Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - Trump Corruption Stories Stack Up as Blanche Gets Back on Track to Confirmation

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Starting point is 00:01:56 state of Colorado. That's where we're a few minutes late here, a little bit, I'm a touch disorganized. Are you at home in New York? I am, and I'm organized, and I want to, we got a lot of news, but I want to talk to you about Belmar. It was great. You're so good. You're so good. I'm convinced you're one of the most talented women in my life know that they should just stroke my ego. They know that they just like ask me about me. It's an obvious move. You don't have to be that talented. You know you're being manipulated and it still works. Yeah. Well, you know, I don't like to talk about myself much, Jess, but in this case, yeah, I was in L.A. for the better part of a couple weeks working on some, I'm potentially doing a documentary with this fantastic producer and hopefully

Starting point is 00:02:47 with Netflix. Cool. And then I went on, I went on Bill Maher's podcast. He came on mine. And then I did Mar on Friday. And Aaron Brockovich was the upfront talking about data centers. And then again, in Peter Hamby, who I really liked. Unfortunately, he and I looked up, showed up, and it looked like we dressed each other in a mirror.

Starting point is 00:03:06 We were wearing exactly the same thing. And she's younger and better looking to me, which I didn't like. But the takeaway other than, you know, we talked about gambling and the effect on men and Fauci is that I thought it went really poorly. And then afterwards, you know, watching the videos and the comments, it didn't. It went well. And the takeaway is that life isn't what happens to you. It's how you, it's the space your headspace. This was in, for whatever reason, I think I was a little bit down or anxious on Saturday or whatever it was.

Starting point is 00:03:42 And it's very hard to read the label from inside of the bottle. Like, you, a lot of times, especially with social and media, I do not have a good gut. I know when it's been a disaster and I know what it's been amazing, but 95% of the time it's in between. And you really don't know. And your mind can place such tricks on you and convince you that something was great or something was awful. and it's a function of your blood sugar level or the other things going on in your life. But anyways, a long-wounded way of saying

Starting point is 00:04:11 it went fine, but for some reason the next day I was anxious and depressed about it. How are you? Well, it went fine, like in the English way, which is like nothing neutral in your head, but the reaction to it was quite positive. And I think that that also happens an extraordinary amount with Bill Maher,

Starting point is 00:04:31 with that show in particular, that it feels, Like you're kind of in a spaceship when you're doing it, right? And you're totally disconnected from reality. And no matter how many times you do it, and this was what, your seventh time or something like that, you still get so nervous. Because there's something about Bill Maher himself and how it's going to work with the pairing. And I know you did the interview, for instance, for your book, but you just kind of don't know where he's going to zig or zag or how he's going to take one of your comments. But maybe the good lesson in this is that in general, there is an enormous reservoir of goodwill for people that folks like.

Starting point is 00:05:12 And you're one of those people, at least online, and that it's going to end up better than you think unless, like you said, you totally know that you bombed and you said something really out of order, which was not the case. But you got, you know, you get in a good line about young men getting off their phones and getting out there and politely touching people. And people are going to like Scott Galloway from that. that. So that was my takeaway. You're being generous. I am. I'm curiously at your thoughts, though, about Bill, because more than anyone, like I've said this before and people get angry when I say this, the guy's a hero of mine because I'm going

Starting point is 00:05:47 he's smart and fearless. And exactly in the center, I can't get over the emotional outrage, polarization reaction that Bill gets. It's just crazy. I feel like he's like the political world's mistress and that everyone says bad things about him or whatever, but everyone is seeing him on the down low. Clearly everyone's watching the guy.

Starting point is 00:06:16 He's just amazing and bad. Yeah. For something, because everyone is commenting on everything Bill says, but the majority of the time, I mean, according to online, so many people have stopped watching him years ago that he has negative ratings. And it's not true. Its viewership's actually gone up.

Starting point is 00:06:32 What do you think it is about him and centrist in general that evokes such an emotional, oftentimes negative reaction? I think that there's, at least in this current moment, well, first of all, everyone just loves to be outraged. I mean, the number, my feet is full of when Jessica Tarlov comes on, I mute her, I turn it off. And that's just objectively not what's going on because you know exactly what I said, and the ratings indicate that you are watching. By the way, Jessica's show is the big.

Starting point is 00:06:59 show on cable television, but anyways, go ahead. No big deal. But I think that the frustration, which mostly comes from the left with him, and it's something that he was talking about with the, about socialism and Democratic socialism. And, you know, if we had more in this direction, I'm out and how he said his vote was up for grabs. I think a lot of people are genuinely frustrated with that. And I'm not saying, you know, if there is a Democratic socialist who's the top of the ticket for

Starting point is 00:07:27 president, That is a different conversation. But if Democratic Socialists are competing in primaries and, you know, turning blue districts a bit bluer, and we'll see what happens in Michigan. Obviously, that's a very big test case for this. I think folks feel like you shouldn't be flexible in abandoning the values that you've championed your entire career. So if you are somebody like he cares a ton about the climate, for instance, his whole thing about the solar panels on his house, right? and he is hugely pro-choice, constantly talking about that. If you know that Donald Trump and the Republican Party

Starting point is 00:08:03 have essentially just become this carnival of corruption, how could you say that your vote is up for grabs? And I don't want to be boring and just say it has to be the orthodoxy and you have to fall in line. But at this point, you'd be really hard pressed to find a Republican standard bearer that I think could convince someone with even center-left views that they're worthy of.

Starting point is 00:08:26 support maybe. I've heard folks say like a Marco Rubio, but Marco Rubio completely compromised his values as well to get him bored with this. Yeah, I have no idea what he stands for. Yeah, I have no what Marcus stands for, you know, taking over Venezuela and Cuba. So whatever, yeah, whatever that is. So I think that's what a lot of it is. And then I think his visit to the White House got a lot of people. Um, agitated. Ang great. Yeah. The, the, is, is editorial in the end, which I thought was really strong about just sort of the far left's embrace of socialism slash communism and they don't really understand. It's difficult to point to a historical moment where that type of political construct has ever worked out well for a nation. And I thought his editor was really powerful and it's doing

Starting point is 00:09:15 really well online. But Catherine Dillon, who runs proffered media, she had a really good point. She said, you know, we just have to be careful not to spend all of our energy attacking each other on the left. And that I do acknowledge that the quote of the far left are a lot of these young progressives, up-and-coming progressives, sort of a lot of the creativity and dynamism is coming from right now. Right. And we should focus the majority of our firepower on the fact that we have bombs, inflation, and exploding diarrhea from the right, as opposed to deciding what type of capitalism and whether it's capitalism with a social net or it's socially. You know, we're, Democrats are very good at eating their own. And I thought her, and actually Sarah Longelam made the same point last week that she wants, she said, we need to be very careful not just spending all of our time attacking each other.

Starting point is 00:10:03 We do their work for them a lot of the time. They follow the line, right. Right. And they are not deserving of our hard labor, basically. Eyes on the prize. All right. Let's talk about the news. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is reportedly close to being confirmed after addressing the demands of Senators John Corp. and Tom Tillis, rescinding the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund and narrowing the scope of the IRS immunity granted to Trump and his family. Cal she currently has the odds of the next AG being Blanche in 90%. Jess, Blanche posted a signed memo and an unsigned statement to social media. Do you think this means anything? No. It's like complete BS. And I implore everybody to treat it as such, especially Senators Tillis and Cornyn, who know better. And if you don't know,

Starting point is 00:10:51 better, your general counsel sure as shit knows better. It was not signed by all the parties, which is required to rescind under the terms of the original agreement. I checked with a lawyer, apparently paragraph 8 is the money shot there. So, you know, it's unenforceable. The fact that you had this happen so quickly after Donald Trump posted on truth social saying, oh, maybe we'll just keep Todd Blanche as acting attorney general because this anti-weaponization fund is so important. and all the victims of the Biden and Obama administration, that's the flashing light that you need to know that Donald Trump didn't change his priorities overnight.

Starting point is 00:11:31 He didn't say it to Ted Blanche, oh, don't worry. You know, we've got bigger fish to fry. So unenforceable, I basically think that it's a nothing and the fact that Tellis and Cornyn are, you know, seal clapping for this is excruciating. Seal clapping, that's great. And also the IRS component of it is crazy. They can still dodge the audits.

Starting point is 00:11:59 They get immunity from tax audits worth over $100 million. And it can be modified by a written agreement of the parties. No indication that Don Jr., Eric, the Trump organization, or the president himself has issued said modifications. So it's just an online scribble at this point. and it's very frustrating that anyone is treating it as anything but that. Yeah, I think there needs to be a term, and I would say Collins, but it's hard to say, so maybe the term is Susan, and that is somebody who pretends to give a goddamn and is voicing resistance for the right reasons, who has no intention of actually following through.

Starting point is 00:12:43 You know, I'm just, God, if I see Senator Collins one more time pretending to be concerned about the rights of women in the fact that they're about to point the handmaid's tail in the form of a Supreme Court justice. And she's concerned and wringing her hands and posing for the cameras. I'm concerned. I'm concerned. I'm going to do whatever the fuck Trump asked me to do. And it's just these guys, again, pretend, get their pound of flesh. But this, this signed statement or whatever it is, it has about as much efficacy as when I threaten to take my son's phone away. That's what they're doing. They're like, they're serious. They're going to do it. They're, they may not vote for him. And then he says, says, here, I'll, I'll post a bullshit,

Starting point is 00:13:29 unenforceable, meaningless, blah, blah on social. And, well, I'm, I'm satisfied now. Always the bare minimum. Have you ever met a group of people who's so satisfied with the bare minimum? No, this is, these guys, arguably, they'd make great spouses because this Warren Buffett said, the key to a happy marriage is low expectations. But this is, yeah, it's, I wonder, do you think this is an opportunity, though, for the Democrats? I wonder if this is a bit of a gift, though, to people in the midterms,

Starting point is 00:14:00 because the messaging I'd be running if I were a Democrat right now is that Todd Blanche, I would show all of the images of these women, basically saying our acting Attorney General pretends to give a fine fuck about the Epstein files, and then he ignores us and won't speak to us. When those victims speak, it is very powerful. I'd be running on, do you want justice with respect to Epstein? If so,

Starting point is 00:14:24 vote for me. And I would use Todd Blanche as a punching bag. I would absolutely say a vote for me, the Democrat, is a vote for justice around Epstein. And as evidenced by the fact that this is what's going on here with Todd Blanche is nothing but a pure delay in obfuscation and a delay of the justice for these victims. Any thoughts on that message? I love it. I think the broader corruption messaging, which is certainly part of it, it was kind of the first big plank, I think, of the case against the Trump crime family, that it's us versus them, and he's part of the Epstein class. And now he has a henchman who will perhaps go further than Pam Bondi would, which I don't think was people's, I don't think was people's expectations about Todd Blanche. because he actually had a lot of bipartisan goodwill. If you listen to Ellie Honing, for instance, at CNN, you know, talks about how respected Todd Blanche was and, you know, did become Trump's personal lawyer and then slips up in a confirmation hearing and admits that he is still Donald Trump's personal lawyer. So, yes, I think a vote for Democrats is a vote for hopefully justice for the Epstein victims and a widespread sane washing and cleaning up.

Starting point is 00:15:46 of Washington. And I think that there has to be the component where you're also holding yourselves accountable. It is not enough to just say we're going to drain the swamp and the swamp is only Republican. The swamp is everybody to the average American voter at this point. And last week on the raging perspective on the Wednesday substack show, Aaron said something that I thought was interesting and I understood how he got there, but I wasn't quite at the same conclusion as him. because he said that the only thing that we're going to be able to do when we get back into power, and it is the reason to elect Democrats that you at least have split government is we're going to do oversight everywhere, right? And there will be threat of impeachments and you're going to be hauled before committees. And the dork in me, I guess, was like, but what about the policy? You know, you can't get people to vote for you unless you are offering a positive alternative. It's not enough to tell people, we're going to impeach him again.

Starting point is 00:16:45 Like we did that a couple of times and it got us nowhere. Or, you know, you're definitely not going to get a conviction through the Senate, which we might not even take. And if we did, it would be the slimmest of possible majorities. And I get, I'm scared of moving away from the brass tax of actually winning elections, which is, you know, what's your great economic policy? What's your health care policy? What's your plan for the public schools of America?

Starting point is 00:17:10 What's your national security strategy? and just focus on the corruption. But it is so overwhelming. And you read about the IRS audit, you know, scapegoating or the leeway that they want when it comes to it. And did you see this story about Capital One that Trump had been arguing for years, the Capital One debanked him because of his politics and their court filing. That's what it is. And admitted that they closed the accounts, Trump's accounts, for his real estate company in 2021.

Starting point is 00:17:43 because of an internal review by the bank's anti-money laundering team. So he's clearly looking for tax immunity because he's done some very bad stuff. And left to wonder, are our ethics laws so neutered or non-existence that you can't do anything about this? I mean, I was gobsmacked when I saw that Capital One filing. And honestly, good for them, because you haven't seen that many big institutions, frankly, standing up to him. They're mostly just, you know, giving him a gold-plated cell phone. you know, hoping for the best. Yeah, so what Jess is referring to, there's been a couple Trump-related corruption stories,

Starting point is 00:18:21 which I would argue those terms are redundant this week. First Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns True Social, launched a new subscription data service that allows traders and investors early access to post from some of the network's biggest accounts, including President Trump's, for the price of up to $100,000 a month. Basically, they're trying to monetize the normalization of insider trading. And then as the president obviously has access to, non-public material information that people can trade on.

Starting point is 00:18:48 And also, sometimes he can just say, oh, we have a ceasefire and oil plummets or I'm bombing around tomorrow and oil goes up. And day traders can make millions, if not tens of millions of dollars. What's interesting is all of this is going to come out at some point. And what he's saying is, I know, let's sell access to it. Let's give everyone a millisecond, or I think it's just a few seconds early notice on my tweets, because his tweets move markets. So this is not only market manipulation insider trading,

Starting point is 00:19:18 but it's so brazen, we're going to just make money from it. And I think he's decided that I don't care. I'm out of office. I think America's going to have to come to grips with the fact that Donald Trump is not going to jail, and likely none of his family are either. And that doesn't exercise me as much because I think as an obese 80-year-old man

Starting point is 00:19:34 with what it appears to me to be much of kind of pseudo-fake relationships, he's going to die soon. I mean, I hate, I'm remembering. really disappointed that the race in Florida for the open Senate seat there, because of Ruby of the Secretary of State, has basically this total acolyte who I think would be ripe for potentially if we have enough momentum to get a Democratic pickup. But the candidate there, Alex Vindman, is basically, as far as I can tell, just running a Trump impeachment nostalgia tour. And I just don't think that's enough, especially for Florida voters. We're just so focused on revenge against

Starting point is 00:20:09 him and no man is above the law, folks. The president is above the law. Get used to it. That's the practical reality here. We're not going to put a president in prison. And actually, in some ways, I think that's probably a good thing. And I get the whole, no one's above the law. Yeah, wake up.

Starting point is 00:20:27 The president is above the law because if you put a president in prison, the next administration is going to focus on putting the previous president from the other party in jail as well. So we should be just focused on policies and outing his corruption. I would go after the people around him, and that's how you work your way up. But Capital One, as you said, is close bank accounts belonging to Trump's real estate company in 2021 after review by the bank's anti-money laundering team. This is stunning. And also, I'm fascinated by the notion there's got to be someone who has signed up for,

Starting point is 00:21:05 and I was even thinking of doing it, but I don't have the infrastructure to do day trading on a microsecond basis. But I'm hoping, and I think someone is probably going to sign up for this, and the report how they can trade around it. I mean, I'm just super interested to see if, in fact, this is the corruption and insider trading vehicle. I think it's going to be. Support for the show comes from Pendulum Metabolic Daily.

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Starting point is 00:24:38 Try Odu for free at Odu.com. That's ODOO.O.com. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Janine Piro, Jess's former colleague. Is she still on the five? She's not there, right?

Starting point is 00:24:55 You can't do both of those jobs. You can't do both? No. At least not traditionally. She has dropped felony vandalism charges against a former Olympic canoeist after documents showed that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Damage,

Starting point is 00:25:06 she called a deliberate violent act was actually caused by a contractor's flawed installation. Trump says he 100% disagrees with Piro's decision in the case. thoughts here. He always turns on you. That's the thing. It doesn't matter how much you do for him,

Starting point is 00:25:27 how many big swings you take, like going after Jerome Powell or this vandalism case. It was clearly not vandalism. He just has loyalty to no one but himself. Not even his kids. He has a packing order of those little guys, too. And you can fall in and out of face.

Starting point is 00:25:46 We've had Mark Elias several times on the podcast, who is our election lawyer extraordinaire for the left. And I should really just say for democracy because I think making it a left-right issue reduces how important Mark's work is. But got to add Norm Eisen, who was the canoeist, David Hearn's lawyer for this. And he was the White House Ethics czar under Obama and then was also the ambassador of the Czech Republic. And it was masterful what he did. I think it was, you know, an easier case necessarily than proving what it was at 66 times that the right was just lying about election interference that never happened. But, you know, hat tip to norm for this. I'm not sure where it goes. I was interesting to see Scott Jennings, who usually very, very in line with the president, said that David Hearn, the Canoist, should sue the administration.

Starting point is 00:26:43 You know, they dragged the guy's name through the mud, which they absolutely. did. And I think it's such an interesting encapsulation of the echo chamber and how easily partisans just line up with the same set of talking points and then just go for it. And, you know, you were just saying, oh, well, just get used to it. Donald Trump is above the law. And personally, that seems so far to be the case. And the Supreme Court is doing everything that they can to make that happen. But the courts still work. And the courts seem to be the only place that we can be saved, frankly, from this onslaught of corruption and idiocy, because the vandalism of the reflecting pool was just idiocy and, you know, should note as well that it was such a shoddy

Starting point is 00:27:28 job because he hired a Trump, you know, a Trump mega donor was the one who got the job for this and did a shitty job, this contractor out of Ohio. We'll see if they give him an apology. That's what Norma Eisen is going for, that it was clear abuse of power by the government. But, you know, can we take some of the other stuff that you were talking about, like the insider trading, with the early prompts from truth social as to what the next announcement is going to be. That seems like a clear insider trading violation. So does that get into the courts? Or are people, you know, is the Steve Bannon, how did he describe it initially, where he was like,

Starting point is 00:28:08 we're just going to overwhelm them? We're just going to throw so much shit. Flood the zone. Is the flooding of the zone so enormous that no one's going to. going to pick up this stuff because, I mean, that for the insider trading, now we're up to 30 equity stakes that the government has taken in private companies. And Bloomberg had the story about how they got a stake in this mining company that they basically, they needed this permit in order to keep working. And the government said, well, if you need to keep working,

Starting point is 00:28:38 then you need to give us a stake in it. So 30 companies, which feels a lot like socialism to me. And then also these tariff refunds, and I wanted to get your take on this. Sorry, I know I'm adding like all of these stories, but they flooded the zone so much that I was overwhelmed in my prep. But you're seeing the tariff refunds for these companies and the companies didn't pay the tariffs. The consumers did. So Apple just gets $2.2 billion back, whereas we were the ones that were paying more for our devices or whatever it is that you were getting from them. And that's really frustrating. I was another golden parachute for. corporate America, and the little guy continues to get screwed. Yeah, a lot there. So, look, the courts are sort of the back, the, kind of like, last, you know, the last of the mohegan's, they're the last line of defense against this corruption. And they should absolutely stop a lot of this bullshit and it's tracks and say it's illegal. They should protect people who are, you know, subject to illegal search and seizure or,

Starting point is 00:29:40 you know, let's accuse a war hero and a sitting U.S. Senator in great standing of sedition, an accusation that it found guilty is punishable by death. You know, the courts are the last backstop here. They should absolutely be, you know, someone should be filing a motion to stop this insider trading. My point is that I think we tend to focus all of our energy on, let's find a way to put the president in prison. No, use the courts to stop this corruption right now and turn back or overturn these, what are illegal policies. With respect to the refunds, so smart people, I love what Carla Chippewa said that, I think he's a professor from Berkeley, wrote a book called

Starting point is 00:30:31 Stupid, that people who help help themselves while hurting others are bandits. So social media executives, I would, or big tech executives would be fairly worn labeled as bandits, helping themselves, enriching themselves by billions of dollars while potentially hurting others. There's people who hurt themselves while helping others, refer to them as artists or philanthropists, you know, kind of martyrs. There's people who help others while helping themselves. Those are the intelligent, and there's people who hurt themselves while hurting others. That's the stupid. I would argue many of these policies are just stupid. So filing tariffs, all that did was raise prices, didn't raise any revenue, reduce the markets for our goods overseas, and it ends up to 90% of the tariffs went on consumers,

Starting point is 00:31:20 and now corporations get this windfall check back, but it's not sure how, you know, if and how they would distribute it back to consumers. It just doesn't make any sense. They'll argue that, okay, rather than sending out a check for $7 to everyone who's bought an iPhone or $50, that the fact that we have this cash, we'll either return it to shareholders or we'll return it to consumers. So I'm not as worried about that. What I'm worried about is that these policies, they're just these incredibly elegant ways to fuck everybody. They didn't raise any revenues.

Starting point is 00:31:54 They raised prices on consumers while decreasing the potential market for American companies, creating massive distraction. I can't even imagine the cost and bureaucratic headache of trying to track these refunds and get them out. And now he's claiming he's doubling down and claiming he's going to have 50% tariffs. These decisions are so stupid. It's like, how can we manage to increase our budget

Starting point is 00:32:19 by $500 billion to the military? So increasing our deficit, while figuring out decisions that also deplete our munitions and then going back to Congress and asking for a lot more money. Anyways, let's get on to my favorite story of the week. Over the weekend, RFK Jr.

Starting point is 00:32:36 on CNN and got into a heated exchange with Dana Bash over the early COVID outbreak, how it was handled. He also went on to say he was not responsible for the current measles outbreak of the US and then he recommends parents get their children vaccinated. Here's a bit of their conversation. Dana, you probably don't understand this because you're not a scientist, but you're not either.

Starting point is 00:32:55 You have been fooled. Your statement that this has been studied is not true. It's categorically not true. Not for any of this. It is considered decided. Considered by who? By every scientist who has studied this. That is not true.

Starting point is 00:33:10 What greater authority do you have? Do you understand why people are not getting measles vaccines? Because they're hearing you say that it could cause... You're trying to change a subject. I'm not. It's very much related. Study after study after study. It's one of the most studied things out there in science. You're repeating it like a parrot.

Starting point is 00:33:27 You're repeating it like a parrot. All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts. That's what you during COVID. Now we know that Andy Fauci, who was the expert, was lying about everything. He was lying and you were punishing people for not trusting the expert. Let me start. Is it worthwhile to have him?

Starting point is 00:33:51 I'm sorry, you run with this. Go ahead. No, I just, it's a question. Is it worthwhile to have him? To have these people? To interview them. Oh, I think so. I think one.

Starting point is 00:34:05 Yeah, I would kill myself if I was doing me. that. Yeah, but well, first off, Deanna has cemented her position is one of the most thoughtful, honest, forceful, yet dignified journalists in the world with that interview. The biggest winner of all that was hands down Dana Bash. And by the way, RFK Jr., if you can't get the, you're the person who's interviewing name correct, you're probably, you know, you're probably going to get a lot of other stuff incorrect. It's important that America see that, okay, we have exploded Dioria in 45 states because we have a fucking incompetent who's a conspiracy theorist. The most telling part of that interview, which actually hasn't been talked about enough,

Starting point is 00:34:48 was there was a moment when he said, people, something along the lines of people need to learn not to trust. And then he put up his hands and went, air quotes, experts. And I said, well, who the fuck are people supposed to trust? Some housewife influencer on TikTok giving them health advice? Of course. Expertise means people with credentials, domain expertise, and science, and spent their whole life trying to pursue the truth with the best ideas possible, the best ideas of that moment at that time. And then every time they find out that they might have been wrong, they update their information.

Starting point is 00:35:26 In peer-reviewed research, if a younger academic comes along and challenges your research and then shows if and why it was wrong, they celebrate it. They say, okay, we're now a little bit smarter. We've updated a view on Blackwater economics or whatever it is. And this notion that you can't trust the experts, well, okay, put up your hands and tell me who in between your air quotes. Are we supposed to trust then? You? We're just supposed to pick whoever's most charismatic or get some most retweets.

Starting point is 00:35:55 Of course we have experts. That's the whole fucking point of institutions who, for the most part, make really good choices. And then when they make bad choices, hopefully, they correct. correct them. But this guy, there is a link between RFK Jr. and these outbreaks. And yeah, I think it's super important that America see, okay, I've said, I think Secretary Hexstaff will do more damage outside of the U.S. than any defense secretary in history. And then I think RFK Jr. Long term is going to do more damage to the health of Americans than any person, any cabinet official in recent history, that reckless conspiracy theory, ignoring science, weirdness that is

Starting point is 00:36:43 RFK Jr. will result in unnecessary death disease and disability. And that was on full display that this guy has absolutely no ability to cite data or facts, lies, moves to conspiracy theory, starts blaming Fauci? For God's sake, you've been in this position for what? 20 months now? But I thought, I thought, I thought this was the most interesting interview in a while. And I also, I think that this was just an enormous win for Dan Abash. And you have the ability to do this as well. And that is you are able to remain cool, pushback. And again, the call sign is forceful yet dignified. I would have lost my fucking shit. I would have started cursing at the guy. I just wouldn't have been able. I would have turned it into an totally unproductive food fight because I do not have the skills you have.

Starting point is 00:37:34 or Dana has. I thought this was a big win for Dana. Any closing thoughts before we move on to Senator Moreno? Well, now that it turned into a session of also flattering me, I'm going to take it back and say, yes, of course. It was important that she did that. I just meant, like, I could feel her frustration, and I know what it's like when you're essentially talking to a wall and a dangerous wall at that.

Starting point is 00:38:00 And RFK Jr. knows better. and we know that because he used to speak differently about a whole host of these issues. Two things. One, and it's the subject of the Monday Rage, our newsletter for Raging Monarches, which comes out on Substack, because they have nothing to say about today, they're relitigating the past. I mean, what cabinet official wants to sit down and talk about the insider trading or the anti-weaponization fund or the tariffs or what's going on with the war in Iran, talking about grocery store prices, that farmers, you know, essentially can't exist without a bailout,

Starting point is 00:38:43 the private equity stakes, the rollback of women's reproductive rights, the millions of people who are going without health care because they didn't extend the Obamacare subsidies, the recklessness of ICE, what they're doing to people who are here illegally and to Americans, They sent an American kid, a 25-year-old who had his papers to Mexico. That happened two months ago. We're just finding out about it. These people you cannot talk about today. And so Fauci has become the boogey man for this.

Starting point is 00:39:16 We talked about the diary last week, and I know you covered it as well on Marr. And I agree, Net Net Net. Fauci has been a huge benefit, certainly for public health. and there are millions of people who are alive today as a result. I do think a few things in the diary, not great. And I'm not just talking about the, you know, Barbara Streisand and Julia Roberts think that I'm, you know, the second coming, you know, stuff about what they knew

Starting point is 00:39:42 and couldn't communicate to the public. None of it malicious, but it always sucks when something like that comes out. But they will stop at nothing to relitigate the past because they can't live in the present day. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from IntMobil. Now, I was looking for fun. to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills.

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Starting point is 00:41:42 and you'll get 15% off your first year. That's A-T-T-I-O.com slash Vox. Moving on, Senator Bernie Moreno has gone public, speaking out against his ex-son-in-law, Congressman Max Miller, saying he should not serve in the House following domestic abuse accusations to Moreno's daughter, Emily Moreno. This statement came after his social media live stream from Miller yesterday, where he said the allegations were false,

Starting point is 00:42:07 and he planned to win re-election in November. Reverend Mike Turner was questioned as to whether there should be an ethics probe into Miller, and he had this to say. Should there be an ethics probe to look into this? Well, Margaret, what you just said when you began this question is that this is a matter of litigation, this is best handled in a courtroom and not in a TV studio, and this is, you know, that type of speculation is better for TMZ than CBS. Well, we've covered with other lawmakers, including in the other party,

Starting point is 00:42:36 the Democratic Party, credible allegations against people running for office. When it comes to Mr. Miller, he was previously accused in 2021 by President Trump's former spokesperson of abusing her when they dated. So is it at least something Republican leadership should look into? This is an issue that is currently part of a divorce and part of litigation that's in a courtroom. And the court should be handling this, which is clearly ongoing. And that's where this needs to be, not in a television studio. What a fucking idiot. The media covers everything involving our elected representatives as it relates to court filings.

Starting point is 00:43:11 That is just so ridiculous that, oh, I don't want to talk about it. And I'd rather the media not follow it because it makes my party look bad. But meanwhile, we'll sit around and touch ourselves as Fox and CNN correctly talk about what's going on with Graham Platner. I mean, that is just such a ridiculous. I love the idea of a cabinet filled with a cable news host. just think it should be CNN. I think Dana would be wonderful on government. You want to talk about another journalist doing an amazing job on her feet coming across as respectful and yet pointing out real time that, I mean, talk about great instincts to exactly point out and saying, no, we cover,

Starting point is 00:43:56 we cover on TV, in this TV studio, the same types of issues from the other party, as does your favorite network that you're going on next, Fox. Margaret Brennan and Danabah. Bash Brennan, 2028. That is a, if it's Vance Rubio, tell me that Dan, that a Bash Brennan ticket, quite frankly, wouldn't put us this country and the West in a better place than four years. Anyways, I'm so impressed with some of these.

Starting point is 00:44:27 While everyone's saying cable news is dying and it doesn't matter, and there's a lot of noise at CBS, in my opinion, that's totally unnecessary and an own goal. The reality is these individuals are fantastic what they do and do a great public service. Anyway, I'm very impressed with Marta Brennan. Your thoughts? Yeah, definitely.

Starting point is 00:44:44 I'd throw Kristen Welker in, too. And we could just say, in general, the women will save us. Who did she interview this weekend? I didn't watch that. Who was she talking to? Who it was this weekend? I was thinking back to her Trump interview

Starting point is 00:44:59 where she went out to Wisconsin. The guy who was her gas post was outstanding. a few weeks ago. I forget his name. Just occasionally, for my land acknowledgement, affirmative action reference point, there was a dude who actually did a good job. I'm trying to think of who she had. I feel like she had Fetterman this weekend. Anyways, I'm diverting us. Let's talk about Moreno. Well, it's really about Max Miller. And it is about Marino, too, by extension, because he finally, you know, found his proverbial balls and said that his son-in-law,

Starting point is 00:45:27 is him to be former son-in-law, is not fit to serve and has, you know, psychological problems, which is quite clear, there's evidence of him being abusive going back to high school. And then there's the Stephanie Grisham relationship from when, from Trump 1.0 and then obviously what's gone on here. But if you watch the video that he released, he's a complete psychopath and textbook abuser, when he says, if I had assaulted her, would she have cooked me dinner six days later? A hundred percent. And she probably would have had sex with you too, because that's what people who are being abused do, because they're trying to stay safe.

Starting point is 00:46:04 He also put up this drop box file, which I don't think that he realized, had audio that completely undermined him where it's very clear that he did throw the boiling water on her, and you can hear them jockeying back and forth about his intention when he did it, and also weird conversation about needles, because he was doing TRT,

Starting point is 00:46:24 and she said, you know, needles in the bedroom, clearly unsafe, and he abused their daughter. And Bernie Moreno says that, in his statement about it. This weekend, by the way, Welker had Senator Kennedy and had Bernie, if that's what you're thinking of. Kennedy had a really good line about Trump,

Starting point is 00:46:42 where he said that sometimes Trump just really struggles to get his words out, and I guess we're supposed to allow that when it's coming from a president. But did you know this backstory of what people think is the reason that it took Marino so long to say anything about Max Miller? There was an AP report in,

Starting point is 00:47:01 2024 revealing that in 2008, he had a profile on adult friend finder seeking casual sexual encounters with other men. And his campaign denied that he made the account. Yeah. So I don't want to shame anyone. And obviously he passed the book and, you know, was like it wasn't me or whatever, but that you would, if that is the case, and it is just alleged at this point. I mean, it's not alleged that the account existed. It's alleged that he actually was using it to have sexual encounters casually with other men. If you would sell out your daughter and your granddaughter to get some ass, literally, like, I don't know what to say about you.

Starting point is 00:47:48 I mean, it fits in, I guess, with how morally bankrupt they all are. But when I saw that, I was just, my heart sank. And you know that a psychopath like Max Miller would be lording that over him. It's just such a tell that if, more broadly speaking, if you're really homophobic, it means you're soliciting head in airport bathrooms. And you hate yourself so much that you've gone, you're incredibly outwardly punitive towards the community that you're just so ashamed that you're a part of, through no fault of your own. It reminds me of that Minnesota senator who was arrested in the Minneapolis airport bathroom for soliciting sex and was one of the most homophobic senators in

Starting point is 00:48:34 in the Senate. And this whole thing reminded me of Senator Cruz. So Senator Cruz, I believe if somebody insults and makes reference to your wife's looks, sorry, they're done. I understand that people should, you know, proven until, you know, innocent until proven guilty. I understand that You have the proximity to power seductive, but someone insults your wife like that. You don't campaign for them, Senator Cruz. And if there is any credible allegation, any credible allegation,

Starting point is 00:49:09 that a man broke the collarbone of your daughter's daughter, a two-year-old, and there's all sorts of data points and evidence saying that he is capable of that, you don't wait, you don't focus group this, you don't talk to party leaders, you don't try to figure out how to spin this, you behind the scenes and in front of the scenes saying this individual needs to be out of Congress, you move your daughter and your granddaughter immediately into your

Starting point is 00:49:42 house and you call the fucking police and get a restraint, you actually use your power for good and you get a restraining order against this guy the next fucking hour. It's like these men are not men. They are so horny for power that they will, you know, they'll suck the cock of power as their loved ones are being abused. I mean, this is just, these men are so, they have totally lost the script around the whole point of getting to a position of power is so you can protect first and foremost your family. And I do think we have a tendency to that an accusation is a, a conviction. But there are so many data points around this guy. And we're going to find out that everyone in that family knew this guy was abusive. And all this guy could think about was, how do I ensure I cling to power or don't have something embarrassing come about me?

Starting point is 00:50:45 all of this bullshit around family values. I'm trying to, again, deny the rights of teen girls' access to family planning under the auspices of family values. These people are the worst husbands and fathers. This is a red light. This is do not pass go. No excuses. Straight to jail. You're the father of a woman who's in any way enduring this.

Starting point is 00:51:13 it's the next hour. It's not a week later you decide it's politically untenable to continue to say bullshit like he's been saying. So I hope that Democrats just have a field day with what is the Republican family values of not being a man, of not moving to protection, and throwing your wife and your granddaughter down a fucking sinkhole in exchange for what you think is an ability to cling to power. Anyways, that's my indignant speech. Any final thoughts here? No, generally with you. And disappointed the clip that we showed from Merge Brennan's questioning. That was Mike Turner, who actually is like a normie Republican at this point. He's been really good on the war in Iran, pushing the administration saying, you need to ask us for permission. It doesn't seem like what you say is going on is what's actually going on.

Starting point is 00:52:06 And they all just disappoint you eventually. I guess is my overwhelming feeling. But I hope Max Miller and Corey Mills, for that matter, get the grand platinum treatment, as they clearly deserve it at this point. And they shouldn't get to have one of these very, very, very special jobs. We've really degraded the quality of our representatives and that they're all, you know, kind of huddled up defending it is pretty bad. There you go. Let's leave it there, Jess. Have a great rest of the day.

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