The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 3639 - Saudis Turn on Trump; DCCC Meddles in California w/ Mohammad Ali Shabani, Randy Villegas

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

It's an Emmajority Report Thursday on The Majority Report On today's program: It's election day in the United Kingdom, and the British media is using the stabbing of two Jewish men by a mentally ill man from Somalia — who also stabbed a Muslim man, though that detail rarely seems to get mentioned — as part of a coordinated smear campaign against Green Party leader Zack Polanski. Zack Polanski joins disgraced Epstein associate Lord Mandelson's best friend, Trevor Phillips, on Sky News. Phillips tries to claim that Polanski — who is Jewish — is essentially an antisemite in a baby-brained segment. The fallout from the smear campaign against Polanski appears to be having a real impact on his polling, with his unfavourability ratings jumping eight points since the controversy began. Mohammad Ali Shabani, Journalist and Editor of Amwaj.Media, a platform focusing on Iran, Iraq and the GCC countries, joins Emma for an update on the ongoing war in Iran. Randy Villegas, candidate for in California's 22nd district joins the program to discuss his campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee organizing against him in the primary. In the Fun Half Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder join the show. Real estate billionaire, Steve Roth claims that the slogan "tax the rich" is akin to a racial slur. Billionaire Ken Griffin says he was "terrified" by getting called out by name by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani in his Pied-a-Terre tax proposal video. Billionaire and California Governor candidate Tom Steyer says the proposed billionaire tax in CA does not go far enough and advocates for closing a corporate real estate tax loop that would raise even more money for areas not helped out by the billionaire's tax. Massively popular AM talk show host, Hugh Hewitt suggests that it is Israel's interest to act in their own interests to blow up the ceasefire deal with Iran. Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett says that the economy is hitting on all cylinders, citing that credit card spending is through the roof as proof. National dumbass Van Jones pretends to not understand why Democrats are demanding full disclosure on Israel's nuclear capabilities.   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: ZOCDOC: Go to Zocdoc.com/MAJORITY and download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE and book a top-rated doctor. STORY WORTH: Get up to $20 off at StoryWorth.com/MAJORITY AURA FRAMES: Exclusive $25-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/MAJORITY. Promo Code MAJORITY SUNSET LAKE CBD: Now through May 11th, you can save 35% on all CBD and THC Gummies when you use code Mom26 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.

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Link down below in the video and episode description and at majority.com. Again, you can use the code majority at A-U-R-A-Frames.com to get $25 off the best-selling Carver mat frame. And now, time for the show. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Thursday. May 7th, 26. My name is Emma Vigeland in for Sam Cedar, and this is the five-time award-winning majority report. We are broadcasting live.

from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA. On the program today, Muhammad Ali Shabani will be back with us, journalist and editor of Anwaj Media, to talk about the latest on Iran and some Gulf State allies turning on Trump. And later in the show, Randy Blagis, candidate for Congress in California's 20, 22nd District will be with us. Also on the program, the Saudis spank Trump, forcing him to suspend Project Freedom in the Strait of Moos by reportedly cutting off access to their bases.

Trump's negotiating team is now pushing him to accept a deal he already rejected because it was too similar to Obama's nuclear deal. A supposed Epstein suicide note has been released. Found by his cellmate, the former cop serving life. Commerce Secretary, New York cop, by the way. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik admits extensive ties to Epstein in a closed-door house oversight testimony. Democrats described him as sweaty and nervous. I would have liked to see it.

Trump's former ICE deputy director loses her congressional primary in Ohio, a sign that immigration may not be the motivating issue. The GOP wishes it were in 2020. Affordability. Whoa. Sorry. I mixed that one too loud.

Portability. Don't look up old videos of his mom talking because it sounds exactly like that, but anyway, sing-songy thing. Tennessee is the latest state to push gerrymandered maps that carve up their lone majority black district. John Roberts, relatedly, says the public is wrong to view Supreme Court priests, I mean justices, as political actors. Thank you. It's okay.

Trump's DOJ sues UCLA for reverse racism against white and Asian students. And the equal employment opportunity. Commission is now suing the New York Times because a white man didn't get a promotion. RFK Jr. pushes to deregulate tanning beds, removing the skin cancer warning so teenagers can use them.

This could have red-pilled me when I'm 16 years old in New Jersey when I very much enjoyed that. Maybe, maybe he uses a fake ID to go to tanning beds allegedly. Trump's new surge in general

pick has some deleted posts criticizing Maha's junk medical guidance. Kamala Harris tells donors that the DNC should release the buried 2024 autopsy. And lastly, the FBI is investigating the Atlantic

journalist who reported on Cash Patel's party habits. All this and more on today's majority report, also known as an majority report. It is Thursday. Hello, everybody. Hello, Matt, hello Brian.

We've got a great show for you today. Let's get going, because we do have a lot to get to. Today is Election Day in the UK. There's going to be a lot of local mayoral elections, mayoral elections, parliamentary elections across the country. This is the biggest test, and it seems like labor is going to fail. for them since for labor, for Kirstarmer, for that coalition, since the general election in 2024.

The theme really in the UK right now is mass dissatisfaction with the centrist parties, labor, the Tories. It's over the continued cost of living crisis, which is being felt in the UK as well. But you see the rise of the far right reform party, by Najo Farage, but also the resurgence of the Green Party. Apparently, I didn't know that there was only one member of Parliament who represented the Green Party for 14 years before this last election.

And now they have four seats in Parliament, and they're looking to build on that momentum. And that momentum is being recognized by a lot of these same four. forces in the UK that launched a smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn and resulted in the expulsion of Corbyn and other anti-Zionist voices from the Labor Party. So the- Not just like anti-Zionists, but basically the entire labor left. And so the centrists got their party and then you see what happens. They can't govern.

Centrists can't govern. That's the real problem. They might be able to win an election. They can't govern. Yeah. And so the Greens, the Green Party have, they have a new leader elected late last year, Zach Polansky. He's an anti-Zionist Jew. And the Greens are vocal about things like, you know, anti-a austerity politics, taxing the rich, also environmental issues. But the Gaza genocide in particular has been a real standout issue for them, filling that void that was left by the expulsion of the left. from labor. And because the greens are having success, I mean, it's actually astonishing what they're attempting to try here with a Jewish man who leads the Green Party. So there was a horrible incident attack in Golders Green. It's an area of the UK. There's a large Jewish population

there. Two Jewish men were stabbed by this man who, uh, is from Somalia, but has a documented history of severe mental health issues and was recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital. He's also suspected of stabbing a Muslim man that he knew earlier in the day. Keep that in mind because you will not hear about the Muslim man at all in the framing of this horrible violent incident. Now, you're going to see this exchange here between the leader of the Greens, Polansky, and Sky News is Trevor Phillips.

So Sky News, the presenter here, Trevor Phillips, fun fact about him, he's extremely close friends with one Lord Peter Mandelson. Apparently Phillips was the best man at his wedding.

Oh, Jesus. People may remember Mandelson as the British official recently in the news because he was arrested on suspicion, of a misconduct in his office because he was allegedly funneling sensitive, well, we saw it in the files, funneling sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein while he was serving as business secretary in 2009 and 2010. So just to give you a sense of who this presenter is and the tone of how he's speaking to Zach Polanski.

Last year, Kirstarmer put him in charge of being ambassador to the U.S. because he understands the dark arts. What did we think those were? And it turns out that when this Epstein stuff blew up last summer, those dark arts were actually embarrassing to Starmer, and he eventually had to say, well, maybe I shouldn't have put this guy exactly where I put him for the exact reasons I put him there.

Let me put a thought experimenter. Imagine you are talking to Shlomi Rand or Norman Shiner, two men who were stabbed in Golders Green. how do you persuade them that what happened to them was somehow kind of in their imaginations? I mean, you've got to be clear about this. You can't have it both ways. Either there is something real here,

or you're saying that some Jewish people are not making it up, but they're imagining something that is real that isn't real. Trevor, that's an outrageous distortion of what I just said. No, I'm kind of repeating what you just said. what you said earlier on the week, and what you've just said to me, actually. If people are stabbed, then that is clearly unsafe. It's beyond unsafe. It's outrageous and it's horrific, the attack that happened.

We should not and must not pit people facing physical violence against people's freedom of speech and ability to march in relation to a genocide in Palestine. The person who is conflating anti-Semitism in the Israeli government is Benjamin Netanyahu. No, no, no, no, let's not get onto that. I asked you about the feelings of the Jewish community in this country. Almost nothing to do with what you just started.

Okay, so I'm sorry, for folks just listening, Trevor Phillips is not as far as I know, Jewish. Looks like a black man from Great Britain. Plansky is a Jewish man. What are we doing with this entire conversation? He's saying that Polanski, he's accusing him of, claiming that the nature of the attacks is all in their head. I just listed the facts and circumstances of the attack on these two men. And I would argue that it's a lot more indicative

of the framing, the dishonest framing that Phillips is trying to push here, that he excludes the alleged, the attack on the Muslim man that was associated with this mentally ill individual earlier that day. I think Trevor Phillips knows that he's lying on exactly that point that you point out because you look at the transcript

here and how he said it imagine you are talking to Shlomi Rand or Normie Shine two men. He doesn't say the two men because the two men because you know to put that up. He doesn't say

the two men because that would be a lie. He just says two men. Trevor Phillips is a liar. Yep. It gets worse. And you seem still unsure

whether you believe Jews in Britain are unsafe or whether you think actually it's not as bad as Trump people are making it out? That's not what I said at all and that's not what I said last week. I said there are people who are unsafe, Jewish people and that's clearly true. There are also people who feel like the marches are hate marches. I'm saying as a Jewish person who marches with many Jewish people against the occupation in Palestine, when people say that makes them feel unsafe, that's a distortion of what the

marches. Okay. So you would reject the McPherson Inquiry, Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, definition of a hate crime, as a crime, an incident where either the victim or anybody else who happens to be there perceives it to be a crime motivated by hatred, because there are thousands and thousands of Jews in this city, London, who think that those marches that you're saying, you don't feel intimidation. by, they think these are hate marches. Can you pause it for just a quick second? That is a real shift in the legal definition of a hate crime.

Apparently, all it takes is the perception of a hate crime for that to be proven. Now, given the distortion that we've seen when it comes to Zionism and Judaism being conflated, one should not use that as the standard because of the McCarthyite tactics of Zionists that are trying to make, God, protests to genocide, equivalent to hatred. But just notice that subtlety there, and we'll continue to play the clip. This is infantile from Trevor Phillips. They feel intimidated by. They think these are hate marchers.

So you're saying that the McPherson Inquiry, the McPherson definition, which is what the government stands behind in which police operate today, that's wrong. Well, as I repeat, as a Jewish person, I march, many Jewish people on those marches. Now, there are already laws to deal with. But you're not all Jews. I'm just saying that currently the policy is... But why is my Jewish identity being erased from this conversation?

No, I'm not erasing it. I'm so many people on those marches. Don't try that one on me. My point is that currently the policy is that if somebody believes that an incident is a hate crime, whether they are a victim or not, it is recorded as such by the police. Investigated as such.

Investigated as such. Okay. I mean, when you don't try that on me, the gall. The gall. Yeah, the sense of condescension. It's going to come tumbling down for people like this. By the court, what you are saying is because you don't think it's a hate crime, it shouldn't be. If hate crimes are being committed on the marches, then those should be dealt with, and there's already laws for those.

As I said, on those marches, I've not seen hate crimes, and I think it's an outrageous slur on many, many people who are. marching for peace. The world is actually upside down. And others who think it is? What's wrong with that? Those are not hate marches. It's in their minds. Well, I think if they've not seen evidence of them being hate marches, then I think, yes, that is a discussion issue. Yes. All right. So there you go. I mean, the idea that we have to treat the hysterical pearl clutching of some of the most privileged people in the world who call these attacks living in the

UK and the United States oftentimes in complete comfort because, treating the idea that there are protests against the Israeli government in the streets as some sort of, I guess, example of their own victimhood. The fact that we have to treat the fragility of those people as equivalent to the victims of real hate crimes and actual anti-Semitic hate crimes, let alone the countless Islamophobic hate crimes that we're seeing in the West, and the daily, slaughter of Palestinians and Lebanese people by the Israeli government as something of moral equivalence is an actual

like it's psychosis. A lunatic with like knife some people on a street and you're using that to smear people who protest Israel's genocide in Gaza. Grow up. And I would argue there that Phillips is engaging in much more anti-Semitism than any

of the protests that include the many anti-Zionist Jews who are consistently silenced both in the United States and in the UK when they speak out against Israel's genocide. Just around a few miles away in New York, there were protests outside of a synagogue in Upper Manhattan that was hosting an illegal land sale in the West Bank. And it was led by many Jewish New Yorkers protesting outside. And our press consistently frames it as an anti-Semitic hate crime. Because that is the shield that is used by Zionists, they hold these events in synagogues in particular as a way to conflate opposition to political policy and nationalism.

Well, you hate me for my religion. With religion. Conquest. Yes. And so here's an example of actual anti-Semitism in the UK. These same papers that are going after the Greens and that are going after Polanski here. You don't want to show this? Okay, here it goes.

The Times. Look at these anti-Semitic caricatures of him. The male, the telegraph, the sun. You can't argue that slimer from Ghostbusters either because of the forked tongue. I mean, literally a forked tongue. They're exaggerating his nose. The one on the top right is like photo, it's not even like a cartoon caricature. They literally photoshopped his nose larger.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it, the... Britain needs to wake up from this foolishness and not let this happen to Polansky like it happened to Corbin. Right. It, it, the erasure of anti-Zionist Jews from the perspective of Jewish people as it relates to the state of Israel is infinitely more anti-Semitic than anything coming out of pro-Palestine protests. because you hear Israeli nationalists speak in this way. We're not the Jews that they're going to get walked all over. We're going to be the Jews that fight back.

And you've heard tales of anti-Semitism towards literal Holocaust survivors within Israel because they are accused of being the weak kind of Jew that allowed that to happen to them. They call them soap. So if you are in wholesale favor of slaughtering Palestinian children, The implication from Zionists is that you were the kind of Jew that would be the victim of the genocide that were perpetrating currently under the Nazi regime. And anybody that doesn't recognize the rich tapestry of Jewish perspectives on Zionism, which has been like the history of Palestine erased from the conversation in almost equal measure, you are funneling a, you're pointing a spotlight on, on Jews more broadly, because the regular, the public is going to associate then just,

the people who you say are the only true Jewish people with one of the worst crimes in the history of humanity that we're seeing currently. It's very simple. It doesn't matter what the polling is. Anti-Zionist Jews are correct. And Zionist Jews, which is, just to say ethno-nationalist Jews are wrong. And that has been true for the last 75 years, and it will be true for the next 75, regardless of what actually happens on the ground. And so we'll see.

I mean, Polanski himself, this is having an impact on him. Hopefully this does not necessarily hold, but this is from you gov, that since this Golders Green attack in the smear campaign against him, his unfavorables have increased by eight points. However, the Greens are still expected, to gain many seats today, so we will see what happens when polls close. But solidarity with the Greens over in the UK and what they're trying to do,

given the immense ability to coordinate on this as well is shocking. And it's almost jarring to see how I do feel like America might even be further along right now than the UK is. Like, they're still stuck in, they're a few years behind here. I mean, you still have some Americans. even on ostensibly independent left media, I do like to focus on the street-level crime issue and use it as propaganda for politics. But it's crazy to see the effect that it has in the UK.

And because there's a history of anti-Semitism in Europe that makes it more fertile ground here. I mean, like the Balfour Declaration coming out of the UK and the fact that they didn't want Jews there, so let's ship them off to Palestine and we'll create Israel, is very much a part of that cultural memory. So who's the true anti-Semite there? Certainly seemed like it was Phillips in that exchange.

He's a fascist. In a moment, we're going to be talking to Muhammad Ali Shabani about the latest on the Iran war. But first, a word from our sponsors. We all know that health issues do not follow a 9 to 5 schedule. So you may have some after-hours kind of health concern. you want to book a doctor, you want to do it ASAP. Well, with Zoc Doc, having no time to book a doctor's appointment is actually no problem. Because when you don't have time for yourself and you're working until 11 p.m. or something like that,

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Link down below in the video and episode descriptions and at majority. Dot FM. Quick break. And when we come back, we join by Muhammad Ali Shabani. We are back and we are joined once again by Muhammad Ali Shabani, journalist and editor of Amwaj Media, a platform focusing on Iran, Iraq and the GCC countries. Muhammad, welcome back to the show. Thank you, Phile.

Thanks for coming back so soon, but needed your expertise today because there was some bombshell reporting from NBC News yesterday. Trump was purportedly kind of forced to reverse course on Project Freedom, which was how he branded their attempt to blockade the blockade. The Saudis then, according to NBC News, cut off access to their airbase. is because Trump announced so-called Project Freedom on True Social on Sunday, did not consult Gulf State allies, according to this reporting. And then Ryan Grimm of Dropside News confirmed this and reported that Kuwait did the same, cutting off American access to their airspace for logistical support. What are you hearing on that front?

So we've seen a number of developments in recent days indicating, essentially that the Saudis are becoming more positive on diplomacy with Iran, and they're trying to help facilitate that. And there's another big sign of this. For instance, the Iranian foreign minister a couple of days ago tweeted that thanks to Pakistan's efforts, Iran wants to continue diplomacy with Trump. And then he went out, and the former minister tweeted that project freedom equals project deadlock.

And then we saw President Trump go out with this tweet, essentially. reversing himself from Project Freedom and also referring to Pakistan. And then we saw the Pakistani Prime Minister, you know, thanking Trump for taking that step, and incidentally, also thanking Saudi Arabia. So the Pakistani Prime Minister was the first kind of head of state or foreign minister went out and said something like that, indicating that the Saudis really are making an effort to avoid a return to war. This is what we see in the public realm.

Privately, what I'm hearing about the Saudis is that they think that Iran has a shot at avoiding a return to war. They say that they do not have any interest in return to chaos. They have no interest in state collapse in Iran. So this is the Saudi position now. Why have they kind of adopted this position? I think that's the key question. I think at the outset of this war, or at least in the weeks prior to it, what we saw was essentially Saudi Arabia trying to have it both ways.

I think there are many reports going out there saying that, you should hold Iran to account. You should attack them, but probably not go all out, probably don't have an all-out war. And I think probably at that time, they didn't expect Iran to lash out the way it did. And here we are two months later.

They've taken massive damage. They're seeing the dynamic, whereby President Trump, frankly, he doesn't really put Gulf War up interest very high on his agenda. He's shown that he's willing to take action with little thought about how that impacts kind of his Arab allies, right? So I think he's shown he's quite sensitive to Israeli interests. Whereas if you're a Gulf Arab ally, if you say Saudi Arabia, who's, you know, shown over the years since Trump's first term, that you have a very special relationship with him, you keep hosting him, you have this sword dance for this guy, you promise him hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and in arms deals.

And then when push comes to shove, when there's an actual war, You know, there's little that President Trump will do to protect you. And I think this is their number one concern right now, that if he is to launch an operation like this, that they're covered because they see Iran, again, lashing out, even though Iran has denied that it was behind the attacks on the UAE in recent days, we saw that almost immediately when the U.S. try to blockade the blockade, there were drones and missiles immediately hitting the UAE.

And again, UAE is another Arab ally of the United States. And I think what they're seeing, essentially, again, is this kind of fragility or rather unreliability of U.S. security commitments, at least under Trump. So I think, zooming out and seeing the big picture, I think the reason for Saudi Arabia ostensibly, again, I think this isn't confirmed, but it would be in line with what I'm hearing

about them adopting a more pragmatic line in the absence of real kind of U.S. security commitments that if we're going to go behind you and permit another operation, another major phase of this war, by allowing you to use officers, facilities, our airspace, et cetera, to attack Iran. Obviously, Iran's going to respond, and then we would need some kind of real commitment

from you, right? And if that commitment's not really there, which we're seeing in the UAE, that's a problem for the kingdom. You mentioned the UAE, and I'm wondering if I know that your site has a piece on Ombuds Media on the Saudi Emirati Rift. And the UAE did announce that it was leaving OPEC, which, you know, they're annoyed by the limitations that OPEC puts on them is, I guess, their stated reason for that in terms of their oil production. But they also take every single opportunity available to them to cozy up to Israel and the United States as, you know, the state that that is closest to the West in the region. And so we've seen in the past that Yemen has been at the center of the Saudi-Emradi rift and the proxy battle there.

But now Sudan has also moved to the center of that rift. Could you speak a little bit about the different approaches that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are taking when it comes to the United States and how they may be positioning themselves differently within the region, given the fact that both. of them have taken hits because of the lack of will from Trump to defend the Gulf allies in the way that he does Israel. So I think broad terms, the difference, the main difference between Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the way they approach regional affairs in conflict zones such as Yemen, such as Sudan, such as Libya even. I think scholars, they basically say that the Mirovati's prefer work with sub-state actors and they're content with that.

They see that kind of relationship as fulfilling their interests without having to take the full responsibility of a state. And I'll give you an example of that. For instance, in southern Yemen, something called the Southern Transitional Council, the SDC, these are rebels who essentially wanted to have a separate state in the south of Yemen, which was the state before 1991. And obviously Saudi Arabia, I think, is much more intent on having a unified state in Yemen. And similarly in Sudan, the main support, allegedly, for the rapid support forces,

RSF, has come from the Miratis as well. It's kind of similar dynamic in Libya. And what you see from all of this is that the UAE geo-st strategically is looking a lot at stuff like port access. So that's where the SEC in Yemen makes sense, that port access, not just on the Yemeni mainland, but also on the island of Sokotra, et cetera. And I think also with Sudan, they were looking at something like that down the line. obviously Libya on the Mediterranean as well.

So they see this kind of geostrategic image of themselves as kind of, I don't know, a trading nation. If you want to look back in history, I don't know, something they call themselves Little Sparta, but combined Little Sparta with the Phoenician, so to speak, right? So you have this kind of image of their vision for how they want to get involved. Saudi Arabia is very much intent on territorial integrity, working with central governments,

and you're seeing this in Yemen, you're seeing this in Sudan, where they work with the Sudanese armed forces, etc. So I think they have a fundamentally different approach in how they work with sub-state actors or in how they look at things like territorial integrity. So that's with reference to their approach to the region in general. When you look at the alliance networks

that they also kind of see for themselves in the future, clearly there's been a huge shift, since 2020, when Bahrain and the UAE went ahead and signed what's called the Emirati, sorry, the Abraham Accords, which is the normalization deals with Israel. We've seen other nations also kind of hang on to that, which also includes Morocco. Incidentally, there are some claims that elements of Sudan, the Sudanese authority, wanted to maybe join that. That never, I think, really came out of that in a confirmed manner.

So I think they're looking at a kind of Abrahamic axis. They're seeing themselves again as a node in a bigger transit network connecting India to Europe via UAE, Israel, and they won at Saudi Arabia in that vision as this kind of overland connection, right? So this is geo-strategy. If you kind of zoom out quite a lot. And I think Saudi Arabia, a couple of years ago at least, wasn't really opposed to that prior to the Gaza War. I think it saw itself on a trajectory in the medium term, normalized with Israel, having its flagship neon project on the Red Sea, part of his vision 2030 economic diversification program, being part of this kind of vision of connectivity, non-oil, renewable energy, in regional integration, connecting the Middle East closer to Europe, et cetera. But then the Gaza happened.

Right. And just, you know, their kind of line on Palestinian statehood and with Israel has been quite consistent with the past couple of decades. It essentially said, you know, land for peace or something to that effect. And I think what Israelis came up with is this essence that, you know what, we don't have to give land for peace. We can just tell the Arabs to make peace with us. And the Abraham Accords kind of gave them that impression. I think that kind of, after Gaza, made it impossible, I think, for the Saudis to proceed on the trajectory they were. And now with the eruption of the Iran war, and we're seeing what I mentioned about the undermining of U.S. security commitments.

And again, this is not something that happened in the past couple of months. I think equally important are the events of 2019 when Saudi oil facilities were struck in an attack claimed by the Yemeni Houthi movement. However, Iran was blamed for that. The main thing is not who attacked us oil facilities. The main thing is that the United States, the Trump administration during his first term, did nothing. It didn't attack Yemen. It didn't attack Iran. So, again, it showed the Saudis that the security commitments that they were counting on weren't really there, right?

And right now what you're seeing is this kind of emergence to use strategically of a kind of a Pakistani Saudi bilateral security pact, defense pact, and trying to peg that to other actors in the regions. such as Turkey, such as Egypt. And again, if you kind of zoom out and you look at Iran and its allies in the region, in Lebanon, in Iraq, et cetera, as one kind of axis. Second axis would be kind of Saudi, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt.

Then the third one would be the UAE Israel and other kind of sub-state actors such as Somaliland in the one of Africa, etc. So when you zoom out and you see these patterns, you're seeing that the reasons Saudis and Iraqis are clashing right now is because they just have different visions for where they see themselves

in the future regional alliance networks in the region, how they approach different actors, whether it's sub-state actors, whether it's central governments, how they approach things like territorial integrity, and then finally, without being, you know, long-winded, basically going to the United States

and positioning all of this within, how does the Trump administration view all of this, right? So, you know, this is a big question. I think there's a lot of layers to. Well, I mean, so if, We're kind of the big theme here is the UAE wants to be a place where foreign capital can park itself, where you can have sub-state actors operating and funneling money through, and Dubai can be the playground for the international elite. And given the size of the UAE, that makes sense, and that it is, that's its role in the region. And but Saudi Arabia is vast in its territory and that they are more interested in more formal relationships to preserve their territorial integrity.

It would make sense that perhaps they're hedging their bets with the United States right now because the U.S., despite Trump's multiple corrupt deals with the Saudis, despite Kushner's, multiple corrupt deals with the Saudis. The Israeli relationship is taking priority. And you can see this within the context of the negotiations. We spoke to Jeremy Scahill last week. And his impression from the Iranian negotiators, they basically say that they think that Kushner, when they're talking, is going to Netanyahu and funneling information and is basically his de facto representative. People will remember that Benjamin Netanyahu slept in Jared Kush. 's childhood bed and their families are immensely close. So does this accelerate, I guess, I don't know.

Are the Saudis essentially saying, like, we've done so many damn corrupt deals with this family. What is it getting us? I mean, this is a good and sensitive question you raised. I think one other data point to conclude in all of that is that two days ago. reports emerged at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank very close to Israel, apparently is seconding,

I mean sending somebody to the negotiating team to Whitkoff's office. So now you have an actual card-carrying member of FDD supposedly negotiating with Iran. It's not just Kushner, it's not just Whitkoff, they also have an actual member through FD. So, I mean, the composition of the U.S. negotiating team, it's quite clear, I think, in terms of how they view the region.

I think Kushner and FD alike are in favor of war with Iran, at least so far. And we've seen other kind of policies they kind of adopt. For instance, the Israeli attack on Hezbollah, the killing of Nasrallah in 2024. Kushner kind of went out ecstatically on Twitter, writing publicly that, you know, this is a great day for the region. This is game-changing. we took out basically Iran's ability to hit Israel. This is great and essentially paving the way for an actual attack on Iran.

So I think from the Saudi perspective, another element to the relationship with the UAE talking about business. So what you said, I think is correct about how the UAE views itself in terms of being kind of this platform or playground, for capital, for human capital as well to move, all this talent, all this money to pool in one place, that business model relies on its ability to attract money and people, right? So to do that, you need not just security.

You can't have missiles and drones being fired at you. That's number one. Number two, right now as part of the Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia under MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, you know, they're very keen on attracting business that's non-oil. And one of the steps that they've taken in recent years has essentially been to tell multinationals if you want to do business in our country, in the kingdom,

we need you to move your headquarters, your regional headquarters to Rio. Right? So this puts them in direct opposition with the UAE. They're going after the Emirati business model. And Saudi economy is much big and a much more resources, bigger country as well, right?

So there are so many layers to how Saudi Arabia maybe have used itself and its relationship with the United States, we have to put all of that, I think, within the context of this rivalry with the UAE and understand why do they have this rivalry? Apart from all the geo-strategic stuff, I explained, obviously there's a business side to it. It's about the economic model. They understand they're not going to have oil forever.

So if they're not going to have oil forever, then what are they going to survive on, right? They need to have a non-oil economy. And what MBS Saudi Crown Prince is trying to do is to attract all this business that currently is concentrated in the UAE. So there is that element to it. And then, of course, there are people like Kushner. There are people sitting in Washington and kind of, you know, obviously I think they all try to game out for themselves,

the best possible deal they can get. And they don't limit themselves to any one actor. I think the Kushner family has been doing business with most of the GCC states during the time they were out of office. This is quite clear. This is on the record. This is public knowledge. I don't know about the precise scale of that business.

or how it may impact U.S. government policy. But what I can tell you is that from the Saudi perspective, when they look at relations with the United States, it's about security commitments first and foremost that all this kind of goodwill that they're showing, their willingness to work with the U.S. in the region at great risk, they need to see something at the end of this tunnel, some kind of light. If they feel that they are, despite this massive investment they've made

in relationship with the United States, and also their personal relationships, which you mentioned, which individuals like Jared Kushner, right? At the end of all of that, what they're getting out of it is to be a second-rate ally, not a first-rate ally like Israel, but a second-rate ally. That's problematic for them from their perspective. You see, they're not getting the kind of bargain

that they were hoping for or maybe even expected. So that is, I guess it brings us back to the beginning of our conversation, why this is so significant the reporting about them, cutting off access to their air bases so the United States couldn't use their airspace for logistical support. Can you explain why that is so significant and if there is precedent for the Saudis making that kind of gesture towards the Americans? So there's several things to keep in mind about, first and foremost, I want to say that I don't think this report hasn't been fully confirmed yet.

Until it's been fully confirmed, I think we should treat it like a report. I think it's a credible report, but we need to see data. There are flight trackers out there that claim so far that in the aerial operations related to project freedom, that there have been two main kind of countries used as air bases for U.S. operations. Number one is Israel, and number two is the UAE. Now, what is the significance of Saudi Arabia telling, for instance, President Trump that you can't use our source? soil, our territory, for offensive operations against Iran. Number one, as I mentioned, it concentrates U.S. options elsewhere.

So most likely we're going to see U.S. forces being concentrated in countries like the UAE, which is going to put the U.A.E in a very vulnerable position, even more so than now, potentially. Number two is that we're seeing during this war, since the beginning of the war with Iran, we've seen a lot of concentration of U.S. firepower in Israel. We're also seeing more and more talk from Israel about an openness to just just having a U.S. base in this role, officially, rather than just kind of having them use. Seems really redundant. It seems a little redundant, but okay. You know, but it matter. Why does it matter? Because in the talks with Iran,

they have those negotiations about the nuclear program, about the region. One of the Iranian asks is, for instance, we want you to withdraw your forces from our vicinity, not just at sea, but potentially also neighboring countries, right? This is on the Iranian agenda. I don't know how successful the Iranians are going to be with that demand. But if you have a setup, again, where the Saudis are seeing that, hey, these U.S. bases we've been hosting for a couple of decades, paying all this money, investing all this kind of stuff, they're not really providing the security dividend we were counting on that we were expecting. In fact, they may even invite a attack because they're targets. So if you remove targets from our soil, you know, maybe that's not a terrible idea, right? So this is one way of looking at it.

If you then have a situation where the U.S. has to rely on other countries in the region, other allies. So let's say that there are Arab allies, such as the UAE. How do you connect the UAE in kind of Israel, if they're going to have the Israeli node as well? Then obviously they have to use Iraq airspace, Kuwaiter space. How are they going to physically move between, if Saudi Arabia tells them you can't use our airspace, what are they going to do? That's a logistical problem. But beyond all of that, if you zoom out even more, you kind of say, okay, the U.S. relationship, security and military relationship with all these GCC countries after all these decades are going to it's going to fundamentally change that they're going to start to shut down or significantly reduce U.S. spaces in these countries.

You know, just the other day Washington Post came out and said that the damage to these U.S. spaces is in the billions. Several sites are even questioning whether it's even worth rebuilding them. So right, we have all this infrastructure that's actually destroyed right now. So it's not like U.S. forces tomorrow are going to go back to all these countries and kind of go back to business as usual. There's going to have to be massive investment. So the question arises here is, you know what, maybe just leave it as is, at least at some of these places. And then if you have a relationship where you say, okay, well, the United States is going to maintain a military presence, but we're going to actually shift some of that away from the Arabian Peninsula towards Israel.

And they set up an actual military base, major military base within Israel. That's more easier to defend and maybe further away from Iran, but then still makes Iran reachable, et cetera. It can fulfill several different criteria for the U.S. But where does that leave the Gulf Airups? Where does that leave Arab allies of the United States? Does this actually make them more confident about U.S. commitments or less confident? And if it's even less confident, again, it feeds into this kind of dynamic we have where they promised investment in the U.S., promised to buy U.S. weapons,

where's these relationships, as you mentioned. But U.S. decision makers are at least people in circles of power in Washington, right? All of this is so kind of, it's so common. eluded all of it. But I think if you really look at the big picture, there's a lot of shifts going on and we're going to see all of this, I think, play out in the next couple of months. Lastly, the shift that you're speaking about, I feel like we can't leave our conversation without talking about this upcoming meeting with Xi Jinping that Trump has in a week or two. You know, Trump had wanted to go into these China talks with a very strong negotiating position

and given the obvious humiliation in Iran and the fact that, you know, Trump is forced into a position where he's effectively having to surrender here, at least based on what we know as of today, May 7th. You know, over the weekend, China told its refires to ignore U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil buyers. This is after the U.S. sanctioned a Chinese oil firm in April. What does this mean for China's position in the region? And what is, what is your sense of their relationships with the Gulf states as the one. I mean, the United States one is on shaky ground. So the Gulf states, you know, they've invested quite a lot in their relationship with the U.S. over the decades. I mentioned that they have options when it comes to the military side of

things. But at the end of the day, all of their hardware, all of their gear is American, it's Western. So it's all hardwired deep into their system. It doesn't, it's not set up in a way that I can pick up the phone and call China next week and just dump their current supplier, right? This is a long-term kind of process, and they've already begun the shift of diversifying. The Gulf is a big trading partner of China. China relies on the Gulf Harb States very much for energy security, right? So this is a factor that I think a number of U.S. administrations have brought up in a kind of negative way, in the sense that they're saying the United States military is providing security in the Gulf,

so China can safely get energy from the Gulf. Golf energy doesn't go to America. It goes to China and India. Those are the main customers, right? So the previous administration is called this kind of Chinese free-loading, et cetera. And now you're looking at, okay, what potential role can China play in the region

if the U.S. is to not fully withdraw or, but, you know, reconfigure kind of how its posture in the region. I think this is a major question. And start of conversation I've been hearing in recent weeks, have been interesting, for instance, about how Iran approaches this issue of charging tolls for ships that traverse the strategic straight-up Hormuz, right?

So I think if you kind of, if Iran has managed to brand this toll system that they have in mind, that they envision for the future, there's a kind of fee of sorts, you know, to maintain security, making sure that all these ships can safely get out of the region, get to China. If they kind of frame it in the right way, potentially as kind of environmental cleanup, up or what have you, something that's politically palatable. I think the Chinese would actually probably be open to that. And I think that's probably among the things that the Iranian foreign minister to discuss with the Chinese during this recent visit to China.

Another thing that China could do, I think, potentially on Iran and the regional track is a role in the nuclear side of things. So one of the main sticking points in Iran-U.S. negotiations is the fate of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. And the Trump administration wants Iran to hand that over. and Iran's not going to do that. So the question is, what can Iran actually realistically do? They've offered to blend it down to a rate, to a kind of grade that's less dangerous, so to speak.

Another potential middle way that could maybe satisfy both sides is if Iran were to transfer this kind of stockpile to a third country. It could be either Russia, it could be maybe China. And it needs to be a big enough country that can provide some kind of guarantee that if Trump is to renege on any deal that may be signed, that China can actually return this material back to Iran or make sure that Iran doesn't lose this leverage entirely. So I think on the nuclear side, on the trade side, on the security side, there are many big roles for China to potentially play.

I think finally the number one, I think at least so far, since February 28, since the launch of the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran, the most important role that China has played has, in fact, been in the U.S. Security Council. A couple of weeks ago, Bahrain, with the same, support of other GCC states really pushed for a U.S. Security Council resolution, which would have provided a mandate for essentially the United States to take a lot of military action within the Gulf in the name of supporting energy security and those kinds of things, protecting shipping. And China went in and vetoed that. And I think they were driven by a number of considerations.

Number one, I think D-1 is put a lot of pressure on the Chinese to actually do something because China has been, frankly, not very active, proactive since the outbreak of this conflict. Number two, I think together with Russia, they saw what happened in Libya more than a decade ago. There was a mandate to have intervention there, and they saw it as being abused by Western powers to oust authoritarian leader that the Western like. And they're concerned about repetition of that, that if such a mandate is granted by the UN Security Council, and it's got the stamp of China and Russia. Hold on, he may be actually abused by hostile powers, Western powers, to go out and take out an ally of ours in the region.

And this comes to the third point. I think for the Chinese, one of the major geopolitical developments in the world of the past year or so has been the ousting of Nicolas Maduro. In fact, the seizure of Maduro physically by the United States. And since he was physically taken to New York, put into a prison, one of the thing that Trump administration did was to tell the Venezuelan government, tell Delci, you can't have Chinese investment in your oil sector, and we don't want you to sell any oil to China. Venezuelan oil exports to China are zero right now. All that stuff, I think it was about a, if not a plurality,

maybe even a majority of Venezuelan oil, until last year, used to go to China. All that stuff is now going to Europe and the U.S. So if there's a situation where China is not really proactively taking action to protect its partner in the form of Iran, What is there to say that, let's say, tomorrow if Iran falls for whatever reason? And then you have a situation where Trump administration tells the next Iran in government,

the next day one in the state, and not just the next day one in state, but also the GCC allies, it's Arab allies. You can't sell away to oil to China. What happens then? I think for China, this is a massive, massive problem. So I think the way China is looking at the region right now, when it comes to the Gulf Arabs, when it comes to Iran, It sees a kind of multi-dimensional chess game. So in the legal realm and U.S. Security Council where there is still U.S. pressure to have some kind of mandate

to restrict Iran and what it can do in the Gulf. I think it looks geostrategically in terms of energy security, how is oil moved out of the region, how is it going to ensure the security of that in an environment where the U.S. may have less appetite to continue what it's been doing for the past couple of decades, which is, again, what previous U.S. administration called Chinese free-loading,

that the U.S. military is spending all these kind of blood and treasure and making sure that Chinese companies can have safe oil. That in itself, I mean, it's crazy in some ways if you think about it. So again, there's just so many layers to it, but I think China can definitely play a bigger role in the region. Well, always informative, Muhammad Ali Shibani, Amwaj Media, journalist and editor of Amwaj Media. You can find a link to Muhammad's work in the video and episode. descriptions. Thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Thanks, that one. Of course. So quick break, folks. And then we're going to be speaking to

Randy Villegis running in California's 22nd district in the Democratic primary for Congress. Be right back. We are back and we are joined now by Randy Villegis candidate for Congress in California's 22nd district. Randy, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Thanks so much for having me. Of course. So your race has recently made its way into the news because the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the D-Tri-C, has decided to weigh into your primary. You have been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and other unions like the UAW, and you've got a good show. But interestingly, the Democratic Party, or at least the congressional campaign committee, its official arm, has endorsed your opponent.

What do you make of that outcome? Yeah, I think this is just a perfect example about how DC elites and insiders are so out of touch with people who are actually on the ground. You know, this was a decision that came as a bit of a shock to me, considering by all metrics, we are beating my opponent. Despite the fact that I launched this campaign on day one saying we weren't going to take a dime of corporate PAC money, unlike my opponents. We have actually been the top fundraising Democrat in the race. And we're knocking on doors or pound the pavement. We're meeting folks where they're at. We're the only candidate who's had town halls in the district.

The only candidate that's actually accepted invitations to debate and to be a part of political forums. And meanwhile, my opponents are nowhere to be found. And so for the D, C, for D.C elites to put their thumb on the scale or their entire hand on the scale a month before ballot. I think tells you everything you need to know about how these insiders are out of touch. And clearly, they wouldn't be doing this if they thought that my opponent could win outright on her own. But they want somebody who's going to be bending the knee to party leadership, someone who's going to be bending the need to corporate interests, and they know that we will be a strong independent voice for the Valley.

What are some of those corporate interests that are funneling money into your opponent's coffers or at the very least to spend on? behalf of your opponents. I know that there's been some shady apac money that's tried to enter into the race. Yeah, and you know, this is something I talk about all the time on the campaign trail. My mom always taught me growing up, which translated to English means tell me who you're with and I'll tell you who you are. And I think the same thing can be said about politics. Tell me who you're taking money from

and I'll tell you who you're taking orders from. So that's why I'm proud to say I've never touched a corporate pack check and I never will because I want to be accountable to our communities and not corporate interests. And meanwhile, both of my opponents in this race have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same corporations that are ripping us off. They've taken money from PG&E, from SoCal Edison, from Amazon, Walmart, some of the biggest union busters in the country. They both took money from United Health, a corporation using AI algorithms to deny elderly people's claims so that they could continue to profit while our families suffer. And that's another reason I support Medicare for all, but there's a total of, I think, 53 corporate packs that have

given to both my Democratic and Republican opponent in this race, Jasmine Baines and David Balladeo, and it's clear who they're working for, right, and is why they are afraid to actually show up to any debates or to show up to any forums, because they know that they can't answer questions and they're afraid to answer questions. How is it that they have time to meet with corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors, but don't have time to actually meet with the people they still claim they want to represent? And similarly, Valadeo has been able to, packs puppets since day one. Jasmine Baines has also sought support from Democratic majority for Israel.

And I don't know if you're aware, she flip-flops on this issue. When we were at a political forum for an endorsement, I think it was a president of young Democrats, somebody asked us point blank, do you consider what is going on in Gaza a genocide? Yes or no? And I immediately, of course, answered yes, as I've always been outspoken about this issue. And to my surprise, she answered yes for him. And I say it's my surprise because she co-sponsored a bill in the assembly that, you know, the CTA was against, so many educators were against that was essentially trying to censor teaching about Palestine. And then now after getting endorsed by Democratic majority for Israel in an interview with Politico, she says she misunderstood the question and doesn't consider what's going on to genocide.

Yeah. And Juniper J writes in to say, to correct me, it's not a Democratic primary. It's a jungle primary. I misspoke Apollos. about that because in California, you're all bunched together in a primary. And so it's right for you to mention both your Republican opponent here and Baines, who is the candidate that the D-Triple C is backing. Now, I just want to touch on this more because as you mentioned, she's flip-flopped on the issue of the Gaza genocide, but, or this, I'm sorry if I don't know the exact gender. I'm not, Baines's gender, But Baines is a woman. Yes. Yes.

Okay. I wanted to make sure that was correct. Baines was also, I read, the only Democrat to vote against Prop 50. Yeah, that's correct. And sometimes I wonder if I'm running against a Democrat or Republican or two Republicans. Because, you know, during the last Trump administration, I think she donated almost a thousand bucks to current Congressman Vince Fong, who's a Republican in the neighboring district. when there was a bill in the assembly to have stronger reporting requirements where pesticides are spraying your schools, you know, where our children learn and play, she refused to support that bill. As ICE agents are terrorizing our communities and separating our families here in the valley and across the country, there was a bill to actually unmask those ICE agents.

And she also refused to support that bill. And to your point, when it came to Prop 50, our way against fighting back against this administration's gerrymandering in Texas and all across the country, she was the only Democrats to vote no on Prop 50. And so we're here to say that we need Democrats who are going to fight and not fold against this administration. What was her reasoning to vote against Prop 50? It feels like that's like every single Democrat in the country is in favor of fighting back against Republican gerrymandering. Yeah, not my opponent. She, I think, said some statement about, you know, an eye for an eye leaves a whole world blind. But, you know, this isn't the time for political platitudes.

This isn't the time to be cowering out when we have democracy. on the line for our entire country. And how is it that she's, you know, happy to show up when it's time to protect real estate and, you know, corporate interests from owning single family homes? She's there to show up when, you know, it's there to protect corporate interests, but she's not there to show up for our own communities. You, just to talk a little bit about your history, you're an educator, you're a son of immigrants. You were born and raised in California, and you understand what your community needs.

But I guess I would love for you to touch on your background as an educator because we've seen the gutting of public education in this country. And unfortunately, it has been somewhat of a bipartisan issue over the 21st century, including like the promulgation of charter schools in certain parts of blue states and the funneling of public funds to private institutions. what's your experience been as an educator on that front? And where do you stand on improving public education K through 12? And then you can even touch on your stance on college for all, for example. Yeah, education was a life-changing issue for me. You know, as I got older, I learned to love school, both because I was hungry for knowledge,

but also because I was hungry for food. And in a working-class family, that's one of the places where I knew I would have a warm, fresh meal every day. And now you have Republicans try to cut, school meal programs all across this country. They want to cut billions over the next decade. You know, I went to Bakersill College, CSU Bakersfield, and then by the grace of God got a full right scholarship to get my PhD. But I knew my heart was always back here in the Central Valley and the place that had given my family and I had so many opportunities. So I came back.

I became a professor at the age of 25. Didn't have to drop out of my PhD program. COVID was going on and worked on it simultaneously. And then I got elected to the school board at 22 and reelected in 2024. And I've been on the front lines of these issues, both as a students and now as an educator, seeing the struggles that my students encounter every single day. For example, the college that I teach at doesn't have a child care center. And I tell my students on day one, if you feel comfortable, bring your kids to class. I've literally held toddlers and lectured at the same time so that my students could continue taking notes. And, you know, why is it that my students don't have those resources? Why is it my students are terrified about transferring to a four-year public

University, we can't afford it. And, you know, we used to have tuition-free education here in California and across the country, and politicians like my opponent, Jasmine Baines in Sacramento, decided to shift that burden onto working families as opposed to having the state invest into our youth and invest into our future. And so we need to make sure that we are stopping these attacks that we're seeing on education, you know, from the abolishment of the Department of Education, which has funds for, you know, special education and for Title I schools. But we need to go further. We should be talking about tuition-free public education at all public universities, colleges, and trade schools. We should be talking about universal TK across this country.

We should be talking about actually investing into our communities so that our students have what they need to succeed. Talk about your proposal for health care. You've been a strong supporter of Medicare for all. There are a lot of people that want some sort of half measure and are proposing Medicare for all who wanted or Medicare for y'all, which is an unfortunate proposal by Tala Rico in Texas. Why is it so important for you to stand as a strong supporter of Medicare for all? Yeah, because here in the Central Valley, we're already on the front lines of these health care cuts, right? This big bullshit bill is going to gut $880 billion to go give $1.1 trillion

of tax cuts to billionaires, to the richest people in this country. So not only are we going to reverse these tax cuts, but we need to do more, right? And I'll say Valadeo voted for this in a district where two out of every three of our constituents relies on it. And the ironic part is that he has a health care plan as a member of Congress. And I think he needs to use that plan to schedule a physical because he needs to look for that spine that he's been missing these last few years. But to that point, you know, let's talk about where we are right now, right? Two out of every three bankruptcies in this country are tied to medical debt. It's not avocado toast or millennials overspending on coffee.

It's health care, right? Every year, 66,000 people die because they don't have health insurance or because they were underinsured, not because we can treat them, not because we couldn't save them, but because of a system that denied them care. And that is why I unapologetically support Medicare for all because I believe health care is a human right. The people in my district here in the Central Valley will drive seven to eight hours to di Havana to go get cheaper dental work done or cheaper prescription drugs or cheap or

cheaper health care, and that shouldn't be happening in the richest country in the history of the world. But, you know, I'll tell you, these solutions are not going to come from my opponents who are bought and paid for by big pharma and by these health insurance companies that want to continue to rip us off. Lastly, here, we have someone writing in Cranky in California, says, does Randy have any thoughts on California high-speed rail, a large chunk of what is under construction run through his district? Do you have any thoughts about high-speed rail, how you would balance your constituents' needs with the desire to build out more infrastructure?

Yeah, I do support high-speed rail, but with stronger accountability. I mean, we've seen the cost of this project explode over the last couple of years in the last decade or so. But more so, I also want to make sure that we're being proactive when it comes to the issues. I really appreciate that high-speed rail is focused here in the Central Valley to start. But I also know that, you know, when we begin... connecting to other parts of the states, how can we be proactive on these issues so that we can address issues that we're seeing in the Bay Area and L.A. issues like gentrification and people being priced out of their own homes. How can we guarantee that people who live here in the

Central Valley, who work here in the Central Valley, can continue to afford their homes? And so that's why I'm a strong proponent of also making sure that we get, you know, private corporations out of buying single family homes. We've got Wall Street buying up an entire neighborhood trying to force people want to becoming renter. And those should be homes that should be allowed, you know, for our families, not for corporate interests. And you know who agrees and disagrees with me on this issue? President Trump actually agrees with me on this issue, right?

When he truth or tweeted out a couple months ago about getting, you know, private equity out of housing, whether he'll actually do something about it. Of course, we haven't seen much. But you know who disagrees with me on this issue? My corporate-backed Democratic opponent, when there was a bill in the legislature to only allow corporations to owning up to a thousand single family homes, she voted against that bill. Right. And this is another clear demonstration about, you know, this vote blue no matter who isn't actually true. We need to have Democrats who are actually going to have the spine to stand up to corporate interest and to, you know, be a voice for our people.

Well, Randy, where can people learn more about your candidacy and support you in your race in California's 22nd? Of course. You can actually head over to Randy.comboat slash majority. If you want to contribute to our campaign, I'm proud to share that, you know, despite the fact that we're not taking any. corporate PAC money. We are the top fundraising Democrat in this race. We've raised over $1.5 million, corporate free, an average contribution of just about 50 bucks. And so I'd greatly appreciate your support. You can head to our website, randy.com. And there are opportunities to volunteer for our campaign, including if you want to phone bank. You know, we're doing phone banking, I think every Wednesday and Thursday. And for any of you here in California or the nearby areas, you can come

down and knock doors with us. There's a couple organizations, I think, like, see the vote and common power who are going to be on the ground in the next few weeks. And they're even, you know, offering to help folks with like hotels and rental cars. So come and support us. We need you in this fight. And we can't allow DC elites to establish what's good for our own communities. Randy Villegis running in California's 22nd District. We'll put a link to that down below wherever people are listening to or watching this. Thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me. Thank you. All right, folks, with that, we're going to wrap up the free part of this program, head into the fun half, where we will read your IMs, maybe take your calls, we shall see.

Matt, what's happening on Left Reckoning? Left Reckoning, we had a very high-performing episode this week with Emma Vigland of the majority report on the show talking about a number of things. What do we talk about? We didn't talk about the movie. We didn't, even though I prepared for it. I feel sorry that you've prepared for it, but I felt self-conscious about it. And it didn't feel like we could maybe. It wasn't just you.

It was like, damn, why am I programming this for my politics show in 2006? It's because you have a special interest. And that's okay. Yeah, it's my special interest. But, yeah, we talked about a lot of things, including NBA players watching their franchises explode in value as they are sound. recapped by the owners and getting conscious about that fact for a little bit. And as well as, you know, Zionist suppression of free speech. Emma and I talked about Zionist suppression of free speech.

What? Yeah. So I check that out. And also thank Emma for including me in an Instagram post this morning because I am faster approaching now my 10,000 follows because I woke up to like an 80 new ones. I'm like, oh, what happened? And it was because I haven't included me in the post of Abdul al-Sayyad, which I had posted before, but not a grid post. I got on the grid.

You got on the grid. Yeah. So yeah, follow me on Instagram at Metlach. All right. Hello, Brandon. Hello. Hello. And Binder.

But Brandon, what's happening on the discourse? Well, I guess this week I'm coming to you live from the void. Yeah. A.k.A. as a cruise director on the Haanta virus cruise ship. recently evacuated Haanta virus cruise ship, as you can tell by my headset. But I mean, we've just been really chopping it up.

I think this week, the thing that I'm most excited for right now, as I make the thumbnail in the background of this conversation, is the PBD video I have coming out later today where they dissect the cause of the daily wire. Many people are calling it the failing daily wire.

Why they are now the failing daily wire. And, you know, personally, I don't think there's any better group of people to discuss why a business failed than the business boys, as I like to call them. Okay, well, check out the discourse, Matt, what's happening on Matt Binder, I should say.

What's happening on your shows? Yeah, sure. Just you could subscribe to YouTube.com slash Matt Binder to make sure you always know what's going on with my shows. Like, for example, tonight you could tune in at 8.30 p.m. Eastern Time and check out Leftist Mafia.

All right. Do so. Do it. Do it, folks. All right, we are going to head into the fun half. See you there. Okay, Emma, please. Well, I just, I feel that my voice is sorely lacking on the majority report. Wait, look.

Look, Sam is unpopular. I do deserve a vacation at Disney World. So, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome Emma to the show. It is Thursday. I think you need to take over for Sam. That's cool. No, no, I'm going to pause you right there. Wait, what?

You can't encourage Emma to live like this. And I'll tell you why. So what's offered a twirf, sushi, and poker? I think that what you did to Tim Poole was mean. Free speech. That's not what we're about here. Look at how sad he's become now. You shouldn't even talk about it because I think you're responsible.

I probably am in a certain way, but let's get to the meltdown here. Oh, sushi. I'm sorry, I'm losing my fucking mind. So it's offered a twerk, sushi and poker with the voice. Logic. Dwork. Sushi and pulk is not trying to be a dick right now, but like, I absolutely think. the U.S. should be providing me

with a wife and kids. That's not what we're talking about here. It's not a fun job. That's a real thing. That's a real fit. Willie Walker. That's a real thing.

That's like the way to the world on the shoulders. Sanders doesn't want to do this show anymore. It was so much easier. When the majority report was just you, you were happy. Let's change the subject. Now, shut up. You don't want people saying reckless things on your program. That's one of the most.

difficult parts about this show. This is a pro-killing podcast. I'm thinking maybe it's time we bury the hatchet. Left is best. Violet, twir? It's a winnable theme song. I Bumbler. Emma Viglin, absolutely one of my favorite people.

Actually, not just in the game, like, period.