Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - Blanche Gets Through Committee as Michigan's Senate Primary Goes to the Polls

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Starting point is 00:00:34 Welcome to Raging Modits. I'm Scott Galloway. And I'm Jessica Tar-Love. So before we get started, Jess and I are coming back to the night. 92nd Street Y in New York, we'll be there to talk politics and also to celebrate the release of Jess's book, I Disagree, which has a link in the show notes. Please pre-order. Those pre-order sales are important. All right, let's get into it. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is likely to be confirmed in the role by the end of the week after today's Senate Judiciary Committee vote. In a joint statement yesterday, Senators Cornyn and Tillis thanked Blanche for addressing their concerns around the anti-weaponization fund and Trump's IRS audit deal. Critics, however, aren't so sure the statements Blanche put forth actually do what he claims, especially with the audit immunity document not being signed. Here's Senator Tilla speaking this morning during the committee meeting. Everybody has this view of they are as pure as the driven snow, and it's the other side that has a problem. I think we both have a problem, folks. If you want to talk about weaponization, take a look at the Biden administration. The bottom line is nobody is

Starting point is 00:01:34 clean here. And until we start recognizing this behavior is bad, we're just going to want up it. Maybe it's a bit more intense than this administration than the last one, and that a little bit more intense than the prior administration, and so on and so forth. But folks, we've got to end this stuff. We do. I'm going to support Mr. Blanche's nomination. Maybe it's a little bit more intense. A little bit more intense. Just a scotch more intense-ish, you know, my person, my, the president's personal lawyer being ahead of the OJ, showing up before I am at the NSA's, the, Former advisor's house after they've shit posted you on Fox. Yeah, no, it's going after former Olympians with trumped up accusations,

Starting point is 00:02:21 accusing sitting senators of sedition. Just to scosh. Just a tiny bit. A tiny bit. What do you make of this, Jess? Disappointing, but par for the course. There are no heroes left. At least none of them that are sitting in the Senate or in Congress anymore.

Starting point is 00:02:38 There are folks like Jeff Flake who just endorsed. John Ossoff in his race, you know, someone who I think lives by the never Trump moniker, you know, who could go work at the bulwark or the dispatch or one of those places. But all of the ones who are still representatives and part of the Republican Party are rubber stamps for this guy. And I think as someone who enjoys the idea of bipartisanship, and thinking about what we can do when we work together. And there are things like the bipartisan housing bill, for instance, that Elizabeth Warren captained and got 86 votes or something like that. Like those things can still happen.

Starting point is 00:03:23 But when it comes to these confirmations and it comes to the stuff that Trump really cares about, they are always going to be the worst possible versions of themselves. And Democrats have to act like that's the case. There were so many clips that we could have picked from. but I also wanted to call out that Senator Cornyn, who was the other holdout on this, at least for, you know, a few days, said in a press gaggle after they voted to advance the nomination, there's nothing we can do to rein in the president. Well, there's nothing we could do to reign in the president when he said he likes the fund and he wishes still exists, but the fact of the matter is dead.

Starting point is 00:04:05 And that's all we could do under these circumstances. So if that's the attitude, then we have to do everything in our power to rein him in and stop these people from utterly decimating our government, our institution's American way of life. However, you want to bundle it, I guess. The idea that the rule of law is becoming an unenforceable idea is so dangerous. And Todd Blanche is a very slick package that this is coming in with. But He has given us a preview already. I think the image of him, you know, sitting with Glein Maxwell for nine hours and then her getting transferred to that cushy prison. I don't know if the idea of a pardon for her comes back or not should stick with everyone. That's who he's on the side of. And dangerous roads ahead and the midterms just became even more important.

Starting point is 00:05:03 We need a backstop, certainly in the House and in the Senate if we can get to it. Yeah, I think there's a couple things here. There's more than anyone. The courts are kind of the only remaining backstop, and they have, in certain instances, put the president or kept him in check, especially around accusations of election interference or selective prosecution or accusing a sitting member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors of mortgage fraud when there's no there.

Starting point is 00:05:31 The courts have been enforcing the law, or at least what I would, argue, though, is that the problem we have is that in Barry Goldwater, outlined this 50 years ago, we have taken for granted that a set of norms would be enough, that of course the president wouldn't send his sons overseas to make deals with the Gulf to sell them advanced AI chips and exchange for commitments to invest in their businesses. Like, we just made this assumption that that would never happen. And slowly, but surely, we have transferred more and more power. to the executive branch. And so when the president does away with the enforcement division of the SEC that looks at

Starting point is 00:06:17 crypto fraud, it's actually what he did is not illegal. And it should be illegal. I do think that with a law still has teeth and purchase, the courts have actually done a pretty good job. And unfortunately, the president's not afraid to pursue, you know, baseless lawsuits. to intimidate people. And unfortunately, it's effective. But I think what we need to do structurally is really look at the power that's been seated to the executive branch and say, well, we have for too long assumed that no president would actually do this. And one is. And the reality is a lot of his

Starting point is 00:06:58 most egregious, or what people would find most distasteful. And they think, oh, my God, that must be illegal. Actually, a lot of this stuff is not under legal scrutiny, technically illegal. It's just we can't believe the president would actually do it. So I think there's a, I think there's a couple. I think we're going to need to really look hard at more co-equal branches of government, and that has passed new lawsuits. Say a president can't get rid of departments that are inconvenient for him without a certain, you know, hurdle rate. Maybe it's two-thirds of Congress. I don't know what it is, but we are going to need, just as I think we need to reestablish a tax code that recognizes the flow of power and capital from workers and consumers to shareholders, that those rivers need to reverse,

Starting point is 00:07:49 that there needs to be a reallocation or flow back of capital or power and advantage from shareholders to labor and to consumers. We need to re, we need absolutely to look at the flow of power, unchecked power, that has melted from Congress and from the Supreme Court to the president. The other thing, I mean, you can't pass a law around this, but these folks should give these speeches after their votes. They want credit. They want to say, well, I'm a thoughtful guy, and I'm brave, and I look at the merits of this, and I'm concerned. Now, give your speech and your rationale after you make the vote we know you're going to make. Because, Because, again, I can't stand.

Starting point is 00:08:38 And I think I do think voters remember that Susan Collins cast the deciding vote to basically flip the court to a conservative majority that was clearly going to overturn Roe v. Wade, despite all of them claiming it was established precedent and they weren't going to get there. They were lying during their confirmation hearings, I believe. And Senator Collins wanted to pretend that she was concerned. And these guys all do the same thing. They want credit for saying, okay, I see the concern here. Give us your speech and your rationale after the vote. Because it's just so predictable that they're looking for a TikTok moment. They're looking to be seen as bipartisan or as leaders.

Starting point is 00:09:23 your speech to CNN outside of your office means very little. It's the vote. So everyone should be interviewed, and if they have balls, they'll say, this is why I voted the way I voted, ultimately. Yeah, I'm all for lowering the amount of grandstanding. It's a waste of all of our times, and very rarely is there someone who's actually on the fence or looking to get an answer out of the committee hearing. Most of the time they've made those promises in an office, right? You know, haul them in and say, you've got to change X, Y, or Z thing, and then we've got a deal. So that's a moment for us. It's for social media. This is why you need to get campaign finance reform because they use them for fundraising because you need to have millions of dollars in your

Starting point is 00:10:11 war chest if you're going to be able to defend your seat just two years later in a constant state of campaigning. So I would like that. I would also just like better people in office. I don't know what the trick is for that. We've talked about, you know, raising pay levels to attract higher quality folks who would do well in the private sector, don't have generational wells, make it easy for them to take a job that pays you $174,000 a year to support a family on that, for instance. I think we have to explore all of these avenues. But what's really sitting with me today, looking at what Tillis and Cornyn have done and the rest of them who, frankly, were ready to rubber stamp Todd Blanche even before he even

Starting point is 00:10:56 pretended like he was going to get rid of the weaponization fund or not give the Trump family immunity from IRS audits is that you've got a morally bankrupt group of people on the other side of the aisle right now. And we have to, this is like guerrilla warfare at this point. And we need folks that understand that fight. And we're going to talk about the Michigan primary, which is today in a little bit. And you've been saying this for the last few months that that kind of energy, that kind of it's us against the world energy

Starting point is 00:11:30 is coming from the progressive left right now. And that it's not what the moderates or the establishment wing of the party is offering, save for like a John Ossoff, for instance, is not meeting the moment because the voters recognize the existential threat before the grandstanders. They may have been doing it.

Starting point is 00:11:51 it for, you know, their cable news moment or during one of these hearings. But the folks on the ground, if you look at, you know, what they're saying when they show up at town hall meetings, for instance, they have understood the five alarm fire from day one. They read Project 2025. They knew what was coming. And Todd Blanche is going to execute everything that they had hoped for and more. I was looking around to see what will change. What, you know, what can we expect from a Blanche AG department with him on top of the DOJ. So more targeting of critics, which you brought up. The Epstein Files, if you saw it any more of them were going to get sunlight, definitely

Starting point is 00:12:32 not happening now. The survivors, I don't think they'd even actually want to sit down with him again because he was so rude and, you know, checking his watch, trying to get out of there. But there will be no justice for these brave, brave victims. More executive immunity to the tilt, right? Whatever the Supreme Court was willing to give you. and then they're going to work around to make sure that he gets even more. Abortion access, which has already been extremely limited by the Dobbs decision, it's going to get worse.

Starting point is 00:12:58 What will happen with Mithipristone if he gets his way, the telehealth prescriptions, for instance, cut down on threatening doctors who perform abortion services. Todd Lynch has also shown a willingness to go back to the 2016 election. We're not even talking about 2020, which Trump is obsessed with. He wants to look back at Russian interference and how all of that was handled, the beginning of the weaponization, if you asked Tom Tillis. And then I'm sure that we're going to be seeing more folks creeping around Fulton County like Tulton Gabbard was before she got unceremoniously pushed out for the new DNI. Well, I guess it was Bill Pulte. And now it's Jay Clayton. I think it's going to be really ugly.

Starting point is 00:13:42 It's going to be near constant running of their greatest hits because they have. nothing new to say because they can't confront the reality of today. And I think Todd Blanche is a very dangerous, dangerous character. So just going back, this is what I'm fairly certain, or I would speculate, happened with Senators Cornyn and Tillis. And that is they're both out of office, right? They've lost their primaries. They're gone. And Senator Cornyn's net worth is about, is estimated to be about $1.5 million. He's an old dude. He probably won't. to live his next 20 years comfortably. He'd probably like to leave some money to his kids.

Starting point is 00:14:22 He'd probably like to have, I mean, that may sound like a lot of money to the average American, but a guy who sees himself as a powerful master of the universe, this is what I think happened. Trump called him in or different people from on Trump's orbit, called him in and said, do you want to make money after you leave office or not?

Starting point is 00:14:41 I mean, that's what I would do. I can put you on three corporate boards. I can get you all sorts of. goodies or you can be a pariah. No Democrats going to help you out. I'll call my buddies. I can get you on a bunch of boards. I can make you a special advisor to choose social.

Starting point is 00:14:58 I mean, whatever the fuck it is. And the problem here, and it's something in terms of structural form, we need sunshine loss. These are important people. The majority of them work very hard. I think the majority of them are actually high character people.

Starting point is 00:15:11 It's the incentives that are all fucked up because we should go to Singapore model. Any member of the House should make a million bucks a year. I think senators should make $3 million a year. I think the president should make $10 million a year in exchange for the following. Zero tolerance around any of this bullshit around insider trading. Every person, if you run for office, it means it's going into a blind trust,

Starting point is 00:15:33 which you have no visibility into, you or your family. And once you leave office, there's a four-year sunshine period where you can't accept speaking payments, book fees. You can do all of these things. You just can't take money. go on corporate boards. Who's going to do that? Well, I think we should, if you paid them enough, I'm not saying.

Starting point is 00:15:55 Oh, on the front end, I'm just saying, you know, writing a book is hard if you're not getting paid. Yes. Well, as someone is just recording your book, but this is the Singapore model. Stop monetizing your office. I'm almost entirely sure they said, they said to Cornyn and tell us, do you want to make no money after you leave this November? or do you want to make five to ten million bucks a year? I can do that for you. But stop this bullshit around the hold out of,

Starting point is 00:16:23 if you need your pound of flesh and to pretend like you're concerned and you're a leader, fine, make all the speeches you want. But if you want to go on the board of X, Y, and Z, energy companies where the CEO loves the regulatory capture I've provided him, the president has enormous power to make someone, give someone other.

Starting point is 00:16:43 And with three calls, he could give. Senator Tillis another $5 to $10 million a year for the next 10 years, or not? Or say, I'll make it such that no one ever hires you for anything. So we need to change the incentives. These people should make more money. And in exchange, we need to do away with the backroom incentives that I believe are taking place post office. These people don't want to, I mean, wouldn't it be great if they were just happy to live

Starting point is 00:17:11 in their two-bedroom houses and they don't really care? like the rest of us, they want a nice life. They want, they want to make money. Anyways, I think the backroom deal that's happened is very mundane. Do you want to be on these three boards when you leave office or do you want to be a pariah to both the Democrats and the Republicans? Your call, let me know what you decide. And I think they decide that before he leaves the meeting. Support for the show comes from Skylight. Family schedules have a way of getting complicated fast. Between work, school, sports, appointments, and social plans. Keeping everyone coordinated isn't easy. Skylight brings everyone together in one shared calendar, making it simple for the whole family to stay in sick. It's an all-in-one digital smart calendar that syncs seamlessly with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, and more, giving you customizable views for daily, weekly, or monthly planning. I have been using my Skylight frame for months now, and it is a total game changer. My nuclear family, we're all coordinated, so my husband and I, and we use different interfaces. He's on Google.

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Starting point is 00:18:39 That is, M-Y-S-K-Y-L-G-H-T.com slash moderates. presidential races are always messy, but 2028 is shaping up to be our messiest presidential campaign yet. There are a ton of names that are rumored to be thinking about throwing their hat in the ring. All righty, here we got Trump. We got Kamala Harris. We have Marjorie Taylor Green. So this week on America, actually, I wanted to hold a little fantasy draft. Of course, we got to have AOC on the list and stud George Clooney. And to do that, I want to invite two of the messiest people I know. Box journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher.

Starting point is 00:19:24 Let me tell you. Uh-huh. Here's the charm of a cyber truck. And independent journalist and political commentator Don Lemon. This could go really fast because I got boom, boom, boom, boom, and I'm sure Kara's the same way. I'm a stead Hurston. And this is America Actually. Catch us every Saturday on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:19:45 Moving on, in other Justice News, U.S. Attorney Janine Piro. Justice colleague met with, or former colleague, met with Donald Trump yesterday after the president said she choked in her handling of the reflecting pool vandalism case. She was seen leaving the White House with a box and briefcase afterwards. I realize you have to be somewhat measured here because this is a former colleague. You go ahead. Sure. So first off, say what you want about Ms. Piro. She's not fucking stupid.

Starting point is 00:20:19 And this is the bottom line. She's decided loyalty to the president, proximity to power, not being embarrassed, not being shamed, having the producers at Fox go apesha crazy about how to describe their former colleague. I mean, they must be freaking out about how to spend this one. But she did the math, and she's read the same thing I'm going to read to you right now. Let's do, where are they now, Trump's Lawyers edition? Roy Cohn, his first lawyer, disbarred, dead. Michael Cohn, disbarred, pleaded guilty to tax campaign false statement crimes. Rudy Giuliani, disbarred in New York and D.C., 150 million in defamation damages.

Starting point is 00:21:03 Alina Haba, sanctioned $1 million for frivolous litigation. Boris, I believe it's Efstein, pending Arizona criminal charges in fake electoral case. John Eastman, disbarred and. California and suspended in D.C., Arizona criminal case pending. Kenneth Chesboro disbarred in New York, pleaded guilty in Georgia case pending. She's decided that for short-term praise from the president and or Fox, it's not worth being disbarred and potentially going to jail and going down as another Chernobyl victim. I mean, she just did the math, and she said this is.

Starting point is 00:21:47 going to be ugly, but I would rather not be disbarred and hauled in front of a judge 12 months after he's totally forgotten about me and doesn't return my calls. In Vietnam, the Viet Cong was told anyone with two metal bars on the helmet, I'm sure military historians will correct me here, they'd say, kill the second lieutenant first, kill the platoon leader first, and so they stopped wearing insignias and Marx that would identify them. If you're, if you're, quote unquote, the lawyer for Trump, you are second lieutenant marching around waiting to be shot in the head. This is, there are a few jobs more dangerous than being Trump's lawyer. And in addition, the other observation, she was absolutely set up to be humiliated. They clearly, they clearly staged a photograph or alerted

Starting point is 00:22:42 photographers, they gave her a box, they gave and said, walk out, and they made sure the photographers were there to humiliate her, which I find really, really, to give you a sense of this guy's loyalty, I mean, just let me, I never miss an opportunity of virtue signal. Whenever you fire somebody, the way you fire them is when you do it crisply. This isn't working out. You know, this is, this is why we're letting you go. We can argue about it, but what we want to talk about is how we're going to help you moving forward. And I find you're repatious about the decision, but you're always exceptionally generous. And you try to, you know, you try to make it even if the person is angry or upset, then when they look back on it, they think that this person was, I might have disagreed

Starting point is 00:23:28 with them, but they were generous. And this, on the whole, was a good experience for me. This guy just is, oh, maybe I can turn the, maybe I can, maybe your humiliation can be my, you know, my temporary, like, you know, temporary advantage. I mean, he's just so, just such a lack of loyalty or grace around, quite frankly, how he deals with people he disagrees with. Or intelligence, because she saved him from a courtroom humiliation, herself as well. But that's where they were destined to be going. They claim that they had this video that did not exist.

Starting point is 00:24:04 There is no way for 67-year-old iconic canoeist. David Hearn to have gotten into the middle of the reflecting pool, which is where the damage started. And, you know, people are trying to, you know, grasping at straws. Oh, he shouldn't have even picked up the piece of the pool that was floating. Like, who gives a fuck? Right. Like, it doesn't matter. And to add insult to injury, they dropped the cases against three other people who were accused of vandalism.

Starting point is 00:24:34 They're just cut and running, right, from this entire story. And Donald Trump can't see even one foot ahead to say, okay, we don't have to waste the time and resources and public humiliation to go through a court process. It probably would have been better, frankly, if it just been thrown out by a grand jury. But, you know, this isn't the kind of work that I'm sure Janine wants to be focused on. She wants to be, you know, working with Muriel Bowser to bring down crime or she wants to be prosecuting the horrific. anti-Semitic murders of the young Jewish couple outside of the museum from last year, like subway sandwiches and fake charges of vandalism. You know, I haven't spoken to her about it, but I imagine that that's not what really gets her going when she wakes up in the morning.

Starting point is 00:25:26 And he has no loyalty, at least in what he's willing to do to you in terms of the public humiliation. Didn't fire her. She didn't offer her resignation and he didn't fire her. they go back decades and decades have, you know, a very close relationship. And I imagine, frankly, that he wouldn't ever do that. It takes a lot for him to get to the point that he lets go of someone. And even with Christy Knoem, he found, what does she do, the, like, Shields of America or whatever? She got another job.

Starting point is 00:25:54 Yeah, but the bar is much lower for women in terms of his willingness to fire people. Or to find you an exit. Yes. The women and children first is the Trump way. But, like, in the bad way, not in, like, the good. they get in the boats to get off the Titanic, the Billy Zane, ill-behaved in that context. It just sucks. And it's so embarrassing. And these kinds of stories also are not just our infotainment. The rest of the world knows that this is going on. You know, Donald Trump is doing press briefings and is saying stuff like Janine choked.

Starting point is 00:26:35 You know, we're in the middle of a war that he's. has no control over. Americans are starving. Their snap benefits have been cut. You know, farmers need a bailout every month, essentially, because of what's gone on with the tariffs and in the economy. And he's boring us with this shit essentially at this point. So I think it's just a generally embarrassing debacle. And I'm sure more is to come. And I don't know what her relationship with Todd Blanche's like, but if he is going to be someone who takes up the bill Pulte, you know, Pam Bondi kind of mantle saying let's go after everybody who, you know, posted a mean tweet about me, I think it's going to be more and more headaches. And I don't

Starting point is 00:27:22 know if that's worthwhile for her or for anyone. I just, you know, people say, well, what are you supposed to do? I think you're supposed to quit. I think you're supposed to walk away from this. And I understand that there is something to, you've got to stay and you've got to fight. And we need to protect these institutions. But you have someone that can't be reined in, a la Senator Cornyn. And he's going to tell you, no, no, no, I don't want you to be doing this actual work. I want you to be focused on a guy with a hoagie and a canoeist who picked up a little piece of the lining that was already loose. Like, that's a waste of everybody's time.

Starting point is 00:28:00 Yeah, I wonder if it's strategic. I mean, again, if it's another weapon of mass distraction. Probably the more important thing happening today is the much-anticipated Michigan primary election. And the race for the Democratic primary for Senate has become a bit of a proxy for where the Democratic Party, or at least where the energy is in the Democratic Party. Progressive Abdul-El-Said, backed by Bernie Sanders and ALC, is favored to beat establishment pick Haley Stevens, who has Governor Whitmer, Senator Schumer, and outgoing Senator G. Gary Peters in her corner. If El-Sahed wins, it can be the biggest establishment defeat of the primary season so far. It sounds like the race is effectively over. Kalshi has El-Sahed victory at 98% likelihood here. It's really fascinating. This race was much closer just a few weeks ago. You're the kind of resident pollster here. What do you make of this race? Well, I want to start with a bit

Starting point is 00:28:53 of Amaya Colpa because I don't think that my commentary on the race for the past few weeks has frankly been up to snuff. Just you're from Fox. Double down, no matter how ridiculously fucking stupid your past comments have been. Just double down. Oh, I didn't know that that was an option. I just think that I was unfair to his campaign and what he had been building. And I think that I was focused on maybe the signs of a successful campaign more of the past

Starting point is 00:29:22 than what we're dealing with in the present. And looking at, you know, Haley Stevens' support with the black community, black voter, is the backbone of the Democratic Party, especially black women. And it seems like now, from what I've been looking at the last seven to 10 days, that I'll say it's really built something special that can be multi-generational, multiracial coalition. We'll see what happens. Obviously, all that matters is what the votes actually say. And Michigan can be slow for results to come in if it is close, which right now the polling doesn't look like it will be, that it could be even, you know, 10 plus point spread. It could go into tomorrow morning.

Starting point is 00:30:05 But this is a really big test case for what the future of the Democratic Party looks like. Because Haley Stevens, appropriately, has said that if she loses, she's going to endorse and get to work right away. The most important thing is endorsing Mike Rogers. I'll say it is less enthusiastic about saying that in reverse Mallory McMorrow. who was the candidate that I liked in this race, originally who dropped out a month or so ago, has said that she's going to be at whoever the winners is at their party tonight, because the coalition of Democrats, the big tent, as it were, is the most important part of this. But I am bracing for a new day in Democratic politics.

Starting point is 00:30:50 And, you know, he is not the most extreme progressive. He's not like Chevalier here in Harlem. You know, this is a guy who's not part of the DSA. He identifies as a capitalist. He is for things like Medicare for all, tax the billionaires, et cetera. But it is a modified version of the far left platform. And I still have enormous questions about whether that can win in a general election. This should be a very blue environment. So a much better chance of that happening. But Mike Rogers lost by only 19,000 votes to Alyssa Slotkin, who was, like a made in a lab candidate for a state like Michigan. And so I'm concerned about that, but being self-reflective about how I view these intra-party conflicts and how we can actually shape this bigger tent to be successful, you know, how Kathy Hochel reframed how she thought about Mom Donnie to focus on the things that she could work with him on and draw the lines where she needed to. And I think that establishment Democrats are going to have to do that all over the country if it proves that these candidates can win statewide.

Starting point is 00:32:01 And it could happen in Wisconsin as well with Francesca Hong, who I do not think is nearly as talented as Alsaid. And I would hate to lose that governor's mansion. And she's much to the left of him. But that's my maya culpa. It wasn't that bad, right? It wasn't that much self-flagellation. No, you're being thoughtful, which is infinitely more female than male. I'm just not used to hearing it.

Starting point is 00:32:22 Look, I've heard from, I've had two hour-long conversations with entrepreneurs yesterday. They don't even know that well, both CEOs. One is a kid in his late 20s who's got an AI company who's raising money at a $10 billion valuation, and he wanted some advice on some issues around fundraising and scaling. And I made a point of saying to him, a lot of your success is not your fault. Be really careful. When I was your age, I used to think that all my success was a function, just how fucking awesome I was,

Starting point is 00:32:54 not registering my blessings being born, you know, a straight white male in the 60s and coming up during the age of the internet, you know, just gale force wins in my sales. And I didn't have the presence to realize just how much of, again, my success wasn't my fault. Later in the afternoon, I talked to another kid who's raised $200 million, was all the rage,

Starting point is 00:33:16 a unicorn, and he's about to shut his business down. And this kid is just in a state of despair. And I said, you also got to recognize market dynamics trump individual performance, and that is a lot of your failure is in your fault. I can look at both these people and say, one dude should not be nearly as confident as he is right now, and one should not be nearly as hard on himself as he's being right now. And when I look at El-Sayed, I'm not saying he ran a good or bad campaign,

Starting point is 00:33:45 but the reality is the more interesting thing about this race is the pattern that the bottom line is the center of gravity is shifting. I won't say has shifted, but it's shifting in the Democratic Party. And the reality is the DSA, the socialist, whatever you want to call it, have all the RIS, the dynamism, and the creativity right now. And what Democrats have to wrestle with, and to a larger extent, the country, is that when anyone under the age of 40 has seen cronyism masquerading as capitalism, of course they don't endorse capitalism.

Starting point is 00:34:16 I think we have to do a much better job of saying what you've experienced at the hands of both Democrats and Republicans of regulatory capture, cronyism, transferring money from your generation and my generation. and this is not, this is not capitalism. Capitalism works. Capitalism, when you reinvest in the middle class, when you have a progressive tax rate, it's the least bad system of its kind. It's brought more people out of poverty. It's created more prosperity. It's created more revenue for social services and the ability to fund a military to push back on fascism, the ability to embrace civil rights, women's rights. I'm still going all in on capitalism. But what people have endured, the last 40 years is not capitalism, it's cronyism. And it's entirely understandable how they're saying, we've been sold a fucking bill of goods. And if you want to call it capitalism, then fine,

Starting point is 00:35:09 I don't want capitalism. Call it socialism, call whatever the fuck you want. I just, I just know that what you claim is capitalism isn't working. And to their credit, the DSA has produced a series of super attractive, super compelling candidates. And the Democratic Party has to realize that this won't be an isolated upset. It's a pattern. And what's really interesting is that Stevens has the institutional wall behind her,

Starting point is 00:35:42 Whitmer, Schumer, Peters, and you know what? It doesn't matter. The party's own turnout machine can't save its chosen candidate in a state it needs to hold the Senate. And that's, you know, there really needs to be some soul searching here. I still think the Democrats of the Party of Democracy, which counts for something.

Starting point is 00:36:02 But to say that we have, we're, you know, we're capitalists and to accuse the far left of socialism that doesn't work, it's like, well, folks, the brand of capitalism we've been preaching and have been offering, taxes went down during the Biden administration. regulatory capture went up during Democratic administrations. We have engaged in a slow burn from capitalism to cronyism, and we're shocked that young people aren't up for more of this quote-on-quote, and I'll use zero-quotes, capitalism. So just as I think in Maine, the atmospherics there around a very aging politician who has, you know, claimed in a fairly like purple, maybe blue state that she cares about women but gave the deciding vote. I think the atmospherics there is, as long as a guy has chest hair and hasn't raped anybody, I think we're going to take that seat. I think the atmospherics are definitely on our side. In a place like Michigan with an establishment candidate that has taken money, more money

Starting point is 00:37:12 from APEC than I think any other candidate in the race, she's fucked. I don't care how good she is. I don't care how good her campaign is and how bad his campaign is. The atmospherics, a lot of her failure is not her fault and a lot of his success is not his fault. The atmosphere is the party brand, the institutional brand of democratic politics right now is not working for the average American and especially young people. So they're like, okay, I get your concerns. Oh, I hear these stories of lore about capitalism and how it works. Well, folks, it hasn't worked for me. So this is, I think, I mean, our party leadership needs to change. We need to actually have the music match the words around reinvesting in the middle class and a progressive tax structure.

Starting point is 00:38:00 But this is entirely, in my opinion, this really does speak to the atmospherics around how the center of gravity is shifting. This isn't about a race. This is about a shifting of the atmospherics. Your thoughts. Yeah. A big own goal for the establishment. This will be really embarrassing for Chuck Schumer. And there was some reporting also that Kirsten Gillibrand had described Mallory McMorrow as being DSA, which she absolutely is not and might have been that candidate that was a blend of, you know, New Age, call it social Democrats, was reading the room and adapted.

Starting point is 00:38:42 She adapted her position on Israel. She adapted her position on APAC because those are becoming. salient issues in the electorate. I hope that you're right about the atmospherics being able to propel candidates to wins, because that's how we can get shit done and try to blunt some of the damage of the Trump administration. I like the early ads that I've seen from Troy Jackson. There is a report that his partner is his second cousin, which I don't particularly love. Oh, my God. Sorry. Never underestimate our ability to snatch the feet from the jaws of victory. And he's taken to calling Susan Collins, Susan, which I think is so devilish and

Starting point is 00:39:24 good, you know, making her just a regular Susan, you know, like a Karen. But anyway, I just wanted to throw that in there that that exists in the ether. Like, we can't have nice things. We can't just have someone who's like married to his college sweetheart. I would argue that's a speeding ticket versus what the Republic, how the Republicans have acquitted themselves. Totally. And there's no Nazi tattoos and there's no rape accusation. It's all consensual disclaimer on the Michigan primary before we move on. Obviously, it all comes down to turnout. Stevens is going to should have an advantage on mail-in votes. I'll say I'd very strong day of. The question will be how fierce her support in the black community is. It's about 15% of the electorate in Michigan. He is doing much better with white voters, which has been the trend with these more lefty, progressive

Starting point is 00:40:14 candidates. But if the suburbs, you know, votes in higher numbers than Detroit, for instance, then Stevens is hardcore effed, as they say. There you go. Back in Washington, the House Ethics Committee is recommending that Representative Chuck Edwards be censored, finding substantial reason to believe he violated the House code of official conduct through a pattern of unwanted advances and inappropriate conduct toward two young female staffers. Jess, what do you make of this, especially in the context of the Platner scandal and the ongoing accusations against Representative Max Miller, who is continuing to pursue reelection. Yeah, I don't like it.

Starting point is 00:40:58 Apparently, these lavish and recurrent gifts, including jewelry, totaling over $1,000, designer purses, guns. Nothing says romance, like gifting a gun. Shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, a kitchen aid mixer. I actually need a mixer. Vacations and one-on-one dinners. I love that. But, you know, it's not good, but it doesn't also seem like he's the guy you should be focusing your attention on.

Starting point is 00:41:24 And if this doesn't make way for Corey Mills and Max Miller to be kicked out of Congress, I don't know where we're going to go with this. I mean, the Max Miller story is getting so much worse by the day. I mean, the guy is a complete nightmare. And there have been several more interviews with Republican representatives. that are dancing around this. Don't dance. Take it head on. You can't have a stain like this in Congress.

Starting point is 00:41:53 And it has to go before a trial, obviously. But when you look at Max Miller's rap sheet of accusations, how many women it's come from, how this has existed from high school up until today. Stephanie Grisham had also taken a restraining order out against him. Why do you want this guy in your club? Right. That's the question here.

Starting point is 00:42:14 And I know it went on for too long with Graham Platner and Maya Colbert about that too. But like, this is not a good person. And he certainly isn't someone who should have one of the most important jobs that we have in the country. There are only 435 of them. That is rarefied air. And this guy is a monster. Yeah, I think it's important, though. Again, I think you're being hard on yourself. It's one thing, okay, we need to have the ability to discern between sending women food processors and gifts, which is inappropriate. All right, that's inappropriate, right?

Starting point is 00:42:49 That might, censure might be exact, might be the wrong, might be the right action and then let voters decide, right? Having a, basically a Nazi tattoo while you're in the military, having a Republican operative, say you were physical with her during the campaign. All right, that's bad. But I would argue the Democrats got it right. when incredible accusation, and anyone who saw the video of his former girlfriend, Amelia goes, she's telling the truth, and he was out.

Starting point is 00:43:21 And then going to the far side of the spectrum, incredible evidence that you broke a two-year-old's collarbone. Yeah. And all just sorts of evidence everywhere, data point after data point, after data point, after data point, that you are an abusive, violent person. that's, I mean, there's a speeding ticket, there's breaking and entering, and there's homicide. We can discern between these infractions. And I, my senses, the three, you know, we're supposed to be able to understand some nuance here and recognize that one of these things or all of these things are not like the other.

Starting point is 00:44:06 So, again, the fact that I kind of love the story for Democratic messaging, All right, this is, did we go too long in our support and ignoring certain data points around Graham Platner? Sure. That is nothing compared to the delay in obfuscation in the gymnastics the Republicans are trying to do around someone who is clearly, clearly a psychopath and has no regard for women, no regard for his wife, no regard for children. and is violent. And what I don't get just strategically, if I'm a Republican, I think this guy is gone.

Starting point is 00:44:48 Even if they're willing to elect someone who's been found civilly liable of sexual abuse, make that person president, even that party is going to come to grips with this and kick him out. So I don't understand why, if this guy is walking the green mile, why they continue to support the guy or trying to lay an obfuscate, And just, we mentioned our last episode, but I think it bears repeating, I think Margaret Brandon put on a master class when this guy, when the, I forget, the representative claimed that this shouldn't be something litigated in a TV studio. Oh, okay. Yeah, the media should absolutely not be covering this. I found that just hilarious. You can be on the right side of history or not. That is always an option if someone broke a child's collarbone. It is very clear what side of history.

Starting point is 00:45:38 he is going to be on. And I know he has tons of blackmail on people, but this is a known story. George Santos even called him a woman beater years ago. George Santos, one of the funniest characters to have come through Congress for sure. Like, just get with it at this point. And it looks like you're going to lose the seat anyway.

Starting point is 00:45:56 So might as well go out with your morals slightly intact. It's interesting. I didn't know the professional volleyball player, George Santos, had weighed in against Max Miller, before. Anyways, let's leave it there, Jess. Before we go, a quick programming note, the Raging Moderates team is taking a little summer break here at Procto Media, where we've got a little bit European. I take August off, and I like to give at least one weekend in August off out to the team, off to the team, because that's the kind of guy I am. One weekend. No, but we're,

Starting point is 00:46:28 actually, there's quite, there'll be quite a bit of vacation this August, and I hope all of you listeners have the resources and ability to take some time off. So we'll be off this Thursday and next Thursday, but next week, Jess and I will tackle some of your questions in our summer mailbag episodes, so don't miss that. We'll be back with regular episodes on Monday, August 17th. I'm going to be out for the rest of the month, so congratulations to you all. Around here, we call it Scott Free August. Jess has a bunch of really great guest hosts lined up while I'm away. So it's going to be a nice palate cleanser, but we have some great co-host showing up in August. Anyways, thanks very much for tuning in. Jess, have a great rest of the week.

Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - Blanche Gets Through Committee as Michigan's Senate Primary Goes to the Polls

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