Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - Trump Cornered On Iran, Newsom Pushes Back on Slush Fund

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov break down the latest news coming from the White House about the Iran negotiations. Trump’s bold remarks during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting seemed to suggest that a deal was imminent, but recent airstrikes and the lack of agreed-upon terms tell a different story. While the administration insists diplomacy is still alive, mixed messaging continues around the ceasefire, sanctions, and Iran’s nuclear program.  Back home, Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) says he’s prepared to fight Trump’s controversial $1.8B taxpayer-funded “Anti-Weaponization Fund” for January 6 defendants, while former judges and Capitol Police officers continue mounting legal challenges against it.  Scott and Jessica also look at the increasingly heated Texas Senate race, where Democrat James Talarico is embracing the attacks from coming from Trump-backed Republican nominee Ken Paxton, and turning them into campaign merchandise. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is suing the Department of Justice to block the release of recordings tied to the confidential documents investigation led by special counsel Robert Hur. And Jill Biden revisits concerns about the president’s disastrous debate performance and health during the 2024 campaign. Plus: as the Trump administration prepares to host a UFC event at the White House as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, a massive octagon has begun to be constructed on the South Lawn. Is this a mark of the crass spectacle that America has become? Or a shrewd play for a difficult-to-reach slice of the electorate? 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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work for people, visit servicenow.com. Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Scott Galloway. And I'm Jessica Tarliff. So just before we get started, if you want to support us, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's free and it helps us grow the show and reach new audiences. Jess, where are you today? I am at home. hearing the reports coming in from your big night in San Francisco, the markets tour kicked off. I'm so jetlighted. I kind of forget where I am. But, yeah, it went well. And you're coming to the New York show. Yeah, I'm so excited. It's going to be great. Let's get into it here. Trump held a cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday where members of his administration took turns doing the usual,

praising the boss and kissing the ring. But the meeting came to a pivotal moment with negotiations between the U.S. and Iran apparently still alive, despite days of mixed messaging from the White House. Let's listen. Economic system is broken down. They thought they were going to outweigh me. You know, we'll outweigh him. He's got the midterms. I don't care about the midterms.

Look what happened last night. That was the prelude to the midterms. Yeah, what happened last night? Ken Paxton won a primary. That's what happened last night. He's 0 for 13 in general election endorsements in 2026. But he's killing it in intra-GOP fighting. Yeah, we know that already.

You know, Axios is out with another story saying that the MOU for a 60-day extension of the ceasefire and the bones of a deal is waiting for Trump's signature sitting on his desk. The Iranians are refuting it. Who knows, we play this game a lot. But I really think that Trump is a complete corner grab when it comes to this war. Like, Cuba wouldn't even save him from this. They're definitely going to do something in Cuba. But, you know, you just read these headlines, economic headlines from today. Inflation up to 3.8% in April, highest in three years.

Two-thirds of American consumers say they're cutting back on spending. Consumers are more pessimistic about the economy than they have in the last 73 years. This one is nuts. The personal savings rate was 5.5% in April of 2025, and now it's just 2.6%. So people don't have money in their budget. pockets. They're well aware of it. They also know why this is happening. Donald Trump could have coasted on Joe Biden's economy. He could have just kept going with the fundamentals that were in place. We got out of COVID-19. We had a good recovery. I know you can't win an election saying best recovery in

the G7. I've gotten over it. But, you know, he had to throw tariffs into this. He had to throw the war into this. And I was thinking about strategically, like how he could get out of this and what he could use to save face. And I don't know if you remember, because you probably don't study Laura Ingram's monologues very often, but at the end of March, she said, now, knowing what little time we have and how quickly this can spiral out of control, we still have a lot of questions. For instance, was the president fully briefed about the risks of all this from the beginning? And was he then able to take it all in and understand the complexity of this, how complex it could actually get and further possibilities of casualties or other damage,

the difficulty of dealing with these people, or was he told that this would be relatively quick in and out? So she gave him this off-ramp, right? Where she just said, like, maybe this is Pete Hacks' fault and Bibi Netanyahu's fault and General Kane or whoever else was in his ear about it. And I wonder if he'll revisit that kind of conceptually, just say like a couple of these bad guys told me that it would be in and out like Venezuela. And I got screwed because he can't take responsibility, right, for having done anything wrong himself. So I was thinking about that from a PR perspective. Yeah, I think the best I can hope for is something that sort of cosplays or is reminiscent of the JCPOA.

But, you know, seven years later, hundreds of billions of dollars in expenditures, a decent amount of death and destruction. We just end up with a reasonable or kind of JCPOA light where we say, okay, distill down or dilute your nuclear material, give us something resembling, some form of, inspections, open the Straits of Hormuz, and we're going to give you all sorts of economic relief and sanctions relief. And I'd just be shocked if it didn't look strikingly similar to what the JCPOA already was, but maybe a little bit less advantageous for us and more advantageous for them. They've, I mean, I think you can basically say, and I hate to say this, I think at this point, it's a win for them. When I say them, the IRGC, they have survived, they have turned back, kind of quote unquote the evil Iran in Israel. They have discovered that they have a toll booth that

is either similar to Google or quite frankly, we've been so worried about them having a nuclear weapon and as a function of them being thrust into a corner, they've discovered something that's potentially more powerful than a nuclear weapon, and that is the ability to put their foot on the carotid artery of the global economy at any moment, and that is the Straits of Hormuz. and who, now that the U.S. has basically stuck up to middle finger to a third of the world's economy, who used to be our allies, who is going to participate in any sanctions with any teeth that we want them to cooperate with? Japan is just not, Japan's now got too much invested in the Strait of Hormuz to cooperate in economic sanctions. So we have weakened our ability to negotiate with Iran. He's going to continue to lie about the cards he

does not have. Every day, this seeds more and more advantage to him. And he looks, you know, you want to kind of under-promise and over-deliver in geopolitics. And this guy is done exactly the opposite. And every day, it looks like he's trying harder and harder to get out, which is not a good negotiating position. You know, imperial powers with large weapons, expensive weapon platforms are not a match for, you know, a nation that in the case of Ukraine is technically sophisticated and very motivated. Or in Iran's case, a nation that has, quite frankly, is just so willing to sacrifice and impress its people and just geographically has the advantage here. So this is, he's cornered.

You're exactly right. I don't know what else say. Well, I think we have a bunch of stuff to get on, too. don't have to say that much more, but I would just add that Iran ending the largest internet blackout in history, the 88 days, I think will also work to their advantage, right? Like, not only does it give relief to their people, everyone who needs to reach loved ones and just exist, you know, businesses that run on the internet that haven't been able to do their work, but they can use that also as an excuse, like, oh, see, we're cooperating, right? Like, we're not going to tell you,

maybe they'll still be that environmental protection fee or whatever they're talking about. Our people are using the internet. I mean, you better believe if there's so much as a protest with more than 10 people that they're going to be turning that thing off again. But all of it is to lull us into a deal that is certainly no better than what the JCPOA is. And the figures that are being thrown around at $25 billion in relief, I mean, people don't, or I shouldn't say people in general, But some of the people that I work with, like I got into it with Jesse Waters about the sanctions relief where he was trying to cast what Obama did as fundamentally different than what Donald Trump might do. But Obama gave back $1.7 billion. We're talking about $25 billion at this point. Like, think how much more Iran could do, especially when their proxy groups are in pretty good position besides what's happened to Hezbollah and Lebanon as a result of the Israeli strikes. So, you know, because we're we didn't complete the job, or at least from the original goals that were laid out,

they will emerge from this not nearly as damaged as it was billed, you know, the complete obliteration that happened over the course of the first few weeks. Yeah, and we should actually play a clip you had on the five highlighting that when Trump gives money to Iran, it's just giving them back their money. And when Obama did it. It was our money. Yeah, it was them giving American taxpayer money. Let's play that clip.

If they get a deal, is it going to be better the same or worse than the JCPOA? That's what it's going to get compared to. I love the cope from Jesse there about the money that would be released to the Iranians, that denying the fact that it was their money that was being held in Qatari bank accounts when Obama did it, only $1.7 billion, not the huge numbers that people say versus what's going to happen this time when Donald Trump has to give them some of their money in order to get them to take a deal. And we'll see how it all unfolds. All right.

Let's move on. A Democrat who isn't having it is California Governor Gavin Newsom. Yesterday, he said he's ready to fight back against Trump's political slush fund for January 6 rioters. Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100% of those proceeds. And that's an action the state of California can take. It's an action we look forward to taking. Love it. Yeah, it's smart. Really smart. Yeah. Alex Boris, who's running in New York, 12. congressional race in the primary here, which is very crowded, you know, the one with Jack Schlossberg, and George Conway and Michael Lashor, et cetera. He's talking about this as well. I think that this is going to be a really salient line of argumentation for, I don't want to just say for the Democrats or say for people who like care about the country and can see how ludicrous this is. I was watching Mike Flood, who's a Republican from Nebraska.

He actually had a town hall, so good for you, that you went out there and you took questions because most don't. And he was getting an earful about the ballroom and the war and all of these expenses. And he said, I do not think one penny of any fund should ever go to any January 6th insurrectionist that was in the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. That wasn't even just, you know, sometimes they say, you know, folks who beat up cops. He's like, if you were in the Capitol, you don't deserve any of these funds. And so I think this is all going to kind of go away. You know, stuff that Trump wants to do that's too controversial for Republicans as well. It just like falls by the wayside, like the ballroom funding, running that through reconciliation.

Now they don't talk about it because enough people were like, you must be out of your mind if you think we're going to support it. Do you like Gavin's energy on this one? This is brilliant. You know, it kind of summarizes into sales, people's disgust. It's clean. it's easy to understand. I think this was whoever came up with this, and his office deserves a lot of credit. And this does feel like, I mean, we keep calling red lines that end up that they're not red line, but this does feel like a red line. And what's important is to distill things down to something

that's digestible and understandable for Americans who are busy actually having lives. And this January 6th reparations fund or compensation fund, wherever they're trying to position it, I thought of two ways to describe it. One is sort of more Gen Z, one's more boomer. I think the Gen Z description of it, it's Venmo for sedition. Are you an insurrectionist? Just send me a request on Venmo and we'll give you money. The more thoughtful one, the boomer version, I love Timothy Snyder, and I thought he summarized it perfectly. He said this is a terrorist immunization fund. Essentially, if you are a terrorist and willing to commit acts of terror against the American people on behalf of what is an increasingly feels like a theocratic cult, if you're willing to show up

and try and intimidate and potentially commit violence against people at a polling booth, if I believe an election has been, is unfair and I start creating rumors, I want you to attack the Capitol and levy violence against Capitol officers. Not only will you get a part in, but I've set aside money to pay for it. So just as the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the PLO, used to compensate the families of suicide bombers, we are now setting up a fund to immunize, legally, and compensate financially terrorists. That's what this is. This is a terrorist. This is a terrorist. This is a terrorist immunization fund. And this does feel like it's a bridge too far for many Republicans who appear to be coming back against it. What do you think is going to actually happen here?

I think it dies a pretty quiet death, frankly. I mean, I guess they could try to lower the amount in the fund and have specifics as to the types of things that you could apply for. You know, and they have to make sure, which they have said that it's open to people from my political side of the aisle, like Hunter Biden would qualify. And I guess Jim Comey would call it. He's going to be getting a huge payout. But in general, because they framed it as the 1776 fund, I feel like once Trump gets through, frankly, it's his birthday. I don't think he really cares that it's the country's birthday. He's going to lose interest in any 1776 anything.

And maybe he'll just be like, oh, I could give some money to more of my cronies. Maybe I'll pardon or commute the sentences of more people who have defrauded Americans out of billions of dollars through Medicare and Medicaid fraud. I just, I cannot get over those stories as they stand up there and crusade against fraud. Like, they're just so full of it on every level. And so I think it'll kind of disappear. You know, we'll go into midterms mode. And if he's already backing out of the war with Iran because he knows that these numbers at home are not sustainable, he's certainly not going to, I think, keep fighting about the slush fund. What will be interesting, though, with Ken Paxton on the ballot in Texas is what happens with the Save America Act, which some members of the party really want to push through, you know, like the citizenship voting bill, essentially, where you would need a passport or a birth certificate, which would disenfranchise a lot of Republican voters.

more so than Democrats, because we're the ones with the passports. But I think that stuff will take more of the spotlight than the slush fund stuff because they know the corruption argument is breaking through. And I think there's been a lot of really good journalism about this. And you're seeing the candidates, you know, beating that drum on the trail all the time now about the corruption. Okay. Let's take a quick break. Stay with us. Support for the show comes from stamps.com.

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Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform, that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more.

And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-F-Frey at O-D-O-O-O-D-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-O-com. Welcome back. Another Democrat that's gearing up for a big fight is James Tala-Rico. Cal she currently has represented Tala-Rico out of 40%

on likelihood of winning the Senate race in Texas in November. Ken Paxton, who just won the Republican nomination for the race, has been calling his Democratic opponent Talafriko. Here's his response. Ken Paxton, your opponent, has taken to calling you Talafriko. Well, I think if Ken Paxton is worried about freaks, he should stop giving Epstein-style sweetheart deals to pedophiles. You know, this is the guy who just released Adam Hoffman from jail

and admitted child rapist after one of Ken Paxton's wealthy lawyer friends. got involved in the case. Ken Paxton even kept him off the sex offender registry. Adam Hoffman was supposed to serve 25 years to life, but instead he served less than a month. As of this week, he's now back on our streets because of Ken Paxton's corruption. Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America,

and it is costing Texans. It's endangering our children, and it must end. I think the Epstein class has no place in Texas. Texas. And this November, we're going to come together to defeat Kim Paxton and take back our state for the people. It's good, right? Yeah, he's very good. The whole thing's very disappointing, though. I mean, they're essentially trying to, they have decided, they've done research on people in Texas and decided that intimating that he's gay or trans is, well, upset people enough or they think that's a negative and that they're going to try and levy that and paint, paint him with that brush.

It does feel pretty ugly. He's, he's responding as strongly. I mean, he's as good, I think, a campaigner as we have. He was immediately on the airwaves and weaponizing social media against Paxton. What's strange, or what I've heard is that I'm curious to get your take here, the Republican Party itself is just beside themselves that Trump endorsed Paxton, and now they're going to have to pour a ton of money into that race to try and support Paxton, whereas they feel as if it was Cornyn, it probably would have been a cakewalk, but it would have been much easier. that they're going to have spent a lot of money trying to get Paxton to win this race. What are your thoughts? Yeah, absolutely. Somewhere between $50 and $100 million that they would like to be spending in North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Michigan, you know, Georgia to try to get John Ossoff out. So it's money that they don't want to spend. Tala Rico will undoubtedly be a lift on the ballot for down-ballot candidates, which I think is

really important in this. Maybe we've got a couple more congressional seats. because Tala Rico was on top, whether he wins or loses, it's still Texas, right? And this idea that, you know, they're ready to turn it blue. I'm not sure if that day will ever come. I love that James always says, we're trying to turn it purple. We just can't have one party rule. And the results of one party rule have been terrible for your pocketbook.

And they've been terrible for public safety. You know, TalaFrico, which I think originated actually, at Fox, that they were the first ones to try that one out. You know, I think for some people, they're this, you know, James doesn't present as like a manly man to them or whatever. That might do it. I think it's going to be the comments like God is non-binary. That will be more resonant for people than like he's a low-tee, maybe gay guy. And I do think that you have to have the comeback because he revealed in an interview that he has a girlfriend. And so they're making fun of him saying, like, well, where's your girlfriend? And then you just say, well, Ken Paxton

has multiple girlfriends while he had a wife. And this is supposed to be a Christian country and a Christian state. And this guy got, like, his wife left him on biblical grounds. So don't come at me about whether you've met James Talleyco's girlfriend or not. I do think in that same interview with Ed O'Keefe on CBS that Calerico took an important step where he said that his, he's a little bit of statement like God is non-binary that he regrets it. And there will be a lot of new guard Democrats coming up who made really silly comments in the midst of woke 1.0 and the Black Lives Matter summer and just own it. This is what you said to him when we had him at South by Southwest. Like, you don't need to talk around it. You could just say, I regret it. I look back at it and it was a

crazy time. And I, you know, there are two genders and God is not non-bibirms. And God is not non-bion. and I'd like to talk about policy. I'd like to talk about the fact that Texans' wages are below the national average. I'd like to talk about the fact that, you know, Ken Paxson and the Republicans are cutting your Medicaid, that there are millions of Americans going to be thrown off of their health care plans as a result, that they are coming after our renewable energy where Texas has always led the way in renewables with wind and solar. And they want to take us backwards. Like, just get through it fast. It inoculates you, at least, from some of these. attacks, and I'm glad to see that they're going with that approach, at least to begin,

and I hope it continues. He's really smart. He's recognized that when someone levies a nickname at you, you just kind of put a hoodie on it and enjoy it and make fun of it. Yeah. And also, I think that what Democrats are finally recognizing is that voters prefer fighters to kind of faculty lounge moderators. They don't want the elites, you know, being indignant or disgusted. They want counterpunches.

and Paxton, you know, he just has kind of that energy of a guy who starts screaming at a Chili's hostess after a couple of Long Island iced teas. He just comes across as just unhinged and an asshole. By the way, have you ever had on a Long Island iced tea? Yeah, I've thrown up from a Long Island iced tea. That's redundant. That's an obvious. That's like, that's the thing. But it was good while it lasted.

When I was at UCLA, I'm in Los Angeles right now and it takes me back just. But when I was at UCLA before a fraternity or sorority party, because we didn't have any money, we'd go to Stratton's, and they had two for one, like, between happy hour, between six and seven. So we'd go at 645, and we'd each order too long on island iced teas, which is basically five shots. And then we were good to go. And wherever we went that had open bar, we did not have to engage in the open bar. You could just have a glass of water and pretend like it was a real drink. There's like vibe, codeing, and then there's vibe substance abuse. Good times. Good times.

Can I add something? Because I know we're going to move on. This is not about Long Island I seize. I also threw up from a pineapple Malibu. Good to know. The framing that Talariko is using for his campaign, he's doing the People versus Ken Paxton, which I think is fucking brilliant. Because Ken Paxton actually has been impeached. Ken Paxton actually has been charged with securities fraud. The guy is a criminal. So it's not about James Talleyco versus Ken Paxton. It's about the state versus Ken Paxton.

And that is the opportunity you have with him that you wouldn't have with John Cornyn. You got the generational change. I love how James says, like, he, you know, Cornyn came into office when he was in middle school. Like, that's great. But the people versus Ken Paxton is chef's kiss. I love it. There you go. And then there are two Democrats the party would hope would stay quieter.

Former President Joe Biden said he's suing the DOJ to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts tied to the special counsel Robert Hurst classified documents investigation. The recordings include conversations with the ghostwriter Biden's 2017 memoir and were sought through a FOIA request from the Heritage Foundation. At the same time, Joe Biden is now on a book tour saying she feared her husband was having a stroke during a 2024 debate appearance. Let's listen. Were you horrified as you saw it unfold? I wasn't horrified. I was frightened because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never.

Or since. Yes. You've never seen them like that? Never. No. What happened? I don't know what happened. I mean, as I watched it, I thought, oh, my God, he's having a stroke. And it scared me to death.

Yeah. And despite that, tried to convince him to stay on the race. Aunt told us, Joe did such a good job. He knew all the facts. Like, I don't know what the advances are on books of that level, but part of me feels like Jeffrey Katzenberg or whoever could just like pay them that money and then maybe we could not have these books. Yeah. It's just going to ruin our mojo, right, that we're talking about this again. And it makes her look really bad and that you can't trust her.

Like, if the advisors were in your way, his inner circle that was protecting him and you thought he should have taken a cognitive test or drug tested or whatever, like use your wife muscle, right, and get in there and be like, if only to protect your legacy, right, to be like, we are going to be destroyed if we carry on like this. I just, I don't know what good can come of this besides bank account padding. Yeah, look, these guys appear to, the Biden's personal strategy, whoever's advising them is the same person that developed a strategy for Crystal Pepsi. It's just, it doesn't make any sense. They're working with a terrible product, and they should have just, they should just not release his product. I agree with you. First Lady Biden saying that she thought her husband was having a stroke is, it's not reassuring. It's like Boeing saying, you know, after an air disaster, we were a little bit worried about the wing. It's like, okay, that doesn't help now. And it also just reinforces the notion that he had no business running for re-election, as he said he wasn't going to do.

And they spent two years telling Americans to not believe their eyes. And the narcissism, and this infects both sides, but the narcissism of senators Feinstein, McConnell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the narcissism of Biden really, really, have had a terrible impact on America, in my view. And this is just more of it. It's this, you know, Dr. Biden. And by the way, in the academic community, unless you have a medical degree, we don't refer to each other as doctor outside of academic circles. It's embarrassing. Because then people on a plane are like, oh, my God, someone's having a heart attack. Can you help?

And you're like, I'm a specialist in the Roman Empire. I thought it was child psychology. It's the Roman Empire. Oh, I don't know. I wasn't talking about her. I just like met. And, oh, yeah, she is education. Yeah. what I mean. Like, I always notice that about academics. Like, my supervisors never used it. I don't call each other doctor. Yeah. Oh, that's right. You have a doctor. I'm going to see. Yeah, I'm, I love that. I'm calling you Dr. T. Like Mr. T. Well, don't. It's embarrassing. And I, I only know about political scandals and how to warm your way out of them. There you go. I feel badly for them because I know what's about to happen over the course of the next few months. And Biden's memoir is going to come out, I think a couple months after

Obama's, the second part of Obama's memoir. And that's just going to be terrible. Like, it's going to be so overshadowed and Obama's going to be on this insane glowing press tour, right? He's opening the Obama presidential center. Then he's going to go on like this insane book tour. He's rallying with everybody. I mean, he's pretty much persona grata with everybody at this point. Like, whether you're a super moderate candidate to a big lefty, like he's reading books with Mom Donnie, right, to little kids and he'll be out there on the trail with the middle of the road folks. And then Biden's memoir is going to come out after that. And I'm curious as to what you think for 2028 hopefuls, because someone like Gavin Newsome has been very pro-Biden. Like he doesn't throw him under the bus

at all. He says he is, you know, one of the greatest presidents. And we've have all of these achievements and accomplishments and let us through the recovery. And I don't know how that's going to play in 2028, frankly. I think at this point he's all in on Biden and can point to some real victories during the Biden administration. But I once had my book optioned, again, bring this back to me, I had a book optioned, and it went nowhere. And they called me and said, well, sometimes they just buy something because there's a competitive product and they just want to kill it. And I would buy that book and kill it. I think it's going to do nothing but damage to the Democratic Party. And generally

speaking, you know, Newsom just came out with a book. I mean, they all come out with, they all come out with books basically as sort of a starting gun for the presidential race. I actually liked the governor's book. His was more authentic than real. I mean, they all have the same problem. One, he's very smart. He has the right policies. I think he comes across a little bit more vulnerable and self-aware than a lot of the people, a lot of people. The problem with all of these guys is, and they just can't help it, They're, are they all cosplay Obama, and they don't come across as this raw and authentic. You know, I just want one of them at some point to say, you're right of fucked up. Or I just, they're so afraid of stepping in it and being used in a commercial against them.

And they're so, quite frankly, overcoached. What he has a command of that no one else has a command of, and it's something I aspire to and spend a lot of time trying to do. His command of data is probably the strongest of anyone maybe with the except of Mayor Pete. and that is he can cite a lot of data. What people don't realize about the governor is that Fox, which is the most viewed cable news program in history, and I'll tell me if you agree with this thesis,

they pick a candidate who they think is probably a leading candidate to be the president on the Democratic side, and they engage in all-out multi-front war on that person's character for years at a time. They did it to Secretary Clinton, and now I believe they're doing it to Governor Newsom. If you just read the press on the state, would think that it's the land of the dead and an apocalypse out here. And I can tell you it's

sitting in L.A. And granted, I'm in a series of bubbles connected by freeways here, but I was in San Francisco yesterday. California just moved from the fifth largest economy in the world to the fourth largest, the seminal technology driving the S&P, and 93% of our GDP is all located in California. You know, everything from In-N-N-Out Burger to the weather. And the people, money is options. The most billionaires in the world by a large margin live in California, and where do they decide to live? they decide to not move and stay. And for all the bullshit about people leaving, it's just occasionally people move and then they move back.

He has a good story here. But I think Fox has done a very good job of just instilling a tremendous amount of doubt and negatives around him. And I do think it's a concerted multi-year campaign against him. Do you think, am I being paranoid or do you think that's true? I mean, I think that this happens generally. And I don't think there's a meeting, you know,

like we're going to go do this. If there is, I'm not invited to said meeting. But obviously, the right feels like he's a major threat. They watched him also debate Ron DeSantis on with Sean Hannity. And what quick work he made of DeSantis, who a lot of people thought was the most effective governor during the COVID period, right? Like, the people were flocking to Florida. I mean, you were already there. But, you know, I think that, Governor Newsom's story is essentially a two-parter and that the first few years were certainly not as good as the last few years. And that there was a blind spot on the Democratic Party writ large for these quality of life problems that drove a lot of liberals. I mean, some of them literally out of the cities and out of the states, but away from the party.

You know, they became kind of reticent Democratic voters. And a Dan Lurie, for instance, has been able to reject. juvenate that faith in what kind of liberalism we can have, right? Like, we don't want to vote for Republicans. We want to vote for technocrats, pragmatic operators. Yeah, like Mike Bloomberg and, you know, people who can, like, get shit done and they know better. But you're totally right about the command of the facts. And this is very common with people who have severe learning disabilities. You know, he's dyslexic. And he had to put in the work to make sure that he was always prepared for things because he couldn't, like, he couldn't read a speech.

He talks about that in his book and he did a lot of interviews about it as well. And Trump was like, oh, we can't even read. No, that's not the point. It means the guy can actually memorize whatever. He needs 5,000 words and be able to deliver it that way. So, yeah, he's a fierce debater and his family, they've got the look. And we know that looks matter a lot. I'm surprised you didn't lead with that.

Like, yeah, it was great. He's so handsome. Yeah. Let's take one last quick break. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu.

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Ask more from your CRM. Ask Atio. You can go to atio.com slash Vox, and you'll get 15% off your first year. That's A-T-T-I-O.com slash Vox. Welcome back. So the DOJ also appears to be widening its scope elsewhere, launching a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault. I mean, it just appears just the DOJ is being used increasingly for nefarious means. And is there any, do you think there's any way to stop this?

Well, first of all, we should say, shouldn't just accuse him. He was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, you know, civil court. Is there any way to stop it? Yeah, win elections and get them out. But they're not going, they're not going to stop until then. I think that it's leaving a bad taste kind of like the 1776 slush fund situation in people's mouths when they see these very clear political prosecutions, like how they were able to actually get him to back off the Jerome Powell thing. For instance, you know, the intricacies of the case and what happened decades ago in a Bergdorf's changing room. Like, I get how, you know, people are like, oh, I don't know about this or I don't know about that. Like, just move on and drive.

Rudging all this stuff up for people who are not particularly fans of the president is just a reminder of what a crappy person he is. You know, that's all that this is when you go on these vendettas. And I'm sure that it's going to continue for everyone that he can get his hands on, preferably speaking, who were part of any of the investigations into him, like the New York cases up to, you know, anyone who had a beer with Jack Smith has a target on their back now, too. Yeah, I agree with you. I would have thought that they would just want this to fade, you know, to black. And instead, people are going to be reminded that a very impressive particulate woman had a jury of her peers find him liable for sexual abuse and defamation. And people say, well, it was politically motivated. It was in a New York court. Keep in mind, folks, it's a jury of his peers that is selected by both the defense and the plaintiff's attorneys. And of nine people, it's likely that five were Democrat and four were, Republican, and I believe they have to come to a unanimous decision. I'm like you. I'm surprised that they wouldn't want to just let that, I don't know if it's because he's so cheap, he doesn't want to pay it, or it's vendetta, but I'm shocked that they want this in the news again. And finally, let's talk a little bit about the ultimate fighting championship octagon that is

being constructed on the South Lawn to celebrate the 250th anniversary of this great nation. Just, what do you think of the octagon on the White House? You know, when you see a picture and like it hurts you? Yeah, that hurts you? The octagon. Yeah, it does. I mean, I have quasi accepted that the Rose Garden is now like the patio at Marlago where you can get chicken tenders and a hot dog or whatever is going on there. But the octagon is pretty bad and it's interesting.

I haven't listened to the full interview yet, but Dana White was on with NPR and he said that he has reservations about the outdoor space. He's bankrolling it. $60 million. He's going to lose $30 million on the event. And then he has to pay 700K just to replace the grass when it's over. But, like, he goes on all of this, you know, this diatribe about the dangers of the outdoor events, right? Like, what if the weather's bad, the breathing, the bugs, like, all of this stuff. He's putting 14 fighters in it.

And then he's like, well, actually, I'm going to do it. And then tries to tell you also that he's not particularly political. I think he's spoken to three RNCs. Anyway, it's gross. It's so ugly. It's like someone said, and I forget who. So I'm crediting you somehow that it's just another, the White House is just another casino to Trump. Yeah, I got, so I actually think, I think it's brilliant.

What? Oh, yeah. If you think about. Scott. Democrats, I think a big part of the reason that Trump won was testosterone. And that is the government has increasingly been feminized and starched and somewhat diluted. and somewhat lacks all tensile strength. And I think he saw the opening.

And there's also, not only are a lot of young men really struggling, he tend to be swing voters in this nation, but there's still a large portion of women in our nation who will vote for whoever they perceive is better for their husbands or their sons. And there's a general feeling in America across moderates and people on the right that America has slowly become very anti-male

and has implemented a series of policy and vibes that are detrimental to the well-being of their sons, their brothers, and their husbands. And I do think, to a certain extent, White House events feel very pomp and very ceremony and, quite frankly, somewhat feminine. And that's wonderful in a lot of ways. But I think going the other way with this Octagon

absolutely appeals to a group of people who feel unseen. I think this is why Trump won. Crypto, rockets, coarseness. I think it's the wrong type of performative. of masculinity. I personally don't watch UFC. It's an incredible league and incredible business, but I just don't, I have a difficult time watching these young, incredible men beat each other up. I don't, I find it physically rattling. But I think it's a very smart move for it, forum. I think it says to Trump and Trump voters and moderates that I'm bringing,

I'm bringing tea back to leadership. And I think it's very effective. You might be right, but I still think it's so gross. And maybe my estrogen is, overwhelmed me. But, you know, I don't even want to be precious about the idea that there can be no renovations. Like, I'm anti a 90,000 square foot ballroom. That's really just a bunker for him. So he never has to leave the White House. But you could find somewhere else to put up this UFC tent. Though he got Dana White to foot the bill for it. So I guess there's that, right? That this won't be taxpayer dollars. But I do think it's a signal to the world. that actually we are that course and that crass of a people that like just watch adult men

destroy each other. And, you know, a few of the fighters have said they don't want to come. One of them, I think, said, like, I don't really need to perform for the Epstein class, which I appreciate. But I don't know. I'm not there with you, though I think you're probably ultimately right about it. But a lot of those voters who came over in 2024, they don't. like him anymore because they're poorer and he's taking advantage of everyone and deliver the Epstein

list. And so when he's sitting out there, like clapping at the beautiful men, like the Jackson Darts at the UFC or whatever, like I think they're going to be sitting in their basements thinking like, dude, you were supposed to lower prices on day one and I'm worse off. Or that is my most fervent wish. Yeah. And again, I never missed an opportunity to brag. I was invited to this event and I said, no, I don't want to do anything that in any way legitimizes what I see as a corrupt and criminal family running the country. And again, I don't enjoy that type of violence. But I do think the Democratic Party has a problem they need to address, and that is their basic advice to young men is to act more like a woman. And I just don't think that is a message that resonates. And I think there needs

to be some sort of aspirational view of masculinity that the Democrats begin to communicate. And unfortunately, there aren't a lot of strong role models for masculinity across the Democratic Party, and we have let the Republicans own that space and conflate masculinity with coarseness and cruelty. There has to be something more about fathering, about being aggressive, about innovating, about occasionally saying something that's a little bit provocative or off color, and not always just worrying about what's going to offend people. The feminization of the Democratic Party, quite frankly, I think, has hurt us. And I think the Republicans continue to exploit that white space and that soft tissue.

And it's an uncomfortable topic. It's uncomfortable to talk about it without coming across as sexist. But again, I went to the Democratic National Convention. I saw a parade of special interest groups articulating the very real problems these groups still face. And there wasn't one mention of the group that's fallen further faster than any group in America, and that is young men. And femininity is a wonderful thing. we should continue to celebrate it.

We also need to figure out a way to start celebrating masculinity on the left, and we just do a shitty job. We demonize it, we pathologize it, and we're told to apologize for it. And that is not going to win over young men and the people who are swing voters, many of whom are young men who feel lost

and feel like their purpose has been blown up. So, yeah, am I going? No. Do I see why people upset? Yeah, it's fucking brilliant. Yeah, I would just add that I think, think we don't have a lack of good male role models and figures that I think it's more of an issue that they were muzzled from talking like they would naturally.

I think that's right. Yeah, because like Wes Moore and Gavin Newsom and Josh Shapiro and like J.B. Prisker, they're not feminine men, right? Like they just said someone made them say unhoused. And like we ended up in this mess. You know, I agree with the general problem, but I think those guys are in there. We just made them talk in a way that is completely unnatural to appease special interest groups. And we got the election result that we deserved for that.

Jess, let's leave it there. All right. Have a great show tonight. Oh, thanks so much, Jess. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps? that don't talk to each other.

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