GOP Lawmakers HATE The Bill They're Voting For

Summary

FYPod Episode Summary: "GOP Lawmakers HATE The Bill They're Voting For"

Date Released: July 2, 2025
Host: The Bulwark
Hosts: Tim Miller and Cameron Caskey

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Overview

In this episode of FYPod, hosts Tim Miller and Cameron Caskey delve into the contentious dynamics surrounding recent legislative actions by GOP lawmakers, particularly focusing on the pivotal role of Senator Lisa Murkowski in passing a controversial bill. The discussion navigates through the complexities of political allegiance, the psychological motivations behind lawmakers' decisions, the impact on rural America, and the surprising surge in youth voter turnout, especially among Generation Z.

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Lisa Murkowski and the "Big Beautiful Bill"

The episode centers on the passage of a significant yet divisive GOP bill, affectionately dubbed the "Big Beautiful Bill" by the hosts. Senator Lisa Murkowski emerged as the decisive vote, a move that sparked considerable debate and criticism.

• Tim Miller highlights Murkowski's public expressions of anxiety and concern post-vote, questioning her motivations:

  "This is Lisa Murkowski. She said after she cast the vote she hopes the House makes the bill better because she doesn't think it's done. It's like, well, why didn't you vote for it? Why didn't you wait till just tomorrow? What is wrong with these people?" ([01:41])

• Cameron Caskey criticizes Murkowski’s performative displays of emotion, labeling her as a "spurious, faux compassionate politician" whose actions do not align with genuine conservative values:

  "She's just kind of like a spurious, you know, faux compassionate politician who likes to pretend that she adheres to some sort of Real conservative values." ([02:33])

The hosts argue that Murkowski's vote betrays the very rural communities she is supposed to represent, exacerbating issues like rising healthcare costs, crumbling infrastructure, and supporting policies that potentially harm these areas.

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Reactions and Criticism of Republican Lawmakers

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the apparent disconnect between GOP lawmakers' public criticisms of the bill and their actual voting behavior.

• Cameron expresses frustration over lawmakers who vocally denounce the bill yet ultimately support it:

  "These guys who are saying, oh my God, this bill is such a mess... But then they vote for it. It's like, what the fuck was the point of telling us that?" ([01:30])

• Tim explores the psychological underpinnings of this behavior, suggesting that loyalty to the Republican "team," tribalism, and the desire for political relevance drive lawmakers to support the bill despite reservations:

  "They see themselves as being part of a team, and they want to defend the team. It's tribal. ... They want to be in the mix. They want to feel like they're important." ([08:14])

This segment underscores the tribal nature of modern politics, where party allegiance can override personal or constituent interests, leading to legislative decisions that may not align with previously stated values.

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Breakdown of the "Big Beautiful Bill"

The hosts provide a detailed analysis of the bill's provisions, outlining its far-reaching implications:

1. Extension of Trump's Tax Cuts for the wealthy.
2. Tax Benefits for Seniors, including special write-offs.
3. Elimination of Taxes on Tips, benefiting those in service industries.
4. Massive Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (Food Stamps), impacting low-income individuals.
5. Construction of ICE Detention Centers, including the notorious "Alligator Alcatraz."
6. Halting the Development of Clean Energy Plants previously outlined in Biden's initiatives.
7. Funding for a Sculpture Garden dedicated to Trump’s heroes, juxtaposed against cuts in essential services like immigration judges.

• Tim humorously summarizes the bill’s components, highlighting their detrimental effects:

  "Zoomers, are you watching? Here's what's in this bill... They’re going to build a ton of fucking ICE detention centers... they’re going to stop building all of the clean energy plants." ([12:06])

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Alligator Alcatraz and MAGA Symbolism

A particularly heated discussion revolves around the construction of "Alligator Alcatraz," a new ICE detention center in Florida, which the hosts criticize as emblematic of MAGA's disturbing cultural shifts.

• Cameron vehemently condemns the project, equating it to a modern-day Coliseum and a symbol of America's moral decline:

  "Alligator Alcatraz, to me, is MAGA 2.0 in a nutshell. It is completely unnecessary... it's just the moral decline of America embodied." ([14:02])

• Tim underscores the absurdity and horror of the concept, warning of the dehumanizing effects on migrants:

  "They're just planning on grabbing people off the street, throwing them into detention centers and being like, you can hang out there and we'll deal with due process later." ([13:24])

The hosts use Alligator Alcatraz as a metaphor for the extreme and often irrational policies emerging from the current GOP leadership, emphasizing the environmental and human rights violations inherent in such projects.

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Gen Z Voter Turnout and Zoran Mamdani’s Victory

Shifting focus, the hosts celebrate the unexpected victory of Zoran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, attributing it to a robust turnout among young voters (Generation Z).

• Tim reflects on the surprising 12-point victory of Mamdani, noting the significant yet underestimated participation of youth:

  "Zoran won by 12%. Like really?" ([24:03])

• Cameron emphasizes the symbolic importance of Gen Z's engagement, viewing Mamdani's win as a beacon of hope against entrenched political establishments:

  "Zoran represents a young person standing up and trying to chart a new path forward, instead of being one of the politicians who's constantly telling us that the old path was actually working." ([25:25])

However, they also express concern that Gen Z may not fully grasp the severity of the "Big Beautiful Bill," potentially diminishing the impact of their activism.

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Impact on Rural America and Future Political Landscape

The hosts discuss the broader implications of GOP policies on rural communities, highlighting how the passage of the bill could exacerbate existing challenges like healthcare accessibility, education, and economic stability.

• Tim lamentingly states:

  "It's not great turnout also for the Gen Xers. 50 to 55. Low turnout for you. So anyway, I'm just curious like kind of what you made of that." ([20:44])

The conversation suggests a looming political disaster for the GOP, citing leaders like Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney who have distanced themselves from Trump but struggle to maintain relevance and influence within the party.

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Conclusion and Future Perspectives

In wrapping up, Cameron and Tim emphasize the critical role of youth engagement in shaping future political outcomes. They applaud the emergence of young candidates like Deja Fox, who challenge the status quo and inspire a new generation of voters to actively participate in democracy.

• Cameron encourages listeners to support and engage with Gen Z candidates:

  "If you look up Gen Z female congressional candidates... you're just gonna be seeing friends of FYPod." ([27:05])

The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to stay informed, support emerging leaders, and recognize the profound impact of their political choices on the nation's future.

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Key Takeaways

• GOP's Controversial Bill: Raises concerns about extending tax cuts for the wealthy, cutting essential public services, and expanding ICE detention infrastructure.

• Lisa Murkowski’s Pivotal Vote: Highlights the tension between personal reservations and party loyalty within the Republican caucus.

• MAGA Symbolism: Critiques projects like Alligator Alcatraz as emblematic of deeper cultural and moral issues within the GOP.

• Gen Z’s Political Engagement: Celebrates the significant role of young voters in recent electoral successes, while cautioning about their awareness of complex policy issues.

• Future Political Landscape: Suggests a potential decline for traditional GOP power structures and an optimistic outlook for youth-led political movements.

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This episode of FYPod offers a sharp and insightful examination of the current political climate, blending critical analysis with passionate commentary to engage listeners in understanding the intricate interplay between legislation, voter behavior, and generational shifts.

Transcript

[Heidi Heitkamp]

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[Cameron Caskey]

These guys who are saying, oh my God, this bill is such a mess. Xyz, this is terrible. But then they vote for. It's like, what the fuck was the point of telling us that? You know, it's bad.

[Tim Miller]

This is Lisa Murkowski. She said after she cast the vote she hopes the House makes the bill better because she doesn't think it's done. It's like, well, why didn't you vote for it? Why didn't you wait till just tomorrow? Like, what is wrong with these people?

[Cameron Caskey]

Hey, everyone, I'm Cameron Caskey.

[Tim Miller]

And I'm Tim Miller. This is FY Pod, where I get insulted by Gen Z's who tell me what things are really like these days. I want to ask Cameron, you mostly today about the new data coming out showing that I guess your peers in New York City took a break from vaping and playing video games to turn out to vote for Zoran Mamdani. And I want to go through that data with you. But before we do that, we have some breaking news. We're taping this this afternoon and the big, beautiful bill has passed, thanks to Lisa Murkowski. What do you know about Lisa Murkowski, Cameron?

[Cameron Caskey]

I know that she's just kind of like a spurious, you know, faux compassionate politician who likes to pretend that she adheres to some sort of Real conservative values. But at the end of the day, the values do not prevail. Is that the right read?

[Tim Miller]

It's not too bad. It's not too bad. You know, she's an interesting character. And I was just thinking about this video today. I was talking about it with Tyler downstairs. I was like, I think we're going to talk about it because like in many of our other videos, you know, we have actual experts like Jonathan Cohn talking about, you know, how this bill is going to hurt people on Medicaid and SNAP and who use various other programs, how are going to cancel the building of green energy plants in red states. For some reason, that's a conservative obligation. So rather than getting to the policy, I kind of want to talk about feelings with you because Lisa Murkowski is the deciding vote on this today. She decides that because she gets some sort of carve out for the Alaskans where they don't get quite as many Medicaid cuts, that's good enough for her. I don't know, maybe they got some whaling benefits or some other little goodies. So I was downstairs talking with Tyler about this. He was reminding me about this clip where Lisa Murkowski was like crying about how worried she is and the threats and the danger of the MAGA voters that might come after her. And as I was thinking about the fact that she was going to be the decisive vote for this awful bill today, I was like, I thought, you know, Cameron, you're in touch with your feelings. I thought we'd get your take on this. I want to pull back up this video from just a couple months ago of Lisa Murkowski in Alaska bemoaning how tough it is to be a senator right now.

[Cameron Caskey]

What are you going to have to.

[Lisa Murkowski]

Say to people who are afraid or who represent people who are afraid? We are all afraid. Okay? So I'm saying. But we are. We're in it. We're in a time and a place where. I don't know. I certainly have not. I have not been here before. And I'll tell you, I'm oftentimes very anxious myself.

[Cameron Caskey]

Is this like. Is this reason about using my voice?

[Tim Miller]

Yeah.

[Lisa Murkowski]

Since the auction, because retaliation is real and that's not right. But that's what you've asked me to do. And so I'm going to use my voice to the best of my ability. And sometimes it will be viewed in a way that, well, that's pretty confrontational. And other times it's going to be using my mother's charm that I learned as a young, young girl and in direct communication with those that I made.

[Cameron Caskey]

My mother's charm that I learned as a young girl.

[Lisa Murkowski]

Some change that way, but I've got to figure out how. How.

[Tim Miller]

Okay, okay, this is enough. This whole like performative that I just have to hear from these Republican members of Congress. It's like there's going to be retaliation and people might come for me and it's hard. It's really hard. And then you. She folds. She folds. She like votes for this bill that is going to increase 1000-000000-00000, the amount of money going to ICE detention centers.

[Cameron Caskey]

But I think you need to be holding space for the fact that she is using her mother's charm that she learned as a young girl. If I was reading, if I was watching like a vampire movie and a comely young maiden was being handed off to some 600 year old count, I imagine her evil parents who are doing it for money would whisper to her, use your mother's charm that you learned as a young girl. That's fucking creepy, dude. Cultural conservatism is so fucking creepy. Oh my. Keep your fucking mother's charm to yourself. Where was your mother's charm that you learned as a young girl when you were delivering that little speech? Because that was so flaccid and pathetic. Obviously the big beautiful bill is also bad, but zero stars on performance. Lisa Murkowski. Jesus Christ, I wish we could have watched the video at like 1.5 speed.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, you don't. You need though the pain you need to suffer with her. Like you need to suffer because she is trying to project that she's suffering, but she's not. She's an EPO baby. She's a daughter of a politician. She gets elected in Alaska and they're going to put through this fucking awful bill that's going to cause myriad harms to real people. And she becomes the final vote for it months after doing this whole sob story about how, you know, I'm just gonna still use my voice even though people are gonna come for me. It's like it's all such phony. It's bad. You're right. It's bad acting and it's extremely phony and disheartening.

[Cameron Caskey]

Let me ask you, Tim, as an expert on politics, Republicans, people, what do you think is the psychology of being a Republican politician and voting for something like this, but going on to be like, just so you guys know, I know it's bad. Like, like these guys who are saying, oh my God, this bill is such a mess. X, Y, Z. This is terrible. But then they vote for. It's like, what the fuck was the point of telling us that? You know, it's bad.

[Tim Miller]

This is Lisa Murkowski. She said after she cast the vote she hopes the House makes the bill better because she doesn't think it's done. It's like, well, why didn't you vote for it? Why didn't you wait till just tomorrow? Like, what is wrong with these people? Here's the psychology. They see themselves as being part of a team, and they want to defend the team. I know this goes against your nature because you're a contrarian, but some of these guys want to defend the team. It's tribal. That's an element of it. It's also a desire. They want to be important and feel important, and you can't really do that if you go against Trump too harshly. You've heard some of these guys say this. You become Jeff Flake or Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney, people that I greatly admire but who are, you know, hanging out at their house a lot these days. Adam's got a great substack. People should sign up for that. Liz and Flake, they don't. You know, they're not. Their phone isn't ringing off the hook anymore. Right. And they want that. Like, they want to be in the mix. They want to feel like they're important. And I think that that, like, social high school cafeteria stuff drives this. And a bunch of people are going to suffer because, you know, Lisa Murkowski, you know, wants to feel like she is in the room where it happened. See what I did there?

[Cameron Caskey]

Well, okay, Tim Miller. Okay, two things. Number one, everybody comment down below. What musical you want Tim Miller and I to talk about next week? Whichever one wins. I'm going to get Tim to watch.

[Tim Miller]

In full or comment down below and tell us why you think Lisa Murkowski is the way she is. Explain this. I like my person. So you like. Do you think there's a degree. I'm not going to watch a musical. That was the problem. I'm not going to.

[Cameron Caskey]

Yes, you will. And we'll watch one together and. And I'll get to loose playing the music every single morning when you're driving her to school. So I don't want to keep picking this part too much. But do you think there's a degree to which they think they're, like, playing for the team even harder by coming out and talking shit about it? Like, do you think they think they're like, oh, man, I'm willing to point out the flaws in this, but look, I'm still voting for it. And that makes me more of a team player than any of you motherfuckers.

[Tim Miller]

I would say, psychoanalyze them this way. I think it's more the opposite. Like, they want to. It's not working, but they, like, want to signal to the other people in their life. They're like, I'm not one of the crazy ones. Like, I'm just going along with this. I'm not. I'm not, you know, I'm not Marjorie Taylor Greene. Okay, I understand it's got some flaws and we're going to fix it. But, like, you know, I'm not a socialist. I think it's that these people are in very close social environments and I don't know. I mean, it is. I think the good news is that this is going to be a political disaster for them.

[Cameron Caskey]

Well, speaking of which, you talked about Gen Zs early in the episode and how we all turned out to vote in New York City. But I want to talk about another thing that's important to me, which is that a lot of Zoomers I know do not know what the fuck this bill is. And I think that it's one of those examples of something in MAGA world, in Trump world being so jam packed with awful that it's hard to communicate how much awful there is in it. Because if you even in five bullet points explained the things that are in this bill to somebody, I think it's just too much to wrap your head around. This is just pure fucking evil. And I think we say that about a lot of things. So it might lose its effect when you're using it to describe something like the big fucking disaster bill. I talked to Zoomers about this and there. There's an awareness that Trump has some big unpopular bill right now. But I don't think people know how devastating that type of thing is. And I think that this is an important thing for us to look at while we are looking at Zoran's youth voter turnout. Because you've got two different sides of this. You've got Gen Z way showing up way more than people expected. And then you have Gen Z looking at something like this devastating bill and not knowing what the fuck to do.

[Tim Miller]

All right, are you ready? We're gonna do it right now. Zoomers, are you watching? Here's what's in this bill. One, it extends the Trump tax cuts for the rich. Two, it has a tax handout for old people. It's like a special little write off for old folks because they couldn't get their Social Security tax repeal through three, it has no tax on tips. If some of you are on tips, maybe you like that. Part four, massive cuts to Medicaid. Massive cuts to snap. What's snap? That's food stamps. Okay, they're gonna do that. Number five, they're gonna build a ton of new ICE detention centers. That's exciting. Number six, they're gonna stop building all of the clean energy plants that was in the Biden bill that you guys didn't pay attention to. And most importantly, number seven, there's gonna be a sculpture garden. We're funding a sculpture garden of people that Donald Trump thinks are heroes so that the sculpture garden is coming in and health care for poor people is going out. They're not funding immigration judges. So like, think about, think about what that means, Cameron. They're gonna spend a ton of fucking money to build nuanced detention centers, but they're not spending any more money to expand judges when there's already a huge backlog. So that means they're just planning on grabbing people off the street, throwing them into detention centers and being like, you can hang out there and we'll deal with due process later. That is literally what they're planning on doing.

[Cameron Caskey]

I didn't even know about the sculpture garden, but what I have noticed is that like, that is one of the things a lot of Republicans are turning to right now, when people are pushing back on them and saying, what the fuck did you just vote for? You get people like J.D. vance and Ted Cruz coming on being like, listen, listen, you can focus on all this other bullshit, but this bill was about getting these ICE detention centers.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah.

[Cameron Caskey]

Are you seeing this?

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. No. J.D. literally said a tweet that was like, the other stuff doesn't matter. It's like, why don't you just fund.

[Cameron Caskey]

The ICE detention centers, including Alligator Alcatraz, which we have a whole video on it going up on the FYpod spinoff channel. You could take that.

[Tim Miller]

Who did you do it with? Who'd you talk to?

[Cameron Caskey]

Me. With me. I was just.

[Tim Miller]

You Solo, Florida.

[Cameron Caskey]

I didn't talk anybody else. I didn't need anybody else. I went on a fucking rant about the depravity of it. I'm going to go on a mini version of that rant here. Although you can go to the FYPOD channel, which will be linked in our description for the full rant. Alligator Alcatraz, to me is MAGA 2.0 in a nutshell. It is completely unnecessary. It is a multifaceted disaster. Not only is it a violation of human rights, not only is it an absolutely disgusting and, you know, in many ways unconstitutional, abhorrent disaster, it's also an environmental mess. People who are native to that land, in that area are talking about the ecology of it and how building a fucking ice detention center right there in the Everglades is bad for the environment. Not that anybody who would support fucking alligator Alcatraz cares about the environment. But it goes to show that this is bad for a lot more reasons than just the human rights violations. But really what gets me is the alligators. I don't know if you saw Dante, I'll throw this up on the screen. DHS tweeted out an AI picture of an alligator wearing, like, an ice hat. Because. Because they're memers now. Because they post memes. The. The memes that you see on Reddit that make you say, oh, my God, Gen Z is absolutely. That's just our government now. Like, the government posts online, like your Gen Z relative who you have to call your aunt about to make sure that everyone's checking in on him, making sure he's all right. And they. They post this AI shit. They love AI. The new MAGA world loves AI. It represents stealing from other people to create something that's entirely unoriginal. MAGA in a nutshell. And it's the alligators that they love. They don't love cleaning up the streets. They don't love the idea of freeing up American jobs. They don't. They don't. They don't love the stuff that they ran on with illegals. They love the idea that a human being can get fucking ripped to pieces by a fucking alligator if they go against what Donald Trump wants them to do. It is exciting to them. It is the fucking Coliseum at the end of Rome when people were indulging in human violence, when people were looking at violence and gore and saying, oh, this is fun. You know, this is the decadent shit that represents how powerful and strong our society is. Alligator Alcatraz, AI images of it, the parties that they're throwing about the idea of illegals getting fucking eaten by alligators. It's just depravity. It's just the moral decline of America embodied.

[Tim Miller]

They're selling fucking T shirts. They're selling fucking T shirts. And supposedly they're claiming that, like, the Florida website where they're selling the T shirts is like, famous homosexual.

[Cameron Caskey]

Sorry, famous Alleged self admitted homosexual Benny Johnson posted a selfie wearing an alligator Alcatraz hat. There's his fucking merch. All on the idea, very Christian of him.

[Tim Miller]

He does, he does. He also does Christian rallies with TPUSA people. This is exactly what Jesus would have worn.

[Cameron Caskey]

And it's just so important that to note that the focus on the alligators is not a focus on stopping crime. It's not a focus. They like the idea that someone's going to get fucking ripped apart by an alligator. That is what's exciting to them. If you go against Donald Trump, fucking alligators can rip you up. And it's just like considered normal. It's like that's just the government now. It's not. Not just, not just the fringes of the Maga base, right? Who, if they were saying this in 2017, people would have been up in arms about it. No, this is like the establishment of the United States right now is literally going like lol alligators. Here's an AI about it. And they can all go fuck themselves.

[Tim Miller]

Did you ever encounter an alligator while.

[Cameron Caskey]

You were in Florida, in parkland Florida? If it rains enough, everyone lives on a lake. The, the boundary between the lake and the grass gets a little murky and the alligators get a little bit less sense of where the lake stops and where Cameron trying to walk to school in the morning starts. So on a really rainy day you can just see an alligator chilling on the way to your high school that will eventually get shot up and it's, it's just nuts because they're scary as fuck. Alligators are fucking terrifying. Crocodiles are wit. I'm not going to get into crocodiles. That's another episode.

[Tim Miller]

Okay.

[Cameron Caskey]

But no, in Florida you get a lot of alligators.

[Tim Miller]

I'll tell you this. You know, Cameron, you probably didn't agree very much with Jeb Bush when it comes to tax and abortion policy and some other things, but Jeb Bush, when he was governor of Florida, spent a lot of money on Everglades renewal and manatees. So you know, back in the day you could do that. You could be for both. Not anymore. Not anymore. You have to totally go fully all in on anti environment cruelty to migrants. It's all part of the same package. I wanted to talk to you about. I've got to give shouts out to Jeb where I can these days. You know, it's not, not. It's pretty bleak out there for my, for my people.

[Cameron Caskey]

Jeb, come on the show. Tim is going to be away next week.

[Tim Miller]

Jeb Bill, Crystal and Cam. That could happen. We'll see. I'll send him an email. I want to talk about the youth showing up. There was a meme going around that was wrong that showed that 18 to 24 year olds were the biggest turnout in the New York City mayor's race. And our boy that you also had on the FYPOD page, shout out to that page. Go check it out. Laksha Jane, who is I think Generation Z's smartest zoomer. He's very, very nerdy. He's in the numbers. He knows the numbers. He posted this like the actual data. The actual data, the real data shows pretty significant turnout among the youth as well. Just not quite as much as kind of the rumored fake news was the biggest turnout groups were 25 to 29 and 30 to 34. These are all in like five year chunks. And then after that 35 to 39. So my millennials start to get into play here and then some old people and then the 18-24s are kind of in the middle of the pack. Not great turnout for 85 plus. I don't know what that says about society. Oh, heat wave. Yeah. Not great turnout also for the Gen Xers. 50 to 55. Low turnout for you. So anyway, I'm just curious like kind of what you made of that. I know we've had a lot of discourse about this about kind of what was it about? Zoran. I think it's interesting that we have like some real data here that shows quite, quite strong turnout, particularly for the 20 somethings and not too bad for the total youngs.

[Cameron Caskey]

Two things. Number one, I would like everybody to ask themselves, what have I seen the Democrats talk about more in the past week? Zoran Mamdani or the political assassination that just happened and the funeral that the President of the United States skipped while he did go to the opening of Alligator Alcatraz. I've seen a lot of Democrats talking about Zoran. I've seen a lot of Democrats calling Zoran into question, saying some serious things about Zoran, many of whom making allegations about Zoran. I haven't heard much about the big beautiful bill in terms of messaging that is at least going to reach and resonate with Gen Z. And I haven't heard much about the political assassination. The. The Democratic lawmaker who got shot in their house.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, and two got. Two lawmakers got shot. Just one.

[Cameron Caskey]

Two lawmakers got shot. One of them got killed. I haven't heard a lot of Democrats talking about that. I've heard so much about Zoran and about communist lettuce and about Zoran's language and his use of language. And I have not heard about politically motivated assassinations that just happened right here in the United States of America, as if we were some fucking country that is actually falling apart the seams, which we are. But you know what I'm saying. So while we're in our Zoran discourse, I encourage you to reflect for a moment and say, have I talked to people about the big beautiful bill? While I'm talking about Zoran, the mayor of one city in this country? Have I talked to people about a Democratic lawmaker, multiple Democratic law, getting shot? Anyway, it's the young people thing. Zoran's victory you can attribute to all sorts of things. Whether that's inspiring hope instead of cultivating fear and telling people that we actually have a lot to be excited about, instead of telling them, hey, we need to go back to some status quo that may or may not have been working for you. We could talk about how Zoran was very clearly running on affordability and whether you like all the different ways he tackles this issue. You knew what he was running on, which was affordability. But, you know, these things don't address the fact that it's not just about him winning and it's not just about how much he won by, it's about how many young people showed up to support. And I think it just really goes to this idea that Zoran represents a young person standing up and trying to chart a new path forward, instead of being one of the politicians who's constantly telling us that the old path was actually working and we just need to keep trying it again.

[Tim Miller]

Were you surprised? Like, I guess it's, like, hard, you know, because sometimes it's like, hard to tell, like, getting outside of your bubble, like, where, you know, like, just by the degree to which, like, there was a turnout spike or did you. Were you kind of sensing it okay?

[Cameron Caskey]

Dead ass. Like, I could. I could tell you some fucking fairy tale about how I expected it all along. Oh, I knew this was going to happen. Or like, oh, woe is me. I was so surprised. The truth is, my takes on elections are so bad. I thought, I thought Cuomo was going to win decisively in the first round. Like, until basically we found out that Zoron won by a ton.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, I thought we actually got the final numbers today. He ended up with, if you count everything through, ended up with 12 point victory. 12%. Like a. Really?

[Cameron Caskey]

Yeah. So I thought, I thought that Cuomo was going to Smack. Zoran. Until like 6:30pm that night, I thought that Kamala Harris was going to defeat Donald Trump until Donald Trump won Georgia, which for those of you who are not election nerds and weren't, you know, sitting on camera all day that day like Tim was. I held out pretty long for Kamala. I was telling people, no, no, no, no, guys, she's going to win. Pretty much when everybody else had already thrown, you know, given up.

[Tim Miller]

If only we were pals back then, I could have let you off the hook. I sent Tyler a text and told him to go to take a sleeping pill and go to bed at like 9:58. I had it.

[Cameron Caskey]

The truth is I thought Zoran was going to lose by a lot. But, you know, but it's sort of. They say the best surprises in fiction. I'm not going to spoil it, but this is something that the creator of Succession said about the Succession finale. The best surprises in fiction are not the ones that make us say, how did this happen? They're the ones that make us say, how didn't we see this all along? And when Zoran won like that, I went, duh, duh. Because he, you know, he is what so many young people have been looking for, which is a young person who wants to go up and challenge an establishment that really hasn't been working for us, an establishment that is now mobilizing harder to fight Zoran than they are to mobilize people against the big beautiful bill.

[Tim Miller]

You know, I had thoughts, but that was really great. So I'm just going to kind of let your take close out the show. I thought that was like, extremely insightful. A good little Succession clip. I thought you were cooking with that. I think that's pretty. That's right. And we. I could quibble about a couple of things, but we could do that. Another episode I want to shout out of. One of our first guests was a young woman named Deja Fox speaking about somebody taking on the establishment and the status quo. She's running for an open seat in Arizona for Congress. Her opponent is a Nepo child of the deceased former congressperson. Nothing against any. I don't really know a lot about the deceased former congressperson, if I'm being honest, was probably a good person.

[Cameron Caskey]

You saw the Nepa child was using like the. The email lists or something of the deceased parents.

[Tim Miller]

It's just like getting some fresh blood in there. Deja and I are. Are certainly probably not going to agree on all the vicissitudes of the capitalist system, but she is spunish Deja is.

[Cameron Caskey]

Not really like that. Deja is like, kind of lacks. She's not like.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, no, no, no, I just meant that. I just meant that, like, if we went down a checklist of all the issues, I'm sure me and Deja would not be totally aligned. I mean, she like her origin story. People should go back and watch that episode. She's unbelievable. Her origin story about, like, having insecure housing and being passionate about women's reproductive rights, you know, Anyway, it's just not my origin story. So we're different in various ways. But I loved her energy and I think that's another example possibly of a young person, like, putting their self on the line and so when to shout her out. Election in two weeks. Some new polling coming out that showed she's narrowing the gap a little bit. So I don't know if you have any thoughts on that or you want to take us out, Cameron.

[Cameron Caskey]

Well, I want to take us out, really, by shouting out us, Cameron and Tim. Because I see articles about 2 Gen Z female congressional candidates right now, Deja and Kat, both of whom are friends of the show. We're kind of like absolutely obliterating the miss The. The mission of being the place for the zoomers who have something to say to come say it.

[Tim Miller]

I totally agree.

[Cameron Caskey]

If you look up Gen Z female congressional candidate, like, you're just gonna be seeing friends of Fypod. I don't know what to tell you. And. And I have a feeling that next time we get a new batch, we're gonna be having all those people as well.

[Tim Miller]

It's a must stop. The fly pod couch, you know, the virtual couch, the non existent couch. It's a must stop. You know, we get to. We have to talk about vaping and bisexuality. And besides that, you can talk about your issues.

[Cameron Caskey]

My closing statement will be, are you willing to reveal right now to the audience what will become of me when you're on vacation?

[Tim Miller]

I am not. Everyone will have to come as a surprise. I'm on vacation. But we got one more episode before that, so everybody stick around for that and we'll see you all then.

[Cameron Caskey]

Thank you all for coming.

[Tim Miller]

Slay.

[Cameron Caskey]

Go Brewers.

[Tim Miller]

Go Brewers.