The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway - Raging Moderates: The Affordability Crisis Trump Can’t Spin

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov break down Trump’s nationwide “affordability blitz,” where he’s touting falling gas prices and insisting his tariffs will help the middle class — even as co...nsumer sentiment sinks, layoffs top a million, and businesses warn prices will jump in January. The White House is scrambling in response, launching a food price-fixing probe and rolling out a $12B farm bailout, all while Republicans splinter over how to handle Democrats’ ACA subsidy extension. From there, they turn to South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace, who’s taking aim at her own party’s leadership for sidelining rank-and-file members — especially women. Her blistering op-ed argues the GOP is too timid, too male-dominated, and at real risk of losing its majority. Finally, they head to Texas, where an unexpected Democratic matchup — James Talarico vs. Jasmine Crockett — is reshaping the 2026 Senate race.  Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov.  Follow Prof G, @profgalloway. Follow Raging Moderates, @RagingModeratesPod. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RagingModerates  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Support for the show comes from Viori Collection. With Viori's loungeware collection, the name of the game is comfort and versatility. From the gym to the office, from one season change to the next, you can dress up, dress down, go in, stay out, and do it all in Viori. I love Viori. I actually bought Viori products before they were a sponsor. Viori is an investment in your happiness for our listeners. They are offering 20% off your first purchase.
Starting point is 00:00:25 Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at Viori.com. slash prof g that's v u o r i dot com slash prop g exclusions apply visit the website for full terms and conditions support for this show comes from nordstrom oh what fun nordstrom has gifts for all your favorite people all in one place like beauty sets sweaters jewelry and toys with tons under a hundred Need ideas? Check out gifts from Ugg, Skims, Dipteak, free people, Stanley, and more. Plus, explore their amazing gift shop in stores and online. Freestyling, free shipping, and order pickup, make it all easy. Add Nordstrom.
Starting point is 00:01:14 Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business side. software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-4-free at O-D-O-O-O-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com.
Starting point is 00:01:56 Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Scott Galloway. And I'm Jessica Tarliff. Oh, Jess. Jess. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, Scott. I just made a bunch of, like, incredibly racist and homophobic jokes off my. I was here. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:12 It wasn't that bad. I don't want people to like try to find it. How bad? Was it, David? We have to bring the producer. How bad, David? Exhibit 24 in the, in the lawsuit. I think that's going to hurt your chances if you're going to run for president. Yeah. I think you're right. I think you're right. Sorry to the tribe. I think you're right.
Starting point is 00:02:29 Everyone will be devastated. Yeah. There you go. I'm off. Even on the Seattle's ticket? A Seattle's in every... I don't know. The Seattle's ticket is a totally different world that I am thankfully not yet familiar
Starting point is 00:02:40 with. Give us 10 years, I guess. Your husband's familiar with it before you know you're familiar with it. Oh, is that going to be like the discovery? Because the girls go through all of our drawers and then they'll just be like, what's this? Let me just give you a little 4-1-1 that we start taking it. It's not a great. group decision that we start we do you just let us know once you think you're having a heart
Starting point is 00:03:01 attack and you're like by the way i've been taking tons of dick drugs we we let you know in other ways they're more implicit but um yeah no trust me on this it's usually not a group family it's not like a family meeting dad dad is sex with dad is like a taffy pole right now so we had a family meeting and what do you think of dad taking uh why does that make me happy Well, we have to get to talking about affordability, but I will say, I remember my parents telling me this is not about their sex life, but they were driving, you know, they were at Oregon to California a lot, and they were driving and listening to a local Oregon radio host who was talking, taking callers and a guy called in and he said, like, our sex life is terrible. He was like in his late 60s, I think at this point. He said, I just, I roll it in. And my parents laughed. Roll it in. Well, you said it's like a taffy pole. Isn't that like eventually what you have to do? Yeah. Gross. Those things are, uh, it's coming. It's coming for all of us. Okay. David's back. Go. Let's get into it. Affordability. Today we're discussing Trump's continued
Starting point is 00:04:15 spin on the affordability crisis, how women are treated in the GOP. And we'll check in on the Texas Senate race. All right. Let's get into it. President Trump is launching a nationwide affordable. ability blitz. With a major speech in Pennsylvania, touting falling gas prices and arguing as tariffs will ultimately help the middle class. But he's doing this as key indicators move the other way. Consumer sentiment is down sharply. Retailers won prices will rise in January once inventories run out and layoffs have already topped 1.1 million this year with small businesses hit hardest. Despite calling affordability concerns a hoax, the White House is scrambling to show action, opening a price-fixing probe into imported food and rolling out a $12 billion bailout
Starting point is 00:04:54 for farmers hurt by Trump's own tariffs. All of this lands just as the Fed weighs another rate cut. Healthcare adds even more pressure. Senator Republicans remain split on how to counter Democrats through your extension of ACA subsidies, floating options from HSA-based aid to a trim two-year extension. But none are expected to reach the floor before Thursday's vote. Democrats say their clean extension is the only way to prevent premium hikes. Trump promised lower prices, but tariffs, Medicaid cuts, and rising health care costs have left him playing defense and scrambling to sell an economy. Many American safe still feels really unaffordable. Jess, is affordability a hoax?
Starting point is 00:05:34 How does the White House square that circle with the decline in sentiment, rising layoffs and looming price hikes? Promises made promises beyond broken. I am always shocked by the level of spin that people like Kevin Hassett after. to bring out. I mean, to their credit, they still do these interviews and show up on like CNBC and really get pushed. But it's getting embarrassing at this point. And I think I've mentioned to you this before, but watching Republicans very much do the same things that Democrats did when they were defending an economy that average Americans were screaming from the rooftops is not working for them is the height of stupidity. And there's no, you know, like,
Starting point is 00:06:23 when you're teaching your kids math, and the teachers are always saying, like, show your work, show your work. I feel like nobody is showing their work. They're just telling us, well, the tariffs are going to be a huge boon to the American economy. When? How? Why? If so, why are you rolling back all of them? And then saying that that's the relief, like this $12 billion bailout for the farmers that's coming from the quote unquote tariff pot, which the amount that's in that changes on a daily basis by like trillions of dollars. But everybody knows what that is. And the farmers themselves being interviewed on every channel saying, we don't want to bail out. We want work. Right. We want to have markets for our products, which the administration is sapping. You know,
Starting point is 00:07:10 I'm curious as to whether you're seeing bright spots that I'm missing and I'm conscious of the fact that it's very hard for me to remove my partisan hat, and I'm always looking for things that I can use on the five, which are usually negative about Donald Trump. But I'm looking at this. Like 70% of Americans say they're spending more money on groceries compared to last year, 60% more on utilities, 40% more on health care, housing, gasoline. Cost of living issue, number one is housing. Satisfaction with housing dropped from 69% to 36% over the course of the year. U.S. manufacturing contracted for nine straight months. China now trillion dollar trade surplus, and Trump gives the green light to sell the NVIDIA chips to them, which will put them at huge
Starting point is 00:07:56 computing advantage. And of course, the government is getting a kickback from that. Like the farmers, I want trade, not aid. What am I missing besides a stock market that's obviously been propped up by, is it magnificent seven or ten? I feel like you go between the two. But is there something that I am not getting about what's going on here in the economy? I don't think so other than people would argue that the economy churns on despite how just bass-acquard, our economic policies have been at a macro level. How is that possible? Like, why? How? Because the American economy is just incredible. People get up every day and innovate and do incredible things. And the S&B is up 12% because of the
Starting point is 00:08:33 AI boom, 13 or 14%, which I think is going to unwind. And it's become dangerously concentrated around 10 companies, and I think China is going to engage in AI dumping to take the entire economy down, but moving back to affordability. Look, you always have to ask yourself with this stuff. The tendency for experts in the media is to catastrophize because you sound smarter, and I'm falling to the same thing, and you always need to ask yourself what could go right. Having said that, I don't think you're missing much here. I'm shocked the economy isn't worse given how just stupid these policies have been and the fact that every nation in the world is trying to reroute their supply chain around ours, raising our costs, a sclerotic economic policy
Starting point is 00:09:15 that no one knows how to even respond, ridiculous tariffs that then bail out farmers. Well, maybe we just shouldn't have the tariffs to begin with. Trade wars that alienate our partners and massively decreased prosperity because we gain more shareholder value from shipping or exporting invidia chips and importing low margin products that accretes to us, benefit to us. so it doesn't make any sense. The thing that so is surprising is how the American economy just grinds on, that so many people get up every morning and innovate and apply new technologies and new ways of doing business and work hard and the economy just continues to grind on. But if he was serious about affordability, there's just absolutely no case for tariffs making
Starting point is 00:10:00 shit more affordable. It can protect nation industries. You can protect employment in certain industries, I would say only over the short run. Eventually, everyone has to hold their feet to the flames of global innovation. And when we have free trade, it naturally accretes to us because Americans are just very good at what we do. And you should let low margin businesses go away in exchange for services and innovation businesses. But if they were really serious about affordability, and this is what I can't stand about the Democratic Party is we'll spend a lot of time talking about how fucked up the economy is and then offer no solutions around affordability. If you want to get serious about affordability, one, you have to.
Starting point is 00:10:35 to go after the biggest increase in CPI, which is housing, eight to 10 million houses in 10 years, tax credits that unleash private development, get rid of NIMBY laws and replace them with YIMB laws, manufacturing homes, take the tariffs off China, get some incredible innovation around new construction that lowers the cost by 50 or 60 percent, government-backed loans for people under the age of 40 and give people psychological and material well-being, being vis-a-vis much greater supply in housing, which will bring down costs. Rent freezes and price controls don't work. Sorry, Mom Donnie. That's just fucking stupid. It decreases supply and increases housing costs, too. It's time to nationalize medicine. That's the other CPI that's accelerated.
Starting point is 00:11:15 Twice the cost of the other G6, lower outcomes, worse outcomes, lower Medicare eligibility by two to three years every year for 10 years, take down cost 25 percent, even though they could come down 50 percent. That massively increases affordability. And then the third thing that is accelerated faster than inflation has been education, and you should tie tuition to income, specifically a kid coming from an upper income home pays full freight, a kid coming from a lower income home, pays massively less than tuition. And if you have an endowment over a billion dollars, you're not growing a freshman class size, faster than population growth, you've decided you're no longer a public servant but a fucking Chanel bag, and you should lose your tax-free status.
Starting point is 00:11:58 And we could dramatically lower education costs. And then finally, we need massive. massive anti-trust. Big chicken, big ag, big streaming now. Netflix should not be allowed to buy HBO. The streamers have increased their prices 13% over the last 12 months as that industry is consolidating. It's pretty simple. If you have more competition, you have a reverse of the rivers of the last 40 years, which have leaked power, leverage, and economic value from consumers and workers and labor to shareholders. The rivers need to reverse for a little bit. So if we're really going to have an adult conversation around affordability, let's have an adult conversation. The problem is it's boring shit that will take years, if not
Starting point is 00:12:42 decades, and the Democrats don't seem to have the firepower or the intellectual honesty to talk about this shit. And Republicans want to propose programs that are totally inflationary. Anyways, that's my TED talk. Well, I'm glad that I came to your TED talk. No, it's a point of frustration because, and we were just talking about this, was Senator Gallego's interview is up on our YouTube channel, which you should go and check it out and subscribe, obviously, but that, you know, we're just band-aiding everything all the time versus really latching on to a pro-growth, innovative agenda where we say we're not just going to clean up the mess because cleaning up the mess is actually still messy. Like the baseline level, like with Obamacare,
Starting point is 00:13:30 which I think is the most obvious answer to all of this. Like, Obamacare needs help. You need an extension of the ACA subsidies so people's premiums don't go up 400% or whatever starting January 1st. But, like, the program itself is a problem. I wanted to ask you, though, about, you know, I'm sure you saw that we got no jobs report,
Starting point is 00:13:51 no GDP report, and now no inflation report. So we're never going to see a number out of this government again. The ADP numbers came out. negative 32,000 jobs lost. Small businesses shed 120,000 jobs. Joe Kernan was going crazy about that on CNBC. But what is the impact of not having the official numbers on the economy and also investment from abroad or how the global economy works? Because I understand from a political level, like, you know, what that means and it clearly shows that they're hiding something and it's something to harp on. But what are the real-world implications of not having good data around what's going on in our economy?
Starting point is 00:14:34 When you're trying to land a 747, you're trying to land a, you know, several hundred-ton piece of equipment on a hard surface while flying, you know, 170 miles an hour. And when you don't have data, as we don't, we're trying to land a $25 trillion economy on a hard surface without instruments. We don't know what's going on. And we've become charged. China, except China's smarter than us. They actually have data internally. They just don't want to release it publicly because they're worried it'll make the CCP look bad. This is what Russia does. Russia totally bastardized and perverts its data, and they can't plan their economy as well. So an absence of data is just, again, this very dangerous sort of let's not trust the experts movement. Let's go to our Ouija boards and our horoscopes and our instincts and what makes us feel good and what gets the most likes on Instagram as opposed to actual fucking truth as evidenced by data. So this is incredibly damaged. We're flying blind. We don't know what the actual numbers are. The difference between American China, though, is that there will be a bunch of private sector companies that use different means of taking the temperature of the economy to come out with their own data streams. If I was starting business right now, I would probably get into the business of economic forecasting and fill this vacuum that used to be filled by these incredible economists at the Fed. But this is just stupid. This is just like Trotsky being a race from photo. because we don't like what he represented. This is, this makes it much more difficult to plan for the Fed to decide, for companies to decide what to do, what the right interest rate policy is, what the right economic policy is for voters to hold elected officials accountable. So this is just, oh, I don't, I don't like that I have high blood pressure and I don't want anyone to not think that I'm healthy, so I'm going to stop taking my blood pressure and just see what happens. This leads to an economy that's much more prone to stroke. Yeah. Well, that's kind of what happened with COVID, right? Everyone just stopped testing. And it was like, oh, there's no more COVID, but you had it. It wasn't actually a common cold. I want to, before we move on to the next section, I want to get your take on the health care vote. There's going to be a vote on the ACA extensions. John Thun promised it. The Democrats are putting up a clean three-year extension bill that is going to fail. There are some outspoken Republicans like Josh Hawley saying, you know,
Starting point is 00:16:56 Republicans a better offer something. You have a couple of proposals. Bernie Marino and Susan Collins have a bill that has an income cap at 200K, but also includes a two-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies. Democrat Dick Durbin has said that he's interested in it, that he might want to change one or two provisions, but he's encouraged Mike Crepo and Bill Cassidy have a bill. Senator Roger Marshall, also a Republican, has a bill. Those two don't seem to have the Obamacare subsidy extension. We have heard nothing from the House at this point of what they would offer. What do you think happens? It feels like we're just moving towards the Obamacare subsidies going away and people are going to be hit by those premium hikes. I'm going to ask you for real insight and on the ground domain expertise here because I don't have it, but I do have a Senator Thun's story. I was in Antucket and I met Senator Thun. I think that's the whitest thing I've ever said. I was in Antucket and I met Senator Thun. He was walking out with his wife and I recognized him. And I said, Senator Stent, thank you of your service. And he and his wife came over and introduced themselves to my family. He's very handsome. Oh, my God, right? It's overwhelming. He's very handsome. Very tall, very handsome. His wife is very attractive. They look like they should be in the White House. So I like him just for just for those broad shoulders. He's aesthetically pleasing. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:14 Politically displeasing. Yeah, very, very handsome. I don't. Yeah. But I have a similar story. I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit encouraged that he's keeping to his word and bringing the vote up. But anyways, that's the extent of my knowledge on the show. So that he can vote against it. But yes, I don't think that he is a liar like a Mike Johnson. I don't think that. And usually, I think, more or I don't know if I'm going to regret this because Mitch McConnell's a difficult way to gauge the quality of the character because he has let us down so many times. But I expect more from senators than I do of Congress people. And more often than not, I get that. that. But I also have a Senator Thune's story. I was at the RNC. It was my first day back for maternity leave, summer 2024. And he came right up to me. He was like waiting to do a Fox hit. And, you know, we had a big, I think we did a remote segment for the Prof G pod before Waging Moderates was a thing from there. So you saw like, you know, we had desk space and everybody who's in the Fox orbit is walking around. It's hair and makeup. It's on air contributors, producers, tech directors, etc.
Starting point is 00:19:22 or he came right up to me and he said, you know, I wanted to say hello, you do such a great job. And I thought that that was so nice. And not everybody behaves that way. There are Republicans who avoid me like the plague when they see me in a social situation. And Thune beeline and was delightful and also very, very handsome. I think that the premium hikes are going to go through. I think that it's just, it's like too little too late to be bringing up your bill that's going to require some degree of negotiation, at least, at the proverbial 11th hour. And that's really frustrating to me. I'm glad that Dick Durbin is saying that he has, you know, interest in working, negotiating about one of these bills. But ultimately,
Starting point is 00:20:10 Republicans have been trying to get to their goal of repealing and replacing Obamacare as long as Obamacare has existed and still have never brought anything decent that speaks to the way that Americans want their health care delivered since they've been playing this game. And it's going to really suck. Putting my partisan political hat on could be a net advantage for Democrats because we'll get to own this issue that Republicans literally don't care about your health care. They're taking Medicaid away from millions of people with the big beautiful bill. Your premium spiked because of Republicans. And we were the ones that were, you know, trying to get the subsidies extended. But like always,
Starting point is 00:20:52 I wish Washington just functioned better. But I'm going to have to get over that. Okay, let's take a quick break. Stay with us. Support for Raging Moderates comes from Seoul. We all have our favorite routines for staying cozy on a cold winter night, maybe hot cocoa, a warm blanket, and a favorite holiday movie. But if you really want to slow down and relax,
Starting point is 00:21:16 you might want to add Sol's out-of-office gummies to the mix. Soul is a wellness brand that believes feeling good. should be fun and easy. Soul specializes in delicious, hemp-derived THC and CBD products designed to boost your mood and help you unwind. Their best-selling out-of-office gummies were designed to provide a mild, relaxing buzz, boost your mood, and enhance creativity and relaxation. With five different strengths, you can tailor the dose to fit your vibe, from a gentle 1.5 milligram microdose to their newest 15 milligram gummy for a more elevated experience. Bring on the holiday cheer and treat yourself or someone you love to Soul this season. Right now, Sol's offering our audience
Starting point is 00:21:56 30% off your entire order. Go to getsole.com and use the code moderates. That's getsole.com promo code moderates for 30% off. Race the runners. Raise the sales. Raise the sales. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait. Is that an enterprise sales solution? Reach the sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your B2B audience today. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started today at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply.
Starting point is 00:22:43 Support for this show comes from Figma. Figma is the collaborative design platform where teams come together to turn ideas into the world's best digital apps, websites, and experiences. Now there's a faster way to bring those ideas to life. Introducing Figma Make, an AI-powered prompt to code tool that helps you turn ideas into something real, fast. Figma Make is a different kind of vibe coding tool. With just a few prompts, turn any idea into a code-backed prototype or app that anyone can explore, iterate on, and share. and it's all connected to Figma, so you can start from scratch or from your design file.
Starting point is 00:23:24 Figma Make is made for designers, product managers, and builders who want to move fast and explore more ideas. Figma Make, a prompt to code tool for making ideas real. Try it now at figma.com slash make. That's F-I-G-M-A dot com slash M-A-K-E. Welcome back. South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace is taking direct aim at her own party's leadership, accusing Speaker Mike Johnson and top GOP brass of signlining rank-and-file members, especially women, in a sharply worded New York Times op-ed, and Mace says Republicans are petrified of losing power, too timid to deliver for their base, and far less effective than Democrats under Nancy Pelosi.
Starting point is 00:24:09 She warns that unless the GOP starts governing boldly on the border, affordability, health care, and public safety, they'll lose their majority and deservedly so. Jess, it's just so fucking ridiculous. If anything, they've been too bold, they've been reckless. Jess, what does this situation say about women in the GOP? I mean, too little too late, right? There's no surprises in this. It's just that she's saying it out loud and in the pages of the New York Times, which is a very intentional place to put this op-ed. It's not in the journal, right? It's in, like, the gray lady, right? Which we wake up, you know, immediately go over to check what's going on, pop on the daily, whatever it is. So obviously
Starting point is 00:24:49 she meant to do it in this way. But, you know, she's bucking leadership because she got pushed too far that Epstein and Marjorie Taylor Green is in this bucket as well. But also, you know, she's running for governor in South Carolina. And, you know, I think that she needs to show some sort of maverickism to her. And that also she is interested in the business of governing Because the crux of her piece and the argument that she's making is that it's this full-bodied criticism of the way the Congress functions, that it's all about power and closed-door jockeying. If you're not in a position of power, so if you're just a rank-and-file Congressperson, you know, you're a complete afterthought if a thought at all. And she's been getting a front row seat to that. She doesn't really matter to leadership to Mike Johnson.
Starting point is 00:25:37 There was a staten there that only 5% of the bills introduced this year have seen. a floor vote. They took months off, right? Mike Johnson ran away from being at work because he didn't want to deal with the Epstein files and the discharge petition. And, you know, they don't, they don't accomplish anything. It's going to be the biggest do-nothing Congress in American history. I like that she shouted out Nancy Pelosi, though, and how effective she is. Because I feel like around Pelosi's retirement that some Republicans, obviously, you know, spoke to how good she was at doing the job, but not nearly enough because you do know that they all respect what an amazing power broker she was and continues to be even not in leadership. And Marjorie Taylor Green,
Starting point is 00:26:21 did you watch her on 60 Minutes or see clips of it? Yeah, I did. I felt like I was watching an arsonist lecturer of some fire safety. I just I just think it's so ridiculous that she has the gumption to pretend to be a moderate. She's not doing it for any other reason than to try and stage a political comeback. I'm just, can't wait for her to exit stage right, stage, last stage, get the fuck off the stage, good riddons. So you liked it. I think that this, I don't, the numbers are always inflated when people get into these fantasy lands being like 20 Republicans are going to retire, you know, before the midterms. And I don't think it would get as high as that. but it does feel like there is a vibe shift going on where Donald Trump is already a lame duck.
Starting point is 00:27:13 I mean, he still feels like he's wreaking incredible amounts of havoc, but still a lame duck. And if they're not bringing any legislation to the floor, if they essentially won't let people even work with Democrats, that it makes sense that Republicans are saying, like, what's the point in even sitting here? I should get a head start on my big consulting career or my case. career or spend some time with my grandkids rather than sit around. And, you know, I don't think Hakeem Jeffries is going to become Speaker of the House before the midterms. But it does feel like the right is in a bit of disarray. There you go. All right. And also just the one thing, I'm obsessed with these prediction markets. Kalshi says that there's a 65% chance that Johnson is out as Speaker of the House before the midterms. Oh, really? That high? Well, and these things are
Starting point is 00:28:02 fascinating because they do leverage the wisdom of crowds and they have a tendency to be right or go where the odds are. But yeah, two-thirds chance that, according to Kalshita Johnson is out, a speaker in the house before the midterms. Okay, let's take a quick break. Stay with us. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets. sandwiches and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats
Starting point is 00:28:39 before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports,
Starting point is 00:28:59 you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action. And your Chase card can get you exactly that. With a Chase card, you can experience more. That means access to pre-sales, preferred seating, and more savings. For more information about how to step into a world of more with Chase experiences, visit chase.com slash experiences. Benefits available only to eligible Chase card holders. Deposit in credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., member FDIC.
Starting point is 00:29:28 Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply. If you're tired of database limitations and architectures that break when you scale, then it's time to think outside rows and columns. MongoDB is the database built for developers, by developers. It's acid-compliant, enterprise-ready, and fluent in AI. That's why so many of the Fortune 500 trust MongoDB with their most critical workloads. Ready to think outside rows and columns? Start building faster at MongoDB.com slash build.
Starting point is 00:30:02 All right, welcome back. Before we go, the political spotlight in Texas has swung hard towards 2026, where an unexpected Democratic showdown is reshaping the state's marquee-center race. Friend of the podcast, James Telerico, the former schoolteacher turned to Austin State Legislature, no-for-ist cross-party appeal, is now facing off against Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, whose national profile and progressive firepower have vaulted her to the front of the field. The matchup emerged after a chaotic filing day that saw Colin Allred, last cycle Senate nominee, abruptly exit the race and jump into a newly drawn House district, clearing the lane, and effectively
Starting point is 00:30:42 setting up a Tala Rigo Crockett duel. Early polling gives Crockett a plurality among likely Democratic voters, but some analysts argue Tala RICO, maybe the stronger general election contender in a state where Democrats haven't won statewide since 1994. Jess, your thoughts on this race and Crockett entering the race? I wasn't thrilled about it. Really? You know, it's different. A Senate race is always going to be nationalized versus a congressional race.
Starting point is 00:31:10 But we just saw in that special election in Tennessee's 7th district that the Democrat who got within single digits in a Trump plus 22 district. It was still a massive overperformance. But once that race became nationalized, I think the Democrat did worse. And Jasmine Crockett, who we would love to have on the podcast, I should know that we've tried, we will continue to try, has an enormous national profile. And she's one of those people because she's so outspoken and she's so in the crosshairs with Trump and the administration and, you know, right-wing cable news pundits, et cetera, that I think there is a way to make the party seem more like a left-wing campaign. caricature than kind of like moderate get shit done caucus and that's that causes more of an uphill battle it takes more money to fight those races and it makes my life harder on the five which is a problem now i'm not saying this about necessarily her politics i i know people who know her very well apparently she's quite a moderate person but you know watching her launch video which was
Starting point is 00:32:24 just her standing there for about 30 seconds listening to donald trump talk shit and about her. And then she turns to face this camera. And, you know, she's a beautiful woman. It's a stark image. And then she has this great grin at the end before it announces, you know, Crockett for Senate. I found myself thinking, like, where is Texas mentioned in this? What about Texas issues? What about your story? You know, your civil rights attorney. Like, tell us who you are and why you're fighting for this community. Like, this is the affordability election. Like, let's talk about what's happened to everyday Texans, right? Like, let's talk about what's going on the border or whatever it is.
Starting point is 00:33:03 And that, to me, just sent up this flare that we are about to have, like, an ugly Donald Trump-centric race. And it feels like the opportunity is to put your head down and fight for the people that have been let down by that guy and are open to the idea of somebody else swooping in to help make their lives better. So what are your thoughts? I've often said that the war between Iraq and Iran or the war between Musk and Trump that I hope the bullets win. And this is the exact opposite of that. I love both these people. I think Tala Rico's ability to incorporate faith into public policy is just really elegant and powerful. And I say that as an atheist. Representative Crockett is a hero of mine. I think she's fantastic. I just think she's courageous. compelling, unafraid, smart, I just, I just thinks he's outstanding. And I gave Tala Rika some money. I'm going to give Crockett some money. By the way, one of the things I love about this
Starting point is 00:34:09 podcast is it makes, it's a chance for me to both virtue signal and be very efficient. Well, you don't have other platforms to do that either. So. Just this one. Trust me, the virtue signaling knows no end, Jess. But anyone from the Crockett campaign, I've already given money to Tala RICO. Anyone from the Crockett campaign, reach out to me. I'm going to give you some money. And I just love both these candidates. And it's sort of, I guess it makes no sense I'm giving money to both. It's like that Larry David show where he finds.
Starting point is 00:34:33 You're encouraging both your Democratic children. There you go, young people. I want to bring more attention to young rising stars in the Democratic Party. I absolutely love both of them. I would personally, you might argue that Tala Rica would do better in a general. I think she's just a force. And I would love to see, I would just love to see her as a. senator from Texas. I think that would sense such a wonderful signal. Also, I think Texas is as
Starting point is 00:35:01 conservatives people think, but having said that, I only go to South by Southwest. That's the bigger question here. Like, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to turn Texas blue and failed miserably. And I don't know if Colin Allred, who's now going to run for a congressional seat, and that's going to be an ugly primary because he's, you know, Texas's map, the newly redrawn, the cheater map was upheld by the Supreme Court. So everything has gotten scrambled. So Jasmine Crockett, who's usually in a very blue safe Dallas seat, I think she won by a 69.8 percent margin or something like that. You know, I was going to have her seat messed with. Colin Allred is now jumping into the 33rd. Someone named Julie Johnson is in there. I mean, she had a pretty fierce statement
Starting point is 00:35:49 when Allred announced this. She said women should never be treated as placeholders for men. who fail to advance, you know, it is going to be ugly in Texas as people are jockeying to find a seat for themselves. And, you know, I think that Crockett is going to show off like fight and grit that I think is really important for the party. I just want to be very careful about the territory that you're running in. You know, Texas is not a blue place. It's like on an amazing day, It's purple-ish, right? And it's usually red. And on the right...
Starting point is 00:36:28 Fair comment. On the right, they're having a bruising primary, too. So John Corny, who's, like, the normie senator, is being challenged by the AG Ken Paxton, who, you know, he was impeached. The Senate didn't, you know, voted to acquit him. Bribery, an affair, like his wife put in that all out there, that he's a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.
Starting point is 00:36:50 And then Wes Hunt is also in that primary. And looking at the reactions from the Republican side about how excited they were that Crockett was getting in always sends up a bit of a flare. Now, they were going to say that no matter what. And who knows what it looks like in 26. Maybe, you know, the bold, loud, progressive is the way forward. But I'm a little scared. I feel like we need a tiebreaker here where I think you're slightly more towards Tala Rico as the polster and you comes out in the pragmatist, which is usually my role. And I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit more like. You fall in love. The world is what we make of it. And we need courageous young, more courageous young women in the Senate. Let's bring in our producer, David. David, you're the tiebreaker.
Starting point is 00:37:34 What do you think? I love Crockett. I think she's one of the best voices the Democratic Party has. But that announcement video was not affordability focus, which is the whole game. Yeah. But it's going to be good. I mean, competition is good. Talarico said that, you know, like that he welcomes her into the
Starting point is 00:37:53 race. We'll treat her with the utmost respect. The primary, I think, is March 3rd. So this isn't going to go on forever by any means. But you always have to keep in mind, and yes, pragmatist, pollster, all of it. The primary electorate is different than the general electorate. And I hope that AOC was asked about Crockett getting in. And she said something like, we've got to run the right people and the right races, which A, you go girl, AOC, that you're looking towards higher office. and the way to talk about these things. But it is the most important lesson that we're even learning in 2025.
Starting point is 00:38:31 Mom Donnie for New York City, Abigail Spanberger for Virginia, Mikey Cheryl for New Jersey, like all of the Virginia House of Delegates folks that Don Scott, the speaker, got in order, it's all the right person for the right race. We want to win the big one. You don't want to just win a primary.
Starting point is 00:38:48 Like you want to win a general. Well, I would offer that if and when, you and I disagree, money is to defer to you because you kind of do this for a living, right? Polling. I mean, kind of. Yeah. I just, I hate that. I just, it would be like watching your parents fight to see these two in a primary against each other. I think they're both so good. But it'll be interesting to see them up against each other. I mean, you might feel differently. Someone might steal your heart in a bigger way. But either way, I feel like all of the things that we talk about and all the
Starting point is 00:39:21 people that we have on gives us a very positive outlook for the future of the party, you know, where it felt super bleak, like we got nobody, like we got a lot of people. These two are outstanding. Outstanding. Outstanding. I just... You hear that? Jasmine. Outstanding. Come on the show. Yeah, come on the show. But first have someone from your campaign call me because... For money. Yeah, take my money, please. All right, before we go, if you're watching us on YouTube, make sure you hit subscribe. That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to Raging Moderates. Have a good week, Jess.
Starting point is 00:39:51 Yeah, you too. See you later. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier.
Starting point is 00:40:17 CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-F-Frey at O-D-O-O-O-D-com. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? But with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers, a network of 130 million of them, in fact.
Starting point is 00:40:52 You can even target buyers by job title, industry, company, seniority, skills, and did I say job title? See how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough.
Starting point is 00:41:15 So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu, it's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, Odu replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try Odu for free at Odu.com.
Starting point is 00:41:45 That's O-D-O-O-O-com.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.