Some More News - Even More News: Don't Shoot People!

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

Hi. "Last Week Tonight" writer Daniel O'Brien joins Katy and Cody to talk about the rumors that Joe Biden may soon back out of his reelection campaign, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life, the RNC, JD Vance, and retainers. Just another normal news week. If you want to replace your multivitamin and more, start with AG1. Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first subscription at https://drinkAG1.com/morenews Blueland is on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic by reinventing cleaning essentials to be better for you and the planet, with the same powerful clean you’re used to. Right now, get 15% off your first order by going to https://blueland.com/morenews Right now, Hungryroot is offering Some More News viewers 40% off your first delivery and free veggies for life. Just go to https://Hungryroot.com/MORENEWS to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies. You gotta check out the new softside Luggage from Away. Head on over to https://www.awaytravel.com/smn 0:00 - Intro 2:24 - Is It Joever Now? 12:29 - Trump assassination attempt 33:39 - JD Vance Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mLuLr0MALVQ Check out our MERCH STORE: https://shop.somemorenews.com SUBSCRIBE to SOME MORE NEWS: https://tinyurl.com/ybfx89rh Subscribe to the Even More News and SMN audio podcasts here: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/some-more-news/id1364825229 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ebqegozpFt9hY2WJ7TDiA Follow us on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SomeMoreNews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SomeMoreNews/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomeMoreNews/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@somemorenews

Hello and welcome back to Even More News, the first and only news podcast. What's your name? Katie, I'm Katie Storm. Hi, Katie. Hi. Welcome back to me saying my name is Cody. How are you doing? Great, I'm great because we have

such a wonderful guest today. I'm sure a lot of you already know him. Formerly a writer for crack.com with us. Currently senior writer for last week tonight. I don't know, five, six nominations over the course of your career. Don't answer that, because I haven't introduced you yet. And perhaps his most esteemed accolade, our friend,

Daniel O'Brien. Hello. Daniel, how many nominees have you been nominated for? As of this... six nominations as of yesterday. We just got... the nominations just came out. So it's very... it's it's frankly too many. It's a lot. That's enough. I'm trying... a lot doesn't have to be too many. It can just be a lot. Yeah. Sure. Say it's a lot. It's awesome. Congratulations, Daniel. Thank you so much. That's very exciting. We're very proud of you. And with us still again is Jonathan. Oh, yeah.

Jonathan's back this week. Welcome back. Also here, also back. Happy to be back. We missed you. My favorite voice in podcasting. The joke was, is Will the new Jonathan? Never.

We love Will. There's no new Jonathan. There's no new Jonathan. Ever. We have not very much news to talk about this week. It's a slow week. That's a lie, we have so much news. But first we gotta talk about some holidays

just to keep the mood. Are they good holidays or are they? No, July 19th International Retainer Day. Did you guys have retainers? Do you still? I was supposed to wear one that I didn't, because I did Invisalign for a while. And I would take both my Invisalign and then later

my retainers out of my mouth while I slept. And my dog used to sleep in the bedroom with me. And if I took something out of my mouth in the night, he would fight it and chew it up. Of course he would. I was tired of paying for and repaying for retainers. So I just stopped using them. That works.

Okay. There's another holiday, but I think we should just get to the news. And there's just so much news that happened. I don't know if you heard, but both presidents almost died this week. I just can't keep track of all the stuff that I want to talk about. But let's start with is Biden dropping out for real now? It's possible, if not probable? It seems closer. And you know what's very fascinating

is that I was listening to your episode last week, and you've articulated something that I've been feeling very strongly, which is that the calls for him to consider resigning had gotten too relentless and impossible because everyone kept coming out of the woodwork and saying, he really needs to consider this and like I'm going to withhold my support until he decides whether or not he's running. And it seemed like an endless merry-go-round where it was like, he said he's running, shut up, get behind him, get in line, we're doing this thing.

Like I don't know, like how many more times can he say I'm gonna run, I've decided I'm gonna go through with this, and you articulated that better than I did just now, but that is like the sentiment that I felt and agreed with. Whether you want him to run or think he's fit to run, or not, the idea of waiting for like, the extra super special spectacular, I'm definitely running.

That's not gonna happen. And in the meantime, we're spinning our wheels, wasting so much time. That said, today, like an hour ago, President Obama was like, he should really consider whether or not he's fit to run, his potential for victory is shrinking, and like at this point, I don't wanna say that's the ball game

because I'm not a predictor of news or anything like that. Or ball games. Or ball games. It does seem like, what is the mood gonna be at the DNC if everyone knows that all of these high ranking favorite members of the Democratic Party don't think their guy is fit. All of them. Almost all of them.

Could happen. The vibes are going to be real bad if that happens. Yeah, the vibes are going to be really bad. That's not the kind of party I want to attend where everyone's like, ugh, you know? This feels like the time when the tides are shifting. Should have happened already should have been much quicker decision, but Yes, Obama coming out Chuck Schumer reports Nancy Pelosi hasn't

Said it officially leaks right none of them have they're not giving a speech It's just clear like it's this this like stretching out of it does It's getting closer to feeling inevitable and I know like we go back and forth I go back and forth on it every day because like in the morning you get this report of like Oh Pelosi's in there and like oh, it's Jover and then like Betty evening He's like, oh he put a sentence together and now everyone's like back on the on the team and for Joe ever for Joe ever And that's every single day Like back on the team. For Joe Ever. For Joe Ever.

And that's every single day. But it does seem like it's just piling up and piling up and seeming inevitable. I'm waiting for the Jill and Hunter report leak. Where it's like, Hunter's getting in on the push now. Which is like, what's going to do it, apparently? So what has changed this week other than Obama? I mean, do we want to talk about the thing that happened or do we want to talk about him getting COVID?

Well, I was I was setting us up for COVID. I know the answer. He has COVID. He just said that he would not run if he got diagnosed with a major medical condition. And then he did. I would argue that it's major enough to count. It's not like COVID is a certain age. There are so many different factors to that.

But I think he was referring to like, if doctors like, oh yes, dementia, Parkinson's, not when I get COVID for the fourth time. But we all know what COVID can do to one's body and brain. It's a frustrating thing because now part of me is like, okay, so now he has this sort of built-in excuse to not be seen in public, which kind of softens the sort of like every single time he goes out on stage or in an interview. Now there's like a moment that's like, that's not great. So you have this sort of like, oh, it's so now he is excuse for if he does another bad performance because last time

was a cold, this time it's COVID. I don't know. It just doesn't seem great. It's a real bummer. It's real tough. I have personally flip-flopped more than I thought was, because I was so like lockstep. He's the nominee, everyone just shut up. Even when the debate was really bad,

which it was definitely bad. It was, wasn't it? It was bad. The timing of this crisis of faith moment for the Democrats annoyed me so much. Even if I agree with some of it, it's like my coworker Kay said this a few weeks ago after the debate and everyone was clutching their pearls and freaking out.

She was like, I know this is so nauseating. If only we'd known Biden was old months ago. It's like, yeah, that's the point. That's the thing. He's old, he's been old. Five months before the election is not the time to question. That's why, that's what's even more like frustrating to me because like-

It can't have been the debate that changed your mind. Right, that was the moment where it was unavoidable. Like it seems like the kind of thing where for many months, a lot of people in his circle and like various lawmakers, people in media have kind of known that, yeah, it's not just that he's old, it's like he's like declining. Because you know, like when you get a certain age, it's not just like, oh, it's like, oh, it's you, they have's old, he's declining. Because when you get a certain age, it's not just like, oh, they have big drops

and then you kind of plateau and then it gets worse and so on, and it seems like they've kind of known this maybe since the primaries. That would have been nice if they fucking said anything then. But it seems like the debate was just sort of like, oh, we can't pretend anymore. Everybody has seen this for not just like a moment, but like everyone's seen this for 90 minutes

or two hours, however long it was. And it sucks that it is now because it could have been any other time and it would have been so much easier. I mean, I agree. It's like now is not the time for it. It should have been before, but it's felt clear for a long time

that this was not looking good. And trying to spin it as, oh, that's just bad faith, or that's ageist, or he's just as good as ever, is just a blatant lie. And if some of us, if the rest of us, if we could see it from our vantage point that this isn't looking good, they absolutely did on their end and are just doing it anyway.

Yeah, I mean, look back at like all these quotes from like people in their 40s who work in the White House, like actually he's like smarter and sharper than me. He's like, he's more energetic than I am. What are you talking about? Liar. If that's true, something's wrong, go to your doctor.

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That's blueland.com slash more news to get 15% off. I don't want to spend too much time talking about Biden because I think that's going to change rapidly in the next few days. And we've done a lot of that and a lot's been going on. Speak on that. Jonathan, what happened this week? This past weekend? Are you talking. Jonathan, what happened? What happened in the news? This week, this past weekend.

Are you talking about Donald Trumping shot? Yeah. Donald Trump was shot? What? They're talking about that one? I thought he just fell down. That's what my mom said. I figured, I was like, well, we're more than 10 minutes

into this episode. Maybe they talked about it last week. No, it's happened since last week. Oh my God, okay. No. Just getting the Biden stuff out of the way. Yeah, the former president was shot. We're going in reverse.

We're doing like, we're like answering an email, right? You're like, well, you start like the last thing they said, then you kind of work back up and then. What about this do you want me to recap? Because I feel like everyone knows. Yeah, that's fair, Jonathan. Let's just start off with, I don't know, where were you guys when Donald Trump was shot at?

I don't know. I was in Hawaii. I can answer that because it was, for people who don't know, I had like, this was a Saturday that it happened. And I was hunkered down all Saturday with my fiance doing wedding planning stuff and we thought, we accomplished a whole lot of wedding planning stuff,

let's take ourselves out to a nice dinner, early dinner. We went to a tiki bar restaurant on the marina overlooking the water. It's beautiful where I live here in New Jersey and because we spent so much time looking at computers and phones doing wedding stuff, we were just like being present, sitting, having a meal, sipping cocktails together, not thinking about our phones. And then you just start to hear from the tables around you from people mumbling and telling waiters it's like you sit there like so how was your day outside of the wedding playing Oh president Trump shot we're like what it is don't look at your phone don't be your phone and you hear like more tables that is just like you're watching the

news spread around our book like teeming sweat and we're like let's just take a break and look at our phones real quick and And then we're just glued to our phones. And then they're stuck. And then they're watching someone. Two romantic partners being like, can I be the first person to say, I wanna see what the deal is with Trump being shot? Is that rude?

Really having a great time with you. This is not more important than our love, but like, it's a little bit more important than our love. Can I just say? And it was like, well, you're experiencing this moment together, so that's lovely. There's a beauty to that moment and day for you specifically. Stepping aside and then the world forcing you to go back into it.

Especially being in the particular bubble that we're in, because New Jersey is a blue stronghold, but there are certainly pockets of red. And as I mentioned, I was at a marina where people have money. So there was some great deal of red around us. In fact, the day that this happened, completely unrelated, hours before the assassination attempt, we look at our backyard, our backyard is a river,

and there was a like 600 person strong boat parade in our backyard for Donald Trump. Just everyone with their Trump flags and there are people doing cosplay Trump just like hugging their boat horns and just going around in circles and we are like very much the minority in this town and we're like that's an interesting thing to happen today we go out to a restaurant so even as we're like hearing this news we're acutely aware of where we are and and it's it's like dawning on us this might not be an incredibly safe don't react yeah yeah it's not a place where like we couldn't tell the temperature of what anyone else at any of the other tables was feeling about the news we're just watching people who are just like, everyone is just the

facts, ma'am. Everyone is just doing like, shot. Oh no, look at this picture. There's blood on his ear. Oh wow, he's standing up. He's got his fist in the air. He's really, he's gonna be talking about that for a long time. And even as they're editorializing, he's gonna be talking about that for a long time, we're still like, that could go either way. They could either think like, he's gonna be talking about that for a long time in an annoying way or in a long time. We're still like, that could go either way. They could either think like, he's going to be talking about that for a long time in an annoying way or in a victorious way. Right. He won't shut up about this. You're like, he better not shut up about this. They're probably, there's probably plenty of people there also watching exactly the

tenor of their words and like making sure that they're like, non-descript. We're all looking around. Yeah. It's a bizarre thing to have in. I mean, the whole thing is very bizarre, actually, when you start to drill down into Yeah, it's a bizarre thing to happen. I mean, the whole thing is very bizarre actually, when you start to drill down into it. And it's difficult to talk about without treading into conspiracy theory territory as well. Yeah, anything.

He was injured, not badly, which is good. Right. We didn't watch his head explode on television. He is definitely walking around with a giant bandage on his ear. He is. Wondering a giant bandage on his ear. Wondering when that's going to come off. Inning into it.

I know. So curious what the state of that ear is underneath. It could go either way because he could have part of his ear missing, which he might want to hide for personal reasons, or there might be nothing visible at all and he's like well if people see they're gonna think nothing whatsoever it might make it look less bad and I got a yeah like I could see Trump wearing this bandage for either or like getting some sort of area or an unnecessary reason what if he just wore it forever I mean the people are already wearing their own and solid and solid the RNC people have to wear it forever then too.

The gunman was killed seconds after the shooting. This was 20 year old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Lots of conversations about Crooks. He does appear. He was a registered Republican who also apparently donated to Act Blue $15. His classmates would say that he was conservative, but also that he hated all politicians. Immediately in the wake of this, it was starting to be framed as this is Democrats' fault, or maybe the suspicious, maybe this was a plan for the Democrats, or it's all because of Democrats, you know.

Rhetoric, the fiery rhetoric. Rhetoric, our fiery rhetoric, as which, of course, the right has none. Well, so like, yeah, I mean, Donald Trump's never called all Democrats evil or demonic pedophiles. Never. Right. He's not in that game.

He's a nice man. The whole thing is like really absurd and frustrating for so many reasons. Also, like, don't shoot people. I'm just going to say that. Yeah. Yeah. Like even the clip, like I just guns make me so uncomfortable. I fucking hate them. Violence is bad. I don't. Stop shooting people. And I forgot what I was going to say.

That made me need to say that you waiting for applause For your for your bold what a brave thing to say Cody Oh kudos, man And my brave stance. Oh, no It's bad, um, and I it everyone's like, I see I'm searching for like like who do who we're blame? And every Trump fan or conservative is like, oh, clearly it was like a lefty trans person or whatever so that they can do their thing. And then you get this slow trickle of information like, oh no, they were kind of just like a weird bullied kid

who was like a Trump fan and a Republican and like had these sort of like, you know, school shooter vibes. It was reported earlier today that he, it seems to be, he was just looking for somebody to shoot like a, a high official. Like he was like, it could have been Biden. It could have been Christopher Ray. He was looking at it. I will just add some context of that. The FBI specifically did saying that his electronic devices

contained searches for Trump, for Biden, for Merrick Garland, for Christopher Wray, et cetera. That's how we have that information. It's just interesting to see like the sort of like, you know, they're at the RNC, Eric, Trump's sons are saying like, they tried to kill him. And like JD Vance is up there saying like, they tried, they even tried to kill him. Who is they? What are you talking about? It has nothing

to do with anything you're implying. And they can't but they can't say like we think Joe Biden tried to get him killed or anything. They just have like well no but they but they lizard but they can and they will they do but they can and they will, they do, but. They can and they will. And like I had the same, a lot of like very natural morbid curiosity of wanting to find out who the shooter was and what their affiliations were like anybody else. But then that part of my, the curiosity part of my brain got immediately overridden with the cynical part of my brain

that's been following politics and working in a news-adjacent field for six or seven years now, that it doesn't totally matter. It was always going to be one donation to the ACLU or Black Lives Matter, or any liberal progressive organizations whatsoever. It's one donation, or it's one club affiliation or it's one quote from one source who knew him in school that links him to anything left and then the narrative is radicalized antifa terrorist encouraged by Biden and the Democrats takes a shot at at President Trump like this this is there's they only need the the flimsiest most tenuous connection to make the narrative. And they don't even really need that, honestly. Someone taking a shot at another person is your narrative.

That's all you need. This person wanted to take out this other person. We're going to decide why. They're our guy. They're your enemy. That's the narrative. Yeah. that's the narrative. And immediately, like I was in a car of someone who was listening to conservative radio,

and then like he quickly turned it off. This was a stranger to me. It was just someone I was talking to. Yeah, I just, I'm just like getting in the car, and I was like, what's on the news? Like, is this a lift? Was like a, I volunteer at our pantry, and we were driving from one spot to another spot,

and his radio was on when we turned on the car. And he quickly turned it off so there was no politics. But there was like, this was a Monday after the shooting and there's like 10 seconds maybe that I'm hearing what this radio station was. And it was someone saying, in the middle of a thought saying, what do you think is going to happen for eight years when the Democrats are saying he's a fascist, he's gonna end democracy, he's a Nazi, and then the Rideau cuts out and just like,

yeah, it's a compelling narrative, that certainly is the story that's gonna get run with, 1000%. It is the story that's gonna get run with. Like, forget nuance, that's a good narrative. But it's also true for the other side, because that's what they say about the left. Well, that's the frustrating thing is that.

Obviously, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but it's extremely frustrating because it's verbatim. They say the same things right back. Donald Trump is going to save democracy and protect us from fascism, you see. Well, if you're talking about. They encourage violence. Yes, constantly against protesters,

against Democrats, against everybody, all their enemies, which it's a big club, their club of enemies. And it's especially frustrating when you see like the media like just instantly bite on that. There's a clip of it's a Lester Holt interview with current President Joe Biden, COVID-haver. Ah, that one. Trying to like needle about the rhetoric and the fiery rhetoric and stuff. First of all, the fever pitch of the nation was elevated by one person. And if you can't at least, whether or not like,

oh, it's the Democrats and they amped it up even more. If you can't acknowledge that he sounds childish, he started it. He's a fucking vicious bully of a man his whole success was bullying and shitting on everybody in his party until he elevated himself. Another version of that conservative radio could be what do you think is gonna happen when the Democrats are out here comparing the former president to an alley cat like her rhetoric is so much tamer than the other

side's rhetoric. Exactly. They're gonna be throwing day old bagels at Trump. And they're gonna be squirting a little water at him. Again, like you have this and you've got this narrative like, oh, and you're saying like, oh, he's Hitler or like, oh, he's JD Vance quote there. He's an enemy of democracy. Well, what happened on JD, like, he literally is. Like, you need to say facts and be able to say facts without it being like, oh, you're you you're you're fire.

You're at it. Well, he literally tried to get these fake electors to steal the fucking election. What are you talking about? Yeah. And so in this in this Lester Holt clip, he's talking about like Biden's fiery alley cat rhetoric. And he mentions this report of this call he had about how like, you know, we need to put the bullseye on Trump or whatever. He's talking about the campaign and like we need to focus on Trump. Casually said the word bullseye. And Lester Hulse like trying to get him to be like,

I shouldn't have said that. And it's like, do you think the fucking shooter heard Joe Biden say bullseye in a private phone call that was leaked after the shooting? Like, what are we doing? What are we talking about? Why are we doing this? It's just absurd.

He did start it. He started it. But the media does play up things and the media clicks and all of that. But at its core, the things that he's saying and wants to do are the scary bad things. He is ratcheting up the rhetoric. It's worth remembering that we didn't, this isn't our playbook, I'm saying our, this isn't

the left's playbook. No one was saying don't elect John McCain or Mitt Romney because they're fascists who are going to end democracy. They're saying don't elect John McCain because he's, don't know at the time considered quite old. I forget Yeah, but yeah these conversations started with Donald Trump um and I did mention this I will say yeah This was a very poorly run Security however, I don't know bad to blame. They did a bad job. But there's no world where that building should have been left unprotected or unguarded when

you look at it. And at first, I've really tried to be not reactive here and look at everything because you can see someone's video and I'm like, that looks damning and then wait for the next. But it does consistently seem that this was a major oversight. And their protocol that they followed after the shooting as well, apparently you're supposed to,

and this is all hearsay, you know, people talking about stuff, but it's any means necessary you get that president off the stage. You do not let him stand up and raise his fist, for example, when mere seconds after he's been shot at. That isn't something you do.

You don't let him get his shoes. It's bizarre. It is, it's just, like you're not, the protocol is protect the president at all costs or the former president. You cover them with your body. If they're fighting, you break their legs and carry them off.

Like if there's bodily injury that you have to do to protect their life, is the way it's been presented to me. That could be wrong, but it does make sense that you're not letting the president do this. For anybody not watching, I am raising my fist in the air. Oh, it looked to me like you were smearing fake blood on yourself while cowering and standing up. You don't do this. You don't do that either. You don't do this. Yeah.

It is weird. It's fishy feeling or something where I see how it feels that way. Well, that's the thing. It's like it's I mean, with any event like this, there's going to be theories about this kind of stuff. Like, oh, the deep state or this or like there's a conspiracy going on. And it like at at minimum,

they did a bad job and they're incredibly incompetent. It's very weird. There are people pointing at the shooter before it happened. Many, many, many videos of people pointing out the shooter. Yeah. So I have no opinion either way. This kid seems like very disturbed and again, like sort of a school shooter profile type of person,

which we know happens. It's weird that it happened. I do find it- Totally, Cody, sorry, I don't wanna- Go for it. I don't wanna breeze past that. Totally, it's so weird that it happened. It's so weird that it happened. It's like nuts. It's crazy.

It's like wild. It is. It's wild. All right, go on. I just think it's interesting, like this sort of of like the twisting, you know, they obviously want to like demonize like, oh, it's Joe Biden's fault or like they tried to kill him. Like they're literally at the RNC saying that they they tried to kill him. Yeah. So maybe a reporter could ask them what they mean by that. Maybe like lockdown, like an actual statement and opinion from them about what they mean by that, maybe like lockdown, like an actual statement, an opinion from them about what they mean by that.

But so they're going to do that anyway. But it's interesting, like all these sort of like, oh, the Secret Service did a bad job here and they didn't do this and this and this and this and this. And like, I'm not saying there is a conspiracy, but like if you look at all the weird things that people are pointing out, they don't point to Joe Biden doing it.

Like, that's not the most obvious that people are pointing out. They don't point to Joe Biden doing it. Like that's not the most obvious version of this. It would be like, oh yeah, they tried to fake this thing and they did a bad job because Donald Trump and his team are incompetent. And so they couldn't pull it off or whatever. I'm not saying that happened, but it's just funny to see people try to like, oh, this and this and this and this and this and this.

It's because the Deep State fucked it up so bad that they got this terrible shot of all the things. It's just very, you know, you gotta believe what you wanna believe. Do we have to take an ad break? I feel like we have to take an ad break. You know, it's hard out there. What with all the flicks you gotta watch. Boy,, it's hard out there.

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Speaking of fiery rhetoric about how Donald Trump is Hitler, his vice president. Did you guys watch the RNC at all or watch his speech at all? I did not. We talked about this the last time I was on the show. A quirk of working at Last Week Tonight is we're not all as hooked into the news of the minute as I think a lot of people assume because a lot of our we're prepping future stories so some of us are just like on more evergreen stories or like I'm working on something that is

certainly adjacent to the RNC which is gonna like about Republican and conservative media overblown Fears about the the exaggerated migrant crime wave that doesn't exist. So I'm head down focused on that while there are other people who for work have to watch the RNC all week. I am blistering not one of those people.

So I will be learning from you all what Jamie Vance said. Somebody will send you a clip for your episode about all the people with the signs saying mass deportation now at the RNC. Has it come up? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And I will say something that people aren't going to like.

I don't care. I don't like this guy. Maybe a smart choice for Donald Trump. He's younger and like, you know, I'm not saying I like the guy, but I could see him on stage talking and the crowd was really, I mean, I thought they were drunk, but Sophie says they just like to chant. Oh yeah, they're just, I mean, anyone at the RNC. I mean, they were chanting after everything he said.

He was talking about his grandma, mama, and they were going, mama, mama. So here's the thing, like anybody at the RNC is going to be like 120 percent in for every single person on that stage like it is a parade of separate separate sex exactly I thought you said except for David sacks who know they're not really thought they're not down for great sex the people who liked his tweets were gonna be in that audience and they were not but like it's a parade of freaks and the people there are there to cheer on the parade of freaks. I think personally there's so many things from this RNC and I think this every year maybe I'm wrong every year but like it's so off-putting to normal people. They're

shouting about like all this like bizarre stuff it's like they're so online too. I didn't see a lot of Vance's speech. Do you mean it's off putting to normal people that have our poll? No, I think it's off. But I think off putting to like independent a lot of independence and normal people who like because that is a Newsmax bubble that they've created for themselves or like Twitter or whatever. Like and they're pushing it out as normal. It's it's genuinely strange when people are in the crowd, they're like, oh yeah, it's Carrie fucking Lake.

It's like, you're excited about, didn't she lose her run for governor in Arizona? Why do you know her name? What are we excited about? What's going on? It's so weird. But like, that's kind of my point is like, these are people who are like, I only absorb this.

I'm on Twitter 12 hours a day. I'm following Carrie Lake's tweets. That's who they are. And that's why they're there. I'm not saying everybody's going to be put off by this. But I do think I think there's too many. I don't know. I think JD Vance is actually like pretty unlikable and and smarmy. And I think once he gets out more, people will see that.

Also, a lot of his positions are just not a lot like he's been trying to do this like working class. I'm actually the good Republican who cares about working people. I don't buy it. He's a fucking Peter Thiel goon. But that is not aligned with the GOP at all or Donald Trump at all. And I think those conflicts won't actually be able to mesh together well. Also, one point. I think I disagree.

In one point, I wanna hear why you disagree, but one point in JD Vance's speech, people started shouting OHIO, went to Ohio State, and he's like, OHIO, OHIO, and he was doing that. But that's not the chant, you say OH and then somebody else doing that. But that's not the chant. You say OH and then somebody else says IO. It's a call and response. He's doing it wrong.

He's such a fraud. Okay. Oh my. Well, presumably. Not everybody's gone and so are they. It's not the most important part. If he went to Ohio State, he should know it was a call and response.

Look, I'm not disagreeing with your opinions on the man in any capacity. I maybe disagree with how he will land with voters, conservative voters, especially. He obviously has changed a lot of his positions from calling Donald Trump a Hitler. And you know what he's moving, but he's obviously opportunistic. I think that he will kowtow to Donald Trump and use this as an opportunity, just like any kind of a fucking grifter that we talk about all the time, changing their positions and falling in line,

because it benefits him politically. And what you see up there in contrast to Donald Trump is a much younger, I'm sorry, he's not like going for JD Vance, but he's a conventionally normal looking person. He's got a beautiful Indian wife. So you can point to, it's hard to call the man a racist, even though lots of people are being very racist

towards his wife. No, of course you could, but what is his built-in thing that he can point to is that, you know, I mean He thought apparently he used to have a very close Was very close friends with a trans woman Enough so that he brought her baked goods. That's great for him I got bad news for him about the party that he's trying to represent Well, let me finish my sentence, which is, no, now they're not friends very publicly

because he's now flopped and voting against transgender issues. So I'm only saying that because I don't think it matters one bit that he's changed his politics. They care that he will say and do the dance, which he will do. And so I think he's a good choice for Donald Trump because I think that he is more appealing in certain ways while also being, you know, I can't think of words. To that point, I think that that's part of why it won't be effective because part of the appeal, like the point of him being up there is like I'm actually here to like do like working class economy stuff and like labor, like all this

other stuff and to sort of he's been trying to distance himself in this sort of way from like traditional conservatism. But that can't happen. He's going to have to go towards like no, I'm Trump guy now. And I just think that, you know. Why does that not work for them? Because Trump is an unlikable person. And I know people love him. Who's winning. But he's also one of the most hated men in America.

And if you actually get into the policy question, it's all cruelty. And I think that will rise to the top. And like you're saying, like, yeah, he was friends with a trans woman. Now he's not. I wish that I hope that you're right. And I wish that it worked like that. But it keeps seeming to not. It keeps seeming to not work like that.

People keep thinking that the media is overblowing things. So you know, they're always exaggerating about what the intentions are. But they write it off. And they don't. I'm not saying I hope you're right. I have no like I don't predict anything. I think you could win or lose. It's like people are up there talking about how we need somebody that will, you know, you know, fight back against corporate America. You think that's Donald Trump? Some people do. You know, some people do, but that's what I'm saying.

It's like they'll just believe whatever, because they want to believe that about the person that they're going to vote for. Yeah. I'm sorry if that's too negative sounding for everybody. We should not be worried about this election. I think Vance is a very curious choice and I that's such a Nothing thing to say because I think any choice would have been a curious choice I've been following the JD Vance beat independently for a couple years because I I really don't like him and I

He's so unlikeable. He's very unlikable And I wish I had a better reason other than I saw that fucking Hillbilly Elegy movie and I was like, this sucks shit. Who did this? And then I've been following his career ever since then. The curious thing about it to me is it doesn't seem to matter to me who the VP pick was going to be. Did Mike Pence move the needle? Is there anyone that Trump could have picked that would have

changed things in a meaningful way? Is there like a VP pick that someone would have been like, I didn't like him before, but the fact that he picked Ted Cruz means he's got my vote? Or fill in the blank with anyone else, including JD Vance? Or- So I think there's the opposite though. Is there anyone who he could have picked? That's that's the the the reasonable follow up question. Is there someone he could have picked that someone would have said, I love Trump, I'm right or die Trump. But then he picked this person and now I just simply can't support.

Barack Obama. Right. But right. Obama in his own party. Yeah. Yeah. It seems like would have been pissed at Nikki Haley, but I don't think it would have been enough to make them not vote for him. Ultimately, most people just sort of fall in line. I do think that of all of the choices, I do think there is a chance that JD Vance is that person,

where he is off-putting. And he does have this business. There are contradictions in his existence. And I think that there are racist you know, there are like racist Nazis who don't like him for reasons. But like, I do think there is there are people who are put off by that choice. And one other thing I'll add is that apparently Trump was going to pick somebody else, but he was convinced to pick JD Vance because of his sons.

So I think that's maybe a column in the maybe is a bad choice. But I don't know. Yeah, that's I think what makes me a column in the maybe is a bad choice. Um, but I don't know Yeah, that's I I think what makes me most curious is that I didn't I didn't peg JD Vance as someone who would be on Trump's radar. I thought you would get either a Disposable Mike Pence type pic that someone else would say like this guy looks stable and he's gonna do what you want pick him He's got no other real guy looks stable and he's gonna do what you want pick him he's got no other real career momentum otherwise so he's in debt or whatever like he needs yeah someone someone like that or someone like completely outside the box bonkers

that that Trump is just like yeah I picked Ivanka fuck you who cares I'm gonna like this is the thing it's my second term I'm really I'm gonna smoke a cigar this entire time that's what I'm gonna do this is my thing, it's my second term, I'm really gonna smoke a cigar this entire time. That's what I'm gonna do. This is my victory lap run. The fact that it's JD Vance who is like, not hot and not boring and not like, distinctive enough in any way is like, what did you pick him? Like what is the thing? You don't really need it to be anyone if you're Donald Trump because the ticket is Trump but because it's someone why why JD Vance and if it's the sons that that pushed him in that direction that is appealing as a theory for why like like again Vance is on on paper if you've never seen him speak or

don't really know how much flip-flopping he's done, then you could say this is a veteran who grew up lower middle-class, poor, poor, has had a lot of experience with fentanyl and knows what real Americans go through. graduate who is works with in business and in service like all these things on papers like these are a lot of meaningful boxes to tick but again Trump doesn't care about that doesn't matter that's not how it works now it doesn't matter it certainly doesn't matter for Trump or like the GOP generally I think part of it also like honestly like I think part of it is like the sons problem issue because he also, like honestly, like I think part of it is like the son's problem issue. Cause he also looks like a large adult son, right? Like JD Vance has that sort of like vibe to him.

But also there's a, there is a tech world element to it. Like the Peter Thiel element of it. Vance has some investment in Rumble. Like he is part of that world that sort of like reactionary, like far right that sort of like reactionary like far right sort of like The VC world and the tech world. Yeah, there's a reason and it's not because he got shot at He was gonna do this. Anyway, there's a reason that Elon Musk came out I was like, I'm gonna spend millions of dollars every month on this guy

And like David Sachs was there like there is a tech VC venture capitalist world that is all in for Trump You know going after corporations in corporate America I also I I agree completely with everything you guys are saying and Sick I think that we are coming at it from our perspectives instead of other people's perspectives I I actually think he's probably quite appealing to a lot of people, especially because they don't know him that well, that's actually great. And you can say like he flip-flopped, yeah,

his line is that, you know what, I was anti-Trump, I was wrong, when he was president, I changed my mind. Great, question solved. Whether that's true or not, that's the line, and that is good for Trump. And he's young. And he's not going to try to take Trump's job, but he can be a good surrogate for him.

And there is a world where I think Donald Trump could get jealous if JD Vance got more attention than him, which is an interesting thing that might be a good playbook for Democrats. We love JD Vance, actually. I don't know, I don't know. Well, I try to come at it from that perspective, Katie, because in my mind, I'm like, oh, this guy's just such an obvious fraud. Right.

He'll say whatever and he's such an opportunist, and it's hard for me to see that he checks all of these boxes of what you would want in a non-Trump, like, traditional politician. He's saying extremist things, but his biography is, I think, a lot more traditional and a lot more like, oh yeah, this is what you look for in the guy that you pick as VP. And I do think it's interesting, since we were just talking about Mike Pence, like, he picked a guy who is, I think, in some ways has a little more vigor and a little more juice than Pence did and doesn't, he doesn't need to like convince the Christian conservatives anymore. He's awesome.

So he doesn't need Pence anymore. So he's like, I'm going to go with this guy who's going to be the first millennial on a major ticket. You know, he turns 40 in a couple weeks. I think there's like a weird thing like and I don't know how that's going to appeal to people who are on the fence. And he'll yeah, it's very like falling line, falling line like a dog. I'm sure Trump says right, like I think that must have he had to commit. Oh, yeah, no, not gonna. He's, I won't have to hang me, don't worry.

If you wanna go for it in 2028 and change the law so that I can stay president, I'm not gonna get in the way or whatever. The appeal to the tech bro world is actually like, yeah. It's a good part of it. I mean, I hate it, but that's a big part of it and it's kind of valid, I guess, if you're in that camp trying to get. I mean, if you, like, there's like a, yeah, like you wanna make money. Look at my face if you're watching, I guess, if you're in that camp trying to get...

I mean, if you... Yeah, like, if you want to make money. Look at my face if you're watching. I'm like, well, I just mean there's a whole world... I think that a lot of tech bro types are in this world where, like, I don't want to publicly be called a racist, but I care very much about how much money I'm making. Right. I mean, it's like...

I want to get my deal. So they're going to probably vote for Donald Trump. There's a lot of negative polarization in that world, too, of the libs and the DEI, all that kind of stuff. They have their enemies and lines. And appealing to the tech and business world in a way that doesn't, we're not saying necessarily that there are so many tech voters out there that they're a single issue, they just want a tech guy.

There are a lot of incredibly wealthy tech and business people who are going to donate and spread this message around more than just like, we're going to get a lot of coverage on what feels like Vance's appeal to real Americans talking about opioid crisis, which is like, I think between that and the military is going gonna be the drum that he beats loudest and most often. Absolutely. And like quietly, Elon Musk, and you're to pull a name completely at random, you're David Zaslavs, are going to see this guy

who seems like he would be like cool on business and like very pro people with money, making more money. And it's like, yeah, this is good. I'm gonna donate a lot of money to this campaign and I'm gonna do whatever I need to do in my businessman ways yeah exactly it's all it's a train it's transactional it's like it's just they know that the that it they will make them money there's a reason and part of it's because he's is the way he is but there is a reason Elon bought Twitter it's to get to get here. Well, and he's going to

support candidates that are polarizing on Twitter specifically too because that's that's been fitting him in many different ways. He doesn't have Trump on Twitter anymore so he can at least have JD there. But maybe this is his way to get Trump back on Twitter. People always for good reason point out that like yeah there's this private text where he's like calling him America's Hitler. Like, that's a problem. And even if you change your mind, you need to explain. So no journalists are watching this. If you ever get to talk to JD Vance and you're watching this and you are filming him, A, have him describe what he means. What did you mean by America's Hitler? Like, why did you think that? I know you changed your mind.

Why did you think by America's Hitler? Like, why did you think that? I know you changed your mind. Why did you think that he thought that? America's Hitler is a really big thing. And like I flip-flopped on issues and like there's certainly, you could probably find examples of me talking shit about another comedian or podcaster or writer, someone that we work with. And like maybe even someone that I like now

or work with now. And they're like hey in 2008 you called this person a hack or you thought this this person was an asshole and now you're Working with them and I could say like yeah. Yeah. I here's what's changed about that Here's what I misunderstood at the time There's no one that I would have called Hitler without being pretty sure that they were closer to Hitler than most people.

And I wouldn't change my, like I might call someone an asshole and then later be like, no, it turns out I was the asshole. It never turns out I was the Hitler. Never. And if it did, you have a lot of work to do to explain why that happened. And even if you don't, well, even if he doesn't explain like why he changed his mind, I think he needs to say why he thought that. Like, what about Trump made you think that? What were some of the things he said?

What was some of like the policy he proposed? Why did you think that? Do you know the answer you were going to know? I mean, the answer you're going to get is because I bought the lies at the media. That's what it will be. Also, one other aspect about this specific text I think is interesting because he said, he didn't just call him America's Hitler.

He said that he's either America's Hitler, sounds bad, or he is a cynical asshole like Richard Nixon who can be useful to us. And I would like to see that hammered a little bit to his face because that's what he's doing. Like it's one or the other. Okay, he's not America's Hitler, you change your mind. So he's a cynical asshole that you're taking advantage of.

That's useful for you. That's what you said and that's what you're doing. And if it's not, explain why. Who's the hero there? Who took advantage of Nick? Is he like aspiring to be Haldeman? Who is his icon here? That he is like, we can do to Trump.

My career after this is gonna be. That would be the very important follow-up question to that, Daniel. There's so many aspects of that that I want a little, nail him down a little bit Obviously, he's gonna weigh it hand wave away some of it. But like maybe Lester Holt can yeah Do a little more Lester Holt I do think yeah, like I get you know, okay Trump wants to lower the corporate taxes So the rich corporate people are gonna vote for him regardless of any of the other stuff

Okay there is a world where things get a little, like because what corporations want more than anything is like stability, like a stable economic environment for the lines to go up. Are you sure they don't want to fund good art? Well, look, we all know that the fine people at WBD only want to fund good art, and the good people at YouTube or wherever they are. But it's like things get a little bit dicey if there are threats to Trump's power in

a few years. If there are things that he is doing that starts significant unrest, that's a risk that corporate interests are taking. Whereas with the Democrats, you kind of know what you're gonna get and yeah They might try to raise taxes here a little bit, but you're gonna have like a level of economic stability and I think I Think people are playing it a little bit too business as usual and being like, oh, yeah Well funnel money to the Republicans this time. They're like this is not

Yeah, there's an element. I think too of like sort of Rosie look at at Trump's term in the sense that like yeah he didn't get like like a lot of legislation passed beyond like those tax breaks. Obviously the Supreme Court was an issue but like it's it's like it just seems like you're forgetting the stuff he wants to do and that, okay, he didn't get to do it, but he will be more able to now. I it's just like this like not exactly forward thinking of like, no, if he if he's in there, mass deportation now

signed right 2016, the ratcheting up has happened and you're forgetting that it's escalated and it's going to be worse. And he's not going to leave this time. He's not going to want to leave. And JD Vans is not going to get handed for it. I think that a lot of people got that story before. And it wasn't good.

But they're looking at it now like, well, he didn't succeed at the thing. This is a bad thing. Was he that bad? Yes, he didn't succeed at the thing. This is a bad thing. Was he that bad? It's like, yes, he was. But just you wait. Wait till the training wheels come off. But that's one of those things that they won't see

until he's in office and he does it. And then it's too late. But there is something, he said, I'm exhausted, but I all the doom and gloom predictions or whatever and the problem is is that they're valid. Like JD Vance, like he's so funny. Like he's so, he's such a fraud and he's so full of shit. And he's again, it's just like weirdly

like negative polarization of people where like he proposed instead like, because he can't like electric vehicles because of the party, but also he's like in the tech world. So he kind of should because of people like Elon Musk. But he proposed tax breaks for gas powered vehicles to combat the tax credits for EVs. And it's just like, like that's it's so funny kind of like proposal so funny so absurd and that's the kind of brilliant thinking you're gonna get it's one that a lot of people probably but it's like

whatever we don't need to get into that particular proposal but it's absurd I mean it's obviously absurd well they did this'm going to do literally the opposite of that. That's not how it's completely negating the point of the tax credit for the EV. Right. Like, Sadie, why do you think we had the tax credit? What do you what could you possibly think the reason behind that was to make things better for Democrats? Do you think there's a reason? That's so funny. I love it.

I hate it. Just because Elon Musk came up, I had two Cybertruck sightings in the wild. Oh yeah. One of them, I mentioned where I live, it's got people with money around me and they're stupid. But my fiance and I were riding our bikes and I saw a Cybertruck for the first time, like the big silver cartoon tank.

And I wanted her to know, because my whole life living with Shay has been seeing things and then telling her a thing I saw, whether it's like a big slug or a bird attacking another bird or a Cybertruck, it's just me pointing at things that I see in the world and sharing my day. And I just went over my shoulder, I went, Cybertruck!

And the guy had his window down and he looked at me Sharing my day and just went over my shoulder. I went cyber truck The guy had his window down and he looked at me and he and he smirked and nodded like that's me You're you're like the big slug I saw in the garden sir, that's really funny I'm gonna send you a you both got one. I mean you got to do like some This is the one I saw in a whole foods parking lot and I want to say that you right well I saw one up here There was that video last year of like Trying to get out of the thing getting stuck somewhere They're trying to crawl up a mountain pulling a Christmas tree. It turns out that was nearby here. It was some fool from the Bay Area that was trying to get their Christmas tree and got

stuck. But they were around here and nobody liked them. Some guy posted a video of like all these like raccoon hands on the back of a Cybertruck because like they're trying to get in and he posted like, Cybertrucks are impenetrable. Even raccoons can't get in. It's like, no, no, no, it means your car looks like a dumpster. They think you're garbage. They think you're garbage.

They think you're garbage. They think you're garbage. They think you're garbage. They think you're garbage. Oh no, something's just ruined my day. Do I say it on air or do I wait? It's like really sad. I've been preparing for it.

Oh, who is it? It's like the saddest thing. Bob Newmore. Oh. Oh no. That is sad. That's especially sad for you Daniel I'm so sorry down low do the show anymore well we're done Daniel where can we find you online I'm sorry for your loss but but Brian I

just who cares I'm Brian you could find me, the show that I worked on is last week tonight, it airs Sundays on Macs, the one to watch, and you can also watch it streaming on YouTube the Thursday after the episode comes out, and oh, I'm supposed, you also need to listen to my podcast that I do with my best friend and comedy pal Soren Bowie It's called quick question with Soren and Daniel do it once a week. It's very fun and

six times a month for patreon subscribers We don't talk about the news almost ever. No, it's just so fun writing and stuff It's a delight really delightful. It's like before When it's like before it's like before it really yeah it's like before. It's like before. It's like the before time. Yeah. That sense. It's nice.

It just feels like we're hanging out at the office. Unlike now. We appreciate you taking your time to join us. I'm very sorry for your loss, Brian. Thank you. I appreciate that, Keith. Brian McDaniel. Don't know how that came out of my mouth.

Also, Donald Trump just announced on Truth Social that the great Lou Dobbs has just passed away. What? Unconfirmed. Just Trump. R-I-P King. To the great, to the great Lou Dio being Bob Newhart. Not as sad.

Anyway. Much. We love you very much. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"]