← Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
8/12/25: Trump Threatens Nationwide Crackdown, Huckabee Denies Gaza Starvation
00:54:39
Loading summary
Transcript106 lines
- [00:00]
Host
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Ice Cube
Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4pm Eastern on CBS, with playoff elimination on the line. The most physical, fiercest and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs, and breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do or die match for both teams. Six teams are allowed for four spots and all must win. There's no crying in the big three, and the no holds barred action starts Saturday at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific. Presented by iHeart.
- [00:35]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck.
- [00:39]
I'm gonna make him an offer he.
- [00:40]
Can'T refuse with family. Cannolis and spins mean everything.
- [00:45]
Now you want to get mixed up in the family business.
- [00:47]
Introducing the godfather@champacasino.com test your luck on the shadowy world of the Godfather slot.
- [00:54]
Someday I will call upon you to do a service for me. Play the Godfather now@Champacasino.com Welcome to the family.
- [01:01]
Ryan Grim
No purchase necessary VGW Group Void we're prohibited by law. 20 plus terms and conditions apply. American Military University where service members like you can access high quality, affordable education built for your lifestyle. With online programs that fit around deployments, training and unpredictable schedules, AMU makes it possible to earn your degree no matter where duty takes you. Their preferred military rate keeps tuition at just $250 per credit hour for undergraduate and master's tuition, and with 24. 7 Mental health support plus career coaching and other AMU is committed to your success during and after your service. Learn more @amu apus edu military that's amu apus edumilitary.
- [01:51]
Sagar Enjeti
Hey guys, Sagar and Krystal here.
- [01:53]
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.
- [02:00]
Ryan Grim
This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
- [02:06]
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.
- [02:17]
Ryan Grim
We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breakingpoints.com Good morning and welcome to Breaking Points. I am in the studio here alone Today Crystal got caught up at a National Guard checkpoint, did not have her paperwork in order she's joining us though from an undisclosed location underground. Crystal.
- [02:39]
Krystal Ball
Luckily not Alligator Alcatraz, at least not yet. So in any case, we are going to cover the Trump DC Takeover. We got a lot to get to in the show today. Actually. We were able to book a council member, a D.C. council member to come in and talk about her perspective on what is going on in the nation's capital. We've also got a really pretty extraordinary interview with Ambassador Mike Huckabee, Piers Morgan pressing him on starvation and on the murder of five Al Jazeera journalists. So definitely want to break that down for you. Along with other developments in Israel and Gaza, we've got a bunch of economic news. The China tariffs have been paused and Trump made a pretty interesting deal. I'm actually very curious to get Ryan's take on this deal that he made with Nvidia where basically they've got to kick back 15% of their chip sales to China to the US federal government. We also have some updates on Andrew Cuomo crashing out hard in his race with Zoran and offering a really nonsensical and terrible law in order to try to spite or shame Zoran. And I regret to form inform everybody we are going to take on the dildos at WNBA games controversy along with some other gender related developments. So you definitely want to stick around for that.
- [03:52]
Ryan Grim
Ryan and you made a point discussing the formation of the show yesterday that Republicans have made defense of the integrity of women's sports central to their entire kind of reason to be.
- [04:07]
Krystal Ball
Yeah.
- [04:08]
Ryan Grim
And this is probably not what people thought they meant by that. Yet here we are.
- [04:14]
Krystal Ball
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, as, as you pointed out, I'm not sure how many people really took seriously their undying devotion to sports, an interest which had never been exhibited in the past. But there's that to get to. And Pete Hegseth also elevating his pastor who doesn't think women should vote. So there's a lot going on there with regard to the lady kind that I have thoughts on and I suspect Ryan does as well. But let's go ahead and get to this D.C. national Guard situation with Trump claiming crime is out of control and is such an emergency in the nation's capital that he needs to call in the National Guard and evoke a rule that has never been invoked before by a president to effectively take control of the city's law enforcement. Let's go ahead and take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say yesterday.
- [05:09]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse. This is Liberation Day in D.C. and we're going to take our Capitol back. We're taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the President of the United States, I'm officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule act, you know what that is. And placing the D.C. metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control. And you'll be meeting the people that will be directly involved with that.
- [05:49]
Ryan Grim
Let me be crystal clear. Crime in D.C. is ending and ending today.
- [05:53]
Host
We are going to use every power we have to fight criminals here.
- [05:57]
Krystal Ball
President, thank you for caring about our Capitol. So let's go and put a four up on the screen. I'll get Ryan's reaction to this. But you know, the portrayal from the president is a lawless city with violent crime and crimes of all sorts spiking out of control. In fact, D.C. like many, if not all cities across the country, has seen crime go down significantly. You've got violent crime down 35% year over year. I know in Baltimore, just north of D.C. a city that's also often held out as like, you know, a hotbed of crime. And justifiably so in the past they're on track for a 50 year low in terms of the number of homicides in D.C. specifically, the crime rate has hit a 30 year low. So quite at odds with the portrayal here from the President. Ryan.
- [06:49]
Ryan Grim
Yeah. And tomorrow we'll have both of our resident right wingers on the program so you'll be able to get there take on this. But I think one thing they could fairly say is that the left was in the beginning of the kind of surge in crime starting around 2020, too dismissive of the increase that was related both to the pandemic and to the protests from that summer and the subsequent kind of going on strike by police forces all over the country. And so you did for the next couple of years have a significant uptick in crime. Any crime is too much if you're the victim of it doesn't matter if you're the only crime victim the entire year. It's too much for you. So there is that. We can acknowledge that. But at the same time, we need to acknowledge that we are strongly on a downward slope here. If you compare the capital of Washington, as some on the right have done, to capital of the United States, to other capitals around the world, which I've seen, I've seen them compare it to Havana and et cetera, which is odd it's like, you really like. Okay, yes, there's not much that's interesting, Havana, but that's really like. That's the comparison you're gonna make. Okay, anyway, then, yes, we are a much more violent nation than pretty much any other country in the world. So, yes, you know, because Washington, D.C. is part of the United States, even it doesn't get to be a state, it's going to have more violent crime than you're going to see even in Argentina or whatever. So that really isn't much of an argument to take over. But I think you've been in this area your entire life. I moved to this city around 2003, and it's important for people to understand the context here. After the 1968 riots, after Martin Luther King was assassinated, a lot of the city was just laid waste, and there was no investment, no effort to kind of turn that around. And then you got deindustrialization, neoliberalism, manufacturing jobs rolling out, unions getting crushed. And then you have the crack epidemic come into Washington and. Which is only abating kind of in the late 1990s. I was in the. Basically the tail end of the first wave of gentrification here in D.C. and do we have the big balls clip here? Big balls was, you know, stopped. Attempted to stop a carjacking on the 1400 block of Swan Street Northwest and was beaten pretty severely. And the police, interestingly, though, there were like eight police officers nearby. Two officers ran to the scene and broke up the beatdown, immediately arrested two of them, and some of the other hooligans got away. And what you've heard from people is that the 1400 block of Swan street, that's a nice neighborhood. But at the same time, 20 years ago, when I moved here, I moved close to there. I was 14th and W Street. It was not particularly safe.
- [10:01]
Krystal Ball
Yeah, I remember that area. Even when I moved to D.C. let's say, early 2000s, it was transitional. It was definitely transitional.
- [10:10]
Ryan Grim
Right. So. So that kind of shows how much progress the city has made. That now when there's. If there was crime 20 years ago on the 1400 block of Swan street, people like, yeah, that's. That's what happened. That's what happens now. It's shocking. So that just, I think, to me, demonstrates, like, how much progress the city has made and that it's at one of the. It's, you know, it's not as safe as it should be. No city is, but it's much safer than it. Than it was before. And I don't and I don't quite see how bringing in the feds helps that.
- [10:44]
Krystal Ball
Yeah, I mean, well, that's one of the things that's ridiculous about this is actually let's put a 5 up on the screen like, you know, this was the scene in DC is all these DEA agents. Cuz they not only called up the National Guard, they also pulled agents from dea, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies. And there you see them just like strolling along the mall as joggers are going past and no problem anywhere in sight. Presumably there's other actual crime that these individuals could be focused on, but instead they're going for this walk along the mall and doing yes, nothing. I also saw a report I believe from npr. Apparently there was some like minority in incident between a moped and a vehicle and the police were there. And then you had two dozen federal agents also descend on the scene to make sure that the car moped situation was resolved. So that's the kind of absurdity that you're talking about here. And you know, one of the things I've been thinking about with regard to crime, because there's always, you know, there's a heated debate among people who study this about what causes these spikes and increases in crime and which sort of police tactics are effective in, in dealing with it. And because you had this spike in crime really across the country in cities across the country, and then a similar decline in crime following that again in cities across the country, it not to say that, you know, the policing and the mayoral leadership and all that stuff doesn't matter, but it does seem like the biggest determinants of crime are these sociocultural factors. Much more so than, you know, whether or not the National Guard has been called up in this particular instance. I want to get to the next Trump soundbite here because I think this one is really important. I saw a lot of people saying yesterday DC was going to be a model for this sort of like authoritarian militarized crackdown across the country. And I don't think that's really true. I think LA was the model that, you know, was the first one to go and they've been allowed to get away with it, even though there was much more tenuous legal grounds in L A than, you know, the President does have powers under this section 740. Now granted it's supposed to be an emergency and I think anyone would say, like this is not really an emergency that justifies this invocation, but he does have more legal standing here nevertheless, in his press conference yesterday, he made it clear that this is a plan that he would like to roll out in other cities like New York and Chicago and other notably more Democratic cities across the country. So let's go ahead and take a listen to that.
- [13:30]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don't even mention that anymore. They're so far gone. We're not going to let it happen. We're not going to lose our cities over this. And this will go further. We're starting very strongly with D.C. and we're going to clean it up real quick, very quickly, as they say. And if we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster. We have a mayor there who's totally incompetent. He's an incompetent man and we have an incompetent governor there. Pritzker is an incompetent. His family threw him out of the business and he ran for governor. And now I understand he wants to be president, but I notice he lost a little weight, so maybe he has a chance. You know, you never know what happens. But Pritzker is a gross incompetent guy, thrown out of the family business. But when I look at Chicago and I look at L. A, if we didn't go to L A three months ago, L A would be burning like the part that didn't burn. If he would have allowed the water to come down, which I told him about in my first term, I said, you're going to have problems. Let it come down. We actually sent in our military to have the water come down into L. A. They still didn't want it to come down after the fires, but that was it. We have it coming down, but hopefully L A is watching that. Mayor, also, the city's burning. They lost like 25,000 homes. I went there the day after the fire. You were there, and I saw people standing in front of a burned down home. It was their homes were incinerated.
- [15:11]
Krystal Ball
So, worth noting, Ryan, as many did yesterday, that the cities in the country actually with the highest crime rates are in red states. Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri. Other notable high crime rate cities are Little Rock, Arkansas, Cleveland, Ohio. Ohio being a red state at this point, Kansas City, Missouri, New Orleans, Louisiana. So you have plenty of red state city crime yet that doesn't catch the attention of the President of the United States. And, you know, I think, I think people are correct that this is another, like attempted distraction from the Epstein File stuff, which has been, Trump has obviously been like scrambling and panicking over, but it is. That's not to say that it's not also extraordinarily important that you have. The normalization of using the military in standard issue law enforcement and sort of just making that commonplace in America is truly an extraordinary and, you know, truly authoritarian step. So he's going to succeed in distracting from the Epstein files because he finally came up with something that is so wild and so, like, detrimental that people have to pay attention to it. And again, even as I think what we're gonna see from this is similar to in la, the National Guard is not doing all that much. Right. They're like guarding federal buildings. You'll have these, you know, you had ICE do this and a bunch of federal agencies do this big show of force of like riding their horses through a park. That's the sort of thing I expect here as well. But that's not to say it's not a major concern that we now have the President of the United States effectively saying he's gonna seize control of major cities where he disag with the political leadership and the normalizing of this militarized law enforcement force in, you know, in the nation's capital, in la, and projected in cities across the country.
- [17:08]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
Yeah.
- [17:08]
Ryan Grim
And we have really no idea what the, what the strategy is and what the kind of orders are, what the rules of engagement are for these, you know, deputized federal officers who are roaming D.C. so we don't know where it's going to head. My neighbor was telling me last night that earlier in the day she had seen a group of eight Secret Service agents. So apparently Secret Service are also, you know, being enlisted in this, in this situation who were kind of corralling a homeless guy into the, and arresting him. She said that there had been an accusation that he might have stolen something. It wasn't clear, but like, you know, a whole bunch of, you know, a crowd gathered around, like, what, you know, wondering what's going on? Why is the Secret Service picking up a homeless person here?
- [17:55]
Krystal Ball
Homeless guy?
- [17:56]
Ryan Grim
What the heck is going on? And it's an open question, like, what is going on? Trump saying that he's gonna bring in the National Guard and take over the city and very quickly he's gonna clean it up. Like, what does that mean? What is the DEA allowed to do? What is the Secret Service tasked with doing? You got Fish and Wildlife. Who else is involved here? What are they doing? Are they just patrolling? Where are they taking the people that they're arresting and how is this supposed to accomplish the goal? And none of that. It all feels like you said. I think he's wanted to do this for a very long time. The pressure of Epstein made it inevitable. It's like just, yeah, let's do this. Let's create this massive.
- [18:42]
Krystal Ball
Yeah, we're going to use the, the Reichstag fire that's available to us of big balls getting, you know, beaten in this car hijacking. And we're going to seize on that for something he's been projecting for a while and again that he's already done in la. I do believe we have our council member standing by, so let's go ahead and get to her so we can get her perspective on what's happening here.
- [19:08]
Ice Cube
The reviews and ratings are in and Ice Cube's big three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4pm Eastern on CBS with with playoff elimination on the line, the stars will be flocking to Los Angeles to witness the most physical, fiercest and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win over Houston to make the playoffs, reeling from last week's savage beating at the hands of Chicago's possessed Montrez Harrow. Last time these teams met, Miami beat Houston, but they are a dangerous team having their manhood at stake. Then breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad, a in do or die match for both teams. Will LA avenge their previous shocking loss to perennial basketball Boston rivals? To survive, six teams are allowed for four spots and all must win. Don't miss the Big Three, the three on three basketball league everyone is talking about. There's no crying in the big three and the no hold spot action starts Saturday at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific, followed by two games on Vice starting at 6:30 Eastern.
- [20:06]
Ad Voice
Presented by iHeart Life's Messy we're talking spills, stains, pets and kids. But with Annabe, you never have to stress about messes again. At WashablesOfAs.com, discover Annabe sofas, the only fully machine washable sofas inside and out, starting at just $699. Made with liquid and stain resistant fabrics, that means fewer stains and more peace of mind. Designed for real life, Our sofas feature changeable fabric covers allowing you to refresh your style anytime. Need flexibility? Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa effortlessly. Perfect for cozy apartments or spacious homes. Plus they're earth friendly and built to last. That's why over 200,000 happy customers have made the switch. Upgrade your space today. Visit washablesofas.com now and bring home a sofa made for life. That's washablesofas.com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
- [21:08]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck.
- [21:12]
I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.
- [21:14]
With family. Cannolis and spins mean everything.
- [21:18]
Now you want to get mixed up in the family business.
- [21:21]
Introducing the godfather@champacasino.com test your luck in the shadowy world of the Godfather slots.
- [21:28]
Someday I will call upon you to do a service for me. Play the Godfather now@Champacasino.com Welcome to the family.
- [21:34]
Ryan Grim
No purchase necessary. VGW Group void. We're prohibited by law. 20 plus terms and conditions apply. Joining us now is Ward 4 Councilmember Janice Lewis George. Councilmember, thanks so much for joining us.
- [21:46]
Host
Good morning. Thanks for having me.
- [21:48]
Ryan Grim
First of all, I want to play a little bit of Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C. who coincidentally represented Ward 4 before she became mayor, where you now represent, responding to Trump's press conference. If we can roll Mayor Bowser here and then we're going to get Louis George's response here.
- [22:09]
Muriel Bowser
We know, however, as most have heard from the president's press conference, that he has prerogatives in D.C. unlike anywhere else in the country, including his authority given by our home rule charter, to require the mayor to require me to supply services of the Metropolitan Police Department and he also has control and the ability to deploy the National Guard. But let me be clear, as our home rule charter is also clear and the president's executive order restates, Chief Pamela Smith is the chief of the Metropolitan Police department and its 3,100 members work under her direction. The home rule charter requires the mayor to provide the services of MPD during special conditions of an emergency. And we will follow the law, though there's a question about the subjectivity of that declaration. In fact, the chief has already provided a high level liaison and point of contact with the federal government and made those initial contacts. The executive order is also clear that the president has delegated his authority to make requests of us to Attorney General Pam Bondi. I have reached out to Attorney General Bondi and hope to schedule a meeting.
- [23:54]
Ryan Grim
So to set some context for viewers, you know you were endorsed in your race by dsa. Mayor Bowser is known as much closer to business here in Washington, D.C. so. So I know you have your political differences here in the city with her, but how do you feel like she has handled the run up to this crisis and this particular crisis. And what should she be doing differently?
- [24:19]
Host
You know, I think she has taken the cautionary approach in how she's handled with the administration and sort of tried to find common ground with the president and Republicans and sort of tried in her best ways to sort of appease whatever they are trying to do. I think in some instances people could say, you know, say, you know, that's what we have to do because we're under home rule and we're in a vulnerable position. And I do think we are in a vulnerable position because of not having statehood and the Homerun charter. But I think the mayor should be a little bit more active and forceful in fighting for District residents and saying and declaring sort of what Trump is doing is wrong. Right. Yesterday you heard mayors from all across the country and in the cities that Trump indicated, like Chicago and Baltimore and Los Angeles, unequivocally say, our city is handling crime, crime is low here, but also defending their city in a more forceful manner. And I would like to see this sort of notion of like, let's find a common ground and compromise versus let's defend our citizens and defend our citizens rights.
- [25:41]
Krystal Ball
At this point, it doesn't appear that there is going to be a legal challenge of Trump's invocation here of section 740. Is, is that something that you would like to see going forward? Do you believe that he's on strong legal ground in terms of his actions?
- [25:55]
Host
Yeah. So I think one of the biggest outstanding questions is sort of, what, what is the emergency? Like, what? Define emergency. Right. And I've asked the Attorney general and the Attorney general and the mayor have both said, well, you know, he has broad sort of, you know, powers here. And I said, that's great, but we have to challenge. I think we should be challenging or doing some type of injunction, basically, to say, what are your grounds for an emergency? Make the prima facie case for an emergency that serves as the predicate for seizure of control of the police or deployment of the National Guard. And we know right now the facts don't support Trump's claims of a public safety emergency in D.C. because of the fact that our crime is down in every category. Over the last two years, there's been a 52% drop in violent crime in D.C. and right now, we're actually experiencing some of the lowest crime rates we've seen in 30 years in the city. So the real question is, if you know, then what is the prima facie case that the President has laid out that justifies sort of the notion of emergency. And I've asked the attorney general to investigate this question, to determine the big, you know, what the district's best legal course of action moving forward should be. But I think yesterday what I wanted to hear is the mayor and the attorney general say we are going to go to the courts to get an opinion to see if Trump has met the legal requirements for emergency before. Just sort of leaning on let's compromise, let's find a way forward. You know, let's have conversations, which we have to have, but also let's challenge the actions, because if not, we'll be in an endless cycle of the president declaring emergency. And with no clear definition and no court guidance here, we're setting ourselves up down a slippery road that could lead to us losing our autonomy.
- [27:53]
Ryan Grim
Yeah. And people can make up their own minds. But watching Mayor Bowser there, I felt she looked kind of shaken, like it didn't seem like this was the person that's going to lead this fight here. If there was someone who was going to lead the fight, what could they do? Given the vulnerable position that everybody acknowledges D.C. is in, what assets do you have? What leverage do you have, and how would you kind of organize pushback against this?
- [28:17]
Host
Yeah, well, first and foremost, as I talked about one, we have to pull our legal levers where we can. It's so important for us to. You know, we've seen jurisdictions who are facing the same amount of attack on their local autonomy, you know, going to the courts and trying to get injunctions and fighting on the legal level to be able to do that work. In addition to that, let's be honest, the real threat fear here is that we would lose home rule, which gives us this ability to have autonomy. In order to overturn home rule, this would require a majority vote in both the House and House and the Senate, followed by presidential approval. And even with the majority in the House, a repeal in the Senate would likely face a filibuster, which will require at least 60 votes to proceed. So another thing we need to be doing is really getting going to Congress, getting our allies on Democratic senators, the House of. Democratic House of Representatives. You know, we talked yesterday, we said, you know, we need to be going to the Congressional Black Caucus within the. Within Congress, asking for their support. And many of them are calling us. How can we support? And so, you know, we need to be doing those things. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is our delegate and warrior on the Hill representative, has put forward legislation to give D.C. its full autonomy. We should be trying to get those type of things done as quickly as possible when we're up against what we're up against in this country. You know, the idea that, you know, conforming is going to create a space where we're not going to continue to have to give and give and give. You know, it's just not based in reality.
- [29:57]
Krystal Ball
Yeah, you can ask Columbia University how that's gone for them when they, you know, bent over backwards to try to capitulate and it didn't matter, they still had to pay the bribes. The administration, they've had the Middle east studies department taken over and, you know, there's. There's no. There's nothing to be gained from capitulating to this individual. I think that lesson should have been learned pretty well at this point. I was curious your perspective and what you're hearing from constituents about their concerns about what this is going to mean for their lives. And also, just what have you heard? I mean, how is the National Guard going to be used? We know that agents have been pulled up from various agencies. Dea, FBI, Secret Service. How are they going to be deployed? We were raising questions earlier about what are the rules of engagement here. Do you have any understanding of what this is actually going to look like?
- [30:47]
Host
Yeah. In our call meeting yesterday, amongst the mayor and the council and the ag, what our understanding was is that they are going to sort of just be a presence, really. They don't have any sort of. The goal is to just be a presence across the. The city in different locations. I don't know how real that is. I will say I had a constituent reach out to me because Rock Creek park, which is National Park Service land, is in my ward, and her and her son were on a run and they were sort of stopped and told they couldn't sort of run in a certain section. And they just. They really wanted to know, Council member, what do we do in these circumstances? There's a vast amount of National Park Service land, which is federal land, that is a part of Ward 4 particularly, but across the city in general. The reality is, what I've been saying to residents is when you're on national park land, when you're on federal land, they do have additional powers there. I've recommended people stay off National Park Service land or make sure while you're there, you're there with others in numbers. And you also remember you have your constitutional rights. Be very clear about that. Make sure you have your identification on you. Make sure you let people know where you are. Because the reality is, with so many different law enforcement entities on the ground in the District of Columbia. It's really going to be hard. It's really hard for us to sort of determine who's doing what and where. And we've also been asking constituents to report to us where they're seeing national law enforcement so that we can, you know, try to make sure people can go to that area and at least observe what is happening between constituents and federal law enforcement.
- [32:47]
Ryan Grim
And let me ask you about this billion dollars, DC's missing billion dollars. You can put up a seven here. It's a tweet from my old colleague Sam Stein. He says one way we could make DC safer and cleaner without using the National Guard would be to restore the $1 billion in cuts to the city budget that into law with Trump's signature, which Trump and Republicans were supposed to reverse but never got around to. So this was something they slipped into the budget or slipped into the spending bill, stripped a billion dollars from DC's budget, said that, oh, we'll fix that next time. Just trust us, don't worry. What's the status of that billion dollars? And talk about the portion of the budget that that makes up, like, how important to the city is this amount of money, like, to the federal government, a billion dollars, they can lose that easily. But to the city, what's it mean?
- [33:37]
Host
Yeah, for us, remember, our largest pots of money. Health, public safety, education, and human services. And so when you have big cuts like this, it means those are the four sections of our city budget that have to take a hit. And this is not the time where education can take a hit, where public safety, which, you know, as all the talks about wanting to make sure the District is safe and this being about safety. But you cut, you know, a billion dollars from our budget.
- [34:08]
Ryan Grim
What is the city's whole budget, if you count all four of those buckets?
- [34:11]
Host
Plus, we, we have about a $19 billion, $20 billion budget given the year, but maintain about a $19 billion budget.
- [34:20]
Ryan Grim
So a billion dollars, that's, that's cutting into bone there. Like, so what gets hit? What gets hit if that billion dollars.
- [34:27]
Host
Does not get stored, what gets hit are the. Because it's such a, we have such a large part of money, public safety takes a hit, because that's one of our largest budget expenditures, our education takes a hit. And remember, many of our schools are on quarterly payments, especially our public charter schools. And so the inability for us to be able to give the, you know, actually expend those funds, you know, was a real hit. To sort of our education nexus, human services. The same people they're saying they want to support are unhoused res which have been, I must say, are under attack and being scapegoated in this moment in such a disgusting manner, our unhoused residents. A human services budget is the budget that takes the cut when we lose a billion dollars. And that's our ability to put unhoused residents into shelter, into care. And so, you know, that's what makes this sort of just so hypocritical. Because to say you want safety and you want to make sure we don't have homeless individuals and on the street, which in and of itself is sort of outrageous to say and to dehumanize humans in that way, it's so hypocritical because you're cutting the same budgets that support public safety, human services, and those things that you say we need to clean up and fix as a city.
- [35:46]
Krystal Ball
Yeah. That billion dollars, I'm sure, could do a lot more than some National Guardsmen wandering around and federal agents harassing people trying to jog in Rock Creek Park. Councilmember, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate you taking the time and we really appreciate your perspective.
- [36:01]
Ryan Grim
If you have a second, I did have one more question.
- [36:03]
Host
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
- [36:03]
Krystal Ball
Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
- [36:04]
Ryan Grim
Ryan wanted to get your defense of what I think is the best criticism of the city. And you were elected in 2020, is that right? So during the pandemic, D.C. had one of the most severe crack lockdowns. And if you were in school, let's say you're a fourth grader in March, when they shut down the schools, you basically didn't come back into school until you were a sixth grader. And you know, they had this like a year later in the spring, they brought kids back for like two hours a week and Tuesdays and Thursdays or something. But then they really don't start bringing kids back till the year after that. And then, you know, they're like doing lunch out in the freezing cold and it was like, it was a little bananas. And kids being out of school from, let's say going from 10 to 12, they came back and you talk to the teachers, you talk to the cops, they're like, you saw adults. When adults were coming out of the lockdown, it took them a while to figure out how to engage in society again. But for a kid who went from 10 to 12 or 12 to 14 felt like an entire lost generation. Those 12 year olds are now 17 and they're the ones you're seeing out there. Not all of them obviously, but, you know, they went through this experience which was in somewhat argue unnecessarily foisted on them. Yes, there was a pandemic, but there was an overreaction to it. What's your response in hindsight, I guess, to that criticism?
- [37:41]
Host
You know, I think we were just in unprecedented times and we were really trying to do what was best for the safety of students and the safety of, of our educators. And I think we did what we felt was best and what we were given guidance was the best thing to do at that time. And you know, I don't think there anyone could say it was a right way or wrong way to do it because of the fact that it was just such an unprecedented moment in our country and in our city.
- [38:13]
Ryan Grim
Do you agree with the link that people make that I'm making there, that that that time away for those kids at that vulnerable age had something to do with the spike in crime?
- [38:27]
Host
I would disagree. I would disagree. I think our young people went through a lot and they needed to process that. And we have no idea as adults what it was like for them as students. We obviously needed to have more mental health supports for our students in returning. And that's a whole nother conversation about the shortage of supports that we have in our schools due to the pipeline issue we have. But I think I wouldn't correlate that to the uptick we saw in our young people acting out in that regard. I wouldn't make that correlation.
- [39:09]
Ryan Grim
Well, council member, really appreciate you being here. We'll be following this story pretty close. So, you know, hope you can come back sometime soon.
- [39:17]
Host
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
- [39:21]
Ice Cube
The reviews and ratings are in and Ice Cube's big three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4pm Eastern on CBS with playoff elimination on the line, the stars will be flocking to Los Angeles to witness the most physical, fiercest and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win over Houston to make the playoffs, reeling from last week's savage beating at the hands of Chicago's possessed Montrez Harold. Last time these teams met, Miami beat Houston, but they are a dangerous team having their manhood at stake. Then breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do a die match for both teams. Will LA avenge their previous shocking loss to perennial basketball Boston rivals to survive. Six teams are allowed for four spots and all mother win. Don't miss the Big three, the three on three basketball league everyone is talking about. There's no crying in the big three and the no hold sport action starts Saturday at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific followed by two games on Vice starting at 6:30 Eastern. Presented by iHeart.
- [40:21]
Ad Voice
Time for a sofa upgrade? Visit washablesofas.com and discover Annabe where designer style meets budget friendly prices with sofas starting at $699, Anabe brings you the ultimate in furniture innovation with a modular design that allows you to rearrange your space effortlessly. Perfect for both small and large spaces, Anibe is the only machine washable sofa inside and out. Say goodbye to stains and messes with liquid and stain resistant fabrics that make cleaning easy. Liquid simply slides right off. Designed for custom comfort, our high resilience foam lets you choose between a sink in feel or a supportive memory foam blend. Plus our pet friendly stain resistant fabrics ensure your sofa stays beautiful for years. Don't compromise quality for price. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your living space today with no risk returns and a 30 day money back guarantee. Get up to 60% off plus free shipping and free returns. Shop now at washablesofas.com Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
- [41:21]
Ryan Grim
Hello, it is Ryan and we could all use an extra bright spot in our day, couldn't we? Just to make up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps. You know, all the mundane stuff. That is why I'm such a big fan of Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere with daily bonuses. So sign up now@chumbac casino.com that's chumbacasino.com no purchase necessary. VGW Group void. We're prohibited by law 21 plus terms and conditions apply.
- [41:52]
Krystal Ball
Piers Morgan hosted a pretty extraordinary, I would say interview with our Ambassador to Israel, the one and only Mike Huckabee. And we have a couple clips here we wanted to share with you, starting with Piers asking him about the number of people who are being starved to death by Israel inside of the Gaza Strip right now. Let's go ahead and take a listen to Huckabee's response.
- [42:14]
Sagar Enjeti
Why does Hamas Hate ghf? One of the things they demanded in one of the negotiations just two and a half weeks ago was that GHF had to be shut down. Why would Hamas want to shut it down? I'll tell you why, because GHF method of getting food has really hurt their capacity to control the food market, and it's costing them money. Otherwise, they would say, sure, go ahead and bring the food, and all we care about is people getting to eat. But they don't care about people getting to eat. They care that they eat. And if you look at the people from Hamas when they get photographed, they're well fed. None of them are hungry, I guarantee you. Look at their faces, look at their bodies, and instead of food, they could use some Ozempic.
- [42:58]
Krystal Ball
So there is a lot to say about that, Ryan. I mean, at this point, denying that there is starvation in Gaza, it just is in such defiance of the clear reality there were more kids who starved to death literally yesterday. Israeli military officials, not to mention the UN and other aid organizations, have said there was no significant looting of aid by Hamas. This is just a lie. And in fact, the reason why the UN and other agencies and Hamas or whoever don't like GHF is because it is the weaponization of aid. And Palestinians are getting massacred at GHF sites practically every single day when there is a distribution. Not to mention being forced to traverse through active war zones in order even to get to those few distribution sites for their poultry, lentils, and, you know, rice or flour or whatever, the meager provisions that are being provided. And as Anthony Aguilar explained to us, not even water, because that would be too expensive. So all of these food goods that require water but no actual water?
- [44:13]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, this is a pretty easy one. If you're on the side of defending ghf, then you're the bad guys in this situation. There's no question about it. Boston Consulting Group, just for two of its partners pitching business and getting involved in the early stages of ghf, those two partners were fired. The BCG is now facing an existential crisis with clients leaving with staff leaving with their reputation completely tarnished simply for being connected to this ghf. And this is months ago. To have to this day, the ambassador defending it and saying that it's preposterous that Hamas would oppose this as part of a deal is utterly outrageous. Almost every single day, there are massacres at these aid sites. If you remember Adil Khalil, who's a doctor from Dallas who's been on this program. He's now back in Gaza for his third mission. And he texted me when he first got there, and he said that a doctor told him, you know, briefing him for his upcoming shift. He's like, if there's an aid. If aid distribution is open while you're on your shift, that is very bad luck for you. But if there's no aid distribution while you're on, then you're going to have an okay shift. So bear that in mind. Like that is how the hospitals understand this, that when the aid sites open, the bodies are coming in.
- [45:50]
Krystal Ball
Can I tell you something defending?
- [45:51]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, go ahead.
- [45:52]
Krystal Ball
Even sicker that I just, I was listening to Theo Vaughan, to his great credit and I'm extremely grateful to him for this, had on a doctor, American doctor, who just returned from Gaza and he said, you know, in Islam, it is forbidden to take your own life to commit suicide. And he heard of people who would say, you know, if my wife, if my family are killed, I'm going to one of the GHF sites basically in hopes that they will take me out. Like suicide by GHF site aid, quote unquote, aid massacre. That's how dark it is. And he also attested as numerous doctors have at this point, he worked at Nassar Hospital as well, which is the, the primary hospital where these aid massacre victims would be brought. He said, you know, when there was an aid distribution, you would have roughly 300 people come in wounded with various wounds and, you know, plenty more who were killed. So that is, that's what our ambassador, Mike Huckabee, great Christian is defending here. We also have a clip here of him being asked by Piers Morgan to comment on the assassination of five Al Jazeera journalists. Again, we covered this extensively yesterday. Israel is not denying that they targeted and assassinated these five journalists, including among them Anas Al Sharif. But they. Oh, but they were, you know, there were Hamas, so it was fine for us to execute them. Let's go ahead and take a listen to what Huckabee had to say about that.
- [47:21]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
The IDF has killed five journalists from Al Jazeera amongst seven people who were killed in a a direct and targeted strike in Gaza City. Al Jazeera called it a targeted assassination and a blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom. Now, the IDF immediately put out a statement saying that 28 year old correspondent Anas Al Sharif, who had become extremely well known in Gaza for his broadcasting during the war. They said that he served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas and produced documents including personal rosters, lists of terrorist trade training courses, phone directories and salary documents that they said proved he belonged to Hamas. But since then, a number of journalists, including many from the BBC, have said that this evidence to their eyes, very experienced war correspondence is not convincing. And the reason this matters so Much is that if the IDF has deliberately targeted a group of journalists in Gaza City and it turns out that that that man Al Sharif was not a Hamas terrorist, then that would constitute a war crime.
- [48:38]
Sagar Enjeti
I also would point there are photos where this alleged journalist is hugging the head of Hamas and smiling and yucking it up for the cameras. There is evidence that indicates that he was an asset for Hamas and if it's proven that he isn't, then that's a different calculation. But right now the evidence points to the fact that he was. And why would someone pose as a journalist? I mean, I know why they would do it, but I think that's incredibly despicable if somebody is pretending to be just reporting the news, but is actually being a participant in the outcome. It's like if a referee at an American football game, instead of wearing the striped jersey of the referee, decides to put on a team jersey and actually root for one team over the other and aid and abet one team over the other. But the big difference is that in football it's just a game really doesn't matter. This matters. People are dying there every day and anyone who helps Hamas, who is sympathetic to them, who aids and abets them, and I can understand they would be a target.
- [49:52]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
But there is no actual hard evidence that he was a Hamas terrorist. The only evidence appears to be old pictures of him with Hamas leaders, of which there would be many people in Gaza who would do pictures of that nature with the governing body. This is prior to October 7th, I think judging people as terrorists prior to October 7th when this was a government that was being financially supported by Israel, amongst others, to the tuna, billions of dollars is pretty disingenuous.
- [50:22]
Krystal Ball
So first of all, Ryan, as Piers is pointing out there, there is no evidence that Anas was linked to Hamas or a Hamas militant at any point, let alone post October 7th. And you can all go out and watch his work product if you want to know what he has been up to for these past nearly two years. Second of all, I just have to note it is quite rich for a former Fox News host to take this line about how if you're cheering, rooting for one team specifically and you put on the jersey and you're not just being the neutral ref, then that should make you a legitimate military target. Is quite rich coming from this former Fox News propagandist.
- [51:01]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, it's utterly preposterous if you live in Gaza and you're a high ranking, you know, if you're a journalist of serious repute like the Hamas leadership wants to be seen with you. Like, that's. It goes the other way around for the most part. That.
- [51:19]
Krystal Ball
Well, think about the other thing. I was thinking about. Hey, all of our members of Congress are there taking photos with Benjamin Netanyahu right now. You know, does that mean they're fake congresspeople and they're legitimate military targets? It's ridiculous. It's utterly absurd.
- [51:33]
Ryan Grim
Right. And also, Israel's own documents that they put out said that he left in early 2023 because of some explosives accident that cost him his hearing in one ear and vision hurt his vision in another eye. It's like. Well, a. None of that is evident in any of his work. But even assuming that this is the case, you're saying that he has not been a combatant since October, since before October 7, 2023. The rule is that you can only kill combatants, like, just because somebody previously served. And I'm not acknowledging that he previously served, not saying that he did, because there's really no evidence that he did. But even if he did serve, then that doesn't allow you to kill him years later. You cannot kill Barack Ravid just because Barack Ravid served in the idf or same with any, which he did. And that's what people do for the most part. They serve in the militaries of their country, but you can't then later kill them them as a result of it. So then yesterday, Israel put out again, they said, oh, clarification, because they saw they were getting clowned all over the world for this argument. They had clarification. We have newly uncovered new secret documents that show he was still a secret terrorist. And people around the world have been getting their news from Anas Al Sharif. And they know that he has been working from dawn all the way, often through the night, because you can't sleep because of the drones and the explosions. He's posting and doing live hits constantly. And so now Israel's claiming that actually in his downtime, he was the secret terrorist. And they're only saying that now. They're clarification because the last answer landed like a dust. And they're like, oh, yes, this isn't. This is only working on our, you know, most loyal propagandists. Everyone else is like, no, this is not credible.
- [53:34]
Krystal Ball
Well, and they've murdered so many journalists, hundreds at this point. You know, the number I saw was north of 240, more than, you know, in any war since, including the civil war. They've murdered so many. Most of the time, they don't even feel the need to justify it. It's just, they just, just kill them and nobody hears anything about it. And there's, I think cannot be disputed at this point that journalists have been intentionally targeted. You know, you have international journalists are barred from entering the Gaza Strip. So they aren't, aren't there to shoulder some of the burden of being able to report out this genocide. So it's fallen to Palestinians to be responsible for the full reporting burden of, of documenting their own friends and family members being starved and brutalized and killed. And then on top of that, they all, I mean, Anas was receiving text messages. He anticipated his own murder at the hands of the IDF and put together, you know, his final statement to be published upon his death. That's how much danger he felt his life was in. And we can put this next before this is Israel targeting another journalist. Now Ryan, my understanding is this journalist was able to survive this strike. But after the initial, you're seeing the rubble from the initial strike and while he's walking around seeing who's okay, you know, what are the injuries, what's going on, there's another double tap strike here, once again targeting them. And I think you pointed out the likelihood likely they were trying to not only murder this journalist, but any aid workers who would come to try to assist.
- [55:23]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, and that was Mota subdolul, a very high, very well known journalist in Gaza City. And yes, it does seem like it was a double tap. And the double taps are aimed at, you know, you first hit a site and it's terrorist organizations that kind of pioneered the use of these double taps. You strike a site and then loved ones and rescue workers come to the site and then you set off or you launch a second explosion to hit them as well. Miraculously, he survived. At least 10 people were killed in that strike. He's also Gaza City. And so what's going on here? And Anas and his colleagues were in Gaza City and have been this entire genocide. Their tent was known to be outside of Al Shifa Hospital. They were broadcasting from there constantly. Which has also raised these questions about to the idf, like, oh wait a minute, you had this evidence that he's this secret terrorist. Why now? Like why are you waiting until now? And the answer is quite obvious that they have announced that they're going to do this incursion and take over Gaza City. So they are now methodically killing the journalists in Gaza City. I hear myself saying this and it sounds insane that this is being done out in the open, but this is what is happening in a methodical day to day manner?
- [56:53]
Krystal Ball
Yeah, yeah, no, no, it's, it's just you, you, you know, you can't believe that these things are unfolding and so clear and yet somebody like Mike Huckabee goes on with, with Pierce and I will say, you know, Pierce asked a little follow up there. Pierce can be very dogged when he wants to be and he was a little meek in this particular segment with Ambassador Huckabee for whatever reason. Also wanted to share with everybody a US Negotiator who was involved in the, you know, the negot led to the release of the Israeli American hostage Eden Alexander. He is now coming out and speaking out about how he feels that it has not been, surprise, surprise, Hamas, that was the problem in the most recent negotiations. That it's actually the US side that, you know, walked away and is speculating about why that might be. This is B5. Let's go ahead and take a listen to that.
- [57:49]
Bishore Baba
Both the mediators, the Egyptians and the Qataris said that they felt that the Hamas response to the Israeli proposal with regard to the maps was positive. Hamas was not really rigid in terms of what it was willing to do. It was willing to negotiate, you know, and the same thing with the, between the exchange of prisoners and hostages. So there was the opportunity to come to a deal and honestly I don't know why we did not pursue that because if we did, we would have had a deal about two and a half, three, two and a half weeks ago. But somebody cut off that line of negotiations.
- [58:32]
Krystal Ball
Somebody is Israel.
- [58:34]
Bishore Baba
I'm presuming that the decision at the end of the day was Israeli decision. What I was told by the mediators that the Israeli delegation, when they saw what was presented to them said that they were cautiously positive. I don't know what happens in Israeli behind the scenes politics, but clearly it was not something that, that was at the time acceptable to Israel. And then, and then we've been nothing in the meantime, things were frozen.
- [59:06]
Krystal Ball
So there you go, Ryan. I mean he's just basically acknowledging outright that Israel was the problem in these negotiations. What more can you tell us from drop site's reporting about this?
- [59:15]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, this is Bishore Baba. This is the guy who kind of was the kind of head of like Arab Americans for Trump and like set up this back channel to Hamas for Wyckoff. And you know, it's important that the history is laid out there just so we just so everybody understands, you know, what happened here. It was reported in Israeli media that he resigned from the negotiating team. That seems to be completely fabricated. He responded publicly saying, you know, I'm not technically a member of the the negotiating team. Either way, I'm helping Envoy Witkoff. I retain enormous respect for Witkoff. And then he did this interview just making clear what happened. And based on the documents that Jeremy Scahill obtained over at Dropsite, what he's saying there conforms exactly with what we understand as well, that Hamas responded favorably to the offer. They were preparing to sign the documents and move into the implementation phase. And Wyckoff first, and then Israel announced that it was all off and that they were going to try other means to get the captives back. And those other means entail assassinating a ton of journalists in Gaza City and then moving into Gaza City and then we'll see, see what comes next. So. But that is the accurate history that Hamas was ready to make this deal and the US And Israel decided not to make it.
- [60:51]
Krystal Ball
So his dispute with, I believe it was channel 12, Israeli channel 12 saying he had resigned from the negotiating team is basically like, well, I was never officially on the negotiating team and he's still involved. Couldn't really resign from it.
- [61:02]
Ryan Grim
Yeah, he's still involved. There are just no talks right now. There's gotcha know there. There's news of like Israel and the United States kicking around ideas again that might lead to something, but there are no negotiations that he can be a part of.
- [61:31]
Ice Cube
Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4:00pm Eastern on CBS with playoff elimination on the line. Most physical, fiercest and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs. And breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do or die match for both teams. Six teams are allowed for four spots and all must win. There's no crying in the big three. And the no holds barred action starts Saturday at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific. Presented by iheart Bubba Wallace here from.
- [62:02]
Ryan Grim
23 Xi Racing Funny thing about being fast, you end up with waiting a lot. First to show up first in line, then just waiting. Me, I rev up. Jumbo casino with over 200 social casino games. No slow lanes here. Why sit around when you can spin? I'm already racing. Your turn. Play for free@chumbacasino.com let's Chumba.
- [62:24]
Sagar Enjeti
Sponsored by Chumba Casino.
- [62:26]
Ryan Grim
No purchase necessary. VGW Group voidware prohibited by law. 21 terms and conditions apply at Hill's Pet Nutrition we know that pet parent guilt is real.
- [62:35]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
Leaving too long, playing too little homes. New babies, waking them up when they look so comfy. Running out of patience. Running out of treats, running the vacuum.
- [62:47]
Ryan Grim
You can only do so much. That's why there's hills. Science led nutrition to help you give.
- [62:52]
Godfather Slot Ad Voice
More love than humanly possible because you're only human.
- [62:56]
Ryan Grim
There's hills. Find the right food@hillspet.com science does more.
- [63:01]
Host
This is an I Heart podcast.