Trump's Versailles on the Potomac

Summary

Pod Save America: "Trump’s Versailles on the Potomac" (June 5, 2026)

Hosts: Jon Favreau & Alex Wagner
Episode Theme:
A scathing, irreverent deep-dive into the ongoing spectacle of Trump’s egocentric White House renovations, the unkillable ‘insurrectionist slush fund,’ new Trump appointees’ dubious credentials, Democratic primary dramas, the unravelling of 60 Minutes, and the latest, disturbing Graham Platner revelations. Jon Favreau reveals the tale of his almost-attendance at Trump’s UFC bash.
Tone: Sarcastic, pointed, occasionally profane; a signature ‘no-b******t’, progressive critique of U.S. politics.

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EPISODE SUMMARY

1. Trump’s White House Vanity Projects & The "Slush Fund" Saga

Starts ~[04:18]

Key Points:

• Congress is pushing another $70 billion to Trump, mainly for ICE to detain immigrants in controversial camps.
• Trump demanded an extra billion for his White House ballroom and $1.8B for a slush fund for insurrectionists, but Congress blocked the ballroom and tenuously blocked the slush fund—though only in words, not by statute.
• Trump appeared at a "clean coal event," obsessing over renovations: reflecting pools, “Trump Promenade,” and fixations on legacy via construction.

Notable Moments:

• “What the fuck is happening?” — Jon Favreau ([06:18])
• Alex Wagner: “His legacy is brick and mortar…he’s destroyed the country...he has a bloodletting ahead of him and so what’s his recourse? Promenades. Big penis pool.” ([07:02])

Insight:

• Trump’s focus on physical legacies is portrayed as desperate compensation for dwindling relevance and growing unpopularity—even his supporters (and Congress) are weary.
• The GOP denied Democrats’ push to legally abolish the slush fund, allowing Trump to potentially revive it later.

Notable Quotes:

• “After he’s gone, no one else will [build monuments for him].” — Sen. Jon Ossoff via Jon Favreau ([09:01])
• “It is Versailles de Potomac.” — Jon Favreau ([09:23])

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2. Congress Fails to Kill the ‘Insurrectionist Slush Fund’

Starts ~[09:42]

Key Points:

• GOP Senators Cassidy and Tillis toyed with amendments that offered only superficial limitations; Democrats’ genuine attempts failed.
• The fund remains technically alive due to lack of enforceable legislative language.
• Stark skepticism about Congressional Republicans’ willingness to restrain Trump.

Notable Quotes:

• “Fool me 17 times, I should stop talking. And that’s how I feel about Republicans in Congress.” — Alex Wagner ([13:03])
• “We cannot have a $2 billion taxpayer slush fund given to insurrectionists...someone, I mean, I don’t know…so I’m outraged.” — Alex Wagner ([13:54])

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3. ICE Funding & Detention Crisis

Starts ~[14:09]

Highlights:

• $72 billion in new ICE/CBP funding greenlit, with Democrats and progressive media voices railing against continued inhumane conditions, family separations, and corporate profiteering in private detention centers.
• On-the-ground reporting (Caitlin Dickerson, “Runaway Country”) exposes deaths, medical neglect, child separations, and rampant abuse.
• Both personally and legislatively, hosts frame America’s current approach as a moral and constitutional “abuse of power.”

Notable Quotes:

• “We are about to dump another $72 billion in ICE and CPP’s lap.” — Alex Wagner ([17:57])
• “Some people are begging to be deported somewhere…making life so abominable that people just give up hope.” — Alex Wagner ([18:42])
• “We should be all more publicly devastated by it.” — Alex Wagner ([20:09])

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4. Trump’s New Appointees: Blanche and Pulte

Starts ~[25:22]

Todd Blanche (Attorney General):

• Blanche, a Trump loyalist and former defense lawyer, elevated to Acting and now permanent AG—made possible by a loophole in the Vacancies Act that potentially allows indefinite ‘acting’ stints.

Bill Pulte (Director of National Intelligence):

• Pulte’s only relevant experience: “meme stock investor,” instigator of bizarre online subcultures, and peddler of Trumpist conspiracy theories.
• GOP Senators displayed open skepticism or apathy; Trump defended Pulte as “very smart.”

Notable Moments:

• Description of Pulte’s Bed Bath & Beyond conspiracy event, complete with a “green dildo” as symbolic award ([30:13]-[31:42]).
• “Just as heinous as you would imagine it to be…” — Alex Wagner ([31:06])
• “He’s the brains behind AI Jesus and the 50 year mortgage boondoggle.” — Alex Wagner ([32:15])

Insight:

• Democratic holdouts threaten to condition Section 702 (FISA) renewal on blocking Pulte’s appointment, but GOP support is tepid.
• Appointment process manipulation—acting appointments, paper shuffling—becomes a meta-topic.

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5. Congressional Moves on Iran War & Republican Fraying

Starts ~[38:40]

Key Points:

• Bipartisan House and Senate gestures to curb Trump’s war power in Iran passed, but are largely symbolic. Trump dismissed the moves as “unpatriotic.”
• The Wall Street Journal and Condoleezza Rice sang uncredible praise for Trump’s Middle East adventure, even as underlying issues remain.
• Alex Wagner on Rice: “Let me burnish my reputation by defending a failing president, proudly misguided war.” ([40:43])

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6. Primary Election Round-up (Iowa, Montana, California)

Starts ~[43:31]

Notables:

• Iowa’s Senate flips to "Lean Republican"; Montana nominates a Bernie/AOC-backed “smokejumper”; California races mired in slow vote-counting, party division, and the rise of a reality TV star in the LA mayoral contest.
• Wagner and Favreau lament the lack of inspiring, communicative Democratic candidates and warn of party drift amid establishment inertia.

Quotes:

• “Who’s the really inspiring communicator? …Not a lot of them.” — Jon Favreau ([47:48])
• “We need leaders…stand up and point somewhere and say this is where we’re going.” — Jon Favreau ([49:34])

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7. Graham Platner Scandal: The Left’s Masculinity Reckoning

Starts ~[50:54]

Summary:

• The NYT drops its anticipated exposé on Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner (“the left’s answer to toxic masculinity”), revealing new, disturbing allegations of abusive behavior and Nazi ties by a former girlfriend.
• Favreau and Wagner openly wrestle with questions of atonement, pattern of behavior, voter trust, and the tension between personal redemption and public responsibility.

Notable Quotes:

• “If anybody ever broke in here, I would rape them…to show them that I’m dominant.” — Recited from ex-girlfriend’s account ([53:06])
• “If this kind of masculinity is true, it’s just as toxic as everything being served on the right.” — Alex Wagner ([54:13])
• “Two things can be right…We need to win the fucking seat.” — Jon Favreau ([58:17])

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8. 60 Minutes Meltdown & The Media in the Trump Era

Starts ~[67:26]

Key Points:

• Trump-friendly billionaire David Ellison’s takeover of CBS and Bari Weiss’s “amoral, unethical hollowing out” of 60 Minutes spark staff revolt; Scott Pelley exit.
• The hosts lament the last vestiges of the mainstream, monocultural fourth estate being destroyed for entertainment profit and political leverage.

Quotable:

• “This is about attacks on the free press and this administration…disassembling one of the last great institutions.” — Alex Wagner ([73:12])
• “You’d have to be really fucking incompetent to do it this way. More so. You’re not going to tell me that…this was the best way to change the culture at 60 Minutes.” — Jon Favreau ([74:01])
• “It’s a dick-swinging contest about who got what resources. This is an attack on the free press.” — Alex Wagner ([73:34])

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9. Jon Favreau’s (Mis)Adventure: The White House UFC Invite

Starts ~[74:40]

Story:

• Favreau tells the comic tale of being mistakenly invited (due to a case of “Jon Favreau” confusion) to Trump’s UFC spectacle at the White House, only to be uninvited at the last possible moment.
• Details the logistical hoops, the humor, and the letdown.

Highlights:

• “Ari [Emanuel] chose me because I thought he thinks I was the other Jon Favreau…Iron Man Jon Favreau.” ([76:17])
• “It was such a fun story. But as I was getting closer, I’m like, what am I going to do?” — Jon Favreau ([79:27])
• “Let them eat cake banner over the White House portico…” — Alex Wagner, imagining what could have been ([80:18])

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

| Quote | Speaker | Timestamp | |---|---|---| | “What the fuck is happening?” | Jon Favreau | 06:18 | | “It is Versailles de Potomac.” | Jon Favreau | 09:23 | | “Fool me 17 times, I should stop talking. And that’s how I feel about Republicans in Congress.” | Alex Wagner | 13:03 | | “We are about to dump another $72 billion in ICE and CPP’s lap.” | Alex Wagner | 17:57 | | “He’s the brains behind AI Jesus and the 50 year mortgage boondoggle.” | Alex Wagner | 32:15 | | “If this kind of masculinity is true, it’s just as toxic as everything being served on the right.” | Alex Wagner | 54:13 | | “We need leaders…stand up and point somewhere and say this is where we’re going.” | Jon Favreau | 49:34 | | “This is about attacks on the free press…disassembling one of the last great institutions.” | Alex Wagner | 73:12 | | “Ari [Emanuel] chose me because I thought he thinks I was the other Jon Favreau…Iron Man Jon Favreau.” | Jon Favreau | 76:17 |

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Key Segments & Timestamps

• White House Renovations & Trump's Vanity: [04:18] – [09:42]
• Insurrectionist Slush Fund Drama: [09:42] – [14:09]
• ICE Detentions & Human Rights Crisis: [14:09] – [21:22]
• Todd Blanche & Bill Pulte Appointments: [25:22] – [36:07]
• Iran War Powers & Condoleezza Rice: [38:40] – [43:31]
• 2026 Primary Election Results: [43:31] – [50:52]
• Graham Platner Scandal Analysis: [50:54] – [64:41]
• Media Meltdown at 60 Minutes: [67:26] – [74:40]
• Favreau’s UFC Invitation Fiasco: [74:40] – [81:27]

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Final Notes

• Tone & Takeaway: Blistering, sardonic, and frustrated—yet laced with self-awareness about the limits of progressive media and the wrenching difficulty of effecting change in the Trump era.
• Memorable Images: Trump’s “big penis pool,” Congress as a “fucking joke,” and Jon Favreau’s almost-visit to a MAGA spectacle.
• Action: Emphasis on vigilance, skepticism about Congressional willpower, and the need for inspiring Democratic leadership.

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For anyone who hasn't listened:
This episode is a one-stop shop for the week’s most jaw-dropping political absurdities, spotlighting not just Trump’s ostentatious White House makeover and dangerous consolidation of power, but the systemic rot (and inertia) in Congress, the suffering at the border, media’s existential crisis, and the Democratic Party’s soul-searching in the face of scandal. Both devastating and darkly funny, it’s essential for understanding the intersection of spectacle, scandal, and real-world consequences heading into the 2026 midterms.

Transcript

[Ad Read Host]

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[Jon Favreau]

Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.

[Alex Wagner]

And I'm Alex Wagner in studio in la. I came to cast my ballot. Just kidding. I'm here.

[Jon Favreau]

We'll still take it.

[Alex Wagner]

Still being counted. See you in 2023.

[Jon Favreau]

How many do you want to drop off?

[Alex Wagner]

Several. All for Heidi Montag.

[Jon Favreau]

Just trying to get on the five. It's good to see you.

[Alex Wagner]

It's great to be here. I'm always so thrilled to be in person with you guys.

[Jon Favreau]

I hear that we're doing this two weeks in a row because Mr. Pfeiffer is out next Thursday as well.

[Alex Wagner]

Wow.

[Jon Favreau]

I know.

[Alex Wagner]

I'm so Glad that you're in control of the calendar. I had no idea.

[Jon Favreau]

Barely. I feel I just found that out yesterday.

[Alex Wagner]

I'm sorry, everyone. Who wants Dan Pfeiffer on the show, which is probably most people, but sometimes Dan has to. Dan.

[Jon Favreau]

It's rare that Dan takes a break from anything.

[Alex Wagner]

Well, I mean, I don't think he's contractually allowed to. Right?

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, that is true. That is true.

[Alex Wagner]

Working in a gulag somewhere.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, we're very happy to have you. And on today's show, we have lots to talk about. Whether the insurrectionist slush fund is really dead and why Republicans just refused to kill it for good when they had the chance. We're also going to talk about Todd Blanche's promotion to Attorney general. Congratulations. Bill Pulte's promotion to America's spy chief. The latest results from Tuesday's primaries in Iowa and California. Yet more Graham Platner news. The meltdown at 60 minutes. And finally, for the first time ever, I will reveal a secret I've been keeping and tell the story of how I was invited, actually invited, to the White House UFC fight.

[Alex Wagner]

What a deep tease. As they say in the TV industry,

[Jon Favreau]

that is a deep, deep tease. It's happening before we start, if you want to find out the real story, you'll have to subscribe. No, just kidding. But you should subscribe if you haven't subscribed already. What are you doing to crooked? You could become a friend of the pod. Cricut.com friends. You get ad free episodes of all your favorite pods.

[Alex Wagner]

I mean, there's really nothing better than that.

[Jon Favreau]

Isn't it nice to listen to this and all your other crooked pods Ads?

[Alex Wagner]

Oh, we love our advertisers, Sean.

[Jon Favreau]

Of course we love our advertisers, but some people like the advertisers. Some people just want ad free.

[Alex Wagner]

They want to get right to the meat.

[Jon Favreau]

And you know what? If you do like ads, there's a lot of other benefits, too. There's subscriber only shows like Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer.

[Alex Wagner]

That's a must.

[Jon Favreau]

Listen our special extra secret episode of Pod Save America called Pod Save America. Only friends.

[Alex Wagner]

Oh, I mean. And it is really an inside scoop.

[Jon Favreau]

Inside dope, Inside scoop and lots of subs. Stack newsletters these days. And you get to support an independent, proudly pro democracy media company that Bari Weiss can't murder.

[Alex Wagner]

And Scott Pelley's soon to join the roster, right?

[Jon Favreau]

That's right. That's right.

[Alex Wagner]

It's called 153 minutes.

[Jon Favreau]

That's the name of his podcast that is quite long. Cricket.com friends. Check it out. All right, Alex. The Republican Congress has been hard at work this week trying to shovel another $70 billion of our money to Donald Trump so that ICE can keep rounding up immigrants and locking them away in barbaric detention camps. Trump wants even more, of course. A billion dollars for his ballroom and $1.8 billion for a slush fund he could use to make cash payments to convicted criminals who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. Republicans denied him the ballroom money in this bill, but they did on Thursday block a Democratic amendment that would have killed the J6 slush fund. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said this week that they wouldn't be moving forward with the slush fund. But when Trump was asked about that, he gave an answer that surprised absolutely no one. I love it. I think it's so important. On Thursday, he did a clean coal event in the Oval Office where we all thought he'd elaborate on the future of the slush fund. But instead, he dozed off several times in between his home renovation updates, which today included an announcement of yet another brand new construction project. Let's listen.

[Donald Trump]

This is now open. You see the size of that compared to some of the biggest buildings in the country. Actually, the biggest. Hi, Peter.

[Alex Wagner]

Hey.

[Tom Cotton]

President Trump.

[Donald Trump]

And we have it finished. The water is pouring in as we speak. This is from just a little while ago. Nice, clean water. The Lincoln Memorial. The front was supposed to be the back. The back was supposed to be the front. It never got built because they built two roadways behind it after it was built, and it shut off the gateway to the water. That was really going to be the main entry. And we're going to be doing that. We're going to call it the Promenade. Be the promenade. They want to call it the Trump Promenade, but I don't know if I want to do that.

[Jon Favreau]

What the fuck is happening?

[Alex Wagner]

We really need to talk about how unwell this man is.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Alex Wagner]

First of all, was there a penis also on that chart of big things that Trump support?

[Jon Favreau]

You know, this is. I don't. We should. This is not super important, but this is the second day now. He has led off an event in the Oval by holding up a chart to show that the reflecting pool is bigger than most buildings.

[Alex Wagner]

Yes.

[Jon Favreau]

But, like, it's not even something that he can brag about. Like, he did it. He didn't lengthen the reflecting pool.

[Alex Wagner]

It was built in 1920.

[Jon Favreau]

Right. He just put in. He just painted it and renovated it. But now he's obsessed constantly with, like, holding up a billboard of how it's big. What the.

[Alex Wagner]

What. It's a sort of. I mean, it's legacy by way of phallic imagery. I think it's just an obsession with size. It is inversely proportional to his approval ratings. Right. So as he sinks in the polls, he needs to erect or claim the erection. I'm sorry, I keep saying these sort of penile vocabulary, but it is all. I mean, it's all intermingled and it's. The only way he believes he'll have a legacy is brick and mortar. And even if it's not his own brick and mortar, I mean, he's destroyed. He is destroying the country. He's lost the faith of, maybe even his own party in Congress or is losing it. He has a colossal. A bloodletting ahead of him in November, which is gonna leave him even more castrated. And so what's his recourse? I guess, reflecting the promenades. Yeah, big penis pool.

[Jon Favreau]

And now we're doing a promenade around the Lincoln Memorial.

[Alex Wagner]

I mean, are we, though.

[Jon Favreau]

Are we gonna get the. Like, are we gonna get those Mar a lago yellow umbrellas like we have in what used to be the Rose Garden?

[Alex Wagner]

RIP I don't know that any of this is gonna come to pass. I mean, truly. First of all, he's over budget and over time on all the projects that are already underway. The Republicans in Congress have gotten very fatigued of, I think, the ego and the vanity projects. And I, you know, they're not giving him a billion for the ballroom. I just, I think that this is all, first of all, a distraction from what's really happening, and we should talk about what's unfolding in Congress right now. But, like, I don't know, how fast can you build a promenade? The thing they're doing in the reflecting pool isn't even fixing the leaks. It's going to be covered in mold in like a year or a couple of months.

[Jon Favreau]

And the arch, don't forget about the arch.

[Alex Wagner]

I don't know, man. I don't know. I just hope all of them become intake processing centers for newly arrived migrants. Like, that's just the only good. You drain the pool and let. Make it, you know, put bedding down, let people sleep there. Like, just make it something useful for this increasingly poor and destitute country that he's running into the ground.

[Jon Favreau]

I absolutely loved the Jon Ossoff line from over the weekend about all this, where he said, yeah, he's building all these monuments to himself. Because after he's gone, no one else will.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah, that is absolutely true. Devastating, that is. And Ossoff has been so good on reinforcing the narrative that this is all kind of Louis XIV style corruption and self.

[Jon Favreau]

Versailles de Potomac.

[Alex Wagner]

That's what we call it. Exactly. I mean, it is. It's les tat, c' est moi. That means this state. It's me Spanish, not French.

[Jon Favreau]

Thank you for moving that one forward.

[Alex Wagner]

It's a disaster of epic proportions in terms of one man's ego, but I am skeptical that it actually comes to fruition. The Trump promenade.

[Jon Favreau]

At least let's hope so. What did you make of the dead or alive drama around the slush fund and the Republicans refusal, slash, failure to kill it for good? Because some tried today, but they could not get their caucus on board. Yeah, some tried to save their own asses.

[Alex Wagner]

Some, not all. I think number one, it is important that there be specific written language passed by Congress that outlaws the slush fund. It is quite clear to me, especially based on Trump's suggestion that he love. Not. Not explicit declaration that he loves the fundamental. Todd Blanche will do anything Donald Trump wants. If Todd Blanche says on Monday, the slush fund is gone and Trump says on Tuesday, I love it. That means by Wednesday, the slush fund could be up and running. It is imperative that the legislative branch shut this thing down. Right. So I think the movement to attach an amendment to this reconciliation bill that's being voted on right now is essential. What is the point of Bill Cassidy? Bill Cassidy is a senator and he's. He's the Republican who upon which this, like the future of this slush fund in large part hinges. Right. He was the holdout today. He delayed, delayed, delayed. People thought, oh, my God, he's going to kill this thing. And then decided at the last minute after three hours of deliberation. You know what? I need this to be a Republican effort and not a Democratic effort. Bill Cassidy gave the country a raccoon, testicle obsessed health and Human services director who is an anti vaxxer. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He a doctor. Bill Cassidy gave us a lunatic at HHS. He was the pivotal vote. This was the one chance Bill Cassidy had to redeem his reputation, his stature as a statesman. And like, what did he do with it? What's the point of mounting resistance for three hours and then saying on partisan grounds, I can't accept this amendment. I need Republicans to author it.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. So just to catch people up on what happened here, Democrats offered an amendment to say it's nice that Todd Blanche said that this. We're not moving forward with the fund, but we're going to kill it statutorily. We're gonna put it in law to make sure that it's gone for good. And Schumer offered the amendment and they got Collins and they got Dan Sullivan in Alaska, whose Mary Peltola is running

[Alex Wagner]

against, who sees the chips falling where they may.

[Jon Favreau]

And John Husted hoosted.

[Alex Wagner]

Who knew?

[Jon Favreau]

Exactly. Anyway, he's the guy that shared a Browns running against in Ohio who Fox News poll came out yesterday that shows him trailing Sherrod Brown by 8. Sherrod's best poll. Awesome. But anyway, those three just coincidentally voted.

[Alex Wagner]

They have in common.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, they voted to kill it as Republicans, but you're right, Cassidy and Tillis thought they would be cutesy and they decided not to vote for that amendment. They introduced their own, which was to say, you can't use the slush fund in the way that Trump wants to use it. It has to be used for the anti fraud initiative that J.D. vance is running, which is basically like, you know, robbing states of Medicaid funding. If someone committing fraud somewhere, they just sort of collective punishment for the rest of the people who are on Medicaid. So they introduced that amendment and obviously Democrats weren't gonna support that because it's crazy and the anti fraud initiative is bullshit. So they got like, I don't know, seven, eight, nine Republicans on that one, but that one didn't pass either. So now we have no. Now we have no language. We have no language to kill the fund.

[Alex Wagner]

And I say this, it's like, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me 17 times, I should stop talking. And that's how I feel about Republicans in Congress. It's like, I can't believe I'm even still fucking entertaining the idea that they'll do the right thing on this, that they'll actually deliver on something they say they're so against, which is the slush fund. But I stupidly hold out hope that Bill Cassidy will get something done, that Thom Tillis will find a backbone and that Susan Collins. Susan Collins for whom there's a specific place.

[Jon Favreau]

And you know what? Like, it doesn't count. What? Susan Collins.

[Alex Wagner]

No, of course not. It's a gimme.

[Jon Favreau]

And Sullivan did. Because if it really counted and they really didn't want the fund, they could vote against the final bill.

[Alex Wagner]

It doesn't count.

[Ad Read Host]

Whatever.

[Jon Favreau]

They could vote against the final bill.

[Alex Wagner]

They're all on their way out Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy are out. It's a joke. It's a fucking joke. At the same time, it's really important that this get done.

[Jon Favreau]

I know.

[Alex Wagner]

Because we cannot have a $2 billion taxpayer slush fund given to insurrectionists. Like, that is not so someone. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. So I'm outraged. I'm incensed by the existence of Bill Cassidy, and I, you know, I look for redemption. I hope there is some for them.

[Jon Favreau]

What's your level of concern that there hasn't been more drama around the ICE funding itself, which is sort of not even being talked about as much? Partly because I think it was baked in that it was gonna pass way back when, you know, the government shutdown happened or the DHS shutdown happened. I know you covered ICE detention centers on Runaway country this week. I interviewed Andy Kim on Tuesday's POD senator from New Jersey about the horrific conditions at the detention center in Newark. I mean, this is one that has been, like, making me quietly sick every time I see more stories, because it's like, I'm very aware that we finished the episode of Trump's America where there was the Battle of Minneapolis, and then Kristi Noem was fired, and then they pulled back and Stephen Miller was sort of like, you know, had to go back in his cave for a little bit. And so everyone moved on and thinks, okay, now things are good and things are not good.

[Alex Wagner]

No. There may be fewer expenditures on expensive horse rental under Mark Wayne Mullen, the new DHS secretary, but things are as dastardly as ever. Let's just. I mean, just for people who have not paid attention to what's going on in terms of detentions. Caitlin Dickerson, who we have on the show on Runaway country this week, has been doing some essential reporting from on the ground. The idea of family separations still happening. By her estimate, I think 200,000 parents have been deported and separated from their children, some of whom have ended up in foster care, some of whom have ended up with other relatives or strangers. There's no tracking for that part. And they can't get their kids back. In many cases, they're in dangerous places where they have no home, they're facing threats of gang violence, their children are locked in the United States. It is a devastating situation. So there's that reality. And then when you talk about what's happening inside the detention centers, I mean, there. There. I think 50 people have died in detention since Trump took office. The. The standard of care in these detention Centers is appalling. You're talking about medical concerns like people needing to see doctors for routine small issues that when they aren't treated become life threatening issues. The lawyer that we spoke to, Melissa Shepard from Immigration Defenders, talks about someone who had a hangnail that was left untreated and couldn't see a nurse, couldn't see a doctor and eventually was at risk of dying from sepsis because of this. Right. These are, I mean, then you talk about just basic, you know, basic, basic, basic, basic levels of care, including clean water. They're being given moldy food or not enough food or contaminated water. The latrines aren't being cleaned. Detainees are volunteering to clean up and create shifts because nobody else is cleaning the facilities.

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, these are pregnant women, children, these are elderly people who need their medicine.

[Alex Wagner]

John, these are people that have been living in the United states for like 20 years.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes, that's right.

[Alex Wagner]

That used to go to CVS to get their prescriptions. Like this is. And that doesn't, it doesn't make it easier, it doesn't make it better if they weren't those people, but they were integrated into American society and even if they didn't have the paperwork, they were living like we are. And they have been shunted into a just dark, an unimaginably depressing, devastating environment from which there seems like no escape. These private prisons, these private detention centers are being run by for profit companies like the Geo Group, from which the Trump administration is cherry picking executives and making them the new head of ICE. Tom Homan was a consultant to the GEO Group AG Bondi back in 2019, another consultant to the Geo Group. It's a revolving door where, you know, the snake is eating its own tail. And as a result there are, you know, Geo Group has made, I think an 800% increase in profits between 2024 and 2025. It's really lucrative business to cram a bunch of people with no legal representation into subhuman conditions and charge the government a lot of money for it. And that's what's happening. And now we're about to dump another $72 billion in ice and CPP's lap.

[Jon Favreau]

And like we've both interviewed people who've been caught up in this and people who probably like have more means and maybe they're like Canadians that got caught up in it. But right, and they will say like, it's not even like they're just deporting people. Right? Like, that's what I think. People have this image of, oh, Trump wants to deport people and he wants to deport, you know, the worst of the worst or maybe just undocumented immigrants. And obviously it's gone beyond that, but it's beyond just deportation, which in some cases would be more humane than what they are doing to people in these detention centers. Some people are, like, begging to be deported somewhere.

[Alex Wagner]

Yes, well, that's the point. I think one of the things they're doing is making the life so abominable that people just decide, I'm gonna give up on my case. I mean, and by the way, half the time they can't be in touch with their lawyers. They're shipped around from detention center to detention center, they're lost in the system, and they give up hope. I mean, it's an incredibly emotionally traumatic thing to be snatched off the street. Kids, Children taken, or children themselves.

[Jon Favreau]

I feel like kids are our kids age well. And like, what happens after you spend a month in a detention center like that?

[Alex Wagner]

I mean, I. I mean, there's no oversight into any of this. And you see Andy K. Kim, who you had on. I mean, when you have congressional representatives who are, you know, tasked with oversight, trying to do their job, they are pepper sprayed, they are arrested, they are charged with crimes. I mean, and we have no idea what's happening in Dilley Detention, which is where all the kids are.

[Jon Favreau]

I will tell you, when I was talking to Andy Kim, I was thinking about, remember that he was. He was like a brand new, new to congress time of January 6th, and he was in the Capitol picking up the trash. And like, I remember interviewing him after that and he was like, so still. So, like, hopeful.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

Even though that had happened, because he was. And you know, when I interviewed him on Tuesday, he seemed like, beat down.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

Like, when you see something like that, it's like. And he's not the type of. He's not the type of politician who's like, hair on fire, partisan this, that he just. He saw something. And you can tell he, like, can't even believe what he saw.

[Alex Wagner]

You can't unsee it or unlearn it. And I have to say, one, the, One of the advantages of the way the government is handling deportations right now is it's happening in large part behind. The worst parts of it are happening behind closed doors. When Alex Paretti and Renee Nicole Goode were killed, it alarmed the entire country because it was happening in broad daylight. And now the abuse and dehumanization of people is just happening behind closed doors. And they're brown people and they have fewer rights and there's less mainstream media coverage and the federal government makes it very difficult to get information. Nonetheless, I mean, you know, this is happening in our name and we are doing this to people who were once integrated members of our society, who contribute to our economy and to the fabric of our democracy. And I just think, you know, it's devastating for anybody that works on it, but we should be, I mean, we should be all more publicly devastated by it. And in the context of this funding, you know, these jabronis in Congress doing whatever they're doing, we shouldn't forget that the essential fight here, the reason this bill is happening through reconciliation is because Democrats didn't want to fucking fund ICE and CPB without reforms. Because what they're doing is an abuse of power, it is not constitutional. And that should always be the sort of endnote for any discussion about whatever Congress ends up doing on reconciliation.

[Jon Favreau]

Did you. One more thing on this. Did you see. On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen refused to rule out his crazy ass plan to basically shut down. Basically it would shut down international travel at airports in sanctuary cities by removing customs and border patrol officers. So here la. I mean, the first threat was Newark because there were the protests outside the Delaney Detention Facility. And that is like. I don't know whether to be like that is completely insane and scary and what are we gonna do? Or like go for it? Touch the stove. Shut down, shut down international travel in this economy to the United States? That's gonna work.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah. No, Republicans fly though, right? They only. They travel by pony. What the fuck?

[Jon Favreau]

Can you imagine the hit to the economy?

[Alex Wagner]

It would be so bad. It's such an example of this idiot ass administration cutting off its nose to spite its face. I mean, good job, guys like make gas a trillion dollars a gallon and then shut down air travel. Way, way to make America great again. I mean. And Mark Wayne Mullen in his notes on this plan suggested that it's something they've been cooking up for a while and they're ready to execute on it until and unless ICE officers are respected. Well, you know, on some level, I have to say, John, maybe doing that, I mean, taking the, setting aside the hit to the economy, it's like at least people would be reminded.

[Jon Favreau]

I know.

[Alex Wagner]

That this is an ongoing fight.

[Jon Favreau]

I know that's a, it's a, it's a touch and stove moment.

[Tom Cotton]

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[Jon Favreau]

So, good news for the the brains behind the J6 slush fund. Trump announced this week that he intends to officially promote acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to permanent Attorney General. Todd Blanche, the president's former personal defense lawyer, has been on a roll since he took over for Pam Bondi. In addition to coming up with a slush fund, Blanche has brought a second indictment against Jim Comey for his seashell art picture. And he's also stepped up an investigation into John Brennan. Blanche's nomination will have to go through the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose Republican members include John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. Are we gonna be stuck with Todd Blanche for as long as we're stuck with Donald Trump?

[Alex Wagner]

Well, first of all, I mean, no matter what Thom Tillis intends on doing, there is the reality that Todd Blanche can stay acting AG Till. Trump is out of office forever.

[Ad Read Host]

Basically.

[Alex Wagner]

I don't know if this is the time to mention the Julie sue situation, but under Biden in 2022, he could not get his acting or his deputy labor secretary confirmed to be labor secretary, in large part because of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. We'll set that aside for rainy day. Another rant, but effectively set. And I don't wanna say set the precedent because I think what's happening in here is much more nefarious, but opened the door to a mechanism by which a deputy secretary can become acting secretary for a largely indefinite period of time, assuming that the sort of paperwork around that is taken care of and Republicans are looking at that, or the Trump administration, I would assume is looking at that and saying, well, if you could do that with your labor secretary Julie sue, we can do that with our wannabe AG ring kisser extraordinaire, Todd Blanche.

[Jon Favreau]

And this is sort of, I mean, it's been the law forever and it's sort of like the Vacancies Act. Without getting into all of the details on this. Yes. If you are confirmed to be a deputy something something at a cabinet agency and then you're going to be acting, it is pretty easy to just restart the clock every year. Every year. Now we're withdrawing the nomination. We're doing it again and they're going to get a vote. They didn't get a vote. Now we're going to take you down. So you can just play with the paperwork and Todd Blanche can serve forever.

[Alex Wagner]

Thank God.

[Jon Favreau]

For as long as we have Donald Trump.

[Alex Wagner]

I don't know. I guess. Good job, Todd. What, didn't you bow and what didn't you scrape in order to get that nod?

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, no, he's got it, that's for sure, but.

[Alex Wagner]

And yet, he's not the worst, I think, of the nominees that have been proposed this week.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, here we go.

[Alex Wagner]

I'm teeing it up for you, John.

[Jon Favreau]

The Blanche News did briefly overshadow the appointment of Bill Pulte. Yes, the same Bill Pulte who's been using his perch atop the Federal Housing Finance Administration to manufacture mortgage fraud allegations against people on Trump's enemies list. Don't worry, he apparently still gets to keep that job, too, because he's doing such a good job.

[Donald Trump]

Good.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah. Can he be the Viceroy of Venezuela as well?

[Jon Favreau]

Probably. We only have a couple people to do all the jobs now. No one else wants to work there. This is also the same Bill Pulte who Scott Bessant threatened to punch in his fucking face. And it does seem like even Republicans and other Trump administration colleagues may not be super thrilled with making this doofus America's top spy chief. Let's listen.

[Ad Read Host]

Do you think that Bill Pulte has the experience to be the acting dni?

[Jon Favreau]

I'll defer to the chairman on that. Senator Cotton, you want to speak to that? We have four more weeks with Director

[Tom Cotton]

Gabbard as the dni, and I look

[Jon Favreau]

forward to implementing last year's Intelligence Authorization act with her. I have no observations on the matter. Have you ever, specifically, in the context of the intelligence community, heard the name Bill Pulte in the context of intelligence? That's what I said. No.

[Alex Wagner]

Did he mean, like, the intelligence community or just intelligence generally?

[Jon Favreau]

That's my question, Tom Cotton, saying, I have no observations on the matter.

[Alex Wagner]

I know.

[Jon Favreau]

That is all we got.

[Alex Wagner]

You speak for all of us.

[Jon Favreau]

Trump was asked about this one in the Oval when he was giving us his renovation updates, and here's his explanation.

[Ad Read Host]

Why do you think, Mr. President, he's

[Jon Favreau]

the best person for the job?

[Donald Trump]

Well, he's very smart. He's a person who's got high integrity. And it's an acting position. It's not a permanent. He's not going to be permanent because, you know, I don't think he'd want to be permanent. Permanent. And he may find out some things about the rigged elections, et cetera, et cetera.

[Ad Read Host]

Does he have the necessary, in your

[Jon Favreau]

view, Mr. President, the necessary national security experience to take on that position?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I do And I think he does, actually, because he's smart.

[Jon Favreau]

That's it. Trump says you're smart. You have all the experience. What's your level of concern on this one? High.

[Alex Wagner]

Very high.

[Jon Favreau]

High, high, high, I think even.

[Alex Wagner]

And especially the fact that he's just serving for a specific window to find election interference right ahead of the midterm elections. What could go wrong? I will draw everybody's attention. Like, as if you didn't give us enough examples of this person beclowning himself in life. Will Summer at the Bow.

[Jon Favreau]

I'm so glad you brought this up. Oh, my God, it's such a good story. It's such a good story. Everyone go read it.

[Alex Wagner]

Pulte spent, like, much of 2023 trying, like, as a meme stock investor, trying to get people to invest in, like, worthless shares of Bed, Bath and Beyond.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes. And as this was his sole mission.

[Ad Read Host]

Yeah.

[Alex Wagner]

That's all he did. And, like, basically, they will talks about how he organizes an event in December of 2023 at a Florida hangar, I guess like an airplane hangar that was dedicated to the conspiracy that Bed, Bath and Beyond never actually went bankrupt. With Pulte sitting on stage, one promoter slapped a grateful supporter in the face with a green dildo, which was apparently a powerful symbol in their inscrutable online subculture. He uncovers what that inscrut dildo symbolism means, and it's just as heinous as you would imagine it to be. This is the person that Trump wants to put in charge of our intelligence infrastructure.

[Jon Favreau]

You see what he got at that event? So he was sitting there while the dildo incident occurred. Someone else got slapped in the face with the green dildo. And then Pulte was given a little trophy with a T. Rex on it, and it said, pulte only fucks the young.

[Alex Wagner]

Well, okay, I think they were on two. It was two different sides of the trophy. But, yes, if you put all the sentence together, that's what it would be.

[Jon Favreau]

Oh, Polti fucks only the. It's. Yeah.

[Alex Wagner]

It's only the young. And he fucks.

[Jon Favreau]

And so they. But they did it as a joke.

[Alex Wagner]

He fucks is on one side.

[Jon Favreau]

And I believe only the young.

[Alex Wagner]

Cracker Jack, fact check is here at pots. He fucks only the young. It is all. I mean, I just. We have to go back to the phallic obsession of this administration. It is all just about dick swinging. And, like, he proved himself to be both at once. Willing to be castrated by Donald Trump, but having some kind of dick to swing around at some point, or at least a dildo. I'm sorry that this has gotten so lewd. I know it's a family problem.

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, it's not our fault.

[Alex Wagner]

It's not.

[Jon Favreau]

It's. The new acting Director of National Intelligence is false.

[Alex Wagner]

Who reportedly gave Trump the. You are the. You are Jesus. JPEG.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes.

[Alex Wagner]

The guy, he's the brains behind AI Jesus and the 50 year mortgage boondoggle. Like, like what we're really talking about this guy. I mean, not only does he have, I mean, it's almost like the fact that he has zero qualifications for the job are an afterthought. He is completely morally and like, I would say, ethically corrupt. He's a joke. And I, I would hope that Trump's suggestion that he'll only be in the office temporarily is some kind of hat tip to the fact that he knows that he's a joke. But that should not calm anybody's fears because, as you know, it's quite obvious. I mean, he's being put in there for one reason only, and that is to help Trump find a reason to say that the results of the 2020 election were fraudulent and potentially to say that the Results of the 2026 Midterms should not give Democrats the gavel.

[Jon Favreau]

And we just talked about why it's challenging to prevent the President from putting someone in a temporary position and for, you know, for as long as he wants. Section 702 Warrantless Wiretapping Authority is up for renewal.

[Alex Wagner]

That old chestnut.

[Jon Favreau]

And both parties have negotiated, surprisingly, an agreeable solution to that. So they were going to put that up for a vote, but now Democrats are saying, we're not going to reauthorize that if the person in charge of it is this fucking doofus. And they're wondering if enough anti Pulte Republicans would join along, try to use that as leverage. I think I saw maybe Collins, Murkowski and Tillis voted for an amendment that would prevent Pulte from being DNI chair. That they added. But I don't think any of the other Republicans voted for it. I don't think it passed.

[Alex Wagner]

Fucking. I can't believe you have to bait them.

[Jon Favreau]

I know.

[Alex Wagner]

You have to sweeten it like, we know he's a clown, we know he's a maniac. We know he's completely untrustworthy and could do crazy damage to the democracy. But if that's not enough, we're going to hold 702 FISA wiretapping reauthorization hostage like it's Insane to me that Democrats have to add a sweetener to attract more Republicans when this person is so categorically unqualified for this job. It's shameful.

[Jon Favreau]

I wonder what John Ratcliffe thinks, who is the CIA director. And like, not my cup of tea, but like a professional. And you know, I know that the org chart there is a little, a little loosey goosey, but he still has to like, like, this is the Director of National Intelligence. Yeah, Maybe they just cut him. I bet they cut him out of all the important stuff. And then when Trump wants really bad shit done, then Pulte gets access to

[Alex Wagner]

everything, which is what he's already doing digging up. You know, he's rummaging around mortgage files, trying to find fraudulent mortgage applications so that he can tag Letitia James and, and Jim Comey. I mean, he. This is all so utterly embarrassing. And yet what's crazy is we don't know what happened. Like, we don't know if the FISA reauthorization is gonna be sufficient enough to get Trump's party to shut down the nomination of someone who could do grave damage, not just to the democracy, but even to them. You know what I mean? Once you cross Trump, once you're no longer in office, anything's fair game. Like they're in peril as much as anybody else.

[Jon Favreau]

You know, there's a lot that if Democrats take Congress that they can't achieve in two years with Donald Trump as president because he's still got veto power. But these are the kinds of things, especially Pulte, where if Democrats have control of Congress, you haul this guy in for questioning, you send subpoenas, not just for him, but for Doc. You can make stuff happen if you control Congress with appointments this horrendous for sure.

[Alex Wagner]

It makes Tulsi Gabbard look like J. Edgar Hoover, doesn't it?

[Jon Favreau]

It does, I guess, in a. In the best possible way.

[Tom Cotton]

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[Ad Read Host]

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[Jon Favreau]

One more congressional development of note before we leave Capitol Hill. Four House Republicans, including Thomas Massie, joined Democrats on Wednesday in passing a war powers resolution directing the President to end military operations in Iran. Democrats and Republicans in The Senate advanced a similar measure a few weeks ago. This is all largely symbolic, however, because Trump can just veto the resolution, which he's not too happy with. He responded on Thursday by calling the war powers vote unpatriotic. The Republicans who voted for it, grandstanders, and the Democrats Dumb o Crats, which seems to be his new nickname of choice. We haven't played a clip yet of this on this program, but he has said now multiple times he tells this story and he's like, you know, a lot of people don't know that dumb has a B at the end. This is what he's been saying. And like, straight face. And he's like, I call them the Democrats.

[Alex Wagner]

But also not for who the bell tolls. It tolls for the people below.

[Jon Favreau]

No, all this time since, you know, there's a B at the end of dumb. Meanwhile, there seems to have been zero progress this week in actually ending the war in Iran, which Trump said Wednesday is, quote, not a big thing. Not a big thing for the U.S. it's a detour. I'd like to read you some rave reviews about the Iran war in the Wall Street Journal today, Thursday. Quote, it has achieved enough to produce a far better Middle East. Quote, reaching no deal is fine. And quote, this is a new day in the Middle East. Care to guess the author?

[Erin Ryan]

Hmm.

[Alex Wagner]

I'm gonna say, who? Who? Who? John? Who loves ill conceived regime change more than someone from the George W. Bush administration? Could it be Condoleezza Rice?

[Jon Favreau]

It's Condoleezza Rice. Pops her head up to just give a ringing endorsement of our progress on Iran.

[Alex Wagner]

Which is less welcome, the Jill Biden memoir or the Condoleezza Rice op ed?

[Jon Favreau]

Honestly, the Jill Biden memoir,

[Alex Wagner]

that's saying

[Jon Favreau]

something, but only because the Condi Rice one is like, what is this gonna do?

[Alex Wagner]

Also, what are you doing?

[Jon Favreau]

What are you doing?

[Alex Wagner]

Let me burnish my reputation by defending a failing president, proudly misguided war.

[Jon Favreau]

That is commitment to the bit that, like, she is a true, true neocon till the end.

[Alex Wagner]

I read this and I was like, are you kidding, lady? The war, first of all, she writes about it in the past tense. And I'm like, wait a second. It drew America, Israel and Arab states closer through defense cooperation and intelligence. What didn't draw the region closer? It also showed that although Iran can close the Strait of Hormuz, that leverage is limited. Is doesn't seem like it. His approval rating is like negative 1 million right now, and he's about to hemorrhage any leverage he has in Congress, like, what in the fuck are you talking about?

[Jon Favreau]

Also, and she's like, and do we need the enriched uranium? Sure, but that can be a tomorrow problem.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah. Yes, John, there are large stockpiles of highly enriched uranium somewhere in Iran. But this is a problem for the future. Not today, really. Well, and then goes on to just, like, spout pure conjecture about, like. Anyway, their ways of enriching it are probably dismantled or destroyed. Trust me. What I don't, like, Hindsight is negative 2020. Like, the whole thing is just like, we have learned. I mean, I just. The hubris, the foolishness. Anyway, I delighted in it. Actually, you know what? It was a nice break. It was a palate cleanser.

[Jon Favreau]

I was trying to figure out what it was. And buried in there is her saying, like, you know, no deal is fine, and that's better than a bad deal. And she said, under no circumstances can we be lifting any sanctions and giving them money. And so she is doing the classic anti. Anti Trump Republican thing of being like, I think we can play him, right? Because we'll tell him that the war went great, but what we really don't want is pellets of cash to Iran.

[Alex Wagner]

Right?

[Jon Favreau]

And they don't want a deal where we unfreeze sanctions and unfreeze funds for them in exchange for getting rid of the nuclear material, which was the whole reason that we started the war in the first place, ostensibly, and opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was open at the beginning of the war. And so she's like, yeah, I understand all that, but things aren't that bad. And so what she really wants is a deal to open the strait, no money to Iran, and then just cut and run.

[Alex Wagner]

Right. I don't know how you negotiate that deal, and nobody seems to be able to, but, like, I guess, nice try, Condi, you're totally right that it's like, we will stroke. The dog will come running at us with saliva foaming at its mouth, and we will stroke the dog right between the eyes. Right between the eyes. And we will calm the dog down, and then we will get it into the cage, and it's like, no, that dog's gonna bite you.

[Jon Favreau]

It's gonna. All right, let's talk about the big elections we had this week.

[Alex Wagner]

The ongoing.

[Jon Favreau]

In Iowa, Josh Turek beat Zach Wallace to become the Democratic Senate candidate. He'll be squaring off against Ashley Hinson in November in a race that Cook Political Report has now shifted from likely Republican to lean Republican. So Iowa Senate in play. In Montana, a Bernie AOC backed smokejumper and union leader named Sam Forstag beat two moderate Democrats to become the nominee in the state's first Congressional District, which Republican Ryan Zinke is vacating. Hot fireman, dude. That's what everyone said.

[Alex Wagner]

We need more fire fucking smoke jumpers. I'm sorry to curse them. We need more smoke jumpers. Please delete the fucking. We need more smoke jumpers.

[Jon Favreau]

Smokejumpers. I just look at what a smokejumper was.

[Alex Wagner]

I did. I actually just assumed it was fire related. That it's not some acrobatics that I was unaware of. Like parkour for fire.

[Jon Favreau]

No, it's like. It's definitely fire related. And here in California, we are still counting votes as we will be potentially for another week or two.

[Alex Wagner]

So embarrassing.

[Jon Favreau]

I know, it is embarrassing. As of right now, the governor's race shows Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Javier Becerra in lead. Though there's a small chance that Democrat Tom Steyer could catch Becerra as more ballots are counted. He's currently about 6% behind in the mayor's race. Karen Bass is headed to the runoff in November, and currently Republican reality TV douche Spencer Pratt is in second. But there's also a chance that progressive challenger Nithya Rahman could catch him. She's currently 7% behind. Election analysts say that in the past, the ballots got bluer the later they were counted. And that may be especially true in this election since a lot of undecided Democrats held their ballots until the very end.

[Alex Wagner]

Like the people who usually sit at this table.

[Jon Favreau]

Like the people who usually sit at this and me, I mean, I decided late before these guys, but I did. I turned it in on Monday.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah, that's still considered late in my life.

[Jon Favreau]

That's pretty late. Yeah, I dropped it in. I dropped it in a box on Monday. So who knows when it finally got to the.

[Alex Wagner]

May not have.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. While we have you here in la, what have you made of our California primaries?

[Alex Wagner]

You guys need to fucking count your vote a lot faster. I know there are machines that will help you. I am. You know, we focused actually on both Texas and California in last week's Runaway country. And we had the inimitable Daniel Pfeiffer on. And it worries me, as someone who would like to see a changing of the Guard in 2028 about what this could portend for the Democratic Party writ large.

[Jon Favreau]

That's a good point.

[Alex Wagner]

Just because there's. I mean, I think the gubernatorial race is a little different. It was hit with obviously The Swalwell revelations or accusations or whatever we're calling them. And that upended, I guess, the race. But there's a real lack of enthusiasm, no coalescing. It's what exactly the party wants to do in terms of like its priorities for like arguably one of the most. The most important state in the union. I'm a New Yorker, so I can't really give you that. But you know, there's no clear agenda, there's a lack of enthusiasm, there's a sense that everyone's votes are very scattered and it's based on strategy. And that's not how you win a national election. And I worry that some of that can trickle down to what is gonna be a very crowded primary field. And where I think the order of the day is gonna be electability, which is so what the fuck is that? And I mean, I guess it makes super important.

[Jon Favreau]

Super hard to define.

[Alex Wagner]

Exactly. Very subjective and self determined.

[Jon Favreau]

Not totally subjective though. That's the. You wanna be like. Well, you can't dismiss it totally and be like, well, it's all subjective. No one knows electability. Yeah, you can kind of tell. But it's also not perfectly objective either.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah. And the mayoral race really worries me. Yeah. In many ways the gubernatorial race I will set aside to like sort of strange dynamics, but the mayoral race seems like an area where Democrats are having a really hard time articulating a message that is addressing people's deep seated concerns. So much so that a know nothing reality TV star. Sounds familiar. Has somehow vaulted to the like the head of the pack. I mean, that's not good. That means there's real desperation inside. You know, one of the bluest cities and the bluest states in the country. So what does that mean for the country where it's not as blue and it's not as concentrated? I just, I worry. I don't like what I'm seeing here. And I gen. I genuinely love this state.

[Jon Favreau]

I have been like grumbling about this to anyone who listened, but all the Democrats running in California in these primaries, Mayor and governor, who's the really inspiring communicator?

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

Who's really good. Who gets, who's good at getting attention by just talking and not spending $200 billion. $200 million like Tom Steyer did. Not a lot of them. And then you have someone. Katie Porter is a good example. Here's someone who In 2018, rising star, great communicator, policy wonk. But also someone who was like, explain it in accessible way. Had the whiteboard and then she has a personal character issue. Right. With staff. So then you got that. And that becomes a theme in the Democratic Party as well now. Right. So you got that kind of person. You got your nithyas like this and a lot of other folks we're running to who are like, good at the job. You can tell they're going to be good at the job and they're brilliant people. But, like, were they born to be campaigners? Not really. We've had a lot of that in the Democratic Party. Right. And then you have the Becerras, the Karen Basses, who their claim to fame is just sticking around long enough and just hanging around Democratic politics and being part of the establishment and making enough connections in the establishment that suddenly people are ready to rally behind you. And do you have good intentions? Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure Karen Bass had great intentions when she took the job. And same with, I assume that of Javier Becerra, because I like to always assume well about people. But Karen Bass didn't adequately communicate in the last couple years on this job. She didn't show the kind of urgency you need to show to be mayor of a city this large. Even though it's a weak mayor, that actually means you have to work even harder to communicate in a weak mayor system. And, you know, that doesn't surprise me because in Congress, as a member of Congress, which he was for so long, you can just kind of hang out in Congress and take your votes. But, like, we need leaders.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

We need people to like, stand up and, and point somewhere and say, this is where we're going and this is how we get there and get behind me and we're going to get excited. And it's like, where is that?

[Alex Wagner]

Well, and the party by nature doesn't lend. It's sort of antithetical to be standing up and guiding everything in the Democratic Party, which is much more of a consensus oriented group of people. Right. And it's much more inclusive and expansive in thought and agenda and all the rest. But that is a sort of structural problem for a party that desperately needs leadership and like executive style leadership.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes. And it, and it bums me out to say it because first of all, it is really hard to run for office. And it's a lot of sacrifice. And especially in this environment, it's like, why does anyone want to go through that? Right. And there are so many people who are going through it right now who are wonderful candidates who people will maybe never hear about because they're just putting their Head down and trying to win their races. And they're not as flashy as some of the other candidates we talk about, and, like, God bless them. But when we get to president, this is the. This is going to be the challenge.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah. This is why it's like, it's spooking

[Jon Favreau]

me, because you can. You can do that in a congressional race. You can do that probably even in a Senate race. As you get to governor in this state or as you get to a mayor or now, especially when you get to president, it's going to be a lot tougher to do that. Just sort of fake it.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

You need the real talent there.

[Alex Wagner]

It's true. And all that talents come from California.

[Jon Favreau]

Jk.

[Alex Wagner]

Jk. It's a great.

[Jon Favreau]

It is a great state here.

[Alex Wagner]

A lot of great people. Favreau, 2028.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. Right. Okay. Right. As we were speaking of all this. Right. As we were preparing to record this, the much rumored second New York Times story on Graham Platner's problematic behavior dropped. This one talks about his relationships with his past girlfriends. Several of them spoke of him fondly. Three others the Times spoke to described, quote, toxic relationships that were unsettling. I'm gonna try to quote as much as I can here because it is. It's a lot to untangle in this piece.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

The most prominent voice in the piece is a longtime conservative activist he dated between 2013 and 2015. So I guess this is when he was in D.C. and she said that while Platner, quote, never hit me, he once yanked her out of a cab by her wrist, and also, during one argument, twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom, and told her to remain there until she was calm. Platner strongly disputes any claim of physical intimidation or altercations. This is all according to the Times. Seems like every time you're on the show, there's a big turn in the Platner story. So. Welcome back. Coincidence or not, what'd you think of this one?

[Alex Wagner]

I feel like I get the Graham Platner hot potato landing.

[Jon Favreau]

You really do.

[Alex Wagner]

You really do. And there's not even Dan here to, you know, create some levity around the absurdity of all of this.

[Jon Favreau]

Dan never gets it, by the way.

[Alex Wagner]

I feel like every time. Well, it's just a quiet sort of rivalry that Dan and I have, like Platner v. Mills. I will say there's another part of the piece, again quoted a quote or retold by this conservative activist former girlfriend where she says that Platner had what she described as a warrior ethos and would fantasize about killing people he deemed authority threat. She said that he told her that rape was about power. It was something that stuck with her through the years. She said, he said this a lot. If anybody ever broke in here, I would rape them. She recalled saying that he added, it would not be in a sexual way, not in a gay way. He was like, I would rape them to show them that I'm dominant.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Alex Wagner]

I mean, okay, I. This is where it's like, this is really. This fucking sucks.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Alex Wagner]

I want to be a person that has learned the lessons of. If you have multiple people accusing one person of very similar behavioral patterns, there's a good chance there's something there. This story goes. I mean, they go out of their way in the Times piece to quote girlfriends who were like, he was a gentle giant. I have nothing bad to say about him. But then there are a handful of women that were like, his behavior was sometimes made me feel not safe. And then this one in particular, this one ex girlfriend, has the most distressing and, in my mind, disqualifying things to say about him. And I think, like, this can't be brushed aside. He has to tackle this head on. And if this was a Republican, everybody would say, no fucking way. I mean, that's just the truth. Like, with all of this, she also suggests.

[Jon Favreau]

And then they'd be elected.

[Alex Wagner]

Right? Well, fine. And ultimately, this isn't up to you or me. This is up to the voters of Maine. And this is a really interesting study. I mean, so much of what Platner represents was the left's answer to the toxic masculinity of the right. And what's really fucking unfortunate is that this kind of masculinity, if this stuff is true, is just as fucking toxic as everything being served on the right. And there has to be a difference. There has to be a difference between what the left is proposing men and strength can look like and what the right is, because otherwise, we as women and as citizens of a democracy are completely fucked. So I would love to hear a lot more from Graham Platner on this, like, getting into these allegations. She also suggests that he taught her the name of his Nazi tattoo and knew very much that it was a Nazi tattoo called the Totenka.

[Jon Favreau]

My Totenka. My Totenka, which makes me. Is the exact language that was used in Andrew Kaczynski's piece about this, because Andrew did, who's a great reporter, said this on Tuesday, basically reported that an acquaintance of his said that he had told her Mike Totenkopf before. So I was like, I want. The language was the same, so I wonder if it was the same source. But regardless, look, I said on Tuesday's show that Platner's biggest issue going forward is trust.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

And there are allegations in this story about the. The SS symbol and when he found out and what he knew. And after that, he got more questions about were there any more skeletons in your closet? He said, no. Then the sexting story came out. He got more questions about whether there are additional allegations coming out from Democratic senators this week. And he said, nothing like the rumors that have been circulating. I'm not going to shed the rumors here, but the rumors have been. They have been actually much, much worse than what the New York Times ended up with. And he said, no, nothing like those rumors that we've been hearing, which may be technically true, but now there's this story, right? And even if he is completely telling the truth, and this is it, and he really is a different, better person who. And he says in the story, I was a bad boyfriend. I drank too much. He has said all kinds of things about how horrible he was before he tried to turn his life around. Even if he is telling the truth about that, which I can't judge. You can't judge. None of us can judge. The problem is it's gonna be really hard to blame voters who wonder whether they can believe him.

[Alex Wagner]

No, you can't blame voters. But also, it's not even beyond just.

[Jon Favreau]

And that sucks.

[Alex Wagner]

Is this a person who does this stuff? I mean, that's a finessential question. I mean, like. It is, Harp. It is, like, very difficult.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, that's. What, like, given how.

[Alex Wagner]

How absolutely asymmetric. The asymmetrical. The value system is here. That Democrat, you know, like, that a person who otherwise has adopted a very sort of strong set of beliefs and policies that would help a large part of this country and seems very much like he believes those things could be shut down based on this. But if this is true, I mean, you can't. It's amoral. You can't behave like this. You can't talk about women and do things like this to them. You can't talk about rape like that. I mean, you just. You cannot fucking do that. That is. Those are not the morals of a sensible party. And I don't know, I gotta say, because, I mean, I remember that, and I understand the repulsion of, like, having the DSCC involve itself in a Senate race, but everybody Was like, janet Mills is too old. And I remember talking to Dan about this, and I was like, I mean, yeah, she's old, but, like, Graham Platner has a lot of fucking question marks, guys.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, well, I mean, here's the thing about that, is two things can be right, yes, fine.

[Alex Wagner]

But I do.

[Jon Favreau]

And it's like. Like, I think, like, people, you know,

[Alex Wagner]

but all I'm saying is. And I see that, like, there was so much interest in the fact that he could be a new kind of masculinity for the left. And it's like, I'm sorry that she's old and that she's a woman and that she was governor, but she was tough in her. I'm not a Mills person. I'm not a Mills person.

[Jon Favreau]

But. And I'm not. And I'm not like, an anti. Like, if they. If. If. If, you know, if they decide tomorrow, like, they're gonna replace them with Mills, and it's like, I'm not gonna be like, oh, no, like, great, we need to win the fucking seat. That's the most important thing. It's not about, like. It's not about Graham Platner, right? It's about. It's about winning the seat.

[Alex Wagner]

It is. And. And you know what? It's a good fucking thing. Iowa's back on the map, I guess, is the.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, it's also. It's like, I do try to separate, like, this is a political situation and this is like a personal situation, right? Like, imagine if we were talking about this person and he wasn't running for office, okay? Just as a. Just as an experiment here, because this is. I think this is what has, like, been bothering me about it is, like, I do very much believe in the ability to redeem oneself and to change and to become a better person. And I still think it is very possible that this is the case with him, that all that stuff in the past is true and that somewhere along the line, as he says, he was like, my life is really fucked up. And, you know, people say, like, he's blaming the war, but, like, you know, every time every person who's fucked up is a product of their environment and their own choices. It's both, right? And so his own choices, his environment, led him to this moment where he was really fucked up. He gets help. He tries to work in his community, organize people, tries to turn over a new leaf. And then someone's like, you should run for office. And he's like, me? What the fuck? And then he's like, okay, I guess. But what about my past? You can do it, right? You're a changed person and then he does it and then this is what happens now. No, no, I'm just saying. Yeah, the more these, I'm telling you what I feel like, the more these stories come out, the more I'm like, yes, that could all be true. But there's a bigger, there's a bigger, there's more at stake here than your personal redemption story because we need the sentencing. So that's where I'm landing. But I'm just saying.

[Alex Wagner]

Can I say one thing to that, though?

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Alex Wagner]

I don't think. I mean, I think at essence, I wouldn't divorce the personal from the political in this, in part because there's been such an assault on women in this country.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes.

[Alex Wagner]

Whether it's denying them basic reproductive health, continuing to drag feet on basic, you know, maternal health questions, especially in low income communities, or on paid family leave, you know, they're essential questions about how much you value women and families. Like, these are questions that senators are gonna have to answer if Democrats have power again. Like there needs to be legislation to address the wrongs and the assault on women's lives. And, you know, you want people that see women as co equals, you want people that see families as, you know, an important unit of American society and believe in the. I don't mean to sound like some family values Democrat, but I think, you know, it is. This is the reason this stuff bleeds into the politicals, because those are your, you know, these are organizing principles. And if you're living your life in such violation of some of those principles that you then need to turn into legislation, it makes you question how effective someone's going to be in office if they get there. I mean, that's all I'll say about it because I don't know if any of this is true.

[Jon Favreau]

No, I don't either.

[Alex Wagner]

I don't think the reasoning that he's given this far is sufficient to paper over this new reporting, I guess, is what I would say.

[Jon Favreau]

And I guess I'm just saying, like, don't we want people who change and who are like, what I thought back then, What I said back then was fucking wrong and I actually mean it. And like whether it's a someone who voted for Trump and who supported Trump, whether it's fucking Oysterman in Maine, whether it's we're a party who wants to rehabilitate people who serve time in prison and give them a second chance, who were murderers and we get attacked for that by Republicans, we say no, we think it's important to do rehabilitation. And again, people are gonna take this out of context. I'm not saying that therefore Graham Platner must get a seat. We must do it for him. I am just saying that on an individual level, as a party, sometimes I think that one of our. And maybe this is just me, but, like, I want to believe. Well, about people. And then I want to believe that when people fuck up and do something horrible and are genuinely sorry and genuinely want to change, that they are able to do that and that people can accept them for doing that, no matter who they are, what they believe, what their background is. Fucking Donald Trump. No, not Donald Trump.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

You know what I'm saying? That is like. And that's just like me therapizing this and just like talking about, like, this is. This is divorcing it from the. Like, I. I do think this is a huge fucking problem right now.

[Alex Wagner]

We want people who've made mistakes because life is full of mistakes. But there are mistake there. There are patterns of behavior that suggest that lessons are. Have not been learned. And then there are mistakes that you make and move past. And I just don't know which one this falls into.

[Tom Cotton]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

And also it's like. And again, how many can you add up exactly. And pile up if you want to be a United States senator? Now, I also think that it's a. The other challenge is, you know, contrary to what people online have said, like, the guy generated an impressive amount of support in Maine.

[Alex Wagner]

This is why it doesn't fucking matter what we say. I mean, we already know that, but, like, it really doesn't. Like, it will be very interesting to me as someone who's interested in kind of the social currents that. I mean, I say this as an armchair sociologist, but whether this is an issue for him. I mean, it's entirely possible.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, and it also.

[Alex Wagner]

That he can move past it.

[Jon Favreau]

I guess it's also too like, it's, you know, for all the. What did Chuck Schumer and the DSCC do with Janet Mills? Or what did the left do? Forcing Graham Plattner on It's like, no one forced Janet Mills on anyone. No one forced Graham Platner on anyone.

[Alex Wagner]

Main, Main shows.

[Jon Favreau]

Graham Platner decided to run and a bunch of people showed up. Chuck Schumer wanted Mills to run, and she said, sure. And she ran a campaign, like, and then the people of Maine came out and you know what? We have a primary on Tuesday. And I do think, like, I mean, she's on the ballot still. There's like one other candidate as well. You expect him to get, like, if he was a normal candidate without scandal in a situation like that, 85, 90% of the vote. 80%. If he's down to like 60, 65, it's a real fucking problem. Or if. And like, I don't want to just get. Because you don't want to just base it on polls. But, like, you know, we haven't seen any polls post the sexting scandal, except for their internal, which had him only up four for a while. But, like, there's gonna be plenty of polls that come out.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

And we'll see what happens in the primary. But the party has till, I believe, July 13th. If he drops out, to replace him with someone else. So there's some time here. There's another month of pain.

[Alex Wagner]

I don't want to do this show.

[Jon Favreau]

I don't either.

[Alex Wagner]

Until this primary is over.

[Jon Favreau]

Same.

[Alex Wagner]

Get me out of this seat.

[Jon Favreau]

Same. But like you said, we'll end it where you began. It sucks.

[Alex Wagner]

It fucking sucks.

[Jon Favreau]

It sucks. Pods of America is brought to you by Zebiotics. You've heard us all talk about zebiotics a million times. We once again, when Louie got married the other weekend, he was giving out zebiotics to folks at the wedding, and people were like, does this really work? I heard you guys talk about this on the pod. And every single person who took zebiotics the next day was like, oh, wow, you guys weren't lying about that. It's like, yeah, of course we're not lying about that. Anyway, Zbiotics works. It's a pre alcohol probiotic drink. It's the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. But it's a buildup of this byproduct, not dehydration, that's to blame for rough days after drinking. Pre alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Just remember to make pre alcohol your first drink of the night. Drink responsibly and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Just do yourself a favor and try it. You're gonna have a couple drinks. Drink zebiotics first. You're gonna feel much, much better tomorrow. Go to zebiotics.com crooked to learn more and get 15% off your first order. When you use Cricut at checkout, Zebiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee, so if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com crooked and use this code CROOKED at checkout for 15% off.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

Quick question. Are you politically engaged and spiritually exhausted

[Erin Ryan]

if you said yes to both? Welcome home. I'm Erin Ryan.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

And I'm Alyssa Mastromonaco, and we're the

[Erin Ryan]

hosts of Hysteria, the podcast for women who care about democracy, culture, and not losing their minds in the process.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

We break down the news, call out the nonsense, and spotlight the women actually fighting back On Capitol Hill, in classrooms and everywhere, the stakes are high.

[Erin Ryan]

It's sharp, honest analysis featuring women's voices with humor and zero hand holding.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

Listen to Hysteria wherever you get your podcasts and watch full episodes on YouTube.

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[Jon Favreau]

One other big topic to get to oh my gosh, I can't believe we're just here now. 60 Minutes meltdown at 60 Minutes.

[Alex Wagner]

We have time to do this, but we should.

[Jon Favreau]

We could go forever. This isn't this. As you said, this show isn't called 60 Minutes. 190. This is 190. Whatever we want. As you know by now, ever since Trump pal David Allison put contrarian conservative columnist Bari Weiss in charge of CBS, she's taken a special interest in 60 Minutes. Last week, Weiss fired the show's executive producer along with several correspondents and hired Nick Bilton, a tech journalist with no broadcast experience, to run the program. At Bilton's introduction meeting, which Weiss did not attend, maybe the funniest part of the whole story.

[Alex Wagner]

I know.

[Jon Favreau]

Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley accused Weiss of trying to, quote, murder the show. And according to recordings of the meeting that have circulated, shortly after that, Pelley was fired and then, on his way out, publicly accused Weiss and CBS leadership of instructing him to, quote, inject falsehoods and bias and unverified assertions into, quote, a politically sensitive story. You worked at CBS News for a while?

[Alex Wagner]

I did.

[Jon Favreau]

I know you've been writing about this Story a bunch on your excellent substack,

[Alex Wagner]

how the Hell with Alex Wagner.

[Jon Favreau]

Perfect title. How the hell Perfect. Great name for a substack. Care to uncork on this one?

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah, I do. How much time we got? Can you hear the sound of me rubbing my hands together?

[Jon Favreau]

Please do it.

[Alex Wagner]

So I have so much to say about this, but I know I can't spend an hour on it. To say I can't spend 60 minutes on it. It's appalling what Bari Weiss is doing. It is all part of a project that Bari Weiss is a small player in a larger machine, which is for the Ellisons. I mean, I actually don't think David Ellison, who I refer to as Lord Collagen on my substack. Have you noticed how just not moving that face a lot, but also just ripe. The ripeness of his cheeks and lips a little shiny, very collagen filled, but not. I think he's naturally just peach, like.

[Jon Favreau]

Anyway, sure, we'll go with that. He.

[Alex Wagner]

I don't really. I mean, I think they're conservatives. This is, I mean, they are, they want to make a lot of money. And the way they're going to do that is by currying favor with the, the Trump administration by any means possible. And they've figured out wisely that the best way to do that and ensure that they can proceed with the Paramount Warner Brothers discovery merger, which is supposed to happen as soon as next month, is to show Trump that they have no compunction about gutting legendary news institutions and destroying the fourth estate if it's inconvenient to this president. And that's what's happening here. And Bari Weiss is a fool. I will say that this is foolish, bad, amoral, unethical behavior. She is hollowing out this institution. That was one of the last. You know, we talk about this moment in American life when people used to gather around and watch things on the television. 60 Minutes is like the last bit of appointment television we have in the

[Jon Favreau]

history of it's monoculture. We've had a real monoculture problem in this country the last 10 years.

[Alex Wagner]

And it's. I don't think much is going to exist of it at the end of all of this. And that's a real travesty because I don't think you ever get those viewers back. I mean, that's the problem with broadcast. It's an iceberg that melts. And once it's melted, there's no refreezing. And so you know what I would love to see in all of this is the people who count in terms of the Ellisons life and financials say something about it. Which means I sit here in Los Angeles, California. And the thing that the Ellisons are interested in is television and movies. That's their bread and butter. That's what makes money for the Ellison and Paramount. And like, it is one thing for Alex Wagner and Jon Favreau to stand in solidarity with Scott Pelley and the staff of CBS and 60 Minutes. It's another thing for everybody who's on a Taylor Sheridan or Tyler Sheridan show to say, hey, you can't gut the fourth estate just cause you want to make money on entertainment. It's like, where are all the people that have movies made by Paramount? Where are the people that have TV shows made by Paramount? I mean, this is their fight too. Because this is an issue of free speech. Speech. And until and unless they stand up, it's not gonna make a difference. News doesn't fucking make money. News is an afterthought. This is an inconvenience for the Ellisons. The only thing they care about is making money through entertainment. And until the entertainment world stands up and says, you can't do this, a crime against one of us, in terms of free speech is a crime against all of us. This goes nowhere.

[Jon Favreau]

You can tell that Nick Bilton, did you see his long note that he put out today where he was like. And I, you know, we're committed to transparency and honest journalism. And I've talked to Leslie Stahl and the remaining correspondence and you know, you can tell there's a little. He's a little worried.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah, he should be a lot worried.

[Jon Favreau]

A lot worried. And they promoted Maria Gavrilovich to senior producer, who's. I think we both know. I know. I've known for a while and she's fantastic.

[Alex Wagner]

When I worked at CBS News, we were not allowed to cross the street to go over to 60 Minutes.

[Jon Favreau]

You had to like, oh, that's how they were.

[Alex Wagner]

It was a separate office with better lighting, better everything. I think it was like soundproofed, so you never knew what was happening.

[Jon Favreau]

You know what's really annoyed me about this? I mean, a lot of it. Everything you said is like, right on the sources that are saying to media reporters about this, you know, the culture was kind of bad at 60 minutes.

[Alex Wagner]

Oh, my God.

[Jon Favreau]

And it's not everyone, you know, all you TDS libs think it's all politics. But there was a culture problem that needed to be solved. And this is just maybe a bit of a Rough way to do it.

[Alex Wagner]

Fuck off. I mean.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, drives me nuts.

[Alex Wagner]

Well, and as someone bullshit. I was on the fucking, the, the farm team over at cbs, right? I was doing CBS this Morning, CBS this Morning on the weekends. Like I was the bottom feeder. And you'd look enviously across the street. But there was a reason you were envious because the quality of investigative research and reporting they were doing was. Was, bar none. I mean, there was just no nothing like it. And they deserved to be an island unto themselves because of the rigor of what they were doing and the audience that they commanded, you know what I mean? Sorry that they were on top and sorry that it sucked for everybody else and especially the CBS News division, which was starved into obsolescence and left to eat, you know, moldy green beans in the cafeteria from 1976. That was literally something that I did on a daily basis. But like, they, they earned that reputation for a reason. And the schadenfreude around this among news industry veterans and people who once worked there. Fuck off. This is not about like a dick swinging contest about who got what resources. This is about attacks on the free press and this administration through the lackeys that it has put in its corner, disassembling like one of the last great institutions.

[Jon Favreau]

It's also, it's like, you think there's a culture issue, you think it's a fossil. You think it needs to be updated for the digital age. Fine. Think about all the ways to do that that are not this. Because if you wanted to do that, like, you'd have to be, you'd have to be really fucking incompetent to do it this way. More so. And like, you're not gonna tell me like, Barry Weiss has a lot of things. You're not gonna tell me that she and Nick Bilton and all the rest of them are this fucking dumb, that they think that this was the best way to change the culture at 60 minutes.

[Alex Wagner]

It's totally vindictive. And none of them have any qualifications. Like, show me, show me the media companies that either one of them have turned. Show me the experience they have in television or broadcast or news. They got nada. It's bad goose egg, baby.

[Jon Favreau]

It's bad. All right, it's been a long show. But before we go, before we go, I have to the deep teeth. All right? So I'm just going to, you know, some of this, you know, some of this.

[Alex Wagner]

I only. I kind of had two martinis when you told me.

[Jon Favreau]

That's true. That's true. I did tell you that I'm just gonna read aloud to all of you an email I received on March 25th months ago now. Oh my God, it's from TKO Events. TKO Events sent it to me. Jon Favreau. And the subject line of the email is UFC Freedom250. Jon, we are honored to invite you to UFC Freedom250 on Sunday, June 14, a special evening celebrating our country. This once in a lifetime event marks a historic moment and we would love to have you join us. This invitation is non transferable and does not include a plus one. We need your RSVP by Tuesday, March 31st as there are significant logistics with the White House. More details to follow. So I saw this and was like, is this a joke? Did someone prank me? Why am I invited to the White House? And then I looked and in the CC line of TKO Events was Ari Emanuel, who owns TKO Events. And then I looked up TKO Events. I'm like, oh, and they own ufc. And then I did a little digging and I was like, oh. So Trump had all his tickets. There's 4,000 tickets. Trump gets most of them. Some go to the military, 200 go to Ari Emanuel at TKO events, 200 go to Dana White. And Ari chose me because what I thought is he thinks I was the other Jon Favreau.

[Alex Wagner]

Iron man Jon Favreau.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes, because way back when I was represented at WME and I believe that Ari was John's agent and I think John must like UFC fights or whatever. But anyway, I RSVP'd yes, because I thought, fuck it, I'm going to the White House.

[Alex Wagner]

Yeah, you fucking are.

[Jon Favreau]

And I'm going to go in there

[Alex Wagner]

with a GoPro and I'm going to

[Jon Favreau]

and I'm going to check it out. Maybe I'll see my buddy Stephen Miller or my friend JD Vance and chat them up.

[Alex Wagner]

You're going to climb the octagon.

[Jon Favreau]

Possibilities were endless, so I RSVP'd I got this follow up on April 2nd. Your ticket to UFC Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C. on June 14th is confirmed. No ticketing and arrival details surrounding your visit will be sent from TKO Events during the week of June 8th. Please reach out with any questions and let us know if you're no longer able to attend. Thank you. So I'm like, okay, it's still happening. A few weeks ago, on May 11, I got another email. Ahead of your trip to Washington, D.C. for the historic UFC Freedom250. We are collecting identification details from each guest due to the Heightened level of security that will be in place throughout the weekend. The information is required to ensure there are no issues with ticket distribution. So I gave them all my info. On May 27, I got more details, including suggested dress code, business formal, a reminder to bring my government issued id, instructions of how to get my ticket, the week of the fight, a whole, whole thing. So I had. I made plans.

[Alex Wagner]

You bought a ticket?

[Jon Favreau]

Bought a ticket to D.C. to D.C. like, booked a hotel. Had a whole meeting here.

[Alex Wagner]

Davey's going to the us Had a

[Jon Favreau]

whole meeting here with everyone. It was. It's Sunday, June 14th. The next day, I was going to Chicago for the Obama library opening.

[Alex Wagner]

Heard of it? Heard of it.

[Jon Favreau]

Probably not too many people going to both of those things.

[Alex Wagner]

Nada. Goosebumps.

[Jon Favreau]

Very excited. Trying to figure out, like, how am I gonna play this? What if I get right what's going on? And then today, no. Another email from TKO Events. Hi, Jonathan. Now, when I gave all my info, of course I gave my real info, which is Jonathan Edward Favreau. And the only thing that's different between me and the other Jon Favreau is our middle name. You know, he's J O N too, but he's K. Jon K. Favreau. And I'm John E. And I think, because then also they went with my full name, I think that they probably. When they saw that, they finally checked the list. Our sincerest apologies, but we've just discovered there was a miscommunication about our allotted number of guests. Invitations for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14th. Unfortunately, as a result, we are under allotted and no longer able to accommodate your attendance. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding. We would love to host you at a future event.

[Alex Wagner]

Yes, perfect. For the. For the third in August.

[Jon Favreau]

Fuck. I was so close. It got me.

[Alex Wagner]

I knew. You know what? I knew something must have gone awry because you certainly wouldn't be broadcasting this.

[Jon Favreau]

No, I was going to keep it all secret. I wasn't going to say anything until I was safely out of there. No way was I gonna say anything.

[Alex Wagner]

I'm devastated to anybody who's listening to this. You should be watching it on YouTube because Favreau's like. The way his eyes dance when he talks about this.

[Jon Favreau]

It was so. It was such a fun story.

[Alex Wagner]

Oh, my God. It's like watching a balloon take flight. Like the glee.

[Jon Favreau]

I will say though, it was like, it's such a fun story. But as I was getting closer, I'm like, what is this gonna be? Like, what am I gonna do?

[Alex Wagner]

Oh, we. I mean, I really was like, can we put a GoPro in your trench coat? Can we put Lovett in your trench coat?

[Jon Favreau]

Well, I was trying to figure out. Cause I'm like, you know, been to White House events, and inside the White House, they always take people's phones for. Or at least we did. Yeah, well, but who knows what these people anything does. But on the South Lawn, and I know it's high security, and I'm like, I bet people are gonna be taking pictures all over the place in the South Lawn. So I didn't think they were gonna be taking my phone. But also I was like, what if I get recognized? Are they going to kick me out? What's going to happen? Like, am I going to talk to someone? I'm not the type who's going to go up and, like, yell at someone. You know, me.

[Alex Wagner]

Maybe your shrink bill will be less because you had to have a lot of contingencies. But I mean, really, the service. You could have done our country again. Climbing the octagon, unfurling, you know, a let them eat cake banner over the. Over the White House portico. I mean, there were so many.

[Jon Favreau]

What if? It was a what if. What if. What if they. I was like, is there going to be a lawyer on hand?

[Alex Wagner]

Listen, precautions could have been taken. We would have gotten the ex exfil team, could have gotten you out.

[Jon Favreau]

Like ice was there. So a lot of ways this could have gone wrong.

[Alex Wagner]

Listen, I mean, I just hope that the mistakes continue with their mailing list. This is a lot like, I mean, maybe you'll be invited to perform at Freedom250 because they confused.

[Jon Favreau]

Which is now just a Trump rally, apparently.

[Alex Wagner]

Well, apparently, he's the greatest performer in American history.

[Jon Favreau]

I do hope that other Jon Favreau gets his invite now.

[Alex Wagner]

Other Jon Favreau. This is a. Holly, you have a Hollywood audience.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes.

[Alex Wagner]

If someone out there can talk to Jon Favreau and I.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, I did. I. I know Jon Favreau, but I. But, like, I've only met him a

[Alex Wagner]

couple times, but I'm close to him. He's not.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, clearly not close enough that I was gonna tell him I got his invite.

[Alex Wagner]

Exactly. You were gonna take his. Now he hates you, I'm sure.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. Someone he'll understand. It's a great story. If I showed up and just, like, sat next to Vince Vaughn, would it have been.

[Alex Wagner]

Yes. Well, that would have been interesting. Someone. Robert Downey Jr. Are you out there like, have other Favreau. Give this Favreau his ticket.

[Jon Favreau]

That's a good idea. No plus one. So yeah, I would have to take it. Anyway. I'm glad that I shared that all with you. Got it off my chest.

[Alex Wagner]

What a beautiful dessert.

[Jon Favreau]

Beautiful dessert.

[Alex Wagner]

Fantastically depressing episode that is our show for today.

[Jon Favreau]

Tommy will be back in the feed on Sunday with a conversation with the bulwarks Will Summer about the MAGA media ecosystem and all the latest drama. So check that out. Have a great weekend. Thanks, Alex.

[Alex Wagner]

Ah, pleasure to be here, buddy.

[Jon Favreau]

Pod Save America is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts and Farah Safari, with Reed Cherlin, Elijah Cohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt de Groat, Ben Hethcote, Jordan Kanter, Charlotte Landis, Carol Pelaviev, David Toles, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Singel. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

Quick question. Are you politically engaged and spiritually exhausted

[Erin Ryan]

if you said yes to both? Welcome home. I'm Erin Ryan.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

And I'm Alyssa Master.

[Erin Ryan]

And we're the hosts of Hysteria, the podcast for women who care about democracy, culture, and not losing their minds in the process.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

We break down the news, call out the nonsense, and spotlight the women actually fighting back on Capitol Hill. In classrooms and everywhere, the stakes are high.

[Erin Ryan]

It's sharp, honest analysis featuring women's voices with humor and zero hand holding.

[Alyssa Mastromonaco]

Listen to Hysteria wherever you get your podcasts and watch full episodes on YouTube.