Pod Save America - Trump Sabotages Trump Agenda

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

Donald Trump cancels the signing of a landmark bipartisan housing bill at the last minute, saying he won't approve it until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot. Jon and Dan react to the President's decision and the Republican caucus's angry reaction to it, then turn to Tuesday's primary elections, where three DSA-aligned candidates won in New York City, and discuss JD Vance's attempts to charm Rupert Murdoch … and his own wife. Then, Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Texas, stops by the studio to talk to Jon about what it'll take to unseat Governor Greg Abbott.

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Just visit Simplysafe.com slash crooked. That's half off at Simplysafe.com slash crooked. There is no safe like SimplySafe. Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm John Favro. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. On today's show, Donald. Trump touts a major accomplishment on affordability as only he knows how by canceling it.

We'll talk about why and why the president is fighting again with Republicans in Congress. We'll also talk about Zoran Mamdani's House candidates going three for three in New York's primaries on Tuesday and why that's causing some Democrats to panic and Republicans to smile. We'll do a quick check-in on J.D. Vance's charm offensive and whether it's winning over his wife. And then Gina Inohosa, the Democrat running to be governor of Texas, stops by to talk about her race against Greg Abbott and why she might become Texas's first Democratic governor in nearly 40 years. Before we start, please consider subscribing to Friends of the Pod.

If you haven't already, you get ad-free episodes of this pod and all your favorite crooked pods, plus you get subscriber-only shows like Polarcoaster with the one-and-only Dan Pfeiffer. And I hear you guys are back at it. You did another Polarcoaster this week, right? We did. It came out this week. We talked a little bit about the New York races. You and I are also going to talk about. We also talked about the politics of abortion four years after Dobbs. Excellent. Everyone check that out. You can get it if you subscribe. You also get our extra episode of Potsave America called Potsave America Only Friends. You get lots of excellent substack news. And you get to be feeling good about supporting a proudly independent pro-democracy media company. So check it out. Crooked.com slash friends. All right. Let's get to the news. Donald Trump made some. real progress this week trying to sabotage his Republican majority in Congress.

Minutes before he was scheduled to appear at a signing ceremony for a landmark housing affordability bill that passed with huge bipartisan majorities, the president announced that it was canceled and that he won't be signing the housing legislation until Congress passes the Save Act

which is the bill that would require all Americans to show passports or birth certificates in order to register to vote and has failed to pass in the Senate five times now. The housing bill would reduce barriers to building new homes and limit the

ability of big investors to buy up single family homes, ideally lowering the price of housing down the road. But alas, Trump doesn't want to give anyone the impression that he and his party are focused for even a second on affordability. So no housing bill

this week. Trump elaborated on his thinking in an Oval Office appearance a little later in the day. Let's listen. Basically, it's the Save America Act. Everybody wants it, everybody is it, including Democrats. I said it amounts out on the housing bill. I want to see what happens with said, look, the housing bill is, I made billions of dollars with housing. I know housing better than anybody, maybe anywhere. It's all about the interest rate. Lower the interest rates. You can have all the housing you want.

But you have to understand, I don't want to hurt people that own houses, too. affordability. We're doing great. The Democrats gave us a tremendous affordability problem, and we're reducing prices alone. I'm a billionaire. I made a fortune on housing, and we got to help other people who already own homes. Take it for me. Successful slumlord on how to deal with housing prices. So considering that the housing bill will become law in 10 days, even without Trump's signature, and that if he does decide, to veto it. Congress has the numbers to override a veto. What was Trump thinking when he decided to do this? What's the, what's going on here, Dan? You know, there's been this debate over the years,

whether Trump is crazy or crazy like a fox. This is just crazy. Like, just put yourself in the position of Republicans, right? You're a vulnerable Republican. You're like a Susan Collins or a Dan Sullivan or you're one of these Republicans like Mike Lawler in a purple district. You wake up on Wednesday morning. Here's what your day looks like. Democrats from the middle of of a giant fight because we've elected some socialists in New York City, that you're about to have a signing ceremony for a massive bipartisan bill that would be signed by Donald Trump, but written in part by Elizabeth Warren that will address housing prices. It would be a real actual tangible accomplishment.

You could take the voters to say, like, I'm trying to do something to deal with your cost of living crisis. And instead of that, Donald Trump just been its beforehand since out an insane truth, demand, canceling the signing ceremony, stomping on both the Democrats' bad message, the Republicans' good message, because he has a near fatal attraction to a bill that no one likes,

and if it were to pass, would make it harder for Republicans to win elections. It is wild. And that he just keeps, first of all, let's just talk about the Save America Act, which he has called it. It was the Save Act. Then he changed it to the Save America Act.

It's also supposed to like, ban mail-in voting nationwide. I think that's part of it too, or that's like one of the add-ons that he included himself. So I don't know why he's so, I mean, I know why, because he thinks that, like, it's going to help them rig the elections and win. But it is wild to me that no one has told him, none of his political advisors, have told him that actually this bill would probably hurt Republicans because it would make it harder for the, um, lower-income Americans, many of whom vote for Donald Trump and wrote for Republicans now, to register to vote because not everyone has their passport lying around,

not everyone has their birth certificate lying around. Republicans run around saying that this is only about like showing your license and showing some form of ID and isn't that easy to do. And that's not actually what the bill does. The bill is much more comp makes, the bill makes voting and registering to vote much more complicated than that. I mean, it would end under current forum, basically end online voter registration and automatic voter registration. We've talked about this before. Not that many Americans have, a majority of Americans do not have passports.

The ones who don't have passports are just unfortunately working class and didn't go to college, which has been the core of the Trump base. But it is, like, I just, so there's a bunch of different things going on here. It can't pass. Right. They've tried several times. It cannot pass. There doesn't have the, there aren't 60 votes, obviously.

And there aren't 50 votes to eliminate. the filibuster. And then even if it were to pass, it would be bad for Republicans. And at no point in these various junctures does Trump seem to understand. Like, it's just, it's like it's true. It's delusional. The whole thing is delusional. And it seems, his obsession with this seems genuine.

Like he seems truly, maybe it's because it's something he wants that he can't get. Yeah. And that's what bothers him. Because up until this point with this Republican caucus, he's been, with the exception of the EFstein files, what he has wanted he has got. You want to confirm a bunch of fucking dunderheads to be in charge of the military and health and human services? We'll do that. You want us to stand idly by while we prosecute people? We'll do that. But here's the thing he wants and he cannot have, and it seems to be driving him even more bananas than usual.

I also think that all these things he wants to do with voting and the election he is being told older has been also told by the courts that he can't do via executive order. But you can tell that if he doesn't get the SAVE Act pass, he's still going to try to do a lot of this shit around the election, which should alarm everyone, of course. On the housing bill, though, like, the thing is going to become law. In fact, right before we started recording, Mike Johnson said that they will be – he talked to Trump and that they will be transmitting the legislation to Trump. So I assume, though I shouldn't assume, but seems like he might just sign it after all. But even if he doesn't, it becomes law, like, great. It's good legislation.

His opportunity to take credit for it is sort of gone now. And it's not like people are going to feel the effects of this housing bill, certainly not by the midterms, maybe not for a couple of years, because really it's just sort of reducing barriers to building more affordable housing and sort of changing some of the formulas for how the federal government gives money to states. And now it's going to be based on whether they've actually produced more housing and built more housing. So they can still take credit for it,

but I don't think Trump's going to be taking credit for it. But even then, so when you, like, we should, we'll get into this, but as we know, a bill that does not actually impact people's lives has limited political impact. But the moment when people pay attention is the signing ceremony. Ten days from today, Thursday, is the Fourth of July weekend. but it seems like a bad time to get attention for your bill. Well, also, apparently, the Wall Street Journal has him saying,

Trump saying to someone, one of his advisors, at my rallies, no one cares about the housing bill at my rallies, but when I say, save America, then they can't sit down. And then apparently Punchball has four sources saying that Trump said to Mike Johnson directly, no one gives a shit about housing. Yes, I remember he said, He said that a few months ago. Like literally like affordability is the top issue.

And then when you dive into affordability, like sometimes it's groceries and gas, sometimes it's housing. But housing is like one of the, maybe the top two or three concerns of most American voters. And particularly younger voters. Like this shows up in focus groups. It shows it at, like, yes, is it true that people are not cheering for the 21st century Road to Housing Act? Of course.

Would it be helpful for Republicans and Democrats? incumbent's to go to voters and say, here is a thing I, a bipartisan accomplishment I had that is addressing your concern, even if you're not feeling it? Absolutely. And Trump is just making that messier for Republicans because he can't, he's having some sort of insane temper tantrum over a bill that can't pass. After canceling the bill signing, Trump did attend his previously scheduled lunch with Senate Republicans, which went about as well as you can imagine, given the circumstances. according to Senator John Kennedy, Trump was, quote,

mad as a murder hornet and berated Republicans for not supporting him on an Iran vote, which then led to a shouting match with Bill Cassidy, who Trump recently drove from office. CNN reports that Trump told Cassidy

to sit down. Cassidy refused and raised his voice. Trump called him a lunatic. Cassidy then referred to Trump as brother, and Trump told him he wasn't his brother. then Cassidy eventually sat down. John Kennedy later said that the meeting was a success because, quote, no one got stabbed, which is an excellent bar to set.

Trump also apparently isn't done trying to force Republicans to eat shit on Iran. The administration just asked Congress for $88 billion in funding, which would mostly help pay for the war. How do you think that's going to go over, Dan? Well, before we get to the war funding, in this meeting and the Punch Bowl reporting on it, and Punch Bowl generally gets like a full live texting of these sorts of things. It seems like no one pushed back on Trump on the Save Act, even though every Republican Senator with the possible exception of Mike Lee and maybe Rick Scott, no it can't pass.

None of them would say it to Trump's face, which is why they're in this mess to begin with, which is just like a pure sign of weakness and failure from John Thune. Yeah. Like, you have them in the room. This is the big problem. You can't pass anything. The House, it's why we should mention. Trump's got everyone so chint up on this that Anna Polina Luna has stopped that will not allow anything to pass on the House floor until the Senate passes the SAVE Act, which is something that doesn't make a lot of constitutional sense.

I can't talk about a bank shot. Yeah. So it's like they can't pass the rule. They can't pass anything. They're trying to pass through appropriation bills. The entire, they had to go home on Friday because they can't do anything. And she's demanding that they attach the SAVE Act to either the FACC to either the. FISA bill or the defense authorization bill, which the Senate will then take out in both those cases.

But so the whole thing is you have, Trump has got everyone chint up about this. He, no one will, but no one will say to his face why this can't work. It is one thing for his like terrible, slavish, obsequious advisors to not say it. But here are members of Congress, senators who are not up for reelection this year. Maybe some of them are not up for re-election ever again, who are incapable of mustering the courage to say to one man. A simple math fact. And it's like, they could have even talked beforehand and said, all right, I'm going to bring it up, but back me up if I do. Yeah.

The strength and numbers. Still, nothing. Still, like Bill Cassidy, I guess, got up and yelled at him about the Iran war powers vote. Yeah. And then change his vote. And then changed his vote because the White House afterwards gave him a briefing that he wanted. And then he felt sad that he raised his voice. I'm like, the guy cost you your job.

You're not going to be a senator anymore because of this man. Sorry. For, I guess, voting for impeachment the second time. Apparently Trump in the meeting, too, was like, all the people that voted for my impeachment, voted to convict me are gone now. And then, like, he looked over at Lisa Murkowski, who was just, like, sitting there in the corner and he's like, accept her. Unbelievable. Does Susan Collins enough out for that? Oh, interesting.

Did she vote for the second impeachment? She had to have voted for the second impeachment. God. Maybe she didn't. I mean, look, in fairness, we have barely covered the main Senate race this year. So maybe Susan Collins got smart and just didn't go to the lunch. She probably didn't go to lunch. Like, if I were Susan Collins, I would stay clear of anywhere where Donald Trump was.

Like that would just be, that's got to be a base, like a campaign 101 kind of thing. Yes. So here's the thing now with this Trump and the G.O. Congress. I'm wondering how much all this matters because not many actual work days left between now and the midterms. They're going to go home for the 4th of July break. They're going to come back. There's going to be August recess. Then they come back. Then everyone's campaigning. And then it's November before you know it. Trump seems intent on sabotaging any chance of anything passing before election day. I see it. It seems hard to believe that this 88 billion dollar war funding

supplemental is going to pass, even though they thought they were really clever and included some Ebola funding in it to try to get Democrats to vote for it. It doesn't seem like anything else. It doesn't seem like the Save America Act is going to pass. But then the question is like, does any of that matter? What do you like in terms of the politics of the midterms? That's an interesting question because I don't think there's any sort of bill, even this housing bill, Republicans could pass that would dramatically change. the political dynamics here. Look, I think if you're an incumbent member of Congress and you can pass something that addresses people's number one concern and you can talk about that on the trail or in a

debate or in an ad, that's better than nothing. And so this is an opportunity cost for the way Trump stepped on the housing bill. What I think probably matters here is they're going to need to pass this supplemental, which is politically toxic. You know, in that CVS poll, 69% that people think the war hasn't been worth the cost. We haven't even paid the $88 billion. yet. So when you start paying the $88 billion numbers is going to get worse. And so they need and it's it'll be on reconciliation. So they need 50 votes. And in our old world, we used to be like, well, Susan Collins doesn't have to vote for it and so she'll be fine. But now you got a bunch of other Republican senators. You have Dan Sullivan. You have John Hustead. You got a bunch of people

who are going to have to probably cast a vote here. And that's going to be in a popular vote. And you're going to need everyone to do it. Because you're going to you'll probably get Federman, I guess. So maybe you can lose three Republicans. Yeah. But that'll be. It's good. Also, there's also a government funding deadline by the way. I was going to bring that up too is that that's the real that's looming here right before the election. It's looming. We got a loomer. We're already looming. It's only June. Yeah, it's September 30th. There's a government funding deadline. So you got that you got this war funding supplemental. Nothing that anyone wants to pass. That's for sure. If I was Donald Trump and I cared passion about election integrity, one thing I would do is demand that I would suggest that I wouldn't sign a government funding bill unless they included unless they passed the SAVE Act. It's just an idea. I'm sure. I hope it doesn't make it to his ears. I'm sure that's already on a note pad somewhere, Dan, or a whiteboard in the White House for sure. No, I think, and the other challenge here is I think they thought that this $88 billion war funding supplemental would, like they waited until after they thought the war was over and then so they could sell it as like, oh, this is just backfilling, you know, like now we just, it's for future. conflicts and now our military is depleted and we need it and what are you going to do now, you know, except the war doesn't seem to be over. There was another tanker that was attacked

by an Iranian drone today. It does not seem like the traffic. The traffic has increased through the straight, but it is not anywhere near back to normal levels. I believe like the Chevron is saying the gas prices will be elevated for a while. Trump's flipping out about that. Now he's promising to go after price gouging gas companies or open like a DOJ investigation, which as well, as We know from the Biden administration works so well. We tried that in the Obama years. It's us, too. Yeah, it never works.

But you say it anyway. And so he's going to have to deal with that. Gas prices are going to be still high. And so that's going to make the $88 billion look even worse to voters, I think. Yeah, I mean, it's terrible. Honestly, it's probably would have been better to do it when the war was going on. So you could be about protecting the troops. And instead it's just, it's like, here's the bill has come due for this unfun thing that no one wanted and everyone hated.

Yeah. And by the way, we've cut all your Medicaid too and everything else in the government. So good luck with that. But we do have money for ballrooms and algae. The world algae. We're still about it for the world on algae. It really does make you think like when these Republicans hit the trail in the fall, like they don't have much to say except that Democrats are as our next topic, Democrats are all crazy socialist. Like I don't know what else they can say about themselves and what they've done in Congress. I don't really imagine anyone talking about this housing bill because, like you said, if the housing bill hasn't really had any effect on housing prices, I don't think that's going to land very well with people. They will do, and it's not going to work, and it's going to be pretty pitiful, and it is like leading with your chin, but they will talk about the tax provisions in the big, beautiful bill. No tax on tips, the social security stuff, tax cuts from middle class, which will then allow every Democrat to point out that most of the tax cuts went to billionaires and corporations. and that we are paying for those tax-clivenileged corporations by cutting health care, food assistance,

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Speaking of inter-party turmoil, we got some fresh drama brewing, thanks to the good people of New York City who had quite a primary on Tuesday, a slate of three candidates endorsed by Zoran Mamdani won their Democratic primaries in deep blue house districts. In the 7th district, Democratic socialist Claire Valdez won the open seat over a pretty progressive opponent endorsed by the retiring Democratic member of Congress. In the 10th district, progressive city comptroller Brad Lander defeated incumbent Dan Goldman in a race that was largely about Israel. Both men are Jewish. Lander ran as a self-proclaimed liberal Zionist, but hit Goldman on voting against legislation to block military aid to Israel and taking money from pro-Israel lobbying groups. And then the biggest upset of the night in another race that was largely about Israel, four-term representative Adriano Espio, head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the first undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress lost his Harlem Bronx district in an upset to a leftist community organizer named Dari Elisa Avila Chevalier,

a Democratic socialist who also believes in abolishing prisons, police, and all deportations. Now, there were plenty of other primaries in New York and elsewhere on Tuesday, where mainstream and moderate Democrats, not only one, but in some cases fended off more progressive challengers. But to give everyone a flavor of how the DSA victories are landing in the world of politics, here are reactions from James Carville, Zoran Mamdani, and Hakeem Jeffries. Everybody's always said, no, no, we're a coalition, we're a big tent. And there's just some shit that I can't be in the same camp with. Let's negotiate a terms of a schism here.

Maybe we can part under some kind of advantageous turns for both of us. But I'm done. I'm not in that fucking political party. What is the Democratic Party, if not its voters? And what we saw yesterday evening were Democrats across the city turning out and voting for a new kind of politics? You can't think this is a positive development in New York politics, can you? And all they'll just, you know, Dems will be Dems or something like that. I don't see how you can say that.

No, it's not. You need to reject those things, I think. First of all, first of all, I've clearly rejected those things. That's number one. Number two, and my record speaks for itself. This is not a Dem's will be Dem's situation. Donald Trump is the president of the United States of America right now. Are you kidding me?

I'm happy to talk about primary elections in one of the bluest cities in the country. At the end of the day, listen, our focus is going to be on ending this national nightmare in this country that America is suffering. Okay. your reaction to the results, and then we can do the reaction to the freak out. And I know you wrote a wonderful message box about this today. So thank you. Tell us about it. Sure.

So let's just start with the elections themselves. No one should dismiss this. Like two incumbents losing election on the same night is a big deal. Since 1946, so from 1946 to 2024, more than 98% of incumbents have won renomination. Wow. In the House? So it is in the house. So it is very rare for members of Congress who lose their primaries, two losing on one night, one of them being the chair of the CHC, and then specifically losing to a political novice

with a, I would say, a colorful history of online posts that just seemed to be in vogue this cycle for Democrats. That's a big deal. So we shouldn't dismiss it. It is a, I would say the Lander-Goldman race is a. little different in the sense that Lander is a citywide elected official with high, who ran for mayor as high name ID and the endorsement in full support of the very popular mayor, Democratic Socialist mayor of the city. And in each of these races are a little different in what drove it. But I think the thing we should take away is like so much else that's

happening in this country, like it's happening when progressive speed establishment candidates in the second district of Maine, in the California race, where Randy Villegas won. Graham Platner forcing Janet Mills out of the race. Like there's a giant warning sign for the Democratic establishment here where the support of people like Schumer or even Akeem Jeffries is certainly not an asset in your campaign. It may be a detriment. It is very clear that the groups on the left, Justice Democrats, Democratic Socialists of America, our revolution are out organizing, out fundraising, out fundraising, outworking, out

maneuvering the traditional party institutions. Right. That is happening. They have captured the energy. They would be more creative. They're being more strategic. They're being more aggressive. And if you were someone in the Democratic establishment, you should be deeply concerned about

what this says about where the party is, what the standing of the party is, what the ability of the party infrastructure is to actually win elections. So this is a big deal. Now, to Akeem Jeffrey's point, this is taking place in a city that Kamala, won by 38 points in what was a bad year for Democrats, right, particularly in a city like New York. And so this is a very, very, very democratic city. And all across the country, you're seeing, yes, you're seeing progressive candidates win and you're seeing progressive candidates lead like Abdul al-Said in Michigan, according to the most

recent polls. But you're also seeing moderate candidates in Alaska, North Carolina. I don't know if it's fair to call Sherrod Brown a moderate, but he's certainly not a Democratic socialist. He's an economic populist. And you saw in New York, you know, just on that very same day, in like New York 17, one of the most important districts in the country of a Democratic State of the House, you have a more moderate veteran candidate win. That's the Mike Lawler district. That's the Mike Loller. That's Kate Connolly who won that, who won that primary.

And so you're seeing, it's like a, there is a mixed picture, but there is, in all the races, but there is true. It is very true that there is an antipathy throughout the establishment. We can talk about why that is. there is more energy on the left and there is sort of greater tactical, strategic, and organizational energy and success among the groups on the left. I think that's all right. I also think it's useful to sort of define what the freak out is about because it's even more, it's even narrower, I think, than just like, you know, there's some progressives winning in places

and DSA places and moderate. Even just the three races we're talking about here from Tuesday, we're talking about three races, three house races. And in one of those races, Clear Valdez seems like a normal DSA candidate in the vein of an AOC or a member of the squad, right? We talked about Brad Lander. Lander is basically like a standard progressive Democrat.

Yeah, standard New York City progressive Democrat. Yeah, but it also has said like, you know, after he won was like, I want to go help frontline members who are out there and I hope some of the moderates come help me and I've helped moderates before. And so like that's that's Bradlander. Really here the panic is over. Dary Eliza of Villa Chevalier. And I will just say she might be the most left wing candidate to ever win a Democratic primary in our lifetime. There's been a lot of focus on her old tweets, which she has deleted and mostly apologized for. I'm fine with that.

My general position is to give people a chance who want to take back something they said or posted. Certainly would love to take back things that I've posted. And I also think that some of her tweets have been taken out of context and exaggerated. Here's where I have a problem. She has not apologized for attending an anti-Israel rally on October 8th, October 8th, 2023.

a rally that was condemned by Zoran Mamdani, AOC, and Brad Lander, who we were just talking about, who actually left the DSA because it promoted that rally where attendees chanted that Hamas' resistance was justified the day after October 7th, the day after they slaughtered a thousand Israelis. And to this day, she still defends attending that rally. The other problem I have, she sat for an interview with the New York at a day. board last week? Last week where she said she's against all deportations. She's for open borders because, quote, bordering is a very modern construct actually. The borders are in our hearts and our minds. She wants to abolish prisons and refused to say when asked, she got four different chances

on this, refused to say that a convicted murderer should be sentenced to any jail time at all. And they kept giving her another chance like, are you sure? But what happens to the murderer that just convicted? Nothing. Now, maybe she turns over a new leaf in Congress and like her voting record doesn't match some of these more extreme positions. I hope so. But I think the reason I bring this up is because when Democrats get questions about this, I think the answer is easy and important to give, which is that she currently holds a range of views that go from moronic to abhorrent. not only those views not align with most Democrats in the country, nearly all Democrats in the country, all elected Democrats, actually most elected Democratic socialists.

But like, I don't even think they align with like a lot of the people who probably voted for her. And so like I think people should just, you just got to say that. And I don't think you lump her. I think it, I think it does a disservice to the other progressives and the other even DSA members to pretend that she is part of this, like, there's new energy and it's great and whatever. It's like, no, no, no, no. It's one thing to have these views in the past and be like, you know what, I've learned, I'm growing what she said about summer for tweets,

but to sit there a week ago and be like, yeah, no prisons, no borders, no, police. Here's the thing. Also, who cares? Well, but I already see people doing the like, you know, like, well, we got to understand the energy. No, no, we got to understand the energy with a lot of these candidates. She is, that was a mistake. And like, Mamdani endorsing her also probably a mistake. Yeah, I mean, you'll notice that when Bernie Sanders did his congratulatory tweet afterwards,

he congratulated Bradlander and Clara Valdez. Oh, he did? Because Bernie's fucking smart. That's why. I mean, those are the two. I, those are the two he specifically endorsed. But he did, he did two, not three. But also, she's one member of Congress.

Right. Right. This is who the voters picked. So in two years, someone's got the opportunity to challenge her. Totally. Maybe she comes to Congress and she's a productive member. Maybe she's not. It doesn't.

But it's just like I think when we get to the panic. I'm not saying it's the end of the world. I'm saying that I actually think it's very easy here. Oh yeah. What I'm saying what don't do is like she is a she is about to be the biggest celebrity on the right of all time. She's going to, she's already like starring on Fox in every fucking segment. And it's going to be like that forever. And you know what?

Most people when they hear her, there's tape of her saying all these things last week. when they hear that, they're going to be like, this is fucking nuts. And then if they go to Democrats, be like, what do you think? And Democrats are like, it's not a big deal. Everyone's freaking out over nothing. Then you would not, you would not blame the voter for being like, well, that's weird. Why wouldn't you just say it's crazy? The Republicans will try to make her a celebrity a face of the party.

I think they're going to really struggle to pick an unelected member of Congress is the face of the party when they have struggled to make AOC or Nancy Pelosi or someone else's face of the party. But let's say it comes up. Like his kick him up in debate him interview, if you're a member, running in any district, frankly, but it's particularly a frontline member in a purple district or a red district, there's no greater gift than the opportunity to distance yourself from somebody in a party. That's why I said that. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, yes, like, for sure. I think that

there's a, let's try to like break, like, the freak out is, it's, it's, is not just about her. The freak out's about a few things that are sort of political and institutional. One of them is there's always this fear that Democrats are going to nominate candidates too liberal to win the general election. That is not a fear here. No. Right? These are some of the most democratic districts in the country. They're all going to Congress.

So that's, and that we are not seeing a situation where currently we'll see what, you know, people are going to have an argument about Maine, about Maine Senate. But we have not, as of yet, for the most part, we have not been not the Democratic voters, not the institutions, not the, not the groups, anyone, not the party apparatus. voters are not picking candidates who may be too liberal to win. The two possible exceptions there are Randy Villegis, which is the D.Rible C picked a different candidate in that race. And then Matt Dunlop instead of Baldacci, the son of the former governor in Main Second District. We probably were running the Main Second District under any scenario. You need a very, very good year for that. That's really like only, it's just Jared.

Unless Jared Golden had not retired. Right. Jared Golden is like Joe Manchin, right? The only person who could win that was probably Jared Golden. The other fear is that this is evidence of like an upro-a-tie-like moment for the party. And there are, I think it's a bad comparison because the Tea Party was a very specific thing in time. There was about a very specific thing in time. It was largely, it was a sort of astro-turfed corporate-funded reaction to the election of a black president. But they're like what you are saying is a, the party base saying they are,

done with the establishment. They are done with the leadership. They have great skepticism. That leader, I think there's three reasons why that skepticism exists. One of it is, and it's different in every race. And it's even different in some of those races in New York. One is anger that the party has failed to stand up to Trump. The second is that the party is to capture by corporate interests,

to, you know, unable, unwilling. too cowardly to take on the interests and to advocate for working people, right? That are they're not addressing people as economic pain. And then the third reason is Israel and Gaza. And that was obviously particularly prominent in the land or Goldman race, where that was a primary point of distinction between the two of them. And you like, and you see that in the chivalier race with.

And the chivalier race, yes. Yeah. Yeah. And you, you see that in like each of the, like the knob, the dial turns to different, to different levels in each different race around the country around those three things. The other question is, is the party becoming moving dramatically to the left? Right. And I think that one is interesting because it is an incontradable fact that the party is more liberal than it was 10 years ago. Like when Obama ran for reelection in the Gallup polling, 42% of Democrats

consider themselves liberal or very liberal and 36% considered themselves moderate. Today, north of 54% consider themselves liberal or very liberal, and 34% consider themselves moderate. Now, I can do a full podcast on how that number happens because the moderate number stays the same and the liberal number goes up. And it's certainly not from conservatives becoming liberals. It's because the conservatives left the party and they're replaced by white college-educated liberals who were former Republican voters. But like that is true.

But- And white college-educated voters and just high-educated, highly educated voters in general have just become more specifically become more liberal in their own views. Yes. And it has led to as the party has become less working class in its identity and frankly, its orientation, cultural issues, social issues, climate change, democracy, immigration, crime, LGBTQ rights have risen in priority for the party. And that has made people identify as more liberal.

But it is worth just remembering that the core point. part of any successful democratic coalition is black voters. And black voters remain more moderate than the party. You see this in this really fascinating Pew. Political typology study that came out last month. It's very clear that black and Latino voters and Asian voters are much more moderate or more moderate. I was saying much more moderate than the sort of this activist, more liberal democratic base. Particularly on crime and immigration. Crime and immigration. Yeah. the two. And then the other question is, are Democrats becoming socialist? And this is also really interesting because, you know, and there is this Gallup poll that everyone fixates on,

we show that 66% of registered Democrats have a positive view of socialism. And then in the New York Times poll that we've talked ad nauseum about, 49% of Democrats have a Democrats and Democrat leaning independence, it's one sample, have a favorable view of socialism. And interestingly enough, a plurality of every age cohort, including Democrats over 65, have a favorable view of socialism. Now, here's a pop quiz for you. I ask Carolina this on Polarcoaster, but can you guess which group has the highest favorability of socialism? Let's see. Young men. Well, which age cohort? It is actually men 30 to 44. Okay. But 30, 44 are. What? That's us, right? That's you. That's not me. That's not. Thank you for, thank you for pointing that out.

Thank you reporting that out. No, it's not me anymore. Like I'm 40. Yeah, that's true. It was you. You just moved in. But it's actually, it's millennial. It's millennials more than younger.

It's by about nine points, actually. It's interesting, which I think is coming of age in the Great Recession. Yeah. Well, and it speaks to sort of the question that you're raising by these maybe surprising results to some people, which is I do think it is more of a commentary on capitalism. Yeah. And the failures of capitalism, at least how people have felt that in their own lives, than a love of socialism.

Or I think if you asked then, and I haven't seen a poll that's done this, like what do you think of when you think of socialism? They think of like Bernie Sanders and universal health care, not abolishing prisons. Yeah, which is not necessarily a lot of socialist countries had a lot of prisons actually.

Famously so. Famously so. Someone had gulags, you would say. And you know what? And you know what every country has. borders. That's true. Every single one.

Both in their mind and in reality. So I was going to say, the social is you hit on the key point here, which is it's, I think it's more of an indictment of capitalism than socialism. And so I guess the question is, if you're a Democrat, like, how do you react to all of this? And like the advice that I've, I've been giving candidates other people is one, you have to, you have to find a way to separate yourselves from the establishment that everyone hates. Like you can't be a typical Democrat and you have to understand what makes people so mad about it and show that you have a solution to it or different from it. The second thing is you don't have to embrace socialism, but you sure is how better understand what is causing people to embrace socialism and speak to that economic pain.

And you got to find a way to have some sort of energy and energy and excitement and authenticity in your, in your belief. Like, what is, like, I think, what is, I think powering some of these, these, that's social necessarily, but some socialists, some DSA, some more progressive candidates is they are speaking with authenticity and conviction about issues, whether it's Abdul talking about Medicare for all in Michigan, whether it's Platinum talking about how the elite system has failed him and failed so many manners. It's how Zoran has talked about cost of living. It's like there's this authenticity and conviction to it that most of the people that you don't get from a lot of moderate. It's not all moderates or some people certainly do it, but it just doesn't show up in the same way.

There's two more reasons that I think there's so much anger at the Democratic establishment right now. One is, we have said for a long time now since Iraq that people, they don't want to spend money on endless foreign wars. They don't want to lose American lives in Forever Wars. They also don't want to spend a lot of money because they feel like we spent, and they're right, like billions and billions and trillions of dollars on Iraq and other foreign adventures that have not worked out. I think that is how most people who are upset with how Biden handled Gaza feel.

It is not Israel has no right to exist. It is why is our money being spent or being sent to BB Netanyahu and the Israeli government who have just slaughtered thousands and thousands and thousands of people in Gaza and are now doing the same in Lebanon. And that feeling cuts across party ideology. It is not fucking horseshoe. It is not like the far left and the far right.

Go sit in a focus group. Go talk to most voters. It's a very common feeling. And the fact that people look at the Democratic establishment and don't feel like that they are on or they feel the same way or they're acting the same way is a huge fucking problem. You also said people are mad that the Democratic establishment hasn't stood up to Trump enough. I also think Dave Weigel made this point today, a reporter at Semaphore, that they're still mad that the Democratic establishment fucking lost to Trump again.

Like that is, I know we're all like, we don't want to go back and look back at 24 and all that and stuff. We lost to Donald Trump for the second time after the guy was convicted of crimes and sent an insurrectionist mob to the Capitol. That's the original sentence. Yeah. The people who were in charge there, people aren't going to feel

too warm and fuzzy towards them. Like that is just that to me is looming over everything. Like yes, there's the corporate stuff and the economic, like all that is real. Money in politics, establishment, too cozy. All of it's real for sure. But like if we had just beaten Donald Trump

then a lot of voters would not think that. No. And so that's going to be a big one too. Potsave America is brought to you by Rocket Money. Thanks to the good people at Rocket Money, I realized that I had been upcharged by a streaming service for access to one show because it was a foreign thing that Hannah and I had watched during the pandemic

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state rep Francesca Hong is running for governor in a crowded field that includes Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez and Mandela Barnes. And in Michigan, our pal Abdul al-Sayed is in a tight Senate primary with Mallory McMorrow and Representative Hayley Stevens. So it does feel like there's a little more stake in the Wisconsin and Michigan primaries. What is your read on those? You know, it's very hard to play the prospective electability game, right? The argument here is among some, and I'm not making this argument, that Hong and Abdul are less electable than other candidates on the ballot.

And in Wisconsin, there's already a movement. One of the center-left candidates has dropped out and endorsed Rodriguez. And there's a movement to try to consolidate the field around Rodriguez. I honestly don't know enough about that race to know for sure that one candidate is more electable than the other. I know that's a very hard race, right? It's a very tough state. Winning a third term in a row is always challenging for governors. So, you know, that's going to be a tough race.

Michigan, the polling is, you know, Abdul is leading in the polls. Haley Stevens is in second. The candidate that I have supported, Malamorro, is in third. There have been hypothetical tests against Mike Rogers, who's a very, very good candidate. He lost by just, I think, about 24,000 votes. to Slotkin in 24. You know, the polling shows that we've seen shows maybe McMorro and Stevens a couple points, more, you know, doing better against Rogers than Abdul.

I don't know what to make of that, whether that is real or not. It's not a dramatic difference in that. So it's hard to say. Abdul is obviously a very, very talented candidate, is very talented communicator. Would he be able to navigate the tax that will certainly come to him as a Bernie endorsed candidate? candidate, a Muslim candidate who will be attacked for his views on everything in his background. He certainly is talented enough to be able to navigate that.

But I am not, I can't look at those races and say, if we nominate that, you know, Hong or Abdul, we're certainly going to lose. Like, it's not that, it's not that clear to me. And it's certainly no one has presented evidence to that fact. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, look, I, I'm, and I'm supporting Abdul, his friend had a pot on crooked. But, you know, I'll be honest, like that is the race where, and again, because it's less about, like, I mean, it is about who these candidates are, but it's also very much about the environment in the state. And, you know, even like Platner is running in a state that is much, much more democratic than Michigan. And I do think that if a Bernie endorsed sort of more lefty candidate can pull it off in Michigan, I do think Abdul can do it. But I think, I think that. it's going to be tough. And like he's going to face all kinds of attacks, not just for his

ideological position, but many unfair attacks, like you said, because he's, he's Muslim. So I think that's going to be, that's going to be challenged. I think. And then I think with Francesco Wong, same thing. And I don't, I don't know her as well. But I saw it like, she'd had, you know, she'd had some past support for or advocated at one point, like defund the police. And then last week, you know, she had a video that said, there's no way I'm going to cut public safety. And And that to me is like, okay, this is the kind, like, yes, this is what you need to do to win these states. And like, if you are a further left candidate in a state like Wisconsin, in a state like Michigan, I'm not saying like just, you know, change all of your fucking positions.

You shouldn't do that. But you do have to run like you're running a general election in a purple state, which you are, and know where the voters are and know, you know, I'm sure for for Wong and for, I know for Abdul, like the most important issues, Medicare for all, health care, sort of economic populism. And I would imagine that they're going to emphasize those above all else and then have something to say on some of the attacks that are going to come their way on crime and immigration and cultural issues. But I don't think that's going to be easy. But I do think like I saw that. I saw what Wong had done about.

There's no way I'm going to cut public safety in contrasted that with some of the stuff that we just talked about in New York City. And I'm like, see, that's the difference right there. And Mamdani, right? Mammany campaigned has all kinds of past positions. And he has increased the police budget since he's been mayor. And he's done all of his other stuff that he talked about, right? The rent freeze, I believe, is going into effect today. He's trying to do all the other stuff.

And he's wildly popular. Yeah. It is like there, when we talked about some, you know, the Tea Party comparison here is that in both the 2010 and 2012 Senate races, the Republicans nominated a bunch of candidates in states they should have won, like Indiana, Missouri, Delaware in 2010, where Mike Castle would have walked into the Senate. And instead, they nominated Christine O'Donnell, who did not walk into the Senate. Nor did she fly in on her broomstick. No, did she fly in her broomstick. Deep cut.

And there's a 15-year-old reference to a Senate race. 15, yeah, okay, 15. 2010, yeah. 16, 16, 16 years. But one of the mistakes those candidates made is they also ran terrible races because they refused to acknowledge the reality of the states in which they were running. Yes. And you can be a liberal candidate. You can be more liberal than the electorate and still win if you are running a smart strategic race that does acknowledge the realities of what it takes to win in a state like Wisconsin or Michigan.

And it depends on which issues you're more liberal than the electorate on. Yeah. That's a big way. We use like liberal, conservative left, right as just like these catch-all terms, but it really depends on what you're talking about. That's right. That's right. And it's not just issues.

It's obviously things you've said, things you've done, who you are, your cultural connection to people. But yes, you can, like if you were a serious candidate can win in the right environment, running the right campaign. Yeah. All right. So Tommy talked to Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan this week about their new Trump book, regime change.

Go listen to that interview if you haven't already. It's great. But one of the more incredible anecdotes in the book is a dinner at the White House in October of last year where Trump asks Rupert Murdoch in front of Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance, who are sitting at the table, which one he liked best and to rate both of them. And Murdoch reportedly said of Rubio, Marco is brilliant, and said of Vance, I think J.D. has the potential to be great. Vance apparently tried to laugh it off with the sarcastic line. Oh, thanks. Thanks, Rupert. Thanks a lot. Of course, we here at Podsave America think Murdoch and Trump and others are just being grossly unfair to our boy, JD, who has continued to just ooze charisma during the press tour for his new book. Just as one example, check out this exchange with conservative columnist Ross Douthit at the New York Times.

Let's be honest. The tone of the administration is not consistently a Christian tone. There is a tone of aggressive uncharity to people who aren't on board with the administration's policies. The tone argument is in some ways, I think, people see what they want to see. And I also think that tonal arguments are ways of, frankly, policing, working class ways of communication and covering them in elite preferences. Okay. I think the tonal arguments are ways of policing,

working class ways of communication and covering them in elite preferences. Few things. First of all, you sound like the right-wing version of a woke scold from academia who can't get off blue sky. That's what that sounded like. Two, I'm not sure how the,

Manhattan billionaire president calling Americans he doesn't like human scum is a working class way of communication. And I do think it's a bit insulting to working class Americans that J.D. Vance assumes that they all speak about their fellow Americans that way. I'm also not sure when, like, loving thy neighbor and Christian charity became an elite preference. That's an elite preference now. Wild. Just from top to bottom, wild. Is that just me? I don't know. I couldn't believe that when I saw that. I would say you did say to us in our production meeting today that you could do a whole podcast on this topic.

I think it was like the last time I tweeted actually. I mean, I've been like retweeting things here and there. But the last time I really tweeted was a week ago because I've been trying not to tweet that much. But I saw that. And I just, first of all, I couldn't stop laughing. And then I listened to the whole interview because with Ross, which is fun. the real journey. I think people should know that you had a day to yourself in Chicago. A beautiful summer day in Chicago. You were by yourself. You could have done anything in the world. And what did you do? And it was beautiful day. And I walked down by the lake and I walked all the way to Lincoln Park where we used to live. And I had a great day. But while I was walking, I was listening. You thought to myself. I was listening to interesting times with Ross Douth and J.D. Vance.

Good for you. Look, I very much agree with you here. It is, like, using the term tone policing is just perfect. But like the bigger point with this is, and it says something about J.D. Vance, which is J.D. Vance came from a working class background. Like, his story is very famous. But what he, and it is a, you know, as told in his book and the Netflix movie of which he was a producer, made of his life story, tells you is that he picked himself up by his bootstrap. went to an Ivy League college, went to the military, became quite successful. We came a venture capitalist, CNN commentator, all the things that, all the, all the

checklists on the MAGA resume that you need, Hollywood producer, venture capitalist, and Hollywood producer, or CNN commentator, all the above, and became an elite. Like, that's his story. The story is someone who was raised in this incredible, difficult scenario involving drug addiction and poverty and rises to the. the most elite pinnacles of American society becomes the vice president of the United States. But what he is taken from that is he's become elite and he looks down his nose at everyone else. Because this is the, he tries to in the Trump era, not the pre-Trump era, but the in his

post, Trump's not really no longer Hitler. I shall work for him and serve him era. He tries to put on the clothes of an anti-elitist. But he is not. He is a pure elitist. And there is nothing more elitist than saying that that basically telling someone not to be a dick to their fellow citizens is anti-working class. Look, when Trump goes out there and, you know, and Rob Reiner dies and he celebrates with the truth social post or celebrates that Bob Mueller dies with the true social post, that's just what working class people do. That's what they're doing at the diner at the bar. That's just how they talk. And the reason he knows that is because he serves a working class president.

Donald Trump, Donald J. Trump, cares about the working people. It is of the working people. And that's just, that's how he talks. That's how working class people talk. When the working class president fires off an offensive truth from the gold toilet upon which he's sitting, that is working class talk. Yeah, when he says, look, we just can't afford child care. We can't afford to give people child care. but also check out my ballroom and look at the gold.

Look at the gold everywhere. That's, again, if I had a nickel for every time a working class person said that, I wouldn't be working class. I'd be as, I'd be as, I. Oh, Jenny Vance. Amazing. Ross Delfit, like, he looked like he wanted to laugh too. Which is the first sign that's ever happened in Ross' life.

A truly humorless man. I felt bad for Ross because he, had to, the problem with that interview was he had to cram too many topics in because J.D. Vance only gave him a certain amount of time. And so there was so many crazy things that J.D. Van said that you could tell that definitely wanted to follow up on. And he just had to, he moved on to the next thing. And I was like, you should have, I would have just, I would have asked him about that sentence. You would have done a whole pot. JD Vance. Come on offline. Do a whole podcast about religion, all the other stuff. I would have just given up. I would have been like, let's talk about

the tonal arguments and the tone policing. We don't want to be tone policing. Anyway, one more of these from J.D. Vance. There was another very human, very authentic. Vance moment this week that also got a lot of attention. Apparently, Usha Vance hosts a YouTube series called Storytime with the Second Lady, where she and a guest read to kids, very nice. And this week's special guest was J.D., who is allegedly her husband. Let's see how it went. Today's special reader is my husband, Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance. Thanks for joining us today, honey. Of course. Good to see you. Now, if you're just listening to this, pause it.

Go to the YouTube app on your phone. Go to Pod Save America YouTube or your laptop. Get to the nearest YouTube app you can get to. And watch this because what he does there is he says, Good to See You. And then reaches awkwardly across and gives her two fatherly pats on the knee. Very light pats on the knee. Just light pats.

pulls the hand back, and then they just sit and stare at each other. Is that how you and Howley greet each other after a long day apart, Dan? I will say that if you can't, look, it's hard to be a public figure. Right? The glare of the spotlight is intense. But if there's one moment where you could possibly be yourself, it would be sitting with your wife. And he is incapable of doing that. Like, it honestly seems like they have never met each other.

It's like, you also, it's not like he had to, like, give her a big kiss or, like, he could have just done nothing. He didn't have to tap her knee like that. Well, it's like, you can see it, like, going through his. He looked like he was about to be like, looks like you got a bun in the oven there. Like, it was. Honestly, it's just, it's, I mean, I just, it's like, it's like the first. meeting between a man who's never had a date before and a mail order bride. It's just so, I just don't.

Also, like, I hope everyone realizes that they could have edited that. They could have done another take. They could have cut that part out. It wasn't a live performance. It was a White House thing. Yeah. Yeah, it does make you wonder, are there somewhere on the cutting room floor of the White House, are there nine knee pads that were less affectionate than that one? Did he perhaps like high-five her for the first time?

Yeah. Is there a fist bump? Did he shake her hand? Nice to see you. I'm JD. Wow. Yes. Anyway, watch out, Marker Rubio.

As Rubenock would say, he's got the potential to be great. He certainly does. He certainly does. That potential. It's there somewhere. We have not seen it yet. Neither has Rupert, but it's there. Okay, when we come back, I'll talk to the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas, Gina Inohosa.

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Go right now to Sundays for Dogs.com slash crooked 50 and get 50% off your first order. Or you can use code Crooked 50 at checkout. That's 50% off your first order at Sundaysforogs.com slash crooked 50. Sundays for dogs.com slash crooked 50 or use code Crooked 50 at checkout. Gina Inajosa, welcome to Pod Save America. It's great to be with you. So there's been plenty of national focus on the Texas Senate race between James Telerico and Ken Paxton. There's been less attention paid to the gubernatorial race that you're running against three-term incumbent Greg Abbott, who's running for a record fourth term as governor.

We'll get to him in a minute. But for all the people listening who are meeting you for the first time, who are you? And what made you get into the race? Yeah. So I am running for governor of Texas because what I see in 2026 is that everything is on the line. And this is perhaps our last best chance to save what we hold dear in Texas and in this country. And to explain, I grew up on the border with Mexico. I grew up in the real Grand Valley in Brownsville, Texas.

And I was raised on the promise of the American dream there. We used to cross back and forth between Texas and Mexico all the time back then. And I remember as a little girl being struck by the extreme poverty I witnessed in Mexico. And I remember asking my dad, why? Why, when we cross into Mexico, are there beggars? I said beggars, we didn't have homelessness then. We didn't have a word for it. I said beggars.

And then when we cross back into Texas, there are none. And I'll never forget. My dad said, because in Mexico they have the rich and then they have the poor and they don't have much in between. And in America, we have a strong middle class. And he was talking about the American dream. And working Texans right now are struggling to achieve. the American dream in a big way. It is why I'm running for office. It happened to me. I never meant to run for anything. I made my husband promise to never run for office before we got married,

but they tried to shut down my son's school. So I ran for the school board. One, that fight for schools took me to the Texas house. And what I see in the Texas house is the reason our schools are shutting down. The reason we are struggling so much is because, because we are paying into a system that is working against us. It is one big grift. It is policy that is driven by moneyed special interests. And I refer to it as the Greg Abbott Corruption Tax. We pay more. We get less because we are all paying the Greg Abbott Corruption Tax. And now we have over 100 schools shutting down in Texas. We have over 150 school districts operating at four days a week, whole school districts because they can't afford to operate at five days a week.

We have the most people being disconnected from their electricity of any other state. We have the most uninsured of any other state. We have the most uninsured children of any state. We have the most bankruptcies. We have the first major American city in Corpus Christi to potentially run out of water. Despite the fact we are paying about 75% more impoverty. taxes under Greg Abbott. That is Greg Abbott's record, and he owns it. And that's why I'm running. I have a plan to save Texas schools and to put money in your pocket. And I think it's important

that people understand, yes, we fight for our public schools because of our kids and our community, but we fight for public schools because there can be no American dream without strong public schools. Because public schools provide the opportunity, the gateway for the American dream. And of course, if we can't afford to live and thrive in Texas, where we live, then there can be no American dream. When I was a little girl, Texas was the American dream manifest, right? But that is why I'm running. We have to fight to win back the American dream. So you're no stranger to politics, even though you didn't think you would run. You've served in the Texas house. And I was.

I believe your father, who you mentioned, was the chair of the Democratic Party in Texas for about a decade. What did you learn from him about politics and the state of the Democratic Party in Texas? Yeah. Well, to be clear, the number one lesson I learned was that I did not want that life for myself. Interesting. How come? Because my dad belonged to the world and not to me. And I wanted a quieter, simpler life.

I'm a lawyer. I had a small practice. I thought that's what I would do. I would be the best at my small practice. And that is why I made my husband promise to never run for office. But life had other plans. So that's what I mostly learned. But I will tell you that it is in the Texas house where I have learned that really there's so much noise, but there is one fight.

And that fight is the fight of 2026 in this country, in this state. And it is, are we going to be a state that is by and for the people? Or are we living in the billionaire's world? And we're just here. That is the fight. That is the fight that is behind why schools are closing. That is the fight behind why we can't afford to pay things. That's the fight behind why Corpus Christy is running out of water.

That is the fight. Speaking of billionaires and money in politics, the man you're running against is sitting on more than $100 million. Recent poll had about a third of Texas voters saying they don't know enough about you to have an opinion. How do you introduce yourself to a state as big as Texas, especially when the governor, the current governor has so much money to run his own ads and campaign? Yeah, you're right. Texas is giant. Running for governor of Texas is like running for president. president, right? We're doing things differently. We've divided the state up into seven regions, running like full congressional campaigns in each of those regions because we are such a big and

diverse state. What the polling shows is that since the end of last year, my name idea has gone up 20 points. We went from nine points down to five points down as that's happened. And so as people get to know who I am, they're with me. And people want you. change. What I am seeing across the state, what elections are showing in Texas, what polling is showing is that there is this anti-incumbency energy in Texas right now. And Greg Abbott offers more of the same. And his problem, even though he has all that money in his campaign account, is that you use money to tell people who you are and what you're about. And that's his problem. People know who he is and what he is about. And they don't want it anymore. They want change.

The number one response I get from people when I say I'm running for governor against Greg Abbott, he can run again? Like, really? Don't we have term limits? Well, I'm sure there's plenty to say about him in his record. What is the one specific thing he's done that you would point to if a voter, because you'll probably need some of these voters, right? People who voted for Greg Abbott three times now.

You have a three-time Abbott voter who's at least open to a different. choice this time but isn't sure was the one thing you'd say about what Greg Abbott has done to persuade that person. He's given a billion dollars in no-bid contracts to his donors. He's the most corrupt governor in Texas history. I'm not saying something. We've never had this level of corruption. But every major challenge in Texas is about follow the money right back to Greg Abbott's donors. So it's common for challengers to say the incumbent is corrupt, worked for billionaires, Beto said a version of this about Abbott in 2022. Lupe Valdez said it in 2018, both still lost by single to double digits.

Why do you think this will land in 2026 where it hasn't worked as well before? Well, what we are seeing is that it is already landing in Texas. And 2018, you referenced, that was the closest we've come in a long time to potentially flipping a seat statewide in Texas. That's when Beto ran against Ted Cruz, right? That's the last time we had... Two and a half points, right? That's right. That's the last time we had a midterm election with Trump in the White House. Right. And Democrats swept. We picked up 12 seats in the Texas House. We flipped all of Harris County, Houston. So Democrats swept in a big way. We were not ready, right? Maybe we could have flipped the whole Texas House had we been ready. We are ready in 2026. And so for the first time, we have Democrats,

running in every congressional seat, every state house, state Senate seat, and already we have seen dramatic improvement in our performance. So Democrats overperformed Republicans in the primary. That rarely happens in Texas. I had eight opponents in my primary, and still I got twice as many votes as Beto got in 2018, because people are doing the work for change. And 2018 is different because we have two strong candidates at the top of the ticket. Beto was pretty much the only one who could raise real money in 2018 and took on all the arrows, took on the entire campaign. It's different this time around.

What we've yet to see, though, the thing that is to be determined is, are people going to believe what they see with their own eyes in Texas where we're winning Tarrant County? Terran County, for instance, that was the most Republican county in the whole United States of America. We flipped a state Senate seat, swung it 31 points to elect Taylor Ramet. Steve Bannon embedded himself in Tarrant County the month before that happened and said right off the bat, I'm here because as goes Tarrant County, so goes Texas, so goes the nation. Well, we won it. And it's not just Tarrin County. It happened in Safer. It happened in Arlington. It happened in Leander. It happened in Denton, Paraland. It is happening all over Texas. And what we are seeing in 2026 is people just want change. Education is a signature issue for you. You mentioned 100 plus schools are closing, 150 plus

districts have gone to four-day weeks. For someone outside Texas, what is actually happening to the public schools right now? Yeah. And what did Abbott do to cause it? So what I see in the Texas House, I sit on the public education committee with James Tarrico. We co-chaired the effort to fight vouchers in 2023. And we beat Greg Abbott then. We had rural Republicans join with us to defend public schools and vote against vouchers. Greg Abbott took out those Republicans who voted with us in their primaries by putting a million dollars in against each of them in their primaries. And so then he got the votes and we passed it vouchers last year. Vouchers is an example of what has happened to our public schools in Texas. It is just vendor contract after vendor contract

to somebody who is connected to Greg Abbott. And that is where our money for our public schools is going. So Greg Abbott received $12 million, the largest campaign contribution in all of Texas history from an out-of-state billionaire, Jeff Yaz, who has a financial interest in vouchers, right? That is the kind of grift and corruption that people are feeling in a real way. And so those alliances I made across the aisle with magamoms, with football coaches and rural communities, with superintendent's principals, people who love their public schools are angry in a big way at Greg Abbott for what he's done to our public schools. And I believe that that will be the difference in this election.

People see this as our last best chance to save public schools in Texas. Education used to be an issue that Democrats talked about every campaign cycle all the time. I feel like in general the party has been fairly quiet about it recently. I've heard you talk about it now. Rahm Emanuel has been talking about it recently. But in general, why do you think the Democratic Party has sort of shied away from focusing on education. And what do you see as a positive vision in public education and education in general for both Texas and the country to take? We've just gotten lost in all of

really a lot of high tech solutions to education that have not worked. In Texas, it's happened in a big way. Now they're trying to push in Houston, Texas. Greg Abbott took over Houston ISD and trying to put in 100 AI schools in Houston with this idea that we don't need teachers, we need education guides. And so it's just a way for them to make money off of our public school dollars. So I'm proposing a back-to-basics approach where we pay teachers their worth. And it doesn't feel sexy. Right?

Back to basics. Pay teachers they're worth. Novel concept. It doesn't happen because nobody makes money off of it, but teachers, right? Billionaires don't make money off of it. And I think in lots of ways Democrats have moved away from just the basics. Again, it's the American dream. How can you have the American dream without strong public schools?

Public schools tell every child you can be anything you want to be if you put in the work. How are we letting it happen that are public schools? and it's not just Texas, but it's in Texas in a big, big way, are dying on the vine. In Texas, there is a unique kind of pride. Texas public schools are Friday night lights. They are enshrined in our Texas Constitution. They made us who we are. People have big pride in public schools in Texas.

And I think that is why it is resonating in a way that there is a possessiveness and an understanding that this is a part of who we are. and people are ready to fight for their public schools. What do you do about low-performing public schools and low-performing teachers? It's never the right answer to take power away from parents and community when our public schools are struggling. I do think we need a back-to-basics approach money in the classroom. We have had a teacher exodus in Texas. We have for the first time Texas is hiring more uncertified.

teachers, then certified teachers, but a lot. We now have teachers who have no college degree being hired in Texas. I have a neighboring school district. Their number one source of new hires is out of the country because they can't find people to work for what we pay who have the experience. We all know, it's, again, not rocket science. The best thing we can do for our child's education is put a great teacher in the classroom. And we have, steered so far away from what we know works. So again, it's a back-to-basics approach, making sure we have great educators in the classroom.

Looking at the polls, some of your strongest numbers are with Latino voters. Some polls have you up nearly 20 points. Trump, of course, carry Latinos in Texas in 2024. You've said the Latino vote can be the difference if we choose to be. What does choose to be mean? And what has the party gotten wrong

over the last several years? decade at seeing sort of Latino voters either drift away from the Democratic Party or, you know, in the case of 2024, toward the Republican Party. I think we have taken our eye off the prize of what are we fighting for. Again, I think there is one fight. It is the fight about whether it is a country, a state that is by and for the people. That is the fight for the American dream. They are one in the same.

And I think we get distracted by culture, wars, and social issues. We take the bait all the time, and I get it. I mean, it is infuriating things that Republicans do and say to different groups that consist of our coalition. But when we're fighting about those things, we are not talking about the thing that impacts all of us. And that is, can you afford to live and thrive in Texas? And that has to be the fight. So the Latino vote is hugely important to your point. You're right.

Absolutely. In 2018, Beto got 64% of the Latino vote. Again, the closest we've come in a long, long time to winning as Democrats. When I get 64% of the Latino vote, I win because there are more of us in the voting population than there were then. To give you a sense of where Latinos are in Texas in 2026, Taylor Ramet, who flipped that state Senate seat, got 79% of the Latino vote in his election. All right. That is the potential. Of course, we're taking nothing for granted. I am heavily focused on engaging the Latino vote in this election. And if we choose to be as if Latinos will show up, we have seen this year that Latinos are showing up.

And we need Latinos to show up in a big way in November. I think what challenge Democrats have had over the last decade is sort of assuming that for Latino voters, immigration is the top issue when, as you said, the economy, affordability, still number one, just as it is with non-Latino voters. That said, Trump has decided to make immigration central to his second administration even more than it was in the first. I think that personally, what I've seen from Democrats over the last decade is fear around the issue of immigration. And so when you ask Democrats about immigration, people either say, okay, we need a strong border for sure, but what Trump's doing with ICE is horrific and wrong,

and that's about as far as it goes. Yeah. At some point we'll be in power again, hopefully. So hopefully you'll be governor. What is a positive vision for immigration that you think can rally the country behind the Democratic Party that recognizes, as my old boss, Barack Obama would always say, that we're in. nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. Right. I think we have to stress that we're for border security. We all want that. I grew up on the border. Of course, I want border security. And what is

happening right now is not that. And the district attorney in Harris County will say he has child sex abuse cases that he cannot prosecute because the witnesses have been detained or deported or are too afraid to come forward. That makes us less safe, not more safe. And here's the other thing. The other thing is that it's hard to be generous to immigrants when Americans are struggling themselves so much. It is hard to be generous with the American dream when people feel like it's out of reach for themselves, right? I think it's a classic example of the, you know, put your oxygen mask on first and then help others in need. We have to recognize that Americans working, Americans working Texans are not making it. we need to make sure they get the oxygen mask first, and that we message and we work to deliver

for Americans first, really, for Texans first, that we're doing everything we can to address again, the one fight. The one fight. Is this going to be a country and a state for us or for moneyed interests? Do you think we need to revamp our asylum loss? Sounds like it, yes. Yeah. And can I give you an example? So Biden's last, the December before his last year in office, remember we had the caravans at the border. It was chaotic. People in Texas were angry. And I got a call. I was chair of the campaign committee for the Texas House at the time. I got a call from my member at Eagle Pass, who was a frontline member. And he said,

Gina, they have shut down the border to Eagle Pass in Mexico. This was the week before Christmas. To all commerce, it is killing our local businesses. We are going to lose. And I said, okay, let me see what I can do. So I called the Biden administration, and I said, we need an emergency meeting. Within 48 hours, we had their top border officials on the phone. I had my border members on the phone. And the Biden officials heard an earful about how this is not working. Something needs to change. That next week, the Biden administration sent delegates over to negotiate enforcement on the Mexican side. And what you will see in the numbers is that crossings plummeted when that happened.

We need, when it comes to immigration, like common. sense solutions. I think that there is no question that Biden avoided the issue and did not deal with it until it was out of control. And we need to make sure that we have people in office who stop playing politics with immigration and just work on real solutions. I unfortunately have to ask you about the screw worm, which I had never heard of until a week or so ago. For listeners, the New World Screw Worm is a flesh-eating parasite that infests livestock. It was eradicated. from the U.S. 60 years ago, but now it's back in Texas cattle for the first time. Two things. How bad is this for Texas? And also, the reporting is that all the cuts from Trump and Doge

slowed the federal response. Has Abbott said one word criticizing the administration that hamstrung him in Texas? And if not, what does that tell you? Yeah, that Abbott is a weak governor. We have a governor who understood years ago that the screw worm was coming. It is in Texas now. It is going to be very hard to eradicate. It is spreading in Texas. Now that it is here, we're looking at disastrous consequences. And I don't think it's just for Texans, but yes, for Texas ranchers, for the price of beef. That we have a governor who either didn't care enough or didn't have the sway, the juice, with the administration and a Secretary of Agriculture from Texas under the administration to say, hey, I understand you're dozing all this other stuff. Save this. This is important,

and we need to make sure we're doing what we need to do. Is a failure on Abbott's part. I lay this on the lap of Abbott that he could not communicate with the Trump administration, the urgency of making sure we had a solution before it was too late. And here we are now with. screw worm in Texas and spreading. So there are, last question, there are just so many very important, very competitive House and Senate races this year that could decide control of Congress. There are other gubernatorial races that, at least on paper, seem closer, more competitive even than yours. For people who are looking to donate their time and their money to midterm races this year, why should they choose yours? Because the fate of the union depends on Texas in 2026.

after the U.S. Supreme Court decision on redistricting that gutted the Voting Rights Act, there are now no rules. And what will happen in Texas because Republican leaders have already said they're going to draw new lines next year, we lose five Democrats in Congress under a new map with no rules. That's on top of what the Brennan Center predicts will happen at the end of the decade through census, which is four years away. that Texas will gain four to five more congressional seats because we're growing faster than all the other states. We take from blue states those congressional seats. If Republicans control that, that's another four to five seats that Democrats lose in Congress. That's 10 seats in Congress that Democrats that are off the table for Democrats. The governor of Texas controls 10% of Congress.

We need a governor in Texas who will veto their rigged maps. This is the most important governor's race in the whole country for that reason. Gina Inorosa, thank you so much for joining Pod Save America. Good luck out there. Everyone always says, Democrats are dreaming of Texas again. Same thing as you said. At some point, we have to win Texas because Congress, the maps, but also electoral college. Right. That's right. Also.

As the Midwestern states start getting a little rudder, we've got to make up for it somewhere. Texas is just too big to ignore at some point. Congressional seats equate to electoral votes. So, right, if there's no way to win Congress, then there's no way to win the White House. Yeah. Well, thanks for you doing. Good luck out there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

That's our show for today. Thanks to Gina Inohosa for coming on. Dan will be back in the feed on Sunday with a conversation with strict scrutinies, Leah Littman. Have a good weekend. Bye, everyone. Podsave America is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher,

Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, and Ferris Safari with Reed Jirlin, Elijah Cohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt DeGroote, Ben Hethkoe, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, Carol Pellevieve, David Tolls, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Single. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.