What A Day - The Date Debaters

Episode Date: October 9, 2020

Thirteen men were charged yesterday in connection to an alleged violent plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. This is unsurprising when you consider Trump’s “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” tweets from earlier in the year that encouraged armed protestors to mount anti-government and anti-COVID restriction rallies. The fate of next week’s debate is in question after an extended back-and-forth between the Trump and Biden campaigns, which concluded with Trump insisting that he should be allowed to debate in person next week, even though he could still be contagious. House speaker Nancy Pelosi will introduce legislation today to create a “Commission on Presidential Capacity” that would evaluate the president’s mental and physical health for office. And in headlines: Hurricane Delta is set to be 2020’s tenth named hurricane to hit the US, incarcerated inmates can now apply for stimulus checks, and Google’s parent company introduces Waymo. Plus, Crooked's own Tommy Vietor fills in for Gideon.Show Links:CARES Act Relief for Incarcerated People (Deadline 10/30/2020)https://caresactprisoncase.org/

It's Friday, October 9th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Tommy Vitor in for Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, where we're trying a highly experimental drug called unfollowing the president. Yeah, I have not personally tried it yet, but I'm following the trials and I'm very interested. Yeah, honestly, I feel better than I did 20 years ago. On today's show, the debate over the next presidential debate, then some headlines. But first, the latest. So let me say this loud and clear.

Hatred, bigotry, and violence have no place in the great state of Michigan. If you break the law or conspire to commit heinous acts of violence against anyone, we will find you, we will hold you accountable, and we will bring you to justice. Wow, hot fire. So that was Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer speaking yesterday after federal and state authorities charged two groups of men in an alleged violent plot to kidnap her and then overthrow the government. Right. So six men were charged with various counts of terrorism, conspiracy, and illegal weapons possession in this plot. And seven other men who are affiliated with an anti-government extremist group were also charged in connection to it. The men repeatedly met over the summer in the basement of a shop that was only accessible through a trap door under a rug. It was like a white nationalist parasite. And their meeting agendas included everything from firearms training and combat drills to building and detonating explosive that is scary. This is all

according to the FBI, which picked up on their activities online earlier this year and has been investigating them with undercover agents and informants. Akilah, what more do we know about this plan? So many little details. All right. So according to the FBI, it appears that their plan might have been to detonate a bomb under a bridge to distract the authorities and then take Whitmer hostage before the election to some secure location in Wisconsin where they'd hold some sort of unofficial trial for perceived crimes, I guess. They also had considered an attack on Michigan's Capitol building. The criminal complaint is wild, very elaborate, and totally worth reading. It's insane, but also unsurprising when you consider the Liberate Michigan tweets from Donald Trump that inspired armed militias earlier in the year

to target the governor in anti-government and anti-COVID safety precaution demonstrations. According to the FBI, the men wanted to, quote, unite others to, quote, take violent action against state governments, which they see as having unchecked power. Another fun wrinkle to this story that we can't get into in great detail today is that at least two of these militia members follow alt-right YouTubers Tim Pool and Steven Crowder, both of whom repeatedly made videos calling Whitmer, quote, evil and, quote, fascist. So there's a lot to dig into re-internet radicalization. But for today, let's just talk about violent extremism. So, Tommy, Trump keeps pressing this idea that violent extremism is a problem on the left. But what do the official assessments actually even say about this? So, Akilah, here's some data. Over the last 10 years, 76% of terrorist

attacks in the United States have come from the right wing. That's according to Donald Trump's former assistant secretary for threat prevention at the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS. And last month, the FBI's Dallas field office put out a warning about violent militia groups because of the escalating anti-government rhetoric. So this is obviously a widespread and ongoing concern. The problem is that Trump has repeatedly ignored or downplayed the threat from these right-wing groups. And you don't have to take my word for it. The former head of intelligence and analysis at the department of Homeland security filed a whistleblower complaint in it. He alleged that his boss acting secretary Chad Wolf told him to downplay the

threat from white supremacist groups in their intelligence assessments and to play up information on left-wing groups like Antifa. The former chief of staff at DHS said that John Bolton, Trump's mustachioed former national security advisor, stripped out nearly all the language about domestic terrorist threats from the administration's national counterterrorism strategy. So, Akilah, we have a domestic terrorism problem in this country, and it is coming from right-wing groups, many of which are heavily armed and white supremacists. Yeah, honestly, it is wild how much they have tried to downplay it and just omit the fact that these things are happening. So, wonderful list. Well, in terms of the president's response to the plot, he took to Twitter last night to criticize Whitmer for her actions on the pandemic

and her suggestion that he hasn't been strong enough on far-right extremism, which, I mean, how can he criticize anyone's response to the pandemic? He doesn't have one. So we'll keep following this story. But for now, let's move on to the presidential election and the fate of next week's debate. So this is a story that has lots of twists and turns and changes. So please stick with me. Here we go. First up, yesterday, the Commission on Presidential Debates said that next week's town hall event between Joe Biden and Donald Trump should take place virtually rather than in person to, quote, protect the health and safety of all involved. It's amazing that it took this long, but it's America.

The Biden campaign was open to that idea, but the Trump campaign called it, quote, ridiculous. Then the Biden campaign suggested instead that the debate should be moved back one week to October 22nd. The Trump campaign agreed to that idea, but also suggested that a third debate should still be held and delayed a week to October 29th. Then the Biden campaign said no to that because, quote, Trump's erratic behavior does not allow him to rewrite the calendar. And then, on top of all of that, the Trump campaign said again that next week's debate should move forward in person because according to them and Trump's doctor, he'll be cleared and ready for public events. All right, Tommy, it's a lot of back and forth. Yeah. What do you think? Do you think that the Biden campaign handled this well? And how much does this really matter to

the election at all? Every day feels like a week, huh? I think that the Biden campaign handled this perfectly. I mean, first of all, I don't want Joe Biden anywhere near Donald Trump, right? The guy has COVID. He probably had it the first time they debated. We don't know for sure because the White House refuses to disclose when Trump last tested negative, but we know there are at least 34 cases linked to the White House's various super spreader events. And I don't want Biden or his staff anywhere near those people. So I think the commission on presidential debates was exactly right to make the town hall style debate virtual. If Trump doesn't like it, he shouldn't host super spreader parties at the White House. Very simple. But the Biden team also knows that these town hall style events where Biden interacts with real voters play to his

strength because he's like a human being with emotions and a soul. I think it's smart for Biden to try and preserve that format because Trump is just like incapable of empathy or getting outside of his Fox News safe space. But like, I don't think that Biden should agree to do the third and final debate on October 29th. The campaigns agreed to three dates, September 29th, October 15th, and October 22nd. Trump doesn't just get to change the rules because he got mad during a Fox business interview with Maria Bartiromo. That's just not how this works. Yeah. It's also, yeah, to that point about Trump not having empathy, his debate style seems to be make an enemy of everyone who speaks to him. So I can't imagine

it playing well when it's just people in the audience. Right. Well, while all of that's going on, Nancy Pelosi is now talking about the 25th Amendment. According to a press release from her office, she is going to introduce legislation to create a commission on presidential capacity that would evaluate the president's mental and physical fitness for office. The 25th Amendment is something that was added to the Constitution after the assassination of JFK,

and it outlines the transfer of power to the vice president if the president is incapacitated or otherwise. It has never been invoked, but, you know, first time for everything. Tommy, we don't have a lot of details yet on what the proposal is from Pelosi, but from what we know so far, what do we think her goal is? I am eager to see what this is. I mean, it sounds like she's trying to create some sort of technocratic process that makes this very serious event, if you had to invoke the 25th Amendment,

less partisan and more just, I don't know, based on facts. Who knows? But my guess is there's two pieces to it. The first is I think Pelosi seems genuinely concerned about Trump's mental state. We've all gotten used to his unhinged tweeting, but it is not normal to demand that the attorney general arrest Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, like something he routinely does. The second part of it is obviously that Pelosi's smart, and she knows that kicking up a conversation about Trump's fitness for the job, his mental state,

like that will hurt him politically. It's not a conversation you want to have, you know, with less than a month to go before the election. So I bet there's a political piece to this too. Yeah. I mean, my personal opinion is that emotional intelligence is just as important for a president to have as any other skill set. But it kind of feels like health and capacity and contingencies around that are reasonable conversations to be having about our political leaders, right? Like, am I wrong about this? I agree.

Look, I think we have to be able to talk about these issues. We have to be able to talk about age. When Trump is gone, we have to have a serious conversation about the risks posed from a president like him and all the sort of naive hope we had that norms and customs and institutions would protect us from a monster like him and clearly haven't. So this seems like an overdue discussion to me. Yeah, you're spot on. Well, that's the latest for now.

It's Friday WOD Squad. And for today's Tim Check, we're talking about a great bargain. None of us could pass up a near complete T-Rex skeleton sold for almost $32 million on Tuesday, making it the most expensive set of dinosaur remains ever. Nicknamed Stan, after the person who found it, the T-Rex was formerly on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. Now the hope is that it stays on public display instead of going into the private collection of some evil billionaire mad scientist. So, Tommy, my question for you. If you had T-Rex money and you could buy any precious museum artifact to maybe keep it for yourself, what would you buy? Calling a T-Rex stand is so funny to me. If we're going dinosaur theme, maybe like a really cool original drawing of Yoshi. But if we're just like flundering museums,

something out of the Musee d'Orsay, maybe some of that cool Egyptian art, sarcophagus, some of those terracotta soldiers just like all over the house, making people feel intimidated if they break in, that could be cool. What about you? Ooh, that's a great question.

Okay, so I mean, this is maybe really pathetic, but I'm like, if I had T-Rex money, I'd just get the projector that like projects the art onto walls everywhere else. You know, like they have like a little movie playing of Andy Warhol shit. And I'm like, great. Is that the original thing? Cool.

Let me take this projector. Now, I don't think it's like cost that much, like a projector on its own. And the rights to stream these things are probably fine. But I want the one that has the actual piece of whatever it is in there. Like, I want the original shit. That's cool. The other thing I wrote down was a beluga whale. But then I think I'd have to move to the Arctic because they don't belong in cages.

Yeah. Honestly, too, though, like, I thought you were going to say beluga whale bones. And I'm like, who has the space? I guess if you have T-Rex money, you have T-Rex space. But I imagine that I will not. Based on my own life and where I live currently. But you know what happened? Just like that, we checked our temps. Stay safe. We hope that you're rolling in that dino money. And we'll be back with some headlines. Headlines.

A police officer in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, will not face criminal charges for fatally shooting a black teenager in February. Officer Joseph Mensah shot and killed 17-year-old Alvin Cole after receiving a disturbance call from a mall. Police reports claim that Cole pointed a gun and shot at officers. But a conflicting report from an independent investigator said Cole never fired at police and accidentally shot himself in the arm. This is the third time in five years that prosecutors chose not to charge Officer Mensah for fatally shooting someone. He's currently on paid administrative suspension. The district attorney's decision sparked citywide protests Wednesday night with officers using tear gas on demonstrators. Prior to the decision, Governor Tony Evers authorized the National Guard to deploy in support of law enforcement.

Hurricane Delta continues to break records as it approaches the U.S. It's set to be the 10th named hurricane to hit the country this year, which is the highest number ever recorded in a single year. This doesn't fit with what Mike Pence said at the debate on Wednesday. Flies and storms and all of nature are rising up to embarrass Mike Pence. There have actually been so many hurricanes that the National Hurricane Center exhausted its naming list for the second time in history and is now naming with Greek letters.

That doesn't make you special, Delta. You're still a hurricane and no one likes you. Forecasters expect Delta to make landfall in Louisiana, just 10 to 15 miles away from where Hurricane Laura hit just three weeks ago. That area is still under the evacuation orders that were put in place last month, and many houses there are still missing roofs and power.

Areas from Texas to Florida are expected to face serious storm surges, and Delta already wreaked havoc on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula earlier this week, and it gained strength as it moved up the Gulf towards the U.S. Ugh, cool record, Delta. More than 800,000 Americans

filed state unemployment claims last week, and those who filed for unemployment at the start of mass layoffs in March are increasingly seeing their benefits run out. But in D.C., stimulus talks are not going well. After tweeting on Tuesday that he was walking away from negotiations, Trump said yesterday that direct $1,200 payments and a relief bill for struggling airlines were back on the table. Speaker Nancy Pelosi basically nixed that idea later in the day, saying the House wouldn't pass a standalone airline bill and was only interested in a broader relief compromise. Recently, a federal judge ruled that the $1,200 direct payments from the first relief bill should also go to Americans who are incarcerated. That

ruling comes after the IRS sent relief checks and flip-flopped and said people in prisons weren't eligible. If you know someone who's incarcerated and want to help them get their check, we put information in the show notes. Like taxis, but also like that dream you have where you're careening around a mountain road and there's nobody in the driver's seat, you're in luck because Alphabet subsidiary Waymo said yesterday that it's launching a driverless ride-hailing service in Phoenix, meaning that people there will soon be able to download the Waymo app, buckle up, and put their life in the hands of an intelligent robot. The pandemic has created an environment that's more receptive to driverless cars than ever.

Waymo also says it cleans its vehicles multiple times a day, flushes the car's cabin air, and can call the cars back to base to be disinfected. For me, the rideshare experience won't be complete unless Waymo knows to blast EDM and hydroplane when it's 7am and I'm barely keeping it together. Personally, I think the Waymo drivers should get health insurance no matter what, even if they are computers and they don't have any bones or muscles. I just feel that way. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, buy yourself a dinosaur, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not directions to the robot drivers at Waymo like me,

What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Tommy Vitor. And please turn down the EDM, Waymo Robot. We don't like hearing it. Just play some hip hop. Cut it out.

Please play hip hop. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.