← Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
4/17/26: Iran OPENS STRAIT, Zohran Triggers Billionaire Crashout, College Grad Unemployment Apocalypse, AOC Flamed On Pelosi Replacement
01:31:44
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- [00:00]
Ryan Grim
This is an I Heart podcast.
- [00:02]
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- [00:34]
Griffin Davis
That's innerbalance.com you know the fastest way
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- [00:58]
Emily
Boom.
- [00:59]
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- [01:21]
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- [02:22]
Crystal Ball
Sager and Crystal here.
- [02:24]
Ryan Grim
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.
- [02:31]
Crystal 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.
- [02:37]
Ryan Grim
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.
- [02:48]
Crystal Ball
We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you@breakingpoints.com Happy Friday, everybody.
- [02:54]
Griffin Davis
It is April 17th. How are we doing? We have an amazing show, don't we, folks?
- [03:00]
Ryan Grim
That's right. The effing straight is open, apparently.
- [03:03]
Griffin Davis
F. Yeah.
- [03:03]
Crystal Ball
Crazy bastards.
- [03:05]
Ryan Grim
You crazy bastards. Open the strait. Praise be to Allah.
- [03:10]
Griffin Davis
Sensible bastards. This weekend, or at least for now, the strait is open for the next 10 days or so during this Israel Lebanon ceasefire. We also have a Zoran tax video that was released that became his most watched video of all time with a lot of haters that we're going to get into college grad unemployment prediction from Senator Mark Warner. He predicts it might hit 30% unemployment in the next two years. Look forward to that. There's a new vote that happened overnight with the War Powers Resolution. And we have a new clip of AOC and who declines to endorse Shaikhat Chakrabody.
- [03:50]
Ryan Grim
That and her former chief of staff is why that's particularly significant.
- [03:55]
Griffin Davis
Exactly. And we'll get into all of that and more on this Friday show. But Crystal, why don't you. Let's open the straight together. Crystal, why don't we start here?
- [04:04]
Crystal Ball
Let's.
- [04:04]
Ryan Grim
Let's do it. Let's do it. So you could go ahead and pull up the first element. So just to give everybody the backstory, not that people watching the show don't know backstory already we're in the middle of this supposed ceasefire and there are, I'd say two, I'm sure many more. But we'll just go with two very significant things that just happened. Number one, there appears to actually have been a ceasefire agreed to between Israel and Lebanon. I don't know if Trump put pressure or what happened there. I think it was more the pressure that was coming from Hezbollah and also from the Iranians refusing to open the strait so long as Israel continued to bombard Lebanon. That ultimately helped to force some sort of a temporary deal there. So of course, Israel being Israel, even after the ceasefire went into effect, they continue to bomb and bombard and murder and kill. But now it appears that there is some more quiet there. So in response to that, you have the Foreign Minister Arachi here of Iran tweeting out in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire on the coordinated route as already announced by ports of Maritime Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trump did respond to this, basically thanking them and expressing optimism about the outcome of some, you know, potential deal between the US And Iran here. He as he says the Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage, but the naval blockade from the US Side will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran only until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100 complete. This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated. Thank you for your attention to this matter of President Donald J. Trump. So things are still a little bit murky. You know, is, is the toll being charged? Still don't know about that. There was a drop site was had a some reporting may have been based on another outlet's reporting around that tanker tranquil tanker tracker account that said Iran was actually able to get some of their oil in and out of the Strait. So you know, the exact status a little bit unclear. But certainly markets are loving this morning. The fact that the Iranians are saying okay, open for business and Trump is saying okay, open for business and expressing optimism about some deal. Now, I would say there should still be a lot of skepticism that we are truly coming to an end of this thing. And maybe Griffey, you could put up this, you know, alleged deal framework that is being floated here by the US which effectively what they're proposing is a cash for uranium deal. US considering a $20 billion cash for uranium deal with Iran as part. Details include the US And Iran negotiating over a three page plan to end the war because that's all Kushner, Witkoff and J.D. vance can handle. Apparently. Number two, one element under discussion is that the US would release $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium. Number three, some of Iran's highly enriched uranium would be shipped to a third country. Some would be down blended in Iran under international monitoring. And number four, Iran would be allowed to have nuclear research reactors for product production of medical isotopes, but would pledge that all of its nuclear facilities would be above ground. Second round of US Iran talks is expected in Pakistan on Sunday. So Emily, important to keep in mind, this is what the US Is putting out there about what they're hoping the contours of a deal would look like. We've had Iranians coming forward and saying some of the previous representations of their positions, including the idea that they agreed to give up their highly enriched uranium for some period of time, that this was completely false. So important to keep that in mind when we're evaluating exactly where we are in terms of the resolution of this conflict.
- [08:06]
Crystal Ball
Yeah, enormously important. The Wall Street Journal had a straight news report a couple of days ago, basically just outlining how the people who are remaining in the IRGC and have now been elevated because, you know, layers of power have been killed are just objectively hardliners in a way that is escalatory. And that's what we were saying all along. So now these are the people who are in charge of the negotiations and not just us. Obviously, everybody was saying that all along, that that's a huge risk that comes with carrying out an operation like this. We've seen it happen, however, many times throughout, like, the last five decades of American history. It's something that often happens. And so those are the people who are now negotiating. Arachi says right now, straight is open. So apparently you have Trump and Rachi on the same page today, but come Sunday, you then have to wonder if they. I mean, listen, I want this thing to be done. I think that would be great if we can come to a resolution. Iran now knows that it can tank the global economy by just the straight, like, doing exactly what it did over the last six, seven weeks. And that's leverage that maybe it will carry into the future whatever deal is reached if it's super tentative. I mean, I hate to say it, but the. It's. It's obvious we've all been covering what's happening in Gaza right now and that ceasefire. So this is. If something is reached, I'm really, really happy about that. But it's going to be very tenuous, I think, no matter what.
- [09:42]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, well, and then part of what we should discuss, too, goes back to the logic after the. The 12 Day War, where those of us who were opposed from this, you know, from any of these wars from the beginning said, okay, great, that this was wrapped up. But the logic that brought us to this place continues to persist. And an important part of that logic is Israel. It will be in no way acceptable to Israel if this war ends now. In no way will that be acceptable to them because their entire goal is to completely collapse the Iranian government. And instead, if you have a deal, even along the lines of, you know, what's being contemplated Here we know that Iran maintains their ballistic missile capacity. We know that they maintain their drone capacity. We know that an even more hardline, hardline government is now in place. And we know that there's actually, you know, regardless of what paper is exchanged here, there's actually more logic to push them in the direction of building a nuclear weapon. And if they have sanctions relief, then suddenly they have more money rebuild. And certainly they're going to pay a lot of attention to their defenses because they have been attacked multiple times unprovoked by us and Israel. So this is in no way a sustainable or acceptable situation to Netanyahu and to Israel. He will be politically attacked for it. There's already a lot of dissatisfaction in Israel with the idea that this could be coming to a close. Of course, he uses endless war anyway to forestall his own legal and corruption problems within society. So Israel will continue to do everything they can to play the role of a spoiler. Especially since, you know, Netanyahu is a savvy, an American political analyst as anyone else. He can see the polls, he can see the fact that we're going to talk later in the show. Forty Democrats voted against sending bombs to Israel. And so you have a dramatic shift in terms of the political landscape in the US and he and others in that country feel that it is a now or never moment. They have to go for the whole enchilada here or else they're not going to potentially get the chance again in the future. That dynamic has not changed.
- [11:53]
Mark Warner
Right.
- [11:54]
Crystal Ball
And so then this question of whether they're willing to accept cash for uranium brings up why a lot of Republicans oppose the jcpoa. Many of them thought these are like, Iran is not going to abide by anything that you're negotiating right now. So interesting little question then for Republicans with whatever Donald Trump works out. Interesting for the Lindsey Graham's of the world. Let us not forget that Netanyahu once stayed in Jared Kushner's childhood bedroom. This is like these negotiators are being influenced, I mean, obviously being influenced by the most hawkish wing of the Republican Party. And that's a question for them. Do you, I mean, are you. So is Donald Trump himself so desperate to get a deal that he ends up with a deal that Republicans would have decried as something with no enforceability if it had been negotiated by Democrats or by Obama? Because you now have a more hardline regime and you have have potentially shown them they should be racing towards enriching uranium to weapons grade levels because that's the only way to protect themselves. So yeah, that's what what I'm looking at those three points sounds like something just on its face that Republicans would have blanched at if Obama had been negotiating it. Because how do you that without going into more conflict?
- [13:20]
Griffin Davis
And Crystal, speaking of Obama, I mean giving 20 billion to Iran, monitoring their nuclear sites, this is basically the JCPOA with extra steps, right? Like just with the extra step of threatening the global economy. Am I wrong or like isn't it
- [13:39]
Ryan Grim
Remind me because Republicans fixated on this much more than I ever did. What was the amount of money that they sell? We delivered this cash and pallets to the Iranians.
- [13:47]
Crystal Ball
Oh, during the Biden administration.
- [13:49]
Ryan Grim
No, but during the Obama administration with the JCPOA wasn't like 1.6 billion and this. Yeah, and I mean, not to mention there was oh, 150.
- [14:01]
Crystal Ball
It was a, it was 1.7 billion here according to Brookings.
- [14:06]
Ryan Grim
Yes. Oh, I was so close. 1.7 billion that you know, Obama gave to the crazy Mullers. And so anyway, listen, I hope they all forget that and just pretend that they never were opposed to that. And Republicans have been happy to twist themselves into hypocrisy knots and pay no attention to to past situations. And another part of this is obviously that there was a deal on the table. According to the Omanis, there was a deal on the table that included more concessions than what the Obama administration was able to get under the GACPOA before we decided to launch this insane war. And so even let's say best case scenario, some sort of an agreement is hashed out over the weekend and there's some cash for uranium deal and there's some. They figure something out with the straight of hormones which I don't think Iran is willing to, you know, totally give up control of because why would they at this point it's already been shown that the US cannot militarily retake it because if they could, they would have already done it. So I, you know, there's still a lot here that's, that's fair question. But let's say they did. I mean then what have you accomplished over the course of this war? Genuinely, what have you accomplished other than sort of demonstrate our own weakness, demonstrate Iranian strength, hand them more tools, harden their government. Their government was actually flailing. I mean the protests while, while, you know, while sort of fueled by the west, there were is genuine anti government sentiment within the country. The government has been in a lot of ways really strengthened by this war. So what did you actually accomplish through all of that. But with, with that being said, I'll also say, I mean, I'm, I'm very skeptical because of some of the problems we've talked about before because of Israel, because of the Strait of Hormuz, because I'm still not sure that the US is, is ready to accept the amount of humiliation that it would take in order to actually come to some sort of an agreement here. And you have very, you know, you have elements within, certainly the irgc who think it'd be a grave mistake to, who thought it was a mistake to do the ceasefire to begin with. And then you also have lots of US Military assets which continue to flood into the region. And Pete Hexeth, Secretary of War, yesterday, saying, we are reloading and getting ready to go back to combat. So I think you have to take all of those factors into account as well as we try to assess what exactly is going on here.
- [16:33]
Crystal Ball
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty hard to believe that the Iranians would agree to just give up all enriched uranium in the future and not do it with a plan to be enriching uranium underground or in ways that are just harder to prove for, you know, the United States or inspectors or whatever, which would put us back here. Because, again, just, this is a Wall Street Journal straight news report that I'm sure the administration was not happy about, but it just outlines exactly who the people who are now in charge and are now negotiating are. So it's, I mean, it's really like the math isn't mathing on how that would, like, actually make any sense in terms of a deal. And the Trump administration, I think, is very desperate to. I mean, Donald Trump has been spinning this war as over and won for six, seven weeks now, basically, since it started, like, I think within like, 72 hours. Yeah, he's been, he's been spinning it as a win. And so I actually don't. To your point, Crystal, the humiliation point, I don't know. I think Trump is just willing to get it to end and, you know, see that, like, I'm here in Illinois, the gas prices at the station I passed last night at 5:25, 19, 520. It's not sustainable. Yeah, it's, it's crazy. So I think he, he just trusts his ability to brand something as a win, which might be good news for the cause of peace. But whatever he gets, if it's, if it's. I mean, I just don't trust. Like you said, after Midnight Hammer, we all were saying there's A good likelihood. We're back here in six months and that was sadly proven correct. So, yeah, let's see what happens, I guess.
- [18:14]
Ryan Grim
Yeah. Griffin, should we hear from the man himself?
- [18:18]
Griffin Davis
Let's. Absolutely. Where, where would you like to start? Here with the ceasefire extension question. Why don't we play.
- [18:23]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, that's good.
- [18:24]
Griffin Davis
Let's, let's take a little listen to Trump being asked if there will be an extension on the ceasefire.
- [18:31]
Mark Warner
Very good conversation
- [18:34]
Griffin Davis
considering extending the ceasefire with Iran. With who? With Iran.
- [18:41]
Ryan Grim
With who?
- [18:43]
Griffin Davis
It'll happen.
- [18:44]
Mark Warner
Before that, I'm not sure it needs to be explained.
- [18:46]
Crystal Ball
Hamas, Iran wants to make a deal
- [18:50]
Griffin Davis
and we're dealing very nicely with them. We've got to have no nuclear weapons if we do that.
- [18:56]
Crystal Ball
A big factor.
- [18:57]
Mark Warner
And they're willing to do things today
- [19:00]
Griffin Davis
that they weren't willing to do two months ago. Willing to do things they wouldn't have done two months ago or years ago with Obama.
- [19:09]
Ryan Grim
So, you know, the current two week ceasefire ends early next week. The, you know, talks allegedly maybe are happening in Islamabad on Sunday. So that is the timeline. I mean, the, you know, the difference between these negotiations and the JCPOA negotiations are just crazy. I mean, all the Americans had all, we had all these technical experts involved for months in crafting all the details and getting into all the nitty gritty here. They're, it's very high level, let's just say his very top line kind of, you know, approach. And this was apparently a problem in the first negotiations because the Iranians felt that the American side just genuinely didn't understand what was being offered and what they were trying to present to them. And that's part of what led to Trump launching this war. So now you have J.D. vance involved. You know, the other issue is that at the last, at the talks that already failed, where Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were at a UFC fight while the ceasefire negotiations were collapsing, JD Vance apparently didn't really have sufficient authority to broker some sort of a deal. He was constantly on the phone with Trump if the Iranians are to be believed. He was also on the phone with Netanyahu. So that is, you know, that is also a challenge here in terms of coming to some sort of a deal. So we'll see if the American side takes this more seriously than they took the first round of talks. Based on our conversation yesterday with Professor Morandi, which I thought was very interesting to hear their perspective, they, according to what he's presenting, he and the Iranian side don't believe that the US Are serious about these talks. They say we didn't believe they were serious about the talks in the lead up to this war. We didn't believe they were serious in the talks leading up to the 12 day war. We do these negotiations to demonstrate that we'll operate in good faith, to demonstrate that we don't want war, but we don't actually believe that we are going to come to some peaceful resolution. We believe that the US is planning another attack. And so at least that's the message that the Iranian side is, is presenting to the world. And they see Israel as a major part of why that logic continues to persist and why it's very likely that, you know, they end up back in a hot war.
- [21:29]
Crystal Ball
Yeah.
- [21:29]
Griffin Davis
Yeah. So Emily, you mentioned the math wasn't mathing. And speaking of math, why don't we look at the vote for the War Powers resolution on this Operation Epic Fury for just a second. Now this vote, if, correct me if I'm wrong, occurred last evening, late last evening and their vote was failed 213 to 214. Let me pull this up on the screen. I believe there was a Democrat, Democrat,
- [21:59]
Ryan Grim
Jared, Democrat, who's retiring.
- [22:01]
Griffin Davis
And, and Crystal, tell me who is this Mr. Golden who was the deciding vote here?
- [22:07]
Crystal Ball
Who is this Mr. Golden?
- [22:09]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, you know, he's, he is a bit of an, of a mysterious figure, to be honest with you. When he came into Congress, I was tracking his run. He's, he represents a district in Maine that's a swing district. So it's one that's, you know, can be tough for Democrats to win. And he really came in positioning himself as this sort of heterodox populist. Where he from at the beginning, I think it wasn't like a logger. He had this like blue collar background and at the beginning he supported Medicare for all, but then had some issues where he was sort of more conservative. And to me that's a very interesting profile and obviously very different from almost anyone else in the House. He has over time transitioned to just being a conservative Democrat across the board. All those pieces where it was kind of more interesting have fallen by the wayside and now he's retiring. I'm not sure, you know exactly what the reasons for that are if he's, you know, feels out of step with the, where the Democratic Party base is or what. But you know, it seems like these votes, people frequently notice these votes, usually they're, they are so close, but we just can't quite get over the finish line. And it's very Convenient for Golden to be the person who comes in and casts the vote in favor of continuing the war because he, it doesn't matter the political backlash against him since he's retiring. So we're going to talk more about Shoikat charcobody who was AOC's former chief of staff is now running for Congress in a bit. But I believe it was him who laid out like, listen, we all know the fact that there are a lot more Democrats than this that actually do support the war. And so it's not ridiculous to believe that leadership basically figured out, okay, well what can we do to make sure that this comes close? And you guys protect your political futures by voting the way that the base wants, but that at the end of the day the vote doesn't pass. And since Jared golden is retiring and doesn't have to deal with that political backlash, he would be an ideal candidate to cast this unpopular vote and protect the rest of the Democrats from leave showing their true feelings. And there's certainly sentiment against the war within the Democratic caucus as well, probably majority sentiment. But there's no doubt that there's more than one Democrat that wants to keep this thing going for ideological reasons and also for cynical political reasons that they believe that this is hurting Donald Trump.
- [24:29]
Crystal Ball
Yeah, this vote was literally 214 to 213. And a couple of key Republican votes stayed on the sidelines, interestingly enough. So Thomas Massie crossed over, obviously, no surprise there. And this was specifically on Iran, obviously. So sometimes the war power votes are more broad. But this one was just on current operation in Iran. Warren Davidson, who has been with Massie on this while being supportive of the war, he's a veteran. So he has, he's been going and he's been holding firm to both of those positions saying, you know, you can, you can, two things can be true at once. You know, this can be important congressional authority that we need to exercise and two, that he supports the, the President's actions. He voted it. People who didn't vote, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace. Interesting, Very interesting.
- [25:23]
Ryan Grim
What do you make of that?
- [25:25]
Crystal Ball
I don't think that Lauren Bobert wanted to be on the record on that vote. I think it was, it's, it's easy to, to just not vote. Yeah. And then, you know, they, they went to the mat on FISA at 2:30 in the morning and honestly I would say like heroically like 20 Republicans crossed over with Democrats. Mike Johnson was whipping, even Democrats started whipping their own caucus to support Mike Johnson's reauthorization of fisa. Just insane. Insane. David Sirota has been reporting on that and Julian over at Dropsite has been reporting on that if people want to follow it. But Lauren Boebert was with Massie and was, you know, going against Johnson all night, raging at Johnson. They called this vote at 2:30 in the morning because they didn't think that they would be able to do this in the daylight and get it through. Well, they couldn't do it at night either because, you know, that's great. It was, it would have been a five year reauthorization of FISA 702 powers without significant reforms, which again Trump ran on kill fisa, all caps. Mike Johnson went on Glenn's show years ago and said we have to get like we have to reform fisa. FISA is terrible. And now Mike Johnson is whipping his conference to support. It's all so ridiculous. So I don't, I think that's probably what's, what's, what's going on yesterday is that they're in this battle with leadership and Boebert said okay, I'll just not vote. So I think it's, it's probably falling into that big picture. But I agree that's, I mean
- [26:59]
Ryan Grim
get on the record and Emily, didn't they ultimately pass like a two week extension of Pfizer or something like that to the end of April? Is that what ultimately happened? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw Ro posting a video of him like in the car on the way over to Congress, you know, blasting them for, for what they're trying to do. So yeah, we're just. Yet more hypocrisy and broken promises from, from Trump and the Republicans on that one.
- [27:25]
Crystal Ball
Clearly insane behavior. Yeah, here's the, the tear sheet. They punted a procedural vote on it as, as the Hill is reporting here.
- [27:33]
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- [28:05]
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- [28:53]
Griffin Davis
Boom.
- [28:54]
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- [29:38]
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- [30:40]
Griffin Davis
speaking of promises, there was a promise kept by Mayor Zoran Mamdani in New York City. Emily, what's going on with this? Why don't you take this one? I want you know you're the. You're the number one Z head on the show. He released a video, didn't he?
- [31:00]
Crystal Ball
He did. He released a very viral video. And Griffin, you could put the element up on the screen. Should we roll the video? Actually, yeah.
- [31:07]
Ryan Grim
Watch the video because. So it's good. So then they said that this was their most watched video ever, which is a high bar for them because they've had some viral bangers in the past. So I think that's pretty interesting.
- [31:19]
Griffin Davis
Emily. I'm surprised we have a presidential response
- [31:21]
Crystal Ball
to this as well. Oh, no, I watched the video.
- [31:24]
Griffin Davis
I'm not.
- [31:25]
Crystal Ball
I have thoughts on the video.
- [31:27]
Griffin Davis
That's why I was feeding you the segment. Let's do it. Zora Mumdani.
- [31:31]
Zoran Mamdani
When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today we're taxing the rich. I'm thrilled to announce we've secured a Pied a terror tax, the first in New York's history. This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million whose owners do not live full time in the city. Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million. This pied a terror tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don't actually live. But even so, they're able to reap the huge financial rewards of owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world. And most of the time, these units are sitting empty, since, again, they don't actually live here. This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers. Now it's coming to an end. This tax will raise at least $500 million directly for the city. It'll help fund things like free childcare, cleaner streets, safer neighborhoods. As mayor, I believe everyone has a role to play in contributing to our city. And some a little bit more than others. Happy tax day, New York.
- [32:36]
Griffin Davis
Wow. Complete with succession, music, and let's check the view count. Currently it is at 42.4 million views on x dot com.
- [32:50]
Ryan Grim
Pretty much like a typical breaking points club, basically. More or less.
- [32:53]
Griffin Davis
Absolutely.
- [32:54]
Ryan Grim
A rounding error there.
- [32:55]
Crystal Ball
Yeah.
- [32:56]
Griffin Davis
Now, before we get Emily's take on it, I wanted to hear from some of the other haters. Of course, we had Linda.
- [33:03]
Ryan Grim
Are you assuming Emily's a hater?
- [33:05]
Griffin Davis
I'm assuming that Emily's going to. Emily's gonna find some. Some middle ground here. I know she's a big Ken Griffin fan, but.
- [33:12]
Crystal Ball
Yeah, I love Ken.
- [33:15]
Griffin Davis
Linda Yaccarina says this is actually one of the scariest things I have seen. It won't stop here.
- [33:21]
Crystal Ball
That's a must.
- [33:22]
Griffin Davis
It's a nice life, then. Very, very few spooks for Her.
- [33:26]
Ryan Grim
This is a lady who worked with Elon Musk. And that wasn't scary. Come on, lady. Let's be real. Let's be real.
- [33:35]
Griffin Davis
And a few others. I'll pull up here really quickly, but this is just part of it. There was thousands of these on x.com the website for people with expensive condos, apparently. How does Ken Griffith owning a 238 million dollar condo NYC he only visits occasionally, harm New Yorkers. Exactly. He pays an extraordinary high property tax to the city for services. You're making that assumption uses. Why ridicule him for this? And of course, we have Trump, who have finally had to say something about his bff. Let's take a read here. Trump says, sadly, Mayor Mamdani's destroying New York. It has no chance. The United States of America should not contribute to its failure. It will only get worse. The tax, tax. Tax policies are so wrong. People are fleeing. They must change their ways and fast. History has proven this stuff in quotations just doesn't work. Thank you for your attention to this matter. So that's where we're at with the reactions here. Emily, what do we make of this?
- [34:41]
Crystal Ball
Well, I think part of the reason the video has so many views is that the billionaires freaked the F out over the video and drew so much attention to it. I mean, even just saying this is the scariest thing or one of the scariest things that she's ever seen. She was. Yeah. The CEO it backs. I don't know if she still is. But that's remarkable because honestly, middle class taxes should probably be the scariest thing that you've ever seen. Like, even if you're what? Like that's the scariest thing. The P tear. That's like, I'm, I'm totally against our tax regime. I'm a, a flat tax person. So that's like for, for the reasons that it would close all of the loopholes. And so don't get me wrong. But like that, even if you're in my camp, the scariest thing I've ever seen is like middle class tax hikes that are. There was just a poll the other day. Vast majority of Americans believe that they're overtaxed. And the people who believe that they're overtaxed also include billionaires, which is often hilarious because the assumption baked into that one post is that he's paying high property taxes. We actually don't know that. In the case of Ken Griffin, he could be using his real estate portfolio in various ways to take his tax bill down. He could be taking advantage of all kinds of different. And people were making this argument that by buying expensive real estate, buying pied a tears that they don't use very often. They're paying taxes, they're paying staff, so they've created jobs and that it's like only a net benefit. There's no, there's no. Like, nothing is getting sucked out of the system or out of the city because they're there. Again, why then is it such a big deal for Ken Griffin to pay a little bit more? And I'm not even arguing for that. I'm arguing against the insane freakout that, like, why are you freaking out so much over the pieta tear tax? Like, are you serious? You're just making Mamdani look more and more reasonable with your insane reactions to this. So, yes, it's crazy.
- [36:59]
Griffin Davis
But, Crystal, how is the city going to function if these billionaires can't use all of these apartments as like public storage units? I'm not really sure what they're doing with them.
- [37:08]
Ryan Grim
They will continue to have those apartments.
- [37:10]
Crystal Ball
Yeah, they will continue to have those apartments.
- [37:12]
Ryan Grim
Yeah.
- [37:12]
Griffin Davis
Where are they going to go?
- [37:13]
Crystal Ball
Miami?
- [37:14]
Griffin Davis
Come on.
- [37:15]
Ryan Grim
They are. Well, that's the thing. This is. They don't even live in New York like that. That's why they had this second homes in New York that are sitting empty. So these are people who've already moved to Miami or whatever. I think Ken himself lives in Miam. So, you know, in a sense, if you're playing the game of like it's going to chase them out of the city, well, this incentivize them to move to the city, then they can avoid this tax. If they just actually lived in the, in the apartments that we all know, like Emily was saying, that's they're not going to do that. They're going to pay this, and they will pay it without even noticing because it's such a tiny, minuscule, pathetic flea on the ass of their net worth that it will not even. It will not even be noticeable to them. It would be like, you know, an average person buying a. Not a Starbucks coffee, but like, you know, a coffee at the bodega that's actually inexpensive. Well, the coffee has probably gone up and it's probably expensive now, no matter what anyway, you get what I'm saying. So the freak out, I think that Emily points to is kind of the genius of this little piece of film agreement. We should be realistic about $500 million. A lot of money is not going to close what I think is a $5 billion budget deficit, York City. It's not going to fund all the proposals. It will help. Right, like they're going forward with the public owned grocery stores. I think those are supposed to cost about $30 million a piece. So okay, we're funding those. That's fantastic. But the free count is kind of the point. You know, it's a very Trumpian play in a sense where Zoron knows, look, if you pull, I don't care. Democrat, independent, Republican, New York, Kansas, Oklahoma, wherever you are, if you pull, should we tax billionaires a tiny bit more? The response is going to be overwhelmingly yes, absolutely. Let's do it now. Let's do it today. So he picks the fight on his terms where he knows he's got, especially in the city of New York. It's like an, you know, would be like an 8020 issue at worst. At worst for him. The, the predicted meltdown ensues, which is why he personalizes it because he knows that will also trigger the, the right wingers here. And, and he comes off looking like an absolute political genius and populist hero. He also comes out really being able to advertise the fact that he was able to deliver on a core promise. He says, I pro, I said I was going to tax the rich and now I'm taxing the rich. Now he's not doing the particular tax that he said, you know, that was the original plan. But the fact that he was able to get Kathy Hochul to go along with this and work with her is in and of itself a significant political achievement and something that people did not think he would be able to achieve. She has been very smart in recognizing that Zoran has a real base and is a real force to reckon with politically. And so she has had to bend a bit and come towards him. And he is very clever in spinning this as a complete and total victory when in reality it's more symbolic and more of a political win than anything else.
- [40:26]
Crystal Ball
Yeah, and I just like, I want to contrast this with the California billionaire tax, which I know we all disagree on. I'm sure you two disagree with me on that. I think there's really good evidence that people actually will leave California. Like 30% of the base has already actually left. That's according to a Hoover Institute study. Obviously conservative, but, but there are plenty, I mean we all have seen that there are plenty of billionaires and sent a millionaires who have, have left California. All that is to say this is not that they are right now defending higher taxes on fifth Homes. That's what they're saying. It's one of the scariest things I've ever seen.
- [41:00]
Ryan Grim
Good luck and go ahead.
- [41:01]
Crystal Ball
The billionaire.
- [41:03]
Ryan Grim
I would also scare the political numbers in favor of defending billionaire billionaire fits homes in New York City.
- [41:11]
Crystal Ball
Yeah, yeah, well, yeah. And that's again like this is so different. So the California tax, which something that Roe is very supportive of, he sees it as an anti revolutionary tax. I actually agree with him on that point that there it probably is something like that. But I think it sets, it's a one time thing. I hate the precedent that it sets in terms of just like wealth confiscation from the government. We don't have to have that debate to just say that it's completely different from what this is. And the freakout is almost at the same level. Level. They're not trying to leave New York because the reason that they have their pied a terrors is that they have meetings in New York once a month, once every three months. And they want a place to go. So that's not going to change. They want a place to entertain and have like Epstein style dinners. Like that's what they want to do. And so they're not going to get rid of them because they have to pay a little bit more. You might see like one or two dramatically being like, okay, well I'm going to be a renter in New York now or I'm going to go to Connecticut and have my dinners there. Enjoy that. But it's there in, in large part. You're not going to see people like giving up their New York City pieta terrors. It's not going to happen.
- [42:21]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, well, and I would just go for it. Go ahead, Griff, go ahead.
- [42:24]
Griffin Davis
I was just gonna say for people who live in New York City, like Speaking of an 8020 issue, people hate these billionaire row buildings that, that get built in like Hudson Yards or ones that cover Central park and are just completely empty and all they do is create like a shadow on the park and, and they're basically just like pieces of like metal garbage that get put up in the city where no one's even living in them.
- [42:47]
Ryan Grim
So yeah, I mean soccer has talked about that in the way that you know it, it hollows out these cities and makes them so that they're, they're not real. They're just like, yeah, they're a stopping stomping grounds or a resting place for the global elite as they happen to pass through. And you see that certainly most of all in Manhattan. So. And I mean, obviously soccer is conservative, like conservative populace, but I don't think that that is a, is a totally unique view. So it's, it's really is a proposal that I feel like is very hard to oppose because even if, okay, let's say Ken Griffin gets mad and he's like, I'm gonna sell my 278 million dollar condo. I'm moving out for a tiny little tax that he wouldn't even know. Okay, fine, like you don't live here to begin with. And now you have, you know, more housing stock that is available now. Of course you're not going to have working class people moving in, but if you actually did reduce the demand for these like super, super luxury buildings, then developers would have more of an incentive to build things that ordinary people would be able to afford. Because I'm far less concerned about Ken Griffin moving out of the city and far more concerned about all of the working class people who cannot afford to live in New York City. They're the ones who have actually fled and are unable to, you know, sustain a life there even if they would like to.
- [44:05]
Griffin Davis
So one last note. You know, Trump is deciding that he has to, you know, really play hardball now with Mamdani and talk about how Mamdani, he talks to him all the time, but he's ruining New York is now what is Trump is saying out loud. But it is funny because Zorin has gotten yet another thing from Trump. This is in the New York Times. In a reversal, the Trump administration agrees to release nearly 60 million in funding for New York City's Second Avenue subway. So he just, he just can't say no to this guy.
- [44:42]
Ryan Grim
Griffin, what did you think of the cinematic elements of the Tax the Rich video?
- [44:46]
Griffin Davis
I think that the, the freeze frame. Well, I think that close up, freeze frame is going to, yes, be in a museum one day. I think that's already being named. Yes, I think something about that really struck home to people. And you know, we talk a lot about taxing the billionaires, but, but looking down the barrel, tapping, tapping the lens, that, that, that's, that's something like, we're coming for you. So I, I, I appreciated the, the cinematic quality of it and the, the directness of it and yeah, calling out some by name. He had a similar dust up, didn't make a video for it. But there is a city council member in New York that's been getting his way, named Julie Menin. She is very, very rich. Believe she owns like a lot of real estate. She might be One of those multi home owners as well. And seems like now she is had bending to Zoron's will at least on a few city council votes. So it does really seem like you said it earlier, Crystal, like, like there is a base that people are aware of, afraid of. And the online billionaire rich people is not a real base because they live in, they have five homes all over the place, they don't have a constituency and Zoron is actually.
- [46:05]
Ryan Grim
No, yeah. And they have no loyalty. They have no loyalty to a city, they have no loyalty to a country. They have a lot of class loyalty to one another as we saw demonstrated in the Epstein file. But you know, they, they play us all like fools, like, oh, you know, I'm gonna take my toys and go home. But you know, with regards to Zoron, I just, I still think it's such a shame he can't run for president because I do think he has both the talent, the right messaging and truly understands how to do politics today.
- [46:36]
Griffin Davis
Villains, villains, which the Democratic Party refuses to do. And people like the abundance as recline people refuse to do, which is name villains and identify them, which is politics.
- [46:48]
Ryan Grim
And to, to intentionally provoke, you know, and he's able to do it in a way where, you know, unlike Trump who's like angry and outrageous and whatever, Zoran will just say a thing in his cheerful, you know, big smile, very polished way and he knows how to press buttons to cause the freak out that he wants. And he, I think he, he, he expected that from this. And the, the other one that I think it's funny that there was such a free gown over is the grocery stores, which it's like we're talking about five grocery stores in a massive city. It's the most insignificant part of his agenda now. I think it's a great pilot. I think it's good ideologically to demonstrate like here's a thing government could do. But that was. It almost seemed like in the campaign, outside of the Zionist piece, that was what the biggest freak out was about from, you know, it was, oh my God, bread lines and communism and this is Soviet, blah, blah, blah. It's like, it's literally, like, literally the federal government runs grocery stores and basically every military base here and around the world. This is not that crazy of an idea. So everybody relax, it's gonna be fine. And when he got asked about like, well what if it doesn't work? He's like, then it didn't work. Then we try something else. No big deal, right?
- [48:08]
Crystal Ball
Yeah. And that's why I actually think the. The people really need to pay way more attention to Ro describing the California piece as anti revolutionary. Because the more that you treat these, these things like the pter terror attacks as total, like, scariest thing you've ever seen or, you know, like the end of America grocery stores like the end of America. What they're really saying, the reason the right goes into hysterics over these things and the kind of business center goes into hysterics over these things is because they're correctly sensing that the country is saying the system is broken. If you have an alternative that I feel like is going to work better for me, I do not care if it is called socialism or democratic socialism, do it. Do it. And people are going in that direction. So the billionaires and the centrist business people are correct to sense that that's happening. What they're doing is freaking out and saying, you're a horrible person. If you support this. You are Stalin, you are Mao. You are taking America down that path. Instead of realizing. And there are all kinds of quotes from the Gilded Age, I should say the first Gilded Age about this, where people like Carnegie were realizing that the way the system had been set up was sending people into, like, Bolshevism and that the. The enemies of capitalism were the capitalists. The capitalists were starting to make capitalism unsustain because it wasn't working for everyone. And what they should be doing, instead of freaking out at anybody who's like, hey, a sitting room grocery store might be nice. I can't afford the price of milk and eggs right now. They're. They're treating that like it's. It's Bolshevism. Instead of offering alternatives that are viable and making the case for their alternatives, they're just making the case against socialism. But they're also, like, inflating it to this. This cartoonish, like, confl. They're inflating the five grocery stores in a pieta terre tax into this cartoonish version of what it is. But they're not wrong about what it is, which is evidence that people want a new system and they're willing to accept, you know, more government intervention in the market.
- [50:25]
Ryan Grim
Yeah.
- [50:25]
Griffin Davis
Yep. And if the gr. If the Zoron grocery stores don't work, well, we can just go back to the poly market grocery stores that are popping up all over the place.
- [50:34]
Crystal Ball
That's the alternative they're offering.
- [50:36]
Ryan Grim
Being offered.
- [50:37]
Griffin Davis
There are alternatives offered by. By.
- [50:40]
Crystal Ball
I misspoke. They're doing.
- [50:42]
Griffin Davis
They're doing the work Emily, you said speaking of untenable, I think that leads us nicely to a warning from Senator Mark Warner, who predicts that college graduate unemployment is going to reach 30% in the next two years. Let's take a listen.
- [51:00]
Mark Warner
But we all kind of of describe how we make jobs AI adjacent. I've yet to see that they're there on that. And again, I think there will be productivity, I think there'll be job increases, I think there'll be innovation. But boy, oh boy, this short term, next couple of years, you know, the stat I use recent college grad unemployment is about 9%. I believe it'll go to 30% within the next two years. And that has, that will have a dual effect of not only making that age cohort appropriately concerned, but an awful lot of parents and grandparents who help finance that education. Pretty pissed off. So how we get this right and what I've been trying to implore. We need the tech community, the hyperscalers to both help us through the transition and also help pay for.
- [51:57]
Crystal Ball
So 30% is a big number for. I know you're restricting yourself to recent college grads there, but that's still really, really high. How did you get to that number?
- [52:05]
Mark Warner
I got that number simply because I think most CEOs are not being what they say to me privately about the amount of job elimination that they're looking at is not what they're saying publicly. I think they're hesitant to. To literally say the full truth because they think they're afraid it's going to freak people out. And I think it will come less in the form of we're going to go out and fire X number. I think it's just the incoming. I don't know a single firm where their incoming class of new hires is not a half or a third of what it was even a few years back.
- [52:47]
Ryan Grim
I like the way that lady is lounging. She's so comfy doing that interview. I need to take a lesson from that.
- [52:54]
Griffin Davis
But she already has a job. Crystal, you just brought your daughter to college tours, so how does this make you feel in your own family's future?
- [53:03]
Crystal Ball
By the way? We have to just acknowledge. I mean, Crystal, you look incredible for having a college
- [53:11]
Griffin Davis
who is touring.
- [53:12]
Crystal Ball
Are you on tour? Yeah.
- [53:14]
Ryan Grim
I mean, stop anyway. Yeah, I feel seen. I mean, I'll tell you, like I. My advice to my daughter going to school is like, I don't know what the job landscape will look like. I have no idea. And no one, no one does. No one could tell you. So I think the best thing you can do is pursue studies that deepen your humanity. I mean, it kind of in a way is like a return to like the traditional liberal arts approach. Because I don't know what else to advise. I mean, what, I feel really, really bad for the people who were sold the, like, learn to code, you know, people who graduated with their computer science degree thinking they had their golden ticket like three years ago. And I mean, that path that was, that's the first to go, that's already gone, right? If you're graduating with that degree now, good luck because that's already been, you know, Claude is going to handle it. Sorry, we don't need your services anymore. So. So look, is he right? Who knows? But this is someone who was a, you know, himself. He's a billionaire CEO, I think he's a billionaire, very wealthy CEO and certainly in tight with all of these guys. So if that's what they're telling him, I, I believe him because I don't see any reason why he would lie. Now, I would say as a senator and a politician who is rather senior and has, has, you know, fair amount of, of power and sway, what solutions are you offering, Mark Warner? Because I don't see that side of your politics whatsoever. If you truly believe college grad unemployment is going to 30% in a matter of years, that necessitates a much more radical approach to changing the social contract than what I have ever seen from Mark Warner. And this is kind of what drives me crazy, you know, not only from him, but from all these tech CEOs has come out and like, well, we're going to get rid of human labor. So, you know, you guys should get ready for that. It's like, okay, well, you're announcing your intent to just completely rip up the social contract with no democratic input whatsoever. In fact, the democratic input you're getting is saying stop. And people are starting to throw Molotov cocktails at Sam Altman's house. And yet I have heard none of them offer anything that approaches, including Dario Amade, who's, you know, anthropic is supposed to be the most thoughtful one that comes anywhere close to approaching what would need to be done. Because the truth of the matter is, what would need to be done is some sort of public ownership, public accountability, public benefit. And of course the, you know, guys who own and control this. No, they want to be the oligarch king who comes out on top and that's what they're all racing to become.
- [55:56]
Crystal Ball
So I want to put some Stuff up on the screen here. This is from the New York Fed. You can see this is the unemployment rates for recent college graduates versus other groups. So if you look all the way over here, where we are right now. So this ends in December 25. Yep. So you have the blue line is recent college graduates. Look, it's, it's, it's been rising steadily since these LLMs were rolled out. And economists say some of what's going on right now is not all attributable to LLMs. It's on top of a really shaky economy. Part of that is because you have like the Mag 7 propping up like what, 30% of the Dow or the S and P. I mean it's just like insane levels, maybe even more than that, but on top of that tariffs and how we could add war into the mix. But look at where this, this is recession levels creeping up into recession levels here we're comparing this with around 2009, 2010 for recent college graduates. Graduates. This is Covid. This is where it shoots up during COVID but yes, it's going up really high now. Let me share this one. This is a headline from Fortune. Gen Z. Men with college degrees now have the same unemployment rate as non grads. So remember that comes with a lot of debt for the average college graduate as well some around $40,000 on average of debt. So speaking of anti revolutionary taxes, imagine, you know, many of you are actually probably don't have to imagine it because you're in those shoes. You're a 24 year old college grad with $35,000 in debt and if you had gone into like, if you, if you had done a welding apprenticeship five years ago, you would be making more right now. But instead you did what the system was designed to make you do. And you trusted the authorities who told you this is the right path for you. And now you're saddled with debt and making less money than you could and maybe even a more miserable and fragile job than you'd want to be in anyway. So it's really, really bleak.
- [58:10]
Griffin Davis
Yeah, the new tech like sales pitch is so bizarre to me because like the old tech pitches, the Steve Jobs, the original Silicon Valley people, their pitch was that technology will improve your life, that you're going to be able to access more like live a more full life. And now the pitch is, is life is over. Like, like there, there will be no more life. And, and get used to that. And if all of our AI CEO predictions about the future are right, well then you will have no life. And if they're wrong, we are going to crash the economy. So the, the pitch is, is needs some work, needs some massaging. And it's also a weird period where like, like these CEOs, like Crystal said, are so bad at making people feel good about their products or optimistic or not feel doom and, but they seem to like, like the celebrity of it. So they keep putting themselves out there. Like Sam Altman is not a soothing figure. He's not someone that makes you feel calming or better. Like they could hire comms people to do this, but they, they somehow they sound like like the celebrity of, of being in all these interviews talking about the future and doing a terrible job at painting a future that anybody wants.
- [59:28]
Ryan Grim
So I guess we should be grateful for that, right?
- [59:30]
Griffin Davis
I guess we should be grateful for
- [59:31]
Ryan Grim
that because it's very, it's very off putting, but it's also, you know, helps people to understand. Thank you for the reality of how dystopian it is. Yeah, I don't know. I didn't, I didn't get through the whole Rowan and Farrow piece about Sam Altman. But I mean, I guess basically the TL TLDRs, he's psychopath who lies all the time. So that's the guy who's, you know, one allegedly could come out on top of this, you know, race to AGI and have more power than any human being has ever had in the history of humanity. So that's something we can look forward to.
- [60:03]
Griffin Davis
And speaking of social contract, now there has been a tech leader that has started to speak about a new social contract. I, of course, I'm talking about Elon Musk. Musk, who over the last two days has been talking about universal basic income through artificial intelligence.
- [60:21]
Crystal Ball
No, universal high income.
- [60:24]
Griffin Davis
Oh, sorry. Universal high income. Really? Yeah. So like, you know, what do people need, like 500 bucks a month? Every two months? We'll see. Let's, let's take a listen.
- [60:34]
Crystal Ball
How much could a banana cost? Michael?
- [60:36]
Julian Andreone
Be sort of complacent. We need to, we do need to be careful because the future is a range of possible outcomes and they're not all great. But at this point I do agree with you that it's likely to be great. It's probably 80% likely, maybe more likely to be great. And I do think we'll have universal high income. We're basically just issuing money to people and really just because the output of goods and services will so far exceed the money supply that you know that, that effectively you have deflation because just Deflation is just the ratio of the outputs of goods and services to the money supply. So that, that's. So if the rate of growth of goods and services or exceeds the rate of growth of the money supply, which I predict will happen, then you'll have deflation.
- [61:34]
Griffin Davis
So what do we think about that Brave new world?
- [61:39]
Crystal Ball
That's communism, just to be clear.
- [61:41]
Shoikat Chakrabody
Whoa.
- [61:42]
Ryan Grim
I mean it actually. Well, it isn't because he's talking about these. I mean, he would still be the owner if Grok is the first to achieve, you know, get to the mountaintop. He still would be the owner of the technology. And so we would be completely dependent on the good graces of Elon Musk Musk, who, you know, I think is, is pretty clearly eugenicist and has all sorts of other problems besides to then distribute this income as he sees to be adequate. And that's why to me the core issue really is ownership. Because let's say that Elon or Sam Altman or Mark Zuckerberg or one of these other characters, Mark Henderson, is appointed that to Peter T. Whoever, right?
- [62:24]
Crystal Ball
Let's just say head. Mark Andrew pointed. The head.
- [62:27]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, exactly. Yes, exactly.
- [62:30]
Griffin Davis
The dome.
- [62:30]
Ryan Grim
We'll just leave it there. The dome. He's at the top of the dome. Let's, let's say that they, you know, the deflation happens, which is one of the potential promises of A.I. you know, if it's able to deliver on all of the like utopian vision. And let's say that they decide that they want to keep us around even though they really don't need us anymore, which is totally something that I think, think, you know, billionaires love having human beings and your average working class person around. So let's assume all of that and that they provide reasonable, let's say even high income. It still doesn't answer all the questions of what is this technology going to be used for? How is it going to be deployed? And so if we do believe the hype, and I don't know if we believe the hype, I think that's still an open question. But if we do believe the hype, hype, there has to be a focus on who owns and who controls and who, who drives these technologies. And if, and you know, I can already hear Emily saying like, I also don't want it in the hands of just like the President of the United States, which I agree with, like God forbid, Donald Trump is the one who's deciding how this all goes, which is basically what's happening right now. There needs to be true Small D Democratic check where people have input and there is collaboration. There's an ability to control our own futures. And we're not just all hoping that Elon Musk is benevolent enough and smart enough to figure this all out. So that's why this is all so disturbing, so dystopian. And why even the proposals that they offer that sound like, okay, universal high income. I guess that sounds good. Good. They preserve the key point of power for Elon and the other oligarchs. And I include, you know, Dario Amadei in the solutions that he's offered as well.
- [64:26]
Crystal Ball
Yeah. And the reason I was kind of joking about the communism point is that he already wants Grok. I mean, what Grok has contracts with Xai. I should say has. Has contracts with the Pentagon. Like he is a, he is a major defense contractor. Actually, even bigger than that. He's a major government contractor. And so what you have then is crony capitalism doing like universal. So like it's, it's, it's, you know, the, the communist definition is. It's not like exact. And it's not exactly capitalism either. It's this like awful combination of both where you have someone who's not really democratically accountable either to the market or to voters because they're just this like, like version of Lockheed on steroids in this fantastic fantasy utopian future that Elon Musk has sketched out. Degree that's, it's like wildly. It's not even Republican, lowercase are Republican. It's not Democratic, it's not Republican. It's just cronyism. And the thing that's crazy about, first of all, I mean, we could go into the entire conversation about how patronizing it is and how undignified it is for you to have to pay for your bread because of the benevolence just, just based on the benevolence of Elon Musk and whomever is president and is giving Elon Musk this power. Whatever. That's just disgusting. And nobody should have to live that way. Way. Gross. And secondly, they have so much money right now, it's hilarious to me that they think AI growth will be what creates universal high income. You know what they could do right now if they took pay cuts? They could probably do some version of universal high income right now. Not high income, but they could do ubiquitous Right now they just want to wait until everything explodes so they can be even richer and then it costs them less percentage wise of their wealth to distribute universal high income. So that's a reason that you shouldn't trust that they ever actually will do universal high income. Because parting with their cash, no matter how much they have, is historically very, very difficult. And so if you think that they get more and suddenly decide, oh, here's a great way to do the system, good luck with that.
- [66:45]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, these. And this is the same type of cast of characters that's freaking out about some minuscule tax on their piano terror to fund like, you know, a minor expansion of daycare in the city of New York. So, yeah, I don't think anyone should really trust their motives or intentions here.
- [67:01]
Griffin Davis
You don't want Linda Yakarino cutting the checks. Okay, well, more of a.
- [67:09]
Ryan Grim
More of a Bill Ackman person my. Myself.
- [67:11]
Griffin Davis
That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [67:12]
Crystal Ball
Ye Ackman head.
- [67:14]
Ryan Grim
Do you guys remember when he paid to be in that tennis in like, what was the U.S. open? He like, played in the U.S. that was. That was amazing. Glenn was so mad about that. Glenn Greenwald was so mad about that.
- [67:28]
Griffin Davis
Emily. That was communism. Okay, that was communism.
- [67:32]
Crystal Ball
But I will say, if you're relying on a government contractor for your, like, regular income, we're getting pretty close. So thank you. The great anti communist warrior.
- [67:46]
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Griffin Davis
That's innerbalance.com this is Julian Edelman from
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- [70:18]
Ryan Grim
facts Very true. Very true.
- [70:19]
Griffin Davis
Well, speaking, speaking of evil commies, let's go to aoc. See, we've got AOC here in a clip where she was asked by Julian Andreone from Drop Site News shout out to Julian.
- [70:32]
Crystal Ball
Yep. Friend of the show, Julian Dropsite, Capitol Hill reporter.
- [70:36]
Griffin Davis
And she was asked about the race between Shaikat Chakrabody and Scott Wiener in California shot. Obviously your chief of staff, former chief of staff is running in San Francisco. That primary's in June. Obviously you're not going to have a
- [70:52]
Julian Andreone
reporter tell you to endorse. But.
- [70:53]
Griffin Davis
But like is that something you're are
- [70:55]
Crystal Ball
you at least monitoring the race, looking at it?
- [70:57]
Griffin Davis
I mean, what's your stance on.
- [70:59]
Julian Andreone
Because like you have a close race.
- [71:00]
Shoikat Chakrabody
I think for me overall it's more about I'm trying to think about the role that I am trying to play more broadly in these things. You know, it's we've got 435 seats in Congress, right. And there is this kind of moment where it's like when and not just with this race, with any race. Once you go in, then it's like what about this? What about this? What about this one? And I'm one person with, you know, a pretty amazing crack but also lean team and so we're thinking about kind of like how much of myself I'm pouring into this and how much of myself we want to make sure that we're, you know, pouring into the task at hand. Like, you know, what we've got going on here. So. But I think that, that what I will say is that I think that the primary environment that we're seeing is really great. I think that progressives have already notched some really impressive victories this early into the primary season and we've got another, what, six or seven months of it to go and I'm looking forward to having a lot of new colleagues here in November that we can, you know, it's been a lonely, really lonely program road for the first eight years and I'm really hoping that it'll be a little less lonely in November.
- [72:22]
Griffin Davis
Emily, your face.
- [72:26]
Crystal Ball
Well, so for context, Julian's like 6 foot 5. He's literally a giant. So that's why.
- [72:31]
Griffin Davis
Important context for audio only listeners.
- [72:33]
Crystal Ball
Yes, yes. But I mean you guys are, you guys can cook on this. I'll let you guys go off. But that's a little bit of cope crystal.
- [72:46]
Griffin Davis
They were like former allies. Right, right.
- [72:48]
Ryan Grim
He was her chief of staff. I mean he was with her during her upset campaign that where, you know, almost no one thought she would win. And then Ryan has done the reporting. I don't think anyone clearly, like, listen, I'm reading into this. She's got some sort of a personal issue with him because otherwise this is your former chief of staff. He. There is another progressive in the race, but he is the one that according to the polls has the actual chance to win. He is part of your ideological project and movement. He's up against the state senator, Scott Weiner, who is generally progressive except Palestine. He's tried to position reposition himself, recognizing where the base of the party is. But it's very clear Shoigot is the left wing candidate with the best shot to win. And not only does she not endorse him, she doesn't say a single thing about him. Nothing. No kind words? No. I think he's a great progressive, but I'm just a vet. No. So she clearly has some sort of a personal beef and is allowing that to cloud her commitment to a broader movement. So she says in that, like, I'm trying to figure out what kind of role I'm going to play. It's like, lady, I thought you were trying to play the role of a progressive leader. So you know, if you're trying to do that, then whatever your Hurt feelings are. Whatever happened in the past, you put that aside because you're supposed to be helping to get these candidates in so you're not so lonely in Congress anymore. I mean, the whole thing, everything about it is cope and nonsense too, because she also does this thing like, oh, our staff is so lean, blah, blah, blah. There's plenty of other people out there who manage to make endorsements and, you know, serve in Congress, and it's not that hard. And you yourself have made other endorsements, so it's not like you're waiting to rip the band aid off, you know, So I don't know. I just look at this and it's very. It's not honest, number one. It's not direct. None of it makes sense.
- [74:43]
Crystal Ball
Sense.
- [74:43]
Ryan Grim
This does not appear to me someone who is comfortable or truly desires to be in a leadership role. And so it's just very, honestly, just very sad to me because she has so much potential to be such an important force right now at a time when the political project that she has helped been a very important part of is taking flight, does have this momentum. Analilia Mejia won overwhelmingly in New Jersey last night. That's awesome, by the way. AOC endorsed her, managed to endorse her without a problem, without stretching her too thin or whatever. But in any case, right at the moment when she could really be pushing the ball forward, she's so reticent and, you know, I. I feel like. And not to over psychologize her, but she's taken so much criticism from the right. She's taken criticism from the left, from myself included, because I do hold her to a higher standard as someone who wants to position herself as the vanguard of the left. You know, I expect her to be occupying that space. And there have been instances where she has not. And in response to that criticism, rather than going out there and making her case and kind of doing battle, she's withdrawn. You know, she doesn't go on shows like ours, and not just ours. She doesn't go on. You know, she'll occasionally go on with Hasan, maybe she's gone a majority report once.
- [76:04]
Griffin Davis
She'll go on Hassan for like. She'll go on Hassan for like four minutes, right? Like, these aren't even like long, long sit downs. And that is, that is kind of the interesting thing about, I guess, AOC's theory of. Of media, which is to do Instagram videos to have like, complete control, right? Do your stories, do your Instagram lives, and have complete control of your media message. Do a quick snippet to a news camera outside the Capitol or whatever and sort of have a full control there. You know, we came out of 2024, which was the podcast election, or that's how people refer to it. It was really like four guys. It was like Schultz, Theoban Rogan, Tim Dillon, maybe, maybe that. Oh, Alexis kind of disappeared a little bit.
- [76:47]
Ryan Grim
Now he's like, this is boys erasure.
- [76:50]
Griffin Davis
I'm so sorry. Yes, the Nelk boys, we add them. But those were like the Four Horsemen of the podcast election. Maybe, maybe 2028. Maybe they aren't the Four Horsemen. Maybe they actually don't have as much sway in 2028. Like, who's to say there? But I do think it's clear that, like, can you imagine AOC doing a two hour podcast anywhere right now? Um, I do think it's like a weakness for her. Like I. And, but I guess her theory of the case is like, maybe she doesn't have to do them. Maybe she can just stay on Instagram, stay on these places, not have to sit with anyone.
- [77:26]
Ryan Grim
Like, like, didn't we already. Didn' learn that that's not the case with Kamala Harris? Like, didn't we already find this out? And even if, let's say that that general media theory is correct, that she can do her own media and she's a big enough star that people will come to her and see what she has to offer, number one, I think Zoron's content is vastly, like, more polished and effective than hers. I haven't seen anything she's put out that is like, hit anywhere close to like, what his, you know, billionaire tax video or even his like halal cart video or any of those. Right. So that's number one. I don't even think that she's doing a, like, particularly good job if that's the theory. But number two, remember when she went to that, what was the Munich security conference and she kind of fell flat on her face. Even people who want to defend her had to admit that it wasn't exactly a polished presentation. And I personally had some issues with the ideological content of the answer as well. Well, that doesn't come out of nowhere. That's because she's not putting in reps. If you're not facing hostile questioning, if you're not having to deal with the questions that you have, you're not going to be good at it. No matter. I don't care how talented you are.
- [78:38]
Griffin Davis
It was like Tim Walls.
- [78:38]
Ryan Grim
It requires practice.
- [78:40]
Griffin Davis
It was like Tim Walls, you know, like J.D. was going on all of the shows. J.D. was getting his reps in. And then you go to the VP debate. Tim Walls. All Tim Walls was doing was eating corn dogs at the county fair and, like, hiding from reporters. And then, great point. You go to and he gets walloped by Vance, who, like, Vance started out. Vance started out not that great on camera. We. We interviewed Vance before he was the nominee, and he was far less talented back then. I mean, you can say what you want about him right now if you don't feel he's talented currently. But he did put in reps. He got better.
- [79:15]
Crystal Ball
So the. Or Walls would go on, like, really, really gentle, like dad podcasts and that type of thing. That's actually a really good point about the. The media. When you're in a. A. An environment, you can study all you want, but when it actually is like you're at the Munich Security conference and people are asking you about Taiwan, you can tell that she sort of freezes because she's trying to, like, bring up the. The points that she's studied for, which is what all politicians do. But that's very interesting. And it also the. The thing that stuck with me from what you guys have been talking about, because from the outside, I disagree a little bit. And again, I. I'm. I'm observing this from the outside. I think she's actually been. I think there's a chance that we look at this 10 years from now and we're like, she played it pretty cleverly. I think her relationship with Nancy Pelosi, which I wonder if that's involved in the Scott Wiener situation, probably is. I think she was very fairly clever about that, because when I look back at the trajectory of the left since she won and galvanized candidates around the country and the broader movement, it's been on the up. The question is, I think the point that you guys are both raising, is she up to be a leader of that movement? She obviously wants to be a leader of that movement. But when you look at this answer to Julian, that is not the statement of a leader. When you look at the performance at Munich, that is not the performance of a leader. Somebody with the capacity to really take the helm of the movement from Bernie, who clearly wants to appoint AOC the heir They're Fighting Oligarchy Tour was a massive runaway success. Success. Could she have done that on her own or with another person that she chooses in the future to go on a sort of tour with? Is she exhibiting, like, really the capacity to be a leader? I think that is the point that you guys are hitting on that really resonates. That's very, very interesting.
- [81:08]
Ryan Grim
Yeah. And, Emily, to your point, I've been thinking about this lately. You know, the. The disappointments of the left in the squad, which really, you know, kind of. Kind of aoc, seen as the leader of. And she comes in with all this fanfare and knocks off this Joe Crowley, who, you know, came out of nowhere, and there's all this post 2016 excitement. The reality is the left is very weak, right? No institutional backing, public still very much in love with the Democratic establishment, leadership in love with MSNBC in terms of the Democratic base, et cetera. And so it. It was. Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was a savvy calculus. I. I still don't totally agree, but I can see why. Why the calculation was made. Look, we just don't have the institutional support to do this renegade thing right now, so I need to get what I can from leadership. Right? We're in a different moment now. The base of the party's with us. They're not with Nancy Pelosi.
- [81:59]
Crystal Ball
They're.
- [81:59]
Ryan Grim
They're certainly not with Chuck Schum. They're certainly not with Hakeem Jeffries. It's a different moment now. And the power, the institutional power needs to be built. She could be an important part of building that. As far as I can tell, she is not doing that, and she's very reluctant to do that. And so to see her there saying, I don't really know what my role is, it's like, okay, well, then, you know, don't pretend like we should all defer to you as some leader of the progressive movement or take seriously a presidential bid if you don't even know yourself if that's the role that you want to fill. And I just look at, you know, I look at. We've had huge energy and outrage on the left over ice. We've had, you know, a massive national conversation about the Epstein class and Epstein files. We're at war with Iran right now. And on all of these things, she will. She will take the correct positions, right? She'll vote the right way. But is she the one leading the charge post the fight oligarchy tour? I have not seen it. I have not seen it. And so, you know, when she says, I'm not sure what role, I think that's actually very revealing that she is not secure in the role that she wants to fill. And. And, you know, if you want to be that person who is out front, you really do need to go into some Spaces that are going to be uncomfortable and be unafraid of making your case and be unafraid of. Look, yeah, of course if you're going to be a very visible leader, you are going to take income. That is the nature of the deal. And it may not always be fair. And that has certainly been the case for her. And you know, the way she's been sexualized, all of that stuff is disgusting. But you have to be prepared that you're going to take incoming and then you can, you know, play it like Zoron does and provoke the fights you want to provoke and, and help guide and take the incoming you want to take so that you're driving the narrative. But instead I feel like she turned mortals and has just become increasingly insular and that's, you know, it's not going to serve anyone. So anyway, I find this whole thing very frustrating and just so lame. Just so lame. Like, it's just so dishonest too. Like if you've got, you know, at least have the respect to say, listen, we had some issues in office. I'm not sure, you know, like, okay, at least I can deal with that. But to pretend.
- [84:26]
Griffin Davis
Yeah.
- [84:26]
Ryan Grim
Did I even say his name? To pretend like, oh, this is about some other higher minded principle. It's like this is just all total spin and nonsense and everyone can say to me through it.
- [84:34]
Griffin Davis
It definitely felt Kamala E. Where it's like, you know, you're gonna get these questions like you should have something to say, even if it's something that we disagree with. But she is, you know, the last thing I'll say positively for AOC is I do think she would be the only 20, 28 candidate to actually unite liberals in the left, whereas I feel like every other candidate, there'd be a lot of schisms between. But I do think most leftists would probably like come over to her. I, I don't think that they're as critical as, as potentially we are on the show of her. I do think there's still a lot of good feelings for aoc and I do also feel like liberals would, would trust her. Do you disagree, Emily?
- [85:13]
Crystal Ball
No, I mean, I just am thinking about like how Glenn has covered aoc, which is, I think, appropriately critical, and how we've covered her, which I think has been totally fair. And I wonder how that trickles into like the average kind of leftist based Democratic voter in a primary. So I don't know. It's an interesting point. I think, you know, it depends on who you're running against. Because if you're running against Kamala Harris, then it's easy to consolidate people in support of aoc.
- [85:42]
Ryan Grim
I mean, I would just say I think you're right about that, Griffin. I think she is broadly popular, right? I think she's broadly one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party right now. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Can you imagine our holding up on a debate stage? I mean, I can't, you know, and so the. I Look, the. Kamala Harris came into the 2020 primary with a head of steam and with that same position. People thought, okay, she's for Medicare for all, and maybe she can bridge these divides. And she's got this incredible resume, blah, blah, blah. And then she really. She had one great debate performance. The like, you know, what was it? Her tagline, like that little girl was me that. I mean, it really did in the moment. Like, her polls went up and people responded to it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then after that, she just kind of crumbled. And people as they watched her under that scrutiny were like, I can't really see it. And so it's. It's hard for me to imagine.
- [86:32]
Griffin Davis
I'm.
- [86:33]
Ryan Grim
I'm sorry. I hate to be so brutal, but it is hard for me to imagine AOC because she hasn't put in the time and the reps really holding up under that scrutiny. And the few glimpses we've gotten of her under pressure have not been great. So it makes me very skeptical. Skeptical of. Of her chances and even really her. Her desire to. To put herself into that role. I mean, I think that's a part of what else is going on here. She may herself be kind of reluctant. And you got a staff around. You say, oh, you've got this favorability, you've got this name recognition and your Bernie's there and blah, blah, blah. And so she's being pulled in this direction, but I'm not sure that she's entirely comfortable with it at this point. Maybe part of what we're getting as well.
- [87:14]
Griffin Davis
Okay, so I know that'll end the AOC discussion. I know Crystal's gonna jump in a second. Sec. Let's hit some AMA questions. Let's see if we can get one out of Crystal before she's got a run. Let's see, from Trevor Scott. What is everyone's thoughts on the coalition between Roana and mtg? Is this a dangerous move or smart politics in order to leverage their followers to put pressure against the war or both?
- [87:38]
Ryan Grim
I think it's a little bit dangerous, actually.
- [87:41]
Griffin Davis
I agree.
- [87:42]
Ryan Grim
I, I think Roe working with Thomas Massie on war powers resolutions on, you know, Epstein files, Roe working with MTG when she was in Congress on these things. That is completely, that makes a lot of sense. And I have no problem with him, you know, doing a CNN interview exploring where they have overlap, exploring where they have differences, etc, but I do think there is a danger in affiliating yourself too much with her because some of her views have been really awful and you know, and some of her contribution politics has been truly terrible and I'm not sure that we've really seen. Okay, what, what is the transformation that occurred here? Who are you today? What do you actually believe at this point? So that's why I think it's. There is a bit of a risk here of him being a bit overeager to sort of affiliate with someone, especially if you are thinking in terms of a Democratic primary base, much of whom are still going to have a lot of antipathy towards Marjorie Taylor Green.
- [88:41]
Crystal Ball
Did Griffin. Is Griffin here?
- [88:44]
Ryan Grim
I think he is.
- [88:45]
Crystal Ball
What happened to Griffin?
- [88:46]
Ryan Grim
Dropped off for a second. What are your thoughts, Emily? You probably disagree with me on this one.
- [88:51]
Crystal Ball
No, I mean, I see what you're saying. I think I, I have seen MTG like apologize for the way she did politics years ago, but I think part of the reason it's good is that I think she is actually trying to figure out what she believes believes right now. Like, I feel like she's felt like she's had the rug pulled out from under her by maga, by Trump, by the Republican Party, that she felt like she was at the helm of like briefly. And that leaves her questioning a lot of like and, and RO can probably help nudge her in, in good directions or better directions. So I, I, I just, my skepticism of it is like how much does it really matter? Like is it really going to do much? Like, I don't think it's re, I don't think it's revolutionary or anything of that sort of.
- [89:35]
Ryan Grim
There's a, there's a line he can walk that's like projecting. Okay, this is what a broad majority could look like. And as long as she's coming to him on his issue positions, then he's in the position of strength. I think the danger is if there's any, you know, sort of like when Gavin Newsom would host like Ben Shapiro or Charlie Kirk or whatever and he's going to their positions. Yeah, that reads his weakness. That reads his capitulation. If you're drawing like a magnet people to your positions, then you're in a position of strength.
- [90:05]
Griffin Davis
Yeah. But also, it's like MTG got bullied and quit. Like, I just don't see what, like, does she even have a political future? Like, is she going to quit again when someone's mean to her again? Like, I'm sorry, but it was kind of pathetic how she, like, it is, took a stand and then quit. She could be voting on these war powers resolutions. She could be voting on all these things. So it's like, okay, now we're aligning with. What is she on, like a gym? Like, what is it?
- [90:30]
Liquid IV Ad Host
I don't.
- [90:30]
Griffin Davis
I don't know know what her future is. And I do feel like it's almost. It's kind of like. It's weird because it is kind of the premise of our show, right, that there are these, like, shared interests between the left and right, like populists or whatever. But it is also kind of like a nerdy online take, isn't it? Like, you know, like, like maybe like liberals won't like that he's cozy with all these people if he's running a Dem primary. Like, maybe that would work against him. All in all, though, I respect it because. Because at the end of the day, for the last six weeks, we've been trying to stop the Israeli nuclear holocaust, right? So, like, it doesn't matter who you align with right now. Like, we're glad that everyone, like, we're glad that Megan Kelly is saying what she's saying on the war. We're glad that Tucker is saying what he's saying on the war. You know, so again, that moment, and I respect it, but, yeah, I'm, I'm not sure about the future there. And Crystal, do you gotta run?
- [91:19]
Crystal Ball
It's tough.
- [91:20]
Ryan Grim
I do. I need to jump. I've got a meeting I have to get to, but appreciate guy.
- [91:25]
Griffin Davis
Yeah, yeah, Bye. Okay, Emily from Space Bartender. Emily, what's your sense of the net impact of Trump's fight with the Pope? Repleted slash, repeated claims of divinity. Is it losing him support in a significant way? Is there some meaningful number that like it because he's smashing norms? There's a few more questions here, but. Oh, yeah, and his heg. Is Hegseth's aggressive religiosity a plus or a minus to administer administration?
- [91:53]
Crystal Ball
Like, for the. I guess that the, the politics. I guess if those are the same questions, like the politics of the, the hagset thing, I'll get to that in a second. With Trump I don't know. It's always hard to tell what's a media scandal for Trump. Like we hear over and over again for the last 10 years, he's losing it this time. He's really losing it this time. He's like, he's, he's finally gone crazy. 25th amendment. It's like it happens there. It comes in waves. And, well, like, my perspective on it was like, this is exactly what I expect for Donald Trump is exactly what I expect from Donald Trump and has been one I've expected from Donald Trump since 2015 in politics. Like, this is. He posted, he photoshopped himself into the Pope's like, outfit last year at a very sensitive time for the Catholic Church, I guess. He says all kinds of like, he says he hates his enemies. He says, you know, I used to get my little wine and my little cracker. It's just like, so I can't tell. But I have heard just anecdotally people being somewhat horrified by it. And Catholic voters are real. And there are some independent leaning Catholic voters, like the types of people that voted Obama and then Trump, Rust Belt types. So I could see it being kind of a final straw building on top of like a lot of just total, you know, disillusionment and fatigue, exhaustion with Trump and Trumpism. Hegseth, the politics of Hegseth constantly invoking religion at his war briefings, I think are incontrovertibly bad. You know, Christians want their leaders to be like, to believe everything is in being done with having like prayed for the correct sense of direction and to make decisions that are in accordance with the, the will of God. So that's, you know, I don't have a problem with that. But I do think, first of all, most Americans don't think that way. And it sounds creepy and weird when you're doing it in war briefings. So the politics of it, I think are a disaster. It's, it's weird. It comes across as very weird. Weird.
- [94:09]
Griffin Davis
Well, you said weird. So let's end on a weird one. To send everyone off to the weekend from Michael Corleone, please include, please include a detailed breakdown of Raccoon Gate on the Friday show. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
- [94:25]
Crystal Ball
The penis.
- [94:26]
Griffin Davis
Yes, the raccoon. So let's look at it real quick. To send everyone off from the New York Post, RFK Jr. Once chopped off a dead raccoon's penis to study later while on a family road trip. The bizarre account by the nation's top civilian health official was unearthed In a new book, RFK Jr. The Fall and Rise quote, I was standing in front of my parked car on I684 cutting the penis out of a road killed raccoon. Thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be, reads a surreal passage in which the Health and Human Services head 72 was reportedly lamented his rocky relationships with his family. My kids waited patiently in the car, he noted, collect him. He collected the raccoon's genitals so he could study them later. I thought this was from the new podcast, Emily. He's also started a new podcast. Yeah, yeah. Have you seen the new podcast?
- [95:25]
Crystal Ball
Well, have you seen the set? Because it's given me some ideas about our own set. His set has many ducks and I'm wondering why we don't have a single duck on the Breaking Point set.
- [95:37]
Griffin Davis
Yeah, we should get into. Well, there's a lot of opportunities for taxidermy this year. You know, I might be building some home studios for some remote sessions. So. Yeah, maybe we could. Why don't you just start picking up whatever you find off the street? I mean, is there any. Any roadkill you see in D.C. chopping off those? Right?
- [95:55]
Crystal Ball
That's right, yeah. Chopping off dead animal dicks and bringing them into the studio. The best part of that passage is that he wrote he was doing this while thinking about how weird the rest of his family was. And that is an incredible psychological insight.
- [96:12]
Griffin Davis
He's like, man, I wish they could just be normal like me. So it also feels like Maha, with his pivot to doing this podcast or whatever, is he just kind of giving up on all the Maha stuff? Do you have any sense of that? We don't really cover it a ton of the show because it's hard to cover without like having like a very informed, almost like Dr. Level perspective on the proceedings. But it seems like he's just going back to podcasting, which was like his first and true love.
- [96:43]
Crystal Ball
No, funny. I. Well, I think actually what we're going to see is going forward, bureaucrats, like heads of these agencies are the ones that are more like media friendly. Like, they've done a lot of interviews in their career, whatever. They're all going to have podcasts. So I think it's kind of just the new normal. It's basically the equivalent of having somebody who sends press releases. You're going to have somebody who's sending out your podcasts and you do the podcast to convey the same thing as that was in the press release. So that's My sense of. Of. I don't think it. It has any, like, substantive bearing, but lots of ducks and it's always hard to. I mean. Yeah, we should do more maha coverage. We should. We should find, like, who is our. Who is our professor? Pate for maha. That's what we need.
- [97:27]
Griffin Davis
Yeah, that's a good question. That's a really good question.
- [97:29]
Crystal Ball
Sagar's got some guys. Guys? Yeah.
- [97:30]
Griffin Davis
Are there any guys? You know, there are, but I usually skip them because it's like.
- [97:36]
Crystal Ball
I know, but that's. I know you do that on purpose, but that's what I'm trying to.
- [97:40]
Griffin Davis
No, that was the raccoon gate one. That was for me this week. Okay. That.
- [97:44]
Crystal Ball
That was for me spiritually. That was for you.
- [97:46]
Ryan Grim
It was.
- [97:46]
Griffin Davis
It was for me. It's nice to know all the. All of the wildlife. Animals that RFK engages with over his life. So looking forward to the next. Next raccoon, otter, seal, whatever he finds next. Looking forward to that story. And thank you all for watching. That was today's Friday show. Check out Emily on After Party. How's After Party going?
- [98:12]
Crystal Ball
Everyone should subscribe. We had Dave Smith on this week, so need more subscribers. Come on, help us out. Yeah, Dave was. And Dave. Dave wanted to fight. Dave came in. He what? He got me. He sucked me into a debate, which I hate doing, but about the US Being. We were quibbling over the definition of terrorism. He says, US Biggest supporter of terrorism around the world. I said, violence and terrorism are not the same thing. It was heated, it was fun. But also, we do have an actual debate that I'm moderating coming up on the After Party channel between Ryan and Scott Jennings.
- [98:47]
Griffin Davis
Oh, my God.
- [98:49]
Crystal Ball
Yeah. That.
- [98:50]
Griffin Davis
That's a full court event Thursday night. Well, everyone go subscribe to afterparty to get ready for that one. I'm sure we'll send out a link to that so everyone can get a little Ryan Grim. Vers. Scott Jennings. Oh, my God. What a matchup.
- [99:02]
Crystal Ball
Why did Scott agree on immigration?
- [99:05]
Griffin Davis
That's why Scott agreed to it. Okay. It's in his Q zone. And then what's Ryan gonna say? Just like, oh, tear down the wall?
- [99:15]
Crystal Ball
Well, you know, it's kind of interesting because Ryan is. Is basically a full open borders guy. So I feel like it's actually the right con. It's actually the. As opposed to, like, some centrist Dem loser who's like, well, it'll be good.
- [99:29]
Griffin Davis
Incredible. Well, everybody look forward to that. And if there's any other breaking news around this ceasefire, we'll See you with some breaking news and if not, we'll see you Monday. Take care. Bye bye.
- [99:40]
Emily
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- [102:03]
Ryan Grim
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