Amanda Carpenter: The Worst President Ever

Summary

The Bulwark Podcast
Episode: Amanda Carpenter: The Worst President Ever
Date: April 16, 2026
Host: Tim Miller
Guest: Amanda Carpenter (Writer/Editor at Protect Democracy)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Tim Miller welcomes Amanda Carpenter for a candid, in-depth conversation about the current state of U.S. politics under President Trump’s second term. The discussion focuses on the political “vibe shift” in red America, Trump’s erratic religious messaging, the administration’s approach to the Iran war, attacks on democratic norms, election security risks, corruption, and the prospect of post-Trump reform. The episode is laced with sharp humor, a sense of urgency, and the Bulwark’s signature “reality-based” critique of MAGA politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The “Vibe Shift” in Trump Country

[03:21]

• Tim asks Amanda about the political mood in deeply red West Virginia.
• Amanda observes that while overt displays of MAGA enthusiasm (truck flags, etc.) have faded, there’s no newfound pro-Democrat attitude—just a general sense of dissatisfaction, especially with the Iran war and high gas prices.
• There's a lack of support for Trump’s war:

  “I have yet to meet an enthusiastic supporter of the war in Iran. Like, haven't seen any takers for that… And I don't know anyone who is a fan of $4 gas. So those seem pretty bad.”
  — Amanda Carpenter [03:21]

• Tim: Republican operatives are more privately concerned than ever about Trump’s vulnerabilities—the intertwining of war, economy, and personal branding.

2. Trump’s Blasphemous Religious Messaging

[05:19 – 10:44]

• Amanda and Tim discuss Trump’s reckless, provocative posts depicting himself as a Christ figure—something that alarms even faith-oriented conservatives.
• Amanda:

  “Trump is posting images of himself as Jesus. If you are a person of faith that is going to hit you the wrong way, that is blasphemous on its face… Maybe it’s gone too far to say that he's demon possessed, but maybe that's the off ramp some people need.”
  — Amanda Carpenter [06:35]

• The Iranian response: AI-generated memes depicting Jesus slapping Trump into hell, amplifying the international trolling and anti-U.S. sentiment.

3. Biblical Metaphors and “Pulp Fiction” Prayers in Government

[12:09 – 17:50]

• The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, compares press critics to Pharisees, again implicitly casting Trump as a Jesus figure.
• Hegseth recites a fake Bible verse (actually from “Pulp Fiction”) at the Pentagon prayer service:

  "And you will know my call sign is Sandy1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen."
  — Pete Hegseth [14:51]

• Tim mocks this as a new high-water mark in Trump-era sacrilege.
• Amanda:

  “I do suppose that firing the military chaplain makes it easier to create your own verses in your own Bible…” [16:38]

4. Church, State, and Corruption: The Pope and “America 250”

[20:20 – 21:26]

• Pope Leo issues a pointed critique about manipulating religion for political gain:

  “Woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain. Dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”
  — Pope Leo, cited by Tim [20:20]

• The conversation underlines how Trump's self-aggrandizement, including slapping his name on government institutions (and soon money), is both corrupt and un-American.

5. The Iran War: No Clear Strategy, Real Risks

[22:39 – 26:25]

• Amanda summarizes the escalation: all-out land, air, sea, and economic war on Iran (“total war”), with little sense of clear objectives or public support.
• Senate failed to curtail Trump’s war powers.
• Tim skewers Trump’s “chokehold” oil strategy as economically self-defeating:

  “We're gonna ruin our own economy until Iran cries uncle? … Who do you think is gonna cry uncle first? The people paying six bucks a gas in America or Iran?”
  — Tim Miller [24:18]

6. Democracy at Risk: Election Security and Executive Overreach

[28:50 – 43:22]

• Amanda details two main threats:
  1. An executive order aimed at constraining mail-in ballots and ‘nationalizing’ the process to Republican advantage.
  2. The weaponization of DOJ/FBI search warrants—using recycled debunked claims to target local election offices, as seen in Fulton County.
• The core framework: Deceive, Disrupt, Deny (the outcome).
• On gutting election security agencies (e.g., CISA) and replacing competent officials with loyalists:

  “Since Donald Trump came into office a second time, it has been a condition of employment that you had to go along with the 2020 election lies.”
  — Amanda Carpenter [39:51]

• The risk of a single red state (e.g., Alaska, Iowa, Texas) “stealing” a close Senate race if equipped with enough loyalists—but faith that public scrutiny can help thwart abuses.

7. Corruption and Accountability in a Trumpian State

[44:00 – 53:29]

• Amanda criticizes the lack of specificity in anti-corruption messaging, and calls for clearer explanations connecting Trump’s self-enrichment (including market manipulation, crypto, and “America 250” branding) to his abuse of office.
• On Trump's personal branding of public property:

  “He is seizing public property as personal branding opportunities. The American people did not ask for Donald Trump to put his name on the Institute of Peace... or our money.”
  — Amanda Carpenter [49:53]

• Tim: “It feels un-American… like the first time I visited a country with El Presidente’s face everywhere.”

8. Reform After Trump: “The Worst President Ever”

[55:49 – 58:53]

• They discuss the need for post-Trump reform, referencing JBL’s article on structural changes (restraining the pardon power, tackling corruption, etc.) and the importance of communicating Trump's legacy as “the worst president ever.”
• Amanda:

  “There has to be some kind of counterbalance. It can't just be that Trump leaves office and he gets his golden parachute. If you believe as I do, that he is the worst president that America has ever had, we need to start talking about him like that...” [56:52]

9. Moments of Indecency: Tulsi, RFK Jr., and the Absurd

[58:54 – 64:48]

• Tim highlights Tulsi Gabbard’s efforts to criminally prosecute whistleblowers—pathetic moves to curry favor with Trump.
• Amanda observes how Trump loyalists are “working their way down the line,” targeting increasingly inconsequential figures as they run out of big “gets.”
• RFK Jr.'s infamous roadkill raccoon anecdote is roasted for its sheer grotesquerie and oddness.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “Haven't seen any takers for [Trump’s Iran war]… and I don't know anyone who is a fan of $4 gas.” — Amanda Carpenter [03:21]
• “Trump is posting images of himself as Jesus…If you are a person of faith, that is going to hit you the wrong way, that is blasphemous on its face.” — Amanda Carpenter [06:35]
• “I don't think it's too far of a stretch to think that the type of person that would pull over on the side of the road to deal with a raccoon penis would also be the type of person that would oversee policies that would bring measles back.” — Tim Miller [64:22]
• “If you believe as I do, that [Trump] is the worst president that America has ever had, we need to start talking about him like that and having the reasons why...” — Amanda Carpenter [56:52]
• “It feels un-American… the first time I visited a foreign country… you land at the airport and the big posters of El Presidente are everywhere and you're just like, this feels wrong, like this isn't right, like this isn't how we do things.” — Tim Miller [52:10]
• “He is seizing public property as personal branding opportunities. The American people did not ask for Donald Trump to put his name on the Institute of Peace… or our money.” — Amanda Carpenter [49:53]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:21 — Red State “vibe shift” and war fatigue
• 05:19 – 10:44 — Trump’s Christ imagery, evangelical reactions, and Iran’s AI memes
• 12:09 – 17:50 — Secretary Hegseth's "Pharisees" speech and mock-biblical prayers
• 20:20 – 21:26 — Pope Leo’s jab about religious manipulation
• 22:39 – 26:25 — Analysis of the Iran war's aims and economic dangers
• 28:50 – 43:22 — Election security, executive overreach, and the GOP’s election playbook
• 44:00 – 53:29 — Corruption: branding public assets, anti-corruption messaging failures
• 55:49 – 58:53 — Post-Trump reforms and legacy
• 58:54 – 64:48 — Tulsi Gabbard, whistleblower prosecutions, RFK Jr. anecdote

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode is briskly irreverent but deeply serious. Miller and Carpenter mix sharp humor and righteous exasperation with clear-eyed analysis. They document the dangers of Trump’s second term: reckless war, abuse of religion, systemic corruption, and the erosion of election norms.
Listeners are left with a note of cautious optimism—while the threats are real and urgent, institutional strengths, public scrutiny, and focused reform could help restore American democracy after this “worst president ever.”

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

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[Janet Freeman Daly]

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[Tim Miller]

All right, everybody, Reminder, we are going to Southern California in May, and tickets are on sale Friday for everybody. You have your last chance to get into that presale if you're a Bulwark plus member to get that ticket now before it goes out to the masses. So jump on [e-mail] events. We are in downtown San Diego May 20th. Downtown LA, May 21st. I do apologize to the bro on the west side who I told we were going to try to do an event over in their direction and venues and it's over my head. All right? But it didn't happen for you, so you're going to have to brave the traffic. All right? So if you're Westside bro and you still want to come and brave the traffic, send me an email and I'll bring you a special present. No matter where you are, if you're not even in Southern California, it's a beautiful time to be there. Come visit, take a flight, make a little vacation out of it. You can get your tickets now. TheBlric.com events. It's going to be a good one. Up next, we got our old buddy, Amanda Carpenter. Stick around. Hello and welcome to the Bulwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. Couldn't be happier to welcome back to the show my former colleague who's now a writer and editor at Protect Democracy. Their substack is if youf Can Keep It. You can go to protectdemocracy.org to learn more. It's Amanda Carpenter. What's up, girl?

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Hey, you know all the things. Always a pleasure to be back. I was having fun following your Coachella adventures and so, you know, you got to do that.

[Tim Miller]

Were you jealous of Carol G. While you were parenting? I was seeing Carol G. Well, I

[Janet Freeman Daly]

don't know who Carol G. Is, so I can't be jealous, but I'm jealous of the fun it looked like you had.

[Tim Miller]

You would like Carol G. You should check it out afterwards. I want to chat here about the vibes with you. I think that we have some serious matters of state and democracy to discuss with you, obviously, and election concerns and corruption. But I'm just. I'm kind of wondering. I live in Louisiana, which is Red America, but I'm in New Orleans. I'm in uptown New Orleans. Like, let's be real, okay? Like, I'm not around the realest Americans. You're in, like, West Virginia. Okay? You're in West Virginia. You're around real, real Americans. And I'm just wondering, like, my sense is anecdotally that, like, the vibe shift is real, not that MAGA people are like, oh, we're Democrats now and we've gone woke. Not that, but just, like, people aren't happy, like, with the war, with the crisis of gas, with various things that he's up to. Is that. What do you think? Is that wishcasting, or is the view from West Virginia that the vibe shift is real?

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Well, it's not election season, but I can tell you that the trucks flying Trump MAGA flags off the back of them have stopped. I haven't seen any of those in a while. And I do have yet to meet an enthusiastic supporter of the war in Iran. Like, haven't seen any takers for that. What I do hear people say they essentially try to make a case for the war that Trump hasn't made. Like, shouldn't we be liberating the people from the terrible dictators? And regime change would be good. Like, people are kind of wanting to get on board with that. But that is not explicitly what Trump is saying, of course. So that's just trying to retrofit it. And I don't know anyone who is a fan of $4 gas. So those seem pretty bad.

[Tim Miller]

These things are all interrelated. Right. And I think that that is, to me, why this has become, like, a real political problem for Trump and why nobody privately texts me, really, that's doing Republican campaigns anymore. I got a couple hangers on left who still want to talk to me, who are Republican campaign operatives, but it's not like 2017 anymore. But from friends of friends and reporters and folks that do the senses that, like, the private concerns among Republican strategists are real. And I think it's because, like, you know, it's. It's one thing if you're worried that Trump is just a little too focused on putting his name on shit. And the arc to Trump, right? It's kind of like that can be excused away. That's Trump. He's a megalomaniac. He puts his name on everything. Right. But it's another thing of, it's like he's doing that while things are getting worse for you. And then it's really another thing where he's like, he's doing that while things are getting worse for you and things are getting worse for you because. Because he decided to get into a war of choice that you don't really understand the rationale for. And I think that those three topics all interlink in a way that makes him really vulnerable politically.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. And layered on top of that, what you do see coming from him, especially on social media, which is where a lot of his supporters and everyone gets the news is so erratic and reckless. I mean, the Easter tweet, the promise to annihilate know the country, I don't know who that sat well with. Like, he's always said crazy stuff, but for some reason now people are starting to say, what's going on with this? Like, I, I don't find mag people or even like, you know, Republican people saying this war in Iran is going to be a disaster, but it's more like, what is he doing with like this tone of resignation and like, it's kind of like settling in. Like, maybe this is really going off the rails in a bad way.

[Tim Miller]

And my friend's mom who said he might be the Antichrist, I feel like that's on the outer edge of where three time Trump voters are. But I do think it's real. If you look at just MAGA social media, if you looked at his replies on Truth Social, people were very mad about the post. And again, this doesn't mean they're gonna be Democrats. And I think that a lot of them are kind of wishing and hoping and some of them are praying because they do pray to him that he's gonna pull a rabbit out of a hat and, and like it's going to all work out. But that doesn't mean that the concerns aren't real.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I do take it seriously, largely because Trump is posting images of himself as Jesus. Like, if you are a person of faith that is going to hit you the wrong way, that is blasphemous on its face. And then you kind of see the other discourse, like, what is he doing? What is he doing with these social media images? I mean, they are intentional. You have the image of him coming down like Christ and then like, there's weird demonic figures at the top. And like, maybe you should be like, oh, that's conspiracy. But what is that? What are they doing? What inputs did the staff have to put into ChatGPT to get that image. Like, I. Maybe that's worth the FOIA request. I'm kind of. I'm curious, but he is the one who keeps putting out this imagery. Like, I am a God. Worship me. I'm made for this time. And so I don't know how if you're a person of faith, how you can't question that. And maybe it's gone too far to say that he's demon possessed, but maybe that's the off ramp some people need.

[Tim Miller]

You know, I've been there. I think that it's great if you think that he was demon possessed or that the devil tricked everybody. Awesome. I don't literally believe that, but. No, but I bet in the broader sense of the devil's work, I'm with you and we're alive.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. I also wouldn't say demons possessed either, but I couldn't tell you where the line is between things are, I would say, are evil and are demon possessed. I don't know where I am on that spectrum.

[Tim Miller]

Right. Okay. We're tipping over into Tucker territory. All of a sudden, a demon bit me in my bed.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

That's a different story.

[Tim Miller]

There's more on this, though, because it wasn't just the one tweet. He takes that tweet down a fuel complaint. But then the next day he posts another post which it's a picture of Jesus, who he recognizes. This time, Jesus is in the same outfit that Trump was wearing in the other one, the American flag is behind Jesus, which is kind of blasphemous its own way. But I do think that most, a lot of American evangelicals have kind of embraced the American Jesus.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah, yeah. The flags in West Virginia and around, I guess parts of Maryland that I drive through would have God, guns, Trump against an American flag. So, like, that's not too far away.

[Tim Miller]

I don't think that's gonna turn anybody off, but okay, it's there. Jesus is hugging Trump. And the post, it's a meme. And the text on the meme is, I was never a very religious man, but doesn't it seem, with all these satanic, demonic, child sacrificing monsters being exposed, that I was friends with God, might be playing his trump card and then Trump reposted that with the radical left. Lunatics might not like this, but I think that this is quite right. So, like, this is him saying, God chose me, which is not really that far from being Jesus, like, that I'm God's chosen one.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

And also saying this will make the radical leftist mad. No, no. That is actually making the evangelical base that you elected you, Matt. Probably more than the radical leftists who've always thought this stuff is crazy.

[Tim Miller]

Right. And by the way. And maybe another group that it's making mad is there's at least some percentage of Trump's base that actually believed QAnon and actually cared about the Epstein files and wanted child sacrificing monsters to be exposed. And Trump's not doing that. They didn't do that. They covered up the Epstein files. They haven't arrested anybody or indicted anybody. They don't seem to care about it. They seem to care more about blocking information from coming out. So it's like they're not even doing the stated thing.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I think he just wants to put images of himself as Christ Jesus. I think that's the through line here. And then I don't know if you saw what the Iranians are posting back. So there was a. I don't know what you call it, a clap back on social media with AI where Jesus comes down from the heavens, slaps Trump in the face, and throws him down into hell.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. So, you know, the Iranians got the AI trolling down.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. Well, it used to be bad that they chanted death to America, but now he's slapping our President in the face and throwing him to the gates of hell. So I don't know how.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. I would like a Farsi expert to weigh in on this. One of our commenters said this to me, and I don't know. And this is. I just want to be very clear here. The Iranian regime is awful. Awful. Everything about them is awful. It's horrible. I wish for the Iranian people that they had a better regime. I was just kind of interested this as a fact point where somebody posted that in Farsi, the translation of death to America is really more like fuck America.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah.

[Tim Miller]

And it's kind of like, if I say fuck Trump, I don't mean, like, literally I want to have sexual intercourse with him. It's just kind of like Trump should go to hell. And even there, when I say that, I don't really believe in hell. So I don't literally mean that Trump is. It's just more of like an expression of distaste. Anyway, if you're a Farsi, I'm just kind of curious. I would like to do a long read on that. But it's not just Trump also, that's like talking about himself as God, and this is a mission from God. The Secretary of Defense was out this morning and had a press conference. And I don't think you got to look between the lines too much on this metaphor, but let's play what Pete Hegseth was saying regarding the critics of Trump and the war and who he compares them to, the so called and

[Janet Freeman Daly]

self appointed elites of their time. They were there to witness, to write everything down, to report, but their hearts were hardened. Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn't matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda. As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him. I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees.

[Tim Miller]

So Trump thinks he's Jesus. The Secretary of War seems to think Trump's Jesus. I mean, again, we don't have to take the metaphor literally, but it's like if we the Trump critics or the Pharisees, then that would make Trump Jesus again.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

No, it's hard for me to analyze Pete Hegseth's words if it's not on paper. Because every time I look at him, I'm just like, is every media opportunity a bad attempt at aura farming? You know, like, I'm kind of new to this. With my son who's almost 13, it's just like everything is like he looks in the camera and he's got his little pocket square. Do you notice the American flag pocket square?

[Tim Miller]

I do, yeah.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

And so then he's just lifting this stuff and apparently making up Bible quotes that he took from Pulp Fiction.

[Tim Miller]

I also said, oh, we got that coming. We got that coming. Should we just do that now? Let's do them back to back. This is different for the press conference. So the press conference, Hegseth begins with a monologue about how the assembled media are the Pharisees trying to kill Jesus or trying to condemn Jesus.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. So that would be bad. We're the baddies. We're the baddies.

[Tim Miller]

The soldiers are the apostles. Peg. Seth is, I guess Peter in this analogy. Yeah.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

What did he do to deserve this?

[Tim Miller]

I mean, just like honestly, I can rock of the church here getting compared to former drunk weekend talk show co host.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

And then he's secretary of War to you, Tim.

[Tim Miller]

He was, I guess, preaching to the Pentagon prayer service. Pentagon, they have a prayer service soldiers can attend. And Tegseth went up and spoke. They fired Mark Hartling wrote about this a couple weeks ago. They fired the military chaplain. So I guess they've been replaced by Pete Hegseth himself. And he was doing a prayer. And as you mentioned, people who have seen Pulp Fiction might recognize this Bible verse. We'll talk about it. The other side.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

They call it Cesar 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17. So the prayer is Cesar 25:17. And it reads, and pray with me, please pray with. The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brothers. And you will know my call sign is Sandy1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. And amen. Thank you for joining us this month, Every month. Thank you for worshiping with us.

[Tim Miller]

We believe in an amen. You notice I knew the words to that Bible verse. And so you'll know that that's not a real Bible verse, because I knew the words to Catholics, we don't learn actual Bible verses. I know it because I've seen the movie Pulp Fiction 150 times. So that Ezekiel 25:17, that's not actually. That's a fake Quentin Tarantino.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

The Bible doesn't say, you will know me by my call sign, Quentin Tarantino.

[Tim Miller]

And doing a prayer to a movie that is all about drugs and murder. Cussing, a lot of murder, cheating. It's just drugs. A lot of drugs, A lot of heroin in the movie. And it's just like, let us pray. Is he so fucking stupid that he didn't know? Or did he think it was clever? What does he think is happening there? He's really dumb.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I do suppose that firing the military chaplain makes it easier to create your own verses in your own Bible to go from, in which you can be the hero and savior of your own story. So maybe it's like one of these 3D chess moves that we just fire the guy, we write our own Bible and we go from there. And Pulp Fiction, what a great place to start.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. I mean, doing a Pulp Fiction spoof where you turn the military guys into Samuel L. Jackson would be cringe, but, like, fine. But this is. It was literally the prayer service. Like, he begins with and we pray it ends with Amen. Like, just on the list of, like, sacrilegious stuff. It's like, the president is Jesus. The president is Jesus again. The president is God's chosen one, and the Secretary of war is praying to a fake Bible verse that was written by Quentin Tarantino. I mean, they're really doing as much as they can to be an affront to God and faithful Americans.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah, I feel sorry for the troops there, but I do need more of a crowd reaction shot for the people who realized he was not saying the right verse and them trying to figure out where it might have been from because, you know, they were like, that doesn't sound quite right. Let me get out my phone.

[Tim Miller]

And you will know my name is the Bulwark when we lay our vengeance upon thee. Amen. I just. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Just like you're not supposed to choose your favorite children, you're not supposed to choose your favorite sponsors, but it's hard for me because I like Wild Alaskan so much. I don't know if you're always in the market for good seafood to cook at home like I am, but Wild Alaskan company is the best way to get wild caught. Perfectly portioned, nutrient dense seafood delivered directly to your door. And trust me, you haven't tasted fish this good. I made some last night. Made my daughter a little stir fry. We're eating healthy. We were off spring break, you know, I was eating festival food. She was with grandma, eating a lot of candy. So he came home, made a little sirfi, some Pacific cod, some veggies. That Wild Alaskan was ready, easy to cook, tasted yummy, threw some Tony's on there. It was spectacular. Why choose Wild Alaskan? Well, it's 100% wild caught, never farmed, which means no antibiotics, GMOs, or additives. It's nutrient rich and full of flavor. It's got all them Omega 3s that you need. If you're not completely satisfied, I don't know how that could be possible. But if you're not, Wild Alaskan company will give you a full refund. No questions asked, no risk. You can just get that high quality seafood without any worries. Not all fish are the same. Get seafood you can trust. Go to wildalaskan.com bulwark for $35 off your first box of premium wild caught seafood. That's wildalaskan.com bulwark for 35 bucks off your first order. Thanks to Wild Alaskan Company for sponsoring this episode. Pope Leo weighed in this morning. Pope Leo is clever. The Bulwark Pope is very clever. Because I don't. Do you know what's happening In Cameroon. He posted this with the hashtag Cameroon. So maybe there's also. I gotta just be honest, I don't know. I'm not following the day to day of what's happening in Cameroon. I'm doing my best to keep up with what's happening in our government. Maybe a little bit of a subtweet, but he posts this. Woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain. Dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. It's pretty on the nose, yeah.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I mean, with all the spats that Trump has started with the Pope, I think it's notable that the Pope has never really mentioned Trump in these criticisms. They just seem to know it's about them. So I think they could probably take this one the same way.

[Tim Miller]

I remember this about the McCain funeral. Is it the McCain funeral or the HW funeral? I think at the McCain funeral, people actually mentioned Trump. At one of them, people directly mentioned Trump, but then at the other one, there were just these kind of odes to selflessness and service and character. And the Trump people went crazy. And they were like, they're attacking Trump at the funeral. I was like, no, that's just a eulogy where you praise somebody for their good character traits and Trump doesn't have any of them. And so you think it's an attack, but actually just any compliment of someone that speaks about their virtues is necessarily also a critique of Trump because he lacks them.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. Well, I look forward to JD Vance again reminding the Pope that he should stick to preaching morality and do a better job at it.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, stick to preaching morality. Yeah, stick to theology. Have you ever heard of the just war theory? I love that. Mike Johnson also did this. Have you ever heard of the just war theory? And I was like, I have actually. We did this in Jesuit school. I was like, you know, I think I remember it, but I did a little refresher. And it's like part one of the just war theory is you don't attack until you have exhausted every other potential option. Like, it's more complicated than that. But like, that's just the basic element of it. And it's like we were doing the negotiation, negotiation. And we had your stupid, corrupt real estate friend and your son in law in the meetings and you just got bored and you knew where the ayatollah was because they're having an all hands meeting and you're like, all right, screw this. On the diplomacy, we're going to start bombing. It could not be more of a violation of just the written text of the Jewish war theory. You couldn't come up with one that is more of violation, I guess Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But I mean, you know, these guys, like, they just, they want to be able to act with impunity and insult the Pope, do whatever they want in Iran and not be, not be critiqued by it. And that's just not how the world works, baby. Sorry, J.D.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

no, and I do want to take a moment to pause here and talk about, like, what we're doing in Iran. We are at total war with them. I mean, we've gone in with overwhelming force to bomb the crap out of them, even though it hasn't been successful at eliminating, you know, all their territory strikes, which resulted in taking down a couple of our planes. But now we're doing the naval blockade. And then last night, Trump and his best buddy, Treasury Secretary Besson are talking about how they're going to do the equivalent of an economic bombing. So in my mind, you kind of have land, air, sea, economic. What are we not doing here? And then at the same time, the Senate had a vote last night about whether we'd wanna rein in the war powers. And of course, it fell on party lines, except for Rand Paul and Fettermen who switched. So he just has a blank check. This is unpopular. We are at total war. And they're acting like a bunch of goons online trading Jesus memes. Yeah, like, just like, can we just like, what is going on here? There's no even semblance of a just war theory. We don't know what the objectives are. It's hurting people. And now this morning, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that we're going to be sending troops in there, essentially I think as an act of intimidation to try to get a deal. But this is similar to what we did in Venezuela, right? We had all the ships in the sea, we're threatening action, and still Maduro was dancing in the streets, mocking us until we went in there and kidnapped him. And, you know, I guess that went okay. Fingers crossed. It's not gonna work, thanks to one guy in this region, in the world. It's just not gonna work.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, it's not. The other thing that's not gonna work. This has been one of his bleeds that he. That has gotten ig of all of the sacrilegious ones. But he posted this chokehold. Iran could run out of oil storage with Trump blockade wrecking havoc with its economy. And I just had to laugh at that one. Because it's like, so this is the new strategy? We're gonna ruin our own economy until Iran cries on coal? It's like, do you understand how supply and demand works? Do you understand how supply and demand works? If you put a chokehold on the supply of Iranian oil to hurt their economy, what happens? The people they sell oil to, like, the Chinese and others, aren't going to have as much supply. So what are they going to do? They are going to turn to either our oil or Russian oil or oil out of the Persian Gulf. But the Strait of Hormuz is closed, and so there's less of that. And so that means that there are shortages and that means that the Chinese will pay more. And when the Chinese pay more, guess who else pays more? Fucking people with the Trump flag in West Virginia also pay more because there's not two different prices. The price that gets sent to Beijing is the same, the barrel of oil. And so if you do a chokehold on Iran to prevent their supply of oil from coming out, yeah, it's going to hurt their economy, but it's going to make ours even worse. Like who? What? I understand that he didn't read Adam Smith, but this is not. What do you think? Who do you think is gonna cry uncle first? The people paying six bucks a gas in America or Iran? Who has a complete stranglehold on their population because it's an autocratic regime? There's not really a question there. Sorry.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

No, no, I gotta commend you because I think you've really been on it in a leading way saying this is gonna get bad. But let me tell you how it could also get worse. Trump still has not given up on his tariff policies. We got a temporary reprieve because the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional. But they've been working behind the scenes at treasury to try to go around the Supreme Court ruling. And so I think we're going to be getting a new round of tariff threats or actual policies in June or July. So you can look forward to that as well.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, I think he's too big of a coward to actually do the worst tariffs, which is to put him on China. You can already see that he kind of wants Xi to be his friend. He's not actually a China hawk. But it could get worse.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

When I first heard the words, you have lung cancer, I was in shock.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

This week on a special episode of Health discovered we're taking a closer look at a common form of lung cancer that accounts for 85% of all cases

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I'm Janet Freeman Daley and I've been living with non small cell lung cancer since 2011.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

Non small cell lung cancer. It's a diagnosis that changes everything and yet the conversation around it too often stops at the biology and misses what patients are actually living through every single day.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

There are some things you used to be able to do that you can't do anymore. It's easy to become depressed when you're dealing with all those losses. So mental health plays a really big role.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

So what does it really mean to advocate for yourself when you're living with non small cell lung cancer? Listen to health discovered on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Danielle Robay]

Hey, this is Danielle Robay, host of Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club, a podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide. You know, cotton is a part of so many of life's everyday comforts, from what we wear to what we wrap ourselves in. And it's especially present in the quiet, cozy moments, like reading a book you can't put down. Which brings me to our new segment, the Book Nook, where we explore the rituals that make reading feel just right. For me, that means Cotton everything. I live in la. It's summer, and even when it's warm, I want to feel wrapped up and relaxed. When I'm home, I curl up with this super soft cotton blanket. It's lightweight and breathable and perfect for long reading stretches. I've got my favorite matching cotton lounge set on, too. It's basically my reading uniform, and I'm nestled on my couch by the window, iced coffee clinking, book in hand. It's truly my ideal reading setup. Thanks to Cotton for bringing this segment to life and reminding us that comfort and style can go hand in hand. Don't forget to check the tag for cotton. And if you want to learn more, head to the fabric of our lives dot com.

[Tim Miller]

Let's go to the democracy stuff. You guys had a big report last month, the executive override report. I'll talk about that. There's a big Republican piece on how Trump's trying to take over the elections. I was on Nicole's show earlier this week with Mara Gay, and I just, I kind of want to start here because she said something that J.V. ellis said and others that I think is legit. But I just think there are a couple of different ways to look at it. And the take was basically, I'm getting concerned because all the things we've just been talking about for the first 25 minutes that Trump is not acting like somebody that actually cares about elections. He's not being responsive to poll numbers in the way that he was in the first term, a little bit with the markets he's tackling from time to time, but he's acting like somebody who doesn't care. And the thing that she expressed is that concerns her because they're planning to cheat. That's the logical next thought there. I offered some gentle pushback to that, which is like, okay, but another way to look at that is that actually Trump doesn't care about the midterms because he doesn't have a legislative agenda and he doesn't actually care about Congress. He doesn't care about anybody but himself. Or another way to look at it is something that Sarah's talked about, I think you've talked about. Maybe not that he's trying to stay in power forever, but he has legacy on his mind and he's going to do the Board of Peace and whatever. And so why does he care about middling things like the midterms? I think that those are all legitimate and they're a little bit overlapping. They're not necessarily mutually exclusive. But I'm just wondering before you get into the details of what we think they're planning, how high you assess the risks are for the elections and whether you think he really cares about cheating in them.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Well, I'm going to point you to two things that happened over the past few months that I think point to the biggest threat for the midterms and 2028, while also keeping all that stuff that you mentioned in the background. That I do think he's more concerned with legacy building and all that stuff as a possible off ramp. But you absolutely cannot ignore these two things. Number one is the executive order that he issued, essentially trying to outlaw mail in ballots. I mean, this is the election takeover where he says he wants to nationalize elections in the White House has absolutely no role in these elections. But they are very set on trying to constrain, disqualify and make rules around mail in ballots and voter rules so that they can determine who can vote. Right. Like, go read that executive order. And then a lot of the reporting we've seen bear out. You see that these things happening with DHS and doj, that is essentially Trump loyalists trying to carry out the mechanics of that order. They haven't been super successful, but there are little task forces inside the government. They're very much intent on trying to do that. So that is like on the Front end of elections, trying to interfere with the process. Then you have to look at the raid that was attempted in Fulton County. I think it's kind of good that we got to see that happen in the light of day now, because I think it'll be central to how they try to challenge ballots in 2026. And so the point of failure that happened there, that we have people preparing for and trying to do education around, is essentially that the DOJ and FBI created this search warrant that was based on all kinds of recycled debunk lies in order to get into Fulton County. When Tulsi Gabbard went down there and they got the ballots, the point of failure was that the federal magistrate judge that accepted that, that greenlighted that warrant should have stopped the process there. There is a tradition where these judges give deference to the FBI and DOJ that, frankly, is undeserved. It was undeserved after 2020 when you saw about how they lied about the election. It's undeserved now because if that warrant would have had the scrutiny it deserved, it would not have been accepted. And so we kind of know that's going to be the playbook for challenging results after the election because, thankfully, our elections are so decentralized and state and local officials are in charge of, the FBI can't just go storming in there. But if they produce a warrant that's faulty, that's the choke point that needs to be stopped. And so those are the two things that we're looking at extremely closely.

[Tim Miller]

How does that get addressed? Just more aggressive legal challenges? I don't understand how you'd address it. On the front end, I guess I understand. On the back end.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. I think on the front end, it's going to require a lot of discussion and talk about. This is how they're trying to erroneously disqualify ballots. These are all the allies that they tried in the previous election because they're just recycling the same stuff. I mean, this is sort of the good thing, is that they don't have any new ideas. They just keep going back to this well of 2020 because the denialism.

[Tim Miller]

Well, they exhausted a lot of failed ideas in 2020. You know, they tried a lot of things.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

But because the election denialism has been so institutionalized in the federal government, they don't have anything else to go on right now. And so we sort of know the body of evidence. I'm putting in quotes that they'll try to manufacture to get in there again, but also trying to disqualify and throw sand in the gears of the mail in ballot process is something people need to be very honed in on.

[Tim Miller]

I just don't understand functionally what might actually happen with the mail in dawns. I understand the strategy of we're seeding the ground that these are corrupt and in states and localities where we have people in charge of elections when there are challenges or recounts, they're going to be very loose with throwing out mail in ballots. If there is any possible rationale for it. I understand that part of the strategy but the stopping mail in balloting altogether part of the strategy. I don't see how that's going to work. Maybe in an individual state they might do that and I guess there's some red states or their big senate races but time is ticking on that. I don't know. Is your concern more the former? If they contaminate the idea of mail in balloting then in the post election process there will be monkey business that prevents some of the ballots from being counted. That is more of the concern than actually changing the rules on the front end.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I think they would very much like to change the rules on the front end and that'll be contested in courts and they very much would like to create a voter file of who is allowed to vote vote with the mail in ballot. Like there's all these ideas kicking around. I don't think they will be successful. But the framework that we approach the election with about how they're trying to do this and why falls into three buckets. Number one, they're going to try to deceive voters about the voting process, primarily about mail in ballots so that people think that they are fraudulent and there are problems in the system. So once they have introduced that election lie they will use it to try to disrupt the process whether that's trying to change the voting process or throw out mail in ballots. And this is all for the purpose of denying results that they don't like. So it's kind of like 3D fabric, deceive, disrupt, deny and you can see how the various lies that they tell fits into that process. And you know, they don't have to be successful in convincing people about the election lies to disrupt the process in a way that can break it. I mean just introducing the idea and getting, getting a warrant to go in and get these ballots like they've already disrupted like some things in the system. And so the thing is to just really stay focused on it, most of it's going to be fine but we know the playbook. And that's what it is. When I first heard the words you have lung cancer, I was in shock.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

This week on a special episode of Health Discovered we're taking a closer look at a common form of lung cancer that accounts for 85% of all cases.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I'm Janet Freeman Daly and I've been living with non small cell lung cancer since 2011.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

Non small cell lung cancer. It's a diagnosis that changes everything and yet the conversation around it too often stops at the biology and misses what patients are actually living through every single day.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

There are some things you used to be able to do that you can't do anymore. It's easy to become depressed when you're dealing with all those losses. So mental health plays a really big role.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

So what does it really mean to advocate for yourself when you're living with non small cell lung cancer? Listen to Health discovered on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Danielle Robay]

Hey, this is Danielle Robay, host of Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club, a podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide. You know, cotton is a part of so many of life's everyday comforts, from what we wear to what we wrap ourselves in. And it's especially present in the quiet, cozy moments, like reading a book you can't put down. Which brings me to our new segment, the Book Nook, where we explore the rituals that make reading feel just right. For me, that means Cotton everything. I live in la, it's summer, and even when it's warm, I want to feel wrapped up and relaxed. When I'm home, I curl up with this super soft cotton blanket. It's lightweight and breathable and perfect for long reading stretches. I've got my favorite matching cotton lounge set on, too. It's basically my reading uniform, and I'm nestled on my couch by the window, iced coffee clinking, book in hand. It's truly my ideal reading setup. Thanks to Cotton for bringing this segment to life and reminding us that comfort and style can go hand in hand. Don't forget to check the tag for cotton. And if you want to learn more, head to thefabricofourlives.com

[Tim Miller]

you mentioned just kind of the staffing of the federal government side of this. And so in this ProPublica piece, which we'll link in the show notes if you want to read the whole thing. It was headlined Inside Trump's Efforts to Take over the Midterm Elections. They mentioned a couple of things. One, how he's gutted or dismantled every electoral guardrail for 2020. CISA is one example. It's what our boy Chris Krebs was running in 2020 to protect from cyber attacks. Trump got mad because Chris Krebs was saying, no, we actually did a really good job of preventing cyber attacks in this election. And all of your theories are cockamamie. And so rather than putting a hack in charge of that, he just dismantled it altogether, just gutted it. There are a bunch of other agencies that work on election safety that he's gutted. And then Simultaneously to that, ProPublica found 75 people across a bunch of these agencies who were doing election work that were either fired or left their jobs. And they've been replaced by just 24 appointees. And all of them either work to reverse the 2020 results or are associates of people that did.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah, I mean, essentially, since Donald Trump came into office a second time, it has been a condition of employment that you had to go along with the 2020 election lies. And so, I mean, all of these people are pretty much self selected. But on the bright side, the failures that you've seen from Trump officials in going after, you know, people like James Coney, et cetera, like, they. They're not able to do it. So, yes, the Trump administration did purge a lot of these election peoples and people that were guardrails and holding the line, but they have also backfilled it with people who are just not very effective. I mean, why is Pam Bondi gone? Pam Bondi is gone because she was unable, not unwilling. She was unable to go after Trump's political opponents as he wished. I'm not, like, searching for a silver lining, but it's right there. The people they're putting in can't do the job, and we should be grateful for that.

[Tim Miller]

I think this stuff's important. I think that you never know, particularly if you end up now in the Senate, where it ends up being one state. Like, I think the Senate now is more of an interesting battleground than the House. Let's say Democrats hold all their challenge seats like Georgia and Michigan. They pick up North Carolina. They pick up Maine. They pick up, let's say, Ohio with Sherrod Brown. And then you get either Alaska or Iowa or Florida or Texas. Like, those are all places run by election denial. Republicans in the Senate will be important on whether Trump can get any confirmations through. I mean, maybe he'll decide if he stops doing that. But again, the Senate is, in that sense, a more important check than the House. And So maybe they do decide. They try to rig just one of those states, Right. And it's like, okay, well, we control Iowa, Alaska, Root and Branch, Florida. I don't know, maybe Ron desanctimonious won't want to go along with Trump after all the main things that he said about him. But Texas certainly would. Greg Abbott and one of those races ends up being close. They end up being less than 1%. They end up being in a place where throwing out some of these ballots, challenging these ballots, not counting certain ballots, means the difference between the Senate majority and not. I think that is a very realistic scenario. That's different than some of the catastrophizing I sometimes hear from our friends or elections are over and it's like, I don't know. And you saw in Hungary that that's like not the case. You can overcome cheating. It doesn't mean that cheating is a problem. You shouldn't be vigilant about it, but you can overcome cheating. But I think that the Senate scenario, where it comes down to one red state, I think is one to really have our eye on right now.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. I mean, what we saw in previous elections too, you know, there's a laser focus on Maricopa county, there's a laser focus on Fulton county, the laser focus on Antrim County. So there always is going to be an opportunity where we can put a spotlight on what is happening in that locality. And that's super helpful because, you know, just steal an election, whether it's a national election or something like a Senate race, etc, because of our decentralized system. You need a lot of accomplices, right? Like a lot. The chain of command is quite long. And so it is sort of dire that we have so many election denialists in places of power in places like the red states. But I don't think there's enough of them to steal an election once public pressure and scrutiny is put on them. And Georgia was an example of that in 2020.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, Brian Kemp stood up. My yes. And to it is the more concerning, less catastrophic end of democracy thing to be alarmed about is like you need fewer accomplices to steal the election in Alaska. Right. You need the governor and you need fewer accomplices to steal the election in one state where you control everything. I'm wondering, as far as the other pushback stuff's concerned, if there's anything else you guys are doing at PD you want to talk about or just looking at the Democrats now, assuming. Let's just Talk about the House. Assuming at minimum they take back control of the House. What are some important things they can do to look ahead to 2028?

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. Well, I am interested. There were some stories earlier this week about how the Democrats are creating an anti corruption task force, which. Great. Then I looked into the stories and it was like, we'll come up with ideas later. We will have a message about corrupt, et cetera. And so there will have to be accountability if we're ever in a position to do it. Right. Like we saw what happened in Hungary with the opposition coming in and really putting their teeth into it, not letting people go. But what does that look like in America is very much an open question. And I'm sort of, I am of the mind. We can do brainstorming about what comes later. But what are we saying now? In order to have an anti corruption message, you have to actually, like, hone in on stuff. And I see so much talk about, well, the Trump family is just making all this money. Can we get a little bit more granular about why that's happening? Because guess what? Like, the Trump kids can go make all the money they want, but it's the vector of official action where they're abusing office that leads to personal profit. Where I don't see the Democrats or anybody else really honing in on. Can we get granular about how they're manipulating markets through official action to their personal benefit. When it comes to prediction markets, when it comes to cryptocurrency, like, that's the stuff that I think could be extremely powerful, especially as we go into a worsening economy this summer with higher gas prices. But I don't see that. And I still see this sort of like wormy consultant brain where it says, like, we just have to tie corruption to affordability. Like, okay, yes, but what the hell are you talking about? Can you get a little bit more specific? Because to me, it's very clear that they're manipulating markets for personal and political benefit. Right. Like, we all see this happening, but I need people to clearly connect the dots. And then the other big corruption thing, which I have always been animated about and I think is super powerful politically and also the right thing to talk about is the pardon abuse. Earlier this week, he was talking to aides about how he is open to pardoning anyone within 200ft of the Oval Office just as a blanket thing and get out of jail free card at the end of his term, which on the other hand, I was like, oh, great, he's going to leave that's great, but the pardon abuse is out of control. There is essentially a lobbying business in Washington where people are making money on both ends of it. And I think that's been happening out in the open for a long time. And when it comes to presidential debates and things coming up in 2028, you know, it's kind of crazy to talk about a constitutional amendment, but why not? Why are we not talking about a constitutional amendment to constrain the part in power if JD Vance or Marco Rubio is going to be the next guy in line, have them sit on stage and defend these corruptive pardons for the January 6th rioters, for all, you know, the fraudsters, for anyone else that he's going to give it to. And they could just say, you know what, I actually support a constitutional amendment to limit the pardon power because I would take it away from myself because it can never be abused again. What is J.D. vance going to say to that?

[Tim Miller]

A lot there. And I agree with the focus on it in some ways. I think the messaging part is maybe the easiest because it's just like they're getting rich while you're getting poorer and you just need a couple of examples, like a couple of data points to back that up. So. So that's there. To me, it's like the two elements that are more challenging is the structural stuff. Like you mentioned the pardons. I want to put a pin in that for a second because JBL wrote a good triad about that this week and kind of what more of a long term solution is. But then in the meantime, what the oversight looks like on the corruption, how you demonstrate the examples to people. And I had maybe a week ago or so now Suhas Subramaniam on who is on oversight, Robert Garcia we've had on who's on oversight and I've talked to both of them and they're serious about it. I suggested to them alter Ecker, which is now on the record. I guess all my conversations are basically on the record. I just want to warn you, if you guys are talking to me now, I'm a YOLO person, I don't go on background anymore. If you have a secret, better be a real big secret if you're going to share with me in this case, this wasn't a secret. This is me talking. And now I'm repeating it in public. And I was like, you guys should maybe talk to Trey Gowdy or somebody because there hasn't really been a good example of Democrat oversight. Like the January 6th committee was very strong about a specific thing, but it was a little bit of a different animal than this type of oversight. And if you look back at Ben Ghazi and the Clinton emails and look at how Republicans did that to maximize their political benefit. Democrats need to be very serious about coming up with a plan for that right now and, like, thinking about it. And the corruption tax force is fine, but it's like, okay, where are we going to focus? Right. Like, it's such a huge ocean of possibilities. And obviously, the Epstein thing is going to be part of that, but the family's got to be part of it. The crypto business, you know, what else? Where can you go? And one thing Suhas brought up is like, they're worried about, well, I don't think that the administration's going to play ball with us on documents or stuff. Then it's like, okay, well, then who might. Well, private businesses will have to. So go to the businesses that are doing deals with the Trump families. Maybe that's the place to start. Because those guys are gonna be worried about the Democrats being in charge next time they have to respond to subpoenas. They're not gonna have the President backstopping their decision to duck a subpoena. Getting serious about that right now, I think is really important.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

One thing I would like to see more discussion of in a very clear and focused way that I think is absolutely open corruption that you don't need subpoenas to prove. And that's the fact that he's slapping his name on every thing that he possibly can in Washington and beyond.

[Tim Miller]

Yep.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Here's why it matters. Yes, it's a vanity project. Yes. It's what Trump does in his private business. You know, with the Trump Towers and all that. To me, the way I view it, he is seizing public property as personal branding opportunities. The American people did not ask for Donald Trump to put his name on the Institute of Peace. They did not ask to put his name on the Kennedy Center. He. Do you realize that he's going to be putting his name on our money?

[Tim Miller]

Oh, yeah.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Next month as a part of the little stupid signature. Yeah. America 250, which essentially, the way I see it, the America 250 celebration is turning out to be a giant party that Trump is throwing for himself.

[Tim Miller]

I was thinking maybe he put his name on the money because he figured people would burn it and then that would create some deflation, But I don't know if he's got any.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

The way the value of the dollar is going, it might be kind of a symbolic Thing, but it's not just on the currency, which traditionally we have. The Treasury Secretary has their signature on it. But now Trump is going to put his name on our money. That's after the Trump coin. That's after. If you buy a national park pass. Right now, Donald Trump is there with George Washington. The Arc de Trump that we talked about earlier, Trump rx, in which, you know, people have to. Or he would like people to go get prescription life saving drugs. Their website named after him, the Trump accounts. There was another, a battleship class that is apparently going to have a special 47 designation after Trump. I mean, there is a very long list of things that presidents don't traditionally put their names on that somehow, because he thinks it's his property, he's putting his name on it. And so I think that's a form of corruption because you didn't earn any of this, nobody asked for it. And there's a huge economic benefit. Like it's, you know, I do think there's an authoritarian angle as well, is that when his name is on everything over giant banners at the Justice Department, he makes his name and image inescapable. Right. Like he is sort of in charge of all this in a way. Like if you just go to apply for your Trump Baby account or whatever it is, like you kind of have to engage in this transaction with Trump. And so I, I think there's a lot to this.

[Tim Miller]

It also feels un American. I agree. I think that it feels unamerican, you know, also, which is why it can resonate, because it's, you know, reminds me of when I was younger, like the first time I visited like a foreign country, you know, in Latin America or somewhere where they have like you land at the airport and it's like the big posters of El Presidente are everywhere and you're just like, this feels wrong, like this isn't right, like this isn't how we do things.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

And I've got to tell you, the Trump banner over the Department of Justice, I know everybody has seen it, but I was with my kids over spring break and we were doing the museum thing and we just happened to cut across that way and we walked under it. And it was such an eerie thing because I had seen the pictures of it. I knew it was there. But you know how sometimes you're in a place, you're like, oh, we're right there. It's like, oh, I'm right here in the corner of this thing and there's tourists walking by. And I made a point of loudly saying that's, you know, that's supposed to be there. Like loudly explaining to my kids why it was wrong so the other people around could hear as well. But it was just such.

[Tim Miller]

I love that grassroots propaganda work there.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

The people just go on. I might catch a little bit of it. Even though I knew it was going to be there and I'd seen pictures of it being under, it was such a disgusting feeling. And so I It's like we're tearing

[Tim Miller]

that fucking thing up.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Let's write them down.

[Tim Miller]

That's one of the first things we're doing in 2029.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

When I first heard the words you have lung cancer, I was in shock.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

This week on a special episode of Health Discovery, we're taking a closer look at a common form of lung cancer that accounts for 85% of all cases.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I'm Janet Freeman Daly, and I've been living with non small cell lung cancer since 2011.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

Non small cell lung cancer. It's a diagnosis that changes everything, and yet the conversation around it too often stops at the biology and misses what patients are actually living through every single day.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

There are some things you used to be able to do that you can't do anymore. It's easy to become depressed when you're dealing with all those losses. So mental health plays a really big role.

[Podcast Host (Health Discovered)]

So what does it really mean to advocate for yourself when you're living with non small cell lung cancer? Listen to Health discovered on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Hey.

[Danielle Robay]

This is Danielle Robay, host of Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club, a podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide. You know, cotton is a part of so many of life's everyday comforts, from what we wear to what we wrap ourselves in. And it's especially present in the quiet, cozy moments, like reading a book you can't put down. Which brings me to our new segment, the Book Nook, where we explore the rituals that make reading feel just right. For me, that means cotton everything. I live in la, it's summer, and even when it's warm, I want to feel wrapped up and relaxed. When I'm home, I curl up with this super soft cotton blanket. It's lightweight and breathable and perfect for long reading stretches. I've got my favorite matching cotton lounge set on, too. It's basically my reading uniform, and I'm nestled on my couch by the window, iced coffee clinking, book in hand. It's truly my ideal reading setup. Thanks to Cotton for bringing this segment to life and reminding us that comfort and style can go hand in hand. Don't forget to check the tag for cotton. And if you want to learn more, head to thefabricofourlives.com JBL wrote about this

[Tim Miller]

this week and we'll have many, many, many podcasts to come on this. So I'm just give you a chance to do your quick penny response and then we can go longer on it later. But the article is really important. It's about how to drive a stake through the heart of Trumpism. And he's talking about Magyar and what we've seen already in Hungary and how they're doing both reform and accountability. And he lays out a bunch of stuff. And the accountability stuff is mostly about the will to do it, having the political will to say, hey, we're going to go after these people that broke the law. And then the reform stuff is harder because to a lot of rules that limit it. And the Supreme Court is going to be hostile to big structural changes. And so he kind of like lists out what are some things that are legal and allowable by the current letter of the law. Supreme Court wouldn't stop. And then he talks about getting to the filibuster, maybe expanding the supreme court Statehood for D.C. prohibitions on things like Schedule F. And so I assume kind of in your NGO world, like this stuff is already being talked about and worked through. I'm just kind of wondering what you what you think.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yes, absolutely. People are starting to think about what reform would look like post Trump. Maybe it's because of just my communications background, but I think it's largely because of how I see Trump positioning himself post presidency. You mentioned earlier that you sort of think like he has an eye towards legacy building, which I think is absolutely right. They're already talking about the Trump library, which I view as a good sign because it means that he is leaving office. The Board of Peace where he is the lifetime self appointed chairman that says that he wants to have a presence for the rest of his days. And so there has to be some kind of counterbalance. It can't just be that Trump leaves office and he gets his golden parachute. If you believe as I do, that he is the worst president that America has ever had, we need to start talking about him like that and having the reasons why so that if we are lucky enough that he leaves office, we have a clear understanding of why he's gone and why everything he did was so bad and requires such a sustained rebuilding effort that Makes people more trusting of our democracy. And I do think, you know, this needless, reckless war that he's leading us into will be a big part of that. But just the way that he treats people has to be part of the larger theme, because that's what powers so many of these other terrible policies when it comes to the schedule of purges, et cetera. Just the indecency in which he has approached this prestigious job and the way that he's tarnished our image. And so, you know, I think people should think about talking about Trump openly as the worst president ever as we send him his goodbye.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, there are no monuments to Andrew Johnson. He just started discourse about whether he's worse than Andrew Johnson or not. You can kind of have a backup.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah, let's have that debate.

[Tim Miller]

Sure. Speaking of indecency, two more things, really quick. One, this. I just. I can't let this go by. Tulsi Gabbard referred the whistleblower whose complaint led to Trump's first impeachment over the Ukraine call, as well as the inspector general who deemed that complaint credible, to the Trump Justice Department for criminal prosecution. To me, this is so both pathetic and disgusting at the same time. It's like Tulsi Gabbard knows that she's out of vogue with Trump, that Trump is not happy, that she is not a team player on the Iran war, at least fully on board with it. And so, in order to get into his good graces, she is going to go try to ruin the lives of two people who are just trying to do their job, who are public servants. I mean, talk about indecency.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

It is terrible. On the other hand, they've been so unsuccessful about going after all the promised political appointments. The way I read this story is like, well, they're working their way down the line. I view this in tandem with the story that Harmeet Dhillon is going after poor Cassidy Hutchinson. Like, how far down the line are you guys going? Absolutely. It's terrible. Those people are suffering through undeserved harassment, but they're pretty desperate to bring Trump back a little scalp. And the other bright spot was that, you know, Trump was talking about treason against the Democratic senators, who talked about how the military shouldn't be obey illegal orders, which seems prescient now with the threatened annihilation of Iran. He hasn't been successful intimidating them either. If anything, he made that military community stronger. There was lots of generals that came out with different kind of amici in support of Senator Kelly. So there are some good things that happen amid the terrible.

[Tim Miller]

It's true. They're gonna fail. And yet Harmey, Dillon, and Tulsi should still be totally, just absolutely ashamed of themselves for what they're trying to do to people who are just doing the right thing. Okay, final indec. Topic. Not really sure what there is to say about this, but it wouldn't be the Bullock podcast if I didn't mention it. On November 11th of 2001, in a diary entry, our Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, described driving down the highway with his wife and kids in a minivan like a typical suburban father when he spotted a dead raccoon and pulled over his car. He writes this. I was standing in front of my parked car on I684, cutting the penis out of a roadkilled raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be. My kids waited patiently in the car. I had to read that sentence a couple of times because I was like, who's weird? Bobby was grabbing a roadkill raccoon dick, and what was going through his mind was like, my cousins are getting a little strange. And it's like, maybe it might be time to look inside. Maybe some, I don't know, reflecting on your interior life and might be.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

So our Health and Human Services secretary has a thing for dead animals. Right. Straight up. So there's this raccoon story, which, by the way, it's really. This is one of my pet peeves. If I had, like, lots of money to do PSAs, I would do one about how people shouldn't pull over on the side of the road to do stuff because it's so extremely dangerous when other cars are whizzing by. And the fact that you pulled your family over to go find a raccoon penis, which you knew where it was. You knew what you were after. Like, what did you store it in?

[Tim Miller]

What did you put in?

[Janet Freeman Daly]

What did you put it in? Do you have a specimen cup that you carry around with you? I highly doubt it. But, like, he had the whale thing, right.

[Tim Miller]

The bloody penis is now in the car with your children.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

Yeah. Where do you put it? Do you make them hold it?

[Tim Miller]

Other cars are whizzing by on the highway. Yeah.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

So you have this thing, you take it back to the car, and then they. They go on vacation. Where's he put it? In the fridge at the Airbnb. There's no Airbnbs there. But this does line up with 2001.

[Tim Miller]

It's two months after 9, 11, so.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

But he has a dead animal thing. We've talked about this. There was the bear, the whale that he beheaded and put on top of the car. I mean, these are some fun road trips with rfk. And then I don't. Do you remember this? When his cousin, Carolyn Kennedy. I had to go back and look at this. She was trying to stop his Senate confirmation, and she talked about how he was grinding up baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his falcons. And then she. I wrote this down. She had a connection. It's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets, because Bobby himself is a predator. So that was her take on it. Can we get a take on the raccoon penis? I hate to bother him.

[Tim Miller]

I'm standing in front of my parked car cutting the penis out of a roadkilled raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be. What a sentence.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

So some of his defenders say he's always been interested in animals and that's why he picks up the roadkill. But those two things don't go together. Yeah, usually if you like animals, you don't mutilate them after they're done. I think.

[Tim Miller]

Well, I don't think it's too far of a stretch to think that the type of person that would pull over on the side of the road to deal with a raccoon penis would also be the type of person that would oversee policies that would bring measles back. It does seem like there's kind of some sanitary.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

It does seem like there's a vector for disease there, huh?

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, it does seem like a big thing.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

I hope his kids are okay.

[Tim Miller]

Amanda, Carter, do you have any runs coming up? Do you have anything else? Anything you want to share with the people?

[Janet Freeman Daly]

No. I'm doing a 10k in Winchester for the Apple Blossom Fest coming up. I don't know how that's going to go, but it'll be fine. It'll be fine.

[Tim Miller]

Apple blossom Girl.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

It's a huge deal out here. Everyone wears pink and green and you say happy bloom to each other. It's the bloom, so it's a lot of fun.

[Tim Miller]

Well, happy early bloom to you and to the listeners. We'll be back tomorrow, maybe slightly late. My daughter's got to play. She's Romeo, which is great. She's thrilled to be Romeo. Some of her other girlfriends weren't as thrilled about getting certain roles, but she's thrilled to be Romeo. So I'm going to be watching that in the morning, taping the pod a little late, but it'll be out. It'll be out on Friday, so no worries. We have a weekend pod for you. It's going to be a good one. Thanks Amanda. Thanks everybody else. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Peace. Stay away from the raccoon penises. The Borg Podcast is brought to you thanks to the work of lead producer Katie Cooper, associate producer Ansley Skipper, and with video editing by Katie Lutz and audio engineering and editing by Jason Brown.

[Janet Freeman Daly]

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[Tim Miller]

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[Janet Freeman Daly]

But here's an important one you need to hear.

[Tim Miller]

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[Janet Freeman Daly]

But it's not all grim news.

[Tim Miller]

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[Janet Freeman Daly]

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[Tim Miller]

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