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Jennifer
This episode of I've had it is brought to you by booking.com. since 2010, they've helped over 1.8 billion vacation rental guests find places to stay. That's billion with a B. Head over to booking.com and start your listing today. Get seen, get booked on booking dot com. So we supposed to start the podcast.
Angie
Ready? One, two, three.
Jennifer
Patriots, Gay Trio. They Trio, Black Triots, Brown Trio. And everybody who doesn't support those people can do what? Pumps off. That's right. Hey, I meant to tell you, when I was at the no Kings march, there was this. These people that made this eagle float, and it actually, like, the arms went like this. And Renee Stubbs and I, my tennis friend, we're both going.
Angie
She sent me the video.
Jennifer
Yeah. It was so fun. It was so fun.
Angie
That's really fun. They went all out in New York City, man. They're making a lot of money from antifa in New York City.
Jennifer
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that is just so ridiculous. All right, welcome to America's top DEI podcast. Pumps. What have you had it with?
Angie
Okay, what I've had it with, and this is just. It's a fever pitch right now, but I've had it with this narrative that there are two sides to every story, that there are. You know, we have to hear both sides in this political climate. And my response to that is we can sit and hear about both sides of should we repave this road now? Should we spend money on Christmas lights for the, you know, the addition that you live in? But when you're talking about not sending food to vulnerable people and they are not going to eat and you like it and you celebrate that there are no two sides to that. When you take people's rights away, that. That is not a two sides thing. So I. I'm just tired of the notion that there are always two sides to every story. I've just. I've had it.
Jennifer
Yeah. I think that the two sides thing has been going on a long time. And so it goes back to a question like this right now. Sadly, Pumps, there are two sides to this. And pre Trump, there weren't two sides to upholding the Constitution. There would never be some fringe political movement that ascended to the White House that wanted to dismantle and erode civil liberties. And now there is that. And much to my surprise, there are two sides to a conversation about the First Amendment. Our side, of course we want the First Amendment. Our side wants free expression, free freedom from religion or of religion, and their side doesn't want that. And so I think what's so devastating about your grievance is that not that long ago there weren't two sides to the First Amendment, there weren't two sides to the separation of church and state. But because this frame fringe movement is so cruel and so ambitious and so diabolical, all of that priming of the two sides prior to this primed us for this moment where the Trump administration gets on and they make an argument against Democrats disagreeing with the president and they try to demean and say that the Democrats are terrorists, jihadists, Hamas supporters and tifa and all this crazy shit. And it's really disturbing to wake up and realize you live in a country where something that used to be off limits as being two sides now is openly and brazenly and braggadociously. Two sides, right?
Angie
Like, can Trump be president for a third term? Like, are you fucking kidding me? There should not be two sides to that argument. First of all, he's older than fuck and he can't, he doesn't even know where he is half the time. But that's here nor there. So that's my grievance. I've just, and I understand what you're saying about now there are two sides, but I'm old enough to remember when there were two perspectives, interpretations, like there was a variety of that. And now I just feel like we've gone from either on, you're on the side of legality, the Constitution and democracy, or you're full, full blown fascist and you don't give a. So I, I agree, it's, that's how.
Jennifer
Effective their propaganda campaign has been to take something that was off limits about being two sides. That was something where not that long ago, when Obama was running against John McCain and the rabid kind of racist Islamophobic base at a rally, this kind of crazy ass woman was like, I think he's a Muslim. And John McCain grabs the mic and he's like, no ma', am, no ma'. Am. I disagree with him, but politically. But he is a good man, a good family man, a good American. And he shut it down immediately. He wouldn't allow both sides. There was a party, the Republican Party, that had a modicum of integrity and decency. And there was a mutual starting point that we all agree with democracy and we all are here to defend the Constitution. The propaganda machine of MAGA with the assist from fox, or is it the other way around?
Angie
Right?
Jennifer
The propaganda machine of FOX with the assist to an authoritarian regime. And you could go either way on that chicken or the egg made it possible to wear. Sadly, what should not be two sides is. And I'm shocked when I go on to CNN as a guest host and I hear them just kind of reporting about what he's doing as though it's normal, as though the memory lapses or they're are just completely ignored or this push to erode civil libert. And he has those pundits on there that are MAGA pundits that act as though it's normal. And this normalization of this has forced us to what I thought would never ever happen, which would be that that right now one party is so deranged and so anti American and I'm talking about maga, that their only option is to say, oh, the Democrats are anti American.
Angie
Right.
Jennifer
The Democrats are want free and fair elections. The Democrats want you to have health care. The Democrats want billionaires to pay 2 to 3% more in taxes, which they will never miss. But that 2 to 3% will make a massive, massive difference in the workers of this country. The Democrats don't want to kiss the ass of billionaires, don't want to kiss the ass of some dementia ridden grandma running around like a nut that can't blend his makeup. It's just crazy. It's so shocking. Every day when I wake up and I think about the grandstanding that the Republicans in office used to do about how they were so patriotic and decorum and all of this stuff. And then to my personal kind of like Republican friends to see how much worse they've become. And that brings me to my grievance. I've had it with how much worse Trump makes people.
Angie
Yeah.
Jennifer
And you can think about it listener on a national scale. You can look at no, no further than DL Demon Queen, Lil Marco Rubio, or you can think about your, the people in your family or in your friend group that were Republicans. You know, they did the whole I'm fiscally conservative but socially liberal dance, but they weren't complete. Right. And then they vote for him the first time because they thought Hillary was evil and they were upset about emails, whatever, stupid. Different podcast entirely. Second time they kind of embarrassingly voted for him, but some of them might have voted for Biden third time. Like once you triple down on him, it has broken something in people on a big, you know, high stage scale. And then the per the people in our personal lives, they've just become worse human beings. Almost everybody that I know that voted for Trump was a moderate piece of before and now they're a Heaping pile of dog as a human being now, I. Out of all the power that this man has, his ability to make people worse human beings is undefeated.
Angie
No, I agree. And to break like people that I always believed had a little bit of empathy or could have empathy on some level, have none. I mean, zero. I mean, when I ask a family member, what do you specifically talking about immigration, what do you think Jesus would do when people are being rounded up without due process and put somewhere they could be eaten by snakes and alligators if they try to escape? And the response is, I think he'd be all for it. I mean, that to me was just like, holy. We have jumped completely off any kind of sanity or empathy and we've gone full blown crazy Train.
Jennifer
Let me ask you this though. Pumps. Do you think that family member.
Mehdi Hassan
Don'T.
Jennifer
You think to some extent that was there and Trump has emboldened these people, whether they be family members, acquaintances, or Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz, always has been a sack of shit.
Kylie
Yeah.
Jennifer
Emboldened them to be more out about it. You know, this thing, like this whole thing after he won the third term, it's like everybody's like, it feels so liberating now. We can, you know, call people an fag or an T a R D. We can say pussy again and all this stuff. I feel like in the case of some of the people that we know, like there was that there. And good leaders can temper our worst impulses, like sometimes we might have because of the way we were raised, communities we were raised in hellfire, damnation, religion, sadly, a racist slight, a racist lean or cruelty lean or punitive lean. And then a good leader can make you go, oh, that was kind of wrong for me to think that way. What my pastor and what my mom and dad, they were kind of a different generation. I was wrong about that. I'm going to evolve. And then just a piece of shit leader, it's like he's bringing out the worst impulses that everybody has ever had and making them their most pronounced personality feature.
Angie
Yeah. He devolves people. I mean, yes, they go back to like the, the reset settings of racism and misogyny. But I do think, just based on my experience, when you grow up evangelical, you are told you are better than other people, you are chosen and you are entitled to things differently than other people. And on top of that, none of this shit can happen to you. So something at a problem that affects, you know, person A can't affect me. So I think you have that round up with the racism and the mean spiritedness. And so I think it's the perfect storm of it's okay for me to not give a flying what happens to other people because I'm better and the rules don't apply to me. So. And then you see Donald Trump, who is completely lawless his entire life and there's a part of that that they identify with on some level.
Jennifer
Yeah, yeah. Sadly, I think it's, it's true. And then, you know, nobody voted for Trump in a larger majority than white evangelical people, Christians. And as my atheist mother would say, Donald Trump exposed these evangelicals for the hypocrites I always knew they were. Because if you live in the Bible Belt and you live about around white sanctimonious evangelical Christians, the attributes that Pumps just described, they think they're better, they think they're morally superior, don't have a lot of empathy. And this is pre Trump. Yeah, like pre Trump. I noticed like in friend groups, play date groups when my boys were little. And I couldn't help but be around evangelicals because of geography. Where I lived in the Bible Belt, the meanest women that I knew were the evangelicals. They were the least accepting, the least compassionate, the least empathetic and the least Christ like. And I always was somewhat taken aback that my mother, a sworn atheist, I mean, she thinks if somebody is religious, it's almost like a character defect, that she was far more, just far more compassionate, far more empathetic, far more fair minded than any Christian I had ever met, period. And so it was very disorienting, you know, growing up around all of these right wingers. But it surprises me zero that they lined up to triple Trump as fast as they could because misery loves company. And to see him get away with all the, that he gets away with and to see him be just such a piece of. And nobody call him out on it is comforting to them because they think, well, if they're not going to call him out on all of them, this moral duplicity, nobody's going to call my ass out, right? I'm fucking my personal trainer or I'm my tennis instructor, or I'm, you know, banging the pastor's wife or whatever, you know, it provides comfort and cover for them. And so at the end of all of this, I think there needs to be a huge deprogramming of white evangelical Christians because if you trace the roots of this movement, movement, it goes straight back to the Deep south into the KKK and all of that hatred and all of that sanctimony and moral high ground has been there all along. And a good leader can help people evolve past that. A selfish, maniacal, diabolical leader like Trump accentuates all of that. All right, welcome to I've had it. I'm Jennifer.
Angie
I'm Angie.
Jennifer
She's the star beaver of our show.
Angie
Head beaver in charge.
Jennifer
Okay, let's talk to Kylie. Kylie. Oh, you look so pretty.
Kylie
Thank you. I've got two reviews for you today, and I thought I'd start with a one star title. You can't fix stupid. And Thane Creos writes, you cannot help people who refuse it. Just keep moving. Although in this case, send an exorcist to the show if you know one.
Jennifer
Okay.
Angie
Can't fix.
Jennifer
You can't fix stupid. And the fact that he believes in an exorcist is part of a cell phone that I don't think he intended.
Angie
I didn't even think about that.
Jennifer
Yeah, I don't think he intended that. All right, go on.
Kylie
The next one's five stars titled I owe you an apology. And she writes, first discovered your podcast in 2024 on YouTube. Not knowing what your show was about, except that it was called I've had it. I automatically assumed both of you were Republicans because to my stereotypical self, Republican women are white, blonde, and Southern. And while you're both white, blonde, and southern, you are as far as Republicans as you can be. And for that, I owe you an apology for my judgment based solely on your looks. What? You are both beautiful inside and out, and a huge thank you for fighting fascism with facts, passion, and humor. You inspire me to keep fighting, and I'm with you all the way. Big love to you both. To Kylie the magic lesbian, and to all who believe in democracy and human decency.
Jennifer
I love that. Apology accepted.
Angie
Yes.
Jennifer
You know, I have dealt with this my entire life. Traveling with my husband, going places and people like, where are you from? And I'm like, oklahoma City. And then, you know, if you meet people from a blue state or blue city, they're always like, oh. And I'm like, I am not a Republican. I am not an evangelical Christian. Like, I get it, but I am none of those things. And this is so funny. Pump. So our friend Liz, she was in Las Vegas over the weekend, and she's at, like, her son is marrying a girl, and they had like, a bachelorette type weekend. And our friend Liz listener, she's just a good old time. She's good time Liz, right? Yeah. And she's a very dry sense of humor. Anyway, they're in Vegas and about four or five, a gaggle of homosexuals, anyway, gravitated over to Liz and her group, and they said, where are you from? And Liz said, oklahoma. And they looked at her like only a homosexual man can, right? Very judgy and like, you know, just like the geographic inferiority. And Liz, ever, I mean, sharp of his sharpest attack and witty, says, I'm a liberal. They go, oh, thank God, just relieved us all get out. And then he said, actually, our favorite podcasters are from Oklahoma. And Liz goes, huh? Well, I actually know them, and one of them, Jennifer, is one of my dearest friends. And so they called, and I guess now you can leave a FaceTime voicemail.
Angie
What?
Kylie
Yes.
Jennifer
I didn't know this. The.
Angie
The.
Jennifer
The gays taught Liz how to leave a FaceTime voicemail, and they left me a face Time voicemail. And it was so cute. And so to all of the blue dots out there in heaping pile of Maga Redland, you know, it. It's. It's time for us all to rise, because we all know to stay liberal and stay progressive in the worst of conditions around the judgiest, most horrific fleabag human beings imaginable is uphill in the snow, barefoot twice a day. And so shout out to all of you, because I know how judgy these coastal elites can be. And some of the best liberals I know are people that are tucked into the reddest areas imaginable. Yeah, I completely agree.
Angie
And one thing you said one time really sticks with me, about how if you live on the coast, you wake up and you breathe liberal air. It's just. It's understood the air's liberal when you wake up in Magaville. I mean, it's like you have to have an oxygen tank to get started.
Jennifer
All right, Kylie, what. What else do we have going today?
Kylie
I've got some news stories, and this one, we were tagged in because it reminded them of you, Jessica. People magazine reports. Woman in her marriage of 25 years after husband eats her slice of cake. And these are the facts. A woman said her husband surprised her with a trip to rekindle their struggling marriage. During her trip, he ate her leftover slice of anniversary cheesecake and laughed it off. She realized the cake symbolized years of emotional neglect and decided she was done.
Jennifer
Okay, here's the deal, listener. And for you longtime listeners, you will know that this happened two Christmases ago. I made cinnamon rolls. Don't get excited. They weren't homemade or anything like that. It's like the pop and fresh, right? So I make those and I'm talking, we're talking about a presents, talking to the boys, I'm talking to my dogs. And I start the cinnamon roll outside and leave the best bite for the end because I can delay gratification. So I turn over, I'm talking to my sons, and I turn back to get my last bite. And Josh ate it. He ate the center of the cinnamon roll. And I'm going to tell you here right now, what she said about years of emotional neglect and like that being metaphorical for a lot of shit is so true because I felt that same thing when he ate that best bite of the cinnamon roll. I thought this, it just takes and takes and takes and takes. And we were able to move past cinnamon roll gate in our marriage. And actually he's being a lot better about not shopping over my plate. But it was devastating. There was just, it was just such an abject selfishness about it that was so off putting. So I can see, as crazy as that sounds, that it led to divorce, but it's, it's a pattern.
Angie
Yeah.
Jennifer
And Josh definitely had that pattern. He's, he's riding the ship. You know, everybody knows he's been to rehab a few times. As we've discussed previously, he's riding the ship, he's doing a lot of work on himself and he's not so selfish anymore. But it's, it. I can see how she arrived at that decision because it's like, you can't get mad at a thousand little cuts, but that one thing. So you ate my fucking cake. Divorce, it makes sense to me.
Angie
Happens all the time. As a divorce lawyer, you see people that come in and like, this was the straw that broke the camel's back. And you're like, on a scale of 1 to 10, it's about a 6. But then they give you, you know, the last five years and you're like, yes, this is the straw.
Jennifer
Yeah. All right, Kylie, what's next?
Kylie
Okay, I've got another one that I wish we would do in the United States and China is now regulating influencers. And only those with university degrees can discuss professional topics. So this is like the life coaches and things. So only those who can prove verified competencies will be allowed to address topics such as medicine, finance, education and health. And those who don't follow the rules risk account suspension or fines.
Jennifer
I mean, this, the great thing about if we institute a policy like this is it would completely wipe out the Trump regime.
Angie
Total in every area.
Jennifer
Nobody would be left. Everybody would be. Would. Would be disqualified from this. But, you know, there is this whole thing in the United States, like we've. We've discussed a lot, the life coaches. There's a lot of people giving advice online that shouldn't be giving advice. And every time I see, like, someone that I know personally where all of a sudden this account pops up and they're an expert in something I never knew this person to have an area of expertise in, I'll call pumps and I go, you know, Jane Doe, you know that gal, remember her that we've been talking about now for 15 years? What a fucking train wreck.
Mehdi Hassan
She.
Jennifer
She is around on her husband all the time, you know, popping pills, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now she's an expert in this. Look at this Instagram account. It's always the train wrecks, the worst of the worst that claim expertise, which is exactly what's happening with Maga.
Angie
Yeah.
Jennifer
These are all train wrecks of individuals. Think about Hegseth and his mother writing him letters. Get your shit together. Blah, blah, blah. Think about Marco Rubio. What a train wreck he is. Think about Christine, yo, she's a disaster, shooting her dog. Stephen Miller, you know, I mean, these are absolute and just kinks. Kangs is a train wreck, and he has been a disaster for years. That is very good at propaganda. Even before he ever was in politics, he was constantly engaged in a propaganda campaign promoting himself as the most eligible bachelor in New York while he was married.
Angie
Yeah. And you know, one thing that always gets me, it's like he's. He would call and he would just browbeat the Forbes list until they put him on the world's richest or whatever it was. Remember, it was super duper important. And so he would disguise his voice, but they would know it was him. Kind of the same with the he's the best lay in town kind of thing. Okay, why wouldn't. Why wouldn't he have. I mean, he's so incompetent, he wouldn't even have a female call and say, oh, I slept with Trump. He's the best lay on the planet, or I'm so and so he would disguise his own voice to say how rich he was.
Jennifer
It's because he thinks he's better at everything than everybody else. That's his inherent flaw. He thinks he knows more about magnets and windmills and whale deaths, reverse bathtubs, Hannibal Lecter. And he would think nobody is going to be able to disguise their voice and pitch it as well as I can. Because I'm the best of this. I know more about me than anybody else. Believe me. That's his inherent, malignant narcissism. In his mind, he thinks only I can pitch this to where it's believable. And here's the thing. He scammed and conned his way, yes, to the White House, because he is a poor, stupid person's idea of a smart, rich man. Yeah, that's the. The base. And then a layer above that, you have the country club Republicans, white people in socioeconomic circles that you and I know, pumps that are fine with whatever fuckery and cruelty and illegalities come out of that administration as long as they don't have to pay their fair share in taxes. And it is that simple. And there are millions upon millions upon millions of voters that vote for that and that alone. I don't give a shit what they do to anybody else as long as I don't have to pay more in taxes. And that is a huge chunk of the mega movement.
Angie
Yeah, it is.
Jennifer
And to me, they're worse. Because they know he's up. They know how insidious it is that he wants to actively erode civil rights, that he actively puts minor immigrant children in zip ties. But they don't give a shit. They will vote for him, these country club Republicans, regardless of what he does to any black and brown child, as long as their taxes don't go up. And I have known so many Republicans like this in my life, it makes me sick. This episode of I've had it is brought to you by booking.com pumps. I've got to say, if you're looking to grow your vacation rental business, this is the place to be. Booking.com is one of the most downloaded travel apps in the entire world. And for good reason. Since 2010, they've helped over 1.8 billion vacation rental guests find places to stay. That's billion with a B. But here's the thing. Most vacation rentals don't even realize they can list their properties on booking.com and if you're not on the platform, your rental is basically invisible to millions of booking.com travelers worldwide.
Angie
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Jennifer
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Kylie
Com.
Jennifer
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Mehdi Hassan
I am indeed. Thanks so much for having me, guys.
Jennifer
Yeah, thanks for coming. I'm so happy to like meet in virtual real life.
Mehdi Hassan
Yes, we should have met in real, real life. But good to see you both virtually big fan of the show.
Jennifer
We're a big fan of yours. You were so smart and also a great attack dog, which I like. I like fuck you politics. And you bring that. And I think that those are the people that are shining the most right now because this is such a massive moment.
Mehdi Hassan
Yeah. Unfortunately, the media hasn't met this moment, as you guys know as well as I do, and therefore those of us who are still trying to call out the bullshit in front of our eyes, we are still trying to be, you know, the emperor's new clothes I think about from my childhood, just say what is actually going on in front of us. Say that Donald Trump is wandering around like a madman on his Asia visit. Say that he's rambling about good looking people to the troops in Japan yesterday. Just be able to say this is not normal. Right? That is the, that's the four letter sentence, a four word, excuse me, sentence of our era. This is not normal.
Angie
Right?
Jennifer
No, And I just, can you imagine, like just the, just the Japan trip, his behavior and the wandering around and the politicization of the troops. And it's to me, I'm no physician, but he clearly has some form of dementia. In just 24 hours, prior to the wandering around lost with the Japanese prime minister on Air Force One, he bragged about taking a animal identification test, a picture of a giraffe. He was able to choose it and he bragged about that. And it's not. I turned on CNN this morning. It's like somebody talking about that. Yeah, no, went to msnbc. Crickets, crickets.
Mehdi Hassan
We've normalized it. Everyone has. Whether liberal, conservative. I've tried not to. For 10 years, I've tried to keep going, saying I moved to this country in 2015, just weeks before he came down that golden escalator. My entire presence in this country for 10 years has been defined by Donald Trump being in our public scene and people normalizing what I see and many others see as clearly abnormal. And, you know, he goes on top of the White House and does a rant. He walks around the roof of the White House. Got no coverage at the time. I remember doing a quick check of all the news websites. Who was saying he's just wondering. An old man's wandering around the top of his house screaming about nuclear missiles. Even on that flight. Jennifer, on Sunday, he also talked about taking an mri and then he wouldn't say why. And I'm trying to think about another president. Forget Joe Biden. Any other president who could say, oh, I took an mri, I'm not going to tell you why I got shot in the ear, but I'm not going to release the medical records. I went to an annual check for my health even though I already had one a few months ago. I've got weird, blotchy things on my hand that make me look like someone out of control. Account Dracula. All of that has happened in the last few weeks and we just carry on like normal, like the President is not having some kind of physical or mental health crisis.
Jennifer
And then, not to mention this gets buried all the time. But it's just something I try to bring up to the surface. He went on and on about the size of Arnold Palmer's and within 30 days of that medi, he tried to give a microphone a blowjob that wasn't working. And this just any other politician that would be career ending.
Mehdi Hassan
Oh, I mean that's, that's ten years of this. And it's again, you can't blame Trump, right? We go, oh, Trump, it's not Trump's fault. He is who he is. It's the rest of our fault. For enabling it, for looking away, for aiding and abetting, for moving on, for tolerating, for excusing, you know, the number of people, even liberals, who say stuff like, you'll tell them something, I'll tell friends of mine, Donald Trump just did this. And they'll just chuckle, say, that's who Trump is. We don't do that for anyone else.
Angie
Right?
Mehdi Hassan
How did this guy, how did the freak From Home Alone 2 Get the special pass from the entire American public, American media, American political establishment? I mean, you talk about manhood, size of, size of penises. He made fun of Marco Rubio's manhood back in 2016. I'm old enough to remember that. I know we will move on. Marco Rubio today is his Secretary of State who stands silently and has perfected. Did you see him on Air Force One? He just stands a straight faced. As Trump rambles about the dementia test and how Jasmine Crockett couldn't beat him in a dementia test. And Rubio is just standing there, just straight faced. I wonder if he practices that in the mirror in the morning. Just how do I keep a straight face when this clearly insane boss of mine is saying stuff? But you know, these people will sell out for anything. He wanted to be Secretary of State. He wants to run for president in 2028. So Marco Rubio, a man who knows better and just tolerates it. And I think history will judge the Rubio's of this world much harsher than they'll judge the Peter Hexifs of this world now.
Jennifer
I agree. What have you had it with? We like to ask all of our guests what they've had it with and then we'll dive back into beating up on establishment Dems and stuff like that. But right out of the gates what have you had it with?
Mehdi Hassan
So it's just what I mentioned a moment ago. You know what I've had it with most? The more I watch Trump, I've had it with our amnesia in this country. Right? It's just Americans are like goldfish. We can't remember what happened last week, let alone last month or last year. We just are unable to retain things. And so people like Donald Trump are able to just do the craziest, most offensive criminal things. And we all just move on. We all say, oh, yeah, I forgot he sent an armed mob to the Capitol. Oh, yeah, I forgot he kidnapped kids at the border. Oh, I forgot that he. A hundred thousand Americans died from COVID That didn't need to die from COVID I spent much of last year telling people, you know, Donald Trump's gonna be bad. And they would say stuff like, he wasn't that bad the first time around. We survived term one. And I would say, actually, 100,000Americans didn't survive term one that didn't need to die. And he helped enable their deaths with his incompetence during the pandemic. So it's the amnesia that kills me right now. When I talk to people, everyone just. It's always like, reset day one, especially in our media. It's what's new? Look ahead, don't look back. And I'm like, no, no, we have to look back. We can't forget what has been going on.
Angie
What do you think about, like, okay, one thing that has shocked me is the appeasement in advance. Like ABC News and CBS News in 60 Minutes. I'm like, Harvard, you have all you. You people have all the money, all the access in the world, and you're not fighting it. So why do you think that has been? Just people falling in line. It really surprises me.
Mehdi Hassan
Yeah, it surprised me as well. I probably shouldn't be surprised because I'm quite a cynical person. But the speed at which it's happened has surprised me. Watching all those billionaires from the tech world lining up behind him at the inauguration. Like, if Jeff Bezos is going to roll over and he's what, second, third richest man in the world, Then you wonder, what are the rest of us supposed to do? It's not a great, inspiring look, if the guy, you know, as someone pointed out, what is the point of having you money if you can't say you. Right, right. What is the point of being that rich and going, oh, but I'm worried about this space contract, or I'm worried about Washington. No you are Jeff Bezos. You have made more money than most people in history combined. You don't need anything else. You can go buy an island and live somewhere else and speak the truth. But the problem is, is a lot of these people are not just cowards. They actually agree with Trump. I think a lot of these people in the elites were waiting for someone like Trump to come and bash minorities and, yes, cut their taxes and deregulate their industries. But a lot of them think wokeness went too far. The civil rights era went too far. We've let all these women and minorities go way too far. And I think a lot of them secretly think Trump is a good thing, and so they can hide behind the, oh, he's bullying us. He's forcing us into doing this. But I think a lot of them wanted to go along with it because, as you point out, they have a lot of money, the heart. You know, these university presidents, these media bosses, these tech billionaires, they don't all have to roll over to Trump. They choose to do that. And that is what's so shameful and why I think they will be judged again so harshly as the enablers of this stuff, because they could. And look, there's no solidarity in our society. This is a problem. People don't stick together. I said this at the no Kings protest. We see there are more of us than there are of them, but we don't give that impression if we're all atomized and cut off from each other and fighting from one another and throwing each other under the bus. One example I always give the White House press corps, right? If you ever watch their press conferences with Trump, especially in the first term, he would say, you're fake news. I'm not answering that question. You. Why didn't the next reporter say, well, I'm gonna ask the same question as the person before and the person after me. If you ignore me, they're gonna ask the same question. They never do that. They go, oh, he came to me. I'll ask my question. There's no solidarity amongst journalists when Trump is attacking them. And there is strength in numbers, right? The way the bully works, the way the fascist work, is to go after each person individually and make you think you're on your own. But if you stick together, then they lose. The. The problem is too many of our elites, too many of our institutions are not sticking together well.
Jennifer
And I think it's so shortsighted of the Bezos, the Elon Musk.
Mehdi Hassan
Oh, yeah.
Jennifer
To bend the knee to this type of man, especially when you get to cook of Apple. You know, Dumb and Dumber, that's what I call the Eric and Don Jr, right? Dumb and Dumber tried to launch Trump phone. These people are so depraved and absolutely advertise that the rules, the rule of law may apply to you, but it absolutely doesn't apply to us. What's going to keep them from doing a Putin play where they don't say, you know what? We think we want Apple. Yeah, we want that. That's what these people do.
Mehdi Hassan
So basically, he's already taken stakes in.
Jennifer
Major companies, and so it's so short sighted on their part. But I want to talk about little Moses, Mike Grinder Johnson. He's somebody I like to pick on quite a bit because he's from the same area of the country that I'm from. And I'm very familiar with these white. I'm very familiar with these white evangelical hypocrites. Abundantly familiar. And I'll tell you, he gets on TV pretty much. I mean, three and four times a day on this, all the Sunday shows.
Mehdi Hassan
Cnn.
Jennifer
Yeah. And he propagandizes and he propagandizes and he propagandizes and he propagandizes. And I'm like, all right. I mean, he's, he's dedicated to the cause. Like, he's Democrat, the Democrat shut down, blah, blah. So then, you know, I wonder around the Internet and I'm like, well, where is Hakeem? And chuckles Where? Where are they?
Angie
Where?
Jennifer
Why aren't they every day, all day, talking about what a breathtaking, taking religious hypocrite little Moses Mike Grinder Johnson is. Why aren't they saying this guy preaches to you that he and Jesus Christ are best friends, yet he demonizes the poor. He celebrates kids being zip tied and deported and celebrated from their families. It's such a layup, Medi.
Mehdi Hassan
Yes.
Jennifer
And it would. And it would actually penetrate in the religious south.
Mehdi Hassan
Yeah.
Jennifer
And it's crazy crickets. And it drives me insane.
Mehdi Hassan
It drives me more insane. Dare I say. I actually wrote a piece for the Guardian about a month or two ago saying they gotta go. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumann. No one, no one genuinely believes they are the right men for this task. They are the right people for this. Nobody believes. I interview multiple members of Congress and every single one, I asked him, what about Chuck Schumer? What about Hakeem Jeffries? And they all take a deep breath and then they defend them, but you can see their heart's not in it. You can see in their eyes, they don't want Hakeem Jeffries, they don't want Chuck Schumer. It's just Democrats don't have the spine statue. Get rid of them. There's a real, you know, there's a real loyalty and deference to authority and age in the Democratic Party with Chuck Schumer in particular. I mean, why is Chuck Schumer even still leader of the Senate Democrats? They lost the Senate. When you lose an election, you should step down. You don't carry on as the leader after you lost the Senate. And it's just bizarre that he's still in place. He's super old, he's super weak. He hasn't endorsed Zoran Mamdani. Jefferies endorsed MAMDANI Literally, what, 72 hours ago or whatever. It was ridiculously at the very end, half heartedly. They're both also not very good as communicators. So on the one hand I'm very critical that they're always awol. On the other hand, when I see them on tv, I want to throw something at the TV because they're just not very good. Have you heard Hakeem Jeffries speak? I think I need. It sounds like it just came out of chat. GPT like you just what? It's so robotic, it's so garbled. Somebody asked him the other day why he hadn't endorsed Mamdani a couple of days before he did it. And he said, it's not that I haven't endorsed him, it's that I haven't articulated. I can't remember what he said. It was just complete gibberish. So in a time when we need good communicators, they are not good communicators. At a time when we need bold leaders, they are not bold leaders. And on the faith front, I totally agree with you. I'm a person of faith. I'm a Muslim. It kills me that the Republican Party have decided to occupy all the space for religion and faith in this country, have basically tried to own religion and faith and moral values, even as they have this amoral, irreligious man in the White House who when asked what his favorite book of the Bible was, said, like all of it, it you couldn't name a single verse or chapter. So it annoys me. And I think people like James Talarico in Texas, who's running for the Senate, are interesting characters because they are willing to talk about their faith very openly and very proudly. And I think that I would like to see more of that obviously not from Democrats who don't have faith, each to their own. But those who do, those who are Christians or Jews or Muslims. Talk about your faith. Don't let these people pretend that they are the people of faith when they are doing the most un Jesus thing possible. They like demonizing children and the poor and the refugees. You know, as many people have pointed out, if Jesus were to come back tomorrow, I don't know what the Republican Party would do to him.
Jennifer
I think they would be shocked at the color of his skin. Right.
Angie
Support him.
Mehdi Hassan
I think they would support him.
Jennifer
I. You bring up a really important point. So I'm an atheist, bizarrely, like the only atheist born and raised by atheist parents in the buckle of the Bible belt. And so I couldn't get you.
Mehdi Hassan
They couldn't.
Jennifer
They could. I've been on the top of every prayer warrior list. I've been heavily recruited. I mean, you wouldn't believe the efforts. Despite all of that, they all failed. Because my mother sees religion as almost like a shortcoming, intellectual shortcoming. So I was kind of brainwashed the other way. Right. So. But I do think America is one of the more religious first world countries and we have a crazy Christian problem in this country that is never discussed. And when I grew up in a red state and lived in a red state, I was always relieved to know that people in blue states and the Democrats could win the White House and protect me in Oklahoma from the worst impulses of these crazy Christians. And so it's been horrifying to see the ascension of the crazy Christians to the White House and them streamlining it. And I'm with you. As much as I don't like to hear politicians talk about religion, we're going to have to have the Andy Bershears, the James Talaricos remind Christians what their faith is supposed to be. And we had Andy Bershear on I've had it a while ago. And he gave a very good argument about why he wouldn't throw trans kids under the bus. This is a Democrat in Kentucky with, who won twice. And he said, sat in our studio and said he would not throw trans kids under the bus. Fast forward a few months later, I have Rahm Emanuel on the podcast and he immediately threw trans kids under the bus. And so it just amazes me, this clash between the Democratic establishment who are structured, disciplined, and we're gonna stay on message. And everybody in the country has moved on to this kind of fuck you breed of politics.
Kylie
Right.
Jennifer
And the Democrats try to stay so message and we're going to pull this and we're only going to speak to the polling. And now the Democratic establishment, to me personally, feels like the conservative party, that they want to preserve and conserve the status quo. And then you have these people, AOC Mamdani Sanders filling arenas for a mayoral race. Yes, and the two fuckers from New York that should have ridden their coattails. I'm talking about hawking and chuckles. No shows. Yeah. And I am, I am. I wake up every day and I can't decide am I more frustrated with MAGA or am I more frustrated with the Democrats? And quite frankly, at this point, I'm more frustrated with the Democrats because like you said in your no King speech, there are more of us.
Mehdi Hassan
Yeah, for sure. But they don't take advantage of that. And look, everything you're saying, 100% endorse. Just a couple of things. One is not just Schumer and Jeffries. Let's not forget Kirsten Gillibrand, the senator from New York, junior senator from New York, who also has not endorsed Mamdani. Not only has she not endorsed Mamdani, she lied and said that he supported global jihad. Apparently she called him and apologized. She didn't apologize to me and other Muslims who she smeared. By extension, she didn't do a public apology. So Democrats have engaged in awful Muslim baiting and Islamophobia as well during this Mamdani race. And it is awful. And they know they couldn't fill, they couldn't fill a, you know, a living room, let alone a stadium in the way that those three did on Sunday. The energy they know is, is on one side of the party. You're right about the, the crazy folks. One thing I want to say though is that again, I don't want to seed the ground and say it's the crazy Christians because they're Christians. I just want to remind your viewers and listeners a lot of this. What we're seeing on the right is very astroturfed. It is very recent. It is very political. Right up until the 70s and 80s, you didn't see stuff like this on the right. This stuff came out of the Moral Majority. It came during the Reagan era, the end of the 70s. This was even, even the pro life movement is very modern. Right. It doesn't go back 50, 100 years. So it's really interesting the way that they have politicized and weaponized the faith. And it is not all Christians. It is a very specific subset of right wing politicized Christians and white Christians. Because when people say oh, evangelicals. I'm always like, black evangelicals are not voting for Trump. A lot of Latino evangelicals are not voting for Trump. A lot of it's like when we say working class Americans, actually white working class, black working class Americans are still reliably Democratic. So we just got to be specific about the fact of who we talking about here. It is a very narrow, specific group of people who don't represent a majority of Christians, let alone a majority of Americans. We need to make that clear so that they can't play the victim. Oh, you're picking on Christianity and Christians. No, we're not. We're picking on you. We're picking on this specific group of bigots who have weaponized faith. I'm a Muslim. I know all about people in religious communities who try and weaponize your faith. I spent 20 years dealing with people in my community who pretend that they're holier than thou, but are actually using religion for political purposes. And that's what we're seeing on some parts of the Christian right as well. And in terms of the Democratic establishment, it's a joke. It's a joke. And it worries me because a, I worry that they're not going to be able to take back the House and that's our last bulwark against full on fascism in this country. And even if they take back the House, does anyone have any confidence that Speaker Jeffries is going to fight the good fight from the House against the Trump White House?
Angie
Yeah. What do you think about Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker? You have these governors that are really setting a good example of how to fight this regime. And so is there anybody like that? I mean, obviously you've got Chris Murphy, but who would be better than Hakeem Jeffries in your mind?
Mehdi Hassan
I mean, in the House there are, there are many people. I would, if I, if I had a, you know, crystal ball, a magic wand, whatever the phrases, I would have someone like Jamie Raskin be the House speaker because he's a smart guy, knows the institution, super experienced, but also is always willing to fight, always willing to go on TV and give us a great sound bite, always willing to take on anyone anywhere. Has a moral background, backbone, as far as I can see, has taken strong stances on many issues. He came late to Gaza, but at least he came to Gaza and called for a ceasefire as a Jewish member of the House. Unlike Hakeem Jeffries, who kind of was hard, you know, what is, what does Charlemagne call him? A Pak Shakur? This idea of these Guys are just so weak. They're so feckless. And again, I think we've Learned from the 2024 election, we learned from Trump versus Harris that you've got to be a politician who is willing to speak off the cuff. You've got to be willing to go anywhere, you've got to be willing to take on anyone. You've got to be unafraid. You can't just be poll testing your messages all the time. Focus grouping your messaging all the time, as we've seen with Graham Platner. And I think he's made some huge fuck ups with that tattoo. But what's interesting about Platner is that he comes out, he says his piece, he explains himself, and then he goes and does a town hall and double the number of people turn up, which tells you rightly or wrongly, I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong, but people don't care about a lot of things that Democrats have spent so much time worrying about. Oh, I can't say a gaffe. I can't say this wrong sentence. I can't say that word. No, Donald Trump blew all that up. And we're in a very different environment now. And it's interesting that you mentioned the. Jennifer, you mentioned the swear. The swearing is interesting because what they think they have to do now, if you've seen Chuck Schumer started swearing, started f bombing, they think that's what it means to be bold and unafraid. No, no, the swearing has to have a purpose. You have to be swearing about something. It has to be backed by a platform. It's like people who go, mamdani's got great videos. Yeah, he does have great videos, but in the videos he's saying things that people resonate with. It can't just be one or the other. You need the slick messaging and the bold rhetoric and the not give a fuck attitude. But you also need to be pushing stuff that people want to hear and do.
Jennifer
I think the Democratic establishment, the Gillibrand fans, the Schumers, Hakeem Booker, who I had some issues with, you did a great job.
Mehdi Hassan
You probably did a better interview with Corey Booker than I've seen any mainstream TV anchor do in the last decade.
Jennifer
Oh, my God. That's high pressure.
Mehdi Hassan
It's 100, everyone. I know I was playing pickleball last night. There's an admission because I'm old and I can't do any actual proper sports. Okay, then I've just insulted you. But I'm old and unfit and I Can't play any sports. So I went to play pickleball and I mentioned that I'm coming on this podcast today. And the other three guys went, the Cory Booker woman, Every, every single one. They immediately. They knew you from Cory Booker, I love.
Jennifer
So I think those types of Democrats are so out of touch and they think what's happening in New York is just something crazy that's happening in New York because New York is New York and they are fucking around right now now, and they're going to find out that what's happening in New York is happening all over the place. That Trump did one of two things to you. He either made you a worse person and you capitulated to all of your worst impulses and you're fine with a bunch of that. You would have never been fine before that third, that triple Trump, that third time broke a lot of people. And then when he won that time in 24, it caused a lot of people that I know, rich ass white women with husbands that own oil and gas companies, to turn and march their noses to the left. And their husbands joke around with them now that they're commies because that's how far left they've gone. And these are people that live in deeply red states. And this is happening not just to white women, not just to our age group group, not too young people. Boomers. You know, Fox News first said that no King's March was gonna be all these crazy terrorists, Hamas supporters, jihadists. Then they're like, oh, look at all these crazy boomers. It's happening everywhere. And the Bookers, the Jefferies, the children, they don't have a clue as to where the party is going. And it is so frustrating that it's like literally teed up. The moment is here. And it doesn't take that much to rile up maga. That administration, they're all bluster. And with a sharp minority leader in the House that could whip everybody into shape, I think that we could really build a resistance. But I also want to say this because I want to say this every chance I can get. As a woman that lived in a red state, I only recently moved to New York. I would have crawled through 10ft of concrete to vote for a corporate Democrat. And I still would. I would still go and vote for Cory Booker. I would vote for A. Jeffries. I would vote for Schumer.
Mehdi Hassan
The alternative is Mike Johnson.
Jennifer
Yes. Because it means that women will be not have to have their rapist baby. It means a lot. It's a lifeline for A lot of. Of marginalized people in these red communities that are often the collateral damage of these MAGA policies. And so, I don't know, I just get. I share all of your frustration with it, but I think every time we have one of these politicians on, we should do everything we can to hold them accountable, to move them, because we have the leaders we have.
Mehdi Hassan
And you guys have done that. Well, a lot, A lot of these politicians have been told now, right? Post 2024, post Harris Rogan debacle, go on podcast. That's where you need to go. So they're going on podcasts, and then they get surprised at what they get asked on the podcast. And I think that's a fascinating dynamic, not just on your brilliant show, but on other shows I've seen. Gavin Newsom was on with Van Lathan recently. He was asked about apac, and you could tell he's never been asked about APAC before. So it's interesting that the podcasts are kind of setting a different scene. They just don't get it right. They think that if you swear a bit and you go on some podcasts, that is connecting with the debate and it's not right. Graham Platner gets it, and AOC and Mundani get it. And the Mundani thing is so infuriating because they spent months after 2024 saying, how do we connect with young men? How do we have a dynamic candidate? How do we have someone who's young and not old? Like, he gave them everything. This guy just comes up and he's. He's connecting with young people. He's connecting with Republicans and independent voters who are switching over to him. And you just like. And the establishment says, okay, we're not going to back you.
Jennifer
You.
Mehdi Hassan
We're not going to support you. We're not going to endorse you. Even though we endorsed Eric Adams within seconds of Adams winning. And Adams won narrowly. Mamdani won the primary by a landslide. Schumer endorsed Adams, called him the future of the party. Right. So first apologize. Chuck Schumer, number two, endorse Zoran Muhammadani, number three, quit and let someone else run the Senate, whether it's Chris Murphy or Brian Schottz or whoever it is, someone younger, more dynamic to take over. Chris Van Holland, who I have a soft spot for. I. I think there are a lot of people out there who can do a better job. And as you say, Trump is there for the taking. Like, if you can't beat the Democratic establishment, lost to Donald Trump in two out of three elections. And I would argue they probably would have lost in all three had it not been for Covid. Let's just be very honest. Trump probably would have won reelection in 2020 had it not been for the pandemic. So they lost in two out of three. Almost lost in three out of three. And they're still lecturing the rest of us on what the right way forward is, what the best electoral strategy is, how to beat Trump. No, you failed miserably. Let other people have a go. Let other strategies work. Try and listen to people who actually talk to people on the ground. And the only answer for why they're not doing that with Mamdani, for example, or even just platinum as well, pre the Nazi tattoo. It's got to be two reasons. I know it's depressing. It's two reasons. One is they are corporate Democrats who just don't like what Mamdani stands for. He's going to raise taxes and hurt the rich, and they're their donors don't want them to do that. And number two is it's Islamophobia. It's a brown Muslim guy who is running and also criticizing Israel at the same time. By the way, the onslaught of Islamophobia over the last 72 hours, especially on places like Twitter, but generally, has been insane. Not just from the Republican Party in Fox, but from Andrew Cuomo, from Eric Adams, from all these people. Where the hell is the rest of the Democratic Party? Where are the leadership? Where not just Schumer and Jeffries, where are all of the Democrats? Why are they not standing up and saying, how dare you come after our mayoral candidate like that? How dare you go after millions of Muslim Americans? We've heard so much about anti Semitism in the last few years, and anti Semitism is a scourge in this country. And people should speak out against anti Semitism. But the same politicians who loudly spoke out against anti Semitism, I don't hear from them. When people are going after Mandani, when people are saying deport Zoran Mamdani, when people are going after Ilhan Omar, I don't see those same politicians speaking out for their fellow Muslim Democrats. And it is truly shameful.
Jennifer
I think that the Islamophobia is the main reason with Mamdani, because it is having a moderate Muslim that makes a sanctuary city for LGBTQ + people goes against the narrative that I was raised around that, oh, these Muslims have all these wives and they blow ship up and they throw gay people off the buildings. And just by Default. In my early 20s, I was Islamophobic. I didn't realize that I was. But having been raised by an atheist, I had a default setting to judge all religions inherently. But then you pile on 9, 11, and then what tidbits.
Mehdi Hassan
Race. I mean, Muslims tend to be brown.
Jennifer
Yeah. They're anti gay and all of this stuff. And I had a lot of gay friends. I was an interior designer. So I was a little bit. Not a little bit. I was. I was Islamophobic, but I evolved from that. And Mamdani represents something that is the establishment, both the Democrat and Republican. A huge arrow right into that argument because he is a moderate Muslim. And I have evolved and I have learned that every religion has its crazies. We have the white evangelical, have their roots in the KKK that I call the crazy Christian problem in America. Muslims have their crazies as well. But the overwhelming majority of people from both faiths are peaceful. They want to live their life, and they use that as some sort of focusing for their own personal serenity. And so I think that that is why you get people that don't sit up. But I will say I was very impressed with Kathy Hochul standing up for him the other night, and I really liked her a lot.
Mehdi Hassan
For 100%, given the lack of noise from other Democrats. The governor's words were important and her endorsement earlier on was important.
Kylie
The.
Mehdi Hassan
I would just say two things on that. Number one, the. That the mixed messaging doesn't work for his opponents. Right. They can't. They don't know how to attack him. So Andrew Cromwell's like, he's a radical jihadist. And then he's also like, but he's super liberal. Hey, Muslim voters in New York, like, he supports prostitution, but he's a radical jihadist. Like, make your mind up. Is he a radical jihadist, or does he want legalized prostitution? They can't. The messaging's all over the place. I saw yesterday someone saying he's funded by Soros. So he's an anti Semite who's funded by the most famous Jewish billionaire in the world. Make your minds up. Right? You can't have it both ways. But they keep doing that, and the message doesn't stick because it's so ludicrous. I saw some Republican the other day saying he wants an Islamic theocracy in New York. And I just posted a picture in a quote tweet of Zoran and Tish James at a Pride rally saying, is this what you think Islamic theocracy looks like? The Guy marches in Pride rallies, right? A lot of conservative Muslims don't like.
Jennifer
That about him with the trans flag. I mean, like, it's not that he was in the Pride.
Mehdi Hassan
He has got actual policies that support the LGBT community.
Jennifer
Let me just say something really quick. I want to say something thing. We have some friends in Oklahoma City and they have a trans daughter, and the policies are so horrible in that state. Their only option is to move out of a state and take their kids from schools that they know and neighborhoods that they know and friends that they know. Because that's what MAGA super majorities do to marginalized people. So when you see a Zoran Mamdani say, we are going to be a sanctuary city, that is a lifeline of compassion and empathy. That goes at the heart of the narrative that a lot of Americans have been sold that Muslims are anti gay, radical jihadists. And then this guy's marching around with a trans flag. I love it.
Mehdi Hassan
I love it. The other interesting point on the whole Muslims are anti gay and anti women, and da da, da is that is the modern Republican Party. It's so ironic. People come to me, like, 20 years ago, I said some shitty things, which I've regretted many times, and people keep throwing it in my face. I always laugh and think, that was me 20 years ago. The funny thing is, if I said that stuff today, you would embrace me in the Republican Party. Like, all the things they pretend to hate Muslims for, they love. They're homophobic, they're misogynistic. Their stereotype caricature of extremist Muslims is what MAGA is right now. So there's a great irony about, you know, every accusation is a confession. And what you're accusing Muslims of being is what you actually are, you know, intolerant, bigoted, anti Democratic. Oh, you don't believe in democracy. That's maga. You don't support women's rights, that's maga. You're anti gay, that's maga. Like, go down the list. All the things they accuse Muslims of actually apply to this party themselves. So it's sheer hypocrisy that they weaponize to go after minorities. And I would say this one day, I just want to be very clear. People saying, oh, you know, Mamdani doesn't represent most Muslims. A lot of Muslims struggle a great deal with gay rights. I just want to be very open. And gay marriage, right? As you know, growing up in the south, the Bible, the Quran, these are books that have very specific teachings and values on. On relationships. I just want to be open about that. But the reason why Muslims want to stand right now with minority, other minority communities is it's, it's just, it's not rocket science, right? We're all in this together. It's what I said at the start. There has to be solidarity. We're not going to throw the gay community under bus, and I hope the gay community is not going to throw the Muslim cube down the bus because they're coming for all of us, right?
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Jennifer
You must be HIV negative to receive apretude and get tested before each injection. If you think you are exposed to HIV or have flu like symptoms, tell your doctor right away. More HIV testing may be needed. Aperitude does not prevent other sexually transmitted infections. Practice safer sex to reduce your risk. Get aperitude as scheduled. Missing doses increases your HIV risk. Don't take aperitude if allergic to it or taking certain medicines that may interact. Tell your doctor about your medical conditions, liver problems and mental health. Serious side effects include allergic reactions or rash, liver problems and depression. If these occur, get medical help right away. The most common side effect is injection site reaction. Bring your A game and talk to your doctor. Learn more@apertude.com or call 1-888-240-0340. Pumps the Air is turning crisp and the holidays are drawing near. And I love to master the art of dressing in layers. Quince is My go to source for this because I have sweaters, outerwear, even underwear. My absolute favorite that I can personally share with you that I wear all the time are the $50 Mongolian cashmere sweaters. They're made for everyday wear and then they also have this great denim I pair it with that never goes out of style. And back to that layering, I put a little silk top underneath and it just adds that polish that I want.
Angie
My favorite thing I've gotten from Quince this year is the Italian wool coats. Oh my gosh. They feel designer and the quality rivals even high end brands but without the high markup.
Jennifer
By working directly with ethical top tier factories, Quince skips the middleman and offers prices 50% less than similar brands. So listener, step into the holiday season with layers made to feel good, look polished and last from Quince, perfect for gifting or keeping for yourself. Go to quence.com had it for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Quince Q U I n c e.com had it to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com had it all right listener, fall is here and the kids are back in school. Vacations are over and it's time to start the cozy part of the season. And I want to introduce you to Bombas. And I mean this. I have a pair on my feet right now. They are the most comfortable socks on the planet. They also have slippers, tees and underwear. You cannot go wrong with Bombas.
Angie
I love my Sherpa lined Sunday slippers. They're packing.
Jennifer
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Angie
They're fantastic and cozy. I love them.
Jennifer
And the best part listener. For every item you buy, Bombas donates one to someone experiencing homelessness. Over 150 million items have been donated thanks to customers and with their happiness guarantee, if you're not 100% into what you got, they'll make it right. No risk all reward. So listener head over to bombas.com had it and use code had it for 20% off your first purchase. That's B O M b-s.com had it code had it at checkout.
Mehdi Hassan
Extra value meals are back. That means 10 tender juicy McNuggets and medium fries and a drink are just $8 only at McDonald's for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California.
Jennifer
And for delivery I was gonna ask.
Angie
You and I I follow you on Twitter so I've seen.
Mehdi Hassan
I apologize in advance for that.
Angie
No, no, no, no, no. I like it.
Mehdi Hassan
You have to follow my rants.
Angie
No, but I like it because it's like this is the most obvious thing in the world, but these people aren't getting it. But I know since Mondavi came on board, there's been a lot of Islamophobia and you said it's really ramped up prior to between the time you got in the United States or what you said right before Trump came down.
Jennifer
This.
Mehdi Hassan
Yeah, 2015.
Angie
Now I feel like from my very white privileged woman view that racism has become kind of like emboldened, empowered against all, you know, sex, race, religion. Have you noticed an uptick or has it been the same?
Mehdi Hassan
No, 100%. It's gotten worse. And it's one of the most troubling parts of the last decade, which is, as Jennifer pointed out earlier, Donald Trump brought out the worst in people. Right. The single biggest legacy of Donald Trump, aside from a 6, 3 Supreme Court, is that he has emboldened these people like historians will come back. If we have historians, they will write about this era as the era in which he basically allowed the worst people to crawl out from under rocks where they had been pushed to by the civil rights movement, by all the progress we made on, on race and gender and rights. And that's what depresses me most. It's the big picture. You know, Donald Trump could disappear tomorrow and what he has unleashed cannot be put back in the bottle. Right. The racist genie is out of the bottle. The undermining, all these taboos we created around race, certain things you can't say you shouldn't say you shouldn't do, that's all kind of gone. He is single handedly, kind of broken it down and we're in a very, very dark place. And if you look at, you know, you look at that young Republicans chat that came out recently, some of them weren't so young, of course, but like, it's not surprising to those of us who've watched the last 10 years, there's an entire generation of young people, especially young white men, who have known nothing but Donald Trump. Right? That is what they think a leader is. That is what they think an American is. That is what they think is how they should behave. That is how they think they should speak. That is what they think they have permission to say. I don't think you can unroll a decade of Trump. The cultural, social impact of Trump is so massive that it's going to be with us for many, many decades to come. I Don't think we can just unwind this. It's going to have to be redoing the 1960s onwards all over again. If we can even pull that off in a social media age where everyone's in their echo chambers. So it is very depressing to see how bigotry has been mainstreamed, how everything that you thought, I mean, let me give you one example. In the first term, Donald Trump said, hey, the squad should go back to the countries they came from. It was one of the most racist things he said in his first term. And that was about Ilhan Omar, aoc, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Taleb, three of whom are born in the United States, all four of whom are citizens. It was a controversy for a while, right? Oh, he said something racist. He was asked to challenge it today. That seems quaint. Today they're like, deport everyone. Deport Mandani, deport Ilhanu. So, like, they keep ramping up and the Overton window of what is acceptable to say or not to say keeps moving further and further to the far right. And you're emboldening all of these white. Look, just this week we had Tucker Carlson host Nick Fuentes, right? That kind of stuff. Even that would have been seen as crazy five years ago today. It's like, oh, that was expected.
Jennifer
Yeah. And it's just so. There's so many substories to the cultural breakdown. Like if you think about Pete Hegseth's pastor that was on 60 Minutes that talked about women losing the right to vote and death penalty for homosexuals, that I can say back to tying it back to Christians views of Islam and the Muslim faith. Where I. Where we grew up. Ryan Walters, he was the. I'm sure you've heard of him. The superintendent.
Mehdi Hassan
Superintendent, yeah.
Jennifer
Yeah. They are really. They want. They're the Christian Taliban. They want a Christian nationalist country. They want to force, in the most toxic, codependent way their religion, their form of white evangelicalism, onto which they don't practice.
Mehdi Hassan
Let's just be clear, right? They're often exposed. They're often exposed as hypocrites in their private lives and in their public lives. As you pointed out, they support policies that demonize the people. Jesus championship did.
Jennifer
All right, now we're going to play our world famous game called had it or Hit It. Oh, my God. Welcome to had it or Hit It. I would hit it. Had it. I hit it every day, sometimes twice a day. Medi. Had it or hit it. Jerry Seinfeld.
Mehdi Hassan
Oh, had it. Can't Stand. Jerry Seinfeld. I grew up watching Jerry Seinfeld. He was the least funny member of that show to begin with. And now in his old age, he's become this kind of genocidal, smirking ghoul who goes around blindly supporting Israel, saying ridiculous things like the Free Palestine movement's worse than the Ku Klux Klan. Jerry, you were the worst member of Seinfeld, and you're a worse human being now.
Jennifer
I like it. All right. Had it or hit it? Domestic air travel.
Mehdi Hassan
Oh, I've had it with domestic air travel. I've so I travel every weekend. I travel all the time. Domestic air travel in this country, I don't know why it hasn't radicalized Americans onto the streets. And don't tell me. Oh, it's only because a minority of Americans fly. A lot of millions of Americans fly. It is horrifically bad. I can't tell you how bad it is compared to other countries. I'm fed up of the delays. I'm fed up of the cancellations. I'm fed up with the shitty airports. Donald Trump was right. There you go. That's the only time I'll ever say it. Donald Trump was right in 2016 when he ran for president, he said, we have shitty airports compared to the rest of the world. It was the only true thing he said when he ran for president in 2016. I'm just. I've had it with.
Jennifer
Think about one thing that he did that should tell every working class MAGA person that voted for him. The Biden administration made it to where if the air. If the airlines canceled your flight or it was delayed, that you got a refund. He immediately, immediately reversed that, Immediately reversed.
Mehdi Hassan
It, and then fired a bunch of air traffic controllers. And now we have seemed to have more accidents.
Jennifer
They're such dipshits. It's just. You know what pisses me off? Just the celebrating of the villains. And then that our villains are total dipshits. I'm like, we're losing to these doors.
Mehdi Hassan
Which brings us full circle, too. We're losing to them because the other side is led by Chuck Schumer.
Jennifer
Bipartisan dorks is what they are. All right, moving along. Had it or hit it. Antifa.
Mehdi Hassan
Hard to describe. What is antifa? I don't know what it is. Tell me what it is.
Jennifer
I am antifa. I am antifascist.
Mehdi Hassan
Yeah. I mean, if you're anti fascist, then obviously I would hit it. I mean, I've spent my life opposing fascism both abroad and at home. America has a long, glorious History of stopping fascism in the World War II. But if it's just kind of amorphous, weird group that they've decided as this boogeyman. They said recently, oh, we've got the. We've. We found the wife or the girlfriend of the founder of Antifa. I'm like, who? Who's the founder of Antifa? Winston Churchill. Like, who is the fdr? Like, who is the founder of Antifa? I don't know who that is. It doesn't exist. It is a classic boogeyman from these people. They're not even trying. Like they just made up this group that has everyone. People don't walk around with an Antifa membership badge. I'm antifa. It just doesn't exist. Good luck with that.
Angie
It's amazing. Like he's done executive orders going against Antifa. And I'm like, it's not real. You don't sign your name. It's crazy.
Mehdi Hassan
You know. You know what is real? The oath keepers and the proud boys and all these militiamen that he pardoned and commuted sentences for on January 20th and which the Democrats never went after with the same vigor they should have gone after.
Jennifer
Think about this, Mehdi. We are from Oklahoma City. I was there and so was Pops when the federal building was bombed by right wing.
Mehdi Hassan
Yeah, and they blamed Muslims, by the way.
Jennifer
Extreme.
Angie
Yeah, they did.
Jennifer
Timothy McVeigh and these other connected right wing white rage male extremists. Okay, and after that. And you're talking about. There was a daycare in the Alfred Primara building on the first floor. I'll never forget. Firemen were carrying out little babies bodies. And since that happened, that state continues to vote for every single county. All red for a political party that provides cover for right wing extremism. The success and the ambition of that movement.
Mehdi Hassan
Yes.
Jennifer
To radicalize people against their country, against their best interests has been breathtaking. They.
Mehdi Hassan
Not just that, their ability to then project onto the other side everything they're doing right. They go around after Charlie Kirk's the thing. The other side are domestic terrorists. The other side are inciting terrorism. The other side are extremists. When they're actually describing themselves. It is messaging genius. Evil genius messaging.
Jennifer
It really is. Okay, last one.
Kylie
Had it.
Jennifer
Oh, wait, no. Two more. This is a really good one. Okay. Had it or hit it? The Louvre heist.
Mehdi Hassan
Oh, I would say if I say hit it, people are going to say it's because they were Algerians. And he supports the buzzer, but come on, it was super entertaining.
Jennifer
I didn't I thought, come on.
Mehdi Hassan
A daylight robbery at a place that was like, in the. In the. What's the Netflix show? Which I never watched, everyone kept pointing to, which was about the people robbing the Louvre. Like, that's. That every. Anyone who watches a good crime caper cannot not enjoy that new story.
Jennifer
Yeah, I. Because it was a respite from, like, the crime that's happening that everybody's normalizing in our country. And I was like, okay, this is a classic crime. Like, they had their plan. They had the cherry picker thing. They knew what they were going to get. It was organized. I would it. For me, it was just a very welcomed respite because in a world of.
Mehdi Hassan
Incompetence, we saw some competence.
Angie
It was well executed, cleverly designed.
Mehdi Hassan
Yes. Get them to do the. Get them to do the White House ballroom.
Jennifer
Yeah. But do you know. Did you guys see where they. They were going down in the cherry picker, and they dropped the crown, and then they were unable to retrieve it. Yeah. So they drop the crown. It goes in between these two. Two fences. And the people that worked at the. Lou found the crown. Okay.
Mehdi Hassan
All I saw was that. All I saw that there were some Algerians involved. And as a Muslim, whenever there's a crime committed, every Muslim texts each other and says, I hope it's not a Muslim. Please don't be a Muslim. That's our reaction to any crime anywhere in the world.
Jennifer
Yeah. Yeah. All right, last one. Had it or hit it? The United States of America.
Mehdi Hassan
Oh, no. Hit it. I'm not going to give up on the US yet just because some freaks think that they can end constitutional democracy and, you know, end America before its 250th birthday. I've spent the last week fighting with crazy right wingers online, telling me I'm not a real American. And all I think to myself is, I'm way more American than you because I actually believe in what America stands for. You want to turn it into some fascist theocratic dictatorship. I actually believe in free speech. I actually believe in free and fair elections. I actually believe in equality before the law. So, you know, ironically, here I am going around quoting Ronald Reagan, who famously said that America, unlike other countries, I hated Reagan growing up. I was a child of the 80s. But here I am saying Ronald Reagan was right. See, on your show today, I've said Donald Trump was right once. Ronald Reagan was right. He said that unlike other countries, you don't move to another country and become that citizenship immediately. In America, you do if you sign up if you take your oath, if you're loyal to the country, if you believe in the Constitution, you are an American. As much as these MAGA people want to pretend that America is a white, Christian country, that is not what the founders intended. That is not what the Constitution says. And therefore, no, I have not given up on America. I will fight to keep America democratic and free as long as I can.
Jennifer
I just want you to know, I know this won't provide comfort, but I just want to point out that the same people that tell you that you're not a real American, they also go after the white women that were born. I was born in Dallas and pumps in Oklahoma City. They tell us that we're not real Americans as well. So they. For them, their definition of being an American is thinking exactly like they do. Which is the most un American.
Mehdi Hassan
Yes.
Jennifer
Starting point that you can ever have. Okay. Mehdi Hassan, this was so great. I hope we collab more and more. Yeah, it was great.
Mehdi Hassan
I would love to. Thanks so much for having me. Great conversation.
Jennifer
Yes. All right. Bye.
Mehdi Hassan
Bye. Bye.
Jennifer
Okay.
Kylie
I really.
Jennifer
I just think he's so smart. I could talk to him for like two hours. I could talk to him for hours.
Angie
And I was this close, I mean, this close from saying, mehdi, I know you and Jennifer are it's social media friends, and I want you to be my social media friend, but I thought that might look a little bit desperate because I'm so fucking jealous.
Jennifer
So jealous. He's really, you know, one thing that he does. I'd ever do this. I don't fight with people online just for my serenity. Like, I have a Twitter, but I have it locked. And I don't communicate with anybody on Twitter. I just use it to mine for information. And then I don't really ever read my Instagram comments anymore or. And I never get on TikTok just because I think if I was fighting with people online and then I also had to consume the news, I think it would fuck with my serenity too much. So I admire the people that can like that he can actually get in there and engage with those people because I. I can't do it. You know, I got an email, they asked me to be on Jubilee, and I think Medi had done it. I should. Should have asked him about it. What is it? But I don't. Jubilee is where they put you in the center and then you.
Angie
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jennifer
Trump supporters and you debate with them. And I just thought, I've been doing that my whole life in Oklahoma Right. Like, you know, I just. I don't know. But I admire him for all of it. All right, listen, make sure you buy our book. It's called Life is a Lazy Susan of Shit Sandwiches. Pumps is modeling the book right now. It is linked right below in the show notes. And if you're on YouTube, make sure you subscribe to our channel. Same thing. If you're listening on audio and Pumps.
Angie
Tell them we will see you next Tuesday and Thursday.
Jennifer
I'll tell you what I've had it with. I've had it with that. Listen up patriots, gaytriots and natriots. We have a new podcast that has dropped. It's called IHIP News. It's Monday through Friday. Every day, 15 to 20 minute hot takes on the political landscape of the United States of America. Always served with a side of petty grievances.
Angie
We are on all the available platforms. Apple, Spotify, Google, whatever you get your podcast and YouTube.
Jennifer
Please go rate, subscribe and review so that we will chart upwards with American. His greatest legal mind. Pumps. Pumps. What does an eagle say? Caca. A little bit more enthusiasm. Caca. That's it. That's.
Angie
That's kaka.
Jennifer
That's the patriotism that this country needs right there.
Podcast Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie “Pumps” Sullivan
Guest: Mehdi Hassan, Editor-in-Chief of ZO
Original Air Date: November 4, 2025
In this sharply comedic and deeply critical episode, Jennifer and Angie (aka “Pumps”) air their grievances about American politics in the Trump 3.0 era. They rail against the normalization of fascism, the erosion of empathy and civil rights, and the rise of bigotry in politics and everyday life. Special guest Mehdi Hassan provides incisive commentary on American political amnesia, media normalization of Trump’s behaviors, and the failure of Democratic leadership to rise to the moment. The hosts, along with Mehdi, dissect the role of white evangelicalism, discuss the normalization of cruelty, and call out the establishment's lack of resistance—serving up truth with biting humor and unflinching honesty.
Angie’s Grievance: Fed up with the “both-sides” narrative in politics. Some issues aren’t debatable—such as withholding food from vulnerable people or taking away rights:
“When you’re talking about not sending food to vulnerable people...there are no two sides to that. When you take people’s rights away...that is not a two sides thing.” — Angie (01:26)
Jennifer's Take: The two-sides framing has been co-opted to normalize anti-democratic stances, particularly since Trump’s rise:
"Pre Trump, there weren’t two sides to upholding the Constitution… it’s really disturbing to wake up and realize you live in a country where something that used to be off-limits as being two sides now is openly and brazenly and braggadociously two sides, right?" — Jennifer (02:33)
Jennifer: Trump’s impact on personal relationships and public figures:
“Almost everybody that I know that voted for Trump was a moderate piece of shit before and now they’re a heaping pile of dog shit as a human being now…his ability to make people worse human beings is undefeated.” — Jennifer (09:45)
Angie: The erosion of empathy—using a family member’s lack of compassion for immigrants as an example:
“People that I always believed had a little bit of empathy...have none. I mean, zero. ...We’ve gone full blown crazy train.” — Angie (09:45)
On Evangelicals: Both hosts discuss the hypocrisy and mean-spiritedness they’ve observed among evangelical Christians, highlighting Jennifer’s atheist upbringing and how her mother displayed more empathy than surrounding Christians (13:23–16:09).
Kylie shares reviews:
Jennifer: Comments on being stereotyped based on location and appearance, emphasizing liberal resilience in red states:
“Some of the best liberals I know are people that are tucked into the reddest areas imaginable.” — Jennifer (19:23)
Angie: The difficulty of being liberal in “Magaville”—it’s like “you have to have an oxygen tank to get started.” (20:18)
“He is a poor, stupid person’s idea of a smart, rich man.” — Jennifer (26:36)
“This is not normal. That is the four-word sentence of our era: This is not normal.” — Mehdi Hassan (32:35)
Media Fails (32:35–38:25):
“Americans are like goldfish. We can’t remember what happened last week, let alone last month or last year.” — Mehdi Hassan (36:53)
Democratic Leadership Critique (41:21–53:00):
"No one genuinely believes they are the right men for this task...Democrats don’t have the spine." — Mehdi Hassan (42:50)
Religious Hypocrisy and Political Evangelism (41:56–48:11):
"They are the people of faith when they are doing the most un-Jesus thing possible." — Mehdi Hassan (44:56)
Islamophobia and Dem Establishment Insularity (48:11–59:41):
“The energy they know is on one side of the party…what we're seeing on the right is very astroturfed. ... It is a very specific subset of right wing politicized Christians and white Christians.” — Mehdi Hassan (48:11)
Podcasts vs. Mainstream Media as Political Platforms:
Angie & Mehdi: Discuss how racism and bigotry have become normalized and emboldened:
“Donald Trump brought out the worst in people...he basically allowed the worst people to crawl out from under rocks where they had been pushed...the racist genie is out of the bottle.” — Mehdi Hassan (70:51)
Trump’s Legacy on Social Fabric: His cultural, rather than just political, influence will last for decades.
Weaponization of “Antifa” and Right-Wing Extremism:
“People don’t walk around with an Antifa membership badge…good luck with that.” — Mehdi Hassan (76:36)
The tone of the episode is raw, witty, and acerbically honest. The hosts and Mehdi Hassan blend humor with profound frustration and righteous anger, calling out political cowardice, media complicity, and the steady decline of empathy and truth in public discourse. They urge solidarity, bold resistance, and a refusal to normalize authoritarianism:
“I’m not going to give up on the US yet… I will fight to keep America democratic and free as long as I can.” — Mehdi Hassan (80:35)
They close by emphasizing the importance of community and resilience for liberals, especially in red-state America, and issue a passionate call for engagement, accountability, and hope.