The Bulwark Podcast - James Carville: We Just Have to Win

Episode Date: October 9, 2024

The information ecosystem is getting crazier than ever: The monster Trump created must be fed, even when the lies are too much for some MAGA members of Congress. Meanwhile, the disinfo around storm relief efforts have to be nipped in the bud, and Team Kamala needs to get their sharp elbows out for the final weeks. Plus, how a doc about Carville evolved in real time as he pressed to get Biden to drop out.  James Carville joins Tim Miller. show notes The new documentary about Carville, "Winning Is Everything, Stupid" Press release from Rep. Chuck Edwards debunking Helene response myths

Hello and welcome to the Borg Podcast. I'm your host Tim Miller. You know, it's James Carville. Let's do it a little different today. Alright, that's more like it. We like it like that down here. I am excited to be here today with my man the raging cajun james carville the subject of the new cnn documentary winning is everything stupid james welcome back to the pod man well thank you i'm glad to be here good to be here it is good to be with you as always and i was i was delighted and honored to have our last conversation be the be the closing credits of the of the documentary which people should watch but i must say mary i think was the star of the show and i want you watch. But I must say, Mary, I think, was the star of the show. And I want you to tell her that she's welcome on this podcast anytime

she's got stuff to get off her chest about you or politics or anything. She was amazing. She made the movie. A couple of people commented to me, the movie had very strong feminist undertones. And Mary and my mother and my sister were very much, you know, shaping it. Not just shaping it, but a big part of the film. And I think it would have not been near as good a movie without Mary's and her pretty enthusiastic

participation, I would say. Totally agree. She was wonderful. I'd be delighted to get a little more FaceTime with her, a little less with you. I want to play one clip, though. I want to play one clip from the movie to kind of get us in the right mood get us in the right headspace to the end uh it's not actually from this cycle uh this clip i'm about to play but i think it's more relevant now than ever it might have got me a little emotional so let's take a lesson damn it this country is worth fighting for. The principle of generational promise is worth fulfilling.

And I am not going to let anybody say at a time that our basic institutions, our basic philosophy, our sense of decency, and our sense of national purpose is under attack that I sat by and did nothing more than pull a lever. That's your choice. I think I know what you're going to do. I know that you people and people like you around this country want to not just fight back, but you want to fight for something.

You want to fight for this nation. You want to fight for its people. you want to fight for its people, you want to fight for its children, and most importantly, you want to fight for its future. We have big battles coming up. I'm going to count on you. Thank you. Hell yeah. I mean, but God, could you that when you were saying that back then that what

we'd be fighting for right now no i have no i never could imagine that anything would ever be in a place it is right now tim and you know it's it's distressing it's depressing and at some level it's also gratifying. But it depends on if we win or not. I mean, that's the whole message of the movie. That's the whole ball of wax. I mean, we lose this, we blow a whole gasket, I think. But that's pretty emotional.

It is. And I know that a lot of listeners here and the Bulldog crew, I mean, this is a place where that lands. We are fighting for something real here, and I know that a lot of people are getting out there in their own way. Not everybody has the big mouths like us, but I think it's important to encourage everybody to get out there in their own way and knock on doors to what they need to do for the last couple of weeks.

The other thing from the movie I want to kind of tie to what's happening in the present day is obviously there's a lot of time talking about 92 and how clear your message was, the little whiteboard that everybody has seen by now, change versus more of the same, it's the economy, stupid, don't forget healthcare. I want to talk about what that core message is for both sides this time. time for donald trump there's a times article out this week that the ad that he is running the most the number one ad in impressions right now is this one that played on the podcast last week i don't want us to suffer through again about the taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners i'm sure you've seen this during football commercials oh i have is that really it i mean like is that there is that maybe it i don't know is that their number one issue on the whiteboard right now? Sex changes for prisoners? And it's amazing how many times you get caught. And if they get caught telling one lie, they tell five more. You know, the whole sex change, transgender thing.

My hero in a lot of this is the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, who's exactly who you think. Spencer Cox, if you think you know Spencer Cox, you do know him. He's a straight Mormon conservative to the core. Milk drinking. Yeah, milk drinking. And they passed something about trans athletes. He said, look, I'm vetoing this. There are 100,000 high school athletes in Utah, five are trans.

Somebody else can deal with this shit. All right? This is not a worldwide problem. The Olympics deal with it. The NCAA deals with it. What do we need to even spend time on this? I don't understand. But there's a lot of things I understand.

You and A.B. Stout are aligned this morning. Our headline story today is Republicans closing message, we lied to you. I don't know. On the trans thing, Chris Lasavita is not an idiot. He's not an idiot. He might have sold his soul, but he's not an idiot okay like he's not an idiot all right um he might he might have sold his soul but he's not an idiot what what is it are they sitting there because they just think that is it a stand-in for she's an extreme california liberal and like and this is just we want to make it seem

as extreme as possible so we're going to show this picture of a non-binary you know male assigned male at birth guy with lipstick on is that like that that the whole deal? You know, I'm not sure that Chris Rosavita or Susie Wiles really run this thing. Every time you hear somebody say, we need to get back to the issues. Okay, yeah, let's go to the issues, you know. Trans people

are coming, they're coming. You send your kid to school in the morning and you're kissing goodbye and they come back and you kiss a boy goodbye and a girl comes back or you kiss a girl goodbye and a boy comes back. And, you know, we keep telling ourselves, man, this can't work. And it keeps working to an extent. I think Trump knows if he doesn't feed that monster that he's created, that they'll lose their appetite. I mean, they're ravenous people.

They've got to keep being fed this stuff and, you know, kidnapping kids and giving them surgery to change their agendas. Why not? And almost the crazier it is, the better. You mean strategically. They think the crazier it is, the better, because it keeps people excited. That's how they're keeping the lower engaged people engaged. Absolutely.

And I told you those people in San Francisco were like that. I told you those people in Boston were like that. Look, Trump knows. I just think that he feels like if he doesn't appeal to misogyny, to racism, to fear, to the great replacement theory, that his people will back off. And he's not going to talk about the issues because the issue to him is if you're white, you're losing and they're coming after you. And that's the only issue that he promotes. And that's the issue that's taking him a long way. What about the other side of the coin? I think that Kamala coming out of when that parade started that we talked about the last time when she just jumped out of the chute and was focused on freedom, focused on how we're not going back.

Is that breaking through? Is that it? Are those the messages on the whiteboard? What is it for her for the last month? We know, Tim, they're a great big event campaign. The vice president should roll out hard to follow. The convention, you really have to nitpick the five things. The debate, she was exceedingly well prepared.

What I'm less confident in is their day-to-day ability to fight trench warfare. I'll give you what I think is an example. The whole press criticism, she doesn't do long-form interviews. She needs to sit down. If Tim Russett was here, she'd have to talk to him. And so what do we do? We do 60 Minutes. We do Colbert. We do everything. Create your own weather. If somebody comes on your show, you get to ask the questions. They respond to what you ask. That's normal. That's what 60 Minutes does. She needs to go out every day and smack him in the mouth and then have people come behind and keep smacking him. So J.D. Vance says in a debate that Trump saved Obamacare. Why not have Obama out there?

I don't know what this guy is talking about. You have 23 million people that now have health insurance. By the way, the subsidies for health insurance are coming up in 2025. He's going to get rid of it. You know, for the life of me, they need to put President Clinton, they can put him right in a studio, go to all these markets in these swing states, do television, explain to people why these tariffs are going to ruin the United States, which we know. And even you and I could explain that. But they just give them free reign. You have to hold them in and jam them on stuff that really matters to people. I mean, like he says, you've got nothing to lose in this economy. Look, you may not be where you want to be, but you've got something to lose.

Let me tell you right now, most everybody has a job. Anybody that has any kind of an investment retirement is doing pretty good. Shit, can't stop long you can't hold back the crime rate is down i saw something else in just minor thing the death rate from fentanyl is down pretty pretty considerably you're not gonna run on that but it's just when they say there's nothing to lose in america the whole country is is a modern shithole that's just not true it's demonstrably not true yeah i agree on the more is more i do think obama's getting out there i'll send that little advice to favreau for the speech but like uh they've been more i agree i agree it's been good i was i was thrilled she was out there yesterday i think this whole thing the

whole navel gazing thing on what media should she do it's like do everything be out there drive a message i agree you wrote about a month ago i wanted to pull this up because it kind of relates what you just said in the times an op-ed three pieces of advice for her advice number one was kick his ass the debate check advice number two is move on for 2020 it's okay to be strong and wrong on some of these issues where you went too far left she She did that. Check. Third advice was find some distance from Biden. Here's Kamala on The View yesterday. Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years? There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of, and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact. It's not quite right. It's not quite right on

check number three. What do you think, James? You know, I don't think she really wants to go there, although I think she could have done what he did. He did start some good things. And, you know, she can talk about how she wants to complete them, but she can talk about, you know, we didn't have a concert. but we need to be more aggressive. Most popular thing consistently is race taxes on people that make more than a half million dollars a year. I mean, I'm sorry, it polls really, really well. She could have said, I thought he could have been a little more aggressive talking about women's reproductive rights, which I think is kind of culturally biden is understandably he doesn't he's pro-choice but he doesn't like saying the word abortion he doesn't like you're right she

could she could say that i mean there's any number of things uh we could be more you could just look forward and just be like ah you know good question i don't know i think we need to build three million new homes that's why i have it in the plan just fucking do that the other thing she could have said which is demonstrably true so you know i probably just look part of this we were slow to wake up but now we got the border right okay you'd say we she couldn't say this but they listened to the goofy ass left and everybody that's ever listened to them is end up it disaster. But I mean, she had a lot of things she could have said that would have given her some wiggle room. And I think President Biden said certain types of politics. Trump, obviously,

much different than I do, but I think it's time for America to turn the page. I think we're looking for something fresh and something different you got all kinds of things you can do in that not be disloyal of this people are we can do some nitpicking you admitted it in the documentary you're the guy that you hate now you know a complaint but this is nitpicking with love you know we're trying to get there we're trying to get there on the're trying to get there. On the other side, though, like you mentioned it earlier on the hurricane stuff. I just want to dig a little bit deeper on this. It's truly insane. What is happening?

I think that for people that live in the reality based world where they get news from regular places, I think it's hard to comprehend just how crazy the shit is that's out there in the MAGA internet sphere. Chuck Edwards, not a moderate republican congressman from north carolina put out a press release i'm not gonna read the whole thing but the whole thing is we'll put it in the show notes because it's insane to read the whole thing he puts out this press release it's like y'all hurricane helene was not geo-engineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits local officials are not abandoning search and rescue efforts to bulldoze chimney rock fema cannot seize your property or land the faa is not restricting access to airspace for helene

rescue like this this dude is a mega congressman that feels like he has to put this out because he's hearing so much crazy shit from his constituents and trump is stoking this like there is not precedent for this i mean you've lived through a bunch of hurricanes like what like there is no precedent for this well this is a piece of advice i have for the administration and god i hope they take it call up mitch landrew who's a co-chair of the campaign and say mitch we need you to come and we need you to do press briefings every morning at nine o'clock on the response, because the bullshit is coming. The guy, you know, ran the National Guard when he was lieutenant

governor. He was mayor eight years, but wasn't hit with four hurricanes during his term. He knows it back and forth. His ancestors are. As you know, he's the best speaker in the entire Democratic Party. And don't wait for this information to get out there. And you say, we always make the same mistake. Oh, no one's going to believe this shit. Yeah, they're going to believe that shit if they don't hear something different. All right? Trust me, they will.

And they have to counter this aggressively. And there's nobody better to do that than he is. And they're going to go through go through well he's a white male he's old i don't know and oh shit just put him out there and you know as barney fife would say nip it nip it nip it in the bud right now and if you don't it's gonna grow nip it and also attack right i mean like isn't Trump vulnerable to attack on this? It's like, he doesn't care about these fucking people. Like these people's lives are at risk now. And it's like the local mega Republicans have to be like, oh, no, we're

actually trying to help. And Trump's like, no, you know, Trump's like, no, you know, trying to make their lives harder. Let me give you a clip to write. After Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and his president, he threw paper towels at them. You think the people of Western North Carolina are looking for paper towels right now? That's how Joe Scarborough, this morning, his name dropping. Okay, what the fuck? His name dropped. We're talking about, you know how bad this Tampa storm is? Unless you've lived with this your life, you don't understand how bad this is going to be and that water is going to have a hell of a hard time getting out of tampa bay

because it's surrounded by land everywhere and they just they haven't had this this this is going to be a catastrophe you just watch you know and we you and I know a lot of people that live in Sarasota, you know, got part of Southwest Florida, Boca Grande, they exist, you know. Yeah, it's horrible. And this, I guess this is to the point though, right? It's so horrible that in this, like 10 years ago, you back 10 years, you said, Tim, like what, what is going to break the fever on the right? You know, like what, how are you going to get people back to reality? And I, my answer used to be like, uh, we probably need some big disasters to happen. And then people get serious. You know, we had COVID, they like made up some lie about how the vaccine was, was Bill Gates trying to control your mind.

We have these horrible hurricanes. One has already happened. This other one's coming. And there are a handful of Republicans that are acting normal. But like the whole information ecosystem is crazier than ever. It is. I just like. And, you know, right now we're not going to change any of that. We just have to win the election. We can deal with all that after we win.

There's so much on the plate. We just got to stay focused on november the 5th whatever the day is i think it's the 5th no whatever it is because there's so much it's so insane and like he's selling hundred thousand dollar watches that you know that i can go get the same watch on time square from a street guy for $30. It's true. We've got to win it because he's so dangerous. But also like for people that are going through these problems, this needs to be a win because they don't care and they're not trying to help it and they're not trying to solve it.

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Today, get 20% off your Delete.me plan when you go to go to join delete me.com slash bulwark and use promo code bulwark at checkout the only way to get 20 off is to go to join delete me.com slash bulwark and enter code bulwark at checkout that's join delete me.com slash bulwark code bulwark i want to talk to you about Woodward. He's speaking out crazy shit. You ever deal with Woodward for one of those books? Like The Agenda or one of those books? Were you ever one of the characters? I'm trying to, I don't think I read a Clinton book.

It was the first book on the Clinton administration. So what was it like dealing with him? You know, he's a very seductive guy. And, you know, oh, you know, I'm not going to quote you it's all going to be an archive or something i mean he's a fair like i say he's a very seductive guy he's a very good interviewer james elsa and i come out and we'll see you okay yeah i mean he is a hell of a journalist and he works his ass off i mean he really You know, some people talk about the long arc of my career. Shit, Bob Woodward has been relevant since 1972.

Okay? I mean, come on, man. I mean, this guy has been the most consistently relevant journalist in American history. Period. You know, like anybody else, people say, well, he's not that good a writer. It's like, how are you getting this stuff? And I guess the game is, and I've experienced this a little bit, but like he gets you to tell him something off the record,

and then he tells somebody else that he's got it, and that gets them to admit it, right? Like that's the game, basically. So he would say, now, this was the meeting. The president was sitting there. Ms. Clinton was sitting there. now, this was the meeting. The president was sitting there. Ms. Clinton was sitting there. Beloit Benson was sitting there. Roger Altman was sitting there. And now you were sitting right here. Were you sitting in this chair? Okay. I mean, he's that level of skilled interviewer in a way you think he knows everything anyway,

and he's looking for confirmation. Maybe there's something you can add to it. I think I got everything, but he's very good at it. He works it. He works like a ridden mule, man. That guy is hard working, as you can imagine. The big reveal from the book that we've seen so far, I've got the book sitting downstairs, so I haven't read it all, but from what is leaked leaked is uh that a trump staffer i guess told him that trump's had several phone calls with putin maybe as many as seven since he left office and there was no strong denials on that and then the other one is that trump as a favor apparently sent him covid tests during the height of the covid fear and putin said trump don't tell anybody you're

doing this because I though it'll hurt you so like Putin's obviously wants is trying to help Trump getting a favor from him a price I mean just like the scale of scandal like a politician cutting the line when we had limited tests you know it'd be one thing if they're like giving it to their mom who is sick or something you They wanted to steal a couple of tests for their beloved family members. He's sending them to Putin. Look, this is something I'll say we know. There is a pee tape. Okay, there just is.

The theory of the pee tape explains everything. James, isn't the truth what explains everything that Donald Trump just likes being flattered and all you have to do is say nice things. And Mr. Donald, you're so great. Does he really need to have blackmail? Look, do I know it? Can I prove it? Not yet, but it's going to come out and I hope I'm still alive when the B tape comes out because I think it's there. I got to tell you right now. You know, I'm flattering, but what Trump doesn't do, at some level, he might be the most honest person to ever run for president. Now, that sounds weird, but he can't help himself about Russia. What is it about Russia that so fascinates him that they so like so much?

I don't know, but they do. Just for the record, I disagree. I think the P-tape is probably not real. Okay, all right. Just because he's like a hypochondriac and he doesn't like to shake people's hands, and I think that he's even sadder than that. I think he just likes to be liked.

He's like, Putin's so strong, and he likes me. You don't know who the P-E is. Maybe you don't know who was doing the pen. That's true. Or whether he's just sitting in the cuck chair and watching. I don't know who was doing the peeing. You know, it's the thing that goes through the pit. Or whether he's just sitting in the cuck chair and watching. I don't know.

It could just be a watch. I'm just convinced without proof, but, you know, we'll see. But flattery, it's a long way, but he just can't help it.

There's something, maybe he has some kind of a crush on Putin. I don't know. I definitely think a man crush. So, like, I guess my question is,

when you go back to your earlier comment, where the campaign has to drive news cycles, has to get out there, attack them, be aggressive. I totally agree with that. And there are a lot of openings. I liked your Obamacare example. This is not really that, right? Because people don't want to hear about COVID.

People don't want to hear. On the one hand hand it is a fucking scandal that should like shock the conscience that at the height of covid when we didn't really know when people are dying he's sending tests to putin on the other hand i don't know people don't want to remember that stuff right so he tells woodward we already knew this from the previous book yeah he said this is really bad stuff but i'm gonna underplay it yeah it's really bad i, but I'm going to underplay it. Yeah. It's really bad. I mean, like he knew, and somebody said, actually, I think this is some validity. You're supposed to protect the country. Right.

All right. It would be like he would say that in the Japanese will land and in California, he says, I don't want to tell anybody. Just get people scared. We'll handle them by the time they get to Denver. Yeah. It's so far out of what you're accustomed to hearing. That didn't hurt him at all.

I'm going to play it down. I know it's bad. He was sitting there. Of course, Wood had all of the tapes. So after you hear that, what else can shock you? That he's sending Putin COVID tests. Putin is like a good enough politician but don't don't tell anybody man that'll hurt you we need you around

there and i'll guarantee you he listens to putin's advice so sick that we're here i do have something that can alarm you though to james i don't think that you're ready for this i don't think our listeners are ready for this this was on primetime fox Fox last night. I just want to clear, there's a Miller that is referenced here. It's not me, though it applies to me a little bit more than the actual subject. But Jesse Warners is talking about Stephen Miller. Brace yourself. Let's listen. We just have to address the elephant in the room. We're getting a lot of texts from women about Miller and his appearances and his appearance. Our audience at primetime believes you're some sort of sexual matador. What do you have to

say for yourself? Well, let me give advice to any young man that's out there. The I'm married now, I have children but I wasn't married that long ago. I was single, I was in the market. If you're a young man, it's very important in election season, who's looking to impress ladies, to be the alpha, to be attractive. The best thing you can do is to wear your Trump support on your sleeve. Show that you are a real man. What do you think about that human condom being the sign of manhood, Carvel? I have a visual of that guy.

I don't judge anybody by anything sexual. I never have. It's not part of my DNA. It's not part of my ethos. But if I knew a girl that fucked him, I would get away from her. That's something.

That's a flaw. I mean, not only does that guy sound creepy, everything about him just screams creepy at you. Like, how fucking drunk were you jesus what were you thinking that is demon sperm that is demon sperm you went as far away from you as possible on to the serious side of it okay i've heard you talking about this stuff and and the kind of manhood element of this of this election, you know, this wing voter of the white man,

the forgotten man, white man. The white college male. Yeah, the white male demo. You know, how are we feeling about this? Like, it seems like there's been a little bit more of a proactive effort for the Democrats to try to speak to this demo that's moving away from them. I mean, obviously, if Stephen Miller and J.D. Vance are the epitome of manhood, it feels like there should be some opportunity here. Well, I think Waltz, I think that was very paramount in their mind when they picked Waltz, okay? I think there's a recognition of that.

You know, our male problem was a long time in the making. You know, I think our language had in some ways had become too feminine. And you just kept hearing, and the media also had a lot to do with it. The women's vote is just going to be critical here, James. You know, women everywhere, you know, women, you know, the suburban women are this and, you know, non-white women are that. And I think just males have felt like they have not been part of the conversation in American politics. I don't know if there's any kind of male policy that you have or anything like that. But I think a lot of it is cultural and they feel like they're not part of the the cool crowd anymore and if you listen to liberal culture or progressive culture it i mean i'll start with npr on down it's just it's 80

female the whole thing and then the ads the everything that you see it used to be male century i'm not saying that anything had to be male-centric, but I think the male feels like that they kind of left out of the equation. And I think that Harris understands that. I can't understand that to some extent. Yeah, not getting communicated to. Cuban's been really good on this. Continue to have more is more on this front.

The good news is the enemy is not quite as masculine as they may consider themselves to be. Not Stephen Miller. I do want to give you a platform here. I have a couple other documentary things before I lose you, but I do want to give you a platform here because you've been on a one-man crusade to discuss Donald Trump's health and what he's hiding from the public. And so I just want to give you an opportunity to share your angle on that. First of all, in January of 2017, Keith Schiller and some other goon broke into his internist's office

and stole his health records. Remember the internist, Dr. Bornstein, who unfortunately is now deceased. What was in there? What was in those health records? I mean, they're not going to make them public unless you say you want to make them public. Why did they do that? And I don't strongly suspect, just a suspicion,

and he had those red splotches on his hand. Okay, he said his mission during the Vietnam War was to not get the clap of STD or whatever the fuck they call it. I don't think he succeeded. That's my personal view. I think he even failed at that mission. But we don't know because they took his health records away from his internist. And the guy said, I feel like I've been violated.

They broke into his fucking office. All right. And retrieved those health records. It broke into his fucking office. All right. And retrieved those health records. Maybe somebody should ask him what happened to him. Does he have them? How many people, you know, break in a physician's office to get their health records? It's a pretty rare event, I think. I mean, I think your syphilis theory is interesting.

I don't know. I don't want to spread disinformation. I will say that. When you say syphilis and you say spread, well, wait a minute. Never mind. That's a suspicion of mine. And it stokes up what I say about the health records. True.

Maybe it's something else. Correct. And that's where I wanted to go. He's hit his personal health records. And the other thing, I was never interested, and I hate some of the Blue Maga stuff, like the conspiracies around the assassination attempt. Like the ear, the blood is real. All that stuff is real. That said, they acted fucking weird.

Like when Reagan was shot, when other politicians have been shot, like you have press conferences, you know, with real doctors and the coat and they answer questions. And like they don't, he doesn't do that. Like, this is just, again, part of the degradation of how Trump doesn't do stuff like that, that we have expected from public servants in the past. It is true that he's hit his medical records and that they act weird on around these situations. Maybe it's syphilis, maybe it's something else. Part of his appeal is he doesn't, he doesn't sound like the other politicians. How many times do you hear that?

All right. Oh, great. Wonderful. Well, they could act a little more like one sometimes. There's some things to be said for politicians. We're not going back. So we're only going to do two minutes on this. But a big part of the documentary was your early advocacy that Joe Biden shouldn't run for reelection, which has been vindicated.

I got a hug on the street, by the way. I wish James Caldwell was there. I was on Napoleon and Chapatulas outside Tipitinas. A woman comes up to me and she goes, you and Carville, I was so mad at you talking about Joe, but you were right. I want to give you a hug. It was the best hug and best selfie I've had on the street in a long time. So anyway, so I was sad you weren't there to enjoy that. But you were right on this. Obviously, we don't need to do that. But I am curious that you get into this a little bit. It was hard. Like the people around Biden are friends of yours, Donovan and Reschetti. And like it took a year. It was hard. And so I'm just kind of wondering, has that are you getting phone calls again? Has there been any mending offenses? Are things OK? You know, not a single person.

I went to a convention. Not a single person was mad at me. I mean, not one. Right. I mean, not a single person came up and said, James, you know, you really wouldn't you didn't treat President Biden very badly. I think it's all gone. I think Biden probably by now is relieved that he's made that decision.

I think the people at look, are people going to come out and say it? No. But I want to make one point about the movie that's really important to me, and that is we have given politics such a bad name. You grew up in politics. You wanted to be that. Your life evolved, right? Yeah.

The same with me. And people that cover politics, that work in it, are people that volunteer or precinct walkers or whatever. I mean, I hope this movie, like, rehabilitates the profession of politics somewhere. That people say, you know, those guys look like they're having fun. Maybe I ought to try that. And then, you know, some Tim Billers growing up and say, you know, I want to be the comms director. I want to get involved and do things.

And, you know, Mary Madeline, who is, you know, like the star of the movie, she was the ass and the elephant on the Lincoln Day Parade in Illinois. I mean, that's the kind of people you want to bring in. And they say, well, you just can't get good people anymore. Well, if you keep telling people how trashy and rotten they are, then good people are not going to want to do this. And that's my real fondest dreams for the movie, is it helps to rehabilitate the professional politics somewhat.

Well, this is going to be the highest compliment I can give you then, because I was watching it last night, and I was thinking to myself, it was getting me emotional, and I was thinking to myself, it was getting me emotional. And I was getting the tingles again. I was getting the rush again of the winning and the competition. And I got just slightly melancholy. I love my job, but slightly melancholy because I'm like, man, maybe I should have stayed on the other side. Not on the Republican side, but on the operative side.

Because the thing that got me excited about being an operative. It reignited that flame in me a little bit watching it. You're a young man, too. I could, yeah. I could have a second. I could have a third act. You're a player. You could have a third.

Believe me. And anybody can. But the point is, you're still part of it. You're writing on it. You're commenting on it. You have a podcast on it. You're editing on it. You're commenting on it. You have a podcast on it. You're editing on it. You're doing all kinds of things.

And, you know, some people, it doesn't matter. There's a lot of people that think about like Miss Mabel, the lady that precincts every election day and checks off the name for, you know, $750 or whatever they do. I mean, they're part of this whole web, this whole system out there. I agree we've got to get better people in politics, but the way to do it is inspire them and get young people like you, you know, grow up to be the comms director for a presidential campaign. I mean, of course you like to – everybody loves a camaraderie of a campaign, like we'll get them and fuck them all.

Everybody hates us because we're – it doesn't matter. It's all the same shit. But it's all fun. All right. I want to close with your thoughts on where we are at with Kamala and Trump. I want to close with horse race. But before that, we've got to do football horse race real quick. Tigers have the Rebs in Baton Rouge this weekend.

Tigers, it looked like it might be a down year, but all of a sudden, everybody in the SEC's got a loss. Do you have a new little pang of hope for LSU, or are you concerned about the defense? You know, we couldn't stop Ole Miss last year. That's going to be the test.

It's a huge game. We're number 10 and number 6 or something like that, 7. It's like it's Tiger Stadium. Thank God it's not a 2.30 kickoff. I think it's like a 6.30 kickoff. This is big-time college football. This is why you play the game. There's too much carping among LSU fans.

We were under.500 the two years before Brian Kelly got there. We're like 20 and – well, probably 23 and 7 or something like that. And we've had best recruiting class in 2025 and 2026. You know, we've got a hell of a quarterback. Nussmark is a very good quarterback. And if you've got a good quarterback, you're going to be in the game. The smarts have all pushing Ole Miss. We were

2.5 point dog. It's now 3.5. I'm told a lot of the shopping money in Las Vegas is going to Ole Miss. I like your hope. I'm a little concerned about it. I'm not putting any money on it. I'm concerned about it. Or maybe I should. Actually, I might bet on Ole Miss just to put the stink on it. I might put the stink on it. I did that to Alabama last week. I bet on Alabama and I put the stink about it. Or maybe I should – actually, I might bet on Ole Miss just to put the stink on them. Yeah, okay, go ahead.

I did that to Alabama last week. I bet on Alabama, and I put the stink on them. So there you go. Yeah, maybe so. If you think it helps, if I thought it'd help us win, I'd bet them too. I'm going to be sure. All right, I might do that. They'd want to lose.

Okay. Do you have the same optimism about Kamala? Horse race, where are you at? We're a month out. How do you feel? I feel like this is not an election that we're going to lose. It doesn't have the stench of an election that's going to lose. Having said that, I think they need to be much more aggressive.

I think they got to go out there every day and put the mic in Trump's face and quit reacting to the press. When you do a press show, you react to what they ask. That's the way it is. Go out and make your own weather. You know, you've got four weeks and a little less than four weeks to go. And people are already voting. You can't be lethargic. You've got to move.

I mean, move quickly and fast and hard. I hope they get sharp elbows. That's what I think. I concur. The documentary, James Carville, Winning is Everything Stupid. Check out. We're over on YouTube later. Maybe tomorrow, probably Thursday.

We'll have a bonus interview with the director, Matt Turnauer. I'm excited to talk to him about that. We can do that. I love you, man. We can do this. Yes, we can. Optimism for Kamala and the Tigers. It's going to happen for us.

Yes, it's going to happen. You have any better than you think you are, so let's go get them, man. We can do this. Yes, we can. Optimism for Kamala and the Tigers. It's going to happen for us. Yes, it's going to happen. You can't have any better than you think you are, so let's go get them, man. And you're going to love that. The big thing about him as director, he actually knows politics. He was like a driver in the Mondale campaign and kind of worked for Susan Estridge and Dukakis, and he coveted for Vanity Fair. And, you know, you can't have a director direct something that they don't know anything about. And he brought a lot of knowledge and understanding of politics.

And he's an all-world director. I was very proud to have him direct a movie. I'm looking forward to it. We got this, James. Yes, we can do it. We got this. I'll get you back in November after the W. All right? Absolutely. Go Tigers!

Go Tigers. Everybody else, we'll be back tomorrow with another Old Wise Men of Politics. It's Wise Men Week. We'll see you all then. Peace. Now is the time for all good men to get together with one another. And out their problems and out their quarrels and try to live as brothers.

And try to find peace within without stepping on one another and do respect the women of the world just remember we all had mothers make this land a better land in the world in which we live and help each man be a better man With the kindness that you give And I know we can make it I know that we can I know done well we can work it out Oh yes we can, I know we can, can Yes we can, can, why can't we

If we wanna, yes we can, can I know we can make it work I know that we can I know we can make it if we try Oh yes we can, I know we can, can Yes we can, great gosh almighty Yes we can, I know we can make it if we try. Oh, yes we can, I know we can, can. Yes we can, great gosh almighty. Yes we can, I know we can, can. Take care of the children, the children of the world.

They're our strongest hope for the future The little better boys and girls And make this land a better land And the world in which we live And help each man be a better man With the kindness that you give And I know we can make it I know that we can

I know done well we can work it out Yes we can, I know we can, can Yes know that we can I know done well we can work it out Oh yes we can, I know we can, can Yes we can, can, why can't we if we wanna Yes we can, can I know we can make it work I know that we can I know we can make it if we try Oh yes we can, I know we can, can

Yes we can, great gosh almighty Yes we can, I know we can, can The Bulldog Podcast is produced by Katie Cooper with audio engineering and editing by Jason Brown.