The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 3655 - Platner vs Collins; Talarico vs Paxton; El-Sayed vs McMorrow & Stevens w/ David Griscom

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

It's Casual Friday on The Majority Report On today's Program: Graham Platner and Susan Collins are sparring over her 25-year track record of voting in support of endless wars, including two in which Platner served tours. David Griscom, author, host of The Jacobin Show, co-host of Left Reckoning and publisher of The Rattler on Substack, joins the program for a discussion about Texas politics. Abdul El-Sayed shines at a debate with Mallory McMorrow and Haley Stevens. In the Fun Half JD Vance tries to appeal to Pope Leo on the morality of using AI in combat in a graduation speech at the Air Force Academy. A Bezos-funded podcast called Make it Make Sense shills for AI and calls Mamdani "a Third-Worldist". Katie Miller has to go on Fox News to defend her husband Stephen after someone on Twitter said something mean about him. 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: BABBEL: Learn a new Language and get up to 60% off your subscription at Babbel.com/MAJORITY SUNSET LAKE CBD: Use coupon code "Left Is Best" (all one word) for 20% off of your entire order 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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So, sunsetlakesebade.com, use code left is best for 20% off. Again, that's sunset lake, sebeda.com. Use code left is best for 20% off, and now time for the show. With Sam Cedar, we are every day, casual Friday. That means Monday is casual Monday. Tuesday, casual Tuesday. Wednesday, casual hump day. Thursday, casual thurs.

That's what we call it. And Friday, casual Shabbat. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Friday, May 29th, 2026. 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, David Griscombe, author of the The Myth of Red Texas, host of the Jacobin Show, co-host of The Left Reckoning, and of the new substack, The Rattler. We'll join us to talk about the news of the week and particularly the Texas results. Got to get the Texas expert on for that. Also on the program, it's been three months since Trump started his illegal war on Iran, killing over 160 children at a girls' school, among many. others. No update on that Pentagon investigation.

Vance and Trump claim that the U.S. and Iran are close to a deal, which would be an extension of the existing ceasefire that the U.S. and Israel keep violating. Speaking of ceasefire violations, Netanyahu orders the IDF to steal 70% of the Gaza Strip. In New York Times, Siena poll finds that two-thirds of voters under 30 are dissatisfied with both parties. And when you look at dissatisfied voters more broadly, 80% of them oppose aid to Israel. But these are the undecideds.

This is the vote. Trump's CFTC asked a judge to reverse its own court victory against the Winkle Voss Twins' crypto company. Would you be shocked to find out that they donated to Trump's campaign, in the ballroom and are in business with Eric? No, you would not. Trump also scrapped an executive order that said AI might need regulation, and they should volunteer some information, maybe,

because David Sacks intervened, worried that it would be mandatory at some point. Trump's DOJ is also suing Massachusetts for refusing to issue confidential license plates to the ICE Secret Police. Pam Bondi testified to the House Oversight Committee this morning behind closed doors of course. She says that her handling of the Epstein case was totally normal. Sam Alito's son has been quietly working in the Treasury Department, even as his dad hears cases involving the agency at the Supreme Court. Zoran Mamdani endorses Daryalisa Avila, Chevalaya, shoot, I had it. Chivalia. A? No.

Chivalier. Chivalier. Chivalier. There we go. I'm so sorry. I'd practice this. But she's amazing. A former organizer of the Gaza encampment at Columbia. Tough primary race in New York's 13th district. But if Zoron's endorsing with a month to the primary, I'd love to see those internals. Seems like she might have a shot. A Trump-appointed federal judge gives the go-ahead to the administration's attack on mail and voting. And lastly, at least eight protesters arrested outside the Geo Group

Newark Ice Jail, where immigrants have been on a week-long hunger strike. All this and more on today's majority report. Welcome to the show, everybody. It is Friday. Hello Matt. Hello, Brian. We are without Sam. He is, thinks he's better than us. He's got. Hollywood. Yeah, right. I should give it back to him. You know, when I go out to, like, promote the show and things like that, I'm doing this for the betterment of everyone involved. He's just, you know. He's actually doing Hollywood things. He's actually doing Hollywood things. Just when you thought his head couldn't get any bigger. Now he's in show business. Yeah, just piles into the Rolls Royce as Hyder's driver. Sam's just going to wear sunglasses for the rest of his tenure on the majority report. I figured we'd kind of switch things up a little bit on this Friday because there's only so much we can do the back and forth on the Iran ceasefire with Trump trying to posture publicly about his position being stronger than it is. It is notable, I think. And I saw Trita Parsi make this point that the Abraham Accords have really appeared at the 11th hour as these Iran negotiations continue. and the U.S. is feeling economic pain because the Iranians want to hurt Trump politically,

and that makes total sense. I do think it's interesting to see the Abraham Accords come up again, because an insertion of the Abraham Accords into these negotiations that the U.S. is already losing is functionally a poison pill because the idea that normalization with Israel right now is in the interest of some, of these governments, given how their population would react. I don't know, some stuff has happened since Trump 1.0, like the genocide in Gaza that make things a little more difficult. So whoever's pushing Trump on that, I think, is deliberately trying to sabotage the negotiations on behalf of Israel.

Something that just put a pin in. Trump and Vance are publicly saying that they're agreeing to this deal, but Iran hasn't said so. And they're the ones who get to decide. But let's turn to Maine here because Susan Collins is worried she's worried about her re-election chances

a few days ago there was a poll done by the University of New Hampshire and they released a poll showing that Platner was nine points

ahead of Susan Collins and 6% were undecided so that's not good news for her not you know we'll see how the race

shakes out the primary is on June obviously Plattner is already onto the general, but he's had an impact on main politics more broadly. Troy Jackson is running for governor, and him and Bernie Sanders have rallied with him. He's been surging in recent weeks along with Platner. The other candidate was kind of considered a shoe-in

on a really easy path to the nomination, and not so much anymore because of the movement that Platner is sparking in the state. And I'd recommend going checking out Troy Jackson on Instagram. He's another, I mean, he's a logger, whereas Platner's an oyster farmer. And it's just refreshing to see people run for politics that don't come from a legal background. Exactly. I mean, this is what happens when you run a real candidate, a real candidate in Maine.

And so Susan Collins is on the trail trying to maintain her position in the main. the Senate and she's got to be a little worried, as I mentioned, because of this. And it's hard to imagine that there could have been a worse response to this question than the one that Susan Collins asked. She was campaigning in Auburn, Maine, and this is what she said when asked about her vote to support the Iraq War. Senator Collins, Mr. Platner says that you sent him to war, but in fact, he enlisted twice.

What is your comment on that? Well, first of all, he not only... enlisted twice after the war was started. But he also went to work for a security company, a controversial one named Blackwater, after his term in the service was over. So I respect anyone who steps forward to serve their country. But the fact is, that was Plattner's decision

to serve, he was not drafted. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Hey, you know who wasn't also drafted? Literally anybody for the past 50 years. It's been at least five decades since there's been a draft. We've had a volunteer force for that entire time. You know, if only the soldiers just didn't show up, it's their fault for RSVPing yes

before they knew what the party was going to look like. If you didn't enlist, you couldn't be. cent. Exactly. Why didn't they strike? That was a planted question too. Like that way that was framed, because if you look at the logos on the microphones, that was all media. Yeah. Yeah. And like, and this is honestly boomer mentality a little bit. Like, I mean, come on. It's your pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You made this decision. Don't whine and complain now. But the people that are swayed by that argument are already voting for Susan Collins. Yeah. According to the Republicans, you're a man when you're 18, uh, when it comes to joining the military. but you're not a man when you're praising Hitler and you're 40. Right. Right. That's how that's, you know how there's girl math? That's GOP math. I found that to be absolutely stunning. It's just incredible how I saw Sam say this,

she just completely abdicates her responsibility as a lawmaker. But really, what I also see from this is how cynically people like Susan Collins view their public service. What does this say about what she views her responsibility really is? to her own constituents, which include veterans and young people that she sent to war. You wonder why people don't have trust in government. It's because there are supposed to be folks in the theory of representative democracy that you elect that have some semblance of like basic duty to you as a person and have their constituents' best interests in mind.

Here, Collins is essentially saying, you're on your own under my leadership. You're on your own. You made this decision when you're a teenager? That's on you, buddy. And the Blackwater thing. I just, he did security as a security guard in a diplomatic context. And he has spoken about how, as a veteran,

it was really difficult for him to reintegrate back into society because he was struggling with severe PTSD. And Republicans pretend, to care about veterans my entire life because they can be used as propaganda objects. But that's how Susan Collins really views veterans. Hey, you decided to go and fight in, uh, and join the, the, the war I sold. The war I sold. So deal with it.

You're homeless. You have mental health issues. You have PTSD. I mean, can I hand you some bootstraps? Here's, uh, grand platiners response to, uh, her. answer here. Susan Collins voted to support starting the war in Iraq. On three occasions

after that, she voted against withdrawing troops. On at least two occasions, she voted to fund the war. That was Platner's decision to serve. Now all these years later, instead of acknowledging that she was wrong, she's decided that she's going to blame those of us who in our late

teens and early 20s signed up to serve our country. That somehow it's our fault that she and establishment politicians like her wanted to abuse our willingness to serve to go send us off to fight in stupid wars that did nothing but make some people very, very rich at the expense of American taxpayer dollars. It's no surprise to me because even today she continues to not stand up against the stupid war in Iran. She continues to not stand up against any of the abuses or the idiocy coming out of the

Trump administration. No. The answer for Susan Collins is that she didn't have any power at all. Her votes to support the war in Iraq, that didn't mean anything. Those of us who put on the uniform, those of us who joined the U.S. military, it's our fault for doing that. This is very, very expected from establishment Republican politicians who love to talk about supporting the troops, but in the end, we'll always desert us. Boom. Boom. I wish you could run for president. I really do. I know I'm getting ahead of my skis here. I know, I know, I know, but I'm starting to feel hope again, and I'm not sure what's in the water. Vodka? Yeah, or just proximity to Madison Square Garden.

Here is Susan Collins, though, just to make sure that people know, first of all, how long this dinosaur has been in power. This is October 10th, 2002, sorry. 2002, there you go. Supporting, this is her supporting the authorization for the use of military force for the war in Iraq, which, by the way, our inability to repeal that is why Trump has been able. to wage the illegal war in Iran. So you can draw a direct line from Susan Collins here to where we're at with this horrible war in Iran. But here she is speaking about why we need to invade Iraq in 2002.

Zoom work on nuclear projects in 1998. According to British intelligence, Iraq also has attempted to obtain uranium from Africa. Mr. President, this is extraordinarily troubling. Since Iraq has no active civil nuclear power program or nuclear power plants,

it simply has no peaceful reason to attempt to secure uranium. It wasn't. In addition, the Iraq government has attempted to procure tens of thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes

that could be used in centrifuge is designed to enrich uranium to produce the fissile material necessary for a nuclear bomb. How soon could Iraq acquire nuclear weapons? Well, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates that Iraq is probably years away from producing nuclear weapons if it has to rely on indigenously produced material. it points out that if Iraq were to acquire nuclear material from a foreign source, the time frame could be reduced to a matter of months. This is the scenario that the Institute calls the nuclear wild card.

I'm sold. Let's go to war for 25 years. I was shaking in my boots when she mentioned the aluminum tubes. Those must be manufactured in the same place where the tent poles that are sent into Gaza for people to be able to live in some semblance of shelter are manufactured that can be turned into rockets. That's what Israel tells me. I would recommend people go to Frontlines Truth War and Consequences documentary, which is on YouTube, go about 45 minutes in. Or you could just check out the Wikipedia page for Nigerianium forgeries because this was bullshit intelligence that was kicking around, that the French were like, yeah, actually, we have a pretty good handle on that. Niger uranium production line or whatever and that's bullshit what they're telling you. But we wanted to use it to go to war.

And we had to send people like Senator Susan Collins go on this. This is a very difficult thing for me, but I just got scared from something that some intelligence says that it's my job to oversee. It's not the people who sign up to defend our country, even if, you know, people might look like to say that's a bad thing to do to the American military. it's senator's jobs to oversee this sort of thing and to authorize the war fighting for the executive branch and she did it and she should take responsibility for it and just to add to what you're saying one i think platner mentioned it but david sirota the lever's been doing really good work reporting on these senate races including you know we'll talk about the michigan debate at some point in the first hour um mallor you know the the lever has done reporting on Mallory McMorough, really coordinating extensively with the Searchlight Institute and majority Democrats, which is supposed to be illegal, by the way. But I digress. The New York Times-Cena poll that I cited in headlines has 43 percent of voters dissatisfied with both parties.

And the poll also points out that it's been 25 years since Americans had a positive division of where the country was headed in the direct in terms of the direction of the country. What happened 25 years ago? Everything is the war on terror. And we're still right now having these fights. I got into politics and was first fixated on it because I could not understand how any Democrat could support someone like Hillary Clinton in that primary because she voted for this war in Iraq.

And that was in 2007. And it's why, you know, Obama was. exciting for so many young people. And we are still having this same fight because of how intractable this is, how corrupted our Congress is, and how these folks have been through walls of money and campaign finance corruption, been isolated from true democracy and, like, the public really holding them accountable for the havoc that they have wreaked on the world. So so much of this goes back to the war on terror. And I find it really inspiring to see Graham Platner, a veteran, take his experience and move that and connect it to corruption, connected to political change.

And this is how we actually transform our society. It's just, God, it's been taking a long time. In a moment, we are going to be speaking with David Griscombe, but first, a word from, one of our sponsors. Did you know that around 20% of Americans say that learning a new language is on their bucket list? Well, if that's you, it's time to check that off. And Babel is the language app to use. It's fun and actually worth your time. Learning a language with Babel is all about small steps, big wins, and progress you can actually

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Link down below in the video and episode descriptions and at majority.fm. Quick break and when we come back, we'll be joined by David Griscombe. We are back and we are joined by our dear friend David Griscombe, author of The Myth of Red Texas, host of the Jackman Show, co-host of Left Reckoning, and somehow he still has the time. The writer at the new substack, The Rattler. David, thanks so much for coming on the show. So happy to be here. Thanks for the plugs there, I'ma. Absolutely.

You have a new piece on The Rattler that is extremely relevant and was great to read prior to our discussion today. It's called Class War versus Culture War. Can Talariko Flip Texas? I want to get to Talariko in just a second. But let's just kind of reflect on Cornyn's loss. I mean, this guy was in Congress for decades, and it's an embarrassing loss for an incumbent. Like, John Thune was practically begging Trump to endorse Cornyn. And then Trump tried to leverage it into getting Cornyn and Thune to support nuking the filibuster for the Save Act, which is the voter disenfranchisement bill.

And Thune doesn't want to do that because we know that the filibuster heavily benefits Republicans, the Minoritarian Party in this country. And the SAVE Act is, you know, I mean, could also hurt Republicans. That's another part of it. It's just so egregious. But Cornyn, like, kind of said, oh, I might support the SAVE Act. And, hey, I'll name a highway after you, Donald Trump. But it didn't matter. Trump endorsed Paxton.

And that's all she wrote. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think there's a lot of here that I think, you know, it's kind of well-tread ground that Trump controls the Republican Party. But I think the way that you put it is, is perfectly right. It was a humiliating loss. It was a humiliating loss for Cornyn. Not only, you know, to be such a senior official to lose a race like this, but to lose against somebody who's just such an out-and-out crook like Kent Paxton.

This isn't like typical, you know, Democrat slander against a Republican you don't like. I mean, this is a guy who the only. the reason that he still is the Attorney General of Texas is because they had a corrupt trial for him. I mean, you know, you have people on record saying they were getting calls for major donors, threats that they would drop $3 million against, you know, opponents in state Senate seats here. You know, but that's just on the, on the Paxton side. Cornyn is a fascinating kind of example of something in the Republican Party, which is it doesn't matter how loyal you are to Trump in the sense of your voting record or even your politics.

you also got to kind of kiss the rank. And, you know, Cornyn was constantly going around Texas saying, I have like a 99% voting record in alliance with Trump. Like that was his major tagline. And what we saw from Texas voters, I guess, is that, you know, that 0.8%, you know, percent is too much. Once Donald Trump endorsed vaccine, it was totally over. And I think, you know, one thing that is interesting,

and I think you're totally right, Emma, that like, you know, some of the messaging that we had gotten from Cornyn on some, boats in the Senate probably played a role because when it did go off to a runoff, you know, Cornyn was initially up, you know, in the lead. And then they also floated the story that Cornyn was going to get the Trump endorsement the week after the first round of the prime. Obviously, that didn't happen. Wow.

I'm sorry. Can we just pause on that for a second? Because do you think that pissed Trump off? I mean, I, like, it's a very delicate thing when somebody's that obsessed with their brand. if you're trying to almost corner him, perhaps he, Cornyn him, Cornyn's trying to corner him. I mean, that might, that might be a real problem for him and that might have been where he lost it. I mean, it could have been, and, you know, there's a part of it that probably, you know, to be as fair as possible to Mr. John Cornyn, you know, there's part of it that probably didn't even come from Cornyn himself, as we've seen so many people in the Republican coalition, the Senate coalition have been begging, which begging Trump to endorse Cornyn and back Cornyn this entire time. You know, so part of it could certainly be maybe Cornyn and his team, you know, overstepping there.

But also probably Trump wanted to remind everybody in the Republican Party, including high-ranking officials in the Senate that, you know, this isn't the grand old party. It's a daddy Trump's party. He did. And there was the clip of him at the press conference yesterday saying that he doesn't care about the midterms and it doesn't matter. He certainly cares about the taking out people he feels have wronged him within the Republican Party and replacing them. with more loyalists as if a 99% voting record should it. I mean, he doesn't really care about the votes. He cares about personal loyalty.

That's what it is. You saw this. Oh, sorry. No, no, you go ahead. No, just saying, you know, you saw this across the board. I mean, obviously, Darren Crenshaw, you know, who for a while, you know, I remember having conversations with you and Matt about how, oh, man, you know, this guy might be the next big thing in the Republican Party, whatever.

Yeah. I mean, he's totally destroyed. Even Chip Roy, who I'm sure any time that name gets said on this show is negative. he got beat out because again, he was seen as not loyal enough to Donald Trump. So it's not really about ideology. It is totally about loyalty. And the loyalty that goes again, even beyond just doing what Trump wants you to do, but constantly publicly kissing his butt.

And again, just like on Paxton really quick, like, don't forget, you know, Paxton has failed as an attorney general, not just by my standards of what I would like to see in Attorney General of Texas do. He has, you know, let criminals and pedophiles off the hook. And while he's doing that, he's flying up to New York City to hold Daddy's Trump's hand while Trump is going through his corruption trial, right? Like, that's the kind of stuff that we've been seeing from Paxton. It's bad for Texas, but it's been very good for Texas GOP politics, for him at least. It's, it's, I'm not trying to be too optimistic here, although I guess I'm in the mood for it today for some reason.

But like, I, I, Trump's record right now in special election since he got reelected is not good. Like, we should not be taking, he's taking primary results as some sort of future evidence that the midterms are going to go well for them. You should be taking special elections as more of an indicator here. You can, he can, he has the cult down like on lock. I mean, they're sheep at this point. It's a cold. But like, if there were some, some people that came out and were motivated enough within the Republican base to go out and vote for Cornyn, even though he had such a disastrous overall result,

is, could you shave off one, two, three percent of those not to vote for Tala Rico, but to stay home? I think that's a real legitimate question here. Emma, I think so. I mean, I think it'd be, yeah, for a lot of Republicans in Texas, it probably would take a lot, you know, to get at least people who really consider themselves Republicans versus maybe likely Republican voters to flip for Tala RICO.

But yeah, I mean, one of the things that I was, wrote about my piece of the Rattler, and I think one thing that people might be missing is that not only is this a kind of like humiliating loss for Cornyn, but it really is the death knell of the old Texas, the GOP. And let's not forget, like, you know, they didn't, you know, they did a lot. They took over the state from Democrats, Democrats who had run the state since, you know, effectively since Reconstruction. They passed, you know, massive lawsuit reforms in the state of Texas, which were incredibly beneficial for a long time, Texas was the place where you would have those big lawsuits against tobacco companies, all those things, because Texas courtrooms

tended to be more progressive, at least when it came to coming at corporate America. That was a major part of Bush and Perry and Abbott, actually, of them kind of rising to power. So, like, they did a lot. And then they created a one-party state, a non-competitive state, a Republican state. But what we saw here is you have that old party, Bush, Perry, and all these other figures, stumbling really hard for Cornyn, and it didn't mean anything. What this really shows is that that old Republican Party is totally dead. And the big question Texas politics is always, will the non-competitive nature of politics in Texas

eventually allow that party to get so insane and so far to the right that normal Texans, not the very small amount of people who vote in the Republican primary, which remember, Texas is a massive state. You know, we're talking about a very small percentage of people who are voting in these Republican primaries. 19 million people is my, is my, is my, Texas is like 30 million. 30 million? Gosh, what's wrong with me? Yeah, okay.

There you go. Why, I guess. It's a, you know, it's a very small sliver of people who are voting in these Republican primary. So one day, you know, the question is like they'll put somebody up who's so insane and odious to everybody else. And, you know, even with Axton, so many people in the Republican Party, even though they might not be in power anymore, they were people who like have loyalty to the old

party, the party that is constantly getting humiliated, that is getting almost nothing, seeing all of their figures being insulted, seeing people losing office. you know, sooner or later, some of those kind of like county level Republican Party machines, you know, they might not feel like putting in so many resources to somebody like Ken Paxton, who is a crook not only against a state of Texas, but is a kind of a crook and a villain to a lot of people in the Republican Party in Texas as well. Yeah, I wasn't hallucinating this, 19 million voters at the very least. Oh, excuse me. Sorry, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that might be just the registered voting population. But like, you know, I still, I do think this is going to be a high turnout. race because we've seen, you know, even though turnout was depressed relative to 2020, the Harris Biden or sorry, Harris Trump election was a relatively high turnout election. I know that's a presidential race, but people are really motivated right now because like gas in Texas is $4 a gallon right now. And Ted Cruz was bragging about that. And that doesn't seem like a really good post.

strategy, especially with like all the refineries just, you know, in the backyard. No, I mean, you know, I filled up the truck, you know, last week. It was like $95. Totally, totally devastating. And, you know, I guess we need to get some of those stickers that they have for Biden, Trump pointing at the gas prices saying, I did that. You know, it would serve them well. I mean, yeah, when this was the majority report radio.com to get the Trump slump stickers.

You're preaching to, you know, Sam, I wish Sam was here. He'd be beaming right now that you set us up for that plug. But anyway. No, I think, you know, I'd be very happy to see some of those around town. You know, and like when it was like this under Biden, I mean, people rightfully were crying. You know, it was a public outcry because it's expensive, especially for a lot of people in Texas who are suffering, not just because of high a gas prices, because incredibly increasing rents, property taxes, all these other things that have come again with 30 years of Republican rule. You know, it's crazy. And, I mean, what is the argument for Paxton?

the argument for Trump at this point. I mean, you know, we can kind of get into the weeds about what worked and what didn't when it came to Kamala versus Trump. But I think there's no doubt about it that most people were hearing an economic message from the Trump team. And I mean, the only thing I have seen is that basically

like Tala Rico is like a queer. It's effectively what the Republican argument is. It's not even an argument for Paxton. It's just like this guy, you know, sucks and is a vegan. Well, this is a perfect intro to, our clip that I wanted to play with you. But I just, it's kind of an inversion of all of the horrible elements of the Harris campaign of like saying, I mean, she, like, the campaign actually did.

There were so many things that they did wrong, but they were studious in avoiding her bringing up her gender, her race. And she was like, I'm a cop. I'm tough on the southern border. they weren't trying to do the culture war stuff. And I don't love that term. But it's hard to describe what this campaign against HALERICO is other than culture war stuff. They, but where they fell apart,

as you rightly point out, is that Trump won the economic message. And there was a perception, of course, that Harrison Biden, it was a continuation of the same thing and that they weren't interested in helping you. That's what the Kamala is for they,

them ads really indicated. It wasn't that everybody was motivated because they hate trans people. It was because they were worried about the economy and its impact on their lives. And that ad portrayed her as a cultural elite that is uninterested in your day-to-day

pain. Now, Paxson is running on like Tala Rico likes tofu, he's gay, but he also likes only fans models on Instagram. We'll figure God has a big old, big old hammer sleeve.

Yeah. Right. He's, he's not constantly thinking about God's testicles. Like, as your, as your local Texas correspondent, can I add a little bit of insight here,

too, to one of the ads we've been getting. So one of the things, my sister pointed this out to me earlier today, but one of the main attack as that they're doing on genders, that like, he believes in six genders, he believes in six genders.

They keep on saying that. I want us to slow it down for a little bit and think about cisgender, cisgender, right? Somebody with the East Texas accent here. It's like cisgender. That sounds exactly like six gender. So that might be the origin of this here. Is that, wait, you were thinking the same thing?

Yeah, 100%. Okay, good. Matt doesn't agree. I looked into where it come from. It was like him at like a here and they're like, you know, that's actually way more complicated. And there's not just two genders like, you know, there's. And he said there's like his many of six.

Right, but I think like this is so Republican with the Democrat thing. Yeah, exactly. Like they're trying to almost, I don't know, muddy things. I just don't know if it's going to have an impact. Like people, I think, and when we talk. If he doesn't get his back on the road and start doing what he made him successful in the first place. You know, the past few days for Tala Rico have been, I'm sorry, posting that little, I'm not worked up about it, but like the picture of him with a turkey leg or whatever, it's just like, all right, it's done.

It doesn't do that much. And I think you're wasting your time getting yourself involved with that, which is the entire reason the Republicans are trying to get us, talking about six genders and vegan and all this other kind of stuff. And I really hope that they don't get stuck into it because now that there is a race and people are excited about it because Paxton is the, you know, it's the leading the Republican ticket,

who everybody, even people in the Republican Party think is beatable or if anything is going to be such a drag on the ticket that, like, you might see significant pickups for the Democrats in the state ledge. now Talariko is going to have all of these new people who are showing up at his campaign office from the Democratic Party and national consultants are going to tell them you know what you need to go and eat a chopped beef burrito

which is something that David Axelrod said I've never heard of a chopped beef taco in my life but like you know all these people are just telling him like how to be a real text and how to be authentic and I think he needs to ignore all that and get to what got people excited about him which was him talking about the billionaire class him talking about it's not left versus right

it's top versus bottom. Those are the things that won him the primary. Those are the things that have got so many people involved with the campaign that are getting people to donate, not James Tilariko trying to be something that he's not. Because guess what? If you want to pretend and imagine like a, you know, a perfect Texan Democrat,

why don't we think about somebody like a football player? Maybe somebody who has six generations. Maybe somebody, you know, who has like a deep connection, deep roots in the state. Oh, wait, that was Colin Allred. And they made him playing football seem lame somehow, the Republican Party. They're very good at this. We've got to give them, you know, their credit.

So why play this game? Because you're going to lose on it. And it, again, distracts from the winning message, which is economic populism, something that has shown time and time again to be very effective in Texas. And this is a good thing for Taur Rico to, I think, pursued. Yeah. And I think, you know, it pairs nicely with his overall affect of, like, you know, choir boy, a church guy that is, like, going to, you may not think that he's like the

cool guy to go the cookout with or whatever because he doesn't eat this this meat convincingly, but you might trust that he's a good person. And I think like there's this cynicism right now that people are really sick of about public service and what it means to actually be a representative of people. And if he sticks with his message that he's been successful with here as like this kind of, you know, loving Christian guy as an antidote. to the sadism of MAGA and also the corruption of MAGA, you have just a stark contrast. And so much about politics is contrasting yourself with your opponent. So I couldn't agree with you more, David. But to illustrate where we're at here in terms of the, I don't know, Talariko is gay messaging campaign,

Glenn Beck brought on our dear friend Dave Rubin onto his show as his gay correspondent. He's like, hey, hey, you like Dick. Can you figure out if Tala Rico's gay? I'm going to outsource this to you, the body language expert for the gay dar. Yeah, exactly. You pointed out on Twitter,

what the hell happened to Dave Rubin's face? I mean, he really definitely got a facelift, not to be petty about this, or something like that. And they yanked, they stepped on that guy's head and yanked it back. It is, I mean, for people watching and maybe having a drink of water eating, like, take a second because it is, I had a jump scare. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's easy when you take as many vacations as he does if you want to have some recovery time. But here is Dave Rubin on the important question of whether or not James Talarico is gay. He's eating a turkey. I think this whole, what I saw on this is here's a guy almost mocking. I'm sorry, really quickly. We'll go back. But to your point, David, why did he pose for this? It's just like such an unforced error.

Well, actually, you know, what's interesting about this photo, though, Emma, is that this photo actually comes from a good message campaign from him, which is he went to the Texas State Fair and he was noting about how expensive the Texas State Fair had become because of corporate interest. So it's actually like a pretty good video. But now they keep on posting this as his response to the vegan allegations. And it's out of context, it's starting to get a little silly. Yeah.

The Democrats shouldn't have like let it let that be a frame. in the video, you don't need to isolate it and post, here we come. Yes. This is the official Democrats account, which is why, to your point, the consultants get out of this race. Let the Tala Rico team do what they've been

doing. Anyway, here's we'll restart it now. Here's a guy almost mocking Texans. You know, this is what Texans really look like, so I'm going to pretend I'm one of them. However, Ricky, who is absolutely debased, she is she's not a good human being.

She comes in and she's like, this, this is appealing to, let's say, non-sistgendered voters. And I'm like, what are you even talking about? And she said, your rumor is, you know, he says he has a girlfriend, yada, yada. I have no gaydar. I think she's, I think she's an abomination, Ricky. I think she's probably more time in hell than most of us. Wait, wait, go on. Yeah, I think that's a woman on staff.

But I'll just say, like, Glenn, you're a, you're a Mormon fundamentalist. When you use the word abomination when discussing gay people, we're not sure what you're talking about. That's a great, great point. Also, he's talking all about, like, I looked it up. He's from the state of Washington. So I don't really get what Glenn's, and does he even broadcast from Texas anymore? I think he's in Dallas, right? No?

I can't remember who knows. But, yeah. He has a girlfriend, yada yada, yada. I have no gaydar. I think she's, I think she's an abomination, Ricky. I think she's probably more time than hell than most of us. I've always liked her, but okay, you know. Well, you know, takes me to tango.

What's your gaydar say on him and what? Is she just going to hell or does she have a point on this? What? You know, I must say this is very strange. I got a text from Billy Bush, broadcaster Billy Bush yesterday, asking me about my gaydar on Tala Rico. This is what the remainder of my career is going to be just figuring out. I'm sorry.

You dug this grave, dog. Billy Bush. The Access Hollywood, dude, reached out to be like, hey, dude, You're the first gay gag and think of. I know I've worked in Hollywood. But Dave, you're the one I come to for the gaydar. God. All right.

Keep going. Isn't gay? Well, I have a very long career in politics, but I don't know that this is what I signed up for. I think it's exactly. I don't know if this guy is gay. Look, there's obviously some weird stuff when he tells you that Jesus is non-binary and that there are six genders. And there's a, yeah, there is a slight effeminate thing. You know, Glenn, look, there are

feminine guys who are straight, there are straight acting guys or masculine guys who are gay and all of those things. So to me that's not so important here. I feel better about myself. Yes, Glenn, as far, I've known you quite well for many years at this point, and I can confirm to the listeners that

you are straight as far as I know. No, no, no. I mean, I just, I thought I feel better because I didn't think there was anything to this. Electric chemistry here. Ricky comes in. You know, with... I thought this was... I thought this was just a crazy ruse to get me to a friend of...

Wait, Glenn, what are you trying to howl for my food here, but you didn't give me a script? What song do you want me to sing here, Mark? Yeah. Well, I mean, and Glenn couldn't even take the slightest bit of, like, cheekiness from Dave about his sexuality. Glenn's like, I brought you on here to confirm to everybody that I'm straight and Tala Rico's gay. What do you get? Like, what are you not getting here, buddy? And why would you even joke about me being gay?

You were invited because we needed a gay guy to call this guy the F slur. Yep. Right. And the tofu Tauriko thing is a little too subtle. I mean, when they call him a vegan, that's literally, they're, they're just saying, like, you're a queer, basically. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's also, it's, it's, it's just, it's such a insulting way as, as a Texan, as like somebody from Texas.

Like, it is insulting the way. that the national media is talking about us, too, frankly, around this. It's like, you know, the only thing that we can think about is like barbecue. And, you know, it's like we're just like kind of like knuckle dragging, mouth drooling morons, you know. And I don't know, at least for my, you know, it's just like it is unbelievable. The insult that the Republican Party and the right is kind of, this is the kind of way that like we usually thought that liberals were just speaking about us. But it's this entire kind of coastal elite class, which both Rubin and Glenn Beck. are part of. And, you know, it shows that these are folks who are out of touch. They don't understand

text and values. And I hope that we can kick him to the curve pretty soon. Can we just also play how Trump says vegan? Yes, please. I've been looking for this. You have it, Matt? Oh, my God. I love this. I haven't heard this yet. Oh, no, you're not ready for this. He doesn't know how to say it. That's so good. All right. Let's go. I mean, this guy is bad news with his mask from relatively recently

and he's a vegan he's a vegan he's not a vegan now all of a sudden he's not Texas doesn't like Okay it's like it's like he's saying

he's a Vegas resident or a pagan He's a vegan You know He works just Thor He's a vegan I love the conservative brain too like the things

that make sense them Like this guy with his mask from relatively recently. But you know that Trump has not read anything about him because when we're talking about the mask thing, that's the other thing you notice in the ads where they're doing the six genders. And he's in a mask in 60 to 70 percent of the attack ads. Because he was, because God forbid, like he as a state representative was wearing a mask during COVID. Yeah. And frankly, you know, these are all old clips again, too.

You know what I mean? Which is why they think it's so recent. I mean, you know, Trump still, I mean, he's still good off the cuff. Ken Paxton has been trying out some names for Talariko that haven't really hit. Low T-Li. Jimmy has been one of them. Tala Friko, I think they're making T-shirts with that one. You know, you can maybe.

That makes him sound cool. I will buy that shirt. Yeah. Oh, man. All right. Well, I mean, I don't know. Okay. I guess can you talk about whether or not you think this has any salience?

It's hard to say. I agree that the national media is treating Texans like they're too dumb to understand any of this stuff. But am I wrong to have optimism that I don't really think Talariko is effeminate is going to be that, I guess, motivating of an issue in Texas? Yeah, I mean, look, it's the only thing that they have. And I think as long as Talariko continues to hit these notes, I mean, it is. this is like autopilot Republican Party politics at this point. To just sit here. Honestly,

it's even easier than in the past because at least before they used to have to have a kind of like subtext for their insults. Like now they're pretty much all but, you know, coming out, calling him, calling him a queer. And I don't think that, that it's going to have very much salience and kind of pulling people away from Tala Rico.

You know, the fact of the matter is in Texas, despite the dream that many people have had, for a long time that there's just like kind of sitting mass of Democrat voters in the state. It's just it's not true. There are people who don't vote and we should try to win them and convince them of our politics, but they're not automatically Democratic Party voters, which has been, I think, the kind of fixation fantasy of people for a very long time.

They are people, though, who I think are very open to things like economic populism, like dealing with the health care crisis, like lowering the cost of rent in the, this state, which is just astronomical. You know, meeting people on that kind of economic populist lines, I think you can reach a lot of Texans who either don't vote or vote infrequently or might even regularly vote for the Republican Party. And to win those people, I think those folks might not be dissuaded from Tala Rico, but he has to go out there and make this kind of general campaign argument to those folks.

You know, you also have, I think, an unfortunate thing in the Democratic Party, too, that is worth noting here and this i don't want to get too in in the weeds but just like every democratic party there are people who want the party to be progressive and there are people who want the party to be more corporate and centrist they are worried about tallurico because even though you know we might quibble you and i might quibble about how progressive we think he is or we think he can be better he's running as a progressive that's the lane that he's trying to operate in as somebody who's talking about populism and billionaires and things like that and there are people who don't want that to be the case you know so a lot of people especially people who were like big time supporters of crockett have been

advocating against Tala Rico since he got the general election. So there's also this kind of internal fight within the Texas Democratic Party, at least with people who are influential around it, that he's also going to have to win. The state convention is coming up, finding out who's going to be the chairman is going to be interesting. We got Kendall Scooter, the current chairman who a lot of people don't like, but also a woman Monique Alcala, who was the executive director of the Texas Democratic Party under Colin Alred, who was regularly advocating against journalists and attacking journalists for asking questions

about why Con Allred is not campaigning anywhere in the state like that. There's a lot of forces who, there's the things that are progressive and exciting in the Democratic Party. There's a lot of people who might want to claw it back. So, you know, there's going to be a kind of multifaceted fight in Texas. But as you know, I wrote a book about it, I think Texas is winnable. I think that there's a very clear path here. And I think, you know, leaning into that kind of deep Texas tradition of economic

populism is something that's very exciting and there's a lot a lot of opportunity there and you know i think talariko certainly has shown that he's willing to do that and hopefully he runs this campaign in a progressive way and pushes back all the forces that might want us to be setting him back yes and people should read the myth of red texas for a lot of this i mean you open the book speaking about um the all red campaign and contrasting it with the bedou o'eric campaign and how all red was you know not really going around the state. Beto O'Rourke did, but Al-Reg was more focused on like TV ads,

traditional Democratic consulting stuff. But Tala Rico is going to every corner of Texas and that's really encouraging. Just the way he's campaigning, regardless of like what we think about his personal ideology, is an improvement on many Democratic campaigns. Lastly, David, before I let you go,

I am just like, we've had an optimistic tone here, but my big concern, and I don't think enough people are talking about it in the fall, is that Trump and Miller are going to send ICE Gestapo to polling sites. And you're going to have to have a governor that's eager for to collaborate with the administration on that for this to have the most impact. And in these really key Senate races, Texas stands out to me, as the number one area where this kind of voter suppression could benefit Republicans because you're going to have Greg Abbott as somebody who's more than willing to collaborate with

the fascists in the White House to get ICE at these polling stations to intimidate Latino voters. As I mentioned, there's 19 million voters in Texas that are registered. They, it doesn't mean if you're voting in Texas, you're legally allowed to. Voter fraud is infinitesimal. It doesn't happen. It's not a real thing. But it doesn't mean that people aren't. going to be intimidated from by seeing federal forces that are racially profiling them and might

say they have a family member who's undocumented, but they're able to vote. They might be worried about being surveilled by ICE. Like, this is a tactic that I think could really impact the race in the fall and not enough people are talking about it, especially when you see this. And as you write in the book, like the demographics as destiny thing is a total myth. But across the country, Latino voters are swinging back to Democrats in large swaths. And it doesn't mean it's replicable in Texas. But I think that obviously the administration is going to notice that. Yeah, I mean, I would just note there, I saw you tweet about this and a lot of people, you know,

a very normal kind of Republicans or responding to you, it would be like, well, you know, if you're so afraid of, you know, of ICE and you're an American citizen, you know, you're delusional. I'm sorry, ICE has killed American citizens. ICE detains American citizens. ICE beats American citizens. They do not discriminate, and that's totally ludicrous. And there's a reason why we don't allow any kind of intimidation, especially in places like Texas.

I mean, as I read about in my book, I mean, you know, one of the biggest things that defeated the populace and the progressive movement in Texas was the fact that, you know, white supremacists and gangs would stand outside of the polling place to intimidate folks. All of those people were American citizens and had the rights to vote, but they knew that they were being seen.

they could potentially face violence, maybe not there, but later. No doubt about it. I mean, any kind of mobilization by ICE is, you know, totally unconscionable, and it's something that, you know, we should take seriously. I think that, you know, the people to really think about this is the people in our city governments. And remember, you know, the places that they would be doing that are Texas cities. Texas cities tend to be very much, you know, democratic. And we really, I know it's tough, and I always try to give people a lot of grace because it's tough to be a Democrat official in Texas.

The Republican Party of the state and now the federal level is constantly waging war on them. But we have seen too much acquiescence from figures, like especially in Houston, you know, when it comes to collaborating with ICE, collaborating with the Republican Party. And, you know, if there is any kind of mobilization like this, it is not the time to be. squeamish at all. So I think I tend to agree it's something to definitely be worried about and keep your eye on. And I think that the only way in the short term that we can kind of push back on this, like one with collective power at labor, but also encouraging our Democratic Party officials on the city level, especially on the county level, to stand up if we get these kind of fights. Because if ever, you know, they want to kind of end this experiment in democracy in this country,

it will be when they start, you know, trying to threaten people. polling places, absolutely. Well, David Griscom, always appreciate being able to catch up with you. Author of The Myth of Red Texas, host of the Jacobin Show, co-host of Left Reckoning, which is co-hosted by Matlack as well. And check out David's new substack, The Rattler, where you can read his opening article about this upcoming Senate race. The title of it is, I'm opening it now, Class.

War versus Culture War, can Talarico flip Texas? David, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Thank you so much. And folks, if you're in Austin on Monday, June 1st, I'm going to be a batch Kalachi talking about the Myth of Red Texas with Alex Bernal at 5 Central. That's batch Kalachi right here in Austin, Texas. So come and see me. If you're local, thank you so much, Emma, for having me.

Last time I was on, it was right before my last book talk, and the room was filled with people who came from Majority of Port. So it would be great to see all those friendly faces again. Oh, awesome. Yes. And you're on a world tour. right now or at least a U.S. tour to promote your great book. So everyone check that out if you are in the area. Thanks, David, for coming on the show. Really appreciate it. Thank you. I'll take care. We're going to just quickly, before we head into the fun half, since this is the

Senate casual, Senate Race Casual Friday, I want to touch on this Michigan Senate debate that happened yesterday. So another key, important race in the country. And the Michigan Democratic primary is in August. It's a three-way race at this current moment. But Mallory McMorro is dropping in the polls. Somehow, Haley Stevens is maintaining a certain level of support. It seems like a lot of McMorro voters are like, I might just go with Abdulazayed.

And this is how winning starts when you get momentum and people think that you have the possibility to win. They are much more likely to support you. And this is important. to to when we're looking at broader momentum across the country for progressive candidates and even like democratic socialist like zoran momdani got people engaged who weren't even in new york city because wow this is what public service can look like wow abdul al saed is leading in the polls and i like a lot of what he has to say and i'm not terrified that we're going to lose to a republican on this basis because of how insane they are it frees people to vote based on their interests. And that's why the Democratic establishment has spent decades trying to convince people that the only way to win is centrism. The reality, though, is that people don't buy it anymore.

They don't buy it. Mom, Donnie was the first time I ever, I registered as a Democrat so I could vote in the primary. Yes. Because I always felt like that was registering as a sex offense. Wow. Everyone's clutching their pearls here. Don't say anything about how you voted for Jill Stein. or something like that will lose.

Oh, no, I voted Democrats. Yes. I didn't want to register. But to your point, like, people get squeamish about that. I think within, you know, the Democratic Party primary voters who, you can understand it, who see Republicans as the ex-essential threat that they are. The problem is the centrists don't agree with that. Exactly.

The promises that the centrists aren't good at winning and they can't govern. and now people are realizing those things. It's just taken a while because of all the propaganda and the institutional leverage that has been exerted on candidates that they're looking out for the working class. They've been kind of excommunicated from the party in many ways, but that's changing. And voters are not interested in it anymore.

So Haley Stevens here, who is number two in many polls right now, despite her staunch Israel support, seeing Israel and her visions of the future. She's a non-denominational Christian Zionist crying about Israel. She's a real freak. She's a real freak. And somehow more authentic than McMorro. Yeah. Because she's a freak in an authentic way.

Not that I appreciate her or want her anywhere near power, but I'm more entertained by her. Right. And it's because McMorro knows better. I know she knows. You can tell she knows better. And she's trying to stake out this like middling centrist position between the two candidates. And it's just kind of so obviously a performance and not based in your actual ideology that I think people are turned off by it. But this is a long way to intro this, this, some of the clips from from this, from this debate.

So here is Haley Stevens asked about her stance on the filibuster. And this is a little uncomfortable because within the same breath, she says that we have to use the filibuster. Haley Stevens. The people of Michigan deserve a functional Congress. And as someone who has been recognized by the Center for Effective Lawmaking is the most effective Democrat for Michigan in the House of Representatives, meaning I write bills, I pass bills on behalf of the great people of Michigan. I have also used my position and communicated very clearly that the filibuster is no longer serving the people of Michigan. When our voting rights are under attack, when we are on the eve of seeing a black man for the first time in the history of this country become the speaker, and they are racing seats held by African American men in the South, that is wrong.

The filibuster must go. The filibuster must go so that we can codify health care. And by the way, Nolan, to your other good question about the debt and the deficit, we should use the filibuster to not allow the big, ugly bill to pass that increased our debt and at the same time eradicated. So we're not going to filibuster here. So wait, wait, you said, you said you. It's a small thing.

Before they tease out what she means by saying we should, the filibuster no longer serves people and also. We should use it. The way she even frames that, like, look, I think it's bad, like, talk about the people being disenfranchised by this Jeremy, not that, like, your colleagues are losing seats. Like, that's, that's like a second-order thing. That's exactly, that's exactly right. That's a good point.

And by the way, Nolan, to your other good question about the debt and the deficit, we should use the filibuster to not allow the big, ugly bill to pass that increased our debt and at the same time eradicated. So we're not going to filibuster here. So wait, wait. You said you would get rid of the filibuster, but you also want to use it. Which one is it? I said I want to remove the filibuster.

Right. But then you just said you should filibuster what's going on with the deficit, right? I'm saying that I want to change the rules, of which I've been a part of. I voted for rules packages on behalf of the people of Michigan. again. And I believe, I, Stephen, what I said is we should remove the filibuster so Democrats could have voted down the legislation, the tax bill. That's what I'm saying. Democrats should have been able to vote down the tax bill, Stephen. That's why I said, we need to get rid of the filibuster. That tax bill should not. It's so uncomfortable. It's so uncomfortable.

Especially because she's wearing 1990s NFL showtabats. It's like Charles Haley. Yeah. I mean, that was the sleeve length for those uniforms, too, right? Okay, so I don't understand. She's a member of Congress. She's one in a purple district. That's why Chuck Schumer was enamored with her,

plus the whole, you know, APAC candidate thing. Girl, you understand that the filibuster was bypassed via reconciliation to pass the big, ugly ass bill. Like, that's kind of. of pretty important to understanding how the Senate functions that there's an exception for bills that are related to taxing and spending and the budget that's famously how Obama care got through and Bda filibuster didn't have got to avoid a filibuster because it was in the is in the resolution what she I think was trying to say is that if we get rid of the filibuster we could have blocked

the big ugly ass bill no why they still had the votes the filibuster doesn't even come into right exactly What she should have said was... Wait, wait, that's right. Exactly right. She wants to get rid of the filibuster, but prior to that, she wants to get rid of the bird rule. She wants to get rid of the filibuster, but also reinsert it in places it wasn't actually useful. Right.

What she said is like, I mean, what she should have said was, if the filibuster worked for a goddamn, we would have been able to use it to stand up for the big, ugly bill, but we weren't able to. But instead, she had to say, like, we should use it somehow to stop it, even though the past last, year. And again, it got to, in budget reconciliation, the filibuster doesn't, it's already, we've already got rid of the filibuster for that part of legislating. Yes.

So it's irrelevant. Yeah. She really got caught in a little bit of a maze there. But the tax bill. This is like trying to explain a David Lynch plot. Like trying to figure out what she's saying. Where does the year come from? She is a surrealist David Lynch.

Which character? Amazing. I mean, I mean, it shows, it shows, like they're, they're not sure-footed

because none of these types of politicians have been prepared to enter a world where one of the main demands of your base is this major reform of, like, how the Senate does its business, which what we need. And it's a good sign for this country

when this sort of conversation gets started. This sort of thing, about how we get rid of the filibuster, how does the Senate work in a modern world was a question that was brought up during civil rights movement and it is a problem and it needs to be reformed and the filibuster

has always had to go and even if, you know, people haven't quite worked out what that means yet if you're Haley Stevens. Right. So let's now turn to this other section. I think we'll end with the APAC part. I sent the time codes Matt in the

chat. This is relevant because Dr. Abdul al-Sayed has made Medicare for All central to his political project. He's written a book about it. I have it. It's a great book that explains how

Medicare for All would work. And he's it's part of why Bernie Sanders endorsed him as soon as he jumped into the race. There's around 30 million Americans that are uninsured in this country that numbers increasing due to the Republicans gutting

health care, the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid. Around half of Americans are on employer-based insurance, but two and five Americans are covered by Medicare or Medicaid. I bring up that, and then everybody else, it's a hodgepodge or they're uninsured. And to be clear, because this came up also in our interview with Mallory McMorrow that I did with Matt Bernstein about her opposition to Medicare for all, she repeatedly, in one in the clip that we played said that Medicare for all is all

government-run health care. That's not it. Medicare, Medicare for all is just expanding the existing Medicare system. It is government-run insurance. Medicare for all promises no premiums

or deductibles because it's like Medicare replaced through a system of taxation. What Mallory McMorro supports is a public option, maintaining the private system and its infrastructure and creating an option for the public to be able to buy into a government system that would still involve premiums it would still involve deductibles and additionally a public option is just a lot more inefficient because you would still need

the government to artificially through subsidization and different mechanisms keep cost down because a public option doesn't prevent the option or the scenario where there's a high risk pool and healthier patients stay on private plans. And that's what keeps costs up. What's so good about the Medicare for All proposal is that it would create the maximum amount of leverage possible to bring costs down because it makes the government as the single the single negotiator for, those prices. It's simple math when it comes to insurance. The larger the risk pool, the more efficient the insurances. Yes.

So with that said, this is here part of the debate on health care, and I think this is relevant because McMorra represents the public option position that I just laid out, and of course, Abdul Al-Said represents Medicare for All.

Abdul-Said has called for Medicare for All, repeatedly during this campaign. What's your answer to rising health care costs and increasing access by the citizens to health care? Thank you. What I know is that our residents simply can't afford to wait. One of my constituents shared that she outright canceled her health insurance plan. Her premiums went from $200 a month to $2,000 a month when the Republicans voted to eliminate the ACA tax credits. People can't afford to wait for a resident. a revolution that may never come. People who are rationing their insulin right now can't

afford to wait for Medicare for all when we have options on the table right now, to lower prescription drug costs, to restore the ACA tax credits, to allow any Michigander who wants to, to opt into Medicare, regardless of their age, to create a real public option that gives people choice, and that forces private health insurance companies to bring their costs down. I'll tell you this, revolution's definitely not coming if we're not fighting for it. So let's play a game. If you're on the stage and you have never taken a corporate pack check from Blue Cross with Shield, raise your hand. Anyway, all of that is to say, I think we really can fight for a world where everybody can be guaranteed health care.

I think we really should fight for that world because too many people in this country are going without the health care that they need and deserve $225 billion in medical debt. That's bigger than the GDP of half the states in this country. Thank you, sir. No, no, no, no, I'm not done yet. I just want to say, let me just finish. I just want to say one more thing. It is important for us to recognize that all of these issues go back to how we finance campaigns. And it just keeps coming back and coming back.

Thank you. We've heard. Thank you. Okay. And we'll touch on how campaigns are finances in just a second because I want to make sure to round out our coverage of this debate that we cover the APAC part. But very well done there. He pointed out, he's talking about political corruption there and the donations that both McMorro. and Stevens have received.

But it's like when she says we have to wait and she thinks that voters are going to take that at face value or we don't have time to wait. And this is why we have to wait. No one is like inherently believing you at this point that your scenario for pragmatism is more or less realistic than the guy that's standing up there offering you something. You haven't delivered.

Like there's no credibility to make. that case anymore. The constant losing to Trump, the constant capitulation, Democratic voters are cynical for like the first time in a really long time and it's a good thing. And they've seen the other side size exercise power. Yeah. Right. And McMorrell like, I mean, it's just it she, the, I mentioned this earlier, but the lever has done really good reporting on how the searchlight institute and majority Democrats, these political action committees, or at least majority Democrats is. I forget exactly what the Searchlight Institute's construction is legally, but like they are not supposed to be coordinating this closely with McMorro's campaign,

and yet they are. They are. So she is trying to position herself as somebody who's between the corrupt candidate and the guy that's so unrealistic and pie in the sky, but she's so much closer to Stevens than she is to Abdul al-Sayed. And the voters seem to be, responding to it. And that is like, and I think it's almost the fact that she takes this money and is dishonest about it may be hurting her. Like, McMorrow is dropping in the polls like a rock. And Haley Stevens is still somehow maintaining some of the support.

But she's taken $5 million of dark money via A-PAC. And McMorough, it's more opaque, but she filled out this A-PAC position paper and has been taking donations from Zionist groups or at least accepting their support Dropside news reported on that that APA position paper which has not been made public as far as I can

Yes but the the the support that she's getting from majority Democrats in Searchlight Institute we played OshenClaas on the show who is of majority Democrats who was saying and hinting that he might not he might support susan collins over platner

that like that is these are the waters that mcmorow is swimming is swimming in here um with her uh campaign and the money that she's accepted to support her closet republicans i mean ashton class used to be a republican he's my age so like pardon me if i don't think like um him changing to a democrat during the second obama term is that impressive like these people shouldn't be trusted Exactly. But here is this part where each candidate is asked about spending on their behalf, particularly A-PAC. You take money from A-PAC. Walk us through what that money means and what it buys and maybe what it doesn't. Well, look, my campaign for U.S. Senate for Michigan is a love letter to our state. I'm deeply proud to have grassroots support coming from grocery clerk workers to retired teachers to factory workers.

To Benjamin and Yahoo. I'm also deeply honored to have the support of former governor. Can you pause it? Don't take it off the screen. It does seem like she supports the filibuster, huh? I mean, come on. Everyone hears this and goes bullshit. Answer the question.

Let me talk to you about the elderly people who I see. and grocery store parking lots. Who does this work on anymore? Everyone's already listening to podcasts as white noise. They're tuning into the debate to hear your freaking answer, lady. Although this is some white noise. Workers to retired teachers to factory workers and the like. I'm also deeply honored to have the support of former governor, Jennifer Grandhome,

Congresswoman Brenda Stapinow standing alongside me, individuals who fight for Michigan and win for Michigan, which is absolutely what I want to do as Michigan's next U.S. Senator. Look, Michiganders are frustrated because we have not done comprehensive campaign finance reform. Mike Rogers will not vote for comprehensive campaign finance reform like I have in the House of representatives. We squarely need to put people at the front of our agenda. And campaigns are about movements of ideas, Stephen. The campaigns are about movements of ideas. And I articulate positions of freedom and democracy and what Michigan needs to succeed at the

global stage and you're also just not answering the question. Go ahead. Look, at the end of the day, it also buys $3.5 billion sent to a foreign military that could be used here to give glasses here, to provide health care here to build schools here. That's where our money should be used. And look, people know me. I say the same thing everywhere. I come to Maconaut, tell you all I want to tax billionaires. I go down south, tell people who want to tax billionaires.

I say the same thing to everybody. If you want to support my campaign, fantastic. If you don't, if it comes down to having more money from a donor or having a message, I'm going to choose a message every time. And I think that's the difference. That's what we need in our politics. Excuse me. I wasn't done talking about the retired factory working teachers.

She's just going through the alphabet and putting work around the end. Oh, and there's Mr. Mailman. Hey, Mr. Mailman. Yeah. I have the support of him. And, like, Abdul didn't even need his full time. El-Sai, I was just, like, straight up.

And to contrast that with how she's so, like, laboriously listed all the people that support her that are an A-PAC, it's just like if people are actually looking at this, I really think that folks are starting to get it. Here's McMorough's answer to this question. I appreciate that. And messages are great and you actually need to know how to deliver them. On this campaign, I have not taken a dime of corporate PAC donations. I have not taken a dime of A PAC donations. This campaign is entirely funded by 120,000 individual donors, more grassroots support than my opponents combined the most amount of money from Michigan, and we are building up a campaign that shows that we can run very differently,

that we can win very differently. Thank you. But we want to focus on the last few campaigns, though. Ms. Jal Thad, we want to focus on the issue and get some more specific. And we were talking about foreign policy, but yet we're talking about campaign finance reform. Excuse me, Ms. Steve. We want to focus on this question. This is devices issue.

All right, that's good. I love everyone losing patience with Haley Stevens. No, Haley Stevens, like, realize, dang, okay, I've got to maybe put a button on this because it did not go so well. It's touchy for her. Yeah. Because A-PAC is touchy for everybody else, and people are sick of the genocide. This was another, just to, again, round this out, because I'm enjoying Haley Stevens for some reason. she avoids here in this interview

answering a question about APAC as well and this is she got a little bit testy with the interviewer the other day not hiding anything from voters I'm not breaking FEC laws you know by any stretch of the means in fact I'm compliant with FEC laws and you know what's gone on here

so maybe that's something on the and also Chad you know that individual countries no I'm not Okay. Oh, I, look, I, you're asking me, why are you, why would you ask me that question, first of all? I'm asking because if there, your opponents are me, are going to, like, hanging in as one of their big issues you're going to try to use again, so you'll hear the next three months. And not, paid communications or just when they're out there talking? Yeah, yeah, and why do you think they're doing that?

I'm sorry. Go back slightly. The tick that her face, when she, when she gets pissed there. she looks to the side. That is the most human thing I've ever seen. Keep going. I'm asking because if your opponents are making it as one of their big issues are going to try to use again in the next three months. In paid communications or just wonder out there talking? Yeah, both. And why do you think they're going to be in that?

Trying to tap into some anti-Israel sediments in the Democratic. Do you think it's foreign policy? Yeah. Look, I think it's like we should talk about foreign policy. Not providing anything for voters. Why? That's exactly what her stupid answer was on stage, too. I thought we were talking about foreign policy. Now we're talking about campaign finance reform.

Yeah, that's the whole, that's the whole deal. That's the whole, that's the whole thing that we're talking about. We're talking about how we have a lobby that's corrupted our government and they're due acting and committing genocide on behalf of a state that is, and the will of the people is against what you're doing and you're doing it anyway. That's the whole thing that we're talking about right now. Also, isn't she supposed to be having these conversations with their team? Like, it feels like she's hashing out her policy with the reporter.

It was like that Bcerra clip that we played where he was like, I thought this was going to be a softball interview. It's like, no, you got to figure that out beforehand. Stop saying this on camera. What do we have here? This is two months ago a little video posted by APEC to their YouTube page. Hi, everyone. It's Congresswoman Haley, Stephen.

and I want to communicate. I love the triumphant music. Freedom, standing with our allies abroad, standing alongside the only democracy in the Middle East, and making sure that we continue to support an incredible relationship that yields trade, that yields economic growth, and that keeps our freedoms safe. Keep our freedom safe with APEC.

Honestly, I feel really inspired. Do you want to talk about foreign policy? Filibuster. Emma watching Stevens feels like Brandon watching a cop get a DUI. There's something about that. But left this big pharma plug. Okay, Haley Stevens is the real life, Selena Meyer. They think that's true.

I don't know if she's as sassy and funny and quick. No, no. She's a bit bumbly. but that's the comedic impact that I didn't know I was needing in my life I'm fascinated by her honestly yeah I would uh we should get a drank Kaley I would I would but it would be more like how you go to a zoo just like observe her I just want to play this one part again just because it's like

it's funny it's like yeah we think it might be an issue right question first of all I'm asking because they're your opponent They're going to, like, hanging in as one of their big issues you're going to try to use it again. So you'll hear in the next three months. And not paid communications or just when they're out there talking? Yeah, both. And why do you think they're doing that? Like a catcher, like, arguing with the pitcher about, like, I don't think you should throw the curb ball again.

I mean, she got so pissed there that her lower teeth went above her top teeth. Like when your jaw, when you just, like, are so. Right. Right. When you're so angry that you can't. anything control how you're clenching your jaw? Man. All right.

Well, those are three major center races. I feel like we did a really good job covering them in the first hour. I don't know why I'm fixated on the format. But it's just, gosh, some of the Trump stuff, you need a little bit of reprieve from it, constantly talking about this clown every single day. And it's a good reminder that there are some real people that could change our country in a positive way.

that they're running in major Senate races across the country. It gets very tiring just like when he tries to juice the markets with these deals and we have to cover it like it's news. Oh, another head fake about the Iran negotiations. Great. Total groundhog day situation. Folks, it is your support that makes this show possible. Go to join the Majority Report.com.

You can become a member. It helps us stay resilient in times like these when we're on. on these third-party platforms that we don't have much control over. When we have members, we don't have to rely exclusively on, you know, ad revenue on YouTube or Twitter or whatever like that. So plus you can IAM the show. And we might read your I am on air. Like Reese from Tacoma said,

like a shitsu effing killed me. Coffee came out of my nose. It just hit me just right. So left this big farmer plug. Imagine Matt Bernstein out with McMorro, accidentally running into Emma with Haley Stevens. Same bar? Because at the end, Matt Bernstein said, like,

I'd be fine getting a drink with her. I just don't think you should be a senator. That's a great. That's that polite line. It's just devastating coming from him. It really is. Oh, and people should look out. I did another collaboration with him.

It's not out yet. Maybe I don't want to spoil it. But we cover an odious person. currently in the news, and we do a deep dive into him. Narrows it down? Yeah. Think AI data centers. Ooh, ooh, a little teaser.

Matt, what's happening on Left Reckoning and the Jackman Show? Jackman Show with Abby Martin coming up at 3 o'clock Eastern Time right after the show today. Go subscribe to Jacob and Meg YouTube and be ready for that. All right. See you in the fun half. In a second one. Okay, Emma, please. Well, I just, I feel that my voice is sorely lacking on the majority report.

Wait, what? 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. 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 it's offered a twerk, sushi, and poker with the boys. Boys. What? Twerp? Sushi and Puck. Ah, that's what we call the biz. Tourment 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. Oh, oh. Sushi. I'm sorry, I'm losing my fucking mind. Someone's offered a twerk. Yeah. Sushi and poker with boys.

Logic. Twirp, sushi and poker with the boys, boy, boy, I think I'm like a little kid, I think I'm like, I'm like, I 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.

Twirp. That's a real thing. It has like the weight of the world on the shoulders. Sam doesn't want to do this show anymore. It was so much. easier when the majority report was just you. Let's change the subject. Rangers and Nick are doing great.

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 bury the hatchet. Left is best. Trump. Violet twerk.

He fund Israel. A incredible theme song. I Bumbler. Emma Viglin, absolutely one of my favorite people. Actually, not just in the game, like period.