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- [00:00]
Podcast Host
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- [01:06]
Progressive Political Commentator
Why do members of the Democratic Party have such a hard time saying Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal? Israel has committed war crimes. They have committed a genocide. Why can't they start with facts and then from there discuss what policies beyond that support no support? A lot of people in the Democratic establishment cannot say this and you may remember I had that viral moment with Senator Cory Booker last year regarding this issue and now he's gone on Pod Save America and our friend John Levitt has asked him very similar question.
- [01:41]
Interviewer/Podcaster
Play the clip to call Benjamin Netanyahu, say a war criminal. What happens if you do what goes, what changes by just saying I believe Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. And that signals what our sort of moral parameters are for the kind of leadership in Israel we view out.
- [01:57]
Cory Booker
This is not a political test for me. Benjamin Netanyahu is a horrible person who enabled October 7th and has failed to take accountability. Remember, he knew about the Qataris funding this horrific terrorist organization, Hamas. He knew about that. He allowed that funding to continue, has failed in that sense. He has within his own administration people that are committing atrocities right now in the west bank as we've seen over these last few weeks. I have no problem calling him out and saying that he should be held accountable for any crimes that he's been commit that he's committed. My focus and has been consistently before October 7th is trying to be a force as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
- [02:43]
Progressive Political Commentator
Okay, all right, Pumps, what's your take on that?
- [02:47]
Pumps
My take on that is he's a coward and that he is not calling him a war criminal. He's dancing around it so that he can still backtrack on it when he is able to forgive the crimes that have been committed. I mean, that's what it tells me. He's a coward.
- [03:06]
Progressive Political Commentator
I think it's interesting that he. My take is that he will not say Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, because then he has to buy inference there, admit that Israel has committed war crimes. Right. And he danced around the west bank, and he talked about Netanyahu enabling October 7, but he refuses to say, you know, look, Israel has committed a genocide. These are. Are war crimes. Human rights violations that shock the conscience. And we have to, in my opinion, have an opposition party. We have to have a opposition party to all of this insanity. And if we cannot start the conversation off by stating facts, Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. Israel commits war crimes, and then discuss policy and funding. Beyond that, the Democratic Party is the party that does the same thing over and over again, and it. And expects a different result. That's just. That's my opinion on this. And so obviously, Benjamin Netanyahu. This photo is from July 9, 2025. And this is where Cory Booker's playing peekaboo over there. And you got, you know, Lion Ted up there front and center. But you have a lot of other Democrats here, too. You've got Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Chris Coons and others. And so there's this whole thing right now in the Democratic Party where we have what I call the establishment. And in my opinion, they are preservationists. They want to preserve the system that they govern in. Cory Booker wants to preserve his status. And I think Cory Booker is a fascist collaborator. Benjamin Netanyahu, aside from being a war criminal, is a fascist. I mean, this is a fascist government, and these other Democrats are fascist collaborators. And now after the loss, Kamala's loss, it's like, all the Democrats need to go on podcasts. They need to be less scripted. We can't have cancel culture anymore, etc. Etc. And I don't know what your online feed has looked like, but mine for the last two weeks is like, we need to cancel Hassan Piker. And it's all of these moderates and centrists that want to cancel Hassan Piker. Pumps, what's your take on all that.
- [05:44]
Pumps
Here's my take. I have long been someone that only develops new ideas and evolves in my thought when I am challenged and when I listen to the perspective of others. And so then I take my perspective and that person's perspective, and then I find what I think is the best. And I do not believe that people get better and. Or policy gets better if criticism is not shared and integrated and perspectives evolve. And I do not think you can have that if you want to silence anyone that disagrees with you. And you know who else does, who agrees with me on that is maga, because they allow for no dissent within their party. So I think what's going on with Hassan Piker is an ambiguous embarrassment to the Democratic establishment and all the people that are perpetuating it.
- [06:42]
Progressive Political Commentator
Okay, so John Levitt, in this interview with Cory Booker, asked him about whether he would appear on Hassan Piker stream.
- [06:52]
Interviewer/Podcaster
Play the clip, as you said. And it's just one person, but it's part of a large group of, I think, people that have this point of view that you wouldn't say, go on like Hassan Piker's stream because he's said some heinous and stupid shit and in the past. But to me, I would expect you'd be like, chomping at the bit to say, you know what? Of course I'm going to go there, because I want to represent this point of view in a place that doesn't normally hear it. And I want to talk about the ways in which I think some of the things he said are offensive. The same way you might want to go confront somebody on Fox News or you've met with, you know, talk to Newt Gingrich. And he said crazy shit in the past, too. So maybe part of the way out of this is for someone like you to. To go to those spaces, even if there have been things that are offensive to people.
- [07:30]
Cory Booker
Yeah. So first of all, somehow we're having a much more deeper and personal conversation than I thought. So I'm going to be very candid with you.
- [07:38]
Interviewer/Podcaster
Gotcha.
- [07:39]
Cory Booker
Got. In a very good way.
- [07:41]
Interviewer/Podcaster
I always want to talk to you about deep things.
- [07:42]
Cory Booker
No, I appreciate that.
- [07:43]
Progressive Political Commentator
Okay, stop it right there. So this, when I saw this clip, this struck me, number one. The first thing that strikes me is that Cory Booker will take a photograph with Benjamin Netanyahu in the middle of a genocide, but draws the line with going on Hasan Piker's twitch. But the second thing that struck me there was when Cory Booker said, oh, this conversation is much deeper than I had Thought. And I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. When we filmed with Cory Booker after Kamala lost, all of the Democrats came to us. We want to be on your pod. We want to be on your pod. And we're like, great, yeah, you can be on our pod. I don't have a corporate news background, so I ask questions that I think are relevant. And a lot of some Democratic politicians come on, and they don't want to know what they're talking about, and they don't care. They just want to talk about the country and whatever questions I have for them. Others are a lot more scripted and controlled. And Cory Booker's office, it's in our producers, Corey wants to talk about xyz. And I saw those talking points, but right out of the gates, I asked him, what have you had it with? And he said, I've had it with corporate money. And I was just like, please, you take, like, millions of dollars in APAC money. So. So it led down that rabbit hole, right? Because I was like, wait, wait, this seems hypocritical. And staying on the script that his office sent me, I went with his answer as a normal conversation should. Well, the whole time I'm asking about Benjamin Netanyahu, his office is stage five, melting down, texting our producers, trying to get her to like, hey, we didn't agree to talk about this, blah, blah. My point in this is not to pick on Cory Booker or his staff. They are operating the way they've always operated in corporate media. That's the way it's been. They were doing what they've always done. The problem that's happening now is we have these spaces where people have realized their politicians are bought and paid for and their news anchors are bought and paid for, and everybody's, whether it's Republican or Democrat, wants independent voices and independent spaces. And so obviously, that clip went viral. His staff was melting down for reasons that they should have because it. It didn't make him look that great. But another person I've had come on who flew to New York to sit down with me for an hour in person is Ro Khanna. And it was just what time and where? Was the only question beforehand. There was no, what are we going to talk about? He didn't care. When he came out, I said, hey, let's do some Epstein stuff. He goes, jennifer, whatever you want to talk about, I am pleased to talk to your audience. That's what Representative Rokhana had. So I think what I'm getting at here is when you have moral clarity. It doesn't matter what John Levitt asks you, what Jennifer Welch asks you. You don't have to have your people in the back, wait, what's going on here? Or would Cory Booker have to say, oh, I didn't realize we were going to get this deep. You would just come in and sit down and say, ask me anything on the planet you want. I don't know if I'm going to have all the answers for you, but I'm going to try. And that's what a lot of, like, progressive Democrats do. Needless to say, we don't hear from Senator Booker's office that much anymore, but I'd welcome him back on. I don't dislike Cory Booker. I don't think he and his staff did anything particularly wrong. That's how it's handled in corporate news. But it seems to me like they want this whole thing pumps where it's like, okay, we need to go on podcast and we need to speak like normal people. And then we need to get rid of cancel culture. And now they're trying to cancel Hassan Piker. We can take pictures with Benjamin Netanyahu. And I like Cory Booker in that. He's like,
- [11:24]
Pumps
well, another such. Another thing you think about, okay, we're going to go on podcasts. We're going to be unscripted. You can't go on a podcast and be unscripted if your staff is telling the podcast what the talking points are. Talk unscripted and be open to anything.
- [11:42]
Progressive Political Commentator
I, I completely agree. And so this is something where I feel like the democratic establishment wants their cake and they want to eat it, too. Of course we need to go on podcasts and talk like normal people. But, oh, here's our normal people talking points. Because normal people conversation. And then it's like, we've got to quit. We've got to quit with this cancel culture. And then. And then Cory Booker's like, I draw the line with Hasan Piker. OB's gonna be there. You know, here I am. And so it's just like, I think the thing that pisses me off about the Democratic establishment is the condescending nature. They treat us like. Nobody gives a if you go on Hassan stream. If you go on, I've had it. If you go on Theo Vaughn. If you go on, I'm even right wingers. If you go on what's his name, the little Joe Rogan. If you go on Joe Rogan. I don't give a go on all of these podcasts. Nobody Gives a. But do not treat us with the abject stupidity that you are going to draw the line at Hassan Piker, who has killed zero people, and then go play peekaboo patty cake with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is an objective 100% killer. The world's biggest killer of children right now is the IDF at the instruction of Benjamin Netanyahu. So that's where Corey is with all of this. And then let me show you where Rohana is on this. Play this clip for Meet the Press this weekend. You have any regrets about appearing on his show?
- [13:14]
Ro Khanna
None. And I would go again, but I of course condemn those comments. I mean, I've defined described Hamas as a terrorist state and we need to unequivocally condemn anti Semitism. But Hassan Piker was at the DNC in 2024 covering Vice President Harris. What should the standard of the Democrats be? Should we not go on Theo Vaughn? Should we not go on Sean Ryan? Should we not go on Joe Rogan? Should we just have these purity tests of canceling? Folks, the lesson of the last election is we've got to be out there, we've got to engage. It's a complex, complex, messy, multiracial democracy. I will defend my views, but the people who are saying don't engage will cost us future elections.
- [13:52]
Progressive Political Commentator
Do you run? I completely agree with him here and I think that what, what they should be saying is instead of being focused on these specific streamers or podcasters, let's focus on the actual war criminals. Let's like, let's focus on. I think the Ovon pretty much calls out Benjamin Netanyahu and the government of Israel pretty crystal clear. There's a lot of bipartisan, reality based people that see that the problem with the Democratic establishment is they want to preserve the system that lost to Trump. And I don't want to preserve that. I want any part of that. And. But we can talk about the bulwark did a deep dive on this. Sarah and Tim talked about it. Ro Khan is weighed in. Pod save guys have had Cory Booker weigh in. Regardless. Politicians do whatever you want to do. But what do the Democrats this per this system they're trying to uphold, these establishment Democrats. What does the polling say? Do the Democrats approve of Democrats right now? Play the clip.
- [14:58]
Poll Analyst
Congressional Dems have the right priorities. Look at this. Overall, 74%, nearly 3 and 4 say no. Just 25% overall say yes. You might say, okay, well at least Dems like Democrats. Uh, not the case. Look at this. The majority of Democrats are independents who lean Democrats look at this. 55% say, no, congressional Democrats do not have the right priorities. And then you just see a minority 45% of Democrats say that congressional Democrats have the right priorities. This, to me, just jumps out of the screen because it screams primary challenges all over the map. And it says that even if Democrats don't like Donald Trump, they don't like their own party either when it comes to Congress. And overall, I mean, Mike, do you see that?
- [15:43]
Progressive Political Commentator
Here's the thing. These establishment Democrats are operating as though they have a super high favorability, and they don't. They simply do not.
- [15:52]
Pumps
It.
- [15:52]
Progressive Political Commentator
They're so out of touch with where the base is right now. If you want to see the approval ratings of the Democratic Party jump up if they were to say, okay, Schumer, hit the bricks. We're done with you. We're. We're voting to get a new minority leader. And the same with Hakeem Jeffries. I mean, seriously, you would be like, oh, my God, yes, Finally, they're fighting. And here's an anecdotal story for everyone. My husband is from a small town called Hugo, Oklahoma. It's like the armpit of. Of Oklahoma, this town, right? And so he goes down there for a funeral, and this is Maga. Maga. Maga. Dump truck. I mean, this is where it is. Just crazy cold maga. He's down there for a funeral. And much to his surprise, everybody's coming up to him saying, oh, my God, your wife's podcast. Tell her to stay after it. And tell her to stay after those Democrats, too. They're not fighting hard enough for us. So I just think. And of course, that's anecdotal, but also, I have conversations. Pumps. You have conversations with people in red states. We want fighters. We don't want people who play peekaboo with Benjamin Netanyahu. We don't want people that can't say the sky is blue. And the equivalent of saying the sky is blue right now is saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. It's objectively true. Pumps.
- [17:11]
Pumps
Well, I completely agree with you, and I will. The only thing I would add to that is we are going into a midterm where we know they have gerrymandered. They intend. They have told us on national TV they are going to put ice around these voting booths. They're trying to pass the SAVE Act. So Democrats, people are going to vote for you because they don't like fascism. But if you're not starting to fight now against all of these things that they've already said they're going to do if you're not filing lawsuits, if you're not coming out against us. They are trying to put everyone in a position that they cannot vote, that their vote will not be heard. And they are make, you know they're building a bunker underneath the ballroom, all that. But we've got to start now making policy and going after politicians. And we have to do that with clear eyes and with fighters, because the midterms are coming and they're coming quickly. And if you can't get out there now, you're not going to help yourself much then.
- [18:16]
Progressive Political Commentator
I just think the thing is, a lot of these liberals are fascist collaborators. And scholars show us historically that liberals collaborate with fascists. Never are you able to take down fascism from a point of centrism that has never happened. We have to have an opposition party, the centrists and the moderates, the pick me people, the oh my God, I won't go on Hassan Bikers podcast. But hey, bb, say cheese. We're not going to beat fascism with that. So go on whatever podcast you want to or don't want to. But know this. Look in the data. You can try to cancel. Hassan, you can try to cancel. I've had it. What you're doing is you're telling millions of people that either watch that stream or watch other shows that you don't like that they're wrong. And that's incredibly patronizing and condescending because what they see is the Democratic response as being wrong, weak and impotent. And the polling shows that. All right, that's all we have. Like, subscribe. We'll be back later with more news.