Trump’s Iran and Immigration Pivot Sparks MAGA Civil War

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Raging Moderates — “Trump’s Iran and Immigration Pivot Sparks MAGA Civil War”

Podcast: Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Episode Date: March 13, 2026
Hosts: Jessica Tarlov & Erin Parnas (sitting in for Scott Galloway)
Theme: Examining the rising tensions in the US political center as Trump pivots on Iran and immigration—angering his MAGA base, escalating core security challenges, and revealing fractures in both parties.

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the political and societal repercussions of recent terror attacks on American soil, Trump’s Iran policy and military engagement, his contentious immigration “pivot,” Congressional gridlock, and the ongoing generational debate in Democratic leadership. Jessica Tarlov and Erin Parnas dissect how moderation is under siege from both right and left extremes—with a special focus on what Trump's foreign and domestic strategy shifts mean for his base and America at large.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Recent Terror Attacks and Homeland Security (03:00–06:30)

• Jessica recaps the violent attack at a Michigan synagogue and a mass shooting at Old Dominion University, highlighting the attackers’ backgrounds and possible ties to terror networks.
• Erin underscores how heightened public anxieties, Islamophobia, and suspicions of federal overreach are colliding:
  • Quote: “Any person would want to stop a terrorist attack… But this gives credence to law enforcement to just go after people because they look Middle Eastern.” (Erin, 05:28)
• Both discuss the delicate balance between pre-emptive security and protecting civil liberties.

2. War in Iran — Political Fallout and Geopolitical Risks (06:41–11:44)

• Jessica details the volatile state of Iran post-strikes, the uncertainty around Iran’s new Supreme Leader, and oil shocks.
• Erin suggests both Trump and Netanyahu “miscalculated,” noting the regime has hardened, not collapsed.
  • Quote: “I think it’s time for Trump to look for an off ramp and to find one pretty quickly to reopen that strait…” (Erin, 07:19)
• Joe Rogan is cited as representative of a broader backlash from unexpected quarters:
  • Quote: “He ran on no more wars… then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.” (Joe Rogan, quoted by Jessica, 08:36)
• Erin connects falling public approval to Trump’s lack of clear communication:
  • “He started with a 45% approval rating on the bombings and it’s only going to go down. He didn’t start at 90%.” (Erin, 09:57)

Oil Price Manipulation and Market Fallout (09:57–12:37)

• Conflicting information about US naval actions in the Strait of Hormuz led to spikes and wild volatility in oil markets.
• Erin raises suspicions about market manipulation, connecting the dots between insiders and the Trump administration:
  • “At some point, like, what the hell are we doing? It’s like just the rich get richer.” (Erin, 12:21)
• The issue of predatory betting on catastrophic events like nuclear war is also briefly touched.

3. Immigration “Pivot” and MAGA Civil War (12:37–14:05)

• With the ousting of Kristi Noem, the Trump camp is moving to soften its image, but base backlash is swift:
  • Erin: “I don’t think it’s gonna work… their base voted for that, like, that’s what they want.” (13:00)
  • Jessica: “Actually a big component of your base does want [mass deportations].” (13:21)
• The episode highlights how GOP messaging (“course correction”) is at odds with both public memory (viral videos of border crises) and the wishes of the base.
• Legislative deadlock over the SAVE Act and voter disenfranchisement concerns are discussed, with Jessica pointing out the performative nature of Congressional wrangling.

4. Statues, Epstein Files, and Accountability (16:44–18:53)

• Comic relief and outrage intertwine as the hosts laugh about a Trump/Epstein statue on the Mall.
• Erin summarizes explosive testimony by Epstein’s accountant, Richard Kahn, who under oath names several powerful figures as financial enablers:
  • “The five names are Les Wexner, Glenn Dubin, Steve Sinofsky, the Rothschild as a family, and Leon Black.” (Erin, 17:22)
  • Kahn admits to impersonating Epstein to banks (a federal crime).
• Jessica laments the media’s limited bandwidth for non-war scandals:
  • “It shouldn’t matter, especially if he was committing bank fraud for a massive sex trafficking pedophile…” (Jessica, 18:35)

5. Bipartisanship and Dysfunction in Congress (18:53–20:12)

• The Warren/Tim Scott bipartisan housing bill receives optimism but also skepticism due to legislative gridlock and the looming specter of a Trump veto.
  • Quote: “You’re talking about the least productive House in history… I think it’ll get vetoed by Trump.” (Erin, 19:25)

6. The Aging of Political Leadership (20:12–23:36)

• Jim Clyburn’s decision to seek an 18th term at age 85 spurs a debate about generational change vs. institutional continuity:
  • Erin argues the real problem is lack of term limits, not age per se: “No one should serve in Congress for 36 years.” (20:54)
  • Jessica and Erin suggest Clyburn wants to preserve kingmaker status for the 2028 primary and reflects on how personal losses factor into such decisions.
  • A humorous analogy is made between politicians and racehorses: “They have to go, go, go, go, go their entire lives and then the moment they stop… like a racehorse dies.” (Erin, 22:58)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s Iran war:
  “He ran on no more wars… then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”
  —Joe Rogan (quoted by Jessica, 08:36)

• On immigration strategy:
  “I don’t think it’s gonna work… their base voted for that, like, that’s what they want.”
  —Erin (13:00)

• On market manipulation under Trump:
  “At some point, like, what the hell are we doing? It’s like just the rich get richer.”
  —Erin (12:21)

• On aging politicians:
  “No one should serve in Congress for 36 years.”
  —Erin (20:54)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:00 Michigan synagogue attack and rising homeland security fears
• 06:41 Analysis of Iran war and new Supreme Leader
• 08:36 Joe Rogan's critique of Trump’s war policy
• 09:57 Energy shock, oil markets, and alleged manipulation
• 12:37 The immigration “pivot” and GOP backlash
• 16:44 The Trump/Epstein statue and fresh Epstein testimony
• 18:53 Warren/Scott bipartisan housing bill and House gridlock
• 20:12 Jim Clyburn, generational change, and congressional seniority

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Tone & Language

Jessica and Erin maintain a sharp, energetic, and at times sardonic tone throughout—a mix of policy wonkery, dark humor, and genuine outrage at dysfunction and extremism from both political poles. The mood oscillates between urgency (especially around security and foreign policy), cynicism (towards Congressional dysfunction), and a wry sort of hopefulness about moderation’s necessity.

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Takeaway

This episode of Raging Moderates captures the tension of a political center squeezed by events and ideological combatants on both sides. As Trump’s pivots on Iran and immigration stoke both national and MAGA-specific outrage, the show offers a nuanced, at times biting, view from the middle—calling out leadership failures, partisan hypocrisy, and the dangers of unchecked extremism, while always circling back to what moderation could (and should) mean for America.

Transcript

[Jessica Tarlev]

This usually shocks people. I have run 27 marathons, plus a few ultramarathons, all while fueling my body with plants. Yes, I get plenty of protein. I'm Robin Arson, VP of fitness programming and head instructor at Peloton. And this week on my podcast, Project Swagger, the fundamentals of a plant based life with nutritional takeaways for you to apply to your own life, no matter what your preferred diet is. Follow Project Swagger wherever you get your podcasts. How can we understand the decisions facing the United States and Israel and Iran as they weigh next moves in this war, war that was meant to prevent

[Erin Parnas]

from reaching a bomb, eventually might push

[Jessica Tarlev]

them beyond the Rubicon and to have that bomb. I'm John Finer.

[Erin Parnas]

And I'm Jake Sullivan. And we're the hosts of the Long Game, a weekly national security podcast.

[Jessica Tarlev]

This week, former Israeli defense intelligence officer Danny Sintrenowitz joins us from Israel to

[Erin Parnas]

discuss the war against Iran. The episode's out now. Search for and follow the Long Game wherever you get your podcasts. Bare walls, clear surfaces.

[Jessica Tarlev]

The minimalist aesthetic is having a moment, and for some, it's a form of resistance. I think a lot of people have

[Erin Parnas]

a sense that, like, we live in this very consumerist society and feel kind of a desire, a need to, like, push back against that.

[Jessica Tarlev]

How to live with less.

[Erin Parnas]

That's this week on Explain It To

[Jessica Tarlev]

Me New episodes, Sundays, wherever you get your podcasts. What do you make of the immigration pivot and do you think it's going to work?

[Erin Parnas]

I don't think it's going to work because I think the American people have the videos of Alex Preddy and Renee Good kind of seared into their minds. And I also think the longer that DHS is shut down, the more it's in the news. So I actually don't think it's going to, like, go away for them. And I also think it's not going to even work among their own base. Their base voted for that. Like, that's what they want.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Jessica Tarlev.

[Erin Parnas]

And I'm Erin Parnas.

[Jessica Tarlev]

In today's episode, we're going to be discussing the latest terror attacks on American soil, why MAGA is furious over Trump's Iran war and his latest immigration pivot, and why James Clyburn is bucking calls for generational change. As a reminder, Raging Moderates is five days a week, with new episodes dropping every weekday evening on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else. In addition to being five days a week, Raging Moderates is now on Substack. Subscribers will get ad free episodes, live streams and a place to engage with me and Scott and other listeners. It's a very fun community. Find us@raging moderates.prof.gmedia.com and this weekend we're going live on Substack from South by Southwest with James Talarico at 3:30pm Eastern. We're super excited. Make sure that you tune in and subscribe. Let's start with the attack on a Michigan synagogue. A man drove a truck straight into a synagogue outside Detroit on Thursday, crashing through the doors of Temple Israel, Israel before being confronted by security guards in an exchange of gunfire. Authorities say the suspect, ayman Ghazali, a 41 year old restaurant worker who entered the US in 2011 and according to early reports got married to a US citizen for immigration purposes, died at the scene. A security guard was injured but is expected to recover and more than a hundred preschool students were inside the building and were unharmed. Aaron, what else do we know so far?

[Erin Parnas]

I mean that's kind of it. We don't know too much. We don't really know the motivations behind why he did it. What we do know though is that that security guard, I mean, was a hero. Without that security guard, a lot of kids would have died because I, I think the CNN was reporting that there were explosives found in the car as well and thankfully those explosives didn't go off and ultimately the security guard was only injured and will make a full recovery. So it's a very scary situation. But I think a lot of and, and you know this as well as anyone Americans are right now are I feel like everyone has such heightened tensions right now, right? Like with what's happening overseas and like the possible threats here at home. I know there are a lot of people who are worried about homeland attacks, also worried about so called false flag attacks. I mean there are a lot of issues that are circulating and I mean this doesn't make anyone's nights any any more kind of restful, if that makes sense.

[Jessica Tarlev]

There was also a shooting at Old Dominion University. A 36 year old named Mohamed Baylor Jala, a former Virginia national Gu and a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone who pled guilty in October of 2016 to attempting to provide support to ISIS. He was sentenced in 2017 and released in December 2024, which was five years early. One angle on this that I think is really important is the spike in these kinds seemingly Islamic terrorist attacks on American soil and also the fact that President Trump has said that there are a bunch of Iranian terror cells. And he knows where all of them are.

[Erin Parnas]

He said he thinks. He think. He thinks he knows.

[Jessica Tarlev]

He thinks that he knows where they are. So taking that information, and let's hope that it's true, right, that they do know where these people are. Do you think that we are going to start seeing law enforcement getting more aggressive about going to the source on these, versus, I guess, waiting more for something to happen? Because a lot of these terror cells might. They might not be active at the moment, or they might have just been activated. That's how obviously sleeper cells work. It's in the name.

[Erin Parnas]

I struggle with this question because I think that on one hand, any American, any person would want to stop a terrorist attack before it even is planned, Right? Like you stop it well ahead. But on the other hand, this gives credence to law enforcement to just go after people because they look Middle Eastern. And we saw that after 9, 11, and a lot of Muslims, Americans were scapegoated, were attacked simply because of the color of their skin or where they're from or where their families are from. And so even the term sleeper cell, like, yes, it is an accurate term to describe what these cells are, but also has been used to flame Islamophobia across the country. And so I struggle with the question of, like, will we see more law enforcement? Should we see more law enforcement? Because, yes, ultimately, if there is a viable threat, you want to neutralize the threat before it becomes in actionable situation. But at the same time, you don't want to just go after people just because they may have a connection to someone who may have a connection to someone who may have a connection to someone in the government of Iran. Right. Like the federal government loves to do overreach, and prosecutors love to do overreach in the name of national security, in the name of protecting the country. And a lot of the times, you're actually infringing on constitutional rights when you do that. So it's a very delicate balance.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Absolutely true. I think that we're gonna be having this conversation a lot about what is overreach and what is protecting Americans. I want to shift gears and talk about the active war that's going on in Iran. The new supreme leader vowed to continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz and avenge his father's death as Israel launched fresh strikes in Beirut, raising fears of a wider conflict and spiking oil prices. Did you see the ayatollah's tweet Storm? I love that he started an account and his dad was a big tweeter or someone to get frustrated.

[Erin Parnas]

I think that tweet storm was just his statement that he gave public or that he gave through someone.

[Jessica Tarlev]

And because we still have no proof of life.

[Erin Parnas]

Correct. We don't know if he's alive. There were reports that he had, like, his leg amputated. And I saw another report that he was in a coma. Like, I mean, like, you don't even know. I personally think the Trump administration miscalculated a little bit here. I think Netanyahu miscalculated here a little bit. I think they really thought that they'd just be able to, like, conduct this mass bombing campaign, and within a few days, the Iranian regime would just kind of collapse because of the chaos within the country, lack of communication, et cetera, et cetera. But it really seems like the regime, at least right now, is kind of tightened up and has hardened and is a bit more united than they thought. And they are still in control of the Strait of Hormuz. They might be mining the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, there are reports of that. I mean, it is a very serious situation. They're bombing commercial tankers now. So I think it's time for Trump to look for an off ramp and to find one pretty quickly to reopen that strait, because I don't know if you saw, but other countries, I mean, oil is still flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, it's not fully closed. And so I think it's time for Trump to figure out, okay, like, declare victory and move on. And maybe if he's really serious about, like, complete decapitation of the regime, go back and do this in a year from now or something. I don't know.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Someone who I think would agree with you is Joe Rogan. He went pretty hard at the president on this. Let's watch.

[Erin Parnas]

Seems so insane based on what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on no more wars and these stupid, senseless wars. And then we have one that we can't even really clearly define why we did it.

[Jessica Tarlev]

I mean, when he's right, he's right. When he's wrong, he's also really wrong, but right.

[Erin Parnas]

I just think to this day, the fact that, like, they're still not just accepting that it's a war at a baseline point, like, what are we doing here? And I said this on CNN the other night, the issue with the war is that in 2001, after 9, 11, the Bush administration had 80 to 90% approval ratings to go into Iraq and Afghanistan. Right. They started out at such a high point because Bush went out during his State of the Union in national addresses and prosecuted the case for why we have to go into the Middle East. And whether it was true or not, most of it was false. But he went in there and he gave his narrative and the American people bought it here. What Trump is trying to do is what he's done with every single policy since he came into office. Again, he doesn't care what half the country thinks. And so he's just going to do it the way he wants to do it. He's not going to explain it to us and he's just going to hopefully like, ram it through and hopefully it works. That's not how this works. He started with a 45% approval rating on the bombings and it's only going to go down. He didn't start at 90%. It's a very different situation. So he has. I really think he miscalculated.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Well, I think that's especially true because of the boots on the ground element. Like, you've seen this consolidation on the Republican side for what they're calling like surgical strikes. It's just the problem is, is that's not what's going on here. And now there are 14 countries that are involved and there's this other element and we'll see if it happens again. I'm sure you saw that the Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, tweeted this claim that the US Navy escorted a tanker through the Strait of Hormuz. The White House says that that's false. There was huge amount of confusion. The price of oil immediately went down, then it spiked back up when it was deleted. I want to get your response to him kind of trying to clean up the mess this morning on fox.

[Erin Parnas]

Fortunately, the United States, we produce more oil than we consume.

[Jessica Tarlev]

We're a net oil exporter.

[Erin Parnas]

So overall, for the US Economy, this isn't bad news. But of course, who President Trump is worried about is not overall. He's worried about every single American consumer. And so, yes, of course he's concerned

[Jessica Tarlev]

about the rising energy prices through this

[Erin Parnas]

short term period that people have to suffer.

[Jessica Tarlev]

I mean, Trump literally said on Thursday that he was not concerned about the oil prices and that they were a good thing because we'd be making some more money somehow.

[Erin Parnas]

Who's we? Because I'm not making more money because of it.

[Jessica Tarlev]

No, and you're not getting your tariff money back either.

[Erin Parnas]

But you know who is making money? The people that bought oil when it fell. Right.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Are they also on the Trump administration? They're so curious vacations. I feel like every day I see that there's a new inquiry into market manipulation for X, Y or Z things. People who could only know them because they know somebody in the administration. Right. Like they got someone in the Pentagon. I'm not saying it's Pete Hegseth or whatever. And I feel like they're just going to go, it's going to go nowhere.

[Erin Parnas]

No, I don't think it's going to go anywhere. I also think there are statute of limitations that are going to run pretty quickly after the Trump leaves office. Right. Many of these crimes are five year statute of limitations. So I mean, unless you really have a very excited DOJ in three years time, you're not going to really have any investigations here. I think it's, I, I, I think this is one of the biggest untold stories of the Trump administration is the market manipulation. Whether it's with tariffs, whether it's with now we see this energy situation. Maybe it's not intentional, but between this and what's happening on the prediction market betting, I mean, at some point, like, what the hell are we doing? It's like just the rich get richer.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Yeah. Well, correct. That is the name of the game.

[Erin Parnas]

They were betting on whether a nuclear weapon would go off by the end of the year. That was like a poly market bet. And it's like, how are you going to bet? And someone, and someone bet, yes, it's going to go off like $100,000 or something before the end of the year. Like, what are we doing? Scary.

[Jessica Tarlev]

One area that has been pretty quiet since Kristi Noem got fired is what's going on with immigration. And I'm sure you've been following this backtracking that they're doing. Mike Johnson even admitted that they were overzealous and lost some Hispanic Latino votes as a result. And he said that they're now on a course correction. What do you make of the immigration pivot and do you think it's gonna work?

[Erin Parnas]

I don't think it's gonna work because I think the American people have the videos of Alex Perdi and Renee Goode kind of seared into their minds. And I also think the longer that DHS is shut down, the more it's in the news. So I actually don't think it's gonna go away for them. And I also think it's not gonna even work among their own base. Many of the, their base voted for that, like, that's what they want. So I don't think it's gonna work.

[Jessica Tarlev]

That was my question when they, I forget who in the administration said it, but was like, oh, we're not, you know, we're not talking about mass deportations. And then it's flashed to all the signs of the rallies of the grandmas with the mass deportations now signed. It's like, actually a big component of your base does want that.

[Erin Parnas]

Correct? They do. And I think Trump's 2024 campaign spokesperson came out and was like, this is not what we voted for. We voted for mass deportations.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Yeah, mass deportations. And the SAVE act seems like a really winning platform.

[Erin Parnas]

But the SAVE act won't pass.

[Jessica Tarlev]

I know. I did really appreciate Dick Durbin explaining to John Cornyn today why the SAVE act disenfranchises voters. And then Cornyn's like, okay, well, let's amend it. And he's like, when was the last time a bill got amended like this?

[Erin Parnas]

Yeah.

[Jessica Tarlev]

And it was dead silence. Clearly thinking ahead to getting some conservative bona fides for the Texas primary runoff with Ken Paxton. But he looked a little silly. We gotta take a quick break. Stay with us. Hey, Kara Swisher here. I want to let you know that Vox Media is returning to south by Southwest in Austin for live tapings of your favorite podcast. Join us from March 13th through the 15th for live tapings of today Explained Teffy Talks, Prof. G Markets, and of course, your two favorite podcasts, Pivot and On with Kara Swisher. The stage will also feature sessions from Brene Brown and Adam Grant, Marques Brownlee, Keith Lee, Vivian Tu, and Robin Arzon. It's all part of the Vox Media podcast stage at south by Southwest, presented by Odoo. Visit voxmedia.comsxsw to pre register and get your special discount on your innovation badge. That's voxmedia.comsxsw to register.

[Erin Parnas]

Really, you should register. We sell out and we hope to see.

[Jessica Tarlev]

See you there.

[Erin Parnas]

Ambassador Rahm Emanuel served as President Obama's chief of staff, an administration that had to deal with its fair share of global conflicts. He dealt directly with Israel's prime minister and thought plenty about the threat from Iran. But Emanuel told me that the pace of action from this president in the Middle east is giving him whiplash. In 15 months, this president has taken military action against eight countries just in 15.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Now we got three more years to

[Erin Parnas]

go in 15 months, Iran twice. But you have Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Venezuela. I'm losing Nigeria today. Explained in your feed every Weekday and on Saturdays too. This week on Version History, our chat show about the most interesting and important products in the history of technology. We're talking about the hottest toy from 1998. That's right, of course. I mean, the Furby, the little thing that sat on your desk and didn't have an off button and didn't speak English and annoyed everyone you knew, but you loved it to pieces. Anyway, it turns out there is a fascinating technology and even AI story behind what happened with Furby and why it took off. That's the story this week on Version History, wherever you get podcasts.

[Jessica Tarlev]

And welcome back. I love the statue on the National Mall with Trump and Jeffrey Epstein in the Titanic pose. Did you see that?

[Erin Parnas]

It's even better in person. Yeah.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Oh, you gone?

[Erin Parnas]

I ran over there.

[Jessica Tarlev]

I took a picture of you there.

[Erin Parnas]

No, I didn't take a picture of it. Of me in there.

[Jessica Tarlev]

That's like the one time you didn't take a picture of yourself.

[Erin Parnas]

I was like, all sweaty.

[Jessica Tarlev]

You're like, here I am eating a sandwich and you don't take a picture with the Titanic.

[Erin Parnas]

It's cool. I they they this group for a secret hands it's called or whatnot. They put it put up these statues every, like few months in D.C. around D.C. they had one of them holding hands.

[Jessica Tarlev]

And I mean, on a more serious level, what is the latest with the Epstein files?

[Erin Parnas]

So Richard Kahn, the longtime accountant for Jeffrey Epstein, testified in front of the House Oversight Committee and dropped some names. He dropped five names of people who were associated with funding Jeffrey Epstein's empire, which was pretty revealing. The five names are Les Wexner, Glenn Dubin, Steve Sinofsky, the Rothschild as a family, and Leon Black. So those are the five names. He also said that Jeffrey Epstein had a financial tie with Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister. So a lot of the stuff we already knew, but it's not like he also, according apparently, like, facilitated a fake marriage on behalf of two women that were connected with Jeffrey Epstein. And also to me, the most revealing part was he impersonated Jeffrey Epstein to banks, which is a federal crime. But he admitted to that under oath

[Jessica Tarlev]

for the first time.

[Erin Parnas]

Yeah.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Oh, legend. I guess it's hard to break through on when there's a war going on with that news, but it does seem sensitive.

[Erin Parnas]

But also, who cares if an accountant commits bank fraud? I mean, that's not a huge story that happens every other day in this nation.

[Jessica Tarlev]

I mean, it shouldn't matter, especially if he was committing bank fraud for a massive Sex trafficking pedophile who somehow had a grip on all of the biggest businessmen and politicians in the country.

[Erin Parnas]

But it should have.

[Jessica Tarlev]

I guess I'm asking for a lot of.

[Erin Parnas]

Yeah, especially in this doj.

[Jessica Tarlev]

One thing I have been asking for, besides accountability for Epstein is some bipartisanship. And we saw it in The Senate, the 21st century road to Housing act, which is a Elizabeth Warren, Tim Scott mashup. The bill aims to boost housing supply and cut costs and keep Wall street from snapping up single family homes, which has become a huge point of conversation and concern, I should say more than conversation. But it's fate in the House is still uncertain. What do you think about the bill and do you think it has any chance of getting through the House?

[Erin Parnas]

It has a chance, I think. But you're talking about the least productive House in history. Right. Like they passed 16 bills last year for when everyone says, well, anything get through the House, it might, but the odds are very low. I mean, like, I think they are going to, they have like what, a couple more months left and then they have their summer recess and then it's midterm. So it's like they don't pass it in the next couple months, it's over. It's not going to pass until next year because they're all going to be out campaigning. And even if it passes the House, I think it'll get vetoed by Trump. He's already signaled that, so.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Because of the private equity angle to it.

[Erin Parnas]

Yeah, he was kind of dismissive of that part of it, which, I mean, you have a veto proof majority right now, but you know how these Republicans are when Trump vetoes something. It'll, it'll go away pretty quickly.

[Jessica Tarlev]

It does get swept under the rug mighty fast. The last thing I wanted to ask you about is on the Democratic side of the fence, Jim Clyburn, major Democratic power broker kingmaker, largely responsible for Joe Biden becoming the guy in 2020, kept us on the edge of our seats and then announced that he is running again for his 18th term. He's 85 years old. We have seen a lot of older members exiting stage left, but Clyburn is holding on. I think he was just gonna pass the torch to his own daughter. But what do you make of Clyburn digging in and saying what do you think it does to this debate that we're having within the party about generational change?

[Erin Parnas]

Well, he's an institution. Right. Like, so he's different from like your average congressman. My issue with him isn't his age I don't care if you're nine years old, if you're functioning, you can serve. That's fine. My issue is the term limits aspect of it. No one should serve in Congress for 36 years. I mean, no one needs 30 years in Congress. So that's my issue. Ultimately, I think that he should have retired a long time ago and could have still stayed as, like, this kingmaker in South Carolina politics. But part of me thinks the reason why he did this, and I'd love to get your thoughts on this, too, is like, I think he wants to stay relevant in 2028. And if he's still in Congress for another two years, he could really play kingmaker over the who wins that primary.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Yeah, I think that that's right. And there's going to be this big fight also about the primary schedule that the DNC is considering. And there are powerful people making cases of why we should have, you know, states with bigger Latino populations that are coming earlier in the cycle. Iowa obviously wants it back. You know, New Hampshire wants to maintain their position as the first primary in the country. So, yeah, I think that's probably right. I also think not to get, like, too personal about it, but I mean, it's public information that his wife passed away a few years ago. And I do think it's just sometimes harder if you don't have the fullest life at home.

[Erin Parnas]

Sure.

[Jessica Tarlev]

To stay. I think that, you know, was a factor as well in Ruth Bader Ginsburg staying in the job arguably too long. Not just arguably. And no one argues that it was the right thing to do. Even people who love Ruth Bader Ginsburg, like I did. And I do wonder about that balance where you're like, okay, well, what will my life look like? Especially when you've had this awesome and full life to this extent and you have been such a kingmaker or power player. It's a tough one. I do wonder if Pelosi, they're super close, like, weighed in at all because obviously she's going this cycle.

[Erin Parnas]

Right. And so is Stenny. So, like, the real old guard is

[Jessica Tarlev]

kind of leaving of the top leadership. Yeah.

[Erin Parnas]

I kind of equate him in, like, any of these older folks to kind of like race horses, like, they have to go, go, go, go, go their entire lives and then the moment they stop, like a racehorse dies. Right. Like, pretty quickly. And the same thing is with, like, these very high functioning, like, politicians, executives, business people, like, they have to work and if they don't work, they have nothing else to live for kind of like you were saying. So that could also be part of it. I don't know. But he's, I mean, he's an institution.

[Jessica Tarlev]

What would be as fulfilling? Yeah, and he still is super sharp too.

[Erin Parnas]

For sure.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Yeah. He gives a great interview. Still, it's not, it's not like when like his staff doesn't look nervous if he starts talking to the press.

[Erin Parnas]

Right, right.

[Jessica Tarlev]

And you know, important guy. And, and great. I just.85 feels old, but I'm not pushing anyone out the door. Are you gonna watch the Oscars? Do you care?

[Erin Parnas]

No, I don't care. I actually, it's funny enough every time I. I hate Oscar winning movies and this is like a hot take. It's like any good movies that everyone loves, I usually hate and then I love like the dumb movies that no one likes.

[Jessica Tarlev]

You're a trash guy.

[Erin Parnas]

Yes.

[Jessica Tarlev]

Or according to the critics, trash guy.

[Erin Parnas]

Sure. Yeah. I'm different.

[Jessica Tarlev]

I'm in it for the outfits. It was great to see you.

[Erin Parnas]

Great to see you.

[Jessica Tarlev]

If you aren't already, please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube page to get up to date coverage on everything. As you know, we're five days a week. It's intense. I'm still loving it. It would make me feel better if you subscribed just so I would really know you were there.