The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 3558 - Ice, Gaza, DC Takeover & Building Power w/ Rep Maxwell Frost

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

It's Tuesday News Day as the Majority Report On today's show: The hosts of Fox & Friends do not care that the statistics show violent crime hitting a 30-year low in Washington DC because one of them spoke to a barista and she said it is too dangerous in DC. Rep. Maxwell Frost from Florida's 10 district joins us in studio to discuss ICE, Gaza, campaigning, building power and more. In the Fun Half: Trump rambles about Transgender people in the middle of his National Guard Deployment speech. Lara Trump forces a packed Westchester Country Club to sit through her rendition of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down". Marjorie Taylor-Green and Laura Loomer have a graceful and sophisticated disagreement on X. All that and more plus calls and IMs. The Congress switchboard number is [phone]. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors EXPRESSVPN: Get up to 4 extra months free. Expressvpn.com/Majority SUNSET LAKE: Head on over to Sunset LakeCBD.com and remember to use code BIRTHDAY for 25% off sitewide. This sale ends at midnight on August 17th. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza’s music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com

You are listening to a free version of The Majority Report. Support this show at join the Majority Report.com and get an extra hour of content daily. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. My name is Sam Cedar. This is the five-time award-winning majority report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA. On the program today, Congressman Maxwell Frost in Florida's 10th District in studio.

on the program today Trump sends the feds to the streets of D.C. While the Pentagon's National Guard plan is a reaction force for civil unrest. Also on the program

today, inflation numbers show core inflation, now up above 3%. Bryant. Drop it to music, just a little. Meanwhile, Trump nominates an unqualified crony E.J. Antony to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, soon to be named the Bureau of Fake Labor Statistics. And ladies and gentlemen, it's Taco Tuesday as Trump extends the China tariff deadline by three more months.

So it's semi, semi-semi-semi-firm? When we get to soft deadlines. So soft. Meanwhile, Sherrod Brown to run for Ohio Senate in 2026. Al Jazeera affirms commitment to Gaza coverage despite Israeli's journalist assassination program. Heroes. CBO confirms Trump's ugly bill takes from the poor to give to the rich, literally. pulling $1,200

from the lowest income 10% in the country. Trump says he and Putin will discuss Ukraine future borders. No word as to whether Zelensky will be invited. Putty poop. And Missouri workers are dealing

with the Republicans' repeal of paid sick leave law. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, it is Taco Tuesday or... Newsday Tuesday. Tocco Tuesday makes me want to run out and grab a taco. Yes. Well, that's not... I mean, it's not literally tacos.

I understand. Trump always chickens out. And we are now 90 days. I think it's going to be August, September, October, November 10th, or 11th. or 12th will be the new deadline for Trump to really hand it to China. Meanwhile, core inflation ticks up again. We're up above 3%. Unclear what the Fed is going to do with this type of stuff, because as numbers, as job numbers fall, which they have fallen dramatically, the Fed would normally cut rates. However, as core inflation ticks up, the Fed would normally not cut rates.

And tariffs are inflationary in and of themselves, let alone, you know, the freezing of the economy that Trump is engendering by not being decisive at all, slowing growth even without implementing these tariffs, which would already be inflationary. Yep. And so, you know, this is, there is this growing, mounting concern for stagflation, which we haven't seen in, I don't know, some 40 years maybe. But, of course, we'll be talking more about that in the weeks and months, maybe years to come. We shall see. In the meantime, Donald Trump has, and it's really quite. quite unclear. And we will ask the congressman about this when he gets here. But what has motivated Donald Trump's decision to essentially federalize the police force in D.C. He has taken over the Washington, D.C. police force. Statutorily, he can do this for a few days and then extend it to 30 days. After that, it is unclear. And it appears that he would need Congress. approval. As of now, you have FBI agents, 120 of them, have been assigned to nighttime patrol duties.

They are now nighttime beat cops. And I'm sure FBI agents are trained. I don't know how much experience they have walking the beat. but I'd be pretty bummed if I went through that whole thing at Quantico or whatever it is. And then ended up, I got the night shift doing beat cop work. Doing big balls protection rackets because he got apparently beat up by two teenagers that were calling him not so big balls. And let's be clear, in Washington, D.C., there is no crime. problem, at least relative to the past, I don't know, half a century.

But there is some evidence that there's more crime than we can understand. Is it data? That's funny. No, data sometimes lies. What does not lie is where you get your coffee. William Bryan, back to you guys. Mark, the dynamic was so. fascinating yesterday because you have the mayor come out and go, well, crime is down.

I don't know why he's doing this. He's got a pandemic mindset. But almost everyone in the press room is living in Washington of the surrounding areas. So you don't need to see a bar graph or a pie chart. Do you get the sense that the matter of your proclivity of what you thought of the president, the people in that room know there's a problem with crime in that city, regardless of what stat is out there? Brian, I couldn't agree with you more because statistics don't tell the entire story. And obviously, if you're a victim of crime or if you know somebody who is, it matters a much bigger deal to you as opposed to just seeing something on a bar graph. And you asked a question about the reporters. I'll tell you, I went to the Starbucks yesterday

before going to the White House. I asked this barista, she's got a four-year-old boy. She's out there every day at five in the morning working her butt off. I said, what do you think about the National Guard coming? She goes, thank God they've got to get the city under control because she deals with the homeless in the store. She's got to deal with the crime in Anacostia. D.C. residents, yes, they are aware that this is going to be a huge. huge political fight, but there is absolutely a crime problem in the nation's Yeah, if you live in a neighborhood, you just want

safety, you don't care how it's done. So Donald Trump said that he's invoking this under Section 7. Okay. Now, that barista, notwithstanding, crime is literally in 2024

in New York City. Crime was down at a 30-year low. You mean Washington, D.C.? Washington, D.C. Yeah. What did I say?

New York City. Oh, in Washington, D.C., crime was at a 30-year low in 20-24. Maybe it's ticked up a little bit, and that's why Trump wants to come up. Well, lock in that 2024, 30 years. 1995. The numbers in terms of crime year over year, so another. the first eight months of 2024 compared to the first eight months of 2025 crime is down another 26 percent so from the 30 year low it is now 26 percent less right i mean there couldn't be

less of an excuse to i mean never mind like adding cups to the beat in dc adding the FBI agents and the National Guard. And frankly, like, if they're so worried about it, it does not matter. We can have the military come in and provide policing or security for a city or for those folks on Fox and Friends. I would like to see how Ashley Ainhardt or whatever her name is. Ainsley Earhart. Ainsley Earhart and Sean Hannity would enjoy having a, you know, I don't know, like a small platoon in their living. He probably has one.

Oh, no, they are out on Long Island. Well, they're out on Long Island. Did they move to Florida? Well, as I'm saying, it's probably five months and like 30 days on Long Island and six months and one day down in Florida. So forgive me if I'm not necessarily convinced that Ainsley Earhart and known subway rider Brian Kilmead have a good sense. of how crime is going in urban spaces. It's just an old racist trope that they're deploying. That's all it is.

And Trump got his political start with racist urban crime tropes. So full circle here. And I know that the only reason for them to be doing this at this stage is basically, again, to expand the so-called Overton window as to what becomes normalized, what becomes allowed, what becomes less shocking. and this is this is just the beginning as well i mean i guess it's really chapter two after california you put those uh the military in there even if you keep them in the barracks you basically set the tone of what becomes uh doable in a moment we're going to be talking uh to congressman maxwell frost from florida's 10th of the district in studio so we've been cleaning up a little bit around here

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Our friends at Sunset Lake, Sebed-A, are celebrating their birthday this month. And guess what? You're invited. They give presents. My uncle, actually, my great uncle used to do this. He lived until 104. On his birthday, he would give presents. That's trying to embarrass the rest of us. Well, the point is you want people to be invested. No, you want people to be invested in you being alive. Oh, okay, gotcha. It's an investment. Anyways, they want to thank this show and all of our great listeners for their support for their farm up in Vermont all these years to show.

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So, you know, yeah, uh, yeah, uh, yeah, uh, yeah,

Thank you. Thank you. We are back, Sam Cedar on the majority report here with Emma Viglin, joining us in studio. I think this is the first congressional person we've ever had in the studio. Oh, really? Yes. Congressman Maxwell Frost from Florida's 10th District. Your arm doesn't extend that far through that way.

Yeah, I know. No, it's okay. That's fine. We're in different places. Thanks for joining us. Exactly. We're all here, but we wanted to, why we could take that. Why, it doesn't matter.

We're figuring it out. Yeah. We're Sands, Matt, or other people. Matt is out today, having come back from the conference. Welcome here. Congressman, we got obviously a lot to talk about. Yeah. I'm far.

And we've played a lot of clips of yours, particularly in the wake of all the, the alligator so-called alligator alcatraz we're going to get to that I have a general question for you that actually I wouldn't have thought to think but somebody asked me this the other day about my job

and so I wanted to start here with yours obviously as the congressman your your job is to represent your district service your constituents what do you

what about your your personal sort of like idea of what your job is, do you feel differentiates you from a lot of like let's say generic Democrats? Hmm. You know, that's interesting. I think the first thing, and this is more than just Democrats of

politicians in general, is we tend to gravitate towards our thing. You know, the thing that will help you raise money, the thing that people talk about in the media, like whatever your thing is. And for me, obviously coming in, it was, you know, being the youngest member, the first shenzy, all this stuff.

And it's actually a title that I really kind of pushed against because first and foremost, I represent the people in my district. And I didn't want to be seen as like the Gen Z representative. I wanted to see as the Florida's 10th congressional district representative because I knew in a sense a lot of people thought they were like, you know, it is something to be proud of, but it was also a way to kind of marginalize me and the work that I need to do for my district in my state in this moment in the south. And I think that's really important. I come from grassroots organizing and advocacy, so that's kind of the lens I bring to this work, and I ran for a year and a half. I spent a lot of that year and a half talking myself and trying to reconcile, I'm going into an institution that's done a lot of harm that is going to continue to do a lot of harm, but that I think can also do a lot of good and has done good. And in that kind of, I'm going to use a word that a lot of people hate, but kind of in that sense, I'm kind of an institutionalist, right? and to me that doesn't mean like oh the institution can do no harm we have to follow the rules like they've always been because it's happened to me what that means is i recognize i'm going into a place that even if i wasn't there they would continue without me and so i believe me being in the institution will help the goal that i've set for my life which is like helping people through music and politics that's my goal from actual frost and so either way i see myself as like a part of a bigger puzzle i don't see myself as like a

you know, a singular leader or anything like that. And I don't think any really politician should. And I still see myself as an organizer. I'm just organizing in a different place. And honestly, getting to Congress and sitting on the House floor and watching people talk to each other, I mean, it's all organizing. Like, people disparaged me so much in my primary for being just an organizer. And I get to this job, and it's a bunch of organizing. Right. Well, you also got your start in advocacy for gun control. And that's an issue. that I think is just so relevant for people to understand American politics, because you'll see the poll numbers on that issue, and it's overwhelmingly Americans approve of that kind of thing.

But what's been your experience of the limits of even kind of a more popularist mindset on that front because there are a lot of things that they're popular, but people aren't motivated to go vote for them or they don't have a lobbying group behind them that's going to back up their interests? That is, in my view, one of the glaring limits of democracy. We'll talk about our Israel policy in a little bit as well. but these are all things that I think broadly have democratic support, but you can't get a constituency in Congress to make change. I would say, actually, I think the gun violence prevention movement brings us a little hope in this part.

And I've been in this movement for over a decade now since I was 15, heavily involved. And I spent kind of the first eight years going to D.C. every year, speaking with politicians, getting lied to nothing happening. I mean, we know the Bipartisan Saved Communities Act was the first piece of gun violence legislation at the federal level in 30 years. And a big reason is something we used to always say in the movement was the NRA works out of the West Wing, right? And we used to say that whether it's a Democrat or Republican. And people forget, 15 years ago, an assault weapons ban was not the consensus position for Democrats. In fact, like half the Democrats in Congress were against it.

It was seen as like a far left, radical, whatever. Now it's the consensus position for a Democrat, and it's kind of a litmus test for a lot of Democrats in primaries, and that happened with sustained influence and power building in districts in D.C. across the country and getting to a place where now this is part of the platform. And I think it really shows a way forward. An example I'll give is the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It was my first bill I introduced with Senator Chris Murphy, and I knew it wouldn't pass. When a Republican Congress, like it has the word gun violence in it, it's not going to get through. but as an organizer, I was like, but it's a tool, right? And, like, how can we use this tool to push President Biden to just do the damn thing through executive order?

And so we, you know, introduced the bill. We worked with outside organizations and figured out how can we do this push, pull, me on the inside, everyone else on the outside, to get to a place where we get this. And, like, six months later, we got the call. He made the office. And we didn't celebrate yet. We're like, who's running it. And it was a bunch of gun violence survivors from our movement, people like Rob Wilcox and Greg Jackson, Survivors, a gun, violence who really that office it's like the best kept one of the best kept secrets of the

Biden administration they did really good work there that wasn't just about regulating guns which is important but it was about funding community violence intervention how do we end gun violence outside of the carceral system because if locking people up ended gun violence we'd have zero gun violence in this country because we lock up the most people so I think actually our movement gives some wins and I some people might disagree with me but I think we're actually more powerful than the NRA now. Obviously, because of the way power stacked in D.C., not so much, but like in terms of when the Democrats in power, the NRA has almost no say. And that wasn't the case just like 15 years ago. What's the dynamic there where you pass or you introduce a bill that

fails and it moves the president to do to executive action? Well, it's not that it fails. It's just it doesn't go anywhere, right? There's like most bills that are introduced just don't, they don't get a hearing, they don't get on the floor. It's just like in the ether, but you can use it as an organizing tool. So when I introduce that bill, it's my first bill. So we make a big deal out of it. We bring the movement together to the hill. We do the press conference. But then we use that bill as an organizing opportunity. Ask other members of Congress to get on it. Ask other members of Congress to reach out to the White House and say we want this as an executive order. Anytime I'm doing something with the White House. I'm bringing it up. I'm bringing up the bill. And the end of the conversation

is always, also, I know this isn't going to get a hearing of this Congress, right? We have McCarthy or Johnson or what, you know, but you can do it. And every, you know, day we don't do it, we're losing lives. So it just becomes a tangible representation that you can push, you can, you can point to as opposed to just an idea or a notion that's floating. Exactly. And this is something I had been working on three years before I even got the Congress when I was the organizing director March for our lives. We put together a coalition and we asked President Biden when he first got in to do this. So when I got to Congress, you know, I asked myself and a lot of my friends in the gun violence movement, like, what can I do now that I couldn't do before? Introduce legislation and use that

as our tool to like add some fire in this ask that we've had for years. We've had the ask for years, but how do we re-gen the ask? And then we ended up getting it. And it creates a an idea that it actually is becoming more concrete just because it's been codified in a bill even if it's not going to go anywhere. Exactly. Exactly. Now, we're still fine for the bill because obviously Trump gets in, he took away the office, right?

So, like, executive orders are good because they happen quick, but they're not good because it can just be taken away by any future president. So we're still looking for the bill. But now it becomes something in office that Trump got rid of and that becomes another leverage point to, you know, we'll see. Yeah, because gun violence has gone down the most in the last three years than it has in the history of our country.

This year we're on track. We believe when the numbers come out, we're actually going to be 20% less than last year. And it's important to start talking about this now because when the numbers come out, Trump is going to say, well, it's because I, you know, deported everybody. I deported, you know, he's going to take credit for it. And we have to point to the fact that, no, this started three years ago. Right. Like gun violence, homicides by gun in Boston, 40%.

reduction. Chicago, I think they're 23%. Baltimore, same thing. New York, same thing. So, like, this stuff works. D.C. And so this becomes a predicate for sending in the National Guard, because, of course, as soon as crime goes down, as gun violence goes down, you need to militarize the local police departments. I want to talk about that, but first, let's get to something that's a little bit more local for you, to some extent. And that's the... so-called alligator alcatraz i don't know it's a little bit cutesy of a name it seems to me

but um where where are we in terms of like getting information out of this facility it feels like these both what we're seeing in terms of like uh so-called immigration enforcement including the detainment centers are in this sort of legal netherwe world where we don't have the same level of scrutiny or accountability where it's almost like sort of like extra constitutional and now there are reports like we don't know if conceivable COVID could be running rampant through these I mean um give us your like I guess an update as to what we know about what's going on there and how much access we have and what kind of accountability etc so about now it's been like a month um Florida

Democratic delegation said we're going to go do a surprise visit. The surprise visits are the only ones you should ever really do because you see things for how they are. Somehow word got to the state that we were coming, I guess it leaked or something, and we got an invitation to tour it the same day, the same time we were already going to go. So we debated whether or not we were going to go. We decided let's just go because it might be our only opportunity, you know, even though legally they have to let us in. We know they're breaking the law across the country. So we decided to go in. And my thing is, like, even if they have time to clean it up, but clean cage is still a cage. Like, I mean, you know, to me, the conditions are still abhorrent.

And so we went in, I, we prepared, I had like a binder this thick of questions, of things to look out for, and of pictures and stories of my constituents that are in there. So we spent time working with legal aid organizations and this coalition in Central Florida called immigrants are welcome here. They're really fighting against what's going on with ICE and alerting people to what's going on. We worked with them to get information on people, and the pictures were the most important part. So, like, if I saw someone or I could hold up a photo to, like, one of the cages, have you seen this guy? They didn't let us talk to anybody, which is not normal. Usually, when I go to an ice facility, I can speak with people. I come with the disclaimer forms or whatever that they have to sign, and they usually let me speak with people.

They don't let me speak with people. And people can go, you know, I've spent a lot of videos online talking about what I saw, horrible conditions. We played some of what you got to say. So where we're at now, so I'll skip ahead. Where we're at now is we actually, there was just, we got a win recently that's really important. And we really owe this all to the Mekisukee tribe, which they're the ones, they're very deeply impacted by the environmental issues here. And they filed a lawsuit that has to do with them not going through the NEPA process for the facility. And what they said was, look, this is a federal detention facility.

If it's a federal facility, you have to go through a NEPA process, you didn't go through it. And what the state was saying was, no, this is a state facility. It's not a federal facility. I go in there, and I'm asking these questions, and every question, the guy running it looks at me and goes, well, ISIS is calling the shots. Like, they're telling us what to do. They're, you know, they're really running the whole thing. We set it up, which is them saying it's a federal facility that's operated by the state government, which is a weird, you know, legal thing that's like a shell game.

It's a shell game. And you know what's funny? But what is even the justification of a state enforcing immigration laws? There is no justification. Here comes the other part. And this is so, the way they did this is so fucked up. But the reason they did it this way is to avoid being held accountable. They have the Florida Office of Emergency Management running the place.

Now, you might be asking, why isn't the Department of Corrections or the National Guard or whatever? The reason the governor did that is because they're the only department in the state that has the ability to spend up to $500 million without going to the legislature in a case of an emergency, which makes sense. We have a hurricane coming. We want those guys to be able to spend as much money as they need to spend to keep our people safe. They're abusing that, and they're spending $450 million on this thing to, you know, kidnap and traffic people. And the other issue that- What happens if you need $75 million? They have to go to the state.

They have to go to the legislature, which means tomorrow a hurricane could pop up in the golf. It's two days out. They really can't start. They're going to have to go back to the legislature and ask for more money, which means more people are going to die. So it's a complete cluster that's going to impact all Floridians and obviously impacting the people in there.

But either way, the Mikisuki tribe got a win, and the judge made a decision where they have to stop constructing the facility. they have a lot of plans to continue to get to like 4,000 or 5,000 beds. They have to stop. We want the thing shut down, but that's a really good win, and that's going to help us hopefully get it eventually shut down. Our trip in there helped us prove that it's a federal facility, and actually one of my state representatives in Orlando, Rep.

On Escamani, she went in with me. She filed a declaration was actually a witness in the courtroom on this as well, and then I read this into the congressional record so they could use it in the case. So we're all working together to figure out the best way to attack this from the legal point. of you. Is there a legal challenge just to define the relationship between the state and the facility? That would come out of this. That would come out of this. The only other person that could really sue that we were encouraging to sue was Miami-Dade County, because this was their land that was taken from them. But they, I don't know if they decided not to, but they haven't yet. And I'm really hoping that they do, because they have an even better legal standing than the tribe does. for bringing something forward and to help us. And honestly, these legal cases are one of our only, you know, and there is no other, nobody's figured out any other type of standing to challenge this dynamic,

because this is going to be, this is like the map, right, for the rest of the country. Exactly. We've talked a lot about, you know, immigrants within the facility have standing, but the issue is there's no resources. And the problem is there's a lot of ways we could see on this, on other things as well. But a lot of people don't understand that there's limited capacity with the organizations that do these pro bono cases. Right. And in the south, we have, you know, Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU of Florida, in Florida,

a few other ones, you know, and like that's it. And we're suing on a lot of things, you know, and it's just hard. And the law firms, the larger law firms that would be maybe engaging in some of this pro bono work, too, are being threatened by the Trump administration. And they're bowing. A lot of them bowing in advance. Right. That's what's terrifying about this. Is Miami-Dade County afraid of DeSantis, afraid of retaliation? They're scared of getting taken out of their seats, which is something DeSantis has been doing, right?

If you don't do what he wants, he just takes you out of the seat. My county, Orange County, just had this issue, which is, it's a tough one, right? The state said, we want you to sign this form that says you will begin to transport people from Orange County all the way to the Everglades. And our county, and our county mayor came out with a piece, and he said, no, like, get the hell out of here. And then DeSantis said, if you don't sign this, you're not going to be the mayor. And I'm going to take away the whole council. And it's tough, right? Because it's like, what, like, what do you do?

Because the problem is with the county, if he takes out our mayor, we don't get to elect a new one. He appoints the mayor. We're, like, the bluest part of Florida. You know, he'll put it like a Republican hack in there. And then that's going to have implications for us on a whole host of issues. Immigration, of course. but then housing, homelessness, law enforcement, you know what I mean? And so we're in a really tough situation.

We actually have even less tools than Texas does on a lot, like redistricting, them leaving, which is great to break the quorum. Like, the Florida legislature, they don't have the ability to do that. If the Democrats left, they can just continue. So they've, and Florida really rigged stuff against us in a really big way. And that's why I always say Project 2025 is like Florida 2010. You know, a lot of this, what they're doing across the country, they've built this. in a lot of these red states, and especially in the state of Florida.

So we're in a tough situation, but I'm proud of the work we're doing. We're working with our partners, with organizations, and we need it all. Mutual aid protests, elected officials, people suing, artists. Like, we're all coming together, you know, to take care of our community. Do we have any sense of, do you have any sense of what the, for lack of a better turn, churn is? I mean, they're building 100,000 beds. extra beds, capacity, presumably, I mean, this is all coming from the big reconciliation bill, presumably as interim detention before people get deported, which I imagine is the

case for a certain percentage of those people, but there's also- Everglades all, the whole thing. But do we know how long they're in there? Like, do we have a sense of what the churn is? because at one point, it's also, there's models out there for like, hey, for 50 cents a day, you can go work for, you know, do these jobs. And then all of a sudden, yeah, I mean, basic fall on slavery and, you know, sell them out to, you know, various corporations. I mean, this seems to me to be something that certainly within the context of red states is a viable option from them. It's something I'm worried about, especially as hurricane season begins, and after a hurricane comes, and because the state didn't prepare in the right way, and there's a lot of devastation cleanup that needs to happen, I'm worried. And the emergency management department's running the facility. I'm worried that that can happen. So we're paying close attention to see.

So detainees sent out to do cleanup in the wake or even Phil Sanback. It's not happening now in Florida, you know, to be clear, but it is something I've, you know, I've thought of. and, you know, would definitely be in just yet another turn. What I will say, though, is this facility, what they told us and what I've heard directly from, I get, like, I'll get, like, calls from people in the facility, right? So immigrants are welcome here, coalition, like, someone of the organizers will call me and say, on the other line, I have, you know, you know, somebody who's in there, you got 10 minutes, and I'll, like, walk out, I'll talk with them, we'll hear from them directly. In fact, one guy that we've been hearing from a lot just kind of fell out the face of the earth.

We're not sure where he is. We're trying to track him. This facility, they're only supposed to be there for up to two weeks. And it is supposed to be their last stop. That's what the director of the facility told me. He was like, this is their last part of America or part of the United States, and then they're gone. The problem is the guy I spoke with on the phone like two weeks ago said his family got legal counsel for him. He brought it up to the guards.

He said, hey, like, I have legal counsel so I can help fight this. And they said, okay, that's fine, but you're going to be here for at least two months. And after a few days, he was like, I can't, I can't be here anymore. Like, I'd rather be on the streets of wherever the hell you send me. So he signed his papers. So is that your assessment of the squalid, horrific, and I would argue, torturous conditions in what can, I think, only be described as a way to, I mean, this is extrajudicial. They're concentrating people.

It's a concentration camp. That they're using this, you know, horrible heat, these bugs, these, like, toilets where they're drinking from the same water to basically kind of coerce them into self-deporting. 100%. And to be honest, guys, like, it's this facility, but it's a lot of these facilities. And it's, that part isn't new. I mean, like, even just like two years ago when I first got in, I went to a baker detention facility, which is another one that doesn't really get a lot of news in North Florida. And I got to be honest, the conditions there, I might even say are a little worse than the Everglades one. and this is like a facility that the sheriff's department is contract,

third-party contractor from the federal government, and they transformed half their jail to hold immigrants for ice, and the conditions were horrible there. I mean, I spoke with women who said they get infections all the time because the undergarments that they use are not properly washed, or they're washed, and it's like bleach, and it smells like bleach, and they get sick. I met with two Haitian gentlemen two years ago who said,

I've been fighting this for eight months, I've been fighting my deportation for eight months. I just signed my papers. I'd rather be on the streets of Haiti, the streets of Haiti, than be in this facility another day. None of them had any kind of criminal. And even if you have a criminal conviction, you shouldn't be, yeah. But they had no, you know, I mean, so yes, but also that part isn't, that part isn't new. A lot of these facilities are horrible.

They've been horrible for a long time. And I do believe part of the strategy here is, you know, you mean, you're detaining people in a jail where they're eating shit. they're you know they're in this thing for months and months the deportation process for a lot of times take up to a year used to now they're not getting the process and so i do think a part of it is like to just beat people down to the place where they're like you know what just like i need to leave send me wherever and i will figure it out and um to me this abject cruelty that you're describing should be a pretty easy place for democrats to start on messaging but i've been really disappointed, and I'd imagine that you as one of the more progressive members of

Congress, in the fact that there have been, I would say, the consensus opinion has been like, all right, let's just step away from this because this is Donald Trump's best issue, even though since really he sent the National Guard in L.A., he's been underwater on this topic. Like, can you describe what the fight has been within the Democratic Party on how to stand up for immigrants here? It's been really frustrating and I'm just in general because look at first people were saying this a lot

myself and a few other members went to El Salvador to the Kilmore Braille Garcia and we came back and I had a few folks who reached out to me who said like you know Max I don't think that was a good move like I think it's going to hurt us and I was like all right respect your opinion I disagree. Can we guess

the initials of those people you can guess the initial I'm not going to say. And the second names But what I will say, is he in this area? I got, I mean, I got a lot of support from, like, a lot of, you know, leadership people on doing it, right? But I think a lot of people were worried it was going to hurt us. And then literally a week later, this poll comes out, and it was the first poll that showed Donald Trump underwater. It was, like, negative one, but still underwater on immigration, right?

This issue, he, like, he won on this and that. And so I put that into every group chat. I'm in. And I'm like, guys, look, like, we have to keep, we have to talk about this because, it's not even just about it's about immigration but it's about civil rights it's about our communities being terrorized it's about there being peace for a lot of people where they live and now there's chaos and i think it's important to talk about it you know it's it's like the republicans used i think because we weren't loud enough on trans issues republicans filled a void right of course and they're

really good at filling a void we did it to them on immigration and guns they're doing it to us on trans people and immigration we just can't let it happen and now he's very underwater on immigration. And so I think we have to talk about it. And the other thing, and actually, I'm on this tour with Chris Murphy. We're going to Red Districts. And I'm stealing this from him, but I think it's a great way of putting it. That there's people who want us to believe that these are two different stories, right?

Attacks against our democracy, kidnapping people, like this kind of stuff that people say, don't talk about it because it'll help Trump. And then the other story, they're taking away Medicaid, they're not doing what they needed to do on cost of living and this and that. And they're not two separate stories of the same story. Because the only way you rip away Medicaid from this many people take away our health care and had the largest transfer of wealth from the working poor, the working class to the ultra-rich without fearing for your political life is if you scare people, take away their rights and scare them

in the submission. So it's one enables the other. They're not two separate things. And when I heard him, he said that one of the town halls around. I was like, that's the perfect way to put it. People want us to think they're two different stories. It's one story. It's one strategy.

It's one thing. I think people understand that. So I think I will tell you people are coming around. That's good. I think people are coming around. That's good. Is it, I mean, is it polls? I mean, is there, like, there seems to be a complete absence of awareness that even in the most crass

and cynical analysis, you need to be different from what you're competing against in the political realm. Like, just even than the most, forget the humanity or the morality, I mean, which, of course, I think this happens to be at play here. Yeah. But if you're not offering something different, you are completely seating the entire issue. And to the extent that there's any value there, it all accrues to, in this case, the Republicans. Yeah. I agree. Yeah.

And this is why we're in this in the first place. We didn't talk about enough. We didn't have a, you know, staked out position. People would bring up, you know, trans rights or immigration. And a lot of Democrats would, like, you know, give a non-answer and, like, try to move on. And I think, like, that Republicans saw that, and they exploited it. And they exploited the hell out of it. And we shouldn't, the polls are on our side, but even if they weren't, it's like, do you think Donald Trump sits there and goes, like, what do the polls say?

You know, he's saying whatever the hell he wants to say. Well, the polls on trans people have completely changed. over the years. We saw, over the course of a decade and a half, marriage equality also change and now, you know, reverting, at least on the Republican side. How much, I mean, this is a tough question, but when you look at the Democratic caucus, you've met most of these people by now, you have a sense of at least a decent amount of them. How much of the Democratic caucus is aware if there's this issue with leadership on immigration,

I assume that there's also a sort of a broader dynamic in terms of like understanding this concept of the way that you defeat them is to actually exhibit some measure of partisanship, just even putting an ideology to the side for a moment. Do you have a sense of like within the Democratic Party? You say things are turning and that's a function of the polls and whatnot,

And that's also a function of the where each member is in their understanding of this partisan dynamic. Yeah. How would you divide that? Because, yes, I mean, I've been doing this for 25 years. And 20 years ago, it's very different. Joe Manchin was out there, literally shooting his ad was shooting with an AR-15, the carbon cap legislation, was the way he ran for Senate. And people were like, well, hopefully you'll win.

You know, I mean, it was a different time. Where is that balance within the Republican, I mean, the Democratic caucus? I would say this. I might get some I rules here, but like, I'm like being very genuine. Like, most of the people in my caucus, right, like in my team in Congress, I think are very against this, right? And, like, are coming from a really genuine good place on these issues. And I think they have real questions, a lot of them, about, like, what's the right thing to do in this moment so we can get the levers of power so we can do the right thing. And I think in that, like, bubble of conversation, there are loud voices that can help steer the ship in the right direction or wrong direction.

I'm going to give you an example, Medicare for all, right? I think we're a lot closer to this than a lot of other people think we are. Why? Because most of our caucus, I actually think would vote, yes, hit the button. but there's some key things that need to happen beforehand. I don't actually think we need to wipe out the whole caucus and have like all, you know, people who share our ideology to do that thing specifically. I mean, it would be better.

But like, you know what I mean? Like to do that thing specifically because I actually think most of the people, and I would even peck it at like 80 something percent would hit that yes button if they were presented with the opportunity. Our job as progressives is to figure out how do we get them the opportunity to do it. And like, and so either way, does that answer your question a bit? in the sense that the legislation needs to be put on the floor or... And he needs to go through a committee,

and he needs to get on the floor. And so it's like, how do we get that to happen? Because I think when it does happen, we will win. Well, probably a presidential candidate endorsing it. That's like the biggest lever, right? And then there's some other smaller levers that we can work on now. And that's why I think we're actually a lot closer than a lot. You know, Medicare for Raw is like almost the whole Democratic,

or not almost. I think it's like a hundred and something amount of people, which is a lot of people on a bill. you know and so I think we're a lot closer than people think and it's not that while the whole democratic caucus is like bought and paid for by health insurance companies and we're never going to get it um I think it's that we need to figure out how we bring that opportunity and put in front of people and I think on immigration the opportunity outside of Congress and in their districts is being put in our faces right because like people are protesting on the issue people are asking us about the issue at town halls and it's putting people where like you know the courage the courage is uh what is it called courage is contagious contagious contagion Right. You know, and that's why I'm saying I see the tides turning. I think people want the tides to turn. Does that make sense? Am I making it? Yeah, I mean, I hope you're right about it. I think the way. I mean, certainly, listen, Biden felt it necessary to say that he would veto it. And so you don't say that if you think there's no chance it's ever going to come to your desk in certain situations. Or he was putting the, you know, kind of pressure to tamp down any efforts to push for that from the Sanders wing or something like that. I mean, I don't know. It's possible. It also could have been just a sop. to Nancy Pelosi, who was very, you know, this is no secret. She was adamant against that. I mean, to the point where in the American Rescue Act, they decide to have the government

pay for Cobra. Instead of extending Medicare, you know, even temporarily, they did not want anybody to get a taste of that. You could not have found a less efficient way to provide health insurance for people. I mean, it's good on the receiving end. Yeah. It feels good. I get free health insurance.

That's good. in terms of like a government efficiency, that's the most expensive possible way to do it. Oh, yeah, yeah. To give you some hope, too, so a lot of people don't know, I'm on the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, DPC. I ran for this

last Congress. I'm not making all the comments. This is I'm like one of, you know, a group of people. But one of the things we were tasked with doing was doing listening sessions with the whole caucus to understand what people think about the issues because working on like what the agenda is, right? You can't just run against Trump. You have to have something that

the way I say it is like that we run on, We went on, then we do it. And the doing is, like, you know, one of the most important parts. And I got to be honest, from the most conservative, I was in some meetings of very conservative Democrats who were railing against health insurance. We're like, we need to simplify the system. And, like, they're a lot about Medicare for all, but, like, not saying those exact words. And so I do think this last election is, like, the cage has been, like, shaken a bit. I don't think there's an establishment right now in the Democratic Party.

I think it's up for grabs. and I think a lot of people are just running around. And I think it presents an opportunity for progressives to seize it, right? Well, I would like to editorialize and say, by establishment, you don't think there's a leadership. I mean, there seems to be, you don't have to say that. I'll give you a break. But there's a, there's no rudder. There's no rudder right now.

And it seems to me that the Democratic caucus shouldn't need a president or a president, or a president. favorite to lead the way on the permission structure for issues. Like, you know, the fact that we can't have congressional leadership, in my view, step up in this moment and message the party around a set of issues that aren't just oppositional to Trump, but creating something and standing on this is what we're going to do for you, don't you think that that kind of adds to this authenticity problem with the party has? It's 30 low approval rating for the Democratic Party? I think it's really important that as soon as possible we release.

like, and it has to be, it can't just be like, we're going to lower the, you know what I mean, it has to specific things. Right. Affordability, the vagueness of it is frustrating. And I, this does bring us to talking about Israel here, where... I do think we're getting there. Yeah. Like, on the... I'm hearing people talk about threatening tax

incentives. That's going to be very... Yeah, I mean, like, so... So, yeah, well, you know, you were talking about, and I wrote it down, because you're saying, you can't tell these two separate stories about ICE and fascism and stuff. I don't think you can tell the story about this right-wing fascist authoritarian moment right now without telling the story of the genocide in

Gaza. And right now there is a Gallup had a poll that came out. That kind of seemed to change some rhetoric within the party. Eight percent of Democrats approve of Israel's military action in Gaza. But is there a sense within the caucus that this is now a litmus test, not just for Democratic voters, but independence. That same poll had 25 percent of independence support Israel's military action. This, like, it's a test of, uh, are you actually a fighter for me? Or are you going to take this money that is supporting what people are increasingly seeing as one of the worst crimes in the history of humanity that our government's complicit in? Like, is that awareness trickling through or is that A-PAC money too sweet to get up? I, I think so, especially

as we've seen a lot more people speaking out recently, uh, Rep Deli Ramirez has a bill Block the Bombs Act that has been like, I think over the last week, we've received maybe four or five new sponsors to it, who haven't sponsored bills like that in the past. So I do think there's a tied two years in, right? But I do think there's a tide changing here. I think a lot of it does have to do the polls. But I think a lot of it has to do with people. When we go home, you know, you hear directly from your constituents when you do your town halls.

You hear directly from people. And I think for a lot of members, they're getting calls from folks who've never called them about this issue before. because, I mean, to be, you know, just kind of, to put it bluntly, when you have, like, kind of the same organizations or, like, groups that, like, members of Congress in their mind can chalk up, like, that's the, like, that's the, like, the left organization in my district, you'll, you're put in a box. It doesn't mean your voice isn't important. Doesn't mean you shouldn't hold people accountable. But I'm just saying it's easy for, like, political leaders to say, like, that's the left organ, this is this organ, that's that. But I think now people are getting calls. and having meetings with people who are not in that box who are saying, you know, what I'm seeing going on I'm not comfortable with. It's against my religion. We see a lot of Christian leaders stepping up and Southern Baptist leaders, AME leaders,

Kojik leaders, a lot of people in the like traditional like black church stepping up in a even bigger way than before. And I think a lot of leaders are now speaking out in bigger ways. And I think it's putting a lot of members in a position where, saying I have to say more, but I also have to do more in terms of my vote or co-sponsoring legislation. But doesn't it speak to a structural problem within the party that we're at 8% support for this military action and the majority of the Democratic caucus can't get there? I think it is a problem, yeah.

I think it's a big issue. What is it with Democrats where that the notion of like, well, okay, and I get what you're saying, this left organization, of course they're saying. saying that. And it becomes dismissed because it's just associated. That isn't important, but just like I, you know. Put in a box in their mind. That it's not unexpected on some

level. It's not expected. Exactly. It's just that that organization doesn't have the power as opposed to on the right where the reaction from a Republican politician would be like, oh shit. These guys have come out against this. We're in trouble now.

As opposed to like, of course. Uh, the, yeah, I mean, this is a dynamic that has existed, I don't know if it's since McGovern, uh, in this party or what, uh, but what changes that from the perspective of somebody who's gone from the outside to the inside? What changes that? I think, I think an issue we have on the left on this issue and a lot of other issues is the, like, the kind of establishment of our party doesn't legitimize or recognize a lot of time. the groups and like advocacy organizations in a way that the right wing, I'm not going to give them a ton of credit and say like they've done this in a big way, but Trump has really done it in a big way. And like an example I give is on the youth vote, right? Not that, you know, just the, not a change of subject, but I think it's a good example. Trump gave a hundred million dollars of his campaign money to the Turning Point USA. Turning Point USA is not a Republican organization.

It's a concert, you know, far right like, you know, Charlie Kirk, fascist, Christian nationalist organization. He gave them $100 million, said, go turn out youth voters in these key states. And he legitimized that organization in a huge way, where these turning point conferences, not only are they well funded by a lot of establishment figures in a Republican Party, but name me one Democratic event where every Democratic person running for president goes to a conference to try and win over the young people of the party. Netroots used to have that at one point. At one point. In Oh, hey, you know, Obama was there. Okay.

But that was a brief, very brief. Very brief. And I would argue even now, like, given, like, you know, March for Our Lives, June defenders, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, like, young people are very politically activated, but there's, like, a huge absence of that, which I think ties to what's going on in Gaza and a lot of other issues as well. We just, like, those organizations are not as legitimized by the, you know, real power brokers in the party. And I think it's a huge, huge issue. And part of the reason why we didn't lose

the youth vote, but we, they got, I think it's 46% insane. Like, Republicans getting 46% of the youth vote, you know, we got 70% just last cycle. So, or the cycle before last cycle. So I think there's a lot of, like, organizing institutional issues we have in the party that we have to fix. And a lot of it is what we're talking about. Like, these groups shouldn't, people shouldn't be put in a box like that. We should bring people in more. With the understanding, that's something we're going to get called out. Like, people are, you know, advocating for the issue that they really care about or a set of issues. And from people who are very to the left to, I think the people most catered to in our party are people who are more in the center.

But we should be, we talk about it like this big tent and then it closes out on the progressive side. And I think it creates conditions where we lose. Is there? I want to get back to Gaza, but just on this topic, there was a big piece on the mothership, actually, that I don't know if you've seen this it's a Democratic-associated consulting firm

fundraising outfit that somebody's dug into their numbers in a ton of the money. Oh, the fake pack stuff? Yeah, yeah. The ones where you get the like text message where it's like, donate, you know, money now, what's we're going to die.

They also work for actual campaigns. You're talking about the firm. The firm, yeah. And, but there is. is a problem within the consultant class in the Democratic Party. I mean, there's a reason why you don't reach young people, or even

frankly, anybody under the age of 50 because the media buys are much more lucrative for consultants who are going to put it on TV and people just aren't watching TV in the way they used to. They're not going to look for a, you know, a communications

plan that will go to places where they're not going to get their 15% vague, essentially. Is there any movement amongst, is there an awareness of this problem? I think there's an awareness of it. I couldn't comment, like, I don't know what everyone's doing on their campaigns, but it is a huge issue because, yeah, that's how a lot of these firms make a lot of money. The DNC, the DCCC, they're in a position to do something about this.

Yeah, so I've heard that the DCCC is putting more resources into the organizing side. There's a thing called Democracy Summer. I'm a part of with Jamie Raskin where we actually pay and hire young people across the country for a summer to knock doors and get involved on the campaign. Well, we just finished it. I hired like 30 for this summer and it was great. So there's more of that going on. But yeah, it's a huge issue because the last presidential cycle, $2 billion were spent, right, on our presidential campaign and just like what, seven or eight battleground states mostly on TV. And the problem with these campaigns, not to like get campaign nerdy here, but I think it's important.

is once you get to a certain amount of spending, you hit, you know, message saturation on that medium. Anything you spend on top of that, it's like you're literally burning money on fire. Well, no, you're burning 5% of it on fire. Yeah, that you're getting it. The other 15% goes into my pocket. It goes into the pocket.

And I think this is part of the problem is candidates think, and I think part of it is they've seen Super PACs come in and spend all this money in campaigns and think, well, that equals winning, 98% of congressional candidates who have the most money spent for them win the races. So, I mean, it's important to recognize that, but it's the way you spend. I think it's important.

It can't just be TV. The organizing piece is extremely important, especially in close races. Organizing can get you one, two, three points, right? In a race, if you're in a close race, that's the ball game. In New York City, it could get you 12 points if you have DSA as a part of your organization.

There you go, there you go. But, I mean, I think that's important to say in that this can, I know it's, there's, Every national Democrat that's asked about this race basically says New York City is not the rest of the country. But the model was not just unique to New York City. Bernie Sanders also was somebody who, and even Obama prior to this, activating voters who were disaffected by the political system. So when we talk about democracy, I think, you know, obviously that's really important to emphasize. But this last campaign, Kamala Harris ran on democracy and brought out Liz Cheney to make this case.

And there's a fundamental problem right now where people, People don't believe in the word democracy. And we can say they're wrong to feel that way. I agree they're wrong to feel that way. But that's in part because our democracy isn't working for them. And it's not just because Trump is in power. It's also because of that article where people are getting hounded for money and it goes nowhere. Or they're seeing super PACs buy up all these ads.

Or they're seeing, and again, the genocide in Gaza, deeply unpopular and none of their representatives responding to them. Yeah. So this is a leading question, obviously, and partly a rant. But I want Democrats to understand that their actions have an impact on people's belief in democracy. And I hope you, I mean, I'm sure that you see, like you and the rest of the squad and stuff like that, that you're making that case. But it feels like we're way behind on having members understand that. I think part of it, too, is a big consultant way of thinking about campaigns is most people don't pay attention until the end, which,

there's there's truth to saying that but the problem is it leads people to not think of all their actions throughout the rest of the time as impacting the election and that's you know i'm one of like i think i'm one of less than five members of congress to do year-round organizing so i'm always raising money not just for like some race that might come but i spend a lot of money on organizing i hire people year-round we have three cohorts a year of young people that we hire to go out and knock doors to events i've you know we're just always doing stuff, and it's not always vote for Maxwell. Sometimes it's hurricane season's coming up. Here's some resources, or it's Maxwell endorses the school board candidate, special election coming up, you know, and we create this relationship that is less transactional and more transformational. I think we need to start doing that everybody. And candidates, especially in safe blue seats, in general, in safe blue seats, we have to

spend our resources, too. And there's a lot of members of Congress and a lot of politicians in general sitting on a ton on money for a race maybe one day that might come and not spending it on building power you know and I think that's so important and I feel like it's not even like oh give me a pat on the bat on the back I feel like it's required

of me especially in the state of Florida like it is required of me to do that it is required of all of us to do that and when you do that and you're knocking on those doors you hear what people actually think about right you hear about Gaza right you hear about Gaza right you hear about Gaza in neighborhoods that you wouldn't think you would hear about it you hear about housing right

you hear about ice, you hear about things, and it's, it really grounds you in what people actually give a damn about where you live and not some ominous poll that you see online that's being cited that you don't know who they spoke with. I mean, we're constantly hearing from people directly, so. I want to get back. Just Israel, Palestine for a moment, quickly, if we can. Pete Buttigieg was asked an interesting question on positive market. Did you? uh do you what's your reaction uh to his response um which i actually have written it down i guess this is the way i would ask the question you wrote it out uh do you think it's time to recognize a palestinian state is a profound question that arouses a lot of the bigger problems that have

happened with israeli's survival in a diplomatic scene and many of the people who have taken that step historically have done so for different reasons than we see happening with European countries? I think this I think the interesting thing about when people were asked about this and I'm not going to say you're not like I you know there aren't past interviews where I've

maybe given like a similar answer but I think as days and months of past I've just personally been in a place from like you we just need to speak very directly about this and I think something that a lot of people appreciate about Pete are actually the way he answers stuff right you've seen

his jubilee thing and stuff like that. Like people... He's a talented communicating. Yeah, he's really good at communicating. And it's interesting, even like very talented communicators when asked about it. But that's why it's telling that this answer was so mealy-mouthed is because it shows all of the different incentives to not speak about the genocide of the Palestinian people. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, so either way, I mean, that's my opinion.

I mean, yeah, he should have just said. Yeah. And my thing is, it is the position. position of, it's supposed to be the position of our government, right? The supposed position of our government is a two-state solution, right? And that's been stated policy up and really up

until the first Well, my thing, though, is that's supposed to be the position, but then when it comes down to it, it really isn't, because you can't have it, you know, occupied West Bank. You can't have that if you don't have a Palestinian state. Like, two

state means two states. So, like, you have to say there has to be a state. That's why, Even now, you know, a lot of, like, corporate media and people are trying to make it look. I was signed on this letter at Rokana calling for a Palestinian state, and there were these articles that came out being like, so radical. And I'm like, how is this so radical? I thought this was the position of the country. I thought it was two states illusion. This is like half of the U.S. policy for at least 30 years.

No, it is. It is. This is what everyone says. But, like, when it comes down to it, no one's really about that part of it, which is literally half of a part of the two. That's the one of the two. Can I push on that slightly is that the reason that they can't be sincere about it is because it's not a sincere... I mean, I think that this Roe-Contenor Resolution is a really good thing and a good step. But it's not a sincere place to be in the sense that this is about an apartheid state.

And one democratic state is one that racially integrates Palestinians and Israelis. And I'm still really waiting for Democrats, even one or two, maybe beyond Rashida-Talib, to talk. about this issue in a way that echoes its historic counterparts of Jim Crow or apartheid's South Africa except actually it's what it's it's even worse because they're committing genocide too so um the two the two state thing it doesn't resonate with I think people who are invested in this issue because there's the facts on the ground have changed so dramatically that this is not a realistic thing that can happen well again I guess what I'm trying to say, though, is like, even, but even then.

Yes. Right. It's a good step. I mean, yeah. But, but, like, it's just like, there's no, it's the supposed policy of the country. And then, but when asked about, do you believe in Palestinian state, people are, you know, either say no or they can't say yes. And it's just, it's a big part of what is supposed to be the policy of our country.

So I agree that I don't feel it's genuine at all. Yeah. And that's something that I'm seeing more and more. because I didn't think me signing on this letter would even be a big deal, to be honest, because I thought, you know, two states, that's one of the two states. And, you know, but it's apparently a huge radical thing, and it's insane. So I think it's good that more countries are coming out and just saying we're going to recognize Palestine. And I think we need to do the same thing.

And we need to, you know, we need to move in the right direction. a couple other questions you're on the the oversight the government oversight yes i am there billy long was fired i don't know if this is something that you guys uh cover in terms of the irs oh yes yeah the represent yeah um it was supposedly because he wouldn't hand over data irs data on uh that was supposedly to track immigrants where uh as as this come up. I mean, do you guys get some type of bat signal when, like, I mean, Billy Long doesn't strike me as a guy. If Billy Long is the one who's protecting this data, I think there may be a problem.

Yeah. It is, I mean, and we saw this at the Library of Congress. Carla Hayden was fired. A lot of people were like, Library of Congress, the Library and, you know, our copyright and patents sit under the Library of Congress. It's very important work that happens there. CRS Congressional Research Service, which is what we use to get facts to write our bills, right, is under the Library of Congress as well. So this is like part of him going through, I think asking for something that's pretty big, in part to test the loyalty of the person in the position.

And if they don't give it, then they're fired. I made a tweet about this the other day. I'm working with some members keeping a list of when we see him do this because actually Trump won't be the last authoritarian that it's. at least tries to get to power in this country, I think we'd need to separate a lot of these offices from the executive branch. And really any office that's supposed to give us objective

data from the government, I just think we need to separate from that branch. They've just hired a crony for BLS as well, or at least they're going to nominate one. Yeah. In Florida, are you guys feeling the Trump slump that they're feeling in Las Vegas

in terms of tourism? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, the Trump's slump. I was actually just in Las Vegas. And I was speaking on some Uber drivers about it as well. Yes. Actually, any tourism center in the country is feeling it. And so Florida is feeling it. And

it's for many reasons. I think economic instability, tariffs, immigration's a huge one. International visits to the country are down by a lot. Disney where I live, you know, a lot of the people come in are from across the entire country. We're scared

to come to this country right now. So we We are feeling Trump slump, but especially in Orlando, yeah. All right. Well, I mean, I think, you know, we've held you for like an hour. Yeah. So it's good to say here with you guys. I got to say, too, I was using your restroom. I looked up and I saw a poster of a show that I loved that used to watch my friends.

Todd Margaret. Oh, yeah. I haven't thought of that in a while. Yes. That shows hilarious. David is a friend of mine, and when we went to his opening of that show, I got a little drunk, and I left with that. Oh, so that's a stolen artifact? It's a stolen thing, and I woke up the next morning, and it was in my house.

And so that was... That was a long time ago when I was... Framed in the bathroom. Framed in the bathroom. It was framed at the time. Oh, you stole it framed. Took it off the wall. Oh, nice.

They had put it in a little thing. I mean, they must have seen you walk out. Yeah, how did you get away with that? I think I might have been one of the last people to leave, or it was, you know. I think they let that happen. There's a lot of stuff. Well, there's no way you walked out with them. I walked out across.

I mean, but he probably had no idea what was going on. Yeah, yeah. That's the nature of that. But that was a good show. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your coming in. And it was good to talk to you and good luck with what's going on. Obviously, there's like, you know,

two fronts, I think, that you're fighting right now. One is one within the Democratic caucus for a lot of things. And then obviously, the other one is what's going on with the Republican Party. Yeah. And fascism. Yes, and fascism.

That thing. Yeah. Nothing going to go on. Yeah. It's a little intense. All right. We're going to take quick break and head into the fun half of the program. Not that that wasn't fun. Yeah, what the hell? Not that it wasn't fun. This was obviously fun, but arguably fun or half. Just a reminder, your support is what makes this show possible.

You can become a member at Join the Majority Report.com. Also, just coffee.com. Fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code majority. Get 10% off. Matt's not here. Brian will fill us in on the Left Refning. Yeah, he said check out a DSA convention update and a big interview with Seth Harp

on the Fort Bragg Cartel book. at patreon.com backslash left reckoning. All right, quick break, fun half. Thanks again, Congressman. We'll be right back. Three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now.

And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months from now than it is three months from now. But I think around 18 months out, we're going to look back and go like, wow. What? What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on for a second. The majority record.

Emma, welcome to the program. Hey. Matt. What is up, everyone? Fun hat. No, me, Keene. You did it. Let's go Brandon.

Let's go Brandon. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappointment. Everyone, I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today. Fundamentally false. No, I'm sorry. Stop talking for a second.

Let me finish. Where is this coming from, dude? But dude, you want to smoke this? Seven and eight? Yes. All right, you need you? Is this me? Yes.

Is it me? It is you. I think it's me How long is it's me I think it is you Who is you? No sound Every single

Fricking day What's on your mind? We can discuss free markets And we can discuss capitalism I'm gonna just know why Who libertarians They're so stupid though Common sense says of course

Gobbled euk We fucking nailed him So what's 79 plus 21 Challenge men I'm positively clovery I believe 96 I want to say 857 213 355

5.501. One half. Three-eighth. Nine-11, first. $3,400. $1,900. $6.5-4. $3 trillion sold.

It's a zero-sum game. Actually, you're making a think less. But let me say this. Poop. You can call satire. Sam goes to satire. On top of it all? My favorite part about you is just like every day, all day, like everything you do.

Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We've seen you. All right, folks, folks, folks. It's just the week being weeded out, obviously. Yeah, sundial guns out. I don't know. But you should know.

People just don't like to entertain ideas anymore. I have a question. Who cares? Our chat is enabled, folks. Wow, I love it. I do love that. Got a jump. You've got to be quick.

I get a jump. I'm losing it, bro. Two o'clock. We're already late, and the guy's being a dick. So screw him. Sent to a gulaw? Outrage. Like, what is wrong with you?

Love you. Love you. Bye-bye.