The GOP’s Health Care Crisis Is Blowing Up

Summary

Podcast Summary:

Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Episode: The GOP’s Health Care Crisis Is Blowing Up
Date: December 12, 2025
Host: Vox Media Podcast Network
Guests: Jessica Tarlov (co-host), Aaron Parnas (guest journalist)

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles the escalating crisis around Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and the broader GOP healthcare struggle—all through a centrist, pragmatic lens. Co-host Jessica Tarlov and TikTok journalist Aaron Parnas break down the week’s biggest political stories, with a special emphasis on health care politics, U.S.-Venezuela tensions, New York City political intrigue, and the ever-shifting ground of influence peddling and culture wars. The hosts blend insightful, often witty banter with inside-baseball analysis, offering a pulse-check for moderates frustrated by political extremes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. AI as TIME Person of the Year (01:43–04:39)

• Announcement Reaction: The hosts discuss TIME’s decision to name AI as Person (or Force) of the Year, reflecting on its transformative (and sometimes terrifying) power.
• Ethical & Regulatory Concerns:
  • Jessica notes the general anxiety over AI’s acceleration and the lack of meaningful regulation:

    "I'm always so scared when I hear some of these AI overlords basically saying that they're scared out of their minds about where AI is going to go." (03:00)

  • Aaron echoes concerns about federal overreach and the danger of pre-emption of state authority:

    "Truth be told, there may be some AI that's even smarter than the President right now in some respects." (03:18)

2. US-Venezuela Tensions & Regime Change Concerns (04:47–08:51)

• Situation Recap: Recent reports of the U.S. seizing a Venezuelan oil tanker prompt discussion on parallels to previous U.S. interventions.
• Escalation Worries:
  • Aaron predicts a swift military footprint:

    "I wouldn't be surprised if we have troops in Venezuela this weekend, like, that soon." (06:22)

  • On the likelihood and nature of conflict:

    "It's not really going to be ... a protracted conflict like you would see in Ukraine, Russia ... more like the United States bombing a bunch of military installations in Venezuela, sacking Maduro and then taking over Venezuela's oil." (06:48)

• Impact on MAGA Base & Political Fallout:
  • Jessica ponders Trump's 'peace president' brand and whether base support will erode.
  • Aaron observes:

    "70% of Americans don't support it. So there's zero appetite for us going into Venezuela ... Regime change never works historically." (07:40)

  • Prediction for the future:

    "In 2036, the top Democrats and Republicans are running on like a, I never supported the Venezuela war message ... It's all oil. A Republican president wanting to bomb a country to make money, and it never works." (08:14)

3. ACA Subsidy Crisis: Gridlock and Political Theater (09:05–14:09)

• House & Senate Dynamics: With ACA subsidies about to expire, both parties are locked in standoffs and symbolic votes.
• Aaron’s Assessment:

  “...the only way we have a resolution on health healthcare is if Trump comes in and says, you know what? Here's what we have to do. Republicans, get your shit together.” (10:55)

• Moderate Compromises?
  • Jessica asks if a deal involving health savings accounts and ACA subsidies could work.
  • Aaron is skeptical:

    “If you actually get sick, a thousand bucks doesn't get you very far in America's healthcare system … maybe in the waiting room.” (12:45–12:52)

• Realistic Outcomes:
  • Both agree the deadline is looming and political incentives favor blaming the other side over solving the crisis.

4. New York Political Drama: Lander vs. Goldman, Mandani’s Influence (16:17–20:11)

• Brad Lander's Challenge to Dan Goldman:
  • Jessica notes the intricate dance of endorsements, political debts, and factional influence.
  • Aaron:

    “If Lander wins, then obviously Mamdani's influence will grow. I don't know that Lander will win. I think Goldman will be heavily favorited in terms of funding … It’ll be a close kind of toss up situation." (16:59)

• Local vs. National Political Machines:
  • Mamdani's clout is tested; Aaron tracks how union and activist snubs might signal limits to his power.

5. Epstein Files Anticipation (20:12–21:30)

• Jessica asks for predictions:
  • Aaron expects "tens of thousands of pages," mostly legal and investigatory minutiae, not viral bombshells:

    “Anyone expecting there to be like this bombshell of like, Trump is in there and Trump did all these horrible things… it’s not happening.” (21:04)

  • Main curiosity is “the money trail”—which banks, which elites.

6. Culture Wars: Nick Fuentes & Incels, Online Right-Wing Subcultures (21:30–24:04)

• Piers Morgan Interview/Clip Culture:
  • Jessica decries attention-seeking interview content:

    "...made for clip culture and you know, like, the question about, like, are you a virgin? And then like, that's going viral." (21:47)

• Nick Fuentes’ Influence:
  • Aaron:

    "Fuentes and all of these guys, like, they have their, like, hyper online bubbles on the Internet. They're not really breaking out of it." (23:20)

• Trump & Right-Wing Online Spheres:
  • Aaron observes that without Trump giving them a bigger stage, these factions remain niche.

7. Lightning Round: Rage & Calm (24:29–25:56)

• Jessica's Rage: Preschool birthday party logistics (“so many Frozen-themed napkins and plates at my house right now...”). (24:45)
• Aaron's Rage: Cold weather without snow:

  “If it's going to be freezing, I need it to snow.” (25:32)

• Things to Calm Down About:
  • Both pick holiday stress/HOA drama.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On US-Venezuela military action:

  “Every time the United States touches regime change, like, we screw up majorly.” — Aaron Parnas (07:59)

• On ACA gridlock:

  “It's like, we have the lowest standards. You know, like that girl who's, like, dating the guy and he's just, like, blatantly cheating on her. But, like, he does hang out with her on her birthday. That's like us” — Jessica Tarlov (10:12)

• On health savings accounts:

  “If you actually get sick, a thousand bucks doesn't get you very far in America's healthcare system… maybe in the waiting room.” — Aaron Parnas (12:45)

• On expectations from the Epstein Files:

  “Anyone expecting there to be like this bombshell of like, Trump is in there and Trump did all these horrible things… it's not happening.” — Aaron Parnas (21:04)

• On culture war containment:

  “Fuentes and all of these guys, like, they have their, like, hyper online bubbles on the Internet. They're not really breaking out of it.” — Aaron Parnas (23:20)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment | Time | |---------------------------------------------|-----------| | AI as TIME Person of the Year | 01:43–04:39| | U.S.-Venezuela tension & regime change | 04:47–08:51| | ACA subsidy crisis | 09:05–14:09| | New York political showdowns | 16:17–20:11| | Epstein files preview | 20:12–21:30| | Culture war oddities (Fuentes, Tate, etc) | 21:30–24:04| | Rage & Calm lightning round | 24:29–25:56|

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Conclusion

This episode provides a centrist, unvarnished take on the week’s political flashpoints. Tarlov and Parnas offer humor-laced skepticism about America’s appetite and skill for foreign interventions and are deeply cynical about both parties’ willingness or ability to address looming healthcare disasters. Their banter on the limits of online subcultures, the blurred lines of local and national politics, and the futility of expecting salacious “bombshells” in the ongoing Epstein saga, all paint a bleak-but-witty portrait of U.S. politics for exasperated moderates and political junkies alike.

Transcript

[A]

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[C]

Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Jessica Tarlov and it's Friday. So Aaron Parness, you didn't like win any huge awards this week though, right? You're just Aaron Parnas?

[D]

No, just me.

[C]

TikTok journalist extraordinaire, Aaron Parnas.

[D]

Happy Friday.

[C]

Happy Friday. How was your week?

[D]

Long, but good. Good.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[D]

How was yours?

[C]

It was fine.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Kind of uneventful.

[D]

I think it's been a slow week, which is nice. Ish.

[C]

I guess. Well, it's my daughter's fourth birthday.

[D]

Oh, happy birthday.

[C]

That's like a big deal. It's so cute.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

I'll send you a pic.

[D]

Okay, great.

[C]

She's real cute. So that's exciting. We're going to her class to read a book and sing and bring little cupcakes and these kids. Yeah. It makes me like I'm not having more kids, but it makes me very. When I see more, I'm like, oh, give me your little faces. Time Person of the year. Has that transition for you.

[D]

Was that announced?

[C]

Yeah, it wasn't Donald Trump.

[D]

Oh, good.

[C]

Again.

[D]

I was reading the prediction markets were saying it was going to be AI. Is that what it was?

[C]

That is it, yeah. The people who reshaped the world weren't just Donald Trump, but the architects of AI. What do you think about that? I like it.

[D]

I like it too. I mean, I think a Lot of people hate AI, and I hate AI for a lot of reasons. But I mean, it is revolutionizing America and like the world. And so, yeah, I love technological advancements just when done properly and used ethically.

[C]

Yeah, I mean that's like in the write up obviously puts a big emphasis and the conversations that we're having about it, like this thing is happening, some of it is unequivocally this force for good. There are some drawbacks to it. How are we going to be responsible about it? And you know, we don't have an administration that's particularly interested in curbing the excesses of AI. But I'm always so scared when I hear some of these AI overlords basically saying that they're scared out of their minds about where AI is going to go.

[D]

Yeah, I mean, I'm terrified about AI. I'm terrified that this administration's about to sign this executive order that restricts states from regulating AI. Truth be told, there may be some AI that's even smarter than the President right now in some respects.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And that, that, that should scare everyone.

[C]

I'll go with an affirmative on that one. That's not, I was about to say that's not nice. I'm not nice about the President all.

[D]

The time, but they're smarter than me too. I mean, like it these, it is scary, but I mean, time person of the year isn't like the best person or the best thing of the year. It's just the most influential. Yeah. So it makes sense.

[C]

Yeah. I was listening to Sam Altman was on a late night show. He was talking about how he doesn't understand how people had babies and kept them alive without using ChatGPT. And that made me sad though.

[D]

I don't know how people got. I guess, like I'm like looking back on it, like if I had chatgpt in school, like, that would be completely different. Like school would be completely different.

[C]

Like, I know, but that's part of the anxiety. I mean, there are professors that are, you know, trying their best to push back against this and a lot of people have been found to be cheating.

[D]

Yeah, you can tell when people are using AI. I mean, like, and also ChatGPT sucks at math. I suck at math. And that's how I know ChatGPT sucks at math because I've had it. You do math for me before and it just never works. It's like worse than me.

[C]

Yeah, AI's been wrong about me too. About like which of my husbands I've cheated on and I'VE only had one husband, and I haven't cheated on him.

[D]

On the record, AI thinks I'm Jack Schlossberg.

[C]

That's weird.

[D]

Yeah, I know. Oh, that's at least what Grok told me the other day.

[C]

It's Alicia or Kennedy.

[D]

Yeah, I'll take it. Jack, if you're watching, I'll take the fortune.

[C]

Okay, I want to talk about Venezuela. I'm really nailing these transitions today. So, President Trump says the US has seized a massive Venezuelan oil tanker headed for Cuba. Major escalation in his pressure campaign against Maduro, carried out by the Coast Guard's elite units as the administration ramps up its military footprint in the region. This feels very wary to me and very different from the random Caribbean boat strikes, which is not a finished conversation, but obviously very different.

[D]

Yeah, I agree and disagree. I'm going to temper, like, the heat down a little bit on this because this, it's not like United States military seizing oil tankers is not a new concept. We do it in, like, the Strait of Hormuz and, like, the Middle east regularly when the Iranians try to, like, send illicit weapons to North Korea, for example. We've seized Iranian tankers before. Yeah. So this isn't, like, a new thing. Yes, I guess it's new for Venezuela. And it really just shows that, like, the goal of all of this is oil. Like, that is what they're looking for, but it's not new. Right. Like, if what they're saying is true, that the ship is sanctioned, the people on there are sanctioned. Like, they've done it before. Like, this isn't like the United States is just seizing a ship for the first time.

[C]

Well, you've seen that tempered reaction, I think, even from Chuck Schumer. Right. Like, I don't think that people are going out there and saying this is wrong. Like, it's wrong to shoot unarmed people that are clinging to a piece of wood in the water.

[D]

Right.

[C]

I think the bigger question is, are we headed to war with Venezuela and are we going to be backing regime change in Venezuela, which is a pretty big deal.

[D]

All signs point to yes. I mean, based on what I've heard, I mean, I'm not going to be all conspiracy theory on here, but I wouldn't be surprised if we have troops in Venezuela this weekend, like, that soon. I mean, I do think that we are heading towards some type of armed conflict in Venezuela. You can call it a war, but ultimately, the United States military is so powerful and so strong here that, like, the Venezuelans, the military and the regime don't really have much pushback.

[C]

Right.

[D]

So it's not really going to be like this, in my opinion, a protracted conflict like you would see in Ukraine, Russia. That's not what this is going to be. It's more going to be like the United States bombing a bunch of military installations in Venezuela, sacking Maduro and then taking over Venezuela's oil, which I'm not saying is a good thing. And I'm saying that Congress has to authorize it. But this isn't going to be like the traditional, like World War II, World War I type war, a conventional battlefield war. That's not what we're looking at here.

[C]

Do you think the MAGA base will be supportive of it? Because it is one of his Trump's major selling points, especially to younger Republicans and then some of those swing voters, which was that he would be the peace president. Right. And that, like, no more stupid wars. I understand it's a different definition of a war, but do you think there's going to be pushback on it? Or people will just say, we'll be in and out and Maduro's bad guy, let's get Machado in there.

[D]

I think it ultimately depends on, like, what does the day after look like? Like, I do think there's no appetite for us going into Venezuela. I mean, Republicans don't like it. I mean, look, the polling. 70% of Americans don't support it. So there's zero appetite for us going into Venezuela. I think it only gets worse for Trump if Maduro is sacked and then who comes in afterwards? Like, what does that look like? Can Marina Corina Marcado coalesce and take over and become the new leader? Can you actually have a free and fair election? I don't know that you can. Regime change never works historically. Didn't work in the Middle East. Has not worked historically. The United States, Every time the United States touches regime change, like, we screw up majorly. And I wouldn't be surprised. I was talking to Ruben Gallego yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if, like, we look back at this in 10 years and in 2036, the top Democrats and Republicans are running on like a. I never supported the Venezuela war message. Right. Like, the same way that everyone like Iraq. I never supported the Iraq war. So I wouldn't be surprised if we get to that point again. It's all the same. Like, it's all oil. A Republican president wanting to bomb a country to make money, and it never works. Never works.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, hopefully there's Not a treasure trove of bad intel, um, for this one that we're gonna be basing things on as well.

[D]

But don't worry, if. If there is, Laura Loomer will let us know.

[C]

She's on the case. She's our Nancy Drew.

[D]

Well, she's our Pentagon press corps lead. So.

[C]

Yeah, I actually. I feel like. I mean, I must know that, but you saying it felt like it hit me for the first time, and I feel a little sick. Um, ACA subsidies, big story this week. Obviously seems like a little bit of a revolution. And the Republican ranks, at least on the House side. I mean, Josh Hawley's. Josh Hawleying. You know, he always screams like, don't cut Medicaid. And then he's like, I'll send the bill. But what do you think happens with the discharge petition in the House on this? Like, do you think there's any chance that they do a clean extension of the ACA subsidies? Or there's like, 90 questions. Just talk to me about what you think about healthcare at the moment and if the bill out of the Senate might have legs, then into the House, if Dems will compromise. We also talked to Gallego this week. He did not seem open to that idea on the Senate level that they would be lending their votes to a bill that didn't at least have a couple years of ACA subsidy extensions. But what's your take?

[D]

Aren't you glad we got a promise of a vote? Like, aren't we so excited?

[C]

It's like, we have the lowest standards. You know, like that girl who's, like, dating the guy and he's just, like, blatantly cheating on her. But, like, he does hang out with her on her birthday. That's like us. That's what this is, right? We're like, we get to vote, and we know we're going to lose, but we get to vote.

[D]

And then we get to say, Republicans voted against this. That doesn't help the 15 million Americans who are about to be kicked off their health insurance, right? No, I don't think this is getting anywhere. I don't think we're going to solve anything. I will say the one thing that has the most legs, in my opinion, is that discharge petition in the House where you have, I think, at least eight or nine Republicans sign onto it. I mean, Jeffries then came out and kind of threw cold water on it. Scalise kind of threw cold water on it. I think, unfortunately, everyone's kind of stuck in their own camps, and it's December 12th, and we have 19 days left before ACA credits expire. But also, Congress isn't going to be working all 19 days because you have the holidays. Right. So they're going to go on vacation in about a few days. So we have about a few days to fix this, and I don't think anyone's going to fix it. Ultimately, the only way healthcare is solved, and I don't want to say solved, because this is not going to solve anything for a lot of people, but only the only way we have a resolution on health healthcare is if Trump comes in and says, you know what? Here's what we have to do. Republicans, get your shit together. We're gonna ram this through reconciliation. We don't need any Democrat votes. This is what I want done, and this is what we're gonna do. That's the only way you're gonna have a resolution. I don't think it's gonna be a good one, but that's. I mean, that's how you get to somewhere.

[C]

Do you think that when he. If and when he does it. And I think it's completely reasonable that that might happen, because he floated this before like he wanted ACA subsidy extensions, and then the caucus was like, no, no, that. It's just Obamacare light. We're sick of that. We've been trying to repeal and replace since the day that it was signed. What elements do you think might be in something that Trump would consider? Like this marriage between extending the ACA subsidies and then doing health savings accounts seems really palatable to at least the moderate Republicans who then could team up with the Dems for it. I don't know. I've only heard resistance from the Democrats on it, which is like, I get what your fantasy is, but, like, we're all living here and you need to tell me what you think about a health savings account. Actually, like, if you got to vote on it.

[D]

But yeah, I mean, the health savings account issue is. Is a tough one because, like, it's. What is it? A thousand bucks that they're willing to do.

[C]

Yeah. Versus, like the 6,000 anyway, the deductible. So these people are gonna be saying.

[D]

And also, if you actually get sick, a thousand bucks doesn't get you very far in America's healthcare system.

[C]

Right, like that maybe in the waiting room.

[D]

Yeah, exactly. So I get the frustration. I think a Trump plan, you may see, like, ACA extension and then some type of income cap for families and for individuals who qualify for that deduction, which I guess makes sense. I don't think millionaires should be getting a deduction for Affordable Care Act. But also millionaires, most millionaires, they're not on the aca. They're not on the aca. So like doesn't really. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't know where we're going to fall on this. I think you may see a situation where Trump goes to Dems a little bit and says, hey, I may need your support here, moderate Republicans and Dems to get something across the finish line. But also he's a type lately that he's just like, I want to burn it all to the ground. I don't even want the Affordable Care Act. Just give them cash.

[C]

Be funny if he was just like, did a press conference with just him and John Fetterman and he was like, I have spoken to my Democrat. I actually like federal ribs, but that's kind of the only one that I could see him striking a relationship with on income caps. I've seen in the two Senate proposals, the Crapo Cassidy, I think it's 200K or 190K and then the Moreno Collins one. It's either the 190 or 200. It's like it's in the ballpark there that they're talking about, which does seem like kind of a reasonable amount.

[D]

Good luck.

[C]

We're gonna take a quick break. Stay with us.

[E]

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[F]

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[C]

Welcome back. New York Politics. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is jumping into primary Dan Goldman, who is my congressman. Mamdani endorsing Lander to do that. Like, I mean, I guess he had to give him something after Lander basically delivered as much of the Jewish vote that Mamdani got that came from Brad Lander vouching for him. And then Mamdani was like, actually no, bro, like you're not gonna be in my administration, but you can go after Dan Goldman. How do you see this, like in terms of Mamdani's influence and also do you think that Lander has a chance?

[D]

I'm so glad I don't live in New York and have to deal with New York politics.

[C]

It's sucks.

[D]

Your politics are rough.

[C]

It's really brutal.

[D]

I'm curious to see if Lander, if Lander wins, then obviously Mamdani's influence will grow. I don't know that Lander will win. I think Goldman will be heavily favorited in terms of funding because Goldman is just very wealthy. Yes, he has the name id, but also so does Lander. Being that he's already been an elected official. I think it'll be a close kind of toss up situation. I did find it a little, kind of ironic that on Lander's launch day his Twitter got hacked. That was interesting. But I like them both. I think they're both good candidates and good people. I interviewed both of them, Lander on the campaign trail and Goldman previously and they're both good Democrats. It's just a matter of what the people of New York want.

[C]

I feel like it's going to come down to that. Might have even been in the Lander launch video as well. Which is why it's top of mind, this fighters versus folders thing that's going on that people are not so much dealing with where you are on the ideological spectrum, but like what is your resistance vibe? And I have heard that that's a complaint that folks have about Dan Goldman that they feel like you know, he's not getting in the mud with people. I mean, he was an amazing impeachment manager, obviously, like, super smart guy, a CNY prosecutor, et cetera, but that he's not throwing elbows the way that they would like to see.

[D]

I mean, how do you. You just.

[C]

I don't know how you.

[D]

But, like, my thing is, like, you just said, impeachment manager, SDNY prosecutor. He's already taking the fight to Trump so much. Like, there are so many other members of Congress on the Democratic side that you don't even hear from regularly. They don't. Like, they practically don't exist. Same thing on the Republican side. And, like, those are not fighters. Those are folders. More so than Goldman, in my opinion.

[C]

But they don't have a shiny seat and they don't have a Mamdani endorsement.

[D]

You know, it's like, I will say I'm curious to see. Cause I read a story the other day where they said that Mamdani's influence is already kind of being put to the test over the. It was recently over the New York City Council situation of, like, who's going to be the speaker of the City Council. And apparently Mamdani and his team really put pressure on unions and organizers in New York to, like, hold off their support. And everyone kind of rebuked Mamdani and just still did what they were going to do. And it showed that, like, his influence at first, like, wasn't there in, like, local New York politics. I'm curious if that translates to, like, the endorsement game as well. I mean, for the record, like, he got Chiyo Se out of the Hakeem Jeffries fight.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I mean, that was him. If he threw his weight behind Chi, Chi would be running today. So we'll see what happens. I think electorally is very different than, like, local New York politics. So we'll see.

[C]

Yeah. I'm also watching what happens with the Michael Blake running against Richie Torres.

[D]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

It's another kind of left versus moderate battle.

[D]

Did Mamdani endorse over there?

[C]

No, but I think Mamdani could get Michael Blake, like, out of the way. And I think, you know, Congressman Torres was very open to Mamdani, surprisingly so for a lot of people, because he's been so pro Israel and had so many concerns. Like, he represents Riverdale, which is, you know, big modern, Orthodox population, et cetera. So I'm watching that one, too. Now that Mandani has knocked Chi out of the fight with Hakeem Jeffries.

[D]

So we'll see. What happens?

[C]

We will see what happens. Epstein files are gonna drop next Friday. We talked about it a bunch before. You said, like, a lot of it is video that no one should be seeing, which I'm not eager to see. But any predictions for what that looks like?

[D]

We're gonna get a lot. A lot. I think we're get like tens of thousands of pages and that's the only prediction because I don't know what the hell that could be. Could be in there. I think there'll be a lot of, like, fluff in there. A lot of, like, procedural documents. These grand jury materials are going to be a lot of, like, very in depth, like, discussions about raids and warrants and things like that that, like, the average person won't understand. So it's going to take a while to be able to parse through all of the documents that we receive. But I will say, I think anyone expecting there to be like this bombshell of like, Trump is in there and Trump did all these horrible things.

[C]

I'm still waiting for my pee tape. Like, it's not happening.

[D]

It's not happening and people shouldn't expect that. But what I'm most curious about is, like, the money trail, like, which banks were helping Epstein move the money to.

[C]

The banks must be having absolute meltdown.

[D]

That's the big one is like, who's involved there and which wealthy people were paying Epstein and who was he moving money for? That is going to be the biggest bombshell, I think, out of the Epstein files.

[C]

Last thing I want to talk to you about. Nick Fuentes being interviewed by Piers Morgan.

[D]

I saw that.

[C]

Yeah. It was like, I'm conflicted because Nick Fuentes is happening whether I want it to or not. And I think that people should engage him and push back. And we did all this criticism of Tucker Carlson basically just giving him an attaboy.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

But it also felt like just made for clip culture and you know, like, the question about, like, are you a virgin? And then like, that's going viral. But I kind of expected that he would be a virgin because he seems incelly and also waiting for marriage. Right.

[D]

Yes. I also, I mean, even taking out incel and the waiting for marriage part, I mean, like Cardi B Says just, no.

[C]

He has a really devoted following. You think, like, I know it's mostly bro y but you don't think that there are girls that would do it with Nick Fuentes?

[D]

Maybe for, like, I. Maybe. I don't know, Is this, like, too.

[C]

Upsetting to think about?

[D]

Let's just Say I'm not surprised. He's a fortune. Nothing wrong with it, but I'm not surprised.

[C]

Okay. And have you seen this? It's kind of percolating online. It hasn't gotten really massive, which I think is probably due to the algorithm. But you know how, like, Barron Trump likes the Tate brothers?

[D]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Like, what do you think is the status of that right wing cabal, like, misogynistic, like, that culture? Because it feels like we've kind of taken a moment from it. And I guess we had a whole slew of it, like, after Charlie Kirk's murder. And then there are the GOP staffer text messages. Right. And feels like we stepped back, but like that. There's renewed interest now with Nick Fuentes and his no sex and this story.

[D]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's very, like, hyper local DC insider Y things. I mean, it's horrible. I think it'll stay in the background always, but I don't see that movement really growing a ton. I haven't seen it grow a ton. It got super platformed in the 2024 election because Trump platformed them, but Trump hasn't platformed them really much since. And so you may see it rise up again as vance runs in 2027, 2028. But in the meantime, without a big leader platforming them, Fuentes and all of these guys, like, they have their, like, hyper online bubbles on the Internet. They're not really breaking out of it. And I think that's why you haven't really seen much talk about it.

[C]

Okay, well, I would love it if they were contained. And while we're at it, could someone also contain Candace Owens? I have been enjoying the Erika Kirk, like, finally lashing out about all the conspiracy theories.

[D]

Yeah, I don't wade into that.

[C]

Well, I didn't. I mean, I didn't say you gotta give me a deep opinion, but you do know Candace Owens is crazy.

[D]

Yes.

[C]

You know that. Enough. Okay.

[D]

Yes.

[C]

Last question. I hope you thought about it this time. What makes you rage?

[D]

I've been thinking about it this entire conversation.

[C]

That's all you've been thinking about? Okay. What's one thing that makes you rage? One thing we should all calm down about? Do you want to hear my rage?

[D]

Yeah, I want to hear your rage.

[C]

That my daughter's preschool pretends like they don't have plates and napkins already for her little school birthday party. Like the amount of stuff that you have to buy on top of paying tens of thousands of dollars for them to babysit your child. Around, like birthdays, holidays. It drives me crazy. So I have so many frozen themed napkins and plates at my house right now. So if you came over right now, you would only eat off of frozen paraphernalia.

[D]

Huh?

[C]

Frozen themed.

[D]

What's one thing that we should calm down about? Putting you on the spot.

[C]

I don't know. Calm down kind of about everything. I like going to the holidays. Maybe I'm taking on your like December to remember that we should all be more chill.

[D]

And you also just took my answer, so thank you.

[C]

Oh, sorry. All right, you go.

[D]

One thing that makes me rage is cold weather without snow. Like if it's going to be freezing, I need it to snow.

[C]

I like that.

[D]

Yeah, that makes me rage. And then one thing to calm down about. Actually two things. One, just generally calm down for the holiday season. That was my answer. But also two, I've been very calm about my HOA recently. Like I hate my hoa, but like, for some reason lately, like it's been good. So calming down about my hoa.

[C]

I like that. Very relatable. Also, everyone has thoughts about their HOAs.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

All right, Friday feelings. Aaron Parnas, thanks for being here.

[D]

Thanks for having me. Foreign.

[F]

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