2/20/25: Trump Cheers House Bill With Medicaid Cuts, Trump Calls Himself "King", DOGE Screws Rural America, Elon Plot To Rug Pull America

Summary

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar – Episode Summary (February 20, 2025)

Hosted by Krystal Ball and Ashley Kinetic, Breaking Points delves into the intricate dynamics of American politics, focusing on recent developments involving former President Donald Trump, Republican budget proposals, and the growing influence of figures like Elon Musk.

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1. Republican Budget Proposal and Medicaid Cuts

The episode begins with a critical analysis of the Republican budget proposal, highlighting substantial tax cuts for the wealthy juxtaposed with significant reductions in social programs aimed at assisting the poor and working-class Americans.

Krystal Ball addresses the contradiction in Trump's stance on social safety nets:

[03:43] Krystal Ball: "Trump has built a lot of his credibility with repeated promises not to touch Social Security and Medicare. Yet, he now backs a budget that cuts Medicaid by approximately $800 billion."

2. Trump's Contradictory Statements on Social Programs

The hosts dissect Trump's recent statements where he asserted that he would "not touch" Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. However, the following day, Trump endorsed the House budget proposal that includes significant Medicaid cuts. This inconsistency raises concerns about Trump's commitment to his campaign promises.

[05:14] Ashley Kinetic: "Trump's endorsement of the House bill, which cuts Medicaid, directly contradicts his earlier promises. It undermines his credibility with his base."

3. Elon's Influence and Push for Deep Budget Cuts

Elon Musk emerges as a pivotal figure advocating for sweeping cuts to federal spending, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. His alignment with Trump signifies a potential shift towards a more aggressive stance on reducing government expenditures.

[07:15] Krystal Ball: "Elon continually retweets figures like Mike Lee, labeling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and advocating for private retirement accounts, further pushing the agenda to dismantle these essential programs."

4. Defense Spending Paradox

Despite advocating for significant cuts elsewhere, the Republican budget proposal surprisingly calls for a $100 billion increase in defense spending. This paradox highlights the complexities and internal conflicts within the Republican Party regarding budget allocations.

[10:25] Ashley Kinetic: "While the administration seeks to slash the defense budget by 8% annually, the House Republican budget simultaneously proposes a $100 billion increase, showcasing a stark contradiction."

5. Impact on Deficit and Fiscal Responsibility

The discussion transitions to the implications of the proposed budget on the national deficit. The proposed tax cuts and reduced social spending are projected to exacerbate the federal deficit, challenging the Republicans' narrative of fiscal responsibility.

[08:52] Krystal Ball: "To make the numbers work, Republicans might have to inflate the deficit further, undermining their promise to cut government spending effectively."

6. Guest Segment: Bob Lake on Federal Spending Freezes

The episode features Bob Lake, founder of Solar Bear and Native Sun Community Power Development. Bob shares his firsthand experience with federal spending freezes that have halted renewable energy projects crucial for rural communities.

[41:46] Bob Lake: "We received a federal order to pause our solar and battery projects, leaving us in limbo and jeopardizing the economic and environmental benefits these projects would bring to vulnerable rural areas."

7. New York City's Congestion Pricing and Trump's Intervention

A significant portion of the episode examines Trump's intervention in New York City's congestion pricing initiative. Despite Governor Kathy Hochul's endorsement and public support, Trump publicly declared the program "dead," exerting undue influence on local governance.

[31:00] Ashley Kinetic: "Trump's declaration to kill NYC's congestion pricing undermines local efforts to improve transit efficiency and economic growth, showcasing his overreach into municipal affairs."

Governor Hochul responded by emphasizing the program's success in reducing congestion and boosting public transit ridership, countering Trump's claims with empirical evidence.

[33:37] Krystal Ball: "Polls indicate that six in ten New Yorkers support the congestion pricing program, reflecting its positive impact and widespread acceptance."

8. Power Dynamics and Future Projections

Krystal Ball and Ashley Kinetic delve into the broader implications of the current political climate, emphasizing the growing power of oligarchs like Elon Musk and the erosion of democratic institutions. They argue that the fusion of Trump's rhetoric with Elon’s influence fosters an environment ripe for authoritarianism and corporate overreach.

[55:32] Krystal Ball: "The ethos of nihilism promoted by figures like Elon and Trump suggests a disdain for democratic institutions, advocating instead for oligarchic control where the wealthy elite dictate policy without accountability."

9. Conclusion and Call to Action

The hosts conclude by urging listeners to remain vigilant and proactive in defending democratic values against the encroaching influence of powerful elites. They emphasize the importance of strong institutions and collective action to counterbalance the disproportionate power wielded by the wealthy and influential.

[63:08] Krystal Ball: "It's our responsibility to our loved ones and future generations to fight for a system where power is checked and balanced, ensuring that democracy isn't sidelined by the ambitions of the few."

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Notable Quotes:

• Krystal Ball [03:43]: "Trump has built a lot of his credibility with repeated promises not to touch Social Security and Medicare. Yet, he now backs a budget that cuts Medicaid by approximately $800 billion."

• Ashley Kinetic [05:14]: "Trump's endorsement of the House bill, which cuts Medicaid, directly contradicts his earlier promises. It undermines his credibility with his base."

• Krystal Ball [07:15]: "Elon continually retweets figures like Mike Lee, labeling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and advocating for private retirement accounts, further pushing the agenda to dismantle these essential programs."

• Ashley Kinetic [10:25]: "While the administration seeks to slash the defense budget by 8% annually, the House Republican budget simultaneously proposes a $100 billion increase, showcasing a stark contradiction."

• Bob Lake [41:46]: "We received a federal order to pause our solar and battery projects, leaving us in limbo and jeopardizing the economic and environmental benefits these projects would bring to vulnerable rural areas."

• Krystal Ball [55:32]: "The ethos of nihilism promoted by figures like Elon and Trump suggests a disdain for democratic institutions, advocating instead for oligarchic control where the wealthy elite dictate policy without accountability."

• Krystal Ball [63:08]: "It's our responsibility to our loved ones and future generations to fight for a system where power is checked and balanced, ensuring that democracy isn't sidelined by the ambitions of the few."

---

This episode of Breaking Points offers a comprehensive examination of the current political maneuvers within the Republican Party, the conflicting agendas of influential figures, and the tangible impacts on American communities. Krystal Ball and Ashley Kinetic provide insightful commentary, encouraging listeners to engage critically with the shifting landscape of American politics.

Transcript

[Ashley Kinetic]

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[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

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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.

[Ashley Kinetic]

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[Krystal Ball]

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

[Ashley Kinetic]

We need your help to build the.

[Krystal Ball]

Future of independent news media and we.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Hope to see you@breaking points.com.

[Krystal Ball]

Republicans are putting together their budget proposal. We referred to this earlier, and, you know, it looks like giant tax cuts for the rich and a bunch of cuts to programs that benefit the poor and working poor. And in particular, they're taking a giant hatchet to Medicaid. So Trump, in his little, you know, dual interview with Elon sitting next to him, was asked about whether there would be cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, quote, unquote, entitlement programs. Take a listen to what he had to say.

[Ashley Kinetic]

We don't need a Department of Education, okay? And what some people are trying to do is stoke fears that, oh, my gosh, my kid's not going to get the money for education or grandma's Social Security and Medicare. This was a big promise of yours on the campaign trail. So I really want to give you both an opportunity to assure the American people you will keep. Money will be allocated for students, but with higher standards, for example, I would assume associated with monies given or just vouchers so much.

[Krystal Ball]

And then Elon goes, but look, Social Security won't be touched other than fraud or something.

[Ashley Kinetic]

We're going to find it's going to.

[Krystal Ball]

Be strengthened but be touched.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched. Nothing I want.

[Krystal Ball]

You have to.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Now, if there are illegal migrants in the system, we're going to get them out of the system and all of that fraud, but it's not going to be touched.

[Krystal Ball]

So no cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, he says. Then the very next day, put this up on the screen. He goes out and backs the House budget proposal, which dramatically cuts Medicaid. The program, as Sam Stein points out, Trump said last night he would not touch. Here is the truth Social that he posts. The House and Senator are doing a spectacular job of working together as one unified and unbeatable team in all caps. However, unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important legislation currently being discussed, the House resolution implements my full America first agenda. Everything, not just parts of it. We need both chambers to pass the House budget to kickstart the reconciliation process, move all our priorities to the concept of one big, beautiful bill. It will, without question, make America great again. So you also, I mean, Trump has built, and this is one of the Divergences of Trump 2.0 versus Trump 1.0. He really built a lot of his stance in the Republican Party and a lot of his credibility with regular people off of this repeated promise he was not going to touch Social Security and Medicare. And then in that statement, he Also had originally expanded it with John Hannity to Medicaid. But Elon thinks all of these programs should go and makes that quite clear on a regular basis. He's always retweeting Mike Lee saying Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and it would be better if everybody was in private retirement accounts, et cetera, et cetera. He also has gone out of his way to fraudulently claim that Social Security is sending out all of these proper payments to people who are 300 years old or whatever, which is total and complete nonsense saga. And I talked about this earlier in the week. You can go check out that segment for the details and the receipts there. So, clearly, Elon wants to dismiss, dismantled these programs and is trying to frame it as like, we're just going after the fraud. We're not actually cutting benefits. But, you know, if you're backing the House Republican bill that takes, that's cutting somewhat $800 billion from Medicaid, you are going to hit benefits for a lot of people. And also, if you're serious about, you know, Elon talks about cutting $2 trillion in discretionary spending from the federal budget. 70% of discretionary spending is Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So these programs are very much on the chopping block. And Trump admitting here that, you know, backing the House bill and, you know, aggressively and saying it's my full agenda and it's spectacular, it's that it's one big, beautiful bill, makes it pretty plain that he's not going to stand in the way of these kind of cuts.

[Ashley Kinetic]

So to play Trump's advocate here, well, not advocate, but a potential defense of what Trump is doing here. If you notice in his comment, what he says is all caps, everything, not just parts of it, is what we need. We need both chambers to pass the House budget to kickstart. And he puts that in quotes, the reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of one big, beautiful bill. It will without question, make America great again. So what you could believe, and this is what the people who are hopeful that Trump is actually going to stick by what he said about Medicaid, what you could believe is that he's saying the House process of doing the tax cuts and all the spending cuts in the same reconciliation bill, and reconciliation just means that you can pass it with 50 votes in the Senate, is superior to the Senate approach, which is to do separate reconciliation bills, where you're gonna do the reforms here and do the budget with the Medicaid and Medicare cuts and all this. And Then you're gonna do the tax cuts. There are a lot of MAGA people who are arguing if you do that, you will fail. Like we have one shot, we being maga, we have one shot to do this all at once, the beginning of the year. We got to do it immediately so that it all takes effect. Because they've seen Obama and Biden fail, because they pass all these good things and all they get is the bad press and the taxes. And then the actual spending comes too late to be politically beneficial. And so these Republicans are saying, don't be idiots, do this now. So that by the time the midterms come around, people are feeling the benefits of all those wonderful things we did. So the argument would be Trump's only endorsing the House process of doing it, putting it all together, of putting them all together, and that he's still gonna stop fight them on Medicaid. The counter to that is good luck. You can't, the numbers don't work out.

[Krystal Ball]

Exactly.

[Ashley Kinetic]

So you're gonna have to. But the way that Trump could ultimately make the numbers work out is just blow the deficit up much further.

[Krystal Ball]

Right?

[Ashley Kinetic]

Okay. We're gonna do the tax cuts and we're gonna preserve Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, which is what I think they will actually end up doing. And then when we're like, hey, you said you cared about the deficit, they'd be like, well, we didn't and neither do you.

[Krystal Ball]

Do you think that there are. Cuz the other thing they have to deal with is they have a, what, three vote margin in the House. So they have to get every Republican, unless there are a few Democrats that might vote along with them, which, you know, it's possible. These are very weak people who are some of them desperate to appear like, oh, we're bipartisan, blah, blah, blah. And some of them have positioned themselves as these sort of like austerity deficit hawk, Tea Party types, the Chip Roys of the world and whatever. And so that is the reason why they're desperate. They're definitely going to have in there their $4 trillion extension of tax cuts for the rich. That's the Tax Cuts and Jobs act that he originally passed and now it has to be extended. That's a huge price tag, $4 trillion over what, 10 year period. And so if you're going to even fudge the numbers to make it look like you're not adding to the deficit, which they're already saying, like we're going to fudge the numbers, we're going to pretend like we're going to get all this growth that isn't really. Maybe they will, but it's unlikely. It's not the way they normally do scoring, but whatever. They're already saying, okay, we're going to fund the numbers in this particular still was gonna require a lot of cuts from somewhere and especially if you're going to add on top of that any of the tax related promises that Trump made to working class people, let alone the whole salt tax situation, which also would be a very expensive add on. So how are you going to, you know, how are you going to compensate for all of that on the other side? And as if you're digging into these numbers on Doge, you're quickly learning there are just a few buckets in the federal budget that really make up the bulk of the spending. It's the military and it is the and it is health care, Medicare and Medicaid and it is Social Security. And if you aren't cutting those things like you are nibbling around the edges. That's just the reality right now. You can put this next piece up on the screen because this also gets to the same dynamic. So the House Republican budget also calls for an increase in defense spending, small $100 billion increase in defense spending. This is the plan again that Trump just endorsed as Prem Thakar is pointing out here at the very same time that he has asked the Pentagon for a plan to implement sweeping budget cuts slashing 8% from the defense budget in each of the next five years per amendment that was obtained by the Washington Post. Apparently Pete Hegseth has directed the agency to, you know, go out and look for how they would accomplish these cuts, et cetera, et cetera. So again, you have Trump endorsing an increase of $100 billion in the defense budget at the same time that he's signaling an interest in another direction.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah, so when you listen to a lot of the House Republicans and Senate Republicans talk about Doge and talk about Trump's talking about Trump rolling back the empire and going doing spending cuts, they very quickly get uncomfortable as soon as the Pentagon comes up.

[Krystal Ball]

That's right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

It's wild. The number of people within the MAGA coalition at the top willing to take on the Pentagon is minuscule.

[Krystal Ball]

Well, and there's a reason why the.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Base they're there ish for it. As long as it goes after the, I think they're willing to go after the weapons makers, the military industrial complex. A huge portion of our spending is, you know, Veterans affairs and salaries of active duty enlisted People and who are already struggling on food stamps and like, you know, so that gets interesting too. You cut the military budget too far. Now you're coming after getting into balance humans.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah. Well. And actually, if you look at the polling, you know, if you ask people where you would most want things cut, but it is the military.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Right.

[Krystal Ball]

You know, they don't.

[Ashley Kinetic]

They don't want the base closed.

[Krystal Ball]

People like the idea. Like, if you ask, okay, should federal government spending be cut? Of course they, you know, yes, we should be more efficient. We should have, you know, cut out the fat. Blah, blah, blah. If you ask them, okay, well, should we cut programs for poor people? No. Should we cut education? No. Should we cut Social Security? Absolutely not. Should we cut Medicare? Absolutely not. Should we cut defense spending? Yes, yes, yes, we should.

[Ashley Kinetic]

But you know this from where you live.

[Krystal Ball]

That's right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

If you ask anybody there if they should close the base.

[Krystal Ball]

Oh, that's. That would.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Do they want to close the base.

[Krystal Ball]

That would be devastating. Would be a death blow for the particular town that I live in. And that is part of why you're.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Not at all alone.

[Krystal Ball]

That's exactly right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

A quarter of the people watching this program right now live in an area that would be hurt very badly by that.

[Krystal Ball]

And that is part of why. So, I mean, part of why the military budget always escalates is because you have these defense manufacturer, military industrial complex that spends a lot of money in Congress and makes sure they get their fat subsidies and their budgets and their boondoggle weapon systems that cost. Have massive cost overruns and are totally unaccountable and unaudited and all that stuff. Right. That is a big. That is a significant chunk of it. But also, these military expenditures go into almost every district, congressional district in the. Probably everyone, actually, in the entire country.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah.

[Krystal Ball]

On purpose. That is on purpose. It is a sort of jobs program. And so once you start to actually threaten that, then you get a lot of members on both parties. I mean, this is part of what creates that uniparty consensus who start to get very upset about the, you know, the bases or the manufacturers or whatever it is in their district that is important to the economy and the people there.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah. There was even that wild moment where Bernie was like, you sure we want to cut this f. Whatever. Like, there was some, like. I forget exactly what weapon system they were making in Vermont, but Bernie's like, is that really where we need to cut? They know what they're doing when they built this system.

[Krystal Ball]

Suddenly. Suddenly it hits a little different when it's your state or your treasured priority. So so we'll see how all that shakes out. But very interesting stuff. This is Ashley Kineti from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast.

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So we have some significant court developments that we wanted to go through for you. So one of the big questions is, okay, so some of these temporary restraining orders, voters injunctions are coming down against the Trump administration and some of the efforts under Doge, are they going to listen or are they going to do what J.D. vance and others have suggested of just saying, hey, like you and what army are going to enforce this court injunction? And we have another troubling indication in terms of the approach that the Trump administration is going to take. Let's go ahead and put this up on the screen from Reuters. So nonprofits have now asked a judge to hold US Officials in contempt for defying in order with regard to specifically usaid. So the way this all pause on.

[Ashley Kinetic]

This just for one throwback. One of the nonprofits here is the AIDS vaccine program. The other one is the Journalism Development Network, which is the business name of the occrp, which we wrote about. That's the one you, that's the USAID funded news organization that was just, you can go read our story and look.

[Krystal Ball]

At it doing like US Propaganda, basically deep state propaganda.

[Ashley Kinetic]

They very strongly will say that there is no influence from the US of their funding, but it was funded. You know, a lot of their funding comes through Russia, you know, countering Russian disinformation.

[Krystal Ball]

This was involved in the Romania situation.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yes. There's involvement with the Romanian situation. So yeah, it's US Funding for overseas journalism that is, that is controversial because taking government money directly to fund journalism is just in the journalism world, extremely controversial.

[Krystal Ball]

Yes.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Like we wouldn't do it, for instance.

[Krystal Ball]

Yes, exactly right. Exactly right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

So that's what that they coincidentally they happen to be one of one of.

[Krystal Ball]

The groups that's suing here. So the way this went down is you guys will recall there was this there were a couple of executive orders that were well, some were executive orders, some of them were just memorandums that were issued by the Office of Management and Budget. But in any case said directly you have to we're freezing all foreign aid spending. We're freezing anything that has to do with, you know, DEI or quote unquote Green New Deal led to this huge amount of confusion. Medicaid portals were shut down for a while. And you know, it still has been the case that some things have continued to be frozen. Well, a judge looked at this and said, you have to unfreeze the funds. And that has led to this sort of court battle with the Trump administration arguing that while the funds you're telling us to unfreeze, like that doesn't really apply to some of these other executive orders that we issued, and USAID is really at the center of it. But in this dispute, the judge came back and said, no, when I said unfreeze the funds, I meant unfreeze all the funds, including funds at usaid. The Trump administration has continued to resist that order and put in a court filing offering some new sort of convoluted rationale for why those funds don't apply. When the judge, I mean, I read the order was quite clear, like, no, no, no, I meant all the funds have to be here, unfrozen. So these nonprofits that are suing, they said the court should not brook such brazen defiance of the express terms of its order. And they're asking specifically for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and USAID Deputy Administrator Pete Morocco and the OMB Director Russ Vogt, who is one of the real ideological architects behind this whole thing, to be held in civil contempt. I could put this next piece up on the screen. This is just the court filing here. Kyle Cheney, who is a good follow, just in terms of, just like the legal, you know, all the back and forth legal pieces that are many and varied at this point, breaking USAID contractors, aid recipients say Rubio and USAID leader should be held in civil contempt for violating a court order to lift spending freeze. So you can see that there on the side. So we still have not. I think Ryan reached the point where they're just saying, no, we're just not gonna listen.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Right.

[Krystal Ball]

They're still cloaking it in. We have some convoluted legal rationale for why this isn't directly in defiance of your court order, but we are inching closer to that level of just like you told us to unfreeze the funds and we're just not gonna do that.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah. And to put Trump's argument, legal argument here, in its best light, what they're saying is, okay, you're right. The freeze that we did, that was wrong. You've told us to lift the freeze. Boom, we have lifted the freeze. However, we still have discretion on a case by case basis to not pay out these particular grants, because within the grants, each contract has language that if the US Decides it is no longer in the interest of the US to continue with this grant, that the US can stop the grant. And the President is deciding that it's not in his interest and we're not. And so therefore, we're not saying that we're never going to spend the congressionally mandated appropriations, so we're not impounding the money. We're just pausing this particular contract because we feel like this particular contract is not in our national interest and not in accordance with the executive order at this moment, which I think actually would be a completely fair argument if not for everything else they're saying, which goes to a broader read, which is they are actually freezing everything, have no intention of spending it.

[Krystal Ball]

Right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

And are trying to impound it, but just not say yet that they're impounding. That's what they're doing because they're gearing up toward that fight, but they're not having it yet. But this particular argument. Yeah, of course, on an individual level, if the USAID or State Department says, actually we don't like the way that they handled this Romania situation, so we're cutting their contract, you can do that. Sure. So the question is, is that really what they're doing?

[Krystal Ball]

Yes. Yeah. And I mean, this kind of relates what you're describing here to they made a court filing saying Elon is not actually the head of Doge, he's just some guy. He's kind of like Anita Dunn. He works in the White House, he works with Trump, he's an advisor, but he's not in charge of Doge. He doesn't have anything really directly to do with Doge, even as Trump is out there being like, Elon's in charge of Doge. He's doing a great job at Doge.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Even as Elon is saying.

[Krystal Ball]

And Elon, yeah, of course, I mean, this is obvious. Right. And they haven't hit it whatsoever, but because it creates some legal complexities for them. In particular, one of the lawsuits is about the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, where if you're going to have, I don't know what the legal language is, but if you're going to have this significant role, you have to have a Senate confirmation. And so they want to downplay, in the context of that lawsuit, Elon's involvement. So they're denying what is, like, plainly obvious and what they admit to and the way they talk about Elon and his relationship to Doge all the time. And by the way, if you ask Trump, okay, well, if, if Elon isn't in charge of Doge, who is? He has no answer because Elon is obviously in charge of Doge. So this kind of ties into that denying the reality that is in front of us with some sort of convoluted legal argument ties into that whole thing. There have been a few other developments here that I think are worth just running through quickly. So there was another executive order that was signed by Trump that does a variety of things, but in particular is really trying to undercut the independence of some key agencies, namely the ftc, the FCC and the sec, which is the securities Exchange Commission, which they were upset that the securities Exchange Commission was actually doing its job somewhat under Biden and influencing the law, especially with regard to crypto. So they're trying to get them under control over there. But really extraordinary also legal positioning and framing here that really ties into Trump's comments about how you can't violate the law if you are saving the state and some of the other more dictatorial positions that he has taken, which is that, listen, only the President and the Attorney General can speak for, quote, what the law is. Let's take a listen to that.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Lastly, we have another executive order that President Trump signed relating to independent agencies. This executive order would establish important oversight functions in the Office of Management and Budget and its subsidiary office, oira, supervising independent agencies and many of their actions, and also reestablishes the long standing norm that only the President or the Attorney General can speak for the United States when stating an opinion as to what the law is.

[Krystal Ball]

So this fits with also the way that Elon has been describing the workings of our government, which is basically like Trump is the only true representative of the people. So if you're standing in the way of what Trump wants to do, then you are anti democratic. You are trying to thwart the will of the people. And as you pointed out many times, Ryan, that is not the way that our system works. In fact, the House of Representatives is specifically set up to be a more representative body and to reflect, you know, the individual like proclivities, regional proclivities of all the different districts and varied constituencies within the country. We don't have a system where the President is basically like Kagan, gets to wipe the slate clean and implement his entire agenda. But that is the way that they're trying to position and explain their philosophy about all of this.

[Ashley Kinetic]

And if he's restricting, when he says the US if he just means the executive, because sometimes that's what, that's how you refer to the executive. You know, it's the US if you go to civil court or criminal court, it's the US versus, you know, whoever, if that's what you mean. There's an argument to be made that the President wins. He should be able to tell the SEC what its priorities should be. And if the SEC is not abiding by those priorities, he should be able to change out who the leaders of the SEC are or the CFPB or FTC or any of these other agencies. You, you have an election, you run on saying you're gonna do something through the ftc. It would be messed up if Trump wanted to do anti monopoly stuff and he's got Wall street guys over at M and A guys over at FTC and they're like, no, we're not doing that. But what you can't do is just dismantle them like he's doing with cfpb.

[Krystal Ball]

Right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Because I'm actually okay with a president within the laws created by Congress having a direction direct, you know, having direction over these agencies. Like I think that's fine. But you can't just get rid of them.

[Krystal Ball]

Right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Which he's, which with several of them. He's just saying like, oh, this doesn't exist anymore. We're putting, putting it either in the wood chipper or rap copb. Like you have to. Congress has to be involved in that. Like that's our system.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah, very well said. All right, let's go ahead and move on to this congestion pricing piece which kind of fits into the whole like Trump acting like a dictator or Elon acting like a dictator, et cetera.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Hi, this is Jennie Garth from I Do part two. Who do you know on Ozempic or Semaglutide right now? Everyone right?

[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

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[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

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[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

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[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

President Donald Trump has weighed in on New York City's congestion pricing. Put this element on the screen saying that it's dead. He's going to kill it. Congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan and all of New York is saved. Long live the King. Posted Donald J. Trump to his Truth Social this was curiously a significant amount of leverage that Trump had over Governor Hochul, who is now under pressure to remove Eric Adams from office. I didn't even hear that dynamic. There was some sense that she didn't want to cross Trump because she didn't want the congestion pricing to be nuked. That leverage is now gone. Trump really leaning into this King Donald routine that he started here. The White House posted this we can put this next element up. A mock up of a fake Time magazine that's Trump wearing a crown with Long live the King written under it. Congestion pricing is only about a month old at this point and Governor Hochul came out with a statement urging Trump to, you know, back off of this effort, to kill it. We can put this next element up here. This is statement from Governor Kathy Hochul. She says public transit is the lifeblood of New York City and critical to our economic future. As a New Yorker like President Trump knows very well. Since this first in the Nation program took effect last month, congestion has dropped dramatically and commuters are getting to work faster than ever. Broadway shows are selling out and foot traffic to local businesses is spiking. School buses are getting kids to class on time and yellow cab Trips increased by 10%. Transit ridership is up, drivers are having a better experience and support for this program is Growing every day. We are a nation of laws not ruled by a king. The MTA has initiated legal proceedings in the Southern District of New York to preserve this critical program. We'll see you in court, she says. And, you know, key to this is that question of. I mean, aside from whether or not we're ruled by a king or not. I guess we'll figure that out over the next couple years. The question of whether or not this is popular. I can put this next element up on the screen. A poll about six in 10 saying they want New York City congestion pricing to continue. If you dive deeper into the poll, the support is quite strong for this new program. Stronger than it was, I would say, when it was launched.

[Krystal Ball]

Yes. That was what I found as well.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah. And the advocates of it argued that it is one of those government programs that doesn't feel right out of the gate. You're like, I gotta pay for something I didn't have to pay for before. Which, by the way, streets are the only thing that we think should be free. Like, if you ever suggest that riding the bus should be free or riding the subway should be free, which I'd be cool with, you sound like a radical commie socialist. And they're like, what, are you crazy? But why? Like, that's a. The public built the bus system, the public built the subway, and the public built the roads. It's the roads that people feel like they have this right to. Yes. So when it comes to the congestion prices I put up on my feed last night, I was curious for my own followers how they were liking it. And I think universally, everyone who responded, at least to me. Obviously, it's not a scientific poll, but Twitter is filled with cranky, conservative people who don't. That's true. And they are not shy about sharing their opinions with me. As you can just scroll through my feed and see, everyone is like, the streets are. The commutes are less. I'm shaving a half an hour to an hour off my commute. You can walk around the city. Better public transportation, ridership is up, and money is flowing in to the city that is supposed to be earmarked to upgrade the subways and the buses. As somebody pointed out, the buses from New Jersey are making it through the tunnels much more smoothly, which then makes being able to take the bus a much more feasible thing. Before, like, I'm not gonna take the bus and sit for 30 minutes inside this tunnel.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Ashley Kinetic]

But now if it's gonna move through, and if the bus. If you're taking the bus from Harlem all the way down and it's moving much quicker. And all of a sudden a bus trip, which previously was not even something that you would consider doing, because who wants to sit on a bus for an hour and a half now all of a sudden it's reasonable. And now your Uber and your taxi rides are much, much quicker too. So everyone seems happy, obviously, except for people who are getting hit with the.

[Krystal Ball]

With the toll and everything.

[Ashley Kinetic]

But a lot of the people who are paying the toll are like, it's taking me an hour less and I'm. And time is valuable and I will spend that.

[Krystal Ball]

That's a great point too. Yeah. I actually have taken a bunch of those express buses from New Jersey into the city. And if you haven't lived there or done that, like, you may not know that they come. Like, if you are in a certain area, they come like every 10 minutes. It's actually very practical. It's not a hardship to walk out one block, wait for this bus for five minutes, and if you miss it, get the next one ten minutes later and, you know, zoom into the city.

[Ashley Kinetic]

And help with your commute. So working class people are commuting into Manhattan? Well, working class people can commute to somewhere else and then take public transit.

[Krystal Ball]

Take the public transit in. Yeah. You know, I saw, I talked to some friends who live in the city who were very upset about this because they feel like for once there was something that was done that immediately actually improved their lives. Imagine that made life easier. I mean, I lived in Manhattan for a number of years and the nightmare of trying to get from one side down to the other, or get downtown or up to and not know. And that's the thing too is like not knowing. Is this gonna be a day where it's gonna take 30 minutes? Is it gonna be a day where it takes an hour? And ultimately I just like bail out of, bail out and walk the last mile or whatever, you know, and to have that level of predictability and just ease of movement, it really is like a sense of freedom that people had gained with this congestion pricing. Cuz it had made such an improvement. And then to have Trump just come in out of spite effectively and totally reverse it. Yeah, I think that this was a material improvement for people who live in New York City. The other piece here with the like, long live the king part is I feel a little bit like, you know, gaslit in the same way with Elon Musk's like Kyle Hitler thing. Like we're supposed to pretend like that you didn't just do the thing that we saw you do, like don't get mad about us calling you a dictator when you're calling yourself a king and a dictator and sharing this Time magazine, fake Time magazine of you as a king from the official White House Twitter account. Also, this wasn't some rando. But I was saying to you earlier, I also think it is a little bit of him trying to reclaim his power because it is true that Elon, of the two of them seems like the much more powerful entity now. Trump is mostly out playing. The number of days he's played golf already in this administration is quite extraordinary. He wants to do the pieces he wants to do. And a lot of it does feel like it's been sort of like handed over and outsourced to Elon. So I think he also wanted to reassert himself a little bit here. The Eric Adams dynamic is interesting to me. And by the way, you know that this is really popular because Kathy Hochul is actually taking a stand in favor of it. And this is the most like weak kneed, pathetic Democratic leader you can imagine.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Healing to the suburbs.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah, exactly. And so the fact that she is stridently and in multiple posts aggressively defending congestion pricing tells you just how popular it is with New Yorkers, not just like some tiny sliver of lefties in Brooklyn or whatever. And I do think that it probably makes her more likely to exercise the power she does have to remove Eric Adams from office. But she's been meeting with a variety of leaders, getting their opinions on that. Apparently there's some concern. I don't know what his numbers are at this point. They can't be good. There's this knee jerk assumption that he still has strong support among black voters in the city and in the state and maybe, but I haven't seen the polling to justify that. I would think that they would be disgusted with the corruption and self dealing and cozying up to Trump as much as or more than anybody else.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yesterday you had a significant number of black elected officials coming out and supporting Eric Adams as black elected officials. Like they were saying, as a black elected official, we oppose Kathy Hochul removing Eric Adams. So there is, at least on the elected level, that kind of pushback being organized.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they speak really for anybody but themselves. And also there are other black elected officials that you could have in that office who are interested in the seat as well.

[Ashley Kinetic]

So it would be Jumani Williams who would become mayor, right?

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah, that's right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Which would be Kind of amazing because he's kind of a radical lefty, working families party guy.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah. It would be a pretty dramatic ideological shift from.

[Ashley Kinetic]

But also a black man.

[Krystal Ball]

Yes. From Trump de facto running New York City, as he apparently does now, to having a working families party.

[Ashley Kinetic]

And Trump should go spend some time in New York. He hasn't been there the last month, but traffic in front of Trump Tower, it was just constant fumes and like, you can't move. He should go check it out. Maybe he'll like it. I mean, if it's all at the whim of the king, then the king needs to get in his chariot and.

[Krystal Ball]

Go to New York City, increasing the value of his properties within Manhattan.

[Ashley Kinetic]

It absolutely would.

[Krystal Ball]

That's the, that's the appeal to make there.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah.

[Krystal Ball]

All right, let's go ahead and get to our guest who's been directly impacted by some of the federal freezes and hear his story. We're really fortunate to be joined this morning by someone who has been impacted by some of these across the board spending freezes. Bob Lake is the founder of Solar Bear Full Service solar installation company and also Native Sun Community Power Development, a native led nonprofit that promotes renewable energy and energy efficiency. Great to meet you, Bob. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Thank you for having me.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah. So you got this notification like a letter from the federal government on January 28th. Give us a sense of what you were up to and how this has impacted you.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah, well, we had a number of projects that we were working on between electric vehicles and also solar projects, battery projects through the Department of Energy and other agencies. And we got this letter saying to essentially stop that, you know, in all these different projects. And so we adhere to the letter because it did come down from this particular administration. And so we're kind of sitting in a spot where we're kind of in limbo right now, trying to figure out exactly what our next moves are going to be. So if you're trying to talk to somebody, let's say somebody's watching this and their number one concern is they want to cut the deficit, cut government spending and make things more affordable for people here in the United States. What would you say to them about this spending and whether that's actually going to accomplish that long term? Yeah, great question. You know, a lot of these projects are around and focusing on renewable energy, and we know that that is one of the cheapest sources of energy that we can, you know, use. The other part about this is a lot of these projects are out in rural communities where, you know, because of the weather patterns, because of what's currently happening with climate change, you know, a lot of the savings are going to go into these communities and not only that, but hire these individuals to be able to, you know, work in this industry. So, you know, this is really going to affect, you know, a lot of these most vulnerable communities, especially in rural America, where a lot of this funding and a lot of this money is concentrated at.

[Krystal Ball]

And so tell us specifically about the programs you were working on. I know one was for building out electric vehicle chargers, another was solar installation project. Like, give us a little bit of the nitty gritty about why these particular projects were important for these particular communities.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yes, well, they were going to save the average American. Right. Fuel savings. You know, we deal with energy poverty in these areas. They were going to be able to save them on their electricity bill. We know that a lot of folks that, you know, lose their homes, one of the first things they can't do is pay their electricity bill. So it's kind of, you know, a way for us to be able to, you know, keep people in their homes. The jobs, the operations and maintenance that were going to be happening from these particular projects, you know, the workforce development opportunities that were going to be happening from this also just the opportunity that one of the battery projects was actually going to be backing up a criminal justice complex. So, you know, and those extra savings could have went into rehabilitation programs, being able to offer, you know, folks the ability to get a job when released. So there's a lot of things here that I believe that these savings could have helped these communities by implementing them. So what's going to happen without this federal money? Well, currently, right now, these projects are on hold. I hope that this administration reconsiders because investment into rural America is an investment into this country. Investment into to energy sovereignty is an investment into this country. So I hope that this administration reconsiders their actions and then we can continue forward with these great projects that the past administration felt like were needed. It just occurred to me, by the way, are the workers who are being furloughed as a result of these projects being shut down applying for unemployment benefits as we speak? You know, I can't speak for every subcontractor, but you know, what happens a lot of times in these situations is that they do have to apply for, you know, benefits, which you can imagine why I'm asking that question. Because the person who is eyeing this from the perspective of trying to save taxpayer money has to realize that what they just did is they're still paying people taxpayer money except now they're paying them to sit at home in homes powered by fossil fuels that are more expensive instead of paying them to go out and develop renewable energy. Right. And I think you get to a much bigger picture.

[Krystal Ball]

Right.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Is the purpose that these folks get from doing this job, doing this kind of work. Right. And this is how we battle the social ills that are plaguing our community, like drug addictions, alcoholism, you know, we can go down, down the list. But you give these folks the purpose and, you know, the opportunity to get up every morning and serve their communities. You know, there's other ways that, you know, and if you don't do that, they're going to fall into these other traps. And that's one of the things that I'm concerned about and that, that I worry about because we all love our communities and we just want the best for them.

[Krystal Ball]

Well, and of course, it's also just one more broken promise between the federal government and these tribal nations also that you're working in that has to fuel a long and very justified sentiment of, you know, you can't trust these people. They're not going to be there for us when we need them.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Great point. You know, that's another thing here. A lot of my projects are in tribal communities and there's been a lot of broken promises between the United States government and tribal nations. There is a nation to nation trust responsibility that I believe that United States government needs to fulfill. Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch did point out that treaties are the supreme law of the land. I hope that this president and this administration adheres to that. So you're absolutely correct. This is just another long list of broken promises that are happening in native country.

[Krystal Ball]

My last question for you, Bob, and Ryan may have one as well, but what do you do next? What's your plan from here?

[Ashley Kinetic]

Yeah, that's what I was going to ask. Yeah. Well, I will continue to advocate for a greener, cleaner future for all. And we will try to get these projects financed some way somehow. And you know, the bottom line is, is that a lot of people are counting on us and we want to come through. So that's going to be my next job and I hope that we can continue to fulfill our, at least our promise to these communities.

[Krystal Ball]

Well, thank you, Bob. It's a pleasure to meet you and we're really grateful for you sharing your story.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Thank you for having me.

[Krystal Ball]

It's our pleasure.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Hi, this is Jenny Garth from I.

[Krystal Ball]

Do Part 2 who do you know.

[Ashley Kinetic]

On Ozempic or Semaglutide right now? Everyone right these game Changing Weight loss meds are everywhere and FutureHealth makes it easy to get started.

[Krystal Ball]

Find out if weight loss meds are right for you in just three [e-mail] FutureHealth is not a healthcare services provider. Meds are prescribed at providers. Discretionary results may vary.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Sponsored by Future Health Ready to prioritize yourself in the new year? Your skin is a great place to start. Dime Beauty, founded by a master esthetician, is more than just a skincare company. With four skin conscious categories Skincare, Beauty, Body Care and Fragrance. DAIM offers simple spa worthy products that will help you enter 2025 with confidence. Whether you're revitalizing your regimen with nourishing products or building one from scratch, Dime makes it easy. The Work System our all in one best selling routine includes a cleanser of your choice, toners, serums and moisturizers. Taking the guesswork out of skincare for your healthiest, happiest skin. Yet Dime's commitment to clean ingredients and sustainable packaging ensures every product is as gentle on your skin as it is on the planet. With thousands of glowing five star reviews and a loyal community, the results speak for themselves. Revive your skin and give yourself the routine refresh you deserve by visiting dimebeautyco.com that's dimebeauty co.com your best skin awaits.

[Krystal Ball]

Tired of the winter cold? Don't worry, spring break season is right around the corner and at cheap Caribbean vacations. It doesn't matter if you're traveling as a family or going on an adults only getaway. They have beach deals for all types of all inclusive vacays. Just book your spring break travel in March or April to unlock an extra $250 off your package price. This offer is valid through February 27th on vacation packages of four nights or more. Don't wait. Book now@cheap caribbean.com as we discussed earlier this week, Argentina's President just hyped a massive crypto shitcoin pump and dump which effectively robbed his own biggest supporters. The whole thing was ultimately quite similar to the scheme Trump also pulled. And lo and behold, some of the same people were involved in this Argentina libra rug pull as were involved in the melania rug pull YouTube scam. Investigator Coffeezilla managed to score an interview with one of these fraudsters and there was a particular part that helped me put together something I've been trying to articulate since the beginning of Trump 2.0 whether with regard to Doge Maha or the new return to outright colonialism and imperialism. The moment came towards the end of the interview after this scammer, his name is Hayden Davis, admits that all crypto is quote, dog shit. How then does he justify his role in massive repeated scams of people using this quote unquote, dog shit? Take a listen what he had to say.

[Ashley Kinetic]

I'm very pro getting everything away from regulated markets. But I, but I'm, I'm now recognizing, because I think that that's another game. I think that's an insider game, right? Whether it's if it's the Pelosi's of the world or the, you know, stock game, that's an insider game too. It's just a different type and people have to be more careful. But capital markets are an insider game. The whole thing is like I'm never, nobody's ever going to convince me that it's not rigged. Banks pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year to do illegal because they can make more money other ways like I could keep going on with, with after bullshit after bullshit. I think if you're gonna die on the sword of meme coins being, you know, insider this or sniping that like you're full of. Because there's, every market in the world is like that, that makes a shitload of money. Well, yeah, I just, I just want, I just want to put a, a.

[Krystal Ball]

Note in that if capital markets is, you know, they, they are rigged, that's.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Actually an argument for more regulation against.

[Krystal Ball]

Rigging than it is for less. Like you wouldn't look at a rigged game and go, hey guys, let's take.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Away all the rules we had in.

[Krystal Ball]

Place anyway to try to stop it getting rigged.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Right? Yeah, but then you have to trust, then you have to trust the regulators and most of them are being paid off. And that's been proven time and time forever. Because humans. Yeah, but, but, but, but once again the conclusion to like seeing problems in.

[Krystal Ball]

The world is not like you realize like your brakes aren't working correctly. It's not to go like, hey, the brake manufacturers paid off, so let's just not have brakes at all. It's going, it's methodically approaching it and going, okay, we need to advocate for more regulation here. We need to advocate for more rules here. Saying like, oh yeah, it's all rigged.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Isn't the dunk that people think it.

[Krystal Ball]

Is on rules in general?

[Ashley Kinetic]

Does that make sense?

[Krystal Ball]

Sure.

[Ashley Kinetic]

But it's, it doesn't matter like that, that to me, like that to me, is kind of a mute, a little bit of a mute point, because it's like it doesn't matter. The people that have the most money, the most access, and the most control, which is insiders in any market in the world always win.

[Krystal Ball]

So Hayden basically says, well, mainstream financial markets are scammy too, so I'm going to get mine with an even more brazen scam. Coffey, of course, correctly points out the answer to financial fraud is better laws enforcement, less corruption. But Hayden's already made up his mind. Since the big banks are imperfect, we should just give up on policing things like rug polls, insider trading, and outright theft. Now, that philosophy actually seems to me to be pretty core to the ethos of Trump 2.0. It's a dark nihilism that effectively says, look, everything's bad, so let's just make it worse. Since the financial system is gamed by insiders, let's just go full open scam. Since money has infected politics, let's just take open bribes. Since we've been hypocritical about international law, let's just revert to pure barbarism. It's an ethos that I think is very much at the core of the anarcho capitalist ideology that Elon and Project 2025 architect Russ Vogt have infused the second Trump administration with. Since governments can't fully check corporate power, just disband the government, privatize all functions, and let the oligarch CEO dictators run wild. Don't believe me? Just listen to Marc Andreessen, as influential a person as any in this administration, explain how since democracy will always be flawed, we should just openly embrace oligarchy.

[Ashley Kinetic]

So the iron law of oligarchy basically says democracy is fake. There's always a ruling class, there's always a ruling elite structurally. And he said the reason for that is because the masses can't organize. What's the fundamental problem? Whether the mass is 25,000 people in a union or 250 million people in a country, the masses can't organize. The majority cannot organize. Only a minority can organize. And to be effective in politics, you must organize. And therefore, every political structure in human history has been some form of a small organized elite ruling a large and dispersed majority, every single one. And so basically, the presumption that we are in a democracy is just sort of, by definition, fake. Now, good news for the us. It turns out the founders understood this, and so of course, they didn't give us a direct democracy. They gave us a representative democracy, right? And so they built the oligarchy into the system in the form of Congress and the executive branch and the judicial branch. But so anyway, so as a consequence, democracy is always and everywhere fake. There is always a ruling elite. And basically the lesson of the Machiavellians is you can deny that if you want, but you're fooling yourself. The way to actually think about how to make a system work and maintain any sort of shred of freedom is to actually understand that that is actually what's happening.

[Krystal Ball]

So the basic message here is democracy is fake. So just give up on letting people have a say and embrace your billionaire overlords. You can see how this ideology also tied to the ideas of Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin, the so called Dark Enlightenment or neoreactionary movements. How this provides a very convenient philosophical backdrop for Elon to execute on his own plans and personally selected goals for humanity. Elon, he wants total power. And this ideology provides him a pathway to exactly that. I've been reading Walter Isaacson's biography on Elon. One thing you really get is how he has personally cast himself as the savior of humanity, launches SpaceX as a sort of insane boondoggle. At the start he believes he must personally guarantee humanity's future as a multi planetary species. Never mind that none of us voted for this CEO dictator king to destroy the lives of working class people in order to chase his Martian dream. If Elon's multiplanetary goal takes shredding the Constitution, so be it. If it takes sentencing kids with HIV in Africa to death, so be it. If it takes hijacking the entire resources of the United States government to funnel into SpaceX, so be it. But in order for the public to just sit back and watch their data and their tax dollars and their voice in our government all plundered by the richest man on Earth. Some critical mass has to be convinced that the government wasn't really worth saving anyway. That their voice in our government and their rights that are protected by that government were not really worth preserving after all. That perhaps all those things were fake to begin with, as Andreessen wants them to believe. And the role of this ideology of nihilism is to persuade Americans of exactly that. And look, I actually understand some of the appeal. There's a feel of honesty to this level of nihilism, to saying as Hayden Davis did, well, the insiders always come out on top, so why not just celebrate it? Or democracy never can be perfected. So let's just embrace our oligarchs. It's an appeal that has kind of always been at the core of Trump helps to explain why, even though he lies more than probably any person I've ever known outside of Elon, why so many people continue to view him as an exceptionally honest politician. He doesn't bother to hide his schemes, doesn't bother to hide his crimes. He will just say we want Ukraine for the rare earths rather than dressing it up in democracy language. He will just say we're going to permanently remove every Palestinian from Gaza rather than pretending that some sovereign state for Palestinians is just around the corner. Rather than doing a little insider trading a la most of Congress. He will just launch his own shitcoin to openly scam his own people to the tune of billions of dollars rather than spin the truth in a way that's shady but still has some connection to reality, he'll just make shit up out of thin air and really doesn't care if you know it, that it's an out and out lie. This brazenness gives his lies somehow the vibe of honesty. The everything is bad, let's make it worse. Nihilism also provides another kind of psychological reward because it prizes a total lack of self restraint. If big banks are reading the system, why should Hayden Davis restrain himself from running mass scams? If politicians spin and obfuscate, why shouldn't you lie and cheat to get ahead? And what fun really ultimately is self restraint feels good to let loose, say and do whatever you want to do. That removal of the burden of self restraint was experienced as a sort of liberation for plenty after Trump won. In the immediate aftermath of Trump's victory, a top banker delightedly told the Financial Times how happy he was that he could use slurs in the workplace again. Quote, I feel liberated, one top banker told the bank paper. We can say the R word and the P word without the fear of getting canceled. Except he actually said them. It's a new dawn. In fact, the most celebrated quality in Trump world is shamelessness. The more you're willing to openly contradict previously held beliefs, operate with total and complete hypocrisy, the more successful you're going to be, the more you can turn off your feelings of empathy, concern for others, the more based you are. So you can, as Elon has, brand yourself as the ultimate guarantor of free speech in one breath and in the very next, next call for journalists at a troublesome media outlet to be jailed. You can, as Trump did, position yourself as the party of workers. As you gut every aspect of worker rights, you can, as RFK Jr did claim you're on a mission to make America healthy again and then say absolutely nothing as a seed oil lobbyist disinstalled at the USDA and life saving disease research is gutted. You can compile an ASMR video of migrants being deported so your most deranged supporters can be stimulated by the visuals of human beings treated as animals. So based Elon replied, these lies, cruelties and hypocrisy, they all trigger outrage. And outrage generation is the most valuable currency in Trump world. Those with the shamelessness to trigger the most of it rise the highest. But at the core of all of this is that ethos that since the institutions let you down, you may as well have a bacchanal burning it all to the ground, letting your own worst impulses and those of the society and human nature itself run wild. It's whataboutism brought to its logical conclusion Since Hillary sent emails on a private server, how can anyone complain about Elon and his hackers downloading all the data of the entire federal government? Since the insiders always come out on top, why not just give the insiders everything up front to begin with? Since the voices of the masses were being drowned out by the wealthy, just hand over all the keys to the wealthiest person on the entire planet. To borrow Coffeezilla's analogy here, their answer to the brakes failing is to rip the brakes down entirely and send the car careening towards a cliff. Listen, it's a fun and easy solution right up until the crash. Much harder, of course, is the work of building up institutions, making them strong, making them credible. Much harder is checking the rich and the powerful bringing back a balance of power to working people. Much harder is checking imperial power and restoring a semblance of global cooperation and respect. But to use an Elon phrase here, society is at a fork in the road. On one path lies a rebuilt New Deal with capital checked, a government unafraid of standing up to the wealthiest social contract that provides stability, prosperity for everyone. On the other path lies the societal equivalent of a crypto pump and dump scheme where for a brief moment you might actually feel like you're winning right before the rug is pulled. And insiders like Elon Andreessen, Peter Thiel, the Trumps, the rest of the billionaire class rob you blind. To be honest, we might already be set irrevocably on that pump and dump path, but it is our responsibility to our loved ones, our kids, future generations, to never stop fighting and to never stop believing fundamentally that humans are capable of more than just burning it all down. And Ryan, I was curious in particular your thoughts on that.

[Ashley Kinetic]

And, and if you want to hear my reaction to Crystal's monologue, become a.

[Krystal Ball]

Premium subscriber [e-mail] been fun chatting with you today, Ryan. Graham, as always, was a grim takeover this week, I was saying.

[Ashley Kinetic]

That's right. Yes, that's right. And hopefully Sagar's back next week. That this, like, like we were saying, this, this, this flu is, this season.

[Krystal Ball]

Has been brutal and I, I was reading I should get the flu shot, but I was looking at it and it's apparently not that great to match either for the like, you know, some years, I know I didn't tell you why you were getting it, but apparently some years it's like a really good match. It provides a lot of like, you know, preventative and lessons that whatever lessens illness a lot more. And this year it's like not, it's.

[Ashley Kinetic]

A bit of a crap. It's a bit of a crapshoot.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Ashley Kinetic]

They do their best. They try to see like our what was last year, how do we.

[Krystal Ball]

Well, and I guess maybe that's one of the things the potential promises of the like MRNA vaccine is because they can develop it more quickly, maybe they can make it a better match. But in any case, we hope Sager feels better. We hope you guys have a great weekend. If there's breaking news, we'll make sure to jump on and cover it for you.

[Ashley Kinetic]

You're gonna be here tomorrow. What do you think?

[Krystal Ball]

Not here, but we'll chat. We'll chat. Yeah. We're a little shorthanded this week, so we'll try to do a thing tomorrow where we gotta see if we get the resources, et cetera, et cetera. So in any case, if we don't see you tomorrow, enjoy your weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Foreign this is Ashley Kineti from the.

[Krystal Ball]

Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast.

[Ashley Kinetic]

You probably know somebody who's on Ozempic.

[Krystal Ball]

Or Semaglutide right now.

[Ashley Kinetic]

These are really popular medications that people are using to lose weight.

[Krystal Ball]

If it seems like all other options.

[Ashley Kinetic]

Aren'T working for them, go to try FH.com to find out if weight loss.

[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

Try FH.com Try FH.com Future Health is not a healthcare services provider. Meds are prescribed at provider's discretion.

[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

Sponsored by Future Health.

[Krystal Ball]

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[Ashley Kinetic]

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