Kamala Harris Takes a Swipe at Joe and Jill Biden in New Book: Bidens Are Expected to Hit Back, Hard

Summary

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2WAY Morning Meeting

Episode: Kamala Harris Takes a Swipe at Joe and Jill Biden in New Book: Bidens Are Expected to Hit Back, Hard
Date: September 10, 2025
Host: Mark Halperin
Panel: Sean Spicer, Dan Moore (Democratic strategist)
Main Theme:
Discussion of the explosive early excerpts from Vice President Kamala Harris’s forthcoming memoir 107 Days, and the major political and news developments of the morning. The panel analyzes Harris’s criticisms of the Bidens, predicts the response from Biden world, and explores broader implications for the Democratic Party, 2028 politics, and the news cycle. The show also features discussion on crime, U.S. politics, the war in Ukraine, and listener Q&A.

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1. Overview

The September 10th, 2025 edition of the 2WAY Morning Meeting dives into the political shockwaves caused by the first published excerpts from Kamala Harris’s memoir, which sharply critiques Joe and Jill Biden. The hosts examine the revelations and tone of Harris’s account, speculate on the Bidens’ coming response, and discuss the implications for Harris’s political future. The episode continues with deep dives into the day’s headlines—ranging from inflation numbers to Israel/Gaza and Ukraine—and takes questions from listeners on crime, mental health, and the state of U.S. politics.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. Kamala Harris’s Book Excerpts: Content and Fallout

[07:54–21:38, 57:29–62:25]

• Harris’s Criticism of the Bidens
  Harris’s memoir—previewed in The Atlantic—criticizes Joe and Jill Biden for what she says was recklessness in refusing to step aside in the election, and attributes it to “ego” and “ambition.”

  “It’s Joe and Jill’s decision. We all said that like a mantra… Was it grace or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was Recklessness. The stakes were simply too high.”
  — (Kamala Harris, per excerpt, read by Mark Halperin, [08:09])

• Tone and Motivation of the Book
  The panel finds the tone of the excerpt remarkably self-justifying and defensive, with limited self-awareness.

  “This is a theme throughout this set of excerpts: it’s not my fault… repeatedly she goes to this sense of grievance… But usually there’s some humility, and there’s none here.”
  — Dan Moore ([09:19])

• Expected Biden Response
  The hosts predict the Bidens will “hit back hard,” particularly because Harris’s accounts are seen as not just critical, but demonstrably false about their support and the operations of the West Wing.

  “If you were Jill Biden, you’re walking around today going, I told you so… She’s the one who stabbed us in the back during the primaries…”
  — Sean Spicer ([10:03])
  “Whatever her chances of ever being president were before this book, they’re lower after this.”
  — Mark Halperin ([21:26])

• Biden Team’s View on Harris
  Halperin insists Harris was treated as well or better than any modern Vice President by the West Wing, contrary to her accusations of sabotage or ill treatment.

  “No Vice President in American history in my career has been more thoroughly defended by the West Wing than Kamala Harris. I don’t even think it’s close.”
  — Mark Halperin ([14:00])

• Staff Turnover and Blame
  Harris claims her office’s high turnover was normal and that negative narratives were fueled by Biden staffers. The panel counters that most agree Harris’s leadership is the cause, and the Biden staff worked hard to support her.

  “She blames everybody for everything… Any self-awareness about what she did to contribute? None.”
  — Dan Moore ([14:20])
  “Anyone who’s worked for her… will tell you she blames the staff when things go wrong.”
  — Mark Halperin ([15:46])

• Harris’s Political Future
  The hosts view the memo as disastrous for Harris’s future in Democratic leadership.

  “She would be… she couldn’t win a student council election. She owes everything to this guy. So the idea she’s now saying ‘I’m loyal’ is ridiculous.”
  — Sean Spicer ([18:43])

B. Broader Implications for Dems, 2028, and the Memoir Market

[21:26–22:01, 58:29–60:45]

• Concerns that intra-party fighting will damage Democratic prospects for 2028.
• Comparison to Trump administration “tell-all” books—warning Harris will lose trust within her own party.
• Brief speculation about celebrity candidates (e.g., Stephen A. Smith).

C. News Headlines & Daybook

[05:12–07:54, 22:01–27:37]

• Inflation Update:
  Producer Price Index unexpectedly down; speculation about Fed moves.
• Congress:
  Banking committee advances Fed nominee.
• Israel Attacks Qatar:
  Ongoing coverage of Israeli actions in Gaza/Qatar, uncertainty about escalation.

  “We still don’t know what the President knew or how other countries will respond…”
  — Mark Halperin ([22:12])

• Russia–Ukraine–Poland:
  Russian drones fired into Poland, a NATO country—raising but not triggering Article 5 alarm.

  “Reuters headline: Poland downs Russian drones and first time a NATO member has fired during Ukraine war… Why is Article 5 not being discussed?”
  — Mark Halperin ([24:13]) “It’s being treated like a curiosity…”
  — Sean Spicer ([24:22])

D. Crime, Policing, and Mental Health

[33:00–57:47]

Listener Stories & Questions

• Increasing frustration among city dwellers with crime, police non-responsiveness, and under-reporting.
• Complaints that Democratic messaging on crime is unpersuasive or lacks solutions; perception that data is being manipulated to downplay crime.
• Mental health as both a real issue behind crime and a political “cop out.”

  “They are literally cooking the books in these cities. And the media is complicit in selling this narrative falsely…”
  — Sean Spicer ([37:27])
  “There’s hypocrisy in both sides, meaning budgets have been cut… Do I get rid of the police officer or the mental health bed? Unfortunately, they’ve often chosen the beds.”
  — Dan Moore ([55:29])

Broader takes:

• Both left and right are dodging hard choices, with Democrats often accused of deflecting from crime or making excuses.
• Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in D.C. is welcomed by some, but seen as a short-term fix.
• The difficulty of balancing “grace” in political communication with accountability.

E. Listeners’ Political Sentiments, the Party “Leaving” Voters

[33:00–41:58]

• Several self-identified former Democrats express feeling politically homeless, particularly over crime.

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3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Harris’s book, loyalty, and ambition:

  “It’s Joe and Jill’s decision… Was it grace or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was Recklessness. The stakes were simply too high.”
  — Harris excerpt, read by Mark Halperin ([08:09])

• On Harris’s grievances:

  “This is a theme throughout… it’s not my fault… there’s some humility, and there’s none here.”
  — Dan Moore ([09:19])

• On West Wing’s defense of Harris:

  “No Vice President… has been more thoroughly defended by the West Wing than Kamala Harris.”
  — Mark Halperin ([14:00])

• On Democratic struggle messaging crime:

  “Democrats often try to find kind of an excuse or not a justification but like, 'here’s why that happened' and there isn’t really a bigger problem. And I think that’s where we need to focus on solutions.”
  — Dan Moore ([51:22])

• On urban frustration and political alienation:

  “I am a Bill Clinton Democrat. That’s who I am. And… the party has left me…”
  — Listener David ([34:17])

• On data manipulation and public trust:

  “They are literally cooking the books in these cities. And the media is complicit in selling this narrative falsely to the American people…”
  — Sean Spicer ([37:27])

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4. Timestamps for Major Segments

• Kamala Harris Book Excerpts Discussion: [07:54–21:38]
• Political Implications, Score-Settling Memoirs: [21:26–22:01]
• Current News Rundown (Daybook): [05:12–07:54], [22:01–27:37]
• Crime, Policing, and Listener Q&A: [33:00–41:58], [51:21–57:47]
• Mental Health and Social Services Debate: [54:08–57:47]
• Political Future Speculation & Celebrity Candidates: [58:29–60:45]
• Closing and Teasers for Future News on the Harris-Biden Clash: [61:49–62:45]

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5. Flow and Tone

The episode is conversational, brisk, and unsparing in political analysis—characteristic of a morning meeting at a national news network. The hosts, while ideologically diverse, generally share a “hard-nosed” view of political memoirs, the Harris-Biden rift, and the inadequacy of both parties’ approaches to urban crime and social services. The listener Q&A often features citizens frustrated with polarization and the “messaging over solutions” approach of US political leadership.

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6. Additional Notes

• Multiple ad reads appear throughout, which have been omitted from the summary as requested.
• Mark Halperin leads with a moderator’s hand, emphasizing the spirit of open exchange (“no smack in the chat”) and regularly invites listener questions and challenges.
• Strong emphasis on civility and understanding the “other side.”
• Several allusions to previous and upcoming coverage—suggesting more is to break regarding the Harris memoir and how the Bidens will respond.

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Summary Prepared by: [Expert Podcast Summarizer]
For readers who missed the episode, this summary presents the highlights, arguments, political analysis, and the dynamic listener engagement that define the 2WAY Morning Meeting’s take on one of the most dramatic political news stories of Fall 2025.

Transcript

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[Mark Halpern]

Good morning everyone. Welcome to the morning meeting. Here in the east it's morning, but for those watching in Paris, it's the afternoon. Thank you for being part of the two way and two Ways the Morning meeting. Sean, Dan and I will walk you through the events of the day. Like we're at a network news division where we just tell you what's happening and then we will kick things around. And then, and only then, but especially then, we'll take your questions. If you want to be part of the conversation, particularly if you've never raised your hand before, please do raise it high here. If you're on the two way platform, watching on X, watching on YouTube, no hand raising, no smack in the chat. All peace, love and understanding all the time. Last night's program inspired a lot of smack in the chat. We'll I'll address that at six tonight. But again, I'll say if you hear Sean say something you don't agree with or Dan, don't send me an email saying I'll never watch your show again because Dan is too partisan or I hate your show because Sean is maga. We're here to learn, we're here to educate, we're here to understand. America contains multitudes. I guarantee you that if you hear something on this show you don't like, it's a view shared by many of your fellow citizens. Take the opportunity, Sean. Read any good books lately.

[Sean]

Yes, I am rereading Trump's Art of the Comeback. Newt Gingrich recommended that I read it. So I'm rereading that one. And then there's one more. You caught me off guard, Mark. But I will be reading. I just read a Great excerpt from 107 Days this Morning that stoked a ton of emotion. I couldn't tell if I should laugh or cry or both.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, you too. The first, the first excerpt from Kamala Harris's book is that, Dan, you'll recall that in putting together the lead of any program, I follow closely what then Associated Press reporter John King taught me in 1992, which is the first three letters of the word news are N, E, W. So Russia has not attacked Poland in 12 hours. That's not new. But the release of these book excerpts is. So in just a moment, we'll run through the day. Book and and spoiler alert. If you haven't read the relatively short excerpt on the Atlantic website of Kamala Harris's book, I recommend it to you. The editor of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, has read that.

[Dan Moore]

Jeffrey Goldberg.

[Mark Halpern]

That Jeffrey Goldberg, I'm signaling to you now. And Jeff has read the whole book and he says it's filled with revelations. And there's three things we're going to highlight from the book. One of the excerpt, one of which is Kamala Harris says the B, basically that the Bidens shouldn't have, shouldn't have listened to other people and gotten out of the race. In any event, we'll get to that in a minute. And then again, if you're here on the two way platform, we'd love for you to be part of the conversation. Raise your hands. Do not, however, put smack in the chat. Dan, is that hard to understand? No. Smack in the chat.

[Dan Moore]

Is there any. We may even have a shirt if you need to have it branded it on you.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. So Cozy Earth is our sponsor. We're glad to have them. And I'll remind you again, you can get a big discount, which I'll tell you about in a minute to buy their sheets. Very comfortable bedding shirts or the famous pants. I've made them famous because, because so many of you have bought them and so many spouses have said to me, either directly or through their purchasing. Spouse, I've never seen pants look so good. And I'm telling you, you could wear these pants. Say your spouse says that we're going to a dinner party at my friend's house. It's kind of dressy. You could wear these Kind of dressy, but you could wear the same pants the beach, or you'd sit around the house watching a football game. And I'm just telling you, they're the most comfortable. Sean, have you tried your Zone yet?

[Sean]

I tried them on. I alternate between the bamboo joggers, which, you know, you did tell me. I got them. They are that comfortable?

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Sean]

But, yeah, I wore them last night. Dan saw me in them.

[Dan Moore]

I did. I saw that. Right.

[Mark Halpern]

I believe the quote from Dan was, I like the cut of your jib. Anyway, 40% off right now. If you go to cozyearth.com use the code. Morning. 40. 40% off everything. Best selling everything. The sheets are great, but the pants. I mentioned the pants. Some people think nature is like this, but actually it's like this. Mother Nature is not all sunshine and rainbows. Nature can be hotter than a sauna.

[David Griffiths]

And colder than an arctic skinny dip.

[Mark Halpern]

That's why Columbia engineers everything we make for anything nature can throw at you. Columbia engineered for whatever. Anyway, the day book today, the President United States is in here in Washington. The pool. The radio pool is Arun. The new media pool is the lion. The secondary print pool is the Christian Science Monitor. Dan, have you read the Monitor lately?

[Dan Moore]

Not lately, but they've been around for a long time.

[Mark Halpern]

You know, back when I started my career, the Sperling breakfast, Godfrey Spurring was the Washington editor, or whatever his title was of the Christian Size Monitor. And they did a breakfast that was kind of like at the time, very powerful because newsmakers would come and they'd speak there and everybody would quote. Dan, what's the most famous thing that ever happened at a Sperling breakfast?

[Dan Moore]

I don't know, but they made a lot of news. I mean, it was something you read in the late 90s.

[Mark Halpern]

Sean. Sean, I believe. I believe this is factual, not subjective. You know, the most famous thing that ever happened, it's spoiling breakfast. Bill and Hillary Clinton went, and there's one other thing that happened that was famous, but this, I think this is most famous. And, and they. They talked about how their marriage wasn't perfect, but they were still together in advance the presidential campaign. And it was seen as a preemptive move to try to head off questions about their marriage. But that was pre Jennifer with the G. So it wasn't the final chapter.

[Sean]

But they also, I will tell you, it's been a while since I've done one. But they, they also maintain some of the strictest, craziest rules about attribution. And when you could do and I mean, it was.

[Mark Halpern]

It's sort of.

[Sean]

They, they cling.

[Mark Halpern]

Very stylish. They're still. They're still happening.

[Sean]

Yes, I know.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

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[Mark Halpern]

I don't know. I don't read the Monitor much anymore, but I did back in the day. In any event, Vice President, I don't know what he's doing. There is a dinner at the White House tonight, seven o'. Clock. That's the President's one event on his scheduled intelligence briefing. I believe it's for senior officials of his government. That's my.

[Dan Moore]

Is it, is it, is it, is it Rose Garden Club tonight?

[Sean]

Yes.

[Mark Halpern]

Oh, yeah, rose Garden Club. D.J.

[Dan Moore]

Don Club's happening.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, Club is happening. Bunch of stuff on the Hill. Banking committees considering the nominee for the Fed, and they're trying to get him seated by the meeting, and it looks like they will. Hakeem Jeffries press conference at 10:38:30, the producer price index number came up. Paul, go ahead and slam that up there. We'll get to the economy in a minute. But just to give you the number because it's hot off the presses and as John King will tell you, the first three letters of news or new inflation tamped down here. Wholesale prices unexpectedly declined. You heard me right, folks. Declined in August as a Fed rate decision looms. Dan Pregame said he thought this meant quarter basis points.

[Dan Moore]

No, no, no, I said it. It means it may be maybe.

[Mark Halpern]

Maybe a half. Sorry, maybe a half. We'll see. In any event, that's where we are. All right, to the news. The. The Kamala Harris book. First excerpt is out. And here you see the Atlantic, the constant Battle. The first excerpt from 107 Days Reminder. This show is available as a podcast, which is why you're hearing me. Read all the graphics about. I'm about to do it. I will not be doing my Kamala Harris imitation. But just in your mind, just imagine this is the vice President herself. So the excerpts out. And I'll just say the three things that caught my eye. Number one is the thing I'm about to read to you about her view of why the Joe Biden should have gotten out of the race. Number two is. And here it is. I'll read that in a second. Well, let's do them one by one. So here's the first excerpt. Quote, it's Joe and Jill's decision. We all said that like a mantra, as if we'd been hypnotized. Was it grace or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was Recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn't a choice that should have been left to the individual's ego, an individual's ambition. It should have been made more than a personal decision. Dan. This seems to me to be a scathing denunciation of the Bidens, a little bit of taking responsibility. Although she says in the excerpt, had I raised it, I would have been dismissed as ambitious. So she kind of absolves herself, but says the Bidens and other people were reckless and not forcing the issue. Your thoughts?

[Dan Moore]

Yeah. You just said what I was going to add, which is, and this is a theme throughout this, this set of, of excerpts is it's not my fault. I mean, repeatedly she goes to this, you know, sense of grievance, of I didn't do anything wrong. Some level you would expect, but usually there's some humility, and perhaps we'll see it later in the book. But you're right. I mean, this is the first. Just shot right across the bow. And she is clearly saying this was just a gigantic mistake. I imagine she's going to come on later and say it screwed me in my race because I didn't have enough time.

[Mark Halpern]

If you were the Biden's press, if you were the Biden's press secretary, and they said, and they said, hey, this is outrageous. We want to blast back at her, what would you counsel?

[Sean]

Well, you know, it's funny. You said the Biden's press secretary, and I think if you're Jill Biden, you're walking around today going, I told you so. What did you think she was going to do? She's the one who stabbed us in the back during the primaries. She's the one who brought up the busing issue. She's the one who attacked you. I told you not to hire her. So my answer should be from Jill, I told you so. I think that's going to be an interesting division as far as I'm concerned, whether anyone will really find out whether Joe thinks one thing and Jill thinks another. Because I, I gotta believe that Jill Biden's running around going, I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, but, but this, again, this very short paragraph contains basically two allegations. One is that the people who didn't say anything were reckless. Yeah, they should have raised it. But it also says that the reason Joe Biden ran was not because he thought he could be a great president for four more years or because he thought that he was the best equipped to beat Donald Trump, but because of ego and ambition.

[Dan Moore]

Well, she does Say later on that he had done it once and therefore. Yeah. And that he thought he could do it again.

[Mark Halpern]

She does. All right. Two more excerpts and they both go to.

[Sean]

Well, can I just, can I ask you, do you think the Bidens will respond? I actually, there's two issues. What will it be? I will be interested to see if they push back at all.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, they're going to come back. And I'll tell you why I'm relatively confident about that because of these next two things. I have, as I have, as I have reported before and others have, too, but I believe my reporting on this has been longer and deeper than most. Hold on with this one. This vice president was treated better than any vice president with the possible exception of Dick Cheney. And really not in modern era because since Walter Mondale, because Joe Biden felt the sting of how he was treated, he was treated worse than any vice president in the modern era by the Obama team. They didn't want to pick him in the first place. Their view was, let Barack Obama run by himself. Why do we need a running mate who will drag us down? They had to pick somebody because the Constitution called for it. And they treated Joe Biden like crap throughout the eight years, culminating, of course, with the refusal to, not only refusal to support him for the nomination in 2016, but, but basically said, no, Joe, you know, you can't win. So having been treated so poorly, the West Wing treated her great. And as I have reported, they, they, I'll use the word they covered up for her and her inadequacies. And so what's going to piss off a lot of people in Biden world is these next two excerpts in which the vice president basically says, I was awesome. I brought peace between the United States and France. I solved the border crisis.

[Dan Moore]

Well, now that it wasn't a border crisis, that's not what she was tasked. That's what she argued.

[Mark Halpern]

I'm being hyperbolic. And, and, and they, they didn't support me. So here's the first excerpt along these lines. Go ahead and put that one up, B, please. And when the stories were unfair or inaccurate, the president's inner circle seemed fine with it. Indeed, it seems as if they decided I should be knocked down a little bit more. I can tell you this is the opposite of what happened. They went to extraordinary lengths and were frustrated at the amount of time they had to spend defending the vice president. When she messed up and she's charging, she says in the excerpt, when my poll numbers went up, they felt threatened. And so they didn't defend me. Sean, thoughts on this one?

[Sean]

So the example she cites is when she's in Paris and she uses the phrase and it got a lot of attention. Everyone might remember the plan. And she says, I intentionally was doing this exaggerated French accent. Newsmax, Fox and whoever else she cites says went nuts. And they didn't do anything. They allowed it to stand as a gaffe. It was a gaffe. I mean, like she, she, the idea that she's citing examples and then saying, I can't believe that no one knew that those weren't gaffes. Those were me just being like, hyperbolic for intentionally. I'm actually just blown away how tone deaf this whole thing is.

[Mark Halpern]

It's so tone deaf and it's, it's, it's so whiny. No vice president in American history in my career has been more thoroughly defended by the West Wing than Kamala Harris, where I. That's what, I don't even think it's close.

[Sean]

But she gets to the point of the turnover her staff, and she says.

[Mark Halpern]

They allowed the narrative. All right, well, respond on this one, then we'll get to.

[Dan Moore]

Yeah, let me just add, because this is an important thing for her character. I know a lot of people who worked for her going back to her AG race, her first Senate race, her presidential. The one constant through line that everyone has that worked for her is she blames everybody for everything. There's never, it's, you know, any self awareness about what she did to contribute.

[Mark Halpern]

All right, all right, let me, let me, let me read the next.

[Dan Moore]

And you see this.

[Mark Halpern]

Let me read the next excerpt. Go ahead. Next one. This is about the staff question. She claims that the turnover was normal, that, that, that it was just people couldn't handle the, couldn't cut it working in the West Wing or the, or the Old Executive Office Building. Quote. Worse. I often learned that the President's staff was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me. One narrative that took a stubborn hold was that I had a chaotic office and unusually high staff turnover during my first year. So there's two issues here. One is she goes to great lengths to explain that her staff turnover was totally normal and not a product of what Dan just said. That's false. Her staff turnover was a product of what Dan said. Anyone who's worked for, even people who defend her, will tell you that she blames the staff when things go wrong. And the first part of this, the notion that the, the president's staff added fuel to the negative narratives. I can't tell you the number of hours and days they spent trying to help her team and her tamp these stories down, it's the exact opposite of what she charges.

[Dan Moore]

Well, well, one of the, and one of the things she says in here is that a lot of that her staff was new to the, to the, to the West Wing, new to the vice president's office. And so she didn't know how they would perform because this was such a new job. And that that is normal. That is not true. There were a lot of people who had worked in previous administrations who had worked in very, very senior positions in the US Is similar. So to say that they were inexperienced and I had to determine if they could do the job is simply not true.

[Mark Halpern]

Does this, does this excerpt the rest of the books coming. Does this excerpt, Dan, suggest you she was going to run for president or not?

[Dan Moore]

It suggests to me she wants to run for president. She's trying to do the things to be in a position to run for president, but nobody in the party wants her to do this.

[Mark Halpern]

Sean.

[Sean]

Well, she, she, by the way, she talks about the staff chaos and then talks it goes on to say this is normal and, and it's not normal. And, and like Biden did. Now, granted, Biden had been vice president prior, but like, it's just not true. And, and so here's the thing. I, I don't know if she was going to. I will be interested to see not just the Biden reaction, but the rest, because one of the other things that she talks about is, is, is she's a loyal person. Like, this is like the most insane thing ever. I'm loyal, but he just sucks. And let me tell you why. Can either of you think of disloyal?

[Mark Halpern]

Obviously, obviously we've seen political memoirs that settle scores, but can either of you think of a book, again, just based on the excerpt of someone making false charges, demonstrably false charges, about what happened in a whiny and defensive way, while critical, claiming to be loyal and criticizing the man who made her vice president. Can anyone think about Analog for this look?

[Dan Moore]

No. Would also say I've never seen someone punch so far down going after all the staff. And what would worry me if I'm hurt is that staff is super friendly with reporters. They know where the bodies are buried.

[Mark Halpern]

Correct?

[Dan Moore]

They will.

[Mark Halpern]

But, but let me, but let me say one thing. She names. No names.

[Dan Moore]

Yeah.

[Mark Halpern]

To me that is gutless. She's painting them all with a broad brush, I can tell you. Ron Klain and what's the Guy's name Jeffrey Zebra. Those guys are not named, but I believe she's referring to at least one of them. And it is the height of irony that she is making criticism of people whose jobs, doing their real jobs, were hampered with the hours and hours they had to spend on this.

[Dan Moore]

Well, I also just want to add how badly this reflects on both her and Biden. I mean, it is apparent it was a complete snake pit s show. But before they even got into the office.

[Mark Halpern]

But it was. But, but that's the thing is it wasn't. It wasn't. She's creating this notion that the West Wing was her enemy when.

[Dan Moore]

But don't you. But Mark, isn't it true that she had that grievance from like day one?

[Mark Halpern]

Yes, but it's false.

[Dan Moore]

Right, but that is a mess.

[Sean]

Okay, so let's. The thing that I find so amazing about the level of tone deafness is she was rejected by her own party prior to the Iowa caucuses. She was no 1 until Joe Biden rescued and picked her. She would be. She couldn't get win a student council election. She owes everything to this guy. So the idea that she's now saying I'm loyal is ridiculous. I think that if you what she, she has done more damage to herself. Any notion that she could run, no one will want to work for her. This is the one thing that I've said about Trump world is that all these guys who ran out and writ books and got the short term stuff are paying the price. Now, if that's what you want to do, sell out for the quick buck or the easy headline right off the bat, you will never be trusted again and you're seeing the consequences in Trump 2.0. But the other thing is, here's the one thing that's going to come out. I believe all these stories and these rumors about her drinking, her erratic behavior. I have a feeling. Katie, bar the door, baby, because it's all coming out now.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, two more things and then we'll move on. And the reason we spent a lot of time on this, besides the fact that it broke shortly before we came on the air, is because this is going to have implications for the Democratic Party. It really is. Now, two things. One is, by the way, she's. She says Joe Biden had no cognitive decline.

[Dan Moore]

Yeah. She says he was tired.

[Mark Halpern]

So, so we're back. We're back to. Back to a Democrat who obviously saw his cognitive decline just claiming it didn't occur. And, and the second thing is, is there no one in her life. Who could have stopped her from writing this? Because. Because any staffer who had the least bit of a strong relationship would have said, you are picking a fight with a couple that is vindictive, that has assassins working for them, and you're picking it based on lies. You're picking.

[Sean]

So, Mark, you've written a bunch of books, but I, I will say I probably come at it from a very different perspective in terms of what having done for these she wanted in advance. Right.

[Mark Halpern]

And.

[Sean]

And when you do this, and I've taken a book to auction, they sit around and they say, well, could you tell a story about how one time this happened or. And you either go down one path, which is they say we will pay more. There's a, if anyone Googles it, there's a great New York Times story where a bunch of publishers crapped all over me and said Spicer left hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table because he wouldn't tell, you know, stories about Trump. They're damn right. That wasn't worth a couple hundred grand. Is not worth my reputation to sell out the president. So, yeah, and that's the thing is that she clearly, when she sat in those rooms, said, oh, yeah, I'll give you a couple of things because she had to sell the book and that.

[Dan Moore]

Just she wants to daughter.

[Mark Halpern]

I don't think I don't make too many predictions, but I will say this. Whatever her chances of ever being president were before this book, they're lower after this. Just based on she's got a better.

[Sean]

Chance of Eric Adams has a better chance of becoming mayor of New York again than she does of ever running for anything.

[Dan Moore]

Mark. I think, too, it'll be interesting. She's going to be the featured speaker at the Congressional Black Caucus gala here in the next week. And I think it is. I don't believe the Congressional Black Caucus will endorse her or cheerlead her to run. And that is going to be.

[Mark Halpern]

Yes. Yeah. All right. Israel's attack yesterday, still some facts unknown and still not clear where it's headed. So basically, guys, let's be quick on this because I don't think anybody has a particularly good. Could have a particularly good read on David Ignatius. 105, the Washington Post columnist who's very well sourced in all these worlds with the Qatar, with the Israelis, David Ignatius, very dark in his column after yesterday's attack. Netanyahu's attack in Qatar just narrowed Israel's option. Now, where is the path towards ending the Gaza war? So, guys, again, just Be brief here. What are you looking for now? Still opaque about what the President of the United States knew. Still unclear if there'll be any Arab reaction. The European Union is now leaning towards maybe having sanctions. But, Sean, what are you looking for next beat on this story?

[Sean]

I think that the reaction. What do other people do now? What do they. So the answer I give you is what do other countries say? And not just say, but what are they willing to do?

[Dan Moore]

Yeah, Dan, Trump's lost control of Netanyahu and he is going to flatten the place.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. Okay.

[Sean]

Last, by the way, Mark, you know the additional reporting yesterday when we covered it, the early news that we had was that the US Got tipped off. At least the reporting so far is that we barely got tipped off. Oh, by the way, guess what we're doing. Missiles point. That's going to piss Trump off a lot that he wasn't told.

[Mark Halpern]

But the reality is if they told him, he would have put him in a tough position. I think these. I know probably did.

[Dan Moore]

They called Qatar right away.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. All right. One of the things that's so bizarre to me about the Russia invasion of Ukraine is, is the. The where the news bar is is shifted throughout the conflict, which is to say Russia attacking Poland with drones is. Is massive. I mean, we're not hearing talk of World War iii. Reuters headline, Poland downs Russian drones and first time a NATO member has fired during Ukraine war. They invaded a NATO country's airspace. Sean, why is Article 5 not being discussed?

[Sean]

It should. I'm actually shocked that. And frankly, not even just in the news stories. Right. I've watched.

[Mark Halpern]

Yes.

[Sean]

It's not even mentioned.

[Mark Halpern]

It's like it's being treated like a curiosity shut down.

[Sean]

Yeah, I'm surprised that. I would have assumed the news would have tried to make. I mean, like the mainstream media would have GM this in.

[Mark Halpern]

Dan, why are people not more alarmed? Is it just because the phase the war we're in or it's drones? I mean, I don't get it.

[Dan Moore]

And I'm with you. I think the NATO's having a call today, so I'll be curious what comes out of that and if they take questions, if any members take questions from their domestic press or anybody. Because you're right. I mean, it's huge. First time, I think, since World War II that European country, NATO shot at Russia.

[Sean]

By the way, the Poland president was just here. You didn't just go after a NATO country. You went after one that's aligned with.

[Dan Moore]

Trump, not look good.

[Mark Halpern]

Putin's not an idiot.

[Dan Moore]

I mean, we don't know.

[Mark Halpern]

I, I listen closely to the world's greatest Putin experts. Mike McCall McFall, everybody. No one really understands Putin in my experience, but what the hell is he doing? What is what. Why all these attacks? Why the biggest attack of the war against Keef? Why attack the government building? Why attack Poland? What. What, what does he get out of this? It's just going to make it more likely that he gets sanctions. More likely that.

[Dan Moore]

But he doesn't believe he will. That's the thing.

[Mark Halpern]

But what does he get out of it?

[Dan Moore]

Okay, what does he get to win? He's trying to defeat the Ukrainians. But this.

[Mark Halpern]

But, but, but this is not. This is going to rally people to Ukraine.

[Dan Moore]

It's not going to. That's the question. He's like a child. Well, it leaves Trump.

[Mark Halpern]

It leaves Trump no choice. What. What is. What if you're sitting with Putin and he's explaining the strategy, what's he saying? I'll do provocative things. Trump will be too much of a wimp to do anything. And what. I mean.

[Dan Moore]

And I am going to take Ukraine in the next two years. No, no, I mean. And I'm being. And I've said this for months, I've been consistent on this. He is poking and poking and poking and poking to see how far he can get to win the war. And until Trump stands up and says, that's it, there's $100 billion of arms coming, there's more where that came from, we're going to give them the green light to go into Russia. You cannot get any further until he sees that. What does every story say? He wants the rest of the Donba region. He wants to go further into whatever the town is that's like another 20 miles away. You got to stop him. It's the only thing he cares about is force.

[Mark Halpern]

All right, again, raise your hand if you want to be in on the conversation. Get to your question in a moment.

[Sean]

We may not know a lot about, like, to your point, like, of the final analysis.

[Mark Halpern]

But.

[Sean]

But here's the point. This is dumb.

[Dan Moore]

Putin. Putin.

[Sean]

He's conniving, he's evil, but he's not stupid. And this, to me, is stupid. I don't. I really think you are doing everything you can.

[Mark Halpern]

This is why I'm so confused. Why is he doing stupid things?

[Dan Moore]

It's only stupid if somebody calls it out. That's it. I mean, what's Trump going to say? I'm going to give him two more weeks? I mean, how many. Two weeks. I mean, Mark, you talk about Trump doesn't follow timelines that he sets. And I'm being serious. At what point is he, is it Barack Obama in Syria? Here's my red line in two weeks. Now it's two more weeks.

[Mark Halpern]

But how about, I mean, I know you said Jamie, but how about the rest of NATO folks?

[Dan Moore]

I mean, only one country has the might and that's us. We're the only country.

[Mark Halpern]

Okay, okay.

[Sean]

Before, real quick, can I, can I, I apologize because I'm not following along at home, but I, I, I know we, we mentioned or I think we touched I, the economy at least. But like this story on the revisions, 900,000 that they got wrong last year. And remember, this is, you know, so, so Trump gets inaugurated January 20th, it goes to March. So you only have 30, 40 days of Trump. Well, no, 50 days of Trump. But the point is even, even Christine Roman's on the Today show a month ago, when we were talking about the Bureau of Labor Statistics and how wrong they were gotten, everybody said, oh, this is just Trump not liking the numbers. This morning, even the mainstream guys were like, unbelievable how bad this is off.

[Mark Halpern]

Right.

[Sean]

That we have a problem when we are making decisions and talking about things with respect to our labor statistics and we're, oh, we're off by a million.

[Dan Moore]

But Sean, they do this year long look back for the last 70 years and sometimes it's been smaller, you're right. Of this magnitude. But it is not fair to say that this was abnormal. They constantly do this.

[Sean]

Okay, great. So to my point, though, if you are making consequential decisions about the path of this country and your answer is, yeah, but we're always way off, that's not a good answer.

[Dan Moore]

But Sean, okay, let me ask you this. What data should government officials use to make decisions?

[Sean]

Correct data. Okay, if somebody's constantly wrong. But I'm sorry, if you're constantly off, then don't you say, what do we need to do?

[Mark Halpern]

Guys, guys, we got, we got two minutes and I want to get to questions because we've got a lot of hands up. So I'm going to read you a list of topics going to require discipline here. You each may give one sentence with no semicolons about any one topic, one sentence you can pick. Here's you, here's your Buffet crime. And the president promising that today they're going to announce going into another city, not Chicago, Charlotte murder, the court ruling that Cook can stay on the Fed, John Thune's comments on of the Affordable Care act not being Extension of the, of the. Whatever. They are not being credit. Thank you. Not being a part of reconciliation talks. Not reconciliation talks. CR talks. And the fact that Speaker Johnson lost one seat majority because Democrats want to have special. Sean, one sentence on one of those.

[Sean]

I know what city he's going to announce and it will be today.

[Mark Halpern]

Is it New Orleans?

[Sean]

Is it a Red Orleans?

[Mark Halpern]

He said it's a red state with a mayor who wants them.

[Sean]

It is.

[Mark Halpern]

I hope.

[Sean]

I spoke to the president.

[Mark Halpern]

You can't break the news here. You can't say I.

[Sean]

He did not. I do not have his permission to do that. So I'm not going to.

[Mark Halpern]

But it is going to.

[Sean]

Harris.

[Dan Moore]

Have you spoken to the president recently, Sean?

[Sean]

20 minutes ago.

[Mark Halpern]

Sean, is it going to be. Well, not 20 minutes ago, because we were on the air. Is it going to be. Is it going to be a 25? Yeah, well, probably 35. Is it going to be a press. Is he going to have a public event or is he going to truth it?

[Sean]

I don't know. He just.

[Fortune]

He.

[Sean]

I, I don't. We didn't get into the specifics today.

[Mark Halpern]

Okay, Dan, one sentence. I can repeat the topics if you want.

[Dan Moore]

No, no.

[Sean]

Can you do Charlotte, please? Do Charlotte.

[Dan Moore]

If there's no Obamacare extension, I think we're gonna have a shutdown anyway. If there's no Obamacare extension, I think Democrats may actually win a shutdown.

[Sean]

The Schumer shutdown.

[Mark Halpern]

Interesting.

[Dan Moore]

Yeah, go off another 5 million people, my man.

[Sean]

Okay, the Schumer shut down.

[Dan Moore]

Republicans are terrified.

[Mark Halpern]

Folks, here's how the tears have today's gonna go. And remember how what a hard ass I am. When I make up these silly rules. When I. When I bring you in and call your name and you unmute yourself, you say I. Whether you subscribe to the podcast or not, whether you bought cozy Earth pants or not, where you're from. And then ask your question. And if you don't do it, I'll give you leeway on the order. You can. You can do them in any order, but you must address those three.

[Dan Moore]

Write it down.

[Mark Halpern]

Where you're from. Have you bought the pants? Have you subscribed to the podcast? And then you may ask your question. And if you. If you start some other way, say, hey, Dan, I like your pocket square. Or let me tell you my question, I will mute you and bring you off. And I will do it with a. With not only elegance and efficiency, but with a lawn. I will love doing it. So again, I'll repeat. Everybody pay attention. Where you're from. Have you subscribed to the podcast? Have you bought this cozy Earth pants? It's that simple.

[Sean]

And you're the Tom Holman?

[Mark Halpern]

No. Well, then, then, no. Then, then your question. Then your question. So here we go. And I feel like David Griffiths is going to set a great example.

[Dan Moore]

No pressure. David.

[Mark Halpern]

David, welcome in. Get away.

[David Griffiths]

All right, well, I'm from 10 the Tennessee Nashville. And let's see. I don't. I have not bought the pants yet. I am buying the sheets, though, so. Okay, we got that covered. So.

[Mark Halpern]

And have you subscribed to the podcast?

[David Griffiths]

I have. I have subscribed.

[Mark Halpern]

David, welcome in. You need a little bit of prompting, but you set a fine example for everybody else. And I can see, I can see Ken is a nervous wreck thinking he's going to screw this up. The floor is yours, David.

[David Griffiths]

I, I almost did. Well, hey, I, I have, you know, I saw, I saw the podcast last night and you know, it was, it was very enlightening. I appreciate. It was a conversation that you just don't see. You know, Mark, that you had last night related to the Charlotte. You know, a lot of it was covering on the Charlotte. I can I, I'm going to give you an experience that actually happened to me last night. So last night my car was broken into along with 15 other vehicles.

[Mark Halpern]

Sorry about that. Where was it parked? Where is it parked? On the street?

[David Griffiths]

No, we were, we were in a parking lot. I'm staying. You know, it's a hotel. We were all staying and basically I was. We all had pickup trucks, so they were targeted because they were looking for.

[Mark Halpern]

Gun and they break the window. How'd they break in?

[David Griffiths]

Yeah, they, they broke in, broke the window side window. Came in through that. They, they did that to 15 trucks. Of course, the police.

[Mark Halpern]

It was. Yeah.

[David Griffiths]

And more so what I, you know, my, the point I'm making here is the, the police officer basically said, hey, you know, do you want to prosecute? Right. Fortunately, I, you know, they were looking for guns, drugs or, or cash. You know, I, they did find, I think three people had guns in their vehicles. I always take mine out, so I don't leave mine.

[Mark Halpern]

Dan keeps all. Dan keeps all three in his truck.

[David Griffiths]

Yeah, Dan and I actually the parking.

[Dan Moore]

Attendant keeps an eye on it.

[David Griffiths]

I, I voted for Clinton twice. I am a Bill Clinton Democrat. That's who I am. And it's the party. The party has left me, unfortunately.

[Mark Halpern]

Tell us again where you live. Nashville. But are you on vacation now?

[David Griffiths]

No, no, I'm, I'm. We're I'm on work so I'm, I'm work wise. So that's, that's what it was.

[Mark Halpern]

But were you parked in a hotel because you were at an event? Yes.

[David Griffiths]

Yeah, we had, we had a conference. We had a conference. So that's why.

[Mark Halpern]

Okay.

[David Griffiths]

Anyway. But yeah, I wanted to. The point I want to make was when, when I, as we were talking to the cop, the police officer, the police officer basically said this, hey, do you want to prosecute? And in this case, you know.

[Mark Halpern]

Good morning. The only, the only reason. September, sorry about that.

[David Griffiths]

You're fine. The only reason, the only we, we actually did that.

[Sean]

Exactly.

[David Griffiths]

The only reason people did finally say yeah, two, two people stepped up. I, you know, I didn't because it, it wasn't, you know, I'm just got to fix a window. It's going to cost me 700 bucks. Oh well, it's the inconvenience, those types of things. But that's something that normally wouldn't if, if none of us wanted to prosecute, it would not go down as, as an incident on the, on the police reports. That's literally what the police officer said to us. And it was quite interesting, you know, comment to me, you know, that I heard and it kind of brought back to that, you know, what I heard last night when she one it was a flippant comment she made and she's trying to be ironic. I haven't been killed in the number of years. And I took that comment and immediately struck me as something. It's that intellectual arrogance that from my perspective, that's what turns people off. That's why people have turned away from the Democratic Party. You can't make those kind of statements and be so flippant. It, it is, yeah. And I apologize.

[Mark Halpern]

You know, I'm ranting, but you really appreciate it. David, let me just say a couple things and, and, and then I want to get Dan and Sean in. First of all, last night a lotta had reaction to one of the guests on two Way tonight and including her remark, her joke. First of all, I, I recommend you extend the presumption of grace to anyone speaking live on video. You know, people can say things they, they regret. They wouldn't have said it if, if it were recorded, they might start over. So just in general, I recommend that to you. Second, I'd urge every liberal to, to note the reaction that David, a Clinton voter and others had to our guest last night. And I'd urge every liberal to understand why, why, why conservatives, why, why some people not Just conservatives didn't like some of the things she said, including that flippant remark. But I'd also urge people on the right to understand that she spoke for tens of millions. You may think it's misguided, but she spoke for tens of millions. And so we live in a country where there are a lot of people who share her view of crime and Donald Trump, and so use it as an opportunity to learn. Don't just, don't just criticize her or ask why she on the show. She's on the show because she represents the views of tens of millions. I want to get Sean and then Dan to respond to what David said. And then I need to give a word from our sponsor that I was supposed to give previously, but I got a lot going on here. And then I'm going to remind everybody the rules and we'll pick back up.

[Sean]

Sean, I was about to ask you if you keep lean in your car. Mark supplement. Look, I, I just think one of the things that I have found interesting about this entire crime discussion is, to your point, they are literally cooking the books on this. They are doing everything they can to obscure what's going on in cities by taking crimes off the. Off the books or when reporting them, saying that, you know, a stabbing is a medical incident, not a stabbing. So for all of the discussions that we see in so many other areas about misinformation and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, the idea that when I read these stories in, in whether it's the New York Times or Axios about how crime continues to go down, that's a lie. They are literally cooking the books in these cities. And the media is complicit in ex. In selling this narrative falsely to the American people after proclaiming themselves the arbor of democracy and truth. So I think I, I get it. I, I had a conversation about an incident in my area not too long ago with some of the local police, and they were like, continue to call, make sure they document it. Because, you know, and, and it's, it's sad that you never had to think about it before, but in order to create the illusion that everything's okay, this is what's happening. Right. So you're, you're, you're going to find a situation where it says, in Nashville, crime's going down. Well, it's, and I don't mean to pick on Nashville, but that's what you said, David. And it's like, yeah, because, yeah, if you're telling people not to report it or that you're not going to accurately record it, then why bother? And more and more people that I talk to will say we don't even call anymore because we know they won't account for it.

[Dan Moore]

Well, I, I, so one, I did not see Two Way tonight. It's usually I watch it or watch it on tape later on. So I, I have not seen this. I now want to go back and watch it because I've seen the chat mentioning it and obviously this is the second reference to it. Look, I, it has always been the case, or it's been the case for many years. When I lived in D.C. my car got broken into several times. And when you called the police, they would kind of say to you, look, nothing we can do here. Like, we're not going to go chase somebody who broke a window and, you know, took your laptop out of the backseat. It's not kind of worth our time. And that's been true for, you know, as long as I can remember. It's also true that Rudy Giuliani and Mayor Dinkins at the end had the broken windows theory that if you cleaned up and stopped small crime, it would help roll up to prevent bigger and bigger crime. And I believe, and I think the data showed that was very successful in the 90s and 2000s and 2010s. It did lead to a lot of people being arrested and in jail who some people said, hey, they did small crimes. And our party decided to try, if we unrolled this and allowed people, you know, small crimes were not really treated very seriously, that it would benefit society. And as I've said, that clearly failed. And so now I think it's, Sean, some of it is district attorneys won't prosecute. It's not, in some instances, it does sound like police have, have fudged the books. But in all 50 states, everywhere, I, I don't believe there's like a conspiracy of all police to rig the books. There's a frustration that district attorneys won't prosecute small crime. But I do think, you know, some Democrats are obviously frustrated of, like, crime has always been a problem. And now Sud, there's this whole like, oh, my God, we're going to make it the biggest issue. But, you know, politics is politics and it doesn't, even though I think Trump's being very political about it, doesn't change the fact that crime's a problem.

[Mark Halpern]

David, grateful for coming on and for the, for the tone you took. And I'll just say again, this platform, this show, my preference, strong preference, all of us, rather than coming on or going in the chat and saying, the lady who was on two way tonight last night is a jerk and outrageous and a. And how could you have her on again? She represents millions of people, tens of millions. And in fact, her point of view is it represents the way our cities, most of our big cities, are being governed now and where a lot of Democratic politicians think about crime. So we need to grapple with the country about the problem and to not listen to and question. Come on and question her. To not question people who have a different point of view, I think is what we have now. That's. What we have now is siloed conversations. We're trying to have one big conversation. So I strongly urge you, I request you, I implore you, I beseech you, do not put smack in the chat about guests who you disagree with. If you're a maggot and someone comes on and represents tens of millions of people's point of view about crime, listen, come on and ask some questions. Don't gratuitously and personally attack them. That would be my mark.

[Dan Moore]

I do want to just add to. After being in D.C. for two days, it is remarkable how much this issue is tying Democrats in knots because I talked to several staffers who said, you know, it was actually really nice to go into Union Station and see the markets full again, to see people in there, the homeless people out. Like, these are super progressive. Staffers in public would. Are like total. You know, Trump is Hitler.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Dan Moore]

Who were like, man, it's been great. And my boss, they're. Most people are advising their members, stay silent, don't touch this, because it's working. But they don't want to give Trump credit in public. And it is remarkable how much they're tied in pretzels.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, it is the broken windows thing. I mean, just one. One cluster of National Guard on the Hill just gonna have a. Gonna have an incredible effect. All right, I'm gonna quickly a word, brief word from our sponsor, and then Dan is going to repeat the rules. So, Dan, be ready to repeat the rules.

[Dan Moore]

I got it.

[Mark Halpern]

Today's. Today's program. All right. I leave my guns in my. My pickup windows down. Like I'll leave anything in the. In the pickup. What I will not leave, as Sean suggested, it is my supply of Lean products. You do not want to. Yo, yo, up and down when you're losing weight. You want a nice consistent system. And doctors recommend against weight cycling. And the best way to avoid weight cycling is to use something that will allow you to compete or complete the tasks you need to lose weight. Lean products do that. They're not an LGP1. LGP1 injectable. It's something backed by science. Lean helps you maintain healthy blood sugar, helps you control your appetite and cravings, and it helps you burn fat by converting it to energy. So recommend you try this if you're looking to lose weight consistently in the right way rather than the wrong way. So please go to lean.com right now. 20% off when you enter the code. Dan, you know what the code is, mark.lean.com Enter the code. Mark. If you're looking to lose weight the right way, give it a try. And if you do buy it, do not leave it in your truck. I don't care if your truck's locked because thieves will break in and take you.

[Dan Moore]

Or your Prius.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, or your Prius.

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[Mark Halpern]

And so is the relief from Ebglis.

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[Mark Halpern]

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[Mark Halpern]

Ask your doctor about epglis and visit.

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[Mark Halpern]

Dan, remind everybody the rules because here comes fortune.

[Dan Moore]

All right, where are you from? Have you subscribed to the podcast? Have you bought any Cozy Earth pants or sheets as the previous gentleman has?

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. Buy anything from Cozy Earth?

[Dan Moore]

Yeah.

[Mark Halpern]

And.

[Dan Moore]

And what's on your mind?

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Dan Moore]

And Mark let's be fair to all of our sponsors. Have you engaged with any of our.

[Mark Halpern]

Sponsors on the pants today? Focus on the pants today.

[Dan Moore]

Well, if you lose weight, you're gonna need new pants.

[Mark Halpern]

Good point. Fortune. Welcome in Fortune. Your beautific smile will not deter me from muting you if you screw this up. So have at it.

[Fortune]

Hi, Mark. My name is Fortune. I'm from Nigeria. Currently in Nigeria. I enjoy this. So I started watching you from. That was my first. My first. My first show watching was in July of 2024 and that's when I started watching you. I just wanted to say hi and that's all. I have no questions. Just enjoy watching your show. I think the first video I watched on you was Democratic sources Biden to you nomination this weekend.

[Mark Halpern]

Hold on one second. Let me. Clare, let me clarify. We waved the rule for international members.

[Dan Moore]

Of the community at the water shore.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, it ends at the water shore. Fortune. Keep going.

[Fortune]

Okay, so that's my first. That's. That's okay.

[Mark Halpern]

Nice to see. Did you find us just by scrolling around YouTube?

[Fortune]

Yes, yes, yes. I was scrolling around YouTube. I was trying to.

[Mark Halpern]

All right, well, we love having. We love having you here.

[Dan Moore]

We're gra.

[Mark Halpern]

We're grateful to you for being part of the community. Thank you, sir.

[Fortune]

All right. Thank you.

[Mark Halpern]

Don't think my momentary lapse into humanity absolves any of you from having to behave. Here we go. Here we go. Is your name pronounced Venny? Vinnie. How do you pronounce your name? Unmute. First unmute.

[Jack]

Oh, yeah. Okay. Unmute. Yeah.

[Dan Moore]

How do you pronounce?

[Mark Halpern]

Thank you.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Mark Halpern]

Thank you for joining.

[Jack]

Go ahead. I'm from Bergen county in New Jersey and I subscribe to the pot. Thank you. I have not buy the pants, but I have. I bought the pajama. It's very good. All right, Brilliant. Yeah.

[Mark Halpern]

We respect. The floor is yours. Thank you for being part of two way. Who.

[Dan Moore]

Who are you? Like race, by the way.

[Jack]

Jack. Yeah, the Republican candidate. So I just have an in, maybe an input for like the Democratic Party. They should listen to Dan Moore and just kind of like nobody likes crime. Just get on with it, you know, like the no cash bail is not working out. I live in Bergen County. It's a pretty safe area. But one time I got a guy that clearly mentally ill throw rock in my car. And I have my daughters, four years old and two years old in the car with me. It could have been hurt them really, really bad. And I called the police. The police take the guy to the police station take my statement and all of that. And I saw him in the same spot two days later. It just doesn't work out. We need to bring back, I don't know, mental institution or this thing is just, it's not working especially for people living their day to day life. And for the right side and I'm not talking about people like Charlie Kirk or Matt Walsh, I think they are right in highlighting how the mainstream media is blacking out the story. But on the other side I also see, especially if you scroll Twitter, people that start posting the white square and then say like White Lives Matter trying to stop the racial tension. It's not good when the left is doing it and it's not good when the right is doing it either. And also I have a comment. In terms of Poland, do you think we are in World War Three? What's going on?

[Dan Moore]

Yeah.

[Mark Halpern]

Oh, two great questions. Thank you again for being part of Two way. Sean, you want to address both those. And then Dan.

[Sean]

I will say with respect to Poland, we talked about this at the outset. I am surprised. We'll see what the response is. It looks like so far no one's taking it that as a violation of Article 5, which is, it's a good thing because yeah, that would not be a helpful thing. I'm sorry. And what was the, the first one?

[Dan Moore]

Crime. The Democratic Party taking crime and Republicans with the kind of racial element.

[Sean]

I, I've become more and more outraged. I, I actually the, the more I watch that video it gets very concerned. Like I just, it troubles me how that all went down and this idea that we're the, that the media continues to blame this on mental health. He made it very clear in his words this is a racial attack. He says I got the white girl. He was out 14 different times. And we are allowing this discussion to occur as if no one's responsible. There were politicians, there were prosecutors that allowed this to occur and people are rightly outraged. And, and again if this was anything else we, we have his words, we know why he did it. So I, I, again I'm just, I, I, I don't think this is like this idea that it's a right wing narrative is just completely and utter.

[Jack]

No, I, I, I, I think there's a, two things can be true at the same time. Some people can be mentally ill and also be racist. The one thing that for sure is that the mother of the attacker said that she tried to got him committed multiple times. But there's no institution, there's no mental health institution that taking him. And I totally agree with you that, you know, this person need to be in jail. There's no business or somewhere. It needs to be somewhere not on the street. I agree with you on that. And I know it's racial, but I think there's just, it's so many like racial tension already in the society. I don't think it's good when any side's doing it. I also don't like it.

[Mark Halpern]

Let's again and then.

[Dan Moore]

Well, I think think the challenge is, I think for the Democratic Party, which is your first part is rather than getting wrapped around the axle about trying to defend well, we need to focus more on mental health. Well, there is crime all the time. What's missing from the Democratic messaging is what is our solution to solve what is a problem nationwide. It's not just in Charlotte, it's not just in New York or Washington D.C. mental health is a part of a lot of crime. Fine. But having police on the ground, having, you know, presence to try to protect people, thinking about it through the prism of victims of how does society feel versus it? See, it feels like the Democratic Party often tries to find kind of an excuse or not a justification but like, well, here's why that happened and there isn't really a bigger problem. And I think that that's where we need to focus on solutions. And I've said this since this all started. The tragedy is that Trump, it is a short term. I think today's the last day. Unless there's some extension of the presence, perhaps they're going to start somewhere else. But all of this is short term. And so even my uber driver in D.C. going to a studio Monday night said I'm really glad Trump did it. I'm really worried about what's going to happen when the National Guard leaves.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Just keep in mind today's today or tomorrow, I guess, or today is just the takeover or the official takeover of the D.C. police, which Mayor Bowser has continued to say. She said she's gonna walk coordination but the guard is still there. The increased federal presence of law enforcement is still there. So the only thing is changing is actually the, the command and control, the C2 of of the D.C. police and it'll revert back to the mayor.

[Dan Moore]

But at some point they're going to have to, I mean unless they're going to stay for the next 10 years, it's your long term solution.

[Mark Halpern]

Maybe they will. Josh, welcome in. Thank you for being part of Two way. Do you need the rules reviewed or you got them?

[Josh]

I got them.

[Mark Halpern]

Go to it.

[Josh]

All right. I'm from Mississippi. I am subscribed to the podcast and I have not bought any pants.

[Mark Halpern]

But you'll think about it. Yeah, you'll think about it. Welcome in. Thank you. Where you live in Mississippi?

[Josh]

Meridian Central?

[Mark Halpern]

Yes. Yes, sir. Beautiful place. Been there. Tell us what's on your mind. Thank you for being part of Two Way.

[Josh]

Thank you very much. Well, Sean, I mean. Yeah, Sean answered my first question. The second thing that I was going to address was.

[Mark Halpern]

Take your time. Oh.

[Josh]

Basically about what Dan was just talking about. You know, I work in psych myself. I'm a nurse. And like, part of the problem with the. The mental health issue. Sorry, I just, like, had, like a huge adrenaline rush.

[Dan Moore]

All right, don't worry.

[Mark Halpern]

Don't take your. Take your time. All good. We're eager to hear what you have to say, but take your time.

[Josh]

But basically, part of the problem is that Democrats talk out of both sides of their mouth on this stuff. Stuff with regards to the mental health issue. Is that, like, so when Obama came in, they sued the state of Mississippi because they said that our mental health treatment was punitive. Basically, we're holding people too long, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. They came in, they sued us. They, you know, basically forced us to put people out on the street that would have normally been treated. But then they say we need more mental health resources. And it's just there's a lot of contradictory stuff that goes into the mental health thing because they say, oh, well, it's, you know, the outcomes aren't fair, that somebody gets held, you know, just because they're mentally ill. Anyway, sorry, I sort of botched all.

[Mark Halpern]

That's okay. Oh, good. Dan. Dan, go ahead.

[Dan Moore]

Yeah, I mean, I think. I don't know the specifics of Mississippi, but I will say, and I think this is what a lot of Democrats would pull their hair out over is there's hypocrisy in both sides, meaning budgets have been cut. Right. And one of the places that both parties have looked to cut budgets is mental health. It's like, do I get rid of the police officer or the mental or the bed in the facility? And unfortunately, or, I mean, that's a tough trade off. They've often chosen the beds. I don't know if this is fully true, but give me some grace because Bill O'Reilly said the other night that New York City used to have 50,000 people in beds for mental illness. 20 years ago, that is now 10,000 and that is not, it's because of funding. They've just had to cut it. And so both. It's like Trump cutting DC's police budget or the GOP in Congress by $40 million and then turning around and screaming, you know, you need to have more officers on the street. And the party's like, you know, wants to rip their hair out. But you're right. Mental health is a complicated issue. It's a tragic issue, and hopefully if it brings more awareness to solving it, that will be good in the long run.

[Sean]

Sean, I would just say I agree. Look, I get the mental health issues and I think frankly, the way what between Covid and some of the other issues that we've been dealing with, social media, whatever, it's going to be a growing issue, a bigger issue in the next generation. That being said, at the end of the day, this particular case in Charlotte, why I get a little upset is that it's not, it's one thing if somebody had, was troubled, and in that he is a known criminal 14 times. There's a point at which the safety of others is paramount. And I just, I feel like we're allowing the mental health discussion to be a cop out for excusing and allowing crime to continue. And we can do both, but it doesn't mean that you allow that as an excuse for people who commit heinous acts like this.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Dan Moore]

I will say though, Sean, on the left, it is often pointed out that when there is mass gun violence, mental health is often an issue. And, and the right answer is it was a mental health issue, not a mass shooting.

[Mark Halpern]

Yep. Josh, thank you very.

[Sean]

Look, I, I, I think that there is a problem with, with all of.

[Mark Halpern]

This, but hold on, let's, let's, let's get John in just under the gun here.

[Dan Moore]

If you were on Blue Sky, Sean, you would know this.

[Mark Halpern]

John, welcome in. Tell, tell folks what you need to tell them and let's get rolling here.

[John]

Mr. Halpern, Mr. Spicer, Mr. Turantine, I just want to say I'm John from San Antonio, Texas, and I'm, I feel like I'm with the Political Avengers. I mean, you guys, you, I really appreciate everything that you all do. And I'm like, I didn't think I was gonna get picked, but I'm nervous.

[Mark Halpern]

I'm John, don't be nervous, but channel your nerves into telling us whether you subscribe to the podcast or bought the pants.

[John]

I did not subscribe and I did not buy, buy the pants, but I'm going to subscribe Today and I'm going to buy some pants when my paycheck gets.

[Mark Halpern]

Thank you, sir.

[John]

Yeah, just, I just want to, I want to throw a bold prediction for the Democrats for 2028. Not a lot of people are talking about this.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[John]

And I think that Stephen A. Smith is somebody that people need to look out for. I believe he has his book. He's going to be able to debate clear and concisely and a lot of people didn't take Trump seriously and so I don't think people are going to take him.

[Mark Halpern]

All right, John, thank you, thank you for that. Well, I'll comment on it briefly. We got to end on time, but I will say this and I talk about it on my monologue on Next up and available now with my guest Charlie Kirk and my reported monologue. I explain it's easy to over learn the lessons from Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and their success, their, their, their extraordinary talents. All these people who think a business person who's never been in politics or an athlete or a celebrity can suddenly enter. Not as easy as it looks. So Stephen A. Smith, a super talented guy. I'd be surprised if he ran and even more surprised if he somehow could navigate a brand new profession that's not for amateurs. Donald Trump is a fluke, not an example. Sean.

[Sean]

I wouldn't use the word fluke, but I agree with the analysis. I think. Yeah, no, no, I know what I mean.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, but, but he's a fluke as a, as a, as a, as biologically he's a flu. Luke.

[Sean]

He, he, he, he's a unicorn politically.

[Mark Halpern]

There you go. Better, better word.

[Sean]

Look, I, I, and I agree, I've talked to Charlemagne the God about, he, he is a big believer that, that Jon Stewart should run. If this is not like, this is like people who throw the ball really well outside and say you should play in the NFL. It's, this is, it's easy to say that. It's another thing to understand the mechanics that go into a good political race. So I, I get your point. I, I think they're going to look far and wide. I think Stephen obviously is going to be a huge voice in that conversation. But at the end of the day, there are enough people who are current governors or senators and the Democratic Party that I believe will take, take the lead on that.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. And just to be clear, I'm a huge fan of Stephen. A huge fan. I just don't think he'll succeed at politics if he tries. Dan.

[Dan Moore]

Yeah, I, huge fan of Stephen A. Two things it's easy to criticize. It's hard to be kind of say what you're for and, and to navigate it. And as Mark said, and he talks about in his monologue, you, everyone has stuff under their fingernails and when that gets put in the public, it's not everyone reacts the way you would think.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. All right, guys, we got to finish on time because I got to do some reconnaissance in two minutes. So Sean, briefly, what do you have on your program tonight?

[Sean]

I'm going to recap my conversation with the president this morning, give some insight to what I talked to him about. Tom Holman will join us and hopefully I can reveal the city at that point and, and, and then we'll follow up with Seb Gorka. So we got a jam packed show with a lot to discuss.

[Mark Halpern]

Based on the text I got a little while a while ago, I think you'll be able to reveal the city. Megan McCain at noon. Ben Ferguson, who I spent some time with at the U.S. open. That guy knows a lot about tennis. Played in college and incredible. He gave me a free education. It was a delight. So Ben for Ferguson joins Megan at 6:00 clock tonight. Republican Matt Gorman, Democrat Jaime Moore will join me. We'll have all the day's news, including more on the Kamala Harris book because I predict we'll see some action on that. And as always, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. We'd love to have you be able to listen if you're not able to join us on YouTube or here on the two way platform. Dan, anything you got going on tonight?

[Dan Moore]

Nope. Watching all the two way stuff.

[Mark Halpern]

I will say in addition to doing smart Kanish, I'm getting a lot of inquiries about whether I'm available to do TV hits today because as some of you know, I previously predicted based on reporting that if Kamala Harris took a shot at Team Biden, Team Biden would fire back. Would fire back. So I'm available to comment on that.

[Dan Moore]

But will that, will that reporting or spidey sense? Will that, will shots be fired today?

[Mark Halpern]

I, I believe there'll be some preliminary shots today, but the big guns are going to consider their options until they see the full book. Book. Oh, that's, yeah.

[Sean]

Oh, book.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Sean]

I think this could be very interesting in terms of book sales.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, the whole thing. Anyway, thank you all for being part of the two way community. We did not have perfect adherence to the rules of the road, but they were good enough for me to have my faith in America restored. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Have a good day. We'll see you in 23 hours. I'll see you.

[Sean]

As Elvis said. Thank you very much.

[Mark Halpern]

Thank you very much. Johnny Cash, I think, said that, didn't he?

[Sean]

Well, just Elvis is the word of the day.

[Mark Halpern]

All right, see you in Smerconish. I'm leaving the building. Goodbye. Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change your receipt did.

[Dan Moore]

The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for Joe. $5 only at McDonald's for a limited time.

[David Griffiths]

Prices and participation may vary.