D (1:46)

We rely on our premium subs to expand coverage, upgrade the studio, add staff, give you guys the best independent coverage that is possible.

C (1:53)

If you like what we're all about. If you it just means the absolute.

B (1:56)

World to have your support.

C (1:57)

But enough with that.

D (1:58)

Let's get to the show. Welcome to Breaking Points, everyone. Our post election day analysis is here. I know you've been refreshing your browsers waiting for. Ryan Grimm, dad of the century, actually traveled all night from New York City to be home for his son's 10th birthday breakfast. And on top of that, here he is now in the same suit he wore last night back from the Mom Donnie victory party. Ready to help us break it all down. Ryan, now that you've had some time, I think you napped a little bit on your way but some time to digest everything you watched happen live and in person with Griffin last night. What are you thinking?

E (2:38)

I mean, it was quite a romp for Democrats across the country. So Whether you're talking about, you know, the kind of Democratic socialists, you know, who, you know, stomped Cuomo in New York City or the more center left Democrats in Virginia or New Jersey or the supreme, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices who, who won reelection in Pennsylvania or the utility commissioners who, you know, blew it out of the water in Georgia though, that's a, it's a nonpartisan race. But those are the kind of known as the Democratic candidates. And even in Maine, you know, we talked about this ballot measure that Leonard Leo, Leonard Leo had put, you know, enormous amount of money into trying to restrict absentee balloting. It was polling 50, 50 going into the election that right now is something like 65, 35, just, you know, absolute, you know, rejection. Graham Platner had put his campaign resources into defeating that. And that seems to have, seems to have gone quite well for Democrats in Maine. California of course, saw its, its Prop 50 pass. So they'll, they'll be gerrymandering and adding, you know, trying to add like five Democrats to the House to respond to the, the Texas Republicans and others doing the re redistricting and Virginia was like a sweep across the board. Curious for your is, you know, you had a pretty terrible Republican candidate who Trump never even endorsed. Is that right?

D (4:08)

Yeah, Trump actually never endorsed Winsome Sears until the last minute. He still refused to endorse her when.

E (4:14)

He was teletown hauling did finally endorse.

D (4:17)

He did not. He, he did a teletown hall the evening of the election. That's like the anticipated Winsome Sears endorsement. Perhaps it never happened. He just told people to go out and vote for Republicans Generically.

E (4:30)

Yes. And they didn't.

D (4:32)

It's kind of catty behavior.

E (4:34)

They did not do that.

D (4:35)

It's a little bitchy.

E (4:36)

Yeah. And then, you know, so they lo, they, they lost at least 13 assembly seats. Republicans did. They lost the lieutenant governorship and they lost the attorney general race. Even to a guy who, you know, people expect at one point to just drop out of the race because of these text messages that came out that he was sending to a Republican, which is fishy. Well, in its own right.

D (5:01)

According to exit polls, Jay Jones in the attorney general race won 9% of voters who found those text messages disqualifying, as almost everybody would say, objectionable content in those text messages. Highly objectionable content in those text messages. Republicans thought they could really have a shot. They did not expect to win the governor's race. You know, if you went back probably six months or more, they were bullish on the Virginia Governor's race. But that all pretty, became pretty apparent it wasn't going to happen within, you know, the last several months, that race they thought they could win and couldn't even pull that off because 9% of people who found the text messages disqualifying still voted for J. Jones.

E (5:42)

And so I think what's going on there, and curious for your take is that if you, and specifically on those 9%, if you probe them further, like, well, you said this person should be disqualified. Why on earth did you vote for them? I think they would say a number of things. One, well, they weren't disqualified. Like they stay state on the ballot and then if you ask them things about what's his name, Miari's, the attorney general who was running the, the nominee on the Republican side, they would say, well, I think he should be disqualified for xyz. They clearly, and I presumably these are, you know, hardcore partisan Democrats who considered those things disqualifying but then still had to choose between Miaris or. Yep, the Democrat who they wanted disqualified. And he's not, he's there.

C (6:28)

So.

E (6:29)

All right, well, now I'm going into the polling place and you're giving me these two choices, both of which, neither of which I would like to see in office. And I think people are actually more accustomed to that type of, you know, having that type of choice foisted on them than they are accustomed to have somebody they actually like and feel like really good about voting for. So they're probably very used to being like, oh, this bum sucks for this reason. This bump sucks for that reason. Yeah, but I'm going for this.

D (6:57)

Well, I was gonna say that's a constituency with basically no representation in Washington D.C. like in professional politics, the people who hate politicians, like whether they're Republican or Democrat, that's across the board, a lot of very normal Americans. So if you go to Miaras and you'd ask them, okay, is this position disqualifying? I totally agree, Ryan. You'd probably find people being like, yeah, that position's totally disqualifying. It's, it's how Donald Trump won the 2015 Republican primary. 2016 Republican primary.

E (7:26)

Right. Trump disqualified, qualifies himself like once a day. Well, most people stays in office. And so I think Democrats are like, well, we're done with it.

D (7:34)

This is the most misunderstood part of the Trump phenomenon. You can go and ask an average Republican voter, about 30 to 40% of them will be hardcore MAGA rally type people. They go, they, they are the people that will stick with him when he shoots someone on Fifth Avenue. Why do the other, you know, 60% of Republican voters stick with him when he shoots someone on Fifth Avenue? Metaphorically, because they think the other guy is worse. It's always about the binary choice. And again, that has no constituency of professional Washington. But that's actually a pretty normal perspective of people outside of Washington.

E (8:09)

Yeah, right. And I think you're seeing that with Platner and you're seeing, you're seeing Democrats in general both, you know, willing to overlook things that they, that in, in the past they would have said, no, this is, this is disqualifying and I'm not going to vote for them now. It's, it's disqualifying, but look, I'm still going to vote for them. Or just straight up kind of telling themselves things that aren't true. Yeah, that, which is, which is also a Republican. You know, that was a, that was a, that was a very Tea Party and Trump phenomenon too. And now Democrats are very much adopting it. Like if you ask if you did a poll now of Democrats of whether or not the Charlie Kirk shooter had, you know, more left wing ideology or more right wing ideology, but like we, and let's say it was this guy, like setting aside the people who were like, oh, this is a patsy, the people who believe that this person actually did it for Democrats, they believe he did it, but they think he was a griper.

D (9:13)

Yeah, there's polling on that. Yep.

E (9:15)

Yeah, there's polling on that. And it's just not true. Like, it's not, like it's not, like it's not really up for debate. Like he's, he's really not, but they believe that, that he is. And I think that's of a piece because it's easier to, it's easier to persuade yourself of that something's not true and then act accordingly than it is to absorb the, the counterfactual like, oh, this guy really is disqualified, but then still have to vote for him. So if you're going to vote for him anyway, you might as well lie to yourself about what's going on.

D (9:49)

And we should tee up for everyone. What's going to happen here is that Ryan and Griffin were live streaming. If you didn't catch the whole thing. I didn't even catch the whole thing because I had to drive back from the winsome series victory party. You guys went all the way to about midnight with some incredible reactions, live reactions in the moment from people like Sam Cedar, Hassan, Piker. You had, I mean, Just like Congressman Jayapal.

E (10:14)

Yeah.

D (10:14)

Lina Khan. Lina Khan said something interesting. So that's all going to be. We're going to tee that up for you by sort of right now breaking down some of the reactions just over the last 12 hours from everyone from Donald Trump, the folks on Fox News. And we're just going to kind of set.

E (10:32)

I really, really want to hear how the Republicans are I really want to hear how the Republicans are responding to the.

D (10:38)

Well, let's start. Let's start with the compilation. Producer Mack, I know you have that ready to go, a compilation of meltdowns. And again, what we're going to do is go through some of these reactions and then tee up our own reactions that Ryan and Griffin got live in the moment at the Mom Donnie victory party in Brooklyn last night. But first, let's start with this compilation of total meltdowns on FOX News and other places to. Here we go.

E (11:09)

Well, you can't imagine how disappointed I am this is. Can't say his name right.

A (11:14)

I honestly feel bad.

E (11:15)

I have friends of mine in New York. My phone is blowing up. They are officially depressed and scared.

A (11:20)

And this was also a hostile takeover.

B (11:23)

By the Democratic Socialists of America.

C (11:26)

And this is a crazy situation.

D (11:28)

True.

C (11:28)

It's a very, very sad night.

E (11:29)

Made him the stylish candidate as well.

D (11:32)

The rapping video, the cool kid, older people.

E (11:35)

This isn't just Gen Z or Gen.

B (11:37)

X I agree with right now.

C (11:38)

Boomers and that kind of thing. Who. Yeah, I see this as a disaster for, for New York City and Zoran Mondami.

E (11:45)

All right, Well, I want to bring in our panel.

A (11:47)

They'll cheer me up.

E (11:48)

They'll cheer all of us up. I don't think they will feel cheerful.

D (11:51)

Ryan, I feel like you didn't need to be.

E (11:53)

I actually do feel a little bit cheerful. Yes. Because the problem here for them is that it looks like he's tracking to get over 50% of the vote in Cuomo's. And we can roll a little bit of I can pull up some of Cuomo's really petulant, like speech that he gave last night. He said, he said, you know, nearly half of New York voters rejected Mom Donnie's message. So he's doing two things there. He's, he's combining his vote with Sliwas and the hardcore Sliwa people who even after Trump begged them to not vote for Sliwa and vote for Cuomo instead, they still voted for Sliwa. So he's combining them with him and then saying that almost half rejected Mamdani, and that's a moral victory. And he called it a. You know, they.

D (12:43)

He.

F (12:43)

That.

E (12:44)

A caution flag for going to a very dangerous place like it was. It was as. As ungenerous a. Whatever the. Whatever you would call it, speech as you could possibly imagine. Here, let me. Let me. Let me play. Let's play a little bit of this because it fits with the theme of the Republican meltdown as well.

D (13:09)

Here it is.

F (13:13)

And this campaign was necessary to make that point a caution flag that we.

C (13:22)

Are heading down a dangerous, dangerous road.

F (13:28)

Well, we made that point, and they.

C (13:31)

Heard us, and we will hold them to it. Also, my friends feel proud because we.

F (13:44)

Accomplished the two important New York characteristics.

C (13:50)

We got up off the mat after.

F (13:52)

The primary, and we made it a.

C (13:55)

Real race when the media had already commenced a coronation.

D (14:01)

That is not what happened. For the record.

E (14:03)

Media really in the tank for Momdani.

C (14:07)

Because we fought our hearts out and we left it all on the field.

E (14:12)

Also untrue. He did not fight hard at all.

C (14:16)

He did not even betray any evidence.

E (14:18)

That he wanted to win.

F (14:20)

To Zoran Mandami.

E (14:26)

Pronounces his name, name wrong, draws a bunch of booze.

C (14:29)

No, no, that is. No, that is not right.

D (14:34)

That.

C (14:35)

That is not right. And that is not us.

E (14:38)

No, no, also not.

D (14:39)

He's living for that. He's living for that moment.

C (14:42)

That is us.

E (14:43)

That is us. That is you. And so I think. And we interviewed Julian Gerson, who wrote Mamdani's speech. So after. After his speech last night, we interviewed a speechwriter, and. And they had kind of been editing and rewriting, and I think they crafted theirs a little in a slightly sharper tone to respond to the cattiness that came from. That came from Cuomo throughout. Like, his whole speech is just. Just dogging Mandami, as he keeps calling him. Let's roll that one.

D (15:19)

You have the high ground on that one, right?

E (15:20)

I don't. I don't. This is true. I'm getting better, Zoron.

D (15:26)

But you're also not the candidate.

E (15:30)

I'm also not the candidate. Zoron. All right, so here's Zoron.

C (15:35)

Mamadani toppled a political dynasty.

D (15:42)

Electric. Absolutely electric.

C (15:51)

I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life.

B (15:55)

Life.

C (15:59)

But let tonight be the final time.

F (16:02)

I utter his name.

C (16:07)

As we turn the page on a politics that abandons.

E (16:10)

The many and answers only to the few. Oh, there we go. So, yeah, he. Yeah, Nugal, go ahead.

D (16:22)

Well, I was gonna say this is. That's actually very interesting because I Mean, the contrast is obvious. You have this, like, very energetic crowd for Mamdani, who I also mispronounced his name yesterday. So all guilty. But you also for Cuomo see this, like, very angry, disillusioned crowd, all of that. Like he's, he's trying to do revisionist history. And Mamdani, once again, the reason he won the primary, one of the reasons he won the primary in the general is that he's upbeat, relentlessly smiling, all of that. And what I haven't seen in the last 12 hours is actually a lot of what Andrew Cuomo said. I haven't seen establishment Democrats who 100% feel like Andrew Cuomo articulated his feelings last night. They privately feel like that. I have not seen establishment Democrats reacting like Cuomo to say, well, we are concerned this is going to a dark place. That's. That seems to me to be conspicuously absent from the discourse. And maybe it's because, like Congresswoman Jayapal told us on the stream last night, I believe she said I had, I had left by this point, but I believe she said, like, Chuck Schumer is in for a reckoning going forward. They're taking that seriously. It seems to be right now.

E (17:40)

Yeah. And when you win More than 50% of the vote in, you know, with, with some of the highest turnout ever, that, that, that, that boxes in the ability of people to respond who don't have a base. Like, if you're Chuck Schumer at this point, like, like who, like on, on what ground and with what troops are you challenging? You know, Mom, Donnie's clear mandate here, so. Yeah, I think they're going to lay low for a while. Schumer himself won't even still won't tell people who he voted for.

D (18:14)

Yep.

E (18:14)

I think we can go ahead and venture a guess. Probably wasn't Sliwa. Yeah, but that would be funny if it was funny. So.

C (18:23)

Yes.

E (18:23)

And, you know, in his, in his speech, Mom, Daniel was humble and gracious toward his supporters and towards the city and towards the working, working people of the city. But he was fiery toward his opponents. And you, you saw just a meltdown on CNN afterwards that I didn't watch in real time, but they're just going just around the table crying about how rude he was and, you know, that they wanted more of an open arm and an embrace of the people who had just spent the last several weeks calling him a terrorist.

D (19:02)

I have a.

E (19:03)

Rather than him saying. Yeah. Rather than him saying what he said, which is that the fight is now just beginning because Our agenda is achievable, but it's not going to be easy and we're going to have to fight for it. So, yeah, let's roll. Van Jones, if you have it.

D (19:17)

Yeah. Assuming this is what you were alluding to, Ryan, here it is here. I'll work on getting that if you want to. But the gist of what he said is he said, I felt like it was a little bit of a character switch here with a warm, open, embracing guy that's close to working people is not on the stage tonight. Ryan, you were there in person. And that's. That's a bizarre analysis.

E (19:36)

I mean, it's. Well, it's also a bizarre analysis. Say that yes, he smiled. He was a happy warrior, you know, throughout the campaign, but he. But he was still a warrior. Like, he's still. He's identifying villains, saying that they are the obstacle to what the workers of New York want to accomplish and we need to, you know, barrel past them. Like that was. That's what he's been saying. Do it with a smile on your face. But he's embracing the cat class conflict. That is a set that is essential to, you know, accomplishing his objective according to him and is essential for, like the Bill Ackman's of the world to. To win according to them. Now, Ackman put out a very short tweet saying he was ready to work with Mamdani. So. Okay, well, you know, we'll see. See where that goes. But what Mom, Don, and what Andrew Epstein told us on the stream as well is that, you know, they now have these thousands upon thousands of people who have gone door to door and have done canvassing and other political events for the campaign, and he's going to keep them mobilized so that if, you know. So for instance, he can't dictate to the rent stabilization board precisely what they can do when it comes to freezing the rent. He can appoint over time, all of the people on that board, but not immediately. And so there will be some independent political actors there who will need to be pressured, who will need to hear from people that, hey, I ran very clearly on this. This was not something that was tucked away in the bowels of my platform. This was front and center. Freeze the rent. You guys need to freeze the rent. And we're gonna politically organize in that direction. When it comes to creating the grocery stores, there might be city council members who oppose it. There might be, you know, members of the legislature or the governor who. Who want to try to get in the way of it. When it comes to buses, you're going to have opposition because you're. And some of it is, I'm curious how they're going to address the, the problem of what about people that just decide to live on the buses?

D (21:51)

Right.

E (21:52)

That's not like, that's not good for them. It's not good for them. It's not good for the riders. That's not good for anybody. But if, if I needed a place to go and buses were free, why not? So they'll, you know, this is something they'll have. They'll. I'm sure they, they've thought a lot about and they're going to try to figure out, but they'll have this political army that they plan to deploy. And so they need to stay fired up. And so that's why Van Jones is not going to get the like, tongue bath for the fat cats that they want.

D (22:27)

Yeah. The rest of the Van Jones quote is I think he missed an opportunity. I think the Mamdani that we saw in campaign trail was a lot more calm, it was a lot warmer, it was a lot more embracing, was not present in that speech. And I think that Mamdani is the one you need to hear from tonight. There are a lot of people trying to figure out get on this train with him or not. And he goes on to say that's not the, I think he was using the microphone in a way that was almost yelling. And that's not the mom Donnie that we've seen on TikTok and the Great interviews and stuff like that. So, Ryan, did you get a sense from the campaign team that I know you were able to mingle with a bit last night? They're obviously busy, but sort of Mamdani world that they have any intention of making some grand pivot or, you know, as he, he said in that clip we just referred to, he sees this as like a next chapter where he's, he's turned the page on Cuomo ism and kind of elite Democratic politics and is preparing to get down to work. But it seemed to me, I'm curious what you, what you heard from people on the ground. They're just. I didn't notice much of a difference other than just.

E (23:29)

Right. No intensity. What's, I don't want to say unique, but what's unusual about the campaign is that it has these achievable objectives. Like everybody knows what he says he wants to do. Wants to build the grocery stores fast and free buses, freeze the rent, universal child care. And in order to do that. He's got a tax plan that, that hits people making above certain amounts. That's not like a socialist revolution that, like, that's not giving, you know, free health care to everyone in the city. It's not, it's not, it is within reach. And, and it's, and it, it's those discrete things. And, and I think what he said is accurate, that it's, it won't be, it's not impossible, but it won't be easy. But it's, it's actually within reach. And then if you achieve those and things are going okay and then you can, you know, pitch the next things. Obviously, if, even if you do all of those things, New York's still not affordable. It's better, particularly if you have kids. And let's say you've got the childcare part done.

D (24:39)

Free buses.

E (24:40)

Yeah, free bus, you know, so it's better. And let's say the groceries are cheaper at the city run grocery store and you're saving on the buses and you're not paying the little bit extra on the rent. But there's still big problems, still need higher wages, still need, you know, more housing, still need more affordable housing, still need, you know, better access to health care. You've got, you know, the hospital system in New York City is in crisis, perpetual crisis. So, you know, there's, there's a lot to do. But the thinking is you, you try to accomplish these things and get the momentum to show that government can actually do something and then keep moving.

A (25:23)

I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I.

B (25:27)

Don'T trust much of anything.

C (25:30)

It's the rage bait.

A (25:32)

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

D (25:36)

We got clear facts.

C (25:38)

Maybe we can calm down a little.

E (25:42)

NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts.

C (25:46)

Let's move forward from there. NBC News, reporting for America on the podcast Health Stuff, we are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night.

A (25:57)

Yes, I'm Dr. Priyanka Walley, a double board certified physician.

C (26:01)

And I'm Hari Kundabolu, a comedian and someone who once googled do I have scurvy at 3am on health stuff, we're.

A (26:08)

Talking about health in a different way.

C (26:11)

It's not only about what we can do to improve our health, but also.

A (26:14)

What our health says about us and the way we're living.

C (26:17)

Like our episode where we look at.

A (26:18)

Diabetes in the United states. I mean, 50% of Americans are pre diabetic.

C (26:24)

How preventable is type 2?

D (26:27)

Extremely.

A (26:28)

Or our in depth analysis of how incredible mangoes are.

C (26:33)

Oh, it's hard to explain to rest of the world that, like, your mangoes are fine because mangoes are incredible.

E (26:39)

But, like, you don't even know.

D (26:41)

You don't know.

C (26:42)

You don't know.

A (26:45)

It's going to be a fun ride. So tune in.

D (26:47)

Listen to health stuff on the iHeartRadio.

C (26:49)

App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

D (26:54)

She said, Johnny, the kids didn't come home last night.

E (26:57)

Along the central Texas plains, teens are dying, suicides that don't make sense. Strange accidents and brutal murders in what seems to be a plot ripped straight out of Breaking Bad. Drugs, alcohol, trafficking of people.

B (27:16)

There are people out there that absolutely know what happened.

E (27:19)

Listen to Paper ghosts, the Texas teen murders on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.

F (27:25)

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

D (27:30)

Here's a really interesting exit poll result that Phil Klein at National Review highlighted. This is from NBC's exit polling. Mamdani lost immigration voters by 26 point and points and crime voters by 41 points. But he won, quote, cost of living voters by 36 points and they represented 55% of the electorate. So when were asked which one of these five issues is the most important facing New York City? So it's not that some of the voters eliminated the idea of, of immigration being important or crime being important, it's just that they said cost of 55% of the electorate said cost of living was more important than immigration or crime as an issue facing New York City. And of those, Mamdani won by 36 points. So with 55% of the electorate, he won by 36 points. And Ryan, this poll right here is a vindication of the entire Mamdani predicate that he gambled his candidacy on in the primary and the general election. And that is vindicated. I think when you look at these numbers.

E (28:33)

Yeah. And you know, part of this was his campaign out of the gate, and then part of it was just listening to people and listening to people since he's been in office. But, you know, we showed that, that video of him, you know, we're just putting a microphone in front of people's faces and if you talk to people long enough, they're going to tell you, yeah, this place is unaffordable. It's killing me.

D (28:54)

Imagine that. Well, let's actually roll this Vivek Ramaswamy response. And I don't know if my audio is working. I'll try to make sure it works. If it doesn't work, I'll send it to you, Ryan. But Vikramaswamy, who's obviously running for governor in Ohio, posted probably the most interesting Republican reaction. Here it is so far. Let's see if we can hear it. I can't hear it. Can you hear it, Ryan?

E (29:21)

Yeah, I want to send it to me on signal or something.

D (29:24)

I'll send it your way. But yeah, what he's saying is there's two key takeaways here and Ryan, I just popped it in the signal message. But Ramaswamy has two key takeaways and the first one is basically react. I don't know if he saw the NBC exit poll that we just referenced, but it's basically reacting to the NBC exit poll that we just referenced and saying that Republican candidates need to focus on affordability, cost of living over and over again and hammer that home constantly. Here we go, here's Vivek.

C (29:58)

We got our asses handed to us in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City.

F (30:02)

Democrats swept all three.

C (30:03)

There's two key lessons for Republicans. Listen carefully. Number one, our side needs to focus on affordability, make the American dream affordable, bring down costs, electric costs, grocery costs, health care costs and housing costs and.

E (30:19)

Lay out how we're going to do it.

C (30:21)

And number two, cut out the identity politics. It doesn't suit Republicans.

D (30:25)

It's not for us.

F (30:26)

That's the woke left's game, not ours.

C (30:28)

We don't care about the color of.

E (30:30)

Your skin or your religion.

C (30:31)

We care about the content of your character.

F (30:33)

That's who we are.

D (30:34)

He's referring there, I think pretty clearly to people like Elise Stefanik ending the campaign by referring to Mamdani as a jihadist, which we've covered here multiple times, but is completely insane morally and, and practically. It is just a crazy, insane move, especially when the guy on the other side is telling people he's going to make it easier to live in New York City. And that is what's important to the average voter who is not going to believe the guy proudly marching in the Pride Parade, not to repeat myself with proudly marching in the Pride Parade, but is bringing Sharia law to New York City. I mean, so I don't know, like, Vivek is, I think, sort of a squirrely politician, but he's completely right on those two measures. And he's running a gubernatorial race going across Ohio right now. Those are, those seem to be pretty correct diagnoses.

E (31:31)

Yeah, if he wants to, you know, push affordability into the centerpiece of the Republican agenda, that's great. That's the whole Point that's, that's what you want to happen to get. But let's get both parties working on it. Maybe they can like half do it. So. But yeah, the. When he's talking about woke, is he talking about Israel a little bit there too? Like, is he saying that, like, maybe this like, constant, like badgering him to go visit Israel wasn't. Wasn't a good move.

D (32:03)

It might have been that. It might have been a combination of that and referring to. Because, because Vivek finds himself in the crosshairs with the Gripers and Nick Fuentes. And so when he mentioned religion and skin color at the end, I think he is, you know, he gets a lot of this as well for his own religious background, focusing on someone, him.

E (32:26)

Getting attacked at TPUSA events for not being Christian.

D (32:30)

Yeah, he gets that a lot. And so I think my understanding of what Vivek said is probably that a lot of it is comes from that.

E (32:37)

Got it.

D (32:38)

Here's, here's how Vance reacted. So just before we went into this recording, J.D. vance posted around 11:00am East coast time. First of all, he said, you need that the Republican coalition is lower propensity. And that means, quote, we have to do a better job turning out voters than we have in the past. He said, quote, we need to focus on the home front. The president has done a lot that has already paid off in lower interest rates and lower inflation. But we inherited a disaster from Joe Biden and Rome wasn't built in a day. We're going to keep on working to make a decent life affordable in this country. And that's the metric by which we'll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond that is mamdaniism. That's what we should probably say at this point, Ryan. And point three from JD Is the infighting is stupid. I care about my fellow citizens, particularly young Americans, being able to afford a decent life. I care about immigration or sovereignty, and I care about establishing peace overseas so our resources can be focused at home. If you care about those things too, then let's work together. Trump, meanwhile, has been, I don't know if it's, it's fair to say, crashing out on truth social. He's like, he's having a wild one. This is how Trump has been reacting. He right away said 13 hours ago. So that would have been around 11:30pm East coast time, quote, trump wasn't on the ballot and shut down were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections tonight, unquote, according to pollsters. He doesn't cite the pollsters incredible post. Then he posted about the ratings of 60 Minutes and then Republicans. Terminate the filibuster, get back to passing legislation and voter reform. President DJT and then pass voter reform, voter id, no mail in ballots, save our supreme court from packing, no. 2 state edition, et cetera, all caps, Terminate the filibuster. And then he said. And so it begins. All caps. Just a lot going on in the mind of Donald J. Trump last night. Ryan.

E (34:32)

Yeah, Shutdown, I think definitely hurt them in Virginia, probably hurt them in New Jersey. So I think he's right about that. Him, his name not being on the ballot. Yeah. So no, I think, I think, I.

D (34:47)

Think those track calling on a filibuster to be removed. That's an interesting one in the wake of losing elections.

E (34:54)

And every time he does that, Thune comes out and says, no, he's not going to do it.

D (35:01)

Yeah, I mean, but if Trump keeps hitting the drum beat. At first I thought it was a negotiating tactic over the shutdown, but to post that twice in the aftermath of pretty big Dem sweep was quite interesting.

E (35:15)

I saw Stoller making, I think it was Stoller making the suggest. He was suggesting that Trump may worry that he's going to lose the Supreme Court case. Is it today that tariffs are getting. So Supreme Court is hearing challenge to the constitutionality of his, of the use, of his use of tariffs because Congress has delegated tariff authority to the president, but with, but not, not in a blanket way where you can just do, do it the way that he's been doing it. You know, just at, on a whim and for any certain and for any reason. It's got to be an emergency and it's got to be targeted. He just did a formula and slapped it on the entire world and two, at least two courts have struck them down. And so Solar's theory was that he feels like he's going to need Congress for tariffs and he's not going to get it. With a filibuster in place, the court can rule that the tariffs were collected illegally and then you have to give them back, which will be a giant mess because we're pushing like a trillion dollars. There's like insane amount of money has come in on these tariffs paid for by consumers and businesses. But it wouldn't be the consumers and the businesses that would get the rebates. It would be whatever particular company paid the tariff. So. So I think the filibelbuster thing has something to do with that.

D (36:53)

Yeah, that might. There's an amicus brief in that case. That's interesting too. That suggests Trump could use another authority for it. We'll see if he like again, like another technical authority for it. So we'll see if they lose and end up gambling in that direction. But before we move on from Mamdani Ryan, well, this is sort of a bigger picture one, too. I just wanted to flag some more exit polling. This one shows, for example, young women, 81% from mom Donnie in New York City, surprising young women were not coming out in droves for Andrew Cuomo, 80% for Mikey Sheryl in New Jersey, 78% for Spanberger in Virginia. That's according to NBC's exit polls. It looked, I think I retweeted this. It looked also like mom Donnie did. Well, I should be able to find it here.

E (37:45)

I saw 64%.

D (37:47)

Yeah, yeah, here it is. He was plus 40 with young men. So between the ages of 18 to 29, Cheryl was up 10 with young men. Spanberger was up 14 with young men, and Zoran was up 40 with young men. Again, that's according to NBC News's exit polling.

E (38:04)

Yeah, the Democrats keep asking themselves, how do we win men? How do we win men? And they keep being told how you win men. And they're like, well, how do we win men? Without doing that, without offering any of that.

D (38:18)

Yes. The lesson is actually just you can appeal to men the same way you appeal to women, which is just making their lives better. No promising to make their lives better.

E (38:26)

Right, right. But is there a plan B? C? What else? Do you have anything else? Sounds like that's going to require some tax hikes on the rich and I'm so sure about that.

D (38:39)

And Ryan, again, I just wanted to get your take on a little something going on here. This is Frank Luntz looking at some of these counties in Virginia. He says every single county in Virginia shifted. Blue word tonight. These analyses in the New York Times with the arrow are my new election night favorites over the last couple cycles. So look at this. Loudoun county, which was, we were talking about this bit last night, the battleground of the like parental rights movement in the Youngkin election. That was 12 points. Shift to 12 points for Abigail Spanberger of all people, 12 points. And this is with winsome Sears running on that full slate of culture war issues. In fact, at her victory party last night, in her concession speech, Sears mentioned three things like the car tax, I think it was girl sports and not Paula Rick Perry. But I'm forgetting off the top of my head what the other One was, I think at that point she said, oh, it was expanding the economy in that order. And it was. She's. She's sort of a clumsy politician. And everyone now is like, oh, she just wasn't the right candidate. But they lost in New Jersey with a pretty good candidate, too. So I don't know that it was necessarily winsome Sears. A lot of it was political headwinds. But it's amazing that a lot of what felt like the future of politics to many people during 2020 and like capital PW peak woke, it's clearly not the golden ticket of the future in politics. And when you look over here, this is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez telling msnbc, a lot of people are willing to talk about party unity when it serves them, but not party unity when it serves everybody. We have a future to fight for, and we're either going to do that together or you're going to be left behind. So, Ryan, the question I wanted to ask you on that is people reading the future as sort of socialist because Zoran won in New York City. But then you also have these big triumphs for, like, Abigail Spamberger and Mikey Sheryl, where you're persuading kind of swing voters in places like Loudoun. Obviously these are blue counties that went red, but you're bringing people out. You're remaking the electorate in a way that it didn't look like in 2021. And obviously there are persuadable spring voters. Even the fact that people went out and voted on those numbers to, to form this kind of electorate means that they got them off their couches. And so there's, there's this bifurcation of these, like, fantasies of the moderate Democratic establishment in Spamberger and Cheryl and like in Alyssa Slotkin Mamadani. So what. What is the lesson that is going to be taken away? Is it going to be. Zoron was a fluke. If Sliwa had gotten out of the race, it all would have been fine. We could have won with the worst candidate ever, Andrew Cuomo. Or is it going to be, you know, this is all. Everything is new. Like, what's, what's the lesson?

E (41:33)

So let me actually play some Cheryl here, because I think it's actually important to understand what she really ran on in order to be able to answer that question. So here's your Mikey Cheryl, I am fighting for you.

A (41:50)

I'm fighting for affordability. I'm fighting to get your costs down. I'm declaring a state of emergency on day one.

D (41:58)

Freezing Utility rate hikes.

A (42:03)

I said last night, I said, you know what, I'm not playing. Right. I'm not doing a 10 year study. I'm not writing a strongly worded letter.

D (42:12)

Abundance, convene a group.

A (42:14)

I'm declaring a state of emergency to drive your costs down. And that's just where it starts.

B (42:23)

Because as I'm looking to the budget.

A (42:24)

I'm increasing that first time home buyers program so you can get your foot in the door, try to build your family's generational wealth. I'm taking on those landlords who are colluding to drive up your rental prices. Will my opponent do that? No. His biggest donor is one of those.

D (42:41)

Guys that's being investigated right now.

A (42:44)

So this is the fight. And at every single level, I have been willing to take on this fight.

D (42:50)

And I will fight anyone when it.

A (42:52)

Comes to fighting for the people of New Jersey.

D (42:57)

That's my commitment to you. Fascinating.

E (43:00)

Yes. And so back in September, Crystal and I made fun of Democrats for how poorly Spamberger and Cheryl were doing in the polls. And Cheryl continued doing poorly in the polls up through New Jersey. So we now have like Neera Tanden and, and all of her, like a mob, kind of like being like, aha. You shared this poll from September where they were not doing well and look, now they won by a lot. Aren't you guys morons? And to me it's like, if this is what qualifies as Democratic centrism, then the left has won. And I am, I'm glad to like, eat whatever crow that you want me to eat and say that.

C (43:45)

Okay.

E (43:45)

Yes. If Mikey Sherrill runs by saying she's going to declare a state of emergency to bring prices down in the state, she's going to crack down on landlords who are colluding to raise prices. She's going to increase, you know, she's going to help people buy homes and she's going to, you know, across the board, not a long committee across the board, she's going to immediately make affordability the thing that she's going to do. And she's going to do that by fighting against the greedy landlords and breaking them up. And she can do it because she's not taking their money and the opponents are. If that is what qualifies as Democratic centrism, then Neera Tanden. Amazing. Wonderful. That's terrific. You got me.

D (44:34)

Welcome to the party.

E (44:35)

Yeah. No, no, no. It's your party. It's your party. Like, let them think it's their idea. And if, and if they run with it, great. That's the whole point. And Jayapal talked about this on the stream last night. But it's important to underscore people like Sheryl and Spanberger actually were quite good in 2022 when it came to the child tax credit and actually a lot of the kind of climate money. And they wanted to show voters that they were doing something, that they were making their lives materially better. And in particular, they fought very hard around the care economy stuff and they lost that fight. And Democrats are much, and the country's much worse off because they lost that over in the Senate. But these are a different kind of centrist Democrats in the sense that they're actually trying to make regular people's lives a little bit more affordable and better. So it's not as if they just picked this stuff up. They were in 2022, the New Democrats, which are the offshoot of the business wing of the Democratic Party, really rallied around the, the child tax credit in particular. And if, if that is what qualifies as the like, right wing of the Democratic Party, then that's, you know, that is a total victory for the populist side. And, and, and, and we'll be gracious about it. Good, like, wonderful. Congratulations to Mikey Sherrill.

D (46:04)

Well, maybe you'll be gracious about it. Ryan. You and Crystal will be gracious.

E (46:09)

Everyone will follow our lead and be gracious.

D (46:11)

So we're, we're again talking about double digit wins here for Spamberger and Sheryl. So 57.2% for Spamberger, 42.6% for Sears with 95% of the vote in here on Wednesday morning. Jay Jones. Jay Jones, who Republicans thought they actually might beat even he won by what it's looking like six points. So 52.8%, more than half the vote and 46.8% for Miarez. We are looking at Mikey Sheryl at 56.2% with 95% of the votes into Cittarelli at 43.2% of the votes in. And of course Zora Momdani right now with 91% of the votes in, is at over 50% of the vote. He's at 50.4% and Andrew Cuomo is at 41.6%. Incredible stuff, Ren.

E (46:57)

Yes, indeed. Yeah. So big night for Democrats. I don't know what kind of breaks it puts on Trump. I, I, I don't know how connected he feels to the electorate and the polls at this point. He seems to have the least amount of responsiveness of any president ever, including his first term, of kind of reaction to the public will. But this is a pretty big expression of that will. So I guess we'll see.

D (47:26)

Yeah, not entirely different from what happened in 2017 or 18. And I was talking to a consultant last night, a GOP consultant last night. He was looking back on those races and we were reflecting on how heavily they were influenced by Russia collusion narratives. But you'll remember Ryan Healthcare was also a huge, huge fixture in those elections. And you know, Virginia, obviously the conversation about federal workers and Doge, that's front of mind for people. So probably contributes to the easy win even for somebody like Jay Jones in that state. But Trumpism, you know, if, if, if you're one of the professional Republicans here in Washington that doesn't believe Donald Trump should run for a third term, as even he seems to be conceding, he, he won't at this point, then right now you're looking really seriously at how J.D. vance is analyzing these election these. You're, you're realizing that you've got about three years left to kind of coast on maga, which has never worked in down ballot races unless Donald Trump, as he put it on true social correctly is at the top of the ballot. So that kind of artificial sugar high is coming to an end for Republicans and they need to figure out Winston Sears was seen as somebody, in fact that could be Glenn Youngkin was seen as somebody who could be Trump without Trumpism, without Trump. That could be the kind of early model for the future with persuadable voters and can keep the MAGA coalition of working class, multiracial working class coalition coming to the polls. You know, these elections are low propensity, but that's, you have to win a whole lot of low propensity elections to have national power. So that's a huge question obviously weighing on the minds of many, many Republicans right now.

E (49:07)

Yep. Yes, indeed.

D (49:09)

All right. Well, we have so many reactions. There's nobody that you would want in your corner, apart from Ryan Grimm or other than Ryan Grimm and Griffin to grab the most high profile people who are just milling about a campaign party because you guys got, it's like Stefan. That's what I was thinking about last night. It was like a Stefan sketch. Like we have everyone, Lina Khan, a star of Sex and the City, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. That's what you guys did.

E (49:38)

And Khan alluded last night to a role she was going to play in the Mamdani administration. She just said at a press conference that she's going to join the transition team. So that's going to be very good because, you know, Lina Khan is one of the most, is one of the most effective implementers of the kind of populist antitrust vision Democrats. It's one thing to, you know, write a paper about it or talk about it on a podcast. It's a whole other thing to actually go to court and go to and, and go to the lawmakers and put something into actual practice that combats that corporate power. And so, you know, she has been doing that and thinking about it and getting it actually done. And so if she's, you know, involved in the Mamdani transition, that's, I think, very good news.

D (50:35)

Fascinating. And so make sure that you stay tuned to hear exactly how everyone was reacting. We're about to roll this now. It is like a Stefan sketch. All of the people that you would ever imagine and then some of the people you would never imagine hearing from the Reggie boys mom, Donnie livestream. Incredible, Ryan. And incredible that you made it home for the birthday breakfast today too.

E (50:59)

Yeah. And got him these, these Philadelphia Eagles Crocs in New York that are very cool. Whoa.

D (51:05)

That's awesome. Well, packers versus Eagles coming up too, so I don't want to ruin his birthday, but you guys are going down.

E (51:12)

We'll see.

D (51:14)

All right.

E (51:14)

We watch it again. All right.

D (51:17)

All right, now enjoy the reactions. Live on the ground from the Mandani Mamdani victory party.

A (51:25)

I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I.

B (51:29)

Don'T trust much of anything.

C (51:32)

It's the rage bait.

A (51:35)

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

C (51:39)

We got clear facts.

D (51:41)

Maybe we could calm down a little.

E (51:45)

NBC News brings you clear reporting.

C (51:47)

Let's meet at the facts.

E (51:49)

Let's meet at the Move forward from there.

C (51:51)

NBC News, reporting for America on the podcast Health Stuff, we are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night.

A (52:00)

Yes, I'm Dr. Priyanka Walley, a double board certified physician.

C (52:04)

And I'm Hari Kondabolu, a comedian and.

E (52:06)

Someone who once googled do I have.

C (52:08)

Scurvy at 3am on health stuff, we're.

A (52:11)

Talking about health in a different way.

C (52:13)

It's not only about what we can do to improve our health health, but.

A (52:16)

Also what our health says about us and the way we're living.

C (52:19)

Like our episode where we look at.

A (52:21)

Diabetes in the United states. I mean, 50% of Americans are pre diabetic.

C (52:27)

How preventable is type 2?

D (52:30)

Extremely.

A (52:31)

Or our in depth analysis of how incredible Mangoes are.

C (52:36)

Oh, it's hard to explain to rest of the world that, like, your mangoes are fine because mangoes are incredible.

E (52:42)

But, like, you don't even know.

D (52:44)

You don't know.

C (52:45)

You don't know.

A (52:47)

It's going to be a fun ride. So tune in.

D (52:50)

Listen to health stuff on the iHeartRadio.

C (52:52)

App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

D (52:56)

She said, Johnny, the kids didn't come home last night.

E (53:00)

Along the Central Texas plains, teens are dying, suicides that don't make sense. Strange accidents and brutal murders in what seems to be a plot ripped straight.

A (53:14)

Out of Breaking Bad. Drugs, alcohol, trafficking of people.

B (53:19)

There are people out there that absolutely know what happened.

E (53:22)

Listen to Paper Ghosts, the Texas teen murders on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.

F (53:28)

Or wherever you get your podcasts. Why don't we step back and show.

C (53:34)

Us where we are for just a.

F (53:35)

Second for the stream. Here we are in the beautiful Brooklyn Paramount Theater. It's.

C (53:39)

It's beginning to fill up with people here. We're gonna have a pretty good angle.

F (53:43)

On the speech and the crowd.

C (53:45)

And we got Abby Phillips behind us.

E (53:48)

Cnn, I believe.

C (53:49)

Huge.

B (53:52)

Spot.

F (53:53)

Ryan is getting lots of attention.

C (53:55)

Naomi Klein says hello.

F (53:56)

Naomi Klein, do you want to say anything?

A (53:57)

Hey, Naomi, what's up?

D (53:59)

Thanks for coming on.

A (54:01)

We need some happiness. We need some joy. We're gonna get it.

C (54:05)

Yeah. Were you out on the streets today?

A (54:06)

Yeah.

C (54:07)

What did you say?

A (54:08)

I mean, a lot of people were very happy to have voted. We were. I was canvassing with Jude's Fitzorham, and, you know, we actually went back to the Grand Army Plaza where we had had this big action a year and a half ago outside Chuck Schumer's house, the Seder, in the streets. And I had given a speech then, and I had said to Chuck that the kids are with us now. And what did he say? Just elected Zorin Mandani.

C (54:40)

The kids are with you?

D (54:41)

I think.

C (54:42)

What did Chuck say to that whole movement?

A (54:43)

And this generational divide that is ruptured over the genocide is a huge part of why it's possible for Zorin to be elected, which he will be. I know he hasn't been yet, but. Yeah, I mean, the other thing that I tried to convey in the campaign I've been doing the past couple days is just like, even though these disgusting ads are all about fear of Mamdani, it's actually fear of the coalition. It's actually fear of the possibility, what becomes possible when people connect across divides. So that was. That was my, like, I feel that, you know. Yeah.

C (55:16)

Did you were regular people coming up to you or like, were you mostly just going to the doors? You were supposed to do like.

A (55:22)

We were, we were outside of a polling, a polling place, like a voting place. So people were talking to people as they went in, as they came out? Yeah, yeah. I mean, people who voted for Zoram were very happy to talk about how they voted for him or were going.

B (55:36)

To vote for him.

A (55:37)

People who didn't were like.

E (55:40)

Fair enough.

B (55:42)

Yeah.

A (55:43)

I didn't get into any arguments.

E (55:44)

Excellent.

A (55:44)

What about you? What did you see today?

C (55:47)

I, I, I have only been here for a couple hours, but everybody, everybody I talk to was like, oh, yeah, I vote for that guy or I voted for that person. Or like, and nor like just regular people on the street.

A (55:58)

Yeah, yeah, I think.

C (56:01)

And they were saying, like, I think he's going to win, like by a lot. They were pretty.

A (56:05)

So.

B (56:06)

Yeah.

C (56:06)

Am I correct in saying Chuck Schumer said he didn't say who he voted for in the, who he voted for? Who do you think he voted for?

A (56:12)

I think he voted for.

C (56:15)

Yeah, I think, no doubt about it. Yeah, I think so too.

A (56:18)

Resign. I mean, if New York overwhelmingly elects. Zaron.

C (56:25)

What do you think? What do you think he did?

A (56:27)

He's supposed to represent the city, right?

C (56:29)

What do you think he did that, that Bernie didn't do? He, he managed to basically, you know, change the electorate and bring people out, excite people who hadn't been involved in politics before. Bernie didn't quite pull that off in 2020. What, why do you think? Is it because it's a concentrated media market and like, he was able to reach more people more directly, like, you know, going from state to state in the primary caucus system, it's like you go to a state, you have no idea there's an election going on. And it's just all of a sudden on a random day in August 5th.

A (57:04)

Or whatever, the first person to say that he is part of a, a, of a lineage movement, that, you know, what he's doing wouldn't be, have been possible without Bernie. I think that part of what it means to not be, you know, the first to try, is that there was more of a sense of play, like, more of a sense of like actual like joy, having fun. And I think the fact that people in New York channeled all of their fear and rage about Trump into electing Mamdani and doing it in this spirit of being like, not just anti fascist, but the antithesis of fascism, like in terms of fascists want uniformity. Fascists want this, like, like intense discipline. And the whole campaign was about celebrating the cultural and linguistic diversity of the city. It was this love letter to the city. It was about like, hey, like, let's not be afraid of cities. They're actually kind of incredible. They can be better. Yes, but they're amazing. And there's, I think, in the face of so much like, anti urban rhetoric coming from Trump, it was really about time for New York to fall back in love with itself.

C (58:15)

It really did come across that Zorin loves New York City. And it really also looked like Andrew Cuomo really does dislikes New York City.

A (58:24)

And all the billionaires who are threatening to be like, right, vote for us.

C (58:29)

Or we're gonna leave.

A (58:30)

I have no commitment to this place. And whereas his whole campaign was like, I love this city enough that I'd like to be able to afford it and stay. And stay with my family and stay with my community and friends. Like, it's the polar opposite message is. So I love that, you know, like, like, you know, the people who want to blast themselves into outer space and build their bunkers and just extract from cities and extract from humans. Like, yeah, it was so sharp, that delineation. So, yeah, I think it was, it was different.

C (58:58)

Yeah.

A (58:58)

Yeah.

C (58:59)

But Curtis Lewa, too, he seems to authentically love New York. We'll give.

B (59:03)

We'll give it.

A (59:03)

I like a true New York character. Yeah, for sure.

C (59:06)

Yeah.

A (59:07)

Anyway, good to see you.

C (59:08)

Nice to see you too.

E (59:09)

I'll be around.

F (59:10)

Yeah.

C (59:11)

Former gubernatorial candidate.

F (59:14)

I'll hold the mic for you.

C (59:16)

Cynthia Nixon, welcome to the drop site and breaking Point Stream. So were you out canvassing today?

A (59:22)

I was in rehearsal today, but my wife was canvassing in Washington Heights.

C (59:28)

What accounts for this victory?

A (59:30)

What accounts for this victory is Zahran Mamdani, who is, you know, a once in a generation leader. And the movement that he has built, 90,000 volunteers, but also that he is. We have finally found a way to show the Democrats, Democratic Party we can actually offer an alternative to MAGA that makes us the party of working people again. And not just. Not just saying, vote for us, we're not Donald Trump, but actually vote for us, because we're offering you concrete things that are going to make your lives better.

C (60:03)

One thing that he seemed to do in the immediate wake of the primary was consolidate a lot of the Institutional Democratic support in a way that was almost surprising. Like the labor unions and others who Cuomo had kind of had a stranglehold on for a very Long time he was able to say, no, no, I won the primary. And what did he do as far as you understand, to be able to do that? Because if those institutional forces stay on the sidelines and then move over to Cuomo, maybe you have a different race.

A (60:36)

I mean, I wish that the leaders of the Democratic Party did, did that, you know, but I think in terms of the unions and, and that more institutional support, I think they got into a room with Zoran and they watched what he was able to do in the primary. They watched how he was able to mobilize and inspire people going from 2%, almost no name recognition against a multi term dynastic governor. And I think, you know, people are skeptical about Zoran. It's hard to be skeptical once you get into a room with him and you talk to him.

C (61:15)

Kathy Hochul said recently that she heard the people at the rally saying, tax the rich. But it's going to take more than one energetic rally to change her mind. What is it going to take to change her mind? Because he's going to need her in order to get a lot of his agenda done. But I would assume that she's going to need him as well.

A (61:34)

Yes, I think that Zoran, you know, needs all of us to make his, make his platform a reality. But I think it's very important to the older generation of Democrats to actually see the writing on the wall and see finally we have a way of offering people something that is going to invigorate the party. And I think you ignore the writing on the wall at your peril.

C (61:59)

Did you last thing from Band and Megara, when you were watching the campaign, was there anything where you were like, damn, wish I'd have done that?

A (62:08)

No, no. I mean, you can't, you can't compare me and Zoron. You just, you just.

E (62:13)

Different ball game.

A (62:14)

Totally different ball. Yeah, yeah.

F (62:17)

We had another question from another team member.

C (62:20)

Emily asked, do you think audiences respond to Gilded Age like they respond to Zoron? Are the parallels between that time and now?

A (62:28)

I mean, I think the, the thing about the Gilded Age, it's a beautiful show and it shows a lot of the glitter of the Gilded Age. And I think we're living in another Gilded Age. And I think that Zoran is laying bare.

B (62:46)

Kind of the horrors of, of.

A (62:48)

An era like the Gilded Age that we're living in now where there is so much income inequality and people cannot not put food on the table or get health care.

B (62:58)

Right.

C (62:58)

Well, Cynthia Nixon, thank you. So last one.

A (63:01)

Okay.

C (63:02)

Because I remember you were also at AOC's 2018 primary night victory. How do you compare, how do you compare the. That night to this? Zoron's primary night to this night?

A (63:14)

I think it feels very the same. I think it, it's, it's all in a line. And I think, you know, the granddaddy of us all is Bernie Sanders, and we are all Bernie Sanders children. And I think AOC's victory was improbable and magical in the same way that Zoran's is. And I think that we are just going to keep going.

F (63:37)

Thank you so much.

E (63:41)

Back, y'. All.

C (63:42)

Oh, my God. I'm Big dad. I'm so, I'm so starstruck, guys. Yeah, I, I love the Guild age.

D (63:52)

I self identify as a Miranda. Seeing her on our screen, I was.

C (63:55)

Like, holy, I can't believe this.

D (63:58)

I love you, Cynthia. I know you can't hear me.

C (64:00)

I love you. Thank you for all the great memories.

A (64:03)

Congressman Jayapal, great to have you.

B (64:05)

It's great to be with you. It's a good night.

A (64:08)

Yes, it is. So there's a bunch of stuff we wanted to get from you, but first of all, just your reaction to Zoran Mamdani being the next mayor of New York City, overcoming, you know, this sort of cabal of billionaires and Donald Trump backing Andrew Cuomo to secure a victory and looking like he's probably going to hit that 50% mark, too.

B (64:25)

It certainly does. And it is a great night to watch that race, to watch that campaign and to see the win. He texted me earlier today and I said, you know, you've really transformed politics. Politics and the coalition that we knew could be built and on the agenda that is really going to deliver for working people. The turnout is spectacular. And I think that the whole way in which he ran the campaign, the way in which he stood up for his values, the way in which he didn't leave anybody behind, he brought everybody in. The way in which, even after the primary, he was continuing to bring in new people despite the absolutely horrific, horrific Islamophobic. Just, I mean, just. It's hard to even watch that happening. And it wasn't just from Republicans. It was also from Democrats. And I think that hopefully his win tonight resets the table and brings up all of the ways in which we as a Democratic Party have to continue to work and make affordability center, but also make justice for everybody center.

A (65:36)

Yeah. I mean, what do you make of Senator Schumer in particular? Refusing to back him, refusing to say whether he'd vote for him when his opponent is endorsed by Donald Trump and had to resign in disgrace, by the way, and also, by the way, also lost the democratic primary by 12 or 13 points. So, you know, what is your, what is your message to him? What do you make of that decision from him?

B (66:01)

I just think it's absolutely unacceptable. And I think that, you know, everyone should have come on board quickly, enthusiastically. We've been saying we want a candidate who can, you know, we want to, as a Democratic Party, be able to bring back working class voters, be able to focus on affordability, be able to bring in new people that haven't voted. Zoran Mamdani did all of those things. And I think that, you know, we will see the reckoning will, will be later for Senator Schum and, and others. I think Kathy OKL did it the right way. I think, you know, it was really important that, and she appeared with him several times. I saw, despite some pushback to, to her being there. But I think it is important. We are always told as progressives that we've got to unite around the Democratic nominee. That's what should have happened in this case as well.

C (66:55)

And can you talk to us a little bit about the Seattle mayoral race? We understand there's an insurgent candidate out there. We have an east coast bias here that we, that we acknowledge that we work against. Help us out. There's a big race going on where you're from.

B (67:10)

Yes, there's multiple big races. I mean, I think it's really important that we don't take just Zoran Mamdani's win, which is unbelievable, exceptional, has energized all of us, but that we actually look at what's happening in places across the country and you know, we had some backsliding in Seattle over the last couple of elections where we got a Republican city attorney in. Unfortunately, we split progressive votes and a Republican made it into the city attorneys race. And it has not been a good thing. We got a very conservative Democrat in who served as council president and really pushed a lot of progressives, frankly, out. The council in Seattle became much more conservative. And so now what we have tonight is a number of very important races. The mayor's race is going to be very important. Katie Wilson, Transit riders union founder, very, you know, has worked on a lot of really important progressive policies and got in late into the race, you know, didn't get in until the spring and really built something, I think inspired by Zoron, but also inspired by the work that she has done as an organizer and So I think that this is, I do think this will be a close closer race, but we'll, I think she has a really good shot of winning and I think on top of that we've got the city attorneys race where we have a fantastic candidate that I've endorsed. Erica Evans is running and I think is going to win and is going to win big. I hope we also have this, the president that I mentioned, the council president, former council president that I mentioned who's running for reelection. I think she's going to get pushed out with a big win from Dion Foster, another really strong progressive who's been organizing, got a lot of our tax the rich, you know, tax fairness reforms on the ballot, was working as an organizer for years. And we are re electing to a full term a seat that was, we just won a year ago as a fill in election but now to a full term wonderful progressive candidate named Alexis Mercedes Rink who has already done in one short year kind of a remarkable job on really turning the city council back towards a progressive lane. So all of those races really good. And then on our King county race, this is, this may be another close race, but I've endorsed Girmay Zahilai, who is worked on hunger as an organizer a long time ago, is a lawyer himself, is on the King County County Council, but running for the first time in 16 years for the King county executive seat. And Girmai is a refugee who came here when he was three years old. He has been a staunch advocate for immigrants and refugees. And all of these people together are going to allow us to stand up to Trump and stand up for progressive policies as Seattle has done for so much of our history.

A (70:11)

It's been a very good night for Democrats across the board sort of regardless of ideological leanings. You know, I have more centrist candidates like Abigail Spanberger, Mikey Sherrill doing very well in Virginia and New Jersey, securing those races. You know, you had two statewide races in Georgia go overwhelmingly Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices just kind of across the board really, you know, Democratic sweep. And you know, I think a lot of this has to do with backlash against Trump. But I'm just wondering what your sense of the reaction from the electorate is and why this was such a, such a big night and so many big wins for Democrats, you know, in states and different ideological leanings kind of across the board.

B (70:50)

Well, I think it just shows we don't have to have just one kind of Democratic candidate. Right. We can have a number of different kinds to build coalitions for different races. In different states and that we need everybody and that there are lessons to learn from New York City about how to energize a very diverse coalition, bring young people back in with an excitement that we haven't seen. But also, also from Virginia and from New Jersey, where both Mikey and Abigail, who I served with in Congress, and actually, if you, you both remember the build back better struggles pretty well, you know, they were both very, very essential in pushing for universal childcare here in the House during that whole debate. They were part of the moderate group that we reached out to as progressives and said, hey, let's be in this together. And they stuck with us. In fact, Mikey was on education and labor with me and really pushed back against attempts even within our own party to, you know, go for less than universal childcare. And so I think that both of them did in different ways and to different extents, focus on affordability and on really popular populist policies that raise wages and that, you know, elevate working class struggles. And so, yes, it's not, you know, they're definitely running on a much more, in their words, pragmatic vision, but I would say that their policies, actually, many of them reflect the focus on affordability that Zoron, I think, really elevated and made so clear, had to be central to any win anywhere in the country.

C (72:31)

Yeah, that, that is true. There was this unusual, unusual for the Democratic Party shift where in 2022 it was the century interests and the kind of what. What would traditionally be called more of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party were pushing. The party said, oh, we need some wins here on affordability. And particularly when it came to the child tax, you know, child tax credit and other things, that was unusual. Whereas in the, you know, previous cycles, it would be the. That wing of the party would be pushing for, you know, deficit, you know, we've got to cut the deficit, we got to cut taxes. And, you know, that, that typical. That typical Reddit therapy. Back on the Mom Donnie campaign, I'm curious, did you ever talk to Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who, you know, he endorsed Mom Donnie a day or two ago, but kept getting asked and kept holding out and kept, kept.

A (73:20)

Very reluctant. Yeah.

C (73:21)

Did you, did, did, did he talk to any of the progressives in the House about what's going on here or what? Like, he was just.

B (73:28)

I didn't.

C (73:28)

How embarrassing is this?

B (73:30)

Yeah, I mean, I didn't speak to him about it. You know, I know he represents Brooklyn, right. And it's one of the areas that mamdani did so incredibly. I think I got that right. But, you know, one of the areas that Mamdani did so incredibly well in, and I don't know what was going through his mind, I know other people in New York were talking to him. I was not one of those people. But I think that, you know, this is, this shouldn't be a question. And I think it just goes back to, you know, the fact that there are big donors who didn't necessarily want Mamdani complicated politics with some of the New York Democrats, unfortunately. I think that was really also outrageous to have Democrats saying, we don't, you know, we don't want, we don't want that kind of person in our party.

A (74:20)

And I'm calling him a jihadist. Yes.

B (74:22)

I mean, I just think that all of that is, you know, we don't forget it. But we allow the victory of tonight to make our point very clearly that, that Zoran Mandani is a remarkable candidate that we all should be celebrating and that is helping the Democratic Party to rebuild itself.

A (74:42)

I mean, it's quite a contrast between, you know, what you just said, which is, listen, we got to have all kinds of candidates, we all got to work together. And I had a great relationship with Abigail Spanberger versus is, you know, when you see a Hakeem Jeffries, a Kirsten Gillibrand, a Chuck Schumer, a Dan Goldman who are saying, actually, no, we don't want, we don't want the Zoran Mamdani of the world. We don't want to, we're not going to endorse them even though the voters back them. We're not going to even say that we're willing to vote for them. We don't want that part of the party at all. So how do you in a sense unify with a group of people who are saying effectively like, we don't want you?

B (75:18)

Well, I'm glad that Hakeem endorsed that leader, Jeffries endorsed Zoron. I think that, you know, there were complicated dynamics there. But I want to be clear, like I'm happy to say I don't want to be in the same party as Kirsten Cinema or Joe Manchin. Right. I do still think that there is a need at some point in our country, in our country's future for multi party democracy. Why not? You know, because, because I think that at the end of the day, what we have right now is essentially a two party system and Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Zoran Mamdani, me, Greg Cassar, Maxwell Frost we are all pushing very hard to really build up this part of the Democratic Party and stiffen the spines of others. And I think that the way we've held together, I will give Hakeem Jeffries a lot of credit for holding the House together on the shutdown vote as an example last time and this time and really pushing, we, we want to encourage that and we want to make sure that we continue to show that our policies and our way of working is the right way to work. Not, not one that, you know, tries to say the Democratic Party is only good if it represents moderate conservative establishment Democrats or independent. No, we actually need 90 million Democrats that didn't vote in the last election to or 90 million people that didn't vote in the last presidential election to come out and vote. And they're not going to be inspired by just the regular old same old, same old. They'll be inspired by some of the candidates we're seeing right now.

C (76:54)

And, and the way I see it, and I'm curious for your take on this, is that a night like this where with Doran momdamny winning so thoroughly is there he's doing a huge favor to the Democratic establishment. You know, I'm not telling you anything you don't know. There, there is an enormous amount of rage among the Democratic base and among independents at everything, but also at the, at the Democratic Party itself. And what Mamdani is doing here and what Graham Platner are doing, Maine and others are doing are, there's, they're, they're finding a way to channel that energy and answering the, the problem that people have with Democrats, which is that they don't stand for anything with, here's what we stand for. Here's, here's how you can channel this anger and this, this rage into something hopeful and organized in another direction. So if the, the reason I say they're doing them a favor is if they don't do that, what's, what's plan B or C from the Democratic Party establishment? What, like an honest question, like what, what are they going to do with all this anger?

B (77:59)

I, I, I really don't know. I mean, I just think that this, there is no answer other than to make sure that we are actually bringing people in, listening to them and standing up and fighting for them. And by the way, that doesn't mean just holding performative votes where you say, oh, it was a 60 vote threshold, but we voted for it, but we can't get it done. No, it means standing up and fighting for the things that we say we want to deliver and bringing everything we have to that fight. Because you're right, Ryan, those, those people will go the direction of the 90 million that didn't vote. And one of the most hopeful things tonight for me, whether it's in Virginia, whether it's in Maine, whether it's in, in Pennsylvania, in New Jersey or in New York or hopefully now in California with Prop 50 and with, and with right here in Washington state, is that people are engaging again. They are actually believing that their vote matters and that democracy matters. And the only way we fight authoritarians and dictators and fascists and all the things that we are fighting right now is if people are engaged and if they, they will only engage if they think their vote matters and if they think, think that we want to listen to them and that we want to fight for them and that we're going to do something different than what we've done before. And so I just, I feel, you know, I feel I'm an, I'm kind of a hopeful, optimistic person in general, but tonight has really renewed a lot of my faith that if we just listen and if we actually fight for people and if we actually give a proactive, positive proposition vision, not just an opposition vision of what we're going to stand up for, we can bring people back in. And, you know, and that has to be a respect for all voters, all voters, not just, not just the suburban, you know, independent or conservative Democrat or, you know, so called moderate Republican, but actually our base of people that, that wants to believe in us if we give them something to believe in.

A (80:12)

Congressman, my last question for you and I really appreciate your time this evening, is if you have visibility on the shutdown, I saw some news that some senators may be moving in the direction of caving. Do you have a message for them? Do you have a sense of some sort of deal or negotiations that may be coming together?

B (80:31)

Well, look, I just think that it is really important that we continue to hold the line. We have a president who today tweeted out that he was not going to listen to a court order ordering him to release SNAP funds. Now, his press secretary walked it back, but he hasn't. And we still have right now Americans who are looking at their health care premiums and making a choice about whether they're going to just get off of health care, which many of them will decide to do so that they can pay for their medication or for their food. We have people right now who are going hungry because cruelty is the point. From this Republican Party. And so the only way you fight a bully is not to cave, but to actually hold out. And most of the federal employees that I've talked to, I know this is a very tough time for people who are hungry, people who are, you know, losing paychecks, who are working without a paycheck, furloughed, all of those things. I am still hearing from people, you know, help us get food, get food into the food banks, all of that. But don't cave, because if you cave, the minute we go back to work, he could just slash another several hundred thousand jobs the way he did before the shutdown ever started, 250,000 jobs that were slashed. And so I really do think that what we need to do is make Republicans come to the table to help us save health care or to agree to our demand to save health care, to restore snap, and yes, then we can reopen the government.

C (82:03)

Last one for me, you mentioned Maine. What is your, I'm sure you've been watching from afar this, the fight going on in Maine between Janet Mills and Graham Platner. How do you, how do you, how are you thinking about that, that race and what have, what have you heard just from your, your colleagues who are kind of following the news there?

B (82:22)

You know, I haven't been that engaged on the main race. I would like to get to know Graham Platner. I just haven't engaged on that. I will tell you that there are a bunch of candidates across the country that the CPC pac, which I co chair with Maxwell Frost and Greg Cassar, that we are looking at, that we're super excited about. And I think that this is an opportunity in some cases we, you know, we will have to figure out how we defeat the APAC candidate, right? How we, how we don't split progressive votes so that we end up with somebody who is not progressive on any realm or progressive except for Palestine or whatever it is. And so I think that these are going to be some, some, some tough things that we're going to have to go through. But I also think that we've got some exceptional candidates that are stepping up that really have the opportunity to win. And we're excited that I think we'll have Christian Menifee is going to win his race in Texas. He's going to go to the runoff, I should say, which is great. And we have a couple of other races that we're watching closely. And I also think that the Prop 50 races is, the Prop 50 initiative is, is just really, really important because it shows what can happen when you refuse to accept what they're telling you is your new reality. Right.

A (83:38)

Yeah, I think that's a great point.

D (83:41)

Yeah.

B (83:41)

And now you look and, and I think Missouri just dropped their redistricting plan.

D (83:48)

Right.

B (83:49)

So. And we, we saw Kansas.

A (83:51)

I think Kansas. At least what I saw was Kansas.

B (83:54)

But yeah, you're right, it was, it was Kansas. My apologies. It was Sharice Davids. That's right. So I think that's really, really important. And so that's just another thing for us to remember is whatever seems like it's the reality today does not have to be the reality tomorrow.

A (84:12)

Yeah, very true. Well, Congressman, thank you. Congresswoman, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

B (84:19)

Thanks for having me on. Good to see you guys.

A (84:21)

Yeah, our pleasure. You too.

B (84:22)

Take care.

C (84:23)

For people who are new to this, which I doubt there are any, there was the. One of the most ridiculous debate moments ever where Andrew Cuomo says he won't.

D (84:33)

Even put this in your left ear.

C (84:34)

He won't. The debate moment was he won't denounce Hamas or Hassan Piker. That is a thing that actually happens. I, I will not denounce Zoram Hamdani, but Zora will denounce me under the UN Charter. Occupied fairness have a right to Hasan Piker. It's true. People get so mad.

A (85:01)

Hey, how's it going? In fairness, he. He condemned your comments, not necessarily you as a human being, I would say.

C (85:09)

Well, it's, it's a tricky situation because, like everything that they're saying about me, they get kind of say about him too. So it's like, you know, because he's also a 34 year old Muslim socialist. Like, let's be real, the reason why, why they were attacking him was because like, you know, or it was Islamophobia. Yeah. So it was a, it was a unique predicament. But I, I like to see the silver lining where like I tanked it for Mahmoud, his dad, like instead of them focusing on his dad and his academic work, they had to focus on me instead. Yeah, there was a. There was a lot. There was a rich vein they could have tapped with his dad if they would have gone for after his dad is up kinds of stuff there. Radical. I mean, don't, don't give them more oppo. Jesus. Well, it's over now.

D (85:53)

Ryan.

C (85:54)

Can't stop being a journalist. That's right. So how long you been here? Have you been out canvassing or what's been your situation? No, no, I just got in. I got in for CricketCon originally. I'm going to D.C. i think Zuron's about to deliver a speech, I suspect. Oh no, Cuomo is conceding. Oh, but yeah, I came in for, I came in for crooked con in D.C. but I was like, I gotta see this happen in, in real time, you know, So I showed up. Was this the, was this the first race that you were mentioned this much?

F (86:32)

Yes.

C (86:33)

What was it? What was it? I hope it's the first. I hope it's the first and last. No, it's the beginning. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. I actually hated it as a matter of fact, because, look, I got a lot of haters. I don't like being the contrary to what people might think. I don't like being the center of attention because I'm just, I'm just a, a megaphone. The way I see myself, I, I try to, I try to offer a platform to people that I think are doing right. And that's what I did with zoning. And it's obvious that there I have some high profile big donors that are not exactly fond of what I have to say. And I think it's. A lot of, it has to do with Israel if we're being real. I think it's mostly to do with Israel, as a matter of fact. Yeah, go ahead.

A (87:24)

I was just gonna say. Did you see they're trying to like denaturalize Zoron. They're trying to deport him. All the things they threaten you with. They're also trying to, trying to threaten to use the 14th Amendment to keep him from being sworn in. How serious do you take that kind of stuff?

C (87:40)

I mean, you have to unfortunately take everything that these administration is saying is a joke seriously because what they test out as jokes sometimes do become serious policy provisions. But I, I think that Zoron has the people's backing. So it's going to be quite difficult to do that in a very high profile manner. It's just, it's just another battle that we have to fight. It is what it is. But unfortunately that's what this administration is entertaining. It's very dangerous. But we will push back. You and you've watched a lot of these candidates. When did you notice that he was going to do something different than the traditional kind of progressive populist candidate? And like, what did he do right that others missed? I got a lot of friends in the DSA out here. I got a lot of journalist friends who hit me up and was like, this guy's the real deal. And he was at like 1% at that point. I was like, I don't know who this guy is, but he's handsome, he seems nice. It's a long shot, but I'm always gonna be on board. If someone is out there putting working class politics first and foremost at the center of their campaign, I'm always going to be there by their side.

B (88:54)

Side.

C (88:55)

And I'm really glad I did because, I mean, look. Look what can happen right, when you do center the working class in your. In your policy, in your politics. It's good politics and it's good policy. It is. And this is kind of an obvious point, but it was. It's crazy walking around this city today, riding through the trains, taking in the. The massive. The size of this city, and then knowing this guy is going to be the mayor of this. That's right, baby. We're doing white boy jihad. We're doing woke Sharia, the Islamic caliphate. Well, I guess that's more like a sunny thing. I'm just. As a Sunni Muslim, I assume he's gonna do the caliphate, but I don't know. He's a Twelver, so who knows? Yeah, who knows? There is division, as Andrew Cuomo.

B (89:45)

Correct.

C (89:45)

Correctly pointed out, there is big division. That's right. Amongst the Muslim masses. He says Zoran is divisive because he is not a real Muslim because he's Shia. Yeah. That was crazy.

E (89:56)

That was.

C (89:57)

Maybe he's been hanging out with what's his face, Ahmed Shara or whatever. No, no, no. He's been hanging out with the Jelani. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. Jelani's like. Yeah.

A (90:10)

We've got Cuomo speech right now happening.

C (90:14)

Oh, yeah. He's got nothing we need to hear. Let's be real. I'll watch it later. Yeah, I hope we can. Suck my entire dick, Andrew Cuomo. That's what I have to say to Andrew Cuomo. Suck my dick from the back. You failed because you're a dumbass loser who spent the last three weeks of your stupid ass campaign being like, oh, this Twitch streamer. He's the mastermind behind 911. I was 10 years old, bitch. Stupid ass. Lost twice. He fell twice. Yeah. Failed twice. Oh, my God. He won and then failed twice. Running against a Muslim socialist candidate. You have to hang your head in shame. You can't ever run ever again. You can't even be the dog catcher. You're done. You're done. What do you think he does next? I don't want to say I mean, he's.

A (91:08)

You think they'll fall?

C (91:10)

Icc. He's helping with the lawyers on that, right? Yeah. I hope he has the same performance that he showed here on the ICC court case. Who's a defense attorney. Dumbass. Loser. And all the billionaires and millionaires that burned millions of dollars on this campaign. Oh, suck my dick. Oh, my God, it feels so good.

A (91:33)

Maybe. Maybe Cuomo can get arrested.

C (91:35)

Hear that? The New York Post reported that a million New Yorkers are ready to leave the city. Did you see this article? Yeah, I did. I hope they're ready to flee. We're gonna see the airport tomorrow. Olivia Rheingold of the Free Press came up to me, was like, that's my article. I was like, really? Was that Olivia here today? Were you as proud? Yeah, she is here. She was proud of that one as you were when you denied the starvation in Gaza. Yeah. So a million people are going to leave the city, but they couldn't be bothered to vote for Cuomo. Yeah, I hope they're gonna pack up their bag bags. They're gonna sell their place. They're gonna leave the city. I'll buy it all. I'm the. I'm the wealthiest socialist in America. I'll buy it all. I'll buy all of it, and I'll give it to the people. Wait, Olivia Rheingold is here? Isn't this, like, the least safe place for her? No, you know, it's just. She's so brave, right? She's so brave. She's in the lion's den. In the lion's den of. Of Sharia law.

F (92:29)

Incredible.

C (92:30)

Yeah. Woke Sharia. Wow. Well, if she's watching, she's welcome to come join the stream. Of course. Thank you so much for having me. Drop site news, baby. It's the best. You guys are the goats. Appreciate you, baby.

A (92:45)

I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I.

B (92:49)

Don'T trust much of anything.

C (92:52)

It's the rage bait.

A (92:55)

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

C (92:59)

We got clear facts.

D (93:00)

Maybe we could calm down a little.

E (93:04)

NBC News brings you clear reporting.

C (93:07)

Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News, reporting for America on the podcast Health Stuff. We are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night.

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Oh, it's hard to explain to rest of the world that, like, your mangoes are fine because mangoes are incredible.

E (94:02)

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Listen to health stuff on the iHeartRadio.

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She said, Johnny, the kids didn't come home last night.

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A (94:33)

Out of Breaking Bad.

E (94:35)

Drugs, alcohol, trafficking of people.

B (94:39)

There are people out there that absolutely.

D (94:41)

Know what happened, happened.

E (94:42)

Listen to paper ghosts, the Texas teen murders on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.

F (94:48)

Or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, so Zoron just gave his speech.

C (94:55)

We're here.

F (94:56)

We got Julian here. What's going on, Julian?

C (94:58)

Julian is a speechwriter for Zoran Amdani. Helped wrap this one. And we were just talking briefly. Right. I noticed some rhythm rhyme meter that was a little bit like stylistically not the substance stylistically reminiscent of Obama in Iowa. And you were saying. Yeah, they're actually. You did. Because they're like I covered Obama, an old, old man, old man. And he made a lot of promises and the Republicans made fun of him for. This will be the moment that the the seeds begin rece. And this will be the moment. This is the time I noticed what mom Donnie said. We're going to look back on this, which we've done a lot earlier, starting in 2008. That's right. When you could have started doing it, but you didn't. But anyway, so tell us a little bit about the speech that he gave tonight and why he gave it.

F (95:54)

Like, thank you. First of all, this campaign is one built on a change that we haven't really seen the likes of in a generation. Now at this point on this campaign are those who grew up in the era of Obama. Right. So we learn to speak, how to communicate, but also how to express hope through political prison.

C (96:16)

And some overlearned it. You've got Democrats like Josh Shapiro, for instance, just sound exactly like Obama, but it's like, you're not Obama, so it's weird.

F (96:26)

Well, I think one of the takeaways from this campaign, the success of this campaign, is that if you have only the style, that's not enough. You need the style, and you need to pair it with the substance and with. He has mobility. He can hit these oratorial eyes that very few can. And he's not doing it by trying to imitate the cadence, which is like. I would say, like a slightly laser way of hitting these heights. But he's trying to speak in this inspirational language and simultaneously offer this message of change, this message of hope that is deeply rooted in material, tangible improvements. And I think those two together, why we've seen a city that has come to come alive and really believe in a movement.

E (97:05)

Yeah.

C (97:05)

And I want to explore this idea because the, like, the hope and the passion that people had for Obama in 2008, and, like, the aspiration that people had, like, this is. This is the moment where we're gonna. We're gonna turn the tide. We're literally gonna turn the tide back. And it was. It ended with such a disappointment, but without that. But without that hope.

F (97:30)

Yeah, you.

E (97:32)

You.

C (97:32)

So he almost discredited the idea of hope. But Mamdani, tonight, hope is alive. So, like. So, like, how do you balance that without, like. Because there's so much cynicism. You hear a whole hope, you hear Obama, you're like, yeah, but. So.

E (97:47)

But you.

C (97:48)

But. But if you don't have hope, then you can't. Then there's no point in going door to door knocking 3 million doors.

F (97:56)

I mean, hope is truly the most powerful thing, and it has carried this campaign through moments of immense doubt and moments where everybody was saying it's not feasible. But I think there's another parallel, too, which is that Obama came up really, you know, not at the start, but by the end, at the heart of the financial crisis and this campaign right now. We are in one of the darkest moments in American history. We're in what some would call a perpetual constitutional crisis. And Obama offered this hope that resonated because people were sick of this broken system just weighing them down and not offering the solutions to this incredible, just trash heap of failure. And I think Zoron is the same.

C (98:33)

Right.

F (98:34)

We have so much just like, clear and obvious disappointment in front of us. We have elected leaders who are so clearly bought and paid for. We have legislation sitting there waiting to be signed that people will not sign. And it's almost like we're speaking different languages. And here comes Ron, and he speaks in a way that people understand and resonates and has clarity. And it's straightforward. And I think, you know, it's a similar appeal to Obama. Obama spoke. It wasn't flowery. It was just this really, really truthful, heartfelt, direct way of wrestling.

C (99:05)

And so to you, what are the key. What are the, what was he trying to get across with that speech?

F (99:10)

In that speech? I mean, I think fundamentally it is this question of what is possible in America and who can make it possible. You know, he gave a speech last week at the House of Justice, Reverend Charton's center.

C (99:26)

Sure.

F (99:28)

And it was about the. The Americans throughout history who have shepherded in freedom. Right. So Reconstruction and the New Deal. And it's not just asking government to do more. It's people insisting and wielding their political power. And I think we've seen that here today. Right. Nobody thought this was possible in December. Nobody thought this was possible in February. But it was truly the people who overcame, you know, a shortage of endorsements or unions going the other way. And ultimately, these are institutions that are designed to respect and to follow what the people want. And I think the speech was saying the people have brought us to this point. This new age, as Nehru says, that we're ushering in didn't happen by accident. It happened because millions of New Yorkers, or at least over a million New Yorkers manifested it.

C (100:13)

And yeah, because the Obama thing remains interesting to me because Obama was, was, you know, accused of being a socialist. Unfortunately, he was not.

D (100:24)

Sure.

C (100:26)

Accused of being born in Africa.

D (100:28)

Sure.

C (100:28)

Either way, he wasn't like, it's kind of neutral. That's a neutral judgment. Wherever you're born, accused of being a.

F (100:34)

Muslim, Z is guilty of everything that. And I think the other part is there's no apology.

C (100:39)

Right.

F (100:39)

So often in our politics today, there was a reflexive apology. And I never want to compare or themselves to Trump because I think there are no analogs. But I do think that one thing Trump does well is he never apologizes. And so he's never on the defensive. And I think that there are many who have sought to attack Zoran for things he's not guilty of. And a lesser politician who is less, you know, secure in their beliefs would have settled or would have apologized, would have bent over. That's not who Zoran is. And I think that's the success of this campaign. It's a fearlessness. It's. I'm a socialist. I'm not going to say sorry for being a Democratic socialist. To what I believe. And here, let me explain to you what I believe. But not from a defensive crutch.

E (101:16)

Right.

C (101:17)

And also. And also, just to. Just to break the fourth wall here, like, we're also, like, Mamdani, like, and independent media are collectively, like, kind of moving into another area and moving into another era where, like, in general, like, the. The speechwriter for, like, Cuomo would not be going on CNN to talk. Sure. About the substance behind it. They. What they. The speechwriter for Cuomo would do is, like, write speeches for, you know, corporations later and then eventually write a book 10 years later. And then. And then tell you, like.

F (101:56)

Yeah.

C (101:57)

Where they got the ideas for the speech that they have. Rather than, like, just talk. Just. Just in a transparent and open way.

E (102:05)

Yeah.

C (102:06)

Just talk about, you know, what. What. What's trying to be said and. And why, like, what is it about Mamdani that kind of, like, opens up his staff and others to, like.

F (102:18)

Well, I will say this is. This is my first. My first interview. So.

C (102:21)

But still, it's like.

F (102:22)

I mean, I think it really kind of goes back to what I was just saying. It's like a. A deep pride. You know, It's a real.

C (102:29)

There's no.

F (102:30)

This victory wasn't built atop half truths and concessions. And, you know, let's hope this doesn't get out. It was incredibly. Making himself incredibly available, being interrogated in private, in public. What do you believe? Do you really believe it? Isn't that crazy? We've never seen somebody running for this high role actually believe that and never flinching. And I think for those of us who have been lucky enough to work with him, to learn from him, to be part of this campaign that has, you know, bled over. Right. We are so privileged to, like, not ever want to be ashamed of what we are doing. This is resonating with so many New Yorkers. It's resonating with my friends who have never cared about politics before. It's resonating with the city that feels awake. So all of us are.

C (103:17)

And one thing you did tonight, I don't know if this was. This was your idea or. Or not, but, like, he did a kind of call and response with the audience where he'd say, all right, we want the buses to be fast and free. Yeah.

F (103:31)

Yeah. So that's something he has been doing since even before I joined this campaign. And I think one of the first times I ever saw him speak, he. He did that. And it was kind of one of those moments where you take A step back and you realize, whoa, there is power to this, this. And it's not a power that's necessarily being reported. You know, he was getting maybe one piece in the Times a month at that point, but it was a real grassroots backyards of bars, people's homes, and everyone knew the words. Everybody was shouting it back. And I think the other component of is it's a way of including people in the message and they're, they're saying the three lines themselves.

D (104:06)

Right.

F (104:06)

He's not imposing it. He's welcoming people in.

C (104:09)

Right. And he also seemed, at least from the stage to be talking a little bit to the city. Yeah. And to in particular the city council or other state leaders who, like, might be a little skeptical, say, like, no, this is. We're very clear. This is what we're doing. Yeah, that's what we're running on. So as you guys are like, coming into election day, did you have a. A number in mind where you're like, all right, we hit this number, then the city council has to come along. We hit this number. Kathy Hochul, like, how they holding more pressure?

F (104:49)

You know, you have to remember that just as recently as February, he was polling at 1%. And so I think generously at 1.

C (105:00)

Generously. Right.

F (105:00)

As he likes to say. I was, I was tied with somebody else. I always knew I would beat that.

C (105:04)

That guy. Yeah.

F (105:06)

So I think there was hope and I think we're all really delighted to have gotten over 50%. But no, I mean, I think to have come so far and to have this level of support from, you know, the grassroots all the way up to the highest levels of state government is. Is incredible. And it's a testament not just to him, not just his campaign, but to people raising their voices so loudly that they really can't be ignored.

C (105:29)

When did you start working on this speech? Like, because. And what do you need to know when you decide what speech to give? Because I was. I also covered, as people watching know, the prime, the primary night and Tell me about that. Like, he, he kind of ripped up the speech. It's like, oh, we're not going to spend the next week going over ranked choice voting numbers. We're actually just gonna.

F (105:52)

I'll say that this was a much less stressful process than the primary nights speech where the whole thing was, was rewritten. And I mean, we had a few drafts and we had a victory speech, but we had mostly worked on the too soon to call on primary night. And so we had to really quickly adapt it to a Victory speech tonight we. This was something that I started working on a week and a half ago in between a constant deluge of other speeches. And he's been engaging with it for a week, a few days at least since Saturday.

C (106:22)

And you know, he.

F (106:23)

I think the other thing about speechwriting, as you maybe alluded to earlier, is it's a bit of a dying art. It's not, you know, it used to be in the Kennedy years, right? You had rhetoric, was like a major in college. Now that's I think largely relegated to like Oxford. That's not such an American concept anymore. The long form speech has been cannibalized by two minute videos. But as we've seen tonight.

C (106:47)

Right.

F (106:47)

It can still be incredibly powerful. Powerful and impactful and there's no better way to speak to a huge group of people. But for it to work, you have to have a principal who takes it seriously.

E (106:55)

Right?

F (106:56)

And he really does. He likes to read them. He makes huge edits. He infused it with his own personal stories and I think that's what make. What makes him successful.

C (107:04)

Did he, did he have time to practice it?

F (107:08)

I don't know. He. And I did not read it. I read it out loud several times. As far as I know, he didn't read in front of me. But I think he does a lot of it on his own.

C (107:16)

It's a cuz he's also like, he just been 24 7.

F (107:19)

His calendar is an absolutely brutal thing.

C (107:23)

Hey, here we go. How you doing?

F (107:25)

Thank you so much.

C (107:27)

Thank you. No, no, no, come on. You got to come on. All right, so we're amazing. Lena Khan. Also joined by Lena Khan, who's trying to creep up. That's what we've been talking about.

A (107:36)

Amazing, amazing writer.

D (107:38)

Thank you.

A (107:38)

Love that.

D (107:39)

Truly.

C (107:40)

What'd you think of it?

A (107:41)

It was fantastic. Really hit all the right notes and was very touching.

C (107:45)

I was just asking him if he, if he practiced the speech, if he, I mean, if Zoron practiced the speech. He said he wasn't sure. And I was like, do you know if he. Did he sleep the last three or four days? Like, what's your understanding?

D (107:57)

Much.

F (107:57)

I mean, he was in the club, he was everywhere. He was up doing that walk, you know, across the bridge. It's also a testament to how much we believe in him that this whole campaign team was up too. You know, like There were probably 30 or 40 of us walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at 6am but no, he does not sleep. His constitution is, I don't know, unbelievable. It's unfathomable but it's really amazing to watch.

C (108:22)

Are you going to help at all? I was. I was thinking, like, let's say the Trump administration is like, you know what? We're actually not going to give any money. Money. If the mayor could come back and be like, well, you need to talk to my lawyer. And the lawyer is Lena Khan, I would think that that might give them a little bit of pause. What do you think?

A (108:44)

I think they have a lot of great lawyers.

D (108:46)

Of course.

A (108:46)

I want. I want to help them succeed however I can.

C (108:49)

Sam, come on.

F (108:50)

All right, you're on.

C (108:52)

What happened?

F (108:55)

Zoran Mumdani.

C (108:56)

I think he's gonna win. You're calling it? I'm calling it.

F (109:00)

I've seen enough.

C (109:01)

You've seen enough?

E (109:04)

Oh, yeah.

C (109:05)

There you are.

F (109:06)

It's exciting.

C (109:09)

The amount of people, hours that went into this is incredible. Three million doors now.

B (109:16)

It's incredible.

A (109:18)

100,000.

C (109:22)

Volunteers.

A (109:23)

That is.

B (109:26)

It's just incredible.

C (109:27)

Incredible to be able to mobilize that type of excitement.

F (109:30)

Huge.

C (109:31)

Is he gonna be able to keep it up? Like, he's. He's saying that he's gonna keep it up, that he's gonna, like, drive, like, drive it at the city council members themselves or whatever.

F (109:45)

Like, tonight was a very aggressive acceptance speech.

D (109:49)

Right.

F (109:49)

He was not humble. He was not humble relative to who he beat. He was humble relative to the people.

C (110:00)

Who helped him win. Right.

F (110:01)

And I think that's the strategy. And I think, like, listen, the big challenge is going to be him going up to Albany and leveraging his boat. We got today leveraging the fact that hopeful has challenger to her left.

D (110:20)

Yeah.

C (110:21)

And basically saying, who's running, Del? And he's running to her left. And that's a good deal. Come join the stream. Joined now by Simone Zimmerman.

A (110:36)

What's up, guys?

C (110:37)

So.

A (110:41)

I'm here. I'm in it.

C (110:42)

So. So Simone Zimmerman. If you haven't seen the film Israelism, then you don't know her life story. But we won't. Yeah, I gotta watch it. So we saw the. What are the numbers on the Jewish vote? 35 or something.

F (110:59)

35.

C (111:00)

Probably around 35, 55. Somewhere around there.

A (111:04)

I mean, I don't want to put out misinformation right now, but I hear we won the Upper west side, so I'm pretty sure the numbers might be higher right now.

C (111:11)

These exit. Exit polls are notoriously unreliable. Going into actual neighborhoods is the better way to do it. So what. What, like, what did. Like, I've heard a little bit of the same. Like, what have you heard, I mean.

A (111:23)

Going into the election we heard it was like 39 or something like that. So I mean, what I'm seeing right now is like the Washington Post said 40% of U.S. jews think that there has been a genocide in Gaza. 60% say Israel's committed war crimes in Gaza. I'm expecting we're going to see somewhere between those numbers, the numbers of American Jews supporting Sauron are the people who see what is happening on the ground in Palestine and Israel are against it and also apply those values in New York City. Want to build a city that's affordable, inclusive, diverse and didn't buy into all the fear mongering.

C (111:57)

So here, what would it take for him to break 50% in four years?

A (112:02)

Look, honestly, I think there's been a ton of misinformation. I have a friend who came to visit a couple weeks ago. She, she's across the country following the race with total enthusiasm. She goes to talk to family on the Upper east side. She said she became an expert in Zoran's positions over the course of the weekend just because she had to fact check over and over again. There so much misinformation. As Zoran said in his speech, millions of dollars have been spent on scaring people and lying to them. And so I think, I really hope that as we have a chance to actually govern the city and build, build a welcoming, inclusive, safe and affordable city, we're going to see those numbers go up. And I hope more and more people in my community will experience what I've experienced, which is a campaign that is centering joy, love for the city, love for the people in it. And I think it was a winning message for a lot more people than we're, than we think it might have been.

C (112:53)

I honestly think there's a significant percentage.

F (112:56)

Of people who are under the impression that Sharia law is going to be imposed in New York City.

C (113:05)

And I think after two or three.

F (113:06)

Months people are going to realize like.

C (113:09)

No, actually all he's doing is same law, trying to get his free child care. Yeah, and a lot of that's going to melt away.

F (113:17)

I think they're, look, there's a built in, there's going to be a built in. Within the context of the Jewish community.

C (113:25)

There'S to be a built in resistance.

F (113:28)

And I think a lot of that frankly comes from fundamentalism.

C (113:34)

There are fundamentalist communities in this city who will vote as a very consistent block and I don't know that a.

F (113:46)

Portion of them are ever going to turn.

A (113:49)

But at the end of the day.

F (113:52)

New Yorkers are going to judge him.

C (113:53)

Based upon what he does as New.

F (113:55)

Yorkers and not as Jews or Muslims or Italians or Ethiopians or whatever. Whatever they, they. Their identity is.

C (114:09)

The fact that they live in New.

F (114:10)

York and that they need certain things to make their lives better is going to overpower all the misinformation they've been.

C (114:19)

Dealt over the course of months and millions and millions of dollars. Yeah. And is. Is Brad Lander gonna run for sure. Is that happening? You know, we heard earlier today it would. I mean, that's the rumor.

F (114:37)

It'd be an interesting race and I'd like to see. He's got a lot of good will, I think, amongst New Yorkers.

A (114:46)

And.

F (114:48)

You know, I think it's an opportunity for solidarity to go two ways.

D (114:54)

And there's.

F (114:58)

There's a lot of New York politicians who have gotten very comfortable by relying.

B (115:03)

On the machine and the machine just got broke.

D (115:06)

Yeah.

F (115:07)

And I think that opens up up.

C (115:09)

A lot of possibilities for progressives in the city and to some extent across the country. Any final thoughts? I think we're going to wrap this stream up.

E (115:20)

What.

C (115:20)

What happened.

A (115:21)

I want to say something about Brad Lander, which is that one of the. One of the kind of lies that has been propagated about this campaign is that, as you said, like, that they're trying to enforce some kind of ideological conformity. Ideological military, like militancy. And Brad, I think, is actually a refutation of that. Brad is somebody who calls himself a Zionist and a supporter of Israel and is also showing up and articulating a vision of safety and belonging and inclusivity in this city. And you know what? People are loving it and are coming out with him. He's been embraced by the campaign. He is showing that when you actually help build the coalition, the tent grows. And I hope we're going to see more and more people understand that and join in to help grow this project now that. That we've won and have to actually govern.

C (116:05)

That sound sounds like, you know, he's running.

A (116:08)

No, no, I don't know anything. I'm just here celebrating.

C (116:12)

It'll be fun. It'll be a lot of fun. Dan Goldman really, like, thought he. It was like an inheritance to him. And he just.

F (116:23)

People have to remember Dan Goldman won because there was three people who split the vote.

C (116:28)

You land and. And Mond. Jones.

E (116:31)

Jones.

C (116:32)

And it escapes me now, but there were three who split the boat.

E (116:39)

Yeah.

C (116:41)

So Lander is beloved in.

F (116:47)

Huge parts of Brooklyn and he really did gain, I think like a lot of respect from people. Him being the highest elected Jewish official in the city and campaigning with Manani, I think gave a certain license to.

B (117:09)

People to say.

F (117:12)

This is right.

B (117:14)

And so let's see.

C (117:17)

I also, Sam Cedar of the Majority Report work.

B (117:23)

Friday.

C (117:23)

I will be on the program on Friday. Possibly, like maybe dress this well. You never know whether I'm actually going to show up or not or what I'm going to be wearing if anything at all. This, this is. I did that like that. All right. Anyway, thank you everybody.

D (117:41)

What.

C (117:41)

What a night. Crazy. You believe? So exciting. All right.

F (117:45)

It's awesome.

C (117:47)

See you later. Ah, greetings from my bath festive friends.

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