A (1:57)

So if that is something that's important to you, Please go to BreakingPoints.com, become a member and you'll get access to our full shows unedited ad, free and all put together for you every morning in your inbox.

E (2:08)

We need your help to build the.

F (2:09)

Future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breakingpoints.com hey guys.

A (2:14)

Happy Friday. How's everybody doing?

G (2:16)

Hey, good morning.

H (2:17)

Wonderful. How are you?

E (2:18)

Griffin, we just discovered, is munching on.

G (2:20)

His in the 6 milligram. We're talking about Young Republican group chat. So I'm getting a character.

A (2:25)

That's right, he's starting to get hyped up.

E (2:27)

Yeah, I was at that Oval Office press conference yesterday, and I was watching Bobby Kennedy and he was going to town on his Zen.

A (2:35)

Oh, the sperm count press conference.

E (2:37)

Yes, the sperm count press press conference. You have to have Zen. If you're talking about sperm count and you're not nicotined to the gills, then you're doing it wrong.

G (2:46)

They put sperm in those.

A (2:50)

Griffin. Anyway, bunch of stuff. I think we're going to start with Zoron's debate, right, Last night. Well, I mean, there were other people there. Obviously, there's new poll, I don't know if you guys saw from Fox News that has him over 50%. He's actually gained ground since Eric Adams dropped out. He's the one who's actually benefited, which is hilarious. So he's at 52%. I don't. Cuomo was at like 30, 28, something like that. And when they tested on the issues, he beats Cuomo on every issue, including, like crime. So it's. It's over.

H (3:27)

You can imagine if you're still supporting Eric Adams at this point in Eric Adams's career, you're not actually going to move over to Cuomo. You're not looking for a Cuomo type at that point.

E (3:39)

I think that's right.

A (3:40)

Right. Yes, you will.

H (3:42)

And people talk about you're Sliwa or you're a Zoran at that point.

A (3:47)

If people don't understand how much these people, like, hate each other too, you know, it's not like, like Sliwa hates Andrew Cuomo. So the idea he would drop out of the race in order to assist Andrew Cuomo was always somewhat preposterous. But you have to know something about these personalities to understand that.

G (4:02)

You know, that's a great example. Which leads us to our first clip where Sleevel calls out, calls out Cuomo about who will stand up to Trump. Let's take a listen.

I (4:12)

Why?

G (4:12)

Because I said to him, don't you dare. We don't need it. And he backed down and he will again.

E (4:18)

So that proves a good relationship.

F (4:19)

Wait a second.

J (4:20)

The President is going to back down.

F (4:21)

To you, Andrew Cuomo.

G (4:23)

I know you think you're the toughest.

E (4:25)

Zaron's loving.

F (4:27)

But let me tell you something.

G (4:28)

You lost your own primary, right? You were rejected by your Democrats. Why do you have a difficult understanding that what the term no is?

H (4:38)

You're not world star.

A (4:41)

I agree with Curtis.

G (4:42)

You're not going to stand up.

A (4:43)

I agree with Curtis.

G (4:44)

And he can't stand up to Donald Trump, who knocked him right on his toes. If you negotiate with him, you don't fight with him. Only the people of New York City will lose.

F (4:55)

Why?

A (4:55)

Oh, so good. Knocked him right on his Tuckers.

E (4:59)

Makes you want to live in New York City, man.

A (5:01)

You know what to be it. It makes me like, so nostalgic for when I did live in New York City and Sliwa. I used to do so when I first started going on cable news. Fox News as a Democrat is the easiest place to get on. So I was on Fox News and Fox Business all the time, and Sliwa was a regular character, especially on Fox Business. So I met him in the green room, you know, and was on panels with him all the time. And he's just such a specific New York character that you can't help but feel some, like, level of affection for the guy, especially when he's, you know, knocking Cuomo out with such a great, like, such a great banger line there.

E (5:38)

So good. I love people who actually believe in what they're saying, you know, like, that's a different. To Crystal's point, it's a different kind of politician. He is one of those politicians. He's like a, like, if Bernie Sanders were a right wing New Yorker.

H (5:53)

I can see it.

G (5:54)

Yeah. Bernie with that hat would go hard. Be a different election. So. Yeah. And Sleepwood also, he also took hits at Zoron over the night he did sleep, was doing this funny thing where he would gesture to both Cuomo and Zoron and say, Cuomo, you're the architect. Zoron, you're the, you're the apprentice. And they're both the same and they're both going to, you know, ruin New York City. And he made this point that even Zoran won't be able to stand up to Trump because you don't, you don't bully Trump, you negotiate with Trump or Trump will pull the funding for New York City.

A (6:29)

Hmm, interesting. Yeah. So trying to use like Trump has threatened to pull funding for New York City. So trying to use that as like, you know, his own campaign argument, like using the mob boss's threat against Sauron. How much of the. So I didn't watch the whole thing. How many, how many Israel questions were there? How much should we get into the weeds of Tel Aviv policy?

G (6:51)

It was light. It was only like 45 minutes of the first hour where everyone watches.

A (6:56)

Light touch.

G (6:57)

There was a lot of.

H (6:59)

Do we have some of that, Griffin?

G (7:00)

Yeah, let's take a look. And you know, it revolves mainly around Cuomo. Cuomo would bring it up, even if that wasn't really the Question. But first, let's do some call outs here from Cuomo that include another streamer that he mentioned as well. I did applaud President Trump in his administration. I think it was a great accomplishment.

A (7:22)

I hope the peace holds.

H (7:23)

The Chiron.

G (7:23)

The assemblyman will not denounce Hamas, Gaza.

A (7:27)

And New York City.

F (7:28)

Hassan Piker, who said America deserves 9, 11.

G (7:32)

The assemblyman just said his response. All right, so that's Hassan reacting to it a little bit. If you're confused on the pod, will.

A (7:38)

You condemn Hasan Piker?

G (7:40)

Hasan Hassan piker, Hamas and then Hassan.

E (7:43)

Hasan biker, Hamas, Hezbollah, Hassan, the three Hs.

A (7:48)

Yeah, I mean, but seriously, let's think about this. Let's think about this for real. Okay. Cuomo went hard on this direction. Not Hasan Biker specifically, but on like Zoron's an anti Semite in the primary and he got his ass handed to him by, you know, 12 points overwhelming come from behind like all of that. And Jewish New Yorkers are, majority of them have been supporting Zoran. So how did you not learn from that? That actually part of Zorin's appeal was that he had a different perspective on Israel and was always able to like pivot back to. Yeah, but like why, why are we focused on this and not New York City affordability? How did he not learn any of that? And who is in his ear advising him that here we are, what, two, three weeks out from the, from election day, that you should be raising Hassan Piker as a major issue. Like, do you New Yorkers are really, you know, this is the litmus test that New Yorkers are divided along whether or not you will condemn Hassan Piker just on every. I mean, it's just, I don't know, it's just complete insanity to me.

H (8:53)

Right.

G (8:53)

Let me steal Steel man. Or Ryan, you go first and then I'll steal man.

H (8:56)

No, I just say if that didn't work in the primary, I can't think of who the voter is to Crystal's point, who it's going to work on. Like in the general by just dialing it up a little bit more. Yeah, it just doesn't make sense unless Cuomo is thinking about his post, like mayoral campaign career. Like when he was thrown out of the governor's mansion, the first thing he did is get a whole bunch of pro Israel money together and set up this organization that he said was going to combat antisemitism. At the time, Scott Stringer said this sounds like a fake vehicle for his mayoral campaign and he's not actually going to spend any of this money fighting anti Semitism. Scott Stringer turned out to be precisely correct. It became a vehicle for his mayoral campaign. In the meantime, he volunteered to serve as one of Benjamin Netanyahu's defense attorneys at his crime against humanity tribunal.

A (9:54)

Incredible.

H (9:55)

So you can imagine, like if that's what he understood his career path to be after the governor's mansion, he, he's probably going back to that well after the mayoral race. So this may be less about something that's going to work for him strategically in the campaign and more like, well, let me just kind of foam the Runway for, for my landing here.

A (10:19)

Gotcha. That's interesting. And that Hasan Piker, he would see Hasan Piker as useful to him. And setting himself up for that post failure career is interesting. I don't know, it's, I mean, it's just wild to watch. Like, it seemed like a dream.

G (10:38)

Here's Zoran disavowing Hasan genocide.

I (10:41)

And I find the comments that Hasan made on 911 to be objectionable and reprehensible. And I also think that part of the reason why Democrats are in the situation that we are in of being a permanent minority in this country is we are looking only to speak to journalists.

G (10:55)

And yeah, yeah, I agree with all that. Yeah, taking it rough. Ryan's probably right, Crystal's probably right. I guess if you were. If I'm putting myself in the shoes of someone who is more right leaning, who is a Zionist and they see a content creator as big as Hassan or whatever associating so closely with the campaign, I guess it makes sense to mention it. Like if I were to say that the reverse, or reverse example, let's say there's a right wing politician that hangs out with Nick Fuentes a lot. Maybe someone would mention that on stage.

E (11:30)

They would definitely mention it on stage. But I mean, this was the tactic that won Zoran Mamdani the primary against all the odds. Granted, Cuomo is a terrible candidate, but he has a lot of name recognition and money, as we know, was constantly driving home the question of affordability, which we saw him just do again on that Martha MacCallum interview on Fox News. Ask him about Israel and Hamas. He returns to affordability almost immediately. He does not waste breath on the culture war trap questions. And so, so I'm not even saying some of those questions are entirely objectionable, unlike these debate questions. But how Andrew Cuomo has like the, the lack of humility to learn from that is, I mean, it's not astounding. It's not surprising. Or anything like that. But he had this example on a silver platter of this. Like New York was crying out for someone who just would talk about making life easier and cheaper in the city and more just in the city, and he can't. Like, that's all he has to do. I get it, I get it. He's behind double digits, though. So you'd think maybe he would come up with a new tactic.

A (12:32)

Yeah, I think the only thing. I think the only thing that could save him now is like a 300,000 word Bill Ackman post. That's, I think, the only thing that could help pull it off here in the end.

E (12:43)

Yeah, A dollar per word Ackman came.

H (12:45)

Up in the debate. Yeah. Donnie made fun of him for having Ackman. He made fun of him for having Ackman support.

A (12:52)

That's great.

G (12:53)

I think, I think another place where Zoron started to have to tread some water and sort of was sort of the hot seat for a second was on the subject of policing. That was another area that Cuomo was hitting Zoron on, saying, oh, look at all he's mentioned, all these tweets that have been deleted or sends from Zoron. He mentioned Zoron flipping off the Christopher Columbus statue in like 2020. And I think it was a moment where the moderators asked Zoron, okay, you've changed Your position since 2019, 2020 tweets. What was the journey that made you evolve, that made you change your position on the police department, on defunding the police? And then Zoron had to sort of wade through a lot of the 2020 politics. He had to mention George Floyd. And it did feel like the area where Zoron was on the most shaky ground the entire night.

A (13:48)

You know, I saw him in the Martha MacCallum interview where she was like, will you apologize for these tweets? And what I thought was effective was he was just like, yes, absolutely, yes, I've been apologizing privately. I'm happy to offer that apology here publicly. And it felt so, like, not weaselly. You know, it's very hard for anyone really to be like, yeah, I was told I totally was wrong about that. Just, I will apologize. I'm not couching it in. Like, if you were offended, then here's my journey and here's why I was actually right. Blah, blah, blah. And by doing it so forthrightly, it kind of gave her no. Nothing to work with. You know, there was no real follow up question that she could do from that.

E (14:32)

I Think that's totally right.

A (14:33)

They want a broad public apology for the things that you suggested about them. Will you do that right now?

I (14:39)

Absolutely. I'll apologize to police officers right here because this is the apology that I've been sharing with many rank and file officers. And I apologize because of the fact that I'm looking to work with these officers. And I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the nypd, they put their lives on the line every single day. And I will be a mayor.

F (14:55)

Who changed your mind about it?

I (14:57)

You know, I moved to the city when I was seven years old. I grew up here. And two of the things that I thought often about was safety and justice. And growing up here, learning about the case of the exonerated, five, learning about Sean Bell, learning about Eric Garner, learning about Michael Brown. And then in 2020, the year where all of these tweets are referring to, it was the year when George Floyd was killed. And it felt like safety and justice had never been further apart. And it was actually Eric Adams in 2021 who said that New Yorkers need not choose between these two things. And so one of my focuses was how do we deliver that justice? And now what I know, having represented 100,000 people in Western Queens, is that to deliver that justice, you have to also deliver that safety. And that means representing the men and women in the nypd. It means representing the black and brown New Yorkers who've been victims of police brutality. It means representing the Muslim New Yorkers in my district who were surveilled on the basis of their faith.

F (15:49)

6.

E (15:50)

All right, that is a much like slicker, media trained version of Zaran in some ways that I don't know if you guys have the same take. When I saw that interview, I was like, he's. He's really playing it safe now. He's up double digits and he's feeling conservative, like lowercase C conservative about the. The interviews at that point. But yeah, I agree, Crystal, when you just say, yes, apologize. Like, that is the one politicians are trained not to do, is to just speak like normal human beings and like, yeah, of course. So it makes sense that his campaign being, like, more in touch with new media and where institutional trust is incredibly low among the public, understands that.

A (16:34)

Yeah. And I think, too, obviously there is, you know, a campaign reason for this. And public safety continues to be a large concern for New Yorkers. As I mentioned before in Fox News poll, he's actually leading among the candidates on public safety, which is kind of extraordinary, especially given Some of his past comments. And given the fact that, you know, the last election went to Eric Adams, who's a former police officer and ran on like, we're going to ramp up the police and all of those sorts of things, I also think there's a governing reason to do it. I mean, he is going to need to work with the nypd and especially if you have, and which I think is very likely a similar, like federal agent invasion as they've done in Chicago, you are really going to need to work with the NYPD and you know, in order to protect citizens of New York from this. Federal agents that have been, you know, whether it's ICE or CBP or FBI or whoever is roaming the streets and masks and like, you know, ramming their cars into vehicles and abducting people off the street and beating them up and spraying them with pepper, pepper spray, etc, you know, you're going to need to have a, an effective collaborative relationship with the nypd. So I think from like a tactical governing sense, there's a practical reality there too.

H (17:53)

One of.

G (17:54)

Yeah, Ryan, what you got?

H (17:55)

No, just one other thing from the, the poll that Crystal mentioned. Yeah. Jewish voters, according to this Fox News poll, currently 42 for Cuomo, 38 for Mandani and 13 for Sliwa. So 58% against Cuomo. But, you know, within the margin of.

A (18:15)

But he is edging. But he is edging, Mom. Donnie. Interesting. Yeah. So I guess there is more of a constituency in a general election of more conservative Jewish voters, right?

H (18:25)

Yeah, but it's really within the margin of error there. So it's like neck and neck.

E (18:29)

Also such a statement on, like, if you told somebody in 2022, like, if you just wrote this out on paper and said a candidate who just posted a couple years ago, queer liberation means defunding the police is going to be ahead in the mayoral race and probably is going to be the mayor. They would be like, well, what had happened for that to be the reality? And it's like you ran Andrew Cuomo. You ran Andrew Cuomo and got everything behind him because the, the crime issue for New Yorkers is obviously front of mind. So it's a testament a, to how Mamdani has handled it, obviously. But also just the awfulness of his opponents, too, that I think have made it much easier for his message to land.

A (19:10)

Yeah. And Zorn is going to be such an important figure once he is mayor of New York, because I have no doubt that Trump is going to want to pick a fight with him. I have no Doubt that there's going to be a huge spectacle that we are all, you know, in store for here. And, you know, Trump has being a New Yorker himself and having this big chip on his shoulder about how like Manhattan elites never accepted him as part of the, like, upper crust. And then you've got this young, good looking, charismatic socialist who's like, you know, everybody's falling in love with and falling over themselves. I mean, he charmed Martha MacCallum in that interview on Fox News, like right out of the gates. So, I mean, I think this is going to be a central sort of conflict in our politics moving forward when Zoran is elected mayor.

E (19:54)

Agree.

G (19:56)

Yeah. Not a lot of suspense, especially I don't think a lot of motion after this debate either. I would be remiss because Sagar's not here. He would want me to flag this other moment in the debate that for him I think would be a big deal breaker for Zoron. Let's take a listen. Have you ever purchased anything in a cannabis shop? And if so, what did you buy? Mr. Mamdani? I have.

I (20:19)

I've purchased marijuana at a legal cannabis shop. Okay.

A (20:24)

Feels like such a question too.

E (20:27)

The anchor is, okay, okay, I'm too short.

A (20:31)

Like, who is this question for? You know, what is this revealing to us about these candidates really?

H (20:36)

Well, Saliwa, that gave an interesting answer.

A (20:39)

Oh, did he? What did he say?

H (20:40)

He said after I was shot five times by the mob, I used medical marijuana.

G (20:44)

Yes. He also said, Ryan, that he also delivered. He, he Sleema said he doesn't go into yellow taxi cabs because he was shot in the back in a yellow taxi cab.

E (20:57)

Oh, yeah, that was the question is if you have to get from point A to point B, like how do you do it? And Zoran said something like, I will take the train or I'll take a cab. And then Cuomo said, I'll take an Uber, I'll take a cab. And then Sliwa said, well, after I was shot in the back of a Cab in like 1979 by the Gotti and the Gambino families.

A (21:23)

I mean, that's the thing is Sliwa actually remembers like the real like bad crime days in New York. You know, those are, that's kind of like his formative years and how he forms his political identity. I remember seeing him on, I don't know, it might have been with Hannity. And Hannity was asking him some fear mongering question about like, oh my God, if we elect a socialist communist, isn't this like that in New York City. And he was like, yeah, we've had these kind of characters before. It's gonna be fine. He's just non plus by it. Yeah. Clearly he hated Cuomo much more than Zoron, you know.

H (21:53)

Yeah. And Cuomo said LaGuardia is the best mayor in New York City's history.

A (21:59)

Yeah.

H (21:59)

A socialist.

A (22:01)

So who Zoron really, you know, admires and sort of models his himself after and his campaign after. Interesting.

G (22:09)

Yeah, well.

E (22:10)

Oh yeah, here's the quote.

G (22:11)

Oh, you got it.

E (22:12)

Yeah. Quote. I try to avoid yellow cabs. As you know, I was shot in the back of a yellow cab in 1992 by the Gotti's and Gambinos. But I find my way around if I have to. I Uber.

A (22:24)

Someone needs to make a movie about this man's life, honestly.

E (22:27)

Yeah. Is it gotta be Scorsese.

A (22:30)

Yeah. Oh, totally.

G (22:32)

He has 19 cats. 19. Audience go off, go off in the comments. If Sliwa needs a breaking points interview for this election, why not full 20?

E (22:42)

Why you stop at 19?

G (22:44)

That's right.

H (22:46)

Yeah, we should definitely have him on.

G (22:48)

Cuomo would also like, you know, make claims about his candidacy and then Sliwa would like counter him with like weird New York historical facts. Like Cuomo would be talking about funding of a, of a subway line. And then Sleepwell would be like, oh, you know, the Central park horses, you know, they used to get drunk but now they don't. And now they're, you know, they're tired and they're sick. He's just such a facet of New York and he should run for every election he does.

A (23:18)

So you're getting your wish.

F (23:20)

Yes.

G (23:21)

So should we move on?

A (23:23)

Yeah. What do we got next?

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G (25:36)

All right, so folks, we've got a Republican group chat that leaked that we wanted to mention here. This is a. An article from Politico that says I love Hitler. Leaked messages expose young Republicans Racist chat. Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape. They've got a graphic here. I'm not going to read them all, but I'll just, I'll read a few to give some texture. Some of the quotes, a lot of these are from New York Young Republicans. And this is kind of surrounding a election for the next leader of like the national Young Republican Party and sort of a group chat discussing the race. Some of these tweets say everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber. You're giving Nationals too much credit and expecting the Jew. To be honest, if we ever had a leak of this chat, we would be cooked. For real. For real. I'm ready to watch people burn now. And some other, you know, some other slurs and just some, you know, other general stuff about Jewish people and black people. What are we to make of this, folks? What are we. Do we want to start with Emily, the youngest Republican on here?

A (26:57)

Well, can I also, I was just going to clarify one thing because I am flattered In a sense by the Young Republican moniker because apparently these people were up to the age of 40.

H (27:08)

So. Yeah, right.

A (27:10)

Well, yeah, no know, wanted to make that clear. When we're talking about young Republicans, these are like by and large professionals who have, you know, chief of staff or this or that politician who have actual roles in Republican politics. So this isn't just, you know, some 17 year old gripers mouthing off in some chat, right?

E (27:28)

No, because J.T. vance, I think refer to them as kids. And a lot of people have. Because you hear young Republicans and a lot of people confuse it with college Republicans. But actually somehow the young Republicans are actually much less influential and consequential than the college Republicans. So they have real jobs though. Though. I just mean the organization like Young Republicans Yrs as it's called itself is like, I don't even know if it's like an open secret. I don't even think it's that secret. Like they're so powerless and unimportant now that said, Griffin, the quotes that you read off, they are like being. They think they're being Mimi and Edge. Lordy. And it is so cringy. And I think probably does. Probably, probably is rooted not just in them trying to be edgelords and funny, but like the repetitive nature of it is like there's some genuinely pretty gross sentiments I think lurking beneath the surface of whatever they're doing for the Young Republicans. And the memes actually in response have been excellent too of how much of a quote, master race these guys really are.

A (28:41)

You can show some of the pictures. Yes.

E (28:45)

Crystal's favorite is that they. Someone posted one of the great tweets, I think of all time that they have bodies built to survive a golf cart crash. And I was offended by that.

A (28:54)

That hit home for Christmas personally. Yeah, I took that home personally as a survivor. Where's the, where's the lesbian wedding photo one? We have that one. Keep scrolling.

G (29:06)

That kind of describes all the.

E (29:08)

Yeah, keep going. There it is.

A (29:10)

That's.

E (29:11)

There it is.

A (29:12)

That's the one.

F (29:13)

Yeah.

A (29:13)

I mean, I don't know. I, I have a lot of thoughts on this. I guess the first thing is like this is the least surprising thing of all time. I mean look at who is one of the most popular creators for young right wing. Young right wing men is Nick Fuentes. So they just had a. There's another scandal going on this week where some Republican congressman's young Stafford posted American flag with a swastika. There's a, like there is actually a Nazi problem among not just among young Republicans, because we also have a DHS account that's tweeting out things like remigration. We have an administration that is changing the refugee policy to only bring in, like, basically German Nazis who are being, quote, unquote, persecuted for being too anti immigrant, which is a little weird that you're bringing in immigrants because they're anti immigrant. But anyway, them. And like, the. The white South Africans, you have Trump openly, you know, acknowledging, oh, we can't let Stephen Miller's truest feelings come out because they would be utterly repellent to the American public. And Trump reportedly joking in a private meeting in. In 2024 about how Stephen Miller only wants 100 million people in the country and they should all look like him. So, you know, if anything, I'm shocked that it's not even worse than what these. What these messages ultimately are. And I think Hanania's piece on, like, the based ritual in the Republican Party probably captures the dynamic the most. You know, it's the inverse of what was happening in progressive spaces during pro woke, where there was, like, a virtue signaling cycle where, you know, everyone's, like, positioning to be the most pure and the most lefty and the most, like, you know, identitarian and whatever. And on the right, there's this, you know, this ritual of, like, who can be the most defensive. And that's how you get your clout points. And then, you know, it starts off as, like a meme and a joke, and it ends up with Stephen Miller in the White House where with ICE agents raiding cities and doing Kavanaugh stops and picking up anyone who looks Latino and, you know, isn't a quote, unquote, true American in his conception, blood and soil conception of what that should be.

E (31:17)

Go ahead, Vance.

J (31:17)

After.

H (31:18)

After Vance kind of jumped in and gave permission to defend these kids. Kids. He was very clever in calling them kids. These young men. You saw, like, a whole bunch of other people, Matt Walsh and others, you know, saying, we need to stick together. Like, we need to. Do not throw these people under the bus. If we. If you throw them under the bus, they're, you know, you know, first they came for the Nazis in the, in the, in the Republican youth group chat.

A (31:47)

Yeah. And then all the, all the young Republicans were gone because they were all Nazis.

H (31:51)

Right. And then. So Ben Shapiro, I want to bring him in because he had an interesting pushback. Griffin, I have it. If you don't have it.

G (32:00)

I got it right here.

H (32:01)

Oh, you have it. Okay.

E (32:02)

Well, and let me just say this Is like, I'll tee this up. This is a long running debate in right wing circles for years now, which is that. And maybe you guys have picked up on it even from the outside, but that the media baits you into. And actually some people on the left think this too, the media is baiting you into tossing other Republicans under the bus and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, you know, first of all, you guys are in media. Like this is sort of where Ben gets a ton of pushback, is that he's willing to punch, right? And so that's that conversation that they're having. And they have a show where they disagree with each other over the daily wire where they fight about things. And so they fought about this this week, basically. I just say that because some people have been posting clips of Matt Walsh being like, here's Matt Walsh getting lectured by Ben Shapiro. But like the whole show is them fighting each other. It's called friendly fire.

J (32:56)

Again, I'm not even disagreeing with the motivations of the Politico story. In fact, even on my show today, I talked about the motivations of the Politico story, which Matt, I agree are completely scurrilous and designed to distract from the sort of violent rhetoric we've seen from the left. But it has led to, I think, a reactionary response on some parts of the right to say there should be no policing ever at all, no social consequences should ever attend to things that are said on the right. That it's basically just pure my side versus your side. The problem I have have is, number one, I think that's moral. And number two, I don't think that's pragmatic. I don't think that's moral because I think that there are things that get said on the right that are really, really, really ugly. And pretending those away doesn't make them go away. I think that they're rising. I think that they're getting more common. I know that my death threats from that side are getting more common. I know I have more security because of that. And it's not just from the left. I have lots of security from the left and I also get lots of security from the right. Matt, I think a little bit earlier today you tweeted that kind of your litmus test is the people who are trying to kill you. And I totally get that. I also have that litmus test. The difference is that I think that if somebody tries to kill Matt, there's a good shot that it's gonna be a leftist. If somebody Tries to kill me. It's a frickin Agatha Christie novel. I just don't know which direction the bullet is coming from at this point. Given the sort of various and sundry radical extremes that exist, I'm not gonna say that the right is equivalent to the left in this respect because I don't think it's been mainstreamed to nearly the same effect on the right that it has been on the left. But to pretend that it has not infiltrated a lot of very important spaces is, I think is sort of whistling past the graveyard.

E (34:22)

Well, and the other part of that, I mean, I will say I like speak to college conservative college students and groups a lot and I don't think what those wires are doing is common. I don't think it's entirely out of the ordinary in the like based ritual sense that Hanania. And it's, it's a lot of like people who are in their notice, like their 20s, like people who were in college during Trump 1.0 or Covid. And it does like that it is real and it is bad. And people have to learn that it's not funny to keep one upping to the point where then you've seeded yourself for actually having beliefs blossom out of that ground because you're so buried in these layers of irony and like quote, ironic racism. And you just, you. They get lost in the sauce and that is a real thing. And, and Ben's not wrong about that. So it's a huge debate though, and people are. Yeah, I mean, Matt Walsh and J.D. vance, the very online types, are very much on the other side of it.

H (35:29)

Yeah, it's crazy. It's totally crazy. And I've mentioned this a bunch before, but you know, the Israeli strategic decision, you know, to basically in the. When Obama was president and was pushing for the Iran deal to break with the Democratic Party, like, like the thing that made them so strong for so long is that like the nra, they had massive support in both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Once the NRA went full partisan Republican, it was actually only a matter of time until they kind of started to fall apart. Like there, there's real strength in having a chokehold on both parties.

E (36:04)

It's a good point.

H (36:05)

But the Israelis were like, they would much rather isolate Iran and attack Iran than allow Democrats to do an Iran nuclear deal. So they break with Democrats and they're like, we're throwing all our eggs in the Republican basket. And I remember thinking at the time, really like, is this a well thought out alliance? Like do you know some of the undercurrents that are inside this Republican Party? And you're the ones that are constantly saying Zionism and Judaism are linked. And so you're going to link up with a coalition which has a non trivial portion of genuinely anti Semitic people. And you're telling them if they're anti Semitic, then they're also anti Zionist. So not. So they kind of went the other way. A lot of these young Republicans are like, oh, well, I am actually, so therefore I'm also anti Zionist. It was, it was just from a strategic perspective. It was like it was headed in an obvious direction.

A (37:01)

You made the point before Ryan that, you know, in some ways Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians benefit, like the whole Israel project benefits from genuine rise in anti Semitism because it bolsters their argument that you have to have Israel to have a safe place for Jews. I mean, the other thing. And you, you were making this point about. Imagine if half of this was surfaced in some, you know, Columbia student group chat.

H (37:29)

My God, like one of those messages. One, one text.

J (37:33)

J.D.

A (37:34)

Vance would be the one leading charge to put you there that. Yeah, like we're five minutes ago where he's saying, hey, if you express the wrong sentiment about Charlie Kirk, you should be fired. And now suddenly all these kids, you know, they don't know what they're doing. Like, give them some grace. Yeah, sure, they said I love Hitler and we're talking about gas chambers. But like, who among us, who among us can judge? Yeah, so. And you know, the ADL put out some incredibly weak, you know, lame message. It's just so clear.

H (38:01)

Something.

A (38:02)

They did say something. Yeah, I can, I can find out. But very, you know, very, very light touch. Kid gloves. Sort of like when they finally felt compelled to say something about Elon Musk, you know, it's that sort of similar vibe now, now, boys, they don't actually care about anti Semitics. They, they care about opposition to Israel, not like genuine flourishing anti Semitism, which again, we only have to look at the fact that Nick Fuentes is maybe the most popular creator among young Republican men to understand that this is a real phenomenon and not like a one off and not just a joke.

E (38:35)

The. So interestingly, the ADL dropped its lobbying relationship with Ballard yesterday. That is the Susie Wiles firm and the Pam Bondi former firm. And so they terminated their lobbying relationship. That disclosure dropped. Politico influence had a little story about that, which is kind of interesting. Amidst all of this, I hadn't actually connected the fact that it was happening in the middle of the. Of all of this, you know, uproar, which they were definitely dealing with internally at their office. And what Ben was talking about with the left is that he's saying it's not as mainstream. It's not as mainstream. And that actually exposes a kind of interesting blind spot for Vance and Walsh here, which is they're upset about these universities that have like, segregated dorm rooms. That is a thing that started to come back in the 2010s. It's like you. This is, this is an affinity dorm for only black UCLA students or something like that. And then the insistence in critical race theory classes that white people are necessarily racist because white people all bring, you know, inherent biases to the table. And we don't have to get back into the whole CRT stuff. But I'm just saying that's where they're saying there's this disconnect. But what's interesting about that is to then turn a blind eye. This is the argument Ben is making. To then turn a blind eye to similar versions of that argument happening from identitarians is not consistent. Identitarians on your own side is not at all consistent. And it's not at all consistent with like the documentary am I Racist? That Walsh made. And I think he came on our show to talk about at the time and had a little debate about Haiti with Ryan. Crystal's viral for Puerto Rico, Ryan's viral for Haiti. We should really just be doing the show from the Caribbean. It's the future. But that, that's. That there, there is a, a real inconsistency there. And what they just don't. I don't understand why, why for Matt Walsh, he sees like a Fuentes as, quote, his side. Like, that's what's interesting in and of itself. Right? Like, is, is Fuentes. Do you really see yourself as like a, a brother in arms with, with Nick Fuentes? Is he like, right? And, and if so. Hmm.

H (40:58)

And there's a real think and think about the self delusion at work here where he says, okay, this stuff is more mainstreamed on the Democratic side, but not on the Republican side. The Vice President of the United States is defending these young Republicans. He's the like, stop thinking of yourselves as like, marginal figures. He's the Vice President of the United States.

E (41:20)

That's true.

H (41:21)

There is no world in which something like this comes out on the Democratic side. And a, a hypothetical vice president in a Democratic administration defends it. They throw those young people absolutely right under the bus and back over.

A (41:34)

We just, we just watched Zoran condemning Hasan speaker, you know, like, for saying, like, I don't know, whatever he said about 9 11. I mean, he condemned the comments. Not specifically Hasan, but yeah, I mean, it just showed, does show you the disparity. And then I look even more beyond JD Vance and think about Stephen Miller, who apparently internally in the White House they call the Prime Minister and who is running not only the, you know, the National Guard mobilization and the Operation Midway or whatever the hell that's called, the, you know, Midway terror attacks. Midway, like terror, mass terror attacks that are happening in Chicago led by the federal government. But he's also leading the, you mentioned the Caribbean. I don't think I want to be in the Caribbean right now. He is leading that effort in terms of he and Marco Rubio regime change in Venezuela. We just found out that the latest fishing boat that they blew up was a couple of fishermen, fishermen from Trinidad and. Trinidad and Tobago.

E (42:30)

So.

A (42:31)

And this guy, okay, he's Jewish, so he has a different view on the Jews. But otherwise his ideology is pure white nationalism. I mean, there's just no denying it. Like, that is his goal. He wants there to be a white ethno state. He thinks the only people that really count as true Americans are people that are not only white, but happen to agree with him and agree with Trump.

F (42:53)

Trump.

A (42:53)

And he is going about, you know, effectuating a plan to try to consolidate effectively one party control. Now, will they be able to succeed at that? I think it's a tall order. I don't know if they have the capability and the competency, et cetera, but there's no doubt that's the goal. So what is reflected in these chats, it, it's, it's almost quaint. I mean, we see it. I, I just went and looked at the replies from this America first account to. They shared the, the Ben Shapiro clip we just showed. I mean, everyone is like, yeah, you're, you're, you know, Jew that owns you is like your strings. It's, it's overt. It's out there all the time and it goes all the way up to the top of this administration. I think in, in a sense, I think we should be relieved that J.D. vance felt the need to like sort of infantilize them and not just outwardly embrace what they're saying here. Because I think we're probably like two years away from the line from the White House just being like, yeah, they're right. I agree. Hitler was great because I see that, that I see that as being the direction that the party is going in more and more and more every day. So for him, go ahead.

G (43:57)

Isn't, isn't Vance always crying about like, oh, they're attacking ice. They're calling us Nazis. And then you go to their group chats and they're like, we are Nazis.

A (44:07)

Yeah.

G (44:07)

So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's tough to navigate.

A (44:12)

Yeah, well, I mean, it's just navigate. That's very diplomatically put.

E (44:15)

Yeah, it's just, I mean, but to Griffin's point, this is actually interesting. Like, to his point, if you have an opportunity here to say, this is what is not accepted, this is why all of these claims are spurious and people are wasting breath, and then you're like, well, you know, it's a silly media distraction, you know, not worth punching right at these kids, then you're missing an opportunity to make your own point. And so the kids who find themselves, like, working in politics tend to be the most online, and they tend to be, which is, from this perspective, not a great thing. They tend to be the ones that are buried in these layers of irony. They got online during COVID and I know these kids aren't kids, but 20s and 30s, so they are like way too online. And probably different than your average young Republican voter. Not like young Republican member. But one of the things that, going back to, to my first job out of college was at a conservative youth group. And we were putting together a lot of these lectures. A bunch of them were with Ben at the time. And then there was this debate the college Republicans were wondering about, like hosting Milo Yiannopoulos, who was saying all kinds of crazy shit at the time. And they were bringing Milo to campuses. And I remember like always being on the side of having these conversations and saying, listen, you are dealing with people in their teenage years and their twenties. It is not the same as dealing with your average person in their 40s and 50s. Their brains are still developing. And when young people's. I'm not, I'm not talking about when These people are 28. I'm talking about in 2020, when they were 17 or whatever, or 19 or whatever. Whatever this irony you think is, is funny and amusing, and whatever these outrageous statements you find to be like polemical or provocative, it's hitting differently with 16 to 23 year olds. It's not the same thing at all. They're not picking up on all of the irony. They're not picking up on you saying like haha, wink wink, nod, nod. This is funny because I've been called Nazi for 10 years. They don't see that the same way they don't have the background. They're coming into their political consciousness right now and again their brains are still developing. So what people find to be jokes and ironies. I just think they're playing with fire, particularly with young people with whom it doesn't. And that's not like, that's just real. I've seen it happen. They're playing with fire. It just doesn't land the same way with people in that demographics. Like when you're working specifically with young people. My argument has always been you have to be like extra, extra careful. You don't have to be an outrageous gatekeeper. William F. Buckley, tossing out the Birchers performatively, that's the big debate in conservative circles right now. But when you're working with students, it actually is really different. You have to actually be careful with that.

A (47:08)

Yeah, well, to be fair, the White House did condemn one member of this group chat and that would be the guy who leaked it to the Politico. That was the thing that they found condemnation worthy is that any of this was surfaced, not anything that was said in the chats, but the fact, you know, that someone like blew the whistle on them and exposed them to the public. That was the part that they were upset about. And to Griffin's point, like, like JD Vance is insanely online. Like he is, he is a creature of this, you know, of this edgelord of these edgelord spaces. And even like with the 20, 30 year olds, whatever, like you meme it enough times, you meme yourself into these positions and they stop being a joke and they start just being like, you know, I, you know, now I'm a griper and now I believe that we should have segregation again. And now I believe the Jews control everything. And like this is actually my worldview. And then there's a lot going on here with this. I mean if I'm to, to put my sociological like step back from the. My just disgust at seeing this. These like losers embracing Hitler. You know, we, we do have, our society is in crisis, right? We are in crisis. We have a sense that the whole, and I think the reality that the whole thing is crumbling and falling apart. We have life expectancies which are falling off a cliff, which is kind of the most basic level of how is a nation doing that you could possibly look at in certain areas of the country worse than others. So in the south, where Republicans are disproportionately, you know, acute. What's the word? Where they disproportionately live. You have 20 year lower life expectancy than like in the Northeast. And you, you know, meanwhile you have all these existential threats. You have this sense like what is going to happen with AI? And I can't afford a college degree and I can't afford health healthcare and I can't afford a house. And what am I as a man if I can't do these basic things. Like you've got a lot of people who feel like losers, who feel like their life is headed in no kind of direction, who want desperately for some sort of like meaning and they're increasingly finding it in like being a Nazi grouper and getting told by their friends, by their also fat loser friends, that that's quote unquote based. That's, you know, that's a big part of the dynamic that's, that's going on here that we have to grapple with.

E (49:26)

I think identitarian politics are really dangerous in times when economic, when there's economic misery. Yeah, it's absolutely true.

A (49:34)

There's no doubt about it. There's no. And that's the sort of thing that actually can lead you to like a civil war. You know, when you have that sort of identitarian ethnic strife. Those are some of the warning signs of, you know, total societal collapse in a way that is like, you know, know hot and involves guns.

E (49:55)

Yeah, yeah. It's just like when you've got a bunch of young men who are, I mean, we don't have to broach the entire debate about young men now, but like when you, you do genuinely have a lot of young men who are underemployed or miserable in different ways, can't afford houses, have lots of student loan debt. It's, it's, it's fertile ground. Fertile ground for unfortunate ideologies to blossom, I would say.

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So.

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G (52:38)

Yes, our guest has joined us. Do we want to do this on the in the public half or we want to go over to the public?

E (52:44)

Yeah.

G (52:45)

All right. Ryan, who's our guest today?

H (52:49)

State Representative Medina, Anton Wilson. I don't know if she can hear us yet. People may remember from about, about what, two, three months ago. We had a state representative on to discuss her effort to stop the Zuckerberg Musk attempt to rewrite Delaware corporate laws to advantage themselves substantially. That effort failed. Sort of. Right? You can actually update us on that if you want. But people might remember her from if they're following us on Twitter from something quite different. Different she had she went to Texas, took the Greyhound to the what I've since learned is called the Mothership. This is Joe Rogan's comedy little club. I learned that because I told people I was going to the Mothership this a couple weeks ago, which is in in fish lore. That's the Hampton Coliseum down down near where Crystal lives. People were like, oh, you're Gonna go to Rogan's club.

E (53:54)

Like, what the effort.

H (53:55)

I'm not going to Rogan's club, obviously.

A (53:57)

I'm talking about a fish concert.

H (53:59)

What are you talking about?

F (54:01)

Don't be stupid.

H (54:03)

Medina was at the actual mothership and they do a thing at the Kill Tony show where they have a bucket poll where you put your name and Dina can tell us more about it, but you put your name in a bucket.

E (54:15)

And then welcome to Breaking Points where Ryan explains Kill Tony may or may not get picked.

H (54:21)

And you had told me that this was not the first time that you had been there. So you made this entire trip trek just for the joy of a Kill Tony show, which I'm sure was life changing in its own right. But the second time it actually came through. Griffin, should we play a little bit first or. You're the producer.

G (54:38)

Let Medina talk.

F (54:39)

Hi, guys.

G (54:42)

What's up? Medina, welcome back.

F (54:44)

It's always, it's always endearing when the host is like, let me tell you all about this person before you get to get to like, talk to him. They're really excited. So I'm like, I love that, that. Thanks for having me back. On a lighter note than last time. Last time was a bit depressing. And Ryan kind of mentioned, yeah, it was a failure like most legislative efforts that I had, it seems. But last two weeks ago now in Austin, Texas was not a failure. It was a lot of fun.

H (55:11)

Wait, did we lose your camera?

G (55:13)

No, no, we're good.

A (55:13)

She's here, she's here. We got her.

H (55:15)

All right, nevermind. I lost it.

G (55:16)

Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. I got this. Medina, what was the, what was the experience like? Did you have a fun time? Because, you know, I'm, I'm recording right now from Los Angeles and some, some liberal comedians of Los Angeles, their nails will curl when they hear Kill Tony. So what was your experience going in there?

F (55:35)

It was great. I had a good experience. I was nervous going in. I'm a black Muslim woman with vitiligo. I'm a democratic socialist. You know, there's a lot of things that they could, they could roast me on. And I also was just nervous that I was going to mess up my minute of comedy, right? So. So like Ryan said, it was my second time going down there. And as a comedian, any comedians that are listening or even folks that are just in the arts, they know, like, you gotta put the time in, you gotta do a lot of reps. A lot of times you bomb. A lot of times, you know, you put your name in the bucket. You don't get pulled. I took the Greyhound bus from a friend in Fort Worth to Austin. So I'm like, trekking on the bus. And last time I think I got home at like 4am or something. I would not recommend taking the Greyhound in the middle of the night. It's much nicer during the day, but.

E (56:24)

And that's a low bar.

F (56:27)

It was a good experience and I didn't mess up my minute. I was a little bit fast. I could have slowed down a little bit, but I didn't want to go over time and then get roasted for. For going over time. So overall, well, we.

E (56:41)

We did a nice big intro, but we. Yeah, we didn't. We didn't get to your pronouns, so we should watch the. The amid all of this.

F (56:47)

We. We were rude.

E (56:48)

We didn't ask.

G (56:49)

So let's forgot Emily. Let's roll it.

H (56:53)

Make some noise for Medina, everybody.

G (56:56)

We're going to meet Medina. All together now.

E (57:05)

Hey, guys.

F (57:07)

So you can probably tell by looking at me, my pronouns are usa, let's go.

E (57:13)

So good.

F (57:15)

I usually walk out to Bruce Springsteen, born in the USA just in case they have my passport back there. I identify as biracial because my dad is black and my mom is African American. But my body. My body is gentrifying itself. Yeah. You know, you have vitiligo because it starts with a couple spots, and then pretty soon you don't recognize the neighborhood anymore. It's just not what it used to be. Best part about having vitiligo, though, is kids always come up to me and ask me, what happened to your hand? And I get to tell them, well, when I was your age, my mom told me to do something and I didn't listen, and she smacked the black off me. Listen to your parents. I'll leave it there. Thanks, guys.

E (58:07)

So good.

A (58:09)

Yeah, I didn't think you rushed it. I thought that your timing was great.

F (58:12)

Oh, thank you. Thanks.

G (58:13)

It feels different when you're up there.

F (58:15)

Yeah.

A (58:16)

Oh, yeah, no doubt about it. So when you're nervous at all, though, if you. If you were nervous, you hide it well.

F (58:23)

Yeah, I mean, I was nervous, and then it was like right before I went on stage, I was like, you can't be nervous, right? Like, you. If you're nervous, you're gonna mess. Mess up. So I was. I was mostly thinking about what the producer just told me, which was, when you get on stage, move the mic to the right. The camera, whatever, whatever. Don't talk while they talk because your mic won't get. So I Was like, all right, show notes. Like, keep that in mind. And yeah, it went. It went about as good as I could have hoped. I made one joke, I think, during the interview that didn't land, but could have been worse.

H (58:55)

Which. Which was that one.

F (58:57)

The Stevie Wonder joke.

E (58:59)

Oh, well.

H (58:59)

Because I think they just didn't get it.

F (59:01)

They're just too white. Yeah. As they were talking, I was like.

E (59:05)

That'S probably too hard. The rest of us here.

F (59:07)

Yeah. Yeah. I wish I had the album in reach, but there's this. There's a great Stevie Wonder album, Hotter Than July. And he's got the braids and the beads, and it's just like, yeah. Now black people laugh at that because they're like, are you saying you have a receding hairline like that?

E (59:24)

So. So this clip went super viral. And especially people on the left who are just dying to have some connection with the Joe Rogan world that used to be pretty left. I think people were just like, hey, it was like a shot in the arm. Like, hey, we can do this on the left. We can be funny and politically incorrect and survive and not have our progressive bonafides question. In fact, we can. Can communicate, like, relatively dumb socialist messages in some of these spaces. So tell us a little bit about what it's been like since going viral since, you know, being at the comedy mothership. What response have you gotten about what.

F (60:07)

You probably could expect? Right. Like, progressive folks have been really excited about it. Some of the. Some of the, like, kill Tony base was like, she's not funny. And it's like, all right. Like, I know it was going a little fast, but it was a funny minute. Like, you're just racist. You just hate women. Like, but I'm kind of used to that, too. Like, as a female comic, I've had multiple people come up to me after shows and be like, this is going to sound crazy, but, like, you're the first funny woman I've ever seen. And I'm like, you're just a misogynist, dude. Like, so it's. Overall, I would say it's been a really good experience. I've gotten a lot of folks coming to my social media pages saying, like, I didn't know Democrats could be funny. Thank you. Or like, folks that are, like, more independent, that are just fed up with both parties, as I am as well. Right. As a member of the Democratic Party, I'm pretty frustrated with the direction at the party at the national level and at the state level that has been going in in the past few Years. So it's been. It's been nice to kind of find my people online. Fine. It has not been as nice to have my DMs get totally wrecked by, like, the freakiest of freaks on the Internet. But, you know, that'll die down eventually.

E (61:23)

Griffin, Griffin, please stop DMing her.

G (61:33)

Medina, what about your colleagues for you? Oh, Ryan, you got a question?

H (61:36)

Yeah, go ahead. I'm just curious what you're, like, lawmaking colleagues have said.

F (61:39)

Said. So far. It's been crickets, which means that they're chatting in the group, which means it.

G (61:44)

Was a good set. Medina, my question for you is, you know, there's been a lot of conversations post Trump presidency about the comedy podcasters, like, going right wing or what have you. Like, what do you make of the current comedy environment? And I guess second part of the question is, do you think that you. I would consider you more a leftist than a liberal. Is that fair to say?

F (62:07)

Yeah.

G (62:07)

Do you think that a liberal would have a harder time on Kill Tony than a leftist?

E (62:11)

Leftist?

F (62:12)

I think liberals have a harder time anywhere because they're boring. Sorry, no offense to the liberals, but.

E (62:17)

Like, how dare you? Amy Schumer is voting for Andrew Cuomo. I don't know if you saw this.

F (62:21)

But, like, I'm sorry, that's boring. Nobody's. Nobody's interested in that. Like, 2000 called, and, you know, they're waiting. So, yeah, I think if you are able to communicate your values, if you actually have values that are something other than just, like, I don't know, know, you know, love is love or something like. Like, it's got to go deeper than that. Like, we got to talk about, like, economic issues people are dealing with. Which is part of the reason why I love taking the bus, right? Like, I can't afford to, like, rent a car all over Texas and fly around, so I take the bus, and then I get to hang out with people that take the bus. And I think that's something that the Democratic Party leadership is sorely lacking, is actually understanding what it's like to. Like, the other day, I was, like, in the bank opening an account for my business, and I'm like, give me a second. I gotta move money from here to there because, like, I only have so much money. That's what the average American is dealing with right now. So I think if you are a leftist and you have any type of personality, you'll do well in places like this. Unfortunately, Democratic Party leadership tends to push the most boring milk toast. Like, that's not gonna Do? Well, like, I was talking to a, A party friend of mine who was like, yeah, like, Kamala should have gone on Rogan. And I'm like, no, she shouldn't have.

A (63:42)

Yeah. What do you mean?

F (63:43)

Like, you, you cannot survive more than an hour long interview if you're trying to do a script. Like, you have to just be yourself. And if that's not who's running, it's not going to work on Rose Rogan.

A (63:55)

That's what I always said, too. This whole, like, oh, she should have gone. It's like a different candidate who could handle that. Sure. We're talking about this candidate.

F (64:05)

Like, we should have run a candidate who can go on Rogan, who could be.

A (64:09)

There we go.

F (64:10)

Listen.

A (64:11)

Yes. And how long have you been doing.

E (64:13)

Someone like Joe Biden?

A (64:15)

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, precisely.

F (64:17)

I mean.

H (64:20)

Actually, it would have been.

E (64:21)

More entertaining, for sure.

A (64:22)

It would have been good content. Yeah, that's true.

E (64:25)

We beat. We did. We beat Medicaid.

F (64:30)

Okay. Like, I shouldn't tell the story, but whenever I tell stories I shouldn't is when they do well. So, yes, I went to the Memorial Day service here at the Veteran Cemetery, and I got like stuck in a little, you know when, like, older people start talking to you, sometimes you get stuck and you're like, trying to leave. And like. So I got stuck talking to Biden and. And he starts telling the story about how, like, I kind of was in and out of paying attention, like in and out of consciousness, but he, he's telling this story and he's like, yeah, and Putin, he was. He was mad at me because. Because I shut down the ussr And I was like, wait, what? Like, I came back to the conversation. I was like, what did he just say? Yeah, he's like, I put it. And I was like, you put an end. Like, I was young then, but, like, I don't think that's what happened, dude. Like, I'm pretty sure that wasn't you. I don't think you're that guy.

H (65:27)

But was that this May. Yes.

F (65:32)

Yes.

E (65:33)

Good.

F (65:33)

Yeah.

H (65:34)

Sign a life from Biden.

E (65:35)

At least we have him to thank for ending Medicaid and the ussr.

H (65:39)

And the ussr.

A (65:41)

Did he tell you about Corn Pop? Did he tell you about Corn Pop? Was Corn Pop involved in ending the USSR Also?

F (65:47)

That was a one man show.

A (65:48)

It's a bad dude.

F (65:49)

One man show.

E (65:51)

That was. I'm glad you told that story.

A (65:53)

I mean, I'm sure.

F (65:54)

I'm sure I'll hear about it.

A (65:55)

Prime Biden, as Prime, was very talented. You know, I Mean, I saw him both on the stump, you know, we all saw him wipe the floor with Paul Ryan in that debate. Like he did have that thing when he was young, even with all the, like, you know, the verbal gaffes and whatever, like that was part of actually what made him interesting to watch. But yeah, at this stage I got stuck. It'd be interesting for another reason, I guess.

H (66:21)

I got stuck with him a few times when he was a senator and we'd be in the hallway and like the other report, there'd be no other reporters there and he's still talking. I have no questions left. And so like, remember one time, remember it was a State of the Union, it's just me and him and like he's still talking, he's still talking. So, like I take my recorder away to like, try to signal, like, I'm not recording anything anymore. Like, this is over. He keeps going. I like, put my notebook like in my pocket, put my hands in my pockets, like, huh, you gotta get the book back out.

F (66:57)

Get the book back out. Put something in a book bag. That's when I know as a politician, like, oh, all right, okay guys, I'll let you go.

H (67:03)

Yeah, I got stuff. I have a thing I have to file. Like, I've got stuff I have to do. I'm like, don't, don't you, yeah, don't.

A (67:11)

You have things you have to do too?

E (67:16)

That's amazing. Oh, goodness.

H (67:19)

Medina, he was top, you know, he's top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, so he must mean he, he helped funnel so much money to Reagan.

F (67:28)

Ryan.

E (67:28)

Ryan.

F (67:29)

I gotta tell you, I did not ask a follow up question. I'm not a reporter.

H (67:33)

Was he then?

F (67:34)

I just was like, when did he.

H (67:35)

Become, when did he become chair? Yeah, let's, let's fact check his claim.

F (67:39)

I don't know about that.

H (67:39)

Took down the uss because at that.

A (67:41)

Around that time, wasn't he judiciary?

H (67:45)

He was, he was chair by like 90. What, one? 90, 91, yeah, because he's taking, you know, he's ushering Clarence Thomas through.

F (67:55)

It's like right before I stepped out on the scene, 93 stepped out on the scene, looking real mean.

H (68:03)

Yeah.

G (68:05)

Biden put us down a history wormhole. Medina, my final question for you is, do you feel, I don't know, sometimes I think that their comedians are scared of posting clips, especially if they have like a normal job. Like, like, like you perhaps do. Are, are we in like a new era where you can do a stand up set with some jokes that push into Areas that normally you wouldn't be able to talk about in a workplace place. Post that and then go back to work. Like, what's our. What's your sense or your temperature chest on the broad umbrella term of cancel culture right now.

F (68:45)

Oh, that's an interesting question. I mean, when I first started. So I've been doing comedy a little over three years, and when I first started, I was just using my first name, thinking that, that somehow people wouldn't find out because, you know, I don't have a unique look or anything. And so, so I remember I was at an open mic maybe a couple months in, and somebody afterwards came up to me and she was like, aren't you a state rep? And I was like, they found me. And honestly, like, my material that I do is almost, it's almost apolitical. Like, I did some political jokes when I was on the show because that's what I've been doing lately, because it's top of mind for me as a Muslim woman, right. Like, in Texas, I literally did have my passport on me just to prove that I'm an American citizen because there are people who look at me and think I'm not. Right. So I've started doing more jokes like that. But I also talk about that at my job. I'm in a, in a privileged position in that I'm, I, I'm a Democrat for my job. Right. So I don't have to worry so much about HR getting involved. I don't do jokes where I punch down or, you know, go after vulnerable groups where I would then get in trouble or something. Something. So that makes it not to cut.

G (69:58)

You off, but I feel like specifically the kill Tony was someone that was like right under the gun during the election. Like, he did the, those jokes during the Madison Square rally and Democrats really tried to, tried to cancel him for that. So it almost like guilt by association. Like, oh, she went on stage with, with Tony. Like, how dare she? Like, is there any danger of that? Or, like, I mean, seems like he didn't care.

F (70:20)

I, I don't, honestly, because I think it's important for Democrats to go on any platform that will allow them on to share that we are not a bunch of weirdo freaks, that we have, like, values that we share with most Americans, that we have a shared lived experience and we want to actually progress the country. I think we have to just get over that. Like, if we're going to cancel every platform that helped get Trump elected, I guess we're not going on SNL or Like, is that what we're doing? We're not going to. Right, like, we're not going to go on, I don't know, NBC Nightly? Like, come on. Like, it's, it's just silly. So I was really, I think, blessed to get pulled out of that bucket so that I could show the Rogan, you know, world that there are still Democrats that are funny. We don't all just, like, joke about whatever, you know, stereotypes they have about left leaning comedians. Like, most of my material is about, about it's self deprecation. It's growing up, you know, in a big household. It's the struggles of marriage and relationships, you know, having to drive on a road with people that have that novice driver magnet on the back of the car, right? And I'm like, you're a novice. Let me teach you a lesson. I'm cutting you off, right? Like, that's something that we all can, you know, relate to in a way. So I thought it was great. And, and last year, just about a year ago, I was talking to some political mentors of mine and I was telling them, I'm kind of like, I felt at the time like I needed to pick my political career or my comedy career, and I wanted to pick comedy. I love comedy. And they were like, Trump just got reelected. What are you talking about? Do both, right? Like, do both. That's what people want. And, and one of them actually said, if Dave Chappelle announced right now that he was running for president, do you think people would bat an eye or would they be like, like, oh, snap, like, I would vote for Dave, right? And that kind of flipped a switch for me where I'm like, you know what, I'm just gonna stick to being myself, right? Like when I talk about the Elon Musk bill, super serious, did my research. And when I'm doing my comedy, also, like, you know, hardworking, put the time in, took the bus, did the open mics, bombed, bombed, bombed, until I got some material that worked, right? So that's my plan. I think the Democratic Party needs to get serious about being normal. And I just want to shout out. Somebody messaged me on Twitter a couple days ago after this clip went viral and said, thank you. Please continue to be normal. And that's the biggest compliment I think I've ever gotten. I'm just going to try to continue to be a normal person. And I think that the party needs work that.

A (73:00)

Yeah, well, self deprecation is very disarming too, you know, and sends a message to, of like oh, we're not so self serious that you can't like poke fun at yourself, you know.

F (73:11)

Absolutely.

G (73:11)

Great. Well, that's all. That was awesome. We love the set. We're excited for your future Rogan episode. Any last questions before we let Medina go? All right, what's your.

A (73:24)

Thank you, Medina?

H (73:25)

I mean do you, do you like, do you do stuff in Philadelphia or, or D.C. like work? So where can people find you?

F (73:31)

Yes. Yeah, so I can share my link with you guys, but I will be all over over the next month. I'm in Northern Delaware so I do shows in Philly all the time. I'll be in Philly the next couple weeks. I'll be in Frederick, Maryland, some other spots in Maryland, New York on the 28th of October. So I'm, I'm in the, I'm in the tri state New York metro northeast area and then I'll be in Florida early November. So come see me, come hang out.

H (74:00)

Send me the link. We'll put it in the.

G (74:02)

Yeah, we'll put it in the email. Yeah, we'll put it in the link to the description in this video below. Thank you Medina. And folks, we're gonna stop here with this half of the show. If you want to see the second half of the show, go to breakingpoints.com to sign up, get access to that, get access to our AMA to ask us questions and we'll see all you premium users on the other side. Bye Bye.

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