What A Day - Trump’s 4.8 Trillion Dollar Wish List

Episode Date: February 11, 2020

Today is the day of the New Hampshire primary, which will hopefully be the first totally worry-free candidate selecting event of the 2020 season. We’re on the ground in NH finding out what’s motivating voters. The Trump administration announced their 2021 budget proposal yesterday, and it included big cuts to social programs like Medicare and Medicaid and more money for defense and the all-important Space Force. And in headlines: Amazon’s case against Trump, SeaWorld eliminates dolphin-riding, and Israel’s even worse voting app.

it's tuesday february 11th i'm akilah hughes and i'm getting resnick and this is what a day coming to you from the triangle state that kisses vermont yeah i don't like that i could have done better i'll be honest on today's show we're still covering the race in New Hampshire, taking a look at the Latino community in the state and hearing from some voters about what they're thinking. Then Trump's new budget and of course, some headlines. Today, voters in New Hampshire are heading to the polls for the first in the nation primary. The votes are actually going to be counted and people won't have to line up and pack gyms, then hope a haunted app collects the tallies properly. You know, the future. What's the

latest out there? Yeah, I hope that's the case. Monday was basically the last day of campaigning for the Democratic candidates. They were skirting all around the state, making their final pitches, as were we. And one of the things that made a lot of the messages sound similar was the fact that Trump was holding a rally in downtown Manchester. So instead of a lot of the messages sound similar was the fact that Trump was holding a rally in downtown Manchester. So instead of a lot of the candidates spending time contrasting with one another, they had a singular figure to aim their fire at. And then Senator Sanders, who is the person we've discussed that seems to be leading the race, a lot of the other campaigns seem to think so, polls seem to think so. He had this really, really large event with AOC and the Strokes. 7,500 people were there, the campaign

said. Interesting amount of people that still are down with the Strokes, but you know, cool. Okay, I disagree. But you know, Julian Casablanca's hive, whatever. I'm still asking, is this it? You know, years later. Anyway, bad joke. We didn't end up there, but we did spend the morning with Sanders and then Senator Amy Klobuchar and finally Senator Warren. And broadly, I think the voters that we talked to were really excited about all the candidates that they had seen or who they were about to see, but some were still sort of working through their options. And it kind of seems like the way that things are going to likely shake out, this might be a different year than normal, where after Iowa and New Hampshire, you often see

candidates starting to drop out if things aren't coming together and they're struggling in terms of the results from those states. But for now, at least a lot of these candidates are saying, even if I'm not doing that great in New Hampshire, I'm going to move on to Nevada, South Carolina and Super Tuesday States. It really could be a situation where there are around five that are still in the mix around that time. It's just going to depend on what we see in terms of how they're able to still raise money and, you know, what the actual results are on Tuesday night. Yeah, very cool. Well, I mean, you know, Bloomberg hasn't really been tested yet. We know he's spending a ton of money all over the country in traditional media. So things are likely to continue shifting. But we've spoken about Iowa and New Hampshire being

very white states compared to the rest of the country. And there's this burgeoning immigrant community, particularly in Nashua, though. So you were there yesterday. What did you learn? Yeah. So as of around 2018, the Latino population in New Hampshire was something in the realm of 4%. Small. Yeah, noticeable, but small. It is growing. And the thought is that if elections continue to be close in New Hampshire, it's a big enough percentage that these voters could be decisive if they're choosing to participate and who they're choosing to participate for. And Nashua, a city in southern New Hampshire of about 90,000 people, is one of the primary places where this community is thriving.

It's different than a lot of the other cities in the state. We spoke to Manny Espitia, a state representative in New Hampshire who represents an area in Nashua. So Nashua is known as the Gate City. We are considered one of the most diverse cities in the state with a pretty significant Latino and South Asian population. In our schools, we have about 62 languages that are spoken with a very large minority population, almost minority-majority population. I mean, I love living here. I've lived here for five years and have the honor to serve this city and the state capital. Yeah, so he said he'd been there for five years, and that means he was able to compare the last Democratic primary to this one. And he said that, broadly speaking, the campaigns are trying to reach out to these voters, you know, materials in different languages and sending surrogates that

can speak to the community and i asked to speak to you also about the issues that are most important to this community that he serves i mean housing is a big deal um you know we're not new york city so we don't have like or like boston or even dc where we have outrageous markets but people here are still worried about housing and we have very low vacancy rates, and that's something that people worry about in finding affordable housing, education. And then also we have the opioid crisis, which is a big issue that people are surrounded by. So I think those are the three of the biggest. And then here specifically, you'll see immigration will be an issue with families who have mixed statuses.

So, I mean, there were reports of ICE, and I've seen ICE in this neighborhood. So that's also a reality too. Yeah. Well, any observations from the day and the voters that you talked to? Yeah. So we wanted to try to include some of the voices of folks that we spoke to over the weekend at many of the candidates' events. They speak to what is on their minds better than I can. Here's a little taste of what they were thinking. I decided probably within the past month that I was going to vote for Pete. So originally, I was for Biden.

And within the past six months, I really feel like he's kind of let me down as a candidate. He doesn't feel like he cares. And I feel like Pete cares, and so that was really important to me. You know, I'm still very young, so I don't really have a fully formed political ideology. But, you know, right now I see myself kind of attracted towards Elizabeth Warren. You know, I really appreciate her wealth tax.

You know, I just think it's kind of immoral that we've got four people with more wealth than the bottom half of us, and yet some of my students are going home hungry at night. Well, my wife and I are very involved in helping prevention of drugs. And Amy asked us way back in June to be on a panel with her discussing her views on the opioid crisis in New Hampshire. I don't know if you're aware of how bad it is in New Hampshire. We're, I think, the top three or four states, unfortunately, I'm saying top like it's a good thing, but for the number number of opioid deaths we've been averaging about 500 a year which is just horrible bernie sanders without a doubt he is committed to taking money out of politics he was one of the first to bring up

or raise to the national front raising raising the minimum wage to $15. Here in New Hampshire, we have no minimum wage, so it automatically drops to the federal, which is $7.25, a.k.a. not a type of wage that anybody could live with dignity, provide for a family. I work at a food pantry. I see that the economy is not working for people. I myself currently have two jobs. And if it were not for the support of my partner, would not be able to afford rent, things like this. That was Mikael Stong in Nashua, William Flaherty in Manchester, Patrick McKeown,

also in Manchester, and Melissa Sandoval from Dover. So the only thing left to say is, folks, if you are in New Hampshire, get out and vote. We'll be on the ground throughout the day tomorrow and into the night. Talk to you again when we have some results. I hope I didn't jinx anything. Remember when Donald Trump said he would protect Medicare and Medicaid like 100 times over the course of his 2016 campaign and his presidency to date? I'll save Medicare. Ben Carson wants to get rid of Medicare. You can't get rid of Medicare. Save Medicare. They want to do it on Medicare. They want to do it on Medicaid. And we can't do that. People love Medicare. Yeah, well, you might recognize these clips. We've played them in the past when Trump went back on his word about this stuff.

We're playing them now because he's doing it again. Got to keep that highlight reel. Yeah, the Trump administration announced that their 2021 budget yesterday, and in a move that shouldn't shock anybody, it proposes cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and a bunch of other safety net programs to the tune of over $1 trillion. Akilah, do you want to go through what all of this actually means? Yes. Okay. So first, it's important to note that Congress will almost definitely not approve of this budget. So President's budgets are really more like a wish list that lays out the administration's priorities, and Congress has no obligation to carry it out. Still, Trump really tried it.

Okay, so what's on Trump's wish list? Do I even want to know? Okay, so in addition to cutbacks on Medicaid and Medicare, there's also cuts to social security assistance for people with disabilities. The budget also proposes slashing the Environmental Protection Agency by 26.5% over the next year. It targets the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the NIH and the CDC. Seems like a bad time to cut the CDC funding, considering the public concern about the coronavirus is on the CDC. Seems like a bad time to cut the CDC funding considering the public concern about the coronavirus is on the rise. But officials claim, you know, just like they claimed they weren't going to cut Medicaid, that the money reserved for fighting that virus would still be protected in their proposal. We'll see. The cuts would also extend to the Education Department, the Interior

Department, and the Housing and Urban Development Department. I mean, even the State Department would see cuts. Now, you're probably thinking, well, he must want to fund something good with all that extra cash, right? Well, I'm a smart fellow, and I honestly was not. Okay, well, if you were thinking that, you'd be wrong. So according to Trump's proposal, a good chunk of that money would go specifically to funding Space Force, which is not the show starring Steve Carell coming out on Netflix,

but for Trump's proposed militarized Space Force, which is not the show starring Steve Carell coming out on Netflix, but for Trump's proposed militarized Space Force. The proposal would also broaden defense spending overall, increase funding to Veterans Affairs, and yes, you guessed it, fund tax cuts for the 1%. Okay, so this budget is coming out in an election year, and it's likely going to be used against him based on what we know about it and what Democratic Party is campaigning on. So how does this actually help to openly propose these cuts now? Right. Yeah. Democrats could definitely use this against him. What Trump is doing now, cutting social programs to address the ballooning deficit, is exactly what Democrats were concerned about when he passed his tax cuts. But the budget also sets up a stark contrast between Trump and the Democrats he's campaigning against in the election.

At a time when his rivals are proposing large scale efforts to forgive student loan debt or fund free public colleges through tax increases for corporations and the wealthy, he's aligning himself firmly with the small government priorities of many Republican voters. So, you know, even if this doesn't come to fruition, once again, it's showing that Trump is in favor of breaking core promises that he ran on to get elected. Something to think about as this election year is kicking off. And now for some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Four members of the Chinese military have officially been charged by the U.S. Justice Department for hacking into the credit reporting company Equifax in one of the biggest data breaches in history. Now, as a refresher, hackers stole the names, birthdays and social security numbers of nearly half of allaches in history. Now, as a refresher, hackers stole the names, birthdays, and social security numbers of nearly half of all Americans in 2017. Holy Christ. Attorney General William Barr spoke about the indictment yesterday, saying this case represents a pattern of state-sponsored

hacking by China. It's also in line with other recent U.S. accusations against Chinese hackers suspected of trying to steal information from other American corporations like Marriott International and the insurance company Anthem. The hacks also raised questions of how well these companies have been protecting our information. I got those questions. Equifax faced a lot of heat three years ago when the public found out that the breach was going on for several weeks before the company was able to detect anything. Yikes. All right. Well, Amazon is asking President Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to testify in a lawsuit that challenges the administration's decision to give a multibillion-dollar contract to Microsoft. This is the latest out of a legal battle brought on by the tech giant, which all started two years ago when the White House was looking for a company to help improve the Pentagon's cloud system. Right now, Amazon is the world's largest cloud provider, which is why CEO Jeff Bezos felt snubbed when the $10 billion contract ended up going to the world's

second largest cloud provider, Microsoft. Amazon responded like any petty company would, by suing the administration on the grounds that there was a bias against the company. The suit cited multiple instances of Trump talking smack about Bezos on Twitter and IRL. It's still being decided whether or not Trump, who didn't show up to his own impeachment, will be deposed to show up to this trial. I got to see him talking about cloud computing. OK, SeaWorld will discontinue its practice of letting trainers ride around on dolphins backs and faces during live shows. The decision comes after PETA raised objections to so-called dolphin surfing at a stockholder meeting earlier this month.

PETA has owned stock in SeaWorld since 2013. SeaWorld defended the practice by saying the trainers stand on dolphins rostrums, not faces, and that quote, dolphins use their rostrums for among other things, digging, carrying conch shells and probing the ocean floor for fish.

The implication here, I guess, is that dolphins treat their faces like garbage, and standing on them is actually an upgrade. Still, SeaWorld has agreed to end the practice within the next few months, claiming that they already had plans to do so, and they weren't influenced by PETA's objections. Everyone needs to watch Blackfish. Yeah, I mean, it's available. It's been out for a long ass time. All right. Israel has long been America's ally in the Middle East. But as of this weekend, they're also America's ally in having an absolutely terrible voting app. Three weeks ahead of Israel's national election in March, programmers exposed a flaw in the voting app electors website that revealed the personal data of every eligible voter in Israel. That's full

names, addresses and identity card numbers for 6.5 million people. And this wasn't something that only an anonymous tier hacker could access. Anyone with a basic understanding of websites could open up the site's source code, copy an administrator's name and password that was written there, and use that to download a database with information about every Israeli voter. Elector is downplaying the severity of the leak, and it's not known which bad actors, if any, took advantage of the flaw. Israel's experience with new voting tech serves as a cautionary tale to governments around the world looking to take their democratic process inside the computer.

We gotta do voting by DuckDuckGoose. Honestly, I'm just gonna hold my hand up and hope that I get counted. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, make us your write-in vote. If you're still in the grand estate, just kidding, please do not do that. I'm serious. And tell your friends to listen. By the way, if you're into reading and not just primary results that will hopefully come in on time like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes.

I'm Gideon Resnick. And that's why it's not that bad to stand on a dolphin's face. Ay caramba. Come back, Gideon. Come back. What a day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.