Why GOP's Red Wall is CRACKING: See Ari Melber's 2026 MIDTERM PREVIEW

[0:00] To paraphrase Busta Rhymes, there's only 13 days left. [0:04] Now, that's, of course, a reference to an apocalyptic talk, [0:07] but Republicans are fearing an electoral apocalypse in 13 days. [0:13] Trump approval crashing to new lows. [0:14] We're tracking these campaigns from the field to the airwaves, [0:17] and tonight we have a new beat reel on this latest flurry of activity. [0:24] This nation belongs to all of us, not just Mr. Musk, Mr. Trump and his fellow billionaires. [0:31] Our state, not with anger, not with fear, but with the hope that built this state. [0:42] We're going to demolish the Democrats. [0:44] We will keep Texas red, and we will keep Texas, Texas. [0:48] I think David Jolly will be the next governor, and Grimm will be the next lieutenant governor. [0:54] We all know that racism is a distraction. [0:57] We all know what it's about. [0:59] It's about trying to distract people from paying attention to the issues. [1:01] We had one young lady who was following us around. [1:04] We said, great, will you vote for us? [1:06] He said, no, I'm going to do something even better. [1:08] I'm going to tell everyone in my neighborhood, you're 100% gangsta. [1:13] I have a legislative record. [1:16] Ken Paxton has a criminal record. [1:20] I looked at his ass, and then I looked at his legs, and I said, his ass, it's like a pile of muscle. [1:30] The filter starts to slip, and Grandpa just says out loud anything that pops into his head. [1:35] Like leaning over at the restaurant going, we have a very busty waitress today. [1:41] I believe that we will win because Darlene Graham is a historically weak, unqualified, unserious candidate for the U.S. Senate. [1:50] Who are you voting for in the South Carolina Senate race? [1:52] Darlene, you don't seem excited about that. [1:56] She's fine. [1:58] Fine? [2:00] That's what's going down across some of America. [2:02] And when you talk about our country right now, one pollster likened the entire country to being now a battleground state. [2:10] Because the anti-Trump surge towards Democrats has made really most places competitive. [2:16] Doesn't mean Democrats would, of course, win everywhere, but places that were once red are no longer purely red. [2:22] Even Texas, now a Senate battleground, and Trump is campaigning on defense in South Carolina, where Darlene Graham is running to replace her late brother, Lindsey. [2:31] A top paper there noting how a year ago, a Republican president campaigning for a Republican incumbent in a conservative region was unthinkable. [2:39] To paraphrase another MAGA fan, if somebody would have told me a month ago, frontin' though, yo, I wouldn't want to know. [2:48] If somebody would have told me a year ago, it'll go, get this difficult, feeling like Katrina with no FEMA, like a flight with no visa. [2:58] Well, if somebody would have told Republicans a year ago it would get this difficult, maybe they wouldn't have given Trump so many blank checks to start this war and ruin the American economy. [3:08] Now it may be too late. [3:10] That same Carolina paper reporting how Republicans are alarmed by the turn blue in South Carolina, noting it's been about three decades since a state sent a Democrat to the Senate from there. [3:22] That goes back all the way to the late Senator Hollings, when conservative Southern Democrats could win statewide. [3:30] You know, for context, Hollings first ran for office in 1954. [3:35] So we really are talking about bucking some pretty ancient trends here. [3:40] That is just how much Trump has compromised the Republican standing even in the Deep South. [3:48] Now, those are examples in certain states. [3:50] We can also show you brand new national polling tonight that really shows the breadth of this total collapse. [3:55] And I'm about to show it to you, but I'll just tell you anecdotally, you know, we all do this for a living in journalism. [3:59] We track this stuff most of the time, most years, when you look at a poll shifting, you end up saying, oh, well, you know, it shifted a few points or a few issues. [4:09] But people still trust one party on this and another party on that. [4:12] If you go back several decades, for example, a lot of times people tend to trust the Democrats more on health care, Republicans more on immigration. [4:20] So you see that as a general matter. [4:23] What I'm reporting for you tonight, which doesn't tell us what will happen in 13 days, but it does tell you the mood, the energy, the absolute rejection of everything that Trump and his party has done this second term. [4:35] What I'm showing you tonight is the kind of collapse you rarely ever see. [4:40] People now prefer the Democrats on every single issue, not just health care and affordability, where Trump's party has lagged, [4:49] not just on gas, which everyone knows is terrible because of Trump's war, not just on corruption, where Trump has been caught self-dealing [4:55] and enriching himself more than any president in American history, an obvious failure on the issue of corruption. [5:01] But as mentioned, also in these areas where people used to recently prefer Republicans, like immigration or war. [5:10] The Times reporting it's the worst presidential approval rating heading into a midterm since 46, when Truman sank to 33 percent. [5:17] That led to massive losses for his party, that was then the Democrats, right, of 55 House seats. [5:23] Another second term president facing this kind of number lost 31 House seats in the 06 midterms. [5:28] All of this stoking the fear of nightmare scenarios for Trump's Republican Party. [5:35] So, yes, if somebody would have said a year ago it'll go get this difficult, things might have been different. [5:42] But now it is clearly too late for Republicans to reverse that total collapse on every issue that I just showed you or to pivot from a MAGA mission, which, again, if you're watching, you're still making up your mind. [5:55] It's your mind to make up. If you happen to watch this program, we report the evidence and the facts. [5:59] You decide for yourself. But I would be a little cryptic or vague if I didn't note that some of the facts are negative for this incumbent administration. [6:10] And so it is really too late with 13 days for Republicans to pivot from the fact that they let this president do just about anything, from starting a Mideast war, which grinds on today, [6:22] to then launching this completely nonsensical trade war with tariffs that proved both costly to Americans, but also illegal, ultimately struck down by the high court, which made the whole thing really hard to justify. [6:35] They also, the Republicans gave Donald Trump total blank check on attacking free speech and justice and democracy with his indicting power abusing culture canceling that would make, frankly, some autocrats blush. [6:50] So it's a lot as we bring in our expert panel. I also want to tell you that we are a few minutes out from having Chris Hayes join us live, [6:58] reflecting on this brand new exclusive interview with Congresswoman Omar, who is facing the exact revenge cases that I just mentioned, [7:06] that we're going to have that newsworthy interview tonight on MS Now. So please stay with us to hear Chris preview it. [7:12] We'll probably have a clip from it. And then later you'll see the whole thing on what is a busy midterm night on this program. [7:17] Now we turn to our expert panel, former Democratic Congressman Mondaire Jones, who's on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and our friend Alex Wagner, [7:24] of course, MS Now analyst, runaway country host on Crooked Media. Her book made the bestseller list, The Steal. [7:30] You can get it wherever books are sold. Alex, if somebody would have told him a year ago it would get this difficult, it might have been different. [7:39] And yet here we are. And it is this difficult. Some of the worst measurable numbers on issues and overall polling that an incumbent party has faced ever. [7:48] Yeah. And we're not talking about just some random period in the Trump presidency. [7:53] We're talking about the closing hours, closing weeks of this race when Republicans are flooding the zone with money, [7:59] when the president is on the airwaves multiple hours of every day offering, I guess, what amounts to a closing argument or just really, [8:07] interestingly, mail on mail assessments of John Husted's physique. [8:13] And yeah, and the president, he used the word, quote, ass. [8:18] Yeah, ass talk from the president. And what you're seeing is not only are Republican numbers not going up, Trump's floor is lower, lower and lower and lower. [8:28] He is three points lower in that approval rating than he was in September. [8:32] Democrats numbers in the gubernatorial and Senate races are basically unchanged. [8:35] And this is like with a ton of resources, a ton of messaging. [8:39] And you see in the numbers that you pointed out, Ari, Democrats are ahead on issues that are both the past, the present and the future, [8:48] whether it's the shepherding of the economy, immigration, where Republicans are traditionally strong, but even things like AI data centers, [8:54] issues that are very much determinative for not just the midterms, but I think are going to be determinative for the 2028 presidential. [9:00] So, like, whatever the Republicans are doing is decidedly not working. [9:05] And not only they're not changing course, they're doubling down on it. [9:08] Yeah. And so, Mondaire, I mean, that's that's the question. [9:10] Is this Republican Party facing a Katrina with no FEMA, as it were? [9:15] Listen, you got to finish the lyrics. Republicans are out here looking like Martin with no Gina. [9:19] OK, so they are completely. [9:22] Now, he did get he had like two minutes. [9:23] I know he was marinating. I thought of it instantly in the moment. [9:27] OK, in the moment, man, I'm a I'm a creature of. [9:30] Because we could do, you know, fly with no visa. [9:32] Uh huh. Yeah. Seat back. My eyes closed. [9:35] I still see the entire A block. Let's go. Let's go. [9:39] But we don't wrap. We quote. It's different. Yeah, go ahead. [9:41] Only on this show. I love this. [9:43] Look, my favorite thing to do these days is to wake up and scroll through, unfortunately, Elon Musk's Twitter, [9:49] which I still refer to as Twitter, to see which House Republican incumbent or challenger is getting triaged. [9:55] And for those viewers who don't know, that's when money gets pulled out of your race. [10:00] Yeah. It's in support of you, typically in the form of super PAC cash and sent somewhere else where there is viewed to be a better use of dollars. [10:07] And you're talking about how how many states Republicans view as a lost cause. [10:11] House districts in the case that I'm referring to. [10:13] I think people are still spending in different Senate races. [10:17] In fact, Republicans are finding themselves having to play statewide in what ought to be safe red states for to protect Republican candidates. [10:30] I mean, that's that's something that they shouldn't be doing in places like Missouri and Mississippi, for example. [10:35] Yeah. And I want to show you, Mondaire. I mean, most people, you know, we follow these races. [10:38] You've been in them. You've looked at the polls. [10:40] You look at who you want to come in and out of your district. Right. [10:43] This is overall Trump's slide among these groups, among white voters, down 12. [10:50] And that's his core. I think everybody knows that among seniors, down 12 overall, down 26 among minority voters. [11:00] Right. And you say, well, look around at what's happening, down 51 points. [11:05] And finally, voters under 30 down 57 points. [11:10] I saw a poll today that had white voters with no college degree split basically evenly in support of the president. [11:21] I mean, there's no way that they can keep their majorities, their majority in the House with numbers looking like that. [11:27] You're looking at the dissolution of the Trump base. [11:29] I mean, white working class voters with no college degree believe by 40 percent the Democrats are the party of the working class. [11:36] We're seeing what really looks like outright concern, if not panic, from some Republicans. [11:41] The triage is in states that used to be swing or red. [11:45] Fox News sounds like this. [11:50] The Republicans are way underwater. [11:53] People are really frustrated with how the White House has handled issues like inflation. [11:59] His approval rating is, what, 36 percent? [12:02] It is clearly in the Democrats' corner. [12:05] It may raise the question in the minds of some people whether he should be out there front and center. [12:09] Costs. [12:10] That's really what this election has been about. [12:12] They're trying to convince the American people that how they feel about the economy is different than what's really happening. [12:19] Not only do they lose the close ones, but they lose a lot that weren't even thought to be close. [12:24] And you get a big washout. [12:25] Britt there is talking about the fears of a Republican washout that wouldn't just teeter in some of the places they knew they were on defense, [12:34] but really in places where they're supposed to hold seats. [12:38] And that washout could have profound implications for Trump's governing agenda, [12:42] for the baseline going into the race to replace him in 28, [12:46] and really what his lame duck rest of his term looks like. [12:49] Inflation is real. [12:50] The prices are high. [12:51] Americans planning holiday travel, watching as airfare is at a decade high. [12:58] Or, if you just want to put it in recent history, it's up about a third, as you can see, from last year. [13:03] People feel that as they try to plan ahead to this Thanksgiving and holiday season. [13:09] As for putting food on the table on any night, including the holidays, [13:12] people say the necessities are just out of reach. [13:14] Half of Americans basically say they can't afford daily meals that they used to be able to. [13:18] The temperature also dropping, of course, as we go into winter. [13:22] And home heating is up a whopping 70 percent since last year. [13:27] You combine this all together and you have the headache that so many Americans have already been experiencing, [13:32] which is something we got in an earlier indicator, which was the rising credit card debt. [13:37] That's not from people suddenly going on shopping sprees. [13:39] At the macro data level, that, a few months ago, showed how the costs of Trump's economy, [13:45] the war in Iran, and other crunches, basically had people going beyond what they could afford. [13:52] Over in Texas, which is one of those places that Fox News was covering, [13:55] as the kind of seat Republicans aren't supposed to even be defending, let alone losing, [14:00] well, the Democrats just got a big shot in the arm. [14:02] Apparently, the attention, some of which Trump tried to stop, [14:05] like trying to censor Tallarico on late night shows and other ways that he's become really a national name, [14:10] at least for Democrats, has contributed to making him a financial darling of the party [14:16] with a record-breaking $64 million. [14:19] This is not a national race. It's not a presidential campaign. [14:22] That kind of money coming in in the short term for a Senate race is a big deal. [14:29] Of course, everything's bigger in Texas. [14:30] He needs it to hit all the expensive media markets in that state, [14:33] which doesn't usually elect Democrats statewide. [14:36] Obama also cutting these new ads, including in red states. [14:41] And there's kind of a star power thing going on. [14:43] AOC also stumping. [14:48] Josh has shown he can win tough races. [14:51] And he can win this one, too. [14:53] Send Scott Colom to the U.S. Senate. [14:57] Roy Cooper has always put working North Carolina families first. [15:00] Maybe we even have some Republicans that are having an open mind today. [15:04] We're showing up on a Monday. [15:17] New faces, new voices, and critical in Texas, new money. [15:20] Those are some of the headlines for Democrats, as even Fox News says, [15:24] time to start facing reality. [15:27] I want to bring in a former Democratic candidate for mayor in New York, Maya Wiley, [15:31] who is also, of course, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, [15:34] and our political science expert from Fordham, Christina Greer. [15:38] Welcome to both of you. [15:39] Maya, what do you see there in not only the Democrats getting some real financial backing, [15:46] but a kind of a cracking in the, hey, it's OK, it'll be all right, [15:50] who knows what could happen narrative on Fox turning to, well, they don't want people to be so surprised. [15:56] They're kind of warning something's afoot. [15:59] Well, yeah, what's afoot is pretty visible, and you can feel it as well as see it in the numbers. [16:06] I mean, first of all, you know, we've been watching at the Leadership Conference of Civil and Human Rights. [16:10] The disapproval for the direction of the country has been growing over five years. [16:16] It started before the Trump administration, we should be very clear. [16:20] And that was because of inflation, in part, and the ways in which that was impacting people. [16:26] Inflation coming down wasn't enough. [16:28] People needed to feel the difference. [16:29] But the drop in the feeling about whether or not the country's going in the right direction has been precipitous in the past two years, [16:39] and for all the obvious reasons. [16:41] But to the point where we're seeing, even in our own data, where we're just talking about what people care about, [16:46] we're just asking them what they want, we're nonpartisan. [16:49] But what keeps coming up is that there is a very big part of whatever you want to call the middle, [16:55] whether you want to call it lean Republican, independent, some combination of both. [17:00] But it is not necessarily a clear Democratic stronghold. [17:05] And about, it's amazing that it's over 20 percent of that group is really very much in the, [17:13] we want to not only see our lives get better, we're actually worried about our rights and freedoms as well. [17:18] And I don't think people are seeing them as disconnected from their pocketbook issues. [17:24] And here's a really clear indicator of that. [17:27] It is very clear that even people who may have supported mass deportations are very upset about how ICE is doing it, [17:34] because they do care about due process rights. [17:37] They do care about kind of basic, you know, constitutional rights. [17:42] But they're also understanding and seeing, and if you ask them in our polls, 77 percent are saying, [17:47] yeah, I want my money going to my health care and to food stamps, not to ICE. [17:52] So that is not about partisanship. [17:56] That is about a majority of people who are highly motivated to vote and who don't necessarily pick one party or the other. [18:04] They pick how they're feeling. [18:05] They're also saying, yeah, no, we want to change, even when we're lead Republican. [18:10] And it's for all the fundamental reasons that make people who are, frankly, not even attached to a political party say, yeah, I'm not with this. [18:19] I mean, yeah, I think you lay that all out, particularly the nexus there of rights and economic populism, which has a rich tradition in this country. [18:28] I mean, MLK was talking about living up to the broken promises of this country, but also labor and unions and people need a fair shake. [18:38] Christina Greer, sometimes we repeat ourselves around here because we talk about some of the same recurring issues. [18:42] I'm going to say something to you that I've never said to you, and I don't know if anyone's ever said it to you. [18:47] So are you ready? [18:49] I'm ready. [18:51] If your glasses were a state, Donald Trump would be campaigning on them because he is in red states playing defense. [19:03] This is not strong. [19:04] This is not like, oh, we got this energy. [19:07] This is like, I hope I don't lose Alaska and Texas. [19:10] So given your glasses now, viewers can see they're just glasses. [19:14] They're not literally a state. [19:16] It's just to make a point. [19:18] And I'm curious your thoughts on that defense. [19:21] Well, to be clear, Ari, these glasses are Knicks orange. [19:24] So we're very much on the offense. [19:26] Those are orange? [19:27] Hold on. [19:27] Maya, can you see them? [19:29] These are Knicks orange. [19:31] Look, they are orange, Ari. [19:33] Maybe I need more. [19:34] I'm with Chrissy on this. [19:36] They are Knicks orange. [19:38] They are Knicks orange. [19:38] Shout out to the Knicks. [19:39] Maybe I need glasses for my colorblindness because it was giving red. [19:44] But we deal in facts around here and we will take your fact check. [19:48] And please go ahead. [19:49] So as Maya so brilliantly laid out, I mean, the entire Republican Party has to own up to some of the president's policies. [19:58] He promised no new wars. [19:59] And we know that wars are expensive. [20:01] Senseless wars are incredibly expensive. [20:02] So you take a state like Texas where all of a sudden they're scrambling. [20:06] And they not only have a legitimate candidate in Tallarico in the Senate, but a lot of these states, Texas, Georgia, they've got strong Democrats at the top of the ticket running for governor as well. [20:16] I think my big concern as we sort of link the financial issues that people are feeling and the real constraints and seeing their neighbors being swept away by masked gunmen with very little training is also this idea that, you know, to have a Republican Party that hasn't put together a vision. [20:33] Many of these candidates said that they will be Trump's personal, either his personal secretary of state, his personal governor. [20:40] We're seeing, though, that the real fear for a lot of folks is that will the voting process actually be free and fair? [20:48] We saw that there's a glitch in Texas that, you know, messed up 600,000 voters. [20:53] We see the Trump administration suing the state of California. [20:56] So I think a lot of voters are also concerned about when they go to the polls, will they actually have machines that work? [21:03] We saw this in 2018 in Georgia where machines were delivered, but the cords were not or machines were delivered and the ballots were not. [21:09] And so this funny business where Republicans know that they can't win on policy because so many Americans are broker, sicker, less educated. [21:18] They can't travel to see their families and friends. [21:20] They're so afraid of what's going on internationally and how that will affect us domestically. [21:25] And will Republicans try and intervene because they know that they're on defense because their policies have not helped Americans since Donald Trump has come in for a second term and become a solidified billionaire, [21:36] as have so many people in his orbit and his family and friends have enriched themselves. [21:41] And Americans have seen this. [21:42] They see the president, you know, constantly talking about ballrooms and the sizes of, you know, arches and things that the reflecting pool. [21:52] This has very little to do with how Americans feed themselves, how they're able to travel, you know, and put gas in their tanks or actually travel on airplanes to see their loved ones. [22:01] So they feel like his priorities are all askew because he promised the American public when he ran for reelection the third time that we wouldn't get ourselves in any interventions that would be Americans first. [22:12] And people are seeing their neighbors who have done nothing but care for their loved ones. [22:17] You know, we know immigrants have held up this economy, especially with small businesses and this lack of care and attention with vigilantes sort of mandated by the Republican Party and the federal government. [22:30] And that is not a winning strategy on November 3rd. [22:33] And so my real concern will be not just misinformation and disinformation, but full on theft. [22:39] You have Trump crashing at 32 percent. [22:41] That's also University of Massachusetts numbers there. [22:44] But we've seen similar crashes around the country for Trump. [22:46] In fact, when you look at the war, which grinds on, kind of showing Donald Trump's powerlessness to control events abroad or his foreign policy failure. [22:55] But whatever you want to call it, America is united against its 68 percent high prices from groceries to gas. [23:02] The national average across August here was over four bucks every single day. [23:06] That's the first time it's ever been that high that consistently. [23:10] Triple A tracks those numbers. [23:12] And as if that weren't enough, the president spent late summer period revving up the Canada trade war, which is a setback for Republicans who had hoped that even though they don't think it's been a good news environment for them, [23:24] they'd hope that the tariffs, which were largely neutralized by the Supreme Court, would have faded at least out of conversation. [23:30] No such luck there. [23:31] Overall, we've heard Republicans also generally lowering expectations. [23:36] The RNC chair and the speaker of the House at one point saying, hey, we usually lose. [23:41] The incumbent party usually loses in this situation. [23:44] Now you have the speaker kind of flipping his messaging, saying, look, Republicans will defy history in the 63 days when the midterms are held. [23:54] He said we're going to hold the House majority. [23:55] The people recognize the historic stakes of this. [23:58] And they really do understand it's a contrast election. [24:00] The speaker adding, this is going to be a midterm, basically unlike any other, if you paraphrase what he meant. [24:08] That's the Republican perspective. [24:10] I want to bring in top Democratic strategist James Carver. [24:13] Welcome back, sir. [24:15] Well, thank you. [24:16] Delighted to be back. [24:18] Pretty good political climate to be back in, too. [24:21] Well, your party's been riding high. [24:23] And let's start with, I think, what is the big the big spotlight on that Senate race. [24:27] We'll get into Trump and his problems. [24:29] As I mentioned, Republicans have been spinning all over the place and we've set aside time with you because let me tell you something, James. [24:35] I'll start with a compliment and then we'll get into it. [24:38] You are so impactful that even the folks who don't love you say, oh, I got to watch him. [24:47] I got mad about this. [24:49] I didn't like that. [24:50] But I watched all 15 minutes. [24:51] Sorry, you know, so I always think, OK, you know, and we we we take all kinds here. [24:55] So with that in mind, you look at Massachusetts. [24:58] Markey is a reliable liberal Democrat. [25:00] I think he has generally good standing. [25:03] Tell us about this primary or what it means that someone can run to his right in the center left of the Democratic Party in that state. [25:10] Well, Ed is kind of old friend of mine, his wife, Susan Blumenthal, is an old old friend of mine. [25:17] Moulton is an outstanding young guy. [25:19] There's no doubt about that. [25:20] I mean, look, I think this is good when you've got a kind of choice like this. [25:24] That's good. [25:25] I mean, people in Massachusetts are going to decide what they want to do. [25:27] And no matter what they do, I think we're going to come out of this just fine. [25:31] I think both of these both of these candidates are really outstanding. [25:34] I mean, it's a generational divide much more than an ideological divide. [25:40] And that's going to play itself out here during this cycle and the next cycle. [25:44] But they're both top notch people. [25:48] But if if Markey faces any trouble today and then we count the votes tonight, it's not that he's not in tune with Massachusetts and he beat a Kennedy challenger earlier in the primary. [25:57] It would only be whether enough Democrats have gotten this memo that there is a desire for new blood. [26:03] Speak on that before we turn to Trump's approval. [26:07] You know, this is another desire. [26:08] The biggest desire is the desire to win. [26:11] I think most Democrats, if you ask him, hey, do you think we should have a candidate or younger generation be represented by the younger generation? [26:18] Or you think somebody else? [26:19] And I just think there's a burning desire to win. [26:23] Now, we think we can win better with a younger candidate. [26:25] They'll be for the younger candidate. [26:26] But I don't think people I don't think Democrats in Massachusetts are going to be voting on age. [26:30] I think they're going to say, hey, well, you know, they're probably going to win that no matter what. [26:34] But who can go around a country who can make the case the best? [26:38] And that's going to play out in a lot of places. [26:40] And you always want your party to want to be on. [26:43] Most of all, I want to be on the winning side. [26:46] Well, I'll give you a Democratic statistic. [26:47] As you know, they say 87 percent of statistics are made up. [26:51] I don't know if you ever heard that. [26:52] But in a in non-COVID elections. [26:59] OK, so you just take out the strange Biden Trump 2020 in history, the Democratic presidential candidates that have done the best were quite young in Obama and Clinton. [27:12] And now you have the added sort of energy out here about, hey, too many old folks. [27:17] Trump is old. [27:17] Biden was old, et cetera. [27:19] It's a legitimate desire on people. [27:24] And I think when we turn when it turns to 2028, which we're going to be doing here in two months now, maybe a little bit more than that. [27:32] I think some of these younger candidates are going to make the point that we need some new vigor. [27:36] We need new energy in the party. [27:37] We need and I think that's going to matter. [27:39] I really do. [27:41] At what point do you cross into being young enough or old enough that voters are going to have to decide? [27:47] Yeah. [27:47] But I don't think the party is going to be in a mood to nominate anybody in their 70s. [27:52] And I left my 70s almost two years ago. [27:54] So I can say that with some confidence. [27:56] There you go. [27:57] And I mean, again, you can't do ageism, right? [28:01] We had you on long before Biden dropped out and you were saying, hey, I'm not saying it. [28:07] You said it. [28:08] You said, hey, I'm old. [28:09] He's old. [28:09] I think we got to look around. [28:11] We got to be open minded. [28:12] So that's great. [28:13] Let's turn to Trump, as promised. [28:14] Four dollar gas, open ended war, approval crash to 32 percent. [28:19] And then if you dig deeper, you go under the hood, as they say, it's actually worse. [28:23] I mean, there's some of this economic data. [28:24] We are only just beginning to see the depths of the problem for the working class. [28:29] I get it. [28:29] If you if you're making data centers, if you're top one percent, maybe you like Trump. [28:33] But the other nine tenths of the country, I mean, corporate profits now, which he is, of course, deregulated and get told to do whatever. [28:41] Wages grew about 10 percent canceled out by inflation, as you see their corporate profits surging in these two years. [28:49] You see the blue line going up since 24, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is supposed to be a boring agency. [28:54] You don't think about they're now going even lighter and more lenient on some of these big tech companies and stock companies. [29:01] And it looks like it's costing the American public. [29:04] Where does that gap fit in in these midterms? [29:07] People feel correct. [29:10] Corporate profits are up because of technology and they don't have to hire that many people. [29:16] And the people they get, they don't have to pay that much. [29:18] And so if I'm a corporate investor, I'm looking, that's actually what I'm looking for. [29:24] If I'm a working person, I'm trying to earn a living. [29:27] That's exactly what I'm not looking for. [29:29] And I believe firmly that this needs to be addressed through the tax code. [29:35] Tax the hell out of them. [29:36] They're going to make all this money. [29:38] They're going to hire fewer people. [29:40] And what you have to do is tax them and give people who are not finding the higher wages that they need, the kind of jobs they need, give them a break. [29:50] But you can do this. [29:51] We can do this as a country. [29:53] And we came in and Trump came in. [29:55] These Republicans gave them all these gigantic tax cuts. [29:58] They got to write stuff off. [30:00] They got to recapture this. [30:01] God knows what. [30:03] And, you know, make all your profits. [30:06] April 15th, we're going to come in and see you. [30:09] And corporate taxes are going to go up in this country. [30:12] And you're going to pay more. [30:13] And there's going to be fewer loopholes. [30:16] And we're going to take that money and put it back in the country, quite simply. [30:19] And more of it's going to go toward young people because they're the ones that are entering this horrific job market. [30:24] If a young person right now is probably going into as bad a job market as we've had in a long time. [30:31] Yeah. [30:31] Well, you know, there's a learning curve in life and politics. [30:35] People are learning quickly about the AI and the data. [30:38] And we've been covering a lot on this program. [30:40] And there's interesting there's interesting tools to use. [30:43] Great. [30:44] But if you care about the well-being of society, which I don't think is just a, quote, liberal thing, you've got a lot of folks saying, wait a minute and slow down and let's have protections, labor, environmental, et cetera. [30:57] And so the data center backlash just we've been covered in the last six months has exploded. [31:02] People who might not have used the term data center two years ago and now go wait. [31:06] And Trump is completely on the opposite side of this. [31:09] The new quote from him, I'm just going to I don't have to play it. [31:12] I'll just tell you what he said. [31:13] Only reason communities should not want data centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor, he posted. [31:22] James. [31:25] Well, look, I think I've read what my friend Donald Shapiro of Pennsylvania said. [31:30] I think I think this guy is as much as anybody understands what's happening. [31:34] And at one point, this is some form of progress. [31:37] You can't stop it. [31:38] But what you can do is you can regulate it and you can tax it. [31:43] And that's what I've got to understand. [31:45] I'm sitting in the Shenandoah Valley as a data center. [31:47] I didn't know it was 15 miles. [31:49] I just checked on my GPS and I said, what the hell is that big building over there and all those calls for the data center? [31:55] You're in Shenandoah tonight. [31:57] You're not going to stop it. [31:59] Yeah, I'm in Shenandoah right now. [32:00] I'm in Middletown, Virginia. [32:03] There's a huge. [32:03] Carry on. [32:04] Yeah, it's good hiking, but yeah, it's nice, but there's a huge data center. [32:09] And but you're not going to stop it. [32:11] I don't think I don't think you can stop it. [32:12] I think Governor Shapiro is right. [32:14] I think Bill Gates is right. [32:16] And to some extent, this is this is going to people see us and they say, wait, we're building something that's going to destroy my job and my livelihood. [32:24] And how can you blame them? [32:26] Because every time somebody comes in, big tech comes in, oh, we're going to help you. [32:31] And this is happening all over the country in this conversation. [32:35] And thank God we have it tonight. [32:37] But it's going to be a front and center conversation come the cyclist of 2028. [32:41] And if you're running for president, Democrat, you better have some ideas on this because people are going to ask you and they're going to want answers. [32:48] Yeah, I think that makes sense. [32:49] So what you said and when you break out of the black and white, it's like when they say Luddite, you know, oh, stop. [32:54] Completely. Well, that's not necessarily realistic. [32:56] But when you look at new technologies, when you get airplanes, you need rules for airplanes. [33:02] This idea that you're just going to fill the airplanes full of people and test it out and see how many men, women and children die or don't get saved or get hurt and then later add the rules. [33:14] That's currently what we're doing with AI. [33:16] We have an FAA, right? [33:18] We have railroad rules. [33:20] We don't have right now federal rules on AI and data. [33:23] I'll let you finish. You're coming back after a quick break. [33:26] But go ahead now, what you want to say. [33:29] You know, some industries need help when it got started. [33:31] I mean, the oil and gas business had the depletion allowance. [33:34] It took a while. [33:35] You can write stuff off. [33:37] You get investment credit. [33:38] AI started out making money and every day they make more money. [33:42] I mean, they barely had a teething issue. [33:44] They just came up with money out of the wazoo and they're just making more and more. [33:48] And I'll come back to the thing that I really believe the best way to deal with this is taxing. [33:53] Trump ending the week with a lot of problems. [33:58] Some say he hasn't made America great again. [34:00] Maybe he's made Iran great again with their leverage over the strait. [34:03] And now he's making oil companies great again. [34:06] Big oil. [34:07] We can report tonight now formally raking in the expected record profits all because of the Iran war. [34:14] Exxon making 14 billion during the second quarter. [34:17] That is double the same period last year. [34:19] Chevron 12 billion that is up over 300 percent. [34:26] Now, we've said around here before, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. [34:31] And you don't need to be some kind of oil economist to understand why they're making that money. [34:37] They're making it off you and anyone else who seems to have to buy oil today or, of course, do anything that involves a supply chain. [34:45] So whether you drive a car or you're getting an Uber or you have something shipped, all of this money is up. [34:51] We, you, we're all paying for it. [34:52] If the oil companies are making the money, we are paying more for gas. [34:56] Trump, we should note, since he insists on trading so much, has shares in Exxon and Chevron. [35:04] Critics argue there is a wider ring of corruption. [35:08] Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal with an expose today reporting on what many see as Donald Trump's sort of shakedown of American business, [35:18] what you see in a kleptocracy or sometimes in socialist countries where the government has too much control of the markets. [35:24] The Journal reports that Trump is fixated on taking money from America's top companies, not through democracy, where you might tax them in a normal way or have Congress and the American public involved. [35:35] But rather, he just wants to pull up about 800 million by shaking them down. [35:39] And then that money goes not, again, to the general welfare. [35:44] If you taxed companies and supported, say, Americans' health care, well, that would be democracy. [35:50] But instead, it's all personal with him routing it to the pet projects or the reflecting pool, the ballroom. [35:55] Companies have traded notes about what one Wall Street analyst calls the Trump transaction tax. [36:01] The Journal reports in this expose, which are payments outside of the cost of normally doing business. [36:08] Another way of saying it is simply that we're replacing the free market with the market for Trump's affections. [36:14] Remember, there are all kinds of debates in American politics. [36:19] Larger government or small, more government intervention or less, more liberal or more conservative. [36:24] That's not what we're living through, particularly in the unbridled second term of the Trump era, [36:30] which might be one reason why he's so unpopular and so many independents and conservatives have turned against him. [36:35] Because it's not just betraying conservative principles. [36:38] It's a type of self-dealing and corruption that most people don't recognize as ever occupying the White House. [36:46] No other president has been so brazen as to take this much money out of U.S. companies and foreign governments for their own personal benefit. [36:54] And then we have the petty projects that, again, as people pay higher gas prices, just sort of undercut his credibility. [37:03] Five mil to wrap Washington statues in gold leaf, while Americans pay these higher gas prices and higher inflationary prices. [37:12] And then we get this kind of advice from Trump officials. [37:15] Most of the cheap cuts of meat are very inexpensive. [37:21] If you buy a, you know, a porterhouse steak or a steak, it's going to, it is going to set you back. [37:28] You can buy liver or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very, very affordable. [37:33] We once had let the meat cake. [37:38] Now we have let the meat liver. [37:43] Come on. [37:43] Now, you can say, well, that's RK Jr. and he does what he does. [37:49] But there is a wider problem for Trump and a Republican Party running against these headwinds. [37:55] One Republican is on the Senate floor saying Social Security is a scam, not exactly the message you want in a midterm race in Florida. [38:04] I can tell you that. [38:06] Trump officials have changed rules that raise drug prices on seniors. [38:10] The uninsured crisis rolls on. [38:12] We were covering that earlier this week. [38:15] There aren't always video headlines sort of ways to show the story. [38:20] But the GOP cuts to health care are pushing people off insurance and putting more people in emergency rooms. [38:28] Safety net undercut. [38:30] Price of gas up. [38:32] And the only people who seem to be looking around and saying, yeah, this sounds good. [38:36] More of this are people in Trump's family and inner circle who are corruptly benefiting. [38:41] And apparently those oil executives who make a lot of money off you paying higher gas prices. [38:48] Not every story is this simple, but this one is. [38:51] If you ain't an oil executive or a Trump family member, I'm not sure that you would look at the last few months as anything you want more of. [38:58] And that's why Republicans are so panicked about these midterms. [39:04] I want to bring in, as promised, legendary Democratic strategist James Carville. [39:09] James, your view on this framework going into what are now midterms in, you know, 95 days. [39:14] I like your introduction. [39:17] This is 31 July, last year of July. [39:19] Let's take the plane another 10,000 feet. [39:22] This is the truth. [39:23] We have lost a war. [39:24] We lost a war to a third wave problem. [39:26] Get over. [39:27] Right now, our debt to GDP ratio, I think, is higher than it was in 1946. [39:32] After we actually won a war, right? [39:36] And then today in the Wall Street Journal, which you alluded to very justifiably and very perceptibly, [39:42] a woman by the name of O'Rourke, Meredith O'Rourke, is the president's fundraiser. [39:49] And she says, she calls donors that have met with the president and says, [39:52] the president wants this money. [39:54] Now, pay up. [39:56] And it goes between $5 and $50 million. [40:00] That's the staggering level of debt, defeat, and corruption that the United States of America [40:07] at the end of July in 2026 is facing. [40:10] And I've got to tell you, I am not impressed by the response of a lot of people in the Democratic Party. [40:17] If we're having a race in Michigan, or initially, we're talking about Palestinian self-determination. [40:23] If we're having a race in Wisconsin, we're talking about whether we should tax Harley-Davidson 17%. [40:27] We're not meeting the moment. [40:31] The Democratic Party, this country is in grave peril. [40:35] And in my opinion, the Democratic Party is not meeting the moment. [40:38] Now, people will say, well, you've got to have a presidential candidate. [40:41] My hope and my prayer is anybody, any Democrat out there thinking, run for president. [40:45] You have something to offer. [40:46] For God's sakes, run. [40:48] Run. [40:48] Offer something. [40:49] Because we're not getting, we've got nothing but problems. [40:52] We're getting stupid talking points about a war that's going on for 5,000 years. [41:01] And not likely to get solved between now and Election Day. [41:04] But right now, I think it, your opening was good. [41:08] But I think the state of the country is even more perilous than you even let on to be. [41:14] All right. [41:15] Well, you've given us, James, two roads. [41:17] The road to the Democratic Party intramural debate, of which you were always a proud, unafraid [41:25] warrior. [41:26] And the economy. [41:28] I'm going to start with the economy and then come back to the other one. [41:31] But the Wall Street Journal calls it a tepid Trump economy. [41:36] Seth Meyers, where you look at whether Trump's become a punchline, saying this. [41:44] He said he would make America affordable. [41:45] He would do it on day one at a rally this week. [41:47] He reflected on that promise. [41:50] Let's hear how things are going. [41:51] You know, they have this term. [41:54] So here I am. [41:54] I'm one day in office and the fake news goes affordability, affordability. [42:02] I said, what's affordability? [42:03] What's that all about? [42:04] What is affordability? [42:07] You're the one who said it. [42:09] You said we were going to make America affordable again. [42:11] Affordability is the noun form of the adjective affordable. [42:16] You drop out. [42:21] James. [42:23] So if I were putting my Democratic talking points in order, I would say, well, sir, you said during [42:27] the campaign, you would get prices down from day one. [42:30] Day one is not a made up myth about Democrats. [42:33] He actually said that. [42:35] All right. [42:36] I don't think Trump matters that much anymore. [42:39] I think he's a washed up fat old man. [42:43] I think he's going to, in spite of everything that Democrats are doing, he's going to have [42:47] a massive loss in November. [42:48] And I've said this repeatedly. [42:50] I think he's going to walk away. [42:53] I don't think he's capable of leading this country. [42:56] I don't think he has the energy. [42:57] I don't think he has the energy. [42:58] What does walk away mean? [42:59] Are you trolling? [43:00] Now, I got you're trolling. [43:02] You think he's going to quit? [43:05] Yes. [43:06] Walk away, Rene. [43:07] You're too young to remember that song. [43:10] But it was a great song. [43:11] I had a girlfriend in high school named Rene. [43:12] I love the song. [43:13] Walk away, Rene. [43:13] He is going to walk away. [43:16] He is not skilled enough. [43:19] He is not tough enough. [43:21] He is not going to be able to deal with the massive defeat. [43:24] He's coming his way. [43:25] And we need to be less obsessed with Trump and more obsessed with how do we get out of this [43:33] horrific mess we have. [43:35] And we're not going to get out by solving the Israeli-Palestinian Mid-East. [43:39] That's not going to happen. [43:41] We're not going to get out of it. [43:41] Let's go there. [43:42] You said, yeah, the Iran war is six months, which is a lot longer than Trump said to be. [43:48] The Mid-East conflict over religion, geography, there are fights between different sects of [43:57] Islam, there's fights between different sects of the Jewish religion, there's what's going [44:02] on in Israel, there's Netanyahu. [44:04] You're saying that you think the Democratic Party, what? [44:06] I mean, it can advocate for human rights. [44:08] You're saying it's getting too sidelined on that when there's bigger proverbial fish to [44:13] fry. [44:13] Right now, the United States needs to reestablish the fact that it is a prosperous, powerful [44:20] nation, of which it is neither right now. [44:23] And if we want to play a role in the Middle East and help people, we can't do this by being [44:29] the feeble, flaccid country that we are today. [44:33] And until we come to grips with that, no one's going to pay any attention to us. [44:38] They don't pay attention to us right now. [44:40] They don't care. [44:41] The Iranians, who by any stretch of the imagination, is maybe a second and a half, third-rate power. [44:49] The United States is the first-rate power of steroids. [44:51] Israel is, I don't know, almost a first-rate power. [44:54] They're beating the tar out of us. [44:58] They're willing to let us surrender. [45:00] And until we come, my point is, until we come to a fundamental understanding of what our [45:06] position is, we can't solve it. [45:10] And I can't come on here and be a check, go team, go, USA, we got it, we're the greatest [45:15] for 250 years. [45:18] We're in, I just hate to say this, but we're in a ditch right now. [45:22] And we got to recognize that, and we got to pull out of it. [45:26] I really mean that. [45:27] I don't get in trouble, but I don't care. [45:29] Trump has a problem that spans from domestic failures in the gas crisis to this trip he's [45:34] doing as he faces a world that sees him as weaker, and the U.S. as weaker, than before [45:39] the war started. [45:40] 63% is where Trump's disapproval is, a number that's getting worse. [45:45] The gas I mentioned, you already know. [45:47] This is one of those news items you're living, but we'll show you where it is today and how [45:51] much higher that is than before the war. [45:53] Two-thirds of Americans blame Trump for that. [45:55] It all leads back to a decision to do things the Trump way. [45:59] That meant by instinct, rather than policy planning, it meant alone, rather than with [46:04] the United States Congress and an actual war plan that might have been improved by other [46:09] minds being involved, or even the prospect of doing less than the full-scale war that [46:14] has juiced gas prices and closed the strait. [46:16] That was the Trumpian way. [46:17] And now you have even people who like him some of the time, and who say sometimes they like [46:23] the Trumpian way, the bluster and the breaking of the rules. [46:27] But this is one of Trump's most influential, maybe former allies, a person who has an audience [46:34] larger than most news channels combined, Joe Rogan, taking on the war. [46:39] Here's what I don't understand. [46:43] Are we getting oil from Iran? [46:46] No! [46:47] That's what... [46:48] Maybe three or four percent is from Iran. [46:49] So are they just f***ing us in the a**, or is it global prices went up because some of [46:56] the gas can't get to where it needs to go? [46:58] And so they need to make that money, so they just f*** you. [47:03] Isn't it funny? [47:03] They're like, we're going to make money no matter what. [47:05] The American people are going to lose money, so we make the same amount of money. [47:09] And also f*** you need oil. [47:12] But one of the things that happened through that road of this MAGA era is people tend to [47:17] overstate how much support and patience there is for Donald Trump. [47:21] The truth is that while he's had his moments, he did win in 24, he is now the most unpopular [47:28] president in a second term since we've been measuring it. [47:31] And his failures, the corruption, the failure to fix the economy, gas prices, the overall [47:38] inflation, the war that's now open-ended and doesn't have a plan to reopen the strait, [47:43] the Epstein files. [47:44] This is more than most any president has dealt with, and he is now very, very opposed [47:50] for it. [47:51] And so if you're watching this going, gosh, I can't believe anyone ever voted for him. [47:54] Well, we've had that discussion. [47:55] But if you're thinking, well, I can't believe anyone supports this, the truth is very few [48:00] people do. [48:00] We are talking about a historically unpopular, historically early rejection of Trump and what [48:07] second term Trumpism offers the American public. [48:09] I want to bring in James Carville, who knows his way around these issues, including the [48:13] economy. [48:15] Your view tonight. [48:17] Well, my view tonight on one specific thing, all companies had a windfall profit. [48:21] It wasn't anything they did. [48:23] And to be into anything bad, it didn't do anything good. [48:25] This is the price of all goes up, their profits go up. [48:28] Every few people say the Democrats need to run on something. [48:31] They need to plan. [48:31] They need a message. [48:32] OK, how about this? [48:34] Tax to all company excess profits and return it to people who purchase gasoline and energy. [48:39] How about that fun idea? [48:40] In other words, if you just sat there, you didn't do anything and you made $500 billion, [48:47] well, share $250 billion with the taxpayers or people that buy gas and you get to keep [48:53] $250 for yourself. [48:54] But that's a pretty simple tax to figure out. [48:58] It's a pretty simple tax to levy. [49:00] And it's not that hard to get a rebate on it. [49:03] So that's my message. [49:05] Tax to excess profits, give it back to the consumer. [49:09] That's fair. [49:11] I mean, you look at from tech, which involves a lot of extraction, they call it value extraction. [49:15] You say, well, if you've extracted it from the work that Americans have already done, [49:20] the creative economy, you could regulate and tax that. [49:23] And with the gas and these big companies that are, Wall Street's having a banner year while [49:26] people suffer. [49:27] So that's that's your point. [49:29] I wanted to show you some of the Republicans that are now joining Democrats, at least in [49:33] claiming they want to they want to stand up on the war. [49:37] It's late, to be clear. [49:39] But but Murkowski, Collins and Rand Paul, who has made noise before, to be fair, and the [49:44] Senate Democrats at least saying they want to back this resolution to end the war. [49:48] Or what do you see there? [49:50] And does that matter in the midterms? [49:54] Not yet, but hell yeah. [49:57] I mean, this was going to matter big time. [49:59] I mean, you know, usually the Biden had an excuse for inflation. [50:02] As the pandemic winded down, they had supply chain issues. [50:07] It took a while to catch up. [50:08] He had an excuse. [50:08] I mean, people blamed him. [50:09] And that's OK. [50:10] When you're the man in charge, you get blamed for everything. [50:11] Actually, the rise in gas prices is 100 percent attributable to the actions of Donald Trump [50:17] took. [50:18] There's no there's no other external fact. [50:20] Usually you can muddle something up in politics and demand supply, this, that. [50:26] OK, 100 percent. [50:28] He starts the war. [50:29] Price of gas shoots up. [50:31] Consumers get squeezed. [50:33] There's no need to take anything. [50:35] And while I'm here, he said he's not concerned about the finances of the average American. [50:42] That already is a lawyer. [50:44] You know, the highest form of evidence by far is admission against interest. [50:49] If you're sitting there with a smoking gun and a woman's on the floor and you say, I shot [50:52] the bitch, that's real evidence. [50:55] OK, because you're making evidence against you. [50:57] When he says, I don't think about it, he's telling you the truth and you know it because [51:03] it's not in his interest to say that. [51:06] And I was literally floored when I read that. [51:09] Then I thought back and said, he really does not care. [51:13] Now, if he understand that, that those fine people in Florida that were trying to fill [51:18] up and they were very passionate and you can see it in paint, he doesn't care about you. [51:24] Get that through your head. [51:25] And I think I think they do by now. [51:27] Well, we've seen some people do. [51:30] And we've seen it with even the MAGA fans we covered, like they took their money on [51:33] these phones. [51:34] They never gave them the phones. [51:35] That's the old grift. [51:36] But the national version is one you can't opt out of. [51:39] So everybody suffers if he doesn't care about you. [51:42] Barack Obama was talking about what has now been a big contrast. [51:46] You know, there's a lot of discussion about Obama's foreign policy and how he how he operated, [51:51] whether he was tough enough, whether they wasted too much time in meetings. [51:54] And well, a heck of a lot of Americans would rather the government was busy doing diplomacy [51:59] if gas prices stayed low. [52:01] Yeah, wait, waste some time or tie up the Iranians in a bunch of meetings. [52:06] So here was Obama on that contrast. [52:11] We went about trying to negotiate a diplomatic agreement that would get the enriched uranium [52:21] out of Iran that would assure that they could not get to a nuclear weapon. [52:27] We pulled it off without firing a missile. [52:30] We didn't have to kill a whole bunch of people or shut down the Strait of Hormuz. [52:33] Very few people thought foreign policy was was going to predominate this year with everything [52:41] else going on. [52:42] And yet now this seems to be a contrast for the Democrats and one where a lot of MAGA [52:47] people have been sold. [52:48] They have been told, let's stay out of these other places in these Mideast problems by [52:54] their own side for years. [52:55] Is this, in your view, something to focus on or Dems should just still keep it on the [53:00] economy part of it? [53:01] Well, I'm generally reluctant to criticize former Democratic presidents. [53:06] But I'm going to criticize President Obama here. [53:08] You don't brag enough, man. [53:10] You had the agreement. [53:11] They didn't have it. [53:11] By the way, the Western Europeans were on board, the Russians were on board, the Chinese [53:14] were on board. [53:15] Even the Iranians were on board. [53:17] The problem was solved, period. [53:21] Winter Sherman and John Kerry, they ought to put a monument to him. [53:25] But like anything else, in one flick, he gets out of it. [53:30] He causes all his problems. [53:31] It's even more his fault than you imagine. [53:35] This was a solved problem, and it would have stayed solved, and it was done through diplomacy [53:41] with no loss of life and had international support. [53:45] It was much better than President Obama. [53:47] President Obama, listen to me, man. [53:48] You got to brag more. [53:50] You did a lot better job than you're giving yourself credit for. [53:52] Well, it's funny when you put it that way, and of course, he's mellow. [53:57] He's famously mellow, so you don't get that full-throated pitch. [54:02] I played some Rogan earlier, and it's interesting. [54:04] I mean, you've always moved with the media. [54:06] I see you doing podcasts. [54:08] I see you on TikTok clips. [54:12] Politics runs through the conversation wherever people are having it. [54:16] It could be at the diner. [54:17] It could be at the barbershop. [54:18] It could be online. [54:19] And so, Rogan, I want to play just something else he said because he's proven so influential, [54:23] and he doesn't seem to be in the tank. [54:26] Here's more of Rogan. [54:29] Most people in America do not support this war. [54:33] It's the large percentage of people think it was a bad idea. [54:37] What are your thoughts? [54:38] I don't think it's a good idea. [54:39] Why? [54:40] Well, because, first of all, it doesn't seem to have a clear resolution. [54:47] Where does that fit in? [54:48] Because he sounds very different than what you'd get as a Fox News viewer right now. [54:53] Well, he's not Fox. [54:55] He's got a huge audience, and he tends to know what his audience wants. [55:00] If somebody would tell me why Harris didn't go on his show in 2024, please give me the answer. [55:07] I mean, the guy, he might not be the biggest policy walk in the world, but he's got a huge following. [55:14] And somehow or another, Democrats mean, well, if I do that, that's just, I'm just, that's popularism. [55:20] I'm just trying to be popular. [55:21] Yeah, try to be popular. [55:22] The guy's popular, he'll listen to you, he'll give you a forum, ask Jim Talrico. [55:28] Well, damn it, do it. [55:30] And I hope whoever runs, and I'm sure they will, will have enough sense to go on his show, and go on other shows. [55:36] Go on this show, go on Fox, go on anything. [55:39] And you've really got something to say. [55:40] Talk about a windfall tax on all companies to be rebated to consumers, and I guarantee you the Joe Rogan listeners will like it, and the Fox listeners will like it. [55:50] And will the MSNOW listeners will like it. [55:52] For his two-day state visit, and apparently he's so jet-lagged that he's been sleeping at night and staying awake during meetings. [56:00] Not bad, James. [56:05] That kind of fits with the other point I referenced, which is Trump hates that he's become allegedly sleepy dawn, that people talk about him the way they talked about Biden. [56:17] And it is funny, if it were a movie and you got another elderly president and you had these problems, yada yada, you'd say, well, it's a little too symmetrical. [56:23] And yet here we are. [56:25] Does that stuff matter in your view, or is that just kind of the scaffolding? [56:30] Look, everyone, somebody would get their toes off. [56:36] In fact, we used to say it was a good thing. [56:38] It was power napping. [56:40] And people were coming out and saying, I wish I could sleep more. [56:43] I wish I didn't wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning throwing stuff at the wall. [56:46] Oh, I can't believe this. [56:48] So-and-so is still president. [56:50] I'm so bad. [56:51] I've got to get up and walk around. [56:52] I'd give anything for a good night's sleep, all right? [56:54] But I don't – he's sensitive about it. [56:58] He's an old man. [56:59] He's not in good health. [57:01] He's going to doze off. [57:02] Sometimes people in Olympic athletes doze off. [57:05] I mean, supposedly, I was always taught that it was a good thing to take up. [57:09] If you're on a bus or a subway and you've got seven minutes, if you get seven minutes sleep, that's a good thing. [57:15] Nothing wrong with that. [57:16] He shouldn't be so sensitive about it, but he is. [57:18] A new court loss for President Trump. [57:21] Another court now stopping his bid to try to seize powers and put troops in the streets, [57:25] something that has been, of course, controversial with a lot of protest. [57:29] Trump has been trying to claim the power to deploy troops. [57:32] And he's done it under the authority of what he calls rebellion. [57:35] That's even when governors oppose using their state's guard that way, [57:39] and even when there's no apparent rebellion, not one that anyone has seen. [57:42] Well, judges have rebuffed Trump, and this powerful appeals court is blocking Trump's plot to put the troops in Chicago as unlawful. [57:50] The court telling Trump that he's wrong. [57:52] He does not have this power. [57:54] And when it comes to this factual question that I just mentioned of, well, does the rebellion clause kick in? [58:00] This appeals court ruling that democracy and political opposition are not an organized rebellion, [58:07] reinforcing Trump's prior losses in the lower courts on the abuse of this same type of power. [58:14] So Trump is losing on the law. [58:17] This is not rebellion, the court says. [58:19] Now, the language and precedent are pretty clear there. [58:21] So Trump's only legal path to still trying to get his troops back into the streets here [58:26] would be to get the Supreme Court to bail him out, something they have done on other issues. [58:31] So he's asking the high court to overrule this loss. [58:34] Justice Barrett today did not order the type of stay that Trump wants. [58:39] So instead, no emergency immediate action today, which means he is still on the losing side of this. [58:45] Illinois officials can respond by the end of the day, Monday, the beginning of next week. [58:49] If you are keeping track, this is another loss where Donald Trump has, of course, [58:55] some agents and some troops in the streets and some level of concern, fear, [59:00] and even among some people, a kind of despondent feeling that, well, I guess he's getting away with it all. [59:06] And on some things he is. [59:07] But on this one, he's not. [59:09] And so the political strategy of flooding the zone or taking the L's and hoping people just focus on other things [59:14] is being tested because it turns out when people fight and the law holds, [59:20] you can't just have endless troops in the streets and an endless sort of military vibe in our country. [59:27] That's still not America. [59:29] And then there's Trump's DOJ, which continues to grind through these indictments. [59:32] They've now turned this week to a Trump official from the first term. [59:36] And today, John Bolton, we saw walking in to court where he pled not guilty to these charges of mishandling classified documents [59:42] stemming from the security access he had in Donald Trump's first term. [59:48] The wider context is that Trump has been using the DOJ to go after individuals who all have one thing in common. [59:55] I mean, here you have people from different parties, from different parts of the country, state and federal officials. [1:00:00] What do they all have in common? [1:00:01] They are currently on Donald Trump's enemies list. [1:00:04] And while there are some differences in the Bolton case, and we covered that when the news broke, [1:00:08] when you look at the focus on what are factually older incidents, [1:00:13] you have to get your calendar out and go back years to find out what they're talking about with Comey and Bolton. [1:00:18] Well, that adds to the skepticism, the questions raised about whether the Bolton case is also, [1:00:24] even if the facts are stronger, part of Trump's vendetta. [1:00:27] So here, take one outside view from Rupert Murdoch's media empire, [1:00:32] which, as you know, includes Fox News, Wall Street Journal, and they've backed many Trump policies. [1:00:38] And yet, in the journal here, they're saying if you work for the president and he sours on you and you criticize him, [1:00:43] you're not safe. [1:00:45] There's little doubt, Rupert Murdoch's journal notes, [1:00:48] that the underlying motivation for the Bolton prosecution is retribution. [1:00:57] The calls are now coming from inside this conservative alliance. [1:01:01] Fox News, you might say, is not as strong as the journal on that issue about what the journal says is [1:01:08] Donald Trump's unlawful prosecution of foes. [1:01:10] But Fox News this week also joined all other major news outlets in resisting the Pentagon crackdown [1:01:17] from one of their own former employees, Pete Hegseth, who had said, [1:01:21] go with the autocratic plan. [1:01:24] You have to submit everything for their authorization before you publish it. [1:01:30] Fox said no. [1:01:31] And the journal's saying no. [1:01:32] And the judges are saying no. [1:01:34] It's a lot of no's, even in an environment where people feel like Trump is getting away with stuff. [1:01:38] And so we turn, as promised, immediately to James Carville, [1:01:42] legendary Democratic strategist, [1:01:44] raging Cajun, guy with a pretty good view, [1:01:46] heading into the weekend. [1:01:47] Welcome back. [1:01:49] Thank you. [1:01:50] I'm delighted to be back. [1:01:51] Always fun. [1:01:51] Friday afternoon, my favorite time to be on the show. [1:01:54] There we go. [1:01:55] And I know when these people are having their drinks are getting ready for dinner. [1:01:59] Let's start with the losing, because you have long said, [1:02:03] if people don't know about it, it's not going to matter that much. [1:02:07] And you got to get the word out. [1:02:09] What does it mean to you and to the party that I know you support in fighting Trump [1:02:14] that I just went through a list of losses? [1:02:17] And do you get that out to the country? [1:02:19] Does that calcify the backbone going into these weekend protests? [1:02:24] A couple of things that we're going to get out to the country, [1:02:26] we're going to be stopping to get out of the country. [1:02:28] First of all, the Democrats are not going to cave on this budget thing. [1:02:31] Even if they wanted to, they couldn't. [1:02:32] There is no appetite among Democratic voters to give in. [1:02:36] I don't think there's any appetite among Democrats on the Hill, [1:02:39] both the House and the Senate. [1:02:40] Secondly, we're going to win in Virginia, [1:02:45] and we're probably in our likelihood going to win in New Jersey. [1:02:49] So that is going to change the entire dynamic of the coverage. [1:02:52] And I mean, I'm sorry, Senator Thune or Speaker Johnson can go out [1:02:56] and do all the talking points they want. [1:02:59] You better prepare your caucus for a long haul, [1:03:02] because the Democrats feel they're winning this fight. [1:03:05] They feel like they're not going to lose it. [1:03:07] They feel like they're on the right side, [1:03:09] and there is zero appetite to give in. [1:03:11] If they wanted to, they couldn't, [1:03:14] because Democratic voters come out of the woodwork. [1:03:17] You better brace yourself for what's going to happen in November, [1:03:20] because this is the first time that voters are going to go to posts, [1:03:23] and we've had special elections, [1:03:24] and every one the Democrats have outperformed by over 15 points. [1:03:29] So the moment of reckoning cometh, [1:03:33] and it's not that far away. [1:03:34] And now we have the AP University of Chicago poll has Trump at 37%. [1:03:40] So I'm sorry, guys, you're hooked up to a loser, [1:03:44] and we just have to keep making them pay. [1:03:45] Well, you mentioned the focus on his enemies. [1:03:48] John Bolton's a longtime conservative. [1:03:49] He's now in the sauce with the rest of them. [1:03:52] And this is what he says. [1:03:54] I've become the latest target in the Trump weaponizing of the Justice Department. [1:03:58] These charges are not just about his focus on me, [1:04:01] or he mentions his diaries, [1:04:04] but the Trump effort to intimidate opponents, [1:04:06] dissent and disagreement are foundational to America's constitutional system, [1:04:09] vitally important to our freedom. [1:04:12] James, we're in the early days of these cases. [1:04:14] We don't know if Trump will win any of them, [1:04:15] although they have a huge effect on people's lives, careers, money, [1:04:19] even if Trump loses. [1:04:20] What do you think of Bolton there? [1:04:24] Well, I mean, Bolton got caught up in it. [1:04:26] And, you know, if you get in, you know, [1:04:28] your parents tell you and you hear it all the time, [1:04:30] if you lie down with a skunk, you're going to smell bad. [1:04:34] And John Bolton made a decision to lie down with a skunk. [1:04:38] Okay. [1:04:38] He understood at some point what he was doing. [1:04:42] I suspect that he'll beat this. [1:04:44] But all of the other people that were just doing their jobs that are being here, [1:04:49] but to Trump, it's not about people getting ahead. [1:04:54] It's not about people struggling and trying to pay bills. [1:04:57] It's not about people wanting an education. [1:04:59] It's about getting the people that he doesn't like [1:05:03] to use the power of the government to get even with them. [1:05:06] And this is not going to work. [1:05:08] People want a presidency and they want a government about their lives. [1:05:12] And they're not getting that at all. [1:05:14] We're getting it about Trump's grievances. [1:05:15] And it's going to start paying up, they're going to start paying a price. [1:05:19] And we should be the beneficiaries of this. [1:05:22] I want to get you on Zoran Mondami. [1:05:24] We talked about him early on. [1:05:25] You talked about his economic message. [1:05:27] He squared off in this debate last night. [1:05:30] You mentioned Virginia. [1:05:32] The election we have is going to be Virginia. [1:05:34] There's also New York City. [1:05:36] And there are going to be people looking to what this says about the party. [1:05:38] Here he was last night. [1:05:41] Well, I'm proud to say that I, yes, [1:05:43] will freeze the rent for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants. [1:05:46] And I will also build 200,000 truly affordable homes [1:05:50] across the five boroughs over the next 10 years. [1:05:52] We will have dedicated teams of mental health outreach workers [1:05:55] in the top 100 subway stations [1:05:57] with the highest levels of the mental health crisis and homelessness. [1:06:00] I'm proud to have a comprehensive plan to bring new ideas to this city. [1:06:04] If you want more of the same, vote for Andrew Cuomo. [1:06:08] Is he the face of the Democratic Party if he wins this race? [1:06:12] Well, I will say this. [1:06:13] I talk communications at the college level, [1:06:17] four years of community college, nine years at Tulane, four at LSU. [1:06:20] If I could have one guess to demonstrate to my students how to communicate, [1:06:25] I think I would pick him. [1:06:26] Wow. [1:06:26] That guy stays on message. [1:06:28] You cannot get him out of talking about affordability. [1:06:33] You've noticed what he was talking about. [1:06:35] Rent stabilization, building more houses. [1:06:38] He talks about transit, and it's just a real tutorial. [1:06:44] And people keep saying, well, you said this about Palestine, [1:06:46] and you said this about this, [1:06:47] and he just keeps bringing it back to what is the focal point. [1:06:50] And Mondami does something that is very important. [1:06:55] He tells people, I see you. [1:06:57] I see what your life is. [1:06:58] Look, may he not be my ideological, you know, compadre, [1:07:05] or maybe I have some different, but I tell you what, that guy can communicate. [1:07:09] Well, you're not known. [1:07:10] If you see somebody can do that. [1:07:11] You're not known as a young leftist. [1:07:15] You know, who hasn't said stupid things in their 20s? [1:07:19] Okay. [1:07:19] Right? [1:07:20] Or done stupid things in their 20s. [1:07:22] He's actually, the more I see him, when it started out, [1:07:26] I'll be honest with you, I wasn't for him. [1:07:28] I mean, a lot of my friends, my generation, of my persuasion of politics, [1:07:32] said, James, you don't get it. [1:07:33] This guy's got some talent. [1:07:35] He's got some freshness about it. [1:07:37] And he's kind of what the city needs. [1:07:39] People out in the streets tomorrow, these are big no-kings protest plans. [1:07:43] Your views on the power of this and how it may or may not affect [1:07:47] the turnout and what the Democrats are trying to build? [1:07:50] Well, I'm going to get up in the morning, [1:07:51] I'm going to go to the supermarket and buy about four dozen sandwiches, [1:07:56] and I'm going to bring them to the protesters. [1:07:58] I think this is the most American patriotic thing that you can do. [1:08:04] And I think this is a wonderful thing that people are sort of taking this [1:08:08] in their own hands. [1:08:09] I mean, will there be certain people with different ideological agendas there? [1:08:13] Yeah, of course there will. [1:08:14] But by and large, 90% of this are going to be people that are scared [1:08:19] for their country, they're scared to death about the future of the country. [1:08:22] They're watching troops on our streets. [1:08:24] You know, this is the first time in our history where the payment [1:08:28] on the debt is now higher than we spend on defense. [1:08:32] And I wholeheartedly, and I promise you, Ari, I'm not just going to participate in this. [1:08:38] I'm going to bring some food. [1:08:39] I'm going to bring some stuff. [1:08:40] I might even bring an ice chest full of adult beverages there for people if they want to. [1:08:46] But I think what these people are doing is a wonderful thing. [1:08:51] And I'm going to find the one closest to me, and I'm going to join them in any way that I can. [1:08:55] Begin with the ongoing rejection of Donald Trump's agenda. [1:08:58] We saw that in the aggregate in Tuesday's election sweep. [1:09:01] We also have anecdotal evidence coming in over the weekend. [1:09:04] It is the kind that Donald Trump specifically despises. [1:09:09] Public televised booze. [1:09:11] You can hear him at the NFL game this weekend. [1:09:24] And on it went. [1:09:25] It is not a sound that he likes. [1:09:27] It's also pretty much what democracy sounds like right now. [1:09:31] I mentioned that is just anecdotal. [1:09:33] Just one moment in one game. [1:09:34] It also depends on where the camera and the mics are. [1:09:37] But here is national data that goes even beyond Tuesday that can't be minimized or ignored. [1:09:45] The president's approval cratering to a new low. [1:09:48] Well, this chart shows how Trump's dropping approval has been only a negative in the first year of this term. [1:09:57] Like any chart or any stock market indication, right, you have some gyrations. [1:10:01] But the overall message from the far left there is when he started January 20th through last week's election defeats and on through this tough period he's had. [1:10:14] Now, why is he doing so poorly in this net gain, net loss approval? [1:10:19] Well, part of it has to do with his failure to control costs or deal with rising prices, the type of things he ran on just a year ago. [1:10:27] Health care, groceries, everyday life. [1:10:30] Those are the things that people clearly reacted to going into the election booths. [1:10:35] And people waited in line in all kinds of places. [1:10:38] People voted for liberal Democrats, Democratic Socialists, centrist Democrats. [1:10:43] One thing they didn't do is vote for anything that smacked of the mega agenda. [1:10:47] So when you take it all together, it doesn't mean that we know exactly where people will be a year from now or which brand of Democratic progressivism is the most popular in every part of the country. [1:10:57] It does mean, as The Washington Post, the kind of paper, a political record put it, that it's the affordability stupid. [1:11:05] That, of course, is a paraphrase of James Carville, who's standing by. [1:11:08] Trump allies are saying maybe he got the message or maybe he'll talk more about affordability. [1:11:13] But he is still throwing lavish parties at Mar-a-Lago, another one this weekend. [1:11:18] It's a let them eat steak or let them eat crypto moment for our unequal great Gatsby era. [1:11:23] It's a tone deaf choice that comes amid those huge Democratic wins. [1:11:29] And so you take it all together. [1:11:30] And as is sometimes the case in politics or life, think about where you were just one week ago, Monday night, election eve. [1:11:38] If you follow news and politics, you'd probably read some of the headlines that it could be close. [1:11:42] And there was a lot of drama in New York. [1:11:45] And it could be kind of a close race in New Jersey, where, of course, one year prior, MAGA did pretty well, increasing the gains among young men and Latinos. [1:11:54] Well, here we are, not just one week later, and it sounds and feels so different. [1:12:00] But what's different is only that the voters finally spoke. [1:12:03] They weren't crowded out by autocratic MAGA tantrums or calls to control what you see on your TV or cancel Jimmy Kimmel. [1:12:11] They weren't over-dramatized by ICE agents and mass snatching people up off the streets. [1:12:17] When you turn down the volume of all of that and, as the mayor-elect said in New York, turn up the volume of the people, you get a very different picture. [1:12:27] And right now it is a picture that overwhelmingly rejects whatever this first year of Donald Trump's second term stands for and is demanding change. [1:12:37] With that in mind, we turn to James Carville, who knows his way around a change election or two. [1:12:42] I wanted to get your reaction to what Tuesday night's Democratic sweep meant, as well as anything else you want to weigh in on right now. [1:12:50] Well, thank you. [1:12:50] First of all, it was complete and it was impressive. [1:12:53] I mean, and there was no, it was all across the board. [1:12:56] Maybe the most impressive, I had to pick one out, was what happened in Pennsylvania. [1:13:00] It was Supreme Court retention that got 62 percent. [1:13:04] A county executive race in Erie, Pennsylvania, the Democrat, got 24.6. [1:13:09] That is impossible. [1:13:10] That is almost politically impossible. [1:13:12] Erie is, by the way, the swingiest county in the swingiest state. [1:13:17] Understand that. [1:13:18] I don't think any presidential candidate has gotten above 52 in this century. [1:13:24] That's how tight Erie is. [1:13:26] You go all the way to the eastern part of Pennsylvania and you see Bucks County, which is another real, real swing county, where you see the Democrats ousted a Republican DA and a Republican sheriff by double digits. [1:13:42] So everything was impressive. [1:13:44] I think what Governor Spiro and his team did in Pennsylvania probably stands out as impressive as anything I've seen in one state. [1:13:54] But understand this was about affordability. [1:13:57] It was a big issue. [1:13:58] And, you know, the economy is stupid. [1:14:00] But I think corruption and cruelty also had a lot to do with this. [1:14:04] I think it was just a revulsion. [1:14:05] Well, I think people saw the gratuitous cruelty separating people from children, from parents, not an allowed priest to say mass to immigrants, just going and people experiencing the cruelty they saw on TV. [1:14:19] And you cannot watch the corruption that's taking place. [1:14:24] It is ongoing, as you pointed out in your opening piece. [1:14:27] The Great Gatsby, I don't think Trump knows who the Great Gatsby is. [1:14:30] I defend him on that. [1:14:31] He has no idea who Scott Fitzgerald is or any of that nonsense. [1:14:38] But, yeah, it was a good, it was a great, it was a great win. [1:14:43] And I think we're going to have a big win coming up in November of 2026. [1:14:47] I do. [1:14:48] James, you get to go first because you're older than both of us. [1:14:51] How about that? [1:14:52] I'm probably older than both of y'all combined. [1:14:55] You get to tell us what the victory means. [1:14:58] Well, look, to me, what it means is that he was one of the better messages, more disciplined messages I've ever seen. [1:15:07] He just would not get out of his affordability message. [1:15:11] And I think people were just looking for something different in New York. [1:15:16] And I think people should, you know, should give him a chance. [1:15:19] I mean, I hope the guy succeeds. [1:15:21] I mean, he's leading 8 million people and he's talking about things that are relevant. [1:15:25] I mean, some of the stuff that he wants to do is difficult, but everything is difficult. [1:15:29] But I think he told people he saw them and he saw their problems and they were awarded him with a victory. [1:15:34] Adam, you know this. [1:15:37] When you've advocated for candidates that are seen as liberal, whatever that means, a lot of times the rejoinder from D.C. Democrats is, well, they can't win. [1:15:44] But what do these races say to your argument? [1:15:49] So the most important thing for Democrats going forward is to have a vision that actually excites people. [1:15:53] I was there Tuesday night at his rally. [1:15:55] It was electric and the people weren't just there because we beat the bad guys. [1:15:58] They were there and they will be with him for the long haul because they were inspired by his vision. [1:16:02] And no matter where somebody is campaigning, they should be campaigning on a vision that fights for everyday working people, has a shake up the system vibe and is willing to challenge powerful interests. [1:16:11] And you can choose that state by state, district by district. [1:16:13] And we've seen that in some red districts and purple districts. [1:16:15] Yeah. And you could do that with a Sherrod Brown, right? [1:16:18] Or you could do it with this candidate who some people argue is too polarizing for this to work anywhere else in the country. [1:16:24] Your response. [1:16:24] Yeah, I would say don't get distracted by the labels. [1:16:27] I think most labels in our political system are broken, including left and right and center. [1:16:30] We could have a whole discussion about that. [1:16:32] And yet you never liked the group No Label. [1:16:35] That's a deep cut, everyone. Go on. [1:16:38] So, you know, Zoran, if you take away the label, even the specific policies, look at how he campaigned. [1:16:44] Have a vision, be bold, actually inspire people. [1:16:48] And maybe challenging corporate power means something different in Nevada or New Hampshire. [1:16:52] But the question I would pose to any Democrat, no matter where they're running is, are you willing to name a villain? [1:16:56] Are you willing to tell a story? [1:16:58] Or are you just going to have a milquetoast, boring campaign? [1:17:00] Or rely on anti-Trump backlash and hope that it lasts forever? [1:17:03] Surprise, it won't. [1:17:05] So if Democrats want to have a durable coalition and not just win in years where Donald Trump is very unpopular, we need to follow his lead everywhere in terms of having a vision and actually inspiring people. [1:17:16] Yeah. [1:17:16] You know, James, what's interesting is you and Adam are overlapping quite a bit. [1:17:19] And I really know you both well enough to know that doesn't always happen. [1:17:23] I want to play. [1:17:26] We had Mamdani on this program on Election Eve, Monday night. [1:17:31] And to set up an exercise with him, we mentioned some of your past phrase of what you just referred to, his discipline. [1:17:39] So I want to play that and his response. [1:17:41] Take a look. [1:17:43] James Carville was here. [1:17:45] He said Zoran Mamdani is more on message than any candidate he's ever worked with. [1:17:49] And he said, hands, you know, hands down, that's a positive. [1:17:53] It's very kind of them. [1:17:54] So here's the test. [1:17:55] Oh, God. [1:17:56] How quickly can you go from this topic back to affordability? [1:18:00] OK. [1:18:00] Halloween. [1:18:01] Here's the thing. [1:18:02] You're seeing candy prices shoot up across New York City. [1:18:05] It's part of the fact that we're the most expensive city in the United States of America. [1:18:07] You got to take a look at that. [1:18:09] James. [1:18:09] A-plus. [1:18:12] A-plus. [1:18:13] Prof Carville goes. [1:18:16] Like, the guy has got a certain amount of charm. [1:18:21] And he's got, he certainly understands what message this one is. [1:18:25] I really hope he succeeds. [1:18:28] I think it would be really good for New York. [1:18:32] But I would caution people on one thing. [1:18:35] The mayor of New York has historically never been much of a figure in national politics. [1:18:40] As important as New York City is, and I told a friend of mine, the man in New York has [1:18:46] actually never gone on to be elected governor in New York. [1:18:48] And I was corrected. [1:18:49] It did happen in 1869. [1:18:52] So I think that the mayor-elect has a big city to run. [1:18:56] He has a big agenda to get things done. [1:18:59] And I hope he succeeds. [1:19:01] I really do. [1:19:02] Adam, a related debate has been about the other leaders of the party. [1:19:07] Everyone lived through Biden. [1:19:09] And the D.C. sort of elite messaging was, there's no problem here. [1:19:14] There's no problem here. [1:19:15] If you say there's a problem, there's something wrong with you. [1:19:17] And then, late, when it was kind of late to fix said problem, was, well, we've got to [1:19:23] get rid of him today. [1:19:24] And it was really something we lived through last year. [1:19:26] Now, Senate leader is not the same as president, but your group is coming out against Schumer, [1:19:32] who's already been taken on water. [1:19:34] Headline, this is your group, as I mentioned, Adam Green's group. [1:19:38] Progressive leader calls for Schumer to step aside. [1:19:40] Adam Green of the PCCC says the Senate deal to end the shutdown is a failure of Schumer's [1:19:45] leadership. [1:19:46] And there's been a lot this year that Dems have been unhappy with. [1:19:50] Why are you making news on this now? [1:19:51] And do you think you'll get anywhere? [1:19:53] Yeah, I don't know anybody who thinks that Chuck Schumer is a spectacular leader for this [1:19:57] moment. [1:19:58] That would include many senators, I'm sure James Carville knows, who in private conversations [1:20:03] will say he's not the person to lead us, our caucus in this moment. [1:20:06] And, you know, in other countries, when a leader fails, they step down immediately. [1:20:10] Whether it's an election or something like Brexit, the next day, it'll step down being [1:20:12] like, you know what? [1:20:13] You trust in me. [1:20:14] I tried. [1:20:14] I failed. [1:20:15] Goodbye. [1:20:16] Only in this country are we saddled with people who lose over and over again. [1:20:19] And, you know, it's a real problem for groups like ours that want to be out there, per James [1:20:24] Advice, asking people to donate to Senate candidates, volunteer for Senate candidates, [1:20:28] to be like, you know what? [1:20:29] If we get some fresh blood in there, they will be following Chuck Schumer's lead. [1:20:33] That's not really an inspiring proposition. [1:20:35] This is a news day. [1:20:35] It's all over the country. [1:20:37] It's been put together by grassroots organizers. [1:20:40] It's very now. [1:20:41] It doesn't feel like the 2017 version or the campaign of last year. [1:20:46] It's addressing a lot of concerns about the current agenda, including we're seeing signs [1:20:51] and protesters saying, James, this is not even what people voted for. [1:20:55] Even if they are anti-Trump voters, they're calling out a lot of things that they say exceed [1:20:59] the president's authority or are dangerous or are gutting of the federal government. [1:21:04] What's happening here? [1:21:05] What do you see? [1:21:06] What I see is something organic coming up from around the country. [1:21:10] I don't think that there was a lot of organization. [1:21:12] If you remember in 2017, you had like a million women on the mall. [1:21:17] This is happening all around the country. [1:21:21] So the question is, how should Democratic politicians respond to this? [1:21:26] And what I think they should do is what we call in rural America, play possum. [1:21:31] Just let it go. [1:21:33] Don't get in the way of it. [1:21:35] Or as we like to say, don't just stand there. [1:21:38] Do nothing. [1:21:39] Let it let this germinate. [1:21:41] We don't need to be, we don't need to get in front of it. [1:21:44] This freight train is moving. [1:21:47] Let's just get out of the way. [1:21:49] And then we're going to have time. [1:21:51] In the mortal words of Dalton and Roadhouse, be nice until it's time not to be nice. [1:21:59] And that time is coming shortly. [1:22:01] That makes sense. [1:22:05] Let's listen to some more of the folks, as you say, who are out there doing this organically. [1:22:10] Here's some of what we heard. [1:22:10] I'm worried about the power that Elon Musk has been given without any kind of election. [1:22:20] I think the person who currently occupies the White House has no business being there and is making a chaotic mess of our country. [1:22:31] Elon Musk was not elected. [1:22:33] He was around in the final weeks of the campaign. [1:22:36] But they certainly did not admit or maybe they didn't know that he would be a super almost co-president. [1:22:44] Is that becoming a potential vulnerability for the Trump White House? [1:22:48] Yeah, I think the slogan for 2026 is going to be a government of by and for billionaires. [1:22:56] Is that what they wish you voted for? [1:22:57] But these people are saying that these two women are way more articulate and way more influential than you and I saying it because we would be expected to say this. [1:23:06] But when this is coming up, get out of the way. [1:23:09] Let it let it go. [1:23:11] This is a whole thing. [1:23:13] And it is it kind of happened. [1:23:15] Everybody was like down, be depressed. [1:23:18] And this happened quickly. [1:23:19] And I think I'm almost positive it's going to continue to happen. [1:23:24] And I think that the nucleus story, nuclear safety, airline safety, I don't know about it. [1:23:30] And I think most people are like me. [1:23:32] They have a visceral fear of being on an airplane and having an incompetent FAA. [1:23:37] They have a visceral fear of all of the nuclear weapons that we have stored not being properly supervised. [1:23:44] And just wait till the food safety, you know, that that happens. [1:23:49] And botulism breaks out and God knows what not is coming. [1:23:52] As a result of this, I'm certainly not hoping for that, but I wouldn't be surprised if anything happened with these clowns. [1:24:02] No, you know, anyone who cares about society, each other, the country hopes against it. [1:24:08] In a way, you hope that that these incompetent efforts to gut the government as if it has no role to play, you hope that they don't lead to the worst. [1:24:19] And yet anyone who's been around and I've been around, as you know, I worked in government briefly. [1:24:26] I worked in law as a journalist covered this stuff. [1:24:29] So I've been around a little. [1:24:31] And if I've been around a little, James, you've been around more than a little. [1:24:34] OK, so you watch these stories play out and you watch them with a type of knowing concern, reaching up to informed fear. [1:24:45] Because if you fire all the people who know how to do nuclear safety and you trash all the people who work at the health agencies and you go over the FAA and you demoralize, delist, deplatform and sometimes fire people amidst everything we just reported. [1:25:04] Then, yes, you are raising the probabilities, as we've known from watching this for decades, of the government folks not being there to protect you to say nothing of financial and complex areas like the markets where we it wasn't that long. [1:25:18] A lot of people were hurt by that financial crash, which was partly a problem where there wasn't regulation and knowing, informed, empowered policing under eight years of Bush, SEC and everything else of systemic risk to the market. [1:25:35] And so, yes, we're not wishing for any of it. [1:25:37] But but how does that fit into the politics of this when you look at these protests and the people, many of the people out there seem to know this and be concerned? [1:25:45] Well, I think people it's getting people's attention. [1:25:47] I think nuclear gets people's attention. [1:25:49] I think airplane crashes gives people's attention. [1:25:51] Look at your hometown. [1:25:53] One of my favorite places to work, New York City. [1:25:55] We've had four deputy mayors resign. [1:25:59] We've had four people, many of them dedicated conservatives, resign from the Southern District of New York. [1:26:04] I'm sorry. [1:26:05] The governor of New York is a dolt. [1:26:07] Why she doesn't get that guy out of there pronto, I have no idea. [1:26:12] I'm sorry, but all of the evidence. [1:26:14] You're saying the governor, you're saying governor. [1:26:17] You're talking about Mayor Adams. [1:26:20] That she's leaving that guy who has the power to remove from all appearances is a major criminal. [1:26:28] The people in his office, the people, the federal prosecutors, not these are not political people. [1:26:33] This woman was a clerk for Justice Roberts or something like that. [1:26:38] This is all collapsing right in front of you, and it's collapsing in the most significant city in the world. [1:26:47] I mean, it's coming to you right now. [1:26:49] We're not projecting, oh, it's going to happen. [1:26:52] You just wait and see. [1:26:53] We're right. [1:26:54] It's all falling apart right in front of us, right in front of us. [1:26:58] And then what really gets to me, you have these people who try to position themselves. [1:27:04] I'll give you a good example. [1:27:05] My dear friend, and he has a good friend of mine, Bill Maher. [1:27:08] Oh, well, maybe they got something. [1:27:09] Do you really think that these people are after waste, fraud, abuse? [1:27:13] No, they're incompetent. [1:27:15] They're totally incompetent. [1:27:17] And anybody that has anything to do with that is going to live to regret it. [1:27:23] I see these professional centrists on TV. [1:27:26] Well, we've got to acknowledge, no, that everybody that touches this is going to live to regret it. [1:27:33] Everybody that defends this is going to live to regret it. [1:27:37] And you're saying, because you're saying the stakes matter. [1:27:41] Reality is on the line. [1:27:42] We're talking about, as you said, nuclear safety, FAA. [1:27:45] And you're mentioning Bill Maher as someone who what? [1:27:47] You're saying you think that he is being too solicitous of the Trump argument? [1:27:52] Go ahead. [1:27:54] Well, I think what Bill is trying to do is like, and I agree with him. [1:27:58] I think he was very courageous on identity politics. [1:28:01] I've been on his show a number of times. [1:28:02] I really consider him a friend. [1:28:03] But he's like, well, you know, you've got to admit, Musk and them, that they're trying to, you know, curb waste, fraud, abuse. [1:28:09] That's $500 billion of waste. [1:28:12] All right, so you sound reasonable. [1:28:14] That's not what this is about. [1:28:16] You think that waste, fraud, and abuse is in managing nuclear stockpiles? [1:28:20] You think the waste, fraud, and abuse is lining up people to land at LGA, LAX, MSY, ORD? [1:28:29] No, that's not. [1:28:31] That's what they're going after. [1:28:32] That's why you're going to regret this. [1:28:34] You think the mayor of New York, and somebody said, well, he might switch to being a Republican. [1:28:40] Well, great. [1:28:41] Can I hold your coat? [1:28:42] For God's sakes, get the hell out. [1:28:43] We don't want you. [1:28:44] We don't want you. [1:28:45] And, you know, sometimes you've got to say that. [1:28:50] And look at the people that take the people in Romania, Bogoyevich. [1:28:54] I mean, every major criminal you can think of is there. [1:29:00] There's no secret. [1:29:01] There's no, on the other hand, there's no middle ground here. [1:29:05] Not at all. [1:29:06] Nothing. [1:29:07] But, again, I repeat, just don't just stand there. [1:29:13] Do nothing. [1:29:14] Just let it keep going. [1:29:15] It's going in a very, very good direction. [1:29:19] Yeah, you're talking about, and that's, you're talking about what the Democratic leaders should do, [1:29:23] because there is such a thing as bottom-up grassroots movements. [1:29:27] And when it does happen, you want to respect that. [1:29:30] I get your point there. [1:29:31] I got your point on Mr. Maher. [1:29:33] You guys have been around each other. [1:29:35] I know. [1:29:35] I know you've been on his program. [1:29:36] So it's interesting to hear you say that. [1:29:38] Because, again, the fig leaf, I mean, Elon Musk doesn't need people's personal taxpayer information, [1:29:43] which he may not, by the way, have legal rights to, to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. [1:29:47] There's way too many things they're doing that don't even fit under that defense, [1:29:50] which is why I think it's important for us to take it all and fact-check it. [1:29:54] Before I let you out of here, James, on this big President's Day, I want to talk, last question, [1:30:00] I want to talk Cookie Monster with you, okay? [1:30:03] All right. [1:30:05] You remember him. [1:30:07] Okay, yeah. [1:30:09] Can't forget him, yeah. [1:30:10] The New Yorker has this cartoon talking about making it clear to people where we have this is brand new from the New Yorker. [1:30:20] Quote, let me assure you, as an unpaid special factory employee, Mr. Monster, that's Mr. Cookie Monster, [1:30:27] stands to personally gain nothing from this work. [1:30:31] The New Yorker finds the Musk defenses as laughable as sending the Cookie Monster into the factory. [1:30:37] I just wanted your take on that. [1:30:39] Well, it's kind of worse than that. [1:30:41] They put some little 23-year-old snot noses going through the Treasury Department, [1:30:46] you know, getting people's tax information and everything. [1:30:53] We have planes crashing, nuclear weapons. [1:30:57] We have Putin running wild. [1:30:58] I mean, it's not just, if it wasn't so tragic, it would be laughable. [1:31:04] But what really gets to me is intelligent people who know better giving this some credence and saying, [1:31:12] well, maybe they have a point. [1:31:15] I mean, that's insane. [1:31:16] And we can't act like this is normal. [1:31:19] I remember right after the election on another one of my, on this network, one of my favorite shows, Morning Joe. [1:31:25] You had people on there that said, oh, no, it's not going to be too bad. [1:31:27] We're just overreacting to this. [1:31:30] No one is overreacting. [1:31:32] We're living in real time in a catastrophe. [1:31:35] And what we have to do is figure the smartest and quickest way out of that. [1:31:41] And I think the smartest and quickest way out of it is just let it go. [1:31:45] And way sooner than you think, it's going to come. [1:31:48] And just one more event. [1:31:49] You know, I'm a big believer in elections. [1:31:51] Think about the Virginia governor's race in November. [1:31:55] Think about the turnout among federal employees. [1:31:58] What percent of the voters in northern Virginia are federal employees or families of federal employees? [1:32:04] Do you think they're going to vote? [1:32:06] I think they're going to vote. [1:32:07] I think I know which way they're going to vote. [1:32:09] And they're going to vote heavily. [1:32:10] So I have I'm in despair. [1:32:14] The boy, what you showed me today pumped me up more than anything in the world. [1:32:18] And we just got to let the let let this go and get the hell out of the way because it's coming. [1:32:24] You've also seemed to strike a nerve, as mentioned, but also really benefit from a kind of enthusiasm in your state and online. [1:32:34] It's well documented. [1:32:35] Our viewers, as you know, follow politics. [1:32:37] There was a lot of money sloshing around and you did well, despite the money coming in against you. [1:32:42] I want to show just some of the discourse on TikTok where people are learning about you. [1:32:49] Abdul is live right now at a town hall speaking to constituents in the state of Michigan. [1:32:55] And Mike Rogers is playing MAGA down in Texas. [1:32:58] In Abdul, just like every other politician that posits themselves as remotely left wing, you will see the failure of reformism. [1:33:05] Dr. Abdul Syed, welcome. [1:33:06] How can we help you? [1:33:07] The 120 pound dumbbells are too light. [1:33:09] I possibly know. [1:33:11] The inconspicuous. [1:33:13] Ridiculous. [1:33:16] Just talk to us, especially if a viewer might not be on TikTok all day. [1:33:20] What's happening there? [1:33:21] Are you cultivating it? [1:33:25] Well, we're trying to change the conversation about our politics. [1:33:28] And too often, come election season, everybody wonders, where are the young folk? [1:33:32] And our job is to be talking about the issues that young people are talking about. [1:33:36] They're worried about the ability to graduate from high school or college and know that they're going to be able to get a job. [1:33:41] They're worried about ever being able to own a home. [1:33:43] They're worried about Donald Trump foreclosing on the next 10 years of their future. [1:33:48] And it turns out when you center those issues and have those conversations, young people are going to talk about these campaigns because they're actually excited to be a part of it. [1:33:55] And of course, when young people are talking, they're often TikToking and you're seeing that play out on social media, whether it's on Instagram or it's TikTok. [1:34:02] We appreciate the discourse. [1:34:04] For us, though, it really does start with the substance of the discussion. [1:34:07] I think a lot of folks out here think that it's about style. [1:34:09] It's not. [1:34:10] It's about substance. [1:34:11] It's about actually pausing challenges that people face. [1:34:13] I don't take corporate money. [1:34:14] I'm not bought off by the corporations. [1:34:16] I'm willing to call what happened with our tax dollars a genocide because I want that money spent here. [1:34:21] And I think for a lot of young people who've been waiting to hear that from a politician, the excitement that you see is a function of our willingness to have the honest conversation about where our politics need to go to create a future that they're excited about. [1:34:32] We'll get to all of that. [1:34:35] You've already also mentioned Medicare a couple of times. [1:34:37] We'll put up your plan so folks understand you've talked about type of health care for all, Medicare for all. [1:34:43] You add vision, dental and hearing. [1:34:45] You say you'll allow private coverage as well. [1:34:47] As you know, that's a big issue, including for unions in Michigan and others. [1:34:51] Walk us through what does it mean to add Medicare for everybody, but folks can stay on private insurance, keep their plan, and those employers and employees are unaffected? [1:35:02] Walk us through. [1:35:05] Well, anywhere you go in America, there is a public school system, and you're entitled to go to the public school. [1:35:11] And that public school is going to offer your kid a good education. [1:35:14] It's got to be better. [1:35:15] We've got to invest more in it. [1:35:16] But that's the idea of public schools. [1:35:18] And for a long time, the American middle class was built in part on the power of public schools and a public education. [1:35:24] Imagine we had the same thing for health care. [1:35:26] Imagine whether or not you wanted a private insurance company. [1:35:29] You had public health insurance that was guaranteed to you, not an option, guaranteed to you. [1:35:35] Doesn't go away if you turn 26 or get married or get divorced or get a job or lose a job or turn 65. [1:35:40] All reasons you can lose your private coverage. [1:35:42] It is there for you, guaranteed. [1:35:44] Now, if you want additional coverage above and beyond that, like people will pay for private school, that's fine. [1:35:48] But we should have guaranteed health care in this country that covers vision, dental, and hearing without a premium, a copay, and a deductible that does not go away on you. [1:35:56] Imagine the security that would offer. [1:35:58] Imagine how many new businesses people could open. [1:36:00] Imagine how many life transitions people would be more comfortable and confident in. [1:36:04] Imagine just the ability to breathe free when you get sick without having to worry about what the bill is going to look like afterwards. [1:36:10] That's Medicare for all, and we need that in this country. [1:36:13] On foreign policy, I think you just mentioned some of it. [1:36:16] You've talked about ending military aid to Israel, and you've cited reasons, including human rights reasons and U.S. law. [1:36:23] When asked about how you actually resolve this conflict, which is something the Senate and the president do, you've sort of said, well, equal rights for everyone on both sides of the conflict. [1:36:35] And maybe a two-state solution, maybe a one-state solution. [1:36:38] I'll read a quote here. [1:36:39] Folks may have heard some of this. [1:36:41] You said, I'll support whatever the outcome is that a free Palestinian people and a free Jewish Israeli people decide is the right outcome. [1:36:46] If that's two states, great. [1:36:48] I'm for it. [1:36:49] If it's one state, I'm for that. [1:36:51] And so as someone who's actually gotten noticed for being decisive about a lot of things, it sounds like you're saying maybe two-state, maybe one-state, maybe something else. [1:37:01] Why not clarify that more clearly about what the resolution would be? [1:37:06] Well, Ari, I am being decisive that it's not my job as a senator from the state of Michigan to dictate to other peoples in other countries what the final resolution should look like here. [1:37:19] I just want my tax dollars to be used to provide health care in Michigan, to provide good schools in Michigan, to provide roads and bridges in Michigan. [1:37:26] And I want to make sure that my tax dollars aren't being used to backstop a foreign government that has aided, armed and abetted the effort to foreclose on the possibility of Palestinian self-determination at all. [1:37:38] I think it's important for us to realize that American policymakers cannot continue to have the hubris of thinking that we get to dictate to people what the final piece should look like. [1:37:46] But we do get to decide what happens with our tax dollars. [1:37:49] And right now, those tax dollars are being used to foreclose on the possibility of a Palestinian state, despite the fact that every president until this one has said that they want a two-state solution, which, of course, is incoherence and hypocrisy. [1:38:00] So I am decisive that I don't want that incoherence and hypocrisy to continue. [1:38:03] I am decisive that I believe in equal rights to Palestinian self-determination alongside Jewish self-determination. [1:38:09] And I'm decisive in the idea that I want my kids to go to good schools. [1:38:12] I want our kids in Michigan here to have good health care. [1:38:14] I want everybody here to have good infrastructure. [1:38:16] And I want our money spent here rather than on 2,000-pound bombs, as it was just authorized to the tune of $2.8 billion. [1:38:21] Yeah, I think people hear you on the funding, and there's been a big debate about that, particularly with the current Israeli government actions. [1:38:28] And, as you know, in the Democratic Party, more talk about limiting or ending that funding, potentially. [1:38:35] But on the state side, as you probably know, because you've led on this issue, it's usually the doves on both sides of the conflict that want a two-state solution, [1:38:45] because that means the Palestinians get a state, a homeland they don't currently have, and the Israeli state that exists continues. [1:38:51] It's usually the doves saying two-state. [1:38:53] And when we hear one state, which, again, you're saying, well, you're going to weigh in on other things but not that. [1:38:58] Well, if it's one state, is it only the Israeli state or only a new Palestinian state? [1:39:03] As you know, there are groups, including terrorist groups, that say one state, end and wipe out Israel. [1:39:08] So, do you see why, if people hear this, they're wondering why you have the decisive position on these other things, [1:39:15] but here you're saying could be two, could be one, you're not sure? [1:39:20] Well, let me say a couple things about this, Ari. [1:39:22] You and I, we don't pray the same way, but we pray for the same things. [1:39:26] I'm sure when we look our kids in the eye, we want the same things. [1:39:28] You and I live in this incredible one state of ours, peaceably. [1:39:32] I believe in peoples who can live together peaceably, but I do not believe that we can get to peace if a people's will toward self-determination is put down. [1:39:42] You don't question my right to have a vote in this country. [1:39:45] I don't question yours. [1:39:46] You believe in my right to determine my future, and I believe in yours. [1:39:50] The reality of it right now is that we've had the attempt to completely foreclose upon any effort to Palestinian self-determination at all. [1:39:58] And then we're told that the Palestinian people should just accept what they're foisted on under the idea of a two-state solution. [1:40:04] Meanwhile, our tax dollars are being used under the guise of that two-state solution to foreclose on the possibility of a Palestinian state as the Netanyahu government and the Israeli government has had a policy. [1:40:14] Let me just finish. [1:40:15] Just to get to the number of it, though. [1:40:16] Has it a policy of settling what should be the second state? [1:40:19] And this is for people to understand, and then, of course, people will make up their own mind, but it sounds more like you are, is it fair to say, more skeptical of a two-state solution? [1:40:28] Is that what we're getting? [1:40:30] No. [1:40:31] No. [1:40:31] Well, I'm telling you that I think you have to start with a process. [1:40:34] The beautiful thing about democracy is that it's a process. [1:40:37] We don't dictate the outcome, but we dictate the process that people get to decide. [1:40:40] And right now, there is no movement for Palestinian self-determination because it has been foreclosed upon, in large part, by our tax dollars aiding and arming and abetting the Israeli government to foreclose on that movement for Palestinian self-determination. [1:40:54] So I am for a process. [1:40:55] If the free Palestinian people and the free Jewish Israeli people decide they want two states, I am good with that. [1:41:01] If they decide they want one state, I am good with that. [1:41:04] But I want them on equal terms to be able to decide. [1:41:07] That's what I'm talking about. [1:41:07] I'm committed to a process. [1:41:09] People want me to commit to an outcome, but I'm committed to a process by which you get the outcome. [1:41:13] Yeah, I don't know what people want you to commit to. [1:41:16] Genuinely trying to understand, I think you just said. [1:41:18] So you are conditionally open to a two-state solution, but you're not supporting it. [1:41:22] That's kind of where you land right now. [1:41:25] It's the process by which we got there. [1:41:27] It's like saying, look, you know, I'm fine with whomever. [1:41:30] You know, obviously I'm a partisan, but we are committed to the process of democracy to decide who our leaders are. [1:41:36] You might want one leader or another, but the process is what matters the most, and it's that process that we need to be committed to. [1:41:41] And right now, I just have to say, our government is nominally for a two-state solution, but we are aiding, arming, and abetting the people who want to foreclose on the second state. [1:41:49] It's incoherent. [1:41:50] It is hypocritical. [1:41:52] So I'd be sitting here telling you I'm for a two-state solution or I'm for a one-state solution, but in the end, our government is foreclosing on any such solution that can be got through a movement to actual self-determination for the Palestinian people, [1:42:04] which, of course, if you want peace, you have to have justice, which means that people have to have a voice in the outcome. [1:42:09] And right now, the Palestinian people are not being given the opportunity for that voice. [1:42:13] And so what I'm telling you is I'm for a process that gets us there. [1:42:16] Turning to the U.S., where we see these issues in Michigan and around the country, there is a problem with hate crimes and attacks on people based on being Muslim, [1:42:27] and we've seen Islamophobia ebb and flow in this country. [1:42:29] There's also, as you know, and you've spoken on it, it's happened in Michigan, a problem with anti-Semitism and hate crimes there, including violent incidents. [1:42:38] I wanted to show something that I think we all know but has come up so much, which is just looking at how we've heard more vocal anti-Semitism in the U.S., [1:42:49] starting with the Unite the Right rally, where Trump famously or infamously said could be on both sides, as well as more recently. [1:42:56] Let's take a look. [1:42:56] N.Y.P.D. confirms a swastika was found on a bathroom wall Friday. [1:43:04] Tucker Carlson, a former Fox host, a mainstay of conservative media, to invite a known Holocaust denier, a white supremacist, [1:43:12] and Nick Fuentes onto his show for an objectively friendly interview. [1:43:16] Muslim and Jews, which one concerns you more? [1:43:20] Jews, for sure. [1:43:21] Tell me why. [1:43:22] More powerful. [1:43:22] A driver rammed his truck through the barricades and smashed through the front door of Temple Israel just outside Detroit. [1:43:28] The FBI called it, quote, a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community. [1:43:32] You've spoken about this, and I'm curious, when we look at all this now, do you see anti-Semitism as a problem in America, as shown there, [1:43:43] and one that has to be guarded for on the right and the left lately? [1:43:49] Anti-Semitism is a scourge. [1:43:51] Nobody should be discriminated against for how they pray or their ethnic background. [1:43:56] Judaism and the Jewish people, beautiful faith, beautiful people, incredible contributions to our society. [1:44:01] And I'm committed to the well-being of Jewish Americans in this country. [1:44:06] I've stood alongside Jewish sisters and brothers. [1:44:08] I want them to understand that I'll stand alongside them as a U.S. senator. [1:44:12] And so, yes, we have to put down anti-Semitism. [1:44:14] It is critical for us to make sure that nobody is discriminated against. [1:44:18] And I can tell you, as somebody who is Muslim-American and has faced my own fair share of criticism simply because of how I pray, [1:44:25] I don't want anybody in this country to be discriminated against for who they are or how they pray or how they love or how they identify with the color of their skin. [1:44:33] We need to be able to stand up against anti-Semitism as a form of hate that is on the rise. [1:44:38] And I want to be a champion of that as someone who understands what it means to be discriminated against and to offer that kind of solidarity alongside Jewish sisters and brothers. [1:44:48] Understood. [1:44:49] I want to hit a couple more topics and then end with our lightning round where we go fast. [1:44:53] We've seen a lot more concern about AI and data centers in the last month or so. [1:44:58] But we were checking this as we go through so many things. [1:45:00] You know, you were leading on that concern and critique in Michigan as early as January. [1:45:06] How did that come across your radar and what would you do to protect both jobs and also just humanity? [1:45:16] Yeah, unlike my opponent, Mike Rogers, I actually go and talk to people. [1:45:19] And when you talk to people, they'll tell you what they're concerned about. [1:45:21] There were 15 data center projects proposed in 2025 alone and people were really, really concerned about them. [1:45:27] And so we proposed the terms of engagement that we need to pass at the federal level to protect people from the real risks of data centers. [1:45:34] They need to be built with all union jobs. [1:45:36] They need to assure that they will not raise our utility rates. [1:45:40] Some of the money that goes in a utility company should be used to improve our reliability. [1:45:45] They cannot touch our water and they need to have very clear negotiated community benefits agreements with the local community. [1:45:52] When it comes to AI more broadly, I've been very clear that right now we need a pause. [1:45:56] We need an SEC or FDA style regulatory mechanism that's embedded inside these legacy reps. [1:46:02] It's exactly real regulation to make sure that we're not headed into a world in which these AIs can reproduce each other and then get us to a point where they slip human control entirely. [1:46:12] Yeah. [1:46:13] I have a Schumer question and then the lightning round. [1:46:16] Bottom line, you're talking about doing things differently. [1:46:19] And as we showed, there's been a real response to that. [1:46:21] Would you prefer a different Senate leader than Chuck Schumer if you are elected? [1:46:30] Well, I've been clear. [1:46:31] I think Chris Van Hollen would make him an incredible Senate majority leader when we take the back to Senate. [1:46:36] So, yeah, you know, I've been a fan of his for a very long time. [1:46:40] Yeah. [1:46:40] Him over Schumer. [1:46:41] I would I would definitely support Senator Chris Van Hollen and I would love to see him a Senate majority leader, which is interesting because as our viewers follow politics, that's rare. [1:46:51] Most of the people run, they they don't say that, but there's been calls for all kinds of change lightning round. [1:46:58] I think you'll be good at it because watching you on the stump, you know what you're saying. [1:47:03] This is finish the sentence. [1:47:05] So one sentence is all you get if you're willing. [1:47:06] OK, let's do it. [1:47:10] Something Democrats are right about is we need unions and we need them now. [1:47:18] Something Democrats are wrong about continued funding for unconditional military aid to countries like Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan. [1:47:29] And many others. [1:47:31] Donald Trump won Michigan because people are sick and tired of the status quo. [1:47:37] They don't like either party. [1:47:38] And he made himself out to be an outsider. [1:47:41] It turns out that he's the worst kind of insider. [1:47:43] But he won because he made himself out to be an outsider. [1:47:47] If you finish this sentence, you would say the most Michigan thing about me is about you. [1:47:56] If you cut me open, I literally bleed maize and blue. [1:47:59] Go blue. [1:48:00] That's something we happen to have in common. [1:48:02] I wear black T-shirts because they are a you can dress them up. [1:48:10] You can dress them down. [1:48:11] I have many of them. [1:48:13] They are comfortable. [1:48:14] If I ever spill something on one, you can't see it. [1:48:18] If I sweat in one, you can't see it. [1:48:20] So it is the the ideal shirt for somebody who's got to be in a bunch of different kind of spaces and places all day, every day. [1:48:30] Practical campaign campaign reasoning. [1:48:33] Final two. [1:48:34] If I lose, it will be because. [1:48:37] We weren't able to get enough votes and inspire enough of a movement to push back on the power of the money that MAGA Inc and Elon Musk and the corporations funding Mike Rogers are using to spread misinformation in our state. [1:48:53] And if I win, it'll be because. [1:48:57] We built a movement to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for all. [1:49:00] We invested in getting to know Michiganders early, hearing from them, understanding the challenges they face. [1:49:08] We focused on those challenges. [1:49:10] We went everywhere. [1:49:10] We talked to everyone and we built a movement of the many to take on the power of their money. [1:49:15] Hey, it's Rachel. [1:49:16] I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. [1:49:27] You can watch things live or recorded. [1:49:30] Plus, you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live chats. [1:49:35] You can go to MSNOW membership or just click below. [1:49:41] Thanks.