2/11/26: Cuba Regime Change, Trump Threatens Iran, Nest Surveillance, AIPAC Crushed In NJ

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Episode: February 11, 2026 — “Cuba Regime Change, Trump Threatens Iran, Nest Surveillance, AIPAC Crushed In NJ”
Hosted by: Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
Key Guests: Ryan Grim, Emily Jashinsky, Mac Call, Griffin Davis, Analilia Mejia (Democratic NJ-11 candidate)

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Episode Overview

This Breaking Points episode offers a deep dive into several of the week’s pressing political stories: rumors of regime change talks in Cuba and the nature of US-Cuban relations, Trump’s posturing towards Iran under pressure from Netanyahu, troubling revelations about surveillance and law enforcement’s access to Nest/Ring camera data, and a significant grassroots Democratic victory over AIPAC in New Jersey’s 11th district. Through analysis, interviews, and commentary, the hosts explore the interplay between media, politics, technology, and grassroots activism.

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Key Segments & Discussions

1. Cuba Regime Change: Rumors, Reality, and Media Manipulation

[02:39–15:12]

• Trump’s Claims of High-Level Cuba Talks:
  Trump recently claimed: “We’re talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba. … I think we're going to make a deal with Cuba.” (03:02)
  Cuban officials, however, strongly deny any negotiations are taking place.

• Media Echo Chamber:
  Ryan Grim unpacks how rumors about US–Cuba regime talks snowballed from dubious Facebook posts (by a Cuban blogger in Spain) to Cuban dissident outlets, and eventually to Politico—without credible sourcing.

  “If you read through [the Facebook post], it is complete and total gibberish… This article then gets turned into a dissident article in Cuba. Politico picks it up, and then in Washington, it’s like, ‘Oh, these talks are happening.’” — Ryan Grim, [09:22]

• US Funding of Dissident Media:
  Discussion around how the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID fund foreign dissident media, feeding cycles of rumor and half-reporting.

• Venezuela, Oil, and Geopolitical Implications:
  US control of Venezuelan oil is leveraged geopolitically, with reports it’s being brokered to Israel despite Venezuela’s official anti-Israel stance.

• Trump’s Personal & Political Interests in Cuba:
  Trump holds a “Trump Havana” trademark and may see an economic opening in Cuba akin to the old pre-revolutionary era—potentially for the benefit of American business.

  “Trump is no stranger to the potential benefits to American companies of ending this blockade.” — Ryan Grim, [13:22]

• Sanctions, Scarcity, and Propaganda:
  US sanctions block not just American but also Mexican and Venezuelan oil from reaching Cuba. The “state sponsor of terrorism” label further isolates Cuba and limits trade.

Notable Quotes

“The US funds through this NED, [which is] a CIA cutout, funds these news outlets which source some Facebook slop and turn it into an article. And then Politico says, ‘Well, there’s chatter and it’s news anyway.’” — Ryan Grim, [11:04]

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2. Trump, Netanyahu, and Sabre-Rattling Toward Iran

[17:45–24:50]

• Netanyahu’s D.C. Visit & Demands for Strikes:
  Netanyahu visits Washington urging Trump for a stronger military stance on Iran—wanting not just restrictions on nuclear weapons, but also Iran’s missile program and support for regional militias.

  “Netanyahu also wants Iran to stop supporting Hamas, Hezbollah… If you’re Iran, would you agree to basically disarm?” — Ryan Grim, [21:19]

• Operation Midnight Hammer & Disputed Claims:
  Trump is proud of the US’s prior airstrike campaign (Operation Midnight Hammer), claiming a “generational wipeout” of Iran’s nuclear tech. But media/officials dispute the effectiveness, and Netanyahu continues to warn Iran is still a threat—contradicting prior US claims.

• Moving Goalposts:
  The team highlights how political arguments over Iran's nuclear timeline and threat assessment are constantly shifting to justify hawkish moves.

  “The goalpost is always being shifted. … So you can risk starting a game of nuclear chess over claims that are going to change a week later, even if you do it right.” — Sagar Enjeti, [23:25]

• Closed-Door Meetings:
  Trump, Netanyahu, and other dignitaries meet behind closed doors, with speculation on whether public pressure or deals will follow.

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3. Nest/Ring Surveillance and Law Enforcement Access

[24:50–31:19]

• The Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping Case:
  FBI released footage from a Nest camera at the Guthrie residence—even though the family reportedly did not subscribe to Nest’s recording service, raising privacy questions.

• Backend Access & “Pet Protection Panopticon”:
  Commentary on Ring and Nest’s Super Bowl ads touting AI search for lost pets is used to segue into the darker side of mass home surveillance.
  Sagar: “This is called the Pet Protection Panopticon.” [25:53]

• How Police Got the Footage:
  Despite claims the camera was unsubscribed/disconnected, the FBI accessed the footage via “Backend Systems” (possibly with Alphabet/Google’s assistance or under federal surveillance mandates).

• Big Tech, Law Enforcement, and Privacy:
  Discussion of the extent of data retention, the blurry line between personal privacy and state/corporate access, with skepticism about corporate transparency.

Notable Quotes

“Everybody’s suspicion feels like these things are listening to me. No, you’re crazy… Later, admit. Yeah, they’re actually listening.” — Ryan Grim, [29:33]

“Even if you don’t have a subscription, they’re training their AI and you never have access to it. … This is a new development, so we’re going to have to see how Google responds.” — Sagar Enjeti, [30:24]

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4. Breaking News: FAA Closes El Paso Airspace

[31:19–32:24]

• The FAA temporarily closed El Paso’s airspace, citing (unconvincingly) anti-cartel drone operations. The closure is abruptly reversed within hours, fueling speculation about undisclosed national security or border events.

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5. AIPAC Crushed In NJ: Analilia Mejia’s Grassroots Triumph

[34:55–60:44]

Interview with Analilia Mejia (Democratic Primary Winner, NJ-11)

• Progressive Victory Against the Establishment:
  Mejia, with support from Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Elizabeth Warren, defeats AIPAC’s favored candidate (Tom Malinowski) and local party bosses in a wealthy, suburban, North Jersey district.

• AIPAC Backlash:
  AIPAC spent over $2 million attacking Malinowski (ironically, accusing him of pro-Trump stances), hurting his chances and raising questions about the wisdom and ethics of their intervention:

  “They are willing to destroy friend or foe, unless you commit to and pledge blind obedience. … I hope it is a turning point.” — Analilia Mejia, [53:23]

• Why Progressive Populism Resonated:
  Mejia highlights the economic precarity facing even upper-middle-class families in the suburbs due to spiraling health care and child care costs, corporate dominance, and rising violence.

  “We need to remove the stranglehold that big money has on our economy and our democracy. … The thing that stands between the authoritarian and the oligarchy is an informed community.” — Analilia Mejia, [44:29]

• Shifting “Overton Window”:
  Describes the tug-of-war with the MAGA movement over what’s considered acceptable political discourse, arguing that bold progressive leadership is needed to reset American politics toward equity and democracy.

  “Donald Trump has been trying to yank that [window] all the way into fascism, in my opinion… It is our responsibility to yank it back.” — Analilia Mejia, [50:24]

• Post-Election Unity & Prospects:
  Even establishment Democrats (including Cory Booker and Mikie Sherrill) are backing Mejia for the general. She stresses the importance of “playing ball” without sacrificing core values.

• Larger Trend:
  The hosts close by noting the significance of a “Berniecrat” representing a wealthy district, previously an outlier among populists who more commonly win in poorer constituencies.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Media Critique on Cuba Rumors:
  “This is just total gibberish… So this article then gets turned into a dissident article in Cuba. Politico picks it up... and in Washington, it’s like, ‘Oh, these talks are happening.’” — Ryan Grim, [09:22]

• On AIPAC’s Political Strategy:
  “They are willing to destroy friend or foe, unless you commit to and pledge blind obedience.” — Analilia Mejia, [53:23]

• On Surveillance:
  “We are all going to be so happy… It is going to become a pitch just like the Puppy Ring commercial that you need these. Everyone put a camera on your door… We're watching.” — Sagar Enjeti, [28:58]

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Timestamps Index

| Segment | Timestamps | |-----------------------------------------|-------------| | Cuba Regime Change & Disinfo | 02:39–15:12 | | Trump, Netanyahu & Iran | 17:45–24:50 | | Ring/Nest Surveillance & Guthrie Case | 24:50–31:19 | | FAA Closing Airspace | 31:19–32:24 | | Interview: Analilia Mejia (AIPAC/NJ-11) | 34:55–60:44 |

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Tone & Style

The discussion is frank, lively, and at times sardonic—true to Breaking Points’ anti-establishment identity. Hosts critique both major parties, the mainstream press, and corporate power, yet remain accessible and often self-aware about their own viewpoints.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode encapsulates a tense American political moment in which international intrigue, grassroots insurgency, privacy rights, and big-money politics collide. Through sharp analysis and candid interviews, the hosts expose how power operates behind the scenes—and highlight how grassroots energy can still upend entrenched interests.

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Transcript

[Krystal Ball]

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[Adrian Carrasquillo]

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[Sagar Enjeti]

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[Sagar Enjeti]

Guys, Sagar and Krystal here.

[Krystal Ball]

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[Sagar Enjeti]

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[Mac Call]

Can find honest perspectives from the left.

[Sagar Enjeti]

And the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.

[Krystal Ball]

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[Sagar Enjeti]

We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breaking points.com.

[Mac Call]

According to.

[Ryan Grim]

President Donald Trump, we are in high.

[Mac Call]

Level negotiations with Cuban officials.

[Ryan Grim]

According to Cuban officials, that's not happening at all. Let's roll. Donald Trump from last weekend. What do you want out of a Cuba deal? Well, Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time. But now it doesn't have Venezuela to prop it up.

[Adrian Carrasquillo]

So we're talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba.

[Griffin Davis]

We'll see what happens.

[Ryan Grim]

I want the people that came here that were horribly treated by Cuba to be taken care of, to be able to go back and do what they have to do.

[Adrian Carrasquillo]

You know, they have their family there. They haven't been able to see them in years.

[Ryan Grim]

Many, many years.

[Adrian Carrasquillo]

So I think we're going to make.

[Ryan Grim]

A deal with Cuba in bad check.

[Emily Jashinsky]

You was in bad check. Cuba has a humanitarian problem.

[Ryan Grim]

So this set up a very odd situation where you had both publicly, you had top Cuban officials saying there are not talks happening. And privately, the drop site, multiple Cuban officials told us, we would love to have talks about everything, democracy, human rights, foreign, direct foreign investment. Trump, Havana, like you name it, there they are. They see that the objective conditions are changing and they are open to negotiations. We will talk.

[Sagar Enjeti]

If you can do Mara Gaza, why not turn some of that investment towards Havana? I mean, all seriousness, people, when you have Jared Kushner out at Davos being like, here's my slideshow.

[Mac Call]

Right?

[Sponsor Voice]

Yes.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, exactly. And so a senior administration official told us. We were like, why is Trump saying that? He said, quote, he's saying that because that's what Marco is, is telling him. So according to our sources, Marco Rubio is telling Trump, yes, there are these high level negotiations going on with the idea being that in a couple weeks or a couple months, he'll say, we tried and it didn't happen. They were recalcitrant. You can't trust these commies. So we just need to do complete and total regime change. He wanted to do complete regime change in Venezuela. He lost that argument. But he did get rid of Maduro. He doesn't want to just replace the president of Cuba with another president from the Communist Party.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, and that's a significant distinction between Venezuela and Cuba at this point, I mean, Cuba has. You can explain this better, but the odds that if you tap in somebody in Cuba, you don't necessarily have a compliant Delsey Rodriguez in Cuba because you have this like vast infrastructure.

[Ryan Grim]

Although at this point you might like. Because they're so.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, that's the question.

[Ryan Grim]

Because they're so beaten down.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Right. But I mean, like Cuba has a decades long tradition of communism.

[Ryan Grim]

It's a one party state. Yeah. So Trump has cut off all oil and he told Mexico, if you send any oil, you're getting tariffs and sanctioned. And so Cuba has responded by cut, you know, cutting fuel to significant parts of the island, focusing on the tourist area where that brings in hard currency. And nursing homes and hospitals, they're trying to scale up solar panel installation as fast as they possibly can, but it's dire. Like it's crisis level situation. Now what's interesting is into this confusing situation came a report that there were actually talks going on between Cuban officials and the CIA in Mexico. And look, let me be extremely clear, that is possible the CIA is capable of doing things secretly that I am not immediately able to discover. It is possible. There are rumors out there that John Ratcliffe met with Raul Castro's son.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Mm.

[Ryan Grim]

Like that's, that's a rumor that's out there. It might be true. I don't know. I don't know where Ratcliffe is every single day. Okay. So just saying that might be true.

[Sagar Enjeti]

I thought he was your boss.

[Ryan Grim]

Yes, right. He runs all of this. So. But where, where does the, where does this news actually come from? So let's put up this next element because this is an amazing kind of meta media story because we're gonna, we're gonna talk about how kind of news becomes news. So Politico wrote this article slash newsletter with a headline, could a Castro become our man in Havana? And it's about these meetings between Raul Castro's. The alleged meetings between Raul Castro's son and the CIA happening down in Mexico. But then if you read through the Politico report, here's basically a timeline of how this happens. So February 2nd, Politico reports published. Go backwards. February 2nd article in 14Y Media that basically reports that these talks are happening. That's by a kind of dissident blogger who lives in Havana and well known blogger who was critical of the government. She had written that these talks were happening. But then if you read through her post and you click through it, you get to a January 31 post by Carlos Cabrera Perez.

[Sagar Enjeti]

This timeline is incredible.

[Ryan Grim]

By the Way on Facebook, published in Spain. So this is a Spanish. This is a Cuban guy, lives in Spain. And if you read through. I don't know if we have his post here or not, but if you read through his post, you can find it linked to in our story. It is complete and total gibberish. In fact, if you have. If you have any thoughts on that. I'll see if I can find. I'll find that.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, no, it's like you were saying, it's quite a window into how news becomes news and how things snowball like that. I mean, even so, it's pretty. This is pretty egregious, I would say. I know you see this stuff from time to time, but this is pretty egregious. Yeah.

[Ryan Grim]

So this is. So Carlos writes on Facebook, exclusive breaking news. General Castro Espin. This is Alejandro Castro Espin, who is Raul's son. Doesn't put his first name in there. Whatever. Returns to Havana. Awaiting a response from the White House. Cuba, he writes. Cuba and the United States concluded this morning local time their first round of talks in Mexico with a, quote, principle of agreement to initiate a transition to democracy, pending final approval of the White House, unquote, Reported a source close to the government of Claudia Sheinbaum, who was. Who has followed the Plastics without participating in them. He'll return this weekend to Havana. He's transferred to a senior CIA official. And, like, I can't read.

[Sagar Enjeti]

It's.

[Ryan Grim]

I can't read this. It's like, you know, so, like, kind of incoherent and weird and the, like, if you go through this, you're like, okay, this is just kind of Facebook slope. This is just total gibberish. Like, like I said, maybe Ratcliffe is meeting with Alejandro. I don't know. Yeah, I certainly would not base it on this article. So this article then gets turned into a dissident article in Cuba. Politico picks it up, and then in Washington, it's like, oh, these talks are happening. I guess these talks are happening. We can put up this next time. So I reached out to Politico and I was like, hey, but just curious, like, did you guys have any information that whether these talks are happening or not? And the comment I got back from Politico is, quote, as the item makes clear, Politico was highlighting chatter about talks, not reporting that talks had, in fact taken place.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Incredible.

[Ryan Grim]

Again, maybe the talks are happening, but Politico's like, I'm sorry, you. You thought that we were reporting something that was happening? No, no, no, no, no.

[Sagar Enjeti]

It was a meta story all along.

[Ryan Grim]

It was a meta story about chatter. It was chatter about talks.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Just relax, Ryan.

[Ryan Grim]

So and the US spends tens of millions of dollars every year funding these like dissident publications around the world.

[Sagar Enjeti]

I mean we're arguably, I mean I don't even, I haven't looked at the numbers yet, but that's probably the bare bones remaining operation of usaid.

[Ryan Grim]

Yes, because they got shut down. They got shut down and Rubio came back in and saved all of that propaganda money. Now 14 y media doesn't no evidence that they get it, but other outlets that do get it, like pick then picked up on this reporting or people.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Who are talking chatter.

[Ryan Grim]

So the US funds through this ned, which is CIA cut out funds these news outlets which like source like some Facebook slop and turn it into an article. And then Politico says, well there's chatter and it and it's news anyway. So maybe there's talks, maybe there's not talks, but we certainly have no way of knowing from what we're being told.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Meanwhile, Amerisuela, if we call it that is now we can put this last element up on the screen. Sending oil to Israel.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, it's crazy. So yes, the US controls Venezuela's oil flows now and through a middleman is brokering oil sales from Venezuela to Israel. As the Venezuelan, the current Venezuelan president has said, they're committing a genocide. We should not do business with them. Yeah, Trump's like, I don't care what you want to do. Yeah, I'm in charge.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, if Venezuela is a template for potential activities in Cuba, which obviously we are already talking about some of the distinctions that are significant. But if, if Trump sees some type of like limited operation where you end up with the vice president in charge and a two year timetable or whatever they've landed on in Venezuela towards democratic elections allegedly, then I mean, it's obvious. I'm just purely talking about this from a political perspective. We've talked about this before. Imagine Trump sitting next to Raul Castro watching a baseball game and it wouldn't be Raul Castro now, but like that's what Obama did and the right freaked out. You can see Trump doing that, right? Like you could see Trump easily doing something like that and understanding that he could transform Havana back into what Roy Cohn and the people Trump spent time with in the 70s and 80s remembered from the 40s and 50s. And again, this is not a statement on whether that's good or bad. I'm just saying the political opportunity for a thaw with Donald Trump, right off the coast where he has his own resorts.

[Ryan Grim]

Not only that, as we reported in the piece, and I think it was 08, Trump registered the Trump Havana trademark and he has been re upping it every year.

[Sagar Enjeti]

That's fascinating.

[Ryan Grim]

So Trump is no stranger to the potential benefits to American companies of ending this blockade. And I keep hearing people online, if communism worked, why does it have to rely on the United States? The US Is blocking Mexico and Venezuela from sending oil to Cuba. Like that is not just America not trading with Cuba. They're not letting anybody trade with Cuba. And they call them a state sponsor of terrorism. And so that means that basically nobody in Europe or South America or anywhere else can do business with them because then they will then get sanctioned. The latest thing they're saying is that there's actually. Although Russia, Hezbollah and Hamas. Yeah, Russia and China, because they have their. They're a little bit immune from sanctions. The latest thing is. Oh, actually Cuba is like a hotbed of like safe haven for Hezbollah and Hamas, which is like. What are you talking about? It turns out there's like some Palestinian students.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know.

[Ryan Grim]

With Palestinians here in the United States, are we a hotbed of like Hezbollah and Hamas?

[Sagar Enjeti]

You know how they would answer that question? Like the lawsuit against Ramiza Asturk who.

[Ryan Grim]

Wrote the answer, which was thrown out, by the way. Some good news just yesterday. Yeah. The judge said drop this against this. She wrote she co authored an op ed get off of her.

[Mac Call]

To boycott, literally to divest support of.

[Ryan Grim]

A student senate resolution that passed.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yeah. So anyway, you know how that question would be answered. But I mean, you and I would disagree on potential NATSAC threats that come from Cuba if it's still hardened against the United States with Russia and China. But that's why there's an argument, a conservative argument, even for a thaw with Cuba. It's actually kind of the argument Obama made.

[Ryan Grim]

They don't want this. Yeah, Cuba doesn't want this.

[Sagar Enjeti]

And it's not good for anyone.

[Emily Jashinsky]

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[Mac Call]

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[Sagar Enjeti]

All right, Ryan, let's go ahead now and talk about Iran.

[Ryan Grim]

So Benjamin Netanyahu, guess who's back live back in Washington yesterday. There's this weird thing that he does where he always brings his dirty laundry. I think that clearly he's just filling it with like listening devices because he's been busted and the Israeli delegations have been busted like inserting listening devices all over the place, including who was the British Prime Minister? Boris. What's his name? Who they.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Oh, Boris Johnson.

[Ryan Grim]

Boris Johnson was like, yeah, I caught Netanyahu like bugging my bathroom.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Many such cases.

[Ryan Grim]

Basically, if Netanyahu is really bringing his dirty laundry here, he hasn't had to pay for his own laundry for the last year because like diplomats and visiting delegations, we have this thing where we'll wash your laundry for free. So Anyway, he's back again. And he's back. We put this element up on the screen. He's back because he wants a much more robust attack on Iran. He's very frustrated that these talks are still happening. So Barack Ravid called Trump yesterday. Trump picks up when Barack Ravid calls. I love it, and says, yeah, I might send a second carrier strike group right now. I've got the Abraham Lincoln out there, but I'm gonna hit him so hard. You know, they're, they're not gonna, they're not gonna know what could, you know, possibly hit them. You put up E2.

[Sagar Enjeti]

My favorite, by the way, I always mention this is when Zelensky is taking a question from Barack Ravid and says, you always seem to know what's said on my phone calls.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, no shade. This guy's this scoop machine.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, he wasn't the idf.

[Ryan Grim]

Everybody in Israel who's Jewish has to do idf. I think he did some type of intelligence. I don't know. He was a reservist. And he publicly said during the protests around Netanyahu's attempt to take over the courts that he joined the reservist strike. He's like, I'm not going to serve as long as you're trying to take over the court. So there are lines that he's willing to draw. So put up E2. It's from New York Post. Nervous Netanyahu pushes up trip to D.C. for high stakes Trump talk as U.S. huddles with Iran. So Netanyahu was supposed to come later, but according to the New York Post and other reporting, you know, he's, he's frustrated that the attacks haven't happened yet or that Trump isn't sufficiently carrying Israel's water in these negotiations. Because Trump keeps saying that these are nuclear talks and that he wants an agreement around Iran's nuclear weapons. We've been told that that's the big problem for a very long time. Netanyahu is saying, no, no, no, it's not just that. You also have to make them get rid of their ballistic missile program, which would mean that. And limit them so that they couldn't reach Israel, which would mean that it would allow Israel then to attack Iran whenever it wanted, and Iran could not defend itself by firing missiles back at Israel. They also want. Netanyahu also wants Iran to stop supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, and the other kind of degraded proxies that they have in the region. And so Netanyahu is saying if they don't agree to all these conditions, which they're not if you're Iran, would you agree to basically disarm?

[Krystal Ball]

No.

[Mac Call]

So they're not going to agree.

[Ryan Grim]

They're not going to agree to that. And so then he wants Trump to bomb them again on Israel's behalf.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, so this is, I think one of the significant points is you have Netanyahu, who was urging, obviously urging US action in the 12 Day War, got his wish. And lots of Netanyahu allies in her own government got their wishes. Trump is very proud of Operation Midnight Hammer. So to make this argument that there's still a nuclear Iranian threat undercuts the argument Trump made for Midnight Hammer. And so that's the disconnect that needs to be explained to Trump in this case.

[Ryan Grim]

I keep telling you that it was the most beautiful thing. And the pilots were so proud. And then CNN said they missed and the pilots cried. And that was so rude of cnn. It's treasonous. They should be locked up. And so now Netanyahu is, like, going to make the pilots cry again.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, you remember, I mean, the week after Midnight Hammer, the conversation or the debate was over exactly how much damage was done to the nuclear sites. And There were other 100% conflicting reports all over the place. And it started to look, I mean, the administration's claims to have had this generational wipeout that set Iran back years and years, that was already dubious at the time. And now you have Netanyahu essentially making that same argument again.

[Ryan Grim]

Right.

[Sagar Enjeti]

To Trump, who was touting this generational wipeout of Iran's nuclear technology.

[Mac Call]

Right.

[Ryan Grim]

And also, you've had Netanyahu privately admit in meeting minutes that have since been leaked and made public that Iran was years away from a bomb. When Netanyahu talks on the American media, he says he would say that they were days or weeks away and we need to move now. When he speaks privately. They're years away.

[Griffin Davis]

Right.

[Ryan Grim]

So they were years away before those beautiful B1 bombers, and then the brilliant bombers carried out their mission.

[Sagar Enjeti]

This was the argument at the time that the goalpost is always being shifted. Yes, always being shifted. So you can risk starting a game of nuclear chess over claims that are going to change, you know, a week later, even if you do it right.

[Ryan Grim]

Right. And you can imagine. Anyway, so Trump is meeting with Wyckoff and Kushner ahead of this meeting. We'll see.

[Sagar Enjeti]

I want to watch Polymarket, see who's putting any money down. Maybe Witkoff gets some information over.

[Ryan Grim]

See with the Witkoff boys here. Yeah. So there'll be, I'm sure, interesting press conference later. In the Oval Office?

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, no. So it's closed door. This is also interesting because it's a midterm year and the argument seemingly from the wild.

[Ryan Grim]

They're not going to do the spray and all that.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yeah, seemingly. The argument from the Wiles camp is that there's too much. Well, too much focus on foreign policy and that Trump was constantly having foreign dignitaries. You hear this from Marjorie Taylor Greene, in and out and making big shows of it because Trump loves looking like he's the alpha in these pressers. But today's meeting so far is closed door. Sometimes that changes literally at the last minute, like minute before it's set to happen. So we'll see.

[Ryan Grim]

You going to be there?

[Sagar Enjeti]

No, I was at the last one and it was so crowded and they took one question or something like that. So I feel like it's not entirely worth my time.

[Ryan Grim]

So some interesting developments in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping.

[Sagar Enjeti]

So speaking of espionage.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. And so. And things are coming together in an interesting way for Ring. Ring had this super bowl admission where they're like, hey, we're watching everybody and we'll find your puppy.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, let's actually just roll it.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah.

[Sagar Enjeti]

We have this ad. You probably caught it during the Super Bowl. Ring, bear in mind, is owned by Amazon Nest. Bear in mind is owned by Google. So this was Ring's super bowl ad that rubbed a lot of people rightfully the wrong way. F3.

[Ryan Grim]

This is Milo Petzer family. But every year, 10 million go missing. And the way we look for them hasn't changed in years. Until now.

[Adrian Carrasquillo]

One post of a dog's photo in the Ring app starts. Outdoor cameras looking for a match.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Search party from Ring uses AI to.

[Adrian Carrasquillo]

Help families find lost dogs. Since launch, more than a dog a.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Day has been reunited with their family.

[Ryan Grim]

Be a hero in your neighborhood. With search party available to everyone for.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Free right now, Join the [e-mail] we welcome our overlords. This is called the Pet Protection Panopticon.

[Ryan Grim]

Also, Mac producer Mac was pointing out before the show, wasn't it they said 10 million a day. I mean, 10 million a year are lost.

[Sagar Enjeti]

I don't know.

[Ryan Grim]

And they said more than one a day. So roughly 400 are returned in a year. So 400 out of 10 million. And also of that 400, like 350 were probably found, like, you know, three doors up.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Right.

[Ryan Grim]

And we would have found them anyway. So out of 10 million, like, how many did Ring actually recover? Yeah, well, that wouldn't have been found otherwise.

[Sagar Enjeti]

And this is about to get really Dark because it's the FBI in this Nancy Guthrie case, which is horrible and keeps lingering and seems to be picking up. The investigation seems to be picking up steam just in the last 48 hours. The FBI released a series of photos and videos yesterday. So this is F1. This is going to be a mashup of some of what was released. So you can see a man in a mask go right up to the NEST camera on Nancy Guthrie's door. He's in gloves, looks like a white dude and I would say like youngish, 30s, 40s maybe, kind of tall, comes in and then ends up actually disabling the camera. So also people saying looks like, I agree, a gun strapped on him and of course goes in. And then we know there's blood on the porch from News Nation's reporting. So someone comes in, grabs what looks like a. He's looks like he's grabbing a bird's nest that was behind the actual nest camera. So comes in and then we know there's blood on the porch. So that does not look good for the prospect of finding Nancy Guthrie. 84 year old mom of Savannah Guthrie of NBC. And people noticed, huh? This is nest footage. It says nest on the footage. Interesting, because investigators said she did not have a subscription to Nest. That was a point made by the Pima county sheriff, Chris Nanos. He said right after she disappeared that a camera NBC reports affixed to her door had been disconnected, that she did not have a subscription that would have saved video. And that investigators were trying to work with a tech company on the difficult forensic task of recovering any video. Well, what does that mean? Because if you don't have a subscription and your camera is disconnected, how could there be any forensic task, even a difficult one that would result in recovering video? So Cash Patel is now saying the FBI got the video from quote, Back End Systems. Again, this is a company that is owned by Alphabet Ring, is the competitor owned by Amazon. These are not random small businesses. These are defense contracting companies. Ryan, that is, I mean the pitch is going to be if this, if this information she's disconnected or whatever, it helps them find Nancy Guthrie. God bless. We are all going to be so happy. It is going to become a pitch just like the Puppy Ring commercial that you need these. Everyone put a camera on your door because we'll be able to scan people's eyes, will be able to find people in these emergency situations. Doesn't matter if you have a subscription. We're watching.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. And who's back end the NSAs like that's crazy. Nice cash would be a little more forthcoming about where this footage came from.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Backend Systems.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. So once again, everybody's suspicion feels like these things are listening to me. No, you're crazy. They're not listening to you.

[Adrian Carrasquillo]

Later.

[Ryan Grim]

Admit. Yeah, they're actually listings.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Or just disconnect it. Right. If you're worried, just disconnect it.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. Or, yeah, and it's. If it's not storing the footage, if you don't have a subscription, or if you don't pay for the, like, higher end subscription.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yep.

[Ryan Grim]

Got my car stolen and the police are like, got the footage there. I was like, no, but turns out maybe they did. Well, like, we don't pay for any. Well, now we do. The local police, we pay for everything and don't come anywhere near us. But at the time we did not. So, like, no, but. So we don't have the footage because we weren't paying for this, like, storage or whatever, apparently.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Well, the local police might not. The federal government might. To your point.

[Ryan Grim]

Exactly. Somebody's got it because the local police.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Said, well, she didn't have a subscription. It was disconnected. And then the FBI sweeps in a week later and says, we got it from Backend Systems. The argument, of course, is going to be if we find out they're going to say that it's stored, it's encrypted, and only used for training these AI systems or whatever is not innocuous. It doesn't even sound innocuous. But that's. There's. There's potentially just a capitalist explanation behind all of this. There's probably something darker too, if this turns out to be the case. But it's that they're training their AI. Even if you don't have a subscription, they're training their AI and you never have access to it. So insane, insane detail that people were right to pick up on when you have the local sheriff saying, no subscription is disconnected. And then the FBI swooping in a week later and saying, we recovered the video. Quite interesting. And we'll see. This is a new development, so we're going to have to see how Google responds.

[Ryan Grim]

And speaking of completely insane things, we didn't cover this because we don't know what the f is going on. But as you may have seen, the FAA announced that for 10 days they're closing the airspace over El Paso.

[Sagar Enjeti]

This happened early this morning.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, they're now, they're now saying that they're like, what, shooting at drones? Like cartel drones? That's highly suspicious. Answer. What on Earth is going on in El Paso. We know that they have the what Camp Montana, the massive detention facility inside Fort Bliss. Shutting it all down for 10 days. They catch some aliens, actual aliens, not like illegal, like extra. I mean like not from Mexico aliens.

[Sagar Enjeti]

In about a matter of like two hours, they went from a 10 day closure to just a total removal of the FAA notice. So.

[Ryan Grim]

So it's back open.

[Sagar Enjeti]

It's back open. So you can bet Sager will have thoughts on that for tomorrow's edition of Breaking Points.

[Emily Jashinsky]

The big Game commercials are basically must see tv.

[Griffin Davis]

Well, I take bathroom breaks during the game, so I don't miss anything.

[Mac Call]

Smart.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Well, Elf Cosmetics is back this year and they decided to make a full bl absurdly funny telenovela that celebrates positivity, inclusivity and accessibility.

[Griffin Davis]

That sounds amazing.

[Emily Jashinsky]

It's called Melissa and it's absurd in the best way. It stars Melissa McCarthy, TV doctor Nicholas Gonzalez and iconic telenovela villain Ita Ticanto Raul. But the real star, Elf Glow Reviver Lip Oil.

[Griffin Davis]

Oh, okay, I see where this is going.

[Emily Jashinsky]

When language fails her and her lips are dull and dry, only Glow can revive her. Melissa McCarthy fully commits by even rolling the R's with Elf Glow Reviver Lip Oil.

[Griffin Davis]

Available in 10 shades and only $9 each.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Watch the full episode of their new Elf novella on soyunbanyo.com yes.

[Griffin Davis]

And drench your lips in an addictive sheer wash of ultra glossy color with Elf Glow Reviver Lip Oil.

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[Sagar Enjeti]

Ryan, close us out here with this interview you did with a New Jersey Dem primary candidate.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. So Ana Lilia Mejia defeated a wide field of candidates, including the like local party boss, including the AIPAC supported candidate, and including former representative Tom Malinowski who was who had been polling slightly ahead. Although Mejia was always a very credible candidate in this race because she had the backing of aoc, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, the entire kind of infrastructure, plus all the momentum behind it. There was a moment in the primary for people who were paying close attention in the district that went viral locally and even a little bit nationally. At a CARE New Jersey forum, all of the candidates were asked in a kind of repeat of the New York Mamdani debate but. But they were asked, will you refuse an APAC sponsored, a pro Israel lobby sponsored trip to Israel only and do you believe that Israel's committing a genocide? Let's roll that clip because I think you're going to see like how she kind of separated herself here.

[Sagar Enjeti]

By a show of hands, we here.

[Krystal Ball]

Would publicly decline to participate in a.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Freshman congressional trip to Israel sponsored by.

[Krystal Ball]

Crow's World Corporation advocacy organizations.

[Mac Call]

Do you agree with the United Nations Commission of Inquiry and many other human rights organizations that Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza? Show of hands, if you agree with the United nations inquiry that Israel has.

[Ryan Grim]

Committed a genocide in Gaza.

[Mac Call]

Please talk right now because this is not a fair question because genocide is dividing work. Okay, so we just dividing one side or the other.

[Sagar Enjeti]

And in.

[Ryan Grim]

In Jimmy Carter, who's the only person.

[Mac Call]

Who delivered peace in the Middle East. Thank you, Zach. You cannot get peace.

[Ryan Grim]

You cannot get peace if you use. Sorry. Thank you, Justin. And so last night while Emily was out partying at the this YouTube conference, I sat down with Aunt Lilia.

[Sagar Enjeti]

May hear not just me, producers Mac and Griffin.

[Mac Call]

Mac and Griffin.

[Ryan Grim]

There's like a conference in D.C. for like creators. We have to wrap soon because Emily's going to what do a panel with Sagar, Is that right? Who's on your. Who's on the panel? Somebody's on the panel. In any event. So this is a pre recorded interview from last night with Mejia, who is now on her way is the Democratic nominee for this district. And the special election is coming up in April against a Republican challenger. There she'll then have to re compete for the primary in June. Here's my conversation with Mejia.

[Mac Call]

Joining us now is Analilia Mejia, who just yesterday was declared the official victor. Tom Malinowski on Tuesday conceded that there wouldn't be enough votes for him to mount a comeback with the final tallies in New Jersey's 11th district, which makes her the Democratic Nomin headed towards the general election against rubling on a. Lilia, thank you so much for joining us.

[Krystal Ball]

Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's nice to see you again. It's been nice.

[Mac Call]

Nice to see you too. It has been. And one of the kind of privileges that I get in kind of covering the progressive world now for 20 years or so is to see people move from one organization to another and one cause, it's all the same cause.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yeah.

[Mac Call]

Watch them kind of rise through the ranks and then once in a while somebody becomes a member of Congress that you don't expect.

[Krystal Ball]

You and me both.

[Mac Call]

You and me both. And in your advocacy world, we refer to those people as electeds.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yes.

[Mac Call]

I don't know. I don't know if the regular people know that. It's a weird phrase because it's not. Yeah, I don't.

[Ryan Grim]

What kind of word is that?

[Mac Call]

Elected.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah, I usually, I shorten it to eo elected official. I'm like, that's a eo.

[Mac Call]

That's an EO over there. So now you are on the way to becoming an eo. So let's first of all tell people the general election. Kamala Harris won this district by what, eight points or something like that? So what, there's a moderate? Well, they call them moderate. So we'll borrow the mainstream media's phrasing there. Republican running in this district. What's the race looking like and when is the general election for this special?

[Krystal Ball]

I mean, I'm going to say I reject the idea that my opponent is actually a moderate. I think anyone that won't denounce what Trump, the Trump administration is doing won't openly denounce what ICE is doing to American citizens. Won't openly denounce the turning of weaponry on American citizens that are protecting and exerting their constitutional rights. That is extremism to me. But I, you know, this special election was to fill the seat vacated by Mikey Sherrill when she became governor. Candidates essentially had 10 weeks to run. The most compressed timeline. That 10 week period began in Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving week when we had to collect signatures to get on the ballot. Vote by mail, ballots were released right before, on December 22, right before the holidays. And then we held the special primary on February 5th. That's a Thursday only in Jersey, y'.

[Mac Call]

All.

[Krystal Ball]

But we were able to emerge victorious, even though, you know, I jumped in late. But we as organizers, as you know, I, as you shared, I come from movement. I ran the New Jersey Working Families Party. I obviously, I worked for Bernie. I was his national political director. And my day job has been to be the co director of the center for Popular Democracy, which is this network of base building, power building organizations. But, you know, we, as an organizer, someone with that kind of experience, we hit the ground, we knocked on doors, hundreds of thousands of phone calls, and we emerged victorious almost 2 to 1 on election day, which I feel really proud about.

[Mac Call]

And what's so intimidating to me about congressional districts is their, is their vast size like 700,000 or plus people. Like, that's just a staggering number of people. You can't.

[Krystal Ball]

Yes.

[Mac Call]

No, you can't meet every single one of them. Now in a primary like this, you end up needing, you know, a much smaller handful of votes. So when, when you went into this race, it this. We're talking about North Jersey. Like, yeah, the. Now there are working class parts of every congressional district. So it's, it's something.

[Krystal Ball]

This is suburban Jersey. This is a commuter town. Folks usually live here because they work in the city. They want access to the infrastructure. You know, they're pursu green space or school.

[Mac Call]

They work in finance.

[Krystal Ball]

Finance.

[Mac Call]

They work in pharma. Like a ton of pharma? Yeah, like. So you won, you know, hedge funds, hedge fund guys, hedge fund women, private equity pharma execs. Like how? Like what? Okay, what did you do?

[Krystal Ball]

Well, the first thing I'll tell you is I live in this district. Even progressives live in the burbs. I've been here, some of them 13 years. Some of them. Some of us. Here's. Here's the deal. The truth is this economy is hitting everybody. See, when you double and triple healthcare costs, even individual, you know, small business owners, professionals, doctors, lawyers, architects, my neighbors were all complaining about the fact that they could no longer afford healthcare insurance. Right. And to manage their families, when childcare costs are upwards of 24, 28, $30,000 a year, I pay $24,000 a year for child care. So when you're talking about that kind of expense or the. We may not turn, we may not spiral off the price of eggs, but you combine all those things. Rising healthcare costs, rising childcare costs, you know, these Tariffs impacted small business owners wildly. And so you combine all of that that was impacting community. I've lived here, I'm an organizer. I talked to my neighbors. I knew it. So my message was, we need to remove the stranglehold that big money has on our economy and our democracy. We have to remember that an oligarch is, or an authoritarian is simply a corrupt politician who has gotten a taste from stealing from the people and they want to keep the grift going. So they have to be, they have to deter any kind of accountability. And an oligarch is essentially a corporate interest that has gotten the taste of stealing from their consumers, from their clients, from their workers. And they want to keep the grift going. And so they need less regulation in order to keep it, keep the jig up. And so the thing that stands between the authoritarian and the oligarchy is an informed community. So I was knocking on doors, talking to people, pointing that out, and that resonate, that message resonated with folks.

[Mac Call]

Yeah, in my own life I've, I talked to plenty of, of these, you know, upper middle class professional types. And they know that I have been kind of covering the Bernie AOC world for, you know, as long as they've known me. And so they'll talk to me at the soccer games or whatever about this stuff. And 2014, 15, 16, there was a lot of hostility from them to that world. Like they, they pitted, they saw him as kind of hostile to, you know, their interests and what they thought the Democratic Party ought to be because these are mostly Democrats for the most part. You know, that started to soften a little bit with, with AOC, but 2020, they were still quite skeptical of Bernie, but now they're like, I think, think Bernie actually was right. They're open to him. They're definitely open to aoc, who like, like they now think of as like a normie Democrat. And I think part of it is that they believe that they're probably okay themselves, although they're not necessarily sure. Yeah, but they're very worried about their kids, about what this country's becoming and.

[Griffin Davis]

Right for their kids.

[Ryan Grim]

These are not the types of people.

[Mac Call]

That have like generational wealth. They can, they're going to help their kids, they send them to nice schools, they're going to help them through college, but they're not going to like set them up for life. And so did you see that too? Like what is.

[Griffin Davis]

Absolutely, absolutely. I had folks talk about how they may be able to afford. They may have been able to afford to buy a home, but they're worried about what's going to happen to their children. And the fact that private equity firms are buying up starter homes resonates with them and anchors them. Talking about how we have to regulate that hits a nerve because they could see that this basic thing that they took for granted for themselves is going to be out of reach for their children. When I talk to folks about, like I said, health insurance, I talked to a neighbor whose husband is a doctor, they are professionals and they were discussing shifting from comprehensive health insurance to catastrophic so that they could continue to afford their child's tuition. And this is a doctor. So we have across this district what I know, what I've Learned in the 13 years that I've lived here, talking to my neighbors, engaging people, and this is probably true across America that in our communities, you know, especially places in which, you know, on paper seem like they are economically stable, right? High homeownership, high education levels, people stretch to be here. And so if you lose a client, if you're a contractor, you lose a client, or if the prices for your small business go up or just the instability of the moment make creates that precariousness, you start to spin, you increase your dependence on credit card debt or credit cards, you find yourself in credit card debt, maybe you are house rich, but cash poor. And so this economy is in fact hitting working class, working poor and middle class people. And it's not surprising because we have an unfair and imbalanced in our economy and our democracy. I mean, Bernie said it over and over. It's the billionaire class are trying to buy our democracy and they're willing to trade democracy for an extra zero in their offshore bank account. You add that to the violence you are seeing in Minnesota, in Chicago, in California and in this district. Just today I heard about shock being fired in Roxbury, New Jersey, just outside the district. We had on a Sunday morning, ICE agents go to early Sunday morning, go go into a laundromat and arrest a teenager. We know that we have this, this precarious situation happening across the country. And people are concerned, rightfully so.

[Mac Call]

And I feel like it's, I'm curious if you got this sense from people that it's two sides of the same coin in the sense that, that they elected Trump, the country elected Trump because they wanted egg prices down and you know, grocery prices down and, and that it was a standin, those things were a stand in for things were getting unaffordable. And instead we get this chaos and this violence and so it's not just that they're against that. It's, it's that this seems to be the only thing that Trump cares about. Like, is that why, like, I mean, did it resonate on both levels for people?

[Griffin Davis]

Yes, absolutely. I mean, you know, I, I saw a turning point after the, the murder of, of Mrs. Good in, in Minnesota. I saw folks who were very concerned about what was happening and how they could protect community. I saw folks who, you know, Most certainly when Mr. Pruddy was, was murdered, also just find themselves in complete and utter shock. We had been having town halls in which we incorporated ICE trainings to make sure that people understood their rights, so that people understood the difference between a judicial warrant and a administrative warrant, so that they understood how they would protect themselves from undue and unfair illegal search and seizures. And, you know, to. Speaking to the chaos, people were, are very, very concerned about what they are seeing out of this administration. Most people, what they desire is just the ability to live their lives, raise their kids, have an opportunity and call it a day, you know, watch the super bowl to hang out with your friends. And what we are finding is this increasing, not only divisiveness, which, you know, at times we have seen in our country for sure. I mean, this is a nation that has had its ups and downs, but, but what we are seeing in this moment, I think is just shocking and jarring our communities into action. I also think that as an organizer, as a trainer, I've spent many years trying to teach my community and leaders about how we are, in fact, in an Overton Window tug of war with MAGA and with Donald Trump for the last, like, it's hard to believe, for 10 years. And in effect, for folks who are listening that are unaware, the Overton Window is quite simply what is the realm of the acceptable that we will accept from our government. Donald Trump has been trying to yank that all the way into fascism, in my opinion, and essentially shifted where the center, quote, unquote, is at. Well, it is our responsibility to yank it back. And that means that we need to speak bold ideas, we need to elect bold progressives where we can so that we can recalibrate our nation back into greater normalcy and hopefully rebuild beyond what we had. But, I mean, we're going to be doing this for generations, I think, and.

[Mac Call]

Any conversation of this race, of course, isn't complete without the complete and utter face plant that AIPAC took in this race. So for people who didn't follow into.

[Griffin Davis]

A better crew.

[Mac Call]

So they took a gigantic Pile of money.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yes.

[Griffin Davis]

And lit it on fire.

[Mac Call]

They didn't just light it on fire. So they threw it at Tom Malinowski, who was fairly pro Israel, former member of Congress, former State Department official, who had the temerity to say that perhaps, you know, if Israel commits some particular grave human rights abuses, then we should consider potentially not promising. Just maybe think about, you know, dialing back a little bit on some weapon systems like, which is the correct thing.

[Griffin Davis]

To do if we are a sovereign nation, if we are literally the law. Do we give. Exactly. Should we give a blank check to just anybody? No, but what they did was go after. Yes, exactly. Go ahead. No, no, you go ahead.

[Mac Call]

Well, I mean you, you witnessed it up close. But for that they dropped what, two plus million dollars, ironically accusing him of being too close to Trump and for supporting funding for ice, which, which is amazing that apac, which is mostly Republican funded, is using Republican money to accuse somebody of supporting ICE and Trump. And it, it, it drove down, it drove up his negatives. It drove, it, it hurt Malinowski in the final stretch. You dropped 2 million.

[Griffin Davis]

I want anybody that's going to hurt him. Yes, for sure, for sure. I will say, you know, I was on the doors and, and on social and in community. I think Malinowski supporters were very vocal in pushing against AIPAC and trying to tell voters what was happening. I joined in. I most certainly stepped up and denounced what AIPAC was doing to Tom. But, but to be honest, when I first jumped in, I had stated that I would reject 8 PAC funding. That in fact, every candidate should, because this is what they do. Leopards eat your face. The interesting thing here is that really the lesson that AIPAC taught New Jersey, 11 New Jersey and voters across the country is that they are willing to destroy friend or foe, unless you commit to and pledge blind obedience. And that should, to me, that actually forget whether or not they helped elect me. It's the fact that they told on themselves. So clearly that this is just, I hope it is a turning point. There are other special elections happening in New Jersey. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced that she wasn't going to run again. So there is a contest for her seat.

[Mac Call]

Adam Hamaway, right?

[Griffin Davis]

Yes. And there is this, you know, again, I think, you know, candidates in that race are speaking out against aipac. Now you have even moderates and Republicans speaking out against AIPAC and their practices. And to me that is the biggest lesson. It's, it's this idea that unless you pledge blind obedience, you, you know, this, this entity will come after you and the only way in which we free ourselves of it is to, is to disempower them by not taking their money and by calling them out for what they've done.

[Ryan Grim]

And yeah, in the, In Bonnie Watson.

[Mac Call]

Coleman's district, there's a guy named Dr. Adam Hammaway who, you know, I'm sure, who was a doctor who's gone repeatedly to, to, to Gaza to, to do missions there. Yeah, I remember he, he, when, when he first launched, somebody asked him, what are you going to refuse AIPAC money? It's like, well, Israel was like blocking him from leaving Gaza and yeah, like blocking water from getting into the hospital where he was working. I think, I think working pretty safely. That's where. Yeah. Where he's going to come down on this question. But so what, what have you heard from other Democrats? So once you win the not now, you've been endorsed by Mikey Sherrill, by the governor. Well, the governor, she's now governor, but but by a host of establishment Democrats like you're now, because you're now the.

[Griffin Davis]

Party, Cory Booker, the delegate, the congressional delegation, as well as my opponents. I, you know, this is Cory Booker's.

[Mac Call]

An, Cory Booker's an interesting one. So what, like, what did they tell you about what they thought of AIPAC's intervention in the race?

[Griffin Davis]

Honestly, what we mostly spoke about was how we needed this was a moment for us to turn and build unity, that primaries are about, you know, sifting out ideas and seeing what resonates with voters. And then the general we have to come together. Both Cory Booker, Senator Booker and Senator Andy Kim have both committed to me, their support not only through this primary, but all the way through to November or better yet, this general, the special general. And all the way through to November I have, you know, I'm receiving the support of institutional players and the party itself. But here's the thing, right? Like, the truth is that organizers, activists across the country, in order for us to be effective, we actually have to know who the power brokers are. It's not about for organizers and really for the left, the way in which we build governing power is not just to call the question and throw rocks from the outside, but it's for us to understand that while proximity to power is not power, so we don't kiss up to the institution, but we do come, you know, we do play ball. We do have to use our leverage and our power to be able to demand a seat at the table so that we can negotiate together. And so I'm not surprised that There is unity lining up behind me because that's what we have to do in order to beat MAGA and Trumpism. But also, I've known these players for the last 25 years. There have been times in which we have disagreed. There have been times in which I have pushed them hard. But then when we get into alignment, we get into alignment. And that's what I think we need to do in this moment without capitulating, without giving up on our morals and values.

[Krystal Ball]

At this moment, what we are focused on, what I am focused on doing is making sure to consolidate and work collaboratively across the party so that I can emerge victorious in this Special General on April 16th. But I will remind folks who are listening then I have to run another primary in June and then again a general in November. And so I do think that Trump, maga, Trumpism is probably going to make my job a little easier in that respect because their overreach is going to continue. I think the Democratic Party is shaken up across the country and most certainly in New Jersey to be more vocal and aggressive in resisting and pushing back against MAGA and their overreach and their extremism. My focus right now is getting through this April general on April 16, and then I'll be running again this June in the regular primary and then again in November for the regular general. And so that means ensuring that I am uplifting the concerns of regular voters, that I'm consolidating not only Democrats, but frankly, independents and I think, you know, maga. Like I said, MAGA Trumpism is making my job a little easier, sadly, with their overreach and violent authoritarianism.

[Mac Call]

By the way, has your delegation member Josh Gottheimer? Has he called yet?

[Krystal Ball]

He actually did send me a note congratulating me.

[Mac Call]

Amazing.

[Krystal Ball]

I thought that was a pleasant surprise.

[Ryan Grim]

Excellent.

[Mac Call]

Well, Analilia Mejia, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey's 11 7th district, thanks so much for joining us and congratulations on the victory.

[Krystal Ball]

Thank you. Hopefully, I'll join you again soon.

[Mac Call]

It'll be smooth and in studio. Can't, can't wait to see you guys in Washington.

[Krystal Ball]

Oh, yes, yes. That's going to be awesome. Thank you, man. Appreciate you later.

[Ryan Grim]

You got it.

[Krystal Ball]

Bye.

[Ryan Grim]

All right, so that's Lilia Mejia on her way to becoming a member of Congress and I would expect, reelected again in November. We'll see. Amazing that one of the wealthiest districts in the country is going to send a kind of Bernie Crat to Congress. And I think it's an extraordinarily significant development for the reshaping of the Democratic Party.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Right. For a long time it's been Ro Khanna, who's a representative kind of Bernie Democrat who represents one of the wealthy wealthiest districts in the country. And if anything, the populists have been. You know, we talked about this research from cgcn, the lobbying firm that shows populists are from the poorer districts. Freedom Caucus Squad, they're representing the poorer districts. So it is a very interesting development on the left.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, not so much anymore. I'm right. Well, we will see you on Friday. Crystal and Sagar will be back here tomorrow.

[Sagar Enjeti]

Yep. And make sure to subscribe if you haven't yet. It helps us so much if you just subscribe for free to the channel, like comment all of that. But if you want a premium subscription, that's awesome too. BreakingPoints.com See you later.

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