Trump and Pod Save America Agree: JD Is Lame

[00:00] Pod Save America is brought to you by SimpliSafe. No one wants to imagine their home getting broken into. But the scary statistic is that every 26 seconds in the, a family experiences a break-in. Scary? Yes. But that's why SimpliSafe has worked to make home security more accessible to more American families. John Lovett set up with SimpliSafe, and boy! [00:17] Is he happy? Safe as hell. Safe as hell. Happy, safe. No one has set it up as well as love it did. Nope. Nobody. You crushed it. Not one. Very quick.

And now you get the app on your phone, and so you can sort of run everything from there. With SimpliSafe, there are no long-term contracts or hidden cancellation fees. They earn your business by keeping you safe, not by trapping you in a contract. With SimpliSafe, you can customize your system to fit your needs, then ships fast directly to your door. The app-guided setup is simple, and there's no drilling required, so you can install and arm your system in under an hour. [00:47] to security camera. It's a comprehensive system of sensors, indoor and outdoor cameras, and 24-7 professional monitoring.

Over 5 million people value and trust SimpliSafe with their home security every day. Right now, our listeners will get 50% off a new system when you sign up for professional monitoring and your first month is free. Just visit com slash crooked. That's half off at com slash crooked. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. [01:14] Out here on the road, not every exit's worth the stop. But when you spot one with a glowing red Pilot sign, you don't hesitate. Because right now, you can get juicy chicken tenders, crispy seasoned potato wedges, and a nice cold Dr.

Pepper, all for just eight bucks. Now that's a meal deal worth the stop. Pilot and Flying J, see you out here. Available at participating locations from May 5th to June 30th, 2026. Terms apply, see store for details. [01:44] Big color, bigger savings. Sherwin-Williams Super Sale is here. Get 40% off paints and stains June 5th through the 11th with prices starting at $30.89. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store.

Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only. Some exclusions apply. See store for details. Delivery available on qualifying orders. [02:15] *Music* [02:35] Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau. I'm Jon Levin. Tommy Vitor. On today's show, we'll talk about the news that Trump appears to be giving up [02:42] on his $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund. [02:47] He also seems quite uninterested in ending the Iran War, [02:49] saying he, quote, couldn't care less whether talks break down... [02:53] We're also going to talk about Tuesday's big primaries this week in Iowa and here in California, as well as more turbulence in Maine for Graham Plattner and more turbulence for

D. Vance and his quest to become Donald Trump's number one boy chosen successor. Then New Jersey Senator Andy Kim talks to me about the horrifying conditions he witnessed at the ICE detention center in Newark, where the senator was pepper sprayed by federal agents. [03:23] barry weiss of murdering 60 minutes that sounds like a really fun meeting to have attended it was an all-staff meeting convened by um weiss's new hand-picked executive producer nick bilton no weiss at the meeting it's your first day at the office you're trying to find the bathrooms you're seeing which where your badge works and where your badge doesn't work next thing scott pelly's saying you piece of shit i will fucking rake your dead corpse over the bones of don hewitt [03:53] but not as much as you might think.

Honestly, it was pretty close. Reading Oliver Darcy's status has the whole transcript of the meeting. It was something. Anyway, I just bring that up because if all of you want to support the growth of an independent pro-democracy media company that Barry Weiss can't murder, at least not yet, please consider becoming a Friend of the Pod subscriber. You get ad-free episodes of this show, all your favorite Crooked Pods, subscriber-only shows like Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer, our secret extra episode of Pod Save America, [04:23] Thank you. [04:23] and full access to all of our sub-stack newsletters like OpenTabs.

Check it out at com slash friends. All right, let's get to the news. [04:31] With the Middle East still a mess and gas prices still high, the president is once again working hard to communicate to the American people how little he cares about these things. Here he is during a hard-hitting Fox interview with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, focused like a laser on his true passion interior design. [04:48] This will be the entrance into the ballroom. The ballroom will be right here. No, the ballroom is a gift to America from me and from Apple and from lots of great people.

How often are you coming out here to check the progress? A lot. We're going to have the inauguration here. Oh, wow. This stone can last a million years. You know, most people would put brass on top of a piece of wood. It would be called laminated, and then in about two years you'd see the brass falling on the floor. You know, we'd delaminate. This is, look, solid brass. [05:18] Solid, beautiful, solid. It's, it's, it's the putting, look, we've suffered a lot under this guy. The putting labels on the rooms outside the room.

The Oval Office, like we know. The whole point of it, man, is we know it's a cool room. It's actually a great thing. You don't need to label it. Did you guys read Ashley Parker's story about Trump as a gay icon in the Atlantic? I didn't see it. You will love it. It's so funny. It's so good. They're having the inauguration out there? No, they're not, by the way. Congress decides. I was going to say, yeah, what's the. [05:48] like the balls and some of the, you know, the balls that would happen around the inaugural.

I mean, says him. [05:54] He's not there anymore. Right. He won't be, he shouldn't be that involved in the planning of it. You know, one would hope. He's just going to stay on as like physical plant director. It should be a chaperone for JD. [06:04] JD, you're going home. No, so that was on Fox over the weekend. For Fox viewers who wanted just a little more on what the government is doing about this terrible economy, on Sunday morning, they get to hear this from top White House economic advisor slash Democratic Party plant [06:18] Kevin Hassett.

People are spending more on gas, but they're also spending more on everything else, not just groceries, but restaurants and so on. And I think that that's a sign that you would see when people are optimistic about the future. [06:38] Isn't that the clip from last month when Kevin Hassett said this? And then I have to click on it and realize that he basically said the same thing again, but maybe worse this time. No, they just keep putting MAGA Dennis the Menace on TV to say stupid shit. I mean, they just like they could not seem more out of touch if they tried.

Spending more on gas and groceries does not suggest that you're optimistic about the future. It suggests that you need gas and groceries. And those are non-negotiable items. They're not taking out loans to start a business. What are you talking about? It's like, oh, you know. [07:05] hey, man, like most people are just they're just not really paying that close attention to aggregate consumer spending. Right. I mean, that matters to you in your morning meeting. Yes. But then like the Laura Trump interview, I mean, [07:16] Trump clearly wanted to talk about the brass thing he put on the wall.

He could write Laura Trump's questions for her if he wanted. It's his daughter-in-law doing the interview. And they clearly went out and they pitched this. He wants to tell us, I don't give a shit about anyone or anything in the world except for myself, my arch. And he seems annoyed almost that we don't believe him at this point. [07:46] people's savings being low, people dipping into their savings. And he's like, well, according to the economic literature, that could be two things. One, the doomer view that you just took, which is that people aren't confident, or they're spending so much because they are confident, and that's why they're dipping into their savings.

Yes, people are racking up credit card debt because they're betting on themselves. That's what's going on. That's what's going on. Just thought of it. Thought of it too late. Phantom of the Ballroom. That's what he's sort of aiming for. Phantom of the Ballroom. Something like that. Something like that. Imagine I said it earlier. [08:16] Imagine I made this joke earlier. University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index. [08:21] is at a record low of 44.8 in May of 2026. That's lower than COVID. It's terrible. So the biggest concern, by the way, is...

[08:30] cost of living, and gas prices. [08:32] Yeah, well, you know what the solution is? Turn that frown upside down, all you doomers. Believe. Believe in Donald Trump and his... Look, if a man can do that with brass, imagine what he can do for your savings. That's going out there with the $250 bill, too. Like, the whole thing, it is... [08:47] crazy it is he wants to lose the midterm you see him holding up the the story being like whoever edited this who did a terrible job pissy cadaver he looks so his he has such a terrible like kind of his whole facial expression just like just you did it's so unlikable just the holding up the story with the money on it so obviously none of this is going too well politically for trump but unfortunately for him even his renovations and corruption are running into some uh stiff headwinds [09:17] closed the Kennedy Center for renovations and also ruled that he can't just rename it for himself.

There was a very long truth social post where he was ranting about that, that I have to tell you, I honestly couldn't get through at all. It's just he was very upset. But basically, he's like, I'm giving up on the Kennedy Center. That's it. Forget it. It's like, all right, cool. Yeah. Hey, man. Yeah. Leave her alone. [09:41] The same day, another federal judge in Florida reopened Trump's IRS settlement with his own DOJ [09:47] quote, grievous allegations that the $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund was quote, premised on deception. Then another federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the transfer of money in or out of the fund while she waits to hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging it.

Finally, after all these reports that both Republicans in Congress and White House aides were pushing Trump to just give up on the slush fund altogether, it appears as if he's done just that. Two senior administration officials told Axios that Trump will drop the slush fund with [10:17] posted a statement saying it'll, quote, abide by the court ruling blocking it, even though that block is only temporary. [10:24] We haven't heard from Trump as of this recording. We've got to hear from the big boy. Before it's done, it's not done until the big boy speaks.

Yeah, and even then, who knows? Even then, right. But do you think he backs down this easily? And I think more importantly, do you guys think this is still a political issue for Republicans? So... [10:40] Uh... [10:41] Also, Senate Republicans actually were pretty bothered by this in a closed-door meeting, of course. John Thune was actually out there saying he didn't like this very much, which is impressive for him. Of course, the only thing Senate Republicans could manage to do is quietly oppose it and then bravely leave town. That was their way of protesting it.

It was, we're not going to give him more money for immigration that we don't need, and we're going to leave town to signal our unhappiness with it. I assume and hope that we'll still have votes on it this week. [11:11] There's no given that it's only temporarily on hold and Trump clearly wants to do this. I think Democrats need to get Republicans on record that they would oppose having this kind of a slush fund be legal now or in the future. And so let's get them voting on that, because even if they're privately saying it, they'll have to publicly do something.

Yeah, the for now bothered me for now. Part of that report bothered me. I'm hopeful that, you know, when you're primarying John Cornyn, you're primarying Bill Cassidy. [11:41] I don't know if you guys read the big New York Times piece from over the weekend about how the slush fund came together. But it read like the blueprint for a future RICO case. It was like Boris Epstein on the outside, like coordinating things. The Trump kids want immunity for like all IRS audits for their tax returns in the future. The professional staff at DOJ are either horrified or quitting.

And then the White House political staff was just cut out of the process because they probably knew that it was toxic. [12:11] And so, I don't know, knowing Trump is probably not the end of it. Schumer is going ahead with or he said he's going ahead with making sure they have to vote on it. And the vote is going to be on, you know, originally, I think the first time we talked about Democrats potentially proposing amendments on this, it was like to restrict the fund or whatever. There was a couple of proposals out there to just ban the fund completely forever.

And that's what Schumer is going with, reportedly, he said today. [12:41] like what Republican now is going to vote against the ban now that Trump has said, [12:47] Or at least the White House has signaled that they're giving up on it. So Trump doesn't say anything between now and the vote. Like if you're Republican voting on this, you can either vote against the ban and really fuck yourself in the midterms because now the White House has abandoned it. But now you're on record supporting it. Or you can vote for the ban and then the ban becomes law.

And then it doesn't matter if Trump backs off because now it's against the law. Well, right. There's a pretty good position that Democrats are great. This is ridiculous. There's no good vote for the Republicans. [13:17] because there is no fund. So I'm voting against this because Democrats are playing politics. Just giving them an option to be great. Of course. [13:26] That's another craven. The Republicans have said this is not necessary or it is too late. Those have been two positions they've taken in the past and trying to stop Trump. [13:36] The other part of this too is like, [13:38] In fairness to Trump, he must be surprised that there's any pushback whatsoever.

It sort of, I think, must have caught him off guard that Senate Republicans have found a line because they've tolerated Trump. [13:48] so much brazen corruption, the pardons and all the rest that led to this moment. Even as we're speaking, DOJ is trying to vacate the convictions of the oath keepers that Trump only commuted, but didn't pardon. So they still are kind of [14:02] just going full speed ahead without having to worry about the Republicans in Congress. I love that Mike Pence was on the Sunday shows being like, [14:08] Please don't pay the people that tried to hang me.

Come on. You know what? McDonald's? I watch. I watch. They tried to hang me. They set up stocks in a noose. I watched part of that Mike Pence on Meet the Press. I don't know why. [14:20] Doesn't sound like me, but but it was he's served to you by accident. His book is about his book is about like the need to take on the right wing populist while he's like up there, just like praising Donald Trump and how on so many things he's doing such a great job. And then he's like, now I do have to say I am a big critical of his continuing to support the people that tried to kill me.

But nobody's perfect. It's unbelievable that he's still out here out there like doing this thing. [14:50] option for Donald Trump is saying, fine, I'll just pocket the cash then. [14:55] Well, he's remember. Remember he had that pissy post last week when there was a lot of political blowback on the slush fund and he was like, I could have just kept the money. Well, that's why he's annoyed. Right. Because he thought I'm going to do a $10 billion lawsuit. Yeah. And then I'm actually going to do something really cool, which is which is going to be like beloved by all because I'm not going to keep the money.

I mean, it was like too clever by half. Yes. Yes. [15:20] being annoyed at Todd Blanche for running this drug deal behind their backs. So good. Amazing. All right. Let's talk about Iran, where Trump can't even seem to get a bad deal, let alone one that would justify the insane amount of money and lives the war has already cost. Military strikes have started again. Iran state media said it was pausing negotiations. Trump told CNBC on Monday morning that he, quote, couldn't care less if the negotiations collapsed, [15:50] This was after he complained on Truth Social about how negative, quote, chirping about the war from political hacks is making his job tougher and that we should all just sit back and relax because it will all work out well in the end.

It always does. [16:04] Trump then reversed course again and said that talks between the S. and Iran were, quote, continuing at a rapid pace. Taking too long and getting kind of boring is also what he said, the one and only time he went down on Havana. [16:19] Jesus Christ. Never going to make that mistake again. Ivana. That's a... God rest her soul. On the ninth green be a blessing. Sorry, everybody. Sorry. It occurred to me. Catching strays from the grave. Okay. Tommy. [16:40] We were reliably told by Scott Jennings last Thursday that Trump had reached a deal with Iran that got us, quote, everything we want.

[16:49] Mm hmm. What happened? Is it possible that Scott led us astray? Yeah. Before I get to Jennings, I want to just read a little more of the transcript of the CNBC interview. Is this what Trump told Eamon Javers from CNBC about the peace talks? I don't care if they're over. Honestly, I really don't care. I couldn't care less. If they're over, they're over. If they're not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring. Again, 13 service members dead, hundreds more wounded, entire global economy is on the brink of collapse, [17:19] wrap your head around a politician saying that a president saying that and it not being a career ending moment kind of like on site but here we are fox news will never air it this will never have happened in the mega media world now scott jannings uh fuck know him from cnn you know him you hate him he's a hack he's a fool he mindlessly regurgitates uh whatever talking points he gets sent from the white house including blatant disinformation so i expect nothing better from him [17:49] that kind of cut and paste whatever some senior administration official told them, whether it's Jared Kushner or the press office or whomever.

Just help rethink how you're doing your job. Because I get that journalism is very competitive. I get that reporters are battling for every mini scoop these days. But at best, you look silly. At worst, you are a pawn in oil market manipulations, right? This happens every Sunday. And then ultimately, you're pumping out disinformation to the entire world. [18:19] because they have no oil and gas. And so on the question of where do we stand on a deal? I don't know. Like one, the deal was off. The deal was on. We're on the cusp of a deal.

Then we're bombing the Iranians again. Trump just said he talked directly with the Hezbollah representative. You guys see that today? That's new. That's interesting. And then said that Hezbollah and Israel, they're cool. There's a ceasefire in Lebanon now. The Iran talks are proceeding quickly. Then Netanyahu was like, no, they're not. What are you talking about? So who knows? I also, I mean, you tell me, Tommy, [18:49] I don't think that all the pre-spinning of what the deal is going to include from the White House is actually helping the negotiations that much and, in fact, may be hurting them because every time they get close to a deal, then – and Iran's probably thinking, OK, we're going to do this maybe.

And then Trump goes out and is like, we destroyed them. We got the best deal ever. We got everything we ever wanted. And then the Iranians are probably like, well, fuck, no, I'm not going to do this now. [19:19] sanctions relief, unfrozen assets, something, but he refuses to look weak. He doesn't want to look like he gave a JCPOA-like agreement to the Iranians. So you're right. I mean, it sounds like his staff are kind of giving, and then he goes out and says, actually, no, we're going to take the dust.

We're going to not give him any money. All the reports are bullshit. And Iranians, okay, okay, fuck you then. Yeah, I feel like there's two things happening. One is [19:41] What an actual deal is. [19:43] will ultimately look like if there is one. And then there's how Trump... [19:47] how the Trump administration talks about the deal and then what's reported. This has been... [19:51] This has been sort of the media has been getting led around by Trump from when [19:57] Vance went to Pakistan because Vance goes to Pakistan and then within eight hours, 12 hours, the reports are stalemate, talks at an impasse, talks are falling apart.

There haven't really been talks. And we've spent the next last several weeks having deal falls apart, verge of a deal. Deal falls apart, verge of a deal. When what would be happening in a normal administration is the [20:27] and like, you know, and puts and whatever. And... [20:31] Instead, it's the kind of through the Trump prism. And so all these outlets are hearing, I guess, from the administration officials from who knows saying we're on the verge of a deal. They report that out faithfully. And then it falls apart the very next day.

The reality of there will be hopefully there will be a deal. It will look something like the JCPOA. And then Trump will declare it the best the best deal in history. Like, [20:51] One hopes that that's what we'll eventually get to. And then all this up and down shit will have just been sort of like silly Trump chaos on the way there, I guess. I think what's triggering the hell out of me, though, is like ultimately there will be reporting on it will evaluate the merits of any deal. But that deal could have been gotten without a disastrous war that led to the deaths of thousands of Iranians and thousands of service members in the entire economy.

And it's like I'm not worried about this table losing that context. [21:21] sell a deal by like doing this constant, constant incremental reporting by retweeting, you know, Scott Jennings saying this is a win for the Trump administration, et cetera. It's like, no, this is a disaster no matter what happens next. Yeah. Cause the honest thing to report on this, or if you were some kind of a conservative pundit, the honest thing to even say is glad it's over now, but [21:40] That wasn't worth it. And not not in exactly those words, but like that is the tenor of whatever deal we're going to get is that like there's no way we came out better than we started.

Right. Because even like just on the on uranium enrichment, what I saw over the weekend or early today was what was on the table was a 20 year moratorium, which is what up from the 10 year moratorium to that you claimed this was the worst deal in history. Your deal is just a slightly longer timeline on one piece of it with other concessions. [22:10] so who even knows who knows but it's just like obvious like [22:13] He is just – there will be a hard – if there's a deal, it will be a deal that isn't some amazing victory for Donald Trump.

He'll call it that. He'll get his 24 hours to say that, and then we'll live with the consequences of having fought this stupid fucking war. [22:35] Pods of America is brought to you by Article. Article makes it effortless to build a home that lasts without the boutique markup. Their curated collections of mid-century coastal and Scandi furniture are designed to mix and match perfectly, so you can create a cohesive designer look that will stand the test of time. We've got a bunch of great Article stuff here at the office. We have chairs, we have desks and couches, and we've bought so many things from them at this point that I've lost count.

It's all super high quality. It looks good. It's comfortable. It all holds up for a very long time. [23:05] fast affordable shipping across the U S and Canada with options for professional delivery. If you prefer a hands-off experience, you have a question or need help with your design choices. Articles customer care team is available seven days a week, offering knowledgeable support and even free interior design services to help you with your home and get it just right. With Articles 30 days satisfaction guarantee, you can shop with confidence, knowing that if you're not completely in love with your new furniture, you can easily return it.

This peace of mind ensures you can invest in your home without hesitation. Articles offering our listeners [23:35] purchase of $100 or more. To claim it, visit com slash crooked and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. That's com slash crooked for 50 bucks off your first purchase of $100 or more. Pods of America is brought to you by AG1. Summer is for letting things slide a little. That's the point. [23:53] But there's one easy thing that takes 30 seconds and covers your bases no matter what the season throws at you.

One scoop. [23:59] plus eight ounces of water every morning, [24:01] AG1. AG1 is a daily health drink with a multivitamin, pre- and probiotic, superfoods, and antioxidants. One scoop, eight ounces of water. The next-gen formula delivers 75-plus ingredients and is designed to support gut health, help fill common nutrient gaps, and promote improved nutrient levels over time. Late nights, long weekends, spontaneous plans, life happens. AG1 helps you keep one thing consistent, high-quality nutritional support every single day, no matter where you start your morning. [24:29] You're like an AG1 person. I'm a scoop of day guy.

I'm a big smoothie for breakfast person because it's super fast and easy and you can figure out exactly what goes in it. It's a pain to put a bunch of greens in your smoothie, like buy spinach or whatever. No, thank you. You don't need to do that. You just get AG1. It gets all of the superfoods you need, all the veggies, all the everything, more ingredients and whatever that you would put in by yourself. And it tastes good. I love AG1. [24:59] flavor sampler in your welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription, an $82 value.

That's com slash crooked. And if I see you in a free morning person hat, I will punch you. [25:14] As you're listening to this, voters in Iowa and California are voting in some very consequential elections. Let's start with Iowa, where State Representative Josh Turek and State Senator Zach Walls are in a tough primary fight for the state's open Senate seat, which will be hugely important. This one has become yet another meta-commentary on Chuck Schumer and the DSCC trying to influence key primaries, in this case in favor of Turek. Schumer hasn't [25:43] It's reported that he was sort of a Schumer recruit, much to Turek's dismay.

Yeah, he should endorse Walls. Tommy, you interviewed both Turek and Walls on the show. For people just catching up, what are each of them bringing to the table? What were your general impressions? Yeah, so Josh Turek, he's a state rep in Western Iowa in Council Bluffs. He was born with a spina bifida, uses a wheelchair. He's a two-time Paralympic gold medal winner in wheelchair basketball. [26:12] determined guy. He got cut from the men's team six times before he actually won the gold medal. He just kept coming back and competing. There's videos of him.

He literally like [26:23] climbs out of his wheelchair, climbs up the stairs with his hand, drags the wheelchair up after him, and then knocks on doors. That's how he goes door to door. So gritty dude, clearly benefiting from being Schumer's pick and an associated $9 million vote vets ad buy that has drastically increased his name ID because no one knew who any of these guys were. And then Zach is a member. Zach Wall is a member of the Iowa State Senate. He's from Iowa City. He was Senate Minority Leader for a couple of years.

Our listeners probably saw him speak in 2011, even though they don't remember [26:53] He was a 19 year old. He delivered a speech asking Iowa legislators not to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions that went super viral back in 2011. And it was a great speech, really powerful speech, like supercharged his career. So I interviewed him both. I liked him both a lot. [27:09] Um, everyone seems to think that Josh is likely to win. A lot of people I know who work in Iowa politics think he is more electable because he's one in more conservative parts of the state.

But what is going to take on Congresswoman Ashley Hinton for Joni Ernst's seat because she's resigning? And, uh, no matter who wins, Iowa is like ground zero for politics this next cycle. Cause you got Rob Sand, uh, who could be the next governor. You have this open Senate seat. Uh, and then there's like three competitive house races, a bunch of other statewide things. So like Iowa is absolutely crucial. So this was one we're going to be watching going forward. [27:39] I've been impressed by both of them, by both Josh Turk and Zach Walls.

And I know some of these Senate primary fights are particularly intense. And I know this one is, too. I do know, like, I was kind of joking about Josh Turk, probably wishing that Schumer didn't spend some PAC money on him or necessarily recruit him. But, like, I think that. [27:58] I understand why Walls is, you know, Walls has tried to make this a race about sort of an outsider versus the establishment as Turk as the establishment. I kind of think that, like... [28:09] You know, Turek being picked by Chuck Schumer is not quite the same as Turek being part of the establishment or the establishment spending money on him.

Like a lot of the money that's spent on him is vote vets. So it's like it's not... [28:20] At least for me, it doesn't worry me that he's some establishment pick necessarily. I feel like the case for that isn't as strong as in some of these other cases. But I also like, you know, Zach Walls was in here too. I thought he was very compelling as well. So I like both of them. Love it? Anything? No. [28:37] I think there's some races where being seen as like the Schumer guy, the DC guy, I think has been a real cross to bear.

I think that happened in Maine, which we'll talk about in a second. [28:50] time, in part because this VoteVetsBuy has been so big and so significant in helping push Josh forward. Also, he's a known quantity in Western Iowa. I think he's never been worked in C. Yeah, so I think it's harder to lay that on him, but we'll see. We should also say that for people wondering, the reason that VoteVets is spending money on him is not because he's a veteran, but his father was in Vietnam and potentially exposed to Agent Orange.

And that's why they think Josh has spina bifida, but also I think VoteVets is seen as doing Schumer's political [29:20] Yes, also true. Also true. All right. Let's turn to California. The big race, of course, is the jungle primary for governor. We have covered the campaign a lot. In between us, we've interviewed Tom Steyer, Katie Porter and Matt Mahan. We also reached out over a dozen times to the apparent front runner, Javier Becerra. And even though they expressed interest, they unfortunately wouldn't commit to a time. [29:41] Okay. [29:42] Same question for each of you.

Who'd you end up supporting and why? [29:47] Who else did you like? If this were ranked choice voting, who might you support after that? Well, my ballot still hasn't been filled down. So I'm still gettable. I'm still gettable. I'm still gettable. I am going to vote for Tom Starr. [30:00] Because I would like to see if Becerra, if the polls are to be believed and they've been pretty consistent, Becerra is going to move on. One other will. There's a chance Tom Steyer can be that second person. I would much rather have two Democrats battling it out for the future of the Democratic Party in this state than I would have Becerra versus a Republican who has not passed the threshold question of opposing Donald Trump's election lines.

That to me is a threshold question. You could be frustrated with Democrats in this state. [30:30] But if you can't say that Donald Trump lost that election, if you can't stand up to him, then that is so fucking dangerous. And he is a nut for that. [30:39] That's where I'm at. I also really like my conversation with Tom Steyer. I think he had good answers for some of the questions about where Democrats have gone wrong in California and some of the criticisms. I also really like Katie Porter, but she just hasn't.

[30:52] risen to the top of the polls like she was she kind of slowly fell behind and i think it's it sucks because i really like her but i'm trying to be pragmatic with my vote [31:01] Yeah, if I could wave a magic wand and make someone governor, it would be Katie Porter. But she's down in the polls, and I have the same rationale. I want to vote strategically because I think Steyer and Becerra going to a runoff would be great. It would kind of be annoying if we had to deal with running in Steve Hilton, who's a random British short king who's deep in the tech community.

I don't think his height's a problem. I do love that that triggers you of all the criticism. [31:31] to drop out still, even though Hilton is crushing Bianco and Trump has endorsed Hilton. But that's where I was. Yeah. If I were doing ranked choice, I would be Katie number one. No question. Because that's who I'd vote for. But that's not the world we live in. I had a real hard time with this. And I voted a couple of days ago. Yeah. [31:52] I, California is a big state with a, it's hard to govern, a lot of problems.

I don't really feel... [32:00] I thought about Becerra, but like, I don't feel confident giving the top job to someone who's had, he's had 35 years in elected office to to prove himself, but has received mainly bad reviews from his colleagues. And the one exec, especially in the one executive job that he's had, which was HHS secretary under Biden. And, you know, just like I think his housing policy, which was also like he's very late to introduce any kind of housing policy whatsoever until after ballots dropped. And then even then it was like.

[32:30] more nimby than sire or porter or anything else. And now I hope I'm wrong. And if he wins, then like, great, maybe he'll be a great governor. But I was like, I just it. [32:40] prevented me from voting Becerra. Steyer, like, I'm more confident in Steyer, but even then, like, on the experience question, there was just something... For me, it was like the combination of he's never had any... [32:54] experience in elected office or governing anything and is a billionaire who basically like, you know, ran for president first. [33:02] flamed out there than spent just the, the, uh, GDP of a small country on this race.

And like, I think he had, like, I, I like his positions better than Becerra and a lot of the other candidates, but I'm just like, there's just something a little icky to me about it. And I am not as worried if it's Steve Hilton versus Becerra or Steyer because the state registration is going to take care of itself. And there's just, I just, I'm, it's, it's not a concern I have that Steve Hilton is going to become governor. Um, yeah. [33:30] So I just voted for Katie Porter because I like her.

And it's like I realized that she has – it is the least strategic thing I could do. But Katie to me is like – I've known her a while. The temperament with her staff stuff is obviously – it bothered me a lot because we've known her forever. And I actually didn't know that until those stories came up. And I also don't think she's going to win at this point. But I'm like, who do I want to be governor? She's thought about the job a lot. She has like a really well-fought-out policy platform.

[34:00] and getting things done when she was in Congress. And I feel like she's just like done the work for the job more than anyone else. But if you would rather Tom, I feel the same way. But I would rather, like as of right now, and I want to talk to Javier Becerra if he's willing. Now, like I think Javier Becerra has said he wants to come on the show, but he's hoping that he and Hilton get through the other side, right? And then of course we're doing an interview about a Democrat versus a Republican, which is very different than a conversation about a Democrat versus a Democrat.

But as of right now, I think Tom Steyer has answered some of the harder questions better than Javier Becerra. And if it's Becerra, I'm voting for him. [34:30] trying to get the best, because I believe you, I don't think Hilton's going to be the governor of the state. I want the best person to be the governor of California. And right now, if there's, I want to see, and maybe also Becerra having to beat Tom Steyer would make him a stronger candidate too. So that's my kind of hope that we can get Tom Steyer through this thing so that we have a better debate on how Becerra has to be put through his paces if he is going to win.

[35:00] era like [35:01] prove me wrong and become a great governor. And you're right, maybe if it's Becerra and Steyer in a runoff, then there's even more time for them to duke it out and show that they're ready for the job. [35:11] We also got a mayoral race going on here in A. Love it. Interviewed challenger Nithya Raman for the show, who we all know. And I supported Nithya, donated to her, known her a long time. We also reached out to Karen Bass, who has come on the show before, but she opted not to come on before the primary.

Nithya and Bass are in a close race with reality TV personality turned mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican quasi endorsed by Trump. [35:38] who said, I like him. I hear he's MAGA. I like him. And Pratt was in New York over the weekend, closing the campaign like this. That even testing your drugs on a dog is the least of the worst of what these demons are doing to these poor animals. They're lighting them on fire. They're raping these dogs. They're abusing them. They're breeding them to the point that they die because they've been so overbred.

Sir, this is a Wendy's. [36:04] Yeah, I don't doubt that there's... [36:07] horrible things happen to animals in some of these places, but what is it? It's very weird that he decided to go to New York for several days. I think dropped $34,000 on his hotel rooms and left the state the week before the election. Yeah, there's billboards all around, or at least I saw, I think I saw these two in [36:23] downtown LA of him saying, if you're, you know, dogs vote for Spencer Pratt. So he's trying to make this like the closing thing, that for whatever reason they think this is something that's going to break through for them.

I don't know. What do you guys think of this race? What do you think of that? Apparently Spencer Pratt's already sold the rights to do a reality show if he becomes the mayor. I think this applies to both the governor's race and to the LA mayor's [36:47] There is a [36:48] Steve Hilton, Bianco, Pat Pratt, [36:52] They are capturing what is a very real frustration with democratic governance in the state, with mismanagement, with a kind of fecklessness and lack of emotion and passion for good government and making shit work, work better, work faster, answer people's concerns.

I don't think the answers that [37:10] that these Republicans are offering or that Spencer Pratt are offering are what we need. But the fact that there's an opening speaks to the failure of Democrats, both on policy, but also just as candidates to rise to meet what is like real and deep frustration with people in Los Angeles. These are all Democratic voters, almost all Democratic voters. And they have real anger about what they feel is the decline in Los Angeles. Now, I think Nithya [37:37] uh, cares deeply about the city. I think that she is thinking hard about how to actually address these issues.

I think what has been a challenge in both in that debate, I think with her on the campaign trail is, you know, when I talked to her, she made this point, which had really resonated with me that like, there's this feeling when you talk about Karen Bass, like, where's the energy? Where's the, the hunger? Where's like the speed? Where's the sense of urgency, right? That's been, that was about the fires, but everything else. And I wanted to see more of that from Nithia. [38:07] that she's promising to bring if she becomes mayor.

But I do think that she has thought a lot about how to address her housing issues. She saw a lot about what is has allowed production to leave Los Angeles. I am voting for Nithya. And my hope is that Bass and Nithya make it out of the primary so that the two of them can go head to head. And then I think that'll be like a great contest. Yeah, so I'm full disclosure, I'm a Nithya donor, mostly because your wife asked me to be. But I [38:37] lot of Spencer's rage about the fires, especially the communications issues after the fires or during the fires.

I don't think he's the answer to those problems, but I share his anger at the frustration. And the problem, it wasn't just that Mayor Bass was out of the country when the fire started, although that was extremely bad and kind of, in my view, was hard to forgive. But it's, I think, hard to overstate how bad the communication was from the city during that period and how scary it was to live here when the sun would go down and the winds would pick up and you'd lie in bed [39:07] people's heads were and there was just like, [39:09] The communication wasn't just bad.

Remember that night when there was like four mistaken, like fake Amber alerts telling people to evacuate when they didn't need to write like that shit is unforgivable. So that is why I voted for change. But if we were being honest, like I do think Nithya has struggled in this race. She's struggled to articulate like clearly what she would do. She seems to struggle to connect with voters on the campaign trail. And then the debate was quite bad. Like Spencer Pratt, I think, defined her as like a co-incumbent at the debate.

And she didn't seem like a challenger. [39:39] off and I really hope she does, she's got a lot of work to do to get things back on track and to, you know, run a lot harder against whoever her opponent is and take back that kind of like insurgent, like I'm not the status quo message. [39:54] It seemed to me like in this race, we've ended up with three archetypes of candidates that we see across the country and have for the last decade now. Which in Bass, you have someone who is very much establishment, along with all of the lack of energy that comes with that.

And she's kind of just, you know, running around bragging that we've reduced homelessness by 17%. [40:24] like 17%. It doesn't look like 17%. And is that a big number? And has also been more NIMBY on housing has sort of gutted a lot of the housing reforms or hasn't pursued them. Hasn't been a great communicator. And, you know, it's just kind of in the job and doesn't communicate well or a lot. And then in Nithya, you have someone who is like, she... [40:47] This is like what I was just saying about Katie Porter, right, who has really thought about these issues, who I think is a wonderful public servant and I think could be a really good public servant, but like has not met the sort of performance related requirements of a candidate.

And it is unfortunate that you can't just be ready to be good at the job and be really smart and into the policy and stuff like that, and that you also need to perform. But we've said this a million times on the show forever. Like, that's what you need. And we also have like a lot of Democrats like that across the country. [41:17] You have someone who, when there is democratic governance... [41:19] and a person in power does not fix the problems that an area is facing, it is fairly easy for a right-wing populist who's good at getting attention, and no one's better at getting attention than a reality TV star, to come in and tell everyone, [41:32] Yes, you are pissed.

I'm pissed, too. And if you elect me, then you can stick it to the people in charge, even though his plans are not just cruel. They're just stupid and that he can't do them. They're against the law. Like he doesn't have the power to do a lot of the shit he's talking about. He's just making a bunch of fucking, you know, empty promises that he's not going to be able to fulfill if he wins. But no one cares about that. People care about like, OK, he's angry and I'm angry and that's enough.

It was so cool when Nithya just like, you know what, fuck it. And drove down and said, I'm going to run for mayor. [42:02] It was so exciting because it was like, you know what? She's nobody else is stepping up. People, no one, everyone is frustrated with Karen Bass. There's a collective judgment that Karen Bass just like just didn't bring like the the energy and and direction that the city needs. And she's going to jump in and be the one to do it. And I've wanted that same energy in the campaign, but just hasn't been there.

Like with Bass, like, you know, she I when I talked to her in love to leave it a couple was right before she came out. She she ran claiming she was not going to be an NB. [42:32] housing policies that were pretty good, but then they got watered down through consensus. Also sounds like what Becerra did. Right. And then you and then she comes out against SB 79 because that's what the city council is doing. Took her years to put to put in charge somebody to make someone the czar of filming in

A. Right. Like she's just no deputy mayor for housing. And so like that, that to me and, you know, part of why I think the campaigning does matter and why I think I want to see Nithya be a stronger candidate and stronger campaigner [43:02] In politics today, how you campaign, showing that you can do it, that's a big part of what it is to be a mayor. Like someone who's going to be out there every day, like hitting the message. Someone who's going to be like making news all the time, showing people what you're doing, showing people what matters, right?

Like it's not just about the kind of performance. It's not just a show. Yeah. Now, I will say there's been a ton of commentary on this race and analysis, people talking about it. I have no fucking idea what's going to happen because – God knows what this electorate looks like. I know. [43:32] for people who don't know LA, it is 15% registered Republican, right? And so even if, you know, Spencer Pratt and some of these polls is getting like 20%, anywhere between 20 and even as high as 30%, that's still...

[43:45] like nowhere what you'd need to win a general election, certainly, and maybe not even to advance in the primary. Also, the way A. is set up, Santa Monica has its own. Like if you're in Santa Monica or West Hollywood or Beverly Hills or Pasadena, like you're not voting for mayor of A. A lot of people think they're Pratt voters and then they're going to get to the polls and figure out that they're not eligible. Exactly. Because they're in A. county. [44:15] of LA just like dutifully vote for Karen Bass or Nithya.

Like we, I just, I don't know. So pretending that I know what's going to happen is just crazy. It is an interesting window into just sort of the zeitgeist of the electorate. I mean, there is a anti-incumbent rage across the country right now, but we're in California, a state where there's all democratic governance. And so Spencer Pratt is from channeling that in a different direction. It's interesting to see. It's also interesting the way he's kind of exposing the incoherence of the MAGA and the Maha agenda. [44:45] uh, the COVID vaccine.

And now Spencer Pratt is like, I will take all the drug addicts and I will lock them up for five days or whatever and force them into treatment. It's like, Oh, okay. Well, that's different than, than, uh, [44:57] The freedom agenda that we were talking about under Robert F. Kennedy, but okay. Well, the way it works, it's a freedom for me. Not for thee. Not for them. I don't know if you guys are excited or looking into any other races in California, but Michael Tubbs for lieutenant governor. Remember, crooked contributor and former crooked guest is running for lieutenant governor.

Love Michael. And our buddy Jake Levine is running against Brad Sherman, Congressman Brad Sherman, in the California 32nd, which is Palisades and upwards towards Encino in that area. So Jake's giving him a good challenge. [45:27] hope there right is that that he can keep sherman because sherman is is well known in that district and is expected to to like sort of leave the polls and old he's old um but if jay can get it to keep him under 50 and then they can go on to a runoff oh one other thing for people watching the returns um a lot of democrats including john lovett here have held on to their ballots till the very end and california is always notoriously uh late in counting ballots and so it's a high probability

[45:57] That this will have a red mirage in the voting as the returns come in, especially this year. Someone did a party breakdown. I think it was Galen Druk. That in 2022, the final party breakdown was 50% D, 29.5% R, 19.9% other. Right now, the party breakdown and the ballots that have come in, and this is like election day, basically, 45.9%, 33.5%, 20.6%. [46:27] So it's already like... [46:29] it's it's off and so the first ballots that are gonna be counted are the ones that are already in and so now the electorate could also be more red but i am i am already worried about the spencer pratt and who knows donald trump could jump into and be like we won and then suddenly we're being overtaken as the ballots are counted later in the week so everyone should prepare for that one possibility i think is like pretty high on the list of possibilities is on election night you have becerra one hilton two and then actually a couple days it goes becerra [46:56] and then all of a sudden Hilton is saying, I was knocked out by the Democratic machine.

The good news is, yeah, that message I think will resonate nationally. I think California voters are pretty well conditioned to how stupid and long it takes us to count ballots. I wish it was faster. This is like the whole thing. It's like, that's how it is in California. We do it the stupidest way fucking possible. Why? Why? Other states can count ballots in a couple of days. Why does it take here two weeks? It's fucking stupid. I think it's all the mail, right? [47:26] on June 2nd, on the day of the primary, then it takes at least a couple days for the mail to get it.

Yes, but then that is not the... It's still long. It still keeps going. But there's some built in just because of the mail-in. Of course. That's why you've got to get rid of those mail-in ballots, like Trump says. Thank God we have mail-in ballots. Our ballot is very long. It's complicated. There's lots of things you need to research. So long. There's lots of positions you've never heard of. It's very... [47:46] Thank God for that. [47:55] Positive America is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. According to this copy here, a report by CNBC indicates that almost half of all hiring managers view a candidate's enthusiasm as the single most important element when evaluating them for a position.

You don't want the enthusiasm gap. Yeah, I guess you don't want them too enthusiastic. You don't want them breaking in your office, I guess. You don't want them falling asleep. Yeah, there's someone climbing World War Z-ing into the place. If you need to hire for your business, how can you separate the candidates who are really [48:25] ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter has a new feature that quickly lets you see the most interested qualified candidates first, so you meet the right people faster, and now you can try it for free at com slash crooked.

ZipRecruiter's new feature puts the most interested qualified candidates at the top of your list. ZipRecruiter's smart matching technology connects you with qualified candidates instantly. Candidates can tell you in their own words why they're interested in your job. No wonder ZipRecruiter is the number one rated hiring site based on G2. [48:55] great applicants fast. It really shrinks down the time that the whole process takes. We found and hired some great people. We highly recommend it. It's just a great experience. Use ZipRecruiter and find enthusiastic talent fast. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get quality candidates within the first day.

Now you can try it for free at com. That's com. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. [49:25] We also had more news over the weekend in the main Senate race, where Graham Plattner is likely to win the nomination in next week's primary. [49:31] Stories in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported that as his campaign began last year, [49:36] Plattner's wife, Amy Gertner, told a campaign staffer that Plattner had exchanged sexual messages with several women. And this was after Plattner and Gertner were married in late 2023, but that they had stopped before the campaign began and Plattner and Gertner had gone through therapy.

The entire situation is very messy. The staffer that Plattner's wife told, Genevieve McDonald, has since left the campaign. And she was the one who originally talked to The Wall Street Journal. [50:06] Plattner said that at least some of what McDonald told the New York Times wasn't true, but both he and his wife, Amy Gertner, and the campaign have all confirmed the existence of the messages. [50:18] who suspended her campaign in April, said in an interview on Sunday that actually she's still on the ballot. And she also just posted the first tweet from her campaign account since the tweet where she suspended her campaign.

And it was a happy Pride Month tweet. Well, that's a sort of neither here nor there. Just try or don't. Yeah, you can't half run for office. Come on. What are we doing here? Well, you could make the argument that she kind of half ran in the first place. [50:48] All right. What do you guys think about this latest development and how it might impact the race? I mean, I think the main risk for Platiner is the cumulative impact of these stories and scandals along with the Reddit stuff. Because I think main voters were shown to be quite willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the past Reddit posts and accept his explanation that I was in a bad place.

This happened in the past. I've grown. I've changed and moved on. You know, I think voters like, OK. [51:14] We get that. This latest, what are we calling it? Sexting scandal. Like this stuff was very recent. We're talking like 2023. And so I think these days, sexual allegations of where it's just infidelity or infidelity adjacent, like don't tend to be campaign ending, especially when Amy Gertner said, [51:35] this is a private matter. We worked through it. I love him. I have a great marriage, et cetera. But I do worry that the cumulative nature of this stuff might make voters think one, like, is this guy a good guy?

And two, um, what else do we not know about him? And so I think, [51:52] Plattner's campaign can weather this. They will likely weather this. I would recommend less criticism of the media for covering the story. I think it's a valid story to cover. And the New York Times and Wall Street Journal ultimately got the story right. Right. And I would just say, you know, I think you have to own it. You have to own that this was shitty behavior. It was a mistake that we've moved, that the two of them have worked through privately.

And then in a few days from now, that's when you sort of pivot to the message about getting [52:22] up, but there's going to be a period of time where folks talk about this because it just broke. And I think you can't scold the press for covering a thing that was valid enough that your spouse brought it forward to your campaign staff to talk to them about. So, you know, it's fair game, obviously. If Susan Collins was slinging nudes on Snapchat, like we'd be talking about it. You know what I'm saying?

So by the fall, we might be. [52:43] Sorry. All that said, like, I do think what Plattner's... She's got that hammer and sickle tattoo, too. [52:52] Lattner Stafford did here is... [52:54] really shitty on a human level. It's unethical. If I were Amy Gertner, I would be furious. And so that part of it's pretty gross. Yeah, like... [53:07] If a candidate just had the Reddit story, so like I was going through a really tough time in my life and I posted some heinous shit. It was like and I regret it, but I've been through a lot of therapy.

It had to do with my PTSD and I'm on the other side of it. You'd be like, OK, people grow and they change. [53:23] The tattoo, you'd say, this was a stupid tattoo. I didn't understand what it meant at the time. I'm covering it up. Okay. Early in my marriage, I was in a really shitty place and I was having these, I don't know what he was doing, sexting, whatever. But [53:40] my wife and I have worked through it and it's a private matter. She's with, we're together because we love each other and that's all that should really count.

You'd say, okay, I feel like you add them all up together and then there's all these insinuations that there's more coming, more coming, more coming. You see why people would be concerned. What I find like sort of [53:59] hard to wrap my mind around this is that like, like, [54:03] Why do we care about red flags? [54:06] All these are not... [54:07] What kind of center is he going to be? [54:09] Is he a good person? Does he have our values? Does he does he have a good character at root?

Or is he a is he a flawed person who's made terrible mistakes, who's trying to become a better person? Or is the insinuation that all this adds up to evidence that he will be a bad senator who's actually not going to do the things he is claiming he's going to do, that he's going to be a Fetterman, right? That he's going to disappoint us in some way, that he has like fundamental flaws. And I don't know the answer to that.