The Philip DeFranco Show - The Rise of Jeff Bezos Backlash, Tiktok's Murder-For-Hire Scandal, & The Epstein Class Wins in KY

Starting point is 00:00:00 We should talk about why a ton of people are freaking out about Jeff Bezos right now. Right, and a lot of it stemming from the CNBC interview that he did that sparked a lot of backlash online. And we'll start with a bit that's probably gone the most viral. I pay billions of dollars in taxes. And it's a perfect, again, if people want me to pay more billions, then let's have that debate. But don't pretend, you know, that this, that's going to solve the problem. You could, you could double the taxes I pay and it's not going to help that teacher in Queens. So that did not go over well with a ton of people, including fellow billionaire and

Starting point is 00:00:30 California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer who wrote, This is bullshit, I promise you, tax billionaires invest in schools. And you had New York mayor, Zoran Mamdani saying, I know a few teachers in Queens who had begged to differ. And generally, you had others saying that the optics of a billionaire that's sitting at his rocket factory saying that him paying more in taxes that it wouldn't help anyone is absurd. Arguing, hey, let's put that little theory to test. Try it out.

Starting point is 00:00:50 See what happens. But also I'll say, in fairness, his tax commentary came amid a larger conversation about wealth inequality and how to address it. And actually, his main point was that if you really want to help low-income Americans, they should pay no taxes at all. It's kind of a tale of two economies. So you have a bunch of people in this country who are doing really well, but you also have a bunch of people in this country who are struggling.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Politicians are using the kind of age-old technique, so there's this tale of two economies, and they're using this age-old technique of, you know, picking a villain and pointing fingers, but the problem is that doesn't solve anything. A nurse in Queens, who makes $75,000 a year pays $12,000 a year in taxes. Does that really make sense?

Starting point is 00:01:41 So people talk about making the tax system more progressive. How about we start by having the nurse and Queens not pay taxes? At all. The bottom half of income earners in this country pay only 3% of the taxes. It's only 3%. We can find 3%. Now, one of the things I'll say with that is that according to the tax foundation, if you look into it, the nurse with a $75,000 salary that's being talked about is not actually in the bottom group of earners.

Starting point is 00:02:09 In 2023, the bottom half of taxpayers made around $54,000 or less. But there are politicians who agree with this kind of thinking. Earlier this year, for example, you had Senator Cory Booker proposing something called the Keep Your Pay Act, which calls for the first $75,000 of income to be tax-free in households filing joint returns. So, you know, there is a conversation to be had, though at the same time, you have people saying, him saying the thing about him not paying millions more, in taxes and don't tax people that are making under $75,000, that that is seemingly disconnected or adverse to each other. But also, I'll say that was far from the only subject that Bezos sparked

Starting point is 00:02:39 outrage on when it comes to his personal massive wealth. Right when it came to charitable donations, he said that he plans on giving away most of his wealth during his lifetime, but he also said, If I do my job right, right, the value to society and civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger. Right. Then the good that I do with my charitable giving. And then what you saw is that you quickly had people questioning the good of his for-profit companies because their efficiency comes at a cost. You know, there have been reports on high rates, a warehouse worker injuries at Amazon, workers saying that they struggle just to afford food and rent. Some even saying Jeff Bezos's companies exploit taxpayers to be successful, saying they receive enormous tax breaks and subsidies and forced taxpayers to subsidize the poverty wages they pay their employees, driving their profitability.

Starting point is 00:03:25 And that, as others say, you know, sure, this company is going to prove the lies of a lot of people, but Bezos is, so rich, why doesn't he just do both and up his charitable giving as well? Especially since on the Forbes billionaire list, his philanthropy score sits at a two out of five. Also of note with all this is that when it comes to his own enterprises, he spoke about the mass layoffs that recently happened at the Washington Post. Are you the interviewer noting that in the past, Bezos referred to the paper as a public trust, so why not subsidize the business to maintain that? And to that, he said,

Starting point is 00:03:49 The Post needs to be a profitable enterprise that stands on its own two feet. It needs to be a pretty good. Yes. I mean, that's a question. Some people say it should be a trust. And let me tell you why. Okay. Because it's a measure of its relevance. If people won't pay for our product, we're not doing it's not a good enough product. I don't want it to be a charity. It doesn't need to be and it shouldn't be.

Starting point is 00:04:12 There you have people questioning out laying off hundreds of reporters is going to improve or make the product more relevant. And that as you had others noting that at least some of the paper's big subscriber loss, it's actually because of Bezos's own personal actions. As we've talked about, they lost 10% of their subscribers after Bezos said that the paper should not make an endorsement in the 2024 election and more dropped after he said that. that he'd reshape the paper's editorial strategy, many believing that he made those moves to curry favor with Trump. Though I will say he pushed back on claims that he is a pro-Trump businessman. I'm on the side of America. And I, and that is so important.

Starting point is 00:04:43 Like, and that's where business leaders should be. We get perceived as being like, you know, partisan or whatever. Like, I was helping Obama every chance I could. I was helping Biden every chance I could. But then also with that, he gave Trump some praise. Trump has lots of good ideas and he's done a lot of He's been right about a lot of things. You have to give him credit where credit is due. I'm comparing him to his first term. Yeah. And I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version

Starting point is 00:05:09 of himself than he was in his first term. And his choice there to specifically call Trump mature and disciplined, it took some people by surprise. And it kind of did absolutely nothing to help the fact that people see him as being in the president's pocket. People arguing, okay, just look at some of the posts on this man's truth social page and tell me that he is mature. You know, with all that said, I then got to pass the question off to you of what are your thoughts here with Bezos. Do you agree with his takes or like the take or do you think that he's underplaying what he himself can do to better the country? Also, do you see him as a nonpartisan figure as he says that he is? Why or why not? Or really any opinions and reactions here? But the next

Starting point is 00:05:41 up and some crazy news we should talk about today, there's a bitter custody battle between an influencer and a former boy band member that's now been escalated into federal murder for higher charges. So this is Gabriella Gonzalez. She's a 24-year-old content creator with roughly half a million followers on both their TikTok and Instagram pages. She posts lifestyle and travel content along with videos documenting her day-to-day live as the mom of a seven-year-old daughter, Lavender. I became a single teen mother at, I would just say 17, because I was basically drinking it by myself. Five years ago, being alone was like the worst thing that could have happened to me. And now being alone is the best. Right. And then Lavender's father is the other big

Starting point is 00:06:17 player in this story, and that's Jack Avery's, a former member of the boy band Why Don't We, which had some moderate success in the 2010s. And a big key thing with all this is that Gabriella and Jack, they're not together anymore. In fact, they've been locked in a bitter custody battle over Lavender for years now. Back in 2021, Gabriela reportedly started painting Jack as an unfit and dangerous parent in court. At the same time, her dad, Francisco Gonzalez, reportedly hired a PI to collect photos and videos of Jack, trying to find evidence of him smoking, drinking, or just anything that could be used against him in court. Right, and that appears to be when things started to snowball, because from there, Francisco allegedly talked to Gabriela's new

Starting point is 00:06:46 boyfriend, Kai Cordry to try to recruit someone to threaten and harass Jack. And because of Kai's position as a surf instructor in Hawaii, they settled on a retired MMA fighter living in Maui. Though it doesn't actually look like the person got involved at any point. But it was Gabriela that kicked things to the next level because it was around this time that she began to openly talk about wanting Jack dead and hiring a hitman to do the job. She and Kai even allegedly went online to find an assassin on the dark web. In May of 2021, it looks like Kai made an account on a murder-for-hire site under the screen

Starting point is 00:07:11 named Lizard King 69. With prosecutors saying that he identified Jack as the target, gave an address, and even said that Jack, quote, should be killed by whatever method was easiest. And Francisco reportedly gave Kai $14,000 that was transferred into crypto and used his front money for this whole scheme. $10,000 into the guise of payment for web services, and then another 4,000 later on. But these three masterminds, they very quickly caught the attention to the feds. I mean, by September of 2021, Kai was reportedly talking to an FBI agent who was posing as a hitman

Starting point is 00:07:36 from the site where they posted Jack as the Target. The agent reportedly spoke with Kai on the phone about Jack as the target, payment and proof of death, with Kai allegedly saying that Gabriella wanted Jack dead and that her father would pay for it. And Francisco then allegedly confirmed as involvement by texting the agent a password established in a previous payment. And then about a year later, prosecutors say that Gabriella talked to Kai on a recorded call about those communications with the supposed hitman and how to respond to the threat of exposure. Now through all this, Jack says that he was warned that someone was trying to kill him, saying that FBI agents had contacted him to give him a heads up. But it wasn't until just recently

Starting point is 00:08:05 the Gabriela, her father and Kai were finally arrested in charge with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder. Which if they are convicted, that means them facing 25 years to life in state prison. You had the LA County District Attorney's Office releasing a statement saying, this was a lengthy investigation that was initiated by the FBI and officially turned over to our office. Most fathers raised their children to respect the law, But here, we have a dad who allegedly helped his daughter and her boyfriend break the law in the most sinister way imaginable. And so as far as what happens from here, we have to wait to see. Gabriella's arraignment.

Starting point is 00:08:33 It happened yesterday, but it ended without a plea and her lawyer requested more time to review the evidence. And she's scheduled to go back in tomorrow. But what we do know is that Jack has filed for a domestic violence restraining order from Gabriela and full legal and physical custody of their daughter. With his filing, saying that the ongoing harassment and safety concerns caused him fear of death, chronic anxiety, depression, and PTSD. And adding, Gabriella attempted to kill me by hiring a hitman. Gabriella is not stable and not able to act in the best interest of our daughter. Which yeah, that seems about right. That's kind of actually, if anything, putting it lightly.

Starting point is 00:09:00 And it kind of gets thrown on top of the pile of just news stories that remind us that the influencers or the people that we see on our phones or whatever screen. We never really know what's going on behind the scenes. And then there's more we gotta dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, let's be real. At this point, it's not the night out that gets you, it's the next morning when you have things to do. Right, having a good time's easy, but shown up the next day like a functioning human. That can be a real challenge. And that is also why I've been using today's sponsor Zbiotics pre-alcohol probiotic. But this isn't one of those drink more water and manifest wellness type fixes. Zbiotics pre-alcohol probiotic is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic,

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Starting point is 00:10:24 Brad Raffensberger just getting crushed in Georgia. But also, given the numbers, especially those in Kentucky, you have many wondering, what is this going to mean in a general election? Especially if Trump remains as unpopular as he is right now. And to really get to that place responsibly to talk about and answer that question, we have to look at Kentucky first, right? Especially Congressman Thomas Massey. Thomas Massey's a terrible congressman.

Starting point is 00:10:44 He's been a terrible congressman from day one. Dealing with him is just a horrible... I don't think he's a Republican. I think he's actually a Democrat. It's not easy beating incumbents, but we have a great guy running against Massey. Massey's a terrible, I think the worst congressman the Republican Party's ever had.

Starting point is 00:11:02 In reality, Massey votes with the Republican Party most of the time. But Massey opposed Trump's tax and spending budget package last year, the so-called big, beautiful bill because he said it would drive up the federal deficit. He also, of course, famously led the charge to release the Epstein files, and he's opposed the US and Israeli war against Iran.

Starting point is 00:11:16 And with that, condemned American aid to Israel, and criticized the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in American politics. So all of that kind of together it made him Trump's number one target, as well as the target of the very same pro-Israel lobby that he spoke out against. $19 million was spent to benefit

Starting point is 00:11:29 Massey's Trump-backed opponent, a former Navy seal by the name of Ed Galrine, including nearly $9.4 million from A-PAC and other pro-Israel interest groups. But with that, Candace Owens, who had become a vocal supporter of Massey, actually has a different take on this whole thing, saying that whatever the result,

Starting point is 00:11:43 the money spent on this election showed that Trump has lost control of Maga, and adding, having to run to the Zionist mafia to spend a record-breaking amount on a congressional seat means he knows fully well the party no longer marches to his command. And Tucker Carlson not only pushed a similar narrative, he took his message straight to the Israeli media this week. We're telling the country's channel 13 that Netanyahu, the media and donors, they pushed Trump into a war against Iran. Donors to Donald Trump, people in the media class here, were effectively working on behalf of the Israeli government.

Starting point is 00:12:10 The Israeli prime minister pushed the U.S. president, who turned out to be far weaker than I understood, into a war that hurts the United States. And with that, you've got people saying, you know, while they think that Owens and Carlson, they are conspiracy theorists on a number of fronts, you have many arguing that Massey's race, it shows that there is a real conversation to be had around how money is being spent on politics and the states.

Starting point is 00:12:31 Especially because in this case, the money appears to have paid off. Galrine defeated Massey with around 55% of the vote. And so one of the things you ended up seeing was Massey kicking off his concession speech by saying, I would have come out sooner, but I had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Galron in Tel Aviv.

Starting point is 00:12:48 As he also appeared to criticize the total loyalty that Trump's demanded from the Republican Party. If you always vote with the president, if the, if the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king. If the legislative branch always vote, which votes whichever way the wind is blowing, then we have mob rule. But if the legislative branch and the representatives and the senators that serve with it always follow the Constitution, we have a republic. And then as far as other reactions, you had a lot of people kind of linking Massey's defeat to the Epstein files getting released, Senator Chris Murphy posting. So there you

Starting point is 00:13:25 have it. If you lead a campaign against powerful pedophiles, you get drummed out of the Republican Party, as well as Marjorie Taylor Green writing, releasing the Epstein files was our demise. But it was worth every single bit because now everyone knows the truth. But with the same time, you also had other reactions like that of Randy Fine who wrote, this is Donald Trump's Republican Party. The rest of us get the privilege of living in it. Well, Massey, he's definitely not the first person that Trump's taken aim at for being unloyal in his eyes. He definitely will not be the last in the thumbs up or the thumbs down. With that in mind, you just got to look to John Cornyn of Texas. And he'll be defending his seat in the primary this next Tuesday against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. And a huge thing with that one

Starting point is 00:14:00 is that Paxton was actually endorsed by Trump yesterday. And the specifics of his support was very interesting. With Trump writing, Ken is a strong supporter of terminating the filibuster and very importantly, the Save America Act. Well, then also adding, John Cornyn is a good man and I work with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough. And that endorsement, it stands out for two reasons. One, while Cornyn and Paxton were kind of neck and neck for a while, Paxton's kind of jumped ahead and so he seems like he's more of the sure thing. So you have some claiming that Trump's jumping on now so he can take credit. But then also two, this endorsement stands out because unlike with Massey or Cassidy even, Cornyn's never really seriously broken ranks

Starting point is 00:14:33 within the party. In fact, just last week, he proposed this bill that would name a Texas highway in honor of the president. So maybe I should then also add a third thing, and that is that Democrats, That's, you know, they are happy because Paxton, they see as maybe the easier opponent to beat in a general election. But that then brings us to the final state, it's my own Georgia. And with Georgia, you have outlets like Politico now reporting that the MAGA takeover of the Georgia GOP is nearly complete. With the Georgia Republican Party chair, Josh McCune, telling the outlet, it's key to success in a Republican primary in Georgia today to either have the president's endorsement or be able to make the case to voters that you're certainly a Trump-aligned candidate.

Starting point is 00:15:06 And in regards to the Senate, everyone knew that John Osif was going to win. He didn't even have a Democratic primary challenger. But on the Republican side, it's now down to a Trump-back candidate by the name of Mike Collins and a guy by the name of Derek Dooley. Who, I will say, despite the lack of an endorsement from Trump has sort of styled himself as a pro-Trump candidate, including a Georgia first slogan. And while that race is going to be very enlightening to watch, one of the biggest ones is obviously the governor's race. Right, especially when you take in all the context in the history. Ray Brian Kemp, who was among several state officials who rejected Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election,

Starting point is 00:15:34 he's leaving office because he hit his term limit. Secretary of State, Brad Raffinsberger, who famously refused Trump's demand that he, find enough votes to help him win, you know, leading to Trump to brand him an enemy of the people, some making death threats against him and his family. In some ways, he seemed at least early on the obvious choice to replace him. But what we saw even just from original polling is that his principled stance, it cost him. That is even though he resisted openly criticizing Trump during his campaign. In the end, he didn't even finish top two. Instead, what we're seeing is that there's going to be a runoff between lieutenant governor, Burr Jones, who's backed by Trump

Starting point is 00:16:03 and billionaire Rick Jackson, who isn't backed by Trump, but also whose campaign has clearly marketed him as a Trump-aligned candidate. And whoever ends up winning between those two are gonna face former Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, who secured the Democratic nomination as the party is gonna try to win the office for the first time in 24 years. Also on the note of an effort to break a decades-long streak, the state failed yesterday. Because as we've talked about on previous shows, with the Georgia Supreme Court, a sitting justice has reportedly never lost re-election in the state, at least in more than a century. And because recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, they've left the states with more leeway in matters like reproductive and voting rights.

Starting point is 00:16:34 The Georgia Supreme Court, it was kind of under a watchful lie. A lot of money and attention went into trying to make history. With former President Barack Obama, the state Democratic Party, and pro-abortion rights groups backing Miracle Rankin and Jen Jordan. As far as what ended up happening, is that they both lost, though, by greatly different means. Bethel narrowly defeated Rankin with around 51% of the vote, and Warren won against Jordan with almost 60% of the vote. And I'm actually going to end today's show with a little opinion section on this, because I think it is an important thing. There's something to learn here and remember. But for right now, it brings us back to the question of how a Trump-back candidate is going to fare against Democrats in the general election, right?

Starting point is 00:17:07 especially in more competitive races. Because in New York Times, Seattle poll this week found that Trump's approval rating among Republicans, it's still at 82%. But overall, his approval ratings down to 37%. Nearly two and three voters disapproved both of his handling, of the economy, and the war in Iran. So there is a very real possibility that, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:22 being a full-throated maga diehard, it's exactly what you need to win the Republican nomination, but exactly what you do not want in a close race come November. Especially if people who are aligned with Massey, who are obviously, even in Kentucky, not the majority of Republican voters, Are there enough usually reliable Republican voters that all of a sudden have soured on the president

Starting point is 00:17:41 and people who align themselves with them? While an 82% approval rating among Republicans is fantastic. If you have made that other 18% really want you to go fuck yourself and as far as the independence, you've really soured them. Are they generally screwing themselves? Could be, might be, but also a big thing to remember is there is a lot of time between now and November 4th. Situations change, opinions change,

Starting point is 00:18:01 and I mean, a number of these things are going to runoff. So even those races haven't fully been finished. With that in mind, I gotta pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Is Trump accidentally setting up Republicans for a failure come November, at least in competitive races? Or is that a hopium and copium? And then there's more we gotta dive into in just a minute,

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Starting point is 00:19:32 BetMdmdm and Game Sense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. And diving right back into the news for our final block today. I've got three things. And it starts with Trump saving his and his family's asses and a deal with the IRS that protects them from further investigations or prosecutions related to any current tax. Tax inquiries. Right, and this is actually in addition to the anti-weaponization fund settlement that we talked about yesterday, which the DOJ said that the Trump family wouldn't get a payout from. But now he reports saying that cutting these investigations short, it saves them over $100 million. And so, of course, people have questions.

Starting point is 00:20:18 We're looking at the deal itself, it's actually illegal for the president and most other executive officials to make decisions around IRS audits. But that law doesn't hit the attorney general. Or the same attorney general that used to be his personal attorney, and apparently that's how they worked this around. Sure enough, Todd Blanche is the one who signed the official document. But also even with that, you have experts saying that the IRS would need to act to make the release a claims effective, which could raise additional questions about whether there has been unlawful political interference in the audit process, calling this a breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system. With also Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying it's a get out of jail free card for the president, adding,

Starting point is 00:20:50 he sued the government he runs, had his own DOJ settle the case and pocketed the prize. Special IRS protection for the Trump family. That is self-dealing with a government seal. But then we also have to talk about how Republican Bill Cassidy just sided with Senate Democrats on legislation to force Trump out of the war with Iran. With Cassidy flipping, after losing the Louisiana primary to the Maga Back candidate, Julia Letlow. And yeah, isn't it funny how when they lose power or they decide they're not going to run again,

Starting point is 00:21:12 all of a sudden they become a different person? But yeah, you know, Cassidy wasn't able to get back in Trump's good graces since he voted against him in his impeachment trial over the J6 riots. Trump also added a little insult to injury posting that Cassidy's disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of legend, and it's nice to see that his political career is over. But with that, you had Cassidy going back to Washington, saying that he was proud of his work to uphold the Constitution and that he would carefully consider how he would vote on Trump's

Starting point is 00:21:34 priorities moving forward. So I guess Trump's war with Iran, it didn't make the cut now, with him saying on social media, while I support the administration's efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, the White House and Pentagon have left Congress in the dark on Operation Epic Fury, saying until the administration provides clarity, no congressional authorization or extension can be justified. Now, with all this, Democrats, they've been trying to push the war powers resolution for months, but they couldn't get the votes that they needed to make it happen until now. Right, and with that, there were three Republicans that were absent on Tuesday who could come back and turn things around with their votes if they maintain their stance on the war.

Starting point is 00:22:02 But still, you have reports saying that this is a sign of just how uneasy Republicans are becoming with the war. And you've got Chuck Schumer claiming Republicans are starting to crack and momentum is building to check Trump. And while I won't be holding my breath to see how that plays out, outside of Congress, that the country in general is feeling the effects of this war, especially at the gas station. We got reports saying the gas prices have hit $4 a gallon in all 50 states, with seven states even paying at least $5 a gallon. There's a very real cost here. It's costing Americans millions of dollars a day.

Starting point is 00:22:26 It's putting a strain on small businesses and it's driving up inflation. And you have experts saying that if the straight of Hormuz stays closed through midsummer, things could get even worse than this. Right, but then, for the final thing today, I kind of want to just end on a little bit of an op-ed section, just me talking to you, opinions, all that. Because last night, as I was driving back home, there were some elections that were wins, some that were losses, some that I was just shocked by. And really, one of the biggest takeaways was that reminder of not everyone is as invested and knowledgeable about what's happening right now. And that is, in no way it did. You've got people out there just trying to survive. They've got two jobs to pay bills or their health care.

Starting point is 00:22:57 They've got kids and, you know, a Tuesday in May, they're not thinking page three of the election about the Georgia Supreme Court races who, by the way, do not have a D or an R next to their name. Even though the Georgia Supreme Court is seen as being controlled by Republicans 8 to 1 or 9 to 0. And a lot of it made me puzzled about a thing that really people have thought about for years and years, and that is how to break through to kind of low information voters, especially on something that is not top of mind. Because when you actually look at the data, it is insane. So both Georgia Supreme Court incumbents, they won. Bethel beat Miracle Rankin, 51 to 49, about a two-point race, roughly 43,000 votes out of nearly 2 million that were cast. Warren beat Jen Jordan 59 to 41. It was an almost 19-point race, about 360,000 votes apart. It's a two wins where the Republican-appointed incumbents, the streak is intact, and I just can't stop looking at all the numbers.

Starting point is 00:23:44 Rankin and Jordan, they campaigned together every press conference, every interview when we had them on the show. Together, when they were endorsed by Obama and Kamala Harris, they were endorsed together. The signs people have in their yards, it has both of their names off. They were a package deal that was the whole strategy. But the Dem electorate, they gave Rankin almost 947,000 votes, and gave Jordan 781,000, which is a roughly 165,000 vote gap between the two candidates who ran the exact same campaign together. Before anyone's like, oh, well, you know, maybe they like this person, more over this issue.

Starting point is 00:24:12 They were essentially the same person just with different names on the ballot. All while, by the way, more Democrats in Georgia went out to vote than Republican. John Ossif, the Democratic incumbent, who is literally running against nobody, he pulled in around 100 to 150,000 more votes than the entire Republican Senate field combined. And so if you get a lot of people that are voting down ballot, you expect Democratic wins left and right. But that brings us to the Georgia Supreme Court race technically being considered nonpartisan, so you don't get a D or an R next to the name. So this is anecdotal, but based off of people that I was talking to, a lot of people just didn't know who they were voting for. They knew,

Starting point is 00:24:44 hey, I got to do this in the governor's race. Hey, you know, I know Ah Saf, I know maybe a person here or there, But when it came to Miracle and Jen versus Bethel and Warren, one, there were a lot of people that thought that everyone on their ballot was a Democrat because Georgia has an open primary. So when you go to the polls, you ask for, oh, I want a Democratic ballot or a Republican ballot. And also, too, you had a number of people going, well, it wasn't a partisan race. So I kind of just tried to use context clues to go, who's the Democrat here? A lot more people assumed a name like Miracle would be that of a Democratic candidate. Whereas Jen Jordan, that already sounds maybe neutral enough, but also her name on the ballot was Jennifer Our Jordan. Right, and then actually with that, you know, as I was explaining that to someone last night, as we were seeing the results come in, they were like, well, you know, that's kind of on the voter. If you're casting your ballot and you're unsure or something, just Google it. Here's the thing. In Georgia, you cannot use your phone inside of the voting booth. It's illegal under state law and some misdemeanor. You know, fair game. I wasn't aware of that the first time that I voted about, what was it, a year and a half or whenever I was cast in my ballot. Someone got yelled out. I was like, holy shit. And so this time around when I went to vote, you know, I had paper. You can have paper. That's fine, but you can't use your phone. So ultimately, I end up just kind of feeling, I feel frustrated. I don't feel angry. A lot of people have been expressing.

Starting point is 00:25:48 I'm not angry at the voters. And I really don't think that the answer is to shame voters who guessed wrong. The answer, I think, is just making sure that by the time that a voter walks into the boot, they already know which name matches their values. And a big part of what I'm feeling is kind of more frustration with the DNC or at least the makeup of what it is right now, right? Because this feels like more of a campaign problem, a party infrastructure problem. Some will also argue, you know, that it's a ballot design problem or a state law problem,

Starting point is 00:26:12 but that's kind of a step two thing. It all comes down to information. And I say all this not acting like, I have the answer that match reaches regular people who are just busy with their lives as ears. But what I do know is that until the information gap closes, like this is the result you're gonna see in the further down the ballot races. And it's part of the reason why you're seeing Kemp and others trying to make more races nonpartisan. So while I personally see that the results of these Georgia Supreme Court races as a,

Starting point is 00:26:36 maybe not necessarily generational fumble, I've seen some people saying that maybe more of a decades-ish-ish fumble, you can see that the Dems and or the people that are not Trump aligned in Georgia, they are fired up. They just need to be directed better. But that my friends, your beautiful bastards is the end of your Wednesday, Philip DeFranco Show, dive into the news. Thank you for watching. And also, if you're not 100% filled in, you want more to consume and maybe actually be a little bit cathartic. I got a brand new episode of crashing out that just came out right now today. If you're on YouTube, you can tap or click right here. Go straight to that video where I even got links in the description,

Starting point is 00:27:06 everywhere I post these videos. But no matter what you do, let me just say, thank you for watching. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow. This fund is going to pay Jan 6 rioters. That is law and order leaving this country. There's something that feels weirder about the last three weeks. What is MAGA versus lib-coded? There's no in-between. I feel like you are doing this because you know I like a middle-ground gray area. Drake.

Starting point is 00:27:27 Maga or lib-coded? Sometimes questions are questions, and sometimes questions are weapons. I don't know if you guys noticed this whole episode. I've been kind of smiling more. It's because I saw monster trucks. Someone's got to tell my gas stations that the war is done.

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