
Loading summary
Krystal Ball
This is an iHeart podcast.
Ryan Grim
Guaranteed Human support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com what's up y'?
Sagar Enjeti
All?
Ryan Grim
Summer's got a different tempo. Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer. Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in between moments. That's where the ideas hit. Conversations stretch out. Little memories sneak up on you. Sometimes it's just about what's in your hand. That color, that chill. The new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks. Guava and passion fruit flavors with Mango Pineapple flavored pearls. Yeah, that feels like summer before you even taste it. Funny how one small stop becomes the best part of the day. Start your summer rhythm with Starbucks. Try the new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks.
Inner Balance Ad Voice
Fatigued mood changes, skin shifts. Labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Most estrogen or progesterone topical and oral treatments only work about 20%. Oestra from Inner Balance is a prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream for menopause and perimenopause relief. Vaginal HRT like Oestra offers better absorption, effective symptom relief, fewer side effects. Stop juggling multiple products. Feel balanced again? Visit innerbalance.com feel like yourself again.
Sagar Enjeti
That's innerbalance.com hey guys, Sagar and Krystal here.
Krystal Ball
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.
Sagar Enjeti
This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
Krystal Ball
So if that is something that's important to you, Please go to BreakingPoints.com Become a member today and you'll get access to our full shows unedited ad free and all put together for you every morning in your inbox.
Sagar Enjeti
We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breaking points.com
Krystal Ball
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie facing a fierce and extremely well funded like literally this is now the most expensive congressional race in history. Opponent in his primary tomorrow. He went on the Sunday shows yesterday to talk about the dynamics and the importance of his race. Let's take a listen.
Sagar Enjeti
We're facing a primary on Tuesday in the wake of Senator Bill Cassidy's loss in the primaries yesterday in Louisiana. The president has been up posting on Truth Social throughout the night and into the morning about you. Just a few minutes ago he posted this. I want to show our viewers right now, bad Congressman Tom Massie voted against tax cuts, the border wall, our military enforcement. Actually, he voted against almost everything that is good. The worst congressman in history, Kentucky vote the bum out on Tuesday. We can't live with this troublemaker for another two years. He's a true negative force. Your response? Well, I think that's going to help my fundraising@thomasmassie.com every time he tweets about me, it's good for, you know, some money coming in because people don't like that. And you know, how did this race become the most expensive race in the history of Congress for a primary? It's because three billionaires from outside of Kentucky have funneled millions of dollars in here. They're trying to buy a seat.
Ryan Grim
And so it's not just the president's tweets.
Sagar Enjeti
I could sustain those without a problem. It's because Miriam Adelson and Paul Singer have dumped money in here. In fact, Miriam Adelson has given so much money to my opponent that instead of paying for the ballroom, they're going to need taxpayer money for the ballroom.
Krystal Ball
Now that was a good line. Well, I mean, he's completely correct. Let's put C2B up on the screen because I think this lays on a very important dynamic. So if you look at the three most expensive congressional races in with Thomas Massie's now being the most expensive congressional race in history or House race, I should say, in history, all Three of them have something in common. All three of them, the incumbent ran afoul of the Israel lobby and you had millions spent against them successfully in the case of Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, in order to defeat them. So this person lays it out in case people are not fully grasping the absurdity of this. The typical house primary spends 100k to 500k total candidates and outside groups for the entire race. Many safe district incumbents spend almost nothing in the primary, which would normally be the case for Thomas Massie. This one, $35 million plus in total spending, by far the most expensive U.S. house primary in history. Prior record was 25.4 million. That was Jamal Bowman versus, I think, George Latimer in a Democratic primary. Before that, 17.9 to 19.4 million roughly. For Missouri's first congressional district, that was Cori Bush versus Bell. There's a rematch of that going on right now. Look into these three races and see where that money came from and why this coordinated effort, it was successful twice already. We will see if it's successful for a third time. So it is not an accident who these candidates were. These were all people who didn't fully, fully 100% toe the line on Israel, and so millions were spent against them to defeat them. Now, in the case of Thomas Massie, it's not just Israel, it's also him working with Ro Khanna to help release the Epstein files. That really drew the ire of Trump. So Trump gets involved, starts attacking him relentlessly online. They recruit this opponent for Thomas Massie, and then all of these, this money flows in to support this guy. Now, Thomas Massie, this is pretty interesting reporting from Ken Klippenstein. We could put C7 up on the screen. His opponent is this guy, Ed Galrent, and his whole thing is that he was in Seal Team 6. But when he talks about his background, basically what he'll tell voters is like, it's all classified. But the President knows what I did and the President's behind me, so you should just trust him that I have the experience and that I would be a good representative for you. It says, I went through all of Ed Gowering's interviews and this guy's laughably deep state. He literally says his background is classified, cites anonymous endorsements from unnamed national security officials, and more. The headline on his piece is Iran War versus Epstein File. Politician whose background is secret challenges one who released Epstein files. So those are the dynamics of the race saga. The polling is very close. I saw one poll that had it literally 50, 50, huge generational divide.
Sagar Enjeti
It is a battle of the generations, which, honestly, I'm not that optimistic. I want Thomas Massie to win. It would be something that I think would be. I think it would finally show some level of independence within the MAGA base, within some belove nature of these shitsters and these independents. But there's just not a lot of data to back any of that up. Yeah, it would take the first time ever for a MAGA base. And remember when we talk about Trump's diminishing approval, MAGA is still behind him 100%. It's just that MAGA makes up a smaller slice of the country than ever before. But people who are quote maga, and especially you gotta think who are the type of people who show up to go vote in a Republican primary. These are the diehards. They always have been those people. I mean, their main line in Fox News all day long, and this is part of the problem, is in that generational divide, Massie leads with every group below age. What is it, 45? It's like a blowout.
Krystal Ball
I think it's even older than that.
Sagar Enjeti
So then it starts to get mixed around that like 50, 50 nature when you get like 45 to 65. But then when it's 65 and above, it's a blowout for Ed Gallering. So, I mean, it would have to be a Zoran Mumdani, like prime, like change the electorate.
Krystal Ball
And here's the problem too is first of all, most young people are not Republicans, even in Kentucky. Second of all, it's a closed primary in Kentucky. I just looked it up to double check, which means you have to choose to vote on the Republican line. You have to be part of the Republican Party. And so that cuts off, if you had, you could imagine even in a district, this is an overwhelmingly Republican district, I think I looked it up. Trump won by like 30 points or something like that. Even in that district, though, you're going to have some chunk of Democrats. You could imagine them voting for Thomas Massie in the primary and crossing over, and certainly independent, same deal, but in a closed primary system. That really limits the ability of that. So I think he would. I think he would win if it was an open primary system. As it is, it's gonna be very tough. The thing that he has to hope for is that his supporters are more motivated than Galran's supporters. And that's possible. That's certainly possible. Again, the polling shows it very close, but like you, it seems like in the waning days, the momentum has shifted towards Gallrain. And then you also had this Cassidy race in Louisiana before that you had where you know, Cassidy had voted for Trump's impeachment back in the first after over January 6th back in the first Trump administration. And even though he's told the line since then, he's been on Trump shit list ever since. He didn't even get in the top 10 too. He placed third place in this race. You had these Indiana local legislators who bucked Trump on redrawing gerrymandering their state. Every single one of them that voted against the gerrymander was defeated. So the man just still look, it's still Trump's party when it comes down to it.
Sagar Enjeti
The median Republican primary voter is 55 years old, all right. And then the largest block outside of 45 to 64 is a 65 plus crowd. 18 to 29 makes up the smallest demographic of the people who, who vote in a primary and there's a modest share of people who vote 30 to 44. Now listen, with the vast amount of money this could change, but again, it would have to be a zoron style situation. I don't know a ton about the district. You were telling me it's suburban. That's not a bad thing. Cuz that's the demographic of the type of Republican who would have voted for Trump but who is now disaffected. And they may vote Thomas Massie as a fu to Donald Trump. Little unlikely generally in terms of how those demos vote. But you know, a lot of local communities very rarely want to feel as if they're a tool of Washington. So if you have tens of millions of dollars pour into your race, usually that can have a piss off effect of the locals who are like, hey, hold on a second, we get to decide. So I don't want to count them out whatsoever, but I do want to set expectations. I listen to him on Tucker. Even he is not certain he's going to win. He goes, he literally says I may lose. Like he's being very realistic about how this goes. Some of that's a fundraising possibility. There is a level of inspiration in the fundraising is all these billionaires came in against him. The average donor to him is a small dollar donor from either inside the district or out the rest of the country. People who are not connected into the system in any way, they're not being bundled, they're like viewers of our shows or others who've got 25, 30 bucks and they're like, hey, you know what? We can't allow some pro Israel billionaire from God knows what to control our election. So at the very least there is a level of inspiration if he does lose for creating this ecosystem, showing what these referendums can be. But you know, we have to be very realistic about within the Republican Party. I just don't think that there's an appetite for this. I just don't.
Krystal Ball
Look, if you poll Republicans, there has been some movement, especially among young Republicans on Israel, but overall still Republicans are with Israel, are with the pro Israel consensus, just, you know, based on the polling and they are very much still in the maga pro Trump camp. So it's a lot, it's a lot to go up against, frankly. The fact he even has a shot.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, it's crazy.
Krystal Ball
It's kind of a miracle and a real testament to, you know, how much people just like personally respect him and his independence. We talked to Ro Khanna on Friday who obviously has partnered with Thomas Massie on things like board powers resolution and obviously Epstein. And Thomas Massie has also been pretty courageous in voting against some of these like speech codes when it comes to Israel as well. But in any case, we asked him what do you think is at stake here? And he said, you know, it's not just about him, it's about is there an ability to have any independence in Congress? You know, we used to have more of these characters, you call them like gadflies. And I think that name is meant to be sort of disputed.
Sagar Enjeti
No, it's great. I think it's a good thing.
Krystal Ball
I support having gadflies because, you know, I love having that person who's willing to be the one in the 434 to one. Bernie Sanders was that guy from the vast majority of his career. And he also though knew how to work with, with like minded legislators on both sides of the aisle to get his amendments through and get some legislation through as well. But it really, you know, creates a much more dynamic body when you have at least some ability for people to be independent. And the level of control that Trump expects and exercises over these people is truly, truly extraordinary and very, very disturbing. You know, on the, I mentioned Cassidy down in Louisiana. So Bill Cassidy, he's a doctor, he had a lot of concerns. He clearly didn't wanna vote for RFK Jr. For HHS Secretary, but he knew it was gonna be a problem for him politically if he voted against him. So he sucked it up and he voted for RFK Jr and he has been, you know, he hasn't said a word against Trump. He's Been, he's been totally, you know, on board with the program, voting for whatever Trump wants him to vote for, blah, blah, blah. But because he had taken this one vote for Trump's impeachment over January 6, he was permanently put on the shit list. And so it didn't matter what he did. It didn't matter that he voted for everything. It didn't matter that he swallowed his concerns about RFK Jr and voted for him, et cetera. He ended up losing. He not only did he not get the top spot, he didn't even make it into the runoff. He was the third place participant in this Louisiana Republican Senate primary. In his concession speech, he took some veiled shots at Trump, which I sort of feel like, dude, at this point, your political career's over and you're still holding back, you still won't even say his name. I don't know, it's kind of lame.
Sagar Enjeti
I think he wants to be a lobbyist. He probably still wants to get paid. You know, he can't get paid.
Krystal Ball
I mean, you can still get paid if you call on Trump. Plenty of people out there getting paid who's called on Trump for sure. But in any case, let's take a listen to Cassidy taking some sort of veiled, passive aggressive jobs at President Trump.
Sagar Enjeti
I've been able to participate in democracy.
Krystal Ball
And when you participate in democracy, sometimes
Ryan Grim
it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. But you don't pout, you don't whine, you don't claim the election was stolen, you don't find a reason why,
Sagar Enjeti
You don't manufacture some excuse.
Ryan Grim
You thank the voters for the privilege
Sagar Enjeti
of representing the state or the country for as long as you've had that privilege. And that's what I'm doing right now.
Krystal Ball
So there you go, obviously referring to Trump there, but not saying his name. Trump has now found a new target in the House. Lauren Boebert, who has gone to Kentucky to campaign for Thomas Massie. She also famously was one of four Republicans to join the Democrats in voting for that Epstein discharge petition can put C5 up on the screen. Trump going after her saying, is anyone interested in running against weak minded Lauren BOEBERT In Colorado's 4th congressional district? You remember Lauren moved to the district when it became obvious she couldn't win in her original congressional district. A carpetbagger. Indeed, Boebert is campaigning for the worst Republican congressman in the history of our country, Thomas Massie of the great Commonwealth of Kentucky. Anybody who can be that dumb deserves a good primary fight. Even though I long ago endorsed Boebert, if the right person came along, it would be my honor to withdraw that endorsement and endorse a good and proper alternative. Just let me know or announce your candidacy and I will be there for you. Let's put Marjorie Taylor Greene's tweet in response to this up on the screen. This is C6 because she lays out this dynamic. She says, look, there were only four of us Republicans that signed the discharge petition to force the vote to release the Epstein files. Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and myself. Trump has come after us one by one ever since then. President told Speaker Johnson not to allow the vote to happen, but we courageously went against the President, refused to budge and overrode the speaker to force the vote on the record. It was only when all members of Congress had to vote on record did Republicans finally find their intestinal fortitude to do the right thing and vote yes to release the files. Until then, they were absurdly obedient to the President, who was doing everything in his reign of terror to hold them back. Even now, all the files are still not released. The Epstein class remains protected. Wars are being waged, markets are being manipulated, and the average American is being driven further into ruin while the Epstein class reigns and has yet to face any accountability. I will never regret signing that discharge petition, refusing to back down and resigning as I want nothing to do with the President and a party that bows to the Epstein class. So she's certainly right about the fact that those four in particular, because of the crime of signing onto the discharge petition, have been directly targeted by Trump for their disobedience and saga. We remember the pressure campaign, which was it Nancy Mace that he brought into the situation? It was her. I was about to say Bobert, I think Mace just didn't answer the phone. Yes, Mace trying to call her, but Boebert, he dragged her in. Yeah, he dragged her in as much
Sagar Enjeti
as he possibly could, literally, I mean, with the full might of the government and the highly classified setting to try and persuade her not to vote on Epstein. There's been multiple instances, like, I mean, let's just take a look at the careers of people like Boebert and mt. That's honestly what's so disgusting. I think about it. Boebert breaks with Trump on Epstein and she is gonna get primary. Lindsey Graham and these people who literally ran against Trump in the primary, but kiss his ass all day long on Iran and everything. El else get total and complete endorsements from Donald Trump along with I mean, there are multiples of people who are in Congress right now who not only personally despise Trump, but just kiss his ass on various different things to get done. And that's all it takes for them. But if you buck him on one issue, like Israel or Epstein or any of that, he's willing to come out. And this is just a prime example of what they're willing to use his power and his cult of personality to enforce. Like, if there were an effective. FDR was like this. If you broke with FDR on a few certain select things which he thought were good, he would actually try to primary you. And he wasn't always successful, but he would try his throw, his might and his personal popularity and worship of himself to actually get better Democrats elected. Like, in the people who align with his policy, Trump is like, only you are personally loyal to me. That's it. Period. And if you don't do that, if you don't glaze me constantly, then, nope, I'm gonna make sure that you're out. And so that shows you. Like, he could get Lindsey Graham out of. He could get Lindsey Graham out of office in a second if he wanted to. He could get Tom Cotton or any of these guys in any of these hard MAGA red states if he wanted to primary them. He absolutely could. But it's only Epstein and all of that that he's willing to come out and be like, nope, you shouldn't vote for that person.
Krystal Ball
We'll get you out of office. Yeah. And FDR is more like, you're a traitor to the New Deal. With Trump, it's like, you're a traitor to me personally. And you're so right. Pay attention to the places where people are allowed to break. Trump is pushing this like, okay, let's block private equity and other perman.
Sagar Enjeti
They break him every day on that.
Krystal Ball
And people, I mean, Republicans are bucking him left and right on that, and he doesn't care. Are there any primaries? Credit cards, those people housing? Not at all. So it shows you what his priorities ultimately are. And one last thing I'll say on this is now you've got Thom Tillis, who's retiring, who can kind of operate freely. You've got Cassidy, who is losing his seat. So he no longer is going to be. You don't have that political leverage against him. We'll see what happens with Thomas Massie. But even if he maintains retains his seat, once he gets past his primary and has a lock on another two years in Congress, he'll have a little Bit of a freer hand as well. Who knows how Lauren Boebert is gonna respond to this threat of a primary challenge, et cetera.
Sagar Enjeti
She was already redistricted. And remember, she had a problem. She only came, like, two points.
Krystal Ball
Her last election was very close. Right.
Sagar Enjeti
And I think I could be wrong that she was either redistricted or her. You know, the map had changed for her. So she was already, I think, skating on problems. She's also become much less of a gadfly ever since the whole Beetlejuice incident. So, I don't know. You know, I mean, maybe she's given up on Congress. She doesn't even wanna be there anymore. And it's kind of just doing whatever. She's kind of just doing whatever she wants. Which would explain it.
Krystal Ball
It could, yeah. But, I mean, you may have more of these people who operate more independently. Cause they've got nothing to lose anymore. So that could be an interesting dynamic here heading into the midterms. But for most of these people, you know, you could look at this from the top level and be like, Trump is so unpopular and the Republicans are gonna get destroyed. Wouldn't any of them wanna signal their distance from him? But remember, most, the overwhelming majority of these seats are not swing seats. The overwhelming majority of them are, like, locked in ruby red, where your bigger threat is from the primary. So that's why for the vast majority of these people, it doesn't make political sense. It makes moral and personal integrity sense to actually stand up on some principles. But in terms of just cynical political calculation, for most of these people, the path of least resistance is just to go along with whatever it is that Trump wants them to do. And so, by and large, that's what he's.
Sagar Enjeti
Even if Massie wins, I mean, taking $35 million to have to try and win your seat by 0.1% just to have to do it all again in two years.
Krystal Ball
Yeah. Which should be. He just doesn't even have to really think about reelection.
Sagar Enjeti
Exactly. Most of the time. What? He said he spent like a million dollars Most of the time. Maybe less. You know, and he's like, I don't even have to think about races, but this is gonna be his life if he does.
Krystal Ball
Vicious what they're doing to them, too. Like the nasty attacks against Laura Loomers out there doing all kinds of disgusting things.
Sagar Enjeti
So disgusting.
Krystal Ball
All right, let's go ahead and get to what is going to happen with Cuba.
Ryan Grim
Support for the show comes from public. The investing platform for those who take it seriously on public. You can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures if you're feeling
Inner Balance Ad Voice
off fatigue, mood changes, skin shifts, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Mitoestra from Inner Balance the first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop, 10 seconds a day. Oester replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's innerbalance.com protect your pet with insurance
Pets Best Ad Voice
from Pets Best plans start from less than a dollar a day. Visit petsbest.com Pet insurance products offered and administered by Pets Best Insurance Services LLC are underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company or Independence American Insurance Company Co. For terms and conditions, visit ww.petsbest.com backslash Policy products are underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company, Independence American Insurance Company or Ms. Transverse Insurance Company and administered by Pets Best Insurance Services LLC. $1 day premium based on 2024 average new policyholder data for accident and illness plans. Pets age 0 to 10
Krystal Ball
so for a while now, the Trump administration has been making noises about doing some Venezuela esque operation in Cuba. Obviously this is Marco Rubio fondest wish. Trump was asked about this in the last couple of days. Let's take a listen.
Ryan Grim
What he had to say has been a virtual miracle.
Sagar Enjeti
It's the hottest country anywhere in the world and it is.
Ryan Grim
Yeah.
Sagar Enjeti
On a different subject on Cuba, there's reporting that Raul Castro could be indicted
Krystal Ball
by the doj, I believe.
Sagar Enjeti
What does that mean?
Krystal Ball
Well, I don't want to comment on that.
Ryan Grim
I'll let DOJ comment on it.
Sagar Enjeti
But they need help, as you know. And you talk about a declining country,
Krystal Ball
they are really a nation. We're a country in decline.
Ryan Grim
So we're going to see.
Sagar Enjeti
We have a lot to talk about
Ryan Grim
on Cuba, but not maybe for tonight.
Krystal Ball
So he's asked there about Raul Castro, who is 94 years old, I think. Let's put D3 up on the screen. This again looks like, you know, potential pretense to our pretext to be able to do something akin to the Venezuela playbook. New York Times wrote this up with possible Raul Castro indictment. USI's Venezuela playbook amid stepped up surveillance flights, a visit of the CIA director and an energy embargo, White House is trying to increase pressure on Cuba. They are threatening to indict him over a plane downing from like decades ago. And again, he's 94 years old. So that's what's going on with that. But then we've got another piece to add to the the manufacturing of consent and creating a pretext for some sort of invasion or other illegal action, offensive action against Cuba can put D2 up on the screen. This is from Mark Caputo over at Axios. Exclusive USI's attack drone threat from Cuba. Cuba, they write, has acquired more than 300 military drones and recently began discussing plans to use them to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay. U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West. Sure. Florida, 90 miles north of Havana, according to classified intelligence shared with Axios. The intelligence which could become a pretext for US Military action. Love how they just write that right into the piece. Appreciate that shows the degree to which the Trump administration sees Cuba as a threat. No, they don't. Because of developments in drone warfare and the presence of Iranian military advisors in Havana, a senior US Official said. When we think about those types of technologies being that close and a range of bad acts from terror groups to drug cartels to Iranians to the Russians, it's concerning, the official said. It's a growing threat. And they also mentioned the fact that CIA Director John Ratcliffe openly traveled to Cuba on Thursday, warned officials there against engaging in hostilities, urged them to scrap their totalitarian government, to end crippling U.S. sanctions. Another quote from the officials Director Ratcliffe made clear Cuba can no longer serve as a platform for adversaries to advance hostile agendas in our hemisphere. The Western hemisphere cannot be our Adversary playground. So there you go.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, the drone thing. Look, I like Mark, actually. He lives in Florida. I'll say this. He works with Barack Ravid over at Axios. And I do really appreciate him saying this could be a pretext for US Invasion, because this is what's going on. He's telling you why they decided to come to him. They're like, look, this is our pretext. And he's like, this is the pretext for invasion. Let's actually break it down, though. 300 military drones, by the way, this is the reality of what we created with the Iran war, is we showed the world how vulnerable we are, vast armada to drones. Now imagine actually Cuba with only 300, what they would be able to do even if the US Were to launch some sort of war against them. And that's actually the problem now. I am in no way saying that we should have some sort of preemptive war. Welcome to the world of what defense now looks like in an asymmetric conflict. And you can look all around, from Mexico to Cuba to any of the US Bases that were all damaged and destroyed, that are now all over the world, that we've spent billions and billions of dollars with 300 times 25,000, you can significantly disrupt and cause terror. So, yeah, I mean, it would be smart, actually, for Cuba to get not just 300 drones. It should have hundreds of thousands of drones. That should be the only thing that their entire economy is focused on, because it would be the only thing probably that would ever stop the United States, actually, from a lot of these sanctions. But I think it also demonstrates this is what I've said earlier about Trump. Trump has given up, genuinely given up on changing the country. So by not being able to change the country, he wants to change the world. He wants to leave his imprint on the world. Look at all the shit that he is doing. The reflecting pool, the ballroom. What did I just see that. The more recent project that they're doing.
Krystal Ball
The golf course.
Sagar Enjeti
The golf course. There's a new golf course here in Washington.
Krystal Ball
Statue garden.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, the garden of statue or whatever.
Krystal Ball
Yeah.
Sagar Enjeti
Which previously was like a volleyball court or something. Like, what he cares about is his imprint. Oh, his name. His face on the $100 bill is face on the passport.
Krystal Ball
The Kennedy center.
Sagar Enjeti
The Kennedy. The Trump Kennedy Center. Right. Like, this ultimately is what drives him, and what drives more than anything, what is his more recent obsession? Venezuela should become the 51st state. He wants to become the first president to expand the maps of the United States. And if not, expand the Maps then to fundamentally change the globe in his image. More recently, what was that image that we had in the A block? Is it A two? This is that map, right, that he posts of Iran with the full flag that's on top of it and then all of the converging arrows on top of Iran, like he wants to change the map entirely in his image. And Cuba has been a Republican obsession now for decades.
Krystal Ball
Right.
Sagar Enjeti
Is Cuba is not a threat to the United States, like in any way preposterous to the extent that it ever was. It was like 60 years.
Krystal Ball
The idea, if you believe that they're really thinking of like drones striking Key West Florida, like that is just the dumbest shit you could possibly.
Sagar Enjeti
I mean, they might if we attack them, but you know, outside of that,
Krystal Ball
they're planning on preempting, oh, we're just gonna randomly attack Key West Florida to draw the ire of the nuclear powered superpower. That makes no sense whatsoever. It's just idiotic to imagine that that is anything serious or real.
Sagar Enjeti
Right. In reality, what they want, I mean, which would be smart to have some sort of credible drone deterrent and be like, hey, can you turn our oil back on? Like, can you allow Mexico to ship us some oil? Because we do, you know, look, we may go, but we're not gonna go quietly. That should be the strategy now for every nation in the world, actually for some sort of sort of deterrence from Taiwan with China to the United States. It's like the porcupine strategy for what they should be pursuing. But it does demonstrate though that at the same time they're going to use it as a pretext. Like what they are with Iran is why. Why did we have to attack Iran? According to the administration, because Israel was going to. And because they were creating, what did they say, a conventional shield for their nuclear program. So they were going to create enough ballistic missiles that we could never attack them again in the future, which is why we had to do it now. So I think this is purely about his obsession with remaking the Western hemisphere. This is the original Donro doctrine stuff that they were all in for. And I mean, from Ryan, you tell me, the Cubans, frankly, they seem very willing to play ball. They're like, look, maybe one of us will step down, but our regime needs to stay in power. Kind of like Maduro originally had shown. I just don't really know when these people are gonna learn. Like, that's just not how it works. Maduro literally said, I will happily step down as long as my Guy replaces me in a few years, we went in and we kidnapped him. Like, when are people going to learn, like, there's really no good negotiating with this. It's just all force and all strength. There's no other option.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree with you on that. It's very clear. And I mean, the other piece that I think Trump will be looking towards is he needs to recover from his Iran humiliation.
Sagar Enjeti
Yes, that's very true.
Krystal Ball
So he needs to p some playground weakling, which Cuba, you know, I mean, their economy was already struggling because of our decades and decades of sanctions, and they don't have. They're not a military power, anything approaching the level of military power that even like an Iran has. And so he feels like, oh, well, the way I can reclaim my glory, like, what I achieved with Venezuela is to go in and just take Cuba and do with them what I want to do. So I think that's the other part of this. I mean, in a sense, Cuba, I think, is being spared right now, for the moment, because we are so occupied in Iran and so many of our military assets there, and our focus is there and all of our top operators and all of that sort of stuff. So I think that has bought them some time. But in the end, it also provides another justification, another reason, another piece of logic for why Trump is determined to go in and. And do something against them.
Sagar Enjeti
Also to shore up the one last constituency that he will have who will be with him to his dying day. South Floridian Latin. I'm serious. We need to cut South Florida off and let it sail into this, between Venezuela and this shit. Just go, all right?
Krystal Ball
Just leave. Sorry.
Sagar Enjeti
Leave.
Krystal Ball
Olives. Who all is. Who are the Floridians? And they go, obviously. Rubio, Susie Wiles.
Sagar Enjeti
Susie Wiles. God, it's been a while since I've compiled all the lists. Well, Trump himself is a Mar A Laco resident, officially a Florida resident.
Krystal Ball
And that's actually important because you can imagine there's all kinds of. I mean, Mar A Lago is where he spends. Mar A Lago is safe for time.
Sagar Enjeti
Do you know how many Cubans are down there just being like, oh, Mr. Trump, you know, like, oh, you'll be the hero of Havana. I can't sleep at night while thinking about my family's plantation.
Krystal Ball
Oh. And you can imagine Trump having fantasies of opening his, like, Trump Casino. And Trump Casino is old enough to have those sorts of visions of what it could be.
Sagar Enjeti
You know, America cannot be great again until a rich Palm beach residents can take A boat to Havana to gamble and to exploit the resources of this island. We simply have just never been great ever since we lost that. And rich Spaniards living in Cuba were able to own vast amounts of land and to exploit the population. I'm not some Fidel Castro fanboy, but I'm just like, let's be honest about what 1950s Cuba really was. Right? The same with Venezuela. I mean, who are all these rich Venezuelans? Tucker had that line once where he's like, ah, these Venezuelans, I get it, they had a really hard time, live in pretty nice houses though, here in Florida. Come on. Like, that's the truth. And then especially in the migration context, everyone just like blows past it. The whole reason that Trump, in my opinion is one of the main reasons he's president is because of uncontrolled migration into the United States from places like Venezuela and Cuba. And so this, like, what, it's just,
Krystal Ball
why are they migrating? It's because of our sanctions, primarily. Right. That has made, I mean, the sanctions are designed to punish ordinary people. And right now in Cuba, it's really dire. You know, the fact that we've instituted this like complete seizion embargo and they're so dependent on, you know, little trickles of aid coming in, little amounts of fuel coming in, it really is absolutely devastating. You can look at the reporting Ryan and others did on the ground while they were there to see the impact of that. But yeah, of course. And you've had many people who have fled Cuba just recently because of those economic conditions.
Sagar Enjeti
A bunch came under Biden, cuz he, I think he continued some of the sanctions.
Krystal Ball
He did. He absolutely did not go back to the Obama policy. This is another, this was one of, you know, the Obama foreign policy W's where he like normalized relations and lift sanctions and things got better. And then Trump comes in and completely reverses that and Biden continues the Trump course.
Sagar Enjeti
Right. And, and yeah, we had a huge number of people who came from Cuba, although of course they get a pass. And what's that policy called? It's been a while since wet foot, dry foot. Don't get me started.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, but it's, I mean, this is one of the areas where Trump has taken some blows in the Cuban community in Florida because they have been, they have been like arresting and detaining Cubans who are used to getting that pass. And so I think they're also, to your point, about like his political constituency. This would be a way to unruffle the feathers that have been upset that we're not getting our special treatment anymore. You're just treating us like any of these other migrants.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah.
Pets Best Ad Voice
Wow.
Sagar Enjeti
The horror, right? I don't know. This Florida, our Florida occupied government, it's too much. We cannot continue to have so many of our politics dictated by the internal politics of this one state, which is not even a swing state anymore.
Krystal Ball
I know.
Sagar Enjeti
It's ridiculous. I know. Everyone just stop and get give up. All right, okay. Let's move on.
Krystal Ball
Let's move on to Trump's. More Trump corruption here.
Ryan Grim
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year every year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S P500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SR Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures if you're feeling
Inner Balance Ad Voice
off fatigue, mood changes, skin shifts, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance. The first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop 10 seconds a day. Oestra replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's innerbalance.com the following ad is sponsored
Pets Best Ad Voice
by Pet's Best Insurance Services. You knew right away he's perfect. The one for you. Those puppy dog eyes, that cute little button nose. You don't even mind the the drool when you find your perfect match in a dog or cat. The love is unconditional. Your budget, on the other hand, has realistic limits. Help Protect your heart and your wallet with pet insurance from Pets Best. With plans starting from less than a dollar a day, you can get up to 90% cash back on eligible vet bills. Pets Best makes it easy to pick a plan that works for you and your bank account. Find the perfect match for your Perfect match@petsbest.com Pet insurance products offered in administered by Pets Best Insurance Services LLC or underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company or Independence American Insurance Company for terms and conditions, visit www.petsbest.com. policy products are underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company, Independence American Insurance Company or Ms. Transverse Insurance Company and administered by Pets Best Insurance Services LLC. $1.00 a day premium based on 2024 average new policyholder data for accident and illness plans. Pets age 0 to 10
Krystal Ball
an absolutely stunning revelation of just how many stock trades Trump has made while serving as President United States let's put the screen Trump discloses hundreds of millions of dollars in trades in the first quarter, the first quarter of 2026. Do you see that chart? This is really important because he has gone from, you know, I mean this was never ideal, the number of stock trades that are being made. But here in 2026 when we have all these concerns and obvious, obvious breadcrumbs pointing towards insider trading that his portfolio has been been insanely, insanely active. Just look at the weekly number of transactions there. So I'll read you a little bit of this article from the Financial Times. They say financial disclosures for US President Donald Trump showed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of transactions involving securities in major American companies. Oh, which companies you might ask? Including Nvidia, Palantir, Paramount, Boeing just in the three months, first three months of 2026. They also show transactions involving Tesla, Apple, Metta, Visa, Citi, Qualcomm and GE Aerospace, top executives of all those companies accompanied the US President on his trip to Beijing this week to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump wrote on Truth Social. It was an honor to have the business leaders on the troop trip, including the great Jensen Huang, a reference to the chief executive of semiconductor giant Nvidia. The filings show 15 transactions relating to Maker in the first three months of the year. Quote, I will be asking President Xi, a leader of extraordinary distinction, to open up China so these brilliant people can work their magic, the president wrote on his social media site on Wednesday, referring to the US Company company executives. The number of transactions disclosed on Thursday far exceeds Trump's trading activity during the first year of his second term and also marks the first major sale of assets since returning to office. Let's put the next element up on the screen here just so you can see. This is from our old friend Unusual Whales. Over on Twitter they write breaking Trump purchased up to $630,000 worth of Palantir stock during the first three months of the year. In March alone, Trump made at least seven purchase of Palantir totaling as much as $530,000. A month later, Trump literally wrote on true social quote, Palantir technologies has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment. Gee, who would that benefit? Whose stock portfolio would that benefit? It is just so brazen, it is so in your face that you cannot even, you can't make it up. I mean Nancy Pelosi nothing compared to this. And I got plenty of smoke for her and all of the congressional insiders who seem to always do very well in their stock portfolios. This is above and beyond, beyond anything, anything we have seen. And then he's out there, you know, he's out there. The government is buying, buying pieces of some of these companies in some instances, certainly out there on truth, social boosting these companies, his government giving contracts to these companies. Absolute insanity.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, we can't allow this. And the Trump Organization says that their investment holdings are maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts, independently manage, managed by third party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions. And this is why your point about Pelosi and all of that is very important. That is the loophole which we've basically allowed all of these filthy rich government politicians to continue to trade while they're in office. As always with Trump, it's always dialed up to the most ridiculous degree. But this is why we've always advocated on this show for a total ban on trading is because there is no such thing, period as not being influenced by your own personal, personal financial and especially with Trump, but like really with any president, right. You can't allow them to have even independently managed blind trust and all cuz it's fake. Fundamentally, we've loaned this now for decades, going all the way back to lbj, used to have a secret phone line where he would manage all of his financial decisions while he was president in the Oval Office. And the, this is where, you know, you buy Palantir stock, maybe you get a report about it and then you're also pumping the stock. But at the same time time, even beyond that, it's not even just about your personal finance. You also have the support of those very executives, you know, for your administration. And you're doing Deals. And then there's just general knowledge in the back of your head.
Krystal Ball
But it just.
Sagar Enjeti
Look, what it highlights to me is that, you know, these transactions, as opposed to specifying exact figures, are worth between 200 and $687 million, hundreds of millions of dollars in these companies, which are. You have their exact executives on the plane who are also pitching to you and setting up government policy, which you have immense interest and ability if you think Congress has the ability to affect a stock. The president is at times, I don't even know. 200, 500.
Krystal Ball
I mean, you know, like, not just in terms of, okay, government contracts. Okay, the bully pulpit. Okay, he took them on his trip to China. He was pushing one of the quote, unquote deals that came out of the trip to China was they're gonna purchase 200 Boeing airplanes. Right? That was one of the things, the deals that was struck there. But then you also have, and especially because of the way Trump operates the entire federal government as his own plaything. So there's no even illusion of independence. You also have the ability to greenlight or block different mergers or take different regulatory actions, or not take different regulatory actions. So let me give you a couple more examples here. Six trades in the filings relate to Intel, US Chipmaking giant. Oh, guess what happened with intel this year. The US government took a nearly 10% direct ownership stake in that company in the past year. That was also 100% Trump's decision. Seven transactions relating to Boeing. I just mentioned the deal that was struck in China with regard to Boeing. US Special envoy Paolo Zampali Epstein, linked by, by the way, who accompanied Vice President JD Vance to Hungary last month, also works to promote Boeing sales overseas. So your special envoy is also working to promote Boeing sales, and you're buying stock in Boeing. Interesting. That guy Zampoli said, whenever people see me, they want something, they want access to the president, I tell them, buy Boeing. If you want to make the president happy, buy Boeing. It's the simplest thing in the world. Paramount. Does anyone tell me out there whether Paramount's been in the news recently and for what? Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, the two companies involved in a $110 billion blockbuster takeover that is now in the hands of US regulators, both appeared in Trump's disclosed trades. So there you go. I mean, it's just as brazen as it can possibly be. It's hard to keep track of all this stuff. We're gonna cover probably tomorrow that Trump is suing his own government. And instead of going forward with getting some Taxpayer funded settlement for himself directly instead of. Instead, his compromise is he wants to create a $1.8 billion slush fund to reward his own allies that he feels were unjustly prosecuted under the Biden administration. Then you have the whole crypto scheme, which is probably the biggest in terms of dollar amounts, the biggest source of corrupt dealings in the Trump administration and direct foreign interference, foreign influence on his government and just billionaire, just general whoever wants to have influence over him. The way to do do it is just buy a bunch of his crypto, prop up the stock, the price of that. So his bulk of his wealth now comes not from his real estate dealings, but from crypto. And of course, you've got all of the Trump hotels and all, you know, the golf tournaments that were paid for by liv, which is owned by the Saudi government. All of this mess. And so it is truly, truly world historic. The amount of corruption here. And then the cherry on top is, is this massive amount of insider trading that we can see being done.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, I mean, look, it's beyond madness. I wanna give some attention to Kash Patel. Can we put that one up there?
Krystal Ball
Oh, we always wanna give some attention to Cash Patel.
Sagar Enjeti
I just wanna highlight Mr. Cash giving all of us a bad name. Snorkeling at Pearl Harbor, Kash Patel's travels had to focus on ethical issues. The FBI director continues to come under scrutiny for mixing government business with dates, vacation and leisure. Last summer, Kash Patel capped a whirlwind South Pacific trip with a snorkel trip in Hawaii. Navy Seals used two boats to transport and escort Mr. Patel and nine others on what the DoD called a VIP snorkel next to one of the military's most sacred sites, the underwater tomb of the USS Arizona, which holds the remains of more than 900 Navy sailors and Marines who died at Pearl Harbor. Patel swam in the vicinity of the tower tomb for 30 minutes. And out of respect, as I mentioned, for the dead entombed at the wreckage, the rules bar visitors from even wearing swimwear at the memorial, with some exceptions over the years for dignitaries. The only people allowed in the water around the tomb are military and National Park Service divers interring the remains of the last survivors. Officials from the DoD said VIP tours near the Arizona were coming, but they declined to say how often they take people snorkeling. And, you know, this is the type of stuff which just drives people nuts. Like, I can't tell you why this bothers me almost as much as the trades. And it's because this is, you know, this clownish official who has bungled all of these investigations, using his position to come into office and basically just treat it as a joyride for all the cool stuff that he never got to do. Cause obviously he grew up as a little loser. And it's like going to go and chug beers with the hockey team and snorkeling and what? Using his. Pumping his girlfriend's country music. What did he say? He said, she's done more for the country than most people will do in their lifetimes.
Krystal Ball
Like, okay, yeah, FBI director as like, make a wish felt.
Sagar Enjeti
No. Yeah. It's crazy.
Krystal Ball
Exactly what it is.
Sagar Enjeti
That's what gets under my skin. And, oh, I've seen Mike Walton. Oh, I was off, offered a VIP swim tour of the Arizona. I'm like, well, okay, maybe. Maybe that is the case. But then I feel like we should just end that because, I don't know. It's the Arizona. Have you been there before? I mean, first of all, it's incredibly sombre because you're looking down on this thing. You're like, there are literally 900 bodies that are down there. And if you've ever read it, it's such a horrific incident. You should sit there in silence and just be like, I can't believe that something like this happened. It's not really like a joyride going snorkeling type thing, you know, that you're supposed to. You're not supposed to be reveling in it as some great experience. Right? You're supposed to go there and be like, wow, what a horrific event. Like, that's how I. I feel the same way at Arizona that I did if you go to like the 911 memorial.
Krystal Ball
Well, I saw somebody in this piece said like, you know, this would be like playing kickball at arlington National Cemetery. 100% exactly.
Sagar Enjeti
Perfect example. Like when you go to Arlington and they even do that, you ever seen kids, you know, who are screaming or something like that at the Tomb of the Unknown Speaker Soldier? Those guys will even break and they'll be like, you know, you need to show respect. I agree with that. That's a good thing. There are certain sites like that where you're just supposed to have some somber and level of respect. And that's why, like, breaking that, like, yeah, it drives me nuts.
Krystal Ball
Well, the other thing with Cash, I mean, just such a hypocrite. Before he was FBI director, he would always criticize, oh, the PJ Traveler, Chris Wray, he said this quote. I'm just saying Chris Wray doesn't need a Government fund funded GV jet to go to vacation. Maybe we ground that blame. This is one of his big criticisms of the previous FBI director. And now, I mean it's not even close. Like the things that. And I like, whatever. I'm not a big Chris Gray fan. I'm here to stand Chris Wray, but it's not even close. The level of clownish self indulgent behavior here. I still find it so interesting and fascinating and curious that the would be assassin at the White House correspondents dinner in his manifesto was like any of the administration officials are targets except for Mr. Patel. What? Why? That was a weird one. I also appreciate Zajelani always jumps in when one of these cash Patel scandals erupts and is like he is single handling destroying the mythology around Indian Americans being like competent and intelligent and good at their hard working and good at their jobs. So he's busting up some racial stereotypes. I've always tried to tell people we're
Sagar Enjeti
just like everybody else, just like any whites, blacks, others. There's dumb ones, there's smart ones. All right. And cash is living proof actually of why. Yeah, of that. So there you go.
Krystal Ball
Yeah, we got one more, one more corrupt Trump dealing here that we needed to get into the show, which is Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller has a podcast. She has access to basically any administration official that you. I think J.D. vance went on there first guest with J.D. vance. She had Dana White on recently. Nicki Minaj went on her show, et cetera.
Sagar Enjeti
She had cash on, remember? And his girlfriend.
Krystal Ball
That's right. That's right in the middle of a manhunt. Yeah. Oh, that's right. That's right. I forgot about those details. Yeah, sharp memory there. Anyway, she's getting a deal, it looks like courtesy of the MAGA CBS owners. I can put this up on the screen. This is from the Daily Beast. MAGA CBS owners plot soft landing for Trump aides wife the wife of a top White House advisors and talks for a podcasting deal with a media giant currently seeking approval from the Trump administration for $111 billion merger. So there you go. She's gonna get paid for this podcast. Let's check in. How is this podcast doing, Sagar? Surely if she's gonna get some significant podcast deals, she must be really excelling. She has access to so many people. Can we put E5 up on the screen here? So she's got 58,000 subscribers. She's got. Her latest video from five days ago has 4.9 thousand views. Dana White did clock in at 37,000 views. Brendan Carr FCC Chair 4,700 views. What is it really like being a Trump question mark? I think that was with Lara Trump. 22,000 views. Byron Donald's 9,000 views. Whoever Chris and Liz Wright are. Yeah, Chris Wright on Iran, solar, nuclear and card counting. 4,000 views. So in any case, you know, the Hannity one here did a pretty decent 150. I think her biggest one was this Nicki Minaj one 270. But we're not talking about blockbuster numbers here. In fact, we went and looked, we compared to the Free Press because that's our benchmark for podcast performance. Kind of roughly on par in terms of typical views. But as you know, you guys know, obviously here at breaking points, we get a lot more on our videos than this reason we don't have nearly access to the, the officials that she's able to just, you know, call in favors from because of who her husband is. So just complete pay to play here. No doubt about it.
Sagar Enjeti
It is totally nuts. I mean, there's so many. Look, I mean this is the thing. It's just divorce from the market. Like the Free Press acquisition had nothing to do with their actual views and or influence. It was about buying Barry and installing like a pro Israel ombudsman and her staff over at cbs. Like that's what it was. It's like, okay, it was at Aqua Hire, I guess that's what they call it right in Silicon Valley. Valley here it's very obvious they want influence with MAGA World. And she's literally the wife of Stephen Miller.
Krystal Ball
And this is again the Ellisons who are offering up this deal, who want to make sure that their merger goes through with no problem. So no big deal to throw the wife of an influential Trump aide. And Steve Miller continues to be very influential Trump aide. Throw the wife some cash and see what she can get.
Sagar Enjeti
I'm always amazed at these celebs or people with, you know, people who. And not to view shame, but you know, a little bit just because we are literally in this business, I can watch people sign deals for like 10, 15 million, which I'm like, whoa. Like I know what, you know, what's making over here. And then what those people are getting paid in terms of checks and they're getting 1/5 the number. And sure, they read ads we don't like. I get it. There's a bit of a gulf here. But sometimes these guys get cut checks which make no market sense whatsoever. And I think it's the execs either Want to seem cool by hanging out with celebrities, or in this case, they want more influence like with people who are in power. And that's really what it's all about. It has literally nothing to do with the actual market based reality of this business. Because if it did, it would be very, very, very different, you know, in terms of who gets blessed by these big, you know, by these big companies for cool deals and, and stuff like that. I'm always like, this is just fascinating to me, you know, where the money goes and for whom. So that's.
Krystal Ball
I'm also still not over the fact that fricking Sean Duffy, who's the transportation secretary and former Real World star, took seven months off of his to just film a reality show with his wife and kids. I mean, I remember all the smoke that came from Pete Buttigieg for taking
Sagar Enjeti
paternity leave, which was fair.
Krystal Ball
And this guy just took 7 months off. Are there any transportation issues in our country? Have we had any problems at the airports? I don't know. You people tell me me so insane to me. And because this whole administration is so lawless and insane and starting wars and creating shitcoins and trading insider trading every single day. It's barely a blip. Like we didn't even get a chance to cover it because so many other insane things are going on. Whereas in any other administration, the Biden administration, even if you go back to like the George W. Bush administration, you know, W. Bush Administration, this would have been a scandal of. You just wouldn't do it because it would be such a scandal. And here he goes and announces it proudly on Fox News. Oh, that's great that you got to do that thing with your kids. Disgusting.
Sagar Enjeti
The only thing I will back up Sean Duffy on is his try to ban pajamas in the airport. But they also do it in the most cringe worthy way where they're starting to put pull up bars in airports and be like, just crank out a few sets ahead of your flight plan.
Krystal Ball
You have the right take. Which is like, if you don't want us to wear comfy clothes, then make the experience better.
Sagar Enjeti
Yeah, that's what I'm a fan of. It's like, look, let's turn it into a nice experience, all right? And then, then people will dress up according. Well, you know, maybe not, but we'll a little light shoving in that direction. But that's how we create a good environment. But if things are going to be so shitty, then people are going to treat it as such. Hence is you gotta be in survival
Krystal Ball
mode when you go to the airport, man, these days. Oh, yeah, you gotta be in survival mode.
Sagar Enjeti
Also, with what you're costing, what it's costing right now, it's just so insane. Insane? Like insane. The fares that I am seeing for summer travel, like, unless you are genuinely rich, you are going nowhere this summer, in my opinion. Like, and even driving, it's going to cost you for everything. Okay, all right. That's it. That's right. All right, so we are about to do our ama. So stay tuned for that. If you're a premium subscriber, we'll see you all tomorrow.
Inner Balance Ad Voice
If you're feeling off fatigue, mood changes, skin shifts, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance. The first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop. 10 seconds in day Oestro replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's innerbalance.com Paramount plus is now the
Ryan Grim
home of all your BET favorites.
Sagar Enjeti
What?
Krystal Ball
Yes.
Ryan Grim
With all new episodes of Tyler Perry's Divorce.
Sagar Enjeti
Sisters you've always liked, a little drama,
Ryan Grim
plus a whole new world of movies like last Gladiator 2.
Krystal Ball
Now I will control an empire. Original series like the Shy. Just make sure we protect each other.
Ryan Grim
And live sports like ufc.
Sagar Enjeti
Welcome to the history books.
Ryan Grim
New home, same family. Your BET favorites are now on Paramount plus.
Sagar Enjeti
Subscribe now. This is Martha Stewart from the Martha Stewart Podcast. Ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret. When prepping for cooking and baking, get ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter so the paper grips. Lay it down and drips and spills stay on the paper, not on your counter. Cleanup is as simple as lifting it away to reveal clean counters. Effortless it is. Thanks to Reynolds Kitchen Kitchens countertop prep paper. Wet it, set it, prep it, done. Available in the Reynolds wrap aisle at Walmart, Target, Amazon and Costco.
Krystal Ball
This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Episode Theme:
A wide-ranging episode centered on the intersection of money, power, and political influence in US politics—focusing heavily on the most expensive primary in House history, the influence of the Israel lobby, Trump’s dominance over the GOP, escalating US posturing towards Cuba, and extraordinary levels of official corruption and insider self-dealing within the Trump administration.
[02:58 – 04:27]
[07:23 – 10:22]
Saagar: “MAGA is still behind [Trump] 100%. ... Their main line in Fox News all day long, and this is part of the problem, is in that generational divide, Massie leads with every group below age 45. ... But when it’s 65 and above, it’s a blowout for Ed Gallering.” [08:23]
[12:06 – 13:05]
[14:55 – 19:52]
[20:49 – 22:20]
[24:46 – 27:46]
Krystal: “New York Times wrote this up—possible Raul Castro indictment. US eyes Venezuela playbook amid stepped up surveillance flights, a visit of the CIA director and an energy embargo, White House is trying to increase pressure on Cuba.” [25:33]
[27:46 – 30:24]
Saagar: “I do really appreciate him saying this could be a pretext for US Invasion, because this is what's going on. He's telling you why they decided to come to him. They're like, look, this is our pretext.” [27:55]
[33:36 – 36:59]
Krystal: “Why are they migrating? It's because of our sanctions, primarily. Right. That has made, I mean, the sanctions are designed to punish ordinary people.” [35:30]
[39:57 – 47:54]
Notable Quote:
Saagar: “As always with Trump, it's always dialed up to the most ridiculous degree. But this is why we've always advocated for a total ban on trading—because there is no such thing as not being influenced by your own personal, personal financial [holdings] and especially with Trump, but like really with any president.” [43:10]
[47:54 – 52:21]
[52:34 – 56:31]
Krystal: “No doubt about it. ... Just complete pay to play here. ... She's gonna get paid for this podcast. ... She's got 58,000 subscribers. ... We're not talking about blockbuster numbers here.” [54:46]
Krystal: “Because this whole administration is so lawless and insane and starting wars and creating shitcoins and trading insider trading every single day. It's barely a blip. Like we didn't even get a chance to cover it because so many other insane things are going on.” [56:49]
For Next Steps:
Premium subscribers receive an AMA after the main show. For further coverage, show archives, and full episodes, visit BreakingPoints.com.