1120: Dems Freeze ICE

Summary

Pod Save America – Episode 1120: "Dems Freeze ICE"

Date: February 13, 2026
Location: Melbourne, Australia (Live Show)
Hosts: Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, Tommy Vietor

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Episode Overview

This episode covers a week of extraordinary and chaotic developments in American politics, centering on the Trump administration’s continued scandals and abuses of power, the Democratic response, and a dramatic standoff over the Department of Homeland Security and ICE funding. Broadcasting live from Melbourne, the hosts also address culture war flashpoints and engage the audience in a lively U.S.–Australia citizenship trivia game.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Government Scandals & Congressional Hearings

a. Attorney General Pam Bondi's Meltdown over Epstein Files

• Summary: Attorney General Bondi’s outburst before the House Judiciary Committee over the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files is dissected at length.
• Key Moments:
  • Bondi refuses to answer direct questions, dodges accountability, and pivots to bragging about economic indicators (Dow at 50,000).
  • Multiple survivors of Epstein’s crimes were present, none interviewed by DOJ, despite their willingness.
  • Bondi's performance is seen as damaging to the Trump administration and a political gift to Democrats given the scandal’s crossover into popular culture and social media.
• Notable Quotes:
  • Tommy Vietor [09:23]: "Saying we shouldn’t be talking about prosecuting child predators because the Dow is at 50,000 is one of the most fucking insane things I’ve ever heard anyone say in politics in my life."
  • Dan Pfeiffer [12:20]: "This is by some measures perhaps the largest or most consequential political scandal in American history. You have the federal government...protecting people involved in child sex trafficking because those people may be friends with donors to or colleagues of the president."

b. Failed Indictment of Democratic Congressmembers

• Summary: The administration’s attempt to indict six Democrats for reminding military personnel not to obey illegal orders collapses when D.C. grand jurors decline to indict.
• Perspective: The hosts discuss relief at the system holding but note the dangerous precedent and chilling effect, warning this tactic will likely continue.
• Notable Quotes:
  • Tommy Vietor [19:57]: "D.C. grand jurors have become a surprising bulwark against creeping fascism...but I do not think that can hold."
  • Dan Pfeiffer [24:13]: "This is an absolute crisis. The president of the United States is criminalizing opposition to the regime...the only thing standing in the way is our American citizens serving on grand juries."

c. The Broader Narrative

• Political Strategy Discussion:
  • Democrats are urged to frame the Epstein scandal and DOJ corruption as proof of two sets of rules—one for the elite, one for everyone else—emphasizing a compelling, relatable narrative over delving solely into salacious details.
  • Dan Pfeiffer [14:27]: "That dynamic is why rich people get tax cuts and Americans get kicked off their health care...That's what we have to tell aggressively."

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2. Shutdown Standoff: Freezing ICE

a. Democrats Block Funding for DHS/ICE

• Context: Amid news of ICE abuses and paramilitary tactics, Democrats threaten to defund DHS unless major reforms are made to ICE operations.
• Minnesota Update: Operation Metro Surge (ICE raids in Minneapolis) ends, with Governor Tim Walz celebrated for his forceful response.
  • Tim Walz (via clip) [47:33]: "The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. We’ve got children whose core memory will be their classmate being taken away..."
• Community Response:
  • Dan Pfeiffer recounts visiting Minneapolis after the killing of Alex Preddy, describing parents guarding schools and a city unifying in resistance to ICE.
  • Dan Pfeiffer [48:38]: "That group of unarmed people were strong enough to force the Trump administration into retreat. Tyrants look stronger than they are. Democracy looks weaker than it is, but it is very powerful."
• Political Calculus:
  • Trump’s approval on immigration hits record lows; Democrats are urged to stand firm and clarify demands (e.g., judicial warrants, restraining ICE/CBP use of force).
  • Dan Pfeiffer [53:50]: "[We will] not vote to give a single penny to this agency that has killed American citizens, that has terrorized American communities, without the most basic guardrails you could possibly ask for."

b. Implications for the 2026 Midterms

• Analysis:
  • The mounting scandals and Democratic resistance are viewed as potentially defining issues for the forthcoming elections.
  • Rejection of ICE funding is seen as a rare example of Democrats holding the line, reflecting changing political winds on immigration.

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3. Lasergate: Border Security & Bureaucratic Chaos

• Incident: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses a Pentagon-supplied laser (PHaEL/LOCUST system) to shoot down a party balloon over El Paso without notifying the FAA, resulting in a shutdown of El Paso airspace.
• Discussion:
  • Hosts mock the absurdity and danger of using military hardware for trivial incidents, the breakdown in communication, and the administration’s inability to coordinate basic security functions.
  • Tommy Vietor [56:00]: "You could take out a balloon for less than the price of the balloon...That's why laser was such a good weapon in Contra."
  • Jon Lovett [59:59]: "Unbelievable. Just idiots. Idiots...running the government."
• Broader Significance: Points to dysfunction at high levels—including appointments of unqualified officials, stretched and mismanaged resources, and underlying chaos in the Trump administration.

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4. Pop Culture & The Right-Wing Outrage Machine

a. "OK, Stop" – Megyn Kelly vs. Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl

• Clip/Wide Discussion: Megyn Kelly rails against Bad Bunny’s halftime performance for being "entirely in Spanish," calls it a "middle finger to America," and launches into a series of cultural grievances.
• Hosts’ Reactions:
  • Widespread ridicule of Kelly's nativism, bafflement at calls for "meatloaf" as the only acceptable halftime food, and sharp retorts on American identity.
  • Tommy Vietor [67:25]: "She thinks Shakespeare joined ISIS and she’s screaming at him. Also, many Americans can’t speak English. If we’re just being honest, a lot of us don’t understand our own language particularly well."
  • Jon Lovett [71:05]: "A huge mix of cultures and languages—that is quintessentially American. That is the whole fucking country."
  • Extensive riffing on American cuisine, patriotism, and the shape of culture wars, closing with satirical suggestions to invite Kelly to a multicultural Super Bowl party.

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5. Audience Interaction: U.S.–Australia Citizenship Test Trivia

• Segment: Fun interlude where Dan Pfeiffer quizzes Americans on the U.S. citizenship test and the hosts on Australian history and civics.
• Tone: Lively, irreverent, inserting political jokes and sharp banter about both countries’ histories and governmental quirks.
• Notable Quote [40:54]: Dan Pfeiffer, after a question about Australia’s head of state: "You are all still fucking subjects of that inbred fucking London. You can pretend all you want otherwise, but until you change your country constitution, you work for Charles."
• Ends with Pfeiffer joking about the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis and blaming the British monarchy.

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Notable Quotes & Quotes by Timestamp

• Tommy Vietor [09:23]: "Saying we shouldn’t be talking about prosecuting child predators because the Dow is at 50,000 is one of the most fucking insane things I’ve ever heard anyone say in politics in my life."
• Dan Pfeiffer [12:20]: "This is by some measures perhaps the largest or most consequential political scandal in American history."
• Jon Lovett [26:27]: "You think he’s going to stop at members of Congress…what happens when he starts doing it to people who are not well known…? At some point, you have to make the argument that…everyone is at risk if the President of the United States can just go try to arrest people, throw them in jail for exercising their rights."
• Dan Pfeiffer [48:38]: "Democracy looks weaker than it is, but it is very powerful. The American people are powerful. And they underestimate that because I think they equate being kind with being weak. But you can be kind and tough."
• Jon Lovett [71:05]: "A huge mix of cultures and languages—that is quintessentially American. That is the whole fucking country."

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------| | 02:38 | Show opens, host introductions, crowd banter | | 03:11 | Week recap: failed arrests, AG meltdown, DHS | | 05:44 | Attorney General Bondi House hearing | | 10:33 | Social/political impact of Bondi meltdown | | 14:27 | Dem messaging on Epstein files | | 18:16 | Failed Congressional indictments | | 19:57 | Grand juries resisting Trump admin | | 24:13 | The seriousness of attempts to jail Congress | | 27:19 | ICE and the administration’s abuses | | 47:33 | End of ICE Operation Metro Surge in MN | | 48:38 | Minneapolis resistance and community action | | 50:50 | DHS shutdown strategy | | 54:40 | Lasergate: CBP party balloon incident | | 63:14 | "OK, Stop" – Megyn Kelly halftime outrage | | 71:05 | Hosts sum up America’s multicultural identity|

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Tone & Style

• Sharp, irreverent, and deeply skeptical of Trump-era abuses.
• Candid, sometimes profane, with moments of dark humor and satire.
• Strong advocacy for Democratic resistance and the power of democratic institutions and communities.

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Conclusion

This episode is a sweeping, sometimes darkly comic tour of the state of American politics amid grave abuses of power and institutional breakdown. The hosts highlight the critical role of public outrage, local communities, and unexpected legal guardrails in providing resistance. The show closes with their trademark wit, moving from the week's chaos to questions of national identity and the absurdities of cultural gatekeeping.

For listeners: This episode is a must if you want to understand not just the headlines, but the underlying narrative stakes of 2026 American politics—with humor, clarity, and urgency.

Transcript

[Jon Favreau]

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[Jon Favreau]

What's up, Melbourne?

[Jon Lovett]

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

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I'm Jon Lovett.

[Tommy Vietor]

I'm Tommy Vzor.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I'm Dan Pfeiffer.

[Tommy Vietor]

What a city.

[Jon Lovett]

We're such fans.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

We love this city.

[Jon Lovett]

We are not just saying that.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

No, we're.

[Tommy Vietor]

We didn't do this for other cities. I'm not gonna name any names.

[Jon Lovett]

All right, so we got a big show tonight. In the five days since we've been gone from the US The President has tried and failed to arrest several members of Congress. The Attorney General had a public meltdown over the administration's continued cover up of a child sex trafficking ring. And the Department of Homeland Security is headed for a shutdown, but not because they used an experimental laser to accidentally shoot down a party balloon over Texas without giving aviation officials a head up, forcing them to ground all traffic, air traffic over El Paso. That's not why the department's closing down. But we'll get to why it is. But let's start with a very important public health announcement from the top US Official in charge of our nation's well being.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I'm not scared of a germ.

You know, I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.

[Jon Lovett]

There he is. There he is. Another Kennedy winning. Winning hearts all over America.

[Tommy Vietor]

That is the most I've ever believed RFK Jr. This is a man who saw a dead bear carcass on the side of the road in upstate New York and thought, let's give it a ride to Manhattan. That's his vibe.

[Jon Lovett]

We think that the cocaine fell and he just didn't want to waste any of it. Like, there's no reason. He was like trying, like, what was the purpose of.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Listen, I'm not like a. I'm not like a cool guy.

[Jon Lovett]

I know he's a conservationist.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I've not been offered cocaine often in my life. People just don't look at me and think he'll do cocaine. But I'm pretty sure the toilet seat is never the best option for doing cocaine.

Yeah.

[Tommy Vietor]

Was he in a bathroom? He has to be in a bathroom.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I don't think he's at. I don't think he's at Home Depot.

[Jon Lovett]

Is it ikea?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Where were the follow up questions in this interview?

[Jon Lovett]

That's. I mean, I think it was with Theo Vaughn, so who knows? Okay. Let's get to the actual news. Believe it or not, the RFK Jr clip was not the craziest performance of a Trump cabinet secretary this week. On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi tested.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Wow. Sorry, Bondi. That's our fault.

[Jon Lovett]

Playbook did title the story about this Bondi Beach. Oh, I know. Yeah, exactly. She testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee where she was asked to provide candid answers about the government's handling of the Epstein files. That's what this hearing was about. Let's take a listen.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

How many of Epstein's co conspirators have you indicted?

[Jon Lovett]

How many perpetrators are you even investigating?

[Adrian Hill]

First you showed it. I find it.

[Jon Lovett]

How many have you?

[Adrian Hill]

Excuse me, I'm going to answer the question.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Answer my question. No, I'm going to answer the question.

[Megyn Kelly]

The way I want to answer the question.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

You don't tell me. Oh, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate.

[Adrian Hill]

Have you apologized to President Trump? The dow is over 50,000 right now.

[Megyn Kelly]

The S&P at almost 7,000.

[Adrian Hill]

And the NASDAQ smashing records. That's what we should be talking about. This guy has Trump derangement syndrome. Don't you ever accuse me of a crime.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I believe you just lied under oath.

[Adrian Hill]

Her district includes Culver City and she's not talking about any crime in her district.

[Megyn Kelly]

But we're going to move back to you. I bet we are.

[Jon Lovett]

Yes, of course. Because you're here to testify. That's the idea. You come here, you say we go back to you because we're asking you questions.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

There's a it's unbelievable, great Steve Martin joke where he's at the Kennedy Center Honors for Paul Simon. Kennedy center is a building we used to have before Donald Trump blew it up. And Steve Martin says, you know, I could sing the praises of Paul Simon, but this is neither the time nor the place.

[Jon Favreau]

Love it.

[Jon Lovett]

If you were Pam Bondi's communications director.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

And you almost were.

[Jon Lovett]

And you almost were, and she walks out of the hearing room, she hasn't looked at social media yet, and she says, john, how'd I do?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I think I'd say, wow, you did your best out there and you really gave as good as you got, boss. Hey, late at night, you can't hear God anymore either, right? Like, you used to be able to hear something that felt like connection to, like an ever loving presence and now it's silent, right? That's true for you, too. Not just me. Are we all. Because at night when it's really quiet, it's Getting quieter than it was. And you're like, what's missing? What's the quiet in the quiet? And it's like, is that. Is that me or you feel that? You feel that, too? Great job out there, boss. The boss. The boss is gonna love it.

[Jon Lovett]

I mean, she's like, has the President called? Has the President called? The President called yet? No. Tommy, aside from the. The crash out that we just witnessed, were there any answers or revelations from the hearing that you think will keep the story going or cause the administration some problems?

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, so there are a few, like, factual things. One, she was repeatedly pressed if they were going to indict anyone based on what's in the Epstein files. And I think she said something like, we have pending investigations in our office, which seems like news and seemingly contradicts what the FBI director, Kash Patel, said when he said there was no one to indict based on what he'd seen in the files. Second, she said she claimed not to have known that Ghislaine Maxwell was going to be moved to a minimum security prison, which seems impossible to believe in suggesting me, she may have perjured herself. Bigger picture.

[Jon Lovett]

And she said it wasn't actually a minimum security prison, which is bullshit.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Bigger picture is the minimum anyway. Yeah.

[Tommy Vietor]

Saying we shouldn't be talking about prosecuting child predators because the dow is at 50,000 is one of the most fucking insane things I've ever heard anyone say in politics in my life.

[Jon Lovett]

And that is the line, though. It is the like, 49,000.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Guess where it ended today? 49,000.

[Tommy Vietor]

And like.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

But watch out, co conspirators.

[Tommy Vietor]

And I do think it was, like, permanently damaging, not just because of the insanity of the comment, but the degree to which it broke through. Like, my TikTok and Instagram were full of people commenting on this. Like the Gen Z reporter at Barstool Sports was talking about how insane this was. And then there was also this moment where she was asked if she would apologize to victims of Epstein's crimes who were in the back based on how badly DOJ had bungled the release of the files and put out names and graphic images of people and she would not look at them, she would not apologize to them, she would not give an inch. And I think, like, this performance drew so much more attention to Donald Trump's worst issue that I know she was performing for an audience of one, but I think she made it exponentially worse by acting like a crazy person.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I mean, there's also another moment in the hearing where Congressman Dan Goldman had. There are 10 of Epstein survivors who are in the audience. And he asked them how many of you have been interviewed by the Department of Justice? And none of them raised their hands. He asked you how many of you would be willing to share your story at the Department of Justice. They all raised their hands. And so you just have to think about this, that they have a bunch of emails with people on record admitting to or very seriously implying being involved in child sex trafficking, talking about torture videos, talking about incredibly young girls. And they have not even asked the women who were involved about this. Like, there is no effort to investigate the most famous, maybe largest child sex trafficking ring in American history. And the reason that is is because they don't want to know the names of the people that going to say. Yeah, because once they start pulling on the strings, a lot of people who may be friends with this administration, friends with this president in this administration, their names may come out.

[Jon Lovett]

And you do think that, like as we go forward, that is something that reporters can keep pressing them on. Like they are willing to be interviewed. You were at the hearing.

[Jon Favreau]

Have you interviewed them yet?

[Jon Lovett]

Like that's something that it's going to be hard to just keep running away from.

[Tommy Vietor]

And because she was flipping around her briefing book so much, it was revealed that DOJ has surveilled members of Congress and knew what terms they were searching for when they were looking through, I assume the unredacted Epstein files, which is an insane thing to do. That would be a massive scandal in any other administration.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

This is by some measures perhaps the largest or most consequential political scandal in American history. You have the federal government of the United States from its absolute highest level, covering up in protecting people involved in child sex trafficking because those people may be friends with donors to or colleagues of the president. United States.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, like. Like the Commerce Secretary who we found out went to the island with his family.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

He brought his children to pedophile island. So that's fine.

[Jon Lovett]

You want to take your kids to Epstein island as a trip after you said that you broke off relations with him years before?

[Tommy Vietor]

Got to get the fast pass though.

[Adrian Hill]

You.

[Tommy Vietor]

It's a Disney joke. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Do you think they didn't understand? Do you think that's why they were.

[Tommy Vietor]

They were told not to dumb it down.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Specifically so, Dan, here's a Politico headline from a story about the hearing. House Dems think Pam Bondi just helped them in the midterms. What do you Think that's putting a.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Lot of weight on a congressional hearing that happened midday Wednesday in early February.

[Jon Lovett]

We do have nine months.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I think there are two bigger questions here that come from this hearing and the entire thing. The first is what impact will the Epstein files and cover up have on politics? And the second question is how should Democrats use talk about the Epstein files in the midterm campaigns? So let's start with the first question. It's obviously going to have an impact. This is a rare monocultural event in American politics. It has been honestly the biggest story in American politics for nine months now. Yeah, it dominates everything. It is, everyone talks about it, even it's broken out of the political media bubble. It is, your non political podcasters are talking about it. Influencers on social, on TikTok and YouTube are talking about it. It is, it is broken, thrown away. And in our politics there are so few moments like that that's impossible for it not to have an impact. So then the question is like, how did Democrats talk about it? And it absolutely should be part of our message, but I think it needs to be a data point about a larger story. And that larger story is that in America there are two sets of rules, one for elites and one for everyone else. And that dynamic is why rich people get tax cuts and Americans get kicked off their health care. It's why politically connected fraudsters get pardons from the president and hardworking law abiding people in America get thrown into vans because of the color of their skin or their accent. And it's why. And it's why the Department of Justice will not even talk to the victims because they're so worried that the elites will get in trouble because of it. And that is the story that is an absolutely true, believable story of America. It's actually the story that got Donald Trump elected twice. And the fact that he is now on the wrong side of that, that he is not someone breaking up that cabal as he tried. He is one of the elites protecting other elites. That is a mortal political wound for him. But we have to tell, that's what, we have to tell it aggressively because if we get too wrapped up in the specifics, I think you lose it. It's gotta be. It's not just the Epstein files. Even though the country believes that he's covering something up, though the country believes that there should be transparency, there should be more investigations. It has to be part of this larger story.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I also like, I also think her conduct at the hearing is like a perfect Example that illustrates that story, because people who are tuning in and, you know, like, Tommy was saying this, like, broke beyond the political bubble. And everyone's just. People are watching the Attorney General of the United States sit at a hearing and just refuse to answer a single question, scream at members of Congress. And midterms are about, you know, a referendum on the party in power. And they're about, like, whether you want to have checks and balances and whether you want to hold an administration accountable and you want to have some balance of power in the country. And having Pam Bondi up there scream for a half hour and refuse to.

[Jon Favreau]

Answer questions and talk about the fucking.

[Jon Lovett]

Dow when we're talking about child sex trafficking, it's just going to strike. Most people who don't even pay attention to politics is like, what the hell?

[Jon Favreau]

Why shouldn't she have to answer questions? She works for us.

[Jon Lovett]

She's the Attorney General, United States.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I understand from her own personal politics why she acted like this, because this is apparently what people think Trump wants, but this is the last thing that Trump should want, attention being drawn to. It's like having robbing a bank and having your getaway driver light herself on fire outside the bank. It's. It's not a good plan.

Yeah, you won't get away. It's also, I think, worth saying, like, why is she doing this in this way right now? And I think it's because she's on her heels, right? Lots of stories about Trump being pretty upset with her, and rightly so. This began with Pam Bondi saying that the list was on her desk and that. And she sent a bunch of people with binders out, called Phase One before Kash Patel said there is no list. And so she.

[Jon Lovett]

That was when the doubt was at 45,000.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah.

And so I think, like, ironically, her fealty to the president and constant fear of losing a news cycle and then, like, earning his wrath has put her in, like, a kind of an impossible situation, because everyone knows she's just a vassal for Trump and that she's performing for an audience of one. That actually makes it impossible for her to do anything to help him with the scandal, because everyone knows she's not an independent arbiter of justice. She works for him, and so there's really nothing she could do. And by the way, their decision to, like, redact these things has allowed the story to continue rolling out now. There's all these news cycles about day after day of like, oh, who was this email from? We want to redact this. We want to fix this. Like, she is stuck in a loop where because she is so devoted to Donald Trump, she can't solve the problem for him.

[Jon Lovett]

Pam Bundy's had a few other big Ls this week. She and the President tried to indict six Democratic members of Congress for exercising their First Amendment rights. In this case, reminding members of the US military that the law does not require them to obey illegal orders. Thankfully, not a single American serving on a D.C. grand jury voted to indict. Was it because criminalizing free speech is a nightmare that our founders probably had? Or was it because the prosecutor assigned to the case runs an active dance photography studio and has zero experience being a federal prosecutor? We'll never know. We'll never know. It's maybe some combination.

[Tommy Vietor]

It's a weird combo.

[Jon Lovett]

Weird combo.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's like members and. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, position one. Position one. Position two.

Position two.

Plie, plie, and spin.

[Jon Lovett]

Honestly, if you go to the Instagram feed, some good work. Really good work. Yeah, the photography's not bad.

[Tommy Vietor]

Is she dancing while taking photos?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Is that the deal?

No, I think she takes photos of dancers.

Maybe it was a confusion because she.

[Jon Lovett]

It's a he, by the way.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Because.

[Jon Favreau]

Because.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Because Pierrot had thought he had taken the bar.

[Jon Lovett]

Tommy, should we feel relieved that our legal guardrails held, or should we be terrified that Trump and Bondi tried this in the first place? Yeah.

[Tommy Vietor]

No, I don't. D.C. grand jurors have become a surprising bulwark against creeping fascism. Whether you are a member of Congress or just a dude drunk, hucking a sandwich at a nice guy, shout out to D.C. grand jurors, but I do not think. I do not think that can hold. Like, as we've all seen, there are judges and jurisdictions that are far more likely to do Donald Trump's bidding. And I assume that at some point, DOJ or someone will find ways to route these cases there. Earlier today, though, I also, I spoke with one of the six elected officials who they're trying to prosecute, and this person told me that they thought that Trump was going to try again. Maybe as soon as tomorrow.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So, which is yesterday in America.

[Jon Lovett]

Which is yesterday. So it's already no okay. With another grand jury.

[Tommy Vietor]

And so maybe it won't work again, maybe it will fail. But look, I mean, these people, you have to hire a lawyer. It takes time, it takes money, it is intimidating. And, like, you know, in this case, it seems like they fucked with the wrong six people. Right? But there will be a whole host of other People who are far more willing to be silenced, to be intimidated. For every Mark Kelly, there's a Mark Zuckerberg who has tremendous money in power. It just Turtles or a Jeff Bezos or, you know, Tim Apple, Tim Cook.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vietor]

Went to the Melania documentary premiere for Amazon. So I don't think we should feel good about this.

[Jon Lovett]

Love it. A federal judge, speaking of Mark Kelly just blocked Pete Higseth from retroactively demoting Mark Kelly, Senator Mark Kelly, his military rank and reducing his pension, also because of the illegal orders.

[Jon Favreau]

Video.

[Jon Lovett]

Hegseth then responded to say he's appealing and he's not.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Stop it. Stop it.

[Jon Lovett]

Not anyone gets to be the understudy on the weekend Fox show. Why do you think they don't seem to care that they just keep losing these fights? Like, they just. They're not worried.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So I think it's a couple of things. I think to Tommy's point, the process is the punishment. They just want to make their lives miserable. They want to make them feel afraid of the process and what the worst case scenario could be. This could go to a grand jury and that could go beyond it. This could cause your pension to be reduced. I think there's a reason that Jeanine Pirro is now stuck going to a dance instructor slash lawyer to kind of do this thing. Like this is they're not sending their best, Like Pete Eickseth, like Pam Bondi is just trying to keep his head above Warner. He is just grossly unqualified to do this job. You can see it on his face. I'm sure he feels it in every meeting he is with serious people where he's pretending to be in charge and pretending to be on top of it and pretending to have earned the respect of generals who can barely stare him in the face. They're all just trying to stay one news cycle ahead. Right. They get a defeat. So he says, we're going to appeal it. Why does he have to say that? So it doesn't look like they lost. Right. They're always just trying to stay one step ahead. And I think it's important just to, like, I think sometimes, like, these people, we don't imbue them with magical powers or sort of kind of prognostication abilities. They're trying to figure this out one day at a time. And I think Pete Hegseth is just trying to stay ahead of the weather. Like, I really do think that that's a lot of what's going on.

[Jon Lovett]

So, Dan, like, I could see that most Americans, first of all if they have heard about this story, and probably many haven't, but those who have heard about it, you know, it's like Donald Trump is, you know, trying to indict people and politicians and does it. But like, this, to me, is a genuine like, if not constitutional crisis, like democratic crisis right now that we are that the president is just because he didn't like a video trying to use the Justice Department to arrest sitting members of Congress. Do you think that, like, this is something that might, might break through, that maybe Democrats should talk about this? You know, what do you think?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

What do you want me to say, John?

[Jon Lovett]

You know what I want you to say.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

You're right. This is an absolute crisis. The president of the United States is criminalizing opposition to the regime like that. It is as authoritarian as it can be. The only thing standing in the way is our American citizens serving on grand juries. It is what's kept Jim Comey, Letitia James, Lisa Cook and a bunch of other people from actually being prosecuted, being indicted by their government and then brought up on criminal charges for what is essentially anchoring the mad king. Now, the way to talk about this, I think, is, and we know that people do care about this in polling after polling, majorities think Trump is going too far. Majorities think, including strong majorities of independents. And even as well, Republicans think Trump is a threat to democracy. There are huge majorities, particularly of independents, but the country as a whole who think that the government under Trump is a threat to free speech. Like, they're aware of this. What is really bothers people the most, and maybe this isn't say the most of the best things about the voters who will decide our election is it's not just that Trump is doing this. It's that he's. He's doing this instead of the other stuff they elected him for. Right? There's a whole bunch of people who elected Trump. They knew. They knew this risk, right? They heard him say these things. Maybe they thought we were being a bit hyperbolic in how we described it. We weren't. Maybe they didn't really like him. They're Michael Obvious policies, but they really believed, given the choices they had, that he would do a better job of making their life a little bit easier by lowering prices. And then since he's been in office, he's done everything but that. And that's where this really hurts him, right? Like, we just. People care about democracy, but what they really care about, like I said, maybe this doesn't speak incredibly well of our citizenry. But what they really care about is because, like, if you were in a position where you are not making ends meet, that's what's in front of you because you're trying to feed your family, you're trying to save money for retirement, you're trying to put your kids through college, and that is always going to be first and foremost. And that's where he's failing. But in part, he's failing because he's doing all this other shit instead of that.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Is that the answer you wanted or you wanted me to say?

[Jon Lovett]

Well, no. Yes, of course. I also think that, like, you think he's going to stop it, Members of Congress, like, he could do this to you, he could do this to anyone. And what happens when he starts doing it to people who are not well known, who can't hire attorneys, who are not going to get, like, the public behind them because no one's going to know that it happened to them? At some point, you have to make the argument that this is not about Trump fighting with other politicians or Democratic activists or organizers, but everyone is at risk if the President of the United States can just go try to arrest people, throw them in jail for exercising their rights. And I mean, look, and this is why we'll talk about it, but this is why ICE and immigration, this is why he's so unpopular on that, too. Because people are starting to realize, because they're seeing it in their communities that no one is. If some people aren't safe from this president and the law doesn't work anymore and the law is not upheld, then no one's safe.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I mean, that's why the killings of Renee Good and Alex pretty broke through in the way they did, because it is evidence everyone's worst fears came to fruition, which is at any point, the government can do anything they want to any American and takes no accountability for it.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah. I do think there's like a. There's like a virtuous feedback loop in which it's what stands in the way of. It is, yes, it's a group of grand jurors, but it's bigger than that. Right. The fact that there is not some mass movement behind Donald Trump, he's not the, the leader of a popular front that wants to criminalize being a Democrat and that is sort of, that erupted to help him execute the day he was elected, that they don't have enough lawyers to do the kind of prosecution of their enemies. They don't have the kind of, like, expert group. They don't have the popular will behind them. It means that yes, grand juries are going to stop him, but so are judges. It means that when Trump tries to go after the head of the Fed, there's pushback from Republicans as well. Like he doesn't have Democratic legitimacy for this. Which is why it's important to make the argument that you're making to make the case. Because even if that doesn't result in them, that will be felt inside of the legal process. Because the law is what we say it is, and it is what judges say it is. And if they feel empowered by the public, it will allow them to do more and be another check as we go through it.

[Jon Favreau]

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[Tommy Vietor]

I need some new slippers.

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[Jon Lovett]

Or at all.

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[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's.

[Jon Favreau]

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[Tommy Vietor]

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[Jon Lovett]

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[Dan Pfeiffer]

Melbourne. You're all here because you follow American politics, and we're here because you follow American politics. And we appreciate that. But do we appreciate it enough to learn even a tiny fucking bit about you? Let's find out. Tonight, we're going to test our knowledge of each other. I'm going to ask members of the audience. I'm going to come out there now, questions from the American citizenship test. And I'm going to ask my best boys up here questions from the Australian citizenship test.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh, no.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

All right, I'm coming around. It's going to take me a second.

[Jon Lovett]

I get another drink for this.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I think you can probably still hear me. There's a long route that, legally speaking, they said I wasn't allowed to jump down from the stage because even though I act like I'm not, I am Technically over 40. I don't even know if you guys can still hear me. Okay. All right, we hear you. Ooh, too loud.

Hi.

All right, so here's how this is going to work. I have some questions here about what it takes to become an American citizen. A little bit like buying bitcoin.

[Jon Favreau]

Now.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Here's the thing. The motto of pod, save America, buy the dip. All Right. Who would like to go first? Oh, and by the way, I love our Americans who are here and our expats who are here. We're so grateful. I'd like Australians to help. So let me give. Anybody want to raise their hand? All right, I'll come to you. Hi.

Hi.

Hi. Hi. What's your name? Chancey. Okay. Hi. Not gonna try. Sorry. All right, now I will. One note about this, the American citizenship test, you just have to know the answer. But we published the full test. The Australians, you have to read a book, but the questions are multiple choice. Interesting. All right. The idea of self government is the first three words of the Constitution. What are the first three words of the US Constitution? Weigh the people. You got it?

[Jon Lovett]

Good.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

All right, John, Tommy and Dan, what do we remember on Anzac Day? Is it, A, the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, Turkey, B, the arrival of the first free settlers from Great Britain, or C, the landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove.

[Jon Lovett]

What's the day called?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Anzac Day.

[Jon Lovett]

Anzac.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

A, N, C. A, C what we all know.

[Tommy Vietor]

Say the options again.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

The landing of the Australian New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli. The arrival of the first free settlers. The landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove. Come on, fellas.

[Jon Lovett]

First World War is what we were told.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I'll give it to you. That's correct. The landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli. It's a bit like Memorial Day or Veterans Day. Who would like to go next? Oh, okay. You're gonna come together. Okay.

[Jon Favreau]

All right.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

How many years does a U.S. senator serve? Way too many. I'm gonna need a number. I'm gonna need a number.

[Jon Lovett]

That's the right answer.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Four. Wrong. It's wrong. How many?

[Jon Lovett]

Six.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

All right.

[Jon Lovett]

Sorry.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

What is represented by the Commonwealth Star on the Australian national flag? Is it A, the six states and one point for the territories? Is it B, the British heritage or see the Southern Cross? The Commonwealth Star on the Australian national.

[Tommy Vietor]

C?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

C that's wrong. Obviously. Fucking audience.

[Jon Lovett]

What was it?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It is the six states and one point to the territories, which we all learned from reading the book that teaches us all this, the Common Bond. Next up, what is. Back to our host. What is Australia's national flower? Is it A, the tulip, B, the rose, or C, the golden wattle?

[Jon Lovett]

Gotta be C. It's gotta be C, right?

[Tommy Vietor]

C it is.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's the golden wattle. A beautiful. A beautiful yellow flower.

[Jon Lovett]

Here we go. Points on the board.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Points on the board. I'll Come over here. All right, who wants to go next from over here? Okay.

[Jon Favreau]

Hi.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Hi.

[Jon Lovett]

Hi.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

What's your name?

Francis.

Francis. Hi. Are you from Melbourne? Yes. What a city. You live outside? About an hour and a half.

Oh.

But in of doors, if the president and the vice president can no longer serve, who becomes the American president?

There's the house.

You got it.

[Tommy Vietor]

Amazing. Well done.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

All right, boys. What is the national anthem of Australia? Is it A, Waltzing Matilda? B, a song we all love out here? Is it B, God Save the Queen, or is it C? Advance Australia Fair. Come on, Tommy. What is the world you've been saving?

[Jon Lovett]

It's not a trivia show.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Ben would know.

Did you think it's God Save the Queen? No.

No, that's.

[Jon Lovett]

That's. I don't know. I thought they.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

How could it be God Save the Queen? When you think about it, she dead. See, you got it. It's Advanced Australia Fair. All right. Who would like to go from over here? Oh, hi. Hi. Well, you can't.

You know what?

Fuck you for pointing at your friend. Name two cabinet level positions in the US Government. Two cabinet level positions. Stop helping kind Australians. Mouthy. Nice people.

Secretary, that is.

Okay, of what? Of what?

Secretary of War and Secretary of State.

Wrong, that is. There is no Secretary of War. That's Trump talk.

[Jon Lovett]

I was gonna say there is now.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Wrong.

[Tommy Vietor]

Not by law.

[Adrian Hill]

All right.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

When did the first fleet of convict ships arrive in Australia? Was it July 4, 1776, the 1st of January, 1800, or the 26th of January, 1788?

[Jon Favreau]

I think it's C. Right, C. Right.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

C. C, C, that's correct. One of Australia's proudest moments, I guess. Some weird history you guys got. Love it here. Look, you're just up. What's happening? Okay, Sit down, you prisoner. Sit down. Act like this isn't a prison anymore. Jumping up. All right, here, let's do what.

We're good.

I'm doing it. All right, ready? When was the US Constitution written? It was in the olden days. Hit the nail on the head there. You're so cocky now we're talking and you don't have a fucking answer. But you know what? Oh, I'm getting punched.

[Tommy Vietor]

Get his ass, John.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Tommy. Dan. When was the US Constitution written?

[Jon Lovett]

Come on, boys. 1783.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Oh, you're getting so close to it. The Australians know it's 1787.

[Tommy Vietor]

So close.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So close.

[Tommy Vietor]

So close.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So close.

[Tommy Vietor]

Well done. These are hard.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

These are hard. Oh, let me give you a real. Let's give you a.

All right.

Let's do this. Who is Australia's head of state? Is it A. This is a sensitive topic. It's a sensitive topic. Is it A, to just chill out? Just for the rest of the game, act like you're still a colony. I'm gonna get killed out here. All right, A, is it the Prime Minister? Is it B, the Governor General? Or is it C, the King of Australia, His Majesty, King Charles iii.

[Tommy Vietor]

C, That's.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah. No, it is. It is King Charles. It is King Charles. Oh, I read the book today. Why don't you all take your fucking tests again? The Governor General is his representative. You are all still fucking subjects of that inbred fucking London. You can pretend all you want otherwise, but until you change your country constitution, you work for Charles.

[Jon Lovett]

Guess we're not getting asylum here.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Sorry, I got a little upset there for a second. Why does our flag have 13 stripes?

It's a 13 original column.

You got it. Thank you. See? We're coming back. What is the role of the Governor General in Australia? Is it, A, get mocked by Charles, A, make all the government decisions, B, lead the parliament? Or C, act as the king's representative and perform ceremonial and constitutional duties?

[Jon Lovett]

Sounds like C on this one.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

You got it.

[Tommy Vietor]

Nice.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Let's do one more question out here amongst all these love. Hi.

[Jon Favreau]

Hi. Hi.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Hi. What's your name?

[Jon Favreau]

Ash.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Ash, name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.

[Tommy Vietor]

Mississippi.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

You got it. The other is the Missouri. And as I come back, Melvin, you won the game. And as I come back, Run.

[Tommy Vietor]

Run.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

As I come back, I just want to say that in learning a lot about your country, I came to find out that in 1975, your supposedly ceremonial Governor General committed a fucking coup. There was a coup d' etat in Australia in 1975. Boo me all you want, you know I'm right. And then in 1975, the fucking king of England had a coup in your country, and you all just fucking ate it. Right? The CIA did it. You know what? There's a lot you can blame on us. There's a lot you can blame on us, but not the 1975 governor general thing. You did that. You know what? You lose the game, my boys won the game. And we'll be right back. POD Save America is brought to you by Acorns. There were times in my past when I wasn't investing, especially when I was young. And I just didn't know how to do it. And I didn't know, like, there was never a good time to start. It was kind of thing I put off and even when I worked for the government and I had like a government TSP retirement tsp, I like for a while I wasn't putting cash. I was just like, wasn't doing it right. And finally I was like this is stupid. You have to think about it. And there are ways that can make it really easy. If you wait around, you're missing the opportunity because just investing a little, especially when you're early in your career, can really make a difference in the long run. One way to do that is Acorns. Acorns is a smart way to give your money a chance to grow. Acorns is easy. You can sign up in minutes and start automatically investing your spare money. Even if all you've got is spare change. Acorns grows with you whether you're starting out or thinking about settling down. Acorns supports your big and small goals across every stage of life. The Acorns Potential screen shows you the power of compounding and how your money could grow over time. Plus, you can quickly adjust how much you're investing every day, week or month to make sure you're building towards your goals. Acorns is all in one no more finance apps cluttering up your phone with Acorns, you can invest, save and give your money a chance to grow in one trusted place. Sign up now and Acorns will boost your new account with a $5 bonus. Investment join the over 14 million all time customers who have already saved and invested over $27 billion with Acorns. Head to acorns.com crooked or download the Acorns app to get started. Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote acorns. Tier 2 compensation provided potential subject to various factors such as customer accounts, age and investment settings does not include Acorns fees. Results do not predict or represent the performance of any Acorns portfolios. Investment results will vary. Investing involves risk. Acorn Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important [e-mail] Crooked the holidays are expensive.

[Adrian Hill]

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[Jon Lovett]

All right, let's. Let's get back to talking about America. Clearly a superior country, because as most of you know. Well, that was some heavy sarcasm there, because I was about to say, as.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Most of you know, they haven't gotten sarcasm here yet.

[Jon Lovett]

Our, our government has been sending roving paramilitary squads into our cities and towns to round up immigrants and citizens alike. So that's what we're dealing with. But there's been some promising news on that front this week. Democrats in Congress are standing strong in refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless Trump and Republicans agree to reign in ice. A Trump appointed judge of all judges just ruled that the administration must no longer violate thousands of immigrants constitutional rights by locking them up without access to lawyers. And in Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan and Governor Tim Walls announced that Operation Metro Surge, which has terrorized the people of Minneapolis, has finally ended. And here's what Tim Walls had to say at his press conference.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. We've got children that a core memory for them will be their classmate being taken away, and that will stick with them the rest of their lives. And my hope is what sticks with them is human decency wins out. Rule of law matters. All. The surge is going and they're going immediately. So as soon as they can pack their stuff, book a plane, move on. I would volunteer. We will help you get to the airport. We will clear the roads to get you to the airport. I will come over and pack your damn bags if that's what it takes.

[Jon Lovett]

Minnesota. Nice. Right there. Yeah, that's. That's Tim Walls.

[Tommy Vietor]

Love that.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That's the Tim Walls we loved.

Tim Wallace packing the bags, the Under Armour shirts, the photos of the kids they're not allowed to see.

[Jon Lovett]

Love it. You were in Minneapolis a couple weeks after the killing of Alex Preddy. What are some lessons you think we can take away from what happened here?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So I think something that will always stick with me, something I've never seen in An American city are just parents standing on street corners all throughout the city, invest with whistles, kind of these sentinels standing guard of the schools, preschools, middle schools, high schools, in case ICE shows up. That is an organic outpouring of empathy, compassion, of people standing up for their neighbors in their community. And that group of unarmed people were strong enough to force the Trump administration into retreat. When something I've said before, tyrant, you know, dictators look stronger than they are. Democracy looks weaker than it is, but it is very powerful. We are very powerful. The American people are powerful. And they underestimate that because I think they equate being kind with being weak. But you can be kind and tough. And I think that's what the people of the Twin Cities showed. And I think that's what we have to show as Americans. And I just think we can. And that is why I think when we worry about what they're going to do to take over our elections, worry about what they're going to do to throw members of Congress in jail, we have to remember that we are still stronger than them. And we should not give them power that they haven't taken, because we will hold them back as like we will set how far they go. They will not decide how far they go.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

So, Dan, another two polls came out this week, one from NBC, one from the Associated Press, that show Trump's approval on immigration at record lows. I think in the AP poll, his approval on immigration is even lower than his economic approval houses. Economic approval, not great either. Not great either. Though immigration being lower, I was, I've been reliably told that only economic issues are what people care about. So it's nice to see that. I am sure that that's one reason Democrats in Congress feel like very confident heading into this mini shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which will probably take effect by the time people listen to this podcast. How do you think once the Department of Homeland Security shuts down, Democrats win this fight? And what does a win look like?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So whenever you are dealing with a budget or government funding shutdown, there are, there's a political win, a substantive win. They're not always the same thing. So let's talk about the political win first with Democrats. As you point out in this polling, they have the high ground here. And this is really going to require Democrats in Congress to change their mentality, because our natural assumption since the day Trump came down the escalator is if the conversation is about immigration, it's bad for Democrats, and that is no Longer the case immigration. It went from Trump's greatest strength to a glaring weakness. So we have the political ones that are back here. We should be strong. And it's positive to know that talking to senators, they believe that Democrats will stand strong here. The way I think they carry the message here is they stand strong. They are very loud and clear about what it is they're asking for. And be very specific that all that they are asking for is for people to stop wearing masks, for ICE agents to have to use judicial warrants like our Constitution says, before they arrest people, that ICE and CBP agents adopt the same standards for use of force as every other federal law enforcement officer in the country. That's all we're asking for. And then the other thing here is we care about ICE and cbp, the Customs of War Patrol. And Democrats are willing to fund the rest of the Department of Homeland Security tomorrow. If Republicans agree to it. We will. We will fund the Transportation Security Administration. We'll fund everything other than that. And so they force Republicans to vote against that or to say they will not do that to put them in a position of being unreasonable. And the only thing that Democrats cannot do here is to do what they did at the end of the last shutdown, which is to quit with nothing to fold their cards before getting anything else. If the DHS has to be shut down through the election, through the swearing into the Democratic majority in the House and maybe the Senate, then that's what has to happen here. Because Honestly, the good ICE has money. Like we should be very clear. ICE has $125 billion. They are not going to suffer here. But there is a principle here in that we will not vote to give a single penny to this agency that has killed American citizens, that has terrorized American communities without the most basic guardrails you could possibly ask for. And we have to stand by that, because if we're not going to do that, then this is going to be end up. That will be tremendously damaging if we fold our cards here.

[Jon Lovett]

And we should be clear too. Like the in within the Department of Homeland Security, like Transportation, tsa.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Right.

[Jon Lovett]

Those are the people at the airports who, you know, make sure when you go through security and if, you know, TSA will, will work without pay. They'll have to work without pay for a while. But, you know, last time we had a shutdown, the airports, you get a lot of delays and then travel.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That's the faa, which is funded.

[Jon Lovett]

At some point, the TSA thing starts getting a little funky. But I Do think. And the Coast Guard too. And fema. Right. Which is emergency management, like.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

And we'd fund them.

[Jon Lovett]

Right. And so I think at some point the Republicans will say, oh look, the Democrats are hurting people by doing all this. And I think, you know, Democrats have to say, no, no, we'll fund this immediately. And if you want to leave the Department of Homeland Security, the rest of it, ICE and Customs and Border Patrol like unfunded for the rest of the year, great. We don't care. Like, I don't, I don't think. And I think there's less pressure on Democrats over DHS than there was when the whole government was shut down over the Affordable Care act.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Is approval rating is down 30 points in the last year.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So if they want to, if the Republicans want to make it hard people to go through airports, they want to keep the Coast Guard unfunded, they want to keep the rest of our Homeland Security unfunded to pay for the massed paramilitary groups terrorizing American communities that Americans, including even 24% of Republicans disapprove of. That's their choice and they should pay a price for it.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I agree. Tommy. While we're on the subject of the Department of Homeland Security, we should talk about Lasergate, which I briefly mentioned at the top of the show. So again, the headline here is that Customs and Border Patrol reportedly used an anti drone laser on loan from the Pentagon to shoot down a party balloon flying over El Paso.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Party Pew, pew, pewpers.

[Jon Lovett]

Un fucking believable.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Is my mic on?

[Jon Lovett]

Can someone, can someone turn it off so they shoot down the party balloon with the laser on loan from the dod? Yeah. Without giving the Federal Aviation Administration a heads up. So the FAA then briefly closes the airspace over El Paso in Texas, which is a city of about a million people.

[Jon Favreau]

Why would they do that?

[Jon Lovett]

Why are we shooting Defense Department lasers in a situation where we're not at war?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Can I add one more question to this?

Yeah.

What's a party balloon?

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Tommy Vietor]

That we cannot answer. We, we are all searching for this today.

[Jon Favreau]

We don't know.

[Tommy Vietor]

We think it's just a Mylar balloon.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, we need better reporting on this.

[Tommy Vietor]

Hey, we need better balloons.

[Jon Lovett]

Is it Mylar? Is it just helium?

[Tommy Vietor]

Who's on the balloon? Beats.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's gotta be helium.

[Jon Lovett]

99 Red Bull.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's gotta be in the air.

[Jon Lovett]

What's going on?

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, so the, the weapon system itself is actually pretty cool. But it's shocking how bad they fucked this up. So the, the system itself is called Locust or the Palletized high energy laser. P. Hell, great name. So it's like, it's like a seven by seven box. You can slap it on the back of a truck. There is one like optic is a laser, one is a guidance system. And I think it's sort of like bolt into whatever radar you have around. And what it does is provide sort of a mini air defense bubble for deployed troops. And anyone who has seen footage of what it is like on the front line in Ukraine knows that like war these days is drones that you could often buy at Best Buy or whatever that you strap a grenade to. Sometimes they use AI guidance and they're unmanned systems that are autonomous, that are just, you know, absolutely lethal. And so what this system does is it provides a way to defend against those. Like It's. It's a 20 kilowatt laser. That. Which is actually not that much. It's kind of like the low end of the spectrum. I read it was like 350 light bulbs basically. But you direct it the size of a dime and over time it's a shitload of energy. So I watched a promotional video this company did about their weapon system on YouTube and they melted a 2 inch metal coin from half a mile away in 1.5 seconds. And the reason this is important is because basically cost like normal missile defense systems. The interceptor missiles cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars. This is basically like a dollar or two, $3 per kill. So a good system per kill is.

[Jon Lovett]

What you said per fire.

[Tommy Vietor]

So there's a good thing.

[Jon Lovett]

It's like, Tommy, have you purchased one of these lasers?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

We cannot.

[Tommy Vietor]

I don't think he's like the laser.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Oh, we should tell you on the board of Raytheon. Do we not mention that?

[Jon Lovett]

Are you, is that. Are you going to check the box when we go through customs that you cannot be bringing the laser.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Okay, so the balloon costs more than the laser.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, well, it's like unlimited ammo. Yes.

[Jon Favreau]

You.

[Tommy Vietor]

You could take out a balloon for less than the price of the balloon. And so that's why laser was such.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

A good weapon in Contra.

[Tommy Vietor]

So apparently, apparently the cartels are flying drones like these over the border. They're tracking CBP so they know where they are. And like they'll see the customs officials move one way and they'll send whatever drugs over the border the other. So what it seems like happened was the army acquired some of these systems. They loaned them to dhs, who gave them to cbp. And these cowboy assholes just started firing these Fucking things at balloons without telling anyone. And the FAA was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We gotta ground all the planes. But then they announced that we had to ground all the planes for 10 days, which I don't understand. It's like, it's not a.

[Jon Lovett]

And they lied, right. And they said. They didn't say it was a balloon at first. They said it was a. It was like drugs, right?

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vietor]

We there. Yeah. There are multiple stories coming out. First it was a. Yes. It didn't make any sense. And so what this story to me suggests that this is what happens when you have a national security advisor who is also the Secretary of State, who until recently was the chief archivist and is like, seemingly the president.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Venezuela.

What, did he lose the archivist job?

[Tommy Vietor]

Yes, he did. He did. And he's also running Venezuela. And so that guy is the person Marco Rubia should be coordinating the interagency to be like, all right, we got this problem of, like, cartels on the border. They're flying drones. They're tracking our agents so they can traffic things across the border. Here's the solution. Here's how we're going to work together to make sure that we don't shoot us or Mexican commercial planes by accident. But no one told the faa, so they just, like, did this. Everyone freaked out, understandably. And it was a complete disaster.

[Jon Lovett]

And it sounds like no one told RFK Jr. Because his shipment was in that balloon.

[Tommy Vietor]

It's just a floating toilet across the border.

[Jon Lovett]

That guy's got to go find another toilet.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Unbelievable. Just idiots. Idiots.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

Running the government. Transportation Secretary was a former cast member on the Real World. He's.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

And honestly, he's one of the better ones.

[Tommy Vietor]

He's doing okay.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, well, he fucked up, too.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I don't think this is on him. Is it the balloon thing? I didn't.

[Jon Lovett]

He's. He's in charge of the FAA.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Didn't seem like the 10 day shutdown thing was kind of like inter. Like a way of being like, we weren't told this was happening. We're going to be kind of like we're going to be like, pissy about it.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, for sure. But it's like, what's the end game there?

[Jon Lovett]

It's also like a serious thing. Like in the El Paso airport, there were like medevacs that needed to get out of there. They like, they were like people. It's not just like people traveling into El Paso. People need to get out of there. And there was like, the airspace was shut down because they shot a fucking laser at a bullet.

[Tommy Vietor]

I don't think they told the Mexican government either. Yeah, there's a lot of problems.

[Jon Favreau]

No, no.

[Jon Lovett]

And it's like the, like the 10th story that's on the New York Times because everything else is fucked up too. All right, that's. That's the news for now.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

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[Dan Pfeiffer]

Now it's time for. OK, stop. Here's how it works. We'll roll a clip, and when we want to stop to talk about it, we'll say, okay, stop. In America, we call it Super Bowl Sunday. Here in Melbourne, we suppose it would be Super Bowl Monday. And that raised a lot of questions for us. President Franklin Roosevelt described December 7, 1941, the day that Japan attacked Pearl harbor, as a day that would live in infamy. But here, that was December 8th. So what day lives in infamy? We refer to the terrible events of September 11, 2001, as 9. 11. But here it was 12.

[Tommy Vietor]

9.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Anyway, this week, a lot of American conservatives, including Megyn Kelly, watched Bad Bunny, arguably the most popular musician in the world, perform the halftime show during the Super Bowl. But for people like Megyn Kelly, it was. It was like a cultural 12. 9. And so let us all watch and wonder as Megyn Kelly in conversation with Piers Morgan.

[Tommy Vietor]

Absolutely. Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

Honestly, he's the hero here.

[Tommy Vietor]

Watch his face. It's so funny.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

As Megan absolutely crashes. Ouch.

[Megyn Kelly]

I'm sorry, Pierce. But to get up there and perform the whole. The whole show in Spanish is a middle finger to the rest of America. Who gives a damn that we have 40. 40 million Spanish speakers in the United States? We have 310 million who don't speak a lick of Spanish. This is supposed to be a unifying event for the country. Not for the Latinos, not for one small group, but for the country.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Okay, stop. I just want to say, obviously this is shocking. I will. It's funny because in the context of the rant, because when she. She does a lot of, like, yeah, Evita, like, gestures for someone who's railing against Latin culture, she's up there being like, arms up on the balcony.

[Tommy Vietor]

Also, the super bowl is not a unifying event. It is an opportunity for the NFL to make as much money as humanly possible for a group of billionaire owners as the United States. We all pick one side or the other, and we watch them concuss each other to death on a field.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. As a Patriots fan, didn't feel very unified at the Super Bowl.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Well, the rest of us were unified about that result, so that's fine. But it really is 22 grown men beating the living shit out of each other while we eat a six foot sub and have some wings.

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

It is a great event, but I love it. The 15 minutes of Spanish didn't seem like that was an issue.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

What is that character she did like? Like, she's so angry. Like, what?

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, she did accent work.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah, it's really.

[Jon Lovett]

Work is generous.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

All right, let's continue.

[Megyn Kelly]

Black national anthem. We don't need a Spanish speaking, non English performing performer and we don't need an ICE or America hater featured as our primetime entertainment.

[Jon Lovett]

Okay, what is the national language officially.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

The national language of the United States of America?

[Megyn Kelly]

I mean, English. And there's been a push for many, many years to make it. To make it an official, documented thing.

[Jon Lovett]

You don't have one.

[Megyn Kelly]

If you would have let me finish comment, I would have pointed that out. People have been pushing to make it official.

[Jon Lovett]

Okay, so you're trying to make official.

[Megyn Kelly]

This attitude that you.

[Jon Lovett]

Hang on, hang on.

[Megyn Kelly]

You and Great Britain have lost your culture. You ceded your culture to a.

[Tommy Vietor]

Look.

[Jon Lovett]

Now the Muslims are catching strays.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That attitude by Piers Morgan is why the British have lost their culture. If only we were so lucky. I can't get. Everywhere I look, it's British culture. I feel like Shakespeare's hanging on. All the American roles go to British actors.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, she thinks Shakespeare joined ISIS and she's screaming at him. Also, many Americans can't speak English. If we're just being honest, a lot of us don't understand our own language particularly well.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

So.

I mean, she's so mad.

Has a faint grasp on the language to begin with.

[Jon Lovett]

She's so mad, too. It was very. And we don't need a Spanish speaking, non English performing.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's just like.

[Jon Lovett]

No, we got you.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Like our last several halftime shows were Kendrick Lamar artfully calling Drake a pedophile.

[Jon Lovett]

Yep.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg doing a 1990s hip hop revival the Weeknd. Like, were those nationally unifying events. I guess the catcher thing was an attack on Canada, which was cool.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yeah, it was fun. Yeah.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Yeah. I feel like that did unify the country against Drake.

[Jon Lovett]

Yes.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

No one has honestly seen him in public since.

Yeah, that was the end of him. It's funny that, like, every year the super bowl is, in some sense about pedophilia. Let's continue.

[Megyn Kelly]

Who came in and took over and now it's gone. We're not allowing that here. Whether it's Hispanic, whether it's Muslim, whether it's. It's not happening in the United States of America. That's why President Trump was elected. And whether it's Bad Bunny who is American but refuses to speak English in his performances or anybody else, we have to keep the super bowl, which is a quintessential American event. Football, that kind of football is ours. They call it American football. And the halftime show and everything around it needs to stay quintessentially American. Not Spanish, not Muslim, not anything other than good old fashioned American apple pie. There should be a meatloaf, maybe some fried chicken and an English speaking performer. That's what the super bowl should be.

[Jon Lovett]

Okay, stop fucking meatloaf.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's a classic super bowl food.

Super bowl is about long simmering oven dishes. It's about what you're pulling out of the hearth. What the fuck is she talking about?

[Tommy Vietor]

Truly.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

The.

[Jon Lovett]

She's so angry.

[Jon Favreau]

What are you angry about? You're so rich.

[Jon Lovett]

You just sit in a studio and you yell all day.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Like she sits in front of this specific background hour after hour, day after day. You live.

[Jon Lovett]

You just live in Connecticut with your fucking family and you're just sitting there yelling on a microphone.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

What's your problem? I think as a rule, everyone should have to. To show the full context of where they're doing their content. Making like. I think that, like, this shot should have to go wide, show us in the room, like the studio in her beautiful home, then have watch it go through the. Like the, I'm sure, hideously appointed beige fucking soulless interiors that she paid for that looks like a. Just a joyless, gray expanse of what life could be or should be if you were a person who knew how to be happy. But we should have to see that. I think we should get to see that because. What are you so mad about? What are you so mad about, by the way? It wasn't. It was an American flag.

[Jon Favreau]

It was cool.

[Tommy Vietor]

It was a cool concert.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It was fun in the moment to watch a lot of Maga discover that Puerto Rico is part of America.

[Tommy Vietor]

Yes, yes, it was.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

But it's also like, it's 15 minutes muted for 15 minutes, someone who disagrees with you saying a couple songs. That's it. You could have gone, Pete, you could have gone to get some extra meatloaf.

[Tommy Vietor]

A lot of options, like, wait a.

[Jon Lovett]

A huge mix of cultures and languages. That is quintessentially American. That is the whole fucking country.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That's the. That's the. Honestly, that is the whole point of our politics right now is the disagreement with that idea.

[Jon Lovett]

Like, read the fight. All the documents, all of them. Read them.

[Tommy Vietor]

I. I just. I just can't overstate how little you will see meatloaf at a Super bowl party. I've never ever in my life seen meatloaf at a Super Bowl. It's chips and dips and wings.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

That's because you're going to all the.

Spanish speaking Muslim ones.

[Jon Lovett]

Also, I would. I would leave a Super bowl party if I saw meatloaf. I'd be out of there.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Also.

[Tommy Vietor]

Also, we stole meatloaf from the Germans. It was a traditional minced meat dish that they stole from the Romans. That's how culture works. You steal things from the new guy.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Did you google the origins of meatloaf?

[Tommy Vietor]

I Googled it, yes. ChatGPT helped me out with that.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I just meatloaf better in the original German.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

I think it would be very fun to have a Super bowl party. Invite Megyn Kelly over, never say a word about it, and then just be like, megan, care for Penang curry?

[Jon Lovett]

Megan, como estas?

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Oh, Megan, welcome to our. You must try the sashimi. We have a wonderful spread. All of our favorites.

[Jon Lovett]

I'll be over here on my prayer mat.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

We actually like to watch the super bowl facing east. Now.

[Tommy Vietor]

When you make Piers Morgan look.

[Jon Lovett]

Like the reasonable one. Jesus, I told you he was the hero here.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Let's.

Let's not. Let's not let Piers Morgan up the hook. Because all you can see in Piers Morgan's shit eating grin is I'm viral again, baby.

[Tommy Vietor]

Pierce, let it keep it going, Megan.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

It's another great day for Piers. Attention. That's my super bowl food. Nosh, nosh, nosh. Attention. And that's okay. Stop.

[Jon Lovett]

That's our show for tonight.

[Jon Favreau]

Melbourne.

[Jon Lovett]

We love you. Thank you so much. If you want to listen to Pod.

[Jon Favreau]

Save America ad free and get access to exclusive podcasts, go to cricket.com friends to subscribe on Supercast, Substack, YouTube or Apple Podcasts. Also, please consider leaving us a review that helps boost this episode and everything we do here at Cricket. Pod Save America is a crooked media production. Our producer is Saul Rubin. Our associate producer is Farah Safari. Austin Fisher is our senior producer. Reed Churlin is our executive editor and Adrian Hill is our head of news and politics. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Jordan Kanter is our sound engineer with audio support from Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis. Matt de Groat is our head of production. Naomi Sengel is our executive assistant. Thanks to our digital team. Elijah Cohn, Haley Jones, Ben Hefcoat, Mia Kelman, Kiril Pelaviev. David Toles and Ryan Young. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America. EAS.

[Dan Pfeiffer]

Sam.