2/25/26: BP Team REACTS Trump SOTU: Iran, Data Centers, Immigration

Summary

---

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Episode: BP Team REACTS Trump SOTU: Iran, Data Centers, Immigration
Date: February 25, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this post–State of the Union (SOTU) special, the Breaking Points panel—Krystal Ball, Saagar Enjeti, Ryan Grim, Emily Jashinsky, and Matt Stoller—reacts to President Trump's 2026 State of the Union address, offering critical insights on its themes, rhetoric, notable moments, and underlying political strategy. The episode focuses on the speech's content and political subtext, especially regarding foreign policy (Iran and Venezuela), domestic economic appeals (AI data centers, housing, and affordability), and hot-button issues like immigration.

---

Key Discussion Points

1. Speech Structure & Political Strategy

• Length & Format

  • The speech was unusually long at 1 hour 47 minutes, the longest SOTU on record ([23:13]).

  • Described as a “clip show” or “box-checking” exercise: lacking narrative cohesion, jumping between topics to target specific political cohorts ([02:51], [23:36], [45:40]).

    “The State of the Union is now a fucking clip show. Like, it's a clip show.” – Matt Rogers ([45:39])

• Fragmented Content

  • The address jumped from economic boasts to Olympic/hockey tributes, then cycled through policy bullet points: immigration, voter ID, foreign policy, and various awards ([02:51], [03:46]).
  • The majority of the speech's "viral moments" were seen as manufactured for future clips rather than dramatic or historic events ([03:59], [04:11]).
  • Heavy use of medals and shout-outs, which the panel notes is not historically normal ([03:31]).

2. Foreign Policy: Iran (Operation Midnight Hammer)

• Trump's Rhetoric versus Reality

  • Trump declared the US had "obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program" in June with "Operation Midnight Hammer" and is now demanding Iran never build nuclear weapons ([05:59]).

  • The panel points out the lack of evidence for both Iran restarting its program and the need for further confrontation ([06:54], [07:11]).

  • Iran’s Foreign Minister had just reaffirmed: “under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon” ([07:11]-[07:49]).

    “Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon. Not a lot of wiggle room there.” – Ryan ([07:11])

  • The contradiction: Declaring a foe vanquished yet needing to “re-annihilate” or keep up hostilities ([08:10]).

    “First time in American history that a president has declared victory and celebrated his achievement of annihilating a foe at the same time that he's promising to reannihilate the foe.” – Ryan ([08:10])

3. Venezuela & War Posture

• Contradictory Stance
  • Trump called Venezuela a new “friend and partner” but confirmed ongoing military strikes out of “operations security” ([09:40]).
  • The administration's rationale for strikes is vague and non-transparent ([09:34]).

4. Israel, War with Iran, and Political Pressures

• Inside Washington Dynamics

  • A discussion (citing podcaster Daryl and echoed elsewhere) unpacks the dilemma: Trump is pressured either to strike Iran, risk being drawn into war on Israel’s terms, or cut Israel loose—a scenario the administration sees as impossible ([11:18]-[13:01]).
  • Panelists are skeptical of claims Israel would use nuclear weapons, but suggest Trump’s concern is real—possibly tied to fear of “leverage” (Epstein files, business interests) ([15:04]-[16:28]).

• Parallel to Iraq War Framing

  • The panel draws a parallel between current Iran rhetoric (“weeks away from an industrial grade bomb”) and the drumbeat for the 2003 Iraq War ([14:16]).

5. AI Data Centers & Economic Populism

• Electricity and Big Tech

  • Trump introduced a “ratepayer protection pledge” for data centers, requiring tech companies to build their own power plants rather than strain local grids ([17:33]).

  • Panelists are skeptical, calling it a “fake proposal”: Impossible to enforce by executive order; would require major legislation and federal compulsion ([19:52]-[21:18]).

  • The panel sees this as evidence the White House is aware of grassroots discontent over tech growth and affordability, but offers only shallow, politically expedient solutions ([18:37], [21:29]).

    “It reminds me... The food companies decided they're just going to voluntarily get all the artificial colors and preservatives out... That just got quietly rolled back. So, you know, once business is like, no, thanks.” – Emily ([21:29])

• Affordability Rhetoric

  • Early speech touted a “roaring economy,” blamed Democrats for inflation, but had little substance on cost-of-living measures like interest rates or rents, despite these being key voter concerns ([16:49], [19:26]).

6. Immigration and Sanctuary Cities

• Notable Heckling Moment

  • Trump invited members to “stand up for Americans,” prompting Ilhan Omar to shout “You have killed Americans!”—a moment the panel says will trend for both sides ([05:09], [28:33]-[29:07], [31:42]).

  • Despite heavy prior rhetoric, the speech avoided mentioning ICE, CBP, or mass deportation—seen as a political shift or an uncertain strategy ([29:27], [30:01]).

    “The word ICE was not uttered. The word CBP was not uttered. ... So there's no more illegal migrants who are coming across the border. But the case about mass deported, the word mass deportation wasn't uttered.” – Bowen Yang ([29:27])

• J.D. Vance as "Fraud Czar"

  • Trump named Senator J.D. Vance to root out fraud and balance the budget—viewed as setting him up for accountability if investigations into White House or Congressional corruption arise ([30:13], [34:24]).
  • The segment veers into discussion of administration-wide, institutional corruption, especially around crypto deals ([33:01]-[33:55]).

7. Voter ID and the Zoran Snow Shoveling Anecdote

• Contrasting Job ID Requirements and Voting

  • Trump mocked New York’s mayor (“the communist mayor... but a nice guy”) for requiring multiple IDs to shovel snow, but none to vote ([39:25]-[40:19]).
  • The panel notes the irony and logistical challenge—passport photos for a cash job is an excessive ID hurdle ([38:39]-[39:09]).

• Voter Suppression Subtext

  • The SAVE Act, discussed in the speech, would mainly restrict women who changed their name via marriage from registering to vote ([42:31]), and could backfire politically ([43:29]-[43:43]).

8. Reflection on Political Climate and Impact

• No Lasting Impact?

  • The panel doubts the speech will have significant legacy or change public mood; it is crafted for short-term soundbites, not policy transformation ([44:40], [45:39]).

  • Demands for more substance on AI’s labor impact, immigration enforcement, and real cost-of-living measures go unmet ([24:57], [36:36]).

    “It's all trying to create individual moments... Even if the credit card interest rate thing was in here... That's not like people are going to see that and be like, ‘Oh, my life has turned around and now I have hope for the future.’ They're still gonna be worried about AI...” – Emily ([23:49]-[24:06])

• Anti-War Movement’s Weakness

  • The discussion closes with a lament that the anti-war movement, especially on the right, has been cowed or dissipated since the “12-day War” with Iran ([47:01]-[47:26]).
  • Panelists warn the U.S. is “sleepwalking” into further foreign interventions with little scrutiny or real public discussion ([48:13]-[48:42], [48:44]).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On SOTU as a clip show:

  “The State of the Union is now a fucking clip show.” – Matt Rogers ([45:39])

• On Iran:

  “Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon.” – Ryan ([07:11])

  “First time in American history that a president has declared victory... and promising to reannihilate the foe.” – Ryan ([08:10])

• On J.D. Vance as Fraud Czar:

  “So whatever you are not gonna get done and is gonna get worse, you give to the person you don't like. So that's not great for J.D. Vance.” – Ryan ([35:14])

• On the anti-war movement:

  “I feel like the anti war movement is evaporated. There's nothing left.” – Bowen Yang ([47:00])

---

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:51 | SOTU structure critique, "box checking," lack of emotional moments | | 05:59 | Trump's Iran section, "Operation Midnight Hammer" | | 07:11 | Iranian Foreign Minister's statement, panel fact-checks Trump on Iran | | 11:18 | Quoting "Daryl" on Trump's Israel/Iran war dilemma | | 17:33 | Data centers/electricity—Trump's "ratepayer protection pledge" | | 19:52 | Panel questions feasibility of tech companies building power plants | | 28:33 | Trump/Ilhan Omar immigration confrontation ("You should be ashamed!") | | 29:27 | Notable absence of ICE/CBP language and shift in immigration rhetoric | | 30:13 | Panel discusses J.D. Vance named "fraud czar" and wider government corruption | | 39:25 | Trump on New York mayor, Zoran snow shoveling ID requirements, voter ID argument | | 47:00 | Reflection on anti-war movement's decline and public apathy towards imminent new wars |

---

Final Thoughts

• No Game-Changing Moments: The panel’s consensus is that despite its length, the SOTU was lacking in substance, vision, and potential for real political impact. Its structure and content reflected a political environment obsessed with viral soundbites at the expense of coherent policy or narrative.
• Cynicism & Fatigue: The episode closes with expressions of concern, cynicism, and even exhaustion; the hosts feel the U.S. is “sleepwalking” into deeper conflicts and deeper political malaise, evidenced by the routine box-checking and lack of credible opposition.
• Essential Takeaway: The SOTU provided an illustrative look at where American politics sits in 2026: performative, fragmented, and as much about tomorrow’s viral moment as about the work of governance.

---

Transcript

[Matt Rogers]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Bowen Yang]

Guaranteed Human who decided beauty ads need this much drama?

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Elf Cosmetics did their new commercial called Melissa is an absurdly funny telenovela starring Melissa McCarthy, TV doctor Nicholas Gonzalez and iconic telenovela villain Itati Cantoral. But the real star, Elf Glow Reviver lip Oil.

[Bowen Yang]

Melissa McCarthy fully commits by even rolling the otters with the Elf Glow Reviver Lip Oil. It's very funny.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Watch the full episode of their new alpha novella on soyunbano.com this is Matt

[Bowen Yang]

Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, so what if you could boost the WiFi to one of your devices when you need it most? Because Xfinity WI fi can. And what if your wifi could fix itself before there's even really a problem? Xfinity is so reliable, it does that too. What if your wifi had parental instincts? Xfinity wifi is part nanny, part ninja, protecting your kids while they're online. And finally, what if your wif like the smartest WI fi? Yeah, it's WI fi that is so smart it makes everything work better together. Bottom line, Xfinity is smart and reliable. You deserve the peace of mind of having WI fi that's got your back. Xfinity Imagine that at Lowe's get up

[Commercial Announcer]

to 35% off select major appliances plus

[Bowen Yang]

members get free delivery, install and more when you spend $2,500 on select major appliances Lowe's we help you save valid

[Commercial Announcer]

through 225 while supplies last selection varies by location. Excludes Massachusetts, Maryland, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Florida. Loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions.

[Bowen Yang]

Visit lowe's.com terms for details. Subject to change.

[Commercial Announcer]

Visit your nearby Lowe's on Colorado street in Kennewick.

[Bowen Yang]

Hey guys, Sager and Krystal here.

[Emily]

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.

[Bowen Yang]

This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.

[Emily]

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.

[Bowen Yang]

We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see [e-mail]. The voice of God Mike is officially off. Ryan's hair is extra crazy Crystal Informed him that it looked crazy sweet. I asked him if he wanted crazier.

[Matt Rogers]

So he just must.

[Bowen Yang]

And so he made it even more musky. All right, so that was. What did we clock in at hour 50 is what we're calling it.

[Emily]

You know, actually, the threat was sort of effective because it set my expectations for going till midnight. So when he wrapped up abruptly at 11pm I was like, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

We were like, okay, all right. It's not so. Not so bad overall.

[Matt Rogers]

Maybe they did that on purpose.

[Bowen Yang]

Very long speech. It's easily gonna be the longest State of the Union probably in American history, at least in terms of the one that has been delivered. Lots of stuff that eventually came up. Started off largely on economic. Transitioned to an Olympic love fest for about 10 minutes there on hockey. And then very typical of what we warned about on State of the Union, a lot of box checking. Everything was bullet points. You had the immigration section, you had voter id. There was some stuff on foreign policy. We're going to start with that there in a second. Then kind of wrapping it up. Lots of medals. The sound guy here, he goes, is it normal to hand out so many medals in a State of the Union? We're like, no, it's not normal.

[Emily]

But, you know, 50% of the speech was like various awards.

[Bowen Yang]

A very large percentage of the speech was handing out metals.

[Matt Rogers]

I'm going to make an annoying point. Have you followed the Wuthering Heights discourse about how it's a movie for TikTok?

[Bowen Yang]

This is BPM.

[Emily]

You got this.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Okay. It's a movie for TikTok, meaning you're stringing all of these scenes together because you want them to become part of the clip universe.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Matt Rogers]

That's what State of the Unions are now. Because you're trying to check a box for every different cohort.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

And then, you know, it's going to get targeted in this place, in this place, in this place. And so that's where the speeches, I think, at least from Trump's perspective, are getting longer, because then you have more, like, you can put the metal stuff on raw material. I actually.

[Bowen Yang]

I like that point a lot. That's very strong.

[Emily]

It's not even really meant to be right. To be consumed and as a cohesive.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I kind of confirmed it also with somebody.

[Emily]

Oh, really?

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, that's. See, that's actually very interesting. It actually makes. It helps because, you know, watching it in full, you're like, oh, my God, man, please.

[Emily]

Yeah. But that being said, like, none of that was really super.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Emily]

There were no moments there. I mean, we. We grabbed some clips. We'll show you some clips. But there was really literally nothing that I was like, oh, that's going to be the moment.

[Matt Rogers]

Nothing super interesting. But he got his hockey moment. He had his arena Zyritska's parents. He had all of the different veterans that those will go into the veterans.

[Bowen Yang]

If you ask me, what goes most viral from that speech is probably hockey. Right? Also because statistically, people only. Well, let's think timing, people. Hour 50. The vast majority of people who watch, it's only going to be the first 15, 20 minutes before 30.

[Emily]

There's no, like. I mean, I guess it's like sort of a controversy. But the things that usually go viral is where there's some sort of.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, I didn't mean controversy. I meant people were like, oh, great, the hockey team is there. That. That's really all.

[Matt Rogers]

He was heckled by Ilhan Omar and then leaned in and said, you should be ashamed of yourself. That will probably be.

[Bowen Yang]

She yelled at him about Epstein. We'll get to it. We don't have that clip exactly. But by far, what we were all looking for going into the speech was Iran. And we got a very limited section on Iran, so we've gone ahead and pulled it. So control. And please cue that up as I lead into it. There was some expectation, some speculation. People were worried, oh, my God, are we gonna announce that we're going to war with Iran tonight? That's not really how it worked. There was even some. You know, I even thought. I said, maybe it's gonna lay out a deadline, like a declaration, an ultimatum of some kind. It was extremely generic. He's saying that Iran has not yet said the sacred words, that they will not pursue a nuclear weapon. Not true. Which Ryan will debunk on the other side. But, guys, if we can go ahead and play it, the Iran section from the speech, and then we'll react on the other side.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

As President, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must. That's why, in a breakthrough operation last June, the United States military obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program with an attack on Iranian soil known as Operation Midnight Hammer. After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, and in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again and are at this moment, again pursuing their sinister ambitions. We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal but we haven't heard those secret words. We will never have a nuclear weapon.

[Bowen Yang]

So a couple of things. They're saying after Midnight Hammer, that they have tried to restart their program. No evidence of that literally whatsoever. You know, let's. Where's the dni? Are they even going to trot out some fake intel? And then, Ryan, if you want to redo your fact check on that latter part, perhaps you can right now.

[Ryan]

All right, so Foreign Minister Sayeda Rakshi today. Yeah, literally today, before the speech, actually. So they could have included this if they wanted to. Araghi said, quote, our fundamental convictions are crystal clear. Colon. Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon. Now, when it comes to, like, diplomatic speak, oftentimes they try to leave some, like, wiggle room for interpretation, but Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Emily]

It's not a lot of. Not a lot of wiggle room there.

[Bowen Yang]

It's like, what else do we want? You know? I mean, those are the magic words. Should they put it on official letterhead and have the ayatollah sign it, then? But of course, we all know then the goalposts will. Oh, but they didn't address ballistic missiles. But they didn't address the. What else? Oh, they didn't address regional proxy, which is fake. It's like. Yeah, which regional proxy? Are we talking about Syria? We're talking about Lebanon? Which commanding control.

[Ryan]

This is definitely the first time in American history that a president has declared victory and celebrated his achievement of annihilating a foe at the same time that he's promising to reannihilate the foe.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes. So true. Have you seen the White House press release going around about how back in June, after Midnight Hammer. Emily. Where they're like, Iranian nuclear facilities obliterated. Any speculation that it wasn't true? True is an insult.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

To the White House.

[Matt Rogers]

I was gonna say a little bit of breaking news. Not on Iran, but on Venezuela. I just got a statement from a War Department official because I asked them about it.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

But.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I was told to attribute it. I was told I could attribute it to a War Department official background. So on Venezuela, I had asked who they targeted yesterday, specifically. Now, they had a big guest come out, Venezuela wise, in the middle of the State of the Union, made a big deal about it. They will not tell me what group was targeted yesterday. They're setting, quote, unquote, operations security.

[Ryan]

In the boat or on land.

[Matt Rogers]

Or the land or. I'm sorry, the boat strike yesterday.

[Bowen Yang]

Sure.

[Matt Rogers]

So this gets us to Iran you have this contradiction of we annihilated the nuclear site and yet now we need to strike Iran again. And the same thing with Venezuela. We have annihilated the threat of Maduro who is directing trend Nicua and the

[Emily]

drug deal running the country.

[Bowen Yang]

Great point.

[Ryan]

So what Trump is department official saying

[Matt Rogers]

says to protect operation security and our forces. We will not discuss specific groups, targets or intelligence.

[Bowen Yang]

By the way, Trump in his State of the Union called Venezuela new friend and partner. So we are now bombing our new friend. We are bombing our new friend and partner until the morale control just again the Iran section of this is going to be the most important and it was incredibly vague. There was no time that was added to it. The post about the so called claim around they haven't seen said the sacred words. It's like again, I don't know what else could happen here but this is

[Emily]

gonna be very disappointed that the case wasn't made today.

[Bowen Yang]

Right. Well if people did not watch our pre coverage. If people did not watch our pre show into the State of the Union there was this pathetic effort by Mark Warner and Senator Chuck Schumer who were like oh well Chris Coons a lot of crazy stuff said the president really needs to make his case to the American people. It came. I mean I don't have the time stamp. What was an hour 15 probably so far. The vast majority of people had already turned it off. Only professional folks like us are even watching there at that point. Barely. I mean almost a minute maybe on Iran, I would say 90 seconds 15, 20 seconds there on the Russian Ukraine war. It was minuscule I think in terms of the actual part of the speech. But it was the number one thing that we were all looking for. So unfortunately we can't really add a ton of commentary except just to say what he's claiming is not really true in terms of his demand. Yes.

[Ryan]

So this martyr made post that came out three or four hours ago, what can we. So this is. What's his name? Daryl, huge podcaster. What can we make of this? Can we talk about this at all? It's public. I mean I have it pulled up.

[Emily]

Here's what he said. He said Trump has been cornered. His options as he sees them are to start a war with Iran on something like our own terms or to be dragged into it at a time in the manner of Israel's choosing. The third option, telling Israel to fight their own war is not on the table because he believes that if he does that Israel will use nuclear weapons and he and members of his family will be in physical danger. I'm not totally sure why those two things are tied together, but anyway, the rest of the post says the military buildup has had three purposes. First, he hoped that Iran would capitulate and submit to an agreement strong enough to calm the Israelis down for the time being fanciful. Second, to have enough forces to deal with the fallout if Israel attacks and Iran retaliates against American bases and allies. And finally, to potentially strike first and at least be able to control the first phase of combat. The talk of limited strikes reflects his hope that Iran can be intimidated into buckling because Trump genuinely does not want war. That's where we're at. I've never prayed for a politician or government before, but I prayed for Trump for the first time yesterday. You should, too. So that's what he's saying, based on whoever he is obviously close to.

[Bowen Yang]

TUCKER CARLSON yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, look, what I will say is I heard something similar in terms of what I mean, look, I alluded to it earlier in our show, Crystal, is that Israel is fundamentally in control of the dynamic. When we talk about the Pentagon with the deep frustration with the United States, the deep frustration within the White House right now. And again, I'm not excusing this, I'm explaining kind of the view is, well, Israel may do it or not, and if they do it, then we're going to get sucked in. So we might as try, well try to control the dynamic. But what this ignores we don't get what happens if this is the problem is that it ignores the third option, the actual option, which is, hey, tell Israel not to do it and decide that we're going to cut them off,

[Emily]

say, hey, if you do like, we're not going to continue to sell you weapons. We are not going to be there to make sure that you don't get hit when there is Iranian retaliation. I mean, the threat of nukes here is so insane. And let's keep in mind, like Israel doesn't supposed to be still secret that they have nuclear weapons, but there's all this concern about Iran getting a nuclear weapon. Like you have this psycho rogue regime in the Middle east already that is supposed to be our client state and they're out here basically like low key threatening us that they're gonna start some sort of nuclear conflagration if they don't get their way.

[Bowen Yang]

Also, I don't think we should ignore in that State of the Union speech that Trump literally said Iran is trying to create an ICBM capable of hitting the United States. I know we're living in a poster like, can we get some evidence of that at all? Cause that would actually, you know, be a game changer. No, it's fake. Right. It's literally made up. Is that, oh, they had regional ballistic missile threats. He said Europe in our bases. I think we all know who he's talking about whenever it comes to regional. But they're trying to frame it very Iraq war style of like, oh, well, first it's Europe and our. But now they're developing this. What did Steve Wyckoff say? They're weeks away from an industrial grade bomb, which as our producer Mac points out, isn't literally every state bomb. An industrial grade bomb, like you can't create a bomb.

[Ryan]

He was using the wrong term. Which goes to your point about like not having like not remotely experts, like using basic terms wrong. I'm not an expert, but you know, industrial is not the right term. The weapons grade is what he's trying to.

[Matt Rogers]

And of course, the goalpost in June was you absolutely had to do this because of their nuclear capacity. It was specifically the threat of nuclear imminence coming from Iran. So this is, it's in disagreement with their own argument in June.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

When he says that his family would be at risk, I feel like that's code for his family is vulnerable on a lot of levels when it comes to that. You could expose things about the more they have like business relationships that could be jeopardized. I, I don't think that Israel is going to go out and kill them. Like, I just don't. I'm sorry, that's not, that's not like.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, but if I told you Israel would nuke them, like, dude, there's a serious part, there's a serious thought here in Washington that they actually would, that they really would use. I mean, considering what has now happened with Gaza. Oh yeah.

[Ryan]

Now the gloves are off.

[Bowen Yang]

Seven countries in two years.

[Emily]

They're saying different things.

[Ryan]

Oh, okay.

[Emily]

You're totally bought into the idea they would nuke Iran. You don't believe they would assassinate Trump and his family members.

[Bowen Yang]

I see.

[Emily]

However, this is where the Epstein files kind of come into play, don't they? I mean, this is the thing, this is why this, the little bit we know is so important to understand. Like what do the Israelis know? What does Trump think the Israelis know? What is he concerned about? Because we can say without a shadow of a doubt that he is worried about what is in these files in their entirety. Look at the treatment of Ghislaine Maxwell getting moved in the Club Fed getting a puppy and treating the warden like her bitch. He is worried about some things that are in there and he has to assume the Israelis know about that. So when some of these pieces don't add up of like, okay, well if they attack Iran, why are we getting sucked into it and how does this put you in danger? You have to put the Epstein factor into that as well.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, I mean not just. But that, that business, like you just said, the business relationships of everything.

[Ryan]

I mean these are not independent.

[Bowen Yang]

These are all non. Yeah, exactly. Not exactly independent. I don't want to get too far down the round rabbit, but I still believe. I mean this is the number one most important part in story in the entire country. And even within the state of the, if anything, actually not having a State of the Union, there was no flagship proposal. Right. There was really, there was really. It was a lot of box checking. And if you guys want, we can turn to the economy. The first 15 minutes or so was basically a retread. The greatest economy in history. I have gaslighting my notes.

[Emily]

Things are great. And the Dow's up and roaring.

[Bowen Yang]

Economy is roaring like never before. Right. Mortgage rates, new construction jobs, largest tax rates, affordability. They said caused and created. They said Democrats caused and increased the prices. You caused that problem. We did pick up though that the White House is obviously very, you know, they're very paying attention, I think to some of the populist issues that we've highlighted here in our show. And there are three of them all in a row, data centers. Number one, two was stock ban and three was about banning these private equity groups from owning large swaths of housing. So we actually have a clip here on data centers. It was kind of the more populous section, if you will, of the State of the Union. Let's take a listen.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

Many Americans are also concerned that energy demand from AI data centers could unfairly drive up their electric utility bills. Tonight I'm pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new ratepayer protection pledge. You know what that is? We're telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs. They can build their own power plants as part of their factory so that no one's prices will go up. And in many cases, prices of electricity will go down for the community and very substantially down. This is a unique strategy never used in this country before. We have an old grid. It could never handle the kind of numbers, the amount of electricity that's needed. So I'm telling them they can build their own plant, they're going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company's ability to get electricity while at the same time lowering prices of electricity for you and could be very substantial for all of you cities and towns. You're going to see some good things happen over the next number of years.

[Bowen Yang]

By the way, that was clearly. That was immediately followed by the private equity discussion and then by the Congressional stock trading ban. All issues that have been bubbling up online. Now, as usual, devil's in the details. Is it going to happen? This is a rate pledge allegedly privately agreed to by companies. Where's the fact sheet? Are they actually going to do it? Is this going to be national policy now? Part of the. What have we learned about the data center fight? Data centers is a state and a local issue. Is every state and local locality actually going to be able to agree with this? Right. So I'm very doubtful that this will actually become national policy. But for me, this is a reminder that they can see some of the writing on the wall. And despite the first 15 minutes or so, which was very much like, we're in the roaring economy, everything is Biden's fault. That was a midterm section where they're like, we need to reclaim, but let some ground here. There was no credit card interest rate cap, which I did take notice of.

[Ryan]

Interesting.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Let's talk about whether that was actually good politics or whether this guy is living in a bubble. So, Crystal, you live in a rural area. Come to rural people and say, you know what? I want to build a data center. People are like, now you come to them and say, I want to build a data center. And right next to it, power plant. Are they more excited or less excited?

[Emily]

That's exactly what I was saying when they were saying. But, I mean, it's sort of irrelevant because I view it as a fake proposal anyway. Right.

[Ryan]

Like, we're lying about the power.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Emily]

I mean, I think it's a fake proposal. I think it's, you know, attempting to recognize, like, they recognize it's a problem for them. It's a real rub, you know, in areas where they have a lot of support. There was a, I think a New York Times article about some Trump supporters who were like, I like what he's doing, but the status on her stuff's really bad. Like, this is a major issue for them. They clearly have recognized it. The reason I say it's a fake proposal is this is not something you could do with an executive order.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Emily]

And so you're going to. Now, and think of what we're really talking about. Okay. You're going to mandate tech companies to build power plants, a business they are not actually in. And they're all in this race to spin up as many data centers as fast as they can, and it's no holds barred in terms of, like, complete deregulation. And now you're gonna add into this, like. And also you're gonna. I mean, it's just, it's. Although there's no way if the government was gonna get involved and, like, build out these power plants or whatever, maybe. But, yeah, this would be something that would have to go through Congress. It would have to be a major proposal. All of that. You would require significant compulsion from the federal government to get these AI companies to do it. So I just see it as we

[Ryan]

had the IRA still in effect. That was one thing, but.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, that's another thing.

[Ryan]

Somebody nuked that. Not sure who.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, but that's. I mean, the way that Trump could get compulsion is because all of these CEOs and companies are rushing to get his affection and be lavished in his praise and all that.

[Bowen Yang]

The way he was selling it, like they've agreed to a rape again.

[Matt Rogers]

Exactly. He's framing it as though they're under his thumb, which to some extent they are. But to the point that Crystal made it. It's a lot of money.

[Emily]

Well, it just. It reminds me of, you know, we were talking about the. The Maha stuff, which we really should talk more about because it's, you know, that was an important part of his coalition and not a lot in the speech. Yeah, basically nothing in the speech. Remember, he did that whole, like, oh, the food companies decided they're just going to voluntarily get all the artificial colors and preservatives out of their food. Well, that just got quietly rolled back. So, you know, once business is like, no, thanks.

[Matt Rogers]

They're on fire over the glyphosate stuff.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, the glyphosate thing is huge.

[Emily]

And they should be, because, you know, I mean, there were 10, I think, tens of thousands of claims against Monsanto now there over Roundup and the, you know, link to cancer, and to do this and to then use the Defense Production act to spin this stuff. I mean, it really is. It really is grotesque and it truly is a betrayal. And to see if RFK Jr just turn around and rubber stamp and say, yeah, great, I approve of it.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, he made it about the supply chain. Not to get too off track, but they made it about the supply chain thing, but everyone was like, yo, dude, in the same executive order you give them immunity. It's like that's what we're upset about and that's what you should be upset about. Right. That's the whole thing. That's like as anti maha as it gets. So look, you know, we're just trying to frame it in terms of they see a big political problem. They spent a lot of time. We had the data center thing, we had the mortgage rates. There was a discussion, what is it the lowest mortgage rate in a couple of years. They were talking about rent prices, affordability. While it was, you know, it's not nearly enough at the top as it should have been. Because if you think, as I always talk about with State of the Unions, people only watch like 15, 30 minutes. So when you're like 45, 50, 60 minutes or something into a speech, like you're going way down, like not a lot of people are going to hear this. To me, it felt very box check and it's a preview of what I think is going to be their midterm affordability strategy, like going forward.

[Matt Rogers]

So we should say this was actually officially now, it was an hour and 47 minutes. So that is the longest State of the Union on record. Second was Trump's joint address last year, which doesn't technically count as the State of the Union. But before that, Bill Clinton's State of The Union in 2000 was the longest. It was an hour and 28 minutes.

[Emily]

Gotcha.

[Matt Rogers]

So significant which people melted significantly longer.

[Ryan]

Totally melted down.

[Matt Rogers]

20 minutes longer.

[Emily]

We had standards.

[Bowen Yang]

I mean, it was insanely long.

[Emily]

We had standards.

[Matt Rogers]

It ended abruptly.

[Bowen Yang]

This speech was very long. You know, your Wuthering Heights point is very good. Like it was really not a cohesive speech. Like it really was just a clip.

[Ryan]

Clip college then promise. I did not watch.

[Bowen Yang]

But they're all like this.

[Emily]

Yeah, I feel like in fairness they are all kind of like that. It's hard to like check all those boxes and string some sort of narrative together. But yeah, there didn't even seem to really be an episode. Trying to make moments and let me give another award. Yeah, it was all trying to create individual moments, you know, on the economic front. Like we are, we are in enough of a dire, uncertain circumstance with regard to the economy that even if some of these proposals were real, these kind of like gimmicky one off proposals are just not sufficient. Right. Even if the credit card interest rate thing was in here, which it wasn't, and he's clearly just like abandoned that. That would be something. But it's not like people are going to see that and be like, oh, my life has turned around and now I have hope for the future. They're still gonna be worried about AI, which you know, at this point in time, okay, you talk about the data centers, but to not talk about any of like the labor, any of the other stuff that's going on with AI, when this is a central, like this is the central economic growth policy that your administration is pursuing, I think is, I mean, I think it's incredibly negligent. To me, it's very noteworthy. He spent a lot of time. You brought this up, Sagri. You didn't talk about Ice Saddle.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, I. So I tweeted it just to make sure I'm not getting fact checked. There was not a single mention of it.

[Emily]

There was a lot of talk about immigration. There were some big, you know, some of his big moments with the base were on immigration, et cetera. And I think they still feel like that and I think it is still some of their stronger ground. But you know, he's now underwater significantly on immigration too. So the one area, the well that he could always go back to, even that's not a reliable winner for him outside of his committed followers.

[Commercial Announcer]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI, it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures there's

no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one advice IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Operations Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro Sign up for [e-mail] Pro.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Let's talk about modern home shopping. It's sort of become a fun side hobby, right? Scrolling listings at night, dreaming about kitchens you've never seen or backyards you haven't even stepped foot in. All from the comfort of pretty much anywhere. Redfin knows a lot of people like you want to own but are stuck in this browsing mode loop. That's where Redfin flips the script. With listings that update within minutes and tours you can book right from the Redfin app, you can see your dream home the moment it appears. Now, liking a listing is easy, but actually landing it, that's where Redfin comes in. Redfin has over 2200 agents with local expertise and Redfin agents close twice as many deals as other agents. That means they want to help you win. Not just window shop. Redfin is built to help you go from just looking to wait. This could actually be home. So become the newest neighbor on the block. Visit redfin.com to start finding and start owning. That's redfin.com

[Bowen Yang]

do we have the immigration segment? Just come into my ear and tell me if we do.

[Matt Rogers]

We do.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay, so why don't we go ahead and play that this is going to be the biggest one that you're going to see going around for a lot of the Republicans for their reaction. Trump, what did he say? He's like, stand up if you think Americans should only serve the interest of Americans. It set off some confrontation and Ilhan Omar shouted at him, which led to some heckling. Let's take a listen.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

Isn't that ashamed? You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself. That is why I'm also asking you to end deadly sanctuary cities that protect the criminals and enact serious penalties for public officials who block the removal of criminal aliens, in many cases drug lords, murderers all over our country. They're blocking the removal of these people out of our country. And you should be ashamed of yourself.

[Bowen Yang]

There's your juxtaposition. You got Ilhan, she was shouting, you have killed Americans. He's saying, don't stand, please stand if you've had your moment. But I will say if you listen

[Ryan]

to that, we should fact check.

[Bowen Yang]

It's basically, oh, sorry, go ahead.

[Ryan]

He has killed Americans.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, okay. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you for that fact check. Well, he personally has. Over here.

[Ryan]

He ordered operation that killed the Americans.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, to the point about rhetoric, the word ICE was not uttered. The word CBP was not uttered. The new funding for the dhs, in terms of, like, the big ICE funding for the original bill was not discussed. The only mention of the big beautiful bill was about corporate tax cut. If you think specifically about immigration and the way that it was talked about, it was very 2025. It was all about open border and it was about specific victims. But there was no mention whatsoever of Minneapolis, of Los Angeles, of. Of any of the major raids that have happened across the country.

[Emily]

There was mention of Minneapolis.

[Bowen Yang]

Right, but about Somali.

[Emily]

Somali, exactly. Which, I mean, is noteworthy for what you're saying. But also, he did this whole, like, oh, J.D. vance is gonna be the czar of finding fraud and corruption, whatever.

[Matt Rogers]

I mean, interesting.

[Emily]

Yeah. Which is interesting. And I wanna get your thoughts on that. But it's also like, that was the whole pretext for you going into Minneapolis. So if you're gonna find all this fraud, what were you people doing there? Like, obviously, that was completely crossed.

[Bowen Yang]

But if you read into the politics of that, they' right back to the 2024, 2025 case of we have no more, which is true. You know, they shut the border down. Okay. So there's no more illegal migrants who are coming across the border. But the case about mass deported, the word mass deportation wasn't uttered. The singular campaign message which literally was behind Donald Trump whenever he accepted the nomination at the 2024 RNC. ICE was not discussed. CBP. Yeah, Homan, RIP. I thought you said Hohman.

[Matt Rogers]

I didn't say. Sorry.

[Bowen Yang]

All right, rip. Rip to Hulk.

[Emily]

That's what I heard too.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, that's what I heard. Yeah. Okay, sorry. This is a classic Emily situation.

[Emily]

But, you know, thinking derailing as usual.

[Bowen Yang]

Just thinking generally about the way that they had to frame it on immigration. That was a loss to me considering how much they have now political capital that they have spent on the issue. Nothing about Minneapolis, Los Angeles, any of the major surges that have dominated the headlines. Yeah, I mean, that's honestly shocking if you consider. If you were to go on Twitter or if you were to go and look at the communications of the White House on a daily basis for the last, what, three months? I mean, Minneapolis, immigration, ICE and all, that's number one. Two of those. Yeah, it's totally. Oh, my God. It's everywhere. And there's barely anything in the speech.

[Matt Rogers]

I agree with that. I think the lack of ice is significant. I think that moment is a win for Trump. I also think it's a win for Ilhan Omar. I think him saying, you should be ashamed. And then Ilhan Omar coming back and saying, no, you should be ashamed. That, I think, is she's going to

[Bowen Yang]

raise a million dollars by the end of the day.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I agree completely with that. But it also is like, with. It reminds me of where we were a year ago, which was everyone talking about ice, Kristi Noem and Doge. And the JD Vance point is interesting because we're talking about fraud and rooting it out of government last year, all under the auspices of Elon Musk's operation. And Doge. So much fun. Everything's great. And now J.D. vance has potentially been turned into the Kamala Harris border czar. A fraud. Meaning fraud that happens after J.D. vance has been fingered as the fraud czar.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Is now going to.

[Bowen Yang]

You made this point live. I thought it was genius. I genuinely did not. It did not click for me, you know, to elaborate more. What you're saying is that if Jared Kushner and Steve Wyckoff and all these other guys, all these crazy deals and crypto and the Harden and all this, and it's like, well, you were the czar of fraud. It's like, why did you. The Binance. Did you guys see this Binance story recently? But the. The CEO and he got pardoned, and then they just facilitated a bunch of money to, like, Iranian, you know, around Iranian sanctions using crypto swimming.

[Ryan]

It's totally nuts to layer another point on top of what Emily's saying. Maybe you guys disagree with me. Maybe not. This is the most corrupt administration. Like, okay, maybe some Grant.

[Bowen Yang]

I was like, come on, TPOC Dome, bro. Let's see how you carry the reason

[Ryan]

I say this is the most corrupt because. Because it's the entire Senate and Congress and Grant, like, during the teapot, like, they're all. They're all trading like it's all rotten all the way through. Right now, the White House is far and away leading the charge on this crypto level of corruption. Like this. Getting the billions and billions, getting the UAE to buy half of their crypto thing and then going to Pakistan and telling them they gotta put in a billion dollars. And these guys have to put in a billion.

[Bowen Yang]

You gotta put in billions. I like what you're saying.

[Ryan]

Whereas members of Congress aren't there yet. Maybe give us five years.

[Bowen Yang]

They're on a smaller scale. But not even close to this.

[Ryan]

But yeah, that's so. They're so much more corrupt than even the average Washington politician. And then you're gonna say that J.D. vance is the one who's the sheriff on all of this. If Democrats take control of the House, we're gonna have some interesting hearings. We're gonna get a lot of interesting information about the stuff that's gone on the last couple of years, and you'll be able to lay that at the foot of Sheriff J.D. vance. Like, hey, weren't you. The corruptions are.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Emily]

What happened?

[Matt Rogers]

He is also supposed to now balance the budget. Trump said that JD Would root out fraud in the service of balancing the budget. So it's like the classic veep burden.

[Emily]

All right, good luck, buddy.

[Ryan]

I mean, you remember what Biden gave Kamala?

[Bowen Yang]

What? Immigration. What else?

[Ryan]

The border. Yeah, not just immigration, but actually the border. And she was like, do not come.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

[Ryan]

Like, I got nothing else.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan]

What else we got then?

[Bowen Yang]

What else?

[Ryan]

Oh, gun safety, which, like, they were not passing anything on that. Like, there was. They were doing nothing on guns. So they're like, kamala, you do guns. And then when it was very clear that they weren't gonna do anything on voting rights, they were like, kamala, you take voting rights. So it's like you just. Whatever you are not gonna get done and is gonna get worse, you give to the person you don't like. So that's not great for J.D. vance.

[Matt Rogers]

It's not a great. Really?

[Bowen Yang]

That's a good point.

[Matt Rogers]

He did not have to do that.

[Bowen Yang]

Genuinely did not about that. I think it is important, but, you know, in terms of reading into the tea leaves of everything, speech starts out, economy's good. It's all the Democrats fault. Then we have our Team USA Hockey moment. Then we get. Yeah, which lasted more than 10. Look, love Team USA but, man, 10 minutes is too long. All right, and so then we get into what the more populous economic stuff. We have a couple of throwaway lines, one big, beautiful bill.

[Matt Rogers]

That was about 20 minutes into the speech, by the way.

[Emily]

Right, well, I'm affordability with your original assessment that none of this is gonna matter.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, look, yeah, if you listen to the speech, we're gonna have a few clips, and then that's it. And what's kind of interesting is even Trump is not really trying to make this a big deal. We were talking this morning about how big of a deal the state of the unions were under Obama. And remember, they would have, like, a big, big theme and be like, save American jobs. And then the president would go on a bus tour for 50. They're not even pretending now. They're like, yeah, Trump will be in Texas on Friday for a different event, and Iran will be back in the news tomorrow or something like that. You know, we're trying to piece, if anything, what we just saw was a political view into the mind of the White House of, okay, ICE is a problem. We need to make immigration much more like 2025, 2024 than it is 2026. Affordability.

[Emily]

There were a bunch of administration officials who got shout outs. Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller were not among them. Tom Homan.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, none of those guys.

[Matt Rogers]

I didn't even see Christine.

[Bowen Yang]

So, yeah, I mean, by my count, we had Secretary Bessant Rubio, the Vice President. That's it.

[Emily]

Well, you got the shot. You had Jared Kushner and Steve Whit, of course, you know, whatever they are.

[Ryan]

You said everybody loves Rubio. Yeah. Got 100%.

[Bowen Yang]

Everybody got 100. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Bipartisanship is alive and well and wants it.

[Emily]

But, I mean, you know how much Kristi Nom love the spotlight. So to avoid true.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Probably Steam is one of the most

[Matt Rogers]

touted cabinet members at this time last year.

[Emily]

Yeah, that's right. So I'm just, you know, in terms of the internal politics, who's up, who's down, I think that's kind of noteworthy. But, you know, in terms of, like, political impact, I don't think it's gonna matter at all. The most consequential part is that we did get a little bit on tariffs, but nothing, again, that was really different from what they've been.

[Bowen Yang]

Nothing noteworthy. Didn't even attack scotus. That could have been a viral moment. That could have been something we could have all talked about. Right. He didn't even really go out. He was like. It was very disappointing. And he looked right at him. He was very disappointing. He just moved on. There was nothing.

[Emily]

We did have a fun Zoran moment.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes, we have that.

[Emily]

We have that. Guys, should we go ahead and play? I actually stepped down during this, so I'm watching.

[Bowen Yang]

This one's about voter id. So the lead in.

[Matt Rogers]

I've seen this for the first time.

[Bowen Yang]

I'll explain. The lead in was Trump was called. What's it called? The Save. Is it the Save act or the Save America?

[Matt Rogers]

The Save Act.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay. It's the Save Act. So it was a lead in for a calling of the SAVE act, which is what is this past the House currently in the Senate, it would need 60 votes. So it's going nowhere.

[Matt Rogers]

Let's do a talking filibuster.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, okay. But I doubt that'll happen. But. So it'd be like. It would be what? It would be voter mandatory voter id, proof of citizenship to be able to vote. As part of that. What it leads into was this talk about the Zoron snow shoveling thing, which was a big discourse. If you're not online and you don't know what we're talking about, God bless you. It's about which you even had to explain to me because I'm not online enough is what was it it? He announced a snow shelving program. And as part of that you get paid. Is it $20 an hour?

[Emily]

They jumped up to 30.

[Bowen Yang]

Wow. That's honestly pretty good work. So snow shoveling, $30 an hour. But to get the job, you have to provide two forms of identification.

[Ryan]

It was even more ridiculous than that. You had to have the two of the like one and a half inch by one and a half inch passport photos, which I think is probably a corrupt bargain that some mayor made with like a cartel that owns those little photo shops.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, really?

[Ryan]

Because what like, I mean.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, you need a passport photo to get paid from the city?

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

That's crazy.

[Ryan]

That is like some dinkin level like that. That has to go back. I love some.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, they're keeping cbs. They don't have CBS in New York. What's it called? Wayne Reed or whatever. Anyway, so that was the lead in to this Zoran moment. Let's take a listen.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

And even the new communist mayor of New York City, I think he's a nice guy, actually speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy just said they want people to shovel snow. They got hit hard. Want some disheveled snow. But if you apply for that job, you need to show two original forms of ID and a Social Security card. Yet they don't want identification for the greatest privilege of them all voting in America now. It's no problem. Good. No good. Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly agree on the policy that we just enunciated. And Congress should unite and enact this common sense country saving legislation right now. And it should be before anything else happens.

[Bowen Yang]

So there you go. Nice guy. Still talk to him a lot, the communist mayor. But he's a good guy. I talk to him.

[Ryan]

I love ad lib that in. That's so sweet.

[Matt Rogers]

He doesn't say that about Roman all the time. He's a nice guy. I talk to him.

[Bowen Yang]

Communist talk to him all the time. He's a good guy, I guess. Yeah. I mean, it's all accurate.

[Emily]

On a more serious note, with regard to all the election and the voter stuff, I mean, he did make this point of like, oh, the Democrats can never win if they don't cheat. And, you know, as we're watching heading into the midterms and all the shenanigans are already pulling and the seizing of the. Of voter rolls in a variety of states and a lot of red states going along with whatever they're doing, purging people who belong on the rolls, the ceasing the Fulton county voting machines, the ballots from 2020, whatever Tulsi Gabbard's up to, potential Maduro deal. There is a lot to be concerned about with regard to whether the midterm elections are going to be free and fair, what sort of. We know there are going to be shenanigans. He joked about the sort of shenanigans they're going to pull.

[Matt Rogers]

He joked about a third term in the speech.

[Emily]

He did.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Emily]

This should have been my third term. Yeah. So I know that a bunch of democratic AGs are sort of like war gaming what the possible scenarios are. And I think we were talking before. He is aware that his political positioning is quite bad at this point. He's aware of the historical trends. He's talked about that, too. Of the party in power. He's aware that people aren't buying what he's selling. He's a bit confused by that. But he clearly has some awareness that it's not looking good. And certainly he knows that if Democrats take back even one chamber, then, yeah. Any agenda that you had potentially going through Congress, not that much has gotten past your Congress anyway. Grinds to a halt. You've got all these investigations. It's gonna be a lot less fun.

[Bowen Yang]

I think they don't even care about agenda. I think all they care about is not having to literally live on Capitol Hill for investigations, which is a huge. I mean, it's going to be a. A nightmare.

[Matt Rogers]

But if. If Dems retake the Senate, and that's not out of the realm of possibility, you have a literal impeachment on the table. Oh, it's not just House impeachment.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, no, wait. How many votes do you need?

[Ryan]

You need 67, though.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

You need two thirds in the Senate.

[Ryan]

You would get a trial.

[Bowen Yang]

You would have the trial, by the way, on this.

[Ryan]

Nobody's talked about this. But on this voting bill that he wants to do, like, the. The main thing it would do is make it more difficult to register to vote if you're a woman who has changed her name at some point. But the problem is that.

[Bowen Yang]

Sorry, I actually haven't looked into this. How?

[Ryan]

Yeah, why?

[Bowen Yang]

Because of passport documents, birth certificates.

[Ryan]

It's just. It's. Yeah, because you have to get your birth certificate and your passport.

[Matt Rogers]

If you are one of the people who doesn't have a real ID or a driver's license.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, who doesn't have real id?

[Matt Rogers]

There are a couple of states that don't mandate real ID or the habit

[Emily]

is one of them. You don't have to have real id.

[Ryan]

Of the people that this would affect, the ones that would affect the most are women who changed their name to get married.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Ryan]

80% of Democrats change their name when they get married. 90% of Republicans change their name when they get married. Married women went for Trump over Harris. Like he won this group. And the ones that are more likely to have changed their names are more likely to be Republican.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, the SAVE act was drafted before even the 2024 election.

[Ryan]

Yes. I think this is like 30 year old legislation that they just took off the shelf and didn't update. Democrats could let it through and it would hurt Republicans more, is my point.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, I've always talked about that with mail in ballots. Remember back in 2020, Trump literally would have won the store, the state of Georgia, if just the number of people who voted by mail had actually voted because it was a significant number about whatever. It's not even worth getting into.

[Matt Rogers]

Well, I mean. Yeah. That we don't have to go down the rabbit hole.

[Emily]

Well, it sort of reminds me of the redistricting thing where like Texas, now that the Latino support for the Republicans has fallen through the floor, they're like, oh, what? Drew their lines based on something approximating Trump's Latino support in the state of Texas could end up really screwing themselves with the redistricting. Not to mention that Democrats came in hot and were like, okay, bet we're gonna do this in California. Virginia, that's another thing. Spanbergers going with some legislature 20 seats.

[Bowen Yang]

And I think that what California is map got held up by SCOTUS recently, I believe. Or it was. I think their affirmation was helped. No, no, not held up. I mean, it was affirmed by. They were like, yes, they're allowed to go through. Any final thoughts? What do you guys think?

[Matt Rogers]

I mean, it didn't. I agree with everyone that I Mean, this changed everything. It didn't. Yeah, this, this was the transformation. This is. Yeah, transformed.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, after watching Biden's brain melt in this very desk, I'm not sure it'll ever. Nothing's ever going to come.

[Matt Rogers]

That was legendary. We were all eating like the takeout

[Emily]

and like, whoa, thank God we had the ceiling.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, the ceiling.

[Matt Rogers]

Catch that?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. There was that fame of you and me being like covering our faces like this. I was like, oh. I mean, we knew it was bad, but we didn't know it was that bad.

[Ryan]

Medicaid, you knew the COVID up that you'd been engaging in had finally been exposed.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Emily]

We won't be able to tell people that he is. What were some things.

[Ryan]

It's over.

[Emily]

Like, this is the best Biden's ever been. Isn't that what Scarborough says?

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, my God.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

The best Biden ever.

[Ryan]

Outworks us all from. From 10 to 2.

[Matt Rogers]

From 10 to 2.

[Emily]

There's a brief window from 1pm to 1:15pm where it outworks us all is unstoppable.

[Matt Rogers]

My takeaway is honestly that.

[Ryan]

Stop talking.

[Matt Rogers]

In fact, the State of the Union is now a fucking clip show. Like, it's a clip show.

[Bowen Yang]

No, you're totally right. That's where we are now. Absolutely.

[Matt Rogers]

And I mean, whatever.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, I'm with you.

[Matt Rogers]

Like that's what everything is now. It's all a clip show.

[Bowen Yang]

We'll go back tomorrow, you know, the news. Maybe tomorrow there'll be some.

[Ryan]

Yeah, we will follow up tomorrow.

[Bowen Yang]

State of the Union. Yeah, after that, like by Thursday. I'm predicting there's not even a single mention.

[Emily]

I will say one thing I saw someone made a comment of on Twitter is, you know, one of the special guests there was Erica Kirk, wife of Charlie Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk. And there is a disgusting irony to having her there at a speech where he's, you know, very likely going to war with Ron at a time when, you know, I mean, Charlie was one of those people who came in the White House and got barked at because he was opposed to the previous war to necessary to now have her at that speech when, you know, we're all basically expecting that this is coming any

[Bowen Yang]

day is really good point. Honestly. He would have been. I mean, look, you know, you could say a lot about the guy, but on this topic, he actually was. I mean, look, he at times would go silent when the administration would ask him to, but his actual opinions on the matter, especially on Iran, were pretty rock solid. Especially Lindsey Graham going after Ayatollah saying there should be no regime change. I have really noticed it actually. I feel like the anti war movement is evaporated.

[Emily]

Basically.

[Bowen Yang]

There's nothing left.

[Emily]

Yeah. And look, I'm not here to like, you know, give Charlie Kirk like the greatest credit in the world, but it is noteworthy. I think two things happened. I mean, number one, he was killed. And number two, there is this sense that like, oh, the 12 day war was fine. Like you guys were wrong. And I think that's cowed a lot of people into silence.

[Bowen Yang]

Thousands of percent.

[Emily]

You just don't see the same level of friction on the right that you did in the build up to the 12 day war and the Democrats.

[Ryan]

So some of it has to be disbelief. Like, are we really doing this again?

[Emily]

Yeah, I think with the public. I do think that there's that sense of that.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, I keep saying that people are not paying attention even with this speech.

[Ryan]

Like we just did the war. We're doing another war, dude.

[Bowen Yang]

Ryan, they barely paid attention attention to that one. Think about how much stuff has happened in the interim. No Americans died. That's their favorite talking point. Nobody died in the bombing. Why were you so upset about it? And I was like, because I knew that this shit wouldn't end. I knew that we were going to be back here at the trial. But think about how deeply you have to pay attention. All this negotiation and oh, they're me. They're like, they're meeting again. What? Okay, whatever. Security strike group. When's it getting there? You know, people have a lot going on in their lives. So until the bombs really start flying, I don't think people. I really. If you took a poll, I don't think 90% of people.

[Ryan]

Well, in this case we have. We must have tens of thousands of people over there by now.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, we do.

[Ryan]

Like on all the different shows.

[Bowen Yang]

We have tens of thousands of people there normally. But now we have. On top of that, this is the problem. I mean. Yeah, I mean there's no case being made. There's no hearing. The opposition party is saying that he needs to make a case. There's no organized effort. What? There's that story out this morning or this afternoon that. What was it? They're trying to kill the R.O. khanna Thomas Massie War Powers resolution vote. Because they don't want anybody to go on the record. We're being slept walk into the entire thing. It's very, very World War I esque.

[Matt Rogers]

Could blow up in Venezuela still too.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, of course it could. What? I mean, yeah. Could we all Trust the great stewardship of Marco Rubio down in Venezuela and his ability to broker oil deals. I mean, any of these things can collapse. Look at Mexico. They killed the cartel guy and the city went on fire. It could have been ten times worse. American tourists could have been killed. We could have been a full blown conflagration. You have no idea when something is going to pop off. Any last thoughts, Ryan?

[Ryan]

Nope, that's all I got.

[Bowen Yang]

All right, thank you guys so much for watching. 11:47pm Brutal. Brutal, man.

[Matt Rogers]

And you haven't been up this late in a long time.

[Bowen Yang]

No, it's been probably election night.

[Matt Rogers]

Honestly, I can't even think about the

[Bowen Yang]

last time I was awake at this ungodly hour.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't think I ever go to bed before this sun will be up earlier.

[Emily]

Really? That's crazy.

[Bowen Yang]

You are insane. 100am that's crazy.

[Matt Rogers]

That's my bedtime.

[Bowen Yang]

That's crazy behavior here. Anyway, Ryan, as a parent, dude, I don't know how you. I don't know how you're pulling the schedule. I don't.

[Ryan]

Huh.

[Matt Rogers]

He's not.

[Ryan]

I don't know.

[Bowen Yang]

Your wife is a saint. I guess.

[Matt Rogers]

He's a mogul now.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, that's true.

[Matt Rogers]

He's a media mog.

[President Trump (Speech Clips)]

That's right.

[Bowen Yang]

All right, thank you guys so much for watching. We appreciate you all very, very much. We'll have some clips up tomorrow, full show on Thursday every. We'll see you all then.

[Commercial Announcer]

There's no championship league for small business owners. But if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one advice. IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for [e-mail] pro.

[Emily]

Wasn't that delicious? So good.

[Ryan]

Your bill, ladies.

[Bowen Yang]

I got it.

[Matt Rogers]

No, I got it.

[Emily]

Seriously, I insist.

[Matt Rogers]

I insisted first.

[Emily]

You know me, silly.

[Bowen Yang]

People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash

[Ryan]

credit card prefer to pay because they

[Bowen Yang]

earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[Emily]

Okay.

[Bowen Yang]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors.

[Matt Rogers]

Shoot.

[Ryan]

No.

[Bowen Yang]

The Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card.

[Ryan]

Visit wells fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply.

[Bowen Yang]

Running my small business was like playing basketball. Five on one and I was the one. Now QuickBooks gives me to access access to a team of AI agents and trusted experts. For the assists, I need nothing but nick outdoit with intuit.

[Emily]

QuickBooks feature availability varies by product.

[Matt Rogers]

This is an I heart podcast.

[Emily]

Guaranteed human.