Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - Does AOC Have the RIZZ that Trump Used to Build MAGA?

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov open the week by talking about the latest in the still-ongoing conflict with Iran. Over the weekend, a third U.S. service member was killed in the latest strikes — which are affecting many U.S. allies in the region. Is the U.S. is being pulled deeper into a conflict with no visible endgame? New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is exploring whether he has the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the U.N. General Assembly this fall, citing the International Criminal Court’s warrant against him, charging him with war crimes.  Meanwhile, AOC is sounding a lot more like Barack Obama on the campaign trail, at a rally for Senate candidate Abdul El Sayed in Michigan. By shifting from strictly the language of economic populism to a broader message of hope, change, and taking on the political establishment… is this a sign she's laying the groundwork for a 2028 run? Maine Democrats have a new Senate nominee: progressive former state Senate president Troy Jackson will take on Republican Senator Susan Collins in one of the year's biggest battleground races. Kalshi currently has Democrats at 66% to win the seat, and Jackson specifically at 65% to be the one who wins it.  And finally: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is a box office hit — but it's also a culture war flashpoint. What exactly is MAGA mad about this time? Get your tickets now for our live show at 92NY: https://www.92ny.org/event/scott-galloway-and-jessica-tarlov For ad-free episodes, exclusive livestreams, and to connect with Scott, Jessica, and the Raging Moderates community, join us at ProfG+ on Substack: https://ragingmoderates.profgmedia.com/ Get The Monday Rage newsletter: https://profgmedia.com/s/monday-rage/ Follow Raging Moderates on IG, Tiktok, and Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/ragingmoderatespod/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ragingmoderates https://www.facebook.com/ragingmoderates Follow Jessica Tarlov on Instagram, Substack, and Bluesky: https://instagram.com/jessicatarlov https://substack.com/@jessietarlov https://bsky.app/profile/jessicatarlov.bsky.social Follow Scott on Instagram, Substack, and Bluesky: https://instagram.com/profgalloway https://substack.com/@profgalloway https://bsky.app/profile/profgalloway.com Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RagingModerates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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everything. Try Hint. Available at drinkhint.com and in stores' name. nationwide. She's been very smart with her political capital, who she endorses and who she doesn't. She never touched Graham Platner. She's running away from the culture war stuff, and she's running towards the things that actually affects people's lives that may have sounded revolutionary 10 years ago, but now saying, like, we all deserve to have health care and a decent paying job is the bare minimum that people want from their representatives. I think her and Trump are actually more similar than people think. Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Scott Callaway.

And I'm Jessica Tarleff. Before we get started, make sure to hit subscribe to help our show get more folks. How are you, Jess? I'm really good. I mean, I was just watching the World Cup, but you were living the World Cup. How was it? The final was just okay. It was fun to be there. I've been to Four World Cups now. Like I said, I don't really care about sports, but every four years I get really into the World Cup, mostly because my boys are really into football. So it was fun to be. be there with them and take pictures and realize how much they've grown and, you know, for me to get

all upset on them to roll their eyes. The game was kind of meh. The last 20 minutes were fairly interesting. And it was a beautiful Chamber of Commerce Day. Yeah, and it capped off, I think, what is arguably the most successful sporting event from a geopolitical standpoint that we've had in a long time. But quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I feel like I've been, I mean, it's been five or six weeks and a ton of games and being in London. You're just enjoying yourself too hard. It was fantastic. Did you watch the game? The game, I understand for people who like loves soccer, I guess it was an incredible, you know, feat of athleticism and whatever that like nobody was scoring, but I like scoring. I'm not saying you score like 10 times, but like that you had to wait for the one goal was

a little disappointing. It did get more fun, I guess, like the last 20 minutes, right, where people were actually like going like, oh, oh my God, close, you know. And then I was just in it for, you know, the memes and the stories afterwards and, you know, like Trump being pushed to the side and, like, seeing people overreacting online, like, why is Donald Trump there? And it's like, this is how it works. Were they booing or were they cheering? Sounds like they were doing both, you know, all the things. Anyways, we should probably wrap this up. The tournament for me was exhausting, hugely, I think it was a huge win for America and to a certain extent for the world. There was just so much goodwill between nations that was dying to get some oxygen.

Yeah, so I think it's great. And I'm excited about a new, like, young team, the passing of the torch. I thought Messi was incredibly elegant. Yep. Just an amazing amount of accomplishment for a 39-year-old. It's so weird when you see these people and you're like, I'm older than this person. Yeah. And I'm still considered like a, I guess I'm middle age now.

All right, let's talk about the war. I just remembered I was middle-aged. All right, let's get into it. While Trump was handing Spain, the Club World Cup trophy this weekend, the Iran War entered its 10th straight day of overnight strikes. A third U.S. service member was killed last night, raising fresh fears that America is getting pulled deeper into the conflict. Mediators are now proposing a 10-day ceasefire, but Iran has rejected it. Here's what Trump had to say about the casualties.

Well, we feel very badly, but you know, those. great people, those great patriots, were out there fighting that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran has been very, very badly damaged. They've lost everything almost militarily. Thoughts? A little bit tired of this merry-go-round situation, but now it's even more serious because more Americans are dying. So this is up to 17 dead service members. The two confirmed deaths from this, a series of strikes. It's not just one strike. There are several strikes on a Jordanian base. Tyler Feehan, 25 years old from Hawaii, and Isabella Gonzalez, 19 years old from Carrollton, Texas.

There is also a soldier missing. The New York Times had a big piece on how the Pentagon is withholding dozens of U.S. military injuries from the public. There are kind of two sides to that coin. So there's one side, which is there are a bunch of liars and have been lying to us consistently for months about what's going on here. And they always want to downplay how dangerous it is, how risky it is, and how bad our hand is. And so this could fall into that bucket for sure. There is also, you know, the question of if you tell the public, which includes our enemies, everything that's happening in real time, does that make our folks over there less safe? And I think that there. is some veracity to that argument as well. But in general, now it's over 400 service members that have been injured. That's a lot bigger than we thought. I mean, they're acting like this is all a video game that's going on over there, right? Like, you know, they should have missile at us and we should have missile at them,

but like no one gets hurt and certainly no one dies. So now you have 17 dead and over 400 injured. It sounds like it's, you know, more than playing call of duty. So I'm concerned about that, you know, this like on the merry go round of they want a deal, they don't want a deal. Marco Rubio was out giving comments about that, you know, saying multiple channels are telling us that they want progress and then Iran is apparently rejected what we sent back through the Qataris. I'm curious as to what you think about what seems like a pretty big escalation. The Houthis in Yemen are now announced. announcing this maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia effective immediately.

It looks like ships are still getting through, but Saudi has been exporting 4.5 million barrels per day through that route and also a lot of dry goods go through their wheat, rice and consumer goods. So if we are now going to have our second blockade, essentially, if they're going to do to the Saudis, what we're doing to the Iranians, it seems like a pretty big deal for the global. economy part 80, I guess, at this point. So anything that I said you want to pick up on, I realize I went in a bunch of different directions. Well, it's the boring stuff that moves the needle economically. And one of the things you talked about that doesn't get enough attention is that we, again, have taken for granted that a lot of our economic prosperity has come from comparative advantage via global trade. If you can grow bananas at a fifth of class,

we can, and we can make iPhones you can't make. Let's trade bananas for iPhones. And we I'll end up with more iPhones and more delicious high-protein fruit this morning. No one making me breakfast, so I'm eating a banana. And key to that, key to the lubricant of global trade and additional cooperation is freedom of navigation. And when we start saying, okay, we're now going to charge, and they have figured out a way to charge, I think everyone, Singapore goes, looks at the, I think is it the Strait of Malika, you know, China obviously controls Straits, Straits of Time.

want at some point do people say, oh, this is great. Let's set up toll booths. And it'll give us economic and geopolitical leverage. So I think it's very important to ensure freedom of navigation. And one of the, again, another one of the brain that had head up your ass moves of the Trump administration was to announce they were going to start doing their own toll on the straight, which made no sense, as opposed to saying no, freedom of navigation is a key theme. And by the way, they quickly walk that back. The other thing that's disturbing here, and I was having an analogy for business is that it's generally seen as a bad sign and the stock gets taken down when companies announce they're no longer releasing certain information, right? So if a Netflix says we're not

releasing subscriber growth, what that means is they don't like the subscriber growth numbers and the stock gets taken down. And essentially, the Pentagon just stopped publishing the daily strike count. And it's like a company quietly deleting the burn rate slide from the investor deck because the numbers are ugly. And then Kuwait and Qatar, non-combatants just took direct hits, including a desalinization plant struck twice in 48 hours. Whereas this, we think of this as a bilateral war between the U.S. and Iran. It's really turned into a regional war. And we've lost enormous leverage and goodwill or respect in the Middle East. And the big winner here is Iran, because not only are they seen as a more stable, reliable partner for these hugely important nations in the Gulf. But the whole world

has said, okay, economically, it's bad to let Iran or anyone else be able to put their foot on the crowded artery of your economic power by taking oil rates up. But in addition, as a defense concern, we need to have a certain amount of domestic energy consumption from renewables. No nation in the world is unplugging their windmills and solar panels right now in nuclear power plants, realizing energy security is paramount and is very fragile. And who produces 70% of the world's EVs, 80% of the batteries, 80% of the solar panels, China. So this has been a gift. China's not spending any money. They're not spending tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. They're now seen as the reliability. player that more citizens globally trust and think is a force of good in the world than the U.S. And this has created unbelievable demand across the areas they've been investing in for a long time. With respect to the ceasefire in Iran rejecting it, this isn't stubbornness or craziness, which the Trump administration would like you to believe. It's essentially them rejecting a term

sheet saying, why would we sign a deal that's worse than the status quo that we're currently monetizing? And they know that every day this goes on, advantage is seated to them. They come out, the incentive structure right now is for them to just delay and obfuscate and not sign anything. And because Trump has done such a terrible job, alienating allies and then pretending or acting as if they're supposed to show up and clean what he or fix what he broke, he finds himself in a corner with just a series of options trying to figure out which is the least shitty option. It's double down and put troops on the ground, boots on the ground,

which would probably be thousands of not tens of thousands of casualties. It's continued to do limited strikes hoping that there's some sort of, that creates some sort of incentive for them to come to the table, or it's just leave. In my sense is he is slowly but surely just leaving and trying desperately to figure out a way to pretend, you know, to declare victory and leave. And when you go to, I think you made this point when we were talking with Dan Cynor and Ian Bremmer. Like 17, for those families, it's a tragedy. But it's going to be difficult to have the fighting force we want to have and deploy the kind of power and influence we want, commensurate with the unbelievable.

investment taxpayers make and the technology we deploy if we're seen as a nation with a glass jaw. And you pointed out, okay, but this isn't a war we chose. So people don't want to lose any lives because Congress was not bereaved in the American public does not support this war. I worry that we've just created a scenario where it doesn't matter how powerful we are. if any nation can just start firing on our allies or firing on other their neighbors and just take out a few Americans and we cut, you know, we cut bait and leave or whatever the term is. We're just in, we are literally in this the worst possible situation. And the Trump administration seems to be on an ayahuasca trip thinking that, oh, Iran wants to do what's best for Trump. No, they don't.

I'm sorry, I'm rattling on. Your thoughts. Oh, no, I agree with you. I was just trying to think, because since you said, ayahuasca, like that they're hallucinating. I want to get back together text, you know, like when you break up. And you're like, no, no, no. She's totally still into me. And it's like, no, dude, she's doing it with someone else. And it's China. There I go. In total agreement, I don't know how they can just get out is the problem because of our regional partners. And we haven't talked about this in a while. But. It feels like all hope of Abraham Accords Part 2 is completely scuttled at this point. Remember how we were basically on the precipice of a bigger extension to arguably the biggest foreign policy accomplishment of Trump 1.0? No one talks about that again. And I can't even imagine what the behind-the-scenes conversations are with our Gulf partners as these renewed attacks start and with more vigor. because Iran is fully in the YOLO phase right now, and no one has called their bluff on it. We haven't heard about any senior leaders

being taken out recently, right? We haven't been hearing about, you know, huge economic problems, because even them getting a week or two of oil going out brought in billions of dollars. That is just like automatically. We don't hear any more also about the infrastructure. Remember that we were on like oil line explosion

watch where it was like how long can they last? It was three to four weeks, then maybe it was four to six weeks. And apparently, you know, our partners are building alternative pipelines, but those won't be done for a year and a half. So are you saying we're going to do this dance for 18 months to wait until there's a viable option out? Yeah. So going from Tehran back to or Iran back to local politics here in New York, Mayor Zoranamani is exploring whether he has the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the UN General Assembly this fall, citing the ICC warrant against him.

Here's Mom Donnie speaking to the New York Times. What will happen if he comes in September? I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague. He's a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. I've also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City, because I believe that there is an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city, and that's something that I plan to do. Meaning? I'm sorry, I don't understand what that means.

Meaning that whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that's what we will do, but we won't be writing our own laws to that end. What is up with that Marvel voice that he pulled out? Didn't you think that he sounded? Very different. Like a Voldemort kind of there. It was different than usual, I thought. So he has a little carve out in what he is talking about,

because he says, you know, we have to also respect the institutions a la the U.N., right, that has their own rules. And there have been plenty of foreign leaders who have come for U.N.GA who are wanted by the ICC. But it's definitely a big shot across B.B.'s bow. What did you make of it? God, you could give a fuck. Look. Literally, this has the weight of a Yelp review. Him threatening to arrest Netanyahu. There's no extradition mechanism. The UN diplomatic protocol exists specifically to prevent this. this is the equivalent of a company issuing a press release about a product they have no intention of shipping. The announcement is the deliverable. I mean, this is just such political posturing. If I were Netanyahu, and I think we both agree that we'd all be better off the diaspora, Israel, Israeli citizens,

would all be better off the world when Netanyahu leaves the stage. I think he has been terrible for Israel and terrible. It is just getting so difficult, impossible to defend the actions of the Israeli government recently. And this guy constantly on a war footing, constantly taking the most aggressive posture. Most recently, legislation to shore up his conservative political base by excusing extremely religious Israelis from what is mandatory military service for everyone else. You know, this guy has always had nine lives and he has not been good, in my view, for Israel. Israel. But if I were Netanyahu, I'd call the bluff. I'd show up in Times Square because Mamdani can't do it, nor should he do it. That's not his fucking job. Make sure the subway works and the trash is picked up and just, you know, word to your mother. No New York mayor has ever

gone on to do anything else. It is a political dead end. It's an important job. But these mayors and these governors, it feels like just everyone's running for president instead of running the actual state or city. And I think this is, Momdani is an incredibly talented politician. I think I would argue that the rumors of the collapse of New York have been greatly exaggerated. I think we need to give the guy a chance. I think we need a new shedding of the skin. We need youth. We need energy. And people my age don't get to decide what flavor of disruption this is. But when Rubio is simultaneously trying to gut the ICC's funding, and then you've got the mayor of New York threatening to enforce a court while the Secretary of State works to make sure that the court can

enforce itself. Neither person is going to win this argument. They just need their base to see them fighting it. This is sure posturing. There is no way either of them are going to get this done. This is just throwing red meat at their bases with no. Netanyahu could literally show up, go to a Yankees game, streak through Washington Square Park, start selling drugs in Central Park, and there's nothing Mondani would do about it. He doesn't have the authority and he doesn't have the stones to do anything about it because he would be creating an international incident of which he was not elected to do. So listen to what he said there. I want to get credit from my lefties about being anti-Israel and anti-Netanyahu. And I would argue, and I want to

acknowledge the point. Sometimes you can distinguish between the two. Oh, but I need an out because I know I'm all had a no cattle here. And that is I would never arrest this guy if he shows up in Manhattan. So again, this is just more political bullshit posturing, both from Rubio talking about doing away with the ICC and talking in Imam Dani threatening to arrest, you know, the head of a nation state. Neither is going to happen. Your thoughts? Apparently he just had a bad cough And then he plugged Medicare for all Our producers have saved the day

He's not Voldemort No, I generally agree with you I do not want a streaking Bibi Netanyahu though Through Washington Square I don't know where I got that That's not a great image is it It's no I mean I think he looks good for his age

But it's just like not my thing I also you know Like naked men When you're not like in the moment Not that attractive Not there Not the male body This is not my thing

Let's talk about something else. Age comes for all of us. At least you hope so. Yeah. But look, if Western nations all got together and agreed to have age limits on all our leaders, I think the world would recognize unbelievable benefit. We need youth. We need a shedding of the skin.

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Ready for anything, ready for AI. To learn more about how CoreWeave powers the world's best AI, go to core weave.com slash ready for anything. AOC is sounding a lot more like Obama. On the campaign trail, she's shifted from the language of Democratic socialism to a broader message of hope, change, and taking on the political establishment.

Drawing comparisons to Obama's 2008 insurgent campaign. Here she is campaigning in Michigan over the weekend. To take on the big company scamming you, lowering your bills, and putting more money in your pocket is revolutionary. To fight corporate greed, everywhere we find it, to make health care a guaranteed right in the richest nation on earth. You deserve a politics that treats the disease and not just the symptoms of what brought us Donald Trump.

That doesn't negotiate with or placate corruption, but one that defeats it once and for all. You deserve it because you matter. She's good at the politics. She's great. Her evolution from coming in in that big wave in 2018 and the first iteration of the squad before Nancy Pelosi, you know, pulled her into the cloak room and said, you could go somewhere. We can make this happen. But you got to moderate on some things. Has just been revolutionary. She's been very smart also with her political capital. who she endorses and who she doesn't. She never touched Grand Platner. And I think I said this before, and it's been speculated online,

like maybe her bartender, Spitey Sense, kicked in, and she was like, I know this guy, right? Like, I've seen this guy. He's always there past last call, and I'm not going for it. She also didn't endorse all of the DSA challengers against sitting members, because she's like, I'm a sitting person in Congress.

Like, I'm going to, you know, de facto support those that are part of my caucus. So she's been very smart, and she did it, I think, perfectly at the DNC in 2024 when she spoke and was just talking about economic populism. She's running away from the culture war stuff, and she's running towards the things that actually affect people's lives that may have sounded revolutionary 10 years ago, but now saying, like, we all deserve to have health care and a decent paying job is the bare minimum that people want from their representatives.

So I thought it was great. What'd you think? She's a star, and she brings that Riz, and she's compelling, and, you know, I think it helps that she's crazy hot, just the way it helps Governor Newsom. She could streak. Oh, gosh, I'm not going to touch that one. Let me do it for you. It would be welcome. Yeah, there you go.

Look, she's become a little, she really has become the face of the new or a certain genre, new generation of Democrats. and she really does bring, you know, the Riz in all caps. She's also clearly positioning herself as a run for president because she's starting to triangulate. I forget the Democratic strategists who work with Clinton, not Carvel, who talked about triangulation. Shifting from Democratic socialism to kind of more Obama, hope, and change, it's not an ideological shift.

It's a distribution strategy. It's same product, new packaging for a bigger market. Dick Morris. Dick Morris, thank you. The Bronx, she's got the Bronx, you know, sewn up. She's got the what I'll call sandaled Brooklynites. She's got them. What she's going to have to do now,

if she's interested in a national primary electorate, she's going to have to pivot at least somewhat to the center. And her sister soldier moment, if she's smart, will be endorsing some sort of, you know, growth agenda that is seen as pro-business. and at some point acknowledging that if we want to have food stamps and we want to have, you know, social programs and to pay our teachers more, you have to have economic growth.

And basically, right now what she's doing is she's beta testing her message on the trail for Elsaida in Michigan, which is a swing state and a proxy for the race. It's very little personal cost of it flops. So this is more like, I think, a beta test or a petri dish as opposed to a pivot. You know, in sum, the 2028 primary kind of rewards the label. The general election punishes it. And that is, in the primary, it's like, how can I be crazy left or crazy right? And then you immediately start pivoting towards the middle. And my sense is, as she seriously contemplates and enough people surround her and say, you are a viable candidate for president, she's going to start triangulating. She'll use the populist rhetoric, but I think you're going to see her start to modulate if she's serious. And so I, I think, I think, think that you're going to see AOC, I think, and I think this would be the smart thing,

modulate a bit. The rhetoric will stay very populist, but at some point, if she's going to be a viable candidate or any from the left, they're going to have to convince moderates that I also recognize we need growth. You know, our military is there for a reason. Anyways, but I love listening to her. I think she's got incredible gut instinct. I think her and Trump are actually more similar than people think. I think she's got an incredible feel for her base, if you will. Any thoughts on AOC? Well, I want to talk about the other side of that race. So she was out there for Abdul Al-Sayed, and he is running against Haley Stevens, who is the more moderate candidate in the race. And there's been a ton of conversation and buzz going on around Stevens. I want to

play this clip of her and get your reaction, because I'm not sure that you've seen it, but this has gone totally viral. I am going to be working on our behalf. I am going to be telling the stories on our behalf. And you better believe I'm going to be doing with a little bit of joy, a little bit of enthusiasm, a little bit of energy, and a little bit of stick it to them. Because that's the Michigan way. I just think to know how you, you go girl. Okay. Mom's gotten into the wine. I don't know. No, you go first. This is fraught with risk for me. You go first.

The arc of the stick it to him clip has gone very far. So it started out that everyone was just making fun of her. People like the energy. They like the fire. And the authenticity of it. Yeah. Because then she's done a few interviews. Since then, she now has stick it to them signs, which is smart marketing.

You should remember even like Mitch McConnell started printing like cocaine Mitch T-Sh shirts. Like, if people are talking about you, and this is Trumpian, right? Like, you just lean into it. But she was doing an interview and she's being asked about Bernie Sanders and the left. And, you know, she's from Michigan. She talks about the work that they did around the auto rescue. And she says, like, I don't remember seeing Bernie during the auto rescue. And she said that she's not part of the quote unquote complaining class. She's part of the get shit done class. And she was rated the most effective member of Congress for Michigan. Like, she's really leaning into the, I might not look like what you want or sound like what you want, but I'm going to do the things

that you need, right? I'm going to be the person I can actually deliver. And it's been, this has been going on. It's probably just the last week that this change has happened. But I think it's reflective of some momentum in her campaign and that maybe it's breaking for her at the moment that she actually needs it. Because remember Mallory McMorrow, who was in the race, we had her on Raging Moderates, and she dropped out. Now it's really just the two of them. And question of whether Gretchen Whitmer is going to endorse. I think it was something crazy, like 87 percent of Michiganders want to know who Gretchen Whitmer likes in this. And my guess, if she does endorse, it will be Haley Stevens, is much more her politics. But the left,

the progressive left that likes Al-Sayed is going after more normie, definitely. because claiming that they're being paid to say, oh, Haley Stevens is growing on me, which is kind of like the only reaction that you would have to what she's been saying the last few days. And even to that clip, which is getting the TikTok treatment with Gen Z's. I mean, she's like perfect for social media age, right? If you are comfortable leaning into what an enormous dork you are, which I think is one of the more endearing qualities. So I don't know. It's been very interesting to see this shift just in the last week. Well, Stevens is out spending Al-Sahed 10 to 1. So all that APAC money, because this is a big part of what's going on in this race is the APAC element. Yeah, so she's winning on television, which you can buy, but she's losing on the internet by a landslide, which is more about RIS and authenticity and energy. And if you look at these, what some people would call far-left candidates that are more youthful who are winning, they're not winning on policy, I don't believe. They're winning on energy. And it's interesting because it's created sort of the ultimate split-screen.

defining democratic primaries right now. And that is money on TV on one side and virality and kind of social media ready for primetime authenticity on the other. And money used to win that fight outright. It doesn't anymore. I actually think that's healthy. That's, I think, a very positive thing

about social media and this new brand of candidates. I think it's healthy when you find that you can spend a quarter of a billion dollars on a gubernatorial race and come in third or fourth, you know, Tom Steyer. And I think Al-Sayed is smart. He told supporters to attack her on substance, not the clip, and leaned into his own online presence. But she's smart, taking risks, being authentic.

You know, she's got the memo. The charisma as distribution beats institutional money in a primary. So even if you have the institutional money, if you don't have some sort of like, you know, I'm a nerd and I'm fine with that. Riz, you need that because now we have an electorate. that's disproportionately online and under 40. And this is healthy. We need this kind of turnout.

And the stakes for her are the following. The electability argument is turned inside out. She was positioned as the safe establishment general election ready pick. You know, a viral clip that makes her look stiff or authentic is hugely important. So she's smart, and her campaigners are smart to say, let's color outside the lines a little bit. But I always try to lean into or reverse engineer. If you get to a certain point of influence or take a view of any kind online or just have

more than 100 followers, you're going to get attack. And I think the best defense is that if someone says something about you, the best defense is probably to say nothing and ignore it. But occasionally just to lean into it in trying to be funny about it and make light of your mistakes, make light of your neuroses, your quirks, or whatever. I think that is disarming and people like that. And that is, you want to own it before it owns you. And I think she's, I think she's doing that.

I don't know. I'm, I think this is, I think she handled this well. Definitely. I like it. I think it just adds another texture to the race. You know, so it's not just like one guy is competing completely this way and the other candidates just competing completely this way. Like there's a little bit of a war on the same footing.

I will say that I'll say I'd made a comment. that she can't string to coherent sentences together. And that has haunted him, especially with women and with older voters. And the most recent high-quality poll had her up seven and routing him with black voters and non-college-educated voters. So you're seeing the breakdown like we have in other races with, you know, a very lefty candidate. And, you know, he had this huge rally in Detroit, the one that AOC and Bernie were speaking at. the crowd was very white. And this will be, he could certainly still win the primary. I'm not saying that at all. But the progressive movement and certainly the DSA is going to have to do some real

hard work in figuring out how they can connect better with the core of the Democratic Party, which is black voters. That has been a failure in all of these races that we've seen thus far and why a lot of these candidates, you know, can't get past South Carolina. line up. AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. But if your data layer is a bottleneck, what's the point? Instead of wrestling with rigid schemas or translating data formats, MongoDB's native data model mirrors the language LLMs already speak.

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So Maine Democrats have a new Senate nominee. Progressive former State Senate President Troy Jackson is set to take on Republican Susan Collins in one of the year's biggest battleground races. Kalsh currently has the odds at 66% that the Democrats take the seat in, basically the same 65% that it will be Jackson. Even following Troy Jackson, what do you think his chances are here, Jess? Well, he's going to be the nominee. Everyone else is dropping out to endorse him. You know, we're on the clock. It's July 27th that this has to be all, you know, signed sealed and delivered. So it's going to be Troy Jackson. He's not particularly smooth. He's not slick. He's genuine. He's got the bona fides. I already mentioned last week when we were

talking about it. I like that he's like an outsider and an insider candidate to some degree. because he was, you know, 10 years. It's the head of the Maine Senate. Seems thus far fully vetted. You know, I think there might be something about a mortgage or whatever floating around. But it doesn't seem like there's a totem cop for a rape accusation. So. That helps.

We're on the glide path. I still, you know, it's a tough one. Like the environment in Maine is very blue right now. Susan Collins votes with Trump all the time. That is bad for her in Maine. but she overperforms and she's the head of appropriations, very powerful. You know, talking to people in Maine, I was there, you know, for a few days. A couple weeks ago, I met a small business owner, Aline's left, right?

Who's like, I'm voting for Susan Collins because I think she's better for small business. That is going to exist, right? Especially when it feels like you're taking a flyer on somebody. But Mainers, certainly Alligash County, where Troy Jackson is from, know him better than Graham Platner. And I would encourage everyone, Dan Pfeiffer had Amanda Littman on Podsave. And they were talking about how important a vetting process is and how much this one failed with Platner, that they basically, you know, hunted him and they had a checklist. Like, we'd love a lobsterman. Oh, we can't get one of them.

Let's get an oyster farmer if we can't get that. And, like, Troy Jackson isn't that, right? He's not someone that they went out and found. He's someone who actually was drawn to public service and has overperformed in elections before. So I am cautiously optimistic. And if we are going to win the Senate, it goes through Maine. So let's do it. Yeah, it's, I'm excited about this.

I'm actually very hopeful, which is an alien emotion for me. How does that feel for you? Yeah, strange. I'm trying to get used to it. I think Troy Jackson is going to be in the Senate because of Mitch McConnell. I think people are starting to recognize that we've got to get these octogenarians hands off the wheel. And Susan Collins or Senator Collins does not present well. She presents as an especially old 76-year-old.

Yeah. And I think this issue is finally bubbling up to the surface that, okay, enough, for God's sakes. So I think that will play a factor in the race. I think people want change. And by the way, where the fuck is Senator Collins? I never see her anywhere doing anything. She's very concerned in the hallway. Right.

That's where she gets caught most of the time. I mean, she's not in front of a camera as much as you would expect someone who just had this kind of debacle going on in their state. Right. Like she's made a few comments. But if the reporting is to be believed, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Susan Collins both did not want this outcome. They wanted to run against Grand Platner. Oh, that's interesting. Right.

They had more oppo ready to go. And this could be, you know, maybe this is the Brat summer that will really work for us instead of the Kamala Harris one. So they're having to really rejigger their plan for someone new. Troy Jackson. Yeah, I got called by somebody who was asking about messaging or about Maine, and you just need three things. You need some with Chester, who talks about universal health care, has progressive ideas, and isn't, has no credible accusations of rape.

Like, just those three things. That's tick-tack and toe here, because I do think that Senator Collins, given the state, given how blue it is, how fed up I think people are with these policies, given the focus on age. I think this, I think this one is ours to lose. I'm actually quite, I'm quite hopeful here. Should we talk about something, uh, more hopeful or more exciting or less serious? You're going to get even more positive? Well, have you seen the Odyssey? No, not yet. Everyone, who I know who has loved it. Did you go? I did. My sons went and saw it. And my sons, who can barely sit through a three-minute TikTok video, sat through it for three hours. And my 15-year-old said it was the best

movie he's ever seen. Love it. Yeah. So it's a box office hit, but of course it's also finds itself at the center of a culture war. Critics are nitpicking everything from the armor to the ships while supporters argue it's an epic myth, not a history lesson. The backlash says as much about today's internet as it does about Homer's classic. Any thoughts about the, I don't know, God, what do you call this, the bullshit? Elliot Page's trans and Lupita Nyongos black, like deal with it, basically. There you go. That's kind of what I got.

I love watching the interviews with, like, Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon, you know, talking about the rigor of a Christopher Nolan set. And Matt Damon was talking about the first day. He was the only one who didn't carry his own armor up this insane hill and got a talking to or other, you know, top-tier actors were like, you know, you're the only one who major people schlep this stuff. So, you know, there's like fun tidbits in it. I'm excited to see it. Christopher Nolan's insanely talented and Elliott Page is trans and Lupido Niongo's black and that's fine. Yeah, that's exactly right. The controversy is mostly that they cast a black actress as a

character Homer describes as fair skin. Like, for decades, we had the widest of white people playing Pocana. I mean, we, we, there's been a lot of that. And all, quite frankly, all I care about is that Helen be really hot. And Miss Njonga, if I'm saying that correctly, is hot. For me, that's the primary consideration and that they're a great, that they're a great actor. And she's both those things. Also, I, I wouldn't, the media loves to obsess over this stuff. It's clear, this is not stopping anything. The film did 276 million this weekend. And there was, on the other side of the fence, there was that film, the vigilante. with Army Hammer who was...

The cannibal. Yeah, the cannibal. Maybe. Yeah, the cannibal-ish. Who played the Winkle Vi in the Social Network. Actually, he's a pretty solid actor, but... Yeah. It's basically about a guy who goes around killing, you know, seeking vengeance on people

who died at the hands of, you know, these fictional Muslim immigrants. And a lot of people were very offended by this. And my view is... You either believe in free speech or you don't. If you don't like Chick-fil-A, don't eat a Chick-fil-A. If you think that the vigilante or whatever it's called is Islamophobic, then don't see it. And if it offends you that a trans man is playing a warrior or that a black woman plays the heroin, then don't go see the fucking movie. You know, fine.

I don't go to these things to recalibrate social justice. You go to these things to be entertained. And if you're looking for political correctness or non-political correctness, you're not going to find it in a movie theater. What you hopefully find is something that takes you away from the fact that your kid's tuition has gone up like crazy for a few hours. Anyways, I'm like, if you want to watch The Vigilani, watch it if you think it's entertaining. And if you want to see The Odyssey, which I think everyone is going to have addict. The Odyssey is myth, not a documentary. If they, I do understand, you know, if they're, if they're trying to find someone ethnically ambiguous to play patent, I get it.

I get that these things should be somewhat, you know, historically, try to be historically accurate. But the Odyssey is a myth. It's not a documentary. Nobody's demanding period accurate ship rigging from Nolan's Batman movies. The accuracy complaint here only shows up selectively. And by the way, folks, let me just say, is this any less, or is this any more disingenuous than casting a 63-year-old Tom Cruise as a hot, straight, leading man? I mean, is that, okay, is that genuine? Is that authentic? Anyways, that's probably going to, I will get a few comments on that.

I don't think people are going to be mad about it. The market rules, $124 million domestic opening, $246 million, global, universally positive, critical reaction. I'm going to IMAX. I'm going to, by the way, I'm going to L.A. this afternoon. You didn't ask, but I'm going to L.A. this afternoon. I know you're excited about that. Because are you doing Belmar this week?

Oh, my God. I'm so marred up. Just wait to see the amount of shit. Oh, wait. Are you doing club random? I'm, okay. How high are you going to get? There's no way I would get high with Bill Maher.

I wouldn't be so occasionally on a regular basis. Is that a kind of a rule? Oh, no, well, I'm going to break that rule. There's no way I'm getting high and going on camera. I sometimes get paranoid. And yeah, that's the last thing. And he's so smart, I would just wilt under his questioning. But I'm going on Club Random. I'm going on Bill Maher. And then he's coming on my podcast. So there's a lot of Mar. I'm a bit intimidated by it. I'm intimidated by him. And I'm a little bit. And not like that, I find that in, I'm, I feel like I'm falling into grievance culture. I like to think of myself as a centrist, and then I defensively, my gag reflex or my insecurity is like, which means everybody hates you. I think Bill Maher is the personification of someone who is a centrist,

and as a result, everybody hates the guy. He gets shit from everybody. And I just imagine two centrist having drinks and talking about everything. I just can't imagine how the comments are going to just... That does sound like a snooze fest. Though I guess that's also our podcast, but we don't drink. tear us apart. His center left.

Yeah, but you're much more likable than either Bill or Scott. And me saying Bill Maher as a role model gets a hundred comments about how people are unfollowing me. And I'm like, okay. But again, similar to the Odyssey, millions of people keep showing up to watch his show, which supposedly everybody hates. But yeah, I'm on three times with Bill next week. You guys are going to go deep. We're going to go deep. My big club random anxiety is, I mean, I'm like a one.

one drink wonder. So like I would just be trashed. And then I feel like I would go crazy about how he doesn't want to get married or have kids. And I'm like too in it. Like I'm too much of a mom. And I'd be like, you'd be so happy if you just had these little people and they bring such joy. And I was not shading anyone without kids. I want that to be clear. I just happen to like having kids and I see a warm side of him. And I've only met him a couple of times. But I think, you know, Patriarchy is taking a toll on you and you're advocating for a head of normative lifestyle. Some of us choose not to live. Am I a trad wife all of a sudden?

Okay. That's right. Let's add this. Let's leave it there, Trad Jess. I'll see you tomorrow from L.A. All right. Safe late. Support for this show comes from Harvey A.I.

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