Trump's Shocking Cuts to Air Safety and Nuke Inspection

Summary

Pod Save America: Trump’s Shocking Cuts to Air Safety and Nuke Inspection

Release Date: February 18, 2025
Host/Author: Crooked Media
Episode Title: Trump’s Shocking Cuts to Air Safety and Nuke Inspection

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1. Introduction: Unprecedented Federal Layoffs

In this episode of Pod Save America, hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor delve into President Donald Trump's controversial mass firings of federal employees. These layoffs have targeted critical sectors, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), raising significant concerns about national security and public safety.

2. Mass Firings and Their Implications

FAA and Air Safety Concerns

At [02:36], Jon Favreau introduces the issue: "Trump and the White House have indiscriminately fired thousands of workers, including those overseeing our nuclear weapons and handling air safety for the FAA." These cuts have resulted in the termination of hundreds of FAA employees responsible for radar landing and navigational aid maintenance. Favreau shares his personal decision to stop flying, stating, "I'm never flying again," highlighting the gravity of the situation.

NNSA and Nuclear Security Risks

Tommy Vietor echoes these concerns at [29:33]: "They fired hundreds of workers at the NNSA, which oversees our nuclear weapons." The layoffs include critical positions at the Pentex plant in Texas, where warheads are assembled. Vietor emphasizes the risks: "You want to keep eyes on warheads. You want someone to be watching the warheads for sure."

Other Affected Departments

The discussion broadens to include other departments facing significant employee reductions:

• Health Agencies: Over 5,000 employees, including those managing Medicare and Medicaid, have been let go.
• Forest Service: More than 3,000 employees have been fired, leading to frozen and canceled fire safety projects across the West.
• Energy and IRS: Cuts have impacted departments handling homeowners' electricity bills and tax enforcement, respectively. Favreau notes, "A lot of these layoffs are probationary employees, just 10% of the federal workforce."

3. Foreign Policy Shifts: Excluding Europe and Ukraine

Jon Favreau discusses Trump's recent foreign policy moves at [06:25], specifically the US delegation's exclusion of Europe and Ukraine from negotiations with Russia to end the invasion of Ukraine. This unilateral approach has alarmed European and Ukrainian leaders, fearing that Trump may concede to Vladimir Putin's demands without securing necessary protections for Ukraine and European nations.

European and Ukrainian Reactions

Tommy Vietor explains at [06:59], "20% of Ukraine's territory is being occupied by the Russians. We're going to figure out who gets it." This exclusion undermines the global coalition led by the US and Europe, intended to deter Putin from further aggression. European leaders, like French President Emmanuel Macron, have called urgent meetings to address these concerns, worried that Trump's actions could embolden Russia to invade NATO countries.

4. J.D. Vance’s Controversial Munich Speech

A significant portion of the episode focuses on J.D. Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference. Vance argues that the primary threat to Europe is not external actors like Russia or China but internal issues such as the rise of extremist parties and stringent social media regulations.

Key Points from Vance’s Speech:

• Internal Threats Over External: Vance states, "The threat that I worry the most about vis a vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China... I worry about the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values."
• Critique of Social Media Censorship: He criticizes the EU's plans to shut down social media during unrest, advocating for unrestricted free speech.
• Endorsement of Extremist Parties: Vance condemns the ban on populist parties in Munich, implicitly supporting Germany's AfD, a far-right party with neo-Nazi affiliations.

Tommy Vietor criticizes Vance’s stance at [14:27]: "He's attacking the most random people on social media all day long," and Jon Favreau adds at [15:15], "They’re just making it about routine censorship."

5. White House vs. The Associated Press: A Battle Over Naming Conventions

The hosts discuss the White House's recent attempt to block the Associated Press (AP) from covering the White House, citing disagreement over the term "Gulf of America" instead of "Gulf of Mexico." Favreau expresses frustration at [19:35]: "Why are we talking about this? It's an international water. So other countries are calling it the Gulf of Mexico."

This move has sparked a fierce debate about media freedom and the administration's willingness to suppress dissenting voices.

6. Breakdown of Government Services and National Security Risks

The episode outlines how the mass firings have led to significant disruptions in government services:

• Energy Department: Staff handling homeowners' electricity bills have been laid off, risking delays and inaccuracies in billing.
• FDA and Food Safety: Reductions in FDA personnel could compromise food safety inspections.
• Domestic Violence Shelters: Cuts have forced shelters in West Virginia to close, leaving many women without support.
• IRS Integrity: The administration's plans to grant access to sensitive IRS systems to a controversial individual raise alarms about privacy and misuse of data.

At [38:34], Jon Favreau emphasizes, "These are serious organizations. They've been cut, and it's not about efficiency; it's about destroying the government we pay for."

7. DOJ Scandal: Eric Adams and the Resignations

A significant scandal involves the Department of Justice (DOJ) and New York Mayor Eric Adams. Favreau explains at [44:52] how DOJ officials pressured prosecutors to drop Adams's bribery case to assist Trump’s deportation efforts. This led to multiple resignations within the DOJ and New York City's deputy mayors, exacerbating dysfunction within one of America's largest cities.

Key Developments:

• Order to Drop Charges: Emil Bovet, acting Deputy Attorney General, ordered the dismissal of Adams's case.
• Protester Resignations: Senior prosecutors resigned in protest, citing illegal attempts to influence the judiciary.
• Impact on New York City: The resignations of four deputy mayors strain the administration of the city amid ongoing scandals.

Tommy Vietor summarizes the impact at [47:10]: "The President of the United States essentially owns the mayor of our largest city through a scandal-laden quid pro quo."

8. Interview with Stephen A. Smith: Analyzing Democratic Failures and Strategies

The episode features an in-depth interview with Stephen A. Smith, a prominent sports commentator turned political pundit. Smith provides a critical analysis of why the Democratic Party has faltered against Trump and offers insights into potential strategies for reclaiming power.

Key Insights from Stephen A. Smith:

• Disconnect with the Working Class: Smith asserts, "The Republican Party seems to be more identifiable with the working class than the Democrats," highlighting the Democrats' failure to connect with blue-collar voters.
• Messaging and Media Presence: He emphasizes the importance of authentic and resonant messaging, contrasting Trump's media-savvy approach with the Democrats' less engaging strategies.
• Critique of Democratic Leadership: Smith critiques Democratic leaders for ignoring the core issues that garnered them support initially, such as focusing excessively on social issues over economic concerns.
• Call for Revamped Strategies: He urges Democrats to adopt more compelling narratives and embrace a media presence that captivates and mobilizes voters, much like successful figures in sports media.

At [56:29], Smith states, "Certain things ain't gonna work... They forgot what got them here," pointing to the Democrats' strategic missteps.

9. Conclusion: A Dire Outlook and Call to Action

The hosts conclude by reiterating the severity of Trump's administrative actions and their long-term implications for American governance and security. They call on Democrats to adopt more effective communication strategies and engage directly with voters to counteract Trump's dominating presence in the political landscape.

Jon Favreau sums up at [44:39]: "We all want an efficient government, and that's what people want... But it’s not that. It’s illegal and unconstitutional."

Tommy Vietor adds, "There's gotta be some sort of collective action that leads to a reduction in coverage somehow," emphasizing the need for a unified Democratic response.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jon Favreau [02:36]: "Trump and the White House have indiscriminately fired thousands of workers, including those overseeing our nuclear weapons and handling air safety for the FAA."
• Tommy Vietor [29:33]: "They fired hundreds of workers at the NNSA, which oversees our nuclear weapons."
• J.D. Vance [13:14]: "Allowing our citizens to speak their mind will make them stronger still."
• Stephen A. Smith [56:29]: "A lot of the people that are in the know... they forget what the voters live on—perception."
• Stephen A. Smith [62:50]: "He has the license and the mandate to do so... Democrats are strongest usually during the national election."

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This episode of Pod Save America offers a comprehensive examination of President Trump's aggressive reduction of federal workforce, its ramifications on national security and public services, and a critical perspective on the Democratic Party's strategies. Through insightful discussions and expert commentary, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the current political climate and the pressing challenges facing American governance.

Transcript

[Tommy Vitor]

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[Jon Favreau]

Even Pundit.

[Tommy Vitor]

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[Stephen A. Smith]

You come to the New Yorker Radio Hour for conversations that go deep with people you really want to hear from. Whether it's Bruce Springsteen or Questlove or Olivia Rodrigo, Liz Cheney or the godfather of artificial intelligence Geoffrey Hinton or some of my extraordinarily well informed colleagues at the New Yorker. So join us every week on the New Yorker Radio Hour wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Jon Favreau]

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

[Tommy Vitor]

I'm Tommy Vitor.

[Jon Favreau]

Lovett is taking President's Day seriously. I guess.

[Tommy Vitor]

Good for him. He's honoring.

[Jon Favreau]

He's not here. Maybe he'll come in at some point.

[Tommy Vitor]

You pray. Loving. He's not on Survivor again at once.

[Jon Favreau]

No. Yeah, that's good.

[Tommy Vitor]

I know what you're thinking. Islands. Not doing the traders or whatever the other.

[Jon Favreau]

The truth is we didn't bother to know he's gone. We could have asked him.

[Tommy Vitor]

That would have been nice.

[Jon Favreau]

So on today's show, Trump and the White House spent the weekend promoting a quote attributed to Napoleon. That quote, he who saves his country does not violate any law, and then set about proving they believe it by indiscriminately firing thousands of workers, including hundreds of people who oversee our nuclear weapons and handle air safety for the faa. We'll talk about all that and why I'm never flying again.

[Tommy Vitor]

I feel the same way, man. I don't have any of your flying anxiety, but how many plane crashes do we have to watch on tv?

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, we were prepping for this while one happened. Another one from Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto.

[Tommy Vitor]

How does it get upside down?

[Jon Favreau]

I don't know. I guess bad winds, but I don't know. Well, we'll talk about why. Why the FAA is being hollowed out at this moment. We'll also talk about how Donald Trump now essentially owns the Democratic mayor of New York City, thanks to a corrupt deal that led even Trump appointed conservative prosecutors to resign from the Department of Justice. Then Tommy talks to Stephen A. Smith, the legendary sports commentator turned political pundit, now one of the Democratic Party's top critics, about what he thinks the party needs and why he hasn't completely ruled out running for president.

[Tommy Vitor]

That's right.

[Jon Favreau]

Is that right?

[Tommy Vitor]

That's right. I mean, for those who don't watch sports or ESPN or listen to sports talk radio, like Stephen A. Is a legend in the game of winning arguments and shouting down opponents in the most entertaining way possible. And there's been all this chatter about him potentially running. Running for office is sort of like the reason I wanted to reach out. But also, he's a guy who understands the digital economy and attention and how to get it and drive a narrative and keep it better than almost anyone. And so, look, listeners, there's going to be a lot of criticism of the Democratic Party. Some I agreed with, lots I didn't. You will repeatedly think, why isn't Tommy interrupting him and pushing back on this? And to you, I say two things. One, Stephen A. Is legendarily difficult to interrupt. There's bodies littered across ESPN of people who have tried. And two, that's not what I wanted to do. Like it. Sometimes it's good to hear criticisms that are wrong, but like a widely held perspective and not everything he said was wrong, even if it makes you mad. Like, it's good to hear where people are coming from and what they're mad at the Democratic Party about. And you can learn something you can't.

[Jon Favreau]

Daniel Dale, everyone, throughout the interview, you know, the way people aren't gonna get.

[Tommy Vitor]

Much long interview too.

[Jon Favreau]

Also, it's impossible to interrupt him. I, I, I podcast before the election and that was slightly different because he had to ask me some questions because he was hosting the podcast. But it was the full Stephen A. Treatment and it was just, I'll tell everybody.

[Tommy Vitor]

This was everything I wanted and more out of the Stephen A. Experience. I felt like I got yelled at for 30 minutes. In a good way.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

And about 10 words in and that was all I wanted.

[Jon Favreau]

Perfect. I can't wait to listen. We are recording this Monday afternoon on President's Day, soon to be known as President Trump Day. Probably. I'm sure shocked he hasn't renamed it.

[Tommy Vitor]

Funny but real.

[Jon Favreau]

Our Dear leader has sent a US Delegation to Saudi Arabia to begin negotiations with Russia to end Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which over the last three years has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, the kidnapping by Russia of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, and a global alliance led by the US And Europe to isolate and deter Putin from expanding the war and potentially using nuclear weapons, both of which Russia has expressed interest in doing at some point during the conflict. Ending this war is, of course a worthy goal to pursue. We all want that. But what's scaring the shit out of Europe and Ukraine is that Trump has so far excluded them from the negotiations with Putin and hinted that wittingly or not, he may give the murderous dictator most of what he wants. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron called a last minute meeting of European leaders in Paris to talk about how to handle all this. I guess they'll just be watching Twitter for updates like us.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

Is that about right, Tommy? Look, what did I miss there? How big of a deal is this? And, and why are Europe and Ukraine so freaked out right now?

[Tommy Vitor]

Doing it in Saudi Arabia is a nice touch. It's kind of like a autocratic human centipede, you know what I mean? Hopefully you don't know what I mean. There was a lot of activity on Ukraine last week. It started, it kicked off when Trump called Putin for 90 minutes and they set up this series of peace talks between the US And Russia on the future of Ukraine. Not a part of those talks is Ukraine or the Ukrainians or Zelensky. Zelensky got a call after the Putin call where Trump informed him that this was going down.

[Jon Favreau]

More of an FYI.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, so, hey man, heads up. 20% of your territory is being occupied by the Russians. We're going to figure out who gets it.

[Jon Favreau]

This is the first time a US President has spoken to Putin since the.

[Tommy Vitor]

War, since the invasion, basically. This effectively ended three years of trying to isolate the Russians by the west, basically, this call. And the Europeans are also not invited to these talks, which, again, is nuts, because the EU and its member states have given something like $145 billion worth of support to Ukraine over the past few years. And they're obviously more threatened by a Russian military operation than we are because we have an ocean in between. So it was really messy. And then on top of that, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, slash America's designate, if there's ever a case. Race to decide the future, but not.

[Jon Favreau]

But not to get home.

[Tommy Vitor]

Not good at flip cup, though. Surprisingly bad. You and I can take them, but. So Hegseth announced at a meeting in Brussels, a NATO meeting, that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to join NATO or get back all the territory it lost since 2014, which is, like, maybe true and a fair thing for, like, an analyst to say. But everyone was like, hey, man, you're part of the team now negotiating with Putin. And you just gave him massive concessions before these talks even started. And then he walked it back. And then they kind of walked back the walk back. So it's just like amateur hour left and right from Hegseth.

[Jon Favreau]

And then Trump said he potentially supports readmitting Russia to the G7. Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

Why not G8? We're G eating it up. Bring him back.

[Jon Favreau]

He said many people on both sides were to blame for the war in Ukraine. Just a callback. Never says callback to the first term.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah. Never says Russia invaded.

[Jon Favreau]

Strange. I also thought it was amazing that. I'm sure you guys talked about this. I don't know when it happened, though.

[Tommy Vitor]

No, it all happened after we recorded it happened.

[Jon Favreau]

Okay, how about the fact that Trump is going around being like, okay, okay, I know that I'm. It seems like I'm going to give Russia what they want, but, hey, Zelensky, if you give me half of your minerals, maybe. Maybe I'll give you more of what you want. There's a deal to be done there.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, I forget who handed this sort of proposal to Zelenskyy, but it basically said Ukraine gives the United States half of its deposits of rare earth minerals in exchange for nothing. There was no security guarantee. There was nothing. And Zelenskyy was like, what do I. What do I do with this?

[Jon Favreau]

He's really focused on these rare earth minerals like a. Like a. Again, like a feudal lord.

[Tommy Vitor]

He wants them from China, he wants.

[Jon Favreau]

Them from Greenland, Canada, Ukraine.

[Tommy Vitor]

Well, you know what they're very important for is electric vehicle batteries. And I wonder who might be talking about that in his ear.

[Jon Favreau]

I thought we hated electric vehicles now. I thought we were able to drive our gas now.

[Tommy Vitor]

They're cool.

[Jon Favreau]

Okay, so why should Americans care about all of this right now?

[Tommy Vitor]

Well, I mean, as you mentioned, the top hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed or wounded or missing because of the war. The war led to inflation. Energy prices skyrocketed across Europe, and all those impacts rippled out across Europe and destabilize all these governments. And Biden gave all this direct support to Ukraine, rallied the world behind Ukraine, and now Trump is just selling Ukraine out and selling Europe out. And so there's this enormous fear that division within NATO, weakness within NATO, will lead Putin to do more, to go into a NATO country like, like Poland. I mean, think of the. The Danish intelligence services recently said that if Putin perceives NATO as weak, Russia could launch another large scale war in Europe in as few as five years. And the whole point of NATO is to deter these things. So this is, this is like a seismic shift in US Foreign policy.

[Jon Favreau]

I saw in the Financial Times, too, that some of the Europeans think that Trump wants to potentially remove US Troops from places in Eastern Europe. Yeah, Some of the Baltic nations.

[Tommy Vitor]

I think what happened was it Hegseth went to Brussels, then he went to the Munich security conference, whatever, some mouth breather thing that Rhodes would attend or.

[Jon Favreau]

Did attend and probably has. Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

And I think he suggested in some of those meetings that they might pull tens of thousands of US Troops out of Europe.

[Jon Favreau]

And so this seems like the broader danger beyond just the danger for Ukraine. Right. Which is just signing some kind of settlement where they lose some of their territory and they don't have, they don't get the security guarantees from the United States so that Putin can just reinvade. But that now Eastern Europe, now Putin thinks, okay, well, I got my way here and Donald Trump's a pushover and is just going to give me what I want. Either a pushover or a fellow autocrat. Right, right. And then starts menacing Eastern Europe and then we're off to the races.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, there's sort of two really bad. Look, this war's awful. I'd love it to be over. I'd love for Putin to take his troops and go home, but it's going to require sacrifices from both sides, I think, to get to a peace deal. And some of the things Hegsets were saying are True. I mean, basically the Bush administration in 2008 set up this construct where they kind of floated Ukraine for NATO membership, but they didn't get into NATO, which left them very vulnerable. Sort of the worst case scenario. And I agree it is unlikely that Ukraine will be a part of NATO and it is unlikely that Ukraine will get Crimea back. But I think the worst case outcome here is a negotiation where Putin keeps a lot of territory, Ukraine is forced to basically demilitarize and gets no security guarantees. And Putin uses this period of time to reconstitute his forces and then just roll tanks into Kiev. And then after that, maybe he rolls tanks into Poland or somewhere, you know, a Balkan country. And then, you know, there is like a hot war happening in Europe between the Russians and NATO, and NATO is weakened and like that is the long term nightmare.

[Jon Favreau]

Good times. Yes, good times. Well, we should also dig into JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference, which is a big part of what has freaked Europe over the last week. So instead of talking about America's commitment to European security and a free Ukraine, he said that the real threat to the continent isn't Russia or China. It's that Europe's leaders aren't welcoming enough to extremist parties like Germany's AfD and aren't sufficiently committed to free speech. A statement made without a hint of irony from an administration that has banned the Associated Press from covering the White House for refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, so stupid to even say that, and is currently investigating media outlets for coverage that makes Trump mad. Here's some Advance's speech.

[J.D. Vance]

The threat that I worry the most about vis a vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America. I look to Brussels, where EU Commission commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they've judged to be, quote, hateful content. And I really do believe that allowing our citizens to speak their mind will make them stronger still. Which, of course, brings us back to Munich, where the organizers of this very conference have banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations. If you're running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you. Nor, for that matter, is there anything that you can do for the American People who elected me and elected President Trump.

[Jon Favreau]

A stirring defense of freedom from J.D. vance.

[Tommy Vitor]

Putting the eunuch in Munich there. Thanks, J.D.

[Jon Favreau]

What was your reaction to the speech and what do you think Vance was trying to do there?

[Tommy Vitor]

I have three thoughts. The first, big picture, I think JD Is cut out of all the big boy meetings, and he saw Pete Hegseth go over to Brussels and screw up these Ukraine negotiations and then get slapped around because Trump didn't like the coverage because he looked like a bad negotiator. Everyone's like, oh, art of the deal guy. You just gave up all these things to Putin. So JD Decided, I'm not touching the hot stove. I'm not going to talk about the hot war that's happening in Korean. That matters. I'm going to talk about social media and speech.

[Jon Favreau]

I'm going to go to my safe space.

[Tommy Vitor]

Exactly.

[Jon Favreau]

Just whining about mean people on social media, which is what he actually as I. It seems like that's what his job is because he's just posting all the time.

[Tommy Vitor]

He's attacking the most random people on social media all day long.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, he's just a. He's just a professional poster and he's mad about it and he wants to go talk to the entire world about it.

[Tommy Vitor]

But seriously, can you imagine, like, the White House comms meeting where you're like, yes, let's send the Vice President to this Munich security conference, first overseas trip, huge deal, and then not talk about the single biggest issue facing Europe.

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, it will seems like there's two different parts to the speech and what we just heard in the clip. The first is he is very upset about the content moderation laws that the EU has passed and adopted. Right. Though I think he is overstating the case of what the enforcement mechanisms are. And look, they are much stricter certainly than anything we have in the United States, because we don't have anything.

[Tommy Vitor]

What's going great over here with no rules.

[Jon Favreau]

Right, no rules. Right. But the idea, like the EU will define sort of hateful speech, a speech that is inciting violence or hate in sort of an immediate sense like that is that that is the definition that they've done. And so what they can do is find social media platforms and demand that social media platforms take down the free speech. But what he laid out there was like, you know, they're going from house to house and you're not allowed to say anything bad.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, Right. Jackbooted Facebook thugs. Yes. They are completely complaining about kind of routine censorship. And remember, this was kind of Mark Zuckerberg's thing that he cried about in his Joe Rogan interview is he wants the American president to be a champion for American companies and just let us do whatever we want. Then there's this question of this Romanian election where there were two rounds of. The first round went off. They figured out there was all this Russian interference, so they canceled the second round, which is a more controversial thing. But again, talking about that lets JD Say, Russian interference in elections. What a ridiculous thing to care about. You know? You know, likes that. And then, I know hypocrisy is irrelevant now, but JD Vance didn't have anything to say about Viktor Orban, their buddy, who is the dictator leading Hungary, who's like, swallowed up all independent media.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, also, all their complaints about free speech are such fucking bullshit. Like, they. They're sitting here in the United States banning the Associated Press. Elon Musk was tweeting today that. That 60 Minutes deserves a long prison sentence.

[Tommy Vitor]

What?

[Jon Favreau]

Yes. I mean, I guess. I guess the whole show, the whole show, like, every episode, the whole. Leslie, Leslie Stahl, all of them, all of them are going to jail. Even the long prison, even the dead ones.

[Tommy Vitor]

I guess not.

[Jon Favreau]

It's just like, it's such fucking bullshit. They do not give a shit about free speech.

[Tommy Vitor]

Speech they don't like. Well, there's another, like, Germany specific piece to this. Just allow me to geek out for a second. Germany's got an election on the 23rd, so in like a week, they're going to elect representatives to the Bundestag, their parliament, and then they'll choose the next chancellor. The most likely outcome is that the CDU wins the most votes. That's Angela Merkel's party, the Conservative Party, and that they go into a coalition with the Social Democrats, and that'll be what happens. But. But right now, the AfD, the far right party, is at like 20 or 22%. And that is scary because most Germans are repulsed and terrified by the AfD because they are viewed as dangerously close to being neo Nazis. They, they, members of the AfD, downplay the Holocaust. They kind of wink and nod and, like, accidentally in air quotes use Nazi slogans. German intelligence has said some factions of the AfD are actually extremist groups. And because of Germany's history with the Holocaust and World War II and, you know, sure, everyone's familiar with that. Yeah, they take this stuff very seriously. And all the other major political parties have ruled out working with the AfD. And in his speech, JD Vance said, quote, there's no room for firewalls. And that is, that's referencing specifically the firewall that these other political parties have between themselves and the AfD. And he also, JD Vance also met with the leader of the AfD while in Germany. And this comes after Elon Musk has been propping them up on Twitter over and over again and doing like Twitter spaces stuff. So like this, this meddling, it might have backfired, but they are openly boosting this far right, some would say neo Nazi party in Germany.

[Jon Favreau]

Why is there an explanation for this you can think of that is not. J.D. vance thinks it's cool to align ourselves with a far, far right German party that is like the successor to the Nazi party.

[Tommy Vitor]

It's like anti Muslim, anti racist immigration stuff. Immigration fringy, Fringy stuff. I think JD Vance is smart enough to know this is wrong and pretty dangerous. But this is the program and he's gone with it.

[Jon Favreau]

Before we move on, your thoughts on the whole AP Gulf of America debacle because this has become a whole thing now here. But it seems like some press is pushing back. I saw the White House Correspondents association has put out a couple statements.

[Tommy Vitor]

Were they strongly worded?

[Jon Favreau]

They were strongly worded.

[Tommy Vitor]

Very strongly.

[Jon Favreau]

I did read them and I thought about in the first Trump term, some of the statements from the WHCA were pretty, just terrible, I would say, like pretty limp. And this one was strongly worded. But I don't know. I don't know how the Associated Press gets back on Air Force One gets back in the White House briefing room. They had to turn in their credentials. And this is all because they refused to call Gulf of Mexico Gulf of America even though they are a global news organization and no one fucking owns the Gulf of Mexico. It's an, it's an international water. So other countries are calling it the Gulf of Mexico.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, it's a big body of water. Why are we talking about this? Yeah, shout out Eugene Daniels and the Correspondence Association. This is not an easy one. I mean, initially this seemed like stupid and childish and I kind of thought the Trump people would like be dicks for a couple days and then let it go. But then Axios had this report this morning where some White House staffer I'd never heard of like unloaded the clip of anger things they're mad about in the AP style book. And it was like truly Orwellian. And it just read to me like a, a literally unconstitutional assault on free speech. I know the Constitution singles out no law written by Congress. Shall Abridge free speech, but that has been applied to the executive branch as well. And you're right, there's been a lot of strongly worded, high minded statements, but no one's doing anything.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

And it made me think about in 2009 when we were in the White House. The Treasury Department offered up a series of interviews with this guy, Ken Feinberg. Was he the pazar?

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, he was the paymar.

[Tommy Vitor]

He was the pazar. And Fox News was left out. And all the other outlets came together and they said we're going to boycott this interview unless you include Fox. So we included Fox. That like kind of action is what's necessary.

[Jon Favreau]

Like, and they, they, that was for, that was complaints about a single interview.

[Tommy Vitor]

A Treasury aide.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, one, one interview. Not like, like we could, we didn't try to kick Fox out of the White House.

[Tommy Vitor]

Right. And it was a huge story. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary at the time, was getting hammered about it. Reporters are doing tons of stories about it and there's been coverage of this. And you know, Jake Tapper who like was hammered us hard at the time, was incredibly sanctimonious about it. I've seen him do some, you know, commentaries and things on his shows. I'm not seeing that from many other people. Yeah, I just, I say that with, as a compliment to Jake, by the way.

[Jon Favreau]

Like he stood up for like the.

[Tommy Vitor]

Principal there in a strong way.

[Jon Favreau]

I, it's a tricky one, right, because the first I thought, okay, maybe they should all just like boycott the White House and stop, you know, and band together and start reporting. It's like, you don't want that cat.

[Tommy Vitor]

Turds the pool reporter.

[Jon Favreau]

Exactly. Yeah. There's already enough of cat turd types in there, so you don't want that. And, but I'm wondering like what else, what else you do, what you could do is next time you're in the Oval or next time you're at the White House briefing room, just like Pepper, Carolyn Levitt or Trump when you see him with questions about this and like don't stop, don't move off the topic until they do something like just make it a bigger deal.

[Tommy Vitor]

It's really hard. The reporters, when they would take up issues like this with us, knew we cared and we cared about what they thought and they knew the Democrats cared about what these reporters said about how we were treating them. Trump views them as a foil. They want this fight. They love going after the media. So it is hard. But like there's gotta be some sort of collective action that leads to a reduction in coverage somehow, like something Trump doesn't like. And I don't know what it looks like, but they gotta find it.

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, I think it is indicative of a collective action problem in dealing with Trump, like written large in this, in this term. Right. It's for the press, it's for Democrats, it's for like business people standing up like no one wants to get out there ahead of everyone and potentially put themselves at risk either financially or their safety or, I mean, it's like, you know, it's heading into bad territory here. Pods of America is brought to you by Helix. Love Helix Mattresses. We we have a Helix mattress in our guest room and Charlie has a Helix mattress. Tommy, I think you have a Helix mattress.

[Tommy Vitor]

We do in our guest room. It's super comfortable.

[Jon Favreau]

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[Jon Favreau]

All right. Back here in the United States, Trump celebrated President's Day weekend, a holiday dedicated to a man who believed America should never have a king and another who saved the union by declaring that it's okay to break the law as long as you think you're doing it to save the country. This is the quote attributed to Napoleon that I mentioned earlier, which was not only posted by Trump, but by the official White House account. Just in case they. Just in case we weren't sure if they really meant it. Of course, actions speak louder than words and there were plenty of those too. Last weekend, Trump and Elon continued to carry out legally dubious mass firings of non political federal workers charged with frivolous jobs like keeping our nuclear weapons secure and making sure it's safe for us to fly. And in case you find it troubling that two brain rotted billionaires are destroying the government we pay for, take it up with Fox and Friends. Brian Kilmeade.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Why does the media have such a hard time believing that two powerful, successful, handsome men could work together with one objective? It's happened before and America accepted it. Remember for example Lethal Weapon four separate times. Mel Gibson, Danny Glover.

[Jon Favreau]

Watch this is not the biggest problem here at all. But does he? Does Brian Kilmade think that Trump and Elon are hot?

[Tommy Vitor]

How do you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror and then go to work and be like, I gotta do, I gotta read this Today.

[Jon Favreau]

It'S just the Lethal Weapon.

[Tommy Vitor]

Like our guy Jesse Waters, he says the absurd thing with like enough of a wink that you know he knows he's full of shit. But enough of his audience takes it literally that he can like all he doesn't pull it off but like kill me did not pull that off.

[Jon Favreau]

Nope.

[Tommy Vitor]

That was just like is this guy to get hit in there with a hammer before this? Like what happened here? What are you talking about?

[Jon Favreau]

No, it's just, it's just regime media and it is now did you see.

[Tommy Vitor]

All the Twitter sleuths who found that Elon is a big Napoleon fan and is tweeted about it all? I think that's where this came from.

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, it's fucking nuts.

[Tommy Vitor]

They're trolling, right? They want us to react, they want us to freak out, but we should.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, and it's also Napoleon again, if, you know, watch what he does, not what he says. If he wasn't acting in that manner, it would be one thing, it would be a troll, but he's trying to break the law. Now, look, I will say on all the, on the Doge stuff and all the cases that are going through the courts right now, the Justice Department, the Trump Justice Department is in their filings basically saying like, yeah, we're going to follow the rules, we're going to follow the laws here, whatever the court decides. That's great. So they are, they are so far abiding by the law in their filings. I think the shit hits the fan when, you know, a Supreme Court ruling comes down that Trump doesn't like. And then we'll, then we'll see if he still abides by the Napoleon quote that he's stealing. Let's talk about the firings. Maybe you think these workers are just paper pushing bureaucrats or lefty political hacks or just people who weren't needed or doing a good job? Nope. They fired hundreds of workers at the Federal Aviation Administration over the weekend. The faa, including people responsible for radar landing and navigational aid maintenance. That's according to the AP. Trump and Elon have also fired more than 5,000 employees at our health agencies, according to Forbes, including people who run Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Veterans affairs. More than 3,000 people at the Forest Service. And Politico reports that, quote, fire safety projects are already frozen and being canceled all over the West. And maybe the most telling news, Trump and Elon fired about 300 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the assembly, storage and testing of our nuclear weapons. About 30% of the layoffs were at the Pentex plant in Texas, which is where warheads are actually assembled.

[Tommy Vitor]

So that's the bad part of.

[Jon Favreau]

That's the bad part.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, you don't want that part.

[Jon Favreau]

You want to keep eyes on warheads. You want someone to be watching the warheads for sure. So this happened on Thursday evening and a lot of the workers didn't even know they'd been fired until they showed up at work the next morning and couldn't get in. But here's the worst part. There's actually a worst part.

[Tommy Vitor]

The guy who brought a new comb to work on it after hours.

[Jon Favreau]

Now he can't get back in. Yeah. So Once the absolute fucking morons in charge of our government realized that maybe they shouldn't have fired the people who oversee our nukes, the Trump folks tried to rehire them, but according to NBC, struggled to find them because they didn't have their new contact information and they had completely deleted all of their email accounts and information.

[Tommy Vitor]

That's so crazy. What are we doing?

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, I'm no pollster, but I have a feeling that the voter support for a more efficient government doesn't extend to the mass firing of the people in charge of our nukes and our air travel. But I don't know. What do you think?

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah, I mean, these are not people working on silly sounding USAID projects. Overseas people. The nnsa, that's a serious organization. I mean, also firing FAA officials in the wake of all of these plane crashes just seem nuts. And it does feel like Trump is kind of playing with fire here. And the question is, do these stories get to people before something bad happens? Right. Is this Delta crash in Toronto gonna change the TikTok algorithm so that the Chinese think we all want to be fed FAA news? And maybe people will hear about this and be like, what are you doing? Or does something really bad have to happen? I hope it's not the latter.

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, we need to. Everyone's always wondering, like, what can I do? What can I do? Tell people these stories, right? Like, I, you know, I feel like Twitter is now just like pissing in the ocean posting on Twitter because it's like a right wing hellscape, but there are still journalists there. So I keep doing it and I started like posting some of this on Instagram. Oh, look at you. Which I'm just like, any platform that's there, like, go fucking tell all your friends about this. Because it's not, first of all, I mean, like, the press is already struggling for some of the reasons we just mentioned and just larger financial structural reasons that we've talked about for years. And also, even if they weren't struggling with all that, there's just so much of this happening. Like, you can miss the news for half a day and suddenly realize that, oh yeah, the nuclear weapons people were fired and also FAA people are fighting, oh, there was another plane crash. Like, it just is happening so fast and there's so much of it that I think it's really hard to keep up with.

[Tommy Vitor]

I agree. But can I give you my. My really pessimistic version of how this would go? And one that makes me scared is there's a worst case scenario, something catastrophic happens. And then there's the. The thing I worry about is government. Government services just get shittier and shittier and shittier, and in some cases, it's small. Like, you go to a national park and the bathroom is disgusting because they fired all the people who maintained it. And then there's really, really, really bad things. But won't be, like, national news. Like, a veteran will call the VA suicide hotline and it won't be sufficiently staffed.

[Jon Favreau]

That happened, right?

[Tommy Vitor]

Or like, the bird flu explodes and we're not monitoring it. But my fear is people have such little faith in government that it might fold into those preexisting feelings and angers at the government that Trump kind of exploited in the first place, rather than lead them to think, oh, actually, this guy's making it worse, let's course.

[Jon Favreau]

Correct.

[Tommy Vitor]

That's my. My pessimistic fear.

[Jon Favreau]

So my pessimistic fear, I'll give you mine. Is that I think when. When. When government services that people count on break down, they will want to blame someone. I think Trump and Elon and the Doge Bags and all the rest of them have become very skilled at just blaming Democrats.

[Tommy Vitor]

Right?

[Jon Favreau]

And even though Democrats don't control everything, there's always some deep state puppet somewhere that they haven't gotten rid of that they can blame. There's always a Democratic governor somewhere or Democratic mayor or Democratic Biden or Joe Biden. Right. That they can blame. So they will. Bad things will happen. And I worry that they will continue to blame whoever they can who's not them, because I think there will be anger when a lot of this stuff happens and you're already. And look, there's. There's already stories about federal workers, which Trump and Elon and everyone assume are all, like, big libs. And there's some who, you know, because federal workers aren't just in D.C. they're in every state in the country. And there's like, this one guy from Kentucky who, like, posted on Facebook or LinkedIn or whatever. It was like, I voted for Trump three times, and I just had a great performance report. I've been at this agency forever. I'm trying to help people out. And I can't believe that this president that I trusted would just fire me for no apparent reason. That's the thing is, like, there's no. It's not like these people are getting notices that are like, hey, we have decided to reduce the federal government, and we've decided to get rid of parts of different agencies that we don't need. And so in 30 days, we won't. You won't be needed anymore. And here's severance. And then it gives the agency time to make sure, oh, was that person providing critical services? If so, we got to have someone else cover that. And no, no, it's like middle of the night. One woman said that she's pregnant, six months pregnant. And she was one month away from leaving her probationary period. By the way, all these firings were probationary employees. And what that means is if you've only been a federal employee for a year, you don't have the same civil service protections that others have. So they went after the probationary employees first. That's 10% of the federal workforce. Now you might think, okay, well, that's just someone who's new anyway, so maybe they have a big job. Some of the probationary employees are probationary because they move from another job within the federal government. So some of these people are extremely senior and have been there a long time, but just because they moved. But of course, Trump and Elon, they don't know any of that. Right. So this woman is six months pregnant and was one month away from being from having civil service protections. And at 12:30 in the morning, she was just alerted that she wouldn't be working at the FAA anymore where she was helping. Helping protect our safety.

[Tommy Vitor]

Doge first, ask questions later. They also, they talk about government employees like they're subhuman.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes. And it's really Russ Vogt said in that video that he wants to make them feel traumatized when they come to work. And that is what they're doing. Like they did. It is not about fucking government efficiency. And I'm like, I am done doing the throat clearing at the beginning that's like, we all want an efficient government and that's what people want. Because it's not that. Like, I know the White House has a clip of us, you know, a.

[Tommy Vitor]

Profoundly misleading, profoundly misleading clip of us.

[Jon Favreau]

Talking about government efficiency and that they didn't include the part where we were saying that this is not government, it's illegal and unconstitutional.

[Tommy Vitor]

No, look, everyone just pause and think about what it means long term when you make every US Government job miserable and no one wants to do it and they hate working there. You're going to get bad people to provide crucial services, and we're just losing decades, centuries of expertise and experience in complicated matters. And it's just to say it's all bureaucracy and efficiency and doging is so stupid and simple. Podcast of America is brought to you by Lumen did you know that when your metabolism is working properly, you will feel all the benefits in literally every aspect of your life? Lumen is a valuable tool that can give you insights to create a healthy metabolism for your body. Lumen is the world's first handheld metabolic coach. It's a device that measures your metabolism through your breath and on the app it lets you know if you're burning fat or carbs and gives you tailored guidance to improve your nutrition, workout, sleep and even stress management. All you have to do is breathe into your Lumen first thing in the morning and you'll know what's going on with your metabolism, whether you're burning mostly fats or carbs. Then Lumen gives you a personalized nutrition plan for that day based on your measurements. You can also breathe into it before and after workouts and meals so you know exactly what's going on with your body in real time. And Lumen will give you tips to keep you on top of your health game. The cool thing about Lumen is you can use it at a bunch of different times if you could do it in the morning and just kind of get a read on the day. Or you can do it before and after your workout to see how you did, to see how your metabolism is cooking. Your metabolism is your body's engine. It's your how your body turns the food you eat into fuel that keeps you going. So understanding it is important and Lumen gives you recommendations to improve your metabolic health. Take the next step to improving your health. Go to Lumen Me crooked to get 20% off your lumen. That's L U M E N me crooked for 20% off your purchase. Thank you Lumen for sponsoring this episode.

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[Jon Favreau]

A couple more examples before we move on because it's just, it's making me so angry. They laid off Energy department staff who handled homeowners electricity bills, so there's no one to take the money that keeps people's lights on. The fda. A lot of food. You like your food inspected for safety? Well, a lot of. Lot of cuts at the fda. Women are being turned away from domestic violence shelters in West Virginia because they're all full. And they've had to close those down because the funding freeze that was supposed to be unfrozen in practice really wasn't unfrozen. All but two employees in one state who headed up an agriculture program that was assisting poor rural communities. These are all Trump voters that are getting cut now and then. The reason you don't, you know that it's not about government efficiency or, like, making government smarter. Whatever the IRS cuts. And we're going to talk more about the IRS in a second. But Joe Biden hired all these extra IRS agents because all these rich tax cheats were getting away with not paying their taxes, and the IRS didn't have enough staff to do it, so they did it. They started collecting billions more in revenue from rich people who were trying to cheat on their taxes. And they are laying all these people off. Right. The amount of money it costs to hire the IRS agents is paid for five times over by the revenue they're collecting from the rich tax sheets.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

So it's not. It has nothing to do with efficiency.

[Tommy Vitor]

No.

[Jon Favreau]

In addition to the mass firings, the DOGE bags also keep trying to gain access to government systems and databases so sensitive that only a small number of career civil servants have ever been allowed to handle them. We saw this play out at Treasury. Now it's playing out at the irs, where Gavin Kleiger, who is the DOGE guy who's retweeted white nationalist Nick Fuentes is apparently about to get access to a system called the Integrated Data Retrieval System, or idrs, which includes all of our tax returns and bank account information. It is so sensitive that even IRS commissioners, the people who run the IRS, haven't been able to access the IDRs. It's apparently this initiative, which is being laid out in a memorandum of understanding that isn't finalized yet, rests with just two people. A DOGE employee, which appears to be cliger, and an IRS employee. What. What is the administration saying is the justification for this?

[Tommy Vitor]

I mean, they're saying waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it. So does this mean that this one dude is going to be, like, inspector of the entire country's tax information and Go through all our personal stuff and compare it to other records and I guess somehow find waste, fraud and abuse that they will then highlight and I'm sure a very fair, honest way. Is that what's happening here? Because what is one person going to do with all this access?

[Jon Favreau]

I mean, and again, just like the Justice Department, we've talked about, Cash Patel, the FBI, the Justice Department, one way they can get revenge on people they don't like is of course, you know, criminal investigations.

[Tommy Vitor]

The IRS is how I do it.

[Jon Favreau]

IRS is another big one. Right. And it has been used in the past in our country to go after people. So now we're giving this random fucking guy who likes Nick Fuentes access to all of our bank information and our private tax returns.

[Tommy Vitor]

Well, and also, we just know Elon Musk has just been tweeting lie after lie, misleading information. He's pretending like, you know, the Doge people are finding all sorts of line items and government spending that seems silly when it's all just been sitting on a public website.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes.

[Tommy Vitor]

They're just mining public data and using it to further their Doge agenda, which is not about transparency or efficiency. It's about just destroying the US Government.

[Jon Favreau]

Democrats are trying to make noise about this. Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who sits on Ways and Means, called it a five alarm warning. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden wrote a sternly worded letter to the acting IRS commissioner about it. How do you feel about this? Like, are the tweets and letters enough? I appreciate them, I'm glad that they are fighting. But, like, doesn't it. And I know I have said the Democrats have limited power. We do. That's just the reality of the situation right now. But it does feel like we should be making more noise.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah. I don't know what the tactic is, but I do think this area is eye catching and scary. I mean, personal text information, why does this goober need to, to have that? Why is this little, you know, white nationalist loving Doge employee need to know my bank account and routing number? I think that's very scary. I think it's also, you know, you can tell a broader story about firing all these IRS people that are just there to audit the richest people in the country and make them pay their taxes. So I'd, I'd really lean into this one because I think it will land in a way that I, I wish this weren't the case. But, like, talking about USAID cuts just does not.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. And also, I mean, we've said this and we've seen this throughout history, when there's a government shutdown and government services are cut off, people get mad. And it's always true that the party in control of the White House that shuts down the. Or, you know, the party responsible for the shutdown ends up getting blamed by the public. And stories about the national parks and food safety and all this other kind of stuff like that resonates with people. And I do think lifting up the stories of both the workers and the services that are cut and the benefits that could be cut and the. And the safety and security that's being put in jeopardy, like, that should be, like, the. The top, top priority for Democrats. And they should be telling the stories everywhere they can, on every medium. They can. On every show. They can go on Fox, go on anywhere. Like, you know, hold events with some of the people who've been affected by the cuts in services, some of the people who've lost their jobs. People are losing their jobs in the federal government. And the excuses. You've had poor performance. And they're like, what do you mean I had poor performance? This is my first day on the job. And you just cut it. And then some people had excellent performance reports, and they've been told that they have poor. Like, there's no rhyme or reason to anything.

[Tommy Vitor]

They're just making it up. They're just firing people. Remember when it was a national story that the Obama administration suspended White House tours?

[Jon Favreau]

Yes.

[Tommy Vitor]

During a big budget fight. You can make people care about this stuff.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. I just think that they. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if it's the tone, I don't know if it's the style, but, like, they really just got to be out there and be louder.

[Tommy Vitor]

Be louder. Maybe like the protest and attempt to enter the USAID building was, I think, a good idea. Maybe run it back at the irs.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

Just do the execution a little better.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah. It's time to get a little creative, I think. All right, one more purge. We should talk about this one happening at the Department of Justice. So obviously, they were trying to purge DOJ prosecutors who were involved in some way into the January 6 prosecutions. But now we got a whole nother scandal here just got kicked up a notch thanks to the case against New York Mayor Eric Adams. As you all probably know, last fall, Adams was charged with taking millions of dollars in bribes and illegal campaign donations from the Turkish government in exchange for allowing a Manhattan skyscraper to open without a fire inspection. Trump said at the time that he thought Adams was getting a raw deal because of his views on immigration. Adams then attended the inauguration and met with Trump. On Monday of last week. Emil Bovet, the acting Deputy Attorney general, who you may remember as Trump's defense attorney in the hush money case, ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop Adams case based on the argument that his bribery trial would interfere with his efforts to help carry out Trump's mass deportations in New York. The prosecutors refused, and on Wednesday, the acting U.S. attorney at SDNY, a Trump appointee who clerked for Antonin Scalia, resigned. A number of her colleagues then resigned as well, including the lead prosecutor on the case, who wrote in his resignation letter that the move was an illegal effort to influence Adams and, quote, I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion, but it was never going to be me. On Friday night, Bove gathered the attorneys from DOJ's Public Integrity Unit and gave them one hour to figure out who would sign the dismissal motion or that they would all be fired. Eventually, one senior attorney agreed to do it to spare his colleagues. A few hours before we recorded, four of Adams's remaining staffers resigned in protest. And in case the quid pro quo between the Trump administration and Adams wasn't clear, here's a clip of border czar Tom Homan on Fox and Friends sitting next to Adams in a joint interview. If he doesn't come through, I'll be back in New York City and we won't be sitting on a couch. I'll be in his office, up, up his butt saying, where the hell is the agreement we came to? So what a fucking embarrassment. When pressed about this, Homan said he and Adams were talking cop to cop and that the press was making too much of it. What do you think? Would you say it's good for democracy. The President United States essentially owns the mayor of our largest city through a.

[Tommy Vitor]

Bold move to shake down the DOJ Public Integrity Unit. You know, I mean that.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, and I should have mentioned Chef's kiss. I should have mentioned that in the, in the prompt, but it was. There's two sets of resignations here. There's one at sdny, Southern District of New York. And the woman who was running sdny, she was a Trump appointee. She had just risen to the ranks, the top of the ranks at sdny again, clerked for Scalia, Federalist Society member. So this isn't some, like, liberal squish. And the fact that she finally gets this, a dream job. What I can only assume is a dream job and then resigns because it's this bad.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yeah. I think everyone saw this play coming, this pardon coming, because Eric Adams started kissing Trump's ass, flew down to Mar? A Lago. You just made a fool of himself. But the way this was structured so that Trump can essentially rescind the pardon if Adams gets out of line is brazen, even for Trump, I think.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah, well, that's. And it's not. So it's not even technically a pardon. Right. It's like it's dismissed without prejudice. They could have gone with the pardon or dismissed with prejudice, meaning they couldn't refile the charges. But obviously, the reason they don't want to do that is because if Adams doesn't do what Trump says, they will charge him again.

[Tommy Vitor]

They'll go back. So now Trump owns the mayor of the largest city in the country. You can say parrot my talking points or you're going to jail. Because it sounds like Eric Adams, the DOJ, the U.S. attorney's office, they have him dead to rights.

[Jon Favreau]

Yep.

[Tommy Vitor]

You know, they'd spell out some of the. Their feelings on the evidence in these resignation letters. And I do think it's worth emphasizing no one is defending this.

[Jon Favreau]

Right. Right.

[Tommy Vitor]

No, you have all these conservatives at, you know, the U.S. attorney's office at DOJ. These. These resignations for these people could be career ending. You know, this is like the pinnacle of achievement for them. Like, being the U.S. attorney in some of these New York offices is a huge deal. You see huge cases, you try huge cases, and they're walking away from it. And on top of that, I mean, four New York City deputy mayors are resigning. That, like, in the short term, that is going to severely impact the management of the biggest city in the country. I mean, there's eight total deputy mayors. Four of them are now gone. And this is coming after a wave of disruption and resignations and dysfunction during the investigation of Adams. So it is really. It's like a disaster for New York City, like, one on top of the other also.

[Jon Favreau]

And I. You would think that the resignation of those four deputies to Adams would put more pressure on Governor Kathy Hochul, who, by the way, has the authority to remove Eric Adams. And the fact that she hasn't yet is baffling to me.

[Tommy Vitor]

Me, too. But, I mean, it feels like it's gonna happen. Right. Every Democrat's kind of lined up saying.

[Jon Favreau]

And you get all these resignations. I will say, though, when we were just talking about collective action problems and people being afraid to step up Like Danielle Sassoon, who was the prosecutor that was running SDNY that resigned. And then Hagan Scotten. Hagan Scotten. I mean, if that name doesn't sound like a conservative to you. This guy. This guy was. Graduated top of his class, Harvard Law, is a. Won two bronze stars in Iraq and clerked for not just Roberts, but Kavanaugh.

[Tommy Vitor]

Solid. Yeah.

[Jon Favreau]

That's the guy who said, like, you'll find a fool, you know, you'll eventually find someone who's enough of a fool or a coward to file your motion, but it's never gonna be me. Like those two stepping up is. I'd like to see a little more of that from some people, you know, who are Republicans in Congress who just aren't doing anything are basically like, they. Ezra Klein had a great column over the weekend. He called them NPCs non player characters. The whole Congress, Republicans have just decided like, no, we're not going to do it.

[Tommy Vitor]

They are NPCs.

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Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

I mean, Bill Cassidy put out a statement about Tulsi Gabbard's nomination, why he was voting for her that basically said, Donald Trump nominated her, thus I will vote for her. Just given up his power. But, yeah, this is an area where I agree with you. I'd like to see Republicans doing more, but I think Democrats do have some power here. Like Hochul should remove Adams.

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

Hopefully that happens in the near term. That might be mean that Andrew Cuomo is back in our lives and that's, you know, tough from another perspective.

[Jon Favreau]

But someone else. Right. It's a big city. You guys don't have more people in New York to run for office.

[Tommy Vitor]

There's a scenario here where this is such an overreach that it weakens Trump. And I think Democrats in New York have to help us get to that. That.

[Jon Favreau]

Yes.

[Tommy Vitor]

Point.

[Jon Favreau]

Well, you heard. I mean, Trump's like, I don't know anything about this. And. And then Bovet was trying to walk back the initial. He was like, this isn't a quid pro quo. It's like the original memo says that, oh, he can't stand trial because then he can't help enforce President Trump's immigration policies. I mean, it's like, of course it's a fucking quid pro quo nonsense.

[Tommy Vitor]

It's obvious.

[Jon Favreau]

Quid pro quo.

[Tommy Vitor]

Can I read you a headline?

[Jon Favreau]

Yeah.

[Tommy Vitor]

That you might like, Jan six Rioters argue pardons apply to charges including murder plot child porn. Defendants argue that Trump pardons should absolve them of additional crimes, some discovered during investigations of the Capitol riot.

[Jon Favreau]

That's right. That's right. Trump. Donald Trump has let out of jail people who've tried to commit homicide, who were plotted to commit homicide. He had a kill list and sexual predators, child. Child sexual predators.

[Tommy Vitor]

One of these guys had a literal.

[Jon Favreau]

Kill list coming to a community near you thanks to Donald Trump. Yeah. Because he wanted to pardon his Jan6 buddies. And we got, you know, people who, you know, getting caught up with a lot with child porn and, and plotting murders. Those are the kinds of people that Donald Trump is releasing into your communities.

[Tommy Vitor]

Maga.

[Jon Favreau]

Maga. All right, when we get back from the break, you're going to hear Tommy's interview with Stephen A. Smith about why he thinks we're all so wrong and whether he's going to run for president himself. Two quick things before we do that. If you're an offline fan, heads up. Starting this week, you will find new episodes of the show in your feed every Thursday. Change it nice instead of every Sunday because, you know, we have the special Pod Save America every other Sunday now that we're doing the interview. And so now we're trying to move offline to Thursday. That means your parasocial relationship with me and Max just got a new time slot. You can catch new episodes of Offline every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Also, a reminder, the best way to support our work is to subscribe to Friends of the Pod. You'll get 25% off new annual subscriptions now through Saturday, February 22nd. If you're a monthly subscriber, upgrading is quick and easy. Just visit qriket.com friends or subscribe through the Pod Save America Apple feed. You get all kinds of stuff. You get access to the fantastic discord community of all of our subscribers who are always just talking and debating and leaning on each other. And just a wonderful community of subscribers. You also can listen to ad free episodes of Pod Save America, which is awesome. You get Dan's Polar Coaster show, which is fantastic, terminally online, which is the funniest show that we do here at Cricket. So check it out, cricket.com friends when we come back. Stephen A Pod Save America is brought to you by Haya. Typical. Children's vitamins are basically candy in disguise, filled with two teaspoons of sugar, unhealthy chemicals, and other gummy additives growing kids should never eat. That's why Haya created a super powered chewable vitamin. It's made with zero sugar and zero gummy additives and it tastes great. It's perfect for picky eaters. Formulated with the help of pediatricians and nutritional experts, Haya is pressed with a blend of 12 organic fruits and veggies, then supercharged with 15 essential vitamins and minerals to help support immune system energy, brain function, mood, concentration, teeth, bones and more. It's non gmo, vegan, dairy free, allergy free, gelatin free, nut free. Everything else you can imagine. Hiya. Is designed for kids two and up and sent straight to your door so parents have one less thing to worry about. Charlie has been taking high vitamins for a while and you know what? He's a picky eater and also likes sugar too much. So high is perfect because they're not sugary but it's good. Yeah. And are you tired of battling with your kids to eat their greens? Yes I am. Haya now has Kids Daily Greens plus Superfoods, a chocolate flavored greens powder designed specifically for kids. Packed with 55 plus whole food ingredients to support brain power, development and digestion. Just scoop, shake and sip with milk, milk or any non dairy beverage for a delicious and nutritious boost your kids will actually enjoy. We've worked out a special deal with Chaya for their best selling children's vitamin. Receive 50% off your first order. To claim this deal you must go to hyahealth.com crooked this deal is not available on their regular website. Go to H I Y A H E a l t h.com crooked and get your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow into healthy adults.

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[Tommy Vitor]

My guest today is a commentator on espn, the host of the Stephen A. Smith show, and arguably the greatest sports debater of all time. Stephen A. Smith.

[Stephen A. Smith]

What's going on man? How you doing? How's everything?

[Tommy Vitor]

It's good. Thank you so much for doing this. I'm a a big fan, have been for a very long time. So this is exciting and fun for Me? Let's just get right into it. There's been a lot of chatter about you potentially running for president in 2028, and you've had to kind of tell folks to pump the brakes a bit. If I could briefly sum up what I think your position is, it's that, you know, the process of running sucks. You don't want to go through it, but if drafted to serve, you would be open to it. Is that fair?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I think it's fair. I don't have any desire to do it. I have no desire to be a politician whatsoever. But if the country was in a bad place and you told me that somehow, some way, that I'm favored to win an election and be the President of the United States, I don't think anybody could summarily dismiss that personally, because we all live in this country and we all understand what comes with it. And as much of a headache as it would be, as stressful as it would be, as much of a compromise it could potentially be to my quality of life, make no mistake about it, what kind of quality do we really have if the country sucks, if it's just in a very, very bad place with no reprieve in sight whatsoever? So, again, for me personally, with what I have going on in my life, with how happy I am, with the fact that I'm more interested in remaining pundit and a commentator rather than a politician, those things still stand. I'm very authentic in saying that I have no desire to be a politician whatsoever. But, my God, if you came to me and said, listen, there is nobody else and America is clamoring for you, which I sincerely doubt would ever happen, but if that were to happen, would I give it strong consideration? I won't lie. Yes, I would. I would give it strong consideration.

[Tommy Vitor]

I love that you're talking about politics all the time now because you are a blunt, candid guy. You tell it how it is, and especially when it comes to Democratic Party, because we're all trying to figure out what happened, why we lost to Trump a second time. Sometimes I think that Democrats like myself, we're too close to the issue. We overthink shit. We read too many polls and focus groups and miss the big picture. So, big picture in your mind, like, what is the simplest explanation for why Democrats lost?

[Stephen A. Smith]

You forgot about. You forgot about what got you here. Black folks got you here. Hispanics got you here. The working class got you here. The most egregious thing that you could say about the Democratic Party right now is that the Republican Party seems to be more identifiable with the working class than the Democrats. Who would have ever thought in our wildest dreams that anybody would be able to get away with saying that? Remember, a lot of times, people that are in the know that are highly, highly knowledgeable about the intricacies that involve politics, they lean on that. They keep forgetting. The voters don't know what they know. The voters live on perception. Whatever issue touches them is what touches them, and that decides who they're going to vote for or whether they'll vote at all. And a lot of people don't. Don't get that. I laugh when folks try to challenge my knowledge of the intricacies of politics. I'm like, you're clearly not listening. I tell you all the time, I don't study it like that. I read the newspaper, I watch news. I'm a conscientious observer, but I'm not. Not entrenched in it the way somebody that lives it every day would be. But I'm an American citizen, and I'm a voter, and I'm watching what's going on in the streets of America, and I'm telling you, certain things ain't gonna work. When you looked at the Democratic Party, certainly there's probably policies that they've pushed forth and battles that they have fought that would have benefited working class Americans, but that ain't what they were talking about. They were talking about lgbtq. They were talking about transgender rights specifically. They were acting as if there was no problem at the borders involving illegal immigration. Nobody was believing that. Because if you travel, if you. If you see footage of the streets of America, you're like, what's going on? It wasn't just Fox News. It was everybody. Abc, NBC, cbs. Everybody was talking about the border when it was crimes in the streets and people were being let out the same day that they were getting arrested. But everybody was talking about that when you had stores that were allowing three people in it at a time because they were afraid they were going to get robbed and the repercussions weren't severe enough. So there was a level of fearlessness that the lawless in our communities were, you know, that they possessed. People were talking about that, that, and the Democrats were talking about something else. And so when you look at it from that standpoint, you just say to yourself, they really, really forgot. They forgot what got them here, what made them so popular, what got Clinton in office, what got Barack Obama in office. Hell, to some degree, what got Jimmy Carter in office before Reagan arrived. They forgot all of These things. And to forget that against Donald Trump, of all people, who's claiming elections are rigged, who's calling y'all crooks, who are saying that y'all are nasty, evil people, questioning how duplicitous you can be, how corrupt you can be, even while he's getting impeached, even while he's being convicted of felonies. All of this stuff, and y'all just ignored it. Not you. I'm not talking about you, Tommy, but I'm just saying the Democratic Party, it.

[Tommy Vitor]

No, I hear you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It just. It boggled the mind. It boggled. It still does.

[Tommy Vitor]

I feel like there's two parts to the criticism. Part of it I agree with, which is there were some issues, like the border, where it wasn't just Republicans talking about concerns, it was a broader set of voters. And Democrats tried to be like, oh, that's a distraction, actually, we should be talking about this thing. It didn't speak to those fears. I think Joe Biden got there late when he did what? He supported this bipartisan bill in the Senate that got killed by Trump and then did a bunch of executive orders to try to shut down the border. But he got there late, and people were pissed. And it didn't change the perception. But the other half of this, I think, is that Donald Trump captures attention and keeps it on himself in a way that no other precedent in history has. For better, for worse. And I think this is where I wanted your advice, because you're someone, you are incredible at crafting a narrative, making news, breaking through on social media. You've created your own, like, sports media empire at a time when people were like, you can't leave ESPN or, like, do something on your own. Right. Because you'll. It's all about the mothership. What advice do you have for Democrats about how to get heard and reach people in this digital age?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Get Trump. Like, what I mean by that, Tommy, is be your real, true, authentic self, for better or worse. Can you genuinely tell me, as a person who covers this stuff for a living, that Trump surprises you?

[Jon Favreau]

What?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Think about how he acts. Think about the things that he says. And then he goes and he tries to do it for better or worse. He's letting you know, I don't care. I'm not a politician. I'm not a career politician. I don't listen. The man doesn't even want to be in the White House every chance he gets. He's at Mar a Lago. He doesn't even want to be there.

[Tommy Vitor]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay. He wants to Run the country from his resort, for crying out loud. He might want to use the Air Force One plane, okay? So he don't have to spend his own money with his gas and everything else. But he'd rather. But that's about it. The man wants to be where he wants to be. He wants to do what he wants to do. He wants to show you every chance he gets that he is nothing like the career politicians. He is nothing like what you have witnessed for decades on Capitol Hill. He says Capitol Hill needs to be purged. What is he doing? He's trying to purge Capitol Hill. You understand me? While we had Kamala Harris, Ms. Prim and Proper, tries to say the right things, listening to her party, talk to her about this is the way to go over the last 107 days to win an election, et cetera. And guess what? It wasn't resonating. You go on the View and the View says, is there anything, anything at all about Joe Biden that you would do differently, that you would change? And she looked into the cameras and said, I can't think of any. What? What? I mean, are you. Are you kidding me? I mean, you can't do that because it's not just about your answer. It's about the believability factor. You see, even when Trump is lying, you believe that he believes what he's saying and what he says he's going to do, do, even if he's lying to himself. You sit up there, you look it up. Look, man, you. You. You can't just eradicate departments like that. You can't just violate civil liberties. Like, you can't just sit up there and make your own rules and subvert the Constitution and try to get a third term in office, whatever. But who doubts he's going to try? Who doubts that he's gonna try to pull that off? Whatever it is that he says, there is an authenticity that comes with it in terms of how it resonates to the American people who are salty and skeptical with vile feelings towards Capitol Hill. That's where the connection happens. Well, if you are somebody on the Democratic side and you feel that way, where's your vitriol? Where's your disgust?

[Tommy Vitor]

I think that's right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

To the status quo and what you aim to do about it. That's what people want to see.

[Tommy Vitor]

And you're right. I mean, his message is burned it all down, and he somehow gets a pass for having been in charge for four years when all the problems he's complaining about now still existed. But Democrats were boring. Where the NBA skills competition where Wemby's cheating, while Trump is the. The USA Canada hockey game where there's three fights in 10 seconds and you can't look away. And, like, I just. I don't know how to compete with that. We don't have a leader who can compete with that. We don't have a party that can compete with that. We don't have a message with that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But tell why you don't have. You can't compete with that, and you don't have that. I'm not talking about you specifically.

[Tommy Vitor]

Of course I know.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I know about Democratic Party. You don't know that, and you can't compete with that for the biggest reason of all, because y'all are too busy trying to pick candidates for the American people instead of listening to the American people tell you who they want. The last Democrat that the American people told you they wanted was Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton. It's her turn. Bernie Sanders had momentum. It's Hillary's turn. Joe Biden captured momentum because Representative Clyburn got involved in South Carolina, saved his behind, but it's really, really his turn. Okay, he has no business running for reelection. But everybody went for it, knowing he was supposed to be transitioning. He's gonna be 81 years of age. Then you sit up there, he doesn't have a primary. Then he goes on the debate stage, embarrasses himself. Then y'all still let him take three damn walk away instead of getting the hell out there immediately. So you can see if there's somebody other than Kamala Harris who could be the Democratic nominee. Then she gets the nomination, and everybody wants to act like she's the rock star. All of y'all want it all along. Oh, my God. Let's throw up our hands. And just to say, hey, she is the one, when you know good and damn well that wasn't the truth. Meanwhile, Trump has been around since 2015. They had Christie, they had Kasich, they had had Fiorini, I believe her name is later on. You had Desantis, you had Nikki Haley, you had Ramaswamy, you had all of these people. It didn't matter. We went through lawfare and all this stuff. It didn't matter. They looked the public in the face and they said, we want him. We don't care what y'all want. And forced the Republican Party to capitulate to the demands of their constituency. That's what they did. The Democrats somehow, some way have gotten away with ignoring the constituency and compelling the constituency to capitulate to what they want as a party. And that is the problem. And that's why I said it all needs to go. Some of those candidates need to go. The pundits, the strategists, they need to go. Whoever was involved with the latest election, from a strategy standpoint, every one of them should be fired.

[Tommy Vitor]

Every one of them cleaning house. Look, I think Joe Biden running for reelection was a catastrophic mistake. We will not recover from it for a long time. And I completely agree with you there. But, I mean, I want your thoughts on this.

[Stephen A. Smith]

This.

[Tommy Vitor]

Donald Trump is using sports in a really smart way politically. I think he. He went to college football games and UFC fights during the campaign. He went to the Super Bowl. He did a loop around the track of the Daytona 500 in his limo over the weekend. It feels like he's creating a bond with these audiences that. That Democrats don't have. And how do you think Democrats can be a part of that conversation? I can't think of anyone who would go to a. To a game like, except for Barack Obama going to NBA games because he genuinely loved the sport. But, like, who else else?

[Stephen A. Smith]

This is why I'm a candidate. I don't want to be. And that's why I am one. Because, you see, I wouldn't go to the Daytona 500, but I'd have been at the Super Bowl. I'd have been at the hockey All Star game. I'd have been at NBA All Star Weekend. I'd be at the World Series. I'd be at All Star Weekend for baseball. I mean, the list. I'd be at a boxing match, I'd be at a UFC match, et cetera, et cetera. The point is, you're a politician. You're supposed to be able to do what the people want you to do as a politician. See, this is. This is just. You're giving me damning evidence. I didn't even think about it until you brought it up. I'm going like this. Wait a minute. Aren't they politicians? Isn't it their job to recognize and notice what their constituency finds appealing and cater to that? But isn't it.

[Tommy Vitor]

But let me tell you, if Obama went to the Super Bowl, Fox News would be like, how dare he? This cost $10 million. He put secret Service there. Like they would go after.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Nope, that doesn't work.

[Tommy Vitor]

Here's why you don't think so.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because Obama's not looking for their vote. He knows he's not getting it. You're talking about the other side and the independents and the Independence wants. Here's what the Independence wants, because I'm a registered independent. I'm not a Democrat. I'm a registered. I'll vote for Republican in a heartbeat. I might not have voted for Trump up, but I'm not averse to all conservative policies. I have some conservative policies I support. I have a lot of liberal policies I support. But let me.

[Tommy Vitor]

Right, you don't like taxes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right. I don't like high taxes. I don't like high taxes. I don't like open borders. I don't like open borders. I think that those kind of things affect the economy in a negative kind of way, no matter how we try to slice it. Look at Mayor Eric Adams in New York City, complaining about the billions of dollars it cost him and what it's deprived him of in terms of what he has to contribute to the system, in terms of homelessness and other issues that are permeating in the city of New York City, because why he had to spend money on the illegal immigration issue, it being a sanctuary city. So all of those things come into play. But the point that I'm trying to make is this. If you're around, if you're looking at somebody and you're saying to yourself, what is it going to take? How can we find that candidate? The first order of business is finding a candidate that recognizes the importance of appealing to not only his own constituency, but those who are undecided and playing to win. If. If you're a centrist, what you're saying is, I'm willing to compromise. I'm willing to walk across the aisle and work with people. I'm not interested in all of this chaos. If it has to get chaotic, so be it. But that's not the objective. That's not the goal. We're Americans. We can come together. We can work together. Don't look at black, white, Latino, Asian, you know, whatever the case may be. Don't look at all of that stuff and think that that's a license to dismiss and alienate others just because they don't look nor feel like you do. You might have a shot at convincing them if you talk to them. You could go to them and talk to them about what their desires are, what they wish for their communities, what's the kind of thing that plagues their community and how we can alleviate those concerns. That's your responsibility. And see, to me, I'm sitting there again, I have no desire to be in politics. 0. My life is pretty good. My Life is pretty damn good. Good. But guess what? I'm looking at it and I'm saying this isn't hard. This isn't hard. I'm talking about compared to the Democratic candidates that you have available. It's not hard. Look at the roster. You know, who do you like?

[Tommy Vitor]

You like Wes Moore, Josh Shapiro. You talked to them both recently, right? Like who. Who's. Who's on your top five?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Listen, I was very impressed with Josh Shapiro, very impressed with them. And I love me some Westmore. No doubt about it. Right. And if there's anybody. But. But I would be concerned. I think that one could easily argue Trump would never have been president if Barack Obama hadn't been president. Barack Obama's presidency caused a white backlash, okay? Because you had people in this country that didn't like his policies, didn't like him, was walking around crying about how he's trying to indoctrinate our children just because he was speaking to elementary school kids and stuff. Just ridiculous stuff that people came up with. Right, Right. Which was far beyond appeal. No excuse for. Okay. But people were really feeling like their way of life was being compromised because, again, they didn't know everything that he was doing. They were going by what they were being told by the other side. And then here comes Trump saying, we gonna purge this whole system. We gonna throw this all aside because these folks ain't strong enough, ain't good enough. Remember Jeb Bush, low energy, Marco Rubio, small hands and all of this other stuff, little Marco and stuff like that, that, you know, Carla Fiorini and, you know, she's this or that or Doug, Chris Christie, and getting on him. We saw Kasich. I thought. I was a huge fan of Kasich, but guess what? He wasn't resonating with the constituency out there. So they. Their side chose who their side chose. You don't get an opportunity to do that as Democrats because they pick who they want exposed instead of saying, let's put everybody out there and see who the constituency gravitates towards. That's the problem. And that's the real reason why somebody like little old me is polling, which makes no damn sense whatsoever. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing.

[Tommy Vitor]

It makes sense to me. I like it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Embarrassment to the Democratic Party. It really.

[Tommy Vitor]

Well looks it, I hear. On one level, sure. But also, I think. I'm with you. I think primaries are good. I think the rubber meets the road in primaries and that you could do polling all you want, but until you actually ask people to vote Vote for someone, then you don't really know who they support. But let me talk about Trump's actions so far. I mean, I saw you say Elon Musk is a problem. Do you think he's. Trump is overreaching? Is he doing things that might offend those moderates? Or are those moderates just not even hearing about the details and they're like, oh, he's.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Of course he's overreaching. Of course he's overreaching. But why is he overreaching? Because he has the license and the mandate to do so. Because you see on the left, you've got Democrats saying there's no mandate. He didn't receive 50% of the vote. Are you kidding me? He won 49.8% of the vote. He had over 77 million people vote for him. He beat you by nearly 3 million votes. If you're the Democratic Party, he beat you by over 3 million. Nearly 3 million votes. Okay? He won every swing state. He went up in 50 different counties across the country, didn't drop in any of them. And, oh, by the way, the black vote, the Latino vote and the young vote, he basically got an increase in that regard. You look at all of those different things in a blue state like New York City, city that in 2016, I think it was Hillary, she got like, 62% of the vote in New York City was like 53%. For Biden, it was 37%. In this particular situation, for Trump, he got 37%. What are you talking about? You listening to these people and you're saying, Trump, there's no mandate. No, he does have a mandate. And because he has that, he's pushing the envelope. And why is he pushing the envelope? Because he knows something that Democrats better pick up on. Democrats are strongest usually during the national election. During those midterms. Most of the time, Republicans are seen as going to the polls more so than Democrats. If Trump can somehow, some way win the midterms, he'll be able to do whatever the hell he wants, because they'll get even more seats in the Senate and the House come midterm elections. He sees this, he knows exactly what he's doing, and he's pushing the envelope because he knows he has the Republicans scared shitless to go against him. So as a result, do whatever I wanna do right now. I think this is gonna win me additional seats for the party in the midterms, which is why he was talking about Gavin Newsom the way that he was talking about Gavin Newsom. Because for the first time in a while, they sense they can take California. They can. They can shift. They can turn it into. If not red, turn it into at least a purple state. You understand? Do something. He's sensing all of this, and he sees an opportunity, and that's what's going on. So I'm not surprised by what he's doing at all. It's perfectly understandable. And most people in that position of power, if they have an agenda, they will go to whatever extent necessary to do that. Remember Barack Obama in 20. I think it was 2012, he sat up there and said, the American people. Not just 28, 2008, 2012, too. So the American people have spoken. They elected us. And by the way, we don't need Congress to get everything we want done. Barack Obama said that in 2012. How do I know that? Because Trump has sent his surrogates out to remind everybody what Obama said back in 2012.

[Tommy Vitor]

You're right. I mean. Well, the reason he said that, though, look, you're making a lot of points I agree with. I actually think Democrats have done better more recently in the midterms, and I have confidence that we can, because we're now the nerds that read the newspaper and we're highly informed and we knock on doors and we go out and we vote in midterms, whereas sort of the broader electorate that Trump brings in, which is why he kicks our ass in these presidential elections, they're more sporadic voters. But. But to your point about the mandate, like, of course he has a mandate. He won the election. He won by a bigger margin than he did last time. Of course he has a mandate. I think that doesn't give you a mandate to do everything you want to do, because Obama won in 2008 with 52.9% of the vote and 365 electoral votes, and Republicans tried to block literally everything he did. So I do think there's space between, yes, Trump has a mandate, but they're the suggestion, you see sometimes that Democrats shouldn't be fighting back or that we're the problem for fighting back, that it's the wrong optics or messaging, if you know what I'm saying.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, what I would say to you is that you're wrong. And the reason you're wrong is because never before has the Democratic Party been this damaged. This is bad, bro.

[Tommy Vitor]

2004 was bad. We got our asses handed to us by Bush, lost seats in Congress.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But listen, John Kerry wasn't that strong. You know what I mean? He didn't. He didn't necessarily appeal that much. This was different because the reason why it's never been this bad, George W. Bush, for whatever it is that you want to say, the Republicans didn't really have that much of a problem with him. And if you look at America at that particular moment, we might not want it to be in the war in Iraq. We might not have want to be chasing around Osama bin Laden and all of that stuff. That might be true. But in the end, it wasn't like it is now. How it is now is there's a president that was convicted on 34 felony counts and impeached twice. Back in the day, this man wouldn't have even been allowed to run for office. How do we know that to be true? Let's take into account the whole hush money trial in New York. According to the courts and according to what we've seen, Donald Trump hooked up with a porn star. Donald Trump didn't want that get out before the election, so he paid some hush money to silence her. That's it. And he was scared for that to be found out. Think about that. That is what he was scared about before 2016 now, right? He gets convicted of 34 felony counts after being impeached twice, and he has no fear running for reelection in that short period of time. Look at how things have changed. It's not the same. It's the Democratic Party's got to wake up. It has. It has changed drastically. You know, somebody said to me, I said, I said, I joked around because I've been single all my life. And I said, I said, look, man, I don't need to be running for no damn office. I've been single. I've been single all my life. I've been doing some things in my lifetime, okay? I don't need to do that yet. And somebody said to me, quote, please, after Donald Trump, who cares? What did Al Sharpton just say? What did Al Sharpton just say about Andrew Cuomo running for the mayor's seat in New York? He said, everything's changed because Donald Trump got reelected. He said, the bar so low, I don't even know if we can find it. The point that I'm trying to make to you is that, that you're dealing with a different beast. You're dealing with a different time. This is not politics as usual. And let me tell the Democratic Party something else, because I hope you're not one of these people. I hope you are one of those people out there wasting your time knocking on doors. I hope you're not doing that because. Don't worry.

[Jon Favreau]

Whoa, whoa.

[Tommy Vitor]

Yes, I am knocking on doors is good during midterm. STEPHEN A.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, no. Here's what I mean. Stop wasting.

[Tommy Vitor]

I personally knocked on doors. It was great. I had good conversations. I got people to give me their ballots. We delivered them.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Listen to what I'm saying to you. You. They were. If they voted for you, they were going to vote for you anyway. If they didn't vote for you, they weren't going to vote for you anyway. That's what I'm. That's not true.

[Tommy Vitor]

I had conversations with people who are not going to vote unless I was there at their door getting them.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't give a damn what they told you. I'm telling you right now because. Because the media and the platforms that we have available to us now, podcasting, YouTube shows, linear television, cable streaming, there are too many outlets to watch that influence your thinking. Don't waste your time knocking on doors. Don't do it. Stop.

[Tommy Vitor]

Make some content. Well, listen, Stephen A. This was a lot of tough love for our audience who doesn't always hear it. I really appreciate this. It was also fun and entertaining and good to talk to you. And I think, like, we need to emulate some of this in Democratic Party. We need, like, you guys at sports radio talk about the goat debate, like MJ versus LeBron. We need our own version of that, like Lincoln, Washington, Obama, Reagan. Maybe you can help me workshop this. We get something fun, make this interesting, make this more accessible to people. But I'm very grateful you came on.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Let me end it by saying this to you. Covering sports, you can have great players, right? Why would the owner not be. Why would the owner not be satisfied? Because they're always looking for somebody. Box office winning is one thing that's very, very important because obviously you win during the regular season, you went through the playoffs, you play more games, generate more revenue because you have more games to play. But nothing beats somebody who's a box office attraction because folks walk through the turnstiles if for no other reason to see him. And what I'm saying to you is I'm not talking about a bunch of manufactured audiences like you had at the DNC in Chicago. That's not what I'm talking about, okay? I'm talking about somebody that Obama, that Obama was, for example, in 2008, where ultimately he elevated to rock star status, where no matter where he went or what he had to say, the camera was a magnet for him. And then obviously, you got to follow through with the message. And you got to follow through with practice. All of that's true. But you got to get somebody with sizzle. You got to get somebody that when they speak, they influence mine minds, they influence hearts. And they get people to really, really think and spin their wheels. I'm talking about not people on the left, because you got them. I'm talking about the independence. I'm talking about the centrists. You got to get somebody that can speak to that audience, that could go across the aisle and dare Republican constituency to bet against them. Because guess what? I'm better than the candidate that you have. Because I'm a lookout for you. Better than the candidate that you have. Because that's what Trump was telling a bunch of black folks, Hispanic folks. What do you have to lose? And all of this other stuff, this is what Trump did. He was fearless with it. Where are those Democrats? I don't see them around. That's why I'm a damn candidate. Because of that. It's embarrassing. I want to make sure America understands this. I believe it is an utter embarrassment to the Democratic Party. That I am a candidate in people's eyes for the presidency of the United States is an indictment against them. Them. And they need to get their act together before somebody like me or somebody else takes it real seriously and says, the hell with y'all. Because the roster that I'm seeing right now, y'all don't have anything. You don't have anything that's gonna sizzle with the national audience. I love Westmore and I love Josh Shapiro. I think both of them got a chance. All right? But I need somebody that was national appeal, and maybe it is one of them. I hope so. I really do. Because the Democratic Party is in a bad state right now. Now the whole damn thing needs to be purged. I'm dead serious. They need to go. Those strategists. Fire every damn one of them. Get rid of them. Get rid of them. They serve no purpose. Find somebody else.

[Tommy Vitor]

It's good. Good. Tough love. We gotta step up. Stephen A, thank you so much for doing the show. I really appreciate it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All right, man. Take care.

[Jon Favreau]

That's our show for today. Thanks so much to Stephen A. For coming on. 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 of the pod [e-mail] friends or subscribe on Apple Podcasts directly from the Pod Save America feed. Also, be sure to follow Pod Save America on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for full episodes, bonus content, and more. And before you hit that next button, you can help boost this episode by leaving us a review and by sharing it with friends and family. Pod Save America is a crooked media production. Our producers are David Toledo and Saul Rubin. Our associate producer is Farah Safari, Ree Churlin is our executive editor and Adrienne Hill is our executive producer. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Jordan Kantor is our sound engineer, with audio support from Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis. Madeline Herringer is our head of news and programming. Matt DeGroat is our head of production. Naomi Sengel is our Executive assistant. Thanks to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Hayley Jones, Phoebe Bradford, Joseph Dutra, Ben Hefcoat, Mia Kelman, Molly Lobel, Kiril Pelaviev, and David Toles, our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America east hey friends, Ted Danson here, and I want to let you know.

[Tommy Vitor]

About my new podcast.

[Jon Favreau]

It's called Where Everybody Knows yous Name with me, Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson.

[Tommy Vitor]

Sometimes doing this podcast is a chance.

[Jon Favreau]

For me and my good bud Woody to reconnect after cheers wrapped 30 years ago.

[Tommy Vitor]

Plus, we're introducing each other to the.

[Jon Favreau]

Friends we've met since, like Jane Fonda, Conan O'Brien, Eric Andre, Mary Steenburgen, my wife, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And trust me, it's always a great hang when Wood. So why wait? Listen to Where Everybody knows your name. Wherever you get your podcasts.