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Guys, Sagar and Krystal here.
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Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show.
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This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
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We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breaking points.com Good morning, everybody. Happy Thursday. Have an amazing show for everybody today. What do we have, Crystal?
B
We do many interesting things continuing to unfold, so we have a continuation in the war between Sam Altman and Elon Musk. But Trump is kind of undercut by this one as well because Elon is taking shots at his big Stargate project that he announced with great fanfare. So anyway, there's a lot of drama going on there and also some real concerns about the direction of AI. So we'll show you a lot to do with that. Also going to update you on the latest with regard to immigration, what we know about Trump's plans, what they're moving forward with. Also the polling about how Americans feel about this new, more hardline direction on immigration. So break all of that down for you. Also going to break down for you this controversy over the bishop who spoke at the National Cathedral. And the right was very upset about what she had to say. So we'll show you that and show you that controversy, et cetera. Sagre said a little bit of inside reporting about some pushbacks, some war between various factions within the Trump administration. The more sort of like hawkish neocon, pro Israel faction versus some of the new people who are being brought on board who maybe have a different view and different direction they wanna go. And so that's very interesting. We also got Steve Wyckoff sounding off and planning a trip to Gaza. So we'll see what comes of that. And where that's all going. There's some troubling indications, but there's also. That's one at least positive indication. So break all of that down for you. We've also got Trump weighing in on his approach to the Russia Ukra war. We're trying to read the tea leaves there as best we can. And we're gonna investigate whether there is some social media, new censorship going on in the new Trump era. And also a weatherman, weather lady, weather person, I guess, meteorologist, whatever. Meteorologist, yeah. Anyway, a woman, local news station, weather caster. We'll go with that. Who was fired because she criticized Elon Musk's salute. We'll leave it at that to avoid Sagar and I having to.
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Don't drag me back.
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Having to wait in the back.
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Don't drag me back.
B
Before we get into any of that, though, thank you guys so much for your support of the show. We're really excited about what we have to bring for you this year. Obviously, there are gonna be a million things for us to cover, so it is going to be eventful, if nothing else.
A
Yeah, look, and there's a lot. There's a lot that's in play. You know, I'm gonna be talking a lot about that today. It's really interesting being, you know, getting some of the inside knowledge and all of that, and I really wanna try and share it with. And thank you to everybody who's supporting the show and others. Our ability to be completely independent and also have a little bit of a line. Not claiming to have a total line or whatever on what's going on on the inside, I think is kind of unique. And so that's one of the things that you can help us do here@breakingpoints.com and continue to build that out as the Trump administration really comes, you know, really starts to take shape. And also with the Democratic response and the podcast election and all that. So the narrative's really on our side if we want to do something interesting over here. So breakingpoints.com and you can go ahead and support us. But let's get to Stargate, because this is AI one of the stories, Crystal, that we've been wanting to focus on now for quite some time. Fundamentally, probably the thing that will be, when the historian looks back at this time period, a lot of the crap that we talk about here day to day, whatever controversy, none of that's even gonna be a footnote. It will be about the big macroeconomic trends and artificial intelligence and the eventual how it comes to be shaped. The corporate influence and all of that, as we see here with the development of Star Stargate, could be a big jump off in that period.
B
Incredibly consequential. And so Trump made this big announcement. Counterpoints cover, I'm sure you guys saw this too, that these private companies and investment funds were going to put $500 billion into building out AI focused data centers in the U.S. one of the companies that was involved in that is OpenAI, headed by Sam Altman, who was formerly, up until like five minutes ago, major Democratic donor. Actually, full disclosure, he had previously contributed to a project that I ran to try to recruit working class candidates to run in Democratic primaries. So he was buddies with Reid Hoffman, all in on the Democratic side. Once Trump won, suddenly. Let me give you a million dollars to the inauguration fund. Here I am at the inauguration singing a very different tune, et cetera. The other piece of the backstory you need to know is that he and Elon are at war. Elon has sued him. They founded OpenAI originally together. They had a falling out. You know, they both have different versions of what that falling out was over. But in any case, they're at war with one another. So let me show you a little bit of Sam Altman at this announcement. You know, really buttering up Trump and doing the whole dance as part of this Stargate reveal. Let's take a listen.
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To create hundreds of thousands of jobs, to create a new industry centered here. We wouldn't be able to do this.
B
Without you, Mr. President.
A
And I'm thrilled that we get to. I think it'll be an exciting project. I think we'll be able to do all of the wonderful things these guys talked about.
B
But the fact that we get to.
A
Do this in the United States is, I think, wonderful. So thank you very much. First, let me talk to you, Sam, about what this means for AI and the future for the US Investment here.
B
This means we can create AI and AGI in the United States of America.
A
Wouldn't have been obvious that this was possible. I think it's a different president might not have been possible. But we are thrilled to get to do this and I think it'll be great for Americans.
B
Great for the whole world.
A
It's great for the whole world. I'm sure, I'm sure it's great for.
B
The world for you, for sure. And the tech oligarchs who are, you know, at the forefront of this. But, you know, I don't know if you watched the whole press conference. I did watch the whole press conference. Everybody was saying, oh my God, President Trump, this is so amazing. Like, this never would have happened without you, blah, blah, blah. And it's, it is a little odd because there's no indication at least that public money is going into this. This is just like businesses who were doing a thing Trump gets to take credit for and look like he's making this giant investment, et cetera, et cetera. Also an opportunity for them to like kiss the ring and bend the knee and tell him how wonderful and great and brilliant he is, et cetera, et cetera. OpenAI put out an announcement on Twitter. Let's put this up on the screen. I'll read a little bit of the way that they framed this. They said the Stargate projects, a new company intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for open air in the US will begin deploying 100 billion immediately. This infrastructure will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs. I believe that when I see it. And generate massive economic benefit for the entire world's project will not only support the re industrialization of the United States, quite the opposite actually. But also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies. We don't have this part up here, but. But they go on to name all the partners. SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX. By the way, MGX is a UAE based investment fund with huge investments from the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund. Strange group of bedfellows. Anyway, the whole thing is a little bit odd, but the key part of this is underneath this big announcement, you know, it's a big Trump initiative, something he's Taking credit for Elon Musk, Trump's first buddy, says they don't actually have the money. So Elon coming in hot, taking a shot, obviously at Sam.
A
Yes.
B
But also inadvertently, perhaps taking a shot at Trump and this big glossy announcement that he made there.
A
Yeah, I mean, there's several dimensions to it, obviously, where you have a. Basically Elon is now a White House official. So can we say that a senior White House official is pouring cold water on Stargate. But Stargate itself is really worth looking at and saying, what the hell is going on here? Because effectively, the way I've come to understand it is that this is supposed to be a Manhattan Project for AI to compete with China. There's only a big difference here, which is it's not being run by the United States government or to the public interest or with a coherent goal involved, and instead is basically being outsourced to the private sector. Now, the real reason why everyone should pay attention is first, let's just look at the colossal amount of money that we're talking about here. 500 billion. Look, I understand here that we can talk every once in a while like 100 billion, 200 billion, 500 billion is half a trillion dollars for a private market. For a private corporation or even corporations to be able to come up with that sum is extraordinary. I mean, just think about that in terms of actual cash and dollars, Even over a 10 year period, we've very rarely seen ever such private investments. But now, if that's going to happen, where does that money come from? And that's kind of what Elon is getting at here when he says they don't actually have the money. Now, Satya Nadell, the CEO of Microsoft, has said, I'm good for my 80 billion. But I mean, keep in mind, this is a $2 trillion market cap corporation. Where is OpenAI's money coming from? Even MASA, you know, over at SoftBank, a lot of people probably don't know a lot about SoftBank, but I encourage you to go and read some of the histories of Uber and WeWork where Masa was very, very important in the development of those companies. Masa is literally the guy who told Adam Neumann to do all of this crazy shit over at. And he was like, the only thing I don't like about you, Adam, this is a direct quote. He said, the only thing I don't like about you, Adam, is that you're not crazy enough. And he's the one who encouraged him to go from an office space company to we live and we care and drive a $40 billion company into the ground that eventually gets sold for scraps over to like a private equity giant or something.
B
Yeah. And we'll be taught for years as a corporate cautionary tale.
A
That's who we're talking about here. I guess because I read the news, I'm aware of who these people are. It's really important to first think about where this money is coming from. As you said, the UAE Masa in the past has taken tons of money from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Do we really want all of this money to be involved in our Manhattan Project? But secondary to that, and part of the reason why I'm really concerned about the lack of oversight and where at least look, and somehow in this war, I'm like on Yvonne's side, where I'm like, yeah, I'm not so sure about all of this is this is a corporate conglomerate which is totally. Which is basically coming together as a cartel with all of these big tech companies who are now getting to decide our future of our economy. That's right. Our medicine as we're about to show you, which they're openly bragging, which will replace humanity, which will develop mRNA vaccines in 48 hours. How amazing. I'm sure they're sure they'll work and all of that. If we put this stuff together. You're looking at it literally like an Elysium led society. And they're not even shy about saying it all out loud. That's the crazy part.
B
That's the all so well said. And that's not to say that there aren't potential benefits to society from AI, but as we'll get to in a minute, you also should look like this technology already exists. So we should also look at the way it's already being deployed. And many of the ways it's already being deployed are to eliminate jobs, make your healthcare worse, kill people in. Kill Palestinians in Gaza. So it's, you know, listen, anytime you put the corporate profit motive at the center of innovation, then definitionally the benefit of humanity is not gonna be the primary goal here. So the fact that it is being celebrated and so on, it is all really wild. Just to take you quickly through the Elon Musk Sam Altman drama, because of course, human drama is always interesting. And it's also another indication of the way all of these tech oligarch types are, even if they were previously totally on board with the democratic brand, now completely bending the knee and sucking up to Trump, because that's where power is. That's where the Money is, et cetera. Let's put this up on the screen, a little bit of this back and forth. So Elon says, hey, they don't actually have the money, by the way. Elon also self interested here, has his own AI developments, et cetera. Sam Altman chimes in, elon, I genuinely respect your accomplishments and I think you're the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time. Because again, he sees who has power. And Elon Musk adds a lot of position and power. Let's put the next piece up on the screen. So Elon says Softbank has well under $10 billion secured. I have that on good authority. Sam says, wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already underway. This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role, I hope you'll mostly put America first. Let's put the next piece up on the screen as this continues. You had someone who pointed out online, basically, like in one tweet, Sam being like, oh my God, Elon, so amazing. And then in another tweet criticizing him. And Sam says, well, both sentiments are true. I don't think he's a nice person or treating us fairly, but you have to respect the guy and he pushes all of us to be more ambitious. Elon again chimes in with an excellent up on the screen, pointing out, as I recently did, that Sam was, until five seconds ago, totally tied in with the Democratic.
A
Like what?
B
With the Democratic machine. I mean, I'm telling you that he put significant financial resources into the Democratic Party and various Democratic Party projects.
A
Right?
B
So you got Cernovich here pointing out that Sam was involved with Reid Hoffman, who was involved with what he describes as lawfare against Trump. Sam said very few people, this was back 12, 15, 20, 21. Very few people realized just how much Reid Hoffman did and spen to stop Trump from getting reelected. It seems reasonably likely to me that Trump would still be in office without its efforts. Thank you, Reid. And Elon quote tweets all of that and says, true. So I mean, the thing that's funny to me too is like, it's not like MAGA is even buying this new act from Sam Altman. It's just so shameless to completely change your tune and change your colors on a dime now that there's a new regime in power and a new vibe out there and you want to secure these partnerships and whatever deregulatory stuff you want and be hand to the can not be subject to any sort of retaliation now that you've got Elon and you're at war with Elon, etc. So it's just. So this is one of the most brazen and shameless possible examples. I mean, Zuckerberg is really up there too, given how much he changed on the dime. None of these people really ultimately believe anything. They're just in it for themselves and trying to position themselves in the best possible most self interested way.
A
Zuck at the top of the list.
B
And Sam Altman, that was be your ranking.
A
I mean it's just so ridiculous. It's just too much. It really is too much. I just can't handle it all sometimes. But Sam Altman is definitely up there as well. Like you said, this is a lifelong Democrat guy who put tens of millions at the least, possibly hundreds, who even knows, into the Democratic machine over the last several years. Completely switches about how incredible Trump is. But really the game for Zuck and Altman are all the same. Remember Sam Altman, you know, even though he might appear to be like some meek, mild mannered guy, this is a person who took a nonprofit and has turned it into a hundred and something of billions of dollar company, who himself is now worth untold sums, transferred this NGO nonprofit into a partnership with Microsoft. Yes. I mean he took the entire idea of OpenAI is really one I could get behind. Right. It's like, okay, this is going to be a fundamentally transformative technology. We're going to make sure that this technology is open source, is not profit driven and is for the benefit of humanity. Great. Well, the problem is they strike gold with chatgpt and they're like, oh, there's a lot of money to be made here. License it off to Microsoft. Now you're turning it into a major service. And now there's all this censorship stuff going on behind the scenes.
B
Well, and let me just, just to chime in and to back you up, we have to take a look at what they're doing now with this tech, which already exists specifically at Microsoft. And Dropsite has new breaking news, just that I just saw this morning. Guess who one of the top customers for Microsoft's AI services is right now at this point in time. Oh, that would be the Israeli military. So you know, all of your, oh, I'm going to do good for humanity and just be the best thing ever for mankind. What they're actually using the tech for right now is to kill Palestinian civilians en masse. And we of course reported here, talked here about the 972 magazine reporting about the way that AI program was used to have algorithmically generate this mass number of targets, many of them including civilian infrastructure, et cetera. So those are the sorts of things AI is being deployed for right now.
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B
Like openly, like they open it, I.
A
Mean, we're about to show it to you.
B
Talk about that being their goal. And I think that is the most important point is I really want. It sounds insane, but I really want people to reckon with the fact that a really quite small number of people, a handful of mostly billionaires, self interested billionaires, are deciding things that will be just immeasurably consequential to the future of humanity and especially for workers like that is a really important piece right now is. I mean they talk openly about wanting to replace all of the human labor force and this is happening behind closed doors, zero democratic input. I mean, at this point I'm not particularly hopeful that there's even a chance to turn it back because a lot of this has already, a lot of the direction has kind of already been set that this is all happening with a handful of elites with no democratic input whatsoever. And it is deeply, deeply troubling. So here is the anthropic CEO talking about how the thing he's happy about with AI is that it will render all humans useless ultimately if he accomplishes his goal. Let's take a listen to that.
A
I don't know exactly when it'll come. I don't know if it'll be 2027. I think it's plausible it could be longer than that. I don't think it will be a whole bunch longer than that. When AI systems are better than humans at almost everything, better than almost all humans at almost everything. And then eventually better all humans and everything, even robotics, we make good enough AI systems, they'll enable us to make better, better, better robots. And so when that happens, we will need to have a conversation at places like this, right? At places like this, this event about, you know, how do we organize our economy, right? How do humans find meaning? Right. There are a lot of assumptions we made when humans were the most intelligent species on the planet that are going to be invalidated by what's happening with AI. And I think the only good thing about it is that we'll all be in the same boat. I'm actually afraid of the world where 30% of human labor becomes fully automated by AI and the other 70% that's going to cause this just incredible class war between the groups that have been and the groups that haven't been. If we're all in the same boat.
B
So I mean, listen, maybe they're high on their own supply and this is preposterous and it's never going to be this transformational thing that they think. But he's like, oh, when it happens, we'll have that conversation. Maybe we should have that conversation now. Whether to your point, we even are interested in moving in a direction where all human labor is irrelevant. And you know, that being a concerted goal now being led, pushed by our government, but led by a bunch of self interested corporate oligarchs with driven by a profit motive, maybe that's something we should be talking about right now instead of years down the road when it is far too late to change anything.
A
Yeah, absolutely. And not only that, you had these images here of like what AI is currently better at humans for. So let's put those on the screen, please, just to give everybody an example. You say Amazon used AI to automatically fire low productivity workers. The lavender, the AI machine directing Israel's bombing spree in Gaza. And UnitedHealth uses faulty AI to deny elderly patients medically necessary coverage. Lawsuit claim the point is, is that any large scale organization, either bureaucratic or corporate, which relies on data to make quote unquote better decisions, and by better they mean increasing the bottom line is something that AI is really good at if you've ever used. I use it, you know, whenever trying to calculate a budget or something like that, or doing financial projections, looking at like retirement savings. It's really good at crunching big amounts of data where it would have taken me hours in Excel to do something like that. It can build me a model in seconds. It's like, well now imagine that at scale, but for what end and what purpose? And that's exactly the issue is when you really see what's happening. China is a very good example. They use AI, facial recognition, all of that to increase censorship and citizen control. It's really good at that. By being able to remember in China, they're able to Predict almost with 99% accuracy based off of their cameras to surveil the entire population and keep people on their best behavior. You can actually watch videos online of people crossing the crosswalks and they're being identified with their name and their social credit score and all of that that pops up. It's out there, it's open. We saw a lot of that during COVID That is the dream of the security state and of the corporate, you know, the big corporations, because it's very good at increasing profit. The question is, is about what about all of us and it's our country we should be able to get to decide.
B
That's exactly right. And that technology is also deployed in the US and not just at airports. But there was an example I think we talked about on the show of someone who was wrongfully arrested, accused of, I think, stealing like a purse or something like that, based on this facial recognition technology. No other evidence than that. It wasn't, they got the wrong guy. It wasn't even though it wasn't the right person. He hadn't even been in the state and they arrested him and he was held for quite a while under false, like under just something that was totally wrong and false simply because this police department was using some of this facial recognition technology. Well, whatever has been dabbled in thus far. They want to take nationwide, global, etc. Here is Oracle's Larry Ellison talking about how AI will make sure that, quote, citizens will be on their best behavior. Let's take a listen.
A
The police will be on their best behavior because we record. We're constantly recording, watching and recording everything that's going on. Citizens will be on their best behavior because we're constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on. And it's unimpeachable. The cars have cameras on them. I think we have a squad car here someplace. But those kind of applications using AI. We can use AI and we're using AI to monitor the video. So if that altercation had occurred, that occurred in Memphis, the chief of police would be immediately notified.
B
You guys want that? Do you want it? Do you want to at least be able to have some input into whether or not that's the direction you want the society to go in? And so what I really want people to understand is that a lot of the actions and the posturing that you see from these tech barons, what it really is about is AI development, the amount of money that's at stake, the amount of prestige that is at stake. And some of these people, it truly is like a religion. I mean, I'm not even kidding when I say many of these people think that they will be immortal because they'll be able to use AGI to upload their consciousness to the cloud and live forever. I mean, it really has this, like, cult, like, religious dimension, not to mention massive billions, trillions of dollars at stake. And so to bring it back to the beginning here, when you see Sam Altman do a political 180 like that and give Trump a million deh at the inauguration. Oh, my God, Mr. Trump, thank you so much. You're so amazing. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. That's what it is really all about. The H1B fight, too.
A
Oh, huge.
B
This is the real ball game here. So keep your eye on these developments because they could end up being truly the most consequential, generational type developments that shape all of our future, for better or for worse.
A
I am also hoping that this is an area where Elon can be helpful and just be like. Just so you know, Mr. President, Sam Altman is, you know, look at his track record. Big Democrat has gone from nonprofit and talking greatly about humanity to enriching himself and Microsoft and turning it into the greatest big data tool.
B
How do you think Trump, though, likes him? Undercutting him on this and being like, they don't have the money.
A
I don't know. Yeah, I'm actually curious to see how that was pretty bold. Boy, it's incredibly. And I mean, in some sense it's nice because this is an OG Elon issue and maybe we wouldn't be even able to talk about it or whatever if he wasn't be able to get behind it. This is again where some of the battle lines are not so clear. For example, like you have Andreessen and his people being much more in favor of, you know, free and open, like open source AI as opposed. And Elon is kind of like that, even though he's got Grok going on. But Altman and Satya, Nadella and all those, and Larry Ellison, et cetera, they don't care about. They don't want open source. They want all the money for themselves. They want the data. Obviously Nvidia and these other. I mean, we didn't have time to get into this, but there was this huge thing behind the scenes where the Biden administration in the very, very last days made it more difficult to export chips to China. And Nvidia was openly campaigning against it because they care about money. Like, even though this is the company on our soil manufactured in Taiwan. All right, so they don't care about the geopolitics. And even though their stock is up, what, by like 10,000% or whatever, they want even more. They need this. They need to keep this thing going, the money train. And so this is where the Democratic input and all of that is really, really important. And I am curious to see how the White House is going to handle some of this, because already you see major MAGA skepticism not just over Sam Altman, but that clip, like, of Larry Ellison talking about we're gonna be able to have MRNA vaccines. Like, yeah, good luck. Good luck telling people that. Or look, Trump was elected with the most working class Republican coalition literally ever. Do you think those guys in the Rio Grande Valley who are working class or the guys in the Permian Basin who are sitting there pumping oil, they really want to be replaced by machine? No, this is a very common concern. Anybody who doesn't have a college degree, which is 62% of the US population, is in danger. And actually, the crazy thing about AI is it also means that people with college degrees who are entry level, even.
B
Sooner probably than the blue collar workers.
A
Are also really vulnerable to all of this. So unless you're super rich, you should be afraid. And even if you are, they might be able to take that from you. Too.
B
And again, maybe they are full of it and high on their own supply and they will never achieve their dreams and goals and ambitions. It will never be come to be what they think. But I want you to understand, their goal is to replace you. That is what this money is about. That is the goal as explicitly stated by them. At times. That's what they're trying to do here, is to replace your labor and make you completely irrelevant. And this is all being decided by a few oligarchs behind closed doors with hundreds of billions of dollars to throw at it. So good luck, humanity.
A
Yeah, I really do think this will be one of the central stories of the Trump administration and there's gonna be some big democratic questions that actually have to happen here. And when the scale and the fights of this come, you know, really, I think in a couple of years, this will really crescendo too, just because that's when the alleged breakthroughs and all that will actually know a little bit whether they were bluffing or not. The geopolitics are gonna get real messy because it's January 23rd, tariffs and all that can come as soon as February 1st and maybe all the way up until March. But all of that is going to have significant impact on this. And then bigger questions too about who's coming up with all this money. Is this Saudi money, UAE money? I mean, I don't remember the Saudis or, I don't know, a similar power, super rich nation in World War II, investing in the Manhattan Project? I think that's bad. Yeah, right. So let's think about that too. At Amica Insurance, we know it's more than a life policy. It's about the promise and the responsibility that comes with being a new parent, being there day and night and building a plan for tomorrow today for the ones you'll always look out for. Trust Amica Life Insurance. Amazing empathy is our best policy. Tired of restless nights? At Lisa, they know good sleep is essential for mental, physical and emotional health. From memory foam mattresses to hybrids that keep you cool all night long, Lisa's mattresses offer exceptional comfort and support with free delivery and 100 nights to try out your mattress in the comfort of your home. Go to leesa.com today and get 20% off all mattresses and two free pillows. That's le-a.com and use code iheart for an extra $50 off your purchase. Remember, no matter who you are, there's a Lisa just for you. Have you made the switch to nyx? Millions of women have made the switch to the revolutionary period underwear from Nyx. That's K N I X Period panties from Nyx are like no other, making them the number one leak proof underwear.
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B
It's a little different than that. It requires them to detain undocumented immigrants even before they're tried, even before they're convicted. So if they're accused of a crime, even something low level like shoplifting or something like that, then they are required to detain them and to expedite their deportation. So that's what the bill does.
A
Right. That legal standard had not previously existed. You know what's crazy?
B
Cause there's no due process, but.
A
Oh, right, due process applies to who? US Citizens. Right. Forgot about that. But if we think about how different that this change is, it's the first bipartisan piece of immigration legislation that has passed the US Congress in almost 20 years just to give people the scale of how much of a change that has now happened. So that's crazy. First and foremost, past the Senate, the House of representatives, the 46 Democrats joining on is a little bit, you know, it makes sense but it's not like it's a big part of the coalition. The crazy part is it was enough to get a filibuster proof majority through the Senate. That's actually the big hurdle that happened. So Trump will sign that piece of legislation into law. So let's continue here. Let's go to the next part just to show people who voted for the bill so you can actually see all of the states. I mean it really does go the gamut in terms of both the House Democrats, people like Josh Gottheimer from New Jersey, by the way, Crystal, I don't know if you know this. He's been passing around packets of salt around the House because he's so enthusiastic.
B
Well, he gives way the Republicans supported.
A
Well, he gives them the immigration thing and then maybe they'll give him an increase in the saltcap for his rich constituents.
B
I mean, yeah, you've got him, you got Richie Torres on there. Cuellar folks. What's that?
A
Who are some other high profile folks here?
B
Cuellar's there.
A
That makes sense though, right? Because he's from South Border.
B
Well, and Amino is also right wing, consistently sort of right wing. So my new congressman, Congressman Vindman.
A
Oh no, I didn't know he was here.
B
This one Sagriso, he's an ally with you in this one. Terry Sewell, she's an African American woman. Congressman from Alabama, Jared golden, who also is one who's kind of like, I don't know, his politics are a little hard to describe. Lucy McBath Lake and Riley was from Georgia. So you had a number of Georgia members here. Plus both Georgia senators Warnock and Ossoff both voted for it as well.
A
Right. Let's continue along that there has been a glut of polling now after the election around immigration and some of the individual actions and mass deportation in particular has been one that's been polled. But also all of kind of the sub ideas of immigration running from ending birthright citizenship up to just deporting illegal immigrants who came here under the Biden administration. CNN's Harry Entin broke some of that down. Some of it is popular, some of it is very unpopular. Let's take a listen. Deported, all immigrants who are here illegally, 55% the New York Times, Marquette 64%. CBS News 57%. ABC News with a slightly different question, 56%. So what you're seeing essentially here is.
B
A very clear indication that a majority of Americans, in fact when they're Asked this blunt question which I believe gets.
A
That the underlying feelings do in fact want to deport all immigrants who are here illegally. There's no arguing with these different numbers because they're all essentially the same across four different pollsters. You go back to 2015. I'm gonna come to your side of the screen. It was 42%. Hello. Go to 2016.
B
It was 36%.
A
Look at where we are now. This was taken at the end of last year. 56%. This is 20 points higher than it was just before Trump got into office the first time. There you go. That's as clear as day in terms of mass deportation. But like I said, gotta present all sides of the picture. Birthright citizenship, though, is significantly underwater. Ending birthright citizenship. What? I mean, one of those executive orders that Donald Trump signed on first day of office. Let's take a listen to Harry on that. I mean, look, I think Donald Trump.
B
Is, by pushing policies like this or.
A
Just trying to eliminate his honeymoon period.
B
Completely because this is just not a popular policy. And birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants illegally here, look at this.
A
Just 35% support the clear majority, 53% opposed. And I've looked at multiple polls, looked.
B
At the question asked multiple different ways. If anything, this undersells the opposition by a little bit.
A
If you don't in fact mention for children born to immigrants here legally and.
B
Just ask about ending birthright citizenship, the.
A
Opposition shoots all the way up to about 70%. But this 53% is clearly indicative of a country that does not want to end birthright citizenship. Simply put, this is not a popular policy.
B
And if Donald Trump pushes policies like.
A
This, his honeymoon period will squeeze and.
B
Be even shorter than it was back in 2017. Okay, have opinion.
A
So you can see there that definitely opinion runs the gamut. And it shows you that it's not necessarily as rosy as I might like it to be. Let's put this up there from the New York Times, cuz they also did a good job of breaking down each one of these individual questions. So, for example, which of the following comes closest to your opinion about our nation's political system? It has been broken for decades. It has been broken only for the last few years. It is not broken. I can report that only 9% of U.S. adults say it is not broken. I need to meet these people.
B
I know I really need to interview those folks.
A
But on immigration actually is where things get really interesting. So, from the New York Times, do you support or oppose each of the following deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records. 87% 10% oppose deporting immigrants who are here illegally and arrived over the last four years. 63% 33% opposed deporting all immigrants who are here illegally, aka mass deportation. 55% 42% oppose then ending birthright citizenship for born to immigrants who are here illegally is 41%. And then finally, the least popular one is ending protection from deportation for immigrants who were children when they entered the US illegally, otherwise known as DACA recipients and or dreamers. So you can see here that what Trump, I believe has happened and from my speaking people who are around the administration is they're trying to flood the zone strategy. So what do you do when you're doing something unpopular? You also need to do something that's really popular. So they are trying to keep it so that the conversation is not around any one issue, but is just a flood of executive orders and a major change to the status quo. That's where mass deportation and some of the actions we're about to talk about really come into play in addition to things like, like the Lake and Riley Act. But really what I see is a basic collapse of the Democratic argument around immigration. I mean, I'm happy to see it, but it is really interesting because I think it just demonstrates how fake Democratic opposition has been on this issue now for so long. It's like we've talked about. I mean, maybe this is where we can find some common ground. It's like people don't believe anything.
B
That's correct.
A
You went from 2018 weeping outside of these deportation camps or whatever, and the screeching and just, oh, the fascism argument to voting for the Lake and Riley Act, a position that you all opposed on the stage. Do you remember in 2019 on the Democrat, every single candidate on that stage opposed what is now being passed in the Lake and Reilly act, which has passed a super majority through the Senate and through the House of Representatives to send to Donald Trump's desk here. So what's happening exactly with that? Are we just, we're all supposed to have amnesia?
B
Like, come on, they're cowards by and large. Like, obviously there are, you know, there are some Democrats who, most of the Democrats are opposed to this, blah, blah, blah. But certainly the level of consistent opposition to Trump immigration hawkishness is gone. It's gone. I mean, and this happened even before Trump was elected. You remember, they decided like, oh, we're gonna show the Republicans we're gonna behind this hawkish border security only bill with no pathway to Citizenship. We're gonna show them that we're the ones who are really tough on the board. I mean, think about how much Kamala Harris positioned herself as like, I'm the only person here who's prosecuted transnational gangs. I'm the real border hawk, blah, blah, blah. So, I mean, the bottom line is that they are mostly cowards who don't really. Many of them have their own ideology or have things that they're willing to fight for even when it's a little uncomfortable or even when at that particular political moment it's a little unpopular. And this is a core rot of neoliberal brain which in facts, corners of both parties, but notably not Trump. Trump is willing to bulldozer through whatever he wants to. Even if ending birthright citizenship is dramatically unpopular, he's gonna go ahead and do it. Even hardening J6ers who beat cops, obviously wildly unpopular, but he'll just bulldoze through and do it. And the neoliberal brain says, basically, I don't have any values of my own. I outsource all of my thinking to markets and polls. And the extension, the political ideology extension of that is quote, unquote, popularism, where it's just, let me, rather than having my own vision and view of the world, I'm going to take a poll and I'm going to treat that poll as gospel as to what people think and where they are. And I'm just gonna cater to that and the focus groups, whatever. It is a completely failed way of doing politics. And this is what I've been trying to shout from the rooftops. And two people who are very different ideologically who seem to understand this are, number one, Donald Trump, who will just relentlessly p his view and his vision of the world, however it polls and however people may complain about it. And Bernie Sanders, who has his own very specific and clear cut vision of the world and isn't buffeted around by, oh, a poll says this today or a poll says that last week or, oh, it's a little uncomfortable, et cetera, et cetera. And guess what? People respect that. And that's how if you care about actually implementing your principles and ideology, you have to be a leader and make the case to people and push them to your position. And that's what Republicans on mass deportation have successfully done and specifically Donald Trump has successfully done. Part of that is, yes, the reality of more people coming to the border, although at this particular moment in this drop happened even before the election, we're at like a five year low in terms of number of illegal crossings. But there was the reality. Migrants getting busted, cities, et cetera, et cetera. And it was also Democrats abandoning the principles that five seconds ago, they claimed they stood by. So, of course the public's gonna look and go, well, both parties basically agree that this whole immigration thing is, like, a real problem. These migrants are a big issue. So where do you think the polling is going to go? So this is the piece, the part of politics that liberal Democrats are fundamentally incapable of really wrapping their heads around. You have to be a leader. People's opinions are not set in stone. I mean, even the immigration, like polling that we're showing you right now, which put the AP poll up on the screen as well, it's not, you know, it depends on how people are asked the question, and it depends on how you frame it and what particular part of the policy you're asking about. Most people are not like hardcore ideologues the way that, frankly, you and I are. Sagar.
A
I agree.
B
Most people are like, you know, it depends on kind of the vibes and the mood and what they heard and how the question's asked, et cetera. You. You can move people and change public opinion. So in this poll, about 4 in 10American adults support deporting all immigrants living in the US illegally, and a similar share are opposed. So it's pretty much like 50, 50 here or 40, 40. And I guess the other 20%, like, I don't know. But another, they tested another policy that it was just announced that they're lifting the restrictions on deportations from quote, unquote, sensitive places. That's places like churches and school, wildly unpopular. To do that, only 20% support arresting immigrants at church. 18% support pulling kids out of school to deport them. Relatively few Americans, only 3 in 10 in this particular poll somewhat or strongly favor changing the Constitution. So kids born in the US Are not automatically granted citizenship. That's the birthright citizenship thing that we were talking about. So there is, even within the Trump policy right now, if Democrats decided to have a principle, there are plenty of things to go after. But to your point, Sagar, the flood the zone strategy is not just to try to counterbalance the things that are unpopular with the things that are popular. It's also to try to keep the opposition from settling on one consistent attack and to keep them sort of, like, scattered. And the crazy thing to me is looking at a political party is a lot of these executive orders that he signed, it's not like they were a support surprise. Many of Them were in Project 2025. Many of them are things that he's been advertised and have been leaked to the press for weeks and weeks now. And there is really no consistent sort of unified Democratic plan to attack any of these things right now, let alone immigration. So anyway, that was a long screen about sort of my political meta political views and how these things work. But the Republicans wanted to make the country more nativist and more hawkish on immigration. They did that and the Democratic opposition completely collapsed. And not only did they lose the battle on the issue, but they also showed themselves to be fundamentally unprincipled.
A
Yes, I agree with half of that. In terms of they are unprincipled. As I always say, I think reality played a role the people.
B
Actually, I said reality played a role.
A
Fair enough. But I'm saying Biden was a huge part of it. He changed the immigration status quo more than anything president in modern American history in terms of the number of illegals who entered under his watch. So, okay, yeah, of course that's going to radically change the way. I mean, you know, it's funny if you look at support for mass deportation, it was underwater in 2016 as Harry played, even with Republicans, people were not bought in. Yeah, but when you have the border basically have 10 million people who come here illegally in this four year period. Well, yeah, that's gonna completely change. Well, here's Trump also played a big role in that. But the status quo change on top of the argument, it basically aligned perfectly then with also the popular vote. And then the collapse of Democratic argumentation means that they are, I mean, people who are immigration restrictionists like myself have never been in a more powerful position. This went from a fringe position of Stephen Miller and Jeff Sessions In 2015, 10 years ago, one member of the United States Senate and a guy named Stephen Miller to the policy of the United States government. Yeah.
B
And here's what I want people to understand. That position was wildly unpopular at the time. Did that make them go, oh, we can't, we just gotta, we gotta do, you know, we gotta do a Gang of Eight immigration. We gotta move to the left on this. We gotta accept immigration killing.
A
Gang of Eight was a part of that.
B
No.
A
Yeah.
B
It did not. Did not cause the Stephen Millers and the Steve Bannons and the Donald Trumps and the Jeff Sessions of the world to suddenly change their position and bend to the current political moment. Instead, they made it a project of over years, pushing a consistent vision and message. And guess what? You're right, Sager. They won. And you can see Democratics, Democrat, pathetic. Just complete capitulation to this worldview. Now, what I would say is the caution is that after Trump was elected and began implementing child separation policy and we had those horrific, I would say cruel images coming out from the detention center, kids being intentionally taken away from their parents, et cetera, and orphaned in certain instances, and the public had a revulsion to that. The support for those immigration policies dropped even further. So that there was the lowest level we've had in the past number of decades for hawkish immigration policy that we've seen. And that's what Democrats responded to in that 2020 primary. And why they were all in a very different place was because the polling was in a very different place at that point. So there is a risk here because they are planning on. They got rid of the restrictions on the pulling people out of church or pulling kids out of school. Obviously, child separation is gonna be back. They actively. Well, I don't think you would disagree with this. They actively want some of those images that are aggressive and unsettling and cruel and all of those things. Because part of the goal is they don't have the resources to deport everyone who's in the country. So what? But part of their ideology is, is you want to scare people into, number one, not coming and number two, quote, unquote, self deporting.
A
Well, that's already working, actually. Already we see images from the border where people are like, without CBP1, it's never going to happen. I should just go back. I actually just read a BP article about it.
B
But those are people who are trying to come, who are trying to follow legal process. So, yeah, if there's no legal process.
A
They'Re like, okay, yeah, I mean, I think it's great. It's like, well, if you can go back, you weren't really fearing for your life, were you? It's not so untapped. Let's put this up there. What other choice do they have on the screen? Yeah, fine. Go make your own country great again. We wish you the best. Let's put the AP up on the screen. The Pentagon is sending up 1500 active duty troops to help secure the US Mexico border. That will be in addition to the 2,300 troops that Donald, that President Biden sent actually to the border. It's actually less than Biden. Ironically, these troops apparently will be helping with some ISR and a few other things. There are a lot of legal restrictions that apply to active duty US Military troops operating in the United States. They can't actually participate in law enforcement. All they can really do is support it.
B
That's a little unclear because, well, in terms of. So the number is roughly equivalent to what Biden sent in terms of active duty troops. Biden used them purely in those support roles that are more sort of clear cut in terms of you don't want to run afoul of posse comatose, which is a restriction on you can't have the military doing domestic law enforcement effectively. But Trump is declaring a national border emergency, and the Wall Street Journal is reporting that part of the reason for doing that is to try to get around those laws that prohibit troops from engaging in law enforcement functions. So even though it's the same roughly number of people, the goal and the plan in terms of how they're used is quite different. Now, that will certainly face legal obstacles. And it's yet to be seen whether Trump actually deploys them in that way where they would be the ones detaining migrants and holding them and rounding them up and all those sorts of things which normally has been completely out of bounds. But the declaration of a national emergency, which says this is a national security issue, ergo, I can use my military. Part of the goal is to directly enlist the military in those sorts of typically law enforcement functions.
A
A lot of this is also just because the Border Patrol, there's a lot of funding problems. That's all controlled by Congress, the exact number of the people that they're allowed to hire. So if you do even want to change the status quo, they don't even have the employees at ice, at Border Patrol, at dhs. So it would require, not just, it would require basically a bipartisan act of Congress to change that status quo. Let's go to the next one. Here is a change in policy. We had previewed some of this where they say US Border agents have been instructed to summarily deport migrants without asylum hearings. What they have done is they have resurrected that Title 42 Law of Public Health Concern and 212F that allows the president to suspend the entry of foreigners whose entry is deemed to be detrimental because of public health concerns. This was one that the Biden administration used for the first. What was it, two years. I think the first two years of the Biden administration with COVID as a justification.
B
Trump had put it in place and then Trump had made it in place. They maintained it.
A
They maintained the policy going forward. It's a public. Yeah, the documents cite the public health related 212F. It applies to, quote, aliens that have traveled through a country with a communicable disease. And given that that there are communicable diseases in Guatemala, Mexico and Central America, it's pretty easy to justify. It's basically just a legal workaround to enforce the remain in Mexico policy as the only viable path for asylum status in the United States. And what it means is that not only will there be deportations to Mexico, but remain in Mexico requires these people to remain in Mexico as it means as they adjudicate their asylum claim. Only after being legally approved are they allowed to enter the United States. It's part of the reason why, you know, you were saying that there has been a drop off, but the drop off from the drop off is even crazier. So the day before Donald Trump took the office, 4,000 people entered the United States under this CBP1 asylum app. It's dropped to 500. So we're talking about like, what is that eight fold decrease in the span of two days for what the policy looks like in practice. This, I wanna be clear, will all face insane legal scrutiny. So for anyone who thinks that this is policy, law of the land. Yeah, that's not how it works. Title 42 and all that will make its way to SCOTUS, I'm sure very soon. That's what the immigration groups are doing to Biden. The pasta comitata stuff is absolutely gonna be under legal review. Birthright citizenship, I believe, what was it? 25 states have already filed suit against that, which means it will almost. It'll be blocked by a court tomorrow, almost certainly. And by that time it'll take a year and a half to go to the Supreme Court. So none of this is to be taken as this is 100% what's happening. It is a preview of what they want to do and are trying to do. But what will inevitably face a lot of legal scrutiny from the courts and what they are allowed to do and whatnot. So I do want people to keep that in mind as well. Hello, iHeart listener. We have a confession to make. Both iHeart and this commercial you're listening to right now would probably sound a heck of a lot better on the new Roku Pro Series tv. It's got side firing speakers that fill your room with sound, Dolby Atmos audio.
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Podcast Summary: Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
Episode Title: Elon Musk Civil War With Altman And Trump, CNN Admits Mass Deportation Popular In US
Release Date: January 23, 2025
Hosts: Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
Platform: iHeartPodcasts
In this episode of Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti delve into a multifaceted discussion encompassing the intense rivalry between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, President Donald Trump's ambitious Stargate project, the evolving landscape of U.S. immigration policies, and the broader implications of artificial intelligence (AI) on society and governance. The conversation is rich with insider insights, critical analysis, and notable quotes that shed light on the complex interplay between technology, politics, and public opinion.
Overview: Krystal and Saagar kick off the episode by addressing the escalating conflict between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, particularly in the context of President Trump's Stargate project—a massive $500 billion investment aiming to establish AI-focused data centers in the U.S.
Key Points:
Funding and Corporate Influence: The Stargate project is presented as a private sector-led initiative, raising concerns about the substantial private investments dominating AI development without sufficient government oversight.
Elon Musk's Criticism: Musk has publicly criticized the project, questioning the availability of funds and distancing himself from Collaborative efforts with entities like OpenAI, which he co-founded with Altman before their fallout.
Notable Quotes:
Krystal Ball [05:31]: "They want to replace all of the human labor force and make you completely irrelevant. That is what this money is about."
Saagar Enjeti [09:10]: "He put significant financial resources into the Democratic Party and various Democratic Party projects. So you got Cernovich here pointing out that Sam was involved with Reid Hoffman, who was involved with what he describes as lawfare against Trump."
Implications: The hosts highlight the intricate web of alliances and betrayals within the tech elite, emphasizing how political shifts influence corporate strategies and the direction of AI development.
Overview: The discussion shifts to the recent passage of the Lake and Riley Act, a significant immigration bill that marks a bipartisan shift towards stricter deportation policies.
Key Points:
Legislative Passage: The Lake and Riley Act passed the House with a vote of 263 to 156, garnering support from 46 Democrats alongside all Republicans, signaling a major shift in immigration policy.
Policy Provisions: The act mandates the detention and expedited deportation of undocumented immigrants accused of crimes, even misdemeanors, effectively bypassing traditional due process.
Public Opinion: Polls indicate a substantial increase in public support for mass deportation, with 55% favoring the deportation of all undocumented immigrants with criminal records, a significant rise from previous years.
Notable Quotes:
Krystal Ball [38:13]: "This is not a popular policy. And birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants illegally here... is not a popular policy."
Saagar Enjeti [43:09]: "People respect that. And that's how if you care about actually implementing your principles and ideology, you have to be a leader and make the case to people and push them to your position."
Implications: The hosts argue that this legislative move represents a culmination of years of persistent advocacy by immigration restrictionists. They express concern over the ethical and legal ramifications of such policies, especially given their unpopularity among a significant portion of the American populace.
Overview: Krystal and Saagar explore the internal dynamics of the Trump administration, highlighting a burgeoning conflict between hawkish neoconservative factions and newer appointees with divergent views on foreign policy.
Key Points:
Factional Struggles: Tensions are evident between pro-Israel neoconservatives and newer members who advocate for different strategic directions, leading to internal power struggles.
Steve Wyckoff's Gaza Trip: The episode touches upon Steve Wyckoff's controversial plans to visit Gaza, reflecting the administration's divided stance on Middle Eastern policy.
Notable Quotes:
Krystal Ball [03:59]: "Don't drag me back."
Saagar Enjeti [25:43]: "There are a lot of legal restrictions that apply to active duty US Military troops operating in the United States. They can't actually participate in law enforcement."
Implications: These internal divisions underscore the complexities and potential instabilities within the administration, particularly as it grapples with foreign policy challenges and the integration of powerful tech leaders into governmental roles.
Overview: A substantial portion of the conversation addresses the existential threats posed by uncontrolled AI development and the monopolistic tendencies of major tech corporations.
Key Points:
AI's Dual-Edged Sword: While AI holds promise for societal advancements, its deployment by corporations and governments can lead to job displacement, ethical violations, and increased surveillance.
Anthropic CEO's Warning: A quote from the CEO of Anthropic emphasizes the potential for AI to surpass human intelligence, necessitating urgent societal conversations about economic and existential impacts.
Corporate Ethics: The hosts critique the lack of oversight and ethical considerations in AI development, especially when driven by profit motives rather than public good.
Notable Quotes:
Anthropic CEO [24:32]: "When AI systems are better than humans at almost everything... we will need to have a conversation at places like this... about how we organize our economy, right? How do humans find meaning?"
Krystal Ball [16:17]: "It's just so ridiculous. It's just too much. It really is too much. I just can't handle it all sometimes."
Implications: Krystal and Saagar warn of a future where a handful of tech oligarchs dictate the trajectory of AI, potentially sidelining democratic input and prioritizing corporate interests over societal welfare.
Overview: The episode also touches upon the backlash from the right-wing following a contentious speech delivered by a bishop at the National Cathedral.
Key Points:
Public Backlash: The bishop's remarks sparked outrage among conservative groups, highlighting the deep-seated ideological divides present within American society.
Media's Role: Hosts discuss how media coverage of such events influences public perception and political discourse.
Notable Quotes:
Implications: This controversy serves as a microcosm of the broader cultural and political battles playing out in the U.S., reflecting the polarization and the struggle for narrative control between different ideological factions.
Overview: Krystal and Saagar emphasize the importance of independent media in shaping informed public opinion and holding powerful entities accountable.
Key Points:
Call for Support: The hosts urge listeners to support Breaking Points to sustain independent journalism amidst a landscape dominated by mainstream media narratives.
Unfiltered Content: They highlight the platform's commitment to providing honest perspectives from both the left and the right, free from corporate and political biases.
Notable Quotes:
Krystal Ball [04:03]: "We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breakingpoints.com."
Saagar Enjeti [26:20]: "This is what they're trying to do. The H1B fight, too. This is the real ball game here."
Implications: The hosts position Breaking Points as a vital counterbalance to mainstream media, advocating for a more transparent and accountable information ecosystem that empowers listeners to form their own opinions based on comprehensive analyses.
This episode of Breaking Points offers a deep dive into some of the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology, politics, and societal ethics. Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti provide a critical examination of the power dynamics shaping the future of AI, the contentious shifts in U.S. immigration policy, and the internal conflicts within the Trump administration. Their discussion underscores the necessity for vigilant independent media to navigate and expose the complexities of these multifaceted debates, advocating for public awareness and engagement in shaping policies that impact all facets of life.
Note: Advertisements and non-content segments present in the transcript were intentionally omitted to focus solely on the substantive discussions pertinent to the episode's themes.