What A Day - The Art Of Warnock

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is heading back to D.C. for a full 6-year term, after defeating Republican challenger Herschel Walker in Tuesday’s special runoff election. Warnock’s victory now gives Democrats an outright majority in the Senate with 51 seats, and brings a whirlwind midterm cycle to a close.And in headlines: the suspect in the Club Q mass shooting was charged with over 300 counts, a Manhattan jury convicted the Trump Organization of tax fraud, and Indonesia’s parliament passed a controversial new criminal code.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastEvery Last Vote | Vote Save America – https://votesaveamerica.com/every-last-vote/Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Wednesday, December 7th. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And I'm Juanita Tolliver, and this is What A Day, where we're kicking off our official vacation from political fundraising texts. Yeah, listen, we loved getting those texts this year, but we are going to love not getting them just as much, maybe even more. But Priyanka, the break is going to be so tiny. 2024 has already started. Deadass. Juanita, why did you have to remind me? It's fine. Not to rain on your parade. I

wanted a couple weeks without the text and I would be fine. On today's show, a Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump's company guilty in a multi-year tax fraud scheme. Plus, researchers say beware of the great whitewash of Shark Week. But first, we have official results in the Georgia Senate runoff election, and Senator Raphael Warnock is heading back to D.C. for a full six-year term, and he's the first black man to ever come out of Georgia to go to the Senate for a full term.

So that's huge. We're very excited. We are very excited over here on WOD. When I tell you I'm hype, it's a gross understatement, but Georgia voters and Warnock supporters, Democrats across the nation owe you a massive thank you. So thank you very much. Y'all have turned out for Senator Warnock four times in two years and looking at the data, y'all didn't disappoint us or let us down again. Warnock outperformed himself in Democratic strongholds like Fulton County and Cobb County, which actually used to be a Republican stronghold as recently as 2012.

On the flip side, Herschel Walker saw drops in votes in support among Republicans, especially GOP voters in wealthier suburban counties like Forsyth County and Cherokee County. And part of that is likely due to the fact that he didn't have any other Republicans propping him up. Remember, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp outperformed Walker by 200,000 plus votes on November 8th. And what we saw yesterday is the impact of Walker going directly head to head with Senator Warnock and Republicans not being willing to pinch their noses and vote for him. Right, exactly. Like, as you're saying, you know, back in November, there were people who Republicans who went to go vote, saw Brian Kemp on their ballot,

saw other Republicans they knew, and were just like, I'm here. Let me check this box. But when it was just Herschel Walker on his own, they were like, you know what? I think I'd rather stay at home, which is extremely telling. And I mean, cost him this race. I appreciate it because I'm like, go away. I don't want to hear from you ever again. Don't want to see your name in politics ever again.

Just go back to Texas already, right? Yeah, listen, those voters were saying that and we are too. I feel like we don't have that much in common, but that we can agree on. We would like to never hear from Herschel Walker ever again. Thank you very much. And when you consider how many Republicans just stayed at home, you have to also keep in mind how both of these candidates closed their campaigns. Listen to these dueling closing messages. Here's Herschel Walker at one of his final campaign

stops this week. I told you early on that they said there was peace through strength, and our strength is our great military. But now they're bringing pronouns into our military. They're bringing wokeness into our military. I don't even know what the heck is a pronoun. I can tell you that, and I'm sick and tired of this pronoun stuff. Sickening. So after talking werewolves and vampires, Walker transitions to focus on more extremist anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The Walker campaign really thought that hate was the best option. They thought that was their closing message. But meanwhile, Senator Warnock made it plain that this race was about right and wrong. Listen to what he shared with Joy Reid on Election Eve.

Given my opponent, this race is not even about Republican versus Democrat, red versus blue, right versus left. It's right versus wrong. And I think people see that. Georgia voters most definitely saw through that, right? Yeah. And I also appreciated that Senator Warnock closed his campaign by just showing voters reacting to Herschel Walker's own that, right? Yeah. And I also appreciated that Senator Warnock closed his campaign by just showing voters reacting to Herschel Walker's own words, right? Like it made the point for him.

And voters saw the abuse allegations, the abortion allegations, the hidden children, and the asinine things that came out of Walker's mouth every single day. And thus we have the results we have. Truly, like, honestly, it's amazing. Every single day, there is no shortage of shit this man has said and done. It is truly wild. And while it may seem plain as day to everybody watching, this race was never actually considered a sure thing for Democrats. Like we weren't hanging out over here being like casual day over

here. Like Warnock has it in the bag like despite all of this we've been worried this whole time exactly right and being chill about this wasn't an option for Democrats they threw everything that they had at this because they had reasonable concerns about how this runoff election would turn out especially when you consider voter fatigue the fact that Senator Warnock led Herschel Walker by only 37,000 votes on November's election, and the horribly effective voter suppression tactics that Republicans deployed in the form of SB 202. So this race was never a sure thing, but Georgia voters knew what had to be done. Listen to what a few Georgia voters had to say about voting in this runoff. The excitement

of it, the push. I have two young boys that I'm raising at home. You know, I wanted them to be able to see what it's like to have a black man in office, you know, who's God fearing and that, you know, they can do it too. This is our job. It's our duty. There's places all over this world where people aren't allowed to vote. Hell, we weren't allowed to vote. And now that we're able to, people want to talk about fatigue. I'm sorry. No, I'm not fatigued. Not fatigued one bit. Georgia voters showed up and showed out, like we like to say in the South. And they were able to do that thanks in large part to the voter mobilization infrastructure that Georgia organizers developed over decades and the collective of organizations that deployed

to Georgia to make this outcome possible. We need to give all of the organizers all of their flowers because when the dust settles and we see the breakdowns of turnout numbers, I expect to see strong turnout among black, Latino, AAPI, and youth voters, with turnout improvements even since November. And all of this was in spite of Georgia Republicans' best efforts to obstruct voters

by cutting the runoff period in half, closing polling places, removing people from voter rolls, removing drop boxes from communities, having ridiculous signature laws, and more. But in the face of all of that, we know that organizers worked overtime in this runoff, especially in the early voting period, which showed spikes among black voters and young voters and women voters compared to November's election. Look, a win is a win, but let's get a federal voting rights law on the books to combat this rampant voter suppression already. Absolutely. So, you know, all of this is what happened in Georgia last night. But this election will have implications far beyond Georgia as well. So we

wanted to take a minute to talk about, you know, what happens next from here. So, of course, Republicans now have control of the House and Democrats secured their control of the Senate in last month's midterm elections. None of that changes with these results. But this still has a huge impact on what Democratic control of the Senate will look like now. And that is a really exciting thing. So first of all, Senator Warnock's victory reduces the leverage that Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have had while the Senate has been split during Biden's first two years in office. I know you are very excited about

that one. Take it away. I'm like shaking my head. I'm so over Manchin up and the way they stood in front of critical legislation. I'm talking about raising the federal minimum wage. Yeah. And now you have these two. So I am so grateful. One more time. Thank you, Georgia voters. So, I mean, like a 51-49 split doesn't entirely eliminate the ability of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin to cause trouble for literally every single one of us. But it does diminish the power that they have as individuals to hold up Democrats' agenda. So, I mean, it's getting better, which is great. And also, not to be morbid, this also does make things a smidge less chaotic in the event that a senator resigns or passes away in the next couple of years. Obviously, that is not what anybody wants.

But with a 50-50 split in the Senate, it was kind of like, we absolutely cannot handle that. That would be catastrophic beyond just very sad. And this kind of gives not the biggest cushion, but at least you have one other person, which is really helpful. This new split also very importantly impacts the split of Senate committees. We started talking about this a little bit yesterday, but want to talk a little bit more about it today. So for the past two years, the 50-50 split has resulted in Senate committees with an equal number of members from each party, which means that even though Democrats could rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break tied votes in the chamber,

Republicans could still hold up Democrats within individual committees. Now Democrats will have the majority in every single Senate committee. This will be hugely important when it comes to confirming President Biden's judicial nominees at every single level. It will also be easier for the Democratic majority to conduct oversight investigations that Republicans don't agree with. I mean, newsflash, like there is not a thing that Democrats are trying to do these days, any day that Republicans agree with. So this is very helpful. Right. Repeat after me. No power sharing agreement. This is massive. Huge. I think also this frees up Vice President Harris to be a vice president. No more babysitting duty. And I can't wait to see what type of agenda she attacks and puts front and center now that she has more time and energy to dedicate to that. So this is all massively huge

for Democrats. Yeah. Wins seriously all around. And Juanita, as you mentioned earlier, this result also shows just how far organizers have come turning Georgia into a purple state. You know, people like Stacey Abrams, groups on the ground like Fair Fight, the New Georgia Project, and so many more did so much work ahead of this election and the 2020 election years before that to mobilize Black and AAPI voters and get us all these results. Like, they are who we have to thank. They're the reason that this happened. We cannot understate it. It's incredible that the work that they've been doing.

And on the flip side, this result also shows just how bad the Republican strategy of running these candidates who like to say the very least that they were ill-prepared, like that's the nicest possible way to say it. Low quality all day. Very low quality candidates. Also handpicked by Donald Trump.

To be honest, I mean, like there are a bunch of nuts in this bushel. I don't even know, Quality, all day. Very low quality candidates. Also handpicked by Donald Trump. To be honest, I mean, like, there are a bunch of nuts in this bushel. I don't even know. But it really seems like Kershaw Walker was like the absolute worst of them. He's had allegation after allegation of domestic violence, you know, paying for abortions while running on a platform

that would eliminate these rights for others, saying stuff that is bad shit, crazy, like every single day. I believe a few days ago, he like mistook the race that he was even running in circumstances of it. Like so, so bad, really terrible. I mean, just a few days ago, Georgia's Republican Lieutenant Governor admitted that Walker would quote, probably go down as one of the worst candidates in our party's history, which tough to argue with. Girl, the other thing about this lieutenant governor, apparently he waited an hour plus in line, got his ballot and could not vote for Hershel Walker.

He is part of those Republicans who are just like, I can't do it. We all deserve better than this man. So, yeah, I'm so grateful for this outcome. I'm so grateful that we never have to hear the name Herschel Walker again. Like, go back to Texas. Go and be horrible on your own. Don't bring us into this again. Good riddance.

Yeah. Thank you. Please would love to never hear about this man ever again. We'll obviously continue to learn more about turnout trends in the coming days and weeks, and we'll keep you updated as soon as we know more there. But that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines.

The suspect accused of fatally shooting five people and wounding 17 others at Club Q, an LGBTQ plus bar in Colorado Springs, will face over 300 criminal charges. The accused attacker was charged yesterday on multiple counts of murder, hate crimes and assault. Prosecutors haven't said what evidence they have to back the hate crime charges, but noted that if convicted, the suspect could face life in prison without the possibility of

parole. Matthew Haynes, one of the owners of Club Q, put out a statement about the charges that said, quote, we continue to call out those who spread disgusting rhetoric and encourage violence against the LGBTQ community to end this behavior immediately before more people get hurt. Indonesia's parliament passed a sweeping new criminal code yesterday that has many worried that the world's third largest democracy is backsliding into authoritarianism. Many news outlets around the world have focused on how the code criminalizes sex outside of marriage, making it punishable by up to one year in jail. But the real issue is how it infringes on free speech, insulting Indonesia's president, spreading ideas

that go against so-called, quote, national ideology, and staging protests without notice will all be illegal under this new criminal code. And these laws also apply to tourists. The restrictions won't go into effect for another three years while lawmakers figure out how to enforce them. But the Indonesian government is already facing backlash from residents who have taken to the streets to protest the country's parliament. Donald Trump found out that no president's real estate company is above the law yesterday

when a Manhattan jury convicted the Trump organization of tax fraud. The case looked into whether the family-owned business had helped its executives dodge taxes since 2005 by compensating them with big off-the-books perks like luxury cars and apartments. Trump's businesses have been the subject of a number of investigations over the years, but this is the first time that any have been tried and convicted on criminal charges. As far as what comes next, the organization could be fined up to $1.6 million, which relatively

speaking isn't a whole ton, but the verdict will also mean that the company will have a harder time doing business. Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James is still investigating the former president, his three adult children and the organization in a separate civil lawsuit. That one is over whether they lied to lenders about the values of their properties and other assets. And listen, some of us don't need to wait for a verdict to know the answer to that question. Right. And Letitia James have mountains of evidence. So do your thing, girl.

Also, in other Trump-adjacent legal drama, the House Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection plans to issue criminal referrals to the Justice Department as early as Friday. Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters yesterday that the Select Committee hasn't decided who will be named in the referrals or what the exact charges will be, but the panel is still deliberating on those details. The committee is working to finish their 18-month investigation before it dissolves at the end of the year, with a final report expected to come out before Christmas.

And we need better representation in the underwater cages that are protective against sharp teeth. A study published last month by the Public Library of Science showed that a disproportionate number of the experts shown on Shark Week are white men. The majority of marine biologists in the U.S. are actually women, but across more than three decades of Shark Week episodes that were analyzed, women made up less than a quarter of the experts featured. In fact, according to one of the study's authors, Shark Week has interviewed fewer women about sharks than it has men named Mike. What? That is so hyper-specific. That is crazy.

Given Shark Week's outsized influence in the world of killer fish-based programming, the authors of the study expressed concern that its stark lack of diversity could discourage women and people of color from entering marine biology. Or watching Shark Week, period. Because if i don't see someone who looks like me sounds like me has lived like me then i'm not really tuning in for carbon copies of white mics every shark week right

that's not my thing if you're not going to do it for like the right reason of representation in this profession at least do it for the reasons of like, you give a shit about who watches this programming and people who are like, I'm sorry, that sounds incredibly uninteresting to me. Right. And imagine the spin and perspective a woman would bring to sharks. Like, I'm sure she's going to say a whole lot of information that men just overlook or dismiss as irrelevant. I mean, I think part of this article that I was reading was also that the way that sharks

are portrayed in Shark Week is largely very negative too. And I wonder if that would change. I wonder if we would get a more multifaceted view of what these animals are. Now I'm starting to feel a little bit more empathy for sharks because women are given the bad rap.

I know. So imagine if a woman comes in and is like, actually, you've got it all wrong about sharks. They're beautiful, cool creatures. And you just don't understand them just like you don't understand women. I believe it. And I'd be like, actually, you've got it all wrong about sharks. They're beautiful, cool creatures, and you just don't understand them, just like you don't understand women. I'd believe it, and I'd be like, listen,

Shark Week would be must-see programming for me in that case. Let's do it. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads to discuss some rumors that sent shockwaves through the Nancy Meyerverse. It is Wednesday, Wild Squad, and for today's Temp Check, we are discussing the work of a woman who showed us all the power of a white cashmere sweater, director Nancy Meyer. We love the cashmere sweaters. Earlier this week, The Sun reported that a sequel to Meyers' 2006 rom-com classic, The Holiday, was slated to go into production. For fans of Jack Black as a romantic lead,

this was great news, but it proved to have little substance with Meyers taking to Instagram yesterday to fully debunk the rumors. Womp womp. Now, while we were following this saga, we here at Budget Day discovered that our executive producer, Lita Martinez, has not seen the holiday. Which Juanita and I found extremely troubling, to say the very least. Who knows what other Christmas classics she hasn't seen. So, Juanita, obviously Lita's homework tonight is to watch the holiday. But what other Christmas classics are we assigning her? Like, what do we need to make sure she sees?

Look, I feel like we gotta ease her in with, like, we don't need to jump straight to Lifetime and Hallmark Christmas movies. No, no. But we got some classics with high production value, like A Christmas Story, like A Best Man Holiday. I know this is divisive, but Love Actually even like these are some baseline ones that she needs to get into. But here's where I want to challenge her on some new age stuff. Lita's objecting strongly in the chat. She's saying no, no, no. But Lita, if we have anything to say about this.

Okay, here's some that I think you'll actually enjoy. The Family Stone. The Family Stone. Do you know it, Priyanka? Yep. You got family drama. You got love that is clearly unequivocal in a relationship, but you ultimately have joy i think the other one

that i really really like is boxing day it came out on amazon prime last year it's about i haven't seen that you know boxing day is the day after christmas for them british folks across the pond but you have relationship dynamics also like the family stone okay but it's got a caribbean twist to it so i think you got to check that out on amazon prime okay i'm putting that on my list i was gonna add like the christmas classic kevin mccallister my personal yes we gotta do home alone yes i mean you don't have to do every single sequel they're not that good but the original like number two homes yes the first two one and two are so good and of course my husband claims the sequel

is better i disagree wholeheartedly but it does add in a lot of new ingredients they're different christmas in new york we love it right we do love to see that kevin hits up all the hot spots though i hear new yorkers hate it because there's like there's no way he'd get from la guardia to rockefeller plaza that quickly like they hate it because of that. But I feel like Lita, you can appreciate that. Kevin, our short king, he can make anything happen. You have your homework. I'm sorry. Lita is objecting because it's a lot more homework than she wanted. But listen, if there is a movie in this list that you haven't seen, it's your homework too. Go watch. I'm emailing a list out. Okay. Should we put it in our show notes? Maybe. Yes.

Just like that, we have checked our temps. They are ice cold, just like the snow collecting on the roof of a British cottage in the holiday. Just idyllic. One more thing before we go. If you're a fan of YouTube like me, we've got news for you. That's because you can catch What A Day on our very own YouTube channel. You can hear new episodes there when they drop, just like you would any other podcast feed. We'll have a link to our channel in our show notes.

And of course, don't forget to like and subscribe. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, keep mics away from sharks, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Wikipedia summaries of Nancy Meyers movies like me, that actually would be Lita. What Today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe.

I'm Juanita Tolliver. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And pay up, Trump Organization. Listen,anka Arabindi and pay up Trump organization. Listen, they're going to pay up. They're going to be poor. It's honestly like the plot of a Christmas movie. I'm sure that's been made. It actually is Priyanka. Which one?

Trading Places is from the 80s. Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd. Whoa. So good. What a cast. So good. Alright, I'm in. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.