The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 3649 - China's Rise; Democratic Primaries Heat Up w/ Jostein Hauge, Melat Kiros, Matt Bernstein

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

It's an Emmajority Report Thursday on The Majority Report On today's program: Donald Trump says that Benjamin Netanyahu is a great guy who is being treated very poorly. The president goes on to brag about his approval rating in Israel then jokes about running for Prime Minister after he finishes his term. The New York Times publishes polls that show a huge generational gap in support for Israel. This data is supported by Israeli Lobby backed Ed Gallrein's recent victory over incumbent Thomas Massie despite losing every single age group aside from 65 and up. Polling shows that Trump's approval rating with people who did not vote in 2024 is at a net negative 50 points. Dr. Jostein Hauge, Assistant Professor at Cambridge University and publisher of the Global Currents newsletter joins the program to reflect on the recent China summit. Candidate for Colorado's 1st Congressional District, Melat Kiros joins the show to discuss her campaign. Host of the A Bit Fruity Podcast, Matt Bernstein joins MR to discuss his recent interview with Emma Vigeland and Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow. McMorrow really didn't seem to like Emma's line of questioning. In the Fun Half: Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder join. The GOP is watering at the mouth for regime change in Cuba. Rep. James Comer wants you to imagine what Cuba would do if they were magically stocked with weapons. John Kennedy says that Cuba steals all of their money James Talarico has Trump and Ken Paxton shaking in their boots so much that they are resorting to childish name calling. Joe Rogan has an anti-human fantasy session with techno-villain Marc Andreessen. 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: SHOPIFY: Sign up for a $1/month at shopify.com/majority SUNSET LAKE CBD: Starting today, you can save 35% on your favorite CBD Oil Tinctures with the coupon code Memorial26 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.

Majority Report with Sam Cedar. The destiny of America is always safer in the hands of the people than in the conference rooms of any elite. Sam Cedar. They are unanimous in their hate for me, and I welcome their hatred. We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The majority report with Sam Cedar. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? It is Thursday, May 21st, 26.

My name is Emma Vigland in for Sam Cedar, and 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, packed show, folks. We've got Dr. Yossin Haga back with us to reflect on the U.S. China summit from last week. And later in the show, Milat Kiroz, candidate for Colorado's first congressional district, joins us again.

And as an extra special treat, my friend Matt Bernstein, of A Bit Fruitie, will be with us to talk about our interview with Mallory McMorro. Just a little bit of it reflecting on that. Also on the program, Iran is reviewing the U.S. ceasefire proposal. But Axio says Trump and Netanyahu had a very tense call. Where have we heard that before? Welcome back, Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Israel is escalating, bombing in both Gaza and

Lebanon, including killing over a dozen in Lebanon earlier this week. After a federal judge issued an injunction, the White House backs down, dropping sanctions against UN Special Ruffalo. rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese. Democrats say they have the votes on the war powers resolution, and maybe they're done with the rotating villain strategy. Golden says so, but we'll see.

Senate Republicans, the ones who won't be back in power anymore, turn on Trump. Courageously, on the ballroom funding and the weaponization slush fund. So that DNC autopsy was finally released, and in nearly 200 pages, the words Israel, Palestine, and Gaza were not mentioned once. Competent party. Yep. What a coincidence after a tobacco company donated $5 million to a Trump super PAC. The White House rolled back vape regulations one week later. Actually, less than one week later.

Minnesota becomes the first state in the country to ban prediction markets. Good job, Tim Walls and Democratic Party there. Shocker, Trump's cuts to foreign aid are making the growing Ebola outbreak worse, experts say. RFK Jr. fires the experts tasked with determining what preventative care insurers must cover under the ACA. The retired Tennessee cop who was jailed for over a month, over a Charlie Kirk meme has agreed to an $800,000 settlement. Honestly, it should be more. I don't know.

Over a month. Brad Lander leads Dan Golden by over 30 points in the new Emerson Poll, the incumbent. And lastly, James Murdoch, the Kendall Roy type, buys half of Vox Media and New York Magazine. That's good news for Freedom of the Press. you know, the son of Rupert Murdoch, all this and more

on today's majority report. Welcome to the show, everybody. We have one I am saying no sound, but I am assuming that's a joke from yesterday. Oh, that's a hilarious joke. Yeah. It's so funny. You had to be here for it. I had to be here for no sound.

I got to say, don't do that in the future. It's a little less funny to me to scare me about. technical difficulties in the middle of headlines, but I'm not going to yell at the audience today because I love you all. And I take Thursdays to suck up to you just as a part of my strategy with the slow rolling coup that we are laying the groundwork for here at the majority report. Hello, Matt. Hello, Brian. Hello, beautiful audience that I never get upset at.

we have a lot to get to today. I want to make sure that we had my dear friend Matt Bernstein on to reflect on the McMorough interview that we did. People should go check it out if they haven't already. But we already had some great guests. So we're making sure that we make this show as packed as possible. I don't know. I'm emphasizing that. I should probably just get into the news so that we don't waste any more time.

time. Good radio, though, to say you've got a pack show. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm just, stay tuned, folks. So the negotiations with Iran continue. Iran says they're reviewing the U.S. proposal. The U.S. has effectively kind of held off on resuming bombing Iran because Iran has so effectively themselves use their geographic leverage over the Strait of Hormuz and have been very successful at making the West feel economic pain for this and the rest of the world in many ways.

Trump uses his social media to threaten bombing and violence, but no one believes the paper tiger anymore. The markets don't believe the paper the cheetah. Get it, Cheeto? anyway um packed show everybody okay uh iran though does say that like over 30 ships have passed through the straight of horoos as of this morning and this comes on the heel of the u.s china summit as well

it appears that iran is charging tolls which is objectively a strategic defeat for the united states and trump because the israel lobby is more focused on this part is fixated on the nuclear weapon piece. Now, Iran can concede things as it relates to uranium enrichment, I think, because they have so effectively used the Strait of Hormuz to defend themselves and the economic leverage that they have over the rest of the world. But Israel is constantly moving the goalposts about uranium enrichment and much of the lobbying effort that defeated the JCPOA and Trump gladly undid it because Obama was the one that negotiated it

was about lying about Iran's level of uranium enrichment. And that continues to this very day as a way to keep the United States embroiled in this criminal war in Iran. So there's apparently a schism here. The new Ayatollah doesn't want to send the uranium abroad to be warehoused elsewhere. Perhaps some of the more moderate factions in Iran have a different opinion, but Trump is upset about it. He doesn't like dealing with the new Ayatollah because it reminds him that, like, you can say it was regime change as many times as you want, but it's the exact same regime, just not the old guy that was in charge of it before. But the bad news, too, is that Israel's continuing to bomb Lebanon and Gaza amid these negotiations. The genocide in Gaza is ongoing.

that means, in my view, at least from watching from the outside, that the U.S. and Israel have gotten Iran to effectively kind of soften their demands as it relates to the so-called axis of resistance with Hezbollah included and Hamas as a part of it as well. Israel is trying to escalate their bombing campaigns in both Gaza and Lebanon as a way to undercut these negotiations. and as I mentioned in headlines, Axios, like we're in Biden, Biden's term once again,

says Trump and Netanyahu had a very tense call and the Israelis were really upset. Oh my gosh. Who's falling for Barack Reveed's Kabuki theater anymore? I'm not sure. Because at the very least here, Trump kind of just says what's on his mind about how he feels about Netanyahu in particular

and how he feels, about Israel, it seems like Israel has captured his heart. What if you said to Prime Minister Netanyahu about Iran and how long to hold off on strike? He's fine. He'll do whatever I want him to do. He's very good man. He'll do whatever I want him to do. And he's a, he's a great guy. To me, he's a great guy. Don't forget he was a wartime prime minister. And he's not treated right in Israel, in my opinion. I'm right now at 99, percent in Israel. I could run for prime minister. So maybe after I do this, I'll go to Israel, run for prime minister. I had a poll this morning. I'm 99 percent. So that's good. But, no, he's a wartime prime minister. I just don't think they treat him well. I think you have a president over there that treats him very poorly.

You know, if we had a competent opposition party, that ad would be played all over the airwaves given the level of toxicity and hatred that people feel in this country for the state of Israel dragging us into a war with Iran that is materially impacting every single person with these crazy, crazy gas prices. I saw that there was an analysis released

the other day yesterday from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy showing that over just this holiday weekend that's upcoming, Memorial Day weekend, Americans will collectively spend $3.5 billion extra on gas because of this war in Iran. So, like, yeah, you can, there are many people that don't care about children getting bombed and a massive genocide with a drastically undercounted death toll in Gaza and Israel's expansionist aims. But damn do they care if they're paying that much more for gas at the pump and it's impacting their lives. lives. So you have Trump going out there saying how much he loves Netanyahu, which everyone

associates Israel with this war now. And there's no amount of capture from Zionists of media organizations and social media companies that is going to change that fact. I sometimes hesitate to emphasize this because I don't necessarily think that this changes things electorally and I don't want to overstate it. But I can't ignore some of these numbers that are coming out with Republicans on this because it's bad for them and I want to incentivize a fracture in the Republican base and the more that the Democrats could do this potentially by emphasizing Israel's influence over Trump. Again, I won't hold my breath with leadership, but perhaps there's some competent Democrats that will do this, the better it is for defeating fascism. Scroll just to the bullet

point portion here. This is on young Republicans in this New York Times Sienna poll. This is perfect. Thank you. On almost every foreign policy question asked in the poll, the 18 to 44-year-old segment of the Republican coalition takes a dissenting view. This is the difference between older Republicans and younger ones, and it's really stark. A majority disapprove of Mr. Trump's handling of the war in Iran, and only 40% say he made the right decision in choosing to attack Iran. Only 33% support providing additional economic and military support to Israel,

Israel compared with 72% of those 45 and older. I just want to linger on that for a second. 33% of Republicans under the age of 44 support additional military and economic support to Israel compared with 72% of those older than 45. That is more than double the level of support. It's a massive generate, I mean, for all of the talk in our mainstream, mainstream press about how it's Jewish people that are booing support for Israel in this country and how anti-Zionism would be an electoral liability in more Jewish areas of the country. Are you kidding me here?

More evangelicals. It's evangelicals and old Republicans that are maintaining support for this genocidal settler colonial project. We covered it yesterday, but the only age group Ed Galeen won was over 65. And did you, did you see his part, his election party that had 12 people at it? I mean, like, let's, let's pass his voters bedtime. Let's pretend, right, let's pretend that we're living in a democracy, please. I mean, it's crazy.

And with that race, not to go too far afield, but the three most expensive primary races in the country have all been successful attempts by the Zionist lobby to take out anti-Zionist or, voices that were critical of Israel. They, in those three primaries, they were unfortunately successful. So how can we call it a democracy when you can have the Israel lobby take out Massey, Bowman, and Bush in the three most expensive primaries in the history of this country? And we act like the voters really matter here? A majority, 54% say Mr. Trump has been too supportive of Israel compared with 16% of those 45 and older. So a majority of Republicans under 44, 44 and under, say Trump's been too supportive of Israel compared with 16% for older, nearly three quarters say America should pay less attention to problems overseas compared with 40% of Republicans 45 and over.

And this part is key. The opposition isn't mostly about young Republicans wanting the party to be less conservative more generally, while younger Republican supporters are less likely to identify as conservative. only 28% said the Republican Party is too far to the right compared with 16% of those 45 and older. So there you go. The young Republicans, you know, the teenagers that are 38 years old talking about how much they love Hitler in the group chat are the ones that are motivating the critique of Israel here. This is not something, this is, so I want to be clear. This is an opportunity to break apart the Republican coalition, but this is not an opportunity to grab those voters. You know, we play that triple Trumper guy who said that he was scammed and after voting Trump for a third time. The real question is like, who are you going to vote for next time?

Is it going to be Marco Rubio or is it going to be AOC? Is it going to be J.D. Vance? Is it going to be, you know, Chris Van Hollen or whatever? Like, they'll still probably vote in that direction. it is very terrifying this rise of anti-Semitism amongst the young right and the fact that that's motivating it. But as an opportunity to hurt Trump and his coalition, we should not turn our nose up at it, is my real assessment. I would make another observation about what this is going to create among, in the minds of young conservatives who don't like that their candidate

gets wiped out by Israel money. It is going to create anti-Semitism in those people. Those people are fertile ground for it. In fact, that type of Christianity is where anti-Semitism came from. And I'll make two observations that I know are true and one that I think is true. The first is that Israel knows that that's happening. And the second is that Israel doesn't care that that's happening in those minds of those people. And the third is because they're doing it intentionally. Because anti-Semitism is a justification for the ethno state of Israel. Beben-Jahir, they do not care. They do not care one iota if Jews in America are more understimatic. threat. In fact, I take that back. They do care. They want it. They want it. They, they, in the way that

Zionists, uh, critique, I guess, victims of the Holocaust, the real extreme Zionists in Israel say that they were the weak Jews. If you're a Jewish American that wants to live side by side with other people of other faiths and religions, and you're not moving to Israel to fight the good fight of destroying the Palestinian people of committing genocide of you know

joining taking up arms to slaughter Arabs then how could you be the strong Jew that is worthy of survival? And I just want to play a little bit before we go to our break just to emphasize that while this is you should take that data as an opportunity to fracture their coalition there are

whole swaths of voters that are that aren't, you know, Nazis or aren't taking you down a path of trying to pursue their votes when it, once Trump is cycled out and they can get a new fresher, far-right figurehead, they're going to be more drawn towards this person. These are the voters we got to get. Listen to these numbers from Harry Enten, our wonderful theatrical friend, about non-voters in 2024 and where they're at with the president. Are changing, that are moving, that are different than the last election.

You know, you mentioned the Republican base in your intro, and then obviously there's their Democratic opposition. But what about those who didn't cast a ballot at all in 2024? Those who didn't show up to vote. Well, they have become absolutely perturbed. I dare say they are pissed off at the president of the United States. Voters who didn't cast a ballot in 2024. Trump's not approval. Back in November of 2024, just after the election, look at his net approval rating. It was plus four points for his plans in office.

But look at that. It is falling. Yeah, who! There you go, Sarah Seidner. That's the only sound you can make. It has fallen through the floor. Look at this. Minus 50 points on Trump's net approval rating

among voters who did not, in fact, cast a ballot in 2024. That is, you don't have to be a mathematical genius, an over 50-point move against the President of the United States among those who are kind of like, me, you know, in terms of voting in 2024. But now they are pissed off. Okay. Well, they're pissed, right?

But the question is, will they go out to vote? And so, you know, there are around 90 million Americans that were eligible to vote that did not vote in the election. Turnout, it was less than 2020, but it is in terms of like past elections. Turnout has increased over the years. voter participation. However, there were many, many voters that sat out because of Gaza,

because of the economy, because they didn't like both choices. They do not have ideological Nazi views that are driving them away from Trump and fracturing the Republican Party. They are not going to be swayed. Those voters that I just mentioned from

on the Republican side, those are not the group of voters that we should be targeting in the same way that the establishment Democrats are obsessed with targeting the moderate Republican, the online media ecosystem that wants to talk about how Marjorie Taylor Green is the new GOP or whatever is also over emphasizing the getability of the anti-Israel. Right. The voters that Enten just described, that's the pool of people that need to be targeted. And that requires mass mobilization that requires

door knocking that requires a movement not micro-targeting that enriches consultants. Real quick, there's a new media companies. New York Times-Syna poll just came out. In order to win the next president's election, a Democrat party needs to move left-right center or whatever. This is the same poll, by the way.

This is of potential Democrat supporters. In other words, people I don't really care to listen to on crime immigration or trans issues. But the key number there is that they all think the party, even the people that think they're too far to the left on trans, economic, or immigration issues, they all want them to go further to the left on health care issues. And the problem with the Democratic Party is which party won a health exec donor funding

in the last election? Well, it was the Democrats. So that's why. That's the reason that the opposition party isn't really responding to this, but it's the reason why the left is having an insurgent success in places like Pennsylvania, for instance. Yep. Well said. In a moment we're going to be talking to Dr. Yostin Haga about the U.S. China

summit, but first a word from one of our sponsors. Picture this. It is late at night and you're scrolling through your feeds. I wouldn't know anything about that. When all of a sudden you see it, that one product that you have been looking for, you click on the link, you add it to your cart, maybe you shop around a little bit before you finally hit checkout. And as you're filling in your address, you realize you don't have your card anywhere near you. You are horizontal in bed with your laptop. You don't want to get up, but you see it glistening. The purple pay button that has all of your information saved, making, checking out as simple as a simple tap of your screen, Kaching. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around

the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. from household names to brands just getting started. I am a Shopify user as a customer, but the majority report is also a Shopify user as a business. It has made it extremely easy for this show, which is not business-savvy, by any stretch of the imagination to have a online store where you can buy our merch without Shopify, it wouldn't be possible because you can get started with Shopify

with your own design studio. You have hundreds of ready-to-use templates that Shopify helps you build and it helps you build a beautiful online store that matches your brand's style. It accelerates your efficiency, whether you're uploading new products or trying to improve existing ones.

You can get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you. You can easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. Best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert with world-class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. And if you get stuck, Shopify is always around to share advice with their award-winning 24-7 customer support. Tackle all those important tasks in one place from inventory to payment,

to analytics and more. No need to save on multiple websites or try to find out what platform is hosting the tool that you need. Everything is all in one place making your life easier and your business operations smoother. See less carts go abandoned

and more sales go with Shopify and their shop pay button. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash majority. Go to shopify.com slash majority. That's Shopify. dot com slash majority. Kaching. It's down below in the video and episode descriptions.

And at majority.fm, quick break when we come back, we'll be talking to Dr. Yosteen Haga. We are back and we are joined once again by Dr. Yosteen Haga, political economist, assistant professor in development studies at Cambridge University and publisher of the Global Currents newsletter. Yoste, welcome back to the show. Always good to be on the show, Emma. Thanks for you. Always great to see you. and always great to talk to you

about U.S.-China relations and China in particular. Let's just start from as broad of you as possible. What are your reflections on the U.S. China summit from last week and what

U.S.-China relations are looking like going forward? So I've always thought that U.S.-China relations are relatively or better than many people seem to think better than maybe sort of the idea we get from the press. There's obviously a rivalry between the U.S. and China economically to some degree politically

as well. But I've sort of maintained a positive spirit in terms of where the relationship is heading because there's so much economic dependence between the two nations. And I think that's something that this summit confirmed that it's heading in a positive direction. You know, one word that she used a lot was sort of strategic stability going forward. And I should mention that I do think one of the reasons why we might see a more cooperated tone also from the United States is because now China is in a more powerful position than, for example, it was last time Trump visited China. So China technologically is now

you know, at the global frontier, they are also a huge geopolitical force and is important strategically, for example, with respect to Iran. So Trump doesn't actually have sort of cards to be as hawkish or as bullying as maybe he would otherwise have been. So the main takeaway for me is that we're going towards maybe something like a cold peace where they're looking, to kind of strengthen cooperation where they can, but still maintain certain trade restrictions toward one another. How do you, I guess, assess that position from Trump in particular? I mean, it was notable that really quite shortly after the summit began,

there were ships that were allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz that were going to China, and Trump seemed kind of giddy to be able to provide them with that concession. But in terms of like the Trump's position towards China, is it purely because he has a respect for strength and nations that can throw their weight around economically? Because he has many China Hawks in his administration, his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, notably, is one of them. And yet they are, it feels like they are sidelines. right now in a way that is shockingly encouraging, at least, in terms of like, the silver

linings that we can get from this administration. Yeah, this is an interesting observation. Some people say that Trump is the least China hawkish person in his administration, and maybe this summit actually confirmed that to some degree, because, well, I don't know if that says more about Trump or if that says more about the Republican Party. he's a least China hawkish person because I don't think it's China friendly, but I do think the Republican Party generally has historically had a very hawkish stance towards China, especially many people in this administration have had that reputation.

But you are also saying something interesting about Trump's sort of fondness for strongmen, maybe. You know, he also know that he has this good relationship with Putin, et cetera. But I do think there is something to be said about Trump trying to be strategic with his relationship with China. We've seen that previous U.S. trade policy has backfired against China. And I have, you know, an interesting story in this respect about how, you know, U.S. hawkishness and aggressive trade policy actually boosted China's position. visa-wee the U.S. I was in China recently, and I talked to one of the largest companies in the manufacturing sector there who told me that they become more innovative or have been forced

to become more innovative because of certain export restrictions and also entity-list restrictions on this specific company. It's a very big company in China. I just don't want to mention the name, but people who know China can probably figure out which company I'm talking about. Another interesting example in this respect is the critical minerals restriction that China has put on rare earths. I talked to someone in the government apparatus in China who said that, you know, they actually weren't looking for very explicit weapons to use against the U.S. until the hawkishness and the aggressiveness started from the U.S. side in 2018. So I also do think Trump and smart people around him are trying to be strategic here

and realizing that having this extremely aggressive and hawkish posture towards China is actually not to the benefit of the U.S. Can you take us to 2018 and when that hawkishness began? And if you could kind of maybe describe the evolution of U.S. hawkishness towards China and bringing us to, you know, eight years later in 2026? Yeah, so, you know, it was during Trump's first administration, and he, as we know, started this rhetoric about tariffs

and also reviving U.S. manufacturing, he was jobs and his administration around that. So the first aspect we saw of hawkishness, which was, to some degree, also motivated by the fact that China became gradually more and more powerful stage in the world stage in the world economy. and a direct economic competitor to the US. So it was not necessarily about Trump

or specifically the Republican part, but also China becoming a growing force economically, more of a direct threat and also a growing, I guess, military force as well. So it started with tariffs under the Trump administration on a range of goods. Then it continued under the Biden administration and export restrictions under Biden,

became very severe with chips, for example. Biden also put heavy tariffs on imported clean energy products in an attempt to revive and strengthen clean energy domestic manufacturing in the United States. And then we move on to the second Trump administration. And as we know, things got extremely crazy under the so-called Liberation Day tariffs, which were just a set of tariffs on a range of,

on a range of goods on countries across the world, including China, of course, and export restrictions continuing that are still in place today, especially on advanced chips to China in an attempt to sort of curtail and prevent China from developing an advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry, because as we know, semiconductors are perhaps the key geopolitical technology of this time. Well, then that's a perfect way, I think, for us to segue to, the story and I mean it's you've touched on it but the the China banning invidia gaming chips uh during this visit with a jensen wang who is Taiwanese American and you know of course uh leads the

biggest company in the world right now in video and it was a bit of a shock that trump brought Huang with him to China I think that the you know he he had his little cadre of oligarchs to join him, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, or as he refers to him, Tim Apple, but you also have the CEOs of GE, of Goldman Sachs, and more. But with Huang coming and then this ban coming from China, I guess what do you make of that? It's, it's, I still haven't seen anything specifically in terms of business deals and economic deals emerging from this summit. There's been relatively little. I thought some

huge deals were going to emerge. As you said, we saw him bring this entourage of power CEOs. And actually, we've never seen a U.S. President bring this kind of force of business power in terms of, you know, top Fortune 500 CEOs with him on another state visit. So that's a bit puzzling to see, you know, all these big names joining Trump on the visit and then not some. something explicitly, explicitly, explicitly, economically coming out of this summit. So maybe we'll see something in weeks ahead. I'm not entirely sure.

But when it comes to semiconductor specifically in chips, what we know at this point is that the restrictions from the US side remain largely in place. There's been talks of maybe China loosening some of the export restrictions on rare earths. But we also know that, you know, you know, Jensen Wang, he is sort of a more bullish person on China and among, I guess, tech CEOs in the U.S. has a more friendly and cooperative approach toward China.

Is that because of Taiwan and NVIDIA's reliance? Who knows? I'm not entirely sure. I don't think China, you know, China wanted to talk about Taiwan a lot. during this summit saying, you know, please do not change your approach to Taiwan in terms of sort of recognizing Taiwan as a more sovereign entity, et cetera. It is very dangerous to, you know, China was very clear. It's dangerous to escalate situation in Taiwan in terms of independence in Taiwan. But I do not see even from the Chinese side that they actually see a benefit to, for example,

invading Taiwan, although they do want reunification with Taiwan. Trump seems a bit more nonchalant towards, you know, with respect to this issue. I think also Envidia and Jens Nguyen Wang, he's also said explicitly that these export restrictions on AI chips to China, they're actually not, they're actually not preventing China from innovating. Actually, you know, we're seeing surge in China to innovate in the semiconductor industry right now. And of course, from a business point of view, NVIDIA wants to be able to sell its chips to as many countries, as many people as possible.

So these export restrictions on chips were lifted, that would obviously be good from a sales point of view for NVIDIA. I mean, Trump being ambivalent about whether or not China takes Taiwan is actually another consistency with him when you say, like, his fondness for strongmen, it's the same thing with Ukraine, It's the same thing with Gaza. His fondness for Netanyahu, we played the clip earlier of how much Trump saying how much he loves him.

Same thing with Putin. And, you know, I mean, Modi, you could throw in there as well. But just his ambivalence about whether or not the strongmen that he favors or looks up to, I mean, particularly if they're in power for a long time because that seems to be what he wants, do whatever you want. I'll do, I'll operate in my backyard. I'll do this, you know, brutal blockade of Cuba and you do what you want. But I get, you mentioned that you were in China for a few weeks recently. And I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about some of your observations about what you saw there as well, because we've talked about this carbon brief study many times. I think last time you were on, we discussed it as well, how China is growing at its most rapid pace yet.

and yet they are declining their carbon emissions. And a lot of this is because they have rapidly invested in their infrastructure. What did you see when you were there? Yeah. We all know that there are, you know, a bunch of us in the West and are, quote, unquote, China maxing and are becoming very impressed with the state of the economy in China. And I have to be honest with respect to some aspects of the Chinese economy, it is extremely impressive.

So, you know, the state of infrastructure in China, especially the rail system, for example, is, you know, I would say with respect to both scale and quality, so we would take both of those into consideration, it might be the world's number one. And to see a quote-unquote developing country having the world's best developed rail system, you know, more than 50, I think around 50,000 kilometers of high-speed rail at the moment, which is roughly two-thirds of the world's, total, more than the rest of the world combined, is simply insane. I know it's a big country, but they've done it in such a short amount of time. And, you know, I went to big train stations, small train stations. It is honestly super impressive. And you also mentioned, you know, this thing about emissions. So for almost two years now, China's emissions have been either flat or falling. This is the first time this has happened in a period when energy demand has been growing, because China is still growing as an economy.

And you obviously, you know, this has been due to a huge surge in investing in clean energy technology. You see this obviously very visibly when you're on the streets with just a huge number of either electric vehicles or electric scooters when you drive around on the country sides, these massive solar panel farms, et cetera. So, you know, China is, you know, one impression that I'm not. left with as I left China is that this country is certainly at the global technological frontier. It's not a country without problems. It's not a country without labor precarity. It's not

a country without people who are struggling, but it can produce literally anything and at all levels of the value chain. So it really has, you know, it is really at the frontier of most things when it comes to manufacturing and production. And in terms of how China is operating in the international sphere, I think that we can bring it back to Iran and speak about that in contrast the United States as a declining global hegemon and China as an emerging global superpower, how China is consistent in dealing in a more cooperative manner and also in investing in things like soft power and infrastructure in developing parts of the continent of Africa, for example. The United States is slashing our

investment in developing countries via USAID, resulting in untold numbers of deaths because of lack of care, for example, and then killing people directly. in our dealings with the rest of the world, bombing a little girl school in Iran, committing genocide in Gaza, and then you're seeing Iran go even further into China's sphere of influence because why wouldn't you? Yeah. I'm really happy you're bringing this up because we're seeing, especially, you know, in the last year now, a clear difference in how China operates on the world stage and how the United States operates on the world stage. How many times can we mention that the U.S. has broken

the UN Charter and broken international law. I've kind of lost count just in the past year. China, I wish more people knew about China that they have a very cooperative approach to international affairs, cooperative, meaning that they're willing to sit down, to cooperate, to strike deals with more or less anyone. This is sometimes confusing for countries in the West who think that China is part of some kind of axis of evil with, for example, Russia and Iran, and then they see China criticizing Iran and cooperating with Gulf states, and they're like, hang on what's happening here? The simple answer is that China has an approach to international relations that's more non-aligned,

that is they don't see themselves as part of this axis, for example, like NATO. Can I just interrupt for just a second? Just to underscore how retrograde Biden's foreign policy is. I mean, defending Ukraine was in the United States' interests, and I'm supportive of that. But the way that he used that as an opportunity to reify the post-World War II order and NATO and tried to build that back up, this over-focus on alliances versus broad-based cooperation is a, you know, an aging, archaic, idiotic strategy that does not look to the future. and you compare that to China, and I think, you know, we have a very clear picture. I 100% agree with you here. And, you know, it's become even clearer.

I've sort of, I was always on the fence about NATO. And then, you know, now recently I see Mark Rutter explicitly, so the head of NATO, explicitly saying that NATO should be a vehicle for U.S. imperialism. I think he said that a few months ago. And I'm like, what? No, we cannot have this any longer. I also think, you know, you mentioned something important with respect to how China deals with developing countries. I don't think that's black and white. And there are instances where, you know, China arguably uses some coercive tactics because of its power in terms of bilateral relations with other developing countries.

But China actually investing clean energy and infrastructure in these countries, China does not engage in regime change. operations. China does not invade other countries. China does not bomb other countries. China does not impose structural adjustment programs on other countries. It's not a fully benevolent force, but yes, I would say they have an approach to international relations that I think makes me hopeful in terms of moving towards a world of multilateralism and real cooperation, rather than these traditional North-South relations that resemble very clearly all, colonial and imperialist patterns. Yes. And just to, you know, so people in our audience don't think I'm perhaps being a little bit

too critical of Biden. I mean, I don't think I am because you could see that Obama's approach was more, you know, of course, maintaining U.S. empire. But he wasn't obsessed with the idea of like reifying these kind of old military alliances. We had the Iran deal. We had a cooling of tensions with with Cuba. I'm not trying to overstate it, but like, I'm just, Biden sucks and is not very smart. That's really all I have to say about, about how his foreign policy was, was dealt with. Lastly, you know, so where do you see China and the United States moving forward? I mean, I know that we don't have details about some of these deals. I know Boeing really wanted a big deal because they're competing with Airbus. And,

that was a big market that they wanted to tap into, but there was nothing triumphant that came out of this, a feather in Trump's cap. He wanted to be able to say trillions and billions and all that. I'm not seeing that. What's your assessment of that? I'm not seeing that either. And I think, again, you know,

this term constructive strategic stability that she used many times during the summit, I think is a term that is fitting for where things are headed. you know, there's still going to be tensions between the two countries, not only because of the economic rivalry, but also to some degree because of the political rivalry and the geopolitical rivalry. But as China, and I do believe although it's not an economy and a country without problems, technologically, there's really no sign that China is stopping its surge. And as it becomes even more powerful on the world stage, the US is kind of destined to, sort of fall into what China wants and how China wants to do international relations. So, you know, I think it'll be, I'm quite certain where China is headed.

I'm less certain where the United States is headed. Yes, it might be an empire in decline because, you know, they're not exactly making more friends on the world stage, but can it sort of save itself a bit? you know, now with the recent summit in China, you saw actually that they might want to cave in on some of China's demand. If these two powers can actually have strategic, if these two powers can have peaceful and stable relations with each other, I think that is a good thing for the world. And I do think both leaders of both countries actually see that, although we haven't seen,

unfortunately, much of that with respect to Trump's actions elsewhere in the world. Well said, Dr. Yossi Haga, political economist, assistant professor in development studies at Cambridge University and publisher of the Global Currents newsletter. We'll put a link to Global Currents down below wherever people are listening to or watching this. I always appreciate your time. Yosteen, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

Always good to be with you. Agreed. All right. With that, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we will be joined by Milak Keros, candidate in Colorado's first congressional district. We are back and we are joined once again a second candidate interview in an election cycle. I mean, it must be pretty special. I mean, I'm a big fan of Milakiros' campaign in Colorado's first congressional district. Milat, thanks so much for coming back on the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yeah, I'm glad to be talking to you because we haven't spoken in a few months. And since that time, your campaign has received, you know, a lot more attention and a significant boost even from, you know, the local infrastructure in Colorado. The district assembly, there was a vote at the end of March where Diana to get the nearly 30-year a long incumbent

was barely able to get over the 30% threshold, which is required for ballot access on June 30th. You got what's nearly two-thirds of the vote in the district assembly. If you could just explain what that is and why that was such a big deal.

Yeah, absolutely. So Colorado has two paths to get onto the ballot. You can either collect signatures or you can go through the Democratic Convention. And we went through both. So we were actually the only Democrats in the entire state to collect signatures just with volunteers. Everybody had to pay for organizers to collect those signatures, but we already had so many volunteers that were ready to collect them. So we could have gone on the ballot that way. But we also decided to go through the convention process, which we call caucus and assembly here. And it's, you know, it's a process that I deeply appreciate because it's just a bunch of Democrats in the room

that really want to make an active difference in the party and change the trajectory of where we're going because we need to win again and we need to start fighting for working people. That being said, it's not the most democratic process, right? It takes at least 16 to 18 hours over the course of several days, over the course of several weeks.

If you have childcare needs, if you work an hourly wage, it's really difficult to be able to meaningfully participate in that process. So we wanted to make sure that we reached every single kind of voter through the signature process and also going through the convention process. And the convention was, it was absolutely incredible. We felt confident going in just because there were so many people that were aligned with our values, but we actually

didn't decide to go through caucus until, I think, like, nine days before the deadline. People had been organizing for weeks in advance before that, but we made a really last-minute decision to participate. And so we were just hoping to make past 30% originally. And then we started calling folks asking if we could count on their support. And it started looking like we might get closer to 50%. And then we walked in day of at South High School, which is actually the Congresswoman's alma mater. So the audience was filled with a lot of her former classmates,

people she has known for a really long time, you know, the audience, or really just the groups of folks that participate skew, you know, more older, or they've really been participating in the party for a really long time. I mean, it's a process that's designed to protect incumbents. And we went on stage. We made our case. I called out who the real problem is, the billionaires and the corporations. I said what we need, which is Medicare for all and, you know, using our taxpayer dollars

for health care instead of bombs. And I thanked the congresswoman for her service and said that it was time for a change. That got a lot of really, it was an incredible. incredible reception. And then following me, the congresswoman came on stage and accused me of lying about something. I don't know what. I said she takes corporate PAC money. That's a fact. And that wasn't received well either. And so what I think we walked in with like 50% support, we ended up taking away 63% of the vote. And she only, she was 30 votes away from not making the ballot in that first round. And ultimately in the final round, they send some more delegates up to do the last

vote, we actually ended up getting 67% of the votes. We managed to flip a few of her delegates. So she just barely made it on with six votes. And she didn't collect signatures also. So that was that was going to be the end-all be all for her. That's amazing. And you did both, as you mentioned, right? And so you have that as a backstop. It also, like, when you collect signatures like that, you're also informing people about your candidacy, too. It's a way to doork. And, and not also door knock and then that volunteer army can go in door knock as well. You know, Chris Rab, huge victory in, in, Rob, sorry, in Philadelphia. And just earlier this week, I saw that you guys have been kind of posting together on social media and both have DSA behind you specifically.

Can you speak about DSA's role in organizing your campaign and how it's made it easier? for you to spread your message across Denver. Yeah. You know, it's funny. DSA is actually the reason why we went through the convention process. You know, it's just a really arduous process. You have to call every single delegate. And we had gotten the endorsement about 10 days before the Caucason Assembly process.

And, I mean, the might of organizing that comes behind DSA is just unmatched. And, you know, a lot of that comes from the fact that these are working people that are actively fighting for the betterment of every other working person in the country. And so they've been doing this work, whether we're talking about, you know, labor rights, whether we're talking about renter's rights. And so we just pulled in all of those organizers to help us get through the convention process. And just like you said, while we were also collecting signatures, we were also informing voters about us.

And those volunteers are now in the process of helping us get out the vote. And we are really, really lucky to say that we have over 500 volunteers supporting our campaign, 200 to 300 of them are actually on the ground here in Denver that are canvassing for us at least twice a week, phone banking and text banking two to three times a week. And that is truly the power of DSA, right? We call it the DSA difference. I am so honored to have the support of this organization and to be fighting alongside people like Chris that are so fearless in this movement, right? we have we're at a crossroads where there are things that are going to happen in the next few years that are going to set the trajectory of this country for the next few decades.

And if we are not at the helm as Democratic socialists that are laser focused on ensuring that we're protecting people's most basic needs, I'm really scared about what's going to happen. And so to see the win in PA with Reparab is I'm just so, so proud of them. What do you make of this, I mean, the state of Democratic primaries right now? And what are you hearing from voters that indicate how badly people really want to change? Well, I think the first major indication for me was actually during the convention process when there were people who had gone to class to high school with to get, who had voted for her proudly for the last.

30 years and heard my speech and said, look, I'm grateful for her service, but you're right. There has to be a change, and it has to start with addressing the corruption that's in our own party. Because the thing is, we cannot call out the corruption of Donald Trump of the Republican Party without cleaning up house on our side of the aisle. And when you have Democrats that are taking millions of dollars from big pharma, big energy and oil, defense contractors, APAC, voters lose trusts that we are going to be the ones that are actually fighting for them just because we say we are, right?

If we're still taking that dirty money on the side, then how can they actually trust our intentions? And so I think it's really shown that Democratic voters are ready for a change. And I also think it's shown that Republican voters are not, right? We also saw in the same night that Massey and that race, what, that was another record of 30-something million dollars spent. And I think it makes it clear that Republicans are not ready to have this conversation about the special interest and the impacts that it's, having on our government, but Democrats are rep rob one, despite being challenged by two establishment Democrats, despite being outspent by a lot of these special interests, because we are actually talking about the issues that matter most to the voters.

And, you know, we're getting some really great IMs about your candidacy, but you mentioned APEC. And of course, Israel is so central right now in these campaigns because it is a litmus test for how people can trust you. Do you support the slaughter of children or do you not? You mentioned you support Medicare for all, universal child care, but you also support an arms embargo to Israel.

Why is that important for you to say versus just say, oh, I'm going to end, or I would vote against offensive weapons, sales. As a reminder to people, your candidacy got started after you were fired

from the law firm that you worked at because you criticized their response to protest against the genocide? Yeah, the campaign was a couple of years after I got fired, but that cemented a lot of things for me, right? No, you're good, you're good. That cemented a lot of things for me,

understanding the dynamics of our jobs and the things that provide us our livelihood, preventing us from speaking out on these atrocities that end up becoming genocide, right? And for me, it's important to say we need an arms embargo because words matter and so do policies. You know, the reality is the genocide in Palestine has only gone as far as it has because it is funded by our taxpayer dollars. That is just a fact.

And if we want to end the genocide, if you are a candidate that's saying we need to end the violence and we need to protect the children, then stop sending the weapons that are killing them in the first place. It's really that simple. And I think more than anything, the frustrating piece about it is that this is the popular position. This is what Democratic voters want. It's the party that is not caught up on this issue. And it's going to take more and more of us that are running in positions against these incumbents, against the establishment to say that you are the ones that are out of step with the voters.

And the voters want to see an arms embargo so we can finally start working towards peace in that region. And the arms embargo to clarify would also include, say, funding for the Iron Dome, which, you know, I think sometimes when it's spoken about as defensive weaponry, it's not necessarily painting the entire picture, which is that the infrastructure could still be in place and Israel could still pay for it, but we wouldn't have the diplomatic cover from the United States that also allows them to steal land belligerently because they know that they can't receive any, because of the United States' missile defense system, really any significant damage that would harm them in that pursuit. Exactly. I mean, look, we saw reporting from the times that the administration and

Israel had, they were waiting for the Biden administration to tell them to knock it off. They were waiting to be told that they needed to commit to a ceasefire. And it never came. Our taxpayer dollars, our funding of this weaponry is our leverage. That is how we can stop the violence that is happening there. And I want to be clear as well, exactly what you said, a weapon is a weapon is weapon, right? There is no distinction between offensive and defensive because at the end of the day, it is the weaponry that gives them the impunity to commit this genocide in Palestine in the first place. And I want to make it clear that this isn't just about not giving them free weapons. This is about halting every sale of every weapon, period, until we have a true ceasefire and an

actual delivery of aid and a commitment to rebuilding Gaza and a commitment to a right of return, a commitment to actually seeing peace, dignity, and security for every single person in that land right now. Love that answer. Really appreciate it. I just want to read some of these IMs because we're getting a lot about people even in Colorado who have been canvassing for you, Cameron from Denver. I've been canvassing from a lot in Denver, and I've had so many positive encounters. It's been really inspiring talking to neighbors about issues that matter to them. and seeing it connect that there's a candidate who actually cares about those issues, it seems like people are ready for a change. Also obligatory Denver DSA plug.

Join your local DSA chapter. Folks, science is political saying that now that they've graduated, they have the time to phone bank for you in Denver. And this one is great, too, from the same person. Science is political. I know an older military veteran over 75 who was friends with Diana and even has said that she's been, MIA as a congresswoman. He said he likes Melot's fight. So that's got to be a pretty great endorsement,

huh? No, we'll take it, honestly. You know, it's funny. We talk about this being a generational fight, and in so many ways it really is. But some of my strongest supporters are voters over the age of 65 that are knocking on doors for us, hosting house parties for us. Because for a lot of them, either they're ready to pass the torch. They want to see the next generation of leadership actually, you know, being in public service and fighting for the kind of solutions that maybe weren't available before. But some of our older voters, they've been protesting since Vietnam. They've known these problems for a really long time.

And I think we're coming to a point now where this money in politics issue is no longer just the slogan. It's no longer this abstract idea. people really can concretely see just how corrupted our government and our politics and our campaigns have become. And I think that's what's gotten us so many fired up, excited volunteers. I always brag, we've got the best volunteers in the state. They are doing so, so much work. And if there are any other folks that are in Colorado that are listening to this, please join us. We're canvassing every single weekend.

We've got socials afterwards as well, too. It's a really incredible community we've been building. How can people do so? It's a great way to plug your website. If they want to volunteer or phone bank for you, where should they go? Please, yes. Go to kerosforco.com to just learn about the race and learn about our priorities and everything. And then go to win.cirosforco.com.

That's going to be where you can find everything for canvassing, for phone banking. We've got a bunch of events that are also happening. In fact, if you're in Colorado, we are having a town hall tonight, which we're really excited about. But there's so many ways to get plugged in. And then if you also go to our socials at Malat Kurosco, you can find everything that's happening on the campaign that way too. Melat, uh, written for you over here on the East Coast. We'll put a link to all of that down below wherever people are listening to or watching this.

Thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Have wonderful. Bye. Thanks. Thanks so much. All right, folks, quick break.

And, uh, we will be joined by Matt Bernstein in just a second. We are back and we are joined by. my dear friend Matt Bernstein, host of the A Bit Fruitie podcast. If I talk about how wonderful Matt is, I might actually get a little bit choked up because I love him so much. One of my great friends, Matt, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me, Emma. And I do know this to be true because it doesn't take that much to get you choked up. Yeah, okay.

Well, that's obvious. I've definitely cried just talking to you about you before, because, I mean this with all sincerity. You are extremely talented, brilliant, and very kind and wonderful. And so the fact that we get to collaborate together is such a joy in my professional life.

Oh my God. I couldn't agree more. And I'm so excited to talk about what we have done. What have we done? What have we done, Matt? We've made some waves. We did. I mean, do you want to team me up?

Yeah, that was me team. you up, my dear love. Well, so for those who haven't followed this sort of saga, obviously there's this very contentious Michigan Senate primary between Haley Stevens, who's like the APAC candidate, Mallory McMorro, who's like the centrist candidate, and Abdul al-Sayed, who is the progressive pro-Palestine, Medicare for all candidate. And I have, I've done an interview with Abdul and on my podcast a bit fruity. and after we published it,

Mallory McMorrow, the centrist's candidate's team, reached out and was like, we would love to do an interview as well. And I thought that was pretty stunning, considering, like, the way we sort of, like, maligned some of her, you know, views.

And obviously, like, I was interviewing his opponent, but she wanted to, and she was, like, Mallory, you know, has this amazing LGBT record and were fans of the show. And I was like, the first thing I did was text to Emma because I was like, gee, like, they're fans of the show? I mean, and they said, you know, whatever. But so I said yes. And then they requested a topic list.

And I wanted to make calculations throughout the whole process that would tee me up to get the interview. And so, you know, a lot of people said, well, you should have never submitted a topic list. But, you know, then she could have just as easily been like, well, we're not going to do it then. So there was kind of a game. We decided when we were chatting, if we want to take a little bit of a peek behind the curtain, we had been talking about potentially me joining this interview for a little while, even before she ended up canceling. And your response was when they asked about what the topics were going to be,

you responded to the McMorro campaign and said, health care and foreign policy, which is absolutely as vague as possible. but it was both what we wanted to ask her. And that answer that she'd had about Medicare for all has been a B in Sam's bonnet for a few months at this point. And so I was like, perfect opportunity. Then they canceled the interview.

You have a large social media following. You called out the fact that they canceled the interview after those were the topics that were relayed to them. And then they came back and said, okay, actually, we'll do it. And that is why we ended up getting that interview and we did it on Friday. We recorded it last Friday. It came out earlier this week and it's been making the rounds. Let's just play a little section of it because this part I think

was maybe one of the funnier moments. Partisan U.S. support. And so I wonder if you continue to support defensive weapons infrastructure to Israel, how you see yourself as utilizing any of the leverage you could have as a U.S. Senator in this situation. And I guess how you think, because, because like this two-state solution line, right, it's the party line for a long, long, long, long time. Since the 90s. And it just hasn't borne out. I think probably everyone on all sides of this issue could agree with that.

And so I wonder how you are breaking from the establishment in a way that would materially benefit the people who frankly like my tax dollars are killing yeah and i'm glad that you framed it that way because i think there's a difference matt in how you asked your question versus emma one is the specific um framework of the borders of the nations the other is what leverage okay that's really it uh first of all good job in the editing keeping both of our little smirks in as we looked at each other on camera oh i had to i you know I love a little drama. I know you do.

And so, well, that was funny. That was kind of the tone. I'm not sure if she was consciously trying to split us up or if it was more just organic in the moment or if she'd been familiar with the majority reports criticisms of her before. But I guess what do you reflect on with that interview, like how it went, why it seemed like she was really trying to appeal to you but be hostile towards me throughout? and I mean, what do you, how do you feel about it? We haven't really talked about it that much. Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts about it. I mean, I actually added in some of my, like, solo thoughts at the end of the actual video

in case people want to watch it just about her answers to my questions. But I think, you know, I actually don't think, despite the fact that I think we did a pretty good job with the interview of pressing her on, like, why do you support the Iron Dund? That was really what I wanted to ask her. I was like, why do you support a two-state solution when that has never borne out in reality? And why do you support the Iron Dome? Because you say you want peace, but how is that leveraging your status as a senator to create that reality? And the thing about me that I think is not cut out to do these sorts of things is that, like,

I'm a very, very, like, soft person. I always have been. And the thing about Mallory McMorrow is like, like, when the interview came out on Monday, I was like, I bet I'm going to be the reason she has a really bad day, you know? Right. And I am not great at politics because I sometimes struggle to like divorce those like very personal feelings from like, this is policymaking, you know? And like, I'm sure that it would be fun for me to get a drink with Mallory McMorrow.

Like I bet she probably like gets down at a good drag bar or something. And with that being said, like, I think that we should hang out. I think that we should have fun and I think that she shouldn't run for office on these positions. Yeah. You know what I mean? I know exactly what you mean. I don't, first of all, you did phenomenally, and it's a callous that you can build where I've felt the same way as I've like been doing more of these political interviews, but you start to kind

of just get the focus on, you focus on what the goal is and what do you want to extract and you want to ask specific policy questions. And I think we achieved that and you did a great job of that. But like, what do you make of her? saying that she was a fan of you, I guess. And, you know, what do you think they thought your politics were? Well, a lot of people have commented because she said in the run-up to the interview that were such fans of the show, she said in the interview itself, I've been a fan of you for years. And then a lot of comments were like, how has she been a fan if she clearly, like, didn't see these questions coming?

Or how is she a fan and supports the iron? You know, it doesn't make sense. But I've been on the internet for a long time, and I've kind of grown up on the internet, and I've sort of grown into my political identity while I've been really public. And so, like, you know, like my earliest, like viral content on Instagram, if people don't know, and I'm glad that they don't, because it's, you know, the road is long. But it was just kind of all about, like, LGBT-type very, like, Hillary Clinton-era-lo- his love stuff. I was like a 19-year-old gay boy who was like coming out into the world and being like,

this is like the thing about me that I want to talk about all the time. And for a long time it was. And so then, especially when that became the center of these culture wars really starting with the Ron DeSantis, don't say gay bill, and I think 2022, and LGBT politics did become like the focal point of American culture wars for a while there. I was sort of well positioned to be making content about how ridiculous it all was. So this is all to say, I do believe she was a fan of me at that time. And I do believe what she said of like, oh, we were circulating her Instagram content in the Michigan State Senate. I believe that.

And maybe she just hasn't looked at like really anything that I've done since then is all I can speculate, you know? Yeah. And there was at the end of your kind of recap of the interview, you mentioned how. there were a few things that were contradictory that she kept doing. One was saying that the we shouldn't be making determinations based on polling about how our policy should be oriented and that was as it related to Israel and when I was pointing out how an overwhelming amount of the Democratic base wants to cut off all arms. There was a New York Times Sienna poll that just came out.

that also reified those assessments from other polls. I mean, it's a 90-10 issue with Democratic voters. So she was saying that essentially we shouldn't be making policy determinations based on that. I think I followed up with her saying morality is also a part of it too. So the polls are the voters are on your side and it's immoral to continue to support Israel's genocide. But then earlier in the interview, she had been talking about how. she can't support Medicare for all because the polling isn't there or the numbers and the support for that isn't there. And as you pointed out in your recap, what's, what are we supposed to be making

policy assessments based on in terms of what you're running on if it's neither polling nor ideology? Yeah, that's right. She, you know, she said multiple times throughout the interview of like, well, sometimes the job of a of a senator is to put their personal, to check their beliefs at the door and, you know, represent the majority of people that they're

who are their constituents. And then we were like, okay, well, this is what the majority of your constituents believe. And she was like, not, not like that, though. And it's like, well, okay, so if it's not polling and it's not beliefs of your own, then it's like this

third, like amorphous like we're never going to know. I mean, it reminds me of like the opakness right now around like the DNC autopsy. It's all just like this is what people hate about Democrats right now is that like there is no transparency around what your decision making is. Right. And you know, she also kept saying that, you know,

I am I'm someone who's breaking from the establishment in a pragmatic way, which like we can get into like what that is. even means, but I kept coming back to like, how are you breaking from the establishment? How? Yes. And she kept trying to say she was, but with having zero policy positions that would justify that claim. It's been interesting because, you know, as you mentioned, you're kind of just more

dipping your toe into some of the political interviews, politician interviews. But you had the Abdul al-Sayette interview, which was great, and that was why McMorrah wanted to also kind of get FaceTime with you on your platform. Have you been getting other interests from other politicians? And what can you tell us about that? Yeah. Well, since I started doing this stuff, it was really since I live in New York City and campaigned pretty hard for Zoron and with his team and following them to the events and

stuff because I was, you know, that was like the first time of my life where I was like, I'm really excited about a politician. And so it was really since my involvement with that campaign. that a lot of politicians have started to reach out, despite the fact that, like, if people don't know me, like, most of my stuff is really, like, focused on, like, the political aspects of culture. Like, I just put out a two-hour-long podcast episode

about, like, clavicular and, like, you know, generational nihilism. And, like, that's kind of my bread and butter. But I think the politician stuff is fun. I think it's sort of fun toying with them a little bit as we did here. I don't think it's particularly hard to do as long as, you know, you can get them in the, room with you. I think that's the hardest part. And speaking of, you know, one campaign that, that was initially reaching out through surrogates to me to try to, you know, do a collab or like do

content or something was that of Scott Weiner in San Francisco, which is actually where I am right now. Running against Choycott Chakrabati. Running against Chorikad Chakrabati, exactly. And Scott Wiener has a long history of, you know, aiding these sort of pressure campaigns to get people fired. Like, I think the president of a university fired for like even speaking with the like SJP chapter, like something like that, like students justice for Palestine. For saying that he, you know, for entering into an agreement with them about divestment. He led a campaign to get this university president fired. Yeah.

I mean, Scott Weiner has been sort of like an, staunch Zionist for the entirety of his career until like 15 minutes ago when he decided to run in this district. And he, as soon as he announced his campaign, he was like, I resisted the word genocide for two years. But, you know, now I'm calling it a genocide. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I just launched a campaign in a district where if I don't call it a genocide, there's no way I'll ever get elected. So, and, you know, he's still running on these sort of like liberal Zionist policy positions. there's no world in which I would support him, frankly. And, but you know, he is also really running on like gay identity politics. There are posters for him all around the city.

His, his logo has a rainbow. He's tall. He's tall. He's running up being tall. He's six, seven, which like, now I know that because that's like a policy that he's running on. He has, you know, he has a rainbow flag in his, in his campaign logo. And anyway, he, uh, You know, one of his campaign stories gets wanted to, like, make content with me.

And then the evening on the day that we put out our McMurro interview, I was notified that his schedule has been booked and it's filled. Forever. And we can, well, not forever. He said maybe we can talk after the general. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, after the primary. The primary. After the primary when, yeah, of course, there's no risk.

So there you go. So, you know, and it's just, I think, you know, one of the risks for me in doing this McMorrow interview is I feel like, I feel like I had really one chance to like do a good job with it because now there's probably going to be a period of time where none of these people will talk to me because they know that I'll answer, that I'll ask very simple questions about like, why do you support funding of any kind to a state that's committing a genocide? And that's not a gotcha question. It's just a question that for a number of reasons, these people can't answer. And so, you know, now they won't let me ask it. But I'm glad I got the opportunity to do it once with you, no less. Yes, exactly. And I really appreciate you bringing me in for that.

I mean, Sam's best advice that he's ever given to me is about if you're going on a show, like a right-wing show, you go and you behave like you're not going to get invited back. because if you're worried about getting invited back, then you're not going to do a good job. And that's some advice that I've really internalized. And I think you can kind of extrapolate that to interviews with candidates. Like, why would we have held back? This is much more impactful than, say,

a bunch of kind of more lukewarm interviews for politicians that are coming down the line. You just have to take your shots when you can get them. That's right. So everybody needs to change. check out a bit fruity if you aren't already. I have been on a few times. We did a Deborah Messing episode about her liberal Zionism or not liberal Zionism. Her Zionism.

That was sort of like a magnum opus for me also. It was. Deborah Messing is like this random fixture in my brain probably until the end of time. And we explored her descent into like being a pro Netanyahu lady, you know, after having received like glad media awards in the mid-20s. tens and Emma helped me dive into what the hell happened there. Yes, but you just recently had Naomi Klein on. So if people aren't already listening to a bit fruity, please check it out, folks.

We got some nice IMs and then I'll let you go, Matt. But Floyd the Barber, I don't know if Matt was the first, but he did a great job of being kind and fair with Ashley St. Clair while also holding her accountable. Neither he nor Juniper led her off the hook, but they gave her space at the same time. Spaghetti Brain says, Matt, you are so good at interviews. You're already great at podcasting, so would have been okay if interviews weren't your strong soup, but you are so good. Wuhan, Emma, thanks for sharing on the tough emotions and complicated human relationships about speaking truth to power. Dave from Tallinn says, does Matt realize how much more devastating it is to hear?

I think you're fun. I'd like to hang out with you, and I don't think you should run for office. then I think you're evil and you shouldn't run. I mean, that is kind of devastating, I got to say. Can I just say, like, that's, that thought has, like, kept looping in my head since our interview where I'm like, you know, she's, I don't know the ins and outs of what's happening in the Michigan State Senate, but it sounds like she's done good stuff. Like she, Mallory, you know, gave that viral speech where she, like, really stood up for LGBT people

and it's, like, the height of the culture wars in Michigan. I'm like, maybe stay in Michigan and keep doing that stuff. You know, I just, I don't think everyone has to climb the ladder of, like, insatiable power to the point where then they get, you know, bought out by these donors and whatever and put forth indefensible policy positions that I have to imagine if Mallory McMorro were just an individual that I was getting dinner with that she could not defend. Yes. You know what I mean?

And like, that's the part of me that's like, I want to see the best in everyone. That's, I feel like what I always do on my podcast. But I'm just like, just don't run for federal office. Just do something else. You seem like a fine person. Just do something else. I would agree. Well, Matt Bernstein, we will put a link to a bit fruity and, of course, the full interview below.

Great to see you, my friend. And yes, it's always fun to collaborate. Love you so much, Emma. Thank you for having me. I love you, too. Okay. All right, don't make me cry. Okay, bye.

With that, we are going to wrap up the first hour of this show, the free part of this show, and head into the not-so-free part of the show, where we will take your calls and read your IMs. Matt did just dip out, Matt Leck, because I got him sick and he's still not feeling great. So, Brian, what's happening on Left Reckoning and Jackman show? Sorry, I'm still looking it up. Okay, soon enough. I don't know right now. Hold on.

How about just coffee? Just coffee.coop, fair trade coffee and some other thing. I forget if it's tea or if it's chocolate. I should probably know this by now. As a reminder, this show relies on your support. You can go to join the majority report. become a member. It keeps us resilient when we're on these third party platforms that could take us off at any moment.

Okay, left reckoning. Yes, yesterday new episode came out. Matt and David discussed AOC's take on the American Revolution before Ron Pocone joins Matt to discuss AI cluelessness, Zoron, and politics in California. Very nice. All right. And I think we will be joined by Brandon Sutton in just a second. We'll read some IMs as we bring him in. Vox Populi.

Emma, why didn't Matt B. stand for, say for the fun half. Well, because it can get a little crowded when we have a bunch of people in the fun half. But one day, we got to do that. I'm going to definitely be collaborating more with Matt.

Alcentatious, Hassan, watched your interviews live the minute it was available on YouTube. He was visibly so proud, the two of you. I did see some clips from that, so thank you so much for Hassan, to Hassan for watching. Spaghetti Brains, that McMorrah was

interview was embarrassing for her when Emma asked how she thought the land should be split up she completely backed away from the issue and that was chef's kiss yeah she couldn't answer the two state solution thing it just drives me insane there are 700,000

plus illegal Israeli settlers in the land that's supposed to be Palestine you're going to forcibly remove them that's your policy and then I sarcastically made a joke about a Palestinian Iron Dome and she was Like, that's an idea. Oh, so like just instead of cutting weapons to one country, let's give weapons to every country.

Nothing safer than that. Nothing safer than that. And you know what's going to just get 100 out of 100 votes in the United States Senate? A weapons defense system for Hamas. No, I mean, no, it's brilliant. We will arm both sides of the war. That's how you make double the money. Caching.

Hello, Brandon. Hello, Matt Binder. Brandon, what's happening on the discourse? Well, we are very excited at the discourse, which you can watch over on YouTube or Twitch, if you search for the discourse with Brandon because of the news that Michael Bay has been attached as the director to the dramatic recreation of the pilot rescue from about seven, eight weeks ago. You've probably forgotten about the dramatic rescue of pilot Jesus Christ on Easter in April. Are you joking or is this real? This is real. He's been attached as the director with the same writer who wrote the Benghazi movie that had John Krasinski in it. Yes. Because

you know, John Krasinski is a big Benghazi guy. And CIA got something. So is that that that guy's whole shtick now is doing pro-CIA? Jack Ryan. Pro U.S. military. So he's a super big Benghazi guy is what I've heard, which in this case means that he's big into like the Hillary Clinton did Benghazi. Liberals love Benghazi kind of thing. I don't want to mischaracterize him. But I have heard that like when the Benghazi movie that he was in did poorly, he took it very personally. And he kind of like really just dove head first into doing like stuff like this. And that's why he's in that Jack Ryan show, not to be confused with the Jack Reacher show where he talks about nuclear Venezuela and like, I don't know.

suicide dolphins or whatever. But yeah, so Michael Bay and the guy who wrote the movie, the Benghazi movie that John Cresensky was in, are attached to be like the team helming the, I guess movie adaptation of the rescue of the pilot in Iran that happened seven weeks ago. And so we're excited over in the discourse, which you can watch on YouTube and Twitch, for more information about this guy that come out.

Because it seems like now that they're making a movie, they'll have to tell us some more about this guy. So yeah, so we're hoping to over the next few days be able to at least like start to unpack what could have possibly happened on Christ's birthday or resurrection day or whatever, you know, briss last month. So yeah, definitely check it out. If you're interested in that kind of stuff or like ghosts and goblins, we got really into like the Atlantic ice wall this week too.

Definitely check out the discourse. Do that. Hello, Mapbender. what's happening in your neck of the woods. You are muted. You are muted. You are muted. Hi-liff once again.

Whoops. Whoops. I'm back. Okay. We hear you. All good. All good. All right. Yeah.

YouTube.com slash Matt Bender tonight. 8.30 p.m. Eastern Time left this mafia. Tune in. I kept it as short as possible because I've ruined it by muting myself. You didn't ruin anything. Don't worry. We've had much worse technical issues that we've just completely. completely plowed through. So, uh,

all right, guys, we will see you in the fun half. Okay, Emma, please. Well, I just, I feel that my voice is sorely lacking in the majority report. Wait, whoa. 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.

Yeah, I think you need to take over for Sam. That's police. Sir, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pause you right there. Wait, what? You can't encourage Emma to live like this. And I'll tell you why. So it's offered a twirp,

sushi, and poker with the boys. Sushi and poke. That's what we call it bids. Dwerin and ties. I just 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. Dwerp, sushi, and po. I'm sorry, I'm losing my fucking mind. Someone's offered a twirp, sushi and poker with the boys.

Logic. Twerk? Sushi and poker with the boys. Boy, boy, boy, twir? I think I'm like a little kid. I think I'm like a little kid. Add this debate. Yeah, I think I'm like a little kid.

Some people just don't understand. So I'm 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 thing. Willie Walker.

That's a really. And has like the weight of the world on the shoulders. Sam doesn't want to do this show anymore. It was so much easier. One of the majority of the majority report was just you. You were happy. Let's change the subject. Rangers and Nick are going right.

Now, shut up. 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 kind of we buried the hatchet. Left is best. Violet Twerep.

We already fund Israel, dude. Incredible theme song. I Bumbler. Emma Viglin, absolutely one of my favorite people. Actually, not just in the game, like, period.