What A Day - The DeSantis Documents

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

Hundreds of documents containing detailed debate advice seemingly intended for Gov. Ron DeSantis were posted online this week, according to reporting by The New York Times. The documents – which were later taken down – were posted by Axiom Strategies, the company owned by the chief strategist for DeSantis's Super PAC.Earlier this month, a Texas woman was arrested and charged with threatening to kill U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan — the judge currently overseeing Trump’s election interference case. Plus, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office is investigating targeted threats against members of the grand jury that indicted Trump and 18 others earlier this week.And in headlines: Maui authorities released the identities of three more wildfire victims, Hurricane Hilary is headed north toward California and the Southwest region of the U.S., and Little Rock will continue offering A.P. African American Studies despite guidelines advising otherwise from Arkansas officials.Show notes:NYT: Defend Trump and ‘Hammer’ Ramaswamy: DeSantis Allies Reveal Debate Strategy - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/us/politics/desantis-debate-strategy.htmlHelp Maui Rise: Directly Aid ʻOhana Displaced by Fires – https://tinyurl.com/23cnpvqzMaui Mutual Aid Fund - https://www.bit.ly/mauimutualaideHawai'i' Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund - https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strongFundraiser for Nā ‘Āikane O Maui Cultural Center, which burned down: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvvJeNzy2WM/?img_index=1What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked 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/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Friday, August 18th. I'm Juanita Tolliver. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, where we just want people to leave Britney Spears to hell alone. Like that early 2000s video. And we're sending her so much love and healing as she goes through a messy divorce. Yeah. Also, if you don't get the leave Britney Spears to hell alone meme, you gotta look it up. Get to the Googles. It's a very important part of early 2000s culture, okay? Crucial. On today's show, Maui authorities released the identities of three more wildfire victims.

Plus, we've got an out-of-this-world installment of Josie vs. Science in store for you all, so prepare yourselves. Oh, no. I'm preparing myself. But first, yesterday, the New York Times published a report about documents that contain private, detailed debate advice seemingly intended for Governor Ron DeSantis ahead of next week's first Republican primary debate. It is yet another embarrassing moment in a campaign packed full of embarrassing moments, in fact. Yeah, I feel like this is what you get when you fire 40% of your staff. But here we are. First things first, how exactly did the New York Times get their hands on these documents? Yeah, this is actually a pretty interesting part of the story because the documents weren't leaked

or anything. They were available publicly after a company called Axiom Strategies posted these documents on their website earlier this week. So Axiom Strategies posted these documents on their website earlier this week. So Axiom Strategies is owned by Jeff Rowe. Jeff Rowe runs DeSantis' SuperPAC, which is hilariously called Never Back Down. Honestly, this is the time to pack it up and go home. But I'm not naming any names. Like, let's be real. This is a common practice in politics. I just have never seen it go so poorly. Like, was there any thought put into this? who knew where to look. And the reason for that is, as you mentioned, it's illegal for super PACs to strategize privately with campaigns and candidates. They can't have these private interactions. So they have to like post their private strategy ideas, quote, publicly, meaning that they buy a domain, they put the documents on there, they give someone the address,

they can be downloaded, but nobody really knows that they exist, right? And that's sort of what happened here. Like the Super PAC thought they'd get away with posting the documents on their site without it being noticed. But then someone noticed them and told the New York Times and that person was not on DeSantis' campaign or the Super PAC. So not the brightest. Not the brightest. And if my imagination is correct, I bet the URL was something like home website.com slash super secret DeSantis documents, you know, like, yeah, that's what it's giving. Yeah, 100%. Why would they do that, though? Why would they post these documents on their own website or a website closely related to them? I mean, that's the million dollar question. Like most people would buy a different domain name and put them on there so that they couldn't be found.

It's very unusual and frankly, stupid that Axiom Strategies posted these documents Like most people would buy a different domain name and put them on there so that they couldn't be found. It's very unusual and frankly stupid that Axiom Strategies posted these documents directly on their own website. Yeah, I don't know what their hourly rate is that they're charging this campaign, but it's clearly not worth it. So break it down for us. What exactly is in these documents? It's like hundreds and hundreds of pages of what the New York Times calls, quote, blunt advice, research memos, and internal polling. And included in these documents, most notably, were these exceedingly detailed suggestions about what DeSantis needs to do in the debate to help his really flailing campaign. So are you ready?

All right, let's do this rapid fire. I'm just going to give a quick reaction with every point you make. Let's go. Okay. so this is a direct quote. Number one, attack Joe Biden and the media three to five times. Only three to five times? I feel like that would be the strategy in play every time he opens his mouth, but three to five times. Okay, sure. Yeah, that was my thought too. Like three to five times is not that many times, right? Okay, number two, state GRD, that's what they call DeSantis in the documents. It stands for Governor Ron DeSantis. State GRD's positive vision two to three times.

Okay, if you have to tell him to state his vision, it's giving programming chat bot. Like, that's what this is. Like, he is clearly a robot that they have to tell this to. And that's a pretty low bar. Yeah, that's a reasonable suggestion, but it doesn't feel like it would need to be even said. Number three, hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response. Oh, no, that's giving punch down like yikes, because it also tells people how far he's fallen. Like, yeah, my name is mentioned with Viveks, then I'm not up top.

Yeah, the truth is that it might be punching up because in some places, Ramaswamy is polling pretty neck and neck with them, which is really, truly a sad sign. Okay. Number four, and this is the best one. Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack. It's dark. Defend the man with 91 criminal counts. Like what? I'm so confused. Defend the man who's trashing you nonstop, your main competitor. Day in and day out. That's just incredible advice from a Republican strategist. And it's probably not even bad advice because the Republican Party is so full of sycophants who love Trump so much. Right. That DeSantis has to actually defend the guy. It's sickening,

but also hearing this strategy and the points you just mentioned, I'm just like, it's not going to help DeSantis. He literally needs to just pack it up right now because there's no clearer sign that DeSantis is in trouble than his biggest supporters, his campaign strategist telling him he has to defend Trump. Like what? Right. It's worth noting that the documents try to spin defending Trump in a way that would theoretically make Trump look weak. They suggest that if Chris

Christie attacks Trump, Santa should say something like, quote, Trump isn't here, so let's just leave him alone. He's too weak to defend himself here. It's giving leave Britney alone. It's giving leave Britney alone. And it is so funny to tell this man to call Donald Trump weak when Donald Trump is polling 40 points ahead across the board. Donald Trump is beating you, boo. He's not the weak one. It's almost like his campaign advisors are telling him, hey, just clear the path for Trump. That's all you got to do. Right. Like he is the pick in the pick and roll. Right. That's all I know about basketball. Don't ask me anything else.

I don't even know what that part means, but it sounded really good. The other things worth noting are that like these documents basically suggest that DeSantis don't talk about policy at all during the debate because it's not going to get media attention. So they don't even mention policy in this like many pages long document about the debate. And they also mentioned something called the Roger Ailes Orchestra Pit Theory. Yikes. For those who don't know, Roger Ailes, now deceased, former head of Fox News, pretty horrid human being all around, had a orchestra pit theory that basically said, quote, a candidate who lays out a comprehensive plan on foreign policy

will draw less coverage than the one who accidentally falls off the debate stage. I guess. Yeah. I mean, if you fall off the stage who accidentally falls off the debate stage. I guess. Yeah. I mean, if you fall off the stage, I'm going to watch that. That's a viral moment. I don't know if that's exactly how you want to frame your campaign strategy. Especially a presidential campaign, because yikes. It's really bananas. So basically, this document lists potential, quote, orchestra pit moments for DeSantis, including that they suggest that DeSantis should make up a Trump-style nickname for Ramaswamy. And what they suggest is fake Vivek

or Vivek the fake. These people are paid lots of money to do campaign strategy. Thrown in the garbage because, one, all they're saying is try to be like Trump as you promote Trump and then defend Trump, which is ridiculous strategy. And two, fake Vivek, like it's a weak response. It's ridiculous. It's also such a stupid nickname. It's so clearly trying to imitate Trump. It's just crazy.

Anyway, these documents included a lot of other stuff too. Turnout estimates, 17 pages of attack strategy, apparently including about attacking Ramaswamy, 400 pages of detailed polling about New Hampshire. A dossier about Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, who truly nobody even knows is running for president. At all. Like, that's the kind of state that DeSantis is in, right? Like, he's running a ward off candidates who I've basically never even heard of.

And here's the funniest slash saddest part of these documents. They like at some point kind of just remind him to try to act kind of human. They say, quote, invoke a personal anecdote story about family, kids, Casey showing emotion. Casey's his wife. I told you they're programming a chatbot. That's literally what this is. Hey, be human, robot. It's so bizarre. Also, our bingo cards are set for the debate night drinking game. Every time DeSantis does one of these things included in this document, then you got to take a shot. I don't make the rules.

We're just here. You're going to be very drunk. So just drink some water in between. All right, y'all, we're going to pivot from a ridiculous story to a very demented story. So earlier this month, a Texas woman was arrested and charged with threatening to kill U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin, the judge who is currently overseeing Trump's criminal case stemming from his federal indictment regarding January 6th and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. According to court documents, Abigail Jo Schreier left a threatening message on Judge Chutkin's office phone number on August 5th. Now, I'm not

going to repeat the violent and racist statements that Schreier made, but in addition to threatening the life of Judge Chutkin, she also threatened the life of Democratic Congresswoman and candidate for mayor of Houston, Sheila Jackson Lee. Yeah, this story is obviously scary, disturbing, and also very dumb. I have to come on once again, as nobody's lawyer, I just want to underscore that you should not call judges and threaten them on their phone. Step one, don't call a judge. Don't call a judge. Don't leave a message. Don't leave a message and don't threaten them.

So like, where is this woman now? The message lever. Shry is still in custody after a judge denied her bail and ordered her to be jailed for 30 days after a detention hearing. Also, this isn't the first time that she has faced charges related to making threats as she's been charged with similar crimes four times in the last year. So it's like once a quarter she does something like this. Sadly, Shry's decision to target and threaten Judge Chutkin is not far off from the threats Trump has posted online, which has included statements like, quote, If you go after me, I'm coming after you, in all caps, no less. It's dangerous, it's unhinged, and we can only expect the rage to increase as Judge Chutkan is scheduled to announce a trial start date on Monday, August 28th.

Considering that Trump is requesting an April 2026 trial date, he's definitely about to be disappointed again. I almost admire asking a judge to put a trial off for three years. Ooh, child. That is truly next level. And it also seems like related to this, that Trump supporters are engaging in some targeted harassment down here in Georgia too, right?

100%. The latest reports out of Georgia are that the Fulton County Sheriff's Office is investigating targeted threats against members of the grand jury that indicted Trump and 18 others earlier this week. I can't get over the fact that that was this week, including circulating their home addresses, social media profiles and photographs in right wing groups, though the media has yet to confirm that all of the information is correct. Now, the jurors names were already public and unredacted in the indictment itself. But as this information is making the rounds online, there are huge concerns for the safety of these individuals and their families. And honestly, I can't help but think about the fear and the harassment that Ruby Freeman and

her daughter Shay Moss described to the January 6th Select Committee about how Trump and his supporters lashed out at them. It's a sickening reality that this threat is very real. Yeah, it really is. And it makes it very difficult to find people who can serve in this capacity, right? Because we want people to do jury duty, but- Right, all they do was a public service and now they're being tracked.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, hopefully these jurors are able to maintain their safety and their privacy because there's nothing like having a former president coming after you. We'll continue to bring you updates on these stories, but that's the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines. Maui authorities released the identities of three more wildfire victims on Thursday as the death toll from the disaster rose to 111. All five who have been identified so far are elderly and thousands still remain unaccounted for.

And as of our recording time at 9.30 p.m. Eastern, rescue workers have searched about 40% of Lahaina for missing persons. Meanwhile, President Biden confirmed that he and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Maui on Monday to speak with survivors and survey the damage. But the visit could prove contentious. White House officials announced earlier this week that FEMA would give each displaced family a one-time payment of up to $700 in aid to cover essentials. I'm screaming because these are individuals who just lost family members and loved ones. They just lost all their possessions in their homes. And you think $700 a household is going to cut it? Are we seeing the same pictures of what these people are facing?

This is the most deadly wildfire in American history. It has just destroyed people's entire lives. $700 is a joke. And let's just say that this announcement didn't go over very well with local residents, given how high the cost of living is in the islands. According to the World Population Review, Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in. A living wage for a family there is over $107,000 per year,

and a single home costs an average of $730,000. That's not even accounting for how groceries cost 50% more than the national average because of import taxes. And if Biden's going to be on the ground on Monday, I really hope the White House is rolling out some additional funding announcements before he touches down, because otherwise, I have no idea how this is going to go. Now for an update on the latest developments in Niger, where the country's democratically elected president remains under house arrest after military officers ousted him from office

last month. Defense chiefs from ECOWAS, the West African Regional Bloc, met yesterday in Ghana to discuss efforts to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, and a senior official there told army chiefs that ECOWAS is ready to intervene in Niger if the coup is not reversed. Yesterday's meeting comes after ECOWAS ordered the deployment of a, quote, standby force last week, a move that was prompted after coup leaders defied an August 6th deadline to restore the ousted president or face possible military intervention. It still remains unclear if and when an intervention could happen. Meanwhile, France and the United States have suspended military operations in the country, a move which the Associated Press reports has led to an increase in attacks.

Earlier this week, at least 17 soldiers in the country were killed and nearly 24 wounded in the first major jihadi attack in six months. California and the southwest region of the U.S. could be in for some heavy rains and flash floods tonight as Hurricane Hillary heads north. The storm, which formed off the southern Pacific coast of Mexico earlier this week, was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane on Thursday, and forecasters say it could escalate to a Category 4 by the end of the week. While the storm isn't expected to make landfall in the United States, forecasters say that California could see several months worth of rainfall in just one or two days, triggering potential floods.

And neighboring Nevada could also see some severe weather. If Hillary does make landfall in California, it will be the first time the Golden State has seen a tropical storm in 84 years. Forecasters say that the storm will reach its peak on Sunday and Monday before moving even further north. And finally, the Little Rock School District in Arkansas announced that its schools will offer advanced placement African American studies despite guidelines from the state. Earlier this week, Arkansas's education department said that the content in the course could possibly violate a new law banning indoctrination in schools. Indoctrination to learn about African American studies. Yeah, I feel like we need to pause here because it's learning about the truth of the history of

this country, learning about the truth that Black people have experienced, and we can't do that. This comes after Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order back in January banning, quote, indoctrination and critical race theory in schools. In further efforts to discourage schools from offering the class, state officials said that the course might not provide credit towards graduation and that the state would not help students pay the nearly $100 AP test fee. Arkansas is not the only state to restrict access to the class, and Florida issued a ban on the course earlier this year. In response to these decisions, the NAACP President Derek Johnson said, quote, let's be clear, the continued state level attacks on black history are undemocratic and regressive. 100%. You want to punish the students who want to learn about African-American history and studies.

It's a shame that Ruby Bridges is alive to witness this ridiculousness. It's a shame that Little Rock School District has to make this decision against the state to act out on its own. And if y'all are hosting any fundraisers to support students with these test fees, please sign me up immediately. There are members of the Little Rock Nine alive right now. Right. They are alive today.

Right. They had to integrate that school while being yelled at, screamed at, things thrown at them, had to have protection from the National Guard. I mean, like, this is like current history and it's being called indoctrination. It's just insane. If you needed your weekly reminder about how racist Republicans and the Republican Party is with these policies, here you go. Yeah, these are the people who keep telling us we're crazy

for calling them racist. And then they're like, hey, we actually think our kids don't get to learn about black people. Hmm. Well, those are the headlines y'all. We'll be back after some ads. It's Friday wide squad. And today we're going to space in our latest installment of an ongoing experiment. We like to call Josie versus science. Did you scream? I'm scared.

What's it going to be? Thank you for that wow okay this is of course our recurring segment where we agonize my co-hosts with news out of the realm of science from meatballs made of mammoths to the screams of plants i heard your scream forgot about the screams of plants i just want to know are you ready for another round i'm actually not because let me tell you what haunts me dinosaurs with lips and i'm truly scared of what's about to come i don't know what's coming and i already ate it okay brace yourself okay this week we have a story about a cosmic punctuation mark spotted in deep space nasa's james webb space telescope recently captured an image where among other stars and regular formations seen in space one particular mysterious shape was spotted

the shape was a question mark question mark in space yes like a literal question mark in the middle of the stars. So the picture was actually shared last month by the European Space Agency. And after it went viral on social media, the agency had to clarify that it is not a hoax. And of course, people online have thoughts about an apparent question mark floating in space. Like one Reddit user who wrote, quote, the aliens know we found them. And now they're just messing with us. That I was just going to say this has to be aliens related.

Scientists have now weighed in to share their much needed expertise. And as it turns out, the question mark is likely two or more merging galaxies. And the question mark shape could just be our point of view. So Josie, what do you think this galactical question mark is trying to ask us? Listen, all of this is bad. If it's aliens, it's bad. If it's merging galaxies, I don't like that either. What does that mean? How do galaxies merge? I mean, it's giving black hole. It's giving stars exploding. I don't like it. I'm not here for it. And I do feel that this is a sign that the world is trying to give us. Maybe this is like a big question mark of other planets being like, hey, what's going on down there? What are they doing? Seems really chaotic. I'm just gonna keep in the interstellar line of

thinking that a black hole could lead to other livable planets for us after we've ruined ours. And I'm just gonna end it there. So listen congrats. Listen, I recently watched Interstellar and I do not like that movie either because... What? Okay, we're gonna have to talk about this. I like the movie, but I'm just saying you're gone for seven hours. You age...

I can't take the time stuff. Galaxies shouldn't merge. Time should be linear. It's all relative. My brain can't take anything else. It's okay. Rest easy, friend. You have survived another round with science

and you're better for it, right? I am still here to hear whatever next week's awful science fact is to ruin my week. So there's that. One more thing before we go. We just want to give a huge shout out to our wonderful Cricket Production intern, Ryan Cochran. Today is his last day with the What A Day team. He has been such an incredible help writing headlines and doing research for the show amid an insanely chaotic summer.

I don't know if you heard, but our president got indicted like 28 times. From Supreme Court rulings to the Trump indictments to the historic SAG-WGA double strike. He has been right there with us. We're going to miss him so, so much. We also saw Barbie together. So we're connected for life. Tune into the show next week to hear the special project he's been working on for us right

here on WOD. You are going to love it. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, buy a telescope, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Republican debate memos like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Juanita Tolliver.

And leave Britney alone. I have to say, it was sobbing. You got to do it under a bed sheet with a lot of mascara. There was heavy mascara. There was a lot of mascara. Right? Right. Right. I'm remembering a bowl cut. It was good. It was a good video. Google it if you don't know what we're talking about, please. Exactly.

You have to Google it. If you don't know, your life is about to change. I forgot about the bowl cut. I know. Now I have to rewatch it. It's just a vague memory now. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance.

Our show's producer is Itzy Quintanilla. Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. Our intern is Ryan Cochran and our senior producer is Lita Martinez.

Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.