Trump Doubles Down on Rounding Up "Hardened Criminals" in Minnesota as 700 Federal Officers Depart

Summary

The Morning Meeting – Episode Summary

Podcast: The Morning Meeting
Host: 2WAY (Mark Halperin, Kevin, Larry)
Episode: Trump Doubles Down on Rounding Up "Hardened Criminals" in Minnesota as 700 Federal Officers Depart
Date: February 5, 2026

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Overview

This episode revolves around major national and political news, focusing on evolving law enforcement approaches in Minnesota, ongoing border and ICE disputes at the federal level, negotiations on Ukraine/Russia and Iran, the Washington Post’s newsroom shakeup, and Kamala Harris's anticlimactic “big announcement.” The panel, led by Mark Halperin with regulars Kevin and Larry, analyzes the narratives dominating media and politics, debating policy, strategy, and optics, with notable quotable banter.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

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1. Minnesota Drawdown: Federal Police Presence and ICE (11:07–14:10)

• Context: Trump announced a reduction of federal officers in Minnesota after pressure and negotiations. The approach is shifting towards less confrontational law enforcement.
• Local and National Reactions:
  • President and Governor Walz took conciliatory tones; local mayors and Democrats in Minnesota were more divided.
  • Larry suggests Senator Klobuchar quietly influenced this for stability in her state, “There are normies in Minnesota who just want to get to work without having to deal with blockades in their streets and who don’t like this kind of chaos... The way you end it is to work with the administration and really bring the results that Homan announced yesterday…” (12:26)
• Big Picture: Both Kevin and Larry agree hopes hinge on no spark moments causing public uproar (“avoid any more, you know, optically challenging situations... Hopefully we’ll continue to draw down and cooler heads will prevail.” - Kevin, 11:47)

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2. ICE Funding, Immigration Policy, and Federal Shutdown Politics (13:07–17:47)

• Democratic Strategy:
  • Senate and House Dems propose a ten-point ICE reform plan: targeted enforcement, requiring ID for law enforcement, banning masks, no racial profiling, body cameras, no paramilitary police, and protection for sensitive locations (e.g., polling sites).
  • Schumer is “not negotiable” on many of these reforms (14:10).
• Republican/Conservative Pushback:
  • Larry presses on the Democrats’ insistence for keeping ICE away from polling places, suggesting possible ulterior motives regarding noncitizen voting.
  • Mark counters: Even citizens living with undocumented people could worry about voting if ICE is present.
  • Larry highlights a ProPublica report: “Three million have been deported. Do you know how many citizens have been detained, not arrested? 170.” (16:55)
• Government Shutdown Looms:
  • No clear deal in sight; potential for CR (Continuing Resolution) extensions. “Congress only operates on deadlines and oftentimes they blow past those anyway.” (Kevin, 18:41)
  • Democrats might use a partial shutdown if it is seen as politically advantageous.

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3. National Prayer Breakfast and Trump’s Remarks (19:28–20:05)

• Mark quizzes the team: Which president said, “I’ve done more for religion than any other president. I don’t really know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat…” Answer: Trump, that morning.
• Again, Trump breaks tradition at a supposedly bipartisan event, making it a partisan stage.

  “Of course, this is not the first time the president has broken tradition at the National Prayer Breakfast, which is supposed to be a bipartisan, nonpartisan, unifying event.” – Mark (20:05)

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4. Ukraine–Russia Peace Talks and Iran Diplomacy (20:41–25:38)

• Little media coverage despite the magnitude.
• U.S. side (Witkoff and Kushner) is negotiating with Russia’s third-tier military/intelligence officer—“Until there’s actual buy in from anyone in leadership in Russia, we’re not going to see [progress].” (Kevin, 21:39)
• Some hope stemming from the prisoner swap, but skepticism reigns about meaningful peace.
• Iran Talks:
  • Iranians pushed to only discuss the nuclear program; “the US seems to have successfully pushed back… no, we need to cover terrorism, we need to cover missile technology.” (Mark, 23:01)
  • Both Larry and Kevin agree: The Iranian regime faces more domestic than external pressure. “We’re in lockstep about this in terms of taking out the ayatollah and toppling this regime.” (Kevin, 24:08)
• Witkoff’s diplomatic week (meeting Netanyahu, Russia/Ukraine, and Iran) noted as unprecedented for a relatively unknown figure three years ago.

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5. Redistricting and Electoral Outcomes (26:55–28:10)

• New Supreme Court decisions leave various state maps unchanged.
• General consensus is upcoming redistricting changes are a “wash,” with minor GOP gains possible—“I’ll say three plus GOP, because I’m thinking Florida is going to get aggressive on this.” (Larry, 27:45)

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6. Kamala Harris’s “Big Announcement” and Future Relevance (29:26–35:12)

• A much-hyped announcement teased with mystery and high expectations. Actual reveal: Kamala HQ is now “headquarters”—a new online hub for progressives to connect, share, and organize, partnering with People for the American Way.
• Underwhelming video and launch:

  “Still, I’m overwhelmed by how relatable she is and how authentic she was in that video.” – Larry (31:53, dry sarcasm)

  • Best case: “She could build a little bit of a juggernaut, like a little miniature version of Organizing for America.” – Larry (32:29)
  • More likely: A means to keep her relevant, potentially siphoning money/attention from state Dem parties (Kevin, 34:38).
• Notable Moment:
  “The excitement from right wing folks about this pending announcement will outshadow some of the excitement on my side.” – Kevin (34:17)
• Discussion of her speaking fees and future book tour.

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7. Gavin Newsom and Wes Moore: Book Tours and Political Prospects (35:56–42:59)

• Newsom’s strategic, “red state”-heavy book tour launch analyzed as a clever move.
• Growing scrutiny for Maryland Governor Wes Moore: Two damaging, well-documented Washington Free Beacon stories allege resume exaggerations and biographical embellishments.

  “These stories are very carefully and well reported…this is phenomenally dangerous for him.” – Mark (42:35)

• Uncertainty mounts for Moore’s long-term presidential prospects.

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8. Washington Post Layoffs & The State of Journalism (43:54–47:01)

• Major cutbacks decimate reporting teams, international coverage, and sports.
• Larry is blunt:

  "It's not a serious blow to journalism because this is the reality most of us have been living with...what will the Washington Post be? Ironically, it'll look a lot like Politico, but probably not as good covering Washington and politics." (44:20)

• Mark criticizes the Post for lacking business model focus, over-bloated with underperformers: “Get in the game and think about how to make a product that people want.” (45:39)
• Larry’s transition:

  “Why didn’t the Washington Post do this coverage of Wes Moore? …You understand what’s wrong with the Washington Post.” (46:18)

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9. SAVE Act & Voter ID Debate (49:08–55:07)

• Listener (Chad) Q&A: Explores both sides of the voter ID/SAVE Act arguments.
• Democratic Argument:
  Kevin points out that obstacles (lack of documentation, older/rural populations) are sometimes cited, but “it’s an 80/20 issue”—the vast majority of the public favor voter ID (50:02).
• GOP Angle:
  Larry: “Shouldn’t we have to jump through extraordinary hoops to vote because we cherish the vote so much?” (52:40)
• Mark urges media to focus on actual facts rather than rhetoric, e.g., Biden’s “Jim Crow 2.0” claims.

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10. Listener Q&A and Northern NJ Politics (58:35–62:22)

• Andrew from Jersey: Notes that Democrats in Jersey (Mikey Sherrill special) run purely on anti-Trump platforms—no policy proposals.
• Kevin: That’ll keep until after primaries—general election messaging will need substance (“you can't just be anti Trump. Right. That only gets you so far.” 61:21)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Minnesota Federal Officer Withdrawal (12:26, Larry):
  “There are normies in Minnesota who just want to get to work without having to deal with blockades in their streets and who don’t like this kind of chaos on the streets. And they don’t care who’s responsible. They just want it to end.”

• On ICE Enforcement Reforms (14:10, Schumer/Mark):
  “We put together some simple common sense proposals… They have three basic objectives. One is to end these roving patrols. You can’t just pick someone up on the street, not and put him in a dark prison without any kind of…”

• On the Redistricting Outcome (27:45, Larry):
  “I’ll say three plus GOP, because I’m thinking Florida is going to get aggressive…”

• On Kamala Harris Announcement (31:53, Larry, Sarcastic):
  “Still, I’m overwhelmed by how relatable she is and how authentic she was in that video.”

• On Washington Post Layoffs (44:20, Larry):
  “It’s not a serious blow to journalism because this is the reality most of us have been living with..."

• On the Value of Serious Reporting (46:18, Larry):
  “Why didn’t the Washington Post do this coverage of Wes Moore?...You understand what’s wrong with the Washington Post.”

• On Voter ID (52:40, Larry):
  “Shouldn’t we have to jump through extraordinary hoops to vote, because we cherish the vote so much?"

• On Democratic Anti-Trump Messaging (61:21, Kevin):
  “You can’t just be anti-Trump. Right. That only gets you so far, especially with TDS out there and stuff like that. You actually got to be pro something.”

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Key Timestamps

• Minnesota drawdown discussion: 11:07–14:10
• ICE funding/government shutdown: 13:07–17:47
• National Prayer Breakfast/Trump quote: 19:28–20:05
• Ukraine, Russia, Iran negotiations: 20:41–25:38
• Redistricting: 26:55–28:10
• Kamala Harris HQ reveal: 29:26–35:12
• Gavin Newsom/Wes Moore: 35:56–42:59
• Washington Post layoffs: 43:54–47:01
• SAVE Act, voter ID debate: 49:08–55:07
• Listener Q&A/NJ politics: 58:35–62:22

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Tone & Style

• Spirited, irreverent, candid, political-insider banter.
• Mark Halperin leads with forward-looking context and challenges panelists’ assumptions.
• Kevin provides centrist-Dem perspective; Larry with a conservative edge and sharp humor.
• Openly critical discussion of media, with a running awareness of news as both product and process.

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Conclusion

This episode is a brisk tour through the news cycle, mixing informed punditry, skepticism, and sharp wit. Listeners hear genuine insights into the politics and media strategy shaping the headlines, along with true behind-the-scenes flavor you can’t get on typical news programs. The panel lays bare not just what’s happening, but how these stories are being constructed—and battled over—in real time.

Transcript

[Larry]

This is it. The world as you know it is over. Completely done. It's not about to be over. It's over.

[Mark]

Some of the scientists who helped build AI are now sounding the alarm.

[Andrew]

I was selling AI as a great.

[Larry]

Thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong.

[Andrew]

There's a longer term existential threat that.

[Mark]

Will arise when we create digital beings that that are more intelligent than ourselves.

[Andrew]

We have no idea whether we can stay in control.

[Mark]

While others say that AI will usher in unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that it's going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make.

[Larry]

This really will be a world of abundance.

[Mark]

And among these fears and these fantasies, we seek the story of our future. Listen to the last invention on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[James Patterson]

I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternal grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon, and this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacey Abrams.

[Mark]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

BJ Novak.

[Kevin]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad. And Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows, Maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, Grandma, for turning me into a hopeless, obsessive compulsive. Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Mark]

Morning, everybody. Welcome to the morning meeting. Kevin and Larry are here, I am here. You are here. And as we say on Romp Room, I can see John and I can see Andrew, and I can see Haley. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for being part of the morning meeting based on the Network News Division's morning meetings. Delighted to have you here as we run through the day, as we come on the air live at 9am Eastern Time this morning, the President United States is speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event of great fellowship and merriment, which Donald Trump treats like a Don Rickles roast. So we'll monitor that for you and we'll bring you any interesting things or newsy things he says there. The President did a long interview yesterday with NBC. The Vice President did two interviews, a very long and meaty good interview with Megyn Kelly, and then another one, also very interesting with the Daily Mail. So there's lots to chew on from those but most of our chewing as we normally chew here is forward looking because a lot is occurring today and a lot that we want to project forward. So, Larry, you've seen our roster of stories. Forget we always say news is what's important and what's interesting. A lot of important stories. Of the stories on our agenda, which one most interests you?

[Larry]

The most interesting story of the day didn't make our agenda. Yeah, what's that the Shamwow guy is running for?

[Kevin]

You know what he was going to say. I know he's been all over the Shamwow since last night.

[Larry]

That's why I'm wearing a tie. I want to interview for a job on his comms team. Let's go.

[Mark]

All right, we'll talk about that if we have time. Today, Larry's obsessed with the house candidate. Kevin. Of the stuff on our roster, what's most interesting to you?

[Kevin]

Always Ukraine, Russia, and the fact that Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner are just, just all over the place. I don't know how they're doing it back and forth, but they just wrapped in Abu Dhabi. Now they're off to Oman.

[Mark]

It's an incredible, it's an incredible story what those guys are doing. I cannot believe how undercovered it is. And I agree. That's interesting. I may write something about that today, but to me, the thing I'm most interested in is the Kamala Harris announcement. She teased yesterday a big announcement and now we know what it is. And I don't know if, if there's already a picture in the dictionary under the word anti climax, but it might, might have a new one. We'll talk to you about that.

[Kevin]

I'm old. I'm old enough to remember when we were, we were promised Beyonce at the convention and all we got was Leon Panetta. Exactly.

[Mark]

Well then, and then she, she did an event with Beyonce and Beyonce didn't sing lady. The lady's an expert in. In the. In anti climax. The national prayer break is now being covered live on Ms. Now, cnn, Fox News Channel and the BBC all taking it live. But we will monitor it because, well, you can see there it is. That's everywhere. Not on ms, not on cnbc, but everywhere else. And my quad split has Beeb. Okay, let me run through the daybook.

[Larry]

Kamala Harris and Anticlimax two times now and I have not made a Willie Brown joke and I want a freaking medal.

[Mark]

I know you're a model of self constraint.

[Kevin]

I'm not touching that. Literally.

[Mark]

If you want to be in on the conversation. And why wouldn't you be? After Larry's welcoming remarks? Please raise your hand if you're here on the platform, if you're watching on X or YouTube. We had Mayor de Blasio on two way tonight last night. He said it's a great show. It's so interesting. He loves being on. He said, but man, there's a lot of smack in the chat. I don't read the chat, so I couldn't confirm that factually. But intuitively I know you people come on this platform and with this you must be fans of irony and paradox because this platform is not about attacking each other and personal negativity. It's about spirited debate. All voices under one roof. And yet you continue to put smack in the chat, making some of our.

[Kevin]

Where was de Blasio joining? He looked like he was like in.

[Mark]

Some kind of futuristic terminal or something like that. He was. He was at the opposite of futuristic. He was at the. At amenity Free Dallas Fort Worth Airport. I mean there's vending machines. That's. That's what.

[Kevin]

That's about it.

[Mark]

Anyway, don't put smack in the chat. If you're watching on extra YouTube, just enjoy the conversation. Maybe put it in some Atta boys, some Atta girls, some. I didn't know that or. Larry's representing a perspective I strongly disagree with, but I'm glad to have had the opportunity to learn from him. Stuff like that. Not, you know, Larry. Larry's uglier than a armadillo. And after plastic surgery, I don't know, don't put in Kevin dresses like a, like a hobo. Don't put stuff like that. And those are hypothetical examples. They have nothing to do with reality.

[Larry]

They flowed pretty easily there.

[Mark]

They did right there.

[Larry]

Some penis.

[Mark]

They sounded remarkably top of mind, I will admit. All right, the day book the present right now at the prayer breakfast and okay, he started at about 8:40 or a little later than that. Kevin, let's play some Vegas odds here. When will the president stop speaking at the prayer breakfast?

[Kevin]

Easter time, 10:00am he's got another 55 minutes to go.

[Mark]

10:00Am Larry?

[Larry]

No, I'll give it 9:35.

[Mark]

I'm going 9:25. And that's.

[Kevin]

You think he's going to wrap up after half an hour?

[Mark]

I did.

[Larry]

I do.

[Mark]

I'm taking the under. Under intelligence briefing at closed press in the Oval at 11. At 7 tonight, he makes a announcement in the South Court Auditorium. No one I know knows what that announcement is. 7 o' clock tonight. Could be could be announcing world peace, could be announcing a new Trump commemorative stamp. We don't know. Caroline Levitt briefs it too. Okay, that's the president and the White House schedule. The vice president and his family are off for about a week in Europe overseas and starting in Europe at the Olympics. Here's some video of them arriving today in Milan, one of my favorite cities in all of Italy, Milan. There they are getting off Air Force Two and he's already talked about the athletes. It should be a robust week. And of course, the vice president has a storied history with the Europeans. He's told them to grow up economically, culturally, militarily. So we'll see how they're received.

[Kevin]

Scott, I think we should travel just to note, I think we should travel with those honor guards dressed like that for any POTUS v potus. Agree. Look at those guys.

[Mark]

I also think the morning meeting should have been the designated pool for this trip. But alas, we are not. Scott Besson, after a very spirited day with some House members, gets a chance to talk at the Senate side today. The banking committee at 10 o'.

[Larry]

Clock.

[Mark]

Judiciary is marking up a bill in the Senate side that would make it a federal crime to take unauthorized videos of US Military installations. Seems like some First Amendment issues there, but we'll see. And of course the Hill is dominated by seeing if they can find a way out on the ice matter. We'll talk about that in a moment. Special election in Jersey today to fill Mikey Sherrill's seat. About eight Democrats running the primary to become the de facto next member of Congress. CPAC Narco Terrorism Summit 10:00am in Washington today a lot of members of Congress speaking there. As Kevin said before Witkoff and Kushner two day Ukraine Russia meeting the low level of the Russian participants in the conversations I I, I find insulting to the process. I don't know why the Russians sent they sent like you know, fourth level people, military folks to negotiate. Okay, that is your day book the daybook brought to you by no one but the show brought to you by a couple folks. Let me get a few sponsor words in and then we'll go right into it with Larry and Kevin. First today is our friends from lean lean.com help you lose weight and healthy way with a doctor developed non prescription oral supplement not an injection Science behind it is impressive allows you to maintain healthy blood sugar control appetite and cravings burn fat by converting it to energy. All the products on lean.com intended to help you lose weight without weight cycling losing a lot of weight and gaining it back. If you do that, it's very unhealthy. Lean is meant to help you do lose weight a meaningful and safe way. Go to takelean.com use the promo code 2WMM to take 20% off everything on the site. If you're looking for a way to lose weight this way, give this a try. Takelean.com promo code 2 WMM for 20% off. Not a juice cleanse, not raw food diet. Something that will allow you to lose weight a healthy way, not weight cycle. Again, takelean.com, promo code two WMM.

[James Patterson]

I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternal grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon. And this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacy Abrams.

[Mark]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

BJ Novak.

[Kevin]

Yay.

[James Patterson]

Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad. And Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows? Maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, Grandma, for turning me into a hopeless, obsessive, compulsive. Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Mark]

All right, gentlemen, I want to start with Minnesota. We saw Homan yesterday. We saw the present, very conciliatory in his interview with NBC saying, you know, could we maybe do this in a softer way, Claimed it was his idea to bring some folks out. The governor of Minnesota, Mr. Waltz, relatively conciliatory as well in saying, you know, good start, you know, glad to see it. The mayor less conciliatory, and some state legislators, Democrats, less conciliatory. Kevin, are we headed towards inexorably towards a ramp down in Minnesota or. Or is it's going to stay fraught on the ground?

[Kevin]

I think we are, as long as we avoid any more, you know, optically challenging situations. Right. Where if protesters are staying out of the face of those folks, understanding that there's somewhat of an olive branch that's being extended with this drawdown. Mark, you mentioned a few, you know, state lawmakers saying, well, you know, there's still 2300 Gestapo on the streets, that's obviously not helpful. So I think if we avoid any confrontation, situations which capture the imagination, the American people, obviously, with what we saw with Freddie and Rachel.

[Mark]

Good.

[Kevin]

Then hopefully we'll continue to draw down and cooler heads will prevail.

[Mark]

Larry. Peace, love and understanding or froth.

[Kevin]

Dave.

[Larry]

So, and I think, you know, I think Klobuchar had something to do with this. I know it's not getting reported right now, but if you think about it, she did not want to run for election in this climate. This is not good for her. It's not for good, for stability. There are normies in Minnesota who just want to get to work without having to deal with blockades in their streets and who don't like this kind of chaos on the streets. And they don't care who's responsible. They just want it to end. And the way you end it is to work with the administration and really bring the results that Homan announced yesterday, which is huge number of local law enforcement now working with ice. That means they can draw down their numbers. They can not be on the streets apprehending people. They can deal with it in the jailhouse. Everybody walks away saving some level of face and moving on to the next fight.

[Mark]

Okay, I agree with both of you. More complicated is what's gonna happen with ICE funding. Okay. Yesterday, Schumer, Schumer and Jefferies, who had been a little bit at odds on strategy, put out a 10 point plan. We'll put that up for you. Which, you know, some of this, most of the stuff, as Senator Schumer said on Morning Joe this morning, is stuff that law enforcement does everywhere. It's not. These aren't, these aren't like cuckoo things. 108, please. Targeted enforcement, not roaming around. Don't wear masks. Require ID for law enforcement. Protect sensitive locations. That one's going to be controversial. A lot of these are with Republicans. No racial profiling. Next, uphold use of force standards. Ensure state and local coordination and oversight. Build safeguards into the system. Body cameras, no paramilitary police. Senator Schumer on Morning Joe this morning talked about the fact that this is, these are all things Democrats are going to insist. He didn't say non negotiable, but that was the tone. 118, please.

[Larry]

We have put together House Democrats, Senate Democrats. We're united from one end of our party to the other. And we put together some simple common sense proposals that are done every day that are used by police forces and local sheriffs everywhere. They have three basic objectives. One is to end these roving patrols. You can't just pick someone up on the street, not and put him in a dark prison without any kind of.

[Mark]

He runs through some of these. The Republicans are saying, well, maybe we'll do Some of these, but some of these are non starters. They're also talking about trying to add the SAFE act to anything. They're also talking about voter ID and other ways that Senator Schumer continues to call Jim Crow on steroids and that the American people, while the poll suggests voter ID is popular, that it won't be once Senator Schumer explains the whole thing to them. And he gave the example of a woman who gets married and changes her name and therefore can't vote because she doesn't have an updated id. So now Republicans are talking about a CR for some length of time. And I don't think we know how this is going to end because it's still not clear to me what Democrats bottom line is, Larry, if the next. Let's just get to the next step. If the next step is Republicans say CR for a week, two weeks, three weeks, two months, will Democrats be willing to extend the deadline or will they just say no, you're shutting the part of the government down over this fight.

[Larry]

If they think they have a political advantage keeping the government partially shut down, they'll go ahead and double down. It's the only thing that they've got. And I think that they still think that they had some sort of benefit from the last shutdown that didn't really do much, but it may have helped them in the election in November. So if they see the benefit, they, they'll continue to play politics. By the way, did you notice when you said the keeping ICE activities from sensitive places, did you see one of those places was polling places? Kevin, why would Democrats want to make sure that there's no immigration enforcement around where people vote? Only citizens vote.

[Mark]

Because there could be a citizen. I'll answer that.

[Kevin]

You know, it could be a citizen.

[Mark]

Who knows people who are illegal and lives with them and says, well, I don't want to go vote because if they pick me up and then they go back to my house, my roommates could be.

[Larry]

Do you know how many citizens have been detained in the first year of these ICE activities? In 2025, ProPublica did a whole research study on this. Three million have been deported. Do you know how many citizens have been detained, not arrested?

[Mark]

Too many. Too many, really?

[Larry]

Wait, what do you mean too many?

[Mark]

You don't know how many it is? One would be too many.

[Larry]

Mark, that's illogical. You know that law enforcement has the right to detain an innocent person if there's reasonable suspicion that they've broken the law?

[Mark]

Of course. But there shouldn't be A system that.

[Larry]

Happens all the time.

[Mark]

All right. Larry how many?

[Larry]

170.

[Mark]

170 Too many.

[Larry]

Kevin Three per state that so we can't have them near polling places. All right. KEVIN all right.

[Kevin]

That's about 170 is the number of people that have fraudulently elected in the last year, voted in the last 30 years. Exactly.

[Mark]

Exactly. KEVIN I'm, I'm I've mixed feel I have mixed feelings about this stuff. But but I'm not certainly not certainly not with Larry on these matters entirely. KEVIN what's your party going to do? Because there's clearly going to there's not going to be a deal in time. And parenthetically on the last shutdown, the health care negotiations now are said what said to be dead. So so we are just going to have the issue. There's not going to be a deal. KEVIN what will your party do when when when the deadline's coming and there's no deal? Will they agree to a deal? I mean an extension of the of the cross or will they pick the fight then?

[Kevin]

I think they're going to agree to an extension. To your point, Mark, you know, I was interested to see what Jean Shaheen, retiring senator, she was one of the eight that helped in the government shutdown last fall. She said all options are on the table in terms of a short extension. I think cooler heads will prevail, not to use that term again with the more moderate folks that actually want to get something done on this, realizing that they just started negotiating on this yesterday. That letter from Schumer and Jefferies came out just yesterday. So the starting point, you know, they're starting late in the process and an appropriations process tacking on these kind of political issues and just have a very narrow Runway till the 13th. So I would not be surprised. Thune has floated a year long CR extension to work through this. I doubt that's going to happen. But something in the short term, two to three weeks because again, Congress only operates on deadlines and oftentimes they blow past those anyway. Yeah, especially when it comes to funding.

[Mark]

Will the Democratic base and the liberals in Congress accept a deal to do another CR will they say Schumer's caving in?

[Kevin]

It all depends the contours of that deal, I think.

[Mark]

You know, what if it's just an extension of the CR for a week.

[Kevin]

Or two, as long as they're negotiating in good faith, I think they give them cover because again, bearing another scene on the streets of Minneapolis that really forced the Democrats hand on this I don't think we'll see that happen. But, you know, and obviously you got the administrator, you know, the president said in that, in that interview from the Oval, as you said, you know, that these tactics are a little, you know, need a little softer touch.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

If we can claim those kind of optical victories as Democrats with this administration, then I think we'll be in a better place.

[Mark]

National Prayer Breakfast remarks from the president continue. CNN's Cut Away, BBC's Cut Away, Ms. Now. And Fox continue to cover. Here's a trivia question which may or may not be related to the National Prayer Breakfast this morning. Which American president. There have been 47. Which American president said this? I've done more for religion than any other president. I don't know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don't. Was it A, Thomas Jefferson, B, Abraham Lincoln, or C, Donald Trump this morning? Kevin?

[Kevin]

I think it was, you know, I think Mary Todd sent him out in a feisty mood and I'm going with B on that.

[Mark]

All right, it's C. It's C. Donald Trump. I've done more for religion than any other president. I don't really know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don't. Of course, this is not the first time the president has broken tradition at the National Prayer Breakfast, which is supposed to be a bipartisan, nonpartisan, unifying event. And anyway. All right, Russia, Ukraine again. Second day of talks between Witkoff, Kushner and delegations from the Russians and the Ukrainian. The two issues remain broadly what security guarantees the Russians will accept and the Ukrainians will insist on. And then territory. Here's the headline from the New York Times, one of the few news organizations I read this morning that covered this biggest story in the world that doesn't involve China directly. Russia, Ukraine, peace talks stretch into second day. Negotiators pressed on with their second day. Little has been made public so far other than an announcement of planned exchange of prisoners of war and Russian, Ukrainian statements that progress is being made. Mr. Witkoff also tweeted a very positive readout. Second day meetings there. And then tomorrow, if they don't get canceled again, they're back on Iranian talks with Witkoff and Kushner. Roadshow. Kevin, same thing I ask pretty much every day. Is this encouraging to you that these meetings everybody say are going well? Are we? Is it possible we're on the precipice of a deal?

[Kevin]

I still doubt it. And mark you, you made a really important point. That's Flown under the radar. You've got Zelensky's chief of staff at the table for the Ukrainians, direct line to the President and the parliament. And you've got third tier military intelligence officers on the Russian side. Right. So until there's third tier is generous.

[Mark]

I don't know if these guys have met Putin.

[Kevin]

Yeah. Until there's actual buy in from anyone in leadership in Russia, we're not going to see it. And I think it's just stalling for time and again you got these platitudes great, that they're exchanging prisoners. 314 announced as part of this. But until Russia is actually taking it seriously with the people in that room, then you're not going to see any actual breakthrough.

[Mark]

I think, Larry, why would Witkoff even go to this thing without such an insult? For him to go from negotiating with Putin to negotiating to deal with these low level military.

[Larry]

Well, as low level as they are, they did have the authority to agree to the prisoner swap. So I mean there is that and that there is something hopeful about that. And actually Rubio, who is, you know, not super sort of Pollyanna about these things, he actually sounded a little more positive and optimistic yesterday than I've heard him in a while.

[Mark]

Yeah. Okay.

[Kevin]

Because he's going to the Olympics. You know, he's in a good mood.

[Mark]

He is with his friend jd. We're speculating exactly. We don't know on Iran yesterday that Axios reported the clocks were off. I checked on in and I was told now they're probably back on. And then he reported, yeah, they're back on. The Iranians had demands about. Here's the New York Times also covering this. Unlike most organizations, US and Iran to hold talks in Oman on Friday. She used to be married to David Bowie. Now she's hosting the little joke there.

[Kevin]

Oman.

[Mark]

Iman.

[Kevin]

Yeah, that's good.

[Mark]

Thank you. Here's my question. The Iranians demanded that the talks not cover anything but the nuclear programs. And there seems the US seems to have successfully pushed back in saying, no, we need to cover terrorism, we need to cover missile technology. What's going on with the Iranians? Are they worried that the US Is going to attack and therefore they had to cave on this? Like, what do you think? You both are Tehran experts. Larry, what's going on?

[Larry]

Yeah, hardly. I still am confused about all of this because the nuclear program negotiations should be really simple. If you try to do it again, we're going to bomb you again. Okay. That's how this works. So then the conversation is about human rights and about letting people, you know, have some modicum of freedom in the country. Iran's not going to negotiate that away. I mean, this so so what are we doing here exactly? We're going to let them experiment with uranium in exchange for letting people protest that that KEVIN, I'm confused about this and I try to be supportive of the administration.

[Mark]

Kevin, are you as hawkish on Iran as Larry and a lot of concerns.

[Kevin]

I mean, Larry and I and we've had these conversations before, we're in lockstep about this in terms of taking out the ayatollah and toppling this regime. I think more importantly to the international pressure that the regime is facing, the domestic pressure. And I would say, you know, they make this announcement that they only want to talk about nukes and they want to move it from Turkey to Oman and the Iranian currency collapses even farther, right? So I think the pressures at home are what motivated them to agree to okay, well, widen the talks a little bit because this regime is on a knife's edge right now, especially on the domestic front. And if we can encourage that and take advantage of that and not just buy them more time, which these negotiations may do, I think that's the direction that we're seeing. But again, we'll see what comes out of the any kind of telegraphing at it today.

[Larry]

I missed it. Who who is who's representing the US in these talks? Is this also Witkoff right now? Yes.

[Mark]

I'm in the midst of reporting out of piece. Witkoff met with Netanyahu on Tuesday, then now he's doing to talk Gaza, too. Now he's doing Russia, Ukraine, and then tomorrow he's doing Iran. I swear, in the in the history of the United States, the there's never been a diplomatic week by this by one guy who we hadn't heard of three years ago. It's an incredible story.

[Kevin]

Ms. Now is and my friend Rick Grinnell is on the sidelines saying, what the heck, you know, they're closing down my center. Send me, put me in coach.

[Mark]

Exactly. Rick's going to be looking for work, if I may real fast.

[Larry]

I had Ambassador Grinnell on my radio show yesterday and I asked him and I said, are you going to be overseeing this renovation? There was a long pause. He said, that remains to be seen, but it might not be. We might have somebody who has that specific skill set. So Ambassador Grinnell might be back on.

[Mark]

The fence and back on this.

[Kevin]

Get him put him in put him in coach. Get him out there anyway.

[Mark]

Ms. Now, as you see is off the prayer breakfast. It's President is still speaking and I've only got two minutes to be ripe. And the body language suggests he settled in. So those of you who said 10 o' clock may be correct. Anyway, one more thing on Iran, does anybody have any follow up on the reporting I've been seeing on X all morning that the revolutionary guard seized two Gulf vessels carrying over 1 million liters of smuggled fuel and detained 15 crew members? Michael, do you know anything about that? Like what country were those two vessels?

[Kevin]

Yeah. What was the flag of those ships, I wonder?

[Mark]

That seems like a. Kind of a big story, but. But I haven't seen it on cable and I've just seen it on X. I haven't seen it anywhere else. Michael, you'll chime in if you see anything there.

[Kevin]

There was reporting that the US Was involved with the US flagship providing some cover in the Gulf.

[Mark]

But that seems two days ago. Yeah. Yes, but that would seem to be playing with the, with the war. I mean, the peace talks.

[Larry]

Okay, Lincoln right there. That's not.

[Mark]

Yes, exactly. Seems provocative. We're going to do some politics and then talk about the Washington Post. Then to your questions. Raise your hand if you want in on the conversation. Redistricting. Supreme Court's letting the California map stand. Republicans in Texas are now worried that the five seats they redistricted, they may not win them all. Virginia's still doing stuff. Florida is still doing stuff. Net. Net. Maryland, leaving aside whether the Supreme Court overturns the Voting Rights act, which brings a whole bunch of other seats potentially in play. Net. Net. Just give me your back of the envelope number. How many seats when the redistricting is all done will be plus for the. Or does he think it's an absolute wash? Kevin, what's it going to be? Plus what? For which side?

[Kevin]

I think it's an absolute wash.

[Mark]

Right.

[Kevin]

And again, we'll see what Florida does in April with their special session. But they already control 20 of the 28 seats. Yeah. To begin with. So.

[Mark]

Yeah. Larry, what's.

[Larry]

That's a big set aside on the, on the Louisiana case, because that could be up to 19 seats. Setting that aside.

[Mark]

No, not. I'll say. Maybe you mean if the Voting Rights act happens.

[Larry]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Mark]

It is a big. It is a big set aside. Yes.

[Larry]

I'll say three plus gop, because I count. I'm thinking Florida is going to get aggressive on this. So plus three for gop.

[Mark]

I'm plus.

[Kevin]

Mitchell in the chat agrees with you right there. Plus three for the gop.

[Mark]

I'm plus two because, because the Texas ones, I'm not counting as, as them winning them because I don't think they're going to win all five. Right. So you got, you got to decide how you're counting those seats.

[Larry]

They redistrict is the nominee for the Senate. I think that's going to do quite a bit for turnout. So let's.

[Mark]

Yes, everybody.

[Kevin]

My, my, my prayer breakfast this morning involves me praying that she is not the nominee for the Democratic. Everybody.

[Mark]

Everybody but Fox is off, but the president continues at the prayer breakfast.

[Larry]

Okay, five is looking good.

[Mark]

It's looking okay. Here's another word from a sponsor, Cozy Earth. I've been telling you all week about the bamboo pajama set. Two for one deal. Go to cozyearth.com promo code 2 WMM BOGO. B O G O to get a second pair of the pajamas. Free show extra little extra love this Valentine's Day. However, we also talk here about the bubble cuddle blanket. And one of you, I won't say who because I didn't get permission. One of you keeps sending me photos of the puppies with the bubble cuddle blanket. My son loves the bubble cuddle blanket. Kids love it, but pets do, too. Put these pictures up. Buy one for your pet. I'm telling you, you've never had a blanket like this. It's the most comfortable blanket you've ever seen. My son wants to take it on our vacations. It's a big, heavy blanket, very warm. I'm not sure we're going to need, like, its own seat on the airplane. Bubble cuddle blanket.

[Kevin]

Where does the, where does the dog start and the blanket end? Right there.

[Chad]

There.

[Mark]

It's very well matched. If you're watching, if you're listening to the podcast version, you're missing Magic puppy snuggling the bubble cuddle blanket. And it's, Kevin pointed out, they're virtually, it's like the ultimate camouflage. Anyway, the pajama set is available now. Go to cozyeart.com use the promo code 2WMM Bogo to get 2 for one of the pajamas. Buy yourself a bubble cuddle blanket and anything else you see on there that you like. All right. Kamala Harris. Last night, the website that she used during the campaign, which had been dormant for over a year, suddenly teased a big announcement today for Kamala Harris. And the keyword that they were touting was headquarters. And everybody in politics was saying, well, what's this going to be Lots of speculation. Kevin did a brilliant thing in ChatGPT and asked for options and percentages, odds. It was great. And the leading speculation for folks in my world was she's going to run for governor. Because if she ran for governor now, she could probably waltz in because the field is so weak. No one's really gelling as a frontrunner. So people thought she's going to announce early for president, form some sort of super pac, whatever. So, ladies and gentlemen, with that buildup of possibilities for the woman who was the Democratic nominee for president 25 minutes ago, unlimited potential, touted as a future president for many, many years, here's the big announcement made early this morning for former Vice president Kamala Harris.

[Kevin]

Madam Vice President, what's going on with Kamala hq? Well, I'm so glad you asked.

[Mark]

I have good news. So Kamala HQ is turning into headquarters, and it's where you can go online to get basically the latest of what's.

[Kevin]

Going on and also to meet and.

[Mark]

Revisit with some of our great courageous leaders, be they elected leaders, community leaders, civic leaders, faith leaders, young leaders. I'm really excited about it. So stay engaged and I'll see you out there. Thank you. It involves a partnership with the great group People for the American Way, a powerhouse of the left 40 years ago, when Norman Lear started it. Less so lately. Larry. What? You know, it sounds to me it's going to be kind of like an underfunded Huffington Post. But best case for the things she believes in for her own political career. Larry, best case. What could this be like? What is this the answer to?

[Larry]

Still, I'm overwhelmed by how relatable she is and how authentic she was in that video. Best case scenario, this becomes sort of a larger platform where she can. Listen. If you're going to participate in headquarters, my guess is that they're going to get your name, your information, all the data that all of these groups want to activate you, get money from you, and get you out voting. So, theoretically, if it does have a lot of engagement and a lot of young people who want to use social media to be a part of a progressive movement, she could build a little bit of a juggernaut, like a little miniature version of organizing for America.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Larry]

And it could. It could be something she could use effectively.

[Mark]

Well said, Kevin. Peter Flaherty is involved in this. He was the digital stuff at the Biden Harris White House and on the campaign.

[Kevin]

Rob Flaherty.

[Mark]

Rob. Rob Flaherty. Thank you.

[Kevin]

Thank you.

[Mark]

And some other names I recognize. Politico Broke the story this morning about who's involved and what this is. Just build on what Larry said. Kevin, best case, what would this look like? Would it be interviews? Would it be news stories? Like what? Obviously there's going to be register to vote and give money and all that.

[Kevin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mark]

But when she says that's a hub and a headquarters, what could that look like?

[Kevin]

I think best case for the former vice president is that she stays relevant through this platform. And I think she, you know, she could effectively use it to anoint some folks across the country. Right. Position herself as a kingmaker in some of these primaries and some of these general elections and spotlight some new voices within the party again, all with a play to, to her relevance. And again, she's, you know, she leads in a good number of the polls right now in terms of who should be the nominee three years from now for the party. So she still does have a voice within the party. She's still well liked in a lot of different circles. Her book tour, you know, she's been packing halls again. There was that pushback in, in my adopted home state for tonight's town hall in Columbia, South Carolina. She punted that to April. But she's still getting some traction. She's still breaking through. So again, the key thing for her is relevancy and anointing some of the newer folks. I think in terms of some of.

[Larry]

These reference from Kevin there. Very good. And that's right.

[Kevin]

It's part of my prenup, which was news to me that I even had marrying a South Carolina Republican.

[Larry]

But I as a Republican every that Kamala Harris is back and engaged and in the spotlight is good for my party.

[Mark]

I know that's your point.

[Kevin]

I will say that I will say on act/twitter, the excitement from right wing folks about this pending announcement will outshadow some of the excitement and enthusiasm on my side.

[Larry]

Yes, well. And honestly, the money that she might draw on, the attention that she draws, that's money and attention that isn't going to the other candidates who I think would have a more viable.

[Kevin]

Yeah, which is, which is, Larry, the good point that you made about referencing organizing for America. Obama launches this, pulls all this money away from state parties. We lose 900 plus state legislative seats over eight years because we weren't investing in state parties because, you know, it was a vanity exercise to some degree and not actually doing the real organizing work that's sustainable.

[Mark]

I'll be curious to see the quality of the content because you gotta, you gotta bring the eyeballs in and I want to see exactly how they do this.

[Larry]

Okay.

[Kevin]

Out of the gate. That wasn't that, that wasn't that compelling of a, you know of a video in a conference room with no libs.

[Larry]

Of TikTok is very interested to see.

[Mark]

The content created there. Now she does have a bunch of book tour events and paid speeches I'm told coming up on her schedule. So. So she's going to be busy.

[Kevin]

9 million dollar. That 9 million dollar LA house isn't going to pay for itself.

[Mark]

Malibu and it doesn't and the mortgage doesn't pay itself.

[Larry]

So she's Mark, I got you're an expert on this. What do you think she's drawing for a speech?

[Mark]

I'm told it's less than her old boss is drawing and he's not drawing very much either. I'm guessing, I'm guessing 75.

[Larry]

Biden really not six figures.

[Mark]

I'm guessing some are six figures but low six at best. I'm guessing between 75 and 150. It's my guess that is.

[Larry]

That's so brat.

[Mark]

I guess Trump is still going. Larry, you got two minutes? Okay. Gavin Newsom, his book tour is about to come out. A very interesting taking a page out of Kamala Harris whose book tour has taken her to a lot of red parts of the country, including in states that are politically significant. Here's do we have the, do we have the list of Gavin Newsom thing? Yeah. Politico wrote this morning launches young man in a hurry book tour in Nashville. Not in Manhattan, in Nashville. He's also going to Atlanta and Rock Hill, South Carolina before coming here to Gotham City. Going to Larry's favorite San Francisco, Los Angeles. This is very smart. I don't, I don't, I know I don't even need to ask you guys if this is smart and already just, just this paragraph makes it better, more well done than the Shapiro's book tour. Kevin, thoughts on, on, on, on these choices.

[Kevin]

Excited that he's coming to Rock Hill. It's going to be his third time in two years coming to South Carolina. Obviously, you know nothing is without strategy with the governor also close to the North Carolina border. So you can play into, you know that Senate race up there but you know the fact that this is already generating buzz, I think it comes out next month the book and it's about more about his youth and coming up and of this end of this month, you know we'll see sales wise if it, if it gets any traction. What is national media play? I Think we talked about this before. Josh Shapiro has had a really strong national media play view bunch of different interviews and things like that. I don't know how great the book tour is going just because I, you know, I haven't seen it. But it's been in D.C. and New York and other places like that. But we'll see how the rollout goes.

[Mark]

Larry, impressed with going to Nashville?

[Larry]

Sure. A cynic would say that he's going to Nashville to visit all those Californians that fled his state over the last couple of years.

[Mark]

That's what a cynic would say. All right, we have a couple more topics. Raise your hand if you want in on the conversation. If you've never raised your hand before, we'd love to hear you from you. Wesmore is the subject of another investigative piece by. Who's it by?

[Larry]

It's the Washington Free Beacon.

[Mark]

Free Beacon. Thank you, Andrew Kerr. Andrew Kerr did a great piece about him previously. All these people like George Clooney, all excited about Westmore, should get a subscription to the Beacon and start to understand that like many people in politics, but maybe more so, Wes Moore embellishes, has embellished his past. And there's plenty of positive things to say about Wes Moore. He's a charismatic guy, he's a smart guy, he's a nice guy, got elected governor of Maryland. But I'm telling you, people who want Wes Moore to be the nominee are ignoring this at their peril. These stories are very carefully and well reported. The first one was about exaggerating and saying things that appear to be untrue about his record at Oxford as a professed scholar of terrorism. And now a story that Wes Moore has told on a regular basis about his family's past has been put in doubt by Andrew Kerr of the Washington Beacon. The story of his grandfather's, quote, great grandfather's, quote, exile from South Carolina to Jamaica in the dead of night to escape a Klan lynching. Okay, I read these pieces. There are two things that stand out to me and Andrew Kerr's meticulous reporting and not hyperbolic. He's not, he's not taking leaps of faith. And then the second thing that stands out as, as in the first article, the, the Westmore's communications reaction team reaction is you're right wing, you know, you're just on a vendetta against him. They are not addressing the specifics. And you can see here, for those of you watching not on the podcast, conservatives are quite interested in the fact that, that there's a long List of things that Westmore, you can read them here for yourselves about his background that he just doesn't seem to have told the truth about. Again, politicians embellish. And the current president, United States, I'm sure in the prayer breakfast has told 100 lies because, because he does.

[Kevin]

And, and he's still going. He is still going.

[Mark]

So still going.

[Kevin]

He's a minute over Larry's deadline. No bubble cuddle blanket for you this morning.

[Mark]

Yeah, Kevin's going to win that one. I don't know why I said what I said about that. In any event, in any event, I believe that this is part of why Wes Moore will end up not running for president maybe ever, because he can. I was, I was surprised, neither surprised nor shocked that the first story was not picked up by the Washington Post. I doubt this one will be either. Kevin, if Westmore called you and said, hey, I watched the morning meeting, Halperin seems really down on me, seems really down on me. What should I do about all this stuff? Would you. And how serious, how serious, serious is this, Kevin, if I want to run for president? How serious is this? What would you tell him?

[Kevin]

Where is he right now on your list, Mark Westmore?

[Mark]

I've taken him off because I don't think he's going to run.

[Kevin]

He's off, okay. He's off the top 10, not in the top eight. I mean, listen, you know, it, it, it builds a narrative, right? And again, Mark, as you just said, he's, he's an impressive guy. You know, came out of poverty, did all this. I don't understand the impulse to have to even engage in fantasy creation when you got a great origin story. And he wrote a book about it which propelled him in this race. And it was a really, you know, I will say that was a knockdown drag out primary of Maryland luminaries that he was able to beat out for that governor spot, at least on the Democratic side. You know, part of the, part of the, you know, the timing of this too is, you know, on his part, I'd rather this come up three years before the race. Right. Actually really kicks off. So he can say, well, we've adjudicated this. I've talked about this already. So that's somewhat of a cover, right, that this is coming out now, three years and he can focus on being charismatic and maybe delivering that one extra congressional seat. Although there's a roadblock in the Senate to do that, the Maryland Senate to do that. So there is something to be said for adjudicating this to some degree now, but where there's smoke, there's fire. And this might not be the last time we hear something that has been a little myth creation.

[Mark]

Larry I'm sure someone must have made this point because it's so obvious, but Westmore's book is called the Other West Moore and it's about how he was confused with a different guy named Wes Moore who had legal issues. And, and of course, it gives his rise to the notion the other Westmore is this Westmore. There are two Westmores. There's the Westmore whose bio has, has elevated him up and, but portions of which are not true. And then there's the Westmore who claims he grew up in harsh circumstances and went to the same elite school in the Bronx that Jack Kennedy went to. I mean, yeah, I, look, I used to be on Morning Joe with him. I like him. Westmore is a super nice guy. I don't have anything against him, but this stuff is phenomenally dangerous for him, Larry.

[Larry]

Yeah, he is. He's my governor, but I didn't vote for him. We don't agree politically, but I'm with you. I like him. It's hard not to like Westmore. He lives five miles away from me, three miles away.

[Kevin]

And his wife. And his wife is fantastic, too. That's part of that's package deal.

[Larry]

And by the way, listen, he's running for reelection this year. Republicans haven't coalesced around the candidate. I'm not saying that, I'm not saying he might lose, but this could chip away at support for him.

[Mark]

But it's, but it's the Washington. Is the Washington Post ever going to cover this? We don't know because we don't know if there'll be a Washington Post segue into either. Is the Washington Post segue into our free beacon segue to our last topic, The Washington Post announcement yesterday has been the topic of an enormous amount of conversations on online. They decimated the reporting team. They did away with basically the sports section. Much less overseas coverage, much less metro coverage, get away with the book section. Many newspapers have done worse than this in terms of actually shutting down. But lots of people are asking why one of the richest people in the world can't fund serious journalism. And a lot of news professionals, people at people at Axios and, and Semaphore are saying, hey, we know how to run the Washington Post. And they're going on online and saying, here's what they need to do, here's how you can build it back up.

[Larry]

Because a lot of those guys are former Washington Posts.

[Mark]

They are.

[Kevin]

So like had a 10 point plan out this morning or last night.

[Mark]

He did. He did. All right, so we could talk about this for two hours. Two, two part question. Violating my two part question rule, Larry. Number one, how serious a blow is this to journalism writ large? And number two, what will the Washington Post look like in two years?

[Larry]

It's not a serious blow to journalism because this is the reality most of us have been living with. When I saw the number of people who got laid off in the jobs they had and the beats they covered and the output that came on their bylines. I'm the editor of Town Hall. If I had writers who were that sort of raccadaisical in their output, they would not last. That's the real world of journalism right now. That's the world we're living in right now. What will the Washington Post. The Washington Post is going to ironically look a lot like Politico, but probably.

[Mark]

Not as good covering Washington and politics.

[Larry]

Yeah, that's it. That's how it'll be.

[Mark]

That's how it'll be, Kevin.

[Kevin]

I mean so many of those cuts were, you know, sports and international. To Larry's point. I wonder, you know, Larry, now as the editor of Town Hall, I mean what, what do people still don't understand about now the new business model for media? Right. And I think that they've fallen into this trap too, that it's these legacy publications that just haven't figured out how to like Town hall has where people's and eyeballs are going well.

[Larry]

And the hubris to say that because Jeff Bezos is rich, he has an obligation to support this losing venture for people's own sort of narcissism.

[Kevin]

Edification.

[Larry]

Yeah, edification. Yeah. It's a. The way people become rich is that they don't keep throwing good money after bad.

[Mark]

I don't like anyone to lose their jobs. I think the Washington Post is one of the few big institutions in the country. I've talked about this before. That can actually hold powerful interests accountable. But when I read these reporters saying, oh, it's not their fault, it is their fault. They've been told for a while be in the game about how to make money for the company you work at. That's what everybody at Two way does. We think about a business model even if we're journalists. I'm a journalist, but I think about the business model every day. And these people. Would it be great if Jeff would just continue to fund the version of the Washington Post they want, sure, but he's not. So get in the game and think about how to make a product that people want.

[Larry]

And Mark, if I may just button up on that. You transitioned from the Wes Moore story to this, and it was a brilliant thing on purpose because why didn't the Washington Post do this coverage of Westmore? Why did it take the upstart Internet only right of center Washington? Free Beacon, when you answer that question, you understand what's wrong with the Washington.

[Mark]

And some of them.

[Kevin]

I think there's also, Larry, I think there's also, I mean, in Town hall is a great people. You know, you've got folks that are hungry, right, to break this news and to get this out there and stuff like that. And I think there's also a complacency factor, too.

[Larry]

Free Beacon is across the street from the Town hall offices, and we're sort of like, damn it, how did they get this instead of us? And it was a pretty easy story to find.

[Mark]

And some of the people who are criticizing the Post for doing this are blaming the decision that the owner made to not endorse Kamala Harris and say, that's ridiculous. We lost all our liberal readers. Well, if you're going to try to publish the Washington Post just for liberals and have the expense you have, it's not going to work. You have to. If you're going to be at that scale, like CBS News, you have to appeal to everyone or at least try. And again, these, the guild and the individual journalists, ones who are fired and ones who weren't, have to be realistic about what it means, why they're losing so much money. And when the, when the, when the publisher says people aren't buying your stuff, they're not reading your stuff, they're not enjoying your stuff. That's the reality. Jeff would love to have a sports section. Of course he would. But they can't make money off of it. All right, word from a sponsor, then, to your questions. Raise your hand, please. If you've never raised your hand, we'd love some new people. Raise your hand, please. Speaking of money, want some free money? Yes. This program, one of our sponsors, wants to give you free money. There's no catch here. There's no, there's no cost. Download a free app, set it up. Very easy to set up. Then use your current credit cards that you use and all the benefits you get from using your credit card still in place. And get free money. Where, you might ask restaurants, gas stations and supermarkets. All possible using the Upside app. Go right now and download the Upside app. Doesn't cost any money and use it the way you normally use it. They've given away over a billion dollars back to their users. Over a million dollars a week. 100,000 participating merchants around the country. It's easy to use and it just means you get more money back. Go download the Upside app and if you use the promo code, mark on your first gas tank fill up, you'll get an additional 25 back per gallon. Go right now. The Upside app promo code Mark. And you should send me half the free money, honestly, because I'm just helping you get some free money. All right, Chad, welcome in. Tell folks who don't know where you are after you unmute and what's on your mind. For Kevin and for Larry, thank you for being part of G. Hey, fellas.

[Chad]

Thanks for being here today. I'm in Dallas. I have a question about the SAVE Act. Really want to talk different points of views. Like, Kevin, I would. I don't know exactly where you stand on it, but I'd love to hear your perspective from the Democrat side. What is going to be the real argument here besides Schumer's, you know, Jim Crow business again, once again. But just like, what's the true, like I'm, I'm senator. Right. What's the true argument against it?

[Mark]

And then you, Sorry, but just to clarify, you want the argument they're going to make or what if there's a meritatious argument, what is it? Which? Or both. You can have both if you want.

[Chad]

Maybe a little bit of both. Because I know what we're going to hear on the.

[Mark]

Right.

[Chad]

I know.

[Mark]

Let, let Kevin answer that. Kevin, will they just continue to say Jim Crow on steroids and it's our principled argument against requiring ID to vote?

[Kevin]

Yeah, it's a really good idea.

[Mark]

Got to go. So, sorry. Go ahead.

[Kevin]

Well, again, that's, and that's the thing. Right. And that's why, you know, Harry Ensign on CNN the other day, you know, like 80% of Democrats support voter ID right at the polls. So it's an 80, 20 issue, like a lot of issues where we find ourselves on the wrong side of it. You saw, you know, Mark mentioned Chuck Schumer this morning on Morning Joe, kind of teasing some of the arguments. And there is something to be said for, you know, 11% or something, 10% of Americans don't have access to their original birth certificate. A lot of folks don't have their passport just because they don't do a lot of travel. And the question of maiden name changes and things like that I think are going to be the, the formulaic responses to this. But again, to your point, it's an 80, 20 issue, I think too, interestingly enough, you know, and oftentimes Democrats have said, you know, especially in the south where I spent a lot of the time that, you know, rural African Americans, for example, that have just, you know, some of them, older generations don't necessarily have a birth certificate. They, their family's been here, you know, for 500 years. But that just is not something that they have easy access to and it would affect them. My, my thinking on this potentially too is it could hurt some Republicans because you look at, you know, what's the, the key indicator in terms of how you're going to vote, how much money you make and your level of education. Right. As Democrats retreat more and more to, you know, more educated folks across the country, you know, Donald Trump has been extraordinary turning out rural folks, folks without college degrees and working class folks that oftentimes also struggle with getting an ID out there. So I think it's an interesting, you know, and we'll see what happens with the SAVE Act. I think this only happens if it's likely tacked onto a must pass bill. I doubt it's going to pass on its own because again, it's going to have to hit that 60 vote margin in the Senate. But Chad, it's a really good question in terms of how it's going to, how it's all going to play out in terms of the messaging.

[Chad]

I guess for me, I can't imagine the 80, 20, 90, 10 potential issue, how you can get up there and say, I feel like you're calling a big swath of Americans idiots and dumb for not being able to get an ID or two.

[Kevin]

Too poor and too sometimes it's not, not, not, not dumb, not dumb. It's just, it's, it's complicated sometimes, certainly. And some of those original documents that you need, I mean, Chad, if as anyone that's been to the dmv, you know, it's oftentimes not an easy thing. You know, I had to get a D.C. driver's license and had 18 utility bills that I needed. Foreign ID here in Washington, D.C. a liberal city that's overregulated. Not to sound like Larry, but that's oftentimes part of the problem.

[Larry]

If I may, Kevin, that's kind of the point. We all have to jump through extraordinary hoops to, you know, get a driver's license. Shouldn't we have to jump through extraordinary hoops to vote because we cherish the vote so much. And to the idea that, you know, there's a certain percentage that don't have access to this documentation to prove their citizenship. It's federal law right now that if you get a job, you have to fill out an i9 form. The exact same documents you need for an i9 form are the exact same documents you can use to prove that you can vote. And here's the thing. If there are people who are incapable of proving that they can work in this country, how about Republicans and Democrats work together, do an initiative, bipartisan, to make sure that those Americans who do slip through the cracks get that documentation so they can actually be functioning members of our society.

[Mark]

And I'll just say completely take it back to the media. When President Biden talked about Jim Crow on steroids and the Georgia law, when the, the ability to vote in Georgia is easier even after the Republican changes than in Delaware and New York, the press lost all credibility because they didn't. They didn't call Biden out on it. Okay? So on these issues, there's an opportunity. Washington Post, meet me at camera. To cover this.

[Larry]

Okay.

[Mark]

Larry says that this is, you know, the complaints are much ado about nothing. That it's, you know, there's ways to vote if you take your responsibility seriously. Let's find out. When Chuck Schumer says a woman changes her name and she doesn't have an id. Let's find out. Is that a real thing? Seems like that might be a real thing. I hadn't heard that since this morning, but I've not read a single article ever in the Washington Post or the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal about. Or Politico. Maybe I missed them. I apologize if I did, but I've not read one and I'm interested in the topic that says, what are the facts? Let the voters decide. If Chuck Schumer says if there's more sunlight on this, people will move from an 8020 support for this to lower. Let's. Let's have the sunlight. Let's have the facts.

[Kevin]

But chad, to your original point in the question, and it's a very. I'm so happy we're having this conversation. I'm so happy you brought it up. Democrats cannot, to Mark's point, just rest on this Jim Crow 2.0 stuff as the. That it's problematic to begin with. It's wrong for folks to be out there saying it because it's not true. The struggles of the 20s and 30s with blacks in the south are not anywhere what the situation is right now. So, yeah, we can't rest on that marching that.

[James Patterson]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

And I'm happy to call. And I'm happy to call me out.

[Mark]

Chad, if, you know, you've heard it.

[Larry]

Before, Chad, but you are indeed a chad.

[Mark]

Okay, Chad, do you have a second topic you want to.

[Chad]

Not a second topic, but just kind of a real quick flip side, you know, to Larry. What's the downside of the SAVE act, if there is any. What are the Republicans going to regret if it ever does get passed?

[Larry]

You know.

[Chad]

But I hear, like, I hear something, okay, we're going to federalize the elections. I mean, do you really think that happens?

[Larry]

That's what is feared among some Senate Republicans right now and that they've always sort of hung their hat on this notion that states run elections. And as soon as we open the door and put the foot in the door or camel's nose under the tent to allow the Congress to dictate things. But see, that ship's already sailed with motor voter in the 90s and other provisions that have already been sort of allowed. There are certain things that Congress does have a say in with regard to how elections are run, and this is a fundamental one. It's literally in the Constitution that only citizens can vote. So why not have a law that you have to prove you're a citizen when you register to vote? It's pretty simple.

[Mark]

A couple things. Chad. Thank you. Thanks, Larry. Larry, your hostility, your hostility towards camels is unnerving to me. Or at least have you ever been near a camel? I have.

[Kevin]

He's pro armadillo, though.

[Mark]

The pro armadillo Bronx Zoo president's still speaking at the prayer breakfast. He's still live on Fox. So Kevin called it. Kevin, you might.

[Kevin]

I cannot wait for that. I'm going to wrap myself in that blanket of truth.

[Mark]

And you might have understated it.

[Larry]

It's going to smell like dog.

[Mark]

Okay. All right. Let me, let me, let me. I gotta. I got a bunch of other stuff to tell you, but let me do one last sponsor of the program because as we say at the Washington Post, we got to pay the bills. So we've told you about how to stay warm in your pajamas, a bubble cuddle blanket. We've told you how to sleep better. And we've told you, we told you how to save money. And now we're going to tell you how to eat better.

[Larry]

Right?

[Mark]

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[Kevin]

All right.

[Mark]

I should probably read the URL one last time.

[Kevin]

I've actually had some of those factor meals and they're, they're pretty, they're very good. I will say the factor meals are good and they fill you up too.

[Mark]

Thank you for that. Factor meals.

[Kevin]

I'm not getting paid for that. I'm just, you know, I understand.

[Mark]

Unsolicited two way 50 off. Michael LaRosa swears by him. Andrew, welcome in. Now, folks who don't know where you are, what's on your mind for Kevin and for Larry.

[Andrew]

Hey, good morning, guys. Hey. I can attest to those. Hey, Andrews too. Yeah, they're good.

[Mark]

Yeah, awesome.

[Andrew]

Listen, wanted to talk about the Washington Post with you guys real quick.

[Mark]

Yes, sir.

[Andrew]

A lot of interesting, interesting things said here. One thing I would say, and maybe people might laugh at this is Washington Post actually does a tremendous amount of great content.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

And, and currently they've been doing. But, yeah, but I, I feel like it's, it's become a situation where the, the tail has wagged the dog for too long. And I think that might be, you know, what Bezos's strategy is here behind these, these, these layoffs that they're trying to just purge the people who were doing this stuff. I mean, stuff like if you guys remember, it's, it's been about six years now, but the Covington story, the way they covered that and that ultimately cost them, I don't know. I think it was like 250 million.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

They settled that lawsuit, by the way.

[Larry]

Yeah.

[Mark]

A Lot of people, a lot of people are laid off, are left wing. They just are. If you, if you, if you spray a water can, a water gun in the Washington Post newsroom, you're going to hit a lot of liberals. I don't know that that's why they were left off, but I kind of.

[Larry]

It'S kind of, it's kind of hard to lay off people at the Washington Post and not lay off liberals.

[Mark]

Yes, it's my, that's my point. But a lot of them, a lot of them, a lot of them have a history of writing stories that if the paper wants to be seen as fair and not biased, you know, they did themselves a favor in that respect. Sorry, Andrew, ask your question, if you have one. Your point's correct. But do you want to ask a question or just make that point?

[Larry]

Just because I want to make that point and then.

[Andrew]

I know, I know we're up against time. My question really was, was going to be for Kevin. We've noticed. I noticed them. I'm in Jersey.

[Kevin]

Andrew, where in Jersey are you?

[Andrew]

I grew up in Jersey, North Jersey, Bergen County.

[Kevin]

Okay. I grew up in Mercer County. Little town called West Windsor. Princeton junction. Yeah, the 609, baby. 609.

[Andrew]

Yes.

[Kevin]

Are you 703 up there? Where?

[Andrew]

I'm from Bucks county originally, so I know.

[Kevin]

Okay.

[Andrew]

Closer to there.

[Kevin]

But there's a great playhouse there.

[Andrew]

Yeah, we're starting to get the, the 2026, you know, midterm ad cycle is starting. And one thing I've noticed about the candidates in Jersey, everyone's taking the same tack. It's just straight up, resist Trump, their whole, the whole commercial. Nothing about a new idea, nothing about anything other than I've tried to stand in Trump's way. And I'm wondering when, when, you know, when some Democratic strategy might turn to, hey, let's, let's try to work with Trump. I may not agree with him on everything, but he's got, he, you know, he came very close to winning jersey in 2024, a lot closer than he did in 2020, let's say.

[Mark]

Well, before Kevin answers, I can tell you they're not going to switch till the, after the primaries. Kevin?

[Kevin]

Yeah, I was just going to say, Andrew, you know, it's, you've got 11 candidates in that Mikey Cheryl special. That's where you're getting the onslaught of ads right now. Everyone's trying to out liberal themselves in that primary. We'll see how the messaging changes after today because that's a primary. And then the generals in April for Mikey Sheryl's seat. But you're right, I mean, president, you know, Biden won New Jersey by 16, I think, and you know, Trump only lost it by six against Vice President Harris. So obviously the general is going to be a lot different in terms of messaging. But right now, everyone just trying to make a name for themselves, I think, you know, and I've been out there saying for a long time you can't just be anti Trump. Right. That only gets you so far, especially with TDS out there and stuff like that. You actually got to be pro something. And it's going to be, you know, the rubber is going to hit the road for Governor Sherrill now in terms of what she campaigned on with utility costs and things like that. So now they've actually got to deliver. You can't just say, okay, I'm pro affordability and, and not have anything tangible to back it up because people are hungry for that.

[Mark]

Yeah. The Problem Solvers Caucus put out affordability agenda yesterday. I'm hoping to have them on to talk about it. Andrew, thank you. Okay, two ways later today galore. First of all, group chat 4pm today. Emmett Jo Morris, Nina Turner, Robbie Suave, Steve Alacara, join them at 4pm to be in on the conversation about everything in the news. Moynihan report at 7 o', clock. Michael Moynihan is joined by Eric Fudeli. 7 o', clock, Michael Moynihan to talk about Jeffrey Epstein. I've got two way tonight at 5 o' clock and amongst my guests, I'm excited to say, are Andrew Kerr, the Washington Free Beacon reporter who wrote the Wesmore story. So read the story and come on and talk to Andrew about his incredible investigative work. Naomi Kunst will also join me on two way tonight. Later today, a new episode of NextUp will drop and amongst my guests are the aforementioned Emma Jo Morris, Jamie Harrison, former chair of the Democratic Party, to.

[Kevin]

Talk about it's his birthday today. Mars, if you don't wish Jamie a.

[Mark]

Happy birthday, well aware it's his birthday and we'll be celebrating together. And then my reported monologue is on Donald Trump's mastery of the media. People talk about how Donald Trump manipulates the media, how he loves being in the news cycle. He understands how the media works better than many people in the media do, including our business model. And that's part of why he's gotten leverage over the media. It's part of how he rallies his base because so many people like Donald Trump, largely because he's effective at attacking the media. So I'm going to break down the things Donald Trump knows about the media and how that empowers him and how others in the administration know it. And previous Republicans dabbled, Ari Fleischer, George Bush. They've had to learn about the media. And the Democrats don't know about the media because it's a home game. They don't pay any attention to it because they don't need to. That's my reported monologue that drops later today. This program will be back here tomorrow, 9:00am Eastern Time. It's Friday. So I have winners and losers of the week and what to look for. Are you guys on tomorrow? I confess I don't know.

[Kevin]

I don't think we are.

[Mark]

No. Who's on Larry's Melissa DeRosa. Melissa DeRosa and Larry will be here.

[Kevin]

Tomorrow getting bombed from a more attractive and and more articulate Democrat. Story of my life.

[Mark]

You said it. Anyway, thanks to you two guys for being here. Thanks to you all for being part of the two way prayer breakfast update. Prayer breakfast seems well.

[Kevin]

Oh, he's done.

[Mark]

It's top of the hour.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Kevin. Kevin nailed. I don't know if he's done. Everybody's doing top of the hour.

[Kevin]

But yeah, back to Savannah. Unfortunately, in that situation.

[Mark]

Yeah. Might be still going. Anyway, I'll see you at 5 tonight. I'll see you. Next up, see Larry and Melissa tomorrow here at 9. Thank you everybody for being part of the community. Have a great day. Thanks, everybody.