The Bulwark Podcast - Jon Favreau: Understanding the Assignment

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

Michelle Obama killed it last night, and did the job that every speaker at the Democratic convention should be doing: persuading the undecided to vote for Kamala. Plus, the inside scoop on her husband's big (... er small) moment, making sure young men know about the toxic crap in Project 2025, and embracing America's great, big, beautiful pluralism.  Jon Favreau joins Tim Miller. show notes: That big ( ... er small) moment Jon's book 

landlord telling you to just put on another sweater when your apartment is below 21 degrees? Are they suggesting you can just put a bucket under a leak in your ceiling? That's not good enough. Your Toronto apartment should be safe and well-maintained. If it isn't and your landlord isn't responding to maintenance requests, RentSafeTO can help. Learn more at toronto.ca slash rentsafeTO. Hello and welcome to the Bullard Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. I'm pumped to be here today with Barack Obama's former head speechwriter, co-author of the book Democracy or Else, How to Saveica in 10 easy

steps and the host of a niche political podcast you may have heard of pod damn america excuse me pod save america john favreau what's happening my man hey man thanks for having me on big fan long time listener yeah we understand you're especially a fan of mondays with bill crystal and that you're just like waiting for the Bill Kristol apps to drop. That's what I've heard. I do all the Bulwark podcasts. I'm a subscriber. I listen to you every day.

I listen to the next level. This is getting too much. This is getting too much. All right. The Bill Kristol compliments were good enough. I'm getting uncomfortable now. We have something else in common. I think at least.

And I'm going to borrow a few words from both Barack Obama, your former boss in last night's speech, and the Colonel in Boogie Nights. I don't know if he was intentionally making a reference to the Colonel in Boogie Nights when he said this, but I'm a man that likes simple pleasures. I like butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth and a card game with friends and convention speeches that deliver a fucking message that helps the nominee win.

That's all I'm looking for, a simple pleasure. And it seems like we got that. We did get that. We fucking message that helps the nominee win. That's all I'm looking for. A simple pleasure. And it seems like we got that. We did get that. We did get that. That's nice. I feel like that shouldn't be hard. Me too. For some reason, it is hard for people.

I don't understand. It's like there's, you've got to go into these things with the goal in mind. What is your goal, right? Like who's the audience and what's the goal right and at the democratic convention the audience is anyone who hasn't made up their mind yet and the goal is to elect fucking kamala harris i've got to interrupt though i'll get interrupted now you're the professional speech writer who's had success unlike me but i've been told that actually the goal was to make people that are obsessive Pod Save

America listeners and members of the Pod Save America Plus Discord very happy. Is that not the goal of the speeches? Isn't it not to appeal to like, Democratic super fans? Because I was told that was the goal. Is that wrong? I will say fortunately, our listeners and our community, they get the assignment. I assignment like randos on twitter no they they get the assignment but yes the goal is not to uh send a thrill up the leg of people who are already going to vote for kamala harris and tim walls and go out and volunteer okay but they did manage to do both last night which is pretty good i want to talk about doug and your former boss and michelle but just like big picture since you're you know this is your business there

was your business, if one of these guys calls you, you're sitting down, you have a blank piece of paper in front of you, what really are you trying to get across? What's the main objective here? Because there are a couple of potential objectives, right? Like building up Kamala, tearing down Trump, having something that goes viral on TikTok, being nice to the current president. There are many different theories on what you could do. What's your main objective? I mean, it depends on who you are, who the speaker is, and, you know, what the context of the race is. Like, I do think that if it was still Biden-Trump, then Biden's job Thursday night would be much different than

Kamala's job because Kamala has the added need to define herself, reintroduce herself to the country, talk about her plans more, right? And Biden probably would have just, you know, just kicked the shit out of Trump for 50 minutes. But I was looking back at when we were working on Obama's speech, I was looking back at the 2008 convention speech that he gave. And I was in Denver. Yeah, in Denver, when you're the nominee, there's like a lot of business to get done. The things you just mentioned, like you have to define yourself, talk about your plans, talk about your opponent. And it can be very State of the Union esque in the worst possible way, unless you also make sure that it is a tight speech. And it has enough rhetoric to like, get people in the crowd going and also like

inspire people at home. So there's like a lot of different objectives in these speeches, which is why I think they are quite difficult to write. They're probably, I think the hardest speeches to write after the state of the union address, which is just a monster to write and not that fun and never a great speech at all. So those are the, those objectives. And you're, you're trying to persuade people. The point of every single speech is persuasion. You are trying to get people to take an action they otherwise wouldn't have taken. That is like the main purpose of a speech. I thought that Michelle did that the best last night. Yeah. She crushed it.

Yeah. It was not State of the Union-y at all. She understood the assignment. That's our theme of the day, I guess, understanding the assignment um and the number one assignment for her in addition to just kind of pulling on the heartstrings and and having the speech had a little depth it wasn't political pablum right it was like you could tell she was feeling it talking about her mother talking about this grief we all feel about like the country at some times and like how you can get down about that i like that she started with that about kamala's mother mother and the urging to do something. But like her main job was to build up the nominee of the party. And I think that she did it very well. And I noticed this morning on her social media, there's only one clip from her speech last night, and I want to play it.

Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment. She is one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency. And she is one of the most dignified. A tribute to her mother, to my mother, and to your mother, too. The embodiment of the stories we tell ourselves about this country. Her story is your story. It's my story. It's the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life. Look, Kamala knows, like we do, that regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love, how you worship, or what's in your bank

account, we all deserve the opportunity to has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one. Damn. It's good stuff. I think one of the reasons she is an incredibly effective speaker in politics is because she hates politics. She genuinely doesn't like politics. And so when she speaks in a political setting, it is because she feels in her gut so strongly that it is important to do so. And she also like she has become close with Kamala. They've become like good friends over the last several years. And so I think she really, she really feels this one. But I think what she was trying to do there is Donald Trump, MAGA, their whole thing is to otherize people to say that like, we're real. And you know, Obama hit this in his speech as well.

Like we're real Americans and anyone who doesn't support us, They are either not from here or not like us or different, or you should be suspicious of them. And what both of the Obamas have always tried to do and what Michelle did incredibly effectively there is to say, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're more closely connected to the American story than he is, right? She has this line about the affirmative action of generational wealth, which I thought was like so good all-time convention line in that whole riff she sort of painted trump as this guy who's like he's had everything handed to him like when he breaks the rules he gets away with it he gets to ride up the escalator when he faces a big challenge and like the rest of us whether you're black white poor middle class wherever you're from in the country, like we don't get to do that.

We have to work hard. So it's just it's like a fusion of economic populism and patriotism, which I think is incredibly effective and appealing to the broadest part of the electorate. Yeah. The affirmative action of generational wealth is like a line that people are going to be stealing for a long time. And it's also so good because it makes Trump so small. Yes. And she just made him so small, like in the speech last night, right? She mentioned that one time, she mentions it one time, but like just like the subtle digs like throughout. That is something that I've been noticing throughout the convention, but also for the last however many years is like, there is this tendency for anti-Trump politicians to just go after like the

cheapest anti-Trump applause line and they can get like pretty nasty. And there's this, like the nastier you get, you know, the more anti-Trump you are, and that's how you like burnish your credentials as a Democrat or an anti-Trump politician. And, you know, they go back and they find quotes that he said and things that only like terminally online people like us remember about Trump. And none of that to me is as devastating to Trump as what Michelle Obama did last night, barely mentioning his name. Because what she did is she placed him outside of the American story and outside of the values we all hold dear as a country. And she also was talking about him without talking about him directly, which is also, you know, a pet peeve I have about politics and political speeches is like everyone has sort of

lost the art of subtlety yeah you know it's like we're just like hammering people over the head yeah right we got it trump there's a way to do it that is devastating and without being too obvious you know yeah and back to the column and i just think that contrast of she's tearing him down make him feel small like he got where he was because he had that escalator up the mountain which which you know which regular people don't get he got where he was because the affirmative action of generational wealth he might be realizing that he's applying for a black job like all that stuff just kind of diminishes him and then the kamala part of her remarks and it is the thing that i felt has been the most missing

for maybe every i missed some of the speakers so maybe there have been some of the more personal some of the smaller speakers but a lot of the politician speakers let's just put it like that has he been talking about kamala in the way that i would talk about her like i've met her one time you know what i mean i just i don't know i can't speak to her leadership traits right besides what i see on tv etc and presumably a lot of these people like know her right and the american people don't know her yet and so like when you're talking about how this convention is different from a speech writing standpoint than what a biden convention would be it's like you have this huge opportunity to introduce her to tell new things about her and and i felt like michelle did that by talking about her origin story and her mother and how she gets inspired

by her mother and then how we've seen that reflected in her life you know and i think that was the building her up while making trump feel small no it's incredibly important to do that i mean and you know obama tried to do it a few times in his speech to just like personal connections and not just like i know her and she's great, but like people who've worked with her. We interviewed LaFonza Butler, a senator from California who was very close to Kamala and known her for 15 years, what's she like? What should the country know about her that we don't already know? Because we've never been in a situation before like this where the Democratic nominee for president with just, you know, a couple months to go is well known as a vice president, but like not well known in terms of like their values, what they've done, stories about them, etc. It should be one of the main goals of the whole convention yes you know i'm sure i mean kamala will do that for sure on thursday night i know she'll talk like a lot about her story and well i'm sure we'll talk about doug

doug did that very well too and some of the people who've known her personally but you're right like i thought on monday night that biden would at least tell some stories about like working with her in the White House over the last four years. I was surprised that he didn't do that. I've gone to a funeral recently where the eulogy was given by the pastor, you know, and like you could tell the pastor didn't really know the person. And I'm like, that's not the eulogy I want. Obviously, this is the opposite of that. It's not a eulogy. It's a buildup. I don't want a pastor that doesn't know her that just like is going through a checklist, like family person you know like give me

some color let me learn about her and doug just did that so great last night i mean you could have imagined a doug speech that was you know about right i don't know his fight against anti-semitism which is important you know you can imagine doug's. It's about like that, but he was just like, no, I'm going to tell about our first date. I liked that. I had heard, I think someone somewhere was previewing before Doug's speech that it was going to be like an entire speech about anti-Semitism. And again, I agree that's important. I'm like really glad he's taking that on. But I was like, the whole point of his speech has to be to personalize her, you know? and he did it in such a charming, humble way. And also, I think that, you know, part of Trump's shtick is this, you know of this other version of masculinity that's like

nice guys who are like, okay, being plus ones to their like really strong, successful wives, which is just like such a great image to project and a good way to counter Trump's bullshit. Yeah. I also just think that again,

just because like the shallow knowledge, a lot of people have about Kamala and even I am an obsessive if you asked me last week like when did doug and kamala get together like how old were the kids i think i would have been like i'm not sure actually you know what i mean so yeah there was i think that it was really you know a nice way to paint a story of her like comes into this family like does a mom role, is supportive, is taking calls from Ella. They're already teenagers, but it still happens in a way that shows that somebody who actually cares about other people. You know what I mean?

I just thought that was a nice way into her story that, again, is what you should be doing. That's cool. Now we know that about her. Yep, it's the whole point that's the whole point okay we're gonna keep going on this on this theme because barack obama mostly stuck to the whole point of the convention with a little with a little bonus little cherry on top for me let's take a listen to barack's comments about donald trump the people who will decide this election are asking a very simple

question. Who will fight for me? Who's thinking about my future, about my children's future, about our future together? one thing is for certain Donald Trump is not losing sleep over that question gotta put on that makeup here's a 78 year old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago. It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that's actually been getting worse now that he's afraid of losing the there's the childish nicknames the crazy conspiracy theories this weird obsession with crowd sizes yeah the crowd starts to cheer very loudly there it might not it might not fully take on audio the video people notice the loud cheer happens when he does what appears to be a small

cock sign after he talks about the small crowd sizes what was that i know you worked on the speech was that like was that your ad i was stunned that he did that. It's funny. I'll give you a little of the backstory. Please. We've been going through the Trump section, what he's going to say about Trump. And most of that was led by him. That's like how he wanted to frame it.

And we had like a couple different examples in there of like Trump's whining. For a while, we had like 2 a.m. social media tirades and like that was cut for time and the one thing that Obama kept adding back into the speech was the crowd size things and I didn't want to take it out just because it was like I didn't like it but I was just like oh you know we're trying to get it tight and for time stuff like that and in the last round of edits he put it back in yeah but I was like, okay, maybe this is a funny thing that he wants to joke about. And then when I was watching the speech from the floor and saw him do that, I was like, oh my gosh, this is, wow, very unlike him. Do we think that was part of the plan then?

Or it was just kind of in the moment? I don't know. I could see myself in the moment. He really, he hammed it up though. The argument against it being an accident, the hands get smaller and smaller. And then he kind of pauses and looks at his small hands for a second. I will tell you that if it was a planned thing,

it was planned only in his mind. But he does that sometimes with speeches where he did this with the eulogy, a much more serious note, when he's saying amazing grace he didn't tell you all he was gonna sing no he had said something on the way there he was like i might sing if the mood strikes me but i don't know i don't think so whenever he's like into a speech and he's like feeling the crowd then he hams it up right or he either he does something that he wasn't expected to do so i think that's what happened then what about just any like

other you know kind of working on speeches in the past kind of just a little guy's locker room talk any history of like chode jokes or anything else that kind of was cut and he likes to talk about lindsey graham's manhood at any point in private or is this honestly nothing else he's not usually he's just not usually like that he doesn't make usually a dick. Not usually a dick joke, man. No, not at all. Well, I liked it. I know that, you know, we're supposed to be serious. The thing that I've always liked about Obama's speech is even when I was opposing him and frankly liked it and was jealous of is he's good at the high low. Yeah.

You know, and that you want that in a speech, right? You do not have to make a choice between appealing to people's better angels and making fun of assholes. You can do both, you know? And he very much approached this from the beginning. We had talked about it and we sort of both came to the same conclusion, which is what a lot of people at the convention have. Michelle, everyone else was like, let's make fun of the guy. He's full of shit. He's whiny and complaining. Why are we

trying to put him up there as this scary strong man? We should take him down a few pegs. He had wanted to do that from the beginning. The very bulwark part of the speech. Oh yeah, okay, well great. Thank you. We were going to get there. The last probably eight minutes could have been a monologue

that we just post as a bonus episode of the Bulwark podcast. This kind of appeal to caring about people on the other side, about these fundamental values that we all share, that whether you have a grandfather or an uncle that is from a red state that worked hard and that he also shares those values. And they might be from MAGA and they might say some racist things, but like fundamentally, we're a better people than this. And we can. I was just like, oh, man, this could be a Bill Kristol morning shot. So anyway, we have one clip from it. Let's listen.

We don't trust each other as much because we don't take the time to know each other. And in that space between us, politicians and algorithms teach us to caricature each other and troll each other and fear each other. But here's the good news, Chicago. All across America, in big cities and small towns, away from all the noise, the ties that bind us together are still there. We still coach Little League and look out for our elderly neighbors. We still feed the hungry in churches and mosques and synagogues and temples. We share the same pride when our Olympic athletes compete for the gold. Because the vast majority of us do not want to live in a country that's bitter and divided. We want something better.

We want to be better. We want to be better. Yeah. That's right. That's the way to get at Trump, right? Yes. I mean, I think there is this sort of superficial analysis of Obama's political philosophy, which is like, hopey and changey and unity, and we're all going to get along. And, you know, Michelle always got shit for like, when they go low, we go high. And it always drives me crazy, because I think it's all misunderstood. And what he was saying last night is like, yeah, we're going to disagree. We may not solve those disagreements, but it was really a defense of small L liberalism, not in the political partisan sense. And it's this idea that he has been talking

a lot over the last year or so about pluralism. He's wanted to give a pluralism speech, which everyone was like, okay, we maybe we's wanted to give a pluralism speech which everyone was like okay we maybe we don't call it the pluralism speech but we get the concept we'd be happy to host okay we'd be happy to co-sponsor that with him if he wants to do a pluralism speech let's do it i'll i'll be in the front row you know hooting you know the idea that like in a country of like 300 million plus people, like whichever side wins, the other side's not going away. Right.

Like we're going to have to learn to live together. And like the whole point of democracy is, is not to all come to an agreement, but it's also not to all like be at war all the time. Like Donald Trump wants us to be and his version of the Republican party. And so we have to figure out a way to disagree. And you know what he said in that speech is that's not just like on Republicans, right? Like that's on us too. And he talked about how, like from across the political spectrum, we've come to think that like winning is about like scolding people or shaming people or yelling the other side. And he even uses

the examples of like, you you know you have a grandmother an uncle or a cousin who says something that's like off you give them grace you don't yell at them for that right and like why do we do that to strangers on social media why do we do that to other people in politics right going back to the purpose who are you talking to yes it is the way to get at some of these soft people i know know that there may be some progressives or liberals that don't think these people exist, but there are like, there are good people that live in the suburbs,

live in the country that are traditionally conservative or Republican that get somewhere in their gut that Donald Trump is bad and that we're better than him and that they just want to feel heard. Right. And they just like need a nudge to just be like, yep. You know, okay, I'm ready. I'm not, not we're not going back like might not be a democrat now but like at least the people that i heard from at this convention tim walls and kamala harris and and the obamas

like recognize like i have value and we might disagree on some policies and maybe i'll vote for whoever the hell you know next time around people exist. And this is a soft way to speak to them by like welcoming them rather than being like, don't you vote for that bigot. Well, it's that crowd, right? This is like the, this is the bulwark crowd. This is, uh, this is Sarah's voters that she's talking to in the focus group, but it's also, and I think a lot of Democrats and progressives might not understand this, but it's the, the very voters that, that Biden was having problems with and the Democrats have been having problems with now over the last several years, which are younger black and brown voters who are sporadic voters. So once in a while they vote, sometimes they don't. And their feeling is they're non-ideological and they're just like sick of politics.

They think it's like a lot of noise and a lot of people just like yelling at each other all the time. And they're not looking for kumbaya. They're just looking for like, well, why do I care about politics if it doesn't matter to my life? And all these assholes are just like on TV in it for themselves, yelling at each other all the time, whining about shit all the time. And like, I don't know, the way these people live their lives is they try to get along with their neighbors and their colleagues. And what they want is just like a government that will, I don't know, protect them, help them live a better life, keep them safe, give them a chance. That's all. That's all people want. And so that is a feeling that maybe both, maybe right-leaning independents have, but

also a lot of these younger voters and voters of color who just are not showing up in every single election. I thought that Michelle spoke to that group as well very strongly, you know, just about this. It's an empowering. Her message was empowering and practical. That's what they want. Like, not bullshit. Don't bullshit me. Like, I want to feel like this is worth doing and that it's worth doing for me in particular as a young black person or young brown person. Since you mentioned it on Obama's small L liberal speech, I liked this from Sheikha, who started the unpopulist sub stack, who's a friend of the pod, obviously. She wrote this, Barack Obama's speech is the most enlightenment liberalism statement I've

heard in a long time. He hit every fundamental note, equal dignity for all, pluralism, toleration for those with different lifestyles, and values, freedom, justice, and compassion for political opponents. It is noteworthy because there has been a little bit of loss of that North Star among some on the left, right? Like in favor of focusing more on like advancing specific progressive ends versus, you know, focusing on kind of respect for fundamental values. And so I think that's why it's noteworthy for him to like really lean in on it. Yeah, I mean, look, it's also been a hobby horse of mine

for the last several years. So you're saying you put that in there? Well, no, this is what's weird about it. You and Barry are just sitting around, going through some enlightenment, going through your hume, looking for a quote. I will tell you, this is what's weird about knowing him for so long and writing for him since 2005, is he and I can go months and months without talking to each other. And then when we do, we suddenly both have like the same gripes about politics. Cause we just like, I, I learned to like, not like write like him, but think like him. So it's just like who I am now.

But one thing that he did in a couple of places was, you know, he says like, we've got to respect people who don't look like us, who don't pray like we do, which gets all the liberals and progressives clapping, who don't come from where we come, right? Like they're like that. And who don't believe the same things that we do about politics. And to him and to what democracy should be, that's all the same thing. If we as progressives want to make sure that we treat people equally based on race and gender and sexual orientation and sexual identity, then we also have to treat people the same based on political identity. Like, that's the whole point of democracy. You have to include that.

Oh, man. We're just getting so bulwark-pilled over here right now. It's unbelievable. We're on bulwark Viagra on this podcast. I've never been so effusive about Barack Obama. I don't know what's happening right now. There's one other thing we have to talk about while we're just praising barack obama didn't get cut for time i was noticing that you're trying to you're trying to narrow things down you know keep it sharp keep it fevroian but a lengthy aside about barack obama

coming out as a yimby and i was i was cheering i was standing up on my couch build more houses get rid of regulations that are stopping people from building i love that what was why was that in there that's from from the beginning one of the first things he said that he wanted to make sure that was the yimby he didn't say yimby but he was um you know that was the sometimes sometimes he sounds like me sometimes he just sounds like ezra klein right and he was on dempsis we should give jerusalem dempsis some love i think he's been reading the atlantic i'm telling you i think he's been reading jerusalem maybe probably listening to ezra everyone's listening to ezra apparently according to semaphore no that that whole

section was him wanting to say look we and he's done this in his speeches when he was a nominee, which is like, we can't just be tied to like old ideas of the past. And also think that we like as Democrats and liberals and progressives, like we have a monopoly on all the ideas and that, you know, we've never done anything wrong. And, you know, originally he wanted this whole thing about like, it's a lot of democratic cities that have zoning laws. And I was like, we're not writing zoning laws in the speech. Oh, okay. Oh, that was a bad cut.

Can I get the draft on that? Can we leak the draft on that to the newsletter for this week? Just so we know that we're out there. He's there. He's there. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Some mismanagement in democratic cities. Yeah. Oh boy. slowly know that where he's out there he's there he's there yeah and uh i know yeah some mismanagement in democratic cities yeah oh boy love it and i were on the floor when he said that

and we started a yimby chant actually we're trying to get that did it how'd that go well we were near the california delegation and they didn't want to keep going looking forward we've got two nights left um we've got walls and kensinger and kamala harris i'm sure there'll be a couple other speakers that matter but you know those are the key three don't forget bill clinton what uh why why are we doing this can we just whisper about this why is bill clinton talking couldn't they have joint talk i kind of thought that maybe this was the year where we finally like, you know. And I don't want to not honor him. I don't, but how about like the Oscars? Instead of talking,

you know how the Oscars, you get a lifetime achievement award. There's like a montage. It's like the guy from Hope. We go up there and then he gets to walk out on stage. Everybody cheers for him. And then he says, thank you. And then he leaves. Like that's like, that would be nice. One thing about this convention is you can tell that most of it was planned when Biden was going to be the nominee. Yeah. And when Kamala took over, I think that, you know, they wanted to like reshape the convention in her image. But I think there's some things that they just couldn't. Like part of the problem with all of these politicians going up there and going over time and pushing everyone out of primetime.

I think it's just like, oh, they had been invited. And what are you going to do? Uninvite them? Which maybe I would bet that's why. Yes. And Bill Clinton does in his speeches, he does something that the Obamas don't do that a lot of other speakers don't do, which he explains things. Well, he like he makes arguments and knocks down arguments from the other side in a really like easy to understand way. I think the key tonight that I'm watching for is like, oh, Bill Clinton cannot knock Tim Walls out of primetime because his speech is like an hour long. All right. So Walls, just really quick, rapid fire. What do you want from Walls? What are you hoping that he does? What's his main goal? I mean, I think everything that has made made people love tim wall so far right like

i think he should talk about his you know he's going to talk about coaching he's going to talk about minnesota he's going to talk about like rural america right i think he's also going to build up kamala like again understanding the assignment i think he'll do that quite well and i heard you guys talking about this and JVL talking about this, but it's the same reason I love Tim Walls, which is he comes from this, the DFL Minnesota tradition. And it is a different brand of democratic politics and liberalism that is much more focused on sort of economic populism and community than it is on a lot of the identity politics that we sometimes get. I do like that. And I think that he can continue that theme. Where Tim Walls,

and just slowly but surely, I'm getting there. It wasn't immediate. So it's happening slowly but surely, one foot at a time. Beto's full-throated endorsement yesterday. He was. He was really, yeah. I was like, okay, I must be missing something here i was like if beto's this excited i there's got to be something i'm missing but uh the thing i've liked about walls or the thing that i've liked the best of all of his rhetoric which i hope he includes is like how he diminishes trump in a different way than michelle but it's the same objective which is like can you imagine this guy having a blizzard, can you imagine this guy going on a raft? You know, I like that.

Like, just like, be like a guy from Mankato who like likes to do Mankato stuff and make fun of the fact that like Donald Trump doesn't, doesn't know anything about that. I like that. Yes. Michelle Obama and Tim Walz in different ways are like focus group participants talking about Donald Trump. I mean, literally in Barack Obama's case, when he did the leaf blower line, that Donald Trump was like your neighbor. I thought that was the weakest line. I was trying to keep positive. I thought the leaf blower thing didn't land. He even knew it didn't land. He paused and he was just like, nope, and then he kept moving. I don't think the leaf blower is going to make it onto the stump

in the fall. It came from, I think he got it from, Axelrod's been saying it. And the reason that Axelrod's been saying it, and Axelrod has said this on TV, so it's not a secret, but it came from an Obama-Trump voter in a focus group. Really? Yes. Annoying leaf blower guy. You've seen all these focus groups too.

I had been surprised over the last year how many complaints about trump center around just the exhaustion yes right it's just like i am just so tired of this guy he's so annoying this is like tim wallace is like can you imagine thanksgiving dinner yeah with this guy or i don't think he says that about trump but he says like can't we have thanks when he's gone it was like imagine thanksgiving dinner after he's gone yes It'll just be like a weight off everybody's shoulders. Yes. And it is this like, he's just so annoying and in our faces all the time. So I think Walls will do that.

All right. What about Kamala? Okay. Blank page. How much? Her stump, since she has ascended to become the presumptive nominee, has been really tight and really good. Like just freedom like

patriotism a little bit of her story contrasts with trump in and out 20 minutes and it's been it's been good yeah she adds a line or two textbook her kickoff speech in 2019 was in oakland and so i went there what's to lose and it was like it was state of the union i know that's like our shorthand for bad right yeah she felt like she was trying to appeal to every part of the Democratic coalition. Like, here's a little something for the Bernies. And here's a little something for the identity politics crowd. Here's a little economic populism. And here's some women's stuff and glass ceiling stuff, right?

And it just didn't land. And I think that that's going to be a challenge for this speech. It's going to be a little longer than what she's been doing on the stump. So anyway, I'm wondering how you take that and what you think that she should focus on first of all i think now that i look back on it with a few years i think the 2020 primary brought out the worst in a lot of those candidates except beto who was fabulous and he just brought out the worst in all of us not you and me but like all the political media class just didn't recognize what they had when they had it.

Honestly, I would say Pete. Pete was who he is. Pete hasn't changed at all. Pete was true to himself. God love him. But also people like Bernie and Warren who are just like, that's who they are. They showed up as who they are.

I don't know. I think Warren got a little bit off of her. A little bit, yes. A little bit off of her true north. Well, and because of Bernie, right? And so some of them were chasing Bernie. Some of of them were chasing something else and so it became this like competition and i think that she fell into that trap and she's now unburdened from that of course but she does have a lot of work to do and so like this is the tough part when you are the nominee

is like most people will give plaudits to some of the other speeches as the best speeches. And it's like, yeah, the reason the other speeches, the other speakers in the primetime can be better is because they don't have the work to do that you have to do as the nominee. Like, but I would expect her to really tell her story, talk about her family, and then also wrap it in this patriotism that we heard from the Obamas. Like, I think she'll do something similar about her own story. And she's got to talk about her record, right? She's got to highlight the good parts about her record.

Does she, though? I guess this was where I was going next. Because that's the one thing that I'm kind of like, I think if I was cutting stuff from time, I just probably wouldn't deal with it. I just probably would do less. I would talk more about her, contrast with Trump, and her future vision. And you saw our friend, our good pal Scott Jennings on on cnn last i don't know if you saw this i did not you're not just sitting around chicago watching cnn post game analysis you know you got friends you got buyers you got fans you got to deal with well anyway i'll tell you what happened on cnn it was it was

fireworks scott was fucking pissed like scott is like they don't even talk about the last four years and like how are they going to defend it and like his frustration you could tell that he's you can tell that they're frustrated like that the democrats are quote-unquote getting away with this and i think that there's a defense to be had of the of the last four years that there's totally reasonable and that that she should do if necessary but like why if you don't have to i guess that's my question this is where i'll put my like strictly like polling political strategist hat on great yeah which is i think that she should do it quickly the record stuff and she should highlight the parts of her record that are incredibly popular

so in the biden, that's going to be beating Medicare. We beat Medicare. We did. It's going to be the prescription drugs and some of the more popular elements of the Biden administration. But then I think like what really pops in the polling is her work. Prosecutor. That too, but even more so when she was attorney general, like the housing settlement oh yeah and what she did for homeowners because housing is like a number one issue that no one ever talks about and she has a great story to tell on it except me and barack obama and jerusalem dempsis that's it but she will i think she'll highlight like her work as prosecutor

her work as da her work as ag and a couple things from the obama administration and then we're well they're fast i think you meant biden administration but there are already already a lot of people out there a lot of conspiracies about how it's been obama pulling the strings behind the scenes this whole time with biden gonna get in trouble that you're not gonna get in trouble that's gonna be on fox jesse waters jesse waters hello jesse i know they're just wanting to clipping that right now. John Favreau admits that it was Obama behind the scenes. The puppet master was doing it the whole time. Either Jesse Waters or some folks in the Biden administration. But yeah, no, I think. And she doesn't have to go into like too much detail on policy because she did do her economic speech, her policy speech last week.

So she can sort of highlight the most popular stuff and move on. And then I think that it'll be a lot about values and patriotism and some of the themes that we've heard from the convention from some of the best speakers. You did it by accident, but we have a couple of conspiracies we have to debunk before we go. Or affirm, I don't know last night on fox news brett bair was reporting uh via one of the fox news reporters that kamala harris and tim walls were in milwaukee last night not at the convention because joe biden is so mad at barack and michelle obama that Kamala could not even be in the same room with them for fear of suffering his wrath and derailing the entire convention. Do you think that was why she was in Milwaukee last night or do you think it was a different reason than that? I am 100% sure that's why she was like...

Wait a minute, I'm sorry, you're doubting Fox's sources on this? I was extremely impressed considering how Monday night went in terms of the timing and pacing that what they did Tuesday night where like the roll call is done, California puts her over the top, and then they immediately go live to her and Milwaukee with this big crowd in the place where Trump gave his convention speech. That's like a, that's just such a move. And it's like a real hard thing to pull off. And I think that's why they did it. That was very David Plouffe to me.

That's a very... And General Malley Dillon, who's been on our campaigns too. I'm not going to give Plouffe the call on that. Whoever has run in advance over there, that was awesome. The timing, and it just looked so good in the fiser forum it was crazy

how good it looked and it was packed they had the huge freedom red white and blue signs people the usa placards were back in uh in chicago i mean i was i was ready to kind of fly a bald eagle the advanced teams and and the folks who pulled that off it's incredible incredible to pull that off okay so so we've debunked that conspiracy all right here's here's another one i'm gonna read you a quote here um and i'm not sure if it was from you or not but the dam has broken we can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in november or we can speak the truth it was an important clarion call a couple months ago from one George Clooney. Were you the one that put the words in his mouth?

And I did write that. I did write that. I wrote every single word. Are you ready to come clean on that right now? It's time. We're unburdened by the past, and you can admit it. You were the one. The number of inquiries I got about that was so weird.

I think it must have come from somewhere. And I don't know where. I don't know where it came from. It might rhyme with Shmumida. It made me feel bad for George Clooney because I'm like. People are like, George can't write, dumbass actor. And I had to explain to a reporter, I'm like, I've met Clooney a couple times. And he is one of the like smartest

celebrities about politics. He could do a podcast with us and he would know like all the insight. He's like terminally online about politics. Like he gets it all. He's very good at this and he's a great writer. So yeah. So it was not you. It was not me.

Okay. Has you, have you heard from George since? I have not. I have not heard from him. There was that card game that Barack Obama was mentioning last night. Kind you have you heard from george since i have not i have not heard there was that card game that barack obama was mentioning last night kind of you know that that the simple pleasures as it has it been you and george and him and nancy where you guys sit around doing a little texas hold them anytime the last would smoke a cigar has that happened recently

yeah i will say none of none of us were invited to the biden family suite on monday you get to hang out with a lot of celebs who is the most impressive celeb political mind that you've met political mind let's say that love it just went full survivor and was like going to be a full-time reality show host and you need to replace him and and you know the the investors and crooked media were like we need a celeb we needleb. We need to add a celeb to the mix. Who are you bringing in? Two people who come to mind who really could just be Pod Save America hosts. Yeah, okay.

John Legend and Stephen Colbert. Colbert. All right, are we sure Colbert could do it? Are we sure? Oh my God. Colbert is... Is he a little too earnest for you guys, though? You guys have become jaded over the years he's really not that i mean he's like earnest for the show he has in the

position he has on that show like he's on cbs you know it's not like he's gonna be us but he he knows a ton about politics and is very smart about it very very smart okay all right last thing i was listening to the uh donald trump interview with theo von on my plane ride up to new york here today i have not heard that yet i would probably not suffer through it i'm not going to make the the listeners the vibes are too high right now you know we're we're just we're kind of just drinking lime out of the coconut right now and we're not going to make people listen to donald trump and theo von talk i might do a separate youtube video on that if people want to go over to youtube but But there was one thing that alarmed me about it.

And that was an ad that Theo read. Theo, for people who don't know, is kind of like a bro podcaster. He's like non-political, really. He's from Louisiana. So I have some mutuals with him. So I've been following him for a while. He's like, he might almost have as many listeners

as Pod Damn America. I'm not 100% sure, but he has a lot of listeners. MMA, this kind of stuff. It's bro pod. It's like joe rogan just like one level down from joe rogan and a little less political even and i think younger and the ad was for send the vote.com and it's like this is a non-partisan group for registering voters and i was like what the fuck is that and so i googled it and it is like a trump front uh that they are running ads on these like bro podcasts to try to register these kind of non-political young men and so i know that this is you know you were talking about this a little

bit with walls and his job tonight but like how can the democrats like get in the game on this it's a big red flag for me yeah me too look i think they're doing everything right so far i think i honestly i think that part of the walls pick was that like i think that as much i was a i was like maybe we should do shapiro first as well as you know we're not talking about that we're not going back we're not going back we're not talking about that he's great he's doing a great job as the governor of pennsylvania but i also think walls is a is a better fit for reaching those young men than than anyone else would have been i think barack obama can do that as well and it's it's very much on obama does he want to go on theo von do you want me to help

broker that i think you'd do pretty well look i you know i think obama could like go on rogan yeah i really do i think he should like why both Walls and Obama should be going on these bro. I mean, honestly, even someone like Bernie Sanders goes on Rogan. Yeah, Bernie does do it. Bernie's been on Theo. He's the only Democrat that's been on him. There's some good people who should reach out. I also think that there's a lot in Project 2025 that I have heard from the bros that I know who are not super political.

And they'll reach out to me and be like did you see this thing about they want to ban porn you've got some college buddies that are concerned about the porn ban they're in their seventh year of their marriage they like i live in texas now like my porn hub isn't working no like they moved to austin like what the fuck is happening fafs literally things that I hear. Yeah, and it is, I think that the side of the Trump GOP that is, you know, the J.D. Vance, Mike Johnson, you know, monitoring his kids' porn intake with the app there. Like, that shit is toxic with these younger men. And, you know, you see, like, Dave portnoy complain about it once in a while or

barstool right and i do think that like highlighting that from a message perspective highlighting that is going to be important and then the messengers matter as well and you sort of like need guys who are not trying to like out toxic masculinity trump right but to like show a different version of it which is like and make can be chill and cool and normal and not like annoying and scoldy you know and still like be good people right well I hate it when I see the MAGA people do something

smart and that sendthevote.com had me feeling like they were doing something smart so let's do something smart back and get some normal chill Democrats on with those guys Favs wonderful you did a great job last night even though you didn't do the dick joke. I did think it was second, Michelle. And I don't know if that was her stuff or her team

who's in her little kitchen cabinet, but whoever it is is better than you because her speech was A plus last night. Barack's was pretty good as well. Thank you so much for coming on, man. Let's do this again soon. Thanks for having me, man. All right, we'll see you later.

That's Jon Favreau. We'll be back tomorrow with somebody funnier than john favreau from the democratic party and then we'll get back to your never trumpers after that we'll see y'all then soon peace every day is payday swipe my card then i do you're talking to a late date i want a kind yay yay so that's a no-no I'mma make back and use a vo-vo This convo beat like Drake, ayy I already know what you're tryna say Say the truth about the energy you tryna holla

But that ain't how it's brought up Make money for my money Cause that's what my mama taught me So your ass better show me some respect Boss, Michelle Obama Purse all heavy, gettin' Oprah dollars Boss, Michelle Obama Purse all heavy, gettin' Oprah dollars Boss, Michelle Obama, who?

Purse all heavy, gettin' Oprah dollars Boss, Michelle Obama, who? Purse all heavy, gettin' Oprah dollars Boss, Michelle Obama, who? Purse all heavy, gettin' Oprah dollars E-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T, that's me, I'm confident I want your compliment, use common sense I'm a mama shell Obama

Shut your mouth Boy, I think you know who run this house I ain't thirstin' for no bae Cause I already know what you're tryin' to say You said that you a baller and I see you tryin' to holler But that ain't how it's gonna make I'm workin' for the money cause that's what my mama Got me so your ass better show me some respect

Boss, Michelle Obama Purse so heavy, get no products Boss, Michelle Obama Purse so heavy, get no products Boss, Michelle Obama Purse so heavy, get no products Boss, Michelle Obama Purse so heavy, get no products I pledge allegiance to my independent.

Oh, baby. So if you with us, come on, let me hear you say. The board podcast is produced by Katie Cooper with audio engineering and editing by Jason Brown.