The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 3635 - Trump's Iran Pretend Game; Corporate Dem Panic w/ Jeet Heer, Rep. Greg Casar

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

It's Casual Friday   On today's program:   Conservative pundits are failing to keep it together as the Trump administration's support continues to crater to record lows. One example is Scott Jennings live on CNN swearing Meidas Touch's wunderkind, Adam Mockler.   Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent at The Nation joins the program to recap the week's biggest stories. Topics include: The War in Iran, Trump's fixation on his own legacy, the buried DNC autopsy and more. For more from Jeet, check out his podcast "In the Time of Monsters".   Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) joins the show to discuss the CPC's new Affordability Agenda.   In the Fun Half:   Pete Hegseth appears before congress as a part of the military's budget request hearings, and it does not go well for him. Hegseth implies the soldiers that survived the drone attack that killed 6 servicemembers were lying when they said that they had almost no support. Also at the hearing, Rep. Jason Crow exposes Hegseth recommissioning his personal attorney and now top adviser at the Pentagon Tim Parlatore, who also represents clients that are in line for promotion by Hegseth so that he could sidestep any venting process.   Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) goes on Fox to lie Kamala-style about how great the economy is. "You can just feel how good things are".   Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) takes a different approach to manipulating people around the economy. Rick says that the higher prices at the pump are worth it because now we are safer and can live in freedom.   Tim Pool's guest floats the idea that Ben Shapiro is running ads on Tucker Carlson's channel to capture his audience, but Tim shuts it down, saying it would be stupid and bad business—only to admit moments later that he's done the same thing to The Majority Report's channel.   All that and more.   To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is [phone]. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. 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 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: NUTRAFOL: Get $10 off your first month's subscription + free shipping at Nutrafol.com when you use promo code TMR10 WILD GRAIN: Get $30 off your first box + free Croissants in every box. Go to Wildgrain.com/MAJORITY to start your subscription. SUNSET LAKE CBD: Use coupon Code "MayDay26" for $8 off all smokable hemp products and vape carts at SunsetLakeCBD.com Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey 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.  

Hey, folks, hi. Quick word from our friends up in Vermont at sunsetlake sabade.com. It's International Workers Day, May Day. And the folks at Sunset Lake, who, as you know, are a farmer-owned hemp company, are doing something a little different. Now through Monday, May 4th, over the weekend, they're dropping the price of every smokeable hemp product and their vape carts. by $8 off.

Just use the code May Day 26. May Day 26. All one word at checkout. It's a nod to the eight-hour day we fought for back in 1938. I don't know if those guys were around, but I remember it very well. And a reminder that we're still fighting for better conditions today. And here's the kicker.

A portion of their proceeds from this sale will go straight to Labor Notes. Labor Notes is run by rank and file organizers and union activists who are covering the labor movement while the corporate media ignores it. I should also say, full disclosure, I am also a regular supporter of Labor Notes. You can check them out at labornotes.org. Brian and I were just talking about the smokables the other day, right, the pre-rolls. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like he got the urge, but necessarily want everything that comes with your normal smokables. Yeah, sometimes it's just nice to smoke something.

Exactly. And for me, after a nice meal, like on the weekend, something like that, I will indulge with their pre-rolls. But they also have keith and flour. They have vapes. I understand some people mix their keef and flour with other keef and flour. with other keef and flour? That would be me, yes. So if you need some relief

after a long shift at work, you can score $8 off smokable hemp products and vapes and help build worker power at the same time. Head over to sunsetlake sabadeh.com. Use the coupon code Mayday 26. That's May Day 26. May day 26.

The sale ends Monday, May 4th at midnight, Eastern Times see their site for additional terms and restrictions. Of course, we'll put all their info in the podcast and YouTube descriptions. And now time for that May Day show. We're every day is casual Friday. That means Monday is casual Monday. Tuesday, casual Tuesday. Wednesday, casual hump day.

Thursday, casual thursday. That's what we call it. Friday, casual Shabbat, the majority report with Sam Cedar. It is Friday, May 1st, 2026. 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, National politics correspondent from the Nation magazine. Jeet here will be joining us.

Also on the program today, House passes the Senate DHS funding bill, ending the partial government shutdown. Meanwhile, Congress passes a short-term extension of Section 702 of FISA. Ron Wyden wants to see more info on something that he warned us about three weeks ago. Today is the day the War Powers Act's 60-day window closes, and Trump claims the war is already over, so none of it applies. Mike Johnson calls on Southern Republican states to gerrymander to eliminate black-held congressional seats. Trump forced to withdraw RFK Jr. Toti Casey Means from their Surgeon General nomination.

And as the Iran War tab reaches $50 billion, polls show it at Iraq and Vietnam-era disapproval levels. New report, Jeffrey Epstein left a suicide note from his first. attempted suicide in prison, and it's been under seal for years. Eight years, I think, to be exact. U.S. Air Force signs a weapons deal with a drone company, partially owned by the Trump-would-be-fail sons. Across country, work, school, and shopping stoppages in May Day protests. all this and more on today's

majority report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, it is Casual Friday. Casual Friday, but you look a little dressed up. Oh, well, you know, I'm, I have plans after this. Oh, okay. I have a social life. Oh, okay, bragger. Well, all right. Okay. Going from the office to a social event. No need to make people feel bad. What are you doing? This is my social event for the day. I'll be at the horse track this weekend.

Is that right? Yeah. Don't give out your assassination coordinates, but... Just say, we all got stuff to do. I wouldn't say all. I'm going to do. Yeah, no, this is my big social plans for the weekend. So the show could go long today.

Ruin our plans? I mean, if that happens, what can I do? Sounds very zero-sum about people having social life. You've got to get into the weeds of this D.A. HHS funding. I really break it down point by point. Exactly. Like I said, new reports show that the Iran war is at its lowest approval rating.

We're in like Iraq War at its lowest approval rating, Vietnam War at its lowest approval rating era. Although, according to Donald Trump, it was never a war. And if it was, it stopped when we. declared a ceasefire. Now, of course, it was a ceasefire, but we have all our ships deployed to blockade and fire at any Iranian vessel that goes through. So it's not really a cessation to hostilities, which under the War Powers Act, a president has 60 days before Congress must authorize, the war. It's not a question of Congress must weigh in. It's they must authorize it. Otherwise,

it's done. Bring the ships home. End the $50 billion we have spent on this. Just a reminder, they cut $200 billion out of Medicaid over the course 10 years, which has kicked millions of people off their health insurance. And 50 billion is around the figure. of Bernie Sanders' College for All plan from a few years ago, it's less than that. But if you adjust it for inflation, it would be around $50 billion. So we could pay for college for all in this country for everybody for around that figure, what we spent on this war over the past, what, six weeks or so. And how much that would benefit our country in the world as opposed to blowing up,

like, girl schools in Iran? I will add that that $50 billion has had a return on investment for oil. companies and defense contractors, of course. But in terms of American citizens, you're now paying close to $5 a gallon for gas. And on Tuesday of next week, we'll be talking to somebody who'll give us a sense of where that's headed because we're starting to hear reports now of gas shortages. Certainly, we've seen that in Asia and in Europe. But at one point, there's only so much refining capacity. The oil we get is not just a function of somebody sells it to us.

It gets processed. Those refining facilities only have so much bandwidth. You can't end the week on Friday and then come back Monday go, oh, you know what, let's turn the refining capacity up by 20. percent. That doesn't happen that way. And so, but we'll talk to an expert about that next week. We're also going to be talking to an expert about the Voting Rights Act, etc. But as of now, the story particularly today is the ongoing war with Iran. And this was an interesting segment because on CNN, it's interesting because Scott Jennings, who is probably one most hated person in cable news.

Yeah. Completely has a breakdown. Yes. And I think it's unclear which, what it is that triggered him here. But he's on with Adam Mockler, who does this stuff very well. Yeah. also is, you know, relative to me, very young. Relative to all of us.

I think he's in his early 20s, right? Annoin. Wonderkind, as they say. Yes. He does this very well. But I think, we can debate as to what triggers Jennings here. But I think it's the Iraq War. And this guy being part of like a never-ending war then.

and also being called out for lying about saying this is going to be a two or three week excursion. But here is that segment. I mean, honestly, they have been at war with us for 47 years. We all know that Scott Jennings is more than happy to defend a war with a country that starts with the letter is IRA, that we are currently failing, that is going to put us trillions and trillions of dollars more in debt. I was only a few years old while you were in the administration defending prior endless wars. Now, this war is failing. Eight weeks is endless to you?

Okay, you said it was going to be four or six weeks. You have the attention span of a net? I debated you on TV 4 to 6 weeks. I'll pause it for one second. See, that's where he, he, he, it's quite clear that what triggered him had already happened before he says you have the attention span of a nap. That is generally not what you hear, even from the odious Jennings. Now, Jennings is under a lot of pressure, I think, because there's like, you know. Internet rumors.

There's Internet rumors and, you know, about him that I think. he's worried about getting out publicly, uh, what not, uh, but. So he's probably on edge. But I think the idea that like reminding people that this, um, Maga guy, now Maga, he was at one point not, um, but he was responsible for promoting what was a large part of Donald Trump's. sort of a counter establishment campaign the first time around, which was the Iraq war. And I think in some ways, like this is the fundamental political liability for these people, is that they all were against wars like this.

Right. I mean, what was advantageous for them in gaining power was Trump saying what people wanted to hear, but he has no connection to that once he's in power. So they're just doing what Republicans do. And Trump, the ultimate con man, fooled the American public into thinking this would be different. And so Jennings here has to own the fact that this is just a continuation of his deeply unpopular party, even if Trump is a different face at the head of it. Yeah. And I think like what Mockler does here is in some ways like pulls Jennings out of the closet. Right.

And says like you are, you're like a longtime Iraq war supporter. I mean, do you see how he matched his lapel pin? It's no longer yellow for the Israeli hostages to match his pocket square? That is a snazzy, snazzy. What is the purple ribbon about, though? Oh, then maybe it's not the same. But he's always wearing... I think that's a red, white, and blue American flag.

Oh, never mind. He's always wearing the... He's usually wearing the yellow one, but I'm just saying he's got a good sense of fashion. King. All right. Only a few years old while you were in the administration defending prior and endless wars. Now this war is failing. Eight weeks is endless to you? Okay, you said it was gonna be four to six weeks.

Wait a minute, you had. Okay. I debated you on TV four to six weeks ago and you said we were weeks away from it. Now you're making condescending remarks because you can't defend the fact that this war is not going your way. Wait, one more time. Not going. Not going your way. One political concession.

Hey, wait, whoa, wait, wait. I'm not, I'm not gonna have this guy. Can you go back? Wow. I wanna see that again. Um, this is how. upset he gets with the idea of like, A, that he's aging. It's difficult. I've been there. B, that he is being outed as being a war supporter where he is, you know, tried to position himself

and aligned with the Maga America first. We're not in favor of wars. Right. But so go back. So the people can say, it comes out of the blue. And he feels like, I don't know, this is, it is weird. It's almost like a feigned masculinity or I don't know what, but let's go back. This war is not going your way. Wait, one more time. Not going. Not going your way.

We name one political concession. I'm not going to have this guy's name. Everybody hang tight, okay? No, everybody calm down. You're 48. We're having a debate. You can respond to the points that he's made. Can you name a political concession that we've got?

We are the flashback to the war the skinheads had in my studio. I would be mad at a bunch of... I would be modified to... We get divorced parents. We have a very simple... We have a very simple goal to keep terrorists in a terrorist regime from having a nuclear weapon that can threaten the United States, our interests in the region, our allies in Europe, anybody else in the world.

So you can't answer the question. That is... I would get mad to. We're going to leave it there, guys. Next for us. The president suggests... I mean, here's the weird part about that. Let's just go. one more time back to just the moment because the, the funny part is, is like, first he tries to

play tough with, I'm sorry, like, when you're 48 and you got like this 22 year old, a 24 year old, yeah, granted, he's incredibly intelligent. He's very well spoken. He has a lot of poise. You turn to him, you try and intimidate him, like, get your fucking hand out of my face. And then you turn to mom and you're like, hey, Johnny was putting his hand in my face. He started me. Come on. It's such a baby. Own up to it. Don't turn away from him. Also, isn't this your whole thing? If you're going to be a tough guy. You hang in there. You don't go running to the teacher.

Your whole job is to be the in-house shit eater. That's the whole job you have is to represent the Trump administration and each hit on CNN. He goes from scoff to anger to like tattletail mode. Exactly. Let's watch it one more time. When you said we were weeks away from it, now you're making condescending remarks because you can't defend the fact that this war is not going your way. Wait, one more time.

Not going. Not going to go in your way. Not going to be. Let's your fucking hear that. Honestly. I'm not going to have this guy. Everybody. Hang tight.

Honestly. Honestly. Honestly. That's not a perfect representation of a conservative man. Oh, totally. 100%. That is just perfect. What a baby. What a baby.

You lost your cool to say the F word on TV to a kid half your age. Yeah. He's the most composed conservative in media right now. Exactly. Well, congratulations to Mockler. That's pretty impressive. I like that. I mean, you can trigger these people, but they generally,

literally would stay stay like they didn't do that until after no until to break no uh no you know what's also interesting and i don't think they'd fire them at this point but you know it was uh i had heard that they wanted to get rid of jennings a while back but they had them under contract and um you know i don't think you can get away with saying that on on tv if you're if they want to fire them they'll fire them now right I also just learned from that Ryan Grimm debate he did with Scott Jennings that Scott's got a radio show on Salem Media. Salem Media is a Christian radio media group. And I think those internet rumors are not in congruence with what they're trying to do.

No. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. New York values. Yeah. Exactly. With San Francisco values, New York values. But look, yeah, they're all on Salem Media.

It's all like a big slush fund for these guys. But congratulations, Bacler. I thought that was quite impressive. And it's nice to see somebody have a breakdown on television and then go crying to the host. Like, you put his hand near my face. Honestly, I'm not going to put up with it. Folks, in a moment we're going to be talking to Gene here, National Affairs correspondent for the nation and host of the weekly nation podcast, Time Monsters.

And then after that, bonus guest. Representative Greg Kaysar, Congressman for 35th District of Texas, and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Just a reminder, oh, and we get a couple of words from our sponsor, and then we'll be back with that. This episode brought to you by Wildgrain. What is wild grain? Pay attention to this, because you're going to want to get this. Wild grain is the first bake from frozen subscription box for artisanal breads, seasonal pastries, and fresh pastas. I can't even read this without thinking about some of the things that I have baked.

Yes, baked. They honestly, like I'm starting to salivate a little bit. The wild grain, the thing is special about wild grain is that they use special, simple ingredients that, you know, you don't, you don't have to practice pronouncing. They use a slow fermentation process that can be easier on your stomach and richer in nutrients and antioxidants. There's no preservatives. There's no shortcuts. And here's the best part.

You take the stuff out of the freezer. You put it on a baking sheet. I use like, not wax paper. What is it? Maybe it's wax paper, whatever that is. parchment. Partiment. Thank you.

And then within 20,000. five minutes regardless of what it is, you're pulling fresh baked croissant, fresh baked torts with like ham and cheese, or fresh baked loaves of sourdough bread, or fresh baked mass of chocolate chip cookies, or fresh baked biscuits. I mean, it goes on and on. They also have fresh pasta that, of course, you don't bake, you boil it. Yeah. But there is nothing like baking something from scratch,

minus all the mess that's associated with it. Fantastic. And the beauty about wild grain is that also their boxes are fully customizable. They have a variety box. They have a gluten-free box. They have a vegan box. They have a new protein box. I think Wildcutter, wire cutter, said it was the best subscription box.

bar none. Imagine having fresh quality bakery quality bread pastries and pasta at home without any trips to the store. They have over 40,000 five-star reviews. Oh yeah, here it is.

They've been voted Best Food Subscription Box by USA Today. Sorry, it was USA Today for over three years in a row. For a limited time, Wildcrain is offering you $30 off your first box plus free croissant

for life. When you go to Wildcrain, dot com slash majority to start your subscription today. That's $30 off your first box and free croissant for life when you visit wildgrain. com slash majority or you can use the promo code majority at checkout. I say croissant because it seems to really bother my son. It seems to bother everybody around me when I say it that way. Bothers me.

Free croissant for life. I just want to remind everybody. We'll put that in the podcast and YouTube. description description description description description oh we maybe we also sponsoring the program today neutra fall um neutral fall is a hair growth supplement that promotes new growth limits shedding uh deals and and helps basically with your overall hair health i guess the quality of your hair we got offered a sponsorship from neutrophal years ago they sent us some product there was nobody who was interested in taking it so we never sponsored him then a couple years later i felt like i was

thinning i wanted to try uh something but i didn't want to take a drug i wanted a supplement i was a little skeptical but i figured why not i knew actually um uh someone uh a woman who had a lot of success with Nutrafall and Emma news a woman with a lot of success with Nutrafall, so I figured I'd try it, and it has been great. The big thing for me, I notice a lot less shedding when I'm drying my hair off. And then, as luck would have it, as I aged, Nutrafall now offers hair growth supplements tailored to men at every age because the root causes of hair thinning change over time and your routine should too.

Nutrafall for men ages 18 to 49 to help improve hair growth and achieve thicker, fuller hair in three to six months, and new Nutrafall men 50 plus, the first and only hair growth product specifically formulated for men who are 50 plus. Nutrafall is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand. It's trusted by over one and a half million people, including myself. You can feel great about what you're putting in your body since Nutrafall hair growth supplements are backed by peer-reviewed studies. They are NSF content certified,

which is the gold standard and third-party certification for supplements. They do clinical trials on the formulations rather than just the ingredients. So they know this stuff is effective. Adding neutral fall to your daily routine is easy. You order online. You don't need a prescription.

They have automated deliveries and free shipping to keep you on track. Plus, with a Nutrafall subscription, you can save up to 20% and get added perks to support your hair growth journey. Start Nutrafall today. Make the hat optional. Visit NutraFall.com and enter promo code TMR 10. That's the TMR and then the numerals 1 and 0. for $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping.

Find out why NutraFall is the best-selling hair growth supplement brand at NutraFol.com, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com, promo code TMR-10. That's NutraFal.com promo code TMR-10. I'm going to take a quick break when we come back. Jeet here, National Affairs correspondent for the nation and host of the weekly nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. And then after Jeet, Representative Greg Kaysar, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

We'll be right back after this. We are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland, on the Majority Report. It is casual Friday, but nothing casual about our next guest. Or everything casual? Jeet here, Natural Affairs correspondent for the nation, host of the Weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters, certainly is Jeet.

Welcome back to the program. Always great to be on, especially on May Day. a day that's very important for anyone on the left, especially those of us who are increasingly hoping for a communist revolution to save this decrepit system from its destroying humanity. Well, we should note that, like, there are actions happening all across the country. We have a better sense, probably on Monday, as to what took place, or tomorrow, but we won't be on. But this is also.

So a prelude, I think, to May Day 2028, which Sean Fain had said, you know, had called for a general strike on that day about a year, a couple of years ago now. And so we'll see. But let's let's talk about it's not just May day. And also, coincidentally, was the 60th day in the war powers. clock, if you will. And the 60th day marks the day that the president needs authorization from Congress to continue waging war or engaging in hostilities, I think is the specific wording.

And it seems like we have not stopped engaging in hostilities, at least in terms of the blockade. But what's your sense of where we're at now? It's $50 billion, incredibly unpopular. It's causing Scott Jennings to swear at teenagers on television, practically. What's your sense of this? Well, I mean, yeah, I think the Trump administration actually, like, said for administrative for purposes, the war is, like, over at day 60.

And then I guess, like, so technically it's over, and then they can restart the clock. which, I mean, it's basically kind of like the larger problem, which is that there's been a total, like, disengagement of Congress, which under the Constitution is the only, like, body that has the right to, like, declare war. But the wars, and has actually the duty to also do oversight over the military, but which has been totally AWOL to use a military term. So, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of evidence that the Trump has sort of trapped themselves in a situation where he doesn't know what to do. The Iranian resistance has proven much stronger than they expected. CNN is just reporting that basically the majority of American military bases were rendered inoperable in the Middle East, which is an astonishing thing. And Iran did a lot of damage. So usually at a situation like that, you would try to not just have a ceasefire, but negotiate

and into war. But Trump is getting a lot of pressure, both from the sort of usual military-industrial, blah, blob, but also, I think, pressure from his own ego. He's not someone who can ever admit defeat. And he's not actually someone who, despite the fact that he's most famous for writing a book called The Art of the Deal, has ever shown any evidence of knowing how to do diplomacy or to like engage in a deal. So he's, we're in a situation where it's a kind of, um, uh, uh, um, you're trapped in a

situation where like, um, the war is going nowhere, but you can negotiate. And I think that under that situation, Trump is under a lot of pressure and, uh, to like, you know, um, uh, it's like, you know, when you're, when you're drunk, uh, let's just take another, you know, shot of the shot. So he's going to, and I believe Senator Blumenthal, who was on CNN the other day, saying, like, you know, what he's hearing is that they're going to try for, like, another set of, like, you know, like massive strikes and see if it'll work this time. Which, like, you know, one can never predict, but, you know, like, it's not like they've gone easy on Iran before. They have massive air power security. It hasn't worked for reasons, you know, you guys have amply discussed.

on the show with Professor Pape. You know, like air power can't do what they actually want to achieve, which is regime change, nor are they willing to do the other option, which is you have to sit down on the table with Iran in an honest way and, like, you know, like make some concessions, which Trump is not willing to do. So I really, it's all it is. Like, I think Pape's analysis of the escalation trap is basically right. They've gotten in a situation where the only option that they can foresee is like, you know, going back to the well of, like, bombing again.

And I think that it's going to be a disaster. The, you know, I guess the real calculation is how much pressure does Trump feel to where he, he's willing to sort of just like apply his capacity for delusion upon whether he's, exiting with, you know, a victory. And, you know, like, I, I heard this story via someone from ABC about when, you know, stormy, he wanted Stormy Daniels on, on the, on the, on the, the apprentice. And he kept bringing up, kept bringing it up. And finally, the executives handed him a piece of paper that showed a number as to what they would lose in terms of advertising if they had her on.

And he looked at it, he crumpled it up and never brought it up again because the number was enough out of his pocket. And we'll probably play this later in the program. But I'm thinking like Pat Ryan questioning Pete Hegsteth about an attack on one of the bases where Hegsteth had, you know, sent a, I think it was a small. squad there and they they said we have no protection from drone attacks and six uh military personnel died you know Benghazi uh I think there were less people died of Benghazi and that was a narrative for a half a dozen years and probably ultimately led to you know in part Clinton losing that

2016 election because of the emails and blah blah blah I mean so there's a lot of lies liability here for Trump, just, you know, and never mind what's happening with oil prices. But I guess it really just comes down to how much pressure, if he's sensitive to that, those various pressures. And I feel like the stock market, he's, you know, is the one that is. No, he does seem to care about the stock market. And we saw that with the tariff stuff. But on the other hand, there's ways in which he's kind of disengaged from a lot of these pressures, Because, you know, like, realistically, he can't really run again. Yeah.

How best it is he in, like, the Republican Party as, like, a wider project? A lot of what we're seeing in the second term is he is kind of, like, entering into the mind palace of his delusions, you know? He's like, you know, wants to build a ballroom. Like, you know, we're doing with a guy who, like, had a perfect situation for if he wanted to, you know, like, become the glorious Napoleon, where, you know, like, is another assassination attempt. He could have used as a rick-stack moment to, like, really go whole hog.

And, like, the talking point that was coming out that night from both himself and all his little minions was, well, let's build a ballroom, you know? Like, our gloriously, he was nearly killed. And he also wants to build us amazingly, I think it's very indicative. He wants to build, like, a triumphal arch in the middle of Washington, D.C. That will, like, obstruct the view of the Lincoln Memorial. And like, you know, usually, like, you build an arch, like, if you're Julius Caesar or Napoleon, after you've received a lot of military victories. And the most amazing thing is that the U.S. is, I think, like, you know, not like those

other empires that are celebrating their victories, but, you know, like, as repeatedly separate, like, military loss in the 21st century, and you're building an arch. So I feel like the element of delusion, the degree to which this guy is caught up in his own mind palace. Now, I know, I mean, because it has been reported that the Pentagon has kind of gamed up, what would happen if we just like declared victory and then, you know, like bugged out? Which I think is in some ways the best solution, but the element is Iran, right? Like, they'll still control the straight of her moves. They will get concessions one way or the other. They'll either going to get sanction relief or they'll be able to make up by, you know, being the gatekeepers

of Hormuz and getting income that way. So, like, to what realistic degree he can claim victory, especially when there's still this massive, you know, it has no popular base, but there's a massive military industrial complex in Washington. Right. That will, like, you know, say, like, you know, you're, you're not the man. You think you are.

Well, I mean, look at what has sustained his attention, the ballroom, the archway, James Comey. now they're going for a second bite up the apple with Todd Blanche. Like revenge and pageantry and corruption. That's it. From an agenda perspective, like the Republicans got a lot of what they wanted with the big ugly ass bill, but he doesn't have the stamina or the fortitude even from their perspective to force to see policy objectives through. He's not motivated by that.

He's motivated by his delusions and his grievances. And so they're breaking a lot of crap right now. But, you know, what comes next after the midterms? It's, I mean, it's lame duck territory for quite a while at this point. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it just feel like a sort of, you know, Louis the 14th, you know, after more a deluge, after me, the flood, you know. Let's just like, you know, enjoy all the grievances, you know, punish all these. enemies, build all the monuments, you know, turn Washington, D.C.

They should just read it, Trump lamp. Just reading him, you know, Trump. Oh, he's putting out, like, his picture on passports. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I have to say, like, there's the idea that he's deluded in making an arc, the Trump vif, or whatever it is going to be. I mean, it, there's a logic to it, in. that like he understands i mean look we we had statues that were put up in the 1920s to confederate

heroes that had nothing to do with the confederacy had to do with the rear emergence of the kKK um and or to the extent that it did have they to do with the confederacy it was just simply we want to reassert racism um he builds that uh you know if he builds an arch they're not gonna nobody's going to tear it down. And it's going to be up there and they'll rename it, maybe, you know, like Union Square or something like that. But can't you tear it down? Well, you could. I would hope.

I think the demo should run on 10. Oh, I definitely think so. I mean, Trump is tearing down. Parts of the White House. His perspective, he knows you put up a building more often than not, it stays up there. No, no, no, no, exactly. I think that is the sort of legacy building thing that he's going to do it. And the other aspect, all I say is, like, you know, you would normally think.

I think someone like him should worry about democratic accountability and elections. But you know, like with the voting rights are, you know, being gutted, it's increasing push towards gerrymandering. Well, like, you know, you're basically going to get a situation where there will only be a handful of, like, congressional seats that are really contestable. Right. I think he's going to be sort of a kind of like bowork of power for himself. And it is like, I mean, I think the Confederacy analogy good. Like, you kind of lose the war, but you still proclaim yourself the winner.

And you get yourself in power, uh, uh, un-democratic power for decades. But I mean, I think, I mean, I think like, I think at this point, he doesn't care. Like, I don't think he cares. I think you're right. He doesn't care about the Republican Party at the at the end of the day. He doesn't care. I mean, I think he realizes like, I'm on my way out. There's starting to be like some stirrings about him, uh, thinking that if he increases, um, uh, rubio's status, uh, that he and Vance will cross each other out. And then maybe, uh, Trump Jr. can get the, uh, primary win. Um, I'm starting to read those, uh, rumors. But I think from Trump's perspective, like, he has made three billion dollars minimum,

uh, in a year and a half. And his kids are all set up with billions of like government contracts. God knows what they've gotten from the Saudis or UAE or whomever it is in terms of like long-term financial. And he's just walking away going like, you know, what more could I ask for? Right. And I have a couple of statues that I built about me. And the ballroom will be there. And through the next 200 years, it'll be that's the ballroom Trump built. And his face is on passports now.

Yeah. Oh, sorry. And so I think he's like mission accomplished from his perspective. But the one interesting thing is, it seems to me, in terms of Iran, just to get back to that. And then I want a pivot to something else. If he can't declare victory regardless of the situation and be told oil prices will come down. Like that's the problem, right? is like he's asking people who and I actually think that like if he was to declare victory and go away

Iran would work out some deal where oil can flow it'll be a little more expensive because that's the way they're going to make their money. And but I think if he's being told by his military personnel because we saw people like Mattis and I can't remember who else it was a couple of weeks ago come out and say like Iran's going to control the straight of Hormuz after this, and we cannot allow that to happen because they will, you know, choke oil supplies. He's surrounded, you know, someone like Mattis who's outside of that circle right now, but within the defense industry, I have circles, I would imagine, is going like, oil prices

are not going to drop. You can't solve this by just walking away, even though you think you can from a public opinion standpoint. If gas prices are still at $6 a gallon, you're screwed. that's where he's stuck. And that is a scary process. He's exactly stuck. And what I worry about is I think that there's enough people

that sort of Pete Hegsseth types who also share the same sort of, you know, masculine, you know, like you can never surrender, you can never negotiate, you have to have like total victory. There's enough thinking like that. And especially since they're purging the military of anyone who like disagrees with that,

I think it's actually a fairly dangerous situation, especially since Trump doesn't feel like he's being held in check. And, I mean, I mentioned this point earlier. I think the fact that there's no congressional check on this war makes things much more dangerous. I know we had hearings earlier, or there was some pretty sharp questioning of HECF in terms of the cost of the war. But, I mean, basically, the Republicans are still, like, all online for this. They could cut off funding tomorrow if they want to. Yeah, but they won't. They won't, no, no, exactly.

And I don't see quite the level of, you know, like, I mean, there's more opposition from the Democrats than they have been for other wars. But, I mean, I still, it's not quite there in terms of, you know, when you consider how unpopular the war is and how much a disaster it's been, and what a bad situation it actually, the U.S. is actually facing.

I mean, the only check I can think of, since you mentioned, you know, all the corruption. Like Dubai is hurting a lot, right? So the UAE, and they're still, they're like Israel. They're like, you know, they're pushing for like, let's have a total victory. But like if they get like seriously damaged, and I think it's a very fragile society, frankly, I think that could be actually a check because those are the money guys. Those guys that are funding all this. You know, but other other than that, like, there's not a lot of checks. And I, you know, like, when hearing from, like, you know, Republicans is like, well, you know, like the oil prices are a sacrifice we have to make because, you know, that's what Hexson said. Hanks said, you know, like, of course the war is costing money. But, you know, like, we have to prevent a nuclear Iran and anything is worth it. So nobody buys it, though. Nobody buys it. So that cost on the, the oil is going to be that much more exponential in terms of, like, voting. But. Yeah, I know.

I know. I mean, I think it's an electoral disaster. But Hegsth obviously doesn't care about that. At the end of the day, like, Hegsth has got the job that he never could have possibly dreamed having if he has, he's a rational human being in any shape or form. He knows, like, this is going to set him up. Every day that he's in office is just like one more, I don't know, is, you know, $15,000 more on his annual salary as a, as a defense contracting lobbyist or,

or on the board or whatever it is. And so this is it. He's hanging on for dear life. He doesn't care about the midterms either. Yeah. You know, he's going to get grilled, but that's okay. He'll end up, he's just like trying to stay on the island one more day. And every day, that's it.

He's trying to stay on the island and that's it. No, exactly. And if you think about, like, obviously for the broader economy, the war is a disaster. But, like, there's a subset, you know, and the reason why the stock market has been doing well, and like, when defense stocks are doing well. Like, actually, you know, like the economy is like not just one thing. Like, you know, like obviously for ordinary people, there's incredible economic pessimism, like more than there has been since 2008.

Like in terms of like, you know, things are going down the toilet. But like if you're a defensive contractor, these are the good times. The defendant is going to have a, you know, like a trillion and a half like budget. Like that's like, you know, let the good times roll, buddy. So, yeah, I think for the people who can profit from it, the Trump family, you know, like the cabinet, this is the best time ever, you know. And they're doing like stuff that like, you know, from any rational political perspective is insane. Like the U.S. is currently like now bailing out UAI. We're bailing at Dubai.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry, UAE. Like with credit swaps. America first Yeah Exactly Like Like for any I think they're helped by the fact

That there's a weak opposition Because I tell you If I'm a politician Like I'm really screaming out The fact that you're saying Yeah Yeah While you're bailing out

This like corrupt monarchy That you know Like it's like A tax cheats Like why are you doing those? Let's also just be clear here Chuck Schumer has been so slow to even verbalize a, and I don't think he means it, but he feels that he has to verbalize an opposition to this war.

I mean, he was, you know, cutting videos complaining about side deals with Iran to avoid a war six months ago or whenever it was. Yeah. And there is an intense failure to capitalize on these things, I think in part because of an ambivalence in the leadership to against, you know, I think, you know, Chuck Schumer's made it quite clear. His agenda is to defend Israel. And Israel obviously wants full engagement in this Iran war from America. But Chuck Schumer's had a tough week this week. And the sort of like the, and this dovetails into a lot of like stories that are going on in terms of the Democrats.

This week, Ken Martin went on Pod Save, maybe it was at the beginning of end of last week to ostensibly defend not releasing the 2024 Democratic autopsy, which before we even assess what. he did on that podcast shows the absolute failure of understanding politics that in 2026, mid-20206, we're talking about that. Like, that thing could have said, we need to, we need to fire every single Democrat who is, you know, in any position of power. And if it had been released a year ago, we would not be even talking about it anymore. Right. And but he has managed to make this a story. Meanwhile,

Chuck Schumer, his recruited Janet Mills to run in Maine. And it was so poorly executed, contemplated, performed like, she's dropped out of the race now. And, well, I would say generally is Schumer is Iran war. Like, it's just a totally misconceived battle with an army that, like, is not up for the job.

And, you know, like, ends in disaster. But because the leadership, both Trump and Schumer are like their grandfathered in, they're going to keep in power despite making disastrous decisions. And we're going to see that, too, I think, with Haley Stevens. I mean, it may not end up being the candidate of my choice, but it's not going to be the candidate of Chuck Schumer's choice. And theoretically, I mean, I have the glasses, but he's the one who, you know, has the power theoretically in the Democratic Party.

And so, well, no, no, I mean, on Emma's point, but the strides and effect, I mean, you're actually seeing like a kind of series of strides and effects, because, I mean, they keep, they had mill and they kept on attacking Platner. for all those stuff that actually makes Platner popular. Let's say like this guy has a questionable background and record and stuff like that. But I mean, it's all feeding into Platner saying I'm an outsider. I'm not the one Chuck Schumer was, right? And the same strides and effect is happening with the DNC report.

And it's also happening with like, you know, like despite they're not, Congress is not willing to like do any sorts of checks and balances on it. like a disastrous war that could upend the world economy, but they are fighting a battle with the real enemy, Hassan Piker. Well, that's the other thing. And I have to say, like, if you actually have a congressional, like, a statement condemning Hassan Piker, like, that's only going to make him stronger, right? Just quickly, yeah.

The Atlantic, Premtokor Zateo pointed this out that the Atlantic had previously, the Atlantic has run five articles in the past two weeks on Hassan Piker. And doesn't Tucker also list all the things that they have not written about? Yes, yes, yes, exactly, exactly. Like Hind Rajab, the killing of journalists in Gaza, zero stories about Israel's attacks on health care workers. But there's this all blitz on the sign. I'll have to that list because he didn't actually have it on that list. But the Atlantic has not published one article about the scandal of Israeli prisons,

where we know it's been well documented. There are prisoners who have been raped and, killed in those prisons. And I think that's particularly striking because the editor of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, not only served in the idea, but served as a prison guard. And so you have this magazine, which has like a former Israeli prison guard at a time where Israeli prisons, military prisons, are a huge subject of scandal, and they have not ever ever covered that. This is what I find fascinating. And let's put up this tweet by a glazing. because this is all part of a hole in the wake of Mills dropping out.

And I'm not, you know, I'm citing this only because of Glacius, where he stands within that, that sort of like ecosystem of those people who are demonizing or attempting to demonize Hassan Piker. Right. And who are sort of like, it all gets into sort of like almost this abundance fight. and search light and all of these establishment democratic corporate oriented market oriented Democrats who are seeing all of a sudden, you know, it's been building, but a real flip in what's been going on. And here's a glaze he goes, he posts this, he says, something you're seeing today, this is yesterday or maybe the day before, is that one of the signature characteristics of left insurgents

is they are very graceless about winning. They got what they wanted in Maine, but instead of pivoting to bring people in and beat Susan Collins, they're doing ongoing factionalism. Now, we should say that Platner, in his official statement, the first two lines or three lines of half priorograph was praising Mills. Mills refused to endorse Platner. And addressed like, you know, we'll see. I've got, you know, never mind the whole Schumer not endorsing Mammany. Yeah. Jilla Brand really, like, I would say defaming Mammie after the election.

I mean, all of that. And even how Plattner ran, he ran against Collins from the beginning. It was not focused on Mills. He tried to create himself as the de facto general election candidate. And it was correct. It was the right strategy. But I want you to just let's go back to this tweet and scroll down, Because this is this, this get with the point that I'm getting about that is like analogous to Hassan.

No, no, no. Put it, put it on the screen, Brian. Okay. So, all right, scroll down because somebody says, you know, like, keep going. Keep going. Where is it? Maybe it's different on mine. But somebody says, like, are you talking about a random person or where was that?

Shoot, it's on mine. But keep scrolling and see if it's there. Yeah, Rando, I think it is. Okay, here it is. So somebody asked, good God, man, are you talking about the candidate's actual statement or Randos on the internet? And he responds, show replies, I think he says, he says, rando. I can't find it.

But the point being is that Iglesias is putting this out there. It's completely not true. Yeah, yeah, no, it's completely not true. It's absolutely exact opposite, exact opposite. But he puts it out there because just like what we're seeing with the Hassan Piker, these centrist, corporatists, so-called moderates, you know, the non-ideological who in fact do have an ideology, they are talking to an increasingly shrinking audience. and it is it's still effective on some level because part of their brand like

I saw as a Klein talking about looking at a clip from Bernie Sanders where Bernie Sanders complaining about the incredible amounts of bureaucracy that have inhibited his Vermont community health things and trying to sort of suck that into abundance like like yeah like changing the word of like we need competence like there's nobody who's like i'm pro regulation for the sake of it i mean i got these arguments i love these arguments with libertarians for for years it's like i'm not anti-regulation or pro-regulation i want good regulation as if that is all of a sudden now branded as some type of ideology beyond like competency um there's a desperate attempt it's like almost like they're

talking to an increasingly smaller group of people and it's just Essentially, people are going to pay them. It's fascinating. I actually think, like, in some ways, the mentally healthy thing for Ecclesias inclined to do would be to do what we're suggesting Trump to, which is, I think what they're trying to do, they're trying to declare victory.

Just say, like, okay, yeah, it's true, platinum one, it's true Mamdami one. But actually, abundance is the real victor here. Let's declare victory and continue in our own, like, mind palace. They should build a triumphal arch in New York City to abundance. And that's like almost I feel like a weird time warp. Like, you know, like abundance? That seems like like another universe, like compared to like what is actually going on in the world,

but they still want to insist on their term. So I say, you know, maybe the gracious thing to do is say, yes, build your triumphal arch and pretend that you have won and let the rest of us go on with, the real work of politics. Well, but the thing is, I think this is, I guess my point is that, like, you see this with, you know, I keep, you know, thinking about like when the Republicans in the wake of the American Rescue Act in the first couple of months of the Biden administration, it passed. It was one of the biggest bills that had ever passed.

And it passed, you know, Democrats did it within like two or three months. And Republicans were in up in our... arms about two books of Dr. Seuss that were no longer being published. And that was like the only discourse. And it worked for them. But it didn't work for anybody else. And it sort of feels like that's what's happening with these sort of like centrist people is that they're, they are just trying to pretend like they're still in the game for the

people who have paid them to be in the game. and it's interesting to see where that will go. Yeah, no, I mean, as you mentioned, it's a shrinking audience, but it's like, you know, if you have, in some ways, like having an audience of millions of ordinary people is like less lucrative than having an audience of 10 guys, all of whom are billionaires. Yes, yes.

It's increasingly like both on the left and the right. I mean, that's also the Barry Wise model, right? Yep. Like, you're going to shrink your audience, but it's going to be shrunk to the few people that actually hit on 80% of the economy. That's the case-shaped economy, frankly. I mean, within the context of media. Jeet here, National Affairs correspondent for the nation, host of the weekly nation podcast,

The Time of Monsters. Always a pleasure. We'll talk to you again soon. Always great to be on the program. And as I said, let's celebrate May Day and let's prepare for the general strike, which might be the only way out of this mess. Yep, I agree. All right, we're going to take a quick break.

When we come back, Representative Greg Khazar will be joining us. He is the congressperson of 35th district in Texas and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who have just, or they have just come out with their version of a 27, 20, agenda for America. And we'll be talking to him about that right back after this. We are back, Sam Cedar, Emma Viglin, on the majority report. Pleasure to welcome back to the program. Representative Greg Kasar.

Sorry. Representing the 35th District of Texas and, of course, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Congressman, you have overseen over the past. several months, a, I guess a, the, the creation of a policy agenda, which we can call a new contract with America or compact, but give us a sense of like what, before we get into the details, what is the use case for this? Is this a blueprint for 2027, 20, 29 for candidates to run on, to build unity within the Democratic Party, all the above? Well, look, I'll want to take a step back for a second. We lost a devastating election here

against Donald Trump, and all sorts of people said, okay, the Democratic Party needs to be the party of the working class again. And I'm saying, and so many progressives are now saying, okay, let's actually do that. And so I went alongside other folks and traveled all across the country to areas represented by Democrats, to areas represented by Republicans, talked to lots of folks that used to vote Democratic but voted for Donald Trump this time, and overwhelmingly heard that they want to see a Democratic Party that brings down costs that makes sure that it's not just billionaires that take all of the wealth in this economy. And so this new affordability agenda, or as you called it, kind of the progressive contract with America, are 10 bold policies

supported not just by Democrats, but overwhelmingly supported by independent and Republican voters to take on special interests. And then you said, what's the use case? The use cases, this is kind of maybe an old-fashioned idea now, to say we should campaign on saying we'll take on big pharma and drive down the prices of your medicine. We should campaign on saying we'll build millions of new homes and give you universal child care. Talk about that on the campaign trail this year, hopefully win. And then when Democrats are in the majority, actually vote on those policies and dare Donald Trump and his cronies to try to block them. So actually not just tell folks that we're the anti-Trump party, of course we should oppose all the horrible, crazy stuff he does,

but then also tell people what we're actually for. And these are the kinds of policies that where progressives have been leading, but actually policies that are common sense across the American electorate that you could win on in any district in this country. The thing that I was struck by these policies, and I think we should touch on them, was slightly atypical from what we've seen in the past from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in that Medicare for All, in many respects, is sort of like the... We call it our flagship health care bill. Right, right.

But it's not part of this agenda. This is our battleship kind of bills. Our flagships remain. Everybody knows our flagship bills. We still campaign on them. We're still going to keep pursuing Medicare for all. But we need... People are asking, okay, what are your new ideas?

What is fresh? to what can we go and talk about on the campaign trail that people haven't heard before to know that we're trying something different? And right now, I smell blood in the water against some corporate interests in ways we have never, I have never seen before. We still have significant opposition on things like Medicare for all, but I think we have a path right now to pass, for example, Jan Chikowsky's bill to start having the federal government manufacture our own generic prescription drugs.

drastically crushing down the prices of prescription drugs. That kind of bill used to not have a path. But right now, where voters are so upset about the increasing cost of health care, I hear from my significantly more moderate colleagues that they are ready to get uninvited from some dinner parties and pass bills like this. So we should not pass up that opportunity. We should continue on our pathways Medicare for all,

but let's take this opportunity to finally crack down on price gouging in utilities. Let's finally take this opportunity to crack down on big pharma so we can continue to pursue Medicare for all in the Green New Deal. But if I put out that platform, put out that I'm still for that stuff, you guys may not have even have me on the show. It's not news. This is new fresh ideas that are battleships that we can actually pass next year while continuing to fight for our flagship bills.

And do you have a theory of change that is tied into going for stuff that is? I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call, like, you know, I mean, I would love the government to be producing generic drugs. I mean, we do it for the VA. I think it was, you know, a bill that was also introduced by Warren at one point or in the past. Is there a theory of change in that if we get, I mean, it would be great to get 10 of 10, right, of these policies. but if those are those more accomplishable short-term mid-term proposals are implemented do you have a sense that it makes those more sort of like out-of-reach or ones that have been out-of-reach more attainable because and if so because why?

Yeah, so look, we have, of course, our slate of pro-immigrant rights bills. Of course, I continue to be for reproductive freedom. Of course, I continue to be for Medicare for all, but we continue to lose immigrant rights. We continue to lose our civil rights and our voting rights and abortion rights every single day that Democrats remain heavily unpopular amongst the electorate. Of course, Trump's numbers are going down, but Democratic. popularity has not gone up like it has in the past. If we want to continue to advance towards all of our goals, we have to solve the fundamental central problem of Democrats earning people's

trust as the party of working people again. How do we do that? Maybe we actually walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, because what I'm worried about is that the establishment will just have a say the word affordability over and over again and then not do anything about it. And then if we take back the majority, corporate forces are already saying that all we should do is Trump accountability. That's important work to do. But they don't want us to actually start to advance this kind of work that could make us the pro-working class party that gives us the kind of majorities we need to deliver on Medicare for all. I mean, I think, frankly, I mean, I think it's a great strategy because there has been no, everybody's been waiting around for some like specific proposals. affirmative agenda versus just saying afford. Well, I just, I mean, Zoran Mondani, the whole affordability thing, really, you can draw it in many ways to the success of his campaign. That's really important, I think, to point out. And I do feel like there's this gap here between how specific he was and you're trying to get more specific with the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And then the national Democrats just saying affordability generally. But also what Zoron did as well was these programs that he was proposing as a way.

to make things more affordable. We're very kind of specific and more universal. So that's, I guess, maybe just the one concern about Medicare for All or the Green New Deal being separated or segmented off. It's because if the full Congressional Progressive Caucus can't get behind those proposals, does that undercut the affordability agenda a little bit

because there's a little bit of a schism? Because not every member of the CPC is on board with Medicare for all, for example, right? Yeah, I think we're very, very close on the full CPC being for Medicare for All. I don't have the exact number here for you. So the issue isn't the overwhelming number of us not being on the bill. The question is we're going to continue. We actually have it as an officially endorsed bill of the CPC. So we're for Medicare for All. The question is when we go and hit the campaign trail and I hear it everywhere ago, I was just in a,

Union Hall with a bunch of apprentices, soon becoming plumbers and pipe bidders, guys who said here in Texas, literally, and I quote, you know, I voted for this orange guy. I admit it. I'm already sick of him, but I don't think that you, being Democrats, have any plan to make sure I don't have to check my bank account when I'm at the grocery store to figure out if I can buy enough groceries. The Democratic Party has not advanced that plan. We're saying, here's the bill. Here's the bill to crack down on. price gouging at the grocery store and crack down on how big ag screws over small farmers on patents to lower the cost of growing food, lower the cost of food at the grocery store. Here's something anyone can go campaign on no matter how red your district is because it has like 75% support across the country. We don't have, we didn't have that. And now we are putting that forward to say, here's a bill on housing, here's the bill on utilities, here's the bill on groceries so that we have something to go and talk to everyday people

about because we need those voters trust and support if we ever want to get anything done. I think, you know, like to get more concrete on that dynamic, that this is stepping outside of in trying to build coalitions outside of the Congressional Progressive Caucus as a way of basically positioning that caucus as a leader in legislative victories. I know Josh Riley was involved in this. He is a congressperson from the 19th district in New York. I'm very familiar with that district. I'm not, he's taking a lot of votes I don't care for, frankly.

But he's developed one of these proposals alongside with you. Talk about that and what like, what your hopes are. I mean, A, it's the Congressional Progressive Caucus, putting out legislation and bills that function both as a, as from a campaign perspective, but also in terms of like a deliverable expect, what that does in terms of shifting a guy like Riley to the left in a district that is, you know, it's a weird shaped district now and it's changed over years. It's one of the most conservative districts held by a Democrat in the country right now.

Of course, it has some very, many very progressive voters in it. But it is one of the most expensive districts to win in the country. And you have Congressman Josh Riley not just supporting the bill to crack down on the insane profits that these corporations are making on our utility bills. He's co-authored the bill with me. And we should take him up on that offer. That's a good thing. Right now, let me just rant about your utility bill for a second. If you are in most parts of the country, you have a for-profit utility monopoly.

Places where they are now charging about 20 or 25% of your bill goes just to their profits. We hear them on their earnings calls laughing about being able to take out money at 4.5% interest and then invest it in these corporations and get 10, 11% return on their equity. They think it's hilarious. It's insane. The fact that you have more moderate or conservative district Democrats now willing to offer these kinds of bills means we should try and fight to pass them. Because I agree with Mayor Mamdani that the time for moral victories is behind us.

We need to get actual victories across the finish line. And instead of we need to continue to fight for a big, bold vision in the future. But if there are some decently bold, real things we can get past, let's fight for those. and dare Donald Trump to try to veto them because right now I know there are folks like Josh Hawley on the Republican side who are trying to claim that populist mantle. And I think we're in for a real world of hurt if we don't get the Democratic Party to start being the anti-big corporation party and the populist party before folks like Holly start running for president next.

And I mean, there's a lot of really great stuff in here. We've touched on some of it. But what sticks out to me is, you know, child care proposals. under $10 a day for most families. Also, building on, I think, what was a bit of a weakness with the Kamala Harris campaign where, you know, first-time homeowner, down-payment assistance is something she proposed.

But rental assistance wasn't put to the forefront. And for a lot of people that are under the age of 40, I mean, we're just renters. We have the idea of home-owner assistance or home-buying assistance seems silly, this point. I mean, if you could expand a little bit more on, you know, the childcare and the housing policies, because those are things, I think, that really impact a core constituency that the Democrats need to win back trust with. Childcare and housing are the two things I hear about

the most at home that I hear sometimes the least about in Washington, D.C. And in the case of those two proposals and those two bills, just a, any kind. of increased tax on millionaires or billionaires or wealth tax could easily fund a massive expansion of both the construction of housing, both market rate and lower income and middle-class housing to drive down housing costs and rental assistance so that folks can afford a place to lit. We can also have AOC's child care bill that gives most families $10 a day child care, and for all families, no more than 7% of your income on child care. And as you guys know, that is a world of difference for people because most people, child care is like a whole other mortgage payment or

a whole other rental payment as the dad now of a six-month-old, man, it really changes your budget and changes the conversation people have about having a second or third kid. And so those are on the table. And then I know our time is short to make it all stick. Critically, we also have banning super PACs, basically a legislative fix to citizens united, or at least a way to fix most of it, so that we can actually get more of this big money out of politics because corporations buying up our elections and buying policies for themselves is probably the biggest contributor to what is making things so much more expensive. One of the things I like, and I know you just have a couple minutes left here, that I like about this,

both from an electoral standpoint and in terms of like formulating a Democratic Party in the future is the idea of pointing out various villains who, you know, from a narrative standpoint, as to like, you know, who are responsible for rising drug prices, rising housing costs, etc, et cetera, et cetera. What can people do who want to promote this? Like, what can we as average just voters and people who want to see lower prescription drugs, want to see lower housing costs, want to see child care relief? What can we do to promote this?

Is this something that we can, like, what do you hope happens in terms of way people hear this? We've announced these sets of bills. Many of them are brand new bills just now being filed. Like that bill to crack down on the for-profit utility companies, we just filed that the day before yesterday. The bill to make overtime pay instead of time and a half, pay double time, updating that rule for the first time in 90 years, that bill we're going to file here in the coming

days. So these are going to be brand new bills with just a few sponsors. This is a great opportunity for folks watching at home when you, look up this set of bills, call your congressperson, Republican or Democratic, tell them to get on the bill. These are bills supported by the overwhelming number of voters. And so let's add up the number of people supporting these fresh, newer ideas and bills so that we can get them passed if Democrats take back the House. Also, this summer is a key time to get involved in elections because this is the primary election season. People forget this. In November, we

decide whether it's Democrats or Republicans in charge, but in the summertime primaries, we decide who the Democrats are. And so in these primary elections, a great time to make sure your members are for these sorts of bills or the kinds of candidates you support or for these kinds of ideas to take on corporate greed rather than say what was infamously said on the campaign trail last year, you know, nothing will fundamentally change. And that's just not what folks are looking for anymore. Is there a site where we can go to see a list of these bills. And so we'll post up the list now that you ask.

We've got good graphics on it, but you'll start seeing the specific list of bills. You can follow my social media, which is at RepKassar. And we'll regularly be posting those bills up there for folks to check out. All right. Great. So we will put a link to that your handle, and so that folks can look up these bills and then call their local Congress people and say sign on. and get on board and let's do this.

Representative Kazar, thank you so much for your time today. Really appreciate it. Thanks, Steve, both. Bye. Thanks so much. All right, folks, that does it for us, at least for the pre-half of the show. We're going to head into the fun half of the show. We have a lot of fun stuff today.

I don't even know if we're going to get to it all. We're going to see Pete Heggseth roasted. we're going to see Tim Poole maybe tripped up by his own co-host, hoisted on his own patard. Again? Yes. Haven't we done this before? It's amazing. It's all that show is now.

It really is something's going on there. And, oh, also, we should tell you that apparently Matt's doing like a show. Oh, is it going to be right after this? Yeah, 3 o'clock. Oh, okay. Well, at least it's not going to have it right during it. Just a reminder, it's your support that makes the show possible. You can become a member at join the majority report.com.

Also, don't forget, just coffee. coffee.coffee. Fairtray coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code majority. Get 10% off. In 93 minutes, this is happening. Yep, Jacobin show going to be live. Live stream in it.

The Mayday live stream. We're going to have Mickey Eutrik. Why is he so much bigger than you? Because he's the main hub. Yeah, Matt's in the background. But he's not in the background. He's in the foreground, but he's kind of smaller, yeah. It's in my contract.

I need to be up front. Up front, but smaller. Don't make my head so big. Megan Day, at least Joshy, and Ed from the Philly Whole Foods Union, talking about Mayday and watching some funny clips. And also Michael O'Neill Burns talking about the IDW and stuff like that. So I check that out at 3 o'clock this afternoon. Wow, this is...

just got an I.M from California resistance. Sam Fubar found mint copy of Fubar for $2 at the Palm Springs Library book sale. The cover has a Costco sticker price of, oh, $1399. I thought it was $1.99. I was going to say it's actually increasing in value. It's actually doing the opposite. It's dropped. It's dropped. It's dropped a little bit. $13.99 to $2? Well, I mean. And then if you adjust that for inflation, it's like a, 600% Yeah, we only need to use Trump math It's already in the hundreds and percentage. Folks are you in the five. 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.

Emma, welcome to the program. Hey. Fun hat. Matt. What is up, everyone? Fun hat. No, me, teen. You did it.

Fun hat. Let's go Brandon. Let's go Brandon. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint. Everyone, I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today. Fundamentally false.

No, I'm sorry. Women's. talking for a second and let me finish Where is this coming from, dude? But dude, you want to smoke this? Seven a eight? Yes. Look, it is you. Who is you?

What's on your mind? We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism. I'm gonna go to Hawaii. Who libertarians? They're so stupid, though. Common sense says, of course. Gobbled e-gook. We fucking nailed him.

So what's 79 plus 21? Challenge met. I'm positively quivering. I believe 96, I want to say. 857, 210, 801, 501, 1 half, 3-8s, 9-11 for instance, $3,400, $1,900, $6,5,4, $3 trillion sold. It's a zero-sum game. Actually, you're making anything less. But let me say this. Poop.

You're going to call it satire, Sam goes satire. On top of it all, my favorite part about you is just like every day, obviously. Yeah, sundown guns out. You don't know. But you should know. People just don't like to entertain ideas anyway. I have a question. Who cares?

Is enabled, folks. I love it. I do love that. Look, got to jump. I got to be quick. I get a jump. I'm a loser. 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. Bye. Love you. Bye-bye.