Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - Trump’s Putin Deal BACKFIRES as Ukraine Fights Back

Episode Date: October 15, 2026

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov open with a striking headline just 19 days before the midterms: House Republicans are privately bracing for the possibility of losing the chamber. Polls are showing competitive races in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Nevada — in some districts Trump carried by 10 points or more in 2024. Trump is out giving rallies in Texas, Ohio, and Alaska — states Republicans wouldn’t normally have to fight for.  Ukraine has defied Trump’s energy ceasefire. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that his military will resume striking Russian oil refineries — a direct rebuke of Trump’s deal with Putin. A Zelenskyy advisor says Elon Musk’s SpaceX recently imposed restrictions on Ukraine’s drone-mounted Starlink terminals, diminishing their air defenses. Musk responded by avoiding accountability — saying that any limits are set by the military or the president. Scott and Jess ask the bigger question: what is the actual plan for Ukraine right now? Kamala Harris is hitting the campaign trail hard, heading to Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, and more in a rapid-fire midterm push. Those states also happen to be key 2028 battlegrounds. Will she be running for president again in 2028? One Democratic strategist said this week that Kamala “totally blew it” by not going on the campaign trail sooner, and reports say that her husband Doug Emhoff has privately told people he’d prefer she not run. How much of a shadow 2028 race is already underway? Social Security recipients are getting a raise — in 2027, payments will receive their largest cost-of-living boost in four years. Scott and Jessica talk about this in contrast to wage growth and inflation, and brainstorm ways to keep Social Security relevant and funded. Will this have a meaningful impact on the economy and the debt, or is it a routine adjustment? Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with lung cancer at age 71, following surgery to remove a lesion that the Vatican described as successful. The public disclosure marks a dramatic shift in how the Vatican handles papal health — Scott and Jess weigh in on what that transparency signals, and about the moral clarity and technological vision put forth by the first American pope. Get your Pivot Tour Tickets: pivottour.com  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

I'm Anna Garten, and each week on Happy Hour, I invite new and old friends for a drink and a fun conversation at my kitchen table in New York City. On this week's episode, I'm joined by Julia Louis Dreyfus. We talk all about attending a fashion show in Paris together, throwing dinner parties, and making her Broadway debut in other desert cities. New episodes of Happy Hour are available every Wednesday. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Cheers. How much have you spent on your pet's medical care this year? Maybe more than your own?

25 years ago, it was very rare to hear of a pet having an MRI. Now it's kind of standard if a pet presents with an issue. Big corporations and private equity have seen all of this and have rushed into the sector. Why your vet bill is so high, that's this week on Explain It Me. Listen to new episodes, Sundays, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Cassidy Hubbard here. This week on Ann Mom, we spoke with three-time WMBA All-Star, Deerica Hamby, about navigating pregnancy in the public eye, employer supports for expectant mothers in pro sports,

and what it was like returning to the court after giving birth. Check out the latest episode of Ann Mom, wherever you get your podcast. Welcome, Raging Moderates. I'm Scott Galloway. And I'm Jessica Tarleaf. So before we get started, please subscribe to support our show and stay up to date on all the news. Also, I have another podcast. I don't know if you've heard. You do?

I do. Yes, I do. This is the first time hearing of this. Yeah, I have another sister wife, but there's a lot of different dimensions around this relationship such that you should not be threatened. Her name is Kara Swisher. She's fond of glasses and texting me late night and berating me. But anyways, we're taking our show on the road. I think I third live pivot tour across the U.S., Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, and New York City.

Grab tickets before they sell out. I believe we're already our closest sold out in San Francisco and New York City because she's popular in San Francisco. And people like to hate watch me in New York City. Grab tickets before they sell out. You can get your tickets at pivetor.com. That's piveture.com. All right, as we're doing each day up until the race, we're going to have Jess call on her background. as a pollster and her Ph.D. in data sciences? Was that what it was?

It was in political science, but it was a database PhD, so you just, like, mashed them together. Wow, so fancy. Yeah. All right, so let's look at the map. We're watching with just 19 days until Election Day, and here's where things stand. In Texas, a new Maris poll has James Tala Rico leading Ken Paxson by two points. The new Suffolk University poll has Troy Jackson up two points over Susan Collins and in Florida, Cal she gives Democrat, Angie Nixon, just a 9% chance of winning the Senate seat. Any thoughts? Anywhere on the map where you want to start, Jess, anything interesting or any new developments in the last 24 or 48 hours? There have been a lot of debates. They're continuing,

and James Hallerico had a town hall last night, which Ken Paxton was invited to participate in and didn't. I thought he did a stellar job, and I just wanted to say something about his fundraising. 64 million this summer. It's the largest third quarter hall of any Senate candidate in history. He's now raised 134 million in total since he launched his campaign. He will still be outspent by Republicans. And I was talking about this yesterday with Aaron, that the money differential isn't hitting as hard because the Republican ads are not resonating with. people the same way as the Democratic ads are, but there is still this huge cash advantage people should pay attention to. I'm glad we highlighted that Angie Nixon at the just 9%.

It is Florida. And I know that miracle things are going on potentially in like in Iowa, Alaska, or Texas. I just don't think Florida is in the same conversation there. And if you're donating, you might be better served by giving to David Jolly, who seems to have a very competitive race with Byron Donald's on the gubernatorial side. And generally speaking, I just wanted to say something about these governor's races and covered this for the Monday Rage, our newsletter, which I hope everyone is receiving. It's less sexy to talk about governor's races, save for Rob Sand, who is sexy. Is sexy. But the Democratic Governors Association is pumping an enormous amount of money into races that we should be focused on. You know, obviously,

expanding in Texas and we're going to have Gina and Yehosa on the podcast, which I'm psyched about. But Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, like I said, Michigan, Nevada. There are a lot of races that deserve your attention and they have big implications for the future of governance in this country. Governors serve as a backstop against the Trump administration. They also are the guys who just like guys and gals who just get shit done for people within the state. Right. Protect your health.

care, expand rights, quality of life stuff, tracked right to your governor. So just be mindful of the governor's races, too, as we all get jazzed about the Senate map. Yeah, and of course, I never missed an opportunity to talk about how important I am. I was in my second regents meeting, and I think that I know this is public, but they put up a couple slides on what they call the compact with the governor's office in California, and everything he committed to the University of California, and then everything the governor demands in return in terms of enrollments, performance at the universities, access to financial. It is a very thoughtful, rigorous document, and the University of California has really excelled over the last decade or eight years while the

governor's been in office in large part because of this compact. Not only the resources the governor's office has provided, but the demands that in exchange for those resources. So the governor in every state has a real impact on your kid's ability to access affordable education. A lot of people say these local racists, to your point, are actually more important because Washington suffers from such incredible gridlock that in terms of what actually happens to your household, your roads, your school system, local taxation, your fire department of the crime, your city and your community, it's up to the local person. Generally speaking, the people who usually run for president or governors

because people want someone with some operational or executive experience. Anyways, thanks for that, Jess. We'll bust right into the next part of our show. Republicans are bracing themselves to possibly lose the U.S. House of Representatives in just a few weeks. The numbers have been turning in Democrats' favor while polls show competitive races in parts of Kentucky, North Carolina, and Nevada that Trump carried by get this, 10 points or more in 2024.

Trump has been stumping at red states, including Texas, Ohio, and Alaska, where Republicans wouldn't typically have to fight to hold. Meanwhile, the top super PAC for Senate Democrats is throwing around $7 million into the highly contested races in Michigan and Maine. It feels like the Democrats themselves, it's been distributed. The fundraising has never been stronger for the candidates themselves, but at an umbrella level, it's never been weaker. While in Montana yesterday, Trump had this to say about the state of inflation. You know, every once in a while you hear somebody say, oh, tariffs caused inflation. They have it.

Again, we have very little inflation. We have a lot of, you know, energy and stuff. But just if you take a look at just that, so let's say I didn't do those tariffs. And let's say you bought the lumber for it, just a tiny bit less. Wouldn't be much. Maybe it would be more, but just a tiny bit less. You would also have all your sawmills would be out of business, right? So they don't talk about that.

They never mentioned that. Every sawmill would be out of business. Your sawmills are thriving. and so knows. Just thoughts? I get it that he has a lot of energy, except when he's publicly sleeping, but he is not delivering the goods

as far as the messaging out on the campaign trail. And I think it's important to keep highlighting the fact that all of these clips that we're seeing of his campaign rallies are in states that he should not have to be in. And this is very different than 2024, where he was expanding the map and he was on the ballot. you're looking at real vulnerabilities in blood-red states because Democrats, like you pointed out,

have fielded incredible candidates. In Montana, there's an independent Seth Bodner who's running. Go check him out. He is exceptional. But I am struck by the messaging around all of this and how Republicans are refusing to learn from our mistakes. You can't force this messaging down people's throats. And he also said yesterday, which kind of blew my mind, our country is making more money than it ever has made because of the fact that oil is so high. At a time, literally the day the inflation report comes out, 3.7 percent, gas is up 34 percent year over year. It's the most consecutive days in a year that we've had on record of over $4 gasoline. And this is the messaging that they're choosing. They're just continuing to reinforce to the American people. They got us into this

mess. And they have no plan to get us out of it. And they also don't care that they're suffering. Yeah, so to be fair, because America is a net exporter of oil and energy, it's not that we're losing capital overseas, as people might think. The Gulf nations obviously do really well, as does Russia when gas prices go up globally, and the price is set globally, if you will. And because we're net exporter, you could argue that, in fact, we do benefit. But the transfer of wealth is the following. It's a transfer of wealth from every consumer in America who, everything they buy, every, every, item in the grocery store, 20 to 30% of the cost is the cost to get that product to the store. So what you have is a transfer of wealth from every consumer in America to oil and gas

and energy companies and those shareholders. Now you might think, well, that's not that bad. Well, actually it is. So, okay, Chevron and Exxon are doing this great and home prices are up 70, 80% in some oil-driven economies in Texas. But meanwhile, consumers are feeling it everywhere. In addition, gas prices play an especially important role in terms of branding for the current incumbent party, and that is, think about it, every block or every other block as Americans drive around the nation, they get a scorecard on the current administration in the form of a large neon sign that's dynamic. It changes every day showing the price of unleaded, leaded, and diesel.

And so consciously and subconsciously, every day you're getting a lot of. either a positive commercial or a negative commercial on current leadership. It's just, it's like they say the price of diapers, most grocery stores, will sell diapers below cost, because for some reason, moms, who do the majority of the shopping, look at the price of diapers and assign the entire value of the entire store to what is the price of those diapers. So they sell diapers for less than cost, thinking that for some reason moms won't notice the price of whatever, beef or progresso or you know but they remember what the price of diapers are every block there's an ad saying this is what gas costs and also they didn't learn anything from the Biden administration the Biden administration

kept throwing numbers of people meanwhile people felt like the economy was bad and all you have to do is walking to any store one of my greatest disappointments greatest joys and disappointments is that my my 16-year-old is growing like crazy right now I mean he's literally shooting up And every day, if I'm on the road more than a week, I come home and I notice that he's grown and then I listen to a cat Steven song and start sobbing. But he asked me to take him shopping for back to school or fall. He's on his fall break right now. And something that is just incredibly upsetting is he's a fan of vineyard vines, which I just think is the lamest clothes in the world. It's very waspy for the Galloway brand. Yeah. Hello. Can you speak to him?

I mean, sure. I would love to. God. He was, I took him there because I was like, I don't want to judge him fine. And then he started making a move towards belts with whales on them. I'm like, no, that's why I draw the line. I'm sorry. That's it. No whales on belts. Anyways, Vineyard Vines is a, is a premium retailer. I can't get over how expensive everything it is. And then in the grocery store, just, you notice just in the last 12 months, everything from milk to, you know, Diet Coke's to everything has gotten in chicken. He's gotten so expensive. And here's the thing, to not only blame the Trump administration, we had Mark Zandi, the chief economist from Moody's on, property markets, and he basically did the math and said that the war in Iran and tariffs have now cost every American household $2,000. It's like telling people to ignore something, and it just makes them, it just makes them

angrier. And just to go back to some of these races, when Democrats are within margin of error in Texas and Maine, I feel like the map isn't shifting. It's literally tilting. And as you said, Florida is no longer a swing state. It's a retirement community with a voting booth. I mean, that's just, it's just not, it's just not in play. And I agree, Jolly is the only hope we have there. And then when we see the president campaigning in Texas, Ohio, and Alaska, 19 days. out, he's basically defending the fortress. He's not even on the battlefield. And they're pulling money out of a lot of the battlefield races as well. Marky won Senate races down to congressional races that they actually redistricted to be able to win like Henry Quayar's race in Texas. And now they're

pulling out of it. And they got their dream candidate for that race. I want to say your point about the gas prices being the every other block reminder of what's actually going to on is so important. And Lakshah Jane, who's a great Democratic pollster, had this chart that said it's the most important one to understand what's going on in this race. And it's the correlation between the gas prices and Donald Trump's approval. And that it's almost all you need to know about what's going on here. And people are surveying, obviously asking all sorts of other questions. And he said, this is really the thing that you can just, you know, fix your gaze on this one because it's telling the story on grocery prices. You brought up beef. and then even the price of chicken,

another great candidate in a race that we shouldn't even be competitive in Is Scott Collum in Mississippi, running for Senate? And Cindy Hyde Smith, who's the sitting senator, was doing an interview about the cost of things, and they asked her about the price of beef,

and she said, well, you could consider another protein. And he did a hilarious ad. Pick another protein? Shit, I'd rather pick another senator instead. Pick another protein. She don't know. lost a damn mind. I'd rather pick another senator. Pick another protein. What the pick another senator instead. Yeah, that's a great ad.

Hilarious. And I've been overwhelmed by the incredible ads that are coming out of these campaigns that we're not thinking about, like Todd Achilles in Idaho and this Mississippi ad. And it makes you hopeful for what is possible and also the quality of the people. that are running for office because we often bemoan that we can't get the best people to do these things and that we should pay them more and having to be in this inevitable fundraising cycle. And obviously these ads are about fundraising. But I have been really jazzed just to see who's out there trying their hand at winning office and not just just winning office, but taking it in deep, deep, deep, deep red places so that they can chart a

better course for the populace there. Yeah, just to speak to that notion, I think the candidate quality on the Democratic side has been outstanding. Yeah. We have more veterans deciding to run. I think a lot of people are really feel a call to duty and have decided, and have seen enough surprises and weird outcomes. I thought, well, why the hell not? We've seen more. We've seen more veterans. We're seeing more women running. We're saying more people from our security apparatus who are disgusted with how our government and our security apparatus acquits itself. I think the candidate quality has been outstanding. Are you tired of hearing about business, tech, and finance from the bros? We are the Tiger Sisters, a top business podcast with the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Tiger Sisters releases every Monday and we decode money, power, and love. And who doesn't love all those things. We are the internet's Wall Street and Silicon Valley Big Sisters. Tune in every Monday for late night sister talk meets boardroom strategy. Check out Tiger Sisters on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to the Tiger fam. Hi everyone. I'm Kara Swisher. The midterm elections are coming up in a few weeks in control of Congress, the courts, and so much more is on the ballot. I'll be preparing for this critical election by digging into the issues that matter most to voters. And I'll be joined by someone who's been through quite a few historic elections herself. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be my co-host for this special series called High Stakes with HRC.

Hi, Kara. Hey, Hills. New episodes of High Stakes drop on Wednesdays, watch on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast app. You won't want to miss it. We will re-engage students, alumni, and other members of our community to examine how we preserve what is valuable about Greek life. That was Cornell University's president Michael Kotlakov trying to quell some of the anger on his campus in a video address on October 3rd. A few days later, he addressed Cornell's faculty and what he said has since leaked out to the world. And it's clear that he doesn't want an outright ban on frats. He thinks a ban could make matters worse, driving violent behavior off campus and into the shadows.

But clearly, his response wasn't enough for Cornell's community because today, the university announced a ban on fratts. parties for the rest of the academic year. Cornell also says it's going to add experience sexual assault investigators to their police force. The question is, why didn't this happen two years ago when the sexual assault at a campus fraternity was first reported? Or maybe the question remains, why don't we just ban threats? We're going to ask on today, explain from Vox, available in your feeds Monday to Friday.

Let's move literally around the world and get the latest on the war between Ukraine and Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine will resume striking Russian oil refineries in defiance of Trump's claim of an energy ceasefire. It comes after Trump's Russian diesel deal, as well as the sudden loss of some Star Shield access. A Zelensky advisor stated that SpaceX recently imposed a speed limit on Ukraine's drone-mounted Starlink terminals, and the country says the restriction is hurting their air defenses. Elon Musk responded on X saying that Star Shield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government, and that any limits on speed or usage are set by the U.S. military or the president. Let's listen to a clip of Zelensky on Pierce Morgan this week.

It's a pity that we are losing, we are a losing strong partner. So this is my opinion. You think you're losing America? Yeah. But not because of us. I mean, we can't be weak. Otherwise, we can't survive. Otherwise, we will just, we are not selling our country.

Look, guys, it's not about business for us. It's just our life. And this is our country, it's our body. So our home, our children. And this is very important for us. That's why it's painful. When President Trump chooses not our side, but we are okay that he's in the middle,

but if you're in the middle, you have to stay in the middle. I feel like I'm going to cry. I just said this guy has to go around pleading for us to do the right. thing and to not even be on their side, which is the right side, but even just to stay in the middle, because at this point, you can make a very strong case that we're actively helping the Russians with sanctions relief, this diesel deal, you know, pointing fingers, oh no, you did it, you did it, whoever slowed down the Star Shield. And I get it, that it's DOD property at this point. And Elon Musk wants us to think that he's the good guy, but he doesn't activate Starlink

over Russia so that the Ukrainians could find some way to end this. I mean, Zelensky, he gave an interview with the FT, and he talked about that. He said, open Starlink over Russian territory and will destroy Russian ballistic launchers. Then I don't need to hit these energy targets. But don't feed us this load of crap about, you know, the pointing fingers or this was a technical problem. You're not allowed to have a technical problem at that level, first of all. Second of all, we know what you guys think about this.

We know that you think that Ukraine should have a new leader. Trump was talking about that again yesterday, gets Zelensky out of here. And he said over and over again, if the people want something new, they can do that. We can't even have elections because people are living without electricity. People's homes are being destroyed, schools, hospitals, et cetera, because of Russian aggression. And it's so stark. I mean, listening to speeches from around the world, Georgia Maloney, who has a level of clarity about this that I so wish we had in our government, surrender is not peace. It is conquest. What happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine. The Polish foreign minister, similar sentiments, Keith Kellogg, who was the special envoy for Ukraine, saying... What I tell President Zelensky is I don't give them sanctuaries, I burn down every one of the goddamn refineries that Russia has today.

take them all out. And it's getting a new life, a clip of Bill Clinton from 1994, where he's thanking Ukraine for giving up its nuclear weapons and says, in return, the USA will stand by Ukraine's side to preserve its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in the future. Ukraine and the USA share a vision of freedom. It's an excellent point because what this says to the rest of the world is never give up your nukes. and don't trust us. Yeah, never demilitarized, never denuclearized.

Because if Ukraine had said we can't trust Russia, we're holding on to just six nukes. Putin could not have invaded or would not have invaded. And just the notion of Musk hiding behind this ridiculous notion that Starlink and StarShield are different. Starlink is SpaceX's consumer and enterprise satellite internet service. Star Shield is SpaceX's government and defense line built on Starlink. tech and launched in late 2022. I think it's pretty obvious what's going on here. And that is the bad news bears of geopolitical strategy, Kushner and Witkoff, head over to Russia and Ukraine and try to convince Ukraine to basically just surrender, give up. They parrot the talking points of Sergei Lavarov and

Zelensky says, no. So now Trump, in concert with Musk, are basically weakening the defenses of Ukraine, no heads up, shutting off, throttling. A quote-unquote slowdown is a kill switch by a different name. And now more Ukrainian citizens and infrastructure are being killed and destroyed because the president and Elon Musk are coordinating to intermittently and without the knowledge of Ukrainians who become to depend on this technology, throttling it on and off. I think Elon Musk and the president are traitors to the West. And for Musk to just hide behind it and say, well, I have no control over this.

We have essentially decided to outsource national defense to a private citizen who is addicted to ketamine. That's where we have. We privatized the battlefield's nervous system and handed the keys to a guy with a political agenda, a phone, sleeps with a loaded gun next to his bed, and is addicted to ketamine. And the notion somehow, this just isn't much different than if FDR it said, let's buy energy or excess fuel or machinery from Hitler to fund the Nazi war machine as he invades Europe. This is an absolute betrayal of everything the West stands for. Russia's pre-war economy was about 10 times Ukraine's and its population more than three times. Keev was supposed to fall in three days and it's been more than four.

four and a half years. The Ukrainian army, what they have done is literally miraculous and will go down in history as one of the greatest feats of courage and sophistication and warfare by a nation. No one was expecting this. A country with almost no Navy is driven roughly a third of the Black Sea fleet out of action. A country without a Navy defeated a Navy. In Operation Spider-Web used thousand dollar drones to strike one hundred million dollar bombers thousands of miles inside of Russia. Americans are very narcissistic. They think they're kind of like babies.

We always have a tendency to just say Americans are so smart and voters are so smart. I don't think so. I think that the best weapon Russia has is an uneducated American populace that doesn't recognize how important this is to Europe and the West and democracies all over the all over the world. U.S. military aid is a low single-digit percentage of our defense budget over the same period. The best return on investment in Pentagon history was when we were aiding Ukraine, which we have stopped. We've turned off the tap here. And to be clear, to think that she is not watching and thinking about Taiwan through a Ukrainian lens, one, the good news is he's probably more reticent

to invade because he sees what a motivated local populace is technically. sophisticated can do. But at the same time, he's also more likely to invade because he doesn't think America is going to support its allies. The ultimate own goal here is that Putin invaded to stop NATO and got Finland and Sweden. I find this is just so incredibly un-American and strange. Ukraine is literally right now the West's immune system, and it's taking the fever so the rest of the body doesn't have to. Meanwhile, they're not asking for our sons and daughters. They're asking for our ammunition and our integrity to live up to our commitments. We aren't spending enough time talking about this. America seems somewhat naive to it that it's like a baby. If I don't

see it, it isn't happening. I see this as a battle for the West. And to believe that Kushner or Trump is going to negotiate some sort of peace, the peace they want doesn't result in a peace. It just schedules the next war. And that is it would give Russia time to rearm and then decide maybe I take the rest of Ukraine. Maybe I start poking and prodding Finland. It's clear that Article 5 won't be triggered under a Trump or advance administration. And now I've got my eyes on maybe Poland. To think that all of a sudden he's going to stop is just so incredibly stupid.

The lack of support for Ukraine, it's worse than the tariffs. It's worse than a failed war in Iran. I mean, this is going to haunt the West for the next 50 years. Any closing thoughts before we move on? Just to add to your point about the uneducated American populace when it comes to this, if you probably go out and ask the average American, you know, how much we're giving to Ukraine, they would spout off some enormous amount of money, right? And that we're also giving all our weapons.

And the reality is that the Europeans are the ones doing this. All of it, yeah. All of it. And they're paying for their Starlink subscription, too, by the way. And I love that they're calling Musk out about that directly. It was essentially saying, you know, when people rage tweet about like, my flight's delayed Delta and I got no customer service, right? I've been waiting online to talk to someone for four hours. That's essentially what NATO countries are doing to Elon Musk, where they're saying, I'm a paying customer here.

And how dare you or DOD or you in conjunction with the DOD shut down my service at the moment where we need. need it most. The Russians are definitely getting the green flag to keep going. And that's not just with what they're doing in Ukraine. It's also strengthening Iran, which we allegedly do care about at this point. The Chinese and the Russians are backing the Iranians in this. And I know that it moves to the backburner every time that there's a big other story and go, look over here, look over here, look over here. But the Iranians still have many cards left to play. I understand that, you know, we may be more in control of the straight at this point, but they are getting a signal that we will make deals and concessions that are so beneath our principles at, you know, and Western democracy.

If you're going to give billions of dollars of sanction relief and buy diesel from Russians, who's to say that we won't make a deal that, pales in comparison to the JCPOA with the Iranians to get out of the most unpopular war in modern history. And that is deeply, deeply concerning to me. And I get it. They want their checks to clear. They want to build resorts. This is, you know, Jared and Whitkoff. But I always return to Whitkoff's words after he met with Putin, where he said it was a really nice guy, didn't even need a translator. You know, like, I just understand him. He just understands me.

And Putin is still KGB. That's who that guy is. He doesn't have a genuine bone in his body. And we have dopes who are duped doing this for us. There you go. I don't know how anyone can take these people seriously. And yet, I have that undertow of anxiety that people will show up to vote on November 3rd. And they will still support.

a Republican Party that has rubber-stamped all of these decisions of the Trump administration. Yeah, I would argue our folks making these decisions right now on behalf of America are the greatest concentration of useful idiots in history. I don't think the KGB could have ever imagined an asset. I just don't think of their wildest dreams they would have ever thought, okay, we have the world's wealthiest man turning off and on battlefield technology for us, and the President of the United States is now aiding and abetting us and trying to for force the hand of Ukraine to settle. And basically settle or peace in the eyes of the Trump administration is essentially surrender

at this point. Everyone's talking about the prospect of a democratic wave in the midterm elections. But here's something that matters just as much. The battle to control state legislatures. That's the most important thing we should be focusing on right now. The GOP has a trifecta in 23 states, which means they control the governor's seat, plus the State House and the State Senate. For Democrats, it's 16 states.

Meaning that the opportunity to pass the policies that the majority of our state supports, things like increasing minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, codifying abortion. If Democrats flip just a handful of state legislatures, the majority of Americans will now live in a state under full democratic control, which could have big policy implications.

That's all on the table with the Democratic trifects. This week on America, actually, we're in Wisconsin, and we talk to Francesca Hong. We have an opportunity through Wisconsin to actually start improving the brand for Democrats. Catch us every Saturday on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. What if we told you there was one thing you could eat to reduce your risk of death by about a quarter? Interested? And what if we added that this magical substance can dramatically lower your cholesterol, improve your mood, and keep your weight stable? No, it's not protein. It's actually fiber, the least sexy, most overlooked nutrient of all.

But what is fiber? How could one nutrient do all those amazing things? And how can you get enough? Is a powder you stir into some water going to do it for you? All that plus the strange tale of the gorilla poop obsessed father of cornflakes in the latest episode of Gastropod. Find Gastropod and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Could Russian sabotage drag Europe into a wide? war? This scenario where there is a verified, kinetic sabotage attack on an airport or rail hub in a European city that results in civilian fatalities, this would present a very hard question for NATO. What do you do? I'm John Feiner.

And I'm Jake Sullivan. We're the hosts of The Long Game, a weekly national security podcast. This week, how could Europe respond to Russian sabotage and how far should it go? The episode is out now. search for and follow the long game wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's bring it back to the United States. After a stop to campaign in Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris will head to Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire,

and more in a rapid-fire attempt to get Democrats elected in the midterms. Those states also happen to be key states. I just love how she's decided to held Democrats in key states for a 2028 race. Yeah, what does that mean? Questions remain around Harris running, really? Is there really a question here? this week, a Democratic strategist and a new political piece says she totally blew it by not hitting the ground running in the last year. And there are separate reports that her husband, Doug Emhoff, has privately told some people he would prefer she didn't run. I just love that these people pretend their spouse has any fucking say. When you marry a narcissist and you have to be a narcissist to run for president, you just have to be. You're signing up to do whatever the fuck they want and they will use their family and talking to their family as a proxy for, I don't want to run, but the calling is so strong because I'm just so fucking awesome enough already. This is entirely up to them and their spouses get to do whatever they decide

to do. They signed up for it. I find this somewhat comical. And by the way, I'm not one of those people that she shouldn't run. I think she should run and she's going to see her poll numbers. She's polling, she has the biggest poll numbers right now. I think that's largely name awareness. I think, again, I just think she's a terrible candidate. I think she's a, my sense is a good person. I think she made a great justice. It was a good senator. She really fucked up not running for California governor. That would have been, she would have walked into that.

But the notion that Newsom and Harris are thinking about running, meanwhile, you know, Newsom isn't in New Hampshire for the foliage. They can pretend to be there to be helping other candidates, and they do help other candidates. But it's just insane that we believe these people are still considering it. Let's look at an interview with the vice president of Kiki Palmer. She was asked directly if she was running. Let's watch. Before I really let you out of here.

Are you running for president? Oh, girl, come on. No, you're not getting out of here. We have to know this. You know the people want to know. Are we going to get another moment to see it? I haven't decided. I haven't decided yet.

I will. I promise. We'll be waiting to hear. But the midterms, the midterms, the midterms. Okay, the midterms. 28 doesn't matter If we don't do 26 right That's right in front of us

Yeah focus on the present Please Yeah One of the things I respect About Rahm Emanuel In addition to being He's kind of the Hillary Clinton At this race

I think he's probably the most qualified candidate Is that He's out of the closet I mean he's like Yeah I'm running Of course I'm running I think Mayor Pete is basically said he's running These guys playing the reluctant

and bride, it just, I think it's a bad look. If they want to say, I want to see if I get enough support, but if I have enough support, I'll run, that would at least be a more honest answer. But if there's anything resembling an opening, a tiny opening, these people are all in. None of them are going to say, yeah, I'm polling, I'm polling number one. But I've decided, you know, I sat down with my family and we decided, we just decided to kind of take it easy the next four. You will never hear that. I mean, I have a particularly unenviable position that I also work in conservative media. So clips of Kamala Harris are the lifeblood of the news cycle, of her laughing, of her dodging, of running over her record, how she blew it.

She did this wrong, that wrong. Like she, you know, dropped out in 2020 before even any votes were cast. She didn't make a dial-a-dala. Right. You know, what did she accomplish? Like, I'm so sick of it. And I get it that I live in a different place than most people when it comes to this. But it does complicate the swirl around the race and our chances in the midterms. And I'm glad to see that she's going on the campaign trail. And I'm sure she will be very useful to the candidates who she is stumping with, especially with core demographics. Black women love Kamala Harris. That is the most reliable democratic constituency that exists. That's a really big deal. That also keeps her, besides the name recognition, but that keeps her atop of these early straw polls as to, you know,

who would be the nominee. But I generally feel like this should be a head-down moment and not a chit-chat moment, frankly. And I think that it just creates these side shows. when there are tight races all over the country where there are candidates who have no business being close or even slightly ahead in ruby red places where Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not particularly popular. And people don't want to be reminded that actually you are part of that team. You know, they want to look at you as some folks obviously are running as independent candidates,

but left leaning. They want to see you as someone who stands on their own two feet. Someone who like, and I've said it a million times, but I just love the Talarico says, let's turn Texas purple, not let's turn Texas blue. And it feels like a reminder all the time of the quote unquote blue team. And that is difficult for people that are down ballot. I, you know, that race, the 2024 race, she undoubtedly saved Senate seats for Democrats. You don't have Gallego winning. You don't have Slotkin winning if it's Joe Biden on the top of the ticket. Just impossible. But at this moment, I really want, like, I head down the hard work of getting people to the polls, turning out the vote, and hammering Democrats' message on

making America more affordable, getting us out of stupid wars, building affordable housing, you know, getting you decent health care and everyone having access. So in other news, shocker of all shockers, old people are about to get more money. Retirees. are going to get a 3.6% raise tied to cost of living in the new year. It's the largest increase since 2023. So effectively, Social Security, the cost of living adjustment, it's a 3.6% raise, the biggest since 2020, versus 3.1% private wage growth. So while Americans see their wage is not keeping up with inflation, seniors, through Social Security and the fact that we keep electing old people who vote themselves more money, in other words, retirees are getting a bigger

raise than workers. We're turning into France, folks, and that's not a good thing. Social Security, let me be clear, is the most effective anti-poverty program in history. It is outdated. Jessica Tarlover, Scott Galloway should not get Social Security. People are working much longer. They're living much longer. And young people cannot afford to continue to support a demographic where it used to be 11-1 young people to two retirees. Now it's gone to three-to-one.

This, again, is another generational transfer. Young Workers' Fundraises for the wealthiest generation in history. The largest transfer of wealth in history goes from young people in America to the wealthiest generation in history, boomers. We're facing a cliff, a 23% cut as soon as 2033 unless we shore up Social Security. We keep giving raises on a credit card that maxes out in seven years. It's like getting upgraded to business class when the plane is low on fuel. We have this bridge in a few hundred yards, but every few years we repaint the bridge. if we're serious about funding Social Security, we need to lift the payroll tax cap.

Someone working for me that makes $160,000 pays around $8,000 or $9,000 a year in Social Security tax. Someone who makes $160 million a year pays $8,000 or $9,000 a year. We need to lift the cap. Social Security tax is a regressive tax. It's a promise that we have kept to our parents. And the way we keep that promise to our parents, quite frankly, is by breaking one to our kids. Something has got to give here. You know, I'm not surprised to see that AARP and the Senior Citizens League are out saying that

even this adjustment, the 3.5 percent, doesn't keep up with inflation. And I'm sure that that is true for the folks who really rely on their social security checks. And I guess my broader point or question back to you, like, how do we make talking about Social Security going insolvent sexy for people. Because, you know, these are conversations that in wonky rooms are taking place or when a candidate meets with, you know, certain sections of society or like a business community meeting or, you know, maybe with even some wealthy donors, but obviously you can't walk into a diner and, you know, talk to people over their pancakes and bacon and say, you know, what I'm really focused on is means testing social security and making sure that, you know,

we're fiscally responsible about this. No one wants to hear that, especially in campaign season. So I'm curious as to what you think. I mean, you have plans for how we can actually make the program solvent. But in terms of the messaging around this, what would you recommend? I think you have to link everything back to affordability in the following. Okay, interest rates on your mortgage, your auto loan, your credit cards, your kid student loans have all gone up. You're paying $100, $300, $1,200, $1,200 more a month because of high interest rates. High interest rates are a function of fiscal irresponsibility by your government. There's going to have to be some hard decisions. It sucks to be a grown-up. America is a household that takes in $50,000 a year in tax receipts. It spends $70,000, and it has

$400,000 in debt. And that debt is going to be inherited by your kids unless we get our house in order. And one way we need to do that is we need to go Chinese and think more longer term. And that isn't, to be fair, Trump, the baby bonds were a great idea. They were just executed shocker poorly. If you gave $7,000 to every newborn, it would cost $40 billion a year. That's not a lot as a percentage of our budget. And what does that mean? You infantilize them.

You put it in an S&P fund. They can't touch it until they're 65. And if the S&P keeps performing the way it has over the last 120 years, when they turn 65, they have a million dollars. And then in 30 years, maybe in 20 years, you say, you know what? In 20 or 30 years, we're no longer going to need Social Security. And the second largest line item in the budget is going to go to zero. Interest rates will begin to fall and everything will get more affordable. If you want more affordable groceries, rent, car payments, student loan payments, we need fiscal responsibility. Will it involve tough decisions? Yes. But not that tough,

because the majority of cuts can come from people who don't need it, and the majority of revenue increases can come from people in corporations that can pay it. As a percentage of GDP, corporate taxes have never been lower. As a percentage of taxes paid by the wealthy, they have never been lower. So this is about affordability. You want more affordability, then mom and dad need to start behaving like grown-ups. And then outline exactly what that means. We're going to means test Social Security.

We're going to put the age limit back. We're going to have baby bonds for real estate. retirement, such as long term, we no longer need Social Security. We're going to have an alternative minimum tax for people making over a million bucks a year. We're going to have corporate taxes that go back to the 90s or pre-Trump. And before you know it, the entire bond market is going to look at Americans and go, oh my gosh, the adults are back home from fucking parting and doing tequila shots and ayahuasca and mazalon and they're behaving like the grownups. They're supposed to be. And interest rates, i.e. affordability will come down. But I think you tie it

directly back to affordability. There needs to be an adult in the room such as an interest rates come down and your things become, your items become more affordable. Also, a more wonky conversation that's probably not a bumper sticker around antitrust. We have to break up companies such that their lower rents on consumers, reverse the flow of capital and power from laborers and consumers to owners. Owners have just kicked the shit out of consumers through consolidation from a slumbering FTC and labor has absolutely no fucking power anymore. We need to reverse those flows. Anyways, long-limited way of saying affordability, affordability, affordability.

And you can tie fiscal responsibility to affordability for us in the medium and the long term. Can we get that on a bumper sticker, Jess? Yeah, definitely. Just on like a Yukon. There you go. Yeah. So some sad news here. L. Papa, Pope Leo the 14th, has been diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 71, following a surgery to remove a lesion from his lung.

The Vatican described the operation of success with no complications. Like, this is obviously very upsetting. This is a wonderful pope. Thoughtful, understands technology, incredibly articulate. The only good news here is this does represent a modernization of the Vatican. The Vatican used to treat the Pope like he had a direct line to the gods. and talking about illness was somewhat taboo because it made him sound more mortal. The transparency here is actually a really good sign, as are so many other things coming out of the Vatican since this Pope took over.

So we absolutely hope that this Pope is able to take advantage of some of the wonderful advances we've made with medical research, with an embrace of institutions, with an embrace of universities, all the things are under attack right now, and that he has a fast recovery. Any thoughts on El Popper? before we sign off here, Jess?

I mean, I don't know if it's just that an American loves the American Pope, but I am crazy about this guy. Even, I mean, he says some things and believes in some things that I don't. But I love his willingness to wade into

controversial waters and to be so transparent with people. And I feel like them talking about their, this diagnosis is emblematic of that policy and that it it touches all aspects of what he does in this job. So I think it's a good thing that they told us. I hope that they are right, that he will be fine, and that this is the totality of the diagnosis and the prognosis for the

future. Speedy recovery. The world needs his moral clarity and his willingness to wade into the arena when he feels like it's necessary. And I think it's a wildly good thing for society. writ large, and we didn't get to talk about it. And maybe we will in a separate conversation about AI. You probably did on other pods, because I've heard you have other pods. But I thought his statement on AI was some of the most interesting fodder for thinking about the biggest issue of our time. And you don't expect that from a Pope. And I hope that we have many, many more years of him playing this important role in the world. So let's leave it there, Jess.

As an Easter egg and a gift to our listeners and viewers, we're going to play a clip from Representative Andy Harris after his debate with Dan Schwartz when he crashed out. When he blamed Democrats' environmental policies for high fuel costs, literally the audience began to laugh. And then he was interviewed post-debate. This is his debate. Enjoy. Enjoy.

And you're welcome. The facts are that diesel prices have. gone up. There's no question about it. Why has it gone up? Because the Democrats, environmental regulations have not... Ma'am, I got to tell you that this is the problem. You all say you believe there's a First Amendment, but only if you agree with you. You should let me finish the sentence, ma'am. You are rude.