2/9/26: Trump Posts Obama Ape Video, Superbowl AI Ads, Bad Bunny Reactions, Dan Osborn & MORE

Summary

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Episode: Feb 9, 2026: Trump Posts Obama Ape Video, Superbowl AI Ads, Bad Bunny Reactions, Dan Osborn & MORE
Date: February 9, 2026
Hosts: Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
Notable Guest: Dan Osborn (Independent Candidate for U.S. Senate, Nebraska)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into a highly charged set of political and cultural topics: the fallout from Donald Trump's controversial post depicting the Obamas as apes, Republican reaction and damage control, the state of the White House, and the effect of social media on politics. Krystal and Saagar also break down the impact and ethics of Super Bowl AI-driven ads, gambling markets, and Bad Bunny’s halftime show, while tackling growing concerns over gambling addiction and manipulation. The episode closes with a substantive interview with Dan Osborn, focusing on the economic landscape and political realignment in Middle America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Controversial Truth Social Post

(02:38–15:00)

• Context: Trump reposted a video on Truth Social containing not just debunked election conspiracy theories but an overtly racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama—portraying them as apes (a historical racist trope).
• White House Response: Initial deflection, blaming an unnamed staffer for the insensitive post and claiming Trump didn’t see the end (02:38–06:04).
  • White House Line: “[They] say the White House has deleted the Apes video... President Trump did not see the video... a staffer posted it.” (Krystal Ball, 03:10)
  • Republican Reaction: A handful of Congressional Republicans (notably Tim Scott, Thomas Massie) demanded an apology and for the post to be fully disavowed.
• Trump’s Own Statement: He contradicts staffers, refusing apology, and admits he watched the video, justifying it as “a takeoff from the Lion King.”
  • Quote: “No, I didn’t make a mistake. I mean, I look at a lot... I looked at the beginning of it, it was fine... it was a takeoff from the Lion King.” (Trump, as recounted by Krystal, 06:09)
  • Critical Analysis: Krystal and Saagar note the pattern: initial doubling down, followed by half-hearted damage control when political pressure mounts.
• Significance for GOP and Media:
  • Rare for even a minority of House and Senate Republicans to speak up, showing cracks in the usual front.
  • The hosts reflect on the overall weakness and defensive posture of the current White House, linking it to recent policy and PR setbacks (ICE, Epstein, Iran talks—08:47).

2. Cultural & Social Media Backlash

(11:38–15:27)

• The story’s viral spread reveals a shift in social media dynamics: pro-Trump content appears “dead on arrival,” as memes and images from the video attract broad condemnation.
  • Quote: “The pro-Trump stuff seems dead on arrival to me... culturally, vibe base level, this is exactly the type of thing which… could rocket all around the world.” (Saagar, 12:08)
• Discussion of Twitter/Truth Social echo chambers, where initial kneejerk defenses gave way to damage control once reality set in.
• Lead-in to Super Bowl discussion via controversy around the Bad Bunny halftime performance and anti-Bad Bunny tweets (Jake Paul’s “fake American citizen” post and resulting backlash).

3. Super Bowl: Gambling, AI Ads, and Social Decay

(17:36–35:17)

• Explosion of Gambling and Speculation:
  • Super Bowl betting markets (Kalshi, Polymarket, DraftKings, FanDuel) are now speculating on virtually every aspect of the event—including ads, halftime acts, and micro-events like the first phrase uttered by the announcer.
  • New regulatory loopholes let “event markets” present as “investing,” avoiding gambling restrictions; $1B allegedly wagered on Kalshi alone.
  • Quote: “My takeaway from the Super Bowl is that the entire American economy is being propped up by AI, weight loss drugs, cryptocurrency and gambling. That’s basically it.” (Andrew Solander via Saagar, 18:35)
• Ethical Dangers:
  • Manipulation—Public figures and even athletes (e.g., Giannis Antetokounmpo investing in Kalshi) can now profit from bets on events they can directly influence (24:22-28:13).
    • Quote: “It’s insane to me that an active player can sit on the board of Kalshi. That is so crazy to me.” (Krystal, 28:13)
  • The rigged nature of betting: only a tiny percentage of participants profit; most lose money.
    • Quote: “Look at the number—0.04%... Are you in the 0.04% or are you a loser?” (Saagar, 22:48)
  • Societal destruction: Prop bets enable and reward insider trading, deepen existing class divides, and worsen addiction and poverty.
    • Quote: “This whole thing is corrosive in every way and deeply damaging.” (Krystal, 33:19)
• State and Social Consequences:
  • Widespread normalization of gambling as economic “opportunity” is compared to a “democratization of insider trading” for the masses.
  • Personal stories and observations about the real-world victims of state-run lotteries and predatory gambling (31:31–34:45).

4. Super Bowl Half-Time Show: Bad Bunny & Political Subtext

(37:30–47:10)

• Performance Review: Both hosts found Bad Bunny’s halftime show visually innovative and entertaining, if not personally resonant due to the language barrier.
  • Quote: “I thought it was pretty good. There is a meta conversation... The NFL wants to become an international sport.” (Saagar, 37:30)
• Context & Criticism:
  • Discussion of the NFL’s global strategy—how halftime performance choices now target international markets (e.g., Spanish-speaking audiences, upcoming games in Australia and Brazil).
  • Insight on underlying political symbolism: Bad Bunny’s references to ICE, U.S. immigration policy, power outages in Puerto Rico, and listing of countries under American policy duress (41:49).
  • Quote: “I thought it was very well done. I thought it was beautiful. I thought it was decidedly political... the most political parts ... was when he said the names of all the countries in the Americas, including countries like Cuba and Venezuela.” (Krystal, 41:49)
• Trump’s Reaction:
  • Trump called the performance “an affront to the greatness of America... Nobody understands a word this guy is saying. The dancing is disgusting... a slap in the face.” (Krystal, reading Trump’s Truth Social, 44:17)
• Meta Analysis:
  • The hosts note the performative outrage from the right and the NFL’s pure business motivation, not “wokeness,” as the catalyst for international expansion.

5. Nebraska Spotlight: Interview with Dan Osborn

(49:50–68:44)

Dan Osborn: Independent Senate Candidate—Economic Populist

• Campaign Update: Closely tied in polls with incumbent Pete Ricketts, despite being dramatically outspent (50:11).
• Key Issues:
  • Tyson Plant Closure: Devastating effect on small towns, loss of thousands of jobs, and alleged violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act (52:30–54:16).
    • Osborn claims Ricketts took Tyson donations after pledging to investigate, then backpedaled (53:31).
  • Beef Prices & Consolidation:
    • Ranchers and farmers squeezed by industry monopolies; profits and stability evaporating for small producers (55:29).
    • Quote: “Ranchers are finally starting to make some good money... Now, with the demand high and... consolidating of the packers... ranchers are going to suffer.” (Osborn, 55:29)
  • Farm Bailouts & Trade Policy: The $12B bailout is a “joke” and does little for those suffering under ongoing tariffs or unable to sell crops (58:16–59:21).
  • Tariffs: Useful tool, should be wielded by Congress, not the executive (59:54).
• Political Landscape:
  • Democrats’ image in Nebraska: Culturally out of step, with the right winning through division (trans rights, guns, etc.), while real economic issues are ignored (61:09).
  • Quote: “Those are the ones that want to keep us divided… keep us blind to the fact that we’re getting robbed.” (Osborn, 62:19)
• Immigration: Supports humane, structured immigration reform; companies exploiting cheap labor should face accountability; opposes mass amnesty but supports a path for productive community members.
  • Quote: “We need meaningful, humane immigration reform that we haven’t seen in this country since I’ve been alive.” (Osborn, 63:27)
• Campaign Finance Reform:
  • Deep concern over corporate/lobbyist money dictating outcomes; supports “paycheck populism” and ending Citizens United (64:53–66:25).
  • “If we elect somebody who doesn’t take corporate PAC money... in a state like Nebraska, we could set the tone for future elections.” (Osborn, 65:28)
• AI/Data Centers:
  • Growth in rural Nebraska brings short-term jobs, long-term burdens (higher power bills, water usage, little ongoing employment) (66:32–68:18).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On White House/Trump Contradictions:
  • “This idea was a staffer? No, no. He’s saying no, I looked at it, I watched it... I loved the election fraud part.” (Krystal summarizing Trump’s explanation, 06:53)
• On Super Bowl Advertising:
  • “The entire American economy is being propped up by AI, weight loss drugs, cryptocurrency and gambling.” (Saagar quoting Andrew Solander, 18:35)
• On Gambling’s Social Destruction:
  • “This whole thing is corrosive in every way and deeply damaging.” (Krystal, 33:19)
• On Left/Right Social Media Echo Chambers:
  • “I really think the right has the same problem the left had with Twitter for years.” (Saagar, 13:13)
• On Dan Osborn’s Campaign:
  • “[Farmers] don’t want handouts. They want a market to sell their product.” (Osborn, 58:16)
  • “If you own something, you should have the right to repair it. I mean, these tractors cost upwards of a million dollars.” (Osborn, 57:16)

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Important Timestamps

• Trump Post Fallout & GOP Reaction: 02:38–11:38
• Social Media/Political Vibes & Bad Bunny Setup: 11:38–15:27
• Super Bowl, Ads, and Gambling Discussion: 17:36–35:17
• Bad Bunny Halftime Show Cultural Analysis: 37:30–47:10
• Dan Osborn Interview (Nebraska economy, ag, politics): 49:50–68:44

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Tone & Analysis

Dynamic and conversational, Krystal and Saagar maintain their iconoclastic, skeptical style—calling out hypocrisy and political cowardice on both sides. The episode’s vivid anecdotes, sharp cultural observations, and combination of national and heartland issues make it a particularly revealing episode for readers/listeners curious about the intersection of race, media, American culture, and bread-and-butter economic populism.

Transcript

[Krystal Ball]

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[Dan Osborn]

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[Saagar Enjeti]

Hey, this is US.

[Krystal Ball]

Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis Woodhull and.

[Saagar Enjeti]

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[Saagar Enjeti]

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[Krystal Ball]

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[Saagar Enjeti]

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[Krystal Ball]

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[Saagar Enjeti]

We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see [e-mail].

[Krystal Ball]

All right, guys, so Trump really undoing himself over on Truth Social, posting a video that starts with a batshit election conspiracy and ends with a brazenly racist depiction of former President Obama and Michelle Obama. Let's go ahead and take a look at that. So this is the batshit election conspiracy part of it, where, I don't know, you know, they're talking about some new theory that I've never even heard before, that when they stop counting and then ballots flood in, blah, blah, blah. This, of course, coming amidst the seizure of ballots down in Fulton county and Trump making all sorts of wild comments. And then here you go. There is Michelle Obama and Barack Obama in this just undeniably racist depiction. This was apparently part. That piece right at the end was part of some Lion King video that included this depiction here. So there was actually some reaction from Republicans on this, for whom it was, even for them, a bridge too far. Initially, the White House puts out a defense of this tweet. Let's put this up on the screen. And tries to shift blame. So they say the White House has deleted the Apes video. Any person familiar tells me President Trump did not see the video legitimately didn't. A stage staffer posted it. For what it's worth, only a small handful of staffers have access to his Truth Social account. So that was the initial line from the White House. Like Trump didn't. It wasn't him. It was a staffer. They didn't see that part at the end. Trump had no idea about this video, et cetera. And the pressure, let's put the C3 up on the screen. The pressure came from there were maybe like roughly 10 Republicans in the Senate and the House who expressed some sort of upset about this. Perhaps most notably, Senator Tim Scott said, praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The president should remove it. And then we have this New York Times tear sheet that gets into some more of the criticism here. You had Thomas Massie actually yesterday when he was doing the Sunday show rounds, also saying it needed to be deleted, that they needed to apologize to the Obamas over this, et cetera. New York Times analysis saying here that sometimes even this president can cross the line. Let's put the next one up on the screen. We've got this defense from Pastor Mark Burns, who is closely affiliated with President Trump, who is himself black. So he said, I just spoke directly with President Trump regarding the offensive Obama ape video that circulated online. The president assured me clearly and unequivocally he did not post it. Okay, so that's the line still coming out here. He understands the painful and racist history in America of depicting African Americans as apes, a tactic long used by white supremacists to demean black intelligence and humanity. He knows this is wrong, offensive, and unacceptable. President made it clear to me this post was made by a staffer and not by him. My recommendation, the president was direct and firm. The staffer should be fired immediately. The president should publicly condemn this action. This kind of insensitive and racist communication does not reflect the heart, values or leadership of the President of the United States, nor does it represent the America we are striving to build. So you can see they're trying to craft this narrative about Trump didn't have anything to do with this staffer, and it's just at the end and he had no idea, Blah, blah, blah. And who jumps in to blow up that entire narrative coming from the White House but Trump himself? Let's go ahead and take a listen to that.

[Saagar Enjeti]

A number of Republicans are calling on.

[Krystal Ball]

You to apologize for that post. Is that something you're going to do?

[Saagar Enjeti]

No, I didn't make a mistake. I mean, I look at a lot.

[Dan Osborn]

Of thousands of things and I looked at the beginning of it, it was fine. They had that one post, and I.

[Krystal Ball]

Guess it was a takeoff, by the.

[Dan Osborn]

Way, a lot of people covered. If you look at where it came from, a lot of.

[Krystal Ball]

I guess it was a takeoff from.

[Dan Osborn]

The Lion King, and certainly it was a very strong post in terms of voter fraud. Nobody knew that that was at the end.

[Krystal Ball]

If they would have looked, they would.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Have seen it and probably they would.

[Krystal Ball]

Have had the sense to take it down. But that was a takeoff on the.

[Dan Osborn]

Lion King, and a lot of people were covered more different in different positions. But I spoke to Tim Scott. He was great.

[Krystal Ball]

Tim, great guy. He understood that 100%. So not only I didn't make a mistake, I looked at the beginning of it. So this idea was a Stafford. No, no. He's saying no, I, I looked at it, I watched it. I, he. I loved the election fraud part. That was great. He says. Then he looked at the end. And it's just a takeoff on the Lion King. You know, maybe if we had looked a little closely, we might not oppose it, but it was just a takeoff on the Lion King. I made no mistake here. There's no problem. And Tim Scott is cool with it.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Here's the words of Trump himself. October 22, 2015. The young intern who accidentally did a retweet apologizes. That's so it's all. It's all there. I mean, the only defense is that he was actually posting a. What is it? The crazy election fraud video.

[Krystal Ball]

Right.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Which happened to have this autoplay at the end. I do think that this is a good view into the current government and actually why people have such difficulty trusting literally anything they say because they. The TikTok. One thing we forgot is that Caroline Levitt actually did defend the original video because clearly she had not gotten to the point where they were gonna disavow it. Caroline Levitt was like, it was a satirical Lion King thing. You guys have no sense of humor. And then immediately afterwards, Tim Scott, Roger Wicker, and all these other people post, they're like, oh, this is terrible. Tim Scott calls the president. And then the leaks came out. And they're like, well, unequivocally, he didn't see it. Right. And so they're like, he didn't see it. The staffer who did it, apologize. From what I know, and I actually asked, there are only three people who have actual nighttime access to the Truth Social. It is Trump, Dan Scavino, and then his aide. I think her name is Natalie Johnson. Those are the only three people who have any access to the Truth Social account. Also, specifically at night, is it more likely that those two aides, Scavino, who I think just got married, and then his younger aide is the one that's scrolling on Truth Social and reposting hundreds of things which we happen to see from Trump every single night.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Saagar Enjeti]

What's the more likely story than all of this? I do think it's interesting that he deleted it, actually. If you had asked me at the very beginning, I'd be like, no, they're going to defend this thing to the beginning. I have no idea. The New York Times piece, it kind of showed you the whole immune from politics. One thing that I think is beginning to sink in for the White House is that batshit behavior like this. Cause again, the only defense is guys who was just posting election fraud video, which I do believe, by the way, considering what happened. This Epstein affordability now, Iran, they clearly are in a very defensive posture. I think they know things are bad. Oh, and ice, I forgot ice. Obviously that was number what preceded the Epstein story. Two weeks of ICE shootings and stories literally across the country where Trump bucked, sent Tom Homan basically surrendered in Minneapolis. And now you've got this now currently then you have the Epstein situation. Now you've got a bad news cycle again that just continues and doesn't seem to go away. I have not seen the White House this week in quite some time. Like this is the weakest I have ever seen the White House. I would never. And by the way, that's why I think Trump refused to apologize. Cuz his instinct is always, never to give in. But oh, and then blinking on the Iran talks, remember? I mean there's a lot of stuff here where I haven't seen them this on the back foot in quite, quite a long time.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah. And I mean also you have the dynamic with Republicans where now we're heading into the midterms, right. There was another, actually there was just another election that was really bad for them. Some really, you know, massive shifts towards Democrats. There was one down in Louisiana as well where the Republicans actually thought they had in this House, like state House seat down in Louisiana, it's a Trump district. Louisiana has some of these places that used to vote for Democrats locally and then they vote for Republicans nationally. You know that realignment has obviously completely had they thought that they would be able to pick up this seat and no, it was a Democratic absolutely blowout. So they're looking at these things, they're looking at what happened in Texas, they're looking at the polls, number of Republicans who are in even somewhat vulnerable seats are going like I don't know about all this. And also reckoning with like Trump is not gonna be around forever. So you have that going on in the background here too. So I don't know, there was something like 10 to 12 Republicans who said something which on the one hand is pathetic. It's pathetic, right? Given the content of the entire video from the election fraud nonsense and then of course the like brazen racist part of the video. On the other hand, how many things have we seen, especially with Trump's like post or uncouth comments or whatever, where any number of Republicans comes out and says so, you know, that coupled with the fact that they at least felt the need to do some kind of damage control on it and ultimately delete it is different than what we've seen from this, from this Trump 2.0 in.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Particular and that's why I think this is the story. Cuz I'm like, wow, when's the last time Donald Trump apologized or deleted anything? And I think they again, also the Republicans who spoke. Tim Scott. Okay, whatever. But let's think about somebody. Roger Wicker. I mean, these are people you don't hear of, right. But who are actually very powerful in the U.S. senate. When those people start to throw a fit. It wasn't just Tim Scott, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, like the typical crew. It was people who are powerful people who have a decent hold in the United States Senate. And I think one of the things that the White House is now grappling with is social media. So if you were to take a poll right now for the same social media vibe kind of stuff that helped Donald Trump win the election in 2024, let's check back in. I mean, I'm asking everybody who watches the show, check your, check your friends Instagram stories, what's it run in 9010? Whenever it comes to liberal versus conservative content, or let's, let's call this anti Trump versus pro Trump content. I mean the pro Trump stuff seems dead on arrival to me. Especially like a cultural vibe base level. This is exactly the type of thing which, I mean, it was already going pretty viral because I mean, the screen grab is like insane, right? Like of the literal Obamas portrayed as apes. That is literally like a post that could just rocket all around the world. And I do think that this is significant enough of a story in the context of all of the backdowns that we've seen from Donald Trump so far. And I do think part of the problem is that there's an entire ecosystem on Twitter. Of course, because what happened immediately after the post came out, everybody defended it.

[Krystal Ball]

Everybody was like, right.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Because they assumed that they.

[Krystal Ball]

That's what the White House would do.

[Saagar Enjeti]

And then it's funny because the White House is the one which is backing away. But remember, everything works in incentives. And the incentive structure right now is to never apologize. We'll always defend. And it's, you know, when you have to deal with national politics and not a bunch of people on Twitter who are like posting all the time, you're actually in a different universe. I really, I really think the right has the same problem the left had with Twitter for years. I absolutely 100% believe that.

[Krystal Ball]

And I saw something recently about like the, you know, the content liberal versus conservative on a variety of social media platforms and Twitter of the mainstream ones, not like true social, but like the Mainstream social media platforms was the one that had the most conservative content. And so, you know, and that's a place where Sagar and I spent a lot of time in terms of preparing news show, et cetera. And so, you know, even I think we get, like, a distorted view of things because it is much more skewed. Right. Than other platforms. And even Twitter is not nearly as conservative in all of the posting as it was at the peak of pro Trump sentiment. One more. And this will help us transition to the super bowl block. There's this whole thing about freak out about the bad bunny halftime show, blah, blah, blah. And Trump posted about it. We'll get to that in a moment. But I thought this was interesting. So Jake Paul posts this anti bad Bunny tweet. He says, purposefully turning off the halftime show, let's rally together and show big corporations that can't just do whatever they want without consequences, which equals viewership for them. And you are their benefit. Realize you have power. Turn off this halftime. A fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America. I cannot support that. And then. So I saw that last night, and this morning, I wake up to Jake Paul doing all sorts of like. Like tweeting about, well, you didn't understand what I meant about fake America. Like, I actually love Puerto Rico, blah, blah.

[Saagar Enjeti]

He lives there.

[Krystal Ball]

And I know he moved there for tax advantages, by the way, which is, like, you know, crazy. But I saw his own brother come out and be like, I love my brother, but I disagree with him. I think Puerto Rico's great, and I think it's awesome that they were able to celebrate their heritage.

[Saagar Enjeti]

So, first of all, they don't give a shit about Puerto Rico. So that's a sad thing. The only reason they move there is to get free crypto capital gains. Google it, if you don't know what I'm talking about.

[Krystal Ball]

Exactly. But I mean, the point was to. Your point about, like, the vibe shift.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Yes.

[Krystal Ball]

You know, do you think that this Jake Paul tweet in the past that he would have felt the need to, like, in multiple tweets ever? Well, you didn't understand what I meant. You know what? I really meant it this way. I phrased it poorly, blah, blah, blah. And his brother comes coming out and being like, I don't agree with that at all. Very different cultural moment.

[Saagar Enjeti]

I'm call it now. I think there will be a tremendous backlash to the UFC fight at the White House in 2026. Massive. They were riding high. They had a little Paramount deal. Dana White, obviously, you know, him and Trump are all friends. I think that the I think it will massively backfire. This is just me. I'm calling it now though. I can just, I can sense and I can smell where things are going. I don't think it's going to work out well for them. Okay, let's get to Kalsheek.

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[Saagar Enjeti]

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[Krystal Ball]

And it just. I mean, it just cheapens everything, you know, like, can we say with confidence that none of the players in the game were like, it's on this, on the take on any of this. And because, remember, we're not talking about just, you know, overall bet, who's going to win and by how much. It's like all of these little micro prop bets that you can place that make it so easy to game. And we've seen this, you know, time and time again. We've seen indictments for point shaving and these sorts of things. Like, it just totally destroys any sense that what you're watching is really free and fair competition. And then on the other side of it, like, it ruins lives. You know, you've done some of the best research and highlighting.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Thank you.

[Krystal Ball]

Of the way that, you know, they rig it. You can't win. If you win too much, they kick you off.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Correct.

[Krystal Ball]

Like, it is the definition of a rigged game. And how that is legal is. Continues to be insane to me.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Look, look at the number.04%. Be honest. Are you in the 0.04% or are you a loser? Okay, I don't understand the willful participation in your own bankruptcy, but that's what these people try to sell you. And to your point, by the way, you know, even those 0.04%, how many of these people are just insider traders? So let's give you a good example here. All right? And to be clear, this is, you know, my own analysis. Nothing is confirmed. Kalshi or polymarket has not yet offered comment. Let's go ahead and put D8 up here on the screen. So you have a person here who is speculated to be an insider. Again, we don't know that yet for sure. Who bet almost exclusively on halftime event contracts. For example, will Lady Gaga perform during the super bowl halftime show? Will Travis Scott perform? Will Drake perform? Will Balvin perform? Will Ricky Martin be at the Super Bowl? Will Cardi B be at the Super Bowl? Will Post Malone perform? He just happened to bet in exactly the right way to net a profit of some 16, 17. Yes, about $17,000. Now, you know that information, it's not just Bad Bunny who happens to have that information. Stagehands, you know, you know, there's probably what, hundreds of people behind the scenes, all the guys carrying the trees or who were dressed up as a tree. Right, right. So they probably do. Because during rehearsal. And my point is just like, is there any regulation around this? Yeah, I get, I know it's only 17,000. Sure. But when you combine this with Venezuela, with all what you just talked, I mean, the amount of prop bets are insane. I was watching the, the broadcast before the super bowl. You had live draftking prop bet odds beneath the broadcast like this is baked into the product. How can you possibly ensure that there is no manipulation or any real integrity of the game? And especially now, I guess it's basketball season now that the NFL is officially done. Well, let's put D3 up here on the screen. Giannis, one of the most famous basketball players, is now going to be an investor in Kalshi. He says we all on Kalshi now. Everyone is online. The Internet is full of opinions. I decided it was time to make some of my own. Today I'm joining Kalshi as a shareholder. We all on Kalshi now. Okay, so you have one of the flagship players in basketball joining Kalshee. Now let's then remember that bets literally on him, his team, games that he will be involved in. He will be a director participant in terms of the potential profits off of said game. There have been multiple markets which have been Very swingy. Let's put D3 up here on the screen. For example, involving his own trade rumors, which again, he could now be a potential profit or profiter of off of. And you can. I mean, when we are betting, look, you know, heads and tails, that's been a bet for forever. We're not talking about that. We're talking about. I sent you this. People on polymarket were sitting there betting the over under on the national anthem. People are out there. The streaker, that's a big one. Will there be a streaker? You know, somebody pointed this out. If I. Because the odds weren't very good for there be a streaker. Why would you not put as much money as you could on streaker and then streak and then you just take 80% profits. What? Half of that, let's say, goes to.

[Krystal Ball]

Fines and hire someone to do it.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Or hire somebody to do it, you know, pay some idiot out there to pay for a Super bowl ticket only 6,000 bucks. Let's say you put 100,000 on it, you get 800 grand. Eight to one. I mean, yeah, somebody will do it. Remember we talked about the dildo thing back in the wnba? This is every like, we cannot live like this. There has to be regulation. And this is just the worst part. Like Kalshi and Polymarket are at the bleeding edge. But I want to make clear, even legal sports gambling, with all of these profit prop bets, it's just as bad. Like, yes, it's not as, you know, streaker or any of that other stuff. Micro prop bets have literally no usefulness other than basically insider trading and robbing you of your money, thinking that you're so smart that you're gonna be like, oh, JSN for two touchdowns. Yeah, let me know how that one hit. I know. I literally know somebody who took that bet. And so that's what I'm talking about. It's one of those where these guys, everybody's pretending that it's fun. It is enabling and creating millions of gambling addicts, massively profiting. All of these people. The Kalsheet woman, she's like, I'm one of the youngest billionaires in the world. I'm like, I'm not fucking celebrating that. That's disgusting.

[Krystal Ball]

That is disgusting.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Sorry. It's one of those where when we create, normalize and popularize this, we will create a situation where this can get totally out of control. Mass bankruptcies. We already know that states which legalize gambling not only see increasing, they actually see aggregate increase or decrease in the amount of credit for everybody just simply as a result of that. And then, I mean, intimate partner violence, people who lose bets, unfortunately, very likely to take it out on their wife. Like, it's sickening. It massively creates a vice spiral. And I think that's actually the worst part.

[Krystal Ball]

Overwhelmingly men who are, you know, who are betting. And in fact, one of the things that we were reading about is how women placing bets is actually a bit of a red flag because usually they're sort of like, straw account. Yeah. To. To cover for, you know, someone else who's a, you know, potential shark who's trying to. To place bets that might actually hit.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Yeah.

[Krystal Ball]

And God forbid we have that, you know, the Giannis one I actually followed closely because Kyle's a big Knicks fan, so I'm now a Knicks fan by proxy. And so he's been telling me, like, oh, we might get Giannis and, you know, they might. We might trade Karl Anthony Towns. And like, this has been an ongoing conversation. And then lo. And like, no trade happens. He's staying with Milwaukee and all of these rumors people were profiting off of, oh, is he going to stay? Is he going to go? You build up all this hype on the other side of like, oh, he's probably going to get traded to the Knicks or probably get traded to. There were some other teams that were also floated as possible locations. And then, you know, since you build up that expectation on the other side, then the, you know, the fact that he stays becomes very profitable. So it's just, it's insane to me that an active player can sit on the board of cowshi. That is so crazy to me. But, you know, I think there's actually connection to the conversation we were having about the Epstein files. Bear with me, because we were discussing how, you know, there's all. With Lord Mandelson, there's this very clear argument to be made. This was insider trading. And that insider trading was some significant chunk of how he was able to get his wealth. And I think what the elites are offering now at a time when they're trying to, when they've already destroyed the blue collar jobs, when they've already destroyed the unions, when they've gobbled up all of the gains from productivity over decades, when they're promising to destroy now all the white collar jobs and everything's too expensive, et cetera, rather than offering, okay, we're going to make it so that you participate in the, you know, the promised economic growth from AI we're going to make sure your wages go up. That you have ownership in these things that you can participate in the extraordinary wealth that we plan to create. Instead of that, they're doing this sort of like low grade democratizing of insider trading, where it's like, now it's not just for the Epstein class that can participate in insider trading. You too might get lucky enough to be one of the trees in Bad Bunny's performance and have some inside knowledge you can trade on. Put your whole life savings up in order to get together a measly $15,000. That's effectively the deal that is being offered. It ties back, in a sense, to the Trump accounts, the Trump baby accounts too, where it's the same thing. It's like, well, we'll give you a little stake in this casino that we call the stock market. No, you're not gonna have power in any sort of democratic decision making. You're not gonna have any say in this new social contract, since we're just ripping up the old one and writing a new one. You're not gonna have any say in that. But we'll give you a little more taste of the casino. We'll make it a little bit more feasible or a little bit more believable that you're going to be able to hit it big with this expanded lottery, which is essentially what it is. And I mean, we all know the, you know, the state lottos like these are basically attacks on the poor for people who are desperate, who see no other way and like, to live in the fantasy of, like, maybe this time it's going to hit. Maybe this is time it's going to hit. We're going to expand that so that more millions of people get trapped in the cycle where ultimately, you know, the wealth is all continuing to be funneled to the top. But we're going to offer you a glimpse of a promise that maybe you can be the one that's in the Bad Bunny super bowl halftime show and happens to get this insider info that.

[Saagar Enjeti]

You can trade on and hand up. This is my own class bias. I didn't notice it much until it hit my cohort for sports betting. But you're right. And it's only after I started delving more into it and I would look at lottery and I go, oh, my God. I'm like, I can't even believe that I wasn't aware of this whole thing. Like, if you go to the Union Station D.C. lotto stand, it is homeless people out the door, not there for warmth. They're there to buy tickets. And I was like, oh, my God, I was not really, you know, that I'm not that in touch I guess with people who buy scratch offs like every single day now I look for it and I can actually see it everywhere. Every time you're at a 7 11, like every time you're at a gas station, if you stop or something and you go in, there's somebody there, you know, buying the tickets, like, and these are not even like big ones, but there's something about the thrill and it just drains their finances. Unfortunately, wasn't as awake to it. There wasn't enough of a mass populist movement to be like, hey, is anyone going to take care of these people?

[Krystal Ball]

Look, my mind, save them from themselves. My mind has changed on this because I have more of a like libertarian social view. So I was like, oh, you know, adults like should be able to, you know, if they're informed and they want to, that's how they want to like spend their money.

[Saagar Enjeti]

They're not informed.

[Krystal Ball]

And that's the whole point, that's the piece is that this is not, first of all, it's not free and fair. It's completely rigged. And you are up against like, your brain is up against the psychological warfare of these trillion dollar companies that are attempting to get you hooked, that are gamifying everything to get you in and keep you there. It's not a fair fight. You know, it's not like, like I think we have this view in the US and in the west in general that like you know, a system, as long as there isn't like a gun pointed to your head, that that's not coercion, right? That you're not being manipulated. And that is just not the case. Clearly you are being exploited, you're being manipulated and you know, you're free in sort of like a technical sense. But the reality is the deck is being stacked against you at every single turn. And that has become again thanks to, you know, your really highlighting this issue was the first one I really had to stop and think about, like, okay, well what does this mean and what is it doing to our society? And it has just become abundantly clear to me that this whole thing is corrosive in every way and deeply damaging. Yeah.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Welcome. This is the gateway drug to discovering what true freedom is. What does freedom actually mean? And are you truly free or are you a slave? If you're out there, who is betting every day to trying to make your wealth? Actually the communists. I've always understood this about structural advantage and freedom. So anyway, the point just remains Stay away. Like I wish we had more power. I hope one day government regulators and all of them will wake up. But under this administration, this is not gonna happen. These people, they love this shit, right? Because they're becoming massively profitable. And these people will pay anything to remain legal. I'm gonna do a segment soon about onlyfans just flagging that. That'll be a fun one for everybody to pay attention to. But next I'm gonna have to start looking at this Kalshee advertising and some of the other stuff that's being flagged. To me, these people make the cigarette Companies in the 60s look like boy scouts. It's crazy. What they make the casinos of Las Vegas look like church nuns.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Like in terms of what they're promising, at least the casinos are relatively honest. You come here, you're gonna lose money, but you get to go watch oh with the Bellagio or something like that and we'll find comp you some tickets. These, I mean the amount of lies that are being told about your ability to win what you're, you know, whether insider protection of insider trading and so much more, buying off literal players. This is very, very dangerous.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Saagar Enjeti]

To sports, to society, but that unfortunate part, politics. Every day it's just the revealing nature of like where we are right now. We have got to get away from this.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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.comDisclosures Military life isn't predictable, but earning your Master's degree can be with American Military University's 40 flexible online master's programs. You can stay mission ready while you get market ready. Learn anywhere, anytime with an education built to keep pace steady, reliable and always accessible. Plus, military service members, veterans and their families can save up to 45% on master's tuition with AMU's special rates and grants. Learn more at AMU Apus Edu steady through every mission.

[Krystal Ball]

This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely and invest with your guardrails in place. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores automate allowance, and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight. Get started risk [e-mail] iheartra we're gonna have to push Olympics to tomorrow because Dan Osborne is standing by. But I do wanna know what did you think of the Bad Bunny halftime show tonight? Were you furious? Were you triggered?

[Saagar Enjeti]

Okay, so people, maybe I'm being lib. I thought it was good. I thought it was good. So it was very. I bet if I had to watch it in the stadium, I wouldn't have liked it much. It was clearly very produced for television.

[Krystal Ball]

They're all meant really for tv.

[Saagar Enjeti]

No, I know, but it was one of those where with the set. The set design was amazing. I mean, I don't speak Spanish. Like, I only speak a little bit, like maybe 20% or so. So I didn't really know what he was saying. But purely off of production, I was like, hey man, I mean it's pretty good. And I'm not a big reggaeton fan. But he convinced me, you know, it wasn't bad. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I thought it. I actually thought it was pretty good. There is a meta conversation around the NFL where, look, everyone and I tweeted this at the time. Everyone's like, oh, they're choosing Bad Bunny because he's woke up. I was like, guys, you don't know anything about the NFL then the NFL wants to become an international sport. So I don't know if you saw this. The NFL already announced that they're going to be playing, I think it's 11 international games next year. 11 games. One of them is a division rivalry where they are flying the 49ers and the Rams from LA and San Francisco To Melbourne, Australia. So a major flagship football game is going to be played in Melbourne. They're doing this all over the world. Latin America is one of their dream markets already. Both the LA teams have big fan bases in Mexico and across Latin America. We had the Brazil game that happened earlier this season. I think the Brazil game is back on. I know that the NFL is targeting that also. They're all in the same time zone so they can watch. This was pure business. So it's one of those where look like. I don't think it really had anything to do with wokeness, but it does relate to our conversation about gambling and all that. I think it's bad because they just want to globalize the sport. And with globalization basically comes. What happened to the NBA. Remember that whole Hong Kong situation where the coach. I forget exactly forget who it was. Daryl Morey, something like this. He said something about how he supported the protesters in Hong Kong and they freaked out because the Chinese government was like, oh my God. And he almost got fired and the owners spoke out. With globalization comes the same thing that happened, you know, for all the rest of our economy. But I mean, you're almost swimming against the tide at this point. So that's my. Overall, I think it should remain an American sport. But like, it's not. It's just. That's not what they want. They. These people are multi billionaires. Roger Goodell's very good at his job. All he wants to do is expand, expand, expand. They have all NFL fans by the balls. They know they will watch no matter what. They literally put games on at 9am and people wake up to watch them. People will watch anything.

[Krystal Ball]

I support that.

[Saagar Enjeti]

You see it.

[Krystal Ball]

I like my name.

[Saagar Enjeti]

You and I make. It's more of a schedule support that Other people do not support that.

[Krystal Ball]

Well, I mean, but also, I mean, I don't doubt that, you know, the expansion is part of the calculus. I mean, Bad bunny is literally 100% of it. I genuinely didn't realize what a mass it was. Like him and Taylor Swift.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Yeah, they're the two biggest artists, biggest.

[Krystal Ball]

Artists of our generation. And I like, I didn't realize how massive he is, so. And not only the, you know, the international expansion, but there's 50 million Spanish speakers here in the U.S. and I'm sure that's a market that they'd like further penetration into, so. But, you know, I mean, obviously his performance was political. I think it would be a lie to say it wasn't, you know, didn't have political tone to it. The big thing that people were noting was he had up that message that said, the only thing more powerful than hate is love. He's been very outspoken about, you know, ICE abuses, and I think he's canceled concerts even in the US because of fear of ICE and immigration enforcement at his concerts, et cetera. So there's no doubt there was political. The other thing that I didn't see as much conversation about, there was that part where they were, like, dancing on the electrical poles, and then there was an explosion. Remember that? And I'm sure that that relates to Puerto Rico's ongoing electricity crisis. There were those. There were those messages as well. There was a wedding in it, which is really cool. It was apparently a real wedding where the couple had written him and invited him to their wedding. And he was like, how about instead of that, how about you come and get married during my super bowl halftime performance? So I thought the whole thing was very. I thought it was very well done. I thought it was beautiful. I thought it was decidedly political. Like, everything's political without being.

[Saagar Enjeti]

I didn't see that. I was just like, oh, it's a good show.

[Krystal Ball]

Well, what I was gonna say is, I think it's political without being, like, in your face. And that's. I think what people object to is when the messaging is too aggressive and it takes the place of the artistry. But clearly, I mean, to me, one of the most political parts of it is just when he read off, when he said the names of all the countries in the Americas, including countries like Cuba, that we're trying to utterly immiserate and destroy right now. Or Venezuela, another place that military intervention and have long spent time trying to destroy them, et cetera. I actually found that to be a really beautiful, in a certain way, courageous act, I guess.

[Saagar Enjeti]

I mean, I thought. I mean, he's the biggest artist in Latin America. That's his entire fan base. That's the whole point of having the halftime show all in Spanish, period. Look, like I said, we should decide, should we be our own sovereign nation? Should we become globalized to the entire US to the global culture? That's what the NFL wants most. NFL fans are going to put up with it. I don't think it's necessarily a good thing. It is what it is. That's why. I mean, I just do think that people who are like, oh, the NFL, they've gone woke. They don't care. They just want to make money. That's all that they are in for. They are salivating over. I mean, you know, Those international games, they all sell out. They all. People all over those countries, they show up, and they'll show up in, like 32 different team jerseys. Like, I'll never understand a German guy who's an Arizona Cardinal fan, but they exist apparently. So I don't know. I didn't really look at it that way. I was just like, okay, clearly they want to penetrate the Latin American market. That's what this entire thing is about. They succeeded. The ratings are in. They got like 135 million people watched it.

[Krystal Ball]

Largest half the time show.

[Saagar Enjeti]

It's also been the most watched NFL season of all time. Like, the NFL is only growing, and that's where they see the dollar signs. That's where they want things to go. Like, Bad Bunny kind of made it like a celebration of, I guess, Latin American identity. Really, like, with the reading off of all that, it's fine again, you know, I think people know my feelings about immigration and all that, but I really didn't find it that bad. Like, objectionable.

[Krystal Ball]

No, I thought it was a decent show. And that's the other thing.

[Saagar Enjeti]

But it was all in Spanish. And I mean, it is kind of weird. They're like, okay. I mean, I literally gaga. I speak Spanish. And like, I said, I speak 20% Spanish. And even I was like, dude, I don't know what the fuck is going on. So I don't know. I mean.

[Krystal Ball]

But a lot of people are okay with that music. Like, I enjoy some of his. I like some of his songs even though I don't speak Spanish. I don't know what he's saying or what they're about.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Yeah, there's been plenty of Spanish songs.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah. That are super popular.

[Saagar Enjeti]

That have been very popular. Shakira, you know, so it's like, it's not.

[Krystal Ball]

Who has also performed at the. At the super bowl before previously.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Is she Colombian? I forget.

[Krystal Ball]

She is Colombian. Yes, that's exactly right. We do have a reaction from Trump D10 that we can put up on the screen here. So one thing that is kind of funny is that TPUSA did their alternative great American halftime show or whatever they called it with Kid Rock. It was abysmal. I mean, he was Lips. Yes. He was lip syncing, but he wasn't even bothering to really lip sync. The audio was unsynced. It sucked. I mean, I'm sorry. Of course. Not even just my bias. There were many right wingers who also were like, this was really bad. In any case, here is what. Well, where I was going with that is apparently A Trump super bowl party. They did not watch the TV usa. They watched Bad Bunny. Anyway, here's what Trump had to say. The super bowl halftime show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst ever, makes no sense, is an affront to the greatness of America, doesn't represent our standards of success, creativity or excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying. The dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the USA and all over the. This show is just a slap in the face to our country, which is setting new standards and records every single day, including the best stock market and 401ks in history. There's nothing inspirational about this mess of the halftime show. And watch it will get great reviews from the fake news media like Sagar and Jetty, because they haven't gotten a clue of what is going on in the real world. And by the way, the NFL should immediately replace its ridiculous new kickoff.

[Saagar Enjeti]

He's obsessed with the kickoff.

[Krystal Ball]

Anyway, that was Trump's reaction. One thing that was that someone noted, some intelligent person noted is that this truth social went out exactly 9pm and so they think it was pre written and auto to auto post because it went out exactly at 9pm Which I mean it does sound, it is sort of vague, like the sort of thing you could write in advance. Like you're gonna assume there's gonna be some, you know, some ass shaking in it. So you can say, oh, the dancing was disgusting, et cetera.

[Saagar Enjeti]

I got it. I don't know, I mean I, I thought that the whole freakout was a bit much. Like I said, I view it purely business. I don't love it. Like, I don't love the fact that it's gonna become a purely international sport. That's what they want. The more that those people get, you know, the more money in dollar signs, the less kind of American it becomes. At the same time, NFL fans have nobody but themselves to blame because not only do they put up with this shit, the ratings keep going up. So it's not exactly like they can speak out. And yeah, I mean a lot of the freak out was just like, oh, woke up. Like I'm telling you. Like I'm, I, I'm pretty sensitive, I guess, to seeing that. I really didn't see it. I was like, it was a good show. Yeah, he's very talented. I thought he was well produced, you know, et cetera, I guess, you know, with the political undertones. But you really would have to be looking for it, in my opinion, like to, to say a celebration of all Latin America. Which again maybe it's if you don't know anything about him because I knew who he was, I knew how big he was as a musician and this guy sells out shows all over the world. Like it's crazy.

[Krystal Ball]

He has right now, I was looking right now on Spotify. He's the top all top five songs are all.

[Saagar Enjeti]

No, I know I've seen it before. I've seen the sellout numbers like well where some of his shows are when he'll do in Latin America. So I've been aware of Bad Bunny like for quite a quite a while. So I was. Yeah, I mean it pretty much was exactly what I expected. So there you go. Yeah, I thought I actually did pretty well. I mean apparently that makes me a huge lip. But I was like, hey, it's a good show. We enjoyed it. It was only like 12 minutes. And then we move on to a very, very boring game. So congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks by the way, and Sam Darnold especially. He deserves it after the run that he had.

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[Krystal Ball]

All right, guys. We are very fortunate to be joined this morning in studio by Dan Osborne. He is the independent candidate for United States Senate in the state of Nebraska. Welcome, sir.

[Dan Osborn]

Thank you.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Good to see you.

[Krystal Ball]

Great to have you in person.

[Dan Osborn]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Krystal Ball]

All right. So how's the campaign going this time? You got a different opponent than last time. You're up again against Pete Ricketts. How do things look so far?

[Dan Osborn]

Things are looking really good. So the fourth poll just came out in the race and we're still statistically tied even after he spent $2 million in the state against me. Radio ads, TV ads, he went up really early that frankly, Nebraska's not even used to seeing. And so, yeah, we haven't spent much. And so I'm feeling really good about this one.

[Saagar Enjeti]

And so if you can remind the audience, you came closer than many have to being able to defeat a Republican in the state of Nebraska, longtime thought of a lock state. You were able to do it as independent. You really been trying to embrace economic populist issues. Why did you decide to run again? I know we talked immediately after your race, but what did you think that you learned from that race that you could try to do again?

[Dan Osborn]

Yeah, well, I suppose ultimately why I decided to do it again, there was a lot of people asking me to, but ultimately I sat my family down to dinner and you know, we talked about what it would look like, do we want to do this again? And the resounding answer, especially from my kids and my wife, or no, we don't want to do this again. Right. Because it's extremely difficult on your family life, you know, being in the public eye, the mudslinging that occurs. But once we started talking about the issues, like specifically my 22 year old daughter said, dad, I don't ever think I'm going to be a homeowner, you know, the first time age buyer for or the age for home buyers. 40 years old now in this country and collectively this generation isn't going to do as good as their parents for the first time. And so issues like that, by the time we were doing the dishes, it was like, we have to do this.

[Krystal Ball]

So you felt an obligation.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Yeah.

[Krystal Ball]

We wanted to talk to you about some of the sort of Nebraska specific economic issues that are going on, because you got a unique view. We're very coastal here. Unfortunately, we don't get to talk to that many people from Nebraska. Let's put F2 up on the screen here. I know this has been a major and significant issue. There's a major Tysons Foods plant that is going to close, that has closed now in Lexington, Nebraska. Closure, it says here, result in more than 3,200 people in a town of just over 10,000 losing their jobs. Can you talk some about what happened here and also the failure of government that this represents because there were tools that your opponent and that this administration could have deployed to avoid this devastating economic blow.

[Dan Osborn]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is the gutting of middle America in action.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Right.

[Dan Osborn]

Like, at a time when beef prices and beef in itself is at very high demand, they choose to close down a plant that does 5% of the beef production in the country.

[Krystal Ball]

Wow.

[Dan Osborn]

And, you know, so they are in violation of the packers and Stockyards act of 1921, which was created to prevent this exact thing that they're doing. Right. This consolidation of industries where they can manipulate prices for both the ranchers and the consumers. We're seeing it play out. You know, I've tried to get our federal delegation to follow through with this. Pete Ricketts said, after I did my press conference out there, Pete Ricketts said, we'll look into it. And then the day after he said that, he got a donation from Tyson to his campaign. And then two months later, you know, they had a reporter catch him in the hallway, and he said, they're not doing anything wrong. Everything's fine.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Yeah, we actually have have some of that. Why don't we take a listen and we'll get your reaction. Let's roll it.

[Dan Osborn]

Senator Ricketts, a couple months ago, you.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Said that you were going to look.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Into whether Tyson was violating the packers and Stockyards act.

[Saagar Enjeti]

But now 3,300 people have lost their jobs. So I'm wondering what exactly you did to try to save that plant. So they are not violating the stocker backyards.

[Dan Osborn]

Right, But I've been to Lexington to. To work with the mayor about being able to use that facility, continue to create jobs. So we're going to be working with Tyson. They're talking about. They're doing an evaluation of what they're going to continue for. But there's valuable resources there with regard.

[Saagar Enjeti]

To the land, the railroad spur and.

[Dan Osborn]

The wastewater plant that can be used for future jobs.

[Saagar Enjeti]

What did you do to try to.

[Dan Osborn]

Save it before it closed down?

[Saagar Enjeti]

So again, this is one of the.

[Dan Osborn]

Things where we have a private sector.

[Saagar Enjeti]

We have a private sector, sir. And we have a railroads and they'll be fine.

[Dan Osborn]

Can I tell you what that reminds me of? You ever see Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, the World War I where he keeps telling. Stop telling that kid to mumble, I guess. What is he even saying there? He's just like saying words without any meaning behind them. And it's because he doesn't have a defensible position because he's taking their money and doing their bidding. We're seeing it over and over and over again with a lot of our elected officials and. And man, people are getting tired of it and they're seeing through it.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Saagar Enjeti]

I do want to ask you specifically about the beef prices. Can we put F3 up here on the screen? I'm curious for your reaction. There's been a lot of pressure on the administration right now to lower the price of beef. Their response, instead of fighting for something like this is actually import a significant amount of beef from South America, which America First. We can talk, I guess, kind of separately about this. But it seems obviously this is important to many people on the coast and the rest of the country for just the price, for our ability to afford at the grocery store. But for your state, it's a lot of jobs. It is like central to the identity. Can you just talk a little bit about that?

[Dan Osborn]

Well, ranchers are finally starting to make some good money. You know, 30 years ago they were making 70 cents on the dollar for their product. Now, you know, they're lucky to make 30 cents on the dollar. But this year, you know, with the demand is high and so in conjunction with the consolidating of the packers and then now this. Ranchers are going to suffer. Absolutely. I've been talking to them. You know, a lot of MAGA ranchers repost a lot of our stuff online because of. They understand what's happening and they're pissed off.

[Krystal Ball]

Zooming out from this specific issue. How is the economy in Nebraska overall?

[Dan Osborn]

Well, I would say that overall it's been steady, you know, especially in Omaha and Lincoln with job growth. But I feel there's definitely a sense of decline with brain Drain, you know, with our governor using I Don't even know if I can say it on air. But you know, you say whatever you want. Okay. He uses the word libtard frequently.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Okay.

[Dan Osborn]

And you know, just a common disrespect for human decency is what we're seeing with a lot of our state and federal delegation. And so that's prompting people to not want to stay. Our young people specifically not want to stay in our state. And you know, we need to be continually growing and we need to be protecting our rural way of life too. You know, we're at an all time shortage for row crop farmers and that's going to continue to happen. And 2% of the population feed the rest of us. We have to have sustainable farming practices. And that doesn't include consolidation of ag. Right. That includes keeping them profitable with things like stringent right to repair laws. If you own something, you should have the right to repair it. I mean, these tractors cost upwards of a million dollars. So if you're a young person wanting to, you know, live that rural way of life, it's almost impossible to break into that right now.

[Krystal Ball]

Go ahead and put F4 up on the screen to that point. So, you know, you've got this $12 billion farmer bailout that the administration has pushed through. This says row crop farmers in the Midwest and Great Plains have a better idea of how much money they can expect from one time federal aid payments announced last month. You've got a lot of people in line to receive these funds. I know a lot of analyses that say that this won't be sufficient. This of course relates to the tariff regime that this administration has pushed forward. What are you hearing from farmers about the state of the ag economy and their ability to make it and whether or not this bailout will be sufficient for them.

[Dan Osborn]

It's a joke. It's a joke and they see it. I talk to them every day. I was just talking to a bean farmer the other day and I asked him about that bailout. First of all, they don't want handouts. They want a market to sell their product. Right? So he is sitting on beans that he can't sell. And so I asked him, how is that $12 billion going to help you to stay afloat? And he said, well, first of all, it's not the $20 billion we gave Argentina. Right?

[Saagar Enjeti]

Yeah, good point.

[Dan Osborn]

That's in question, right? I mean, then you can add maybe another $20 billion, arguably to make it 40 billion Argentina gets now we're buying their beef. But the bailout, he said, what it's going to do is it's going to help him buy his seed and his chemicals for next year, but it does absolutely nothing for him this year. So I think what this is going to cause, and I believe we're already seeing it, more consolidation of ag, right. The people that can afford to come in and buy them up the Bill Gates of the world buying up land in Nebraska.

[Saagar Enjeti]

And.

[Dan Osborn]

Again, it goes back to sustainable farming. And it's just, it's not good for Nebraska. It's not good for the country, frankly.

[Saagar Enjeti]

So how do you think about tariffs? I'm curious because, you know, I know a lot of soybean farmers. Many others were dramatically affected. However, we do have to balance our national strategic priority with China. How do you think about tariffs as a tool when it respects, with respect to agriculture, many lobbying, you know, even farmers are against tariffs specifically for this reason, which I understand, but we have a lot of things to think about. You might be a United States senator. How would you think about the question?

[Dan Osborn]

Well, you hit the nail on the head. It's a tool, right? And as a mechanic myself, I don't just have one tool. I don't have a big old hammer that I use for everything. Right. You have precision machine tools and you have a whole array of tools. And this is one of the tools that you use to protect American jobs. I mean, we've seen it be successful in the automotive sector. You know, predominantly the F150s and the Silverados and the Ram trucks are still predominant here in the country. And that is, you know, you could argue that is due from our tariff policy. So it has their place. But I do think the power of the tariff should be with Congress. It shouldn't be with the executive branch. It was never designed that way. We should go back to doing it where Congress has that control.

[Krystal Ball]

Let's zoom out a little bit and talk about the political landscape. You're obviously, you're an independent. You're running as an independent. I think most people would look at the state of Nebraska and say a Democrat, no matter how good, you know, would not stand a chance of winning statewide in a state like Nebraska, you know, it shifted very much to the right. It's deeply red, deeply Republican at this point. What do you think it is about the Democratic Party that is so appalling to so many people in a rural state like Nebraska?

[Dan Osborn]

Well, I think. I don't know that I'd use the word appalling, but I'll give you an example. I went door knocking in weeping water Nebraska, and When we're driving around going door knocking, I look for the Trump sign because I want to talk to that person. I want to understand and let them know who I am and, you know, why I'm running. And what I found is the last guy that answered his door had a Trump sign out front. He answered the door with his daughter. He was obviously a wrestler. He had cauliflower ear, and his daughter was a wrestler. He was getting ready to take her to a match. And he loves his family like most people do. Right. They fiercely love their kids, and they want to do everything that they see fit to protect their kids. And so it's all about the message that people receive. He lived in Omaha, and he got out of Omaha because he didn't want his daughter going to school where teachers, male teachers, were dressing as women, you know, and trying to tell their kids that they could be anything that they want.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Okay?

[Dan Osborn]

Now, this didn't happen, but the idea is constantly put into their head. Right? So I think. And this is who's creating the division in the country. They will keep us divided on anything, whether it's. Whether it's Second Amendment or whether it's transgenders or lgbtq, whatever the issue is that they can divide us with. They'll use it, and then they'll keep hounding it. So people believe that, and that's. Perception is reality. Right. Instead. But those are the very same people that want us to stay blind to the fact that we're getting robbed. Right. With the consolidation of our industries, the monopolies, the billionaires that are carving up the country for themselves. Those are the ones that want to keep us divided.

[Saagar Enjeti]

So I think some of that is true. But we do have irreconcilable differences in the country. A lot of people still vote, you know, based on them. One of them is immigration. I know you've had some differing views on the subject. You are from a heavily rural state. You're talking about farm shortages. How do you think about illegal labor? I know you have. I think you were against the shutdown. I know Senator Rickards has criticized you for talking out of both sides of your mouth. So, like, what's your definitive immigration policy for the state of Nebraska?

[Dan Osborn]

Well, Congress needs to do something, including Pete Ricketts. We need meaningful, humane immigration reform that we haven't seen in this country since I've been alive.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Well, what is. What do you mean by that? General amnesty?

[Dan Osborn]

Yeah, we. No, we need more judges. We need more lawyers. We need to figure out how the people that are here that are working that are upstanding members of our community. They're our friends, they're our neighbors. We have to figure out a way for them to have a path. Right. I don't believe in general amnesty, but I do think there should be a path to citizenship. And, you know, we were promised that they were going to come in and take the criminal elements out. And that's not what we're seeing play out. Right. I don't think too many people would disagree that if you're a violent criminal, that you shouldn't be here. But you know, the folks that are hard workers that contribute to our society by paying taxes. I mean, I think $2 billion undocumented workers pay into Social Security that they'll never get out. Those are the kinds of issues that we do need. Immigration reform. So we need more judges, we need more lawyers, and we need better laws to help promote a problem.

[Saagar Enjeti]

What about in the meatpacking industry? Let's see. We were just talking about that. For example, heavily reliant to make cases on illegal labor. Sure, many may not be criminals, like in terms of violent criminals, but they are violating the law being present here illegally. Do you think that the company should bear some responsibility for that?

[Dan Osborn]

Well, yeah, they're the ones benefiting monetarily, right?

[Saagar Enjeti]

I agree with you 100%.

[Dan Osborn]

Paying them next to nothing and enriching themselves. And those are the ones that can afford to buy a senator or a House member, and I certainly can't. And so I think really the most important issue of all of our times, it all kind of goes back to campaign finance reform to take the ability away from these lobbyists and special interests to control our elections and quite frankly, control our elected officials. Because if you want to work in Nebraska or Texas, Montana, Florida, Ohio, it costs $100 million to run for U.S. senate. That's insane. A billion dollars to run for the US President. Like, those are the things that we have to clean up. So we have to figure out a way. I mean, I'd love to just end Citizens United. Right. I know it's harder said than done, but maybe there's state laws or something we could do to curtail that, or maybe we can make it especially that's what I. How I view my campaign is if we elect somebody who doesn't take corporate PAC money or APAC money or anything like that, special interest money. If I can't relate it back to working people, I don't want your money. So if we could win in a state like Nebraska, we could set the tone for future elections that if you take this money, this dirty money, and you're going to do their bidding, we're not going to vote for you because ultimately there's a heck of a lot more voters out there than there are billionaires. Right. And we still have the power. We just have to take it back and we have to cut through the noise and talk about the things that are affecting our everyday lives. Like, that's why I call it paycheck populism.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Right.

[Dan Osborn]

I get a paycheck every week. I know how much comes in, I know how much goes out, and I know how much harder it's getting to provide for my family these days.

[Krystal Ball]

One thing we focused a lot on this show is overall the AI industry and then the specific flashpoint of these massive data centers that are being located in a lot of rural areas, my own town has seen a number of them being being put in. There's huge issues with regard to land usage, water usage, and with electricity bills going up. And I wonder if you've seen any of that in Nebraska, if that's become a flat in any sort of way.

[Dan Osborn]

There's a ton of them. There's data centers. Google, Facebook, Amazon. You know, the AI data centers, they go up. Yeah. It provides jobs in the short term, you know, to build these structures especially. It's good for the buildings and trades folks. But once these things are up, I think it takes like five people to run a data center and they are taking up valuable resources. Nebraska sits on the Ogallala Aquifer, the biggest body of fresh water maybe in the world. I don't know. We'd have to fact check that one. But they are using this resource up because they need water to cool their equipment. And then what really makes me mad is my power bill is going to go up 5%. That's a pretty big chunk of change. And we've had the, I suppose the pleasure of having public power in Nebraska. So our power is considerably lower than the rest of the country, but it's going to start rising because of these data centers. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos buys a yacht and he can't sell it under a bridge, so he pays to dredge out the river or where the bay or wherever that was at. And I'm paying for it. Like, these are extremely profitable businesses that should be figuring out a way to pay for their own power.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Well, sir, we always appreciate your time. We enjoy having you on the show. Thank you for coming.

[Dan Osborn]

Thank you.

[Krystal Ball]

Yeah. And tell people where they can find you if they're interested in learning more about your campaign?

[Dan Osborn]

Yeah, you can go to osborne4senate.com that's Osborne without an E. Not related to the ex football coach.

[Krystal Ball]

But that didn't even occur to me. But I'm sure it did to many people.

[Dan Osborn]

It will to people in Nebraska.

[Saagar Enjeti]

I like it.

[Krystal Ball]

Dan, thank you so much. Great to see you.

[Dan Osborn]

Thank you.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Thanks so much for watching guys. We appreciate it. We have a great show for everyone tomorrow. We'll see you then.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[Krystal Ball]

Wasn't that delicious? So good.

[Saagar Enjeti]

Your bill ladies. I got it. No, I got it.

[Krystal Ball]

Seriously, I insist. I insisted first. Don't be silly.

[Saagar Enjeti]

You know, be silly.

[Dan Osborn]

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[Saagar Enjeti]

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[Krystal Ball]

Shoot.

[Saagar Enjeti]

No.

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[Krystal Ball]

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