to walk back his comments on cutting Medicare and Social Security while Joe Biden goes on offense during a campaign swing in Wisconsin and Michigan. Kamala Harris becomes the highest ranking government official to visit an abortion clinic and RFK Jr. praises Aaron Rodgers as a "critical thinker" after he's reported to be a Sandy Hook truther. Later, EPA Administrator Michael Regan stops by the studio to talk to Tommy about clean energy and environmental justice.For Pod Save America tour dates and cities, please visit: crooked.com/events For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail] and include the name of the podcast.

Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. On today's show, Joe Biden goes on offense during a campaign swing in Wisconsin and Michigan. Kamala Harris becomes the first vice president or president to visit an abortion clinic as Republicans start to get nervous about their position on reproductive rights. Your favorite third-party spoilers get ready to screw things up again. And EPA Administrator Michael Regan stops by the studio to talk to Tommy about clean energy and environmental justice. But first, Joe Biden and Donald Trump

have now won enough delegates to clinch their party's nominations. And it was quite a week for the presumptive Republican nominee. Trump floated Medicare and Social Security cuts that he's now trying to walk back, promised to pardon the January 6th insurrectionists on the first day of his second term, a group that includes convicted felons who violently assaulted police officers. And Trump also visited his number one re-election battleground, federal court, to attend a hearing on whether the judge he appointed will dismiss his felony charges in the classified documents case. In preparation for the hearing, Trump employed the novel legal strategy of essentially admitting guilt

during a Newsmax interview where he said he took the documents, but very legally took them, instead of a whole bunch of other crazy shit. Let's listen. I took them very legally and I wasn't hiding them. I said, there's no, I don't care, Andrew Jackson or anybody else. Nobody has true when you think of the fake things. Nobody's been treated like Trump in terms of badly. But by the way, they released Hillary Clinton. She hammered her phones. She used

all sorts of acid testing and everything else. They call it bleach bit, but it's essentially acid that will destroy everything within 10 miles. The Hunter Biden stuff is bad, let's face it. And if you believe the laptop from hell, there's a lot of money that's been exchanged and it's a lot of money and seems like a lot of proof. But I would just say to him, what do you say? and seems like a lot of proof. But I would just say to him, what do you say? What do you say, Dan?

What do you say? Hillary's gone from destroying some emails to packing a chemical weapon. That's acid? What is going on there? Less grievance, more policy, right? How's that for message discipline from the presumptive Republican nominee? Look, I'm not sure we needed another reminder,

but this is a reminder that Donald Trump may not be the highly disciplined political genius that he's being portrayed as in the press. Like he's, he's still a shitty candidate. Still a shitty candidate. Still doesn't know how to answer a question. What the Hunter laptop? He, it really is like, he just knows that there are buzzwords he's supposed to hit. Like the laptop, the laptop's bad. You know what I'm hearing? That it's bad. There's a lot of money and there's a lot of corruption. And you know, it's just very bad. I mean, it's so fascinating because he, we think of him as like deep into like MAGA fan fit conspiracy stuff, but he's not really that deep in it.

He's even skates the surface of Fox news. Like he knows that, like you said, he knows the buzzwords, but he couldn't explain them to you. Right. He doesn't even understand the bullshit part of it. He just knows, say laptop a bunch, say bleach bit. And it's, but he uses the, this is the other reason why he's a bad candidate is he uses language that is requires such to be so far down a rabbit hole to understand what you're talking about. That it's just like to an average person that meant not even average person, that it's just like for an average person that meant not even average person a average political junkie that meant nothing like just absolute nothing laptop bleach bit server email just

acid like what are we doing andrew andrew jackson be treated very i've been no one's been treated like trump in terms of very badly and not even abraham lincoln not even abraham lincoln yeah i forgot about that spoiler alert but it didn't end great uh so we talked on tuesday's episode about um trump floating medicare and social security cuts uh on wall street's favorite cable news network uh his campaign clearly realized how damaging that was because they got him to walk it back thursday during a breitbart interview one prominent trump supporter who apparently didn't get the memo was Ben Shapiro, who's taken the whole thing is that people should literally work until they die. Let's listen. No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old. Frankly, I think retirement itself is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem.

Everybody that I know who is who is elderly, who has retired, is dead within five years. Everybody that I know who is elderly, who has retired, is dead within five years. And if you talk to people who are elderly and they lose their purpose in life by losing their job and they stop working, things go to hell in a handbasket real quick. Look, I get, you take it from us, being a podcaster, back-breaking work. But if Ben wants to, you know, read underwear ads until his heart gives out. Like, good on him. Other humans may want to spend their golden years with their family, their friends. And if you're not a multimillionaire like Ben Shapiro is, you're going to need Social Security and Medicare. I personally wish that Donald Trump and all Republicans would just be honest and run on the Ben Shapiro, Paul Ryan, work till you die platform. Yeah. And I mean, that's that is their platform. 100%. It is Mike Johnson's

platform. It is the platform of both white guys named John who want to replace Mitch McConnell. And it will be Donald Trump's platform if he is elected president like we that this election does come down to and we can talk about how you message it, but it does come down to if Donald Trump wins, he probably wins with a Republican House and Republican Senate, and Social Security cuts and Medicare cuts are very much on the table. And if Joe Biden wins, then he will stop those cuts from happening. Full stop. That's all you need to know. Election over. Done.

me that when a Republican House and Senate send President Donald Trump a budget with Social Security cuts and Medicare, he isn't going to go through that budget with a fine tooth comb, making sure that his campaign promise that he made to people about protecting Social Security and Medicare isn't fulfilled because he knows he's never going to have to face voters again. Well, here's how I know that that's not going to happen, because it's probably gonna be his budget. Because the last time he was president, he put cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his budget every single year he was president. He made that exact same promise to not cut Social Security, Medicare, or even Medicaid, because at one point he confused Medicare and Medicaid, 2016. Then he tried to cut and eviscerate all three of those programs within like six months

of being in the White House. So no, I do not take it seriously. Well, how do you think this is going to go? Because obviously, President Biden and the campaign have done a great job over the last couple of days, really hammering Trump on this. Biden sort of talked about it when he was in Wisconsin and Michigan during his events. Now, the Trump campaign walked it back and Trump's going to probably spend the rest of the campaign saying, oh, I'll protect Medicare and Social Security no matter what. You think the best strategy here is for Biden and Democrats to just keep hammering him by pointing out what you just did, that it was in his budget for the last four years? Yeah, it's in his budget that all the people of his party agree with him and want to do it. And that is an extension of the extremism that's

taken over this Republican Party. So a couple of points on this. One is something that pollsters found in 2022 was there was always some hesitancy among voters to believe that a politician would actually cut Social Security and Medicare. That hasn't happened for almost a century. And so why would you believe it would happen now? But then after Dobbs, those ads started becoming more effective because once Republican extremists take something away, that this seems – everything's on the table if you're going to take constitutional rights away from people. And so you saw people more open to Social Security and Medicare cuts.

And while abortion was the topic in the most ads in 2022, not far behind that were cuts to Social Security and Medicare, particularly in Arizona where Mark Kelly and that super PAC supporter ran a ton of ads against Blake Masters on that very issue. The second thing that's really important about how you talk about this is the reason Donald Trump and Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare is not just that they think people should work till they die and they hate government and they think we have to live in some sort of Darwinian hellscape where only the richest survive. It is because they need to pay for another $2 trillion tax cut that they are planning to pass at the end of 2025. The Trump tax cuts expire. For Ben Shapiro. Yes, a huge tax cut for Ben Shapiro. And then he can just keep working

and not retire. So it's not just that they want to cut Social Security and Medicare, something unpopular. They want to cut it to pay for more tax cuts for corporations, and they're very wealthy. And so Donald Trump's going to lie about it. He has this, at least in the media, at least this imprimatur of he's a populist, a blue-collar billionaire, and all that. And that certainly works with his base. But we talked about this blueprint poll last week that looked at Donald Trump's vulnerabilities among working class voters. Almost 50% of them cite Donald Trump cutting Social Security and Medicare as a top concern for why they don't want to be president.

So people are open to this. And you just have to make the case and make sure people hear it. And you're going to face a lot of headwinds since Trump's going to lie about it. And the press is skeptical that these things would happen. But I love what the Biden campaign is doing. They should keep doing more of it for the next eight months. So I think this was a very, very important moment in the campaign. And not only is the press skeptical, it's just very hard to get issues like this to break through because all political coverage is personality and culture wars and everything else.

And it's not 2012 anymore where all the fights are about the size and role of government. And so it's really hard to get coverage on Medicare and Social Security. And so as anyone who's listening, as you're volunteering, as you're talking to people in your life, like I realize it doesn't sound like the sexiest topic, especially if you're young, but someday we're going to need Social Security and Medicare too. we're going to need social security and Medicare too. And it is a very persuasive point to make to people that Republicans are going to cut social security and Medicare and that Joe Biden and Democrats will protect it. Very persuasive. It's really fascinating because I write message box newsletters on a lot of topics and I wrote on the social security one. And you can almost feel just the difference in engagement and an open rate between something on social security and something on democracy or abortion. And part of the reason, I think there's a bias in the press that's sort of almost economic, which is when you look at these polls, the things that are of most concern to the more

politically engaged, college-educated, upper-income-scale voters are, Democrats particularly, is democracy, abortion, those sorts of things, which are incredibly important issues. But those are the people who are subscribing to the New York Times or the people who are watching MSNBC and CNN, people who may be listening to this podcast. And it is on the issues for the people who are less politically engaged, this matters a lot. So you need a lot of repetition to get it in front of those people. And yeah, and the upper income thing is a real issue there too, because it's people who are not lying awake at night thinking, am I going to have to wait and retire

at 75 or 80 because I don't know if I'm going to be able to get social security or Medicare. I mean, that is a real, it's a real issue. Or be physically able to keep working. Yes. Right? Like, yes, we can podcast till we die, and we probably will, but that's different than if you do a job that requires physical labor, whereas you get older, that becomes harder. You are older, but you're also taking on any injuries or damage that's been done up to then. So that is what's so obnoxiously elitist about what Ben Shapiro said, which is just so ironic coming from how the right likes to portray themselves. Now, here's an issue that I bet would get some engagement. We know that pardoning insurrectionists ain't all that popular. I saw a CBS poll around the

anniversary of January 6th this year. 70% of voters think that people convicted of violently assaulting police officers shouldn't get to skip their prison sentence, though they didn't ask the question like that. I bet if you asked it like that, you'd get even higher than 70%. Just so people remember, at least 140 police officers were wounded. Rioters had guns, knives, tasers, baseball bats, flagpoles. Most of the prosecutions focused on people who committed violent assault around january 6th not just people not the peaceful protesters that republicans talk about not people who just wandered into the capitol even but the people who were violent

on january 6th who caused people harm and now donald trump says on the first day of his presidency he wants to let these people out of prison and pardon them. Imagine ignoring, like, why would they worry about committing political violence when the guy who just pardoned them for committing political violence is in the White House? Yeah. The guy who incited them then pardoned them. So why wouldn't they do, who will incite them again? Like, obviously. Yeah. I mean, and I get that there are limits to the democracy argument. You really have to make it tangible for people. I mean, and I get that there are limits to the democracy argument. You really have to make it tangible for people. I think that Trump wanting to pardon insurrectionists is one of those

ways to make it real to people. And I actually think it could be a real salient issue, but I don't know what you think. Yeah, no, 100% agree. I think January 6th is a very, very salient issue because a lot of the democracy arguments are very, very valid and important, but they're about the esoteric notion of a functioning political system and norms. And this is about a group of people who violently try to overthrow the government, getting pardons from the person who asked them to violently overthrow the government. It is an example of – it reminds people what they like least about Trump. It reminds you of the tremendous dangerous extremism of them, the chaos. And so, yeah, absolutely should be talked about. Mark Esper, who was Trump's defense secretary towards the end, who then he ended up firing, he was on MSNBC this week. And he said that Donald Trump suggested that the military shoot Americans in the streets to him.

This is a guy who was defense secretary for Donald Trump is now saying, hey, I quit. I mean, you know, hey, I wasn't defense secretary anymore. And I just want to tell everyone the president was telling us that the military should shoot Americans in the streets who were protesting. What are we doing? You know what? The next defense secretary more likely to go along with it if Trump wins. Well, I was going to say, yeah, not going to make that mistake twice. All right. So Trump and Republicans are also trying to figure out how to sneak their national abortion ban past voters. Kellyanne Conway was out there this week

giving her party advice on how to talk about the issue at a Politico event. She said Republicans should ditch their line about Democrats supporting abortion, quote, up until the moment of birth, because go figure. Not a lot of people actually believe that happens because it doesn't happen. The National Republican Congressional Committee also put out a memo this week urging Republican candidates, quote, to express empathy for women in order to fix their brand problem. But alas, Kellyanne also admitted that Trump is, in fact, considering a national ban. You think Trump should come out for a 15-week ban?

Well, it's a national minimum standard, and it's not a ban. And he has said, I think he told Sean Hannity a couple weeks ago when they were at the border, he was looking at that. He's also said 16 weeks or four months. What is he calling it? A national minimum standard. A national minimum standard. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Okay. What it means is if you're a state that has banned abortion at six weeks or banned abortion completely, that ban stays. But blue states or states that haven't put any restrictions on abortion yet, they would all have to be 15 weeks. So, yeah, it's a national ban. 15 weeks in some places, six weeks in others. Yeah, I mean. Do you think it's possible for Republicans to speak about this in a way that actually helps them deal with this political problem? I'm doubtful, but what do you think?

No, absolutely not. The problem is not their language. The problem is the problem, right? It's their position, right? They have a Republican appointed Supreme Court, took a constitutional right away from more than half the country, and then a bunch of Republican legislators then pass these onerous bills in many cases with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health or life of the mother. And so that's the problem, right? It's not 15 weeks. It's not showing more empathy. It's not any of that. You have adopted incredibly unpopular position at a time that has caused a massive electoral coalition shifting backlash in this country. And so this is where political consultants

are totally full of shit, right? There is no language, right? You can either be on the right side of the issue and win elections or be on the wrong side of the issue and keep losing them. And that is full stop. That's the whole deal. Yeah. I mean, a Republican tried this in a big campaign. It was Glenn Youngkin in the legislative elections in Virginia, and he tried to campaign in a 15-week ban, and a bunch of anti-abortion groups called it a roadmap for

how to tackle abortion. And he lost, they lost, Republicans lost that campaign. And the reason they lost is because people didn't focus on the number of weeks or when, or people focused on the idea that politicians were trying to tell women and their doctors what decisions they should make about their health. And what they didn't want is for politicians to get in the way of that. And they didn't want the government to step in and say, we get to decide and we get to litigate what you do with your body. And the idea that 15 weeks is going to save them once... There might have been an argument for that before Dobbs politically but i think

you're you're right as soon as dobbs happened and we heard these stories these horrific stories all around the country people realized 15 weeks 20 weeks six weeks whatever just let me make the decision you know uh conway thinks republicans should challenge democrats to lay out the specifics of their own abortion views i believe she phrased it, show me your exceptions and I'll show you mine. Meaning like Republicans are willing, because she wants Trump and Trump's been saying this to say, oh, I'm for exceptions, rape, incest, wife of the mother. And so now she wants Republicans to turn around to Democrats and say, okay, what are your exceptions? How do you think Democrats should handle that? to turn around to Democrats and say,

okay, what are your exceptions? How do you think Democrats should handle that? I'm even confused by her question. Like, what is she talking about? Like, I don't even understand. She wants Democrats to be like, oh, so, okay, you don't want 15 weeks. Do you want 24 weeks?

Do you want 30 weeks? What are you, 22 weeks? What, how many weeks would you be for? What if we just pass the bill, the Senate, the Women's Health Protection Act that Senate Democrats have pledged to sign, and President Biden have pledged to pass and sign into law if they get enough Democrats to get rid of the filibuster? What if we just did that? What if we just returned to the way of life before Dobbs? Yeah, I don't think you fall into that trap because I think the principle is that women should get to make decisions about starting a family and when to

have a family with their doctor. That's it. It is a personal medical decision and Republicans should stay out of it. The reason the Republicans keep losing on this is because no one believes they're going to stop at 15. But, you know, in Alabama, the Supreme Court went after IVF. Some of them are trying to go after contraception. It's like, just keep politicians out of people's medical decisions unless the politicians are trying to make decisions that are going to guarantee access to affordable healthcare. That's the only time politicians should be involved in people's healthcare. Yeah. Politicians should get you into the doctor's office and then they should close the door and leave. They should not stay and advise you on and not mandate what it is you can and can't do when you're in that room with your doctor.

So Democrats are, of course, trying to keep abortion in the news. Yesterday, Kamala Harris visited an abortion clinic in Minnesota run by Planned Parenthood, something no sitting vice president or president has ever done. Here's Harris answering a question about whether Democrats can succeed in restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade. Well, Congress will pass that bill when we win back the House. And so I am sure of that. One of the points that must be made on this issue as we attempt to uplift the real stories and the real consequences of the Dobbs decision is to remind people elections matter. What did you think of that move going to an abortion clinic? I loved it. I think it was incredibly smart. It is, you know, as we know, when abortion is top

of mind, it helps Democrats win elections because that is what is at stake, right? And we cannot let it, you know, every day is one day further from Dobbs. Every day, Republicans are getting a tiny bit smarter about not saying their real positions on abortion or even just try to avoid talking about it. So it's going to be incumbent upon Democrats to keep it in the news. So talking about it is good. And it is a real sign of the White House and the Biden folks thinking creatively about how to get attention for the things they're saying. Let's say she just did that at a women's roundtable in Wisconsin or somewhere else. We're not talking about it. It's not on the news. It's in the news locally, which is good, but it's not getting into the national

online conversation. And so doing things like this, going to places that are controversial, they're going to cause the Republicans to react to it, to create controversy and conflict. It means people will hear her message and remind them that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the Democrats are going to fight for reproductive freedom and access to abortion. Republicans want to take it away. So I think it was great they did it. It was bold, it was smart, and I think it was quite effective. Yeah, I also think it shows that Joe Biden and his White House and his campaign and Kamala Harris are not afraid to put abortion front and center by going to an abortion clinic. And look, I say this because there's been a few stories about how some reproductive rights activists are angry with Biden for saying words like choice and row instead of the word abortion. choice and row instead of the word abortion. And I guess he didn't say the word abortion in the State of the Union, even though he started the State of the Union by talking about abortion

and an urging Congress to pass the Women's Health Protection Act. And I totally understand the argument that prominent public figures saying the word abortion could help lessen the stigma around getting an abortion, which is a very important thing to do. But one thing I would urge everyone to remember is the abortion rights movement didn't win in red states like Kansas and Ohio and Kentucky by speaking only to people who favor no restrictions on abortion. They won by persuading people who some people who are uncomfortable with abortion or even personally opposed that politicians shouldn't get to make that choice for people. And look, now we have an 81-year-old Catholic guy as president who's never been a personal fan of abortion, but opened his State of the Union by promising to stake his political capital on guaranteeing access to abortion nationwide. And to do that, he's going to need to convince people who feel the same way he does. And like that's that is just democracy. That is

how we accumulate the power necessary to make sure that we don't just have a president who says the word abortion, but a president who has the ability and the power to actually make abortion legal in every single state of the country. And I think that most people who want an abortion would rather that. Right. There is zero political downside or risk in saying the word abortion. It doesn't make your position more radical. It doesn't. Everyone knows what you're talking about, right? It's like when you run the ads about Trump and then you just don't say his name, or when Republicans try to subtweet him back in the day, now they just all tweet in support of him. That's dumb. A different president,

maybe a younger president, maybe President Elizabeth Warren or President Kamala Harris, pick two people who ran against him, would probably be more comfortable and more bold and aggressive in talking about abortion than Joe Biden is. But Joe Biden is our president. You worked on a thousand State of the Unions. We've watched a million of them. I just can't tell you how far the party has come that our 81-year-old Catholic president used the first five minutes of his State of the Union to call for passing a law to restore Roe. That is a gigantic progress. Would it be better if he felt more comfortable talking about it in Boulder Waste? Great. But he is our president. He is our nominee.

And if a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate send him a bill, he will happily, proudly sign it. And that is just a gigantic deal. And so is there more work to do to get more politicians to be more comfortable? Absolutely. But have we come at a huge distance in a short period of time because of Dobbs? Yes. And is Joe Biden going to do the right thing here? He absolutely will. And again, it's really not about defending Joe Biden or not. if you want to be mad about it joe biden but that's fine you know but as you are out there persuading voters know you are going to run into some people who may be personally opposed to abortion may call undocumented immigrants illegal immigrants like

joe biden did in the state of the union and then later said he wished to use the word undocumented and the point of campaigning is to meet people where they are, but then not leave them there. And so if you stop by like scolding people for it, then you're going to turn off the conversation when instead you could actually persuade them to get to a better place and to like, again, join this coalition that we're trying to build to stop Donald Trump. All right, let's talk about the vice president's running mate, jacked up Joe Biden, who's been on offense since the State of the Union. This week, he visited two must-win Midwestern states, Wisconsin, where he opened a campaign headquarters in Milwaukee, and Michigan, where he campaigned in the diverse city of Saginaw. The president talked about all the infrastructure jobs he's made possible, his plans to lower housing costs. And he hit Trump as a

loser who wants to cut your retirement benefits. The polls, however, still haven't moved all that much since the State of the Union, though it's only been a week. Trump is still up two points, Since the State of the Union, though it's only been a week, Trump is still up two points, around two points in the polling averages, and the 538 swing state averages show Trump up everywhere, ranging from almost eight points in Georgia to less than a point in Pennsylvania. I won't even go through the individual polls. There have been quite a few in the last three days,

some high quality, some lower quality, some national, some swing state. All bad. Mostly bad. Mostly bad, I would say. They're not all bad. Someone's going to say he was up two in the Ipsos poll. Anyway, where's the bounce, Dan? You promised us a bounce. You do this show Polar Coaster that everyone can sign up,

crooked.com slash friends. Listen to Dan on Polar Coaster. Where's the bounce? Anyone who thought, and I know you didn't think this. This is not an attack on you. Because I said it. I said it at the night of the State of the Union. I said, I don't remember what I said because I was pretty tired.

You were doing your best Chuck Todd impersonation right there. But it was like, that's unfair to Chuck. Chuck would not have done that. But anywho, anyone who thought that Joe Biden was going to get a significant bounce out of one speech seen by 30 million people should be suspended from talking, writing, tweeting, tooting, threading, or skeeting about politics for six weeks. Like, it's just, it was never going to happen. Because just think about this, right?

Joe Biden has 100% name ID. He's been president for almost four years. He was vice president for eight years. He was with National Scene before that. He's in a race against a person who was president four years ago. Also has 100% name ID. And it's not just people know their names. The depth of knowledge of these two candidates is unlike anything in any race in modern history, right? So were you saying it's too early to pay attention to the polls then? Because- No, I'm absolutely not saying that at all. What I'm saying is- Two people with 100% name ID who everyone knows? Yeah, the point I'm trying to make is Barack Obama did not get to see the union balances.

That was not a thing that happened then either. Just like I said, just in 2009, that was it. And that was because probably he had a pretty high approval rating going into that speech anyway. We live in a time of polarization. Most people have made up their minds.

30 million people is a lot of people that watch that speech. It's still a fraction of the electorate. And you assume that most of those people who watch it have already made up their mind. That's just who tunes into a speech. But the way that campaign operatives think about this is the horse race moves last. Approval ratings move second to last. What moves first is the polling questions about, we call them the underneath questions, right? Character, strength. And for Joe Biden, the critical question right now is, do voters think he is too old to do the job?

And there's evidence in a morning consult poll that the number of voters who thought that Joe Biden was too old to do the job went down after the speech. They pulled pre-speech and they pulled post-speech. And the bulk of that change happened among Democrats and Biden's 2020 voters, which is exactly how you would expect this race to go, which is Biden is underperforming against Trump right now because he's getting about 85% of people who voted for him in 2020, and Trump is getting 97% in the New York Times poll of people who voted for him in 2020. And so that's the low-hanging fruit for Biden, are people who have actually pulled the lever for him before, or new voters

who agree with him ideologically on almost every issue, right? Abortion, climate change, LGBTQ rights, tax cuts for the wealthy, protecting social security. And those are the people you move first. You move them first by showing that this big giant concern that has been hovering over the race for months is not as big a concern as people may have thought. So what we've seen in the polling suggests that things are moving in the right direction for Biden. They're just going to move more slowly than most people want them to move. Yeah. And I also think a couple of things on polling. It's always tough because polling is a lagging indicator. And so those of us who are very involved in politics and pay close attention, we wait for a couple of days and we're like,

well, how can someone not have formed an opinion on the state of the union already? Because didn't we are just watch it, but almost all the time changes in polling happen like two or three or four weeks later. It's just like, because most people like didn't watch the state union and didn't really like get into the coverage all that much. And just maybe just heard about it later from a friend. But I also think what's definitely gonna be more effective than the, just the state of the union, which, you know, a lot of people didn't watch is the ad campaign, right? They're just the ad campaign in the swing states. And, uh, that has really started in earnest, especially as the contrast, uh, the ad we talked about on, on Tuesday's pot. So, uh, lots of time left, but you know, again, don't

freak out about the polls. Don't dismiss them either. Use them like campaigns do, which is to understand what voters' concerns are and how all of us, not just the Biden campaign, can address those concerns and persuade people to vote for Biden. That is the use of polling, not for predictive purposes. So no crosstab truthers here. What does the message and geography of the first few stops tell you about their strategy wisconsin michigan kamala was in minnesota and biden was in georgia last week and he was talking right right right um obviously the campaign is going to be primarily focused on the six battleground states um georgia arizona nevada michigan pennsylvania wisconsin i think one of the sense you're

getting both from the issue choices and some of these last few visits is that the primary focus, the most important states, the states he cannot afford to lose are the three states that make up the so-called blue wall, not really a blue wall, thanks to 2016, but Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and that you're going to see a lot of focus there, a lot of time there, a lot of spending there, and a lot of focus there, a lot of time there, a lot of spending there, and a lot of focus on economic issues. And it's notable that that's where he has been delivering this hit on Social Security and Medicare. And so I think that's sort of what it says is really the campaign is off and running now. The starting gun was the State of the Union. We are now campaigning. We're running ads. We're going to Battlegrounds. It's his

opening campaign headquarters in Milwaukee and doing a lot are we are uh off and running for within only eight months to go less of a blue wall more like a blue fence like a mesh fence yeah yeah kind of it's uh it's not really it's not too sturdy right now it's one of you know those those invisible electrical fences uh for which i think you're probably not supposed to use for animals and maybe the battery works on the collar we put on trump maybe it doesn't we don't know yes definitely doesn't all right well on the same week that biden and trump uh sewed up their nominations the potential third party spoilers also made some news uh no labels announced that they formed a nominating committee to select their candidate joe lieberman joe lieberman back in our lives uh he said that they formed a nominating committee to select their candidate, Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman, back in our lives.

He said that they could announce as early as March 21st. That's next week. But that they'll still only move forward, he said, if they think they have a real chance to win because they don't want to reelect Donald Trump. Meanwhile, their national co-chair, former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, quit the group.

To you guessed it, spend more time with his family. Lost another one, lost Larry Hogan because he's running for Senate. Pat McCrory's gone. They're just losing people left and right there. Then there's RFK Jr. I talked with Jane Koston on Wednesday's pod about RFK Jr. floating Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers as his running mate. Jr. floating Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers as his running mate. Kennedy later confirmed that he will be announcing his VP pick on March 26th in Oakland, California. Rodgers played college football in nearby Berkeley. Turns out Rodgers also told CNN's Pamela Brown a few years ago

that the Sandy Hook massacre was actually carried out by the U.s government as a false flag operation unfucking real hours after cnn broke the story kennedy was asked about rogers during a fox news interview here's what he said aaron rogers is battle tested he's uh he stood up he's been hammered by the press stood up for things we believed and i like that part of his character he's a critical thinker and i think we need that at the time as you know the rise of ai we need people who understand that you cannot always trust authority just because somebody's in charge when i think of the rise of ai and the dangers of artificial intelligence i think there's only one person who can help us through this that's aaron rogers uh can i get your thoughts on the possibility of a Kennedy Rodgers tickets,

which seems like it, I thought it was a parody at first. I didn't, I didn't believe it. And now it's, it seems like he's maybe the top of the list. I just, the guy has to report to jets training camp in four months.

Like, I don't understand how this is going to work. Is he not going to play football? Is he going to retire from football to be the VP of Robert Kennedy? Do we think it's possible that his Achilles injury, the surgery, everything was just, he didn't recover as well as he thought he would and he doesn't want to do this other season. So he's like, you know what? I'm just going to use this as a way out. I don't think that's the case because he was, I've seen a lot of footage of him throwing footballs. They were sort of ridiculously floating the day he was going to come back for the playoffs, which is a really brave thing to say when the Jets are six and 10 or whatever they were.

So it's like, I too will play in the playoffs. I mean, it's worth remembering that Aaron Rodgers, in the midst of coming off his MVP season as quarterback, spent an entire summer trying to become the host of Jeopardy. Oh, yeah, yeah. But that's just like reading questions off a card, you know? That's not running for president. Well, I'm just saying the guy seems to be having a crisis of some kind for meaning in his life. You think so? Yeah, I'm getting the sense that football is just not

doing it for him it seems like it's been for some time since it was a couple years ago that he was at the kentucky derby with pam brown and told her oh by the way sandy hook yeah total false flag operation that's yeah and my buddy alex jones told me this where's his information been i mean i guess he wasn't i mean she probably thought that he because he's not potentially a vice presidential candidate i mean he's been spreading misinformation on podcasts all over the world for years now. Now we know. Now we know. But I would say just as a political matter, this would be great news for Democrats.

I think it is doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on fucking weirdos. RFK Jr. anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist yeah right and it also it just seems fucking ridiculous and that's the best by the way and a sandy hook truther not only is it just fucking morally repugnant in like it makes me sick thinking about people saying that but it's all like most people are going to think that's way fucking crazier than vaccine skepticism or vaccine or even full anti-vax right unfortunately but like people like saying that these these children like crisis actors i mean the shit that alex jones was sued for and lost for like millions and millions of dollars for this for this

defaming these poor families. And what the fuck is Aaron Rodgers running around spreading that bullshit for? I mean, even if he was Anthony Fauci's intern and a spokesperson for Pfizer, no one thinks that the quarterback of the Jets should be fucking Vice President of the United States. Like, that is an absurd notion.

Well, okay. Well, Donald Trump, he was president for four years. Yeah, but at least he pretended to be a businessman for a half century. Like, this is Donald Trump is, you know, he was president for four years. Yeah, but at least he pretended to be a businessman for a half century. Like this is, it is, you remember, I know we have to go back deep into our memory holes here, but you remember that Kanye West was on the ballot in 2020? I do. There is a level of ridiculousness that voters are not going to abide by. And I think Aaron

Rogers being on the ticket is part of that. And if he were like, well, he was a quarterback of the Green Bay Packers and Green Bay's in Wisconsin and Wisconsin's a swing state. I was like, I just, this is Aaron Rodgers stealing Wisconsin from Joe Biden

is a low on my list of concerns. I'm going to state that fact. That Fox interview where Kennedy's talking about him, he goes on to say like, and you know, it's important for someone young to be on the ticket

because he's only 40. And then he also said, and I think he's going to help me get america healthy again i think that's that's what's why i'm really excited he's going to help people get healthy again like why is it right so that's aaron rogers we'll find out a week from now i don't know i honestly cannot wait for what's going on because the backup choices are also amazing it's not like it's aaron rogers we'll find out a week from now i don't know i honestly cannot wait for what's gonna happen because the backup choices are also amazing it's not like it's aaron rogers and then like a state legislator from local we haven't even talked about yeah it could be a jesse ventura or mike rowe discovery channel host there's some real it's interesting people on that list so the

no labels thing sounded like news until i realized that it was just basically the announcement of a future announcement though then lieberman did say uh March 21st as early as March 21st so what what's going on there what's they've gone from a they're going to have like a nominating convention in person to a zoom convention to now it's just a small committee picking people they've been turned down by a whole bunch of people like who is left who is left I'm so interested to see who they end up going with here maybe aaron rogers if he doesn't make the jesus christ i mean like i don't know i'm trying to think who the if aaron rogers is the rfk junior football player who the no labels football player would be i don't even know there's a difference it's a terminally online subject is my guess um it i assume they just want to keep this thing going so that the people at no

labels can continue to suck as much money as possible from politically naive billionaires. That seems like the most likely case. Cause the idea, Joe Lieberman, ridiculous human being that he is, we're not going to do if we can't win, read the fucking constitution.

You can't win. You cannot win. If you do not get to 270 electoral votes it goes to the house how many no labels party members are currently in the house like what it's just it is an absurd proposition no one has told me what the fucking plan is here there i mean just the amount of absurd powerpoints presented to people apparently smart enough to make a billion dollars on wall street, but not smart enough to understand the most basic fundamental schoolhouse rocks versions of politics. You just check here,

which should tell you something about how much smarts it takes to be rich. Yeah. Let me tell you, it was a right brain thing. I don't know, but not sending their best, the wealthy, their best. the wealthy, their best.

So would you say that you're more or less worried about no labels than you were a month ago? I am less worried. We talked to me on March 21st when they roll out some ticket. But the Larry Hogan, Kirsten, like all the names would have been floated to us. Larry Hogan, Kirsten Sinema, like all the names that have been floated to us, Larry Hogan, Kirsten Sinema, Joe Manchin, that was more worrisome than a person we've never heard of doing this. Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan from Georgia. Is that a choice? Yeah, they floated him and they said he might be interested. He was the lieutenant governor under Kemp. I don't know if he's still the lieutenant governor, but he's like anti-Trump,

but still pretty conservative. I mean, yeah, I'm still worried about it only because every single place that is a way station for Biden voters in 2020 who are unhappy with Joe Biden, who don't want to cross the river to vote for Trump. We need this to be a choice between either you vote for Joe Biden and Joe Biden's president, you vote for Donald Trump or a third party candidate and Donald Trump is president. And if people have a place, every place there is for a protest vote, makes it easy for Donald Trump to win.

So I remain worried, maybe a little bit less worried, but still worried. Yeah, me too. All right, before we go to break, if you haven't heard, Pod Save America is going back on the road with the Democracy or Else Tour.

Starting in June, we'll be heading all over the country, including to key battleground states like Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and more. So come on out and bring your favorite undecided voter or your least favorite undecided voter. Just bring one. I don't care. Love It or Leave It will also be on tour. Tickets for 2024 live shows are available today at 10 a.m. local.

Head to crooked.com slash events to grab yours today. When we come back, Tommy talks to EPA Administrator Michael Regan. Joining us now to talk about President Biden's record on climate change, clean air, clean water, so much more, is EPA Administrator Michael Regan. Thank you for being here. Hey, it's exciting to be here. What do we call you? Administrator? I'll answer to anything as long as it's not derogatory.

Okay. I like that. I like that very much. I like that a lot. Okay. So one of the issues that our audience cares about the most is climate change. Can you just give us the kind of overview of what the administration has done to combat climate change, what you'd like to accomplish if President Biden gets another four years, and then how the EPA fits into those efforts? tackled climate change. And, you know, I think when you look at the historic legislation that's been passed, the president has worked considerably in a bipartisan way to create, you know, billions of dollars to invest in where we see the private sector already going. So this is an acceleration opportunity to reduce pollution, but also to create jobs and invest in infrastructure. EPA is at the center of that. Our goal is to protect public health and the environment. And so

traditionally, our agency through regulations look at ways to provide certainty to the private sector in the market so that they can make longer-term investments for the good of their business model, but also for the good of the planet. This time around, the president has given what I like to call us a little bit of walking around money. We've got a couple of billion dollars now that we can invest in the industries that we're also regulating. So it's a little bit of a stick and a carrot.

I think that's emblematic of the president's vision for how government should work'm looking forward to getting eight years because I think we've done a tremendous amount in the first three years, but we've got a story to tell. We've got to ensure that the American people understand that these historic investments that are being made are for the long haul. Yeah. So the IRA passed about a year and a half ago. At the time, analysts predicted that the credits and investments in the bill in clean tech would cut greenhouse gas emissions to about 40% below the 2005 levels by the year 2030. So there's some outside groups that track progress and implementation of the IRA. They say that despite some of the headlines out there, the electric vehicle sales are actually on target and doing well, but efforts to get more carbon-free electricity into the electric grid are behind schedule. Is that right? And if that's

the case, how do we fix it? You know, I think it's about right. You know, when you look at the Inflation Reduction Act, it's such a massive piece of legislation. And you're talking about investing billions of dollars into infrastructure and projects. Some of those projects are on time. And some of those projects are requiring a little bit more cooperation between state, local, and federal governments to make that investment. And bureaucracies can take a little longer. Permitting stuff, new lines. New lines. Getting municipalities to find matching funds for some of the federal dollars. But also, some states who want this money to reduce carbon having to deal with their state legislatures

who want to turn away money or do things for political reasons solely. Sounds familiar from the Obamacare administration. Exactly. Turning down free money. Different topic, the same playbook. And listen, I think no matter where you live, you're seeing your state invest in the future, newer technologies, newer business models to reduce climate pollution. And it's just like we have a climate reduction pollution grant program, CPRG. I get lost on all these acronyms. There's so many acronyms. And this is about $4.6 billion where states can draw up their own plan and compete for federal funds to reduce climate change.

And, you know, you see these legislators and congressional representatives in the other party constantly say climate change is false and fake. But you can go to our website right now and you'll see Alabama, Alaska, state plans asking for these dollars to combat the climate crisis. And they're doing that because they want the money, because they want the battery manufacturers in their states. They want the clean technologies because they know that's how you recruit a younger workforce. So what's playing out through the rhetoric in Washington, D.C., isn't actually playing out on the ground. And the president knows that. He sees right through it. And he pledged from day one that he'd be a president for everybody. And I think if you look at some of the historic

legislation and where the resources are going, just as many resources are going to red states as they are to blue states. The first trip I ever went on at the White House was to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. And the guy who worked for Bob Gates, his press guy was like, Hey, come have lunch with us. So we sat down and he's like, how are you liking the job? And I didn't know what to say. And I was like, a lot of acronyms, sir. That was the only thing I could think to say. And he started laughing. He's like, man, I even, I don't know what they're talking about half the time, but I'm the boss. So they have to explain them to me when I pause. So we need an acronym reduction acts. We'll work on that after. So a couple months ago, the Supreme Court heard

oral arguments over an issue called the Chevron defense or the Chevron doctrine. Basically, the idea is federal agencies should be allowed to interpret the law to set regulations because they're experts while Congress and the courts are not. I think anyone that has watched Congress or the Supreme Court debate social media, for example, we'll get it. So a lot of people are worried that if the court overturned Chevron, it could fundamentally undercut the government's ability to regulate stuff, in particular your agency. What do you think a scenario where Chevron is overturned would mean for the EPA? It's something that we are obviously watching very closely. I think the majority of Americans think that Congress got it right. They give agencies discretion because agencies are the experts.

late, in my view, restrict agencies from doing what they are tasked to do. We have the mission, we have the expertise. So when you look at the cases like Chevron and others, without me predicting where I think they will land, you really put a chill in the market because as the regulator, we've been doing this since 1970. Most industry knows where we're going to land in the ballpark. And we work hand in hand with our stakeholders, whether it be communities or the industry and the private sector. And so when you have a court like what happened with a Clean Water Act case. When you have the courts reverse 50 years of precedence, that not only hurts the agency's ability to protect water quality or air quality

or whatever topic may be, but it also upsets the apple cart for the predictability that we provide for industry. So we're seeing some decisions at the Supreme Court level that obviously we disagree with. But at the end of the day, we have to find a way to protect public health, protect the environment, protect water quality and make sure that every single person in this country has a clean and healthy place to live. I was looking at some of these cases. The Supreme Court is considering a request to block the EPA's Good Neighbor Plan, which basically tries to prevent interstate pollution. One state dumping a bunch of pollution downstream to another. They've gone after your ability to regulate power plant emissions, to protect

wetlands. I mean, are the courts becoming the biggest impediment to the mission of the EPA? You know, we're having to, I'd like to say we're having to measure twice and cut once, meaning we have to spend a lot more time just ensuring that our decisions are durable. And, you know, the interpretations that we used to have for our statutory authority, obviously the courts are taking a different tact. And so we're having to adjust to that. That's slowing down progress. That is also creating uncertainty in the markets because now even industry and those we regulate may agree with some of our decisions, and we're both seeing them overturn in the courts. We're seeing fewer pesticides being able to hit the markets.

You know, Waters of the U.S. is another Supreme Court decision that has really created some chaos on the ground in terms of local permitting and decisions around clean water. West Virginia versus EPA is sort of that decision around power plants that really slowed down where the private sector was already going. You know, the interesting thing about the West Virginia versus EPA case is the Supreme Court evaluated a rule that never took effect. And so industry was already anticipating that this rule was going to go in a certain direction. So they made massive investments. The rule that never took effect, that the Supreme Court took time to evaluate, actually achieved less emission reductions than what

happened in reality. So we focused on a rule that never took effect that was not as ambitious as what is happening in reality. I just think that the courts should really focus on the things that matter and not really play into what seems to be a political temperature that is guiding some of these decisions. Yeah. Back on climate change for a sec. So cutting methane emissions is key to combating climate change because methane traps in way more heat than carbon dioxide. Methane also breaks down faster in the atmosphere. I think it's like 12 years as opposed to centuries for CO2, which just sits up there. So for listeners, long story short, if we cut methane emissions fast, it'll have a big impact. Some of those reductions will come from fixing leaky oil and gas infrastructure. Some will come from livestock management, which is where this conversation can get very stupid.

Here is a quick clip from a guy named Larry Kudlow. He's a financial news commentator and former Trump aide. To meet the Biden Green New Deal targets, America has to get this. targets. America has to get this. America has to stop eating meat, stop eating poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy, and animal-based fats. Okay, you got that? No burgers on July 4th. No steaks on the barbie. I'm sure middle America is just going to love that. Can you grill those Brussels sprouts? So get ready. You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts and wave your American flag. Call it July 4th green. Setting aside the fact that it sounds like Larry Kudlow is drinking meat-based beer.

That's weird. You do hear this nonsense a lot. that's weird. You do hear this nonsense a lot. Can you address the people who think that Joe Biden wants to ban hamburgers? Is that in the cards? It's just completely ridiculous. Number one, EPA doesn't have the legal authority to regulate animals in this way, from a methane standpoint. So we have no desire to do that. It's not on the table. And, you know, society is just a victim of a lot of misinformation. When you really look at what President Biden is doing on the issue of methane, what he has done is he's tasked EPA to develop a technology standard that, by the way, the majority of the natural gas industry has signed on to do. And we're actually using technology ranging from robotic dogs to the Environmental Defense Fund.

A national nonprofit just launched a $100 million satellite into space to monitor methane. They can see the leaks, right? They can see the leaks all over the world in real time. So the industry said to us, hey, we need a regulation that creates a fair competition for all of us to reduce our methane emissions at the same time because organizations like EDF and community groups have more access to information. So give us something that we all can rally around. And we did that. We're leading the world in some of these technology standards. So we're focused on the realities of leveraging technology standards and new business models to tackle pollution. By the way, I think the industry would even agree that if you can detect a leak and plug that leak, you're actually saving product, which saves them money. That's too

rational for Larry to grab onto. He'd much rather focus on cows and other things like, I guess you said it best, meat-based beer. Maybe he's drinking meat-based beer. And everyone in middle America says steaks on the Barbie. That's very common, I guess you said it best, meat-based beer. Maybe he's drinking meat-based beer. And everyone in middle America says steaks on the barbie. That's very common, I think. So what's the plan here? Is we giving cows some Tums or some sort of an acid? Is there a fix to methane release from livestock or is it just over time changing habits? From my position at EPA, From my position at EPA, because I don't regulate cows for methane reasons and I enjoy a good steak and hamburgers, I just would like for cows to live happy and do what they're doing. Okay, do what they're doing. Maybe don't go out on Friday nights. So the president has talked a lot about replacing lead pipes, including during a State of the Union address. There are probably some listeners who are thinking, Tommy, why are you asking about pipe maintenance?

I'm already bored. But this is a big deal. And I was wondering if you could give folks kind of the overview of why getting rid of these lead pipes is so important. Number one, we know that there is absolutely no acceptable level of lead exposure. It's a scary thing when you think about our children being lead poisoned. Not only does it create physical ailments for them, but it impacts cognitive ability and really can undercut what their potential is as individuals in this country. And so the president has pledged $15 billion to begin to eradicate all lead service lines in this country. We're also focused on some regulations that would bring that lead exposure down. It's important because certain populations in this country are disproportionately exposed to lead.

And the president has pledged that in all of his pursuits, no communities would be left behind. This is something that we can and must do something about. And I just think that most people don't understand or think that members of their communities are drinking poison in their water. And that's exactly what has been going on. And the president has pledged to do away with that. what has been going on. And the president has pledged to do away with that. And how does that effort to get rid of these lead pipes sort of fit into the broader environmental justice campaign that I know you guys are working on? You know, everything that we do at EPA is done through an environmental justice lens. The resources that we have, the regulations and policies that we design

are designed to help those who are exposed the most first. And so when we think about less service lines, obviously the criteria for giving this money to the states really is prioritized for those communities who are disproportionately exposed, which typically are black and brown or low-income communities. But with the Justice40 initiative, 40% of all of the investments that we're making through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, 40% of those investments must go into and stay in frontline communities. Again, I think the president believes that solutions should come from the bottom up. And I think the president believes that solutions should come from the bottom up.

And for those who have been at the back of the line, they should get a fair shot in society just like everyone else. I was reading a bit about you, and I saw that you got into this field because you grew up hunting and fishing. What kind of fish are we talking about here? Freshwater, saltwater, fly? Freshwater, largemouth bass. Largemouth bass. A good brim is fun to catch as well. Yeah.

And I saw you were up in Alaska recently. Yes. Dealing with the pebble mine issue. I actually worked on that back in the day, full disclosure. Trying to prevent the pebble mine, this horrible open pit mining operation from going into Bristol Bay, Alaska. Yeah. One of the most precious resources the country has. Did you get to fish up there?

I did. Did you spend some time? I spent a little bit country has. Did you get to fish up there? I did. Did you spend some time? I spent a little bit of time. Did you catch anything? Yes. I think there's a picture that proves I caught at least one rainbow trout. How big? You know, I didn't really come on this show to be embarrassed.

You didn't go for the big ass salmon that are supposed to be everywhere? I did, but apparently we went to a different fishing spot than they normally take the administrator, and there wasn't that cage where they let the fish out so I could catch them. So they had this little puny thing that I caught that maybe was about 14 to 16 inches. I'll just hand it to you. I'll hold this up. So, I mean, I ask this because it's interesting.

I like to fish a lot too. I grew up fishing with my dad. But also, it feels like this is one of those areas where the environmental movement crosses party lines. You know what I mean? There's a lot of Republicans who want to preserve lands and wateries for fishing, for hunting, because it's culture, it's part of a tradition. And I'm just wondering how you think about building the biggest possible coalition for your work and making sure that it feels as inclusive as possible. You know, that's just it. I think I grew up hunting and fishing, and I also grew up with respiratory challenges that were similar to asthma. So when you're out there and you have that

asthma attack or that respiratory distress, that means you're not out there with dad or granddad. So you're missing out on the fun. I think most people who understand and like sports can understand that if you have a bunch of pollution and you can't participate in sport, then you're missing out. I grew up in Eastern North Carolina. And so in these rural communities, obviously you have a lot of both red and blue homes that, quite frankly, all conversations aren't political. They're more so focused on culture and the things that you enjoy. So when I talk about the environmental movement, I try to think about it through that lens. Protecting natural resources for those who like to hunt and fish, thinking about economic development opportunities for those who think about the financial side.

But listen, this is a long way from 1960 and tree hugging. When you think about today's environmentalist, you really are thinking about the latest and greatest technologies that you can apply to solving these problems. You know, growing up in eastern North Carolina, most of us like cars. I think it's really fun to drive an old car, an antique car. But if you like speed and if you've driven a 1967 Chevy with a 454 engine and then you jump into a Tesla, you know, the torque, the technology, they're not even comparable. So there are ways that we can bridge all of these gaps. If you like speed, if you like technology, if you like making money, if you like hunting, if you like fishing, these are not blue and red issues. These are just American issues. And I try to talk about it in that way and try to visit communities that represent all of the things that you and I are discussing today. Yeah.

This is a part of the show I like to call dumb questions for smart people. So I hope you'll indulge me. So you're from North Carolina. Why are Duke players and fans so insufferable? I hope you're not a Duke fan. I should have researched that first. I think that I have to go home and a lot of friends are there. So I would say that Duke fans aren't that bad.

Come on, come on. Coach K like scolds the other teams, yells at the fans, berates his players when he loses. He's retired now, but. Yeah, but see, you asked me a question about the players and now you're talking about the behavior of the coach. True, true, true. you know, I think I can agree with you on that. Who do you root for? I graduated from A&T State University. So I am a proud Aggie. And as you know, being and spending

some time in North Carolina and getting into the ACC politics is a dangerous thing. I know. I know. You got to steer clear of those folks. Any relation to Ronald Reagan? You know, this is painful for me to say, but growing up in middle school, I was really teased about being the illegitimate child of Ronald Reagan. Come on, man. So, you know, you're bringing back a little bit of PTSD. Come on, man. I'm really not appreciative of this right now. Oh, there goes my nipple baby question. Do you know where Kate Middleton is?

Can the EPA help with that? Wow. Wow. You know, I was just talking to my wife about that the other night. I came home and was really frustrated about working through, you know, a very technical rule. And she said, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, right now I'm on a chain and we're trying to figure out where Kate Middleton is. I was thinking we are living two different lives right about now.

Your marriage sounds a lot like my marriage. Which invasive species do you hate the most? Ash borer, zebra mussel, Eric Trump. What are we looking at? What do we have our eye on these days? Sea. Sea. what are we looking at?

What do we have our eye on these days? Sea. Sea. Invasive, do you guys handle invasive species or is that somebody else? We dibble and dabble a little bit. Okay. We share that

with the Department of Interior. Gotcha. Okay. Rahm Emanuel used to get very mad about the Asian carp. That was sort of my experience with this. They apparently jump out of the water, they hit people in boats and shit.

It's a problem. I've seen those videos. Last question. And if this is in your bag, tell me. Recycling. Yes. We all do it. It's important. Also, we judge others who don't do it. I don't know what really gets recycled though. If I'm getting a bunch of takeout and I'm putting the little plastic containers in the special bin, is that like Penang-stained plastic getting reused? Or is this like for show?

How does this all work? Listen, first of all, let me say this. I think I've traveled to about 38, 39 states and 13 countries. When you talk about climate change, young people get excited. When you talk about plastics and recycling, it seems like the intensity of the excitement is about the same. So recycling, all jokes aside, has become a really big focus for EPA.

My son is 10. And, you know, when it comes to recycling materials, he is all on it. to recycling materials, he is all on it. So I have been looking into this question you guys, which is, what are we really recycling? Is it going to the right places? And I would say that the answer is, it is increasingly getting better because this country is starting to really understand how to monetize it. And I think that once you introduce the ability to monetize and we now have a market of young people and others who are demanding tighter standards, we're starting to see more interest in that area. But so glass is good, right? Like glass, put it in the recycling bin, it's going somewhere, it'll get used. I just worry about the plastic because it feels like it's all just winding up in like literally the middle of the Pacific Ocean, like going in circles and just not getting necessarily reused. But there's this industry that's telling us that these things are getting recycled. I feel like they're not sometimes. Well, they haven't been traditionally. I think

we're starting to see markets emerge where companies want the recycle products. I was just in Ghana recently and just looking at a bunch of entrepreneurs there that are really into electronic recycling. And the things that they are refurbishing and the way they're reusing older technology is just amazing. And so, you know, I was a little bit skeptical like you are, but my eyes have been open as I've been traveling the world and seeing not only how big of a problem it is, but how interested so many people are in it. And young people definitely are interested in recycling. When you meet with skeptical Republicans, maybe they question whether the government regulates too much.

Maybe they question, you know, whether climate change is manmade in the role of the EPA. Do you ever just tell them, I work at an agency that Nixon created? Does that impact people? Do they realize that this was actually a creation of a Republican president? Yeah, I think most of them have forgotten that. And most have forgotten that when you look at the Clean Air Act and the revisions to the act that was done during Republican administrations as well. I don't know where we got off track. Clean air and clean water should not be a partisan thing. And I think that as we move forward and as I move forward, I try to meet people where they are. I'll be honest with you. Most Republicans behind closed

doors don't challenge me on climate science. The performative aspects when the lights and cameras are on is much different than the serious discussions that we're having behind closed doors. Then it's Larry Kudlow drinking meat beer. Who's listening to that stuff, man? I don't know. For God's sake. God help that man. Administrator Regan, thank you so much for coming and doing the show.

Hey, thank you for having me. It's been fun. Administrator Regan, thank you so much for coming and doing the show Hey, thank you for having me, it's been fun Thanks to Michael Regan for joining us today Everyone have a great weekend And we'll talk to you next week Bye everyone If you want to get ad-free episodes, exclusive content and more

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and more. Plus if you're as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review. Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. Our show is produced by Olivia Martinez and David Toledo. Our associate producers are Saul Rubin and Farrah Safari. Kira Wakeem is our senior producer. Reed Cherlin is our executive producer. Thank you. Matt DeGroat is our head of production. Andy Taft is our executive assistant. Thanks to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Haley Jones, Mia Kelman, David Tolles, Kirill Pelleviv, and Molly Lobel. Hi there. I want to let you know about another show you'll need to get through this election year,

Political Breakdown from KQED in San Francisco. Hosted by reporters Scott Schaefer and Marisa Lagos, Political Breakdown unpacks the day in politics with a uniquely California perspective. Featuring interviews with other reporters, elected officials, candidates, pollsters, campaign managers, fundraisers, every single political player you can think of, Political Breakdown pulls back the curtain to offer an insider's glimpse at the political system. Thank you.