What A Day - Last Debate of the Decade

Episode Date: December 20, 2019

The last Democratic debate of 2019 was last night, featuring impeachment, wine caves, and some of the biggest out-and-out brawls we’ve seen so far. We discuss what stood out in this newly-narrowed field. And in headlines: Wakanda found, Christians against Trump, and Hogwarts is bad at gender studies. Plus, we’re joined by What A Day head writer Jon Millstein.  It’s our last show until the New Year! Have an amazing break!

it's friday december 20th i'm akilah hughes i'm gideon resnick and this is what a day the empty office before holiday break of daily news podcasts taking all of my calls on speaker i'm eating all the food On today's show, it's our last show of the year and also a debate recap special. All right. Last night, right here in Los Angeles, California, at Loyola Marymount University, seven Democratic presidential candidates took the stage in the final debate of the year and of the decade. Hell yeah. For three hours, they debated about a wide variety of topics from the economy to climate change, to selfies, to health care, to the war in Afghanistan. We're going to get into some key moments and themes of the night. But first, let's talk about what we thought of

the debate overall. You were there, Gideon. What was your very up close impression? I thought it was pretty good. Broadly seemed like people were more prepared. Smaller amount of people, longer amount of time means everybody had more chances to talk about stuff in a more in-depth way. And I couldn't tell you anything about the LMU campus other than the fact that the layout is extremely confusing. Yeah, well, I have no comment on that. But I will agree with you. I think that it was more interesting to have a smaller field on the stage.

And, you know, there were more fireworks than ever. So this is my favorite debate so far. Yeah. All right. Let's get into the questions from the moderators. Obviously, the big news of the week is impeachment. As we all know, Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. It was the topic of the first question posed to all of the candidates. That's right. And all of the frontrunners at least sort of filtered their responses through the lens of how they're running their own campaigns. So Biden was talking about impeachment in the context of restoration of values in the White House. Senator Sanders was talking about Trump being a liar who sold out working people of the

country. Senator Warren was funneling it through the lens of corruption and so on and so forth. One of the ones that stuck out was Senator Amy Klobuchar, who answered the question more directly by talking a little bit about the Senate trial and the need for witnesses to testify there. And I would make this case as we face this trial in the Senate. If the president claims that he is so innocent, then why doesn't he have all the president's men testify? Richard Nixon had his top people testify. We should be hearing from Mulvaney, who is the one under oath. Witnesses have said that Mulvaney is the one that said, OK, we're going to withhold this aid to a fledgling democracy to get dirt on a political opponent.

And she also called for John Bolton, former national security adviser, to testify as well. So far, Mitch McConnell has rejected the calls for witnesses just outright in public. It was a pretty compelling answer from her, though. Anyway, Gideon, what do we think? Does impeachment change the state of this race at all? I don't think so. I mean, I think people knew that it was going to happen. I think it only changes it from a tactical perspective of some of the senators having to physically be in Washington, D.C. That's going to be a bit of a challenge for them. All right. Well, the biggest theme of the night, though, was candidates. They're finally

challenging Mayor Pete Buttigieg on everything from his lack of political experience to taking donations from multi-donors. Your prediction finally hit. So good for you, Gideon. Yeah, thank you. This is a win for me. I'm one for two now. The reason, like we've talked about on the show before, that all this is starting to come to a head now is that Buttigieg has been rising to the top of Iowa polls without the scrutiny that other candidates think that he deserves. And that has to do with a lot of things, who he's fundraised with, who was contributing to his campaign, the nature of his closed-door fundraisers, and his prior consulting work. So this first exchange was with Senator Warren on his closed door fundraisers and his prior consulting work. So this first exchange was with Senator Warren on the topic of fundraisers. Obviously, the distinction there being that Warren doesn't do high dollar fundraisers and Buttigieg is among the candidates who do. Senator, your net worth is 100 times mine. Now, supposing that you went home

feeling the holiday spirit. I know this isn't likely, but stay with me, and decided to go on to PeteForAmerica.com and give the maximum allowable by law, $2,800. Would that pollute my campaign because it came from a wealthy person? No, I would be glad to have that support. We need the support from everybody who is committed to helping us defeat Donald Trump. Judy. Judy. We would like to bring in everyone, but obviously, Senator Warren, I'd like to give you a chance to respond. I do not sell access to my time. I don't do call time with millionaires and billionaires? I don't meet behind closed doors with big dollar

donors. This ought to be an easy step. And here's the problem. If you can't stand up and take the steps that are relatively easy, can't stand up to the wealthy and well-connected when it's relatively easy when you're a candidate, then how can the American people believe you're going to stand up to the wealthy and well-connected when you're president? And it's really hard. Judy. Yeah, I thought that that was one of the most compelling parts of the debate. Obviously, among Democrats, billionaires are a dominant conversation we're having in their their effect on the political process. And, you know, Democrats, the future of the Democratic Party is about,

you know, getting money out of politics. I think this has been a pain point for Pete up until this point. I think his charge and his challenge going forward is that he has to make the point that his stance is in line with what the rest of the Democratic Party is sort of starting to lean towards. Right. And I mean, out of the top four polling candidates right now, there are two, Sanders and Warren, who don't do the fundraisers. And that's how they've clearly delineated themselves. And then on the other side is Buttigieg and Biden. And the way that Buttigieg is defending himself here is that before her presidential bid, Warren had transferred money from her Senate campaign, some of which was raised in that high dollar fundraising format. So the defense he's mounting is that she's sort of a

Johnny-come-lately on the issue. And the counter argument's mounting is that she's sort of a Johnny come lately on the issue. And the counter argument that is often offered when you hear this sort of people always say, quote unquote, purity tests. What those people are saying is that basically any amount of money is going to be thrown at a Democrat from the Trump campaign, from the RNC. So they need to take money, the Democratic candidate, from any person by any means possible doing whatever they can to try to match that. Yeah. So they could just vote for Bloomberg because he's already got the money. Yes. That's the logical conclusion. Truly, truly the logical conclusion of the argument. But Warren was not the only candidate

to go toe to toe with Buttigieg. Senator Amy Klobuchar also had a number of exchanges with him during which she compared her experience and electoral wins to his own. I think winning matters. I think a track record of getting things done matters. And I also think showing our party that we can actually bring people with us, have a wider tent, have a bigger coalition and yes, longer coattails, that matters. Thank you, Senator. I got to respond Senator. I've got to respond to that. I've got to respond to that. Senator, I know that if you just go by vote

totals, maybe what goes on in my city seems small to you. If you want to talk about the capacity to win, try putting together a coalition to bring you back to office with 80% of the vote as a gay dude in Mike Pence's Indiana. Again, I would. Mayor, if you if you had won in Indiana, that would be one thing.

You tried and you lost by 20 points. Yeah. I mean, that was be one thing. You tried and you lost by 20 points. Yeah, hard. I mean, that was definitely an interesting point of contention. And also the most I think we heard from Amy Klobuchar in any of the debates so far. Right. And I mean, it gets to something fundamental in what has been implicit about the other candidates' criticism about Buttigieg, which is essentially they're asking, where do you get off thinking that you are ready for this?

And what Klobuchar was specifically referring to there was when Buttigieg ran for state treasurer in Indiana and lost in 2010. Obviously, he wasn't as much of a figure on the national political scene then. And one more big thing to talk about here. Going into this debate, we've all been talking about this on the show. Other people have been discussing it too. We knew that the lack of diversity on stage was going to be front of mind. Since the last debate, obviously, Senator Kamala Harris dropped out. Senator Cory Booker didn't qualify. And Julian Castro, again, was not on the debate stage. In good news, moderators didn't shy away from asking about it. But Yang had to kind of bear the brunt of it on his own. Yeah, the question was directed specifically to him.

So Yang did actually bring up the mortality rates of black women in childbirth, as well as economic disparities and how people of color and people in poverty are more likely to be affected by climate changing pollutants in their areas. Senator Bernie Sanders also brought that up shortly after. But, you know, really, it was just comforting to see that Kamala's message wasn't completely discarded after she exited the race because, you know, she did have a pretty sizable share of the polling. So it's great that, you know, they didn't just throw the baby out with the bathwater. But yeah, and it might be nice to see her in the Senate early in the new year. If impeachment ends up there, I'd like to see her questioning the witnesses. That's her strength. And she does a good job of it. So yeah, for sure. So here's Yang actually on the lack of diversity on the debate stage. And the question is, why am I the lone candidate of color on this stage?

Fewer than 5% of Americans donate to political campaigns. You know what you need to donate to political campaigns? Disposable income. I think that's a really strong point. But this debate also had moments of levity and bizarre commentary. The whole Internet seized on this wine cave, wind cave moment. So it was started by Senator Elizabeth Warren. She was referencing these photos that were kind of circulating on social media from Mayor Pete's very lavish fundraiser that was in what appeared to be a wine cave. There were Swarovski crystals dripping from this upside down tree. And there was Merlot being poured softly in the background. So everyone got their licks in on the wine cave part. But Amy Klobuchar, who was never really shy about just pivoting to a weird joke. She just she had something to say. I did not come here to listen to this argument.

I came here to make a case for progress and I have never even been to a wine cave. I've been to the wind cave in South Dakota, which I suggest you go to. I can definitely relate to making random refs in conversations and debates. By the way, Sanders' team was actually at the debate wearing shirts that said Pete's Wine Cave dot com. If you don't have time to click on that or you don't feel like doing it, it's his fundraising page, obviously.

So another strange moment that happened. The final question before closing statements felt a little half-baked to us. And it was asking candidates to either give a gift for the holidays or ask for forgiveness for something. Should have been more elaborate, like a pre-planned Secret Santa or something like that. But Andrew Yang ended up finding a way to plug his own book. Yeah, he's a candidate after my own heart. Because you all should buy, obviously, stories from My Timeline for you and yours for the holidays. But the two women candidates on stage, Warren and Klobuchar, chose to apologize for being passionate

and being misunderstood, which I think is sort of an ethnography and gender roles in the country, unfortunately. But I think that's definitely more on the moderators than on Klobuchar or Warren. You know, they were asking something that no one thinks of as a fun question. Yeah. Asking someone to ask forgiveness from someone else is like very personal and you really

need to think about it. So, OK, after last night's debate, everyone's going to be like, who's up? Who's down? What do we think? Where is this thing going? It's a little unclear since there are candidates still in the race who weren't actually present last night. So we can't forget that the debate stage might look different next time. Also, we're heading into 2020. And it's good to know that the leading candidates aren't, this is all going to have on the Buttigieg Warren saga, both in national polling and in Iowa. I also think tonight was a reflection of the fact that the other candidates have taken an interesting tack with Sanders where they're not going after him because they think that his ceiling is close to where his floor is. And that could super backfire if their gambles wrong. And all of a sudden, at the beginning of the year, he's winning states. We don't know. I think Klobuchar also making very clear that she's going to try to wedge into that moderate lane, particularly in Iowa, where the Biden and Buttigieg voters go. And obviously, biggest news of the day,

Donald Glover is going to fundamentally change the Yang campaign in his new creative advisory role, I think is what it is. Yikes. Yeah, that was a joke. But not a joke. The next debate is January 14, 2020 in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake University. It's going to be the first one in an early primary state. So it's really getting real. It's an actual election next year. And we don't know what the qualifications could be. It could be easier, they could be harder. Booker and

Castro are still trying to get into the mix. But the most important thing is that's going to be the last one before the Iowa caucuses. It's going to be a big year. And obviously here at What A Day, we're going to be covering it. But we're interested in what's actually going to be impacting people's lives. So we're going to really focus on health care, DACA, climate change, student loans, and all the things that are not distracting the real stuff. Yeah. Wow, that is really nice of us. I know, we're so considerate. And now to some ads. All right, so you're hearing this the morning after the debate,

and you probably, hopefully, heard about it first from us. Yeah, that's right. But you may have read about it first in Politico Playbook. It's the newsletter that hits your inbox twice a day and keeps you up to speed on all that's happening in the world of politics. It's kind of like WOD, but for your eyes, not your ears. Eyes and ears covered. So if you don't get enough from our glorious voices, you can check out even more from the smart folks at Politico. But we want to caution you, don't go overboard from our glorious voices, you can check out even more from the smart folks at Politico. But we want to caution you, don't go overboard on politics. There is a long year ahead of us.

Yeah, know what the insiders know. Subscribe today at politico.com forward slash playbook 2020. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Okay, so for today's headlines, our last one of the year, we're joined by our special guest, John Milstein.

He's our head writer. J. Mil. Wow. I can't believe it. A lot of people told me I'd never get here, and it just feels very, very big, very monumental for me. It feels like it, too.

I feel that. Yeah, this is huge. We are no longer a duo. We are now a trio. A three-headed friend monster. What a trans. All right, well, let's get into it. New federal research shows that facial recognition technologies largely misidentify people of color with Asian, black, and Native Americans showing the highest chances of being misidentified. It's almost as if the technology was designed only for white people. Now, this could just mean having some issues unlocking your phone or checking it at the airport,

but in more serious cases, inaccurate technology could be misused by law enforcement and lead to false convictions. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling aligned herself with some very dark wizards on Thursday when she tweeted in support of Maya Forstater, a UK tax expert who was fired for repeated transphobic comments. Forstater isn't just transphobic on the weekends, it seems like it's kind of her main thing. A judge who weighed in on her firing said, Forstater is an absolutist in her view of sex and it is a core component of her belief that she will refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their

dignity and or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. Sounds like a fun lady. When Rowling characterized the forced-dater controversy as a case of, quote, forcing women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real, she seemed to endorse those kind of views. So you heard it here first. Don't take gender studies at jk's

school of magic yeah yeah hogwarts or hagrid they have too many age names like hermione yeah one of those is the school who can keep track of what form you know they're taking at that school anyways they're always changing their selves you know flying around i prefer wizards of waverly Place. Yeah. All right, guys. Wakanda is real. And I'm on my way there, so you'll never hear from me again. John, take over.

Okay, look. I know this, though, that Wakanda is real because I found out from the one person in the world I trust, the United States Department of Agriculture, on Wednesday, someone was cruising the USDA website and discovered that Wakanda was listed in a pull-down menu of free trade agreement partners. According to the USDA, it made it there by accident and has since been removed. Or is the USDA just trying to, you know, hoard all that vibranium for themselves? I don't know. But you know what? Maybe they're just like best friends with them. Who's to say? Anyway, maybe forget that I ever brought this story up. Didn't happen. Striking from the record record i've been men in black memory swipe so it's over for me we all know that christians love trump because he's built like santa but

seems like maybe that's no longer enough prominent evangelical magazine christianity today published an editorial on thursday calling for trump to be removed from office writing quote none of the president's positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character. The positives that they're talking about here are, I guess, he's tall, broad-shouldered, funny, and home alone, too. Still fitting suits. Yeah. Still, it's not clear what, if anything, this editorial says about Trump's support among everyday evangelicals.

They might still support him through the miracle of cognitive dissonance. They're on the same page about flushing. The numbers are exactly to their favor. Big update on our fundraising effort here at Crooked Media for Fair Fight. We hit $2 million. The charity is now in the top 1% of the top 1%. We will not be paying for its college anymore. Yeah, that is fair. That is correct. They just got out of the bracket for it. Thanks to all of you who stepped up though and made over 50,000 donations over the last four

months. We helped Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight get closer to their goal of having voter protection teams in battleground states across the country next year. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. This is our last episode of the year. Do not refresh your Apple podcast page. We'll be back on Monday, January 6th. Have a good end of the year, everyone. And if you like the show, make sure you subscribe, give us a rating, leave a review, kiss us

when the ball drops at the same damn time, and tell your friends to listen. By the way, if you are into reading, not just little cards that say, To Akilah from Santa like me, what a day, is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And that's how you wrap up a year in WOD. We did it. We're done.

It's over. Ryan Seacrest is here. He's telling us it's the new year of WAD. Don't be here, Ryan.