What A Day - DeSantis Discontinued

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially exited from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed former President Donald Trump. He made the announcement in a video posted on X on Sunday, just two days before the New Hampshire primary.Because of his exit, all eyes will be Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Tuesday’s primary. Democrats will also go out to vote, even though President Joe Biden will actually not be on the ballot this year. For more, we’re joined by Manny Espitia, former New Hampshire lawmaker and northern regional director for the progressive group Run for Something.And in headlines: the death toll in Gaza soared past 25,000 people, a grand jury is set to investigate local police in Uvalde, Texas for their response to the deadly 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School, and California State University System faculty members will walk off the job this week to demand better pay and benefits. Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Monday, January 22nd. I'm Traevel Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, where we can officially announce a job harder than rocket scientist, professional jar opener. There was this canister with asteroid samples that traveled 1.2 billion miles to get into NASA's hands. And after taking almost three months, they were finally able to pry it open. They should have bought that thing on TikTok that will allow you to open any jar. On today's show, treacherous winter weather killed roughly 90 people across the country. Plus, the death toll in Gaza has passed 25,000. But first, Florida Governor Ron DeSanctimonious announced yesterday

his exit from the race to become the Republican presidential nominee. If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it. But I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign. That was, of course, something we all expected would come, but perhaps just not this soon. As we know, he did not win the Iowa caucuses last week, finishing in a distant second behind Trump.

But that is really where the writing was already on the wall. Iowa was a state into which DeSantis had poured millions of dollars in an aggressive campaign, visiting all 99 counties in the state, and in the process ignoring other early voting states like New Hampshire, like South Carolina. So we can tell he really was putting a lot of eggs in that basket. But this is why Josie the old folks say don't count your eggs before they hatch. I saw online that he spent like $150 million for 23,000 votes in Iowa, something around that number. So that's like $6,000 a vote. This is the fiscal responsibility we keep hearing about from the Republicans.

Did he say anything else of interest when he ended his campaign? I was too busy cheering to hear the rest of it. Well, I am not sure if this is interesting or not, but he did endorse Trump. Take a listen. He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackage formed of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents. The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology are over. Of course, it's not like Trump needed his endorsement per se, but the fact that DeSantis did has prompted discourse about if he might consider being Trump's running mate. Now, DeSantis has said that the VP position doesn't offer him much of anything.

But, you know, people be lying, so we will just have to wait and see. Now, that basically leaves this thing as a race between Trump and Nikki Haley. And Ms. Mamas is out here ready to fight okay here she is giving a speech in Seabrook New Hampshire yesterday when we win the presidency in this country I will do everything I can to prove to you that you made the right decision but for now I'll leave you with this. May the best woman win. You're not buying it?

Not buying it. And I wish I bought it because given the two terrible choices of Trump and Nikki Haley, I will take Nikki Haley, but I don't think it's going to work. Related to this question of what Nikki Haley's future looks like, let's turn to tomorrow's New Hampshire primary. All eyes will certainly be on Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. Trump remains the clear

frontrunner right now, but Haley is turning her attention to unaffiliated voters in the state who can head to the polls as well. And Democrats will be too, even though President Joe Biden will not be on the ballot this year because of this complicated fight where the DNC wanted Biden to appear on South Carolina ballots first for that state's primary in a few weeks. It's a whole thing. But Biden will not be on the ballot, but there are still a lot of important down-ballot races in New Hampshire for Democrats to vote on, like the state's governor race, for example. So let's get into that and how much the people of New Hampshire grilled Nikki Haley over these past few weeks. I spoke with Manny Espitia. He's a former Democratic representative of New Hampshire State House, as well as the Northern Regional Director at Run

for Something, a progressive group dedicated to recruiting and supporting young candidates running for down-ballot office. He's also worked for other groups like New Hampshire Young Democrats and Free and Fair New Hampshire in the past. So it is safe to say he knows what's up in the Granite State. When I talked to him earlier, I started by asking him how Nikki Haley is faring in the state. You know what's funny is I just left. We did like a little baby shower for my wife and I. Exciting. Very excited.

But, you know, here in New Hampshire, we do talk a lot about politics. So, you know, people were talking about it at the party. They were like, you know, what do you think the chances are? And I just said, well, two things. One, I think she's going to drop out right after the New Hampshire primary, just like Rhonda Santos didn't even make it to the New Hampshire primary. He's out. And, you know, I think second, I think, you know, our governor's endorsement kind of flatlined her campaign. Ever since she got endorsed by Governor Sununu, it just kind of she was heading up and then just flatlined. I don't think she's really got much of a shot anymore at this point. I mean, obviously, she's going to come in second because the field is literally empty now. So, you know, I think she's put up a good fight, but I think it's over. So you've served in the state legislature in the past. What is it that voters want to hear from the candidates, Democrats included, as they make their case for why they

should be the president this November? So I would say that New Hampshire may not be the kind of place that, all right, we don't necessarily always pick the right person to be president, but we're very good at weeding out the field. We will take out candidates. We will expose them for who they are. We ask them the real questions. I mean, speaking of Nikki Haley, she was asked during one of the town halls, you know, what was the cause of the Civil War?

And her answer, you know, nothing to do with slavery. I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. Thank you. And in the year 2023, it's astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word slavery. What do you want me to say about slavery? No, you've answered my question. Thanks. Not the best. Not the best. And it was just, that's a very key, like New Hampshire moment. That's just one of those things that people say, you know, only here in New Hampshire do we get those real life moments where we interact with candidates, where we actually, you know, we ask these questions and they're expected to answer.

They're expected to, you know, be genuine, be authentic. And if they're not, voters see right through it. Voters can kind of smell the BS. And so, you know, folks are asking questions to candidates about, you know, the future of this country, whether it's the economy, whether it's housing, whether it's immigration. And I think one of the things I like about the state. Right. So we can't talk about the New Hampshire primary without talking about how Biden is not on the ballot. He is the first sitting president in more than 50 years to essentially skip over the Granite State. And that's because there is this drama after the DNC alleged that New Hampshire officials scheduled their election too early. So Biden focused on South Carolina and said, you're part of the campaign to get people to write Biden in on their ballot this Tuesday.

Why is that? What's the goal? Why is it important? We're having this primary Joe Biden's not on the ballot. But we take our civic responsibility like extremely seriously, you know, the New Hampshire primary is, it's going to happen. And we're going to make damn sure that people know that he is the best candidate and he is our pick to, you know, lead our country. And honestly, I to, you know, lead our country. And honestly, I think, you know, we want to make sure that folks know his of his accomplishments, whether it's the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, you know, things like that, that I think are actually making a difference in people's lives. Things like reducing the cost of insulin and like, you know,

fighting for things like trying to reduce our student loan debt. He's the best candidate. And we're just going to make sure that he comes out on top on Tuesday. Yeah. Aside from the presidency, there's another crucial race happening in New Hampshire for the governor's office. The Republican governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, declined to run again. And so Democrats are trying to flip the state blue. Can you tell us more about why that effort is so crucial? Yeah, so we have two major candidates right now, former Mayor Joyce Craig from Manchester and Executive Counselor Cindy Warmington. I want the House majority. I want the state Senate majority because it legitimately will make a difference in people's lives. But the key will be making

sure we get the governor's seat. So I think end of the day, that's going to be a super competitive race. And their opponent is going to be right now, the front runner looks like Kelly Ayotte, Chuck Morse, who's a state senator is also running. So it's going to be a tough race. Everyone's going to be fighting for that. I'm sure the DGA and the Republican Governor's Association, whatever, they're going to be throwing in a boatload of money. So it's, it's going to be a contentious race. It's gonna be an exciting one. And I think I live in Nashua. And my city is one of the cities that really is a big determiner. So when Nashua most likely will win the state. Yeah, absolutely. Manny, thank you so much for being here. This was great. And good luck on Tuesday. Oh, thank you. It's been a pleasure. That was

my conversation with Manny Espitia of the progressive group run for something. And good luck on Tuesday. Oh, thank you. It's been a pleasure. That was my conversation with Manny Aspitia of the progressive group Run for Something. And that is the latest for now. We will be back after some ads. Now let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. The death toll in Gaza has soared past 25,000 people. The Gazan health ministry announced that grim number yesterday, and one of the deadliest days of the war happened this past weekend.

178 Palestinians were killed in one 24-hour period. Meanwhile, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu continued to double down against the two-state solution, even after President Biden tried to press him on the matter in a call on Friday. Netanyahu later said in a video statement, quote, I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of the Jordan River. It's a stance that is, to say the least, increasingly at odds with the international community. Yesterday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had this to say. The repeated refusal yesterday to accept the two-state solutions

for Israeli and Palestinians is totally unacceptable. A grand jury is set to investigate local police in Uvalde, Texas, for their response to the deadly 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School. The move was first reported by the Uvalde Leader News on Friday, and it comes after the Justice Department released a report last week detailing the police's failures in the shooting that killed 19 young children and two of their teachers. Many former law enforcement officials have already resigned or been fired following the massacre. Now, members of the grand jury will meet twice a month to hear testimony from witnesses in order to determine whether Uvalde's district attorney, Christina

Mitchell, can bring criminal charges against some of those officers. Kimberly Mata Rubio, the mother of a 10-year-old girl who was killed in the Uvalde school shooting, released a statement on Friday saying, quote, I am glad people are finally seeing the truth. Our children and those two teachers were failed. In some very tragic news, 91 people died due to last week's intense winter storms that stretched throughout most of the country. That's according to CBS. The news outlet found that most of the deaths happened in Tennessee and Oregon. The governors of both states declared states of emergency after severe ice storms tore through neighborhoods over the weekend, blowing down

infrastructure and icing the roads. In Portland, officials found three people who were electrocuted to death after a power line fell on their car mid-drive. The only survivor was a baby who was in the backseat. Casualties also happened in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Washington, Kentucky, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and New York. And tens of thousands of people across the country are still without power as a result of the severe weather conditions. Cold weather is expected to last for the next few days nationwide.

California may have some of the country's highest housing costs, but it will soon give first-time homebuyers a helping hand with round two of a popular loan program. It's called the California Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loan. State officials announced that starting in April, people can apply for no interest, no monthly payment loans that will cover down payment and closing costs. To qualify, you have to be a first-time homeowner and your parents must not own a home. So this is a big deal for people who can't rely on generational wealth. It's also open to people who've been in foster or institutional care, and repayments on the loan only kick in

when the home is paid off, resold, or refinanced. Round one of this program took place last April, and it was so popular that it ran out of funds in just 11 days. But this extension goes a long way in tackling the state's housing crisis. Right before round two was announced, California Governor Gavin Newsom joined Pod Save America last week to talk about that crisis and more. California, we've led the nation in terms of high costs and nimbyism that's led to low production and led to supply demand imbalance that is quite literally strangling the ability for middle class to make it.

You can listen to that full interview with Newsom on tomorrow's episode of Pod Save America. Nearly 30,000 faculty members in the California State University system, or CSU, will walk off the job today to demand better pay and benefits. Starting at 8 a.m. Pacific time, professors, librarians, counselors, and coaches from all 26 Cal State campuses will go on strike for the next five days after universities failed to meet their union's demands for a new labor contract. Their union, the California Faculty Association, is asking for a 12% salary increase across the board for its members. School officials have only offered faculty a 5% salary bump so far. This comes after CSU came to an agreement with more than 1,000 of its trade workers on Friday. Those workers are set to join CSU faculty in their strike in a show of solidarity while they vote to ratify their new deal.

CSU said over the weekend that classes will not be canceled because of the strike, but students across the state have no idea what their school's expectations are if their own teachers aren't coming to class. Now that, to me, sounds like classes might be canceled. Listen, when I was in school, we had this rule, if the teacher wasn't there within 10 minutes, then you could leave. It was fine.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. I would advise that for all of the students here. That's sounding like a rule, but a lot of people are about to take into consideration. And those are the headlines. Two more things before we go.

Today is the 51st anniversary of Roe versus Wade. Despite it being overturned in 2022, activists in many states are trying to get abortion rights on the 2024 ballot. You can learn more and how to be involved yourself with Vote Save America. Just head to votesaveamerica.com slash fuckbans. Also, in today's episode of our digital series, Political Experts React, Dan Pfeiffer and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki go through a roundup of the worst and best ads from the 2024 Republican primary. They discuss Nikki's Hailie Mary strategy

and a Never Trump ad that's been airing during town hall events on Fox News. This episode of Political Experts React dropped today, so check it out only on the Pod Save America YouTube channel. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, give NASA tips on how to open up jelly jars and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Ron's single state plan to ruin America like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and

subscribe at Cricut.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Trayvon Anderson. And get back to Florida where you belong, Ron. Except not while I'm there. I'm going to Florida in a few months. I'd like to be out of town when I am there. If you could make that work. What a day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producer is Itsy Quintanilla.

Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. And our showrunner is Leo Duran. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.