Could Trump Go to War with Venezuela? Ft. Leader Hakeem Jeffries & Brace Belden | Dec 18, 2025

Summary

Macrodosing Episode Summary

Episode: Could Trump Go to War with Venezuela? Ft. Leader Hakeem Jeffries & Brace Belden
Date: December 18, 2025
Hosts: Big Cat, PFT Commenter, Big T, E, Brace Belden (guest), T-Bob (remote), Special Guest Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
Podcast Theme: Wide-ranging discussion on sports, politics, college football, current events, with extensive focus on Trump’s Venezuela policy and a feature interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

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Episode Overview

This episode of Macrodosing is a wild ride through current events, college football, obscure college funding tactics, and the very real possibility of a US war with Venezuela under Trump’s administration. Anchored by a marquee interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and guest Brace Belden, the show tackles national healthcare, foreign policy, the state of American democracy, and the inertia of government in the face of crisis. It’s a quintessential Macrodosing blend: irreverent sports banter, sharp political skepticism, genuine curiosity, and plenty of scathing asides.

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Key Segments & Timestamps

1. Show Open, Housekeeping, and Banter (00:55–10:50)

• Hosts banter about Lindsey Graham and Nancy Mace, poking fun at DC relationships and the "worm tongue" friend trope found in fantasy fiction ([00:55]).
• An extended aside about the cast of the Wicked movies and Ariana Grande’s public trials, riffing on celebrity culture ([06:05-09:20]).
• Spirited reviews of movie performances, debates on new releases, and producer E’s grievances with casting choices.

Quote:
Brace (on Lindsey Graham/Nancy Mace):
“A lot of women have a cruel homosexual whispering in their ear, like the man in the horse kingdom in Lord of the Rings. Of course, I’m talking about the famous Wormtongue.” ([00:55])

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2. College Football, NIL, and Sponsorship Schemes (10:50–18:35)

• Big T introduces Auburn’s “War Eagle Mobile” phone plan, where subscribers send a cut to Auburn athletics ([11:10]).
• Debate over corporate money in college sports; discussion of Yellowwood, private prison naming fiascos at FAU, and the hilarious idea of a Crimson Tide Mortgage Company ([13:13–15:01]).
• Hot takes on coming college football games, predictions about Miami vs. Texas A&M, and Alabama vs. Oklahoma ([15:19–17:17]).

Quote:
Big Cat: “Why not like Crimson Tide Mortgage Company? 2% of your mortgage goes to University of Alabama Athletics.” ([12:31])

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3. Crime, News, and Trump’s Address (18:35–25:30)

• Remarks on unsolved shootings at Brown and MIT; skepticism about the lack of progress ([19:03–20:56]).
• Trump’s upcoming evening address—speculated topics include marijuana rescheduling or a “dig me” highlight reel ([21:21]).
• The evolution of public opinion on marijuana legalization and why federal scheduling matters so much ([22:44–25:00]).
• Big Cat and Big T swap perspectives on public weed consumption and urban etiquette ([25:14]).

Quote:
Big T: “As a gambler, if you lie [on an injury report], I want people in jail. Prison.” ([18:15])

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4. News Bits & Podcast Industry Chat (27:31–36:08)

• Weird news: NYC attorney sues IRS to claim her dog as a dependent ([27:31–29:54]).
• Inside baseball on the podcast industry, government officials starting their own podcasts, and why not everyone should be a podcaster ([31:04–34:38]).
• Predictions that the next president will have an active podcast feed.

Quote:
Big Cat: “Not everybody needs to have a podcast... There’s a lot of people in government right now that I think got into government to promote their podcast.” ([31:16])

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5. Venezuela, Trump, and Foreign Policy Tees (36:37–39:10)

• Brace texts in, prepping his Venezuela question for Hakeem Jeffries ([36:37]).
• Hosts riff on how the US manufactured consent for war in Iraq and now potentially for Venezuela, polling data shows 70% of Americans oppose military action in Venezuela ([37:36–38:59]).

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6. Athletics Balloon Budgets (39:10–44:06)

• FOIABall reveals jaw-dropping balloon budgets in college athletics (e.g., Texas spent $170,000 in 2024) ([39:10]).
• Used car salesman wisdom: “Every penny you spend on a balloon, you receive tenfold back.” ([40:30])
• Debate on whether UT should just build its own balloon factory.

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7. More Sports – March Madness, World Cup, and Brackets (44:35–49:29)

• Big Cat and Big T dissect the ups and downs of NCAA basketball tournaments ([44:35]).
• Big T: “Nobody wants to watch VCU in the Final Four. And people, if they’re being honest with you, will tell you that.” ([45:24])

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8. Podcast Platform Chatter (49:54–55:36)

• Barstool’s Netflix podcast deal, implications for fans, and beef about losing the YouTube format.
• Big Cat: “I've always thought of it as being just an audio podcast... But for. I wish I was selling out. I wish, I wish. You know how much money I've been guaranteed by Dave from this deal...” ([53:16])

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--- INTERVIEW WITH HOUSE MINORITY LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES (61:12–111:59) ---

Healthcare, ACA, and Policy Goals (61:12–67:48)

• Jeffries explains the House’s push to preserve ACA subsidies and lower costs for Americans:
  “[If] those tax credits are allowed to expire, could face premium increases... as much as $1,000 or $2,000 per month. That’s unsustainable.” ([61:36])
• Commitment to “bold and transformational” reform, openness to single-payer/Medicare for All (“universal healthcare is the goal”).
• Blames high cost of living as “an affordability crisis.”

NBA Cup & Sport Fan Talk (67:52–70:01)

• Jeffries celebrates the Knicks’ NBA Cup win, jokes about James Dolan’s reluctance to hang a banner.

College Football & NIL Debate (70:01–73:10)

• Jeffries is partial to Ohio State (his brother teaches there).
• Critiques Lane Kiffin Protection/SCORE Act, wants college athletes compensated but with nationwide standards. “Clearly, we have to find a solution to making sure these athletes are compensated, but that it’s done in a way that you don’t have sort of outside forces... running the show.” ([71:09])

On Why Congress Cares About Sports (73:15–74:24)

• Explains that sports are an essential aspect of American culture and unity, even though not a top Congressional priority.

Big Democratic Picture (74:30–75:55)

• Jeffries: “Work hard, play by the rules, live the good life...” Outlines the basic Democratic platform as restoring the American Dream.

American Dream & Economic Decline (76:11–78:53)

• Cites American “march toward a more perfect union” post-WWII, lost ground due to deindustrialization, trade policies, automation, union decline.

Trump & Venezuela – Foreign Policy Clash (78:53–81:48)

• Brace sharply critiques Trump administration’s brinkmanship with Venezuela, asks if there’s real pushback.
• Jeffries decries regime change attempts, emphasizes need to focus on domestic issues and “no more failed war.”
  “I think that this effort potentially to try to trigger regime change is very dangerous. We've seen this happen... It never works out.” ([80:18])

On Syria, Israel, Military Aid & US Foreign Policy (81:48–86:05)

• Jeffries clarifies continued support for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, but says America should be responsible, not escalate wars, and push for peace and reconstruction in Gaza.
• Backs “two-state solution” strongly and acknowledges need to support Africa against Russia/China expansion.

War Powers & Congressional Authority (86:05–90:40)

• Big Cat presses for stronger antiwar messaging:
  “I think the American people are like, hey, we’re talking about a war here that we don’t need to be fighting in. I would like to see one of the parties be like, hey, this sucks. This is crazy. Don’t do it. It’s illegal. This is insane. And I haven’t heard that from your side.” ([86:05])
• Jeffries states Dems are debating a floor resolution forcing Trump to get Congressional approval for Venezuela, not just “rubber-stamp.”
• Argues Congress needs to be a real check both now and in future—“But by the way, no one has done it as extremely as this administration is doing it” ([89:16]).

Congressional Stock Trades & Corruption (90:40–92:55)

• Jeffries hasn’t traded stocks since 2021, supports bipartisan ban.
• Big Cat challenges Congress on overt conflicts of interest:
  On Rep. Corey Mills (R)—“He’s an illegal arms dealer... He’s involved in the decisions that impact the price of the weapons that he’s selling outside of this country... That is nuts.” ([92:28])
• On Dem Henry Cuellar: Jeffries distinguishes, stating Cuellar’s indicted not convicted, lost committee chair as soon as indicted per Dem rules.

Epstein Files & Potential Bombshells (98:46–106:04)

• Brace asks if Dems are prepping for Epstein files fallout, especially if big donors like Apollo Global are implicated.
• Jeffries: “Our position has been very clear from the beginning... We just want the information out there and let the chips fall where they may because we need justice for the survivors.” ([105:01])

Inflation & Cost of Living (107:53–111:01)

• Final questions hit on inflation, housing costs, and what real levers could be pulled.
  “The cost of housing is way too high. That’s both rent too high and of course purchasing a home or your mortgage, particularly with interest rates being where they are. One of the ways... is to build more housing massively, like a New Deal level type of housing program, as opposed to, by the way, spending billions or trillions of dollars on a foreign war...” ([108:46])

Memorable Quotes

• “Listen, sports is an escape for everyone, you know, myself included.” – Hakeem Jeffries ([73:15])
• “America is the last best hope on earth.” – quoting Lincoln, Hakeem Jeffries ([84:09])

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9. Aftershow, Riffing, and Deep Dives (111:59–End)

• Panel debriefs, jokes about getting Congress quarter-zips, typecasting of politicians, and why every state would potentially want its own missile shield ([111:25–118:18]).
• Extended aside on Anna Paulina Luna and Nancy Mace, airport spats, and DC weirdness with some classically wild Brace theorizing ([118:58–123:46]).
• Closing speculation on Epstein files, Nutty tattoo politics, and who’s the weirdest guest at the latest TP USA convention ([125:18–132:13]).

---

Notable/Memorable Quotes & Moments (w/ Timestamps)

• “A lot of women have a cruel homosexual whispering in their ear, like the man in the horse kingdom in Lord of the Rings. Of course, I’m talking about the famous Wormtongue.” – Brace ([00:55])
• “Why not like Crimson Tide Mortgage Company? 2% of your mortgage goes to University of Alabama Athletics.” – Big Cat ([12:31])
• “As a gambler, if you lie [on an injury report], I want people in jail. Prison.” – Big T ([18:15])
• “Not everybody needs to have a podcast... There’s a lot of people in government right now that I think got into government to promote their podcast.” – Big Cat ([31:16])
• “Every penny you spend on a balloon, you receive tenfold back.” – Big Cat ([40:30])
• “Work hard, play by the rules, live the good life.” – Hakeem Jeffries ([74:45])
• “I think that this effort potentially to try to trigger regime change is very dangerous... It never works out.” – Hakeem Jeffries ([80:18])
• “Let the chips fall where they may because we need justice for the survivors.” – Hakeem Jeffries on Epstein ([105:01])

---

Episode Takeaways

• Trump & Venezuela: Trump’s rumored plans for regime change and blockades in Venezuela prompted unified skepticism; Jeffries and hosts highlight the dangers and public opposition.
• Congress & Foreign Wars: Bipartisan wariness of military intervention, with Jeffries pledging Dems will try to force Trump to get Congressional authorization before military action.
• Healthcare: Continuing crisis and futility of incremental steps; Democrats aren’t fully committing to one solution, but see single-payer/Medicare-for-all as a pole star.
• NIL & College Football: College sports remains a Wild West full of new sponsorship models, legal grey areas, and Congressional posturing instead of practical leadership.
• Podcast Culture: Explosion of podcasts among politicians is met with skepticism, humor, and meta-criticism from the Macrodosing crew.
• Corruption & Accountability: Recurring frustration at obvious conflicts of interest among elected officials; skepticism that Congress can self-regulate, despite Jeffries’ claims otherwise.
• Epstein Files: Upcoming document release could spell trouble for political and financial elites, but expectations for accountability remain low.
• American Dream & Inflation: Everyone feels affordability crisis, but no one has clear or politically viable solutions for lowering costs, and the cycle of blame continues.

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In Closing

This episode is a textbook example of Macrodosing’s strengths—deep-dive interviews, cutting humor, and rambunctious but probing discussions. Hakeem Jeffries fields tough questions, especially on war powers and economic grievances, while the hosts pull no punches in lampooning DC cynicism, higher-ed grifts, and the excesses of the American ruling class. For those who missed it, this episode is both highly entertaining and a sharp encapsulation of the mood heading into 2026: anxious, angry, and only nominally hopeful.

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Find the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Transcript

[Big Cat]

Hey macrodosing listeners. You can find us every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

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[Big Cat]

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[Hakeem Jeffries]

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[Big T]

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[Big Cat]

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[Big T]

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[Big Cat]

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[Brace]

And then to have Lindsey Graham support the Charleston Airport instead of this woman named Nancy Mace who should be his friend. I don't understand. Lots of women have a gay friend. Oftentimes it's an evil influence in their life. And let's, let's not. And this isn't anything about gay people. This is anything about women. But a lot of women have a cruel homosexual whispering in their ear, like the man in the horse kingdom in Lord of the Rings. Of course I'm talking about the famous worm tongue. And so I don't understand why Nancy Mace doesn't have a worm tongue relationship with Lindsey Grant. Is it because he's too fat? I mean, this is the question we're all asking. Is the reason that Lindsey Graham doesn't advise Nancy Mace is because maybe he, she thinks he's too fat. And this could be, could be a lot of the cause of this. She's like, I don't want an advisor who makes the floorboards creak when he comes to secretly advise me.

[Big Cat]

Welcome back to Macrodosing. It is Thursday. It's December 18th. Today's episode is brought to you by Kraken. Every holiday season, we give the same gifts. Things people don't need, don't want, won't remember. But this year, Kraken, the official crypto platform of Barstool Sports, is offering something with real potential. The gift of Bitcoin. Here's how it works. If you're new to Kraken, sign up before December 24th. You'll receive $50 in Bitcoin as a holiday gift. And if you're already Kraken user, you'll get a $125 Bitcoin gift card. To give to someone who hasn't joined yet. It's simple. Get bitcoin, give Bitcoin, and give a gift that might mean something more. Disclaimer. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers, including New York and Maine, through PayWord Interactive Incorporated. Terms. Go to kraken.com/gift of Bitcoin. Start gifting with intention. All right. Welcome back to macro dosing. It's Thursday. It's December 28th.

[Big T]

It is not the 18th.

[Big Cat]

What? I said 28th.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

God dang it. I knew it was. I knew it was an eight. I spoke too fast. It's December 18th. That's a terrible way to start out a great episode because we have a. We have major, major guest joining us on today's episode. Brace. Now, it's gonna be a brace episode. It's gonna be a T. Bob episode because Aryan is in Phoenix. And we are joined by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. So it's like the Avengers getting Brace and Hakeem Jeffries together. Never thought it would be done, but it worked out that way that we had a brace episode that coincided with the acting House Minority leader. Interesting interview coming up with him. Again, our policy on the show is if you are a sitting representative, member of Congress, or the president, we will have you on this podcast.

[Big T]

Senator.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Member of Congress.

[Big T]

Senators. Well, you said representative.

[Big Cat]

I think I said member of Congress, too.

[Big T]

Well, that's fine.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Senators, obviously.

[Big T]

Governor, obviously.

[Big Cat]

Welcome. That's an interesting question.

[Brace]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Actually, I think I'd rather have a governor on than a senator than a congressperson.

[Big T]

I think so, too.

[Big Cat]

Somebody that just straight up runs their state. We can ask them any question we want about that state.

[Big T]

Lieutenant Governor.

[Big Cat]

No. Get the fuck out of here.

[Big T]

Some of those have some power, though.

[Big Cat]

Some of them more powerful. But no, I want to talk to Governor on the governor head honcho or nothing. The guy that gets the mansion. Our lady that gets the mansion. By the way, did you know that Texas had a female governor? Like, wait, they might have been one of the first states to have a female governor. I want to say, in, like, the early 1900s, they had a lady that ran the place. Pretty crazy. But, yeah, going to be an interesting interview with him. We dive into a lot of stuff. Epstein files the nil bill that was put forward in Congress. We talk a lot about Venezuela, talk a little bit about Israel, talk about health care, because there's a big health care thing going down as we speak. So, yeah, we dive into a Lot of stuff. I think it's. I think it's pretty interesting. Interview. Didn't agree with everything that he said, but thought that we had a productive conversation about a lot of it. Pretty cool. Pretty cool that. That he came on this. This podcast.

[Big T]

Might be getting some good Christmas gifts.

[Big Cat]

We might be, yeah. Big T's taking bribes. About to become Big Library.

[Big T]

No, I just. I want the cues up.

[Big Cat]

Big D, Big parentheses D. Well, yeah.

[Big T]

No, but there's worse to be called.

[Big Cat]

I think that was. There's a Pete Davidson commercial out where he's, like, trying to figure out what he should be called, like, his nickname. And he's got. Is it Alexa or one of those things in his house that's, like, giving him advice? And the P Man. What about Big D? And they just kind of slid that one in there. I thought that was funny.

[Big T]

Shout out, Ariana.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah, shout out. She needs a lot of shout outs. Is she okay?

[Big T]

I don't know if anybody from those movies is okay.

[Big Cat]

Is there a curse?

[Big T]

I think there was some weird stuff going on in more ways than one.

[Big Cat]

There's a lot of, like, codependent relationships coming out of that movie.

[E]

Yes, Those movies.

[Big T]

And they all weigh, like, 80 pounds.

[Brace]

Yeah.

[E]

I feel bad for Ariana specifically because I think she's gone through so much horrible things publicly, and now it seems something is going on with the Wicked movies as a general bubble, and she seems to have lost weight, which is a lot for someone that size. I just kind of feel bad for her and all that she has to kind of deal with all the time. But it does seem that most of the women on that shoot have significantly decreased how much they weigh since the beginning of those movies.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I understand. What you're saying is, like, they are under a microscope, which is coincidentally the only way that you can see her now. But that, like, living your life in that. In that environment is probably pretty mentally toxic, draining. Probably steers you in some unhealthy directions.

[E]

Right.

[Big Cat]

But every time I see somebody from that movie, I'm just like, what? What? Did they not have craft services?

[E]

Right. Well, it's also interesting that you meant you bring up, like, the codependency, because it does seem. It didn't seem as bad this press run, but last press run, they weren't seeing Cynthia and Ariana without, like, touching each other constantly.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, like each other's stuffed animal.

[Big T]

Well, there was that one from this year where a helicopter goes overhead while they're in an interview and Cynthia Erivo starts, like, sobbing.

[E]

Oh, I Didn't see that.

[Big T]

And. Oh, you haven't seen it. You should go look it up. Because then Ariana Grande is, like, yelling at the helicopter. It's very odd.

[E]

I saw the one where this is a scary incident on its own. A fan or a person tried to charge them or run up to them and make a scene, and Cynthia Erivo basically shielded Ariana Grande from whatever this guy was trying to do. And the guy was obviously taken away immediately, but Cynthia Erivo got in his face and was like, why would you ever do that? Which, like, is a crazy thing to do. Again, Ariana Grande's had a terrorist attack happen at her concert. Like, she's been through some things, but, yeah, they. I mean, they ride for each other.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Hard. You gotta have somebody in your corner like that.

[E]

Right? But even Michelle Yeoh, who is mad and morrible in the movies. Flip it Around. Wicked Witch. She's even kind of taken on that more smallish figure as well. So. I don't know. Jeff Goldblum seems to be fine. Jonathan Bailey seems to have come out of this okay. I think it was, like, a female experience on this movie, but I didn't even know that.

[Big Cat]

That Jeff Goldblum was in there.

[E]

He's the wizard of Oz.

[Big Cat]

I need to watch. I'm not gonna watch. I didn't see the new knives out, though. Pretty good.

[E]

Oh, Big T didn't like it.

[Big T]

It's not that I didn't like it. I didn't like it nearly as much as the others, but I see. Everyone on Twitter I see is glazing it hard.

[Big Cat]

I put it third place.

[Big T]

I think so, too.

[Big Cat]

I put a third place. Not to say I didn't like it.

[Big T]

Yeah. If that was the only one I'd seen, I would have been like, this was great. This is. Yeah, this is.

[Big Cat]

This is fine. But there's a very high bar to clear.

[E]

I feel like the first one is impossible to outdo.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, first one's really good. I think his accent's gotten better, too. It's gotten less distracting.

[E]

Benoit Blanc.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

I did like some of the scenes where. Where he's more, like when he's talking with the. The priest in the church about, like, himself and stuff like that. And there was some really good stuff in there, but it was just not as good as the others.

[E]

I heard there's a distractingly bad performance in it. I haven't seen it yet, but I heard there's a distractingly bad performance from one of the actresses.

[Big T]

Oh, Mila Kunis.

[E]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I Don't think it was distracting.

[Big T]

I'm not good enough to know when somebody's good or bad as an actor. But, yeah, it's fine, I guess. I don't know.

[Big Cat]

I mean, I think maybe a. Maybe an interesting casting decision.

[Big T]

It did take me out of it a little bit, where every time she showed up, I was like, oh, Mila Kunis is here.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's true.

[E]

Maybe it's that.

[Big Cat]

Okay, well, we got some other stuff to get into before our interview with Hakeem Jeffries. Big T has a new sheet that he sent over. Arian is in Phoenix today. So we also will have T. Bob joining us in a little bit once we do the interview. But Big T, the first thing that you sent over that jumped off to me was the new phone.

[Big T]

War Eagle Mobile.

[Big Cat]

There is it. Auburn has designed their own phone.

[Big T]

No, it's a phone plan.

[Big Cat]

A phone plan.

[Big T]

So you can now sign up for War Eagle Mobile, which is run through, I think it's called Collegiate Mobile or something. It's some company that has, I guess they're contracting out T Mobile's service. But you are. Your phone plan is with War Eagle Mobile. And a percentage of your bill every month basically goes to Auburn Athletics.

[Big Cat]

Okay, so it's a standard. A standard phone plan.

[Big T]

Yeah. So here's your. So these are all on T Mobile's network. So $36 a month gets you the top tier plan. And then 7% of that, it appears, goes back to Auburn.

[Big Cat]

7% goes back. Is that 7% across the board, no matter what plan Appears to be, yes. Okay. How did Auburn beat everybody to market on this?

[Big T]

My understanding is this has been offered to pretty much everybody. I don't know how many are going to end up doing it. I think it's a great idea because this is something people are paying for already.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

So I think you can get a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be donating money to Auburn, like, oh, well, I'll switch my phone plan and pay basically the same price I'm already paying. And then Auburn gets some of it.

[Big Cat]

That's true. Why not? Why not like Crimson Tide Mortgage Company? 2% of your mortgage goes to University of Alabama Athletics.

[Big T]

I could certainly see that becoming a reality.

[Big Cat]

I could actually see it too. Also. How did the University of South Alabama not beat them to the Mobile platform?

[Big T]

Usa?

[Big Cat]

Well, they're in Mobile, right?

[Big T]

Oh, I see. I thought that was something with USA Mobile. But no, I do see. Yeah, you're right.

[Big Cat]

It's interesting because, yeah, school like that. I Feel like they have to try to tap into some creative revenue streams if they want to compete.

[Brace]

Right.

[Big T]

They've got money. You know who they're where they get their money. No, Yellow wood.

[Big Cat]

Really?

[Big T]

Yeah. Yellow wood guy is a. I think yellow woods on their field now.

[Big Cat]

Did not know that.

[Big T]

Yeah, that's. That's my favorite subplot of college football is each big time program is more or less run by like an obscure business.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

Arkansas's run by Tyson Chicken and Walmart. Tennessee's run by Pilot gas stations.

[Big Cat]

UCF is run by that for profit prison.

[Big T]

What?

[Big Cat]

Or was that usf? I don't want to slander ucf. One of the. It might have been usf. My mistake if I got that wrong. One of the two had their stadium that was named after a for profit prison complex. But they had to change.

[Big T]

Well, well, USF plays at Raymond James. So it's not them.

[Big Cat]

Okay, so maybe I was right.

[Big T]

But UCF plays at.

[Big Cat]

They had to change the name. People got upset.

[Big T]

When was this?

[Big Cat]

It was SunTrust. Let's see. SunTrust bank to stop financing private prisons two years ago. Hang on.

[Big T]

Theirs was like Bright House or something.

[Big Cat]

Private prison stadium name. Oh, I screwed it all up. It was FAU. Sorry, sorry. To UCF and USF. I knew the state FAU's football complex, the football stadium was named after the G. The Geo Group. Geo. And it was gonna be called Geo Group Stadium. They run for profit prisons. But then people freaked out about it. Were like hey, we don't want. We don't want you to name our stadium. And so they had to turn it down.

[Big T]

Some of the in game promos there could have been electric though.

[Big Cat]

That is true.

[Big T]

Every opponent penalty, a big jail cell pops up on the jumbotron.

[F]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

This the concessions chow line. Probably have inmates cooking your food at that stadium. That would have been nice.

[Big T]

That'd be a nice. A nice work release program.

[Big Cat]

The chain gang could have been a chain gang.

[Big T]

We gotta. We gotta do this.

[Big Cat]

This might have been a great idea. This is what they took from you?

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

This is when woke nonsense got out of hand because of woke 2000. Let's see. I was 2013 that they were going to do it and they had to pull it back. Big T, we've spent enough time on this program talking about the James Madison Oregon game coming up this weekend. I do feel like I've. I've forced the barstool listenership to care way more about that game one way or the other. If you want to see me get my Ass kicked. So I'm going to pull back from that. But there's more college football this weekend. My, my favorite game of the weekend is Miami, Texas A and M. You.

[Big T]

Want a spicy take?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

I don't think a single one of these games will be close.

[Big Cat]

You don't think Miami A and M will?

[Big T]

No, I do not.

[Big Cat]

Who do you got?

[Big T]

I think A and M wins that comfortably.

[Big Cat]

Really?

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Why?

[Big T]

Better defense, better quarterback. Playing at home. I'm not overly impressed with Miami. I think the way things shook out, they deserve to get in. But I'm not impressed with them as a football team. They do have Ruben Bain, one of the best players in the country, on their defensive front, but I, I think A and M handles them.

[Big Cat]

Are you excited at all for, for the rematch of Alabama, Oklahoma?

[Big T]

No. That was a terrible game the first time. Oh, you got very lucky with turnovers. I think Alabama handles them as well. And now Bama's missing some guys, but I don't think Oklahoma can beat them twice even at home.

[Big Cat]

So with the turnovers. But couldn't you say like Oklahoma's got a great defense?

[Big T]

Yeah. Turnovers generally are a luck based sometimes.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

Endeavor.

[Big Cat]

But the defense is legit. You think?

[Big T]

Yeah, they do have a great defense.

[Big Cat]

You think Alabama is going to stop them?

[Big T]

I think they win by 14 points.

[Big Cat]

Okay. And Tulane blowout.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

JMU blowout.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Well, I'm still excited about Miami A and M. Yeah. This is why they play the games 100%. It does feel like these two teams have played each other this year, doesn't it?

[Big T]

Miami and A and M. Yeah, it feels like it.

[E]

Because those are the two Notre Dame losses.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Because they both played Notre Dame.

[Big T]

They did play two or three years ago.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Do we know how healthy are Miami's receivers? Do we know?

[Big T]

I'm not certain.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Big T]

I don't know if they've released an injury report yet.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you can always just lie on the injury report too.

[Big T]

No, they're getting teams in trouble for that.

[Big Cat]

How much trouble can you actually get in though?

[Big T]

A couple teams got fine this year in the sec.

[Big Cat]

I know that. I forget how much it was in the NFL. They can, they can find you big time because the league knows. I always wondered about that, like why when I was growing up, before I, I discovered sports gambling, I was like, why do teams like willingly update you on their injuries? That seems like something that they shouldn't do. And I think for a long time they, some teams played like fast and loose with it and they hid stuff on there. But now it's like if you, if you get caught lying on the injury report, you can get fined like hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[Big T]

Yeah. As a gambler, if you lie, I want people in jail. Prison.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Anyways, I'm excited for this weekend though. It's going to be, you know, we get a bracket, we get to start crossing names off a bracket. I do think that Miami, Texas A and M is going to be a good game despite Big T's protests.

[Big T]

It's not a protest.

[Big Cat]

I just.

[Big T]

Well, I wanted to give you a little hot take.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it is a hot take. It's a good hot take. And the more I thought about Big T's article about Mendoza, the more I found myself agreeing with it. How about that?

[Big T]

Thank you.

[Big Cat]

I thought the headline was a little, a bit inflammatory and I like Mendoza as a player, like him as a person.

[Big T]

The headline wasn't about Fernando Mendoza. It was about the state of the Heisman.

[Big Cat]

Big T made a lot of good points.

[Big T]

I usually do.

[Big Cat]

A lot of good points. What else do you want to talk about? Big T, the MIT professor.

[Big T]

Yeah. Kind of crazy. So we, we still don't have anybody in the Brown shooting.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

And now.

[Big Cat]

Which is insane. Yeah, Absolutely insane.

[Big T]

They did. There was some speculation about a student whose, I guess, web page was removed from the Brown website, but it doesn't seem anything has come from that.

[Big Cat]

It also seems like Brown may have removed that page after people were implicating him.

[Big T]

That's entirely possible.

[Big Cat]

And then Brown, I think they released a statement saying like, hey, stop just naming names. If we had a suspect, we would, we would arrest them.

[Big T]

Right. But, but now an MIT professor was shot and killed in his home, which is what, 45 minutes an hour from Brown?

[Big Cat]

About. Yeah.

[Big T]

Another elite academic institution, Nuno Loreto, was 47 and was shot and killed inside his home. He was like a very high up professor at mit.

[Big Cat]

Is there any connection between the two?

[Big T]

The police said they don't think so, but I don't know how they can confidently say that given they don't even have a connection to the first one. Right. So I don't know how, how you could possibly know that.

[Big Cat]

I guess maybe if they thought that this was a, like they had a suspect in that, then you could say.

[Big T]

Right. But they don't. So how can you appear to be related? How can you say you know that?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I don't know, but it, it is crazy that nobody. Well, I guess they did detain one person in the Brown shooting, but then they let that person go, I. I have no idea how you can do something like that and just get away with it.

[Big T]

Yeah. Unless I'll get in trouble.

[Big Cat]

I don't. I. This is one where I feel like a mass shooter. If people knew who he was, that.

[Big T]

I don't think anyone knows who it was.

[Big Cat]

There's probably a lot of tips.

[Big T]

I don't think anyone knows.

[Big Cat]

Probably a lot of tips going out. Anything else about the MIT guy?

[Big T]

He was in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Physics and seemed to be just a very high ranking, well respected guy and killed in his house.

[Big Cat]

Very sad. You also put a link to a tweet that Trump will be addressing the nation.

[Big T]

Yes, obviously.

[Big Cat]

Do we have any idea about what it's gonna be? Is this tomorrow night or tonight?

[Big T]

Tonight. So by the time this comes out, people will have obviously heard it. There. There's been the rumors of, you know, they're talking about rescheduling weed.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

So I don't know if that'll be part of it. It sounds like it's just gonna be kind of a dig me session.

[Big Cat]

What does that mean?

[Big T]

That. That's a baseball term where it's like your own highlight tape.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Big T]

You're digging yourself.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Like power. He puts together a PowerPoint.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Of all the things Trump has accomplished.

[Big T]

Yeah, that's what it seems like.

[Big Cat]

But when did he become such a big third person guy? He's always dabbled in it a little bit. I've heard way more of it recently where he just refers to himself as Trump. And. And I think the whole movement, he's like, was not a big fan of Trump.

[Big T]

I feel like he's always done that.

[Big Cat]

But not, not to the same. He's like Ricky Henderson now, where he's just like permanently third person.

[Big T]

Joel Klatt's Ricky Henderson story on PMT was awesome.

[Big Cat]

It's great, isn't it? It's. It's so awesome. I. I love any Ricky Henderson story. But, yeah, I don't know what else he could be. The. The weed thing is interesting to me because that's something that I think most people in America have wanted. I think it. When did it officially flip? I want to say, like, early 2000. Teens is when it flipped. America reached the tipping point of legalized weed.

[Big T]

Maybe.

[Big Cat]

Weed was a scary thing when I was growing up. They were, you know, getting the dare education in class. Don't smoke weed. Gateway drug. Not even once. Go to jail if you bought it. You still go to jail in some parts of the country. If you buy it and then it's just been Schedule one. And I think the big knock about it being schedule one is that part the name Schedule one is there for a reason. It legislates what you can and can't do with marijuana in this country. So when it comes to like clinical trials and medicinal studies, you can't. It's much harder to get approval to use weed for any of those if It's a Schedule 1. And if he, if he decriminalize it federally and changes the schedule, I think that could be a great thing. Moving forward. I want to know if he's ever smoked weed though.

[Big T]

Trump? Yeah. No, he's never drank.

[Big Cat]

Has anybody ever asked him about weed though? I know, I know his brother was an alcoholic. He's never touched it. One of my favorite quotes from him is like, can you imagine if I had? He's like, I'd be the all time worst if I was a drunk.

[Big T]

But he's never, he doesn't strike me as a.

[Big Cat]

Never even dabbled in weed.

[Big T]

No, because, because. But he's a, he's an erudite, like rich, that, that's beneath him.

[Big Cat]

I would love for somebody to just slip a brownie. You're. I, I agree. I don't think that he's a, a joint guy. I don't think that he'd be like, hey, pass me a hit of that. But like if you, if you sneak him a brownie, I would love to see the press conference out. He, that's what he should do tonight. He should announce that he is changing the schedule for marijuana. And also I'm baked as fuck.

[Big T]

I think I used erudite incorrectly. What's the word I'm thinking of? Erudite is like very knowledgeable, like deep.

[Big Cat]

You're thinking like, like elegant, but like.

[Big T]

Like super rich guy. There's a word close to erudite that I was thinking of, but nevertheless proper. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I mean, yeah, that's the type of stuff would be beneath him.

[Big T]

Yeah. I'll just, it'll come to me later.

[Big Cat]

How do you think as a, as an anti weed guy, Big T, what do you think about changing the schedule of marijuana?

[Big T]

I don't know. All that comes along with that. That's fine. Are you in favor of it, like people being able to smoke in public? That's all that, like walking down the street and it reeking of weed that we gotta do. Smoke it in your house.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I think you want your house.

[Big T]

To smell like weed. That's great.

[Big Cat]

If you, if you're like smoking joints in crowds outside. That's a. I think that's a personal choice that you're making, and it's not always super considerate to do that. I would say it's probably inconsiderate to smoke weed in a big group of people.

[Big T]

Do you think that should be allowed?

[Big Cat]

I think the same way that smoking is because you're still inhaling smoke. So it's not like it's not the most healthy.

[Big T]

Can you, like. I guess you can smoke, like walking down the street.

[Big Cat]

You can smoke on the sidewalk. Yeah, you can smoke a cigarette, but there's a lot of places where you can't. Some places, like, forbid it around people. I think that's city to city, state to state.

[Big T]

Yeah, just do it at your house.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, do it at your house if there's smoking. What if there was a weed smoking section on an airplane?

[Big T]

That doesn't seem very feasible.

[Big Cat]

It does not. Or at least just, you know, take an edible, have a gummy. I. That. I do find myself agreeing with Big T about that.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

What?

[Big Cat]

I don't mind the smell of weed. I do. But I'd prefer to have it not, like all around me if I was.

[Big T]

I mean, all of New York City just smells like weed now.

[Big Cat]

There's a good part of it does.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I get to go back to New York tomorrow.

[Big T]

Congrats.

[Big Cat]

Pretty happy. Pretty happy. Going back to New York for a night or two. Actually, New York is a great Christmas city, so I'm pumped. Back there for that again. I don't want to give away too much about the concert tonight at the Racket, but. Big T, do you know who the guest performer is going to be?

[Big T]

I've heard.

[Big Cat]

How do you think he's going to do? Or she.

[Big T]

I actually could see this person having a breakout star performance, and I think you disagree with that.

[Big Cat]

No, no. I know. I said it will either be the greatest performance of all time or the worst performance of all time.

[Big T]

I would. I think it's going to be a breakout.

[Big Cat]

You think this person is going to break out?

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Big T]

I think it could be big.

[Big Cat]

I'm. I'm excited to see which tracksuit this individual wears. It's gonna be fun. So come out to the Racket in New York City if you're gonna be in town that weekend, or I guess that Thursday, which is tonight, I should say. What else do we have to talk about in the news day?

[Big T]

Big T. Not a ton. There's a woman suing the irs, claiming that her dog has to be considered a dependent on her taxes.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Big T]

It's. It's an interesting argument. She's an attorney in New York, and Amanda Reynolds and her dog, 8 year old Finnegan, filed the lawsuit in the Eastern district of New York, arguing the dog relies entirely on her for food, shelter, medical care, training, and transportation. Reynolds also argued her dog has no independent income, resides exclusively with her, and has annual expenses exceeding $5,000, fitting the requirements the agency lays out for a legal dependent.

[Big Cat]

Hmm.

[Big T]

It is. It's an interesting case.

[Big Cat]

I'm not a big slippery slope guy. This is. This is where we are. Because we allow people to bring their dogs into restaurants now and bring them on airplanes.

[Big T]

Entirely possible.

[Big Cat]

And you can buy a vest for your dog online that says security animal, emotional support animal.

[Big T]

Quote, for all intents and purposes, Finnegan is like my daughter and definitely is a dependent. Reynolds argued, adding that while it may seem unusual, the lawsuit is not, quote, frivolous or meritless.

[Big Cat]

This is. Yeah, this is a. What's next? Now we can marry him. What's next? Now you have to marry your dog. You're forced to marry your dog. It.

[Big T]

To play devil's advocate, some of the language is written vaguely enough that it. Maybe we didn't think it was necessary to put human because we figured that was self apparent. Maybe it's not.

[Big Cat]

I don't know. What do you guys think?

[E]

I think some people are kind of crazy. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[E]

Look, I'll go anti woke here. Maybe you shouldn't be able to put your dog as a dependent. I'll go against my own ways. Hot take. Hot take.

[Big T]

Guess I'm not woke.

[E]

Guess I'm not woke.

[Big Cat]

I. I need to know what Aryan thinks about this. As a dog owner.

[Brace]

I know.

[E]

Oh, he definitely would hate that.

[Big Cat]

But maybe he'd have to pay less taxes. True.

[E]

Oh, yeah, true. I. I mean, I. Look, I. Sometimes when I see a dog in like a grocery store, sometimes I'm like, what are you doing next to my ex? I don't think you need to be. Oh, I just did the trump pants. I don't think you need to be on my. My tax files as well. Tax forms as well. I think that's okay to think.

[Big Cat]

I also don't want the federal government knowing about my dog.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Right.

[Big Cat]

They can build a database of people's dogs now and then. Dog confiscation.

[E]

Well, I'm sure they have it on Leroy. He has a digital footprint.

[Big Cat]

He does. There's a. There's a non zero chance that Leroy had an FBI file.

[E]

He Totally.

[Big Cat]

He dabbled in political reporting.

[E]

Totally.

[Big Cat]

I think.

[Brace]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

He broke the news that, that Aaron Rodgers was thinking about being RFK Jr's vice president. That probably opened up a file there. Let's see, what else do we have? We got Philip Rivers on Monday football. He's back again. Very excited about that.

[E]

Can we. Sorry.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, go ahead.

[E]

Can we talk about Kash Patel and his girlfriend on Katie Miller's podcast?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So what's the big deal? Because, like, is it a crime for a man to have a girlfriend? I don't, I don't understand. The podcast was about their love story, right?

[E]

No, not necessarily. I mean, that was a part of it because they were on it together, their relationship. It was about her political endeavors, his political endeavors, him using the FBI plane, being FBI director. It was, it was a catch all interview.

[Big Cat]

Here's where I land on this. I feel the same way about a lot of, like, current NFL players that have podcasts. I might be saying this as a podcaster defending his own turf. Not everybody needs to have a podcast.

[E]

Katie Miller definitely does not need.

[Big Cat]

You don't need to have a podcast. I feel like a lot of people, there's a lot of people in government right now that I think got into government to promote their podcast.

[E]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Their future career as podcasters.

[E]

It is interesting.

[Big Cat]

I probably shouldn't even have a podcast.

[E]

If you can't, who deserves the right to have a podcast?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we don't need podcasts from people that are in government right now.

[E]

No.

[Big Cat]

Can you imagine? I'm actually shocked. I'm shocked that Donald Trump doesn't have a podcast. Like, I predict that within the next two presidents, one of them will have a podcast with an active feed that they do like once or twice a week from the oval office. If J.D. vance is the next guy, he's gonna have a podcast. If Gavin Newsom is the president, he's going to have a podcast. We don't need that.

[E]

Gavin Newsom does have a podcast.

[Big Cat]

Oh, that's right. Are you talking about the one with Marshawn lynch and his agent that they've been working on developing for the last six months?

[E]

Right. He also has. Didn't he have one where he just has on like people he disagrees with or something?

[Big T]

Yeah, he did a few of that. He had Charlie Kirk on.

[Big Cat]

I think that there's value in communicating with the public. FDR did his fireside chats. You know, this is just an extension of that. But when you really get into the podcast game and you really become psycho over the numbers and the drama. You're turning the entire country into Real Housewives. And then you start to form alliances with other podcasts, and then you're like, oh, will you come on my podcast? And it just becomes a giant circle jerk that I think is probably not productive for the government.

[E]

Yeah. I also find it interesting that it's Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller, who has this podcast that gets very little positive interaction that is not just people on Twitter clipping it. And she had Elon Musk on last week. She's had Pete Hegseth and his wife. She's had. Now Cash Patel. She gets all of these crazy. She had Mike Johnson, his wife, on. She gets all these crazy guests for a podcast that gets maybe 5,000 views or whatever it is, most of which I'm sure are not positive interactions. And it's like it's almost Nep. Not even Nepo. I don't even know what it would be. It's like podcasting for your boss's wife so your boss doesn't fire you.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's like. No, it's a. Pretty much like a. A media company or it's their pr. It's.

[E]

It's not good pr.

[Big Cat]

It's a branch of their PR that they're putting out, which is honestly, is smart. If you want to, like, reach a lot of people and promote the people that you have working for you, that's a. That's a great way to do it, is with a podcast where your employees or people that support you are forced to go on this podcast or asked to go on the podcast. I think a lot of them probably want the. Want the buzz around their name, so they do it like they volunteer for it. But it's not. It's not the dumbest idea. I'm not arguing that. I'm saying that I don't think it's productive if, like, Gavin Newsom had, like, three times a week podcast from the Oval Office and. And brought in titans of industry or members of his own government that he's having on his guests. I don't think that's good because that's.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

That.

[Big Cat]

That's pretty much what a lot of the podcasting ecosphere has become, is just like podcast hosts talking about their podcast and about which other podcasters they like and which podcasters they're beefing with. Then you form alliances, and then you get other podcasters talking about the numbers on other shows and where those numbers are coming from, and it just becomes like a big circle jerk that I don't think is a good thing.

[E]

I think you're describing the Candace Owens show.

[Big Cat]

Well, there's. That. That's part of it. That's. That's one branch of it. But it's. It's kind of across the board. Where, listen, we all crave the drama. We do. Like, I mean, half of the shows on Barstool are about, like, who's beefing with who. Different controversies around here for media company. I think that's a. It's not. I don't even want to say it's a strategy, because it's just something that we do. But, like, the drama does get eyeballs and it gets clicks if that's your line of business. But if, like, barstool sports ran the country, that you could see that this could be a bad thing if you've got Chef Donnie and Dante at each other's throats.

[E]

Right.

[Big Cat]

And they're also in charge of, like, agriculture and the fcc.

[E]

If. If Rico Bosco was Secretary of Defense, if Donnie was head of the Department of Education.

[Brace]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I would. I would like to see Rico running. You mean the Department of War.

[E]

Sorry. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[E]

He would change not to dead name.

[Big Cat]

He would change that to the Department of role.

[Big T]

Get a big T. Say that one more time.

[Big Cat]

Rico, if you were Secretary of War, would change the name from the Department of War to the Department of.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Roll.

[Big Cat]

Mm.

[Big T]

Yeah. This. This one's over Big T's head. I don't.

[Big Cat]

I just wore Eagle. Roll Tide.

[Big T]

Okay. Okay.

[Big Cat]

It was my best.

[Big T]

Fine. No fine. Fine. I see.

[Big Cat]

It was my best. Sometimes you take shots, sometimes they miss. Brace just texted me. He said, I think Trump's announcing vz. Oh, Venezuela. That's. That's Braces.

[Big T]

Guess war.

[Big Cat]

Maybe limited strikes. I do think that they're trying. They're trying to get Venezuela to attack them. I think that's what the strategy is. It's kind of like what we did in Cuba, where we flew, like, a bunch of missions over Cuba, and we're like, I dare you to. I dare you to shoot something at me. Because the generals were like, if they attack us, then we invade. I think flying F18s deep into Venezuela, they're like, I hope that you fire a missile at us, because if you fire a missile at us, then we get to do whatever it is we want. What is the. What's the public sentiment behind a war with Venezuela right now?

[Big T]

I can't imagine good on either side.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Let's see. Polling Venice War. Okay. CBS News finds most would oppose US Military action in Venezuela. What's crazy is back in like 2002, there was, I think initially most Americans, a slight majority of Americans opposed a war with Iraq. And then they put on the PR campaign behind it, and by the end it was like 65% agree with it. Let's see. Military action in Venezuela. Does Trump need to explain his decisions yet? Yeah, everyone says yes. Everyone says yes big time. And then 76% of people say that he has not clearly explained them yet. Is venezuela Threat to US security? Most people say minor threat. 70% of Americans oppose military action in Venezuela. All right, well, we'll see. We'll see. I think Big T might be right, though. I think it might be about weed or just a hype reel. Like, just remind you guys of what I've done for you. All right, what else we got? Anything else that's burning you guys up this weekend?

[Big T]

I've just got one more mildly interesting little tidbit. This comes from David Kavuchi, who runs a website called FOIA Ball. I don't know if you're familiar.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I am. Yeah.

[Big T]

He finds all sorts of, you know, interesting.

[Big Cat]

He's a good reporter.

[Big T]

I have some balloon budgets for university athletic departments in 2024. Would you like to guess how much the University of Texas spent on balloons in 2024 across the entire athletic department?

[Big Cat]

Balloons? $200,000.

[Big T]

$170,000.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that checks out. That checks out. There's. Listen, there's a lot of, a lot of athletics at University of Texas you need.

[Big T]

And if you've ever been to, you know, a school on a game day or whatever, when they're having a big recruiting event, they have these elaborate balloon displays usually met with a gigantic light up sign that says Rocky Top or Longhorns or whatever, like a little photo op. Most of these are just football, so, like they're, they're much lower numbers. Would you like to guess the how much Texas A and M football spin on balloons?

[Big Cat]

Football only 20,055. Yeah. As a man that used to work in the used car industry, let me tell you, balloons work.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Every money, every penny you spend on a balloon, you receive tenfold back.

[Big T]

Wow.

[Big Cat]

It's an investment.

[Big T]

So Texas is killing it.

[Big Cat]

Texas is killing it. Because the more balloons you have at a, if it's a tent sale, if it's just around the dealership, it attracts the eyes. It gets people in there feeling more excited about buying a car. My general rule of thumb through my limited experience in used cars is that the more balloons you see on a lot, the More, you're gonna get fucked.

[Big T]

Interesting.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. If they have like a big elaborate balloon set up, those are some sharks.

[Big T]

That's how they make their money back.

[Big Cat]

It's like in Vegas. They don't build skyscrapers out in Vegas. Cause they're losing money.

[Big T]

You want to go to the shitty looking casino.

[Big Cat]

Exactly. That's where you get the good deals. At a place that has an enormous balloon budget. Where do you think they're getting the money for those balloons? Profits. And then it feeds each other.

[Big T]

Yeah. The University Wyoming spent $126 on balloons.

[Big Cat]

Good for them.

[Big T]

It feels like at that point you just spend zero.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that sounds like it was like one. Did somebody retire?

[Big T]

A birthday party?

[Big Cat]

It sounds like somebody retired. And that was just for their. Their retirement party.

[Big T]

Could be Western Kentucky. $600.

[Big Cat]

That's reasonable.

[Big T]

North Carolina spent $48,000 just in football balloons.

[Big Cat]

Okay. At some point, the University of Texas, if they're spending $170,000, that's the entire athletic department. They should just have their own balloon factory on campus.

[Big T]

I mean, a factory is going to cost a lot of money.

[Big Cat]

How much does it cost to build a factory? Well, what do you need to make balloons? You need a lot of helium.

[Big T]

I don't think you need a factory. You just need a room.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you need a lot of helium. If we're talking about like making the material for the balloon itself, I assume that it's probably cheaper. Just buy that from China.

[Big T]

Yeah, I mean, it's going to cost you, what, $100 million to build a factory?

[Big Cat]

No, no, no, no. I'm talking about like a small scale thing that only serves the University of Texas.

[Big T]

I understand.

[Big Cat]

But then you grow it and you start selling balloons to other SEC schools.

[E]

Like a party city.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah.

[E]

They have that balloon section.

[Big Cat]

University of Texas should just buy party city.

[Big T]

But they're not making the balloons.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Right.

[Big T]

They just blow them up.

[Big Cat]

They're filling them.

[Big T]

Let's ask ChatGPT. How much would it cost for the University of Texas to build a small balloon factory for its athletic department? Government. Hold, please. Let's assume a small manufacturing facility that includes light manufacturing space, storage and staging areas, small office and break room. About $250 per square foot. So a 20,000 square foot facility. It says $5.2 million. Is that including all the equipment and stuff?

[Big Cat]

That's what it sounds like. I don't think they're just talking about commercial real estate.

[Big T]

Even so, that's 25 years of spending 200 grand on balloons.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I think it'd be worth a.

[Big T]

Big T. I think in 25 years the whole balloon thing is going to go. In five years, nobody's going to care about the balloons and all that. It's all just going to be that money is way better spent on players. Nobody cares anymore. Nobody cares about facilities. Nobody cares about the. Your dorms, anything. It's all just how much can you pay them?

[Big Cat]

Nobody cares about the turtles anymore either. I was told that balloons would just kill turtles.

[Big T]

Oh, is that true? Yeah.

[Big Cat]

It'S like, don't let your balloons loose.

[Big T]

That's like the, the Gatorade bottle holders too.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. The little things that you had to clip.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Did you ever clip those?

[Big T]

No, I still don't.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I don't think I did either. Big T. Congratulations on your Tennessee Volunteers.

[Big T]

What beat Louisville.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah.

[Big T]

Yeah. Big win.

[Big Cat]

Big win. Back to being optimistic.

[Big T]

Yeah, it was a good win. I missed most of the second half because of Tate's dumb ass show, but it was a big win at home. I think I saw. We are. Let me find the stat. It was like 16 and 4 against top 15 teams at home under Rick Barnes. Something really good.

[Big Cat]

Do you have an updated prediction about this season? You were very optimistic going into it. Little setback.

[Big T]

I mean, yeah, we're like a, we're like a four seed team. We're a good team. I think we'll have good wins. I think we'll, we'll lose some games and be like a four seed.

[Big Cat]

What were your thoughts on, on Joel Klatt when he said that the NCAA tournament stinks?

[Big T]

I wouldn't use the verbiage. He did, but his sentiment is mostly correct. Okay, I've said this forever. Nobody wants to watch VCU in the Final Four. And people, if they're being honest with you, will tell you that.

[Big Cat]

I think they want to see. Part of the allure of the tournament is upsets though.

[Big T]

Correct. But then that inherently means you're not getting the best teams competing for the championship.

[Big Cat]

Not always.

[Big T]

So it depends what you want. Like if you're a very casual viewer of college basketball and you're only tuning in to see those upsets, then sure, that's great. But then those teams are. I think the best setup we have in college sports is the baseball tournament. 16 four team regionals that are double elimination, I think you could certainly do that for basketball. And if you lose one, you're still in it. But it's going to be very difficult to fight your way back and that, that is a more fair way of determining who the best is. And then you go to eight, two team super regionals that are best of three.

[Big Cat]

I kind of reject the framing that you had though, that casual, only casual college basketball fans like the upsets.

[Big T]

I didn't say only. But I think that if you don't watch college basketball all season and you're like, now I'm tuning in for the tournament, that's what people are watching for. Yeah, for the most part.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And that's what I think. That's where the majority of the revenue for college basketball comes in.

[E]

Correct.

[Big Cat]

Is from the tournament that can't have upsets.

[Big T]

Well, it's from the media rights. That would exist either way.

[Big Cat]

Right. But the tournament has so much buzz because it can be unpredictable because you get these stories that nobody thought would be possible and you get Cinderella. I agree with you that I thought the worst Final Four was a couple years ago when we had San Diego State and Miami and Florida Atlantic.

[Big T]

But that Florida Atlantic was actually very good.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, they worked. They were a good team.

[Big T]

But nobody. One year it was Wichita State. Syracuse is like an 11 seed.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Big T]

And that was, was that Louisville in Michigan, that national title game.

[Big Cat]

When you get to the Final Four, I want to see ones and twos, maybe a three.

[Big T]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

And once every few years, give me a four next to one of the names. When it comes to the Final Four, I agree with you on that. But the first two weekends. Yeah, I want, I want chaos. I want.

[Big T]

But you don't get. If there's too much chaos, it's. Now you don't get that I, I.

[Big Cat]

Want the goalkies of the world to, to show up.

[Big T]

And that's awesome. And that's why when he said the tournament stinks, like, no, that's very wrong.

[Big Cat]

The tournament doesn't stink.

[Big T]

But I do get what he's saying.

[Big Cat]

But listen, at some point, it's not always gonna be fair. It's not always going to be like, here are the objectively, excuse me, best teams that are playing in the College Football Playoff because you're going to have disagreements. You're going to have people saying, oh, I think this team should get in. Oh, this team. Look at their strength of schedule. They should get in. And I think there's no perfect way to do it. We're getting closer. The format right now, I agree. Is not, it's not logical but to say that that bracket style tournaments like this, that they stink. I love March Madness. It's the best.

[Big T]

The NCAA basketball tournament is designed to be randomized. So if that's something you like. It's a random sport, then you're going to love it. But it is designed to create, not necessarily the outcome where the best team is going to win very most often.

[Big Cat]

What about the World Cup?

[Big T]

What about it?

[Big Cat]

How do you think. How do you feel about that format?

[Big T]

It's good. That's kind of similar to the baseball tournament I described.

[Big Cat]

Yep. This year it's going to be. It's going to be a little bit different, too, because there's more teams.

[Big T]

Yeah. Now we have to win an Olympic knockout game just to get to the round of 16, which you would have before if you just made it out of the group.

[Big Cat]

It is a. It will be a national embarrassment if the US doesn't make it out of the group.

[Big T]

Agreed.

[Big Cat]

Because the way that's set up, it's like it ends up being two and a half teams per group. Make it out, Right?

[Big T]

Yeah. Some will have three.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So half of the. Half of the groups will have three teams out of the four that advisor advance. And then the other half will have only two teams. The top two. If we are not able to advance.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Just blow the. We're done with soccer. I think we should quit soccer.

[Big T]

That'd be. Yeah, fine.

[Big Cat]

Put your balls on the line, America. Make these kids play for something. All right, we got anything else before we kick it to Brace to Bob and Hakeem Jeffries. We did have a lot of teas in the studio. Pft, big T, T, Bob and high.

[Big T]

T. Before we get to that. Did we. Was. Was macrodosing. Did we get a Netflix offer at all or.

[Big Cat]

Well, yeah, part of that is you're going to be replaced by Shonda Rhimes and we're going to do more of a narrative structure.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

And we want this.

[Big T]

Am I compensated for that at all?

[Big Cat]

Nope. We're going to have this podcast become bingeable.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

And. And it'll, you know, we'll have to do one show a month promoting Jake Paul.

[Big T]

I don't know if there's time to restructure, structure the deal at all, but I think we would be willing to do this podcast for like, 2% of what part of my take got.

[Big Cat]

Possibly.

[E]

We're a steal.

[Big Cat]

We are a steal. You know what? We're also not a throw in. That might. That might blow up the whole deal.

[Big T]

I'd be willing to be a throw in.

[Big Cat]

No, you don't be a throw in. Yeah, it's. It's an exciting day because Netflix is going to build out a podcast vertical and I think they're probably going to have a pretty good one once it gets launched.

[Big T]

You don't have to do the coach speak here. We don't need to hear about the vertical.

[Big Cat]

No, they're going to podcast now.

[Big T]

I know Bobby Bones. Yeah, Bobby Bones is going to be on there.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's a, it's a different app. And this podcast is also always going to be free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. The audio form will 100 always be free for all our podcasts. But yeah, it was there. A lot of, a lot of people that are die hard YouTube watchers have made, have made their opinions clear on the matter. And I, I do feel bad for some of the people that only have YouTube, that have only watched us on YouTube. I. But in my, my view, I've always thought of part of my take an audio podcast first and foremost. Like that's how we started the show. We changed to back in like 2019. I think I forget the exact year when we started recording every single episode and then uploading it in a visual space. So I've always thought of it as being just an audio podcast when I would sit down to record it. Unless it's something like, I guess we did the inflatable animals for Max, but that we were just doing that to with Max. Like I've always thought of it as being an audio thing. So the, the visual aspect of it is going to be on Netflix. We'll see how Netflix does. Also, one thing that we made sure of when we did the deal, we don't have to like suck Netflix's dick about anything. So if it comes to like a show on Netflix that we don't like, if it comes to shitty boxing match that ends up not being good, we're free to shit talk Netflix as a platform all we want.

[Big T]

That's good. This could be good for us. Now the exclusive home of pft commenter on YouTube. Boom.

[Big Cat]

There you go, mad dog.

[Big T]

That one's free. Put that in the show. Description. New episode. Appreciate you of the exclusive home of pft commenter on YouTube.

[Big Cat]

There are probably probably a couple people that were like, nice, I don't have to watch pft commenter on YouTube anymore. Shout out to them. Today's your lucky day. I also do think I said this on pmt. I do think I, I talked to my mom about it. She is pumped that it's gonna be on Netflix because she doesn't know how to use YouTube.

[E]

Oh, she's gonna watch you on the.

[Big Cat]

TV, which is not. But it's not good. It's also not good. Like I've. I've really enjoyed being able to hide from. Hide from her and all the stuff that I say and do. Doesn't.

[Big T]

She can do Netflix Easier than YouTube?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. She's got like, you hit one button on your TV.

[F]

Yeah.

[Big T]

But you can have the YouTube app on your TV.

[Big Cat]

That's too much. That's too.

[E]

And you gotta search it's.

[Big T]

But then if you're subscribed, it'll just be right there when you open it.

[E]

I think you're asking.

[Big Cat]

It took her about five years to really figure out Netflix and how it can appear on her television. She's happy with that. Okay, that's great. It would take a long time for, for YouTube to work out that way. Listen, people get. People get like invested in whatever medium or whatever app you use to watch a show. I get that. I understand it. And there's going to be like, you know, a switch also. But for. I wish I was selling out. I wish, I wish. You know how much money I've been guaranteed by. By, by Dave from this deal. I'm not, I'm not saying that I'm not going to get any of it, but it's more about like if, if we do this deal, the company as a whole is able to fund. Growing and fund other people's salaries. Helps everybody and helps everybody. And I'm not saying I'm not going to get a cut of it. I think I probably will. But it's not like we've agreed on anything. But it's more about just, you know, there's. It's a big revenue stream.

[E]

Rising Tide, which is good. Raises all ships, which is good.

[Big T]

Did they team. They didn't want. Wake up, Mensey.

[Big Cat]

You know, when you, when you hit the button to turn Netflix on, the thing that pops up on your. I don't think they want to associate that with Mincy. I think that would be a bad association.

[E]

I think they were confused that it now airs at 4pm and it's still.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Called.

[Big Cat]

Any other questions? I'm happy. This is good Open forum.

[E]

No, I'm excited for you guys. This will be like. This is really cool to think about. Yeah, it's cool that you'll be on. So is it going to be like a different app called like Netflix podcasts or am I going to be able to watch you and Stranger Things on the same platform?

[Big Cat]

I think I, I have zero insight into that.

[F]

My.

[E]

Very cool.

[Big Cat]

My assumption is that it's. It's the same thing.

[Brace]

I think it'll be.

[Big T]

It'll be a tab.

[E]

Another show on Netflix.

[Big Cat]

There's going to be a tab at the top that you click on, I'm guessing. And then that's podcasts. And I don't know who else. It's us. Spitting Chiclets.

[E]

Another.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

That's it.

[E]

Another guest for us. That's it for us.

[Big Cat]

I'm curious to see who else it would be like across Bobby Bones.

[E]

I can actually pull up the list. It's a lot of ringer podcasts.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah, Bill Simmons did a deal with Bill Simmons.

[E]

Yeah, but not good. Hang the Amy Poehler one. They specifically left that one out.

[Big T]

What do you mean, specifically left that out?

[E]

That's in the. There. That's like their biggest podcast now.

[Big T]

Oh, you mean they got it?

[E]

No, they didn't. Netflix did not.

[Big T]

But so then what do you mean that's their biggest podcast?

[E]

That's the ringer.

[Big T]

Oh, that's on the ringer.

[E]

Yes. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Yes. I heart did a deal with them as well. So that's where Bobby Bones comes in. So my favorite murder. The Breakfast Club with Charlemagne. The God Dear Chelsea with Chelsea Handler.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[E]

Joe and Jada with Fat Joe.

[Big Cat]

That's a great one.

[E]

The tennis podcast.

[Big Cat]

Wait, really?

[E]

No, I'm kidding. Wouldn't that be funny, though?

[Big Cat]

That would be great.

[E]

Yeah.

[Big T]

There's.

[E]

There's about 30.

[Big Cat]

I would back out of the deal. The tennis podcast was on there. Like, this is. Finally we get to escape from the tennis podcast and start building our own audience. And then the big bad wolf shows up at the same time as we do. I would back out.

[E]

This might be your intro into the Golden Globes space as well.

[Big Cat]

We'll see.

[Big T]

We'll see.

[Big Cat]

It's been a big year for us. We had a great moment on PMT yesterday where Max was utterly befuddled by how to spell dry needling. Yeah, that was. That was our reaction, too. We didn't know if it was the dry or the needling. That's kind of confusing him.

[E]

Compound word. You can.

[Big Cat]

But yeah, he just didn't know how to spell. I think he just didn't know how to spell needling, and that was his issue with it. Have you guys ever dry needle?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

No.

[E]

I've heard awesome things about it.

[Big Cat]

That's what.

[E]

I've actually never heard of it.

[Big Cat]

So TJ Watt was getting dry needle at the team facility, and it punctured his lung.

[E]

That's how it got punctured.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. That's what T.J. or that's what J.J. said.

[E]

Oh, never mind then. I guess not all good things.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. How does that. How does that happen?

[E]

How does a needle go down?

[Big Cat]

Like, they just put the needle into your muscle and then they. They wiggle it.

[E]

What's the main difference between that and acupuncture? Just the length of the needles.

[Big Cat]

I don't know. When I hear needling, I guess I assume that they wiggle it around a little bit.

[E]

It sounds to me like similar to acupuncture based on what I'm reading. Oh. Dry needling versus acupuncture. Both use thin needles, but dry needling targets musculoskeletal trigger points based on neuroanatomy, while acupuncture is part of traditional Chinese medicine, so.

[Big Cat]

All right, well, guess what? It's time for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries again. If you serve in Congress, if you are the president, if you're the Vice president, if you are a governor, we will have you on this podcast to discuss the cabinet. No, no. I don't really care what Secretary of Transportation would have to say. No, let's have some standards. This interview is going to be brought to you by part of my cheesesteak. They've teamed up with Penn Station east coast subs for a new cheesesteak that raises the bar even higher for cheesesteak lovers. Introducing the Mega cheesesteak. It's a limited time offer for this football season. One of a kind sub built with a mega portion of steak, pepperoni, provolone, American cheeses, sauteed onions, mushrooms, banana peppers, mayo pinsation's been around for 40 years. It's huge in the Midwest. It's the OG and craveable grilled subs available exclusively at 320 Penn Station locations. You can literally watch your mega cheesesteak sizzle. You can watch it melt on the grill. The mega Cheesesteak with fresh cut fries, fresh squeezed lemonade and a fresh baked cookie that's an undefeated combo. Pensation subs. The only place where fans can get the mega Cheesesteak. Order in store online or through the Penn Station app for delivery. Representative Jeffries is also brought to you by Shady Rays. Let's talk about gifts. Not the kind that get tossed in a drawer. The kind that actually get used and appreciated. The holidays are coming fast. Shady Ray sunglasses are an easy win. Every pair is polarized, durable and lightweight. They've got a ton of great looking high performance styles that hold up no matter what you throw at them. And the price way less than you'd expect for the quality. Here's what sets them apart. If you lose or break your shades, Shady Rays has your back. They've got lost and broken protection. No hassle, just a solid guarantee. So whether you're picking up a pair for someone on your list or grabbing one for yourself, Shady Rays makes gifting simple quality built looks great actually worth it. Start your holiday gifting early. Head to shadyrays.com use code macro 35% off polarized sunglasses try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people start your holiday gifting early. Head to shadyrays dot com use code macro 35% off polarized Sunglasses try for yourself the shades rated 5 Stars by over 300,000 people. And now here's representative Hakeem Jeffries and Brace and T Bob.

[Big T]

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[Big Cat]

Okay, we welcome on a very special guest of macrodosing. It is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. That's a phrase I never thought that I'd say on macrodosing. But we, we appreciate your time today and I know there's a lot of stuff going on on the, on the floor right now, so maybe you could just upload us on on or I guess download us on what's going on today because I know there's a lot going on with the ACA in that vote. So what, what's the latest?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, great to be with you. Thanks for having me on. And yeah, we've been fighting for months now to make sure that we extend the Affordable Care act tax credits in order to ensure that about 20 plus million Americans don't experience dramatically increased health insurance costs if those tax credits are allowed to expire at the end of this month. We're talking about for some American, and these are working class Americans, everyday Americans, you know, middle class Americans who if these tax credits are allowed to expire, could face premium increases as much as 1,000 or $2,000 per month. That's unsustainable. It's unacceptable and we can't allow it to happen. So earlier today we were successful in achieving the 218 signatures necessary on what's called A discharge petition to force an up or down vote on the House floor that would extend the Affordable Care act tax credits for three years. And it's a bipartisan group of Democrats, 214 Democrats and four Republicans who've now joined us to trigger this up or down vote. Now, what we're saying to Speaker Mike Johnson is that we should not recess for the holidays. We're scheduled to recess on either Thursday or Friday. We cannot recess until he brings the bill to the floor for a vote. We know it will pass, send it over to the Senate and hopefully protect the health care of the American people.

[Big Cat]

The war on Christmas continues, making people work over the holidays. Gotcha. Yeah. So it's interesting because with the aca, I understand what's in front of you right now, which is with the subsidies set to expire, there could be a real out of pocket change in cost for people's health care. I get that. It seems to me, and I've been paying attention to the health care debate, you know, since I guess I started really paying attention during the Obamacare era, as that was moving through Congress. It seems to me like it's been a political football over the years where every couple years there's a fight against it, people try to kill it. The cost of health care continues to go up and people's insurance continues to go up. So even though it slowed the rise of the growth of the premiums that you pay, it seems like it's a football that will continue to be fought over for, you know, forever until we have a more permanent solution. I know that the Republicans most permanent solution that they tried to enact was just take it away. But do the Democrats have a plan to make something, if you're looking at the future of health care, make something more permanent, more concrete? There's a lot of support for single payer out there. And I know that's something you fought against in the past. Is that something that you're trying, that you're willing to consider moving forward?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, we have a broken health care system and we have to fix it. And we need to be bold and transformational in doing that now in terms of what has been referred to as Medicare for all, that has been legislation that I've actually supported in the past in a variety of, of different forms. As we move forward, we have to get beyond this current fight, as you mentioned. Right. We got to deal with extending the Affordable Care act tax credits. But we do need a more comprehensive resolution of a situation that we know is broken. And listen, America is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. It cannot be the case that access to high quality health care is simply a privilege reserved for the wealthy, the well off and the well connected. No, we think it's a right that's gotta be available to all Americans, to working class Americans, middle class Americans, everyday Americans across the country, regardless of where you live, what race you are, what your political affiliation may be. And so we definitely need to try to come together as Democrats and Republicans and just come up with some common sense solutions. One thing that I know needs to be changed is the fact that far too many health insurance companies have the freedom to deny coverage or to limit your capacity to get health care when you have doctors saying, no, this is what this particular person may need. And so I think we need massive health insurance reform as part of any effort to improve the situation. And more broadly, last thing I'd say you're correct. The Affordable Care act has slowed the rate of growth in terms of the expensive nature of health care. But everything's gotten more expensive in the country right now. So we have an affordability crisis. I know President Trump doesn't agree with that. He seems to believe that it's a hoax. I don't think it's a hoax. I think the people that I regularly interact with across the country know that housing costs are out of control, grocery costs are out of control, child care costs are out of control, electricity bills are out of control, and of course health care costs are out of control. We need to rein the whole thing in so that people can actually afford to live a comfortable life.

[Big Cat]

So I guess to put a point on it, if the Democrats win in the midterms, if you take control of one or two houses, is that something that you would be willing to commit to fighting for, is to something like a single payer or, you know, that type of universal health care?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, well, I think universal health care is the goal. What form that it takes is an open question. There are a variety of different perspectives. There are people within the House Democratic Caucus who strongly support a Medicare for all single payer type of system. But the overwhelming majority of people actually support, I think, health insurance reform that ensures that when people are making these premium payments month after month after month, then when it comes time to see a doctor or God forbid, go to the hospital or have surgery, that you actually have the health insurance coverage that you thought you were paying to obtain. And so we're going to have a robust debate, but our commitment is really one drive down the high cost of living on all of the things. And two, fix our broken health care system and do it in a bold and a transformational manner.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you could call it trumpcare for all I care. If that's what it takes.

[Big T]

Like, if it's.

[Big Cat]

If it says Trump Care and it passes, I think there'd be a lot of support behind that. I did a bad job introducing you because, first of all, congratulations on the NBA Cup. Yeah. Let's go, baby. Massive news. The Knicks. I was disappointed to see that James Dolan refused to commit to. To raising the banner at Madison Square Garden, even though I think the league was trying to make that mandated that you have to put up the. The NBA cup banner.

[Big T]

What is.

[Big Cat]

What does winning the NBA cup mean to you?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Listen, it's very meaningful. I'm a long time Knicks. I'm a longtime Knicks fan, and I have not had the ability to really experience a championship in my life. I'm 55 years old. And so, of course, the Knicks did win in 70 and 73. I wasn't able to really enjoy or experience that at the time. And so this is, you know, kind of an exhilarating situation. Now it's just the NBA cup, but they've been playing well. I've been impressed with the way in which Mike Brown has led the team. And I think it's fair to say, particularly, you know, I got to watch about the last 10 minutes of the game yesterday that down the stretch, you actually had a bench that was playing and contributing. Right. So Tyler Kotech contributing, Mitchell Robinson definitively contributing, Clarkson contributing. That's an unexpected thing. We haven't really seen that over the last few years. We know the starting five is tight. Like, we may have one of the best starting fives clearly in the league, but the development of the bench is kind of an exciting thing, and hopefully we'll be able to break through, get to an NBA championship and win it.

[Big Cat]

Yep. Yeah. I mean, let's not. Let's not diminish the cup, though. If you're James Dolan, I know you're a listener to the show. Probably put the banner up, raise the banner, give the people something to cheer for at Madison Square Garden. I'm gonna. I'm gonna let some other people ask some questions here. I know they got some questions about. About college football, about a lot of stuff.

[F]

Wait, yeah, Hakeem, we've been told. Is this true? Are you. Are you a big college football guy?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, listen, you know, I graduated from Binghamton University, and so we actually don't even have a College football team. So I wasn't initially that big a college football person, but over time, you know, it's grown. My brother teaches out at Ohio State, so I'm partial to Ohio State. My young or my two sons, they're a little older now, both grew up as Ohio State fans. So I've been tracking college football probably for the last 10 or 12 years more closely. And I think the college football playoffs are exciting. I'm looking forward to it. I know JMU is playing a big game on Saturday. Is that right? Against Oregon. So that'll be a real interesting thing that I know has great interest on this show, but I think that the college football playoffs have been a tremendous success.

[F]

Well, then what the hell came then? Why aren't you hopping on with Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise to put some rules in place? Fuck this health care stuff, okay? It's time to stop these kids from getting paid. We need to cap their ability to make money. That's how you're really going to solve this country's problems.

[Big T]

That's what people care about.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, you know, listen, I'm in total agreement that rules are necessary so that there's certainty across the country, and that is a nationwide standard. I disagreed with the SCORE act, which I affectionately refer to as the Lane Kiffin Protection act, because as far as I could tell, there was nothing in that legislation that was going to meaningfully allow college athletes to be able to continue to benefit from their tremendous talent and capacity and also ensure their health and their safety. I think that's one of the reasons why all of the different players associations led by the NFL Players association strongly opposed the bill. Yeah, it was going to limit. Right. Limit their collective bargaining ability, limit their earning potential, and meanwhile do nothing to cap or limit some of the out of control behavior we see from college coaches. Now, that said, I think that, you know, listen, clearly you can't have a situation like the Pony Express and SMU in the 80s, totally out of control. And clearly that's a Wild west type of scenario. Nobody wants to see that. That's one extreme. So we do need rules. But on the other extreme, you also can't have a Fab 5 situation where these players transformed college basketball and sports, became cultural icons and couldn't afford to do a thing when they were on campus. People wearing their jerseys, nothing from their name, their image, their likeness, when they just elevated college basketball for those two, three years, put it on their back. So those are the two extremes. Clearly, we have to find a solution to making sure. That these athletes are compensated, but that it's done in a way that you don't have sort of outside forces. Like with the SMU football situation running the show.

[Big Cat]

This might be a dumb question, but why does Congress care?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, listen, I think. Listen, Sports is an important part of Americana, you know, as used to be said, you know, baseball, motherhood, apple pie. Right. That's America. Now that, of course, has expanded as the growth of sports have expanded. Certainly the NFL and football, basketball as well, and maybe increasingly soccer are going to become big parts of who we are as a country. And with all the partisan fights that we engage in, with all the turbulence, all the stuff that takes place. Listen, sports is an escape for everyone, you know, myself included. And as was the case, being able to catch the last 10 minutes or so of the Knicks game and they won that NBA cup, which was an amazing thing. And I think for all of us, it's important that we can keep a good thing going. It doesn't mean that it's the highest priority for the Congress. We got to lower the high cost of living. We got to fix our broken health care system. We got to clean up corruption. These are the things that we should be focused on and paying most attention to. But sports is life at this point, and that's the case whether you're a member of Congress or not.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I have kind of a big picture question for you here. It's about the Democratic Party.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

What.

[Big Cat]

If you're pitching a 21 year old that just say, has not paid attention to politics at any point in their life, what is the reason for the Democrat Party to exist?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, so we believe in a country, it's pretty simple. You work hard and you play by the rules. You should be able to live an affordable life, a comfortable life. Or as I have sometimes said, live the good life. And that ain't too complicated. Work hard, play by the rules, live the good life. Good paying job, good housing, good health care, good education for your children and a good retirement. At the end of the day, that's not too much to ask for in this great country of ours. But the problem that we have, and young people understand this, is that far too many people are doing the right thing. They're working hard, they're going to school, they're playing by the rules, but they can't get to that final piece, the American dream, the good life, the comfortable life and affordable life. And as Democrats, we're committed to making sure that everybody has access to that, that we redeem the American dream. We revive it. A majority of people now believe it's out of reach. They are correct. The system is broken and we've got to fix it. And we're committed to doing that.

[Brace]

I have a question kind of along those lines. When you talk about how people need to have good jobs and play by the rules and they get ahead, what time period are you thinking of in either the recent past or further back that that reminds you of?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, listen, I mean, I think the country has never been perfect over our 250 years or so, but we've always had a march toward a more perfect union. I think that the greatest generation saved the world from fascism in defeating Nazi Germany and the empire of Japan in World War II at great cost and sacrifice, but then came back to this country and built the greatest middle class in the history of the world. And at the same period of time, a few years after their return, you saw the start of the modern day civil rights movement to make sure that you can open up opportunities to everyone in America, regardless of race. So there was a real positive trajectory where the country was moving in the right direction. And then what you started to see is what's been referred to as deindustrialization. A lot of the factory jobs left, the plants, manufacturing facilities left. That was accelerated by some poorly negotiated trade deals, in my view, including nafta, where a lot of jobs went overseas. And that hurt a lot of folks, you know, and these were middle class folks. These were people who didn't necessarily need to go to college to be able to experience a middle class lifestyle, which is the American dream. And now we've seen like the rise of automation over the last several decades. That's been a problem. We used to be a far more unionized country. So the decline in unionization has also been a factor. All of these things, I believe have conspired together to jam up everyday Americans. Working class American people in rural America, in small town America, in the heartland of America, in places like Michigan and parts of Pennsylvania, of course Ohio and Illinois. And it's a big problem. We have small family farmers who used to be able to make a living farming for this country as part of the agricultural industry. Many of them have been wiped out and have been taken over by massive agricultural companies. So listen, there's a lot to celebrate in America as we approach the 250th birthday next July 4th. But we still have challenges that we need to overcome. And making sure that that fundamental promise in this country, work hard, play by the rules, actually leads to being able to live the good life is something that we all need to commit to, in my view.

[Brace]

Something that. So I'm kind of a numbers guy, a bit of a moneyball type of guy and, and something. And I'm a big rules guy. And something that's been sort of driving me crazy about the Trump administration is a lot of their sort of foreign policy, especially this recent stuff towards Venezuela, which has been just driving me crazy. And, and I was a little disappointed to see that Chuck Schumer sort of refused to kind of say whether he was for, against maybe this plan to take out Maduro and install Machado in there. And with the recent seizure of the oil tanker, I feel like things are really heating up. I mean, it's very clear that Trump is doing, you know, I'm sure you read the national security strategy that they put out. Totally crazy. Talking about the Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It's very clear that they're really trying to sort of bait Venezuela into war. I think one of the things that's been tough for me as actually one of your constituents, just an American voter, it seems like all this crazy stuff happens that Trump does and then, like, it's, it's hard to really see a huge fight against that. And, and again, like, you know, I'm not the most together guy. Maybe you guys, maybe there is, there is sort of a pushback against it. But, you know, I was wondering, what is, what is your view on the, on the Trump brinkmanship towards Venezuela?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, well, I'm not supportive of it at all. I think that this effort potentially to try to trigger regime change is very dangerous. We've seen this happen in other parts of the world, particularly in Iraq. It never works out. And the last thing that we need is another failed war. As a matter of fact, President Trump promised, as candidate Trump, no more foreign wars. And he's doing the exact opposite by potentially triggering one as it relates to Venezuela. I don't support the Maduro regime, but there are bad actors all across the world, and we've got a lot of problems here in this country that we need to resolve in order to make sure that people have the ability to provide for themselves and their families. Far too many people, like literally middle class people, are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, cannot thrive and can barely survive. Let's work on that problem. And, you know, we are the leader of the free world. That will continue to be important. We should stand with Ukraine, as many of us want to continue to do and against Russian aggression. But we're supporting them through resources, not supporting them with our actual troops, men and women in uniform, on the line. We're thankful for our men and women in uniform, but they shouldn't be put in harm's way as a result of another foreign invention that no one's asking for here in the country.

[Brace]

I mean, I fully agree. You know, just this, this past week, I believe it was, three US Troops were killed in Syria. And I think a lot of people were really confused, like, why are there. I believe they were National Guardsmen. I might be incorrect on this, but like the National Guardsmen that were killed in Syria. And I think a lot of people are kind of confused as to why they would be there in the first place, especially after the defeat of ISIS came, you know, many years ago. At this point, I think there is a real desire from a lot of Democratic voters to sort of bring our troops home and sort of focus on the huge problems that we, we have here. And, and, you know, I was reading recent polling, again, kind of a moneyball guy, and it shows that, that the, the majority of Democratic voters actually support cutting aid, military aid to Israel. And actually almost half of Republican voters feel the same. I feel that, you know, and this is my view as well. And I feel that while that may be the popular opinion of a lot of voters, we're not really seeing that reflected in Congress or the Senate.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, well, I think my view is, look, the United States and Israel have had a special relationship for decades north of 75 years in a very difficult, challenging part of the world. And I'm going to continue to support Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and, of course, a homeland for the Jewish people. That doesn't mean that Israel is perfect. The United States is not perfect. But we do have a responsibility and obligation as leaders of the free world to be there for our allies in a variety of different ways. Our allies in Western Europe, our allies in Asia, of course, that includes Japan and South Korea. Our allies in Africa that we need to do a better job of supporting, particularly as we've seen Russia and China go into Africa now to try to become more dominant presences there. America has got to stay engaged and connected with Africa, in my view, and we got to do the same thing in the Middle East. But that doesn't mean our troops should be put into harm's way unnecessarily by trying to overturn regimes in any part of the world. We need to be focused on protecting the safety and security of, of the American people. And that's where I think we need to continue to go.

[Big Cat]

Where does the line get drawn between a country's right to exist and a country's right to have F35s and air to ground missiles?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, well, I think that's interesting. And we obviously provide F35s to a variety of different countries who we consider allies. And I think those are strategic decisions that will need to be made continuously as we move forward. That includes in the Middle east and it includes beyond. Listen. But I think it's also clear that America can be a force for good. It's amazing that Abraham Lincoln in the middle of the Civil War actually came to Congress. I think it was in 1861 or 1862. So this was very early on. We weren't even 100 years old at the time. And he was, of course, talking about the importance of keeping the union together. But in that speech to Congress, he also said, America is the last best hope on earth. And he said it then. It certainly is the case now. And I think that means we do have to stay engaged in a variety of different ways now in the Middle east, particularly as it relates to the question between Israel and the Palestinian people. We have to be a force to make sure a couple of things happen. One, obviously, Gaza is reconstructed. All of the hostage remains are returned. Thankful that the hostages who are living have now been returned home. That we crush or ensure that Hamas can no longer govern and oppress the Palestinian people. That we have Palestinian leadership that emerges, that can serve the people as part of the effort to reconstruct Gaza, that we put ourselves on a path in terms of the Israelis and the Palestinians toward a just and lasting peace. And that ultimately I still strongly support a two state solution that's a safe and secure Israel living side by side in peace and prosperity with a Palestinian state that provides dignity and self determination for the Palestinian people.

[Big Cat]

To circle back real quick to what Brace was talking about with Venezuela. Yeah, you said you do not support the fight, the, you know, maybe preemptive or escalating fight against the Maduro regime. I think a lot of people would agree with you that they don't support it. But I think more than that, people would be like, it's not just I don't support it, it's like, fuck no. Why are we going to start another war? And that's a tone that I have not heard from the left side. It's almost like you're trying to give Trump more rope to hang himself with like, the further he pushes, the. The more support he'll lose. But I think the American people are like, hey, we're talking about a war here that we don't need to be fighting in. I would like to see one of the parties be like, hey, this sucks. This is crazy. Don't do it. It's illegal. This is insane. And I haven't heard that from your side. And so is that. Are you doing a strategy of, like, let's see what Trump pushes for, and that. That way we can hit him in the midterms of that, because I think it's more important than that.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, listen, it's a. Matters of war and peace are matters of life and death. So there's definitively an urgency connected to it. One of the reasons why I've been so disappointed in my Republican colleagues is that they've basically allowed Donald Trump to run over Congress and that, you know, the House Republican majority has often functioned like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump cartel. And basically, he's their boss. He ain't our boss. We don't work for Donald Trump. We don't work for J.D. vance. We don't work for their billionaire donors. We work for the American people. And the Constitution is real clear that it's Congress that has the power solely to declare war. And so, as a matter of fact, later on today, we'll be back on the House floor debating a resolution put forward by Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, that will require Trump to come to Congress to seek authorization before he engages in aggressive military action against Venezuela. And so there will be an active and forceful and robust debate. We only need a handful of our Republican colleagues to join us. Every single Democrat is going to support that legislation to compel the Trump administration to come to Congress, the representatives of the American people, before getting us entangled in another foreign war. We made that case to the Trump administration in the briefing that was held yesterday before Congress, and we'll continue to make that case and definitely forcefully on the floor of the House of Representatives.

[F]

What would you say to someone who hears that and maybe thinks that it's a bit. Or maybe I've just become a bit cynical about that. Right. Where it's like you look at the increasing power of the executive branch for decades and decades and both sides, whoever's had the seat, and you look at the multitude of excuses to create wars and are integrally named wars. Like, how would you fight against the idea that. I can hear you say that, but I could be cynical about the, the efficacy of that, like could something like that actually work?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, well, listen, it's got to work. I mean, that's the system that we have. At the end of the day, the founders, they didn't create a parliamentary democracy. If they created a parliamentary democracy. Basically the executive branch and the legislative branch are one in the same. That ain't what we have in the country. It's separate and co. Equal branches of government. The Congress was designed to be a check and balance on a potentially out of control executive branches, whether that's a Democratic president or Republican president. Right. And so I think Congress, you are correct that we've seen administrations on both sides of the aisle continue to take more authority over the last several decades and we gotta reverse it and push back against it, whether it's a Democratic president or Republican president. But by the way, no one has done it as extremely as this administration is doing it. I mean, this is an out of control situation. The guy is regularly behaving as if he's a king. And you know, in 1776 we broke away from governance by King. King George at the time broke away from it and ain't nobody trying to go back to it. So that is going to require, you know, the Congress to step up in this instance. But you're right, we should be intellectually consistent moving forward. If we ever encounter a president from the other side of the aisle, our side of the aisle, who tries to engage in this type of aggressive overreach as well.

[Big Cat]

Big T. Yeah. Anything?

[Big T]

Yeah, I've got a website pulled up here and I don't know, you can tell me if this is accurate or not. It lists congressional stock trades and it says you haven't traded any stock since 2021. Is that true?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, that is correct. Well, I don't own any individual stock and so that would be correct.

[Big T]

Okay. Well, that leads to my real question, which is that I don't want to tell you how to do your job. That seems like you're missing out on a pretty sweet deal. Why is that?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, listen, I think that public service is a sacrifice and it's a worthy sacrifice when you enter into this arena and the overwhelming majority of my colleagues, they're in Congress to do the right thing, to serve the public, to make life better for their constituents. But there is a perception problem and in some cases a substantive problem. When you have the ability of members of Congress to trade stock, it shouldn't happen. We should ban it. There's a bipartisan effort to try to do that, overwhelmingly supported By Democrats. We just need a handful of Republicans to continue to partner with us, and we can get this done. And we're committed to banning stock trade. It just shouldn't happen.

[Big Cat]

I got a question about a. Actually, a couple colleagues of yours. Corey Mills. Corey Mills. This guy is straight out of a movie. I. Sometimes he's amazing. He's kind of like. I almost respect it. The guy is a illegal arms dealer. He sits on the Armed Services Committee. And I mean, all the other stories that have come up about him in the last, like, two months, it just. It feels like I'm watching. What's that movie with Jonah Hill?

[F]

War Dogs.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. War Dogs.

[Brace]

Moneyball Money.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Good call, Brace. Why. Why is he still around? Why is he on the Armed Services Committee if he's like, he's involved in the decisions that impact the price of the weapons that he's selling outside of this country? That. I can't. I can't even think of a bigger conflict of interest that I've ever seen in Congress than this. And it seems like it's been somewhat of an open secret for a long time. Why is he still around?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, it's a wild situation. First of all, I would presume that we're getting close to a point where his own constituents are going to throw him out in the next election. But prior to that happening, the Republicans have basically made a decision that they're just going to look the other way, by and large, in terms of all of the things that Corey Mills has been accused of doing, some of which has been confirmed. And it does seem strange that he would be put on the Armed Services Committee. And the dude is an arms dealer. That's crazy. That is nuts. And it's one of the things that I think causes people to look skeptically upon the entire institution. Again, the overwhelming majority of people, Democrats and Republicans, people I may disagree with on a variety of issues, but I think are here to try to do the right thing for the folks they represent. But then you got people who are clearly bad actors. And I believe that many of these allegations are before the Ethics Committee right now related to Corey Mills. Hopefully the Ethics Committee will make a decision sometime sooner rather than later, and we can see some accountability.

[Big Cat]

And then when it comes to somebody that's on your own side. Henry Cuellar. He's gonna be running as a. As a Democrat again. I think the speculation was that he would flip to Republican after he was pardoned by the. By the president doesn't look like he's going to. That seems like the kind of guy that also should not be in Congress, a guy that was just convicted on it was bribery. I forget what the. All the other charges were, but pretty much a boilerplate guy of this person should not be in Congress. He's running as a Democrat again. Are you afraid of alienating that, that he'll flip back over to running as a Republican? And that's why you haven't been more forceful in saying, this is an example of a guy that we do not want representing the American people. Because I feel like that's something that, when I don't hear you say that, I think to myself, well, he's playing the game here. When I think it's, again, bigger than this one situation, and the American people should be like, this dude should not be representing us.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, thank you for asking that. And here's the thing. You know, relative to the Cuellar situation, that's a bit different than some of the pardons that I've criticized, particularly as it relates to Santos as an example, who was convicted by a jury of his peers. Right. The thing with Cuellar is that Cuellar, yes, was indicted. But I support the principle in this country that you are innocent until proven guilty. There's a presumption of innocence, and it's for a reason. No. Far too many people assume you get indicted, you must be guilty. That is not the case. And I've been someone who've been involved in criminal justice reform for a long period of time, in fact, partnered with Republicans on the other side of the aisle during the first Trump administration to enact the First Step act, which was the largest criminal justice reform bill in a generation, to try to push back against what I believed was the mass incarceration epidemic that we have in this country and the failed war on drugs. So I believe in the presumption of innocence. Cuellar was never convicted by a jury. Trump decided, for whatever reasons, to step in and pardon him. Now, Donald Trump was indicted in four different jurisdictions, and every single time he was indicted, notwithstanding my strong disagreements with Donald Trump, who he is, what he represents, I was also clear he's entitled to the presumption of innocence. And that's the reality, whether you are the President of the United States, a member of Congress, or everyday Americans. And we should fight for this principle, because when you have overly aggressive prosecutors trying to jam up everyday Americans, it doesn't get the same level of attention. And unless we support this principle for everyone, the people who are going to be adversely impacted the most are. Aren't going to be the ones that have the spotlight on them. It's going to be everyday Americans who can get overrun by people who are overly aggressive in prosecuting crime in America.

[Big Cat]

I agree with that. But. But also, don't you see that's a little contradictory with how you just spoke about Corey Mills, which is, you know, the Republicans should. It's disgraceful that he's still there. The Republicans haven't done anything about it. He hasn't been convicted of anything. It's just accusations against him. And then Cuellar, he's got some pretty significant accusations against him. And this would be the moment where the Republicans would say, the Democrats need to do something about this guy. He's their problem. Why have. And I tend to agree with that. If we're going to say the same thing about Corey Mills, I feel like we should say the same thing about a guy that is also someone that should not be representing us.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, what I'll say about Cuellar is that, you know, consistent with our own internal rules, the moment that he was indicted, he lost his gavel in terms of being the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. And that happens whenever any member of Congress on our side actually confronts a criminal indictment, notwithstanding the fact that they're innocent until proven guilty. They've got to step down, as was the case with Cuellar, from his leadership position on a very powerful committee, the Appropriations Committee. And that's also the case with anyone who may be in leadership. The moment that you face this kind of criminal jeopardy, you've got to relinquish your position. And as we've been discussing, we're just not seeing that on the other side of the aisle. I don't know what their rules are.

[Big Cat]

Maybe they're different Gotcha bracelets. I know that there's a lot of stuff about the. The Epstein files in the news. I don't know if you had anything in particular you want to dig in on that.

[Brace]

Yeah, yeah. Well, two things. One, first of all, I just want to mention, you know, to. To kind of bring it back to Venezuela for just one more question. You know, Trump recently announced that he would be blockading Venezuelan oil, which is, to me, totally crazy. I mean, this. And it really brings to mind the horrible blockade of Cuba that has been in place for decades and decades and decades. And of course, he's using that as a bit of a pretense there. I was just wondering. I mean, I have no idea the legality of, again, like, anything Trump does or if he's actually going to do it, or if it's just a truth that that lady that follows him around, truth out for him that he sort of dictates to her. But, but my question is, like, if they do blockade Venezuela's oil, I mean, this is a sovereign country, regardless of whether people agree with the leadership or not. I mean, certainly there's a lot of other oil producing countries that don't exactly have a democracy that, that explicitly resembles the American one.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

That would be correct. Yeah.

[Brace]

And, and my question was, like, what, what, what can you guys do to, to, to stop that, you know?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, listen, I think you're correct. We haven't seen any evidence that justifies the legality of this kind of blockade. Now, Donald Trump and the people connected to his administration told us initially that these strikes that are taking place off the coast of South America in international waters were designed to stop drug trafficking, something that we could all support stopping drug trafficking. Drugs have been a scourge that have impacted the American people for decades, causing a great deal of harm and destruction and death. But we don't even believe that these strikes are lawful. There's been no indication to any of us, we've demanded repeatedly in both private meetings and publicly, that they show us the justification for what many of us believe are extrajudicial strikes, that how does this further the national security of the American people? What is the evidence connected to these strikes? And so now they've taken it one step further because they're blockading, apparently oil tankers. Now, how does this relate to the failed war on drugs, the effort that you allegedly were undertaking to try to turn around? And the irony as well is that Donald Trump, speaking of pardons, pardoned this narco terrorist, who was the former president of Honduras, who by the way, was convicted by an American jury of narco trafficking. And notwithstanding that, we're supposed to believe that there's a legitimate effort that's underway to try to deal with drug trafficking into our country. And the most high profile thing that you've done over the last several months in this area is pardon a narco terrorist who was close to El Chapo, and clearly an American jury found was receiving millions and millions of dollars of bribes. So even the credibility on the anti narcotic trafficking effort has been called into question by recent actions. And now you've taken it a step further by saying, you know what, it's not even about narco trafficking, apparently, it's about regime change, and we're gonna try to jam up these oil tankers with a blockade by the way which could bring us closer to triggering military action that leads us into another failed war.

[Big Cat]

So I guess what can you actually do to stop it, though? I'm hearing you say, like, we can. We can request information from them. We can. We can ask for the videos of the strikes. But what can you do to. The democrats have power right now to actually stop the bad thing that you're warning us about? Can you stop that bad thing from happening?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, we're demanding information one, because as abraham lincoln once said, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

[Brace]

But public sentiment is super against this already.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Absolutely. And we got to hold that and sustain it and deepen it. But I think to your point, it's a very good question. Democrats, as of the moment, are in the minority in the house and in the senate. So we need a handful of republicans to join us, and we'll be on the floor this afternoon, basically making it clear legislatively, if this bill, this resolution passes, that you've got no ability to take these aggressive actions. Only congress has the ability to authorize these aggressive actions. And we don't believe that the votes are there for you to do it. Now we'll need a handful of republicans to partner with us. Every single democrat is going to support this effort. We're a nation of laws. And so at the end of the day, congress has to reclaim its authority, and we have an ability to do it this week with the resolution that is being put forward by gregory meeks from new york.

[Big Cat]

All right. Yeah. Bruce, do you have anything about epstein? I know that you got to get running in just a minute here, but I wanted to make sure.

[Brace]

Yeah, so the epstein files do come out on Friday, and it is, you know, it's.

[Big Cat]

It's.

[Brace]

It's kind of anyone's guess how much stuff will be in them. What do you think that the. The effects of this will be? But also, you know, I had a question because there was. There was a. There was a lot of questions about jeffrey epstein's relationship with the government of the u. S. Virgin islands. I know that he employed the. The wife of the former, I guess, governor there, that he had a quite close relationship with. With delegate plaskett. And, you know, I was wondering, you know, some of these things might. As. As. As christine pelosi said, some of our faves might be implicated here. And I was wondering, you know, if some of this does have blowback on the. On the democrat side, do you think there will be an internal reckoning there?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Well, listen, I think that our position has been very clear from the beginning. And ranking member Robert Garcia has done a tremendous job on this. Ro Khanna has done a tremendous job on this. Jamie Raskin has done a tremendous job on this. That we just want the information out there and let the chips fall where they may because we need justice for the survivors. These were, you know, teenage girls in many instances who were victimized by Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends. And there's been zero accountability for people who may have been involved in this effort to really exploit these young women or teenage girls. And it's the survivors who have said, we want this information released to the American people so that there can be some accountability moving forward. And that's our view. No matter how well connected or powerful these individuals may be, where the information leads us, the information should lead us.

[Brace]

Yeah, yeah. I feel I full agreement with you in that, you know, I know one, one of your, you know, your big donors in the 2023, 2024 cycle is APAC BlackRock, Apollo Global Management, MetLife and Lockheed Martin. You know, Apollo Global Management, obviously Leon Black, his, his association with Epstein, I know there is some sort of, you know, internal reckoning there. It looks like that from the stuff that has been coming out through the, the recent release of emails from the, the House Oversight Committee, which has been doing an incredible job with that, you know, it appears that Epstein was quite close to many leaders at Apollo Global Management. Do you have any insight on how they're dealing with that?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, listen, I don't think I've ever gotten a check from Leon Blacko. I've never met him, so I know nothing about him, though I know these allegations of his connection to the Epstein thing is serious. I'm proud of the fact actually that my average contribution is $28 per person. And so my biggest donor actually are everyday Americans, people who have worked hard throughout their entire life. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people who on average contribute $28 per contribution to me. And I'm thankful for that because that's who I'm responsible for helping to serve and elevate. Now, of course, there are contributions from others that I received from a variety of different folks across the country. But I think it's important to know that I'm proud of the fact and have worked quite hard to achieve this, that we're raising money in small dollar increments from everyday Americans who just want to see us fight to make their life better. And that's, at the end of the day, what I'm going to continue to do.

[F]

Can I just real quick, on the way out here, because it seems like it's been a theme of the entire conversation, but you, you just mentioned like the, the basic cost of living, inflation. And I know this is like a very naive question potentially, and I just talk about football, but it seemed like inflation in the economy was. That was the lever of power that Trump used to regain office. Right. It'll now be the lever of power that y' all seek to regain office. And I understand that. I just don't understand what, how do you actually attack it? How does it actually get solved? Is because I can't see prices going down. Maybe I guess they could. Is it about wages going up? Like, it all sounds good and I want to believe it because I feel it and it fucking sucks. But like, I just don't know, it just seems like it's being bandied back. I don't know how functionally, how you could possibly make it happen.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Yeah, it's a great question and it's on the minds of so many people that I represent and people that I encounter across the country because the cost of living is too high. And it should be all hands on deck, everybody. House, Senate, Democrats, Republicans, Congress, President, everybody, all hands on deck to deal with this issue. And you're absolutely right that Donald Trump promised that he was going to lower costs, that he was going to focus on this issue, that costs were gonna go down on day one. His words, not mine. But he clearly over promised and has under delivered consistently and is now saying that the affordability crisis is a hoax. Bro, all last year you kept talking about the affordability crisis. How is it now a hoax? It's not. It's impacting everyday Americans. So I think one of the things that clearly can be done is to get rid of the Trump tariffs. The Trump tariffs are singularly responsible for raising costs on everyday Americans this year by thousands of dollars per year. We have to get rid of it and we're committed to doing that as Democrats. Hopefully some of our Republican colleagues will partner with it. The cost of housing is way too high. That's both rent too high and of course purchasing a home or your mortgage, particularly with interest rates being where they are. One of the ways that we can bring housing costs down, everybody understands this, we just need to do it, is to build more housing that is affordable for working class Americans. This is a matter of basic economics. If the demand for affordable housing is here, but the supply of housing that's affordable is here, then of Course, prices are going to remain high and continue to go in the wrong direction. And the only way that you can actually bring housing costs down or the most direct way to do it is to build more housing massively, like a New Deal level type of housing program, as opposed to, by the way, spending billions or trillions of dollars on a foreign war to bring it back to Venezuela. And the reason why, let's just focus on solving the problems of the American people. That's absolutely what we should be doing.

[Big Cat]

All right, well, I appreciate the time today.

[Big T]

Real quick, real quick. Last, last thing. We talked to Pat Ryan, Congressman Pat Ryan, a few weeks ago, and he had on a sweet House of Representatives quarter zip. And I meant to ask him about it before he left, but I didn't get to. Are those. It is Christmas time. Do some maybe fall off the truck for friends and family? Are those exclusive? How does that work?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

I'm all about those quarter zips. I have a black one and I have a blue one, but we can definitely make them available to you. Everybody connected to this great show.

[Big T]

Thank you very much.

[Big Cat]

Might be stolen.

[Big T]

Merry Christmas.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Appreciate the time today. Thank you, sir. And good luck with the Venezuela stuff. That's. Listen, I think there's a lot of people that are watching the Venezuela stuff and how. How Congress acts right now is going to make a big impression on how they vote in the next election. So good luck with all that and say hello to Ms. Boebert for me if you see her on the floor, please.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

We appreciate y'.

[Big T]

All.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year.

[Big Cat]

All right, take care. You too.

[Big T]

Thank you.

[Big Cat]

Thank you.

[Big T]

He made sure to get everyone.

[Big Cat]

He nailed him. Yeah, I, I like how my favorite part, my favorite small part of that was when he was when. When they casually mentioned states and they're like, you know, states like Wisconsin, parts of Pennsylvania.

[Big T]

You did say Illinois, Ohio.

[Big Cat]

That was an afterthought. Thought he threw that one in at the end.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

All right.

[Big Cat]

Good job, Brace.

[Big T]

I'm not going back to college to be your friend. I'm going so I can get Uber one for students. It saves you on Uber and Uber eats. I'm there for zero dollar delivery fee.

[Big Cat]

On cheeseburgers, up to 10% off smoothies.

[Big T]

And 6% Uber credits back on rides. Just to be clear, I'm there for.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Savings, not whatever you think college is for.

[Big Cat]

Get Uber one for students a membership.

[E]

To save on Uber and Uber eats. With deals this good, everyone wants to be a student. Join for just 4.99amonth savings may vary eligibility and member terms apply.

[Big T]

God, can you tell?

[Brace]

I had one more question that I forgot. I didn't. I meant to ask, but I couldn't slip it in.

[Big T]

Was I miss. What joke was I missing when you kept saying I'm. I'm like a Moneyball guy.

[Brace]

I just love saying the word Moneyball. There's no okay. I was like, I've never seen Moneyball. But I'm like, that's a good movie.

[Big T]

You should watch it.

[Big Cat]

Well, it's a great way to ask.

[F]

A question too where you can kind of not have like, you know, it's not my opinion.

[Big Cat]

I mean just.

[F]

I'm a numbers guy.

[Brace]

I'm just. Yeah, I'm balls and strikes guy. Money. I'm just. Look, I'm just grunging the numbers here. No, I wanted to ask him. I was like, listen, I wanted to say, like, listen, I know a guy who got shot by the IDF in the west bank last year with bullets that are paid for with my tax dollars. Like first of all, why the am I paying taxes if they're shooting a substitute school teacher in the leg A Filipino lo less which we love. And, and they, you know, they killed that Turkish girl who from I believe Washington woman. And I'm like, why the fuck is like you talk about affordability. For some reason my money is paying to shoot a guy from New Jersey in the Middle East.

[F]

And it's like he talked about allies and like protecting your allies interests. And I want. I wanted to get that as well as like, well, what about when your allies goals are clearly not aligned with what your own are or at least what you kind of purport to defend and believe in.

[Big Cat]

We sell F35 to countries, but I think there's only one of those countries that is currently carpet bombing. Doing the residential.

[Brace]

Yeah, well, we should actually. We should. In the interest of anti war, we actually do defend the F35 program as the planes do not work and they are careful. They're saying. They say they don't work maybe so good.

[F]

Are they overrated?

[Big Cat]

Be careful, Brace.

[F]

Are they pretenders or contenders?

[Big Cat]

The F30.

[Brace]

Do you like the F35? I like.

[Big Cat]

I like the F35. As a plane guy and as a man who owns a flight simulator. I think the F35 is a tremendous weapon of war. The capabilities that they don't. You're probably going to bring up the time that they did the red red flag operations and the F16 battled them to a stalemate.

[Brace]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, well, braced you would be wrong about that because the F30 fives were made to fly with their weapons loadout on the outside of the plane, thereby diminishing their stealth capability entirely. So they made the F35 fly like an F16. And they also didn't allow the F35 to use all the internal avionics and stealth and radar technology and sensors that it has built into it. So you may handicap. It was an F16 against an F16. That frankly, the F35 doesn't maneuver as well as the F16. But that's not what it's meant for. It's meant for, for firing missiles at targets that are 60 miles away without the target even knowing that they're being targeted. The F16. Nobody dog fights anymore, despite what Top Gun tells you.

[Brace]

And I've been saying that for years.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, so listen, there was a lot of money. We spent a lot of money on the F35. Their readiness capabilities are, are up for criticism. I'll agree with that. But as a, as a weapons platform, per my experience, behind the joystick of one in my flight simulator, it is. It's right up there.

[F]

Well, that's kind of like, it's like naval battle. You think about it being like two, like galleons, broad sighting each other, but in reality, it's. Yeah, you can't see anything.

[Big Cat]

You're.

[F]

You're firing just across in this vastless ocean against each other.

[Big Cat]

That air battle of India and Pakistan, that happened like six months ago.

[Brace]

I was about to say there was dog fights there.

[Big Cat]

No, no, that wasn't a dog fight. Brace. They were, they were firing, they were firing weapons from, like, a hundred miles away.

[Big T]

What?

[Big Cat]

It was all beyond visual range. BVR is what we called in the biz. And so There were some J10s that were just chilling that got hit with a missile. Didn't. Never saw it coming. And so, yeah, it was. That's, that's what we built the F35 for. F35 would have dominated in that battle. You're making the case for the. You sound like the F35 guy now.

[Brace]

You know what? I'm just saying that, wow, that's, that's impressive. I, I, but it's, it's all, it's all moot anyways because we're going to invent some kind of like, mini drone screen that just goes up like, into the stratosphere that, like, exists as a block. What is the golden dome supposed to be? It's just a missile defense system.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we already have a missile Defense system.

[Brace]

No, Rad.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we've. We've got one of those. But if the Santa tracker, if you call it, you call it the Golden Dome and you spend some money on it because becomes better.

[Big T]

So is ours better than Israel's?

[Big Cat]

No, Israel's is that.

[Big T]

Well, like how do we not have the best one?

[Big Cat]

It uses a lot of our technology. But the, the reason why we don't have the best one in the world is because we don't need the best one in the world.

[Big T]

Because I'd like to have it.

[Big Cat]

We've got.

[F]

Don't we have so much to cover though?

[Big Cat]

We've got two oceans.

[F]

Yeah, we got a lot of cotton.

[Big Cat]

We got two oceans that separate us. And then we've also got Canada, who we don't think is going to be attacking us.

[Big T]

I just think for the amount of money we spend, nobody should have a better anything than us.

[Brace]

No big T. Here's how it's got to be state by state. Every state has a separate.

[Big T]

I'd be fine with that.

[Brace]

And it's done through like bonds or whatever, you know, like slightly raising taxes on cigarettes. And so some states will have a hundred dollar packs of cigarettes. Some states that are like, you know what we're. Indiana. We don't need. It's like the missiles have to go over so many other places to get here. We don't need a system. Cigarettes are $3.

[Big Cat]

What state do you think would spend the most money like would. Would have the most to fear from other states attacking it? Florida.

[Big T]

From other states or other countries?

[Brace]

Other states is. I'm like that every state for. If we're going for state for state. Every state hates every other state.

[Big Cat]

Alabama.

[Big T]

But Alabama surrounded by allies.

[F]

I mean, is it. Doesn't Louisiana have a very key port, a lot of oil?

[Big Cat]

They do.

[F]

Interests and whatnot.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but.

[Brace]

Yeah, but the ground's so wet there that if a missile hits it just.

[F]

Kind of like it just goes into the mud. Yeah, it just squelches.

[Big Cat]

I feel like. So Maryland would probably try to take over Delaware.

[Brace]

Can you guys get Nancy Mason?

[Big Cat]

Would love to.

[Big T]

I would love to.

[Big Cat]

I would love to talk to her about the Charleston airport. I have.

[Brace]

Well, I've become an expert on her problems with the Charleston airport. I think that would be a great episode.

[Big Cat]

What have you learned about it? Because all I know is that she was not afforded the security that she was told that she was going to get. And then she yelled at somebody and then she spent the next two weeks tweeting @ the airport. Because she was angry at the.

[Brace]

Airport. Nothing you said was. Was.

[Big Cat]

Incorrect.

[Brace]

Okay. However, let's add a little nuance to this. First of all, women have only. You know, women are put upon in a sexist way often. And a certain gentleman was murdered in Utah named Charlie Kirk. And as you know, murders often go. One boy, one girl. One boy, one girl. She is a prominent conservative voice. She was going to the airport, which is a place where. Okay, granted, basically no shootings ever happened. To the airport. Because it is a place where there's actually a lot of police. Oftentimes they even have guns there in New York here. They have the National Guard there, even. However, anything can happen. That's what we've learned from all the events of the past since Christ died. Really? And. And so she goes to the airport. These guys are supposed to meet her. Yes. She doesn't come in the car that she said she was coming in. Yes. It was a different color car. You're police officers. Situational awareness is your number one thing. Eyes everywhere. Okay, I see. That's a red car. Not a red car. It's a gray car. Whatever you see Nancy Mace in that car, she is unmistakable. And again, sexism is a big problem. So I don't mean it in a sexist way when I say that body is unreplicable. And those police officers should have been able to note.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Her.

[Brace]

Yep. Exiting the car. No matter what car it was. Okay, maybe it was a different place where she was dropped off than she said she was getting dropped off. Doesn't matter. Doesn't.

[Big Cat]

Matter.

[Brace]

It's. It's.

[Big Cat]

Just. And.

[Brace]

Then. And then they're mad that she's on the phone being like, these guys. These cops suck. I hate the cops. Guess what? Five years ago, summer, 2020, everybody was talking like that. And just because. Yes. She. It takes her. She's a South Carolina. Takes a little while to catch up. Yeah, I understand. She's. Her acab moment or whatever came a little late. Fair enough. And then to have Lindsey Graham support the Charleston Airport instead of this woman named Nancy Mace, who should be his friend. I don't understand. Lots of women have a gay friend. Oftentimes it's an evil influence in their life. And let's. Let's not. And this isn't anything about gay people. This is anything about women. But a lot of women have a cruel homosexual whispering in their ear. Like the man in the horse kingdom in Lord of the.

[F]

Rings. Worm.

[Brace]

Tongue. Of course I'm talking about the famous worm tongue. And so I Don't understand why Nancy Mace doesn't have a worm tongue relationship with Lindsey Grant. Is it because he's too fat? I mean, this is the question we're all asking, is the reason that Lindsey Graham doesn't advise Nancy Mace is because maybe he. She thinks he's too fat. And this could be. Could be a lot of the cause of this. She's like, I don't want an advisor who makes the floorboards creak when he comes to secretly advise me. However, she did appear to tweet out what appeared to be. I'm using a period as many times as possible. Allegedly appeared to me to be a. A photoshopped or rather groked image of her possibly pregnant in front of a Christmas tree with gray hair the other day. That greatly disturbed.

[Big Cat]

Me. I saw that too. Is she not actually pregnant?

[Brace]

No.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Right. I.

[Big Cat]

It's. That would be a wild thing to tweet out if. If you weren't.

[Brace]

Maybe. But it's like, who's tweeting out, like, the baby bump begins showing? You know what I.

[Big Cat]

Mean? Yeah. You would typically wait for I. I would guess maybe four or five.

[Brace]

Months, maybe six after the kid is born, when you're like, check it out. I got.

[Big Cat]

Triplets. Yeah, that. I mean, that would be wild if that was actually what she.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Tweeted. But I. I.

[Big Cat]

Agree. Listen, I stand with Nancy Mace. I think we made that pretty clear when we first discussed it, that we stand with Nancy Mace. Nobody likes airports.

[Brace]

Nancy. Dude, you know who you actually got to get on? Anna Paulina.

[Big Cat]

Luna. Yeah, I know. That's. That's your.

[Brace]

Girl. No, she's not only go. But she's like the. She's like the congresswoman whose portfolio is like.

[Big Cat]

Conspiracies. Yeah. Yeah, she would. Didn't she go on. On Rogan a while.

[Brace]

Ago? Oh, I don't know. It's hard for me to.

[E]

Watch. She was just interviewed by the Daily.

[Brace]

Show.

[E]

That. That guy that goes to all of the Trump rallies. I'm forgetting his.

[Big Cat]

Name. Oh, yeah. Jordan is his name.

[E]

Jordan. Blonde.

[Big Cat]

Man.

[Big T]

Yeah. Jordan.

[Big Cat]

Klepper.

[Big T]

Yeah. The worst to ever do it.

[E]

Yeah. He just interviewed her, and she pulled out a scroll during the.

[Big Cat]

Interview. A.

[E]

Scroll?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Did she unfurl.

[E]

It?

[Big Cat]

Yep. It was wrapped.

[E]

Up.

[Brace]

Yep. What was on the.

[E]

Scroll? It was talking about how she thinks. I. I'm not. I'm paraphrasing it, but something about how Trump is king to.

[Big Cat]

Her.

[Brace]

Okay. She wrote the.

[E]

Scroll.

[Big Cat]

Yes. I would assume if you have a scroll, it's something that you uncovered.

[E]

Hold on, I'll find the.

[Big Cat]

Clip. Like a long lost.

[Brace]

Uncovered. I didn't know they were even making new.

[Big Cat]

Scrolls. How do you even write on a.

[Brace]

Scroll? Did she, I thought that this is like something you get at Joanne's fabrics or.

[E]

Something. It seemed, it seemed about that on.

[Brace]

Par. What I love about her is that she said she was Jewish, and it turns out her grandfather was Jewish, and it turns out that he was actually on the other side of that.

[Big Cat]

Conflict. Oh, no.

[Brace]

Way. Yes. And, and there's a great picture of him in his little, I believe, Vermont. I think actually he might have been in the ss, but not the real ss. He was in, like, the, the, what do you call it? The, like, poser ss. The Waffen.

[Big Cat]

Ss. Okay, gotcha.

[Brace]

Yeah. Or ver, But I mean, whatever. They're all the.

[Big Cat]

Same. Yeah, the, the volunteer version of it. Still not a good thing to be actually. Brace, I want to talk to you about the, the dude from, from Maine running for. Oh, yeah, running for Senate. So he's got, he's got the Totenkoff tattoo.

[Brace]

Right? It appears to be, it appears a toten comp. Over the, over the little beaten.

[Big Cat]

Heart. I, I, I'm like, always a guy that's like, policy, whatever you stand for, I can separate that from personality, that sort of thing. What are you going to do once you get elected? I'll separate that. I feel like we should have a rule against Nazi tattoos just in general. Like, that's, that's, that seems like a line that I'm okay with.

[Brace]

Drawing. Didn't he get it covered up.

[F]

With, like, the headline here says, you got it.

[Big Cat]

Covered? Got it.

[Brace]

Covered. But, but no, it's like, it's like a way worse tattoo. He should have gotten it covered up with just like, I don't even know what. Just be so funny if he just got an Israel flag, like, full color blue and white over.

[Big Cat]

It.

[Brace]

Yeah. It's like, sorry, guys, my bad. I think he got it in the Balkans too. I don't know. I, Whenever a guy like that runs, I'm always like, I don't even want to pay attention to this man. Like, I'm just like, it's a little too epic for.

[Big Cat]

Me. Yeah. It's always funny to seeing, like, seeing some Democrats that get to, like, support a big, tough, burly guy that went to war and fight, and they're like, finally, we got, we got one. This is, See, we can, we can be tough.

[Brace]

Too. Yeah. He was like, oh, well, that was like a big, the big thing is like, Democrats always try to run vets and like, for some reason the biggest result of that have been at least Stefanic. No, is it Stefanic choose the CIA.

[Big Cat]

One? Are you talking about.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Spanberger?

[Big Cat]

She. She just won governor. She was a Spanberg. The governor of.

[Brace]

Virginia. She's another one. Maybe Stefanik's not the right one. CIA Democrat. She. She is Congresswoman. I'm typing one.

[Big Cat]

Handed. Stefanic is the. The.

[Brace]

Republican. Alyssa Slotkin. Slotkin, yeah. Stefanik's a New York Republican. Duh. She did the. All the. All the. When they got the. The Ivy Leagues up there. And she was like, you're. And he's a medic. No, no, we have Alyssa Slotkin. And actually I went to a weird Democrat thing in D.C. like, I don't know, six or seven months ago, and she was like the main speaker there. And it was possibly the worst thing. I've. I've been to like a ton of MAGA stuff. I always have a good time at that. I've been. I've been to all kinds of horrible political events, but welcome Fest in D.C. had to be the worst I've ever been to because of how boring it was. And the main thing that I got from it was like, you know what? Moderate Democrats rock and we should elect more of them because they're more electable. And I don't know if that's exactly been proven true. I think people just don't like Democrats kind of. No. No matter what their politics.

[Big Cat]

Are. Yeah, I. I think that's pretty fair. And we were looking at the. Was that the centrist convention that you went.

[Brace]

To? Yeah. Centrist.

[Big T]

Convention.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. That's amazing. That's a great convention. Have you seen the graphic for the TP USA Festival this.

[Brace]

Weekend?

[Big Cat]

No. Let me send it over to.

[Big T]

You. Aran and I were talking about trying to get down.

[Big Cat]

There. I. I want to.

[Brace]

Know. I want to go. So T Bone, where is.

[Big Cat]

It? I'm sending. I'm sending over to you right now. It's in Phoenix this weekend. I was just fascinated by the graphic because I want to know everything that went on behind planning this graphic and all the drama that happened where, like, who was pissed off that they weren't featured high enough on this list? How many people on this list wanted certain other people not to be invited? That's the real story behind this is I want to see a documentary like a Hard.

[Brace]

Knocks. Oh, my.

[Big Cat]

God. Of how they did.

[Brace]

This. Oh, they got gut filled.

[Big Cat]

Dude. They got.

[Brace]

Gutfeld. Yeah, that's a score. Oh, Grant Cardone. Who I believe is a Scientologist. I might be.

[E]

Wrong. He's very high up in.

[Brace]

Scientology. Okay. He is a Scientologist. So a little bit crazy. The Christians are having him there. James o', Keefe, of course. Alex Berenson. Oh, interesting choice. Interesting choice. Jonathan Keeperman. Very interesting. There a sort of reformed alt right guy. Riley Gaines. Oh, Ali Beth.

[Big Cat]

Stucky. I don't know too.

[Brace]

Much. I find. I find her to be gorgeous. Steve Bannon. Donald Trump Jr. Tulsi Gabbard. I don't hear much from her lately. Jesse Waters. I dislike looking at him, but he looked kind of like that one guy, the method actor who was on Success. Succession. Ben Shapiro, of course. Glenn Beck. Vivic Ramasw. And Matt Walsh. Michael Knowles. Benny Johnson. Okay, so I guess he's weathering the allegations. Sean Duffy. We love him. Rachel Campos. Duffy. Never even heard of her. That's crazy that Ben Carson's that high up there.

[Big Cat]

Really? You.

[Brace]

Think? So who the. What the has he done.

[Big Cat]

Lately? I don't know. What has he been? He's been a little too quiet, hasn't.

[Big T]

He? Well, he was the.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Is he going back to. Back to.

[Big T]

Surgery? Is he in. In the.

[Big Cat]

Administration? He was in the last one. He was housing. Housing, urban.

[Brace]

Development. That sound like. What is his job.

[Big Cat]

Now? I'm not sure. Yeah, I don't think he has a.

[Brace]

Podcast. No, he probably.

[Big Cat]

Does. He probably does. You're.

[Big T]

Right. Yeah, the. The HUD was his last.

[Big Cat]

Position. Yeah, I. Russell Brand. That's a.

[Brace]

Guy. This is.

[Big Cat]

Tough. Russell Brand is an all time.

[Brace]

Guy. Wait, who the is Nelda.

[Big Cat]

Buckman? See, I don't know some of these people. I feel like maybe I'm getting washed because I don't recognize some of them. I just assume everybody has a.

[E]

Podcast. Nelda Buckman is the creator of a studio, like a movie studio, who I believe makes conservative media based on what I'm.

[Brace]

At.

[E]

Looking. Looking.

[Big Cat]

At. You know who I feel bad for on this list is Congressman Mike Collins. He has been reduced to first, second, third, fourth, fifth. He's in the sixth row. He's a sitting US Representative and he's right behind Gary Breca, Graham Allen, Greg Laurie, John Amanchukwo, and Brandon Tatum, who is Millicent.

[Brace]

Cedra. That's like a Game of Thrones.

[Big Cat]

Character. It is.

[F]

Yeah. It does look like Ben Carson has a podcast. Common Sense. Last upload on YouTube two months ago.

[Big Cat]

Though. So. Yeah, he's not really. He's like 146 videos. Yeah, but that's like a lot of 146. A lot of athletes that. That retire and they're like, I'm gonna start a.

[F]

Podcast.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And then they run out of.

[Brace]

Stories. Was having sex accidentally on Instagram.

[Big Cat]

Live? Shannon Sharp. Shannon Sharp. Well, no, he wasn't. He was purposely having sex, but accidentally went.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

Live.

[Brace]

Yeah. I'm just saying Ben Carson, I feel like to revive his career, should fuck on.

[Big Cat]

Live. Yeah, I think that's a great way to do.

[Brace]

It. Are you going, Big T? Are you going to.

[Big T]

This? No. Arian and I talked about it on Monday. He's actually in Phoenix right now, but he's leaving tomorrow and we couldn't. They're. They're like sold. It's completely. You can't get in. They're. They're sold out at passes and.

[Brace]

Everything. God damn, dude. I'm going. I'm. I'm. We're going on vacation, like a Christmas break. We do a break every year and it's always. This one sucks is I want to go to this. And also the Epstein files come out the day that we go on break, which I guess is good. I can get time to read them, but I want to go this so.

[Big T]

Bad. How much of that are you going to read? Like, how do we have a guess, even.

[Brace]

How. I have no idea. I'm gonna be. I'm on a little bit of a mission for like, the first 10 days of break. And so I'll be. I'll be. I'll have kind of a lot of down time to read.

[Big Cat]

Them. If you were to just like, guess what? We're gonna fight. Is there going to be a bombshell in.

[Brace]

There? Dude, I think there will be some bombshells in there, but I don't know what the. They could possibly be like. I don't. I have no idea. I. I gotta be honest. I've. I. I don't. I don't even fully even really understand all of what they're releasing.

[Big Cat]

Epstein. Yeah, I think it's the. The grand jury stuff with Ghislaine. All the stuff that went into the investigation that eventually got Jeffrey Epstein.

[Brace]

Arrested.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And maybe that's some financial stuff from.

[Brace]

Before. Yeah, I guess. I. Yeah, I guess. Like, I mean, I'm like, is it going to be like, the evidence they collected from his house afterwards? Like, is it. And yeah, I mean, it's just. There's so much. It could be that I just have no.

[F]

Idea. Do you all think anybody. Am I wrong here? Has anybody been arrested outside of Ghislaine and.

[Brace]

Epstein? Yeah.

[F]

Yeah. So do you think. Do you think we get another.

[Brace]

Arrest? I don't think.

[F]

So.

[Brace]

Damn. I don't think. But Jean Luke Brunel actually sort of like sec. One of his. A Ghislaine type figure with him was arrested in France and also subsequently was found hanging in his cell in.

[Big Cat]

Jail. Oh.

[Brace]

Interesting.

[F]

Yeah.

[Brace]

Coincidence. But yeah, there's a. I don't know. I have no idea. The. I've been like, still reading all through the Ehud Barack.

[Big Cat]

Emails. It's pretty crazy.

[Brace]

Stuff. It's crazy stuff. Hey, guys, I gotta.

[Big Cat]

Go. Well, thank you, Brace. Appreciate your.

[Brace]

Time. Thank you for having me.

[Big Cat]

On. You're the best. Thank you.

[Big T]

Brace. This is.

[Brace]

Fun. Great to meet you guys. Can I just.

[Big Cat]

Quit? Yeah, just quit. Just quit. People are gonna be pumped for. For a Brace.

[Brace]

Episode. Amazing. And I'll see.

[Big Cat]

You. Very fortunate timing that it was when we had House Minority Leader Jeffrey's.

[Brace]

On.

[Big Cat]

Absolutely. See you.

[Brace]

Brace. See.

[Big Cat]

Ya. Okay, that was Mac radosing. I enjoyed the interview. I enjoyed Brace and T. Bob contributing. Good job, Big T. How would you say that went Pretty good? Pretty.

[Big T]

Good?

[Brace]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay, I'll take pretty.

[Brace]

Good. I'll take pretty.

[Big T]

Good. It was.

[Big Cat]

7:2. Okay, that's great. Perfect. Perfect. Don't want to stay medium. Don't want to.

[Big T]

Be. Now if we.

[Big Cat]

Get. Don't give me any rat.

[Big T]

Poison. If I get the quarter zip. It was a 9.

[Big Cat]

4. Then you're bought.

[Big T]

Off.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Then you're quite literally in their.

[Big T]

Pocket. But they'd be on my chest.

[Big Cat]

So. That's right. They might be in your.

[Big T]

Pocket.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Flipped it on. All right, Good episode. We will see you guys next Tuesday. Next Tuesday. We've got a. A favorite things slash Christmas episode. And excited about that. Well, have a good one. Enjoy and see you at the racket New York City tonight.

[Big T]

Thursday. Mackenzie. If he asks, I want the black, not the blue. Unless they want to send.

[Big Cat]

Both. Love you.

[Brace]

Guys.