What A Day - The GOP In The 305

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

The third GOP presidential debate took place in Miami last night with five hopefuls on stage. Meanwhile, Donald Trump skipped out and held a rally nearby in Hialeah, Florida. We’re joined by Leah Greenberg, co-founder and co-Executive Director of Indivisible, to discuss the biggest takeaways of the night and look ahead to the 2024 presidential election.And in headlines: an estimated 40,000 people have fled northern Gaza, the Hollywood actors’ strike is over, and Virginia delegate Danica Roem became the first openly transgender state senator in the South.Show Notes:Join Friends Of The Pod – crooked.com/friendsWhat 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 Thursday, November 9th. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And I'm Juanita Tolliver, and this is What A Day, where we have some advice for the brand new trailer of the upcoming Mean Girls movie musical. Play the music. We all know it's a movie, but right now, no one can tell it's a musical. Start trying to actually make musical happen. This isn't like Fetch. People love musicals. I was confused when I saw the trailer. That's all I'll say. On today's show, an update on the Israel-Hamas war, plus more election results poured in since yesterday's show. So we will recap those races and a very exciting night for many of us. But first, third time's a dumpster fire. Last night was another GOP debate, also known as Dystopia, live streamed.

Do you want a leader from a different generation who's going to put this country first? Or do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels? In which case, we've got two of them on stage tonight. I would be telling Bibi, finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas. Mr. Ramaswamy, thank you. Mr. Ramaswamy, thank you. We ask the questions. Ambassador Haley.

I am telling you, Putin and President Xi are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president. They would love to see that. The fact of the matter is she doesn't answer. I think there's something deeper going on in the Republican Party here. that someone like that could become president. They would love to see that. The fact of the matter is she doesn't answer. I think there's something deeper going on in the Republican Party here. We've become a party of losers at the end of the day. We're the cancer of the Republican establishment. I mean, no lie detected on the last one.

I knew what you were going to say. Like, come on, you are a cancer to the Republican establishment. But I did appreciate that exchange because this was a lot more than nikki and vivek but they did have the most fireworks last night like they went back and forth a couple of times absolutely but this debate stage featured five candidates trimmed down from the eight of the first debate in august and they took the stage in miami flor Florida last night.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Dinky Haley, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. As for how it went. In the last debate, she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time. So you might want to take care of your family first. Leave my daughter out of your voice. She said, keep my kid out your mouth. Harkening back to the slap. Wow. Anyways, Trump, of course, the front runner of all of this missing in action, third debate, third time he's skipped out. So we are here watching the B team fight it out for, I don't know, spots on a TV show or book deals or whatever else it is that they are after. He was busy holding a rally just 10 miles from the debate stage outside of Miami, Florida. Take a listen.

On day one, I will terminate every open borders policy of the Biden administration and we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. Yikes. Definitely. We wanted to get a better sense of the takeaways from this debate and where Trump stands in this mess too. So we called up Leah Greenberg,

co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, a progressive group that fights the Republican agenda. Leah, thank you so much for joining us. Pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me. So we have just subjected ourselves to yet another Republican debate. It was, I mean, just everything we expected. Some things we didn't expect, but definitely unhinged. What are your biggest takeaways and overall reaction to the debate? Well, first of all, this is just an exercise in self-punishment, right? Because none of these people are remotely close to being a

credible actual contender for the nomination right now. We all know the person who's actually on track to win the nomination, not on the stage, not particularly suffering from the hits that they are attempting to land on him. He's just off on his own. And this is just a set of people who are vainly struggling on, hoping that maybe Donald Trump drops out, hoping that maybe they get a book deal out of this. Nothing more than that. But with that said, what we saw tonight was essentially a bunch of middle school bullies arguing about which country they want to bomb next, throwing the book at as many different kinds of people as they could. And really just fundamentally demonstrating that the Republican Party is just a collection of irresponsible, belligerent people who are trying

to carry on the banner of Trump by being as hateful and as warmongering as they possibly can be. Absolutely. Yeah, I feel like Vivek Ramaswamy stood up in that role wholly during the debate. Big time. Yeah, you can see how he studied Donald Trump. This is also the first non-Fox debate. I'm very curious to know what you think about the audience and the energy this time around. Felt a little bit more balanced than previous debates. I say that with a lot of

qualifications, right? Because this is a Republican debate audience, right? Right. We all had our own reactions as the increasingly bitter fight between Nikki Haley and Vivek Rameswami has heated up. I think you saw that with the audience as well. The moderators were at least doing a little bit of work to control the fighting and to keep the candidates from talking over each other the entire time. Now, a lot has changed in the world since the last GOP debate in September. We have Israel-Hamas war, abortion being successful on the ballot across the country. And, you know, we're just eight days away from a potential government shutdown. So what are some moments that really stood out on the debate stage last night about these issues specifically? With the beginning of the debate, which was heavily foreign policy

oriented, I think what you see repeatedly is that none of these people actually have any meaningful foreign policy depth. Their foreign policy consists of trying to be as big a bully as possible, trying to play to the crowd with as many different forms of bigot bully as possible, trying to play to the crowd with as many different forms of bigotry as possible, really just trying to emulate the Donald Trumpian vibe without any of the particular mischievousness that actually makes his brand work with the Republican electorate. So it's just a competition to outbully the rest of the world. I think that's what we saw in the foreign policy section. Yeah, I do think the moment when Nikki Haley looked at Vivek Ramaswamy and said, you know, Putin and President Xi are salivating at the

opportunity for somebody like him to be in the Oval Office. And I think that paints a scary picture for all of us, right? Yeah. To the extent that there is a debate within the party right now, you do see the conflict over how to support or whether to support Ukraine and its ongoing war against Russia breaking out into the open, right? You see people like Haley who are advocating for continued engagement, like Christie, you see Ramaswamy on the other side of that, who is backed by a significant portion of Republicans in Congress at this point, right? If you're looking at what their U.S. House did, they are actually taking the Ramaswamy side of delinking Ukraine aid from the rest of their priorities. So he's, while he might be a cynical con man who's

up on that stage, he's actually reflecting the view of a lot of folks within the Republican Party right now. I want to go back to the elephant not in the room, as everyone likes to call it, former President Donald Trump once again did not attend this debate. Instead, he held a rally just outside of Miami. This is his third time skipping out on these debates. And yet he remains the front runner of this party. What would you say the purpose of what they're doing here is? Why are we doing this exercise? Why are we doing this if he's not here? I mean, especially as you strategize to make sure a Republican candidate is not elected in 2024. You know, what do you think the purpose of these events are? What are you taking away from them? I'm just really curious. unless he is incapacitated or for some super unexpected reason decides that he is going to walk away from that nomination. We don't see a world in which he is defeated for the nomination. What that means for us is we're building a strategy, assuming that we're heading into next

year with Donald Trump romping to victory in between his multiple trials that are scheduled for January, March, May, et etc. We're all a little bit in uncharted territory at that point, right? Nobody exactly knows what that looks like to have a major party presidential candidate who is repeatedly going on trial throughout the election year. What I think we're doing here and what we're seeing here on this stage is a bunch of people who are essentially waiting in the wings, hoping that, you know, that 5% chance of something happens that causes Donald Trump to drop out. And maybe they can claim the nomination after that. Or maybe they've gone a book deal. Or maybe they're trying to rebrand themselves and recover

from some of their past transgressions like Chris Christie. Or maybe they're just a con man like Ramaswamy. We got options. They're each in it for their own personal reasons, but none of them currently, I would hope, believes that they are on track to win the Republican nomination. Now, a recent poll that got everybody in a tizzy, except maybe me, I feel like. Was I the only one who kept my cool when the New York Times and Siena College released a poll that found that Trump leads President Biden in five battleground states ahead of next year's election? Now, I think there's ample time for Biden to turn this around. And I want to know what you think President Biden should do to position himself well ahead of the presidential election to actually win those states, especially after

everything we saw on Tuesday night's election that showed abortion rights wins elections. I think the answers are all contained in the same week, right? When folks went to the polls on Tuesday, what we saw across the board, Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, everywhere where there was a significant election, Pennsylvania, what we saw was that voters continue to reject the MAGA extremist agenda. They reject it at the state level. They reject it when it comes up in referendums like Ohio's issue one reproductive freedom amendment. Consistently, if we're able to make the fight at referendum on mag extremism as we were able to do in 2022 as we were able to do in this most

recent series of elections we can win and so while you would definitely rather be having good polls than bad polls right now what i take from that poll is that we've got a year and we need to spend that year making a really clear case about the contrast between the Biden agenda and the Biden promises for 2025 and the Republican MAGA extremist agenda that they are ready and excited to inflict on all of us. And that's going to take a lot of work. It's going to take creative communications. It's going to take advancing a real vision for 2025 and what you actually get if you go to the voting booth and pull the lever for Democrats. And it's also going to take going real hard on the other side and making clear so that voters understand exactly what is at stake. And just before we let you go, can you give us a sense, based on your work and the voters that you're interacting with, how voters are feeling right now and what they would want to see from

President Biden ahead of next year and into next year as they try to decide who to vote for? Voters are processing the last few years and we have had some ups and downs. And so I think part of this is just continuing to move out of the economic turbulence of the first couple of years of the Biden administration and into a sustained period of a growing economy. I think part of this is about making sure that voters really understand all of the transformational and historic accomplishments that have rolled out under Biden and have a direct connection between that and the ways that their own lives have changed or are changing. And again, I think that part of it is making sure that they know that it's not just voting for more of the same, but what is on the table in 2025 is the chance to elect a

democratic trifecta that codifies reproductive freedom, that codifies voting rights, that advances paid family leave and child care and a lot of other things that are going to be directly and tangibly important to voters everywhere. Thank you so much for joining us, Leo. We really appreciate all of your insight. Glad to be here. Unfortunately, we will be back here with another GOP debate recap in December. Stay tuned. If you want to tune out, we will do the heavy lifting for you. We will take the hazard pay.

That is what we are here for. But that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines. First, we'll start with an update on the Israel-Hamas war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters this yesterday in regards to a post-war plan for Gaza. We must also work on the affirmative elements to get to a sustained peace. These must include the Palestinian people's voices and aspirations at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza.

It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. That is markedly different than what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week, which is that Israel would likely maintain security responsibility of Gaza, quote, for an indefinite period when this conflict ends. Meanwhile, civilians continue to flee North Gaza because Israeli forces have pushed farther into the area. According to the United Nations, an estimated 40,000 people have already left their homes, 15,000 of those left on just Tuesday alone. It's also reported that a hospital in Gaza City, Al-Quds Hospital, is running out of fuel and has shuttered, quote, most operations.

The hospital said that it needs to ration what's left of their fuel to make sure they can provide a, quote, minimum level of services in the coming days. Meanwhile, the White House said yesterday that over 80 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza in the last 24 hours, which is still far below what they were receiving prior to this conflict. Right. A fraction. That is not going to make a chip in what is needed at this point. In huge news for organized labor, the actor strike is over, y'all. The negotiating committee for SAG-AFTRA the union representing Hollywood actors unanimously approved a tentative labor agreement with major studios yesterday afternoon this deal ended the months-long strike that has brought much of the entertainment industry to a standstill

it would still need to be ratified by the union's board and members which is happening tomorrow but the tentative contract would increase minimum pay and residual payments from streaming platforms. It also establishes clear guidelines and protections for actors from artificial intelligence. This comes after a tense week of negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The strike officially ended at 12.01 a.m. this morning. That is really exciting. Very, very happy for our friends at SAG for sticking it out. They did the hard thing and they got a contract that they approve of and we couldn't be happier for them. That is what they deserve. And we've got some

more Election Day updates for you. Let's start with the bad news. First, voters in Uvalde, Texas overwhelmingly elected former Mayor Cody Smith over Kimberly Matarubio. Matarubio is a gun violence prevention advocate whose child was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting just last year. Smith, on the other hand, is a former mayor of the city who served two terms more than a decade ago. Meanwhile, in Mississippi, Republican Tate Reeves fended off a fierce challenge from Democrat Brandon Presley. Yes, Elvis's second cousin, I believe, to secure a second term. It wasn't all bad news, though. There were really big progressive wins elsewhere. Honestly, mostly great news. In a landslide

victory, exonerated Central Park Five member Yusef Salam won his race for the New York City Council after campaigning on easing poverty and fighting gentrification. He'll represent a district in Central Harlem. In Pennsylvania, there was a big win for abortion rights. Judge Dan McCaffrey won his race for the state Supreme Court. His victory now gives Democrats a 5-2 majority. And finally, Virginia delegate Danica Rome is now the first transgender state senator in the South. This win is a historic one, especially for a region where states

are aggressively pushing laws that restrict trans folks' rights. Some really, really exciting wins, a big night for Democrats, for progressives, something that so many organizers and volunteers should be so proud of. So many voters should be proud of themselves for showing up for and really great changes will come of this. One hundred percent. And I appreciate you mentioning changes because we need to change how democracy operates down in Mississippi. All this election shined a light on the active voter suppression and intimidation tactics. So let's get some Democratic changes down there, too. Next, we turn to a story we've been following about the proposed $90 million training facility for Atlanta police and firefighters, otherwise known as Cop City.

We told you earlier this year about how authorities arrested several anti-Cop City activists and charged them with domestic terrorism for exercising their right to protest. Environmental advocates and community leaders say that allowing the training facility to be built would lead to more policing in a forest-adjacent, predominantly black neighborhood. Since then, Georgia District Attorney Chris Carr has indicted 61 Cop City protesters, accusing them of violating the state's anti-racketeering or RICO law and called them, quote, militant anarchists. At least 57 of them appeared in a Fulton County court for arraignment on Monday. Activists and civil rights organizations have condemned Carr for the indictment, accusing

him of using his power to silence activist voices. RICO charges carry anywhere between a five to 20 year prison sentence. And I'm glad Carr is being condemned for this because wow. Yeah, we are going to dig into this a little more on the show next week. So stay tuned for that. Cases of syphilis in newborn babies

have gone up more than tenfold in the last decade and more than 30% in a single year. That is according to a new CDC report. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that can be fatal because of damage to the heart, brain, or other organs. And infected mothers can pass it on to their children during pregnancy. Health officials said that the rise in these numbers are connected to the surge in cases of syphilis overall and because there's a shortage of treatment supplies.

But the numbers are also concerning because more than 90% of these cases could have been prevented with timely care of mothers during pregnancy. We also know that communities of color are especially impacted. According to that CDC data, babies born to Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous mothers in 2021 were up to eight times more likely to have congenital syphilis compared with babies born to white mothers. The CDC report called for more testing and treatment across the board, but especially in facilities that see patients with otherwise limited health care. That includes emergency departments, prisons, and substance use treatment centers. Here's a great one for the White House. Nearly 5.5 million student loan

borrowers are now enrolled in the Biden administration's saving on valuable education plan or save plan for short. That's the income driven repayment plan that offers lower monthly payments. It also stops interest from accruing if borrowers keep up with their payments. The administration announced the milestone yesterday, adding that 2.9 million of those enrolled in the plan have zero dollar payments, meaning they don't need to make monthly payments this year. Meanwhile, in the weeks to come, the House and Senate are poised to vote on a resolution that would block the save plan because of course they would. Anything that potentially helps people even a little bit, just for a little bit of time, is something that Republicans want to come and take away naturally. Seriously, it is their most unified position.

And they will stand in opposition to anything that would help regular Americans. That really is what they're about. And it is so disappointing. Yeah. Some of the posts that I saw in response to the save plan are like, people are like, this saved my budget. This is helping me and my family. Right. prime target to take away for republicans that's the point that's why and those are the headlines we'll be back after some ads to demand a recount on how

people magazine chose its sexiest man alive that's coming up y'all it's thursday wild squad and today we are wrapping up with a segment where we visit Coming up, y'all. It's Thursday, Wild Squad. And today we are wrapping up with a segment where we visit the last place where justice can be served in America, a place where the law is administered by two people who have zero legal expertise, aside from, you know, the things that Josie Duffy Rice says. It is time for another round of the podcaster's court. Today, Juanita and I are speaking out against the corrupt institution that is people's sexiest man alive. Juanita, take it away.

I mean, this year, the magazine announced that their pick for 2023 sexiest man alive was Patrick Dempsey, the guy most known for his role as the neurosurgeon heartthrob Derek McDreamy Shepard on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, which started airing in 2005. And you know, that's about it. I mean, he did Can't Buy Me Love, but that was the 80s. So it's been a minute. Yeah, the decision to give McDreamy the honors here has left many people scratching their heads. Many wondered why an actor who hasn't really had a high profile lately qualified for the title. Others were furious that the people, not People Magazine, but the real people of America didn't get any say whatsoever in who got the title. I mean, I think we should have been in the streets the year that they announced

that Blake Shelton was the guy. But I mean, I'm glad people are- Hard time, hard time. Are getting up with what's going on here. But Juanita, what was your reaction to hearing that Patrick Dempsey in the year of our Lord 2023 is the sexiest man alive? I feel like it's 10 years late. You know, like maybe when he was actively on Grey's, you know, terrorizing Meredith Grey

with a bit of emotional abuse, but looking beautiful while doing it. It would have flown 2013. Yes. That's not where we are today. I a thousand percent agree with you. He is a very beautiful man. I mean, he is still a beautiful man.

It just is like, where are you getting this from? Who is this for also? Like who is the target demo that people thought they were reaching with this? Is it people who are nostalgic for 2007? Who is his PR team that managed to pull off this feat? They are effective. Seriously. I'm so curious. Who do you think would have been, you know, your pick for this year? Pedro Pascal, my anxious bae who places his hand on his chest in photographs because that's where his anxiety resides. Pedro Pascal should have been front and center.

He has been killing it in amazing shows. Oh, my gosh. He's everywhere. And clearly deserves the top spot. What about you, Priyanka? Definitely his year. I might have to say based on the street style pics alone. And is it Jacob Elob alorty six five

great bags i love how i have no idea who this is he is so extremely tall he's playing elvis in the movie priscilla oh no he's the toxic boyfriend in euphoria yes he's a toxic boyfriend you are not the characters you portray yes Yes, agreed. I will accept this. He also has a great collection of bags, which I'm a sucker for. I feel like we could. Okay. I mean, what?

He's not auditioning for my boyfriend. It's for Sexiest Man Alive. So not that I could really show the bags, but that does help that he has good style. Well, to our listeners out there, if you're as passionate as we are about sexy men, weigh in with your own nominations for sexiest man alive on the friends of the pod discord server just head over to the what a day

channel to make your voice heard and if you're not already subscribed check the link in our show notes so you can join in on the fun that was the podcasters court this court is adjourned so much authority in that gavel bang. I love it. I love it. One more thing before we go. You would not believe why Tony the Tiger is being banned from cereal boxes all over Mexico. America Dissected's Abdul El-Sayed interviews reporter Nick Florco on the

Mexican government's crackdown of advertising sugary cereals to children. New episodes of America Dissected drop every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, pray the debates end soon, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just sexy men who are democratically elected like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe i'm juanita tolliver i'm priyanka arabindi and give us music mean girls trailer immediately like we need at least a sample, a little preview of something. I know more than Renee Rapp singing. Whatever. My name is Regina George,

which I love Renee Rapp. Oh, such a talent. But I need more. I need more. 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. you