Pod Save America - "What a Year!"

Episode Date: December 22, 2022

Pod Save America's second annual holiday spectacular brings guest hosts Priyanka Aribindi and Tre'vell Anderson together with Jon, Jon, and Dan to look back at the good, bad and absurd of 2022. Plus, Representative Katie Porter stops by the studio, and Jon, Jon, and Dan decide the worst Take of the Year in the Pundies Awards. 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 Jon Lovett. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Trayvail Anderson. I'm Jon Lovett. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Traebell Anderson. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. And we're here at the SiriusXM studios in Hollywood with a live audience. There it is.

Nice. So spirited. For our annual What A Year special, we are happy to have Traebell and Priyanka with us. Two of the co-hosts of What A Day. Thanks for having us. It's good to have you guys. It's very legit in here. It is legit. That's what we like to think. We come here when it's time to do something legit. We come here for

magic. We'll also be talking to Katie Porter later, and we are also taking a look back on the year in politics. We're going to share our New Year's resolutions and present our annual pundies for the absolute worst takes of 2022. But first, if you are looking for somewhere to donate this holiday season, we have a wonderful organization for you. World Central Kitchen is a nonprofit founded by Chef Jose Andres that feeds people experiencing

humanitarian crises all over the world. They've probably fed more people in Ukraine this year than most governments and relief organizations. It's a fantastic organization. To make a donation, you can visit WCK.org. So please go donate. All right, let's start with a look back at 2022. Lots of news, lots of politics, lots of elections, but most of all, lots of takes.

Some good, most bad. To get the conversation started our producers have filled this box next to dan that you cannot see because it's an audio medium um with some of the hottest most debatable and potentially most annoying takes of the year uh each of us will take turns picking one out at which point we'll go around and say whether we agree or disagree and why. Healthy debate is encouraged, but civility is key. Yeah, required. Civility is required.

Dan, why don't you kick us off? All right. We're reaching into this magical box. The first take is... A different state other than South Carolina should should go first and then democrats nominating calendar and if you agree which one oh i agree with that oh wait you're supposed to go first sorry i got excited literally just practice this 10 minutes ago he just is sitting there jump in. I am fine with South Carolina. South Carolina is fine. Oh, he's fine.

The DNC poobahs got to you, too. Dan also rigged Iowa. Also, I'm here to announce I'm investing in an ABC affiliate in South Carolina. That's it? You're just okay? Anyone else? What does everyone else think about South Carolina? I'm not going to lie.

I don't care. Respectfully. Respectfully. Respectfully. Respectfully. Yeah, I didn't think it was a bad idea. I'm not convinced it's a good idea, but I'm not convinced it's a bad idea either. I was persuaded by a fad up at the New York Times that basically said South Carolina is not a state Democrats are going to compete in in the general election. We should focus on states

we can compete in and win if we're going to put a bunch of money into those places. And I thought the idea of going to North Carolina made a little bit more sense. But like Trey Vell said, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I also am from South Carolina, so why not? Why can't I be first for once?

You're from South Carolina. You don't have a stronger feeling? Hey, hey, hey. First in some pretty gruesome education statistics. Absolutely. Well, normally we would say that's last. You know. But yes. Right.

I mean, we've talked about this, but the people of South Carolina were pretty surprised that they got chosen to go first. I know someone who wasn't. Yeah, right. Jim Clower. Jim Clower. You knowvada put in a bid to be first i kind of think nevada would have been a good uh first state oh how great would that have been oh i guess we have to go back to vegas this is what i'm saying but i think it's got a good i mean i think nevada is one of those states where because it's such a competitive general election state, having a bunch of Democrats run around there campaigning in a primary would only help the infrastructure there.

And I think you have a heavily Latino population there. You have a heavily non-college educated population there, which both voters that Democrats need in the general election. So I kind of I think there's a good argument for Nevada. The good news is we're still going to go to Nevada early. Right. Right. I think there's a good argument for Nevada. The good news is we're still going to go to Nevada early. Right.

And it is the official crooked media position that Nevada is the most important state and the one that requires the most time and attention. From us. We have a specific we can help. We were campaigning for Dina Titus and she was like thank you so much for coming here. It's a good idea for you to be in Las Vegas because that's why we care about your race the most.

And I'm still drunk by the way, Dina. All right, we did that one. Trevelle, you're next. All righty. Let's see what y'all got going on. In 2022, Democrats meddled in Republican primaries to boost MAGA candidates. It's a strategy that worked, and we should do it again in 2024 i would say that i would like people to stop playing games and to you know you know because

we you know we ain't got to do all this complex strategy stuff don't be trying to, you know, play games behind the scenes because you think it's working. Right? Because then what if it don't work? Right? And I would say that it didn't work. There were just so many other things happening right now that were just overpowering, and so it

looks like it worked. I don't think it worked for real, for real. I think it worked. Not a high risk, high reward? Yeah. I think it worked i don't think it worked for real for real i think it works high reward yeah i think it worked every candidate that the democrats uh meddled to elevate lost and lost pretty big pretty big because they were fucking nuts yeah i would also say it's when democrats like meddle it's like they lightly suggest Republicans vote for someone heinous and they wholeheartedly agree. And so it's like not like Democrats are going door to door putting guns to MAGA voters heads like they're pointing

out that a Republican at one point accidentally did something reasonable. And all of these Republican primary voters being like, well, that's unacceptable to me. So I'm like, like the lotto, you know, you can't win if you don't play, you know? Yeah. I'm with you. I think it's a high risk. Like you end up with someone really shitty if it backfires,

but like very high reward. I mean, we got somebody real shitty and we're all dealing with it. Who? Donald Trump. Oh yeah. Which one? Which one are you talking about?

It's early in the show to go after Biden like that. Here's my take on this. I think there is no question that the more MAGA the candidate, the more likely they are to lose. I am not persuaded that any of the meddling that we did is why these candidates won the primary. The reason they won the primaries is because Republican voters, Republican primary voters want MAGA candidates. And I don't know why we think this is the one time Democratic ads were super persuasive that they got these Republicans to do this. Yeah.

That's a good point. That's fair. Yeah. If we can, if we can control both the Republican and the Democratic primaries, then we'd be, we'd probably control the house. All right. Priyanka.

All right, next one. It's all you. Let's see. Oh, God. Woke is broke. Wow, I didn't know you thought that. Tweet this out. We're going to clip Priyanka just saying woke is broke.

God. Yeah, you're not going to do it to Katie Porter, but you're going to do it to me. Thanks. Yeah, I'm going to say no. I don't agree with that. Yeah, no, not going to do it to Katie Porter, but you're going to do it to me. Thanks. Yeah, I'm going to say no. I don't agree with that. Yeah, no, I don't. I think that's a bad take. I think that's a bad take.

Anyone want to talk about Woke is Broke? Yeah, anybody want to play the counter on that? I mean, I think that if you wanted to actually analyze the silly Woke is Broke comment that Trump makes all the time, which is why we had it in there. I think that there was a lot of noise made about like Democrats being too woke, culture wars. I think when you drill down in all of the data in the midterms, like these issues just didn't sway people either way. Like I think that people voted Republican primarily either because they were pissed about inflation or because they were hardcore Republicans anyway, or because, I don't know, those were the top two issues. Those are the top reasons that people voted Republican. And the idea that like these, a lot of these culture war issues, they just didn't register that high on people's list

of concerns when they actually went out to vote in the midterms. Yeah, there was an example that sticks with me. I think it was in The Times where in one of the focus groups or some independent voter was asked about some ad that a Republican was running in Michigan that attacked trans people around bathrooms. And the person that was asked about it laughed because it just wasn't an issue they cared about. We talk a lot about the information bubble that progressives are in. And I think the reason that gets covered bubble that progressives are in. And I think the reason that gets covered more is because journalists are in here with us. But I do think there's about to be a big conversation about the Republican bubble that

they're in and the conversations that they're having that make no sense outside of the bounds of their little cloistered world. Every Republican pundit has spent the last two weeks thinking that elon musk has exposed basically like a national treasure book of secrets worth of like magical information from deep within the bowels of twitter emails when no one gives a fuck about what they're talking about and it barely makes sense outside of this language that they've developed so like yeah i don't think what was broke well yeah that's the point that i'm when I am. That wasn't clear. It's sort of it stuck with me when I started talking to these Biden voters who voted for Republican Glenn Youngkin in Virginia for governor. And obviously he like spent most of that campaign saying he's going to like, you know, get critical race theory out of our schools and blah, blah, blah. And so I asked them, is that one of the reasons why? And almost every single, actually every single Biden voter who voted for Glenn Youngkin said, oh, I actually completely disagree with him on the critical race theory thing and his education platform. I just

voted for him because I didn't like Terry McAuliffe, was pissed about some grocery tax, whatever else. Like, so it not only didn't work, it was like they actually, people who voted for these Republicans who were talking about woke is broke actually didn't agree with them, at least in that case. Love it. We should no longer refer to Donald Trump as the presumptive frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination. This is a tough one. I didn't know we had a formal ceremony where we decided we stripped the title of presumptive. Right here.

This is it. This is the ceremony. There's a real language problem with this entire question yeah because if you're calling him the front runner you're presuming he's the front runner and therefore he's presumptive front runner and so yeah presumptive you usually use presumptive with nominee so we're getting tripped up on a word here yeah let's just start let me say is he this is he the front runner uh yes donald trump remains the front runner for the republican nomination there's been some ebbing in the polls, but he's obviously... And by the way, of course he is. The only question is whether there can be somebody that pretends to be Trump enough

without the baggage that Trump has in order to defeat Trump. I do not... Look, we'll see what happens. There's polls out in the last couple of days that show Ron DeSantis beating Donald Trump. But let's see, two weeks of them having a conversation in public and Ron DeSantis beating Donald Trump, but let's see, two weeks of them having a conversation in public and Ron DeSantis' lack of personality, and we're back in the 2016 situation where everyone's like, oh, no, no, it's going to be Jeb Bush.

Don't worry, these polls are stupid. Anyone think he's not the frontrunner? No, he's the frontrunner. Yeah. I mean, there's two ways to look at being frontrunner. There is the person who leads in the polls early, which is a bad way of thinking about the frontrunner, because otherwise we'd have President Jeb Bush,

President Joe Lieberman, President Rudy Giuliani, all those people. President Herman Cain. Yikes. President, what's that one with the gay husband? Michelle. Michelle Bachman. Oh, I mean, husband.

I said husband. The married woman from Minnesota. But you, I mean, Ron DeSantis in the middle. Ron DeSantis is basically just an idea right now. He has not spoken to a person. He may have no personality.

He may have no charisma. We don't know if he can take a punch. There's all sorts of, I mean, Donald Trump, if you were to have to, like, bet your your life on the republican nominee right now you had to pick one of those two people you would be foolish not to pick trump i think i have uh delighted in calling donald trump the republican front runner i do it every time every time we record one of these podcasts i will say though that like last couple weeks like if you just look at the if by

if you went by the polling average right now, I think he's not. I think it's DeSantis. There's now been three polls that showed DeSantis ahead, plus a lot of polls in the States. There's maybe like one or two polls that show Trump ahead. I agree that polls are not the only indicator of this. You have to look at everything else. He's also had a-

Like you said, they haven't sort of clashed yet. I do think like Donald Trump has had among the worst couple of weeks he's ever had in public life that's that includes when he incited a violent yeah yeah it includes nights it includes everything um and so let's see what happens when people forget because people have a a good habit of forgetting what donald trump says and does yeah all right we're still calling him from her. Yeah, for now. All right, I got to take. The 2022 Congress has proven that bipartisanship is alive and well. Say it's wrong.

Say it's wrong. I mean, it's not technically wrong. Oh, my God. No labels over here. I was talking to my friend Kirsten Sinema the other day mansion's boat and we were having this i mean look problems problem solvers caucus member gotheimer protege infrastructure bill the covid relief bill the gay marriage uh an interracial marriage protection bill that just passed last week what else there's a couple other ones electoral count reform act might get done we're recording this uh a little bit early so

we don't know there's been i mean there has legitimately been a bunch of bipartisan act which can anyone tell tell us what the chips act is something about something about semiconductors in china it's it's very great it's really good. Yeah, we're happy. We're very happy about it. I feel like you made the case for Alive, but are we going to say Well? Oh, that's good. Yeah. You want to hang on Well? Yeah, I don't think it's Well.

I think it was Alive and Well in 2022. I do not think it is Alive and Well in this next Congress. Right. Well, that's not the fucking take, Dan. It's a 2022 Congress. I'm just taking it and spinning it forward. You want another one? Do we have time for more i mean

you have the watch all right i don't know it's for yeah we have a little time we're on a roll despite all of our worries about republican voter suppression efforts in georgia it did not work as evidenced by senator wornock's win lies that's a bad that's a bad take that's a bad take winning in spite of voter suppression does not mean voter suppression didn't happen. Yeah, there were long lines. Yeah, like let's say Kemp put six-foot walls around every ballot booth in the state, and then we gave everybody ladders. We wouldn't be like, the walls weren't a big deal. We should probably leave them up.

That's good. That's good. Absolutely. It worked, but we worked harder um here we go if the democratic party had doled out their money more wisely they could have held the house it's an interesting one if they had doled it out in bribes to the new york supreme court yeah love that edit. That's a really good idea, Dan.

Don't tell Letitia James. That's tomorrow's message box waiting to happen. What do you think? Is it a money situation? I mean, I think, think right what do they say this little saying is um you know um hindsight is 2020 i think i think there are examples where you know you could have took a little money from this place and put it over here right um i think there are those examples but i don't know if i would say it was like a universal, like, y'all did it wrong thing. I would say that that that would be a better slip after we dumped millions of dollars into a South

Carolina Senate race that we lost by, what, 10% by a Kentucky race with Amy McGrath. Like, I think we did not invest as foolishly as we have in the past, but there's always a kind of, like there was a bunch of money that went into like the Marjorie Taylor Greene race. That's just, there's always a problem where there are kind of celebrity races or like just places where some money goes

that we better spent elsewhere. But I don't know that you can say more than that. Yeah. Dan, do you validate what I'm saying? Yeah, I don't think. Yes, there are places that got a ton of money that never should have gotten money. And that's a problem with a lot of grifters in the party pushing those things. We had a lot of that in 2020.

Some of that this time around. I don't like you can probably find a handful of races where if we had invested a little more money, we might have gotten over the top. Probably the most notable one would be the Lauren Bobert race in Colorado. But I don't. Bobert, like she's from fucking Paris. It's Bobert. Her name is fucking Bobert. Like, wait a minute.

She has a gun-themed restaurant. Her name is Bobert. You want her to lose in that Republican plus 12 district? Call her French. You want her to lose in that Republican plus 12 district? Call her French. But I don't see... Those races we lost in New York are not for lack of money. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the DCCC,

did not lose his race because he didn't have enough money. That's a good point. That's a good point. I'm still getting fundraising emails from that guy. Stop. All right, Priyanka. All right. Democrats successfully made democracy a winning issue in 2022.

Oh. I don't know if I would say, like, I mean, hmm. You know what you really want to say, but you don't know if you can say it. What? I actually don't know what that means. I would say, what's your take? I think it certainly made it. They made it an issue for people who like probably voters who probably never would have

thought to care about it. Was it necessarily what pushed them over the top? I don't know. But I do think like people showed up to the polls and cared about democracy in a way where like, I don't know, in 2015, not 2015, because what elections were there in 2015 before that they probably would not have showed up and and cared so much about yeah i would say uh republican successfully made democracy an issue in the 2022 midterms is uh but uh yeah i think it was um democrats highlighting

republican extremism which included running a bunch of election deniers, which has to do with democracy, but also their position on abortion, which was extreme in most cases as well. So I do think it's like I think extremism probably was the bigger factor than sort of democracy as an abstract concept. It was a proof point. I guess also like race by race, though, like when you're thinking of like Secretary of State races, like that's a much bigger issue for people who care about that. So yeah, I will. That is true. I was focusing on winning so in those races, yes. Well, and the good point

on those races is the Secretary of State candidates where there were election deniers on the Republican side and Democrats running, the Democrats ran way ahead of even the other Democrats on the ticket statewide. So it did happen.

What did you think Priyanka was going to say? I don't think Democrats made democracy a winning issue. I think that is a story we want to tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better, to confirm our own biases about what people should care about. And there's very little evidence, I think, that democracy and protecting democracy drove votes. It was in almost no ads. No one voter, like,

candidates not communicated. People cared about extremism and their freedoms and the threats of these extremist candidates to their freedoms. I think there are some exceptions in the Secretary of State election overseers, because that is a very specific thing. That's sort of like someone running to be state treasurer who doesn't believe in math. Like you're going to be able to make that case.

But I think there's a real danger that if we tell ourselves that democracy is safe because there's a majority that cares about democracy as a driving issue. Everyone heard the Star Spangled Banner in their head when they heard that.

I think we're learning the wrong lessons and we will have the wrong messages in 2024. That's good. Let's see what we got. More than any other demographic group, Gen Z is the reason there was no red wave. Disagree.

Sorry, Gen Z. That is not borne out by the facts. Wish it were. Hope it would be, isn't the case. Now, I feel like there's an important distinction that is not being made enough. Did Gen Z help make the difference in preventing Republicans from winning some Senate races, from winning a bigger House majority? Absolutely. Is that by dint of Gen Z showing up in any kind of spectacular way? No. Is that because a lot of Gen Z did something that required nothing of them, which is getting older? Yes. We need to draw a distinction between just the fact that something that will continue to help us is that people get old and die and young people age into the voting population. In the same way,

Dan is saying we shouldn't delude ourselves into believing people voted democracy, we shouldn't delude ourselves into believing we had an incredible success with Gen Z. I'm not saying that to denigrate Gen Z. I'm saying that because we have to do a lot more work to get more of Gen Z to turn out. Because if you actually look at the numbers, what probably made the biggest difference is the fact that millennials who became Democrats under Obama then got like a Donald Trump booster shot are showing up in ways that previous generations wouldn't. I got some millennials out there.

Where are my millennials at? Hey, you guys see girls? And we have to do more work to get Gen Z to turn up. Do not rest. Do not believe that Gen Z did something amazing or impressive. They didn't. They're not showing up as much as they could. They did better than...

Thank you. So 2010 and 2014, 18 to 29-year-olds, they weren't Gen Z then, but 18 to 29-year-olds in those two elections did not show up in big numbers, and the margin wasn't great. 2018, that was the best year for 18 to 29, right? That was the best midterm in the last, I don. 2018, that was the best year for 18 to 29, right? That was the best midterm in the last, I don't know, 50 years. So in 2022, Gen Z did not turn out at the rates that they did in 2018. And the margin was slightly worse than it was in 2018 as well. So if you

just go midterm to midterm, they did a little bit worse. I like the fact that at any one time, there's like four to five generations living in America and Lovett's currently at war with two of them. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I cannot do that. You know, like the Defense Department does the Quaternario Defense Review where they have to be able to defeat one army and hold off another. I cannot declare war on two generations at once. I don't have the power. I won't be able to sustain it all

right i'll do the last take did you want to say one more thing i'll just say one thing one more negative thing about gen z yeah i will say this uh gen x decision to make their whole personality whatever did not serve them well in terms of not ever having electoral politically like getting elected anywhere at any time or really being involved as a spokesperson for Gen X. I agree. Yeah. And I blame singles. Yeah. Wasn't good.

All right. Last take. Joe Biden's ultra MAGA was ultimately a winning message in 2022. Look, the words ultra MAGA. I think if you pulled a bunch of people, I don't know if anyone would have known that he said that. What are we talking about? I think Joe Biden uh effort to highlight

republican extremism which he carried through most of 2022 and most other democrats did i think i do think that was a winning message to dan's point i don't know if ultra maga was i do think there was like maga specifically labeling republicans who were trump supporters maga republicans it was borne out by the research that that actually did have an effect on people that when you call when you label the MAGA republicans they had a less of a favorable view towards them so i do think that helped anyone want to disagree no okay that's right all right now it's time to recognize some of the year's worst takes with our very first pundi Award of the evening. Exciting. Exciting.

So the category is Worst 2022 Midterm Prediction. And here to present is none other than Crooked's Chief Take Officer, Elijah Cohn. Elijah, take it away. Elijah does have a tux on for those listening at home you did do a majority do a do a do a jump scare of wearing a tux this is my oscars folks all right i'm so excited to present to you our first pundi of the night. Here are the nominees for Worst 2022 Midterm Prediction. Loaded field, guys. Nominee number one, Clay Travis, who is Giancarlo and my former co-worker from Fox Sports.

On September 14th, Clay Travis wrote, Carrie Lake is now favored in gambling odds to be elected governor of Arizona for the first time in her campaign. I told you all my underdog parlay of Carrie Lake, Herschel Walker, and Dr. Oz was going to hit. All three are going to win. Yeah, I didn't get the exact box on that one. Next up, we have Josh Holmes, a Republican podcaster. On November 9th, John Ralston from Nevada shared a ballot dump that led Holmes to write the following. Barring something statistically unforeseeable, it's all over but the crying here.

Laxalt is going to win this. Tough for our friend Josh Holmes. Next up, we have Elon Musk. In June, Elon Musk shared that he was voting Republican for the first time and predicted, quote, massive red wave in 2022. That did not happen, and it actually came out today that, as of this recording, there is no evidence

that Elon actually voted in November. That's true. Love that. That's true love that that's true and finally we have hotline josh josh crash hour who wrote a big midterm preview for axios on november 2nd josh wrote extreme or unprepared republican nominees may not be as big a liability as they once seemed with the growing possibility of a red wave, it's possible some flawed MAGA-aligned candidates could win despite their political struggles. Keep a close eye on Blake Masters in Arizona and Don Balduck in New Hampshire.

And those are your nominees for this 2022 midterm prediction. I don't know if I should clap for those. I want to start by saying this. I don't begrudge anyone making outlandish predictions. Anybody willing to kind of put on the overalls and get their pick and go down into the fucking prediction mines to somebody I respect. We stopped doing it because we were bad at it. That's why we get to mock them now. I understand that.

This is the whole reason we did that. I know, but it's there but for the grace, you know. Keep going. You started off, and I thought Clay Travis has this, but Hotline Josh, that was pretty broad and sweeping. I think what Holmes did is actually very impressive because it's rare to incorrectly predict the outcome of an election after the election.

You know, that's harder to do. Yeah, and he's supposed to be a data guy too, so he should have known. Look, he is a man who has made himself quite wealthy based on the credential of reelecting Mitch McConnell in the most Republican state in the country. So who are we to doubt his genius? I don't know. No one's saying Elon.

But like, isn't it kind of fun to hear Elon sound so fucking dumb? Yeah, that was pretty dumb. I don't know. That was pretty dumb. Well, I think. One little detail about that Elon thing is on that same thread, he went on to say, I'm thinking of creating a moderate super PAC that supports candidates with centrist views from all parties.

Just a fun little detail. Look, they were all wrong. They were all kind of equally wrong. Clay Travis is kind of like a C-list sports commentator. Yeah. I think we should talk more about political gambling one day. So what does he really know? Axios Josh or Hotline Josh or Defunct Publication Josh, whatever it is we call him, he's really only reporting what people are telling him.

And now it always confirms with his deeply held views that republicans always win elections um but a lot of other reporters also said that and democrats a lot of democratic operatives and pollsters told people the same thing dan zeroing in on josh holmes i'm gearing on josh holmes that's his job his job he gets paid yeah to tell people who is going to win and lose and he got paid to spend super pack money he got all of them wrong. Because you had to pick from a plethora of Josh Holmes takes. He said the same thing about Dr. Oz. He said the same thing about Blake Masters.

He said the same thing about Kerry Lake. All across the board, he was wrong. I'm persuaded. I'm a persuading guy, as you know. I'm persuaded. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. And I just want to say that, like, that doesn't mean that Josh Holmes isn't really good at his job

and should continue to be supported in his work because he's doing such a good job keep hiring josh holmes josh holmes that's our winner i don't know if elijah does anything is there do you have an award no there'll be a post pod trophy ceremony thank god Thank God. Great. Okay, thank you, Elijah. All right. When we come back, we will face off in the ultimate game of 2022 trivia. Okay, we're back, and we're ready to test how much we remember

about whatever happened in 2022. Travelle and Priyanka are sticking around to play. Love it. Take it away. As 2022 draws to a close, it seems important to pay homage to all the news our brains have already begun shoveling out to make room for 2023. Remember West Elm Caleb? Doja Cat bringing back the Mexican pizza? That time Adam Levine asked his mistress if he could name his unborn child after her?

I sure don't. How can we forget? And you probably don't either, but we're about to prove it definitively with a 2022 review game we're calling Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. A trip down memory hole lane. Sure.

Why not? Why not? Why not? As a warning, this is a drinking game. So get your question wrong. You are ethically obligated to drink. Are you ready? Yeah. Are you ready?

Yeah, we're ready. Priyanka and John are going to play against Travelle and Dan. John and Priyanka, here we go. Who is this woman and why do you know her? What's her name? Julia Fox? Julia Fox. Okay, yeah.

Yeah, it's Julia Fox. I mean, I was Josh Safdie's muse when he wrote Uncut Jams. Right. Uncut Jams. Uncut Jams. Uncut Jams. Uncut Jams. Did we have to say that part?

No, you're good. Oh, good. You got it. Perfect. What was that? Is there no dings? Oh, if they don't know who that is, I feel like we were the underdogs going in.

Travelle and Dan. I don't think you're the underdogs. Oh. Yeah, I don't think you're the underdogs. You were Bravo and Travelle is Travelle. I think Travelle is basically alone in this. Yeah. Well, hopefully we don't get what y'all just showed

because I don't know who that was. I've never seen that a day in my life. I don't think that crossed the racial barrier onto my side of the internet. I don't know. I'm just saying. Okay, keep going. What musical performance did Matt Walsh say

was desecrating American history just for the sake of it? Wow. Was it Lizzo? Oh, yeah. With the flute. Whose flute? You got to get it. You got to tell me whose flute.

It was who you're pointing at. Who you're pointing toward the past at. Who you're pointing back in time at. You got to get who the flute is. You got to get pointing back in time at you gotta get who the flute is you gotta get it oh you have to get who the flute is if you guys can steal it

if you know who the flute is oh oh James Madison boom sorry was it James Madison or Dolly Madison it was James Madison's

crystal flute James Madison back over to Priyanka and John at the 2022 Oscars what movie swept best adapted screenplay best best supporting actor, and best picture? That's a Travell question.

Wait. You got it? You don't have to whisper. Oh, maybe. I don't know. I have no idea. What do you want to guess? What do you want to guess?

Do you want to put it in? Throw it in. What was it called? Oh, it was called King Richard. Oh, was want to guess? What do you want to guess? Do you want to put it in? Throw it in. What was it called? Oh, it was called King Richard. Oh, was it King Richard? No. Go. It was Coda.

You got it. Here we go. I never would have guessed that. Coda. I was going to say Top Gun Maverick. That's this year. That would be for this year. Top Gun Maverick is going to be the best picture this year.

All right. Trevelle and Dan, what was the absolutely adorable child describing in a song that went crazy on TikTok in August with the lyrics, it's a big lump with noms. It has the juice. I can't imagine a more beautiful thing. Corn. It was. It was corn.

You lost me at TikTok. Did you not know that? I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Dan Wild. What? I had no idea. Okay. All right. I had no idea. Okay.

All right. I just want to understand how broken my brain is. If you knew it was corn, raise your hand. Wow. I see what's happening. If you didn't, be honest. I don't. I mean.

Jordan. He's got a Chipotle commercial and everything. Ben. What's your, I mean, what's your excuse? I know Ben's excuse. What's your excuse? All right. Let's keep going. Who got got that right i did okay all right uh john and priyanka which one of these was not a disgusting viral tiktok food trend from 2022 which was not a trend

a pink sauce b healthy pe. C, chicken and grapes. D, butterboards. Which one was not a trend? Okay, butterboards definitely were a thing. That was a thing? I haven't heard of it, so okay. Did you know the other ones? Healthy Pepsi sounds crazy.

And then what was the third one? It was chicken and grapes. Chicken and grapes. It was chicken and grapes. I feel like chicken and grapes could be one. Healthy Pepsi like who i'm gonna need an answer yeah yeah healthy pepsi nope that happened what and it was a segment on lowly thanks for listening the answer wait do we get to guess yeah you can guess deal is it chicken and grapes? You got it. Oh. Travelle and Dan, which one of these was not an actual bit of drama that emerged from this year's eternal don't worry darling press cycle? Okay.

Okay. Which one of these was not a bit of drama? A, Olivia Wilde allegedly made her special salad dressing for Harry Styles a clear sign of seduction that resulted in a fight with then-husband Jason Sudeikis. B, Shia LaBeouf was replaced by Harry Styles. How do you say it? He revealed the film's original twist ending that the entire movie takes place in Florence Pugh's pew-pew-pew coma dream.

C, Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh allegedly bumped heads on set over Wilde's directorial style. Or D, Harry Styles appeared to spit in Chris Pine's lap. E, Jason Sudeikis allegedly laid down in front of Olivia Wilde's car to prevent her from leaving him for, you guessed it, Harry Styles. Which one? Is all the above an option? No. Okay.

One of them isn't real. That's a lot of options. One of them isn't real. And I did drop one on the floor, so they will not be repeated. Choose a letter. I don't even remember which was which. Is it the Shia LaBeouf thing? Is that real?

I mean, the salad. Or is it the salad dressing? The salad dressing thing sounded bonkers. But, you know, again, I'm going to lean on you because I think you will know better than I. These ain't my people. Let's go with the salad dressing. No. Wait, what did they guess?

They were so disappointed in us. We think it's the Jason Steggis lying in front of the car. No, that happened. It's the directing. No, it's the Shia LaBeouf one. Shia LaBeouf was fired, but not for claiming. For not telling the directed. No, it's the Shia LaBeouf one. Shia LaBeouf was fired, but not for claiming, for not telling the ending. Oh, that's sort of.

You got it. All right. I wanted to guess that. I just heard that. I'm giving it to no one. Wow, that's tough for Jason Sudeikis. John and Priyanka, please name three items from Dr. Oz's

crudité platter. Oh, my God. Guacamole. Guacamole. That's one. Asparagus. That's two. And, um...

Is it like a full-length carrot? Like not a baby carrot? I think they had a full... You got it. Yeah? Okay. Yeah. Asparagus,

broccoli, carrots, pre-made guacamole, salsa, and or tequila. Salsa. Salsa. Salsa. Disgusting.

Travelle and Dan, which of the following statements made on Twitter did not cause an unstoppable explosion of discourse and rage? A, writers should read. B, I like drinking coffee with my husband. C, I might make my neighbors chili or d all of the above d all the above that's correct they all did those are all things that made people upset choices i mean there's so much discourse about this i've literally texted with john about all of these in the last eight hours i did a whole interview about an offline about this topic today. And you can all listen to that when that comes out.

And we all know when offline comes out. The healthy Pepsi segment. Remember that. All right. Travelle and Dan, this celebrity worm costume mulched every other Halloween costume this year. Who is this?

This is a celebrity inside of that worm. Dan, Travelle, who is it? Let me have it. I think it's Heidi Klum. Go. Heidi Klum. You bet. Isn't that wild?

Isn't that wild? She always does the most for Halloween. That's cool. That's a really good one, though. Was it? How does she even stand? What do you do when you get to the party? You do the press, and then you go home.

All right, Priyanka John. Which one of the Try Guys cheated and was essentially exiled from society, specifically the part of society where he was a Try Guy? Zach, Eugene, Keith, or Ned? It was Ned. It was this person named Ned. It was a man named Ned.

Now he's a bi guy. Like, goodbye guy. Yeah, no, I know. Not bisexual. He might be, but that's not what I meant. Final question for Travelle and Dan. 2022 opened with the emergence of a new star, a non-binary comedian unleashed into the and just like that universe

to bust up Miranda's marriage and ask the world, what is a comedy concert? I ask you, what is that character's name? Che. Che what? Okay, come on now.

Got to know the full name. Can I steal it? Is it like, I don't want to, is it Diaz? Sure. Che Diaz. Correct. I have to say, I think you all did really well. But?

No, it's a tie. You both won. A tie? Really? But I'm going to give it to Travelle and Dan. Thank you so much. Because he attacked the notion of a tie. Thank you so much. He attacked the notion of a tie. Priyanka really carried us, I will say.

She did. Thank you. No, but you got me on the ones that I was like, what are we talking about? Thanks for playing. We're a good team. All right, it's time for our next pundi. And to present the award for Worst Conservative Outrage,

please welcome Cricket producer Olivia Martinez. What's up? First off, give it up for my co-producer, Haley, holding it down in the booth. Haley rocks. I realize we have some first-time players, I think, to the take appreciators. This is where we appreciate takes like fine wine.

And this is our like beefed up edition where we admire some of the best of the year. So we're picking who has the best, most artful take. And I'm here to present the nominees for this year's worst conservative outrage all right your first nominee is stupid son of a bitch during a press conference president biden was caught on a hot mic calling fox news reporter pierre ducy a stupid son of a bitch although biden called ducy personally to apologize and ducy himself was not offended, that did not stop conservative

media from clutching their pearls. Meghan McCain tweeted, this is no better than how the Trump administration treated the press and it's gross. Does anyone remember what Tucker Carlson said about this? No. No. He called Biden a nasty old man. Any reactions to that?

Most of that sentence is hard to argue with. Alright, your next nominee is Black Little Mermaid. Oh man. Disney released the trailer of its new live-action Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey as Ariel.

It prompted a lot of sweet videos on TikTok of parents showing their kids the trailer, but Daily Wire host and transphobic troll Matt Walsh had a different take, claiming a black mermaid just wasn't scientifically accurate. Wow. Here's his full quote. With the Little Mermaid, can we just mention that from a scientific perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have someone with darker skin who lives

deep in the ocean. If anything, not only should the Little Mermaid be pale, she should actually be translucent. Wow. What? Wow. That is... I just think it's cool that they would rather the Little Mermaid be played by a fucking invisible clear monster...

Than a black person. ...than a black person. A lot of people reminded him that black fish exist in the ocean. Like scientifically, it is very accurate. I have to say, I don't. Tough to get to that point. I just think that like if you're if you're on Twitter tweeting, stop erasing black fish, you've already lost. Guilty.

All right. In a sense. Your next nominee is litter boxes in schools. During a random October luncheon with voters, Representative Lauren Beaubé randomly claimed that teachers are putting litter boxes in schools for people who identify as cats. Scott Jensen, who ran for governor of Minnesota and lost,

added that litter boxes were for kids who quote identify as a furry these claims were echoed by over 20 republican candidates or elected officials this year with many calling it a growing crisis and it even reached an episode of joe rogan with tulsi gabbard however an mbc investigation found that every accused school was not in fact providing litter boxes to little furries. Any reaction? That's a fun couple of calls that reporter had to make. It's a lot like what my job is. All right, your final nominee is Drag queen story hour the republican campaign against the lgbtq community took a turn

this year when videos of all age drag queen story hours went viral prompting florida governor ronda santis to call it child endangerment and five proud boys to storm a story hour in san lorenzo california carrie lake and libs of tiktok also claim that drag queens groom children. But do you want to know the kicker? Does anyone remember the kicker to the story? I'm afraid. A drag queen came forward to say she performed at Carrie Lake's house for her birthday party and there were children present. I forgot about that.

Those are your four nominees for the best moments of conservative outrage this year. I just want to say a couple things. olivia you delivered that brilliantly two i think we should take a video recording of what you just said and put in a time capsule to completely understand this air and american politics yeah i think we should separate out the like the first couple are silly and dispensed with i feel like we have to split out the ongoing effort to attack drag shows because i feel like that's not that doesn't have the essence of the the the pundi which is for outrageous thing that can be like tamped down because, you know. It's just bigotry.

It's just bigotry. It's pure, dangerous bigotry. Well, I was going to say if you're going with pure impact and like how big of a deal it is that the conservative outrage was so bad, you definitely go with

the drag queen story. But if we're judging this on the- The pure ridiculousness of the take. I have to go with Black Little Mermaid just because that, I mean, there's nothing

more ridiculous than that. For sure. If we are appreciating the take. I have to go with Black Little Mermaid just because that, I mean, I just, there's nothing more ridiculous than that. For sure. If we are appreciating the take in the vein of take appreciator. Right. Then it's got to be Black Little Mermaid. I think it has to be Black Little Mermaid. All right. We have consensus.

Yeah. Shout out to Black Little Mermaid. Yeah, I agree with that. All right. Black Little Mermaid. That's tough. That was tough. Thanks, Olivia.

Thank you, Olivia. And thank you, Travelle and Priyanka for joining us. When we come back, we'll talk to Congresswoman Katie Porter. Joining us now is one of my favorite members of Congress, even though she's made it quite clear that her favorite Parade Save America host is not me. The newly reelected representative from California's 47th district, Katie Porter. Okay, so you're a progressive who just won one of the country's most competitive house races for the third time in a row, this time by just 9,000 votes out of more than a quarter million votes cast.

What lessons did you learn from this last campaign? What worked? What didn't? What surprised you? Well, I think the most important lesson is that you have to do the work. You can have a lot of money, you can have a lot of good ideas, but you have to build the team and do the work on the ground. You have to knock the doors. You have to have the conversations. You have to be present in your community. I think one of our biggest challenges in this race was that 70 percent of the voters were new.

I don't currently represent them. And yet at the end of the day, we outperformed every other Democrat on the ballot, including people who had been incumbents and statewide. So I'm really proud of our outcome. I saw that House Democrats decided to create a new position of battleground leadership representative so that future candidates in tough districts like yours have a voice in leadership. What do you think about that? It's a terrific idea. I supported it. We elected Abigail Spanberger, my colleague from Virginia, to serve in that role. I think it's really, really important. We need to hear from the entirety of the Democratic caucus. And let's face it, being a candidate in a competitive district takes a lot of time. I just explained you got to do the work. That means you have to, you know, connect with the community. You have to fundraise. You have to do the things about being a candidate.

What this means is you don't always get included or invited to be at the leadership table about what bills we're bringing to the floor, about what issues we're prioritizing. Yet, that's exactly the people who are on the front lines who are having these conversations. We know exactly what the American people need, what they want, what's going to take for us to deliver for them and win future elections. I like the idea that the battleground representative at these meetings shows up and everybody else is in like suits and ties and fancy clothes. And the battlegrounds are just like bleeding from the covered in dirt. I don't know what it's fucking like out there.

Well, if you know Abigail Spanberger, that's pretty much her vibe. I am rock or die with Abigail Spanberger. She was in the CIA. She is a train killer. Think that we need some of that perspective in Washington. Look, when Congress takes a district work period and people go home, if you're in a battleground seat like me, you are on the next plane out of Washington and the very next, even sometimes the same day, the next day you're out, you're in your community, you're connecting with people, you're learning about businesses, you're shaking hands, you're listening, you're teaching. And some of our other colleagues don't,

they stay in Washington. They don't have competitive races. And we see this right now with our committee chairs. The typical person who's a committee chair in the Democratic caucus is 73 years old and won their district by 36 points, 36 points. And so those are the people who are drafting the bills and making decisions about what issues get heard, what hearings get held, what bills get moved on the floor. We need the voices of the entire caucus, including those of us in tough battleground seats. Well, let me ask you, you know, there's been this debate about like, why did Democrats do better than expected in these midterms? Was it Republican extremism? Was it Dobbs? Was it democracy? You know, you were in a battleground district. Yes. And yes. You thought all of the above.

All those things played a role. But let's be clear. we overperformed in some areas where we've traditionally had challenges. And I think that things like Dobbs and extremism were a big part of that. In some states, particularly blue states, New York, California being two prime examples, we underperformed. And so I think some of that reflects that we need to make sure that we have messages that work in every part and pocket of the country where we're running. And so I talked every single day on my campaign about inflation and about the economy, because it was on my mind as a parent, as a resident of Orange County, as a Californian. It was on my mind every time I walked into the grocery store, drove past a gas station, and I know it's on the mind of voters too. So I'm really proud of what we accomplished,

but I also think there are lessons to learn about what we need to accomplish going forward. Democrats deliver on the economy. It's true. Statistically, it's demonstrably true. So we should be talking about that each and every single opportunity, helping people understand that we not only stand for their civil rights, we also stand for economic prosperity and abundance. Do you think Democrats did not talk enough about their accomplishments in the 2022 Congress? You know, we always go back and forth about this, like we should talk more, we should toot our own horn, we should talk more about our accomplishments. I don't think it's a quantity problem. I think it's a quality problem. I'll just be honest. It doesn't do any good to put out tweets to your 37 followers about that you were one of 219 people to vote

on a bill. That's not going to motivate anybody. I think it's finding an authentic voice in your community and for yourself where people are going to connect with you. When I told voters I wasn't going to take any bullshit from any big corporation that was cheating them, I had the credibility of my actions in Congress year after year behind that. And so I think it's the exact same thing when you hear someone like Alyssa Slack and say that she understands the risk that our nation faces from foreign adversaries. She's been there. She's done the work. She's done tours in Iraq. She understands that. And she's doing the work every day in Congress to keep our country safe. So I don't think it's

talk about it more. I think it's talk about it in a way that is really genuine and effective and hits the biggest possible audience. Given Elon Musk's interesting behavior over the last few months, that has been a reminder of how impactful these big social media platforms are and how lightly regulated they are. The fact that Republicans are going to control Congress next month means that the odds of sort of a progressive, aggressive legislative response to that is highly unlikely. Are there things you think the Biden administration could do to bring more scrutiny and more regulation to these social media platforms? Absolutely. Look, we have treated for too long, we have treated these platforms as

untouchable. And they're not, they're just companies. That's all they are. They're companies. They're just like any other company. And they're existing in a marketplace. In this case, it's not a marketplace for products. It's a marketplace for information. And if they are doing harm in a marketplace by disseminating false information, then we have the ability and the need to regulate them. And I think we've actually seen, I would argue, I agree with you about Democrats and Republicans, excuse me, about how they're going to handle this. But to be clear, I don't think Democrats have really stepped up to the plate on this either. Hatred, Democrats talk a lot about how we stand against hatred. We stand with the LGBTQ plus community. We stand up for

civil rights. That's where hatred spread today. It spread online. And you can't fight hatred. You can't fight anti-Semitism if you're not willing to push on regulating social media platforms to do better. Today, I had a hearing about attacks on the LGBTQ plus community. And we learned that calling someone a groomer, an LGBTQ person, a groomer or a pedophile violates Twitter's content policy. And yet the human rights campaign found over 500 of these posts that had over 72 million views. They picked the 100 worst posts, asked Twitter to take them down under their own content

policy, and one post came down. to take them down under their own content policy. And one post came down. And it wasn't the post of the CEO who accused his former staff of that exact behavior. That's right. That's right. So I think, look, I mean, these are not, this is not government speech. We have to educate the American public about what free speech does and does not protect. And we have to understand that these companies wield incredible influence in the marketplace for information. And when people have information or when they don't, dramatically affects the foundational pillars of our society and our economy. Before we let you go, please rank these movies. You've Got Mail, Notting Hill,

and Love Actually. There is a correct answer. I think Love Actually. love actually there is a correct answer i think love actually i'm sorry that's incorrect uh the correct order is uh love actually at number three followed by you got mail number one is notting hill it is the number one unfortunately but that's okay that's okay uh congresswoman katie porter thank you so much for being here we really enjoy what's likely to be your last interview on this podcast Congresswoman Katie Porter, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. We really enjoyed what's likely to be your last interview on this podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Happy New Year.

Okay. It's time for our next pundi. This is Worst Take by a pod save america host wow um we're making our head producer andy gardner bernstein present this one because uh we know it will make her deeply uncomfortable yep andy take it away yes i drew the short straw and uh so i'm gonna be reading back some of your takes and we're gonna to start with Dan. Stand by it. And I would just like to point out that Elijah is the one who picked these.

Sure, sure, sure. That's not what Elijah says. Safely in North Carolina. On July 19th, Dan wrote in a message box post, Ooh. Wow. Thank you for your subscription.

Of course I knew Joe Manchin would once again torpedo the last best chance at climate legislation. Joe Manchin then threw that back in Dan's face and immediately signed on to the IRA. So my plan worked. Nice. And Elijah's note on this is

quote, look, Dan went on a heater this year. This was the best we could find. We went through every tweet and every message box. He was cautious in his political analysis, adequately depressed about his sports teams, and self-deprecating about his pop culture habits. Enjoy it while it lasts, Dan. Wow.

Thank you, Elijah. I left no openings. We're so fucked. You made it really hard. This one was tough for us. Okay. Yeah. Next one. I podcast like nobody's watching. Oh, you just wait. Okay. So next one is Jon Favreau. On November 1st, Jon wrote, quote, I'm tweeting about this absolute nonsense against my better judgment because I'm seeing it rub off on way too many smart people. This was in response to a Will Stancil thread about how Democrats weren't going on defense enough in the final days of the election. John disagreed and wrote, most Democratic ads and speeches are currently about GOP extremism and abortion. But the next day, President Biden went out and gave a speech condemning GOP extremism, a complete coincidence that happened to validate Will Stansel's point and ultimately forced John to reengage with his own thread. Wow.

Wow. He hates how that was framed. Biden and Stanza versus Favreau. You said most ads were about GOP extremism. That's correct. But once again, we realized, the producers realized that this was a bit of a stretch, but we looked. So this is a segment where Dan and John were right all year and now you're going to fucking

kick the shit out of me? All right, go. Go to the next one. Look, Tommy's not here. Yeah, Tommy's not here. I hope we got a Tommy take. On to Love It. We identified a few.

Great. Let's go out with it. Yes. We've got Love It saying that making coffee at home is weird. We have... I just found out people do that. We have Lovett saying that L.A. has the best bagels. That's true.

I defend that. We have Lovett saying he wanted to fuck Madison Cawthorn. A few times, I'm told. No, I said it a few times. I figure I could just get it out of my system. Go on. And finally,

and by far the most audience requested take, Lovett and Tommy for defending Elon Musk as a genius. Here's what I want to say about this. Here's what I want to Oh, no. Here we go. Here's what I want to say about this. Here's what I want to say about this. Here's what I want to say about this.

I relent. I am sorry. I have argued for... I have tried so hard to defend the proposition that this guy is not a fucking moron because I found it hard to believe that someone could have so much success in so many places

and yet be as stupid as he seems to be. I give up. I relent. It is easy to make the first giant electric car company. It is easy to get to Mars. These things turned out to be simpler. Look, when Ben Carson ran for president, it turns out being a brain surgeon was easier than we thought. It turns out getting to Mars is easier than we thought.

That's cool. That should give us optimism. I, I tried so hard to make a case for keeping my fucking Tesla. If anybody wants a discount on that Nazi sled, you can slide into my DMS. I'm out. I'm just out on the guy.

I'm out on the whole fucking thing. All right. I relent. You win. You win. I will say LA does have the best bagels. And Madison Cawthorne's not in Congress anymore. There's no power.

The allure is gone. That was just an asshole from wherever he's from. The good news is you just won a Pundi. Hey! Yay! Is there a list of Tommy takes we could have? Do we have any Tommy takes? No, there are no Tommy takes.

We're so sorry. Bummer. Okay. I win. Yep. All right. When we come back, congratulations, by the way. Thank you.

Okay. When we come back, we will share our 2023 New Year's resolutions. All right, we're back. And it's time at last for our New Year's resolutions to kick things off. We asked some of our colleagues at Crooked for their resolutions. Take a listen. I'm Caroline, senior producer at Crooked, and my 2023 resolution is to beat less vain. Now, it is still 2022, which is why I'm wearing my sunglasses, because I'm not wearing makeup,

and I'm not ready for you all to see what lies beneath, which is full gremlin. Also, if I'm being super honest, it's to drink less. But again, we are still in 2022, So I'm going to keep being vain. I'm going to keep drinking. Hi, everyone. This is Yasmin Hamadi from Dare We Say. And my 2023 New Year's resolution, also that's so weird that it's 2023, is probably going to be committing to the work that I want to do.

So I have so many dreams. I have so many ideas. And I put them down on paper, but I don't ever really execute it. I think for 2023, I'm going to say, frick it, just do it and don't look back. So yeah, happy New Year's. Hey friends, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed here, host of American Dissected. And my New Year's resolution is to finish the content I start. I have this habit where I start reading something, I'm like, you know what, I don't like this, so I stop.

And maybe I might have missed something, so I actually just want to finish the things that I start reading something, I'm like, you know what? I don't like this. So I stop. And maybe I might have missed something. So I actually just want to finish the things that I start. My 2023 New Year's resolution is to defeat Jon Favreau in two takes and a fake. Jon is certainly a worthy opponent. He knows his takes. But iron sharpens iron, and I resolve to be better next year. I will also accept defeating Jon on aggregate in the case that he goes 2-1 in several rounds, but then goes 0-3 on a couple of rounds, which is a mathematical possibility. I will accept either of those outcomes, having completed my resolution.

My resolution this year is very easy. I am going to learn line dancing. I think this would be fun. I think it will be cardio I can enjoy. And if you're nice, maybe I'll post some videos and I can enjoy. And if you're nice, maybe I'll post some videos and we can all enjoy my line dancing. Isn't the idea of line dancing that

when you've showed up, you've learned it? Right? Don't they just do what they say, right? Do-si-do and so forth? Does it get harder than that? I don't know. I've never tried it. I don't anything about it i just know from miss friedlander and amateur school all right so before we share our 2023 resolutions uh we are going to humiliate ourselves by playing tape from last year's resolution episode uh we're gonna start with love it okay great here's my sincere resolution which is obviously we all had a very hard couple of years, but I denied that I was

actually depressed up until literally like three months ago. And right now I finally understand how real that was because I feel so much better right now. And I think that means that I'm being a better person. I feel better when I'm treating people people hey and so my resolution for 2022 is to be very protective of this new situation and guard it and protect it with resilience and i would like to keep i think you did great that's great you did a great job i think i also get my other resolution was to lose 15 pounds that's a tough that's a tough still

I will say that which you mean didn't I have a fucking funny one we could have used Jesus you've done well I think we made it to the end so what's your resolution now?

Oh, to get depressed. Become insufferable. I want to start more books. I don't need to finish them. Is that me or is that me resolution? No, no, no, no, no. It's specific. I want to start more books because I feel like there's this pressure to finish.

Abdul made this resolution about finishing more books. No, no, no. That's wrong. You should start. If you're not, it's like if you're making every flight, you're going to the airport too early. If you're finishing every book, you're not taking enough chances out there. I want to start stuff and just know that if I don't finish it, it's okay.

You know? So I want to start more books. Okay. Start more books. Yeah. Just like a couple pages. That's it. No, no. Start more books. Yeah. Like a couple pages. That's it.

No, no. Just get into it. I guess the point I'm trying to make is I think people should be giving up on more books two chapters in. Okay. Because I think sometimes you start reading a book, then you feel bad you're not finishing it, and then you're just watching Netflix. Start more books. Give up. Give up out there. Give up on it.

Keep reading. Let's give up. I'm out there. Give up on a keep reading. This is give up. I'm already looking forward to this being played back next year. All right. It's Dan's turn. Let's hear Dan from last year. My 2022 resolution was also my 2019 resolution, which is I'm going to get back into playing basketball, which is something I used to do four nights a week, all the time, got old, got injured. And I told myself, it was 2019. I was like, I am going to start playing again, which requires like rehabbing my ankles, getting ready. And I did that. And I finally got there in 2020. I played my first basketball game in the last week of February of 2020.

Did you play basketball? I did. Wow. I did it. I i would also perfect dan i would like to say yeah unbroken street i really hope we go back and listen to it that that resolution came before not after love it i want to lead a fulfilling life i want to play basketball well dan what you got one for uh 2023 in 2023 my resolution is to not mail in the year's resolution section of this podcast which i do every year yeah we really do come up with them in real time okay well that's it huh that's it well you know what you're the playback next year is not going to be as weird yeah that's it all right here's mine my resolution

this year was going to be to get the fuck out of Los Angeles because I have left this city twice in the past two years because of this pandemic. And so in 2022, I am getting out of here and I'm going other places. After nearly two years of a pandemic and a year and a half of being a parent, I feel like my friendships and relationships have atrophied a bit. Yeah, I feel that for me. I don't even know you anymore. I see you two every day.

You guys are the exception. Dan, I don't see in person, but I feel pretty close. There's a lot of other friends and family members that I just have not spent a lot of time actually interacting with that I would like to do in 2022. And if that applies to you, text him. Text him and say hi. And I may reply. Depends on how the tweets are looking.

And then my final one, which is like Tommy's, which is a not thing, is I pledge to not learn anything about NFTs or cryptocurrency. Oh, no. I broke that one. I don't want to learn a thing. My other resolution is to get into crypto this year. Get into crypto, bro. Crypto bro from San Francisco. Try it on something new.

You want to watch something rise, crest, and fall. Right at the top. And that's the time Dan gets on board. Buy the dip. I would say that a lot of people listened to that, took that seriously, and I was bombarded with crypto bros trying to get me involved in their endeavors. Wow. And how'd it go?

How many Sam Banker andFried texts do you have? Let's just say next year I'll be recording this podcast from the Bahamas. I nailed my resolution, except for the NFT crypto thing. I learned an offline episode worth of that. That's all. I don't know anything else. Well, that's a brief that arrives at the end. I barely know what happened with Sam Bankman-Fried.

Yeah. All right. Resolution for me. You're going to roll your eyes. I'm going to volunteer more. And I know. I know. But I feel like by saying it out loud like this, You're going to roll your eyes. I'm going to volunteer more. And I know. I know. But I feel like by saying it out loud like this, I'm going to be held accountable.

And it's one of those things you always want to do. But I got to actually go out and do it on a regular basis. If you have a nonprofit organization, a charity, whatever. It's not like donate either. You got to show up. I want to go show up. If you need Jon Favreau's time, message him on social media. You can find him on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, all the above.

And I'll do it here in LA. Now that I've left in 2022 and gone all the places I wanted to, I'll do it right here in LA. If you need him, tooted him. All right. Now that we did that, it's time for the final Pundi of the night. And I think we have Elijah to present alright

hey guys can we revisit the Pod Save America host Pundis real quick because I just want to say Tommy shouldn't be let off the hook we asked our audience for your worst takes and it was always like Tommy and love it Tommy and love it together like you guys like

you had the cinder block boots on together for this one. You dove in for sure to that, to that take together. What were some of Tommy's? Can you give us a couple of examples? It was going to be the, we, we,

we did the Elon thing together. It was a, it was a horrible, it was a gruesome to some other. It was, it was, it was the overwhelming submitted thing too. So run away.

Congratulations. Apparently there's been several thing, too. So run away. Congratulations. Apparently, there's been several emails to the Hay account about it. I keep being told. No one shows me them, but I find out about it. We're getting some blowback at the Hay at Crooked account. Okay. And on that note, let's move on to the overall worst take of the years. I am shaking with excitement.

We can tell. We can see. Heavy hitters only. Big names. Major news events. Let's go through in chronological order. First up, first nominee for worst take of the year, Donald Trump. In the days right before and right after Russia's invasion of Ukraine,

Donald Trump lavished praise on Vladimir Putin, calling him savvy, a genius, and saying that Putin is playing Joe Biden like a drum. The war thus far has not gone Putin's way. That's good. Any thoughts on that before we move on?

I think you hit it. You got it. It was a bad take. It was a bad take. All right. Next up, Mark Thiessen. This flew under the radar when it came out. I was so excited when I found it.

Mark Thiessen wrote a piece titled, Watch Out Democrats, The Abortion Ruling May Help Republicans. Every line is amazing. I could just read the whole thing verbatim, but here's a small taste. Quote, if the court's conservative majority

does strike down Roe, Democrats might find that the decision is not nearly as unpopular as they think. If Democrats focus on defending abortion this November, it will backfire. Okay. That's in poll position to me.

Bad take. Bad take. Bad take. Bad take from someone who gives a lot of bad takes it almost went into predictions but this was the worst road take out there i could find so a double double talent um next up you guys are familiar with this one david brooks after the fbi retrieved stolen classified documents from mar-a-lago brooks put out a piece titled did the the FBI just reelected Donald Trump? The piece basically argues that this episode was good for Trump because there's a distrust of authority and the raid validated that. But the intro paragraph is the undisputed champion of the piece. Quote, Why is Donald Trump so powerful? How did he come to dominate one of the two

major parties and get himself elected president? Is it his hair? His waistline? No, it's his narratives. It's powerful stuff. That was a very wrong take. It was a wrong take. I don't think the FBI re-elected Trump, but he could still win.

I don't think it helped him in any way. You don't know that yet. We don't know. It's not a bad take. It may just be an early take. Early take. Too early to call. Too early to call.

Too early to call from David Brooks. Is that it? Is that the list? Those are the three? No, no, I have two more. One, it's not a news event, but it's just a classic of the year to put it in. Bethany Mandel, if I had to pinpoint moment that republicans became the party of jerks it's when mitt romney spent his entire campaign being accused of killing big bird building finders full of women torturing the family dog etc etc before we go to the last

one i just there's a special kind of category of takes which is uh it's your fault i'm this way yeah uh that you see constantly like oh, oh, Elon's become a maniac because of liberal scolds. Like Republicans tried to burn down the Capitol because Mitt Romney faced an opponent. You know, like there's just a category of like, why do you make me do this to you? I think I just discovered my 2023 New Year's resolution

in this take, which is I am going to let the 2012 election go, and I'm going to rant about Mitt Romney less. I can feel it bubbling up inside me as that was happening. It's going to make this tough. I'm going to do that. Well, it's still 2022. How many books did you finish?

I mean, look, look. Check your volunteer hours at the end of the year. That's, first of all, Dan, really important and good point. The question is how many books I started. It's 2022 still so before it's your Thunder Road give us one last taste I just like you to know

that I know you're you every once in a while you remember we have a podcast on Thursdays but we did this one what was your favorite part about Jennifer Tilly on lover to leave it keep going Elijah you get Jennifer Tilly on Lover to Leave It? Keep going, Elijah. You got Jennifer Tilly on Lover to Leave It? That's cool.

And then last nominee, very simple one from Elon Musk. Comedy is now legal on Twitter. Oof. And those are your 2022 Worst Take of the Year nominees. This is tough. I want to say, I think that I will say that like just as a pure unadulterated bad take, claiming that overturning Roe v. Wade would be bad for Democrats, written by a foreign policy goofball from D.C. to me is the... He's not even a foreign policy goofball.

He's just a speechwriter. Well, foreign policy speechwriter. Look at our qualifications. Well, he's like a foreign policy hawk goofball. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Torture apologist. Yeah, torture apologist. Waterboarding us every week

in the Washington Post on that page. Yeah, I'm with you. I think that's the worst take. I think it's bethany mandel let's hear it dan let's hear it for those listening at home it's december 14th yeah all mark teason did in this case was make a bad political prediction which many have done many people named josh as we learned in the previous subject. Yes, right.

But what you hit on the right point with that, was the worst takes are the ones that blame other people for why we are so terrible. Yes. And it is just such a convoluted, idiotic, ahistorical logic to say that the reason Republicans are assholes is because Obama ran a largely polite campaign against mitt romney a decade ago it's like an it's an absurdity yeah i'm willing to we did accuse him of killing that

people those that guy with cancer but we did not do that it was an affiliated super pack which was famously a famously unaffiliated super pack john we all remember that uh yeah i do think that like as far as like the category as a category of takes the look what you made me do take is pernicious and everywhere uh so i'm i'm persuaded i'm persuaded by the message box i still think biggest issue of the year was abortion in the midterms was the biggest news story of the year and mark tson got it as wrong as you can get it i agree with john the thing that's thing I'll say about Teason, not to put my thumb on the scale here,

but I wasn't just using some flowery language here when I said every line of that piece is a banger. Every single one is boring and wrong. Give us another sentence. Oh, you know, it just goes to all the trappings of Republicans

are on the right side of history on this issue. And they're closer to the hearts of Americans than most people realize. And then all the, you know, crap that's unscientific. It really just depends on what scale we're judging this on. If it's like just a bad, incorrect take, Mark Thiessen wins it. If it is, we are appreciating the take. All right, let's call this fucking thing it's not real bethany mandel takes it congratulations to bethany mandel whoever that whoever you may be

you can pick your pundi up in north carolina at elijah's house you know where he has been in this room non-stop for the last several months. Great pondies. Thanks for participating. Great year. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Take Officer. All right, that's it for the show. Big thanks to Congresswoman Katie Porter, Travelle Anderson, Priyanka Arabindi, and everyone here at Crooked and SiriusXM.

If you can, make a donation to World Central Kitchen. Have a great rest of your holiday, and we'll see you back here in 2023. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Happy New Year, everybody. I'm still reeling from the footage of my fucking depression take. Let me out of my house. That was unbelievable. That was a person in crisis.

Leave all this in. Honestly, that was incredible. I'm so glad someone did that. Jesus. Good job, producers. Wasn't there also taking that when I watch more old films or something? Leave all this in Honestly That was incredible I'm so glad someone did that Jesus Good job producers Wasn't there also Taking that When I watch more old films

Or something Pod Save America Is a Crooked Media production The executive producer Is Michael Martinez Our senior producer Is Andy Gardner-Bernstein Our producers are

Hayley Muse And Olivia Martinez It's mixed and edited By Andrew Chadwick Kyle Seglin And Charlotte Landis Our episodes are uploaded as videos at youtube.com slash podsaveamerica.