Trump Held a Fair And (Almost) No One Came

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[01:34] See what Superhuman can do at com. [02:04] your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. [02:08] Music [02:28] Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau. I'm Jon Lovett. And Tommy Vitor. On today's show, we got major Supreme Court decisions on mail-in voting and Donald Trump's right to fire agency heads he doesn't like. It's decision time for Trump on the bipartisan housing bill, which he has threatened to hold hostage... [02:42] Until the SAVE Act passes, [02:44] And democratic socialists are feeling the momentum after last week's primaries in New York.

[02:49] with big primaries in Colorado today. Then Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, stopped by to talk about breaking Republican trifectas and building Democratic ones in a bunch of key states and how critical it is that you get involved in the down-ballot races happening wherever you are. But let's begin where Trump kicked off his week, posting this at 6.30 m. on Monday. [03:11] Do you think people appreciate what a fantastic job we did in building and operating the Great American State Fair at the National Mall, packed with happy people and everybody loving it?

Question mark. Ask yourself this simple question. And now we're in all caps. Do you think that Obama... [03:28] He wants to say Obama, but he spells it O-B-U-M-A, so it's like Obuma. Yeah, it just looks like a typo. I think it's like a bummer. Right, of course. He's shorthanding Obama. Yeah, he's not quite getting there. Do you think that Obama or sleepy Joe Biden could have done it? The answer... [03:42] is a no. The President is, of course, referring to the 16-day exposition on the National Mall that will run through July 10th to celebrate America's 250th birthday, an event run by [03:52] Freedom 250, which is the entity Trump created to compete with America 250, which is the bipartisan entity created by Congress years ago.

Why 16 days? That's such a weird number of days. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It's a good question. I don't have the answer to. Two weeks with an extra weekend. [04:10] Okay. [04:11] I started last week. That's not how weeks really work. Right, but it'll be a Saturday to a Sunday. Okay, that's true. Two weeks. Two weeks. This is the one thing you got right. I guess. [04:22] Anyway, the perception that Trump turned America's 250th into a partisan event caused all the state fair musical acts to drop out, with the exception of [04:31] Flo Rida and Vanilla Ice.

Ten states have also decided not to participate, and the opening weekend was plagued by extreme heat, rain, power outages. [04:40] and sparse crowds. [04:42] You never know this if you listen to MAGA World, where everyone thinks it's going great. [04:47] Happy early birthday, America. We're celebrating already at the great American State Fair. Man, we've got thousands of people celebrating this birthday with us. Do you ever in your wildest dreams think you may be doing your Sunday show from a state fair on the National Mall? How great is this? It's really something.

And the weather, not the best today, but people are still coming out. Help me out. I want to be a part of this. [05:12] Well, it's a great day for Larry. Good afternoon. Perhaps now the closing bell is here. [05:17] I'm out here now that work is done. You mentioned the latest with the Ron. If you look behind us, you see, okay, there are a couple hundred people back there, but the truth is when you make your way over here and you're in this lot, you're in a wash of people.

There are tons of people here. It's a huge space, and it's just going to get more and more crowded as the week goes on. It's a good song. [05:47] we have to give... [05:49] A big round of applause for our military band in Singer's [05:53] Way better than those libtards that canceled on us. [05:56] That was Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy talking about the libtards. What do you guys think? Happy 250th. Thanks. How are you feeling about the festivities Trump has organized, the Freedom 250, America 250 split? [06:12] in the 10 states that aren't participating.

I thought the performance by Manny was really good. Did you guys catch that one? You didn't see Maga Manny, the live streamer, who jerked off in front of the acrobat troupe? Oh, we forgot about the guy who jerked off in the Uncle Sam costume. 54-year-old right-wing Maga streamer. Did not think 54 was the number. I assumed younger. Arrested by park police for masturbating in front of an acrobat troupe called the Cirque Mechanics. Can you blame him? According to the Independent. [06:42] It was vaping recording. [06:45] And then had a hand through the pocket of the overalls.

Wow, so he's holding the vape and the phone. The vape is here. I was going to say, how many appendages do we have here? And then another witness said he came back for round two later, and that's when I think the park police got him. [06:59] Not bad for 54. That's a good point, yeah. I love that it did look sparse, but now that the closing bell... [07:07] the traders leaving the floor of the stock exchange where in dc gonna run up to go check out the latest uh quilting i suppose uh also there's just something about all the like [07:19] The thing that I was thinking about when I was watching this over the weekend is just how much the whole MAGA world...

[07:26] is online. It just exists online. It's a bunch of people complaining online, the caricatures of the cities that are going to hell online, just people talking to each other about how America's going down the tubes on the internet and on Fox News. [07:40] But like... [07:41] Larry Kudlow's like, oh, it looks like a... When was the last time Larry Kudlow had a fucking corn dog? When was the last time he walked around a state fair? Like, none of these people look like they're at home in a kind of outdoor event with their fellow citizens.

He's got to wait for the closing bell. It's so funny that Fox News, State TV, decided to go all in on this event. And the net effect is they have to do, like, sweltering live shots outdoors in front of no one. It's just green fields. No one. And then Manny jerking off. I also love that, the comment, like, did you ever think you'd be doing your live shot from a state fair? What a hypothetical. [08:11] who would have thunk it but just that's what i mean it's like these are just people that seem like kind of unfamiliar with the country on some level like state fairs are great they're all over the country there are a lot of different most states it turns out one yeah and they're and you can go and there's like actually the news often broadcast from them and tell you about the latest deep fried foods you can get like that was the vibe you could have had if this weren't taken over by trump like he took [08:36] He took something that was bipartisan and a decade in the making.

You can actually go online and read what the original plan is. I don't think it would have, you know, what is going to change the country or anything, but it would have been nice. There was like a lot of events happening all across the country. There would have been a kind of like a kind of a national event for craft makers. There would have been big concerts by famous people. There was a lot of money set aside. Trump took that money, gave it to Freedom 250, turned it into a partisan boondoggle, and now nobody's showing up.

[09:02] And for even though it's a 501c3, apparently donors who donate a million dollars or more can secure an invitation to a private reception hosted by Trump himself. There's not a lot of transparency on the finances of Freedom 250. And even though they've taken most of the money that was supposed to go to America from taxpayers. And we do have some corporate sponsors as well. Of course, your Northrop Grumman's, your United Health Group's, your SpaceX's. [09:32] kind of marching around, like filming people and performing. It's very dystopian there. I was, uh, [09:37] The Ferris wheel, I was...

[09:39] I read Devil in the White City recently. I'm on Eric Larson kick, which is about the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, I believe. And that was when the first Ferris wheel was built. And it was this marvel because they were trying to rival the Eiffel Tower and all the Europeans were like, oh, those Americans will never be able to build a thing. And then we built... [09:54] a Ferris wheel that was basically a steel tower that moved. It was amazing. America is building an Eiffel Tower, basically the size of an Eiffel Tower, and then you would get on it and you would rotate it, freak people the fuck out.

People tried to jump off it. They were freaking out because we were saying, you know what? Eat shit, Europe. [10:12] We're going to make something awesome. We're going to build skyscrapers. We're going to be a cool country. And wait until you see what America is going to do. And now here we are 130 years later. We've got this Jagoff doing his version of a great American state fair. Quite literally a Jagoff. And with Jagoff's despair. And you see the Ferris wheel was broken for hours because of generator issues. And also there were power outages that spoiled all the food and melted all the ice cream on the first day.

And last minute, Vanilla Ice canceled because of inclement weather. [10:42] be there did you read the profile that doesn't sound like the vanilla ice i know did you read his profile in the atlantic no it's fascinating he claims to have performed for the taliban just one little tidbit for you to wet your beak go read the rest you're when he said that i believe he said that this is a government where he feels at home then yeah well that um it's kind of rulers that he hadn't taken under pressure wasn't that he had claimed like the vanilla ice thing that he hadn't taken under pressure there's a great clip where he's like no that one's doom doom doom da [11:12] It's also funny, some of them mailed it in.

Connecticut and Maine, I think, shared a space, put up four chairs, and then Maine just had lobster facts on the wall in their booth. And a Totenkopf. [11:25] State bird, I believe. [11:28] Yeah, I guess I mean, the North Carolina booth had a Confederate flag up. So you're not. Yeah, that's right. You're not far from. Well, because that was because that was take because North Carolina didn't do it. So like a private. Yeah. Somehow someone other did it, even though, by the way, that was never any that flag was not the North Carolina flag, not associated with the state of North Carolina at all.

[11:45] So they just wanted to throw one up there. It's just kind of a bummer. Like you said, it's not the biggest deal of anything, but the 250th anniversary could have been a moment where, you know, a president decided to try to at least try to bring the country together or didn't try to bring the country together, but at least offered entertainment that anyone could feel welcome. Yeah. Or that anyone could feel welcome, you know, participating. He could have just done nothing. He could have just let the group America 250 that existed, had bipartisan membership, had a lot of his allies on it.

Come out, make a little speech on the fourth. Yeah. That would have been offensive to us. [12:15] He would have come out there and said something terrible. Right. But whatever. He could have just let it happen. But instead, he got his mitts on it. I will say NBC and then the New Republic went out and interviewed a bunch of people. And even people that didn't like Trump were like, it's fine. This is great. This is cool. And I do like that one attendee named Scott said to the New Republic, I like this.

I don't really take Trump into consideration. He's going to be gone in three years, dead in 10. He's not going to take away my joy of this event. [12:45] but he's not God, even though he thinks he is. I wasn't going to come to this, but then I thought, you know, I'm not going to let him take it away. Good for you, Scott. I like that. That is the attitude I want to hear from all the libs on July 4th. That is the attitude. Don't let him take it away. You know what they're taking away?

The fireworks show in C. doesn't start until 11 m. Eastern. [13:04] Because he has to give a long speech, right? I don't know why. Maybe it's weather, too? That's so late. That's so late for fireworks. We're so old. [13:12] That's crazy. No. The sun goes down. You look up when sunset is. [13:17] Whenever that is, I want five minutes later, explosions in the sky. Because you want kids to be able to go. When I was a kid, yeah, our time was like 9 m. [13:24] Yeah, 9th Hymn's classic. But that's it.

9th Hymn's fine. 11th is a wild start. Massachusetts has a late sunset. That makes a lot of sense. Oh, there we go. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm getting on my high horse. So one DC event that will undoubtedly be packed. [13:37] Crooked Con in November. And it's fine to crank one out in front of the main stage there. Yes. In fact, it's encouraged. Because then Tommy will feel like he's got someone else. We'll applaud you back. Yeah. He's not the only one doing it. Let her rip. You can still get tickets for that.

And you can get discounted tickets if you become a Crooked subscriber. You also get ad-free episodes of all your favorite Crooked pods, subscriber-only shows, sub-stack newsletters, and much more. [14:00] Sign up at com slash friends. So with his fare getting rained out on Sunday, Trump spent the morning motorcading around the Capitol. He's busy rebuilding as a monument to himself. He toured the East Potomac Gulf Links and will start renovations on that federally owned public course September 1st, despite a federal judge threatening, quote, serious consequences if he moves ahead without approval, which he seems to be doing.

The president is also planning to redesign Lafayette Park, which is the one right in front of the White House, [14:30] contains exactly 47 maple trees, [14:34] in honor of Trump. That's according to the Washington Post. If you're in town visiting and hop on over to the Washington Passport Agency, you might be able to pick up a limited edition S. passport featuring a photo of Trump at the Resolute desk in front of the Declaration of Independence, which Trump described as saying, quote, [14:54] Welcome. [14:55] But be good, even though those words don't actually appear on the passport or make any sense.

Yes, that's not what passports are for. When I saw this, because he said this passport says this, and a lot of people were like, but that's not what passports are for. You're a citizen. It's not a welcoming document. You can only get it here. Right. It's to leave. It's not a green card. Right. It's to leave and come back. I think he's a little confused. But I think he was describing his own portrait in a way. I think it was his way of saying, my angry face here saying, welcome, but be good.

[15:23] Well, because we could take your path. It's a citizenship thing. We could take your citizenship. You're a dick. That was my interpretation. Limited edition. Act now while supplies last. Closer to home. The Atlantic's Michael Scherer found out that the new White House colonnade walkway made of, quote, polished African granite carved in Italy. The Trump said he paid for himself. [15:44] was actually paid for [15:46] By us. About $690,000 charged to the taxpayers. I didn't even know that had happened. No, I didn't either. That the colonnade was replaced. There was apparently another couple hundred thousand dollars spent on the wall next to the colonnade, because remember he put up all the pictures, and you had to do something to the wall.

I don't know why it cost that much money, but to do something to the wall in order to put up all those pictures. Right. [16:09] And so that costs money as well. Have you guys said thank you yet? Have you even said thank you? Math scores in the schools are continuing to slide. It's going to flag some problems that are getting worse while he's been president. I think that the Lafayette Park, [16:23] uh 47 tree tribute demand is actually quite instructive because for those who've never been to washington dc or gone to lafayette park it is nothing i can't i can't overstate how underwhelming and shitty of a little park it is i've been through it a thousand times i'm sure you guys have too because like you get off the bus or you get off the metro you walk a block and you walk through it to get to the white house and um it's like usually there's just a lot of squirrels and like a couple crazy people and then that one protest that's been there for like 30 years the [16:53] Thank you.

[16:54] he needs that to be a tribute to himself means that like no narcissistic stone will go unturned by this man. It's also no one knows. [17:02] if he wants to add trees or subtract trees, because no one knows how many trees there are in Lafayette Park, because who would count such a thing? It's just a park with a bunch of trees. And now we're going to go figure out whether we have to add more trees or take more trees. And they're maple trees only? That's his favorite. [17:17] Oh, yeah.

It's got to go with his favorite. Everything's everything's about him. His favorite trees, his favorite his picture everywhere. I got to say, though, you know, at this point, the are great. I want him in as many fucking tree meetings and arc meetings and and pool meetings as possible. He is not busy enough. If he wants to plant a couple of trees, we're just three chopped trees away from being the Obama Lafayette Park tribute. So whatever. Have we have at it. Plant your fucking trees, fucking asshole. [17:47] The absurdity, you imagine, could you imagine if in the last year of his administration, Joe Biden was wandering around the various grounds talking about the renovations he was going to be doing?

What kind of reaction you would be hearing right now from the right? You'd be hearing it from us. You'd be hearing it from us. 25th Amendment time. Oh, boy. All right. Plant away, buddy. Plant away. Yeah, enjoy those trees. Let's get to some more consequential news. The Supreme Court handed down a few big decisions on Monday as it closes out its term. [18:17] The court declined to throw out the 2023 jury verdict, finding Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, meaning he has to pay her that $5 million.

In a 6-3 ruling where three conservatives joined the liberals, the court also held the Fourth Amendment covers your cell phone location history, even when you've agreed that a third party like Google or Apple can record it, meaning police now need a specific warrant to get it rather than a so-called geofence warrant that sweeps up the movements of every phone in a particular area. [18:47] So that seems good. Both of those seem good, right? We have some other ones to get through, but I thought we'd start with G. and Carroll and the geofencing.

Yeah, the geofencing one is just interesting. It's also interesting that it's a non-ideological – it has a kind of an ideologically mixed ruling, in part because I do think it's like a novel question. And if we are going to have – kind of allowing these companies to track us digitally, including in ways that in a previous era would have been only private information, then it's still being – like Google has already changed their policies. [19:17] Your location data is stored on your phone. They did that to avoid this issue. But if my phone knows where I am at all times, I view that information as both like my private information and useful to me.

Whether or not it is stored directly on my phone or stored at a server, it remains my private information in the same way that if I had written it all down and put it in my safe deposit box, it would remain private information. And I think the more that when they're thinking about how to translate our principles into a digital world, the more they're respecting how we actually use things and how what privacy [19:47] not sort of the technical definition that's sort of blown up by how interconnected and cloud-based so much of our lives are, the better.

[19:55] Yeah, definitely. It's a limited, but it's a good it's a win and a good day for privacy. I mean, like the government was trying to argue that, like, just demanding a little tiny taste of your location history for a discrete period of time was not a search, which is just nonsense. And I think the court saw through that because you can learn a ton from everyone's location history. Sotomayor laid that out. I think she talked about how you can see that someone went to the psychiatrist, the plastic surgeon, the abortion clinic, the AIDS treatment center, the strip club.

She goes on and on and on. And then Kagan argued. And then to a concert to jack up. [20:25] geofence that place and then kagan argued that tracking location data isn't really optional it's like the price we all pay to use a cell phone so it was nice to see them have a little um techno fluency and understand how this stuff actually works gorsuch kavanaugh roberts sided with the liberals [20:43] Interesting. Very interesting group. Gorsuch, Gorsuch, the other and we'll get to the other ones. But of course, it's always interesting.

He's an interesting one. Unlike tribal rights in particular. Trump said that he would fight back on the G. Carroll thing is powerfully and strongly. It's like, no, you won't. He already transferred five point five million dollars to a court controlled account back in 2023. So she's getting paid. [21:08] That's the end of the road for Trump on that one. I can't believe that's the... I'm glad she's getting her cash money, but man, there were so many avenues for Trump to face some kind of accountability and him losing $5 million, while I'm glad goes to E.

Jean Carroll, is not high on the list of ways in which he could have faced consequences. But there's still an $83 million verdict that he's appealing as well. That's one deal in Kazakhstan. Right. [21:36] So... [21:39] Positive America is brought to you by Z-Biotics. I've got to tell you guys about a game-changing product I use before any night with drinks. It's called Pre-Alcohol. Z-Biotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut.

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But in a 5-4 decision, the court decided that Fed Governor Lisa Cook, whom Trump and Bill Pulte have accused of mortgage fraud, [24:28] job while litigation continues. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the slaughter ruling, quote, greatly increases presidential power at a time when it is most needed. He is right about the first part. How do you guys square what the court said about the Cook firing versus what it's saying about all the others? Well, so what the court says is the FTC is an entity that exercises executive power.

The Fed is different because it's supposed to be a nonpolitical entity that is insulated from presidential pressure. And they argue that the Fed has to be independent [24:58] the appearance of political pressure could destroy the faith in the S. economy. Now, I think the FTC case is very bad. They threw out 91 years of precedent. And basically, the FTC, the implications go well beyond the FTC. The president can now fire leaders at will from the SEC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the list goes on and on and on.

Basically, everywhere but the Fed. Everywhere but the Fed. And he can sort of paralyze those entities by making them not have enough members. [25:28] even meet. So it's quite bad. The Fed is different because monetary policy has to be free from political manipulation and perceived meddling. But even in this case, like ominously for Cook, the court said that Trump could try to fire her again. They just didn't. They said he didn't go through the process right. He didn't tell her why she was being fired and given her a chance to rebut the charges.

And yes, they said that. [25:51] I think Robert's sort of cordoning off the Fed as a special case means that the ruling was narrow and that said, okay, they got the process wrong. And so while it's still litigating, she can be on the job. But... [26:04] They still have to prove that she did something wrong. She can be fired for cause. Exactly. Right. Under the Federal Reserve Act, the president can only remove a Fed governor if they are fired for cause. And he didn't meet that standard by presenting any evidence.

Right. So if she doesn't get if her case goes away, then like then there's no cause. Right. But it won't go away. Ironically, it just puts more pressure on the administration to politically prosecute Lisa Cook until they can claim. [26:32] that she can be fired for cause, what that what will happen? They leave the door open to kind of evaluating whether or not they've met some threshold for cause, whatever that would mean. It's interesting that I'm reading that going back and forth between the ruling and the dissent because they're all so like mad at each other, which I think is is very funny.

[26:51] But then you read Gorsuch, you wrote this really interesting book. [26:55] concurring opinion about it and [26:58] I see a lot of people today saying when Democrats win, oh, we'll just put our people in charge and now we'll have that power. [27:05] Sotomayor notes in the dissent, Congress creates the FTC. The court says that these people can be insulated from being fired by the president. And then they give all these independent agencies, not just executive authority, right, but legislative authority and judicial authority. So, [27:23] Congress creates these independent agencies and they're kind of quasi legislative, right?

They can write rules and regulate and do things that Congress could do. They also do things an executive could do. And the majority decided that given that kind of mix between the authorities, they're going to give all the power to the president, right? So the president is now taking all the legislative authorities that were granted, all the judicial authorities that were granted. And oh, when a Democrat wins, we'll have the same authority. But then Gorsuch comes back and says, no, because we're going to look at this again in the future.

[27:53] or not to allow there to be an independent agency or not. The court said, no, we'd rather make the president a kind of a supreme authority over all these legislative functions. But if a Democrat becomes president, we'll just come back and say, no one has this authority. We'll strike a bunch of this down. That's not what the majority opinion is. No, no, no. But that's what Gorsuch is saying happens next. And there is going to. But that is what happens. It is because Robert's opinion, Robert's argument is it's all unitary executive theory.

And they have been. So Robert says the president may remove his subordinates at will because subordinates [28:23] must be accountable to him and he to the people. And that's where it ends. But this is the problem, because it's not just the president's power. It's congressional power. The reason there was a balance and the reason it makes sense, and I think this is why Sotomayor and Kagan are so pissed about it, is you're not just giving the president his executive authority. You are stealing power from Congress because Congress delegated some of its authority.

I agree with that for sure. I'm just saying I think. [28:47] Roberts and Kavanaugh, the unitary executive people, would be very comfortable being consistent with the Democratic president on this kind of stuff, which they have shown before as well. Except this wouldn't be about where the authority should rest. This would be about saying that now... I think it's bad no matter what. I don't think Democratic presidents or Republican presidents should have this power. But you come back in and then you say, actually, you can't do this because this whole agency shouldn't have been allowed to do this in the first place.

So now we're no longer going to say... You still are in charge of this whole agency, [29:17] Well, that's the Chevron. I think Leah Littman in her conversation with Dan said she was concerned about it kind of hypothetically you're talking about there. I love it. I mean, just like one thing that worries me. So you read this comment from Bill Pulte, who tweeted, as I've repeatedly said, I believe Lisa Cook will be indicted for mortgage fraud. No shit. This is a case he cooked up as the S. director of federal housing.

He is now tweeting this attack on her from his new job as the temporary director of national intelligence. That is chilling. [29:47] what we're talking about is [29:51] Who knows what will happen, right, if this comes up again? I think that the [29:55] The upshot of this whole thing is there are no more independent agencies. [30:00] except for the Fed, potentially. And so that means that Justice Department... [30:06] intelligence, all the rest of them, everything that Trump has done over the last four years now gets to happen again. [30:12] Like this is this.

This is just this is what the Supreme. As long as this Supreme Court majority is in place, they believe that that no one has to be independent except for the Fed. Well, and the distinction they're breaking down, right? Like it was always the case. There were a bunch of executive agencies that the president was totally in charge of. What they're saying is that these independent agencies are no longer independent, even though those agencies were made incredibly powerful by Congress in ways that assume that the president would be so wouldn't be solely in charge of them.

And so like the the. [30:40] That to me is where the kind of like, [30:43] Yes, now FTC looks a lot like the Department of Justice, except the FTC can do more than what the Department of Justice could do. Meanwhile, in a very close 5-4 decision where John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett sided with the liberals, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Mississippi law allowing the state to count mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive after. The decision could preempt similar legal challenges by Republicans in at least 14 other states that continue counting ballots that arrive after Election Day.

[31:13] Republicans to pass his SAVE Act, name dropping the five holdouts on Truth Social. How meaningful or not do you guys think this is in the context of the larger Trump assault on voting rights? I mean, I think it allows like 30 states to keep their policies in place in terms of how they count mail-in ballots. So that's pretty important. I'm sure the ongoing assault on voting rights will continue. I mean, it was a 5-4 decision. It was Trump's DOJ and the RNC trying to strike down a [31:43] I'm glad to see they made this decision.

It just feels just like part of a broader process of just constantly chipping away. And maybe this chip didn't come undone, but there will be many more attempts. Yeah. So Dan and I talked last episode about how Trump's trying to get the SAVE Act passed by refusing to sign the bipartisan housing bill until it is. On Monday, Mike Johnson sent Trump the housing bill anyway, which means that it will become law in 10 days unless Trump signs it sooner or vetoes it. [32:13] Congress could override a Trump veto, though House Republicans are now unclear if they'll have the votes.

Just listen to what Florida Representative Randy Fine said on Monday morning. My issue was if Elizabeth Warren thinks a bill is great, then it probably isn't. And that's sort of how I look. The enthusiasm with which Democrats had for this bill got me spooked. And I didn't come to Washington to work with Democrats. I came to Washington to beat them. There's a message for you. Did you read the bill before you voted for it? Probably not. And here's what Trump said on Monday. [32:43] when asked whether he'll sign the bill.

What are your plans for the housing bill, Mr. President? I don't know. I think it's so unimportant by compared to the Save America. When I look at that bill, [32:57] It's a bill. But when I look at the Save America Act, it's about saving America. To me, compared to the Save America Act, [33:06] Just about everything is a big yawn. [33:09] Wow, he's bored. He's bored. He's bored of the Iran war. Bored of housing. Just wants to rig elections. How badly do you guys think Trump and Republicans have fucked up the politics of this bill?

And what do you guys think of the final product? I mean, the goal is to boost housing supply and affordability. They're going to streamline environmental reviews and encourage development. I'm not an expert on this stuff. It passed with 85 votes in the Senate and 358 votes in the House. So it's overwhelming bipartisan support. I will leave it to smarter people to see if it will really solve the job. [33:39] And [33:40] This is a very important issue to the American people. Like voters overwhelmingly think housing costs are really important. Huge majorities want Congress to do something about it.

The underlying components of the bill, when you peel them out and pull them are very popular for young people in particular. They feel like they're never going to be able to afford a home, like 60, 70% of majorities. And so, [34:02] To say that that's a big yawn when it could have been your crowning legislative accomplishment on housing... [34:08] As opposed to the SAVE Act, which is a thing that people are like 52% think it's maybe a good idea because it's, by the way, there's just not a huge issue in this country of undocumented non-citizens registering to vote or whatever the hell he's talking about.

It's also not going to pass. It's not going to pass. Republicans don't want it. That's the whole saying. It's so stupid. Yeah. There's no leverage here. [34:38] and the rising price of housing. There's no Trumpian clean fix. He does know that no one's going to feel the effects of the housing bill for years. Even if it's a good bill. But you can sell it. Right. You can try to buy the administration. [34:53] The Recovery Act is divided into three parts. You can try to say it's a good thing. [34:58] There was a little mini fight as part of this bill for a – the details are complicated, but basically to try to – [35:10] to prevent institutional investors from sitting on houses that a lot of experts thought would have kind of a countervailing effect to what the bill was going to do.

It might actually cause housing prices to go up. Senator Brian Schatz, friend of the show, was accused of being a corporate stooge for pointing this out, including by a lot of progressives. And they did manage to kind of change that rule in such a way that it's no longer going to have that effect. And that won the day, too, which was, I think, a good victory for the kind of EMB abundance people that were arguing [35:40] talking about basic economics and what the impact would be. But this was a bipartisan bill.

Elizabeth Warren fought hard for this bill. A ton of Republicans voted for this bill. It's a rare kind of policymaking victory from another era. And of course, right on the one yard line, they were literally putting up the podium and people were speaking at the podium. The event was basically already beginning. The staff was tweeting out how excited they were. Yeah. Caroline Levitt posted about how one of the most important bills ever, something to that effect. [36:10] And he just rips the rug out right from under all of them. And now they are afraid to support it, even though it has a veto proof majority, because the dear leader says he would rather rig elections.

[36:40] Trump only won by a couple. Just hear what they think about this. And now the response ad is like big yawn, says the president. Okay. So that'll be fun. So if he doesn't [36:49] if he... [36:50] refuses to sign it and Congress doesn't adjourn, it'll become law. But if they don't want to deal with it, they could adjourn Congress and let the thing die. Is that basically the gist of it? What's what's going to happen in 10 days? It becomes a lot unless he vetoes it. [37:02] If. [37:03] How does the pocket veto?

That's just the... I don't know. All I've seen is that it becomes a lot in 10 days or he vetoes it. You know, listening to the whole thing there... [37:16] He's going to let it become law. [37:18] Yeah, I don't think a baby about unless now someone could who knows, right? He changes his mind on a dime. So some something could piss him off between now and when he decides to sign it. But there he sounded like. [37:29] fuck, I'm annoyed that I have to do this, but I threw a tantrum, and now I'm just going to let this bill become law, but I'm not going to be happy about it.

That's sort of what I got. He's just cutting off his nose despite his face. Someone gave him really dumb, last-minute advice about how to use this bill for leverage to get the save-back package. It was probably Bill Pulte. Bill Pulte is exactly what I was going to say. Yeah, because it combines its two passions. Mortgage. Mortgage. Housing. And being a dick. Yeah. He's also, by the way, he... [37:54] He did promise not to sign any new legislation until the SAVE Act was passed. He just instantly broke that promise. So in a way, he's actually returning to what he had always said he was going to do.

Promise caps. Promise caps. He's a promise caps. No legislation for me. [38:16] Positive America is brought to you by Common Power. With redistricting happening all across the South, the GOP has made it clear that earning Americans' votes is the least of their priorities. And after gutting the VRA, they've doubled down on their attempts to rig the midterm elections. Common Power believes that Democrats can still take back the House and the Senate by focusing on three things. One, policies that benefit the working class. Two, paying for those policies by taxing billionaires and trillionaires.

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That's com slash crooked for $5 off. [40:47] All right, let's talk about the debate inside the Democratic Party, which is likely to keep raging this week as Colorado becomes the next state to hold primaries on Tuesday. 15-term Congresswoman Diana DeGette is in danger of losing to 29-year-old DSA member Milat Kuros. [41:06] from the left. Republicans are having fun with all of this. Trump spent much of the weekend posting about communism, while Democrats offered their takes on the DSA wins in last week's New York primaries. Here's Zoran Mamdani himself, Josh Shapiro, and Chris Murphy.

Josh Gottheimer, a Democratic member of Congress, says, many of us believe, as do I, if you're a socialist, you are not a Democrat. And in fact, they put out a manifesto today. Have you seen this thing? Sounds pretty socialist to me. Democratic socialism at the heart. [41:35] is pragmatic because if we cannot deliver for working people then what is this for i'm not interested in writing a manifesto or frankly and reading one i'm interested in delivering and that's exactly what we've been showing democratic voters in new york chose three candidates backed by zora mamdani far left and democratic socialist candidates what message do you take from that about where your party is well you know those were races in individual districts in a whole other [42:05] important are the people who are making a lot of noise, who are engaging in these performative politics, have to now figure out how to deliver results.

I'm not a democratic socialist, but I do believe that the Democratic Party has been historically way too timid in taking on corporate power. Democrats are not going to win by defending this version of the party. [42:27] of capitalism, but I think we'll be able to offer ideas on how to dramatically reform it rather than [42:33] throwing out the entire system. All right. Well, we had Chris Murphy doing a little Goldilocks at the end there. [42:41] I've already said plenty. So maybe you guys can kick us off with your reaction to this debate and what it all means.

[42:46] You weighed in on this? I did, yeah. I had a clip from Thursday's pod. [42:52] But look, for what it's worth, slot me into the Murphy camp. I mean, like, I think my big takeaway from the New York elections is how much voters hate the establishment and the status quo. And I think that is not new information. Every poll we've seen is like people really hate Trump. They also hate the Democratic Party. Things are not great. These people are pissed. [43:22] from the Democratic Party in Iowa, for example. They're very different than New York races.

That's not surprising at all. I think what's exhausting about this and that you experience is just how much everyone's talking past each other. Because I think a lot of people want the same thing and they're labeling it differently. I'm sure there are some DSA members who are classical socialists, like the Marxist-Leninist state, but I think most people do not want that. It's certainly not what Bernie Sanders wants. He is talking about redistributing economic power through the [43:52] He believes in civil liberties and elections and change through democratic means. And it's a worldview that is a lot closer to the Labor Party in the UK or like Nordic countries than, you know, something radical like Medicare for all the NHS, right?

Like these are not crazy ideas. But Trump and Republicans are not. [44:14] say, oh, this is communism, right? This is all about drumming up like Cold War era fears. And that is more politically potent than saying you want a Scandinavian welfare state. But I think no one goes after the Scandinavian welfare state. Well, they got all that. Social democracy is the term. Yes. They in a country with a two party system, this is inevitable. [44:34] you're going to have a huge range of opinions within the party from DSA to DLC.

And I think if we want to effectively fight back against Trump, we're going to have to find a way to work together and kind of bridge some of these gaps and find common cause on things. And, you know, which is where the kind of Josh Gottheimer kind of you're with us or against us, you're a Democrat or you're a socialist thing, I think is just reductive and stupid and not helpful. It's counterproductive. Why are we doing this? [44:59] Yeah, I mean, look, I know that you had sort of said your piece about this, and I found very few responses to what you said about...

[45:07] trying to persuade you or, or kind of think about what you're saying and try to respond to it in a way that was sort of, uh, uh, uh, treating you as you were acting in good faith. Didn't see a lot of that. Yeah. Look, it is the internet. So, uh, [45:22] Some of the most liberal districts in the country. [45:24] are feeling like they can have someone who is further to the left and they know they're going to win in November and they want that kind of person fighting for them or they want to support the person that Bernie and Donnie got behind because they really like them.

They don't have a lot of love for establishment figures. They don't feel like establishment politics has done well for them, even when those establishment figures are are to the left. [45:45] That doesn't mean that Josh Shapiro is not one of the most popular governors in the country or that if there was just a poll out that said, who are the most popular political figures? Well, they're Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders, right? Like it's a complicated heterodox country. And we have to make one big pro-democracy coalition. I think that puts responsibility on both sides of this divide on the Josh Gottheimer, Jamie Harrison, James Carville side.

[46:09] Uh, [46:10] You can disagree with people. I think you should be really critical of them. You should say why you disagree. I think Josh Shapiro actually did this well. It's like I just have strong disagreements. This district in another state that that's one district and I'll defend my views. People should defend their own. [46:25] without saying that these people have no place in our coalition. If you're a democratic socialist, you're not a Democrat. You don't get to decide that. The democratic voters in those districts went to the polls and decided.

The party reflects what the voters want. The voters aren't meant to follow what the party tells them defines a Democrat. If you... And Mom Donnie had said that somewhere in that interview, which I thought was right. Right. And if parts of your coalition are further than the left than you like, well, have an argument with them, figure out the places where [46:55] Joe Biden wins the primary in 2020. And actually, I thought did a pretty extraordinary job of talking to Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and kind of finding a way to bring those people into his coalition to the point where they were some of the people advocating for him the most after he blew the debate.

So there are there is a way to bring the sides of the party together. On the other side, I think. [47:16] Just because someone is on your team and you don't like the mainstream Democrats and you think they're too centrist doesn't mean that people on the left don't have to answer for some of the dumbest or most heinous things that they've said in the past. Ooh, careful. And by the way, that people do, we talked about Graham Platt. People deserve a chance to explain the difference between who they were before they were in public life and who they are now, now that they have a bigger platform and more responsibility.

They deserve that chance. But also, that is a responsibility. You are part of a coalition. Speak your mind. Say your piece. [47:46] that like, yes, sometimes Republicans are going to take words either in context or out of context and try to paint people that you should also want to win with what you have said in the past. It's just we're it's it's it's collectively doing what is. [47:59] I think the work of being part of one big fractious team. Yeah. AOC was asked about this in her interview with Jen Psaki.

And, you know, she said this without referring directly to Daria Lisa Chevalier. But she was like, look, I think what happens is from my experience, when you actually, [48:20] take these jobs and you go into office, the weight of the office and the weight of the job, it does change you and it makes you realize the responsibility you have. Which, you know, what I said on Friday is, look, she has these views that she just articulated a week before the election, not in her old tweets, a week before the election, but...

[48:40] Maybe she'll go to Congress and vote in a way that doesn't align with some of the more extreme positions, in which case, great. Everyone deserves the grace to change and prove themselves. It's just like what I thought that was pretty, pretty normal to say. I'm not concerned. And again, I'm not concerned about like DSA candidates or progressive candidates knocking off incumbent Democrats in deep blue districts. That's what primaries are for. Primaries are good. I think primaries are good no matter what. [49:10] what the voters want. I'm also not concerned about what...

[49:13] DSA wins for Dems in more competitive districts. My only advice for those frontline Dems, which I had said on Friday, is don't be afraid to distance yourself from DSA positions that you disagree with. If someone asks you whether you agree with abolishing prisons and police and borders and you don't, [49:33] Just say that. Say that you don't like the ideas. Say that they're terrible. Say that they're not that great. Say whatever you want to say. But like, don't be afraid to say that because then folks on the left will be mad at you that you said you didn't like that idea.

You don't have to attack the people and try to purge them from the party. You have to attack their character, their person. I don't want to do that with anyone who won. But you can disagree with the ideas. And by the way, like I also then and and if you and I think there's nothing wrong with saying I'm not a socialist and I actually think, you know, socialism. [50:03] figure whatever a person like a Josh Godhammer would say it has been their actual point of view, right? I'm not a socialist.

I don't agree with socialist ideas, whatever it looks like. But to say like, I can't I therefore I cast you out. [50:13] as a means to protecting what you think the brand should be, as opposed to saying, and I look forward to having that disagreement. Right. Because I want to make my argument for how for for why I think that it could be such a bad idea. And then would say that, like, all right, let's let's discuss this. Let's discuss your ideas and have a debate. And we can learn to work together.

Maybe we can find some common ground on stuff that we do agree on. Yeah. But yeah, it's just posturing is like the Godheimer version of this is frustrating. I think the reaction to you that was sort of like, how dare you criticize an elected official? [50:43] Everything is up for grabs. You're going to be criticized for everything. It is what it is. Also, the freak out, like I think the establishment should be worried about what it means for them electorally. But the people who are like the party's off the rails is going to change everything.

Like we heard exactly the same shit in 2018 when AOC beat Joe Crowley and there was all this fear mongering about the squad. And then we nominated Joe Biden to be our Democratic nominee in 2020. And you know what? Establishment moderates. And Joe Biden went out there and said. [51:11] For all that he did to bring in Bernie and the left, he also said, and I think defund the police is a horrible idea, and he said it. [51:18] like he articulated it and said it specifically and the left got really mad at him.

But it's probably good that he did that because then people know where Joe Biden stood on that issue and didn't lump him in with the left. The Republicans tried to, but it didn't work. The online reaction to you is just sort of like the most annoying version of an online reaction, which is like. [51:35] it must have been in bad faith like you know it means you're dead to them you're like a shill you're a corporatist you should be luigi like whatever like insane like literally like people said responses it's like everyone calm the fuck down it's a political discussion somebody did a whole video put me in my picture next to mike johnson and said these these two are the same but this is like we've been saying that for years i know it's true it's the i do like to monitor other people's porn yeah that's your kink well manny back to our guy yeah and i but also about [52:05] Momdani, I mean, we interviewed, I talked to Momdani about this directly, right?

He's so smart. He gets it. But also, by the way, like I'm saying, that's the thing. It's like AOC is so smart about this. He is defending views that I think maybe would be unpalatable to a lot of Americans, but he's the mayor of New York, so he's free to do that. He's evolving on certain things. He's trying to persuade on other things.