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Unknown Speaker 1
Where'd you get those shoes?
Sagar Enjeti
Easy.
Unknown Speaker 1
They're from dsw. Because DSW has the exact right shoes.
Sagar Enjeti
For whatever you're into right now.
Unknown Speaker 1
You know, like the sneakers that make.
Sagar Enjeti
Office hours feel like happy hour, the boots that turn grocery aisles into runways.
Unknown Speaker 1
And all the styles that show off the many sides of you, from daydreamer.
Sagar Enjeti
To multitasker, and everything in between. Because you do it all in really great shoes.
Unknown Speaker 1
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Krystal Ball
It's the Pro Volleyball Federation's first All Star match. The league's biggest stars will clash in a can't miss event hosted in the Indy metro area, home of the indie Ignite. Catch every serve, spike and save live on cbs. Don't miss this historic showdown of volleyball's finest, the Pro Volleyball Federation all star match on February 22nd at 1:30pm Be there. Hey guys, Sagar and Kristal here.
Sagar Enjeti
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.
Krystal Ball
This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
Sagar Enjeti
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.
Krystal Ball
We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breakingpoints.com There was actually a crazy crash that happened in Philadelphia. Let's go ahead and put some of the video up there on the screen as I talk over it. So you can see there was these insane ring camera videos that were coming out that are just showing a major fireball that erupted literally as a crash, as this plane, small plane carrying six passengers actually literally crashed there in the middle of the road. So you can see the emergency lights, the fires that were all happening. This is a particularly insane one because he's standing outside and it literally happens right outside of his front door. You can see the fireball that was right behind him. Absolutely terrifying. What we know about the crash so far is it's a little weird some of the details. So I'm just going to go ahead and read them to some of you. So please. They've named the crew and there was actually a patient, it was an air ambulance in the northeastern Philadelphia area. So it was a medical jet and it was including a girl from Mexico who had received treatment for a life threatening illness. But it plummeted to the ground in Northeast Philly causing obviously a massive explosion killing everybody on board and at least one person who was on the ground. We don't know anything else. What we basically know is that they left Northeast Philadelphia Airport. It was headed for Springfield Branson National Airport, stopping in Missouri before eventually traveling to its final destination of Tijuana, Mexico. The girl was returning to Mexico after receiving treatment in the United States. And the victims of the crash are the captain as well as several other Mexican nationals. So definitely a tragedy and still some open questions as to what the hell was happening, you know, with all of this. Can we put the next one please up on the screen? Just read some of the details out that I was talking about. Is called a quote unquote angel flight en route to Mexico. All of the occupants were Mexican nationals. Plane was headed to Tijuana. So still some major stuff there, but.
Sagar Enjeti
And a number of injuries in the area too just because of it being shown this major urban area which is, you know, between that and then the fact that it just come on the heels of this horrific crash in D.C. is why it drew.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, a lot of people. That's why everyone's paying attention. I mean, rightfully, right. Yeah, this is. People are on edge People are afraid to fly. And Donald Trump addressed some of the crash on Thursday, blaming dei as. I'm sure we'll talk about it afterwards. Let's take a listen to what he had to say. You can't have regular people doing that job.
Sagar Enjeti
They won't be able to do it.
Krystal Ball
But we'll restore faith in American air travel. I'll have more to say about that. I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office, and here's one. The FAA's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing. And then it says, FAA says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce. And they want them in and they want them. They can be air traffic controllers. I don't think so.
Sagar Enjeti
This was in January 14th, so that was a week before I entered office.
Krystal Ball
They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA's program on DEI. And the claims that you've made, are you saying this crash was somehow caused and the result of diversity hiring?
Sagar Enjeti
And what evidence have you seen to support these claims?
Krystal Ball
It just could have been. We have a high standard. We've had a much higher standard than anybody else. And there are things where you have to go by brain power.
Sagar Enjeti
You have to go by psychological equality.
Krystal Ball
And psychological quality is a very important element of it. These are various, very powerful tests that.
Sagar Enjeti
We put to use.
Krystal Ball
And they were terminated by Biden, and Biden went by a standard that's the exact opposite. So there we go from Trump. I was watching it live. I was telling Crystal, and I was like, oh, he's really gonna do it, isn't he? And immediately starts pulling out DEI articles. My personal favorite was a response to that question whenever he was like, so do you have any indication that it was dei? And he's like, not at this time. We. So, okay, all right. There we go. That's Trump. Let's put some of the details up here on the screen about the crash, because this is what's actually important. Where we are learning a couple of things. Number one is that the helicopter, it seems, was not flying at the correct height. Now, there's various reasons for that. It could be that the screen of the air traffic controller was incorrect. It could be an instrumentation malfunction on the helicopter itself. It could be a communication error between the two that is currently under investigation. But the most important thing that we have learned is that FAA shortage of staffing in the tower had one person doing the job of two. And what they Said is that the helicopter was flying outside of its flight path and that air traffic controller was juggling two jobs at the same time and was unable to keep the helicopter and the plane separated. It does seem crystal that this has been going on for years now at Reagan national, that they have had a major shortage in air traffic control. And we have also learned of a previous close call incident between a helicopter and a plane. So unfortunately, just seems like it was a matter of time. Too crowded airport, not enough air traffic control. Again, the helicopter thing I still can't get over. I have no idea why they are constantly doing helicopter training exercises over one of the most crowded, busiest and difficult airports to land in in the entire United States. It's crazy. I've been landing there for my entire adult life. Since I moved to Washington, D.C. when I was 18. I didn't even know that was a thing. It's probably better that we didn't know. But now, you know, they suspended the flights luckily, but it just. It's like, how much is this happening all over the country?
Sagar Enjeti
Completely insane. I had no idea same that this was a thing that happened. And it seems completely insane. A lot of conspiracy theorists are making a lot of the fact that the helicopter. Pete Hegseth, our Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth said it was on a continuation of government training mission.
Krystal Ball
But that is a little weird, right? So what is that continuity of government mission? Is it, you know, for what purpose? What were you doing flying in the middle of the night?
Sagar Enjeti
I'm with you on that one. I'm with you on that one. But the factors that we know. So first of all, nationwide, there's a massive air traffic controller shortage. Some 3,000 air traffic controllers we are short on. There's an airport in the Bay Area that's about to have zero air traffic controllers very close to San Francisco. Not actual sfo, but a smaller airport nearby. Nearby. This is a crisis because. And you can see potentially the results here because what happened at Reagan is that, like you said, Sagar, for years they've been operating in this shorthanded position where one person has been doing the job of two, having to both direct the passenger jets in and also manage the helicopter traffic. I mean, that's insane. But they were only doing it. Only they shouldn't be doing it at all. Okay? But they were forced into this situation from a shortage. They were doing it after 9:30pm because that's when the traffic really starts to ease up. On this particular evening, the supervisor had allowed someone to leave early so that the one man band situation began much earlier in the evening. So the crash occurred just before 9pm this should have been a time when typically they would have had two people in, you know, each doing one job. So. So that was unusual. Then you also had, as you mentioned, the helicopter flying above its approved path. The fact that there are helicopters flying through here is insane to begin with, but these are some of the factors that go in. The other thing is, you know, I learned a lot about dca. It sucks. Cause this is actually my favorite airport in the region.
Krystal Ball
Oh, it is the best airport.
Sagar Enjeti
It's close, it's easy. It's not that big of an airport facility, so it's very easy to get around in, et cetera. But the main Runway there is actually the busiest Runway in the entire country. And the reason is because there's only one real Runway. It's already shorter than most major runways at major airports, but there's only really one main Runway that larger jets can land on. So that primary Runway is the busiest in the country. Then you couple that with the fact that you have all of these sensitive areas around here. You've got the Pentagon, you got the White House, you've got all kinds of monuments and other facilities that are nearby. So it effectively forces all of the air traffic into a very narrow corridor, predominantly just right over the Potomac river, which anybody, again, who's flown into that airport is kind of familiar. So it creates this really dense and very busily trafficked area. And those are some of the factors that seem to have contributed to this horrific, horrific death. But one indication we got is that the screens that the air traffic controller was monitoring and using to, you know, keep everything safe, et cetera, may have misread the level that the helicopter was flying at. So the NTSB has determined the helicopter, the Black Hawk helicopter, was flying at 325ft. It was supposed to be at 200ft. There is some indication maybe that the technical controls for the air traffic controller were misreading the height. That could have been a factor. But you know, to go back to like Doge and all of this sort of stuff, the air traffic controllers got the same Fork in the road email pushing them to retire as everybody else in the federal government did. Then there was another Q and A email that went out that even more aggressively pushed everyone in the federal government, including air traffic controllers. Hey, now would be the time to take this buyout and go on the dream vacation. This shows you, right? Federal government is not a business. Okay, maybe it made sense at Twitter For Elon to just like AX, however, whatever, 80% of the workers, et cetera. But I'm sure there are some areas in the federal government where you could definitely trim the staff back and where it wouldn't make that much of a difference and it wouldn't be that impactful. This is not one of them. Right. This is a place where we need to hire thousands more air traffic controllers. Instead. They're getting the same emails that are like, hey, take the buyout and go on vacation and like enjoy living your life and double dipping on your federal government salary and whatever new gig you're gonna take up as well. So that is where the sort of rubber hits the road in terms of what we actually need and rely on the federal government to do. And this just let me take a hatchet to the whole thing approach that we are seeing from our new God king, Elon Musk.
Krystal Ball
I have no disagreement on that. And I think that is the absolute danger that they will fall into. I'll remind people that the lowest point of approval rating actually for George W. Bush, unfortunately, was not Iraq, even though it should have been. It was FE and New Orleans. Yeah, that was Hurricane Katrina. When people feel like a disaster is not properly handled, they do not take kindly to it. And so that is of course the major caution for people who are supportive of DOGE and others is, look, like I said, I'm not gonna sit here and cry about USAID or NGOs in California or anything like that, but if you find yourself in a position where you're either tangentially or somewhat to blame for a major disaster and source something else like this happens and they can trace it back to you, it can cause you some serious, serious problems. Last thing on this is that we are learning that this was just the latest and that a previous incident like this had happened. So let's go ahead and put C8, please on the screen. A helicopter and an FAA plane actually almost collided in 2018, right next to DCA. The near collision was almost identical to Wednesday's night's crash. The controller in that case working both helicopter local traffic at the time.
Sagar Enjeti
Crazy.
Krystal Ball
And the reason why again is the short staffing of the faa. Yeah, and that's another thing that you raised. You know, 9pm is one of the busiest times on the Runway at dca. Tons of flights landing. Those are usually the very last ones that come in.
Sagar Enjeti
And so, yeah, I feel so bad for this person because they never should have been put in this sit, this controller. Maybe they never should have been Put in this situation and now they have 67 lives on their conscious.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, they got it. The helicopter pilot, I mean look, we gotta learn. It may turn out that the guy didn't do, or the woman, whoever, the air traffic controller didn't do anything wrong. If it's instrumentation failure on the helicopter, well that's on the military, right? Because why are you not inspecting her equipment before that happened? Or and this is the other one, the helicopter pilot. I mean if anybody's to blame, it's probably her. Because if it's not instrumentation failure, then it's about communication. And also a lot of people have been raising a lot. They're like, what? You really miss a passenger jet?
Sagar Enjeti
I mean the video is insane. Yeah, the video, it's like, it looks like they go right, look, I'm not.
Krystal Ball
A helicopter pilot, so I'm trying not to pass judgment. But to any layman who's watching that, I mean, it's basically a beeline, right?
Sagar Enjeti
The thing that's crazy to me is you see all these helicopter pilots that are like. Just imagine like it's at night and you're just looking out this little tube and you see these lights and it's like, okay, well if it's that difficult, yeah, don't. Why are we doing this? Right? If it's like you can't see anything and you have no idea there's a regional jet right frickin there that you're flying into, maybe we shouldn't be having these helicopters flying all around one of, you know, an incredibly busy airport at 9 o'clock at night.
Krystal Ball
They're wearing night vision. The allegation is they may have been wearing night vision goggles. So. And they're like, well, it's really hard to see. I'm like, okay, fine, but do that in Iraq, you don't need to do it over here. All right, like what are we training for exactly? Gets to the whole continuity.
Sagar Enjeti
What are we training for, guys? Let's find out.
Krystal Ball
I would like to know, what was that crazy thing in the Obama administration?
Sagar Enjeti
Jade. Yeah, down in Texas.
Krystal Ball
Jade Helm. Was that it?
Sagar Enjeti
I think that is.
Krystal Ball
Someone's going to remember that was a whole thing. Texas mobilized the National Guard. Actually, as a Virginia resident, we should mobilize our National Guard to protect us from the United States military. Protect our airspace, keep the government off our runways. This ain't the little itty bitty teeny tiny bowl. This is Super Bowl 59. Get in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 59. Scoring touchdowns is key to hoisting the trophy, and you have a shot to score big by betting on them at DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one place to bet touchdowns, new DraftKings customers can bet $5 to get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code Bobby Sports. That's code Bobby Sports for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets Instantly. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings Sportsbook, the crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 887-897777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill casino in Resort, Kansas. 21 plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void. In Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG co Audio. During tax season, your sensitive info does a lot of traveling to places you can't control, stopping off at payroll, your accountant or tax preparer, and countless other data centers on its way to the irs. Any of them can expose you to identity theft because they all have the info on your W2.
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Unknown Speaker 1
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Sagar Enjeti
All right, everybody gets super excited. We got a new Democratic National Committee chair. Big deal. Ken Martin, the former Minnesota state chair, has won that contest over the weekend. As a reminder of what this guy is all about, he is the one who said that, oh, we should absolutely continue as a party to take money from quote unquote good billionaires. We should just avoid those quote unquote bad billionaires. In one of the DNC candidate forums. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.
Krystal Ball
There are a lot of good billionaires out there that have been with Democrats who share our values and we will take their money, but we're not taking money from those bad billionaires.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, yeah. I mean, and listen, obviously his definition of a good billionaire is just someone who gives the Democratic Party money. So that just frees you up to take money from whoever, whenever. Like I'm sure they would be happy to welcome Mark Zuckerberg back into the fold, et cetera, et cetera. Well, let's put the vote totals up on the screen. Ken Martin won with 246.5. I don't really know how the 5 works, but anyway.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, I was wondering the same.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, not important. Ben Wickler, who is the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, 144.5. Martin O'Malley, former Maryland governor, got 44. Faz Shakira, who is Bernie's chief of staff, who we interviewed here, who jumped in late, gets a whopping two votes. Jason Paul, don't even know who that is, gets one vote and then no votes for anyone else. So Marianne Williamson was running. No votes for her, no votes for anyone else. I mean, to me this is just part and parcel of the Democratic Party is so lost right now. They are so lost. They have no idea how to handle this Trump 2.0 administration. They have no idea how to be able to offer Some sort of an alternative vision, like, for example, actually standing against all billionaires, not just the quote unquote bad billionaires, and taking a clear stance against oligarchy and seizure of our country by a band of robber barons that would require them to totally remake their own party, because that is how many of all of their leaders effectively have come into power as well. And so what you have seen after Trump getting reelected, Sager, is Chuck Schumer still the head of the Dems in the Senate. You've got Hakeem Jeffries still head of the Dems in the House. No one could tell you who the actual leader of the Democratic Party is. They're going with this very standard issue guy as DNC chair. And you even had Jaime Harrison, the outgoing DNC chair, say that he actually still thinks that Biden should have maybe stayed in the race. That's the state of affairs right now.
Krystal Ball
The Democrats are praying for the scenario that I laid out in our previous block to happen. They want the public to freak out about the tariffs, then they just nominate some replacement level Democrat and he wins as opposition to Trump. That is the most politically convenient. And by the way, that's actually a very likely outcome. I just want people to understand that it's extraordinarily possible that that could happen. But the reason why they should really try and do something else is if it's 1984 and Donald Trump is Ronald Reagan, who becomes massively popular even more over his second term, and then you have his vice president waiting in the wings, what happened in 84, Mondale, who had. I mean, if you think Democrats are bad now, think about back then in terms of who are we, what do we stand for? They had zero policy position. Eventually it consolidates very late into the new Democratic Party, the DLC and all that under Bill Clinton in 1992. But they were out of power for 12 years, so they easily could find themselves. This could just be year number four at the end of the Trump administration. You could have a two term J.D. vance or Trump Jr. Or somebody's presidency before they can actually get their act together. So they really are banking on Trump screwing up. And that's not a strategy, that's not a movement. That's not something that you believe in.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, no, that's, that's exactly right. And they also just like they have no idea how to deal with the speed of news and the current media environment either.
Krystal Ball
Definitely. Right.
Sagar Enjeti
So, you know, I mean, they're like still processing things that happened on inauguration day. And here we are like 10 crises later. And they, you know, they just, they don't have, by and large, I mean, this is where like whatever you think of aoc, she at least understands the new media environment and the fact that one of the few people that they have on their side who actually can garner media attention and track controversy and start a conversation, et cetera, they also go out of their way to bury and keep from any sort of a leadership position also tells you where they are. So they have a myriad of problems. Their approval rating has never been lower, effectively, because I think not only do you have people who are normally opposed to Democrats opposed to them, but then you have the rest of the country and even people who may be sympathetic to Democratic type principles just looking at them and like, you are so pathetic in this moment. You have no idea how to meet the moment. You have no idea how to articulate a different vision. You're just going along and like doing the same things that you've always done, re electing the same people, same type of people, et cetera. And it is not a terribly inspiring situation for them right now. And I think you're right, Zagar. I think they don't know what to do. They don't understand how to do it. They had Cory Booker give some like social media seminar to everyone. I don't know if we talked on the show or not.
Amir Tibon
Corey.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, yeah. I don't know if we talked about this on the show or not, but they had some meeting. I think of the Democratic senators trying to brainstorm how to like go viral and they're like, oh, Mark Warner made a tuna melt during. No way. I swear to God. You didn't see this?
Krystal Ball
No. Oh my God.
Sagar Enjeti
Mark Warner made a table. You might have been like, I think you were off during that time. Made a tuna melt during COVID That went super viral. It's like, maybe he did that, but no one remembers that.
Krystal Ball
I'm like, I literally have no idea.
Sagar Enjeti
That's your answer to Trump 2.0 and Elon Musk taking over the government. All this stuff is like, maybe we should do some more online cooking. It's like, oh, Jesus Christ, they're so lost.
Krystal Ball
And they've also. They're not ditching their cartoonish identity politics either. There were a lot of great clips coming out. Let's take a listen to one of them. Them rules specify that when we have a gender non binary candidate or officer, the non binary individual is counted as neither male nor female. And the remaining six officers must be gender balanced with the results of the previous four elections, our elected officers are currently two male and two female. In order to be gender balanced, we must. We must elect one male, one female, and one person of any gender. So again, this is what we have to do for this vice chair race. We have to elect one male, one female, and one person of any gender. To ensure our process accounts for male, female and non binary candidates, we conferred with our RBC co chair, our LGBT caucus co chair, and others to ensure that the process is inclusive and meets the gender balance requirements. In our rules, any candidate, male, female and non binary, can be elected on that ballot. After a candidate is elected on the first ballot, we'll have one officer of the three. So we will not. So then we will know which position is filled of the one male, one female, and one vice chair of any gender.
Sagar Enjeti
Oh, my God. Who is this even for at this point?
Krystal Ball
So that's where we're go. That's where we're at. And Faz Shakir said, this is the kind of identity politics infighting that I was urging us against. We should focus on fighting against oligarchy through solidarity. He got two votes. So that's the decision. There was a land acknowledgement too, at the dnc.
Sagar Enjeti
So, you know, good luck. Good luck, folks. I want to give Faz credit, even though, you know, whatever. I don't think he ever had a shot, even if he got in early, et cetera, because this isn't like, you know, a Democratic base elect. This is literally just DNC members. These are. I mean, they're not like, some of them are insider, insider. Some of them are just like local county chairs. But these are just, you know, these are Democratic Party operatives, whatever. But he got asked at one of the forums, you know, do you think we should have a. I can't remember what identity group caucus it was.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, I know.
Sagar Enjeti
Maybe a Muslim caucus. I think it was a Muslim caucus. And he was like, no, I think we need to stop doing this, like, division by identity. I think we need to focus on, like, class solidarity and delivering for all people. And he gets two votes. We have a DNC vice chair who was elected as well. We can put D4 up on the screen. David Hogg, who is gun safety activist. And one thing I will say here to defend David a little bit is at least David understands new media. Like, at least he knows how to communicate on social media platforms by tweeting. Yes, that's not a decoder.
Krystal Ball
J.D.
Sagar Enjeti
Vance got to be Vice President of the United States Congress.
Krystal Ball
He also became a senator. So I haven't seen David win anything.
Sagar Enjeti
The Democrats need more posters on their side and at least he understands the social media landscape.
Krystal Ball
Okay, Mr. David, I can show you.
Sagar Enjeti
David, he has had more fight in him than like 99% of democratic fight.
Krystal Ball
Okay. Having the fight in you is not a skill. Having the fight in you in the right direction is an appropriate skill.
Sagar Enjeti
He's been some of the right direction.
Krystal Ball
He's been some.
Sagar Enjeti
No, for real, he has. I agree the bar is on the fricking floor. But at least he has been forceful, aggressive. Some of his post election analysis has been correct. He does understand at least the new media landscape. So yeah, it could be worse.
Krystal Ball
Okay, could be worse. I think they should hire Parker. Parker Short, the kid who's been on our show.
Sagar Enjeti
Oh, I love. That would be good.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, see, he's the type of person. David, if you're listening, you should hire Parker Short. That is an immediate endorsement as far as that's going to carry from me.
Unknown Speaker 1
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Krystal Ball
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Amir Tibon
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Krystal Ball
The early days of figuring it out.
Unknown Speaker 1
To the later years of still figuring.
Krystal Ball
It out for the place you've put down roots. Trust Amica Home insurance. Amica Empathy is our best policy. All right, let's get to Tucker Carlson. He had an interesting exchange with Piers Morgan where the topic of Gaza and Israel came up, calling out Ben Shapiro on the topic of war. Let's take a listen. If you're intentionally killing civilians, you probably shouldn't beat your chest and brag about it. You know, maybe you can make.
Sagar Enjeti
I agree with that.
Krystal Ball
Maybe you make the case that we had to do it or whatever, but you should. I agree, you should weep. And that's evil.
Sagar Enjeti
And you should just say it's evil.
Krystal Ball
And I know it's like really threatening to. Is it evil, Ben Shapiro, to say that or whatever? Is it evil to kill civilians on purpose?
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, it is.
Krystal Ball
I think it is. Kids and children. Well, how is it not? Actually in a war we can call it whatever you want. How is it right to kill women and children?
Sagar Enjeti
I didn't say. Well, because I think there is a.
Krystal Ball
Moral right behind you if you are literally to kill women and children. If there's a world war that threatens the entire. It threatens the entire world.
Amir Tibon
Yes.
Krystal Ball
Some people killed your kids, like your 8 year old.
Sagar Enjeti
Well, this is your own children. How is it morally justifiable?
Krystal Ball
Well, because actually you have to. Well, by your criteria, it's disgusting.
Sagar Enjeti
Okay. It's nothing. So no war is morally justified. I mean, I think it's pretty hard to justify.
Krystal Ball
I mean, yeah, I'm sure, you know, a pure defensive action. Sure. But all I'm saying, look, it's all ugly. It's all hard to stomach. I've actually seen some of it up close.
Sagar Enjeti
Super ugly. You could say that. You say you.
Krystal Ball
The fact you've been morally justified to intentionally kill non combatants, women and children. I think we can say that's wrong. In fact, I thought that was the thing we were fighting against. Hmm, very interesting. This is of course invited. Now some serious pushback from the Daily Wire. Let's put this up there on the screen. CEO Jeremy Boreing. Anyone still blind to what Tucker is doing is willfully so. He isn't hiding it. When a man has worse things to say about Winston Churchill and Ben Shapiro, notice that Churchill and Ben Shapiro in the same spot.
Sagar Enjeti
Those are equivalent Figures.
Krystal Ball
They're very good. Then Vladimir Putin and Nazi apologist. He's making his position pretty clear. Somebody followed up and replied to him saying, Tucker is actually spot on. Any life lost in war is a tragedy. That's what he's trying to express. Jeremy says that is not what he's trying to express. Tucker is one of the most gifted communicators of his generation. He isn't just misunderstood. And anyway, yeah, this is just the latest in this break between the two, but I thought it was fascinating to see. I guess it actually fits with his British heritage. They are the people who really were the original pushers of area bombing, otherwise known as strategic, Sorry, the counter to strategic bombing, which is bombing a bunch of people in World War II in the middle of the night. They stuck by that position. Bomber Harris and their admirals and others. It's something. Or, sorry, their generals and others. They're very proud of that legacy. And it seems that that's trickled here into some of these debates. But I think it's just fascinating to watch for peers and others whenever they get pushed on that position, especially with that last thing that he said. He goes, I thought that's what we were fighting against. And you're like, oh, hold on a second. It's like, well, actually you can be, quote, pro Israel or whatever and also just be like, hey, some of the way that this war has been conducted is totally outside of the norms of the way that any modern Western power fights. But that situation, like, if, you know, you and I have experienced this, if you talk about that, you're literally smeared as an anti Semite. The whole thing is crazy.
Sagar Enjeti
Well, Pierce has really tried to hold on to this sort of like, both sides middle ground in the post October 7th world. And you can see pretty clearly there how that just falls apart. Like, at this point, really, all of Gaza is destroyed. We have no idea how many people were killed. The majority of them were women, children and the elderly. Like, it's just undeniable at this point. I mean, he says this thing that's so preposterous that, like, the entire world was threatened. Like, give me a break. What happened on October 7th is the absolute maximal amount that Hamas would be able to ever pull off. They were, by a lot of reports, like, stunned at what they were able to, you know, the damage they were able to inflict on that day. So the position is just preposterous. I guess what I'll say is it's good. Tucker is very influential on the right. It's Good that you have a very influential voice on the right who is expressing concern about women and children in Gaza. If I think this is a big if, I think it's unlikely, but we'll see. And we're about to talk to Israeli journalists from Haaretz talking about the ceasefire deal and what Trump is likely to do, et cetera, et cetera, if he were to further buck the pro Israel hardliners, many of whom are in his own government now by his choice, by the way, and push Bibi to continue with this ceasefire deal. It's good that there will be people like Tucker that are there to back him up. I just, it's always irritating to me it's easy to go after Ben Shapiro for his pro Israel position. Like Trump has already rolled back the restrictions on the use of 2,000 pound bombs, rolled back the restrictions on the sanctions on the violent settlers, said we're gonna clean that whole thing out, referencing like ethnic cleansing of all of Gaza. And you never hear any criticism of him. So Ben Shapiro is ultimately powerless really in this situation. He's not in government, he's not the president, he's not Elon Musk. So I will have a lot more respect if there is actually some criticism that's leveled at the guy who actually has the power in this situation.
Krystal Ball
What I am worried about, here's the thing right now, and Tucker did this, luckily with my friend Kurt Mills. He did a video, remember we were talking about the Mike Domino thing and the attack on him and Steve Wytkoff. They did a whole podcast actually defending the two of them. Witkoff is the key. I am the most worried about him. The amount of fire that the pro Israel lobby in Washington has on him right now is insane. They are trying to smear him as a Qatari agent. They're literally calling. Which again we're talking about the pro Israel lobby is accusing somebody else of being a foreign agent carrying water for the government. Do we all want to settle? You guys want to talk about foreign influence? Should we start talking about and go through your 1099s and your NGOs and who's donating to all of you? If you guys want to play that game, we can play that game. But that's that. And then Mike Dimino other Mark Levin literally called him a creep. I think he called it an anti semi creep. Mike Dimino for saying that we should not want to go to war with Iran. That's what it is as currently, the state of things, where things fall, I have no idea. My Hope. Hope is that because Witkoff and Trump are such old buddies, Trump will hopefully not let Netanyahu and his government sway him to fire Witkoff. But let's all be honest about Miriam Adelson is there, she's giving him 100. You know, she didn't give you 100 million for free. There's a lot of people who are in this government right now who have the ear of the prep Marco Rubio. I mean, look at all the stuff that the guy said previously about Israel. Mike Waltz, the stuff that he said previously about Israel.
Sagar Enjeti
Hegseth.
Krystal Ball
Hegseth.
Sagar Enjeti
Exactly, Stefan. I mean her position is not that important, but the whole reason she got the position is because of her crazy like McCarthyite smears of pro Palestine demonstrators.
Krystal Ball
Oh, Stephanie.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Mike Huckabee is the ambassador to Israel. I mean, you could not find a more psycho like end times Israel no matter what kind of a guy. So there's a lot there.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I am not optimistic that any of this will happen. We're about to talk with the Israel this Israeli journalist about the PSYOP and all those. But in general it is good at least that somebody is calling some of this stuff out. I really truly hope so because if not, we all know what the path of that looks like. It's basically the Biden path with even more just open and pro support, which I don't think is good for any of us. Let's get to the Israeli journalist who's gonna talk to us about Netanyahu in Gaza.
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Krystal Ball
It'S the Pro Volleyball Federation's first All Star. The league's biggest stars will clash in a can't miss event hosted in the Indy metro area, home of the indie Ignite. Catch every serve, spike and save live on cbs. Don't miss this historic showdown of volleyball's finest, the Pro Volleyball Federation all star match on February 22nd at 1:30pm Be there. Every day our world gets a little more connected, but a little further apart. But then there are moments that remind us to be more human.
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Sagar Enjeti
We are very fortunate to be joined this morning by a journalist for Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper whose reporting, by the way, we have relied on quite a bit throughout the coverage post October 7, Amir Tibon. He is also the author of a book called the Gates of Gaza. Great to see you, Amir.
Krystal Ball
Good to see you.
Amir Tibon
Hi. Thanks for having me.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, it's our pleasure. Let's go ahead and put your reporting here up on the screen. Prime Minister Netanyahu is traveling to the US he will be the first foreign leader to visit Trump in his new term. And your headline here is Netanyahu comes to Washington to Kill Trump's Gaza Deal. Will the President let him? So what have you been able to learn about the dynamics between Trump and Bibi in advance of this meeting?
Amir Tibon
Well, it's clear that President Trump takes great pride in getting the Gaza ceasefire that the previous president failed to achieve for more than a year. And President Trump secured a ceasefire and hostage release deal even before entering the White House House. He and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has earned a lot of respect here in Israel, did a lot of hard work to get this deal. But this deal is built in a very, very sophisticated, perhaps too sophisticated of a way. And a month from today, it is supposed to move from the first phase of the deal during which Hamas is supposed to release 33 of our hostages. We've already released more than 10. We are waiting for more and more of the hostages to arrive. But then we're supposed to move into phase two, during which all the remaining living hostages, more than 20 of them, including two personal friends of mine, are supposed to be released, and Israel is supposed to complete its withdrawal from Gaza. And this phase of the deal threatens the survival of Netanyahu's governing coalition, which relies on several extremist fanatic parties that are threatening to blow up the governing coalition and basically end Netanyahu's hold on power if he goes through. So he's caught in a situation where, on the one hand, there's the survival of his coalition, on the other hand, the survival of the hostages. And smack in the middle is President Trump, who wants this deal to continue and wants it to be the basis for a broader Middle east agenda centered around Israeli Saudi peace that, first of all, requires an end to the war in Gaza.
Krystal Ball
So, Amir, can you pair this with some comments you reported on there that Trump had floated? For example, he's like, oh, well, maybe the Palestinians can temporarily go to Jordan or Egypt. And I believe since that comment, the governments of all of those countries have come forward and said that's an absolute nonstarter. So in terms of the fork in the road, I guess, if you will, for the actual decisions that the Trump administration has to make, they have to decide whether Steve Witkoff and others will continue negotiations and push for a phase two or to support a continuation of the war in Gaza. Are there any other options on the table?
Amir Tibon
Realistically, I think Libya, that Trump floated, that some of the Palestinians in Gaza will, from my understanding, temporarily seek residence in a neighboring country until all the destruction in Gaza can be removed and new housing can be built. And the reconstruction in Gaza from this war is going to take years. This is a very difficult situation. That's obviously a suggestion that none of the neighboring Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan are willing to hear about right now. But if it is presented as part of a package that ends the war that moves us toward Palestinian statehood, that includes guarantees that all of these people will be able to return to Gaza. No Israeli settlements built in Gaza, complete Israeli withdrawn. Maybe then it will sound different, obviously, when he just says it on the plane and with some reporters who don't really know the nuance of this issue. And to be frank, I'm not sure he knows all the nuance at this point either comes and says, oh, we want them to move to Egypt. So of course, everybody's rising up and saying, no way we're going to accept that. The Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Palestinians we saw over the weekend The Saudis and the Qataris, very important countries in this whole process, also coming out against it. So I think if Trump has a real idea here that he wants to sell to the relevant Arab countries, it needs to be part of a broader package, and it needs to be explained as part of a move to end the war, reconstruct Gaza, and put us on a path to Palestinian statehood, which is supposed to be part of this grand Israeli, Saudi deal that he's trying to get. So there's a lot of diplomatic ideas floating around right now, and I think we should read every statement we hear with a bit of caution at this moment.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, we can put F2 up on the screen, which underscores what you all were saying, that there was a widespread rejection from Saudi Arabia, Arabia, uae, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League all said in a joint statement they oppose President Trump's plan to move Palestinians from Gaza under any excuse. The language, of course, that he used saying we need to, quote, clean that whole thing out, something along those lines.
Amir Tibon
That's like real estate language. That's not diplomatic language.
Krystal Ball
Right.
Sagar Enjeti
Well, I mean, it's ethnic cleansing language is effectively what it is. And how could anybody, given that you have, within the Netanyahu coalition, Netanyahu himself, these extremists who are quite open about, we want to push out the Palestinians, we want to completely settle and take over not just Gaza, but also the west bank, how could you ever have any assurance that this wasn't just an attempt at a final, complete ethnic cleansing of both Gaza and the West Bank?
Amir Tibon
I think one of the things President Trump is going to learn as he navigates this issue is that the current coalition in Israel is not going to make his life easier in any way, because that's just the example you gave now, where an idea that could be presented with the right language, with the right assurances, with the right funding, as a temporary solution that allows to rebuild Gaza and then prepare better housing for all the people who lost their homes in this war. And we're talking about hundreds of thousands, potentially more than a million people who lost their homes. That kind of plan will immediately run into a wall of suspicion because it is being associated with people like Bizalar Smotrich, the far right finance minister of the current Netanyahu government, who is openly celebrating the idea of emptying Gaza from its residence. And once he makes that kind of statement, then automatically you're going to see all of the relevant Arab countries coming and saying, we want nothing to do with it. And Smotrich is right now pressuring Netanyahu. You know, as we are speaking, he put out a statement that if Netanyahu agrees to end the war so that we can go into phase two of the hostage negotiations and save the remaining hostages, he's blowing up the government. And it's important to understand that for the hostage families in Israel, and I know many of them personally, and, you know, I'm talking here about friends of mine and their families, they see President Trump and Stephen Wyckoff as their last source of hope. Literally, literally the light at the end of the tunnel. Because we know some of these hostages are being held in inhumane conditions in tunnels, underground, being starved, being tortured. And then comes President Trump and Steven Witkoff. And they put together this deal that says within three phases, all the hostages are released, the war ends, Israel withdraws from Gaza, and this is over. And instead of saying, well, okay, this is the way to do it, now we're seeing politicians from within our government pressuring Netanyahu to say no. And not only that, to try to convince Trump himself to disregard the deal that he was so proud of just two weeks ago when he entered office.
Krystal Ball
So, Amir, this is my big question then, is, does Trump have the political ability, Steve Witkoff and others who are, by the way, I'm not sure if you're aware, are under major attack in our country also people who are aligned with the Israeli far right. Well, do they have the ability to force any of that? Because as you said, if the government falls, there's no guarantee what comes next. What does that scenario look like? Or is there some thread the needle scenario where Trump does force Netanyahu to take this deal, continue the Steve Witkoff and other negotiations that does not lead to the falling of the government, or is that just simply inevitable?
Amir Tibon
So I think President Trump is surrounded by a lot of people who are blind admirers of Netanyahu and are perhaps not giving the President the best advice possible. For example, Netanyahu and his right hand man, Ron Dermer, will probably tell President Trump that they can't follow through with the ceasefire because the government will fall apart, and that this is bad for Trump because it will cause a stalemate in the Middle East. But if you actually check very simple press statements being made out in the open in Israel, you will see that the leaders of the important opposition parties today, today, not a month ago, came out and said that if Netanyahu loses his majority because of the hostage deal, because of the ceasefire, they will give him temporary support for at least several months so that he doesn't lose power and the hostage and ceasefire deal collapses.
Krystal Ball
Wow.
Amir Tibon
Which means that any other claim is a lie. Now, Netanyahu prefers the far right coalition that is against the hostage deal because that gives him the potential to hold power for another two years. That's why he prefers it. But from President Trump's point of view, he should know that if Netanyahu comes and says, I can't do this deal for political reasons, that's not true. He will get a few months of support from the opposition to complete the hostage release and ceasefire deal. Because for the vast majority of Israelis, the release of the hostages is today the number one priority. This is something that unites a huge percentage of the population. We want to see them come back home and end this night. Now, I don't know if there will be enough people around President Trump who are strong enough and knowledgeable enough about our internal politics to present the facts to him in a way that overcomes the spin and the excuses that he will hear from Netanyahu. But I'm confident that if President Trump insists on this, we will see the deal come through. There will be ceasefire, the hostages will return, and Netanyahu will find a way to manage it politically with the opposition parties here in Israel.
Sagar Enjeti
He seems to always find a way to survive one way or another. Amir, thank you so much for your analysis today.
Krystal Ball
Thank you, Amir. Very helpful.
Amir Tibon
Thanks for having me.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, it's our pleasure.
Krystal Ball
Thank you guys so much for watching. We'll have a great show for everybody tomorrow and we'll see you all then.
Unknown Speaker 1
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Krystal Ball
At 1:30pm Eastern, it's the Pro Volleyball Federation's first All Star match. The league's biggest stars will clash in a can't miss event hosted in the Indy metro area, home of the indie Ignite. Catch every serve, spike and save live on cbs. Don't miss this historic showdown of volleyball's finest, the Pro Volleyball Federation all star match on February 22nd at 1.30pm Be there.
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Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar Episode 2/3/25: DNC Doubles Down On Identity Politics, Tucker Carlson Calls Out Shapiro, Trump Visits DC Release Date: February 3, 2025
Hosted by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
In this compelling episode of Breaking Points, hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti delve into the latest developments within the Democratic National Committee (DNC), critique the party's intensified focus on identity politics, analyze Tucker Carlson's confrontation with Ben Shapiro, and discuss President Trump's recent visit to Washington, D.C. The episode is packed with insightful discussions, notable quotes, and expert analysis, providing listeners with a thorough understanding of the current political landscape.
Timestamp: [19:42]
The episode opens with Saagar Enjeti announcing the election of Ken Martin as the new chair of the DNC. Martin's victory is marked by his stance on differentiating between "good" and "bad" billionaires, a position that Krystal and Saagar view as problematic.
Notable Quote:
Analysis: Krystal critiques Martin's definition of "good billionaires" as inherently biased, suggesting it allows the DNC to selectively accept donations, potentially undermining the party's integrity. She emphasizes that this selective acceptance frees the party to accept funds from any source that aligns with their agenda, raising concerns about accountability and transparency.
Timestamp: [20:46]
Krystal and Saagar discuss the broader implications of Martin's leadership on the DNC, highlighting systemic issues within the party.
Notable Points:
Notable Quote:
Analysis: The hosts argue that the DNC lacks a coherent and inspiring alternative to the Trump administration, relying instead on maintaining the status quo and banking on Trump's missteps to secure victories. This approach, they contend, leaves the Democratic Party looking uninspired and directionless.
Timestamp: [02:25 - 16:11]
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to dissecting a tragic plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia involving an air ambulance. Krystal Ball provides a detailed account of the incident, highlighting the systemic failures within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Notable Points:
Notable Quote:
Analysis: Krystal and Saagar critically examine the FAA's staffing issues, arguing that budget cuts and staff buyouts have significantly compromised air traffic control safety. They call for urgent hiring to prevent future tragedies and question the ongoing use of helicopters near highly congested airports like Reagan National.
Timestamp: [31:47 - 35:16]
The discussion shifts to media dynamics, focusing on Tucker Carlson's recent exchange with Ben Shapiro on war ethics and civilian casualties.
Notable Points:
Notable Quote:
Analysis: The hosts argue that Carlson's confrontation with Shapiro represents a pivotal moment in conservative discourse, where ethical questions about warfare and civilian impact are brought to the forefront. They suggest that such debates are crucial for holding powerful figures accountable and fostering a more nuanced understanding of geopolitical conflicts.
Timestamp: [41:34 - 53:04]
The episode features an in-depth interview with Amir Tibon, a journalist from Haaretz and author of The Gates of Gaza. Tibon provides exclusive insights into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming visit to the United States and the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by President Trump.
Key Discussion Points:
Notable Quotes:
Analysis: Krystal and Saagar, alongside Tibon, dissect the complexities of the ceasefire deal and its implications for both Israeli politics and regional stability. They underscore the precarious balance Netanyahu must maintain between securing his government's survival and advancing the ceasefire, which is pivotal for hostage recovery. The interview sheds light on the intricate interplay between domestic political pressures in Israel and broader Middle Eastern geopolitics, emphasizing the challenges Trump faces in maintaining diplomatic progress amidst internal and external opposition.
Timestamp: [23:59 - 53:04]
Wrapping up, Krystal and Saagar reflect on the Democratic Party's direction, critiquing its overreliance on identity politics and lack of a cohesive strategy against the Trump administration. They argue that the party's internal conflicts and failure to adapt to the modern media landscape have left it vulnerable and ineffective.
Notable Points:
Notable Quote:
Analysis: The episode concludes with a potent critique of the Democratic Party's current trajectory, emphasizing the necessity for leadership that can innovate and inspire amidst a rapidly evolving political environment. Krystal and Saagar advocate for a reimagined Democratic strategy that prioritizes solidarity and adapts to contemporary media dynamics, arguing that without such changes, the party risks continued decline and irrelevance.
This episode of Breaking Points offers a thorough examination of pressing political issues, from internal party dynamics and policy disputes to international diplomacy and media engagement. Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti provide a balanced yet critical perspective, urging listeners to consider the underlying factors shaping current events and the future of American politics.
For those seeking an in-depth analysis of the intersection between political strategy, media influence, and international relations, this episode serves as an essential listen.
Note: All timestamps correspond to the podcast's timeline, allowing listeners to reference specific parts of the discussion.