Texas Democrats Working Remote

Summary

Pod Save America – Episode: Texas Democrats Working Remote (August 5, 2025)

In this episode of Pod Save America, hosts Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor delve into critical political developments surrounding Texas Democrats' strategic move to counteract Republican-led gerrymandering efforts. The discussion spans economic data controversies, the integrity of federal statistics, the ramifications of partisan redistricting, and Trump's ongoing broken campaign promises. The episode also touches upon the problematic practices within Democratic fundraising operations and the recent transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security facility.

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1. Economic Data Manipulation and Bureau of Labor Statistics Turmoil

The episode opens with a critical analysis of recent economic reports. A disappointing jobs report revealed that the economy added an estimated 73,000 jobs in July—only half of what economists anticipated—and showed a significant downward revision of 258,000 jobs in May and June [02:11]. The hosts attribute this downturn to President Donald Trump's "erratic and radical trade policies," which have stymied business operations and dampened economic confidence.

Donald Trump’s Reaction:
A clip of Trump responding to the job report highlights his dismissive stance:

“[03:53] Donald Trump: We'll be announcing a new statistician sometime over the next three or four days... So it's a scam, in my opinion.”

Implications for Federal Statistics Integrity:
Jon Lovett underscores the severity of undermining the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):

“[09:59] Jon Lovett: This is supposed to be pretty wonky stuff... If you mess with economic data, it leads to enormous pain, both within your country, but also systemically.”

Favreau clarifies the role and methodology of the BLS, emphasizing its nonpartisan approach and the rarity of data revisions:

“[12:28] Jon Favreau: The Bureau of Labor Statistics... they follow very strict statistical methodological standards... sometimes people are just late getting their survey responses.”

Tommy Vietor adds historical context, referencing past instances where economic data revisions have occurred, but emphasizes that Trump’s interference is unprecedented.

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2. Texas Democrats' Quorum Break to Thwart Gerrymandering

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Texas Governor Greg Abbott's attempt to redraw congressional maps to secure five additional Republican House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. To prevent this, over 50 Democratic legislators, including State Representative James Talarico, fled Texas to Illinois, thereby breaking quorum as per the Texas Constitution [02:11].

Interview with Representative James Talarico:
Talarico elaborates on the rationale behind the quorum breach:

“[20:04] Kevin Hassett: We are in Illinois... joining a long tradition in America of standing up to bullies...”

He criticizes the gerrymandering effort as an authoritarian move aligned with Trump's playbook and emphasizes the broader threat it poses to democratic processes:

“[22:34] Kevin Hassett: They're attempting to cheat by redrawing the maps in the middle of a decade. It's blatant cheating.”

Host Reflections:
Jon Favreau expresses skepticism about the long-term viability of this strategy, noting the challenges Democrats face in holding out against repeated special sessions:

“[28:51] Jon Favreau: Tommy, I think we're in a tough spot... Republicans in Texas have pulled this ship before.”

Lovett adds concern over the potential for increased political risk and systemic economic repercussions if America's economic data continues to be politicized:

“[09:59] Jon Lovett: If the experts start to question the data underpinning the US Economy, that's a huge problem...”

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3. Democratic Fundraising Practices Under Scrutiny

The hosts shift focus to the Democratic fundraising machinery, highlighting an investigation by data journalist Adam Bonica. The report reveals that Mothership Strategies, a firm with ties to former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee staffers, has amassed approximately $678 million from individual donors since 2018. Alarmingly, only $11 million of this total has been funneled directly to campaigns, candidates, or Democratic committees, with the vast majority retained as consulting fees [41:42].

Response from Mothership Strategies:
The firm disputes the claims, asserting that a significant portion of funds goes to clients and necessary operational expenses:

“[41:42] Jon Favreau: ... Mothership supports Democratic campaigns...”

Hosts' Critique:
Jon Lovett criticizes the inefficiency and potential self-dealing within such fundraising practices:

“[43:15] Jon Lovett: ... super pack N Citizens United... raises a ton of money... but that doesn't really benefit anyone.”

Tommy Vietor emphasizes the negative impact on Democratic voters, who may become disillusioned by the relentless and often intrusive fundraising tactics:

“[44:55] Tommy Vitor: ... a lot of hyper engaged Democrats... are exhausted and angry...”

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4. Trump's Broken Campaign Promise on IVF Coverage

Turning back to President Trump, the hosts dissect his unfulfilled promise to mandate insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. Despite claiming responsibility for making IVF accessible:

“[51:57] Donald Trump: I'm the father of IVF.”

Jon Lovett highlights the disparity between the lofty promise and the administration's inaction:

“[55:04] Jon Lovett: ... the Trump administration does not plan to require health insurance to cover fertility treatments...”

They discuss the profound personal and financial implications for individuals seeking IVF, noting the average cycle costs and the emotional toll of the broken promise:

“[55:03] Jon Lovett: ... it is a life-changing, massive broken promise.”

Tommy Vietor adds that Trump's rushed and insincere commitment was a strategic move to appeal to a broader electorate, lacking substantive follow-through:

“[56:17] Tommy Vitor: ... like part of it is the promise to release the Epstein files...”

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5. Controversial Transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell

The episode also covers the contentious decision to transfer convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security facility in Texas, known as Club Fed, instead of the more appropriate high-security institutions [57:22].

Host Commentary:
Jon Lovett condemns the transfer, emphasizing Maxwell's violent offenses:

“[59:28] Jon Lovett: ... Ghislaine Maxwell is not a good person... she was vicious, she was evil.”

Tommy Vietor criticizes the administration's lack of transparency and accountability regarding the transfer:

“[60:30] Tommy Vitor: ... Ghislaine Maxwell is a violent criminal offender...”

The hosts express frustration over the administration's evasiveness and absence of explanations:

“[62:03] Jon Favreau: ... we have no idea why she was transferred.”

Jon Lovett further questions the integrity of the process, pointing out inconsistencies and the potential for political maneuvering:

“[62:18] Jon Lovett: ... they spent a bunch of time redacting Donald Trump's name.”

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6. Sydney Sweeney’s Political Affiliation and Public Statements

A lighter yet contentious topic is President Trump's criticism of actress Sydney Sweeney for purportedly being a registered Republican. Despite her rising popularity, Trump engages in attacks against her political stance:

“[63:52] Jon Lovett: ... Australia is a registered Republican...”

Tommy Vietor discusses the superficial nature of Trump's attacks, highlighting the disconnect between celebrity endorsements and substantive political discourse:

“[65:04] Tommy Vitor: ... Sydney Sweeney was pardoned for her involvement in January 6th...”

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Conclusion

This episode of Pod Save America offers a comprehensive examination of the ongoing struggle between Democratic legislators and Republican-led political maneuvers in Texas, set against the backdrop of manipulated economic data and unfulfilled presidential promises. The hosts provide insightful commentary on the implications of these actions for the integrity of American democracy and the Democratic Party's fundraising ethics. Additionally, the episode underscores the frustration and disillusionment among voters due to broken promises and opaque governance practices.

Notable Quotes:

• Kevin Hassett [20:04]: "We are joining a long tradition in America of standing up to bullies."
• Jon Lovett [09:59]: "If you mess with economic data, it leads to enormous pain, both within your country, but also systemically."
• Jon Lovett [43:15]: "N Citizens United... raises a ton of money... but that doesn't really benefit anyone."
• Tommy Vietor [44:55]: "... a lot of hyper engaged Democrats... are exhausted and angry..."
• Jon Lovett [59:28]: "Ghislaine Maxwell is not a good person... she was vicious, she was evil."

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Note: This summary excludes advertisement segments, intros, and outros to focus solely on the substantive content discussed during the episode.

Transcript

[Jon Lovett]

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[Jon Favreau]

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[Jon Lovett]

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[Jon Lovett]

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[Jon Favreau]

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[Jon Lovett]

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[Tommy Vitor]

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[Jon Favreau]

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

[Jon Lovett]

I'm Jon Levitt. I'm Tommy Vitor.

[Jon Favreau]

On today's show, we'll talk about Texas Democrats fleeing the state to stop a Republican gerrymander. And one of those Democrats, State Representative James Talarico, talked to Lovett about what their plan is. We'll also talk about the firm behind all those spam fundraising texts. Trump backing off his campaign promise to cover ivf. His decision to transfer Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security facility and his new favorite actress, Sydney Sweeney. But let's start with the fact that the economic data released by the US Government will no longer be as trustworthy because Donald Trump fired the economist who ran the Bureau of Labor Statistics after we got a bad jobs report on Friday. The report showed that the economy added an estimated 73,000 jobs in July, about half of what economists expected. Expected and worse. The report showed that the economy created 258,000 fewer jobs in May and June than originally estimated. On top of that, we've had fairly anemic growth in the first half of the year and inflation has started ticking up again. The reason for all of this is not a huge mystery. As the AP put it, quote, US hiring is slowing sharply as President Donald Trump's erratic and radical trade policies paralyzed businesses and and raised doubts about the outlook for the world's largest economy. This undoubtedly led to some self reflection on Trump's part, who promptly decided to shoot the messenger. Dr. Erica McIntarfer was confirmed by the Senate to lead the BLS in 2024 by a vote of 86 to 8. Two of those yes votes were from Marco Rubio and J.D. vance. But sadly, she had to go because she and all the nonpartisan economists who work for her didn't count up the number of jobs in a way that made Trump look good. Here he is Sunday, offering his trademark non factual explanation.

[Donald Trump]

We'll be announcing a new statistician sometime over the next three or four days. We had no confidence. I mean, the numbers were ridiculous. What she announced, if you remember, just before the election, this woman came out with these phenomenal numbers on Biden's economy, phenomenal numbers. And then right after the election, they announced that those numbers were wrong. And that's what they did the other day. So it's a scam, in my opinion. My opinion is just, it's just additional scam.

[Jon Lovett]

Was he speaking to a giant swarm of bees? What was that?

[Jon Favreau]

Did he say additional scam?

[Donald Trump]

Additional.

[Tommy Vitor]

It's an additional scam.

[Jon Favreau]

Additional. Is that like addition, like subtraction kind of thing? I don't know.

[Tommy Vitor]

I don't know. I think it's just, just, hey, new scam just dropped.

[Jon Favreau]

Also, what he said there was completely inaccurate. They announced the revision in August of 2024, which is well before the presidential election. So he's just not just talking about anything that's real there. Kevin Hassett, the ostensibly qualified economist who runs Trump's National Economic Council, he's taken a few swings at explaining the situation over the last few days, here he is on the Sunday shows and then on Monday apparently forgot his talking points. Let's listen.

[Kevin Hassett]

Does the administration have any evidence that it was rigged? As the President said? Will you be presenting that to the American public?

[Jon Lovett]

Well, the evidence is that there have been a bunch of revisions that could. I mean, the revisions are hard evidence.

[Kevin Hassett]

The markets seem to believe the revisions in the numbers more than they believe the original numbers.

[Tommy Vitor]

That's why you saw bond yields tumble on Friday.

[Jon Favreau]

Are you in agreement with that?

[Tommy Vitor]

Do you think we are starting to see a real slowdown in the jobs market?

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I think that the jobs numbers were slower than we expected.

[Kevin Hassett]

I think that, like, one of the.

[Jon Lovett]

Explanations for revisions is they have more complete data. And so I think it is likely that the revisions are a better read of the data if the data are not being manipulated.

[Jon Favreau]

And so, so I've lost track. Were the jobs numbers rigged or were they bad?

[Tommy Vitor]

It's strange to have someone just forget himself and actually kind of answer the questions.

[Jon Favreau]

If Mitt Romney were president within the.

[Jon Lovett]

Span of 24 hours, Kevin Hasa gets trotted out to defend the most hilariously stupid shit. Like he was also on ABC News when Trump slapped tariffs on Brazil because they were mad that Brazil was prosecuting the former president for leading their own version on January 6th.

[Jon Favreau]

You guys want to take a crack at explaining why this is such a big deal?

[Jon Lovett]

So crack away. So crack away. Cracker.

[Tommy Vitor]

That's inappropriate. I don't. Listen, maybe you're too hooked on woke Jaguar, but we're not saying that kind of thing.

[Jon Favreau]

Sydney Sweeney. We will get to woke Jaguar.

[Tommy Vitor]

We'll get to woke Jaguar.

[Jon Favreau]

We'll get to woke Jaguar.

[Tommy Vitor]

So In June of 2020, come back with me. Take a trip down memory lane with me.

[Jon Lovett]

I didn't like it.

[Tommy Vitor]

Then In June of 2020, the job numbers come out for May and they're surprisingly good, right? They're not good. They're terrible. But they're not as bad as they thought. And the report said that firms had added 2.5 million jobs back, that the unemployment rate was only 13%. But even in the moment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said, hey, we think we're having a problem collecting data. We think that our Census Bureau takers are putting the wrong numbers in. The actual employment rate is probably higher than 16%. Trump didn't threaten to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He didn't say, hey, everybody, be careful, some of this data may be exaggerated. He was ecstatic. He said, the economy is roaring back. Larry Kudlow said that there was a boom, right? And Republicans at the time used this error to slow down any hope of doing more stimulus. Democrats had passed a stimulus bill. A lot of unemployment aid was running out, a lot of emergency measures running out. Democrats were like, we need to help. And Trump was like, no, the numbers are amazing, so we don't need to do this anymore. It delayed aid for another six months, even though people were in crisis. We make decisions based on this data. If people are losing jobs, they're losing jobs. Whether or not the data shows it or not, they are being hurt, whether or not, you know, climate change is real, whether you believe in it or not. And Trump doesn't care about how to respond to the actual facts of what's happening on the ground, what he can do to make the economy better, what he can do to bring costs down, what he can do to increase the number of jobs. He just wants the numbers to be better, and he's doing that across the board. It is extremely dangerous to no longer be able to rely on economic data because we can't trust that this administration will release any information that puts Trump in a bad light.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I mean, this is supposed to be pretty wonky stuff, right? Unemployment, wages, inflation, like, boring data. And everyone relies on this. The Fed, the Treasury Department, the White House, Congress, financial markets, banks, small businesses. And so they don't expect the BLS to be perfect, but they expect the process in the. In the data itself to be nonpartisan and independent. And if you undercut that independence, that's a huge problem going forward. Because, you know, there have been people that have called the process into question. Like, Steve Bannon has been on this beat for a long time. He's always said the BLS is partisan and it's rigged. But the experts usually understand that this is good data, and it's real. If the experts start to question the data underpinning the US Economy, that's a huge problem, because the world could decide. I don't know, man. Like, maybe, does the BLS have the courage to put out data that President Trump doesn't like in the future? And, like, if you're. If you're like the world. The world could look at our economy and say there is just too much political risk baked in. It's the tariffs. It's the BLS data. It's Trump's interference with the Fed. What if he fires Jerome Powell? And they could just decide, like, I don't know, man. Should we buy Treasuries? Should we put money in the stock market? Like, let's just move on. Let's go invest somewhere else. And historically speaking, that ends very badly. We could talk about the Greek example, we could talk about Argentina. But the long story short is when you mess with economic data, it leads to enormous pain, both within your country, but also systemically.

[Jon Favreau]

And just in case people don't know how this all works, Bureau of Labor Statistics, obviously the head of it is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. That is the person that Donald Trump fired. But the rest of the bureau is just a bunch of nonpartisan economists, and they follow very strict statistical methodological standards. They are reviewed by outside experts. They are transparent, the standards they use. So none of this is like a black box. And what they do is for the jobs numbers, they do a survey of businesses all across the country, and then for the unemployment rate, they do a survey of households, of who's working in the household. And the reason that sometimes you get revisions in the data is because a lot of companies and some households don't answer the survey until after the survey is closed. So sometimes people are just late getting the. Getting their survey responses. So we've had revisions dating back to 1979, when this whole system was first set up. So it's, like, not unusual at all. It's a. It's a much bigger revision over the last two months than at any time since. Since COVID But also, we have had a shock to the economy with tariffs. We have immigration raids reducing the workforce. We've had massive government job cuts because of Doge and other Trump actions. So there's been a lot going on that wouldn't make two months of fairly large revisions, like, totally out of the ordinary. But to your point, Tommy, like, the reason this is so important, like you said, you got people who want to maybe invest in the United States who might want to buy treasury bonds. Also Jerome Powell and the Fed, they're going to set the. They're gonna decide whether they're gonna do a rate cut, what the interest rates are gonna be. If they can't make that decision based on the data and trust the data, then that's gonna be a huge problem. Also, by the way, cost of living, adjustment for Social Security is based on this economic data data and unemployment insurance benefits, too. So if. Because, as you mentioned, Lovett, it's not just jobs numbers. It's also inflation that comes out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation numbers. So if Trump gets someone in there who number that's lower than it really is. People are. The government's not going to adjust people's Social Security benefits to keep up with the cost of living, nor are they going to adjust unemployment benefits to keep up with the cost of living. So people are going to get fucked with unemployment benefits and Social Security if the inflation numbers are wrong.

[Tommy Vitor]

If this were, this were a one off. If Donald Trump was a calm, rational actor who had long believed there was a problem with the data collection and this was a culmination of his long standing beef in no particular direction with the way the government measures statistics, fine. That's not what's going on here. A lot of people pretending that that might be what's going on here, that Trump has always felt as though the Bureau of Labor Statistics was making mistakes. We know what's going on. Donald Trump has launched a war on how the government collects and disseminates information. In March, Trump's Commerce Secretary disbanded the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee along with another outside group. Very wonky stuff. That group exists. It's a panel of outside experts. It exists for one purpose, to meet to talk about how the government can do a better job of accurately measuring economic information. Lutnick told them that their mission had been, quote, fulfilled. Alex McGillis at ProPublica reported on all the ways in which DOGE targeted data collection, specifically data on drug use, pregnancy, maternal mortality, adoption, accidental deaths, hiv, other sexually transmitted diseases, educational outcomes, even just weather balloons not going up as frequently. Something that came up when, when those. There were those terrible floods in Texas in Trump's first term. Researchers at the USDA reported that Trump's trade war with China was devastating farmers, among other reports that embarrassed the administration. What do they do? They take the USDA economic researchers, they move their office under the political wing of the agency and then they go further. They announce that they're physically moving to the researchers offices to Kansas City. And so they told a bunch of economists in D.C. oh, we don't like your reports. You can quit or you can move your whole family to Kansas City and a lot of them quit as a result. But the reality was the reality. We now know how devastating Trump's trade war was for farmers. Bankruptcies went up, calls to suicide hotlines went up. He gets angry cuz the headlines are bad, but the actual facts remain the facts. The damage is the damage. He doesn't care about the outcome, he cares about the story. And all these people are now going around trying to claim that Donald Trump is just trying to clean up our economic reports when meanwhile we're Going up in a situation where every week we're going to new. We're getting a new story about how our chocolate rations are up and yet no chocolate.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. I mean, so he's on one hand by doing this, he's going to cause a lot of damage. On the other hand, he's not going to fix his problem because people are still. People are still going to be feeling pain if the economy takes a turn.

[Tommy Vitor]

Right.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, that's what doesn't make sense about this. Why freak out now? The midterms are a long ways away. You just passed your big economic package. Like the stock market is ripping. I just. I don't understand why. I guess maybe just kind of like, take out the trash now, like, make your structural reform now. Because you watch Steve Bannon on the War Room rant about this and it inspired you to make a move, but it's, it's kind of just petulant also. I mean, it came right after he, I believe, tweeted that he was repositioning two nuclear subs because he got in a Twitter fight with Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia.

[Jon Favreau]

So, yeah, and today he's like watching CNBC and he's tweeting about or truth and about Elizabeth Warren. He's yelling at her. He's just, he's. I think the Epstein thing is really shaking him now. He's just. And the look, look, when you look at the last two months of economic data that was revised, the jobs numbers were revised, I think he is thinking, and so probably his administration too, like, oh, maybe the economy is softening here.

[Jon Lovett]

There's a narrative problem.

[Jon Favreau]

So it's like, you might as well, Might as well fire the BLS person now so we can start cooking the jobs numbers. Better to do get bad.

[Tommy Vitor]

Better to do it now than. Than next year. Right. As you're getting closer to the election. It's by the way, why they disbanded those, Those panels. They don't want anyone from the outside looking in and seeing what they're doing. Right. It's part of a plan. This is. They're doing this across the board.

[Jon Favreau]

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[Tommy Vitor]

Welcome to Pond Save America. Representative James Taurico of Texas, first of all, what can you tell us about where you are?

[Kevin Hassett]

Well, I'm in a nondescript hotel conference room. That's all I can tell you. We are in Illinois, and it's appropriate because this is the land of Lincoln, and Abraham Lincoln actually broke quorum back in 1840 when he was a state senator by jumping out of the window of the Illinois state Capitol. Thankfully, I didn't have to jump out of any windows in Texas. But we are joining a long tradition in America of standing up to bullies, of speaking truth, to power, of causing good trouble. And I know my colleagues and I are proud to do this work regardless of what consequences may come.

[Tommy Vitor]

So let's talk about that. Your governor says you forfeited your office. Have you?

[Kevin Hassett]

No, I'm still doing my job, even though I'm not in the state of Texas. I was actually doing constituent services this morning with my team from this hotel room. And we're also trying to shine a national spotlight on on this Trump redistricting power grab that's happening in Texas because it doesn't just affect Texans, it literally affects every American. Trump is trying to insulate himself from the will of the public. He's trying to shield himself from the voters and from accountability and if we allow that to happen, if we let power go unchecked in this country, I am worried about where it will lead. And so that's why my colleagues and I felt we needed to take this dramatic step of leaving the state and breaking quorum.

[Tommy Vitor]

So, as you noted, there's a proud tradition of this in our country and in Texas. This has happened before. As far as I can tell. This is the first time a governor, and this has happened at a Republican governors in the past as well, has asserted that somehow he has the power to remove legislators from office. Now, the Attorney general, Ken Paxton, said that that would be challenging. What do you make of that threat?

[Kevin Hassett]

It's very consistent because the whole point of these rigged maps is to rob Texans of their ability to elect the candidates of their choice. And so now Greg Abbott is literally trying to remove the people's elected official from their office. This is a page right outside of Trump's authoritarian playbook. And he does it with less charm and less humor and less charisma than Trump. But it is still just as dangerous, and we should reject it. Now, again, this is not a Democrat thing. All of us should reject it, whether you're a Democrat, an Independent, or a Republican.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah. Like, presumably, if your voters are unhappy with your decision to do this on their behalf, even though you're doing it for the right reasons, they have many. There's an opportunity for you to be removed from office in an election.

[Kevin Hassett]

Exactly. And that's how people change their government, is they elect new people to represent them. And that's what these maps threaten. And again, it doesn't just threaten it for Democrats, it threatens it for everyone. And so it's why we've got to push back against this power grab. I should say that gerrymandering happens across the country, and it does happen in blue states, just like red states. But this is a whole nother level. Usually we adjust district boundaries at the beginning of a decade, right after a census comes out, because you have to adjust lines based on population. But Trump has asked Texas Republicans to redraw the maps they just drew in 2021 so that he can get five more seats. And it's a little reminiscent of when he called the Georgia secretary of State and asked him to find 11,000 votes. Thankfully, Georgia Republicans said no. Texas Republicans said, how about Thursday? And it's why my colleagues and I felt the need to leave our beloved state, break quorum, and stop this power grab from going through.

[Tommy Vitor]

So, you know you're being threatened by the governor. A map would have to be in place or be picked by December to be in place for 2026. How does this play out? What happens now?

[Kevin Hassett]

Well, we're taking this one special session at a time, and the special session in Texas is going to last two more weeks. So all of my colleagues, there's 57 of us in total, we have all agreed to stay out of the state capitol for the next two weeks to kill these maps and stop them from going through. Now, the governor can call another special session. He may. And if he does, we will assess our options. But I am hopeful that some of the threats from blue state governors, some threats of retaliation, I'm hoping that can convince Texas Republicans, that maybe even Donald Trump to walk back from the brink, because they see that the gains they could make in Texas could be wiped out in a state like California. Again, the goal is not for every state to be gerrymandered. The goal is ultimately to take politics out of this process because it is the rot at the core of our broken political system. But Democrats can't unilaterally disarm. We have to stand up to bullies. We got to look them in the eye and not blink.

[Tommy Vitor]

So I wanted to ask about that, because there has been this push for fair maps. A lot of prominent Democrats got behind it. Some of them are sticking with that and saying, no, no, we can't play this game the way Republicans do. Others are saying we have to fight fire with fire. Were Democrats who embraced nonpartisan redistricting, Were they fighting with a hand tied behind their back? That's what Governor Kathy Hochul said today.

[Kevin Hassett]

Well, I just want to say I am proud to be a part of a political party that still has principles, that still has a positive vision for what this democracy could be, how we could fix this democracy so it can actually work for regular people. I am proud of that. But we can't let that vision get in the way of the current reality. And right now, one party is attempting to cheat by redrawing the maps in the middle of a decade. They are cheating. It's like two football teams coming out of the locker room at halftime.

[Jon Favreau]

And.

[Kevin Hassett]

And the team that's ahead says they want to change the rules for the second half so they can win the game. All of us would recognize that as blatant cheating. And if they're going to cheat, we're not going to play. And if they're going to cheat, all rules are off the table. And that means blue states are free to respond with retaliation. But this is not the vision you know, having a descending spiral of partisanship is not what we want. We ultimately want free, fair maps and fair elections for every state and for every American.

[Tommy Vitor]

So you're apparently going to be fined $500 per missed day of the session. Abbott says he'll bring felony charges if anyone fundraises to cover that. What are we going to do? What are we doing about this expense here?

[Kevin Hassett]

Well, my colleagues and I are going to pay these fines ourselves. And I should say state representatives in Texas, we're part time. We earn $600 a month before taxes for our work in the legislature, which means we have to have day jobs to make ends meet and to pay our bills. We're leaving those day jobs to break quorum. We also have colleagues who are leaving young children, some that are leaving aging parents. So this is not a decision we made lightly. And we knew there were going to be consequences, financial, political, possibly even legal consequences. But we're willing to pay those because we believe so strongly that this power grab in Texas is a threat to the future of our republic.

[Tommy Vitor]

So obviously you hope that Abbott and the Republicans back down, but they may not. What kind of arrangements did you make? Did some of your colleagues make for this to potentially last for not days, not weeks, but potentially months?

[Kevin Hassett]

We recognize that, and we know going in that this could be longer than two weeks. We're trying not to get too lost in the hypotheticals, because who knows what will happen in two weeks? Who knows what Texas Republicans are going to do, what Donald Trump's going to do, what blue state governors are going to do, what the American people are going to do. Part of the goal of this quorum break was to inspire action across the country. I do think that courage is contagious. And I think once people see someone standing up, it makes it easier for them to stand up. Whether that is them volunteering, whether it's them protesting, whether it's them donating to this quorum break to help us fund the food and the travel and lodgings. You know, that is a form of action that can, I think, push back against this kind of power grab. And we're gonna have to see that action multiplied a lot in the next election if we're gonna protect the democratic process and fix this democracy going forward.

[Tommy Vitor]

Representative Talarico, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it. Good luck wherever you are.

[Kevin Hassett]

Thanks for having me.

[Jon Favreau]

That was Representative James Talarico. What do you guys think about this whole situation?

[Jon Lovett]

Tommy, I think we're in a tough spot. I mean, the ball is firmly rolling in Texas, even if it doesn't get done in this special session because these guys are out of town, Abbott can just call another one. Republicans in Texas have pulled this ship before. They didn't really face any political consequences. Five seats is a huge deal in the midterms. So I wish we lived in a world where Texas voters, like across the political spectrum were outraged by the fact that Republicans are more focused on. They called a special session to do two things, flood relief and redistricting. They put redistricting first. They're not prioritizing the actual needs of their states. But I just don't think we live in that world and have it as a leverage. And these lawmakers have day jobs and the, you know, families and obligations. They can't be on the run forever. Like, I don't know, it feels like we're in a bad spot.

[Jon Favreau]

They just have to hold out till December. They can't.

[Tommy Vitor]

August 4th, it's, look, the three months.

[Jon Lovett]

It'S very like it's a day job. These are human beings.

[Tommy Vitor]

It's such a, like old school and practical. It's like, you know, we got rid of the real filibusters who have these virtual filibusters. So everything is sort of game theory and gamesmanship. But this is a real like, why is, why don't they do this for other votes they're going to lose? Because it's really hard to do. You have to physically leave the state. You may not be able to come back until a special session is over and Abbott can just call another special session. There's a lot of ways these have ended. These happened in Texas in the past. They've happened in other states in the past. Sometimes you get concessions and people come back. Sometimes your bluff is called and they just wait you out. And eventually people have to get home because that's where they keep things like, you know, their families, kids and jobs and life.

[Jon Favreau]

The jobs thing is the tough one because it's a part time job. Texas, the legislature and also now you're paying $500 a day, which they say they're going to pay out of their pockets because, you know, he's threatening that any kind of money they take is for bribery. And that's how they could probably get the feds involved right now. They can't get the feds involved being in the other state right now.

[Jon Lovett]

Until Donald Trump makes a call to ICE or his buddy Cash Patel at the FBI. Like, I wouldn't surprise me.

[Jon Favreau]

What does Hellerico say about what they're.

[Tommy Vitor]

He's basically like they're taking it, they're paying it themselves. They're all trying not to think past this special session. They're putting a lot of hope on the fact that this is creating public pressure. They're putting a lot of hope on the fact that blue state governors are stepping up to threaten retaliation. But a lot of it is just hoping that Abbott will back down, which doesn't seem particularly likely. And not thinking. I asked him specifically are you prepared to do this through December? And he just wouldn't go beyond saying they're doing it through this special session and not trying to be in hypotheticals.

[Jon Favreau]

And I should say the reason I mentioned December, the reason December is getting thrown around is they would have to redraw the maps by December in order to get it done in time for the midterms in 26 for the ballots and everything else. So if they could hold out to December. But you're right, it's three months. So that's, that's the tough part.

[Tommy Vitor]

And then I think, look, the hope is that, you know, this only fans they're all starting is going to generate the revenue because that's, there's no crime against that to be clear. Like Abbott.

[Jon Favreau]

I guess they could take it. Yeah, I guess they could take other jobs. You could take other jobs or they could work remote.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, some of them I'm sure can work remote. You have to have a hybrid work model whatever their, their real day jobs are. But the, the like Abbott's threat here, you know, Democrats did this in Texas. Rick Perry was the governor and there are all kinds of threats and people say they're gonna be punished when they return to the legislature. But no one said that they could suddenly forfeit their, their jobs that or that the governor could usurp the power of the voters and suddenly remove people from office. That wasn't an option in the past that they suddenly discovered because of some non binding opinion by Attorney General Ken Paxton that even Ken Paxton says the governor's reading who's a lunatic. Who even Ken Paxton says the governor is reading too much into.

[Jon Favreau]

And it does seem like that threat, the remove them from office threat is, is a bluff. Yeah, like that is not. I mean I think that the best case for this is not going to work is they have to get home at some point. But not only is there no binding legal opinion that he can remove them from office, but they would have to file that in all 50 districts, some of which are very Democratic districts, and then they would have to hold special elections To. To replace them. And all of this has to get bundled by December. So I think that's pretty bullshit. The whole, like, we're gonna remove you from office thing and then the felony thing for the bribes, who knows? That's where you get into the Feds.

[Tommy Vitor]

But this is where, like, Paxton is going further. Right. He's going further by doing this mid decade redistricting, but he's also going further by, like, trying to make this illegal when it is not illegal to break quorum. What they're doing is not a crime.

[Jon Favreau]

Texas Supreme Court has already decided that.

[Tommy Vitor]

And so he's frustrated by the fact that what they're doing has been not just historically justified, but also just not breaking the law. So he's looking for any excuse he can find to try to prosecute these people.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, so it seems like the most likely way for Democrats to fight back is Democrats in other states to do this themselves. We have talked about this a little bit. Newsom, obviously, Tommy and I talked to Newsom about this and he sort of laid out his plan here, which is, you know, maybe calling a special election to change the Constitution. Kathy Hochul is now saying that she might try to do something, though it appears she can't really do anything until 2027.

[Jon Lovett]

No. Yeah. It doesn't sound like they can do anything through their. To get changes through their process would take till 2027, which doesn't help us in the midterms.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. So she's talking a lot. Talking a big game, Kathy Hochul. And look, maybe. I mean, she could be right about. Yeah. If she can't get it done in the midterms, but they do this, she's gonna go ahead and try to do it for the future, but it's not gonna help with the midterms. And then J.B. pritzker. Yeah, that's a tough one.

[Jon Lovett]

I think our real options are Gavin Newsom. We talked about the options. He has to go on offense. There's a chance to pick up some seats in Illinois. There's maybe one seat in Maryland. I think Governor Wes Moore is deciding whether to go to his legislature to talk to them about trying to change the maps and get us another seat. But there's a long term problem that could be even bigger. Like our buddy Brian Tyler Cohen interviewed a Democratic lawyer named Mark Elias a couple days ago where he kind of laid this all out. And the gist, though, is the Supreme Court is reviewing whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights act violates the Constitution. And if it does, if it gets Struck down, Republicans could redraw dozens of congressional districts and get rid of, like all of these black majority districts, especially in the south. Which means you have a state like Alabama that could go from having five Republicans, two Democrats, to just seven Republican districts. So there's like this massive, scary, scary threat looming down the pike here if the Supreme Court goes the wrong way.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, the long term challenge here is that Democrats just don't control as many state legislatures as Republicans do.

[Jon Lovett]

And look, I mean, what's happening in Texas is kind of enabled by Donald Trump's recent success with Latino voters and their ability to rethink how to draw those districts based on that success.

[Jon Favreau]

And now that might be a reason for optimism or that they have miscalculated. I think Dan and I were talking about this. I can't remember who I talked to about anything anymore. But, you know, these are like Trump plus 10, Trump plus 15 districts. But that is in the presidential election and in the midterms. Even in the midterms, Dan was pointing this out that Beto lost to Abbott in, in 2022, Beto O', Rourke, he still won the Latino vote by like 15, 20 points more than, than Kamala Harris did in 2024. So, you know, it could screw them for the midterms, but either way, if you're starting to go nationwide, it's. It's pretty bad.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, I mean, look, also more broadly, they can redraw the maps. They can also accidentally draw Republicans out of their seat is if they tried to over gerrymander, try to make too many seats for themselves based on a projection for 2024, or just not understanding the electorate all of a sudden in a wave election, which hopefully we can generate in the midterms, all of a sudden they got a little too cocky and a little too greedy. Thought they could draw themselves a couple extra seats, and then those Republican plus three, plus five plus seven seats, all of a sudden swing, and they've lost some races. I mean, the deeper problem here is Democrats live in too few places, too. We have really big, big majorities in these concentrated areas, and Republicans have still large but slimmer majorities and tons of rural places. And that gives Republicans more of an ability to draw these favorable maps.

[Jon Lovett]

But in Texas specifically, I think the new proposed districts make 30 districts, places where Trump won by 10 points, which is up from 25. So that's a lot. Uh, and also just in Texas, Biden won Latinos by 17 points in 2020. Trump won by 10 in 2024. So it's a big swing probably will not swing like that without Donald Trump at the top of the ballot. I totally agree with that. But I do think in Texas, it feels like they're pretty well protected with this version of the gerrymander. And tough.

[Jon Favreau]

I don't.

[Jon Lovett]

We'll see.

[Jon Favreau]

Not for midterms is much different. But. But we'll see.

[Jon Lovett]

Trump +10 is tough.

[Jon Favreau]

Trump, yeah. Well, two. Yeah, three are Trump +10. Two or Trump +15. Or it might be the other way. The 15s seem pretty tough, but the tens 10 in a midterm. Dan was saying he thinks that could be overcome.

[Jon Lovett]

All right, I'll take. I'll take hopeful Dan Pod Save America is brought to you by Zip Recruiter. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to have too many options. Yeah, I've been to the Cheesecake Factory that that menu goes on for days.

[Jon Favreau]

And you know what? I love every page.

[Jon Lovett]

You know what everyone wants? You want curation.

[Tommy Vitor]

You know what I mean?

[Jon Favreau]

So we're not. We don't have enough of that.

[Jon Lovett]

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[Andy Richter]

Hi there, it's Andy Richter, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast the Three Questions with Andy Richter. Each week I invite friends, comedians, actors and musicians to discuss these three where do you come from, where are you going, and what have you learned? New episodes are out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bowe and Ted Danson, Tig Notaro, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers, and more. You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Rick Call in show episodes where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating, disasters, bad teachers, and lots more. Listen to the three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jon Favreau]

In other Democratic campaign news, it turns out that all those fundraising texts and emails we love to complain about aren't just incredibly annoying, they also may be incredibly ineffective. Unless you're a big consulting firm that takes a huge cut of the money. Over the weekend, an investigation from independent data journalist Adam Bonica at the On Data and Democracy Substack found that a single firm, Mothership Strategies, founded by former digital staffers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is behind most of these spam packs. According to Adam's review of FEC filings, Mothership has taken in $678 million from individual donors since 2018, and they've pocketed at least 159 million of that, reporting it as consulting fees. Even more depressing, of that $678 million, only 11 million has gone to actual campaigns, candidates or Democratic committees. That's 2 cents on the dollar. We reached out to Mothership to ask about this and got the following quote this substack is completely inaccurate and contains numerous false and misleading claims about Mothership and our clients. The truth is that Mothership supports Democratic campaigns, PACs, issue advocacy organizations, and more in raising critical funds. We have directly raised over $400 million for dozens of campaigns and member connected PAC clients. Further, a majority of the funds that are reported by the FEC as going to Mothership or pass through funds the company actually pays to our clients, other vendors, including advertising partners to support their programmatic work. So just reading the statement now, but doesn't seem to conflict with anything in the actual substack piece.

[Jon Lovett]

I mean, I think what they're probably quibbling with is how much goes to the company as profits versus what is paid through the company. But the broader Point is that, like, all this money just goes to perpetuate the fundraising cycle. And that is the problem. It's like, I did a. Just stepping back, I did an episode on this a few weeks back and why it's impossible to get the fundraising text to stop when you, when you text stop every. I've text stop five times today. Have you guys gotten a flood today? I've gotten like 10 fundraising solicitations.

[Jon Favreau]

I just got one that said, john, I'm trans. I got one that said, John, I'm okay.

[Jon Lovett]

So the reason it never stops when you press stop is because that removes your number from that campaign or super PACs. The list. There is no, like, do not spam registry or like universal do not spam list. And so if you've donated even to like one candidate in your life, that can go into a list that gets sold to consultants or data brokers, and they can sell your list and your information over and over and over again in perpetuity, which is why it is. Can feel like, and maybe is impossible to get off these lists. And I think the problem is, like, when you press party leaders about how annoying and damaging these fundraising tactics are, they just kind of shrug their shoulders and say, well, they work. But what this article suggests is that they don't work. They're incredibly inefficient. Enormous amount of money goes in, but very little goes out to the causes. And obviously the people of Mothership Strategies kind of quibble about how much it's going to them versus other vendors. But all of this money is going to do more fundraising, right? It's like not a lot of it is going towards the actual political causes.

[Jon Favreau]

And they're not saying that in the statement, by the way, that they're not trying to argue that actually more is going. They're just saying it's not all going to us, it's all going to some vendors as well. At least that's what the statement says.

[Tommy Vitor]

Or maybe some share of it is going to advertising and is being counted in the wrong way. Who knows? We'll get, you know, they're claiming this is largely inaccurate. We'll see. But like, stepping back, this is a stupid way to run a fucking party, right? Like, let's say more of it is going out than this article claims. There's some way in which he's. He's over counting something, right? First of all, I don't think you'll land at the end be like, wow, it's actually really good. But put that aside is there was this report that came out that Democrats send a far greater share of their fundraising dollars to safe seats than Republicans do. And one reason is that fundraising has become this sort of scorched earth kind of hammering Democrats over and over and over and over again with requests. And in that kind of environment, more charismatic figures, more sensational opponents. Right. Less strategic decisions are gonna be made about money. And yes, I am sure that sending out a blast of fundraising text, you get a report back saying like we sent out texts and $100,000 came in or $40,000 came in, you do that again and again and again, it starts to become real money. But the cost is that this big group of hyper engaged Democrats who have been funding the resistance for almost a decade now, are exhausted and angry and mistrustful of this entire process. And these are the people you want not just to donate to you, but to advocate for you on their social media, to believe in you, to believe in the process. And all of this is just so cynical.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I mean, I think the problem is with direct mail, like the old school way, there would be literal costs. You have stamps, you had envelopes, you have paper. Right. And with just hammering like a file full of text numbers and, or emails or cell phone addresses, like there's zero cost to that. And so you can just go after these people over and over and over again and again. We don't know about the top line numbers in this story, but. But there's one example that seemed pretty egregious to me, just that got at the the waist and the self dealing here, which is there is a super pack called N Citizens United, which I've definitely gotten tons of. Right. So apparently that pack was created by two principles from Mothership Strategies. So of course N Citizens United then hires Mothership Strategies to do their text and email and fundraising. So at the end of the day, like N Citizens United pack raises a ton of money from like well meaning people. That largely goes to pay the guys who started the pack for the services. And so that doesn't really benefit anyone. And it's also like you said, you are, it's not just that you're annoying people and harming the Democratic Party brand. You're hurting the people who care enough or care the most who are willing to give money.

[Jon Favreau]

You're also raising Expo just it made me think of this because of the name. You're raising expectations for people who have no, like end Citizens United. You're going to end Citizens United States, change the Supreme Court.

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Jon Favreau]

That's what's going to happen. You're going to wait around, we're going to have to get a whole new court to have a chance to end Citizens United. So, like, this, this, that one, all of the ones that they listed, all the PACs they listed in the substack are all like, I recognize most of the time because they're all on our phones.

[Tommy Vitor]

They're all constantly.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

And they're all ridiculous. And the fundraising pitches all sound ridiculous. The emails sound ridiculous. It's like, it's crazy.

[Tommy Vitor]

And by the way, like, I am sure in the deluge of texts we're getting, there are legitimate requests from campaigns I'll either want to or will ultimately donate to. But I have to ignore all of these mess messages because, first of all, you don't know if they're reliable or not. You don't know if they're true. Right. Like, for every dollar that's going to Mothership Strategies, who knows how many fake tests are going to kind of guileless senior citizens who have been horrified by Trump and want to help and are watching MSNBC and are super engaged and, and just donating on their phone to random numbers. It's a, it's a stupid and ridiculous system. And more Democratic politicians need to stop participating in this process. And maybe it requires a little bit of. There is like a, A little bit of like a network effect and sort of a tri. Like a sort of collective action problem. But there has to be some alternative, including Democrats working together to figure out some other way of reaching voters that's less of a deluge and less sort of a. Of a kind of like, winner takes all. Everyone going after everybody all the time.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

And I think that, and I talked a little bit with Ken Martin about this, the Chairman of the DNC, when I interviewed him for YouTube. Check it out. Pod Save America, YouTube. And he does seem like he seemed, and this was before this story came out, but he seemed like he wants to do more, to call them out. And remember the Harris campaign?

[Jon Lovett]

I heard he's pissed about this.

[Jon Favreau]

He's pissed about it. He was very pissed when I, when he, I talked to him about it. And also I think the Harris campaign in 2024 did call out some of these spam packs as well.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. I mean, there's spam packs that are, like, horribly spammy. Right. Like, whenever someone's running, it's Marjorie Taylor Greene, there's always some candidate, they'll raise, like, $20 million, and it'll all go to consulting services that somehow benefit them. But then there's also PACs that will send out texts and emails that include photos of politicians that are in no way connected to the pac. Like, that's really predatory. There are people that get locked into recurring donations and really deceptive ways. Like, what's sad about this is even worse on the Republican side. Like what they do to their donors is disgusting.

[Tommy Vitor]

This is everything Trump does, everything that Trump does.

[Jon Lovett]

But I do think the candidates working with firms that do abusive practices need to cut ties with them. And they also need to recognize that you end up feeding your online donors into this ecosystem and churn of fraud and self dealing and you're harming your own people totally. And I also think, like the article, this article claims that this firm, Mothership Strategies, is kind of insulated by its connections with senior elected officials in the Democratic Party. And those officials say, you know, basically it's no big deal because the tactics work and we need the money and everyone benefits at the end. And like, I've been in meetings with you guys where we've heard that directly from top officials in the party. They're off the record conversations. We're not going to name names, but it's sort of like a shrug. Like, well, it works. And you know, if an annoying text is the worst thing in your life, like, you know, you got bigger problems. And I just think like, that is bad. We need to take this seriously and not brush it off. And like, my advice sounds like it doesn't work well.

[Tommy Vitor]

Right.

[Jon Lovett]

And my advice to listeners is like, never give to someone that texts you or emails you ever, ever. If you care about a cause or a candidate, research it. Go to their website, give directly. Make these texts so inefficient that they go away.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes, for sure.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah. I, I can't. Yeah. Is anybody. That's what's also hard to like, I don't know anybody that's donating via these.

[Jon Lovett]

Texts because it's, it's old seniors, old people.

[Tommy Vitor]

It's.

[Jon Favreau]

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[Andy Richter]

Hi there, it's Andy Richter, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast, the three Questions with Andy Richter. Each week I invite you to friends, comedians, actors and musicians to discuss these three where do you come from, where are you going, and what have you learned? New episodes are out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bow and Ted Danson, Tig Notaro, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers, and more. You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Richter Call in show episodes, where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating, disasters, bad teachers, and lots more. Listen to the three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jon Favreau]

So at this point, Trump has broken so many campaign promises it's hard to keep track, but there's one in particular we wanted to flag. You might remember Trump saying a lot of things like this during the 2024 campaign.

[Donald Trump]

I'm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs associated with IVF treatment fertilization for women. We are going to be paying for that treatment. So we are paying for that treatment or we're going to want it for all Americans that get it, all Americans that need it. Oh, I want to talk about ivf. I'm the father.

[Jon Favreau]

You don't hear that every day.

[Donald Trump]

I'm the father of ivf. So I want to hear this question.

[Jon Favreau]

That was always so weird.

[Jon Lovett]

So make Any sense.

[Jon Favreau]

So on Sunday, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration does not plan to require health insurance to cover fertility treatments and ivf, nor have it mandated in Obamacare, nor provide government subsidies to make the procedures more affordable. A White House spokesperson told the Post that the Trump administration is, quote, committed like none before it to using its authorities to deliver on this pledge. So one survey from last year, one in eight women or their partner said they needed some form of fertility treatments in order to get pregnant, but only 1 in 10 had received it. And about 2% of all babies born in the US are result of IVF specifically. You think Trump ignores this promise at his, at his own peril?

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I do. I think a lot of people care deeply about this and I think the political cost is cumulative, like mostly critical mass of lies like this. And just for those who don't know, IVF is insanely expensive. The average cost of a cycle is $14,000 to $25,000, depending on where you live in this country. Many patients have to do multiple cycles. So you could be talking 30, 50, $75,000. And that is just way out of reach for a lot of people. But it's not a small thing you're trying to get right. Like, this is about having a child, right? This is like deeply painful and important to people. And I think a lot of folks in the political world were skeptical of this promise because the timing and how cynical it was and how expensive it was. But for a lot of people, like a lot of voters heard this and this was their only hope of ever being able to afford IVF and potentially having a baby. And this is a life changing, massive broken promise. That is not a small thing. It's not something you'll forget. It's not, you know, insignificant to someone's life. And I think it is outraging a lot of people. And we saw, like Andrew Schultz, the host of the Flagrant podcast, like he has talked about how he and his wife went through ivf, how this was. He was sort of like a single issue voter in some ways and this was really important to him. He was posting about this over the weekend. Like, a lot of people are profoundly hurt and betrayed.

[Jon Favreau]

It's also like extremely cynical. It's not like it's a broken promise where a lot of politicians broken promises, like, well, we tried and we sent a bill to Congress and it didn't work out, or we tried to do some executive action. Like back in February they released, you know, an executive order, an action or a proclamation or something. That was, it was directing all of the federal agencies to come back in 50 or 60 days and let the President know what they could do to make IVF more affordable. Those days have come and gone. Nothing. We haven't heard anything about it.

[Jon Lovett]

Nope.

[Jon Favreau]

It was basically just, in fact, it was done in February just to get a headline that the Trump administration was gonna do something about it. And then until the Washington Post called them up and asked them about it, we heard nothing.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, look, it was, it was cynical at the time, right? And it was sort of along the lines of the promise on no tax on tips. It was on the line of sort of some of the other promises he was making try to appeal to a broader, beyond the sort of Republican coalition that had existed. But this was like a, like a, such a kind of half baked promise, right? IVF is incredibly expensive. It would be a big deal if you mandated that insurance companies cover it. It is also controversial on the right. There are a lot of anti abortion Republicans who are opposed to ivf. This story was kicked off, that's why, because of a ruling in Alabama that suddenly called the possibility of IVF into question in that state and jeopardized the ability of women to access IVF if they wanted it. And it was extremely unpopular, it was extremely damaging, was the natural consequence of the court's abortion ruling. And all of a sudden Trump faced this terrible news cycle and so said, I'm in the, I'm the, I'm the dad of ivf, whatever the fuck that means. And I'm going to make sure everybody can. Anybody who wants IVF can get ivf. Even like for policymakers, it's a difficult question. How, like, how many cycles do you cover? How do you mandate this? Right? Like it's a, there's, it's expensive and like it's important and it's, it's a hard policy, right? Like, and, and he just sort of went off half cocked to win these votes and they had no intention of following through on it. And this is the end result. And it's this, it's a whole bunch of other issues where he's done the exact same thing. By the way, I think like part of it is the promise to release the Epstein files. He's not gonna release the Epstein files. Like all these promises that he made, he had no intention to solve. But I do think to Tommy's point, like for a lot of people this was something that was gonna change their lives and it's just not happening.

[Jon Lovett]

In that last clip we played, I Remember watching that? It was a Fox News town hall in Georgia. They billed it as, like, a women's town hall. You could hear Harris Faulkner think her name. They're just, like, so unbelievably credulous. Everyone knew that that announcement was bullshit. The math didn't add up. There's no way they could afford to pay for it. It was not part of any of his plans. Calling himself the father of the IVF just like. Just was a reminder of how terribly Fox News treats its own viewers and voters. They treat them like idiots.

[Jon Favreau]

What do you guys think is going to happen if he gets the question on this? Do you think he's going to say, we're looking into it, Couple more weeks?

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, we're going to have a plan.

[Tommy Vitor]

On that in two weeks.

[Jon Favreau]

Why are you asking me that question?

[Jon Lovett]

How dare you?

[Jon Favreau]

That's a terrible question. Yeah, maybe he won't get the question because, you know, it's just all Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

Who's, by the way, you're talking about the next head of Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[Jon Favreau]

Speaking of Trump's broken promises, the one that's been getting the most attention these last few weeks was his promise to release the Epstein files. Instead, Trump's DOJ has just released Epstein's convicted co conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas known as Club Fed. Sounds nice. According to Bureau of Prisons regulations, sex offenders like Maxwell are supposed to be held in facilities like the one in Florida, not the minimum security camp in Texas. Naturally, when Trump took questions for the first time since the transfer was announced, he got some probing questions on the controversy that everyone's talking about.

[Jon Lovett]

Actress, Kidney, Speedy.

[Jon Favreau]

It came out this weekend that she.

[Tommy Vitor]

Was a registered Republican.

[Jon Lovett]

Any thoughts on that?

[Donald Trump]

Then who was?

[Jon Lovett]

Was Sydney Sweeney.

[Jon Favreau]

She's like a very hot actress right now.

[Donald Trump]

She's a registered Republican. Oh, now I love her ad. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic. Okay, thank you very much, everybody.

[Jon Favreau]

Great question. Great shot at question. Glad we got him on the record there. No Ghislaine Maxwell question. Trump followed that up with a Monday morning post praising Sweeney attacking the car company Jaguar for a new supposedly woke ad.

[Jon Lovett]

Wasn't that like a year ago?

[Jon Favreau]

I have no idea, looking at that one.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, it's a while ago.

[Jon Lovett]

I remember that.

[Jon Favreau]

A while ago.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

And he also claimed once again that Taylor Swift has stopped being popular since she endorsed Kamala.

[Jon Lovett]

She did a $2 billion grossing tour.

[Tommy Vitor]

It Changed the economy of Sweden. Look, we're seeing a bump. This Taylor Swift bump in the Swedish economy can't be counted on next year.

[Jon Favreau]

So stupid. Before we get to Sydney, Sweeney, thoughts on the latest in the Epstein case? We got Maxwell, just no explanation.

[Jon Lovett]

I just, it's worth just repeating that Ghislaine Maxwell is not a good person. Like she groomed these 14 year old girls, she abused them herself. She sought out girls who had been abused themselves or confided in her. One Epstein victim, Virginia Giuffre, said about Ghislaine Maxwell. I think this is on cbs. She's a monster. She's worse than Epstein. She was vicious, she was evil. I know that woman. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide in April of this year. So this is fucked up.

[Tommy Vitor]

So there was a report from other prisoners at Club Fed who were there for theft and other nonviolent offensive, who are personally disgusted to have to be with Ghislaine Maxwell. And I'm sorry we have to look to these people for their moral leadership, but Ghislaine Maxwell is not a nonviolent offender because she participated in sexual abuse. That is a violent act. She is a violent offender. She should not be in a place for white collar criminals. Just because it was a rich person and took place on a fancy island doesn't make it a white collar crime. She is a violent criminal offender. And where we're at now is we know Trump was in the Epstein files. That's what his Attorney General told him. We know that he dispatched his former personal attorney to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell for, what was it, eight and a half hours? Some some days, over two days. We know that Trump has been asked about whether he will pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. He won't say. He won't, he won't, he won't, he won't address it. And then we find out without explanation, she's being transferred from a less pleasant facility to what's known as Club Fed. A previous controversy years ago was when Trump said that he wished Ghislaine Maxwell well. Right. And so what conclusion are you meant to draw other than Donald Trump's lawyers are currying favor with Ghislaine Maxwell, dangling a pardon in the hopes that she'll absolve him of any culpability given that his name appears in the files and he had a long term relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

[Jon Favreau]

Again, we're recording this Monday afternoon. We got this news on Friday about the transfer and no one, no responses from the administration on this from The DOJ from the Bureau of Prisons, from the White House. We have no idea why she was transferred. We have no idea what Todd Blanche talked to Ghislaine Maxwell about over the course of two days. So we're just. We just don't get these questions answered. But the DOJ did have time to leak to Fox News that they're going to a grand jury to conduct an investigation into the Obama administration for this Russiagate bullshit, that you can't even figure out what the crime might be or what law might be broken. So they were able to let FOX know that they are conducting this investigation, but no answer on Ghislaine Maxwell.

[Jon Lovett]

And we also know that a thousand FBI staffers worked 247 to review something like 100,000 documents in the Epstein files. And we know that they spent a bunch of time redacting Donald Trump's name. And now we're not going to get to see those files according to Donald Trump. So nothing shady there.

[Jon Favreau]

No answers on that either?

[Jon Lovett]

Nope.

[Jon Favreau]

No. No one. No questions on that. No answers on that. Just. We're just all flying blind here. Whatever the Trump administration wants to tell us about what they're doing with Ghislaine Maxwell or the Obama administration or Russiagate or the jobs numbers, that's. That's what we have to deal with. There's the. And then they. And then they just fucking trolled us all with that. I don't know if you guys saw the post today from the White House that said most transparent administration in history. That's just. They know they're not. And they're just. There's just a fuck you to everyone.

[Jon Lovett]

How about it?

[Jon Favreau]

It's just a big fuck you it to their base too, by the way, to like, mostly.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, right.

[Tommy Vitor]

Well, you know, they spent a lot of. They put a lot of attention on sort of trying to win the kind of crank vote and appeal to a bunch of conspiracy theorists. And they put Cash Patel and Dan Bongino in these positions of thought of authority, two people that espouse some version of conspiracy theories, which at this point I think are true about EPSTEIN and about QAnon claiming there's a vast global pedophilia ring run by the powerful and the elite. And the next thing we know, Donald Trump is president and they are laying out the red carpet for one of the most notorious sex traffickers in American history at this point who participated in terrible crimes for a very long time. And there's just no, there's just no accountability for it. All these Republicans are Silent in the face of it. And it's disgusting.

[Jon Favreau]

More importantly, would you guys like to weigh in on the Sidney Sweeney discourse now that we know she is a registered Republican, reportedly. And now that the President of the United States has weighed in on this multiple times.

[Tommy Vitor]

So it is just a pun on the word Genesis.

[Jon Favreau]

Yep, it is just a pun. Just a pun on the word jeans. Good genes. But it's not. It could be jeans inherited or it could be jeans that she's wearing. See, it's funny.

[Jon Lovett]

It is a very dumb, annoying story. There's also something to be said about the fact that like the White House is able to kick this stuff up whenever it wants. It can be like six people commenting on like a TikTok doesn't have to be TikTok creator. It's like, you know, it's like that genre of really annoying Internet story. It's like the Internet is furious about this new Sydney Sweeney ad. It's like some people commenting over on blue sky and suddenly it's an article and suddenly all of the MAGA media ecosystem is talking about it and the White House is releasing statements like, what do we get to do that?

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, it's also. There's a stopover though, with, you know, random style writers opinion. Like it was. There was a Washington Post piece about it. There's a whole bunch of things. So it's like that's where it starts and then it goes from there to the, to Fox. Right? And then they're all talking about on the five. And then it goes Donald Trump. It's like a whole.

[Tommy Vitor]

Well, we made a commenter president. I mean, that's the problem. He is one of the commenters beneath the story. But he also happens.

[Jon Favreau]

He's the commenter.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, he's America's chief commenter. I will say the woke Jaguar ads.

[Jon Favreau]

So why are they woke and what are they?

[Tommy Vitor]

Well, so first of all, I just would point out that Jaguar is a British company. It's not really. I don't think it's been really affected by America's woke problem, according to Trump. But there it is. But they redid their logo and it's very ugly. And that's for non woke reasons. The new Jaguar logo was very bad.

[Jon Lovett]

This happened in late 2024, by the way.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, it's quite old. It's quite old. So old. And everybody was like, hey, you did a bad job on your logo.

[Jon Favreau]

This is the other problem with Trump is like we've lost all sense of time, whether we've done this thing before. Have we already seen this episode? Are we back to the episode? When did the jaguar thing happen? He's talking about Taylor Swift again. What is happening?

[Tommy Vitor]

Do you think the person who just, you know that Dylan Mulvaney, what a brave person. I find what she's doing really interesting and I like her. I'm going to send her a six pack of Bud Light. Do you think that person knew that two and a half years later, the president United States will be like, that fucking Bud Light's got to be stopped.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. And like there's going to be Kid Rock, like machine gunning Bud Light cans or something.

[Jon Favreau]

Anyway, that's, that's Sydney Sweeney. That's, that's what we're dealing with now. This is day, day 13 or 14 of the discourse. Let's see. Let's see how well we can do.

[Tommy Vitor]

And she was pardoned for her involvement in January 6th. That's one of the reasons this is so controversial. Or is it just the ad? I can't remember.

[Jon Favreau]

She is in the Epstein files. All right, two quick things before we go to break. After unsuccessfully seeking asylum in Canada, Lovett is back.

[Tommy Vitor]

That's right.

[Jon Favreau]

New shows at Dynasty TYPEWRITER this Thursday, August 7th, along with you got special guests. Oh, you have, you have Ken Jennings.

[Tommy Vitor]

Ken Jennings and Amy Schneider to Jeopardy. Legends. Plus Tim Heidecker. That's awesome. I didn't realize he said yes. I'm finding out from this. We had a great show out this weekend with Patton Oswald and Alice Wetterland and Peppermint and Ashley Nicole Black. I also we put the mono from the monologue from Love or Leave it on the pont.

[Jon Favreau]

We just call it mono now.

[Tommy Vitor]

Is that just like our internal term for it? I'm sorry. Now I'm embarrassed.

[Jon Lovett]

I couldn't name it after a disease that puts you out of the kissing disease.

[Tommy Vitor]

Tell me, has the kissing disease come for you?

[Jon Lovett]

Kiss you like a six month nap.

[Tommy Vitor]

Remember when we both got mono at the same time? That was weird.

[Jon Lovett]

I have never had mono.

[Tommy Vitor]

Okay, all right, all right. Calm down, calm down. We never had mono. You got it. You got it, buddy. Mics are on. Never had mono.

[Jon Favreau]

Just down for the cattle.

[Jon Lovett]

Incredible.

[Tommy Vitor]

Just two weeks off. Very tired. Pre Covid. Anyway. But I was really proud of the monologue we did this week because we talked about Epstein and we talked about Gaza and talked about all the conspiracy theories. Which is on the Ponzi of America feed if you want to check it out.

[Jon Favreau]

Cricket.com events if you want to go see Lovett in person at Dynasty typewriter Also a reminder, speaking of events, we announced our first ever Crooked Con last week and tickets are already going fast. Crooked Con is a chance to hear from smart people inside and outside the crooked universe about how to galvanize the pro democracy movement as if it needs galvanizing. Will be in Washington D.C. for two days. We're gonna kick things off with Pod Save America Live at the Warner theater on Thursday, November 6th. Then on Friday, November 7th, we'll be at the Wharf. The Wharf. Anyway, it's gonna be really fun. We're gonna have organizers, strategists, politicians that aren't annoying.

[Tommy Vitor]

James Talrica is gonna show up with his clothes on a bindle. Cause he's been on the road.

[Jon Lovett]

Riding.

[Jon Favreau]

The rail to D.C. oh man, if they can make it till then, we will give them. Well, we won't pay them. We'll pay them the felony stuff, but you know, we'll give them food and water.

[Tommy Vitor]

I think legally it has to be finger food commodities.

[Jon Favreau]

Anyway. Hold on till then, guys.

[Tommy Vitor]

Lobbying wise, I think you can sit, you can eat, but if you're standing, it's a situation.

[Jon Favreau]

We'll invite their families so they can say hi to their families. I haven't seen them in a couple months.

[Tommy Vitor]

Everybody gets one phone call.

[Jon Favreau]

Tickets are on sale now. Head to crookedcon.com for tickets lineup announcements in the coming weeks and more. That's C-R-O-O-K-E-D C-O-N dot com. We've also got a limited amount of discounted tickets. When you use the code freedom and content. Again, that's one word. All caps, freedom and content. So get your tickets soon and we'll see you there. That's our show for today. Dan and I will be back with a new show on Friday. Talk to everybody then. If you want to listen to Pod Save America ad free or get access to our subscriber discord and exclusive podcasts, consider joining our friends at the pod [e-mail] friends or subscribe on Apple Podcasts directly from the Pod Save America feed. Also, please consider leaving us a review to help boost this episode and everything we do here at Crooked. Pod Save America is a Crooked Media production. Our producers are David Toledo, Emma Ilick, Frank and Saul Rubin. Our associate producer is Farah Safari. Austin Fisher is our senior producer. Reed Churlin is our executive editor. 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.

[Andy Richter]

Hi there, it's Andy Richter and I'm here to tell you about my podcast the three Questions with Andy Richter. Each week I invite friends, comedians, actors and musicians to discuss these three where do you come from, where are you going, and what have you learned? New episodes are out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bowen, Ted Danson, Tig Notaro, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers, and more. You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Richter Call in show episode where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating, disasters, bad teachers, and lots more. Listen to the three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jon Favreau]

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Roof repair done well. Kitchen and sink install done well. Deck upgrades done well Electrical Upgrade done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly 30 years, so we know the difference between done and done well. Hire high quality [e-mail].